#human designs + silly goobers no way!!!!

[daily-peafy]

day 35 — 04/16/2023

#leafpin #peafy #pinleaf #leafy x pin #pin x leafy #battle for bfb #battle for bfdi #battle for dream island #bfb #bfdi #leafy bfb #leafy bfdi #pin bfb #pin bfdi #dailypeafy #human designs + silly goobers no way!!!!

[coleslawleviathan]

okay so. i challenged myself to try and draw some snakes and try to capture the features i want to stand out for them. i wanted to see if i could make them all look distinct but where its obvious they look extremely similar.

heres the main lineup but i want to get into design elements for them as well as some personal headcanons.

FIRST! bibo.

okay so. i'm going to toot my own horn here. i think his beard looks so fire and i did a good job. i imagine this design is around the portable ops era... not much else to say because most of the interesting stuff (at least to me) comes from the differences the others have from him.

V!!! I LOVE YOU V!!!!!!!!!!

for venom snake, i made him look like big boss but Something's Off. in the game people often (notably huey and the boss' ai) don't recognize him as big boss for a few seconds. an imperfect replica because you cannot get that close with plastic surgery. i made the fat distribution on his neck a bit different from bibo's because i imagine the way that the human body configures itself is hard to change. if you noticed the little snake-tongue-shaped-hair-doohickeys, he is the only one with a slightly different shape. it's a genetic thing, you wouldn't get it. just thought that was silly. his hair texture is different, too. can u tell i like him a lot. also, my favorite detail might be his different nose shape. they never got bibo's nose right i guess. in mgsv, he actually has a bit of a downturned nose, and i honestly don't think i captured that enough.

TIME FOR MY FAVORITE BOY. LOVE OF MY LIFE. HOLDER OF MY GENDER ENVY. solid snake :3

SNAVID! the most obvious difference here is his nose. he broke it as a kid lol. i love headcanons. there's not as much to say about him as with venom, but i can say that he is incredibly handsome and i like him. i think he is cute. was he free yesterday? if so i would like to have dinner yesterday with him yesterday. well... i will say that out of this specific lineup i think he looks the most like good old dad. which is awful and i feel bad for him.

FINALLY: LIQUID!!!!!!!

i gave him his canonical sharp nose and high cheekbones! i based a lot of his features off how he looked as a kid so he really has little shit vibes about him. he also has thinner eyebrows, and i headcanon that he does them himself lol. he has less sideburny sideburns than his brother. his eyelids are also smaller. he also does look kinda like kaz so its plausible that he tricked dave! yippee! i also like drawing his hair. its such a great hairstyle. it reminds me of a lion's mane.

N E WAYS... i hope you enjoyed me rambling about giving these goobers a more realistic design for future reference. i like talking about this kind of stuff. life is so much better without same face syndrome.

#metal gear #metal gear solid #mgs #big boss #venom snake #solid snake #liquid snake #im going crazy

[morbmart]

I have a Sun & Moon AU thats fucking eating me alive so I am going to spit out these Horrors keeping me awake at night!

Silly au in where Moon is “dead” and Sun is trying to not look like a 6’7 killer robot

YES! He has a RAY BUN!! YESS! <3

plot, character notes, designs and doodles below 👍

TW for DEATH AND MURDER

PLOT (not finalised! Everything is work and progress lols)

After brutally killing a would-be child kidnapper, the daycare attendant gets sent down to parts and services to get decommissioned.

finding out about that they freak out, and during that beginning process of getting decommissioned, they loose 1/3rd of their face.

And in that scuffle, the Moon ai “dies” and comes back as a shadow like ghost, leaving Sun to take care of the body.

They hightail it out of the pizza plex without looking back, and now they need to try and blend in as human.

A year later, you! Y/N! Come in of course!

Working at a local café, you are stationed behind the cash register for the day. And then you spot none other that Moon trying to swipe some money out of the register.

You weren’t supposed to see him, it just simply isn’t possible. The only thing that can see Moon in this form are the animals.

Moon, who is intrigued and Sun who is horrified (but is willing to comply) then start to follow you around, trying to befriend you in the creepiest way possible.

They eventually become your fucked up ex murderer roomies lols

SUN

After escaping, he becomes a lot more closed off and really just wants to mind his own business

He’s still that very very goofy goober, you just gotta befriend him

He painted his irises on, since people usually don’t have all white eyes

Rays are a lot like a dogs ears! He just makes it look like hair (can also be styled into buns or a ponytail)

Bandage is wrapped around the gash

Loves his brother a lot, only he can talk shit about him

He can eat and taste things, he just needs to remember to get rid of the trash later on

Charges via the Sun

Also is able to be in the dark, thanks to the lack of the moon ai. He just hates being the dark so he chooses not to

Voice claim for this AU: Ogie from waitress (both musical and film)

MOON

(Haven’t finished his ref sheet bruh)

He can’t be seen or interacted with by everyone besides You, Moon and all animals

Behaves a lot like a cat- tries to get into spots that he isn’t supposed to be in

Doesn’t obey any laws. At all.

He can increase in size, change his shape, colours and other such things

Yes! You can hug him!! He loves it!! (he doesn’t show it though)

Can eat like his brother, it just dissolves inside him

He is an asshole and just an all around trickster. He’s here to have fun and nothing else.

*spins around in chair* “haha yes it was me all along”

“We knew,”

“No u didn’t stop lying omg”

Voice claim for this AU: Beetlejuice (musical)

More will be added lols

Doodles/drawings

#Morb au #sun #sun & moon #fnaf #security breach #fnaf sb #art #fnaf fan art #sun x reader #sunnydrop #sunnydrop x reader #moon x reader #moondrop x reader #daycare attendant #daycare attendant x reader #gay asf #bruh #also u have a cat named Salmon #forgot to mention thatttt #fnaf x reader #fnaf AU

[mushroom-for-art]

Concept art/references for characters that exist in an Au in my head<3

So wanna start by saying thank you to @xhunterbeatsx as they let me use some of the randomly generated mew and twos they got which led to the creation of this beautiful shiny baben and for giving me the idea that the mew has a gengar parent so thank uuu!!

Homebound au is basically silly guys (gender neutral) they live in a house with a human and they feel safe and happy shenanigans house hold jobs and crossovers ensue with character developments ect ect, may never make it may one day do it who knows for now the goobers

Both of them are part poison in their own way, the mewtwo having Poison tera type and I wanted elements of that in their design so spooky green tail patterns and skull go brrrr and obviously the Gengar poison genes tho the mew can consciously control poison creation and the mewtwo is only poison when using Tera stuff I just wanted elements in my design cause I can

The mewtwo many darker colored mega parts are likely poison sacks, toxic baby<3

Meanwhile Mew can activate a sort of mega but only on their Gengar side just leaning into their heritage more.

Despite the megas I doubt they really use them they're safe and happy in their home and like their human caretaker<3 they're very just happy together coexisting she keeps them safe they feel safe and are well fed enriched ect. It's just a soft they're in a house au

The prompt Hunter very kindly shared and the background for funsies as I thought it was neat, def probably gonna reuse lmao

#my art #my oc #Mew oc #Mewtwo oc #Homebound Mew #Homebound mewtwo #Homebound au #Randomly generated mewtwo #Fusion mew #Mega mewtwo #Mega gengar #Yes hands just to the side fingers spread is my new fav pose #These were all done without paper sketches have mercy on me XD made em from scratch #I'm allowed basic poses as a treat #I like these guys a lot they're fun and cute #Names and genders uhhhh XD no<3 no names yet genders are whatever #The background colors for their non mega refs is probably the color of their psychic energies #Fun fact when drawing the mega mewtwo despite having it on the sketch later I forgor the tail until I was coloring lmao

[doomsdaydicecascader]

whats the thing about janes silhoette in the picture of meenah braiding vriskas hair??

i'm like the joker for this one.

specifically, the shape of homestuck character hair is 1:1 with their sprite mode depictions - its often just copied directly from the sprites in the early comic and while it gets simplified when it gets fast and loose (jades hair post-grimbark specifically is kind of a "whatever best fits the scene" deal) but its a very intentional way of drawing the character - theyre drawn like a bunch of shapes that *is* the character, rather than a bunch of shapes that *represent* the character if that makes sense

with that in mind, homestuck also makes a big deal out of its "character alchemy", that is, repeated iteration on ideas for characters, splitting and recombining traits that we recognize into new characters. jade, as the primordial silly girl, has her personality split into aradia, who is kind of morbid and fascinated with death but still silly about it, kanaya, who is very silly but in a very dry way who inherits the space player traits, and feferi, who is just all silly, all the time. and then those pieces are reassembled into jake, who inherits stuff like space player isolation, being a real goober, but also inherits stuff like junes taste in movies

this could be seen as just "fictional parent characters that are like that episode of jimmy neutron where they had to sort the traits between jimmy and cindy" but its worth remembering very little of whats in homestuck was planned.

but humans specifically will often convey the sort of "character alchemy" used to create their profiles through mixed hair shapes - roxy and rose have the same round shape, while dave and dirks hair make silhouettes. the singular bang that jade has is shared with jake, but inverted for june, who is still jakes kid, but not the direct parallel with where meteors landed.

but it goes deeper than that - tavros's hair is swept back, carrying a curve back, sort of like how daves is depicted, but with less volume, and then it evens out to a point, more like the way junes does. from this, we could get a psychological profile like "tavros insists that he is a cool kid, but is actually a nerd" (the four personality profiles are nerd, smart, cool, and silly)

its elaborated on a bit more in the author commentaries but the tl;dr is that hair shapes are definitely a conscious choice with the way characters are designed and drawn in homestuck.

so with that in mind

[surveillance-0011]

Hey what if I *draws your alien that hates humans as humans* lol

These are all a little old (from jan-march) but save for giblets I feel like I’ve got everyone pinned down nicely. Notes under the cut!! Don’t repost, feel free to tell me what you think 💕

1-2: Krubis. I hope you see my vision here. Mostly just trying to figure out if I like this hair texture for him or if I go curlier. I’m set for his work outfit though and I like the idea of him wearing glasses or shades 24/7. But yknow. I think this captures his essence. This is the sort of person he is in my eyes.

The second doodle is kind of rushed but I think in a human au maybe he’d forgo a prosthetic in most circumstances. Hell I think if he can remove the drill at all in canon then he does so when it comes to paperwork and shit. I think he was born without the arm so hes learnt to get by without any sort of prosthetic. I need to do more research into the matter though

3: Douglas. The shorter cut is more in character but I do like the (VERY SPLATOON INSPIRED BTW) braid idea. I think he’s on the younger side alongside the Skrendels? But also he’s very baby faced I think. To mirror the whole “actually Douglas was the silly blue goober the whole time” thing

4: Dr. Giblets. As I said before this sketch is a bit old but I did touch it up. A bit too lanky his face needs to be rounder. I think he’s the oldest of the officers maybe older than Garm. Probably? Not by much. Also 5 Torg in the corner but I didn’t like how she came out so she’ll be in the next batch of whatever 💔💔💔

5: Angela + Jonathan in armor bc for a human/more anthro au I think they’d all have these helmets that mirror the one big eye(and headcanons for what happens when they argue: Angela mediates between Jonathan and Mona, Jonathan does the same when Angela argues with Mona, and Mona just straight up leaves the two to beat the shit out of each other then tearfully apologize .). Also nipulon weezer blue.

6: Garmantuous. Idk if he should be bald or not. Also like 40? Could be a bit older maybe even younger… extra eyes HAVE TO be plugs though I have decided on this. I feel smart for this.

7: more Mona ^_^ more developed sketch of the same hc that he just dips if the other two ever argue + fem presenting alt design + probably what went through his head by the time the BH took out his other brothers during the fight. Also his hair would be bleached blonde 👍🏼 but all the Skrendels have very dark hair naturally.

(On that note: as mentioned before Krubis’s hair is all grey now to mirror the drill. Douglas not sure probably brown or strawberry blond/gingery but dyed blue. Giblets. Uh. Idk it’s pink ish but that way naturally somehow and greying obviously. Garm also blonde but probably bleached? And like I said Skrendels all have black or brown hair but Mona bleached his and Jonathan dyes his hair every now and then

#gijinka #human au #high on life #high on life game #g3 cartel #Krubis #Douglas #the Skrendel brothers #dr. giblets #Garmantuous #my art

[shaniacsboogara]

haven't been posting a ton because anxiety's been acting up, hoping to be back on my bullshit soon!!!

dropping some (mostly unfinished) dnd sketches i've been working on in the meantime because character design is fun and helps me chill out :)))

Marscha Squabblestone, halfling barbarian. Has a mace bigger than her head, a Russian accent, and a passion for getting into fistfights with bears. She's extremely honest, especially when she shouldn't be, and has an overall cheery demeanor. She drew the little bear tattoo on her arm by herself. It was supposed to look scary, but... She isn't exactly an artist.

Figgriffin "Fig" Boldebort, a half-orc warlock with an Archfey patron. Just started working on his backstory, but he's very much a crystal bitch, a free spirit and is honestly a pretty chill dude. Does he know a ton about his patron??? No. He's just going with the flow. Vibing, if you will. He grew up with his human mother (a very eccentric Professor Trelawney type, an icon truly) in a cozy little commune / village and had a good childhood (I DIDN'T TRAUMATIZE HIM I DESERVE AN AWARD)

"Buggs" Templeton, tiefling artificer. He DOES have childhood trauma, and a shit ton of it. His mom was shitty so he ran away and was taken in by this nice clockmaker guy (kinda like Geppetto from Pinocchio) who ended up giving him his nickname. (Yes Buggs is his nickname. No you don't get a real name reveal 😈). He has a tiny little mechanical dragon companion named Pal, which he built after learning he had a passion for engineering by helping out in the clockmaker's shop. He is also autistic because I say so. And he's aroace.

Salxire (aka "Sal"), tiefling rogue, sort of a crime boss or something. Somehow the Newsies soundtrack inspired him??? Idk boogers, Boog's mind works in mysterious ways. It's taken me AGES to figure out a design for him so this sketch is MONUMENTAL (although I do want to draw a better version for his actual proper reference in the future). Anyway he has a burn scar on his face from that one time his childhood house caught on fire and yeah he's a goober.

If you Boogers or moots want more DnD infodumping I have a TON more characters (these aren't even the ones I've been playing in my campaign lmao) and a lot more to talk about for these sillies so yeah

Keep on boogieing 💕

#average boog post #dungeons and boogons #dnd #my ocs #not even an aurelian sketch damn #and he's my guy #i need to do better #holy shit i should infodump to you about my ships for them i- #no boog conceal don't feel

[kaptainandy]

My Complete In-depth TLOU 2 Thoughts:

Yeah I know, y’all have already read through countless reviews and thoughts, but I gotta get my thoughts out there. So, continue under the cut for some somewhat coherent, essay-ish style ramblings. There will be a TL;DR at the end because this is going to be long. (Spoilers ahead).

Okay so my overall perception of this game is that it’s average and I’m slightly disappointed. I’m going to start with the things I really liked and enjoyed before I get into what I didn’t like.

The visuals and gameplay were solid and enjoyable with small improvements upon the first game’s already fun and interesting, gameplay. The NPCs felt less like they were following a track in terms of their movements and felt more natural. The dialogue between enemies felt more varied than the first game, and the addition of giving everyone a name made me feel more immersed and the reaction from other characters to their fallen friends felt more believable. I feel that overall, the development of gameplay from the first to the second game felt “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” and I think it worked out because it’s one of the aspects I liked about the first game. The addition of craftable silencers, varied stealth takedowns, ability to go prone, tall grass to hide in, cars to hide under, larger infected (bloaters and shamblers) now being able to destroy weak walls, etc. were fun editions that helped the combat feel less repetitive. And lastly, the areas of combat that included both human enemies and infected, (and later WLF soldiers vs Seraphite soldiers)  was really cool and felt more realistic for the world of the Last of Us. It was something I think the first game lacked and it was really interesting to choose who to take down first and let the enemies fight each other.

The level design was also great. I felt it gave the player a lot of options of how they wanted to traverse the area to takedown enemies and look for supplies. Everything felt huge and worth exploring. The player was rewarded appropriately for checking every nook and cranny, and the addition of going prone to fit under small spaces or breaking glass to get into locked buildings was a lot of fun. The first day in Seattle as Ellie was especially enjoyable as you got to explore the city and mark things on your map while engaging in dialogue with Dina. Every building held something new and acted as an opportunity for Dina and Ellie to banter.

The art direction was incredible and I don’t think I’ve seen a more stunning looking game. It felt like a lot of time and care went into the design of each item and every corner of every environment. My favorite environments were definitely the homesteads of the major characters/factions (Jackson, the stadium transformed into a village by the WLF, the Seraphite island, etc.) because it told the player more about what everyday life is like for these characters and how they’re similar and different. Also, the weather, time of day, lighting, and use of space (or lack there of) added tension and changed the tone in scenes and levels appropriately. I felt engaged in each moment. I think the best use of visuals and atmosphere to set tone and really immerse the player was in the lower level of the hospital during the Abby playthrough. It was claustrophobic, damp, dark, ominous, and it always felt like danger and despair were right around the corner. And the massive clicker cluster fight in the small hospital corner was one of my favorite parts in the entire game. What would have felt like a silly and dumb concept if encountered elsewhere, was actually legitimately terrifying and really cool due to the tone set from the scene. Seeing the effects of a ground zero site for infection 25 years later was really cool to see.

The music? A masterpiece. We have to stan Gustavo Santaolalla. What more can I say? He did a great job. If nothing else, give the soundtrack a listen.

The acting was incredible, as to be expected. The emotional moments were really sold and carried by the actors and the music together. Ashley Johnson, Troy Baker, Shannon Woodward, and Laura Bailey I expected to be phenomenal and they were, but I’d like to give a shoutout to the newcomers and more minor actors as well. I felt no one had a bad performance, or even an average one. Every performance felt genuine and made me more connected to the characters.

As for new characters, I felt Yara and Lev were the ones I felt the most for and were the best written. The inclusion of Lev being trans was really cool to see as a trans person, and I felt it was executed well within the story. Lev being exiled from the Seraphites for questioning their ways and attempting to transition while Yara fought to remain by his side and protect him, made them both interesting and likable characters. They had depth to their characters. Despite coming from an environment that seemed ruthless and unforgiving they both acted as voice of reasons and wanted to help others, which was their strength and their weakness in the end, adding to their complexity.

The story had it’s moments. I found myself being impacted more during light and happy moments more so than the traumatic and sad ones. I felt a lot of time was put into showing the love and care between Ellie and Dina, and I found myself smiling like a goober when they were being goofy or together or cuddling. This also ties into the LGBTQ representation, which I personally thought was well done as I briefly touched on with Lev. I understand and respect those who felt there was too much trauma forced upon the LGBTQ characters, and I agree with that when it comes to Ellie because the whole game was essentially torturing her. I’ll at least give Naughty Dog credit for avoiding the “bury your gays” trope when they very easily could’ve done that given the constant death in the world of the Last of Us. Treatment aside, as a gay trans man, the overall presentation of these characters I felt was realistic, respectful, and gave me hope for future LGBTQ representation in triple A titles. I know this is literally doing the bare minimum but we gotta start somewhere.

Now, as for things I disliked about the game, there was a lot and I felt the weight of things I disliked outweighed those that I like since the overall experience depended on them more heavily.

I’ll start with the small things that irked me, that could be somewhat excused and are more a personal preference. For starters, I felt the game was too long. After awhile it got repetitive and having nearly the entire game take place in one city (as opposed to the first game that took place across the country), the scenery got old pretty quickly. I feel like a lot of the traveling could have been cut. For example, instead of showing a cut scene where characters say “we have to get to x” and having to basically travel the entire way, it would’ve worked better had it cut to them being at or close to their destination, thus cutting back on repetitive combat. It didn’t feel super rewarding and it only sometimes resulted in something added to the story. In the end, I felt it should be exempt for a similar reason you don’t need to show a character’s entire traveling in a movie, it’s just unnecessary.

Another minor detail that bothered me was the shamblers. Not as a concept, because I thought they were really fun new enemies and added something to combat, but the fact that they felt thrown in with no explanation. Where did they come from? Are they only in the northeast of the US? What caused them? It’s mentioned briefly by one character (I forget who) that it could be a result of excessive rain, but it was just a guess and not further elaborated on.

The fact that events and characters of the first game that were influential to Ellie and Joel’s character seemed to be inappropriately forgotten about. I understand the game is meant to be enjoyed by people who haven’t played the first game as well as fans of the first one, but it could still be done in a way to cater to both audiences. It would also help people who didn’t play the first one learn and connect more to Ellie and Joel. Why was there no Riley-related dialogue for Ellie upon seeing “The Turning” arcade machine? Hell, Riley was never mentioned at all. Same with Tess. Bill was briefly mentioned, but not by name. Ellie’s mom still remained a mystery, and I don’t recall her being mentioned. Henry and Sam? Also never mentioned. Upon seeing Sam’s robot toy in Ellie’s room (which I thought was a nice touch) I would’ve thought he might’ve been brought up in discussion with Dina about past friends. I get that it could be implied Ellie has discussed her past with Dina and others before the events of the game took place, but you have an audience to think about. Essentially you have to think that if the audience didn’t see it or hear about it, it didn’t happen. I feel the omission of past characters and events was a disservice to the first game and was really disappointing.

This relates to something else I disliked: It felt like too much time was spent on characters solo traveling and being in combat and not enough on story and relationship building. I felt the time spent traveling alone as Ellie or Abby was far greater than traveling with a companion. The dialogue and interactions between Ellie and Joel in the first game was crucial to the story and relationship, and when the characters were apart, it made the player that more eager for them to be reunited. They were only ever apart when one was missing/injured or they were unintentionally separated and it made sense to the story. In terms of missed opportunity, I especially thought Jesse’s character was mishandled and wasted. Just as the player was really beginning to know his past and connect with him, he dies a seemingly (in my opinion) stupid death. Not only that, but there’s almost no mention of him or his death after it happens, and Ellie and Dina seem relatively unaffected. I felt like Dina’s character also could’ve been fleshed out better. She was one of my favorite characters, but the things we knew about her didn’t seem to impact the story or her character that much, especially the loss she’s suffered. Her thoughts about her sister’s death and Jesse’s death are barely touched on, and I just felt like I was left wanting more.

Jesse and Dina could’ve definitely been handled better, but at least I cared about them. I didn’t have those feelings towards anyone in Abby’s story (except Yara and Lev). This relates to the bigger problem with the timeline of events and the and the order they were shown in the game, but I’ll touch on this in a bit. Before beginning to know these characters, the only thing you know is that they were involved in killing Joel, and happy about doing so. Now the challenge was to get the player to like them, which the writers failed abysmally. I couldn’t even remember half of their names when they were brought back up. The most influential of Abby’s friends, aside from Owen, seems to be Manny and the only things we get to know about him is that he’s horny, likes to get drunk, and - much like the writers - tries to force other characters to like each other (i.e. Mel and Abby). He only exists to establish Mel and Abby’s relationship and to save and help Abby when they encounter Tommy trying to snipe them. Mel and Abby (who I will touch on extensively in her own paragraph because yikes) both seemed like miserable people to be around and their relationship seemed catty and to simply revolve around Owen. I’m kinda sick of having women characters’ relationships revolve around the fact that one of them used to date the guy that the other is now currently dating. It’s stupid and I couldn’t give less of a fuck if that’s the biggest roadblock in their relationship. Also Mel calling Abby a piece of shit seemed unwarranted based on what we knew. Like we knew Mel was against the brutality of Joel’s death, but the way she spoke to and of Abby seemed like there was something else that the writers forgot to tell/show the audience. Abby never did anything personal to Mel (that Mel knew of) yet Mel decides to hate her guts and be unreasonable? Nora was kind of okay and seemed like an actual decent person (aside from wanting Joel dead and them making that shitty comment to Ellie) in her relationship with Abby. She was willing to risk getting in trouble to help Abby, but we weren’t given enough time with her to make me give a shit, especially after what she said to Ellie. Owen had potential to be likable; he was charming, funny, a bit of a fuckboy, but nonetheless was optimistic and hopeful. But for some reason the writers decided to throw out any ounce of care we had for him by having him cheat on Mel with Abby in a shitty sex scene. 

Now for my thoughts on Abby. My thoughts about her also relate to my thoughts on the order of events, and a few other aspects I haven’t mentioned yet, so forgive me if my thoughts are a bit all over the place. I really really tried to sympathize and like Abby, but holy shit they fucked up every possible opportunity to create some sort of likability. For starters, it boggles my mind that they had her commit the atrocity that was Joel’s death as basically the introduction to her character. Not only that, but just mere minutes beforehand Joel had saved her life and shown her nothing but kindness and she goes on to torture him and continue to do so while his surrogate daughter begs and screams for her to stop. She shows no guilt both in the moment or afterwards. It doesn’t eat her up inside at all. Every time Joel is brought up by Abby and her friends, she wastes no time expressing how elated she is that she not only killed him, but did so in such a gruesome way. You really expect fans to even WANT to like this character after she tortures and kills the only other character (besides Ellie) that fans LOVED. And I’m not upset that Joel died, because I expected he would and there were a million ways it could’ve been done appropriately to both the story and fans. But the way he died and how early he died at the hands of essentially some nobody really rubbed me the wrong way, they essentially threw him away without any honor to the experience we had with him in the first game. So, that’s our introduction to Abby and her friends. Again, the writers had the challenge of trying to make us like her, but it felt like they didn’t even try. Every attempt to make her likable fell flat either due to an action that happened right before or after. Abby’s only expression of sorrow is after the death of her father and Owen. Manny’s death is never mentioned after it happens and she seems to act like it never really happened. There is no remorse when she kills Jesse and Tommy, or anyone for that matter. She and (seemingly most of the WLF) condone and even get off on torturing Seraphites (they’re terrible people but if you’re trying to make me like a character, I don’t think you should have them condone the torturing of anyone). Abby is quick to kill Dina even after learning she’s pregnant, to which she comments, “good” and only stops because Lev is an actual decent human being and gets her to stop. And the writers have the gall to try and compare her to Ellie; trying to be like, “see she and Ellie aren’t so different uwu.” Meanwhile, Ellie is crying each time she hits Nora; she just wants Abby, she didn’t want to have to torture Nora like that. Ellie is traumatized after finding out that Mel is pregnant after killing her. Ellie is constantly shown to be grappling with the consequences and feelings of her actions. She experiences guilt and shame while Abby is shown time and time again to not regret her wrongdoings. The writers really tried to push us to like Abby by having her care for Yara and Lev, but I felt she did it out of selfishness and needing to feel good about herself not because she truly cared for these kids.

Going back to Joel’s death, the gruesomeness wasn’t even warranted based on Abby’s reasoning. Abby’s dad didn’t get murdered in front of her and he was killed because he stood in Joel’s way, holding a scalpel to Ellie. Jerry’s death was quick and painless too. And I know people will be like, “but Abby was also mad because now there’s no cure because of what Joel did!!!” However, she had no problem wanting to kill, or leave Ellie alone despite knowing she was immune. Abby was never on a quest to capture Ellie or talk her into finding the Fireflies with her (which would have made for an interesting storyline actually), she wanted her dead too. Joel’s death was the most tasteless death of a beloved character I think I’ve ever experienced.

Also the order of events was really detrimental to the story and especially Abby’s character. The way that flashbacks were thrown in throughout the story after Joel’s death fell flat and made Joel’s death feel even worse. The Joel and Ellie flashbacks were honestly the highlight of the game because we got to spend time with the only 2 fleshed out and likable characters. Had they been placed at the beginning of the game and also showed more of their relationship after Joel tells Ellie the truth about the Fireflies, I would’ve felt his death would have been more okay (still shitty, but slightly better than what they gave us) because it would feel more unexpected and it would hit better emotionally after these moments we had with Ellie and Joel. Hell, the majority of the game should have been as it was advertised (which is another issue I’m gonna touch on shortly): the rocky relationship between Joel and Ellie after Ellie learns the truth and the two of them going on a revenge quest together, as Joel tried to earn Ellie’s forgiveness. The events presented in the order in the game also made it impossible for anyone to try to like Abby. We learn she commits the biggest atrocity and we know all her friends are going to end up dead, so there’s no emotional impact when we see how they die because we’ve known the whole time they were gonna be killed by Ellie. Both Abby’s character and the story they were trying to tell could’ve have been really great and interesting but it was just so poorly executed. 

The story itself seemed so amateur as well. It just boiled down to “revenge and violence are bad uwu” while giving the player no choice but to engage in said violence. They tried to create a gray area between good and evil like they did in the first game, especially with Abby’s story but they ended up doing the opposite. Also the weak use of animals and pregnancy to create emotional impact is just so easy. They couldn’t think of any other way to make us connect to the characters except “hey look they love this animal” or “this is someone who is going to have a baby under these rough circumstances” and it’s just sloppy writing especially because they use both tactics MORE THAN ONCE. 

The intersecting stories, themes of “what really is good/evil,” redemption of a thought to be unlikable character, and the death of a beloved character would have been so interesting and emotionally impactful if done right, but it felt like Naughty Dog chose every terrible option and outcome, resulting in the wet fart that we got. It felt sloppy with no honoring of the previous game or characters. We all cared, but apparently the writer’s didn’t. The ending with Ellie essentially being left with what she feared most, being alone, would’ve been way more appropriate had anything prior warranted this consequence. Not only is she alone, but Ellie loses the ability to play guitar, a way in which she remembered and felt connected to Joel. Like she goes through hell, and 99% of her actions are justified, yet she gets punished.

Lastly, I want to touch on the false advertising for the game. Normally, I wouldn’t be upset because movie trailers do it all the time where there will be subtle differences or added scenes that don’t occur in the movie, but this was a whole other level of fuckery. I get trying to mislead people to think something is going to happen only to steer them in a different direction, in fact I think this is really cool and fun when done well. However, this was straight up lying and essentially selling an entirely different game. Not only were these lies perpetuated in trailers and ads, but even in events such as E3. Neil Druckmann constantly harped on the idea that the game was going to be about Ellie and Joel having a falling out after Ellie learns the truth and how they navigate their relationship through their next adventure together. Yet the game was never about that, instead it was just a story about drawing shitty parallels between a beloved character and a new character who was destined to be unlikable from the start.

In the end, I think it’s still worth playing because I’ve seen so many mixed reviews floating around so I feel it’s best to make your own opinion. And if nothing else, it’s a fun experience if you’re just looking at a fun game to play if you don’t really care too much about the series or characters as a whole. Will I return to this game? Not anytime soon likely. But just being the fan that I am of the series I think I’ll try to get most of the achievements eventually, and to experiment with photomode because the visuals are so good. Even with how much of a disservice this game is to the series, I don’t think it ruins it for me. It just makes me love and appreciate the first game even more and I think they could bounce back from this, but they’d need to put in a shit ton of work to earn their core audience back.

TL;DR: As an addition to the Last of Us as a series, the game is a huge disappointment and disservice, but as a standalone game it’s slightly above average. The gameplay, music, and visuals slap but the story, characters, and relationship building (or lack thereof) suck. Naughty Dog lied in a highly scummy way to fans via advertisements and trailers. Fuck Abby. Stan Lev and Yara.

#kaptainandy's log #the last of us #tlou #tlou part ii #the last of us part 2 #the last of us part two #the last of us part ii #tlou 2 #ellie williams #joel miller #abby anderson #dina #jesse #tommy miller #mel #owen #manny #lev #yara #video games #long post

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Let’s Talk About Pokemon - The Popplio Family

728: Popplio

Our final starter for a long, long while is poor little Popplio. A lot like Oshawott, Popplio garnered a bit of distaste from fans. This ADORABLE little clownish sea-lion that cleverly blows balloon-like bubbles to bounce around like your stereotypical cartoon circus seal! HOW COULD Y'ALL.

Thankfully, like Oshawott, people did come around to appreciate it a lot more, but it still STINGS cause this lil fella didn't deserve such outrage in the first place. Just look at it! A lovingly simple design with a fun and simple motif because on a fun idea. A lovable little goober!

Personal Score: 8.5/10

THEY'RE A GOOD, OKAY.

729: Brionne

And then Brionne happened and people lost their minds again. What over this time? Simply because it was an effeminate design for a line of Pokemon with a gender ratio favoring males over females. And what of it? I've gone on this rant before. Even ignoring the whole gender-conforming thing, it's not like animals give a damn about human gender conformity. Cause  y'know, ants don't exactly look effeminate but that doesn't stop 99% of a colony's population from being girls. These days, being colorful and flamboyant is seen as “girly” but it’s almost universal across birds with gender bimorphism that the males are much more flashy looking than females.

Sorry, people that try to thrust gender as understood by society’s limited construct of what gender is onto fictional animals look really, really silly to me.

ANYWAY, Brionne at first gave me the usual starter mid-stage vibes where, say it with me, “it looks like an awkward teenage stage.” But something hit me along the way.

I feel like this is another case where the definitive official artwork doesn't do a Pokemon justice. Because rather consistently in both fanart and even offical media asside from the official art it looks far cuter to me. It definitely grew on me a lot more once fans got to drawing it. Brionne's not the only case where this has happened, but it's one of the most notable examples of when it has. It is a rather simple build-up off of Popplio, but I just like it. Much in the same way I like 'mons like Flaaffy. They're just. Adorable! I want one! And I'll hug it! And a take that simple is plenty valid for me.

Personal Score: 9/10

Cutie!

730: Primarina

As far as mythical creatures in Pokemon go, a mermaid feels like it's been a LOOOOONG time coming hasn't it? And meshing that idea with a sealion feels like an “Oh d'uh!” moment when you realize the obvious tie between the two. I am somewhat bummed that we've missed out on a big circus critter with the clown motif pretty much gone entirely, but you can look at it as a shift into another type of entertainment, from performance to opera? It's a stretch but it's sorta there.

...But in the end, I can't bring myself to be upset about it much at all simply because then Primarina wouldn't exist. Because here it becomes one of the prettiest dang Pokemon out there with a flowing head of hair, lots of nice shaping and a lovely siren-sorta feel to it. All paired into giving it a focus on singing-type of attacks.

Not even to mention had certain undertones not existed in this line, my trouble with self-discovery might’ve lasted longer, if you catch my drift. I know I’m far from alone on that.

This Pokemon is what made it tough trying to pick between Rowlet and Popplio. Both lines are so dang good but you only get ONE. It's just easily one of the better water-type fully-evolved starters for its design. And especially rather selfishly how it goes from an awkward little child-thing into a gorgeous sea-lion girl it always wanted to be. Wink wink nudge nudge. YES That's projecting a little bit but what trans fan of Primarina hasn't?

Personal Score: 10/10

Totally AMAZING

Overall:

...So yeah! Easily our strongest group of starter Pokemon to date. I will be thoroughly surprised if they'll ever be able to top these three. You'd have to make the Fire starter a ten-outta-tenner I suppose. But either way, Gen 7 just wins on all fronts here. Each starter has a ton of personality to them and have very nice and lovable designs. Hats off to you three!

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#Pokemon #Popplio #Brionne #Primarina #Pokemon Reviews #728 Popplio #729 Brionne #730 Primarina