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prismatoxic · 5 months

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i know the original mgs1 graphic novel has been around for almost 20 years. i'm sure it’s been analyzed to death by people smarter than me, with more innate knowledge of the series than i have, but serzh and i watched the digital one (with all the voices and animations), and i've been thinking about it ever since.

mgs1 is my favorite. in comparison to the rest of the series that followed, it's far more subdued; the voice acting is more sincere, the setting is less fantastical, the enemies more human... when things like psycho mantis's manipulation or vulcan raven's ~mystic native powers~ (ugh) come into play, the juxtaposition of those events with the more grounded rest of the narrative makes them feel more severe.

is mgs1 perfect? god, no. maybe raven's portrayal can be somewhat forgiven from a game from 1998, but a lot of the issues it has come down to technical limitations and plot discrepancies, imo. i have a lot of thoughts about how stilted snake and meryl's relationship is, too, but i kind of want to give the game a point for that one since they fell apart after the fact anyway. i just don't know if that was intended from the start. if not, they wrote an unsalted cracker of a relationship story for no real reason, and that's sad.

but my thoughts don’t end there, nor do my thoughts on twin snakes and, later, the graphic novel, which was eventually billed as a way for players to get the story of mgs1 without having to play it. i feel like that framing makes things far more egregious than they already were. regardless, if you’re interested, my thoughts on all this will be under the cut. i’d love to hear other fans’ thoughts, too. fair warning, though: a lot of this will be centered on the dynamic between snake and otacon, and their individual characterizations, bc those things interest me most and also made me the angriest when changed.

so let’s get twin snakes out of the way first. twin snakes is a bastardized version of the story that i love, which somehow manages to mangle the narrative while also changing none of the dialogue. i’ve heard the story of david hayter personally paying all the other returning VAs to get them to come back, but you can tell they don’t really have a lot of passion for re-recording things they already said years ago. david himself, while not so disenfranchised, has fully switched to the later snake portrayals here, and while i do think he’s a very talented VA and the only snake i’ll ever agree with, the direction he was nudged in from then onwards makes snake so... over-the-top, and hammy. it’s embarrassing at times, and in twin snakes it’s at its worst.

then there’s the characterization. ignoring the voices, for a moment, you will also run into situations where the characters’ actions and movements paint a picture of them that contradicts the characterization they had originally. snake is... over-the-top, like his voice, and then you have otacon. i am still mad about otacon. i am so mad about otacon. without changing a single goddamn one of christopher randolph’s lines, they butchered his character, turning him into a joke: he’s constantly falling down in silly slapstick ways, even during the wolf death scene. one of the most powerful scenes in the entire first game, if not THE most powerful one, and they turned it into a fucking JOKE. (and had an actual wolf carry her body away at the end??? what????)

...but this has absolutely been talked about by people smarter than me. here’s an article by the english translator for mgs1 about his work and experience with the game, and here's a video by youtuber jackdonsurfer about the differences between mgs1 and twin snakes, and why twin snakes is a bad remake. i highly recommend both of these, they’re very good.

so moving on from twin snakes, we have... the graphic novel for mgs1, the bastard son of the two games combined with a bunch of its own ideas as well, for better or worse. i’ll be referencing the digital version, but anything that isn’t related to the voice acting will still hold true for my thoughts on the actual book.

the graphic novel uses the same voice direction as twin snakes, but toned down, more befitting the tone of mgs2 or 3, which did seem to learn from that particular mistake. the actors also seem to have regained their passion for the project, and for the most part, give it their all. gray fox is voiced here by rob paulsen, as well, and that’s a decision i understand, same as in twin snakes; greg eagles voiced donald anderson along with gray fox, and the similarities between his anderson and gray fox voices were inescapable once you recognized them. i do think greg eagles did things a lot more passionately, and his version of gray fox is very different from rob paulsen’s, but at the same time, the more mechanical read of gray fox’s lines—up until the tail end of the fight in the lab, or the REX fight, where he gets more intense—does lend an interesting interpretation to his character. so, in the end, while i think i overall prefer greg eagles’ version, i don’t think rob paulsen’s is bad.

so everyone is doing their best, and the writing isn’t as godawful as it was in twin snakes... however, several things jeremy blaustein discussed specifically changing in his english translation of mgs1 in the polygon article i linked are instead lifted from the twin snakes version of the script, or based largely on it. so it’s not great. better, but not as good as it could be.

so with that out of the way, and with me having a subzero interest in talking in depth about the art (it’s really stylized, but there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s perfectly serviceable), it’s time to talk about the story.

there are some things the graphic novel does alright, or even really well. i like the added scenes between FOXHOUND members and other main characters; i like otacon’s justification for wanting his own codename; and i love the psycho mantis section. absolutely fucking flawless concept, wish they’d done that in the game instead of making the controller vibrate. ah well.

the rest, though. god.

i mean, a lot of it is fine, i suppose. slightly more dramatic spins on the original narrative, cutting out parts that only made sense in-game, shifting some events around, and otherwise just sort of doing things the same. but i have some very specific grievances about some of the portrayed relationships.

so, if this post gets out farther than i expect, like some of my other mgs posts have, here’s some background: i’m an otasune shipper. i don’t think that affects my biases too much, as the story and characters are really important to me as-is (in the original, obviously), but i am particularly invested in snake and otacon’s relationship, even in a strictly canon sense. otacon is my favorite mgs character, too. so let’s discuss some of this while also knowing those things about me, for transparency’s sake.

onto the point, i think snake and otacon’s relationship in the original game is massively important to the narrative. the video i linked by jackdonsurfer discusses this, and is one of the reasons i originally started fully considering it, but to be more precise: snake and otacon are very explicitly narrative foils.

snake is a military veteran, a mercenary, a soldier by birth and by trade. he kills people for a living, and he does it well. he’s gruff and aggressive and with rare exceptions, looks out for himself first and foremost. he’s rough around the edges, sharp, pushing away meaningful connections and never letting anyone get too close.

otacon is a scientist, as well as an anime fanboy, two of the first things we learn about him. we also quickly learn that he’s a pacifist—upon accepting that he’s responsible for a nuclear weapon and not a defensive machine, he immediately vows to fix it, refusing to cause any more deaths than he surely already has. he’s soft and kind and passionate, and he wants to help people, whether it be the whole world or just snake. he wears his emotions on his sleeve, and even when snake is holding him at arm’s length, otacon is trying in earnest to connect with him.

they tend to bounce off of each other like polarized magnets, but in moments like the “love blooming on a battlefield” scene or wolf’s death, they come together, finding common enough ground to understand each other while remaining distinctly different. you can feel snake warming up to otacon before the end, even without taking into account the otacon ending (which is noncanon anyway, but its exploration into their relationship in that situation is still very sweet). otacon is willing to sacrifice himself to ensure snake and meryl’s survival in the canon ending, and snake makes especially sure to request otacon’s extraction when the bombs don’t fall.

this all segues nicely into their dynamic come mgs2, but even taken only by itself, it tells a very concise story. even though they both have romantic interests in mgs1, their relationship with each other is important, a key factor in both of their character arcs.

why am i bringing all of this up? well, uh, because the graphic novel tries to downplay it in favor of the romances.

look, i don’t ship either of the “canon” ships in mgs1 (if we can even call otacon/wolf such), but i don’t think they’re done poorly, either. as i said earlier, i felt like snake and meryl’s stilted, almost forced romance lends well to the timeline between mgs1 and 2, because the idea that she’d eventually realize he was exactly who he said he was—thereby seeing the real him, and not this idea of him she had in her head—and subsequently realize she didn’t want that and wind up leaving, is really good. it’s an interesting story, and adds to the overall narrative. as for wolf and otacon, i always got the sense that otacon was in over his head about someone who’d shown him the barest hint of mercy, and wolf was mostly neutral on him in turn. the moment when she reaches out, and snake asks what she wants, and she says her gun? with otacon visibly in frame behind the gun? that’s powerful. he’s inconsequential, meaningless; yet to him, she’s everything, this symbol of “love blooming on the battlefield”. it’s an interesting story.

the graphic novel giving us more scenes between snake and meryl/otacon and wolf isn’t something i mind, especially the latter. i want to see more of that! i want to know why otacon feels the way he does. the first time he runs into wolf in this story, she wants to kill him. (never mind that she “doesn’t kill for sport” in the game, huh.) the second time, she uh. decides she likes him a lot? i’m willing to accept her being at least somewhat fond of him (he does have her handkerchief, after all), but her sudden pivot to openly liking him is... odd. and then the third time, he bursts onto the snowfield to stop snake and wolf from killing each other (this is good, i like this idea), and she can’t bring herself to shoot him to lure snake like she did with meryl (which feels... not like a problem a trained killer like her would have, especially given that she discusses shooting him in non-vital but crippling ways, specifically). her death scene is similarly impacted by this increased focus on her and otacon, stripping away the mood of the original in ways i really wasn’t fond of.

now, snake and meryl i have less to actively say about because we genuinely skipped a lot of it. it was painful to watch. i like meryl—i think her being an inexperienced wannabe soldier who is desperate to prove herself is a great story. she idolizes “heroes” like snake, who were never heroes at all, throwing herself into the war machine to live up to this ideal that will never exist. (mgs4 handled this well too.) i guess i don’t have much to say on how the graphic novel handled her because of the skipping, but i can say that there was ample focus on her and snake, and in a way, i feel like parts of otacon and snake’s story were surgically removed to make more space for it.

remember the “love blooming on a battlefield” scene? of course you do. it’s one of the most iconic scenes in the entire game—maybe the whole series. how does the graphic novel handle it? it, uh. doesn’t. it’s gone.

and at that point, i can’t help but wonder if part of the entire point of this was to make the story seem less gay. maybe that’s just a tinfoil hat thing. but why would you remove one of the most powerful, character-driven conversations in the game? it doesn’t sit right with me. were they worried snake and otacon would eclipse the oh-so-important romances if they were allowed to be proper foils?

some of the stuff towards the ending is pretty good. i like some of gray fox’s changes, and i like snake being forced to fire the stinger because fox begs him to, though the original version where snake can’t bring himself to is still good. i like that snake cuts off liquid’s arm, setting up ocelot’s arc later on. i like that the patriots are mentioned; of course they weren’t originally, bc they hadn’t been conceived of yet, but it’s a good addition now that they’re part of the series.

i don’t like how otacon is stripped of the chance to demonstrate his conviction and loyalty, because he’s already safely out and hacked the security doors in advance. i don’t like how he mocks snake’s real name instead of making a 2001: a space odyssey joke. i don’t like how him escaping with snake and meryl has made for some very confusing fanfics where writers think he was at the cabin at the same time as meryl because that’s the only version of the story they know.

and that, right there, is the worst part of it all, isn’t it?

this version of events, with all its changes, has been presented multiple times as a stand-in for the actual game. it’s not the only one in this series, but it is the only one i’ve seen, and it veers so wildly from established canon that it actively changes several dynamics and story beats—and people without access to mgs1, or who don’t like the look of it, or can’t quite get into it, or aren’t able to play video games in the first place, are given this story as a way to bypass having to play it at all. it has been presented as being just as good as playing the game to see its story. it’s officially sanctioned konami content.

i genuinely hate it.

i liked a lot of things, like i said. some changes were good. psycho mantis was great. several of the VAs did a stellar job (though there was one part when otacon meets wolf and her dogs where the voice christopher randolph uses for him is exactly huey’s, so much so that it makes a genuine statement sound manipulative with that context, but this was recorded before peacewalker/mgs5 so it absolutely wasn’t intentional). a lot of it was a really interesting take on a familiar story, but some of the parts they changed just... were really bad. i was kind of fine with it when we finished it, but the more i thought about it, the angrier i got.

i don’t know what the point of this is. i mostly just wanted to get out my thoughts, i suppose. it drives me insane that this is billed the way it is, like a canon thing and not some fanciful retelling by a fan. i wish it was better, but i’m at least comfortable with the fact that a lot of people in this fandom don’t seem to have any open feelings about it, if they’ve seen it at all. mgs1 hasn’t been lost to history even a little bit, and i love that.

if we hadn’t skipped a lot of it, i’d probably have more to say, but also, i never want to see it again, so this is what you get. thanks for reading; i’m gonna write otasune fic now probably.

#metal gear solid #mgs #sorry for thinking so hard about otacon all of the time #tox.txt

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lemonsrosesandlavender · 1 day

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Questions about me!

Thanks for the tag, @sleketon666 ! 😄 won’t tag anyone else as this briefly veers into somewhat personal mental health territory (and is under the cut for mentions of that.) This was fun!

Do you make your bed?

Yes. Not super perfectly but I just kinda automatically tweak the covers on a morning.

What’s your favourite number?

Don’t think I have one. Numbers are more useful and interesting in aggregate haha.

What is your job? // A job you had that would surprise people?

Hmmm well not to go into too much detail, but my real-life work is in science. I guess that might surprise people who know me for my creative side over here! (But also problem-solving inherently requires creativity, and a good plot a good dose of planning and internal logic. Perhaps they aren’t so dissimilar after all ;) )

If you could go back to school would you?

What? Primary school? Secondary school? Non. Secondary was rough until sixth form. I was so fucking bored a lot of the time, and harassment in my school was rife. Although I would love to do lessons with my art teacher again; she was wonderful!

University-wise: already did. Horrible undergrad, in a very high-pressure place, that completely destroyed my sense of worth and all my plans for the future. Took a few years out, went somewhere less horrible, and crushed it. Ta-da! (I mean I’ll forever have a lot of lingering self-doubt but you know. I did the thing. And proved to myself I both love it and am good at it).

Can you parallel park? // Can you drive a manual car?

I hate cars (on both an experience level and an environmental/political level) and will avoid learning to drive for as long as I possibly can. Luckily I love big-city life, which makes that easier!

Do you think aliens are real?

For sure, in a balance-of-probabilities way. The universe is vast. Will we ever find them? Again, the universe is vast. At the very least though, there’s some alien microbes wiggling away out there. That’s fucking cool.

(And watch the science on this, bc we FINALLY have telescopes capable of surveying the spectra of some exoplanets. Exciting discoveries about other planets’ atmospheres to come, and their reflected light, which can provide indirect evidence of life!)

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Oh boy. Bad reality TV. It’s a guilty pleasure because I know it’s a) completely engineered and b) exploitative. (And c) complete brainrotting rubbish). But then someone says “the new series of Too Hot to Handle is out!” and OOPS I am THERE.

Tattoos?

Nope. I’m not a tattoo person. I think some people carry them off but I wear a lot of different clothing silhuoettes and don’t enjoy tattoos half-peeking out of cut-outs. (I just like a “neat” personal style I guess?)

Favourite Colour?

Mmm midnight blue-purple. Some colours are contextual: that one is always perfect. (But I love colour full stop!)

Any phobias?

WASPS holy shit wasps. I know it’s irrational as fuck, and I know they’re important to the ecosystem. That is, in fact, one of the few things I cling on to when they’re really freaking me out. But suffice to say, you’ll never catch me sitting outside a pub in September.

As a kid I was terrified of hand dryers and air conditioning vents. To the point I spent every supermarket trip looking up to see whether I was standing under a vent or not. It is perhaps not surprising I ended up with OCD lol.

Favourite type of music?

Late 70s/Early 80s new wave. Talking Heads and Blondie my beloveds. 80s alternative generally.

Do you talk to yourself?

Unfortunately mostly when I’m struggling with OCD. I’ll curse myself out and say horrible things to myself aloud as effectively emotional self-harm. It’s not nice. (Don’t worry, I’m ok ATM. And have had therapy).

I will muse to myself a little sometimes, on a more fun note.

Do you like puzzles?

Yes! I go through occasional phases of being seriously puzzle-obsessed. Love a good overly-complicated Sudoku variant.

What did you want to be as a child?

Palaeontologist, all the way. I LOVED dinosaurs and would read my dinosaur books constantly. I think my faves were T-rexes (OBVIOUSLY) and Parasauralophus (probably not how you spell that and I suspect my ten-year-old self would have done a better job!)

Coffee or Tea?

Love them both. I drink more coffee atm but tea is great too (Lapsang Souchong being my absolute favourite. I need to order more!) I am 100% a caffeine addict but I find it so soothing. Even when I’m anxious, I want a cup of tea (yeah, yeah, sensible it is not. But ahhhhhh so relaxing).

Favourite Movies?

Star Trek: The Voyage Home. Just everything good about TOS Trek. Wonderful.

The Sure Thing: Underrated 80s romcom gem about an uptight, studious girl and a slacker-but-sweetheart boy getting stuck on a road trip together. It’s got a lot of humour and a lot of heart. Plus a great instance of the “confession via essay read in class” trope, which I love. The gif below is from this movie!

It’s a Wonderful Life//A Muppet Christmas Carol - I adore a good Christmas movie, and these are the best. I’m an atheist, but I adore Christmas; to me, it’s about kindness, family and community, which is why these films have me bawling my fucking heart out every year. (Yes, I cry when muppet Tiny Tim says “god bless us, every one”. Fucking come at me. Sniffle).

#cabbage was tagged #seriously WATCH THE SURE THING #it’s so fucking good

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socksonvideo · 2 years

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OC ask game :p 1, 6, 10, 18, 26, 32 (apples-stables)

1. What’s their Zodiac Sign?

Capricorn! (made their b-day a day after mine so it was easier to remember bc i. forgot easily)

6. Are they a morning bird or night owl?

Night owl def, if they have to get up and the sun is shining directly in their window, then that mean it isn’t really time to get up. Sometimes switches into an actual healthy sleep schedule to be somewhat of a morning bird but other wise, night.

10. How did they get to Jorvik?

Plane! Their last ounce of normal life before coming to Jorvik. Probably a bit of a car drive too. Was probably dragged onto the plane because they didn’t want to leave Alaska. rip.

18. City-folk or Country-bumpkin?

Honestly, probably a mix of the two? They can appreciate both for different things.

Aspen likes the closeness of areas like Jorvik City, the buildings and all it has to offer. They especially enjoy Aideen’s Plaza, it’s nice to sit in the shade of the statue, and the ice cream just a trolley ride away is a nice perk. They also like the pigeons. However, the open fields are nice too! Places to run and hide, and not a lot of people out there. Open, fresh air, all that jazz. Does not help that they’re also caught in the middle of City and Country (Living out in a semi-isolated area that is also close to the city within walking distance)

tl;dr both!

(since i want to give an actual answer for someone though LMAO their older sister (olivia) is def a city-folk and their younger sister (claire) is a country-bumpkin)

26. What’s their favorite time of year?

Probably biased towards Fall just because Halloween! They love Halloween a ton, and they get to see their favorite guy tm Galloper! Since they both can’t talk it is a mutual bonding experience and Aspen loves it. They are totally communicating telepathically and you could never tell otherwise (they are not but aspen pretends they can)

Also just enjoys fall for the aesthetic. they like sweaters. and the leaves. perfect for collecting since they’re all falling off the trees now!

All the other seasons are close seconds based on events alone, however Winter is the furthest ahead for being birthday season, and also the somewhat snow that turns up around that time, reminds them of home.

32. What’s their favorite thing to do on horseback?

They !! love trail rides. So much. They love dragging Moss out to the most random places and just wandering around and relying on pure will alone to find their way back. If Aspen is lucky, Moss will remember secret spots from past lives and takes them there. It’s nice, it’s a vibe, they are still trying to scale the rocks blocking the road to the castle together.

If we’re talking more traditional horseback stuff (since their trail rides r whack) they love doing random disciplines. They tried trick riding once. It did not go well.

#i think i answered the right ones... shrug #aspen southfield #sso #sso oc #star stable

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changlixx · 2 years

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well for instance, chanlix and vmin are both considered the “soulmates” pairing, while there are a few who ship them romantically, the vast majority of the fandom sees them strictly as the platonic duo, the besties of the group, even those who are open to shipping. its like they’re both incredibly popular ships but not romantically? at least its one of the least problematic communities…whereas, and this brings me to the last comparison, jikook and taekook have somewhat antithetic fandoms (or so they wish to say), but it’s as if they merge into one when it comes to hyunlix? that’s why I couldn’t pick one in particular, it has traits of both sides; the fact that it wasn’t a thing prior to God’s menu era, and then their popularity skyrocketed all of a sudden thanks to some analysis and theories on YouTube, their visuals together (like the arena photoshoot), some viral TikToks, o8mori fanarts…and boom, they got the attention of so many locals which then became stays and hyunlix shippers. Like, the last live they had together got 1M likes on several tiktok clips, and the comments were so deranged, with how fast this ship is growing it reminds me a lot of TK. but considering the similarities between felix and jimin, a lot of jikookers also became hyunlixers, and they also brought w them the same kind of behavior, it’s kinda funny how as ARMYs they were at war, but as STAYs they agree on something. The real enemies to lovers;) I wish I could go on more because honestly, there’s so much more to call out, but I hope I got my point across. 😂

Anyways, all hail changlix

girl you're gonna get me in trouble.

but i agree. vmin and chanlix checks out. the part about the shippers being mostly chill too, although i've seen some deranged ass chanlixer behavior. my friend sometimes sends me posts from this chanlix blog that's just... well let's just say it's wild what the human mind can do. i read that blog and i'm like oh god, is that what i sound like when i talk about changlix? anyway, there's some crazy stuff but for the most part chanlixers are okay, just like vminers.

and as for jikookers and taekookers... yeah, i also think they're not as different as they like to think. one of the main aspects of the two groups being an intense need to prove that their ship is real, it's pretty strange. and maybe that's becoming a thing with hyunlixers too, i'm not too familiar with what goes on in that corner of the fandom tbh.

one commonality i see for sure is that when i was a yoonminer we were constantly attacked by jikookers, and now as a changlixer i'm regularly getting sour asks from hyunlixers. you don't see most of them bc i just delete them but hyunlixers are very mad about this blog existing lmao.

and no offense to any whole groups of shippers, i'm just talking about broad trends. i for sure have had plenty of bad experiences with jikookers but i'm sure most of them are perfectly nice people that are just doing their thing, just like hyunlixers. so if you feel offended by me saying that there's some alarming stuff going on in those shipping circles idk what to tell you. examine your shit.

#ask

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cantarella · 6 months

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I know what you mean about not feeling safe in the gi fandom from the jump. I’ve also bumped heads with some well known wlw creators for different, though still ridiculous, reasons. I’ve also seen the way a good number of ppl who ship popular wlw pairings (one in particular that I won’t name bc I’ll be eviscerated on the spot probably) have attacked/harassed other, usually rarepair, wlw shippers the same way cishet lesbophobes do in this fandom—infighting (I guess) over pixels just to be petty or feel superior or something. Which is just… so odd. This doesn’t even delve into the racism and colorism that you mentioned that festers the minds of so, so many popular wlw artists in this fandom (and they always get off scot-free when they’re called out, too.)

So while I do feel somewhat of a loss when it comes to so. many. sapphic creators and mutuals going “oh nvfr is kind of cute actually” out of nowhere, I’m not entirely surprised. Blocking people stresses me out, but it seems like the wisest choice 🥹

yeah еimiko shippers suck that much. no offense to all my mutuals who like them I like them too but jesus christ I've never had good experiences with their hardcore fans

anyway, I do encourage you and everyone to just block freely like unless they're your friend or mutual, so you reasonably find them fun people to be around and respect their opinions at least, then why force yourself to bear it. we'd hardly ever interact with these people anyway and they're not gonna be thankful bc we were nice enough not to block earlier. it's just not worth our peace of mind

#also sorry for the late replies the horrors (studying) were consuming me💔#chi.txt #ask #anonymous #teyvat talk

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waywardsalt · 6 months

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gonna ramble a lil bit abt loz au stuff so uhhhh

okokokokok. i cant go tooooo indepth abt bellum atm (iykyk) but im gonna. talk abt linebeck stuff specifically within au stuff bc hes fun to play with in aus esp since i hold the belief that he would be a bit different in aus on account of them tending to be very drastically different from canon. ofc the au set in space with hi tech and space travel and his backstory being that [REDACTED]. dw abt the space au idk if ill even get around to spilling the beans on that one any time soon lmao

like ok i have a whole bunch of aus and linebeck teeeends to play a major role in a lot of those aus bc Of Course and bc i think hes interesting

anyways heres the list of aus (took me ages to find this in my archive) but like. it is fun to experiment and be like ok how would this character act in work in x setting with y circumstances and z goals. theres a lil bit of nudging/shoving out of character w/ linebeck in some of these that im trying to wrangle back under control while keeping the story intact while some are fine cuz its like. vastly difference circumstances understandable. gotta keep some staples the same tho

like… without spoiling too much about any of these, crimson king au linebeck is like… hes similar to canon personality wise, if a bit more ruthless, while space au linebeck is just. Out There with some of that same greed and jumpiness, gimmick au linebeck is very much the same but with loftier ambitions and more of a willingness to risk getting hurt for something, in the modern au(s) hes going to be a bit different due to. well. technology going through full schooling meeting different people.

a lot of the fun differences are best expressed through how he fights or what kinds of conflicts he comes into contact with, and i usually try to think to myself how canon linebeck might prefer to fight and then somewhat sticking to that idea while branching out to fit circumstances and setting. crimson king au has him using a pair of knives and fighting in a style that keeps him dodging and moving quickly and aiming to dispatch as quickly as possible. space au linebeck is first and foremost a sniper, with some ‘fights like a cornered animal’ flavoring tossed in. gimmick au linebeck has to learn to fight, but fights dirty and takes every advantage and cheat he can find.

its fun to tinker with his relationships with returning characters too. i have a lot of wiggle room with his relationship with bellum, but i always like to root it in the idea that bellum finds him interesting and ends up being some form of beneficiary due to circumstances. it’s interesting with link, too, they’re usually close or grow to be close, kind of sticking with the idea that they make a good team, in the crimson king au theyre adoptive brothers, in space au theres a sort of (one-sided) rivalry going on, gimmick au is uh… complicated so its fun, in a few aus like the modern or… one of the ruined hyrules they only know each other in passing, and in some theyve never met before. other characters that are fun to play with are zelda, ranging from being enemies to close friends, ganondorf, extremes being an au literally centered around ganonbeck and then an au where they are enemies in a sense, midna is fun to play with, so is ghirahim, it’s fun to see how his relationship with other characters can be taken in different aus

the different designs are also a lot of fun, but theres not a ton i can say here (some aus hes pretty much the same as canon, but a few have him with alternate designs, or both. his space au design is prob my favorite lol. that au is fun)

a few times i have to forcibly put him in a background spot or smth so i cant constantly focus on him while hes still important (murder mystery au is a good example, hes important but not generally to the larger plot, hes kinda just a character who ends up somewhat helping in investigation, other examples being the amnesia link au where hes [REDACTED] and therefore not present for like. half of the story, or the gimmick au, where he has his own stuff to do apart from link and co, or the general modern one, where that one is generally meant to have a larger cast so i. just cant focus on him lol)

au stuff is fun with linebeck i get to put him into highly varied and highly specific Situations

#i may delete this later bc this is specifically to get my mind off of things #salty talks #no tags this post itself is basically a ‘formal’ tag rant

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starlight-miraidon · 1 year

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Sage in Violet notes!!! Many. Many of them. Be prepared for a long ass read. ALSO BE AWARE THAT I HAVE NOT FINISHED THE GAME. I HAVE GOTTEN TO HAVING THE GLIDING ABILITY AS WELL AS HAVE DEFEATED THE ELECTRIC GYM LEADER BUT THAT IS IT. This means these notes might change!

Applied for the school after making a home in Galar bc they were wanting a bit of a change of pace from constant gym league adventuring, and after getting back from Hisui through a massive miracle, she just REALLY wants to spend time back in the modern era around other modern people.

Kept the short hair from Hisui, in fact, they had it cut up a little more to the point where her hair is almost entirely conceled under the hat. It’s much easier to adventure with shorter hair. The countless near-death experiences in ancient time taught them that.

Director sees the application and goes HOLY SHIT no way this kid applied for our school. Sage obviously became a big deal after stopping LITERAL GODS AND EVIL ORGANIZATIONS from DESTROYING EARTH at 10-12 years old with an eevee as a partner. Also the whole talking to pokemon thing. Their win against Leon was fueled by the fact that they REALLY wanted to get on air and set their new name and gender straight for the world. It’s not like people can disrespect her identity. All those godly pokemon that they set free are still out there and are still attached to Sage emotionally.

Having Sage at the school would be a big deal because of their already newsworthy status, so you can expect that they were entered into the school as soon as possible.

Freshly 16, she sets foot into Paldea, trying to go mostly new for this place they leave almost every pokemon behind. Zeraora decided to stay behind on their own, and so for the first time in forever, it’s just Sage and Cocoa. A permanent home means a permanent place for all those pokeballs to go to. Leon’s family can handle it.

Bentley! That’s the name of the Sprigatito that Sage immediately latches onto. He is very excited to be a part of this team, and Cocoa will make an excellent big sister. He’s a very sweet boy full of excitement, and as he evolves, that excitement is channeled into battle energy. He’s somewhat of a Puss n’ Boots himself.

Sage and Nemona get along really great! Nemona’s firey spirit reminds them of their brother (both of them honestly) and her being champion ranked means maybe there can be some weight off of their own back.

Meeting Miraidon was such a weird experience. Sage has met techy pokemon plenty of times before, but there was something different about this one. They could feel Miraidon’s thoughts almost, there was a connection make with the cries this pokemon made, but it was almost like nothing was translating at all. Not even the tiniest bit. Not at first, at least. By the time that they bumped into Arven at the lighthouse the communication was starting to come to fruition.

Still, incredibly strange for Sage to be unable to understand Miraidon.

Arven and Sage...putting it up front, they’re a thing. A romantic relationship. Nobody’s age is ever specified in these games, but it’s a group consensus amongst many people I’ve talked to that Arven has to be like 18 at the most, but is far more likely to be 16-17, so I’m clocking him at 16 for now. Same age as Sage. Anyways, Arven wasn’t directly attracted to Sage when they first met, but they both had some feelings in their chests (Sage had the feelings stronger). These feelings would only grow later on.

“Not ANOTHER evil team-” “Sage, it’s just Team Star, they’re just another group of students-” “I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM EVERY DAY???” “They don’t show up to class-”

Sage likes Penny. Eevee likers unite. They complimented her backpack.

Surprisingly thrives at the school, and also very happy to have time to bond with Miraidon. FINALLY the two of them can understand each other better! Miraidon’s pronouns are he/they, and he feels a close connection to Sage already. Despite the fact they’d just met, it’s like one simple action of feeding this pokemon a sandwich cemented a close bond between the two, and now Miraidon feels an incredible urge to guard Sage.

On the way to the school, they’d collect some more pokemon too. Farro the Fidough, Tuffon the Lechonk, River the Azurill, and Webby the Tarountula. Not all of these guys stuck around for the later leg of the adventure, but they were around for Sage’s time at the school before the independent study.

Sage spent lots of time hanging around Arven when school started. Just as a way to be friends at first, but that friendship really blossomed in the first couple weeks, and it wasn’t long before they were having lunch out together in town or studying for tests late at night. They were nervous to tell anyone about their relationship at first, but now they’re comfortable to be a little sappy in the open. Sage has earned a chance to sit down and finally get to spend time with a partner after everything she’s been through.

They’re totally holding off telling their families abt the relationship though, they’ve got enough to worry abt being in school and all.

JUMPED at the opportunity to travel and battle the titans with Arven. What’s more fun than playing soccer with Miraidon and her boyfriend out on the school fields? Riding across the lands and gathering mystical herbs to make sandwiches that ALSO help this awesome purple machine beast get stronger and cooler? Sounds like the perfect date to Sage.

They still take on gyms though! Trying to manage both the gym challenges and the titans, saving the Team Star junk for after Miraidon gets full power. Or close to full power, at least.

Meets a Cyclizar, Thunder. Miraidon takes Thunder in as a sort of little brother. They’re similar pokemon, right? Why not call each other family.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon violet #pokemon s&v #pokemon oc #my oc #Pokemon Champions

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vonkarma2 · 2 years

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♋️ rocio and angel?

that would actually be hilarious sorry I’m probably not going to write that much for this cause it’s hard to come up with like in depth ideas but let’s see. I think Rocio would be like a sheltered academic, very interested in magic but with 0 chance of ever experiencing it themselves. They’re very dedicated to studying it and have a lot of secondhand knowledge, but no firsthand experience with magical like creatures or spells or anything. Angel becoming a wizard is a lot harder to justify lol umm maybe if he was a legitimate child recognized as royalty, so he doesn’t really have any power politically he’s pretty much just a rich kid. I think he’d actually be more chill and less entitled this way though, bc what made him that way was a lack of interaction with other people. But yeah maybe if he became interested enough in magic he would want to pursue it and would probably get a lot of support in doing so like monetarily. He has a lot of natural curiosity so I can see that happening. This would have to take place a little further in the future bc Rocio becoming a wizard at 23 is an insane outlier with a lot of special circumstances around it, no way Angel would ever be able to do it at 19. So maybe like 1948-1950 is when it would happen as opposed to 1940.

It taking place in the future has way more of an impact on the story than the character swap lol like would the Reles takeover had worked if Rocio hadn’t gotten involved I don’t think so tbh. Cirillo doesn’t really need to be in the main story bc this is Rocio is relatively well adjusted au (I think he still would be friends with them though and have lived with them in the past, but since moved out). Tiago never gets murdered so honestly he’s probably doing very well, bc of this Gloria and Jacinto never get involved. Rocio might actually die in this bc the wolf demon and Victor were originally supposed to kill Angel since they couldn’t kill a wizard directly. Maybe she’d get killed in the second world bc Angel isn’t as serious a threat of this as they were in the main story so Gabriel (<he has a name now B)))) it’s been like a year since he was created. I might change it Iol bc it has to work as both a human name and a god name so it has to be somewhat but not too dramatic yk) wouldn’t send (subconsciously he is not fully conscious during this time) send assassins to kill them until they were actually in the second world and started having the active intent to kill him. Would Victor be alive so we know the wolf demon got sick of him and wanted to kill him at 1940 but honestly Victor is pretty smart I think he could have escaped or even killed him first. Let’s go with killing him bc fuck that guy. But I think he’s stop being an assassin after that and try to live his own life, and now that he’s an adult I think he’d be successful in that. Since I control the narrative here he might even like help Angel and Rocio that could be fun :)

Ok wait I guess the premise of this au would be Angel is a wizard pretty good at actually doing magic but he doesn’t know enough abt the theory and history and whatever, so Rocio is his like research partner on their joint project to open a portal to the second world and do research on it while there. However since we’re following the original story and bc Angel is still for the most part similar to how he was in the original story (<more mature ofc bc of his different upbringing and being almost fucking 30, and more relaxes, but he has like a similar outlook on life like both the good and bad aspects of it) I think they’d both eventually piece together like how becoming the god of the second world works, and he’s really want to try it, rocio would want to stop him from doing something stupid and insane (<also because it would inconvenience her personally, also she doesnt really trust Angel), but I think his authority and ability to do magic would outrank her and he’d be able to try to like climb the tower ascend to godhood whatever. But he’d fail and die </3 the end <3 that’s my idea

#I was wrong it did end up being kinda long RIP #I keep forgetting Angel is technically a prince even if he’s not treated as such<and so does he I think #which I find really funny #also how so many characters end up having nothing to do with anything just from this change #my ocs #rocio satapathy #angel castillo #thanks for sending this though I think this is honestly a pretty solid concept #for an au at least

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wayfaringmd · 2 years

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I keep hearing about how birth control pills affect fertility-is there any truth to that? Not just your body adjusting to being off the pill but like months or years after? Also, have you had the experience of PCPs or OBs favoring certain BC methods over others? In my area, it seems like pills are more prescribed versus IUDs, for example.

Nonsense! Preposterous! Balderdash!

Birth control pills only affect fertility while you take them. They are designed to prevent ovulation (release of an egg to be fertilized), but when they are stopped ovulation resumes normally within a few months.

Pills are likely prescribed more often than IUDs for several reasons. 1) pills are used for more indications than just birth control (like acne, PMS, heavy bleeding, irregular bleeding, etc), 2) pills are cheap 3) pills are non-invasive, and 4) pills are easily discontinued. Not everyone wants long term contraception on board, and many people don’t want to have to undergo a somewhat uncomfortable procedure to get an IUD or implant placed. Add to that the fact that some people are just weirded out by IUDs. Patient preference is one of the biggest factors in choosing a contraceptive.

As for choosing a type of contraceptive to prescribe, any doctor who prescribes birth control pills over some other form based on a lazy personal preference is committing malpractice at some point. There are many different types of birth control because there are many types of patients who may need it. To prescribe pills willy-nilly with no consideration of a patient’s history of things like smoking, breast cancer, blood clots, migraine auras, and other things, is terrible doctoring. Contraceptive pills that have estrogen and progesterone in them (Combined OCPs, or cOCPs) increase a person’s risk of blood clots, so if they have other risk factors for clotting it’s an absolute no-no to prescribe them. You may see OBs show a preference for progesterone-only pills (POPs) in the immediate post partum period, and this preference is because delivery increases the clotting risk even more than baseline and combined OCPs may dry up milk supply.

We all have our pet pills though that we go to when they’re the right choice for the patient. There are tons of different brands of cOCPs, and they all contain ethinyl estradiol and some form of progesterone (there are about 5 out there), though there are some varying dose options as well. They’re all essentially the same so we generally pick one we know our local pharmacies have and write that one as our standard starting OCP unless we need to play around with the dose a little.

I didn’t get the second part of your message, so I hope this answered everything nonny!

#birth control #contraception #medblr #the pill #iuds

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heniareth · 3 years

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I was really curious about what your opinions on the DAO companions are :) I know we have talked about some, but I'd love to hear more and about the others as well :D I hope it's ok to pose this as an ask :)

Sure! That sounds like a ton of fun. This might be a long one tho. Mind you, this is not the finished version of the answer. I'd like to link stuff and add a cut, but rn that's not possible. I'll update it when I can.

Edit: I have updated it ^^

Let's go alphabetically bc why not.

Alistair:

Sweet guy. So sweet. There was a moment when I was hard pressed chosing between him and Zevran (alas, Zevran won). Also, he's weirdly tall according to the wiki? How did I not notice that before?

Let's get a bit more serious now, Alistair is a great guy. The only reason he's not the hero of the story is because he doesn't want to. He has all the qualities of a leader: he's good at dealing with conflict (as evident with the conversation with the mage at the beginning. He gets where he wants to get without antagonizing the mage, but without allowing him to trample all over him). He's a solid tactitian and knows how to make allies (he suggests to use the Grey Warden treaties, after all). I bet if he was in the leadership position, he'd even not bicker with Morrigan. His moral code is pretty tight; some might say too tight, but I think it's less about the moral code and more about learning to judge people by their actions, not by the labels they fit into (Morrigan is a proud apostate and therefore bad. Wynne is a humble circle mage and therefore good). He also has a bit of a black-and-white way of seeing the world. I empathize a lot with Alistair, especially with his experience with the Chantry and his subsequent reluctance to deal with it. I really wish I had gotten to know more about concrete experiences he had during his training as templar, but he seems reluctant to talk about it (gee, I wonder why).

Since I've only played the game once, I haven't really picked up on Arl Eamon's abuse towards him, which apparently exists (Isolde, however... I mean, even if he were Eamon's illegitimate son, he's a kid, ma'am, he didn't exactly get to chose his parents. So that's so not okay). Alistair's way of speaking about them both, however, is either sign that he has not come within a hundred miles of acknowledging how much it hurt him, or that he's already gone through the whole process and has decided to forgive them. The latter shows a very strong character; yes, he relies on the approval and leadership of others, he has his issues, but he's already started working on them.

That being said, irl Alistair would be like a little brother to me. I'd tease him relentlessly (all in good fun and I promise to stop if it makes him uncomfortable, but he's just so teasable). I still wish the videogame gave him the chance to take important decisions for himself. But that, of course, would somewhat defeat the point of the game.

Leliana:

Another sweet, sweet person. Her singing voice is amazing. Her belief in the Maker inspires me (I'm a religious person and seeing religious characters represented in a positive light is Very Cool. It's also sometimes a source of discomfort, because the Church has done a lot of very messed up stuff and positive representation can sometimes veer into apologetics for things that should not be excused, but that's a whole other can of worms. The bottom line is that religious characters sometimes work for me and other times don't and Leliana works for me very much bc she's an outsider inside the Chantry).

Leliana is best friend material, tbh. I'd love to get to know her irl, discuss theology and philosophy and maybe even politics? She makes mistakes and has prejudices, but, tbh, so do I. And I do get the feeling that she tries her best to learn. From the times she intervenes in a conversation between the Warden and an NPC, she shows herself to be compassionate and open to the needs of others. What I get from her character is that she genuinely wants to help, which is something that I adore of her. I suspect that she sometimes has a hard time deciding wether she's a good person or not. She has killed and seduced and worked for a morally dubious person, and she doesn't show the same nonchalance about it as Zevran (though they both do discuss their line of work in very... professional terms). This is, however, more of a headcanon than actual factual canon.

I also very much enjoy her girly side, like her interest in shoes and dresses. She's one badass woman who also looses her cool about the latest fashions in Val Royeaux. I like that. Between her and Alistair, a non human noble Warden has as good a help to navigate the Fereldan court as they're going to get. Leliana is also, I can't forget that, clever and insightful. It'd be easy to write her off as the innocent chantry girl, but she's so much more than that. Her kindness is paired with foresight, I think. She knows that taking on the trouble to help now can go a long way in the future. I just have a lot of respect for her.

Loghain:

This one's gonna be short bc I didn't recruit him. He's an amazing villain and would probably be a great Warden as well. He reminds me of Denerhor from LOTR; once a hero/stewart of his people, ambition and desperation have driven them both down a terrible path. I have also only little idea about his past. People say he lost a lot, and I believe it wholeheartedly; it doesn't excuse the fact that he plunged the country into a civil war in the middle of a Blight. I don't have a lot of sympathy for short-sighted politicians. I wish he hadn't made himself regent. That's what I take away from his character.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention that really impressed me was his death. I had Alistair duel him (that was a rough duel), and then it kinda just jumped to a cutscene of my Warden nodding and Alistair executing him. That didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to kill Loghain, and less so in front of Anora. But what impressed me was that Loghain just accepted it. That takes a whole lot of guts. Compare that to Howe's death, and how he screams out that he deserved (more, probably, or anything but death) and it's crystal clear who the more noble of the two is. Loghain strikes me as very lawful neutral, and any neutral alignment has the particularity that it can be dragged towards good or bad, sometimes without the characters noticing it (which is interesting from a DnD perspective; neutral is often concieved of as just as stable as good or evil, but that may not be true. But that's a different post). Anyway, Loghain's death was impactful.

Morrigan:

I could kick myself for not maxing out her approval in the first play-through. I got to enjoy a bit of her friendship by the end of it and boy was even that little bit worth it. Friendship with Morrigan is something that is hard-won. It's all the more precious because of that.

Morrigan is full of paradoxes, I think. She's incredibly wise in some ways, yet also very short-sighted (”just kill them, don't solve their problems”. Morrigan, dear, I'm not going to gain a lot of allies if I kill everybody who poses a problem to me). She is so intelligent, but emotionally... not so. She knows so much about some things, and very little about the next. She's incredibly wilful and knows what she wants, but follows Flemeth's orders all the time through. She hungers for power and independence, yet craves closeness, but won't allow herself to have it. She asks you to prove yourself to her and is extremely critical of your actions, I think, because she's afraid. She bites the hand that feeds her because it might hit her next.

Like with Eamon, I haven't managed to catch the undercurrent of abuse that seems to permeate Flemeth's relationship with Morrigan. Except there are signs, because there must be something Morrigan is scared of and who has instilled all that rage in her, and that's Flemeth. Also, she clearly hates/does not care about her and wants her dead (unless killing Flemeth was part of Flemeth's plan as well? Hm.)

Morrigan is that one person who you are nice to, continuously, because nobody else is. And suddenly she becomes less cold. And then friendly. And suddenly you're asking yourself why everybody hates her, because she's a really good friend! I just wish the other companions came to a similar conclusion, especially Alistair and Wynne.

Oghren:

They did this man dirty. He has such great lines and I'm convinced he was a great person before Branka disappeared. He has that dwarven warrior spirit, and while he looks like Gimli, some of his most impactful lines remind me of Dwalin or even Thorin Oakenshield himself. He could be so noble had he gotten some character development, damnit!

Oghren as he is written is somewhat disgusting. I hate the lechering comments and the drunkenness. And still, I don't hate him because of those amazing lines he has when he's actually sober. It's frustrating and I'll give him that character development myself if the game won't. I strongly associate the song Whiskey Lullaby with him, bc that's how he would have ended up if the Warden hadn't taken him along (warning: the song talks about suicide and alcoholism). Like I said, they could have done such cool things with his character. As he is written now... it's just sad. Moments of lucidity drowned in alcohol and creepy jokes. As you can see, I don't blame the character for either. The alcoholism happens all too often irl. The creepy jokes... I put that one on the writers' tab.

I actually think Oghren could have been a great mentor figure (I know, I shock myself as well sometimes). Next to the Grey Wardens, the ones who know most about fighting darkspawn are the dwarves because they have to deal with them constantly. Especially a warrior caste dwarf like Oghren could have brought a lot of that invaluable knowledge to the team, especially since there are no Grey Wardens in Ferelden but two extremely green recruits. Next, you get the chance to give Oghren the command of the teammates you leave behind in the battle of Denerim with the reason that he has lead men into battle before. Where did that suddenly come from? Oghren should have been right up there telling my Warden that they were doing this wrong, that they needed more food (and booze) and a confident leader to keep the armies they've called together going. Oghren should have been able to tell my civilian city elf who got recruited into the Grey Wardens a six months ago how one leads an army. How one presents oneself to inspire confidence, how one doesn't crack under the pressure, how one gets the leaders of said armies (some who hate each others guts i.e. Dalish elves and humans) to work together. And, last but not least, Oghren could have had a great story about grief. This is a man who has lost most of what made him (and what he hasn't lost he's spilling down the drain with every mug of ale). This is a man who, if you take him into the Deep Roads, has to see what his wife did to his family, how his wife got absolutely obsessed, and can be forced to kill said wife or watch her die. All Wardens loose their home and families at the start of the story. It would really have rounded the whole narrative out if the Warden and Oghren could have recognised their grief in each other and hashed it out somehow. Such as it is, Oghren is a depressed drunkard and there is nothing we can do about that. I find that frustrating.

Rascal (a.k.a. Dog):

Best boy. 100/10. I wish we had gotten to see the reaction of the different origins to the mabari (because elves probably have a whole different experience with them from mages or humans. And dwarves just... I think they straight up have none? XD). Other than that, no complaints. The name Rascal was the one I gave my dog because you have to be a right rascal to survive what he did and play the pranks he plays. Smartest breed in the world indeed.

Shale:

Shale is one of those characters that I recruited rather late in the game, so I haven't had the chance to explore their personality and worldview, really. I didn't even get to take them to the Deep Roads (this will be ammended in playthrough nr. 2). As such, I don't have particularly strong opinions on them (or her? The wiki refers to Shale as 'it', but that sounds weird). But, because I know so little about Shale, I have a lot of questions. First, what were they like before they were a golem? Shayle, as she was called then, was the best warrior of her time if I remember correctly. Why did she become a golem? Was it to be able to eternally protect her people? Was the sarcasm the golem Shale exhibits also part of the dwarven warrior Shayle or did that come later (if for thirty years you have nobody to talk to but yourself, you better be entertaining. And I can imagine how it could make somebody terribly jaded as well).

Next, how attached is Shale to their golem form, exactly? According to the banter, they infinitely prefer it to a squishy fleshy form. If that is the case, however, why go to Tevinter to try and become a squishy dwarf again? It's not like that process could be reversed if they wanted to become a golem again; if Shale survives to the end of the game, the Anvil of the Void is destroyed and Caridin is dead. Was the whole spiel about their indestructible form a façade? It might have been, but not because Shale actually disliked their form. I think it would have more to do with the loss of their memories and with the very invasive experiments and alterations of Shale's body made by the mage Wilhelm. The loss of memories means that Shale is unable to remember life as a fleshy creature. They might be deflecting by pretending that they didn't care for that experience anyway because of the superiority of their golem form. The modifications made to their form by Wilhelm would have alienated them from their body. In light of this, it's significant that Shale asks the Warden to decorate their form with crystals.

All of this is, of course, pure speculation. I may have easily missed or forgotten details that would disprove the above thoughts. All in all, I like Shale and I hope we meet them again in DA4 (given that it's mostly set in Tevinter). It's a liking from a respectful distance, because Shale is tall and made out of rock and also way more experienced than I will ever be (they are literally the oldest member of the Warden's little Blight fighting squad).

Sten:

Sten is another person I'd keep a respectful distance from physically. That seems to be the what he would prefer, at least. I've enjoyed his character a lot, especially because he seems pretty clear-cut at first, but slowly lets the nuance of his person show (gruff and stoic, but then he has an eye for art, a sweet tooth and he likes cute animals). It's also very interesting that there's no moment when you learn "the truth" about him the way you do with Zevran or Leliana. There's no big reveal about his life under the Qun before coming to Ferelden. He says he was sent to monitor the Blight, but honestly? If neither Ferelden nor Orlais knew there was a Blight, how could the Qunari know? I think he's lying, and he takes his secrets back with him when he leaves Ferelden. And yet I think I know him enough to say that a Warden who has become friends with him has nothing to fear from Sten.

One thing I find very interesting about Sten is how he thinks. His conversation about how women can't be soldiers has been analysed a lot on this page I think. He seems to be arguing based on a different paradigma than the one the Warden has. He also seems to have a very clear-cut view of the world. What is fascinating to me is that, when arguing with the Warden and learning about their culture, he is not necessarily becoming more lax about his worldview. I think it's more likely that he is expanding his paradigma, the structure of thought through which he understands the world. I don't think that he is now convinced that women can be warriors as well. I think he rather understands that, in Ferelden, the relationship between occupation and gender is different than under the Qun. Which of the two he thinks is more right or more agreeable, I have no idea. I'm also not very interested in that. But I find it fascinating how he always seems to be looking on quietly, gathering data, classifying it and trying to fit it into his understanding of how the world works. I wouldn't be surprised at all if his original party was a scouting party to see how vulnerable Ferelden was at that moment to outside forces. One thing I don't understand with all of this is why he urges the Warden to meet the Blight head on. No smart soldier would suggest that, except if they are foolishly proud (and Sten doesn't seem like that kind of guy tbh). I get that the Warden takes way longer to gather allies than expected because they first have to solve all of their allies' problems. But surely Sten sees the need to have allies? Is he just that impatient? Does he have a death wish (à la, I lost my sword and am without honour, better to die sooner than later and in glorious battle)? Was he his group's previous commander and is he now having trouble following somebody else's orders? Or maybe it's his way to make sure the Warden knows what they are doing? To push them into becoming the self-assured commander their allies will need once they're all gathered? I really don't know. I like the last option best, however.

For me, Sten is my fellow, more experienced soldier. Like Alistair, he can potentially be the Warden's brother in arms, but he's definitely the older brother here. He probably doesn't take kindly to tearful confessions of how hard everything is, but I feel like he's otherwise a solid rock to lean on. I feel like the Warden can trust him to do what is necessary and count on him no matter what, especially after they get his sword back. His devotion from that point on is honestly so powerful.

Wynne:

Wynne was such a support for my Warden (except with the whole conversation about love vs. duty and that she may have to choose between Zevran and ending the Blight and that she should therefore break up with him. Wynne had a point. Astala was so not willing to sacrifice her relationship with Zevran. But the whole conversation came at a point where she was already so disillusioned that she blew up in Wynne's face (”can i please just have one (1) nice thing????”)). But all in all, Wynne is great.

She has a lot of flaws. She was very marked by her life in the Cricle and, for all her age, she has little experience living outside of it. She is also a conformist despite her strong moral core. In a way, her ability to find peace with her lot in life impresses me deeply because it speaks to a lot of strength of character. Sadly, however, strength can be ill applied and used to suppress. I think she has convinced herself that the Chantry is right under (almost) all circumstances to be able to rationalize the life that mages live. She's had her son taken away from her as a baby and an apprentice killed. Her reaction seems to have been to convince herself that this was right, or for the greater good (and now I'm thinking about the Guardian's question at the temple of Andraste's Ashes; are you wise or do you just repeat what others have told you? The answer is not as clear-cut as it might be). This is why she is so irritated by Zevran and Morrigan. By aligning herself with the Chantry, she is, in her eyes, good. Zevran and Morrigan are not; they do not conform to Chantry morality and they defend themselves tooth and nails against somebody who would try and convert them. This is something Wynne never allowed herself to do; she always did the "right" thing and it has cost her so much. I'm not saying she was right (it would probably have done her some good to rebel from time to time, and to trust her own gut instinct more), but in light of this, it hardly surprises me that she's so judgamental. She has to be, or she would be forced to confront all the evil she has not fought against all those years and all the hurt that has been caused to her by the very institution she protects (and thank God she only tries to argue and can appreciate it when people have found a good life outside of her comfort zone. If she tried to convince by force or, for example, drag her former apprentice back to the Circle... boy oh boy that would get ugly). If you think about it, Wynne really is a good example for what happens if you live by a philosophy of always choosing the lesser evil.

Something that I keep forgetting over her grandmotherly and dignified character is how damn powerful she is. She has escaped the carnage at Ostagar; HOW!? She protected those mage apprentices in the Circle tower for God knows how long. In the battle of Denerim, she wades through an army and comes out alive on the other side. The wiki lists her age at 40, I think, but that doesn't make a lick of sense unless 75 years of age are the Fereldan equivalent to 100. This lady, about whom people make grandmother jokes, did all that. It's impressive.

Zevran:

You know, I would really love to know what Wynne thinks about the events at Kirkwall in DA2. It might be a disaster for her, or it might pave the way for one last bit of character development. She certainly didn't want to return to the Circle after fighting the Blight. That may be an indicator of some change in her stance on the Circle of Magi.

Edit: I forgot that she is what the Circle considers a literal abomination! Holy cow, how could I forget that?? Anyway, her conversation about what being an abomination means is so... heartbreaking, actually. It's so tentative. So careful. "Am I an abomination? Am I the same thing that has killed my students? The same thing as Uldred? Am I lost and damned? Did I invite this spirit in? Is this my fault?" Like wow, Wynne is going through something huge right there. I love it. I have to continue playing the game to see what it ends up as, but it's fascinating and such a huge thing that she allows the Warden in on that.

Ah, Zevran, my beloved (he has stolen my heart so much it's not even funny anymore). He's funny, he's charming, he's so so loyal and it breaks my heart. Zevran is the one about whom I've read most meta: these three wonderful posts for instance, as well as this one about his possible lack of scars, and this one about his lack of freedom. All of these have influenced my opinion of him and they are great reads.

I have talked about Zevran with you before, so I'll just skip to the new stuff. I have come to conclusion that Zevran is an artist at heart. This is totally not biased by the fact that I also do art, but hear me out. One of his preferred gifts are bars of silver and gold. While those have the obvious utility of basically functioning as money (they can be sold to any silversmith or goldsmith and their value is pretty stable through time and in different countries), there's also this from his codex: "Zevran shows an affinity for the finer things in life—hardly surprising for an Antivan Crow—but his appreciation can be more poetic than he lets on. A simple bar of refined silver or gold, uncomplicated by a craftsman's hammer, is elegantly valuable." Tell me that is not an artist's eye that sees that gold and sees the beauty in it. Then, there's also the meta about Zevran the Seducer which I linked above and link here again. It talks specifically about how he lets himself enjoy the target and be seen in his enjoyment. Tell me that is not an artist's eye that beholds the beauty of something he is set out to destroy. Even his talk about his assassinations show this. He talks about it as an art, the way somebody would talk about the brutal intervention in stone that produces a sculpture. Yes, it's a rationalization of the act of killing and yes killing is still wrong. But he doesn't go on about it on a moral tangent the way Alistair or Wynne would (”this person was bad, killing them was necessary”) or even through the argument of survival like Morrigan would (”it was either them or me and it sure as Hell wasn't going to be me”). He talks about the pleasure of a job well done, of the satisfaction of striking the precise point and executing a plan to the perfection so as to minimize chances of discovery and to make a clean death possible. And pleasure in seeing and in doing, this I firmly believe, is absolutely fundamental for an artist.

My favourite part about my Warden and Zevran as a pairing is that Zevran precisely brings out that ability to take your pleasures as they come and to really savour them. Fighting the Blight is tough; it's so important to find good things amidst the chaos to stay sane. If Astala saves Zevran from himself by offering him a place to stay and a purpose, Zevran saves Astala from herself by keeping her from running herself into the ground trying to save the world.

There are some things I don't like about Zev. The incessant flirting, for example, sometimes makes me uncomfortable (it becomes enjoyable for me once the Warden and him are in a relationship, but before that? Nah, no thanks). I wish he would also leave the other female characters alone (and there's so many more shameless comments of his aimed at Morrigan, Leliana or Wynne than at Alistair or maybe even Sten).

---

And that's my take on the Origins companions (this was rather long. Whew ^^' I hope it was still readable and that you enjoyed it!!) Thank you so much for the ask!! It's been a joy thinking about this. I was worrying at first that the less prominent companions like Sten or Shale wouldn't get as much content but... well XD

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realcube · 3 years

Text

trying to be nice to their crush hcs

navi | masterlist | taglist

thank you to 🍦anon for this cute request!

characters: tsukishima, kyōtani, sakusa & suna

content warning: swearing & sexual references

kei tsukishima

♡ this is all yamaguchi’s fault （︶^︶）

♡ he found out tsukki had a crush on you bc he mentioned you a lot in conversation so yamaguchi interrogated him for answers then lo and behold, the beanpole had a lil thing for you

♡ you sit in front of tsukishima in homeroom while yamaguchi sits beside him so when you leaned back and asked him if you could borrow a pencil and he spat back a snarky remark about you being too irresponsible to care for your own pencils, yamaguchi hastily offered you one of his own before scolding tsukishima

♡ he explained to his clueless friend that being nasty to people isn’t a good way to get them to like you

♡ so perhaps he should be nicer :)

♡ honestly, tsukishima would’ve just looked yamaguchi straight in the eyes and went ‘no’, if it wasn’t for the fact you shot tadashi the sweetest smile anD PLAYFULLY BLEW HIM A KISS AFTER HE JUST GAVE YOU A DAMN PENCIL LIKE WTF

♡ after that, he decided to give up his current personality and pick up a new one

♡ jk jk

♡ but he had to binge a whole bunch of those youtube psychology videos that are like ‘psychological tricks to make people like you’ and ‘THESE 5 MIND TRICKS WILL MAKE YOU THE MOST POPULAR PERSON *EVER*’!!

♡ spoiler alert: he wasn’t the most popular person but perhaps that was bc he only went to the effort of using those tricks on you

♡ god bless him; he tries hard, he really does. (not his best, just hard)

♡ but you don’t have to be extremely observant to realise that he’s began acting different around you and of course, it confused you seeing tsukishima being nice

♡ what irritated you was how dismissive he was being of your questions though, as he was clearly trying to lead you to believe that you were crazy and he’s just always been a nice guy

♡ but as soon as he figures out that he angered you, he’ll instantly switch back to him normal self - draining his mind of the hours of phycology studying he did last night to just pretend like it never happened

♡ and if he’s feeling flirty, he might be extra mean to you （￣︶￣）

♡ also he makes a mental note to never take yamaguchi’s romance advice ever again 🙄

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

you sighed, removing your hand from your bag after desperately rummaging through it in search of a pencil once again - deja vu. once you accepted that a pencil wasn’t going to materialise out of thin air, you peered over your shoulder and tapped the corner of yamaguchi’s desk, who wore a suspicious grin which you decided against questioning.

“yamaguchi, do you think i could borrow a pencil again? sorry, this is the last time, i swear. i’ll be sure to get some on my way home after school tod--”

yamaguchi dropped the line him and tsukishima had rehearsed many times beforehand, while clutching his pencilcase dear to his chest, “woah, (y/n). you’re so irresponsible. sorry, i can’t lend one of my pristine pencils to someone who is too forgetful to remember to buy some; what if you forget to return it to me?”

tsukishima cringed at how forced it sounded but he couldn’t help but admire yamaguchi's dedication to his role. this allowed tsukishima to swoop in, pencil in hand, “here.” that wasn’t in the script but he panicked! okay, now, eye contact.

you just sat there and stared at both of them with the most dumbfounded look plastered on your face. what just happened? why were they both acting like they were in drama class? and why are they both so bad at acting? they’re both passing performing arts for fucks’ sake!

kentarō kyōtani

♡ sorry but i firmly believe kyōtani is the sorta guy to be extra mean to ppl he fancies smh

♡ the rest of them just act (somewhat) like themselves around their crush but kyōtani is himself2 (himself^2)

♡ like one time yahaba found you trembling in your locker bc you had gotten mud on mad dog’s white shoes so he chased you through the hallways of the school, threatening to trek mud on your forehead

♡ yahaba took it upon himself to investigate as to why kyōtani was so rude to you and he got his answer as soon as he mentioned your name to mad dog and the boy’s face immediately flushed red

♡ so after practise, yahaba schools mad dog on how to get chicks (⌐■_■)

♡ in short, his advice was ‘good guys get laid’ and for kyōtani’s understanding, ‘good’ and ‘kind’ were interchangeable

♡ mad dog wasn’t completely oblivious to how he treated you and he was aware that he was far from ‘kind’

♡ although he usually doesn’t listen to people in general, yahaba seemed to know what he was talking about so he figured there was no harm in trying to be nice

♡ but ngl, he just spent the rest of the day wondering...what is kind?

♡ after a few messages back and forth with yahaba, he figured that the best place to start was by apologising for - y’know - chasing you around the whole school

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

“oi!” kyōtani bellowed through hallway, paying no mind to the students that cast him dirty looks as his sights were locked on you. standing unsuspecting by your locker, stuffing your textbooks into your bag until you heard his deep voice echo through the hall, to which you visibly perked up and began frantically looking around.

he marched towards you, hands in pockets and when you noticed him out of the corner of your eye, you were more than ready to drop all your shit and bolt away. but he didn’t let you as before you were able to take off on your heels, he grabbed your shoulder and spun you around to face him - then he noticed your hands raised in defence by your face and your head hung low.

his heart sank and his grip on your shoulder immediately softened, “i’m not gonna punch you, idiot.” he spat, rolling his eyes and gritting his teeth, trying to appear angry in hopes you’d mistake his light blush for pure rage.

“i just wanted to say that i felt bad for chasing you through the halls yesterday - you didn’t stand a chance so i guess it was a bit unfair.” he said, frowning as you replied with silence so the duty fell on him to fill it, “and i got the stain out, anyway so.”

more silence. lovely.

suddenly, he puffed his cheeks out as his eyes snapped to meet yours and he roared, “ARE YOU GONNA FUCKING SAY SOMETHING OR ARE YOU TOO BRAINDE-”

“are you wearing eyeliner?”

and that was the true story behind why you missed last period, because you and kyōtani had a 30 minute conversation about eyeliner and make-up, then he convinced you to skip the rest of class with him so he could buy you ramen as an apology gift.

so yeah, he figured that perhaps he should try being nice more often.

kiyoomi sakusa

♡ he didn’t need someone to tell him to be nicer, he’s just predisposed to attempt to show kindness to someone he is fond of

♡ in his mind, showing kindness, respect and stripping himself of all his personality = the only way to be desirable

♡ (ofc this takes place before he meets atsumu tho lol)

♡ so it’s not the realisation that’s the problem for him, it’s the execution

♡ like how is he supposed to be nice without either sounding creepy or condescending?

♡ *cut to sakusa practising in the bathroom mirror* ‘your hand looks- no-’ he scoffs, flicking cold water onto his face, ‘your hair looks cool- pretty- nice?’

♡ *camera pans to sakusa laying in bed, staring intently at the ceiling while imagining vivid and scarily detailed scenarios about ways he could mess up while talking to you*

♡ *camera zooms in on sakusa’s face as he manifests a nicer version of himself*

♡ he might - depending on how insecure he is - watch one of those psychology videos or read a wikihow for help

♡ but other than that, he independently tries to alter his personality in order to gain your favour bc..true love ?

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

you smiled as a basketball rolled up to your feet during gym class, followed by the sound of someone approaching you and upon raising your gaze, your eyes met sakusa’s unmistakable black ones. his face hovered only a few inches away from yours due to the fact you had both reached down to pick up the ball at the same time.

he quickly pulled himself away, tucking the basketball under his elbow as he adjusted his mask so it properly covered his face to ensure that you didn’t see the light blush slowly spreading across his cheeks. he then proceeded to blurt out what he had been rehearsing for the past few nights, “oh, thank you, (y/n). your hair looks lovely today, by the way.”

you giggled, holding your hands firmly by your side to avoid fidgeting and making it obvious that his sudden comment flustered you, “thanks, sakusa. and, if we’re handing out compliments today, i didn’t know you were good at any sport other than volleyball but you’re doing surprisingly well at basketball.” you joked, your lips slowly curling into a cocky smirk, “though, i don’t think you’d stand a chance against my team.”

god, you’re such a tease. you make it so hard for him to be nice to you. so, of course, your comment returned his ability to utter almost every sarcastic comment that comes to mind - screw being likeable. “you think so?” he quirked a brow, tossing the ball onto your lap then pacing backwards, “go on, then.”

rintarō suna

♡ it was probably those tips on social media that told him he has to be nicer

♡ and plus he saw terushima get all the chicks and he was just sitting there like ‘where are my bitches at? 🥺’

♡ anyway, all the guys on social media that had girls lining up outside their door always had one thing in common: misogyny obnoxious personalities !!

♡ and his whole personality was a sacrifice suna was willing and ready to make for just a crumb of cooch 🤲

♡ though you weren’t exactly his crush yet, suna thought you were the best person to carry out this experiment with bc he heard through the grapevine that you had a crush on him so perhaps this would make you happy

♡ he didn’t prepare much beforehand though which he immediately regretted as soon as he approached you bc admittedly, his game plan of ‘be self-assured but friendly’ was a bit vague

♡ so he basically just had to bullshit through a whole, awkward conversation with you while wearing a forced ‘bold’ smirk which, in reality, looked as though he had just seen tiddies for the first time

♡ hardly self-assured or friendly

♡ also, the fact you thought he was playing a prank on you must’ve drastically altered the results of his experiment

♡ at one point he says something extremely stupid you’d just quit playing along and just blurt out ‘wtf is wrong with you today’

♡ to which he’d be like ‘ahaha, nuthin much bbg, how bout you?’

♡ THE EXPERIEMNT ISN’T OVER UNTIL HE SAYS IT’S OVER OKAy?!

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

you rubbed your temples in order to soothe the throbbing headache suna gave you simply by existing. like yes, you had a crush on him 10 minutes ago - but that was before he came up to you and started acting like terushima on dodgy medication. “oh and your skin is glowing bab--”

“jesus christ, rintarō, shut up!” you cried, gripping the edge of your skirt to prevent your self from delivering a swift punch right to his stupid face. he’s seriously gotten on all your nerves at this point; firstly, by spamming your phone in the middle of the night asking for homework answers (accompanied by cursed memes) as he actually managed to wake you up. secondly, by acting so oblivious to the fact you clearly had a crush on him and now, this!

heat rose to his cheeks in embarrassment as his creepy smile instantly fell right back into his resting bitch face, “this isn’t working, is it?”

“what’s not working?”

suna scoffed, rolling his eyes - his façade having evidently disappeared. “this.” he sighed, looking around as if someone was going to save him before his eyes finally settled on you and he was reminded of what he wanted in the first place, his sparkle was rekindled for just a moment which caused him to blurt out, “just fuck me already, i’m not asking for much.”

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jaypsnax · 3 years

Photo

Alright then, to take it from the top... here’s some things I’ve done here or there for this dang game, from oldest to newest. With a big chunk of months starting with the margin Floofty there. Much is traditional and such, which is not my most practiced medium. Details on each below, just because I like over-explaining and it helps my nerves about posting.

1st: Fairly certain this Gramble is the first thing I did that was OK enough to show. Or, at least close to the first. He was one of my favorites and still is for his kindness(though he also can be really mean and paranoid, also a reason why I like him), so I wanted to get around to em. Also he’s very cute, I love my little malewife. I wanna scoop him up and hold him. Trouble is, Gramble has to have some of the most awkward proportions I’ve yet experienced while trying to draw a grumpus, I swear. That, and the more I looked at it, the more I grew to be unhappy with it. That generally applies to basically all of the drawings from last year, I find them to be “eh” at best. But it is what it is. 2nd: Second up is Flooftyyy, my most favorite. Intelligent, well-spoken, morally ambiguous, NB... and an asshole. But one with a cause they believe in that’s ultimately well intentioned, which they’ll go to self-destructive lengths to fulfill. And it’s clear they struggle to really get a grasp on how to treat people and have learned to cope with their frustration by shutting everyone out and believing them to be ignorant. While still obviously playing favorites between Eggabell and Triffany :p But by the end of the game, they’re learning that in order to really do what they want, they’ve got to really try and understand others. They’re the sort that I’d love to keep following to see their development. The awkwardness, the uncomfortable apologies and attempts at empathizing or opening up, the potential for blossoming relationships and a connection with others that, maybe, they’ve never quite experienced before. Their character is one that’s kind of close to my heart for being interesting and also quite similar to one I made and roleplayed for years. Add in the fact they’re NB and that just sealed the deal, that’s some fucking gender goddamn euphoria right there. So I had to draw them. 3rd: This one also mostly falls under the same explanation as above, except it was an effort as really figuring out grumpus bodies and proportions and stuff. Albeit in the form of solely Floofty, but my mental bandwidth for anything more than a drawing or two at a time is zilch. After that I’m spent. It was the first thing that I felt even marginally satisfied with, however.... I just feel like I’m in danger when looking at it. Like I’m gonna lose my way of things and habits I’ve built now from observing it too closely. Did keep the eyes, however. Kind of. 4th: To be real w you I just felt like drawing a Filbo after seeing a Filbo. He’s cute and I’d put a smooch on his dumb little head. Also more practice w grump stuff, but with some intentional attempts at stylization. I guess it didn’t stick, but who knows, maybe I could pick some of it back up? 5th: THE FIRST NEW DRAWING FROM A FEW DAYS AGO and it’s FLOOFTY, of course. It’s not really the first, there’s a few other things before it, but they suck so... yeah. I’d crawled out of the Bugsnax hole somewhat after a few months and failing to really do anything I actually wanted to do before, but a particular fic conked me right back 6 ft under. Piled the dirt over me and packed it in tight. So here I am again. And not only is it like that, but after binging a whole nearly 60,000 words in a night/morning, I was struck with the inspiration to actually write myself. Or try to, anyway. I have experience in RPing, but not a whole lot in actually... making a story myself. It’s not been going well, but I’ve talked plenty about that already... I’m sure it gets annoying for the whole maybe one person whose seen most of it to witness. And I’m still having fun. I’d mention the fic, but considering it’s NSFW and I’m officially tagging this... I don’t know if they’d want me advertising it as such. But surprise surprise, it’s Floofty related. And don’t get the wrong idea, while it covers explicit subject matter, that’s not entirely the point. Not a bad thing if it were, just that it’s more than that. I just like good character writing over all else, which is something liking this game to begin with heavily reinforced.... 6th: Heeeere’s Gramble, again. I’d been doing some little drawings for character profile stuff in my notebook, but I started to run into some difficulties when I got to him. This here is one of the results of the couple of little draws I did to try and understand. Again, his proportions are so *weird*. He’s just a little guy.... 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th: Here marks the first impulse draw after considering Buddy/Filbo/Beffica poly stuff. As well as the sudden Buddy drawing in general, which came as a big shock to me. These draws are suuuper rough, but I like the concepts. And goodness has this stuff been a whole ‘nother tangent... I did a fair amount of talking about it here. I’d do more, since there were TONS of details I still wanted to mentioned, but... my hands are starting to hurt. So maybe later. I realized that I kinda of messed up their design in my head bc I thought they had more similar teeth to Clumby. Whoops. That’s what I get for not using reference and same with FlooFTY’S TEETH AND THE WATCH NOOOOOOOOOO- .... *Ahem* I reckon the design is subject to change. Gotta make some little adjustment here or there, like maybe different eyes to distinct them from Floofty, but I actually rather... like the look. The hat, tie, and maybe a change to a bag on the side look nice... if totally not canon. But I will have just a little break from canon, as a treat. Otherwise it’s canon or bust. Personally, at least. I don’t really hold others to that standard unless they say they’re trying to follow canon or diverge so badly that a character is unrecognizable.

#bugsnax #Floofty Fizzlebean #Filbo Fiddlepie #Beffica Winklesnoot #Journalist #uhhhhh #Gramble Gigglefunny #This is NOT going to be a common thing #Floating around in official tags kinda freaks me out #my art

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