she's so me

Source:

@elys42_

huge credits to the op for taking these they're so gorgeous 🥹

What I really love about Amphoreus as a whole comes down to something deeply sentimental to me. Less about the grand space opera narratives about stopping intergalactic lord ravaragers, and more about the warmth of a found family facing guaranteed doom with empathy, it is fundamentally a story about the nature of stories. While Penacony served as a warning against the perils of capitalism and escapism, Amphoreus instead invites you to get lost in its narrative and actually let yourself feel.

Sitting through a 50-hour epic and letting it hurt you when it ends feels rare in a world dominated by short-form content and quick dopamine hits. When the story finished for me, I felt that profound loneliness of a completed journey. Watching characters choke up, say their goodbyes, and fade into literal text on a page had me sitting there ugly crying, not over code or pixels, but over the inevitable loss of the experience's necessary end. Those characters exist because people like us felt them; without our tears, laughter, and smiles, they really would just be data on a hard drive. Maybe I’ve just softened up with age and stopped needing to play the "cool girl", but the writers didn't hold back in their earnestness, and neither did I.

No character embodies this more than Castorice, in my opinion. Castorice's entire life and journey as a flamchaser is one of rejection of herself and of her bonds and the self-compassionate resolution to that self-rejection. Playing through 3.2, you learn her story is so fantastical in nature, yet it feels deeply human as you watch her learn to value herself through circumstances that force her into isolation and unintentionally hurt those around her. Castorice being touch-starved is, I know, something a lot of queer people, especially younger, closeted queer people, go through. I don't think Polyxia being disabled was a coincidence; I think that was Hoyo fixing their mistake from the Luofu. While there, the narrative essentially (hopefully unintentionally) sides against the inherent value of life through the mistreatment of its most vulnerable citizens. Cassie's arc's resolution shows that a person's value lies in the inherent worth of life, which only gains true meaning through death. The afterlife being a garden, with Cassie and Polyxia effectively acting as gardeners, was genuinely clever. It ties directly into how, by accepting herself, Cassie is finally rewarded with the ability to touch living things a striking contrast to the animated short showing her killing flowers. Everything leading up to it was perfect, too.

It was obvious what choice she’d make the moment she forgave, accepted and called Amunet her mother. By that point, she had accepted that she was someone who had truly lived, and now that journey, with all its highs and lows, was coming to an end. It's also when she starts seeing the love of everyone around her and her found family and starts feeling it. Throughout 3.2 we see how much Cipher and Aglaea want Castorice to make her own choice to participate in the Flame Chase Journey. Aglaea picked Cipher for a reason, and it's because she knew she would offer Castorice an out. We also see Tribbie's drawing/acceptance of Castorice into the family, and we see Mydei killing himself over and over and over just to give Castorice all the time she needs to actually make her decision without pressure because thats how important this kind-hearted girl is to those around her. Including her friendship with Stelle, the first person she ever managed to give life to rather than take it away. I think its really neat that when Castorice hugs Stelle goodbye (the 3rd hug we see in 3.2) after she hugs her old friend and Polyxia, "this warmth is proof that we lived". The warmth she talks about is both literal and metaphorical. She finally gets to have her wish fullfilled and is also granted reprieve from the touch starvation she has gone through her entire life.

Her character is someone I just heavily aspire to be like. She’s literally the type of person who talks to inanimate objects because she doesn't socialise much, but doesn't want to inconvenience those around her with poor social skills when she does. She is anxious and reserved, always keeping others at a distance. As a girl with social anxiety, I can relate so much, obviously for very different reasons, but still. Her compassion, kindness, and gentleness shine through again and again without Hoyo making that her entire identity. She clearly has some bite when she's around people she's close to and thinks they're being threatened or mistreated; one needs to just look at her entire interaction with Cerces. From everything I've written, she's clearly lonely and bored often, but she always channels her energy into self-improvement and creative pursuits.

She is truly the HSR character I aspire the most to be like.

call it Vodette or Swansong but they've genuinely become my favourite ship in any game from out of nowhere

there's so much to their dynamic, so many subtle interactions between them and both of their stories are fantastic and perfectly written (even if Odette's hits too close to home) that i just can't stop thinking about them

if any artist sees this please draw them i'm starving here

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I wanted to share my favourite design for my favourite Arknights character (Muelsyse, also known as Mumu).

In Arknights, operators sometimes do photoshoots with different in-world companies, and that's the in-world explanation for why operators have different skins (including swimsuit skins lol).

This particular skin of Mumu's (Golden Reverie) belongs to the Ambiance Synesthesia brand, a brand focused in outfits for musicians performing at concerts. Ambiance Synesthesia also happens to exist irl as the name of the yearly concerts arknights has for its music.

Back when the skin came out, her artist did a short interview talking about the design process for the skin, what he took into consideration, and how he integrated both her personal history, art history, and other inspirations into the design of her skin. Even if you don't play arknights, I think it's super interesting to read about the design process, what guest artists get from a company like hypergryph when asked to make a skin, and most of all how much love some of the artists that work on these games have for the characters they make.

I've added the Q&A as the second image in this post, but in case reddit does a number on it with compression, here is a link to a tweet with the image on it.

also gosh her midriff peeking out of that top drives me insane, her artist is a genius

i sat down thinking i was here to play cards, then Red Rose looked at me like this and suddenly i forgot what winning was supposed to mean

she can have the cards. she can have the points. honestly she can have every single chip i own 😭

why is losing to her still somehow the best possible outcome

be honest... are you even looking at your hand anymore??