#one of my very few drawing which isn't a video game character

[daily-dose-of-dopamine]

Marble H⨂rnets

#merble herble #marble hornets #mh #mh masky #masky #marble hornets masky #marble hornets fanart #marble hornets fandom #would tag more but #yeah #fanart #drawing #digital drawing #one of my very few drawing which isn't a video game character #huh

[thankskenpenders]

So I wrote a whole long thing about Amy's tarot cards, but what about, you know... the rest of the Sonic Frontiers DLC? The new alternate story route, the hours of new gameplay, all that?

Having now played it, I'm not sure Sonic has ever had this specific combination of good ideas that make the future of the series look bright, and execution that I fucking hate.

(Full spoilers ahead.)

The good

There's a lot to like here, conceptually.

First and foremost, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are finally playable in a new mainline 3D Sonic game for the first time since 2006! Seventeen years! We've been begging for this for so very, very long. Nature is finally truly healing from the fallout of Sonic '06. Early on I hedged my bets and expected them to be locked to Cyber Space or something like that, assuming that there was no way they'd be fully playable in the Open Zone. But sure enough, while they're a bit limited compared to Sonic, they're still all full-blown characters with skill trees to unlock and lots of exploration to do.

We also got a more bombastic alternate final boss fight, after the first take on The End kind of underwhelmed. And it's obvious that Sonic Team has listened to our pleas to focus on the 3D platforming over the forced 2D sections, and to reduce the amount of automation in the level design. This update is chock full of Actual Platforming. Wow! I can only pray this means we never get an area as agonizing to explore as Chaos Island again.

Sure, there's still some jank - especially with Knuckles' movement, which is kinda rough. But if this is the stuff they're trying out so that they can refine it further for the next game, then I'm really excited.

On the other hand, good fucking lord is The Final Horizon tedious. And that tedium sapped most of the fun out of it for me.

The frustrating

The new scenario massively increases the difficulty over the base game, seemingly out of a desire to give the hardcore players who were posting speedrun videos and whatnot more of a challenge. It's the Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels of Sonic. This difficulty comes in many forms throughout your playtime, some worse than others, and continues to ramp up over time.

Rather than giving you a tutorial level, the new scenario dumps you directly into a remixed version of the final island and makes you do some fairly precise platforming with Amy, Knuckles, and Tails - new characters with new movesets that you won't have any experience with. You'll also need to find character-specific Koco that give you free levels, because Sonic's friends all start at level one and certain locked moves in their skill trees will be mandatory to progress. They don't even have Cyloop unlocked at the start. And because they're all low level, that means you'd better steer clear of the beefed-up bosses scattered around the map, which will absolutely annihilate Sonic's friends. (I honestly just avoided them and never bothered beating any of them, not even with my high-level Sonic. I have no idea if they're beatable with the others.)

None of this is explained to you particularly well. I spent my first few minutes with Amy wondering why the attack button did nothing, only to eventually think to check her skill tree and realize that I had to unlock her basic attack. If you don't bother to take the time to read through the skill trees, you'll very quickly find obstacles you have no way of getting past with no clues as to what exactly you're supposed to do.

Adding to this confusion is the fact that objective markers often tell you to go half a kilometer into the sky, and you'll have no idea how to get up there because all of the relevant platforms are out of your draw distance. Many objects seem to only pop in for me when I'm within about 60 meters of them, which isn't a long distance for a high-speed open world platformer like this. I was having this problem running the game with high graphics on PC, so I can only imagine how obnoxious it is on Switch. I'd frequently find myself poking around nearby clusters of platforming objects and praying that they'd lead me to a spring, rail, or cannon that would eventually point me in the direction of the floating objective marker.

There were always complaints about the art direction in Frontiers and the way it relies on floating rails and prefab platforms that are visually disconnected from the natural scenery of the islands, but it's even more dire here. The new platforming sections are dense and complex, but they seemingly didn't have the budget to change the topography of Ouranos Island at all, so it all takes the form of these prefabs. It very strongly gives the vibe of a Forge creation in Halo 3, back when there were no blank canvas maps and people just had to make "new maps" by jamming a bunch of shipping containers and barricades together in the sky above one of the default arenas.

I was still more or less having fun, though, despite the jank. It's a big creative swing, I told myself! They're trying stuff out! They're experimenting!

And then I hit the towers.

The towers are agonizing because they're SO close to being great. The logical part of my brain understands why some people love them, but god, I just fucking hate them. The platforming there IS cool! These layouts are cool! The individual challenges along the way are a bit tough, but totally doable. You know what's not cool? Making one mistake and slowly falling 800 meters all the way back down to the ground, forcing you to start over. Because none of these towers have checkpoints. For me, this one decision transforms what should have been a fun set of platforming challenges into a massive, unfun difficulty spike.

I enjoy some masocore platformers, but those are typically games with quick deaths and restarts like Celeste, Super Meat Boy, or VVVVVV. Hell, the Mario games tend to get way more difficult than the average Sonic game, and those are obviously all great. Quite frankly, unlike those games, Sonic Frontiers is nowhere near tight or polished enough to make this difficulty feel fair. Bits of jank that I could ignore in the base game due to its lower difficulty are now matters of life or death. Missing a jump because I boosted off an incline in a way the game didn't like for reasons I don't understand is not fun. Falling off a tower because the camera was pointing in the wrong direction while I was in midair and I couldn't see the next thing I was expected to homing attack is not fun.

And it's such a jarring spike when moving from the base game to the DLC that it feels like the game is suddenly quizzing me on skills it never bothered to instill in me. Maybe if you've spent the last year labbing out the movement tech in this game this is all a no brainer, but for the average returning player it's a kick in the dick.

I'm sure I could've beaten these towers normally if I gave them enough tries. They aren't the hardest thing in the world. But I very quickly decided I had better things to do with my life and turned on easy mode, which adds tons of extra springs and homing attack balloons to make all of the platforming piss easy. I wish there was a middle option between Only Up: Sonic Edition and this extreme hand holding, but when given the choice between the two I gladly picked baby mode. I just wanted to see the story.

(The new Cyber Space levels are also long, challenging, and devoid of checkpoints, not unlike the towers. But I only ever found the entrances to two of them. So I only did two. They're theoretically required, because they give you "Lookout Koco" that you need for... some reason? But in a rare act of mercy, Sonic Team put Cyloop treasure spots that give you free Lookout Koco all over the map.)

As I continued, so many little things started adding up to piss me off. Why do you only reveal like five tiny squares of the map at a time? I would've loved to find all the new 1-on-1 dialogue scenes, but not if I had to do dozens of hard mode versions of the stupid little puzzles and challenges to reveal the whole map. Why does every character need their own unique collectibles? What is this, Donkey Kong 64? Why can't I just grab this EXP for Amy when I find it as Tails? Why can I only manually swap characters by talking to an out-of-the-way NPC unlocked right before the final boss? Why is fast travel disabled? Why are the new vocal themes you hear when playing as Amy, Knuckles, and Tails so monotonous, with a single verse repeating over lo-fi beats ad nauseum? Why is the jukebox feature completely disabled throughout the DLC, even after rolling the credits? Why can't Tails homing attack? Why do I have to wrestle with the camera so much while also holding the jump button to fly as Knuckles and Tails? How many right thumbs do they think I have? Why is this animation for picking up animals in the Cyber Space levels so incredibly slow, and why can I still take damage while it's playing? Why does the stupid starfall event have to make it so hard to see what I'm doing when climbing these towers? Why does this shitty combat trial have a popup that makes it seem like I should be using the Cyloop when the actual strategy revolves around repeated parries? And on and on and on...

The story

What about the new story? Well, there sadly isn't much to chew on here. Most of the DLC has the cast running around and finding different macguffins for arbitrary reasons, as part of some sort of plan to divide up the work on the last island so that Sonic can go train with the spirits of the Ancients and harness the power of his cyber corruption. What the fuck is an Impact Form? I don't know, but Knuckles needs something to do, so go find one.

It's a thin excuse plot meant to make you do platforming challenges around Ouranos Island, with little room for Ian to add any real flavor of his own, even though he certainly tries. Having Sonic meet the spirits of the Ancients who controlled the Titans, who are revealed to directly parallel the personalities of him and his friends, is kinda neat, I guess? It's something. The optional conversations seem to have some fun bits, including both conversations between the supporting cast and additional lore. But again, I only found a few of those because of how tedious filling out the map was.

The writing is also let down by the voice acting - or I guess the voice direction, because I know this cast can do better. Roger's voice continues to be weirdly, distractingly deep as Sonic, which was clearly something that was requested of him just for this game. (For a recent example of him going back to his regular Sonic voice, see this LEGO trailer.) The performances of Sonic's friends are also WILDLY mismatched. This is most clear when they start feeling the effects of the cyber corruption. Knuckles seems to be barely affected at all, Tails sounds like he's moderately hurt and low on energy, and Amy starts completely overselling her pain out of nowhere. The extremely strained performance makes it sound like Cindy's literally being tortured in the fucking booth. I have no idea what's going on over there.

The final challenges

People have debated whether or not things like the towers and the new Cyber Space levels are fair challenges. What's not up for debate is the fact that Master King Koco's Trial is complete and utter bullshit, and I can't believe they shipped this.

Before you can fight the new final boss, the game forces you to do a boss rush of the first three Titans - INCLUDING the pre-Super Sonic climbing sections - with a hard limit of 400 rings. For all three lengthy, heavily scripted fights. Back to back. You can't even cheese it with the leveling system, because you're forced to do this at level 1. This all but forces you to look up speedrun strats for the Super Sonic fights so that you don't run out of rings and fail the trial.

And the real kicker? They changed the parry just for this trial! Originally, you could just hold down the bumpers endlessly and Sonic would ready himself to parry the next attack, whenever that may hit. Now it requires you to do a "Perfect Parry" with specific timing. And you HAVE to hit those parries if you wanna clear this trial and get to the new ending. Miss a few and you're probably fucked. You just have to reset. Time to go through all those fights, all those climbing sequences, all those QTEs, and all those unskippable mid-fight cutscenes all over again. This is by far the most egregious example of the DLC deciding to quiz you on new skills that the base game never required of you, and it's one of the most absurdly unfair things I have ever seen in a Sonic game.

Easy mode does make this trial easier by making the timing window for Perfect Parries much more generous, but that's all the help you get. It's still easy to lose time failing to parry Wyvern's hard-to-read animations, or to lose rings by getting hit on the climb sections, or for things to just fuck up because these fights were always kinda jank. I gave it a few shots. I looked up guide videos. I tried the Quick Cyloop and stomp combo strat that seems all but mandatory. But I quickly decided that, again, this wasn't a worthwhile use of my time. It just sucks. And I really, REALLY didn't want to overwrite all my fond memories of these Titan fights, some of my favorite setpiece moments in any Sonic game, with memories of this shit ass boss rush.

So I cheated! And if you're on PC, you should too.

With the worst hurdle out of the way, I turned cheats back off and moved on to the new final boss. It was pretty cool. It's much flashier than the original fight against The End, that's for sure. It's still kinda annoying, and it requires you to do very specific shit without properly telegraphing it, but it's nowhere near as bad as the preceding challenges. I was hoping for one last new metalcore song to go with the new fight, which we sadly didn't get, but at least the new version of I'm Here is good.

The ending is... mostly the same, with a couple altered scenes that don't really change anything in the long run. But overall the new finale was pretty good. I just wish it hadn't been such a slog to get there.

Closing thoughts

Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon wants to be three things:

A patch that adds a new alternate ending that was probably supposed to be in the base game in the first place.

An experimental take on making Tails, Knuckles, and Amy playable again, presumably testing things for the next game. And...

An official Kaizo Sonic Frontiers mod for the sickos.

The thing is, the people showing up for #1 and #2, the main things that Sega hyped up about the update, are not necessarily going to be down for #3. If they had announced some uber-hard new Cyber Space levels for the arcade mode or whatever, I'd be like, neat! And then not play them. I would never touch Master King Koco's Trial if it was an optional challenge. I would leave that for the sickos. But instead, they made the hardest content mandatory for anyone who wants to see the new Good Ending where the final boss gets an actual budget.

I'm mostly left in a state of shock that it shipped like this. I cannot believe they playtested this and decided this was the state The Final Horizon should be released in. That this should be the note Frontiers ends on. That this should be how we remember those Titan fights. That this should be the lingering taste in our mouths as we wait however many years for the next 3D game.

Armchair devs always love to say that things would be "easy to fix," but like... there really would be easy fixes for the insane difficulty and general tedium here! Add a few more tutorial popups explaining what the game expects of you with Sonic's friends. Give the Cyber Space stages and the towers a couple checkpoints. Give the combat trials more generous time limits, especially on the lower difficulties. Remove half of the map puzzles, and make the ones that remain uncover twice as many squares. Skip the startup animation for Knuckles' glide. Let me turn on the goddamn jukebox. Since so much of this update was designed around fan feedback, I can only pray that Sonic Team is still listening, and that they tweak at least a few of these things with a balance patch.

But still, after those many, many paragraphs of complaining... this still somehow makes the future of 3D Sonic seem pretty promising?

Sonic's friends are FINALLY playable again, and the focus is back to proper 3D platforming, rather than railroading players into awkward forced 2D sections in what's otherwise an open world. These are the things that they hopefully want to carry over to the next game. The difficulty? Well, that's just because it's the postgame DLC that's supposed to be the toughest challenge in the game. It's just an unreasonably cruel one of those - an example of how designing and balancing for a vocal minority of your fanbase can really hurt your game. But Sonic Team is onto something here, and I hope that they can learn the right lessons from this expansion and not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

#tkp post #other media

[ouroborosorder]

Arknights VFX question: Any highlights or personal favourites as far as the "Stick a whole background/huge jpeg in there behind the character" category of skills goes?

Oh I like this question. This made me consider things I've never looked at before, so thank you for that. I had to do research.

So, there's not a lot of ops like this, and shockingly, I don't have many positive things to say about them. BUT I did find a few interesting highlights I think are worth discussing.

First off, I will leave Eine Variation out of this, as I have made my thoughts on that Thing very clear.

But, my favorite skin in the game actually does indeed have the Background.Jpeg - Specter's As One!

Aaaand it's easily the worst part of my favorite skin. Don't get me wrong, i think it's probably one of the better executions of the idea, since it's like, a skybox, it matches the pallette, matches the artstyle of the skin, it's almost perfect. I wish it was a LITTLE less static, maybe have some distortion ripples across it like waves to keep the stars moving, or maybe have them twinkle a bit or something. But it's fine. But a good effect isn't everything.

Effects relies heavily on the principles of animation, too. Appeal, weight, color, and most importantly of all - timing. Having a proper lead in can make a bad effect good, and having a bad lead-in can make a good effect fucking terrible. And having no lead-in at all will absolutely fuck your effect and make it super clear that you took a jpeg from the skin art and superimposed it behind your operator.

Here. Look at the picture above. Now, I am going to tab back literally just one single frame in the animation and...

oh ...there's no fade in at all. It just literally appears in a single frame. It draws way more attention to itself than it needs to just by virtue of literally popping in. It's SUPER obvious that it's just Skybox.jpeg. If it faded in with some sort of noise mask (which takes literally less than 2 minutes to make,) it would be so so so much better. Again, this is my favorite skin in the game, and I already think S3 is quite beautiful, so this is nitpicking, but this skybox always bugged me a lot.

Now to say a sentence no one has ever said - going up a step in quality from Specter to Hoederer!

I can't fully get this one in a still image and I'm too tired to record a video / gif so just go with this, alright?

This one is ALMOST GOOD. ALMOST. IT'S SO FUCKING CLOSE. The texture is being distorted by a wavelike noise that is giving it the rippling effect of fire, which is the standard thing to do for making a stylized fire. The problem is that... The texture itself doesn't fucking move? It's just being UV distorted, just a bit of offset to the material and I just AUGH.

It's so so so obvious that it's just a static jpeg of fire that's being waved around like a flag to get it to contort into being fire. This wouldn't bother me if the actual fire texture didn't have implications of movement in the little waves and fades and stuff. I hate it it's so irritating it's so CLOSE. But also, animating an entire fire flipbook would have taken a lot more time, and I can 100% guarantee you the VFX artist is also unhappy with this one. Their A team was probably on Arturia or something. Speak of the devil -

I've had a few people ask how I feel about Arturia's S3 after I expressed my hatred for Eine Variation, and I am here to say - this unambiguously fucking rules, for a few reasons.

First and least importantly, THE MONSTER MOVES. The monster itself has slight movement, you can notice its arms wiggle a little and mouth open and close. This is a small thing that goes a LONG way to make it feel way more dynamic and alive. It's also being distorted by a noise like Hoederer is, which is quite nice as a touch, really helps to make that limited movement feel way more significant than it is.

Second, is that the texture is monochromatic, but in a different way than Arturia is. The grays are colder, harsh blue-grays to contrast Arturia herself, who is a very warm gray. This makes it so that it adds a really nice background that looks like part of her, while also standing out and allowing her to stand out against it. It's a really smart use of monochrome to create visual interest using just different subtle shades of gray.

But that bluish hue also serves to compliment the only color in the effect - the blue light from the cello. Your eyes are naturally drawn to brighter glowing things, which is also the only colored spot on the effect - the cello from which her Arts emerge. As a result, the Beastie.jpg fades out of your attention, becoming monochromatic noise, which, due to being just kinda chaotic and aesthetically dissonant, you interpret more as abstract Shape than anything else. That abstract shape then makes a cone which leads you down into Arturia's center, which is her cello, which is where her Arts are coming from.

This is basically to say - These are very emblematic of what I think makes good effects textures in general. They work best when they're not alone. When these backgrounds are part of a larger whole that's all coming together to make an effect, rather than being the centerpiece of the whole thing. When I notice the background, it's a problem, in my eyes. Maybe people disagree. They keep putting them in skins, and a lot of people thought the Eine Variation goat was cool as hell, so clearly I'm in the wrong here, but hey. Who gives a shit.

I'm sure there's way more examples of this, (actually I know there are,) but I'm extremely tired and need to go the fuck to sleep. If there's any particular backgrounds ya'll want me to take a look at, lemme know and I'll get back to you when I've woken from my dread slumber.

#arknights #arknights vfx breakdown

[rallamajoop]

Lab Photos and Documents from Resident Evils 7 & 8

Near the end of both Resis 7 and 8, the player character gets to explore a laboratory full of significant documents and interesting photos, textured and angled such that it’s very hard to get a good screencap. So here’s a huge dump of all the relevant image assets I could find to extract from both game files (plus some rambling about everything that got recycled between them, because spot-the-reused-asset is still my favourite game right now).

Photos from Lucas' lab in Resident Evil 7

The photo of Mia with Eveline in front of the tanker can be found at the end of the Mia video tape, though it also shows up again in Lucas' other lab in the Not A Hero DLC. That DLC also throws in a few new photos of Lucas' creations.

And moving on a game...

Photos from Miranda's Lab in Resident Evil 8

(Apologies for the long post above the cut, but tumblr doesn't seem to let you tile images below a 'Read more', unfortunately.)

What’s interesting is that most do seem to be legitimate photos of the characters’ real-life face models, not just renders of their 3D game models. Whether the human models themselves posed for these or whether their likeness was simply photoshopped onto scenes composed without them I haven’t been able to find out (though the latter seems more likely to me, given that most face models don't even seem to have known what character their likeness would be used for). Either way, there’s an eerie realism to these that doesn’t occur in many other parts of the game, and it’s effective in its own uncanny way.

Since both games refer to the same research at the same lab, it's probably reasonable that some of RE8 photos are just slightly-adjusted copies of those from RE7 ‒ those two shots of Eveline in the lab most obviously. And we're probably just supposed to politely ignore how obviously Miranda's just been selectively edited into that original pic of Eveline with the scientists. *cough*

In fact, if you look closely, even that big group photo of Eveline with the research team and transport operatives has actually patched in both Mia and Eveline from that earlier photo of them standing in front of the tanker. In fact, Alan (Mia's partner in RE7) isn't even from a photo at all: that's a drawing from a piece concept art (no wonder they've got him standing at the back!) As a minor role who appeared in no photos in RE7, I assume they just didn't have any good shots of his face model available.

I'm a little suspicious even Miranda's face in the group shot has been edited in from one of her other photos, but the match isn't quite perfect enough for me to be sure.

Even that photo of the needle going into the egg and the developing foetus isn't new: you can see the same needle shot in some of the RE7 documents, and even the foetus development series gets an angled scan-over in the RE7 ending sequence.

Mind you, some of those "photos of Eveline" may actually not be Eveline herself ‒ text on them in the lab itself suggests they're photos of other members of the E-series, sacrificed during necrotoxin tests. Which makes it rather odd that the figure in the second photo is an adult man who looks nothing like Eveline, so I can only assume some wires got crossed somewhere in the dev team.

(Also odd: the suggestion that there were multiple E-series subjects, some of whom were put down for experimental purposes, even though Eveline herself is labeled E-001. But let's not pretend RE lore has ever been super-consistent at the best of times.)

RE8's "lab photos" also include a couple of shots of a man in snow gear who's apparently Spencer of Umbrella-fame, presumably for all those fans who don't feel it's a proper Resident Evil game if there's not an Umbrella in it somewhere. They're both about as rough as that one piece of concept art of Alan, so I'm guessing whoever created them was about as invested in that topic as I am.

Somewhat more interesting to me are the two shots of Miranda with babies. The second obvious Eveline, but the first is presumably of Miranda with Eva, way back in 1920 or so ‒ demonstrating nothing so much much as that in a full 100 years, Miranda hasn't even slightly changed how she does her eyebrows. /s

#Resident Evil Village #Resident Evil 7 #Mia Winters #Eveline #Mother Miranda #RE assets #reused assets #RE lore #meta

[stinkrascal]

I wasnt attempting to offend anyone with my opinion but I guess thats not hard to do here. I personally do not see stories as an art. I think its very cool but to make it bigger than it is seems a tad egoistical,,, it’s not that deep simblr

why wouldnt it be an art? people are writing, setting up scenes, developing character motivations, symbolisms, themes, learning camera angles, playing w color theory, creating their own meshes in blender... just to post on simblr. like what part of that process excludes it from being art. a lot of those steps r the same steps one would take to write a novel for example, or film a movie, which im assuming you consider those to be valid artforms. like it's just a different medium, that's all

idek why calling something art is considered egotistical. like that doesn't even make sense to me. creating art is the best thing u can do for your soul imo, it gives you the opportunity to express yourself in authentic ways you wouldn't be able to otherwise. and that form of artistic expression can come from anywhere, and show itself in almost any way... dancing, writing, drawing, singing, painting, making sculptures, creating video games, animations, just to name a few... it isn't about being egotistical! calling art art isn't egotistical!! it's about expressing urself! so yeah this whole ask makes no sense to me and i think you should just keep your opinion to yourself next time bc i have made it pretty clear at this point that i don't agree with you

#jade answers #anonymous

[transfemswagbracket]

💥 THE BRACKET, PART ONE 💥

This is a collection of the first side of the OC bracket, complete with summaries I did my best to compile and links to the original propaganda posts! There's another side to go consisting of 32 more characters, but I'm posting this early because it's been a while.

@da2base-com's Randal Ebony Clarke (x)

Randal Ebony Clarke (she/he/it), also known as Randy, is a teenage girl who enjoys spending her time drawing, collecting dolls and puppets, playing video games, and making music, along with studying and taking care of bugs! She's a quiet, cold, and cantankerous girl, but once once one gets to know her, they'll learn just how nice she can truly be! It's a shame she doesn't come out of her room very often.

@stargloom's Guppy (x)

Guppy (she/her) is an eel girl! She makes clothes and sells them online for a living, and lives in a shared apartment far far away from home. She gets homesick often, but she’s in the big city making a name for herself! (Why not help her out with your vote?)

@ellie-shaw-official's Julia Lowell (x)

Julia Lowell (she/they) is a popular internet content creator from an SCP AU who also happens to be a wolf god!

@splatterbrush's Dr. Brigan Harlow (x)

Dr. Brigan Harlow (she/her) is your local alien scientist— an apprentice at a shady laboratory! After a series of unfortunate events, she ends up accidentally reviving an ancient AI that plans to conquer the universe, and so she must set out with her friends to stop it... even if she really would rather just stay home and take a nap. Who doesn't love sentient alien fungi?

@fictofaggot's Faunre (x)

Faunre (he/him) is a DID system that consists of mostly transfem and nonhuman alters! His hobbies include being pretentious about music, picking random objects off the ground, and drawing silly My Chemical Romance fanart. He is quiet and generally unpleasant to be around, but his cringefail behavior and autistic awkwardness are off the charts, and that's all that matters.

@nickyisbitchy's Zoey (x)

Zoey (she/her) is a lesbian witch who owns a record store! She enjoys playing harmonica and drums, making jewelry, and home movies. She's a very quiet but passionate person, and when she believes what she's saying is true she isn't scared to get loud. She makes friends easily, but is very secretive. She takes care of her cousin's kid Melody, and she has two cats— a calico named Spot and a hairless cat named Dot!

@ndrogyny's Mortis Sofia Fiorentino (x)

Mortis Sofia Fiorentino (they/them) is an OC for the 4v1 survival horror game Identity V, and their story is set in the early 20th century. Having moved from Italy to New York City at a young age, Mortis realized they didn't feel at home in their growing body. A few years after coming out (to which their parents were luckily accepting), their father fell ill, and it was up to 16-year-old Mortis to get a job to help support their mom. They landed a job as an exterminator, becoming very efficient, and were eventually sent on a job up north that no one else wanted to take. Unfortunately, a freak earthquake occurred, and Mortis was trapped, left behind, and died. Their soul was so full of rage and betrayal that their ghost possessed their now dead body, and went on a search for closure.

@zayn-darkshadow's Filip Quarzen (x)

Filip Quarzen (she/her) is a silly gal who loves puzzles, musicals, and puppets! On a cursory glance, she may seem shy and unconfident in herself and her abilities— and while the latter is true, she can be very outgoing and bold! Mostly motivated by a love of theater, she can be extremely melodramatic, and she has a tendency to be sarcastic and a bit rude due to her lack of patience. She's also trans both in-universe and out— originally created as a little gay boy, now a little gay boy who's a girl!

@sikeyaout's Extrava Anza (x)

Extrava Anza (they/it) is the mayor of a town filled with supernatural individuals! They are also the sibling of a mad scientist and a professional party planner! Who doesn't love a squirrel girl?

@mikey-wazowski's Ria (x)

Ria (she/they) is a spooky creepy girl! She goes through a time loop, which eventually got to the point where she didn't care about anything anymore due to nothing having consequence. She ends up in a juvie for setting her house on fire, and in doing so, they find the person perpetuating the loops they go through.

@abrahamstalker's Janice (x)

Janice (she/her) is very shy and very buff! She's trying to balance trying to get a doctorate in psychology, meeting up with her parents regularly, and 2 part-time jobs. She's a fan of cutesy, Lolita-esque fashion, is learning how to crochet, and has two pet ferrets, Scrap and Pip! She recently moved in with her girlfriend and her girlfriend's family, who are still working up the courage to explain that the "family friend" who lives upstairs is actually a ghost...

@blxckmxmbo's Itsuki Kane (x)

Itsuki Kane (she/they/ix) is a streetfighter who ran away from an awful life at a young age in search of their father. She eventually found her dad, but it didn't end up going well in the end. During that time, however, ix really found herself as a person after having time to not worry about where she was going to sleep that night, and they transitioned! Ix's very blunt and mean, but is a softie at heart and likes to tease her friends.

@wyrm-in-a-closet's Sparkle (x)

Sparkle (she/her) is a shifter— a magical individual who can transform between a human form, an animal form, and a "half" form (part human, part animal). Her particular animal is a sparklemuffin spider! She's silly and stupid, and is horrible at social interaction— she would rather look at cool bugs in the forest, or cool rocks in the forest, or cool plants in the forest (she spends all her time in the forest). She's a wrestler and plays electric guitar!

@wickedsick's Barney Stanz III (x)

Barney Stanz III (she/her) is a clown who lives in her grandpa's attic. She fights aliens, makes band t-shirts for bands that do not exist, is deeply weird and generally not having a good time.

@maddestmewmew's Fertilizer La'Ctaid (x)

Fertilizer La'Ctaid (she/he), also known as Farty, is white and British but it's okay because she's a catgirl. Her parents were murdered in front of her as a child, but it wasn't that bad because their parenting sucked and she got millions in inheritance. She then spent all her money on a bookstore that gets no business and was so embarrassed that she changed her name and later figured out she was trans.

@cogheart's Chloe Liu (x)

Chloe Liu (she/her) is a Sim from a silly save called Franky World! She has saved Strangerville at least once and has scientist swag, a cute little kitty named Salmon, and three adopted children she cares for with Franky, Grim Reaper and her wife that are named Smelly, Stinky and Scared.

@wingedcatgirl's Vivi Elakha (x)

Vivi Elakha (she/her) is a wandering adventurer! She enjoys helping people and seeing the world, and the first thing she did as an adventurer was study of botany and alchemy in order to manufacture her own HRT. She also learned conjury so she could heal people, roguery so she could stab people, and maraudery so she could draw aggro from people.

@tboy-division's Victoria Otieno (x)

Victoria Otieno (she/her/any) is the pilot and engineer of the space pirate crew of the Insurgence! She gets the crew from place to place and keeps the ship in great condition, often with help from her partner Copperheart Jack. Otherwise, she’s usually found in the ship’s library or talking fashion with Tim, the ship’s first mate.

@foxxsong's Eli (x)

Eli (she/they) is a vampire! She was born albino and grew up with a single, emotionally distant yet controlling and possessive caregiver. After leaving home, she meets a vampire sometime in her mid-twenties— he supports her financially, a secret bid to increase her dependence on him beyond just emotionally, and eventually turns her as well. She's cautious and slow to trust but fiercely loyal to those who show her kindness, and has a soft spot for kids and teenagers. Despite her caution, she tends to fall in with bad people or into bad relationships because of the familiarity they bring.

@kalopseance's Embry Ward (x)

Embry Ward (she/her) is a famous detective in the kingdom of Valenstein, and is a respected yet distrusted figure. She exclusively investigates cases that pique her personal interest, and enjoys the thrill of investigation as a game and a way to test her intelligence. She's stubborn, stuck-up, arrogant and prideful, but has her own morals and a dislike of authority and the corruption she sees. She refuses to cooperate with any sort of organization and makes a living through investigative journalism and report writing. She was born to a rich family, but ran away in her teens— she hasn't had contact with any of her siblings in years, until she began investigating the Valenstein Killer case...

@simoni-999's Alegray (x)

Alegray (she/her) lives in an old, ruined science lab in which a woods has grown. She runs a small shop where she sells soap and candles (which cost nothing due to the fact that they live in a literal overgrown post-society), and is the only creature living in the Lab that has access to the internet. She has the power to harness light and make "stars", and her best friend is a skeleton goat!

@cat-of-starlight's Yuui Kyeglin (x)

Yuui Kyeglin (she/her) is a girl who recently entered a magic high school! She tries her best to be cheerful and bubbly to offset how she used to be before transitioning— she's still quite anxious and awkward, but most wouldn't realize due to the front she puts up.

@peri-universals-universe's Ferris Everett (x)

Ferris Everett (she/her) is the Elemental of iron! She lives with the other Elementals, who are immortal, godlike aliens with the power to control one of the elements on the periodic table each. She has powers over iron, including steel, cast iron, iron ore, human blood, and even cereal; if it has Fe atoms, it's hers to control. She's one of the most versatile Elementals; she is flexible and emotionally open on her own, yet around others she puts on a stoic mask. The stars worship and fear her, for she has the power to end them, yet they revere her for building the galaxy's infrastructure and setting up all the transition healthcare.

@vernalloy's Elaois (x)

Elaois (she/it/x) is a reality warper who rules over Mercury, the 5th heaven, one of the days of the week, and forethought. She decides she wants to be a girl after observing humans, who are about to be wiped out from a mass flood, and she enters the material world on Mars, quickly growing attached to a rover named Transcendence. X bonds to it so much that it eventually ends up granting it sentience on accident, being then forced to wrestle with the idea that she used her reality-warping powers selfishly. Living in a false reality messes with it, and x eventually learns that she's the arbiter of her own destiny and it's okay to want things.

@luckiestplant's Gabby Trinh (x)

Gabby Trinh (she/her) is gaslight gatekeep girlboss but with a strawberry banana flavor. She starts off like a typical Pokémon rival, but over the course of the story she gradually learns about the Power of Friendship with the protagonist. She's very goal-oriented and is always smiling and is often in a sort of silly-mean mood— she's just teasing, but often doesn't recognize when people are actually uncomfortable. She also has a bad habit of twisting people's words to fit what she thinks.

@lungfiz's Catharine Nimh (x)

Catharine Nimh (she/her) is the head of a perfume business and a cutthroat businesswoman. She is also the eldest daughter to the notorious Nimh family that's known for all things small-town drama, but, thankfully, seems to be quite sane compared to her relatives. She's not too skilled with people, but she is good with dogs!

@leonfoolery's Sydney Lennox (x)

Sydney Lennox (she/her) is the frontwoman of the British glampunk band The Blitz Babes! She's very bright and excitable, a glampunk master, and canonically a tumblr user, along with being gay and autistic.

@c0rnd0gge's Ava Lyne (x)

Ava Lyne (she/her) is in a band called Keyword:Trying with two best friends from middle school, in which she plays keyboard and bass! She is hard of hearing and insecure about it, but with the help of her friends, she's living her dream of inspiring hope and joy through song. She's known to be rather shy save for when she’s on stage, where she feels able to relax and move with the music. With her friends, she’s just as silly and chaotic as they are, and only wishes that she had the confidence to be as expressive in public as she is in private.

@wintry--mix's Scarlett (x)

Scarlett (she/her) is an axolotl! Her main goal in life is to have fun, she's calm, and she loves snacks.

@dinner-rol's Diamond Perez (x)

Diamond Perez (she/her) is a famous magician! She has a wife and daughter, and apparently if you don't vote for her you'll be haunted by her brother-in-law's ghost best friends.

@protagchihiro's Utau Yawara (x)

Utau Yawara (she/her) is a Danganronpa fancast OC, and her talent is covering songs. She survives her killing game, but at the cost of everyone she was close with— her two main losses were her friend that she was trying to cheer up, and her friend that she clicked very well with and had fun with who turned out to be the mastermind behind it all. She has a major case of imposter syndrome due to the fact that nobody likes her music, they only like her when she's piggybacking off of others' success.

@idikei's Rena Pacheco (x)

Rena Pacheco (she/he/it) is an angel from what can only be described as an off-brand heaven called "The Realms of the Above". He's a cyber-criminal who steals from the rich with the support of G•dz (not censored, just what they're called). It's extremely gay for a member of the criminal task force trying to hunt it down, and also has a monocle!

#oc bracket updates #transfemswagbracket #og post #i hope these are ok summaries i did my BEST flex emoji

[strqyr]

Thanks for finally convincing me to block you.

Anyone who has that much sympathy for a dumpster fire like Adam Taurus is someone I need to see less often.

Any other abusers you want to defend?

you know it kinda defeats the purpose of anon when i know who you are, right? might as well put your name on it lol. but since you're here brightening my day, lemme talk more about adam, sienna, and the white fang in general:

(fair warning: this will get critical.)

did you know that sienna never admonishes adam for killing few humans—they had a whole short made for him, if she did it would have come up, but all she does is praise him as an "extraordinary resource for this organization"—and that the white fang was executing sdc board members under her leadership? that she wanted humanity to fear the faunus, to know they demanded respect, which not only shows that blake fundamentally disagreed with her methods—"and the worst part was, it (sienna's methods of "violence where violence is necessary") was working. we were being treated like equals. but not out of respect... out of fear."—but is the dumbest, most macho way to go about things?

(trust me, i would know, i live next to russia.)

where sienna considered the line crossed was attacking the academies, because she believed it would start a war with humans that the white fang / the faunus couldn't win, which adam disagreed with, believing they could. that's their main difference, and there's nothing saying sienna wouldn't be fine with the attacks if she knew it wouldn't start a war or if she believed it was a war they could win.

"violence where violence is necessary" becomes incredibly flaky stance when your goal is to cause fear, ya know. i think there's a word for that, actually, especially when it's done for political cause. something about... causing terror? terrorist, maybe?

but sure. sienna "bringing a human to this location is grounds for execution" khan would definitely have problems with few humans dying during the targeted attacks she's all for. adam's definitely the only problem here, going off the path sienna set him for by... following in her footsteps. uh-huh.

one other thing about the adam short: there's a scene of sienna, adam, and ilia fighting against androids in some sdc place with blue lights and all despite the very obvious security breach happening in front of our eyes. but the moment the human security forces show up with their guns raised high and shooting at them right out the door, sienna and adam continuing the fight while ilia—the one who was redeemed—takes off her grimm (read: monster) mask, the lights turn red.

they're not being very subtle there. almost like the stance the show is taking isn't just against killing humans unnecessarily, but straight up the issue is the faunus fighting against their oppressors at all, and both sienna and adam crossed that line.

or, that's how it comes across, at least; this is a show that's partially build around colors, made by a company that also played lots of video games. they know what blue and red imply.

sorry you apparently can't feel an ounce of sympathy for a fictional character who was written as a child slave and branded on his face despite how he was written later in his life. admittedly, i find it weird and funny how you draw the line at me talking about adam in the same manner as i talk about cinder—well, not really. i haven't called adam "my bby <3" yet. guess i could start, though, just for you?—but i'm sure you have your own justifications and excuses ready for that.

i know you probably won't see this if your claims of blocking me are actually true, but who knows. maybe your friends will get it for you. maybe you continue to come back, clicking on that "show anyway" or whatever the button says when you click on a blog you've blocked to see if i've answered your little call for attention.

and sorry that nuanced takes on characters upset you. i know tumblr is the Reading Comprehension The Site™ but remember, in the words of blake belladonna: there's no such thing as pure evil :) (even when the writing sure does its best to vilify the white fang willing to fight their oppressors.)

#anon #ask.strqyr #honk honk

[gentil-minou]

Hi, I'm sending an ask here since i wanna stay anonymous and safe. I saw you being harassed on Twitter today, and that makes me feel very sad. I've always appreciated your analysis posts for Adrien and Marinette and know you wouldn't support depicting them as sexualized minors (which is different from aged up), you love them so much like I do, but some just take it too far to protect their so-called "justice". I hope you take a break when needed and truly wish this wouldn't affect you too much.

With love, from a fan.

I appreciate it, really. And don't worry, I am fine! It's been a few days of just rampant harassment and accusing people of doing things they never did, but in general it's just been ridiculous out there and a reminder why I stay away from mlbtwt.

The fact is that all of the accounts they dragged that I've seen so far have 1. Stated they explicitly draw aged up characters and/or 2. have done it on special nsfw accounts that are meant to be kept away from minors and 3. The people doing the dragging and bringing all this attention are 18+. This tells me that the minors themselves are being smart here and not looking at things they want to stay away from, that is until these people started showing attention to it and turning what might have been a safe space into a hellscape.

The fact is that child pornography is a VERY VERY VERY SERIOUS THING but it is not the same as people drawing/writing fictional characters. Especially when tv shows are becoming more and more explicit about this kind of thing themselves. They've taken what is actually a major concern and essentially created smoke where there was no fire, drawing attention away from a deadly blaze in the distance.

Not to mention, they are accusing real people of something so vile and heinous with complete disregard to what those people may or may have not experienced in their own lives.

I'm a huuuge advocate for using fanfiction/fanart to express yourself and more importantly to explore something in a safe way without causing danger to yourself or others. I'm not afraid to admit that I read and looked at smutty fic and fanart when I was a kid, and that it genuinely helped me learn about myself and my sexuality when I grew up in a setting that made me feel bad about it. And yes, some of what I looked at then was of minors. It is not the same thing as looking at actual child porn and I just don't even know how to explain it anymore. It's like how watching freaking true crime or video games where you shoot someone isn't going to make you do that sort of thing, and I cannot believe we have to argue this ahhh.

What makes me the most angry here is that this is actually doing the worst for teens and minors learning about and exploring their sexuality. It's already really hard to find safe ways to learn (look at how popular euphoria or sex education is with teens) or discover something about themselves. By actively making this bs argument that all nsfw art is bad they're making those teens feel actively worse!

And I work with teens like this!!!! Teens who feel shamed for their body's reaction and what is typical curiousity!!!!! Teens who without a safe a way to learn about themselves will often find themselves in the darker places where they are actually in danger and I just I cannot emphasize how much damage these twitter people are doing to the very real people they are claiming to want to protect.

I'll be explicit here and say I'm not saying minors should look at nsfw things! I'm saying that we shouldn't shame people who do, especially when they accuse people of something they aren't even doing!!!!!!!! No one is drawing child porn like ahhhh!!!!!!!!! Like I cannot even begin to explain how awful that is, to be accused of something you arent even doing just ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways I appreciate your kind words and I am taking care of myself don't worry I've been distancing myself from this fandom for a reason and it's been going well.

I just wish these folks would remember that the lives of real people are worth more than any fictional character. Too many people forget that in this fandom.

#its just annoying at this point tbh #and crazy hypocritical the things being said #but its helping me find more people to block so thats a good thing #if anyone is confused about whats going on just know that it really isnt worth your time and the amountof misinformation is ridiculous #its stupid dogpile cancel culture bs and part of the reason this fandom is one of the worst #ml fandom salt #asked and answered

[joculine]

DIE Issue #2 Reread (Gillen & Hans)

I was pretty hooked on DIE from the concept alone, but this issue is what showed me the story itself would be something special. Sir Lane, the knight of kisses wraps up everything special about this comic to me into one, horrible little story. I love it. Let's dig in.

Art

Eyes are a big deal through the series, but they're an especially big deal in this issue. Hans is really killer at showing emotion through them here, the guilt Ash feels, the anger Sol & Matt feel, and of course the hate from Sir Lane.

I especially love her fight scenes. They move in broad strokes, not focused on any specific sequence of action, but the specific moments of victory and defeat that occur through the fight.

That's important when you're dealing with a cast as large and unique as the party. Everyone has these super powerful attacks with over the top video-game flairs, so she has to make sure to draw your eye with color and shapes.

I especially like how red is used in this scene, a strong color associated with violent magic from just about everyone. Historically, I've associated the red licks of fire with Ash and her dictator powers, but I think that applies to all members of the party here. Perhaps we are meant to see red as the color of violent magic? Or perhaps just the party's magic?

Isabelle's talks with her gods are another standout for me. These panels are always so interesting, I love to see how each one speaks, how they treat Izzy, and how little she seems to care about them. She keeps her back to them, refuses to meet their eye, but is still shadowed in most interactions. It also looks like a persona summoning scene, which is fun to me.

A special shout out to the cartoonish look of Ash's memory of Sir Lane. So idealized & flat, the perfect way to do this childhood flashback. Everything was so much simpler then... NOT. We'll get into it further on.

Actually, why wait?

This is up there for my favorite moments in the comic. Like I said, this is where I realized what DIE was doing—this is a story about careless people ruining their lives and the lives of others for the sake of "fantasy." And it's a story about the logical conclusions of those fantasies crawling back to you and covering you with awful worms.

What's incredible is the conciseness here. In just 8 panels over 2 pages, we see the entire tragedy. Sir Lane, the Angrian knight of kisses, was a fling for young Ash back in the 90s. Maybe even her first fling as herself:

It's an exciting thing for her, to be kissed as a woman. To be wanted as a woman. But Ash barely remembers this guy. She does recall their last meeting—he joked he wouldn't rest until he saw her again, asked her to use her power to make it true. She did. He died. He never rested. His eyes rotted. A lover's joke became a never-ending curse.

We see here how careless Ash has been with a very serious power. As the Dictator class, she can speak things & feelings into being. If she isn't careful, this power will rewrite reality to make her words true. Sir Lane is only the first casualty of this we see. What other horrors are waiting for them in this world, still reeling from the fickle whims of teenage demigods?

House Rules & The Fallen

Isabelle tells us the party takes this world seriously. They can't know how "real" Die is, so they have to treat it like it is real.

I don't think anyone in this party is actually playing this way though. The proceeding bit with Sir Lane is strong evidence against it, but even just moments before this interaction, we have the party going all out on the Fallen and this nice little explanation from Ash:

You know, some people would call me a trap with legs, but I hope there'd still be moral question to killing me. Anyway.

I was really mad the first time I read this, back in 2018. Orc discourse wouldn't hit its stride for a few more years, but even then I found it frustrating. If we're supposed to believe that these characters are treating Die as real, why are the Fallen different? Are "orcs" not people? Are they not conscious? Perhaps are used as unquestionable fodder in early D&D and LOTR, major influences on DIE, but I feel like we're past that now. The easy answer for the moment is that they are more like zombies than orcs, but that's still not satisfying for me. This whole scene appears to be a weirdly out of place statement for the comic.

Let's hold onto that feeling of dissonance—it feels bad for a reason. Without spoiling too much, Ash & the party's knowledge of the Fallen is pretty sparse at this point. They know them as hungry, diseased automatons. There's a lot more to them. A lot more. As we'll find later, this statement is just wrong.

This is a really important theme for the comic: The party is often wrong in what they think and what they do. Their attitude as 90s gamers will keep butting heads against more modern TTRPG ideas. This past thoughts/present thoughts conflict will continue not just with the Fallen, but in pretty much every aspect of the story.

So What's Up With Sol?

You've gotta love this guy—the dramatics, the get up, the ambush, it's all classic GM shit. Look, he's even having to stop himself from spoiling things here, he's just so excited to see his friends again!

Okay, maybe there's something a little worse than that going on here. Sol is (obviously) a really bad friend here. He's stating that he wants to bring the party back for another game—the war is over, now we're here for fun.

Ash reads this differently. She sees him as furious, furious beyond the point of sanity.

The other players have their own ideas. Isabelle, it seems, might be taking Sol at his word, but she's trying to talk him down. Matt is, pretty rightfully, furious. He's been brought out of his normal life into the worst place in the world. Angela bargains. Maybe she thinks Sol is crazy enough to fall for it.

So what's really going on here? Why did Sol bring them back, why now? We don't get an exact answer here, but I don't think it's anything put forth in this scene. Or maybe a bit of all of it. We'll learn more the next time we see Sol.

Other Thoughts

Well, here we go. We've got our quest, we've got a combat in, even some roleplay. A pretty good first session! I do like how these early bits are all structured like standard D&D sessions.

I already gushed a bit about the art in this issue's action scene, but I also want to call out the way Ash's narration works there too. Everyone's role in the party and their powers are very clear. It's a good set piece to show what everyone can do and why they're cool.

If you're considering reading DIE, I'd try to get through at least these two issues. If you like the tone and the characters, keep going! It just gets better from here.

In fact... next issue introduces one of my favorite bits of world-building in the series... but we'll save that for later.

#die comic #die reread

[mikareo]

HIII HIII DOVE !!! js saw you were doing matchups,, sooo excited cs i’ve never done this before >.<

࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔 fandom: blue lock !!

desired gender/age: a guy pleaseee <3 not really picky on age tbh, 16-17 probably

࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔 personality traits: high achiever & hopeless romantic. really really introverted but chatty and unfiltered around ppl i’m close to ( ngl i say the wildest things ). open minded also a really good listener ‘n really loyal. creative, patient but i can also be pessimistic and mean i think? only happens when i’m overwhelmed tho && i’m an infp and a sagittarius

fave hobbies + activities: drawing, painting, reading books & manga, watching anime, rom-coms and k-dramas, gamingg (literally been on fortnite and valo all week 😭). baking, cooking, listening to music. also love going on runs/walks

࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔 ideal first date/dream date: all of my first dates are at the cinema which sucks cus you can’t really get to know each other then, so something fun like an arcade or js walking around the mall and looking through bookstores or going to pop-up festivals and getting street food!!

thank youuuu <3 hope this is enough to work with!!

💌 ✮⋆˙ love letter to...y2kuromi!

...this was...so hard...like...i rlly rlly hope you like this character LOL it's ok if u don't tho,, he's a little silly sometimes. i hope ur doing well mimi and that ur weekend was fun!!! i rlly wanted this matchup to be perfect for ur personality set,, n i think you'd get along w this chara nicely :)

[ ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹ ᰔ ] your personality matchup results!

congratulations . . .‧₊˚🪩✩REO MIKAGE₊˚🫧⊹♡

⋆⭒˚｡⋆ chemistry analysis . . .

to be so honest, making a decision on who to match you with took me a lot longer than it usually does. i went though so many options— hiori, kunigami, chigiri, nagi— and none of them fit in the way that i wanted them to. whenever i'd try to pair traits and interests, everything felt really forced and that's the last thing i want to when doing a personality pairing; but eventually i landed on reo! i think you and reo fit together very very well, and i'm pretty confident on that!

one thing that you and reo can mutually relate, is your need to achieve. you're both extremely ambitious people and when you have a goal, there's no stopping you until you reach it. reo knows that you understand that obsession and crave for success. he doesn't feel judged when he's overly passionate about something and talks about it for hours on end, knowing that you're listening to every word he says with an open mind. most people think he's crazy for believing he and nagi can be kings of the football world, but you don't think that. you don't think that at all. if anything, you're right next to him cheering him on; while also giving him a few small reality checks along the way.

for the most part, hopeless romance isn't something that reo thinks about. typically, girls fawn over him due to his parent's money, only wanting to become a rich heiress without actually liking reo for his real personality; they prefer his phony one. you, however, introduce him to the truth that there can be love without manipulation or falseness. you show him how little gestures matter and that he shouldn't waste his time on people who aren't patient enough to see him as he really is. there is a potential love story in reo's book and you're the only one who can start the next chapter and help him read on.

now, you have many hobbies that reo isn't necessarily extremely interested in; but that's not an issue. the thing is with reo, is that he loves to get involved in the things his loved ones enjoy— if you have a hyperfixation on a video game, kdrama, or musician, he's right there beside you to listen or watch along. he loves to splurge on you; aka: taking you out on any kind of date your heart desires and buying you anything you have your eye on— and he's such a doting boyfriend that you can't help but love him for his obsession with making you happy. you've taught reo how to love something other than a hobby, and he's going to show you how thankful he is for that every day.

#matchups ₍ᐢ. ̫.ᐢ₎ #txt.y2kuromi

[dragonomatopoeia]

Hello, would it be okay to ask what kind of horror games you've enjoyed? Please feel free to disregard! I saw from Stella's post/tags that you enjoy tragedy in horror and I find that concept very compelling.

I can definitely throw a few game recs out there! I will say, Stella might have been overselling it a bit by saying I like tragedy-- it's more that i tend to have more tolerance for when characters die and horror that makes me feel Very Sad than Stella and Alicia do.

Accordingly, some of these are going to skew more meditative/sad than horror, and some will skew more towards horror than sad, but I'll be sure to make note of each

Oxenfree was already recc'd by Stella, but I'm seconding it here. I'm a big fan of horror that plays with the resentment and wistfulness and 'tu fui ego eris' of ghosts. I also love the use of radios in horror. Something about attempting to establish contact or mutual intelligibility and it going horribly wrong (that's also a feature I really enjoy in the Silent Hill games, but i imagine that those need no introduction)

Stella also recc'd Anatomy (which I made her play for me because I was too scared) and if a game about a house that is so resentful of being abandoned that it begins to lash out sounded interesting to you, Kitty Horrorshow has made a lot more games where that one came from. Jacob Geller has made a video about one of the collections if you'd like to preview the offerings on display

I'd also like to second the rec for Devotion. It's a beautifully told and terrifying game that explores the tragedy of a family that is pushed to their breaking point and exploited by a religious movement

Lobotomy Corporation is a game I haven't completely finished yet because I've only been playing it whenever i stream for my friends, but it draws on a lot of creepypasta and SCP influences. Mostly, however, it draws on "Capitalism is Evil and Soulsucking" influences. it's a management sim where you are in charge of a facility and have to extract energy from Abnormalities. it has extremely punishing gameplay, compelling characters, and every mechanic (and i do mean every mechanic) is diegetic.

Because I haven't finished it, I haven't played the sequel, Library of Ruina, which my friends assure me will absolutely decimate me with themes and agonies and emotions and time prison

What Remains of Edith Finch isn't really a horror game so much as it is a story of a family's experiences and relationship with death, as well as how they experience and process it. Playing as Edith, you explore the Finch family home, learning more about the curse that has followed each generation of the Finches through the mechanism of the stories they tell about themselves and each other. Most of the game-play is a hybrid of Walking Simulator and interactive segments where you have to pilot each Finch to their inevitable death

Likewise, Outer Wilds isn't so much a horror game as a game that has scary aspects, scenes, and sequences. The primary mechanic of the game is reliant on you being stuck in a timeloop and attempting to determine why and how, as well as attempting to discover how to save everyone from the sun exploding

I've only played a bit of Everybody's Gone to The Rapture , but it has a very Twilight Zone tone and feel to it. Whether or not this is a horror game could be contested, but I've had enough recurring nightmares of everyone I love vanishing overnight for this to be Terrifying. The gameplay is pretty firmly on the walking simulator side

I haven't played The Mortuary Assistant yet because it freaks stella and alicia out and I'm too scared to play it alone. However, the idea of fighting against demonic possession while embalming bodies and confronting your own past is compelling to me.

Also there are quite a few visual novels I've read that grapple with horror and tragedy, like the When They Cry series (content warnings for everything you can possibly imagine in there) or Zero Escape. I've been meaning to play The House in Fata Morgana for a while but I know i'll need to shake my friends down for content warnings on that one before I can even begin to approach it

I might update or add to this later because I recently downloaded a bunch of itchio games, including Hypnagogia and the 2022 Haunted PS1 Demo Disc, and I def want to check those out before I start scattering recs willy-nilly

I hope at least a few of these will pique your interest! You're also welcome to hop in with more specific requests for direction or places to look, as there are a few horror or horror-leaning games I've left out because I was pretty lukewarm about them and their endings, but might still fit the bill of what you're looking for (ie The Vanishing of Ethan Carter). Likewise, there are some games I know of but haven't played for myself if you'd like some direction re: games with mechanics, style, and tone that you might be interested in checking out

#asks #SORRY THIS GOT LONG i like making lists #long post #horror games #recs #dreamsaflame

[jokest3r]

Tagged by @g0giro ! Tyy, I hope these facts people find interesting

Three (+1) Facts About Me

1.) I first got into art as a little kid, 4 or 5, but eventually stopped practicing once I was around 7 or 8. Though I would still doodle little characters on paper and things like that. I only truly got back into art when two people(who are now my closest friends) pushed me to get back into at 12 or 13. I still have drawings from back then that have been accidentally archived, which I'm embarrassed of but still hold some nostalgia for. I also joined tumblr around that time, as I was obsessed with Voltron and Homestuck(embarrassing but I still have Homestuck somewhere in my heart.) I'm thankful I never posted my art back then as much as I think they are good to look at to see how far I've progressed as an artist though I doubt I will ever post them. If, however, people are very curious, I may post one or two.

2.) My first ever forays into video games was Pac-Man on the Gameboy. I LOVED the shit out of that game as a kid, the next few games I got introduced to was World At War and the original Modern Warfare Series, something my sibling enjoyed and I would watch them play Zombies as they always hogged the console lol. I was also introduced to San Andreas for the Original XBOX along with Saints Row 2 for the XBOX 360 and Fallout 3. I played Saints Row 3 and even got my parents to preorder the 4th one in the series when I was 8, and could barely stand over the Gamestop counter. I think also my first case of gender envy was probably when I played Origins in Black Ops 2 and saw Rictofen in the beginning cutscene. I LOVE POST-APOCALYPTIC GAMES.

3.) I love reading, writing, and watching horror movies in my free time, my first ever horror movie was actually "Ghost Ship" and I was also extremely interested in the SAW movies and still am years after. I would like to think my favorite movie genre is Horror, as I can't find myself interested in anything else. I love sci-fi books and fantasy romance. Though for writing I mostly keep myself to Fan-Fiction rather than my own works, just isn't as fun and interesting.

4.) Bonus Fact, I go by Cat mostly as a pseudonym for my real name which is far away from Cat. My real name compared to my screen name would probably make people laugh in all honesty. The name cat comes from the mob you can discover in Final Fantasy "Gimme Cat" who asks you for a diamond and when given runs off with it without giving anything in return. I fell in love with the mob as my friend streamed it and decided to make it my new name on Discord as as soon as Discord forced everyone to make a new user/rename themselves someone had taken my original name. Though I find this one, much more fitting.

Tagging: @welldonekhushi @applbottmjeens and anyone else, no pressure !

#tagging game #as i dont post much about myself i was stumped on what to put #but i hope these were good picks

[asktheghosthost]

"Wish I have a library this fucking big where I can put my whole book collection in and not worry about anymore scattered books and not tripping over them, but then again, that's what I always say about Belle's library the times I've been at the castle" Gabrielle says with a small laugh as they look at one of the bookshelves of books in the mansion.

It has been months since they got accepted as a cast member for the Mansion, which were pretty good months, even if it took them time to get used to the work itself.

Gabrielle keeps looking at the books, what do they want to read now? They've been here for a few minutes and they haven't decided what to pick up yet, there's so many good ones here and every time it gets harder to choose, it may be only full of ghost stories, but it won't stop them from reading them, even re-reading the ones they just read.

Until the autistic cast member finally spots one.

"Bingo" Gabrielle says triumphantly as they eye it, they reach up for it until their gloved hand touches the spine and pulls it out of the shelf, after getting what they're looking for, they walked from the shelf and went to their usual sitting area and sat down on the floor, they look at the book that's now in front of them, from what they can discern the cover, it looks interesting, not something they read yet, even reading through the summary on the back of it got them even more curious, wasting no time, they start to read it.

Why Gabrielle was at the library? Aside for other reasons, they like going here to relax for a bit, it was just peaceful and quiet where there wouldn't be exactly any disturbances and interruptions and not everyone comes here all too often aside from them...and a certain other Gabrielle and others know so well and love at least from what they heard from others, especially the haunts they got to know and befriend over those months.

Aside from their partner/best friend - who wasn't with them unfortunately and also stays with them while they're in here reading, and also the accountant and Amicus and the busts of the ghost writers as well, no one else knows they come to the library very often for some peace and quiet and just to read...or doing something else for that matter.

Like writing, drawing, singing and/or humming to themself, play a videogame or any type of game, watch a show or a movie or a video, doing research - especially on the supernatural stuff, immerse into their special interests, do a performance - aside from singing, do an acting performance...like doing the narration of the mansion those times they get on the mansion as a guest and now with being a cast member of the mansion itself, they get to see and hear the magic of him narrating to the guests.

Gabrielle remembered they couldn't stop smiling ear to ear every time he would do it the first few times, it almost got to a point they got close to breaking character those few times, but miraculously the autistic didn't, thanks to restraining themself and also to the face mask they wear in order to hide the smile.

No matter how many times they heard it, they never get enough and tired of it, hell to the point they know the whole thing by memory.

"When hinges creak in doorless chambers," they began to themself softly without notice while still reading and focusing on the book. "And strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls; whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still - that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delights!" Gabrielle continues on in the narration, they stop for a moment to look around themself just in case if someone - especially a certain host, isn't listening, considering what happened the last time they've been caught red handed, after making completely sure, the autistic cast member go back to what they're doing.

"Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host, your...ghost host." Gabrielle gives a chuckle, even though they can't do the voice, but they can certainly do the rest, even though they wouldn't top him when it comes to the performance. "Kindly step all the way in please and make room for everyone. There's no turning back now. Our tour begins here in this gallery where you see paintings of some of our guests as they appear in their corruptible mortal state." They give a pause like how it is done there.

"Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though as you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination, hmm?" A devilish smile starts to appear on their face as they get to one of the best parts. "And consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows and no doors..." They do another chuckle. "Which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out!" A bone chilling laugh comes out of the autistic's mouth, just as they're about to get the best part, Gabrielle was beaten to the punch as they heard someone whisper the part in their ear.

"Of course... There's always... my way!"

The library chandelier flickered, mimicking the lightning effect in the stretching room. A displeased spider jumped off of it and scampered down the wall into the space behind the bookcase.

"Listened to the spiel a few times, have you?" Beau appeared next to Gabrielle. "I've given some thought to potentially changing the script, but why fuss with perfection."

He peered over their shoulder at the book they held. "If you don't mind my inquiring, what are you reading today?"

#asktheghosthost #ask #rp #gabrielle #beau #virtualexpertanchor

[gamebunny-advance]

"Plants" Process (Initial Sketch | Layers)

Sure, might as well talk about this one, because I actually have a bit to say about it.

So the title I uploaded this with, "Say you will about NSR..." was originally a (*mis)quote he says in the game when you fully unlock the Natura district. The line isn't especially significant, but I've always thought of it as surprisingly "quaint." It's very small, but it serves to humanize him just a little bit when up to and after this point he's dipped into cartoon-style villainy. These brief moments of honesty within his duplicitous nature is a part of why I find him to be an endearing character.

*The actual quote is, "Say what you want about NSR..." but I mistyped it when posting it. The meaning of the line is basically the same, though.

Due to this line, I've had the idea of drawing him surrounded by plants for a while. My first iterations of this idea usually involved him on an apartment balcony adorned with plants and overlooking the city. Sadly, my visions for the scene exceeded my artistic ability, so it's an idea that's been on the back burner for a while.

[A sketch I did last year based on the idea.]

It wasn't until I just randomly thought to come back to this idea that I sketched this piece.

But tbh, I don't think my vision was very clear. There's no sense that he exists in a real place (why in the world would a hanging planter be hung so low, XP). All I knew was that I wanted to draw him surrounded by plants, and that originally I wanted the color palette to be very limited.

Very recently, the SiIvagunner channel had uploaded a parody video of the Yona Yona Dance MV, which led me to listening/watching the original video (which I somehow managed to never see up to that point).

I found the limited color pallet of the video to be very striking, and I wanted to make something inspired by it combined with the experiment I did with my recent Kliff x Tati piece, which also only used about 4 colors.

However, I am abysmal at color picking, so I grabbed a color palette from @/color-palletes (link) to help the process along. In the end, I couldn't keep myself from trying to use all possible colors. Strictly speaking, there's a shade of every color in the rainbow in the final piece, which is about as far from a "limited palette" as it could be. Nonetheless, I think the darker tones of the colors do help to tie everything together, so it feels more limited than it actually is.

To return to discussing the sketch itself, there were a few ideas that changed and evolved throughout the process.

Besides moving some of the plants around, an idea I had that didn't get fully realized was that the three smaller plants in front of him were supposed to represent the game's rockstars: Mayday, Zuke and Tatiana. I had difficulty making that happen with the limited palette: since May, Kliff, and Tati share a lot of colors (notably red), and one of Zuke's main colors is green, the same color for the plants, it was difficult to main the references while still having them all not blend into each other. Perhaps with more time to think through the idea I could have reached a compromise, but as things are, that reference was more or less lost.

To get it out of the way: there isn't any real symbolism behind the plants chosen. They were picked strictly on their aesthetic value/ease of drawing them. If you wanna stretch, the Zuke vase is holding red flowers (poppies), so it's kinda referencing that time his hair was set on fire, but that's totally incidental~ However, I will say that originally that vase was supposed to hold orchids since it's apparently a flower common in Malaysia, but I had difficulty drawing them and settled on poppies. Hibiscus plants were also considered for similar reasons, but as someone who's actually grown up around hibiscus flowers, I knew I didn't really have another place to put them since those plants actually get really friggin' big.

Something else that was lost was the poster behind the snake plant. Originally I had thought to put a poster of Kul Fyra on the wall, but I honestly got pretty lazy about adding the details. That and Kul Fyra's colors would have blended into Kliff hair since she's a combination of reds and yellows. But that space felt so empty without *something* there, so I messed around with random shapes and eventually just landed on putting up some records. It's a generic detail, but I do feel like they add a "pop art" quality to the piece.

To conclude, this was very fun to work on and the turnaround on it was fairly fast. Usually for pieces like this, the process takes me a few days, but I sketched and finished this all in the same day. Had I given myself more time to sleep on this, I might have worked a little harder to incorporate some of my other ideas and clean it up a little more. That said, this is still one of my favorite pieces as of late, and I hope that I'm able to make more things like it.

#gbunny draws #nsr #kliff #gif #should i main tag this again? #i don't think so #y'all are the only ones that really benefit from hearing me ramble #if you can even call it a benefit #something i didn't mention is that i actually struggled with the face a bit #i didn't like the initial expression that much #it was a little soft for my tastes #the triangular eyes are just something i borrowed from the 'anniversary' piece i did a while back #i dunno why i did that in either case since his eyes are typically downturned #but they helped him to look sharper #so i'm okay with it

[johnredwolf87]

My Tunic Experience (SPOILERS)

I just got 100% in the game yesterday, and was going to start on Super Mario Wonder today. But instead, I spent most of the day looking up lore videos and reviews. I just cannot seem to leave the world of Tunic yet.

I was in love with the exploration and puzzle elements of this game. Going into this totally blind, I managed to collect every upgrade treasure, every coin, and almost every equipment card (At the very end of the game, while looking up what all of them do, exactly, I somehow learned that there was a secret one not mentioned in the manual! It made fighting the Heir so much easier). I got all but 1 fairy, all but one trophy, and managed to solve the entire Golden Path puzzle all on my own. I felt so bad having to look up the answers to those last few puzzles, but in doing so fell down a fucking rabbit hole like you wouldn't believe.

Did you know that there's an option in Accessibility Settings to make audio puzzles easier? Knowing that sure would have helped in figuring out what's going on with those windchimes outside the Old House.

Were you also bashing your head against the wall trying to figure out what the "60 seconds", "Shhh..." was about on page 51, with the illustration that looked like a star partly underwater next to a piece of paper? (Even as I type this I'm having to boot up Tunic again for reference) The one that, if I was reading page 54's hint correctly, surely holds the final trophy? Apparently, you have to turn off Sound Effects under the Audio options and stand in water for 60 seconds. Doing so will cause a secret message to appear at the bottom of the "Thank you!" note by the devs on page 1 (which bears a similar star symbol). Said message consists of more game language and a drawing of a familiar landmark in the overworld which is shaped like Holy Cross directions. Ah! So that's it! If everything the game taught me so far is correct, I just have to go there and input the directions to get the final gold treasure!...WRONG! At this point, it would be very, VERY handy to know what the note next to the image says. Throughout my journey thus far, I noticed that the game language doesn't appear to be random runic scribblings of a non-language. There are certain shapes that repeat in ways consistent with language which has had some thought put into making it. Furthermore, what of the notes on pages 21 and 54? They appear to be some sort of clue to how you could go about deciphering it, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

The game isn't over yet. THE. GAME. ISN'T. OVER. YET.

The game expected me to decode an entire in-game language. A multi-hour task, if you even know where to start (not me!). This is the hardest task this game has asked of me at this point. But thank goodness there's a awesome community of clever Tunic fans that managed to translate this thing (Bravo! <3 <3 <3).

Deeper down the rabbit hole we go! WAHOO!

For the first time, I was able to actually read and understand the story, the descriptions of the Quarry, Ruined Atol, Graveyard, and Cathedral, as well as what they were saying about the bosses I fought and what their deal was. I love the Librarian and how he thinks the Holy Cross is an actual treasure hidden in the Cathedral. He's also the only character aware he's in a game (did you see the drawings of what appeared to be a game cartridge on one of his chalk boards?) But that's all I'll get into on that. This is about the puzzle. Even now I'm getting as distracted from the task as I originally was! As for the puzzle text, after doing all of that you'd surely think it'd just spell it out for you at this point. But you're still no closer to getting that last trophy. It's a riddle:

"The softest feather corrected eleven times departed once more"

What does that even mean? I tried inputting the landmark's directions 11 times, from several points of view. Then tried it 12 times each way because of the "departed once more" line. Nothing happened. I gave up and looked up the answer. "Softest feather" refers to a "down", or soft fluff underneath the feathers of waterfowl (because everyone knows that, right?). "Corrected" refers to being RIGHT, "eleven times." "Departed" means you have LEFT, and 12 is "once more" than 11. Down, right x 11, left x 12. I have my final trophy! I've finally won!

But what about that bright light that appeared in the Trophy Room that appeared after I had collected a certain amount of tropies? What's up with the weird room where symbols in the game's language would appear seemingly at random if I used the Holy Cross? (Why am I not wanting to call it a D-Pad?!)

WILL THIS RIDE EVER END?!!

I go to the translated manual for clues, as there is text written next to the illustration of the trophy room on page 54. It reads:

"For Additional Support & Secrets 1. Find some rare golden statues. 2. Traverse the glow to visit 12 strange beings. 3. Un-sing to the the greatest song, the Song of the Golden Path, as seen from within"

Excitedly, I went to that mysterious room as fast as I could make that little fox go. I stood there, brought up the golden path notes, and input the directions backwards. Nothing. It turns out "from within" also meant as seen from a mirror. I had the right idea, just the wrong angle. I reset the puzzle, looked up and put in the inverted directions, and nothing seemed to happen except for the fact that one of the glyph spaces is blank, with only 11 glyphs showing. Wondering if something is being spelled out, I look up the puzzle solution. I'm correct! It is a...website?

https://doyoufeartheeyesofthefarshore.co/

Tunic has now become an ARG.

Clicking this link takes you to a creepy animated image of a smoky silhouette of what appears to be a squid monster with three eyes colored in the R/G/B color scheme we're used to. Harsh, grating sounds that sound almost like speech and ethereal whispers assaulted my ears. This was the squid-like being who's symbol I've seen everywhere in the game! Here I was stuck. This is where my journey with Tunic ended. I did learn that there was more languages in the music and sounds, and that running the website's sounds through a spectrogram results in the message "We are the Eyes of the Far Shore."

I really did not expect so much to be wrapped inside such a colorful, cute and fluffy package.

I apologize for the long post. I didn't realize how much I had to say about this game! If anyone's made it this far, I appreciate it!

#Tunic #Finji #Video games #This is such a good game

[cybernightart]

15 Questions and 15 Mutuals Tagged by @nitewrighter Were you named after anyone? funny story actually! I got my name because years before my dad met my mum, he had a dream about having a child with my name, and he was dead set on naming me that to the point he made sure none of my cousins were called the same name! When was the last time you cried? Like 2 days ago, I stumbled across one of those sad grim reaper comics with the animal spirits and those make me sob every time istg Do you have kids? Nope Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yes, but I'm very obvious about it. I struggle when other people are sarcastic, I'm very bad at picking it up, so I try and make it easy for others when I do it What’s the first thing you notice about people? In person, it depends. Maybe what they are wearing or their hair if it dyed a funky colour. But usually I get a vibe about a person, like a gut instinct whether I think they are going to be a good person or not, and I'm right a majority of the time, but I give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Online though, same sorta thing. Except i get the gut feeling about the way they type or in general talk with people, and how they have their profiles/blogs decorated (if i look, which isn't guaranteed) What’s your eye colour? Dark brown! Scary movies or happy endings? I wish I could watch scary movies, but I can't handle them, though I love gore art and horror stuff. I just can't do scary games or movies. I love happy endings though, a sure fire way to make me hate a book or movie is to have a sad or otherwise bad ending. Even if I love the rest, if the ending is bad, I hate it all. I watch movies to feel good. I don't wanna finish a movie feeling worse then when i started it! Any special talents? I can do the clover thing with my tongue, I can roll my stomach, other than that I don't really know? Most of the things I can do are “special talents” I didn't know they weren't normal until someone told me. Where were you born? Scotland! Though unfortunately i lost my accent, as i moved somewhere else a few years back What are your hobbies? Apart from playing games and drawing, it really depends on my current hyper fixation. But I have done things like knitting, crochet, painting (water/acrylic), sculpting, collecting things, baking, jewelry making and more (wish I was better at writing though, I'm 90% sure I'm dyslexic and have a really hard time reading/writing, and it's very hard for me to get my thoughts into text. My brain goes 500x faster than I can type and I have the bad habit of jumping around when I'm telling a story or writing something out, on top of the hard time with attention/ regulating focus part of my Adhd) Have any pets? I have 1 fluff ball of a dog called Maisy, she's a shih tzu bichon frise! What sports do you play/have you played? The only time I decided to sign up for a sports team, was in March of 2020, for a badminton team. The day try-outs were going to happen was the day we shut down for the pandemic. I now semi jokingly say that was a sign from the gods to never play sports XD How tall are you? I am an absolute giant, a towering giant behemoth of a human being at my incredible height of 5’4 ( 162.56 cm) XD Favourite subject in school?

Art all the way! But that was followed up by science and la depending on the unit/assignment Dream job? Video game character concept artist! Or concept artist in general but i love character design sm more then designing objects or scenery Tagging (i don't have 15 moots so cant do 15, but i do have these wonderful people!) @reaphantom @fr00tzcat @cyberbirb-arts @genjishimada @cloud-amiibo and anyone else who’d like to participate :D