Throughout the years 2019 and 2020, and especially after the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I have went through yet another change within myself and what kind of things I like. Due the inherent crossover nature of the Smash Bros. games, there are some things that I would be unable to avoid at all, with the most significant of them being anime-styled characters. At this point, they've become an integral part of Smash Bros, so I would have no choice but to accept their presence.
I should give out that at one point before my teenage years (1 year in the early 2010s until 2015) that I have naively held a moniker along the lines of "I ban all anime". It effectively meant that I naively wanted to keep around only the western-originating cartoon styles, while leaving out eastern-style cartoons!
As a Chinese-American, I now realize that had I still been like this today, it would've made me a hypocrite: born in a Chinese family, but hating on something that shares more in common with the cultures my family comes from! Luckily, this naivety didn't last after that single year, as other things and schoolwork occupied most of my time.
Back to the present times: My previous avatar that only had Pac-Man and Tux (both characters are still in my new avatar though!) was unable to show that I now have anime-style influence coming into my life. This influence is here to stay with me for the long term, likely lasting for several years. It effectively means that I'm now friends with anime-style characters in addition to the western cartoon style characters I encountered first in my life. I hope that the new avatar will be better representative of me for the next several years, unless my interests suddenly shift away from video games entirely. Below is my avatar in it full-sized glory, a 480px square, and next I will explain in detail everything I put in it.
View attachment 243976
Analysis of my new avatar for 2021 and beyond, by region (uses Boxing Ring stage titles from Smash Ultimate)
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I should give out that at one point before my teenage years (1 year in the early 2010s until 2015) that I have naively held a moniker along the lines of "I ban all anime". It effectively meant that I naively wanted to keep around only the western-originating cartoon styles, while leaving out eastern-style cartoons!
As a Chinese-American, I now realize that had I still been like this today, it would've made me a hypocrite: born in a Chinese family, but hating on something that shares more in common with the cultures my family comes from! Luckily, this naivety didn't last after that single year, as other things and schoolwork occupied most of my time.Back to the present times: My previous avatar that only had Pac-Man and Tux (both characters are still in my new avatar though!) was unable to show that I now have anime-style influence coming into my life. This influence is here to stay with me for the long term, likely lasting for several years. It effectively means that I'm now friends with anime-style characters in addition to the western cartoon style characters I encountered first in my life. I hope that the new avatar will be better representative of me for the next several years, unless my interests suddenly shift away from video games entirely. Below is my avatar in it full-sized glory, a 480px square, and next I will explain in detail everything I put in it.
View attachment 243976
Analysis of my new avatar for 2021 and beyond, by region (uses Boxing Ring stage titles from Smash Ultimate)
:- Center square, colored black: Tux, the penguin mascot of the Linux kernel - Despite all that I do with video games and my various appearances, free/open-source software (FOSS) remain the heart/core of everything I do with computers. The Linux kernel and the various distros built around it are just many of the various pieces of FOSS used worldwide. Various pieces of FOSS also form part of the cores that makes up the various proprietary and end-user facing software used by millions of more people worldwide, even if that is not apparent upfront. Even the biggest, most famous tech companies make use of FOSS, most of them with permissive licensing, and without having to display them in front of most customers. Tux himself is also the subject of various FOSS games, one of them being SuperTuxKart, a FOSS kart-racing game in the spirit of the Mario Kart series and similar games. His icon in this avatar originates from this game.
- Top-left square, colored red: Mario, Mr. Video Game Himself [Super Mario series] - He is likely the most famous of all the video game characters that exist, having been in existence since 1981. Without him from my middle childhood years, it is possible that my interests in video games would've died and be replaced by something else by now. Something that intrigues me about Mario is that he is created to be Italian-American, but created by Japanese people. He is also one of many western cartoon-styled characters that have existed longer than anime-styled characters have.
- Middle-left square, colored aqua/cyan: Steve, the World Crafter [Minecraft] - Sometimes in life I may like things to be simple, and voxel-shaped characters, objects, and worlds sometimes do the trick. Despite that this is Minecraft representation on this avatar, I actually play another FOSS alternative Minetest far more often, without having to worry about paying an upfront cost. This voxel style screams of the style of games from older computer systems with lower resolutions, and taking it literally into 3D space. I don't have to worry about animating hands or feet, while still getting the job done with just blocks
- Bottom-left square, colored yellow: Pac-Man, The Yellow Bane of Ghosts [Pac-Man series] - The oldest video game mascot in existence, since 1980, the success of the original Pac-Man is likely what led to countless more video game characters to be created. For being the oldest video game mascot alone, I give him a lot of credit for this much influence. Had another video game gained success instead of Pac-Man, the history of video games would certainly look different today. Like with Mario, his anthropomorphic form with a face, arms, and legs is western cartoon-style inspired, in existence since the first Japanese Pac-Man arcade cabinets.
- Middle-top square, colored X11 gray: Joker/Ren Amimiya, the Great Phantom Thief [Persona 5] - When he does not have his persona, his normal appearance is very similar to me in real life: black hair, wears glasses, and his normal school clothing looks like something that I would be more likely to choose. If depicted with less clothing or nude, he has a twink body type like I do in real life. As of this writing, I have not yet played the game he originates from, due to both versions being Playstation 3 (Persona 5)/4 (Persona 5 Royal) exclusive and me not owning any Playstation consoles. However, with Persona 4 Golden having made its way to PC, it does give me hope that I can experience Joker/Ren Amimiya's originating game on PC and his story one day, even if that takes years. BTW, his overall face bears similarities with Harry Potter's, since they both have black hair, and wear glasses. I might want to have some sex with him, but it may not be as intense.
- Top-right square, colored blue: Marth, the Hero-King [Fire Emblem series] - He is my #1 husbando (a male counterpart to a waifu), to the point that I frequently daydream about him. Despite originating from games with strategy/RPG genres, I apparently am drawn to this series art style for being rooted in medieval fantasy but adding an anime style to this theme. Multiple things about Marth draw me to him: His typical shonen face, his skinny body that matches my body type in real life (he looks much hotter nude), having a femboyish personality, wearing a tiara instead of a crown (the tiara is actually is dead sister's), the blue hair from his royal lineage, and his fame for being the Hero King. With rule 34 gay porn thrown into the mix, I have to wonder how he can be both the Hero King and what I call a "Slut King". His pantsless outfit from the original Famicom/NES game really exemplifies the scrappy and femboy person he can sometimes be, and I feel a little sad that this largely went away in most later games. If I got a chance to see him in real life, I would get into a romantic and sexual relationship with him; I think that we could make a good match!
- Middle-right square, colored fuchsia/magenta: Hero (Luminary), the Luminary [Dragon Quest XI] - Without the Dragon Quest series being a success, it's possible that Fire Emblem and my husbando Marth may have never been created (which I am okay with). For the Luminary as a person, his girl-style haircut makes me think that he may have a hint of a femboy personality. Actually, he behaves more masculine, and I like that too. He is also one of my husbandos, but my attraction to him isn't as strong as with Marth. He is also anime-styled, but more outstanding as his style is drawn by the same person who also makes several anime manga and TV shows. If depicted with less clothing or nude, he has a twink body type like I do in real life. Like with Joker/Ren Amimiya, I have not yet played the game the the Luminary originates from, but both version including the Definitive Edition are now available on PC, so I should have an easier time experiencing his story. I might want to have some sex with him, but it may not be as intense.
- Bottom-right square, colored white: Corrin (Male), Blood of Dragons [Fire Emblem Fates] - What attracts me to this character is not that he can transform into a dragon, but the fact that he is barefoot, even in official art. This alone makes Male Corrin stand out from the rest of the Fire Emblem protagonists (it also applies to Female Corrin, but I have no interest in sexualizing her). Why him? His outfit speaks of being a fan-made sexualized creation, complete with stirrup legwear like apparatuses. When he has no clothing however, his twink body, red irises, and hairstyle still attract me, along with his bare feet that can be potentially smelly. He is literally the embodiment of my sexual fetishes (my foot fetish being the most prominent of them), and I'm glad I found my video game representation in time! If I got a chance to see him in real life, I would be highly likely to have sex with him (taking any safety measures first), certainly trying to get him to give me a footjob (doesn't matter whether he has his outfit or is nude)! I might also try to sniff, lick, and perhaps cum on his bare feet, since they're already exposed anyways.
- Middle-bottom square, colored web gray: Solid Snake, the Legendary Mercenary [Metal Gear serifingers or toeses] - Twink boys are not the only men I like; muscular men are also within my radar. As long as it's a man with the proper anatomy, they're a target of me (no actual females, though)! There are more of them I can choose from, but I think that Solid Snake has some traits that attract me to him a little more. He has a beard that none of the twink men in this avatar have, and he is likely to have body hair if he is depicted with less clothing or nude. Maybe muscular men like him may carry other sexually-arousing scents that twink men may not have, but I've not been around enough of these men to know yet. I might want to have some sex with him, and I may also want to try satisfying some my fetishes with him, foot fetish included.
- The borders, colored green: Roller coaster pieces of the Hybrid Coaster ride type, from https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2/pull/12110. OpenRCT2 is a reverse-engineered FOSS re-implementation of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 (RCT2). I played this game before in the late 2000s, but wasn't good at it back then. Only because of OpenRCT2, RCT2 is one of the few games from my early childhood to survive into my current life. Other games I played back then I can still revisit with the help of Wine and related projects, including Valve's Proton. The tracks are also a symbol of the fictional roads that I have drawn on paper in the past, and sometimes like to daydream traveling on.
- 7 out of 9 characters have Japanese origins, while the other two have European origins. Technically there are no American originating characters in this avatar, unless I make it larger to include more characters.
- There are no female characters in my avatar; all of them are male. A subtle sign of the fact that I am gay/homosexual male. It doesn't mean that I hate females, though, since they are still necessary for human beings to reproduce. I just don't sexualize them like I do very often with males.
- A subtle anal sex tile picture is made by the arrangement of certain characters: The characters who are western-styled or originating form a 'T' shape, while the characters with realistic anatomy (including all of the anime-styled characters) form a 'U' shape.
- I was originally going to feature Konqi, the mascot of the KDE Desktop environment in place of Joker/Ren Amimiya, but I struggled to fit all the characters I wanted to get in. Prioritizing the video game characters caused me to drop Konqi, but I used his square color for the borders. The new version of him is certainly more anime-styled, and would fit well along with the other anime-styled characters.View attachment 243973
- There are more characters that I would like to fit in, but it only happen on a 4x4 square or larger, at the risk of not being able to see the other characters when this avatar is shrinked down.
