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gooselycharm · 9 months

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hi there! i'd just like to say that your kris and noelle "something else" comic has been driving me insane /pos and i'd love to hear more of your thoughts on those two!! their relationship is one of my favorite things in deltarune and your comic just got everything about them so right 🙏

thank you for reading "something else"! oh man, [more of] my thoughts on kris+noelle.... i sure got some of those.

this was one of the first tweets i made after finishing chapter 2 nearly... freaking 2 years ago. and basically i've just been saying that over and over again in different ways because i'm still not tired of the concept yet and probably wont ever be LOL. i'm obsessed with how badly the narrative wants to force them into an easily categorizable dynamic, especially the romantic one in snowgrave. the literal THORN RING, the more possessive dialogue options, spamton calling noelle a side chick LOL... it all creates this unnerving visual novel bad end atmosphere that feels manufactured by someone who's only ever learned about romance through secondhand sources. they're two queer teens trying to navigate their changing relationship with the only role models they know being their parents' own failed heterosexual marriages. they're so divorced² (divorced children of divorce).

i also like that for being so tragically doomed coded they can be funny! both in a dark humor way and also like, genuinely funny, like the stories of them as kids with kris covering themselves in ketchup and hiding under noelle's bed lmao. i mean there's even something funny about the romantic trappings of the snowgrave route, like trying to put wedding cake embellishments on a crime scene... you know, funny like kids trying on their parents clothes but they're too big and for some reason they're also crying and covered in blood? um.

i'm also SOOOO interested to see how snowgrave will continue in chapter 3! i really liked the hopeful note chapter 2 ended on (well. i took it as hopeful anyway). there's that bit where noelle is talking to herself and she says something like "recently kris has been acting so strange and no one else has noticed... i have to figure out why" and then kris jumpscares her LOL but i think i took that one line and really ran with it. noelle really is the one who knows kris best and despite how scared she is, she's still determined to help them... i like the little subversion of victim/hero going on, the implication that kris might be the one who needs rescuing.

the additional story/lore that came with the spamton sweepstakes made me CRAAAZYYYYY like my GOD... it's cute that noelle likes glitches/creepypasta when kris is kinda a walking creepypasta <3 also, god, noelle falling asleep listening to kris playing piano in the other room... there's so much like. wistfulness and nostalgia and this like... distant/detached intimacy packed into how noelle narrates that scene. it's kind of funny how much there is to dig into when like on a surface level they're just fairly regular childhood friends who grew apart LMAO they're extremely deep to me okay...

on another note i guess i do ship them? i like their dynamic whether it's platonic or romantic (the best is a weird mix of both 👍). it just can't be boring LOL like... this is one ship where trying to apply cookie cutter tropes to them really falls flat and the game is ahead of you on that anyway. in terms of romantically shipping them, i honestly don't think they're doomed to repeat patterns forever... i think they could actually be good for each other! but that's not really the aspect of their relationship that interests me akldjf;alk;sdg maybe i will make 60 page comic of kriselle going to couples counseling some other time

ANYWAY i'm going to cut myself off here, because i really could go on forever lol. i'll give you some links for further reading though

hellspawnmotel's deltarune art

lula pillowbug99's deltarune art

this art by raspbearis which features prominently in my internal kriselle bible

my own unfinished kriselle playlist

my own essay on gender & allegory in deltarune if for some reason u are not tired of hearing me talk yet

okay bye now & thanks again for reading my comic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#deltarune #kriselle #im post #im really posting now. i be talking.

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stalpra-and-100-fandoms · 1 year

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Little Voices in My Head | Who Made Me A Princess [Part 1]

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿୨˚̣̣̣͙✧- ⚜ -✧˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

Before I begin, I want to say two things: Hi, it's been a while. I hope you all are alright. And this story doesn't take place in the canon setting of WMMAP. It takes place in the world of Emperor's Treasured Son, an amazing fanfic written by Celena Noelle. Please read that before proceeding. My story will be diverging from it from chapter 15 onwards.

Also unrelated but the fancy dividers will look weird on mobile, so, if it happens to bother you, please read on pc/laptop.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿୨˚̣̣̣͙✧- ⚜ -✧˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

Even after so many years, Claude was somehow still distant towards Athanasia. At times, it even felt like he was being cold to her. Athanaris tried to talk to him about it, but Claude refused to address the matter.

However, Athan could almost understand. Claude, being as protective as he is, didn't like how his son took hits for both Diana and Athanasia.

Nevertheless, he tried to bring it up whenever he could, once mentioning that Athy was as much his child as he was. At this, Claude only stared at him blankly. "Father, please don't tell me you don't consider her your daughter!" "Athan, I think it's time for your lessons." "Father!" "There now, you don't want to be late."

Powerless in this situation, Athanaris left the room, huffing.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿୨˚̣̣̣͙✧- ⚜ -✧˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

Athanasia, on the other hand, was trying to brave it through and prayed that she'll be alright. Knowing how "The Lovely Princess" ended, she was scared that the plot was just recovering itself after 7 years worth of filler. (counting from when she was 5)

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿୨˚̣̣̣͙✧- ⚜ -✧˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

The last straw fell on a completely unremarkable afternoon. The emperor and his children were in his study when he noticed that someone was waiting outside the room. Claude opened the door with magic and said with venom, "I will not have anyone eavesdropping in on my precious break time. Leave. Don't show your face unless I summon you." Athan was absently listening while reading a book and Athy was looking at the door while all this transpired. But as soon as she turned her head back, she saw the emperor looking at her as well.

Only then did it occur to her that those words might apply to her as well.

"Oh my goodness," she started, causing her brother to raise his head, "I completely forgot about my books by the window. I need to get them," Athan offered to help but she politely declined and sped out of the room.

Athan realised that for the first time, in all the years he's known her, Athy's emotions were natural and honest. And she was honestly frightened. He glanced toward his father to get a clue but all he saw was a nonchalant face looking at the door.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿୨˚̣̣̣͙✧- ⚜ -✧˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

Athanasia ran to her chambers and dropped onto her bed, clutching her pillows and heaving slightly. Surely this means nothing, right? Maybe Papa's in a bad mood today. He just needs to have some peace of mind. After all, he hates nosy people-

She then recalled the startling lack of maids on her way to the Emerald Palace. Am I already being neglec- no, no, no, slapping herself a bit, she decided to ask Lily who was in the next room to hers.

"I heard that Alpheus House requested an audience with His Majesty. They brought a young lady with them this one which is why some of the maids were- Your Highness, are you alright?" The girl had turned pale even before Lillian could finish.

Gripping the back of a chair, she implored in a faint voice, "Lily, can you tell me her name?" Unsure still, Lily replied hesitantly, "I believe they introduced her as Jeanette Marga- Athanasia!"

The princess had collapsed in the chair.

Athanasia could only think of one sentence and it was forming in her mind at a painfully slow pace. ‌ Yep, the plot is recovering itself ‌

"Athy, can you hear me?" "Yeah Lily, I'm okay," Athy said as she got up, "I'll be in my room, so please don't worry," "Are you-" "I'm fine, I'm fine," the girl said a little firmly.

She was not.

She stood shaking against her mirror, pressing her hands on her chest in an attempt to calm down.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿୨˚̣̣̣͙✧- ⚜ -✧˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

Some time had passed and seeing that no one called for her, Athanasia changed into a plain tartan dress and slipped into a whipcord jacket.

She teleported herself to the market. Despite the blazing sun, Athy still felt a bit cold and figured some shaved ice will bring her back to reality. The honeyed shaved ice was just forming in front of her eyes when a pair of hands pulled her away into an alley.

Her eyes were quick to adjust and the kidnapper seemed to be a mix of the emperor and the Royal Magician. A strong left parting divided his black hair and framed his pale face.

The similarities between him and Claude were uncanny. It was as if their sculpture had run out of ideas and drew inspiration from both his works.

Surely the man was beautiful if he bore any resemblance to her father but right then he looked psychotic.

His black irises were constricted beyond the natural limit and he was gasping to himself, "What are you doing? I have nothing to do with this girl, only my brother," His voice began to burn with fear, "Why are you doing this? This doesn't serve your purpose,"

As scared as she was, Athy tried to understand the situation, "Sir, who are yo-"

A cloud of red dust blinded her and she felt it crawl all across her body, through her bones and right to her fingertips. She couldn't feel her legs anymore ad her throat began to burn.

Her shaking body slumped against barrels of who-knows-what. It'd be easier to sleep than to go through all this, she thought. Then, perhaps, fortunately, sleep was coming her way.

*SPLOSH*

"Hey, can you hear me?" Dropping the beer barrel, the man shook Athy's shoulders until they were this much away from coming off. "Answer me!" She snapped out of it and pushed the man to make him stop. She took in his changed appearance. Structurally, he didn't change at all but now it looked like someone painted with the royal palate. His hair was now a glittering blonde, his cheeks were tinted and his eyes were bejewelled.

"What's your name?" he pointedly asked. "Wha-" "Do you remember your name?" "Ath-Athanasia" "Thank god," he looked personally relieved until he realised the implication of that sort of a name.

He stared at her for a solid minute before sighing dramatically, "Of course, you had to be a princess," Athy was incredibly confused. He continued, "You know, if you were a normal girl I would've told you to lock yourself at home and stay out of trouble. But your home is the Royal Palace and that's where the trouble lies, especially that man-"

"I'm sorry but who are you?"

"You shouldn't interrupt your elders, and of all people, not me," the man puffed out, leaving Athanasia in disbelief. Being raised by Claude, she didn't know the different ways a man can act. "I, for one, actually know what just happened and two, I'm your uncle, so you should respect me all the more-"

"Pardon?"

"Hmm?" the man paused his monologue to the wandering princess who has spaced out.

"You are who?" was all she could muster.

He airily replied, "Anastacius De Alger Obelia, older brother of Claude De Alger Obelia, and uncle of you," checking off fingers as he gave each title. Seeing how she didn't give any reaction, he bent down and promptly began poking her head, "Does that ring a bell? Helloo?"

Little did he know that she was going through a variation of this. (the screaming bit). "But you were killed by Papa years ago!" she screeched out. "Ah, yes that," he said, itching his jaw, "that didn't happen due to a few complications of mine."

Seriously? This guy is talking about his miraculous survival as if it's something unfortunate, thought Athanasia, If it were me, I think I would be a little more grateful for it.

"Anyway, I think it's time for you to go back, it's getting late," Anastacius said, standing up and smoothing his shirt. He held out a chivalrous hand for the princess to hold, which she gladly accepted.

Before she let herself get too used to holding his hand, Athanasia swept it away and occupied it in adjusting her jacket which reeked of beer.

"I guess I'll be leaving then," she said, tilting her head up to look at him one last time.

His eyebrows were knitted upwards and he wore a small smile, afraid to keep it in full display lest it is misinterpreted. For some reason, the concern engraved in his eyes was almost suffocating to Athy.

"Good luck," was all he said. With a slight nod of his head, he gave her the leeway to desert him.

Athanasia couldn't think of a response better than "Thank you?" and swiftly teleported back to the palace, stunning the supposedly-dead royal in the process.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿୨˚̣̣̣͙✧- ⚜ -✧˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

She directly teleported to her bathroom, rinsing her beer-soaked clothes to avoid fueling the imaginations of her ladies in waiting.

After a hasty bath, she emerged considerably more flushed than how she entered. The sun is already down, Athanasia thought, I was too careless. I don't think I was caught missing, though. Even if I am caught, I don't want to be caught by my family members, especially by-

"Athanasia"

The addressee stopped dead in her tracks as she snapped her head to the right, to the horrifying sight of a glaring emperor in one of the many randomly placed balconies of the Emerald Palace. She was so shaken that, perhaps out of a survival instinct, she grabbed the folds of her shirt and did a shaky courtesy.

Claude made a sound somewhere between a scoff and a sigh before closing the distance between them considerably.

"Where were you this entire time?"

At this moment, Athanasia knew she had screwed up. After all, it had been too whimsical to think that no one would come looking for her, even if it was just the Royal Magician wanting to bug her.

"I-I was," the gears of her brain working at lightning speed, "in the Western Rose Garden!"

The raised eyebrows which she didn't notice abruptly dropped before Claude began smoothing them out, "The one which hasn't been maintained at all?" he asked her incredulously "It seemed very adventurous!" Athanasia chirped up, regaining her fail-proof cute persona.

"You don't seem to have any scratches from your adventure," he asked, scrutinising her appearance.

Aagh, why are you so perceptive??

"I made sure to be ex-tra careful!" she shot back, praying to God that she seemed convincing.

Also, for some reason, Athy couldn't bring herself to call him Papa like she always does. Today doesn't feel like a good day, she thought.

Claude was still kneading his eyebrows as he regarded her answer, "Don't run off like this again. Make sure to inform someone," he walked past her wordlessly

Athy was rather touched by Claude's words, that's kind, coming from him. Feeling warm and fuzzy inside, Athanasia skipped to her room, making a mental note to greet him first thing the next morning. "Papa would like that," she said to herself.

A voice spoke behind her ear, "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, Athanasia,"

Athy spun around to see an empty corridor.

‌‌ ‌Huh? Who was that?

‌

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿୨˚̣̣̣͙✧- ⚜ -✧˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

Thanks for reading!

Tagging: @gruviyasharuto, @darkhumanpiekid, @nova-darling, @akhlys-san

And in case you like this, please consider joining my writing taglist.

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realm-of-aethercrest · 1 year

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Hey, I hope this doesn’t come out wrong, but how come Ember uses it/its pronouns despite it being based on Dess, who goes by she/her? I don’t have any problem with it, it’s just that Ralsei seems to be based on Asriel, and both characters go by he/him, so I’m not really sure why the same doesn’t apply to Ember and Dess. Is it a reference to angels technically being sexless entities?

Only its name that is based on Dess, specifically the last half of her name. I honestly think it's a clever name choice for it especially because it's an ACTUAL name which could separate it from just being December-inspired. Also, it's noteworthy to remember that Ember is based on the angel doll that Noelle and Dess made together and that it has become a representative of the Holiday family itself. That's why Ember possesses the core traits of every Holiday family member; the dedication of the Mayor, the charm of Rudolph Holiday, the valor of December Holiday, and the spirit of Noelle Holiday. Despite the name, Ember doesn't exactly follow the "Ralsei is based on Asriel" theme however still has a special and personal connection to the family. And I should clarify that angel tends to be portrayed as a humanly figure with wings and halo on media, that should explain why it does NOT look like Dess... which some people are still confused and wondering why it doesn't parallel Noelle's older sister the same way Ralsei parallels Asriel, haha. I don't blame them though, a lot of us are used with the concept of having the Ralsei role resembling whoever Asriel is along with their name rearranged in AUs. While I think it's a neat idea to work on at times, I also suggest (if I may) try going for a similar direction but strays from the pattern or standard if any of you wants to make an AU with said concept! As for the it/its pronouns... sort of? But I also find it cool personally.

#anon ask #AETHERCREST #DELTASWAP #Ember #Dess #Noelle

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acacia-may · 1 year

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Hi again! I was checking your fanchildren post (that's an amazing list of kiddos) and I'm very interested in the post-apocalypse / dark triad wins AU, please tell us more about it! :D

Hi there! Thank you for the ask and for checking out my fanchildren chart. It's kind of a mess, honestly, so I just hope it made sense. 😅

That AU is honestly a little out there (my sister and I made it up for (angsty) kicks & giggles a long time ago), so I doubt it'll ever come to be anything concrete, but I will try my best to explain. (Since it breaks off from the canon after the Spade Arc, I'll put my explanation below the cut to avoid spoilers and also because it's kind of dark. Just warning you there's a lot of things that are wrong with this one...but it’s really not meant to be taken too seriously...)

Alright so the premise of the AU is that the magic knights succeed in rescuing Yami and William in Spade; however, they don't manage to close the gate. The demons (in league with the Dark Triade) run amok in the world and kill off most of the population. The Heart Kingdom is completely destroyed, and the Diamond Kingdom is completely taken over and given over to Morris who runs human experiments there. The few surviving Clover Kingdom magic knights manage to hold a portion of the Clover Kingdom safely and end up pushing back the Dark Triade and the demons back into Spade. What's remaining of Clover is a completely fortified and walled in area, but the survivors attempt to rebuild there and a select few of the magic knights (more often than not led by Yuno) will occasionally go out into the world to try to figure out what in the world they're going to do about the Spade problem.

Asta and Noelle survived in the post-apocalyptic world for a while. They were a big part of the efforts to rebuild, but, unfortunately, eventually both perished [Asta in a mission and Noelle by being assassinated] shortly after their daughter was born. Nozel named her after Noelle, but he didn't think he was equipped to raise her so he gave her to Yami and Charlotte who aren't in a romantic relationship but have merged what was left of their squads. Little Noelle (Elle) wants to be a magic knight, but Charlotte and Yami have mostly forbidden it because it's too dangerous (under normal circumstances they probably wouldn't be so protective but almost everyone has died here so they're naturally pretty concerned), so they get her a job as a secretary to William Vangeance instead.

William Vangeance has left what's left of the Magic Knights to work in the government (in what I suppose is a "Wizard King"-esque position). He has an adopted son named Langris (Ris) who he rescued from a lab in the Diamond Kingdom as an infant. Langris Vangeance has extremely powerful spatial magic that allows him to travel through time, and his "Uncle Yuno" is particularly insistent that if he'd only train harder and apply himself, they could use his power to go back in time and close the gate thereby stopping the apocalypse. To Yuno's annoyance, however, Ris would much rather use his power to slack off, have fun, and get snacks (like churros which are his favourite food).

Langris Vangeance doesn't know his origin story, and he's not the brightest so he mistakes Rill and the since-deceased Charmy as his parents, thus the "Pappitson" part of his name. [Lisa is a defective but sentient clone Gauche made of Vanessa, and Ris bonded with her because she is "warm and motherly," so he has added "Lisa" to the end of his name as well in her honor]. Langris Vangeance [Pappitson Lisa]'s parents are actually Vanessa and Finral, though everyone thinks that they're long dead. At the end of the Spade Battle in this AU, there was an earthquake that separated Finral, Vanessa, Secre Swallowtail, and Langris Vaude from the rest of the group (and everyone just kind of assumed they all died). Langris died saving Finral's life, and Secre sacrificed herself for her friends (it didn't actually end up killing her though but rather turned her into a bird permanently again, but no one knows that. Bird Secre watches over Elle and Ris, however).

Thinking they were the only survivors and feeling she had no other options, Vanessa brought a badly wounded/half-dead Finral back to the Forest of Witches where she bargained with Her Majesty to save his life. Recognizing the potential of combining Vanessa's fate magic with spatial magic, the Witch Queen saved Finral on the condition that he and Vanessa stay in the Forest of Witches and have a child with the power to travel through time (and therefore prevent the apocalypse). As it's a post-apocalyptic wasteland out there, they didn't really have much of a choice but to stay. They weren't planning to give in to Her Majesty's demands, however, but as time passed, they actually came to love each other and accidentally had twins they named after Langris and Secre.

When the twins were still infants, the Dark Triade and their demon army attacked the Forest of Witches. Her Majesty perished, and they brainwashed Vanessa who took over as Queen in her place and allied with the corrupt Spade. During the chaos, Vanessa pushed Finral and baby Langris through a portal, and they managed to escape before Finral was knocked unconscious and Ris was stolen by the Diamond Kingdom. Finral was rendered permanently comatose due to head trauma but was, luckily, found and taken in by Henry, Grey, and Luck who are living in the woods (and also thought they were the only survivors post-Spade). Little Secre (Re) has been raised in the Forest of Witches with her brainwashed mother, who is a surprisingly good parent for being a villain. The brainwashing modified and sealed away a lot of Vanessa's memories so Re doesn't know anything about her father or twin brother. Eventually, a particularly jaded Gauche finds his way to the Forest and becomes Queen Vanessa's right-hand man and Secre's uncle.

Were this story ever to be written, the bulk of this AU would take place when Elle, Ris, and Re are all teenagers and would mainly consist of them trying to save the world. It would likely start with Elle and Ris running away from home to journey to the Forest of Witches to try to make an alliance with the Queen (who they don't know is brainwashed or actually Langris Vangeance's mom). However, it's such a convoluted mess of a plot and an idea that I doubt it'll get written. It's kind of fun to think about sometimes though, and I've also made a couple of doodles I can share below...

The first image is William with a little bitty Langris Vangeance and their bird feeder. The second image is an older "Little Noelle" and Langris Vangeance (with churros and Rouge who ends up saving his life at one point).

#thanks for the ask!#i never really thought i’d ever tell anyone about this au 😅#it’s dark but it’s not really supposed to be taken that seriously…#answered asks #the-black-bulls

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protectchara201x · 3 years

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(ignoring all the other juicy Deltarune 2 stuff to shove Chara Talks into it lololol)

I haven’t been super active on this blog because frankly I have like, three? looong analysis/theorycrafting posts I’ve been putting off working on and it fills me with shame to log in and see them waiting in my drafts.

But.

With the release of Deltarune Chapter 2, I wanted to talk kinda in general about how I thought it could impact the fandom’s perception of Everybody’s Favorite Demon Baby, and also point out something in specific about the Weird Route that might connect back to Undertale.

Putting it under the cut to avoid spoilers and long-winded ramblings for the unwilling. Includes spoilers for the Weird Route.

(NOTE: may update later if I notice more things for to put in section II. I’d like to make a full list of parallels if I can tidy them up.)

I. Pre- vs Post-Release Thoughts (you can skip down to II if you don’t care, it is genuinely Long and Pointless)

Okay, so first off. I got SO worried like, the day before the new chapter dropped? It hit me that whatever new stuff we got out of this, people would connect back to Undertale, and. Honestly, I really do hate connecting everything back to Chara, because I do think of Kris as their own character and I really like them and don’t want to ignore everything they got going on. But, I am first and foremost a shameless Chara stan and they’re very important to me, so I kinda... did spend a few minutes reeling from all the new DR stuff as its own stuff, and then immediately started thinking about how this would reflect back on Chara in Undertale lol.

But that’s ok for me to do here because this is my All Chara, Only Chara, All The Time blog, so I am gonna only really talk about Deltarune here to talk about them lol.

So yeah, I started getting anxious beforehand worrying about how everyone would take any and all implications and apply it to mean “aha, Chara IS evil!” The fakeout with the pie reveal in the anniversary stream was a big relief, but I still got worried leading up to the release about what could be in it.

Because part of why I’ve always thought that “Chara was genuinely evil from the start” and even “ok maybe not TOTALLY evil, but Chara was still a kinda bad person” were unlikely was, even if you throw out all the other popular Chara-sympathetic theories. To me, both these takes just seemed too below TF’s talent and the way he wrote all his other characters with depth and love; a Chara like the one these theories propose just doesn’t belong in a world created by TF, and the way the Dreemurrs talk about them overall, the way TF made a point of having Chara say they were guided and repeatedly, correctly blame you the player for the destruction in Kill-All, I was sure that he never intended them to ever be as bad as the fandom sometimes tried to make them out to be.

... Like, mostly sure. Like, 80% sure? Because he never ever talks about them, so it’s impossible say for sure, and it is still theoretically possible that “Chara was and is bad” was the cold-ass take he’d intended all along. So yeah, leading up to the release, I started getting antsy that whatever new lore came out of it, either he’d directly confirm “Chara was a villain?” “*cocks gun* Always has been” or there’d be something that’d at least heavily implicate them, or could be twisted to implicate them, as a negative force. More ammo to be used against them in the Chara Debate Circles would be a drag, and outright confirmation of them as a villain would honestly break my heart and I’d be forced to disown Toby Fox, My Beloved Cool Dad.

And, right now? Tell the truth, I’m SO relieved and I am SO happy. And not just because of how much depth and characterization it seems Kris is getting! (imo, because rn I just headcanon them as an unhappy teen desperately trying to keep their new friends going on adventures with them and trying to fight back against the player’s control)

I love how this chapter seems to be TF doing course-correcting based on fandom interpretations. Because Kris just isn’t evil, even if they are a knife teen, even if they are the Knight, they’re just NOT evil and that’s canon, baybeeee; it’s made clear in this chapter and the previous one that they love their family even outside of the player’s control, they care about their new friends even outside of the player’s control, they’re established as a weird creepy kid but no one sees them as scary or evil, they’re just Kris, and even in the Weird Route, TF made a point of hammering in the differences between Kris and the player in the Weird Route: Susie and Ralsei notice how distressed Kris seemed after you have Noelle ice Berdly, Noelle heard a voice that she said wasn’t Kris telling her to kill, and the FUCKING Spamton fight: “Kris called for help... but nobody came” again and again, and then “You whispered Noelle’s name”... you, not Kris.

I know TF has never commented much on fans’ perceptions of Frisk and Chara, or who exactly is pulling strings in different routes. But after all this, and especially after seeing all the little winks and nods to fandom jokes in this chapter (what comes to mind: pulling everyone’s leg by seeming to have Kris attack Toriel with a knife only to reveal that pie theory was right, Susie not liking Ralsei’s real face as much as his shadowed one, Ralsei with a gun getting referenced with the ad, Kris getting a joke fixation with knives after the fans made Chara and Kris have knife obsessions as a joke), and seeing what looks like him try to correct some things (what stuck out to me was doubling down on showing that Kris is loved and valued in their family: lots of fans came away from Chapter 1 thinking that Kris was not valued as much as Asriel, but here we see that Toriel is supportive of Kris’ friendship with Susie, and it’s stated that Asriel is the one who used the crappy controller, not Kris) -

I think while he hasn’t commented directly, while he admitted to being overwhelmed by Undertale’s success, while he tends to be pretty tight-lipped about the lore (whether that’s because it’ll be addressed by future chapters or because he prefers to let fans sleuth it out), this chapter convinced me that Toby does keep tabs on fan reactions in Deltarune, so he probably does with Undertale too and would know about all The Discourse surrounding Little Mx Pink Cheeks (and in turn, popular theories like Narrator Chara... Toby if you integrate Narrator Chara into Deltarune being a borderline creepypasta and have the narrator start talking directly to the characters or to the player or the characters start talking to the narrator I will lose my damn B E A N S).

(Kris and Chara not being demonized and the narrator interacting directly with the characters were the only two things on my wishlist going in, I was fine with literally anything else happening lmao)

I even kinda think he’s going out of his way to separate Kris and the player because we didn’t get it before with Undertale, we still insisted that Frisk or Chara was the one doing it, and he’s even using Kris to show that even if this kid can be scary, maybe even mean, and maybe they’re even the Knight (with their reasons unknown), they’re still not a bad kid, they’re still funny and likable, and they still genuinely love their family and friends - which falls in line with Undertale’s cast of complex but likable people who can be antagonists and make mistakes but still aren’t truly bad people, and imo is a direct response to some people fixating on the idea that Chara was always evil because they seem scary/complicated.

... Which is a long way to say that I came out of Deltarune with my confidence fully restored about TF’s intentions with Chara and Kris. Even if he never comments on Chara directly, now I really don’t think TF thinks they’re evil or ever intended for them to be. Deltarune convinced me more than ever that Chara is meant to be complex, yes, and able to be influenced to do horrible things, but they were never intended to be as malicious or shallow as some fans insist.

TLDR:

Toby Fox read your mean fanfiction where Chara is a bad abusive serial killer no one likes, and he made Deltarune in revenge.

... Hm? Ah, you’d like me to get to the point! Right this way!

II. Undertale, Deltarune, and The Point

While no doubt some will still take the voice Noelle hears to be Chara influencing her to turn her into a murderer (I haven’t gone looking for it yet, but I’m sure it’s already a thing because I know this fandom), since it’s made too clear by the game that they can’t blame Kris for this one, I think at this point that’s just being too stubborn to consider other ideas.

If you believe in the totally made up idea used in so many fanfics that Chara is an evil spirit trying to whisper in Frisk’s ear to kill everyone, literally (for some reason) the embodiment of raising stats, and gets more control over people who have increased LV to take over their body... sure. Could be them, they did talk about moving on to the next world and all. I mean, that wouldn’t really make sense because it’s literally never implied in the actual game that Chara encourages you to kill outside of the Kill-All Run or even wants you to, certainly not as the narrator and we get no hint of them doing this as an unseen, unheard third-party either.

Not to mention they’re NOT literally possessing you because of increased LV; they don’t control you even with high LV in any Undertale route other than arguably the Kill-All, and if you fail the Kill-All and it turns into a high-body count Neutral, Chara suddenly stops using first-person narration and showing up in mirrors entirely even though they were showing themself before, the LV remains the same or even can get raised as high as LV 19, nor do they suddenly take over in any other Neutral runs. We can speculate on why (personally, I’d place this either on Chara’s mindset, such as them sinking into shock from the trauma or becoming more assertive as the player feeds their megalomania, or as a sign of Frisk’s withdrawal, leaving Chara alone in the body to take the reins and act out the player’s orders), but canonically, no, Chara does not take over due to high stats.

In fact, there’s even more evidence against this. First-person narration also exists for fleeing your battles in Undertale, even on Pacifist runs with base stats, 0 EXP, and an LV of 1. Since Chara is established to use first-person narration to refer to themself, is the only one who canonically does so, and is confirmed to be present even in all runs through their name and memories always showing up, it seems pretty likely that Chara can take control to flee battle. That means an increase in stats is not a sign of their presence or control, in Undertale or Deltarune.

The most damning blow to the idea that Chara is the voice corrupting Noelle are the lines in the fight with Spamton I mentioned. Kris called for help, but nobody came. You whispered Noelle’s name. Well hold on. If that’s Chara, shouldn’t it be “I whispered Noelle’s name”? As soon as you’ve officially started the Kill-All in Undertale, Chara starts up their “It’s me, Chara” schtick right away, right there in Toriel’s home in the first area, and if they weren’t the narrator before, they’re beginning to speak through the narration now. If the voice was Chara, surely Toby Fox knows it’d be a way bigger “oh shit” moment if the creepy scary hidden route once again switched into first-person, scaring us the same way he did before when we first saw “It’s me, Chara” and knew something was wrong; unfairly or not, their reputation as a villain is still well established and hinting to Chara’s presence with a simple “I” would drive the menace even further, if he intended for them to simply be a demon that possesses player characters when you grind enough. But it’s still just you. The player.

The Weird Route does even more to help Chara’s case than that. Not only is it made pretty clear that Kris and the player are separate, and the player is the one responsible for corrupting Noelle and making her kill... consider how similar Noelle and Chara are, in the Weird Route and the Kill-All Route.

This “voice” that “guides” them in growing strong, compelling them to kill everyone in order to fight for them, eventually driving them to murder people they know. Chara calls themself “the demon that comes when people call its name”, and you whisper Noelle’s name to have her appear to kill Spamton. Noelle’s conflicting emotions towards Kris and the voice as she is manipulated, as she becomes more violent and sadistic, as she goes into shock; does that not sound like Chara, who flipflops between holding you dear as their partner and wanting to move on to the next world together, to be together forever, and them being disgusted by your refusal to accept consequences and the perverse enjoyment you get in killing everyone again and again? Chara, who clings to their quirky narration for much of the Kill-All, but keeps slipping up, who becomes terrifyingly cold, aggressive, power-hungry, and even sadistic, yet still calls Undyne “the heroine”, still seems to still care about their locket, still has moments where they seem to falter?

Noelle does put up significantly more resistance to the voice’s commands than Chara does, and at least much more visibly shows distress and trauma. I don’t think this is a black mark on Chara’s chara-cter either, or an indication of them being more violent or cruel.

For one, while Noelle is still herself with her own soul, it is heavily implied by Chara, Flowey, and Undertale’s lore that Chara was reincarnated without their own soul, at best perhaps attached to Frisk’s (or yours): as I speculate in one of my currently unfinished theories, while monster souls are made up of love, compassion, and hope and thus Asriel was reincarnated without these qualities, it could well be that human souls are correspondingly made up of their own multiple traits, namely determination, patience, bravery, integrity, perseverance, kindness, and justice; if true, a soulless Chara would be lacking these qualities, which would make them less equipped to resist the player’s commands or to feel as torn up about it.

Also, the player has a hold on them both as “party members” to the player’s vessels, but it is also possible that the player naming Chara and having them directly attached to Frisk also gives them a stronger connection to Chara they can abuse, similar to how Kris and Frisk (as the player’s direct vessels) have much less autonomy than Kris’ party members.

(Fun observation: We know that when the thing controlling Kris forced Noelle into becoming a killer and using her to kill Berdly, Kris was horrified and shaken-up according to Susie and Ralsei. How do you think Frisk felt watching Chara be used to slaughter the Underground and then erasing the world when they’re totally corrupted?)

And lastly... look, Noelle and Chara are both minors, but Chara is significantly younger - a small child compared to Noelle’s teen. I know it’s fiction and strong wills and determination and anime is real and all, but a traumatized young child who died two violent and awful deaths back-to-back, may have literally experienced being a corpse in their own coffin/grave for who knows how long, and then came back ”confused” only to immediately start hearing a voice relentlessly commanding them to kill everyone?? I can absolutely see a traumatized kid shutting down and just going with it out of fear at first, before the LV sets in.

TLDR:

What you do to Noelle in the Weird Route is the same fucking thing you do to Chara in the Kill-All Route.

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multifandomtrashpanda · 3 years

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Panda's guide to Genshin builds - Overview

Under the cut because it's long, also this is my personal way of doing builds for my characters and I'm honestly pretty 'meh' when it comes to builds in terms of perfection. But! if you are struggling to understand builds maybe I can help ya out!

let me know if you would like specific character build recommendations as well! I am trying to get them all and have all the 4* characters so I'm happy to do them!

So! you want to build a character, huh. This can be pretty daunting in terms of being proud of your build since there seems to be so much mixed opinions and 'oh ur build sux ahah' online. However, here I am to hopefully provide a stress free guide to basic building!

To begin with I am going to show you my three main builds Zhongli, (support) Xiao and Fischl (both DPS)

So keeping in mind that I am AR 55 so lower AR players don't need stats this high.

Fischl I use as a support DPS mainly deploying Oz to do damage and apply electro so for this build electro dmg and elemental mastery (EM) are important to maximise electro dmg and also ATK so Oz can do decent DMG. with 2,398 ATK and 98 EM Fischl is a great support DPS I have Amos' Bow on her which provides some more ATK. I also have her at C6 so she has some pretty neat bonuses as well. You don't need a 5* weapon of C6 to make an excellent build though, before I got Amos' Bow I had the BP bow because I liked the cyclone skill for crowd control, however the substat (crit rate) is only on this 4* bow, but you can use Prototype Crescent, Royal Bow, Rust or the new craftable Hamayumi for an ATK bonus. I won't get into artifacts just yet but a weapon with a good substat and keeping your talents as high as possible as you ascend will generally give you a decent build as a start. I recommend levelling up your talents to the ascension max as you go to keep your character at a good talent level.

Now Xiao is my main DPS so not only do I use his skills and ULT but he spends a lot of time dealing physical DMG while I wait for skill cooldowns. He has 2316 DMG which is slightly lower than Fischl but the gap is quite small and I prefer melee weapons for physical DMG anyway, he also has 61 EM to support his anemo attacks. Xiao is a good example to use when talking about choosing a weapon with a good substat. Since Xiao really benefits from a high crit rate that is the best weapon substat to give him, especially since it's harder to get on artifacts, Fischl can benefit from a lot of things depending on how you want to utilize her but Xiao consistently needs a high crit rate to do the highest damage. Primordial Jade Spear is the best weapon for him, but I don't have that yet so I personally use lithic spear on him currently, It has ATK boost rather than crit rate but I feel that ATK also works especially if you use him as a main like I do. I would recommend Deathmatch (BP with crit rate) or for ATK% lithic spear or royal spear. You could also use Crescent pike or Dragonspine spear if you wanted physical ATK bonus instead.

Zhongli is my support/healer (only because I have him at C6 simp) so His build is pretty different to the others. He has half the ATK at 1446 and a massive HP at 24606 and also very high EM at 244. Zhongli's shields DMG absorption scales off his HP so that is a stat you want as high as possible. since I mainly use his skills or ULT then change, a high EM lets me do good DMG and make his skills as effective as possible. In terms of weapon I have dragons bane on him for the EM (you could also use Kitain Cross) but he would also benefit from energy recharge so you could use Prototype Starglitter, Favonius Lance or if you have it the 5* Skyward spine. The upcoming 4* The Catch will also have energy recharge along with new 5* Engulfing Lightning

Now that I've shown you my builds here's some more general advice. Your main DPS you want high DMG and a decent EM as well, any support DPS you have benefit from high ATK and a higher EM. Supports generally need high EM and check to see what their shield/healing scales off and focus on that (HP, DEF, ATK, etc). The key to effectively building a character is knowing what their skills need and whether there is any particular stats that they are built to need a high amount of (crit rate - Xiao/crit dmg - Hu Tao) This can be hard since not every skill description is really clear about it, but afor a general rule of thumb a DPS need - ATK, EM and crit rate/dmg and supports vary more but tend to be clearer in what their skills scale from (Zhongli - HP / Noelle - DEF).

#my persona is now panda #i don't make the rules #genshin builds #genshin tips #genshin guide #genshin impact #genshin

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producingtrashycontent · 3 years

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who are your favorite top ten black clover characters & ships? talk about them! ~tat

Ooh this will be fun. I'm not sure I'll have as much to say as some other people who have been asked this question, but I hope it's ok!

Top 10 Black Clover Characters

1. Mereoleona Vermillion

I could rant for hours about how much I love this woman. She's very strong and doesn't give a damn about status, which I love about her. Like almost all the females in Black Clover, she isn't overly sexualized or dependent on a man in some way. I love her character design, her magic, and everything. I think I'm a little obsessed with this woman honestly.

2. Noelle Silva

A typical female shonen character that's part of the main guy's harem. What I love about Noelle is her development. She goes from a royal who hates commoners to a strong female lead that accepts anyone for who they are. I haven't watched all the anime in the world, but from what I've seen, she's gotten the best development of any shonen female. If there's another one out there, please let me know. I love that Noelle's character development isn't over. I can't wait to see where she ends up by the end of the series.

3. Asta

Our gray-clad hero. A typical shonen protagonist with a never give up mentality. I really love that about Asta. Asta's mental strength is off the charts. He was able to dealing with people bullying him his entire life over something he had no control over. And yet, he continues pushing onward to change the dynamics of the Clover Kingdom. What a brave boy. Of course, with mental strength like that, it makes sense his brain can't keep up in other areas. I love how much of a simpleton Asta can be. It makes him more endearing. Asta's character even inspires me to push past my own limits and never give up on my dreams.

4. William Vangeance

A sweet, quiet man with a deadly secret. I love his origin story and how it has affected his life to this day. The main thing I love is how complex his character becomes. From a top captain to a man struggling living with another soul in his body that defies the ideals and people he believes in, William is complex. I couldn't imagine living with another soul in my body for about 15ish years. Dealing with this all alone without going insane marks William as another mentally strong character. Choosing between the mentor that saved you and gave you a new life and the best friend who's shared your body for longer than you've know your mentor must be a very difficult decision to make. I'm not surprised William wasn't able to choose between them. I hope both William and Patry get a good redemption arc.

5. Finral Roulacase

A typical playboy character. He's cute, funny, and relatable. I tend not to like playboy characters, but Finral is different. He believes all women should be worshipped and treated like princesses, and he actually has a backstory. Having a sibling who is better than you in all ways reminds me of Zuko and Azula from Avatar. Despite dealing with his parents disappointment and his sibling's sneering his whole life, Finral never turned evil or tried to get revenge. At first, he ran from his problems, but with the help of the Black Bulls, he conquered his fears and grows stronger each day. I really love this boy.

6. Nozel Silva

LOOKS AT HIM HE'S SO FUCKING CUTE DJJSJDJAJJS! Ok rant over. As a royal, I never expected Nozel to have a reason for treating Noelle the way he did. Granted, I don't approve of it at all, but I love that he's working to change. He's also very stoic and strong. Nozel has a cold exterior that can be broken over time. That's what Asta did to this Silver Eagle. Now, Nozel is rivals with 2 commoners. I love that he's changing to be better with Noelle. I can't surroort how he treated Noelle before, but I love that he's working to change his relationship with her. Also, his braid is so majestic. I had a dream and the whole dream was me staring at Nozel's majestic braid flowing in the breeze. I love this handsome man.

7. Yami Sukehiro

This man. Thiiiiis man. He is glorious. He's funny, smart, grumpy, and strong. I love him for all the reasons everyone else does. The main thing I love about Yami is the vibe he gives off. When I see Yami, I see a shonen protagonist who has completed their journey and gives advice to the newest generation of protagonists. He's such a well-rounded character. I would live a spin-off series of Yami's adventures when he was young. That would really sell.

8. Fuegoleon/Leopold Vermillion

THEY'RE BOTH SO PRECIOUS

Fuegoleon: I love this man. Such an inspiration. Just like his other siblings, he doesn't care about status. My favourite line if his is: "There isn't any shame is being weak. The shame is in staying weak." This line can really apply to anything in life. He also inspires me to do better.

Leopold: BABY. Ahem. I love his spunky personality. He's makes me think of Asta had he been born into a royal family. I love that, even though he's a royal, he has his own issues to deal with: making his own way in life and not having to live in his siblings' shadow. He's just a precious bean that requires protection.

9. Klaus Lunettes/Julius Novachrono

I RAN OUT OF PIC SPACE

Anyway, I love these boys. So good.

Klaus: Mom friends are the best kind of friends. I love that he changed because he witnessed Asta and Yuno's abilities and decided these boys were strong. They weren't cheating in any way. He was the first noble to change his ways and believe is Asta and Yuno, and I really love him for that.

Julius: A man working to change his country. We love that. I love that Julius is working towards a country where everyone tears each other as equals. That's a hard task to take on, yet Julius didn't hesitate and took the challenge head-on. Also he's hot...

10. Dorothy Unsworth/Yuno

I love these babies so much.

Dorothy: Hot, short, and powerful. My spirit animal. She's hella strong and shows us that you don't need to be a big strong man to be a powerful leader. Also, she sleeps a lot, which is something I desire more of in life.

Yuno: UwU baby. Hot, strong, and stoic. What more do you need? I love his HEALTHY rivalry with Asta. It's such a joy to watch him grow side-by-side with Asta. I love him so much that I'm not even sure who I want to become the Wizard King in the end. Can we have them both be Wizard Kings?

I don't have a top 10 list of ships, but I do have ships. I'll just talk about them in no particular order.

Mereoleona x William

I love this ship because opposites attract. But if someone tells me they ship William and Patry, I'm not going to argue. Overall, this ship would make both these characters even better than they are now.

Dorothy x Nozel

I get Hinata/Kageyama vibes from this ship. A small, eager baby with a tall, stoic and distant partner. The main reason I ship this is because of the fact that Dorothy knows about what happened to Acier. Nozel wouldn't tell just anyone about that. He must trust Dorothy a huge amount for her to know that information. A royal wouldn't share his darkest family secret with a lavender-haired witch from another country. Also, after the time skip, they both changed a part of their outfits for feathers of the bird corresponding their squad. They got feathers together!

Finral x Vanessa

After the seabed temple arc, I shipped these two. They have such a wholesome relationship that makes them better people. They're so cute together! What else can I say?

Asta x Noelle

I love how much they help each other become better. Asta is doesn't realize it yet, but he cares about Noelle more than he realizes. Noelle fell for Asta because he was the first person to ever say anything good about her magic. I just love these two. They're so cute!

Yami x Charlotte

I get the same vibes from this as I get from Asta x Noelle. A tsundere and an oblivious protagonist. I love this ship for the same reasons as Asta x Noelle. I won't repeat what I said before, so read the reasoning for Asta x Noelle. I love these two as well!

Grey x Gauche

I love the reasoning for Grey loving Gauche. I totally see Gauche being as protective of Grey as he is with Marie. Grey might help Gauche loosen up a bit with Marie. These two are just really cute, ok.

I can't think of any more ships, but yeah. Those are my favourite black clover characters and my favourite ships.

#black clover #black clover nozel #nozel silva #william vangeance #dorothy unsworth #asta #mereoleona #mereoleona vermillion #fuegoleon vermillion #black clover fuegoleon #leopold vermillion #klaus lunettes #noelle silva #julius novachrono #yuno grinberryall #yuno black clover #finral roulacase #yami sukehiro

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goldenworldsabound · 3 years

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Alright I was like hm I give up on Abyss Floor 12 chamber 3 with my current team, let's switch it!

All I did was make it harder for myself really fkjadhfkjsa which is...unfortunate...

So some analysis under the cut

Original teams I was trying with -

First side: Xiao Qiqi Razor Venti

What I like about this: Xiao and Venti feed each others bursts so I get bursts more often. I always pair Xiao and Qiqi because he really needs good heals if I wanna use his burst often and recklessly. Razor is just there as a sub DPS and provides good elemental reactions.

Cons: No shields. Qiqi's heals can't keep up with how hard the enemies whack. Her burst doesn't come up often enough either tbh (that might help, when I go to get better artifacts for her).

Second side team: Diluc Zhongli Albedo Mona

What I like: Geo bursts for days both Albedo and Zhongli have hella energy recharge, plus geo constructs everywhere since I have C3 Zhongli. Diluc and Mona equals hella vaporize, very protected, team never takes any damage. This team has to be the one to fight the Ruin Graders based on survivability alone. Whichever team has Zhongli has to do it.

Cons: tbh none, this team is flawless, the problem is the other team is very unprotected.

So I tried to switch the teams thusly:

first side: Xiao Qiqi Albedo Venti

second side: Diluc Bennett Zhongli Mona

honestly...both sides were worse. Qiqi is not good for applying elements (and Anemo doesn't interact with Geo) so it was hard to get shields, particularly with chamber 3 because Ruin Guards don't element. So all I did was remove my sub DPS really. Second side just didn't do as much damage as it did the first time, so it was slower but still fine.

If I want to put Albedo on the first side team, I need to add someone who does better elements. Xiao is the DPS so no go. I need a healer so I ought to keep Qiqi. So that would mean Venti. But Venti is what makes chamber 2 doable for this team when it would otherwise be pretty difficult, so that's also a no go...I think I could potentially leave Albedo on the other team and add Noelle to this one for a shield, but she isn't built. At all. Or leveled. But I think I got her C4 now which is pretty good? Then I could leave second side in it's original form. Noelle can also be a sub DPS since I'm losing Razor to have her on the team. That sounds pretty reasonable to me? But it also means we still only have Qiqi as applying elemental reactions and I think that's a mistake. So I think it might be more worth trying a team that replaces Venti...

I could also imagine restructuring as such

first side: Diluc Qiqi Mona Venti

second side: Xiao Bennett Zhongli Albedo

Potentials pros to this...Diluc gets melt and evaporate, we have a fire guy to deal with the ice geovishap and the ice cicin mage. No shield but Mona and Venti are both solid CC and Qiqi heals great. For the second side, with Zhongli's shield Xiao can take damage and hang out and wait for Bennett's burst to come up and be fine. Zhongli and Albedo are great sub DPS while Xiao's burst/skills are coming up.

Although...side one has little recourse against the Ruin Guards so maybe that's still a bad idea...hm...

I've kind of convinced myself to try this team actually. Not tonight because it's late now but...hm...it seems promising.

#genshin posting #abyss thoughts #<- I want to be able to find this later lol

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crystalelemental · 3 years

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General status update for Dragalia Lost progress.

I’m getting my shit rocked at this point. Not as bad as you think, but still pretty bad.

Every team is now at least 30k might. So that’s pretty decent, definitely satisfied there. We can beat every Expert Agito fight on co-op, which is also really nice. We have not yet beaten a single Master level fight of them, however. Which is distressing, to say the least.

Maybe I’ve over-emphasized the Shadow Agito weapons, but we really only have resources from Kai Yan left. I focused on the trees, and have capped out Light, Shadow, and Wind. Water I need to gather tier 1 drops, and Fire has another 5 upgrades now, so that’s fun. But I don’t like farming them too much, so I’ve been making Dragon weapons for the non-Shadow teams, using the weekly bonus drops from the High Dragon Trials. It’s been going alright. Once I can get the Light Wand to 4 unbinds I’ll be satisfied. I’m not about to spend resources upgrading the 5-8 unbinds, though. Those are for Damascus Ingots, no matter how long it takes to farm them out. Sure I need like 16 and currently have 2, but we’ll get there eventually and I’m willing to be patient on this one.

The main trouble is the Mercurial Gauntlet. I’m four clears away from having the maximum amount of Eldwater I can get per month. Yes, that’s only like 1900 eldwater, and that’s really not that much anyway, but I feel like it’s the principle of the matter and I’d like to get there before the payout this month. Which is proving challenging.

Water is basically deadlocked, in large part because I only have maxed out Chimera weapons on them. I can’t bring myself to upgrade further than that. Farming Agito resources isn’t fun, and fuck the High Mercury fight. To make matters worse, I’m...not exactly sold on the current team. I have Gala Elisanne, and have been trying to make use of her. While her attacking skill does incredibly good damage, it...really does not go off very often, so I’m not sure I like it that much. Pinon and Lily are solid offensive support, but I’m also not that invested in either. And Nurse Aeleen is...mana spiral when? The point is, if I’m going to change them out, farming out Agito resources and the rupees needed to make those weapons is asking a lot. So they’re my weakest team by far, and will likely stay that way until I can figure out what the hell I’m doing.

Wind team is solid. Maribelle is great for offensive damage with Vayu, while Kirsty and Valentine’s Melody have great poison-focused damage output as well. I run Akasha for right now, but honestly might swap to Formal Noelle once I can complete her last few mana nodes. The added damage from Poisoned Punisher is really, really nice, and while I enjoy the faster skill charge from Akasha’s S2, it only happens like twice in the entire two-minute fight with Roy Fafnir. Which is pretty bad, actually! Akasha’s another I feel like kinda needs a Mana Spiral. Maybe one day.

Light’s pretty good too. Gala Zena, Yukata Curran, Radiant Xuan Zang, and I recently had to make the tough call to swap out Odetta for Summer Cleo. Triple paralysis focus. The DPS is strong, but also just slightly under where it needs to be. I blame this largely on a lack of good dragons. Seriously, we have Gala Thor, and he’s great, but my only other options are High Jupiter, Cupid, Liger, and Tie Shan Gongzhu. Whose skill haste is nice, I will admit. But lacking any unbinds is kinda painful for the overall might. It sucks seeing your same-element dragon be applied and your might go down a few hundred points from just running Gold Fafnir. We’re really close to beating the next step, but we’re gonna need a lot more than that to clear four rounds.

Basically, if either Wind or Light can clear their remaining rounds, we’ll make it to max eldwater rewards. If Water clears, we’d still need one more. So I’m focusing my efforts on Wind and Light. And to that end, I’m considering using up my Sunlight Stones.

The big considerations are Vayu, and Tie Shan Gongzhu. Both of them have no unbindings at all. Vayu feels more valuable, given the raw damage output that another 20% increase to skill damage and however much strength we gain would do for Maribelle, who stacks skill haste and has Akasha to speed up those skills’ activation. Tie Shan Gongzhu is mostly because Light is the closest element to clearing what we need, and she might push us over that edge. I could also start working on farming out Cupid essences. With ten days left, I won’t quite make max unbinding, but since we have two already we could at least make it to three, which could help.

That said, there’s another option that involves focusing entirely on Wind team. 4 stones to Vayu, two to Mids Zero, and two to Ariel. That caps out all the dragons being used on Wind team, and would increase a lot of skill damage and skill haste effects being used. Unfortunately that spends everything at once. Which isn’t exactly ideal. I know Sunlight Stones should probably be saved for Gala dragons, and in particular my Gala Poseidon should probably take them since he’s the only other Gala dragon I have. And then there’s the fact I’d be doing all of this for like 1900 eldwater, and you get more than that just pulling a 4* duplicate unit. So it’s probably not worth it. But I am tempted.

Beyond that, it’s mostly just focusing on structures at this point. I’ve pretty much given up on Master Agito. It takes forever to even get into a room for one, and you lose pretty much immediately every time anyway. It’s just not fun at all, and I have no desire to keep pushing for it. The only other content I’m now stuck on is the Tier 3 raid battles in the current event. Which I think counts as an Astral battle, so I’m working on getting Void weapons for the Light team up to 5 unbinds, so they can all pack Astral Bane, in hopes that helps.

I’ve spent a ton of stamina resources on farming out elemental orbs and the insignias from Imperial Onslaught. I’ve capped both Lance, Staff, Wand, and Bow dojos, and am working on dagger and axe. Those have direct benefits for Shadow team, Wind team, and Light team. Less directly, it also helps Water team. I don’t have a single Blade unit or Manacaster unit, and the only Sword unit now is Lea on Fire team, so that one can wait. I’ve also got one of each elemental altar maxed out, so we’re approaching the point where individual character might is kinda hitting its limit. Which is good, less to fuss about.

Last thing to note: I have 4 tenfold summon tickets, 30 single pull summon tickets, and over 10k wyrmite. Which is not even nearly enough for a spark. Fortunately, I also can’t say I’ve cared about anything since Formal Noelle. And given the talk about Persona 5 crossover, and Gala Chelle likely not being for a few months, I’m pretty confident I’m in the clear. With any luck, the pushback about wyrmite output being cut nearly in half will cause them to up their game again, and it won’t take so long to gather resources. It’s probably because of that, but man, I remember people talking about this game as if it were the most generous thing in the world, and it very does not feel that way at all between limited summoning resources, AND not even getting a single free summon like you do in FEH.

#dragalia lost

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bloodraven55 · 5 years

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The Potential of Glimmer's Villain Arc

Okay so a lot of people have been theorising about what's coming next for Glimmer's character with everything that's happened in Season 3. And I have plenty of thoughts of my own so this is going to be my longest analysis post in a while. I'll put it under a cut for ease of reading, and I hope y'all enjoy!

So as an introduction let's briefly look at where Glimmer is now. She's getting ever closer to Shadow Weaver, and we all know how well that ended for her father, plus the loss of Angella is undoubtedly going to be hugely traumatic for her, especially because as she herself says she assumed that Angella would always be there since she was immortal.

Angella is gone, Adora is going to be under a whole lot of mental strain of her own due to the revelations she's had about her past and the pain of having lost both Catra and Angella for good as far as she's concerned, the rest of the Princess Alliance aren't exactly around a whole lot at Bright Moon, and it doesn't look like Shadow Weaver is going anywhere any time soon as long as there's power to be had and the Rebellion is where she can best work towards her own goals.

What I'm saying is, Glimmer likely isn't going to have much of a support system except for Bow next Season, and she's in a prime position for Shadow Weaver to employ similar manipulation tactics and methods of abuse on her as she did on Catra and Adora. Glimmer has no real experience with that type of abuse and manipulation, or any real frame of reference to understand the more nuanced form of evil that Shadow Weaver represents, and so she probably won't realise that she's being played and pushed down a darker path until it's too late.

So with that basis established let's look at some of the other signs that seem to point towards an arc of this sort for Glimmer.

One very significant thing is some of the cinematography in Moment of Truth.

First Glimmer is positioned directly in front of the image of her father in this shot, showing us that she's figuratively as well as literally taking the same position as Micah with regards to becoming Shadow Weaver's pupil. Note that she’s standing in darkness rather than in the light in this frame as well, because that’s going to be important going forward.

It’s also very telling that this shot comes right after Glimmer argues with her mother about the best course of action and first suggests accepting Shadow Weaver’s help. The visual symbolism of her replacing her father on screen reflects her taking the first step towards filling the same role as him in the story as well.

Then we have Glimmer flat out stepping from the light into the darkness as she decides to perform the spell with Shadow Weaver. Which is extremely Not Subtle.

Plus the angle of the following shot making Shadow Weaver's outstretched hand look bigger and more striking to highlight the threat that the offer poses.

And finally there's the way that the scene where they actually do the spell is framed. Shadow Weaver's hand extends through the circle, like a barrier is being crossed metaphorically, and again it fills the screen to make it seem threatening and imposing.

Meanwhile when we get the reverse shot, which I might add is clearly meant to actually be from Shadow Weaver's perspective, Glimmer looks very small and very young, an uncertain and far less powerful figure ripe to be taken advantage of.

There is no way that the tone of this scene was accidental. Without any dialogue being exchanged it's telling us that Glimmer is going to suffer for this choice---it's telling us to be worried---and it's honestly a masterful piece of television.

Another aspect that isn't hugely noticeable on first watching is the undercurrent running through the show of Glimmer's desire for power. She's not obsessively power hungry the way Shadow Weaver is, that's for sure, but she does often demonstrate annoyance at her own limitations.

"Glimmer is frustrated by the constraints of her magic, by the constraints of being a princess, the daughter, of this immortal queen — her mother is this kind of immortal, untouchable angel and her father was the best sorcerer that Mystacor has ever seen. And she’s in the shadow of that." (x)

This quote from a recent interview with Noelle Stevenson pretty much spells it out, and I don't think I need to mention the importance of the use of the word "shadow" here.

With all of that covered, I want to move on to something I haven't seen talked about as much, which is the ways that Glimmer and Catra are paralleled in the story.

"In some ways I think [Glimmer]’s a little bit of a mirror to Catra, although neither of them would ever admit it."

I find this quote from the same interview incredibly intriguing, and it gives me lots of ideas about not only the potential development that a villain arc for Glimmer could bring to her own character, but also the development it could bring in terms of her and Catra as foils for each other in the narrative.

For a start, Noelle then goes on to talk about how "it’s always been this kind of like losing battle for [Glimmer]" and I would like to point out the resemblance to Catra's lines about how she "never gets to win" and "if [she] wins a battle [she] loses the war", because this really does seem to foreshadow that Glimmer could end up in a similar place next season to where Catra was at the end of Season 3.

"So when someone comes to her and offers her more power and the ability to actually really save the day and prove her worth, she takes it. Glimmer’s also sorta crossed the line in the sand this season."

This part of the interview I want to bring up just to further prove that the way these things were written this season was certainly deliberate and it isn't reaching to draw these conclusions from them. It's apparent that the writers are very aware of what they're doing in terms of Glimmer and Catra's character arcs and the possible link between the two so I simply wanted to include this quote to give my analysis here a more solid grounding.

The one thing I'd like to pick out of that as well is the idea that Glimmer is looking to "prove her worth", which is something that has been the core of Catra's decision making throughout most of the show so far. In the past it was Catra making bad choices in an attempt to get respect and admiration from Shadow Weaver, and now I believe it will be Glimmer's turn to do the same.

But beyond that, I want to wind the clock back to the beginning of Season 3 for a moment, specifically to when Glimmer asserts that "evil people don't change." Adora is quick to point out that that is an extremely reductive mindset to have and far from always the case, though she does so by applying it to completely the wrong target in the form of Shadow Weaver who is almost certainly not going to be redeemed in any way, but that got me thinking about how Glimmer flirting with her inner darkness could be utilised in the story in exceedingly interesting ways.

The most obvious path is that through having to redeem herself for bad decisions that she made for understandable reasons, Glimmer would come to realise that things aren't as black and white as people being good and evil but rather there is far more nuance to be found with regards to morality. Basically, she would gain a greater understanding of what it means to be good or bad and the possibility of redemption first hand and grow to acknowledge that she was wrong to oversimplify it down to a binary choice of people being immutably good or evil and never able to change.

However, I would also like to discuss how Glimmer's villain arc could intersect with Catra's redemption arc. Glimmer has always balked at Adora's attempts to get through to Catra, telling her that Catra is evil because she's with the Horde and dismissing the notion of a redemption for her. But if Glimmer sinks to that same point---if she hits rock bottom the way Catra did---and she sees Catra pick herself back up and rebuild herself successfully to become a better person than she was before?

Well, then that could provide some amazing inspiration for Glimmer to then follow in her footsteps and break free from the cycle of Shadow Weaver's abuse herself as well. Add Catra getting to see that the Princesses are far from perfect but fallible people just like everyone else on top of that, and both Glimmer and Catra would evolve as part of the same arc and come out of it with a much stronger understanding of each other and just how people work in general.

Lastly I want to bring up this quote that I’ve put below from a recent convention.

"Interesting foil! Catra is a secretly sweet person with her darkness on the outside. While Glimmer is the opposite."

As well as again emphasising that Glimmer and Catra are in some ways two sides of the same coin, this would definitely seem to back up my theory and indicate that Glimmer has depths that she herself doesn't even understand that are now going to be pulled to the surface by Shadow Weaver.

To add to this, in the interview I drew from earlier Noelle comments that "the way this season ends has major repercussions for Glimmer. It throws her into a world that she never expected to be in." I think the second half of that quote is key. Glimmer never realised that she had this darkness within her, let alone expected to tap into it, and this is why it could lead to serious growth for her as a person to discover the worst of herself and in the end choose to cultivate the best of herself despite that.

There’s one more layer to the Glimmer/Catra aspect of all this as well if you combine this theory with the concept of Micah being alive and mentoring Catra during her redemption process. Because it would link Glimmer and Catra even more closely and beyond that it would create a great call back to the fact that this arc started with Glimmer being paralleled with her father.

And if Catra does work with the Rebellion at some point in the distant future, this could also serve as a starting point for the two of them constructing a friendship using the foundation of that shared similar experience (and also a shared father figure potentially) as they learn how to be part of the same team. It might also play into restoring Adora's faith in the people around her as seemingly losing Glimmer to darkness so soon after losing Catra the same way would undoubtedly nearly destroy her and it would give her some much-needed motivation to see both of them pull themselves back from that.

Anyway, there we have it. Those are all of my thoughts on why I do definitely see some kind of villain arc for Glimmer, and how I think it could be an excellent addition to the show for a number of reasons. Thanks for reading and see y'all next time.

#she ra #spop #glimmer #shadow weaver #catra #adora #she ra glimmer #she ra shadow weaver #she ra catra #she ra adora #spop glimmer #spop shadow weaver #spop catra #spop adora #she ra meta #spop meta #my meta

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murasaki-murasame · 4 years

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After doing way too many summons on this gala without getting Gala Elly I’m just gonna quit while I’m ahead and start hoarding for the New Years banner, lol. And in the mean-time I’ll probably be skipping the Christmas banner so that kinda sucks but oh well.

Either way, I still got a whole bunch of new stuff in my gala summons, and also I have a lot of thoughts about the new This Month in DL post, so I’ll just put the rest of my thoughts under the cut.

I swear to god this gala was the most summons I’ve done on a banner without getting a focus unit, lmao. This must be punishment for me getting like three copies of Gala Euden last time. I think I did like 250 summons total, which included over 10 5-stars, but no Gala Elly. I may or may not end up caving to my temptations and grinding adventurer stories and hard mode campaign levels to try and summon more, but I should just quit while I’m ahead.

Either way, my haul of 5-stars, new and dupes, is:

-Gala Ranzal

-Wedding Elly

-Xanfried

-Lea

-Jeanne

-Chthonius

-Dupes of B-Zardin, Victor, Sylas, Cassandra, Gala Sarisse, Shinobi, Vayu, and Long Long [x2]. I also got another dupe Shinobi from the 5-star dragon voucher thing they just gave us.

Let’s just say that I don’t know how to feel about wanting Gala Elly and then getting Gala Ranzal + Wedding Elly, lmao. At least they’re both new units for me. Though it feels doubly bad that I got Gala Ranzal, 45MC’d him, and then almost immediately afterward I got Wedding Elly. Welp. I’m a Noelle main in eHMC anyway so it’s not a huge deal. But it’s nice to get my wind roster fleshed out more.

I’m honestly really happy about getting Xanfried, and it more or less makes up for not getting Gala Elly. He was one of those 5-stars who I was vaguely tempted to dream summon because it was bugging me that I still didn’t have him. Now I think the only launch 5-star I don’t have is Hildegarde.

I’m also happy about getting Lea, even if she isn’t a great unit and I have like six other flame swords. I really like her whole design aesthetic.

I don’t really care much about the new 5-star dragons I got, but they’re nice to have. The Long Long dupes are nice, though, since now I have a nearly MUB one for my Lin You.

Oh and I got regular Aeleen as well, and she was the last non-limited 4-star I needed to get, so that’s cool.

We’ve known about the next banner for a while because of datamines, but either way, I feel a little bit salty that the new 5-star is literally just Thaniel But Better [tm], lol. If it weren’t for the fact that Chocolatiers is a limited print, I’d say that she wouldn’t even be worth it when Thaniel’s a more accessible option who works just fine in HBH because the whole fight is literally tuned around his kit since until now he’s been the only real healer for it. I hope this doesn’t lead to people acting like Thaniel’s not good enough for eHBH anymore once Jiang Ziya comes out. I’ve invested way too much into him to switch. I did recently craft the HDT water spear, and I can use my H-Maritimus on Elly if I want to use her in eHBH, but I still want to stick to Thaniel.

And on that note my H-Maritimus is at 2UB, and between the sunlight stone we’ll get soon from the Megaman event, and the dragons I have at nearly max bond level, he’ll probably be MUB soon, which should push my Thaniel above 7k might, which will be great. He’s currently at about 6,850 might, between him having +200 augments, Chocolatiers at +190 augments, a MUB HDT1 water staff, etc etc. And we’re gonna be getting the Christmas event facility again soon so that’ll boost him up even further.

Also I’m really not interested in the new dragon since he’s just water Hastur and I don’t care about that at all, lol. Durant seems cool but I already have a 50MC Natalie, and he’s a 4-star so he’d be easy enough to get off-banner anyway.

I’m gonna probably skip the Christmas banner since I went all in on this gala and I want to save for the New Years banner. And since it looks like the Christmas banner will be in just a week or so, I won’t exactly have many resources saved up by that point anyway. I’m not really interested in any of the existing Christmas alts, though, so it’d probably be an easy skip anyway, unless the new ones really interest me.

I hope that them doing the Christmas rerun stuff earlier in the month than I expected means we might get a Christmas-themed raid event afterward, but I won’t get my hopes up. I think we’re due for a new raid event anyway, but that’ll probably be what the New Years event is anyway, I guess.

I’m curious to see how they handle the New Years stuff, since it’d feel weird to rerun the Ieyasu event/banner, with how that was themed around the current zodiac year. I think we’ll just get a new event with new units, and probably a new welfare unit along with the event itself. With how good Ieyasu was [and how salty I still am about not having him], I think it’ll be worth saving for that.

Though considering that the next story chapter is gonna apparently be Luca-focused, I’m guessing the January gala unit will be Gala Luca, who I’d be extremely interested in, so that’s another thing to worry about saving for, lol.

And on that note we’re getting Chapter 11 in about two weeks, and even though we got more or less the same teaser description for it as last time, we at least have a better look at the two new android characters. Even though they’re gonna be antagonists I still kinda hope we can get them as playable units some day.

We also got more info on the new endgame boss mode, and even though I still want more specific details about it, my current guess is that it’s basically going to be High IO. It’ll probably be themed around there being new android military squads to fight against, with the new bosses being their leaders or whatever. It’d be fun to get some genuinely difficult wave-based content, but it’d also be great if it means we can get facility upgrade materials a lot faster.

The reveal of the new mode being called The Agito Uprising also more or less confirms that rumour that’s been going around for a while, which also talked about how the Christmas banner would include a new Christmas Phoenix alt, that the new endgame bosses would drop 6-star weapons, that we’ll get a Monster Hunter collab in February, and that Mikoto, Ezelith, Naveed, and Xanfried will be at least some of the first units to get their sixth mana circle upgrades.

I’m honestly kinda happy to hear about Christmas Phoenix since that makes it more likely that the Christmas banner will be an easy skip for me, lmao. But anyway, I really wouldn’t be surprised to see the Agito Uprising bosses dropping weapons that are roughly between 5t3s and HDT weapons in power. we really need something like that to ease the transition into the eHDT cycle. I’ve basically given up on getting into eHJP/eHZD until something along those lines happens to make them more accessible, lol.

I still have a lot of questions about how the whole sixth mana circle upgrade thing will work, and sadly this didn’t really tell us anything new, but they at least said that they’re aware of how limited the pool of units used in endgame content is, and that they’ll try and make changes to make more units viable for that, so that’ll probably be the main point of the sixth mana circles. I have a feeling that only 5-star units will end up getting them, which would kinda suck. There’s a lot of 5-stars who need an upgrade, but there’s also a lot of other units who need an upgrade too.

They did mention that they’ll be doing something with 3-star units in general, though, so I’m really curious about that. I really really want them to rebalance 3-star units so that they all have 100% on-element status resistances. I could take or leave anything else, but they really need that sort of buff. There’s no real point to holding back a unit by giving them incomplete or off-element status resistances. Which also applies to welfare 4-stars. For example, my Xania would be way more viable in eHMS if she can get to 100% stun res without needing a print, and it’d just be great in general if Vixel could get an actually relevant status resistance for his element. I have a feeling they won’t change anything else about their kits, but even just that’d be nice.

My realistic prediction for what the sixth mana circle upgrades will actually include is that it’ll more or less just be more of what we already have with the current ones. It’ll probably just be a few flat stat upgrades, maybe some more coability node upgrades, and one or two upgrades to the skills/abilities of each unit. At the very least I think that units will get a third upgrade to their S2, since those only go up to two upgrade tiers whereas every unit gets three tiers to their S1. And there’s a lot they could do to improve units by buffing and adding stuff to their S2s. For example, Thaniel would really benefit from getting a regen heal added to his S2, but Jiang Ziya existing makes me think they’re just forgetting about Thaniel for good. I can’t really think of what they could do with any of the 5-stars, though. It’s possible but less likely that some units might also get upgrades to one of their abilities, but that’s a bit more uncertain than them getting skill upgrades, if only because there’s a lot of ability types that you just can’t upgrade at all, like 100% status resistance or skill prep abilities.

It’d be really nice if they changed the second ability of 3-stars to 100% status resistance and gave them something entirely new for their third ability, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just buff the 25% status resistance abilities of those units to 50% status resistance.

Also, we got more details about how we’re getting higher-level void battles added, and higher difficulties added to the void dragons, which I think is a necessary addition in order to help bridge the gap toward endgame content. As it is now, void battles aren’t really worth doing outside of endeavors. But it’s also nice that they’ve added augments to the void dragons and stuff.

In general they’d been making a lot of steps toward easing the progression toward endgame content, especially with the other changes they made to Avenue to Fortune, and them also adding augments to HDT drops. It’s nice that they’re aware of the issue of how steep the progression curve is right now, but it also really makes it clear that it’s a genuine problem that they’re currently being stuck trying to fix. I don’t really blame them for it, though. These things happen with games like this. I’m just glad that they’re actually addressing it instead of leaving it unchanged.

It’ll sadly take a while for them to add all of the new void bosses on the same tier as the Volcanic Chimera, but it’ll be nice to eventually have more accessible options to get into other eHDTs and stuff.

Anyway a whole bunch has been going on lately and I think it’s on a good track. Honestly my biggest issue right now is that since they changed the UI I keep clicking the wrong buttons when I’m trying to go between menus, lmao.

Oh and yeah the Megaman event is a thing that’s happening. There’s really not a lot to say about it because it’s so barebones and gameplay-focused, but it’s fun, and I like how much they’re leaning into the aesthetic of it. Megaman himself is a really goddamn weird unit, though. I like how much he’s apparently designed to play like he’s in an actual Megaman game, but it’s a weird playstyle to get used to for this game. And I still prefer Xania as a flame wand, lol.

#dragalia lost #this week on 'rate up is a lie': I get punished for my hubris :)

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 5 years

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Morose Mononokean II 4

Aw, another little fuzzball to steal away my heart? I’m being spoiled, aren’t I?

For some reason, this episode was meant to be really emotional, but I felt pretty restless while watching it. Probably because I was thinking about playing Merc Storia all that time.

Mob Psycho 100 II 4

Didn’t expect Shinra to be back after his previous appearance…

Notably, you’d expect Matsuo’s name to have the kanji for “pine tree” in it, but it doesn’t - it has the kanji for “demon” and then one more.

I loved it when FLCL and SGRS went into manga mode, but for some reason, the transition into manga mode didn’t land as well here…hmm.

“I’ll go inside her…With an out-of-body experience.” - That sounds majorly wronggggggggggg, Mob, y’know? Even with context.

I find it interesting Mob perceives himself to be naked…as in, unguarded. He’s fine as he is and doesn’t need to change…in some ways, anyway. He could probably do with a few more emotions, but you get what I mean.

Wha-wha-wha-whoaaaaaaaaa. You mean, Mogami just got rid of Mob’s powers??? That is a nasty cliffhanger!

My Roommate is a Cat 4

Just seeing Hiroto near Kawase’s armpit…so unfazed…it’s kinda funny, but only mildly.

Tuxedo cat…ergh. The differences between American and British English never ceases to trip me up…I mean, the term makes sense…it’s just the differences between the types of English I’m annoyed at.

If you observe the OP, you’ll see Haru has that collar…I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a spoiler then…

Haru basically has the mindset of Kaguya and Shirogane, which makes this hilarious (and yet it’s still justified due to being a believable mindset for a stray!).

S-Smug dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get out of the way of Haru-chan!

Shield Hero 4

“Draw your swords!” – Wasn’t there a rule saying Naofumi can’t use a sword anyway? Plus, Motoyasu has a spear, not a sword…

Balloon? Now, that’s funny!

Using magic to intervene is the cowardly action, methinks, Myne.

I find it interesting Naofumi sees Raphtalia as a little girl – it’s a perception of vulnerability, potentially weakness – when things are shown through his perspective.

Falling Through Starlight is beautiful, y’know that? Be-a-uuuuuuuuuuu-t-i-ful!

Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka 4

Interestingly, Francine kinda looks like Mami (Madoka Magica).

Wait, is this woman Miura? (Sorry, I’m just wondering why Abigail – the blonde evil magical girl – would choose to use yakiniku to threaten people…)

Oh dear…it’s that train question (save one or save many).

Neding authority before you can actually do anything legal…now that sounds like Double Decker.

“Chef”? I was mortified when it came to the rusalka scene…but I think we already know why Povar is a chef…

CQC? Close quarters combat? Ooh, I’ve never heard it abbreviated before.

Well, I like how Povar and Rusalka Man (can’t spell Russian to save my life) always keep their salaries in mind. Makes them easier to see as evil.

Egao no Daika 5

Oh, this series has two moons? Kind of like Double Decker’s two suns, yeah?

I just realised Lily’s the only one with a skirt on her suit…

Morose Mononokean II 5

I don’t think I’ve seen a Fuzzy-centric episode ever since the first time we met the furball…

That hand on neck thing is apparently a CIA technique if I interpreted it right…just, it’s applied to a purple/white lion, so it’s hard to tell whether it’s the real thing…

Fluffy tadpole is best tadpole. All fluffy things are cute to me, even the lethal ones…I guess.

Seriously, if someone doesn’t call the animation of the Executive sakuga, I don’t know sakuga! That crow is some fancy animation!

Hanae’s mother is scarier than most youkai, given she can give me a nasty jump scare!

Mob Psycho II 5

This episode’s called Discord…which maks me think of the chat program of the same name…weird, huh?

Notably, it’s Dimple’s voice coming from Mob’s mouth…hmm.

That episode was real cool…it’s too bad by turning off the volume at the wrong time, I missed the Sajou no Hana song…

My Roommate is a Cat 5

Roku, Nana, Hachi…haha.

I noticed Haru has smaller eyes than Hachi…aside from the collar of course.

Aw…reunion too cute. I honestly think that this show has a fairly effective use of “filling in the gaps”, as it were, and thus making good use of cuts.

Double Decker! EX 1

Yep, we’re back with Double Decker!!! I’m glad to see it back, really.

Wait…ohhhhhhhhh. So Double Decker! doesn’t just refer to the bus in this show or the system. It means “2 Detectives” in Japanese (in a codeswitching sort of way). It was wordplay all along! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! I get it now!

This Deana assassin stuff must be a lie…

(after the commercial break) C’mon, Kirill, buddy. You’re drunk, y’know that, right…? Right??? Update: Oh, not drunk, dreaming. My mistake.

Oh, I was just saying that My Roommate is a Cat dos a nice job “filling in gaps”. Didn’t realise Double Decker did it as well. Also, how the heck is Doug unpopular with women???

So…Kirill actually got hired based on his feminine looks? Geesh, that Travis…

The thing I missed about this show was not being able to play the ED after an episode, so I’m glad to have it back!

Spec Ops Asuka 5

Having Kurumi fix up Nozomi’s arm kind of erases the consequences…but that’s what Kurumi’s for, right?

Barber Scissors…? Is this what happens when you take Kill la Kill way too seriously?

Wowee. Din’t think Sacchuu was capable of dealing nasty punches as well.

There’s gotta be some sort of parallel between Abigail and the queen vs Asuka and Kurumi��

Post-credits segment. Keep watching.

Shield Hero 5

Headbutt to the nuts! Oof!

When it comes to races, the one tune that comes to mind is one from the Dog Island (track 22 from this YouTube playlist).

I swear there was CGI during the race…on Filo.

Please don’t make jokes about Naofumi liking lolis, people. This is not that type of show…

Mononokean 6

Is it just me, or has this epiode been relying on the use of blue speech bubbles for humour more than normal?

It’s Mononokean: Sports Anime edition!

For some reason, I find the name “trashboat” hilarious. It was probably just “ponkotsu” (piece of trash) in practice, but the variation in English is really something to behold…

Ashiya sleeps like an old man, LOL. It must be cosy in that bed…

Moja is just adorable in whatever scene it appears in! Even Moja being dragged down a stream is cute~!

Relaxing your shoulders, huh? That reminds me that that’s a destress technique I haven’t used in a while. My head’s been spinning while I was trying to watch this episode, so I should probably get back to trying to do that stuff…after this episode, of course.

Price of Smiles 6

You think Spec Ops Asuka looks bad? Look at Price of Smiles melt in this “Yuni! You should recover!” scene.

For some reason, this one dude (I forget his name) being a father surprises me. He looks like the type to be single…

The female version of the name “Noel” is Noelle…get that right, people!

Layla’s right when she says one of the main causes of war is the struggle for resources and wealth.

Mob Psycho II 6

I noticed instead of a Mac or something, the computer is a “One” computer.

The board says something a lot more complicated than Saitama’s routine…which means One likes exercise. Maybe…probably.

“Codomo” phone, LOL.

The last time I heard of tofu in anime that I remember…was Boueibu. Something about Ryuu killing a man with tofu.

Somehow it didn’t occur to me until the eyecatch was over but the block…was tofu!

How do you even get drunk when there’s no alcohol in the drink??? (LOL)

Oh! Shinra again!

…Also Jodo Kirin!

Shield Hero 6

Naofumi is giving 0 f**ks about the dressmaker’s love of Filo.

Why is Filo CGI…? It looks unnerving, to be honest with you.

My Roommate is a Cat 6

Eleventh grade…16? 17? Heck, Yugo looks 27, not 17!

Notably, “Comic Polaris” is the name of the magazine that publishes the manga of this. Hence “Novels Polaris”.

Heck, Subaru. In the internet age in particular, people write to affect others. I should know, as someone who did just that just a few years ago!

Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine movie

Yay, we’re back! Crunchyroll bringing over movies is definitely increasing my workload for these commentaries, so with all the new things I’ve added to my lists of priorities as of late, I wonder if I can keep up…

Hitting us with CGI in the first minute of the movie…oh man, how far does CGI go these days???

Honestly, in my brain Wagner (Classicaloid) = the twins (this movie) = the Beppus (Boueibu LOVE! LOVE!). They’re very similar in terms of personality…

In the same way, Bruno = Schubert from Classicaloid (but swap one’s Sensei for the other’s Senpai).

Licht = Motz.

It seems like someone liked ponytail!Licht enough to keep him here. So it really wasn’t just me, huh?

Seriously, what’s this “God of War” stuff anyway???

Man, vocal exercises? This takes me back to my piano-playing days…I was a sightreader and only had to do one of the two (out of sightreading and vocal stuff), but there was someone else who had to do both.

This piano is bugging me. Its white keys are black and its black keys are white!

Somehow, Heine’s small top hat suits him. It’s probably because he wears a small beret in that same position usually.

More CGI background characters…*sigh*

Hmm…soft power at its finest(?)

Seriously though, why did that evil Duke guy appear in this movie again??? He has zero use plotwise. Sure, he was important in the first season and if we ever get a second he’ll be important there, but here? Nada!

Have you noticed Heine is in all those dance positions a girl would normally be in??? Hmm! Interesting! But still…if there’s one thing I ever missed from the anime’s experience, it would be-oh, scratch that! This is my cue to watch the cheesy live-action dance ending! I missed it so much!

Egao no Daika 7

Seriously…who is Eins talking to??? Whose emperor???

They still haven’t revealed what this new guy’s name is, even after his introduction…well, technically he was introduced at the River Deese, but we still didn’t learn his name then. (Did we?)

Spec Ops Asuka 6

Is Mia just this show’s version of Kyouko (from Madoka Magica, but American of course)???

Oooooookay, that (with the kissing and stuff) is so not what foreigners are like, people…

Oh, goodness. Have I really been living with this stuff (girl x girl teasing, with Kurumi in particular being one of the more extreme examples I’ve seen) in my magical girl anime for years now? I mean, Suite PreCure is laced with the stuff…

If ordinary rigor mortis business is at work, then I’d say the heater is to speed up the rotting of the corpse…

LOL, there’s Halloween-class…and then there’s Voorhees-class…how appropriate for Disas.

“Only one of the Magical Five would’ve known about that phrase.” – My bets are on Peipei, but we’ll find out for sure…someday.

Mononokean 7

As much as I found the pillow fight scene with Fuzzy in it funny, I swear Abeno is a bit too sadistic for my own good. What is it with some women and their sadistic kinks…?

Abeno calling Ashiya “hunk of junk” makes me think Ashiya isn’t much of a Sousuke (from Classicaloid), but they do have a lot of similar character traits, now that I think of it…hmm.

For some reason, I think Abeno knew the conditions of the deal and what the deal entailed in advance, hence the training camp.

Seiza…means sitting on the floor in the position Ashiya was in (knees to the floor etc).

Mob Psycho II 7

“Cheeseburger Tornado”, LOL.

When Reigen got angry at the TV, I was just like, “It’s Shield Hero (Mob Psycho version)!” I.e. you con the conman and not turn the conned into a conman…or something like that.

Those microphones are so obviously CGI, people…

I know I’m a fan of Yuzuru Tachikawa, but episode 5 actually didn’t do too much for me, to be honest (even though it was visual spectacle, which is Tachikawa’s strong suit). However, while episode 7 looked less punchy overall, it was miles better…

“First-press limited edition? That is the absolute best decision.” – What is that referring to??? Update: It’s referring to the BDs...or DVDs...or both.

Update: Forgot to add Double Decker to the title and tags.

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araniaexumae · 6 years

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Do You Want to Fall in Love With Me (and Go to France) ? - chapter seven

Previous chapters are in this tag and on AO3

James took her hand in his before they reached the filming crew. He smiled reassuringly. Lily was not grateful for the butterflies in her stomach - fucking butterflies, was she sixteen again?- which did not help her calm down the least. James on the other hand, looked completely at ease. Amused, even.

“Hi! You must be Lily and James! I'm Noelle. It's so great to meet you. You're even more gorgeous in person.” A brunette woman walked towards them and hugged them both. Lily didn't think she had ever seen someone so enthusiastic about meeting people.

“Hi! We are.” James answered and smiled warmly.

“I hope you've enjoyed the room so far.” There was no mistaking the innuendo in that sentence. James coughed.

“Let's sit down!” The woman suggested, taking James' free hand and dragging them both towards a nearby table. She made them sit in front of her and pulled a folder out of her bag, which was on a chair next to the table.

“So this is the filming schedule. As you can see, you will not be filmed more than three hours a day. Hopefully you'll both be telegenic. I'm sure you'll be. Such attractive people!” She complimented them again before handing them a white sheet of paper.

As promised, they weren't going to be filmed that much. More than Lily's liking, but she was getting a free trip to France in exchange, so could she really complain? Looking lovingly at James and kissing him once or twice shouldn't be so hard. Don't kid yourself, you can't wait to kiss him. She would have liked their first kiss to not be for the cameras though. So she'd have to make it happen before – she looked at the timetable – shit, they were going to be filmed right now. She still had a chance though. They were only going to tape “presentation shots” right now so maybe these wouldn't involve their lips touching.

READ ON AO3

“You're going to film us right now?” Apparently James had just read the same thing.

“Yes. Don't worry, it won't take long. You just have to tell who noticed the other's profile and messaged the other first.” She explained with a big smile. Does her face not get tired?, Lily wondered. “We can do several takes. But of course you'll be free sooner if you nail it on the first take!”

A man appeared out of nowhere and started adjusting Lily and James' hair and applying some make-up to Lily's face. It didn't take more than twenty minutes and when Lily was allowed to glance at herself in a small round mirror, she was pleased to see that it looked more or less like her usual make-up. She could never get the eyeliner as symmetrical as this, though.

Noelle came towards them again. “Okay, so if you're ready, we'll start right away.

“Don't we practice first?” Lily asked.

“We prefer to film even the first take because often it looks the best. Our goal is for it too look real.” The woman explained. “But don't worry, you can mess up. Well a little. We do have a schedule.” She reminded them with a too sweet voice.

James grabbed Lily's hand again and squeezed it. “Don't worry. I'm great at improvising.” She didn't have any trouble believing that. Just by the fact that he had agreed to this whole charade in the first place, Lily could tell he was a spontaneous person. She smiled at him.

“Okay let's do this.”

“She was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen. Honestly. I was just scrolling through Matchmakin absentmindedly and I actually almost missed her profile. That would have been a shame, really. It was the hair that I noticed first. Obviously. And then the freckles. I really like freckles. ”

Lily could feel her cheeks heating up. She probably looked like a cherry tomato by now. How could he just say all these things of the top of his head? She really hoped at least some of it was true. You can't just make up all of that, right?

“So you were the one to message her first, then?” Noelle asked.

“No, actually. I was too intimidated by her to say anything. She messaged me about a week later, I think? Maybe a little sooner. Couldn't resist the Potter charm.” James smirked to the camera. Not that surprisingly, he was very good at being in the spotlight.

“Well I can't say I blame her. Thanks for meeting with us, guys. See you soon!” Noelle waved at the camera and Lily reminded herself to smile just in time.

“That was great, guys! Lily, I think you not talking in this one could be beneficial. It'll make people curious about you.”

Lily was relieved to hear that. She had found herself unable to talk once the camera had started recording. “I'll try to be a bit more comfortable about it next time.”

“Don't worry, dear. You'll get used to it in no time.” Lily guessed Noelle wasn't so bad in the end. Aggressively nice, but nice nonetheless. “And James, you were marvellous! You were really born for TV. With a face like that, it's not surprising.”

Did I say not bad? Lily grabbed James right hand in both of hers and leaned towards him. James, maybe sensing her irritation or maybe just to play pretend, kissed her temple.

The brunette woman checked her watch. “I'm sorry, I have to meet one of the other couples right now. I'll see you tonight!”

Lily looked at the timetable they had been given and noticed that there was indeed something planned for this evening. Dinner reception with all the couples and other hotel guests. She hoped the other couples would be nice. And that they wouldn't notice that James and she weren't well, a couple.

#jily #james potter #lily evans #marauders era #jily fanfiction #hp #my stuff #my writing #dywtfilwm

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rogue-rook · 7 years

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many many highlights from The Crystal Kingdom from a first-time TAZ listener

featuring some bits from the Lunar Interlude II: Internal Affairs

travis: “it was streaming on witch. that’s like magical twitch!”

SWEET ANGO HAS RETURNED!

i cannot believe griffin went to the EFFORT of making a fantasy costco jingle

the lockpicking garden gnome called the Nitpicker that insults the damn party is a beyond brilliant object for sale at the fantasy costco

I really want to lodge a complaint with the HR department of the bureau of balance on sweet angus macdonald’s behalf bc these grown men are FULL ON BULLYING THIS TEN YEAR OLD BOY GENIUS

so is this new shitty scientist consultant lucas a bigger annoyance than shitty train butler wizard jenkins or does jenkins still retain that title

travis: "anything this touches turns to crystal?" griffin: "yeah, pink tourmaline" travis: "yeah, I'm not gonna say that, because I'm an adult"

CAREY FANGBATTLE is like on par with Jess the Beheader in terms of Cool Names

griffin: “so the three of you are currently sitting in a gondola, which is another word for a little boat” travis, singing: “the more you knoooowww”

“so it’s made of crystal, right?” “yes, everything is crystal” x1000000

the crystal kingdom song is beautiful

griffin: “you see a sign that says The Magical World Of Elevators” justin: “griffin's really stickin it to the people who say he's not allowed to have elevators in this game”

today in failed brand marketing: “Upsy, your lifting friend”

this arc is ACTUALLY set up like a video game level puzzle, when griffin says “ah, you’ve solved my crystal puzzle” it will actually apply

clint: “I rolled a 4 but I get another roll...a 5″ travis: “wow, you're really bad at dnd”

merle: “I'm gonna use Banishment on the cockroach” griffin: “okay, you're just gonna yell GET OUT OF HERE COCKROACH, I DONT LOVE YOU ANYMORE”

magnus is being fucking mean to lucas, the genius inventor, and he’s been a TOTAL DICK to sweet boy genius detective angus macdonald, and i feel like pointing out that he was WAYYY nicer to shitty evil wizard train butler jenkins who beheaded a guy with a teleportation door

griffin: “one of the signs is labeled Radiation Ventilation Maintenance Chamber, and the other is labeled Lil Genius BuddyBot R&D" travis: "I feel like this is a trick” clint: “I feel like griffin has been playing Fallout”

I LOVE HODGE PODGE THE LIL GENIUS BUDDYBOT!!! EVEN IF HE TURNS OUT TO BE EVIL, THE SOUND OF HIS VOICE MADE ME LOVE HIM PRETTY INSTANTLY AND NOTHING CAN CHANGE THAT

hodge podge: “magnus! merle! take-o” goddamnit griffin

justin: “can we just put the stone of far speech in front of the robit and griffin, you can just talk to yourself?”

hodge podge is exactly the kind of unsettling demon robit with a mostly-adorable voice, except for when he goes demon-y, that I expected from griffy

justin: “my character taako has innate skills in: investigation, nature, history, religion, arcana, and religion” so is he double good at religion then

taako: “okay, I got a question for you: who....do we work for?”

lucas: “hey, are you just mean to everyone?” THANK GOD SOMEONE VOICED THIS LEGITIMATE FUCKING CONCERN, THE GRUBBY GRIFTERS ARE MONSTERS

clint: “I look up what scrumbled means” griffin: “justin said that in a Monster Factory once and I’ve been using it like it’s a real word” justin: “I am the lewis carroll of my generation”

noel the friendly medic robit’s voice started at vaguely-angus like and then became straight up country southern and i really hope somebody calls griffin on it

i really think griffin introduced the nitpicker so he could have a way of introducing his own critiques of his dad and brothers’ dnd skills

the little compact mirror has some shit in it that i think must be important

there’s a rift in space and time and pink tourmaline is coming out of it and the damn song is super ominous and making me MEGA NERVOUS and honestly i don’t know what the flying goddamn fuck is happening but i am SO INTO IT

lucas: “you’re just yelling hugbears at me” magnus: “BUG! HEARS!” “what” “what”

so is lucas just like holding these poor bugbears in fucking slavery

the grubby grifters discover the tourmalined body of boyland and magnus asked if he can DESECRATE THE GODDAMN BODY OF HIS TRAGICALLY DECEASED COWORKER

griffin: “these two figures are just taking these ice robits to Fool School”

awww they’re gonna fight one of my favorite little creepy crawlies! human sized tardigrades that will absolutely fuck their shit up!!! so cute

griffin: “you’re so loosey-goosey with your possessions! ‘hi scuddle-buddy! bye scuddle-buddy! go get on that train to hell!’”

clint/merle’s immediate panic when they decide the only option here is to CHOP HIS GODDAMN ARM OFF

killian, after picking lucas up: “THIS HAS BEEN THE WORST SHITTIEST DAY EVER, WE ARE TWO PEOPLE DOWN, YOUR LAB SUCKS!!” #relatable, I feel u killian

during this arc the mcelboys keep talking about how they don’t remember shit from the beginning of the show bc that was two years ago and im like what? what? that was three days ago, friends!! its bc ive binged this shit in under a WEEK

merle basically has a plant fetish okay, that’s the only reason this soul-wood shit worked

griffin: “it actually curls up and gives you a thumbs up as if to say 'hey! I'm your arm now!’”

so like this planar system shit is probably important, right

this parseltongue motherfucker that’s like fucking haunting the grubby grifters needs to start explaining what their whole, like, DEAL is

this Red Robe dude is having a FREAKOUT over the damn umbrella and im like mmmmm maybe taako shouldn’t have just taken the damn umbrella, no questions asked

killian’s scanner is having a major freakout over a lich being present and im like, yeah, its the fucking umbrella, yall

oh, real quick, the mcelboys gotta pause the action to whine at each other about character voices

killian: “I am going to ABSOLUTELY murder that man” yeah, killian remains the most goddamn relatable npc in this fucking world

i sure hope The Adventure Zone Zone doesn’t have any super important info in it, bc im not gonna listen to the mcelboys talk about the maxfun drive from two fucking years ago

the crystal golem just called the grubby grifters bounties, and said it was time for noelle the friendly medic robit and the grubby grifters to all go back to the astral plane and im like WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? GRIFFIN! WHAT?

OH FUCK ITS BEEN KRAVITZ THIS WHOLE GODDAMN TIME!!!!! KRAVITZ!!!!!

griffin: “a D6 is like a dice-ass-dice! that's like some monopoly shit!!”

kravitz: “i don’t even know how that even worked, like with physics”

taako: “luke! use the fork!” merle: “the fork will be with you, always”

magnus: “I want to roll an investigation check on noelle...I rolled a 2″ griffin: “okay well you know noelle is a robot”

YALL!! SHITTY TRAIN BUTLER WIZARD JENKINS AND MAGIC BRIAN THE GERMAN MORON BOTH CAME BACK!!

magic brian the german dumbass: “i had an invitation to my wedding for you, and instead of RSVP-ing, you murdered me!”

travis: “when you say they evaporate, do they go back to heaven or hell or the after plane, or whatever, or are they GONE?” griffin: “it kinda seems like you obliterated their soul. kinda seems like you just kinda ERASED them” travis: “you know, at the end of day, I punch people, but dad unmakes their existence, who's the real monster?”

the fact that noelle died in phandolin when the grubby grifters and gundren rockseeker turned the whole town to glass is so goddamn fucking tragic, THANKS GRIFFIN!!!!

lucas miller: yet more proof that dickin around with science and magic and mad scientist shit is always gonna end badly for everyone

kravitz: “taako, you’ve died eight times”...[...]..”magnus, you’ve died 19 times”...[...]...”merle highchurch, the richest bounty i have ever hunted, you have died 57 times” WHAT?? WHAT? WHAT???? WHAT???? GRIFFIN!!??? WHAT????

THIS STORYLINE IS LIT

griffin: “a legion of ghosts” justin: “great”

i think both griffin and I have forgotten that carey fangbattle and killian are in this scene. also merle has had a soul-bond wood arm this whole time

the grubby grifters beat a goddamn LEGION of ghost robits, or ghrobits, and then kravitz slides back into the scene all like “uh, hey, assholes, thanks for saving me, I’ll make up some legal loophole bullshit to thank you” that’s not a direct quote, that’s me editorializing. i fucking love kravitz

taako: "they found new bodies, just because they're mechanical doesn't mean the life is any less valid - battlestar galactica"

oh fuck magnus got a cheating deck of cards in like episode goddamn THREE and he just whips em out in episode fucking 39 against kravitz

kravitz, massively misunderstanding the assholes he’s talking to: “the rules of nature are there for a reason, so lets just stop running afoul of them, as if this all just funsy-fun make-believe!”

magnus: “kravitz! tell julia I love her” TRAVIS!!!! TRAVIS MCELROY! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO MY HEART!!!

lucas: “you'll never see me again, but if you do, i'll be doing good, and please don't kill me instantly”

justin: “i give angus a thumbs down” motherfuckers

killian: “hell yes! I love this plan! me and carey, and a robot ghost with a gun arm! sounds like a plan!” magnus: “sounds like a spinoff!” killian: “that’s sounds like some torchwood shit!”

davenport the goddamn pokemon

on one hand, I’m really goddamn suspicious that the director isn’t actually destroying the relics but is collecting them for her own gain. but on the other hand, if this turns out to not be true, I will feel bad for suspecting her so hard

taako: “director, here’s the truth. what did you have for lunch on Dec 3 2015? you don’t remember right? that’s when you told us not to talk to the Red Robes. what’s I’m saying is WE FORGOT!”

YOOO THIS EPILOGUE PROPHECY IS SOOOOOOO COOOOOL GRIFFIN!!! WHAT IS THIS!!!! ITS SO GOOD!!!!!!

this was a wild wild wild wild ride and whatever griffin is doing with this story is LIT

#balance arc #the adventure zone #the crystal kingdom #mcelroys #mine

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aurimeanswind · 7 years

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Sunday Chats—Furious Edition (4-9-17)

Here I am, in a post Fast 5, Fast and Furious 6, and Furious 7 world. I guess let’s talk about it.

Relaxing Sunday & Your Name

To kick things off, today was the first Sunday I officially had off from work since Christmas. I had missed a couple here and there, but it was either because I was sick or because of PAX. So this was the real deal. I mean, I should take some weekends off every now and again, but I never do. I almost always work Saturday and Sunday, and it is pretty killer. Sunday is my favorite day of the week, thus me sharing it with all you lovely readers.

So I kicked off my Sunday getting up early and going to a nice matinee. I had heard good things about Your Name, an anime ass anime movie, and I’m still hungering for romance (as always) so I made the time to go see it.

I really enjoyed it. Above all else, the film is astoundingly gorgeous. Some of the best drawn settings I think I have ever seen in a Japanese animation. The landscapes especially legitimately blew my away. It’s a love story between two young folks, a boy and girl, who keep switching bodies when they go to sleep. The premise is really cool, and they make it cute and wonderful in all the right places, and there were twists, which in general I didn’t expect. But there were aspects of it that were frustratingly long to come to fruition. For me, this tactic usually works very well, but it was just the pacing and the way the two characters were introduced that was very confusing or just not to my liking. In the end, I just needed those romantic feels, and I feel like I never fully got that payoff. The way it goes is something that I’ve seen a great deal in anime, and has worked for me in others (see: Waiting in the Summer) but I just don’t think there was enough of that relationship.

I still really liked it, and feel it was a well told story. It was Ghibli-eqsue, but more grounded, so worth a look

Fast and Furious I guess...

Okay I’ll talk about Fast and Furious.

I have been really hesitant to get into these because it’s y’know... cars. I don’t like cars. I like speed and action that involves cars, but the focus on cars usually gets away from me. And the focus around them was definitely my least favorite part about the three F&F movies I watched. I thought Fast 5 was by far the weakest, and I’m not sure why it’s regarded as the best. The intro was too long, and the big set piece scene of dragging the safe around, which was awesome, just went on for waaaaaay too long.

It was still a ton of fun though. Way more love for Gal Gadot because of her role in Fast 5 and 6. She was super cool, and one of my favorite of the team members. The assembling the team, the heist prep, the running from Rock-Cop, all of that worked for me, but I just felt there was more of it and it was better in F&F6.

I mean, Fast and Furious 6, as I was explaining to a friend earlier, is top-tier because of this incredible scene alone:

youtube

But 6 really just hit the ground running and never stopped. The London chase scene, the fucking tank, it was all so good.

Oh and this:

And Furious 7 was really great too. It was maybe too much for me because I was so fucking tired watching it I was falling asleep, but these movies are incredibly exhausting, to be fair.

I appreciated multiple set pieces in Furious 7, instead of hanging on just one. Also to be fair: 6 had a bunch of great set pieces, but there were like six in Furious 7. It was fucking nuts.

I enjoyed them a ton, Fast and Furious 6 is like, far and away the best one to me, and maybe I’ll go see Fate of the 8. I don’t know.

BUT THERE. I WATCHED THREE OF THEM. I SAW THE FIRST ONE A LONG TIME AGO. LEAVE ME ALONE JOEY NOELLE.

What’s on Tap

Since it’s just Persona 5 still, I’ll talk a bit more about it. I am about 55-60 hours in now, and I feel like maybe I’m halfway through? Maybe more.

LOVING IT. Literally everything about it is incredible and feels almost hand-made for me. It’s difficult for me to not be hyperbolic about it when I start thinking about it, but it’s also difficult for me to nail down what’s really all that great about it when I’m not in it and playing it. Like, a couple days removed form the last time I played it, I’m sitting here thinking, “well, is it really that good?” and that’s because I need to hold this to the highest of judgement. I can’t just say it’s better than Persona 4 Golden and mark it as my new #1 and be done, I need to be thorough here. As soon as I am a couple hours into my next play session, I’ll be head over heels again. I dream about it. I think about it always. I couldn’t even tell you why right now because it’s all hazy. The game is just that good.

We talked about it a ton of the podcast last night, and I think we had a really great discussion. All the new mechanics, all of the enhancements, they show a team they just really gets their fans, their fanbase, and also understand their own shortcomings. They poured their heart and soul into this game, and did it both for themselves, but also for a fanbase they clearly care a great deal about. I don’t think I’ve seen a developer outside of Naughty Dog so in tune with what their fan base wants even better than I, as a massive fan of theirs, could have imagined.

Again, I’m sure its hyperbolic, but the game makes me emotional, gives me chills and misty eyes in all the right places, and as I’m still very much in it, it’s hard for me to write coherently about it. I don’t even know how I feel about it right now, especially considering I’ve hit such massive moments of intrigue just where I last left off. I can’t wait to see more.

Oh and we’re giving away a copy of Persona 5 on Irrational Passions Podcast! If you are in the UNITED STATES ONLY you can tweet @IrrationalPod on Twitter with the #PersonaQ with one thing you think looks cool about Persona 5 and enter a chance to win a steel book copy of the game!

Questions:

I feel like I conveyed my feelings on the series pretty well, but here are some other highlights:

When the Rock drops the Eff-Bomb almost right after he first appears in Fast 5 is great.

When the Rock throws that guy around the interrogation room.

When Vin Diesel just LIFTS A CAR AND NO ONE QUESTIONS IT?!?!

The Paul Walker tribute was quite good.

The idea of Vin Diesel consistently having superhuman abilities is just generally really funny to me.

All the set pieces. The London chase may have been my favorite.

The movies are good, sometimes great, not amazing. But I’m glad I watched them.

There are so many. Morganna in your bag is a great call out. Watching the character’s faces change in scenes is actually really great. Ryuji’s reactions are great, and so are another character that you see later, that I’ll refrain from going into. All the touches and attention to detail in the Metaverse.

That one they drove from one building, to another building, TO ANOTHER FUCKING BUILDING.

I am 55-ish hours in. I don’t really like comparing the characters to other Persona characters. I fell in the same trap from 3 to 4. And I know these games are going to get a lot of comparisons, but honestly they are so different. It’s not as fair to the characters, specifically, to keep going back and forth comparing them. I think the way they develop those characters merits comparison, but maybe not the people themselves.

As for the best girl stuff... Listen, I honestly really fucking hated where all of the “best girl” “my waifu” bullshit with Persona 4 went. Not just because I think I got the brunt of it being a huge fan of Rise, but there is this weird ownership/dismissiveness to it. Like, I totally get, respect, and love the reasons people loved Chie, or Yukiko. I think by saying someone is best, even in a joking manner, because it all starts jokingly, can be a bit dismissive to other folks, and that was the stuff I really hated about the Persona 4 discussions I got dragged into. When people shit on Rise, who I legitimately love, again, my favorite video game character of all time, it honest to god hurts and offends me. Sure I’m probably being too sensitive, but Persona should be personal, it should feel incredibly close to your heart, that’s what that series is asking of the player and what its going for, so I want to really set a precedent for that going forward. Lead by example or whatever, and not make this some bullshit arbitrary competition.

I know that was way more agro a response than you were probably expecting Jacob, and sorry to get all intense there. Currently I have not chosen a love interest in my own personal story, and still have one female companion left to join the party (going off boxart alone, and what I’ve seen in the story) so I am waiting to get to know her. I’ll say this: my feelings are confused and all over the place. Figuring out where I land will be very hard.

Well, and I tweeted about it this week, I did apply for a recent editor position. This is probably my 6th or so application. In all fairness, this and my last one were probably my strongest, with the ones before being far more disorganized, but yeah. I tweeted saying “please stop asking me about it” in a (mostly) joking way, but I think it came across as a little rude. I obviously incredibly super appreciate all the support and notifications that came through from folks saying that the job listing was up and I should apply. I got a text almost the moment it went up from a friend letting me know I should apply. I’m humbled so many folks believe I’m qualified.

I just also know the reality that choosing from local San Francisco people as well as their own freelance pool will absolutely come first. I’m in neither of those camps, so it’s pretty much already shipped. And I do know these things, I’ve heard stories, I’ve poured my heart and soul into these applications before, and I’ve never once even gotten a call or email. I’m not trying to be pessimistic or dismissive, just want to set the proper expectation.

Thank you all so much for your support. I’m too lucky to have you all cheering me on.

Haha Persona games like really big long supernatural mystery novels! They massive page turners, which leans right into the mechanic of it being a day-by-day progression!

I’ll say this Logan, and you’re gonna love it when you get to it, but the characters are very smart. They sit down and have big discussions and conversations asking each other the same questions you ask yourself while playing, and even come to realizations you yourself may not have gotten too. Especially where I am at in the story, there is a kind of secondary mystery going on that is perplexing both me and my gang of misfits, and the conversations surrounding that mystery or thorough, explored, and just super well done.

Fuck. This game is so good.

EPCOT is super cool! For me, I’ve never really been there as an adult, and it only gets better then. I mean honestly, just walking around the World Showcase is super cool. There is food from a bunch of different places, beer and alcohol from there as well (if you’re into that Harold). I really liked Mission Space, but it’s pretty intense, I don’t know if you’d like it. They have a Green version that’s not super motion-y so you may have fun with that.

I really loved the Ellen/Bill Nye ride there, but apparently that’s gone now. Otherwise, just enjoy the setting, enjoy the food! It’s probably the most fun park to just look at, in my opinion. Oh, and the spaceship Earth ride is a classic!

I did not, but it was definitely immensely sad. It gave me a greater appreciation for Paul Walker and his work. They were running a promo on the Xbox Video Store, where I rented all the movies from, where a portion of the proceeds went to the charity foundation that Paul Walker helped start, so that’s good.

I don’t know... Like, probably the characters that just feel like big copies of the other universe’s characters. Like Firestorm feels like a cheap human torch. I know he isn’t and Firestorm probably came first or whatever, but one character just never felt as interesting to me.

I don’t think there is a standout disaster comic book character for me though.

How about all the characters from The Walking Dead, even though I’ve never read the comic and just really hate the show now.

Like a lot.

When I want to. When it’s time.

I had to look this up because I had no idea what it was. Seems silly and dumb. Roger Pokorny tweeted this out at some point this past week, and I thought it was fucking hilarious:

I believe it’s edited, but it’s still so fucking funny.

The Rock is so great. I realized this week that I don’t think I had ever actually watched a movie with him in it. Like, Moana does not have him physically in it, even though he is so good in it. But yeah, he is really the thing that pushed me over the edge to watch them. And Joey Noelle’s borderline harassment.

And the safe dragging was great, just went on for too long.

Yeesh. I don’t know. I’m probably living my biggest regret, and it’s probably in regards to finding love.

But really, I don’t know. Taking as long as I did to finish school? Getting sick in high school? I have a lot. Many my closest friends would say were “out of my control” but... That lingering responsibility really messed me up.

This is a great questions! Beignets is the answer. There was this local restaurant near me that only served beignets during their Sunday brunch, and they were so fucking good. It was the only thing that could get me to tear my ass out of bed on the weekend back when I was in grade school.

Then, suddenly, THEY STOPPED SERVING THEM. And literally no good reason was given. I know I could just go to New Orleans and get beignets any day of the week, but i don’t have that power or capability!

Ahg. Still makes me so mad to this day.

Shoutouts

Shout out to P Studio, for taking my heart.

Again.

That’s all I got. Sorry for the shitty shoutout this week, but I am tired from all my furiousness.

I’m gonna go crash now. Love you all. Love your support.

keep it real.

#persona 5 #video games #gaming #fast #furious #fast and furious #fast five #fast 5 #fast and furious 6 #furious 7 #furious seven #f&f

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