#not style-wise anyways. That’s why they’re standard.

[princessprettyprivilege]

any advice for someone who just turned 19 and wants to level up before turning 20💗

You’re probably 20 by the time I answered this question 😂😂 anyways, this information will be applicable whether you’re 19 or 20!

Leveling Up Into Adult-hood

Have fun, DO NOT be hung up on appearing like a good girl all the time. You’ll burn yourself out!! It’s so frustrating constantly moderating your behavior to look pure to everyone if it’s not in your nature, you haven’t been raised like that, or you were sheltered. Why is it the goody two shoes rebel when they are legally adults or on their own?

There’s a time and place for being on your best behavior but also areas where you’re less expected to be straight-laced.

There’s this misconception for leveling up that you have to act like you have a stick up your ass, when like in regular life, being too prudent or haphazardly can be an issue. Your behavior shouldn’t place you or anyone else in physical danger!

Be logical with your style! Another misconception of leveling up is needing to dress like a nun or old money. Avoid following style advice blindly because it’s so different regionally and culturally. You don’t need to camouflage in your surroundings, but don’t try to reinvent the wheel because someone says it’s trendy.

I don’t believe leveled up = prude or no more fun. You really don’t want to go into adulthood restraining yourself then regretting it in the future.

If you enjoy trends, enjoy them without letting the bulk of your money flow through your fingers. Choose trendy clothes that are direct dupes of the designer clothes they knocked off, that’s how fast fashion began.

Don’t be lazy. Laziness and finding shortcuts are very different things. A majority of questions I see on Tumblr & Reddit about leveling up and similar spheres can be answered by books that you can find for free on the internet.

Experience. As you level up physically and mentally, you should gain experience. Both mature and post-level up people have numerous cards in their decks for situations in their lives. Nothing is off limits.

This isn’t to say to:

be reckless

sit out on experiences to look “good” (I don’t like stringent morality standards, it stunts your personal growth for societal-facing purposes)

OR make purposeful mistakes for philosophical type lessons + breakthroughs, but all types of experiences shape your understanding.

Ask specific questions as a last resort because most leveling up questions are very personal and/or invasive, can be found on the internet/YouTube/Pinterest within seconds, so vague you could find out yourself (not saying your question is vague, I was 19 & unsure of my abilities), and basically advice you can find in a book for free.

At the same time, if you did pay for info that you answered yourself in the question, you should feel insulted because you doubted your gut, credibility, and intelligence. There’s a reason why 20-somethings aren’t expected to have 10 years of experience for a career.

We do not have to mail letters to experts or gurus anymore with the dawn of the internet, and shouldn’t force our personal issues & trauma on strangers for free that didn’t ask for it. A majority of questions I see could be found within seconds, and things I would never ask a stranger, no matter how well-intentioned they seem.

You need intermediate conversationalist, etiquette, and reasoning skills. You cannot rationally expect a person to hold your hand through every step or make decisions for you.

Don’t be dumb and ask a person how to sound diplomatic in conversation if they’re a dumbass. Definitely don’t ask a 20 something how to impress older people in high places in conversations if they’ve never met older people in high places. This does not mean a 60yr old is wise and experienced. Again, most people who are only into the femininity & hypergamy movement for the attention and money (from the attention) will not hesitate to lead you into a ditch with their advice.

Do be sensible and ask a knowledgeable person neutral questions on how to communicate wisely. Before you ask, observe. Everyone isn’t going to give you straight answers just because you asked since they don’t owe you a courtesy of a right answer.

I had a grandpa that procured financial sense from living post-Great Depression & WW2

a public speaking professor that coached a pageant queen

absorb beauty content from cultures that thrive on beauty for survival

That being said, don’t ask me about financial security, conversing like a pageant queen, or even what I absorb from beauty-centered cultures since everyone’s circumstances are different.

Be very careful blindly trusting advice you hear or read on the internet because not everyone’s your friend or best to go to for advice. No one owes you the courtesy of right answers because you asked.

Would you ask a 6 time divorcee for longterm relationship advice? That’s asking a skunk how to smell lovely.

Would you ask a straight haired person what to do for textured hair?

Would you ask a scammer how to make an honest living? I wouldn’t ask.

If someone’s cradling you through every action, how will you learn to keep your head up and walk?

#my asks 🌹 #princesskhalyiah

[zahri-melitor]

New(ish) (very ISH) comics of the week:

Power Girl Special #1: Gotta be honest, I went back and forth about reading this, but the fact it has a Bea and Tora backup decided me. I find Peej to generally be either very good or dreadful, with no in between, mostly because she’s only good when her writer is taking her seriously (even if they’re writing fluff). (Also I have no clue what she’s been up to for the last oh 15 years or so, so going in cold).

Bea and Tora are adorable as is standard. I see this is the intro for their upcoming mini (and I have to laugh that Clark’s panicked response to everything at this point is ‘pack them off to Ma and Pa’ when he has no other solution).

Power Girl - I’ve got to admit I had to look up why she’s now using ‘Paige’ as a name rather than Karen, and I’m still confused. I mean, random name retcons aren’t UNUSUAL for Peej, but I’m clearly still missing the justification for this one, as it doesn’t seem to be “we changed your origin again” (the previous good old reasons). Otherwise - angsty, feeling left out due to being from another universe (have you spoken to Kon about this? I’m sure he can sympathise at this point), and with several new talents, including what looks AWFULLY like a Superboy Prime Punch skill. (Who are we resurrecting this time?)

Still undecided if I’ll read the new ongoing. Fire and Ice will be a definite though.

Dead Boy Detectives #1: it’s fine? Sort of creepy-cute. Mostly I’m worried as Thessaly is involved.

Action Comics #1050: always nice to use a round number comic for a retcon, I feel. I double checked and Superboy slots in after this and before the next issue, so time frame wise this works for a pick up. (Lex is an idiot but that’s not new).

World’s Finest B/S #1-10: this was just a VERY good time. I love how it’s rotating various characters in and out to tell stories, giving a wider feel to the world. I love the art and all the callbacks being slotted into place. Just a series that rewards people who love DC.

Warlord #4: It’s my very old comic! What’s Travis Morgan up to today? I adore how most clothing in Skartaris, a place of constant warfare, is pinned half-heartedly together with massive amounts of skin on display. Who needs armour when you have a fur bikini or an open chested unitard anyway. Deimos is rocking a v-collared red bolero COAT and a pair of short shorts with a draped skirtbelt, leaving him with his décolletage AND his abs AND his thighs on display. Snazzy. In any case, today’s story is about siege warfare and summoning demons. Travis somehow avoids getting tied up. Never mind, I’m sure Mike Grell will be back on his crucifixion thing next week.

The stunning Deimos, everyone. This outfit has STYLE (and a back but no front)

#newish comics

[dayblalock20]

Gucci Belts & Suspenders For Girls

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#fake gucci belt #faux gucci belt #fake gg belt #fake gucci belts #gg belt fake #gucci belt look alike

[kicktwine]

do you have more thoughts on keyblade fighting that you need to put somewhere, because i have two hands ready to catch Should The Need Arise

anon: hey I heard you mention you’d analysed the combat styles in KH and what you said in the tags was already alluding to really neat stuff, but I for one would love to hear more of what you came up with!! so if you ever wanted to share any of your analysis then the floor is yours

aHAH, MY EXCUSE!!

Okay, so first some words on “standardized wielding styles”. These are styles shared by Terra, Aqua, Vanitas, Riku, and Xehanort and every other scala and daybreak kid. I will make the argument that the red style is the fanciest standard style, while the purple is seen often to make it easier on the little chibi sprites. BUT, I cannot discredit Eraqus, who uses the purple variant in bbs, nor can I discredit half of the Foretellers (Gula and Ava, at least, use this. Invi and Aced use the first type). So, two standard styles. For simplicity, let’s say one for primary offense, one for primary defense. The standard offensive style really wasn’t popular before Scala-era society.

check this difference out, specifically between ava invi and gula:

then between eraqus, hermod, and xehanort, and eraqus and terra.

These two were likely popularized and standardized for education in Scala ad Caelum for their predominant lack of obvious weak spots.

After this, we have unique styles. Those include Sora Kairi and Xion’s (similar to standard defense, but more mobile at the expense of form — Kairi takes after Sora but less confident, she hasn’t been hit that heavily yet), Ven’s (backhand, heavy range and mobility), Roxas’ (modified for two keyblades, but takes after Sora), and Axel’s (taught himself, comfortable with chakrams).

So! Let’s go.

.

Standard (offensive)

All styles have sub-variations, of a sense. Different wielders can choose where their keyblade points, and how they hold it exactly, based on what makes them most comfortable. Terra and Aqua point theirs downward, while Vanitas and Riku hold theirs above their head. What is recognizeable to this style is a hand for the sword, and a hand for guarding/blocking/items/magic.

It’s incredibly efficient. With only one hand on the weapon, you not only free up a hand for other things, but increase your range of movement with said weapon. Test it out yourself! The keyblade hand is always your dominant hand, held behind you for increased power when attacking (since you lose a significant amount of it by choosing not to grip with both hands). This style also decreases the speed of the defense you have, but with that increased mobility and swing power, along with a hand free to brace against the keyblade (defense strength up!), it makes up for it. Many people who use this also have strong barrier spells — both a testament to their preference for coverage and an acknowledgement that any directional block will take a little longer and be weaker if they try it with one hand.

The pointy end, though. What difference does it actually make, the height it’s at?

I think it’s half a matter of attack style preference and half intention. Riku, Vanitas, and Xehanort stab quite a bit. Aqua and Terra slice more. Not that they don’t do both, but it’s the first instinct. Aqua and Terra are also likely taught to hold their keyblade neutrally, in a safe position, until someone starts attacking. It’s polite! Eraqus also holds his one-handed, neutrally, until he gets into position. Riku and Vanitas learned to fight assuming everyone was out to fight them. Invi and Aced may like this style because of range (i hc she’s blind and strikes very very quickly, and he’s already very powerful with just the one arm and wants better motion).

and on character specifics: Terra often switches to two-handed, to copy his dad and add extra power to his hits without always sacrificing the empty hand. Vanitas likely was forced to relearn how to fight, as instead of solely being trained to be better at withstanding, he was constantly being made to better his own attacks. The moves Xehanort uses would best be replicated in the same style. Vanitas is wild for holding the massive spiky x-blade like that.

Now, what‘s good on this style does not correlate to what’s bad in the other. The two standard styles simply have different ways of dealing with each con they create or taking advantage of each pro.

(Here’s an interesting side note — Gula uses standard defensive, but in this instance, swaps. One hand… likely to display confidence! Wrong move, but hey. He got cocky. He’s also doing it wrong, and swaps back to two-handed to take Aced’s attack.)

.

Standard (defensive)

The main detriment of this style is the lack of ease of long range movement. Hold a wrapping paper tube out in front of you with both hands, then run. It goes to the side, or tucks in to your stomach, right? Dodge. Your legs will get in the way unless you know where to move that sword. It requires, interestingly, a little more discipline. You’d think Aqua would like that, but no, she wants movement and practicality, and she loves magic, and remember that you must take a hand off this style to grab a potion. You’d think young Eraqus wouldn’t, but remember that he’s a fancy royal lad.

The main draw, though, is tankiness, readiness, and power. You don’t need to move as much if nothing dares hit you! Ava and Gula might be attracted to this style because they’re not as physically strong, but want protection in close-quarters fighting. Using this style when your muscles aren’t as big but you still want to Hit Things Good, or when you want to be a boy you can’t knock over with a pail of water (horse stance rules), is probably solid advice.

Traditionally, this is a lot less like fencing, and a lot more like a samurai sword or kendo. Your blade is held in front of you, giving you very easy access to blocks and frontal attack/defense. In losing some twirly spinniness, you gain power and minimize your opponent’s ability to parry and block.

you gotta dodge master Eraqus so mcuh

All styles will swap between one and two hands for different moves. Eraqus, notably, swaps to a stance very similar to Xehanort when channeling a metric ton of magic.

Both of these styles require a degree of upper body/core strength, as does all swordfighting. I would be interested to see someone whose keyblade style relies on leg strength.

.

Sora, Xion, and Kairi

please look at the difference between the foretellers’ or eraqus’ two-handed grip and Sora’s. Do this with your shoulders and a top-heavy object.

They’re both in a hard stance, but hon. What are you, a gremlin? Anyways, a traditionally taught master would have… better form, even if it’s harder to learn at first. It’s habitual. Sora nearly crouches, and holds his keyblade back-pointed with two hands, which makes it easier for him to dodge roll, push off his feet quickly, and pull off those spinning combos he loves. It‘s really gonna hurt his muscles, in the future, though, since he’s doing a squat for like…. hours. Pulling on those shoulderblades and neck. Xion, too. Replicas had better have correct muscle dynamics. Kairi is brand new, so… maybe Aqua can teach her how to hold a sword so it doesnt hurt you.

Okay, now look at the grip itself. Held in front versus held to the side-back. They’re really attempting to combine both standard styles subconsciously, giving themselves more attack power while really wanting to keep that hard defensive parry, wanting to prevent all attacks to the front while also wanting mobility. It’s working for them really well, they fight like an anime character, and manage to get the best of both, with a minor sacrifice of length range that they don’t care about. We’re flexible and full of magic, baby! Holding the blade like this makes it pretty easy to let go with one hand without sacrificing that crouched defense position.

Now, Sora, specifically, is very adaptive. He’s had two keyblades, claws, guns, yo-yos, and a giant shield, to name a couple. He retains a bit of that alert crouch no matter where he goes, but Sora knows how he wants to attack and how to balance that with the most effective way to use his current weapon. He’s a smart kid! Sora has the most ridiculous shotlocks, which are also probably due to not always wanting to go standard for it. He also prefers to keep his focus on the enemy, which is evident in his reprisals and lack of very many effective “escape” moves.

Xion is very similar to Sora, but she does have some moves that are all movement. She switches to one handed for strikes a lot — using two for defending, one for smacking. In her data battle I’d swear some of those heavy hits are claymore-like. But anyways, since we’re magic, Xion cares not for the laws of exhaustion, and will ping about as a ball of light everywhere. Short range? Up in your business. Mid-range? In your business with one hand. Long range? Throws a boomerang. Hit her? No you dont. Ball of light. She’s above you and wants to bash your head in. (Vanitas also does this! A lot. It’s an easy way to catch someone off-guard. I’ll argue that the soras are very tough and strong, but not tanky. they want to avoid being hit a lot)

Another interesting note about Kairi. I say “unconfident” not because she doesn’t hit hard, but because her stance is also often tilted back, ready to dodge. It’s two handed, but almost all her moves are one. She does love spinning and throwing the thing! It looks like she’s been taking notes from the wielders she knows. It would be easy to teach her a standard style, I think. See here, she lets go on the strike, and by trying to do both, actually ends up with an advantage (being confusing) and disadvantage (losing both the power of two handed and versatility of one handed).

A counter to Sora and Xion is difficult to pin down. Time? Probably. Lack of heating pads. Something that takes all their attention is about the only way to get a sneak attack in, and then you have to hit hard. A counter to Kairi would be anyone who can knock her off balance. She needs a sturdier stance. .

Roxas

Roxas is interesting. He takes after Sora for the one blade. Wielding two, however, nets him a totally different way of fighting. Roxas’ clavicle muscles n… deltoids and stuff must be Ironclad. Also, two handed means you are very fast and sharp all the time. He has the advantage of standard defense (horse stance), and the advantage of offense (range of one sword, but twice).

Roxas generally attacks in two ways — simultaneous hits, and follow-up hits. Either he hits with both at once, or hits hard with the first one, and adds the second one as a bonus smack. He can attack by hitting in opposite directions with the two, like a drum, but that will be a little awkward and leave him prone to being tangled. That established, the follow-up hit method means he spins a bunch. As do we all.

Roxas gets a little complicated because we are not in the real world. We have magic and turning into light and physics that let you become a circular saw. So, typically, disadvantages would include: being unable to let go of a weapon to grab something or use an item, having just a very big silhouette to attack on, having difficulty with close-range attacks because Oathkeeper and Oblivion are kinda long, and convenience. Roxas gets to dodge #1 (keyblades can be unsummoned) and #4 (keyblades can be unsummoned). Speaking of dodging, he also gets to skirt the difficulty of dodging and rolling with two swords because he turns into a beam of light. But he can’t dodge how difficult it is to use two swords effectively — he needs to concentrate on fighting, and nothing else, or he risks messing up. He has to be very, very coordinated, and undistracted. Luckily he’s pretty good at making his opponents shut up, most of the time. Blocking is another thing — theoretically his blocks could be strong, but Roxas has no real brace: crossing your blades and taking a hefty stab might smack one of them back into your face. He mostly uses reversals and dodges, because of this.

The takeaway to this is Roxas is built for speed and power, and he is very strong. He’s a mid- to far- range fighter who if you’re not careful can snap you in half if you’re too close (be SO careful of that cross blade scissor).

A perfect counter to Roxas would be a tank that can grapple, and also be very distracting. If you can take hits, be talkative, and get close enough to stop his blades, you have a chance.

.

Ventus

This is a bizarre choice, my guy, but I get it.

Backhanded weapons are very impractical for a lot of... attacking, mainly in mid-range combat, and Ven likes to either fight very close or throw the keyblade like a boomerang (and hey, backhand gives it a good whip for throwing). His attacks aren’t meant to one hit KO, but they do come with a bit of power to them, especially on the backslash. Like holding a knife for gouging. It’s for very close defense — pretty good when Wayward Wind and Missing Ache have hooks.

Backhand also, while retaining that empty hand for potions and guarding, gives you an extreme coverage boost. By which I mean Ven’s sword hand now has a nearly 270 degree sweep of “I see you, don’t touch me”, very quickly, based on just flicking his wrist. It sacrifices a ton of strength/sturdiness, but you don’t need that if you’re dodging. You also don’t really need to block, which is slower, but relatively sturdy when Ven does it, as he blocks with mostly the chunky hilt between crossed arms. He sacrifices (again) a bit of strength for coverage — an attack would hurt his arms, not his chest, if he were hit head-on.

His attacks often have him flip the blade around in his hand, too. Quick swaps between standard moves and backhand ones. Basically, Ventus is built for moving, protecting himself, and quick attacks that wear down the enemy, not outclass it. Likely because he’s good at fighting, but everyone he’s fought hits harder than he can! It doesn’t matter how he holds it, getting hit will hurt. So he just. Doesn’t. He’s not a buff little guy — but he is a persistent one. Ven very likely made this up on his own, in Daybreak, and it was too hard to fix his whole style, but it was enough to correct most of his form so he doesn’t hurt himself too much. He is going to have to really stretch that shoulder and wrist (maybe get a brace), though. At least his neck is ok. … not sure about his knees tho dang boy that crouch

A perfect counter to Ven would be someone big and fast, who hits hard mid-range. He’s already been sparring with Terra, though, so when in doubt, try scruffing him?

.

Axel

Theres not a ton to say about him — he‘s not a swordfighter. He uses his keyblade like it’s a frisbee. Because that’s what he’s used to! His neutral is behind his back on his shoulder, which is terrible for readiness, but okay for chucking the thing. It’s good it has a sort of… ripstik like… boomerang quality.

Axel’s fighting style is completely made up, like most of the self-taught wielders’. His strengths lie in some of the benefits of standard offensive style (one-handed), and some of the same coverage stuff as Ven, having a cocked wrist most of the time so no one can sneak up around him without risking getting whacked very quickly, and having an interesting range due to the pointy end being basically on a spinny swivel wherever his hand moves. He’s not going to be good at close-range and he knows it — his attacks are mostly distance. And the guy has ZERO defense, combined with zero coverage when idle, so it’s for the better.

Distance-wise, though, he rocks. Treating the blade like it’s a flaming throwing weapon means his idle is actually great for sudden flick-tossing and attention-guiding for sneakier attacks, and his stance itself (…nonexistent) serves a different purpose: bait. Basically a big "come hit me". Fun, when you have a lot of fire magic and two friends who are beasts and love to take advantage of a distracted enemy — distance on the blade, proximity on the burning.

A perfect counter to Axel would be someone pinging around very close <—> very far and circling him incessantly. Like, data Xion could wreck him, as he has to wait for the boomerang to come back -- he no longer has two spinny wheels. Also someone with water magic.

.

SO! In conclusion! Having a teacher who teaches you correct sword usage rather than instinct may detract from overspecific styles that benefit you most but leave weak spots, but your muscles and your oversights will thank you. Everyone is glad we have the power of the Mouse and anime on our side.

Keep in mind again that I have done cursory research, and have had minimal actual sword instruction, I am not an expert and this is all for fun anyways :]

#I ran out of images which is homophobic #KH #ask #mojimallow #THANKS MOJI #If you’re wondering what the counter would be to Terra and Aqua; in terms of counters there are no counters #not style-wise anyways. That’s why they’re standard. #Terra can’t react very fast and Aqua needs more mp but that’s individual #and we are mostly talking BASE COMBAT here #of course lingering will can use keyblade transformations and there’s magic strategies — but that would make this post… much longer #brrrrrrr #kh analysis #kh meta #thanks to the handful of other people who asked me to expand on the same thing <3<3<3 #REALLY wanted to include one of Invi blocking — just go watch invi and aced fight for two standard offense #it Shows off their strengths and weaknesses #… no living adults do the two handed grip. Watch Sora and Xion’s data battle for an approximation I guess?? #you. Hey you. Look in the notes rn #metazone

[dannyphantom-rewrite]

Redesign reference: "Phantom"

Presenting my redesign of Phantom, drawn by the amazingly talented evansdaemon!

Update: they now have a Tumblr @evansdaemon !

So let's get straight to it!

-Rather than getting tanner as Phantom, Danny's skin is a sort of blue gray. It's not as pronounced as Vlad's, but I like the idea of the blue tint being something they have in common.

-Green iris, yellowish scalera.

-My Danny didn't actually go into the portal in hazmat, just his street clothes- so this isn't Phantom's default look, just his ghost busting get up. This is what he looks like when he's not actively superhero-ing. Anyway, Evan did an absolutely wonderful job making it look less skin tight and more hazmat-y. They also seem to have snuck in a little bit of a galaxy pattern and I friggin love it!!

-Danny doesn’t have the logo until he’s established himself as a known vigilante. Sam still designs it for him, but it’s not a sticker, Danny is just able to manipulate his appearance to add it. His hoodie gets a logo change, too.

-A ghost’s appearance is often a reflection of how they view themselves, So once Danny has started taking the superhero thing seriously, he adjusts accordingly, hence the addition of the logo.

-The hazmat also gets padding in the knees and elbows, this is something Danny does subconsciously after fighting ghosts for a while, and it does help minimize injury, to an extent.

-The Fenton phones, along with his thermos and hip holster, are a near constant accessory. They're used to keep in touch with Sam and Tucker during planned patrols.

-As Phantom Danny has glowing green Lichtenberg figures! They’re not visible under most circumstance since they’re mostly centered on his back and arms, and thus covered, but they are there, and can be seen from time to time.

-His ears are tapered/pointy, and prehensile to the extent that he can sorta swivel and twitch them. 

-FANGS (“standard” set, sharpened lateral incisors on top row, and canines on the bottom) 

-Retractable claws. They grow out a dark green, almost black color. they’re very sharp, and thick, not easily cut, filed, or broken. He’ll eventually wind up making the gloves fingerless because of them.

-Normally, Danny doesn’t have any of these features in human form unless he chooses to, but sometimes they slip out when he’s angry or other wise overwhelmed emotionally.

GHOSTLY ABILITIES: 

Going ghost: Might not seem like something of note, just because of how obvious it is, but along with going from human to ghost, The white transformation wings can also be weaponized, as the let out a sort of energy pulse that can repel enemies. 

It also fucks with nearby electronics, and causes Tucker So Much Grief.

Ghost sense: Since I decided on swapping Danny's ice powers for electrical ones, the ghost sense is no longer visible as an icy breath. When Danny senses another ghost it’s more in line with a static shock, like when you rub your socks on carpet and then touch a door knob. 

Standard ghost powers include; intangibility, invisibility, and flight/levitation. That last one can also be used to walk on walls and ceilings or just glide across the floor like an ice skater. 

Danny has two variations of ecto-blasts:  

-The first of which is just green ectoplasmic energy, and the second being ecto-energy charged with electricity. 

-Danny has the ability to conduct and manipulate electricity due to the nature of how he “died” and the charged ecto-blasts are an extension of that. 

Ectoplasmic constructs: shapes made of ectoplasm, usually shields or other barriers, but this ability can also be used to form things temporarily like ropes or weaponry.

Energy reflection and absorption: self explanatory, this is either used in the form or a shield that will redirect an enemy attack, or to absorb the energy from said attack and throw it behind one of his own. 

Ghostly wail: Same as in canon, with the addition of being able to interfere with technology, causing massive power outages and effectively frying any electrical appliances.

Echo location: a combination of the ghost sense and aspect of the ghostly wail used to locate another ghosts exact location. Like how a bat uses vibrations. 

Voice manipulation: The ability to make his voice echo or sound other-wise distorted. 

Telekinesis: why the fuck did we only see him use this power ONCE? to move a fucking rake?? he can levitate shit c’mon. Ya bois part poltergeist. 

Exorcism: The ability to knock another ghost out of a possessed person. Due to the fact that Danny has an actual living body he cannot overshadow or posses people….and he himself is still suspectable to possession. He has more of a chance to fight off a ghost than the average person, however. Were Danny to get possessed, his ghost half would get knocked out of his body ala gravity falls sock opera style. 

Ghost-tail: When flying at high speeds Danny’s legs shift to a ghostly tail. He can also consciously choose to shift to a tail at any other given time. Although sometimes it just happens when he gets excited. He'll start flicking it around like a cat and he doesn't even realize half the time.

Death throes: Most ghosts have the ability to channel the cause of their death. Danny’s ability to manipulate electricity is an extension of his death thoe. When fully activated he appears as he did in the moment of his “death.” The Hazmat suit takes on inverted colors, and Danny’s body is lit up in an electric green aura, with his skeleton becoming visible. He is highly unstable in this state, as he feels the pain of electrocution the entire time. All of his powers are heightened in this state, and his body crackles with a continuous electrical charge. 

Ghost-portal manipulation: Like Wulf, Danny can use his claws to open and close portals into the ghost zone, this is also an extension of his death throe.

Danny has a lot of other less noticeable abilities that he can use in human form:

-Accelerated healing, injuries heal a great deal faster than the average human.

-Enhanced durability, can take hits that would seriously injure the average human being 

-Hyper-metabolism

-Enhanced speed, strength, agility, reflexes, stamina, and balance 

-In ghost form, A lot of Danny’s bodily functions slow, allowing him to survive for minutes at a time without oxygen, (or even longer, if he's in the Ghost Zone) and for long periods without food, water or sleep. 

in human form Danny's powers are limited to invisibility and intangibility. He's too heavy for flight without all the Ectoplasm flooding his body, and while he can form ectoblasts he can't really control them enough do anything but burn his hands. 

#long post #art #danny fenton #redesign #character redesign #danny phantom

[junnie133]

Linked Universe Pokémon AU

Bc i’m a damn nerd. These are just my headcanons, feel free of using the images and the clean template in the end. I’d love to hear suggestions about changes on their teams since I filled some of them rather forcefully to get a full 6 Pokémon team. 

{+}{+}{+}

A mostly Flying/Water based team for our little Sailor! I got some of the basic Water Pokémon we usually see in the games and the anime, mixed up with some Ghost types (bc Phantom Hourglass).

Gyarados (★): Water/Flying. I wanted to reference the King of Red Lions with this one. His main transport while traveling through the big Great Sea.

Mantine: Water/Flying. Maybe captured when it was only a Mantyke, a fun pokémon very common on the seaside. I bet Wind would like it.

Lapras: Water/Ice. Another common chose for traveling, a very kind pokémon easy to train for its calm behaviour.

Dhelmise: Ghost/Grass. A badass pirate-based pokémon for a badass pirate boy. Maybe a gift from Tetra after they set sail?

Drifblim: Ghost/Flying. Captured as a Drifloon, a cute little guy.

Wingull: Water/Flying. Aryll’s pokémon, she lent it to her big brother and it often delivers letters between both siblings. 

Warriors’ team was pretty easy for me, there’s a lot of pokémon that fit him very well (unlike with some of the others *sigh*). I focused on some of his personality traits and the knight trope.

Aegislash: Steel/Ghost. Captured as a Honedge and evolved to this point, a very loyal pokémon who hates traitors almost as much as War does. His best pal.

Gallade: Psychic/Fighting. Abandoned as a Kirlia, War took him on his team. A complete gentleman, almost as flirty and skilled in combat as his owner. 

Bisharp: Dark/Steel. Captured as a Pawniard, a very serious fella. Likes to act like the leader of War’s other pokémon.

Silvally: Normal. War rescued him from the enemy’s lines, it was very wary of everyone but got a confidence booster when evolved. Loves War and gets somehow overprotective with him.

Corviknight: Flying/Steel. Every Captain of the Royal Guard owns one. He’s a wise, old bird who has seen lots of trainers go down in combat. It became attached of War.

Rapidash: Psychic/Fairy. Honestly, I was very unsure to give him a Galar version, however, I think it’s kind of fitting with his flamboyant attitude. She gets jealous when War flirts with someone.

Ah, my favorite team. It has a lot of Eevees, that’s all I need in life. This one was the easiest of all for obvious reasons. Also, Four is tiny, Eevee is tiny, and they both can easily adapt to any circumstance. Soulmates.

Leafeon: Grass. Green’s Eevee, the other eevelutions (except Umbreon) follow him like a leader. He has an easy going nature and takes care his fellow eeveelutions. They’re all siblings.

Vaporeon: Water. Blue’s Eevee. A little shit. Likes to bother Blue and the other Colors, but it gets soft with Red. She’s jealous of Flareon.

Flareon: Fire. Red’s Eevee. Always sleeping, likes to rest on Red’s lap after tough battles. Completely oblivious of her surroundings most of the time. She’s Red’s spoiled little girl.

Espeon: Psychic. Vio’s Eevee. A very capricious boy. Likes to be Vio’s center of attention and likes to hang out with Umbreon. Can’t stand Vaporeon but gets along very well with the others.

Umbreon: Dark. Shadow’s Eevee. Depressed girl. Misses her owner, although he likes Four and the colors just fine, sleeps with Flareon very often and likes Espeon’s company. 

Eevee: Normal. Came out from Espeon’s and Umbreon’s egg. It refuses to evolve.

I had some trouble choosing for Wild. I wanted to add a poké for each region on BotW and Champion, but decided against it. He had a team pre-calamity, but only a few pokémon manage to live 100+ years. Like Golurk.

Decidueye: Grass/Ghost. Captured as a Rowlet. Evolved quickly to his final form after lots of dangerous battles, he and Wild have the same fashion style, and have archery contests rather often. They’re close.

Sawsbuck: Normal. One day Wild decided he was tired of walking and mounted her in the wild. She didn’t take it kindly so they kind of got into a fight. Later that day Wild fought her with Decidueye and won, adding her to his team. 

Mudsdale: Ground. Wild heard of the existence of a gigant Mudsdale somewhere near the Faron Grasslands and went to capture it. She’s very gentle for her size, but can and will protect Wild and the others.

Heracross: Bug/Fighting. They fought over a honeycomb they found at the same time. Wild won, and since then he has never stopped following him. Beedle has tried exchanging him for any pokémon he has with no avail. Wild always cooks things with honey for him.

Ursaring: Normal. Same story as Sawsbuck, but in Tabantha. Wild feeded her with berries and got along since then. They often fight as practice, but Ursaring always wins.

Golurk: Ground/Ghost. Before the calamity Wild and Flora found a Golett on the Sheikah ruins they explored. He doesn’t exactly remembers it, but Golurk is happy by just watching over him like he did for it 100 years ago. It keeps its trainer at bay when trying to do something reckless.

For my boy Hyrule I choose to make his team based on the spells he uses in his second adventure. They’re all mostly babies, like him.

Cleffa: Fairy. For the ‘Fairy spell’. Baby, often gets into trouble without meaning it, and Hyrule swore to protect him no mater what. He found his egg abandoned somewhere and took care of it until it hatched. Cleffa thinks he is his mother.

Magby: Fire. For the ‘Fire Spell’. Another baby. The only one who likes his cooking. Also they look alike a lot, I couldn’t not add him on ‘Rule’s team if I had to choose a fire type. 

Ampharos: Electric.  For the ‘Thunder Spell’ A good girl, lights up the caverns Hyrule explores with flash and it’s his strongest pokémon. He found her full evolved and injured. She has saved his ass more than once.

Wobbuffet: Psychic. For the ‘Relflect spell’ An asshole. Not really, but Hyrule has never been able to tame him. He does whatever he wants, and ‘Rule only uses him for battle as a last resort. He loves him anyway.

Audino: Normal. For the ‘heal spell’ The softest girl ever. Always heals his and the team’s injuries, eats his food even if she hates it and gets along with everyone. An angel.

Bunnelby: Normal. For the ‘Jump Spell’. Tiny, chill boy. Tagged along with ‘Rule after he gave him an apple, now he follows him everywhere.

Sky pokes for a Sky, bird lover boi. Honestly that was my only standard while doing this one. Also Sky is the best trainer among them all, don’t ask why it just seems like it. (he actually went to school so...)

Talonflame: Fire/Flying. Crimson in this AU, has trained him since he was a baby Fletching. They’re best buddies, he hates Groose and loves Sun.

Sirfetch’d: Fighting. I wasn’t sure if I should have give this one to Warriors, but then I realized Sky is a trained knight too, so he may have trained this boy in the Academy. He gets along with Warriors pretty well tho.

Pidgeot: Normal/Flying. Captured as a Pidgey. Skyloft is a town in the sky, what did you expect.

Honedge: Steel/Ghost. A poke the Academy provided. Jealous of Fi. Admires Sky.

Braviary: Normal/Flying. He actually caught him once he got off from Skyloft. A very prideful bird, confident and smug. Likes to prove himself in front of Sky.

Altaria: Dragon/Flying. She was Sun’s, but when Sky began his adventure she accompained him to search for her owner. She stills consideres Sun her trainer, but wants to protect Sky since he’s so important for Sun. Also, he’s nice.

ughhh i’m not really happy with this one. I think Legend is the kind of trainer who only has like, two pokémons for all his life, but I wanted to add some ideas too.

Lopunny(★): Normal. Captured as a Bunneary when he was a kid. He lived with Legend and his Uncle until That Day™. Legend had no idea he was a shiny until he met some other Bunneary on his adventures. Can and will murder you if you do something to his trainer.

Wingull (★): Water/Flying. Got her after Koholint. Her name is Marin and will get defensive if someone asks why. He cheerish her, and doesn’t make her fight, but can’t stand watching her a lot.

Primarina: Water/Fairy. A gentle girl. Marin’s. Legend’s not sure how she made it out of Koholint.

Togekiss: Fairy/Flying. His name is Moosh.

Kangaskhan: Normal. Her name is Ricky.

Ryhorn: Ground/Rock. His name is Dimitri. 

As I said, I’m not sure about it, since I haven’t even played the Oracle games.

Another hard onnnneeeeeeee. Is the same as Legend, I think Time is the kind of guy who it’s fine by having one or two (or no) pokémon. I wanted to add a wolf poké but I didn’t :C

Phanthump: Ghost/Grass. The Lost Woods are filled with those little guys, Time never knew where they came from until he was older and no longer a Kokiri. He knows how to comfort them from his eternal sadness, so when he founds one as an adult near Lon Lon Ranch he lets him stay with them. Talon is scared of him.

Miltank: Normal. Malon’s, a very sturdy lady who sometimes overprotects him. She gives nice milk.

Yamask: Ghost. Do I have to explain it? it tagged along after Termina.

Noctowl: Normal/Flying. He’s a very annoying Old Man who helped him on his adventure with his Fly move. He can call him with his Ocarina with a song.

Impidimp: Dark/Fairy. A goddamn gremlin. She appeared making trouble at the Ranch one day, pranking Talon and their animals mercilessly, until Time outpranked her and gained her respect. She likes Malon a lot. (it also reflects Time’s inner gremlin).

Mimikyu: Ghost/Fairy. A shy boy. Was abandoned in the Ranch by some asshole and scared Malon the first time she saw him. It remained hidden in the barn for weeks until Time could get him out. He was as alone and desoriented as he was on his first adventure, so he may have a soft spot for him.

Goat boy. If he could be would have a team full of goats. not really happy either but it’s better than Time’s and Legend’s.

Mightyena: Dark. Captured as a Poochyena in the Twili Real By Midna. He hated her at first, and she hated him back, but after their adventure she got stuck with Twi. The both of them were sad because Midna’s departure and became friends soon.

Absol: Dark. Honestly, I only thought it fitted him. She always appeared before something bad happened on his adventure, and at first he was wary of her, but Midna explained him Absols only appeared as a warning for future disasters. She accompained them on their adventure after some point.

Lycanroc: Rock. Captured as a Rockruff near Ordon Village. A good boy. Twilight loves him. He loves him back. Twi spoils him rotten.

Mudsdale: Ground. I though of her as a replacement for Epona, but I’m not sure about it. Still, Twi would absolutely have a horse on his team.

Dubwool: Normal. A grumpy girl, also a goat, also another spoiled poké. She’s old and strong, has been part of his life since he has memory. Only lets Twilight to brush her wool and trim it when necessary.

Gogoat: Grass. An old guy. Pretty chill and patient, also had been with Twilight since before his adventure. Big boy too, he lets Twi and the other Links mount him.

aaannnnd we’re done! here’s the template i made for this occasion. Feel free to use it. If you have any more suggestions or you own headcanons you can tell me! I’d like to get some feedback about this. Sorry about the quality of the images but my pc is shit. If you want them in better conditions you can PM me.

#linked universe #linked universe headcanons #pokémon #wind #warriors #four #wild #hyrule #sky #legend #time #twili #template #clean template #pokémon template #pokémon trainers #made with canva #canva #i should be studying #but i made this instead #help #i love these boys #so much #crossover #? #maybe #pokémon trainer #fucking long post #looooooooooooooong post #v long

[crystalnet]

Current X-book Mood-Ring Guide

There are an awful lot of X-books on the shelves right now. They are most of my monthly haul. No joke it is at least 12 books at this point. So, in order to cope with that, I’ve organized all the books into one of four different categories, aka “booster-pack” themes. Click through if you want to jump aboard the best X-men run since Morrison before the boat pushes off for the Hellfire Gala this summer! These are the 4 categories:

-Mainline Blue/Gold-style 

-Jr. Mutants Academy 

-2nd-Wave Krakoa Niche (aka “the good stuff”)

-Cetera

#1. Mainline Blue/Gold-style

Mood-color/vibe: Actually 90s-style Blue/Gold and like bright primary colors (but also muddy-ass colors from X-factor). 

Books included: X-men, Excalibur, Marauders, X-force

Typical Pokemon: Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Betsy Braddock, Kate Pride, Beast, Black Tom, Storm, Bishop, Emma Frost, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Kid Omega, Domino, a Pyro, Iceman, Avalanche. Rare drops: Apocalypse, X-23, Synch, Darwin, Kid Cable, Fantomex (in that Giant-Sized!)

These be the books for someone who wants those direct, mainline, core-members-style lineups. On the main book (adjective/word-play-less X-men) Hickman/Yu have worked wonders with their run, but it hasn’t been a stable team, instead focusing on Scott and his adventures dealing with some of the more prominent threats to Krakoa. 

So it’s essentially been a revolving door of a book with Cyclops sometimes leading assaults against major problems and sometimes just being a dad to teenagers from the future, and it’s been generally great. 

Meanwhile, the teams we find on the other 3 books could basically be a main X-men team if you just throw Jean/Scott/Logan onto them (except for X-force because Logan is usually on that one, actually, and Jean sort of is..)

X-force: Wolverine usually, Kid Omega, Beast, Jean (quitting?/back-up), Domino sorta, Sage, Black Tom Cassidy, Colossus once? Forge sorta. [Lot’s of backup or sometimes-members on this team but kinda centers on Beast, Omega, Wolverine and Jean or Domino]

Excalibur: Betsy Braddock, Rogue, Jubilee, Gambit, Avalanche, baby/dragon Shogo, Apocalypse (honorary, mia)

Marauders: Kate Pride, Storm, Emma Frost, a Pyro, Iceman, Bishop

On X-force, you get a little Morrison-homage energy going on what with Beast being sus, Quentin Quire having a character arc and dating a cuckoo and then all the body-horror. This one hasn’t been amazing and the art sometimes has issues for me but it’s been a solid expansion on Krakoa-Era lore. 

On Marauders, you get a book centered on Kate Pride and the Hellfire Club. It’s been aight but I’m not the biggest Kate fan. Definitely has heart and the art has been beautiful. 

Excalibur started a little weird for me... I lack the references or attachment to Otherworld or Davis/Moore-era Excalibur so I don’t think I’m even really the target demo, but I will say it recently, post-X of Swords-- which it set up single-handedly basically [along w/ one ish of X-men]-- has gotten more interesting in recent months. The Betsy + Kwannon stuff was great! And Howard did great with Apocalypse before he went off to another dimension. (points off for iffy color-palettes sometimes). 

#2. Jr. Mutants Academy

Mood-color/vibe: Pastel

Books: New Mutants, X-factor, Children of the Atom, Cable

Common Pokemon: Magik, Cable, Rachel Summers, Doug, Warlock, Armor, Boom Boom, Scout, Dani, Warpath, Karma, Glob, Beak, Daken, Eye-boy, North Star, Rachael, Prodigy those Children of the Atom kids, Magma, Rahne, and a lot of lil kid mutants runnin’ around in Akademos/the Wild Hunt area of Krakoa whose names I don’t know yet.

This is the junior-crew club. New Mutants would be in the Blue/Gold books practically due to being part of the first wave of post-HoX/DoX books, but its basically been 3 different books/teams over its run and along w/ Children/Cable/X-Factor, it feels like there a whole handful of books offering up junior-crew shenanigans specifically. 

So New Mutants has been all over the place, starting with a lineup of OG Claremont era New Muties, then focusing on a team consisting of Glob, Armor and Boom Boom (perpetual...”young adult” I guess?), now settling on a new team under Vita Ayala with Magik and Warpath heading up a squad of young ‘uns (beautiful art on the recent stretch). Hopefully it’s settling into its self now, because I can see longevity for this new squad... maybe. 

I still have to read the 2nd issue of Children of the Atom,  but am intrigued by it. X-factor meanwhile seems to be focusing on queer representation with people like Prodigy, Daken, North Star and Rachel on the same group together. Polaris started out the lead of that title only to be plucked out by Duggan (or the fanbase) for the main X-team coming up. This honestly makes sense, because even though she isn’t drawn this way, shouldn’t Polaris be considerably older than someone like Rachel? Eh. 

Also, in issue #4 of X-factor we had a beautiful homage to the Academy X mutants, with several cameos, so it seems like Marvel is intentionally using these junior-crew books to acknowledge all the various junior-crews, whether it be OG Claremont kids, Generation X people, the kids intro’d under Morrison and Whedon, or even the dang ‘ol Academy X ones, they seem to all be getting at least some representation in some book. 

Also Cable owns. Didn’t know I’d like the Kid-Cable guy until this book and his appearances in the main title, but now it’s confirmed. Him dating Esme, Kid Omega dating Phoebe? These crazy telepaths! Anyway, I hope Duggan’s main-team book is more like Cable than Marauders, in terms of pacing and characterization, but they both have beautiful art!

New mutants: Karma, Magik, Mirage, Scout, Warlock, Warpath and Wolfsbane

X-factor: Daken, Eye-boy, Polaris (quit?), North Star, Rachael, Prodigy

#3. 2nd-gen Krakoa Niche aka “the good stuff”

mood-color/vibe: purples, metaphysical/cosmic pallets, tertiary colors

books included: Hellions, S.W.O.R.D., Way of X

common Pokemon: I mean they’re basically all rare drops

This is the good stuff! Who would have thought. And when I think about it,  Way of X and S.W.O.R.D., as part of the second wave of Krakoa-era books that started with Cable, both address some of the core issues and ideas that the whole HoX/DoX mini kicked off better than-- or at least more directly-- the other books. So I guess the non X-men, first-wave Krakoa books feel “mainline” in terms of their team lineups, but in terms of content, these newer ones almost feel more relevant by design. S.W.O.R.D. focuses on the cosmic context of the mutants post-Krakoa and Way is Kurt’s first spot-light moment in the era and is expressly concerned with Kurt’s addressing of the deeper moral quandaries that a people who have conquered death will be faced with. I mean, it's expressly about religion and like, spirituality-- a very tall order, but first issue pulled it off super deftly.

Also Hellions is better than it has any business being! Read this if you want savagely dark humor and some very obscure mutants + Havok/Psylocke/Sinister. But if I had to reccomend one, it’d be a tie b/w S.W.O.R.D and Way. First issue of Way was exceptional and got right into things and Kurt’s very well-written and will surely prove a meditative lead for a book like this, whereas S.W.O.R.D is epic in scale while still have sick character moments/dialogue. Manifold had a great issue or two and is now my favorite new mutant, even in the context of a somehow-actually-good King in Black tie-in. Damn! And everything going on b/w Magneto and Fabian Cortez (who was made to argue for why mutants should be allowed to murder “flatscans”/humans to the whole Krakoan council this week whilst naked. It’s fantastic. Hell, even the Snark-War sounds...interesting? What’s happening to me. 

S.W.O.R.D.: Fabian Cortez, Magneto, Abigail Brand, Peeper, Manifold, Wiz-Kid, Mentallo, Fenzy

Children of the Atom: Cherub, Marvel Guy, Cyclops-Lass (?), Gimmick, Daycrawler

Hellions: Havok, Psylocke, Empath, Orphan-Maker, Nanny, Wild Child, Sinister, Greycrow

#4. Cetera

Mood-color/vibe: colorless, “normal” element

Books included: Fallen Angels (complete 6-ish mini), All the damn Wolverine books, the uh Sword of X “guidebook” and the new Peach Momoko Demon Days books and whatever X-men Legends is.

These are titles which are either complete or don’t fit in with other things or in Demon Days or the X-men Legends’ books’ case, I think don’t even occur in-universe. And per usual of course there are multiple Wolverine books... the main one seems fine. 

Anyway all-in-all, these books are doing weirdly well. Mutants as a concept shouldn't be able to be spread this thin story-telling wise, but the books don’t really feel redundant and most are filling a specific niche or purpose. I may be dropping some of the first-wave Blue/Gold style books (Marauders and X-force I'll probably just check in on from time-to-time), but S.W.O.R.D., Way, the main book under Hickman or Duggan and Hellions all have me verrrrrry satisfied. Even standard stories in the Krakoa era feel special, and that speaks to the power of Hickman’s vision. Hellfire Gala, here we come. 

#Jonathan hickman #hickman #leinil francis yu #pepe larraz #Scott summers #cyclops #jean grey #summers clan #duggan #tini howard #vita ayala #hellfire gala #gala #Emma frost #phoebe #esme #stepford cuckoos #xavier #kurt wagner #nightcrawler #daycrawler #magik #cable #Rachael summers #children of the atom #S.W.O.R.D. #excalibur #Alan moore #davis #ewing

[sugar-petals]

could you elaborate on when you said that people who felt/feel unpretty often become jimin stans/biasers

because jin defies every self-defeating principle but still has a common ground with you. even if “as bias, as stan” applies as always, jin has found a way to tackle that mentality in himself, he’s the you from a wanted future. that’s the difference: he’s come the same way but already completed most plates in his armor, at least on the outside and as far as we can tell. 

it’s just like people who know they’re unconventionally attractive will bias yoongi. he has made a brand out of it, flat out admitting he’s not the standard and struggles with mental health. all while being desired regardless, swimming in projects and recognition and income with a devoted fan base. 

mind you, that is not his totality and a lot of it is a created image, but i refer to the principle here. ‘yoongi has his problems but he’s killing it anyway’, that’s how we perceive him in the media outlets. if yoongi himself, in a silent moment, really thinks he’s killing it and is happy with that, that’s another question we can’t know.

the point is. our biases do share our insecurity. they just go the extra mile and succeed with the tactics we aspire to perfect to stabilize our self-esteem and life. our bias is seemingly one step ahead and we enjoy them so much because they demonstrate where to go, and that this extra mile is feasible. 

as in: if jin can feel ugly but remain in his unshakeable confidence, it could work for me as well. if yoongi can feel drained but hustle, it could work. if jimin could feel insecure but still be popular, it could work. and so on. there’s a huge theoretical hope for oneself attached to biasing someone.

you can image that this has many benefits for your personal progress or temporary soothings which are also important, but also comes at the risk of forgetting yourself and cracking under an unmet hope. aspiring towards improvement driven by desperation sometimes overshadows your actual gifts and strengths that are already fully formed. 

on top of that, it paints idols as being far from extremely vulnerable at a giant scope. it gives them massive role model and projection sphere responsibility as well. at worst, their image traps them in a circle — or they hide that they are actually ‘one step behind’ if you will. because they don’t want to disappoint or admit it to themselves, either way it would mean great discomfort.

that’s why i think one of the best things to do as a fan is finding the member that is on ACTUAL felt eye level with you, and not several steps ahead and so on top of their demons for most of the time. so, your truer carbon copy without regard to the difference in fame obviously. the purpose of that exercise is this: it brings you back to what you currently sport and removes some weight from the esteem question. 

for instance. you could realize that say namjoon actually represents you. in other words, there are even more similarities than with jin. personality-wise you could act as if you were RM perfectly. you can also tell the difference in how rather than adoring him, you respect that member. 

so, knowing you’re similar to namjoon, you would see that your appeal intrinsically rests in how smart and eloquent you are. with a quiet confidence that comes with natural authority that others find magnetic and want to kneel before judging by what namjoon stans are saying in the tags all day. 

the armor is completed there. it needs no fixing beside its natural evolution and adjustment. a namjoon stan would see namjoon one step ahead in their shared struggles, and they would see namjoon himself as trying to employ a tactic to better himself. but from your perspective, since you feel more on eye level with his personality, it looks mighty different. you can learn something about yourself and also find things your esteem is already firmly built on, believe it or not. the member you’re akin to is a great mirror for positive feats.

also, see how the member you resemble the most has a way different strategy for the esteem question (!) that you and your bias share and wrestle with so much pain involved. take namjoon again who has his head in the clouds. he thinks about big issues, he’s preoccupied left and right, he is bts’ central mastermind. everything groundbreaking that was ever done in bts’ reign leads back to namjoon planting the seeds. there is not too much time for thinking about body and surface. and for what reason? he’s namjoon doing namjoon things the way he is needed. 

there is no person ever doubting that he is a qualified person for his position. his brain can make anything happen for him and he can rely on his many positive attributes without even thinking about it. how attractive he is perceived as is not the ultimate decisive factor, and it’s already interwoven with how intelligent others think he is, and that he’s the leader. 

his role has already set his visual appeal and he treats his appearance effortlessly (see e.g. his relaxed style on kimdaily). to the point where he can emphasize self-love and advise someone like jimin who is times more glamorous and causes an immense stir with his looks everywhere and takes first place in so many polls, let that sink in. park jimin. 

you can already tell: once you see the parallel to the member you resemble, you find your easiest, fastest, and most effective strategy to deal with your problem to the point of completely pulverizing it. because you realize it all made no sense to worry from the very start.

is namjoon’s main concern and life topic to feel and be and become universally known as pretty? not in a million years. it’d be so far off his track and god-given capabilities, and the most out of character thing you’ve ever heard. 

if he’d come along crying in need of embraces, questioning his looks every other hour looking for reassurance (e.g. like jimin), or began to boost his esteem with a moniker (e.g. like jin), people would be like, what the hell is going on and why would he have a reason to do that?? 

you see what i’m getting at. for jin or jimin, it would make sense in their overall life scheme, it connects to their goals and struggles and dreams. but for namjoon, that’s total nonsense, nor does anybody expect it from him whatsoever. his responsibility is way elsewhere. and he’s confident in it despite all obstacles. and since you, in my example here, resemble namjoon... connect the dots.

to anybody who cannot relate to namjoon, it must be the most unfair thing ever. and they probably bias jungkook 😄 because he thinks the same thing but also has a little extra mile advantage (being a highly physical and in the moment person which namjoon is not, it’s his achilles’ heel in fact). you can see how this dynamic goes on and on. 

TLDR - the take-away is, find the member you compare to. besides the self esteem tactics your bias uses, this member can have a valuable lesson on your charm points.

#anon #ask #cub mail 🐆 #bias theory #namjoon #jin

[sagasofazeria]

Since my story is a D&D campaign, if people want to know, I will happily share some of the more game-y stuff behind the characters! (@talesfromaurea & @hellishhin i know you guys were interested! Here you go :D)

As of right now in the story, they’re about level 4! By the end of the campaign though they get to level 15.

Faulkron:

- Dark Elf/Drow Fighter (Champion)

- In a little bit (story-wise), my friend hit a lucky streak and the power of the protagonist™ kicks in. Faulkron gets... terrifying. He’s technically still “just a fighter” but he’s really really good at fighting. Like, scary hyper competent. I mean, he started with almost maxed strength, and it only got better.

- He did a lot of damage, consistently rolled high. Sadly, he doesn’t get better armor than leather for a while, but once he does he really wrecks the enemies’ shit, goes full Stronk™ and really starts just soaking attacks.

- He was a fun character for me to see my friend play because he had no clue about any of the “fighters are boring” things that people say, and so he felt free to just play without worry. He just had fun with him and went for it. He wasn’t the most complicated mechanics-wise, but he still was interesting and had personality, so it worked fine.

- Also, although he is a dark elf, and his parents were from the caverns beneath the earth like usual, he was raised on a small farm on the surface by a human, and so he is very different than many other dark elves, especially if they were raised in the Underdark. His darkvision is a little different due to his eyes having to deal with more light than most dark elves, and though he could do the elvish trance instead of sleeping he usually chooses to sleep instead, because of being raised by a human. (In my world, elves can choose to sleep if they want.)

Fuego:

Halfling Sorcerer/Rogue

- Being from Zul’Zagan, he is equivalent to a Lightfoot halfling

- His subclasses are a bit wonky: Draconic origins for sorcerer (although he doesn’t know it yet), assassin for rogue (eventually. We’re also not quite there in the story yet.)

- Despite what you may expect, does not only have fire spells. It is a near thing, but not quite. The variety increases as he gets higher up.

- He also wanted to do some cool flavor things (which I’m always game for) so his abilities look a little different than standard.

- An example, his sneak attack damage is reflavored to be him heating his weapon. He also wanted his draconic bloodline to be more dormant, so he doesn’t have any of the bodily alterations or know draconic, he’s just very good at fire (as far as he knows). That’s also why he doesn’t know what type of dragon he related to.

- Fuego was big on DPS but low on defense (of course) so he was usually having to be protected by/hidden behind somebody else (Shakari or Jetra most often)

Jetra:

- Human Bard (Valor)

- I would’ve done Lore bard because of her love for finding secrets, save the fact that I wanted her to have learned from both her parents. Her mother was a singer/performer and taught her to sing, and then her father, the Paladin, taught her how to create magic and how to fight. So she mixed that all up and boom, Valor bard.

- Jetra was definitely the most “utility caster” of the group. She had healing, buffs, pretty much something for everything. And a sword, if it came to that. She was easily the most adaptable of the group in and out of combat.

- She also spoke a bunch of languages, including Leinai (the one spoken in Leinos, since she was born there), Common, Celestial, Draconic, and was learning Azerian at the beginning of the campaign.

Shakari:

- Blue Dragonborn Fighter (Eldritch Knight)

- She was yet another Fighter, but she was designed to be more of a mid-range fighter so as not to get steal Faulkron’s spotlight. Since the khopesh could be thrown and summoned back b/c of Eldritch Knight stuff, it worked fine.

- They were very high DPS, especially with their spells/lightning breath, and then they’d finish the enemies off with a good ol’ sword attack (or just to help teammates out).

- At the later levels she takes some more utility spells (since she couldn’t those first few levels because of Eldritch Knight rules), but she’s still mostly damage.

- Also a neat lore note, Eldritch Knight is not called the same thing among her people, but it is a traditional position in the deserts she came from, and some of the other Azerian tribes.

Alejandro:

- Human Fighter (Gladiator*)

- *Gladiator is just a slightly modified version of the Samurai

- Unfortunately, I never had planned on Alejandro being a key NPC, so I had to come up with him over the course of the campaign. Thankfully, he ended up complementing Faulkron’s fighting style well (DEX based as opposed to Faulkron’s STR based build), and they made a really good tag team playing off of each other (once they trusted each other more, of course.)

- He ended up being a pretty formidable fighter in his own right, so he and Faulkron together was truly an intimidating duo. While Faulkron was tanking massive hits and dealing some of his own, Alejandro would run around with his bazillion attacks and chip away at the enemy with his swords.

- I also gave him a high charisma, being the gladiator that he was. But also just. Hot.

•••

Anyways, having three fighters in the group was probably not a great idea in retrospect, but that’s how it ended up. Everyone in the current party has swords and that’s sexy of them, honestly. Another funny note is that they all have decent charisma too, everyone but the main character. Shakari had 13 CHA as a dragonborn, Alejandro had a CHA 14 just as a stat investment (again because Hot), Jetra had 16 because she was a bard obviously, Fuego had a 17 because he was a sorcerer. Faulkron had the lowest at 9. He does end up increasing it over the campaign, it ends up at 16 or something so he’s fine, but for the first part of the story he’s not so good with people.

All in all, they had a good dynamic with lots of potential for ass kicking which they definitely utilized, so who cares? Anyways, just neat stuff.

#not story #d&d things #character stuff #Faulkron Rhodes #Alejandro de la Espada #Jetra Avaki #Shakari #Fuego Tamir

[gascon-en-exil]

I suppose you can call me "villain Dimitri anon" now, but I actively dislike Azure Moon for the narrative perks that you and other fans insist it has, but I can't see. What back and forth does Dimitri have with his retainers that aren't confined to supports? There's just Gilbert, Rodrigue, and Byleth ignoring the one-eyed elephant in the room.(1/2)

What support network does Dimitri have? A bunch of badly abused subjects at the end of their rope who don't have the guts to abandon him or give him a wake up call. Dimitri's redemption in the rain makes zero sense as the scene progresses, and outside of some lip service in a support, he's so cured of any trauma that not even getting the truth about Duscur fazes him. What's worse, this redemption is the main idea of the route. (2/3 now)

The back and forth is in reference to how the army in AM feels directionless and disagrees on whether they should liberate the Kingdom or rescue Rhea first. This gets references both in story cutscenes and in the exploration of dialogue of numerous characters, heavily reinforced by many of these same characters remarking on how off-putting Dimitri’s behavior is. This stands in contrast to CF never questioning Edelgard’s actions even as they’re far more systemically terrible with the work of Hubert and the Agarthans behind the scenes; even VW offers a number of scenes and exploration content of characters questioning and critiquing Claude’s actions. Felix’s mini-arc outside his support line with Dimitri is the clearest example, because he’s the loudest voice of opposition and because if you trigger their supports some of the dialogue changes to reflect that, while Rodrigue plays a predictable but workable role as the doomed mentor figure whose death forces Dimitri to confront how his obsession with revenge is hurting the people he loves.  This is all unfortunately somewhat undermined by Byleth’s presence and the need for self-insert romance, with them supplanting Dimitri’s established support network and worst of all leading to Dedue being killed off by default and then never re-integrated properly into the story lest his intimacy with Dimitri pose an obstacle to the expected lord/Avatar romance (that can’t even be pushed in the same way that Edeleth can in all routes, incidentally, because Dimitri can’t S rank m!Byleth). This is a genuine problem in AM, but curiously it’s one that I see brought up almost exclusively by fans of Dimitri and his route rather than those who hate AM and/or rail against Dimidue as an allegedly racist pairing.

None of the other Blue Lions gets a single meaningful word in in the main story cutscenes. You can get some character development for Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix in monastery dialogue and DImitri's supports and that's it. Not to mention, gameplay-wise, dealing with Dimitri is just no fun, and there's no choice to get fed up and leave. With all of Crimson Flower's problems, at least you had to actively choose to go on that route. (3/4 now)

I wouldn’t say that’s all that different from how the other routes handle their chorus of minor characters, especially CF which again minimizes any sort of friction the Eagles might have with Edelgard even when she’s outright lying to them. There’s a reason that SS is sometimes cited as a better characterization showcase for the Eagles other than Edelgard and Hubert, particularly for Ferdinand who actually gets to be the contrarian #3 on that route. Gameplay is more subjective, although I’d rank being unable to instruct Dimitri or have him engage in monastery activities for four calendar months is more than offset by CF being exactly that many months shorter than AM or VW. Also, in terms of building characters Gilbert is far, far less of a pain in the ass than Jeritza, and I say that as someone who’s painstakingly gotten every character in the game to all ranks at S+ and all classes mastered over many NG+ runs. Having to pick CF is also an inconvenience that screws with the flow of Chapter 11 since you need to waste a battle weekend going to Edelgard’s coronation lest you miss out on instruction weeks or later weekends doing it at the start of the month. It’s kind of a moot point to argue about this anyway as the Deer have it the best when it comes to unit development, with neither of these restrictions as well as the longest route and no Part 2 exclusive to worry over.

Crimson Flower had a "big picture" war story, Verdant Wind had good character balance and exposed the truth about the player character. Azure Moon was just all DImitri. Not to mention, my own political philosophy and real-world history interests make me biased against Dimiri and his stance. (And no, I'm no fan of dictators, just not of a fan of Fearghus-style feudalism) (4/5)

I do like redemption stories. But I've seen them done better elsewhere. Dimitri's character is interesting, but his route isn't. All routes on Three Houses have problems that I nitpick about, but as thing stand, I can support Claude and Edelgard in achieving their ideals, i cannot in good conscience support Dimitri as king. Nurse him back to sanity, maybe, but put him in charge of other people's lives? No. (end)

Eh, SS is the route you’re looking for if you want the full story of Byleth’s origins and their connection to Rhea; VW’s endgame exposition dump is more about the true origin of Crests and Relics and general worldbuilding which is why I’d call it the big picture route over CF which kicks one of its major antagonists to an offscreen postgame. I also question why you single out the quasi-feudalism of Faerghus when that’s the established standard for all of FE and for most of the fantasy genre overall. Fire Emblem is notoriously reactionary when it comes to its politics, such that Dimitri’s solo ending suggesting the beginning of a participatory government might be the single most concrete move toward democracy of any lord in the series. Even as tiny a step as that is it’s more than can be said for Edelgard not delivering on her rhetoric of abolishing the nobility and...whatever she plans for the church (since she vacillates on whether she’s fine with the Seiros faith but only takes issue with the church or whether she thinks humanity has no need for gods, and the only CF ending that re-establishes the church has it run by the state which is some prime dystopian stuff). Claude similarly suffers in that his plans remain ongoing at the end of VW and lack any concrete shape beyond opening the borders and forcing people of different nations and cultures to interact and get along - a well-intended idea, but not one that will lead to serious change without a lot of work and oversight. 

Dimitri lacks such grandiose ambitions, and once he’s moved beyond his need for revenge his goals center around alleviating the suffering of the Kingdom and of his loved ones, but on a meta level that’s kind of all he needs to do. One of the reasons that AM’s story structure is more coherent and well-paced than that of the other routes is that it’s extremely well-trod ground for IS: “blue lord takes back invaded homeland from red emperor with the Power of Friendship” is the standard FE plot going back all the way to Marth, and Dimitri’s biggest deviation from that model is the somewhat realistic depiction of his struggles with mental illness. That’s probably why many longtime veterans of the series favor AM, because we know it’s the type of narrative IS excels at and we’re not expecting anything more politically revolutionary. Hell, the proto-democratic ending was as unexpected to me as Dimitri’s strong queer notes...which is why I prefer him over the other two incidentally, not because of his politics which are just fantasy boilerplate of a good king being restored to his throne, and there was much rejoicing, etc. There are gender-based readings of AM that I and others have made, not to mention people who enjoy the homoromantic push and pull of Dedue and Felix on Dimitri and how those relationships develop against one another, and I think it’s telling that those unconventional analyses of Three Houses’s most typical lord and most typical route are still more plausible than all the additional motivation and setup you’d have to throw in to make Dimitri a proper villain, or even just an antagonist for the length of more than one chapter.

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses #Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd #Azure Moon

[clarste]

Sorry if you've been asked this explicitly before, but what are your thoughts on Penguin Logistics, specifically in comparison to the other organisations/factions in Arknights? I recently started and managed to grab everyone within a few pulls, except Sora (and I guess Mostima, unfortunately.) and I think they're easily my favourites. Would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers.

No one's ever asked me that, but they probably should have since I've gone all-in on Penguin Logistics ever since I pulled Exusiai and Croissant early on. I then proceeded to never pull any of the others, forcing me to buy Texas and Sora in the shop and much later dump all of my accumulated gacha currency getting Mostima. Anyway, my goal in life is to use the entire team and also max them all out. PL4life!

Anyway, my initial impression of them was that they were the cast of a 90s anime like Cowboy Bebop or Bubblegum Crisis (...Tokyo 2040). Like, they're an eclectic band of hyper-competent misfits working for a small company operating at the edge of the law. “Penguin Logistics” itself sounds like a euphemism for being, like, smugglers or something. "We'll get your package where it needs to go, no questions asked." Then Code of Brawl came out and I was totally right except they are also very dumb in a funny way. Like, they accidentally got into a turf war with the mafia, but apparently that's just business as usual.

Anyway I want to talk about each of them individually now so apologies if this starts rambling.

Texas is pretty clearly the main character of Penguin Logistics, and you can tell because she's the hub of their whole relationship wheel on the in-game chart.

She's also kinda Spike from Cowboy Bebop, although less laid-back I guess. She's a former mafia assassin on the run from her past, but her past won't leave her alone. Incidentally, "mafia" in this case refers to the various wolf families from the fantasy Italy equivalent in this setting, although they make some interesting comparisons to wolf packs in the profiles. However, Texas's family is dead, which should make her a "lone wolf" that will supposedly never have another place to belong. Except PL itself is proof that that's wrong.

Theoretically she’s just the team’s driver, but because PL is always getting into ridiculous anime fights she’s also good at that part too, using dozens of little... lightsabers(?) that she throws around willy nilly. It would probably look super-cool to see in action, except this is not that kind of game so we’ll just have to wait for the anime or whatever. It’s noted in her profile that her fighting style shows that she unconsciously sees as the only purpose of a weapon as being to kill, and heck, she’s right.

She's cool-headed, adaptable, and the serious one you can always count on, but she's not above getting into friendly(?) brawls just to take out her frustrations out.

Her name comes from the extinct subspecies of Texas Wolf.

Next up is Exusiai, the angel who loves nothing more than guns, god, rock and roll, and apple pie. In that order. In other words, a stereotypical American. Even though she's from the fantasy-Vatican. Basically she's a cheerful, friendly, laid-back person who never really fit in back home where people are expected to be more serious and orderly. Not enough to be, like, shunned or anything but she's always been a weirdo. All angels have guns though, that’s like standard issue. She wishes she could have more though.

She's also super religious, but interestingly never brings it upon her own. I feel like she probably realizes how uncomfortable it can make people who don't share that religion to suddenly bring up Jesus all the time in casual conversation. Like, she's not ashamed of it or anything, but she won't shove it in your face either. Personally, I find that a pretty cool characterization for a fictional religious person.

Which is also sort of a hint that beneath her goofy exterior she's a thoughtful, deliberate person who doesn’t let anyone in by accident. Texas notes that they're exact opposites in this respect. She also has an extremely interesting relationship with the next person.

Her name comes from the Greek word for the order of angels in Christianity often translated as "Powers."

Mostima... where to start...? I guess first of all she’s a fallen angel, apparently because she pointed her gun at her own kind under MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. Probably related to the whole war in Kazdel thing, where many of the other MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES in this game took place. Long story short, stuff happened in the war, she pointed her gun at another angel, Exusiai’s sister is dead under mysterious circumstances, and Mostima gave up her gun and now wanders the world delivering long-distance packages for PL. But that’s mostly an excuse for to be alone as much as humanly possible. She can also use time magic because I dunno why not. MYSTERIOUS.

She’s friendly enough, talkative even, and has a hobby of visiting new places and trying out the local food, etc, but her real defining trait is that she just doesn’t need other people. She’s explicitly aromantic, saying she has no interest in love, but she also has no need for friends or family or apparently coworkers either. Because of the way the world is, she spends most of her time driving through the endless wastelands between cities, with nothing but a truck, some packages, and her thoughts. There’s something... romantic about that (in the other sense of the word), but even she admits that the romance of watching the sun set in a desert with no one else around for hundreds of kilometers gets old after a while.

I feel like I should note that she has a very “best friend of her big sister” relationship with Exusiai, by which I mean she’s known Exusiai since Exusiai was a kid and to her Exusiai will always be that kid. Also Exusiai only joined PL in the first place to hunt her down and get answers about her sister’s death, but Mostima just laughs it off and leaves town for another year or five. 

Her name is probably a corruption of Mastema, a rather infamous fallen angel in mythology.

Croissant is... well, to be honest everyone past this point is more of a minor character. Which is actually a weird thing to say since none of these people are actually major characters in Arknights, but I guess these are less important people even within the group?

Croissant’s gimmick is that she’s always trying to make money by selling stuff. I guess she’s a merchant? But not, like, a formal one who runs a shop, she just gets her hands on stuff through her connections and sells it. But in like, a friendly down-to-earth way, it’s even said that she lives paycheck to paycheck. She’s a girl trying to get by with a second job, I guess is what I’m saying.

Team-wise, she’s the muscle of the group, being a minotaur and all. She lifts the heavy packages and also smashes things with her MAGNETIC HAMMER which I don’t know why I find that name so amusing. Gameplay-wise her special move can knock all the enemies around her halfway across the map and I smile every time she does it.

Her profile notes that she’s really just living her best life as a normal-ish person, and that helps make everyone around her feel normal, and that’s important in a setting where half the people around you are dying of magical cancer (no one in PL is Infected though).

Her name comes from the French word for Crescent and also a type of Pastry. Leaning more towards Pastries in my opinion.

Sora is an idol singer. Because, to be perfectly honest, what ragtag band of misfits is complete without an idol singer? She can’t really fight, but I guess Texas must have saved her life at some point or something because she bullied both her agency and PL into letting her work there part time. And also she is obsessed with Texas. I guess saying it like that makes her sound kind of annoying, but she really isn’t, she’s just an earnest girl chasing her dreams.

There’s also this interesting thing where a lot of her basic information is censored by her agency in order to protect her privacy (”do not dox the idol”). Even including her race. She presents as a wolf, but her promoted E2 art has her as a rabbit, which raises some interesting questions that don’t really get answered.

Her name comes from the Japanese word for Sky.

Lappland is not really part of PL, but she’s PL-adjacent enough to be worth mentioning here. Basically she’s an old acquaintance of Texas from back in their mafia days, and she’s obsessed with hunting her down and... fighting her? Killing her? But in, like, a sexual way? She’s kind of a crazy psychopathic killer. Maybe. She can also be very calm and polite when she wants to be, although with a taste for gallows humor. That just makes her scarier because you don’t know when/if she’ll snap.

There are two kind-of explanations for her being like that: A) her family is dead and she has no “pack”. As a wolf, the stress of living without a pack is supposed to be maddening. B) She’s infected with Oripathy (magic cancer) and there are crystals growing in her nervous system. Which... can’t be good. The answer is probably a combination of both.

But the most important thing about Lappland is her base skill and how it interacts with Texas. Basically, in your base there are various jobs you can assign people to and different characters get different bonuses for them. Most people in Penguin Logistics get bonuses for working the Trading Depot, for obvious reasons. Lappland gets a “bonus” where if she’s in the depot at the same time as Texas, she loses morale slower but doesn’t actually get any bonus to productivity. Meanwhile, Texas gets a bonus to productivity when Lappland is around, but loses morale way faster. In other words, Lappland is slacking off and making Texas so uncomfortable that she works twice as hard just to get the job over with so she can leave. This is their relationship as defined by game mechanics.

Texas also has another bonus where she loses morale slower if Exusiai is there, which completely cancels out the penalty she gets from Lappland. In other worlds, Exusiai being there too calms her nerves enough that she doesn’t feel the need to immediately escape.

Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about Emperor, who’s the owner of Penguin Logistics. He’s a world-famous rapper wearing a Tupac shirt and also literally immortal.

#not touhou #arknights #penguin logistics

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms Far Side #2: Tohno Shiki

We have another guest build today from u/Magical-Biche on Reddit! While I’ve been tackling Fate Grand Order characters, they’ve been hard at work making builds for other parts of the Nasuverse. Today, they’ve built Shiki! No, not that one. Not that one either. No, Tohno Shiki. No, the other- you know what? Forget it, I’ll let Magical-Biche take over from here. (I’ll put the level-by-level breakdown below the cut, or you can check out the spreadsheet here.)

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

Now that my personal favorite is done, today we’re attacking the main protagonist of that really good *anime* that is Tsukihime, Tohno Shiki. As with the previous build, this one will contain heavy spoilers for many routes of the visual novel. Read at your own risk! Also, this build works for Nanaya Shiki, just make sure you change the alignment from neutral good to like, chaotic or neutral evil. This build is based on Tsukihime, Kagetsu Tohya and Melty Blood. 

Tohno Shiki is a skilled demon slayer who fights with a knife. He’s merciless against his targets, as he falls into a trance while fighting them to tap into his latent potential. He can also use the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

For this build, we’re looking for 3 main things, which are : 

Shiki’s bread and butter, the mystic eyes of death perception. While there is no simple way of having the MEoDP, we’ll try to maximize our damage on a single hit, on a single enemy. 

Shiki might not look like it, but he’s extremely agile. While we have low health, we’re pretty hard to hit, and good at simply avoiding damage. 

Shiki has a weird fighting style where he’ll fall into a trance when he’s fighting certain enemies, such as demons and undeads. We might not be able to get that as a feature, but we can easily get bonuses against our favored enemies. 

Race and Background 

Shiki is a plain old human, fighting with only his own limbs. And his OP Mystic Eyes, but we’ll come to that later. We’re playing the variant human, as we have little use for more than 2 stats on this build, and we’ll be using that extra feat. Shiki fits the Urchin background… okay-ish-ly. He’s an orphan, but he grew up playing outside in a gigantic mansion. However, he did know Arihiko the delinquent for a long time, which means he certainly did some illegal things once or twice. Anyway, the proficiencies are great for the build, and the bonus feature fits our role very well. We’ll be taking the alert feat so we’re better at not being surprised and pretty much always hit first. We also get a skill proficiency, and we’re going for Survival.

Stats

Going with the standard array, we are going to need a few stats for our multiclassing. However, all three classes we’ll be getting levels in are Dex based, and 2 uses wisdom heavily, so we won’t spread too much. We’ll start by getting as high Dex and Wis as possible, as those will be our main offensive stat, and main spellcasting stat. Shiki is nimble and agile, and when he’s not obsessed over a target, he makes wise decisions. As is needed for a harem protagonist, he has a decent charisma, so we should get that stat to at least 13. Next, we have our little quirk: Shiki has bad health because of “Anemia”. In truth, he’s only alive because his sister gives him half her life force, which explains why he tends to pass out. He’s actually resilient, but for the sake of fluff, we’re going to let our Con sit at 12, not bad, but not great either. Next, we’re not particularly intelligent nor are we stupid, so we’re leaving our Int at 10. Finally, we can dump our Str. Who needs strength when you can cut anything easily?

Class levels : 

1. Ranger 1: We’re starting by getting our first favored enemy with a few levels of ranger. At level 1, we get our favored enemy. We are taking the Fiends. That gives us an advantage on survival checks to find them, and on intelligence checks to recall information about them. It’s not really strong, but it can always prove handy. Additionally, we can take the Abyssal language, which is common among demons, and fiends in general, to communicate with them. We also get natural explorer, which helps us move in certain environments. For the sake of flavoring, try to convince your DM to let you choose the “city“ terrain, which doesn’t exist in the rules, but simply makes a lot of sense. If they refuse, we can take Mountains, as we grew on a forest on a mountain. 

You also get Str and Dex saving throws proficiency. The Dex is awesome, but we dumped Str, so that one won’t be too useful. We will keep our leather armor for now, since we might die if we are too underprotected, but we’ll get rid of it later. Also, you could play with a single knife, to stay true to the character, but let’s say that a shortsword is basically just a very long knife, or else our damage will really be pathetic. We won’t use the bow, but it doesn’t hurt to have it as an option on the side. 

2. Ranger 2: We get our fighting style and our spellcasting. We’re taking the Duelist style, which makes us hit harder when we wield a single weapon. We will have plenty of use for our bonus action later, but for now, we can stick with dual wielding when the party needs more DPS. For our spells, we’re taking Hunter’s mark, which is the closest thing we have from the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception: it boosts damage and it helps us tracking our target, as if we could see its lines of death. We’re also getting Fog Cloud, which is an amazing tool for our hit and run tactics we’ll only get better at with levels. 

3. Ranger 3: We finally chose our archetype, and we’re going one on one master with Monster Slayer. This archetype gives us a new spell, protection from evil and good, a great defensive spell that even works on allies. We’re also getting Hunter’s sense, which is another part of our Mystic Eyes. It lets us see a creature’s weaknesses a few times per long rest. We’re also gaining Slayer’s prey, which boosts our damage just a bit further beyond. Next, we’re getting our primeval awareness, which helps us track our arch nemesis, the fiends, and other creatures too. 

The last gift level 3 gives us is a new spell to learn, so we’re getting Jump, to further boost our movement.

4. Ranger 4: Our first ASI, and we’re getting our Dex as high as possible to boost our AC and damage. 

5. Ranger 5: This is why we haven’t multiclassed yet: we finally get our multiattack feature! Now, we can really start doing some big damage despite our weak weapon. 

Also, we get a new spell from our archetype, Zone of truth. It’s a… niche spell, if anything. It can help with interrogations, but that’s about it. We’re also taking darkvision, which helps our poor human eyes with a LOT of encounters, because demons hunt at night, usually. 

6. Monk 1: We’re taking a very short detour into the monk class. We’re here for the unarmored defense, which can give us a very high AC later on, which is great for our survivability. We should sell our leather armor at that point, as it’s no longer needed. Also, we get martial arts, which let us do an attack as a bonus action with our fists, as long as our other hand is wielding a monk weapon. Our fists now deal 1d4 damage, plus our Dex bonus, which is actually weaker than our other shortsword. However, it makes it so that we can still do three attacks, with our multiattack feature, and keep the bonus damage from dueling. In the end, the lower base damage of the fist is mitigated by the +2 of our fighting style. The multiclassing into monk only gives us proficiencies we already have, which is unfortunate.

7. Ranger 6: We get a new favored enemy, the undead. It gives us the same bonuses as before against undead, which includes vampires. Since undead don’t have a dedicated language, we’re taking undercommon as a new language, since it’s a common language enough that Undead might speak or understand it. Undercommon, undead, maybe they’re related?

 We also get a new terrain for our natural explorer, so we’re getting forest or mountain (if you could deal with your DM to have the city terrain for your first level). It honestly doesn’t matter much, as we’re a city-dweller, so we should go with what our party needs there, really. 

8. Rogue 1: We’re getting our final new class this level, the rogue. A level 1 rogue gets Expertise, which makes us experts at 2 skill checks. We’re taking Perception and Stealth, so we’re less likely to be surprised and more likely to surprise. That puts us, if we did take the Standard array, a whopping +10 on Stealth checks and +9 on perception checks. We also get our big boi damage with Sneak attack, which let us deal an additional 1d6 damage if we have advantage on our attack, or when we have an ally in melee range of our target. We also get the Thieves’ Cant, which we won’t use much because of our lore. We get a new skill proficiency, acrobatics, as well as a proficiency with thieves’ tools. 

9. Rogue 2: We get our cunning action, our main hit-and-run tool, which lets us dodge or disengage with our bonus action. It does not sound that great, but it can really save us in some situations, we can’t forget we have that!

10. Rogue 3: We get our roguish archetype: we’re a Swashbuckler, to further our ability to challenge a single opponent. This subclass gives us Fancy footwork, which lets us play around our enemies freely, as long as we hit them. Great when combined with our multitude of extra attacks. We also get something else that’s great: Rakish audacity. This feature allows us to duel pretty much anything and still deal our absurd sneak damage. This makes it that we can always sneak attack creatures if no other enemy is near our target. We also get our charisma modifier added to our initiative, which is cool, but we already have our starting feat which gives us plus 5, so it’s nothing more than icing on the cake. Also, our sneak attack goes to 2d6.

11. Ranger 7: We do a last detour, now that we have somewhat stable damage and nice utility, to complete our Ranger build. We get our second archetype feature, Supernatural Defense, which makes us extremely resilient to our prey’s grappling and skill-check-triggering spells. We also get our last spell, which will be Silence, to help us sneak around.. You know, it’s almost like we’re a Rogue or something. 

12. Ranger 8: Our last Ranger level gives us an ASI, which will go to Dex, maxing our base damage and pushing our AC to 18. We also get our last Ranger feature, Land’s stride, which is niche but helps us not to be grappled by plant monsters and plant based attacks, as well as crossing even difficult terrain really fast. 

13 Rogue 4: The only thing we get this level is another ASI, which we pump into Wis, which boosts our AC and that’s it, as we have no spell which requires or triggers checks. It also helps tracking our prey, and boosts our passive perception through the roof. 

14. Rogue 5: UNCANNY DODGE! Finally, we’re starting to get our survivability to the next level. Just react to halve damage, once per turn. Yes, it’s limited to enemies we can see, but just look at our perception. We just know where everybody is. We can face tank the big boss’ big hit, if it manages to even hit us, or just survive one more turn a dumb arrow who managed to hit a 20 on the dice. What’s more, we get a shiny new sneak attack dice, pushing it to 3d6. 

15. Rogue 6: A new layer of expertise. We can grab expertise in Insight, which will help us find out if Arcueid really is Arcueid, or some weird theatre obsessed 500 years old vampire, and Survival, so we just won’t lose track of our prey. 

16. Rogue 7: We gain another extremely useful defensive feature with Evasion. It simply allows us to completely negate incoming fireballs, most traps and a lot of other stuff by changing how we take damage from those effects. Whenever we need to make a dexterity saving throw to halve damage, we take 0 damage on success now, and half on a failure. Nothing much to say, it just is as strong as it sounds. Our sneak attack goes up to 4d6.

17. Rogue 8: Fourth ASI, we’re getting our damage even slightly higher with the martial adept feat. We gain a superiority dice we can use to trigger either the Disarming attack, to have an even greater advantage on our poor opponent, or the Precision attack, in case we’re 1 or 2 away on the dice to hit our opponent in a critical moment. 

18. Rogue 9: next is our final subclass feature, Panache. It’s… not the greatest. We’re taking this level mostly because of the last feature we can grab, but using this feature can quickly become dangerous, no matter how evasive we are. It can fail, as we have low Cha, and Wis saving throws are quite frequent. We should only use it as a last resort. It can help us get our harem outside of battle though, so there’s that. Our sneak attack now deals 5d6 damage. 

19. Rogue 10: ASI time! This time, we’re finishing our Wis, that goes up to 19. Our AC is high, our perception checks are even higher, and we have huge bonuses to even skill checks we aren’t proficient with, like medicine. We have a +15 bonus to our perception, so no one really can hide from us anymore, no matter how sneaky. 

20. Rogue 11: Our final upgrade before going to beat the hell out of Tarasque. We’re reliably talented, which means we can’t realistically fail skill checks we’re proficient with anymore. In other words, we will always have a minimal result of 27 in Insight, perception, Stealth and survival skill checks, and a minimum of 21 in sleight of hand checks. Finally, our sneak attack dice caps at 6d6. 

Pros : We’re a big damage dealer, without even using precious class resources. As long as there’s one creature at the edge of the pack, we can use our Sneak Attack as much as we want, once per turn. We have pretty good stats, excluding our Constitution, which makes us weirdly tanky. Bad dice RNG can fuck us up, but we have a way to mitigate most damage. We’re also great at escaping thanks to being a rogue with access to jump, even though a few more Monk levels would have made us an escapist expert. 

Cons : We have pretty low HP thanks to only a +1 modifier on our constitution, so we’re not great at long fights. We pretty much have exactly one way of attacking, which is slashing, slashing and slashing. Investing in special enchanted weapons might be a must past a certain level. Also, our fist attacks are a bit useless outside of using them for Fancy Footwork. Finally, our damage can fall off quickly if the enemy attacks in large numbers. 

#Fate and Phantasms #Tsukihime #Tohno Shiki #DnD 5e

[coepiteamare]

about me? tag games

tagged by the lovely @yeojaa! thank you for the tag!

tagging: @bratkook​ (because you’re gorgeous but also hi! i want to talk to you more but i’m so easily intimidated 🥺) idk anyone else who doesn’t mind their face being shown, but if you want to, consider yourself tagged by me 💕🥰

post your favourite/most recent photo of yourself 

i do not like my face unless it doesn’t look like my face? but i’m trying to be better about accepting it/taking pictures because it’s the one face i’m going to get. and lovely noor always hypes me up 🥰 this is my most recent one...from one year ago! all of my photos are from aerial performances lol which is why the outfit is very sparkly. (...i don’t know why my lips are always pursed someone help me)

the first thing that came to mind was my tenacity and stubbornness. it’s a double edged sword, especially when i get unnecessarily competitive with the stupidest things (there have been many times when i would argue with my therapist for the stupidest things for the sake of “winning.” jesse, i’m so sorry), but it’s funny at times. 

the first thing that came to mind was my tenacity and stubbornness. it’s a double edged sword, especially when i get unnecessarily competitive with the stupidest things (there have been many times when i would argue with my therapist for the stupidest things for the sake of “winning.” jesse, i’m so sorry), but it’s funny at times. 

i dont know if this a personality trait, but my willingness to learn? i like to be openminded because there is so much out there that i do not know. and there’s so much that i had (and still have!) to unlearn and re-learn and learn to be a better human being. and a lot of that isn’t possible without being willing to learn and open-minded! 

favourite body part of yours

my ankles? i have a friend who really likes my ankles. (they’re weirdly tiny? i have small hands, but if i wrap my hand around it, i can almost touch my thumb and middle finger. they’re also super weak though so i lose my balance quite often and have stretched my ligament a few times). or my eyes i guess. to be honest, i really don’t like my body but i’ve been trying to practice body neutrality more, trying to understand that this is the body i’ve been given and while i may not love it, it does what it needs to do and i’m very fortunate and privileged to be able bodied on the surface and mostly able bodied in general! 

favourite aesthetic/style on yourself

ohhh a tough one. i really like oversized sweaters and shirts with short shorts so that it looks like i’m not wearing anything underneath? one of my friends likes to associate that look with me. i also love sundresses, the ones that float and settle gently when you spin. 

what are you most proud of?

my friends! my friends are a great source of my pride and joy and i’m very proud and grateful to be able to have them in my life, that they have seen me through my ups and downs, that they’re willing to call me out on my bullshit and still sit with me when i’m low, and that they love me. i’ve made quite a few reckless decisions, but the friends i keep and made, they’re some of the best ones i’ve made in my life. but...if we’re going for a more direct answer, how much care and affection i give to my friends! sometimes i’m not a great friend because i’m unable to work past my depression and si and thoughts, but i think for the most part and when it counts the most, i try my best to be present with my friends and check in with them, sending them messages, and doing everything in my power to let them know they’re loved and appreciated! i wouldn’t be where i am today without my friends. 

a trait people say they like about you

i’m cackling. i actually had to ask my groupchat this: they said they like how excited i am about things/when i care about someone/something i care A LOT about them and i’m invested 200%. “you call it being a nerd abt things you like including marvel, queens gambit, etc. I think you carry it into how you love & care for ppl too. i feel that way when you tell me that you’ll read my papers even tho they’re long & annoying or when you bring me food bc you remember I had been craving it or when your randomly text me things out of nowhere & just check in on me to see how I’m doing” “i like how excited u get abt things. it’s nice knowing u want me to be a part of ur world.”

a personality/physical trait that you used to be ashamed of but now appreciate

oh dear. for physical, my eyes? they’re monolidded and they don’t fit western/korean beauty standards, so as a kid, they were one of my biggest insecurities. but now, i’ve kind of come to peace with them? it makes makeup harder because there’s things that i can’t do (not that i have the talent to pull off intricate eyeshadow looks anyways) but we work with what we’re given. 

personality wise...i’m not really sure because i think i’ve grown and changed a lot, but a lot of things have stayed the same and i don’t really think i was embarrassed about my personality? there are lots that i don’t like that i’ve come to accept, however. i’m work very much in extremes: i’m a leaky faucet or breaking dam. i’m all or nothing. i feel too much or too little. i used to hate it, but now, it’s just whatever. i’m very ambivalent about it. 

favourite colour on you?

blue! i really like wearing blue and black and white? i think blue is just very versatile and i associate a lot of my personality to it. black and white is...well black and white haha. i feel like they look good with anything but i don’t own a lot of them, for some reason. maybe when things get better, i’d like to thrift some more black and white pieces. 

favourite clothing on you

MY DOCS! even though they’re high key a bitch and i bought them because the girls i worked with encouraged my desire to buy them (2/3 of my female coworkers at levis wore docs with their jeans and i felt like it was validating me to finally make the purchase after 3 years.) they go with almost everything and they make me feel like i can stomp all over my insecurities! i like jeans (probably from my short stint at levi’s), especially the high waisted ones. my favourites are the painter boys (loose, lots of pockets, wide legged) and the wedgie (that name is ridiculous, no matter how many times i see/say it). i love my ripped wedgie jeans with my docs. as for tops, i love cardigans but do not own any.

an aesthetic you want to try but are too scared to

CROP TOPS!!! crop tops and skin tight clothing? because of my body shape, i know they look good on me but i just am not comfortable in them? i would also love to try thigh high boots at one point in my life. also, the all black, professional aesthetic? idk what it’s called, but the blazers and black turtlenecks and slacks? would love to try, but that section intimidates me

things you like getting compliments on the most

i’m awful at receiving compliments unless they’re sarcastic ones hehe. but i like getting compliments on my writing? or on the things that i do that make other people happy and loved? i like receiving compliments on the things that i do for other people! (not that i do them to receive compliments though!)

lastly, do you love yourself?

ahahahaha 🙃

#tag games #tag games with violet #violet thoughts on the horizon

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #369

“so close, no matter how far  /  couldn’t be much more from the heart  /  forever trusting who we are  /  and nothing else matters”

What are three emotions you experience regularly? Sadness, shame, and stress. Is there someone right now whom you really wish would care for you? -___- Does your job allow visible tattoos? I don’t have a job, but quite honestly, I probably wouldn't take a job that didn't. I just love tattoos a lot and plan on having many, and ignorance and old-fashioned bullshit isn't gonna stop me. Do you know anyone that’s transgender? Yes. Do you think dress codes are unfair? In some places, like schools, yes. Are in a relationship? Tell me about it. I'm not. How is your road rage? I don't have road rage. By god does my sister, though. Favorite cosmetic brands? I don't wear makeup nearly enough to have a preference. The beach or the pool? The pool. I hate the feeling of sand, plus the salty wind and heat. Manga or anime? Anime. Favorites for manga? I've never read any. It's tempting to read Deadman Wonderland since it continues off the very short anime, but I just don't want to. Manga isn't my style. Favorites for anime? Fullmetal Alchemist (including Brotherhood), Ginga Densetsu Weed, and Deadman Wonderland. Favorite academic subject? English. A card game that you’re good at? I'm not exceptionally good at any. Do you eat breakfast? Pretty much always. A popular book you haven’t read yet? To Kill A Mockingbird, to name one I feel like everyone had to read in school. Do you like sweaters? I'm an oversized hoodie person, really. I don't like the look of zippers. Do you like sushi? Never tried it, never will. Do you wear prescription glasses? Yes. I badly need a new pair, because I can't see for shit. Generally, are you more likely to blame others or yourself for problems you experience? Myself. What is one thing about your life that you don’t ever see changing, even if you might wish it would? I have a feeling I'll always have some degree of social anxiety. I'm sure there are other things just not coming to me. At what point in your life have you been the most social or had the most friendships? And at which point have you been the least social? I had the most friends in my childhood years, probably. Or high school when I actually had a friend group. I'm sure I was most social as a kid in elementary school, not dealing with my social anxiety. I've been the least social like... now, honestly. I go essentially nowhere and have very few friends. Do you prefer to have a few close friends or a bunch of random acquaintances? Which would describe what you have now? I want close friends. I have like... two or so close friends and a handful of acquaintances. I don't know which I have "more" of when you consider the actual level of friendship/"quality" I guess. Do you journal? Generally, what do you write about? Do you find it helpful to get your thoughts out that way, or do you prefer another form of self-expression? I don't actually journal, but you could consider these surveys my "journal." I guess it's kinda why I do them so frequently? Like it lets me get stuff that's going on out, so I find it kinda therapeutic versus keeping all my thoughts jumbled up in my head. Have you ever been somewhere and REALLY didn't like a food that you were expected to eat? How did you deal with this? Are you someone who is likely to suck it up and be polite or refuse and save your taste buds? To start off, I am VERY bad at sucking it up and eating something I don't like. My gag reflex is very strong, and I'm also extremely sensitive to textures I don't like, so my reactions are just very involuntary. I can try to subdue my expression when I dislike something, buuut that's extremely difficult. But anyway, yes, I've been to places where I definitely disliked the food, especially this one occasion where we went to a local Southern cooking restaurant that literally ASSUMED you want the staple foods and sweet tea, none of which I enjoy. While everyone else was eating, I just very awkwardly sat there doing nothing and pretty much panicking over looking rude. Thank god, Ashley's father-in-law noticed and called over the waiter for me to actually order something, the way it should be. I was very thankful but still felt bad. What is one way in which you compare yourself to others? In this comparison, do you regard yourself as better or worse off than the people to whom you usually do the comparing? I am very bad and comparing successes with others, but only in ways that demeans me. Like I look at others and am just like, "Why aren't I there yet?" It always leads to anger and disgust of myself. What is something you’ve been particularly grateful for lately? I've thought a lot lately about how thankful I am to have my mom. She does so very much for me, and I don't think I could absolutely ever repay her in full. I wish I could. She's a damn superhero. What kind of change or opportunity would be the biggest help in your life right now? I was initially going to say getting a job, but thinking about it, getting to my goal weight might be an even greater help. It would help my leg pain, not having to carry as much around, I'm sure my hyperhidrosis wouldn't be as bad (I hope), and it would MASSIVELY affect my happiness. Like I cannot tell you how negatively my weight has damaged my self-esteem, confidence, and peace with myself. Is there one emotion that you experience more often than any other? Is there an emotion you rarely ever experience? I'd say I experience stress more than anything. I'm always thinking of something that's causing a ruckus in my life. A rare emotion for me is uhhhh jealousy, even though I've dealt with it more lately. What is one illness you are afraid of having? Do you know anyone who has faced this illness? The disease that I think scares me more than any is Alzheimer's/dementia. I just... cannot possibly imagine. How do you tend to behave when you’re sick? What kinds of things do you like people to do for you, if anything, to help you feel better? I'm very mopey and tired, and I can be a bit more irritable. I really, really appreciate help with things like chores when I'm not feeling well. When was the last time you did something you were proud of? Were other people proud of you as well? Does it matter to you whether or not other people care about your accomplishments, or is your own satisfaction enough? It's a very small thing, but I weaned down from having two cans of soda a day to just one. Mom is proud of me for it, which I appreciate a lot. Admittedly, it does kinda matter to me that those who know it's a big deal to me see and care about my accomplishments. I'm bad about needing external validation. What is your least favorite thing about the season you’re currently experiencing? Are you okay with most types of weather, or are you only happy under certain conditions? Ugh, the heat. Spring and summer are miserable to me because I veeery much love the chilly weather and no damn humidity. Have you made any changes to your style or “look” lately? How often do you change your appearance, hairstyle, fashion, etc? Or is it a pretty constant thing? No; my style is pretty constant. What was the last thing you felt hopeful about? Do you think there’s a good chance of whatever-it-is working out in your favor, or not so much? Getting a job at the tattoo parlor. I'm fearful that they won't be open to the position I'd like, so I'm trying to not get my hopes up too high. We'll find out in two days. Have you ever “recovered” from anything? What does “recovery” mean or look like to you? Yes, a traumatic breakup. I'd say recovery is just healing as much as possible from something, be it physical or emotional. What are some ways your childhood differed from those of others around you? Do you think this difference was harmful or advantageous in the long run? My dad was an alcoholic, if that qualifies. That definitely isn't a *normal* thing for someone's childhood. I think it was harmful, honestly, especially because I've had more than a few nightmares about my dad drunk. When was the last time you did something out in nature? Do you notice a dip in your mood when you don’t get enough of the Great Outdoors? Oh jeez... Probably not since Sara and I went catfishing with my dad. I wandered around with her some as she ventured for toads, haha. I don't really notice a dip in my mood, just because I'm so used to being indoors. I do prefer getting some time with nature, it's just hard and uncomfortable with how easy I sweat, and my knees sure do cuss me the fuck out in the form of a billion cracks if I walk much (by my standards...). What did you dream about last night? I had two dreams, but I only remember one, in which a giant green tree python was eating me backwards so I was conscious through it all. No hard feelings, I still want one as a pet, haha. They're GORGEOUS snakes and no, absolutely cannot eat you even if it tried its damnedest. What were your childhood dreams? To be a paleontologist, then a vet. What are your dreams now? If we're talking career-wise, to be a nature and wildlife photographer that gets to travel a lot. What are some Halloween costumes you would like to wear in the future? I've mentioned that #1 on my list is Ms. Oogie Boogie, then uhhhh... wow, I'm surprised I'm blanking, because I know there are lots I've thought of. Were you born with hair on your head? Yes. Would you rather have a home birth or hospital birth? I'm not having kids, but holy mother of fuck I'd have my baby at a hospital with a goddamn epidural. I do NOT know how some people can do it naturally, bigass props to them. Do you currently live in the house you grew up in? No. If not, what do you miss about it?^ It was just in general a nice house, the best one we've lived in. We had a pretty big yard too, so lots of room to play around as kids. What’s your favorite type of yogurt? I'm not a big yogurt person, really. What were your high school’s team colors? Red and white. Who were your best friends in high school? Hannia, Girt, Maria, Megan, Dennis, Dakota... What would be the best surprise you could receive right now? A tarantula. *puppy eyes emoji* Were there any subjects in school that were really easy for you? If so, what? English courses were very easy for me, and I was pretty good with science. Did you ever skip a grade or get held back a grade? Not like, a whole grade, but I surpassed Writing I in my last college endeavor and started out in Writing II instead. What’s your favorite rock band? Oh brother, you can't ask me this. Who’s your favorite country singer? I consistently like Tim McGraw a bit. How many drawers does your dresser have? My dresser is unnecessarily big. There's like five or six. Have you ever taken a picture at the perfect moment? Yes. One of my favorite pictures I've taken was at Ashley's gender reveal for Emerson; even she didn't know. When her husband pulled the fog thing and it was pink, her expression was just priceless. Was your first car used or new? I haven't had my first personal car. How did you discover your favorite band? By going through my mom's CDs when I was getting into rock music. Ozzy was the first truly metal and not rock band that I ventured into. What was the last big decision you made? BIG decision... I don't know. Probably dropping out of college. What is your favorite thing to go shopping for? I love window shopping for pets online, haha. What was the last thing you changed your mind about? A political stance. Who was the last friend you saw, and what did you do together? Oh yikes, it's been more than a while... It may have been Girt? In which case we probably watched TV or played board games together. Who tends to show up in your dreams? Do you ever wonder if you appear in anyone else’s dreams? Jason just loves to show up in my dreams more than anyone else. I don't really wonder that, no. What is something you wish you could say to someone who is no longer in your life, or something you wish they could know? I wish I could tell Bryar (Jason's friend I got in a fight with) I misunderstood something he said to me ("martyr" has two different definitions, and I somehow didn't know the modern one at the time) that made me seem like an absolute, attention-seeking bitch. It's so fucking embarrassing to look back on, because I agreed with him because I thought he meant it as I would die for my beliefs, which is true. What worries you most about your future? Whether or not I'll ever be in the physical shape I want to be in again. Or if I'll have a stable job. What is something you do to feel better when you’re scared? Find distractions, like funny YouTube videos. I also engage in deep breathing and grounding methods. What is the strangest book you have ever read? How did you find out about it? Oh my god, in elementary school, we read a book where everything a boy touched turned to chocolate. Weird book. Do you prefer to watch movies or tv alone or with other people? Is there anything you refuse to watch alone? Other people, definitely. I like having someone to talk to and comment on what we're watching. There's nothing I won't watch alone. What was the subject of the last video you watched? It was a let's play.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''nothing else matters'' by metallica

[starring-movies]

Killing Eve: Episode Analysis

*SPOILERS*

Season 1, Episode 3 - Don’t I Know You?

Episode 3 begins with Eve giving a description of Villanelle to an e-fit (Electronic Facial Identification Technique) worker. From Eve’s detailed description it’s evident how much she managed to take in about Villanelle from their short initial encounter. To give such attention to the small details of Villanelle’s appearance that Eve does, shows how Eve must have been attracted to Villanelle when they met. Bill picks up on this attraction from Eve’s description too, as he mentions it to Eve when they’re in the hotel room in Berlin, asking her is she’s “ever been interested in women? Not even ones with delicate features...”. Eve giving a deeper description, talking about Villanelle’s demeanour and interpreting her expression - the “lost look in her eye” and her inaccessibility - also shows how Eve has repeatedly been going over their meeting in her head.

WHile she is killing Zhang Wu [aka Fat Panda], Villanelle tells him to “look at me” so she can watch the spark drain from his eyes, just as she has done for all her kills up to this point. Just like the other kills we also watch Villanelle’s delight in this moment.

When Niko and Eve are examining whether the egg their chicken has laid is safe to eat, at the same time they are also having a second conversation about the risks at Eve’s job. Throughout the conversation Niko and Eve keep getting the egg and Eve’s job confused between which of the two subjects they are talking about. Eggs symbolise new beginnings, new life and unhatched potential, and these things are also descriptions that could be given to Eve’s job - it’s giving her a new start and is ‘unhatching’ her potential to allow her to pursue what she’s passionate about, and as the series continues she does begin a new life. However, Eve questions if the egg is too risky to eat, just as her job is risky and ultimately results in the ending of her marriage and life with Niko.

Bill’s line to his baby saying “Daddy’s going to die, isn’t he”, before he and Eve leave for Berlin, is possibly the only moment that I thought was too on the nose and too blatant in its execution.

After finding and bringing back to her room, Pamela, a woman with as many similarities to Eve as she could possibly hope for, the first thing Villanelle tells Pamela to do is take down her hair. Throughout the scene Villanelle seems to be more focused on the woman’s voluminous curly hair than anything else. The reason for which we obviously know is because women with thick, curly hair remind Villanelle of Anna, however, in this instance Villanelle seems to be purely going for Pamela’s resemblance to Eve. The woman has an American accent, is middle aged, has similar hair, and is dressed in similar clothes to Eve.

If it weren’t already clear that Villanelle was seeking out a stand in for Eve, Villanelle blatantly tells Pamela “I’m going to call you Eve, okay”. Villanelle tells Pamela that she’s going to call her Eve because of a “little biblical fantasy” she has, and it may be stretch but coincidentally Villanelle is wearing a shiny green top like the serpent that tempts Eve in the story of Adam and Eve. Villanelle is a bit like the serpent in the bible story as well, she tempts Eve away form the perfectly happy life that was already laid out for her with the promise of more and something better, just like the serpent.

After Bill apologies to Eve for losing her suitcase, she tells him that it was fine because she hated all her clothes anyway, but the scarf Niko gave her was amongst those clothes. The scarf is the green one with zebras on it, which Villanelle wears later on and is the thing that allows Bill to recognise her when he sees her at the U-Bahn.

Since Eve says she hates all her clothes, we can also assume she hated the scarf and was only upset at losing it because Niko gave it to her, but not because she actually liked it style-wise. Bill’s comment that he was doing Eve a favour from losing the scarf in the suitcase also indicates that even Bill is aware that the scarf is not Eve’s style. This shows that maybe Niko doesn’t know Eve as well as he thinks he does, and contrasts with the scene where Villanelle put out the belt for Eve to try with the blue dress - Villanelle knows Eve’s style better than Niko and she’s hardly met her. Villanelle and Eve’s connection is also shown as Eve says to Elena “you know when your outfit is missing something but you just don’t know what?”; Villanelle knows exactly what the outfit is missing and so not only does she know Eve better than Niko, but she knows Eve and what Eve herself wants better than Eve knows herself.

In Bill and Eve’s conversation with Jin, the Chinese attache, Bill say that kinks are “about someone else taking control”, which is most likely what Eve initially liked about Villanelle when she met her. Considering she was a stranger to Eve, Villanelle was so authoritative when telling Eve to “wear it down”, and Eve let Villanelle “take control” by doing as she said and leaving her hair down.

While Villanelle is listening in on Eve’s video chat with Niko, she rewinds the recording when Bill knocks on Eve’s hotel bedroom door and Niko asks if it’s Bill. Eve later tells Bill that she thinks Niko is jealous of him, and this is something that Villanelle also picked up on, evident from her rewinding the recording to listen to the exchange again. Villanelle takes a mental note of this because if Niko is Eve’s husband and even he is jealous of Bill, then Bill must be more important in Eve’s life. As a result of this, Bill has now also come in the way of Villanelle entering and having importance in Eve’s life. Bill’s interference by stopping Villanelle from following Eve onto the train at the U-Bahn, is also Villanelle’s solidification that he will continue to get in the way of her getting close to Eve and so she might as well just get rid of him now.

During Eve’s dinner with Jin, we also get a refreshing take on what is usually a pretty standard ‘someone needs information out of someone else’ scenario between a man and a woman. Often a scene like this would be entirely of each party just seducing the another throughout the whole thing; in order for one party to get the information out of the other, and for the other party to eventually be willing to give up the information. With Eve, however, she is completely no-nonsense with Jin, who is being rather heavy handed in his attempt to seduce her. Eve wears a nice dress, which was mainly just due to the fact that the place they were meeting was a nice restaurant, but she never returns Jin’s advances or uses her sexuality to get the information out of Jin. She stands her ground and is completely professional and clear from the moment she arrives, saying to him “listen, I’m going to be very upfront here... why did you want to see me, Jin? What do you know?”, continuing to add “I’m not here to entertain you. I’ve got a lot fo work to do”.

It is clear that Villanelle is playing a game with Bill when he’s perusing her after she leaves the U-Bahn. She is more than capable of shaking him off, but she purposefully walks out in the open and continuously checks behind her to make sure he’s still keeping up, so that she can make him think that he has the upper hand. The most clear moment that she does this is when she crosses in front of the tram. She quickly crosses in front of the tram to make Bill think that he’s going to lose her, but once the tram has passed we can see that Villanelle was stood still on the other side of the road waiting, and only begins to walk again once Bill is able to cross the road to catch up with her.

We can see the moment that Villanelle stops the cat and game with Bill when they’re in the club, Funklen, she stops and turns round to look at Bill deliberately, she smiles and then once again becomes focussed and makes a bee line towards him. It was also clear that Villanelle was playing the cat and mouse game earlier when she purposefully bumps into Bill, in the street outside the clothes shop, so that he could see her face.

You can read my previous Killing Eve posts here:-

The First Introduction to Villanelle

The First Introduction to Eve

S1, E1 - Nice Face

S1, E2 - I’ll Deal With Him Later

S1, E4 - Sorry Baby

S1, E5 - I Have a Thing about Bathrooms

S1, E6 - Take Me To The Hole!

S1, E7 - I Don’t Want to Be Free

S1, E8 - God, I’m Tired

S2, E1 - Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body?

S2, E2 - Nice and Neat

S2, E3 - The Hungry Caterpillar

S2, E4 - Desperate Times

S2, E5 - Smell Ya Later

S2, E6 - I Hope You Like Missionary!

S2, E7 - Wide Awake

S2, E8 - You’re Mine

S3, E1 - Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey

S3, E2 - Management Sucks

S3, E3 - Meetings Have Biscuits

S3, E4 - Still Got It

S3, E5 - Are You From Pinner? [Part 1]

S3, E5 - Are You From Pinner? [Part 2]

S3, E6 - End of Game

S3, E7 - Beautiful Monster

S3, E8 - Are You Leading or Am I? [Part 1]

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#killing eve #killing eve season 1 #killing eve episode analysis #1x03 #ke #villanelle #eve #eve polastri #villaneve #killing eve analysis #killingeveedit #movies #film #cinematography #tv reviews #reviews #good tv #tv recommendations #killing eve spoilers #killing eve discussion #ke analysis #killing eve 1x03 #killing eve S1E3 #killing eve don’t i know you #phoebe waller bridge #jodie comer #sandra oh #scene breakdown #niko polastri #carolyn martens

[avauntus]

A'right. I know no one needs this, but after spending a weekend watching old Supernatural and reading fandom posts...I have thoughts.

I think what s15xe18 (apparently) did to Dean and Castiel is...fitting. And it is a terrible embodiment of a horrible trope...that actually fits into the show universe in a nasty, twisty way.

I don't mean this as a homophobic statement. It is a bit of a ride, though-- and, obviously, spoilers past the cut.

GIF by fruiitycas (s05xe03)

“When humans want something...we lie.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s how you become President.”

(We’ll come back to this.)

When Castiel first appears, he is all hammer, as Dean puts it. He’s there to do a job. He has orders.

GIF by winchester--bros-4-life (s04xe01)

That doesn’t last long. Seven episodes later, he’s confiding in Dean...

GIF by I’m in the stars tonight (s04xe07)

...and not too long after that, he’s full-on rebelling. From the point Castiel decides to side with Dean (and to a lesser extent, Sam), he spends his time in a push/pull tension that never really quite leaves the character-- as far as I can tell, EVER: 

Castiel is an Angel of the Lord. He’s not made for free will. He IS his garrison’s best strategist, though, so he does the next best thing -- he watches, and then he tries to apply the “lessons” in self-determination, such as they are.

He mostly watches Dean.

  GIF by I don’t understand that reference (I don’t know which episode this is, but take your pick.) 

Over time, Castiel gets better at making his own decisions, but he’s never great at it. It’s always hard. He watches too much, he doubts himself, and he tries too hard.

He gets really good at reading Dean, though. 

And time doesn’t flow the same way for angels as it does for humans-- Castiel mentions it several times.

GIF by you fought for this whole world (s05xe04)

(Couple of things, here:

“Is it Zachariah?” - present tense, not past, despite the fact that, according to Castiel himself, the angels have left Earth by endverse 2014. He’s orienting himself according to past-Dean’s timeline, almost seamlessly. 

and

“Interesting.” - not “You could change this,” which is what everyone starts hammering past-Dean with when endverse!Dean (and endverse!Sam) get over their shock at the body-double. Even at the end of the world, Castiel is trying to spare Dean...something.)

(Unrelated to this larger diversion, but while we’re on Endverse...Castiel knew what endverse!Dean meant to do:

GIF by castiels-tight-grip (s05xe04))

Castiel knowing how Dean reacts to things, and Castiel observing Dean’s desire to NOT talk about it...well-established, as is Castiel watching Dean for cues on how to...be. So far, pretty bog-standard canon, yes?

Oh, Death...

Both Castiel and Dean die...a LOT. It’s handy Dean has a special relationship with big-D Death, isn’t it?

GIF by dean-squad (s05xe21)

Death is one of the few things that gets presented as more powerful than God. There are...a few others. The most important thing to know, Supernatural-canon-wise, is that when you meet one of these... Let’s call them “Absolutes”... they will be bound by at least one absolute law. There’s only a few entities that punch at this weight in the Supernatural universe. Death is one, and the Empty another. 

The Absolutes. A weekend of selective binge-watching has taught me that they have more power than anything, but they cannot break their (few) laws. Death will reap even God, but can be killed by their own scythe. The Empty absorbs dead demons, monsters, angels, and demigods...but the monsters and demigods have to accept it; the Empty cannot break its own “rules.”

GIF by starlightcastiel (s13xe04)

As I mentioned above, Castiel dies several times. He usually has a ‘get out of jail’ card handy...but at the end of season 12, it looked pretty serious. Castiel was stabbed with an angel blade...by Lucifer. We even get the classic “The angel has left the building” animation:

GIF by dandelion-teabag (s12xe22)

And then we learn: Castiel did die...and he was sent where all dead angels go, to the Empty (not “It’s a Wonderful Life”). When first confronted with the Empty, Castiel bluffs it, then out-faces it, because he is, at heart, a fighter-- and “Thursday’s child has far to go”

GIF by starlightcastiel (s13xe04)

If he and Dean talked about this (doubtful), I’m sure Dean was laudatory -- Dean does practically the same thing to Death on several occasions.

GIF by purgatoryking (s06xe11)

Of course, Dean and Castiel can’t simply sass their way to true happiness, because that would be a different show. Eventually the counterfeit checks they’re trying to cash are going to catch up with both of them...because the Absolutes cannot bend their own rules. 

“It’s getting dark, too dark to see...”

By roughly...season 14? 15? we’ve arrived at a point where Castiel has gone from reflecting Dean’s own choices back at him...

GIF by inacatastrophicmind (s04xe20)

...to one where he’s trying to make his own choices almost completely independently.

GIF by inacatastropicmind (s12xe22)

While Dean has gone from a healthy respect for anthropomorphic semi-deities...

GIF by octomoosey (s5xe21)

...to an ...uhhhh... whatever you call this...

GIF by sasquatchandleatherjacket (s13xe19)

(Note for folks who haven’t kept up with the show, as I haven’t -- that’s Billie, a Reaper who has taken over as ‘capital-D Death’ after Dean, uh, killed the first one...)

Both Castiel and Dean have grown! Good for them! Except... for the part where their own core natures are going to doom them anyway!

At...some point in season 14 or 15... Castiel makes a deal with the Empty to save his adopted-ish son, Jack. The terms of the deal? The Empty gets to claim Castiel if he is ever truly happy (because Castiel died, and dead angels go to the nothingness, the Empty can’t break rules).

Meanwhile, Dean and co. are embroiled in their usual, saving the world from some form of desolation. While doing so, he and Castiel (and Sam, one assumes) run into Chuck, who is ‘capital-G God.’ And God has this to say to Castiel:

GIF by inacatastrophicmind (s15xe17)

This is devastating in several ways. For one, God is a real dick. But also, the context is that God ran a great many universes...and they are now all living through the only one where predictable reality has gone off the rails. Even God can’t save you now-- his powers have been broken. 

The endgame, then-- in s15xe18, Dean had Billie, Death herself, after him. Now Dean, being Dean, has decided that correct order of operations is that:

(a) he’s been so damn stupid, of course he’s an idiot and everyone is going to die and it’s all his fault (and on-and-on in true Dean-Winchester-self-flagellating style)

(b) and naturally he should die, because it’s what he deserves.

But Castiel has learned to make his own decisions, remember? And he learned long, long ago that he and Dean don’t talk about this kind of thing-- unless they’re going to fight about it:

GIF by spnsmile (s09xe10)

Maybe they’ve both been stupid, if for the right reasons, but Castiel is staring down a choice between everyone dying...or he calls in something in the same Absolute weight-class as Death, and only a few beings die. And in order to do that, he has to be...happy. 

Which means he has to share how he feels... He hasn’t talked about it before because what do humans do when faced with something they want? They lie. 

But now he has to say something. And without arguing with Dean or triggering his own guilt complex by weighing Dean down with something selfish that (Castiel thinks) Dean doesn’t want.

Which is how we get from here (s05xe22) ...

...to here (s15xe18).

GIF by deanwifechester

Is it fucking terrible and rage-inducing that Castiel got taken by the Empty almost immediately after saying his one true thing, in a meta way where we’re all so, so tired of LGBTQIA+ representation that is winked at or lampshaded or immediately turned into the ‘motivating sacrifice’? Fuck yes, it’s terrible.

Did the show earn that move, even if Castiel is for-real-really-gone-gone-dead? Was there the characterization of these two and the necessary world-building? Did they put in the work, build the rules? Also, frustratingly, yes.

Because what’s the alternative? Twelve years and no growth, no change? (You can say “Growth and change and they live,” but that’s for fix-it fic...)

Even if Dean thinks he wants his life to remain fixed, that’s always been one of his failings - and a fantasy.

GIF by castiels-tight-grip (s05xe04)

...And ladies, gents, and others - I give you my first, and probably my last serious, earnest Supernatural meta. Yikes.

#supernatural #meta #s15x18 #spoilers #gifs #many many gifs #also this is probably all really obvious #but I feel better typing it out for me #because I'm frustrated and ok with it at the same time? #ANYWAY