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100% Accurate 😂

I myself finally actually got around to watching the Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi Series (on YT for those interested) & as far as I’m concerned, it was a stroke of genius for Koji Shiraishi to make the leader of his fictional ghost hunting team a straight up deranged prick rather than another rote faux-spiritualist sage like the Warrens from The Conjuring franchise. Kudo is essentially Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures minus the fake tough guy persona thus actually being entertaining to watch.

PSYCHIC MEDIUM: it's weird that you don't seem to have a soul.

KUDO JIN: idk I guess. look, I've had some experiences. whatever. moving on.

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This OVA psychically damaged me because since seeing it, just hearing Luffy say “Set Sail!” is more than enough to trigger my eyes watering 😭

This series completely has my heart in a vice & I cherish every second of it

one piece fan letter was beautifully animated and written all the way through but this scene was the part that really got me

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You know what’s absolutely kino? Each and every time one of the Strawhats declares to doubters and shares between themselves that Luffy is the man who will be King of the Pirates. Many people remember most often Zoro saying as much during the conclusion to Thriller Bark but for me it goes hard as hell anytime any of the Strawhats say it. Even when they endearingly call him a moron and/or get exasperated by his spontaneous & risky behavior, all of the Strawhats have unwavering faith in his ambition & are more than ready to walk through fire and worse to get him there. It’s just so fun going through the series and see so many of the Strawhats go from being baffled by the dude to earnestly seeing the future where their captain obtains the One Piece.

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Finally got around to buying & playing the starship combat roguelike deckbuilder BREACHWAY & adore it so far. Despite the deckbuilding intergration, the game honestly does still envoke the tactical starship captain experience that I’ve craved since FTL Advanced Edition minus the semi-realtime crew management & overall minute control that allowed for strategies like blowing invading hostiles out of your airlock & snuffing out fires in the same manner. It helps that the game absolutely dazzles in the presentation department. Artwork for various crew members & the 3D modeled starships are all extremely evocative. Watching the ships trade blows & ultimately explode gloriously during the split screen combat grants the game an engaging cinematic quality. It also feels very rich worldbuilding-wise even in Early Access thanks to the different ship & character designs as well as the various factions birthed from a somewhat rote but still well-sketched intriguing sci-fi setting.

I don’t blame anyone who might feel particularly burnt out by the roguelike deckbuilding trend of the last half decade but IMO games like BREACHWAY help keep the genre from truly becoming stale & I happily welcome even simple tweaks & stylish presentations that are capable of drawing me into one more game in the genre. Definitely recommended to deckbuilder and/or FTL fans.

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Absolutely True! The fact that Trump & Project 2025’s architects were even associated to start with exposes the fact that all this “distancing” is only theater for the sake of deniability. The moment Trump & his administration gain even an ounce of presidential power, Project 2025 will be re-embraced as the administration’s blueprint. All of this supposed distancing is just a rejection of Project 2025 only as a label because the fundamental goals of P2025 are 1:1 with Trump’s (and the general MAGA GOP’s) very own explicitly admitted policy plans.

This is a lie. This is a huge, epic, 100% bullshit lie.

Do not believe this.

The only people who believe this are people who were going to vote for Fascism, anyway, but just wanted some kind of rhetorical cover.

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100% co-signing this! Bithell Games in particular is stubbornly refusing to let Tron die the death Disney seems fine sentencing it to by canceling Uprising & letting Ares wallow in production purgatory and I’m with him all the way. I’d rather get games like this from diehard fans in the indie space than for some AAA company getting contracted to have their devs crunch for 3+ years only to deliver a subpar product with a multimillion dollar budget

Some Tron fans might be a little disappointed that TRON: Catalyst isn't a big fancy AAA game with cutting-edge graphics and whatnot, thinking that Disney doesn't care about the franchise enough to put huge sums of money into it (compared to, say, Star Wars games). But me, I was actually kind of relieved when I looked at the system requirements for the game and saw that it can most likely be run on my sligthly old, not-cutting-edge-specs computer. I'm happy that I won't have to buy a whole new computer, or a new game console, to keep up with the Tron franchise, at least not for a little while longer (who knows, maybe we'll get a big high-end game to tie in with TRON: Ares somewhere down the line?).

I felt similarly about TRON: Identity, and I might go so far as to say that I almost hope that Tron remains a "lesser" Disney franchise, if it means that we'll get more low-budget, but still well-made and interesting games set in its universe. To quote Jordan Mallory, "I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less and I'm not kidding."

At the same time, I will also admit that I'm happy that Catalyst does seem to have one important improvement over Identity: Voice acting. Even though that presumably require a slightly higher budget.

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Thanks to the current Steam Next Fest, a lot of recently premiered games are getting demos for people to try out & one that I’ve been particularly excited for & enjoying is the demo for All In Abyss: Judge The Fake!

The game is a mixture of Visual Novel with Poker (Texas Hold ‘Em) gameplay taking cues from Balatro & Gambling anime/manga (ie Kaiji, Akagi, Usogui & Kakegurui). You play an extremely confident gambler named Asuha who seeks to challenge a dystopian hierarchy where those outside of the wealthy 1% can hope for little more than struggling through the slums that exist outside of the gilded cage of the elites. The most lauded amongst the elite class are a coven of powerful witches whose gambling prowess is legendary. Yet, with confidence bordering on lunacy, Asuha throws down the gauntlet, risking her life to defeat them all with her skill & even suggesting that the unimpeachable successes of the witches might not have been obtained legitimately.

The slick Texas Hold ‘Em gameplay is supplemented with varied skills Asuha can learn that remind me a lot of similar abilities from Danganronpa that grant perks to help hone your strategic choices such as one that passively grants you a vague notion of the opponent’s hand and an active resource-costing skill that compels an enemy to resist folding their hand.

The polished presentation of the game is stellar but despite the fact that I personally enjoy poker enough to play an entire game about it, Hold ‘Em at this point seems to be the singular gambling format for the whole experience. The game sadly isn’t a varied Clubhouse Games affair so I can see people being put off if they personally don’t really like poker.

For me however, considering the game itself & the fact that it’s another terrific Steam Deck experience, at this point I’m absolutely certain the game will be a Day One purchase for me.

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Oda’s utilization of Nami in One Piece - Chapter 1129 truly highlights why the dude is a cut above so many other mangaka and particularly in the realm of Shonen manga

One Piece 1129 Manga Spoilers Below:

Coming off of JJK, MHA & Demon Slayer, I’m frustrated by how despite their popularity the 3 series have female characters that too often are underutilized and sidelined. So many lesser authors might have similarly let Nami just drift through the story with minimal development.

Oda however chooses to reassure readers that Nami isn’t a push over nor simple eye candy but rather is a member of a pirate emperor’s crew with the chops to prove it. In one chapter she highlights her incredible navigational skill that commits any map to memory & then goes on to use Zeus, her Clima-Tact & her Weather Arts to absolutely brutalize an enemy giant.

Nami may be a proud member of the Straw Hats’ Coward Trio but Oda always takes opportunities to show that that moniker doesn’t make them weak or in any way less valuable members of the crew.

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watched the max payne movie again

it's funny how the movie gets juuuust enough details right to annoy the piss out of me for everything it changes

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the she-ra reboot makes this video relevant again which means we are in the best timeline

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Daydreamers universe

All of my globes! feels very weird in a good way to see all of my big projects in a single image, like I've spent so many days of my life making this

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A Super Mario bros 3 globe

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Remember to check your registration often! They're increasing their efforts to cheat and disenfranchise.

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Now all that’s missing is a pancake-flat Yiga member crawling back to Master Kohga, holding up a sign that says “I Quit” and then crawling away

i know most people have seen it but i cant emphasize how much this is literally my favorite breath of the wild clip of all time. also i can never fucking find this clip when i need it especially in high definition so here it is

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the OST for We Love Katamari is on streaming services!!!! listen here (the album art is so cute!!!)

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i can't even pick a single pull quote from this. it's wild. billionaires are immoral and should be illegal.

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I’ve been making my way through my 3rd re-listen of the incredible podcast - Batman: The Audio Adventures & just appreciating once more not only how terrifically written it is by showrunner Dennis McNicholas but also incredibly well acted by all of the amazing cast. For any unaware, the podcast is an audio fiction blend of comedy & superhero drama that was previously only an exclusive for HBO MAX subscribers back in 2021 but now both released seasons are freely available on literally every podcast app including on MAX’s own YT Channel itself, no subscription required.

In particular, I love the Harvey Dent moment we get in Season 1 - Episode 6 - “The Whale of Damocles”:

I have to first off praise the inspired creative choice the series makes to give Two-Face the dynamic that his personas are essentially like constantly bickering twin brothers - arguing, name calling & posturing but still inseparable at the end of the day.

In the scene in question, Harvey’s binary obsession has allowed The Penguin to easily lure Dent to his favorite pier on the Gotham Wharf, Pier 2, to prevent a planted bomb from destroying it. Batman arrives soon after as Dent’s desperate search brings him to the most perilous part of the pier. Batman is so earnestly trying to appeal to Harvey to stop that he almost can’t prevent slipping into his Bruce Wayne voice when we then get an excellent memorable moment (@ ~31:50) where we get a glimpse at the tortorus psychosis Harvey is living through:

Harvey gives this tragic peek into his mind as he extols the awe-inspiring & nightmarish gospel he shares with his violent other half. It’s not only a very well written torrent of mad thoughts but also brilliantly & emotionally performed by Harvey/Two-Face’s VA: Ike Barinholtz. Batinholtz truly makes Harvey sound simultaneously mesmerized, terrified & sorrowful - on the verge of tears as he tells his former friend about the completely fractured way he views the world now & Batman’s actor Jeffrey Wright matches it with his desperate pleas to Harvey’s true self colored by the unflinching compassion he has for Dent.

For how invested the show is in genuinely trying to revive a bit of the Adam West era charm and fun camp & IMO successfully making the show legitimately funny, I believe it’s also equally in touch with the aspects of the franchise exemplified in shows like BTAS ie the darkness of the setting & emotionally resonant tragedy of both Batman himself and the different members within his rogues gallery. The show is not just sharp on a comedic level but also earnestly intriguing & engaging dramatically as well.

I have no doubt sung this show’s praises before but I don’t plan to stop anytime soon because I truly believe that the series is a must listen for every fan of Batman, superheroes & audio fiction/audio dramas generally. From top to bottom, the series is a brilliant production and stands to me personally as amongst the best content within the umbrella of DC Comics at least within the last decade.