Previous pin is obsolete so I'm going to make a recommendation thread. I'll update this with something new every few days
First up: The Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett (book). You don't need to be a 40k fan to like this series. It's fantastic
Also, it's neat how those specific portraits are the most detailed and carefully shaded ones they have (I think. I'm not going to go check every portrait and CG to verify) despite you never really getting a good look at them.
Gnome in particular looks AMAZING in this style.
One of my favorite aesthetic features of Monster Girl Quest is how it flashes character portraits whenever you use a skill when buffed by its related spirit.
It doesn't really show in a still image, but it really sells the notion of Luka and the spirit fighting in harmony
@Finley_Futanari I wasn't a vtuber at the time, but it took me like 7-10ish months to get partnered on Youtube and most of my content was pretty shit back then. I could probably do it a lot faster if I had to restart with my current knowledge.
I think Erubetie is Monster Girl Quest's biggest missed opportunity. Her story connects with the broader themes of revenge and forgiveness SO well, but she just doesn't get enough of a focus for it to really pay off.
I wish she got repeated features akin to Granberia
I find it interesting how the character art of all 4 elemental spirits in Monster Girl Quest, even the nude ones, is completely SFW.
I haven't fully formulated my thoughts on this revelation, but I'm 100% convinced it's intentional and significant
I'm kind of out of (pre-ch 3) Monster Girl Quest characters to say interesting things about, so expect the monster girl posting to get a bit more surface-level
The mimic is funny and I like her
@Finley_Futanari Like, if I was the kind of person who actually liked making people get upset (there are many of those on Twitter) and I saw this, I'd be smelling blood in the water.
The social dynamics online are weird, but they start to make sense once you stop trying to make sense of them.
@Finley_Futanari Not to be "that guy," but I've been on the internet for almost as long as you've been alive (holy shit kill me) and you can't ever assume people will be logical or really make any sense at all. Also, when emotions are running high, hitting post/send is usually a very bad idea.
I wish Monster Girl Quest explored the implications of artificial monster girls (chimeras don't count). It's such an interesting thing for the setting, but it's basically forgotten after one questline
Also, Automata Girl's design is fucking awesome
I feel like I need to emphasize: All ~200 monsters you encounter in the series have several paragraphs in their Monsterpedia entries. That's not an insignificant amount of effort dedicated purely to worldbuilding for lore nerds.
One of the more underrated parts of Monster Girl Quest is the Monsterpedia. It's a great gallery/bestiary, EVERY monster is given a bit of worldbuilding, and you can even replay any fight if you feel like experimenting a bit. It's genuinely fantastic.
@Finley_Futanari Yeah, I feel that. At this point, I just do my best to try to avoid comparing my real life to someone else's curated life. If I let it get to me, I'll feel bad forever and my issues will never get easier. All I can really do is work with what I've got, strengths and weaknesses
@Finley_Futanari Even I'm 100% contributing to this. I talk about stuff I have above-average understandings of due to hyperfixations, but I don't exactly advertise the social anxiety that comes with bad body language literacy or how executivd dysfunction makes it hard to live normally
@Finley_Futanari I think it's that certain flavors of autism tend to have very visible positives but largely invisible negatives, especially with how easily you can curate your image online. To someone who doesn't have direct experience, it comes off as endearing.