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meggannn · 4 years

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this post is a jumbled mess so nobody take it too seriously, but anyway the thing i have against the way race is handled in HZD is..... difficult to put into words. even putting aside the fact that aloy is a white woman in a story that (in my opinion at least) would mean a lot more if she had been anything but white,

on the one hand: diversity, yay. on the other: it seems very... shallowly done. as if making a range of female characters and bipoc is the only thing to be done, instead of consideration of how these people would actually evolve and look like over centuries.

(also, sidenote: where are the disabled characters? like, i have no doubt in my mind that they would make up a prominent section of society, given the dangers of this universe.)

but anyway... the game’s native appropriation was a big criticism when it was released, and i’m sure the whole “white people with dreadlocks” thing has been raised too. (iirc the developers have explained some of this away by liking the nora to celtics or vikings instead? but... ehhh.) i’m neither black nor native so i feel like i shouldn’t speak too much on either of those.

but mostly, i think a lot about how i just don’t buy that a population would look this way after ~700 years, and it’s not because diversity wouldn’t exist—but i think it would just look differently from how it's shown in the game.

what i do buy is that when the zero dawn staff were determining which zygotes to put in eleuthia cradles, they’d make america’s cradles ethnically diverse (presumably others too, though i wonder what they did for ones, say, in locations where diversity was more locational than global—did they only place chinese descendants in china? indians in india? mesoamericans in central america? a thought for another time). i assume the diversity we see in the game was a choice by the eleuthia team to replicate america’s diversity in the 21st century in a snapshot moment, to take that snapshot and simply allow eluethia to transfer it into the future so the human species can continue as if it simply paused for a while.

what i find a little harder to buy is that so many zygotes in the 2060s would not be mixed race; after all, the average american will not be white by the 2040s. but, fine, i can handwave this.

what i find much harder to buy is that the new civilizations, carja and nora and banuk and oseram, would not start to develop their own visual identities after reproducing within their groups for ~4-700 years (assuming a few hundred years of establishing roots in one place long enough to build up boarders, develop xenophobia, etc)... or that they would not look universally mixed race, especially if the zygotes were scattered across north america truly randomly

as it is, i feel uncomfortable looking at some of these fictional groups—the nora, with aesthetics and language taken from indigenous american tribes; the banuk, with parallels to the inuit (to my eye at least); even the carja, who i think could be paralleled to mesoamerican groups pre-colonization—and seeing a bunch of EVERY kind of people partaking in these aesthetics, but it being okay because it’s... like... equal opportunity for characters of all races to partake in these real-world cultures! and it’s opportunity that was based on location by virtue of which cradle facility someone’s ancestors’ zygotes happened to be located? (ig you could say that there is no difference between someone’s ancestors’ zygotes being located where they are in TODAY’S world, either, but the difference for me is that since zero dawn was not a natural process of evolution, the decision of how to divide and localize these zygotes across the world was always going to be inherently political: not that it was a bad decision to diversity them across the american continent. and not that i would have suggested differently. but... anyway, it is what it is.) like, i can understand this part in the game’s world, but when i put my doylist glasses on, this is political in today’s climate in a way that feels weird to me.

like, i hope i’m explaining myself well here, and i guess my point is: i don’t know if i’m entirely convinced that (for example) asian and black people wearing and representing inuit-inspired clothing and culture is better than a white person doing it. not that these new ethnic group in the HZD world should not take any influence from our real-world non-white cultures, or that diversity wouldn’t exist in the 31st century, but again, i think the diversity would just look different than the way it does in the game.

which goes back to my main thought of... hell, why wouldn’t most of these new groups—especially the carja, who live in a desert—be darker? so... why are so many carja white?? lmao. if these people spend all day outside or in the sun... you would think they would be darker... this even goes for the nora really who don’t seem to spend a lot of time indoors.

anyway, somewhere in scattered my feelings about race in this game is a tangential thought about how aloy—and elisabet before her—being a woman of color could have been a much more meaningful choice. a girl outcast from birth for things beyond her control, being recognized and judged everywhere she goes? a woman in stem being expected to clean up a rich white man’s mess and doing tireless work behind the scenes for years (green tech, miriam, PZD)? i think elisabet’s story is certainly something lots of white women relate to, but it has always felt a lot more like a biwoc story than a white story to me: a story of the under-appreciated and overworked carrying a tremendous weight into the world without expecting thanks, giving it a reality, receiving most of her appreciation after death, and even then, only known for those who do the work to discover the story at all—which at the moment consists of a grand total of two living human beings.

(i think it’s unlikely aloy would let elisabet fade into obscurity, but to avoid that, the truth of PZD and the ancients’ world would have to be revealed on a broad scale... and lbr, is the new world really ready for that? aloy didn’t tell anybody about PZD or elisabet in the first game, even at the final hour, but... i guess we’ll see in the sequel if she changes her mind lol. i certainly hope so.)

#horizon zero dawn #horizon stuff

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miximax-hell · 4 years

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Happy Goku Day, everyone!!

I checked and, miraculously, I still have followers on this blog. In fact, I’ve gained some since the last time I posted, for some reason! I’m not going to question it, though. Just... bless. But, hey, long time no see! As usual!

This time, I’m going back to my roots. The first drawings I posted on this blog were meant to show my love towards original Raimon, and it’s never a bad time to remind you all that I still adore these kids. Especially now that my friend @dust-monsters-under-my-bed has reminded me of them. Go check her art, btw! She’s not very active on Tumblr, but you can find her art on Twitter right here: https://twitter.com/rachelmonart

Anyway, she’s watching Inazuma Eleven for the first time and she’s made me think again about how much love these kids deserve, BECAUSE THEY SURE GOT NONE FROM HINO. DAMN YOU, HINO. So, today, let’s talk about the one and only IE character whose feet are classified as mass destruction weapons, who decided to borrow power from someone who will make you all question me, my logic and my tastes: Yamhan (or, as he is known in the west, Tiencha), THE FUSION OF YAMCHA AND TENSHINHAN FROM DRAGON BALL.

Introducing ShoYamHan! More on him under the cut.

So, first of all, how have you all been? I suppose many of you, like myself, are being told to stay at home to fight this situation. I salute all of you who do your best to stay safe and not help spread anything. It’s a very necessary fight, even if it can be boring at times. Many of us have friends or relatives fighting on the frontline, though (unless you yourself are the doctor or nurse friend!), and we hopefully know that staying at home is a small price to pay.

As for me, I got a job in December and lost it last month, so... yeah. It’s not been great. Still, something I’ve been working hard on for a while should be released soon and that’s so exciting! MY NAME WILL FINALLY BE ON SOMETHING’S CREDITS AND I CAN’T WAIT FOR IT TO BE UP.

But, anyway, back to business!

Rachel suggested I talk about the reasons behind this particular miximax, and considering it makes for a perfect parallel with my first posts, where I talked about the reasons behind Max’s and Kageno’s miximaxes, I’m all up for it! But, this time, I will have to do something new: explain WHO THE HECK YAMHAN IS. So let’s start with a picture of this handsome devil.

As most of you hopefully know, this project is about miximaxing Inazuma characters with video game characters. No anime, movies or anything else. Only and exclusively video games. Dragon Ball has probably spawned all those things, but it started as a manga, so you’d be right to think it most definitely does not qualify for this project. And, indeed, Dragon Ball doesn't. What DOES qualify, however, are Dragon Ball characters exclusive, or first introduced, in a video game. And that’s exactly the case we’re dealing with here!

Growing up, I loved Dragon Ball games. Even before I watched the show properly, in fact! I would go to my friend’s house, who was a fan of the show, and we'd play the Dragon Ball Budokai games nonstop with absolutely zero regrets. Those were some great times. And once I came to know the source material, the game that blew my mind the most was Dragon Ball Budokai 2. Was it the best one? Not necessarily. Is it my favourite? Not by a long shot. Still, it was the most creative! Most games follow the story of DBZ, which, obviously, is always the same. But Budokai 2 wasn’t afraid to do new things. Its story mode resembled a tabletop game and it was more than happy to deviate from the source material in some really fun ways; most notably, with exclusive fusions.

Budokai 2 introduced us all to Yamhan, the fusion of Yamcha and Tenshinhan, two long forgotten characters in the series, as they (and especially poor Yamcha) didn’t do anything especially relevant past... well, past the original Dragon Ball. As a champion of the unloved, that blew my mind. There were other fun things in Budokai 2, but what fascinated me and stayed in my thoughts for years to come was Yamhan. It was just such a cool concept. Two underdogs who had fallen into obscurity fusing to create a much greater warrior!

Of course, Yamhan isn’t the only videogame exclusive characters in Dragon Ball. He isn’t the first, nor the last. Yamhan isn’t the strongest, nor the weakest. But I haven’t played FighterZ nor Fusions (yet), nor pretty much any game that wasn’t on PS2 or GBA. And even if I had, I doubt Android 21 or any of the HUNDREDS of combinations available in Fusions would captivate me and my imagination as much as Yamhan did back in the day. Yamhan was a fusion, which is something that has always fascinated me to begin with. I MEAN, THIS ENTIRE BLOG IS ABOUT FUSING CHARACTERS, SO I THINK IT’S PRETTY OBVIOUS LMAO But he wasn’t just one among hundreds. He was this very specific, never-seen-before, cool as heck and usable fusion. Like, wow. That was wild for me. Sign me up, man.

But, you know, I try not to let that sway me too much. Of course, I wouldn’t likely pick a character I hate for a miximax, but, still, my preferences aren’t everything. And choosing Yamhan begs a question that I have already alluded to: if Yamhan isn’t the strongest game-exclusive DB character out there, then, why him? Well, the answer to that is related to the biggest problem posed by the sheer concept of miximaxing with a Dragon Ball character:

Power escalation.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Goku is, pretty much, the strongest character that has ever played the lead in any manga, and one of the strongest fictional characters ever, period. By the end of the Dragon Ball Super anime, he has EXCEEDED THE POWER OF MANY LITERAL GODS AND IS (or has been) A CANDIDATE TO BECOME ONE. You may prefer One Piece, or Naruto, or anything else, but few things reach the astronomical, reality-bending scope of Dragon Ball. Not to say DB is the best series--I’m just saying that it’s so out of control at this point (and I love it). But, of course, the stronger Goku is, the stronger the villains need to be, and Goku ends up becoming EVEN stronger than said villains. Rinse and repeat dozens of times until you can make an entire universe disappear by raising your hand.

Now, imagine applying that out-of-this-world power escalation to a context where the power balance isn’t so outrageous. For example, Inazuma Eleven.

Goku wriggling in his sleep is more powerful than Zeus, and an accidental sneeze would smash all of Ixal Fleet to smithereens. Do you see what this would do to the balance? It would ruin it completely, as anyone who miximaxed with Goku would be immediately a one-person army able to defeat ANY opponent--and if the opponent were to be EVEN GREATER than Goku, well, the rest simply wouldn’t stand a chance. Ever. Remember: the point of this project isn’t to create perfect and unbeatable players, and I’m not trying to prioritize anyone or make them noticeably stronger than anyone else just because I happen to like X more than Y. That completely ruins the tension and the fun (and my attempts to create justice in this unfair universe). The point is to come up with a balanced team full of players with strong points, but with flaws, too, that complement each other when they play together against stronger enemies.

So, if we go with Dragon Ball, and I love Dragon Ball WAY too much to not include it in this project in some way, we have to be careful and avoid overdoing it. Balance is key. And now that you know why I didn’t just choose the fusion between Beerus and Whis or something crazy like that, I’ll move on to explain what makes Yamhan a very interesting option. I SWEAR THERE ARE SOME ACTUAL REASONS.

First of all, the very concept. You know, Yamcha and Tenshinhan fused to created Yamhan, and now, Shourin is fusing with a fusion. That’s just... hecking cool. I won’t lie--my preferences towards Yamhan didn’t tip the scales towards making this happen, but my preferences towards FUSIONCEPTION totally did. XD But there’s more, thankfully.

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted a fighting game character to miximax with Shourin because it fits his theme best. I’m not big on fighting games, though, so it was quite tough. Especially because just any fighting game wouldn’t do it. Shourin is a martial artist. As I mentioned at the very beginning of this post, his feet are his weapons. His entire body is a weapon, really. If I were to suddenly miximax him with some character who wields a sword or an axe, for example, it would be a complete disservice to Shourin. Original Raimon members don’t have much going on for themselves, and I’m going to cut or ignore the ONE thing that makes one of them special? Not in a zillion years. Shourin needs to fight with his body. That, of course, cuts many characters already: pretty much the entire roster of Soul Calibur, many members of Mortal Kombat, many from games like Skullgirls (which I still want to try to represent here in the future, because @lumaga worked on it and it makes me happy just because of that), etc. For a very long time, I considered someone like Ryu, from Street Fighter, but then it hit me: I have never played Street Fighter and I don’t want to include him just because I know what a Hadouken is. It’d be... cheap. And fake. Thankfully, as I also mentioned earlier, I played LOTS of Budokai back in the day and I am an actual fan, so I don’t have to pretend to know what the heck I’m talking about. XD And, thankfully, most of the characters in DB games fight with their bare fists and legs, so they perfectly fit my needs. Yamhan is, of course, no exception.

Now comes my favourite reason to choose Yamhan and not, well, literally any other DB game-exclusive character. And that reason is style.

Remember that power escalation thing I mentioned earlier? Well, it’s epic, but it comes with a big disadvantage: power ends up becoming much more important than skill. Early Dragon Ball was very focused on fighting styles. There was an ongoing feud between the Turtle School and the Crane School, who taught different martial arts to fight in different ways, and there was a big plot involving which one was superior. It wasn’t just about who was strongest, but about who fought better. With time, that disappeared, though. Even though battles became flashier, aerial and more spectacular, they were much more indistinct. Sure, there were gimmicks like “heh, I have a tail and I will sometimes hit you with it,” or “I will try to hit your face with the palm of my hand instead of my fist for some unspecified reason,” but that isn’t... much. You just see very fast people avoiding equally as fast punches to the face. And Goku, the main character, only shows some style when he adopts a fighting pose BEFORE fighting. Once the punches start flying, it’s all a race to see who can hit the other the hardest in the gut to make them spit blood. Cool nonetheless, but still.

Ironically, though, it’s two of the least relevant characters who never really lost those styles that made them unique when they were first introduced to the series. And those are, of course, Yamcha and Tenshinhan.

Yamcha joins the Turtle School and learns techniques as classic as the Kamehameha, but he had his own style way before that, based on attacking and tearing enemies apart like a wolf would. This is best represented by his signature move, the Rougafuufuuken or Wolf Fang Fist. He never drops this style, but instead builds up on it through his training to make it even fiercer.

Tenshinhan has different things going for himself. First of all, he is a hybrid between a human being and a civilization known as the Three-Eyed People, which grants him powers such as growing extra arms from his back or dividing in 4. Not just moving so fast that it looks like there’s four of him, but ACTUALLY dividing into 4 separate bodies. In terms of skills, he was a Crane School student, but when he realised the wrong of his master’s doings, he decided to start training and developing on his own. Basically, a path that mirrors Yamcha’s, but both lead to unique fighting styles unlike anyone else’s in this universe. And, most importantly, none of them depend on appendixes that are always there, like the aforementioned tail, so they totally work for us here!

Shourin is a proper martial artist. He wouldn’t want to make himself crazy strong as much as he would like to refine his technique and learn new moves and tricks. Martial arts are about discipline, self-control, skill and protection. He would take a cool-ass combo based on a wolf’s moves over earth-shattering strength any day of the week, hence why the fact that these two have so many techniques to offer is so appealing.

Finally, and probably least, is the design idea that immediately came to my mind when I thought of a miximax between Shourin and Yamhan. Historically, I have had to work with characters like Fudou, who are usually mostly bald and they miximax with someone with hair, thus making for some very... difficult things to figure out. But the idea of miximaxing Shourin, who is mostly bald, with Yamhan, who is ALSO mostly bald, was just golden and too good to ignore. And the fact that Yamhan has three eyes GIVES ME AN EXCUSE TO ADD A THIRD CROSS-SHAPED EYE ON SHOURIN’S FOREHEAD. IF A MIXIMAX BETWEEN BALD PEOPLE WAS GOLDEN, THIS IS OUTRIGHT PLATINUM.

Shourin would've probably looked a lot less like a joke if he had had hair covering his entire head or if I had at least given him proper eyes... but that would no longer be the Shourin I love. Not to mention that it’s very likely that Shourin willingly shaves his head to begin with (even if the ponytail ain’t doing him any favours--but that’s just Inazuma logic, so let’s not look too much into it), just like Tenshinhan or Krillin do, so he would probably be happier to keep that, uh, advantage. Relative advantage, but still.

As a side note, though, we can’t forget the balance. When Yamcha and Tenshinhan fuse, they undoubtedly become the strongest human being in the DB universe, overcoming the one who is usually strongest: Krillin. A fusion is always greater than its parts individually, and Yamcha and Tenshinhan aren’t so far away from Krillin to begin with, so that’s not even a question. Regardless, they still don’t have that overwhelming and surreal strength from other characters, so we still don’t get into absolutely OP territory. Yamhan is strong enough to provide Shourin with a power that can make a real difference without completely putting him above everyone else.

Sadly, Yamhan doesn’t really have a backstory, as he’s a game-exclusive character that, honestly, was probably only there for a laugh. That means there is no deep connection between them. We can, however, make obvious connections between Shourin, an aspiring martial artist whose dream, as stated in IE2, was to study at Manyuuji (Kogure’s school) for their focus on martial arts, and is now trying to become stronger to protect what he loves, and two skilled warriors who have been training nonstop under different masters and on their own for basically their entire lives to keep becoming stronger and more skilled in order to defend what’s precious to them and, simply, to be the best version of themselves they can be. Upon seeing such dedicated warriors and artists, Shourin would undoubtedly want to learn from them and, if necessary, borrow their strength too.

Or he might just fanboy and ask for their autographs, honestly. I sure as heck want Yamcha’s. And his baseball card.

#Shourin #Shourinji Ayumu #Inazuma Eleven #Inazuma Eleven Go #Inazuma Eleven Ares #Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin #Inazuma Eleven Orion #Inazuma Eleven Orion no Kokuin #miximax #mixi max #original Raimon #settei #reasons behind the miximax #info

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fireeaglespirit · 5 years

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beyond-far-horizons

This is awesome and because *hangs head in shame* I dont play the games (i'm a noob with no money and my parents never let me have video games so I just like the story okay?) I have never seen this bit.

I ADORE multiverse/underworld stuff as you know or perhaps you don't as I don't know how far I got explaining Aeq and Midnight Palace but it is FULL of that stuff. I love the symbolism and it is very Jungian (I am the Priest of Jung okay, welcome to the New Testament of Jess!) But I need to sleep rn so we can get to it later.

Thank you for showing me because then I can reference it if I have time but I have so many other things going on right now and dunno I love fanfic and these stories but then I get down because I get virtually no response and I need that interaction to continue. It is my luck to always like dead fandoms with minor prequel characters I guess...still I do feel the fanfic has improved my writing and vice versa

I was thinking alot about hell and demons and what 'heaven' would be as I had a very detailed review on FF.net asking me all this questions, like why Sparda would long for the light if he is a demon and dunno, it always comes back to my pet theories of light and dark and the union of opposites. Sparda is so interesting because I feel he came to 'justice' on his own but probably also cemented by this mysterious priestess who he had to sacrifice. At least that is the way

the way I would go if I was developing the lore or a prequel game. It seems the most juicy option. Anyways this 'light' ties into my feelings about the transcendent, this higher power/reality urging all to grow and develop. I guess I would see demons as base and vicious aspects of reality and sources of wild and violent energy - very much as both Jung and early cultures saw them or primal gods or 'titans'.

It's also why I have a headcanon Sparda a)is fascinated by humans - they have the same struggles as him and b)he has a huge library on religions of the world, history, philosophy and science because he is still trying to discover the nature of reality just like Eva and this is what really brings them together. I wrote this line last night when Eva looks at all the books 'So you devour our souls metaphorically instead of physically now?'

I debated on making Sparda saintly, like he has already has his struggle and is now secure in himself but that isn't interesting to me plus you know our shared love of fighting with the feral nature to ultimately make the person better. Plus I kinda like the romantic angst that way like with MadaMito hehe

Okay I need to go to bed now.

Ok, prepare for huge contrived reply incoming...

First of all. What??

I hate when parents do this. I’m so sorry, I never knew about it... I really hate this.

Video games are just another media, I never understood why people would pick on that and forbid their child from having some fun. FFS.

If you want to play something some day I’ll always be there to help you installing, finding them, etc.. whatever you might need. Or even just finding anything related to games, etc.. I don’t play much these days as you know the multiple reasons but it was such an important part of my life I can barely imagine being cut out from this, even thought we always had old consoles this was very important.

About Sparda and the fic. I need to be sincere and say I’m taking so long to reply for two reasons. First because I LOVE the way you wrote Sparda but I was afraid of being too simplistic with my reply so I delved a lot on things...

But... tah-dah : I lost the huge reply I had wrote before. My note has 0 battery so its glued to the wall and it just turns off sometimes suddenly and I’m dumb and don’t save things so yeah. I kinda lost myself and got angry about that.

Anyway, I understand what you said here, especially your feelings about the fic, in many ways I can see how my fandom views reflect in the original world I’m making, and the inverse is contrary. There are many parallels. It really helps and fandom work is as worthy as original, imo, I’ve been thinking about this. Our obsession with prequels and obscure characters has a reason and that is exactly because we want to explore what is hidden behind the veil... exploring the possibilities.

Sometimes it comes to shipping speculation, and this too has a reason.

Thinking about your views on Sparda and Eva, I thought a lot on what it truly means to write or develop an obscure ship and why we are so interested in that (think about that, many of our common favorite characters from prequels, etc..)

I came to the conclusion that in Eva/Sparda just like in many of our other ships, has the common theme of the heroin facing her ‘dark reflection’, her ‘animus’ as Jung would say (OH BOY I’m entering that with you), and she, at first rejects it like she reflects her own darker aspects, her unconscious… its abhorrent for her so she seeks to destroy it as rapidly as possible as seen by Eva’s renewed determination after learning Sparda’s true nature in chapter 1. The animus represents her doubts and unconscious... However what we see in your story is much more interesting.

Most stories of this kind focus solely in the female aspect changing from her interactions with the male, who is already developed, but here we have Eva being able to re-awaken some viciousness in Sparda when it seems he has been quite restrained from quite some time (centuries) but also, something that is much more interesting.. it calls to his own determination and his own personal story and sacrifice, for some reason his ‘lust’ and brush with the dark side makes it all more important and more powerful than if he simply had been saintly at that point, like you said. It makes he revisit it all and ponder.

I love how you added lines of ‘temptation’ from Mundus, part of Sparda seeks to surrender to his ‘nature’ as its just so easy, like slip in a pair of old shoes... while the priestess memory, albeit silently, fights it and reminds him of his struggle and his ideals and ultimately her sacrifice which was also his own sacrifice (of his old ways). I think his darker side has been neglected and I think you will use this to develop Sparda into greater heights. Its great we get to see this in the actual story and he is not perfect, but he certainly is incredible.

Also, just as a side-note I loved how you described his hunger as mostly non-carnal as he glimpses her spirit and its light... when we see Sparda’s POV we get reminded every time of his non-human nature and his non-human perception of things which is clearly different. A demon’s prey is not flesh but spirit and this makes a lot of sense and a lot of potential.

To sum it up, you snatched the best of both worlds and is about to develop both characters under a relationship, as they have a lot to learn and gain from each other. I think this is the way your narrative is going, more or less.

These developments are unique aspects which I find extremely interesting and you are doing this in such a genial way and I can see already by the end of the latest chapter the strings of the themes I mentioned are pulled and ready to be followed.

So yeah, they’re in for a journey of development together. Neither of them starts the story as a ‘perfect’ entity either way... This was shown in a very nice way as you pointed out misconceptions regarding both sides involving the duo of protagonists.

“I was thinking alot about hell and demons and what 'heaven' would be as I had a very detailed review on FF.net asking me all this questions, like why Sparda would long for the light if he is a demon and dunno, it always comes back to my pet theories of light and dark and the union of opposites. Sparda is so interesting because I feel he came to 'justice' on his own but probably also cemented by this mysterious priestess who he had to sacrifice. At least that is the way I would go if I was developing the lore or a prequel game. It seems the most juicy option. Anyways this 'light' ties into my feelings about the transcendent, this higher power/reality urging all to grow and develop. I guess I would see demons as base and vicious aspects of reality and sources of wild and violent energy - very much as both Jung and early cultures saw them or primal gods or 'titans'.”

I abstained a bit from the conversation earlier as I feared my careless/godless (lmao) perception was too disturbing for you or anyone but I also pondered on concepts such as heaven and hell, salvation, damnation, etc.. when considering Sparda’s tale. I know DMC isn't Christianity but its imagery is somewhat based on Abrahamic religion/mythos so I’m bound to take in consideration some of my ideas regarding biblical mythology, as in...

When I started reading the bible so long ago it always puzzled me to imagine what exactly were angels/demons. I mean, are they even able to think in the same way as us?? Or are them more like ‘robots’, AI following orders (especially angels sometimes strikes me as that) and perhaps demons are those ‘robots’ that rebelled against their determined function, idk.

Something I wondered more than a decade ago was if demons in the bible are truly lost in every way so I started thinking within the dmc setting. I’m interested in that all and those things I mentioned. The interesting part is that I once asked that to my catechist if demons could be redeemed (lmao I was crazy, I know, but bored above all). She was at first very mad with me (she was always) but she reluctantly told me that demons had known god up close and felt his power so their sin in not following him is much bigger than a human’s, something of the sorts. So it sounded like they are also able to choose their way and I sort of apply this to dmc, lol. I’m weird, I know...

Are they capable or ‘worthy’ of forgiveness, because demons in dmc clearly have free will and thought like us, or at least similar to us. Some of them, like Sparda have clearly a lot of intellect, but like you said... others are very ‘primal’. Perhaps this is the key. The ‘evolved’ demon develops intellect and power... perhaps you are in the right track and it goes hand in hand? Does this make any sense?? The more powerful and developed they are, the more they develop ‘higher brain functions’ and star resembling a human more, idk because the lower demons in dmc are clearly more animal-like and primal while Sparda has a human-like shape and intellect.

I think I know where we are going and this looks like both angels and demons are actually a ‘reflection’ of human psyche. So, demons are the primal ancient aspects of the brain are somehow walking around hell just like that, while heaven and its inhabitants are mysterious. I really like the way you described hell and its inhabitants, it makes a lot of sense to imagine it as a part of human psyche embodied, in a way. I imagine Heaven as the exact inverse of Hell so it has its own creatures and they’re born from ‘order’ instead of chaos as stated above.

We have Bayonetta as a source of inspiration and I think its very valid to use that in order to understand Sparda. Heaven isn’t exactly good there, is it? In fact it appears like a very controlling environment.

Hell: Primal, violent, survival of the fittest anyone? Hell inhabitants embodied the most basic aspects of the brain, as you said.

Heaven: It might stem from higher planes of thinking and represent the more ‘sublime’ or ‘newer’ aspects of the evolving mammal brain.

It might make an easy choice for heaven but also such tight atmosphere is bound to become stagnant, it is no longer permitting flaws and strong emotions (thus angels look apathetic af in Bayonetta).

It might seem at first glance that heaven is good, hell is bad, however I think, if you delve into heaven you might realize the beings born there might be too ‘disembodied’ as they represent exactly those parts of human psyche which are the most sublime. Let me explain, I always felt like too much spirituality tends to make people leave behind the reality of things, it might make them lack empathy for living beings who have to commit difficult decisions on a living basis, basic survival, starvation, the struggle for life, etc..

Think about enlightenment and Bodhisattva, also the rituals of mortification which are legit scary and reminds me of this concept as only those who leave behind all that is ‘mortal’ and are detached to an extreme, can reach Nirvana. I know this has not much to do with Christianity but even in this religion we find analogous associations regarding detachment as divine and saintly. Its also harmful in a way, or am I reaching? While too much focus on the primal/carnal leads to obvious horrible things: vice and chaos; too much detachment leads to apathy.

I do think some level of detachment is necessary to reach happiness but too much of it makes people forget the reality of life and makes them not able to relate anymore to the ones around them, as the focus becomes solely spiritual it kind of deafens them to the ‘real world’ and ignore it.

This is all about reaching a balance as its is our favorite theme, too much light is bad, too much darkness is bad, etc.. or else the story would fall into itself as the reality of the three settings (heaven, hell, earth) would be rigid.

So here we have a darker aspect of heaven, imo, to balance things out.

Heaven is clearly ‘order’ and hell is ‘chaos’ so we might as well find a balance... our favorite theme as always. The fact that one being like Sparda, born amidst ultimate chaos would gaze upward in delight and desire something else doesn't surprise me. The fact is he could be bitter about it, you even gave away the line on your fic where Sparda mentions he has been denied ‘light’. I wonder what exactly that means and this is one of my favorite aspects of your Sparda is that he is aware of his condition and even thought he worked against it its still lingering to him.. like his own flickering appearance.

But he hasn’t made his way up to heaven, huh?

So its not a far reach to believe in it (that he desired ‘light’, whatever it is) but my personal belief is that too much ‘light’ is not good either and Sparda realized the beauty in flawed humanity, which sits right in the middle of light and darkness, order and chaos... that’s why he became enamored by the concept of humanity and all the struggle our own condition imposes upon us.

For me this is an archetypal theme.

Just food for thought.

The matter is... how? What exactly awakened him to justice?

This makes stuff much more interesting. This was a huge ramble, I know but I needed to develop this and see if it works,

So yeah, about a) I’m totally with you and I can see why Sparda would empathize with humans, as I talked earlier and I think my explanation on why Sparda would be fascinated by humans instead of ‘angels’ is made up above and I hope this doesn't sound too weird, just my line of thought.

As a demon, he’s born from a very ‘imperfect’ reality. He knows how shitty things can be... Now I really wonder how his life was before he ‘awakened to justice’ he must have witnessed some remarkably horrible things in his life..

Under the setting I mentioned, it would be I think its kinda easier for a demon to do this since angels would be too stuck up in their haven, idk so this is how Sparda, the unlikely hero is the first of these beings to take arms and defend humanity. Sparda is so special as he was the one to side with humans by his own decision and free will. What a guy!

I’m glad you didn't! This is probably a gradual process even thought they say he ‘awakened to justice’ which makes it seem like he suddenly just did so I believe he had brewing feelings from his life as a demon in hell...

He must have been such an unique individual to perceive truths his peers where not ready to learn and truly, an act of rebellion against the system itself coming from someone who is ‘supposed’ to do only harm is really something we want to see on screen and I’m so glad you didn't simplify it as being a single event in his life.

I’m really in love with this theme because it shows these beings are able to change their own destinies, even someone with such dark origins.

#beyond-far-horizons #dmc #sparda #eva

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lovemesomesurveys · 3 years

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[created by: vyvyan86]

What did you think you were good at, until you saw someone else do it? *shrug* I don’t think I’m good at anything.

What's a fun fact you tell in social situations? I don’t tell fun facts in social situations. Like, that’s not a icebreaker or conversation go-to for me.

What's something you're positive that only you do? Uhhhh.

What is something nice going on in your life right now? My aunt stayed over for about a week this past week and we had a good visit. She also cleaned my room and it just feels so much better. It needed some straightening up and reorganizing. She also put all my Christmas decorations away that I’ve had up for 2 years, ha. I’ve been wanting to get all that done for so long, but I haven’t had the energy or motivation and was just too overwhelmed. It was really a huge help.

What was the pinnacle of wealth to you as a child? I remember as a kid if you shopped at Limited Too you were bougie, ha.

What's something that you hate, but can't live without? I don’t hate it, but I wish we didn’t have to have water.

What skill do you not talk about, because you feel it sounds like bragging? Ha, I have nothing to brag about.

What is an absolute 100% fact? We will all die.

What's the most useless thing you've memorized? Random trivia and facts.

What is your personal curse? Hm.

Who's the worst person you've encountered on the Internet? There’s been some crappy people in comment sections on things or chats.

Do you ever stop and think, “what the hell am I doing with my life?” I’ve been wondering that for a long time.

What are some of the small things in life you enjoy? Reading, coloring, a cup of coffee, my favorite foods.

What happened recently that made you really happy? My room getting cleaned.

If death wasn't a consequence, what would you try? I don’t know. Even though I wouldn’t die, I’d still be scared. And I could possibly get hurt depending on what it was.

What's the dumbest thing you've heard someone say? There’s so much to choose from.

What is the worst smell you can remember? Death. Like, there have been times we smelled something in our garage and found out there was a dead mouse somewhere.

What's something you want that doesn't exist yet? I don’t know.

Where is your happy place? The beach.

What song gets better the louder it gets? Uh.

What's the most deceptive advertising you've seen? There’s so many. Diet pills, for one.

What's a joke you always tell people you meet for the first time? That’s not something I do when meeting people. I don’t really tell jokes in general.

What's the biggest inconvenience that does NOT ruin your day? I don’t like having to go to my pain doctor every month just so I can get my medication refill, but it doesn’t ruin my day.

What's your best wrong number story? I don’t have one, but that reminds me of that story that made headlines a few years ago about a guy who received a text I think from a wrong number inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner and when the sender realized it was a wrong number she still invited him and he’s been going every year since, haha.

What's something everybody should know how to do? Reading is an important skill.

What is a great movie no one knows about? Hmm.

What type of person could the world use less of? Hateful people.

What makes you think, 'Oh dear, I'm old...'? The fact that I’m 31. Lmao. <<<

What is one food that you hated as a kid, but love now? Spinach. I realized it was just creamed spinach I didn’t like.

What makes you tingle? Certain ASMR triggers.

What was your travel nightmare? Taking like 12 hours to get somewhere that should have taken 6 or 7. We kept getting lost and there was a lot of traffic. Ugh, it was awful.

What’s the best Wi-Fi name you’ve seen? *shrug*

What weird thing turns you on? Nothing weird comes to mind. What's easy to learn, but hard to master? Cooking. You know the basic concept-- you heat stuff up, mix stuff together, etc, but you can go so much further with it and it’s a skill that certainly not everyone has.

What's something you've changed your opinion on? Until a few years ago I didn’t believe in God.

Describe your favorite movie as obscurely as possible: I have several favorites.

What's the most satisfying thing you've ever felt? How I feel when I’m watching the ocean waves crash in and out and feel the cool ocean air on my face.

If you had a refilling bowl, what would you want it to contain? How about a refilling cup that refilled with hot coffee.

Where do you mostly live? In the past, the present or the future? The past, definitely. I’m forced to deal with the present as well cause of health stuff and whatnot. The future terrifies me. What is more important to you, the way you look or the ideas you present? The ideas I present.

What don't people get about what it's like to be you? I’m sure people don’t understand why I don’t just get my shit together or do certain things I should be doing and I’d be like yeah, me either.

If your bedroom had three portals to anywhere, where would they lead? The beach for sure. I’d choose two places I wish I could travel to anytime I wanted, but choosing just two would be hard so I’d have to really think about that.

How is parallel universe you doing? They’re a healthy, happy, functioning adult--the complete opposite of me.

Which historical event should be the next huge television series? Of course there will be a ton of movies about the pandemic. Shows already incorporate it.

What country should fictional villains be from? Why would they be just from one country?

What is your imaginary Eden? Hmm.

Which Disney princess would make the best villain? Rapunzel. She could trap people with her hair.

You can ask any author one question about their story. What do you ask? That’s so hard to choose just one author and one question.

Would you want a rewind or a pause button for your life? Why that one? A rewind, please.

Are you worth your weight in gold? I’m not worth anything.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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khattikeri · 7 years

Text

obscure theory time

We all know the top heroes. Before things go haywire during the Kamino Ward incident, All Might is #1. Endeavor is #2. Best Jeanist is #4. And Edgeshot is #5.

That leaves us with a single question:

Who is the #3 hero?

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Horikoshi hasn’t introduced us to them yet. And while it’s most likely that they’re a fully new character we’ve never seen or heard of before... Part of me really wonders.

They’ve never been present, not a single mention or even a cameo. It’s completely possible that Horikoshi merely forgot about them, but considering how much thought and planning he’s put to the story, I doubt that that’s the case.

This leads me to believe that this person is most likely abroad somewhere else, which accounts for why they haven’t done anything in response to the major incidents that have been happening in the series so far.

And who is a minor, unsuspecting character we know of who is abroad and hasn’t been seen in a long time?

Midoriya’s father.

We know basically nothing about Hisashi aside from the fact that he 1) breathes fire and 2) is abroad for work (and likely always has been, judging by how Izuku acts about his family).

NOW before you go “lmao V what kinda bullshit reach is that” and scroll past this, I want you to think: who else do we know who left their child(ren) and partner/spouse so that they could focus on a hero career without endangering them?

Nana and Hisashi may not be all that different. It’s possible that Midoriya’s father is a hero and is hiding his other identity from his whole family so that he doesn’t endanger them (which would conveniently explain how our resident hero fanboy Izuku wouldn’t know that the #3 hero-- one of the best-- is his own father).

There are also other theories floating around that Nana and Inko may be biologically related [1] [2]. If these two theories turn out to be true, then the parallels between generations would be staggering.

...Make of that what you will.

Conclusion: This is only my take on the potential identity of the #3 hero. It’s possible that they’re a completely different person who also happened to be abroad for the duration of the story this far. However, I think it’s interesting to think about Midoriya Hisashi potentially being a hero.

As an afterthought, just for kicks and because I’m a bit of a sadist, here’s a link to the Villain!Midoriya Hisashi theory and the Noumu/Captured by AfO theory.

Knowing very little about a character is a great way to get theories spurring, and these are both worth the read.

#midoriya hisashi #midoriya izuku #bnha #bnha theory #personally i'm more fond of the villain theory i linked at the end. if he were to be a foil to endeavor my life would be complete #however... parallels between him and nana are also something that i dig. food for thought i guess #im hesitant to post this lmao #keri chats #random blah and speculation lmao

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feralcherry · 7 years

Note

Answer all the luxury asks

bubble bath: do you have any routines before bedtime? like skin care, etc. what are they?

I do a version of the Korean 10 step skin care routine. At least, I try to. I use an oil based cleanser to clean off any makeup, then a foam cleanser, exfoliate 2-4 times a week, toner, serum, essence, and moisturize. Sometimes I use sheet masks. I should also get some eye cream and such, but I never do lol. If you guys ever want to know what I use, go ahead and ask!

champagne: what topic could you talk about for hours?

Anything with a story or meaning behind it. I can go on and on about symbolism or anything to do with worldbuilding, it’s just how I am. Parallels and foreshadowing are also some of my fav things to talk about.

crushed velvet: have you ever used your charm to get something you want?

All the time lol. Being nice gets you things, and that’s how it started off as when I was a teen. I was nice to people to get things from them-their kindness in return, their generosity, their friendship. If people love you, they do things for you more readily. Now I’m nice because I want to be. I want people to be happy.

diamonds: how do you feel about excessively spending money?

I’m honestly an impulse spender. I hate seeing the price tag, and yet I’m always a slut for being broke I guess

faux fur: describe your wardrobe.

Uhhh cute/comfy? I like loose clothing and tend to stick to darker colors. If I show my chest or legs, I tend to cover the other up. Like If I’m wearing a short dress, I like to wear a long sleeved cardigan or something on top. I like boots, flannel, skinny jeans (if I wear pants lol).

glitter: describe someone special to you.

Ah man, this is unfair! I have lots of special people in my life. But so I’ll go with my new cat, Nacho lol. He’s special because he’s a grump, he’s stinky (I think he’s sick), he’s busted, and he bullies the other pets. But he’s also a goof with one eye and a busted shoulder, who loves to cuddle and eat popcorn and i’m happy to have in my life.

gold: describe what you would call the most perfect meal.

A rare steak and rice tbh or curry!! I love all food lol

jazz: name a song that resonates with you and your emotions. explain the reason why.

Evelyn Evelyn by Mother Mother. Because it’s honestly how I feel when I’m out of body, as if there are two of me. One of me is the parasite- but which one??

lace: what is something in your life completely different from last year?

I live in an apartment with a roommate. It was scary and under bad circumstances, but I found a new home and I’m with a new family. The family of my choice :3

lingerie: do you consider yourself a promiscuous person?

Sometimes lmao

lipstick: do you enjoy talking to strangers?

NOOOOOO I have axiety. If it’s online, yeah, because I don’t have to ever see them again lol. But ifl, noooo

pearls: what’s something about your personality that surprises others?

I just asked my friend @catmewmew and she said that I’m rough. Like, when I take medicine and it tastes gross, I hit the table or cabinet with my fist because it’s gross and i just??? react. I also have thoughts like ‘eat that cactus’ and stuff sooo

penthouse: what would you consider your dream home? describe it.

Uh, spacious yet cozy? Takes natural light in, has AC. I want a house with flowers outside tbh, lots of them. With hummingbird feeders. I want bookshelves and an area to sit and chill out in. I have no real idea aside from that.

perfume: if you could make your own signature fragrance, what would it smell like?

Honey and cinnamon.

robe: how do you prepare for an evening alone with a loved one/date?

I shower that day or the night before, so I can style my hair and have it look nice. I moisturize and put on sunscreen (if it’s outside or day time), get dressed, do my hair and makeup. perfume. that’s it tbh. All while listening to music!

roses: If it had to be winter, autumn, spring or summer for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Autumn! Because it’s my favorite season. I love the colors, the feeling, the movies. I just love everything about it!

satin: what is your most favorite article of clothing?

Right now, It’s an Inuyasha tank top lolol

sheet mask: what’s your favorite lazy activity?

reading? listening to music and chilling?? all of ittt

silk: do you have more inner or outer beauty?

HAHAHA! Boy, do I have neither lol. I’m a garbage goblin who is cute but not like Goddess level beautiful. And my personality is a wip, i’m a mess who is healing.

silver: do you have any obscure hobbies? what are they?

nope

sparkling water: what are your top three songs for the summer?

Whatever music I like at the moment tbh. Or having a throwback to 1990′s-2000′s.

wine: what kind of drunk are you (happy/affectionate, angry, sad, fun/wild)? if you don’t drink, what kind do you think you WOULD be?

When I drink, I get more loose and relaxed. Not confident, but more at ease with whatever I want to say.

#you seek answers #that's my tag for answers now

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spnreactionblogging · 5 years

Text

peace of mind

I’m totally out of order at this point but oh well

okay I can't stay away from this episode that led to the gag reel kiss so let's go let's go

I am sad about this snake

I do appreciate how the camerawork and the music changes so much with this like romantic film setup here

charming acres has an immediate pleasantville vibe to it

every time the netflix subtitles say [high pitched ringing] i'm like oh angels are nearby

griffin the retail employee absolutely did not deserve this shit

I know the snake is here for thematic parallels but I think perhaps he is not feeling well because you have him in a plastic box with no heat source, I know you guys don't have google but you do have Search the Web and you could look up what a cornsnake needs and what he needs is not bacon

the wiki for this is killing me like lmao

"History Felix was the pet snake of the gorgon Noah Ophis. He did not like bacon."

there's no fucking way you guys don't have like ten thousand mice running around in kansas fields. throw one in the freezer for a while and give it to felix or something. have castiel use angel powers to make sure it's safe to eat. c'mon.

I love the burmese python they flashed back to in the recap though!! and I love this cornsnake. what good friends. Jack is holding him so gently. I know sad things happen to this snake in the show but I also know in real life the snake is fine so all is well and I hope alexander enjoyed holding and petting this sweet tiny cornsnake

I like this infinity swooshing of the pencil and it feels like limitless creativity to me, symbolically

I do appreciate dean's lifelong affinity for sandwiches, and the lettuce crunching is always funny to me

sam do you have any good memories at this point dude :(

poor sam wants to get out of there even though he's had no rest

I hate how dean rolls his eyes when castiel says jack looks up to him [dean] like... also stop interrupting cas

so i'm like vaguely aware that mind control within the town is part of the plot here so I guess sam is affected as a human but castiel is exempt as an angel? let's see

I like that sam and cas sort of match with their outfits in this episode

sam's hair is looking especially nice

I started yawning too I can't help it

"dean's right, you need to rest" I want all of them to rest

he's so concerned

sam and cas trying to get each other to rest is the biggest sastiel mood

I like griffin's haircut

they're naming themselves after members of Boston this time

cas knows about scanners & its sequels

I love watching castiel drive

I also love the reminder that angels don't sleep and I love that he's up reading while they're sleeping

norman fucking rockwell amirite

never eat food in a fairy realm, sam (or whatever the fuck this shit is) just never eat magic food

I DO love how close they're sitting to each other

LIKE A RIPE MELON ON THE SUN castiel lmfaoooo that's subtle

the mayor works at a restaurant and I appreciate that

"it was an apt metaphor" cas you're killing me

it's also fucking killing me that they can look up the obscure lore for any monster in all of history but they can't figure out what the fuck snakes eat, GET A MOUSE, NOT BACON jesus christ

dean you've seen enough cartoons to know that snakes eat mice. surely. yes? yes????

okay THERE are some mice, please offer one mouse while closely supervised thanks

god i love cas like

"you've gotta have morals. you know." cas just ?????? >:?

castiel implying dick descriptions to sam, holy fuck lmao

sam drinking coffee while saying he needs rest, sam winchester everyone

man this poor guy remembering cell phones exist

is this woman a siren or something?

the "honey?" after he's clearly dead is very scary

"I don't think you have a firm grasp on what snakes eat." this is the exact moment I officially fell in love with Jack

"it's not the snake that's dangerous, it's their bite" okay I get it dean that you're trying to compare this absolutely harmless cornsnake to Jack, who is also trying his best here and not trying to hurt anybody, and I'm here to tell you that a cornsnake (and most snakes, typically) isn't going to bite you unless you get in its face and terrify it and upset it, so.....

also fuck you dean for your little angel/devil test, just get out of here with this shit, people who aren't abusive don't try cute little "tests" with snack food, go away

oh poor cas, but sam was gone :(

"I'm looking for my partner" I know what he means but I like this anyway

I guess headphones are okay for this town? but not phones. hm.

it's the same song in the milkshake place, yeesh

"he has beautiful hair" true.

so the milkshakes/martinis are keeping people magically drugged?

"Oh you!" "Oh you!" "Oh no."

"three, I'm feeling adventurous" EYES EMOJI..........

"Double hockey sticks?" god

I like the implication that maybe "Justin" is POSSIBLY up for a threesome but saying the word "hell" is too much

I like donatello

also you guys should not be bringing that cornsnake around because it looks way too cold for him to be sitting in the car like that, you know he can't regulate his body temperature right!!

dean that cornsnake absolutely cannot hurt you please stop this

donatello has a nice house

"an absence of pity, of empathy, of humanity" okay so dean then

also it's IMPORTANT that there's a black hole at the center of the milky way? the gravitational force keeps it moving does it not like... donatello should know this

I do like the visual of the creamer in the coffee though

the lighting in this kitchen is gorgeous, I like this scene, I like that he has books in his kitchen, I want to live here

"What would Mr. Rogers do?" is a pretty good motto

"what would the winchesters do?" is a pretty terrible motto

y'know jack's a person, you don't have to make this into a weird thing like "who knows what's going on inside his head" come on, man, come on. he's trying his best here

oh it's the mayor. of course.

has castiel always had the ability to rip information out of someone's mind?

"And you know what happened next?" "No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me." castiel I love you so much

this episode is making me miss andy gallagher though

so sunny is a psychic too? or just resistant to it?

"I won't hurt you, Sam." sob emoji

Sam looks good with glasses

"you have to keep fighting" sob emoji x 1000 for the "always keep fighting" reference

ohhhh she's his daughter that makes sense why she's psychic

"I'm this town I'm god!" "No. You're not. We've met god." "God has a beard." LMFAO

"seems like the snake enjoyed the trip" "hard to say, he's very guarded" dean misses the point entirely "and what about you"

sam sweetheart please take time to process your grief

yeah I think jack just does not quite get what's going on and is taking things pretty literally

protip: find a reptile vet in kansas

this episode was fun I liked it

#s14e15

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miximax-hell · 6 years

Photo

Oh my, if it isn’t more @inavember stuff! Don’t get used to this, as there isn’t aaall that much I plan to do for this month, and not everything I want to do is related to this blog. Anyway, let’s try to make this enjoyable while it lasts!

I randomly found a MamoDai doodle I didn’t publish last time and I don’t really want to simply edit a super old post to add it since no one will see it, so I might as well do SOMETHING for once in my life and use this chance to write more about MamoDai, since it seems to be at least a couple of people’s favourite concept within this blog. And I don’t blame then.

This doodle is especially interesting, as it shows MamoDai’s early concept before my friend took part in it. …If you can call that “take part,” that is, but I explained that in the past and I won’t go over that again. ww As you may see, it isn’t very different to the final design, so it comes to show that there wasn’t much experimenting done because of how straightforward the whole process ended up being. Even today, MamoDai’s has been one of the easiest designs to come up with, as pretty much every single idea I ever had ended up making it to the final design due to the special conditions it was created under.

But we’re not here to discuss MamoDai’s design, as I did so thoroughly in a previous post. Instead, it’s about time to cover everyone’s my favourite subject, one I can’t believe I haven’t talked about yet. It’s time to talk about MamoDai’s powers!

For more information about that, please look under the cut.

As usual, let’s add some updates now that we’re done with the intro and past the cut! As some of you know, a couple of days after my last post about Hiroto, my girlfriend came to visit me and we spent almost two weeks together, roaming around my city and being extremely cheesy. Needless to say, after walking around for 10-12 hours everyday, I didn’t really feel like doing much else. Thank goodness I had nothing else to do and we could enjoy ourselves to the fullest. (And play KH lmao) And this same lovely, perfect girlfriend will help me by proofreading and editing 1-2 old stories of mine and making them presentable so I can finally post them to Tumblr during Inavember. Don’t worry, though—those won’t be posted here.

I have also been struggling with mail. I sent some parcels that my friends (including @ishidoshuuji @karasawr and my own girlfriend) never got, so I’ve been trying to fill out claims to try and locate those packages and make sure they either go where they should… or at least try to get my money back. It’s been a pain and the results have been terrible so far. Sigh… The only good thing is that I got to talk to a REALLY nice USPS worker. The second one I talked to was a little shit, but that’s karma, I suppose.

On the bright side, I… beat Super Mario Galaxy 2 and completed Portal? Well, they’re both top-notch games, so I guess it counts. And The Witch’s House too, along with my girlfriend! …Oh, and a super old and very terrible Star Wars game for PSX. That wasn’t so great, but at least it’s out of the way. I won’t complain.

And last, but by no means least, as you all know (and if you didn’t, you will now), 10/1 was EnYaga Day and 10/15 was True EnYaga Day. What you all must know by now is that I’m a very fervent EnYaga king shipper, so I have to celebrate those days properly with nice illustrations!

…However, there was an EnYaga Day on January that I didn’t celebrate (1/10) since I had just moved to America and all, so I want to do something special for this blog to make up for that day I missed. So, if you have any requests regarding Endou’s miximax with Yagami, be it in terms of what you’d like to know more about or what you’d like me to draw next, please let me know! I’m open to all kinds of suggestions!

Well, the rant’s out of the way, so it’s time to start! To do so, let me quote myself: “MamoDai is Endou’s true miximax, and the one who turns him into the incredible monster of a goalkeeper he was always meant to be.” After mentioning that in my last post about him, I said that that was a story for some other time, and that time has finally come.

The sentence I just quoted makes it pretty clear, but I’ll say it properly just in case: MamoDai is strong. Now, don’t get me wrong here. GouYuu is strong. SomeKyu is strong. Super Zanark is strong. But MamoDai is strong. Remember when I said I was trying to make my characters strong and nonetheless flawed because that’s what really spices things up?

I LIED.

Nah, just kidding. ww But MamoDai really is super strong, to the point where he might very well be the strongest character and miximax in this project. Is he undefeatable? Of course not—that would be no fun. However, he is indeed very, very tough to beat.

As you may know if you’ve read other posts, I always try to find a niche for everyone to make them all actually useful and relevant. I do this so no one can simply outclass someone else. I want them all to be good enough on their own. That’s why their perks aren’t usually “HE’S STRONG AND FAST AND WILL KICK YOUR SORRY ASS TO OBLIVION,” but something a bit more specific and unique. Megane’s outstanding luck, Someoka’s sheer bulldozing power, Tamano’s resistance, Midorikawa’s aerial plays… Something special no one else can have. And MamoDai’s perk is quite cool.

You all have watched or played Inazuma—you wouldn’t be here otherwise. Now, tell me: what happens whenever Raimon/Inazuma Japan/Chrono Storm/Earth Eleven comes across one of the strongest teams in every season/game? There’s always someone in the team saying, “How are we supposed to defeat people this strong?! It’s impossible!!”

Well, MamoDai makes the opposing team say this. His perk is having a strength so overwhelming that enemies can barely even believe someone that strong can exist. MamoDai is, quite literally, the Drama Destroyer, as it turns the tables around by showing overpowered people the true meaning of that word. This is part of the reason why Endou is the last one to get his miximax in this project—it would be completely ridiculous otherwise. As I said, MamoDai is not undefeatable, but you ought to save the best for last. It’d be stupid in terms of storytelling to show the absolute best miximax first and then bring miximaxes that can’t stand up to it coming one after the other. I guess no one would have seen that one coming, but still. ww

Anyway, what exactly are MamoDai’s powers? Let’s cover hissatsus first.

The boosted hissatsu here is quite tricky to point out, as many of Endou’s hissatsus are originally Daisuke’s. However, I think this calls for a middle point between classic and powerful. You could think God Hand would get boosted, but God Hand is rather weak, so even evolving it beyond Shin wouldn’t solve much. Same goes for Nekketsu Punch, Grenade Shot or Bakuretsu Punch. You could boost God Catch, since Daisuke inspired it and all, but he didn’t have much to do with it to begin with. Same goes for Ijigen The Hand, Ikari no Tettsui or even Triple Defense and Megaton Head (not to mention Endou boosted Megaton Head to the very limit himself, as shown by the fact that it turned into Gigaton Head).

Our last options would therefore be The Earth (which Yagami already boosted, so scratch that), Seiji no Tekken (which Daisuke never mastered himself, even if it was his idea), Omega The Hand (TEMPTING, but it doesn’t make a super ton of sense) or… Majin The Hand. In fact, this last idea is the most logical one, if you think about it coldly.

Majin The Hand was stated to be Daisuke’s strongest and signature hissatsu, after all—the one he used when he was a pro soccer player and all. Sure, Majin The Hand is far from Endou’s best hissatsu, but in terms of game canon, it’s always been pretty dang strong nonetheless. Boosting this hissatsu beyond all known limits (within the first trilogy, at least) could be rather useful, as it could easily be as strong as his more energy-consuming hissatsus—or even stronger—while still taking a much smaller toll on him. And it’s just a really cool technique overall! Did you all see the Ares version?! I’M SO HYPED.

As for what hissatsu Endou would get from Daisuke… Well, that is a very difficult question. Endou has pretty much learnt everything Daisuke ever created, after all. You could go for one of the techniques Endou didn’t learn himself, like Inazuma Otoshi or Mugen The Hand, but the team already has both, so it wouldn’t be very interesting. You could also go for God Hand X, since Rococo learnt how to use God Hand from Daisuke to begin with (the X variation might have been Daisuke’s doing too—who knows) and he even taught Sangoku how to use it, but, yeah, Sangoku can already use it. What’s the point, then?

The most interesting options are a bit more obscure. There is this one technique, exclusive to young Hibiki, called God Hand Triple. Hibiki, as we all know, was trained personally by Daisuke, so, much like God Hand X, it could very well be Daisuke’s creation. Even if it weren’t, though, it’s an extremely tempting option. The only downside is that it’s a combo hissatsu, and I try to avoid those as much as I can. However, Chrono Storm did get a combo hissatsu at the very end: Saikyou Eleven Hadou. This could be our chance to create some, uh, parallelism with it? We got a shot last time, so a catch would be nice now. I guess.

Anyway, the other good option is, luckily, a single player hissatsu. It’s one that I will get complaints for, though—mostly from myself. Since Endou is receiving Daisuke’s powers, he could borrow Daisuke’s God Hand, combine it with his own and, therefore, get God Hand W. Now, I’ll list every problem I see with this idea. Let me know if there’s any I missed.

1. In terms of anime (or movie) canon, Tenma can already use this and I just said it’s pointless to repeat techniques. You could go around this by saying that it makes no sense for Tenma to use a catch hissatsu or say that the movie isn’t canon since it happened in an AU of sorts, but still.

2. Daisuke never used God Hand W himself, so it doesn’t make all that sense. Then again, for example, Big couldn’t use Ouja no Kiba and Fei got it from miximaxing with him. (Yes, I know you can scout Big’s gijinka in Galaxy and he can use that technique, but we all know that’s not canon at all, much like Nobunaga being able to use Setsuna Boost, etc. ww)

3. In terms of game canon, young Endou can already use God Hand W, so getting this technique from mixitransing would make little sense. You could argue that this is young Endou within his own universe and he got that technique in the Go games, so it isn’t canon plot-wise, but I’ve already talked about other IE characters using Go techniques, so you all would have many reasons to be mad at me for twisting the rules as I find it fitting (even if the case isn’t exactly the same). What am I, a politician?

I’ll let you guys (assuming anyone reads this) decide whether God Hand W would be a good option or not. But, for now, let me suggest something else.

How about going way, way, way back to the first time this concept was ever shown, back in episode 13 of the original series? This is what we got back then when Endou tried to use God Hand with both hands.

Yes, it was probably meant to be some kind of normal, big hand, but it looks like a straight hand instead of the usual grabby… thing. Couldn’t, therefore, Endou’s take on the combination of two God Hands be something like a… God Palm? It’s a technique he never mastered himself, as he only used it once (or maybe twice at some point?), so the miximax could help him develop it further and, of course, complete it. There goes a thought.

So, yeah. Tricky stuff here. Excuse me for not sharing more than simple thoughts instead of, well, finished things, but at least it isn’t the first time this happens. ww I accept all kinds of feedback or ideas, though!

This time, I decided to save the most boring part for last. To end things off, let’s talk about how Daisuke would change Endou’s abilities.

As I said when I talked about EnYaga’s abilities, Endou’s strength, as a goalkeeper, has always been based on resistance, power and stillness. All these abilities, which pretty much disappeared (or, at least, weren’t boosted at all) when Endou miximaxed with Yagami, are pushed to ungodly—pun intended—limits thanks to Daisuke. The blood and emotional bond makes this miximax reach a power not seen ever since Yuuichi miximaxed with Tsurugi, and we all saw how incredibly strong that was. I even talked about how the bond between vessel and aura can affect the outcome of the miximax back in the day, so there’s that.

Endou’s natural catching and blocking ability (which, in the games, is stronger than Daisuke’s—probably because Daisuke is already old) is doubled or even tripled thanks to this miximax. If there is a single true iron wall in this project, that’s definitely MamoDai. Daisuke always insisted on how a goalkeeper’s power is based on how much strength he has on his stomach because that’s what will allow him to block a shot without being wrecked by it, so MamoDai is able to anchor himself to the ground and not even budge most of the time. It’s fearsome. That’s what I meant when I said he would be reversing the roles and scaring enemies for once. About time something like that happened!

The rest of his abilities—kicking capability, speed, etc.—receive a small boost too, as per usual, but nothing all that extraordinary. You won’t be seeing MamoDai scores many more goals than before, unlike EnYaga, but that’s why it comes in handy to give Endou two different trump cards to choose from… even though one of them is FAR better at what it does than the other. Oh well!

#inavember #inazuma eleven #miximax #mixi max #endou mamoru #info #sketch #powers #original raimon #aliea raimon #inazuma japan

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