#(Vid editing in general CAN ALSO Take Just As Much Time)

[freakinator]

I'm so interested, but I don't know where to start watching UU. I'm so confused. Could you please advise me how to watch it properly?

honestly the best advice i can give you is to just search unstable universe and click on any of the playlists (i recommend diya's since it tends to be the most up-to-date one), if you wanna watch just one pov then feel free to do so but be warned youd be missing a part of the experience by doing so mainly through missing context/part of the story for certain scenes (although tbf that pretty much goes for any lets play but if you dont mind that aspect then go right ahead)

a few warnings before you get started tho:

its a huge time investestment, all but the first 4 episodes are more than 3 hours long with most of them either halfway through or nearing 4 hours

some vids are uploaded later than they actually take place on the timeline, i have a guide here if you wanna know at least from what i can tell the actual order is

theres a few supplementary materials (can be found in the extras part of the sheet i linked, not complete yet cause theres some vids i havent linked yet and im still on the lookout for more since some vids get added retroactively in addition to the ones uploaded explicitly for uu), you dont need to watch them to enjoy the story but theyre a cool bonus

if you wanna watch only one pov heres a guide on each of the povs specialties before doing so

general:

they all shift in style as the eps go on, nothing jarring but if you dont like more scripted storylines you may find the later eps a bit lacking

plot themes get used and reused a lot, for example spoke often goes on quests to destroy important landmarks, parrot often goes on scavenger hunts/get imprisoned/some combination of the two, and wemmbu often does things related to civilizations/kingdoms/factions

certain editing styles also get copied from each other, parrot and wemmbu in particular like to do this with each other

themes and styles can also switch around sometimes which can affect future eps on some level

certain exploits and mechanics dont work as intended so dont bother replicating how certain mechanics work according to actual mc cause chances are youll be disappointed by the results (unless youre into that sorta thing i suppose lol)

the main povs tend to stick to the same set of ppl, most likely due to scheduling reasons, so dont expect a whole lot of crossover casting (tho obv there would still be some esp if theyve got a pre-established role already)

spoke:

redacts some important events from his eps but may recount them later on depending on how the story plays out tho not in detail

not a lot of pvp in his pov and when there is chances are hes trying to run away or someone else is handling it (mainly mapicc)

doesnt upload nearly as consistently as the other two, consequently his shift in style is more obvious comparatively but so is his character development

thematically his eps tend to be about personal growth of some kind

lorewise his eps tend to focus more on server meta, for example his pov is the only one where there is clear confirmation of the server being unstable codewise, his pov is the only one where just how large of a problem duping on the server is can actually be seen and felt, and so far his pov is the only one that shows who ash is and what his goals are. basically if spoke introduces some kind of threat in his ep, chances are it'll be a threat to the server meta and youd have to think of the bigger picture in order to grasp how dangerous they actually are

his pov is also the only one you get the full picture of what a soggy little rat he actually is since in both parrot and wemmbus povs spoke is seen as a serverwide threat, directly for parrot and theoretically for wemmbu

if you like ls s4 zam and/or ls s2 spoke then youll most likely like him as well lol

has a small reoccuring cast and tends to stick to one person when going on quests while also taking note of another one

you will feel the ghost of jamatoP haunting this kid wherever he goes even if he never directly references him

parrot:

tends to get dragged along plot points, not in the sense that he doesnt have agency cause he very much does but more like he takes it upon himself to clean up other ppls messes if that makes sense

tries not to get into pvp but he still does get into them quite often, usually tries to run away but when he doesnt/cant he doesnt really have the best fighting techniques

his character development tends toward introspection which leads to a lot of "quiet" and assumptive character development, you gotta use a lot of psychological analysis when watching a parrot episode basically

thematically his eps tend to be about the willingness to get in danger in pursuit of something (whether it be for something greater, knowledge, or the safety of the other players on the server whether it be their life or memories) vs the predictable and stagnant comfort of safety

lorewise the threats he faces are ones that focuses on the actual players themselves, if one is introduced on his episode then chances are that they specifically target and affect players. an interesting example of this is zam, seen as a threat but never actually treated like an actual problem to be solved unlike the other threats he faces and it just so happens that zam is in a really interesting place antagonism-wise when it comes to wemmbu but is otherwise not a huge threat to unaffiliated players not even parrot who he apparently has beef with

has a large reoccuring cast who come in and out of his life, each of whom are important the same way cogs are important to a machine (applies to parrot himself as well). wifies sticks by him no matter what tho

wemmbu:

literally only one episode of his so far does not heavily feature or center around zam and its the one that takes place before they meet, if you do not like seeing/hearing about zam every 10 minutes or so do not watch wemmbus eps or you Will get pissed off

gets into fights quite often and is the best at pvp among the three main povs but isnt the best in terms of the server at large (hes somewhere more along the lines of average)

his character development is. rocky. and cyclical. be prepared to see him spiral and get better and spiral again over and over again basically lol

thematically his eps tend to be about princezam. i wish i was joking. but besides that, theyre also about retaliatory safety, morality, and sacrificing everything just to try and accomplish a singular goal

lorewise he causes a lot of ripple effects that affect the other two povs to a level that neither of them have ever affected him like for example him terrorizing spoke and parrot is what drove them to their current paths (anti-exploit exploiter for spoke and player protector for parrot)

has. A reoccuring cast. most of them are enemies and/or dont matter to him a whole lot personally tho... that doesnt mean he doesnt have friendly relations or allies of any kind, just that the only two you Really need to take note of are eggchan and princezam

i think thats p much all i can say about uu in terms of how to get into it but if youve got any questions of some kind feel free to ask :D

[izzyizumi]

Digi-Adventures ~ Taichi Yagami & Koushiro[u] Izumi {A.M.V. Out-lining/Timeline} for Koushiro x Taichi A.M.V.: Only Exception [#Tri Spoilers, #Kizuna Spoilers, #Digimon Adventure: Spoilers]… This is the current initial ‘previewed’ look of a mostly-finished A.M.V., but with sections I can easily jump around and edit in if I ever go back to it in the future.

So this one didn't reach 100~ clips like This one did a bit earlier on, but I got pretty close again. (I could have added in more, but errors started up etc) Though, it wasn't as fast a track this time; Still, it did take quite a bit of effort regardless.

This one still has 84 clips total (if you include the 4 on the fade-out at the end) And took about 3 hours 35 min total, spread out over a span of a few days.

Also, it crashed badly around the point of Kizuna clips. I had to go back in and re-do that entire section of about 12~ clips after. But I wanted to keep all clips in, for the sake of the emotion if it was possible to keep them in.

I'd just like to point out, but, I'm not even being paid to make these and I don't make a single cent off any of my fan works, blog, etc. (I'm just saying...)

I make them because I enjoy the series and I appreciate these characters enough to make these. That's all.

Every clip with a series of four squares in the corners are effects I added in for either start and/or end of said clips. (I mainly use fade-in and fade-out effects the most. Sometimes I'll experiment a bit and attempt things like speeding up a clip, which I also did on some of Ep24 scenes.)

[n6ptunova]

can u do chris bf headcanons

boyfriend headcanons • chris sturniolo

a/n: ofc pookie!! thank you for the request🫶

warnings: none

- chris would try to act a bit more “chill” and “nonchalant” before you guys date, but once it’s official he turns into the sweetest boy ever. he becomes almost soft spoken when it comes to you and you only.

- he goes to you for fashion advice since he can’t really match clothes. you take him shopping and dress him up in a way that he’s comfortable with but also looks so fine. he might even make one of those tiktoks “my style before and after my gf.” he also loves matching with you for sure.

- speaking of clothes, he LOVESSS when you wear his shirts and hoodies. it doesn’t matter if they’re baggy, tight, or well-fitted on you, he just thinks you look so beautiful in his clothes and he thinks it’s cute how giggly you get and how you burry your face in them admiring his lingering scent. he’ll let you keep your fav hoodie of his too.

- he cannot go to sleep without you. we all know how he’s always sleeping in nick and matt’s rooms, but ever since you got together, he only sleeps in his bed, yours, or the couch but you HAVE to be there or else what else is he gonna cuddle??

- his favourite is when he’s the small spoon laying on top of you and resting his head on your chest (not for that reason but it’s def a bonus) and you playing with his hair till he falls asleep. if he wakes up and you’re separated he’ll whine and cuddle closer to you.

- i think it’s a given that he likes when you play with his hair, it’s his weakness fr. but sometimes when you’re bored you start braiding his hair or trying different hairstyles on him like man bun, piggy tails, space buns or your personal favourite half up half down with some strands falling out. he acts like he’s annoyed when you do this but he melts at the feeling of your fingers in his hair.

- he’ll just be looking up with heart eyes at you focusing so hard to perfect the hair style for him and secretly smiling every time you get excited at how cute he looks and the little kisses you cover his face with. he’s so whipped it’s crazy.

- he’s a part of the sassy men apocalypse idc. being in a relationship with chris is mostly joking around and poking fun at each other. so when he’s in a goofy mood and you shrug him off bc you’re busy or not focused he’ll go “oh so you don’t love me anymore?? i see.”

- “babe literally what’s more important than me rn this is insanity.” you always call each other bro but when hes feeling sassy and you call him bro he’ll say, “are you bro/friend zoning me rn. what the fuck.” and sometimes he doesn’t even respond and just crosses his arms dramatically looking away until you say his name or “babe/baby”

- he takes pictures of things he noted you like before eg. the sky, sunsets, flowers, cats, etc. and sends them to you bc it reminds him of you and he knows how excited you get over them.

- he’s a mama’s boy i stand by that, so it’s important for him that you get along with mary lou, which you do! mary lou loves you so much he starts to get jealous of both of you because you’re “stealing” his mom and you’re spending more time with her that chris starts to miss you.

- i feel like in general chris is a bit touch deprived, like in vids he’s always reaching for his brothers’ hands or resting on them, hugging them, leaning on them when laughing etc. now that he has you, you get all these little touches, playing with your fingers subconsciously, tracing circles on your thighs occasionally squeezing it, rests his arms on your shoulder when you’re standing somewhere, always hugging and kissing you on the cheek, forhead, corner of your lips, and even boops your nose sometimes 😭.

- he definitely is always looking at you with loving heart eyes all the time that fans start to make edits of “the way he looks at you” and you both eat them up.

- when he’s sick he turns into a literal child, you have to baby him or else you’ll never hear the end of his whining and complaining. but it’s okay bc when you’re sick he does the same.

- overall that man is just whipped for you fr and his brothers tease him for it sometimes but he doesn’t care (he literally punches their arm almost every time and tells them to shut up but we move!)

[nicksbestie]

can you do a fic of little! matt where in one of their vids he gets hella anxious and as soon as it ends he just needs you and needs to be in little space

Recording - M. Sturniolo

Summary : Sometimes being in front of camera is just too much to handle.

Warnings : mentions of anxiety, crying,

Word Count : 1438

Pairing : Matt Sturniolo/Reader (romantic)

A/N : This is an age regression fic, which is purely safe for work and innocent. Any hate/disrespect towards me, my work, or readers, will not be tolerated.

As someone who already struggles with severe anxiety, the automatic pressure that came with sitting in front of a camera and having the knowledge that it was going to go out for millions of people to see was amplified by ten. There is a lot of expectation on Matt’s shoulders every time they get ready to film, and while the majority of the fanbase don’t mind when he’s more quiet in the content that they post, there is always a nagging feeling in the back of his own mind that it’s bothersome, not entertaining enough, that his personality needs to change a bit, and those strings of thoughts do get to him. Not often, but sometimes it is enough to cause some issues during, before, or after filming. 

His brothers often cracked small jokes about him never talking, and while he was generally a quieter person, there was a part of him that was silent because of the fact that he was sitting in front of a camera, and anything he said would be on the internet forever, and he would have to live with that for the rest of his life. Sure, they had a lot of stupid content out there, but that didn’t mean that the anxiety didn’t grab him by the throat every time the camera started rolling. He was doing better recently, it was not as bad, but he still had his moments. 

Today was one of those days, where he felt like he couldn’t breathe as soon as the light on the camera let them know that it was recording. He had tried to fight through the massive lump in his throat, hoping that they would get enough good footage that Nick could cut out all the bad clips of Matt looking like he was about to cry, which would serve as taking out two birds with one stone, because then he wouldn’t be seeing any extra sad edits of himself in the driver’s seat all over his recommended pages. As much as he loved all of their fans, sometimes seeing how depressed or anxious or sad he looked made it worse because it reminded him that people really were watching his every move in those videos. 

Matt really did love his job. He found it incredibly rewarding that he got to not only entertain but also bring comfort to people through just hanging out with the people that he had been around his entire life, and he wouldn’t want to change anything for the world. But he definitely wished that he could drop the crippling anxiety part of it, especially after such a bad recording day. Both Chris and Nick had noticed that he was off, more quiet than his normal persona on camera, and had tried to question him about it after they had stopped recording, but he had just brushed them off and told them that he was tired. He could tell that they didn’t believe him, but they didn’t push him any further. 

While he normally let his brothers help him where they could, there were a couple times every now and then when he just wanted to keep to himself. This always had the potential to be self destructive, and in the past, it had been, but at this point in his life he had gotten to the point that he was asking someone to come over and spend time with him if he had turned his brothers away. It was the same person every time. It was always you. Sometimes you were there with his brothers, if they had called for him, or if he had opened up enough to let them in too after you were already helping him. He wasn’t always wanting his brothers to see exactly what goes on in his most personal moments, because he held a lot of fear over their potential reaction if they saw what he really used to calm down.

You were more than just Matt’s partner. You were also his caregiver, the person he trusted with the most vulnerable parts of him. You absolutely adored him, and had never once taken that trust for granted. You had no intentions to ever do so. Neither of you could deny the fact that Matt’s way of coping was unconventional, not as heard of as some others, but also infinitely more helpful to his mind than other things he could have chosen. He had already known he was a little before he met you, and while it was a terrifying thing for him to talk to you about, he didn’t think he could be in a relationship with someone who wasn’t open to being his carer, especially knowing he would probably be regressed much more often in a comfortable relationship. 

Luckily, you had already known what he was talking about, and had been a carer in the past. You were more than open to loving that side of your boyfriend, and the relief that washed over his face when you told him that both made you smile and hurt our heart, knowing exactly how difficult it probably had been for him to tell you. Matt’s persona as a little was not very far off from his persona outside of his headspace. As you grew to learn his mannerisms and behavior, you recognized that he seemed to be basically the same person, just younger, smaller. He hovered around a toddler age, but he wasn’t chaotic. He was quiet, reserved, and didn’t talk much, but he was incredibly affectionate. When he was interested in something, you never heard the end of it, but he was content to just sit in your arms silently for a long period of time. 

However, the already small amount of talking completely disappears when Matt is pushed into his headspace from a negative force, like his anxiety. When it gets too bad, he cries a lot, doesn’t speak much, and stays absolutely glued to your side. You normally come over to find him staring in silence, not little, but as soon as you’re hugging or talking to him, he’s crying and it pushes him right in. If it gets terribly bad, it can push him into a younger state, but that is normally when the entire day has been absolutely brutal. Today hadn’t been brutal, but it hadn’t been great either, so you could tell you’d have an upset little when you received the text asking you to come over, and quickly. 

He never really wanted to talk when you got there, so you never pushed him. If he wanted to open up he would, and you knew that if he felt comfortable enough to slip into his headspace around you, when he wanted to talk, he would feel comfortable enough to do so. It didn’t take you long to get there, potentially speeding by more than you should have, but you easily entered after pulling into the driveway, using the key Matt had given you a couple of months ago. You greeted Nick and Chris quickly, moving up the stairs to Matt’s room. You could find him in this house if you were blind, but you still knocked on the door to let him know that it was you outside of it before entering. 

Opening the door, your eyes were met with a scene that was unfortunately fairly normal, but it still broke your heart every time. You immediately sat down next to him, positioning yourself at the base of the headboard, pulling him into you, a gentle pout forming on your lips when you felt his shoulders shake against you. You whispered comforting words for a long time, softly rubbing his back and running your hands through his hair, two things that often proved to be very effective in relaxing and calming him down. You could tell by his body language when he slipped, as his shoulders relaxed, and his arms held you a lot tighter, as if you were going to fly away. 

Comforting an upset little could sometimes be chaotic depending on the level of upset, but Matt normally just cried. It was often just sad to see how much pain he was in, but his littlespace really did help him. He didn’t hide his feelings and was much more open and willing to tell you what was going on, wholly trusting you with his entire being. But despite everything he had deal with so far that day, he knew that once he was wrapped up in your arms with his comfort items and a show playing, he was going to be just fine.

~ taglist : @blahbel668 @mattsgirlfrieeend @69isabella69 @mayhem-72 @iculdstealurgf @iluvm4ttsturni0l0 @sturnioloslife @heartsforkarina @nervousrebelglitter @sturniclo @elliegrace-7 @mattsturnioloisbae @strnilo

~ if you'd like to be added to my taglist, click here!

~ my inbox is open, come chat!!

[m4sonn]

The Gang During Quarantine (the outsiders)

What the gang would’ve been doing during quarantine

(Thanks to my friend @peachyponyboyy whom I collaborated with with for this and the projects like it)

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺ ᴳ : Ponyboy

• scared as hell of getting the vid.

• refuses to go outside.

• hoards hugeee stacks of books, he stole darrys old dvd’s from when he was a kid.

• reads every single book he can get his sticky little hands on.

• shut in his room most of the time bc “everyone else is a ‘distraction’ to his peace…”

• Went through the E-Boy 2021 phase.. Got a nose ring out of spite, Darry got piiiiissed but oh well, it kinda suited him.

• bought a bunch of strawberry cow shit and now hides them in his closet out of shame, he’s still relentlessly teased by everyone but especially Sodapop

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Sodapop

• tbh? He doesn’t really do much

• Just invites steve over and they get on everyone’s ass

• Sometimes when he’s really bored he’ll try on the clothes he doesn't wear much that sit in the abyss he calls his closet and pose in front of his mirror (Did I serve or did I serve?)

• Totally learned tiktok dances (still knows the renegade, even after 4 years..)

• Became one of the POV tiktokers like skyyjade but stopped in early 2023

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Darry

• cooks sooo much more than usual

• he’ll literally take out cookbooks from like 3 generations back.

• Does the “aesthetic” workouts if he’s bored

• grocery shopping a lot because he’s the only one who responsibly does it, he likes when Ponyboy goes with him but he barely does since Ponyboy is terrified of getting sick now.

• Got a pair of airpods during quarantine and loves listening to music through them, they're glued to darry now.

• He is a god at baking.

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Dally

• Ngl he didn't change at all

• sneaks out a lot though.

• darry knows but does not have any shits left to give.

• hates cops even more than he did before

• Would definitely go to the protests with a gun locked and loaded.

• Surprisingly he keeps a tidy space.

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Johnny

• watches a lot of tv

• and listens to music a lot

• scared as hell of getting the ‘vid

• Locks himself in his room

• Probably had a slight depressive episode, i feel like his brain needs to stay stimulated or else he just crumbles.

• Had a gacha phase during quarantine and had a semi-famous YouTube channel (also gacha), he never EVER told ANYONE. Not even ponyboy

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Two-bit

• very ecstatic because he can actually just watch mickey mouse clubhouse the whole day

• sneaks out sometimes to get beer and cancer sticks.

• if mickey isn’t on he’ll watch lilo and stitch

• eats like a goddamn pig, but everyone does so who tf cares

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Steve

• He tries to be helpful because he knows darry isn’t just gonna keep baking all the sweets he makes.

• so he tries to learn how to bake

• Bad idea (almost burned everyone alive)

• apart from that he just fucks around with soda

• That's when they found resident evil…and all the leon kennedy edits…they have gotten into arguments over this man.

[answrs]

Readmores And You - A Really Great Tumblr Feature!

(this is technically directed at stuff I've seen in a specific tag because of the content of said tag makes it more likely to spoiler things, but it applies to anyone likely learning the ins and outs of a new site. speaking of which, hello! welcome to tumblr!) (this got. longer than anticipated. apologies, I get bogged down in trying to make things as clear as possible. ^^")

I've seen this a lot recently in the VC tags especially, where the post goes something to the effect of "tw bloody animal!" then like six periods and the images of whatever dead thing the post is about.

I recognize this is probably being carried over from some other website (...reddit probably? maybe insta?) but please. I appreciate y'all so much for trying to do what you're doing. but this method of hiding pictures isn't effective on tumblr, but there is an infinitely better option!

"but why? it works fine on other sites?" firstly, a few extra lines typically don't even take up enough space on mobile (let alone desktop) to hide your pics, so even at a glance anyone is likely still seeing at least the top half of whichever picture you posted before even noticing the trigger warning on top. second, because you have to scroll all the way past the images at the bottom of your post anyway to get to the next one on your dash/in the tag/etc. so if someone comes across your post and the trigger warning is applicable as something they want to avoid, unless they have access to a keyboard to use a keybind shortcut that ive been here 12 years and still cant remember, they can't see any other posts after it without either having to scroll through the pics or outright block you. which is... not the most ideal of options I would say.

"but what else am I supposed to do then!?" I hear you ask.

READMORES!

tumblr has a wonderful feature known as a "readmore" that's built into the site! it creates a break in your post, which hides any content - be it words, images, whatever - that you place underneath it, not showing it unless the person viewing it clicks on the words "keep reading" (formerly "read more" - hence the name :D).

Cool, how do I do that?

on mobile you can place one by tapping an empty line and clicking the grey squiggle icon from the selection that allow you to insert an image/vid/link

which will place a squiggly line into the post you're making:

(desktop uses the same icon, it's just in a more compact row of icons.)

you can drag it around after placing it too, just like photos. (note: mobile can get finicky with this and it's usually just easier to remove it -click the big red X- and add it in the new place you want it.)

EDIT: some of the versions of mobile editor are broken and don't show the icons. to add it in manually type ":readmore:" (with the colons, but not the quotation marks) on its own line. Thank you for the reminder, LovingTogetic!

this is also a nice way to keep your blog tidy and not swamped in long and/or spoilery posts (say if you're posting 5k word fics, or extensive meta, or gushing over the ending of the latest game or TV show most people probably haven't seen yet)! it's not required, obviously, but it's generally considered a common courtesy for others that will be seeing your post cross their dashboard.

finally, an example of the readmore in action:

(ta-da!)

have fun out there y'all, I hope this is helpful ^^

as an aside (I wasn't sure where to put this but under the break seemed appropriate), you may also see a lot of personal/vent posts be fully under readmores as well, even if the post is only a sentence or two long. this is mostly so followers don't necessarily see it unless they specifically click, but there's a more frustrating history to it becoming a thing: when a post is reblogged, any content above the break is permanently frozen as it existed at the time, but anything under it will reflect edits made to the post. while not common, a certain type of user sometimes browse the various "do not rb" tags and will purposefully reblog personal posts in order to upset and distress the users. putting those things under a readmore make it so even if that happens, the text can be deleted from all iterations of the post. recently the site rolled out an option to lock a post to reblogs, but you gotta mess with the settings and it's mostly a habit after a decade here dealing with the nonsense.

[greatcheshire]

How do you deal with all the random hate or bad take criticism you get on your videos? I was going through some of the comments on your videos and it's absurd how many people say you're talking too fast or assume they know what the video is about and refuse to watch it on what they imagine it to be. I would have such a hard time not finicking over some of it.

It's definitely hard, especially at first! I think an important part of dealing with it is understanding when to stand your ground and how to separate valid criticism from hate comments and ill-informed comments. Like with talking fast, it definitely hurt to hear comments saying that early on, but it was also a note I've been getting ever since high school mock trial. And early on, people were right: I was talking too fast and editing my audio to be too fast and accelerated. But since then I've tried to take the notes to heart and improve my delivery for videos to a level I feel satisfied with. A weird thing that helped is last year when I did an on camera live Q&A with Sarah and I got comments making jokes about how I do actually just talk like this. So whenever I feel self conscious about it now, I can just tell myself, "Oh, right, I do just actually talk like this." The comments about not watching the video bug me a bit too, yeah, especially whenever something like the AVGN vid gets an algorithm bump and my notifications become a plethora of people telling me I'm a huge piece of shit before writing out a comment that unknowingly agrees with the video. Much like the talking comments, though, I learn to shrug it off and honestly find the humor in it. These people are getting riled up about something they're never going to watch. That's kinda funny, right?

There are definitely ones that bother me though. Transphobic comments oon't bother me too much, but comments on how my voice sound do sometimes get under my skin a bit, especially with how I first started out. And I do see things that upset me or that I disagree with. When that happens, I just have to learn to either ignore it, walk away, or vent about it in private. And generally, the positive comments I get outweigh the negative ones and so if I start getting too wrapped up in the hate, I'll look at some positive ones to make up for it and normalize my headspace.

I dunno. Being a creator is hard. But I try to do what I can to not let it get to me.

[dearweirdme]

hi! i’m someone who’s kind of like a halfway tkkr ? i believe but like not fully quite yet ? idrk lol. but ik you’ve talked abt how one of the things that has made you believe in them strongly is the difference in how they look at each other in comparison to other members and how their looks are much more romantic/filled with emotion. but ig i haven’t rlly seen that yet ? idk like i see clips where i think oh wow jk is rlly looking at tae like he’s in love or something but then i’ll see similar clips of him w other members where he also looks super fond and full of love ?

but basically are there specific clips/circumstances u can think of that you feel showcase the way they look at each other being romantic/distinctly different than how they look at other members? like ones that u can look at be like “yeah they’ve never looked at any other member like that” ?

also ik you recently talked abt how the way they touch/don’t have physical boundaries is different and more prolonged. do you know of any specific moments/clips for that as well ?

Hi anon!

Well... it's is difficult I suppose... because Jk does love the other members as well, so he would look at them with love in their eyes. I agree, there are instances where Jk looks at the others full of emotion. But it's not the same as how he looks at Tae at times (to me at least). Things like this are always hard to lay out in a tumblr post though, because there's just so so SO much footage and a lot of what we talk about now is subjective. What looks like flirting behavior to me might not look like that to you. I always feel context matters as well, and for me to lay out every moment I feel is flirting or romantic between Tae and Jk and moments between other BTS pairings are not... that would honestly take up time I do not have. I'll say a few things to kinda point at what I see though.

The staring is more intense and longer in duration. I feel like I'm on repeat, but the Tkk stare in the vminkook live is not to be rushed over. It lasted 6 seconds anon! Seriously, try and stare in the eyes of your best friend (or any friend) for that long (without telling them you're gonna do it) and see how comfortable that is. It is really long! It is not a lustfull stare to me, but it speaks of an intimate silent communication going on. And when you look at the context of that stare.. to me it has to do with them as a couple.

In this vid there's a moment at 5:34 that I feel is something. The sudden shift on their faces. I'm not sure what to call it exactly, but it's a something to me. In that same vid at 6:45 the smirk on Jk's face also tells me something. (I don't agree with all moments in that vid btw, but there are some nice ones).

Also... the times Jk gives Tae a full body scan and the many times they will litterally bite their lips while checking each other out (YouTube is your friend.. I swear it's all there).

When I talk about Tae and Jk"s physical boundaries being different. I mean I mean moment's like ITS when Jk just comfortably sat an Tae whilst playing a game.

Moments like this, where it's not just a handplacement, but rather a caress or an exploring motion (Jk touching Tae's neck when he arrived in BonVoyage would also be such a moment).

Festa 2022.

Things like this...

And sure.. there's moments when they hang of another member and where they cuddle with someone else.. but in general, they do it with each other way more.

Edit: just wanted to add the ‘no space couple’ in this. Because that is just so very true! No pairing in BTS are as ‘no space’ as Tae and Jk.

[swanandphoenixsong]

Off hiatus...?

So! it's been a loooong year, but it it's time to finally look back and review a little about what I've been doing...

It's officially been a year since I made these posts about my stroke (back then, I had not made any reblogs since the 23rd of June, I was hospitalized on the 26th, and I had entered rehab on July 6th. As you may note, I've been back on tumblr long since my hiatus explanation.

(However, now I look back and see I hadn't actually posted any creations - writing, art, edits, or otherwise since April of 2023. 😬Yeesh. I hope to change that during July or August. Before my stroke, I was coming home from spring semester on campus, and I was already planning to take a break from my studies for at least the summer and fall, and had hoped my writer's block would relieve itself after Father's Day and I had adapted to being home again.)

Anyway! What's been up more recently/how am I feeling? — Pretty good. Started feeling much more like myself partway in April this year, when I felt I could tap into the 'flow' of creative thoughts, for writing, and they were coming easier, and I was getting excited about getting back into it, and art, and other media. However, I decided to wait til I had some ideas planned, and to get more medical stuff handled.

I still have a lot to do over the latter half of this year, but I thought the anniversary of the hiatus post would be the best time to make an update. I'll be making other posts as well, including something to pin on my blog, until I have some new media posted.

Plans! — Of course, I’ve played various amounts of Animal Crossing, Pokémon, and other games over the past year, so I hope to share some edits/vids/experiences from them.

Art! — I eventually want to migrate my art either to Ao3, or here on tumblr, or on my own website, but basically just get it off DeviantArt or Instagram, since AI art generators are running rampant on them and other various websites. Not that my art is <that> good, but I don’t want to support websites like DA or Insta as much.

Speaking of, I will eventually be making my own website, and ‘locking’ my Ao3 to only logged in users, so that it will be less likely to be scanned by AI generators. I haven’t done it yet, but expect posts about that soon.

Writing — On the smallest scale of update, I’d revisit my first fic, Inhibitions, that I originally began in Spring of 2013 (I had forgotten I had started it in HS, 😅 sheesh!) I think I’ll be making my own comments on some of the chapters, and I’ll post about them on here as well. It’s still so important to me, as it was cathartic as I dealt with my own depression and anxiety over the near dozen years since, and I want to share part of the writing process, research, or my thoughts now.

Following that, I hope to update Aspirations soon too! Finally I’m figuring out some writer’s block, and wanted to show something for it.

Alongside, I may also have an update for my Star Wars Nouveau AU, on fanfics Aliit or Jedi Scholar soon, but am still figuring out some things on the back-burner.

Of the greatest relevance to me and to those of you in the Sandman fandom, I want to update my Sandman fic, The Nightmare of Orpheus, as again, I’m finally getting through some writer’s block, and I would like to update it before we get the “A Midsummer Night's Dream” episode (next year? Somehow sooner? Who knows?)

— as far as when I’ll actually have any updates before August, I aim to have proper goals set by my birthday, July 21st, so if I have fallen short, you can at least expect me to make a progress update then!

Thanks for reading!

[yorgilord]

XENOBLADE Chronicles 3: One Year LATER

Or: one man’s unhinged ramblings on a game that may be one of their favorites of all time.

A few disclaimers before reading this:

1: this is an enormous wall of text. This is 11849 words long and by far the longest I’ve ever written, just as a heads up.

2: This will contain spoilers for the entirety of the Xenoblade series, not counting other Xeno games because I’m from Europe and I am someone who loves having physical copies, so it’s going to take a while before I get the chance to play those.

3: there will be minor to major grammatical issues and faulty sentence structures because I’ve started writing this on this on the 26th and I suck at grammar and don’t have the time to proofread the entirety. So, uh no beta we die like Hackt.

4: This is going to be mildly unhinged, filled with swearing and is highly subjective you’re allowed to have your own opinion nothing I say is a fact as I’m just as much a fan as you hopefully are.

5: if there is anything that I say in this text that may or may not be considered to be offensive please tell me and I’ll try to fix it.

As of today, it has been about a year since Xenoblade chronicles 3 first hit store shelves, and for many of us our home. Although it would be wrong to say that this game hasn’t been without its controversy the overall reception towards the game has been relatively positive. With people praising the characters, the music, the revamped combat system, etc. To me this is the first game in the series that came out with me being fully caught up in the hype cycle (I got introduced around 2016-17 through Chuggaaconroy his lp of XC1, the date may be off but I remember watching the lp either during or just after my burnout and that was about the time of my burnout, but wasn’t as of yet fully converted, that only came after playing the first game for myself on the new 2ds I bought specifically to play it, despite owning a Wii meaning it would be cheaper for me to buy a used Wii copy as I’m from the Netherlands and we actually had Wii copies of the game and they weren’t too expensive on the local version of e-bay, which is called Marktplaats (lit market place) but tbf I also really wanted to play that new fire emblem Musou game so yeah choices were made, I don’t know if they were great ones but they certainly were choices. Despite taking a bit to warm up to the game when watching the lp it was eventually love at first sight. Eventually I bought a switch in 2018 got xc2 and loved it, (not sure if in or despite of) its differences, managed to snag myself a collectors edition of DE where I played up until after the metal face fight on day 01. I really enjoyed my time with every game in the series, even picking up a Wii-u specifically for X late last year and despite the difficulties in adapting to its take on the game also loving it. So, you can probably guesstimate my reaction to the game being announced on the of February 2022. The hype cycle was amazing, watching every Luxin vid that came out learning more details about the game salivating over the first trailer, giving myself the habit to regularly check my mail multiple times a day in order to see if the pre-orders for the Collectors Edition were up yet (I still haven’t kicked it), fantasizing about the potential of the game and just in general good vibes. I did have some doubts about the game, wasn’t really feeling the clock theming and really hoped that the gameplay was more akin 1 than 2 (to put emphasis on this the last few times I played 1/de I played the entirety of the ether mine as Sharla and I enjoyed it, needless to say I really like the first game) What I really didn’t expect was for this game to become one of my fav games of the year and most likely of all time, up there with the golden cow that is XC 1 and joined by titles such as dark souls 3 (after I played it earlier this year), Shin Megami Tensei V, DMC V and Halo: Reach. To put it briefly, I love this game. Now to finally get to the point of this introductory piece: a few months ago after reading on reddit someone claiming that to fully get the game you should play it a few times I came to a realization, there were some things that I wasn’t too sure about, so you know what I decided I’m going to replay the game. And I’m going to write a piece about it, and you are reading that piece right now. So, without further ado these are my lightly structured and sorted thoughts and feelings on this beautiful game.

Ok so now before I get to praising the game for the way too many things it gets right, I do have a few gripes with the game itself. Gripe number 1: now this is more of a petty complaint but why can’t you level down before beating Z that’s a weird choice imo and makes it kind of annoying to return to older areas if you’re over leveled.  Gripe number 2: while I am glad that the game kind of returns to a more rigid style a-la xc1 when it comes to arts and such, I am kind of miffed by how they are implemented. I prefer my RPGS with characters that have rigidly defined roles and while I think that versatile parties can be fun to play around with, i.e. I love the challenge of putting together a party to specifically counter bosses in Megami Tensei games, I still in a sense prefer the games that force you to be creative in the constraints you’re given. And if I’m going to be real here this game plays, at least to me, a bit too fast and lose with those constraints, which annoys me but only mildly and not enough to detract from the joy of playing this piece of perfection. Gripe number 3 whose idea was it to not put location names on the map? I want to talk with them not hurt them, just talk. Gripe 4: the tutorials are way too overbearing. Gripe 5: I would prefer if there were more quests to be found on the world map instead of through idea bubbles, i.e., give me more X less the worst segments of persona 4. Gripe number 6: I dislike how relatively speaking the Agnian trio has less focus put on them in comparison to the Kevesi trio, at least when it comes to the main story. I have more but those will come up when I feel its necessary. Those are just however gripes and not anything major just minor annoyances, ok some are not so minor, but they don’t ruin the game.

Chapter 1: Ouroboros

“Fighting to live and living to fight” Those were the first words we heard in the first teaser trailer on that fateful day and those are also some of the first words we hear used in the game. And they describe the vibes that Aionios gives at first glance pretty well. The first chapter of the game is a bloody violent introduction to the world of Aionios it tells us in plain simple language hey, you there, welcome to hell. It introduces us to the colony system, to the flame clock and how it enforces a constant need for bloodshed, and it showcases how this affects the soldiers. A neat thing about this chapter is in how it directly showcases the power the flame clock has over its victims through integrating the flame clock as a mechanic that the player has to deal with. The opening of the game swiftly introduces us to the sheer brutality of this world by showcasing the battle between the Kevesi colony 9 (not that one) and the Agnian colony Sigma (male) which is shown in brutal bloody detail. What I love about this opening is the sheer sense of scale that is seen in this battle, which has, to my imperfect knowledge, only been seen in e.g., the battle of sword valley, the defense of NLA and the assault on / defense of the life hold core. The aftermath of this battle also showcases the mundane evil that the war makes the soldiers commit, i.e., the Kevesi soldiers casually trampling over the Agnian husks. This is also the first showcase of the sheer level of dehumanization that both sides employ on their enemies, which will come up later.

The section in colony 9 is also a good showcase of how despite the ever-present war and the constant violence a simulacrum of normal life is still possible and ongoing. Which in a profoundly fucked up sense is beautiful if you ask me. That despite the horrid dehumanization of the soldiers, the abuse that the consuls lash out, the ever-present threat of death. Life is still ongoing, no matter how shallow or how much of a simulacrum it is. I like this. In a sense it’s the idea of the indomitable human will when faced with the horrid oppressive cards that they are dealt. Which makes the position of Off-seer a small mercy granted to the soldiers, a sense of comfort to the warriors, a sense of peace not permitted to those who die on the slaughter fields of Aionios. And I love this section, the sense of atmosphere it has is unparalleled in my opinion and only rivaled, at least to me, by the Li Garte Prison Camp section. Also, as an aside I really fucking love the highly distinct uniforms that the Kevesi and Agnian forces have. Each uniform just looks so good. The black colors, almost skintight suits and visors found in the Kevesi army. The borderline Wuxia white robes, kabuto helmets and Japanese inspired aesthetic of the Agnian army. God, I just love those designs.

The introduction of Moebius D&J, although its mainly Dirk in control for this part as a misdirection, is masterfully done. Give the player what looks like a standard assignment, make it become more shifty by introducing the first hints of the lost numbers, through the automatons and later Guernica, and then pull the rug completely by revealing a monster which just doesn’t fit in with the local fauna and flora, which as an aside I have to say I really like, and by that I mean REALLY LIKE, the character designs of the Moebius and Ouroboros, (I guess I should thank CHOCO for this one huh), that are found in this game. They just feel so wrong, so unnatural, so borderline mechanical, like they saw the idea of the uncanny valley and decided to hike right into it. Their designs are, at least to me, perfect, which makes the fact that every single moebius, not counting FR, has a unique design personality and powerset especially amazing. And I really like how they sell the difficulty to beat and sheer power of the Moebius.

The introduction of the ouroboros into the story is also beautiful and one of the more wonderful scenes that is found in the game. And I really like the speech that D gives when the transformation takes place is amazing.

(Credits to the Xenoseries wiki for the script.)

“Noah: What...? This hand...

Noah & Mio: Is it...mine?

Noah & Mio: Huh? H-how are you inside me?!

Noah & Mio: Inside...? Hold on... Are we...?!

Moebius: (chuckling)      Well, you sure catch on quick. So you got yourselves an Interlink going, eh? Guess I've gotta give the old fool credit where it's due.

Noah & Mio: Interlink?

Moebius: Well, whatever. That form you just merged into? It's called "Ouroboros". Sear that into yer skulls.

Noah: Ouroboros?

Moebius: Oh, and... Me, I'm Moebius. We look a bit alike, don't we? When Keves and Agnus come together in unity, you're practically one step away from being on the same level as us.

Noah: So we're...

Mio: one being...?

Moebius: Ehh, to put it bluntly, you're failures. Fact is, the two of us are mortal enemies.

Noah & Mio: Enemies?

Moebius: You got the picture? No further questions? Then let's get back on the dance floor!”

The fact that the ouroboros team are not immediately friendly with each other and there’s still some minor hostility among them is Imo pretty good. I really like that. Because their lives as of that point have been spent fighting each other and it is only through this incident that they become friends and teammates. Which at least to me feels somewhat realistic, only joining forces after being forced to abandon their own colonies due to the influence of Moebius and their weird mind control censor powers. Also I am mildly annoyed by the fact that it is jingoistic Gigantus instead of Rotbart, I mean I know that bombastic Rotbart jr is a thin but still. I’d really just prefer it if it was Rotbart.

So that was chapter one of the game, and I’m going to end it with a bit of a hot-take. I feel like this first chapter is one of the best introductions in the entire series. It has the atmosphere, it has the vibes, it has the beautiful music, it has a very engaging hook, and in general I really like this. I mean yes, the battle of sword valley, Mechon assault on colony 9 and Shulk’s vow for revenge from 1, destruction of earth and waking up on Mira from X, and the awakening of Pyra from 2 are fucking iconic, not counting any dlc here just the full games. But yes, I really do think that the introduction to this game is the best one in the series. This is however only an introduction, the real fun is just about to begin in.

Chapter 2: Moebius

This chapter of the game is when the story really gets going as it details the journey to the Aetia region, through the Eagus wilderness and leads to the confrontation with Colony 4, the resolution of that conflict and their departure for the Ribbi Flats. You know I really like the chapter transition screen which are formatted like entries from Mio’s diary which I feel like is a nice touch. This chapter also introduces us to one of the most important characters to the story Ethel. And I really like Ethel. The presence of Ethel in the story is used for some fun stuff.

One of the first scenes in this chapter shows us the beginnings of the friendship between Lanz and Sena and I really like this. Sena and Lanz are just best muscle buddies, can be interpreted as both romantic and platonic could go either way. But yeah, I really like how despite Lanz being the one most adverse to the team-up, next to Taion, he’s also the first one to actually befriend his Agnian counterpart. Also, since I haven’t mentioned this anywhere, I’ll mention this here. CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE FUCKING PEAK. THANK YOU, MAGATSU SAITO-SAMA, FOR GIVING US THESE CHARACTER DESIGNS AND OUTFITS. But yeah, I really like those designs and their characters, just heads up but Eunie best girl I will not elaborate. But yeah, the first section of this chapter is pretty good. What follows is the “water” and the Eagus wilderness, one of my favorite regions in this game when it comes to the aesthetic, Maktha is the best I will elaborate on this later, also as an aside but think that Mio’s entire bit with having difficulties with heat is a reference to the Japanese concept of “ 猫舌” which roughly translate to cat’s tongue, or rather to quote Wiktionary “(idiomatic) being incapable of drinking or eating anything hot (high temperature) due to having an overly sensitive tongue” This makes the fact that someone from Gormotti descent such as Mio, assuming that Nia has passed the Gormotti genetics she acquired from eating the flesh of her sister down, a bit hilarious and most likely highly intentional. The introduction to Chain attacks is logical and it is interesting to see how they come upon the idea of working together to kill that one really hard to kill Aspar. What makes that one Aspar so difficult to kill? But that gets us to the battle with colony 4.

I really like the conflict that the battle with colony 4 imposes upon the members of Ouroboros, and it is a great expansion upon the ideas shown in chapter 1 with the mind control abilities that moebius has, and the power of Moebius in general. Speaking of which, I love how Moebius are fully introduced in this chapter, and specifically the hierarchy, of Moebius, or rather lack of hierarchy among Moebius. In a sense the ranks of Moebius are egalitarian, each of the Moebius are only loyal to Z and the freedom that is granted to them by Z. It also introduces us to the apparent true nature and behavior of the members of Moebius. And it does this through the presence of K. The moebius are in this game childlike to say the least. They are constantly pursuing the joy and ecstasy of the highest order. They do this through the pursual of their twisted desires, whether this is through slowly orchestrating the demise of their own colony, taking to the seas as a man of the sea, acting like the director of a stage play, being a wannabe tactician or in the case of K just the childlike pleasure of killing your foes. I also think that K has a few of the best one liners in the game.

“Hahahahaha! My dear boy... Your vaunted intuition... is shit!!!” or “It's the big bad boss. Boo!”

K also leads us to the first true battle with a Moebius and the first use of the second Moebius battle theme. And hoo boy this fight is truly a banger like for real I love each and every single moebius battle and the music that accompanies it. I thought about doing a ranking of my favorite battle themes from the game, but I’m going to be frank here EVERY. SINGLE. VARIATION. OF. THE. MOEBIUS. THEME. WOULD. WIN. I really like bombastic faux opera ok, God Shattering Star is one of my favorite boss themes sue me all right.

It also features the full awakening of the Kevesi Ouroboros and I have to say I really like each and every first transformation, the mindscape the foreshadowing through shards of fragmented memories and the unity of Keves and Agnus in what I now realize is foreshadowing of what happens when they combine for too long as the animation is pretty similar to the annihilation event we are shown in the first scene of the game. And now we move on to the next part.

Chapter 3: Saffronias

This chapter, at least to my opinion, is peak Taion. Like this is his chapter.

The aftermath of the battle is also pretty interesting in how it shows the difficulties of overcoming the programming and hatred of the soldiers and how they try to adapt to life outside of the flame clock system, while also showing through that one asshole Homs that some are not so willing to overcome their prejudices. And then we get the first hero quest and the introduction to the class system. I have my gripes with the class system like mentioned earlier but overall, I like how it is presented in the game and I also like how the full customization of the heroes is locked behind beating the game, due to the aforementioned reasons.

This is also the point where the game really begins opening up to the player and granting them the choice to begin on the abundant, to put it extremely lightly, side content of the game. And hoo boy is it meaty. We first get multiple colonies to liberate and heroes to recruit with every colony also having quest lines of varying length associated with them and every colony questline delving from a differing perspective into the question of “What now?” and I do love how this varies for each colony depending on their situation. 9 has issues with acquiring food and therefore eventually turns to the farming of spongy spuds, while also reorienting the entirety of Zeon’s character around them. Gamma goes on with Teach upholding his role as a mentor to his soldiers, 30 is finally free to pursue the special interests of its commander and goes full ham on the construction of Levnises. Etcetera etcetera. Another point I really like is how the presence of gray gives hints to the involvement of the city in the larger politics of Aionios, which the player might pick up upon, but could also easily miss. I’m going to talk about each hero when they first become available, skipping ethel due to her being locked off for a large part of the game.

So first off, we have Valdi I like the goober. Like some may have picked up from the earlier word choice I choose to interpret him as being at least somewhere on the spectrum and having a fascination with Levnises. But I like him and specifically how he grows to detest the use of Levnises as weapons of war, eventually becoming more pacifistic. The fact that gruff Lanz is also acting like a brother to him is extra fun and cute. His class is reasonably useful in the early game but sadly becomes overshadowed the further it goes.

Zeon. I like how he has difficulties with reconciling the fact that ouroboros abandoned the colony and how he tries to somehow accept their help. I also really like how his entire arc is about attempting to wrangle his colony unto the path forward, I remember the colony 9 storyline being one of the darker ones and really showing the difficulties of life without the support from the castles. It’s a shame then that I only really used his class to get topple on some characters due to it being the only source of master arts that make one able to topple until you get Cammuravi.

Teach his quest is fun in how it in a sense is the complete opposite of Zeon’s quest. Where the ouroboros were welcomed with hostility in 9, Gamma opens them with wide arms and Teach at first seems friendly. And then we get his maelstrom of power speech which I find truly fascinating, I like teach. He’s cool. And I especially like how he chose to be a teacher when granted the choice by G. Also, his class is extremely useful due to his ability to both remove debuffs and grant atk up to party members in the area.

As I am also discussing the available dlc, not Future Redeemed cause I haven’t got the time to do so even if I wanted to, I’m also going to talk about Ino. She’s really interesting in how she basically acts upon xc2 rules with her being an artificial blade and like Poppi a Nopon in a humanoid body, although she acts more like a stereotypical Nopon than Poppi ever did. But yeah, I like Ino I do however agree that her voice is a bit difficult to get used to and can be a bit grating the first time. But overall, I like her character and gimmick of having to collect ether to level her. Which is fun at least to me as it gives you a long-term goal to work towards. Her class is also really good in chain attacks to increase the damage.

Gray. I like him, he’s mysterious. I like his fatherlike bond with Eunie. I like the gameplay of his class, especially the positioning pro skill which oh god yes that is so fucking good, especially when combined with unsheathing lucky 7 because it shortens the rotation to get that to cooldown. But yeah, I like gray and how he leaves a bit of a mystery to the story while also hinting at the presence of lost numbers even more than Guernica and co. Also, he’s basically fucking Kakashi but with guns.  His quest is also interesting and is the first hint at the larger significance of the mysterious items we later learn to be origin shards.

Seeing as this is where she first becomes available, I’m also going to talk about Alexandria. Mythrakid suspect number two here is interesting. I like how you can fight her early but have to wait until chapter 5 to truly have a fair chance to beat her hero quest. But yeah, hers is in a sense the most traditional liberation of a colony due to the fact that you actually have to fight your way to Iota and have to beat both dame Alex and E before actually talking with Alexandria and liberating the colony from the clock.

Whew that was a detour now back to the plot. The conversation at the foot of the Saffronia tree is the first insight we as players get into the mindset of Taion and the trauma he endured, besides from the fragmented memories shown in his fusion with Eunie. And I have to say that I really didn’t expect much from him when the game first released, he seemed to be the calm aloof tactical guy whose aloofness would be used for comedy more than would be interesting. But he really surprised me, especially the scene with him recognizing the fears that Eunie has and thinking of a way he is able to help her. And thus, leading to the beautiful tea scene and one of my favorite deep bonding conversations while beautiful music plays™ that are found all over the game.

Riku and Manana’s hero quest is interesting as it takes up almost the entirety of the Urayan caverns which I have to say are just kind of sad to look at, recognizing the ruins of a once great society now crumbled to nothing, due to years of war and thousands of years without maintenance. But going back to Riku and manana I like them. They’re both “common variety Nopon” although manana is way more common variety Nopon than Riku I feel like. But yeah, I like both of them. Especially the fact that they provide a different type of humor from the main Nopon of the past few games. And I admire how in certain parts manana tries to keep spirits high despite the circumstances. But yeah, they are good. I also really like the fact that they contextualize the food bonuses and gem crafting found in this game, xc1 gems are better sue me these are just worse aux cores, and their hero quest is wholesome goodness, with minor angst about R&M being unable to fight, nothing more to add.

The section of being pursued by the forces of lambda has an amazing atmosphere and I love the effect of the smoke appearing on the floor. I mean I get why we couldn’t have something like the poisoned sections from ps4 Spiderman, but this is still pretty good for the limitations. I also really fucking love the effect of the red moebius eyes cutting through the fog. Then we get to the battle with Lambda, and I have to say hats off to mister Ian Bouillion he’s pretty good and it is amazing that he plays both the seething hatred of the mud clone and the calm gentleness of the normal Isurd. But yeah, this battle is one of the larger spectacles in the game with you actually fighting the Ferronis itself which is if I’m correct only beaten by the battle with Zu Pharg in X in regards to the scale of a fight in this series. And yeah, this entire part rocks and the culmination with the awakening of the Agnian ouroboros is amazing. Seeing Taion & Eunie lift up from the water and cloning themselves, Sena taking the lead and Lanz & Sena tipping the entire colony and the Mio & Noah dodging all those attacks. I also love the aesthetics of these ouroboros and feel like I actually prefer their general aesthetic over that of the Kevesi ouroboros, to add to this Sena & Lanz is my favorite ouroboros design.

The J reveal is one of the more impactful reveals in the game and one that some maybe saw coming from a mile away. But I was fully taken by surprise by this reveal. It is, however, a great reveal. And adds a lot of drama to the mix with Joran’s death being the catalyst for Lanz’s growth he now has to face a version of Joran completely unlike whom he remembered. And just wow Despite this being mainly Taion’s chapter, and thus mainly Olivier Huband his time to shine, Jack Bardoe absolutely kills it as Lanz iirc.

And then we get to the ending scene of the chapter Noah and Mio sending off the mud husks that were killed by J. and I feel like many moments with the weight of life playing that it is a profound moment of just wonder and sadness.

Overall whereas chapters 1 and 2 are more introductory I feel like chapter 3 really gets the ball rolling with the main conflict and themes, but that’s just an opinion. So next up is.

Chapter 4: Life

This chapter is amazing and may just be my favorite chapter in the game, yes, I know end of 5 and beginning of 6 is amazing but I feel like I prefer chapter 4’s content as a package.

However, I must interrupt the journey deeper into the Pentelas region with a minor distraction to talk about Isurd. Isurd as a character is one of the less remarkable Heroes, I think he’s cool with his tactical behavior and his skills are just amazing to use. But his class is mostly a mainstay in large parts of my playthrough, I do however feel that he’s a at some times a bit unremarkable, I do however like his grown interest / obsession with hot springs in his ascension quest.

So, we begin with the jolly walk from the falls into Maktha with the conspicuously placed Umber Drague. I don’t know why it’s there, I have no explanation for why it’s there it’s just there to give the characters a convenient excuse to experience the time limit of their interlink, as an aside if you’re really desperate for an explanation but can also enjoy some comedy I’m just going to leave this https://archiveofourown.org/works/45594703 here cause its hilarious and y’all should read it.

Afterwards we move past the falls and into my favorite (aesthetically) area of the game, the Maktha Wildwood. In order to explain why I’m going to give an example using the last of us. There are two types of people who play the last of us. Those who enjoyed the series and want to try the game, those who like / dislike the game, and then there’s me who plays it to enjoy the overgrown modern city aesthetic. And that is why I love Maktha. This beautiful fusion paradoxical of the Bionis region with the highest density of plant growth animal wildlife and overall jungle vibes, mixed together with the lifeless desolated hellscape that is Morytha. I love this place from an aesthetic point of view. However, from a level design point of view, from the perspective of this layperson who has never touched level editing software and whose opinion is therefore factually wrong, it sucks and is too confusing. I prefer the level design found in the Fornis region over this entire region. Pentelas has just a few too many bottomless pits for my taste, same for the Keves castle region and upper Aetia.

The they/them person of royalty and holy they/them agnussy themselves Juniper is fucking based. I like their character a lot and think that it is interesting how their colony lived a low sustenance lifestyle and had some sort of survival of the fittest mentality. What makes it more interesting to me is how this all apparently planned out by U, which makes me feel like U may or may not have known Juniper in their original life and that U has somehow done this more often. I do like colony Tau though. It is a pretty cool colony, the Ferronis makes me think of Nopon. But yeah, I like it. It is cool, it’s a shame though that I almost never play as Juni or their class because it is slow, and I do not understand it due to my brain being a bit too smooth and preferring arts spammy builds. (/s)

The flute scene is one of the more beautiful scenes in the game and I feel like this entire chapter has loads of introspective conversation and speeches about you know life the meaning of it the value of it. The flute exchange scene is just one of many that I feel are extremely profound.

This is followed up by the duel with Cammuravi and Ethel while the fight in itself is one of the best this game has to offer, I feel like the story revolving it is even worthier of being one of the coolest and best character driven parts of the game.  The fact that Cammuravi and ethel have this realization that they can make their own choices, that Cammuravi rips out his own eyeball in order to remain in control of his own actions. And then their shared murder suicide is just wow, it is a beautiful scene, being one of the most profound scenes in the game imo, being a beautiful scene that showcases the themes of the game pretty fucking well. And fuck dude. It’s just beautiful.

The following action scene with O&P is also pretty amazing. Mio’s sheer rage over the behavior of O&P, the following part wherein every member basically joins Mio in solidarity and the 6 of them all give O&P a piece of their thoughts and really just fucking go off on them. I love this scene. The action scene following this is also a beautifully choreographed scene where I really love the beautiful choreography. Especially that first uninterrupted scene, with the female ouroboros constantly assaulting O&P with the first notes of weight of life playing in the background is just so beautiful. The sheer power that exudes from O&P just seconds before the annihilation effect starts, and then Noah and Mio REMOVING A PIECE OF LAND USING LUCKY 7, just to get them away from the annihilation event. This revelation also sort of allows me to think a bit deeper about the nature of the ouroboros time limit. Cause I feel like this time limit can be explained simply by thinking through the effects of an annihilation event. So, like an annihilation event is simply a reaction similar to the idea of annihilation we can see in quantum mechanics. Matter and antimatter collide and vanish. So, like ouroboros and moebius grow from their core. So, I feel like their core is the fused state of the interlink. So, Noah and Mio, Eunie and Taion, Lanz and Sena, D&J etc. This core is an overlap between Agnian and Kevesi matter and sustains a construct, the sustaining of this construct takes energy, energy which would be needed to keep the core stable and an annihilation event at bay. But then it gets too much. The energy is expended, and then it gets too much. Which leads to it drawing in the fog and an annihilation event taking place. Or at least that’s how it feels like. I mean I do not know quantum mechanics, but I feel like this is a possible explanation for the time limit that I have thought way too much about.

The seeing off of Cammuravi and ethel is also beautiful which is great imo just another beautiful way of life performance.

Kevesi castle region is cool, I like the castle, too many bottomless pits, but yeah, I like it. Also, it contains my favorite hero in the game Ashera. I love her colony and her story. Hell in the one piece of fanfiction I’ve written as of today in this fandom is partially about Ashera, or at least contains her as a perspective, and I really like her character. Especially how her entire persona is a bit of a façade for the truly damaged soul that lives behind it, especially her fear of dying at her homecoming.   Which wow, I’m also going to be frank she’s the main hero I’ve used throughout the game. Cause you know I am a sucker for the big damage numbers that she brings. But yeah, Ashera is one of my favorite characters and I really like her relationship with Eunie, I am not sure if I consider them a friend or relationship, but I just really like their relationship in general whether it be romantic or platonic. Also, like said earlier, I really just like her character and the references she makes to imo the best character from XC1. I really do hope that she’s a good sister to panacea outside of Aionios.

The castle infiltration is imo pretty cool, especially the getting in, the fighting through the soldiers and then. A second encounter with DJ. I like the second DJ fight, it feels cool. And I love how Eunie tries to overcome her own trauma and fears, or more specifically how she utilizes her trauma and fear and behavior that D expects from her as a weapon to make DJ underestimate her and how she eventually manages to overtake him. I really like this fight ok. Also, Mythrakid suspect number one is just a villain I love to hate.

I love the bait and switch of the annihilator seeming to be the climax of the chapter, but then pulling the rug from underneath you and then throwing you into a battle with the Kevesi Queen, best girl of the first game MELIA motherfucking ANTIQUA. And wow, just wow. I remembered being panicked and having a feeling of holy shit we’re fighting her now. Last year when I first played the game, keeping in mind that I expected there to be 10 chapters instead of 7, but now I can recognize it as the midpoint of the game and in that sense, I love the battle. And the music the fucking music. I remembered reading around release that people compared it to the music from souls and now having played the games and defeated gale in 5 attempts, I do have to say that yeah it fits. False queens are one of the most foreboding and intense battle themes in the game.  This combined with the first in many revelations about the true nature of the cycle of life in Aionios is just wow. I love this game. But that’s it for this chapter and just like the ouroboros escaped the Castle I will now be escaping to.

Chapter 5: Eclipse

This chapter contains some of the most iconic moments that are found in this game imo. First off, we get the reveal of the city and the reactions that the party has to the “true nature of the world” or something like that. And wow the scene with the baby is just so moving it’s so cute and adorable, I love how Taion just fucking melts, and I like the comedy that comes from A Eunie’s afterward seeming obsession with babies and B knowing that Riku most likely got a bit lost in character during that scene, or he has never seen a Homs birth and Nopon births are even weirder than we can possibly imagine.

The city also can be a bit shadier I feel like than it at first seems to be. Cause I really feel like that’s important to take in mind. This is a society in which the fact of life is that procreation is expected and necessary, cause Shania’s whole deal is definitely an example of the shit that the city would likely put people through, or at least the people who live there put others through. Cause I feel like you know the city is but one place, and less populous than it was in its first incarnation. And as can be taken from the fact that everyone looks like a baseline human / homs implies that a lot of “breeding” has taken place to make everyone so homogenized. Especially because of the diversity that can be seen at the liberator base in FR.

Speaking of FR, we due to that have also the confirmation that the lady Masha, the second dlc hero, is descendent of the one and only ZEKE VON GENBU BRINGER OF CHAOS WIELDER OF THE PURPLE LIGHTNING DREAM SMASHER GRANTED TO HIM BY HIS BELOVED LIFE PARTNER AND COMPANION PANDORIA AND THEIR PET TURTERS. So yes, we can therefore sort of confirm that being a theater kid may or may not be genetically hereditary, in spite of how serious and borderline dour Linka can be, I haven’t completed every quest in FR yet shame on me indeed. But yeah, I like the gameplay and behavior of Masha she’s a very fun borderline ojousama archetype, which is one of my fav archetypes, who’s also skilled in her craft. Also, I really like using her class, and her model is just amazing just wow. Also, it hits a few of the archetypes that I like. But yeah, I enjoy her character a lot. And like said earlier I love playing her class because it can be a lot of broken fun, I mean not as broken as an l7 based flash fencer build, I used it I do not apologize. But still very fun.

Another hero I gained access to at this point was Monica, she gave me one of the final keys necessary to fully break the game. Smash as an art. Usable in chain attacks. After this I just managed to break the game.

But yeah, the Cadensia region it’s pretty cool, lots of water so yeah there’s that. We need a boat. Like stated earlier, I dislike the boat controls, but I do love the overhaul that this game has made to water based combat by actually allowing the player to fight while submerged in water. But yeah, the Cadensia region, being one of the largest single maps in the entire game is fucking enormous and imma be real I like it. It feels nicely balanced between the marshes of the great sword base and the large open Erythia sea with its many islands. Only real issue I have is that some islands are a pain to navigate, e.g., Daedal Isle. But overall Cadensia cool, also I like the upgraded ship theme, but the original ship theme is better.

I do enjoy the steps involved in getting to the Li Garte Prison Camp and I like that it is not as easy as 1 2 3 boom completed. Such as infiltrating the radar base and having to attain some more geological data.

While drifting, maybe at night and while being carried by the waves, one may encounter an island where one can see the mighty colony 15 stride across. I like the pirate theming of colony 15 it feels different from the other colonies, although this has to do with the dementia grandpa that’s T(riton). I like how this quest shows the playful and childlike nature of Moebius from the perspective of the one good consul who is so old that he has grown past his murderous and childlike glee and is now just looking for equals. And I really like how T chooses to aid Ouroboros despite them being natural enemies. I’m even more confused as to why Z allows him to still use his powers, although that’s likely explained by him making that so because it amuses him. Anyways I like t and I prefer his create your own op class mechanic over the complicated tiger tiger addiction inducing mess that is Poppi qtπ, even though I do have my own minor gripes with the skill upgrading system, more specifically the borderline ludicrous requirements to fully level every art and skill. I also, however, love the fact that Eunie has to ask permission to punch him and the fact that Noah grants it.

The other colony with an unusual moebius would be colony Mu, I do love the minor mystery revolving round the identity of the consul and where the flame clock is placed. Also, I love mu’s Ferronis design and how it harkens to Raijin, I think? But yeah, I like mu and Fiona’s class is also broken as fuck. Also, mu contains the best NPC Nico, who is the girl that I am referring to in this sentence yup that is her Nico, she’s cute. Or well one of the cuter characters in the game. Just like Fiona. I like how her entire story is revolved around both: oh god Irma’s the consul and oh god how will I deal with the fact that Irma is dead. Also, if I’ve read it right there are also some self worth issues involved? I’m going to be frank I don’t have a really good grasp on her character, I like her dynamic with Lanz however it Is very cute, just like her nicknames.

Also this is where the first side stories and ascension quests really start opening up, I think at least with the ascension quests, which I am going to cover, not going to deal with the ascension quests, because I only completed like 4 of them and I can quickly summarize my views on them I think.

Ethel: see Cammuravi.

Valdi: I remember thinking it was fun but am also somewhat confused as to why they didn’t make the completion ­of Dorin the ascension.

Zeon: Spongy spuds. That is all.

Teach: I like the reveal of his past as Oleg and it recontextualizes his speech about maelstroms of power.

Riku & Manana: Manana gets a better pot, I mainly remember it because you need to complete it for the 7 legendary Smithpon.

Gray: like how this quest shows more examples of dissent in the city, the role that gray plays in keeping the peace and his bond with his wife Rozana.

Alexandria: I like how this entire quest is about the secrets that Dame Alex has while also adding some complexity to the mix.

Ino: This quest Is just sheer Nopon hilarity, and I love the Xenoblade 2 callback, also as an aside I am highly disappointed that it wasn’t a red pollen orb. I was actively saddened by this, and this impacted my day very negatively.

Isurd: I like his quest also I feel it is interesting how the entire quest is basically Karōshi prevention. Dude needs some hot springs.

Juniper: I like how this quest deals with the manipulation of the consul of the colony. Also, I like Juniper. Hope Kite at least has the chance with them.

Ashera: Depression hidden behind a layer of suicidal aggression. One of the beset side quests for one of the best heroes imo.

Monica: That one dude is a Milf hunter, and I appreciate his dedication.

Masha: I like how this gives more insight into the somewhat more depressing lives of the lost numbers and their desire to be remembered or leave memories behind.

Fiona: This one deals with the secrets of Irma and how Fiona struggles to reconcile with them I like it.

Triton: dementia grandpa has dementia, it is not funny, it actually is kind of funny, but also just somewhat sad. However also “…Just one.”

Ghondor: this one’s ok, not much to it. I do like the Tirkins, I actually really like how this game tries to humanize the Tirkins way more.

Miyabi: cooking. It is fun. Nothing to add really. Oh yeah finding the ingredients is a pain if I remembered it correctly.

Cammuravi: this is not a quest, this is 4-5 cutscenes stitched together.

Segiri: I don’t remember too much from this one, but I am sad that you have to kill her sister.

But leaving those behind we get to the first side stories.

Eunie is an interesting inspection of the system of colony ranks and gives more insight into how much the system is rigged to kill the soldiers in Aionios and allow the Moebius to harvest their life. I also like how the game uses this quest to follow up on Eunie finding her own husk on the ruins of that battlefield, and also explains as to why that happened. But yeah, this one’s cool and I also like that it gives a part of the spotlight to Brolearis.  What I don’t get however is why the spark is this required to fight X in origin. Like seriously why? That does not make any goddamn sense. Monolithsoft, I love the games that you develop but its choices like this which keep me up at night.

Lanz his side story is also excellent in that it allows him to deal with the demons of his past while also foreshadowing the clock fuckery that Y commits later I the game. I also feel like it is an excellent showcase of his character growth up until this point, with him realizing that there’s more to life than just fighting.

The Li Garte Prison Camp section and Ghondor. I do like this section and feel that it is interesting in how it uses frustrating and repetitive quests to keep the player in a constant state of numbness and boredom in order to simulate the experience of being imprisoned there. As for Ghondor I wonder could you call the quests surrounding the camp her hero quest by technicality because you get her after completing the quests. Idfk. But back to the topic I do like Ghondor. Yes, she’s a foul mouthed midget who could punch my lights out for saying that, but I do like her softer moments such as the fondness she has for her mother’s cooking and her friendship with sena and the way in which she forgives Shania. Yeah, she’s a little bastard, but I feel that her heart’s in the right place. Her class is ok, I don’t mind playing it, but I don’t agree with the talent art, due to me preferring spammy builds. 

When it comes to the escape portion of the chapter, I do not think that I have words enough to describe just how perfect this entire piece is. The constant tension regarding M & N the mystery they present, the beautifully executed foreshadowing, the beautiful and amazing M remixes of the moebius themes, the beautiful choreography in one of the most impressive long takes I’ve seen in a game, and the sheer despair of the prison. The fact that the vocal song is used to display the sheer hopelessness of the situation and how almost everything Mio says takes on a double meaning when you realize that it is M speaking. The excruciatingly tearjerkingly beautiful tones of a life sent on blaring as M is coming home and the amazing voice acting from Harry McEntire. I cannot put into words just the sheer excellence of this sequence which once again brought tears to my eyes and left me distraught in ways I seldom experience. I have no funny jokes or quips here, just hats off to the sheer excellence of this section.

Chapter 6: Choices

I’ve also got nothing but praise for the beginning part of this chapter. The reveal of n’s past the fact that he destroyed the city to revive Mio, Future Redeemed makes it more complicated but sticking to the main game here, the turning of the tables, n’s breakdown, the battle against N, the unsheathing of lucky 7 leading to even more brokenness, the battle against the Agnian queen, the bait and switch with he city, Shania’s suicide, hopes rest the destruction of hope’s rest. Just wow I have so much good things to say about this part that I feel like I can’t even put it into words, so I’ll leave it to holy fuck this is impressive.

Captocorn peaks are ok in comparison to the peak of the other snow areas, Valak, Tantal, the black mountains Captocorn is ok, not excellent but ok. What I do like however is the hero quests that are found in this region. So, let’s talk about them.

First off let’s get going with Mio’s side story / the Miyabi fun hour. This infodumps the information that we could glance from the first Kevesi and Agnian ouroboros fusions, A Miyabi was once Mio’s friend, B Miyabi is dead. I also like the presence of Y in this quest and how the thing that beats him is the flutes. BECAUSE FLUTES RULE BABY, in this case at least. A thing that however confuses me is the fact that only at this point do they introduce the burst mechanic through a tutorial which is weird seeing as the player could have used burst way earlier in the game if they got Teach. But anyway, that’s besides the point, I also however like that this is another point I can add to the reincarnation cycle is imperfect agenda.

Cammuravi’s hero quest is somewhat interesting in how it is somewhat about the revival of Cammuravi and showcases the consequences of his resurrection. Also, him remembering Ethel, having his left eye damaged and still hurting from the self inflicted harm. Also, I really like his mantra and how he calms himself using it. Also, his fear of heights is extremely relatable.

But with those done I can now deal with the most complicated to access hero quest in the game which is of course Segiri’s inhumanity.  While I do have to say that I love the fact that it is payoff from something that happened most likely 25 hours ago. But I do feel like however that the fact that it is so confusing to access is annoying, and dislike how it is so easy to miss this quest. Because of that This is the only, non postgame exclusive, hero quest I did in the postgame the first time around.

The entire Cloudkeep section is pretty good. I got emotional when drifting soul started playing, I was surprised by the fact that they actually had the balls to kill Nia so soon after she was reintroduced, I liked the final brawl with DJ, the first time we get to fight D and J separated, the conclusion to Joran’s tale and Lanz’s arc, the reveal / reminder that Nia’s a Flesh Eater blade and therefore unkillable except if her core’s damaged. While I do agree that the later parts of Xenoblade 3 are weaker than the earlier ones I still feel that this is as good as the earlier parts.

Chapter 7: Time Moves Again

The same can be said for chapter 7, except when it comes to the fetch quest, I fully agree that almost every part of the fetch quest is just not that great. Except, for the final part. Noah’s side story is an interesting look into Noah and Crys. What makes this side story so interesting is at least to me very interesting in how it approaches the fact that Crys became a moebius. What I find the most fascinating however is his disconnect from Moebius as a whole. Whereas most did it to venge on those who harmed them or to simply enjoy their new lease on life to the fullest, Crys choose to reincarnate because he wanted to meet Noah once again. And I love how in a sense Crys is just testing Noah to see if he’s right in his points. Or at least to hear his song once more. And I feel that that is interesting, especially with the implications that he’s so miserable in the cycle that he chooses to commit suicide either through self harm or by cop. Which is just wow. This is pretty interesting stuff.

And now the other side stories which I completed around this point of time. Taion’s side story is pretty good in how it follows up to the earlier mentions of Isurd wanting Taion to bury the watch of Nimue there. I also like how this shows how like colony Tau there can be nontraditional colonies even though this one’s only nontraditional due to the defunct flame clock. I also like how he uses his tactics to beat the moebius and I think that his choice not to reveal Nimue that he knew her at this point. Overall, a great side story.

And now we get to side story Sena Ghondor, sorry that was not a funny joke. But yeah, Sena’s side story is one of the shorter ones and one of the darkest I feel like in how it fully deals with the character of Shania her becoming S and the trauma that led to her becoming S. I think that Shania’s character truly is intriguing. Especially in how the emotional abuse committed by her mother leads to her breaking down and eventually betraying the city. I think that Shania truly is a fascinating character and I’m sad for her that she never really had anything that gave her even the remote possibility of a good upbringing, with a mother who’s like the nightmare tiger mom, Ghondor not having the best tact in trying to encourage her, and the fact that she gets brought back as a Moebius. This last part is truly depressing to me. The fact that Shania who joined the side of Moebius in order to have a chance to enter the eternal now as a soldier, to be able to have multiple shots at life, to be free from the shackles of expectation, becomes a creature imprisoned by even stricter constraints than her old life. I lowkey feel like her choice to assault the city was not one made to appease her new master Z, but one made because she knew that it would fail. What I’m implying here is then is that like multiple other characters in the story I feel like this is Shania attempting suicide by cop. And she succeeds. It also adds another point to my “the city is actually not such a great place” agenda which I will discuss later. Ultimately every single one of the side stories is interesting and fun in how it further explores the messed-up corners of the hellscape that calls itself Aionios.

The assault on Origin feels like, at least to me, a way better worked out version of what the assault on the life hold could have been, except in this case it is to destroy a place instead of defending it. But yeah, Origin is in a sense an even more over the top version of the Lifehold core. The aesthetic of the area the length, making it feel like a true journey to reach the core, and THE MUSIC. All combine to make origin at least to me the best final dungeon in this entire series. I will not elaborate on this further because I feel like I’ve already made my point as to why I feel this way.

The showdown with N in the prison of eternity is amazing. The removal of his Moebius title, the fact that one of the most beautiful battle themes is playing during this fight, the sheer beauty of Harry McEntire’s voice acting here and just wow. I fucking love this fight so much. The sheer beauty of it is just amazing. Really a shame that the chain attack theme interrupts it. Really wish we would’ve gotten that toggle, oh well.

The battles with X and Y are just there, I find it weird how you can just walk away from their dissolving corpses. They should’ve at least had a cutscene commemorating their defeat and death, or were they too inconsequential to receive one despite this being their final outing? I do not get it, these are the choices that befuddle me Monolith soft.

And now at the end I’m going to give some of my thoughts on Z and moebius. Maybe a hot take but Z is a great antagonist and the fact that they lack any depth and are uninteresting and shallow with their motivation and how they interact feels at least to me like a stroke of genius. Because they are not human, they do not have any motivations, they are just a blob of emotion, and what destroys them is not killing them but rather two moebius, two of his victims, creatures that are made as the fear of the unknown future manifest, choose to accept the unknown future and the unpredictability that it brings. And to be frank I love this. And just moebius in general what others may see as complaints I feel like are choices that have been made intentionally to showcase the sole facts of their existence. They are cruel, they only want to have fun, and they enjoy the fleeting pleasure of pursuing their ephemeral fun.  Not planning for what comes ahead, just eternally living in the moment, unsustainably pursuing the pleasure of ending lives and the joy that comes with snuffing out flames. And that makes them, at least to me, just terrifying, at least when you think about it a bit. They are a group of man children who have been given near omnipotent powers by their demiurge leader, and all they do with it is torture and play with those they once may have considered as friends. Or to put it shortly “Absolute power corrupts Absolutely.” Also, as an aside I think that thematically they are a better demiurge than Zanza, might elaborate on this later down the line if I ever feel like it.

And now we get to the final battle. And in my opinion one of the most spectacular final bosses that this entire series has seen up until now. While yes alpha has an amazing fight, Lao Chimera is a brilliant horrifying design, Zanza, is iconic and the final duel with Malos at the end of Torna is just amazing with how it recontextualizes the chain attack mechanic. I do have to say that I prefer the showdown with Z. Their entire presence in the game Is just exquisite and amazing and I love how they don’t go down like a chump. Their fight is comparable to the final boss of p3 and like that boss I love it for how long it is. Because it makes achieving victory feel like a true test of both your skills and endurance while it also makes the fight more memorable. I love that when they are beaten in the first phase, they just become this abstract face and mess of emotions because that is cool and an interesting way to showcase their personification of fear, how they change their face to reflect facets of the protagonists, I love this fight. I, however, do agree that it is complete bullshit and that it is annoying that they can just one-shot you at certain times. Due to time constraints related to me writing this piece I eventually just used the bonus Exp I had accrued to boost myself by 10 levels and just gank them just to get done on time. It wasn’t that easy, but it still really alleviated the stress of the fight.

But that was Z the Omega to Alpha’s, uhm well Alpha. The end to this trilogy. And wow. I’m going to be frank here when I rewatched this entire ending section for the first time in a year just a few days ago I was just shocked at rewatching this beautiful piece. I love how Noah throws away lucky 7 figuratively declaring his intentions to never fight again, I love the reveal of that one picture, I cried when I saw Poppi emerge from the ether furnace, I feel like that was an ether furnace, and the beauty of where we belong. Which like many other things in this game is I feel like the best version in the entire series, in this case being the ending credits songs. Its just so hauntingly sad while also being so fucking heartwarming so filled with hope and so filled with sadness. I don’t have any words to fully describe the beauty of this ending. I just love it. God, I love this game.

And then the post credits scene comes along. Which is a great return to, and continuation of, the first cutscene and then the first hint that all will be alright. Which FR will eventually confirm. But that is not something we will discuss today. However now we will continue to.

Chapter EX: assorted thoughts.

As I’ve hopefully already made clear in this piece, I really fucking love this game. I have a few issues, but I still feel like it is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had while playing a game. I do also have a final headcanon and some small insights to make which I here now wish to share.

First off you may have noticed that I have avoided saying certain things relating to Z namely I feel like Z has no gender, which is due to a certain hypothesis I have let me explain. First off X Y and Z feel like mirrors to the trinity processor units. The idea here is that because Z was the first, they based themselves on data they could find and what was the architecture of origin based around: The Ontos core. Ontos was meant as the balance between Pneuma and Logos, therefore Ontos has no gender, thus I feel like if Z did indeed base themselves on Ontos that they would also not have any possible gender. Then in that same sense X and Y could be based on the idea that Ontos was meant as a mediator between Pneuma and Logos and thus they created X and Y two moebius that while not acting as the balance to, do feel like polar opposites, one seeming to be a young girl who enjoys fighting, the other being an older man who talks in almost Miltonian cadence and style. There’s also what the TV tropes page puts on their page which could, at least in my opinion, strengthen these parallels between the trinity processor and the true moebius, which I will quote here.

“Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The original three Moebius, being born from Origin itself, share similarities to the three Cores forming the Trinity Processor that powers the Conduit:

X is one to Pneuma, a.k.a. Mythra. The two of them have the personalities of Bratty Teenage Daughters, serve as a foil towards whoever they're working alongside, be it Rex or Shania, and of their trios, the two perform the most direct work in the frontlines, whereas the rest of their trio take more of a backseat.

Y is one to Logos, a.k.a. Malos. Both are incredibly hammy villains, rely on technology to get their jobs done for them, and cause the most direct damage to their respective worlds of Alrest and Aionios, especially when compared to the people they directly work for.

Z is one to Ontos, a.k.a. Alvis. Although Z isn't actually a god like Alvis is, they were both the central Cores of the devices that created them, have absolute control over their worlds without anyone but their closest subordinates realizing it, and often get people to work for them simply by having conversations with them.”

And now for some overall points about the game.

This game has some of the best combat in the series, only being surpassed by Future Redeemed which is also amazing but I also feel like simplifies the combat too much, I do prefer the bond points system to the soul points or level based unlocks of the main game.

This game’s Ost is just amazing. I have many songs I really enjoy but I feel like every song with the moebius leitmotif, not counting the moebius battle themes because those are on another level entirely, almost automatically becomes one of my favorites due to how creatively and just great each variation is. If I had to rank my 5* (*way more than 5) favorite songs they would prolly be 1: moebius battle (all variations) 2: all songs containing the Moebius leitmotif, 3: carrying the weight of life, 4: the false queens, and 5: Kevesi battle.

The eclipse homecoming is one of the most well executed scenes of pure fucking despair I’ve ever seen in a game.

The art style and world are just amazing, and it truly feels large, in a sense even larger than X at least to me, that game feels kind of small after obtaining a Skell.

The challenge mode is ok and while I haven’t played too much of the gauntlet mode, I do feel like it could be pretty fun.

Also, as a final aside I like the detail of filth and grime buildup on clothes which can both be erased through washing your clothes and through swimming in water, but I also like that certain regions have higher buildup of dust and resin and such. This is way too detailed for a game like this and I love it, I mean by this that this is an amount of detail that you normally don’t see in JRPGs.

And I feel like that’s all there is to say about Xenoblade 3, within the constraints of having written this in 3 days due to my own issues with managing my time and having to compromise on my original vision in which I would have attempted a 100% playthrough. But yeah, I hope that if you did read this entire almost 12000 words long piece you at least enjoyed it. This is the first time I’ve actually written such a piece, and also the longest piece I’ve ever written, and the first time I’m posting something on this platform. But I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this. Also, if I’m allowed a minor bit of shameless self promotion, I’ve also uploaded a fanfic today to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the game which you can find here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48958873. You don’t have to read it, but you could. Anyways thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

[marley-manson]

💌 💞 💫 for the fic ask!

Thank you <333

💞what’s the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

Definitely characters. I write because I want to explore things about my faves and spend some time in their heads. Plotting feels like a necessary evil lol, because I'm not into writing abstract character studies, I want the characters to do stuff. But god it's easily the worst part for me. Figurative language is up there too though, it's fun to come up with a good metaphorical description. I also want to add theme because I can't write without it, if I have no thematic statement I have no idea what I'm writing towards.

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

Your comments are definitely some of my favourites frankly lmao 💖 But generally I love to hear what people get out of my stories, intellectually and/or emotionally. Like what they enjoyed about it, how it made them feel, what choices made them go 'yesss,' etc.

And I know these are writing asks but I also want to add for vids specifically: I loooove when people point out specific editing choices/techniques they liked. Like I had one youtube comment on a Berserk vid point out a series of blood drops I timed to a drum rhythm by cutting out a few frames here and there and I was just like 🥺thank you so much for noticing🥺

Of course I love and greatly appreciate any and all positive feedback always, but yeah if I'm getting specific then these types of comments make me really flail.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

lol this one was hard to answer bc I'm kind of in a slump right now in terms of my wips. But I'm at 50 pages (!!!!) and getting close to the end of Army Style which is def exciting, and I thiiink I've come up with the climax and essential thematic point of the story, if I can pull it off. Basically focusing on Potter as the good cop to the rest of the army's bad cop, and how that's what clinches Hawkeye's negative character shift, even moreso than the threats.

Here have an excerpt:

Sherm watched him go, hoping this wasn't gonna be the last he'd see of the life of the not-quite party that was the four oh double seven.

"Well," he said, "you have your assignments. It's time for me to make some phone calls." He slapped his knees perfunctorily and stood up. The other two followed suit and they went their separate ways.

He started with Sidney. A signed statement from him could take a day or two to reach Seoul, so the sooner he sent it the better - would've been best three days earlier when he’d asked if it might be necessary, but he supposed he couldn't blame Hawkeye for not wanting to admit that his name could be out there, considering what he was going through now. As much as he considered Hawkeye a friend, he was still his commander first and foremost, and that was the way it ought to be.

Once Radar got through he picked up the phone at his desk. 

“Always a pleasure, Sherm,” said the voice on the other end, “assuming you’re calling to schedule the next poker night.”

“‘Fraid not, Sidney. I need your professional advice. Our favorite captain’s gotten himself into trouble.”

“When’s it due?” 

He rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily. Lord save him from comedians. “Very funny,” he said, in a tone that he hoped conveyed exactly how much he was laughing. 

“All right, what’s the trouble?” Sidney conceded.

“Hawkeye’s just been hauled off to Seoul H.Q. to be investigated for degeneracy.”

“Ah,” came Sidney’s less-than-fruitful response. 

He filled him in on the details. “So what do you think? I was hoping you’d be willing to sign a statement on his behalf, but is there anything you can do besides?”

“Oh sure, I’ll write a letter.” The words came slow and steady, like Sidney was considering everything he said carefully. “I know a few of my colleagues down there so I can make a call too. Not sure how much good it’ll do if someone named him.”

“Near as I can tell it was a name once-removed, if that’s any help. A… friend of a friend of Hawkeye’s put his name on a list. Hawk’s swearing up and down that the kid was just handing over any name he’d ever heard the guy mention.”

“Do you believe him?” 

“I don’t think that matters, now, does it?” 

“If you say it doesn’t, then it doesn’t.” A sigh crackled across the line. “You know, if this was the old days, I’d just fly down there myself and do the paperwork to clear him. Now that could cost me my job.”

Sherm scowled into the middle distance. Maybe he shouldn’t blame Hawkeye; maybe his optimism had just been a decade out of date. He’d known the higher ups were stepping up the blues the last few years, but that was usually how it went in peacetime. He’d figured they’d cut it out while the war was on. But if even Sidney thought he might lose Hawkeye for good… “Is it really that bad?” he asked.

“It’s not good. But in Hawkeye’s case it’s hard to say. If he was a private it’d be over already, but a surgeon… especially one with his record - he’s got a good chance. It really just depends on who’s making the decision. But I’ll make a call or two and see what I can do to help from here. And I’ll send that statement tonight.” 

“Thanks, Sid. I owe you one.” 

“I’ll collect it in chips next time I come by the Swamp.” 

Sidney hung up, and Sherm kept the receiver up to his ear. Sure enough, there was still faint breathing on the other end. “Radar, get me General Imbrie,” he said, relishing the surprised yelp. It was time to start making a fuss until he got his chief surgeon back.

[linzeestylish]

💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

Oh, thank you anon! 💕

[fanfic] In The Length of a Breath - Steve/Bucky, 616!Universe, Space!Mpreg. This is hands-down my favorite thing I've ever written. It's not about the mpreg; it was never about the mpreg. It's a character study, taking advantage of the absolute absurdity of 616 in general and the Bucky Barnes: Winter Soldier landscape in particular, to put Bucky in a situation where he's forced to confront his relationship with Steve Rogers as it stood in 616 circa that period. I've since gotten a number of comments about how this fic feels unfinished, and--fair. I still fully intend on going back and writing a sequel/coda at some point. But to me, at least, its ending makes perfect sense. The mpreg was never the point. It was always about Bucky and his relationships (or lack thereof).

[fanvid] Gimme More - A Hydra Trash (Dance) Party. I won't lie, when I premiered this video at Fanworks, I had a few people tell me that they didn't get it -- and honestly, that is fine, because it has a very specific audience. Gimme More is and remains a love letter: to the Winter Soldier, to the Hydra Trash Party, to all of the things in between. This is an earnest character study of the Winter Soldier set to Britney Spears, and that will pretty much determine early on if that is something you want in your life or not. It remains my favorite of my fanvids, though. Not just for the editing or the pacing, although I'm still proud of that, but for the narrative. It works, exactly like I wanted it to work. I very rarely watch my videos in retrospect without seeing something I want to change, but this one? I love it. I adore it. I wouldn't change a thing.

[fanfic] Run For The Fences - Natasha & Steve, Steve/Bucky. I have edited and revised this fic so much that I literally cannot do it anymore, but honestly, I adore this fic. I'm proud of Natasha's POV; I'm proud of the tenderness of her relationship with Steve. I'm proud of the glimpses we get of Steve and Bucky's relationship and what it looks like once they get to feel safe, more or less, for them. I'm proud of the way the fic is written overall. I wrote this fic because it was how I wanted Steve and Bucky's story to end, and honestly, that has only gotten more true as the MCU has developed (and particularly after Steve's absolutely atrocious End Game finale).

[fanvid] NLYTM (Not Like You Told Me) - Castiel, Dean/Castiel. I'll be honest, it was between this and another Destiel vid, but the theme of this meme seems to accidentally be "creative projects that I love because nobody else does," and this vid fits the descriptor better. This vid was an Id project: I rarely vid Rob Thomas because I know I am too in my feelings to be objective, but honestly, when it comes to Castiel -- it works. He deserved more. He deserved better. And I was able to articulate that without becoming bitter, which I think was a difficult thing to do. I also really like the atmosphere of this vid. I think SPN can be a challenge to vid because there is so much material, and this vid has a very strong emotion to it, which I am and remain proud of.

Thank you again for asking, nonny - this was a fun little project!

[xplrvibes]

my opinion that nobody but me asked for:

i gotta say that so far hell week has been so bellow mid for me it’s not even funny. their editing also feels like it’s back to s1 with so many filler images it’s unnecessary and add absolutely zero value to the video itself. nothing about that hype lived up and i didn’t think it would (because frankly they always say it’s their best content, they’re “upping the game”, it’s the “most haunted place”, it’s a broken record at this point, we get it) but i definitely thought it would’ve been better than it has been so far.

the hill i will die on by myself, though, is: they joke way too fucking much and every single time they do it, they never get satisfying enough results. like it’s not the first time it’s happened and if you notice, it always happen when they’re being too loud or joking around too much/too often. when they take it seriously, when they get their heads in the game, they always get better results. every single time. i will absolutely die on that hill - spirits are not something to make jokes out of and if that’s your way to cope with being nervous then either find another one or go STUDY spiritual world/spirituality in depth to understand it better and lose the fear or cope with it better. the sooner they realize we’re all spirits and only have a body while we’re under the human condition, the sooner they understand fully that spirits have their own personality, their own trauma and wants and they don’t need permission to go from one place or another or to approach and communicate, the better they will become at this ghost hunting thing bc for me they’ve been falling flat for a while now tbh.

I feel like they go heavy on the filler images and jumpscares when they know they don't have a lot of actual paranormal content to put in the episode, partially to pad the timing of the vid, but also to try and create a more spooky environment to make up for the lack of paranormal activity.

Which is fine, but like- I don't know. Maybe pull it back a tiny bit.

Sidenote: xplrclub tidbit for you all (I don't normally do this, because I hate when people announce things that were said behind the xplrclub paywall, but I'm feeling generous and this is rather harmless) snc hired an illustrator to draw ages for their videos. So those creepy illustrations they've had in every video so far? Custom made for them. Kinda cool, I think.

And I agree with you on the joking. I don't mind some tomfoolery and jokes here and there, but there are times when it is too much and they just gotta chill and be in the moment. The Mrytles episode was much heavier on the joking than I can personally deal with, which may also be why I didn't exactly love it.

I think they still operate under the old school Vine/YouTube mentality of "the loud and the haha's = the views," which I guess has been working for them so far...but if they ever want to be taken even remotely seriously outside of that niche, they gotta scale it back a bit. They gotta find a happy medium (pun not intended) between what they traditionally know and what they want to be known for.

I randomly came across a video last week by a youtuber named Danny Gonzalez. He decided to try ghost hunting to see if it's real or fake. The first freaking clip he put in his video? snc freaking out over something, lol.

Yea, they're probably the most well known ghost hunting youtubers out there right now, but at what cost?

Anywhosie! Complete sidenote here but since we're kind of on the topic: I also think they would get more results if they (namely Sam, although Colby has his moments) stopped hammering in 8000 questions per second during the Estes Method and just chilled the fuck out a bit, let the answers come in, and try to figure out the conversation later. If I were a ghost trying to figure out their stupid modern technology and some fool was peppering me with questions and "OH MAH GAAAWWWDS!" every 30 seconds, I'd use my ghostly energy to chuck something out their heads lol.

[piochevide]

post-montages and assessments

I am now a solid year into setting "post-montage feeds" projects. i.e. curating creative timelines of web-posts, with the purposes of : a) collecting posts of interests b) building a cohesive whole from these base elements, c) having this cohesion make the posts resonate together

And, so , I thought I should jolt-down, here, fair assessments about these creative endeavours and practice. (under a cut because it will be -quite- long)

For starter, I have redacted a forum post about the subject of web-feeds, in general, in a fandom context, and about considering post-montage and intertext in particular : https://goldensunrise.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=4319

So, yes, in short, this forum post/thread is from a POV of : "The golden sun fandom". as, actually, I ended up considering these curations/montage, due to GS communities diffusing into numerous social-media, and thus making engaging with the (GS) fandom, now, less about finding a home-community one likes, and more about having to sample and search around, for dispatched pieces of fan-content, with many communities being now more about "like minded people that happen to love Golden Sun" than about the formerly dual/reversed "collective that love Golden Sun with some affinity of heart".

... Again, to experience what I mean by post-montage, firsthand, you may have a browse at my main "keffect" tumblr blog.

And, indeed, I decided to try that because both : I had to register an account, in order to properly search and browse fan-content, around this social-site way of working, in this fandom ecosystem.

And, then, as I had to keep it active, I should as well... creatively push the envelope of what one can do, around here.

This, combined with me, wishing to archive and share, the core of fandom content I had gathered along the years, really could only result in this : Creatively curate a synthesis breadth of old and new content, putting the creative contribution into an aspect of the system, that is little to not tracked or "metric-ed" : the feeds and timelines.

The "vibes", the "funny juxtapositions of posts"... And all manner of similar seldom tracked actual intertext content.

---

In the end : It is fun to do such creative blogging/curating, really fun.

I even also started doing a similar thing on x-dot-com, i.e. the former twitter/"birdsite" (at "heggnox") -timeline archives of this birdsite!heggnox project should have their own dedicated blog posts at key times-

Anyway : I feel like the main caveat of doing post montages is that the algorithms and way for people to discover blogs, do not factor-in the collection and composition aspects of blogs, mostly revolving around the isolated posts, thus making original posts the main way to get found.

I am somewhat fine with doing my little post-composing game, like that, on my own, for my own fun of browsing it back, and enjoying it again and again. I mean, I am quite familiar with doing such, as I already do it, offline, for fan-vids/"amvs" I edit for myself. (Because, you know, the hustles of having to handle legal and copyrights, if one uploads any fanvid on any platform, as of today...)

Still, if you like the concept of post-montage, keep it in mind, sometime when you are about to share any handful of posts : Think a tad about how the posts fit together best, how they connect to what you have posted previously, maybe it also reminds you of something ?

In short : Sometime, take a step back, and revel in the collective of posts, as much as you usually consciously enjoy the isolated posts. After all, one actually absorbs these feeds, already, just don't focus much on them... So, why not mind them at time, and play with them as we do ?

[transfennecbuddy]

HI HI HI HELLO I have a THING! That I want to show y'all! HEHEHEHEHEHE I have another rant!! I shall hide it behind the read more thing but yeah!!! Hehe rant!!

(Also! Legal disclaimer! [Not really but same vibe.] This rant is about a super fancy snazzy spiffy science thing [CRISPR] but I'm not a science professional! I'm just doing a school project on this! This is what I got from YouTube videos and websites and such, yeah? If I get things wrong, that's why!)

Hi hi hi so you came to see my rant huh? Huh huh huh? Well I shall show you hehehe!

Have you heard of a thing called CRISPR? I'm gonna assume that you haven't so that I can explain!! It's a gene editing tool that uses a protein called Cas9, which is commonly found in bacteria! You see, bacteria have been using this fancy thing all along for ages! Like whenever bacteria get attacked by a virus (which happens a lot) and that virus is new to it, it doesn't really have a fancy defense mechanism to protect itself. But if it survives the attack, then it takes a bit of the virus's DNA and saves it in a section of its own DNA using Cas9. And then if it gets attacked by that virus again, it'll check the virus's DNA against the samples it has in storage, recognize the DNA, and make pieces of RNA to attack the virus right at its DNA!

Cool, huh? Well scientists found about this lil whizzy thing called Cas9 a while ago and were pretty excited, for good reason. With CRISPR, we can not only edit the DNA of creatures that haven't been born yet but also creatures that are very well and living which can pave the way to treatments for genetic diseases!! Plus it's much cheaper than it cost to do genetic stuff the old way!!! (As in, some folks are trying to get laypeople to try out CRISPR on themselves, and their main struggle is with convincing people to do it cause the cost isn't that big of a factor!) We already have GMOs like the Flavr Savr tomato (which takes longer to rot on store shelves thanks to being genetically modified). If CRISPR is safe (which folks are still trying to work on since there's still so much about genetics that scientists don't know and messing with folks' genomes can lead to unintended consequences [also fun fact: the word consequences is used colloquially to mean a bad effect of something, but in stuff like psychology, it just means an effect of something!!]), then it can be super awesome!

I learned about this lil thing back in... I think 2018? I watched a Kurzgesagt video on it a few years ago at least, and I rediscovered the vid during the pandemic while everyone and everything was shut down and there wasn't much to do during the summer other than sit on the couch and watch TV. And like, I LOVED that video when I first watched it?? I watched it multiple times and I even forced (read: persuaded/begged) my parents to watch it too. And I still love hearing about CRISPR and genetic engineering and genetics in general now because of that (and it's impressed at least two important people in my life so I consider it a success!). Like when we touched briefly on CRISPR in my biology class last year, I was SUPER excited in the back of the classroom because it was CRISPR!! One of my childhood interests that has significantly influenced my life!!

So when we had to do a project on new science in my physics class this year (for... reasons), I immediately looked up new stuff going on with CRISPR within the last couple years. AND TURNS OUT! FOLKS HAVE MADE A CRISPR 3.0 NOW! Like I didn't even get to hear about CRISPR 2.0, it was just straight to CRISPR 3.0!! And hopefully CRISPR 3.0 is safer, more effective, and easier to use than the original version of CRISPR.

ALSO! CRISPR IS BEING TRIED OUT TO HELP FAMILIAL HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA(high cholesterol risk passed down genetically)!! THAT'S SO COOL!!! AND IT'S BEING TESTED ON PEOPLE NOW! I will literally SCREAM this is so cool!!

So yes! I'm having a fun time, hehe. And I'm writing this instead of actually working on my project, but that's cause it's helping me put together my thoughts! Totally not because I'm just too excited to work on it without being able to gush to someone about it (/sarcasm), lol.

[lyraeon]

how did you end up making captions, for hc recap and/or in general? it's something i've wanted to do for a while but am not entirely sure how or where to start

Honestly, I just use YouTube's built in subtitle editor. It doesn't have a *ton* of functionality but it's fairly intuitive (shift+space to start/stop, shit+arrows to go back and forward by 5 seconds) and fast.

I start with the "edit as text" function and transcribe it there, then do a second pass where I break up lines that have obvious pauses (like if the last three words of a sentence are said after a pause for emphasis).

Then I wait for like 20 minutes for YouTube to auto-sync the captions, which it does an ok job of but not perfect. I usually have to spend another ~2x the vid length tweaking the timings on them but it's still faster than trying to break it up myself.

There's software out there that lets you do more advanced things like adding colors, but I'm still learning those. I did some captioning for a college video course back in like 2010 (temp agencies hand you the wildest jobs) so I've used official like, for TV closed captioning software before, and it's pretty straightforward except that it usually does the words as they appear instead of line by line. Any of those can be used and just uploaded right to youtube.

I'd suggest picking a short video of a couple minutes, maybe a twitch clip or something, as a practice to try out the software.

....

I just realized you probably meant "how did I wind up doing it" not literally how do I do it, whoops.

I'd had the prior experience doing it that I described above and I was looking for some freelance work to help pad the whole "leap of faith'd into being a full time creator so I didn't have to go back to work during the pandemic" thing; mostly I was doing copyediting but I did a little transcribing too. Zloy already had me checking each Recap ep for errors before it went out just cuz we're friends, and I was helping out with tags/descriptions for him and a couple others, so he decided that just officially hiring me to do the captions would be a win-win for us since he'd get captions and a dedicated paperwork person for the channel and I'd get my bills paid.

In general it's a job I enjoy cuz I'm a fast typer anyway and I'm the kind of person who really can only listen to one thing at a time, so I can't multitask during videos anyway. Ironically I don't do it much for my own vids cuz I get tired of trying to caption my friends, since it feels like it takes some fun out of it listening to the same line 30 times, even though I consider that exact sort of thing fun for the Recap and others' videos. (I think I just don't process my friends' words as words anymore, I'm so used to them talking that it gets auto-processed by my brain.)

Oh also I used to be like, hyper-particular about spelling and grammar, and helped grade papers in college and such as a result, so the accuracy necessary to make sure stuff's legible for ESL peeps and for the language to auto-translate where possible is pretty natural to me too. Obviously I'm not as much of a stickler in my everyday speech anymore, but as a writer it's still all very instinctive?

tldr I LIKE TYPING but I can't do it fast enough to be a court reporter so fuck it, write down the words that the minecraft people say so that all may enjoy the puns.