#JUST TO PROVE IT WORKS I DID IT AGAIN

[thatonepikminperson]

How to beat the Final Area of Pikmin 3 in One Day (With Pictures!)

Yo guys, random I know, but hey if I can help other players through the most annoying part of the Final Area, then I SHALL! (Spoilers Below!)

Pikmin Set-up

Yes, we have to have one of those. If you are on any other difficulty other than Ultra-Spicy, it should be 10 Reds, 20 Rocks, 20 Yellows (Can be lowered to 10), 20 Winged (At least 8 though), and 30 Blues.

If you are Ultra-Spicy, bring 10 Reds, 10 Rocks (10 Minimum), 10 Yellows, 10 Winged, and 20 Blues

Who to put on the Olimar?

For this strat, for the love of god, don't put the Winged onto Olimar please. Use either Reds or Rocks (If Ultra-Spicy, you can use Blues). Also, don't charge him, throw as fast as possible. Charging will get like 5 on there as the cutscene activates rather quickly, but you can get a few extra on Olimar if you throw.

General Advice

Okay, for starters, don't have Olimar get absorbed. With the loop tip below, it should be easy. If you fail at this, it's okay. Just reset the day and try again. Another thing, it's okay to kill stuff, please do, but know that some enemies (Like the swooping snitch bugs) can be skipped. Also do not undervalue the power of Go-Here! Seriously, it's a life savor.

BIG ONE HERE. When you first enter the Mysterious Life Form's tree, and it gets near Olimar, it will give a fake warning message at first. The messages can help, but sometimes, they... they don't happen. At all.

So, pull out your ears and turn up the game volume because guess what, the most reliable way to figure out if you need to move Brittany is to listen to the music! It never lies to you, and will ALWAYS get more intense if Olimar is in danger. Trust me on this one the music is a L I F E S A V E R !

Example of there being no message that Olimar is in danger, but the music tells me he is!

How to loop the Mysterious Life Form forever :D

No, really, it has TWO LOOPS. AROUND THE SAME AREA TOO.

Loop #1

This is what we'll call Loop 1, or the more reliable loop. It's shorter than Loop two, but as long as you go to the two points when the music gets all intense, you should be fine. There are no real shortcuts for the Plasm Wraith to take, which makes this loop a bit easier than loop 2. SPEAKING OF WHICH

Loop #2

Loop 2 is WAY longer than Loop 1, but requires the bag to be pushed down and more precise locations than Loop 1. The reason for that is that the Plasm Wraith has access to a HUGE shortcut, located here

For me, I don't tend to use this loop, but if you like it, then use it

Dark Room Advice

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT LET BRITTANY IN THIS ROOM UNTIL YOU ARE READY. DO NOT PUT OLIMAR IN THE WATER, THE PLASM WRAITH WILL START TO TARGET THE OTHER TWO CAPTAINS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T LET BRITTANY PAST THIS POINT UNTIL EVERYTHING IS READY!

Okay, we good? We good!

Remember those Blue Pikmin? YEAH USE THEM NOW FOR THE BRIDGE! The Pikmin will have to take multiple trips, but it's faster, trust.

Also, Also, you will have to use your ten Yellows to light up the room three times, the most important one being this one.

After that, gather your Pikmin and get them off of the main route to the end, and have Brittany lure the Wraith where it A. Can’t take any shortcuts and B. Brittany can make a run for it. The corner that we go around slowly in Loop 2 works wonders for this.

Once there, HAVE BRITTANY BOOK IT TO THE END DO NOT STOP RUNNING! You can add more Pikmin to Olimar once they get in the dark room. After that, you should be free as hell.

And Congratulations, you did it! Now beat the hell out of the Wraith with literal parasite rocks and save our lovely man, (and also all of Koppai I guess.)

[hailsatanacab]

A Persuasive Argument - dpxdc

"Great!" Danny says, clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention. The dinner table falls silent as everyone looks towards him. It's a full house today and, honestly, Danny's a little nervous. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I gathered you here today."

"It's dinnertime. In our house." Duke mutters, while doing a very bad job of concealing his yawn. He holds his fork poised over the braised beef, but, just like everyone else, still looks towards Danny before tucking in. It's intriguing enough to wait.

"Yeah, no one misses Alfie's dinner." Dick says, with a brilliant smile that Danny can't help but return.

"Precisely! What better time to talk to you all than when you're all actually here!"

"Wait, I thought you came round to work on our English essays?" Tim asks, blinking owlishly.

"I'm afraid I've lured you here under false pretences, Tim."

"This is where I live."

"I would still really appreciate help on that essay though, I mean, what the hell is Hamlet even about? I just don't get that old time-y language, like 'Hark! A ghost hath killed me!' - absolute rubbish, what does that even mean?"

"The ghost never kills anyone in Hamlet, he's there to tell Hamlet that he was murdered. Have you actually read it?"

"No, but it sounds like you have. Tim, I want this guy to help me with my essay instead. I know for a fact that you haven't read Hamlet, either."

"So? We don't need Jason, I've read the Sparknotes."

"Hi Jason, I'm Danny, pleasure to meet you, summarise Hamlet in three sentences or less."

"Am I auditioning to help you write your essays? I can't believe you’ve gone through your whole school life without reading it, it’s good!"

"Hamlet, along with a number of other classics, was banned in our house because it portrayed ghosts as intelligent and sympathetic beings rather than evil, animalistic beasts. I didn’t even get to see The Muppet's Christmas Carol until last year with Tim! It was surprisingly good, and I hate Christmas because everyone always argued and it sucked. But we're getting off topic. I—"

"No, no, please go back to that, because what the fu—"

"Boys, please." Bruce interrupts, looking to the world as if he wants to hang his head in his hands. "Danny, you were about to say something?"

"Oh, yeah, Mr. Wayne! Thanks!"

"Please, call me Bruce."

"Well, that very succinctly brings me to my point, because I'd actually really like to call you dad."

Nobody says a word. Nobody even blinks, all as shocked as the other, watching open-mouthed as Danny pulls his laptop out from beside his chair. Bruce can definitely feel a headache coming on.

"Before you say anything, I've prepared a 69 slide PowerPoint presentation on why you, Bruce Wayne, should adopt me, Danny Last-Name-Pending. Please save your questions, comments, and verdict until the end, thank you."

[youngpettyqueen]

I know the decision to have Julian's parents have him augmented was made on the fly but imo its pretty obvious from early on that Julian has Family Issues because he avoids talking about his family like the plague and I think they should've incorporated this into the Julian and Sisko dynamic right from early on because I think it would've made for some really compelling stories and moments and could've set up a REALLY interesting Julian and Jake dynamic which they kinda started to do but never fully went for

[glitteringcrab]

They built a wall around infinity

What is the Central Finite Curve wall made of???

Is it some random sci-fi stuff like "sub-ether barrier"?

Well, if the theory that the colour yellow is associated with brain stuff is true, I'd like to point out the following:

1. The ultra beam Eyepatch Morty shot through the Citadel to bring down the Curve was yellow:

It became stronger after Eyepatch Morty infused it with blender-ed Ricks and Mortys:

Why did that work??

How could that have possibly pierced through some sort of dimensional wall? Is it really just a matter of something as "benign" as calibration or killing them to be thorough?

2. And who else, apart from Eyepatch Morty, had been collecting the bloodied remains of Mortys in vats?

Why, the Citadel Ricks.

That's... odd.

Did they collect physically "defective" or misbehaving clones before disposing them all off in one go?

Was it a slaughterhouse, with excess rickless Mortys being sent to death?

Was it a sort of punishment to terrorize Mortys into obedience?

Was it a sort of execution for criminal Mortys?

Was the number of Mortys dying in the Citadel from horrible living conditions simply that high, that they needed to be collected and disposed off in a special way?

Could be any of the above really... But even at the first time I watched this episode I thought that was odd.

(...and why have portals that apparently do nothing but spew blood... Where did that blood come from?)

(Is it Rick blood...?)

3. Rick says this concerning their brainwaves:

He's making it sound like it's just a matter of detection. Visibility. Camouflage. Nothing actually substantial, just a matter of stealth.

...says Morty, referring to his "camouflage" properties.

...replies Rick, which seems kinda redundant, doesn't it?

He agrees with Morty that "Morty is more than a human shield", but the only actual "more" thing in Rick's subsequent description of Morty is the phrase "perfect impenetrable".

Is he just rubbing in Morty's face how effective he is as camouflage?

...Or is he talking about something else?

Something... truly impenetrable...?

What. IS. The. "Wall around infinity". Made. Of??????

(...is it like... crystallized brainwaves of Mortys who died painfully...?)

(I mean, if you can crystallize time, and infuse a freaking liquid with code that allows it to pierce through dimensions, why not also be able to liquify and project brainwaves?)

[thewhizzyhead]

if I said eisa davis' influence in making lmm actually write something rather radically progressive has subsequently inspired me to return to my roots of actually fucking thinking of making radically progressive musicals after a 3-year long hiatus in doing so, then what-

[vyvansecrashing]

can russia and north korea just nuke us already this is hopeless

[waitineedaname]

Despite having worked to rebuild Ishval for years now, Scar still wasn’t quite comfortable in the position of diplomat. He was a man of action; he felt most fulfilled when he was helping rebuild homes or performing religious rites for new families. The job of a diplomat, however, involved a great deal more wining and dining, more appeasing important people they needed on Ishval’s side. This was not Scar’s strong suit. Normally he would pass along this task to someone better suited for it, but he’d been invited to Xing specifically.

He knew he didn’t have to do much persuading to secure Xing as Ishval’s ally; the emperor had already reassured him of that in private. Still, certain protocol was expected, and if Mei’s snide comments about her half-brother were to be trusted, he took any opportunity he could to host a banquet. 

Scar really wished Mei was with him now. She had been at the start of the banquet, showing him which foods were best and giggling at his inexperience with chopsticks. But before long, her attention had been stolen by a member of the Xingese court that wanted to speak with her, and another person decided to ask him about Ishval, and then suddenly he was separated from one of the few people he knew in the room. Miles was nowhere to be found, likely speaking with some of Xing’s generals; he was much better at the diplomat role than Scar. He supposed he could sit with the emperor, but he wasn’t sure if that would be a breach of etiquette, regardless of how informal Ling had been when he greeted him earlier. Scar was about to resign himself to finding a corner to stand in while he ate his food when a stranger’s voice called out to him.

“Scar!” He turned and found, to his surprise, an Amestrian approaching him. He had not been aware of any Amestrians in the Xingese court, but the golden-haired young man that had called out to him was clearly not Xingese. “It’s been a long time,” he said once he’d caught up with him.

Did he know this Amestrian? He didn’t recognize him, but he was speaking to him like they knew each other. “It has,” Scar said, hoping that was an adequate response.

The Amestrian gave him a somewhat awkward smile, like he was doing his best to be courteous. Something about him reminded Scar of Fullmetal – the golden hair and eyes were rather distinct – but he was certainly not Edward Elric. “Mei has been talking about your visit for weeks now,” said the Amestrian. “She was really excited to see you again.”

Ah, so he knew Mei? Had they met this man when they were traveling through Amestris together? That was years ago now, and this young man wasn’t very old, so he must have still been a young teen at the time. Scar searched his memory for any Amestrian teens they might have encountered together, but aside from the children they met in Ishvalan slums, the only teenagers he remembered were part of Fullmetal’s cohort – Edward himself, the Rockbell girl, and Edward’s armored brother. “It’s good to see her again as well,” Scar said, attempting not to give away his confusion. “She’s grown up since I last saw her.”

“Yeah, we’ve all changed a lot since back then, huh?” The Amestrian said it like there was some kind of humorous double meaning behind his words, but Scar didn’t follow. Upon his lack of reaction, the Amestrian coughed awkwardly and shifted the subject. “I heard you and Ling are working on the railroad connection from Amestris to Xing through Ishval.”

And he was on a first name basis with the emperor? This Amestrian truly was an odd case. “Yes, it’s our hope that it will improve commerce in Ishval. Major Miles would know more about it than I do.”

“Ah, yeah, I should probably say hi to the major too.” The Amestrian scratched the back of his head and smiled. “I know the train route will be good for trade and whatnot, but I know Ling and I are mostly excited because it means Ed will be able to visit more easily.”

Enough of this. Scar was just going to ask him directly. “Do you know Edward Elric?” he asked, assuming that must be the Ed he was referring to. The Amestrian gave him a puzzled look.

“Of course I know Ed. Why did you…” he trailed off, realization crossing his face. Scar was not enjoying the experience of being out of the loop. Before he could ask for any clarification, the emperor decided to make an appearance, putting a friendly hand on the Amestrian’s arm.

“Alphonse! You’re not talking about politics behind my back, are you?” Ling teased. Scar blinked, then widened his eyes as realization hit him too.

“The armored boy,” he said, feeling rather foolish. 

“That’s me. Though I haven’t been in the armor since the Promised Day.” Alphonse gave him a smile that was somehow both exasperated and embarrassed. 

“I didn’t realize,” Scar admitted.

“It’s fine. I’m pretty sure you were presumed dead at the time,” Al said, once again proving himself to be the more patient Elric. 

“If I had known this was going to happen, I would have reintroduced you!” Ling said in a way that made it very obvious that he had known exactly what was going on and had been enjoying their awkward fumbling.

“No you wouldn’t have.” Alphonse rolled his eyes, echoing Scar’s thoughts exactly. “You probably thought it was funny.”

“So cruel, Alphonse! Accusing me of scheming just for my own entertainment?” Ling threw an arm around Al’s shoulders, reminding Scar that he was just as much of a teenaged nuisance as the Elrics. “I would never!”

“Yes, you would!” Al’s voice was shaking with amusement, reducing the impact of his annoyance. Scar decided he’d had enough of this.

“I’m going to find Mei,” he told them, quickly taking his leave and melding back into the crowd of guests, hoping his height might give him some advantage in finding her before someone else decided to drag him into an awkward interaction.

He would be happy to visit Mei in Xing again, but he decided he would no longer force himself into the role of diplomat. If it involved any association with any Elric’s nonsense, he would leave that up to Miles.

[wisemins]

on a wonka note: willy wonka is autistic. literally no arguments to be made. i don't need to prove it. he is the proof.

[hauntingblue]

Inept 8 year old boy dragon tries to save floating island is such a concept

[sleepycicada]

Her loyalty is so fucking attractive to me /ᐠ˵- ⩊ -˵マ

[autumnrory]

this season of ted lasso saying sam should forgive racists who vandalized the restaurant and  then you know, dropping anything to do with that storyline immediately afterwards

and the saying jamie should forgive his abusive father bc hating him apparently isn’t good for him or whatever

doesn’t feel great tbh

[kitsunabi]

VINDICATION

[bahoreal]

jay's wee guide to editing fics

by popular demand (five likes on a post i made asking if anyone wants this)

please note this is a loose guide of what works for me and is designed to give newbie fic writers an idea of what purpose an edit has. if you don't vibe with it you don't have to follow it. if you have your own preferences please feel free to add them!

first i should say it is important to do an edit before you post your fic. this can apply to any work of writing (some of the QC details I used a lot in the scientific papers i wrote)

an edit can be generally categorised into one of these: update/style check, QC, consistency check, proofread. this can either be done by you (the writer) or by a beta reader

update/style check: there's probably a better word for this kind of edit but I don't know it. This the most in depth and time consuming method of editing and generally done on first drafts. it is an edit done where you're not happy with the work to be published as-is, where you think parts are missing, parts could be updated, parts might be out of sync or not fit with the flow of the piece. when you're doing an update edit, you should be looking for things like:

- did this feel jarring against the rest of the tone

- did i have to read any of the sentences multiple times to figure out what they meant

- do I have enough elements that reflect the theme i'm trying to build, or was the theme too on the nose?

- are my characters behaving in character

- are there any points where a character knows about something before it has been confirmed in the text - is this intentional, or was it a mistake and the character shouldn't know? This is especially important with longer fics, sometimes the timeline can get messy

note for beta readers/if you are using a beta reader: specify whether this edit is meant to be granular to word choice, or about sentence/paragraphs. I have had beta readers that changed every fifth word I wrote because they thought a different word would fit better (which switched my story to their style, which I didn't actually want), and beta readers who would highlight a sentence or a word and go "this doesn't make sense, consider rephrasing" or a paragraph and go "this felt cut short" o.e. (which was very helpful)

QC: quality check. generally refers to formatting, updating to a style guide, etc. When I am doing a QC I look for things like

- grammar issues (non-intentional)

- typos (non-intentional)

- spelling mistakes (non-intentional)

- language consistency, e.g. going between England English and American English (non-intentional)

- formatting errors (e.g. I tend to add three paragraph breaks between new scenes, and I check that that's consistent throughout)

- tense consistency (switching back and forth between tenses when writing can break the reader out of the immersion, if you're in the present then try to stay in the present unless the character is remembering something. Instead of "She has nothing in the house. She went to the shops.", try and stick to one tense, "She has nothing in the house, so she goes to the shops.")

(- in papers/essays this is also the point where you would fix your referencing)

proofread: a final check done on a final draft that combines the QC and consistency checks. If i've copied to ao3 I tend to do this in the ao3 word editor and make sure all my formatting is in, for example italics, which aren't preserved in the copy/paste into the ao3 editor

consistency check: does what it says on the tin. If there are consistency items you want to keep flowing through your story, such as

- a character calling another character by a certain nickname and then progressing to a different nickname as you move through

- names used in internal monologue are consistent throughout, vs. names other characters use in speech (e.g. I wrote a fic from the perspective of an american, who says "couch", but the english characters say "sofa" aloud.)

- was that character holding a glass? where did it go? were they suddenly on the other side of the room?

- are the times/days correct? was it summer one scene and winter the next? if time is referenced, is it passing appropriately? (also ensuring it's non-intentional, unreliable narrators can switch between times as a stylistic choice)

(- in papers/essays this is also the point where I would make sure my claims are substantiated in the references I have used)

The things to look for are non-exhaustive. In my fics, I tend to do one single edit that combines all of these, or one update/style check and then a proofread if it's a long fic. This is because I don't tend to spend a lot of time on fics. with my original works, I tend to do each check individually, with the update/style check first, then a consistency check, then a QC, then the proofread. 4 drafts (at least, sigh)

A beta reader can help with some of these, especially the consistency check and the update/style check - when you read your own work a lot you do tend to miss things. However I cannot stress enough when you are asking a beta reader to look over your work, set your expectations:

tell them which kind of edit you'd like them to do. If you want a QC and you get back a style check it can feel a little insulting

if you want a more thorough edit like a style check or a consistency check then set expectations for the level of edit. If you want to develop your own style of writing, then specify you don't want your beta reader to be too picky over word choices, only calling out if, e.g. words don't make sense in context. If you want a language check (maybe your first language isn't english and you are worried about writing in english) then ask for more detailed notes on your specific word choice. it's entirely up to you, and knowing what is expected of them can make the beta's job easier!

And some things personal to me:

items/advice about how i write my own fic, these are things I look for in the update/style check to ensure the conclusion is built to in a satisfying way

plot themes, and building callbacks: I like to pick a few callbacks for my characters and have them mentioned a few times throughout the story - enough that readers will notice and appreciate the callback, but not too much that it's all the characters talk about. it's a delicate balance and depends on the length of the fic and the themes you choose. for example in the longfic i'm writing I have romcoms as a theme, where the characters bring up their favourite big romcom lines a couple of times, then joke around finding their own when they finally kiss. in my original novel i have one fun theme of one of my characters absolutely loving bread and always eating it whenever there's bread offered, and also a plot related theme of discussion about poison, poison preparation, and contemporary medical diagnoses of poisoning which leads a character to realise [REDACTED] might have been poisoned (these things are unrelated my character does not die of poison bread lmao) sometimes these callback themes can reflect the plot of your fic, or it can be a fun character thing that keeps coming back, or it can reflect how a character has grown from the start of the story

characterisation through your story: I'd suggest figuring out where your character starts, and the growth you want them to go through to make the characterisation more fulfilling. this can just be something specific you want that character to realise, or the character settling into the role they have and realising they enjoy it and fighting back less, or a character striving for something and either getting it or not getting it and deciding whether they even wanted it, etc. sometimes the simpler the fundamental character arc, the better. it can help with linking the character arc to the plot, and figuring out how minor characters are doing in the background of the fic

have fun and enjoy! don't feel obligated to follow my advice exactly or stick rigidly to one of the edit types, having a mix between them is just as useful and sometimes certain items slip from edit to edit! sharing your work is scary, but knowing you've picked up on typos and minor errors before you share can reduce that fear a bit :)

[monotonous-minutia]

I know there's a lot more going on in the world to focus on but I really hate it that I haven't been able to stay at a job for much more than 3 years. my first professional position after college I left after 3 and a half years due to management becoming really sucky, then I was a nanny for two years and left due to family dynamics, now I'm just getting past the 2.5 year mark in my current job and I'm already applying for new stuff. I just want to be able to stay somewhere. I'm almost 30. I just want to be able to find a place and stay there.

[moe-broey]

I <3 blowing up my save files mid-playthrough or after I've beaten the game and feel aimless or I'm three hours in and incredibly indecisive and perfectionistic and have to start over Better this time or I just get really into One Idea and blow up the save for the sole purpose of achieving the One Idea and once I have it's like. Well. What was the point of that actually. And then I blow it up again

[heartshattering]

Feeling like I want to give up again...