#I still think this is the best screenshot of this game that I ever took

[benditozorrito]

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[originally posted on Twitter: July 5 2019- April 28 2020]

Now I had already played the I think, entirety of BotW on the Wiiu at this point, but I was eager to join and share the nonsense going on at the time, so once we acquired a switch we bought BotW on there too.

I had originally started at the time wanting to do a full replay with all thoughts and theories there of, but I don't know that I'll ever return to that lol so I think I will go ahead and repost it's entirety and conclude it with what thoughts I had for the rest of it.

And now for a word of caution-

NO, I HAVE NOT PLAYED TEARS OF THE KINGDOM YET

I DO NOT KNOW WHEN I WILL ACQUIRE TOTK

DO NOT COME INTO MY INBOX TO DISCUSS ANYTHING RELATED TO THE SEQUEL OF THIS GAME

I WILL BE SMAD [SAD & ANGRY] AND I WILL PROBABLY BLOCK YOU

As for the prequel one, Hyrule Warriors, I also did not play that one, but I am less bothered about spoilers for this: because 1 it is a prequel and I therefore already know the end result, and 2 am not likely to actually play this one as I'm not really into that sort of play-style. Perhaps one day soon I will watch a let's play of it, but yeah

Now then

aaaAAAADVENTUUURRREE!!!

[mimikyuno]

im literally sobbing in bed trying to sleep but mizu5 literally tore my heart out. i cant stop crying fr. i genuinely think mizuki akiyama is making history as one of the best written trans characters im so serious. the kindness and carefulness in which her story is being told is mindblowing. this event was perfect tbh. im so fr. no way after such a long wait the secret was gonna be revealed with happy tears and there. done. this event Physically altered the game. it’s the only event to do so, and the only event to end on such a cliffhanger. the way the whole event gets the player to empathise fully with mizuki - you feel her anxiety and her fear and pain. and then the rooftop scene. it was unbearable. her coming out was taken away from her. she had to see ena’s shocked expression from the sidelines. ena, the one she wanted to tell the most. ena, who has been waiting for her by her side for all this time. seeing the realization dawn on ena is too much for and she runs, like she always has. even though she Knows ena was just shocked. she Knows ena and niigo will accept her.

(sidenote i cut lots of dialogue from the screenshots above bc tumblr 10 images limit)

“you’re so kind, ena.” but that does not matter. it’s all ruined. in niigo’s eyes, mizuki was just a girl. a “normal girl”, as the classmates called ena. even if niigo accepts her, she’s terrified that they’re never gonna see her as a “real girl” again. just like her classmates. this change in their perception is heartbreaking, terrifying. and even more than that is the fear that from now on, niigo is only gonna act normal around her out of pity. the thought is unbearable. it’s all ruined. nothing can ever be like before in mizuki’s eyes. her precious, safe place was ripped away from her. mizuki’s pain felt so real and raw that i still get chills when i think of the last two chapters of this event. the way ena screamed and ran after her, her desperation to reach her, her horror at seeing how much mizuki’s been suffering, the way mizuki’s coming out was also taken away from ena. their precious moment, long awaited, stolen and destroyed by some careless, transphobic comments. “are you also a dude?”. ena’s anger at herself for not being able to reassure mizuki, for not knowing what to say in the face of all that hurt and fear.

the event ends with an unskippable black screen, and mizuki’s voice saying “you reap what you sow,” and then these lines:

mizuki’s dissociation and suicidal thoughts hit me like a truck. as meiko told kaito, this situation is so fragile. and all it took was ena’s shocked expression to send mizuki into a dissociative spiral.

(continues in rb)

[kissmetwicekissmedeadly]

MO'S FANFIC BEAUTYFYING MASTERCLASS!👩‍🏫

So it seems like you guys like how I do my banners and layouts on @xxsycamore ! I wanted to share a few tips about making similar ones, along with some of my observations on their importance! Be warned, some of the screenshots I'll use to illustrate my point will be of my smut fics! This post is intended for the ikemen series community. While the tips could be found useful for other fandoms as well, it's important to note that it's only this fandom that I've taken into account and because of that my observations could be unreliable if you chose to follow my advice outside of the fandom!

The importance

First of all, a good layout is a subjective term. Second, a "good" layout is not guaranteed to boost your fic's popularity. Not all of us are able to put the time and effort into fancy banners and dividers, but the good news is, you don't really need them! You should always strive to do only as much as you can without straining yourself. Here you can see a minimal effort fic layout vs one that took 30~ minutes to put together, both posted around the same time, both having a similar reception when it comes to notes! Keep in mind that a layout is just one of the many factors to take into account for your fic's popularity status, and you shouldn't obsess with it either way.

2. The minimum: Banner + Title

Not everyone checks out every single post on their dash while they scroll! I follow around 1100 people and while not all of them are active, it's easy to miss a post that could as well have been the best thing I'd see that day. Your brain recognizes what a typical fanfiction post looks like - a rectangular picture with a title above/underneath, followed by text. As long as you scroll past a post with a similar construction and you're interested, you might want to scroll back and check it out.

3. Banners

The information that you get from a banner is typically about the character(s) featured in the fic. Using the example above, you'll see that a simple cropped picture of the character gets the job done! (an in-game sprite at that, not a fancy card photo)

If you decide to use a card, you can browse google for a good one of your character(s). I try to select a card that depicts something similar to what's happening in my fic, either the action or the "vibes" (daytime or nighttime, outside or indoors, canon or modern, etc.), but sometimes it's better to choose the one that will look good instead of the one that's more fitting.

Finding cards of good quality is also challenging, and I'd advise you to avoid blurry/low-quality banners even if those would be best fitting.

Stick to the rectangular horizontal format if possible. I like square banners sometimes, but it's better when you can see the whole layout at once!

4. Editing the banners & photo coloring

If you decide you want to go out all, you'll need a photo editing app or a program. I use one called Snow which is mainly for selfies but gets the job done. It has many filters to choose from, but inputting text there could be a hassle sometimes. Another one I use is Pixlr. Yeah, I couldn't let it go ever since the days it was just a website...it's been about 10 years but I still rely on it (now as an app) for some stuff, like cropping down images with very big height to width ratio (like thin strips for dividers). In very rare instances I use my (paid) art program, Clip Studio Paint. I know that many people use Canva for their banners but I can't get used to it, I guess it's not my thing, haha. That's why you should see what works for you. I prefer a certain amount of limitation, like having filters to choose from, simply because I don't want to think too much about it and to be able to spend too much time on it (I'm a perfectionist)...

Maybe you just want to give your picture some nice coloring, nothing too much, just a slight change of tone that it's noticeable but not in a screaming way. There are still some things to avoid, mainly old-looking filters. I'm talking about the ones that were mainstream on Instagram during the last decade, the pinkish sepia one for instance. Ones that have too high exposure value and make the bright parts practically glow are not a good look either, same for the too dark ones. Making the character unrecognizable is also not good, and some filters can do that, especially in the case where they have fair hair and the filter makes it appear as another color. Again, those examples are bad only in my own opinion and could look good in certain circumstances or if it's a desired look!

Here's the collage for the banner used for my fic Nine Nights (MDNI) before the filter (first picture), a variation I did but scrapped (second pic) and the one I went with in the end (third pic). While the bottom pic is in contrast with what I said about making characters unrecognizable, here I rely on the fact that it's enough that it's obvious this will feature all of the Crown members just by looking at the bunch of them. I liked how the colors pop up, almost as if each one gets assigned a theme color (interestingly I didn't pick the cards for that purpose), and it's just a pretty coloring in my opinion as a whole. I achieved this by tweaking the RGB values from the "Curves" tool in Snow.

Another cool thing to do with your banner is adding transparent elements in it, like how I did with this one (see it from the link below, it's not depicted here on the pics). The thing is, this could be very energy-consuming, you'll need an app/program that can do that as not all of them work with transparent images, and in the end, it could be just barely noticeable. But it can be fun from time to time.

5. Titles

A title is the other main element of your fic's layout and it should stand out. If you hate coming up with titles (understandable...) you can just put a "(character) x reader fluff", for instance. If you look at the example in point 1, I simply used the character's name in place of a title! It doesn't have to be a stressful aspect of putting your fic out there. As a side note, you can try centering your title simply by putting some spaces at the front, but leaving it aligned to the right could be a stylistic choice.

6. Colored text

This one is very optional but good if you want to fancy it up. Tumblr already gives you a bunch of colors to pick from and you can make use of them if they fit the style of your fic, but they're very limited. Luckily we can use just any color we want. (This only works on the fonts tumblr supports! The ones you can choose from when you highlight a text) Unfortunately, the way to do this will make you work with the HTML editor which you can access at the top right corner of your post editing screen (from desktop, click the settings, scroll down to Post editor) and things might seem pretty scary if this is your first time looking there. It's not too hard! You need to use a site that takes your desired piece of text, lets you select colors, and then gives you a code that once pasted in the HTML editor will make it colored when switching back to the Rich text editor. Here's the one I use because it also allows me to blend colors. At the bottom right of the page, I put the text in the first box, select the colors, and upon clicking Run it gives me the code in the bottom box. I use colored text for my title, and sometimes for my information tags.

7. Information tags

This is how I refer to the part of your layout dedicated to showing the pairings, genre, content warnings and wordcount of your fic. This is all optional even to add in the first place. I personally don't bother too much with beautifying that part, but a good tip is using some kind of symbol to separate these pieces of information if they're all in the same paragraph (I use big dots), or to place in front of them if they're in different rows (like bullet points). This gives a lot of creative freedom for text art, you should explore it if that's your thing!

8. Fonts & font size

You can experiment with Tumblr's fonts, or you can look for more fonts online - here's a handy site. It's good to find one that is legible enough. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞. Again, be warned, those fonts that are outside of tumblr's post editor cannot be colored (as far as I'm aware of)

You can spell your title in all caps if you deem that's a good look for your fic.

Play around with bolds and italics instead of making everything a different font.

The "Biggest" font option here on the editor is not the best one to use as it's simply too big. Big title fonts should be avoided if your title doesn't fit in a single row.

Having different font sizes for different things in your layout can be eye-catching! Besides the obvious upscaling of the title, you can also upscale your information tags. Using small text is also nice and prevents your post from getting too long, but this should only be done for the part of the fic that is not the fic itself. Small text could be harsh on the eyes if it's in big quantities.

9. Dividers

Dividers are another crucial part of a fancy layout! They divide different parts of your layout, like the information tags and the fic's body. There are tons of styles to choose from. Some people like to use dividers that spell out something, like a "minors DNI" warning, a "support your creatives" reminder, the name of the character featured in the fic... You can make your own set of dividers for repeated use. I like to use very thin lines which I color differently according to the fic's theme colors. I also find dividers online, mostly here on tumblr, as there are tons of them if you look them up. It's important to use dividers which are marked free to use, or to otherwise credit their creators.

10. Additional tips

Use gifs. Everything that moves is eye-catching. But don't go overboard with it - one or two moving objects on your layout is plenty. They shouldn't be put too close to the fic's body too, as people might find it distracting. Avoid flashing and glitching gifs, or if you use those and you deem it necessary, tag the post with an epilepsy warning. You can make your banners into gifs by putting a moving filter on them, making it into a video, and turning the video into a gif (the site I use for this is called ezgif and it has plenty of other options for working with gifs and videos), and you can also make or find gif dividers.

Banner themes are nice, but they don't always look good. I'm talking about making a series of banners (like for a bunch of fics made for the same creative challenge) look the same, with the same coloring and filters. I used to make all my banners purple to follow my blog's tumblr theme but I realized not everyone looks good in purple...

Try adding a synopsis for your fic! I know, this is worse than coming up with a title, but we love flipping the book over to look at the synopsis before jumping into it. Keep it very short and try beautifying it with symbols or fancy quotation marks.

Use the "intended" font from the tumblr post editor to make your information tags or synopsis stand out and shrink the overall length of the post!

Put the body of your fic under a "read more" (the last option when you hit a new row in the post editor). This is very important, especially if you're writing smut - you wouldn't want to make people scroll through all of that if they're not in the mood for it. Putting your whole fic on the dash doesn't make it more likely for people to stop and read it, or at least that's just how I see it.

Use emojis! Emojis stand out!

Take inspiration from other people. Get out of your bubble and look at how other fandoms do it, but obviously don't steal.

11. Final thoughts

Making this post felt weird to me! I was motivated by my mutuals complimenting my layouts but also because some of them said "they can't do that" and I wanted to show them it's easy. I also wanted to show them it's not that important and that they shouldn't stress over it at all! At the end of the day it's your fic that matters, not how pretty you can make it work. But instead of simplifying it, I ended up with this massive post of 11 parts, and now it looks scarily big. It's not, okay! I went too much into detail at times, and I want to stress once again that it's all optional anyway. I, personally, don't follow all of this advice. I don't go through the 10 steps of constructing my layout every time I'm about to post a fic. I typically post my fics just before going to bed, and 99% of the time I need it to happen ASAP because it's that late in the night. It's a way to beat my perfectionism, really, and I find it to work for me. I also already have these steps tested and memorized so it all happens quickly and mechanically for me. Making the layout is extremely fun for me and this is my sole driving force for putting in the effort. At the same time, I remind myself not to go overboard because it's stupid to focus on it more than on the fic itself. I love ao3 because everything looks equal on there, but I also love tumblr because I can unleash my creativity in one additional way.

In the process of making this post, I started to wonder if it seems like I'm making this out to be way more important and difficult than it really is, and I want to assure you that this is not my intention at all!

My only hope is that this proves to be helpful for whoever feels like they can use some of the information above. If it leads to just 1 additional note to those criminally underrated fics I see, then I'd be beyond happy!

Have fun posting your fics :)

[genericpuff]

So I just read episode 275 and I’m sort of confused?

(I took screenshots, but the ask won’t let me include them so) At the end of the episode Hera summons these little balls of light(?) , maybe small stars(?) and then she casts them down onto Kronos.

I feel like that was really anticlimactic and not illustrated well. Along with the viewer not seeing Hera fight Kronos, a God that’s been tormenting her, her last attack(?) doesn’t feel right — like, there’s no power behind, if anything, I’d compare it to what a healers animation in a game looks like.

Rachel even emphasizes how strong and brilliant Hera is with Persephone, but then doesn’t show us anything. I know the scene was split between Hera and Hades dealing with Kronos physically and mentally (asleep), but it was sort of disappointing.

What I think really sucks about the setup for the Hera vs. Kronos fight is that, as cool of a concept as it is to have Hera and Hades both fighting Kronos in separate timelines, it fails on multiple levels:

1.) All the build up of Hera saying "I was created to destroy you" winds up meaning nothing because it cuts away to Hades for the entire fight

2.) When it does cut back to Hera, she's just kinda... sitting on Kronos? Like what did she do besides just breaking one of his fingers? Why weren't we allowed to see that? I think this is more so clearly Rachel's inability to write/draw fight scenes showing through, so she relied entirely on the Hades' sequence which was less physical fighting and more just Hades monologuing before turning Kronos into a diamond.

3.) And speaking of the diamond thing... so we're just expected to believe Hades could turn not just people, but Titans into diamonds? This whole time? How is he just suddenly able to do this? It feels like a shonen anime where the main character has a flashback to a scene from 3 seconds ago (in this case, Hades' conversation with Melinoe) and then unlocks a new special ability through it, but it somehow feels even less earned than it does in anime (and trust me, I can't stand that anime trope at the best of times LOL) Like at least in something like Naruto it's like... okay we have this ability Naruto's been trying to master and we've seen him work at it for a few episodes so seeing him finally nail it on the brink of defeat is like, really hype and fun. But Hades just turns Kronos into a rock out of nowhere when we had zero reason or build-up to believe that would ever be possible. Why not, IDK, have Morpheus finally master her ability to dream dive and use that to trap Kronos in an eternal sleep? At least that would have had some pre-existing foundation especially with how much of S3 was focused on the dream diving shit. IDK, the whole thing's really contrived and silly and relies a lot on the reader just going "okay! yeah that makes sense!"

4.) So Hades turned timey-wimey Kronos into a diamond... but then it cuts back to present Kronos who's just been somehow defeated by Hera through ✨magic✨ and that's just it? What about present Kronos? Is he just still trapped in Tartarus now? Why isn't he also a diamond if Hades turned some past form of Kronos into a diamond? Or was the goal just to free Melinoe so present Kronos couldn't keep using her powers? But who's to say Kronos can't just do what he did again by reaching through time to grab Melinoe and start the whole thing over again? Especially now that Melinoe doesn't remember what happened and would be none the wiser that Kronos has attempted this before? Is it because this is present Kronos whose time abilities were 'exhausted' to him 'long ago'? Then how was he able to pull Hades into the time-bowl to begin with? Again, just like the diamond thing, this entire conflict relies a lot on readers just shrugging and accepting it because there's zero foundation for the concepts that are being portrayed and thus zero logic besides "just go with it".

I can go on and on about it but at the end of the day LO just isn't a comic that should have attempted having any big Marvel fight scenes. This is an issue in a lot of romance comics that have gone on too long, they start to lose the plot around their third season and then just throw everything out the window for some other big plot that makes no sense within the context of the story. Somehow LO, a Greek myth fantasy adaption, made fighting the God of Time seem out of place and boring.

God I can't wait for Hades 2.

[scales-like-ash]

I've been playing a little bit of Starfield again, been a while. And I must say it's still fun. I won't say its the best game Bethesda ever or anyone ever did, because it's definitely not and many of the complaints are justified like facial animations and bugs.

But there are things that I genuinely love about it like the Story, its in my opinion one of the best stories Bethesda ever wrote. Sure it's a giant fetch quest (Oblivion is too when you think about it) but there are twist in it, especially at the end that left me speechless. Also the gunplay is like in Fallout 4 really good. The Shipbuilding is solid and the faction stories are also intriguing (especially the Vanguard and Crimson Fleet)

And what I love the most, wich is also it's biggest critic, is the pure size of it. I understand that it's a bit tedious running 20 minutes through empty, random generated, wilderness but that is the whole point of exploration.

I live in Germany, the Harz Mountain area to be precise and as a child, me and my parents would hike through this beautiful forest to the top of the mountains and to arrive at locations, discovering small things on the way, see the whole world expand up to the horizon when you get to higher ground is a feeling it captures really, really good.

Like in this example you can see the tree faaar in the distance. It took me about half an hour to get there and I enjoyed it but it must also be said I think the game would benefit a lot from some sort of vehicles, like bikes or trucks... damn I'd even ride a alien horse thingy.

There is a lot of potential in it and I really hope Bethesda (and modders) expand on it. Look at No Man's Sky, Dying Light 2 or Cyberpunk 2077 wich completely disappointed at launch but recovered amazingly (of course this is also a problem of the current game industry but let's not discuss this here, this ramble is too long already).

If you made it down here and didn't lost your mind on my grammatically butchered ramblings or just looked at my screenshots I hope you might give this game another try

Thanks for reading c:

[tokuvivor]

For this past Saturday’s final Halloween Movie Night of the month (this one focusing on the holiday itself, as well as Day of the Dead), once again, you’ll be getting highlights from both me and @violetganache42! So, here you have ‘em:

"Trick or Treat":

The triplets in their iconic Halloween costumes!

The rip having so much fucking camera movement and low volume

The Trick or Treat song!

@puffyducks: "she hurt his fragile masculinity"

The triplets watching Witch Hazel mess with Donald like: "Oh, boy! Violence!"

This fucking panel lmao

"The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!" (Rewatch):

"Have you ever been to Bahia?"

Panchito and José appearance!

Saludos Amigos easter egg!

The whole scene about Donald accidentally dropping Dewey's egg 😂

Scrooge still being a hater lol

Huey: "Uncle Donald, you're very successful. You raised three boys and are rich in love. Isn't that the true measure of success?"

Scrooge and Donald: "No!"

Violet: "How is that not successful?!"

Violet sharing GIFs of various moments from the episode like last time:

Autism diet (Donald's just like us FR!) (i.e. macaroni and cheese)

@alex31624: "Webby has fallen"

Violet: "in Lego City"

Puffy and Violet making FNAF jokes, from the Bite of '87 to Bonnie on the burro tour sign

Dewey's words of wisdom (screenshot from when we first watched this episode together last November):

Puffy wanting to throw Dewey and Louie into the sun a la Storkules

Violet upon seeing Scrooge's reaction to Donald taking his wallet:

@fantasticenthusiasttale: “Webby please we literally know only 3 phrases of english stop asking”

Alex: “is amazing that a brasilian plant knows english at all”

@writebackatya: “I just realized that both episodes have a moment where Donald is being wrestled by someone and he starts tapping out”

Huey and Webby not sucking in this episode

Alex: “who hires a mariachi for a kids party”

Puffy: “they took the gay </3”

Briefly discussing Webby’s party in The Last Adventure!

The Trickening! (Rewatch)

Huey as Gizmoduck!

Louie sucking in both episodes we watched

Duck Twins!

Why do people hate this episode?

“WE’RE GONNA ROB A CANDY STORE?!”

Puffy: “not poor bluebert 😭”

“why didn't they send Webby first she's the one that can fight lmfao”

“what the hell is dewey gonna do if he finds a monster”

Poltergeist reference

“Donald, you’re the victim.”

Launchpad’s ridiculous Halloween backstory

Uno reference

The kid that looked like Timmy Jenkins😠

Donald, Della, and Launchpad being an amazing dynamic

Launchpad and Scrooge’s fight!

Chris P. Bacon being one of the names on the headstones

Dreamy: “‘Last halloween’ meanwhile scrooge is out there 150 y/o still doing it”

Creepy twins!

The Shining references

Launchpad reading the candy wrapper

Beakley as Darkwing!

“I love Hallowoon!”

The poll at the end for whose costume was the best

Puffy: “no it's foreshadowing that huey is gonna DIE”

¡Felíz Cumpleaños!

Panchito and José are back!

The evil piñatas

Puffy bringing up The Book of Life

Will: “I’ve only played the game and had the cereal”

Fin

The charm of Paul Rudish shorts that take place in other cultures

Puffy: “me at 4 years old watching José rattle off Portuguese in The Three Caballeros (I have no idea what he's saying but I am enthralled)”

Will: “damn you looked just like JFK when you were a kid”

Coco

Why do people make Dos jokes about Uno? (It’s Italian (Due), not Spanish)

The opening narration being visualized through papel picado

Puffy:

Ernesto de la Cruz

Puffy: “1942 HE DIED 2 YEARS BEFORE THE CABALLEROS NOOOO”

The mariachi player that Miguel is shining the shoes of being supportive of his dream

@teleportzz: “never name a street”

“Papá is home?”

Dante being the best boy throughout the movie

Miguel’s de la Cruz shrine

Puffy: “my room looks like this but with donald duck plushes”

Miguel getting grossed out by the romantic scenes

Mech: “aromantic moment”

Abuelita smashing Miguel’s guitar‼️

Don’t mess with the dead!

Will: “Cut him some slack he’s just a little kid”

“Thinking by the heart not the brain”

Puffy: “No he should be responsible for all of his actions ever we've established this for fictional characters”

“especially traumatized little boys”

“Your photo’s on your dentist’s ofrenda.”

The guy in question:

The long line for customs

Héctor as Frida Kahlo

Mamá Imelda! (And her frustrations with the computer)

Alex: “the dead use windows”

Dreamy: “Then he finds out he cant have a blessing because hes adopted”

Puffy: “found family is still family”

Pepita!

@spamtoon: “cog this movie's environments are so beautiful” (very, very true)

Dreamy: “Hot take: Ernesto de la cruz is Mariah Carey for dia de los muertos”

The mango scene

Chorizo bullying

Chicharrón’s final death (very sad, but also, this exchange):

Héctor: “And her…knuckles, they drag on the floor.”

Chicharrón: “Those aren’t the words.”

Héctor: “There are children present.”

Miguel and Héctor shouting like Panchito

UN POCO LOCO!

Mamá Imelda singing for the first time in the movie

Puffy: “gonna be awkward when he dies and then he's stuck with all his family forever”

Puffy getting Latinified

Miguel’s dog🤝de la Cruz’s horse

Dante

Miguel and de la Cruz meet

Puffy: “YAYYYY movie over!!”

Dreamy: “Frida kahlo number 2 is his drag name”

Héctor revealing de la Cruz’s true nature (plus the fact that he killed Héctor and put it in a movie, like wtf)

Puffy: “he just has like. a big scary pit outside his mansion”

Spam: “like all billionaires cmon mark installed his last week. real big vanity point (joke)”

The origins of Remember Me

Puffy: “I like the convenience of the whole plot twist working because nobody ever bothered to say each other's names”

Dante the spirit guide!

Sneaking into the Sunrise Spectacular (shades of A Goofy Movie, anyone?)

Me: “If I had a nickel for every time I 2 I was mentioned in the server this week…” (the first time being me showing the recent Dancing with the Stars team dance to the song)

“I don’t know, I’m still mad at you!”

Mamá Imelda singing reprise!

Me: “I’ve never seen this episode of DWTS”

Puffy: “imagine seeing this shit live”

Alex: “you mean dead”

The crowd booing de la Cruz (Puffy: “WHO HAD THE TOMATO 😭”)

de la Cruz getting crushed by the bell again

Puffy: “well now he's gonna be on true crime podcasts so”

Me pointing out that Miguel left his sweatshirt behind

The scene where Mamá Coco remembers Héctor when Miguel sings Remember Me to her (and everyone loses their shit, despite saying they’re not (cont’d.))

One year later…Mamá Coco has died in the interim

Alex: “well, she was old as hell”

Miguel bringing it home with Proud Corazón

Dante and Pepita being friends in the human realm

Watching through the credits because yes

Me: “Hermosa. Una película muy hermosa”

Dreamy: “Another one for the latin-america Alex WOOHOOOOOO”

Me: “Hey, you gotta use 4 semesters’ worth of Spanish some time”

But yes, it was a fantastic movie.

[landinrris]

lando to red bull........say more.......

So this one is based on a prompt I came across on ao3 in a collection (that I now can no longer find based on the screenshot I took at the time). It was originally supposed to be my second big project of last summer when McLaren was in the trenches and had me feeling a bit hopeless... and then McLaren stepped up their game. But I don't think it's completely dead potentially. The original prompt was:

"Red Bull!Lando and Ferrari!Carlos; they aren't together yet and are still pining. Lando thinks Carlos hates him now that they're battling much more directly across teams, but Carlos is just pulling away because he's struggling to hide his feelings- Lando's just so radiant, he can't help it anymore."

This scene would've likely been in the front half of the fic itself even though it takes place in Silverstone. I was... in a place (worse than I am now) when I wrote it regarding Carlos' apparent treatment at Ferrari around the beginning summer races last year. (it's also all I have connected to this prompt right now, so sorry for the slight angst but not sorry for the 1.2k this scene is. I couldn't split it up.)

ask me about a wip!

---

They always end up here, laying in one of their rooms just because they can and unloading on each other in a way that’s never quite the same with someone else. Sometimes they get dinner beforehand, but they always end up here: Carlos on his back staring at the ceiling, Lando propped up on his elbow on his side watching on amused as Carlos collects his thoughts.

Carlos has gone silent now while Lando continues to watch him. He’s changed out of his Ferrari shirt, something old and soft in its place that he only ever wears at home and decidedly not in a motorhome in the English countryside. He reminds Lando of when he was at McLaren like this, and it makes his heart ache.

After the fifth consecutive minute spent in silence and Lando watching Carlos’ eyes flutter shut a few times, he starts to think maybe Carlos is just using him to get out of his motorhome. But Carlos speaks eventually, a heavy sigh on his lips. “They’ve switched the dynamic without telling me, I know they have.”

Lando is so startled by the noise, even though he’s been watching Carlos, that he startles himself. “Who did?”

“Ferrari. Vasseur. Charles went on the warpath a few weeks ago after he got penalized post-quali, and things haven’t been the same since.”

“Woah, hang on.” Lando pushes himself higher up on his elbow. Carlos has never mentioned a supposed hissy fit or what’s come out of it. “What happened?”

Carlos rolls onto his side as well, but he keeps his head on the pillow, effectively staring at Lando’s chest. “He impeded two people and got a six-place drop. Daniel and Esteban, I think. He was speaking French with Vasseur, so I don’t know what he was saying exactly, but it was loud.”

“Out of all the languages you know…”

Carlos rolls his eyes. “I know, I know. Since then though, we have not been allowed to fight. Charles has been more angry on the radio. I think the team is promising him preferential treatment to make him happy. To show him how he is their driver they want.”

“Didn’t you guys never have defined number 1 and number 2 drivers?”

“And that’s why I signed and renewed with them. You know how I feel about team orders.”

Lando knows all too well. He remembers the few times they happened at McLaren and the way Carlos looked like the human manifestation of a thundercloud getting out of the car following them. That reaction always made sense to Lando— they’re racing drivers, why are they there if they’re not allowed to race?

Carlos isn’t fuming now though, he’s lying in Lando’s bed in a motorhome in a field in Silverstone. He looks like he’s halfway deflated— the opposite of how Carlos Sainz should ever look.

“These last few races, they have kept me behind, and when I was not behind, they tried their best to get me there. Like they have told Charles he will finish in front of me if the team can help it.”

“What’s Charles said about it?” Lando’s almost afraid to hear the answer. He hasn’t spoken to Charles much lately, especially in the time now since he’s been at Red Bull, since he’s been a direct competitor. Since Charles is officially no longer lamenting to the press that Lando should just move over for him.

“About the change in treatment on track? I have not asked him about what he discussed with Vasseur. Plus I am not sure I care to hear how he thinks he deserves to be in front. I think there will be no contract negotiations then.”

Lando hangs his head and collapses into the pillow beneath him. “You haven’t even talked to him? Carlos Sainz Vasquez de Castro—”

“Ay,” Carlos kicks Lando’s leg as best he can from this angle, the blow landing at the top of his thighs. “He has not exactly come to me and said anything either. Nothing about being sorry for my race or strategy or anything. We used to commiserate about the bad days, and now every weekend is a bad weekend, and nothing.”

Carlos is still watching him when Lando turns his face to look. “So because he hasn’t said anything and you haven’t talked, he’s on board with getting preferential treatment?” Lando wonders if Carlos thinks it sounds as funny as it does coming out of his mouth.

Carlos’ face doesn’t falter though, a bad sign that he’s deeper in his head about this than Lando thought. “I’m not trying to discount your feelings, you muppet,” Lando says, a bit softer. The last thing he needs is Carlos leaving him like this. “Just trying to understand. You two seemed to really get along up until now.”

“It’s been gradually getting worse, and I don’t know what to do, Lando.”

Lando doesn’t know what to do either, if he’s being honest. He never had issues with Carlos at McLaren, with Daniel he was as non-confrontational as he could get, Oscar was much like Carlos, and now he knows his place with Max for the next six months as Max finishes his glory run. 

Carlos has found himself in the middle of one of the most undesirable situations, and Lando’s lost for words.

The man lying across from him is a shell of who he used to be, closed off, light dimmed. The team doesn’t want driver feedback for development. His teammate takes team handouts because they help him. How is Lando not meant to have a poor view of everyone associated with that team when this is what they’ve done to one of Lando’s best friends? One of the people who kept him sane during 2020 even when they were hundreds of kilometers apart.

“The only thing I know is to talk to Fred.”

Unsurprisingly, Carlos doesn’t seem to like that idea. He groans and shifts to lie on his back like before. “I’m going to lose my seat.”

The fear of that coming to fruition is ten times scarier than any thought of Carlos being relegated to second driver mid-season. Lando inches closer to Carlos and debates reaching out to touch him but doesn’t let himself. “Don’t you dare let yourself lose your seat or so help me God, Carlos.” There’s probably too much emotion behind his words, but Lando doesn’t care. Not right now and not about this.

For the first time since laying here, Carlos cracks a smile. It’s small, but Lando couldn’t miss it if he tried. “Why, you would miss me too much?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know the answer.” Because Carlos does, Lando knows he does. Even on their most competitive days, Lando doesn’t wish for anything to be different. Could never. Not when Carlos beats him to pole by one one-hundredth of a second or when he makes his car the size of the entire track. Lando has Max, but he also has Carlos in a way that’s so unlike his other friendships in the paddock. He has Carlos in a way that screams what if we were more, what if we were brave enough?

Carlos looks at him like maybe he’s thinking that in this moment, but nothing comes of it— never does.Lando tells himself he’s okay with that, he is, especially during times like these. Besides, Lando would rather have Carlos as a friend than not at all, so he watches Carlos back and tries to keep his heart rate from spiking when Carlos says, “I do,” barely audible.

[yuri-is-online]

Damn I'm really like the storyline of this game.But FUCK Leo,if I ever get a chance to smacked the shit out of him, please Chancellor one chance.He fucked with the Mc head, how Alan and Thoma didn't kick him out that car if beyond me, there better than me honestly.Sho isn't much better because he's going along just because he's isn't mean.

Just because there isn't cruelty that doesn't mean kindness.But he's the lesser evil.Makes me sad for Alan.

Let's talk about Lucas I wonder if the soul system is like JJK,like if your twins you share the same soul and that's why the demon took his brother.

Also which character did you pick for your first

-🤡

I picked Thoma first, but I didn't take screenshots of the opening. Probably gonna use my emulator to take a crack at screencapping all of the boys intros because I am insane and want to pick it apart for lore research.

Twins sharing the same soul/being seen as the same person is very common in Japanese folklore if I understand correctly? But that might just be me overthinking the plot of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. So yes that's my assumption too, the demon likely took Luca's brother in his place since they technically share a soul.

Now. Let's talk about Leo. The main reason Alan and Thoma didn't immediately kick him out of the car was to not make a scene. Thoma specifically seems to respect the opportunistic sort, and thinks that Leo shows promise if he shapes up. He's skilled with tech, good at reading people, quick on his feet, all of those things are arguably good traits that Vagastrom, and Alan, could really use! Besides it's not like he has enough on either of them to get in their way yet, best to play it cool and walk away with the upper hand. Another thing we learn from this conversation that might be easy to miss is that unlike Twisted Wonderland where each dorm has rules about who should be the leader, Darwick's Administration picks the Captain and Vice Captain of the dorm, and grades seem to be more important to them than say. Whether or not the person has a good character, as we have seen from both Thoma and Leo, is significantly less important.

But if there is one thing I sort of have to point out that I think Alan gets and tries to call him out on, Leo is incredibly short sighted. He sees MC's power as worthless not because it doesn't work but because he already used it and got what he wants from it. He doesn't see anyone other than himself, and maybe Sho, as a person so he doesn't feel any guilt about using MC to get what he wants and then trying to get her kicked out of the school. He's also the only bitch in this house that completely ignores that MC can't leave, he doesn't mention her curse once when talking about her and honestly I don't think he was paying attention enough to remember that she can't leave because of that. Allan makes a point at the end of the Vagastrom book that I really hope is followed up on:

I sort of read this as applying to his friendship with Sho and his own reputation. Sure, it's all fun and games now while he snatches up the Vice Captain role and still has Sho doing his bidding, but well. Sho does occasionally do what he wants, he didn't go along with Leo's plan, not completely. He didn't outright lie about MC's power, and he hates how Leo keeps asking about why the ghouls made their wish on a demon. He thinks it's wrong, he hates it. Leo's treatment of MC did bother him, and I know he doesn't want MC to die. I don't know how far you or anyone else has made it, but something happens in Book 3 that makes it seem like MC has gone missing, and according to Hyde all of the Frostheim, "and one or two" of the Vagastrom ghouls have to be talked out of going to look for her.

As of right now Leo's only real ally is Sho. If Sho gets fed up with him and stops covering his ass, then Leo has no one, and I don't think that's occurred to him since according to Sho's bio they've been friends since long before Darkwick. Anyway I hope they get divorced and Sho gets to keep his food truck. Like I said, we can run Leo over with it for the insurance money.

Have some Side Notes:

The ring of Solomon, or the ring of wisdom, granted Solomon the power to make demons do his bidding in the original myth. Since ghouls powers come from demons, in some way, shape, or form, my theory is that the ring is likely enhancing the demonic part of them.

The "like doves" supposedly appear when someone is thinking of you positively/likes you. The first people to make these doves appear around MC are Luka and Kaito. The second is Sho, which is honestly why I am a bit softer on him then I should be. The third time it shows up is at the end of Jabberwock's book with all three dorm members present, meaning literally the only bitch in this house who does not respect MC is fucking Leo that dick-

while it isn't specified, Professor Dante appears to be the advisor for both Frostheim and Vagastrom, something I think is more or less confirmed by Hyde being in charge of both Jabberwock and Sinostra. Anyway the point I want to make is that we are missing a dorm if we follow the rule of each advisor being in charge of two, and no I don't mean the two missing characters from Obscuary I mean a whole dorm that seems to have specialized in exorcisms (perhaps of curses 👀):

My personal theory is that their dorm used to be in the Cathedral we are staying in and that it was destroyed during "the Clash" that's been alluded to in the first part of the story, we don't know much about it other than 1) it was between ghouls, perhaps exclusively 2) there is a spy of some sort Thoma and Alan are looking for that might have had something to do with it and 3) a Frostheim student behaved very badly during the Clash to the point Thoma seems to think they should take some responsibility for it. But that's just my speculation, don't know how much of it's real.

[fellthemarvelous]

Has everyone in the Good Omens fandom seen Shaun of the Dead?

(I tweeted this and then screenshot it because I had more to say. Also if you haven't seen the Thriller music video by Michael Jackson then you're missing out.)

It is very important to know that if you've seen Staged, you know that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were both on the show together in one episode. They are just as close to each other as David and Michael are to each other.

Here is when Shaun and Ed finally notice something weird might be going on.

They have no idea why this woman was showing up in their backyard and they just assume she is drunk. They were so drunk the previous night (Liz dumped Shaun) they don't realize they witnessed one woman completely bite a man's head off or realize that the person moaning back in reply to the song they were singing was actually a zombie.

Ed literally took the time to find one of those ancient cameras we had to use before the invention of the smartphone. And we know that everyone with a smart phone these days would be doing the exact same thing if this was happening right now.

But Shaun also has this girlfriend, Liz,

who is always third-wheeling on dates with her own boyfriend because Ed is never not with them. And the truth is that Shaun needs to make a choice because he can't have both, and Liz really loves him back just as much as he loves her, but Ed is basically Shaun's shadow.

Shaun and Ed begin a noble quest to save Shaun's mum (his stepdad was bitten by a zombie so it becomes necessary to kill him too but there is a flaw in their plan because Philip is still alive by the time they get to the house and Shaun isn't going to kill a living person so they have to add him to the car), to save Liz (only to realize David and Di are still with her and they don't want to be left behind so they get added to the tiny car), and to go to The Winchester (Shaun and Ed's favorite pub and the bane of Liz's existence) because it's sturdy with heavy doors and a rifle behind the counter.

And then all hell breaks loose because Philip finally turns into a zombie in the car, and it's Philip's car that Ed stole because he really wanted to drive it because it was a classic and the child safety locks are still on in the back.

They end up having to abandon the car after locking Philip in it.

They finally reach the pub by acting like zombies and hoping the other zombies don't notice.

And if you have never seen this scene, it's the funniest part of the entire movie. It's iconic, and it happens to "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. (Warning: this is still very much a zombie movie)

In the end, Ed gets bitten and later sacrifices himself to the other zombies so Liz and Shaun can escape a little easier.

And then at the very end Shaun is letting zombie Ed live in his and Liz's shed and they still play video games together, and even if Ed tries to bite him from time to time, Shaun yells at him and zombie Ed goes back to playing video games.

It still got the happy ending of a romantic comedy, and we never actually learn what caused the zombie breakout, and the zombie's best friend is taking care of him in the shed of the backyard where he and Liz will live happily ever after (we hope).

The movie ends with the song "You're My Best Friend" by Queen.

Also note: Liz's best friend Di is the only other one in their group to survive the zombie apocalypse but you only find out how if you watch the special features.

I think we need to be looking at Shaun of the Dead a bit closer.

And Hot Fuzz ("surrender the angle" is an easter egg from it), also starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. It's hilarious too.

The apocalypse is happening all around Aziraphale and Crowley, but we didn't notice because we were watching it through the lens of a romantic comedy. Meanwhile, Hell is overcrowded and Furfur set zombies loose on Earth in back in 1941.

[synthshenanigans]

woah hey a year has been passed wowie :0

First two weren't posted here cos they were too long ago & not CJish related but love the way he took up 70% of the year lol

[ Full images + templates below :} ]

[TW for Bright Colors, maybe blood & very very vague themes of depression/suicide for like 2 drawings I believe]

Long text about the arts if anyones actually curious!!

January: An old OC I completely forgot about until making this. He's based on old radio like things :}

February: Played Person 5 Royal last year & drew Joker cos idk he's neat. Fun fact, the same day I fully finished the game was the day Storm & a Spring came out. Also while grinding in the game, I had his Bidding & VoaC covers on repeat. Which was a bit annoying to do since they weren't on Spotify yet & YT on mobile didn't have looping then.

March: The Hawaii Part ii album cover :} I did post that eventually but that's the time I actually made it. Had listened to TME a couple of months before then which got me into the album, so months later I drew it cos why not? [Also the month Vol.1 fully released on everything. What's funny is my gallery for that day was a handful of memes I saved at 4am before I fell asleep. And then the next image saved is when I woke up which was a screenshot of the whiteboard in TfaR lol]

April: First main Jash art !!! And its not even with any of the songs from Vol. 1 lol. I had his Moss cover on repeat again & now that all of Vol. 1 was out, I drew Heart in some moss. Or really in the image from the video.

May: Lil animation I made of Heart with the song Don't Hit the Lights! Link to my post & the song can be found here :}. Still really like the song & even the drawings. Might remake em eventually idk

June: Sky/socialc1imb's Clue AU! I like murder mysteries & this one was real interesting so I drew it a lot lol. Might remake that one or one of the others I made at somepoint? It'll be a bit later if I do but ye

July: A redraw of a HMS piece I originally made back in May, based on the Three Wise Monkeys thing. I like the idea of it so I keep wanting to remake it.

August: I honestly can't remember if I posted that art or not. Actually yea I don't think I ever did PFFT. It's one of the few drawings I did of myself this year & its from CJs Not Perfect cover [as you can tell by the lyrics on it]. Also one of the very very few vent-ish arts I made. I like the background more than anything but its still neat ig?

September: Art for one of the best songs ever. I love Fine, I'm Fine its so good & I listened to it for like 70% of the 20+ hours it took me to make the drawing. Still proud of it so there's the sketch I drew on paper, the one on my tablet & then the final versions.

October: There was a lot from this month due to Jashtober. I still like this one lot & it wasn't insanely rushed so I picked this one to show lol.

November: I have no idea why I made a fun lil soul. I was having an identity crisis over my art style & ig decided to draw the guy who is a walking identity crisis/j

December: Same as September. One of my favorite songs ever was covered & released, so I made a drawing like everyone else lol.

[pupkinpumpkin]

BOOM PART 2 OF MY LAVELLAN ALREADY BECAUSE I AM UNWELL

I took a lotta screenshots of her, but I don't have access to that computer rn, so take one of my old playthroughs of her before I changed her a little bit

So, Lavellan basically already learned how to deal with people depending on her and looking to her for everything from being The First, so the Herald of Andraste gig is still incredibly stressful, but she's used to it

I think inherently, she's a very goofy and sarcastic person, but she has just molded herself into being very diplomatic, so that mask slowly comes off as she becomes friends with everyone

She's 25-26 at the beginning of the game

Her eyes glow green anytime she uses the mark, which I really think adds to Trespasser with the anchor freaking out so much and there just being points where her eyes are green for minutes at a time and fully green by the end before her arm gets cut off

She never had alcohol before the Inquisition so she gets drunk very fast

Whenever she is blackout drunk, she gets really good at building or fixing things. Like, she could build accessories to Bianca levels of good. But only when she's blackout drunk.

Once, when drunk, she said that running her fingers through Cullen's hair felt like petting a baby Halla's fur, something which no one has ever let her or Cullen live down

Varric is the first one to make Lavellan laugh, Sera is the first one to make her snort laugh

Immediately after becoming Inquisitor, Lavellan asks Josephine and Vivienne to teach her about The Game and Fereldan politics

Sera is the first person Lavellan tells about not believing in the Elven gods

Lavellan had a panic attack during Wicked Hearts and Wicked Minds

I like to think that, since my Lavellan is scared of fire, whenever she defeats her first dragon, Iron Bull takes her out drinking not only to celebrate defeating a dragon, but to facing a really big phobia of hers and coming out alive

I purposely have Morrigan be the one to drink from the Well of Sorrows because my Inky has enough religious trauma. Can you imagine having heavy religious guilt over never believing in your religion and then having a bunch of old dead priests from that religion in your head constantly?

Lavellan's best friends are probably Cassandra, Dorian, Cole, and Josephine (Sera and Solas are close seconds)

Cassandra because Lavellan had a big gay crush on her originally which led her to get to know Cassandra better and become very close to her, of course not in the way she originally wanted, but still. They bond out of duty to the people and raise each other up to think about their own happiness for once. Also trashy romance books.

She knows Dorian's gay from minute one and the fact that he's so unwaveringly himself really makes her admire him for being something she could never manage to be. In Dorian's personal quest, there's an option to say that Dorian was very brave for being himself and taking no shit and I really think my Lavellan means that. She hid who she was for so long and being friends with Dorian really helped her walls go down and build her self-confidence. Like, early in the game when you recruit Dorian, I like to think that with everyone else she's very nice and mild-mannered, but whenever she's around Dorian, her real personality comes out which I think confuses some of the companions at first on why she's so different with him, and some see it as them being 'together' but really they both just get each other and their struggles implicitly

(also I love the head canon that Cullen purposely plays chess with Dorian to see what his and the Inquisitor's relationship is, it's so funny to imagine)

With Lavellan being very "I need to put everyone above me and never complain", I think having Cole around would stress her out because he can feel all her hurt she tries so desperately to hide, but she learns that he just wants to help and she often joins him or helps him help others. She eventually gets comfortable enough around him to open up, but I do think she makes him promise to never make her forget anything. Then of course, since I always make Cole human, I like to think she starts playing a more active role in helping him help others since he can no longer make people forget him.

I feel like Josie and Lavellan would just vent to each other a lot. They both need to vent so much and they both have had obligations pushed on them since they were young. Josephine's side quest really pulls them together

And then of course there's Cullen and Solas. So, I romance Cullen every time. I just like him a lot. But I started thinking narratively, and now I flirt with Solas for a bit, then immediately end it after Skyhold and go full in with Cullen. The reason I do it is all very soap-opera-y

So, my thinking is that Lavellan is so conditioned to do whatever her clan wants of her. She needs their approval. Solas is a male Elven mage who she really likes and gets along well with. On the surface level, he is exactly who her clan would want her to pursue. Elven. Male. So, she convinces herself that because she enjoys his company, she must like him because that's who her clan would want her to be with. And he likes her, so, she goes along with it.

And then there's Cullen. A human templar. Just like the rogue templars who killed her lover. Cruel and malicious and evil. But he's not. He's awkward and sweet and yes he's headstrong, but he genuinely wants to reform the Templar order and he's trying to better himself. She tries so goddamn hard not to like him because liking him would be saying no to her clan and she can't. Liking him would be moving past her trauma and looking forward and thinking about herself and her wants and she can't. But she also can't help herself from spending time with him and laughing at his jokes and getting flustered when he laughs at hers.

But as time goes on she feels so bad for flirting with Solas when she doesn't feel that way about him but she HAS to feel that way about him, doesn't she? Because just like with the Elven gods, something must be wrong with her if she doesn't like Solas. So after they find Skyhold and she's in the Fade with Solas. She has to test it. She has to kiss him to see if her feelings are real. So she does. And he kisses back. And it's a good kiss. But it's not right. It doesn't feel right. Then Solas also apparently says this isn't right, so once she wakes up and goes back to talk to him, they agree to end it (She tells him later of course why she flirted with him and apologizes profusely for it, she feels horrible about it for the rest of time, but they stay good friends because they genuinely enjoy each other's company).

But with Solas gone, that means that nothing except her own insecurities are holding her back from being with Cullen. And she is shaking when she asks Cullen to go on a walk with her and she is TERRIFIED when she admits how much she likes him, but god, nothing will ever compare to how she feels after he tells her he likes her too and they kiss. And she feels so...free. She made a decision for herself that wasn't tied to her clan's wants for once. They were 100% completely her own. And she loves it. And she loves him.

Anyway, that got a little fanficy. Basically once the Inquisition ends and she's with Cullen, she is the happiest she's ever been because she doesn't have to deal with politics anymore. She definitely gets stressed introducing Cullen to her clan, but if they don't accept him, they don't accept her, and she learns to be fine with that.

Also she has four kids and a dog with him. One warrior, two rogues (one who specializes in making prosthetics), and one mage, thank you and good night!

[silenzahra]

What's up Zahra? I have a question for you.

What's your favorite Mario RPG other than the Mario & Luigi series?

You can take as much time to answer as you want.

Take care!

What's up, Mugi? Thank you so much for sending this ask! 🥰 I'm sorry I took forever to get to it, but I hope you'll like my answer!

Actually, my choice is very clear:

✨ The Thousand-Year Door ✨

This game means EVERYTHING to me 😍 It was my first Paper Mario game and my second RPG ever (only after Superstar Saga), and oh God, I fell so in love with the characters, the story, the mechanics, the music! It's a game that's so full of surprises and charisma, and the fact that it was told as a play only made it cuter to my eyes 🥹

Honestly, playing this game again after almost 20 years of trying it for the first time on my Wii (I borrowed the original from my cousin as I didn't have a GameCube)... It hit hard in the nostalgia 🥹 When I tell you I couldn't stop crying when it was announced in the direct last year! And then, again, when I started playing it, especially with the soft and beautiful music as the book opens and the story starts...

I have to admit I'm getting emotional just by remembering it 🥹

It's really been so great to replay it! I've loved rediscovering again not only the story of the game itself, but also those of the different characters. Especially the partners! If I may, I wanna mention my three favorites!

Mini Yoshi and Goombella are simply amazing. Their personalities shine through! He's so bold and ready to fight, and she's so smart and sassy. I adore them wholeheartedly 🥹

And then...

My beautiful and beloved Vivian 💜 She holds a very special place in my heart. As a fun fact, she was always trans in the Spanish version of the original game, but of course, I was incredibly happy when it became something official worldwide! In this screenshot, she's actually telling Mario THE line: "It took me some time to realize that I was their sister... and not their brother." You best believe I've cried every single time I've read it, both when playing the game and on the internet 🥹

Also, the places! 😍 My personal favorite is Glitzville, because I love everything about that chapter in general. Having to fight battle after battle to climb the rankings in order to reach the top spot and being crowned champion? And in each battle you have to follow specific guidelines? Not to mention the different opponents you encounter and all the secrets hidden in this place! Absolutely AWESOME 🤩

Also: that Game Boy Advance on the wall does make the sound the console did when you turned it on. I'm a sucker for details like this as they hit nostalgia hard, so it was just another reason to love this part of the game even more 💖

Still, I also loved Twilight Town, the sea and the entire chapter that takes place in the train (can never remember its name in English 😅). I mean, just look!

Also. Mario going 👍 all the freaking time is a silly and adorable detail that made me giggle all the time 🤭❤️

I dont think I need to mention I cried my heart out when I finished replaying this game about a month ago 😅 Every single scene after I defeated the final boss just brought more and more tears to my eyes, and I just couldn't erase the silly smile from my face as I relived such a beautiful and touching ending (I'll add a few more pics under the cut so as not to spoil anyone). This game earned a really big place in my heart 20 years ago and it has only increased after playing the remake 🥹❤️

Thank you again for this ask, @megamagimugi! I hope the wait was worth it 🥰

⚠ SPOILERS BELOW ⚠

The Thousand-Year Door after you've collected every single crystal star reminds me so much of the one in Super Mario Land 2!

The moment of saying goodbye... You bet I was right there, crying with my beloved Mini Yoshi 😭

And Vivian about to tell Mario that she loves him! AAAAAHHHH my beloved shadow girl 😭💜✨

Also, loved how Mario's way of saying goodbye was, again...

Just brilliant 🤭❤️

And then... all this last sequence with Peach and Mario looking at Rogueport as they part had me UGLY crying.

As well as, of course...

I have just made myself emotional by re-visiting the ending of this game 🥹🥹🥹 The idea of them parting on a new adventure, and then celebrating the ending of the play on stage with all the partners, and Luigi being among the audience...

It's perfect. It's just perfect.

I just love every single thing about this game so so much ❤️❤️❤️

[koorinokujira]

Yakuza 0 is a SPECTACULAR game and I'll shove my love for it in everyone's faces now - Chapter 2: Screenshot Extravaganza

Alright, now that I have emotionally recovered, I thought I'd share some funny screenshots I took in my first playthrough. I'll write the in-depth rambles about my favorite characters a lot later, as I got pretty sick today and I don't have any braincells left for it.

Spoilers inbound, look at your own risk! Anyway, here goes! The text above a picture is the one describing it (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

I was wondering what would happen if I took a picture of the heat move with the nails. All I can say about it is HLBPHPHM?!

Truly the best manager we've ever had. I've seen this in a gameplay video before playing, but it still made me cackle.

I think it's just fine, Majima.

The worst best spies in the world!

This man was such a mood. Look, I know most of us probably like to think that we would be able to deck people like Kiryu or Majima if we were in the RGG universe, but most of us would most likely just be Youda-chan. But it's okay. He is best girl.

Guys I think there's something wrong with Kiryu's bro

Justice for my girl! Let her laugh like a cartoon villain!

Apart from this sub-story being ridiculous on its own, it just kills me that he was literally called "Formerly Fallen Guy" once he got up. Peak comedy

This was a great, epic moment, but I somehow managed to take a pic when Nishiki had the exact face I make when I am a guest at someone's house and they give me food that I don't like, and I have to eat it now to not insult anyone

Every single time I thought this game couldn't get funnier, it did. Big boy never got to space (｡╯︵╰｡)

Speaking of Mr.Shakedowns, I love how they just- took naps in the middle of the street. Goodnight, sweet prince

Majima? More like MOODjima.

Look, I know this isn't a funny screenshot, but I just had to flex with how I absolutely destroyed Ms. Isobe. For my Cabaret Club, of course. I absolutely wasn't pissed off because she kept beating me and I wanted revenge, no sir.

And last but not least, I tried to take an epic screenshot of Shibusawa getting decked (haha, get it, because they are on a boa- *gets shot*) but I forgot to press the button in time and it just ended up looking absolutely stupid, enjoy

That's all the funny pictures I have! I also took a lot of cool/serious ones too, but I'll use those in other posts. And like always...

Have a great day!

[kimmiessimmies]

Sweet Beginnings Tag

This tag is all about looking at your past. All you need to do is to find one of the first screenshots you ever took (preferably also published), and post it beside the recent one! And tell everybody when you took that first picture! Oh, and don’t forget to tag your posts! #sweet beginnings tag.

Thank you @hancyan, @greenplumbboblover, @nocturnalazure and @eljeebee for tagging me in this.

I have to be honest though, seeing this Sweet Beginnings Tag going round has been bringing out my insecurities. I see people posting their 2010's stuff saying "Eww!", "Cringe!", "OMG, look at this puddingface!", "The lighting is horrible!" and "What was I thinking with that camera angle?!" Meanwhile I'm sitting here looking at these pictures they deem to be such an embarrassment and all I think is "Umm, that's better than what I currently do... So if that's all so disgusting, what does that say about (your opinion on) my stuff?"

But I will play! I love looking back! I know what everyone is expecting is a huge difference between a Sim created in the 2010s and one created now, but guess what, peeps; the Sims that were the centre of my Sim-universe back then are the same ones still going strong today. I stick with my babies foreverrrrr. I also will not say, "Oh, look what an embarrassment I was back then." What I will say, though, is there was a time when I didn't know turning off headline effects was an option. See for yourself:

September 2012

This is The Prom of 03, one of the first (non-)story posts. We see Dan and James, still the best cousin-friends ever, talking after James had just publicly broken up with Jill.

At that point, I posted to my WordPress blog and to The Sims Daily (I know I keep commenting this on everyone's posts, but I soooo miss the awesome atmosphere of the forums and to my darlings from the TSD days: I MISS YOU! I MISS US!).

However, aside from the picture above, I also managed to shoot the picture below by NOT posing anyone and just clicking at the right time. For the early days, that's quite the skill, I think! Especially when you realise I also didn't know how to use the tab camera mode yet.

September 2012

This is Ellie's mum Annabel meeting teacher Eva on Ellie's very first day of school. With Ellie standing by. Just using in-game interactions (not even Animator).

In April 2013, I came to Tumblr. At first, I mainly reblogged posts by my Daily friends and posted pictures of Honeycomb Valley and interiors. I feel tempted to reblog one of those full posts now. Should I?

After a few months, I started posting links to my (non-)stories on my blog, accompanied by some pictures to get a taste of the story and hopefully lure people to my WordPress blog. Funnily enough, one of those first pictures is my darling Sadie singing, which is the same thing I photographed today! :)

June 2013

Fun fact: This is the karaoke performance which landed Sadie her place as The Hot Wings female lead! Oh, how this moment would end up changing her life... Neither her nor me knew just how much by that point. Makes me all nostalgic to see her like this again.

By this point, I did know how to turn off headline effects and how to work the camera in tab mode, which already made a difference.

Unto the current stuff. Well, my absolute proudest pictures are these:

August 2023

Particularly because of the emotions they portray. Which were so on point for the story they were telling. Aww, my Joshua <3.

A lot of the credit for these goes to the pose creators though. In particularly @danjaley for her railing poses.

I will also share Singing Sadie again, even though I've shared this picture two times already, but I figured it would be fun to see in this post to compare her (and me) to the picture above.

October 2023

I do think I've grown over the years. No, I know I did. And I know even my current stuff isn't as shiny and polished and perfect as a lot of other stuff out there, but these are my babies and I love them just the way they are. :)

Tagging @simsaralove, @ice-creamforbreakfast, @wasset-aseskara, @missy-hissy, @danjaley. But feel free to ignore if you've already done this or simply don't feel like it.

[chartoris]

DELTARUNE PREDICTION TIME

I hope I finish this post before the anniversary of chapter 1 (nothing else notable happens on that day) I'm putting my 100% correct theories+ predictions here just in case Toby decides to release chapter 3 alone for some reason (I personally think he's releasing just 3 and 4 together next year), but who knows with that dog.

CHAPTER 3

As everyone else thinks, it's safe to say that the dark world in chapter 3 is probably gonna be TV themed. With different areas going through different channels.

THE BOSS

I don't think we can predict who exactly the main villain is yet based off of one thing Jevil said about a queen in one line. But it would make sense if it were some fucked up game show host guy. Maybe since the Spade King represents Susie's dad, and Queen represents a mother, the chapter 3 boss could represent that estranged uncle that nobody really talks about.

Also Tenna is probably the guy that betrayed Spamton. Not Mike.

THE SHADOWMEN

They're just gonna be silly litle guys.

THE WEATHER CHANNEL

Also sily.

THE POLICE

Since Toriel called the police and Kris left the door opened, I think that either Undyne shows up, or Napstablook shows up wearing Undyne's Undertale armor. Both of which would be awesome sauce.

NOELLE

No idea if she'll show up in the chapter. But I also have no clue why else the Lost Girl theme was in that unused sneaking section. Yes I'm still thinking about this.

THE END

I believe that chapter 3 might end with Kris sealing the fountain. Like you walk up, that sickass guitar riff plays, the screen fades to white, and the chapter ends (assuming it releases with chapter 4). Imagine how relieving it would be that the chapter doesn't have to end on a massive cliffhanger!

CHAPTER 4

Based on the screenshots we got for the 2022 status update, I don't think chapter 4 will have a dark world. It seems like a nice intermission chapter to just hang out with Susie in Hometown for a couple hours. We could get more insight into the residents of the town, as well as some lore.

i'm a huge fan of rain so this seems like the best the game will ever get.

I think its possible that Toby might have changed his might about releasing 3-5 together, and that he might just release 3 and 4. Assuming this chapter is just in the light world, it would probably be a lot faster to develop. No enemies, no battles, just cutscenes.

Keep in mind, I just took one programming class 5 years ago, so I'm not the ultimate authority on game design. But if it is easier to develop, I think we could see chapters 3+4 next fall.

I don't really have any other predictions for chapter 4 since all we have are a few screenshots, and even less for the future chapters. So I'm just going to talk about other general things in the game.

THE BUNKER

Gaster is afoot. Also maybe Dess or something idk yet. Oh and a dark fountain too. Maybe even the supply closet one.

DARK WORLDS

I don't think EVERY room with double doors is going to be a dark world, especially considering that Toby can just retcon them in between chapters, so I like to go off of narrative significance.

I think there will totally be a dark world in the church, considering the Dreemurr family has a significant amount of history with it, as well as the interesting thing you could do with it. Like a giant pipe organ castle or something.

There probably won't be a dark world in Ice-E's, unless something super traumatizing happened to Kris there when they were a kid. But I still have my eye on that Ice-E guy. Something fishy is absolutely going on with him.

why is he so big

Asgore's flower shop seems like a really good place for a dark world, and I need to see what the golden flower darkener would be. The empty fridge could even be like the ice palace from Dragon Blazers.

THE HOLIDAYS

Rudy is most likely going to die. I really don't want him to but unfortunately it would be really good for the story. Noelle would be forced to stand up to her mom like she did to Queen.

Also Noelle's mom's name is probably either Clarice or Carol.

WEIRD ROUTE

Its likely that not every chapter will have a weird route. I think they are more tied to Noelle's presence, due to her affinity for video game glitches when she was younger. Especially because it seems like the route itself isn't supposed to happen in the game world. And the weird route is a way to break out of the whole "your choices don't matter" thing. You might even be able to save Rudy in the route, at the cost of Noelle's mental state and every other horrible thing you may have to do.

THE KNIGHT

I don't think the Knight will be the main antagonist. It might get revealed relatively early (like chapter 5), unless its Gaster or something. The actual main antagonist of the game will be either the Roaring Titans or the Angel.

THE ROARING

This is probably gonna happen at some point. Ralsei leaves for ONE minute and someone opens a dark fountain in a dark world. Can't have shit.

holy hell they look so badass

Also penumbra phantasm final boss theme. make it happen toby.

[bluegekk0]

did grimm ever visit pharloom in your au

I like to think so, yeah. Pharloom existing was actually the biggest reason why I took the AU in the direction I did - in the way that Hallownest is just one of many lands one can travel between. I'm not sure how they will explain the memory loss thing implied in the first game (as in, when you leave Hallownest), maybe it'll end up being retconned. If that's the case, then even better for me, since that isn't a thing in my AU.

But to get back to the question. Grimm used to travel a lot, especially before meeting FPK (he still continued to travel, but he stopped by Hallownest far more often to visit him). So at some point, he definitely visited Pharloom. I haven't really had an in-depth brainstorming session about that kingdom yet, I'm waiting for more details about it once (if) Silksong releases (I don't know whether Silksong will be canon in the AU yet, but either way, I'll definitely include Pharloom one way or another).

Since Pharloom seems to be very song/music themed, perhaps that's the reason why he visited (and likely still visits) it. The Troupe are basically like a theatre in the AU, and they need instruments for their performances. Perhaps there are luthiers in Pharloom who craft very rare instruments Grimm would show interest in. Maybe some of the Grimmkin originate from there, Grimm always searches for new recruits for his troupe, and a kingdom centered around music would without a doubt be a home to many young, ambitious musicians, or those artists who lost everything and would search for a new life - Grimm's troupe could give them just that. They would be tied to him through the Nightmare Realm, but compared to many gods, he does not require worship, only loyalty. It's not surprising that many would accept his offer.

And lastly, he would stop by to buy gifts for the family. Zote in particular shows some interest in playing instruments, so Grimm would keep that in mind as he passes through Pharloom. And of course, since the kingdom is still full of life, that means there's plenty of merchants that would offer shiny trinkets or rare crafting resources, which he could bring home as a present for Vyrm.

I would love to put some more thought into different lands. Hallownest and Pharloom are the only named kingdoms that we know of, but I imagine there's many different kingdoms, towns or small settlements you can stumble upon during travels. Some are dead and offer lingering Nightmare Essence that Grimm collects for his rituals, but some are thriving.

Maybe one day I'll create some kind of map to show where Hallownest and Pharloom are located. Hallownest, in my AU, is located in the mountains and has a cold climate, so it would most likely be up north. Pharloom? It's said it's a distant land, and with the coral reefs we see on screenshots, that'd imply it's a lot warmer than Hallownest. And there's also other lands I could include - Vyrm's homeland, the natural habitat of the now extinct wyrms, or the land destroyed by war where Divine originates from, among others.

I love doing worldbuilding for the AU do I do hope I get the inspiration to do this one day! I think it would be fun. Though maybe it's best if I finish the Hallownest fauna first so I don't put too may things on my plate at once hahaha