#and his pose isn’t even cool it’s pointing his sword at the sky

[assiraphales]

250 chapters into the manga and my favorite scene is still when nami vivi n zoro get trapped in the wax and nami is like ‘aren’t you going to do something????’ and zoro is like ‘well I TRIED hacking my legs off but now I’m just going to strike a pose so I look cool when I die. and I suggest you do the same’

#one piece #roronoa zoro #goofy !!! goof!!!! #and his pose isn’t even cool it’s pointing his sword at the sky #but go off king

[romanticahwi]

Stray Kids as Princes

requested: no

genre: fluff + a bit suggestive

ship: skz x gn!reader

warnings: a bit of suggestiveness of sexual deeds, mentions of swords and fighting, mentions of injuries, lmk if there is more

not proof read! (minors dni)

a/n: we apologize for being so inactive recently! here’s a new work we’ve been working on, we hope it makes up for our long absence.

Bang Chan

    •    Probably one of the sweetest rulers ever

    •    Incredibly approachable

    •    Gives you the best advice you’ve ever heard sometimes whenever you’re having problems

    •    Sometimes you forget he’s royalty because you just feel so comfortable around him

    •    Lots of people swoon over him because honestly how could you not? Especially since he’s so sweet literally 24/7

    •    Nobody has ever seen him unhappy before, and he has certainly never been seen angry - only slightly annoyed but that itself is a rare sight

    •    He has a big soft spot for puppies and just all things cute

    •    He might have once proposed to change the name of his kingdom to something puppy-related (Succeeded in changing the national flag to something that had puppy paws in it)

    •    He enjoys swimming a lot, and there will almost always be a crowd of fans watching him and cheering him on every time! He may get really shy about it, but on the inside, he secretly likes it and it motivates him to do better!

Bang Chan As Your Prince

    •    As a lover, this man treats you like you’re royalty too, even if you aren’t!

    •    He will never allow you to degrade yourself or put yourself down but if that’s your way of coping, he won’t hesitate to give you his full, undivided attention…and then he’ll shower you with love and very kind words (he’s incredible with them - it never fails to blow you away)

    •    His singing voice is lovely, you often ask for him to sing you to sleep which is something he loves to do! He sees it as a way to get in some minutes of practice so he can improve himself

    •    He always wants to better himself and take care of others so much to the point that he’ll ignore his own needs, so he’ll definitely need someone to take care of him

    •    You sometimes can’t believe you’re lucky enough to call him yours, but he feels the same about you too, and he’ll always make it known (You swear your heart melts a little (in the best way possible) whenever he gets shy)

    •    He’s very cuddly, he loves giving you hugs; if there’s a day that goes by where he doesn’t give you one at least once throughout the day, then you know something is wrong

    •    He giggles a lot, and anything can set him off but you find it to be incredibly endearing

    •    He is just so soft…especially in the bedroom, but there are times when things get a little more heated

    •    “In a world that was dark and grey, you came along and painted beautiful, vibrant colors”

Lee Know

 •    He seems unapproachable at first because of his icy stare, but that’s quite the contrary actually (he’s actually an incredibly warm human being)

    •    Loves to crack jokes! Most of them are cat-related, but don’t comment on that or else he’ll probably stare at you weirdly and will continue to do so until you let it go

    •    Don’t tell anyone, but he secretly loves playing with cats in his free time, and sometimes whenever he has to spend a full day tending to his ✨ royal duties ✨ you’ll find him squeezing time in to pet some stray cats or to rescue them

    •    Speaking of rescuing stray cats, he’s incredibly passionate that no cat should be homeless and each should be loved and taken care of

    •    Not just cats, but he believes any stray animal shouldn’t be left without a home or a loving owner (He himself has three cats)

    •    He’s basically the president of the kingdom’s animal rescue team, and he often checks up on the shelter to either play with some of the animals there, or he’ll chose one and spontaneously run around the kingdom to promote how adorable they are in hopes of finding them a home at the end of the day

Lee Know as your Prince

 •    You must be an animal lover like him, because you guys will spend so much time together at the shelter to play with them!

    •    He’s a little awkward when it comes to affection, specifically hugs, but with given time, he’ll warm up to it! Plus, he’s awkward in a cute way

    •    He’s gifted you a cat plushie which you’re unable to sleep without at night, sometimes you’ll catch him stealing it from you because he claims that it’s just too adorable

    •    You guys have ice cream dates a lot, because he seems to have a second stomach for it

    •    Whenever you go with him to get his portrait painted, he loves to pose in funny positions and make funny faces, there are a lot of portraits consisting of him doing so, finding a more serious one is kind of rare but hey…you’re just glad to see his true personality that he’s a bit hesitant to share with the rest of the kingdom

    •    You happened to discover this on accident, but he likes it when you ruffle his hair and look at him fondly, it makes his heart race

    •    He often guards his emotions, but you feel thankful whenever he opens up to you because sometimes you get worried when he bottles them up for a little too long

    •    He can be a bit evil sometimes, and that shows in the bedroom but he makes sure to never do something you’re not comfortable with - your needs come first  

   •    “You are my pride and joy, I feel so lucky to have you”

Changbin

• SUCH A FUN MAN!

• Nicknamed the prince of fun! Only by a few people…everyone else refers to him as the “pig-bunny prince” because he has a big obsession with Dwaekki (he might even be the face of the kingdom…literally. aka the national flag)

• You can trust him with practically anything. But do expect him to playfully tease you most of the time!

• He can be really loud! Even if you’re a few rooms down from whatever room he’s in, there’s no doubt you’ll be able to hear him

• He really loves music, he’s in charge of anything music-related (He’s hosted rap classes before, and a lot of people found them to be a bit on the difficult side because he can rap incredibly fast)

• He’s pretty chill, and kind of like a best friend to everyone - he’s that open to things and he’s incredibly reliable (He’s got everyone’s back, whether you’re close to him or not.)

Changbin As Your Prince

• He’s a very fun lover as well, your love life together is always full of excitement

• Certain activities could possibly cause him to get severely injured, and you always mentally note that you should tell him to stop, but seeing the pure joy on his face…you can’t help but to change your mind. (He’s a little daredevil, it’s kind of rare to see him mellowed-out, and when you do, you should probably be concerned when he isn’t being his loud, hyper self)

• He can be pretty affectionate when he wants to be but he displays his love for you through other actions rather than physical affection

• He too, is very good with his words! He makes you feel like you’re on cloud 9

• That “cool guy” act that he’s got going on? It doesn’t show up as much when he’s with you, because he’s just that comfortable with you. (Plus he thinks that you deserve to see the true Changbin…the man behind the prince that everyone else doesn’t get to see)

• His playfulness shows up in the bedroom too, along with ruthless teasing, like sometimes you’ll have to beg for him to have mercy on you but in his opinion that just makes things more exciting

“What was my life before? Ever since we met, I can’t seem to live without you anymore”

Hyunjin

the softest when it came to serving his kingdom

his gentle voice and soft smile always brought people to ease when they were around him

an equestrian. when not attending to royal duties, he’s always riding a horse or in the stable

as the only child and only son, he must take over the kingdom, no questions asked

throws an annual winter wonderland festival to show his gratitude to his subjects

his kind smile is loved by all

Hyunjin as your Prince

so so so loving oh my

would help you make bracelets for the small children in the kingdom

would press loving kisses to your face with that shy smile of his

would also take you on horse rides! in the morning, middle of the day, at night? you name it!

intimacy between you two was so loving and soft

he would show you how much he loves you with sweet kisses and gentle words

“everyday when I watch the sunset, I realize I’ll get to spend another day with you.”

Han

he gives off the vibe that he wouldn’t want to rule the kingdom after his father.

he wants to pursue music, but the king is against it.

so against it, that Jisung has to do what he loves behind his father’s back

very playful; loves sword fighting and horseback riding

everyone in the kingdom as a slight crush on him

he’s known for being very heroic; he’s saved many people and the protected the kingdom with an iron fist

he may not want to rule in the future, but he still cares about his subjects like family

very giving as well; always there if anyone is in a bad situation, whether it’s big or small.

Han as your Prince

very loving; loves pressing kisses all over your face, and having his hands on your body

very protective. If anyone looks at you with barely even a little interest, it’s all over.

when you two get intimate, I see him being the one to initiate everything

he would take care of you, kissing down your body with soft praises and soft touches

holds your waist gently while doing the do

“ there are many bright stars in the sky, but you’re the brightest out of them all, baby.”

Felix

the sweetest prince ever.

cares so much about his subjects; maybe more than himself

everyone loves him, and are very ready for him to take over the kingdom

hosts monthly bake sales that the entire kingdom can participate in, which also helps feed people in need

dances when he’s not attending to royal duties, and oh my, he’s a beautiful dancer

during the cold winters, he hosts as much shelter for people as he can

being the only son in his family, he needs to find a significant other soon because his father is getting old to keep running the kingdom

Felix as your Prince

no surprise, but he’s the sweetest

he can’t keep his hands off of you when you’re together

hands on your waist, holding your hand, any skinship, he’s doing it.

when you two were intimate, regardless of his roll, his eyes would be filled with so much love.

loves it when you run your hands through his hair, tugging it gently

nonstop kisses. he’s completely addicted to your lips.

“i might be the kingdoms pride and joy, but you are my absolute universe.”

Seungmin

very strategic and well educated. he knows what he’s doing, and knows how to do it well.

extremely brave. he’s saved the country multiple times.

he comes off as cold, but behind closed castle doors, he’s an energetic puppy.

loves to sing in his free time

often gets caught singing in the castle garden, and gosh he sounds beautiful

extremely protective over his family. You hurt them, he hurts you.

Seungmin as your Prince

cold on the outside, warm on the inside

will not go father than keeping his arm out for you to wrap around when you’re in public

but within castle walls? he’s all over you.

kisses kisses kisses galore

smiles brightly only for you :(

sings you to sleep every night

when you two are intimate, he usually wants it soft and slow so he can show you how much he loves you

soft praises and slow, romantic kisses

holds your hand the entire time

“you are more beautiful than the cherry blossom blooms on a sunny day.”

I.N.

playful but caring

he always is holding a smile on his face. there’s never a point and time where people weren’t seeing him smiling.

however he takes his royal duties very seriously. when someone is in trouble, he’ll put the villain in their place.

a fencer. he finds such a thrill in fighting someone with a sword.

since he has an older brother, he doesn’t have to take over the kingdom, and he’s happy about it.

ideally want to live in a forest, surrounded by trees and wonder.

I.N. as your Prince

so so so caring. he cares about no one when it comes to you.

he loves to press gentle kisses all across your face, neck, jaw, etc. he just thinks you’re so beautiful.

would love it when you showed up to his fencing matches. he loved it when you were there to cheer him on.

you two would stay up till the rise of the sun singing and giggling with each other.

would hold you close when you two eventually fell asleep.

this sweetheart would let you take any role when it came to intimacy. he was an absolute fool for you.

“When the sky is filled with sweet, bird songs, I get reminded of you.”

- atalia & arya

#kpop #fanfic #fluff #kpop imagines #stray kids #stray kids imagines #stray kids headcanons #stray kids fluff #stray kids smut #bangchan #lee know #changbin #hyunjin #han #han jisung #lee minho #felix #lee felix #seungmin #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #kim seungmin #i.n. #yang jeongin

[trashcankitty12]

Helia Headcanons

Helia Scofield, nephew of Saladin; Master Artist in the making.

Don’t let his soft demeanor and pacifistic leanings fool you; Helia’s up for the fight if he’s needed.

(All headcanons are mainly for my verses: Left and the New Company of Light. Fair warning.)

-Helia was born to Harley and Hannah Scofield.

-Hannah, Saladin’s twin (and the elder twin, thank you) is an illusion-based witch who works with her Great Uncle’s army. She’s a commander of the Pegasus Unit of the Callistan Army, and unlike her brother, tries to keep herself out of trouble.

-Harley’s more of a gentle soul who enjoys art and runs an art gallery in Callisto.

-As you can imagine, his parents, though loving to him and though they did love each other at one point, have had many disagreements about their lifestyles and what would be best for the family.

-Harley was more pacifistic while Hannah preferred to ‘face things head on’. (Both have great strategic minds though, and… Tended to use them against each other.)

-At a young age, Helia showed potential for magic. Hannah and Saladin tried to help hone his potential skills as a wizard, but the best he could do was simple spells to make himself faster and stronger than normal and to send magic notes. (And a few other minimalistic spells. He couldn’t do anything fancy like his mom and uncle though…)

-It didn’t really bum him out too much though. In fact, it was partially a relief that he wouldn’t have to worry about hurting someone with his magic if his feelings or concentration went out of control. And he had an easy way of keeping his utensils nearby while he was working.

-Helia was in a junior sword fighting league as a kid, something his Uncle Saladin and his mother were very proud of. (Though his father thought it reckless and dangerous and ugly… Even if there was a sort of elegance to sword fighting when done right.)

-He also participated in art clubs at his school and did his to earn high marks in elementary and middle school. (He tended to be a daydreamer and often spaced out in class, especially if the subject was boring to him. Which became another argument for his parents.)

-When he was about 12/13, his parents decided to divorce. Hannah relocated and deployed to serve in Magix at the Callistan Embassy (and to be closer to her brother). His father remained in Callisto.

-He was actually happy that they finally divorced, thrilled to never have to hear one of their ‘we’re not really arguing, just having a heated discussion’ sort of fights. Having to decide where to live and what his plans for the future, however, made him sick.

-His social anxiety was through the roof anyway, and on top of all of this… His art took a bit of a dark turn and so did his poetry.

-How dare his parents fight each other and then demand he choose? How dare they implode on him like this?

-(Faragonda and Griffin were honestly the best people during this time. And so were his childhood friends. They helped him keep his cool and realize what he wanted and how to go about talking to his parents about this stuff.)

-Helia left the sword fighting league, he never really enjoyed it anyway except for the moments he was benched and could sketch the matches. And he decided to stay with his father and enroll at the Callistan Art Academy. His mother was so proud that he wanted to follow his dreams, and agreed to weekends and holidays.

-(Honestly his parents were just happy that he was talking to them again instead of pushing them away. They were so worried, they even went to therapy so they could try and do better for Helia.)

-Helia stayed in touch with some of his sword fighting league friends and kept up with his childhood friends when he went to the Art Academy.

-He loved showing off his new works and talking his friends into being models for some of his works. (One of his favorite portraits is of his best guy friend posing with his new weapon after being accepted into Red Fountain.)

-His parents did move on from each other. On his dad’s side, he has a stepdad and a lovely younger stepsister who adores him. (And he has a half-brother on the way!!)

-His mom remarried a fellow soldier, Monroe. And Monroe has two children of their own; Seneca and Marie. (Older stepsisters… They’re loud and boisterous, but they mean well and Helia enjoys watching them pose and give him fashion shows to help out his own work.)

-Though he was only at the Academy for a short time, Helia discovered many things about himself. (And made friends with the Princess of Linphea who had gotten in despite her age. The fairy is truly gifted in making topiary art.)

-He loves his charcoal brushes and using colored pencils when doing sketches. Something about the way it moves on the paper just makes him so happy.

-And he does love to paint, though he’s not much for water colors. (And never ask him to do a digital piece. The last time he tried working with a tablet, he nearly got electrocuted. Granted, it was probably a one-time thing, but he took it as a sign.)

-Poetry is second love, aside from sketching and painting. He loves being able to verbalize his feelings and put the words down that he can feel inside. Its one of the few ways he feels he can truly connect to people, since it’s easier to write down the words instead of saying them. (Though he has done poetry readings from time to time.)

-Between portraits and landscapes, Helia prefers landscapes. And he’d really gotten into architecture drawings before he left the Academy.

-Because his parents were often busy when he was a kid, he found he had useful skills to ‘adult’ while at the Academy and on his own for the first time. (He can cook fairly well, at least, you know what you’re supposed to be eating and it tastes pretty good. But he’s no Chef Langdon.)

-He was great at keeping his room spotless and clean. His workspaces however? Not so much.

-Over half his wardrobe is stained with either paint or charcoal or clay.

-(Yes, he can do pottery. Just not very well. In fact, it usually looks pretty shit, but hey, he tried.)

-After seeing the news about what happened in Magix and how his uncle’s school was destroyed and the people he cared about nearly died, Helia decided to transfer. (Which took a lot of convincing with his dad and the Dean of the Academy and Saladin.)

-But once he was in, he was in. And when given the choice about his weapon, he went with one his mother loves to use, the laser-string gloves. Great for restraint and for quick weapon-recovery in battle without potentially causing further harm.

-Add in his ability to make himself stronger, and he can wield that glove with the confidence of a sword fighter.

-He quickly clicked with Timmy once he joined their squadron, despite the two having different views of technology.

-Helia was Riven’s roommate though, and while their personalities didn’t compete with each other, they didn’t completely get along either. (Riven reminded Helia of Hannah with his ‘let’s just face it’ ways and Riven felt Helia wasn’t much of a hero if all he did was restrain instead of fight.)

-Of course, as time went on, Helia and Riven do have respect for each other, and have many inside jokes that came from their time living together.

-Helia quickly found he was one of the ‘advisors’ of the group, with everyone coming to him for advice. He was flattered, sure, but dudes… Just because he managed to get what he got, doesn’t mean he knows how he did it.

-Aside from training with his gloves, he’s good using a whip and decent with a sword. Bows and arrows/anything needing aim isn’t his strong suit. He’s also not the best at giving reports on how things went on their missions, which is why that task gets delegated to Sky or Riven.

-He trained as a medic too, deciding that while he wouldn’t be the best in a fight, he can help with the aftermath. And his squad kind of needed a medic aside from Timmy and Brandon…

-Helia may not enjoy fighting, but he’s not above doing what’s necessary when the people he cares about are in danger. There have been plenty of times, not just when saving the Magical Dimension, that Helia has risked his life and limbs to protect his friends.

-One such incident was a survival trip to the Marshlands of Amanal. Brandon never would have made it home in one piece if Helia hadn’t thrown himself at the hippogriff. (And he somehow managed to befriend it afterward. No, he has no memory of how he did it.)

-Helia tends to be a stress-sketcher. Worried about a test? Doodles on his notes from class. Worried about an upcoming mission? Sketchbook in hand. Relationship issues? Sketchbook.

-Oh! He’s a great pilot too! Helia has a great sense of direction and has grown up around the ships, so he knows how to work them. (Now, if you want to know what makes them tick or how to put them together if they fall apart, ask someone else. Preferably Timmy or Riven.)

-Helia has a whole stash of teas. A collection, if you will. (Something that he blames Faragonda for, but hey, it’s not the worst habit ever.)

-After all the traveling he’s done thanks to Red Fountain, Helia sort of understands better why his mom and uncle loved their military days so much. Seeing new places, learning new things, enjoying new foods… It’s quite an existence. (If you can look passed all the fighting and wars and invasions…)

-Yes, Helia does yoga. He also enjoys dance. (And with friends like Layla, Musa, and Nabu, he never has to do it alone.)

-Some of his favorite people to sketch: Flora, for her grace and beauty and the way she seems to just breathe life into natural settings; Sky, for his posture and presence and ability to always appear in charge; Layla, for her strength and grace and how every body of water seems to be at her command; and finally, Timmy and Tecna, As a couple, those two just radiate this feeling of joy and it just… How can you not want to sketch it?!

-(Kiko is also a favorite sketch subject. The little rabbit just has so much personality!)

-This may come as a shock to people, but Helia enjoys horror movies. Preferably the psychological/thriller-based horror movies. It’s the way they capture human emotion and it’s just so poignant and interesting. He wants to learn how to convey such feelings in his work.

-Between his parents, you’d think Helia was closer to his father… In actuality, he’s closer to his mother.

-His mom enjoyed doing things and showing him things and just getting him to be more active and curious as a child.

-His father was more of a watcher. An observer-type. Always looking for something awe-inspiring for his next piece. (Something Helia and Harley bond over now. And laugh at, from time to time.)

-Helia enjoys swapping sketching ideas with Bloom and Stella, looking to see what they’re up to and how they can try and work off of each other.

-(And he has done some physical character sheets and layout ideas for Tecna’s video game idea to help her see her vision more clearly.)

-Helia doesn’t play a lot of video games. They’re just not his thing… But he does have a soft spot for the Sims series after Bloom introduced him to it, and he enjoys this maze creation game that a Solarian gaming company came up with for phones (level 200!!!).

-He swears more than people think he does. It’s almost comical how shocked people are when they meet this ‘sweet and soulful guy’ and then he drops a few ‘f’ bombs while working on his projects. (Not just ‘f’ bombs either… Dude gets creative with his curses. Even Riven’s impressed.)

-Helia didn’t go to Earth with the others, instead taking up a job offer on Callisto to help with remodeling his great uncle’s barracks. (And now, the castle itself… He’s so honored it’s his designs in the works.)

-However, he does visit from time to time. It makes him a little sad though, seeing Earth the way it is. All the pollution creating cars, the strange fashion, the way people seem to disregard each other. It’s so sad.

-When the ‘saving the Magical Dimension’ stuff stops, Helia’s hoping to join with his father’s art gallery and to build on his portfolio of projects. (He knows he already has a few jobs waiting for him, like Stella’s coronation portrait for when she becomes queen.)

-He just hopes his works inspire and touch people the way they do as he works on them.

#winx club #winx club au #winx club headcanons #winx club helia #winx helia headcanons #helia scofield #winx club helia headcanons #helia au #artistic warrior

[godkilller]

@izzabizz139

I wanna hear you rant about the Gin vs Hitsugaya anime fight bc I love seeing your pov and you clearly write better than whoever extended that scene :) pretty please

          out of character.  DON’T ENABLE ME SO MUCH !!  No but I cackled when I first saw this ask because oh my god, clearly you saw a taste of my annoyance about the anime adaptation -- no, adaptation implies it was accurate, I’ll say the anime’s take was “inspired by” the manga’s quick run-in. I’ll start by saying this moment is supposed to be a bit important considering, via the audience’s point of view, THIS IS THE FIRST WE SEE OF TWO CAPTAIN-RANKED SHINIGAMI CLASHING. The only other captain-involved fight we’ve seen thus far in the manga is Kenpachi  ( who is an outlier and should not be counted... no, I joke... but, still, Ichigo was not an equal to him, his sword was sliced through like butter. )  The whole reason I enjoyed this encounter between Toshiro and Gin was simply this; it wasn’t some fancy multi-chaptered fight. IN THE MANGA, THERE ARE ONLY TWO BLOWS MADE. One, by Toshiro, to begin the fight. The second, to end it, is Gin’s strike.

          I want you to know that I’ve rewatched this specifically to answer this ask, and only due to this, as I wouldn’t have ever sought it out otherwise. HONOR MY SACRIFICE.

          Read more for length. I’m merciful.

          In the anime, they monologue at each other, and it’s mostly a combination of Toshiro making three separate death threats  ( he starts this off by saying “I’ll kill you before Hinamori arrives” and then goes on rewording it each time, and then also repeats the death-threat he gave Gin prior to this conflict about “I’ll kill you if Hinamori bleeds” )  and then also Gin and Izuru talking about how truly powerful and amazing Toshiro is -- no, this isn’t me being bitter or petty, I literally shit you not, Gin has a line that is legit “AS EXPECTED FROM HITSUGAYA TOSHIRO, CAPTAIN OF THE TENTH DIVISION, A CHILD PRODIGY OF TH' SORT THAT ONLY COMES ALONG ONLY ONCE EVERY FEW CENTURIES. HOW VEEEERY DANGEROUS. YOU’RE SERIOUS, AIN’T YA?” like don’t get me wrong, love a good sarcastic little shit comment like that, but the amount of times the anime pumps Toshiro up like he’s their shinest new cash cow ( and he is, at this point, it is not even 50 episodes into the series and they’ve realized everyone likes him and he’s jumped to high ranks in popularity polls... earning him filler spotlights, and eventually his very own non-canon movie )  so everything coming out of Gin’s mouth feels like more bullshit than necessary. Izuru’s already literally monologued, internally, how powerful and amazing Toshiro is anyways. Why this ?

          Not to mention that, prior to saying that long-winded shit, Gin’s haori changed length three times  ( and once it was longer than his entire body by several feet, and no not in a ‘to show motion’ way )  and most importantly Shinso was drawn, consistently, at katana-length for the duration of their little spat where the following, too, happened: Gin frog-leaps after doing a backflip, Toshiro gives Gin two (2) haircuts, Gin ruins some floorboards and gives Toshiro at least one splinter in his arm, Toshiro whilst wearing socks lands on Shinso’s blunt edge and pushes the sword down with his footsie because that’s how that works, there’s another backflip somewhere in there that Gin doesn’t need to be doing, twirl, twirl, and ballet, Gin’s face elongates until his chin is bigger than his face, Gin spends ten+ seconds purely dodging very close strikes to his face as Toshiro is the only one making breathy growly and ‘tsuuaaah’ sounds, there is a brief moment of no gravity as Toshiro keeps hacking at Gin midair and Gin blocks it over and over again but they still stay in the air but they’re not standing or jumping or using reiatsu they’re just like, momentum-locked I don’t fucking know, Gin frowny faces as he blocks because like somehow this kid who doesn’t even have more reiatsu than him, whose arm strength should not be an issue, is like. making him nervous?? as sword sparks fly. if you know me at all you know I hate when they fuckin’ firework sparkler-ify swords clashing.

          Anyways, all of this happens whilst Shinso is the wrong length and Gin’s hair is getting purpler by the second and this entire thing is somehow a big jack-off to Toshiro’s immense strength even though he’s screaming and wailing at Gin like a child and Gin’s just a vessel at this point to Enhance Toshiro, which, fine, okay, but at least be more accurate with it god damn. ANYWAYS,

          THEY JOUST. They literally run at each other, swords centered, and run past / to the side of one another. Jousting. “Cause that’s how that works. No slashes, no cutting motion. Just swords centered, because the animators were like “no worries guys I know swordfighting basics that’s a legit pose” yeah it is WHEN STATIONARY. Not rUNNING IT DOWN.

          And then Gin’s sleeve is cut, somehow, from the Jousting, because wow Toshiro wow wow wowowowow, and then Toshiro comes back and starts wailing at Gin again and Gin blocks it, again, and it’s all very annoyingly repetitive, and Gin’s frowning and sparks are flying and Gin’s using Shinso, the katana-length wakizashi I guess, with two hands because like I said, the animators knew basics and basics are “katana are used two-handed” like. Okay, you’re not wrong, but I cannot stress this enough: SHINSO IS NOT A KATANA. It’s shorter and meant to be used single-handed!!!! sTop!!! So then Gin rips off the tattered part of his sleeve and throws it at Toshiro, who swipes it away from his face using his Zanpakuto because that’s intelligent and a piece of cloth was definitely threatening enough to use your sword to bat it away  ( btw, Hitsugaya wasn’t holding his sword with two hands at this precise moment, so he could have just... used his other hand )  and then Gin goes in for the classic “stabby stabby rapidly at you while the animation gets a little breather because we repeat this cycle a few times with flashy bgs and phew money made” ... WE ARE FOUR MINUTES AND THIRTY SECONDS INTO THIS FIGHT BY THE WAY. Gin does this for seventeen (17) agonizing seconds straight. Yes, I counted. That was sixteen and a half too many seconds for me, personally.

          Toshiro somehow lassos Shinso whilst Gin is stabby stabby-ing with Hyourinmaru’s chain component. I say component like it’s somehow some type of beauty guru’s lipstick holder, but really am I that wrong ? When else has he ever used this feature ? Anyways, he lassos Shinso because yeehaw I guess, god I’m falling apart at this point can y’all tell????? I need a drink.

          and so, because now Toshiro has Gin’s sword somehow trapped with chain even though it’s just looped around it, he backflips over Gin for a cool trickshot, no blow issued, just vibes, and Gin uses a big brain moment to tug Shinso and the chains slide off. okay now what. We’re past five minutes into this fight, nonstop.

          SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD TIME FOR GIN TO PAUSE AND APPRECIATE TOSHIRO AGAIN! “I see, I shouldn’t have underestimated you, HItsugaya Toshiro” I’m starting to have a feeling Gin’s VA was told to just wing these lines because the amount of times he fills silences / Gin’s mouth movements with Toshiro’s long-ass name is astounding, he’s definitely drawing blanks here but he sure as hell knows one thing: that damn ice-boy’s name. He continues by saying “I suppose I’ll end up regretting it afterwards.”

          Toshiro says that’s not enough, and it’s really dramatic and cool. His eyes even glow all icy and blue and pretty, like his flowy reiatsu. Aesthetic points were gifted entirely to Toshiro’s animations in this scene. Gin was finished in MS Paint and each new scene they had to draw Shinso from memory and try to remember what hue of purple his hair was at gunpoint. Toshiro lets off a big wave of reiatsu and then it vanishes, and he jumps up reaaaally high. like this guy’s flying. his eyes arent glowing anymore that’s sad. Bring Back Glowing Eyes For Strong Shinigami 2k21.

          Toshiro releases his Shikai, and it’s badass, the sky darkens, Izuru looks distinctly more worried than usual, and Gin’s frowning with his teeth out like Bugs Bunny’s having a bad day, all is right in the world. Toshiro and his released Shikai have a nice moment for the Pics, and a big epic freeze frame blur moment happens with it all coiled and swirling around him. Wrow!  ( click the ‘wrow’ it’s a link to my exact reaction )  Izuru narrates for the third time about how powerful Toshiro is, his reiatsu, his Zanpakuto being a deity who is only unlocked every few centuries. The strongest ice-type sword. Pardon the pun, but that’s... you could say, so cool.

          It can even control the weather. So hey, next time it’s rainy, cold, icy, or snowing and you’re unhappy, it’s time to direct a big fuck you at Toshiro.

          Gin dodges the first dragon, and blocks the second with Shinso because blocking water and ice with a sword makes sense right? This actually takes a solid amount of seconds as Gin cuts through the entire length of this ice dragon noodle. Things dissipate, and pause, too, to really drag this out. Surprisingly, this reveals that Gin’s made a boo-boo, his left arm’s frozen, which doesn’t even mean anything because Gin is right-handed, and Toshiro teleports himself behind Gin in true fighty fashion.

          We have arrived at seven minutes and just under twenty seconds of this fight, and Gin turns, DOES THE UNTHINKABLE, gasp! He opens his eyes. His red, dull, evil, gray-eyebrowed with purple hair eyes, and shoots Shinso through its hideout spot behind his haori. This nearly takes off Toshiro’s eye and upwards of his head, but the little guy dives down fast. The rest happens in slow motion, supposedly, because it takes an eternity and people talk entire full sentences in its span of time.

          Gin asks Toshiro if he’s sure he’d like to dodge that  ( it’s a little late for that ) and says that Momo’ll die if he does. SHINSO SCRAPING ALONG AGAINST HYOURINMARU STRANGELY MAKES NOT A SINGLE SOUND. Mute. Even though before they had no problem animating and adding sounds to them smacking blades earlier. There are soundless sparks though, so there’s that. Yay. Can you tell how exhausted this’s made me? I need a nap.

          Shinso is already more than halfway towards Momo, still unconscious, she most definitely has a serious concussion via Toshiro backhanding her midair consider she’s been unconscious for longer than ten minutes. Toshiro has time to get up off the floor where he dropped to dodge, realize with a shocked gasp, turn, shout her name, and watch as Rangiku arrives in a random glow of gold which never happens ever again and blocks the attack with Haineko. Haineko almost cracks on the impact, and continues growing in damage as Rangiku holds Shinso there, implying that she’s stopped it from reaching one-hundred sword’s lengths to pierce Momo. Yes I’m including that implication / note in here because we love to see Rangiku succeeding in life and being Not-Helpless, all while potentially damaging Haineko severely if it wasn’t able to hold him off. Yikes, Gin!

          Rangiku threatens to join the fight if he doesn’t withdraw his sword. Gin smiles, withdraws it, and then Shunpos away.

          Whatta mess. Oh, and the anime fight was pretty fucked up, too.

          This is a long post, but here’s the manga version:

Toshiro leaps into the air,

This is where the fight actually starts between them:

And end. 

Five pages. Two blows. Does not equate to ten minutes of non-stop fighting and monologues. Sometimes, and I mean this in the most unbiased way possible, less is more.

#[ out of character ] masquerade; hide your face #me: i wanna reply to things!! #also me with eyes glowing red: no. #long post #LOOOONG POSTTTTT... #4 pages. #of text. #im so sorry.

[nuttyjellyfishlover]

One Piece Anime Wano Arc Episodes 890

One Piece Anime: Wano Arc, Episodes 890 This honestly is less going to be a review and more of a commentary as I watch through the anime's rendition of the Wano arc. I've honestly never really watched too much of the One Pieceanime, mostly just looking up the highlights of the arcs I read in the manga. I did watch the filler episodes and most of the movies, as I've talked about at length recently. And everyone tells me that the anime has some rather terrible pacing, particularly around the time of Dressrossa, which is apparently pretty padded out. But then I heard the absolute opposite for Wano, where the anime has received a new art-style and one hell of a fancy makeover. And I thought... hey, I'm on a One Piece kick this year, clearly, so yeah, I think I'm going to give this a shot.

The Wano arc, I think, is one that works a lot better because it has the reverse problem of a lot of One Piece arcs -- there are a lot of moments in Act One of the manga's version of the story that the writer clearly purposefully threw in a couple of off-screened moments that the anime could expand into full action scenes. I already know that Sanji versus Page One is fully animated in the anime, and scenes like Big Mom vs. Kaido or Zoro vs. Basil Hawkins are extended a lot more than the couple of panels we had in the manga. And Wano's got a lot of supporting characters, some of which actually get swept under the rug when I first read through the manga chapters weekly. So yeah, having bright colours and voices and music is going to make this a much more fun experience!

Anyway, here goes my collection of random notes and commentary. Be aware that there will be MANGA SPOILERS, as I will point out a couple of things here and there about stuff I notice that's foreshadowing or whatever:

* Marco's blue-and-yellow phoenix form looks so, so much more vibrant and pops out compared to anything else in the series in colour, huh? I think out of any other character, Marco is extra-memorable in animated format. * That said, basically half this episode is just a recap of the Paramount War. I mean, I haven't seen the Paramount War in full animated format, so it's nice to hear Whitebeard and Ace and Marco speak some of their more famous lines there. But on the other hand, it's also it's kind of one of the more-criticized parts of the One Piece anime that any time they could pad out an episode with scenes from a previously-produced episode, they will. * We actually get to see the Grudge/Payback War in the anime! I think this is less of a showcase of events that actually happened and more of a symbolic one, but hey, we get to see Blackbeard doing some sky-quakes and black holes and Marco turning phoenix. It just shows the Whitebeard division commanders getting sucked into a giant Dragon-Ball-esque spirit bomb Black Hole. Actually pretty neat! * Jozu has both arms in that vision. Whether it's an error or a spoiler or if he has a prosthetic a la Akainu in Film: Z, we'll see eventually.

* This episode also has a bit of a recap of the revelations about Wano from the Zou arc, but it's a lot shorter and feels a lot more relevant to the upcoming arc. * Brook actually expresses some interest on Vivi, apparently having heard of her from the others. I've always liked this from the filler episodes, of the newer Straw Hats slowly learning about prior adventures. Brook being Brook, of course, a panty joke was tossed in. * The Japanese-art style water waves look so pretty when animated! * The random octopus that makes Japanese kabuki theater (?) sounds is another thing that works so much better in the anime. I've always thought it felt a bit forced and random in the manga version. * The high-tempo music when the Sunny sails into the koi waves is very, very fun! * Ah, yes, the very first chapter of Wano in the manga shows off a bunch of carps jumping up a waterfall. You know, considering the whole legend that a carp that jumps over the waterfall transforms into a dragon... i.e., a fish that is also a dragon...

* The first one that's properly and almost fully drawn in the new Wano art style! And it looks gorgeous. * Also a new theme song! I've never paid that much attention to theme songs in anime, but I definitely like "One Dream One Wish" more than "We're the Super Powers". Shame that, as with most anime, the opening sort of spoils, like, half of the things that happens in the arc. * Speaking of great background music... the tempo of that opening instrumental that Komurasaki plays on shamisen is pretty catchy, especially with that octopus going iyooo~ in the background. It also makes for very fun background music for Zoro's rampage at the end of the episode. * Anime Wano is so freaking colourful. The rooftops, the kimonos, the hair... I think I remembered reading that Oda made it a point to subvert the fact that everyone in feudal Japan had black hair by explicitly doing the opposite -- black hair is the exception rather than the norm in Wano. Fun! * The frog on Usopp's hat is a real frog! I always thought it was just a hat! It's adorable! The wiki tells me it's called Gama Pyonnosuke. It's an adorable friend! Forget Carrot or Kin'emon or Yamato, Gama Pyonnosuke for next Straw Hat! * The biggest expansion here is that we actually follow Zoro around as he wanders around the city until he gets arrested by the corrupt magistrate. And Zoro actually bumps into the man-slayer and corrupt magistrate, actually explaining why he recognizes the specific scent of blood during the whole seppuku court. * And then we get around a minute of Zoro fighting the magistrate guards with the seppuku knife and good ol' fisticuffs, something that I didn't think I needed, but is certainly very fun to watch! * This new animation studio loves the angled zoom-in into eyes, and I highly approve. I think we had that like at least three times when Zoro decides to get dangerous.

* I never quite realized that if Luffy hadn't been interrupted by the octopus and washed up next to the Thousand Sunny, the poor ship would be literally left to its own devices. You'd think after losing Merry, the Straw Hats would be more careful with their ships... * Zoro gets to slash the magistrates up even more! It's a single Tatsu Maki, but god damn what a pretty Tatsu Maki. The shot of his feet kicking and breaking the wooden floor, the black aura around his blades, the way that the dragon aura appears behind him, the demonic red eyes as Zoro slams down from the sky, and the shots of the surrounding terrain being cut up into cubes... pretty awesome! * Luffy dodging the bullet from the random Beast Pirate goon with Observation Haki and the gomu-gomu-long-range-bitchslap has always been cool in the manga, and this episode makes it even cooler. Those glowing eyes! This is going to be the whole commentary, isn't it? Just me commenting on the scenes I find to be really cool? * Luffy's Conqueror Haki against the giant baboon is another very cool one. From the expression to the delivery of the line to the sound effect... Luffy's expression is actually pretty cool and borderline scary as he beats up the second goon. No wonder Tama went straight into "This is the I surrender pose!" * Also added in the anime is a vignette of Franky, Robin and Usopp seeing the news of Zorojuro becoming a wanted criminal. Again, not entirely necessary to know the story, but actually scenes that I don't mind being shown to us. Particularly that scene of Usopp utterly bullshitting an officer. * Luffy pets Komachiyo with his rubber arms. Komachiyo is a good boy. This is the most important scene.

* Did the manga show Luffy hiding the Sunny and letting it anchor in a cave? I don't remember it. I know that before the flashback and the raid we see the Sunny there, but it's nice to actually show Luffy not being so callous with the Sunny. * They got a pretty good voice actress for Tama that really makes her pretty adorable! So many times these kid guest star characters end up being annoying if they don't get a good voice, but between the voice-acting and the expressions, she's pretty fun! * Also, I think this is going to be something I repeat a couple of times, but both Tama and Tenguyama are so much more visually interesting with their full colour palettes. * Oh, right, Drake was the one that ransacked Tama's village. Wonder if that'll actually come up later on in the story... * Okay, thanks to the anime, it's really going to drill to me that it's pronounced 'Diez Drake' and not 'Eks Drake'. * I'm pretty sure everyone noticed it, but Ace learned to weave hats in Wano! That's how he became buddies with Oars Junior! I didn't notice it until just now!

* (Episode is the Cidre Guild filler arc that ties in to Stampede.) * What is Tenguyama waiting for? It's probably Oden or his retainers, but I don't think he's part of the samurai that was recruited by Kin'emon's group. Maybe he just missed the big recruitment drive, but that's weird. I wonder what role he's going to play in the arc... * There is a random metal guitar riff when Luffy sees the Nidai Kitetsu. And a glow of Observation Haki on Luffy's eyes. That's a small detail, but very cool! He also uses Observation when Hawkins arrives later on. I love the little trail of glowing red that streams out of his pupils when he activates it. * Tenguyama's sword has a very cool leaf-based handguard! Never noticed that. * Speaking of cool Observation Haki effects, Zoro's apparently activates when he senses sake. Appropriate! * I know it's me repeating this over and over, and we'll get so many cooler scenes later on, but Zoro casually launching that Phoenix Cannon to blow up the two random raptor-riders when he saves Tsuru? Such a simple scene but still so cool. Also very cool is the very brief slo-mo as Zoro re-angles the pathway of his slice when cutting down the second random goon. * Unlike most of the other things, I've always noticed that Basil Hawkins has a very cool Koma-deer mount. It looks even cooler in motion!

* This is perhaps one of the more extended scenes, since it features... fight scenes! In the manga, I think this lasted... maybe half a chapter? Less? A couple of page spreads? It's not just the Hawkins fight, either, Luffy's 'swordfighting' with Nidai Kitetsu also gets extended. Luffy's a bit more successful in using the sword to block and parry here. * Luffy's voice actor really makes the 'de gozaru' sound really funny. * I 100% missed Tsuru the first time I read through this chapter since we only see part of her in a single panel before her full-body debut after the Hawkins fight, and it's a lot less likely that you'll make that mistake in the anime. * Some 'elite' goons show up here, including a guy that uses his ponytail as a whip against Zoro, and a dude that makes fissures with a hammer that fights Luffy. Probably feels a bit more filler-y compared to the rest of the action scenes, but that's honestly nitpicking. * Zoro launching a Phoenix Cannon that slashes Hawkins's face is very cool. * Hawkins' little straw dolls gets an extended scene of it crawling out of his arm. It's so creepy, I love it. * Hawkins' giant straw demon StandBankaigets an very cool summoning animation and it's so creepy. The skies darkens and everything. Most importantly, it makes noises! Again, I love it.

* Luffy and Zoro vs. Hawkins! It's extended beyond just the simple 'dodge, then one-shot-slash' that it was in the manga. I really like Hawkins and his creepy-ass Straw Stand, so I am a huge fan of this. We get a couple of nice juxtaposition shots of Hawkins and the straw monster. Also Zoro goes shirtless in the fight. That's an important detail! * I really, really love how Zoro is having a gritted-teeth expression as he fights the giant straw demon; the straw demon is going gakakakakakakaka like a lunatic... then we cut to Hawkins who has a deadpan, bored expression as he swings his sword in the distance. * The animators really like to let the straw monster use the nails entwined to the tips of its fingers. That's fun! Zoro backhand-blocking the nails from hitting Luffy and Tama? That's cool! * Zoro does Ichi-Gorilla-Ni-Gorilla at one point, and totally slices and 'kills' Hawkins a bunch of times. * Also, speaking of pretty, glowing-eyes motion shots, Zoro using Nigiri: Toro Samon? Yeah. The cut itself is cool, but the zoom-in on Zoro's eyes as he does so? I'm sorry, I have a weakness for that kind of shot, it appears. * To extend the fight so that it's not just a single exchange of blows, Komachiyo gets knocked to the ground so that Zoro and the straw demon can actually fight for a bit. * Also shots I have a weakness to? DBZ-style 'aftermath of a powerful move'. This one isn't too over-the-top, but the slash extending into the sky and the shockwave rippling out from where Zoro slices the strawman thing is cool. * We actually see the scene of Okiku being harassed by Urashima in chronological order, and Urashima scares off a customer. Also, the implied scene of Zoro scaring off Urashima is actually shown here.

* This episode kind of extends the scenes in Tsuru's shop a bit more. Not the most exciting thing, but it does really help to build up Tama, Tsuru and Kiku. * ...wait, Tsuru's shop just displays the Kozuki crest very, very evidently on its door awning. If simply speaking the Kozuki name alone is a punishable crime, how did they get away with that? * Zoro trying to get Luffy to adopt a Wano-ized name is extra-funny in the anime! * Speaking of extended fight scenes, Batman gets to shoot alotmore arrows at Luffy and Zoro. It's kind of over-the-top on Batman's part, if we're being honest, even if Zoro and Luffy very easily dispatches of them.

* The anime does give Batman the ability to control his arrows via sonic waves or something, but he lasted for a much, much longer time than he really should have. * Batman fucking blocks Luffy's Busoshoku-empowered punch! He most definitely doesn't do it in the manga, and sure, knocking Luffy down with sonic waves? I buy that. Blocking Luffy and causing a small explosion in the air? ...I'm pretty sure just some random Gifter isn't supposed to be able to do that. Unless they're thinking of the other Batman? * They make the initial shot of Holdem answering the phone with the lion face pretty intimidating! * Holdem's lion beating their shared balls is still one of the weirdest jokes in the manga. * Some really nice face shots in this one, from Tama to Holdem to the lion to Luffy's group.

* A pretty obvious extended filler is Urashima bullying other sumo wrestlers. Urashima is kind of a dipshit, so it's not a particularly enjoyable filler for me. * Zoro gets to sumo-wrestle with one of Urashima's goons! This one, on the other hand, is pretty fun. We also get a little added bit where Zoro smirks after remembering Kiku's earlier insistence that she's a samurai, so it's less of a 'he doesn't give a shit' and more 'he wants to see what Kiku's skill is' or something.

* Luffy vs. Urashima is prolonged a bit in here, obviously. Not as entertaining as fighting Hawkins or even Batman, but okay, sure. Lots of grunting and growling in this one. Urashima cheats a bit more, Luffy has to use Armament Haki at one point... really don't think Urashima's someone that you should bother using hardening on, Luffy. * The kabuki-style delivery of "I'm going to be the king of pirates" is very well done. * Poor Tama! Holdem's a jackass. * We actually get to see Urashima crashing into Holdem's house, in yet another obvious 'hey, anime team, this is something for you to animate' scene from the manga. * Law gets an extended scene with seeing the sick Bepo, including a Room/Scan showcase and Bepo looking cute and Law being unable to keep being angry at him.

* The fight against the pirates and samurai in Bakura Town gets extended a fair bit in this episode. Luffy throws Nidai Kitetsu's scabbard around again, repeating the thing he did before. * This episode noticeably has a bunch of brief flashbacks to previous episodes. Anime episodes do this all the time to easily eat up like, ten or fifteen seconds of runtime. But I felt this one was particularly noticeable since it's to the previous episode which we already had a recap segment of before the episode begun. * Ball-de-boo!

* We get an adorable crayon drawing memory when Luffy remembers Zunisha one-shotting Jack's fleet. * Luffy and Zoro's synchronized neck-crick is pretty fun. Also fun is their super-speed when they simultaneously rescue Tama and steal the food barge. The question is, where is this super-speed when they were bamboozled by Batman and Gazelleman? * Unlike the anime, Holdem is able to turn his sword into a flaming segmented sword. It's like Zabimaru from Bleach, but on fire! * We get an extra scene of a random goon holding Kiku hostage and Zoro locking eyes with her and saying "I'm not going to help you", knowing full well she's pretending to be a damsel in distress. * Speed also gets to do something here! She gets to shoot Armament Haki'd arrows at Zoro and Kiku! In the manga she doesn't do anything while this is happening. * REDDO HAAAAAWK! * God damn that's a very satisfying Red Hawk. Such a pretty-looking one! This was the scene that a friend showed me that got me excited to sit down and watch the Wano arc in anime format. From Holdem shooting a lion's fire (how does that work?) and engulfing Luffy, to Tama's yelling, to the zoom-in to Luffy's angry eyes, to the orb of flame dissipating, the zoom-in to Luffy's angry face, the impact, the music... it's just Luffy beating up Holdem, who means jack-all in the grand scheme of things, but what a badass Red Hawk.

And I think that's a neat place to stop off, with the initial Hawkins-Urashima-Holdem opening prologue to Wano done with. I'm not sure how often I'll update this little watch-along series, but I certainly am enjoying myself!

[syncogon]

[QZGS meta] what’s in an OP? dawning glory (pt 3)

(part 1) (part 2) 

This is the third and last post in my little series analyzing the opening theme of The King’s Avatar Season 2! Honestly, this whole thing became way longer than I was expecting. I guess this is what happens when all my immense amount of love for this series, accumulated over years of no-donghua-updates, overlaps with my immense amount of love for anime openings. 

Watched the first and second episodes yesterday, and they really sparked a lot of joy. :D I missed Blue River so much :D

Yesterday, they released the OST for Season 2, which includes the TV cut and full versions of the OP and ED, as well as two insert songs, and the instrumental versions of all of the above. I’ve yet to find anywhere that lets me download the audio files (hoping they’ll be reuploaded to youtube or bilibili soon), but in the meantime you can listen here. They’re really good songs!  https: //www. kuwo. cn/album_detail/15792659

Anyway, let’s finish up this OP analysis!

Now here, we reach the true climax as we enter the chorus section. This next segment is definitely the highest-energy part of the entire opening. It’s a montage of Happy’s characters showing off their moves, timed to the music; there’s not too much deeper meaning, but damn if it doesn’t look fantastic. The animation flows from one character and scene to the next so smoothly, so beautifully, it’s just incredibly hype to see. This is what you get when you specifically choreograph/animate sequences for the opening instead of just reusing shots from the main show! (Parts of some of these shots appeared in episode 1, but I do honestly think that it’s more likely that the show reused shots from the opening than the other way around, just because of how perfectly the OP fits together. I also don’t think it’s super noticeable in-show; I’ve just been watching this obsessively.)

In particular I love the line that kicks this all off: “just put on your battle armor and step onto the road to the unknown.” Specifically, though, the rhythm of the lyric is, “jiu pi shang zhan jia ta shang wei zhi qian fang,” with emphasizing accents on the -ang sounds. This isn’t how you would divide the phrase naturally, but because the (syncopated!!) melody accents these notes/syllables, the rhyming effect really stands out and it feels as clever and satisfying as a rap lyric. Moreover, the emphasis times juuust right with the attacks of Soft Mist, Steamed Bun Invasion, and Windward Formation, a perfect example of how music and visuals mutually reinforce each other for maximum cool effect. 

It’s generally easier to rhyme in Chinese than English, because of a smaller phonetic vocabulary. From the chorus onward, the key rhyme is on the “-ang” sound (think “ahng” or “ong”, not “aang” like the Avatar), which is a good choice - powerful, reverberant. The asymmetry of the syllable’s use in this section - the song’s lines are all different lengths at this part, so you’re kept on your toes as to when the pattern will reappear - helps add to the engaging excitement of the song. This is also the syllable used for most of the rhymes in the second half of the first OP. 

jiu pi shang zhan jia ta shang wei zhi qian fang

hui qi shou zhong wo jin de na shu guang

you ni men zai lu shang__

shi li liang

I really love One Inch Ash’s design. Concealed Light had a big redesign for this season, and honestly I like it as well. And notice here that he’s holding a book - exactly how we left Luo Ji when we saw him last! 

“Waving the light clenched tightly in our hand” - that is to say, brandishing our light as our weapon, no matter what form it may take - a sword, a book, our hope and determination. 

On a purely musical note (ha), right at this point, specifically the measure beginning with “那束光,” you can hear a three-note “ooo” harmony line in the background, and wow it’s so subtle but I love it so much! A similar three-note line actually appears earlier too (during the “crossing the frozen finish line,” right as the music is building up), also to great effect.  

We follow Concealed Light’s gaze upward to the building to see Deception running along the wall, from which he does a flip and slashes downward with twin blades. I love that transition a lot, but my favorite transition of this entire sequence has to be the following one:

Yes! Deception’s cross slash resolves perfectly into the cross held by Little Cold Hands. It’s so fast and so natural you don’t even notice it, and that’s the absolute beauty of it. The first time I saw this, I was in awe - the animators really brought their A-game to this, far better than I ever would have dared hope for this series.

And Little Cold Hands is so pretty! When we got our first art of her official design, the comments were filled with people simping for her, and honestly, valid. I’m surprised her hair is purple instead of pink, but that’s just a minor thing. 

There’s something especially powerful about how she raises her cross in time with the lyric “having you all here [with me] on this road,” and then the cross flashing brilliantly with “it’s power.” More than any other role, the healer is a team player. And this theme of team togetherness is particularly important for An Wenyi, who is deeply moved by the team’s perhaps illogical faith in him. Remember that analogy Ye Xiu tells him, of the straw tied to the deluxe mitten crab? 

An aside: listening to this, I always thought the line should be 有你们在身旁 instead of 有你们在路上, because it still fits the rhyme, because my past experience has somewhat conditioned me to expect that phrase, and because the full message of “having you by my side is power” just makes me wanna tear up like what a good line! So it felt like a missed opportunity that they didn’t use that. But as it turns out, the final iteration of this chorus in the full version of the OP does, in fact, use “by my side”! And I think making this tiny tweak to the lyric the final time you here it just makes it that much stronger :’)

I’m also just a big fan of the “it’s power” melodic flourish in general, since it comes as a surprise. You kind of expect the melody to end with the previous phrase, but the extra notes here add a really nice emphatic beat to finish off the line. 

So to recap the transitions: we see Soft Mist falling from the sky and get a close up of her face as she stabs her spear; this takes us to a closeup of Steamed Bun’s face facing roughly the same direction before we zoom out to his torso and he slashes from lower left of the screen to upper right; following the motion of that slash we see Windward Formation’s torso rotate in that direction as the camera zooms out farther; we follow the rays of his attack to see One Inch Ash drawing his sword; we zoom in on the flashing blade and zoom out on Concealed Light’s glowing book; we follow his gaze upward to see Deception running along the building behind him; Deception leaps and slashes and the slash becomes Little Cold Hands’ cross, which raises up and triggers an explosion. It’s just so dynamic and smooth even without taking place in one continuous setting, and it just really, really gets you hyped. 

Also, starting from Happy’s team picture at the start of the chorus, which is during the day, it feels like Soft Mist and Steamed Bun’s moves are at late afternoon, Windward Formation and One Inch Ash take us to nighttime, and then you can see the first rays of morning in Concealed Light and Deception’s segments. This continuity also definitely helps with the feeling of natural flow through these scenes. 

Anyway, this entire action segment is just so beautiful, I could watch it on loop. But we still have the final segment of this OP to analyze, so let’s keep going.

After the action sequences of the climax, we settle down a bit now as we approach the end. Here we see the Excellent Era team picture, in the same style as the team pics we saw earlier, but presented separately. It makes sense, as the role they play in the story is different from the roles of all the other teams. 

Sun Xiang, Liu Hao, and Cui Li are at the bottom. Because we’re panning up, these three are the first we see. At first glance, the way they’re positioned is fairly consistent with the team pics we’ve seen already: Captain Sun Xiang at center-right, the largest figure; vice-captain Liu Hao, manager Cui Li in the background. 

Sun Xiang’s position and expression is really the only one that fits the healthy pattern of the teams we’ve seen already - looking toward the camera, a confident (though arrogant) smile. He might be misguided, but there’s hope for him yet. Notice how Liu Hao isn’t even looking at the camera, which as we’ve seen before is somewhat of an indication of how unified and focused the team is toward its goal; instead, Liu Hao is doing his own thing, determined to prioritize his own desires over what’s best for the team. And manager Cui Li is in this image too, despite not even being a player. His sinister presence reflects the unhealthy interference of the business side in the gaming side. Excellent Era’s downfall comes about because of its prioritization of profit over victory.

As we pan up, Excellent Era’s logo comes into view. It’s larger than any of the other team logos we’ve seen so far, spanning around three-quarters of the screen whereas the others looked to span no more than half. Excellent Era’s legacy is a weighty one, to date the only team to have ever won three championships, and consecutively to boot. 

It’s this immense, shining logo that seems to be casting Tao Xuan on the left into shadow. He cuts a large figure, reflecting the deep impact his actions have had upon the main plot of this story, even though he’s only now appearing for the first time in the donghua.

However, he’s also turned away from the camera, such that we can barely even see his closed eye. Because of that, it’s difficult to read his expression, but the impression given by this pose is not one of vindictive pride, but one of shame, as though he can’t quite bear to face what he’s done. On some level, no matter how he might try to rationalize it as necessary, Tao Xuan knows that his profit-driven betrayal of Ye Xiu was a pretty awful thing to do. It might be this amount of guilt that leads him to offer Ye Xiu a wish granted, a tribute to their years of friendship and partnership before their ties are severed completely.

In the end, Tao Xuan’s greed leaves him with nothing really to show for it. What had he gained? What had he lost? Those realizations are still a ways off in the story, but I like how this OP is already hinting at the depth of his character. Tao Xuan isn’t some glasses-flashing, evil-laughing, one-dimensional antagonist; he is in fact very realistic for the setting. We can condemn his actions and priorities, but at the same time we can understand how he ended up here.

As for Su Mucheng, her eyes are closed as well. She’s brightly illuminated, but pointedly turned away from all of the others in Excellent Era; she knows the direction of her future, and that it no longer lies with Excellent Era. Her loyalty was always to Ye Xiu, and as soon as he was banished, her relationship to the team was professional and nothing more. 

“This light hidden in my heart is burning” - there are many ways to read this lyric and what exactly the light referenced here is, but because the line is paired with this image, I naturally think about Su Mucheng’s situation. Despite her pretty-vase, sweet-girl appearance, she holds a deep, profound anger at everything that happened regarding Excellent Era. It’s a testament to her immense strength of character that she lasted the remaining one and a half years of her contract in this hostile environment. 

Yet even as she resolves to cut ties, there’s a sadness in her expression. She was here from the very beginning as well, when Excellent Era was no more than an internet cafe, and it pains her immensely that the powerhouse, championship team that they and her brother had built from the ground up would ultimately meet this tragic end.

It’s interesting to note that both of the “redeemable” characters here (namely Su Mucheng and Sun Xiang) are on the right, more brightly-lit side of the screen, so there’s a nice little dividing line you can draw there. Sun Xiang’s eyes are still looking toward the left, though, revealing how his character development still has yet to play out.

From there we cut to Ye Xiu holding Lord Grim’s account card. He’s standing back on top of the roof from the beginning of the OP, now in full daylight.

As mentioned… the animators really went ham on the bangs animation.

Ye Xiu turns away from the railing, the camera cuts to an image of Happy’s logo on a flag waving in the wind, and then we zoom out to see the current members of Team Happy gathered together in uniform, standing proud in the light of day. Left to right, Steamed Bun, Tang Rou, Luo Ji, Ye Xiu, An Wenyi, Wei Chen, Chen Guo. Presumably, this will be Happy’s lineup by the end of the season. 

Up until now, we’ve only seen the real players separate from each other - they’ve all been in different places, never even in the same frame together. (This, of course, also contrasts the pro team pics that we have, which show everyone together.) Halfway through the OP, we got the group shot of them meeting in game with their characters. And now, they’ve finally met up in the real world as well. 

One thing I like about this final pose is how it compares to the final pose of the OVA OP. It’s the same kind of power-pose vibe, but there we only had Ye Xiu, Chen Guo, and Tang Rou. Look at how we’ve grown since then! They’re well on their way to being a proper pro team! 

And that’s a wrap! With this final image of Team Happy gathered together, we’re ready to enter the episode proper. 

So let’s talk about the OP as a whole. Generally, an OP serves a couple of main roles: a) tells you a bit about what the show is about, b) gives you an overall feeling / mood for the show, c) gets you hyped and ready to watch the upcoming episode.

How well does this opening achieve those goals? Pretty well, as we’ve seen. Past OPs did a pretty good job of setting the mood, but they honestly just put some pretty visuals on the screen, only vaguely aligned to the music, and called it a day. This OP, however, has a cohesive storyline to tell, framed around Team Happy’s coming together (following the tagline of this season). Even in such a short span of time, it manages to convey so much information about its story and characters, both overt and implicit (as I hope this series of posts has managed to convince you). Paired with the music, which has its own deeper meanings encoded in the lyrics, the OP becomes incredibly effective and memorable as it makes its statement.

I mentioned an “interest curve” earlier (interest in the sense of interesting, not the money); this is part of the standard formula for anime opening songs, in my experience. I’m a little too lazy to draw a graph myself, so take a look at this image:

(source: https: //www. researchgate. net/figure/Example-of-an-interest-curve-for-a-successful-entertainment-experience_fig1_333917625 )

Although not all of the relative heights and segment lengths are accurate in this specific case, hopefully the general shape of the interest curve is enough to demonstrate my point. You’ve got the A-B peak at the opening instrumental segment, the C-D peak/arc over verse 1, the D-E-F peak/arc over verse 2, then the sharp F-G-H peak over the chorus before dropping off for a smooth landing right into the episode. This general pattern is effective at holding the viewer’s focus and managing their excitement over the course of this one and a half minutes. 

Visually, the OP is just such a treat for the eyes. I’ve already talked about many of the little details I love - lighting, character designs, animations, transitions, etc. - but all in all the new animation studio is doing a really good job here. An OP is how you hook people, and I’d definitely feel comfortable using this to try and bait people into watching this show. 

One comment I want to add is about the incorporation of the credits, which we didn’t see until the episode premiere. I don’t think there’s anything too exciting to say (and I also don’t have access to any images right now since the OP was only shown in episode 2), but the fonts and styling were a nice choice - it gave a gaming vibe, but if I recall it still used a serif font, so it didn’t feel overly modern - and the text positioning generally complements instead of distracting. I also liked how they showed the lyrics! I didn’t really expect them to include them onscreen, or if they did, I thought they would just be plain subs like they were in this video. But in the actual OP that plays at the beginning of the episode, they’re as much a part of the art as the credits!

If I had to make any criticism, my biggest complaint about the OP is, I think, the singers. I think having two different singers trade off can work nicely, but in this case, the switches are jarring because their voices are so different. The first singer has a lower, gravely voice, while the second singer’s voice sounds much brighter and more nasally. Furthermore, the first switch doesn’t come until we’re fully halfway through the song, which means that by that point we’re already used to this first singer. It’s also strange that they’d switch back to the first voice at the climax of the song, when I think the second voice would suit the high-energy segment much better. Switching from second to first right at this point feels like we’re actually taking a step down in energy, which is the opposite of what should be happening here. 

Still, my main problem isn’t with the voice switching but with the voices themselves, and I think the voices are something I could get used to. The third switch, going from the first voice back to the second voice during the shot of Excellent Era, is much less jarring than the others - I actually like how it feels like the solo is passing naturally from one person to the next, emphasizing the ideals of this not being a single-player game and all that. For that transition in particular, I think (because of the added “it’s power” flourish) it happens too quickly for one person to sing it comfortably, so having another person pick up the line works best. And I do like how the voices sound when they overlay together for the final lines of the song. 

So, overall? Overall, this OP is really damn good. It’s everything I could have asked for and more. After such a long wait, the OP, at least, does not disappoint, and I’m extremely excited to see what the series has in store for us. 

If you’ve read to this point, thank you! I like this series a lot, as you can probably see, and I’m treating it as my glory :)

#quan zhi gao shou #qzgs #the king's avatar #tka #全职高手 #mine #qzgs commentary #synco talks

[cyberneticlagomorph]

> 🔴 cyberneticlagomorph is live on caster

Music plays over a cute screen of a cute doodle of Jack sitting on an upturned teacup, kicking his legs peacefully. His eyes are closed, tail thumping contentedly.

Jack's voice comes in clear over the music as the chat in the corner of the screen starts to become lively as people log in, "Right, ok so... I'm doing things a little-- well, a lot different tonight."

A pause, and the cheerful music stops.

The stream changes then, to Jack sitting in a very lush vivarium with plenty of climbing trees and ledges and places to hide, Jack himself is sitting on a lush cushion on the ground, a long cord snaking away from his back and curling around to the monitors in front of him. He's got a handheld camera, that much is obvious at least.

"Tonight's stream is sponsored by the Lobotomy Corporation! These guys are doing me a solid and keeping me under close observation while I game tonight, so hopefully nothing horrible will happen this time... god I hope I didn't just jinx myself." He makes a sour face, after a beat he clears his throat, "Anyway... let's get this started, yeah? The site went down for maintenance last night, so we probably won't have any problems this time... hopefully."

He's visibly uncomfortable, maybe even afraid. The camera cuts off and we are met with that familiar splash screen. Jack logs in, the loading screen that follows is a sketchy drawing of something vast and terrible reaching up and up and up in order to devour the sun, Jack finds himself reading the tooltip text aloud, "Sand fallen, sun consumed, the War was all for nothing, our stuffing is the only softness left in this world - Stitches 5:24"

A shudder seems to rip through the entire stream, a concentrated wave of unease.

For a lot while there is only a heavy silence until the game finally loads in.

Jack's avatar is outside the doll hospital again, rocking back and forth in a cute idle animation. He can finally see the town around him, brightly lit by lanterns full of green fireflies. The streets are made of obnoxious bowling alley carpet, and the grass is an assortment of fluffy shag rugs.

The town itself is full of players wandering here and there, going into shops, and chatting with each other. Someone flying on an obnoxiously pink cloud swoops low enough to nearly decapitate Jack, he barely has time to duck. The sky is normal again, dark purple with green stars, and that sad, jagged moon hanging limply in the sky.

For the first time, he can hear the background music and it sets him at ease. He wanders away from the hospital, looking for something to do.

The cloud flyer swoops back around and coasts next to Jack, low enough to make polite conversation, "Sorry about almost running you over like that, I just got this thing and I'm still learning how to drive it..." her avatar is almost as pink as her cloud, some sort of frilly undead opossum with a skeletal tail and toothy mouth where her sternum should be, "You ok? You look kind of lost."

"Oh, uh, it's fine!" Jack stops, unsure of where he even wants to go, "I'm new, I just got past the weird door tunnel monster like, yesterday."

"The Snarl, you mean?" The possum tilts her head, "I'm Keerah by the way, but yeah the big scary boss thing at the start of the game is called the Snarl, you're supposed to try and run from it but it always catches you and you end up in this damsel in distress situation and black out it's An Ordeal!"

Silence, "I just sorta... ran straight at it?" Jack laughs awkwardly and fiddles with his claws. Keerah gawks.

"No way?? No... way??? You can DO that??" She makes a disbelieving noise in the back of her throat, "Jeeze, that's probably what broke the game last night, you went full hero and confused it."

His head snaps up, "That can happen!?"

"No! No, I was just teasing, sorry." Keerah reaches over and pats Jack's paws, "The glitches have been a thing for awhile but they've never been this bad before, like sure sometimes an npc would lag out or something but never whatever the hell last night was." She shivers, "Hopefully maintenance fixed everything... so, where ya headed if you don't mind me asking?"

Jack just shrugs, trying to keep his mind off of the... everything, "Dunno, I'm like brand spanking new at all this, I don't even know what the main storyline is..."

"Oh that's because there really isn't one! Quests, plots, and character motivations all vary by server, so players have complete control over their play experience," she grins in a wistful kind of way, "Isn't it great?"

"Yeah... great... uh, where do I want to go if I want to take up a quest?" Might as well actually play the game instead of standing around, waiting to get spooked

Keerah points towards the massive Lego brick wall that seems to wrap around the entire town, "Head back towards the doll hospital and go north until you hit the barracks, you can't take any real quests until you learn how to fight, y'know how it is with these kinds of games..." she looks like she's turning to go at first but stops herself, "Oh! Before I forget, let's add each other as friends!"

She produces a cute pink coffin shaped smartphone and holds it out for Jack to take. There's a moment of awkward silence, "I don't... know how to do that yet."

"Just check your pockets, it's ok, this game really hates holding your hand when it comes to mechanics, everyone was a confused noob once in their life!" Keerah smiles again and the caster chat fills with heart emojis. Jack will now die for this complete stranger.

He finds his pockets, and his phone, along with the prescription bag he got from Ribbon. He hands it to Keerah and watches her enter her information into his contacts the same way one would do a normal phone.

Cool, not everything in here is ridiculous then.

The phones are swapped back and the two part ways.

The barracks aren't hard to find, a squat Lego brick building sprouting from the inside of the huge wall like a tumor.

It's dim inside, and crowded with new players sparring against each other. Some with swords, some with magic.

Others seem to bend the darkness to their will.

Another player let's out an ear splitting cry and sends their sparring partner flying through a nearby wall.

"Well... looks like I'm in the right place..." Jack muses. A mangled looking stuffed dog strides up to him, missing an eye and more patches than plush, his fur has been stained camo print and he looks deeply unpleasant to be around.

"You there!" He barks, the remaining fluff on his top lip looks like a droopy mustache, "What's your business here?"

"I came to train!" Jack barks right back, the old dog looks taken aback but just starts to laugh heartily.

"Well then, why didn't you say so! Welcome, new recruit to the first day of your new life in service to Haven and all those who live safe within her walls, my name is Sargent Barker and it's my job to whip limp ragdolls like you into shape!" Barker turns quick on his heel and marches away, "Come along now, we don't have all night."

Jack follows, his excitement evident in the way he wiggles, bouncing up into a rare binky. Barker stands before a wall covered in weapons, each polished so bright that Jack can see his reflection.

"Now then, I can't train you until I know what you want to be, so go ahead and pick whatever speaks to you, and we'll go from there." The old army dog stands aside, hands behind his back. He's wearing little polished black boots on his feet, that's not entirely important to the situation right now, but Jack things it's awful cute...

The wall glimmers with promise and dulls with the dust of heros past. Jack stands there, trying to decide, while the chat loses its entire mind trying to get him to pick the sick looking anime sword in the top right. His hand ghosts over the one thing that looks out of place, a bandaid with a smeared lipstick print on it. He looks at Barker, and the Sargent tilts his head, "Ah... the Ragged, toys that have been loved to death by their humans and are now more patches than fluff..." he clears his throat, "Not that I'd know anything about that! They're a peculiar class of folk, can heal themselves as well as their friends on the field of battle, and they know more than anyone how to strike down the Fears that plague mankind, would you like to be one of them?"

A pause. That didn't sound like him at all, he broke things, he didn't fix them! He was a manmade monster, not fucking Mercy! He opened his mouth to reply to Barker when the cheerful background music slammed to a literal screeching halt. The entire world seemed to bend and slant, like a cardboard box in a trash compactor. The npcs lost their textures, t-posing brokenly as their heads twitched and snapped back in ways that shouldn't be possible.

"Another glitch, hopefully it will pass." The fear in Jack's voice is evident, he can taste his own lies.

None of the players seem to be able to move, just standing there, helplessly watching as the world becomes flat and colorless. Textures and lighting melting away until there is nothing but the bare framework of the game all around them. Escape is impossible, any attempts to log out fills the screen with endless error messages.

Jack swore and screamed, but made no sound.

The ground beneath them all became a chasm yet again. That same impossibly black pit that stretched forever and ever.

Hands snaking up through the emptiness, grabbing players the way one plucks fruits from the vine.

Long and disfigured fingers with far too many joints wrapped around Jack, leaving him only slivers to see through.

Down.

Down.

Down.

The darkness swallowed him whole and the entire stream suddenly goes dark.

#long post #ask to tag // #ursumbra online #caster stream #viewable icly #glitches

[jimclassicstoycollection]

Transformers: War For Cybertron: Earthrise, Optimus Prime

Transformers: War For Cybertron: Earthrise

Leader Class

Optimus Prime

by Hasbro

A very unexpected Christmas present from one of my oldest friends. 

 I got this a few days before Christmas 2019, no box included, sadly.

Let’s get started.

Vehicle Mode:

Well so far the title of Earthrise is living up to its name, because Prime’s vehicle is a flat nose tractor trailer. I don’t remember the last time I saw an Optimus Prime with a trailer. Maybe 2011 with ‘Dark of the Moon’, and before that I think the last trailer’ed Optimus Prime was Transformers Energon back in what, 2005? 

The cab itself looks great, and is everything you’d expect to see from an Optimus Prime.

It’s got rolling wheels, the blue tinted windows, the silver stripe, and grill, this is a good G1 call back.

However for the trailer it is much smaller than you’d expect, and a little on the underwhelming side, to be honest.

Comparing Earthrise Optimus to Generation One Optimus you can see that the cab is roughly the same size, however the trailer is so much smaller.

Many of the same details are still there, just at two thirds the size of the original.

However I think it’s a bit weird that the blue stripe is a sky blue, instead of the bold dark blue. Sometimes in the wrong light, I have trouble seeing it compared with the gray of the plastic.

The cab and trailer can be separated and the trailer is supported by a pretty flimsy support stand.

The front support stand flips down, allowing that trailer to...well...stand without the cab. My issue with it is that the stand doesn’t lock into place so if it’s positioned at an angle it just ultimately falls over.

Transformation:

It’s a weird transformation, but not too dissimilar to the Siege counterpart. You basically explode the cab (much like the Siege Prime, or the SS Prime) and somehow a robot mode is cleverly untucked from beneath the truck.

Robot Mode:

Whatever I said about Siege Prime; that times three!

This Prime is a heavy retool of the Siege version, but what else can I really say that about this toy that any other toy reviewer hasn’t already said about Optimus Prime?

This is Optimus Prime, and a damn good one.

He’s got the look, the presence, the masterpiece style engineering at a retail price, and he’s got the touch! Because his hands have an open and close feature, so this Prime can grab things...

This toy is covered in great sculpting detail, got great range of motion, and overall, is just better than Siege Prime, who sadly is just over a year old at this point and is already out dated...

A cool (and undocumented) feature is that Siege Prime’s axe can attach to Earthrise Prime’s wrist nubs; there are two tabs, which matches perfectly to these small pegs on the axe. This is a nice touch.

Thanks to Optimus’ open/close hands I can now put that Dr. Wu 3rd party Matrix blade to good use!

I originally bought that sword years ago for my Classic Optimus Prime, however that Prime couldn’t hold it because (I think) and the handle was just a little bit too large for the 5mm fist post and he could never, truly hold it.

However there is a downside for this one; due to the opening hands Earthrise Optimus doesn’t hold it perfectly, and the weight of the metal sword forces the swiveling wrist to move about. So you have to pose Optimus wielding the sword carefully, and it’s not guaranteed that he’ll hold that pose for long.

If I were to say one negative thing about this Optimus is that his blue eyes are only a slight shade of blue different from the blue plastic of his head. I was really hoping that his would be yellow much like the G1 Prime toy; I really think they would have popped!

Of course Prime’s gun and AA-gun have 5mm ports for blast effects, and they just looks great!!!

Accessories:

Ion Blaster:

     Optmus Prime’s trusty and classic ion blaster is of course back, however this time the gun can fold up for storage, and has two 5mm pegs, and a the blaster can hold a weapons effect. Yea, that’s it. It looks nice, and he holds it well.

Trailer:

     The trailer opens up to reveal a combat deck (and I suppose a repair station) to aid Optimus Prime.

This is low effort at best. I’m sorry, but for a $50 price point (Mine was a gift but I did get the ‘dead’ version, and I’ll be covering that one later) to get this unpainted box of gray plastic is just kind of insulting in my opinion.

Yea, I believe it’s got some nice sculpting details, but where’s the paint deco to allow some of it to be noticed?!

The combat deck has a total of 13 5mm ports. Four on the deck itself, two on the anti-AA unit and three on the bottom...why three on the bottom of the trailer is beyond me, but they’re there.

Remove the AA gun and the buckler trailer door (Yea, the trailer door becomes a buckler...it’s stupid) and the trailer looks even more lifeless and barren...I know I was fellatioing the robot mode something fierce, but the trailer is the exact opposite of the work Hasbro put into Optimus himself.

The trailer is just incomplete work.

And yes, three 5mm ports on the bottom; I wasn’t kidding...

Anti-aircraft gun:

     The AAG is usually a fixed device on the trailer (and it’s just one of the three sentient components which makes up Optimus Prime as a whole, ((but I think Hasbro abandoned that a long time ago)) however for the Earthrise toy, it can be removed, and utilized the same way that any accessory with a 5mm peg can be used for this line.

The AA-gun is two shades of unpainted gray plastic with robot claws and two 5mm ports for blast effects an an articulated base and allows full rotation.

Thanks to the those 5mm ports at the front it can either be used as a gun, or a jet back, and the 3mm port on Optimus’ butt works pretty well for aerial poses!

I’m not saying the AA-gun fully makes up for the lack of effort put into the trailer, but this does add play ability to it, and Optimus as a whole.

And naturally Prime is covered in 5mm ports, so you can deck this guy out if that’s your thing...sadly I’m not that inventive when it comes to that...Sorry.

Autobot matrix of leadership:

     Unlike Siege Prime, Earthrise Prime comes with a removable Autobot Matrix. Open up the chest to reveal some nice robot circuits and details, and the Matrix itself. 

Removing the Matrix can be a tricky because it can be easily stuck within the chest cavity. It’s held into place by both a 5mm peg which...pegs into a hollow 5mm port in the Matrix, plus the trapezoidal sculpted details which fits in between the handles.

The Matrix is made of a clear blue plastic (for the center crystal) with some decent metal gold and silver paint for the casing and handle.

It does looks good, however due to its size, and the molding of the toy, Optimus can’t hold it with both hands very well, and the hands are too big, (and the Matrix is too small) for him to properly wrap his hands around it.

On the opposite side of the Matrix you see it’s hollowed out with a 5mm port, and you can put a blast effect in there.

Another fun thing to note is technically the tire butt cheeks are removable because the clip that attaches to the metal pin isn’t a closed loop, so that is an option, but I don’t really recommend that due to the possibility that the clips could ultimately break one day, but it’s a thing.

Final Thoughts:

Earthrise Optimus Prime is a fantastic toy! Here comes Earthrise Optimus Prime swinging in from the rafters and swipes the crown away from the Siege version just a mere year after that Prime took it away from Classics Prime; and that guy had the crown for a good 10 years!

But that’s just the robot mode...the scaled down trailer, and the fact that it’s mostly unpainted gray, and boring plastic is a disappointment, especially when you consider the $50 price point.

Still, this figure is very recommended.

#toys #action figures #transformers #war for cybertron #earthrise #christmas 2019 #hasbro #optimus prime #autobots #matrix

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

Pokémon Sword & Shield: The Novel (Chapter 1 - Pomp & Circumstance)

Part of Pokemon Retold. Find it on A03.

Prologue

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

“Exhibition or not, Leon, your pristine record is about to end—when I beat you here today!”

“You know I don’t lose battles, Raihan! Charizard—DYNAMAX!”

Gloria couldn’t stay still in her seat. It was always a treat whenever Raihan and Leon battled—which, to be fair, was quite often even outside of the gym challenge seasons—due to just how intense both were. Raihan had an almost feral air about him once he got into battle, and Leon had such unbidden confidence. Though she was miles and miles away from where they were really battling in Wyndon, as she clutched the little Rotom Phone in her hands, she swore she could feel the crackling of the tension from the two in the air.

A harsh slam! pulled her nose from the device. Throwing a look over her shoulder and the back of the couch, she saw Hop rubbing his head and slowly closing the door behind him. She supposed he had ran into the doorframe. Giggling, she raised a brow at him. “Everythin’ okay over there, you Rapidash?”

“Haha, very funny! But hey, you better hurry up and come with me!” Hop exclaimed. He deftly rounded the corner of the couch and gestured for her to get up. “Oh, you’re watchin’ Lee and Raihan’s exhibition,” he said, “well, just record it! That’s what I do with all of Lee’s matches. But come on, come on!”

Gloria’s mother had now entered the room. She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “Now Hop, what on Earth’s got you so riled up?”

“Oh!” Hop whirled around to face her. “My bad, miss. You see, uh, well… My brother Lee said he’s goin’ to give us both a Pokémon today! If that’s alright…?”

Gloria practically fell over the back of the sofa trying to climb over it to reach him and her mother. She grabbed Hop’s hands and made him face her. “Really? We’re—we’re getting a Pokémon today?”

Gloria’s mother let out a hardy laugh. “Yes, that’s fine, children. Just be careful, don’t hurt yourselves. Gloria, don’t forget your bag and phone.”

Hop grinned from ear to ear and pulled his hands free from Gloria’s grasp. “Yes! Come on, Gloria, get that bag of yours and let’s go! No time for dallyin’!”

Gloria nodded and scurried upstairs to find her backpack. She was already dressed for the day, and just needed to get that to carry some things in. Her mind was swimming. A Pokémon! She had avoided getting one up to this point since she felt she would have nothing for it to do and would waste its potential, but, well, if Leon was going to hand one out, she certainly wasn’t about to say no. No idiot would say no to a handout from the champion himself!

Once back downstairs, Hop began to laugh hysterically. “What?” she demanded. “What you laughin’ at me for?”

“That bag!” Hop rasped. “That thing looks like it’ll pull you to the floor!”

Gloria rolled her eyes. The bag had belonged to her mother during the gym challenge she had embarked upon during her teen years. It was massive, but at least it had room for everything she could ever want to fit inside it. “So, we goin’ or what?”

“We got to go get Lee from the Wedgehurst Station, he’s rubbish with directions and says his Charizard’s tired,” Hop said as he wiped amused tears from his eyes. “C’mon, the sooner we get him, the sooner we get a Pokémon!”

“Good luck, you too!” Gloria’s mother called. Gloria waved goodbye and ducked out the door in a heartbeat.

As soon as their feet hit the dirt and they no longer had to worry about her mother overhearing them, Gloria and Hop started chattering to one another. They were more excited and louder than a whole flock of Rookidee on an early Sunday morning.

“So, how’d this come about?” Gloria asked.

“Well, he apparently visited yesterday while I was away at Wedgehurst,” Hop said. “And as I was comin’ back from helpin’ at the station, he just started talkin’ to me and was like, ‘Hey, I’m goin’ to come back tomorrow. Want a Pokémon?’ Of course, I said yes!”

“Did he happen to say what they were? Maybe a Yamper, or a Skwovet? Rookidee would be awesome!” Gloria beamed. “Corviknight is just the most majestic Pokémon!”

“Corviknight?” Hop questioned. “Thought you said Rookidee?”

“Don’t be silly, come off it!” Gloria laughed. “Corviknight evolves from Corvisquire, which evolves from Rookidee.”

“Right, right! Sorry, blond moment there I think,” Hop apologized and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

It wasn’t long before they arrived at Wedgehurst. The two towns might as well have been one town, seeing as they were separated by just a short walk down an uninhabited route. You could practically throw a stone from one to the other, but Wedgehurst stubbornly remained outside of Postwick’s jurisdiction, and was home to its very own train station, a Pokémon center, a clothing shop—anything one could need, just about. Gloria and Hop found that today, its typically plain streets were brimming with movement, and it didn’t take long to see why.

A brilliant glow emanated from the center of town. It threw orange and red lights across the gathered crowd. The fire being blown sky-high was of course from Leon’s Charizard. Leon himself was standing ahead of the formidable Fire Pokémon, striking his unmistakable pose. Everyone nearby, including Hop and Gloria, mimicked him, throwing two fingers into the air. Hop took it just a step farther, however, showing how he had perfected the pose over the years.

“Galar has got the strongest trainers in all of the world!” Leon was bellowing across the crowd. “And I want to keep it that way! So, as always, I want all of you to train as hard as you can! Come after me in the Major League if you can! We can keep showing the rest of the world how to have a champion time!”

Raucous cheering followed. Gloria flinched a little from the sheer noise. She had seen Leon and his fans that seemed to converge from the woodwork whenever he was around before, but that didn’t mean she ever started enjoying the crowds he drew. They were noisy and people acted so strangely around him. She loved him too, but she was nowhere near confident enough to stride up to him and demand his attention like others did.

“Oh, and if it isn’t my biggest fan!” Leon locked eyes on Hop and casually strode over to his little brother. He ruffled Hop’s hair and winked at him. “You’ve grown taller, little boy.”

“Lee! You just saw me yesterday!” Hop remarked, moving Leon’s hand off his head. Leon’s Charizard landed behind Leon and appeared to be watching the gathered crowd carefully. His tail swayed irritably. Gloria acutely became aware of how the Charizard never seemed relaxed. It always seemed so tense and anxious…

Leon turned his attention back to the gathered Wedgehurst mob. “Thank you, thank you, everyone! Now, I’ve got some family business to attend to, so I’ll be seein’ you later!” He waved the people goodbye, then whispered something to his Charizard. And with that, Leon, Hop, and Gloria began to walk back to Postwick. Leon’s Charizard brought up the rear, following much more slowly.

“Oh, Champion Leon, please don’t go just yet! Please let me have an autograph!” A feminine voice practically screeched behind them. Gloria heard Leon’s Charizard growl and turned just in time to see it flare its wings wide and stand tall over the woman that had decided to try to follow them. Gloria couldn’t see the woman or Charizard’s face from where she was standing, but she was quite certain the woman’s eyes were bulging from intimidation, and that Charizard had embers curling from the edge of its muzzle.

“Charizard, easy,” Leon said sternly. “No autographs today, I’m afraid. Really, I’ve got to be home for a while.”

Charizard’s throat rumbled to emphasize his trainer’s point.

“Understood!” the woman choked. She pattered away back into Wedgehurst’s borders.

“Man, Charizard is so cool,” Hop said breathlessly. “And so protective!”

Leon didn’t seem to have much of a response for that. Gloria looked up at him with a bit of a frown, wondering why he had nothing to say about such a comment. Leon’s expression was suddenly very unreadable and stoic. She shook her head and silently followed, listening in as Hop and Leon talked a bit here and there. But even Hop didn’t seem to be able to carry a conversation with him. Leon always had lots to say in public, but Gloria always found it extremely hard to actually talk to him in the few times she had met him in private with Hop. He was so… unyielding…

Back at Hop’s front yard, however, Leon’s bright and sunny persona resumed. He joked a little with them both before chucking three Pokéballs from his belt to the grassy terrain. Hop and Gloria both gazed in wonder at the three creatures that emerged. They had only ever seen these kinds of Pokemon on TV!

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

Hop had never seen Pokémon like these in the flesh before! He had heard of them, of course, and seen their evolved forms in matches on TV. They were incredibly exclusive to Galar itself. Sobble, Grookey, and Scorbunny; the deceptively adorable pre-evolutions to the monstrous Inteleon, Rillaboom, and Cinderace respectively. The Sobble in front of him quickly found its way to a small pond that had formed in their yard, where it settled in and began to lazily paddle about. The Grookey scampered over to the tree overlooking the pond and clambered high up its branches. It grabbed hold of a stick with a few leaves clinging to it, and waved it about happily, spinning in circles. The Scorbunny rapidly tapped its powerful feet against the dirt of the battlefield in their yard, and then started to jog in place. Jogging quickly turned to a full-blown run and small embers kicked up behind the Pokémon’s paws. Nobody was all that concerned, as the flames quickly died out.

Hop copped a smirk and crossed his arms. He looked at Gloria. “Why don’t you go ahead and choose? I’ve got my Wooloo already, after all.”

“Sobble,” Gloria practically spat before he had finished telling her that. “Sobble. It’s so cute. Please.”

Leon laughed and gestured for her to head over to the Pokémon. “Sobble’s all yours, Gloria.”

Gloria gleefully bounced over to the pond, where Sobble gave a start from her sudden movements. Gloria extended an arm slowly toward it, and the Sobble warily moved closer to inspect her hand.

“You goin’ to choose now, Hop?” Leon asked.

“Of course! I’m goin’ to go with Grookey!”

“Oh, you little git, you tricked me!” Gloria gave Hop a disbelieving smile. “You wanted me to pick first so you could get the starter that’s super-effective on mine!”

“You got it!” Hop snickered as he got closer, urging the Grookey to come down from the tree. It earnestly bounced down the trunk and landed on his shoulder, where it accidentally jabbed him with its favorite stick a few times. “Hey, ow—”

Scorbunny looked about the yard with a bit of confusion, and then its gaze settled on Leon himself and the massive Charizard standing at his side. It seemed to cower a little bit as Charizard leaned down to sniff its ears. “Haha, come now Charizard, you’re scarin’ it,” Leon said, walking over to the little Scorbunny. He scooped it up in his arms and scratched between its two ears. Its left foot began to kick rhythmically against his chest. “Charizard’s strict, but kind. It’ll be alright,” he reassured it.

Hop couldn’t help but smile wide at his brother. He was just so perfect with all Pokémon he came across. He seemed to know everything one would ever need to know about them and always made fast friends with new ones. He looked over at the Grookey currently chilling on his right shoulder. “I hope you and I will be good friends too, y’know,” Hop said. “You and me, buddy. Just like Wooloo. I’ll let you meet her soon!”

Grookey gave a happy squeak and bashed the stick against Hop’s shoulder a couple more times.

“Well, that kind of hurts… maybe I’ll get used to it,” Hop muttered to himself.

“So!” Leon clapped his hands and brought everyone’s attention back to him. “Everyone satisfied with their choices?”

Hop glanced at Gloria and saw she was cuddling her new Sobble tight against her chest, much to the creature’s apparent dismay. “Definitely!” she replied without ever looking up at them.

Hop nodded vigorously. “I like Grookey!” Grookey seemed to emphasize the point by jabbing Hop in the ear with its stick. Hop cringed and gently pushed the stick away from his head.

“Good! I’m starved. I’ll get the barbecue goin’, what you think?” Leon asked, slapping a hand to his stomach. He had handed his Scorbunny off to Charizard, who was doing its best to keep his tail flame away from the curious little Pokémon.

“Yes, please!” Hop begged. “I’ll go tell Mum and Dad!”

“Sounds good, I’ll get the grill goin’,” Leon said.

 -------------------------

Another jab to the neck and Hop finally lost his patience. He gently removed the Grookey from his shoulders and set it to the ground. He blocked its advances to get back on him. “Look you,” he said, “you’re cute, but that stick bloody hurts. Stay off my shoulders or stop jabbin’ me, would you?”

It huffed at him and prodded his Wooloo laying next to them. They were outside still and had gathered beneath the shade of the big tree next to the shallow pond. Away from everyone else, Hop enjoyed talking to Wooloo, so he decided the best way to start off his relationship with his new partner would be to talk to it as well. Wooloo was less than affected by Grookey’s jabs. Her thick layer of wool meant the stick barely fazed her. She looked as unaware as ever.

“You know, it’s so weird havin’ Leon over,” Hop said, petting Wooloo’s head gently. He glanced past the two Pokémon over at his brother. He was leaned over the grill. He had begrudgingly removed his cape to prevent it from getting caught in the grill’s stray flames and had even pulled his hair back. A few people were gathered around him and Charizard was laying nearby, lazily flicking its tail to keep Leon’s Scorbunny busy. It appeared to be dozing off on occasion, but every time it did that, its tail would fall flat against the ground, and Scorbunny would seize the chance to land directly on it. In turn, Charizard would jolt awake, causing its tail to lash and throwing Scorbunny from on top of it. Scorbunny must have seen it as a game since it kept coming back.

Hop kind of wished he could have been over there talking to Leon, but some reservation kept him planted in place with his two Pokémon. He always found it hard to talk to Leon whenever it wasn’t private or with just immediate family. Leon had a slightly different persona when others were around and sometimes he could say things that didn’t quite make sense. Hop also couldn’t shake the feeling that he came off as annoying to his brother. Leon had to be dealing with people constantly, all day, every day; having your irritating little brother at your side constantly begging for attention probably wasn’t very fun.

He jumped as Gloria sat down next to him. “Oh, h-hey, Gloria!” he stammered.

“So, why you think Lee gave us Pokémon, anyway?” she asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Do you think Lee’s goin’ to… endorse us?”

“Shut up!” Hop gasped. “You think he’s goin’ to endorse us?”

“I dunno, really,” Gloria giggled, “but why randomly give us three super rare Galarian-exclusive Pokémon if not to give us a head start on the gym challenge, hmm?”

“You’ve got a good point…” Hop said, rubbing his chin. “Man, I hope he does!”

Gloria fell silent for a moment as she looked over at the grill. “Who even are those people?” she asked about the small throng of people gathered around him.

Hop shrugged. “I’m not sure to be honest. But I’m sure they’re just good friends to him or somethin’.”

Gloria sighed. “Yeah, sounds about right.”

#pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #swsh #pokemon swsh #hop #gloria #leon #grookey #sobble #scorbunny #charizard #pokemon sword #pokemon shield #sword #shield #fanfiction #fanfic #novelization #pokemon retold

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

LinkedUniverse Fanfic Ch. 11: Noontime Nightmares (pt. 2)

Stop! You’ve Violated the Law!

So, you’ve stumbled upon this original post for my Linked Universe fanfiction. That’s okay, it happens to everyone. As of March 2021, I’ve uploaded the entirety of this fanfic to my Archive of Our Own page. Along with finally giving the story a name–Oops! All Links: A Linked Universe Story–I made substantial edits to some of the chapters. These range from minor stylistic revisions to fixing a gaping plot hole that kinda completely broke the character conflict in the earlier chapters. I also renamed and renumbered (but not reordered) the chapters. Specifically, this is now Chapter 13: Hinox Hijinks.

The AO3 iterations of these chapters are the definitive versions. So, if you would like to read this fanfiction, please do so on AO3, right here. With this embedded link. Hehe. Geddit? Link?

Note: My screen name on AO3 is FrancisDuFresne. Yes, that is me. I am not plagiarizing myself.

Anyway, for posterity’s sake, the rest of the original post is below the cut.

Wild, Sky, and Wind have slain their Hinox, but what about the others? The skirmish in the dark forest continues in this chapter of my @linkeduniverse fan narrative. Word count: 2768.

The Biggoron’s Sword was originally so unwieldy when Time was a teenager that he could barely use it. Now, years of using it in lieu of a smaller sword had made him a master of the claymore. He was thankful for it as he faced his colossal foe. Getting too close to it didn’t seem to be a viable option, and without a spear like Wild, this was the next best thing.

The Hinox slammed its massive hand to the ground. Time hopped to the side to dodge. Before the monster could withdraw, the one-eyed hero managed to bring his sword down on one of its fingers. Severing the appendage easily, it dug itself into the soft ground. Hinox recoiled and shook its hand is if pricking it on a tiny thorn. That thing isn’t even bothered by losing a finger! Time realized as it lowered its other hand to the ground. A swipe!

A massive three-fingered hand swept its way across the ground. Time didn’t have a chance to jump away before impact. He felt his sword leave his fingers as he flew through the darkness. The hero’s back collided with a sturdy tree, blowing the breath from his lungs. He lay dazed on the ground, trying to remember how to breathe. The rumbling of the approaching Hinox’s footsteps him suddenly stopped, replaced by a deafening roar.

Finally gasping in a deep breath, Time looked up to see a jet of flame piercing the shadows. Following the blaze, he saw Warrior still wielding his fire rod. The flames illuminated the fury on his face. His steady stream of fire covered the Hinox. The giant writhed in pain. “Don’t!” Warrior shouted, turning up the intensity of his fire rod. “Touch! My! FRIEND!!”

Time stared on in awe as the Hinox fell to the ground in a blaze. He was equally shocked by Warrior so forcefully calling him his friend. After their conversation in the hills, he was still concerned about his place in the group. Fortunately for all of them, it looked like not much had changed.

A whiff of an acrid stench brought Time to his senses. The Hinox was a smoldering mess. And I thought they smelled bad before, he mused. With a jolt, he noticed that the jet of fire began to lick the nearby tree branches. He stumbled to his feet and yelled back “Warrior! It’s down! Stop firing!”

It was too late. The trees had caught fire. Warrior’s fury gave way to shock. “Uh oh.”

“We got it!” a shout came from behind them.

Four and Sky were running up to them, holding their Gust Jar and Bellows. The gale of their combined weapons reached up into the canopy and buffeted the spreading flames. Thirty seconds of the sustained winds and they went out in a puff of smoke. The Links heard more stomping behind them. Four looked back. It seemed he abandoned his Hinox to help Sky. “Damn it,” he cursed. “Be right back!”

He ran back to his monster. Sky turned to Warrior. “Be careful with that thing!”

“Yeah, I guess I got carried away,” he admitted sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Time said as he looked around for the Biggoron’s Sword. It was difficult in the near-blackness. “You saved my hide back there.”

Warrior now had his signature look of pride on his face. “Hell yeah, I did! You’re welcome!”

“Cool it,” Time warned him. “Stay focused.”

“Right.”

“You two already take care of yours?”

“Yeah,” Sky said. He raised his blood-stained sword. He looked to Warrior. “You?”

“Yep. I didn’t overdo the fire that time.”

“Good,” Time said. He raised his new-found sword. “We still have a few of these bastards to slay.”

…

“Hyah!” Legend cried as he swiped his sword through the air. “Stay back!”

Two Hinox had decided to gang up on him. They kept up an onslaught, buffeting the hero with fierce attacks. He couldn’t find an opening to attack. He had done nothing but block, dodge, and backpedal. Combining the strength of his power gloves with his mirror shield did a good job deflecting their attacks. At least they don’t have bombs, he mused.

“Hey, ugly!” Legend heard someone cry. He looked past the goliaths to see a dimly-lit Hyrule shouting his fool head off. “Over here, you big sons ‘a!”

The Hinox turned to face this nuisance. Hyrule doubted they could understand his words. However, he had no doubt they wanted him to stop. He also had no doubt they would make him stop rather violently. “Come get some!” he goaded, then directed at his friend, “Legend, come on!”

Legend looked over the scene. The two monsters were now lumbering towards Hyrule, darkness beginning to swallow them. Turning their backs on Legend was their first mistake. Both of them turning around was their second. With no eyes on him, Legend took his moment to strike. He shoved his hand into his pouch and pulled out his Roc’s feather and ice rod. He squeezed the feather tight in his right hand, ice rod in his left.

“Any time now!” Hyrule called.

“Working on it!” Legend shouted back.

He took off at a sprint. His pegasus boots boosted his speed, rocketing him forward at the Hinox. Ten feet from them, he kicked off the ground. His feather carried him up high into the air until he was well above their heads. At the height of his jump, he raised the ice rod and fired. A concentrated blizzard shot from the rod down onto the Hinox.

Within a few seconds, they were frozen solid. Legend alighted on one of their shoulders. He put away his ice rod and replaced it with his hammer. He raised it high above his head, faced the Hinox’s hideous face, and brought it down. With a reverberating CRASH, the force of the blow shattered the ice and the monster within. Legend began to fall. He hadn’t thought that part of the plan through.

Hyrule was watching all of this. The moment he saw Legend begin to fall, he sprinted forward. He wasn’t going to make the catch, he was almost certain. Going into a dive at the last moment, he just barely managed to break Legend’s fall. “Oof!” He exclaimed as his chest hit the dirt hard. He hadn’t thought that part of the plan through, either.

“You—cough­—okay?” Hyrule asked with a wince.

‘Yeah,” Legend replied. He still looked shaken. “Never better. Still have to finish this one, though.”

He gestured to the still-frozen Hinox still standing. Its icy stasis froze it in a terrifying pose; it looked just about ready to swipe its hand across the forest floor and scoop up some unlucky prey. Hyrule stared at it, realizing that prey would have been him if Legend hadn’t frozen it. “Thanks,” he said.

“Hey, you were the one saving me,” Legend pointed out. He stood and started for the other Hinox. “Nice distraction, by the way. ‘Hey ugly?’”

“What do you want from me? A dumb insult and living, or a witty one-liner and certain death?”

“Fair.”

Legend reached the monster. He made another swipe with his hammer. This one shattered like the last, and he appreciated that this time he was on the ground. “How are the others doing?” he asked.

“Dunno. I tried to find a Hinox, saw you had two on you, and came to help.”

“You okay after that dive?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Hyrule dismissed.

“You su—”

“Yes. Let’s go find the others.”

“If you say so.”

…

Twilight boarded his Spinner and launched forward. The ancient top brought him into a rapid orbit around his Hinox. The monster’s dim brain couldn’t make heads or tails of this, so began slamming the ground. The revolving hero was moving so quickly that the monster’s hands consistently lagged by several feet. The brute was clearly unfamiliar with the concept of leading its shots.

The center of his Spinner slowly rotated the opposite direction of the body of it, allowing Twilight to face the Hinox. His mind raced, trying to figure out a strategy. He figured the Ordon Sword would be useless unless he was dangerously close to the giant. He would have to go long-ranged.

He saw that Wild’s arrows were ineffective, but the amnesiac hadn’t used bomb arrows. Twilight drew his bow and nocked a bomb arrow. He pulled back the string, the fuse automatically lighting. Just as he was about to loose the explosive, he realized the Hinox wasn’t slamming the ground anymore.

Twilight didn’t have a chance to curse before he crashed into the brick wall that was the monster’s hand ahead of him. He was flung forward off the Spinner, the momentum throwing him too wildly to maintain his hold on the arrow. Free from his grip, the bomb shot straight into the ground only a few feet below the airborne hero.

The explosion catapulted Twilight into the air and up into the forest’s dense canopy. The world spun as he flew into branch after branch, scratching his face and exposed fingers. He felt blood trickle down from a new gash on his cheek. A particularly sharp branch slashed through his pants and cut into his leg.

Suddenly, he slammed into a tree’s trunk. He tried to get his bearings, but the darkness was too strong here among the leaves to see anything. By some stroke of luck, his bow had caught on a branch right next to him. He gave it a tug and it came free.

Thankfully, Twilight thought, this thing smells terrible. He transformed into a wolf. His heightened picked up the Hinox’s scent. He also got a dim view of the branches around him Bingo. The beast vaulted from tree to tree toward the reek. Landing his paws exactly where he wanted was much harder without Midna guiding him. Still, he did his best to keep moving.

A few seconds later, he sensed the Hinox directly beneath him. The Wolf became Hylian once more. Deciding to use his height to his advantage, he reached in his pouch and withdrew his ball and chain. He held it at arm’s length, took a breath, and dropped it. “One,” he whispered to himself, “two, three…” CRUNCH. The heavy ball of iron had hit its mark.

Twilight hooked one of his clawshots on the branch he stood on. Using the chain, he lowered himself slowly out of the canopy. He came out of the branches to see his titanic foe lying on the ground. Its skull was caved in. The ball and chain rolled sluggishly away from its target. The hero grimaced. He was proud of himself, but it was an ugly sight.

His feet hit the ground and he squeezed the clawshot’s trigger. The claw unhooked from its branch and shot back down to its handle. He collected the ball and chain and spinner then looked around. He couldn’t see his companions through the darkness. How far had he strayed from them? Here we go again, he thought. He transformed and set out to find them.

…

Four left the light and warmth of Warrior’s fire rod to face the Hinox lumbering towards him. Suddenly, the ground started shaking. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. He whipped his head around, only to find six more Hinox creeping out of the darkness. Three had spears like the one used to skewer the stag. He had slain larger monsters, but seven at once? He considered using the Four Sword’s power but cast the thought away. It would push his already tired body too far.

The giants were getting closer. He whipped around to call back to Time, Sky, and Warrior for help. They were obscured by yet two more Hinox closing in on him. He was surrounded. He wanted to run but found his legs frozen in place. Four started to panic. Nine? No way. I can’t do this. I’m done!

They were ten yards away and closing. The shortest hero had no way to tell if his friends were coming to help him. His view was eclipsed by the Hinox. The nine giants were certainly about to kill him. If he could see past them, he would know Hyrule and Wild were on their way to help.

On one side, Wild sprinted at the wall of behemoths with his halberd above his head. He brought it down, burying the tip in the soil. Using the spear as leverage, he vaulted over them and landed at Four’s side. On the other side, Hyrule recited one of his ancient spells. He felt power surge to his legs. He kicked off into a leap and flew high above the Hinox. He landed side-by-side with his companions.

Four looked at the two of them. Wild’s face and clothes were flecked with blood. The look on Hyrule’s face showed he was seriously hurt. Before Four could ask, Wild whipped around to face Hyrule. “You have a lightning spell, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do it.”

Hyrule nodded with a wince. He brought his hands together, closed his eyes, and uttered some ancient incantation. Four noticed the Hinox right in front of them. They had maybe five seconds before they met a terrible fate. How long is this spell? he thought impatiently.

Suddenly, Hyrule stopped speaking. He stared directly into Wild’s eyes. With a steely resolve, he said, “Ready.”

Wild nodded. “On my mark…”

The Hinox were closing in. They were raising their hands, ready to squash the young heroes. “If you’re going to do something,” Four shouted, “do it now!”

The Hylian Champion grinned. “Now!”

Hyrule planted his feet, raised his left hand, wound it up as if throwing a softball in reverse, and slammed it into the ground. At just that moment, Wild raised his right hand, fingers contorted…

SNAP!!

Four just barely caught the ghostly image of a beautiful Gerudo warrior before the world exploded. Lightning pounded down all around him. Over and over, bolts of pure electricity struck the Hinox. The booming crackling of thunder was deafening, drowning out their roars. Four felt his hair stand on end as static filled the air. The forest undergrowth began to catch fire.

The lightning seemed to refuse to stop. Hyrule’s Thunder spell combined with Urbosa’s Fury was truly a force to be reckoned with. The sheer brightness of it all lit up the forest, finally clearing the darkness for the Links to see. What they saw was both beautiful and horrifying. Nine massive Hinox stood paralyzed, shaking from the electrocution. The other Links knew those two had electric powers but couldn’t have fathomed the scale of this onslaught. They were stunned, but not from the electricity.

After a minute of continued attack, the lightning ceased. The Hinox collapsed in charred heaps. Sky and Four noticed the burning ground and immediately set about putting out the flames. When they were done, they joined the others in gaping at Wild and Hyrule. The two of them were staring at each other. They clearly had no idea how strong their attack would be.

Wild held out his fist. Hyrule was about to bump it when his adrenaline subsided, and the pain came rushing back. He cried out in pain and fell to his knees. The others ran to his side. “What’s wrong?” Time asked with urgency.

“I think I may have broken a rib or two,” Hyrule replied.

Legend snapped at him, “So when I asked you if you were okay after that fall, you lied?”

“We needed to stay focused on the fight,” he replied. He tried to shrug but winced in pain.

“That’s a serious injury, though,” Twilight said. “I’m a bit banged up myself, but a broken rib? How did that happen?”

“I was falling off a Hinox and he dove to the ground to break my fall,” Legend said. Hyrule glanced at him sheepishly. “He went down hard but said he was fine.”

Wind strode to his companion and helped him back to his feet. “Never mind all this, do we have any potions?”

They all rummaged in their pouches for a moment. They all emerged empty-handed but Twilight, who held up half a bottle of red potion. He glanced at his bloodied pantleg, took a quick swig, and handed the rest to Hyrule. He took it and downed it in one gulp. The pain instantly faded; his ribs were healed. He looked among his friends in the dim lantern light. They were all clearly exhausted.

“Alright,” he said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

#Noontime Nightmares #My own #my writing #fanfiction #linkeduniverse fanfiction #linkeduniverse

[brushstrokesapocalyptic]

The Legend of Asriel PART 6 | DEATH MOUNTAIN

it’s about as unpleasant as it sounds.

Frisk and Chara reach Death Mountain, and their first order of business is seeking out a blacksmith who can reforge their sword. There’s a bit of a famine going on right now so none of the Gorons are in working condition, but someone happens to direct Frisk to a Zora who lives just out of Goron City.

Following those directions, Frisk and Chara find an elderly turtle man sunning himself on the edge of a hot spring. Chara recognizes him and is confused as to why he’s here. Frisk knows not of their history with this guy though, and just walks up to ask if he can help reforge their sword.

Gerson laughs and says he’s not called the Hammer for nothing, he’s sure he can fix whatever toy sword they broke during target practice. Frisk removes the bundle from their backpack and shows him the shards of the Master Sword. Gerson rubs at his chin. “Hmm. Tricky one, that.”

Can you do it? Frisk writes in their notebook.

“The blade shouldn’t be too hard, I’ve got all the material I need here.“ Chara resists the urge to bring up the missing piece. “The hilt is harder, it’s made of a special material you can’t just melt down and cast into a new shape. I’d need to make another from scratch.“

Is it rare?

“Somewhat. As luck would have it, there is a deposit in the nearby mines, but those are flooded out.”

Frisk looks him up and down. ...Aren’t you like, a turtle? Surely a little water can’t stop you.

Gerson laughs heartily. “A little water is nothing, even for my old bones. Lava, however, poses quite a risk.“

Frisk makes a soft noise of understanding. If I got you a piece of this stuff, could you reforge it then?

“Of course!“ Gerson says. “I’d be delighted to, in fact. Not everyone can say they reforged the Legendary Blade of Evil’s Bane!“

Frisk beams, bundles the shards back up, and tells Gerson they’ll be back soon before hurrying off again. Chara trails them with a skeptical look. “Okay I appreciate the enthusiasm, but how exactly do you plan to get this weird rock? Do you have a supplier or something?”

Frisk slows to a stop, staring into the sky with a look of impending realization.

“...You didn’t think that far ahead, did you.“

Frisk most assuredly didn’t, but they won’t let that stop them! They do some more poking around, and eventually encounter a Hylian bard living it up in the town square, providing a brief moment of levity for the Gorons in this trying time.

Chara wonders how he can stand wearing such impractical clothing in this sweltering volcano, and Mettaton offhandedly mentions something about the laboratory near the peak before he registers that the person he just replied to is a ghost.

The dude doesn’t stick around, leaving Frisk and Chara with just the clue pointing towards the laboratory. It’s not much, but it’s all they’ve got, so they go to investigate.

The lab seems abandoned at first, all dark and messy and stuff. Frisk pokes around a bit, not giving it up as a lost cause just yet, and then Chara hears a weird scuffling noise. Frisk sees them tense, and they turn around just in time to see a flash of golden scales vanishing around a corner.

They give chase, and with a little help from Chara they track down the mysterious creature. A light flickers on, and Frisk finds themself face to face with a yellow Lizalfos in a lab coat.

For a moment, the two of them stare each other, down. Frisk isn’t quite sure what to make of the monster, and the Lizalfos looks kinda like a deer in the headlights. After a moment, though, Frisk’s hand inches towards their sword, and the Lizalfos rears back not to attack, but to frantically wave her hands defensively.

“Wait wait wait I can explain!“ she says, and it takes Chara a moment to dart into the right spot to interpret because they were not expecting a talking lizard. “Y-you see, I’m not a-actually a monster! I-I’m Dr. Alphys, and I’m t-t-totally a normal person, I’m j-just cursed to look like this! J-j-just c-cursed!“

Frisk raises an eyebrow, removing their hand from their sword and straightening up. They glance at Chara, who just shrugs, then dig out their notebook again. Do you need any help with that?

“N-n-no, it’s quite alright!“ Alphys says, looking a little sheepish. “I-I-I don’t get out much s-s-so it’s not like it matters how I look! I’ve got all my brains u-up here, s-so I’m fine!”

Frisk nods, relieved that they don’t have to add another layer to this fetch quest chain. I heard you can make heat-resistant clothing, they write.

“Where did you—“ Alphys starts, before pausing. “O-oh, I suppose I did give Mettaton some of my prototypes... how were they, by the way? That guy never gives me useful feedback.“

Frisk shrugs. He didn’t look bothered by the heat, but honestly it’s not that bad.

“Speak for yourself,“ Chara comments. “I’d be dying if I weren’t already dead. You’re just a weird desert gremlin.“

Frisk ignores them.

Alphys, unaware of the ghost floating next to her, nods thoughtfully. “Good, good, the tests I ran seemed positive but it’s good to have more data. Oh— w-were you interested in my fireproof clothing as well?“

Frisk nods. If it’s available, I’d like to buy a set.

“O-of course! Might I ask what you n-need it for?“

I wanna go into the mines but I hear they got flooded with lava.

Alphys pauses. “...Erm, a-and why do you want that?”

I need a special stone to reforge this legendary sword that got broken.

A long moment passes between them.

“...Can’t argue with that,“ Alphys says, then turns and walks away.

Frisk pays up and Alphys custom fits them with a nice heatproof tunic which I haven’t designed yet, but I probably will eventually and whenever that happens I’ll probably edit in a picture here.

But anyway now they’re decked out in sweet fashion and so they trek off to the mines, which are another dungeon. I don’t have nearly as much to say as I did for the Lost Caverns. It’s a bunch of mines and stuff, there’s magma. They get the Burnt Hammer, which is basically the equivalent of the burnt pan but like. It’s a hammer. And there’s some kinda a monster or possessed machinery or a monster possessing machinery, and after Frisk kicks its ass the mines go back to normal and everyone rejoices and they get a cool blue rock which happens to be timeshift stone but shhhhhhh it’s not that important.

And so they return triumphantly to Gerson’s forge, materials in tow, and ask him to reforge the Master Sword for them. Gerson laughs, declares that they truely do have the soul of a hero. Then he asks what kind of sword they’d like him to make it into, at which point they kinda stall out because they were kinda assuming it’d just be forged back into its original shape.

“Nonsense,“ Gerson says. “Trying to copy the original perfectly is a fool’s errand, and if it’s going to be reforged for a new wielder why not have them choose its shape?“

Frisk agrees with this reasoning, but they don’t know enough about swords to make a decision. Chara, however, does. They tap Frisk on the shoulder, an odd glint in their eye, and spell something out for Frisk to write in their notebook. They show it to Gerson, and he clearly knows what it means as he laughs again and gets right to work on that sword.

It takes time to make a sword, and so Frisk stays a couple nights in Gerson’s cottage. Chara keeps randomly snickering every time the Master Sword comes up in conversation, and they refuse to explain themself, so Frisk just resigns themself to finding out what they told Gerson to make when the sword is done.

After the better part of a week has passed with Frisk doing various sidequests for the Gorons, Gerson finally presents them with the reforged Master Sword.

Frisk unwraps it from the cloth covering carefully, examining the sheath before tugging it free to look at the blade. It’s beautifully crafted, the hilt carved into something reminiscent of a bird while the blade is razor sharp. They can’t help but admire the craftsmanship, and even Chara pauses to ooh and aah a little before they collapse into another fit of giggles.

“You know, it’s kinda funny you picked that kind of sword,“ Gerson comments, and Chara barely manages to pull themself back together enough to interpret. “See, there was this young whippersnapper I used to know, and they always said that was their favourite kind of sword. You know why?“

Frisk tilts their head in a silent question.

“They said it was ‘cause of the way the hilt is put together,“ Gerson explains. “In their words, it isn’t technically a sword. Just a very large knife.“

Chara descends into a full on fit of laughter. Frisk stands there for a long moment, then looks back down at the Master Sword. Then they set it down and take out their notebook. Does that make this the Master Knife, then?

Gerson joins Chara in laughing. “I like your style,” he tells them, as he follows them to the door. “Remember me after you’ve saved the world, alright, kid?”

Frisk nods, slinging the Master Knife over their back, and slaps Chara on the shoulder on the way out to get them to stop laughing already, it’s not that funny.

(It’s absolutely that funny, Chara insists inside their own head. God they love knives.)

[Next Part] [Index]

#loz ut #loz #undertale #legend of zelda #i am an excellent artist #my writing #well this took a while

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

me: i don’t have anything to post ughhh also me: has 10 95% finished drafts i could literally take an hour to finish and upload but won’t me: lemme start a new analysis

aaaaaa the mural of mayhem looks so good (source)

tl;dr: bunches of new environment shots. also i wanna time travel So Bad, just so Bad,,, gearbox, please, time travel??? i wanna meet The Man Typhon Deleon just *clenches fist* so bad and slap him for leading to the opening of the first vault. also for some reason tina is the only one of the good guys with the fabric stuff the twins are wearing. be warned. oh, also, there might be some ursa mechs? i saw like 3 robos that look like iron bear but aren’t colored like it so who even knows. oh and we see the scientist (?) dude in color next to Tannis from the MoM. he seems cool evil.

i don’t even know where to begin here so let’s start with the middle and work our way towards literally whatever catches my eye next. i have no method, im a disaster

OwO

nothing too special about our VHs here, they seem to be using the gold gun skins that are offering in either the early adopter pack or the other pack u get i think for signing up to be a VIP. so that’s neat. also shows off the good guys = blue/yellow theme we see throughout the mural.

there is this weird square shape in the sky/clouds above them? idk what it’s supposed to be, though. a logo? a ship? a building? i can’t tell!

i could be wrong/seeing things though lol

zoomer isn’t colored in! probably didn’t want to detract from the main 4 VHs. additionally, Amara’s arms don’t have their patterns across them. 

Moze is also the only VH here with a hint as to what her Action Skill is. IB is elsewhere on the mural, though. We’ll get to him.

the Vault behind them!

moving down below the VHs, we see this ship

I’ve spoken about it before, so i won’t go into it here

bandits? i think! looks like at least one of them is wearing power armor... or just a suit of armor in general. it looks like power armor to me tho lol

another set of silhouettes in the foreground on the right there. can’t tell who/what they’re supposed to be unfortunately, but im going to assume more bandits

interestingly, we see the ruins of helios SUPER close and, even more interestingly, what appears to be a Vault in front of it! Which could very well be the Vault of the Traveler? since the Traveler itself can’t teleport it anymore (cause y’know... it ded.) It has a weird shape at the bottom, idk what that is supposed to be. it looks like a curvy outline of an arrow tbh lol. i wonder if the Vault actually did teleport Rhys and Fiona somewhere. I also wonder if the thing on the bottom is meant to help ‘visitors’ or something idk use/see/extract whatever was in the Vault. there was like some stairs and then a chest..? thing? idek. 

but yeah, looks like the Vault by Helios is doing well. Also, Vaughn apparently knows Rhys is on Promethea (soon) after the end of tales so I wonder if that actually is a portal... either way, i hope this means we’ll get to go visit 👀 We’ve visited the ruins of helios already in commander lilith, so hopefully this isn’t too much of a stretch.

to the right of that we see Lorelei knockin the shit out of a goliath that seems... kinda small compared to her? idk maybe it’s cause he’s lying down (and out).

We also see another instance of Mystery Girl up at the top there, though she’s in the exact same pose as the mask of mayhem which makes me kinda sad. i was hoping to see another angle of her or something. I do hope she’s actually in the game and isn’t just a statue. be wild if tyreen gave her the suck or something to turn her into a statue to preserve her in the hopes that doing the reverse succ/getting the ultimate power would let ty bring her back to life at a later point lmao

below lorelei we can see a crimson raider in the ash cloud! i have no idea why he’s there but he’s lookin baller.

next to to lorelei is a titan (unsure if that’s the official name for these big guys or if the one in the showcase was unique) a skag and clappy! I can’t tell if clappy is holding something in his left arm or not

also the background looks like a city. i think that is promethea? i can’t really tell tbh

next to clappy we see part of a ferris wheel which im pretty sure is part of the circus area we’ve seen in the trailers. the one with the circle emblem thing above the door/entrance.

below clappy/marcus we see what i think is part of Eden-6

the bridge/road has me going like 🤔 but the foliage pretty much confirms it. might be related to that research base looking area. might be related to jakobs manor (maybe they have a bridge to keep bandits out) idk

above that we see marcus looking some cash to a bunch of psychos. I think he has an ECHO skin? i can’t really tell. not really much to say here tbh, is marcs.

behind him we see this landscape which i don’t think we’ve seen before. the tree is screaming Athenas at me but tbh i think we’ve only seen red trees there, haven’t we? also is that the handle of a sword near the bottom there? wtf is that?

maybe a new planet? or a new biome on one of the planets we haven’t seen yet. it looks like a savanna tree to me. you know the ones?

yeah. possible new planet/new biome we haven’t seen yet?? i would ADORE a savanna type area. 

next to that we see a tink and a skag in front of the HBC. I thiiink the tink is holding a flamethrower? not sure, though. maybe a miniboss like midgemong? that’d be neat asf

i can’t tell if this is a suit of power armor/a robot or just part of the environment lol, i can see the helmet up top and a big bulky body. i would love to fight power armored enemies like that, be so cool! maybe these are modified suits of the ursa corps project? or something. idk about the helmet.

above the tink/skag combo we can see more silhouettes in the foreground. i seriously can’t make out who they’re supposed to be :( maybe some maliwan troops? i feel like they’d be more recognizable, though. hmhmhmhm

in the background we see another robo/power armor suit (???? i think????), this one seems to have a flamethrower, which is kinda reinforcing my theory they might be repurposed armor sets. this one doesn’t appear to have a helmet. kinda get the feeling they’re either repurposed or completely different cuz the helmet on the other one is throwing me off a touch. IB doesn’t have a helmet. 

for reference.

above that weirdly confusing collection of entities, we have hammerlock!

my boiii

and finally to the left of hammerlock we get to the big boy of this side of the mural

the god queen herself.

first thing i noticed? her jacket seems to be warping into that weird fabric we see clinging to other baddies throughout the mural and covering her right leg. 

She seems to be holding up a grenade/molotov cocktail/smoke bomb?

pretty sure it’s a molotov cocktail though

i love how the smoke merges into the roses above her. really cool detail. you can also see the recruitment center to the right there! and a crane which makes me double down on the idea that the ‘vault’ we see in the booth thing had been excavated by dahl (considering the main building of the RC is a dahl building)

we also see a fire rakk? ?? i think? be cool if we got badass elemental rakks. i’ve only ever seen normal badass rakks. i wonder if this is a play on the fact there’s a psycho in the MoM with rakk wings and the twins stole lily’s firehawk powers... probably not, right? probably not...

ty’s tattoos are lookin kinda green for me here, might be the close proximity to all those browns and reds, though. it’d be really cool if she could pull an amara and swap her succ elements LMAO

a bunch of psychos! all with wings! which is weird cause the sirens don’t have wings here. weird chunk of symbolism i guess. we can see a tubby on the top there which makes me happy to know they’re coming back. there’s one with 

a glowing nose

and there’s this figure on the very left

who doesn’t appear to be a psycho at all

also, note that all these psychos have a ‘normal’ brown/gray buzzaxe

the one at the bottom here, on ty’s left has a more golden-colored buzzaxe. im p sure that corresponds to rank in cult. i also feel obligated to point out that, while im 90% sure that flame is coming from the flamethrower on the right there, it does kinda look like the bottom psycho is shooting a blast of flames out of his palm. 

moving right along

the whole entourage seems to be laying across a statue of roses, which match the ones at the top of the mural AND the ones on the cover art.

we see a shot of Pandora and Elpis here (I’m pretty sure. the purple light at the top right makes me believe that’s the eridian scar, but.... may not be)

looks very volcanic...

we see one of those lil video game dudes from the demo, forgot their names but they’re Maliwan

below them we see this scene

which is an area i don’t recognize. eden-6 maybe? the buildings seem a bit close together, though.

tbh i thought this was another city at first, maybe it’s Promethea from ye olde days? you know, before Atlas took over and modernized it. Maybe we’ll get to go back in time to stop the first Vault from ever being opened. that’d be pretty cool. man time travel would be wild. i wonder if we’d be able to combine the Vault of the Traveler and the Vault of the Sentinel to do that. now that’d be cool.

but it’s probably eden-6 lmao

quadruple threat here. from top to bottom: Rhys, Zer0, Vaughn, Aurelia? i think. 

her hair seems spikier in the mask bit... maybe that’s not her? she also doesn’t have the earrings. idk who else it could be, though. 🤔

anyway. Vaughn seems to be climbing a cliff or something lol. at least he’s got a cape and his relic of strength on him.

rhys and zer0 are in the same poses as their poses on the Mask of Mayhem, just colored in.

biggg statue of ty. noticeably missing her facial scars. not much else to say, pretty sure this is just a different(ish) angle of her MoM statue during the pan around.

back to the bottom center of the mural, let’s move left

someone with a jetpack! i can’t make out who, though. i thought it was Moze at first but... she needs her digistruct pack for iron bear.

Also a bunch of psychos all fighting each other. over the buzzaxes maybe? if they really are a symbol of rank in the cult. that or they’re just being psychos. 

this area with a waterfall and also a drainage pipe. i think this is also eden-6, but i am not 100% sure. probably an area we haven’t seen yet.

lily!! her right (our left) wing looks really weird to me, idk what it is. it’s a lot redder/yellower than her left one. Also, the tattoos near her wrist look like they’re coming off her arm. 

to the left of lily we see ellie!

holding a whole-ass street sign. insane.

next/behind her is promethea! which we’ve seen before. it looks like one of the buildings in the middle there is getting blasted by something, but idk what. maybe something Maliwan? 

also, on the left there we can see what i thought was iron bear

but now i am second guessing myself due to the other robos/armor suits we saw on the right of the mural. 

maybe they did not color in IB fully like Zoomer? it looks like there is someone/something where the turret mount would be. maybe that is moze standing up there? it would be really interesting to see other Ursa Corps soldiers coming in. I know they mentioned in the Commander Lily ECHO log that Vladof was at war with Tediore, and we know through their advertisements for bl2 that Vladof is also at war with Dahl. It’s possible we’ll see some of their troops in the game! especially since Moze’s echo actually talks about the troop as a whole and not specifically her, unlike the others.

next to the mystery mech or iron bear (you decide) we see Mystery Girl/Little Blue/Nope Girl

and, yeah, starting to think she may not actually fit into the timeline of Steele’s death. she looks older than 12 to me (for reference, in bl2 tina was 13). but we haven’t quite seen enough of her so who knows. im getting ‘way too tall’ vibes. maybe 14-15? maybe mystery MoM girl is her little sister. i would not be surprised if we saw another sibling relationship to juxtapose the twins (considering mystery girl looks like a CoV bandit, they’d be distant at the start and close at the end of the game while the twins are close at the start and distant at the end of the game- we know Danny Homan said their relationship would start to warp). 

below her we see this area

i think that’s a water tank at the bottom there? this looks kinda like a garden/courtyard area to me. Maybe another place on Athenas? i want to say Athenas bc Little Blue is directly above it. may be another new planet/biome/region we haven’t seen yet.

Above L.B we see this car

which is interesting to me bc it appears to have a closed top? I could be wrong though. would be fun to see Vasquez’s car make a return, tho lol (and then everyone gets mad the fuckin car is making an appearance but Gaige isn’t)

above that we see Tina and Mordy (and Talon) making an appearance. Tina appears to be in the same pose as her Mappearancence, including the huge launcher behind her which has me like :O Talon is a girl now in bl3, right? unless their gender changed again after the commander lilith stuff.

Also, I’m hesitant to note that Tina is the only ‘good guy’ character to have the fabric on. Everyone other character with it is either a psycho or one of the twins. I hope that’s just artistic choice and nothing more because :(

also she has bows on her shoes. fucking ace

to their right we see 3 very interesting things so we’ll go in order from the bottom counter clockwise

another mystery dude who seems to match the one we saw by tyreen, and those silhouettes again. It looks like they’re reaching down to save their falling teammates. i hope they’re alright. (unless they’re evil. then, oof, crash and burn)

at the top i can see a bunch of men with guns pointed at what i think is a jabber? but the lower bit i can’t make out. someone’s falling at the very bottom, it looks like a second falling figure has been caught with rope? idk.

above that scene we see

tannis! and the mystery guy to the bottom right. the one we’ve seen standing next to her in the MoM. does he have red eyes for anyone else or is that just me? might just be the lighting. Do I think he’s evil? you know the fuck i do. I trust nobody lol. Since I’m a fan of the “the twins are the product of a weird experiment” theory, it’s possible he is the experimenter. Tannis could’ve been feeding him information. maybe she didn’t even know what was going on- though, knowing her disregard for ethics, maybe she did. 

this guy btw

it looks like tannis is holding an eridian artifact?

maybe?? it looks like she’s holding it horizontally, if it is an artifact.

to her right and our left we see a familiar shot of Promethea. I’ve seen this exact frame before, iirc that building is smoking bc it’s Rhys’s office. actually, that could explain Rhys joining us on Sanc-III! maybe Lorelei, too.

above Tina and Mordy we see Brick

and to the right of him, Moxxi and her bar sign

she has a new megaphone, i wonder if that is hinting we’ll be getting more circles of slaughters/underdomes. It would be nice to have her commentary return, i actually really enjoyed that in the bl1 dlc and I did actually enjoy her dlc. The wave combat was fun. I’d love to have an endless wave version to see how long i could survive.

it also looks like there are a bunch of psychos (?) hanging out around the bar. and this character at the bottom right who i don’t recognize

to the far right of moxxi we see Maya

i think this is a new pose, but tbh i don’t see anything noteworthy here. I do think it’s interesting she’s using pistols instead of smgs, but oh well. might just be for the poses lol

Troy’s statue. one interesting bit i gotta mention is that it looks like the cut on the right side of his face (our left) is visible here! iirc it was not visible on his portraits in the MoM. so that’s new!

the big boy of this side of the mural!

none of the psychos on this side seem to have golden buzzaxes, plus their drapes? wtf are these? they don’t look like robes to me. anyway, they’re darker in color than the ones on Ty’s side. might be artistic direction, might be showing they’re not as high rank as the ones with the god queen (vs the right hand man lol)

i also only see 2 psychos with wings here, the one on the very left and you can see part of a wing on the bottom right. They also don’t appear to be resting/climbing on a statue like Tyreen’s are. There is ALSO a lot less of them. 

some interesting stuff about Troy: his stomach tattoos don’t seem to be around, but that could be because of the detail level required- would probably look like a big ol smudge. it is cool seeing Troy with a gun, is this the first time? i can’t remember, but i know we always saw him with his sword. i find it kinda funny they decided on the gun considering this is supposed to be renaissance, the sword would (kinda) be more fitting in that regard. it is also a giant glowy tech sword, so maybe not.

Also, Ty’s side of the mural is the only one with the roses. idk if that’s to signify something or just to balance out colors, though you’d think the red clouds on troy’s side couldve been easily converted to roses as well. hmmm 🤔

anyway, this is all i’ve got. if i missed something/if you think of something new please tell me! i wanna know 👀

#borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #mural of mayhem

[thecat-inthehat]

The Wine Cellars of Lea Monde

Ashelia Riot does not explain as she readies the team for the Lea Monde mission why her hair is now several ilms longer. Nor does she explain why she and Malla seem to be ill at ease with one another. Malla does, however, fly the team via the shuttle to their destination.

Seeing as he's shown up with an extra pair of large horns after an extended absence with no offered explanation, Tai is not prone to questioning such things.

Malla explains along the way that the city of Lea Monde lies well to the south of Dalmasca, through vast tracts of the Golmore Jungle. Fortunately, Malla knows from prior experience of a clearing through which an aircraft might land, and she pilots you to that area with little difficulty. Still, the city itself has been almost entirely transformed into a Garlean outpost. It is the capital of Dalmasca Inferior - the Garleans' "lesser" hold upon the region. Hinako’s book has this to say: “Lea Monde is an old town, with a history of over two thousand years. Its walls have seen many battles - they are stronger than the mightiest forts of Dalmasca, and as the sun wheels through the sky, the beauty of their shifting colors surpasses that of any palace.” Malla drops the party in the clearing, and soon you see the walls for yourself, even from a distance. Most of all, you see the Great Cathedral, towering above the skyline. Nearby, though you cannot see it from where you stand, is the sea.

Hinako Daigo would not show it but she is ill at ease, and before stepping off to Lea Monde she is heard and seen in intonation in her tongue. "...O kami of the four winds, I humbly request you do usher your guidance and bestow upon me and my own your divine guidance and graces. [Omamori]" Malla Velius departs - and she takes Priscilla's anxious look in stride. Nivelth Ajuyn looks calm, perhaps a tad more so than she should be, listening to the prayer silently. At her feet, an emerald carbuncle twines through her legs like an anxious cat. Akhutai Urit also looks calm. In fact, one could say he looks toward the Cathedral with veritable disinterest. Ashelia Riot: "Shall some of us survey ahead?" Though she herself proposed this mission, she does not entirely know what exactly they will be looking for in the city. Nivelth Ajuyn: "Do we know what we're looking for? Or is this going to be a bit like our survey to Rabanastre?" Ashelia Riot: "We're looking for... answers. I presume to do with the auracite. But yes - I imagine we'll gather as many clues as we can in a reasonable amount of time." Eindride Stokys looks concerned at mention of the survey being similar to Rabanastre and clutches his staff. Please no. Akhutai Urit moves just a bit ahead of the group without a word, eyes towards their destination. He looks around the area before give a slight shrug and moving forward a few more steps. Perhaps part of him manages to think that moving too far away from the group would be a bad idea, so he pauses. Hinako Daigo: "...Nothing for it but to move forward, then. I will go on ahead, as well" she responds, not just because she figures she will be able to pick up on necessary presence, but that Akhutai's demeanor has been leaving her somewhat guarded since the Prima Vista incident. || The upper reaches of the city appear to be swarming with Garleans. Hinako Daigo furrows her brow. Priscilla Scaevola has been uncharacteristically silent on the moments leading to this.  "I've got an idea." Ashelia Riot: "Yes?" Nivelth Ajuyn looks up at the city, frowning. "What's your idea, Pris?" Priscilla Scaevola: "They've must be aware the Prima Vista just swooped by.  I can probably stroll through there-" She gestures to the upper city. "- mostly unnoticed and see what information can I find." Nivelth Ajuyn wonders at the wisdom of that. Isn't Priscilla still wanted? Ashelia Riot: "While the rest of us remain hidden?" Ashelia Riot isn't entirely certain she likes the idea of Priscilla Scaevola going on her own. She suspects a certain romantic fool of a Garlean will murder her upon her return to the Sandsea. Nivelth Ajuyn: "Do you need one of us to pose as your servant or retainer? So you're not going alone?" Priscilla Scaevola shrugs. "It's an idea." She looks at Erindride. "He can probably blend with me. Looks like boyfriend material." Ashelia Riot: "..." Eindride Stokys eyes widen. "Can't say I agree with that." Priscilla Scaevola she looks at Eindride again. "We are from the Prima Vista, looking for material for a new play." Ashelia Riot shakes her head. Ashelia Riot: "After what happened over Kugane, the Majestic may not be the most popular people in the Empire at the moment." Priscilla Scaevola: "..." Reconsiders. "Yeah, no, I am not going up there." Ashelia Riot: "...Although." Akhutai Urit gives a hum of thought, "Surely a storied place such as that has...multiple entrances.." Eindride Stokys: "That could be a possibility." Ashelia Riot nods to Akhutai Urit. Ashelia Riot: "Precisely. And if we end up needing to go above ground for any reason, Priscilla can be a scout." Priscilla Scaevola mocks an appalled gesture at Erindride. "How quickly he to chose the sewers over his new girlfriend." She nods at Ashelia when given a position. "Can do that." Ashelia Riot: "Oh, leave him be." Eindride Stokys: "It'd be far more likely for me to have a boyfriend in the future rather than a girlfriend," it's not the best time, but he chuckles a bit. Hinako Daigo gives a soft grin. Nivelth Ajuyn waves her fingers, and her carbuncle gives a soft yip. "He can accompany you, if needed. I can set him up with diversion and poison cloud spells if you need to make a quick getaway. But I'd like to stick to the idea of not being noticed." Ashelia Riot: "As would I." Akhutai Urit sets his hands on the hilt of his sword with an almost disappointed expression but says nothing. Priscilla Scaevola: "I can be subtle. And got a few tricks up my sleeve if things go sour." Nivelth Ajuyn nods to Priscilla Scaevola. Ashelia Riot: "Now, then..." Ashelia Riot searches the vicinity, walking around for any potential underground openings. Ashelia Riot is, more than anything, getting impatient; she /knows/ something's there, but she cannot find it. Hinako Daigo: "Hmm..." Akhutai Urit also begins to search. though he seems..less inclined, for whatever reason. Hinako Daigo kneels respectfully. Hinako Daigo: "..." Hinako Daigo shrugs. Ashelia Riot: "It has to be here." By now she sounds frustrated, annoyed; she's close to drawing her stone from her pocket. Nivelth Ajuyn: "What are you looking for? What do you expect to find?" Akhutai Urit just...stares...in a direction. He sighs. "...Ashe." If he catches her attention, he just vaguely gestures. Ashelia Riot: "A path. Anything. I-" Ashelia Riot then catches sight of where Tai is looking. Ashelia Riot: "...That.” "That" is what appears to be a cellar door - almost identical to the one her father locked behind her during their last moments together before Ala Mhigo fell. The sight makes her heart lurch. Hinako Daigo watches Ashelia intently... Eindride Stokys: "I'd say that's our way in." Ashelia Riot steps forward and gives the door a heave. Its hinges creak as the old wood resists, but it opens with little effort. Ashelia Riot: "I'll take the rear." Akhutai Urit: "A cellar. How typical." Assuming no one else does it first, he just...goes in past the old doors. Hinako Daigo takes a breath and follows Akhutai in. Nivelth Ajuyn sniffs the air, her nose wrinkling slightly, but follows. Ashelia Riot ushers the others in before her. For perhaps the first time in this entire expedition, Ashe steps into the cool, darkened underground hall and feels something resembling peace. It reminds her of Ala Mhigo’s Undercity: though she’s never been in this place, though she does not know the way forward, the feeling of being so far under the earth is a comfortingly familiar sensation. Priscilla Scaevola closes her eyes briefly before entering. "Here we go..." || Until the ground trembles beneath the party’s feet. Akhutai Urit: "Exciting." Hinako Daigo looks down at the ground. "...?" Ashelia Riot: "Is everyone alright?" Priscilla Scaevola gaze travels from one of his companions to the next. Half expecting they caused it. "This bodes i'll. Which might mean we are heading the right way..." Nivelth Ajuyn distributes her weight easy enough, frowning slightly. She touches the stone in her pocket. Akhutai Urit: "I was beginning to worry this was going to be easy," he begins to smirk. Eindride Stokys looks a little shaken, but is otherwise fine. He nods to Ashelia. Hinako Daigo nods. "Yes, and I'm inclined to agree with Miss Priscilla." || The party have ended up in a cellar - a wine cellar, one of great renown throughout all of Hydaelyn. Priscilla Scaevola wants to steal. Hinako Daigo looks around. Akhutai Urit doesn't much care for wine and begins looking around. Eindride Stokys: "There's something odd about this place...", he says, staring at the walls. || It's all wine. Akhutai Urit is basically going to just wander off at this point until he finds something of note at all unless someone stops him. || Wine is boring. Peering more deeply and placing a hand flat onto the wall, Eindride’s odd feeling finally starts to make sense. "There's definitely been some Black magicks used in here." Priscilla Scaevola places her attention at the floor. If there is something below she expected to find a latch or looks under rugs if any. Nivelth Ajuyn looks around, while her carbu sniffs at the wines. She taps her finger against one of the barrels, and frowns. "... poison. I think some of these are poisoned." || There are no rugs; the floor seems ordinary. Ashelia Riot: "Poison?" Nivelth Ajuyn looks ... conflicted. "I ... don't know why, but it feels poisoned." Ashelia Riot thinks of how Nivelth Ajuyn poisoned a Garlean to death within seconds. Hinako Daigo saunters and studies every ilm she passes "Black magic, poison... all things considered, though, it is still a wine cellar. Assuredly quite an old and grand one, so... our path is not like to end here..." The dull thud of metal on wood can be heard down the way as Tai smacks his sword into a wine barrel. Nivelth Ajuyn investigates the barrel for a moment, and pulls it out slightly. In the brim of the wood, there's a hole in it, and what looks like a rat's corpse. The creature clearly died while trying to burrow into the wine, resulting in the poisoning of it. Ashelia Riot wrinkles her nose but offers no other sign of disgust. Nivelth Ajuyn: "Well. That's not useful." Priscilla Scaevola eyes widen at the revelation. "That's... not good..." Ashelia Riot: "Let's keep moving." Hinako Daigo stops for a moment to look back. She would rather not ask why poison the wine, for she can presume plenty. Hinako Daigo continues. Eindride Stokys stares at the rat's corpse. "We should exercise caution around these barrels in the very least..." Tai definitely notices that there are burn marks close to some of the walls. There are also scattered bottles, and discarded corks. People have been living here, though perhaps not recently. Akhutai Urit nudges an empty bottle with the tip of his sword. "We missed a party." Nivelth Ajuyn walks forward to catch up to Tai, tail flicking in agitation. Priscilla Scaevola: "It’s not a party until we get there. Are there any notes or belongings?" || There is a black mage's staff, made from a metal that you can't entirely seem to identify; whatever it is, it's beautifully wrought and contains a sphere of blown glass at its apex. Akhutai Urit: "I feel anyone with more expertise with magical focuses than I should take a look at that," Tai says, remarking on the staff. Priscilla Scaevola doesnt touch a thing. Eindride Stokys: "I can take a look...", he says a bit hesitantly. He's not sure if he even wants to touch it himself, in all honesty. Nivelth Ajuyn: "I can look it over," she offers. She doesn't sound concerned. Akhutai Urit: "Well, you two can have at it, I suppose." Eindride Stokys can feel the aether pulsing from the staff. "Whoever owned this, they were very experienced in magicks in the very least..." || The earth rumbles again, this time sending a shower of pebbles over the party's heads. Nivelth Ajuyn looks it over in Eindride's hands, but she gets nothing from it. "It... seems useless to me--what was that." Hinako Daigo observes the staff before looking up at the ceiling. "What on..." Akhutai Urit looks up at the ceiling as everything shakes again. He clicks his tongue. Ashelia Riot: "We need to hurry." Ashelia Riot has seen how cave-ins happen in the Undercity. Priscilla Scaevola nods. Nivelth Ajuyn scooches closer to Tai, her tail flicking rapidly. Eindride Stokys: "...Perhaps we'll get crushed before any of these odd findings can do any harm to us," despite the grim nature of the sentence he sounds rather cheery. Akhutai Urit smirks, "Death won't come so easily. I think time will be on our side, at least for a little while." He glances down at Nive before moving forward, but this time stopping before he gets too far ahead of the group and glances back. "Shall we keep moving?" His eyes flick to the staff, "Should we keep that or leave it behind?" Priscilla Scaevola: "Bring it, it might have an use down the road." That same strange expression comes over Ashelia Riot's face at Akhutai Urit's words, and she nods. Ashelia Riot: "Time enough with you at our side, my old friend." Akhutai Urit looks to Ashelia and his eyes Flash before he flashes a grin, "Of course." Hinako Daigo places a hand above her chest. "Right... Well, we are only building more questions than answers at the moment. Let alone a way through. And these tremors..." Eindride Stokys: "I can carry the staff along with, if need be," while he's a bit intimidated by the thing, he can't help but have his interest piqued by the staff at this point. Ashelia Riot nods to Eindride Stokys. Ashelia Riot: "By all means." Nivelth Ajuyn looks over at him, frowning at the staff, but sticks close to Tai as the group starts to move a bit. Ashelia Riot takes point for the next section, which is long and winding and unfinished. She takes them through what can only be the deepest infrastructure of the city, down to the fabled ramparts themselves - and the path leads them all further underground. Hinako Daigo remains silent, focused, trying to get a read on her environs as they get deeper and deeper. Akhutai Urit: "These people surely loved their underground infrastructures.." Nivelth Ajuyn: "You know, the last time Tai and I went underground, it didn't exactly end well," she mutters into the air, giving a shudder. "Can't wait to see how this one turns out." Akhutai Urit: "As long as our secrets and fears don't get turned against us this time." Priscilla Scaevola: "Last time I went undeground with Tai it didnt exactly end well either. " She grins. Akhutai Urit: "I believe we can conclude, then, that if something goes wrong, it is my fault." Nivelth Ajuyn: "Only if it's underground. I think you're in the clear otherwise." Nivelth Ajuyn beams with delight at Akhutai Urit. Akhutai Urit smirks. || At the end of the tunnel lies a pile of fabrics - Dalmascan civilian clothes. They aren't laid out in place of where someone died; they're thrown in a heap on the ground. Priscilla Scaevola pokes the pile of clothes with the barrel of her gun. || Some rats skitter out from inside the pile. Priscilla Scaevola: "Agh!" Hinako Daigo: "Abandoned garments? And they have been here for some time as well." Eindride Stokys: "Strange." Akhutai Urit: "Well then." Tai looks around, "...I can only think of grim circumstances." Hinako Daigo: "I have a bad feeling ... Signs of life underground, black magic, raiments cast aside..." Hinako Daigo: "Poisoned wine..." Priscilla Scaevola just shakes her head. She likes the fieldtrip less and less. Akhutai Urit: "If we continue much further, I'm nearly positive we'll find a body or two." Akhutai Urit: "Or what's left of one." Hinako Daigo: "Someone's endgame, whatever that may have been. Or may be." || As the party proceeds, the sense of wrongness further permeates their surroundings - especially for Eindride Stokys. However, if possible, the surroundings grow somewhat more refined - elegant. Akhutai Urit pulls his lips back into something reminiscent of a snarl and the grip on his sword tightens. He doesn't say anything, just tenses up in preparation for...something. Hinako Daigo is deep in thought.

#Phantom Pains RISK #ffxiv #Final Fantasy XIV #Nivelth Ajuyn #Ashelia Riot #Akhutai Urit #Hinako Daigo #Eindride Stokys

[kingdomofkitten]

Pretty-Rage & Kamen Haida: Part 1

Narrator: Tokyo. A bustling metropolis for the modern age. A prime target for the imperialistic forces of the Byriam Empire, whose goal is to conquer, or destroy, every single being on Earth. But not to fear! For within these city walls lie two of the greatest heroes of our generation! Both are seemingly normal accountants in a boring day job. But secretly, they are the magical red panda of love, Pretty-Rage, and the hyena hero of justice, Kamen Haida! Together, both in battle, and in matrimony, they swore to keep the city safe, and the Byriams at bay. Here they are now, walking with their trusted friend, and tech associate, Fenneko, and their precious son, Ikari, talking about protecting the Earth, no doubt!

Retsuko: Agh, I can’t believe I forgot to pack myself a lunch today! I skipped breakfast too!

Haida: Retsuko, it’s alright! We’ll just quickly walk by some place, and get something for you to eat.

Fenneko: No can do. We’re crunched for time, Ton’s got a lot of work for us.

Haida: ...who told y-Tsunoda?

Fenneko: Tsunoda.

Haida: Figured.

Retsuko: Well, there’s a convenience store coming up, you sure we can’t ju-*noticing a fight breaking out in front of the store*

Haida: ...come on! *the two run towards the two men fighting*

Customer: *pinning the store clerk to the ground* You son of a bitch! You gonna rob your customers too?!

Store Clerk: I-I’m so sorry! I don’t understand it, myself!

Haida: *pulling the customer back* Hey, HEY! Cool it!

Retsuko: *gets the store clerk back up* What’s going on, here?!

Customer: People are starving out here, that’s what!

Haida: ...huh?

Fenneko: *looking inside the store* Uh, guys? I think you might wanna see this.

*they look inside, and see all the food in the convenience store is gone! Not a single morsel left!*

Retsuko: ….what?!

Customer: It’s not just here! The whole town is out of food! Restaurants, lunch rooms, everywhere! I don’t know what kinda strike, or prank this is, but I won’t stand for it! *storms away*

Haida: What the hell…?

Today’s episode: Retsuko’s Starvation! The Gluttonous Monster Attacks!

*later at work…*

Retsuko: *stomach starts growling badly* Why today? WHY?

Fenneko: You know, you give yourself crap for this, but actually, I was gonna make myself something for breakfast, but I couldn’t find anything in my place.

Haida: ….come to think of it, I didn’t see anything in our place too! I know we’re not the richest, but we CAN’T be that broke.

Ton: *distant* WHERE IS MY TEA?!

Tsubone: THERE WAS NONE MADE! WE CHECKED!

Ton: WHAT?! Ugh, *stomping over to check* as if the women in here aren’t lazy enough already! ….wait, where is everything?!

*the other employees begin running towards the tearoom, to discover, like was revealed earlier, there is no consumable object in sight*

Haida: ...oh, I hoped that was just an exaggeration.

Fenneko: Okay, something is going on. Come on. *she grabs out her laptop, and places it on the lunch table the three usually sit*

Retsuko: You think it’s the Byriam?

Fenneko: “Think?” Retsuko, I know. We just gotta figure it out. Lucky me, I happened to hack into all the major security cameras in Tokyo.

Haida: ….why?

Fenneko: The less you know, the better. Anyway, it’s apparently been going on all morning, so let’s see if we can figure out what happened last night. *opens up software, to reveal, indeed, security footage spread all across the city* And it looks like the cannibals are out and about this lovely day.

Retsuko: *seeing people attack one another* Good grief…

Fenneko: Anyhoo! Let’s see if we can turn back time a wee bit. *starts rewinding footage, to last night, early in the morning* Now, let’s take a looksie at the convenience store we checked out. *finds the cameras for the store, and checks out the footage*

*at around 2:00 AM, the back door flies open, and suddenly a ton of food starts floating out, into the sky…*

Fenneko: ...what the fu-

Haida: Look! *he sees other cameras, showing food from all across Tokyo, floating off, in a similar way* What’s going on?!

Fenneko: Actually, look. It’s not all going to the sky, looks like it’s going to that forest over there.

Retsuko: ...isn’t that Koajiro Forest?

Haida: ...we should probably check it out.

Retsuko: Let’s go! *the two almost take off, before her dress is tugged by something* Huh?

Ikari: Mamaaaa! *whines a little, as an audible growl can come from his stomach*

Retsuko: Aw, Ikari! *pats his head* We’ll get you something to eat soon. Okay, sweetums? *to Fenneko* Can you get him, like, some water, or something, to hold him over?

Fenneko: I can try.

Retsuko: Thanks. *to Haida* Come on!

*the two begin to run off, as the rest of the office is trying to find something resembling food*

Ton: Any luck?!

Komiya: N-no, sir!

Ton: WELL, KEEP LOOKING!

*outside, just on the side of the office building, Retsuko and Haida stand*

Retsuko: *grabbing out a pink microphone, with a heart on top* Ready?

Haida: *revealing his golden belt, with a switch on it* Ready!

*Retsuko twirls the heart on the microphone, and Haida flicks the switch on the belt buckle, as the two do some poses, before shouting out…*

Retsuko and Haida: HENSHIN!

*and with that, they transform, into the adorable, but angry, Pretty-Rage, and the tall, and deadly, Kamen Haida, complete with a motorcycle!*

Kamen Haida: *mounts the motorcycle* Hop on!

Pretty-Rage: *mounts behind him* Let’s figure this out!

Kamen Haida: Right! *drives off, as they head out to Koajiro Forest…*

*meanwhile, in said forest, a gigantic pile of food has been accumulated, by various Byriam foot soldiers (named Cronions), and monitored by two monsters, one being a creature resembling a Kabuki actor, except being considerably obese, named Kuishinbō, and the other being a burnt-red, slim, demonic bird looking being, named Phoenixia*

Kuishinbō: Ohohohohoho! Oh, joyous of days! So much food, ripe for the taking!

Phoenixia: Yes, but this is just the beginning. With all of this, the Earthlings’ energy and morale will be dwindling considerably, giving the empire the perfect time to strike….obviously not the primary concern for you, I imagine.

Kuishinbō: Not at all! *charges at the food pile, and begins chowing down*

*while all this is going down, Pretty-Rage and Kamen Haida are hiding in the bushes, seeing all of this going down*

Kamen Haida: So that’s where it all went.

Pretty-Rage: *getting irritated at the monster eating the food* That bastard...come on! Let’s get them!

Kamen Haida: Right! *the two jump up, causing the Cronions to look around*

Phoenixia: Agh, damn it! They’re here! Get into formation!

*the Cronions prepare themselves, as the two heroes land*

Pretty-Rage: Using my death metal anger to make this a world of happiness! PRETTY-RAGE!

Kamen Haida: A punk at heart trying to bring order to this land! KAMEN HAIDA!

Phoenixia: *sigh* So it appears we meet again.

Pretty-Rage: It appears so, Phoenixia! That food belongs to the civilians of Tokyo! Give it back, now!

Kuishinbō: *jumping up and down* Noooooo! They want to take away my snacks! Cronions! ATTACK!

Cronions: *high pitched squeaks, as they charge towards the two!*

Pretty-Rage: Let’s do this! *jumps up, and screams, causing some Cronions to fall back!*

Kamen Haida: Let’s go! *grabs one goon, and punches it right in the gut, before throwing it aside!*

Phoenixia: Agh! FIRE!

Cronion: *nods, as a few of them grab out uzis, and begin firing at the two heroes!*

Kamen Haida: YIPE! *he and Pretty-Rage jump away from the blast, but when they do, he notices her...squirming* ...are you okay?

Pretty-Rage: *clenching her stomach* I-I’m fine! Come on! *runs after the monster*

Kuishinbō: Ohohoho! Feeling a touch weak, are we? Well, maybe this oughta make you feel worse! *grabs out a sword from his side, and slashes her multiple times, causing her to fly back!*

Pretty-Rage: AAAGH! *falls to the ground, unconscious*

Kamen Haida: PRETTY-RAGE! *runs to her, and looks at Kuishinbō* Bastard!

Kuishinbō: Yooooooo!!! *laughs maniacally* I got one! I got one!

Kamen Haida: Ugh! *charges at the monster, and tries to perform a jump-kick*

Kuishinbō: Ohohoho! *grabs Kamen Haida’s foot, and begins swinging him around*

Kamen Haida: What the-?! *gets sent flying to the ground* GAAH! *hits the dirt, next to his knocked-out comrade* Dammit, we’re not up to full strength! I gotta get you out of here! *picks her up* This is not the end! *runs off*

Phoenixia: Oh, it will be. *to some of the Cronion soldiers* YOU! Go after them!

Kamen Haida: *reaching the motorcycle, and drives off, Pretty-Rage carried on his back* Come on, Retsuko, stay with me here! I’ll find some food for you! Someho-*he suddenly hears gunshots* GAH! WHAT THE-?! *he turns, and sees Cronion soldiers, on motorcycles, firing at them* No, NO! *he sees an exit, and immediately makes the turn*

Cronion: *high-pitched scream, as they TRY to make the turn, but crash*

Kamen Haida: Okay…don’t worry, Retsuko. We’ll get you feeling better…*starts feeling dizzy* …no….no, not now...damn it, now I’m getting hungry...and thirsty….and….tired…*suddenly crashes the bike, leaving the two rolling on the ground on the ground, unconscious*

So, um...as you can see, it’s quite the biggun. :P Yeah, I really wanted this to be one big thing, but I wanted to get something out to you guys, so that there’s something to tide everyone over. And as it turned out, even Part 1 (which is the HALFWAY POINT, I should mind) is a big fella! So, hopefully, you guys enjoy this, while I try to put together part 2.

#Aggressive Retsuko #aggretsuko #Retsuko #Haida #Pretty-Rage #Kamen Haida #Fenneko #Ikari #ton #Tsubone #Komiya #Phoenixia #Kuishinbō

[kristinarambles]

Theme Song

Analysis One:

When I first started watching this show it was to find something my oldest daughter [who was three at the time] and I could watch together. We had been watching Gravity Falls but I knew it was coming to an end and I was pretty tired of Shimmer and Shine and Daniel Tiger and whatnot [not that there’s anything wrong with them and in fact I like them, just was over it lol]. Disney movies over and over I can do but I wanted something new that I could really get into. My sister loved it and I saw screenshots and stuff all over Tumblr so I was curious. I sought my sisters referral and she told me it was beautiful but might contain content that Andrea was too young to understand/comprehend, but even so it was made so it would still entertain her and contained a lot of themes that would reinforce the type of things I was trying to teach her as a mother. Now my youngest who was a babe-in-arms when we started has reached about the same age as Andrea was when we started watching and it's all of our big thing that we watch together and love so much. It met and exceeded all of my expectations in every way. The artwork and music is beautiful, I've added several of the songs to my "playlist" of lullaby's that the children request for me to sing to them. The girls adore the characters, Andrea even named "her” dog after Pearl [she’s even got the sharp nose true to form, but as a counterpoint likes to eat trash and roll in the mud]. They play games set to the story, talk about it all the time, cheer them on as we watch and even cry. It keeps us engaged and guessing and even my husband doesn't mind it and will occasionally watch the new episodes with us. We love how excited the kids get about them lol.

I was going to just jump into the first episode, but I thought I should do a little breakdown of the theme songs first,the old one from the first season and the one we've been using since the beginning of season two until presumably we'll get a new one at the start of season six. Also forgive me for not having pictures, but I don’t want to be stealing pictures even with references or tags and I have two children so I don’t have the time or patience to be going and getting my own screengrabs.

First I think it's interesting that in the old theme Pearl and Amethyst [Amethyst pulling out/down her shirt] both show off their glowing gems but you can only see one of Garnet’s as she adjusts her shades. Steven's can be seen glowing until he finishes his little somersault and his shirt settles. I like how the next few flashes show his youth [and immaturity] in comparison to the Gems as well. After seeing the theme we've had the last couple of years so many times I really love the parallels and changes. How when the warp pad goes off Steven just passively floats upside down, he makes a face when Garnet ruffles his hair [which is one of my favorite of their earlier interactions], running to catch up to them and then leaping to get in the lead. It gives us a real feel for their relationship but in an abstract way. Steven is the kid brother, to be protected and sheltered, maybe even a little annoying. They love him, but he isn't really a member of the team, he's just a tag-along. Then it evolves, they start in the temple but it appears that they're at the galaxy warp in the second theme. They focus on the Gems faces now and not their gems. He is now the one who activates the warp, with a hint of the Diamond Salute, everyone ruffles his hair while he smiles [with star eyes no less] because he knows how much they love him. Then the running with Steven trying to catch up turning to all of them just posing one by one with their weapons, but still as a team. We get a nice shot of Connie as the van drives through Beach City, she is front and foremost from our point of view. Lars and Sadie, Mr. Smiley, the Cool kids, Kiki and Nanefua are all there but Connie is the most important. Lots of people have pointed out the change in her appearance in the theme, and it's certainly the most obvious but I like how subtly everyone else changed too. Lars goes from throwing himself against the window to leaning comfortably, Sadie even looks more comfortable. The Cool Kids are now hanging out in front of The Big Donut instead of on the curb across the street. Onion is on top of it when originally it seemed that Mr. Smiley was about to toss him out. Looking back he was probably just handing him off to Sour Cream, but we didn't know he was his big brother back then. Jamie has been added, although off to the side sulking [of course]. Also added are Mayor Dewey, Kofi, and the Frymans. As funny as it is to see Ronaldo being flustered at the van driving by instead of Lars, my heart is warmed by PeeDee hanging out smiling on his father's shoulders and waving at Steven. It might be more symbolism that Ronaldo is trying to gather up his papers but pauses to watch the van go by. He has a tendency to let his theories run away with him, but Steven has consistently set him straight.

All that being said, Connie's transformation is arguably the most important other than Steven himself, although in light of Pink Lars and Rock Star Sadie not necessarily the most drastic in appearance. She is still on the outskirts, but it's no longer because she's an outsider as evidenced by her running after the van instead of just holding her hat in place due to the wind made by it passing her. I love the contrast in her traditionally feminine skirt to her more utilitarian shorts and clutching her book and holding onto her hat turning into still holding the book but loosely by her side instead of tightly to her chest and resting her sword comfortably on her shoulder. I really identified with early Connie and her escape into books. As a Navy brat I moved a lot, and being the oldest I had a lot of responsibility I didn't really want. When we first meet her in Bubble Buddies and she doesn't even notice Steven because she was so into her reading, I felt that on a very visceral level. I wish I could have found real magic like she did lol. Her books are still a part of her, but she’s grown so much, trained to be strong and skillful, earning her place on the team. I don’t think we ever actually see her wear a hat in show, and she loses her literal rose tinted lenses and adds in her glow bracelet showing off her and Steven’s friendship.

Greg is finally shown at the end, representing Steven's human needs with a grill haha, then in a final bit of symbolism in the first theme we see each of the Gems get their own frame with their name superimposed above them. They each get a slightly different time of day and a signature little move to show us who they are without saying a word. Garnet reclining in her lawn chair and only moving her foot at sunset. Amethyst flipping her hair at twilight with the moon behind her. Pearl adjusting her skirt as she sits in front of the fully night sky filled with diamond shaped stars. Steven eating a hot dog with the temple at sunrise behind him. In the new theme however they gather around Steven after a casual shot of the temple. Connie runs to join them, Greg relaxes up against a napping Lion. He strums his guitar as Connie turns smiling. Garnet lowers herself to sit behind Steven, Amethyst in her enthusiasm slides to be beside him, Pearl kneels down neatly They all belong there, as a team. They are all still individuals with their own personalities, strengths and weaknesses, but they communicate and fit together so much better now. The title is over all four of them instead of just Steven.

Steven says his powers allow him to connect to people, and sure that's a big part of his gem powers but I think his human half has a really great power too. He has the ability to make people connect to each other. His empathy brings all the people he cares about together and over the course of the series he's been able to dissect and help them solve the issues keeping them apart as well as deal with their own self images and trauma.

There's been a lot of speculation about a new theme, and although initially I was unhappy with the idea and content with the current theme I am coming around. I was firmly against the idea of Rose being Pink and that turned out better than I ever could have hoped so I'm fully trusting in Rebecca Sugar now. Especially with those scenes at the very end of Change Your Mind. The pan over the Crystal Gems, Off Colors and the humans mingling on the beach with the Diamonds looking over them. The change in lyrics about peace instead of fighting while all of the newly uncorrupted gems reunite in the fountain, and the fact that Steven leaves out his own name to make sure he mentions that there's more of them. And then the Crystal Gems in front of the temple, all of them. Lapis and Peridot have officially joined all in, Bismuth is back for good, Connie, Lion and Greg still in their rightful places, even Pumpkin and Cat Steven. It's all just so wonderful, if we do get an updated theme I'm sure it will be just as lovely, I'm trying not to have expectations although the parallels seem to indicate that at least that last bit in front of the temple will be integrated.

#steven universe #su thoughts #su theory #su rewatch #garnet #amethyst #pearl #gem glow #bubble buddies #change your mind #connie maheswaran #lars barriga #sadie miller #the cool kids #kiki pizza #nanefua #the frymans #peedee #peedee fryman #pink lars #lars of the stars #sadie killer #ronaldo #ronaldo fryman #jenny pizza #buck dewey #mayor dewey #sour cream #onion #the off colors

[rosetowersfanfic]

Wonder Boy

Just something that spiralled from me picturing Donald’s and Storkules’ first meeting being similar to Hercules and Meg’s.

Storkules rushed through the forest towards the sounds of battle. Ithaquack often had fights break out between the various - and generally pretty violent - immortals and creatures.

Depending on what was going on and why they were fighting, Storkules was either going to break up the fight or join in. It was usually both.

The demi-god smiled to himself. There was nothing that got the blood pumping like a glorious battle, except perhaps regaling to others the events of the battle in the most dramatic way possible.

Storkules came to a halt at a shallow river to quite a sight. The fight he’d heard only had two combatants, both of whom were closely matched; this was surprising since one was a full sized centaur and the other was a small, clearly angry duck.

Said duck, however, was also very good at channeling that anger into skilled combat, allowing him to keep up with the centaur’s brute strength. Water was splashed about, droplets catching the sunlight as the pair were focused only on each other; Storkules watched, unnoticed.

He was unable to take his eyes off the small duck’s movements, entranced by the quick and aggressive maneuvers as though he were watching a dance.

“Back off, ya big palooka!” The duck snapped, dodging the centaur’s grasp and kicking him in the left foreleg.

The centaur wobbled slightly and grunted, but righted himself easily and put on a cruel smile.

“Aw, c’mon,” he went for the duck again, this time managing to grab him and hold him tightly in his fist. “Just one little kiss. I gotcha outta that ravine, didn’t I?”

He held the duck up to his face with a leer. Storkules finally snapped out of his stupor and ran up to them.

“Excuse me, sir!” Storkules called out, hands on his hips in a heroic stance.

“Perhaps you should put the young gentleman down.”

The centaur glared at the demi-god; the duck rolled his eyes.

“Aw phooey. Look Wonder Boy, I’ve got this so scram.”

Storkules blinked, taken back. “Uh, sorry but are you not a duck in distress.”

The duck, who was trying to push himself out of the centaur’s grasp, quacked at him irritably.

“I’m a duck! I’m in distress! I’m fine, have a nice day!”

Storkules drew his sword. “W-well clearly you’re too close to the situation to fully grasp the danger you’re in and-” Storkules was interrupted by the centaur’s fist slamming into him, sending him somersaulting a few feet backwards and into the water.

The centaur approached him with a chuckle.

“Had enough pretty boy.”

Storkules sat upright and tried to process the situation, and suddenly realised he’d dropped his sword.

“Gah! My sword! C’mon, c’mon, a hero’s only as good as his sword!” He held his weapon in triumph for a few seconds before realising he’d grabbed a fish.

The centaur laughed hard and loud at the mistake, making him idle for a few crucial seconds.

The duck face palmed. “Use your head, ya dummy!”

Storkules grinned. “Not a bad idea…”

Storkules rushed forwards, headfirst into the centaur’s gut, shoving him backwards and making him lose his grip on the duck. Said duck splashed inelegantly into the water with a squawk.

He spluttered and thrashed around until Storkules picked him up.

“Ah, sorry,” Storkules set him on a low branch that reached out over the river. 

“That was dumb.”

The duck glared at him. “Yeah!”

They were both startled by grunting and saw the centaur getting back on his feet.

“Ah, one moment.” Storkules ran back to the centaur, already drawing back his fist. By the time the centaur had gotten to his hooves and turned to the demi-god, he only got a quick look before he saw stars as Storkules’ fist hit his face, easily launching him into the sky.

“Yes, a new personal record! Did you see that-” he turned back to the branch and realised the duck and hopped off and gotten back to shore; he was now in the process of trying to wring out his hat.

Storkules was struck dumb by him again, haloed by the sunlight reflecting off the water and casting a sparkling, golden glow on his wet feathers.

“Uh,” Storkules cleared his throat as he struggled with his words. “Are you alright, Mister-”

“Duck. Donald Duck,” he replied curtly, now focused on wringing out the hem of his shirt. “You can call me Donald.”

He then turned to face Storkules, hands on his hips in a challenging pose. “So, Wonder Boy, ya got a name to go with the muscles?”

Storkules blinked and stammered awkwardly, caught off guard by Donald’s boldness.

“W-well- it’s- uh- I’m-”

Donald rolled his eyes. “Yeesh, and people call me inarticulate.”

“S-storkules! My name is Storkules.”

Donald raised a brow. “Wait, Storkules? The demi-god? Son of Zeus? Legendary hero?”

Storkules nodded. Donald took a good look at him, from top to bottom.

“Huh, I always pictured you as a redhead. Well, I guess we found the right place. This is Ithaquack, right?”

Storkules nodded again.

Donald huffed and started to walk off. “Welp, better find my sister and uncle. Who knows what kinda trouble they’ve gotten themselves into.”

Storkules scrambled after him. “Perhaps I should accompany you! I know this island like the back of my hand, and I could never forgive myself if I allowed some other foul being to attack you!”

Donald rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay. They’ll have probably started a fight by the time we find them, so I guess some more help couldn’t hurt.”

Storkules grinned. “Excellent! Say, how did you find Ithaquack? Most mortals don’t even know of it.”

“My uncle isn’t most mortals. We flew here in my sister’s plane and hit a storm. We had to bail out and got separated. I got stuck in a ravine cause I was tied up in my parachute,” he grimaced.

Storkkules frowned. “That explains how you got involved with, well…”

Donald rolled his eyes. “The pinhead with hooves? He got me out and wanted a reward. Guess he’s just one of those immortals who thinks “no” means “yes” and “eat rocks” means “take me, I’m yours”.” Donald punctuated the last statement by getting up in Storkules’ face and batting his eyelashes.

“Probably just as well Uncle Scrooge wasn’t there, all you did was punch that creep to the other end of the island. Last time some demon flirted with Della he threw salt at it.”

Storkules nodded along with him. Okay, more names. He had a sister named Della and an uncle called-

“Wait, Scrooge, as in THE Scrooge McDuck!”

Donald sighed. “You’ve heard of him?”

“From my uncle, Lord Hades. McDuck has managed to dodge death so many times we’re not even sure if he’s mortal anymore. I mean, others have had a good run, many far older than your uncle. But they generally live quieter lives or try harder to avoid danger.”

Storkules found a large boulder to climb onto and struck a pose.

“He is a legend in the Underworld! He’s fought with the most dangerous creatures imaginable, gone to places no mortal can even conceive, you must feel so blessed to have him as an uncle- hey! Where are you going!”

“To find him before he finally gets himself sent to the Underworld. You coming?” Storkules ran to catch him up.

“My apologies, Donald. I understand your worries, Ithaquack has many dangers and it would be best to find your family soon.” He went quiet as a worrying thought came to mind.

“So, your uncle doesn’t approve of you dating?”

Donald rubbed the back of his head. “Well, it’s mainly when some creep bugs us that he gets involved. Mortal or not, he usually jumps to our rescue,” he rolled his eyes. “Despite the fact that we’re adults now, but what can ya do?”

Storkules mulled over Donald’s answer for a moment. “So, what if you were to consent to a relationship with… uh, I dunno, an angel, a gorgon, a demi-god… purely hypothetical of course!”

Donald raised a brow at Storkules, who was now sweating profusely, and shrugged.

“Well, my sister had that fling with a dryad (can’t remember her name actually), but I’ve only been in relationships with mortals.”

Storkules deflated. “O-oh, uh, but would you ever consider a non-mortal?”

“Eh, to be honest, you guys are kinda complicated. Weird old traditions, crazy families. Not to mention you’re gonna outlive me,” he shrugged again. “It was why Della and the dryad didn’t work out. No offence, but dating a god can get really weird.”

Storkules nodded. “I suppose I can understand. My existence is rather complicated; family dinners with Aunt Hera are still incredibly awkward.”

Donald chuckled nervously. “Uh yeah, I guess it would be. To be fair I kinda get why people want to date you guys.” They stopped at a long log blocking their path, which Donald calmly hopped onto. “The fancy gifts, the cool stuff you can show us, plus your basically gonna be hot forever,” he continued, turning to gesture at Storkules on the last point.

The two stared at each other for a moment as they both processed what Donald just said.

Donald’s face suddenly turned red. 

“Gah! I-I mean in general and uh-” Donald lost his footing and fell to the other side of the log with a thud.

“Are you alright?” Storkules asked, looking over the log.

Donald stared up with an expression of resignation. “It’s fine, I only hurt my dignity. Don’t worry, I’m pretty used to it.”

All of the sudden they heard shouting.

“Curse me kilts!”

“Bring it on, ugly!”

Donald stood up and dusted himself off.

“That was my family!” He ran in the direction of the voices.

“It sounds like they’re on the beach!” Storkules ran after Donald with a grin.

A potential relationship with a handsome duck with warrior blood and an opportunity to impress said duck’s family by helping them fight an attacker. This was definitely better than beating his personal record.

#ducktales #storkulesxdonald #storkules #donald duck #scrooge mcduck #della duck