“I Don’t Like RWBY Chibi, But I Like Yang With A Blowtorch.”

Have you ever thought about how Mario probably grew up in a loving but financially unstable home, and how he and Luigi likely struggled to eek out a decent life for themselves prior to whatever strange magic brought them to the Mushroom Kingdom? Have you thought about the months where they had to decide which they wanted more: food, or a roof over their heads?

And then have you stopped to think about Peach, a literal monarch with an endless supply of wealth, suddenly giving them a cottage big enough to house a whole family and free access to her castle and inviting them to share meals with her, for no other reason than 1.) she's quite fond of them and 2.) she just can? How she probably views these gestures as meager, the absolute least she can do for her friends, and how she likely has no idea that she's casually giving them a sense of security and belonging they've never had before? How much peace she brings into Mario's life, never having to wonder where his next paycheck or his next meal is coming from, seeing his beloved brother finally having the means to pursue his own hobbies and pastimes, and not even realizing it? Have you ever thought about that?

And have you ever thought about how lonely Peach's life must have been? Even if there were other children her age to play with (never mind that none of them were human like her), she couldn't have played anyway, because every aspect of her upbringing was tailored around making her an effective politician? And how even in adulthood, there's very few people who seek her company just for the sake of it; how she goes into most interactions knowing that she's wanted for her beauty, her power, her influence, and nothing else?

And then have you stopped to think about Mario, a guy with plenty of friends and lots of better things to do, just... seeking her out for no other reason than to talk? How he could have so much more from Peach if only he asked, she would happily gift him any treasure that money could buy, but for some reason she can't decipher, all he wants is her friendship? How he doesn't view her as untouchable or some great means to an end, nor does he just turn a blind eye to their differing social statuses; he acknowledges her position and her power yet expects nothing of her in spite of it, and is happiest simply when he can sit and chat with her about nothing for hours on end? Have you ever thought about that?

Because I think about that, like. A lot.

RWBY Zombie Apocalypse Part 5 : A glimpse of the past

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | part 5 | Part 6

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The Insane Power of Flynn: The Defense of Chad Samurai Man

It’s time for the lies and slander to stop. Flynn is not weak and it’s time to set the record straight. This is the defense of the power of chad samurai man. This is a more in depth version of my earlier post questioning why people think Flynn is weak. This goes over all Flynn’s major achievements, compares him to some of the other protagonists, and explains just what he can do. If you disagree on what I say and want to debate me I’m open to it. I’m still new at powerscaling this is based solely on feats of characters and what is stated in the games. I made this because people think Flynn is weak and I simply don’t agree based on what I have seen of him from playing SMT4 and SMT4A.

Edit: I added a feat I completely forgot about.

Preamble: This is a composite Flynn using feats from the neutral route of SMT 4 and SMT 4 Apocalypse. I believe the feats are fair game for Apocalypse Flynn because if the timeline didn’t diverge he would have gone right on to do these feats after giving Masakado the spirit of hope. This includes the side quests and dlcs too.

*Spoiler warning: Major spoilers for SMT4 and SMT4 Apocalypse.*

*Trigger warning: Reading this may trigger intense salt. If you get salty easily or really don’t like Flynn or think anyone without demon power is fodder or if you can’t take jokes (mostly of this is serious but I threw in some jokes for fun) reader discretion is advised.*

This isn’t everything Flynn’s done, just the most impressive stuff he’s done.

Feats (Solo):

-Defeats Lucifer in his true form even after his transformation

In the chaos route he tells Flynn that his form in this game is his true form. After Flynn beats down Lucifer in the neutral route he transforms presumably getting stronger.

-Defeats Sanat and Ancient of Days (dlc)

Both Sanat and Ancient Days are heavily implied to be beings on higher dimensions of reality. These beings couldn’t even be analyzed by Burroughs the AI Steven made. At first Flynn can’t perceive them, but then for some unexplained reason he suddenly can. After this he fights and defeats both of them in their respective quests.

Also, Ancient of Days is a part of YHVH. Flynn defeats a part of YHVH alone.

-Defeats the White

This one is probably the least important because it’s not exactly known how strong they are. What we do know is that the white are the incarnation of humanity’s despair. They had the power to send Flynn to parallel words and even trap him in their own dimension. Flynn is able to escape with Stephen’s help after defeating the white.

-Defeats Krishna very casually (in the bonds route)

After being separated from Krishna who has power comparable to Lucifer or Merkabah he easily defeats him after two sword strikes. You could argue Krishna was weakened, but Flynn is shown here to be perfectly fine even though he was just fused with Krishna. It doesn’t make sense for Krishna to be more damaged than Flynn after all Krishna was in Flynn’s body so if anything he should be more hurt after the battle with Nanashi’s group than Krishna. If you want to say Krishna was weakened then Flynn should be equally weakened too by the damage sustained by Vishnu Flynn.

-Defeats the four archangels separately (dlc)

Mastema recruits Flynn to defeat the Archangels for him so he can seal them. So, he goes through time like samurai Jack and fights them. He defeats each one of them individually so Mastema can capture them. Flynn could have killed them considering the dialogue choice your given.

If you say yes Mastema persuades Flynn not to though it’s very clear if he wanted to, Flynn could kill them.

-Defeats Beelzebub (side quest)

In a side quest he kills the lord of the flies Beezlebub. Beezlebub is a very powerful demon for the chaos faction and was once the deity Baal. He also, like everyone in SMT4A, wants Flynn.

-Defeats Masakado’s Shadow

He beats sense into Masakado’s shadow before the nukes hit Tokyo. Masakado’s shadow absorbs all the elements, physical, gun and resists almighty yet Flynn was still able to damage him.

Edit:-Flynn also tanks multiple lightning bolts from Odin. It is shown that Flynn is faster than lightning because he dodges Odin’s lightning. The only reason Odin hit him to begin with is because Matrieya threatened to kill Asahi. So, Flynn can speed blitz and tank multiple lightning bolts from a God. Also remember Odin was able to completely manhandle Nanashi’s entire group including Isabeau. Even with the rematch Nanashi and his entire group were needed to defeat Odin. I think Odin taking a hostage implies he couldn’t have defeated Flynn fairly because if he could of he would of like he did in his first encounter with the bonds squad.

Feats (w/other people):

-Defeats YHVH

Obviously defeating the creator is a big deal. In the bonds route he defeats him alongside Nanashi’s friends and his fellow samurai. In the Dadga route he defeats him alongside Nanashi and Satan. An important thing to note here is the fact that Flynn aids Nanashi in his victory no matter which route he chooses. Dadga’s whole ideology revolves around the individual and doing things by yourself. He only revived Nanashi to be his Godslayer because only a human can kill a god. The point I’m trying to make is that Dadga would only revive Flynn if he absolutely had to. This implies that Nanashi could not have defeated YHVH alone and that he needed his help to win.

-Defeats Merkabah (a fusion of the four archangels)

In the neutral route he defeats Merkabah with just his samurai companion Isabeau.

-Is one half of Vishnu-Flynn a being on the same level of power as YHVH

This is the power Krishna intended to use to defeat YHVH. Remember this is after all his allies are out of commission so he is confident they can defeat YHVH in their fused state.

-Defeats Satan (a fusion of Lucifer and Merkabah)

Self explanatory he does this with Nanashi in his friends in the bonds route and with just Nanashi in the Dadga route.

Comparisons:

-Nanashi

He also fought Lucifer and Merkabah, but had WAY more help. He had his immortality from Dadga and also the help of Asahi, Nozomi, Hallelujah, Gaston, Toki, Navarre, Isabeau, the people of Tokyo, and Shesha disguised as Flynn. Even then him and his team still had to resort to sacrificing swaffs of Tokyo’s people and distracting Lucifer so Shesha Flynn could stab him in the back.

So anyway the ‘morally unobjectionable’ bonds squad sacrifices a bunch of people to get advantage in a fight like the heartless monsters…*cough* *cough* I mean retarded heroes they are. They neither try to stop the people or even question Shesha Flynn. Why? I dunno because they think he’s Flynn? I guess if Flynn says it’s okay anything is alright? This is how far their simpage of Flynn goes. He’s like a god to these people and they will agree with everything he decrees. On the flip side Flynn not only fought Lucifer alone, but Lucifer even transformed into a stronger form and was still defeated by Flynn. Against Merkabah, Flynn is supported by Isabeau only having the one person as help compares to Nanashi who had support from his SEVEN FRIENDS and the hunters. And even with ALL that support underhanded tactics were still needed to defeat Lucifer and Merkabah. This is in contrast to Flynn who beat them in their transformed states fair and square with little or no support.

Vishnu Flynn is a big point people try to use to argue Nanashi being superior, but it makes no sense. In the bonds route he needs all his friends' support, and Flynn sabotaging Vishnu Flynn from the inside to win while in the Dadga route he just fights him alone. This realistically makes no sense. The feat I just mentioned just happened before Nanashi goes into the cosmic egg with his friends to fight Vishnu Flynn. Nothing between the bonds and Dadga route is different up until the choice where you either fight your friends or Dadga. Afterwards you immediately fight Vishnu Flynn. It makes zero sense for Nanashi to be stronger in the Dadga route since everything would be the same up to that point. Also, an important thing that people don’t bring up is that Krishna is controlling Vishnu Flynn not Flynn. Also, Flynn doesn’t have access to his demons or Masakado’s katana which he would have in a normal fight against Nanashi. Krishna even openly admits that he’s still getting used to the new body so it’s clear Vishnu Flynn isn’t at his peak.

And seriously you’re having a guy who uses a flute to attack suddenly use swords so he’d have no skill in using him which would make a big difference. For all we know Krishna just flails them like baseball bats at Nanashi. This would be very different if Flynn, a trained samurai whose main weapon is a SWORD, was in control. What I’m saying is this fight is not very reliable in determining how Nanashi would actually fair against Flynn. He’s not only not the one in control, he can’t summon, and he doesn’t have access to any of his normal equipment.

-The Hero (SMT 1)

I’m comparing the two since they both fight the archangels. Flynn is obviously above him considering his final boss is Michael and Flynn defeats a fusion of all four of the archangels with Isabeau. Not even best dog Pascal can save him from a guy who can kill beings on higher dimensions.

-Demifiend

Both beat Lucifer but Flynn beats a powered up Lucifer and rather than maybe fighting YHVH like Demifiend actually canonically beats YHVH. So, I know this will make people triggered but I honestly think he’s stronger than Demifiend. Not to mention Masakado’s katana bypasses Demifiend being null to everything and can give him a weakness.

Powers:

Masakado’s katana- He can give any enemy a weakness with it. Since it counts as an almighty attack this attack could even work on Demifiend. I mean it worked on YHVH for crying out loud.

Higher perception- He can perceive beings on a higher plane of reality than he is and can even fight them and beat them.

Magic-In Apocalypse he uses almighty magic and has healing spells. In the other version of him in the Diamond Realm dlc he has access to ice, wind, and lightning magic.

Higher tier skills-He can get more powerful versions of skills through demon whisper up to +8 stronger.

Has such samurai skill- He is really good with a sword to the point where other characters compliment him on this including the Gaia member you fight to get into Ginza.

Is a human-Means he can kill Gods and all that other crazy bs they say humans can do in Apocalypse.

Demon Summoning Program-Pretty standard he can summon demons.

Epic Chad Energy-Is so powerful and awesome freaking LORD KRISHNA SIMPS FOR THIS MAN!!! (You know the big bad main antagonist of Nanashi’s game😂) And a bunch of other gods, demons, and humans in Apocalypse. 90% of that game was just everyone fighting over him and his manly ponytail. Even the radical individualist Dadga couldn’t resist having him on his side when it literally goes against his whole ideology and makes him look like a huge dumb hypocrite. The entire population of Tokyo goes from being bloodthirsty sociopaths to his simps because he’s just that awesome. This motherfucker is like the Yu Narukami of mainline SMT everyone wants him. This guy is such a chad in fact he doesn’t need to be given a handout (immortality, demon powers, whatever the fuck is Aogami’s deal (I’m not done with SMT5)) in the beginning and just starts as a casual farm boy who can’t even bait a fishhook to chad messiah godslayer who has every faction simping for him. And yeah I know somebody is gonna say ‘what about Masakado’s katana? Isn’t that a handout?’. First of all Flynn doesn’t receive the katana in any route except neutral and that’s after he’s already defeated countless gods and the literal incarnation of humanities despair so no I wouldn’t call it a handout. He earned that katana after already proving himself to be capable. Other than that Masakado only supports him through letting him fuse his shadow to use in battle.

Conclusion: I would say he’s at the bare minimum above Lucifer. I do think realistically speaking he is stronger than Nanashi. It makes no sense for Nanashi to be stronger and if he was really so above Flynn why does he need his help?! Going off feats I would put him above Demifiend whose big bad boss was Lucifer. If Demifiend solos YHVH in a future Nocturne HD Redux Overlocked: Maniacs Edition I will gladly eat my words till that day comes. I believe the person who beat God is stronger than the guy who beat Lucifer. But, I’m going off what has happened in canon. Especially with his dlc feats I would place him above a lot of characters in mainline. He still doesn’t beat Aleph because he’s a freak. I don’t know about Nahabino because I’m not done with SMT5.

The Long Awaited Masterlist for Make a Change

Part One: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/187632539317/make-a-change-p1 

Part Two: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/187733021387/make-a-change-p2

Part Three: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/187787813752/make-a-change-p3 

Part Four: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/187911133227/make-a-change-p4

Part Five: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188012159482/make-a-change-p5 

Part Six: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188155242782/make-a-change-p6

Part Seven: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188245262267/make-a-change-p7 

Part Eight: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188795065992/make-a-change-p8 

Part Nine: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/189461647642/make-a-change-p9

Part Ten: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/189828102132/make-a-change-part-10 

Part Eleven: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/190150565512/make-a-change-part-11 

Part Twelve: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/190461628627/make-a-change-part-12

Part Thirteen: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/190867284347/make-a-change-p13

RWBY Zombie Apocalypse AU : Ch 8

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Let us see the terror of heaven

I was thinking a while ago today about the way angels are consistently designed in Shin Megami Tensei vs the way the Law alignment is sort of steadily portrayed in later games. It's a weird trip but hopefully where I'm going will become clear.

Most of Shin Megami Tensei's angels actually hue fairly close to the "traditional" image of angels, as fair-looking winged humans. We see this for instance in Shin Megami Tensei's Angel.

In nearly all of the angels in the Tenshi clan:

And of course, the Four Archangels/Seraphs/Heralds. Let's just use Uriel as an example here:

There's also Haniel and Kazfiel whose designs both follow traditional Christian depictions of seraphs. We'll bring up Haniel's art here:

But then we get to Shin Megami Tensei II where we really start to see the "Biblically accurate angels" trope emerge in earnest, where we see the more human/Hellenistic-looking angels alongside some pretty eldritch entities in the Daitenshi clan. For example, Tzaphkiel:

Or how about Ophanim, which seems to be based around Ezekiel's vision of the cherubim:

And then of course there's SMT 2's Satan:

Devil Summoner and Soul Hackers can be seen as developing the inhuman aesthetic of SMT's angels as extending from the "Biblically accurate angel" trope. Let's start with the Tenshi clan in Devil Summoner:

And some of the Daitenshi:

Then Soul Hacker's Tenshi:

And Daitenshi:

With Shin Megami Tensei IV it seems that one of the guest artists, Keita Amemiya, took the inhuman direction for angel design to the nth degree in terms of his approach to demon design in general as reflecting the idea of angels and demons as artificial beings.

At this point I should get to where I'm going here. For a while, at least a decade ago, I might have favoured the idea of the angels as strictly inhuman, or even artifical, possibly to convey the externality and alienness of the repression of the order of God. Keita Amemiya seemed to really lean on that idea, though the designs were certainly rather poorly executed at least for the Four Heralds. But thinking about it, I think the older designs for the Four Seraphs appeal to me for more than just being the classic designs from SMT 1 and 2.

Even though the "Biblically accurate" design direction is very suitably weird both for SMT's context and the linking of the strange and alien to representation of dreadful aspects of divine awe, I find that the more humanlike representation of angels in the context of the Law alignment works better for what, in my mind, I prefer to see. To understand where I'm going, let's look at SMT IV and Apocalypse. Here, the Law alignment is much as it is in SMT I and II, in that it can understood in terms of a single-minded devotion to the order of God, and to the extent that the forces of Law are ruthless in their actions, willing even to wipe out all of Tokyo in order to preserve the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado. In Apocalypse, you see YHVH's "true form" as a monstrous chimera the likes of which, as I remember Eirikr noting, you would probably see as the formulaic final boss of literally any JRPG.

To my mind, it serves to very obviously signify YHVH as unambiguously evil, which, oddly for SMT, is represented as similarly unambiguously demonic. Of course it might be argued that the conceits of Sethian "Gnosticism" are also in play. I think that the opposite approach would be better. SMT IV's approach seems to tie the order of God and the atrocity that the forces of Law undertake to uphold as, all along, the manifestation of a demonic will. But the better idea for me is that all of the same atrocity is done not by monsters but by the traditional figures of light.

Every scheme to dominate the universe, and every massacre that follows to support it, every terror that befalls mankind for its perceived failure, I prefer that we see all of it under the auspice of the traditional figures of light. That would be a far more fitting adage of the inversion that SMT is known for. As Valerio Mattioli said of Rome as portrayed by Luchino Visconti, hell lies in the celestial vaults. And what better way to illustrate that then all of the violence and terror of Law being the instrument not of monstrous chimeras but of celestial form. Of a "beauty" that hides unfathomable violence within itself. And I don't want SMT to be the only place where you can find this idea. Oh no no no I think more media should play with that idea, more art should go all in on this kind of aesthetic-moral inversion.

Update: it occurred to me that I've forgotten something. I forgot to talk about SMT V.

When it comes to SMTV, we see echoes of SMTIV Apocalypse's handling of Law and the violence of order, in that it both reasserts its treatment of that as the affect of an actually demonic will and presents Abdiel's desire to reassert God's order as a plunge to towards the demonic. Hence you see the angel Abdiel transform from sort of an angelic Princess Padme in gold armour into an actual fallen angel, who even gets reclassed as the only Law-aligned member of the Fallen clan.

Not to mention her attempt to become a Nahobino resulting in a transformation into a giant demon centaur whose design seems to recall Sirene's fusion with Kaim in Devilman.

Of course, in context this is all supposed to emerge from the premise of God's death, Abdiel's denial of that death, and the resulting desperation to restore order. But, again, that desire as strictly the affect of the classically demonic to me misses the point. Yet, given the obvious resonances with Nocturne, where three of the main characters merge with their demonic sponsors, it's worth pointing to an obvious contrast: Baal Avatar.

And moreso, the fact that before you see Baal Avatar you witness Chiaki slaughter the Manikins, ramble about how the strong deserve to crush the weak, and then in a flash of light three out of the four archangels (namely Raphael, Gabriel, and Uriel) appear as her allies, which you fight.

Now there's a setting where the representatives of Social Darwinist violence and atrocity also make no bones about what guides them: the idea that they're making the world beautiful and promoting the ultimate good. Their radiant appearance is not to be understood as a deception covering up some inner demonic nature or demonomania but instead only reflects their seemingly divine conceit. It's not only that they believe they are paragons of virtue. Everything they do, they do as figures of light. And you, a monster among monsters, a cursed being in the world of demons, might oppose them and might just stop them if you choose to. It's really hard to think of anything else that has that angle. It's also somewhat concerning to think that future games might miss the mark.

The development exemplified by Abdiel's transformation into literally a fallen angel ultimately lends not only to certain ideas about the hope that there might be something "unambiguously good" about Law, but also the idea that all the bad things about it are all about concert with the demonic, which is ultimately familiar to the conceit that all of the negative aspects of Christianity are simply the manifestations of a falsification of Christianity, that the "real" blasphemers, heretics, and demons are actually just Christian fundamentalists. But I'm not interested in that idea. I'm interested in the worst that humanity has to offer being contained in its loftiest aspirations of order and in turn represented in the figures of light, because I'm interested in the idea that it is in the name of "the Good" that atrocity always manifests, and for which we cast it into a shadow of the human, in evil.

What we are striving to forget is that the worst deeds in the world are always either utterly human or surely the work of God. Nothing demonic could come close. So let us see more inversion that reflects that insight. The insight that, so far, SMT is among the few media to portray, let alone portray as brilliantly as it often has.

“you’re not alone anymore  Blake “

RWBY Zombie Apocalypse AU : Ch 9   Previous| Read from the beginning *Special thanks for @69kokoro for helping me with coloring. and thanks for all of your nice messages ,I really appreciate it.

#LuciaIsTheBest

Lucia is my favourite character in Devil May Cry.

Unpopular Character Meme: Favorite Character Even Canon Seems To Have Forgotten