#I love the games but i'm critical of it as well they aren't perfect

[valmnera]

One of the worst things they did to Richter was giving him a generic backstory where a woman is fridged. There has been many animes where the main character's mother dies. They literally created an oc for the sole purpose of killing her off.

What's worse is that Richter's arc in the games doesn't involve fridging! But sure, what a progressive show.

[divine-donna]

for me...formidable

i'm going to commit to the bit and make this a real thing. because i like the idea of tashi getting her fellow tennis player back in the game.

this will also be another time where i'm specifying reader's gender. so a female reader. and they're the same age as tashi.

unfortunately did i technically make covid canon in the universe? yes. yes i did.

pairing: tashi duncan x fem! reader

context: 2019 (briefly), late 2020 - 2021

"are you just going to keep eyefucking your husband? or...?"

you turn your head back to look at her. "sorry." you feel the phantom feeling of pain shooting up your leg and your fingers go to scratch at the scar on your leg.

tashi glances over. your husband and hers. playing tennis in the country club. she can overhear the conversation from them. come on art! do it! beat me!

"and how are your kids?"

"they're fine. doing well in school. having fun at sleepaway camp. it's just me in the house. feels unnatural." your stomach churns at the thought of your kids.

that's not to say you didn't love them. you loved your triplets. but your triplets reminded you that you could have had a different path. you could've had them later after you won the coveted venus rosewater dish. to finish your collection of trophies on the shelf. to finish a grand slam career title.

you feared you had aged out of the sport. and that there was no chance for you. a comeback was out of your league.

"he still keeps you at home?"

"yeah. even though i saved his career." you take a sip of your virgin strawberry daquiri. "that whole speech, the whole rebrand idea...was me. it was my idea."

"he's been keeping you locked up since college. so i'm not surprised." tashi's fingers tap on the table as she looks out at the men playing tennis.

"locked up since i got my injury." you scoff. "hate it. i hate seeing that empty space on the shelf. there's enough room for another trophy. for wimbledon." you sniffle. you blink back the tears. your husband always scolded you for getting emotional about it.

"you healed. you recovered well." tashi cocks her head to the side, and she pushes her sunglasses up so they rest atop her head. "why aren't you playing?"

"dan says...some shit about not wanting me to get hurt again. it's real bullshit."

"yeah. it is. you should play."

you raise your eyebrows, looking at tashi. "tashi."

"what? you can do it. you're still young."

"i'm 31. i don't...i don't want to be one of those players that comes back way past their prime. besides, i wouldn't even know where to start-"

"i can coach you."

you nearly spat out your drink. you swallow it down and ignore how cold it is, how it painfully travels down your system. "huh!"

"i can coach you. feel like you're...a lot easier to work with than some other people." tashi leans back in her seat. you were always receptive to her advice and criticism back at stanford. you always took things to heart because you strived for perfection and for pushing yourself.

and secretly, tashi wanted to piss off your husband. she's always hated dan.

you purse your lips. "tashi i...no. don't. you don't need to!"

"art wants to retire. after he tries for the u.s. open. win or lose. he wants to retire. i need someone new. and i think you deserve a second chance."

"that's...that's if i can even play the same. i'm old! my body is...completely different from when we were in college. i have three kids-"

"dan can watch the kids, for once. just...you don't even have to tell me now. you can think about it. if you want to play but not go with me, that's fine too. i would just hate to see a stranger try to say what you should and shouldn't do."

after all, you deserve to be cared for by the woman who knows you the best.

lockdown was a time where you really sat and thought about your tennis career.

you were tired of just taking care of the kids all day, of being locked in with them all the time.

and what you hated the most was that empty space on your shelf, staring at it all day, every day. you hated it when your husband showed it off on facetime to his friends. he almost bragged about the fact that there was a missing trophy, that you were missing a grand slam.

about two months into lockdown, you text tashi.

– let's do this – comeback of the century, right? – and i want you on board

"art's excited for you."

"is he?" you look at her as she's writing something on the legal pad. she always enjoyed the feeling of the paper. she was writing with a pen you had bought her. it was from a stationary store and the kind that had a tiny tennis ball and tennis racquet attached to the clicker.

"i think he's just happy to...relax." she looks up, watching the way your body was being stretched by the trainer. "you're a little bit older. and you have some clotting issues since giving birth. i can get in touch with some people to help craft a suit that will help."

"tashi, don't you think we're doing too much?"

"we aren't. you're older. and your body is obviously different from art's. for one, you literally made and carried three kids. we just need to get you the right equipment, get your body back into shape, and train you up."

the look of hesitation does not go unnoticed. "we can stop at any time-"

"no. i want that dish." you say it through gritted teeth. "i'm going to fucking get it."

tashi feels her lips curl into a satisfied smile. "hell yes we are."

"i registered you for a tournament. they're starting to open things back up." tashi lightly hits the ball and watches the way your legs move with precision. you hit the ball and it knocks over the cone all the way to your left. "you're basically a whole new player. some people might remember you, some won't. so we're leaning towards a new public image." she hits another ball.

you hit it and knock over the final cone.

"what does dan think about all this?" she asks.

you shake your head, wiping the sweat off of your forehead. "i'm divorcing dan."

tashi raises her eyebrows. "oh. is everything okay?"

"everything is fine. i...just hated him. don't hate the kids. they're sweethearts. and he's wasn't around enough for them to really grow attached to him. i...i was trying to work things out when he swooped in like a hawk and shoved that ring on my finger." you loved not being able to wear it. "i finally worked those things out."

"good for you. you deserve better."

like her.

but tashi would never say that out loud.

charleston. the perfect opportunity for a comeback.

you've faced worse. you had to remind yourself of that. the charleston open was not as serious as the other tournaments of the past. your hands were cold and frigid beneath the air conditioning. and they were growing numb.

"hey. hey. you're going to do great."

tashi's hands are warm. they cup your face, making you look at her and deep into her brown eyes.

she's always so warm.

"i can't feel my fingers." you mutter.

"here." she moves her hands to take yours, pressing them flat together between her own. "warm enough?"

"i can...feel it coming back."

tashi watches the way your eyes look all over the place, how they take in the crevices of the wall. you were always an observant person. you always liked looking at the walls of the locker room.

the catsuit looked really good on you too.

"what if...this is all a mistake..." you mumble.

"then it would be a waste of hard work and materials." she doesn't mean to sound cold. "and technically, you would have divorced dan for no reason."

you finally look at her. her eyes are soft. and you understand. she sees another shot within you. the same kind of shot she saw within art.

"yeah. i guess." there's the remnant of a laugh leaving you.

tashi leans forward. her lips are soft. and she tastes like prosecco. her perfume is warm with spices.

you kiss her back, leaning towards her, leaning into her. it feels right. kissing her feels right. just like that one time you two kissed in the showers at stanford.

tashi pulls away. she feels your hands. your hands were warm. hers were a little cold now.

"decimate that bitch."

[adamsmasher]

Okay it's after 1am and I've had a lot of wine so obviously it's time for a late night wall-of-text post, but this time it's less likely to piss off your weird uncle or whatever because once again, I gotta talk about the best $4.99 a month I've ever spent.

Please, if you haven't yet, I'm begging you to look into all of the incredible content available on the Dropout.tv streaming service (formerly known as College Humor) . Not only did Whose Line Is It Anyway's Wayne Brady say that the Dropout crew are the only ones doing improv comedy on the same level as Whose Line, but they were also one of the only studios/streaming services allowed to work during the writers' strike because their contracts went above and beyond industry standards. (And, from my own observations, Dropout LOVES hiring queer, trans/nonbinary, and BIPOC performers + crew. Obviously I don't know much about the industry, but they seem like one of the most inclusive companies in Hollywood.)

"Alex, thanks for the recommendation! What shows do they have that you think I'll like?" Oh, you're asking me to gush about my favorite tv shows? Don't mind if I do!!!

Are you D&D curious, but took one look at actual play shows like Critical Role and thought "6 hours an episode? and there's like 750 episodes or whatever? oh baby not my adhd ass..." Don't worry, me too (sorry CR I love you I promise). But Dropout has a show called "Dimension 20" where comedians play Dungeons and Dragons with emotional, immersive storytelling, gut-busting laughs, and spectacular set design that makes you forget it's a fully improvised series controlled by the roll of the dice. They even did a miniseries perfect for D&D beginners called "Dungeons and Drag Queens" where absolute novices and Drag Race royalty Jujubee, Monet X Change, Alaska Thunderfuck, and Bob the Drag Queen embark on an adventure full of mystery, intrigue, and stupidity. I mean, Alaska plays a muscle-bound, axe-wielding, caveman-grunting Orc named Princess, what more could you want? Plus, the primary game master Brennan Lee Mulligan is so easy on the eyes. Oh, you're not into dorky ginger dudes? How about Aabria Iyengar, a 6 foot tall goddess who's equally as nerdy as Brennan but loves basketball. that's right, if nothing else, there's eye candy for every person in every season.

"Oh, why aren't there any good game shows on TV?" you wonder, wishing that the Game Show Network could come up with something that isn't a lame remake of a free-to-play phone game. Well how about Game Changer, "the only game show where the game changes every show (except for [...] Game of Games, Taskmaster, and a few others that have come to light AFTER [Game Changer first aired]. That's right, [the] players have no idea what game it is they're about to play. The only way to learn is by playing, the only way to win is by learning, and the only way to begin is by beginning." And yes, I did sit there and watch the beginning of an episode to make sure I was accurately quoting Game Changer host (and Dropout CEO) Sam Reich's description of his flaghship game show that has THREE separate spin-offs. (for context, he only mentions the other shows that copied his in the one episode I pulled up to get an accurate quote. could you imagine how uncomfortable it would be if he said that every episode? hah!)

Are you more of a traditional Whose Line fan? Look no further than Game Changer spin-off Make Some Noise, where contestants act out "improvisational prompts that [they have] never seen before, isn't that right contestants?" ("We won't know if we've seen them before or not until we see them!" Brennan insists every time he's on...)

You like musicals but wish they were less... ya know, scripted? Check out "Play It By Ear", a fully improvised musical! (you may be familiar with its primary cast members Jess McKenna and Zach Reino from the podcast that inspired it all, "Off Book: the Improvised Musical Podcast with Zach and Jess")

Or maybe you're more into trivia, cuz you're a total nerd like me (and every single performer that's ever appeared on dropout.tv). How about "Umm, Actually" where contestants are given an incorrect statement and have to buzz in to correct it - but you have to say "Umm, Actually" first!

Straight up, you can't go wrong on Dropout. Please, check it out. They're nearly doubling the amount of original shows they have in 2024, and no other streaming service is doing it like them. If I haven't convinced you yet, get the 7 day trial and give em a chance. There's no referral code I can give you that gives me some sort of kickback or whatever, I genuinely wrote what looks like a thousand word essay about Dropout at 1am just because I love them so much.

[kittydoremi]

Minor rant

I don't really like when some extreme s0namy/amy fans try to push stuff like s0namy was always perfect and amy was always perfectly written. It seems nowadays as a result of how Amy was treated in the 2000s, the fandom has become overly defensive of her. And yes I agree that she was treated badly by the fandom in the 2000s, and I'm glad she's getting treated better now. But that doesn't mean that every game or Sonic X episode had a perfectly written Amy, or that every sonamy interaction was perfectly healthy and/or mutual.

It kind of feels like Sonic's feelings are being underminded in the situation. Yes, Sonic may have a soft spot for her and appreciate her affection, but there are also times were that affection overwhelmed him and was taken to far, and he didn't like it. For example in Battle, Heroes, Advance 3, Rush, and several moments in Sonic X. It isn't always "oh Sonic has to stop running and accept Amy's affection, oh he likes it he's just shy" no sometimes he just doesn't like it and is actively shown to be uncomfortable.

You cannot tell me that he liked being threatened by her hammer for "not confessing his love" in Advance 3, that he liked being chased by her with her hammer at the end of Rush (he looked visibly uncomfortable), or that he liked being possibly under a love spell in Sonic X, among other things.

It's okay if Amy's writing wasn't always perfect, and there were times her writing and the s0namy dynamic weren't portrayed well. It's okay if Sonic didn't always like her romantic advances. And it's okay to point that out. Not everything is just trying to shit on Amy or s0namy.

Not every s0namy or Amy fan is like this, don't get me wrong, most aren't. But it's something I've been seeing alot lately, people being unable to criticize moments of Amy or s0namy without being accused of just hating, or bad moments being twisted to look as good as possible because of how badly Amy used to be treated by the fandom.

[atopvisenyashill]

What do you think is driving Corlys's thinking about his succession, in the show? Especially not liking Joffrey or Rhaena as potential heirs? Is it to do with blood or age or gender? Or about his perceived idea of what an heir should be? Or all? Or something else?

UGH okay so I want to start this off by saying Corlys is one of my favorite characters from the Dance, I think he's soooo well conceived as a parallel/a play on the same trope as like Tywin, Tyrion, Bloodraven (ish), and I think Corlys' story is going to be massively important to how Tyrion's endgame plays out so I definitely feel like I look at his writing with a much more critical eye. That plus him being one of the only characters of color in both shows that is a main character, and also being the darkest skinned person of them all by far, in general, I just think about him a lot lol.

SO.

I think his writing is soooo confusing most of the time. I'm not sure that they really think about what Corlys is feeling and moreso they think about him in terms of what his role is. They see his endpoint and they force him to get there and aren't quite as in tune with WHY. It's frustrating to me because I think there's a very easy way to get him to where he is at the end of the Dance emotionally while still playing with the story about gender the way they want but they just....once again, do Not have the time to do it with the amount of episodes they have and so he gets shuffled to the side.

I think his drive is more about what an heir should be like. He wants someone who is similar to himself - someone who can Play The Game, someone is a self starter, who is willing to take a risk and watch it pay off rather than sit on the sidelines and play it safe. He wants, above all, someone he can groom. I don't mean in the sexual sense, I mean he wants someone he can train, he wants a protege (*qimir voice* he wants an acolyte). That is why, imo, he was so willing to accept Luke despite everything. He had years to train Luke to act the way he wanted, or years for Daemon and Rhaenys and Laenor to train Luke to be a proper Velaryon. I think Corlys is very aware of his age and is thus not looking any longer for an heir he has to train to be bold, he wants someone who is already bold, already a fighter. Joffrey is much too young. Rhaena is much too feminine, and I don't even think Rhaena registered to him as a potential heir because she's Laena's daughter and not Laenor's daughter. I think he offered it to Baela because Baela has ~that spark~ he wants in his heir, and I think he's drawn to Alyn for that same reason. They're both stubborn, willing to fight, but they're never stupid about the fights they pick.

Do blood and gender play a role in his mind? Yes, absolutely. In fact, I think him bypassing Joff and Rhaena is in part for those reasons. He knew Luke, he loved Luke, I don't think Corlys has that connection to Joffrey and it's part of why he's not fond of the idea of naming Joffrey heir. As for Rhaena - again, I think he feels she's too soft, too feminine. It's crazy to me (*benoit blanc voice* it makes no sense) that Baela didn't push for Rhaena but I get why Corlys doesn't even think of her. Corlys never sees Laena as a viable heir, it was always Laenor and Laenor's kids no matter what. If Laenor had a daughter, I think Corlys might have arrived at that conclusion earlier. But Rhaena is the daughter of a daughter. She's not fierce and skilled with weapons like Baela, she's not a dragon rider, and I do think in Corlys eyes that makes her a bit lesser even though she's the perfect candidate as Laena's daughter who doesn't have any inheritance at all because Luke is dead. But I think because she doesn't have (what he views as) Rhaenys' fire, she's not a candidate.

[lindleland]

And just like that, I'm done with Moon.

I was worried that I'd end up disliking this on a replay but it was much better than I'd remembered. Honestly one of my favourite games in the series.

These are still some of the best characters in the series, it has one of the best batches of new Pokemon they ever introduced, and you have a great set of team options throughout the game without it ever feeling like they're giving you too many options. I feel like the last couple entries have been maybe a bit too generous with the Pokemon you can get early on plus giving you enough XP to easily raise multiple teams, making each playthrough seem kind of indistinct. This one hits the perfect balance.

The region looks goddamn gorgeous and I love the aesthetic of these 3D models, there's a good balance between detail in the models and pixellated textures that have a real low-poly charm to them.

And this is still probably the best plot in the series, barring maybe Scarlet and Violet's.

I do have one big criticism though, and that's that this game is overwhelmingly handholdy. I think a lot of the changes to the formula were a good idea, but incorproating a strict linear plot with exactly one quest marker at a time makes this really feel like you aren't on your own journey, you're being guided through a series of preset objectives. So many roadblocks in this feel aggressively guiding, like the game is saying "this is NOT the way to progress the story, go follow your quest marker NOW", and there are very few opportunities to go off the beaten path. Additionally, while I do like the cutscenes, there are way too many of them. You can hardly enter anywhere new in this game without a cutscene happening.

With that being said, I still had a fantastic time here. And in fairness, Sword and Shield had similar problems outside of the Wild Areas despite barely even having a plot.

Glad I'm putting some good distance between this and Ultra Moon, though. Probably the worst pair of games to play through back to back given how little freedom there is in the experience. I'll be playing through the Violet DLC whenever I can afford it, but the other games in my immediate replay lineup are physical copies on old hardware that I can't screenshot on. Once we get back to the 3DS era though I'll probably liveblog Alpha Sapphire and Ultra Moon as well.

...Though I'm not really done with this liveblog yet, since Moon has (holy shit) an actual substantial postgame! Stay tuned.

[wraithsoutlaws]

Then & Now the (x: perfect drug) edition:

Inspired by the fandom to look back and celebrate the boys' journey as well as my own in terms of vp.

March 2021, ps4.

I never created Dagger with the intention to ship him with anyone, but by the time I got here on his file it felt strangely natural. He was still a very fresh oc but things began to click immediately and genuinely felt like it was meant to be. The development of him as a character began to happen side by side with this silly little ship and both ended up becoming really personal and special to me.

It's hard getting decent shots on ps4 with anyone. It's especially hard when it's a minor npc with extremely limited screen time available! You have no idea how many times I went back and played these two quests trying to get something interesting. Honestly I'm really grateful for my time on ps4 not only because it helps me appreciate what I can do now a little more, but I think a lot of my growth happened here, stretching the limited resources I had available.

July 2021, ps4

Learning how to work within the confines of totally vanilla photomode, getting creative with base game poses and skipping time to find the best natural light, etc. I'm still proud of these pictures, they capture an intimacy that I think is really special, and at the time were some of my favorites I'd ever taken, and even now I can note the growth between these and the first ones I'd taken.

April 2022, laptop

The first pictures taken on my laptop and my first time posing them with AMM/setting up a scene. I might like to retake these some day. I'm more critical of them than I am of my ps4 pics tbh but they're still an important part of my journey. Over time I noticed red lighting had become my comfort zone, or more specifically, a crutch! So I've tried really hard since then to improve on that and push myself in different directions.

February 2023

It took me almost a year to feel comfortable enough with posing to attempt some goddam kisses. I'm still not very good at these but at least I improved in other ways. Honestly, I struggle with these two at times because they aren't your typical outwardly loving, cute couple, and I'm usually very strict with myself to keep them as in character as I can. That can make it hard to think of couples poses/ideas, both cute and spicy, but. they can be lovebirds as a treat.

May 2023

Only recently have I begun to feel a strong sense of style in my own work. Playing with lighting and scenes, and trying to jam as much personality as I can into these slice of life pictures is really important to me and is one of my favorite parts of doing this. They can be sweet together but it's important you see the other side of that (the blood, the knives, drugs, etc. Also Dagger resting his ashtray on Dum Dum is one of my personal favorite quirks). I really try to put a lot of their life into pictures like this. I want to convey all the parts of who they are together, even if nobody else notices.

June/July 2023

Its pretty hard to articulate how important these two have become for me over the last couple years. I've been playing this game since release and haven't had this sort of steady inspiration or creativity for years. Even on the bad days, just thinking about them is enough to get me through as silly as it sounds. I've grown so much not only in VP but my own art (something I had all but entirely abandoned until I picked up this game). They've provided an outlet I've been searching for for a very long time, and I'm really grateful for that. It's kinda wild looking back at where it started, and seeing how far it's come. Sometimes I still struggle with my perception/the worth of my work but I can't deny the happiness its brought me either.

Including a couple other character ship pics under the cut c:

I'm always a little insecure about my ship pics specifically, I'm very bad at comparing myself with others! But I put a lot of love into these and I can see the improvement when I look at them over time. Regardless of anything, they were all made with lots of love and I hope that comes across.

[cursedvibes]

I found this by one of my (ex) moots who have unfollow me, cause now they're anti -JJK :

"JJK really went from a loved manga to a mid-to-bad story with insufferable fans 🙏 may more of us hate it in the future. It snatches the spotlight from genuinely good shows and its another case of "general shonen fan will call any trash 'goat' if the fight is well animated".

I used to be a fan, until the start of the culling game. And after this controversial, inconsistent and inhumane adaptation of shibuya, im glad that I have no interest in both manga and show anymore"

Do you think Culling game is hard to understand, cause several of my (ex) moots also start dislike JJK after that arc?

I can't speak for everyone who dislikes jjk, but I think for most people who dislike the Culling Games, it's a sort of recency bias (except in the opposite way it's usually used). Many criticisms levied against the Culling Game were also said during the Shibuya arc as it was coming out and are showing up again, now that it has been animated. Things like "too many fights", "I don't care about these new characters", "the pacing is shit", "killing too many main characters makes deaths meaningless", "Yuuji isn't even the main character anymore" are often said for the Culling Game arcs, but also something I now see a lot from anime-onlys for the Shibuya arc. It's just how Gege writes and either you like it or you don't. A lot has also to do with binge-reading something and reading it weekly (especially if you don't reread chapters). The flow of action and payoffs are much more apparent when you binge something than when you have to wait for little titbits of the story to come out and stew for weeks over setups for later plot points. Any minor grievances you have are also easier forgotten when you read the full story. Problems like "I don't know what's going on or who these characters are and therefore I don't care" show up a lot when you aren't used to or don't like reading something weekly. There are people who complain that they don't know who Higuruma or Kashimo are, when it is very easy to remember that if you just keep the story in mind, reread past chapters or only read full arcs. They certainly don't lack characterization. Gege's writing definitely has flaws, especially recently, but we got to know plenty about Higuruma, Kashimo, Takaba etc.. Someone might not like them or isn't interested in their stories because of personal taste, but that's not Gege's fault. I for example like the Culling Game much more than Shibuya or Hidden Inventory and I think Shibuya can drag a lot at certain parts, but the highlights still make it a good arc. Perfect Preparation and Culling Game just has more to offer to me because it focuses on different characters and I like the new ones generally much more than say the Kyoto school group. Each of the new characters have tons more depth than any of the curse users that worked for Kenjaku previously and thereby liven things up a lot. Not to mention more lore. Thing is, if your favourite characters appear less and you don't like the new ones much, that will inevitably turn you off the story. That's valid, but personal taste is subjective, it's not what makes the story bad.

There are plenty criticisms to be made and you can clearly tell that Gege is rushing some parts of the story now, so I can understand if people stop reading because of that, but it's a matter of if the highs outweigh the lows. As whole arcs, I definitely don't think Culling Game is any worse than Shibuya. Or that Perfect Preparation is worse than Hidden Inventory (I think those are better to compare, since HI has a very different focus and is much shorter than Shibuya or CG). I'm a bit sceptical about the final fight against Sukuna in Shinjuku (excluding Kenjaku's part and Hakari vs Uraume from this for now, I liked those), but there's enough there to keep me invested and continue reading. I can understand though if that's not the case for others. Similar for the controversial timeskip and don't even get me started on Sukuna vs Gojo. Some criticism I don't agree with (sorry but Takaba vs Kenjaku was actually good), but there are other valid points to be made. For example, I recently saw a discussion on twt about how we are barely shown Gojo interacting with the students he supposedly cares about. I can totally understand that, especially when we are given more flashbacks to what happened during the timeskip and Gojo isn't in any of them and apparently not invested in what his students and friends are gonna do in case he dies. It does give the impression that he just doesn't give a shit about any of them anymore and it doesn't help his lack of characterization and character development post-unsealing.

Generally, I think it's best for these people who are "anti-jjk" to just drop the show if they can't enjoy anything about it at all. There are many more mangas, animes or other stories out there they could read/watch, instead of forcing themselves through something they don't like. I do that with plenty of stories as well. So if your ex moot decides to drop the manga and anime because they don't like it anymore, good. Find something else.

I think their criticism that jjk "snatches the spotlight from genuinely good shows" makes no sense though. That isn't even the case within the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. If something is good, people will read it. Look at the boom for Kagurabachi, a series that just started and is already loved and continuously in the top 10 of the Jump App. People can read multiple stories at the same time, that's the whole reason these magazines don't just feature one manga. Sure, some really good stories out there are less popular, but that's not because of jjk. JJK being popular doesn't stop me from reading Houseki no Kuni or Monster, mangas that aren't as well known. One Piece or Pokemon aren't stealing anything from jjk, so why would that be the case for jjk and some lesser known manga. There are more complicated reasons for why something is getting less traction than just "series x has gained popularity". And I don't like powerscalers or your average blue checkmark anime fan on twt either, but then just ignore them. They are in every shonen fandom (and seinen and shoujo, although in case of shoujo it's a little different but not less obnoxious). Other fans having shit tastes isn't new or unique to jjk. That's just fandom.

Either way, glad this person moved on to another series, may they be happier there.

[strawberryblondebutch]

Is Ken Klee getting a bad rap with some of the Ian Kennedy telephone game Minnesota drama? I wasn't a Minnesota fan but I remember being sort of happy that team won because they weren't burying their fourth line players with like three minutes of ice time, it felt like everyone had a settled role. At least from the outside it looked like a real team instead of, for example, Poulin, Ambrose and Friends. Even when they were in their horrible losing streak and when they were in playoff elimination games, he didn't shy away from that.

I thought it was good for the league moving forward that they won and that Boston, another team that was pretty solid in this regard, came in second. In a league where there clearly aren't enough spots, hopefully there will be fewer "fake spots" like an Ottawa third defense pair or a New York fourth line where the coach just tries not to play you.

So to hear him get criticized so much for something he did better than every other coach in the league feels a little bit off, like he sounds like a piece of work but not for that one very specific reason.

I think one thing a lot of people who haven't been in a locker room miss out on is that the head coach actually fills two roles: coach and game manager. Coaching is what happens at practices, in team meetings, in the locker room before and after the game. Game managing is what happens, well, in the game. You can be good at one and not the other.

My personal distaste aside, those who have played with him largely* (*some exceptions apply) praise John Tortorella as a good coach. He doesn't give stars special treatment, and he wants to pull the best out of every player. However, and I'm sure the Flyers fans in the house will agree, he's a pretty atrocious game manager. He constantly plays shorthanded at the expense of the team. Towards the end of the 2022-23 season, he was running out 5 D a game because he couldn't trust DeAngelo. Which, fair, but that hurts you in the moment.

Conversely, Klee has showed himself as a competent game manager when it matters. A lot of that was out of necessity - when your stars aren't producing, you can either play them more to hope it breaks the slump, or you can give more minutes to role players and let them pick up the slack. Heise was playing hurt most of the season, and when she wasn't playing hurt, she was playing scared. Take it from me: if you get hurt by battling against the boards, you really need to train your brain to get that physicality back. Kendall's last regular season goal was March 16, and Zums was a liability on defense during that losing stretch.

In case it wasn't already clear, I really dislike Ian Kennedy. I don't like the way that he positions himself as the savior of women's hockey, to the expense of the other reporters (men and women!) who have been covering it for quite a long time. I can tell you right away he doesn't watch college hockey based on how he talks about Daryl Watts like she came out of nowhere. He made a comment about the collective bargaining agreement (possibly since deleted?) that made my skin crawl. His conversations with Nicole Haase and Alex Azzi trying to recruit them to work unpaid cemented him as a grade-A asshole. That being said, his reporting on the Minnesota locker room has been corroborated by other sources who I'm more inclined to trust.

Klee is a better game manager than someone like Troy Ryan, who I've bitched about for years - no one loves putting players out of position more than Troy Ryan so he can reverse-manufacture a "perfection line". But game managing is only a small part of what it means to be a coach, and it seems like he's failed in every other aspect.

As for New York, well. Draper was clearly out of his depth and didn't seem to know how to utilize anyone on the team. With Ottawa, it's hard to reconcile the Carla McLeod that got the best out of her national team with the one who made baffling ice time decisions on a more skilled PWHL roster. I'm hoping those are just growing pains.

[imperatorrrrr]

I requested the Nolan Nico fic but I didn’t expect it to hurt that bad. You’re too good! Thank you!

I have another request please! Something in the vain of people around Jack aren’t always truthful with him, he’s absolved of any criticism and Nico considers himself an enabler too, and so Nico takes a tough love approach this time with their loss that’s so fresh, one person isn’t to blame but one person did make two careless mistakes. I love reading fics where Nico is Jack’s comfort zone but he’s also the captain and I think it would be interesting to read from that pov as well where he doesn’t skirt around being honest for once in their relationship and that inevitably makes them closer.

I'm glad you enjoyed my take of your NolanNico request, I hope this one is up to snuff as well! Took a little different approach, tried to experiment a bit here, so hopefully it works!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luke really shouldn't be eavesdropping, but this is Nico and Jack's fault for not doing this at Nico's. If they didn't want him to overhear, they shouldn't have made it so easy for him to overhear.

Plus, this is far too juicy for Luke to be a good person and put his headphones in or blast some music or do the courteous thing and leave the apartment altogether.

When Luke made his swift exit to his room, Jack was looking blankly at one of their walls unthinkingly biting his fingernails while Nico was pacing, his face looking even more troubled than his regular resting face.

"We're a team, Jack."

Luke hears Jack hum.

"No, Jack. We are a team," oh, Luke can hear Nico ramping up to something, Luke gets comfortable, maybe he should have made some popcorn.

"There's nineteen of us out on the ice every game. You don't need to," Nico lets out a big breath, and Luke thinks he hears Nico take a seat, "You can't do this thing where you play like you're the only one that can win it for us."

"Nico, we don't---"

"No, we have to talk about this. I need to talk to you about this." Nico's getting a little louder now. Nico doesn't get loud. Nico speaks and everyone else gets quiet. And Luke can almost picture Jack snapping his mouth shut. Can almost picture Jack's eyes going a little wide, but then getting smaller, a little defiance in them, a little fight maybe.

Its getting testy.

"I know I fucked up, Nico," Jack is grinding this out, even the way he says Nico's name is almost spat out, "We don't have to do a debrief of how I singlehandedly cost us the game."

Luke can tell Jack's gotten up now. He's the one staring down at Nico now. He's the one trying to take control of this conversation, trying to end it.

Nico stays seated though, he doesn't rise to Jack's level, "Can you please listen to me? I need you to listen to me right now." And Luke knows the exact face Nico's making. Its determined, but kind. Its soft, but focused.

Luke hears some shuffling and thinks Jack's probably sat back down. He thinks they're probably facing each other on the couch now.

"You've put the league on notice, Jack. We've all put the league on notice. They weren't expecting us last season and they definitely weren't expecting you."

Luke lets out a soft "ooph" because that takes a lot for Nico to say. Nico's always made it a point to say how Jack's been great from the beginning, how they aren't underdogs.

"They know your game, they spend entire video sessions studying you, probably," Luke hears Nico let out a huff, maybe that was meant to be a laugh.

"You have to be smarter."

"I know." Luke could barely hear that, but Jack sounds resigned, deflated.

"Jack, I'm not asking you to be perfect, but you can't be careless. You see the game like none of us can---"

"Don't sell yourself short, Schao," Luke definitely hears a smile there. And Nico lets out another huff and probably rolls his eyes at Jack.

"The way you see the ice, these mistakes...you shouldn't be making these types of mistakes, okay? The only reason you're making them is because you've gotten it into your head that its all on you. It's not. You gotta stop."

Luke's leg is cramping in the position he's sitting in on the floor next to his door, and he takes that as the sign it is and gets up, grabs his laptop and his headphones.

Nico and Jack are going to be out there for awhile still. There's a lot to get out, a lot to go over.

This is their team, after all. Nico and Jack's team.

[neurotic-sinkhole]

A Crown of Candy is my favorite setting and season Dimension 20 has done so far. The way Calorum was meticulously crafted in both lore and actual mechanics demonstrates complete mastery of GMing. Political intruige is such a fun yet unsettling type of campaign, and in one of my own campaigns I've GM'd, I looked towards the world building Brennan and the Intrepid Heros did in the world as an inspiration.

With that being said, there were parts I wasn't a big fan of.

I only discovered D20 about a year and a half ago, so I wasn't around when A Crown of Candy was coming out. I have no idea what the discourse surrounding the season looked like at the time. But seeing the current Rat Grinders discourse, I can put together the peices of how bad fans at that time could have been.

Now, with ACOC, my personal gripes with the season aren't little scenes I disagree with. I've rewatched the season many, many times- and every. single. time For Candia Pt 1 (second to last episode) makes me genuinely upset. I'm a Survivor fan. I've hatewatched many hours of TV but preservered simply for the sake of completion for a lotta content. But that episode, the decisions made by some of the cast in regaurd to their character's alleginces makes me so angry.

From what I gather, there was a shit ton of hate to Emily based from her portrayal (and i guess just existance?) as Sacharina. While I don't think Sacharina was a perfect character, the choices Emily made as Sacharina were nowhere near as upsetting to me as Murph's as Theo.

((This is spoilers if ya haven't watched yet))

In For Candia Pt 1, there's the whole conversarion between the Momma Poppa lonely twin inner House Rocks family about how Amathar isn't an adulterer. They talk about how he's actually legally King! And they make the decision to tell nobody, not even Theo, because it isn't the time. Because well, there is literally war going on, and also because they're nervous about it weaseling rebellion in the troops and companions they so desperately need to work together- if but just for a few more hours.

Then the swifty thing happens, Sacharina tells Theo, and the exact thing Ruby DIRECTLY MENTIONS being nervous about happens. Theo can't keep the secret and tells people.

Now, I know that within the cannon Theo wouldn't know Ruby said that. Him knowing that is straight up metagaming lol. But what Theo does know, and hears directly from Sacharina's lips, is that SWIFTY found this out. Swifty, the "advisor" to his queen who is a known shit starter and murderer. Theo only checks if the queen is telling the truth- not Swifty, and doesn't think to double check this info.

Theo says he's known Ruby since she's been alive. He's known Amathar for decades. But he'll take the word of a rampaging violent maurader such as Swifty, who he's only known for a series of weeks.

Everybody- the cast, the other characters in game, MURPH HIMSELF- has waxed poetic about the importance of honor to Theo. Yet he forgets it so easily at times that he needs it most and it drives me WILD.

This is probably my biggest complaint with ACOC. And I know this issue does not come from some weird sense of "morality" or just straight up sexism/racism/queerphobic tendancies like a lot of the issues d20 fans come up with. It's a genuine critiqe of a character not based off of their behavior but choices made. It's criticism that garners conversation. I bet there are people who will think I'm wrong, and that's fine! I think you're wrong then too, and that's it. I don't think you're immoral or a bad person for not having a different viewpoint than me. It's interesting in a way that stirs myself and others to delve further into the season I love so much.

Because that's what fandom discourse should look like. That is what disagreements within online spaces should look like. Especially when the events being dissected are about little food people in the dice game.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Pokemon Emerald: Ralts Only

The Wally challenge. AKA Why Would Anyone Do This, Please Love Yourself!

I've been watching frankly too much solo Pokemon content and decided to try my own run. But rather than anything remotely sensible I decided to start with Ralts. Oh. Ralts. We're going to get extremely acquainted with one another aren't we.

Ralts is quite bad and honestly a baffling choice for a solo only run.

It's base stats are really low, honestly lower than you would think they should be. It's BST is lower than every other Pokemon you can catch in the area, that's how little they want you to use this Pokemon. But even worse is...

the movepool. There's good moves on here and getting Psychic at the brisk level of 26 is really nice! But we are going to have to gatekeep gaslight girlboss our way past a lot of the early game Pokemon in Emerald. Every Poochyena is an Avengers-level threat.

Let's get started (and the last time I use an emulator's screenshot function again, holy shit).

You might be wondering if the run is even possible at all. After all, the very first thing you do in Pokemon Emerald is defeat a Level 2 Zigzagoon, and you might notice that we don't have any damage dealing moves. Only Growl. Surely the run is just dead?

Nope! It turns out that if the Zigzagoon would KO your Pokemon, it will actually run away instead! Which is both really funny, and depressing. There's no way out for us. We're Sisyphus, and we're assumed happy.

It is at this point that the realization dawns on myself. We cannot actually get to Route 102 without first defeating Brendan, and his Level 5 starter. Eagle eyed readers might notice we replaced Treecko, so Brendan is going to have Mudkip. (Edit from the future: what the fuck are you talking about how did you mess this up?) How, exactly, are we going to succeed in actually defeating him? Well, I have a plan.

It's not a good one, but it exists.

Now this isn't exactly a speedrun. I'm not exactly confident enough in my ability to play through these games quickly enough to make time feel like a relevant metric. I will eventually win, no matter how long it takes. ;w;

But for now, I do the most important part of the run. I save the game and open up PKHex. I'm using a Ralts, so I need as much help as I can get here, and besides, it wouldn't be fair if this Ralts wasn't as good as possible, right?

We actually got really lucky on the nature, as Naive nature is exactly what I was hoping for. 45 base Speed is going to need all the help it can get, so I'm happy for the 10% bonus. Sp.Def is probably our least important stat as well. Now you might wonder why I'm not going for Timid or Modest and...the answer is, unfortunately, we're going to need our Attack stat for a lot of early game fights and throughout the run.

The choice of ability for this run was Trace. Neither Trace or Synchronize are really that good in all honesty, but Trace gives us a bit of information and can potentially be good depending on the situation. Synchronize is neat as a status punisher, but it comes up too infrequently and isn't that good to boot.

Now it isn't immediately obvious, but this actually isn't a perfect Ralts. This Ralts is 31/30/31/30/31/30. This is because this run is going to be using Hidden Power. I'm personally going to be locking in Hidden Power Fire for this run for two reasons. The first is that I think the coverage on Steel-types is going to prove critical for one fight in particular, and the second is, I don't actually think Hidden Power Fighting is good. It sounds like a good answer for Steel and Dark-types, but in Generation III, Hidden Power Fighting is Physical and that means we can't boost it, and it's impacted by Intimidate, which is surely not remotely relevant.

Also for those who don't know, Caitlin is the name of one of my girlfriends, @juci-luci . It felt fitting to make her a Ralts. Love you <3

So let's talk about my plan for Rival 1. Brendan 1. The Mudkiperino. If we had access to Route 102, this would actually be nothing worth talking about. We would mull about in the grass until we got a Ralts or a Seedot encounter, and then use all of our Growl PP until we could use Struggle. But...

Like I said, we actually cannot go to Route 102 yet. So we have to find a way to deplete our Growl PP...and not go to the Pokecenter to heal our HP at all. Let's look at our options here.

Route 101 has three available encounters: Poochyena is definitely the worst, because it's only move at Levels 2-3 is Tackle, so it will constantly attack us. Zigzagoon is also pretty bad though since its a Normal-type, and will do a lot of damage to us as it rams into our face. Wurmple isn't a very strong Pokemon thankfully, so it could work as long as we keep trying for a Level 2 Wurmple.

If you're curious about Route 103, don't worry, it's even worse. Wingull doesn't even care about Growl and will blast us with its special STAB Water Gun. This ain't it.

We actually get pretty lucky and find a Level 2 Wurmple on our first attempt! Now begins...the pain. At -6, this Wurmple is only doing 2 damage to us but what's actually kind of weird here is that the Growls don't actually impact the damage. Wurmple's Attack stat and Level are already so low that the rounding evens out everything anyways. Just an incredibly weird quirk of how the damage formula works. But as an additional quirk, no matter what Wurmple's Attack stat can be, a critical hit will always deal 5 damage. This has a couple of interesting knock-on effects.

The first is we don't need to heal in battle. Once we get to a low enough HP total, we can just run away a use a Potion out of battle. This might seem odd, but it's actually beneficial to do so, since Wurmple's damage isn't affected by anything we do, but String Shot does meaningfully impact our Speed. Outspeeding the Wurmple will give us at least one additional guaranteed Growl, plus it means I can avoid using items in battle entirely. :D

The second is that, ignoring the possibility of crits, we always can waste a minimum of 9 Growls with each Wurmple we fight, and Wurmple has 50/50 odds of using Tackle or String Shot, so we'll likely waste even more. Despite my initial concerns about Potion rationing, we might be able to get away without having to use many Potions!

I'm not going to labor the point too much, but we do manage to waste a whopping 23 Growls during our first encounter. That's what I call progress!

A few short encounters later and we've finally used all 40 PP for Growl, and now have access to Struggle. Generation III is the last generation before Gamefreak decided to bust the kneecaps on this move to prevent shenanigans with infinitely long fights (see: why Wobbuffet was banned in competitive Pokemon for so long), so we won't be taking too much recoil.

It is precisely this moment where I realized I needed to replace Torchic and not Treecko in order to get my rival to pick Mudkip. Honestly I have no excuses for this, I started this at about 1 in the morning. We're just going to live with this embarrassment and move on.

I'm not really convinced this fight is doable at this level, but that is actually a fairly decent amount for Struggle to do. Ultimately it's very close but I needed Brendan to be slightly less aggressive with his attacks.

I've actually never whited out at this fight so I didn't even know respawning here was a thing that happened. It might also be because I didn't visit the Pokemon Center. The things you learn! Unfortunately this is going to be a reset, so let's just add this here...

Reset Counter: 1

There we go.

I want to make it clear how thin the margins are here. I think this is doable, but it is probably going to require some above average luck.

Growl is a blessing and a curse in this battle. On one hand, if Torchic uses Growl, it's a turn where it's not hitting you with Scratch, which deals 4-5 damage without a critical hit. But, Ralts is already doing 1 recoil damage to itself, so Growl reducing our damage output also, paradoxically, means we are going to deal more damage to ourselves with Struggle.

On the 4th attempt, Caitlin just decides she's had enough and scores a critical hit on her 3rd Struggle, not only knocking out the Torchic but doing it without taking a single hit. I knew she could do it. :3 We get a nice 69 EXP for our troubles and...oh. Well that's unfortunate.

Oh they REALLY did not want you using this Pokemon. Ralts being in either the worst or the second worst leveling group (depending on how you view Erratic honestly) is truly tragic. We didn't even come close to leveling up after the Torchic fight. Which means we're going to need EXP to help us out. Before I forget...

Reset Counter: 3

Oh boy do the hits just keep on coming. Emerald in particular REALLY hates Ralts with every fiber of its being. If this were Ruby or Sapphire, this Poochyena would actually be a Zigzagoon, and we could grind up to Level 6, learn Confusion, and push past it. But Poochyena is a Dark-type, meaning its immune to Confusion. So while we could get Confusion...there's no point. We might as well try and see if this fight is doable at this level.

Fortunately the answer is yes. We even got a little lucky with a Turn 3 Howl, but even if the Poochyena just used Tackle all three turns, it wouldn't have mattered. Keep in mind...for most of the early game, Every Single Poochyena has to be dealt with this way. The first available damage dealing move Ralts will have to deal with Dark-types is Thief. From the Slateport Museum. We're dealing with a special kind of bad here.

I'm gonna stop here because this post is already long as fuck, but the next one will include the first gym leader, and the Poochyena that will make us want to use literally any other Pokemon.

[eldritch-elrics]

i finally watched the backrooms webseries by kane pixels!

because "weird architecture"-based horror is one of my absolute favorite vibes, i knew i had to check it out eventually. and i'm glad i did! overall it's astonishingly well-done, especially from a technical/effects perspective. very good visual design, audio design, etc.

under the cut i'll add some more detailed thoughts + criticisms!

things i liked:

pretty much all the found-footage episodes are extremely well done. there's real tension! it's super spooky! my favorites are the ones entitled "pitfalls" and "found footage #2." i really enjoy how the creator is able to innovate on the concept of the backrooms, keeping things visually cohesive while branching out into various styles of architecture. i don't think i can do them justice other than to say that the vibes are perfect.

i also found myself more invested in the main "plot" of the series than i thought i would be. i like the interactions between the scientists/explorers; they're both fun and also realistic-feeling. while the introduction of async (the shady corporation trying to expand into the backrooms) initially made me go "what a cliche!" - i think their goal of ~solving the housing crisis~ by building shitty homes in a dangerous alternate dimension is pretty unique and interesting. i love the parts where it's clear they're rushing the job of making the backrooms "habitable" because they want to impress investors. it's not what i expected from the series, but i'd love to see more of that. always gotta respect a horror series with concrete themes.

also, this is very specific, but i like how the explorers have lots of lingo and safety procedures. that's an important part of making something like this actually feel naturalistic. i am convinced that this is a real, government-funded investigation!

neutral observations:

while i don't think it's fair to call the backrooms webseries cliche/unoriginal, it's clearly building heavily off of preexisting media. kane pixels's youtube channel makes it clear he's a portal fan - that's absolutely an inspiration here. there are also heavy vibes of control (2019 game) and annihilation (2018 movie). since all of these are things i like, i'm happy! and i think the webseries is doing a unique spin on "shady government project sends scientists/explorers/etc into surreal alien phenomenon." but at the same time, i find myself questioning why it always has to be a shady government/corporate project. for sure, it lets you investigate themes like "the limit of science" and "how much control do these organizations have over us and do they really care about our safety" and fun things like that, but i would have been equally happy if it wasn't doing that trope again.

i also have no strong opinions on the idea of introducing monsters into the backrooms. some people have strong opinions on this. i think the monsters add to the tension in fun ways. i like how inhumanly they move! and i like how it's implied (ish? at least this is my theory) that the monsters are mutated forms of people who've gotten lost in the backrooms. and how they have this kind of fungusy vibe...

for the most part, though, the series is scariest when there aren't any monsters around. but the threat of monsters keeps tension high, and i like how they're integrated into the plot so far. it's less about monsters being present and more what you do with them, i think?

criticisms:

my biggest criticism might seem like kind of an unfair one, but it's central to how i view found footage as a medium/genre. fundamentally, to me, found footage is about medium-as-plot-device - the camera is a character, the editing is done by people in-universe, and there should be a strong feeling that the work is presented the way it is for a diegetic reason (even if we don't know what that reason is).

the backrooms webseries consistently fails to convince me that it is entirely shot and edited in-universe. one might say "but it isn't trying to be convincing in this way," but i don't think that's true - the way the episodes are labeled with dates, and the way everything is cut together, makes it seem like it's presenting curated videos from the fictional 90s. it's possible other people are more lenient about "what a found footage series should be," or if they classify backrooms as "found footage" at all! but the way i read it, its particular priorities as a found footage series seriously clash with my own definition of what a found footage series should be concerned with.

i find it particularly jarring when it's playing spooky music over cut-together photos and video. even if async is supposed to be sinister, why would they make videos that so obviously paint them that way? is somebody else supposed to have created some of these videos? if so, i would have liked an indication of who and maybe why, even if it isn't really explained! the final episode (for now) does this pretty well - presents itself as an internal communication to be shown to other async employees. the episode "motion detected" is also really good: it's clear what purpose the video has in-universe. but others, especially towards the beginning of the series, feel jarring because their creation isn't so grounded in the universe.

there are also segments where the filmmaking language shifts from found footage to cinema. see, i think i understand why these segments are here, but i simply do not think it works at all. when you create found footage, you, by nature of the medium, make your viewer extremely aware of the camera as an object. when the series shifts into a cinematographic mode - filming and cutting between actors like in a movie - it feels incredibly fake. (see the episode "report" for an example of this.) who is filming these people? why? why cut stuff together in this way? i get the sense that it's supposed to be an "objective" view of stuff going on outside the backrooms, stuff that no in-universe cameras are supposed to see, but if that's the case, the series's chosen medium has already undermined any sense of objectivity here, since previous episodes have taught us to question the camera. i do hope any continuation to the story addresses this! i would love to know why async is filming themselves like this! and it's always possible that the cinematic language is supposed to make the viewer feel uneasy. but idk. i'm not a fan

overall, the backrooms is truly excellent found footage horror. when it stops being found footage, though, the found-footage-ness of the rest of it can't help but make me stop suspending my disbelief!

[csolarstorm]

Impressions: The Super Mario Bros Movie

That movie was %300 pure, liquid Super Mario straight into my veins. It was truly the movie version of playing a Super Mario game. No, it was like playing five Super Mario games at once. You couldn't go thirty seconds without a new game reference! And yet...it works! The references make this feel like a universe with other games in every direction waiting to be explored!

That is, if you've played a Super Mario game or two. That was definitely an issue for some reviewers people.

If you aren't familiar with the Mario games, then...hopefully you like cute, funny characters? Sure this movie isn't for everyone, but I feel like that should have been obvious based on the title.

Illumination was (surprisingly) a good choice for this movie. You know, as a writer, I appreciate deep, thematically rich stories. But when I think of what I want in a "Super Mario Bros" movie, I basically want to see all my toys accurately portrayed on the big screen.

Basically, I wanted to see the Super Mario manga, or a version of the Super Mario Bros Super Show that is more faithful to the actual games. And I'm lucky that the crew shared my vision!

I love how no detail in this movie is arbitrary. And if I sit here and list them all, it would take hours. They even went out of their way to include every baby version of the main characters in flashbacks - except for Baby Bowser of course, but that one makes more sense for a sequel centered around a certain post-credits "Easter Egg"...

Oh, and no baby Donkey Kong. Every baby human main character, I guess. If Peach turns out to be human. They kind of gave her some of Rosalina's backstory by having her be raised by Toads, which is smart. Presumably whatever species Rosalina turns out to be, Peach will probably be too.

This does nothing to explain Peachette though.

If there's one plot detail I think is up for grabs to criticize, it's Mario's decision to guide the Bomber Bill into the home pipe to Brooklyn. Maybe his line of thought was that it would just explode in the ethereal world between pipes, but why would he risk breaking his only way home or bringing the chaos into his own world?

Then there's the dog. I get it, they wanted a scene where Mario and Luigi are plumbing and everything goes wrong. But why does it feel like an entire pre-movie cartoon short? The dog doesn't need to lunge at them more than once. I kept thinking, "just get to the Mushroom Kingdom already!"

By far the weirdest thing about the movie was the decision to make Mario Kart into a Donkey Kong thing. And I'm kind of surprised Miyamoto was okay with this. They portrayed Donkey Kong Country perfectly...aside from making it some sort of go carting paradise where every ape owns their own vehicle.

Of course, minecarts have long been a staple of Donkey Kong, but go carts are more about...well, Donkey Kong Racing. It fits so well, but it feels so weird. And that's why it's perfect for Donkey Kong.

Except for the fact that Funky Kong should have been the one to meet Peach and Mario at the door, not some no-name Kong who also wears sunglasses. How dare they. I'm not even a Funky Kong fan and even I know they that messed that one up.

This movie was a blast. The theater clapped at the end and it's been weeks since the movie came out. People couldn't stop talking about it after the movie. Someone shouted to stay put for the after-credits Yoshi scene. The energy in the theater was really positive. It was a nice, funny, video gamey, family cartoon. That's exactly what I expected, and I'm so happy it proved me right.

There are a lot more thoughts I have about the movie, so much that I was paralyzed by the task of writing all of them and posting them to the point I waited weeks to even finish up this review and post it. So here's the minimum of what I wanted to say. And also,

Congrats, Super Mario, for reaching number one in a whole new industry. It's about time.

[rosellerivers19]

Raayan- I have high hopes (thank you tamil cinema)

I have for some time lost hope in telugu cinema improving in diversity of tropes and performances but with recent stars and movies I have been brought back

Gam gam ganesha, prasanna vadanam, Hi nanna (kinda iffy for some reason but diverse storyline), and Hanuman

And I am waiting to see Kalki 2829 AD which I think will be definitely a big game changer given its dystopian setting something Indian cinema hasn't really approached a lot before especially on this kind of budget.

I've been limited to telugu movies for a long time because language barrier but due to subtitles and Telugu dubs my options have increased recently I watched the hindi movie Maharaj on Netflix in telugu which I really loved despite people claiming its hinduphobic while the movie is based on a real case and the movie claims yet again how hindu practices aren't bad but people misusing them is then again not a lot of people have comprehension or actually watched the movie and jump the train on any movie that slightly criticizes the religion or even raises just a few questions

*cough* *cough*

"Hindi movie PK starring Amir Khan"

I've watched a few good tamil cinemas when I was younger I didn't watch a lot of Dhanush movies because of the language barrier the only one I saw maybe was Maari 1 and 2 because it was dubbed in telugu but now I've grown to watch a lot more realizing he has a lot of diverse scripts and am so glad this man exists I need to binge his movies over the summer.

So I was listening to telugu songs on youtube when I came across this one called

"Peechu Mithaya"- telugu version

It's from the upcoming movie Raayan and oh my god just seeing this lyric video made me want to pay anything for this movie to come out right now and watch it.

Not only is the music beautiful ( i can listen to this for hours I don't know how I found this gem but I did and I'm grateful)

But the visuals and implications we are given is something I am screaming for.

PLUS SIZED ACTORS ON SCREEN HAVING AN ACTUAL LOVE STORY!!!!

Indian cinema has a lot of colorism especially to heroines especially from what I've seen in telugu movies. And they have to fit this perfect bod I've never seen a heroine be remotely big or a bit chubby even if it would show off their curves thats how the industry is and that saddens me.

But then we get this song and we see Aparna Balamurali who is first of all a plus sized character in the film with a dark complexion not milky white now tamil fans may be used to this but for me being born in Telugu cinema this is a jackpot especially when I have to really dig for inclusive films. The only cinema I've watched which supported a plus sized heroine having a love story is "Size Zero" starring anushka shetty an Iconic queen but I honestly have not seen any other films having a plus sized heroine or at least side heroine as a plus sized character with actual depth where we see her love story or ability to get happiness I think there was one Allari Naresh film but I don't remember it well.

edit: Totally forgot HanuMan existed which is also a good representation even though the mc's sister dies she was empowered and was on the brink of marriage so love that

In the Lyric Video "Peechu Mithaya"

We see an unconventional girl (Aparna Balamurali) who doesn't fit the beauty standards end up with an average/ attractive character (sundeep kishan) or at least have a romantic relationship in the songs visuals and a healthy one so far.

I am primarily gonna be watching this movie for them seeing the side hero carrying the plus sized side heroine brought me joy knowing that it would give hope to other women who aren't the conventional beauty standard or plus sized that they can be loved and have a love story like them that they aren't too heavy and the right guy will do anything to make them feel appreciated.

Look at the way he carries her and looks lovingly into her eyes!!!!!!

And there's just something about seeing this man looking so utterly in love with a girl who thinks she won't be good enough because of her physical appearance or other insecurities and he wants to prove her desperately wrong that makes me go feral.

Do you see what I mean!?!?!?

And I don't know if they will even delve into that kinda trope in the movie but I really wish they will since its something women especially women who've not been exposed to that kind of concept in their media want. Keep in mind we don't even have a trailer for this movie yet so pure speculations

And there's just so many cute clips like-

Nudging each other playfully!?!?!?

Having a couple argument/ confrontation!?!?!?

Riding on a bike together?!?!?!?

*cues internal screaming montage*

I love LOVE especially something so simple yet beautiful we need this more than Pushpa bribing Srivalli with money for kisses and putting his hand in inappropriate places without her consent. Or men just stalking in general and normalizing it????

Now I know that this couple might not even play a big part in the movie maybe one of the characters dies yadayada but knowing that scenes like this exist in the movie and that we'll have an entire song dedicated to THEM just quells my heart.

Dhanush sir thank you for this 4 minute montage that ignited my hope in Indian cinema and is making me want to delve into tamil cinema even more

[sneakyfox55]

what i wouldn't GIVE to meet Kan Gao face to face, just to tell him how much i adore every single one of his games; and obviously--if you know me by now lol--i'd specifically mention Impostor Factory out of them.

i've seen people say it's the weakest, and it makes sense they would say that because To The Moon and Finding Paradise were so ahead of their time when they came out, practically novelties in their own right. and i love them to death too, don't get me wrong!! but i think that as a creator when you put your heart and soul into something, and people have expectations of you, and then your latest art goes out into the world. you tried something a bit different and new this time, and it's more of an experiment than the last two but it's still yours, and you still worked to get it out there, and whether you're proud of it at that point or not yet, you want to share it with everyone else.

and then it gets compared to your other, "better" works.

i think that can be so crushing. and yeah, constructive criticism is great, but sometimes it really hurts? when you work so hard and so long to create something new and different, and basically just get told by critics it's good, but not as good as your past works. and maybe they don't outright say it but you can tell what they're actually saying: do something just a bit better next time. regardless of the story you wanted to tell, the experience you wanted to show this time around.

i think part of why i love it so much in the first place, is BECAUSE of that, because it's like. the underdog of the bunch, if that makes any sense?? because it didn't go QUITE the way people wanted it to, because it diverged expectations. people say IF isn't as good solely because of that, i think--and that makes me incredibly sad lol. like, the amount of sadness it brings me that this game isn't recognized for its brilliance like the other two are, simply because the characters aren't the same and the layout doesn't match the other two as much. it just. really gets to me sometimes. because this game is absolutely gorgeous all on its own; but maybe it's just me??

i think of the lines in Finding Paradise, the quote referencing A Bird Story (because A Bird Story in of itself was kind of bashed in a similar vein to IF):

"...But everyone goes into things with their own context, y'know. Maybe it's only fair that they didn't care much for it. Maybe the bird was something different to you than it was to them."

and i feel like this, THIS ENTIRE LINE perfectly encapsulates how i feel about it jhgdjhdsgdhjsgjh. because that's an amazing point! everyone goes into things with their own context, having been through their own experiences. and it's completely fair for one person to not quite enjoy something as much as another person might.

but as for me, this game has genuinely meant the world to me since i first heard about its production and ever since it came out in 2021, i just kinda fell in love with it since the beginning lmboo. i was SO fecking excited when we heard news about it, and when we got bits and pieces of the soundtrack and sneak peeks and THEN when it finally came out! and i wasn't disappointed in the least when i played it, even if it diverged from my own expectations too!!! (also it might be the intense creep/mystery factor mixed with the bittersweet vibe, i'm kind of a sucker for both. ALSO also!!! Lynri kind of, means something to me on a very personal level PFFFT,,,)

i could talk about this game for hours and i STILL wouldn't get across how much it, personally speaks to me as a narrative and experience?? the entire story is something i just, relate to a lot. i think it builds on the previous games' ideas and concepts SO well too, and i've been wanting to make fanart and fanfiction for it but part of what stalls me is, the lack of it from others PFFFFFFT i'm, i need to step up my game like seriously--

i'm not here to convince anyone that Impostor Factory is a PERFECT game, as much as fangirl me wants to say it is kjdfgdjfgdhjghj. i just wish i could tell Kan Gao itself how this game has affected me, cheesy as it sounds. i wish i could specifically TELL him how much i loved this game, how much it personally means to me, even if (from what i've seen) it might not mean the same to everyone else. because it really does mean the world to me, it really might JUST be me, but it instantly became my favorite in the series when i played it. idk jhgdjhsdgjsh i just. wish i could really let him know. cause even if i don't know him and honestly he'd probably be thinking "who is this stranger and why is she so weird about my game", i think that as a creator, as an artist, to hear that just someone was touched so much by your work, that it meant the entire world even just to one person in the entire world, is exactly the difference you wanted to make when you sent it out there.

ALSO IT'S 42% OFF ON STEAM RIGHT NOW UNTIL THE 27TH OF THIS MONTH, IT'S ONLY JUST SHORT OF 6 DOLLARS, HOW CAN YOU GET A BETTER DEAL THAN THAT???????????? IF YOU'RE INTERESTED AT ALL I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU PLAY IT OR AT LEAST CHECK IT OUT THROUGH OTHER MEANS >:DDDDDD