#I’m from the USA but the game is not so that’s why I refer to their cosmetics in the spelling from the game and pajamas when it’s my voice

[profiction-edits]

I’m going to try to do a few of @black-salt-cage’s 25 Days of Stimmas.

Day 4: Favorite Christmas outfit / skin / look for any character.

Two of my favorites are Jonah Vasquez’s Workaholic Pyjamas and Feng Min’s Workaholic Pyjamas. They are both their Christmas pajamas from the Cozy Break collection in Dead by Daylight! It’s a tie, so I think that doing them both is good. (I even giffed them in their outfits from the Cozy Break trailer!)

➗ | ➗ | 🎮

➗ | ⛄️ | 🎮

➗ | 🎮 | 🎮

[felassan]

i havent been able to keep up with all the veilguard news, but i was hoping you might know if theres been any word on a potential comeback for Sandal Feddic?

hello! ◕‿◕

this post is just listing references to him in interviews/marketing etc, not going into theorycrafting. ◕‿◕

around 2012 in an interview somewhere a writer mentioned a concern that they had around how the portrayal of Sandal could be insensitive/uncomfortable.

around 2 years ago there was an article:

‘Sandal Probably Isn’t In Dragon Age 4′ At least not with his usual voice actor, Yuri Lowenthal. Speaking to USA Today, voice actor Yuri Lowenthal revealed that has not been asked to return for the fourth game. “I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn, but as far as I know there’s no Sandal in Dragon Age 4. If there is then it wasn’t played by me because I would have loved to have come back.” The only silver lining for fans is that Lowenthal would love to play the quirky character again. “100%, I love that little guy. He could have just been a terrible joke, and he wasn’t. They gave him some turns that nobody saw coming. He’s a right badass.” [source]

that was 2 years ago however, and things can change. as we know from Morrigan/Claudia Black, it's possible for this kind of comment to be made prior to a studio asking an actor to reprise a role. NDAs and changing voice actors are also a thing.

about a year ago Mark Darrah said this, on why he doesn't directly appear in DA:I -

[on Sandal] “I told the team if you put him in DA:I you gotta put him in everything because he basically then becomes a central figure of the franchise. So they gave him a rest. So you can blame me for him not being in DA:I” [source]

I don't remember seeing any other direct/specific Sandal mentions in promo/marketing type material one way or the other in more recent times.

[its-rat-time-babey]

Because I’m insane I decided to watch Fanboy and Chum Chum for the lore. Just watch the entire series and see what I can find.

Especially since Fanboy and Chum Chum are connected to Glitch Techs, with both shows being a part of the same multiverse. Just in Glitch Techs, smaller elements like the Freezy Mart exist in the show AND Fanboy and Chum Chum themselves are confirmed to exist as their names appear on the scoreboard in the Hinobi Smash competition, which means that Fanboy and Chum Chum do exist, but they probably go by their real names in the Glitch Techs universe and “Fanboy and Chum Chum” are just gamertags.

Things I have learned so far (just finished season 1):

This is a completely very different timeline and universe compared to Glitch Techs or our universe as comparison. Many things are different.

For example, the USA in this universe only has 8 states. For reference, the US was originally settled with 9 states, so at some point in time they lost one.

Fanboy and Chum Chum takes place in 2004. Glitch techs takes place in 1998.

Fanboy and Chum Chum’s real names are Tobias and Edmund.

Fanboy is anywhere from 17-18 years old. Chum Chum is (seemingly) two years younger at 15-16 years old. This is because they’re in 5th Grade (5th Graders are usually 10-11 years old) and Fanboy mentions that they’re been held back for 5 years, including the current year. Fanboy specifically also mentions being held back twice in kindergarten, but that’s exclusive to him.

All of the weird stuff Fanboy and Chum Chum can do comes from Chum Chum. Chum Chum has the power and Fanboy can also use it because he’s Chum Chum’s best friend. Oz is also friends with Chum Chum and can do similar things, but to a lesser degree because he’s not as close to Chum Chum as Fanboy. Yo gains Chum Chum-like abilities basically as soon as Fanboy temporarily gives Chum Chum to her, and on top of that Fanboy seemingly loses his abilities until he’s reunited with Chum Chum. Chum Chum is the source of like 90% of the show’s weirdness.

Fanboy is a Lance Corporal, aka the highest non-enlisted rank of the us military.

The Norse gods are real in this universe. I’m not kidding.

With the previous information, Chum Chum is very likely a Norse giant. I’m also not kidding.

Fanboy and Chum Chum both have glass eyes. Fanboy’s left and Chum Chum’s right eyes are fake. My personal conspiracy theory is that Chum Chum pulled an Odin some time in the past (as Odin is a real person who actually exists in this universe) and sacrificed one of his eyes for forbidden knowledge and that’s why he’s so powerful. Fanboy may have done the same as a sort of blood oath to his and Chum Chum’s friendship, hence why he has access to so much of Chum Chum’s power.

The creators of Fanboy and Chum Chum must have already had the idea for Glitch Techs even when this show was first being made. You can find all sorts of stuff in here that connects to the 2015 Pitch Bible for Glitch Techs. Yo’s Tamagotchi has a character identical to Chomp Kitty on it, characters that look extremely similar to Five and Miko’s Pitch Bible designs show up in an in-universe commercial, hell a character that looks extremely similar to Agent 68, a character who is only found in the Glitch Techs Pitch Bible (Either getting remade into Inspector 7 or even the Tech Inspector in “I’m Mitch Williams” later during development or being someone who would have appeared in season 3) shows up physically. They had the ideas all there to begin with.

Hinobi as we know it in Glitch Techs doesn’t exist in the way that we know it, but it does exist under a different name and purpose. Instead of Hinobi the video game company, it’s a (so far unnamed) Toy Company (that also owns the Frosty Mart in some way). My logic here is that:

Chomp Kitty on a tamagotchi. Obviously.

That character that looks like Agent 68 is an “Agent” of the unnamed toy company, in this case an inspector sent to reclaim some recalled toys. He’s also the head of security for the Frosty Mart’s company, so the Frosty Mart is probably owned by this alternate reality Hinobi in some way.

The few arcade machines and video games seen so far work perfectly fine, but many toys, especially any toy with mechanical parts have a tendency to break and act somewhat similarly to glitches.

There’s an episode where that Chomp Kitty Tamagotchi breaks and Fanboy and Chum Chum attempt to repair it by throwing it into a grave that’s been said to fix stuff that’s been left there. This results in the toy basically Glitch Techs style glitching and repeatedly trying to kill Fanboy and Chum Chum. Hell once they destroy the Tamagotchi completely a ghostly version of it almost identical to a Glitch from Glitch Techs forces itself through their TV. It’s even easily distracted by stuff from its original tamagotchi game like a glitch would be.

So my theory is that Hinobi in this universe is a toy company. Their toys can be extremely dangerous under the right conditions, especially if something goes wrong and they glitch in some way, Fanboy breaks the arm off of a robot toy by accident and every other robot in the area tries to kill him for example, and that Tamagotchi specifically is so much closer to a glitch techs glitch because it’s the closest this alternative universe Hinobi has to a video game.

Again, I am completely insane.

[seandwalsh]

I would like you to give me some clarifications(if you can, of course) - I follow you on Reddit(and also the Mario verse project)*recently*; I noticed a post that was making fun of this project and I went to the comments section, and in one of the first comments to appear, these are the replies to it(yeah, I don't agree with his mindset about the series). I took some screenshots before they were disabled, and if you *could* clarify them for me(who is still a beginner in Mario Lore), I would be grateful.

I would be happy to clarify! I’m not trying to cause drama with this, but given there is a minor history here I should explain a couple of things. Just for context on the sort of source Slade Lucas is; They’re someone I’ve interacted with quite a few times and they generally tend to deny basic facts based on what they personally like or dislike. For example, they refused to acknowledge that the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass courses were ported from Mario Kart Tour. This also generally applies to their perspective on Mario lore. They write off any evidence they don’t like completely arbitrarily, constantly move the goalposts in any conversation and make up pseudo-arguments that don’t really mean anything when you try to inquire about them further (“Toad himself is a character that they try to use in so many ways that he alone breaks the idea of there being a consistent canon.”, anyone can see that this is ridiculous).

This is not an attack on their character, but similarly to when I used to respond to MatPat it’s important to understand why people make these types of flawed arguments. In any case, I’m going to debunk them piece by piece.

“But just because they bring something back and it is canon to one game, it doesn't mean it is canon to all games.”

Perhaps I’m missing some context but I’m not quite sure what they’re trying to say here. Obviously when a game references another game, those games are intended to share a canon - and every Mario game references other Mario games, prompting a web which connects essentially every Nintendo-published Mario game to each other. This is what Mario fans use as the basis for canon.

Not everyone is interested enough in or pays enough attention to the Mario games to see the patterns and lore they’re building, but to deny its existence outright entirely is incredibly silly.

Mario, of course, has been from the Mushroom Kingdom and grew up in what we now call New Donk City since at least the mid-90s with Donkey Kong (Game Boy) and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. He had no officially disclosed backstory within the canon before that point and was certainly never stated to be from any real world country in the games themselves.

Captain Toad is obviously not Toad and never has been. Captain Toad first appeared in Super Mario Galaxy, while the main Toad first appeared in Super Mario Bros. (and was first singled-out in Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA)). There are several developer statements that prove this, as well as several descriptions.

That's right. We've made use of the technology cultivated through Super Mario Galaxy, and characters like Rosalina and Captain Toad, who came about through those games play a new role.

[Source: Yoshiaki Koizumi, Director of Super Mario Galaxy and Producer of Super Mario 3D World, Iwata Asks, November 2013]

Taking a cue from Mario Galaxy, there are games called "Captain Toad's Adventure," in which Captain Toad appears with his memorable little tune that goes "ta-dada-da-, ta-dada-da-".

[Source: Koichi Hayashida, Director of Super Mario 3D World, Iwata Asks, November 2013]

What is he Captain of, exactly…? Have you played Super Mario Galaxy™ on the Wii™ console? Well, during the events of that game the Toad Brigade was founded, with Captain Toad as its leader. Rumours that Captain Toad is the least reliable of the bunch are completely unfounded!

[Source: What They Say about Captain Toad, Page 5, Digital Manual of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, December 2014]

By the way, Captain Toad is actually not the same Toad as the Toad who's playable in games like Super Mario Bros. 2 and Wario's Woods.

[Source: Koichi Hayashida, Producer of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Miiverse, December 2014]

[Super Mario Galaxy is the] First appearance of Captain Toad!

[Source: Super Mario Galaxy Fabulous Firsts, Official American Super Mario 3D All-Stars website, September 2020]

iJustine

…I was wondering, is Captain Toad the same Toad from the original Super Mario Bros.? How many Toads are there?

Shigeru Miyamoto

[…] So Captain Toad, y’know, appeared in Super Mario Galaxy and there were other Toads in that game too, but I think maybe Captain Toad is just a normal Toad who just happens to be wearing those captain-type clothes. (laughs)

[Source: An exchange between Shigeru Miyamoto and iJustine, Director of Super Mario Bros. and YouTuber, respectively, YouTube, December 2014]

Illumination did whatever they wanted with the story of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Characters were merged or otherwise completely altered left and right, such as Donkey Kong the First and the modern Donkey being treated as one and the same despite having always been different characters in the games.

The main Toad has appeared in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario 64, Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario Run. He’s also mentioned in the manual of Super Mario Bros. 3, with several other potential appearances in main series games. That’s a better track record in the main series than a lot of characters, and with his appearances in spin-offs such as sports games, Mario Party games and RPGs Toad is a prolific and well-defined character. He’s a brave hero through and through, he’s selfless and he’s a long-time friend of Mario. While his spots are sometimes blue, they’re usually red and he consistently wears a blue vest.

Captain Toad is almost the complete opposite in terms of characterisation. He’s cowardly, he’s motivated primarily by his own greed and he barely knew Mario (if at all) before Super Mario Galaxy. He always wore red, separating his design from the main Toad’s.

Space Junk Galaxy does have an atmosphere, as does every Galaxy in the Super Mario Galaxy games as well as the moon in Super Mario Odyssey and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. As Slade Lucas point out, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Odyssey, have breath meters, clearly demonstrating that Mario needs air and therefore has air in the areas he visits throughout those games. The atmosphere might be a little thinner in certain areas, but it’s definitely present. Mario cannot breathe in the void of space as shown in Super Paper Mario and even with things like the REXA Toads in Mario Kart 8. This is just wasn’t thought through on Lucas’ part.

Whether or not Mario has an air meter in any given game is simply a matter of gameplay and says nothing about whether Mario can or needs to breathe in-universe. We know Mario needs oxygen and holds his breath while underwater thanks to dialogue and animations. In older titles, it was not possible to implement an air meter for underwater levels. This has been carried over into many newer linear titles to allow for more simple level design. In-universe, however, Mario can never breathe underwater. In fact in Super Mario 3D World we can clearly see Mario and the others holding their breaths when underwater despite the lack of an air meter. A game deciding to not have an air meter for the sake of fun and accessible gameplay says nothing about in-universe lore or canon. Nobody in their right mind would consider that a lore inconsistency, especially not a game developer.

Koopa Troopas walk on all fours and can learn to walk on two legs, as is stated in Mario Superstar Baseball (translated from Japanese):

[Koopa Troopa is] A member of the Koopa clan, familiar to the Mario series. He can protect himself by putting his hands and feet inside his shell. Long ago, he couldn't even stand up wearing shoes, but after hard work, he's gone as far as being able to play baseball. He can do anything with skill, but since he's a turtle, he's slow on his feet.

We’ve seen Koopas who walk on all fours stand up in Mario Bros. and Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. artwork. It appears shoes help Koopas stand upright, which explains why whenever we see them waking on all fours they aren’t wearing them. Clearly this isn't an inconsistency but rather a feature of the worldbuilding.

The Koopalings were retconned. Many people do not like this change, but that’s not an inconsistency. It’s not something they’ve gone back and forth on, it was a change they made a couple of decades ago to allow them to exist while considering newer lore. Explicit retcons like this are made for the sake of consistency and only prove that they’re considering an overarching narrative that needs consistent worldbuilding throughout these games.

In short, Slade Lucas bases their “inconsistencies” on personal bias, a lack of knowledge, gameplay mechanics and things literally done to make things consistent. Their arguments do not hold up whatsoever. Thank you for bringing your concerns to me, and I hope you found this response helpful!

[kdinjenzen]

Didnt take me 3 seconds to scroll down and see "lewd furry art" that you didnt tag lol. I get that boobs and ass are not inherently sexual in some settings but "nsfw" doesnt mean "explicit sexual activity/explicitly sexually provocative" it means something that would get you in trouble for viewing it in a public work/school environment and naked furries, even if theyre just standing around, would do that.

This feels like the DMV rejected licence plates Tumblr posts.

Person: "I'd like 2B 9S on my plates, it's from a video game!" DMV: "IT MEANS TWO BUTTS NINE ASSES! REJECTED!"

I'm sorry that people have boobs and a lot of the clothing exists that exposes cleavage but that's not an invitation to be sexual about it.

Like... c'mon.

Next y'all are gonna tell me that someone breast feeding a baby is "lewd" or "nsfw" because "it's technically a person sucking on a titty."

That means someone with boobs wearing a sports bra and workout pants is lewd or nsfw?

I dunno this all feels... very much like policing things.

Because, and here's where we get to really look into this, "NSFW" can mean whatever a company wants it to mean or not mean and is super subjective entirely.

Like HEY, I'm a trans woman! Me just EXISTING in a workplace (depending on the area of the USA or world) is considered "LEWD" or "NSFW".

So again I'd like to point out two really important parts of this that I feel like everyone is missing:

I already went back and tagged things that I don't consider "lewd" (as per the original post) as NSFW in response to the anon out of courtesy because they asked nicely, I was just confused about what they meant and exactly what was the thing they referred to. Notice how I did that first before replying to them? Notice how easy it was to just politely do that and then ask for clarification even though I didn’t view it as “lewd”? And then all of a sudden I got a TON of anon messages trying to say I’m an asshole and/or trying to heavily police me and my blog for… nooooo reason????

Y'all are BROWSING TUMBLR IN AN OFFICE SETTING? OR AT WORK? OR AROUND YOUR BOSS? WHY? WHAT???? HELLO?????????????

[bow-chicka-wow-wow-wow]

Breaking Down Quagmire’s Tirade Against Brian

“You are the worst person I know. You constantly hit on your best friend’s wife. The man pays for your food and rescued you from certain death, and this is how you repay him? And to add insult to injury, you defecate all over his yard.”

Since almost the beginning of the show, Brian has been in love with Lois Griffin. There have been moments throughout the series that sees Brian trying to get with Lois, most notably in the episode “Play It Again, Brian,” when Brian tries to throw himself at her. This criticism towards Brian could be hypocritical on Quagmire’s part as he too tries to have sex with Lois. But in a later episode, he reveals to his parent Ida that he’s also in love with Lois.

Brian was a stray when he was found by the Griffins. When Brian was scheduled to be euthanized back in season 1 (and later season 17), Peter saves him from being put down.

Of course Brian poops in Peter’s yard; he’s a dog!

“And you’re such a sponge! You pay for nothing; you always say, “Oh, I’ll get you later,” but later never comes!”

This could reference the episode, “Patriot Games,” when Brian loses a $50 bet to Stewie, and defaults on his payment. As a result, he gets the ever-living shit beaten out of him twice. This wasn’t brought up on my first point, but throughout the show, among other side hustles for the sake of the episode or cutaway gags, Peter has worked three steady jobs at a toy factory, a fishing boat, and currently at a brewery. He makes Jack-shit, and probably most likely ended up buying Brian’s car. We’ll get to that later. My point is, Peter is the breadwinner of the house, and pays for everything.

“And what really bothers me, is you pretend you’re this deep guy that loves women for souls, but all you do is date bimbos! Yeah, I date women for their bodies, but at least I’m honest about it! I don’t buy them a copy of Catcher in the Rye and then lecture them with some seventh-grade interpretation on how Holden Caulfield was some profound intellectual. He wasn’t! He was a spoiled brat! That’s why you like him so much: he’s you! God, you’re pretentious!”

Brian’s longest lasting relationship was with a pretty airhead named Jillian Russel-Wilcox. Since their brutal breakup, Brian has tried to find love, but was only interested if she was smoking hot. Quagmire owns the fact that he dates women for their bodies, because he’s a sex-hound. Seriously, read The Catcher in the Rye. The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is EXACTLY like Brian in every way.

Brian’s pretentiousness has been made even worse in recent seasons, where we see him act like he’s all sophisticated but really he’s just about as dumb as the rest of the Griffin family.

“And you delude yourself by thinking you’re some great writer, even though you’re terrible! You know, I should’ve known Sheryl Tiegs didn’t write me that more. She would’ve known there’s no A in the word “definite.””

BRIAN. IS. A. SHITTY. WRITER. Apparently, he can’t spell either. No wonder his novel did so poorly…

“And I think what I hate most about you is your textbook liberal agenda, how we should “legalize pot, man,” how big business is crushing the underclass, or how homelessness is the biggest tragedy in America. Well, what have you don’t to help?”

Brian actually did lead a campaign to legalize marijuana, but ended up leading another campaign to reverse the legalization so Carter would publish his infamous novel. And Brian along with Stewie has both destroyed the Superstore USA, so Brian has actually done a couple things.

“I work at the soup kitchen, Brian! Never see you down there! You wanna help? Grab a ladle!”

Case and point. Other than legalizing pot and destroying Quahog’s Superstore, Brian has not done diddly shit. Just grab a ladle!

“And by the way, driving a Prius doesn’t make you Jesus Christ!”

This is for ALL you hybrid drivers. YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. SHUT THE FUCK UP! I really like the South Park episode describing the attitudes of hybrid owners.

“Oh, wait! You don’t believe in Jesus Christ, or ANY religion for that matter! Because “religion is for idiots!” Well, who the hell are you to talk down on anyone?”

As an atheist, I’m gonna have to agree with Brian on this part. And I especially hate those “Jesus freaks” that are total assholes to those that drop as much as one f-bomb. Yeah, I went to Catholic school, and I did not enjoy one moment of that shit!

“You failed college twice, which isn’t nearly as bad as your father! How’s that son of yours you never see?”

I failed college a couple times. In fact, I actually JUST graduated at age 27.

Brian actively avoids his son Dylan! It isn’t until four seasons later he shows interest in him because he becomes part of the cast in a Disney Channel show, and Brian exploits Dylan’s fame to get a job in the writing room. Did I mention the name of the episode that shows that is “Brian Is A Bad Father?”

“But you what? I would forgive all of that, ALL OF IT, if you WEREN’T SUCH A BORE! That’s the worst if it, Brian: you’re just a big, sad, alcoholic bore!”

That one’s pretty self-explanatory. Emphasis on the “alcoholic” part!

“*sigh* Well, see you, Brian. Thanks for the fucking steak!”

I hope you ordered something expensive, Quagmire! Fuck Brian!

[starry-hughes]

hi

if u didn’t know, it’s me that all the posts about hate and personal information are talking about.

i’ve been like sick for the last three hours pretty much, overthinking, trying to understand, trying to tell myself it’s okay. i honestly thought i was going insane when i got the anonymous message with my personal information in it, like i had been staring at my computer all day and it was my mind playing tricks on me. but it wasn’t my brain playing tricks on me or some dream i cant wake up from.

for starters, thank you for defending me. i was and still am extremely terrified of the whole thing. i have literally only been talking to a couple of people privately for the last three hours since it happened. i am still iffy about being on tumblr right now and anons are off for at least today.

it started as banter in my opinion about the usa wjc game and i love banter, i think it’s fun to mess around and tease, but i think certain lines are there and boundaries. my boundaries were completely crossed. it literally felt like my personal information was being used as a way to taunt me and scare me.

and i don’t want to accuse anyone of lying, but an anon did reach out to someone else and say that the personal information was from my previous account. but that just isn’t making sense to me which is why it’s continuing to freak me out. my personal information has not been shared on tumblr since 2021, the account this person was referring to has been deactivated for multiple years at this point and i do not interact with anyone from that account or fandom due to past issues. so that just doesn’t seem right to me.

saying that it is at the end of the day, my fault or implying that it’s normal for information to be doxxed on the internet does not make it okay either.

i don’t really know what else to say. i don’t think im going to be active on here for the night or parts of tomorrow, i might pop in tomorrow, i really don’t know. i’m just going to continue to decompress because this is a lot for me to process. i honestly don’t feel safe on here at this time.

i’m going to watch the devils and eat a pb&j before kenz and my boyfriend get upset that i haven’t eaten tonight.

- star ⭐️

[shippo-clan]

rdr1 live reactions 1/?

Exodus in America 

.The graphic really arnt that bad. is it worse than the second game? Yes. But that’s an unfair comparison. 

.I hope those racist old ladies on the train have a seizure 

.Idk if my controller is shit or if the game controls themselves are rough. Or both

.The conversation between Marston and Jake on the way to fort Mercer interest me

1) When Marston talks about an ‘old friend whom he hasn’t be friends with a long time’ I’m assuming he’s referring specifically about Javier. I mean obviously it could also be bill but they really weren’t as close in rdr2 also if I remember right (from online) fort Mercer is held mostly by Hispanic folk

2) because Jake mentions the working women in armadillo and Marston replies “I’m a married man” and Jake said something along the lines of “ain’t we all” this intrigues me because it already shows how much development he’s undertaken. I mean in rdr2 during the epilogue we see that John’s grown up and is trying to be a better father and husband but to have one of his first lines in the game be solidifying that is nice. Idk I guess I just like to see John be a fucking adult

.oh shit ok no it’s bill, I thought he built his own fort but no, he took over Mercer. Ok well I guess I read to far into that conversation. AnYwAy

.dang Dutch name drop already??? this is moving so much faster than I thought it would, like I thought the race or whatever with Bonnie McFarland would happen before the first confrontation with bill

This is armadillo, USA 

.i love hearing all of the old slang I’ve spent far to much time learning, such as Ms McFarland uses “wake snakes” which was a euphemism for being rowdy or loud

(Free roam)

.apologies to that poor Hispanic feller at McFarland ranch that a pointed a rifle at. You said ‘hola’ and I hit LT to try an interact with you, say hi an all, but the game controls are different . You didn’t deserve a barrel in you’re face compadre, lo lamento 

Women an cattle

.ms McFarland is such a savage /pc

.oooh pre-gang john lore? I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention his father before 

.”the leader of the gang taught me how to read” -John Marston 

(Free roam)

.I FOUND THE STRANGE MAN?!?!?! He’s just chilling by the cliff, he knows Marston’s name. WHY WONT IT LET ME INTERACT WITH HIMMMMM????? UGH he just keeps repeating “i know who you are Marston” and “I’ve been waiting for you” like that’s fucking nice now explain yourself! Interact with me! Let me start this mission pleaseee

.alright so I completed a mission or two, went back, and now the strange man’s quest is working. YIPPE!

.Did they ever mention the name of the girl on the ferry job in rdr2? The strange man called her hidie but I don’t think I’ve heard it before, which I suppose makes sense because Arthur wasn’t on that boat 

.“You’ve forgotten far more important people than me” -the strange man 

The burning: 

.i think this is the first time I’ve heard a character talk about John’s past as an outlaw in a negative way. Everyone up to this point has just kinda shrugged it off when he mentions it, but Bonnie starts chewing John out for it. She calls him out for the unknown amount of people he’s killed and then basically raves about how there’s no such thing as an honorable outlaw. Which I’m not arguing with her, though I don’t necessarily agree with her. It was just sort of neat. Up to this point even Bonnie herself was very lax when John brought up his past

. I loved climbing into the burning barn and saving the horses 

Exhuming and other fine hobbies:

.That’s one starved looking horse- poor thing, clearly someone hasn’t been giving it apples. I genuinely wish there were more horse functions in this game. like I wanna feed that poor thing, maybe give it some medicine 

.respectfully, which is of course a preemptive for something disrespectful, Seth looks nasty af. He looks worse than the damn horse. Please get that man a burger and some chapstick. A bath too I bet he smells worse than cow shit on a hot summer day   

.op- yep ok he literally just said “I haven’t washed in six months” 

.”my partner! My boy! my MAN” sounding’ kinda fruity there Seth…

.john stands like a cunt

.”my Moses” yah alright you’re a fruit Mr Seth 

.john criticizes Seth for stealing from graves, asking “how can you sink so low?” But I can’t help but think of the time Arthur partook in such a robbery (technically Arthur was collecting a debt from someone who was exhuming but that’s besides the point really)

.seth is a crazy bastard but there’s something deeply poetic about how he speaks of the dead

.oOoH goody the wanted/bounty system (/gen)

Hanging of Bonnie McFarland 

.my lass! Give her back! UNTOUCHED OR SO HELL ME GOD

.the conversation between john and the marshal on the way to tumbleweed was actually quite enlightening 

.now obviously i, as a person whose already played rdr2, know who jack is but in the context of this game alone John has barely spoken of his family. Yes he’s mentioned them many times but he doesn’t ACTUALLY talk about them a lot but in this mission he explains he’s stance of law enforcement and laws as a whole using his parenting style as an example. He says that anyone can make a rule but that’s not the same as understanding why one must follow it, he describes disciplining jack and explains why he shouldn’t do something instead of just slapping him on the wrist. Which side bar- is a rather progressive view for him to have, even the Marshall states that if Jack misbehaves then John should slap him and if he does it again John should slap him harder. 

.if this mother fucked doesn’t stop sexualizing Bonnie I’ll drop kick his ass past Saturn 

.MY GIRL! THEYRE HANGING MY GIRL! I realize that her hanging is literally in the title of the mission but like seeing it is horrific 

.my poor girl what have they done to you (I’m referring specifically to her closes being in taters and the lacerations all over her)

Liars cheats and other proud Americans

.”you have the exterior of a violent man with the soul of an angle” -Nigel west dickens 

.Nigel forcing John to carry 3 crates while he carries only one is a lot funnier than it should be 

.”a Robin Hood in spurs? How romantic. You really expect me to believe such popycock?” -Nigel . Ok but this is another fascinating conversation. Here we see John not only self justifying but him talking about how the gang supposedly was during their hay day, and Nigel calls him out and is basically saying a thief is a thief no matter the method 

-.”motivation dear boy!” -Nigel

“I’m definitely feeling motivated to get the hell out of here!” -john

Lmaooo 

.FUCK THIS RACE

.AND FUCK THAT STUPID BITCH ASS WHORE SON HORSE THEY HAVE ME DRIVIN

.alright! It took like 8 tries, a killed pedestrian, a break, and a bowl of soup but I fucking did it. I won by a landslide 

American appetite

.ok uh- fucking crazy end to this side quest 

.i had assumed it was a gang or something hiding out in the hills killin’ folk but apparently is was a cannibal????

.and you can literally just leave a guy for the cannibal to eat??? 

Free roam:

.a pack of wolves just ate my fucking horse-

.i can apparently skin horses 

.i feel so dirty selling my own horses meat and hide

.um wtf!? I just whistled and I have a horse again???? It’s different from the one that just died (naturally) but like when the fuck did I get a second horse??? I’ve never seen this fellow in my life before. Does the game just give you a new horse? 

A gentle drive with friends

.”I don’t like women, partner. I don’t” - Seth

Sir you are not helping the queer allegations

end of week thoughts:

all In all I’ve had a lot of fun. I was really worried that all of the people claiming rdr1 still held up today were just saying that due to nostalgia but so far I agree with them. It’s a fun game that has a good story and interesting characters.

I was also really worried about playing as John. When I played as him in the rdr2 epilogue it felt wrong. Just in every sense of the word. But to my pleasant surprise it feels wonderful playing him in rdr1. Like- it’s so hard to describe but I felt natural in a way.

And I’ve been continuously shocked at how well this game works as a sequel. I mean really it’s crazy how flawless the dialogue flows after finishing rdr2. I imagine if I were playing this first then I’d be lost because they give cryptic dialogue that only really makes sense with the context rdr2 gives. It almost makes me wonder; did they already have rdr2 planed or did they just do that damn good of a job making a prequel? Was the vague dialogue intentional so they didn’t *have* to make an intricately planed game or was is intentional in the sense that they already knew when and how they were going to make it vivid? Food for thought.

So far my only real complaint is the horse mechanics. The horse are just kinda *there*. I heard someone equate them to the cars in gta and I think they’re right. Outside of riding and taming you don’t interact with your horse at all. And they’re so FAST like holy shit! There’s basically 3 speeds: walking, running, flying off a fucking cliff at 90 miles per hour. It’s to the point that when I jumped on rdo and rode my literal race horse I felt like we were crawling everywhere we went.

[collegesport]

Hey Guys, welcome to my first blog! My name is Leona, but most people I know call me Leo. I’m 19 years old, and I’m a College Athlete. I play soccer at a Junior College in Florida, but actually, I am from Germany, so you're probably wondering why I'm at a Junior College in Florida, the answer is pretty easy: in the US it is easier to do your sport at a high level and get a good education. In this blog, I want to inform you why college sports are so huge in the US and also how you get into a system like that if you are from a different country like me.  I will mention facts from well-researched sources and also share my own experience with such a complicated system. If you ask yourself now why you should read a blog like this, maybe the answer is that you can be the next one with a scholarship for a College in the United States. 

First of all, I will start with the facts. College sport plays a huge role in the culture of the United States; it is a central part of the culture and definitely more than just Leisure activities for students. The meaning of this reaches deep into American history, culture, and economy. The origins and current size of this phenomenon have a lot to do with historical developments, social values ​, and economic factors.

The roots of the college sport in the USA lie in the 19th Century. One of the first documented college sports events was the rowing competition between the elite universities Harvard and Yale in 1852. With industrialization, the question of leisure activities, and colleges and universities saw that as an opportunity to promote discipline, teamwork, and character development. These values ​​corresponded to the ideals of “Muscle Christianity,” a movement that combined physical fitness with moral strength. 1906 became the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a recognized institution. The NCAA was founded to control college sports and to make sure that the safety of athletes is secured, and also to to set the standards for competitions. Since then, college sports developed into a huge part of the American education system. 

College sport is often referred to as expansion from high school sports. A lot of colleges and universities see the sport as an opportunity to get recognized:  they build up their whole identity around the sport and become proud of the successes of their sports teams. Games by teams like the Michigan Wolverines or the Alabama Crimson Tide draw tens of thousands of fans to stadiums that are often larger than many professional arenas. A lot of people support their College they went to in the past, or their parents went to, also the current students do not want to miss a major sporting event at their university. 

College sports is also a very good way to finance your studies. Athletes from less fortunate backgrounds in particular, can obtain a university degree through a sports scholarship and thus have a perspective for their future. This kind of bonding between sport and education is also a reason why college sports is so respected and a big part in the American society. 

The college sports is also a huge industry, TV contracts, sponsorship, and Merchandising generates billions of dollars. The NCAA's annual revenue is around $1 billion, with much of that coming from broadcasting games such as the College Football Playoff series. This revenue often goes toward funding other university programs.

To put it in a nutshell, the US college sports have a big meaning in the culture and is the result of a long history and work from the NCAA and the universities.  The aport is a central component in today’s culture and a society, it has a huge influence to the economy and the life for a lot of students. 

Now, let's look at how to apply for a place on a team and maybe get a scholarship. For that, it is good to know that the NCAA now has offshoot associations like the NJCAA (National Junior Athletic Association) and the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics). As an international student, it is most of the time easier to get into a smaller college like a junior college (juco). The first step is to know how good you are and realistically. You need to research what kind of colleges do they offer a program in your sport and what level this program is. You can research that on the websites of the different associations. The next step is that you need an online presence, you need an athlete profile where you tell every important information about you and your sport, in the best case, you have a highlight video. As an example you can take a lock on my profile under this link: Leona AthletesUSA. After that, you need to contact Coaches and tell them from you and your sport. Write personalized emails to college coaches. Introduce yourself, mention your athletic and academic accomplishments, and explain why you're a good fit for their program. Include your highlight video and resume. After that you need to register for the NCAA Eligibility Center to make sure that you meets all requirements. A good tip is to be present on social media like Instagram, but make sure you have a professional presence. 

I hope after this blog, you understand how huge the system is and how you can still get your foot in the door. By the way, for most international players, it is easier to start with a juco rather than directly with an NCAA team. A last thing, you need to make sure that your grades are on the top, because it is still a college application. 

Let me know if you found this post helpful and until then, good luck with your applications. Bye!

source reference:

Chudacoff, Howard P.. Changing the Playbook : How Power, Profit, and Politics Transformed College Sports, University of Illinois Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/polk-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4306056.

Wiener, Gary, ed. The Business of College Sports : Who Earns What. First edition. New York, NY: Greenhaven Publishing, 2023. Print.

[talenlee]

Da Ween, Twenty Twenty Four!

It’s Decemberween! Decemberween! it’s fifty-five days after Halloween! Why, it’s the most magical time in the year, where we all pretend snow exists and people try to do things that involve lists to maximise ad revenue before the January slump!

O Decemberween

Watch this video on YouTube

Long and short: Don’t expect to see many of the ‘normal’ article topics in the coming month. Instead, Decemberween is a month long celebration where I want to bring to your attention things that I simply like, things that are ideally long form, and things that are meant to be enjoyable. A little easing on the brakes of the real spitfire stuff, less ‘this is a thing made of butts.’ Dread month was two months ago, got a lot of that venom out, after all.

Decemberween is a reference to Homestar Runner, one of my favourite pieces of web video entertainment, where instead of having a conventional Christmas, the people of Free Country USA have their own event called Decemberween. I like it a lot because while it’s very obviously a slightly sucky holiday season in the vein of Christmas, it isn’t explicitly religious, meaning it’s a place for the Homestarros to culturally play with the idea of a holiday and gift giving period without excluding anyone. Like Dryghost, who is Jewish.

I don’t have much taste for the religious elements of Christmas and I feel like trying to use blog posts as a way to partake in Kwanzaa (if that’s a real thing) or Channukhah is at best pretty silly, but I do like the season and I do like celebrating. To that end, I dedicate the month of december to serve as a catch-all point for a type of post I don’t much through the year that’s just the unequivocal promotion of things or groups of related things that I enjoy.

Odds are good you can determine some of the things I watch or listen to over the course of the year; I’ll binge something and then you’ll find my social media posting all about stuff in that experience that stuck with me or that I’m thinking about. I’m not a complicated boy. The way I break things up by theme on the log is as much a point to make sure that my blog isn’t a nonstop stream of consciousness from a very doughy brain. Anything I just like, and don’t see a way to parley into something else with other research winds up here, in December as I reflect back on a year of things I’ve been doing for fun, and that I want to share with you, for your doing for fun.

Homestar Runner is almost a free square on this front. It’s a fun cartoon and this year I did something to remind me about how great it is — playing Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People with Fox. It’s a funny cartoon world (that please could ease up off the fat jokes, and maybe don’t use the word ‘gypsy’ so much), and the sense of humour in it has permanently deformed mine. Weirdly, it’s a kind of sincere Americana I don’t mind: Internet dorks who like making things and sharing them with their friends regardless of how good or bad those things truly are, delighting in the making.

Speaking of making, Decemberween is also a chance to talk about the things my friends make. A bunch of my friends aren’t making things like games you can buy or download, and anyone I know who is doing that probably doesn’t need me to be their marketing budget. It’s a chance for me to put the actions of my friends and people I care about in front of your eyes and talk about them with a wholehearted, simple praise about things I feel and care about them. Get loved on, dork.

Decemberween is a good practice. I understand Americans do this thing in the vein of Thanksgiving where once every year they gather together to reflect on how grateful they are to spend the rest of the year not dealing with their family, but the core the principle — of dedicating time to reflect and be grateful — strikes me as a good one! I do it in Decemberween, and you know what’s really cool about that? Having a month to do it in both gives me pause to take stock at the end of the year, but also, it gives me something of a limitation. With only one month to line things up I have to decide the way to optimise sharing the list of all the cool things I’ve experienced in a whole year, and to determine what needs to become part of a larger project for the next year.

That happened this year! I started the year full of energy to talk about a lot of anime I liked a lot. I was so glutted on those that I eventually decided to split them into a regular feature on the blog, and that’s a restriction I revel in. If I wanted to make a lot of articles, I could make every random thing I like into a Decemberween post, pointing to hey, check it out, here’s some cool free stuff to look at or read or listen to! But doing that fills up the month really fast and means something gets left by the wayside.

What’s more Decemberween gets to serve as a dumping ground for media I enjoyed but not in a way that I feel leads to an interesting article. I like Breaking Bad and I like Better Call Saul and it took me a few years to get around to writing an article on the latter that felt like it was actually contributing something that wasn’t already being made by a lot of people that are like me, just more popular. If I find a bunch of songs I like in a year, I can bring them together. If I liked a bunch of TV shows but they’re just good or fun and freely available, I’m just going to be able to put that in front of you.

It’s Decemberween!

Time to celebrate fun things!

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[smokeybrandreviews]

NBA Rant: World Champion for What

This stuff with Noah Lyles is hilarious because, technically, he ain't wrong. The fact that the US didn't even medal in FIBA, also goes a long way to prove his point. That said, the best players in the world do come here to hoop. I get both sides. The game has evolved and, while the level of NBA talent is still absolutely the best in the world, it's not like the world isn't catching up. A long time ago, we used to send college kids to compete in hoop against professionals from around the world. We won several gold medals until we lost one. The following world competition happened to be the '92 Olympic and the US sent the greatest NBA team ever assembled to absolutely embarrass the rest of the globe. And we did just that, however, it lit a match under the ass under the ass of the international game and they went to work. It's been thirty years since the first Dream Team busted ass across Barcelona and the international game is producing players almost as good as some of those guys who ran alongside Jordan. The Eurogame is all grind, fundamentals, skill, and hard work. If we're being honest, the US game has fallen sharply in terms of skill and relies too much on athletic talent. Why do you think guys go overseas and get exposed in Euroleauges?

The problem most US citizens have is the fact we do not see the game of basketball as a properly global one. For us, especially black kids from the ghetto, it’s intrinsically American. More to the point, it’s intrinsically black and black people are uniquely American. Way back when the NBA first started, there were no other participants around the world. It's American invention. For about a third of the NBA’s existence, the US WAS the world to the league. I mean, the simple answer, and probably the truest one, is that World Champion sounded cool and looks good on the trophy. That’s probably it. Hell, baseball calls their championship game the “World Series” so this argument can be made for that, too. Ultimately, this sh*t basically boils down to a very narrow US focus. We don’t value FIBA or “world” games unless it’s the Olympics. We are taught, early on, that the Olympics are the end all, be all, of global competition even though, technically, they’re not. No one else but the US takes that sh*t as serious. Well, maybe the host country but the United States puts so much weight on Olympic gold, it’s stupid. That is something, to this day, I never fully understood.

If you can’t tell, I’m in Lyles’ camp on this one. Calling a national title anything more than that is dumb to me. Especially when there are world games basically held every other year. I’ve watched the NBA for three decades, man. I know for a fact that the talent pool across the world has caught up. Cats like Giannis and Luka are out here running circles around our home grown guys, strictly because they had to have the skill to dominate in their respective leagues. Giannis is an athletic freak, for sure, but Luka? That dude is basically Dirk 2.0 and making our best talent look like clowns. With no vertical. Like, kid has a four inch jump but dog-walks most teams night in and night out. Basketball has truly become a global game and should absolutely be embraced as such here in the states. We shouldn’t refer to the winners of the NBA Championship as “World Champions” because they’re not. They are NBA Champions. I absolutely believe that the NBA is the premier league in the world. The best to ever play, play in The Association, regardless of where they are from. Luka and Giannis play in the NBA. Jokic, Duncan, and Ginobli. But also Jordan, Kobe, Magic, Curry, Steph, and LeBron. The best to ever do it, are from the US. The best to ever do it, are black kids from the ghetto. Still, it’s more than presumptuous to call our title, a world title, when Team USA just got beat by Canada in the actual world games, getting bounced out of medal contention in the process.

[smokeybrand]

NBA Rant: World Champion for What

This stuff with Noah Lyles is hilarious because, technically, he ain't wrong. The fact that the US didn't even medal in FIBA, also goes a long way to prove his point. That said, the best players in the world do come here to hoop. I get both sides. The game has evolved and, while the level of NBA talent is still absolutely the best in the world, it's not like the world isn't catching up. A long time ago, we used to send college kids to compete in hoop against professionals from around the world. We won several gold medals until we lost one. The following world competition happened to be the '92 Olympic and the US sent the greatest NBA team ever assembled to absolutely embarrass the rest of the globe. And we did just that, however, it lit a match under the ass under the ass of the international game and they went to work. It's been thirty years since the first Dream Team busted ass across Barcelona and the international game is producing players almost as good as some of those guys who ran alongside Jordan. The Eurogame is all grind, fundamentals, skill, and hard work. If we're being honest, the US game has fallen sharply in terms of skill and relies too much on athletic talent. Why do you think guys go overseas and get exposed in Euroleauges?

The problem most US citizens have is the fact we do not see the game of basketball as a properly global one. For us, especially black kids from the ghetto, it’s intrinsically American. More to the point, it’s intrinsically black and black people are uniquely American. Way back when the NBA first started, there were no other participants around the world. It's American invention. For about a third of the NBA’s existence, the US WAS the world to the league. I mean, the simple answer, and probably the truest one, is that World Champion sounded cool and looks good on the trophy. That’s probably it. Hell, baseball calls their championship game the “World Series” so this argument can be made for that, too. Ultimately, this sh*t basically boils down to a very narrow US focus. We don’t value FIBA or “world” games unless it’s the Olympics. We are taught, early on, that the Olympics are the end all, be all, of global competition even though, technically, they’re not. No one else but the US takes that sh*t as serious. Well, maybe the host country but the United States puts so much weight on Olympic gold, it’s stupid. That is something, to this day, I never fully understood.

If you can’t tell, I’m in Lyles’ camp on this one. Calling a national title anything more than that is dumb to me. Especially when there are world games basically held every other year. I’ve watched the NBA for three decades, man. I know for a fact that the talent pool across the world has caught up. Cats like Giannis and Luka are out here running circles around our home grown guys, strictly because they had to have the skill to dominate in their respective leagues. Giannis is an athletic freak, for sure, but Luka? That dude is basically Dirk 2.0 and making our best talent look like clowns. With no vertical. Like, kid has a four inch jump but dog-walks most teams night in and night out. Basketball has truly become a global game and should absolutely be embraced as such here in the states. We shouldn’t refer to the winners of the NBA Championship as “World Champions” because they’re not. They are NBA Champions. I absolutely believe that the NBA is the premier league in the world. The best to ever play, play in The Association, regardless of where they are from. Luka and Giannis play in the NBA. Jokic, Duncan, and Ginobli. But also Jordan, Kobe, Magic, Curry, Steph, and LeBron. The best to ever do it, are from the US. The best to ever do it, are black kids from the ghetto. Still, it’s more than presumptuous to call our title, a world title, when Team USA just got beat by Canada in the actual world games, getting bounced out of medal contention in the process.

[queen-beefcake-sqx]

Okay now that this has made the rounds and I’m pretty sure the terfs won’t come for my throat and make me miserable LET ME EXPLAIN MY THOUGHTS

(under cut because OH MY GOD this got away from me)

Within canon, as far as I know (and someone correct me if I’m wrong because I genuinely appreciate keeping canon straight), this can actually work. People lean toward a gay cis male Kim reading because… textually it makes the easiest sense. Kim’s outwardly treated and portrayed as a cis male, and he says he’s part of the “homosexual underground”. Occam’s razor and all that.

But consider for two seconds my experience finding out about the Underground — I interpreted the use of “homosexual” underground as being an umbrella term, in the way “queer” is generally considered to refer to sexuality but gender gets rolled into that too, or the way (in Southern USA) the “gay community” was a term implicitly understood to include transgender individuals. So whenever talking about the Homosexual Underground I kinda mentally made the correlation to the wider LGBT+ community — gender deviants and all. (This is probably a super US-centric interpretation, so I’d love to hear if other people in other countries made that same mental assumption.)

So with that in mind, imagine — baby genderqueer experimenting Kim hacking his hair off and immediately noticing people treat him different because he suddenly looks like a boy. Girls look at him differently, too, in a way he likes. It’s a practical look that shows off his strong jaw and mouth, and he hated brushing it anyway. He’s not dysphoric about his body or his sex, but he suddenly sees both a confidence boost AND an out from one of his sources of societal judgement — being viewed as a girl by people he doesn’t want to see him that way, superiors and strangers on the street and everyone who isn’t someone he’s interested in intimately knowing. He’s already a binoclard. He’s visibly Seolite. He’s an orphan. If he can give himself another layer of protection, hide himself so he can be seen only how he wants to be seen, he’d do it.

So he does hours of vocal training, wears a binder, and lets everyone believe he’s a man and deflects anyone who tries to question it. Easy, his Authority’s through the ROOF. Hell I bet he’d even find a way to change or forge his official documents — however official they can be for a war orphan, and we know from Klaasje it’s possible — so he doesn’t even disclose it to employers because fuck that.

(Or maybe he couldn’t, and that’s another element of why the higher ups stuck him in juvie for so long. There’s room for interpretation!)

Then he mets Harry and… well. Again. Lesbian butch Kim, face to face with this seemingly bear of a man who at first glance screams repressed gay male, having a crisis of sexuality at FORTY THREE over Harrier Du Bois. Excellent, great, compartmentalizing that until after the investigation. But Kim pays a lot of attention to Harry, and mentally brushes off much of Harry’s queerness as amnesia making him forget societal norms and expectations. Kim assumes Harry’s interest in the underground begins and ends at sexuality. And I mean, from the way Harry talks, who can blame Kim for that assumption?

But it really is disappointing that, as far as I know, within the text of the game there’s no implied references to transgender experiences at all. Because I cannot look at Harry Du Bois, his behaviors and inclinations, and see a cis guy. I see someone who has crumpled under the expectations of toxic masculinity and clung to it so tightly that it nearly killed him, while also allowing him to keep some power and control in his life as an RCM officer. And also, he had a girlfriend who seems like she was a long time sweetheart or at least a young lover in his life and while we don’t know a ton about Dora, we know Harry remembers when they met. It’s one of the few memories that gets brought up in their conversations.

And that’s always struck me, because that means it was significant to Harry. He wanted to make an impression on her. He thought he looked cool. He wanted to keep that love they had when they met, and instead watched it fall apart around him. And from experience, that kind of relationship is not the kind of place where gender experiments happen — Because Harry wanted to be this masculine ideal for her and couldn’t live up to it, but he tried. Which fed into that aforementioned toxic masculinity. And trying to deviate from that ideal would’ve risked alienating Dora further.

So they break up, and the time in-between is sort of loosey-goosey. Maybe that was when Harry learned about the underground. Maybe he got to experiment in private, in between bouts of self loathing and dysphoria that that kind of trapped feeling would generate. My personal theory is that the wig Jean is wearing ties into it, but I could go for HOURS about my personal theories on it (a lot of crossdressing at bars on Boogie Street factor in).

Regardless! I think genderqueer Harry is, at least, an interpretation I could make an argument for, and it isn’t a huge leap from there to him being a trans girl. Kim explains his gender post-Martinaise, Harry says her silly little communist line and slaps the pin on her jacket, but like…. Harry asking Kim to tailor her a dress because she keeps finding pretty things on the street but they never fit. Harry stealing the wig from Jean and deciding blonde isn’t her color, but thank god she’s been growing her hair out anyway because shoulder length is a good look. Kim giving Harry a whole gentle but straight forward talk about the pros and cons of being open about it, heavy on the cons, telling himself he’s being practical but he also can’t stand to watch a recovering Harry backslide under the jeers of their coworkers. Kim calling Harry his belle in private, a title only for him to use. Kim teasingly calling Harry Mademoiselle in public (“Here’s your coffee, mademoiselle” — the more ridiculous, the better) because everyone else thinks he’s just joking but Harry knows it’s a little tongue and cheek and a secret nod and she loves it (even if she has a whole internal battle about letting the rest of the office think Kim’s telling misogynistic jokes).

[taps microphone] ideal lesbian KimHarry dynamic is butch he/him lesbian Kim explaining his gender to Harry and about-to-hatch trans girl Harry going “that sounds like a pretty communist way to use pronouns” before slapping a she/her pin on her disco blazer.

[defectfile1wav]

“The pride of Hell”

After the Pre Portal era ended, the Nether was lock and the space became little. So a way to evade wars and conflict, was born a sports competition, Llàntia. 

A let’s say MCC/Olympics type of event, where every 4 years in Blaze years the different communities would compete in different games to keep territories until the next event. (These territories were usually not sacred lands for any community.)

- Bad competed in the category of throwing knifes from the first years of the creation of the competition, and became a sport celebrity. 

Winning multiples events for the Demons for 4 years and becoming a legend in the Nether. (Being the first photo, the last time he participated after a very important injury.)

- Sapnap, who grown around athletes all his childhood, started training to participate in the games, not in trowing knife but hand-to-hand combat. (That’s why he’s a monster in one vs one.) 

And as his dad, he won a lot of territory for the Demons, and gained his own sport celebrity status. (Being the second photo, the last time Sapnap competed before leaving to the Overworld)

Some details under the cut: 

1- Indeed, the bandana is the ribbon of the medal, since they reuse the medals, (since it’s like the “key” of a territory) the champions only keeps the ribbon usually. (Which is made of netherine and gold)

2- Bad's uniform it's inspired by Olympic shooting, Tenis, Beach volleyball, Artistic gymnastics and High Jump uniforms.

3- Sapnap's uniform it's inspired by Taekwondo, Kendo, Fencing and Boxing uniforms.

4- Demon's logo is a flame, which is the same flame that Sapnap’s wear in his t-shirt. (He’s wearing his athlete uniform)

5- Yes, the blue shoulder on the second photo is Skeppy. 

6- The media in the Nether loves these two, the history of a loving single dad, a legend of a whole community, who adopts a child and trains him to be a champion sells. 

7- Also,Sapnap uniform resembles a lot his current armour.

Not a lot, but something. 

8- The photos used as reference for the poses are from photos of athletes finding out they won the gold. (Tokyo Olympics 2020):

Kelsey Robinson and Justine Wong-Orantes react after Team USA wins their first gold medal in Women's Volleyball. 96 by PHIL WALTER/GETTY

Team France reacts after defeating Team ROC to win gold in Men's Volleyball by TORY HANAI/GETTY

Team USA's Sunisa Lee wins the gold medal in the Women's All-Around Final at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 29 by JAMIE SQUIRE /GETTY

9- Sapnap love language are headbutts, usually rough ones, as a “I’m here with you” and “you’re a dumb bitch, but I love you” move, so maybe Karl memory issues come of that and not time travel--

he’s a headache, and we love that for him.

[scrumptiouslyimpossiblecat]

Dear Amy Fans,

Learn to understand other people’s perspectives; even if Amy was only teasing, what she said towards Sonic in SA2 and Heroes, what she said was very harmful and damaging, and can easily be interpreted as stalking to the uninitiated, or anyone who doesn’t live in Japan. That sort of inappropriate behavior can not only leave a bad impression, it can also easily damage friendships, it can also ruin job opportunities, and you can easily gain a bad reputation, just as Amy has. Behavior like that can easily have people look down on you. Despite the good intentions, that manner is NO way to approach anyone, especially not your crush. Amy Rose is controversial for good reasons. The criticism this character is undergoing right now is because the games, and the anime itself, never bothered to actively teach her those meaningful lessons on how to properly interact with others, and form meaningful relationships. Not only did she desperately need to be taught these lessons, so does the audience.

The worst part is, the people who made those games were from Japan, and with how bad communication between SEGA USA and JP was, they likely weren’t aware how deeply offensive this manner of interacting is. And the other worse part, because Sonic Heroes was many of this generation’s first introduction to Sonic because that game sold so many copies, in spite of its mediocre final product, it’s no wonder Sonic fans refer to Amy to this day as a “stalker” or “fangirl.” No matter what you say, those labels are unavoidable and inescapable. And worse still, you Amy fans defending Amy’s behavior in Heroes, you’re only advocating this poor behavior to continue, you’re actively advocating violence, and bullying, and you’re only pushing Amy towards the damaging position of comic relief or side character. You’re only hurting yourselves.

What I wanted to see from Amy Rose is for her to reflect on her transgressions towards Sonic and the rest of the cast, and to actively learn from her mistakes, and apologize for her behavior. Not only would this put her in good rapport with Sonic, but the gamer as well, because it shows she is redeemable, and is able to be taken seriously as a main character of this franchise. Because the games never taught Amy how to properly socialize with Sonic, it has led to nothing but confusion, arguments, and discord amongst this fan community; this type of comedy has only done more harm than good. I wanted to see Amy actively regret her mistakes and vow to become a better person for Sonic and herself. To this day, I still await such an apology; it’s only fair. Amy’s behavior back then, you could easily equate it to Bowser’s behavior, she was THAT bad.

In Sonic’s case, although he is a “free spirit,” as you claim he is, running from your own problems is a race that you’ll never win. All that “free spirit” heresy SEGA claims, that’s literally fearful avoidant attachment to a T. That stuff about Sonic being too hyper to even give his poor neglected friend the time of day is a very poor excuse, I feel. Sonic does want love in his life, but is afraid of being potentially harmed or rejected; he likely thinks he’s unworthy and incapable of handling that type of relationship in his life, when that doesn’t have to be the case. I’m not asking for Sonic to be a complete Casanova, or completely cheesy, head over heels, and lovey dovey. What I ask from Sonic is to be honest and transparent with Amy. Actually admit he loves and appreciates her, directly to her face. Be strong enough Admit his own insecurities and fears. Because that’s what actual close friends do with each other. He owes her that much. This has nothing to do with romance; it’s about teaching how to respect others.

Want to know why I personally advocate Sonic being in a relationship with Amy, despite everything the games taught me? Sonic X’s To Catch a Hedgehog. Why? Because in that episode, it’s just Sonic and Amy hanging out on a haystack on a farm. It taught me Sonic didn’t have to be so afraid of Amy, nor did Amy have to engage in aggressive flirting or violence towards Sonic either, nor did it display her being jealous. For what felt like the first time ever, I saw Sonic and Amy interacting peacefully. It taught me they could be friends after all, and in that episode I found solace. And later when I found the Sonic X end credits, Hikaru Michi, it depicted Sonic voluntarily paying a visit to a sad looking Amy in the foggy morning…and SMILING. We never got this in the 4Kids dub of Sonic X. Ever. Amongst a good many other things that were cut too.

These characters should not be confined to behaving or acting in just ONE WAY. It’s very restrictive and harmful for storytelling. Let Sonic partake in feminine behavior such as knitting, or baking, or planting flowers. Let Amy be interested in sports, have bad table manners, box, and be a little gross, and burp every now and then. The dynamic they tried to force upon us in the past was completely unnecessary, and dated even by standards back then. It makes me wonder about Amy’s social standing in life; it raises questions such as: does she have friends her own age that give her relationship advice? Does she get out much? Has she ever been invited to things? Does she suffer from abandonment issues? Is she the problem child? How long has she been neglected like this? Had she been harassed in a similar fashion before she met Sonic? I feel sorry for both parties.

What I expect from Amy is for her to learn how to approach Sonic properly, and for her to be rewarded by Sonic until she gets the affection she craves. No more teasing. No more division. None of this nonsense, Let Sonic express his love towards Amy. It’s nice that he has a female companion to take care of, and befriend.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I'm not usually one to complain, but didn't they look at the fandom translation of the game? Cuz like, the fandom did a great job on it. And there is a lot of things that would be better staying simple (like leaving it be "dorm leaders" but regardless).

But why did they have to limited it to only be available on the USA and Canada? It doesn't seem like a good idea.

I know that Twisted Wonderland is not a date sim but I'll use one as an example. Obey Me. The game is only available in English and Japonese (I think is available in Korean now too, but I'm not quite sure) but it can be downloaded by everyone regardless.

Wouldn't it be better to promote the game if they do the same as Obey Me?

—☕

I’m not certain if translators look at fan translations for help; depending on the project, a company might hire a bunch of freelancing translators or professionals, and they may give varying degrees of information and guidelines pertaining to how things should be translated. It’s difficult to say how Disney/Aniplex or whoever directed the translations went about it.

Now, this isn’t to bash fan translations or official translations, but translating in of itself is a very difficult job to do, simply because it’s hard to maintain the meaning from the original language to the new one. There’s so many nuances to consider, and there’s a lot of things that don’t translate exactly. 

Within fan translations, each translator has a different way of writing, so even if whoever was hired to translate TWST looked at fan translations, it can be hard for them to “consolidate” it as reference material. (For example, some fan translators write Lilia using “old” English while others use modern slang for Lilia, some fan translators only care about getting the rough information out there without thinking to write in the “voice” of the characters while other fan translators spend a lot of time trying to nail each character’s unique “voice”, etc.)

... But yes, I do agree “dorm leaders” or “dorm prefects” should have been used instead of “house wardens” 😂

On the issue of “why did they decide to only release English TWST to the USA and Canada instead of internationally”... I can totally understand the frustration from the perspective of a fan, I really can. However, I would say this is the smartest business move for Disney. Why? Well, just because TWST was massively popular in Japan doesn’t mean the same will hold true internationally, because audience interest and demographics can vary wildly depending on the region or country. It’s the safest for them to see how TWST fares in a few other countries before investing in more global servers.

To address the Obey Me example, I would like to point you in the direction of A3!, which did invest in international servers but recently had to shut down because the international audience did not rake in the same amount of revenue as its Japanese audience alone did. Thus, it was not profitable for them to continue maintaining their international servers, which (presumably) spanned ALL countries outside of Japan. I think Disney was probably wary of how TWST would perform if they put all their eggs in one basket and released an international version right away... So they decided to test the waters to see how TWST would do with the USA and Canada first. It honestly doesn’t matter how “popular” something is, because popularity alone doesn’t equate to revenue. A3! was decently popular, but because not enough people internationally were spending money on A3!, it had to go. Disney probably just wants to see if the USA and Canada will be profitable before expanding to other servers.

Additionally, I believe that NTT Solmare (which owns Obey Me) has a history of releasing its games globally anyway, so they are probably more comfortable with international releases. By comparison, Disney region locks a lot of its content (look at their other app games, even their merchandise) and is generally more tentative, so their decision, while it may not be loved by fans, fits in line with their previous business moves. (But of course, this is all just speculation on my end.)