#// IM VERY VERY ( LOONEY TUNES YELLING HERE )
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🎉 * FUCKING GETS YOU
good god where do i start. your higuruma is to die for i stg?? you play him so delightfully and with so much nuance and the way the humor is cut with the state of him being himself with all his issues comes across so effectively? he feels so alive and also kills me dead as well. much like a misfortunate judge and prosecutor. every detail u come up with for him is just so on point and perfect for him as a character ;w;
and nanami!!! tired, darling, wonderful, tragic nanami!!!! i can feel both the exhaustion and the tender capacity to care rolling off him and it makes my heart hurt!!!!! but he's also so fun when you write him severe and im gripping him so tightly like a dang squeaky toy. i wanna wrap him in blankets. i also want to bully him. i think if he snaps it's his god given right and he can do whatever he wants. i adore your take on him IMMENSELY
i have not gotten to bully siwoo as much but know i adore him to. i want to bite him. he's very good and its been very entertaining to see him slowly commit a hostile takeover on ur brain. uve taken a guy with soooo little information and sincerely made him feel so fleshed out and real while also being very true to what little we get to see of him!
honorable mention to noritoshi - we havent written much w him and choso yet but oo babey im ready to die
IM ALSO STARING AT UR OCS i havent gotten to play with them as much but just know i adore them and all the thought u put into them!! its a delight to watch ur jjk ocs develop and take a life of their own and the slot in SO naturally well with the universe and work so well with ocs and canons alike!! its so cool so see!!! im reaching for them!! (and i hope to play with the marked as well hehe)
🎉 & let your followers tell you about how you're doing with you character portrayal underneath! — @harerazor
oh ? ?? ??? ? my GOd??? ?? ?? ?? OH MY GOD?? HELLO??????? WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS LOWDOWN OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH M'LORT
#* & bbring bbring mail time — answered .#* & make way for rapid clown honking — ooc .#* & look at this graph! — saved .#// i......#// i mean i already yelled in disco but#// again i AM SO TOUCHED??#// IM VERY VERY ( LOONEY TUNES YELLING HERE )#// oh this means the world to me#// so so so glad i can do any of them even a little justice#// still shooting siwoo dead. narsty man
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gen question but isnt dedegoon or dedesuka or whatevr a proship? ive seen some ppl calling it a proship cuz its abusive but your bio says proship dni so idk if its ok to ship or what (sorry im new to this)
hiya! thank you for your ask! it isnt and heres why
first of all i am /Not/ proship. i am not anti-anti or whatever either. what drives me to ship them is the fact theyre friends who like to be in each other's company. i like their sweet moments together. they bond over scamming an innocent population and bullying children. they're partners in crime. theyre besties who talk shit about others as a hobby.
i also don't think theyre already dating. i look at their relationship and im like. you guys have some kind of weird crush on each other and you're also selfish assholes. they're in the world's worst situationship.
"but dedede whacks escargoon a lot!" not only does escargoon get physical towards him too (the dynamic starts shifting in the dentist episode) but his "punishments" are often for a reason. escargoon is often very mean to dedede. in almost every episode he calls him hopeless or stupid or ugly or anything like that. and that gets him a whack. if i were dedede i'd do that too! it'd piss me off! having my lackey who i pay and who i consider my best friend insult me so overtly over and over LOL. but does escargoon ever try and stop him his evil doing? hell no! the guy helps him and gives him advice and ideas! he is NOT a good guy either. he loves being mean! he literally says it!
of course escargoon cares a loy about him. pretty sure everyone is aware. i don't even need to compile all the times he runs after him or worries about his well being. one time he "left" after he realised he'd have to do all the waddle dee's chores and didn't want to do his job. guess who's shown tearing up when seeing what poor state dedede is in after being left all on his own. he's always protecting him and defending him (sometimes backhandedly) from other people. he holds dedede dear. it's obvious he does. he's an old man, he's not being manipulated into liking dedede. he genuinely cares about the guy.
there are episodes where they bicker a lot but end up getting along, episodes where they're the best of friends and episodes focused on their resentment against one another. the show kind of yoyos with their relationship. it's not really anything to take seriously. if you get offended from their interactions you'd get a heart attack from watching looney tunes. the back and forth of their dynamic is part of the fun!
I *highly* recommend watching the original version of the show as the dub often replaces sweet lines they share with jokes that don't really hit the mark. it's a shame. (however i will give the dub some credit on occasion)
Actually, i have a [post] that compiles a lot of sweet screenshots of them together. it doesnt include the times where they hold on to each other in the cannons or in the whispy woods episode or when esxargoon said "isnt this strange? can't you feel we're striving apart?" and dedede says "what! that's ridiculous!" in a lighthearted voice. or when escargoon makes a joke about a late night drive being romantic and dedede just? laughs in agreement? there's a scene where they call each other stupid in the most friendly way ever. i actually have a handy twitter of fun scenes where escargoon gets away with some things (doesn't include when escargoon yells at him in the fireworks episode or orders him in episode 69), like saying *he's* actually the one in power because dedede isn't competent enough to reign. or dedede understanding escargoon's concerns of him becoming dumber than he is already.
they're just villains who are attached to each other and are a team no matter what.
escargoon protects dedede a lot, and he cares about him more than what his job entails, but people tend to forget he's got a special place in dedede's heart too.
dedede keeps an album of pictures they took together. he never threatens to fire him and, as far as i know, never even cuts his salary and is the only one in the castle to even have a bonus. he shares the food he keeps from the waddle dees with him in episode 93. he clarifies he doesnt want knuckle joe's monsters to attack either of them. he's fine spending large amounts of money on him. twice? he never calls him ugly somehow. he even thanks him for having put up with him for so long and serving him well when the world is about to end. and then he clings unto him because he's scared of dying alone. his way of showing affection is not the "im crying because i think you're in danger" type of way that escargoon shows a lot but it's there.
Of course i don't think they're perfect gay rep. that's literally so stupid. you think im gonna look at two dumbasses who are bitter towards one another from what, a parodic, satirical children's anime from the early 2000s, and go "hmm yes this is what every queer couple should aspire to be this is peak lgbt rep"
If we're gonna talk about them how about we talk about some issues this show has that no one ever addresses. the colorism of the uv episode that is not put into question, not even by tiff, the moral compass. the rising sun imagery that is very much intentional as dedede is a caricature. the fatphobia? the fact kirby calls kawasaki and nagoya homos??? straight up???
people often blame episode 88, and yeah, it's not my favorite episode either. everyone's weird in that episode, not just dedede! yabui is far from empathetic, even the ebrums are disrespectful, and escargoon taunts dedede into chasing him for laughs and teases him about his old age. even at the end he teases him. i think it's one of those episodes that you just have to blame on the writers kinda like 89 (for example this one has got the right message but the execution is painful to watch. poor tiff.)
now, if 88 had changed their relationship it'd be a different matter. there are some sweet moments they share outside of their general "partners in crime" dynamic past episode 88 in my post actually! my favorite is the one where dedede has his arm around escargoon who's curled up like a cat while they're sleeping and the waddle dees are tucking them in from episode 91. it makes me so happy.
i could probably talk so, so much more about them. they're a huge comfort to me. however i don't trust just anyone with them. i am very much aware some people like them for the wrong reasons. but if you have a brain you can see where i'm coming from.
the show makes fun of them because they're evil, self-centered cowards. not because they're "gay" or anything like that. i saw someone call them queerbait one time and i had to log off for a minute.
anyway, to answer your question, people who do not recognize their genuine attachment to one another are bound to have a twisted view of them. i don't like dedegoon because they're "toxic" or awful to each other. but because they're each other's best friends. that's all. it's fine if you don't ship them, too. i just hope i can prove to people that they do matter to each other and that they're friends :)
#ask#yes i made sure to include other images than the ones already in my comp im doing a great job in dedegoon#there are so many things i didnt include there#everytime i think of them i remember something new#i also want to point out that i rewatch the show regularly. im on my... uh.. 7th proper rewatch? with my boyfriend#so. if anyone accuses me of fandomifying this show they chose the wrong person#also they say aishiteru 3 times atp idk what to tell you
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Hey! Im new here and uhh- I found two cookies, One had a rope and was attempting to scale up my 2 liter Drpepper, while another was watching with what i can only discribe as pure and utter disappointment.
The one trying to climb up my drpepper has blond hair, and looked like ab off-brand Indiana jones. The other cookie looked like a gothic maid with purple hair and a purple candle.
I have them under a large bowl right now. What kinds are they and what should i do?
You might've ran into an Adventurer and a Blackberry! They're both usually very friendly, so not too many issues tend to erupt between them and other people and cookies.
Like the name implies, Adventurers like...well, adventuring. Anything they see as a challenge, they'll try to perform, though sometimes it plays out like a Looney Tunes episode xp
Blackberries, on the other hand, are very calm and very elegant, acting like a maid for any cookie and person that requires their assistance. Most times, they follow Adventurers around just to make sure they don't get into too much trouble. As an extra detail, most people aren't quite sure for themselves, but they are associated with a bit of paranormal activity...well, not terribly, just some things being organized and some cleaning supplies moving around sometimes.
If you haven't tried finding out if they have owners already, go ahead and do so. Also, I recommend releasing them from the bowl and trying to make amends with them. I will warn you, both may try to attack your hand at first, or at the very least start yelling.
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ill read the entirety of your daffy rants when i stop being lazy but I WANNA SHARE MY TWO CENTS. when it comes to the later daffy personality-wise i am very much fond of mckimson's "salesman" interpretation. mckimson daffy is a con artist, and i love cons, i love amoral yet lovable characters. his approach to his adversaries is "here's a stupid asshole i can sucker some misfortunate out of!" but he gets his ass handed to him in return. he's very confident in himself, unlike say freleng's daffy who is so desperate to prove he's worthy, or jones's who calculates his plans out of jealousy and an inner image of fame and riches.
i haven't sat down and watched more looney tunes because im so occupied watching other cartoons, but i do know one of the later mckimsons ends with daffy proudly boasting "i'm a coward, but i'm a greeeeedy little coward!" and that's a level of lovability not quite as experienced with the other directors' interpretations. i know you're not big on those later versions of the characters but you know damn well if i was making a looney tunes cartoon i would have all those jones/mckimson cynicisms in. im a natural sardone
now ABOUT THE LOONEY TUNES SHOW...making daffy stupid was the exact reason i was so disappointed when the show came out in 2011. and i was like a little idiot baby back then. i disagree with what you say about daffy and bugs watching tv with bloodshot eyes, that's hilarious, but i will say i wouldn't want to watch the lt characters sitting around the house unless porky was violently destroying a radio or something.
also daffy's inn trouble is great. we need more cartoon ducks in dresses.
-famulator (submission because TOO LONG FOR ASK WHAT A RAMBLE)
———————————
YESSSSSSSS I AGREE WITH A LOT OF THIS!!! MCKIMSON’S SALESMAN DAFFY IS GREAT ABSOLUTELY Fool Coverage is one of my favorite ‘50s cartoons and i’ve really warmed up to Design for Leaving too. I AGREE WITH YOU A TON in that i think that even though McKimson’s duck can be cynical and a GREEEEEEDY little coward HE’S A LOT MORE PLEASANT TO WATCH… at least in comparison
I’VE ACTUALLY DISCOVERED THAT LIKE. as time goes on i find that my own characterization of Daffy tends to skew more cynical than i initially thought (probably not FULL Freleng/Jones cynical but like… the street talking “why i oughta” of the McKimson/Davis duck) AND I DO LIKE THAT IT GROUNDS HIM SOME my duck is a weird cocktail of all the different directors’ interpretations in one and SLOWLY i’ve been more accepting of some of his cynical tendencies… though yeah i’d much rather watch Daffy get stranded on the side of a highway with an ACME’s hitchhiker’s thumb than listen to him yell “MINE MINE MINE MINE” for 7 minutes LOL
YOUR ANALYSES ARE ALWAYS ON POINT AS ALWAYS i’m constantly contradicting myself but i do agree with this and McKimson’s duck is definitely my favorite of the ‘50s without question. and yes we DO need more ducks in dresses as well completely random live action footage of kick dancers in saloons
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aew dynamite 11/16/22 liveblog containment zone
startin' today's show like 45 mins late (again)
claudio & danielson vs jericho & sammy
is this a tornado tag bcc elbow time oh it was just them being wild, this is a regular tag match claudio is so strong. big lift i still need to buy the ppv… the idea of telling my friends to wait until its on the crimesites to see max become aew champ is pretty funny though itd be funny but theyd rip me limb from limb danielson lookin good and doing cool moves. im not a danielsonsuperfan (he doesnt do anything for me) but i can appreciate the man im glad he doesnt spraytan classic Baseball Bat Move sammy yelling at danielson again: "I hate you! i hate you so much" sorry last time was so fucking funny. "i hate you you stupid dragon" LMAO i love it when they do a forward roll into a tag. sometimes it feels so extraneous bullying danielson… claudio out here Tossing Guys around oooo bowens vs swerve is up next lmao i thought danielson was going to slam sammy into the cameraman. but no it was the corner post slam slammy danielson yes kicks! sammy biting all match cool lionsault by jericho crowd sounds weird. are they just quiet or are the mics off not that i blame them for not being hype for the nth bcc vs jas match mesmerized by claudio spinning jericho... woo the bcc win
video promo of moxley vs mjf
very cool. i liked moxley's evil laugh my friends are crooning about their favorite special guy mjf now
commercial…
darby short film
darby being a black and weird film weirdo is a cool thing. too bad about the everything else tho
backstage with lethal's crew and jeff jarrett is here too
theyre hooting and hollering
bowens vs strickland
we getting raps im hip and with the times and i understood the references to current events oh its music video time! lmfao stokely used up their dick word allowance for the rest of the year. itll be bleeps from now on that certainly was a rap. im nodding and clapping, max caster my friends pining for visual confirmation of maxwell and caster being the same room together
we starting the actual match off with looney tunes shouldertapping man bowens is good so is swerve. i love watching swerve wrestle throwing bowens right into the front row!! cool pose swerve. thanks oof. bloody lip pushups… aew fight forever game winning "best sports/racing game" at gamescom and i got confused and wondered why they put a racing segment in this wrestle game yeowch that arm kick swerve won! but did he kill bowen's shoulder… is there Lasting Effects...
video promo of jade vs nyla
i love the conflict between these two. tbs champion vs "tbs champion" is such a good bit. i hope nyla wins she is SO good on the mic and also funny. if nyla loses i will go insane. what else is there for jade to do!
samoa joe! promo in the ring
ring of honor time oh yeah he needs to explain himself for turning on wardlow huh i mean its pretty cut and dry. hes a serious tough guy and doesnt take any guff. why would he take guff from WARDLOW. hes SAMOA JOE oh! its powerhouse hobbs telling joe to get in line he's been kicking wardlow's ass this whole time! oh now its wardlow's turn to come out the classic sneak up from behind attack lmao the locker room runs out to stop them! not even bothering with security when samoa joe, powerhouse hobbs, and wardlow is involved wardlow slams all the security off him and the dark order are just like hmm actually go ahead we're not gonna stop you (this is good and i love the dark order) whoa cool flip out of the ring by wardlow
commercial... 2!!
backstage promo by britt baker
oh she mad doesnt baker have the uhhh owen hart championship thing? remember that? i forgot about it. it feels like its been a very long time since ive seen it serious britt baker dmd promo itt. preddy good
top flight + ar fox vs death triangle
oh HELL Yes im glad darius is back. im excited to see him wrestle! death triangle has SUCH a cool and stylish intro wow! arizona and san fran aew shows? :)c wrestling ar fox with the tumbling and rolls. hell yeah! hes smooth his ringpost flip has such movement on it pac just sits and they fling him into the air for ar fox's attack! that was a cool bit! death triangle triple team move on ar fox in retaliation ah its pip time. everyone chill down the commentators are goofing again penta jumping off the corner to do his special move: Ultimate Taint Dropkick the areola, or as taz likes to call it: the Dot on the Chest whoa loud kickhit on ar fox from penta the commentators are still being cheeky. taz: if youre 23 years old-- nothing should be rusty! EVER! top flight leapfrog moves :)c whoa that dante-flip-over-darius-dive move was cool i could barely perceive ar fox's insane top rope somersault nooo theyre gonna make ar fox take the pin?? hes cool though! well… i guess someone has to whoa rey fenix's insane tope pac's special move: Big Spinny Flip. and a pin! they win!
whoa. whats pac on about. is he talking bout the bucks oh! yep. its kenny and the bucks i was JUST thinking about how theyve been holding the belts for kenny and the bucks, but doing a great job of it because their matches rule oh!!!!!!!! theyre all having a match at full gear, not just a return! yay!!!!!!! the elite are back!!!
ethan page vs bandido
its ethan page! yay im glad hes gettin a push. i think hes cute, charismatic, and good on the mic. its also funny that hes such a heel because hes so dang cute bandido got a shiny aew logo on his tights whoa. bandido also very strong. what a slow lift even tony talking about bandido's big muscles. lmao ethan page gettin the big boos lmao the commentators having Height Talk excalibur telling a despondent taz "if you stand on your wallet, you're taller than us both" that was a cool bandido corner counter flip hes got good moves but loses in the end! ethan page time! we want to see a stokely vs mjf promo so bad. theyre both good talkers
promo about the jurassic express cagematch
:0
backstage with saraya
saraya is tired chitchatting. she just wants to fight
commercial! 3
video promo of ortiz and kingston vs jun akiyama and konosuke takeshita!
im so excited for this match on friday :)c
toni storm vs anna jay
shame about the bunny gettin sick. i was really looking forward to that :( oh anna is bein goofy. hee hee someone in the crowd doing the longest yee haw ever oh thats why the crowd sounds so weird. crowds are usually chanting, right? the absence of chanting is odd wait there they are. toni! toni! toni! well, they tried. ok even the commentary are bored by this match theyre out here talkin bout crowd signs during the pip anna jay taps out to the texas cloverleaf! what the. hayter is approaching! toni bumps chests at her. cool
more match announcements
lee moriarty vs hook! athena vs madison rayne! lance archer vs ricky starks! the kingston/ortiz vs akiyama/takeshita match!
the full gear matches! aew champ, tag team champ, woman's champ, roh 4 way, tbs champ... darby n sting vs lethal and jarrett, britt baker vs saraya, samoa joe / wardlow / hobbs three way fight for that championship, trios match of death triangle vs the elite
in ring promo with jon moxley
huh! are they ending the show with a long promo, then? i dont think theres enough time for a match after i wonder whats going to happen then... will there be shenanigans? conflict?? interruptions??? my friends just want to see their guy who the hell is booing moxley in the crowd!!!! moxley you really are the baddest bitch in all the lands. go moxley "im messed up. im a sicko. i cant get enough of violence and fights. its not a good thing. im fucked up in the head" loving the idea of moxley typing out "mjf" into google to do research moxley got a point. mjf does not wrestle CALL HIM OUT MOXLEY!!!!!! MJF IS A WRESTLER COSPLAYER SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT MJF!!! lot for him to live up to-- oh!! its stokely!!! the firm is kicking moxley's ass mjf is here :)c oh my god he is so shaped. like dorito mjf kills everyone in the firm. actually that seemed almost too easy huh will? first name basis now huh? lol "you can make me bleed buckets" oh? bloody mjf at the ppv? pwease? :)c mjf is convincing me that he is sufficiently motivated for this belt oh mjf is using that "convincing the world the devil doesnt exist" bit to cover for him not wrestling a lot moxley takes the mic before mjf can finish his catchphrase oh my god moxley pausing to ask if the ppv is on sunday or saturday LMAO moxley rules nobody would be able to get away with being so nonchalant my friend pointed out at the end that mjf was wearing platforms... man's gotta be tall for the staredown
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Top Ten Videocons of Twenty Seventeen, More or Less
2017 has, by all accounts, been a fantastic year for Video Games. Unfortunately for me, it has been a not so fantastic year in Having Money. So while in a perfect world my now annual game of the year list would have been a terribly contested and dramatic affair of cutting games I thought were good but just didn't make it, in actuality, I had to scramble and cheat a little to just find 10 games to slot in and talk about. I did at least manage to find them. Mostly.
10. Destiny 2
Destiny is a franchise with a troubled history, which feels weird to say about something that came out in late 2014. Nevertheless, Destiny 2's shooty looty gameplay loop finds its way on to my list. The story is tepid and the characters, with a few exceptions, are scarcely worthy of memory, but the visuals are good and the core mechanics of shooting and using abilities are a solid foundation to build upon in the inevitable flurry of DLC packages and expacs. It's all quite reminiscent of Borderlands, except without the unmistakable caustic ooze of Randy Pitchford's involvement. That in and of itself is praiseworthy.
9. Gravity Rush 2/Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Okay so I maybe didn't actually play this one myself. I usually try to exclude stuff that I watched and enjoyed but in this case I was sitting on the couch with other people playing it so that's basically the same thing as playing it myself right? I think I held the controller for a little bit. Anyway this game is super weird and charming and a little nauseating in parts because you sort of go flying off into the stratosphere randomly? But the aesthetic and Mood the game goes for is very unique and fun, it even has its own cute little made up language I mistook for French at first until I heard some Japanese and Spanish sounding words in there as well. The main characters Kat and Raven are dating I think? They're happy and alive girlfriends. Raven is a little broody I guess but they're definitely not the Sad, Dead Lesbians I have grown to detest. Raven is not Velvet. Just reminding myself. Tropical Freeze is just really good and while it maybe came out like years ago I only got to play it very recently on my friend's Wii U. The music is super good fuck you Jeff Gerstmann I will fucking fight you and your shitty opinions about video games you god damned grumpy old man.
8. The Surge
My Thoughts on the Surge are well documented on this very website. It's flawed and frustrating in a lot of ways, nonsensical in others, and the story never quite commits to its original conceit which is a real shame. All that said, I respect the game for what it was unabashedly trying to do: be Dark Souls but with cyborg powerloaders and robots. Like, you gotta live your bliss, right? Lords of the Fallen was utterly miserable and the improvements that The Surge demonstrates gives me cause for optimism in future games from the developer. Anything that gives me cause for optimism in 2017 has to be worth something. That said, the inevitable The Surge 2 is probably going to be kind of by the numbers and unnecessary but that's just how you make games in the 21st century.
7. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
To begin with, BotW would be much higher on this list if I had not only come into owning it and a Switch yesterday. It is by all counts extremely good, an open world game that's actually pleasant and charming and has meritorious mechanics outside of Todd Howard style "you can go fuck that mountain" nonsense. I mean don't get me wrong you can fuck plenty of mountains in this game. Link is fucking Spider-man in this game, the only surfaces he can't mysteriously latch on to are inside the puzzle shrines so you can't just cheese them. Weapon degradation is maybe a little excessive? I feel sort of like Bayonetta in the first cutscene where she keeps yelling "Guns!" when she runs out of ammo except I'm yelling "shitty wooden sticks!" when the one I'm using breaks into a million tiny pieces. I understand the reasoning behind it, I do. It establishes a certain rhythm to the game of exploring, fighting, stocking up on shitty wooden sticks, and repeating. When you find like, an actual sword or spear it feels like an occasion to celebrate, and the whole thing demands that you use a variety of different weapons and weapon-like objects. I'm not nearly far in enough to give an honest, comprehensive picture of the game. I just really like what I've played so far so I'm just compromising by putting BotW relatively low on the list.
6. Cuphead
It's Cuphead! Everybody knows Cuphead by now. It's gorgeous, the soundtrack is great if somewhat lacking in variety, King Dice is really cool but has extremely unfortunate racial undertones, the game is pretty hard (not that hard?) and Cala Maria is a babe. It's a singular game that is extremely worthwhile and hopefully paves the way for future games in a similar style of aping specific styles and eras of animation. I really want a game that goes hard on the 1950s Looney Tunes aesthetic where you just drop anvils on people forever. Cuphead isn't perfect, as a lot of the game's difficulty and length comes from bad checkpointing. It's a necessary evil, because if the game did not blatantly disrespect your time in a lot of the later fights, the game would be like, two hours long. I'm not a proponent of the "git gud" philosophy but I can't help but feel like I really want to say that to the various bad-at-games journos who got bent out of shape about Cuphead being hard. This is your damn job. You can suck it up for one game, especially when it's really very good and unique like Cuphead. Also my mom came in while I was playing it and thought I was watching a popeye cartoon so that was kind of cute I guess.
5. Civilization 6 (CHEATING AGAIN)
YEAH I KNOW THIS GAME CAME OUT LAST YEAR AND IM A HUGE IDIOT FUCKER but hear me out Civ6 is really fucking good because of the fact that Wonders take up physical space on the map and districting does the same thing. Like just this single mechanical change basically doubles the amount of thought and planning you need to put into playing the game even on low difficulties to optimize your output and production. Like it's a civilization game so there's not really anything too groundbreaking here but I fucking adore this game. Really looking forward to Rise and Fall, which will be early 2018. With the initial release being late 2016 I feel like this is like, an honorary 2017 game. Don't @ me.
4. Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight is another game I wrote about previously on the blog, but unlike The Surge I had basically nothing but good things to say about it. Hollow Knight has gorgeous hand drawn graphics and environments not entirely unlike Cuphead, but obviously goes for a much more reserved mood. Hollow Knight is a rock solid Metroidvania game with strong aesthetic and musical chops to back it up, as well as some Dark Souls-esque flourishes to give the game a bit of bite and a haunting narrative arc. A fantastic indie game and I can't wait to see what Team Cherry does next. I need to get around to doing the Halloween DLC, come to think of it. Did you know Zote actually has as many precepts as he says he does? I listened to them all. Some of them aren't too bad.
3. Nioh
Geralt the Witcher's moonlighting adventure as a samurai came out quite early in 2017, but remains one of the best games of the year due to its complex and rewarding combat system, beautiful Warring Kingdoms era Japanese architecture inspirations, fun mythological monster designs, and genuinely well done historical fiction backdrop. Coming into it, I fully expected "Dark Souls except the bosses are like Tengus and Nues and shit", but that description does the game a pretty big disservice. It's much more than that, both from a narrative standpoint, which is a fantastically tinged retelling of the Warring Kingdoms period, and from a gameplay one. The combat in Nioh is much more technical than in Dark Souls, with more pretensions of a combo based character action game than the deliberate, heavily customizable experience of the Souls games. Nioh is still quite hard and has the whole death-recovery mechanic, but it makes sense diegetically due to Guardian Spirit system and remains distinct. There are times when it tries to have the best of both worlds and just kind of ends up feeling like it doesn't do a good job at either, but for the most part, Nioh is tremendously fun, and at times infuriatingly difficult, especially in some of the post game optional battles that pit you against multiple bosses at once. Also, finding Kodamas is extremely rewarding because they are so damn cute. I love them. Find them at all costs.
2. Nier: Automata
Nier: Automata, Yoko Taro's latest brainchild, is, well, what it is. It's a hauntingly weird story about what it means to be human, and if that definition is really even adequate. It's a game with a lot to say, which is why I regard it so highly. The core gameplay is fun and serviceable, which is much more than I can say for its predecessor, the first Nier, which was memorable and affecting but played kind of like butts. 2B's android adventures are much more fluid and stylish, and you have a surprising amount of customization options available (though some arguably make the game a little too easy at points, like regenerating health) and there's enough variety in the little Machine Life form enemies (and the big ones, too) that fighting never felt like a chore to me. Of course, others have disagreed, but I think that the tedium really only sets in when you play as 9S, who has a much reduced arsenal of fighting moves in favor of his hacking skills. I liked the little shmup minigames that hacking entailed, so even 9S's story never felt too dull in the actual mechanical execution of it. People tend to have a misunderstanding of how the game works, that you need to complete it 4 times to get the whole experience, but that's not actually true. The 4 endings separate the game into acts more than anything. While 9S's story has a lot of overlap with 2B's story, endings C and D are just entirely new content where you play as A2, who has some tricks of her own distinct from 2B and 9S. It's not perfect, but it's not like you have to play the same game 4 times. It's a very story focused game, so much so that I would say experiencing the narrative is the main draw, but it has the decency to also be varied and fun to play. I love the parts where you get in the transforming flying robot and shoot the dudes. Especially the big dude. You know the one.
1. Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
The latest Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Stormblood, is super good. I wrote a bit about it earlier, and how it has improved upon Heavensward in almost all respects. Stormblood is a superlative MMO expac, with well designed and amazingly presented raids, dungeons, and trials. It's full of "holy shit that's dope" moments, like when you get into a blade struggle against the primal Susano's gigantic Ame-no-Murakumo in an active time event or storm the fortress city of Ala Mhigo. Ultimately, though, what really makes me evaluate Stormblood as my game of the year is how surprisingly thoughtful it is. FFXIV has, since the relaunch of 2.0, been a game that has not shied away from complexity in its narrative conflicts. The juxtaposition of the mythically strong Warrior of Light and the surprisingly mundane issues even she cannot seem to fix has always been the game's most interesting element to me, and as you spearhead revolutions against the Garlean Empire in two different countries, you learn a lot about how imperial colonialism has made things too complicated to be fixed simply driving out the oppressors. You do, eventually, of course, but the story is quick to remind you that this is only the beginning, and a lot of key issues remain unsolved, both in the newly liberated provinces and back at home. Also the Dark Knight questline from 60-70 is basically the best the game has to offer. It feels to me like that Dark Knight is the unofficial Job of Stormblood, despite the promo material and opening movie having you believe it to be about Monks. Monks, as usual, are boring. The themes explored in the Dark Knight questline, about regret, about shades of gray, about self-destruction, all align perfectly with some of the subtler narrative arcs of the main story. It's just really good and I love it. I still really want to write a piece about it on its own. I probably will soon. But for now, I name Stormblood my game of the year, for reminding us that we are still heroes. That we are still good people.
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34. bosko’s dog race (1932)
release date: june 25th, 1932
series: looney tunes
director: hugh harman
starring: johnny murray (bosko), rochelle hudson (honey)
man, bruno’s really making a name for himself, isn’t he? another bosko and bruno short has bosko enlisting bruno in the local dog race for a $5,000 prize ($93,871.53 today. damn, i’d enter, too!).
chipper as always, bosko’s frying an egg over a campfire with his faithful companion, bruno. he pauses his whistling of “are you from dixie?” to tell bruno “oh boy, am i hungry!”, greeted with an affirmative bark.
it seems bosko isn’t the only one with a hankering for some hen fruit. a squirrel happily eats up the egg that bosko’s flipping in one contended gulp, prompting bosko to whip out a rifle, shoot a few times, and send bruno after the squirrel (“stick ‘im, bruno!”). the pacing is just right, nice and snappy. we’re lulled into a sense of security as we watch bosko prepare the egg, bruno licking his lips in anticipation. all at once, the squirrel eats the egg, and before you know it you’re hearing gunshots and barking. great setup!
interesting to note, as we focus on bruno chasing after the squirrel, the musical underscore is “whistle and blow your blues away”, which would become the next theme song for the looney tunes shorts in the 1932-1933 season.
bosko shoots once more at the squirrel, determined to teach it a lesson. the impact of the shot sends him hurtling (well, rolling) backwards, right into the sizzling pan where he burns himself. the chase comes to a halt as bruno follows the squirrel through a log, falling into a pond and receiving ridicule from bosko, who calls him to his side.
a sign advertising “$5000 PRIZE TO WINNER, WHIPPET RACE” catches the eye of bosko, who proudly shows the sign to his companion. there’s a hilarious scene where bruno frowns at the audience, the whippet in the advertisement transforming into a galloping bruno. juxtaposition between the cheery expression on advertisement bruno and the miserable expression on real bruno make the gag hit, at least for me. good staging!
ever greedy bosko insists that bruno’s going to run in the race and win. mortified at the thought, bruno slinks away and howls “NOOOOOO!”, but bosko won’t take NOOOOOO! for an answer. again, the incongruity between facial expressions makes this. the plight of the optimist versus the realist. bosko’s total ignorance to his pup’s suffering is even funnier, and bruno’s resistance is absolutely believable. believability is such an important trait to any media, and unfortunately, a good number of bosko cartoons lack believability. however, the cartoons that DO have moments of believability (such as here) really hit hard, so that’s something to be thankful for. i always like to give the benefit of the doubt—i don’t like to completely slam a cartoon or a director, no matter how bad the cartoon may be. (though buddy’s day out may test my unflappable optimism)
honey makes an appearance, poking her head over the fence to watch bosko train bruno. she asks if they’re training, and bosko opts to showboat and show off how manly his dog is and how great of a trainer he is.
how very looney tunes. i love seeing glimpses of gags that would continue to be used time and time again in future cartoons! honey points and laughs to the embarrassment of bosko and bruno.
finally, the big day arrives. the seats are packed as bets are placed and flyers are strewn about. again, some good juxtapositional comedy: we see part of the competition, a sleek, confident whippet with its head held high, gingerly taking its steps with a swagger... and then everyman bosko, lugging bruno around with a rope around his neck.
we see honey, who’s clapping and eagerly listening to the announcer dictate the start of the race. that’s a cute way to include her, exposing her endearing excitement towards bosko.
the hounds are released and bosko joins honey’s side in a hurry. dog after dog races by, but no sign of bruno...
bruno comes moseying along, sniffing the ground carefully and taking his time. once again, great setup! i love that this cartoon in particular really takes advantage of the humorous effects that contrast and juxtaposition possess. bosko and honey yell at bruno to get snappy, and the pooch scrambles off in a hurry.
all of the dogs are faring better than bruno, who’s literally slowed in time, practically floating in the air as he pants in exhaustion. bosko runs on the track, shouting his name to keep him going. eventually, bruno perks up, but not because of bosko. he leaps over a fence and chases something offscreen, bosko close behind.
it turns out that “something” is the squirrel from the beginning of the cartoon. bruno chases it into a log, where the squirrel climbs up a tree and knocks a beehive down on bruno.
predictably, the bees aren’t too happy about this. they sting bruno and send him on a wild goose chase, with bosko booking it in front of him so as not to get stung himself. they run into someone’s yard and slip through a wringer, into a laundry basket. we get a great visual of anthropomorphized clothes (including a girdle that flies away like a butterfly) pouring out of the laundry basket, running towards the screen.
once again, a crude joke has me wondering if bob clampett had any sort of involvement. bruno gets a pair of underwear stuck on his head and runs away, back onto the racetrack, bees uncomfortably close behind. the stings received by the nuisances prove to be a good motivator, as bruno runs faster and faster, passing all of the dogs, until he wins!
he crosses the finish line... almost. he doesn’t break the ribbon, but instead it propels him backwards and sends him crashing to the ground, where he explodes into multiple tiny puppies of himself, regrouping just in time for bosko and honey to admire him as ww iris out.
quite the enjoyable cartoon! i think it’s tied for favorite with battling bosko. the pacing is just right and only feels stretched in a few spots. bruno is VERY believable, which is rather amusing considering he should be the least believable character there as an animal. bosko and honey are endearing as always, and their motives are admirable. bosko wants to win, honey wants to see bosko win. great music score, great visuals, great gags, great cartoon! harman and ising definitely showed us what they’re capable of doing in this cartoon. like all of the bosko cartoons, it’s no masterpiece, but considering its time and comparing other shorts, it’s definitely one of the gems. i certainly recommend a watch!
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