#( he's so fun and one of the most powerful units in the game imo )

[bendover-productions]

Yes hehe, I do have a follow-up, because I AGREE it's so good!!! I just rewatched it for the first time since it first came out (I think?) and I was so charmed by it all over again! I kind of think episode 5 of that season is objectively one of their best episodes ever… I looove the way the teams splitting up allows for interesting interactions between all four of them, and I like the strategizing over the phone parts, I find it really charming. But yes I remember the comments on reddit and youtube being kinda harsh on that season when it came out, ESPECIALLY about Sam and Scotty. And I think youtube and reddit are just generally harsher on Sam, more so than on tumblr, but I just think they're misreading him soooo unfairly in this specific context!!! People were mad at how "smug" they were when their tactic was getting in Ben and Adam's way instead of capturing flags, but I found it very funny and think most of those people would have too, if it was happening in the opposite direction… Also that season just has incredible Sam vibes imo. He literally seems thrilled just to be travelling Japan and to be getting some jogging done. He's having so much fun!!! And the Sam and Adam 5D train chess moment that leads to them hanging out in a picturesque little town… Obviously incredible. And then them watching Ben and Scotty's trackers next to each other on the train later. And also, importantly, Sam's bucket hat… Literally what's not to love??? And as far as I remember they all describe the season as having been a lot of fun to film as well… One criticism that I maybe do get is that it's very much a high intensity game with fewer chill moments for both them and the audience, especially in the first round, so I can understand that not being to everyone's taste….. But yes, I think that season is sooooo underrated and I'd love to see them bring the format back! And I had that take rattling around my head for many days, so I thought I'd free myself of it by giving it to you :) I'm glad you also liked it <3

me + u....

as i’ve been powering through seasons i have been a little worried like. what am i gonna do when i get to the end and have to WAIT but hearing this is good because i feel like it confirms there's so much re-watch potential!! don't threaten me with a good time (rewatching jet lag).

i also love the phone strategizing!! charming is the right word for it. can’t remember any quotes precisely because my brain is a sieve but i just remember them yapping for a majority of the episode and i liked being able to see them collaborating even though they were doing different things if that makes sense? they got to be their own decision-makers within the unit which is interesting To Me in terms of strategy. which! i have not been on reddit or the youtube comments but :/ don’t malign my boy sam!! he might’ve done all that (been very happy to have thwarted adam and ben) but he doesn’t deserve it…*

i think it is very common for all of them to do that and it’s not malicious? it is maybe a little smug but one of the unique things about this season was how much they got to SEE each other after making moves. usually they’re facetiming across countr(ies) for five minutes and even then they do gloat a little bit about particularly good or thwarting moves. we just get to see in person the joy of coming up with a strategy that was successful [and perhaps ties back into scotty. scotty just wants SO badly to do well and not let sam down that to me!! it’s really important that they celebrate this (not)victory!! let scotty have success even if it’s not conventional!!] the other team didn’t think of because they all fundamentally think different ways. ben and adam are always more high risk high reward and especially in this game sam and scotty played a lot more defense so it feels natural to me to extend that strategy to the fact that after obtaining a lead he wouldn’t risk it, he’d defend it (thwarted ben and adam). if you’re already winning you don’t need to pull the goalie!!

but yes sam has a GREAT time this season and every time he gets on a super fast train he’s so excited 🥺 AND THE 5D CHESS!! the sam/adam scenic getaway means sooo much to me i watched it heart in my throat and also pen in hand ✍️ ✍️ ✍️

let it be said i don't think this season was the one that stressed me out so bad that i HAD to keep watching it? for sure this one was very tense but i think i exist at such a high state of stress at all times watching jet lag that this didn't even register as more stressful than normal. or i simply repressed all the stress i felt idk. it was simultaneously not a chill season (them getting lost and on the wrong trains right off the bat) but also very chill because there’s a lot of downtime on the trains? and we got choo choo chew!!! which is so beloved to me!!! there’s a lot to love about this season i think.

[riteburdened]

i may be an ayaka main and a hu tao simp but if you willingly skipped kazuha's banner you are simply incorrect

[reversemoon255]

Fifth Review: Digimon Top 10

I’ve been really enjoying Digimon Ghost Game, I don’t have anything else to write about this month, and Top 10s are fun, so here’s my Top 10 Favorite Digimon. Because.

NUMBER 10: OmegaShoutmon X-Antibody

It may be obvious to people who frequent my reviews that I really like Shoutmon. A well-developed Digimon with a toy-centric gimmick I enjoy, and a very shiny evolution introduced half-way through the show to add to that gimmick. OmegaShoutmon ends up winning out over Shoutmon and his kingly evolution because I like the design more, and the X-Antibody version wins out over that for the same reasons. It’s definitely a bit over-designed, but I can’t help but want to see this thing Digi Xros’d with something to see how crazy it can get.

NUMBER 9: Bastemon

I just think she’s cute. Also, I really enjoy her portrayal in Xros Wars, where she’s incredibly lazy 90% of the time, but can occasionally get really heated when she needs to. Her fight against Chuchumon, even though we don’t see it, is probably my favorite joke from that season.

NUMBER 8: Omedamon

I don’t like April Fool’s Day. It’s a lot of really dumb jokes, most of them half-hearted, and very little of it I find interesting. Omedamon, however, is the exception. A crossover between Digimon and Medarot (Medabots) that wasn’t just fun, goofy art, but both Omedamon and the eventual 3 new Medarots (across two years) are usable units in both series’ mobile games. Not only did we get several great designs introduced into two franchises, but they were canonized. I wish more companies were willing to do this kind of thing.

NUMBER 7: Omegamon Alter-S

Omegamon/Omnimon is definitely one of the most popular Digimon overall, and I like them as well. Every time I watch Children’s War Game, I well up a bit at the scene where their body is forming from the wishes of all the world’s children. Their design has also been replicated many times, both in series with Digimon like Chaosmon, Omedamon, and Shoutmon, and parodied in other series as well. Unfortunately for Omegamon standard, design always wins out over nostalgia with me, and Alter-S is a cooler design in my opinion. Replacing the familiar WarGreymon/MetalGarurumon combo with the (IMO) more interesting BlitzGreymon and CresGarurumon, they swaps the usual arm weapons and adopts a more dark appearance. I also love how they used them in Adventure:, with the dual-wield moments and final reveal against Abbadomon. An improvement on an already great design.

NUMBER 6: Dukemon (Amplified) (Art by @/Asmaria_)

Out of every evolution gimmick introduced throughout the many season of Digimon, above-and-beyond, my favorite has always been Bio-Merging. It’s the ultimate extension of the partner concept focused on in the first three seasons, and several after. And while I like all four of the Lv.6 Digimon that utilize this mechanic, Dukemon/Gallantmon is my favorite. The knight aesthetic is great, his moment of evolution and following fight are the strongest, and like many of the Digimon on this list, he has many iterations to choose your favorite from. Mine, unsurprisingly, is the model kit version. It’s still Dukemon, but with a higher level of detail and a lot more sharp edges. Just a great design.

NUMBER 5: MetalGreymon (Virus) X-Antibody

It’s not that I don’t like the original MetalGreymon, but his design isn’t that interesting to me. I like that he resembles his previous form, which not every evolution from season 1 does, but he isn’t as compelling to me as many of the other Greymon evolutions we’ve gotten, including Greymon himself. Virus X takes that uninteresting design and evolves it in a way I really enjoy, with the flaming hair and wings, increased metal parts, and especially the Alterous. It’s a rotating arm that can form MetalGreymon’s usual claw, or 180 and become a large cannon. It’s so cool that they gave it to MetalGreymon standard in Adventure: as a power-up. A fantastic upgrade to an originally meh design.

NUMBER 4: Pulsemon (Art by @/gebofrog38)

An aspect of the games that never truly integrated itself into the shows until recently is a Digimon’s ability to have multiple evolutions. We saw moments here and there, like SkullGreymon and Megidramon, but they were one-offs; active mistakes caused by the Digimons’ Tamers. Then came the Vital Brace and Pulsemon, a Digimon designed specifically to not only have branching lines, but a branching web of evolutions. Since his introduction, we got a few more situational evolutions in Adventure: and it’s Gammamon’s main gimmick in Ghost Game. It’s a Digimon with a gimmick that it did so well it inspired copycats.

NUMBER 3: Shoutmon X3

Again, I like Shoutmon. I always thought he was ok, but then I got my hands on the Xros Figures and my opinions of both him and how much went into his design skyrocketed. As I somewhat jokingly pushed the idea of him getting a model kit in the ongoing lines, I ended up becoming more and more serious to the point that I will be legitimately sad if I never handle a decent toy of this design in my lifetime. As for why I specifically chose X3, it’s because it’s the unencumbered base design without the Star Sword. While I like how it incorporates Shoutmon’s weapon as a handle, I’ve always thought the Star Sword was a bit goofy. Still, a great design that hits me right in my love of toys.

NUMBER 2: Gaioumon Burst Mode (Art by @/Asmaria_)

Gaioumon has some interesting history behind him. He was originally designed to be BlackWarGreymon X-Antobody, but the design team thought he looked so much cooler than WarGreymon X that they opted to make him his own Digimon and BWGX a recolor in order to not overshadow one of their flagship characters. That being said, you’re probably confused as to why Gaioumon has a Burst Mode, a gimmick exclusive to four-and-a-half Digimon from Digimon Savers...

He doesn’t, actually. Gaioumon Bust Mode is non-canon. Turns out Gaioumon is actually the favorite Digimon of semi-frequent series collaborated As’maria, who created the above art, as well as the original Gaioumon. So it’s a fan character, but that fan works on the actual series.

On a fun side note, within the most recent run of X-Antibody Digimon we got Gaioumon: Itto Mode, who bears a number in interesting similarities to this design, such as the gold horns, scarred eyes, and stomach teeth. An unofficial design so cool that it eventually wormed its way into some form of canonicity. Heck yeah.

NUMBER 1: MetalGreymon (Xros Wars)

Yes, MetalGreymon is on here twice, I’m not sorry.

A lot of points I’ve made previously on this list apply to this choice. It’s a toy-centric redesign that improves upon a lackluster original. It has a high amount of detail, three different evolutions, and something I haven’t been able to talk about thus far is I love its art. While it’s hard to find the old Xros Wars art at a good size, I love the thick outlines and the sketchy style of it. It’s because I like this design so much that I started painting the Xros Figures Greymon I got, and subsequently the rest of the line, to be more show accurate, and why I’m so sad I haven’t been able to find MailBirdramon to complete it. I’ve even been planning to commission art of a Xros Wars WaruMonzaemon that integrates with it to form a Xros Wars WarGreymon once I get both in hand to be able to fully understand the parts layout (I’m not the biggest fan of ZekeGreymon). There’s just so much going on that makes me like it. It may not be your favorite, but it’s the perfect Digimon for me.

Thanks for reading my ramblings about Digimon. It was fun analyzing why I liked all these designs so much. I know my concept over nostalgia mentality isn’t something most people will agree with, but that’s just how I think, and maybe this gave you a slight idea of how my brain works.

[loopy777]

Return of the Jedi is often looked upon as the weakest of the original trilogy. If you share that opinion, what do you think would have improved it? Aside from the Ewok thing, I think they could have gone with a different climax that doesn’t involve a second Death Star (maybe an old timey ship-to-ship style battle with the Executor but in space?)

Yeah, having another Death Star is definitely a bit tired. I appreciate that it came with a bunch of different visuals thanks to its half-finished nature, destroying it didn't involve another trench run, and it allowed for the biggest and most technically accomplished space action of the entire series (they did that all with real models and compositing! CGI may look nice, but it's easy), but having another super-weapon -- never mind the exact same thing as the first movie -- feels lazy.

In the early drafts, the creative team had been toying with something involving the Imperial Capital, but the action never really went beyond Death Star-esque space stations and a forest moon. I think something could have been done with the capital planet itself, but that would have required more budget than George Lucas wanted to spend, and his vision possibly wasn't even technically possible at the time.

Also, I do agree that that Ewoks are perhaps a little too kid-friendly. I think the theme works, with the 'primitives' defeating the more technological Empire, and I even think it was implemented in a believable manner. But the whole 'teddy bear picnic' look of it (as Carrie Fisher called it) was probably too much for the aging primary audience, never mind the adult fans, and there didn't need to be so much silliness and comedy with them. It's the same thing that sunk Jar-Jar and the Gungans in Phantom Menace- cute bumbling critters are fine, but then the audience isn't really going to warm to them winning a war. I don't mean that the fight needs to be all gritty and violent, but leaving the slapstick to just Wicket and letting the other Ewoks looks like experienced guerillas would have probably accomplished a lot in endearing the idea to the audience.

More than the teddy bears, though, I think the look of Endor's moon itself doesn't meet Star Wars standards. It's just a forest, the same thing you can see in any low-budget fantasy movie. Sure, there are a few more redwoods in RotJ than in LotR Knockoff #47, but it's still a step down from what came before. Tatooine was probably the most boring-looking planet before that, in terms of environment, but the sci-fi civilization built on the desert made it interesting. Endor's moon is just a forest and the Ewok treehouses. There's no wow-factor, especially after ESB upped the game from the first movie.

Overall, though, I think the main problem with RotJ is one that isn't really visible on the screen. It's the primary culprit behind the lack of enthusiasm people feel for the movie, IMO.

I'm talking, of course, about the pacing.

The first part of the movie, the rescue of Han from Jabba, feels like a stand-alone adventure more appropriate to an episode of a TV series. It has nothing to do with the conflict with the Empire, and has this slow rollout of the cast that definitely feels like it's reintroducing the audience to them, an odd choice for the last movie in a trilogy. Nothing is accomplished by it except reestablishing the status quo, getting the whole cast ready to return to the real story. It's the most visually impressive location in the movie, with the rancor and all the alien costumes, but in the end Luke just fights his way through it. Throwing Luke and company into something a bit more involved, like if Jabba was meeting with another crime lord and Luke played them off against each other or something, would be a bit more engaging. But that would still leave this section of the movie feeling separate from everything else. I'm not sure how to solve that, as it is a bit of business leftover from ESB that has to be tided up in some way, and it's a good example of why playing things by ear can be really hard even for people who are good at it.

The next major problem with the pacing comes on Endor's moon, when Luke and company spend so much time meeting the Ewoks. I don't think it's a long time in actual count of minutes, but it's a slow bit that's probably more drawn out than it needs to be. The original Star Wars was a location-hopping adventure with wonderfully-paced forward momentum buoyed by some fun moments of natural downtime. ESB was a chase sequence spiced up with the ramping romance between Han and Leia, with Luke's powering up and exploration of the Force inter-spaced, culminating in the heroes suffering major dramatic defeats. But RotJ starts with a side-quest, then Luke gets the truth about Vader in a good scene that's still just people sitting around and talking, and after a speeder bike chase (that again is probably too long) the heroes take their time becoming friends with Ewoks in a forest. Star Wars was exhilarating before this, and now it's laboring to the finish line while dithering to clean up its own subplots.

(Note: I do NOT advocate avoiding the due diligence of cleaning up subplots in order to try to maintain a propulsive plot, and the final movie certainly isn't the place to be throwing new subplots in. That's how you get Rise Of Skywalker, and no one wants that.)

When the big finale starts, with Luke confronting Vader and then the Battle of Endor kicking off, the pacing finally gets back on track, IMO. George Lucas knows how to edit together an action sequence, if nothing else, and knows when to cut back to the slower but more emotionally meaty Luke-stuff with the Emperor.

However, I do think the parts with Han and Leia can come across as a little rote, since their action isn't really tied to any story or character arc for them. It's functional enough with them both leading the rebellion, but there's nothing particularly dramatic about it for them, and they're just busting one small bunker, compared to Lando taking on the big examples of Imperial might, the Death Star and the Executor Super Star Destroyer. Han and Leia don't even get to fight one of the big walkers, they just fight the smaller chicken-walkers! And I think Lando's role does feel more like part of his character arc, with him being a respectable leader for the good guys in a nice uniform, and using his cleverness to keep the fleet alive long enough to assault the Death Star.

But, strangely, the moment in the whole Endor battle that feels the most like a culmination is when the Executor Super Star Destroyer is destroyed, and none of the main characters are even involved in that! Sure, blowing up another Death Star is fine, but we've already done it. No one has blown up a Super Star Destroyer before, and that got built up through the whole previous movie.

Fortunately, everything about Luke's big climax with Vader and the Emperor is functionally perfect, and that's the part that people were most interested in, so I don't think that RotJ really stumbles at the end. It succeeds and does deliver a lot of what people had come to like about Star Wars. It just doesn't do it as intensely or smoothly as the previous efforts, so it feels weaker.

So if I were to try to create a 'stronger' RotJ, I'd probably shave the Han Rescue down to a quick action-packed prologue, do the Vader=Father explanation for Luke as a mix of Obi-Wan's explanation with a trippy Force Vision Quest with some interesting visuals, then have the Rebellion assault the Imperial capital in a mix of space and ground battle. I'd get rid of the whole concept of the forest setting and the spear-wielding primitives, since that's the same metaphor as the Empire and Rebellion, anyway. I'd also make the Rebellion fleet smaller and more desperate, connecting it clearly to the losses from the previous movie, and the attack on the capital is some kind of desperate last ploy, motivated by some kind of time limit. Luke still confronts Vader and the Emperor alone. For Han and Leia, I wonder if -- instead of simply having them fight -- they could maybe rally some downtrodden local citizenry to help take down or turn off some big Imperial Plot Thingy, giving them a chance to show leadership and unite the Rebellion with the people it's been fighting for, or something like that. Han could even tell the locals about the Force, something they've never heard of, living on the capital. And Leia gives them the chance at freedom.

Hm, perhaps the first assault against the Imperial Palace fails at first, with a bunch of Rebels dying but Leia and Han escaping, leaving Lando and company stranded in space with the baddies? Then Leia and Han need to find an alternate way to accomplish the goal, giving the 'meet the locals' sequence a bit more intensity and a time limit, but still serving as a bit of downtime between actiony bits. Or the final half of the movie could be all action, with the relative downtime being Luke's part with the Emperor and Vader in the palace. (This is the kind of thing decided in the editing room.) Then the Rebel assault can be continuous, and about to lose when Han and Leia show up with reinforcements. Movie audiences love that. They turn off the Imperial Plot Thingy. Then Lando lands the decisive blow on the Executor, which crashes into the Imperial Palace just after Luke escapes in the wake of Vader's death.

Anyway, that's all off the top of my head. But you see where I'm going with this. Keep it moving, keep it intense, keep it new and interesting, don't get too hung up on the Vietnam War metaphor that inspired certain themes, and try to put more characters arcs into things so that Harrison Ford doesn't spend the next 30 years talking about how much he wanted his character to die.

Maybe we can have a village of Ewoks living in the capital sewers, along with other Downtroddens. There's no reason not to have any teddy bears.

Star Wars is supposed to be fun, too. And a little silly.

[rapuvdayear]

2000: “Ghetto Qu’ran (Forgive Me)” 50 Cent (Trackmaster Ent./Columbia)

It’s been over a year since I teased the idea of doing a post about my favorite 50 Cent tracks, so I guess now is as good a time as ever to get around to it! 

With the exception of maybe Kanye, I can’t think of another rapper with more raw talent whose career has been more disappointing. Obviously both Ye and Fiddy have been monstrously successful, but IMO they either burned brightly before descending into white supremacy apologia (Kanye) or never achieved their best possible trajectory (50). It’s not an accident to put them together in this way, either; just 12 years ago next month they faced off in what turned out to be a very underwhelming battle over whose album would sell better (this was back when album sales, not streaming numbers, still meant something). In many ways, it was a crossroads for each artist: Kanye dropped what I believe was his magnum opus, then followed it up with his fourth-best album, third-best album, and second-best album, before dropping off a cliff, while 50′s release basically removed him from the conversation about who was relevant in rap (“My Gun Go Off” and “I Get Money” are honorable mentions for the list below, but otherwise Curtis is entirely forgettable). 

These days, 50 has gone the Ice Cube route and is probably more recognizable as an actor than as a rapper. So, it’s hard to remember that once upon a time he was the savior of gangsta rap and (co-)author of one of the 25 greatest albums of all time. He beat the odds to survive a shooting, link up with the two heaviest hitters (at the time) in the rap game, and even be included on some GOAT lists. He also essentially established the “flood the streets with mixtapes before your album drops” strategy of self-promotion that Gucci, Weezy, and even Drake would follow in the days before Soundcloud was the go-to resource for building a rep. He singlehandedly destroyed a rival’s career, launched a clothing line, video game, and music label, and made a halfway-decent biopic. And then... he just sort of petered out. 

But! 50 is also responsible for some of my all-time favorite raps, which is why it’s so frustrating to me that he never lived up to the buzz surrounding him back in 2003. These are my five favorites, listed chronologically, with some commentary:

1) “Ghetto Qu’ran (Forgive Me)” (2000) Before the G-Unit days and before Eminem and Dre helped launch him to superstardom, Curtis Jackson was an up and coming rapper from Queens who had attracted the attention of another rap legend, Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay. A mutual friend introduced 19 year-old 50 to Jay back in 1996, and the veteran producer/DJ gave him a crash course in how to write songs and signed him to his fledgling label. The business relationship didn’t work out, but it helped lead 50 to Columbia Records’ Trackmasters imprint where he recorded Power of the Dollar in 1999. However, this debut album would never see the light of day after 50 was shot nine times while sitting in a friend’s car and subsequently dropped by Columbia. In the wake of the shooting--and then later, after 50 blew the fuck up in 2003--it became a sort of “lost cult classic” among rap fans. “How To Rob” got the most attention at the time, a funny-yet-vicious song demonstrating 50′s hunger through fantasies about sticking up famous rappers and R&B stars (the song was also clearly an homage to Biggie’s unreleased “Dreams,” and provoked an oblique diss from Ghostface). But “Ghetto Qu’ran” has had a more lasting impact, primarily because of how it was rumored to be the source of 50′s shooting, Jam Master Jay’s murder, and the Ja Rule/Murder Inc. beef. While all of that intrigue is important to rap lore, it distracts from the fact that it’s a near perfect rap song from a technical perspective: a catchy hook, a fantastic beat and sample, an effortless flow, and a well-crafted story that is equal parts celebration of the Queens underworld and subtle shots at street legends. Seriously, this is akin to what traveling bards used to do in medieval Europe, what poets in Ancient Greece wrote, what west African griots did/do, and what narcocorrido artists do now. If you want to learn about the Supreme Team, Pappy Mason, the Corley Family, and the Rich Porter/Alpo crew in Harlem, then this is a good place to start; as 50 puts it, “consider this the first chapter of the ghetto’s Qu’ran.” The secondary title to this track--“Forgive Me”--has a double meaning now. It was initially a plea to forgive 50 for the pain he caused in his criminal life but in retrospect an appeal to the figures whose names he drops. Also, it’s interesting to listen to this first and then compare 50′s voice with the next four tracks: this was recorded before the shooting, which left a bullet fragment lodged in his tongue that affected his speech and gave him his now-distinctive flow.    

2) “Heat” (2003) There are several standouts on Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (“Many Men,” “Back Down,” “What Up Gangsta,” “Patiently Waiting,” and “Poor Lil’ Rich” spring to mind, and I will always love “21 Questions” for the “I love you like a fat kid loves cake” line alone) but this one has always been my fave. It’s a perfect distillation of the image that 50 was trying to project when he burst onto the scene: a hood-hardened gangster who wouldn’t hesitate to do his enemies harm. And given his recent history, you could believe him, too! There’s really nothing about this song that should be praised in any way, but I’ve been thinking about the gravity of the following line a lot in the past month or so: “The summertime is a killing season/ It’s hot out this bitch, that’s a good enough reason.” Also, 50′s boast “the DA can play this motherfucking tape in court” *has* to be one of the inspirations behind this great Key & Peele sketch, right? 

3) “A Baltimore Love Thing” (2005) The Massacre was incredibly disappointing on the whole. I can remember clearly sitting around with my friends in a dorm room at the Shoreland listening to it all the way through the day that it dropped, wanting to love it but slowly realizing that it wasn’t going to live up to our expectations. “Ski Mask Way” could be an honorable mention on this list, and “Piggy Bank” is kind of funny, but otherwise it’s a steaming pile of shit. “Baltimore Love Thing,” though, is a masterpiece. It’s incredibly dark, rapped from the perspective of heroin itself (sort of like what Nas’s “I Gave You Power” does for guns) in order to detail the destruction that addiction--and, by extension, drug trafficking--leaves in its wake. Even more fucked up, 50-as-heroin voices an abusive partner addressing a woman, threatening her should she ever try to leave him. For my money, “You broke my heart, you dirty bitch, I won’t forget what you did/ If you give birth, I’ll already be in love with your kids” is one of the coldest lines in the annals of rap, full stop. In the second verse, he switches to the flip side of an abuser’s mindset: “I never steer you wrong, if you hyper I make you calm/ I’ll be your incentive, your reason for you to move forward.” All in all, it’s a great concept song that shows off 50′s range as a rapper... and is a testament to what he could have been.

4) “Hustler’s Ambition” (2005) Goddamn, I fucking love everything about this song! The beat is fantastic (great sample, btw), prefiguring the sound on a future great mixtape from the G-Unit crew. 50′s flow here is flawless, arguably the best, smoothest he’s ever been. This was basically the “theme” for 2005′s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ film, and tells the story of his come up in the drug game (or, at least, 50′s version of his carefully constructed hagiography). The lyrics are the true gems here, so I’ll just let a few of the standouts speak for themselves:

“Check my logic: fiends don’t like seeds in they weed, shit/ Send me them seeds, I’ll grow ‘em what they need”

“I sell anything, I’m a hustler, I know how to grind/ Step on grapes, put it in water, and tell you it’s wine”

“I made plans to make it, a prisoner of the state/ Now I can invite your ass out to my estate”

“Pour Cristal in the blender, make a protein shake”

and finally

“The feds watch me, icy, they can’t stop me/ Racists pointing at me, ‘Look at *****race’: Hello!”   

5) “Ghetto Like A Motherfucker” (2011) I remember first encountering this track on a Tumblr compilation (I think?) called Don’t Fuck This Up, Curtis! and allowing myself to get excited that the old 50 was back! As the compilation’s name implies, around that time 50 had been releasing a string of online-only singles that were better than anything he’d put out in five or so years, and so there was some hope that he’d soon be making a triumphant return to the rap game. Sadly, this was not to be. But I still bang this track every month or so. The idea here was that 50 had written something, set it to a very sparse, stripped-down beat, and posted it online as an invitation for DIY rap producers to play with it and layer their own compositions on top of it. In that sense, it represented a melange of rap’s earliest roots--dudes spitting over vinyl cuts in basements and parks, just fucking around and having fun--and the possibilities afforded by the digital age and rap’s embrace of online platforms for mixing and remixing material (on a side note, I like to think of this as part of 21st century rap’s “punk rock” aesthetic, and would argue that this genre has done it better than any other). As with “Hustler’s Ambition,” “Baltimore Love Thing,” and “Ghetto Qu’ran,” this track gives 50 a chance to really showcase his talents as a writer and a rapper. The lyrics are as grimy as the beat, painting a picture of urban poverty and pre-fame 50, and 50 switches up his flow at multiple points throughout. Here are some of my favorite lines:

“Slim chance I’ma go back to killing roaches/ Be quiet, you can hear the rats in the wall/ Make you wanna pump crack ‘til you stack racks”

“Dice game, shake ‘em up, praying’ for a 6/ The wolves out there hungry, they lookin’ for a lick”

“****** pissed on the staircase, in the elevator/ Now I’m pissed cuz I’m starting to smell like piss, player”

and

“All a ***** need is a block and a connect/ And a box of 9 MMs to load in the TEC.”

50′s last two studio albums--Before I Self Destruct and Animal Ambition--honestly weren’t half-bad; I would venture so far as to say that they were both better than The Massacre and Curtis. But for 50 it was too little, too late, really. Too many rappers had come along since then doing what he did, only better and fresher. This is a Migos world now; we’re just living in it. And so, I’m left to ponder what could have been. 

[bumblebyaf]

hey so if anyone is interested amity arena strategies / how my deck works feel free to keep reading :D i got weirdly excited and rambled a bit so uh it’s kind of long i guess, sorry? b/c this got so long i’m going to do a second separate post on general tips for Amity Arena fame games

hi!! this is my preferred Amity Arena deck, i’m typically very happy with it and it works well for me! i’ve been using it for a least a month now and it’s gotten me through Arena 5 & now into 6! 

i’d also like to point out that I’m level 7, all of my cards are 5-7 (with the exception of Cinder of course, who is an Epic card and therefore Really Hard to get) and I have over 500 gems & over 9k coins- all without spending a single dime of real money! A lot of people think this game is pay to play and you can’t advance past early arenas without buying upgrades but you can totally play for free! anyway onto my deck…

both White Fang Grunt cards: these cards seem to be a standard in most battles i come across! I like using both of them because they’re extremely cheap to use & while they’re not the strongest fighters don’t underestimate the fact that theres 3 (or 6 if you use both) of them. i like to start off my games by deploying all 6 grunts on one lane and then quickly follow up with a Stronger card on the other lane (forcing the opponent to either focus on one side or risk spreading their cards against both-sometimes nothing happens but other times I get really close to destroying at least one turret on my first try!) do NOT underestimate the power of the grunts attacking a turret; they WILL do a lot of damage especially if there are more than 3 of them; make sure you take advantage of the gun units long range attack & don’t place them right on top of an enemy; this way they can get a few shots of damage in before getting hit themselves.

Griffon: my Griffon is the one card I swap out the most-I’m not entirely sold on using this card BUT its a VERY good counter to Scythe Ruby-something i encounter a lot in battles and don’t usually know how to fight without just sacrificing my units; the Griffon is perfect for fighting this Ruby because she can’t hit it at all (whereas its pretty easy for Ruby to take out any low aura ground units in just a hit or two) i’m not sure the best way to use my Griffon other than on Ruby-sometimes I use it against an Alpha Beowolf if I don’t have my usual cards lined up or I just randomly send it on offense etc but mostly I save it if I know the person I’m fighting is fond of using Ruby

Cinder: i love cinder! I loved her even more at 3 aura :( the 4 aura change makes me struggle a little & i don’t get to use her as often as I did previously-this is also the reason I don’t have a Scythe Ruby in my deck I just can’t afford the aura for both. anyway. cinder’s long range arrow attack is actually pretty decent, not to mention fast, and she can easily pick off grunts or baby deathstalkers while walking past (and usually out of their aggro range so they won’t attack her) but the real reason you’re using cinder is for her special ability: the rain of arrows or whatever. if you play cinder right you can get 2-3 abilities out of her before she actually dies and that can be really useful! her rain of arrows will instantly kill a baby deathstalker group (super useful) & usually grunts as well. its also a really good last second clutch to destroy a very weak turret/tower even if none of your other units are nearby. my suggestion: whenever you place a cinder place her at the very bottom so it takes a really long time before she reaches midfield/their side this way you have a lot of time for her special ability to build up multiple times & also her normal attack will pick at units running down the middle

Alpha Beowolf: ugh i Love and Hate this card,,,love to use it,,,hate to have it used against me.the alpha beowolf will ignore all enemy units and only attack towers which makes it a good bulldozer but easy to take down with t he right defense (ie: a baby deathstalker group will p much destroy a beowolf instantly making your 4 aura use a huge waste) timing when you place your alpha beowolf in order to make it effective is something you just have to learn (did the enemy just use their deathstalkers? is the enemy low on aura? is the enemy already putting all their focus on the other side of the field?) if you can afford the aura the alpha beowolf + baby deathstalker combo WILL destroy a tower if they arent stopped fast enough (i like to use this combo + my double grunt attack all on my very first turn to attack two sides of the game; usually either one or both will be able to do massive damage before both can be stopped!) 

Ribbon Blake: I stopped using Blake for a while and I’m really glad I picked her up again! Ribbon Blake is a unique card in that she can be placed literally anywhere you want in the game; this makes her great for both offense and defense although I use her for offense like 95% of the time; if you level Blake up enough (mine is at level 5) she can usually get off at least 300 damage before she’s killed (assuming the enemy reacts quickly and tries to kill her-some people underestimate Blake and just ignore her allowing her to get a pretty good chunk of damage off); one of the reasons I love ribbon Blake so much is because I love a good last second clutch-if you have lets say 10 seconds left and you don’t have enough time for a unit to cross the map but the tower is so low,,,ribbon blake has got ur back. shes there in a second and probably Will destroy it. shes also just a nuisance early game-relatively cheap but strong to start directly weakening a tower and forcing the enemy to either react to it (while they’re distracting you focus the second tower) or ignore her (letting her do a good amount of damage)

Baby Deathstalker Swarm: my babies,,,this is a must have in any deck imo (and i do see it Very often in fame!) a group of baby deathstalkers will 100% kill any unit they are deployed on (except scythe ruby & flynt if he has his ability- do NOT use deathstalkers on them they will all just die). the key to baby deathstalkers is to pay attention to the enemies deck. do they use alpha beowolves often? save your deathstalker-they’ll kill that in a second. they’re also very good against a beowolf pack etc. deathstalkers, as mentioned, also make a great offensive pair with a beowolf etc; basically deathstalkers are great on both offense and defense & you can’t really go wrong with them-but dont use them against Scythe Ruby/Flynt etc & watch out for Cinder! 

Neon: i love neon! when she first came out I misunderstood her card and thought she was really useless-she’s so weak what’s the point? but i was a fool and didn’t understand that the point of neon isn’t to cause massive damage or anything-its a defensive card! or at least to me it is. i really like having Neon in my deck because shes a really good unit to pull out when you’re getting overwhelmed. deathstalkers on their way over and you have no counter? throw out neon! she’ll drag them away and add a new card to your hand. too many tank units attacking your tower and you dont know what to do? throw out neon to drag them away! neon is a really good way to reset the field for a few seconds and rethink your plan. when i first started using neon i thought “whats the point in wasting coins on upgrading her level? i just use her as a throwaway distraction, shes not worth the money” but i was wrong! i highly suggest upgrading your neon for this reason: not only is she your distraction card she’s also one free hit. like my ribbon blake, neon is a GREAT last second clutch card to win the game on a damaged tower!! nothing can stop her from walking right up to it and wacking it once for like 100 damage or whatever her level is and sometimes thats all you need to pull off the win! don’t underestimate that free hit; especially paired with ribbon blake ;)

so thats my deck!!! i have a lot of fun with it :D feel free to tell me about your decks!!! tag me in a post or send me an ask!

[multitrackdrifting]

gacha game anon - you have my full encouragement on going back to fgo! for some of the faults with it, the writing in Camelot (chapter 6) and onwards is amazing, and from what I know it just keeps getting better from then on. im on anastasia at the moment and it hasn't dipped in quality for me so far! it's a bit of a slog until it gets good but when it gets good it gets REALLY good. and good luck on your protoarthur rolls! i don't remember when he's on gacha but if you've got $15 to spare the guaranteed SSR is going on right now and im 80% sure he's on one of the banners that's up right now.

i haven't played granblue yet but with that endorsement i want to check it out! im always on the lookout for new gacha games, I started nikke myself recently but nothing else has much caught my eye. i completely agree though localization being trash is the number one reason I usually quit on games I think I otherwise would have loved. but I've generally heard great things about granblue and would love to try it out. if you like I will keep you updated on that!

and totally take your time on mahoyaku, when you get to it I recommend watching a video of the game, or playing it alongside if you can get your hands on it as it's jp only at the moment. i went in with no visuals and it took me a lot longer to put names to faces and stop getting everyone confused with each other haha.

enstars is a very good game but the lack of access to translations and the subpar level of quality for the English version has been really hurting it. the rhythm aspect is fun, actually, but my heart will always be with enstars basic. which has no rhythm elements, but mirrors the original idea for the game, which was an idol game where people who can't play rhythm games could still participate. unfortunately they didn't even try to give that version an english release, probably because they would have to translate a good five years worth of event stories from the previous game that are hosted on that version. which is really unfortunate because id love to read the official translations for those. and thank you for that image lol im definitely going to be saving that for future use!

I didn't mind the first few arcs in FGO, but I've read a lot of manga in my time including a lot of bad shounen and romcoms so my pain tolerance is pretty high. My brain is just like oh man time to read more fgo *burns all my AP on farming mats* . I will probably make a liveblog tag at some pt though I probably need a theme so I can just put a page up with different threads im running through since I use my pinned for my videos rn

Granblue is honestly very dear to my heart but the like "end game" cycle is very unappealing bc its super grindy - that said the story stuff [the main attraction imo] is not power-gated so you're not forced to engage with the worst aspects of the game (i.e. multiplayer/ranking called "unite and fight" or guild wars, kind of similar to how idol game card farming works). The event stories & main story are for everyone, so that's fun :' ). Also they do fun character themes, which I love - I think most people got hooked once they did What Makes The Sky Blue Parts 1-3 (it's like an epic about fighting for the fate of the world but in a more direct sense than most of the early conflicts in the story) which you can do in the event archive nowadays once you pass a certain chapter I believe. The art style might seem somewhat familiar bc the art director used to work for Square Enix

Granblue is kind of funny because just, one day they decided "yeah we will support eng" but the login stuff & lack of a localised app. It's just a web-game so they never released it in other regions, it just has full english language support - thankfully it's just like a g-mail signup process not as annoying as like doing lottery for an account like kancolle was

Mahoyaku I'll have to just login to my jp itunes acc dl it and play along or st so I know what people look like

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Hello After the release of the PQ2 trailers, I would like to know why you like Minako / Hamuko so much?I do not understand why a lot of people like it and I do not say that in a way that bothered me, I just do not understand.

Before I can get to her, I need to give a backstory on my relationship with P3. And really just a summary of how I got into Persona in general. But yeah, in this literal essay I will (attempt to muddily, and kinda all over the place) explain how I fell in love with a character I was 100% neutral on, on a game I had a rocky relationship to begin with, and how she actually made me appreciate both that said game AND the MaleMC (who I also had a rocky relationship on) more and more as the years went by. 

I should note I played the Persona games in this order: P4 (PS2, newly released), then P3FES, then Persona 1 PSP (didn’t finish tho), then P3P (and basically from the P1PSP on I roughly played them in order of release as we got them, so yeah....the thing to note is I played P4 first, then the original male P3 then years later I played the FeMC, so I did not experience her first).

Now I REALLY loved P4 when I played it, colorful cast, really loved their hijinx and chemistry, and the shadow Selves were just so much fun and dark. I thought the plot was fine, not god’s gift to this earth but it was fun. I found the characters and setting to be the biggest draw (I mean P4 is character focused not plot/story focused so that makes sense). I researched the series and found P3FES. People said it was a lot better than P4, I wanted to try and get P1/2 but.....yeah the only versions were PS1 and they were expensive, and I am but a freshman in high school with no job (too busy being an athlete and studying) and am lucky if I can beg my parents to let me get these games. And there was no way in hell I was getting P1/2EP which were both like $100 (I had to beg for P3/4 which were like $30 each).

Anyway I got my hands on P3 and......I....really didn’t like it. I liked the music, the setting, the style, and I was fine with the slightly harder combat cause of the AI (I accidentally played through all of Kanji’s dungeon with AI on not knowing I could change). But.....I didn’t like the characters. I got to Fuuka’s full moon before I had to put it down. I thought Junpei and Yukari were too mean, I hated I couldn’t SL with anyone on my team yet, Mitsuru/Akihiko were too distant, and the SLs i could SL were.....not really that great, and the MC was....really dull....like he was mostly neutral or silent (as opposed to Souji being funny, rude, neutral, silent, caring and a lot of interesting things with his dialogue options), sometimes he’d have a harsh but funny line but of course if I chose that I’d get a reverse link so that sucks. I decided to replay P4 again, trying to find what it was that really drew me to the series. By the end of that second playthrough I decided to pick up P3 again, give it a second chance (even tho Junpei and Yukari almost killed it for me). 

I powered through, got into a rhythm, opened up more interesting links (such as the bookstore people and Maiko). It still wasn’t as good as P4 imo, the feel was different, but it was more I felt the cast was too distant and ridged to the plot. It wasn’t that they were there own people with their own arcs, but that I ironically didn’t find them as fleshed out as P4′s (which was more character focused so maybe that explains it). But then I got to Aigis, and the plot really picked up (years later I find that’s where some people felt like P3 started getting good). And I ended up liking it! I didn’t love it as much as P4 (and I had a lot of issues with the way they handled how the P3 kids got closer, aka I feel like they it could’ve been better), but I did like it and appreciated it despite my rocky start. I should also note I did like Shinji, like “Oh neat design” and then when he died I was like “Oh welp that sucks” but I never blamed Ken, and I wasn’t a rabbid fan shipping girl for him (I did jump on the FeMCxShinji train for a ship tho, just cause I saw other people like it and I prefered it the most out of the other options at the time, but actually FeMCxTheo was my first ship for her XD)

Then P3P was announced. Me who had a PSP for P1 and KHBBS was like “Oh ok cool.” Then I saw there was a femaleMC and I saw the opening (cause iirc they announced it with an opening) and I was like “OH no this is horrible, I can’t believe they’re making Yukari an MC!” but then I looked at it again and realized it was some new character and was like “oh phew thank god, huh I wonder how you’re gonna be handled” (which is funny, because Soejima accidentally mistook the Concept!Heroine of P3 for Yukari, like he didn’t realize those were two separate characters in like the really early days of P3, so they have very similar concept designs. I think they even share one design XD). So yeah my first impression was a false negative turned into a “Ok cool I’ll try it out.” 

So months later it comes out, and I get it. And I start playing....and I don’t stop. Not like with FES. Like it had been awhile since I had played FES, and I knew if I “powered through it” to get to Aigis it get better but.....I...didn’t need to. Junpei and Yukari were a lot more tolerable, and I think that’s thanks to the SLs we got. And like WE GET TO START THEIR SLs EARLY! AND THE BOYS GET THEM TOO???? Like hot dang! Like Yukari, she’s available right at the beginning! You don’t have to wait! No like even if you are NG+ max charm, I had to wait till like Aigis joined before her SL would actually start (there’s a date restriction on top of it for the male, at least in FES I realized 2 years ago when I played it with some college friends). And Junpei, Ken, Ryoji, Koro, Shinji, and Aki (all characters that really needed a link to expand on them more) get more development! And Rio and Saori are great, Rio’s link is 1000% times better than Kazushi’s link (I hated how the only positive options is letting the guy just crumble, I felt like a horrible friend a lot of the times with the MaleMC, which is weird cause every non-main game iteration acts like he’s a great friend). Saori replacing Maya, well that and Akihiko replacing Minato’s Star guy was saddening, cause I liked them. But thankfully it was an even trade. The rest were a trade up from the MaleMC (Junpei was a lot better than Kenji, wasn’t a fan of P3!Chihiro, very creepy, and remember I saw her in P4 first and thought she was fine, I was sad about Yuko but I kinda like Koro more so...*shrugs* more or less a fair trade, Shinji was obvie a trade up, and I think Ryoji was a trade up from Mr. Fortune guy whom Yukiko would pretty much rip off his SL beat by beat but somehow do it a liiiiitle better). I also liked how Fuuka’s SL was changed....only cause I tend to remember a liiiiiiitle bit more of her FeMC link than I do the Male one (sadly I just....can never remember her whole link....). So I would say she had the “better links” because it helped expand more on the MC’s relationship with the guys and Ryoji (which I found was really lacking on the male side, esp when Junpei tries to claim us as even...normal friends). Not that the Male’s were (all) horrible, but the FeMC does replace a lot of the worst ones (namely, imo, Moon, Magician, and Chariot) with a lot better ones, and the good ones she also replaces are met with a pretty even/fair trade. Also again, Male SEES+Ryoji SLs. I mean Shinji/Ryoji’s links you need to “bust your balls” for those two, but...not really. XD I’m pretty sure (at least with Shinji, need to double check with Ryoji) as long as you say the right stuff, you get a rank up. The real ball buster was the Male’s side because you 100% need a guide to get every SL on his side, FeMC has a bit more freedom (not THAT much but a bit more).

She also had a larger range of personality options (aka it’s not her only personality, she could be a lot of different things) than the MaleMC (so she was similar to Souji in this regard). I could make her be a bitch, maker her peppy, nice, angry, conservative, a lot of things. I felt like there was a lot more to do with her (have her be emo? Sure! Have her be nice? Sure! and so on and so on). I felt like she was more than just being “there,” more than being along for the ride. I loved her anger issues and violent tendencies, the fact she was dark enough to be willing to kill someone, the fact she’s probably a stepford smiler and is actually really hurting underneath it all. I liked how she had personality you could trace and piece together and mess around with to make a different combo of FeMC, as opposed to MaleMC who is just....kinda there....his options are...there most of the time (sometimes some personality leaks out but not a whole lot)...and you have to come up with a personality all on your own instead of piecing together traces of one (they at least adapted this well into the movies by making him numb and depressed and then recovering as a means to explain this odd detachment in the game, but you probably don’t see it when you are first playing without that context). She could be more vocal at times (not all the time but times where the MC wouldn’t talk she would sometimes have an option to say something), she could also make a change as well (Shinji’s link). So yeah I liked how her side had some impact and could change some things. (I mean, in retrospect, I wouldn’t have minded if she had changed more, but I also gotta remember this is a PSP era game). But most importantly, I felt closer to the team. The SLs helped sooooooo much, I felt like the core of SEES, I connected everyone, we were all a unit. The extra events, even if they were the same as the male’s, felt deeper cause I felt like I was hanging out with an actual coworker turned friend rather than a ‘coworker who says I’m their friend but I don’t feel like we got there yet” type of feeling. When anyone was like “dang we friends” I was like “hell yeah we are.” 

I also like how, while she’s a bit more upbeat and friendly, it fits with the game. The game does start off light guys, it doesn’t really get dark-dark till Oct. If anything, her being friendly (if you player her that way) and getting along with people, and the just how it feels like genuine friends really feels more impactful when the dark stuff starts to come around....since she gets more shook and has to face the harshness and overcome it. It feels like it impacts her. MaleMC it....it can feel like it doesn’t as much (again the game, not the side content, the side content it does impact him). I feel like the MaleMC had a similar detachment as I did when I first played on FES. “Oh that sucks Shinji died, pretty sad, wonder what’s gonna happen next.” So like...THAT is just...there.....

So yeah, basically....I had issues with P3, and I felt like she fixed a lot, not all but a lot. Sure she has her own slew of problems (my issues are more that she might not change enough, like she changed enough to justify her, but I feel like they could do more. Also, connecting to that point, them repeating a lot of the same dialogue....I felt like some could/needed to be changed....Like Junpei’s jealousy works really well with the MaleMC but him suddenly being friends at the end doesn’t, while the FeMC they are friends....but he still has the same jealous out spurts and like......he can have that, but I feel like they should’ve changed it a bit and added more complexity to them since they are already friends).

Do I think FeMC is the better MC of the two? (Main) Game wise....yes. Her bonds are what I feel like is what Atlus wanted to do with the MC but messed up (evident with how they handle him with the manga, movie, dramacd, and PQ/P3D). Manga/Movie/DramaCD (and PQ/P3D) vs her? They are the same tbh, the FeMC is just the stronger game equivalent (bond execution wise, which was the male’s side’ issue and one that’s fixed in side stuff) to the other iterations of Minato than his actual equivalent imo. 

Anyway, as the years went on I got more attached, esp when I compared and contrast the two MCs (btw as the years went on I grew to like P3 even more as well as Minato, so all of the above is just my first impressions), wished there could be a version of P3 where they are together, later wishing for a spinoff where there together, or a spinoff where she meets P4 kids cause I feel like it’d be interesting how she’d interact with them (cause it’d be different to Minato’s). Her clashing ideals with Male cast and P4 cast, her working together, working off each other. Her dynamic was just interesting, I saw potential and what she could bring to the table and it sucked she basically wasn’t allowed (mostly cause, as it was recently revealed, they didn’t know how to do it). I saw potential, and still do see potential, in the other MCs in all of the games, it’s just as each new entry came about....the need to see the FeMC’s utilized grew more and more (cause again, they were already utilizing P3/4MC’s potentials, and P1/2 were locked behind some possible legal tape, and PTS was retconned out with the only hope of it ever coming back being for it to be retconned again to fit into the story, so she was literally the only one of this group that could be used and had yet to be used). I also really wanna see a duo of FeMC/Minato and Tatsuya/Maya, I just....I really wanna....cause P2 had a lot of duality themes, and then P3 kicked it up to 20 notches, and I’d love to see P2/3 meld together! ;w;

(oh I should note I do like P1 and P2 a lot, I really love P1′s manga tbh, just in case anyone was wondering where I stood on them. So yeah it’s not like I only love P3P and P4. I actually like P2 a lot. It’s tied with P4 as my fav, tho FemC might be my fav MC, tho possibly tied with Maya and Souji. I do think they should come back, but I’m also aware they have....a stickier situation than the FeMC or even PTS.....and we all know where I stand with P5 so ahuhuhu 8U)

So uhhhhh yeah, that’s my story....on how I kinda slowly fell in love with this character, one of which I had a neutral stance (I didn’t automatically think “Female MC? Ok I LOVE her!” or think she was gonna change the game for me, it all just kinda happened). And how she made me appreciate P3 (and the MaleMC) more. And then by the time I realized it I realized I was in drought hell with pretty much nothing. :’D

[douxbebearchives]

Author Profile: IWrite4Olitz

Stories on FFN; tumblr: @iwrite4olitz​

Your name/nickname/alias: 

Lynn, iwrite4olitz

How long have you been writing? 

Is “forever” too vague? Since I could properly grip a pencil...

How long have you been writing Olitz?

Since July 10th, 2015.

What drew you to Olivia & Fitz? 

Their combustible chemistry. Is there any other reason?

Outside of Olitz, where do you get inspiration to write? 

Everywhere. Anywhere. But my favorite inspiration comes from music. If I get stuck, I read a book. ;)

How do you describe your style of writing? 

::hyperventilates:: I...don’t have one compact sentence to describe it. I suppose it’s because I choose words and sentence structure to suit whatever tone I’m trying to convey, while also considering the “voice” of the character whose point of view I’m writing. So, for example, if I’m writing something romantic, I use more flowing sentences, but choose words that I think the character whose head we’re in would actually use. If I’m trying to convey something tense or urgent, I’ll use more concise, clipped language and structure. If I need to drive an emotion home, or incite a reaction of some kind, I choose visceral language. Ugh, this sounds so clinical! But I promise it’s not. It just happens naturally. I’ve been called “poetic” and “evocative” by readers. I’ve also taken this super fun quiz:

https://iwl.me/

...the results of which told me I write like Stephen King, which contradicts the poetic thing. Haha. Love Stephen though. Do you guys follow him on twitter? Follow him. He’s one of my best friends in my head. And he’s woke.

Do you write (journal, pen/paper) or type first? Depends. If I have it clear in my mind how a scene should go, I type until my brain is empty. Then I edit until it’s as close to my mental picture as possible. If it’s not clear in my mind, my brain automatically goes on high alert, snatching inspiration from anywhere, at any time. That’s when I scribble things in notebooks or type notes into a document to piece together later. Dialogue, action, events, settings...

Do you have a special notebook or writing utensil? 

I have several notebooks, Evernote, and Baby (my touch screen computer). But I plan on replacing her with a Mac soon, because she’s prone to viruses and my tech medical bills have been piling up!

Do you incorporate visuals, music, and/or poetry to help you get into the writing mood? 

Yes! Music is the most powerful inspiration for me. I can get several scenes, or a chapter, or an idea for an entire story from one song. I love creating inspiration boards to visualize big scenes more vividly (and sharing them is fun). I don’t read much poetry, sadly. I have a book of famous love letters and poetry collecting dust on my bookshelf if anyone’s interested. It’s red, vintage-looking, really pretty...

Do you use mood boards/aesthetics/Pinterest? 

Yes! Here’s the one for Pas De Deux: https://www.pinterest.com/AuthorLynnTurner/pas-de-deux/

Favorite kind of music or podcasts to listen to before/while you write? 

I don’t listen to podcasts as part of my process. I find them too distracting. My taste in music is all over the place. I have the same affinity for jazz or soul that I have for pop or indie. That’s not very helpful, I suppose, but it just boils down to whatever moves or inspires me. Would you believe that Pia Mia’s “Do It Again” inspired the one-shot that became No Regrets? She was a 19 year old youtube sensation at the time, and it was her summer smash hit (possibly her only hit) about a one night stand. Hey, I’m not proud. “Locked Away” featuring Maroon 5 inspired the gala scene at the end of that story. “Garden” by Emeli Sande played as I wrote the garden love scene in Pas De Deux, and “Dreamland” by Emilia Ali was playing when I wrote the scene that opens PDD Chapter 10. :-)

Where do you like to write (Home, coffee shop, etc.)? 

I prefer to write in isolation. I love cafes, but I tend to spend my time there doing research, or outlining, or creating inspiration boards. At home, I tend to write very early in the morning or late at night when everyone’s asleep...or during “me time” when certain tiny humans aren’t around to tug at my proverbial coat tails. If I have my headphones, I can pretty much write anywhere.

How long does it take you to write a chapter? 

Oh gosh...Okay, in a vacuum, with a chapter fully formed in my mind, tons of coffee and wine coolers, I can crank one out in a single day. Outside of that vacuum, it could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. There are so many variables: mood, inspiration, time. I’m trying to be better at forming good writing habits. John Grisham says if you aren’t writing at least a page per day, you’re not writing a book. Stephen King writes 600 words a day. Stephen King is not human.

A favorite line or paragraph you’ve written. 

This changes all the time, and I have different ones for each work, haha. By the time anyone reads this, it likely will have changed again. (There are some things I’ve written for the next Pas De Deux update that might upstage this, I dunno)...but I think this paragraph from Olivia’s point of view in Chapter 9 is my current favorite, It shows their dynamic so well, I think, and is quintessentially the Olitz I recognize no matter the writer, or whether the story is AU or canon:

She shivered, unnerved to be in his head, to see for herself the irrefutable evidence that he knew her. He knew her and she hadn’t told him a single thing.

Describe yourself in 5 words/phrases: 

You could give me 24 hours and the fate of the universe on my shoulders and I still couldn’t do this, hahaha. In a perfect world, my self is constantly evolving, so how about, in keeping with the theme of fifths, I choose something in iambic pentameter?

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” -Dr. Suess

Favorite TV shows/movies: 

This question is a rabbit hole. You’d need a “read more” button, and once clicked, readers would be subjected to pages and pages...so I’ll just list the ones I’d grab in case of a fire, or the apocalypse.

TV: Gilmore Girls, House, Girlfriends, A Different World, Living Single, the travelogue adventures of Samantha Brown and Anthony Bourdain, Sense8, Queen Sugar, Greenleaf, Underground, House Hunters, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black

Movies I can watch repeatedly and not get bored: Pride and Prejudice, The Devil Wears Prada, Focus, Pretty Woman, Love Jones, Ever After, The Wedding Date, Trainwreck

Movies with romantic elements: The Proposal, Trainwreck, Maid in Manhattan, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, Something New, Serendipity, While You Were Sleeping, Maid in Manhattan, The Proposal, Miss Congeniality, The Cutting Edge, A Walk in the Clouds, Return to Me, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Under the Tuscan Sun, Love Story, Beyond the Lights, Circle of Friends, Belle, Closer, Stompin at the Savoy, Memoirs of a Geisha, Dangerous Beauty, Cinderella (the one where Whitney Houston plays the fairy godmother), Coming to America, Juno, You Me & Dupri, Parent Trap, Overboard, Braveheart, The Preacher’s Wife, Palm Trees in the Snow

Favorite vacation spot: 

Hawaii

Favorite books: 

You’d think that, since my movie list is a rabbit hole, my book list would be a labyrinth, but even with all of the books I’ve read, I’m selective about what makes my favorites list:

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, Grin and Beard It by Penny Reid, Literally every book by Penny Reid, Hadassah: One Night With the King by Tommy Teney, The Twentieth Wife & The Feast of Roses by Indu Sundaresan, The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer, Wildseed & Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler, The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer (YES, okay? It’s not literary genius but it’s very entertaining, if you skip book two), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind, Master of the Game by Sidney, Sheldon, Psy-Changeling series by Nalini Singh

*With the advent of fanfiction, I’m much pickier about published books, which I’m sure you all understand. ;)

Favorite authors:  

I have a to-read list half a mile long, so I’m sure this will change, but these are authors whom I find consistently write entertaining stories, even if they don’t make my favorites list:

Penny Reid, Alyssa Cole, Alisha Rai, Nalini Singh, Philippa Gregory, Farrah Rochon, Stephen King, John Grisham, Octavia Butler

What do you like better? AU or Canon?

I enjoy both, so long as they’re written well. Writing-wise, I’m more comfortable writing AU. With canon, I’m constantly aware that these aren’t my characters, so I’m sort of hyper aware of the constraints. And I have control issues. Lol.

Favorite trope/scenario to read? 

Enemies to lovers, love at first sight

Favorite Olitz TV moment/conversation? 

Seriously??? Only one? How about top three? Top five? Okay, fine, since you’re twisting my arm, I’ll give you my top ten in no particular order. (You drive a hard bargain):

1. VERMONT

2. “You almost died.” “Yes.” “Don’t do it again.” (she went in there to get him to comply, but then she actually LISTENS to him, like, really listens...and he changes her mind. They show a united front in this scene that was gorgeous to watch)

3. “I hate you.” “I know.” ...which morphed into…”You are everything and I am nothing.” ::ugly, mucous-dripping crying::

4. “Sit with me and watch me earn you.” (and obviously the AMAZING sex that came after)

5. Can the entire episode of The Trail be one?

a.  “I got a guy.” “You got a guy? Another guy? Hell’s angel? Mobster? A kind hearted felon who owes you a favor?” “Technically, he’s on probation.”

b. Camp David. Allll the Camp David. They were so in love, cute and care-free.

c. Love scene from The Trail (It’s their best, IMO. Organic. Combustible. Raw.)

d.  One minute on the couch

6. Pre-State Dinner shenanigans, Post-State Dinner Navy t shirt

7. Literally every Olitz phone call

8. 503 Oval Office Kiss ::swoon::

9. Truman Balcony kiss, because he was so vulnerable

10. Fitz saying “I still want you” in the AU episode, because it was so real, and I *believe they’re destined to be together in every universe.

*Honorable mentions: Rose Garden, Deskgate, Constitution (These were gripping, but I have personal, nitpicking reasons why they’re not in my top ten), allll the Season 6 bedtime snuggles, and every hug.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Ava DuVernay is my other BFF in my head.

Someday, when I’m confident enough in my knowledge of the era I choose (which will take years and years of research and development), I will write a historical fiction with a WOC heroine...possibly with elements of science fiction.

[markoftheasphodel]

Not-So-Brief thoughts on the FE Power Couple (+1) in the wake of FE15:

I have shared my thoughts on this before but with FE15 out, here we go again. While not really an archetype, the Happy Power Couple is one of my favorite recurring motifs in Fire Emblem. I used to call ‘em Pre-Promote Power Couples but they’re not necessarily 100% pre-promotes. Power Couples often come with a third wheel, either a wingman sort of adult friend or tagalong kiddo. Power Couples actually tend to be POWER couples, and their presence in the hero’s army adds some luster or even legitimacy to the hero, who may be from a middling state (Altea, Pherae) or raised in a humble village away from the levers of power. Here’s a brief rundown of Power Couples I like and their assorted Plus Ones:

Note: playable characters only. No Hilda/Bloom or whatnot, sorry. Expect character-relevant spoilers for FE15 and everything prior.

Marth Saga: 

Power Couple: Midia and Astram. Plus One: Jeorge. The original pre-promote power couple; Midia is a highborn paladin serving Princess Nyna and Astram is her dumbass boyfriend (sorry, he is). They are VERY much in love. Meanwhile wingman Jeorge is Midia’s fellow noble and was supposed to marry her except Astram happened but Jeorge seems totes OK with that. They all hang out after the war together in Jeorge’s Rangers, kind of a freelance Justice League outside King Marth’s actual chain of command. All three got a lot of development in FE12 plus Midia and Astram got commemorated with their own expies (see below). Jeorge meanwhile founded not one but two expy lines of his own, the gameplay&storyline Snarky Sniper/Asshole Sniper and the storyline Wandering Noble.

Jugdral Saga:

FE4 Power Couple: Quan and Ethlyn. Plus One: Finn. So bound together they arrive as a trio. Quan’s the only pre-promote here, but he and Ethlyn are canon-married with one kid apparently extant and another arriving in a few years, and Finn in this case is Quan’s apprentice, which gives Quan the chance to do one of the most consequential mentoring jobs in Fire Emblem history. All three of them are among the very first characters in the franchise to have plot armor; if either Quan or Ethlyn gets KO’d as a playable character, the other retreats with them. They’re a package deal. Quan and Ethlyn come to a bad end but they had fun while it lasted, and then Finn gets to spend the next two decades taking care of their son and upholding their legacy.

FE5 Power Couple: Selphina and Glade. Plus One: Finn, again. Another couple who arrive canon-married, with Glade in this case the pre-promote. Selphina is a bow knight, the daughter of old-guard Leonster noble count Dorias, and mentors quite a few younger knights including standout unit Carrion. Glade is apparently low-born (seen this cited a lot, never seen it with my own eyes) but was one of the most talented young knights of Leonster’s pre-apocalypse trainee pool. Anyway, dude married up. He’s also Finn’s BFF and essentially written as a foil to Finn, who fits uneasily in the mix thanks to some weird tension with Selphina. Double dates are hard when your wife is a lawn ornament. Glade becomes the Great General of the new Thracia after the war and turns it into an innovative war machine. Selphina steps down from her position as a knight to care for orphans, becoming the legendary “Mother of Thracia.” Not bad for the Least Loved Character in FE History ™ and his bride.

Elibe Saga:

FE6 Power Couple: Zelot and Juno. Married pre-promotes with a newborn daughter. Zelot (Lord of Edessa) leads the Ilian mercenaries, Juno used to be an Ilian squad leader. After the war Zelot becomes Ilia’s first king while Juno retires from public life and is proclaimed Grand Flightleader only in death. Note this “retires from public life” thing is gonna be, well, A Thing. Anyway, they don’t have a specific Plus One that I see; Juno has two younger sisters in Shanna and Thea, with whom Zelot supports. Zelot also supports junior knights Treck and Noah; Noah’s conversation line is the more substantial of the two IMO but then again I think out of the FE6 gang Noah comes closest to the sort of “Baby Cavalier” role who often gets mentoring from a senior unit (see: kiddo!Finn and Carrion above). 

FE7 Power Couple: Isadora and Harken. Pre-promotes engaged to marry. Obvious expies of Midia and Astram except not happy. They’re both knights of Pherae, Harken’s REALLY messed up, and unlike all previous examples who are fixed canon they only actually do marry if they reach an A-support in the game. If they don’t reach A-support Isadora can instead fall in love with the Black Fang member Legault, which does NOT end well, or she can A-support with Renault and eventually enter the clergy.

FE7 Power Couple: Pent and Louise. Plus One: Erk. Ah, back to normal. Canon-married pre-promotes with an apprentice along for the ride and a baby on the way. Pent’s the Mage General of Etruria who adds some real luster to Eliwood’s oddball army. They’re deeply in love tho there are signs Pent’s a little too distracted to be the world’s best husband. Since FE7 is the prequel to FE6 and their kids Klein and Clarine are running around in FE6, they have “retreat” scenes VERY similar to the ones used by Quan and Ethlyn if they get KO’d. On the other hand apprentice Erk has no FE6 presence and thus either is of little consequence or meets a very bad end, and Pent is succeeded as Mage General by Cecilia, who ain’t in FE7. 

Magvel Saga:

As though to compensate for FE7, the small and tight-knit cast of FE8 has no canon-marrieds or canon-engaged adults. You can opt into Gerik/Tethys and Tethys comes along with her irrepressible little bro Ewan, so there’s your Plus One if you want it, but they don’t really add any authority to the dream team of royal heirs that Eirika and Ephraim have assembled to take on the Demon King. 

Tellius Saga:

I haven’t finished either of these games so I’ve seen arguments for Calil/Largo that are pretty compelling and also I’ve had friends put in a word for Lucia/Bastian. Lucia/Bastian would fit the pattern nicely ‘cause they’re pre-promotes who, like all their predecessors, are VERY well-connected and influential people and they have a definite Plus One in the form of Lucia’s brother Geoffrey, but apparently their torrid affair only comes out if you A-support them in FE10, which isn’t that easy to do, so eh. Tellius mixed up a lot of patterns anyway, like in not handing you the Xmas Cavs as a set. YMMV.

Ylisse Saga:

No canon marrieds we’re all here to bang the Avatar, right? But dueling Khans of Ferox Basilio and Flavia are pre-promotes with a wonderful dynamic and you could view them as a platonic version of the pattern. Their Plus One is all too likely to be you, the player. 

Fateslandia Saga:

Didn’t play it but there’s an Avatar involved so nobody’s canon-married.

Valentia Saga:

Power Couple: Mathilda and Clive. Plus One: Lukas, although Forsyth is jumping around & waving his hand going PICK ME SIR CLIVE! Mathilda and Clive were a thing from the get-go in FE2; Mathilda as a beloved and legendary paladin echoed Midia, while Clive as a cavalier seemed a little less illustrious than his future bride. Then surprise, he leads the knighthood post-game while she retires from public life (AGAIN)… unless Clive dies, in which case beautiful and tragic Mathilda leads the knights. Got it? Anyway, FE15 keeps both Mathilda’s legendary awesomeness (as a founder of the Deliverance) and her “good” ending away from the public eye intact while building up Clive a great deal more. This golden couple has a slew of potential Plus Ones vying for their attention– Clive’s sister Clair, their friend Fernand, Clive’s lieutenant Forsyth– but all of those three have something else going on (boys, betrayal, Python) in their lives whereas Lukas, as Clive’s most trusted advisor and the guy on whom Clive offloads his emotional burdens per Rise of the Deliverance, appears to be the actual wingman here. The support chain between Clive and Lukas is more of a mentoring opportunity gone sideways, though, and if Clive kicks the bucket and leaves Mathilda in charge of the knights, it’s Forsyth carrying the torch for him ever after.

[willridgard]

The ‘Proper Job’ Ale Trail

8 beautiful Suffolk pubs. 10 superb ales. Last Sunday was a helluva day for 8 keen Ale Trailers 🍻. 

Interest stemmed in the ‘Proper Job’ Ale Trail during National Cask Ale Week: a yearly 1️⃣1️⃣-day celebration of cask ale - often known as ‘real ale’ or ‘hand-pump ale’. 

See the excellent below video from JW Lees Brewery if you are unsure on what Cask Ale is 🍻.

With my hereby new job in full flow (if you’ll pardon the pun), I thought, cudtahell, we’ve got to celebrate Britain’s national drink in the best way possible 🎉 !

Now, as us lads have grown into our late 2️⃣0️⃣s, our taste buds seem to have changed somewhat.

Gone are the days of sipping bottles of Smirnoff Ice and WKD on park benches 🤦🏽‍♂️.

Gone are the days of necking Snakebites and VKs like there’s no tomorrow 🤪.

And gone, to a certain degree, are the days of drinking pint after pint of classic household lagers. 

It’s all about cool 😎 (in both sense of the word), interesting and exciting ales,  produced by local brewers using local ingredients. 

The 2019 Cask Report found that there are now more than 2,300 British breweries supplying around 48,000 pubs with over 10,000 choices of beer 🍺.

And choice is important! Every single ale can differ in its appearance, pump clip, ABV (%), aroma and flavour - and trust me, there are some ruddy good ones out there 👌!

Something every single ale should have the same (roughly) though is the temperature! Nobody likes warm beer 🙅🏽‍♂️.

According to Cask Marque, the perfect pint of ale should be served between 1️⃣1️⃣ and 1️⃣3️⃣ degrees. It should also be well looked after and cared for and passionate, knowledgeable landlords, licensees & publicans will sell the best pints of ale and make the most out of its potential.

‘Ale Trails’ come under the trending categories of exploration, innovation and trying new things. And the excellent, free and easy-to-use CaskFinder App - where Trailers can rate beers, find pubs, and scan certificate QR codes to win prizes - fits into these categories too 🤳.

Therefore, the ‘Proper Job’ Ale Trail, between Melton and Woodbridge, had only one rule: a different pint of ale must be consumed by the whole group in every Cask Marque accredited pub visited! Excellent. Armed with our bicycles, to speed up our visits, what could possibly go wrong!? 🚴

The train 🚂. That’s what went wrong. ‘Two bikes only’, was the rather abrupt instruction barked at the startled three of us trying to clamber on the 12.53 from the very personable & understanding conductor (Oh I do love Greater Anglia). Cheers pal. 

After some manic on-the-spot planning (at one point the Trail looked to be off), many thanks must go to my better half 👸 and the fantastic Highway Assurance service (Battletelli 👴 & Szylicykzydus 🇺🇦 ) for saving the day as we took over Sax train station, loaded the bikes and headed to pub stop #1: The Wilford Bridge. 

And that’s where the fun and games really began. Please read below commentary / summary. 

#1 The Wilford Bridge 🌉: Super service accommodating 8 hungry lads at the last minute. Great food too 🍔. Easily accessible and well-presented framed Cask Marque certificate. 

Beer 🍺: 16 x Woodforde’s Wherry. Fresh and zesty with crisp floral flavours. Gorgeous. Three ales on line.

Bike ride: 0.6 miles. Ale Trailer #8, D.King, with some brave / stupid riding as he made his way into leading pack topped by road cyclist, D. Morphew (Ale Trailer #4).     

#2 The Unruly Pig 🐷 : Proud to be Cask Marque accredited with excellently-placed plaque outside. Unmissable certificate on the way into the pub. Very good.

Beer 🍺: 8 x Adnams Mosaic Pale Ale. Bubbly with peach 🍑 , mango 🥭 , lemon 🍋 , and pine 🌲 flavours and aromas. Thumbs up. Limited choice, though. 

Bike ride: 1.2 miles. The longest stint. Ale Trailer #1, W.Ridgard, held up on departure, finishing well behind the rest of the pack alongside Ale Trailer #6, C.Palmer. More inefficient riding from Ale Trailer #8 almost sees him fall off and cause further damage to an already broken foot 🦶! Ale Trailer #3, T. Backhouse, an amused spectator 🤣.

#3 Melton Coach and Horses: Busy. Certificate placed behind the bar (not ideal, but visible so not horrendous). Setting marred / made by ‘go and get yourself a Proper Job’ comment following group picture taken by innocent bystander. Extraordinary from yours truly. Still feel guilty 😬.

Beer 🍺: 8 x St Austell Proper Job. Powerfully hopped Cornish IPA with powerful play-on words 👊🏾. Lots of other choice, too. 

Bike ride: Ale Trailer #1 and Ale Trailer #7, W.Stephenson, made a strong getaway on the long, straight stretch only to get overtaken by virtually everybody on the hill. Yet more peculiar riding from Ale Trailer #8, who looked to be fatiguing 💤 .  

#4 Woodbridge Red Lion: As a pub, personally my favourite of the Trail. My first ever visit too. Friendly service. Very spacious. Very impressed. Certificate less so as it had to be dusted off from upstairs without a frame! Pub unfortunate victim of vile King incident upon exit 🤢.

Beer 🍺: 8x Laine Brew Source Pale Ale. Billed as ‘dangerously drinkable’. Ale Trailer #5, S.Pullen, certainly agreed. Stacks of other great choice too 😋.

Bike ride: Leading pack nowhere to be seen. The usual suspects, Ale Trailers #1, #2 (S. Miller), #6 and #7, happily bringing up the rear. 

#5 The Anchor: Welcome introduction of part-time Ale Trailer #9, Z. Backhouse. Easily accessible certificate, but service without a smile. Incredible Manchester United chat, especially contrasting views of Ale Trailers #4 and #5 🤣. Ale Trailers #1, #2, #3, #6, & #8 successfully stirring the pot 🥄 , while #7 and #9 engage in deep, private discussion. Ole’s at the wheel. Swift departure before Pub Quiz involvement.

Beer 🍺: 9 x Greene King St Edmunds. Light, refreshing and made with pink grapefruit. Very popular among Trailers with several 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ dished out on the App. Three ales on the line.

Bike ride: Ale Trailer #5 took Ale Trailer #8′s example and nearly caused a pile-up. Ale Trailer #6 surprisingly took the yellow jersey. Unwise move from Ale Trailer #4 trying to give Ale Trailer #9 a ‘seatee’ on stick-thin-tyre road bike. Didn’t go well.  

#6 The Old Mariner: Certificate placed behind the bar. Good service though. Main highlight included Ale Trailer #8 losing ‘the flip’ and deciding to splash his hard-earned cash 💰 on 9 shots of vodka. Hell 🙄.

Beer 🍺 : Interesting choice from Ale Trailer #7, opting for 9 x Wychwood Hobgoblin IPA over much-adored East Coast IPA 🤔. Eyebrows raised. Explosion of tropical 🏝 fruit aromas, leading to juicy bitterness went down well though. Had the best range of ales IMO.

Bike ride: 150-yard uphill sprint didn’t go without controversy. Ale Trailers #4 and #9 determined to make it work, but to little effect. Left behind. 

#7 Ye Old Belle & Steelyard: A first for many, and probably the last for many. Little to no knowledge of the certificate shown - but mischievous Ale Trailer #4 came to the rescue ��. Cue the squabble for scans. Cute dog 🐕 and snack opportunity taken by all though.  

Beer 🍺 : 9 x Greene King Abbott Ale. Standard. Not sure who chose it... Ale Trailer #6 seriously flagging. #4 and #8 not far behind.

Bike ride: While Ale Trailers #2, #4, #6 and #8 decided to, perhaps rather unsurprisingly, sneak off for a cheeky Phil Babb 🌮, hardcore Trailers #1, #3, #5, and #7 took a damp detour to pub #8. Splendid running effort from Trailer #9. 

#8 The Cherrytree: The final pit-stop and despite enjoying a peaceful first pint, the hardcore are interrupted by the overindulged riff-raff who rather take over as they insist on playing ‘Guess Who’.  

Beer 🍺 :5 x Adnams Ghostship. 8 x Belhaven Old Gold. 

No further notes taken; we’ll call that trail complete 🙌!

The scramble for the last train home ensued, and after lodging the bikes at Trailer #4′s new gaff, we all boarded the 10.23 rather successfully. Well, apart from Ale Trailer #2′s backpack, which I’m sure must be in one of the 8 toilet 🚾 pubs he rated!

And to top an excellent day off, we even got a free train ride home to compensate for the earlier mishap.  Thanks, Greater Anglia 👍.  

Things you must do after reading this blog: 

- Try an ale (if you haven’t already) 🍺

- Download and open the CaskFinder App 🤳

- Find and explore different ales and pubs 🕵🏽‍♂️

- Tell your friends / family / pets 👨‍👨‍👧‍👧 🐢

- Make memories. Take photos. Have a blast! 📸

- Repeat! 

Ipswich, we’re coming for you next...🍻

[hesokuri-wars]

Omg what’s this??? Someone else besides Mod Todo is making a strategy??? This is one for the history books, people. Hopefully, whatever I have to say is satisfactory for you guys; I’m obviously not very experienced when it comes to giving details on what I did to beat challenging stages.

People who pay attention will know that I actually have two games on separate devices (which is actually quite nice because this means I get to roll in the gachas twice as often). And contrary to what you may be thinking right now, you aren’t necessarily able to use the same exact strategy for both of them due to having different units in your possession, so I guess I’ll just talk about both!

Matsu Strategy 1: The I’m-Super-Biased-Towards-110matsu-But-Fuck-Me-They’re-Not-Enough-to-Beat-This-Hell-Stage Strategy

Aka the game on my iPad. To be quite honest, this isn’t the most... original strategy out of all the others that were already posted? I was sort of looking at Mod Todo’s otoutomatsu strategy while I was doing this one, but I did end up doing something a little different, so I’ll go over it anyway!

Power-ups I Used:

-NEET Cannon -Max AP/Max Attack -Speed Boost (Note: NEET Cannon and Speed Boost aren’t really as needed as the other two, but I still used them because 1. why not 2. I have 282 speed boosts right now, I hope you can see why I was eager to get rid of one of them)

Units I Used:

-5 Air Units (isn’t it just great that I happen to have almost all of the units Mod Todo suggested in her strategy?): 

Steampunk Ichi (he has a more powerful attack despite having lower HP)

Steampunk Todo (same as Steampunk Ichi)

Valentine’s Day Todo (he has both a stronger attack and higher HP)

Valentine’s Day Ichi (same as Valentine’s Day Todo)

Youkai Awakening Ichi (same as the Valentine’s Day units)

-5 Ground Units:

Ichimatsu Incident Ichi (he’s a really strong attacker, but protect him because he’s got low HP)

Dodo Todo (again, he’s also very strong when it comes to his attack)

Akuma Rider Ichi (strong attack and low HP, but the most important thing about him is that he’s a long-range)

Baseball Choro (weak attack and high HP, also a long-range)

Summer Festival Choro (strong attack and low HP, yet another long-range)

Strategy:

Like I said, I did sort of base this off of Mod Todo’s advice on what to do when I was assembling my team, but the main difference is that instead of using Jyushi, I used Choro as my shield for 110 because imo I felt like the Jyushis I had here to be a little lacking (White Day Prince Jyushi may be the cutest unit in existence, guys, but I decided he didn’t have the necessary properties to make this easy for me).

Like what everyone else has been saying, it is extremely unlikely that your ground units will reach the enemy base, if not downright impossible, so you’re going to have to rely on your air units to knock that shit down for you. All the ground units are responsible for is keeping those Totokos at bay because once they reach your base, you’re dead and there’s no going back.

I won’t do a step-by-step, mostly because I wasn’t really following a specific pattern, but you need to form a wall both on the ground and in the air. Ichi is super important here, because he’s already the Matsu who attacks with the longest range, so your job is to protect him with the Cyber pairing. 

And, no matter what, do not stop sending out units.

Seriously, if you can afford a unit, send it out. Even after you successfully create a wall, you have to keep doing this, because those Totokos are ruthless and if you rest for even a few seconds, they’ll crumble that wall like the Colossal Titan. So, for the love of Akatsuka-sensei, spam. Spam like you’ve never spammed before. I won’t say which Matsu you need to prioritize sending out, send them all out. Just make sure your Cyber wall holds up to protect your Ichis, and you’ll probably be fine.

If you’re lucky, your flying units will reach the enemy base ands start attacking it, but around the same time, your ground units may start to give in thanks to the wall of Iyami Kart and Christmas Totokos, but despite that, don’t give up. Keep doing what you’re doing and send out more ground units, because even if they keep dying, they’ll at least hold off those Totokos for a long enough time so your air units can crush the enemy base once and for all. If the Totokos were already too close to your base from the start, however, then you’ll probably lose. If your units are at least able to meet them at the halfway point during the beginning, then you’ll be a-okay.

Matsu Strategy 2: The This-Made-Me-Dead-Inside-By-The-Time-I-Actually-Won Strategy

Aka the strategy on my phone. Alright, listen. I don’t have a lot of the units that I have on my iPad on my phone, so I couldn’t do the exact same thing that I did above. Believe me, I tried. I tried replacing the units I didn’t have with others, and nope, died each and every time. The pain I went through trying to figure out a good enough team assembly was what made me decide that I needed to make a strategy post myself, because I didn’t go through all of this just to keep it to myself.

Power-ups I Used:

-NEET Cannon -Max AP/Max Attack -Speed Boost

Units I Used:

-5 Ground Units:

Akuma Rider Ichi (for the exact same reason as I stated in the other strategy)

Akuma Rider Todo (I don’t really like the guy that much but the staff had just updated the set so they attack at an even longer range so fuck yeah I’m going to exploit that)

Poseidon Kara (I only used him because I had him maxed out but hey he has a strong attack so yay)

Kimono Kara (I have him maxed out and he’s a long-range)

Schoolmatsu Kara (he’s an anti-air eyyyyy)

-5 Air Units:

Magical Kara (Kara was pretty crucial to my strategy this time around if you couldn’t already tell which is why he’s here, but hey here’s a bonus: he deals twice as much damage to the enemy base)

Valentine’s Day Kara (just another Kara that I wanted to use since I only got him yesterday when I rolled -- he has a strong attack and high HP)

Valentine’s Day Jyushi (I originally had Macaron Kara in his place but when I decided that 2 Karas were enough, I decided to go with my only flying Jyushi unit because the yellow babu actually speeds up the process a lot so yes he’s useful)

Valentine’s Day Ichi (fun fact: the only reason why I rolled yesterday was to get a flying Ichi on my phone game because there was no way I was winning stage 10 without him, glad that the gacha didn’t let me down this time)

Macaron Todo (high HP, though admittedly I didn’t really prioritize him as much as the other 4 when I actually played the stage)

Strategy:

To tell you the truth, I don’t use Kara at all in my games most of the time. He’s the resident meat shield of the Matsus, which... does make him useful in a way, but I don’t really need his protection nowadays, since my other units do just fine without him. But here? Oh man, a team without him equals death. 

Once again, you have to rely on your air units to reach the enemy base while your ground units simply hold off the Totoko wall. Also, take advantage of Kara’s low AP price to send out as many of him as you can to protect 110. Jyushi’s kind of just there to speed up the process, since he has both high HP and high speed, but he’s also there to protect your units that have longer range. 

Seriously, I think I went manic just spamming units left and right, and I ended up doing that so quickly and so much that I actually hit character limit. If you do things like I did, then the same’s going to happen to you, but no matter what, do not stop there. Even if you hit the limit, a couple of your Matsus are going to die just a couple seconds later, so just keep sending them out to make up for the loss.

Clearly, I ended up doing something right, because not only did I prevent the Totokos from advancing to my base, but I also managed to push them back and prevent them from forming a complete wall. I ended up being able to push them back to the point where I couldn’t really activate the NEET Cannon on them anymore, and somehow, by some miracle, I managed to kill enough Iyami Kart and Christmas Totokos so they wouldn’t be able to form a mass group and slaughter all of my ground units to get closer to my base. Of course, in the end, my flying units were still the ones that destroyed the base but there’s definitely some satisfaction there, knowing that I at least had a team that was powerful enough to match with the unstoppable Totokos.

Moral of the story? Use your Karas.

~Mod Ichi

[spicynbachili1]

Castle of Heart (Switch NA)

Win one of five copies!

Here’s a fun one! The fine folks at 7levels have given us 5 copies of their awesome Switch game Castle of Heart, to giveaway to you folks. I enjoyed the game on release, and the devs have continually updated and support the game. In fact, a new update just dropped yesterday! The game is also on sale for 33% off ($10.04 sale price) currently. So what’s the game about? Let’s look below! 

Game details, from the Switch page: 

“The brave hero must travel all the way from the petrified village to the dark ruler’s castle, mastering 20 levels set in 4 distinct environments – full of enemies who require different strategies to face them successfully and sudden gameplay changes, which translate to exciting, dynamic action sequences. The selection of progressively more powerful additional weapons, from flaming grenades to powerful magical arsenal, as well as power-ups, will help him in his quest. But remember – the body of stone has its limits! It disintegrates permanently as the knight loses the energy, which he can supply only by defeating his enemies, and if the process reaches the critical level, he may lose one of his arms and the ability to wield additional weapons with it.

Castle of Heart offers beautiful and detailed 3D graphics with changing landscape, weather conditions and rich backgrounds. The game’s aesthetics and bestiary are in equal parts inspired by the Slavic mythology – with some locations derived straight from famous, mystical locations in Poland, the developers’ home country – and the dark fantasy atmosphere of the best action platformer titles from the golden age of the genre. All of this makes Castle of Heart a perfect mix of classic influences and modern approach, utilizing the spectrum of Nintendo Switch features, which will enchant both fans of the genre and newcomers.”

Like the sound of it? Once again, it’s pretty cool imo, and I’m excited to dive back in after another update. So…. how do you win a copy? Easy peazy, lemon squeezy my dear readers: Simply leave a comment below, telling me your favorite castle/castle level from a game! Winners will be not so randomly chosen (the better/more detailed the comment, the better) by me at the end of the contest. Contest ends 11/07/18 @ 11:59 PST. Good luck!  

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from SpicyNBAChili.com http://spicymoviechili.spicynbachili.com/castle-of-heart-switch-na/

[arlingtonpark]

Winter Anime 2020 Roundup 2

We’re past the half way mark for this season, so I guess I’ll have some thoughts about some of the stuff I’m watching. Or something. 

ID Invaded

ID Invaded is about a police unit that uses future!tech to solve crimes. It is at its best when it is not being about that.

This show suffers from a classic problem of trying to be deep and failing. You can’t try to explore how the mind of a killer works, then throw in some mumbo jumbo about wires getting crossed, and finish with a guy kissing someone they meant to kill.

This show is creative.

There isn’t really much depth here. It’s a show about what drives people to kill, except all the killers are just sadists indulging their impulses. Not much to it.

It’s a good thing then that this show excels in all other areas, including parts of the writing that don’t have to do with the main theme. The animation is great, the mystery aspect of the plot is great, the characters are great.

Episode ten was brilliant. No silly “brilliant detective” crap, no generic platformer/video game obstacles, no nonsense. More of that please.

I think Kaeru is my favorite character this season. Someone get this girl a drink.

 Plunderer

The people writing this show think they’re so smart, don’t they?

This is the worst written major show of the season. It doesn’t shoot itself in the foot, it rips its brain out and throws it in a meat grinder.

One episode: we meet an eager, young, space cadet-type character who is a woman. Her partner conspires with Licht to sexually assault her in as many ways as possible.

Seriously.

This show should have a trigger warning in front of each episode. They play on screen sexual assault as a joke.

I’m not a woman, but if I was, I think Plunderer would piss me off.

Licht’s fun ends when the cadet’s superior arrives. He has the power to conjure iron bars and imprison people.

His name is Lieutenant Jail.

-rubs temples-

In the world of Plunderer, people have counts that go up whenever they perform an action. Counts are exactly like shonen power levels. The higher your count is, the bigger a boss you are. Each person’s count is denoted by a number on their person, be it their body or a tag on their clothes.

Licht’s count is 5,700; Jail’s count is 900.

He fights Lt. Jail and after the usual shonen dicking around, he’s surprised that Jail is beating him.

Then Lt. Jail is like, “Ha Ha, you fool, I was wearing a sticker over my real count the whole time.”

And then Jail just peels the sticker off and his real count is 12,500.

Fuck.

They fight, Jail loses, and now he’s…still enemies with Licht, but they’re also buddies around each other.

I think the writers were going for a dynamic where the two are enemies, but they get along well anyway. It’s not done well.

This show loves having characters bump into each other and spontaneously challenge themselves to food-related competitions.

One episode, all the characters just bump into each other in a random town, and then suddenly we’re having a cooking competition?

Next episode, Jail and Licht meet up by accident and the rest of the ep is a drinking competition.

Everything culminates in the plot twist in the newest episode.

It’s really. Fucking. Stupid.

So stupid, in fact, that I won’t be elaborating on it. Capturing the idiocy of it is impossible.

I still feel sorry for Sarah Wiedenheft. At least she plays Kaeru in ID Invaded.

 Darwin’s Game

Still ugly. Still generic as hell. Why am I watching this?

 MagiReco

Not to sound rude, but if you’re a fan of the original show and you’re not watching this, what are you doing?

MagiReco isn’t as good as the OG show, but everyone who liked the OG show should check it out. This is a show that expands on the lore of the original in a cool way. There are mercenary magical girls, a grief seed black market, magical girl therapy centers, and the villains.

This is really cool.

There’ve been missteps for sure, the latest episode was a step back imo, but there’s been a great escalation over this whole season.

The show follows a pretty generic structure so far. Start off with episodic adventures, introduce new cast members with each one, then transition into more serial storytelling as the cast gets closer to uncovering the Big Conspiracy.

It’s generic, but it does it so well. This is a show that understands mystery and build up.

What I love most about this show is how original it is. The lore expanding has been noted, but I love how the characters aren’t just stand-ins for the OG cast.

Iroha looks like Madoka, and has the same earnestness, but she’s confident and actually self-sufficient right off the bat, as opposed to how Madoka was.

Yachiyo is sort of a combination of Mami’s role and Homura’s personality, which I guess you could say is derivative, but, personally, I find it to be an interesting combination given where the franchise has been.

Felicia is a delinquent like Kyoko, but the details are different enough to overlook the similarities.

Tsurano is just a cheerful dork. That sounds mean, but…I don’t think we’ve seen a character like that in the whole franchise. Madoka never lost heart, but she wasn’t very bouncy.

Very good all around.

[wonderwallofthesoul]

Trove Hack

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