#Also I liked the variety of musical styles this had it kept things interesting

[cerulean100-blog1]

GUESS WHO FINALLY GOT TO WATCH THE WIND BREAKER STAGE PLAY???????

Big thank you to Lauren from the Furins Rooftop Bar server for streaming it!! I really wanted to watch it and I’m so happy! (Spoilers under the cut!)

-I really liked how dynamic the stage was? I seemed really big so they were able to have multiple sets up and it kept things fun. Also liked how the platform on the stage kept changing during the Shishitoren fights.

-I hate that my first thought upon seeing Sakura get lifted up in the intro was Defying Gravity lmao

-Nirei sliding past Sakura to immediately jump into his solo was great, he knew he was in a musical and wasted no time lol

-she didn’t get a lot of stage time but Kotohas actress was really good! She had great energy and a nice singing voice, she’s also very cute.

-the tonal whiplash going from Togames introduction to Umes veggie song was insane lol (his singing voice was really good too!)

-I didn’t expect Sakuras voice to be that deep damn

-Togames actor was so good!! He was really good at playing him as threatening and scary (that crawl he did towards Sawatari??) but he also made a lot of good character choices that made his Togame his own. (Like how he was visibly kind of out of it watching the fights, or how was more emotional (to the point it sounded like he was about to cry?) during some scenes with Choji.) also he’s really hot don’t @ me lol

-Chojis actor was also really good!! He played him with the right level of high crazy energy but also knew when to tone it back down when the scene called for it. He was also just so cute!! -TOGATOMI HAND KISS that is all

-Suos actor???? 10/10 no notes, so good! He was so funny and upbeat most of the time, but he also got really threatening when he wanted to be?? Like the small change in tone when he was first talking to Kanuma was so brief but so good, and then the fight??? That felt way more humiliating than it did in the manga or anime holy crap. I NEED to see Ando play Suo in the KEEL arc so bad.

-sadly couldn’t understand the lyrics but the songs were really fun! Some of my favorites were the intro song, Suos songs, Chojis songs, Togames solo and the fight song that got reprised a few times.

-a little sad the rooftop scene got cut, it makes sense for time but I would have loved to have seen how they did the Umemiya and Sakura moment as well as the “you gotta be cool!” moment

-it was a great time! I can’t imagine how much practice it took to get all of that perfected but it really payed off. Big congrats to the cast and crew and I hope we get another stage play in the future! (Maybe we’ll see an announcement after season 2 of the anime airs?)

[honey-flustered]

Made With Love (Fluff)

Eddie Munson x Crocheter!Soft!GF!Plus!Reader

Summary: You love making gifts for your boyfriend and his cool uncle. And Eddie just simply adores you.

A/N: Just short draft that ive kept for a while now because i just didn’t know what to do with it. So ive decided to publish it as it is so that in the meantime i can get my shit together.

Word Count: 1.5k+

Summary: inexperienced!reader and eddie, plus size reader, hinted!autistic reader, eddie being a simp for reader, lots of fluff, wayne being reader’s number 1 supporter (don’t tell eddie 🤭), sexually suggestive language and behavior, some body worship, kissing, cuddling

Eddie Munson is the luckiest man in the world. No really because just how did he manage to get a girl like you in his arms? You went beyond his criteria of a perfect girl which was simply to be a woman. But you’ve exceeded in ways he could have never imagined.

For one, you’ve got amazing taste in music. Despite the differences in your music genres, you both appreciate the variety and exchange songs all the time. Second, you’re absolutely gorgeous. Eddie knew he loved rubenesque women but you were all that and more. He swears could die and go to heaven at the feeling of your thick thighs and soft belly as you’d lay his head on either part. And not to mention that beautiful face he yearns to see smiling at him constantly with those enchanting eyes that seem to twinkle endlessly.

Lastly—a fact about you that has both facts, one and two, beat—you’re awfully talented. You bake, paint, and, best of all, you crochet.

You crochet just about everything and he admires it. The best part is you always came up with the most interesting things that even Eddie wasn’t sure he needed.

Currently, you and Eddie were curled up on his couch. Your eyes wandering his shaky lean frame while his eyes stays glued to the television set, a gentle hand caressing your thigh.

You pride yourself for being an observant one, a skill you’ve had to perfect throughout your childhood in order to understand the world around you. And because you’re so observant, nothing gets passed you including the way he continues to shiver beside you.

“Something wrong?” You ask, concerned.

“Just my unusually cold wrists as always,” Eddie sighs. “Strangely specific, I know. It’s the chain bracelet and leather cuffs. The silver and leather are like ice against my skin with this freezing ass weather.”

You smile brightly, clapping your hands in excitement. “Actually, I have just the thing for this little issue.”

“Oh, do you?” Eddie smirks, nose scrunching up in amusement.

“Mhm,” You nod as you began rummaging through your bumblebee bag (crocheted by yours truly). “Close you eyes.”

“‘Kay.” He obeys with a smile never leaving his face.

Rushing up to stand in front of the television set, you held the items behind your back before commanding your boyfriend to open his eyes once more.

“So…I’ve noticed the way you rub your wrists for the friction to radiate some heat because they’re always so cold lately. And I also notice that when the cold becomes to unbearable you’re forced to remove your wrist accessories,” You began your spiel as if you’re in an infomercial. “Why should you sacrifice style or possibly losing your accessories because of naked wrists? Well not anymore with my handy dandy…wrist bands!”

You shoot your hands up and out in front of you, dangling each red and white patterned wristband in either hand. “I also call them Eds Bracelet Warmers as a placeholder product name.”

“That’s metal!” Eddie praises, standing up to study the bands closely. You release them into his hands and he stares down at them in awe, sliding each onto his arm and making a little show of them before his attention resumes back on you.

“Do you like it?” You say rocking back and forth on your heels anxiously.

“I love it! It’s the best gift you’ve ever given me.”

You snort out a giggle. “You say that with every crochet I’ve made you.”

“I was wrong all the other times. I mean, as much as I love the crocheted mug warmers, pillows, and seat cover…I’m thinking this might top them all. Just look at the detailing on this. You’re like a goddamn Picasso. Thank you, sweetheart,” Eddie says with a hand on his chest, letting you know just how much you’ve touched his heart. Then he suddenly grows shy, tapping his index fingers together as he avoids your gaze. “Permission to hold you. Maybe…kiss you a little.”

“You don’t have to ask,” You run into his embrace, cupping his face in your hands to plant a searing hot kiss onto his lips. With the mixture of your forwardness and his knee-buckling reaction, he’s sent falling back against the couch with you still in his arms.

You scramble to peel yourself off from above him, not wanting to put to much pressure on his slender frame. And yet he interlocks his fingers together right on your lower back, keeping you still. “Wait, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You could never, baby,” Eddie says, bringing a hand up to your face to caress your cheek. He then traces his thumb faintly around your lips. “I want you on me all the time.”

He suddenly becomes nervous, a tinge of pink coloring his cheeks. He’s nervous under your alluring gaze, aware that you’re clocking every shift and change in his facial features and mood. Embarrassingly, he had an erection that you no doubt felt in between your bodies and pressing against your belly. Eddie decides to release you from his full grasp.

Instead of pulling away, you draw his thumb into your mouth slowly, pursing your lips around them as you look him through your lashes and half-lidded eyes.

He chokes out an audible whine, even the inside of your mouth felt good. He’s never wanted to explore it this badly. When you pull your mouth around the digit with a pop, Eddie’s quick to cup your face now and shoves his tongue into your mouth. He takes control of the motions, gradually rolling your bodies over so that he’d end up on top.

His eager hands glide up your smooth skin of your thighs, pushing up your dress that fit snug around you. Your hands entangle themselves in his hair, letting your long nails lightly scratch his scalp.

You and Eddie have been soft lovers with one another, taking your time and being patient with one another regarding physical affection. It took a lot for the two of you to feel comfortable enough to ask each other for touches and eventual kisses. You’d say you’ve gotten pretty far.

Sometimes, things would get heated and you’d be concerned that it might lead to sex considering you’re both virgins. However, aside from your anxieties and insecurities, you actually did feel as if you’re ready to give yourself to him. But ever the gentleman, Eddie is usually one to call it quits.

But with his lips moving against your own so passionately, you couldn’t see how he’d pull away now. Especially not when you’ve got fistful of his Hellfire club shirt in your hands to prevent him from doing so.

Nonetheless, he pulls away much to your chagrin. The faint reminder of his lips against yours still felt by you in the span of a millisecond. You wish that feeling could linger forever.

He stares down at you, examining the look on your face. It’s your turn to hold him still against you, your nails burrowing in his exposed lower back.

“Sweetheart…” Eddie begins as if in a trance.

“Yes…Eddie.”

“I think…that I—”

The swinging of the creaky, trailer door is enough to lurch you both apart, sitting in your designated seats on the couch. Uncle Wayne enters the room with a hand over one eye and an outstretched hand to guide himself into the home.

“All clear?” He asks.

Eddie rolls his eyes. “All clear, Waydog. We’ve been good.”

Wayne opens his eyes slowly, his gaze landing on you on the couch. He perks up with a bright smile. “Oh, y/n, what a pleasant surprise! I wasn’t sure you’d be here. I was actually worried I was going to walk into Eddie watching—“

“Dude!” Eddie interrupts, staring at his uncle in incredulous betrayal.

“Aw come on. I kid, I kid. You know that’s what we Munson men do. She’s used to that by now.” Wayne chuckles, placing some bags of grocery on the counter.

You giggle, soothing Eddie’s hair as way of ensuring him that it’s okay. Going over to the kitchen, you and Eddie help Wayne unload the groceries when Wayne notices the crochet bands around his nephew’s wrists.

“Those look neat! You think you could make me a pair?” Wayne asks you with hopeful eyes.

“Of course! And don’t you worry, I’ll even get them to match the beanie hat I’m still making for you.” You beam.

“Woah, woah. Wait a minute. He gets a matching hat?” Eddie inquires with a pout.

“Oh, like you haven’t stolen the first hat she’s made me.” Wayne chuckles.

“I didn’t steal. I borrowed.”

“For 4 whole months?”

“There isn’t a time limit for borrowing something. If there is, I’d like to see the rule.” Eddie challenges.

“I think you’re just jealous of us,” Wayne says, standing beside you with you nodding in agreement. “Why else would you take my gifts if not to have them all to yourself?”

“My girlfriend and my uncle in alliance against me.” Eddie laughs, shaking his head in bewilderment. “Didn’t think I’d see the day coming so soon.”

[kotkamoon]

The ONLY dsmp art post i will ever make here, for archiving purposes

Rinne PMV - May 2021

Loved MAP Part 6-7 - June 2021

Before the Confrontation - Feb 2021

explanations + rambles below the cut

You’ve never talked about dsmp, why does this post exist

If you’ve seen my Youtube channel, you’ll notice a few DSMP animations. I was 15, and absolutely loved the concept and the creativity of the community. It’s what got me to finally post art + dabble into animation.

BUT hey the white blob man crawled out of the woodworks and I gotta say. yeah. Bad people suck.

You’ll find full, better explanations elsewhere, but I don’t support the Drm nor Wlbur. Or anyone else like them. I don’t keep up with the community anymore (or any mcyt for that matter) but I just wanted to make that clear

I am still keeping these videos up for (1) archiving purposes and (2) it’s my art, not theirs. I’ve had to put disclaimers on every video though because they just couldn’t be decent human beings

Art Rambles, a Retrospective

Rinne is especially a video that feels desecrated. Has one of my favorite songs and cover artists. One where I experimented with limited colors. One where I was pretty proud of the animation (the fire in the first shot) + tweening (fiddled with Philza’s wing to make it look natural). At least the version without the weirdos is here.

The Loved MAP part was also interesting. The first time I was proud of drawing a cartoon human face (like. DSMP literally got me to draw more detailed people— the closest was Frisk from Undertale who… Was a bunch of pixels lol).

I also figured out the shading style I liked, and that helped build how I shade today.

Also learned to Green Screen!! That’s why his hair looks funny around the letters.

Lastly, the Ranboo animatic was also my first ever animatic, and the only dialogue-centric one I’ve done. Learned how to splice audio from the VOD, how to add environmental sfx, and how to add some music. Learned a lot about character acting too. Too much flashing in retrospect, but I like the shot variety and the last transitions. I don’t think I can ever top that creativity with the water droplet

Just weird that I was allergic to drawing… ears? Of all things???

Also no, I didn’t stop animating because of any drama. I literally got too sick to draw lol

Some good things, and a Goodbye

I will say, there are still great parts to the dsmp. All the illustrations, animations, writings, and songs that came from that era. Not to mention the amazing works still being made today.

I’ve also heard that some of the other Content Creators are doing better and doing good. I saw a bit of Quackity’s SMP and it seemed chill. And from what I’ve seen from Tommy, I’m glad he’s maturing and has Tubbo + Ranboo as his friends.

I’m pretty sure there’s others who are doing well, like Philza, but again, I haven’t kept up with things.

MCYT is no longer something I’m into. And that’s okay.

If you’ve read this far, thanks. If you decide to find my videos, uh thanks too? But yeah, don’t subscribe and follow for any mcyt content haha

[gamerdog1]

Devil May Cry Review

Last year, I adopted my little PS2 from a Value Village. I lovingly took it home, gave it a gentle bath, and spent at least a dozen hours carefully swabbing it's insides of dust. All this, so I can get the experience of playing popular and longstanding game franchises, like God of War, and Metal Gear Solid, where they began. The things we do for love, I guess.

Since then, I've been on a bit of a side-quest in life, sort of. A quest to discover why popular pieces of media got so popular, by experiencing them first-hand. I have this drive to learn about what is beloved, to join in the fun of fandom with others, and so when I saw a lot of fanart of white haired brothers with magic swords, I got curious. One thing led to another, and after many, many hours, I have some thoughts.

Devil May Cry, for the PS2, is a very interesting case. For one, its the accidental sister to Resident Evil, as it was originally intended to be the third installment in that franchise during development. Yet the two could not be more different, in terms of gameplay style, visuals, and execution as a whole.

Where Resident Evil is all about forcing the player into difficult situations , Devil May Cry feels a little more lax. Resident Evil makes the player slowly take in the atmosphere, learn about the lore, and use their knowledge of the map to their advantage, while Devil May Cry prioritizes snappy combat over exploration and puzzle-solving.

The focus on combat is what everything in DMC revolves around, for better or for worse. There's a variety of visually interesting moves you can pull off, and more to unlock by trading in currency gotten by killing enemy monsters. More upgrades means more cool moves, means more interesting combat, and more ways to tackle bosses.

At times, though, the complexity of the combat system left me feeling overwhelmed. This is one of the few games where I had to read the manual in order to play, as there isn't any tutorial, and combat can be punishing in early stages if you aren't fully familiar with Dante's moves.

Even after learning the ins and outs of the controls and combat, I still got my ass handed to me by the first boss, and every one after that. Each one felt like a massive hurdle, and forced me to really learn how they worked in order to even stand a chance. In the moment, I was frustrated, but looking back now, I haven't had to work this hard with a boss in years. Spending hours sitting on my couch, going over the attack patterns, it was almost meditative (if not for the occasional shouts of expletives here and there on my part).

Devil May Cry, as a whole, isn't incredibly difficult, as long as you know what you're doing. The game is about figuring out your enemies' weaknesses and the best ways to exploit them, not just rushing in and hoping you'll live. Figuring this out is the first challenge, the second is the underwater controls.

Apart from gameplay itself, DMC is pretty interesting. The gothic architecture is a bit of a far cry from Resident Evil, but carries over it's grim tone and atmosphere. Colors are muted, music is oppressive and heavy, and everything lends to this feeling of grandness and fantasy. It really makes the player character stand out, which is great when you're getting ambushed by ice lizards, or something equally monstrous, in one of the many grand halls.

This review also wouldn't be complete without talking about the main character, who is a delight to be around. Honestly, Dante is the reason I picked up this game, and the reason I kept coming back to it, even after countless GAME OVER's. His snarky attitude, stylish coat, and cockiness make him a fun character to see interact with others and his surroundings, and really help him stand out from the holier-than-thou demons he faces. He's always got something to say, isn't afraid to speak his mind, and just wants to have fun, and really, who can blame him?

The story of the game, though, left a bit to be desired. Yes, its epic, and gets better in the second half of the game, but for a while, the game felt aimless. Why do I need to get these magic items, to unlock these doors, to do these tasks the game sets as mission objectives? In most games, they usually directly tie into what the player character is doing, and help facilitate a progression of story. For example, when Jill finds Richard in RE1, and has to get him an antidote before he dies, its not just a fetch quest; it teases the snake boss, establishes Richard as a character in the game's world, and depending on whether or not you save him, it affects future gameplay.

In DMC, though, each mission feels like homework, an assignment to do before a deadline or else. Sure, its a good way to show players the next objective, and as a neurodivergent person I love having clear and concise instructions, but it kills the mood. I never felt like I was exploring the castle, discovering new things and furthering the plot. It felt like I had a to-do list from the game devs, full of tasks that rarely were related to the plot, and usually just meant 'go here, get the thing, bring it somewhere else'. It would've been nice if the quests explicitly furthered the plot, but at least they told me where to go.

Don't get me wrong: I don't hate this game. I actually liked it, but there were lots of issues I had with it that soured my experience. Unforgiving bosses, overly complicated controls, and a lack of story immersion made me feel like this game was an experiment with this style of gameplay on Capcom's part. If this had a bit more polish, or maybe a tutorial, I might try playing on a higher difficulty. For now, though, I'm excited to see what's new in the sequel. I've heard its... rather infamous. Exciting.

[eightwholebreads]

So, since round 1 is over, I think it's time I looked back at how the 21 characters I submitted to @who-do-i-know-this-man season 2 did. I want to keep the winners secret for now but I'll evaluate them in order. Do I count all of these characters as blorbos to me personally? No not really but I do have a reason for each of them. Why 21? Well that's because it's 1% of the whole tournament! I kept a rule that there should be only one character per series so there's some variety. Do I think any of them will win? No, but some may get pretty far.

On with the list.

[redacted] was up against a main character from a film. I don't recognise the film but I recognise some of the actors named in the cast list. I think this guy is my most obscure character that I submitted if only because he's from a kind of a forgettable thing despite it being broadcast regularly enough

Cecille (Luminous arc) did pretty good I think? Is the overlap between DS game enjoyers and webcomic enjoyers large enough that a significant amount of the both/neither vote is both? Good fight but the adversary was simply too obscure.

[redacted]. I'm genuinely surprised he did so badly but given the media was given as the album and not the band... I don't know why op didn't put the album cover as the image tbh. He got a visual appearance recently! So he will have one for round two. But I don't think that'll help recognisability in the slightest

Digit Al (Digital UK). I know he has some enjoyers on this website and wanted to jumpscare them. Fun fact! I typed his name wrong on the submission form so it actually says digit ai on the poll...

[redacted] seemed to be up against a much beloved character. This was one of those "Have you played this game?" characters

[redacted] was submitted to prove that you can't submit [redacted] characters on the [redacted] enjoyers website and expect them to get anywhere. But she somehow won this round...

[redacted] is from a game that never got an official english translation. I know there's [redacted] enjoyers on this website... I mostly picked him in particular for his fun design. Described as "looks very polite"

[redacted] only won because of the massive coincidence of who she was up against. I don't think she's surviving round 2. My first ever blorbo! I was obsessed with her at age 5

Kasasagi Watase (Root Double -Before Crime * After Days) is another "Have you played this game?" characters and the answer is mostly no since he only got about 7 votes (vs the other guy's 5)

[redacted] was a "have you read this book?" style submission. This particular book fills my dreams at times and makes me desperate to reread it since I still remember the shape of it in my mind. I did reread it recently and I can't tell you a single thing that happened because it was really weird.

[redacted]. The guy who I liked the most in [redacted] and also the guy who I had the most interesting experience with (somehow triggered the [redacted] system near the end of the run...). I guess the other media was just more well known? but I've never heard of it

Nero (Lunar Knights) I ♥ black cats! What more can I say. Technically the wrong image. Was meant to be this guy

[redacted] I wish they'd bring him back... but also his final adventure where he ends up stuck in a time loop is too good of an ending imo. To the person who said "#wait [redacted] have a podcast? #is it a musical comedy podcast?": what a way to find out

[redacted] another "Have you played this game?" type submission. Why her? Idk I just remember her banana holder in perfect clarity for some reason. Idk how well she'll do in round 2 since her opponent this time seemed to be well known

Professor Layton was submitted because I do still find him sexy somehow. Plus I wanted to see how many not-obscure-enough complaints he could generate. Note: I did not pick the image used but I approve

[redacted] Does anyone know how to get this game working on linux? Actually I've got it working but I can't record it properly. I think it'd be fun to stream due to massive deep nostalgia in those that know.

Qrs Tuvwxyz did I think he'd win on the Qrs Tuvwxyz website? no. But look at him!!!! Yippee!!

~~space for a mysterious 22nd character I don't think I submitted because he's not on my list but as soon as I saw him I went oh I think I submitted him~~

[redacted] I picked him because he had my favourite joke in [redacted] (His [redacted]). Also I apparently completely didn't recognise his voice actor the whole time I was listening... I'm gonna have that weird experience of re-listening to something and only now recognising their voice

Russi Clover/Candy Holly was picked due to this quirk of hers. The reason this happened was the phoenix wright and miles edgeworth manga were translated by different people. Despite her appearance in the edgeworth manga clearly being framed as a re-introduction, the translator didn't notice and so re-named her

Suzukage Hotori (remember 11). Definitely kind of a trick one given the exact nature fo this character. Surprised she lost and [redacted up above] didn't

[redacted] he stood out to me and my friend when we were playing [redacted] together around age 8 and his name became an inside joke for a time

So the final result is...

Slain at the first hurdle: 8/21 On to round two: 13/21

If this keeps up (it won't) one of my guys might even win this thing!

I submitted 1 character each to seasons 3 and 4 and they are both winning (so far)

[less-than-three-3]

The Mageseeker: far from the peaks of Ruined King

When Ruined King, Riot Forge’s first published game, was revealed in the December 2020 Nintendo Direct, I was intrigued but cautiously optimistic. The combat looked really interesting, and the universe was one I had some familiarity with through a brief stint with Legends of Runeterra (the card game) but never really cared much about. So imagine my pleasant surprise when the game came out the following year and was possibly one of the most engaging turn-based RPG’s I’ve played, possibly ever. The story and characters were compelling, the combat system slapped, and the variety of team composition possibilities kept me hooked the whole way through. Sure, it was a little buggy in places, but it was very easy to overlook that. 

All this to say, this publisher started off on a really strong first impression to me. Arcane blowing me away certainly helped me get invested in the universe as a whole. Of course, Forge is an indie publisher, not a dev studio, so whether or not that momentum could be kept up was fairly up in the air and dependent on the teams they’re working with. Despite this, though, I was still really excited for its next narrative release (so not Hextech Mayhem, lol). 

The Mageseeker is a good reminder of why I should temper my expectations sometimes. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly didn’t live up to the heights of Ruined King. And again, it’s a bit of an unfair comparison I know, but it still kind of stung regardless. Full thoughts below, fairly spoiler free:

Before I get mean, I just first really want to highlight hands-down the best part of the game - the music. Gareth Coker, composer of the Ori games and Ruined King, soundtracks which I greatly admire, returns for Mageseeker, and I am super happy that they did so because he knocked it out of the park again. The setting of the game really played into his strengths, I believe, as its more magical and mystical settings lent themselves well to an Ori-like style, though of course it very much has its own identity. A great fantasy soundtrack from the serene forest themes to intense climaxes.

This would be great if it weren’t for the fact that, sometimes, the audio would kind of... tear? I don’t know how else to explain it other than audio tearing or crackling, maybe it’s peaking in the mix? Like when you’re lagging in a game or something, it reminds me of that. I have to assume this is a mixing issue of some sort, but it wouldn’t happen at predictable time (like during frame drops- more on this later), it would just kinda sporadically happen, even during tame cutscenes. I’ve never seen something like this before. For the record, this was on the Nintendo Switch version, so maybe it might have to do with it being a fairly weak console? And unfortunately this is just the start of a few technical issues I had.

I would also occasionally get frame drops which feels odd for an indie game of this style, and again this is totally probably a Switch problem, but the Switch can certainly handle games like this fine. It runs Hades flawlessly, for example. And I’m not usually a stickler for this kind of thing, but it was really noticeable when it did happen. (Again, oddly enough, the frame drops and audio tearing weren’t simultaneous, they are independent issues.) It would also occasionally crash, including, hilariously, during the end cutscene??? I hate pointing things like these out for an indie game, because these are teams that pretty much always need the good press, and they’re really trying their best. This isn’t to say the game is unplayable or has a ton of bugs, but I just really noticed these few issues and, while it didn’t necessarily sour my experience, I feel like I needed to really mention it.

Technical issues aside, I think the next strongest thing was the combat. Using the chains as grapples and the ways to incorporate it into your combos, especially with the elemental partners adding new combos and bonuses was satisfying. I think it could probably use more depth if it were a longer game, but for a like 10 hour experience, that kind of combat is totally welcome. The vfx could also have used some more oomph for hits, but it was something I got used to over time.

The spells? Well, it was fine. Not really as cool as I was expecting, in part because of the relatively low variety in spells. Using them from your toolbar was great, and there were some pretty broken spells in the late game, and those are pretty fun to use. But I mean the spell stealing mechanic was not the most satisfying thing in the world. It works, it’s fun, but it never really clicked. I found that just using melee combat was way more fun and engaging than spell stealing. 

Interestingly enough, the depth for the spells can be found in a side mission archetype, where you travel down prisons and gather new spells with modifiers tied to them on each floor to get stronger. I know this game is not a roguelike and they did not want this game to be a roguelike, and I did not really want this game to be a roguelike, but damn the roguelike sub-mode was fun. There was a build I got where your damage would scale with your health, and other modifiers that just boosted max health and scaled damage, and it must have been multiplicative because I just straight up one shot most mobs. It was incredible. If they built on that, or introduced modifiers as an additional upgrade tree (as opposed to just more damage/defense/health up trees....) I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

The story also does not really keep up with Ruined King, in my opinion. I think the characters and motivations are all there and fairly compelling in theory, but at the same time they get to feel fairly one-note by the end, with pretty straightforward arcs pretty much going “wow, my previously harmful beliefs that were directly condemned by some of the people close to me are bad, actually? I should change...” The pacing feeling fairly rushed didn’t help this at all, either. The Katarina side-comic they released leading up to this game has character building leagues (heh) ahead of it, which feels just a little disappointing, y’know. Maybe voice acting would have helped, but I don’t know. 

All in all, I can’t really in good conscience recommend this that much, specifically the Switch version. If it performs better on other platforms, it is probably worth playing as a relatively light dozen-hour game with some moderately interesting story elements, but I think there are probably just better indie games out there that can scratch this itch. It pains me to say this, but this really felt like the “just ok” tie-in game that I was fearing Riot Forge games to be overall. I just hope that Convergence can really blow my socks off again like Ruined King did. 

[eurofox]

Project zero/Fatal frame 5: Maiden of Blackwater thoughts

Finally got round to this one and it really wasn’t as bad as some people were saying. Weaker than the rest of the series but it was still good. I had it on PS4 instead of the WiiU so maybe that helps.

It looks good for the most part, except for the hair effects, which is kind of a bollocks when creepy hair floating in the water is part of the scares. The lack of facial expressions were odd though, like they’ve never been the most expressive in this series but here they barely react to ANYTHING. You could put that down to everyone being jaded with their trauma but it came across as lazy. There is obvious fanservice here and it was off-putting. like at one point a girl was just standing their talking and her tits were jiggling. Despite running about in the pissing rain at night and wading through flooded caverns the girls are wearing see through shirts, tiny skirts and heels. It’s so dumb. And even some of the enemies have been affected, it’s hard to be scared when an enemies' big bouncy ghost tatties are in the middle of your viewfinder. They wore skirts in other games but here it’s just silly.  The enemies were ok, but a lot where just ghostly people, only a few were really creepy looking and there isn’t a huge amount of variety. The first game still has the best ghouls for me. Environments are nice, more outdoors space this time round. 

The camera in this game worked really well, I had a lot of fun with it. I picked it up faster this time round and was pretty soon getting A/S ranks for every level. I think it’s probably my favourite battle style so far, with the weak point strategy added. Movement is a bit stiff, like your character feels SO heavy, and a bit unwieldy moving around when not using the camera. They can run a lot faster this time  so that’s nice.   They’ve added a mechanic here were you are more vulnerable the more damp you are and while I get the idea (the whole tainted water thing is a big deal here) it’s implemented terribly. If it’s raining you can’t avoid it, and the game is far more linear this time around so if you don’t have much of a choice when it comes to wading through water. They also left in that stupid grabby ghost hand gimmick and that got annoying as fuck, it’s only scary once and then it’s just a waste of time. One gimmick that works though is the new fatal glance ability, where you get treated to a cutscene showing how each  ghost met their end. Some are sad, other’s surprisingly gruesome and one is just funny. I hope they keep that for the future, it was so cool. Learning about the different ghosts is one of my favourite things about this series and it’s done so well here. Only 2 of the ghosts really got on my nerves this time round as well.

One thing that pissed me off is the excuse used to keep going back to the scary haunted mountain to repeatedly look for people, often a person you literally just found. I get it, they're ‘possessed’, but it’s still annoying doing it over and over and over again. Like I just saved their stupid ass only for them to say they’re going right back? Get tae fuck. Not only that but you often have to play through the same areas back to back with different characters. And the pacing is bizarre, most chapters can be done in 30 mins or so but one in the middle just kept going, and going. And kept going after the boss with a chase scene. And kept going after that. It brought me through new areas that are never actually used again into the bargain. So much blatant padding

The sound is as good as ever. I had headphones and it’s very creepy.  Especially the unique encounter music for each ghost.

Story is a mixed bag. It feels muddled honestly, like a lot is happening and they couldn’t decide what to focus on. 3 characters makes it even more complicated and there’s 2 subplots that frankly, it could have done without. It was enough to keep me interested, but it unravels painfully slowly and a lot is told through diaries and notes, like the first game. I don’t mind reading lot’s of stuff, but some of it didn’t quite seem to tie back into the current story all that well  And some of it still isn’t clear to me, especially the timeline of events from the actual ritual. Some cutscenes seem to imply something that isn’t ever followed up on or is left obtuse. None of the playable characters are very interesting imo, not helped by their  lack of facial expressions and how bored they seem a lot of the time. The baddie, as usual, is more interesting. But even her motivations this time are a bit weak compared to previous games and i felt the endings didn’t make sense depending on the characters choices. 

I honestly found some of this game scarier than 2, the atmosphere is heavy and there’s no safe place once you head to the mountain, plus no friendly ghosts so the tension is always high. Not many jump scares that I can recall, although one ghost in particular is very un-nerving whenever it appears.

So a lot of fun, creepy enough and aside from one dogshit subplot it’s engaging storywise. Excited to finally get to play 4 next year, I’ve heard mixed opinions on that one as well.

 Spoilers about some of the endings here:      

 Miu is looking for Miku, her mum. Her entire plotline is stupid and gross tbh. It really didn’t need to exist and if you took them both out nothing would change. It just ruins Miku’s character, and Mafuyu’s too. She’s not helpful to the others and isn’t interesting at all. The whole brother and sister ghost marriage wouldn’t even have been that bad if they didn’t have miku get pregnant from it. And what about Kirie? Is she cool with her man and his ghost bigamy? Does spending eternity guarding the mouth of hell count as a relationship? She’s not a woman you want to piss off at any rate. Argh, such a moronic plotline, I just don’t get what the fuck they were thinking with this bullshit. Retcon it as a bad dream or something, it’s that bad.

Also the little girl marriage promise thing with Ren/Aso also felt completely unnecessary. She only appears twice and otherwise has very little to do with anything, I forgot she was actually thing since most of ren’s story focuses on Ose as well. Hell it even seems like EVERYONE forgets about her during the game until the end. She’s looks like a an anime character with her silly design (I think they were going for an albino look but it’s not good). Her whole mystery just felt like more padding. All she does is provide an explanation for ren’s awkwardness with women. Rui also felt unnecessary

I would have enjoyed it more if they made a more focused main story with the Maiden, Yuri and Ren and just left the rest out. They could have done more with the Ose ghost marraige/massacre plot points 

[iztopher]

hi. at this point it may be evident what i'm about to say. but for that ask meme: ALL OF THE QUESTIONS

JHFDASK YESSSS okay here we go!!!

1. Art programs you have but don't use: Clip Studio Paint!! I pretty much ONLY use it for the grid and text feature, otherwise I don't like the workflow haha

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even): Drawing in profile is the same to me from either direction, but for 3/4 view, I naturally gravitate towards / find it easier to draw people facing left

3. What ideas come from when you were little: Since I've been into Aveyond for so long, and that's what I mostly draw, I have a lot of ideas that pretty much originated as "I wanted to draw this as a kid and didn't have the skill to"!

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw: Te'ijal and also Galahad. it's the hair.

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself: Finished art I'd say I share a good 90% of it! Once we get into sketches... hoo boy, maybe 40%?

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it): Whatever this is, it's either too specific to the piece or too subconscious for me to think of it

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate: traditional illustration, painting, watercolor...

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in: A heads up that my answer to this is sad but I'm trying to talk about this type of stuff relatively openly, so: spring 2021, I watched Willy's Wonderland for the first time w/ Ishti + Moonie; we kept talking about a Galahad & Mel AU for it. I had two pictures for it planned, and I drew one of them, and... the timing worked out where Moonie never got to see it, and I've lost the motivation to do the second one. But I like the first one and I'm glad I drew it and I take some comfort/peace in the fact that I was working on something I was excited to share with her at the time.

9. What are your file name conventions: I have a folder for all my art, a subfolder for every year, and then a subfolder for every month, which means there isn't that much overlap! so unless I have a funny title idea my file name conventions are generally pretty straightforward: "mella1.sai", "teijalahad.sai", "teijalstudy.sai" etc etc

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw: Does armor count? If not, gambesons.

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what: Yes!!! Pretty much always music, occasionally video essays. Usually I'll pick a song and play it on loop, or if I'm in the mood for more variety I'll pick a playlist or an artist and listen through that. I also really like drawing while on call with people.

12. Easiest part of body to draw: I'm so sorry for my answer. Boobs.

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing: I'm not sure I have an answer for this one, actually - there's a lot of artists I like the work of who I wouldn't want to emulate, but that feels different to me?

14. Any favorite motifs: Not really, in theory I really love flowers but I almost never draw them

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth): I used to draw pretty much everywhere, but post chronic pain it's my desk only because using a tablet hurts wayyy less than a sketchbook!

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing: Landscapes / natural areas from photographs lol

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what: Water ALL the time, coffee if it lines up properly

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken: Very few!! Probably less than 10. I mostly draw digitally

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.): ARMOR AND WEAPONS

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy: Hands and armor!

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways: Honestly the art styles unlike mine that I like tend to be ones... I wish I had... I'm really drawn to realistic, somber, softer stuff

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any: Tendon gliding exercises! Tbh I should start doing more, it might help

23. Do you use different layer modes: VERY rarely, mostly not

24. Do your references include stock images: Yessss

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by: I KNOW this has happened but I'm totally blanking on it

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended: I'm not sure if this counts but pretty much any time I get a "cute!" response on a te'ijalahad picture I'm like oh no please do not say that,

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with: I tend to warm up by drawing a headshot of the character I'm going to be drawing, but lately I've been trying to shift to warm ups that are more focused on like, the action of drawing and loosening up

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines): I participated in a zine that ended up not happening, and I've done several fandom exchanges!! Mostly the Aveyond Winter Exchange, but also the Oneshot Podcast Network exchange on AO3 (yeah it was AO3 but I did art for it)

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically: Infinity Train!!! absolutely adore it, the art style doesn't really inspire me at all & because I got into it in the thick of my hand pain I never got used to drawing it

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated: None! I mostly draw Aveyond so pretty much all of my art is in the 1-10 response zone so it all feels pretty consistent gdjkgklsdf

[blueeyedrat]

Steam Next Fest! New name, same idea: a large library of demos for new and upcoming games to try out. In between finishing up some games and assorted projects, and starting up some games I've been meaning to get around to, I was able to find time for some demos that caught my eye.

More comments under the cut:

Sable - This was the first and last demo I tried this time around, and it's a game I've been intrigued by for quite a while. I wasn't actually able to finish the demo either time I played; I fell out of bounds and had to restart the first time, and it crashed later on during the second. It doesn't run well on my old laptop, I suppose... which is a shame, because technical issues aside, I was really enjoying it! I don't play open-world stuff all that often, but this one definitely scratched an itch. It reminded me a lot of Zelda with a similar "run everywhere and climb everything" vibe. Gliding through the air and crossing the vast dunes on a hoverbike felt pretty satisfying, too. The designs are distinctive and visually striking, the music is nice, and the demo provides just enough hints about both the setting and Sable herself to leave me wanting more.

Terra Nil - A "reverse city builder" about restoring life to a barren wasteland. I wish I had more to say about this one, but it's another one for the "I wish my laptop could run this game better" column: the demo kept crashing before I could really get into it. I liked what little I was able to play, though. The gameplay was pretty intuitive, and the aesthetic was quite lovely. Will definitely be keeping an eye on this game, one way or another.

Patrick's Parabox - A sokoban puzzler with a recursive twist: rooms nested in other rooms, and in some cases, rooms nested within themselves. The extra dimension adds a fun spin on the base sokoban gameplay, and the demo showcased some fun ways it could be used for puzzles. I recommend looking into it if you're interested in games of this sort.

Harmony's Odyssey - A puzzle game about unscrambling colorful dioramas. The art style's cute and appealing, and the puzzles were fine, but it didn't seem to have a lot of depth beyond its basic mechanic. The interface was a bit awkward, too; the camera was either too far zoomed in to see all of the pieces, or too far zoomed out to see any of them. It was charming enough, but I'm not sure I'll be delving into it further.

Little Witch in the Woods - From one cute-witch-themed game to another, and another game I've been curious about for a while. A chill life sim with a cozy setting, a colorful cast of characters, a variety of flora and fauna to discover, and a focus on magic and potion-making rather than ordinary farming. Very charming, but also very slow-paced. While it is satisfying to process resources and concoct potions, foraging for said resources is a slow grind, and it's all too easy for your efforts to go to waste because you accidentally tossed a potion bottle in the wrong direction. Still, it seems like quite a pleasant time if you have the patience for it. I'm undecided if it's the sort of game for me, but I'm willing to wait and see.

Faerie Afterlight - An exploration puzzle-platformer with a bright, beautiful visual style. Gameplay-wise, the movement feels nice and has potential to be pretty interesting: the demo starts off with your character having just unlocked the ability to jump and wall-jump, you obtain a dash later on, and more abilities will likely come further in the game. It has some unique mechanics (like controlling a secondary character who can interact with gates and possess enemies) and the combat is okay, but the demo stumbles once or twice when it demands you manage all of these aspects simultaneously. Seems like an alright game, even if it didn't stand out to me like other games on this list.

Unpacking - A meditative puzzle game about arranging everyday objects in rooms. This is another one I've been interested in, and now that I've tried it for myself... there's a lot to unpack, if you'll excuse my wording. There's a certain weight to nostalgia and sentimentality, even when it's tied up in mundane objects like books and toys. The comfortable and familiar, the things we keep with us, and the things we discard or leave behind, everyone values them differently. Even in a brief demo, Unpacking manages to encapsulate this idea in a way that few other games can. Each segment is a snapshot of a different moment in a person's life. Through the simple task of sorting through their belongings and finding a place for everything, you learn about this person, and a narrative emerges. What they take with them, what they leave behind, and what they pick up along the way. It's a fascinating little game, and one that could be emotionally compelling in ways I was not prepared for.

OGOPOGO - An arcade puzzle game about making palindrome block chains. ...Have you ever stumbled across a game that feels like it was made specifically for you? I had never heard of this one until a few days ago when I was perusing the Steam demo list. It's a simple concept, but it trips the pattern-finding part of my brain in very pleasing ways. I can see myself sinking a lot of idle time into this one when it comes out.

TOEM - Quite a pleasant game to round out the list. There's been a renaissance of photography games over the past year or so; I still have New Pokémon Snap and Beasts of Maravilla Island waiting in the wings, and I can think of half a dozen other titles either already out or near on the horizon. It's easy to see the appeal, since it's a sort of game that inherently rewards exploration and discovery while also being pretty chill and low-stress. TOEM looks to be a fine example, with a simple, charming black-and-white art style, and a friendly and inviting world to run around in and complete tasks with your camera. Take a picture, it'll last longer.

A few technical bumps on the road, but a nice selection of games regardless. See you next time.

[boognish-worshipper]

Midnight City AU

this is an au where the main characters are all young adults!! (or millennials ig? they’re in their 20s basically) i gave a rundown of what’s what on a diff post,, i’m also splitting it up into diff chapters,, so this is gonna take a looooong time to finish. i’m posting this before i nitpick my writing to the max

it’s basically a lot of references to that point in time, artists, pop culture etc. all the chapters are named after songs from that era (including the name of this au bc i love midnight city and what better way to describe LS ‼️), and the lyrics r usually connected to what the chapter’s about, or about a character dynamic :D i hope this isn’t too cheesy, or sounds off ig. any typos in this were probably over looked bc i constantly reread my writing and rearrange stuff and make sure it sounds good 🥳 hope y’all enjoy !!! i’m also including a tag to find the chapters under :)

//Chapter 1: Crimewave

Trevor would never, ever admit it, but he had fallen into the category known as “post-hipster”. This was a strange era that began culminating, taking LS by storm. Whether he liked it or not, he could never avoid it. Even if he swore up and down he wasn’t like them, it was practically a paradox. Saying he wasn’t like them just made him a branched off version of the thing he denounced. Each aesthetic that was churned out as the 2010s rolled in were tied to a style, a sound, and Trevor couldn’t care less. It’s not like people liked what he liked. He didn’t belong to anything in particular, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t like them. If anything, he just became another obscure genre in the mix.

One of his favorite music groups was a Canadian duo called Crystal Castles. He enjoyed a good number of their songs, developing an interest for electropunk and pop punk. There was something unique about the sound, and it made Trevor feel special, like he discovered some sort of hidden treasure. He was into pop punk groups like Paramore too, but it was something about them that was just different. People knew Paramore. He often lingered around Sterling Lake, where other post-irony hipsters and classic hipsters resided, careful not to fully associate with them. After all, he apparently despised them, even though he participated in their strange… “culture”. If you could even call it that. From time to time he would find himself discussing his favorite artists with whatever semi-normal person was there, making a couple friends himself who weren’t the snooty kind he’d grown used to.

They all loved talking about how exceptional their taste in music was, a wide variety of people hanging around with their own cliques. Some liked Fall Out Boy, while others liked Blink-182, and then there were the weirdos who liked groups like Radiohead. Most of those guys were whiny, proclaiming how misunderstood they were. He knew maybe one Radiohead song at most (he definitely, definitely never cried to “Creep” and even if he did, so what) but never found himself willingly getting into their music. Then you had the nosedivr crowd, which consisted of mostly girls, and the occasional hipster guy that defected. Their taste was.. alright. Consisted of artists like Lana Del Ray and Marina and the Diamonds, who were their idols. He found almost everyone there besides the few friends he made kind of edgy, and not in the cool way. But he figured all hipsters and guys like them were kind of uncool. Don’t even get him started on those other indie rock types. God. He still came back as often as he could though, establishing some kind of routine. Most people there avoided him anyway, which he preferred. He had enough troubles with them in the past. There was one day he grew tired of the people gawking at him, and he launched a hipster right into the lake. So yeah, nobody within their right mind so much as looked in his direction. That was just how he rolled.

Today, he sat on a nearby bench in Sterling Lake’s park, watching some ducks float on water. His usual friends had been there too, seeing his clowncore buddy Wade with his cousin Floyd. Wade was extremely different than the pretentious fucks around them. He had a shit ton of piercings, and ICP was his favorite music group. Floyd on the other hand, fit right in. Almost too much, like it was something he was forced to do. But he did genuinely enjoy Weezer, of all things you could enjoy. Wade started waving at Trevor, while Floyd hid behind him. All he did was awkwardly wave back, turning his attention back to the lake. He liked Wade, but the clown stuff he wore sometimes spooked him. He didn’t pay much mind to his relative. Looking back across the water, he saw someone new, observing the area. Some dude a little above the average height, hands in his pockets walking around. He seemed a bit lost, and Trevor figured he should help if he was. After all, what was this guy doing here? New people didn’t show up often.

“Hey bud, you lost or something?”

“Oh uh, nah not really. I’m just looking for this girl I met a while ago, said she hangs out around here?”

“What she look like? I’m here pretty often.”

“Uhh kinda short, dark brownish hair? Wears fishnet stockings, high waisted shorts or whatever those grunge people are into.”

“Let me guess, she into the Neighborhood?”

“How’d you know?”

“Yeah, that’s Amanda, she’s a bit of a regular. Not too fond of me I must say.”

“How come?”

“She’s just petty towards me.” He said with a shrug. He didn’t feel like relaying his encounters with her if the guy was dating her or something.

“Oh… well d’ya think you could help me find her? I don’t really know anybody else here. I could actually use the help, since you know her.”

“Eh sure, why not.”

It’s not like he had anything better to do. The two began to walk around the park, gravel and dirt crunching beneath their feet.

“So.. what’s this place about?” The strange guy asked.

“Hm? Oh, it’s just one of those places the hipster folks meet up I guess. Don’t understand it much myself, nor do I really like them.”

“Then why do you come here?”

“Dunno. It’s relatively peaceful, those freaks keep to themselves.”

The man, who was only a smidge shorter than Trevor, glared up at him.

“Hey man, don’t call my girl a freak.”

“Ehh I don’t really count her in with the generic skinny jean wearing hipsters. More of a.. what is it called.. nosedivr type. Whatever that stupid website’s called. Why do you think she dresses like that?”

“Huh.. Never really thought to ask her.”

As he thought about the stuff Amanda wore, he took note of how the man next to him was dressed. He sported an olive jacket with a black turtle neck, and a plain pair of jeans. He wore beat up black converse to top it off, and a pair of Rimmers sunglasses sat upon his head. He looked simple, yet distinguished with the way he presented himself, hair neatly combed back. He figured the two would look nice standing next to one another. They would’ve made an attractive couple, if they weren’t dating already, the kind that turns heads. Trevor wasn’t like them. He wore a black beanie over his mullet, and his favorite pair of red Dix sunglasses rested on the bridge of his nose. The rest of his fit looked disheveled. He had thrown on a wrinkled top, solid black with little surf boards and cars along the bottom- he was a sucker for Hawaiian shirts. His pants were tan colored but had some bleach stains, with old combat boots on his feet.

“Yeah, we may not like each other but I don’t really consider her a freak like those guys.”

He jutted a thumb in the direction of a circle of guys huddled around a phone. The man holding the phone had strawberry blonde hair and a clean outfit on. An expensive looking outfit.

“Who are they?”

“The people here I absolutely cannot fucking stand. The genuine hipsters.”

“Oh.. and you’re..?”

“I’m my own kind. I’m not like these losers, all uppity and shit.”

“Right. Gotcha.”

They walked around a bit more before finding the group Amanda was with. She sat on a bench, chatting with a few girls who dressed similarly to her. All of them had black incorporated into their style. She herself had a black jumper on, tucked neatly into the front of her jean shorts. Just like the guy described, she had fishnets on under them, skater shoes to match. Loose braids fell on her shoulders, and a small black choker was wrapped around her neck.

“Oh, there he is now! Babe! Over here!”

She narrowed her eyes upon seeing Trevor standing next to him.

“Hello, Trevor.” She huffed.

“Relax, I was helping your boyfriend or whatever look for you.”

Her face softened slightly, but still kept a small glare in his direction. She pressed her lips together tight before replying.

“Thanks, I guess.”

“Yup.”

The man turned to face Trevor, sticking out a hand.

“Hey, thanks for showing me around. Trevor, is it?”

“Don’t wear it out.”

He shook his hand, noticing how soft it was. It was in stark contrast to his own, which was rough and calloused.

“Name’s Michael. I’ll see you around most likely? Thanks again.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Amanda huffed again, nudging Michael’s shoulder.

“Let’s go hun, Bean Machine closes soon!”

“I’m comin’ I’m comin’!”

The two sauntered off, hand in hand. Trevor stood dumbly, watching them walk away. He was right. They did look good together. He wondered if he would actually see this Michael again, kicking a rock. He went back to the bench he originally sat at, putting his earbuds in, listening to some Crystal Castles again to pass the time. The beat thumped in his ears, and all he could think was how much better this shit was compared to that club music shit that played on every radio station in a 5 foot radius. He sat there, scrolling through his own secret nosedivr account, reblogging some photo of a lit cigarette. Right before a hand touched his shoulder causing him to jump.

“What the fuck- Oh. Ron.”

Ron was another friend of Trevor’s, a guy he had met outside one of the iFruit stores talking about how “they’re tapping the phones they sell in there!” and all that conspiracy nonsense. He was a paranoid guy, but Trevor kind of liked that about him. Those were the kind of freaks he liked. He was shorter than Trevor, sort of frail in stature. He wore a bright red windbreaker over a faded tourist tee that read “I went to Liberty City and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!”, along with khaki colored cargo shorts. It didn’t help that he wore some goofy looking bucket hat, and socks with sandals. He dressed like someone’s middle aged father.

“Trevor! Have you seen Wade around anywhere?”

“Last I checked, he was with Floyd.”

“Did he say where he was going?”

“Uh no, but my best bet is they went to that vinyl shop Floyd’s girlfriend works at.”

“Will ya come with me to find him?”

“Now why the fuck would I do that? What do you need him for?”

“Well I- I uh- um..”

“I uh! I uh! Spit it out Ron!”

“It’s about the Merryweather Night Club.”

Merryweather was a big organization that had a wide range of private clubs all over the country, and complimentary body guards to suit. They were all expensive as fuck, and anywhere they settled jacked up the prices of everything else. A lot of neighborhoods became gentrified as a result, and people actually considered it a good thing. What a fucking joke. Trevor of course couldn’t stand it. He hated bullies, and Merryweather was no exception. He’d been wanting to dismantle the club since they settled in LS, seeing as they only amplified the fake feel of the city. Let’s just say he’s gotten into more than a few scuffles with the club. And let’s just say it ended with someone getting stabbed as a result. The guy had it coming to him anyway. Between bouncers and the clubbers, they didn’t like Trevor or his kind loitering around the joint. It didn’t stop him from plotting some sort of revenge though. Ron per usual was on board, his reason being Merryweather’s violent history that had been swept under the rug. They were rather forceful relocating people who had lived in certain neighborhoods for years, Ron being one of their victims. Wade only decided to tag along because he wanted to be included.

“Ah fuck, what’d those bastards do now?”

“They’re throwing some big party!”

“…What fucking for?”

“All I know some guy’s coming to visit, somebody they labeled important and he’s-“

“Woah woah woah wait, Ron. Who?”

“Steve Haines.” He breathed out, careful not to be overheard.

Trevor’s eyes widened, his gaze shooting over to the posse he had poked fun of before. Steve was talking to the group, all of them doing that fake laugh they always did. God, even their humor was pretentious.

“Those fucking hipsters!” He hissed.

“I abhor them, you know that-“

“I know. I know. But, that Weston guy’s gonna be there with him-“

“Weston? Devin Weston?”

If Trevor hated hipsters, then he utterly loathed rich daddy’s money boys like Devin Weston. He had only gotten that stupid fucking night club because his father paid Don Percival enough money to let Devin do whatever he pleased with the Merryweather body guards. It was an elitist club, and they only allowed the best of the best in there.

“What the fuck’s going on there?”

“Something to do with those guys he hangs out with. I think they’re doing something major, expansion maybe-”

“And him and Devin are working together or..?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t hear much after that, that’s why I wanted to grab you and Wade and-”

“Then let’s fucking go get him, Ron!”

The two rushed out of there, heading for the vinyl store to look for Wade. Trevor knew a shit storm was coming, and he absolutely couldn’t wait.

//the next chapter’s gonna be longer i promise lolz

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

Zena Lorell

Basics

Full Name: Zena Lorell

Age: 29 as of The Mandalorian: Season One

Sexual Orientation: Demisexual

Appearance

Species: Human

Skin Tone: Medium Tan

Eye Color: Hazel

Hair Color: Black

Hairstyle: Short curly bob

Build: Wiry

Height: 5’ 9”

Style: Usually seen in green work coveralls and boots; rarely ever completely clean

Personality

General Personality Traits: Stubborn, Compassionate, Guarded

Strengths: Intuitive, Dependable, Resourceful

Flaws: Abrasive, Stubborn, Withdrawn

Habits And Mannerisms: Always has to be fiddling with something be it tools, a loose coin or even just her hair

Secrets: There was a time, right when everyone her age was leaving either enlisting in the Imperial army or running off to the rebellion where she wished her father would just die already. She felt awful thinking it. Her father wasn’t a bad man, but he was a drunk a couldn’t look after himself. There were times he’d go on a bender and she hoped maybe she’d wake up, somebody would knock on her door and tell her, her father was gone. But it didn’t happen, and she would get this twisting feeling in her stomach every time the thought crossed her mind.

Regrets: Not leaving Mir years ago

Skills/Talents: Brilliant mechanic, excellent judge of character, able to contort herself into small spaces despite her height

Likes: Puzzles, Open skies, Exploring new planets

Dislikes: Alcohol, Thunder, Having to wear anything with a skirt

Guilty Pleasure: Doesn’t have many pleasures to feel guilty about; however I do see her having the equivalent of basic bitch music taste, will listen to any bad cheesy pop song that comes over the airwaves in a galaxy far far away

Defining Moment: Realizing the money doesn’t really matter to her anymore and she just wants to stay on The Razor Crest

Relationships

Friends: None really, she has acquaintances and not much else. But, Din gets there eventually.

Enemies: Imps (Imperials)

Rivals: She’s always in friendly competition with fellow mechanics to find the quickest and more efficient solution, but that’s all business. No personal rivals to speak of.

Lovers: She has an ex-boyfriend who went off to fight in the rebellion and never came back. She doesn’t know if that means he’s dead or just never wanted to come back. Other than that, nothing.

Relationship Status: Single and not interested in mingling. (At least at the moment)

Reputation: Doesn’t flirt and has a hard time recognizing when she’s being flirted with; has been called the equivalent of “fringed bitch” in a variety of languages over the years

Miscellaneous

Current Residence: The Razor Crest

Collections: Various fine tools meant for a variety of droids, ships and so on

Accent: Standard American

Voice: Low and a little husky

Signature Quote: “You owe me.”

Song: TBA

Backstory

Zena was born in a small outpost on the plateaus of Mir, a small planet in the far most reaches of the Outer Rim. Living so far from the core worlds, the population of Mir was able to stay out of The Clone Wars since neither the Republic nor the Separatist thought it held any strategic value. If was only after the end of the war did the population start to feel the reach of the Empire. Zena spent her early life following her father around in his workshop, asking questions when she could and staying quiet when men in uniforms and white armor came in to make special requests.

It was also during this time, she started to become aware of her father’s problems with alcohol. While he was functional for the most part, there was more than one occasion where she and her mother would have to go into the shop and finish wiring on a droid or ship just before the costumer arrived. Between her and her mother, they were able to keep it all together. Her father had a better grip on himself and was always loving and supportive when he was sober. But, things took a turn for the worse when Zena’s mother died unexpectedly leaving it just the two of them when she was seventeen.

Her father took it badly and Zena essentially inherited the business, working hard to keep them afloat. It was also during this time a lot of her friends were leaving Mir. The Imperial Academy was a guarantee ticket off world and promised a steady paycheck to send back to the folks and the ability to see the galaxy. A lot of people took it, despite a lot of grumbling about “core world folks butting their noses into people’s business”. Others still were starting to get wise to what a threat the Empire was. Rebels cells were growing on neighboring planets and some left without a word.

Zena wanted to join them, but she knew she couldn’t leave her father all on his own, even if she could send him money. So, she stayed and soon enough, she was left behind. She honed her craft, gaining a reputation of being one of the best mechanics in the system. There were still moments where her dad would sober up long enough to help in the shop and the two of them could have long conversations like they used to, but like clockwork he’d find himself in the cantina again and Zena would be left on her own.

She kept on like that until finally the alcohol finally took its toll. Her father died in his sleep when she was twenty four, just after Mir had gotten news of the destruction of the second Death Star and the death of the Emperor. She was free.

For the next five years, she started saving money. Every little bit of credits she could hoard together, she kept hidden all over her house. She was going to leave Mir. She was going to get her own ship, be her own Captain, and fly away from that hellhole and never look back. Finally, she was going to do what she wanted to do. That is, until a Mandalorian came into her shop asking for information.

[sugarcomatosed]

On Miyuki Inaba and Macross:

I’ve heard nothing but love for wave 2-10 of destruction; but I’ve realized that the scene loses some of its magic for western audience because they don’t know it’s a shout out. 

So today I want to break down for you today the biggest reference in 13 Sentinels you most likely missed out on; Miyuki Inaba, Lynn Minmay and The Super Dimensional Fortess Macross.

Join me under the cut for massive spoilers for Sentinels of course, and a nearly 40 year old anime you’ve never seen.

I think everyone knows Sentinels is chock full of sci-fi shout outs. From War of the Worlds, to Terminator, The Matrix, heck even GroundHog’s day, the list goes on and on. Most western audiences will be able to spot the bulk, so why haven’t you heard of Macross?

Simply put, copyright battles. In 1985, Hamorny Gold stitched together three unrelated animes to create Robotech. One of the anime series involved was Macross and Harmony Gold has kept a tight leash on the copyright preventing the series from ever getting a real proper English release ever since.

...so what is Macross?

Well, in super blunt Wikipedia stolen summaries:

Macross (マクロス, Makurosu, English: /məˈkrɒs/) is a Japanese science fiction mecha anime media franchise/media mix, created by Studio Nue (most prominently mechanical designer Shōji Kawamori) and Artland in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth and the human race after the year 1999, as well as the history of humanoid civilization in the Milky Way. It consists of four TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel, and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West Advertising, in addition to 40 video games set in the Macross universe, 2 crossover games, and a wide variety of physical merchandise.

If you asked me to boil the series down to it’s three staples I’d pick the following three elements. Big robot fights, love triangles and music, usually all interplaying together to make some of the most exciting fight scenes in anime.

The series is going strong in Japan ever since its 1982 release, with the most recent series Macross Delta’s newest film “Absolute Live!!!!!!” getting its first teaser trailer days before I sat down to write this post. It’s insanely big in Japan and you’ve probably seen a half dozen Macross references if you’ve watched a sci-fi anime before. Most likely the signature missile blast.

Sentinels pulls specifically from the 1984 film: the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? The story is largely a shortened version of the first tv series which aired in 82 and is considered in canon a film retelling of the events.

The film focuses on a colony ship adrift through space suddenly being attacked by an alien race called the Zentardi, it’s both a war film and a very quiet drama all tangled up in the three central characters of Hikaru Ichijo, the young pilot, Misa Hayase, one of the bridge officers and then Miss Macross herself; Lynn Minmay.  An idol singer aborad the ship who has during its journey become a huge celebrity after starting as a simple waitress at her family’s restaurant. 

Minmay is considered something of the face of the series and while other characters may never come up again in its extended universe, the story of Lynn Minmay is akin to legend in later entries in the seires. 

When mankind was faced with these invaders, there was one simple thing that managed to send the enemy into disarray, the music of Lynn Minmay shocked the Zentardi who had no concept of culture and music. They end up capturing her and the other two leads during the course of the film and while the others manage to escape; Minmay is trapped behind with the Zentardi.

They eventually ask her to look and exam a relic they’ve kept on board their ship, and Minmay discovers it’s of all things, a song.

So, if isn’t obvious enough by this description alone, Miyuki is modeled after Minmay. It’s not a 1 to 1, but the curls in her hair and the style of her outfit make it even more obvious.

They have a lot of the same general vibes too, Minmay over the course of the film becomes a tragic melancholic figure and a symbol of the war effort against her will. Her sweet dreamy smile and glittering energy become subdued as she faces set back over setback. She remains strong up until a point behind her facade of confidence until she discovers Hikaru now has feelings for Misa. Culminating in the finale of the film where a despair filled Minmay refuses to sing because it all seems pointless.

Miyuki foils this of course with her journey from the plucky Tomi Kisaragi of a prior loop to a ghost in the machine; a somber beautiful figure but a changed person. She only has this role she’s taken on in the end. All she can do to impact the out come of this fight is sing and hope Shu hears her.

In the finale, Minmay is given a wake up call and asked by Hikaru to sing her song and try to save the lives of everyone left aboard the macross. Roused from her despair, Minmay agrees and the final battle is set to the tunes of the song the Zentardi had shown her, now with lyrics Misa had translated. At long last reaching them and halting the conflict.

This is of course, what 2-10 is a direct reference too. Miyuki sings Seaside Vacation until she can’t be heard any longer.

Even if you’ve never seen the film, the clip alone is a treat in itself. It’s a lovely piece of animation 

But Macross’s influences go deeper than just Miyuki and the original Macross. In Macross Plus, the primary idol is the artificial intelligence Sharon Apple. She is also it’s major villian as her AI becomes destabilized during the course of the film.

With the illegal modifications installed in Sharon takes control of the capital of Earth with her music and nearly destroys the city. Miyuki’s character is all Minmay, but her role in the story is a heroic Sharon Apple.

And outside of Miyuki, Macross references and influences can be spotted in Tomi’s story in which she and Nenji are trapped in 2025 and he begins to fall for her mirrors the arc that occurs between Hikaru and Misa after they escape the clutches of the Zentardi. The pair find themselves trapped on a mysterious planet, which turns out to be Earth rampaged by the Zentardi. Misa and Hikaru’s hostility towards each other fades as they try to come to grips with this truth. They spend a long time alone in the ruins and eventually fall in love before eventually being saved by the Macross. Which, is roughly what occurs in Tomi’s story between her and Nenji.

Shu’s story as well, with the minor focus on his confusion of his feelings towards Tomi and Yuki are also arguably a tongue in cheek reference towards the series many Love triangles, which aren’t always true triangles but always remain a corner stone of the series. 

Does Shu actually have feelings towards Tomi? No but she’s showing up everywhere and it’s left him a little out of sorts and plays into the misinformation sentinels feeds you, leading you to think there’s a triangle of some sorts:

Maybe they’re stretches, but considering it was stated in an interview the film was a huge inspiration for the game, I wouldn’t be shocked. I found the interview on twitter back in November but can’t track it down now and I’m v. sad

There’s also the matter of the Protoculture.

The Macross is a massive colony ship, sent out into space with the goal of returning to earth after a long space voyage to insure humanity’s survival, much like the probes the 2188 colony sent out. Misa and Hikaru return to find this was the only thing that’s had prevented humanity from being wiped by the Zentardi.

While on earth, Misa and Hikaru manages to discover a set of ruins of a highly advanced civilization that had created both humanity and the Zentardi. The protoculture.

The logs they manage to Find reveal that their inventions grew too great and they have all but disappeared from the universe, but humanity in the end are aliens as well. The invading Zentardi were just tools used by the Protoculture to wage war on itself and contributed to the death of their people.

The song Minmay sings is a relic of the Protoculture, an ancient highly advanced civilization from thousands of years ago.

Now Hm. Why does that sound familiar? What was it Fluffy said about 2188 and the Deimos code....

They’re obviously not 1-1 references, but Sentinels was such a labor of love that pulled from so many genres it’s nice to see such an iconic series get a well thought out reference. 

I hope this was something of a fun read and gives you a better love of Miyuki and 2-10.

I don’t know if I’d recommend getting into Macross if you liked Sentinels, but if you’re interested send me an ask and I could probably give you a helpful breakdown. I love both series so much and consider them my top two sci-fi! 

[hyperfixationtimego]

Happy little hcs to atone for my sins

Taka and Hina are study buddies

Sometimes Aoi manages to get Taka off track because she’s just so enthusiastic and wants to hear about all of her friends’ hyperfixations and special interests

37.2 minutes later

Taka’s infodumping about how he despises moral philosophy but also thoroughly enjoys it bc that’s how moral philosophers are

Or he’s infodumping about political science and debate tactics and how speeches were effective or not for various reasons

Sakura and Mondo work out together

It started off as a coincidence when they were in the gym at the same time but it kept happening so they called it a schedule

They talk about their SOs and they’re smiling

Sakura teaches Mondo certain stretches and exercises to help relax different muscle groups for whenever he pulls a muscle or has a flare up from the thing with the bikes

Leon constantly asks Chihiro to turn alter ego into a vocaloid or at least program a bit of that tech into their system

Bc he would rather shave his head again than talk to Sayaka about producing music

He just has so many ideas

And it’s cool when there are kinda punk rock songs that are covered in an 8-bit or a vocaloid style

Byakuya and Celeste have a small series of bets with low stakes about what their inferiors classmates will do to lead up to them jingling away morosely like the fools they are

Sayaka shamelessly advertises her group’s mercy to her classmates and friends

Everyone gets their nails painted at some point

Nobody knows how Byakuya got roped into it but it worked

Makoto has rainbow loom

Atua forgives you

anyway YEAH LEGIT?

Hina has fully and thoroughly fallen in love with all of her friends and classmates’ expressions whenever they’re talking about something that excites them omg 🥺

she sees someone rambling and having a good time and hears the enthusiastic pitch of their voice as well as the general Vibe™️ that they’re giving off and she just???? [Y E A R N]

:)

and also just???? her and taka being study buddies is so valid oh my god??? they’re really close because of it!!! And Taka always loves hanging out with her because he knows she’ll let him just Talk??? and he adores that about her????? And she’ll be ENGAGED which!!!!!! oh my god!!!!?????

hi in this house we love and adore hina

And Sakura and Mondo???? absolutely?????

they have friendly competitions over who can lift the most weights/do the most reps/etc. (they do it sparingly, ofc! bc Sakura at least knows that they’ll both be subconsciously trying to beat the other as opposed to listening to what their bodies need in the moment. Sakura is the single braincell of class 78 no I won’t take it back because it’s true)

and they totally doooooo like they both get such cute loveydovey pining expressions whenever it’s Their Turn™️ to discuss the latest cute thing their partner(s) did. and listening to the other talking???? oh my god it’s literally the neatest thing????

Sakura looking at Mondo: I would die for this man

Mondo looking at Sakura: this woman is literally beauty and perfection in human form

THEY’RE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS OKAY???

also chihiro joins them for training sometimes!!!! She obviously isn’t able to do as much as the other two are, but both Sakura and Mondo are always so proud of her progress??? They’re like “you are so cool and strong do you know that??? you better know that”

and speaking of chihiro hdbdvdvdvdvdvdvdvd on GOD Leon will Not leave them alone abt it and they’re just like

“y....you do NOT have the attention span,.......you’re gonna get frustrated within like the first five minutes......and then I’ll have done all that work for nothing..............”

but Leon’s >:( no I won’t!!!! music is my Passion!!!!!!!!

so it’s like *sigh* okay

and anyway leon genuinely does rlly like it???? like he gets burned out very easily and can only compose things in short bursts, but he’s always so so so proud of the finished products??? (Even if nobody else likes it but shush 😌)

and it makes chihiro :D to know that something she made (even if it was done with reluctance) has brought one of her closest friends so much happiness????? she’s also like good for Leon but also if he ever bothers them about something like that again they are Literally Going to Snap but that’s another story for another day vwv

AND YEAH LIKE. HE DOESN’T MIND TALKING TO HER ABT MUSIC IN GENERAL BECAUSE IT’S AN INTEREST THEY SHARE (quite possibly one of the only times they will have a conversation without one constantly insulting the other ❤️) BUT. ADMITTING TO HER THAT HE NEEDS HELP WITH IT IS THE WORST HE HATES IT HE HATES IT HSBDBSBD

god okay so. his first impression of her when they had just come to hope’s peak and met for the first time was “oh my god!!! she’s a pop idol!!! so she must know a lot about music!!! maybe she’ll help me become a popular musician!!!” and her immediate reaction when she first heard him ask was to literally roll her eyes and he was like oh okay fuck her actually

and then slow burn enemies-to-friends 💛

WHEBDVSVS CELESTE AND BYAKUYA JUST BEING RICH ASSHOLES IS SO FUNNY??? LIKE THEY HAVE WEALTH SOLIDARITY AND THEY ACT ALMOST LIKE alright your status makes you worthy of my time, I suppose-

they’ve had bets on everything from how many times kirigiri will pass out from exhaustion by the end of the school day, to how long it’ll take before Kirumi finally Loses Her Shit, to how many people will be harmed by Komaeda’s luck while hanging out with him.

Mfs about to die smh

and dhdbwvwbsvwvwb yeah like??? sometimes a normal conversation with maizono will turn into her being like “yeah, and by the way, if you’re looking for a change of style and wardrobe, you should check out the newest shirt my band just released as part of our merch drop, and-”

Makoto is the one who gets baited into her merch ads most often sndbsbsbdbdbw

even mentioning the word “merch” around Leon or Kaz will earn her a lot of groaning and sighing, and occasionally a pillow or other soft object being hurled at her face 💛

oh my god they all have a manicure spa day,,,,,,,class bonding 🥺

hdbdvdvdv they got Jill to break into his dorm and kidnap him ngl like the specifics they gave her were something along the lines of “use as much force as you need to without killing him” and she was like “DONE”

and okay I’m not gonna talk abt everyone’s nails but now I’m thinking about it and like-

Sayaka gets like a lighter violet background with gold and white stars smattered around them, more concentrated in some areas than others, and it’s generally very pretty 🥺

chihiro’s are a different solid pastel color on each finger!!! it’s very kidcore and fun and they love it so muchhhh!!!

leon gets a little self-conscious when it’s his turn because his nails are highkey disgusting from all the time he spends playing baseball - there’s dirt trapped under them and everything so he’s just like hhhhhhh anxiety go brrrr but anyway he gets solid black because he’s edgy and cool like that 😎

I think Taka gets a French manicure with little dark red flowers pressed towards the tips because!!! simple yet pretty!!!

Celeste probably takes the longest because her request is sooooo complicated like it’s black and red and long ass acrylics with overlapping patterns and everyone else just kinda sits there feeling h o r r i b l e for that poor nail stylist

Toko gets a checkerboard pattern, with each nail having a different neon color in place of white!!! Because she knows that Jill will find it cool and pretty and colorful the next time she fronts (visual stimming jill?? 👀)

Togami just picks whatever will get him out of the chair quickest hdbsvdvdvdbdbdb

anyway Makoto????? rainbow loom????? absolutely

he has so many bracelets!!!!! so many so many so many and he knows how to create such a wide variety of styles it’s so cool!!!!!! he wears a bunch of them at any given time because they are so fun to fidget with!!!! and rubber texture hvvvvhvv!!!!

and he creates personalized ones for his friends, too, like he knows their favorite colors and sometimes picks up on whether they prefer a certain style or not from the way they react to the other ones he’s made and it’s!!! just so neat!!!!!

I’m thinking about it and!!! he has a bi pride fishtail, a trans pride arrow stitch, a black and neon green railroad, a pastel pink/blue/purple/yellow ladder, a jelly yellow and green dragon scale, a rainbow double cross, and a bunch more!!! he also has a bunch with charms and beads added into them!!!!

He also makes them for his friends even if he knows they won’t wear them!! Like Toko, for example, isn’t the biggest fan of jewelry because she doesn’t like the texture, but he creates one for her anyway and fills it with so much love (it looks like a daisy chain!!!! because at least she’ll be able to look at it and hold it and still be interested in it without it needing to be on her wrist!!!)

he makes a ton of bright colored ones for Mukuro (usually either single or inverted fishtail because he knows she wouldn’t enjoy wearing anything too heavy or overbearing) so that she has more mobile visual stims!!!

similar for Jill!! although most of hers tend to be black and bright neon rainbow in various bulkier styles!!!! Jill will also force him to let her look at his bracelet-covered arm whenever they hang out because. my god,,,,,,so many Colors™️

he’s found that togami prefers black and white simpler styles, and that Kyoko absolutely adores singles, fishtails, and double fishtails in any shade of purple, and that Mondo likes any of the larger styles in darker colors + blacks and grays!!! Chihiro loves anything with jelly and glitter bands!!!

Leon usually only wears one at a time, but he cycles through every single one that his boyfriend’s ever made for him because????? GOD they’re so cool and his boyfriend is so crafty and incredible and just,,,,,,,,,hvvvhvv every time he looks at the one he’s wearing he’s able to calm himself down and remember that Makoto loves him........it’s also very good for stim and fidgeting <3

anyways sorry yes Makoto with a rainbow loom is filling me with serotonin and it’s canon now

[crusherthedoctor]

Can we have some unpopular Sonic opinions?

I tried to cram in a lot, so I hope this satisfies you. :P I tried to stick to the ones that I haven't brought up quite as often, since by this point, we all know that I think IDW's storytelling is dire, SA2's story is overrated, X Eggman is an embarrassing portrayal (at least from season 2 onwards), Blaze shouldn't be handcuffed to Silver, Shadow's backstory had issues with or without the Black Arms, Neo Metal Sonic looks silly, etc. But anyway, here we go:

- Knuckles may be tricky to incorporate into plots that don't relate to Angel Island, but making him obsessed with his duties is no better than having him forget about Angel Island entirely.

- I like Marine, and never found her annoying. Oh, I understood what they were trying to do with her, but I honestly wasn't put off by her, and found her Aussie lingo more endearing if anything. Since her debut was during the period in my life where where I couldn't stand Sonic himself, I instead thought he was irritating (and hypocritical) for getting annoyed with her for doing shit he would often be guilty of.

- Silver is just as guilty of being shoehorned into games and plots as the Deadly Six are. Having more fans than the latter is irrelevant, since we're still talking about a character who constantly has to time travel in order to be present.

- Speaking of Silver, if he has to stick around, please do something different with him. They've pulled the doomed future routine multiple times now, and it's been boring every single time. I wasn't interested when it involved Iblis. I wasn't interested when it involved Knuckles drinking the edgy Kool Aid. I wasn't interested when it involved a council of dumbasses... give it a rest already.

- The Tails Doll can work as a mildly creepy thing, with maybe more to it than meets the eye when it's time for a boss fight or what have you. But the memes about him stealing your soul are just dumb, and I thought it was dumb even back in my teenage youth.

- “Eggman is supposed to be clownish!” Yeah, well he's also meant to be a genuine villain with a 300 IQ. These qualities don't have to be mutually exclusive.

- “Sonic is supposed to have attitude!” Yeah, well that's not the same thing as being an absolute cunt. Sonic was only ever meant to come off as having an edge compared to Mario. He was never meant to be a GTA-tier protagonist.

- Rouge is not a villain, and never was a villain. Literally the whole point of her role in SA2 was to reveal that she was working against Eggman and Shadow the whole time, albeit using sneakier tactics to do so. You'd think all those people who exult SA2's story would remember this, but apparently not. She barely even qualifies as an anti-hero, since aside from stealing the Master Emerald, she rarely does anything morally questionable otherwise. She's got a lot more good in her than people give her credit for.

- Captain Whisker is a better Eggman Nega than the actual Eggman Nega. And as far as robot characters in this franchise go, Johnny's design is pretty underrated.

- I don't like Iblis or Mephiles, but I DO like Solaris, and it annoys me that it was out of focus for most of the story due to all the time spent on its less interesting halves. Had they kept the backstory with the Duke and his experiments, and worked from there, I think they could have provided an interesting contrast with Chaos (since Solaris can also qualify as a monster with a sympathetic backstory) instead of recycling the surface level schtick.

- Black Doom may technically be just as bad as Mephiles, Nega, Scourge, Mimic, etc, since he's yet another villain with one-note characterization and fucked over Eggman. But because he never gained a disproportionate fandom, he doesn't annoy me to the same extent. It's easier to ignore him by comparison, and his Dr. Claw voice and face shaped like a lady's delicate part make him enjoyable to mock.

- Likewise, while Lyric is also on the same level as these other villains, it's easier to dismiss him because I was never invested in the Boom games anyway, and being an obvious alternate universe (compared to Sonic X or IDW, which retain the Modern designs and plot elements), it never had an effect on the main series. I also unironically like his design, and if nothing else, at least this snake didn't start a hypnotism fetish across the internet.

- Sally - and the rest of the Freedom Fighters for that matter - have had their importance in the franchise severely inflated. They may have been lucky to be the face of popular media (SatAM and Archie), but they're not these magnificent entities that the game characters are but a speck of dust in comparison to. Having a “legacy” doesn't make them more entitled to shit than any other character, old or new.

- Conceptually, the treasure hunting gameplay is one of the better alternate gameplay styles IMO. But it was let down in SA2 by its one track minded radar (the levels may have been big, but I don't think that would have been an issue on its own if the radar was better). If they brought it back and made it more like SA1's treasure hunting, I'd be all for it, although it would probably be better suited for a spinoff title.

- This goes for a lot of games, but when it comes to 2D, I prefer sprites over models. Not that the Rush models are bad (though the ones in Chronicles sure as fuck are), but the sprites in Mania and the Advance trilogy are just so charming and full of character.

- I actually like Marble Zone. Yeah, the level design is a bit blocky, but I love the concept of an underground temple prison, mixed with lava elements in a zone that otherwise isn't a traditional volcano level.

- I also like Sandopolis Zone. Again, completely understand why it's not the most popular zone around, but I've been a sucker for the Ancient Egyptian aesthetic since childhood (you can thank Crash 3 for that), and Act 1 is visually stunning.

- I prefer the JP soundtrack for Sonic CD over the US version overall... but I also prefer Sonic Boom over You Can Do Anything.

- SA2's soundtrack isn't bad by any means - I love Rouge's tracks, and The Last Scene is one of my favourite pieces of music - but as far as variety goes, it's a step down from SA1's soundtrack.

- If Sonic X-Treme had been released, it probably would have been unenjoyable and confusing. Whatever your thoughts on SA1, it was probably the better option between the two as far as Sonic's first legitimate translation into 3D goes.

- I have no qualms with Modern Sonic and the other Modern designs and characters, but I also fully acknowledge that changing gears from Adventure onwards - and doing it with a great amount of fanfare - was always going to create one of the biggest divides in the fandom, and fans shouldn't act surprised that this happened. The fact that they felt the need to hype up a new design and direction in the first place (compared to Mario, who has mostly been the same since the beginning, with only the occasional minor change with little fanfare) also indicates that they weren't confident enough in Sonic and his universe being the way it was, which often gets ignored by all the “SEGA have no confidence!!!” complaints you see with their recent games.

- Unleashed did not deserve the incredibly harsh reviews it received back in the day... but it doesn't deserve its current sacred cow status either. It had more effort put into it than '06 to be sure, and I can respect that, but much of it was misguided effort, and even if you like the Werehog, you have to admit that the idea came at the absolute worst time. The intro cutscene may be awesome, as is the Egg Dragoon fight, but 2% doesn't make up the entire game. Chip was also quite annoying, and I wasn't particularly sad when he pressed F in the chat at the end.

- On the other hand, while Colours definitely has its shortcomings, and people have every right to criticse those shortcomings, a lot of its most vocal detractors tend to have a stick up their arse about the game because people actually enjoyed it, and it had a gimmick that people actually liked. Yes, it may have been the first game to have those writers everyone hates, but then SA1 was the first game to give the characters alternate gameplay styles and have other villains upstage Eggman, so...

- Forces is absolutely not on the level of '06. It's nowhere close. A game being flawed does not make it the next '06, clickbait YouTubers. Or should I say, the game they want to retroactively apply '06's reception to, since they've been trying hard to magically retcon '06's own quality...

- To echo @beevean, ALL of the 3D stories have their issues. SA1 is probably the most well-rounded of them on the whole, but even that one isn't perfect.

- To echo another opinion, although I do love SA1, I'm not crazy over the idea of a remake, and would prefer them to just take Sonic's gameplay from SA1 and work from there. Because with a remake, you're stuck in a hard spot: Do you keep it the way it is bar the expected graphical upgrades, and risk accusations of not doing anything to actually improve the experience? Or do you try to address past criticisms, and risk the wrath of the fans who will inevitably go on a #NotMyAdventure crusade about it? What people fail to consider is that the Crash and Spyro remakes were accepted gracefully because their original iterations were still unanimously beloved for the most part, whereas SA1 - and especially SA2 - have always been divisive, and have only gotten moreso over the years.

- People take their preferences for the character's voice actors too seriously. I have my own favourites like anyone else, but I don't make a big deal out of it.

- And with fandom voice actors, they usually focus too much on doing a basic impression of their preferred official voice actor, and not enough on the acting. So you end up getting a lot of fan voices who sound like decent impressions of Ryan Drummond or Jason Griffith on the surface, but they sound utterly empty beyond that impression, because there's no oomph or depth to the actual emotions. They think about the actor rather than the character, when it should really be the other way around.

- The thing with Ian Flynn is that he is capable of telling a decent story, and he can portray some characters well. But he's proven time and time again that everything will go off the rails if he's given too much freedom (ironic, given how quick he is to point the finger at mandates when something goes wrong).

- Ian Flynn and Shiro Maekawa are not the only people in the world who are allowed to write for Sonic. I understand that one should be cautious when seeking out new writing talent, but for all the fandom's accusations of playing it safe, they sure aren't in a rush to experiment outside of their own comfort zone.

- And of course, the big one: You don't fix the franchise's current problems by crawling back to its previous problems. It's much more helpful and constructive to discuss the good and bad alike with each of the games. Less “THIS GOOD, MODERN BAD”, and more “This could work, but maybe without that part...”

[rotzaprachim]

Oh man as an aspie who clung onto the idea of autistic Nicky as soon as I watched the film, I'm super interested in knowing what people think his special interests are- I personally hc that he acquires a new one every century or so and sometimes that dictates where he and Joe travel

ohhhh ok time for my quarantine comfort hobby which is projecting upon fictional side characters in action movies! i think some of the big things for me about special interests is that they can be literally everything, and can also last for years or fade quickly! so some things that come too me off the top of my head, and although i totally think they all have a massive array of skills they’ve picked up over the years, i totally think Nicky is the one who is constantly pulling upexpected hobbies + skills out of his back pocket like ah yes. here is a perfectly executed lariat technique from 1800′s Sonora and here’s how to fix the wiring in a radio and write in mid 20th century secretarial shorthand at some point he picked up an incredibly amount of information about rare tree frogs of nicaragua and suminagashi, neither of which even Joe knew about. 

but anyway. some key Interests vaguely in order of CHronology 

- sailing + ocean stuff (also thanks to @captainshakespear !!! for a lot of the ideas on this one) 

i am a big believer in sailor Nicky! not an expert on medieval Genova or anything, but with my preferred background of him as being from a more modest background (not everyone in history was a royal, y’all) i think it’s quite likely his family earned their trade this way (or by fishing?). (might actually write a fic as sometimes i think it’s uh easier to write out characters thought processes than describe them but anyway) i have a real soft spot for Nico the kiddo who spent hours silently watching the sea either from the shoreline or his father’s fishingboat and who even if he had to be called by his mother three times for dinner and had a hard time focusing on conversations, understood the language of sails and ropes and knots from an early age 

- related to that- tying seaman’s knots 

- not to phrase this strangely but. religion 

there’s actually a lot of complexity to talk about with autistic people and religion/religious observance that i haven’t seen talked about much but! many thoughts on the this i might also expand upon later. Nicky eventually became a priest, even! 

but i do think that in the clamor and chaos of a medieval port city the ritualism and structure of religion would have been deeply comforting. the extremely set structure or a catholic mass, which quickly becomes the only time of the week where he’ll already know almost all of the words, and the feeling of wrapping his fingers around the rosary beads and counting through the decades. his mother’s been doing her best to raise all her children in the Faith, but she sees how fervantly her youngest actually remembers his prayers and sticks to them at the same time ever day on his own and is a little surprised. 

also like, lives of the saints! which are often exceedingly odd and strange, but Nico was like eh they’re Saints right they’re good this is a Normal THing to be Interested in and then lists off all the ways a few of the interesting ones were martyred over dinner. 

(but also in all of this he was definitely. a seven year old constantly questioning if God was real or not or could ever be kind when there were so many bad things in the world.) (we love projection.) and also a seven year old deeply interested in death and what happened afterwards. all things die. 

more to discuss later when i’m not about to fall asleep but! I think these interests lasted into his immortal life and long past the battlefield, especially as he starts to learn more and more about everyone the society and expression of faith in his first life taught him to hate. there definitely needs to be.. subtlety here, and he never intrudes on any closed traditions/is always respectful, but over the centuries he studies many, many holy texts and traditions from around the world, by himself and with Yusuf and also in various kinds of institutions and houses of learning. a LOT of religious text and discussion is surprisingly technical stuff about the practicalities of daily life or finer points of theologic debates as much as it is, like, the Big Picture, and also the finer point and big picture questions can be deeply related. anyway. 

- medicine

for all that there are a lot of autistic characters who are scientists, i rarely see one who’s a doctor/medical researcher and has that connected to their empathy and desire to heal others? but i very very much think Nicky has been a medic/involved in medicine and medical research since shortly after his first death and his centuries in the medieval Islamicate world with Yusuf, and has watched the way medicine has developed over the centuries, and is really fascinated by things like biochemistry and kept really studious logs of it all.  

- music esp guitar + folk music

also pretty fun to think about with so much of the history of stringed instruments linking to cross cultural trade around the mediterranean + Islamicate worlds, love the idea that Nicky has always kind of liked folk songs and music but has learned over time a number of varieties of stringed instruments starting with the oud, with his favorite being the guitarra batente and Hawaiian steel guitar with the slack-key playing style. sometimes he sings but a lot of his appreciation for music and stringed instruments especially is about the emotions that can be expressed without any words at all! 

- miscellanous other things 

the parts of a sniper rifle + shooting techniques, various kinds of sniper rifle scopes, buying + haggling for the best quality kinds of art supplies for yusuf, cooking, he reallllly doesn’t understand digital anything or the internet but he does like the elegance of electrical wiring and circuits, actually reads all the manuals that come with appliances for the interest value and is the one who wires safehouses to be off the grid and is just like. very good at odd household jobs + fixing things (which Joe finds unspeakably hot), he accidentally ended up as a star batter on a minor league baseball team at some point in the 1920′s and has an incredibly knowledge of baseball scores and runnings since even tho it’s literally one of like two sports who’s rules he understands and can focus on for more than five minutes (the other sport is the irish national treasure hurling), aforementioned nicaraguan tree frogs, in the last couple decades has gotten really concerned about biodiversity loss and the importance of protecting genetic diversity of species and crops, the large scale data of public health crises + antibiotic resistance, which he gives copley a long talk on basically the first time he speaks to him at all and which has copley pulling out a red sharpie and scribbling how massively he’s misjudged Nicolo di Genova, over the last few hundred years he’s become super concerned about medical + bioethics and the various technologies involved in that, stained glass window symbolism, angry birds and cooking 

[wyattvsmusic]

Tyler, The Creator - CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST ALBUM REVIEW

One of my favorite lines on Tyler, The Creator’s last album IGOR was @new album no repeat, I reset.” That lyric completely embodies how with each album that he puts out every 2 years, Tyler comes out with a unique approach that is always completely different from the last which sets him apart from other artists. IGOR was one of Tyler’s best albums to date and was definitely stylistically different as the emphasis was more on the melody than the rapping (which was still great). With his new album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, Tyler is taking it back to basics with a Gangsta Grillz-style album hosted by DJ Drama. The last time Tyler and Drama linked was back in 2012 for the song Im’a Hata on Drama’s Quality Street Music album. When I say basics, I means beats and raps which for a Tyler album, is different than most. This album definitely feels like a gangsta grillz mixtape and it plays like one as it includes unexpected yet seamless transitions between songs and the way the song Lumberjack is instantly wheeled-up as it starts. DJ Drama’s signature energetic drops and catchphrases never fail to get you hype when you hear them and made me a bit nostalgic of the mixtape era. It starts with Tyler rapping over the instrumental for Westside Gunn’s song Michael Irvin which surprised the shit out of me. Tyler and Westside and collaborated before but it was phenomenal and he sounded really good over that particular beat. It was also interesting because Tyler is known for producing all of his albums entirely. Tyler is very meticulous in what instrumentation or sounds he uses and where they are placed in the songs as well as the placement of the features. I like how he uses DJ Drama to fill in on certain parts between his verses and the chorus or even at the beginning or end of a song. CMIYGL marks the first somewhat Odd Future reunion in a while as Domo Genesis comes through with a showstealing appearance on Manifesto. Lil Wayne has never given Tyler a bad verse on his past albums and Hot Wind Blows is no exception. Wayne floated effortlessly over that beat and rhymed exceptionally well. I would love a Wayne album produced by Tyler. The lyrical content is also very interesting as it explores Tyler’s sexuality but is probably his most introspective album to date. He came out on Flower Boy but hasn’t put any labels on how he identifies which he doesn’t have to do at all. I liked the line on Massa where he says “Everyone I ever loved had to be loved in the shadows / Tug-o-war with X and Y felt like a custody battle.” Massa is probably my favorite song on the album also because of how Tyler reflects on his own evolution creatively. With Flower Boy and IGOR, he gained a lot of new fans who he probably wouldn’t have gained if he kept making music like Goblin and Wolf and he comments on how he’s shifted musically throughout his catalog. He raps, “That caterpillar went to cocoon, do you get me? / See, I was shiftin', that's really why Cherry Bomb sounded so shifty / My taste started changin' from what it was when they met me / But first impression is everything, ain't wanna let me go.” His old fans that he got that first impression want to hold onto the old music but he started making music when he was a kid and as he’s grown, his taste has expanded and he sees Cherry Bomb as the album where his taste shifted. In addition to the lyrics, I love the variety in the production. He’s got some smooth and slower beats to rap like Wilshire and melodic jams like Wusyaname. On the other hand, he’s got songs like Juggernaut that go hard as fuck. That song makes me absolutely floor it when I’m driving. Pharrell’s verse on that song is one of the best on the album and Lil Uzi Vert’s feature wasn’t too bad either. One thing that surprised me was that reggae-sounding beat on I Thought You Wanted To Dance. I do love this album but it is far from my favorite as I just prefer how some of his others sound and the actual songs by themselves. I do like how different this album is from his others and how he raps on it. Tyler has yet to put out a bad album and this is yet another great one. 

Fav Tracks: SIR BAUDELAIRE, LUMBERJACK, HOT WIND BLOWS, MASSA, MANIFESTO, JUGGERNAUT, SAFARI