This is the Twilight Rune from Suikoden V. In the Suikoden series, runes attached to the hands or forehead are what let people cast spells, and in each game there are a few special runes with plot significance. In this case, the Twilight Rune is one of the two that kind of moderate the Sun Rune, the royal treasure (and ultimate weapon) of the nation the game is set in. The main character gets the healing-focused Dawn Rune pretty early on, but the attack-focused Twilight Rune is passed around to a few people.
I picked it for an icon for a bunch of reasons (as with all my icons, really). I like the two well-attuned users of the Twilight Rune in the game, even though they're at times very different, and I like what they each stand for. I like the association with supporting characters rather than main heroes. And there's a little side-association with a court in Changeling: The Lost which goes along nicely with how I see the world sometimes.
This is the Salikawood from Final Fantasy XII. I wasn't really that taken by the game, but I that region just managed to capture the sort of beautiful peaceful forest setting very well for me. I think a lot of it is that it reminded me of Secret of Mana. There's a mini-quest there involving lazy moogle engineers, and in most of the screens none of the creatures start out hostile. So, basically, it just made me happy.
This is from Super Metroid - yet another video game, I know. It's actually part of an area from the first Metroid game that you visit rather early on in your return to the planet Zebes; when you first arrive there it appears deserted, but your presence keeps triggering sensors, and when you go back with the powerups you needed to find the place is crawling with enemies again.
Super Metroid is a great game, and the early exploration of Zebes manages to be a pretty good representation of how good it is, at least to me. It's also extremely iconic - if you've played the original Metroid, you saw rooms like that so many times, and you should immediately know roughly what's on the other side. It's also a reference to a webcomic a friend of mine made, which uses a room that would be on the opposite side of such a door, but unfortunately it's no longer online, at least that I know of.
Finally, something that isn't from a video game. This is from one of the Utena artbooks, showing the shadow girls in what looks like the elevator to the student council room, imitating the classic poses that three of the student council members take every time they ride the elevator. Of course, the shadow girls are not in the student council - they are the drama club, or perhaps they are aliens, or perhaps they are just some sort of Greek chorus. Like most things in Utena, they are hard to explain. But it's a good userpic for when I'm amused by something or being irreverent. Or when I'm asking if I can please have the UFOs.
This is Budehuc Castle, from Suikoden III. It's basically an old manor house and some outlying buildings far from the capitol where that a conniving noble gives to Thomas, his bastard son, to get him as far away as possible. The few chapters were you control Thomas (which are optional) aren't all that heroic, as the place is broke and falling apart, but through various deals you manage to keep your independence even after a brief siege, and, when the local conflict is superseded by a much larger invasion, your old castle becomes the headquarters of the forces united under whichever of the three main characters is chosen as the leader in the game's main story.
So, yeah, it's another one that caters to my love of side characters. In most of the Suikoden games, the character in Thomas' position would be the hero and leader of the army, but III was doing some experiments with multiple perspectives. And I can't not love the timid and non-adventurous but good-hearted lead, especially when he reminds me of me. But there's also the castle as reference to all its original occupants, who are such a scrappy gang of misfits, and as the place where people come together and get along despite their past disagreements and very different backgrounds.
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branchandroot
<--- Starting with this one
Date: 2011-09-03 08:43 pm (UTC)I picked it for an icon for a bunch of reasons (as with all my icons, really). I like the two well-attuned users of the Twilight Rune in the game, even though they're at times very different, and I like what they each stand for. I like the association with supporting characters rather than main heroes. And there's a little side-association with a court in Changeling: The Lost which goes along nicely with how I see the world sometimes.
This is the Salikawood from Final Fantasy XII. I wasn't really that taken by the game, but I that region just managed to capture the sort of beautiful peaceful forest setting very well for me. I think a lot of it is that it reminded me of Secret of Mana. There's a mini-quest there involving lazy moogle engineers, and in most of the screens none of the creatures start out hostile. So, basically, it just made me happy.
This is from Super Metroid - yet another video game, I know. It's actually part of an area from the first Metroid game that you visit rather early on in your return to the planet Zebes; when you first arrive there it appears deserted, but your presence keeps triggering sensors, and when you go back with the powerups you needed to find the place is crawling with enemies again.
Super Metroid is a great game, and the early exploration of Zebes manages to be a pretty good representation of how good it is, at least to me. It's also extremely iconic - if you've played the original Metroid, you saw rooms like that so many times, and you should immediately know roughly what's on the other side. It's also a reference to a webcomic a friend of mine made, which uses a room that would be on the opposite side of such a door, but unfortunately it's no longer online, at least that I know of.
Finally, something that isn't from a video game. This is from one of the Utena artbooks, showing the shadow girls in what looks like the elevator to the student council room, imitating the classic poses that three of the student council members take every time they ride the elevator. Of course, the shadow girls are not in the student council - they are the drama club, or perhaps they are aliens, or perhaps they are just some sort of Greek chorus. Like most things in Utena, they are hard to explain. But it's a good userpic for when I'm amused by something or being irreverent. Or when I'm asking if I can please have the UFOs.
This is Budehuc Castle, from Suikoden III. It's basically an old manor house and some outlying buildings far from the capitol where that a conniving noble gives to Thomas, his bastard son, to get him as far away as possible. The few chapters were you control Thomas (which are optional) aren't all that heroic, as the place is broke and falling apart, but through various deals you manage to keep your independence even after a brief siege, and, when the local conflict is superseded by a much larger invasion, your old castle becomes the headquarters of the forces united under whichever of the three main characters is chosen as the leader in the game's main story.
So, yeah, it's another one that caters to my love of side characters. In most of the Suikoden games, the character in Thomas' position would be the hero and leader of the army, but III was doing some experiments with multiple perspectives. And I can't not love the timid and non-adventurous but good-hearted lead, especially when he reminds me of me. But there's also the castle as reference to all its original occupants, who are such a scrappy gang of misfits, and as the place where people come together and get along despite their past disagreements and very different backgrounds.