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shebrakesforrainbows · 2 months

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What if I told you that Tony's fate isn't as ambiguous as we thought? What if I told you that we know exactly what happened to him?

And what if I told you we've seen it before?

Throughout the events of GGY, we're illuminated to the life and times of Tony Becker, a snarky and unpopular preteen boy obsessed with uncovering the truth in every story he runs into despite the consequences it may have on his real life and surroundings. Plagued by unresolved feelings of anger and denial from his father's imprisonment due to federal charges, Tony has developed somewhat of a "main character" complex. He believes that the world should attest to his discoveries, going so far as to resort to petty crimes in order to maintain a steady flow of evidence for his focal research points.

As we follow Tony's misadventures in trying to uncover the identity of the mysterious Pizzaplex hacker "GGY", we gleam the fact that he's not quite popular amongst his peers, and is in fact seen as "nerdy" or "weird" by them. His only companions are Ellis, known as "Boots", a long-standing childhood friend, and Greg, aka "Dr. Rabbit" or "Rab", a boy adopted into the friendship-turned-trio some months prior to the events of the story. Tony believes he's "outgrowing" Ellis, and theorizes that in time, he may only find interest in Greg (or Gregory as he's more commonly known as, which I'll be referring to him as for the remainder of the post to avoid confusion).

"Over the summer, Tony had started feeling a little impatient with his best friend, Boots. It felt like Tony was starting to grow up, but his longtime friend was content to stay a little boy." "Tony had a feeling that Rab had layers that Boots would never have. Tony had a terrible feeling that he was outgrowing Boots and might soon just want to hang out with Rab. That would be awkward in the extreme."

― The Bobbiedots Conclusion, "GGY" (p.8)

So off the bat we're shown that Tony doesn't seem to have much of an interest in developing meaningful relationships with other people, only those who he deems as "complex" as him. Whether that be out of a social awkwardness or any other insecurity is kind of left hanging in the air for debate.

However, he does take a notable interest in Gregory. This is mentioned multiple times in the first few pages of the story alone.

""Rab" was a relatively new friend. Spotting the unfamiliar kid who'd looked a little lost at the start of the school year a couple months before, Tony had introduced himself just to be friendly. He and "the new guy" had hit it off, and Tony invited him to work with him―and Boots―when they'd gotten their first creative writing assignment."

― The Bobbiedots Conclusion, "GGY" (p.7)

"More than once, Tony had caught Rab with a rigid expression on his face, as if he was contemplating something intense."

― The Bobbiedots Conclusion, "GGY" (p.8)

The story makes a point to repeatedly let the readers know that Tony is "different" from the average kid; that he's misunderstood and others simply don't get him. This, in fact, is arguably one of the main character traits we get from him throughout the events.

"Kids like Boots and Rab, who came from well-off families, didn't understand yet what kind of worries and struggles most people had to carry around. Life came easy to kids like Tony's friends (and most of his classmates), but Tony knew that many kids, and most adults, got beaten down by life."

― The Bobbiedots Conclusion, "GGY" (p.14)

So in essence, we have a smarmy young brunette kid with a missing father who's unpopular amongst his peers, has an affinity for nonfiction handwritten literature, and feels like nobody gets him except for one person, and is left with a seemingly ambiguous fate.

A character we've seen before this. Long before this.

Tony's general description matches that of prior Fazbear Frights protagonist Millie Fitzsimmons essentially to a T. Of course at first that does seem like a bit of an obvious comparison― "well yeah, all the Fazbear novel kids are gonna be similar in one way or another, they're kids". Which is fair argument to make, but the rabbithole goes much deeper than just that of the general personality comparisons.

Count The Ways shows Millie being trapped in the stomach hatch of a salvaged Funtime Freddy, who is notably missing a hand. Whilst stuck within, Funtime Freddy gives Millie the decision of how he will kill her. Dehydration, starvation, hypothermia, impalement, electrocution, or decapitation.

He gives her a list with 6 items. A number that perfectly matches the amount of (legitimate) high scores we see mentioned throughout the events of GGY.

PBD ABC KXT CRF RAE TRE

Sure, that can be chalked up to another coincidence as well. It's a stretch, and not really a strong connection, especially given they don't have much to do with each other. But those two points aren't where the similarities end.

It's worth mentioning, however, that both Tony and Millie have been separated from their fathers, with Tony's in prison for embezzlement and Millie's teaching in Saudi Arabia, and as a result both have moved in with a grandparent.

Throughout his investigation, Tony is notably stalked by Glamrock Freddy. This isn't just implied by Tony's sway on the narration, but full-on confirmed.

"After just a couple steps, though, a flash of glowing white caught Tony's eye. He looked to the left, and his feet faltered. He was being watched... by one of the animatronics. Tony looked up into the gleaming white eyes of the big orange animatronic bear with the red, armored shoulder pads and the black top hat―Glamrock Freddy. Thinking that Freddy was just being friendly, the way the animatronics were during their Sunday stroll around, Tony lifted a hand and waved at the bear. Freddy, however, didn't return the gesture. He just kept his intense gaze on Tony, as if sizing Tony up. Suddenly chilled for reasons he didn't understand at all, Tony looked away from Freddy and hurried on. After a few more steps, Tony glanced over his shoulder. Glamrock Freddy was still watching him. Goose bumps popped up on Tony's bare arms as he practically ran out of the Fazcade."

― The Bobbiedots Conclusion, "GGY" (p.33)

"Remembering what had happened the last time he'd seen the bit of luminous white, Tony barely turned his head and used his peripheral vision to check out what had gotten his attention. And as he'd expected, he spotted Glamrock Freddy. The animatronic was pacing Tony, three feet or so behind Tony's right shoulder. It looked like Glamrock Freddy was shadowing Tony. But why? (...) Maybe it was just a coincidence that Glamrock Freddy was walking in the same direction Tony was going, just a few feet from Tony. Tony risked another glance at the animatronic. He quickly looked straight forward again. Nope. Not a coincidence. Freddy was clearly focused on Tony."

― The Bobbiedots Conclusion, "GGY" (p.41)

It goes without saying that Count The Ways' main antagonist is Funtime Freddy. Glamrock Freddy, and Funtime Freddy. Both notably variants of the original top-hatted troubadour.

Both notably missing their hand(s) at one point or another.

The duration of Millie's torment takes place inside of Funtime Freddy's stomach hatch. Again, something we see reflected in Glamrock Freddy's mechanics and design throughout multiple installments.

Whilst GGY doesn't necessarily have its own central antagonist, the closest thing to an actual threat that Tony seems to encounter is Glamrock Freddy. The two Freddy variants who are explicitly known for their intense shift in the expected behavior of a Freddy, and who were built with some kind of hollow opening in their stomach small enough to host children.

Seems pretty cut and dry to me.

But that's not everything. Throughout Count The Ways, Millie takes interest in a boy named Dylan who shares her hobbies and interests. Dylan, she feels, is the only one who understands her, and despite their meeting being very recent, she falls for him.

The bell rang, signaling that lunch period was about to end. Dylan leaned toward Millie and half whispered, “Do not ask for whom the bell tolls.” “It tolls for thee,” Millie finished. Where had this guy come from? Toledo, sure, but how was he so sophisticated and knowledgeable? She had never met anyone like him. Dylan stood up. “Millie, it’s been a rare pleasure. Would you and your imaginary friend mind very much if I joined you two at lunch tomorrow?” Millie felt the corners of her mouth twitch in an unfamiliar way. “We wouldn’t mind at all,” she said.

― Into The Pit, "Count The Ways" (p.93)

Dylan, obviously, is a stand-in for Gregory in this scenario. Whilst we don't see much interaction directly between Tony and Gregory, we do see a lot of bonding between Ellis and Gregory. Throughout the chapter the two of them are shown to be much closer to each other than they seem to be with Tony. I believe Ellis is reflected in Count The Ways through the character of Brooke, Dylan's girlfriend.

“Like Brooke?” Millie’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “What, you don’t approve of Brooke?” Dylan said. “She’s blonde and basic,” Millie said. No need to mince words. The truth was the truth. “Have you ever had a conversation with her?” Dylan asked. “Do you even know what she’s like?” Had Millie ever heard Brooke say anything? She was quiet in U.S. government class, Millie assumed, because she had nothing interesting or important to say. “I’ve never talked to her,” Millie said. “I don’t talk to just anyone.” Dylan shook his head. “Well, Brooke isn’t just anyone. She’s smart and well-read and nice. She wants to be a veterinarian. Why does it matter what color her hair is?” Dylan looked at her so hard it was like he was looking through her. “Millie, I’m disappointed in you. You, of all people, with your black wardrobe and black eyeliner and black nail polish. It seems like you’d know better than to judge a person based on her appearance. You don’t like when people do it to you, and yet you’re guilty of the very same crime. I’m pretty sure that’s called hypocrisy.” He stood up. “I think this conversation is over.”

― Into The Pit, "Count The Ways" (p.104)

Tony rather harshly judges Ellis for being "childish" the same way Millie labels Brooke as "basic", in spite of Gregory/Dylan showing interest in them. I'm not going to say this is a hint towards Tony's true feelings towards Gregory or anything, but...

But I digress; this is simply all buildup, evidence to what I intend to properly prove― Tony's seemingly ambiguous fate, and how this all ties into Millie's experience. At the end of the story, Gregory invites Tony to the Pizzaplex with him under the guise of cheering him up.

Greg stopped and took a step back toward Tony. "Listen," Greg said, "how about you meet me at the Pizzaplex when you get out of here. In an hour or so? I have some people I want you to meet. We'll have some fun, and you'll forget all about the story and getting detention." Tony wasn't all that keen on going back to the Pizzaplex. He couldn't be in the place now without thinking of GGY and the modified animatronics. "Come on," Greg pressed. "Say yes. We'll get you cheered up."

― The Bobbiedots Conclusion, "GGY" (p.69)

Most people assume that the "people" Gregory wanted to introduce Tony to were the animatronics, ready to snuff him out for knowing too much and sticking his nose in places it shouldn't be in. Though, what if I proposed the idea that these aren't people at all― but rather concepts?

Everybody knows the popular phrase “Say hello to my little friend!”, coined by Al Pachino in the 1983 cult classic Scarface. Obviously, he's not referring to a real person or any kind of cuddly animal. This "friend" refers to the grenade launcher in his hands, that he uses to blow away the five men standing before him.

It's not likely, but perhaps the "people" Gregory mentioned were instead torturous instruments or concepts, in the form of the six options Millie had been given.

Dehydration, starvation, hypothermia, impalement, electrocution, or decapitation. All potential options to be done to Tony by Gregory's little friend.

The little friend that had been lurking in the background the entire time, privy to the things Tony had been getting into.

The little friend so loyal to Gregory that his own programming would bug out, and he'd betray the virus living inside of his own systems just to keep safe in a twist that even Gregory himself, who once worked closely with the animatronics under the control of Glitchtrap, cannot explain.

Of course, Millie's fate is also left ambiguous at the end of Count The Ways. However, that only brings the theory full circle in terms of comparisons to make between the two stories' protagonists. We can be lead to believe that both escaped their seemingly grim fates... but at the same time, we're also given the implication that they did not.

At the very least, I believe Count The Ways is supposed to represent what Tony experiences after the events of the story come to an end. Given all the glaring similarities of both kids that fall into place when lined up, there's no doubt that at least a little bit of Tony's journey is meant to be reflected upon through Millie's.

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themadzarka · 7 months

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DELTARUNE SELF-INSERT MOD

Deltarune Self-Insert Mod (DR-SIM) is a Deltarune AU in-development with its main major change being that the player and the vessel are the same person, instead of Kris being controlled by their own SOUL.

Comics:

Reddit mini-Ask Series / RedSoul Introduction

Q&A:

Is this actually a fangame/Deltarune mod?

Despite the title of the AU, this isn't a fangame nor a mod. It's a YouTube animated series in development. Currently there isn't any way to follow the main story.

How long has DR-SIM been in development?

A full year (post updated in 03/2024). The concept, theme and story took me a long time to properly flesh out. Hallucinating a Deltarune AU to the same J-pop songs over and over demands a lot of energy, you know?

Who is Pinkle?

Pinkle(OC) is the main character of DR-SIM. She steals Kris' role in this AU, being taken into the Dreemurr family instead and leading the main trio of her, Susie and Ralsei.

Is Pinkle YOUR self-insert?

No.

Where is Kris in this AU?

Who's Kris?

Why does Pinkle look like [insert character here]?

It's intentional.

What is the main story of the AU?

Pretty much Deltarune's story but with a valley emo girl as the protagonist.

That's it...?

Obviously I wouldn't leave it like that, the storyline also features a sub-plot happening a few years into the past, which is why there's a lot of young Asriel and Pinkle art on this blog.

Are Pinkle and Asriel siblings?

As much as Pinkle likes to refer to Toriel and Asgore as mom and dad, she doesn't like the idea of Asriel being her brother, to his dismay. He learned to accept that (she's gonna be creepy either way).

What are the headcanons featured in this AU?

I try to be close to the original Deltarune as possible, leaving its mysteries unsolved unless the plot calls for an answer, although anything added from me will be discussed and be considered exclusive to DR-SIM.

Do existing characters get redesigns?

Most of them only get tweaks, but a lucky few need more attention for the sake of storytelling. (ie: Ralsei)

Aside from Pinkle, are there going to be other original characters?

If there are, they need to wait for their turn, we already have a very colorful cast of characters from the original game.

Any ships?

Although this AU was born from a restless hyperfixation on a ship, romance is not a focus despite LOVE being a leading theme.

#deltarune #deltarune self insert mod #deltarune ralsei #ralsei #kris #susie dr #susie deltarune #kris deltarune #someone is missing #deltarune au #pinkle #deltarune oc #qna

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pjo-gaysofgreeks · 4 months

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I wrote this silly little thing for a graded final and I figured I’d share…

Allied Authordom: Rowling vs. Riordan

By Serena Martinez

Allyship does not demand perfection, but rather desire to grow. We are all unlearning internalized -phobias and -isms which have been normalized in society. The key to true allyship is recognizing you have the capacity to cause harm, do the work to be better, and consciously avoid hurting someone that way again.

Given the upcoming television adaptations of both J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan’s popular series, I am going to use them as a case study example. The hoards of Millennials and Gen Zers that grew up with either or both series are now young adults with the ability to think critically and set their own moral principles. I am not sure I know someone in my age range who hasn’t at least watched a Harry Potter movie and most of my friends are eagerly following the new release of the Percy Jackson Series (December 20th!!!). As much as I wish people would turn towards new POC authors who are trailblazing their own paths of authordom, I know many are still tied to the nostalgia of the past.

When first published, neither series included diversity up to today’s standards. Both trios were completely composed of white cisgender people: a male protagonist, a male best friend and sidekick, and a female friend and potential love interest. Although Riordan intentionally made Percy neurodivergent to depict the experiences of his real life son and Rowling crafted the entire series to support species equality, the core representation remained the same. That doesn’t even include Rowling’s problematic stereotyping of the werewolves and goblins who were based on people with HIV/AIDS and Jewish communities respectively. Riordan and Rowling’s subsequent elaboration (or lack thereof) on their respective universes showcases the difference between them as authors and allies.

Rowling has essentially never budged from her original position on representation in her series. To her, making Hermione Black in the theatrical adaptation of the series and retroactively admitting Dumbledore is gay was enough to show she is a proper liberal ally. Many would deem this too little too late, especially given the stereotypes used to describe people of color in the series like Kingsley Shacklebolt and Cho Chang. Rowling showcases prime examples of tokenization without ever addressing such simplistic character depth over two decades after the series’ publication.

Then, of course, there is the significant harm caused by Rowling’s unapologetic transphobia. She has only doubled down since her first transphobic tweet in 2020 by publishing a book about a cisgender man dressing as a woman to murder people (emboldening the false and harmful narrative of the trans predator), donating to anti-trans companies and legislatures, and claiming that continued support of the Harry Potter Universe is proof that people are in support of her transphobia views.

I think Rowling could have come out of this unscathed had she admitted her books were a product of her time and apologized for her wrongdoing to the trans community. Instead, she has only chosen to dig her heels into hatred. Suffice it to say Rowling is the bad example of allyship amongst these two authors.

Riordan, on the other hand, heard readers’ criticism of his predominantly white and straight series and returned with a sequel including complex characters not defined by their racial, gendered, and sexual diversity. Riordan’s central characters in subsequent series were Latini, Creole, Chinese, Native American, Muslim, bisexual, and genderfluid. His newest book that follows a gay couple from the original Percy Jackson universe is co-authored with a queer writer because Riordan did not want to attempt to portray an experience so distinct from his own. When Leah Jeffries who plays Annabeth Chase in the new TV series experienced racism from fans online, Riordan published a statement calling out the behavior. Since interviews have started he has continued to ensure she is supported. Rick Riordan is certainly imperfect but has continued to use his privileged platform to uplift voices rather than misrepresent or silence them.

While Rowling uses Twitter to corral an army of transphobes that dox anyone who looks gender non conforming in their profile picture, Riordan uses his platforms to vocally confront hatred. The same year Rowling mocked gender inclusive language for people who menstruate, Riordan was staunchly calling out transphobes criticizing genderfluidity in his series.

It is not enough to just magically make characters different identities because doing so erases the complexity of each experience and makes representation a farce.

Onto the question everyone has been waiting for: what does this mean for the T.V. series?

This is not just about allyship. This is about how Rowling continues to harm trans communities during a time where they are already experiencing heightened levels of violence.

Do NOT watch the HBO Harry Potter series or anything where Rowling gets streams and thus money! Illegally stream it. Watch the old movies on DVDs you already own. But every view pads her wallet and her ego, emboldening her to fund and support transphobia globally.

Reread the Percy Jackson series in preparation for the much awaited television show. Delve into Harry Potter fanfiction which doesn’t line the pockets of the Author Who Shall Not Be Named. Try new series from queer authors of color who deserve to be platformed far more than Rowling ever did.

#fuck jkr #percy jackson #percy pjo #allyship #trans ally #rick riordan #jk rowling #article #opinion

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bleuangel88 · 8 months

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The character-building around Mickey Bolitar is frankly fascinating to watch unfold.

And the use of dialogue, things like placement, direction, and camera shots only add to this character standing out as he does.

One of the best things about a series is how you can become immersed in everything about it and take a moment to appreciate all the little details.

The opening scene had Mickey and our boy Spoon Spindell in jail after they got arrested, piecing together all the information they knew about Ashley and the mystery surrounding her disappearance.

Mickey and Spoon are so Scott and Stiles coded that I appreciate how this series scratches the Teen Wolf and a bit of Riverdale itch

.The two of them lying on the bench, mostly unfazed by their predicament, both focused exclusively on figuring out this. Ashley's situation was delightful.

But one of the most notably subtle moments was the placement of the Kasselton police emblem behind Mickey.We have this young, determined, protective, fearless teen boy on a mission to find his friend when the police won't even entertain her absence.

And he's sitting in front of their emblem of the American eagle, with the words "Honor, Service, Fidelity" emblazoned on the wall.

Mickey possesses all of these virtues. We've seen it, and it's only been two installments. He embodies what those words mean, and his mission to find Rachel is how it's showcased.

You just know that was a deliberate shot, and those are the little things in a series that make me squeal in delight.

Agent's intuitive proclamation that Mickey was a "protector" further solidified who and what Mickey is, although that moment was heavy-handed in its delivery as they spoonfed us this concept.

Mickey Bolitar is a worthy, honorable, lovable protagonist and hero, and we already know he won't stop until he gets to the bottom of everything that plagues the Kasselton community riddled with secrets.

Agent's intuitive proclamation that Mickey was a "protector" further solidified who and what Mickey is, although that moment was heavy-handed in its delivery as they spoonfed us this concept.

It's hard to say what the trio's plan is whenever they find Octoface, but it doesn't seem like they're thinking that far ahead.

Ema Winslow's connection with Agent, the tattoo artist, would've given them a solid lead if Agent were honest about Octoface. Agent knows who he is, and rather than tell Ema anything about that, they burn the photo of Octoface in the tattoo book.

But it seems Agent knows a lot more than they let on. Despite not giving Ema the information she needed, Agent did mention that the spirit encouraged them to put the specific butterfly on Ema because it represents a goddess known for protecting children.

Agent's cryptic parting words to Ema were that she might not be the child needing protection. Instead, she may be some manifestation of the Roman goddess, Abeona, someone who protected children.

Based on the path she, Mickey, and Spoon are currently on, it's a prophecy coming to fruition.

#tv fanatic #harlan coben's shelter #ema winslow #mickey bolitar

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evilkitten3 · 5 months

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do you think another reason the chuunin exams were created (besides filtering out the "untalented" nin & introducing them to the life of a shinobi) was to create a trauma-bond between the teammates that survived/passed it? it's no secret that kid's lives or their innocence were never really valued in Konoha (or anywhere else for that matter), so I wouldn't be too surprised to find out this was done to strengthen the bond between teammates & better their teamwork/spirit

also, do you think the chuunin exams were especially traumatic during the sannin era, especially bc they were 6 (or a few years older but defo younger than naruto's gen) ??? and even if it wasn't the chuunin exams goal to create a traumabond, it certainly did for the sannin?

honestly, no. it's possible that i'm just the sort of person who tends to assume the best of people, especially fictional ones, but it's also true that i just tend to find fucked up shit more interesting when it was done with good intentions. i'm only into cartoonishly heinous motivations when they're applied to individuals rather than systems, i guess.

the thing you need to keep in mind concerning my view of the naruto universe is that literally every single character is deeply traumatized, whether they're aware of that or not. for starters, the vast majority of characters were raised to be child soldiers in a world where that's considered normal. our modern view of the 18-21 age group as the youngest adults doesn't apply there - legally, these people are becoming adults at ages as young as twelve (and that's the improved version - a lot of the older cast members have been shinobi since as young as five or six).

even the characters who never became ninja have all been through some pretty serious trauma. ayame and teuchi lived through the kyuubi attack, tazuna and his family had to deal with the whole gatou situation, and so on. no one in this world is remotely okay by our standards. but what that means is that being a neurotic mess is the norm. for the whole. entire. world.

a world based on structures so fucked up is going to be full of thoughts that to us seem entirely contradictory - how can konoha say it cares for its citizens when of the five most famous genin-by-six, the most functional is jiraiya (kakashi is a mess, tsunade is drinking and gambling away her problems, orochimaru is out there inventing to moral event horizons to cross, and itachi murdered his whole family and tortured his little brother about it)? but - and this is something that is understandably hard for people to wrap their heads around - we're shown things from people like the sandaime's point of view. we know - for a fact - that hiruzen cares deeply about his village and its citizens, and that most of the people he was personally involved in fucking up are the ones he - genuinely - cared for the most.

the second thing you need to be aware of is that the rankings in the naruto world are based on real life ninja ranks - jounin, chuunin, and genin are all real world terms that were modified to fit the world of naruto. whether irl ninja could move up in the ranks or not is something i don't know, but given that naruto is a shounen, it makes sense for the protagonist to have a clearcut explanation of the steps he needs to take to achieve his goal (ninja president) laid out early on, and that he and his friends be given the opportunity to move through the ranks throughout the course of the story (although, as many people have pointed out, naruto stayed a genin pretty much the whole time)

from an irl perspective, the chuunin exams are a way to introduce other characters, give the main trio a chance to level up, and also have a tournament arc for funsies. in-universe, the purpose is for genin to get a chance (or six chances kabuto) to become chuunin, and to strengthen ties with other villages via a show of trust - we're showing you our next generation. this is incentive to maybe not go to war again pretty please heart emoji poop emoji.

the thing is, life and innocence are valued in konoha, and likely the other villages as well, though we don't see it as much. but it's such a twisted, foreign concept to us real world non child soldiers that it doesn't seem like it (more accurately, it's valued by the people but not the system, and the people in charge of the system ignore that bc unfortunately for the entire naruto universe sakura didn't get around to inventing mental health until after the fourth war ended)

danzou and hiruzen exemplify this perfectly imo. hiruzen is full of ideals and beliefs and trust, and bc of that isn't able to see the system for what it is and can never fully understand why all of his good intentions keep churning out shitshows. on the other end of the spectrum, danzou is very aware of the world he lives in, possibly more than almost any other character. but bc of that he views the nature of humans as a flaw for shinobi to overcome - ninja are tools for the good of the village, and can and will be discarded just as easily. from a brutally practical viewpoint, danzou and hiruzen were probably genuinely extremely effective at keeping konoha together. it's just that how that worked out and how they did it is morally abhorrent to the majority of people (including hiruzen himself)

lastly, the concept of trauma as we view it not only doesn't but honestly can't exist in the world of naruto. say someone has a jutsu that allows them to create a brain scan similar to something we can do irl. the effects of mental illness on an adult brain wouldn't register as anything abnormal bc that's what everyone's looks like. you aren't having a "panic attack" or a "trauma response" or a "flashback", you're just going through the same shit everyone else is. that's all par for the course, it's just what life is like. that's how the world of naruto sees it, at least.

so where we see "children going through horrific events together and bonding bc they have no choice", the residents of narutolandia see "tuesday". so no, i don't think the chuunin exams were formed with the intent of gluing people to each other via trauma - they don't need to be. that's what life is for.

concerning the sannin, i'm not sure they ever took the chuunin exams. i honestly don't even know if the chuunin exams would've been a thing yet - the earliest one we know of is the one kakashi and his team were at, which was konoha-only and thus already fairly different from the one naruto went through. the sannin lived through all of the first three ninja wars, and though they probably didn't fight in the first one, they likely became genin just as it ended (otherwise i'm not sure how sarutobi would've had time to teach them...?). orochimaru's parents were already dead by the time he became a genin, so it's not hard to imagine they died in the first war. the sannin are actually relatively lucky - the second world war didn't happen until they were in their 20s, so they got a good two decades of not being at war (this is the longest space of time between the wars, followed by the time between the third and fourth wars (~15 years) and then the time between the second and third wars (less than 1 year)).

actually, thinking about it now, i think it's possible that spend early pre-ninja childhood with their village at war, then spending the rest of their youths in (relative) peace, and then finally getting tossed right back into shitshow two electric boogaloo might've been why they ended up more fucked up than most. so i guess the solution really was the moon coma after all

tldr: madara was right. not where i thought i was going with this but it does seem to be where we ended up

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grigori77 · 2 months

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So I just went to see Madame Web and ...

Seriously, THAT was the toxic hellfire that's destined to sink Sony Films' ongoing attempts to ignite their live action Spider-Verse?

I mean, honstly, that wasn't really ANYTHING LIKE that bad, people. It is BY NO MEANS a great movie, it's definitely flawed and clunky, but it's also NOTHING LIKE the very worst of the Marvel movies I've seen in my time, especially in recent years ... it's DEFINITELY nowhere near as mbad as the GENUINELY abyssmal stinking stillborn mutation likes of Morbius or Elektra, nor is it EVEN quite as bad as those much more simplistic throwback Marvel movies from the pre-MCU days that have nonetheless still become beloved culty guilty pleasures for their kitchy campness, like Ghost Rider, Daredevil or the Thomas Jane Punisher movie.

In fact, once it gets going, it's ACTUALLY a pretty enjoyable movie, with quite a bit of charm. One of my strongest benchmarks for whether a movie is WORTHWHILE or not is if, by the time it counts, generally in the third act when the stakes are suitably raised, I have become sufficiently invested in the main characters for me to actually CARE about them making it through whatever terrors the big action climax has in store for them, and I DEFINITELY got that here. Dakota Johnson may not be the greatest actress out there, ESPECIALLY after the torturous (ahem) depths of the 30 Shades saga, but she's got a certain affable charm that won me over here, and Cassie Webb definitely has a scrappy, stubborn attitude that I really warmed to over the course of the story, while the trio of teenage girls she becomes reluctantly responsible for are likeable enough too that we can excuse their making some pretty dumb decisions at times - besides, they're TEENAGE GIRLS, why are we surprised that they don't always THINK before they act? And besides, getting to see my girl Araña brought to the screen PRETTY MUCH as I remember her from the comics was definitely worth my time.

Then there's Ezekiel Sims ... as screen villains go, the great Tahar Rahim has actually got something pretty strong to work with here, investing the character with impressive menace and a certain seductive charm despite having no real redeeming personality features at all. We could have done with at least A BIT more of an insight into his motivations, but he's a strong enough antagonist here all the same that he works gangbusters here, proving to be a genuinely palpable threat throughout the action.

And how could i POSSIBLY have been left cold by the way they handled the connective tissue to the larger Spider-verse so well? Adam Scott as a young Ben Parker? Genuinely CHEF'S KISS, I swear. Suddenly the way Peter's SO cut up about losing his uncle/father figure makes perfect sense ...

In the end the film definitely won me over by giving me plenty of what I LIKE in my storytelling. I love a strong found family dynamic, and capable, smart female lead protagonists who learn to stand on their own or together against potentially ovewhelming threats are TOTALLY my jam, man. So I can easily forgive all the hokum, shoddy superhero origin story character development gimmickry and varying levels of visual effects quality, as well as a criminally LOW LEVEL climactic showdown, because the film was MUCH stronger than I expected it to be where it counted FOR ME.

So was it a great movie worthy6 of comparison with the best that Marvel has to offer? NO. Not even close. But was it the massive steaming SHITSHOW most of the critics are making it out to be? DEFINITELY NOT.

Go check it out, give it a chance. Reckon you might be pleasantly surprised ...

#madame web #madame web movie #sony spider-verse #nowhere NEAR as bad as they say it is #i just don't understand movie critics anymore

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kranagok0 · 10 days

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Oh boy, this Is a complete love square....

Guys, I don't know what I have about polyamorous romances but it's like a strange feeling of 'look at that, no one is sad and everyone loves each other.'

That just crossed my mind when I saw the new member of the trio of strange friends (now it's a quartet).

Louise is a breath of fresh air among the extroverts that make up the group.

Louise is practically an introvert. Someone closed who was even the last to be chosen on the boat trip (if we leave aside the trio of protagonists). Louise mentions that she has been in the Sparrow Scouts for some time now but has made almost no friends (or so I think).

I understand what it's like to be an introvert, more or less. I am the type of person who acts with a lot of concern, nervousness and gets serious so as not to say something stupid the first time they meet him... However, when I gain the necessary confidence I transform into someone different. I go from being 'a mouse thinking carefully about its next move' to becoming 'a monkey with a shotgun'. I hope I'm not the only one to have that strange way of being....

My life aside, I'd say Louise is kind of like that too. At first she tries to fit in by being normal with the team, but then she begins to get to know them and identify what things the trio of friends think are right or wrong and that is when Louise begins to show more of her personality. It emerges from the cocoon like a butterfly to show its true colors.

And in short: it is perfect for the trio of friends. It's so weird and different that I feel like it's necessary for the group, and I'm speaking in a positive way when I say weird. A good time.Now the main topic..... Romance.

I've seen a lot of Frida X David, Hilda X Frida, David X Frida fanfics and blogs, there's literally everything. But with the arrival of Louise the combinations are doubled. Now it could be Louise X David, Louise X Hilda, Louise

*Music from a 80's TV game show plays*

Hello ladies, gentlemen and other magical creatures who visualize us! I want to welcome you to this little head-canon idea I had of what each character in the trio of friends would be like if they were Louise's partner!

To do this, we will see the qualities of each suitor and what their dynamic with the character would be like:

Let's start with the one who represents better than anyone the shyness and courage that exists within us, he died twice to try to demonstrate it. Here we have David.

David may be a scary guy, but he will definitely come to save you if you are in danger. This kid would literally show what he's made of on a battlefield if he feels like he needs to prove something.... Don't tell me no, we've all seen the Vikings episode.

Our next contestant is not only smart in school but also in witchcraft. If you ask him about a certain topic, rest assured that when he finishes his talk you will at least have knowledge of the entire topic and its related subtopics. She is willing to do anything for her friends, she would even open a portal to the unknown and create non-existent spells just for you. Let's give a big, fervent wave of applause to the young city witch: FRIDA!

Frida may have been a bit of a perfectionist in the past, but after meeting Hilda and experiencing several events she went from being miss perfect to becoming the smartest friend you can count on. To be honest, sometimes Frida can be a bit boring, but that doesn't stop her from reaching your heart by showing great gifts of her intellect and the magic she possesses means that any topic can arise from a conversation. So, if by 'boring' we mean a lot of context and extremely long topics that she explains to you with excitement and great happiness, then boring is pretty good.

Finally we have the icing on the cake, or in this case the blueberry. Coming from the wild and with more extroverted energy than any of the other candidates mentioned above, we have a young woman with blue hair as long as she could grow it (I don't doubt that she would have let it grow longer if it didn't bother her in her adventures). This girl can literally make friends with almost anything and her circle of friends is huge, ranging from elf scribes to giants who are no longer on this planet. She would be the one to always take the first step in battle with her sword if I see it necessary and— Wait, where did he get that sword?

With you, Hilda!

Seriously, where do I get it from?

Hilda is by far the most outgoing and curious person I have ever seen. Don't you remember what Tofoten was triggered by his curiosity? Dude, it was literally the end of the series. And if you hadn't already noticed, this girl would fight barehanded against a king to save her loved ones. She would be the first to take up weapons to save her friends, she is capable of moving every rock in the entire city to find her pet, she is even capable of doing an act of terrorism just because the bells were bothering her friends.

Oh my god, I'd be afraid of this girl if I were someone who played some practical joke on David in the past or something. I would be locked up at home for what might happen to me. Better confinement than meeting Hilda on the street and having her recognize me.

So.... In a little while we will see Louise's possible choices about who she would like to be with, why I think they would be a good couple and also about what their relationship would be like. And it wouldn't just be from my point of view. Indeed, dear reader, you can also have your opinion. Comment what you think a relationship between Louise and any of our favorite trio of friends would be like.I retire to write incorrect quotes and more about this romance because I am burning with emotion. See you later

#hilda #hilda netflix #hilda (netflix)#hilda series #hilda the series #hilda the show #hilda (hilda)#hilda louise #hilda david #hilda frida #hilda x frida #hilda x david #Hilda x Louise #david x frida #Frida x Louise #David x Louise

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claire-starsword · 9 months

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Shining Force Pre Release Coverage

yes i have made a post about this before but i was a baby with one magazine. Now i’m a big 90s kid who has gone through the entirety of the Beep Megadrive archives from 1991-1994, as one does. Get ready for what might be my biggest post ever, I don’t wanna break it into parts for the timeline vibe.

To contextualize the following dates: the game came out in Japan on March 1992.

October 1991

More cool sword animations for Max. Also it took me way too long to realize this background is also not anywhere in the final game, though the final Gate of the Ancients bg does take a lot from it. Apparently it was once meant to be an indoor location with torches.

Here are screenshots of the map itself. Icons were completely different, and Gort and Mae are there. Obviously this could be just the use of debug features to test the characters, but I suspect their story roles were actually changed and they were meant to be starting characters. More on that later.

there’s also a screenshot of Guardiana with a slightly different layout. There are centaur NPCs in town as opposed to only in the castle, the old man sprite is different, and the little girls are normal as opposed to dragging cats around. In the final version, this little girl sprite is only for Karin, Krin and Koron, the important little girl trio. The bed sprites are also different and kinda failing at perspective.

Besides screenshots, we also get a synopsis.

Centuries before Mephisto’s uprising in Shining in the Darkness... In the continent of Rune, far to the east of Thornwood, many countries big and small lived in endless days of peace. However, the great nation of Rune Faust, wanting to take over all of Rune, plotted to get its hands on the “Legacy of the Gods” inherited by the country of Guardiana since ancient times.

The Legacy of the Gods is said to be both a superweapon and a frightening beast. Whoever attains it can become a god or a devil... But even though the Rune Faust army has invaded Guardiana and ravaged the country for its plans of domination, it hasn’t succeed in finding the legacy...

Meanwhile, the soldiers of Guardiana, forced into a life of wandering after the fall of their country, have risen to the task of defeating Rune Faust. And as they resist against the unknown evil power controlling Rune Faust, people have come to call them “the forces of light”, Shining Force...

The grassy plains of Guardiana, mountains full of precipices, jungles, deadly deserts, rivers where piranhas live, those and other stages await our heroes.

After all, who is the one controlling the powers of darkness? And what is the truth behind the Legacy of the Gods? Hiding many mysteries, a new legend begins now!!

Very basic stuff, but while it might just the drama vibes, it does feel that Guardiana was supposed to get more wrecked, or get wrecked earlier, which would explain Mae and Gort joining earlier as well. Simone narrating the king’s last wishes right in the intro supports that idea as well.

Lastly, we get some character art and info:

(i know it’s hard to see the og text with this resize but hey, that’s why I linked the magazine collection before)

These are the forces of light, “Shining Force”!

“I’m the swordsman protagonist, Max!”

The protagonist of this story, Max. He’s human, but is an expert with the sword and can also use magic. He roams across the continent, leading the Shining Force in its way to defeat Runefaust.

One more for the “Max was meant to have magic” pile.

Archer - Hans

An elf who used to work at Guardiana’s palace. His skill with the bow is first-class.

Very nitpicky detail: Hans’ class is written with kanji here, when it’s written in katakana in the final version.

Knight - Mae

A young centaur warrior. Daughter of the late Knight Captain.

Priest - Lowe

A dwarf who’s a great friend of Max. Currently training at magic.

Shining in the Darkness already had a hobbit priest so i wonder if there’s some miscommunication here. The hobbit discourse is even older than I’d imagined.

Warrior - Gort

A hotblooded dwarf old man and Mae’s servant.

Told you there were changes on these two. There’s no indication of any connection between the two in the final version, especially since centaurs tend to be arrogant towards other races, a fact that does not come up here at all, nor does Mae’s tough personality. Even more evidence will come up later that those things were added late in development.

Knight - Ken

A centaur in knight who admires Max.

The enemies don’t get descriptions and all have their final names except the Rune Knight, who is only Centaur Knight at this point.

November 1991

This is a big one. The beta title screen is the least interesting thing about it.

We see more of Guardiana, and the centaur NPC was actually Varios all along, meaning the intro was really different.

Max and Mae get to smile! Given the story is kinda obvious why this was changed, but I always did find it weird that their artwork had different expressions to begin with.

Plenty of screenshots of a field battle with completely different graphics. More on this later.

Also a different and apparently pretty big shop.

But now for the part that really rocked my socks, a whole beta map:

Here’s the final map so you can compare the geography yourself. This map doesn’t label pretty much any town and instead brings up a bunch of new names for the natural areas.

The Gate of the Ancients, or what I suppose is it, it’s not labelled, sits atop the Mountain of Guidance, which seems to be a single mountain as opposed to the big mass that stretches up to Rindo in the final version. The gate also seems drawn like a little castle, which would explain the indoor bgs shown so far.

Alterone is to the northwest of Guardiana as opposed to the northeast. It is also right next to the Beagle Mountain Mass, which, makes A Lot More Sense with how much we hear it is a mining town. I’ve been wondering where their mines were in the final map. They must have mined too much though, because in the final version this mountain mass is largely gone.

Further to the north is Rindo Harbor, and you, english speaker, might think, “oh yes Rindo that’s the final name” but nope, in the JP version the town’s name is Rindorindo, for some reason, so that’s a difference. A difference that matters to no one.

There’s no river near Rindo, and Manarina and Shade are not labelled, though its concepts seem to be around. Manarina also seems to be surrounded by a lot more forest than in the final version, which might explain its guide book entry.

The forest near Manarina has a name that deserves its own post, Kaien, in katakana so that it is harder to discerning its meaning of course (and intentionally allow double meanings). Possible interpretations are the start of a performance (開演), the opening of a park or garden or banquet (開園 and 開宴), a superb performance (快演), or an eerie yet fascinating performance (怪演). I’d say the last one is the most fitting for Manarina, but localizing it is still a pain in the ass, the english staff dodged a bullet here. Right now most I can think of is Enthralling Forest, but you still miss some charm.

I also have to wonder if Mishaela was conceived as a boss for this place. Puppet performance and all that. She also ends up having a forest stage in Shining Soul.

All the white mass on the north is Pao Plains, no sign of the bridge or the forests of Bustoke, although there is a town in the mountains. Was this a Shining Force without Zylo? Inconceivable. But might confirm something I’ve been suspecting due to my debug mode escapades. In the battle test mode, egress usually takes you to the last church you’re supposed to access in that chapter. Yet for chapter 2 battles, it takes you to Bustoke, which is on Chapter 3. The editor also shows Bustoke as one of the first map in the data, between Rindo and Shade. It is likely that Bustoke was meant for Chapter 2.

In fact the reasoning for going to Shade Abbey is very shaky, you can see in the final map that there’s a lot more mountains between Shade and Bustoke than from Manarina. I guess the point is that guides work there, but in that ase they should work somewhere else. I’m not complaining though since Shade Abbey is one of the most iconic parts of the game.

The Pao Plains are surrounded by the Boho Mountain Range. Boho is short for bohemian, the romanticized view of nomadic/alternative lifestyles, so it’s very fitting for Pao.

Waral was a single island instead of an archipelago, and the ocean between the two sides of Rune is Cypro Ocean, a name that eventually made its way to the guide book. The region in the center of East Rune is Conga Basin, which we’ve also seen in another book, and Dragonia is to the north already. Finally, the Crescent Mountain Range is the bunch of mountains to the east of Runefaust.

Note also the big isolated structure south of Runefaust. Perhaps the Castle of the Ancients has not always been under the ocean. I also see no sign of Prompt, while all other towns are in (except Waral but Waral isn’t even in the final map, it’s tiny). This might explain why Chapter 7 is cursed on debug mode, frequently failing to load an egress point.

All this rambling was just for the map itself. There’s more written about it, I’ll just translate things directly because I’m a bit tired of taking screenshots.

This is the Rune Continent where Shining Force will take place

There’s no comparison between the world of Shining Force with that of Shining in the Darkness, it is far larger. There are mountain ranges, towns, large coasts, and even islands as well. The adventure starts at Guardiana to the south of West Rune, and the you’ll move clockwise to north, and then to the eastern part of continent, shrouded in mystery. That region to the south of East Rune, could it be Runefaust...?

East Rune and West Rune

The two continents and the Cypro Ocean between them are all referred to as the Rune continent, and are far to the east of the land where one day Thornwood, the kingdom where SitD takes place, will be built.

Guardiana, where the journey begins, is on West Rune. West Rune, compared to the eastern side, is more developed, with many countries living in peace and abundance.

In the eastern side, it is said an ancient civilization once lived there, but currently there are no countries other than Runefaust, and a wide spread of steep mountains and eerie forests.

Because of that and Runefaust itself, the people of West Rune regard the east as a dark land full of mystery.

They’ve thankfully chilled a bit on the “light side versus dark side” in the final game, possibly because they needed churches/HQs/shops to welcome the heroes gameplay-wise. I do see something drawn in the map here where Rudo should be, so perhaps other settlements in the east were already in the cards, just not very developed.

The country of Alterone

A neighboring country of Guardiana. It was originally a mining town built to extract rare and magical minerals from the Beagle Mountain Range around it, and then developed into a country. With the minerals excavated, Alterone amassed a lot of money, which was used for its own development. The common citizens began to live in luxury, and even despite other countries. Of course the royal family too has filled the castle with loads of luxury items and art, and the army is small and lacks zeal despite its extravagant equipment. The cultural level of these people with not much history, is not very great. A rising rich country. One could argue it’s a bit like today’s Japan with its excessive liquidity, or maybe not?

oh i am unequipped in so many ways to understand that jab

The country of Guardiana

A country that prides itself in having the deepest history in all of West Rune. It is said this country was built by people who inherited the duty of protecting the “Legacy of the Gods”. Because of that they’ve grow a tradition of respect for the military arts, and the royal family believes in maintaining a humble lifestyle, so the castle has no ornaments or luxurious items. However the long time of peace has weakened these traditions and the people, and they could not defend themselves from Runefaust’s ambitions, being destroyed...

Being a small country, it has little stock of weapons and such, but it is blessed with fertile land and the agricultural production is plentiful. The story of the Shining Force will somehow begin around this country.

Nothing I hadn’t seen in guide books already, but I’m somewhat surprised the worldbuilding was all already there and not refined for the guide books only. I guess it just didn’t find its place in game.

Speaking of that, here’s a long interview with the devs and I don’t have the energy to translate it all. Here’s the summary:

Unsurprisingly, the game’s biggest challenge was data size. Without compression it was around 30MB, around 15x the size of its final ROM, and definitely not fitting a Mega Drive cartridge. The interview only talks about compression but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had to cut things as well.

It’s brought up that they could have solved that problem by making a CD game instead, but they wanted to reach a wider audience.

Lots of comparisons with SitD, how the game was bigger and more complex, requiring more work and graphics and maps and everything basically. Again it is said that the story happen centuries before SitD.

When asked if there's a connection with the SitD, Masaki Wachi (writer for SF and the GBA remake) enthusiastically replies “Yes! Oops, I said it (laughs)”. He then elaborates that there were big clues about it, but that he wouldn’t comment on the connection with Mephisto and the ending of SitD.

Kenji Orimo (director and writer) does add though that if it was meant to be a direct sequel, it would just be called Darkness II. He also mentions seeing more potential in expanding the Shining World from Force than from Darkness.

Yoshitaka Tamaki (character designer, art director) mentions SitD characters having more of a fairy tale vibe, while SF characters were more grounded, with some pretty scary enemies in the late game, with more of a “war spectacle” vibe.

Lots of hyping up the battle animations.

Also hyping up the unique spin on tactical games, where characters and enemies all have their own agility instead of just alternating between an ally and an enemy phase. I don’t know anything about tactical games to comment on this.

December 1991

We get a better scan of Mae’s old portrait :)

Max on the other hand has already changed to his final one. Character description are largely the same as October with a few more tidbits on personalities such as Ken being a super honest boy. Gort is still referred to as Mae’s old servant, Lowe is still listed as dwarf, and no mention of Mae’s tough personality yet. Max’s class is also listed as warrior, but he was mentioned as swordsman on October so I assume it’s just a mistake.

We do get more characters this time though.

Tao Class: Mage Species: Forest Elf

A mage in training, but her talent is huge. Has a close relationship with Anri, the princess of Guardiana.

The forest elf thing is very curious since Hans and Diane are not listed as such. I have seen the term float around for Nigel of Landstalker, but I didn’t play that yet so no comment.

Diane Class: Archer Species: Elf

A wild girl who lives in Bustoke. Being raised in the mountains, she’s vigorous in battle. Scary.

Zylo Class: Werewolf Species: Beastman

Leader of Bustoke, the mountain nation. Focused in hand-to-hand combat, he does not equip weapons, and instead fights with his sharp claws.

Guntz Class: Steam Knight Species: Beastman

A knight of heavy power who wears an armor powered by a steam engine. Well known through the world as a mercenary specialized in castle assaults.

Well, that’s not my chill guy. Seems his personality wasn’t nailed down yet, which surprises me as his artwork very much implies the gentle guy we know now. Worth mentioning though, Guntz does join the team right as you’re going to assault the fort, and the GBA version even elaborates a bit on that invasion by requiring you pick a bomb from Crock, though Guntz isn’t involved in any of that. Perhaps this sequence was intended to be a bit more elaborate from the start.

Khris Class: Priest Species: Cantaul

A priest who used to work in Alterone. Despite being both priests, she’s stronger than Lowe in battle. Let’s see who is the best at magic.

Kokichi Class: Wing Knight Species: Human

An old gramps from a noble lineage of knights. Entranced by the dream of flying, he spent fifty years researching flying machines.

We then get a bunch of monster art i won’t even try to fit in a screenshot, and more description than they ever got in guide books as far as I’ve seen.

Dwarves

Skilled at close combat due to their strong body, but has low defense. Their lethal axes are menacing.

Dark Priests

Runefaust priests, wearing white masks as per the army’s regulations. Working on an attack with focused magic.

rip dark priests you did not learn blast in time if that’s what they’re implying here

Also, they’re called Dark Priests here, Priests in the final game, and Dark Priests in the english localization. I don’t know why I bother paying attention to that.

Snipers

With superior footwork, they attack from a long range with bows. The double team kind, working as pairs with the Rune Knights.

Puppets

Evil marionettes, it’s unknown if they have consciousness. Part of the Monster Corps, they attack swinging swords.

Except they don’t in the final game. They don’t even have swords in the art either, so I’m unsure if that’s a change or an idea that never made it in.

Hell Pierrot

It seems they are not really pierrot, just disguise as such. Those who are fooled and approach them carelessly end up hurt.

That’s the final JP name for the Dire Clown as well.

Gargoyles

They are statues, but had temporary life breathed into them by magic. Seems not all of them turned into flesh, some parts remain stone.

Cerberos

Guard dogs of hell into a deep sleep in the caves under Alterone. Trained by the Runefaust army.

Worms

Giant mutant earthworms dozens of meters long. Don’t have any senses other than touch.

Dullahans

Headless ghost knights who used to be Rune Knights. No comparison between their power though.

And now a special boy that does get to be screenshotted:

Mimics

Transform immediately as you open them thinking it’s a chest. Their lids grow sharp fangs, and they sprout legs to move.

It’s worth noting that while these guys didn’t make it to any classic game, SF2 does have a mechanic of monsters spawning from chests, we just don’t get to see because the search in battle option was removed in the english version.

To finish the parade of weird creatures, Yogurt is here.

What is this Yogurt creature, after all?

Yogurt, a mysterious characters that shows up around Guardiana and toys with the enemies. No clue if he’s an enemy or an ally, but he certainly has a likeable vibe, you could even call him cute. He’s not docile enough to be raised as a pet, and seems prone to quick mood swings. Does a lot of weird things as he pops up in the adventure. You could say he’s kind of a versatile performer.

Yogurt’s Data

He’s 80 cm tall, weights 10 kg, walks on two feet, while the front paws have atrophied and become small. His main food seems to be berries, but he’s omnivorous. From what’s been observed, he can swim, is fast and has strong jumps. It’s unknown when he started wearing the helmet on his head. No one has seen him take it off either.

Insides:

Tail - Uses it to balance while walking in two feet.

Feet - Way better for jumping than for walking.

Head - On par with humans. Seems to be very intelligent.

Hands - Cannot use tools

Belly - Quite fat but he’s still agile.

There are also doodles of his secret appearances which I’m not gonna translate now. They’re very much just describing his antics.

January 1992

Pink haired Simone appears. Sadly there’s no dialogue screenshots.

Guardiana is already pretty much the final version, only the entrance still seems unfinished, some NPCs are different.

Remember that field battle with different graphics? There’s more of it here, including the map.

It’s horrifyingly large.

Finally, there’s some talk of critical hits being capable of special effects like one-hit KO, but it’s very vague so it might be the magazine staff not knowing this was attached to a specific weapon.

February 1992

Pink Simone is still around, and so are unfinished weapon animations and the old knight battle sprites. Max still shows up with zero MP. Guardiana and the starting maps seems mostly finished with a couple odd spots.

Guardiana castle is full of chickens, and has a gate.

The king’s room has a couple more flags in it.

The Gate of the Ancients now looks like the final version, though battle screenshots still show the indoor background. The starting team is also the final one, with Mae and Gort no longer there.

The Alterone battle shows enemies inside the shops.

The article ends with a recipe for yogurt.

March 1992

The game is released, and I too am released from this long ass post. From here on, every article, ad and official material I’ve seen uses only screenshots from the final version of the game. If that sounds obvious to you, wait for the SF2 post.

Update: ??? 1992

Joke’s on me, I was not free from the post. I found some old footage, sadly i don’t know which date it is from, but it shouldn’t be too early in production. Simone already has brown hair, the Gate of the Ancients is already outdoors.

There are still things to note though. Simone still talks of the king of Guardiana in her intro as opposed to the final one. The intro to Chapter 1 is a placeholder text.

Anri’s dad does not have a unique portrait and uses the default king one. Also, the castle still do not have centaur knights, even though their sprite already exists. In the place are not chickens though, and instead some weird placeholders you can see at the top right corner here.

Unlike every other battle scene in this post, the final sword sprites are in, but their animation for Max is still unfinished. Also, having footage we can hear some audio, and while Simone’s theme and the field map theme are in, the town and battle scenes use placeholders from SitD

More importantly,

cat.

Their sprite isn’t exactly the same as the unused ones in the ROM though, as those have the tail up like a properly happy cat. This means these sprites still got further polish before being ultimately scrapped anyway :(

#shining force #shining series #sf yogurt #sf max #sf mae #sf gort #sf simone #sf guntz #long post #reeeeeeally long. i am dying #second time trying to update this because tumblr disappeared the first one somehow. if it goes wrong i'm gonna start biting

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cescalr · 7 months

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Appearances: Harry Potter Ensemble - Pt 1.

So. As someone who writes a lot of fanfic, I don't always decide to borrow directly from the source material for the appearances of the characters. I'll admit that my canon compliance for that can be tangential at best; mostly down to hair and eye colour, whilst everything else is different. This can lead to some confusion in my fics, because my worst sin in this regard that i'm inconsistent in how I portray them. I have multiple fcs and sims of characters, and I sort of just swap between them at whim. So this is a masterpost list of all the different appearances each portrayal of the HP ensemble cast I use. I'll also try and say which fics I pictured as which faces, because why not.

Let's get started, shall we?

Harry Potter. [+ James Potter, because they're meant to be almost identical.]

First, we'll go with documenting the protagonist.

For a canon-compliant Harry, I made this artbreeder a while ago;

Lord above that's ginormous. Anyway. I'm not, like, 100% happy with this, but here it is.

As may be a fairly obvious choice, my main fc for Harry is Darren Criss. He does a great job fitting the visual aspect of Harry, and an even better job of him being identical to his father; Darren Criss makes a perfect James Potter. All you need to do is watch AVP to know that one.

And, as a sidenote; Look at them <3 this is the golden trio, right here!! Sure, Ron's a bit off, not tall enough, nose not long enough, but he works really well for the role, so I don't care.

But he does a pretty good broody harry, too, so I tend to think Darren Criss when I think Harry James Potter.

Again; for a slightly more book compliant Harry (aka; a wholly white Harry) there's a young Peter Capaldi. In these pics specifically, lol.

James Potter by Michelle-Winer on DeviantArt <- there's also this depiction of James as the actor for Will Graham from Hannibal, which works pretty damn well for both James and Harry.

Unfortunately, people don't credit as often as they should on Pinterest; (1) Pinterest this is a very good James, and if anyone happens to know who drew it, that's really necessary to know. He looks just like my James sim, fr. Took the image right from my brain.

He looks a little less like his dad and more like his mum here, which is Incorrect, but I still like these sims.

Ron Weasley.

Next up on the list is Ron.

I made this artbreeder a while ago. I think this is basically perfect, and looks exactly like how I think of him, except the nose is too short.

The blog is gone, but this art by xia-hainex has always been my favourite Ron fanart.

I'm very picky about Ron's face. I don't have an actor fc for him.

But I do have a sim :). You can see the influence, lol.

Hermione Granger.

Hermione has the most fcs out of the Golden Trio. 5 in total. First, her more canon-compliant artbreeder;

Next; those five fcs.

First up; a duo of fcs - one for her younger years, and one for that version's older years. Ella Eyre + Stevvi Alexander.

Of course, as shown above, there's always Bonne Gruesen, who played her in AVP. Which, as you can see, was an image that held a lot of mix dominance in the artbreeder (which I did through combining various images of these five women, plus some general tweaks.)

Nathalie Emmanuel is a version where Hermione kept the buck teeth :D. Would mostly be used in muggle AUs.

But this ^ really does look like book 7 Hermione during the horcrux hunt, don't you think?

Grace Byers is a bit glamorous for Hermione, I'll admit. Sometimes I use her for her mother, instead.

Elarica Johnson is the final fc option for HG, very similar to Nathalie Emmanuel. If I were to give HG a sister, she'd probably end up with Elarica whilst Hermione keeps Nathalie. Also an option for her mother, I suppose.

Because I should mention this; I often use Hayley Law for Mrs. [heacanon name: Eudora] Granger. I haven't actually got an fc for her dad, but the one consistent thing about him is that he's Jewish, but he can be european or african or middle eastern or whatever, I don't care about that part. (Same, really, for Mrs. Granger. The one prerequisite I suppose is that they not match; my Hermione is biracial, and has the specific complication of passing as (depending on the person guessing) either ethnically White British or solely Ashkenazi Jewish, even if her father is not that. Most people miss the black half of her ancestry if they never meet her parents. And, to note, thanks to the schools she was sent to and the care her family took, Hermione has never experienced explicit racism towards herself, and her first personal exposure to prejudice is the whole Muggleborn mistreatment thing. It hits her pretty hard :(.)

[And, to note; I know that my Hermione's ancestry does not match the ancestry of the FCs, and that the situation regarding... all that doesn't really work with some of them, but I'm also not really happy with any one of these, particularly. Hermione's always been the one I find hardest to cast, because my thoughts are so specific but not... exactly refined.]

This is my sim of her, which of course matches what's in my head better than any fc ever realistically could. She's also pretty close to the artbreeder, just, you know, better. Because it's not ai generated. (I tend to use artbreeder as a visual aid when creating the base ideas for things, nothing more.)

Her mum and dad, for reference.

And that's the GT, so. Onto the next part! [For those wondering; I will keep hitting the image limit, doing this, so need to move on once I do.]

#hp #hpcharacters #hp fcs

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questforgalas · 11 months

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I’ve had some (a lot) of wine, so here’s a quick rant on why I freaking love Ahsoka and Rey as a 31 year old female Star Wars fan who’s loved Star Wars since 1991 aka when the phantom menace came out

I didn’t discover The Clone Wars until 2019, so Rey was my first discovery in 2015 when the promotions, and most importantly, the movie posters for The Force Awakens started. We were going to see some movie as a family, and as I waited for people to get snacks, I wandered toward our theatre and saw a poster that caught my eye. It wasn’t that it was a Star Wars poster that caught my eye, it was who the main figure on the poster was

Is that? Is that a woman? A woman in the center?? A woman bringing your eye to its attention? On a Star Wars poster??? Don’t get me wrong, I’d loved Star Wars for so long to this point, but to me, the Jedi were THE heroes. I loved jedi. I’m not shy about Obi-Wan’s impact on my life. And I was a prequel baby! Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme were my trio. And the OGs only had Luke as the force sensitive, but I remember even that young thinking “but why wasn’t Leia?”. And even so, each female of the trios wasn’t center stage on a poster, they weren’t the main story. So enter 24 year old me, mesmerized by The Force Awakens poster. Holy shit, a woman is THE protagonist in Star Wars. I almost started crying right there in the theatre

Cut to actually watching The Force Awakens. She’s curious, she’s compassionate, she doesn’t take bullshit, she knows her flaws and weaknesses, she’s strong without sacrificing femininity. My god, was I crying mid way through the movie watching her. She’s funny! She’s witty! She’s all of this and not a hard edge. She’s force sensitive??? And has a speaking role?????? Yeah, crazy concept to me at the time.

Cut to 2019. I find The Clone Wars. Oh. My. God.

Was Ahsoka an annoying bratty teenager? Yes, 100%. She was supposed to be 14!!! Was she the female example of the Jedi and what they truly stood for and their moral judgements and reflected exactly what Anakin could have been if he had opened himself up to his flaws and accepted them for who he is instead of hiding them? Was she THE example next to Obi-Wan of goodness while bringing some sass and seeing the cracks of the galaxy and learning from her arrogance to be humbled and trying to save what good there is left? Yes. Yes she was

When I tell you Ahsoka’s character arc had me clutching my heart when she left the order. I was so proud of her. So so proud. Of course I wanted her to stay but my god, that moment. That moment is everything. As a female Star Wars fan who sometimes sits there and takes shit from people in a circle that’s supposed to believe in her, to watch Ahsoka, AHSOKA, walk away from the Jedi order. WOOOO BABY.

So yeah, Ahsoka and Rey are so so important to me. I love Obi-Wan and I love Rex and I love Crosshair, but if I didn’t have the Ahsoka’s and Rey’s in this franchise, I really don’t know if I’d be as enthusiastically involved as I am, if at all. I love those two

Gushing over

#star wars #ahsoka tano #Rey Skywalker

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elenasalvatore666 · 8 days

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Prompt: Love in the big city. The Potter version (Harry and Hermione)

hello everyone! You can use all my ideas for your fanfiction! And what if we shift the plot of the Russian-language romantic comedy (trilogy) "Love in the Big City" to the characters of the Potter series? A prerequisite is one of the final Harry/Hermione pairs. The remaining pairs are at the discretion of the author. Ideally, to cover the events of the entire trilogy, but again at the discretion of the author (you can take as a basis all three films, or only one).

Based on the first film, After the war and the first unsuccessful relationship, our three male protagonists (one of whom is Harry) live to the fullest.They are young, famous. They are not looking for a relationship, and they treat sex only as entertainment. And one day they gather in a bar, where they discuss their love affairs. This conversation is overheard by some magician or cupid (even Aphrodite) and decides to teach this trio a lesson. He/She casts a curse on the characters that will not allow them to have an intimate physical relationship without love. Now our three boys really need to fall in love, but they will have many obstacles and comical situations on the way. Based on the second film, our three heroes are in a relationship with their found girlfriends. But guys prefer to lead a carefree lifestyle and prefer to have fun, live for their own pleasure, rather than take responsibility, which leads to quarrels with their girls. This development of events does not like the magician (from the first film), and he decides to intervene in the lives of the characters again and set them on the right path. Now the heroes must have a child in a very short period of time or they will not be able to have offspring in the next 15-20 years. But the situation is complicated by the fact that they are at odds with their soulmates, who are not going to give up so easily. Based on the third film (+ TV series) - 6-11 years have passed. Now our three heroes have families and kids. Some of them are too protective of their child, someone encouraged bad behavior, someone spoils the child too much or does not devote enough time to them. But none of the characters sees anything wrong with this. They believe that they are raising their children properly. And now their wives have decided to take time for themselves and relax with only female company. Children stay with wayward fathers, which results in various comical situations. Tired of the "pranks" of their children, the heroes decide to take them to the children's center / bowling alley / Gemini Store. And while the children are busy, our three decide to have a glass of firewhisky, where they complain about how difficult it is for them to cope with young children. Here they also meet our magician prankster. boys treat him like an old fellow and shares their problems with him. During the conversation, everyone complains that children cannot grow up overnight. As a result, everyone wakes up in their own house in the morning, only instead of children they find unfamiliar grown-up versions of them. Now the three have to learn that big kids = big problems. They will see what their parenting model can lead to. Some of the children are a spoiled golden boy/girl, some are too shy and cannot stand up for themselves, some use people only for benefits. This means that the heroes have new challenges. They must find a magician and force him to turn everything back, simultaneously solve the "big problems" of their children and explain all this bacchanalia to their unexpectedly returned wives.

If you have any questions and/or suggestions about the application, do not hesitate to contact the comments and personal messages of the author of the prompt .

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daxieoclock · 7 months

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Hunters Masterpost 2: First Dungeon

(Refer to this post for a summary of the protagonists.)

This will be a summary of all major plot events during the Hunters campaign during the first dungeon: hunting the Celestial Behemoth.

The first few months of sessions had a lot of growing pains, including multiple player characters retconned out of "canon" so I'll be summarizing events with those retcons in mind. Without any further ado...

Chapter 1: Icarus

Our curtain rises on a quiet Friday in January at Belknap College. It's modern day (minus covid), inner state New York, and we find ourselves in the office of Belknap's dean of humanities: Erin Sakio. She's not here. She triple-booked herself with three students at the same time and didn't show up. In the meantime, those students make small talk and introduce themselves.

Blake Leto, silver tongued young celebrity, famous for being falsely accused of killing a police officer and currently on tenuous parole.

Lena Tarr, rough-talking rabblerouser with a visable limp and a penchant for lashing out at teachers and counselors alike.

Ilse Belanger, who comfortably blends into a crowd. They might qualify for valedictorian if people remembered their name.

Awkward small talk is interrupted by a parcel dropping from the ceiling onto Miss Sakio's desk. A paper wrapped object and a very living bluebird, apparently a robin. Curioisity wins over shock, and the trio unwraps the package, finding a letter addressed to Sakio and an ornate dark key.

–ensuring that your standard issue equipment is accounted for, please insert the enclosed Tindalos Key into the nearest corner. You may count yourself lucky to be among our ranks, but please know we consider you and each of your peers to be your own unique blessing. The duty you perform is beyond vital, and your success ensures that your home, your Earth, will survive. The World Must Turn On. Signed, V.P. of the Daedalus Collective.

Blake jokingly calls the bird "Icarus," a name that sticks like glue. Ilse, fiddling with the key, tries to follow the letter's instructions. After touching it to a corner of the room, the key vanishes and the walls peel open, revealing an impossible purple hallway. A gate into another world. Curiosity wins out again, and the trio head inside.

Blake, Ilse and Lena find themselves in an enormous junkyard underneath a violet sky. While they're taking in the sights, they find themselves face to face with another person, a confused looking Camellia Pavel, college dropout, who was personally delivered their own key and letter and stumbled into this world...about a half hour ago.

While Camellia gratefully chows down on a snack Lena happened to bring, Blake and Ilse take inventory of their surroundings. Blake in particular finds a small purple book, a childhood journal they lost years ago, with everything within still as it once was. As they question that impossibility, the four hear a new voice.

The boy’s impish grin widened into a crocodile smile. “My name is Puck, and this,” he gestured to the junkyard around him, “is the Spiral of Forfeit.” He kicked his heels against the backrest of the chair. “It is where lost things are found, where the abandoned flock, where the discarded may be granted a second chance at life. It is also, as you have correctly identified, my home.”

Puck warns the four of nearby "scavengers," and suggests they arm themselves before vanishing as abruptly as he appeared. Sure enough, a swarm of monsters appear: floating Jack-o-Lantern creatures made of scrap metal, shrieking accusations of thievery. Our newfound party grabs improvised weapons from the junk around them and begins to fight.

While they hold their own as well as they can, the monsters and their fire magic is too much, and the party falters. Blake, however, stares down at their journal as light erupts from their left wrist. Silver text etching itself across childhood pages, a voice without tongue.

“Fuck it… no more. I hear you.” Eyes opening again to a determined stare. “Artemis!”

An ethereal maiden, eyes closed and expression drenched in serenity, a moonlit beauty, both her long hair and that gorgeous bow in her hands braided with the same five-petal white flowers. She reached up, elegantly pulling an arrow – wood woven into a beautiful spiral with a silver arrowhead – from the quiver on her back and nocking it.

Blake brushed a stray hair out of their face and locked their gaze at Camellia. A little smirk graced their lips, and their focus turned towards the scrambling scrap-metal monsters. “If I’m to be the Killer Prince, I might as well play the part. Come then, my other self.” And they snapped their journal closed, bright light spilling forth from some glowing sigil across their wrist. “Let us hunt.”

Artemis's first attack scatters the Pyro Junks, and rallies Blake's new allies. And, it seems, causes a chain reaction. Three more glowing sigils etch themselves in flesh. Three more names leap to lips. Three more Personas make their appearance.

Lena tenses every muscle in her body, then goes almost totally limp. "Well, I'm sure not gonna let myself get pushed around by these fuckers." When she lifts her head, her grin is manic and hungry. "Goliath!"

And a brand forms there. A stone, broken in half. And the giant stands by your side, this monstrous ethereal brute, clad in engorged armor. On his shoulder, a knight, sitting as if to direct the violence. Goliath laughs again, and you can all hear the war drums in his voice.

Ilse looks up to from where they hear the voice. Their call is more of a whisper. "Clotho"

And the string is pulled taught. You know where it leads. There is pain, sharp and intense, and it fades in an instant. A brand resembling a pair of scissors, a few inches below your throat. And a newfound strength in your lungs.

Running would be so easy… wouldn't it? … No. They had more pride than that. Camellia clenched the front of their sweater with their free hand and looked to the sky, eyes twinkling as if full of stars. "Hecate."

Everyone, you feel the bells. Echoing in your ears, ringing to and fro. Hecate rears up beside you, a woman's form wrapped in violet dress, but with four canine legs, and three white-fur wolf heads sprouting from her neck. A staff in one hand, a gem at its tip shining with otherworldly energy.

The four new Persona-wielders make quick work of the swarm and head back towards the gate they came through, only to be stopped by a more fearsome beastie: a lumbering Junk Frost.

While the party holds their own, the final blow is not theirs.

"Chorus!" There is a glimmer of light, and a sudden hum. Not a buzzing but a resonance, a dozen voices in harmony. White robed figures, in masks, floating around the Junk Frost. Singing. They raise their hands in unison, and a bolt of light descends from on high. It strikes the top of the Frost's head and pierces it cleanly, smashing into the earth with a loud crash. Those figures, that Chorus, fade. And the Junk Frost just sort of teeters there for a moment before falling back completely.

As the defeated Junk Frost lets off smoke, you can see someone standing behind the felled monster. A figure in the smoke. You can't make them out at first, but then as some nonexistent wind blows away the smoke, and you can see them clearly.

It's a woman, with reddish-brown hair tied into a tight bun. She's wearing something resembling a knight's armor, but it's made of white cloth, light but effective-looking. A cape-like cloth is draped over her right arm. In her left, she carries a rapier, which seems to shimmer in this odd light. And she is staring at you, with blue eyes wide and her jaw hanging open. You know this woman. You know her very well. But you don't quite remember her every having a tattoo – you think you might recall something as audacious as a musical note tattooed on her throat. And you definitely wouldn't have expected to see her here.

And Miss Sakio, dean of humanities, splutters out "what the absolute fuck."

Chapter 2: The World Turns On

Miss Sakio leads the party back through the gate into her office, her ostentatious outfit vanishing as she steps back into reality, replaced with the simple sharp suit she usually wears. Even though she, Camellia, Blake, Ilse and Lena are all exhausted, the five still field a long conversation, with the party catching Sakio up on what they just went through, and Sakio herself pulling back the curtain on the hidden world they've stumbled into.

The junkyard is the Spiral of Forfeit, one of many areas within a world known as Fractals, a dark mirror of our world. The monsters the party faced are variant species of Shadow, birthed from collective fear and imagination.

Shadows tend to obey even stronger creatures, the Behemoths, which act as deities. Before they're even fully born, a Behemoth's personality and whims shape the area they call home, and Shadows in that area will align themselves with this "aesthetic," as servants to their g-d.

Behemoths are not always malicious, but they have an insatiable hunger. Even the kinder ones will eat until they grow large enough to emerge into our world, shattering the barrier between Fractals and reality, ending the world as we know it.

The Daedalus Collective is an organization that funds teams of Persona users, giving them Tindilos keys to access Fractals and assigning them to scout areas or hunt Behemoths, culling them before they can grow large enough to threaten our world.

Erin Sakio, dean of humanities at Belknap College, moonlights as a Shadow Hunter for Daedalus. She's been assigned to find the currently-unborn Behemoth that rules over the Spiral, and kill it. Her Persona is Chorus (and her Arcana is Temperance).

Personas are powerful weapons born from oaths of self-actualization. If a human in Fractals swears this oath, their true inner self will manifest under that human's control, etching a "Brand" onto their skin as proof of their bond. Each Brand is distinct, and only other Persona users can see them.

Now that the party all has their own Brands, someone from Daedalus will eventually notice and scout them. To get out ahead of it, Sakio (who distrust the organization she works for) asks the party to join Daedalus as her teammates.

After some time to think, the party agrees, and are whisked off the next day to an unmarked white office building a few miles from the college, which they can now see ethereal blue lettering on, marking it as Daedalus's HQ. Miss Sakio takes them inside to meet with Amil Fischer, her assigned "Liaison"...and ex girlfriend.

Amil used to be Sakio's teammate, but an injury on the job exacerbated his existing physical disability, leaving them reliant on Daedalus's extremely generous employment benefits. Now they act as a Liaison, ferrying orders to various teams of Shadow-Hunters, and reporting their successes and failures to the hidden higher-ups. An anonymous meritocracy is maintained.

Blake, Ilse, Lena and Camellia work through their remaining concerns and agree to work for Daedalus. Blake, impromptu leader, names the team "the Hunters;" and they are given their first mission:

Travel to the spire within the Spiral of Forfeit, climb it and slay the Celestial Behemoth at its peak.

The next few days pass in a blur as the Hunters prepare in their own ways.

Lena meets up with "Twitch" Blum, a classmate and acquaintance with a campus reputation for his public displays of anxiousness and general jumpiness. Him and Lena hit it off pretty well, but it's still an awkward affair.

Blake has an unexpectedly tense back and forth with their RA, Masumi Saito, well-kept head of the student body and "sharpest motherfucker alive" award four years running. Rumor has it she keeps a gun in her dorm and gets away with it. She also has some manner of history with "Saint Sakio," and treats Blake with cold suspicion for their newfound affiliation. The two exchange veiled barbs and then part ways.

(Masumi, though an NPC, is the creation of @lilyhoshikawa who also plays Blake, and permitted me to use Masumi for this campaign)

Ilse visits Lena (and Lena's longtime friend and roommate Rita) and the two make clear their mutual distrust of Daedalus's shady bullshit, with Lena in particular suggesting that saving Behemoths might be an option, though neither knows how to go about it yet. When Ilse returns to their room, they ponder over an old damaged angel figurine, a knickknack from their childhood friend Stephen. They remember how alone they felt when they left him. They don't feel quite as alone anymore.

Blake sees a patch of flowers near campus and remembers the field of wild sunflowers next to their home, the one they'd sneak out to when their parents would fight. They wonder if it's still there, like the journal is. Lost. To be found again.

Lena heads to the student store to spend her first paycheck from Daedalus, and gets immediately distracted helping out the two deeply bisexual work-study employees: Bee and Theo. Bee is a neurotic control freak and Theo is a former surfer dude, and the two are fucking inseparable, the best of friends. Lena offers to help them find some stolen store product (initiating a detour sidequest with Ilse I won't cover in full) and fun banter is exchanged.

Camellia's rent anxieties drive them to stop by Amil, awkwardly asking about bonus opportunities. Maybe even solo work? Amil gently pushes them to stick to working with their team, and promises to advocate for early assignment pay if things go pear-shaped in Fractals. They've got Camellia's back, same as the rest of the Hunters.

Chapter 3: The First Hunt

The Hunters assemble in a small break room in one of Belknap's buildings. Sakio used it when she and Amil were on a team together: the Hound Table. It's a windowless room with a single round table, a bunch of chairs, and a plastic potted plant. Still, pomp and circumstance and legacy. Sakio produces a Tindilos Key (rationed to her by Daedalus), opens the Gate into Fractals, and the party heads inside.

And immediately gets seperated, with Sakio landing at the base of the Spire, while the rest of the Hunters are plopped back in Puck's "living room" for another round of Q&A with the fae boy – and a chance to show off the new Fractals-only combat outfits given to them by Daedalus. After reaffirming that he's on the Hunters' side, Puck magically opens the way forward, giving them a clear shot to the Spiral Spire, home of the Celestial Behemoth, where Sakio meets back up with them.

As they all travel inside, Artemis starts feeding Blake environmental information through text in their journal, her navigational skills making themselves apparent. The Hunters go floor by floor of this tower of junk, fighting a number of minor Shadows, each made of discarded scrap. It takes them a couple days of expedition, using an in-built dumbwaiter as shortcut, and taking multiple days of break in between to not burn out.

During one of these breaks, Camellia asks Sakio to come with them on what they present as an impromptu walk in one of Belknap's graveyards. Camellia spends the whole walk cracking wise, to the point where Sakio clearly starts to suspect they're forcing it, when they reach a particularly well maintained grave. "Frey," with the last name carefully scratched out so no trace of it remains.

Camellia's mask slips as they place a metal flower on the grave. This was a friend of theirs. This was their best friend. Sakio silently takes that in, and reaches into her pocket to pull out a small scuffed metal pin with an etching of a rose on it. She places it down on Frey's grave and thanks them for the chance to meet.

Meanwhile, Lena delivers a handmade flowerpot to Amil, Ilse and Twitch visit a nearby museum together, and Blake visits their favorite place: a cat cafe named Le Petit Prince with the very old and very friendly calico Herbert.

Finally, the Hunters return to Fractals and storm through the remaining floors of the Spire. However, on their way back, they end up running into a classmate fighting for their life against a powerful Shadow. They recognize them: Sammy Cabra, college freshman and general Silly Fellow (gender neutral). Sammy found the blue robin Icarus in reality and was guided to and through the gate, where they found themselves in Fractals and awakened to their persona: Neko Shogun The Hunters help rescue Sammy, and after a quick debate, agree to have them become part of the team. Sakio takes Sammy to get registered with Daedalus, and the rest of the Hunters crash, resting up for the Behemoth fight.

Chapter 4: Red Bloom

After a few days of rest, recuperation and bond-building with their new teammate, the Hunters return to Fractals. Sakio, Blake, Ilse, Lena, Camellia and Sammy use the dumbwaiter to ascend the Spire, stepping out into the tenth floor vestibule, beyond which the birthing Behemoth waits in his chamber.

There is someone in their way. Someone who radiates fury and strength. Someone who may not be exactly human.

The moment she sees the woman, Sakio lets out a sound like she's been stabbed, eyes wide and fearful. She stands motionless at the top of the stairs, frozen. Almost shaking.

The woman gazes to the side, through those cracks in the metal of the tower walls. Has the breeze picked up? Or had it always been nearly howling, quiet, like the distant sound of snarling wolves. "My father called me his little primrose, once. I would say that's the best of the names he called me." If her tone was calm before, this is anger. Fire boiling beneath every word. "But flowery language doesn't suit this place. Ugly, and garish." She looks back at you, almost through you, like you're made of paper. "You may refer to me as Prim. Or, if you like, you need not refer to me at all."

[Full dialogue for this scene is available here for those interested.]

Prim verbally dresses down the Hunters one by one, making clear she doesn't want to stop them from killing the Behemoth. She just wants to see if they're worthy of Puck's attention, of being his crusaders. This is a test. And every word is a failure.

Sakio, furthermore, clearly has a history with this woman, a history that fills her with dread. She doesn't take a step.

But Blake does.

They tuck their book under one arm, right hand reaching over and gripping their left wrist tightly. “To answer your question. I do intend to take full responsibility for my teammates here. And if you’re intent on interfering, I ask that you…” they flinch, muttering a curse under their breath. “I ask that you go through me first.”

While Prim isn't phased by this display, Blake's courage does soften her approach somewhat, giving the remaining Hunters a chance to freely advocate for their worth. When Lena openly mocks Prim's sharpness, Prim lists off three names: Vladamir, Amelie, Roland. Three of Daedalus's that she's killed. Three of Daedalus's that Sakio watched her kill.

When she turns her attention to Camellia, Prim finds an odd ethereal resistance, like the air itself wants her to leave them alone.

"How curious. And here I thought he didn’t pick favorites.”

After one last bout of open disdain, Prim manifests a shadowy flicker, like a Persona bathed in dark, and uses it to punch a hole in the vestibule wall, vanishing through it.

The Hunters explode in argument, all ire turned towards Sakio and her festering secrets, but she pleads with them to wait. She'll answer their questions, she promises, but they need to kill the Behemoth still. Begrudgingly, the party makes their way into the room beyond the vestibule and prepare for battle.

The world uncurls. Almost as if it's resisting the motion, pulling back into a form by strength of will alone. You finally see the thing before you, the so-called Celestial Behemoth, in all its horrid glory. His skin is grey and stretched, like a bodysuit pulled too tight, and it's covered in green lines and odd indentations like inconsistent scales. His hands are outstretched, fingers long as his palm. And his wide mouth is full of sharp teeth, and a long black tongue that lolls out the side. Bulging eyes spinning in a reptilian skull. Those eyes focus. First up, towards the sky. Then down, towards you. And he screams. A roar that could spit the heavens.

Blake, your journal snaps open. Shuddering with fear and hunger, Artemis writing not in silver but in crimson ink as dark as blood.

The Celestial Behemoth Star Arcana J A B B E R W O C K

[Full fight and extra art is available here for those interested]

The Jabberwock is a more powerful opponent than any they've faced before, protected by a divine veil and habitually charging up devastating attacks behind an anti-magic barrier. The Hunters are caught off-guard by one of these attacks, explosions rocking the room. Camellia uses their last Salvation to protect Ilse. But Sammy, just out of their reach, is knocked unconscious.

Sakio, in a panicked rush, crushes a golden bead – a late-game revival item – and sprinkles the dust over Sammy, who gasps back to lucidity. Still injured, but conscious again. When the Hunters recover from the shock of seeing their teammate collapse, they turn back to the Jabberwock with vengeance in their eyes and hearts. Sakio stops holding back, and empowers her students with an enhanced version of her Rebel Will skill.

The Counterstrike begins.

The Hunters unload damage on the Jabberwock, bringing it to its knees for Sakio to deliver the coup de gras, sending the reptilian Celestial through the floor of the arena, crashing down through layer after layer of its Spire. It does not rise again.

Part 1 Epilogue: Red Wilt

The Hunters return to the Hound Table, spent beyond belief. Once again, they turn to Sakio, waiting for her. The truth, as promised.

"After I left my first BaSH team – after Amil was injured – I joined a Daedalus operation requiring a large number of Persona-users, to slay multiple Behemoths which had cohabitated together and grown as one." She purses her lips. "The Director oversaw that operation firsthand. And, once it had been completed, that was when she struck." Her tone tense, eyes distant. "She injured multiple Daedalus operatives in a mad gambit to murder the Director. Two of the Director's personal aids were..." Sakio trails off. "From the reports afterwards, all I was told is she is likely some manner of rogue Persona-user who has decided to ally herself with the Behemoths, for whatever reason." And she looks at Blake. "That is all I know."

It's not the full truth. But it's not a lie either. The party leaves, exhausted, frustrated. Victorious and unsatisfied.

Blake, Lena, Ilse, Camellia and Sammy wake to the sound of a robin's song and the corner of their rooms peeling open. A gate not violet, but a steady velvet blue. Through it, they find themselves back in Fractals, in Puck's junkyard abode. The Spire collapsed, but the Spiral remains.

Puck greets the party warmly, congratulating them both on slaying their first Behemoth and being lucky enough to be visited by Prim – a joy he hasn't shared for months now. The two clearly have history, but Prim has resigned herself to solitude, and her visits have become more and more frequent. And, he won't tell the party what her "deal" is. Secrets better kept than confessed.

However, he does expand the limits of his services. Through his permission, the Hunters (Sakio excluded) may freely travel into Fractals to visit him without the use of a Tindilos key. He'll also keep a stock of valuable items, purchasable with simple and generous barter (a little snack here or there). And...should they wish to speak Prim again for whatever reason (Lena and Blake seem especially interested)...he'll find a way to let them.

The curtain closes on a little fae boy's impish smile, and the distant grumbling of a red-eyed murderer.

TO BE CONTINUED...

#the hunters #blake leto #ilse belanger #sammy cabra #lena tarr #camellia pavel #erin sakio #amil fischer #masumi saito #lucy twitch blum #puck #prim

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koishua · 2 years

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❝ 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝟐𝟏𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇 ❞

❍ 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒 | At six years old, Heather Brown finds a friend in Jay Jeongseong Park. At eight years old, she realizes that she found a lifelong partner in him. At eighteen years old, she wishes that she had told him she loved him for the first and last time. She doesn't— couldn't— and it's all because she can't live a life without Daniel Choi.

❍ 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 | Daniel Yeonjun Choi, the one who leaves. Heather Nabeom Brown, a female original character, the one who follows. Jay Jeongseong Park, the one who is left behind. Additionally, Beomgyu Choi, Sunghoon Park and Heeseung Lee.

❍ 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄 | angst, childhood best friends to almost lovers, drama, hurt/comfort, some minor scenes depicting familial issues.

❍ 𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐇 | for the teaser, 0.986k words. full fic estimated to reach 20k-23k words

❍ 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 | continual mentions of hospitals, diseases and death. proceed with caution. more to add in the full version.

❍ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 | hey folks. i made this teaser post in hopes of it forcing me to finally get around to finishing this fic, which i have been trying to write since last july, might i add. the issue is serious, i need the motivation. send help, im suffering. also make note that although the romance is still there, it's not as prevalent as the pure bond between the three protagonists. jay x heather yes, but also the golden trio shiz we love to see hehe

❍ 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | please send an ask if you desire to be tagged once the full version is up!

. . . teaser.

“Daniel?” The older boy hummed, looking up from his extremely important job that was meticulously peeling bananas to make them smoothies. She settled herself on the tall leather bar stools to watch as the fifteen year old threw in a handful of frozen strawberries from the large freezer inside the sturdy blender with a splash of milk to add to the silky smooth texture of the cold drink.

“You’re not leaving, are you?” The solemn look on her face forced him to turn the machine off for a moment. He examined the way the edges of her eyes seemed to redden by the second, glazing over to signify the oncoming wave of salty tears.

Yeonjun sighed, making his way to her side to cradle her in his arms, leaning her head against his chest to run his hands through her hair. He didn’t say anything even if he heard the muted sniffles or the thick in her voice.

"You know what 영원한 means?" She shook her head, "Well, flower, it means eternally— forever. I promise you— cross my heart and hope to die— that I will be with you until the end of time, okay?"

Her mother was leaving, but at least Daniel was staying. She wouldn't know what to do if he left, too.

Daniel was funny. He was always the one that had pretended to be an ox to chase her around the empty complex when her father was glued to his chair in his office at the top floor and her mother was occupied by her endless meetings that she never understood what the need was for.

She knew him ever since she could think back in her memories, maybe he was secretly her brother. That would make a lot of sense, wouldn't it? Or better yet, maybe he was her dad— or her mom. He felt like one anyways, he was always the one that took care of her.

Eleven year old Heather knew that he couldn't be her parent, he was extremely young to be so, so maybe he was either her long lost brother— she didn't understand why her parents never told her, though. That is, if he was actually her older sibling hidden away— or an angel disguised as a fifteen year old middle schooler who liked to teach her to be nice to other kids.

Daniel was nice, he got that from his mother who was working as her own family's cook for the past ten years. Mrs. Choi was always smiling and she never scolded her whenever she snuck into the kitchen to steal all of the freshly baked cookies one by one.

In all honesty, ten year old Heather really did think that she was the stealthiest living being while crawling her way towards the kitchen island. The woman had always managed to find her slipping away through the sliding doors with a half munched cookie in her hand, melted chocolate smeared all over her lips.

Why did she never get angry? She always gave her a small plate of them after wiping away at her messy face, she always had the kindest eyes as well. Why?

She supposed that was why Daniel was so patient. He was the nicest person Heather knew and she would forever stand by the fact that Daniel Choi would be the most perfect person in all of mankind.

He was nice.

Her mother was leaving, leaving her to her father— was he even her real father? Heather didn't think that she had a single ounce of similarity to him in herself. He had the yellowest hair she had ever seen. Even the pale kid from her old fourth grade didn't have hair as saturated as his.

Heather had smooth brown hair, she was a brunette, and yet he had the curliest of blond hair ever. Her mom, on the other hand, had the silkiest of rich black hair. How did biology work again? What if she wasn't related to any one of them? She had eyes that looked like her mother's milky coffee, very light brown— Mrs. Choi always said that her mother never knew what actual coffee tasted like, always mixing it with soy milk to the point where it was more of a coffee flavoured milk.

Her dad had blue eyes, they were pretty— not to say that her mother's dark eyes were not, but eleven year old Heather was just saying. What if she was adopted? She really needed to pay attention to her biology classes. The short quiz about how genes work was closing up on both Jay and her, but her best friend didn't have anything to worry about anyway.

He had always been smarter than her, but that was fine. She could always be the brawn of the duo— or the cutest one that got all of the attention of the adults to distract them while he slid out of the room to buy a pack of Mentos candy from the nearest vending machine— it was always ten stories below his father's office, but that was fine. Jay was fast— so that they could try to make a bottle of Coke explode out in the garden.

Her thoughts were muddled up yet again, mind running at incredible speeds, remaining unexhausted from hopping on one train to the other. Where was she again?

Ah, yes, Heather wiped her tears away with the back of her sleeves, noting the way Daniel looked much older than before as he looked down at her with a concerned frown.

She wanted a cat.

“Danny?”

“Yes, flower?”

“Do you think mother is leaving because she doesn’t like dad anymore?”

“I don’t know, flower. Maybe.”

“Will you ever decide to leave if you don’t like me anymore?”

“Never. I will die before that could ever happen.”

“Okay, Danny. I believe you.”

“Good. Now, let’s drink our smoothies before they get warm.”

#enhypen imagines #enhypen scenarios #txt imagines #txt yeonjun imagines #yeonjun imagines #enhypen fluff #txt angst #enhypen reactions #enhypen jay x reader #enhypen jay scenarios #txt yeonjun #txt reactions #enhypen smau #enhypen angst

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elsaedelweiss · 1 year

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Helloween surprise weeks at the Esper Union

Esper Union's Grand Meeting Room

Discboom entered the room greeting Raven, Pritzker and Gaius. The trio of Hub Directors returned her greeting. Raven wordlessly pushed the tray of beverages towards her. Gratefully, Discboom reached out and poured herself a cup if black coffee. Boomboom, her ever-present companion, approached her. She smiled and gave him a sip.

"Won't that cause problems for your friend?" The four looked to the doorway. Q flew in, greeting the quartet. Behind him trailed Brynn who greeted the group with a salute and wave, Berenice who also saluted and waved, Sieg who saluted, and Drew who bowed. Each took a seat beside Discboom. Said young woman turned to Q. "It won't. He drinks the stuff every morning. Right Boomboom?"

"Absolutely!" Replied the small robot rippling its appendages.

Q smiled. "Ok. Just asking."

He turned to the Hub Directors. "Good Day! What is the cause for the gathering?"

"We will inform you once everyone has assembled! Be patient!" Replied Pritzker.

"Does Q even know what the meaning of that word is?"

Everyone turned. Arcana stood in the doorway, Mona, Tang Xuan, Li Ling and Lewis behind him. The young man's trademark smirk graced his lips. "After all, he's infamous for a lot of things including his paparazzi-level of impatience!"

"I can be patient Arcana!"

"Calm down Mr.Q!" Spoke up Drew. "Mr.Arcana is probably just toying with you as usual."

Arcana smiled. Q glared at him.

"Are you two ruffling each other's feathers again?"

The group turned. Falken strode in, the other three Commanders behind him. Donar and Gabrielle tried not to laugh. Li Xiao brought up the rear tail swaying in amusement.

"When hasn't he tried to ruffle feathers?" Asked Mona, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Mona! That was harsh!" Cried in mock pain Arcana, mimicking a wound to the heart.

Mona almost rolled her eyes while Li Ling, Lewis, Donar and Tang Xuan barely held back laughter. "You've felt worse!" Replied the young man's squad mate.

"Touche!" He replied as he sat down.

"What's so funny?"

Once mire the group turned. Elliott, Geb, David, Bardon, and Heng Yue entered greeting everyone.

"Just Arcana up to his usual shenanigans," replied Donar with a wink.

"Still ruffling Q's feathers?" asked the Archivist and librarian.

"When haven't I?" Asked Arcana with a smirk.

"Indeed when haven't you?" Asked Ashley as she and the rest of the Union, including the newly requited Ife, entered and took their seats.

The Union's Sentinel turned her gaze to the Hub Directors. "I trust this has to do with the upcoming Helloween holiday?"

Raven smiled. "Indeed it does. As you all know that time of the year is fast approaching. Yet, we can't afford to go by the same ideas as last year as well as they went... For the most part."

"Hey! I couldn't have known Falken, Donar, Li Xiao, Gabrielle and Gaius would have reacted the way they did last year!" Spoke up Q.

"The group took a sip as per the rules of their Drinkalong Cosplay Fear School. On the screen Daniel, the player character and protagonist, used a drill. Falken cocked an eyebrow but said nothing. Next came the copper tube.

"What do you need that for?" Asked Gaius.

"Just watch!" Said Mona.

Then came the needle.

"This doesn't bode well..." Said Gabrielle, a sense of uneasiness twisting in her gut just as she and the others took a sip once more...

Sips that ended up on the screen of the console.

"What. The. F***!""

"That was just one such instance, Mr.Q!" Said Raven. "And I would appreciate it if you don't bring it up..."

"So what do you suggest we do this year, Ms. Raven?" Asked Discboom.

"Another playthough only without the nasty bits?"

"That would be banal."

"A Karaoke involving Helloween songs?" Suggested Geb.

"We already did that for Christmas."

"A masquerade, perhaps?" Offered Q.

"That's too stuffling."

"I know!" Offered Brynn. "Why not a blend of all ideas! We can each write a suggestion, add them to a bowl and whichever ones come out together or in quick succession we can mix them!"

"That sounds like an interesting idea!" Said Raven after some consideration.

"Plus everyone can enjoy something they like doing!" Added Pritzker.

"But... Who will be in charge of the selection process?" Asked Gaius.

"We can take turns!" Suggested Drew. "Each of us sticks their hands in the bowl and pull out a slip of paper. If they pull two or more they can mix them, if they pull one... They can choose which unoccupied ideas to blend from the ones pulled after or before them! That way it will be fair!"

"Good thinking as always Mr.Drew!" Approved Falken.

"Are all ok with this idea?" Asked Raven. "Raise your hands for yes!"

All hands shot up. "Ok then!"

"Brynn, Drew! You two are in charge of the bowl! Let me know at the end of the week about the idea combinations!"

Both Espers bowed. Raven turned to the others. "Everyone think about something you'd like to see as an implemented idea! You have the right to only one so choose carefully!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Meeting adjourned!"

Somewhere in the distance...

"This will be good!😈"

"Shall we keep tabs to see where we can do the most damage? 👹"

"You bet! 😈"

Even further away...

A young man gasped. "We can't let this happen! 😤"

"Cousin it's not like we can do much!"

"We can! We owe it to them! Let's not forget who helped you acquire those ratings even if you were the one to lead them by the nose..."

"What do you suggest we do?"

"Hmm..."

Happy Halloween 🎃! Hope you like the first part of a series dedicated to the holiday! Let me know how you would like me to continue the stories!

And a special shout out to @seharuuchan , @olliedislytereal @milky-rozen @latenightdislyte @moonhealing715 @lexa-hippb @chiakiirl @capital9 @dislyteconfessions @palettemonster! You guys rock! ;)

#dislyte #fiction #dislyte drew #fandom #fanfic #falken #falken dislyte #dislyte brynn #dislyte Esper Union #dislyte lin xiao #dislyte li ling #dislyte ashley

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