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infinityreview · 2 years

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Review: May 2022 Infinity releases

Welcome to Infinity Review, a blog where I review new Infinity miniatures releases. I’ve been playing Infinity and collecting and painting the miniatures for about 10 years, and I love talking about them! I started this blog both to share my thoughts and encourage more discussion about this great miniatures line.

If you’re interested you can find my review criteria here.

Today I’m reviewing the new Infinity May releases. This month we have new models for JSA, Aleph, 0-12 and PanOceana. Plus the Combined Army Bultrak, which I reviewed in a separate post. Lets dig in!

Bluecoats Adhesive Launcher (0-12/Starmada)

Design (9): The Bluecoat’s design is weird and great. I really like it! Its part space-train conductor and part ninja, with sexy garters just for fun. I imagine the Bluecoat is supposed to look like naval officer, and it does. But he looks so much like a train conductor I can’t get the image out of my head.

That's fine though, its still cool. What I admire about this design is it really looks like nothing else in Infinity. Even within 0-12 the Bluecoat is pretty unique. That said, he definitely fits right in. The faceless mask looks straight out of Corregidor, and the sleek plated legs could belong to a Ninja, Hexa or a dozen other sneaky operators. Its a great design that expands the Infinity universe while being deeply rooted in it.

Sculpt (9): Typical high quality Corvus Belli sculpting. Everything is sharp and easy to read. I think its worth noting that the smooth surfaces of the mask and leg armor really contrast well with the folds of the coat and the many belts and straps.

Pose (8): The Bluecoat as a pretty typical actiony pivot-at-the-waist-and-shoot pose. It looks just fine, but we’ve seen it so often it no longer stands out. What does stand out are the two enormous guns! Having the Bluecoat hold a giant ADHL in each hand is certainty a statement. It doesn't look bad, but its also... kind of silly? Why does he have two? Is that the kit he chose to bring with him into battle? Did he run into the ship armory and think “one of these just isn’t enough!” With the extra gun on his back, these two huge weapons just look like overkill. But its certainly cool.

Overall score: 8/10

Nokken with Spitfire (PanOceania/Svalarheima’s Winter Force)

Design (8): PanO has an interesting design lineage. More than any other army, you can trace every PanO design back to those very first releases, Fusiliers, Orcs and Akal Sikh Commandos. The Nokken has a lot of elements that would make her fit in with those classic models, like her distinctive PanO boots, chest plate, pants and helmet. The more “winterfied” elements like the jacket, larger backpack and heavy gloves give the Nokken a thematic look that fits in well with the similarly garbed PanO units like the Nisse. Its a simple but attractive design. Plus, the ponytail is a fun addition that adds a little character!

Sculpt (7): A lot of this model’s major elements, like the excellently detailed armored boots and the soft fabric of the pants, look really great. There are several details of the coat that I think just look too chunky. The coat itself is fantastic, with a realistically puffy look that fits well around the model’s body, and provides a great sense of motion that matches the pose. However, the ribbing around the front of the waist just looks too thick to me, and the teeth of the zipper are just too big. I’m sure these elements have been exaggerated both for visibility and ease of painting, but enlarging them makes the model look less realistic and more like toy like. Additionally, many of the fasteners that connect the straps on thighs and jacket look soft and partially formed to me, although that may be a result of the paintjob.

Pose (9): This pose is sharp! The Nokken has a real sense of weight and movement in a pose that isn’t particularly similar to anything we’ve seen recently (as far as I remember). The flaps of the jacket clearly show that the Nokken is rearing back, perhaps ducking around a corner and readying her weapon. The ponytail shows that this is a VERY recent action (Its still catching up because of its weight and length)! Such a great and subtle posing detail that really brings the model to life!

Overall score: 8/10

Marut (Aleph/Cute)

Design (9): I’m a big fan of the original Marut, and I honestly wasn’t sure if a new one could be an improvement. While I don’t think this new design is BETTER than the older version, I do think it stands on its own as a great TAG, and as a sometimes Aleph player I’m excited to have two cool designs to choose from! The new Marut has a clearly anime inspired look (it reminds me of the mechs from Xenosaga) that manages to be pretty distinct from the game’s other anime-inspired TAGs. Its a great complex design, with clear joints connecting solid but elegant limbs to a sleek torso. Four arms and wing-like protrusions from the back give the Marut a distinct silhouette. I really appreciate how the model alternates between sharp edges and smooth rounded surfaces, punctuated by seams and recesses for lights. The only element I really don’t love is the head and the syringe like barrels for the Multi-HMG. Both are FINE, but the barrels look just a little weird and the head looks just a little plain. The gold collar seems out of place to me, like it belongs on another model. Maybe I just miss the old model’s bunny ears?

Sculpt (10): As I said above, the juxtaposition of crisp edges and soft curves really makes the Marut stand out. Something I love is looking at the places on a model where different elements meet and seeing how they fit together. The Marut is full of clean and sensible junctions, and the end result is a highly stylized TAG that still looks like it could believably inhabit its fictional space.

Pose (8): The pose is... fine. The set of the Marut’s shoulders, the turn of it’s head and its slightly lifted knee give it a subtly menacing look, which I think is great. I really wish that something interesting had been done with the Marut’s arms. The model has 4 arms, and that is by far it’s most distinctive and interesting feature. The previous version of the model also had one set of arms clutching its gun, but the other were raised in a close combat pose. This Marut’s second set of arms are just hanging there. While the pose is solid, it’s simplicity feels like wasted opportunity for such a unique model.

Overall score: 9/10

Shinobu Kitsune (JSA)

Design (9): Infiniti’s JSA faction has a history of great designs going back to their early days as part of the Yujing army. This new version if Kitsune preserves some of the very best elements of traditional JSA, even though it doesn’t bring much new to the table. That's okay! This is a banger of a design, even if its mostly replaying past hits. Kitsune looks great with even baggier pants and the addition of the leg armor seen on the Domaru heavy infantry. The big features of this new model are her giant sword and optional hat. I think both are great additions, although I’m pleased to say I think she looks good both with and without the hat!

Sculpt (10): Kitsune is a showcase of great sculpting. Beautiful flowing hair and fabric, finely detailed clothing and a variety of interesting textures. I think the variety of texture really helps this miniature stand out. The armor of her vest and boots are small seam lined surfaces, contrasting with the larger plates of her hip armor. The fiber-muscle of her arms offers a more complicated texture, while her hair stands out as a flowing feature. A variety of texture like this helps a model appear more realistic. Well, “realistic” is not the right word. What I mean is that models that look like they are made out of a variety of things are more often convincing to our minds than models that look like they are made out of one thing. For example, a plain space marine kind of looks like a plastic toy. A space marine with his helmet off exposing his head, or with leather straps holding his gear in place, or with a big felt cape, looks more like an actual thing that might exist. A variety of texture more convincingly places Kitsune within the fictional world of Infinity.

Pose (10): This is a ridiculously awesome pose. Its the kind of pose that gets you to start a whole new army (and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bunch more JSA armies on the table this Summer). I’ll certainly be using Kitsune as an inspiration to finish up my last few JSA models! The full tilt run, combined with the twist at the waist and the model’s flowing hair and pants gives Kitsune an impressive sense of motion. So much that I’d be desperate to get my models oot of her path even if I didn’t know what she was capable of!

Overall score: 9.6/10

#Infinity Review #infinity the game #tabletop miniatures

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botslayer · 4 years

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Top Ten games of the 2010′s

This trend seems to be doing the rounds at the moment and seeing as I’ve been gaming for about as long as I can remember, It just feels right. So, let’s get into it. But first, worth saying: These aren't really in any specific order, it's just the games I've personally had the most fun with overall, but it's pretty hard to decide what the hard numbers on things you enjoy for different reasons are if that makes any sense. 10. The 2010's weren't exactly the best time for anyone, I think. For me they were a slog of finding myself and learning things I wish I didn't. Amid all those things I wanted some levity. The world needs something and stupid. We got a lot of it ion 2013 but I feel like we could have used it scattered around a bit more. In that spirit, allow me to show you one hell of a pick me up:

Saints Row 4

Saints Row 4 does not give a fuck. It is aggressively demonstrating that the entire time you play. It doesn't care in the slightest what you think or why, It just wants to show you cool, if juvenile, and interesting, if weird shit. It's the finer points of Ratchet and Clank's arsenal, SR3's humor, And superpowers that genuinely put Prototype and Infamous in a blender and tell you to go ape shit with them. The soundtrack isn't top shelf, it's the roof of the building the shelf is in. Saints Row Two had a better story overall but SR Four's was just plain fun and a solid enough story to still be invested.

The DLC was just as irreverent and madcap, Featuring everything from an evil Santa Clause to evil Gimps on Game of thrones chairs made of dildos Or Tropey-ass costumes and weapon reskins that I'd be genuinely surprised the game dev didn't get sued over. It has earned its place in my top 10 and I will die by that decision.

2016 saw the advent of a new genre. They blended TF2 and MOBAs, and we got hero shooters in their first AAA forms, Overwatch and Battleborn. But neither of these games is on this list, much as I liked them. Partly because the whole time, I kept thinking of one simple question: "Why do I keep thinking of...?"

Anarchy Reigns

Anarchy Reigns is my favorite Platinum game. Full Stop. The Story mode is interesting and has genuinely good character moments, the characters themselves are completely mental, ranging from a mercenary with a bionic cat leg that secretly has a gun built into it to a giant cyborg bull-man with a jet-powered hammer. The soundtrack is mostly angry hip-hop, making every song a banger and fittingly speedy for things like random bombing runs from jet fighters that come from absolutely nowhere.

There are giant monsters, cars with mounted flame throwers, giant robots, and the online is still pretty sweet because even when abandoned, loading it up with bots still rules. I regularly have more fun with this than I ever did with Overwatch, and I don't care how insane that sounds.

Some games want to make you feel something and fail. Some games make you feel some things accidentally, for example, a desperate need to laugh. This game made me feel like a human blender. Like a Chthonic god of mangled flesh and raw destructive power. Nyarlathotep ain't got nothing on me. I speak, of course, of...

[Prototype] 2

There's no end to the absolute destruction you feel like you're causing in this game. It feels more fluid than the first, the main character is a pinch more relatable, and all the body horror, superpowers, zombie hordes, and big old monsters make for some of the most memorable and fun moments and fights in gaming. The DLC is also pretty solid, adding new fun side challenges, and new powers and weapons that elevate you from "Flesh god" to "Screw physics, I made them" Omnipotent. Best god/monster simulation of all time.

Sometimes some games are at an honest tie in your mind. Be it that you like them for essentially the same reasons, or for completely different reasons, but the overall total joy or entertainment they bring is roughly equivalent. Here, we have a case of the former:

Furi/Cuphead

Both games have a tight focus on giving players a unique, boss-centric challenge, both have interesting, somewhat minimal narratives, and both are absolute eye candy.

Furi has a more "Samurai Jack" Quality to me. A complete badass on a relatively simple quest with a somewhat minimalistic art style learning some things as he goes.

Cuphead on the other hand, nails that rubber hose animation style, and the fun levity of such animations while still making the player's ability to interact with the world damn impactful and fun.

They share a spot in my soul, games I love everything about but will never be able to finish. Hats off to both dev teams.

Now here we have another tie. Mostly because the games are so close together, they need to be evaluated more or less as one product IMO, not enough changed for me to consider them separate games, fortunately, that is the furthest thing from an insult it can be in this situation. I present to you, my next pick(s).

Costume Quest 1/2

Now, This might seem pretty random considering my other picks, but honestly, I love Halloween, I love creative madness, I love subversion, I love good characters, and I love cool action, these games have all these things by the bucketload.

The first game is a wild ride through Halloween in multiple very lively locations and the second, slightly confusing as it is, is pretty awesome for the things it introduces, including time travel. Other elements, like the battle stamps, the truly epic forms of everything in the fights, The ability to customize your costumes, etc. they blur together in a pretty big way, but again, there's not a thing wrong with that when both games rock like crystal candy.

Now, if you hadn't noticed, all of the games on this list have had some hard action at their core, and while I don't HATE calmer games, a lot of the time, so many are kinda dull to me in that with the exception of easter eggs of some sort, most farming sims, for example, just have you doing normal farm stuff with very few twists, may as well start a real farm in that case. My most chill entry is a game that tosses that to one side, asks you to grab a suck cannon, and start harvesting gelatinous monster poop.

Slime Rancher

While you don't spend a lot of time actually interacting with other characters, they just talk at you, the story of the game is pretty effective, the player character of Beatrix has left Earth for a simpler life of Slime Ranching, which entails the raising of alien crops, delightfully derpy and colorful chickens, and going all around in an attempt to farm new breeds of slime for their genetic material to sell off or trade-in for the creation of gadgets while being surrounded by a cast of interesting characters. It's all very wholesome family fun.

The game looks great, has great ideas, and is genuinely the best farming game I have ever played. @ me all you want.

The 80's are almost fetishized nowadays. Given all the property reboots, games that go for the vibe and aesthetic of the time, etc. It almost seems as though the eighties vibe train ain't gonna stop rolling any time soon. But we owe it to ourselves to remember the first big swipe of madcap neon-colored actiony B-movie bullshit and how mind-meltingly epic it was. Ladies, Gents, and whatever else, I present:

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Blood Dragon's story is relatively simple, you play Sargent Rex "Power" Colt (A name said in full so many times I thought his last name was "Powercolt" for the longest time), a former "Omega force" cyborg. Rex and his friend "Spider" were sent into a secret island base to investigate the supposed defection and treachery of their old commander, Ike Sloan. It turns out he has gone rogue and taken an army of "Mark 5" Omegaforce cyber-soldiers with him. What follows is a long story of betrayal, science fiction of the highest nonsensical level, comedy, and brilliantly cathartic action.

The collectibles range from data on animals, to research notes from a scientist, to literal VHS cassette tapes that have full descriptions of movies that I would legitimately watch if I could. "You may now kill the brides" is not a real film and I am angry for every day that that is true. Anyway, play Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, I dunno if it's on PS4 but it's one game I'd buy a new/old console for.

A lot of superhero games NEED to railroad you. Your goals MUST be to save the lives of the people and help the weak and all that. But one dev asked the simple question: "What if it didn't?" "What if the player chose how to use their power? What if the player could be as evil or as good as they damn well pleased?" One game gave you the powers of thunder and lightning and asked what you'd do with it. It's sequel asked you the same, but against more... interesting forces.

InFamous 2

InFamous 2 is a game about making choices, just like the first one, also just like the first one, it can have an effect on gameplay. That effect went from "What does this particular power do in this allignment?" To "Which new set of NEW powers would you like?" The forces of the last game went from “Three flavors of gun-toting whackos” To “Possibly an allegory for the Klan, Swamp monsters, and Ice-powered super soldiers.”

This was, and still is, the best game in the whole series, The powers felt distinct from anything else and still do, the story is solid as a rock, and the enemy types were still varied enough to be interesting, I miss the Reapers from the first game, but that's about it. Everything else was a massive step up. If you have something that can run it, play it.

Action is something I think we can all appreciate on some level. We can understand when it does or does not work, we can understand when we do or do not like how it feels when we are the ones partaking in it. EX: Any schlep can tell you when the weapons in your game lack impact, or when your character moves too slow for the game to be fun. The following game is something I can't say anything of the sort about. And it's kind of like Wolfenstein, when you have enemies this bad, who the hell cares how many you kill?

Doom 2016

Y'all are lying if you say you didn't expect this one. It's DOOM 2016. This game is made of hate and fuck. AND I LOVE IT. You move so fast, you may as well be half cheetah and half sports car. You slaughter the dregs of hell by the dozens and even the biggest, baddest things this game throws at you can be beaten with the starting pistol if you have the stones for it. It looks amazing graphically, the demons all look appropriately threatening, and even the Multiplayer is a great deal of fun in my book.

Something worth noting: The story presented by default is pretty barebones, but that's where supplementary material fills in the gaps, the difference between supplementary material in most games and supplementary material here is the material is till IN THE GAME. You're free to ignore most of the plot as it happens around you, and even interesting tidbits of the lore like how certain demons function. Not only are these things missable collectibles, prompting continued play to find them, they are also pretty interesting reads. So yeah, just about everything you could want in a sequel/remake, builds the on lore and gameplay very organically.

And here we are, the last game I'd put in this category. An entire decade, and here, we end on the last game that left such an impact I'd put it in my top ten. But first, let's talk about expectations and delivery: When you say a game is coming out, there are certain expectations you have for gameplay, EX: I say "Ratchet and Clank" and you expect a TPS with platforming elements and crazy guns. I say "Gears of War" and people expect something to do with lumbering about in big armor, dismembering things with a chainsaw gun and otherwise shooting them to paste. We might also expect changes to things, better graphics, innovations in grenade variety, something as that franchise goes on.

After the last game in this series was released, there were tons of people who felt let down and disappointed by it. Then they released the still somewhat disappointing special edition of it. They were both still fun, but neither really felt like the full next step in the series. After a failed reboot, they returned to the original story and the lot of us rejoiced. And when it finally came out? It was a step up in most, if not, all regards, to its predecessors. You know what this last one is. Please, give a warm round of applause to:

Devil May Cry 5

A game that was not only a return to form, but a major escalation in gameplay for one character, and a new style of gameplay all together by way of yet another new character. It didn’t exactly hurt that the story kicked ten kinds of ass and that the game looked spectacular in both the design of everything and the actual graphical fidelity.DMC 5 is, like DOOM, Like InFamous 2, Like [PROTOTYPE] 2, everything you want in a good sequel. It built very well on already solid foundations and it was generally just a fun, slightly goofy, massively stylish, and ultra badass ride. I recommend this, and all these games, to anyone.Good night everyone, have a great 2020. And the rest of the decade, for that matter.

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breegullbeakreviews · 6 years

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Summary: After a shocking revelation, Chloe and Rachel have changed courses from fleeing Arcadia Bay to heading directly towards its seedy drug operations in hopes of finding closure for Rachel.

Overall: Mostly as a result of the mere three episode running time, Before the Storm ends on a dud. Given another episode, maybe two, the characters crucial to this finale working could have had enough development for this to work. Sadly that’s just not the case. If you’re already on the ride there is no reason to get off before the finish, but this is the one case where something really needed more episodes than it had.

No Spoilers (I do describe the setup of the episodes first scene, but no details)

Narrative: Like with the rest of these reviews I’m going to expect some series knowledge. After episode two’s dinner bombshell, things kick off with further information on who the mysterious woman is. After things settle down, against the wishes of her father, Rachel and Chloe spend the rest of the episode seeking to meet this woman face to face and the resulting events bring the series to its end.

The events that follow just don’t feel is powerful as the original games finale. I mean I know there isn’t any supernatural powers to play with outside of Chloe’ talking to her mental machination of her deceased daddy which means we can’t get really crazy for the entire episode, but the events that bring this season to a close just don’t feel fitting of a finale. The original game got really gamey with stealth sections and some really creative puzzles in-between the culmination of all of your choices. Here there are two puzzle sections, neither particularly strong that keep this from just being a culmination of your choices.

It might just be me, but the episode feels pretty damn short. A lot of things contribute to that. First being the length of the series. The finale is going to be the result of all of your choices without much in the way of new meaningful choices. In a five episode run that works. For a 3 episode run you start to notice how little you’ve made in the way of meaningful choices. There just isn’t a lot of things worth showing off and that leads to an episode that just has a lot less material to work with. It’s not that what’s shown is disappointing, it’s just not a lot to show.

What’s disappointing is that the entire finale revolves around characters that lack sufficient development. Rachel’s parents don’t really get any screen time or development until the very end of episode 2, and how you feel about them is super important to this episode. By the time the episode ends they are developed enough for choices to matter. The most unforgivable underdeveloped character is Damon Merrick. He’s the big threat of the series and he lacks any depth or development. His help shows up regularly to keep his existence relevant, but that doesn’t make him any more developed than Bowser in Super Mario Bros. I’m not sure how you’d work that into the current episodes, but that’s just another reason there should have been more episodes.

The fact that so much of this episode is dedicated to building up these characters means that a lot of the cast gets the short end of the stick, if any part of the stick at all. I know I said that for the last episode that a lot of characters don’t get a lot of screen time. This episode since a lot of characters don’t have a lot of weight to them, they just end up being absent from the story. Even the ones that do have weight in some cases are missing. Victoria Chase shows up in Chloe’s dream and Nathan doesn’t show up until the wrap up montage. I know neither are super crucial to this plot, but it’s weird that they were cut all together like this especially when tying them into this final act would make sense to try and set things up for what happens in the future.

Choice: As I said this is more a showcase of your choices. A few choices had me tense, but like the originals finale, it all comes down to a single big choice, but due to the nature of this being a prequel, it doesn’t work. Things need to play out a certain way no matter what you chose, and as a result the final choice doesn’t matter. If you’ve played the original you know it doesn’t matter. It’s the issue that was always going to be a problem. A prequel lives and dies on its characters because you already know how things will end because you know what it all leads into.

I do think this ending could have worked, but the montage would need to be different and I’ll talk about that in the spoiler segment.

Back Talk: Surprisingly I only found two segments of back talk, and one of them was entirely miss able. The one is optional for a reason and I think it’s a nice sweat moment. As for the other, well I’ll talk about it in spoilers but to be blunt it comes out of nowhere and everything surrounding it doesn’t feel properly built too. I was shocked the game didn’t end on any of these. The entire final sequence as far as I can tell as this moment in time is destined to go one way unless you made a certain choice last episode that not a lot of people did.

Collectibles: Bravo. Bravo. They did it. Despite all of my other issues with this finale, the collectibles never hold back the narrative. They are all in slow moments, though I’m not sure how intentional this is. The episode is pretty slow overall. The final episode of the original season was very fast paced and actiony as it went through all of your choices which led to a fast pace with no slow parts. This episode has less to go through and as a result is a lot slower. The fact that the previous episodes has an issue with this leads me to think this was a design choice instead of just a happy accident.

Does it stand on its own?: No. Outside of just being the final episode of a prequel series, they decided to end the game on a certain scene. It isn’t built to and yeah it is post credits, but it feels pretty pointless, and without any sort of proper build kind of tasteless. We all know where this story goes so showing this scene wasn’t needed and further weakens the ending. There is also at least one other eater egg eluding to the future events, but you can easily miss it if you aren’t exploring and as far as I know it’s tied to other choices so it might not show up for everyone. Play the original first for sure.

#life is strange #before the storm #deck nine games #episode 3 #rachel amber #chloe price #video games #review

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resbang-bookclub · 7 years

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AMA Transcript: A Lack of Armor

Last week, we held our first AMA in the discord chat with @amberlehcar, @peregr1ne and @thesockswhowearsfox, where lots of people stopped in to ask about their work on A Lack of Armor! Here’s some of what went down:

Q: Amber, could you take me through your process of conceiving/planning out this fic? What inspired it originally?

AmberLehcar: Oh man okay, so there was a post floating around that was like "I headcanon Soul as trans and here's why" and I just really dug it.

Peregrine: Wait, was it mine?

AmberLehcar: I don't remember who it was, but they said things like him being hypermasculine to appear more "manly."

Peregrine: I did say that in mine. That's crazy.

AmberLehcar: This was supposed to be for last year's Resbang, so I've kinda forgotten exactly what was all there, but it probably was yours.

Q: So what you are saying is that you and Pere were destined to work together?

AmberLehcar: Pere claimed me last year too! I had to back out after fic claims because life was becoming too much.

Peregrine: I mean you did come to me before that.

AmberLehcar: I did ask Pere a lot of questions. I'm cis/het, so I had a lot to learn and was really lucky that Pere was open and willing to teach me along with being an overall great partner.

Peregrine: I tried my best ^^; It's not like it was hard, just talking about myself pfft.

AmberLehcar: It was helpful though!

Peregrine: I'm glad it was. Was there more you wanted to say about the process?

AmberLehcar: I did a ton of research and was really invested in it. I see a lot of posts about the lack of representation for the LGBT+ community and really felt like I wanted to add.

Peregrine: Yeah, lack of representation really gets to me, especially because what representation there is is highly fetishized and honestly i'd rather have no rep than fetish rep.

Q: For all parties involved, where/how do you feel like you grew the most during this Resbang?

Peregrine: This was my first event where I did more than one fic, so working through that was hard, but I'm glad I did because I really wanted both.

AmberLehcar: I think when I've written in the past, I've been really "this happened then this happened" etc. It was a lot more introspective this time around, so I focused a lot more on the feelings of the characters and evoking feelings in the reader. When I tried to enter this last year, I got to like 6k words but really struggled to get there. With a new direction, I got to 30k fairly easily.

Sox: Well, it was my first Resbang and the first song I'd written since I was....18 I think. Just managing to write and record the song was a lot of growth for me.

Q: Amber, I am always interested in fic titles. Did you come up with the title of your fic beforehand, or did it develop as the story was created?

AmberLehcar: Okay, so I take all my chapter and fic titles from songs or lyrics. But A Lack of Armor made perfect sense to me because of my therapy. A few times in therapy we'd talked about putting on armor that was representative of support and good things in my life. The song "A Lack of Armor" has a line that says "like a knight without his armor I don't know who I am" and this all kinda spoke to me and fit really well with Soul and his depression/anxiety. I came up with the idea pretty much from the start and it's been with me since.

Q: You said it was a Motion City Soundtrack song, right?

AmberLehcar: All the chapter titles are from MCS songs, because I am trash lol. But they sorta go with the mood of each chapter if you go back and look at them.

Sox: Can confirm Amber is MCS trash.

Q: There's a sick playlist somewhere right?

AmberLehcar: I do have a playlist! https://open.spotify.com/user/1266385830/playlist/3xN37XwvUGsVqZNuhpRtng

Q: Most of the time it seems the usual characterization for the Evans fam is for Soul's father to be the 'worse' parent, either that or both of them being equally bad. (At least that's my view.) So I am wondering: was your decision to make Soul's dad the more accepting one an intentional subversion or did it just happen?

AmberLehcar: It just sorta happened? I am not a Mama Albarn fan. Aside from Marie, there are no good mamas in the series, so I just kinda went with that.

Sox: Blair begs your pardon.

[insert chorus of screaming about everyone's love for Blair]

AmberLehcar: Blair takes such good care of her kittens. Okay I lied, Blair and Marie are good. But yeah, I didn't want him to have absolutely no support from parents, and someone had to have taught Wes to be a good person. So Papa Evans eventually came around.

Q: For Pere: was there a scene that you knew immediately you wanted to illustrate and/or was it difficult to choose scenes to draw?

Peregrine: I definitely wanted to draw the first hug scene when I read it, when Maka was accepting, because the feelies. And then later Amber had mentioned how there was going to be a scene where soul plays his song for Maka, and I knew I really wanted to draw that too, but it wasn't written yet, so I asked her to describe the scene more for me in advance so i could draw it. She didn't have a solid idea though, so some stuff I made up, and she wrote the scene to fit my picture later actually ^^;

AmberLehcar: Your art definitely helped flesh out the scene there, thank you.

Sox: I love when Pete draws things.

Sox: *Pere

[Lots of people yelling about Pete]

Sox: God damn it.

Peregrine: The first pic with the hair I also just thought would be cute to draw, and then just for visual concepts, I wanted to draw the different stages of Soul as a bonus even if they didn't actually ever appear in the story ^^;

AmberLehcar: That first pic with the hair cutting is probably my favorite. I love them all, but that just made my heart flutter.

Q: Sox I have sort of the same question for you, did certain scenes inspire certain lyrics?

Sox: Uhhhh no not so much. I tried to write around the Mood of the fic and I talked to a local Atlanta musician about her experiences being trans with a bad family as a kid and tried to fit those to where Amber had Soul coming from. (Originally I was trying to write a SoMa Romance song but then... it came out as a Self Love Fuck you Mom song).

AmberLehcar: I'm glad it changed. At some point when writing I realized the fic was more focused on their relationship than him, so I tried to change it up. I'm glad the song evolved that way too. After I got one of the last drafts of the song, I included it in chapter 8 in case people were wondering.

Q: For Amber: what made you want to put Kim as Soul's neighbor out of any other character? What made you want to do the neighbor sub plot in the first place?

AmberLehcar: Representation mostly. I love me some JacKim and thought that having a grump next door that Soul ends up kinda befriending and/or helping would be interesting. Kim was kinda a weird facet for me to write through. As someone who feels everything 110%, being in love can be kinda scary sometimes, so her thoughts on love are pretty darn close to my own: wanting to love someone wholeheartedly but being afraid of exactly how deeply you can really love someone.

Sox: I FEEL.

Q: There's a scene where they're watching a Youtube video. Is that video significant to you in some way, Amber? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wWBLbQInqk)

AmberLehcar: Not at all. I was talking with Brian about assignments for the first day of class, and he mentioned he had to do that exact assignment and chose that exact video. The song's not bad and the video is... interesting?

Q: For Pere: What program do you use and whats your general process for art?

Peregrine: I use FireAlpaca because it's free lol. I usually do like, a base sketch that's really scribbly and focuses on like motion lines, if that makes sense. And then i decrease the opacity of that one and draw the actual lineart on a different layer on top, and then colour. Very rarely I'll keep drawing on the base sketch and just clean it a little but that's mostly for more actiony gestural stuff, or highly detailed things where I'm not bothered about solid lineart.

Q: How long-ish did each of your drawings take? Do you tend to draw faster when you're feeling inspired, do you have a creative process or anything?

Peregrine: Ah, I never know what to say when someone asks how long it takes, because it varies so much. But yeah, usually a drawing will take a few days if it's something average and not like the fricking Pacific Rim art I did way back when, which took like a month. I can do most pieces in a day if i'm properly inspired but it's like: yes, I can get this done in only a few hours, but those are completely straight drawing hours - no food or bathroom breaks or chit chats to be had. Honestly the longest part of the drawing process is actually the sketchy first part because I need to plan it out perfectly until i can see the end product in my head and then i can start actually working, and that can take weeks.

[insert group yelling about how great Pere's art is]

AmberLehcar: The boys brought me to literal tears every time they updated me.

Sox: Lies.

AmberLehcar: EVERY TIME.

Peregrine: I spent 5 hours drawing Soul's hair even though I finished the entire rest of the picture in 2.

Sox: I just had a mental image of Pere screaming the lyrics to Maroon 5's "Misery" while drawing.

Peregrine: That's me.

Q: For Amber: what were your easiest/hardest scenes to write & why?? Were there any that were easier/trickier to write than you expected? Bonus: favorite scene to write?

AmberLehcar: All of chapter 4 is crap and I'll fight anyone who disagrees with me. For some reason writing just general happy, normal life was really hard. The pain though, that was kiddy stuff. The first full scene I wrote was Soul's accidental confession. The idea just messed me up and I couldn't stop writing until it was all done. It's probably my favorite scene too, followed closely by Maka's acceptance.

Q: You super did not write linearly. That's so cool, I have to go in order.

AmberLehcar: No, I rarely do.

Peregrine: Man it was kind of tough reading your drafts, tbh.

Sox: SAME PERE

AmberLehcar: I'm so sorry!!

Sox: "How am I gonna write a song none of this is in order" XD

AmberLehcar: I need to give people an instruction manual for how to read my WIPs.

Peregrine: There were so many scenes that were like, great scenes on their own, but then I'm like wait, how did we get from point A to point ? Also, reading updates was hard because everyone else I've fic'd with was like 'oh just scroll down to wear you last read' but in this fic it was like... I know something was added... but where tho...

Sox: Slide to the left

Sox: Slide to the right

AmberLehcar: Never beta for me, it's a nightmare.

AmberLehcar: (That's a lie, please always beta for me, I need all the help I can get.)

Sox: Yeah but working with you is a dream tbh.

AmberLehcar: The nice thing about not writing linearly is that I could really easily work with my partners to add in ideas they had. I don't know that it was easy for them, but making it more of a collab that way was really neat for me.

Q: Do you outline everything out beforehand?

AmberLehcar: As much as I can. I derail if I don't.

Q: AmberLehcar, how did you decided where to put scenes/order them?

AmberLehcar: I have an outline template I wrote up based on a youtuber's outlining method! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eP73LMnphqEUn20mKd78_EB_qPlbXjklvkXLknxl5R0/edit?usp=sharing. This is the outline that I've been using recently, it's been really helpful. You guys are welcome to use it!

Q: Amber, would you say this outlining method helped? Just in comparison to past fics etc.

AmberLehcar: Definitely. I have so many incomplete fics simply because I didn't outline or didn't outline enough.

Q: So was the end planned? That is the hardest part for me.

AmberLehcar: More or less. It definitely changed a lot. I don't have any versions of the original ending, and there's still stuff from the finished product I don't remember because I literally finished at 3 a.m. the day of posting. I always have a very clear image of how the opening to any chapter or fic goes, but the end is always weird.

Q: Do you remember anything from the first version? How'd they differ?

AmberLehcar: I know the first half was a little different at the start of Resbang last year, but I have the worst memory... There was definitely supposed to be more NB Crona. Crona was supposed to be kinda the comic relief, making comments about their computer sciences classes that Soul does not understand. They named their laptop Nora and talk about it like it's a person. "Sometimes when Nora doesn't do what I want, I have to hit her" or something like that, make Soul concerned for this poor child. The "octagonal day" joke made it to the final cut. I think there was a scene at the end where Crona and Soul were supposed to be good friends after the "there's 10 kinds of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't." Because it's a math joke and a binary joke.

Sox: Amber Sox: Is Sox: A Sox: NERD

Q: What was the funnest part of the fic for you to write, Amber? Or the part you were looking forward to the most?

AmberLehcar: Writing Black Star was fun. There's a few one liners that I love. My favorite bit is when Maka asks for his name and the next bit is "Nervous. Stupid. Sweating." I needed that smooch like life itself. I played with them kissing when Maka apologizes and they made up, but it didn't feel right. So I saved a sweet normal smooch for the end scene.

Sox: I literally cackled out loud on a train reading "no party like a floor meeting party because a floor meeting party is MANDATORY."

AmberLehcar: That was one of my other fave lines. My goals for the fic were representation, make it as realistic as possible, and make people feel things. I like to think I did a good job?

Sox: You accomplished all.

Peregrine: Man the parents thing hit me so hard, you did a good job.

Q: I'd love to hear about your process/writing rituals?

AmberLehcar: When it was a scene I was particularly excited to write or just suddenly inspired, I can just sit and write. But most of the time it's me sitting at the computer with tea asking myself why I do this to myself and then I just make myself write.

Q: Is there anything else you wanted to add other than more NB Crona, Amber?

AmberLehcar: When Pere showed me art of Soul's physical progression, I kinda wanted an epilogue of Soul post surgery, but time and lack of confidence in writing it well... I don't think anyone understands exactly how nervous I was to write this. I waffled a while with "you have no business writing this, you are cis, please stop."

Peregrine: Nooo it's cool because you asked. I definitely didn't think I could write trans Soul but I hoped someone would, if they asked and did it right. Which you did.

Sox: One of my close friends is trans, and when I sent him Eden, I thought he was going to tell me he hated me. And then he didn't and I was v relieved.

AmberLehcar: I definitely wanted to be as respectful and real as possible. Again, representation matters, and I wanted to help create a thing I hadn't seen done in our fandom.

Sox: You did good.

AmberLehcar: I'm really glad. I stalked the boys' tags on their work along with my own, and someone had reblogged Pere's art and was really grateful for trans Soul. I was glad to be a part of that.

Q: Did you make any playlists or anything like that to get into the writing mood? Or headspace of a character?

AmberLehcar: For headspace, Soul and I are very similar. I too am a bag of anxiety and depression trying to pass as a human. A lot of my college and therapy experience went into the fic. There's little bits of me in pretty much everyone.

Peregrine: I have my trans boy song i listened to a lot pfft. It's from Treasure Planet.

Q: Ooo which song Pere?

Peregrine: I'm Still Here. If you look at it through a trans lens its super fitting. It's like my fave song ever.

Some additional post-AMA discussion:

Q: Amber, I think that's a sign of a good writer, to take from one's own experiences and such.

AmberLehcar: Write what you know, right? And what you don't know, you find out. The whole experience definitely gave me a new appreciation for the LGBT+ community, that's for sure. I knew some stuff, but I learned so much.

AmberLehcar: To go back and slightly change my answer for difficult scene to write, while all of ch4 was like swimming in syrup to get written, Mama Evans outburst was so difficult to write. There was just so much anger and I felt icky writing a lot of that chapter in general. Writing Maka having to purposely misgender him hurt.

Peregrine: I really liked the parents thing actually even though i hated it. It felt raw and real.

AmberLehcar: So much pain, the whole time I'm just like "why would I hurt my son like this???"

Q: Noticed you guys were still talking and guh I loved your collective art/story!!! I now know the gap between dimensions can't be breached because if it could I'd have reached through the screen and force-choked Mama Evans. I was kind of mad at Maka too though like... I can understand that Soul needed some time to himself, away from her, to really figure things out, but ;-;

AmberLehcar: Yes! Maka was an interesting situation to figure out.

Peregrine: Yeah I loved what you did there actually, because as much as I wanted her to be perfect, she wasn't perfect.

AmberLehcar: I didn't want her to just immediately come back like "sorry you startled me, let's get married."

Peregrine: As much as I want people to immediately accept me, they don't, even if they do eventually. It wasn't fantasy perfect world, it was real world.

Q: I think... that's good. At first I thought Maka would be more likely to start off rough around the edges and then end the story gracefully. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if you're going to relate realistic stories about trans people/anyone in a similar situation, you probably have to... I don't want to say "break the reader's heart" because that would imply that those stories can't have happy endings, which they can and should at least as often as any other kind of story, but it put me in Soul's shoes and made me accept how likely it is that someone who is trans/lgbt/otherwise oppressed will be badly hurt by someone they think the world of, someone who's hard to leave behind. I dunno if I spoke out of turn there, but i think it was an empathically-written story. In my inexperienced opinion.

AmberLehcar: That's definitely what I was going for. I wanted Maka to be his closest friend, for his sake and for my shipping heart's sake. But she was just too good to be true when I was writing her, so her running away happened. I was so stuck after I wrote his confession, I didn't know how to have her react. But when I thought about some of the internalized transphobia I know I've been guilty of, it made sense to add for her. It felt real.

Look out for some more transcripts, coming soon!! Thanks again to Amber, Pere and Sox for their awesome AMA <3

#a lack of armor #rbbc #resbang AMAs #AMA transcripts

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guileheroine · 7 years

Text

in the brightest

@jollysunflora asked for Asami taking Korra out to get makeup for non-actiony public appearances / on ao3, all korrasami fic

💙

Dot, dot, sweep. She drew a gentle finger over her eyelid, raising her brow first for convenience; and then, when she noticed it, at the intent expression on Korra’s face. She glanced at the container in her hand to reload her finger, before turning back to the mirror and catching the eye of Korra’s reflection. It remained unchanged, still staring.

Asami continued to dab at her eye. “What are you looking at?”

“You. That’s relaxing,” Korra said obscurely.

Asami’s brow climbed a little further.

Korra leaned forward, setting away the book in her hand, which had lost her attention a good while ago. “I mean it’s relaxing to watch you do that.”

Asami gave a low laugh, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together to brush away the remainder of the powder. “Well. Don’t fall asleep, you said you would come out with me.”

Ignoring her, Korra said, “Will you do mine? There’s that charity concert tomorrow, I think it might be nice to dress up for it. Bet the troupers would appreciate that!”

For a moment Asami didn’t reply, and not only because she was concentrating on her eyeliner. “You know you’re flawless without it. But… of course, if you want me to. I can show you -”

Korra snorted. “You can do me, I said.” She bit her lip and smiled. “That’s half the point, right? How nice it feels when you do.”

Asami suppressed her smile, letting her head list to the side as she considered Korra in the glass. “That’s fine, too. But if you’re going to keep asking me to do your makeup, you should get some of your own. I mean -” She held up the little container of pink eyeshadow to illustrate her point. “This doesn’t exactly suit you!”

So what did? Korra concerned herself with the question on the drive into town, Asami working fast to meet every suggestion thrown at her.

“So yes to gold?” Korra repeated. “You don’t think that’s… too much?”

“Nope.” Asami laughed. “It would suit you so well; you’re all… warm.” She gestured to Korra’s brown skin and hair, taking a second to affectionately brush an unruly section out with her fingers. “And…”

“Intense?” Korra offered, roguish.

“…Striking.” She fixed her with a knowing look. “You kinda stand out no matter what, Avatar.”

“Sure!” Korra said, quite happy with the fact. “Now, don’t laugh, but… is blue eyeshadow out of the question? Do they even make that?”

“No and yes!” Asami exclaimed, delighted by Korra’s willingness to go bold, though not surprised in the least. “Set those eyes off…”

Asami chose the boutique that they stopped at specially for its range - if Korra was truly invested, she deserved to be impressed. It had every item possible in every colour producible - arranged in columns and pyramids and stacked shelves; tins and tubes of things even Asami didn’t recognize. They spent a moment simply absorbing.

“You know, not long ago, these tubes didn’t even swivel,” Asami explained as they examined an impossibly large array of lipsticks in formation like soldiers, “you had to push the stuff out to get more of it. Try this one,” she said, pointing to a cool red.

Korra was evidently impressed at the speed with which she had picked it out, but when she tried the colour on her nose wrinkled. “I don’t like it,” she said, rubbing her lip as she peered into one of the shiny mirrors that hung around the aisles at regular intervals. “You like it, Asami, right? I think I prefer vivid on the eyes.”

That was an astute observation; and one that Asami had come to as soon as she saw Korra’s expression. She turned back to the lipsticks. “More natural, then?” She said, holding up two rich browns in her hands that Korra appreciated much more.

Then, whilst Korra stood and carefully evaluated the rainbow of eyeshadows, Asami brought her some less exciting things to try.

“That’s powder?” Korra said, eyeing the item that Asami had presented her with mild suspicion.

“Cool, right?” Asami clicked the compact case open and turned it in her palm to show her. “They started packing it down so it’s easier to carry around - it’s this weird little pressing machine, I think they might have one here in this store… Anyway, I brought these as well, in case you prefer them.” She handed a couple of pan sticks to Korra along with the powder. “I’ve never actually tried them, it’s new, too. But it’s supposed to be an easier fix than powder.”

Asami had procured a few shades of each that she thought would match Korra’s skin - not as difficult in this store, thankfully, as it might have been elsewhere. “Lucky we’re here,” Asami said, blending a stick on one of Korra’s wrists whilst Korra took the other, “‘cause it’s harder to find these shades here in the United Republic.”

“What, no cosmetics places in the Little Water Tribe?” Korra said, holding her forearm up to examine.

“You know there aren’t.” It was not something that had really taken off in the Water Tribe yet, not like it had in the United Republic. Even up here, there were still many that considered painting one’s face strictly a pursuit of certain professions, not that Asami paid any mind to that. But if there was any place for a commercial style revolution, it was Republic City; and the stamping grounds of its uptown youth, of which this store would certainly qualify as one.) The constant barrage of new beauty products was evidence of that.

When they had distinguished the perfect pan stick shade, Korra picked her eyeshadows: gold and silver and brown; four little tins that she stacked before her with a satisfied smile.

“You don’t wear rouge, do you?” She asked Asami, taking stock of the stock compiled so far.

“Not on the regular, no,” Asami said. Since Korra wasn’t looking at anything for the regular, they picked out a deep, earthy red one for her.

There wasn’t anything else that Korra wanted - Asami told her she could use her eye pencils and liquids, since they were all much the same colour and she had more than a decent supply of them - but Asami had one last item for her.

She swept a smidge of white lotion out from a small tub and rubbed it across Korra’s cheek. “This should keep your skin safe and fresh under that makeup. How does it feel?”

“It’s so light,” Korra said, placing her fingers where Asami’s had been. “Vanishing cream,” she read off the metal lid, reaching for more. “I gotta say, it feels a lot less gross than cold cream.”

“Careful,” Asami said, watching her smooth a considerable fingerful into the same spot of skin, “you’ll vanish.”

Korra couldn’t have been more disappointed with her joke.

No sooner had she begun to lead Asami to the counter than Korra stopped in her tracks. “Wait, I wanted blue eyeshadow!”

“You think that I could pull it off?” She said, turning to Asami a minute later with a slapdash splash of colour on her eyelids. A sparkling aquamarine that didn’t quite manage to out-blue her eyes.

“Oh, yeah,” Asami said, before giving a little shrug. “Well… you know, I don’t know if I’m the person to ask, ‘cause I think you’d be so beautiful in anything. Not that anyone else’d be right if they disagreed.”

Korra sighed in irritation, prodding her chest with her shimmering fingers. “You’re no help at all, are you?” She smirked. “Least you’re paying for all this.”

#korrasami #jollysunflora #**#korrasami fanfiction

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