I know squat about Rune Factory 4 but I do find it funny that your beloved in the game seems to be some guy named LEON (one letter away from Leona) who is also buff and has big boobs and cat ears 😭
[ Referencing this post! ]
Yeah, Doug does look visually similar to Riddle but their personalities are nothing alike. As for Leon, he’s meant to be a fox, not a cat (though I could see why you’d make the mistake or connection to cats). Leon’s… definitely buff… with a prominent chest… 🙂↕️ He also has baggage, is perceptive, loves to read, translates old languages, is admired by younger peers, and uses his shrewdness + teasing to deflect from talking about his own insecurities, just… like… Leona………………. ……. ……, … .. . ……….,.. ….. ..:..,.. … ….. …. .. . .. . . .
NO, WAIT 💀 LISTEN, IT’S NOT WhAt IT LOOKS liKE… I sWear TO YOU…
There’s differences between Leon and Leona too… For example, I would say Leona is definitely more “fox-like”. He’s light-hearted, kind of like a playful trickster that’s entertained by the antics of others. I’d also say Leon is more earnest and openly helpful than Leona, who can seemingly never directly assist you. Leona has roundabout methods or will only step in if you’re causing trouble for him or there’s something for him to gain through his involvement.
If I recall, Leon is a priest too! God, could you IMAGINE Leona as a priest 💀 He ended up sacrificing himself in order to protect the dragon he serves, only to reawaken several hundreds of years later in a new era (ie the modern day of the RF4 game). And ain’t no way Leona would stick his neck out like that for MALLEUS.
As I mentioned in an older post, there’s a lot of individual design elements I dislike about Leona (the tail, the muscles, the excessive display of skin, long hair, body markings, etc.) and a lot of those also apply to Leon. I like Leon in spite of those design elements, not because of them.
What charmed me about him was the combination of his maturity and his easygoing nature. Leon’s always willing to lend an ear if you need someone to listen or to give advice. He’s also able to ground you or to lighten the mood if things become too doom and gloom. It’s such big bro energy 😳
One character dynamic I enjoy a lot is Leon and Forte, a serious and hardworking knight with insecurities about her girly interests (sweets, cute things, dressing in a feminine manner, etc). She has a younger brother, Kiel, who idolized Leon and (stupidly) does whatever Leon jokingly tells him to do. Leon frequently teases her because of her stoicism and overprotectiveness, enjoying the reactions he gets out of her. I’ve always thought that these two would make for a great rival couple (but RF4 never implemented that mechanic).
BUT!!! What really sold me on Leon was his heart-wrenching dating + marriage storyline 😭 IT FR MAKES ME CRY SO MUCH EVERY TIME I EXPERIENCE IT
Slapping it under the cut because I don’t want to ruin the masterpiece if you haven’t seen it for yourself yet and care about spoilers 💔
You can ask Leon out, the same as you can with any other bachelor, once you hit a certain affection level. However, what differentiates him from the other bachelors is that he… rejects you.
His reasoning? He can’t ever marry you, since he swore off marriage long ago. Leon doesn’t want to lead you on by dating you, as that would give you false hope and expectations of the relationship developing into something more. He even begs you to “give up” on him because he cares about hurting your feelings 😭 MC manages to convince him to date anyway, with the understanding that it won’t lead to marriage down the line.
As I mentioned earlier, Leon was actually born several hundreds of years ago. At the time, he had a childhood friend, a girl named Maria. Leona describes her as “like a little sister”, “annoying […] but cute”, and “such s crybaby, always clinging to [him]”. He used to look after her as if he was her older brother, going everywhere together.
One day, Maria was crying so much that Leon said he’d do whatever she wanted if she stopped crying. And you know what Maria wanted? She asked if she could marry him. Without thinking much of it, Leon agreed. They carved their names down in an language they had both just learned to “seal the deal”. However, Leon admits to forgetting about the promise and thinking of it as another playdate, but Maria didn’t. She actually never shed a single tear again after that. Not when she got teased, not when she got injured, not even on the day he left to become what is essentially a sacrifice. It was then and only then that Leon realized Maria took their promise 100% seriously. AND HE FEELS LIKE SUCH AN ASS ABOUT IT.
Leon is sealed away for a while and awakens in modern day. Maria has long since passed on (he even visits the place where they carved their names down)--but the memory of that promise still haunts him. He is plagued by the guilt of knowing that he trampled on her feelings and Maria may have lived a miserable life because of him. Leon doesn’t believe he deserves to be happy because he robbed someone else of their chance to be happy. That’s why he won’t allow himself to marry. He doesn’t want to break another promise, to create more heartbreak.
WTF… WhY WoULD YOU SaY THAT AFTER yoUR TRaumADUMP
JUST LOOK AT THIS ANGST, FFS
HE WANTS YOu… HE WANTS YOU SO BSd… To have and to hold you and to call you his own… BUT HE ALWAYS HOLDS BACK BECAUSE gE DoESNt WanT TO bETRAY HIS BRloved FRIDnd WHOM hE FEELS RESPONSIBLE FOR lEADinG ON… WhAT A GUy… 😩💦
Leon’s marriage proposal event involves him being asked to translate an ancient document, which turns out to be a story about “a boy” and “a girl” that is exactly what happened between him and Maria. He realizes that the story must have been written BY Maria, and is too scared to confront it. With encouragement from MC, they go on a scavenger hunt around the world to places where Leon and Maria used to play as kids. We find the next parts of the story, with each new page hidden in a spot corresponding with a certain number of points (a dot (1) to a line (2) to a triangle (3) to a square (4) to a star (5)!).
Through the hidden papers, we hear more of Maria’s life. According to her, “the girl” (herself) still didn’t cry after “the boy” (Leon) departed, not even when her parents died. This led her friends and neighbors to start believing she was cold and mean. They started avoiding her until it got to the point where Maria was all alone.
She started to become friendly with one man, who asked her what would make her happy. And you know what Maria responded with??? For “him” to come back so they can get married and walk along the same path… grow old together. Then the man held up a mirror to “her”, and Maria realized she was already an old woman. She had wasted her life away waiting for a man that would never come for her and never reciprocate her feelings. Never again could they walk down the same road. Maria had nothing left. No friends, no family, not even “him”. She confesses that she knew Leon only ever saw her as a sister, but she just couldn’t give up. Once she recognized it was all for naught, Maria finally cried for the first time in forever. The page ending with a star ominously concludes that she “broke their promise” and that “the girl disappeared”, wishing that “he”, too, would disappear.
Anyway, Leon has a crashout and MC supports him through it 🧍♂️ Then they discover there’s gotta be one more page to the story (the star/5 pointed shape returns to a dot/1 point). The duo returns to the tower where he and Maria carved their names and find the final piece of the puzzle. In the last page, Maria dedicates the story to “you who sleeps in the tower” (Leon). “She” disappeared because Maria broke their promise and started anew as “me”. Maria then confesses that she ended up finding love and having a family of her own, that she wishes to free Leon of their promise, and that she hopes he finds his own happiness too 😭
Leon remembers that the shapes at the end of each page are part of a charm to make one’s wish come true… The scavenger hunt wasn’t arranged by Maria to scorn him at all, it was a silly little charm for his happiness…
LEON CRiES AnD PRoMISES MaaRIA hE’LL BEhApPY… BY pRopOsING TO MC????? AhhHHHhGHgggggGGHghhhhhHHHHHG OTL MY hEaRRRRTtttt………………: ……… …. ….,,,,, ….. …. … . …: ..: …. …. ……. … . .: . . .. . .
ANOTHER CRAZy REVEAL IS. Maria went on to be an author and one of the books she publishes is “A Recipe for Happiness”. That’s INSANE because Leon was reading this exact book (without even knowing it was penned by her) in previous affection events… IT WAS ALL CONNECTED, MARIA WAS ALWAYS WITH HIM AND WISHING FOR HIS HAPPINESS 😤
And the cherry on top of all of this is 🧍♂️ earlier in the chain of events, while Leon was having a moment to angst, he asks MC if they prefer to say “I’m back” or “Welcome back”. He doesn’t elaborate on his reason for asking.
YOU KNOW HOW THE PROPOSAL CONCLUDES??? That’s right… with Leon “[keeping] his promise” and finishing the exchange!!!!
ARE YOU KiDIdDIND ge g ME??? ? ? ?? ?q???qe?e?a??fad?a?d???? ??
That old post where you got a little Julian Devorak smooch note with your charms of the arcana heart hunter sprites. Was that handwritten from the Nix Hydra team?
… permission to DM you to potentially buy/trade for it…,,,.,.,.,?
(No pressure, ik that’s kind of a crazy request and I don’t want to be rude, I’m just really into The Arcana right now and I’d lowk sell my soul for that little note if you still have it and happen to be willing to part with it, ok lovely blog you have here sorry have a nice evening)
Yes the note came with the pins. Iirc there was a submit a request option when I was ordering the pins.
I probably still have the note, but I have no idea where it is. It would be with the pins, but a majority of my stuff is in unsorted boxes.
I'm sorry to say, I'm not interested in selling it. It would be a lot of hassle. I don't mind the question. You don't need to apologize for asking (I completely understand why, I worry about asking dumb questions too).
Also, welcome to the fandom!! It's nice to meet a fellow Julian fan.
Okay, let me try to get this out of my system, because I do have some thoughts on this one.
See, as you know, I finished Dragon Age: Veilguard last week. And I did enjoy the game. I never was that attached to the franchise. I really enjoyed Inquisition back in the day when it came out, but after doing two runs with it never have really returned to it. I also did play one of the older games, though I am not fully sure which one, because it was a long while ago. But I just never got that attached to the franchise. (Which mostly has to do with my own personal issues with High Fantasy.)
But that is not what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to talk about is more the thing I have seen now multiple people call out: "The Marvelfication" as some have called it. And mind you, I absolutely do agree with this: There were several scenes in this game where I thought to myself: "This feels kinda MCU."
However, what I kinda want to talk about is the specific wording here: "Marvelfication." Because it is super understandable that the first thing that comes to mind (for me as well) is the MCU. But I think the issue is way deeper than "MCU is popular, so let's do something like the MCU".
A lot of folks on Youtube and other platforms have talked about how a lot of "tropes" that people blame on the MCU are actually older than the MCU. The reason people associate it with the MCU is moreso that the MCU is just fucking everywhere since it became this big thing. It is what defines the media landscape.
The big issue actually is another one, though: Those tropes are everywhere because in a more and more conservative media landscape they are considered safe. These types of jokes are not risky in any way. These types of characters are not risky. These types of stories are not risky.
It is stories that are set in societies that are messed up, and then there is a big conflict that only tangentally relates to the ways the societies are messed up in, and then that conflict is resolved but the status quo does not change.
And that more than anything is what I would criticize about the game. Outside of very prominently centering some trans issues, the game has taken very little risks.
I wrote about that a bit last week in comparison to BG3, how safe the companions in Veilguard feel. This shows so harshly in direct comparison to BG3, because really, Larian sat down with player and told you: "Those assholes are your companions. Take it or leave it." Those people I know who never finished BG3 mostly never did because they could not stand the companions. Meanwhile those who, like me, got obsessed with the game, mostly did it because it feels so fucking satisfying when you start to get through to the companions after they started out as those assholes. This satisfaction is something Veilguard never really offers you - because... Well, I can assume that some of these characters had some edges at some point. But whatever edges there had been, those have gotten smoothed down, so now everyone is perfectly sweet. Sure, they might argue a bit here or there, and if you make decisions they do not agree with, they are gonna be pissy with Rook for a bit, but that's the most of it.
Same with a lot of other stuff. There is basically no sexual content in this game. You get one sex scene that is super tame and you see nothing - and one to two kisses per romance. No risk.
Any no matter what kinda choice the characters make, they are all gonna be nice, you know?
There is one thing in the finale of the game that is kinda risky, I will admit. But I will not talk about that yet, because I knwo a lot of people have not finished the game.
But for the most part the game does not risk anything.
And really, that is the core of what folks call "Marvelfication". Because pretty much this is also the issue with Marvel and Star Wars and pretty much all American made media: Outside of some smaller productions, some of which do well with the tumblr crowd but barely get any attention from mainstream audience (*coughs* Interview with the Vampire *coughs*) there is little risk taken. The humor is the same everywhere because this humor is considered safe. The characters feel kinda samey everywhere, because those characters are safe.
It is why I have stopped going to the cinema, because these days there are barely any movies I consider worth watching. It is ironically also why I have recently watched a whole lot more Japanese stuff, because it is easier to find stuff there that does not play it that safe.
It is also why I do these days mostly consume western stuff that has a 18+ rating on it - because at least with that stuff I know that it probably is not gonna play it "safe".
I just wish some media took more risks. I want those medium budget projects back, that cost like 30-50 million, so can make a profit with 100 million at the box office, without doing billions. I want some stuff in there that is not a big IP. I just want... stuff.
Right now I am looking at the soon end of What We Do In The Shadows, mostly because it is one of the few things on right now that does some risky stuff. And I miss those SyFy low budget originals, because some of it was kinda risky. Ugh.
The issue is not Marvel. It is not even Disney. It is that the creative industries in the US right now mainly put out big budget stuff that because of that big budget needs to be loved by everyone.
And look, I am trans. Hence I absolutely do see some value in the fact that Bioware clearly took position and said: "Okay, we get to do one risky thing, so that thing is gonna be to incluse a variety of trans characters." Which I love and respect. But I kinda wish the game had not been quite that pretty and instead also included a bit more edges on the characters.
... But I guess in the end there is still fanfiction, where I can still make the characters messy. lol
Do you also have a crush on Neil Newbon or ship yourself with him?
No. I don't ship real people. Also Neil Newbon is a complete stranger to me and I am very happily married. I think so is he?? Idk much about his personal life I know what characters he voices.
Being able to separate the actor from the role is very important and i'd be careful about delving too deep into parasocial relationships like this. Neil Newbon voices Astarion. He is not Astarion. I admire his work and skill as an actor, but no. I am not attracted to him.
Me reading this realizing tunglr dawt kom gave me more information about my medication than MYDOCTORRRRRSSSSSS MYYYYYYYY FUCKENNNNN DOCTORSSSSS PLURAL MULTIPLE DOCTORSSSSSSSS
You know what I think its grossly under-rated in fandom? Second loves.
What it's like to love and lose and then love again. To suffer through either the death of a loved one or the death of a love you used to share. To know that loss, to know that hurt, and to still make yourself vulnerable to someone again. To love scared, to love wounded, to love anyway.
By under rated in fandom I mean so often past loves are either erased completely or downplayed like "oh yeah they weren't really in love.". I think it flattens the character. Humans are capable of so much love. Each relationship is different and you can learn from each one! And yes, there's something brave in learning to love again, something incredible romantic, why pass it by?
Well damn!! 2020 has been a real emotional rollercoaster for me.
Moved out of my mom's house late December (2019). Moved into my own apartment with my BF last April (on April fool's day). My mental health going downhill from stress. My cat/best friend passed away late August. Having to quit my job, due to my health.
2020 was shitty. But some good things happened.
I'm finally away from my mother's abuse. My two sisters and I live in the same apartment building (literally next door neighbors). I finally started "seeing" (phone call appointments) a psychologist, and I'm waiting for a therapist appointment. I'm finally gaining an understanding of myself mentally.
I am so grateful to my dad and sisters, for supporting me last year. Especially when I left my mom. They helped me find a place to live, fill out government forms, get my stuff from my mom's house, and made me feel supported. I'm so grateful for my amazing bf who has been there for me through it all. If it wasn't for him, I probably would have never realized my mom's gaslighting, and manipulating behaviour.
My art motivation was rough, and these two are the only pieces I feel that I actually improved from.
Now 2021 is the year of the Ox, and that's my year. So I'm feeling optimistic about this year. I also have a Twitter now, but I haven't posted much stuff on there.
Not a redesign. I just saw some of the drama, and I got the urge to draw her. (I didn't realize that her sleeves w longer, until after I finished the line art, and I was too lazy to fix it)
