✦ Will The New Sprites Be Included In The Artbook?

just a thought: as much as i really LOVE seeing luffy with one of zoro's earrings, i honestly hc that zoro would give him all three. because zoro doesnt give luffy just a part of him; he gives his entirety to luffy. and not just in that whole "i'll follow his every order" or a "i have an unquestionable faith in him", (which i'd like to note, neither of those things are wholly true between them imo), but because zoro is someone who has naturally surrendered himself to luffy--his unwavering adoration for luffy is the ultimate constant. like it's not just devotion it's "you've never had just a slice you've always had the whole cake." so he would not be such a coward as to hand luffy only one of his earrings but all three. i suppose it's just another way of laying himself bare for luffy lol

besides, on a more practical side, i imagine he'd probably like for the set of three to stay three, and it's either gonna be his ear or luffy's no split. it's supposed to be three like there's no point in wearing it if it doesnt go along w his whole concept haha

Round 7 : The Duality of Qin and Hades

I don't think there was any other round conclusion that left me that confused at first. I mean... why did Hades died so tragically when he was fighting for his family and to honor his dead brother's memory, motives that usually tend to be some huge green flags in those kinds of mangas ? And then I realized the answer was right there : Hades was doomed to lost like this precisely because he was fighting for the honor of his family. To understand what I mean, you had to take a look at Hades and Qin as characters

Let's begin with Hades. He is at his core a tragic figure and this well before his actual downfall. From the moment he's introduced into the plot, Hades is defined above all through one thing : Duty. He's one of the most feared and respected gods of Valhalla, someone on which everyone rely and the Ruler of Helheim.

And this is his tragedy because Hades does not assume the responsibilities and duty that come with his status, he endures them and lets them define his entire life.

His whole language is always axed about how he has to do this or how he can't lose that just because that's who he is, never because that's his own choice.

Hades has no desire to avenge Poseidon. He's emotionally exhausted (look at the bags under his eyes), he admitted not having fought for a long time and more importantly : He damn well knows that Poseidon couldn't care less about being avenged. But he has to fight anyway because it's his inherent duty as an older brother, his vow is part of who he is.

He wasn't supposed to fight in the Ragnarok and didn't even want to kill Qin against whom he hold no real grudge. Quite the opposite, he even comes to sympathize with him and admiring him. But he still chooses to fight without hesitation since it's his duty as a god and king of the Netherworld. He can't lose against a mere king of men.

And that's where Qin comes in.

His introduction actually sums him up perfectly : We see him making his own way by breaking through walls into the gods' VIP lodges instead of waiting in his room ; he ragdolled Ares who tried to force him to leave ; and when Brunhilde asks him to follow her to the entrance gate, here's his answer

This is his core character : Qin doesn't care about traditions and expectations. He doesn't follow the path that is expected of him, he traces his own road (literally and metaphorically) and makes no compromises with anyone, whether they are gods or humans.

When confronted to Chi You, a tyrannical demon god who oppresses his country and people, Qin doesn't resign himself to accept it like previous kings did, he actively fights against this status quo and forces it to bend to his notion of duty

It can be long (his fight with Chi You literally take six days), it can be painful but this is how he proceeds and that's his greatest source of pride. He's not defined by his status as king, he's the one who defines what it means to be one

This is an essential component of his backstory and Round 7 writing. When we meet Qin as a child, he's the radical opposite of the one we know : He doesn't try to impose himself as a person and rather immediately conforms to the expectations of those around him.

Chun Yan scolds him for not acting like a child should ? He forces himself to act as such to satisfy her. His guards and the locals of Zhao use him as a scapegoat for the people they've lost ? He apologizes and endures hatred and excruciating pain because that's what is expected from him. That he passively endures

You know where I'm going with this : Little Qin is basically Hades' foil. Both represses their feelings to conform themselves to duty and exterior expectations, which make them utterly miserable (which isn't that apparent for Hades yet but I'm coming to this).

However, Qin grew up from this through his meeting with Chun Yan, which made him realize something that will forge him into a king

A lesson Alvitr will also remind him at the end of his fight by asking him to say clearly what he wants when he started to doubt of himself. Something to which Qin just answered : "I want to win... No matter what !"

One wants to win because he has made a promise from his own will, the other has to win since his vow define him.

Because Hades never learnt that lesson and always suffered from it. I've seen a lot of people praising him for how cool and badass of a big brother he is in his backstory, for wiping out a whole army of titans to protect his siblings but imo this is just sad. Instead of talking to his family about this threat and trying to find a solution together, he immediately assumes that he has to deal with them alone, even tho he knows that they are too much and he might actually die.

And when Poseidon asks him if everything's okay, he isn't even able to ask for help or just look at his brother when he's lying to him

But miraculously this time he managed to win this battle, thanks to his trump card : Ichor Eos. An ability that highlights how self-destructive Hades is when it comes to protect his duty and family. To activate this trump card, he has to hurt himself and bleed. Fulfilling his duty literally requires from him to sacrifice himself.

And despite this, Hades still insists that everything is fine afterwards. No matter how heavy his burden is, he will never be defeated because that's what the world expects from him

Except he did. Sadly this time, his burden was too heavy and he got destroyed in the process. Hades died and not even in a satisfying way. Just compare with the others fighters' death :

Lu Bu died feeling joy for the first time in his life, happy to finally fighting an equal

Adam lost with a peaceful smile on his face, knowing that he did his best to protect his children

Poseidon was bitter in his last moments but held on to his pride until the end

Heracles remained faithful to what he is and inspired Jack to become a better person

Raiden had the best sumo fight of his life and vanished with the woman he loved

Zerofuku finally got to be happy too

Nikola gave the most wholesome speech ever known to Mankind after making science evolved once again

And Leonidas was proud, having proven that Sparta will always be the strongest

But Hades ? Nothing of that

In his last moments, he was convinced of having let his family down and being a failure as a result, apologizing to them for this just before disappearing forever under their eyes.

And the most painful part of this is that Hades was the only one to see himself as such. The members of his family may have admired him for his strength and his willingness to make any sacrifice for the honor of gods but they still loved him first and foremost as a person. Adamas was ready to throw away his own pride as a god (the thing Hades literally died for) by killing a crippled half-dead Qin for winning in a fair fight. Hermes composed a requiem in his memory and Zeus was both heartbroken and sorry to hear his last words. He knew his brother had nothing to apologize for but realized that the latter didn't.

At the end of the day, Hades didn't lost this battle of kings just because Qin was stronger. He lost because Qin was the better king and learn to find worth in himself rather than in what people expected from him, while Hades let his responsibilities consume him throughout his whole life.

Two gamblers and their very competent companions

Toon x Mobster chapter list

[Jack Desmond and Gavriel Huffman's first meeting] - Chapter 1: First encounter. - Chapter 1.1: Unfamiliar.

--

Note: This will be updated every time a new chapter is released.

K'uhul Ajaw

If Halloween existed in the game, what costumes would the characters choose to wear? (Would Lázaro also get a tiny costume for his cat?)

I mean, Halloween does exist, but only in the MCs world! So chances of the LIs going to a Halloween party are never 0!

✦ The LIs' Halloween costumes!

✦ Amon: Sexy werewolf

✦ Raeya: Eldritch knight

✦ Gael: Vampire

✦ Envy: Grim reaper

✦ Ara: Inflatable pick-me-up alien but the alien is pink and has been yassified

✦ Xal: Frankenstein's monster

✦ Father Pride: A humble skeleton

✦ Lázaro & Elise: Sexy plague doctor and perfectly adequate pumpkin

✦ Cécile: ...pirate? Scary pirate? Just good luck dressing him up for this

✦ Envy and Raeya's reworks are here!

Hello folks! 💜

But first of all, we'd like to thank y'all for all the feedback in our Ara & Amon's reworks post. We are sorry for not replying to everyone, as we have to take into consideration a lot of feedback from a lot of places; but please know that we read you! We hope that was reflected in the final version of those sprites :^)

Now let's jump into it! Raquel has learned a lot from previous feedback, so this time around, our discord members and Kickstarter backers thought there wasn't a lot to correct—but the second iteration has already improved a lot for you Tumblr folks to see and judge!

Let's start with our dear Praefectus Raeya!

✦ Raeya

Remember you can open these in a new tab to zoom in!

For Raeya, Raquel wanted to give her outfit a redesign, and change her silhouette. The rest has been mantained!

For the second round of feedback, our backers thought her nose and eyes weren't still on point, so Raquel spent more time with them. Now, the red circle inside Raeya's pupil has been brought back, and her nose and lips have been modified to better represent her features.

Also, some backers thought the gold / bronze were too distracting, specially on her boots, so that has been toned down!

✦ Envy

Remember you can open these in a new tab to zoom in!

For our fan favorite edgelord, Raquel improved the silhouette of their hair to make it more spiky, gave him a better posture / stance, and redesigned their clothes to make them more goth.

Our backers pointed out that his left hand and the index on his right one were a bit wonky, so Raquel fixed those. I think they look much better now! There wasn't a lot of fixes needed compared to Raeya, so that's good!

On another note, some folks liked his new hair, while others thought it was too spiky. Ultimately, we've let Raquel choose, so the spikes are staying!

As always, feedback is welcome and really appreciated! We are nearing the end of our round of reworks, so we hope you all can grow to enjoy the full set and are excited to see them in game! 💜

Shout out to all the Black ppl that can no longer participate directly in the fandom they love because of the stresses of racism 👍🏾 you contain multitudes of value and I'm sorry that the color of your skin and the power of your voice makes people not want to acknowledge that.

zoro being canonically jealous across the board (anime manga and live action) is probably one of if not the funniest running bits because it’s SUCH an irrational feeling for zoro to have. no one is doubting how strong he is. no one is doubting his position as first mate / how close he is to luffy / their weird borderline telepathic relationship. and if he was paying attention, he’d notice luffy always says hi to him first always looks to him first blushes at the sight of him but he’s in the corner FUMING bc usopp nominated himself to be luffy’s cornerman during the foxy pirate arc. that luffy said sanji was worth 1000 men. that sanji dared to suggest he knew what luffy needed. giving the side eye whenever luffy talks about how strong other guys are. and of course oda just keeps introducing more and more luffy stans (and ppl for luffy to compliment) giving zoro the WORST tummy ache

twitta dump. don’t have a lot of time for super polished pieces these days