#MAKING FUN OF THE CHARACTERS AND PLOT!! AAA' but I guess just as someone who likes to over-analyze things like..

[icewindandboringhorror]

 a mood

[takadanobaba]

Kurokawa Rei’s Birthday PriZoom 8/8/2021

YOOOOOO

Reminder that prizooms are also accessible to everyone and don’t require any Japanese residency confirmation!! If you’re interested in attending, please go and support kinpri!!!

Soundboard hell I love you so much

So this time I only went to the second showing for Rei’s birthday event! I also chose the chat-only room because that’s what I started out with and I loved it so I wanted that same experience again. They were showing sss part 4 with the Rei+Hijiri PrismChat as a bonus! Which was perfect because :

1) Ever since Jin’s birthday I’ve been missing the cheering screening experience (even if it’s not in a theater it counts!!! the community is what makes it!!!!!!)

2) I did mention being curious as to if anyone would try to hit YO to Platonic Sword in Jin’s post

3) I was interested in the Rei+Hijiri PrismChat!

RakutenTicket sends the link to the soundboard early and apparently they use the same link for every showing in the event so I got to listen in on the first course’s soundboard hell while waiting for the second course to start! I was wondering if people tried to YO along to the lives in every prizoom event, made me happy to hear that they do! Oddly enough, I find that cacophony soothing in a way? I’d love for them to put out a demo soundboard or something so you can just play around with it whenever

Also, not sure about the actual gender statistics of who attends prizooms, but it seems like most people choose the male voice option regardless? Probably because the male YO sound is funnier and being synced with everyone adds to it?

There weren’t any audio problems this time, but the video quality was noticeably worse. While attending I was thinking that I actually liked the audio problems since they unintentionally make prizooms more fun thanks to how it heightens the community experience (everyone spams 頑張ってー/ “ganbatte” together!!!). With bad video it’s just kind of sad haha. I mean I guess it’d be better to have no issues at all (...maybe....... it does increase the fun) but if lower resolution is the trade off for audio problems then I’d prefer audio problems..... 

In the little waiting period before part 4 actually started (takes a while for participants to trickle in since people are let into the rooms and verified manually), they play music which is nice!!! Especially since it helps for cheering practice. Daisuki Refrain was particularly memorable since it was so YO-able...... made me think about the contrast between Shin’s actual song and Platonic Sword (which has a reputation as the uncheerable song). Nice to see that even without mics or being able to properly cheer, the feelings remain consistent between (what I’ve heard about) theater showings and prizoom chat-only rooms!

Platonic Sword actually is really difficult to YO to but people tried their best anyways, the only agreed upon part to YO to is after every new pose in that one bit where Shine dies a bit and then stabs himself.

Part 4 is SUPER SERIOUS sometimes because of all the prism messenger plot so the soundboard is just DEAD SILENT during those parts because everyone’s just in terror. Really adds to the experience since people try to cheer as much as possible! The most used sounds for the Shine parts are just “ME TOO” whenever he talks about love (people simp for Shine!) and “出たー! / AAA THERE IT IS!!!” just whenever he appears/stabs someone/does that eye thing.

What surprised me the most though was how many people REALLY LIKE SANADA??? There’s just SO MUCH CHEERING whenever he appears???? It gave me whiplash every time. Sanada is actually my 3rd favorite character (after Jin and Joji because I have awful taste so I love them and their dynamic as a trio) and I really didn’t expect anyone else to like him because he’s just horrible?? I hate-love him. But apparently people genuinely love Sanada. Honestly the most terrifying memory coming out of a part 4 screening to me.

BRILLIANT OATH’S CHEERING WAS REALLY GOOD TOO!!! Mics aren’t allowed in the chat-only rooms so nobody can properly sing along for the audience part but that’s NOT A PROBLEM THANKS TO THE SOUNDBOARD!!! Everyone just spams YO along to every syllable and it’s just SO FUNNY. Like there’s this super emotional moment where a new deity is born to regrant the prism sparkle in a world that the gods abandoned.... through the sheer power of everyone yelling YO. Beautiful

A lot of the notable participants (like the Victoria cosplayer) from Jin’s showing were here too. It wasn’t as crazy as Jin’s but it was cool seeing all the cosplayers and everyone’s plushies! Also cool seeing that the person who made the cute custom Jin plushie made one for Rei too??

💖 💖 💖

Here’s a link to my recording of the bonus !

Luna actually already translated the bonus PrismChat between Rei and Hijiri (thank you Luna!!) before I got around to finishing up this post! If you’re reading this, then go and give her translation work the appreciation it deserves!! Also go read her new prism rush translation! 

(I actually haven’t gotten around to finishing reading it myself because between making prizoom posts and just being busy with life I wasn’t able to properly focus and give it my full attention ;;;>_> BUT AFTER THIS!!)

And errr try not to spread my recording around too much just in case if any staff decides that archiving content that will probably never be released officially or translated is a reason to start cracking down on making things less accessible for an overseas audience ^^;;;;;;

💖 💖 💖

ANYWAYS!!!! 

IT WAS REALLY FUN!!!! It was really nice being able to attend a prizoom again!!

For the feedback form, I put in a request to give Sanada a birthday so he can get the prizoom treatment because oh my god people go crazy for him. Unfortunately I do too. They really need to give him the Yamada treatment and market him more, I’m pretty sure Sanada’s more popular than Yamada too?  OooOo kinpri you want to put out more content and take my money ooooOoOoooOoooo

And lastly, reminder that anyone can attend prizooms!!! And if you’re interested then you really should!!!! I’ll be posting a guide for the ticket buying process later to help with that!!!

[smallblueandloud]

some leverage: redemption reactions

i finished leverage redemption today! and i don't have anyone to talk to about it so, here we have my reactions for all eight episodes, both positive and negative. please feel free to reblog/comment -- discussions are what i'm here for! (under a cut because spoilers and also this ended up being 2k. whoops!)

EPISODE 1: the too many rembrandts job

the "aww, this guy is trying to pull his first heist! how cute" job

what they chose to do with nate was... interesting. it might just be that i read too many of those cracky "here's how they should explain nate's absence" posts, but i was expecting something funny. the grief permeating this episode -- it makes SENSE, but it was still weird. leverage doesn't usually have sadness like this. pain, yes, rage, certainly, but sadness? not usually

the way sophie immediately spots the signs of a con and slips into a character? phenomenal. i'm here for EXPERTS BEING EXPERTS and this show does NOT disappoint

harry wilson is a really solid character! most impressively, he's not flynn, which is impressive enough that i'm making a whole bullet point about it. i was worried that noah wyle was kinda a one-trick pony, but it appears not! good for him tbh

i'm LIVING for the ot3 moments in this episode. "what happened?" "we happened" YESSSSS!!! i wish we'd had more domesticity, but i know they did what they could

"he gets it from his father" FUCK!!!!!

the discussion about redemption in this episode is FANTASTIC but personally i am still delirious with excitement about "my nana leads a multi-denominational household" so expect those thoughts in 3-5 business days

EPISODE 2: the panamanian monkey job

the "flash electropop concert" job

BREANNA INTRODUCTION! i love her so MUCH, y'all. we only got to see her dynamic with hardison in this one episode, but man, it manages to be one of her best dynamics anyway. i just! i love her! i love the way the team works with her!

"in our field, you're one of the best. but there, you're the only one." god we have ELIOT/HARDISON rights and i am NOT OKAY. just!! them!!!!!! being supportive!!!!!! they have learned how to be sweet with each other! they work together so much better (in part because we're seeing them from harry's outsider pov instead of nate's insider pov, but STILL)

midway through this episode, i thought "huh, leverage always focuses on specific people, when really the problem is systematic, and pretending it's anything different is just an excuse to not fight for change". and then at the end harry talks about how the system itself is broken! i love knowing that john rogers and i were reading the same tweets last summer. it's a good feeling to trust the people making a piece of media

who let noah wyle speak spanish. whoever it was, they need to rescind their permission

god, the parker/hardison in this episode. THE PARKER/HARDISON IN THIS EPISODE! they KILL me friends they KILL ME!

also just like, hardison in this episode in general. he made a star trek reference! he made a doctor who reference! he decides there are other people who need him more! the way they wrote around gina bellman's maternity leave in s2 was good but this was phenomenal.

also i'm here for ot3 crumbs so "is this like the time when eliot wanted us to say no" is going on my ot3-is-canon conspiracy board

this is a tiny detail but eliot taking out the drone with a goddamn ORANGE was so good. he's so good at his job!! they're all so good at their jobs!! i know i literally just talked about this but AAA

EPISODE 3: the rollin' on the river job

the "sometimes you just want to rob a vault wearing a floofy dress, and that's valid" job

i did... not. like. how the villain in this one was an immigrant whose exploitable weakness was a "desperation" to be included in the upper crust. and the fact that they beat him with a literal southern belle who explicitly beats him BECAUSE her family has been in the area for "hundreds of years"? it just feels Iffy.

also iffy about this episode was breanna's characterization. it felt inconsistent. she feels inconsistent across the whole season, but this episode in particular... she tells harry she's only with the team because she's desperate, that she doesn't believe in hope, and then at the end of the episode she tells parker she wants to be there to change the world. and like, even in the first place, she's not here out of desperation! SHE asked to join the team! like, i can see how it all kinda fits together, but it just feels... inconsistent. idk. i think these scripts all could've benefited from an extra round or two of editing.

anyway! i loved the way they tied hardison into these episodes, even though aldis hodge couldn't be there. he has binders! breanna doesn't want to read them! parker did! he put in big letters, "when in doubt, trust the person in the van". i'm just so !!! about how much i love him and how much he loves his team and how much his team loves him. FOUND FAMILY, BABY!

all inconsistencies in breanna's characterization aside, i really liked her speech at the end. i know how she feels! it's really nice to have someone on the team who's from -- not my world, really, but a lot closer than any of the others. it's a nice feeling! i love her a lot. i hope her writing gets more consistent

lol, parker ate eliot's carrot cake. i love the parker/eliot rights we get in this show, they're so domestic and it's wonderful.

EPISODE 4: the tower job

the "hardison made his partners learn klingon" job

watching this episode was what made me go "they're not going to make us sit through a harry/sophie romance... right? right?"

i'm still not sure they're gonna let us avoid it but it COULD work so... i've decided to just not worry about it for now

i liked the number of ways the con goes wrong! it was fun to watch them work on the fly like that. i think them not having a dedicated Mastermind(tm) is a good watsonian explanation for their plans being pretty haphazard in general, but it's good, they think well on their feet

nate was a chessmaster. he had the whole situation in his mind from the beginning, accounting for every possible outcome. parker and sophie are much more adaptive, and it's cool to see. they can rely on their respective skillsets a lot more than nate could

a really solid episode! probably one of the strongest ones in the season. i liked it a lot.

(ALSO as mentioned above the klingon lines were fantastic and not just because they were a star trek reference -- every time eliot and parker both mentioned hardison, together, it added a year to my lifespan)

EPISODE 5: the paranormal hacktivity job

the "sophie was worryingly prepared to fake her death" job

i know why they characterized the client as a skeptic, i really do, and i loved the format of this episode, but also. But Also. she should've been a love interest for breanna and I'm Right.

having a girl's episode was the CORRECT choice. they do crimes in their free time! they fleece newbie, cruel criminals! it's so good!

it would've been cool to have eliot around for the assassin guy, but it was also cool to see the others take him out without having eliot to rely on. it's like getting to see how they'd take out eliot, if they were ever on opposing sides.

PARKER CANONICALLY USES SCRIPTS IT'S THE BEST THING EVER

breanna bristling about letting the criminal into the theater's electric system was so good god i love her so much. she knows hardware! i bet she likes to work with her hands. i bet she stims. i bet she has adhd

actually, sidenote, but i LOVE these headquarters. they look so nice! the stage is so nice! i loved having an episode set in and around it, it was such a good choice.

EPISODE 6: the card game job

the "FINALLY AN EXPLICITLY QUEER LEVERAGE CHARACTER" job

QUEER BREANNA QUEER BREANNA QUEER BREANNA QUEER BR

UNFOLLOW ME NOW THIS IS GONNA BE THE ONLY THING I POST ABOUT FOR THE REST OF TIME

GOD, what a good way to reveal it. it's fully about her! i love queer romances, of course i do, but i don't think i've ever seen a character come out without a romance being their reason for doing so (however indirectly). i still think she should've gotten a date with the client from 1x05, but i really liked this too.

this episode just felt like a love letter to fandom, and i love that. i love how much it shone through. i'm used to writers specifically going out of their way to make fun of fans and laugh at them, so it was just. really nice to have someone stand up and go, no, this is important for a reason! people love this for a reason! it MEANS something!

very fun to watch eliot swordfight. very fun to watch sophie recite a sonnet in her classic fashion. very fun to watch parker work at being a good mentor. breanna was so excited about the card game! they're all so good!

oh, and i guess harry's here too.

EPISODE 7: the double-edged sword job

the "harry is addicted to mobile games, which is a mood" job

hot take alert! i think this is the weakest episode of the season by a LOT. it needed so much more editing. it felt so disjointed, so all over the place. the plot was haphazard but in a muffled way, where you had no idea why they were doing what they were doing. the climax was sudden and didn't make any sense. it was just weird.

i'm not the person to comment on this but it feels kind of lazy to cast an east asian guy to play a socially-awkward tech genius. just a thought.

oh, of course jonathan frakes directed this episode. sometimes his stuff is really good but other times (ahem, ds9 3x02) it's disjointed and all over the place. i'm not even surprised it was him.

idk if i have anything else to say about this. oh! some of the team moments were great -- mostly involving eliot. i loved the moment of him recognizing the headshot, i LOVED the ten seconds of everyone teasing him. he and parker talked about the wellbeing of their friend, the woman whose ex tracked her down!

separate bulletpoint to say how much i LOVED his conversation with breanna outside the house. he's so good at reassuring! he could go deeper there, talking about being better than your worst day, but he knew when not to push! it was so good.

"first off, this guy can't TOUCH hardison" deserves its own bulletpoint because like. y'all. Y'ALL.

EPISODE 8: the mastermind job

the "eliot is more than just a pretty face" job

oh man this post is so much longer than i thought it would be. okay just one more episode and then i'm done.

the callbacks to original leverage were SO well done and made me feel emotions without feeling overbearing.

i didn't like the central premise -- that nate would share so many details with a random insurance agent -- in the first place, but i did like how it allowed them to bring back nate without actually hiring timerty mcasshole.

i liked eliot's insistence that he's more than just the muscle! he is, and it's really good to know, textually, that the writers do too!

me, watching the resolution of the episode: ah, yeah, insurance fraud. a classic!

harry bonding with his guard had "they don't even have dental!" energy and i am SUCH a fan. i know it was all for the con but also give me harry, unable to stop advising people, even when they're actively holding him hostage

parker! on the phone with hardison!!!! ADORABLE

is it just me or was someone else expecting the accountant's name to be something significant? with the way they led up to it, i was waiting for a "sterling" or something else. my sensors were pinging for another tara reveal. i'm still convinced we're gonna get this guy dramatically revealed in the season finale.

a really nice episode! i had a lot of fun with it. and now i want to rewatch the rashamon job, but tbh i ALWAYS want to rewatch the rashamon job.

and that's a wrap! overall, a fun season, i enjoyed it a lot. not as solid as original leverage, but it's the very beginning, and it was put together during a global pandemic, so i'm cutting them some slack. also levar burton is gonna show up at some point. that's a big reason of why i'm cutting them so much slack.

my personal ranking of the episodes is 1x04, 1x06, 1x08, 1x01, 1x02, 1x03, and finally last (and least), 1x07.

what did you guys think of the new season? what was your favorite episode? do you agree with any of my opinions? disagree with any? let me know, please, i'd love to discuss!

[amjustagirl]

hi nikki jie i finally finished rereading dream catcher and omg askdkskjdjsa iM -

wOW it was absolutely incrediblee im so full of emotions rn asfjsk i read ch 5 & 6 just now when i was otw to sch to study before cca (pls omg my heart was in shambles i had to take a few min to compose myself aft i reached the library 😭) then i just read the last chapter otw home and im so !!!!! i think ch 6 would be my absolute fave, maybe cuz that was like the climax of the whole story haha, but like it was such a roller coaster like omg all the intensity of keiji trying to save her, and then my soul was healed when they were talking in that dreamscape and him finALLY realizing he was in love with her, and then you stabbed me through the heart when his memories started slipping away 😭 and like this trope of a character giving up their memories of their beloved just to save them has soo much angst potential but is too underrated and you used it so beautifully here and my heart was physically aching while i was waiting for my bus T^T aND ch 7 when akaashi was so upset he still couldnt remember her name, and when he finally heard toya-chan at the florist askdjsj omg my heart!! 🥺❤️ i love all the flower languages and all the sky and celestial imageries that you used here and it was really soo beautiful when akaashi was realizing he was in love with her,, and i also loved how you described all the surroundings (i felt his nostalgia when he visited her village, the shrine dreamscape, the forest shrine) in ch5 especially like it felt sO REAL and there was such a clear image in my head it was amazing,, i think the reveal of her being the florist didnt hit me as hard this time cuz i reread it already knowing it was her, but i remember being so shookt the first time i read it and being so impressed that everything was soo well thought out,, i absolutely loved it and im really glad i reread it heh

oh and omg i almost forgot to mention but if it wasnt obvious i absolutely adore moriko??? i really love how she views the world, how she makes everything so simple; time should be spent with the people you love, and you should do things that make you happy, her deciding to become a florist simply because she loved the look on people's faces when they bought flowers 🥺 she's so reckless and brave and sweet and she's just absolutely perfect 😭

AND you must be annoyed cuz this is like the 192388th time im saying this but 'when the sun loves the moon'??? IM RLY SO EXCITED OMG YOU HAVE NO IDEA askdksjsj ill be looking forward to it!!!! i cant wait to see the outtakes too 😆

and aaa i saw you've been feeling lonely while your husband is back at ns why must sg do this 😭 is he gonna be back soon ? either ways, i hope you feel better soon!! have a good weekend nikki jie!! ❤️ ~ ann :>

i'm just...speechless that you'd even take the time to re-read dream catcher. i think it's one of the pieces that i still can't believe i was capable of writing, especially chapters 6 and 7 - the dreamscape and akaashi's memories returning back to him is prob the best writing i've ever produced LOL (is it shameless of me to say that?)

but yeah i think bcos the fic is set up like a romance-mystery, bcos it has a non-linear timeline, i really had to plot the whole thing out, leave little clues here and there, rely very heavily on the imagery like flowers and sky and stars and fire to really carry the story. it's definitely another instance of me torturing akaashi, but i think his character lends itself very well to a fic like this. i love love the trope of losing your memories to save someone - i think i grew up watching a lot of hk dramas and i can't pinpoint which it happened in, but this trope really stuck HAHA. and yeah there's so much angst, delicious angst there isn't it!

and omg moriko moriko, that reckless, wise, sweet forest nymph. she's...definitely has the sunniness (like bokuto) and i think that initially draws akaashi in, but she has q a lot of layers bcos she's brave and strong yet doesn't even think anything abt her strength, and that's what i think is amazing abt her. she's someone who marches to the beat of her own drum, she doesn't give a flying fuck about the world thinks. she's just unabashedly herself. that's what akaashi ends up falling head over heels for.

HAHA when the sun loves the moon is gonna be a fun ride methinks? it was such a blast to write bokuto's character, and i loved the whole process of coming up w a reader-chan that fits him, that fits his larger than life, bombastic personality. i've definitely poured a bit of my soul into her (like i do with all my readers / mcs) and i hope you'll like her too :)

mr nikki is back! but he's been away playing in some competition so....home alone i guess? haha.

[ryuichirou]

Omg... 😳

So I am not the only who thinks about an Au with Outlast or even Ju-on: the grudge, Dreadout or Ib, it would be amazing in your style and for sure nothing boring! :D

Anyway, what type of videogames do you like and what things do you first notice in it (like graphic style, gameplay mechanics, the plot, characters and something like that).

Crossover AUs with horror videogames are the best thing!! I love it when Katsu gives me ideas for them… Thank you for enjoying this type of content!

Since Katsu is the one who plays the games and knows this stuff, I’ll pass the mic over...

I’m sorry, you’ll have to bear with me with this reply since it’s usually me who plays/watches let’s plays and then brings them to Ryu if I plan to use them in an AU or a crossover. Outlast is one of the games I actually played (including dlc and the second one), so we both remember it quite well, and Ryu drew the outlast prompt without me, which is cool.

Ju-on (not really the games though, but the Japanese franchise) is gorgeous and very fun, and we might draw a crossover/au with it, but the possibility is very low – unfortunately, it doesn’t really have much visuals to make it truly stand out in terms of a couple of drawings, as much as I love it. Tbh, I don’t even remember if Ryu watched the movies, but we definitely saw the game... 7 years ago or so :“D

Dreadout, on the other hand, is a really wonderful game to go with au/crossover stuff!! I don’t remember the game very well, but we both saw it, and it has cool ghosts, monsters, and overall Indonesian folklore there is such a joy... they have a giant pig in the game, ffs. I’ll think about it in the future, but you probably noticed that our promises rarely come to life because we don’t have much time for everything we want to do with snk lol This game has a lot of character, so it would make a crossover a relatively easy thing to pull off, so who knows!

Ib is the saddest case with us, because we both know about its existence, but never actually played/watched it. I have it downloaded, but I don’t like going blind in horror games, and all the letsplayers I watch played this game so many years ago that their videos are somewhat unwatchable. We will fix this in the future, but I’m not sure we’ll still be in the SNK... You never know with us, though.

Sorry, I felt the need to comment all the games because we really like it when someone knows what we refer to... horror is so much less popular than we anticipated, it feels weird to us.

Now to the actual question lol I rarely play games because I’m bad at them and I don’t trust myself, esp when it’s horror games, but I throw videos at Ryu if I like something and I feel the need that Ryu needs to see it too. Right now I’m really into PS-styled indie horror games, we both feel nostalgia from them, even though I’ve never had a PS prior to 2017, and Ryu doesn’t even play games. Indie genre is the only place to get horror games because AAA horror games rarely come out, plus they’re usually extremely creative and can create an atmosphere which is the most important thing for me (don’t know about Ryu). When something has ~an atmosphere~, it’s easy to get inspired and make up something of your own. A fuckton of my AUs are just a bunch of indie horror games mashed together.

I think any graphic works with a horror game, be it realistic or extremely stylized, or mimicking an old game with a pixilated filter over it... It all depends on what the author wants, and I’ve never felt dissonance between graphic style and the game itself (from ones that I’ve seen), but a certain style can definitely highlight the game. I can recommend games to Ryu just because of a certain visual in a game, or just give a time stamp to the thing that I like most if the game doesn’t deserve more attention, in my opinion.

The plot comes second important after the atmosphere, the ideas with horrors can be either creative on their own, or some simple ideas can be delivered in such a way that they’re more enjoyable. It’s more ideas to get inspired by lol  

Gameplay mechanics is a thing that’s difficult to judge because it’s a different experience when you watch the game or play it by yourself, but if the game looks complicated, I probably won’t buy it or will be too scared to play it lol (it happened with White Day with us). Playing games leaves much more impact on both of us, though, but the fear of getting frustrated by the game is stronger. I still find gameplay mechanics important, because I understand all the boredom of walking around collecting notes and getting jumpscared from time to time, but it all depends on a game. I do appreciate cool features though!

Characters are usually the weakest point in horror games because very few of them actually have characters... Unless it’s a visual novel or something. So I guess we don’t really pay attention to them if there’s nothing special about characters or they’re not even there. This is why I usually shove my faves into the game world and see how it works lmao This is why poor Levi is always terrorized by some fucked up version of Eren. It’s so much fun.

Thank you for your question!

[butyouvealwaysbeenthecaretaker]

Just came across a very interesting conversation on the (computer game) Cyberpunk 2077 reddit.

Basically, the game has been released early and it's broken in a lot of ways. There are four romanceable characters - a gay man, a straight man, a gay woman, a straight woman - and so the one you can do is determined at character creation.

(Anyway, there are some other questions here like - should they have implemented more romanceable characters, and how should Cyberpunk 77's much hyped trans-gender/trans-humanist elements impact this.)

But the conversation was about, should there be monosexual romanceable characters in computer games? Should they have a solid characteristic, which does not bend around the player, like a real person would? Or, should all romanceable characters in computer games be functionally bisexual - after all, a game is a pretend world and a pretend story you're experiencing for fun, so if you as a player or your idea for your character feels like a romance with someone you've encountered would be interesting to explore, that should be possible. You shouldn't need to start a whole new character to do this.

Traditionally, computer games were super bisexual because it's much easier to implement than monosexuality. I'm thinking of Bethesda & the Sims series especially. All you have to do is tick romanceable-by-player: true/false.  Implementing monosexuality is a lot more work.

It is an interesting question, I think, which says a lot about what you think a game should be. I am very into sandbox games, so "everyone is bisexual" suits me better - I don't like any kind of restriction on the character or narrative I follow. I've never got on with Bioware games for this reason, the concept of playing a character which someone else has designed is kinda alien to me. I like Elder Scrolls, where you can fuck off from the main plot and just hunt elk in the wilderness.

But I suspect like, a Bioware player might be the sort of person who would love the idea that Timmy is an *objectively* gay character, just as my character is *objectively* a wood elf who has discovered he has a human mother and is currently on an archeological mission but is devoted to the pan-elf republic.

And on a third hand, someone on reddit said "just because you're bisexual it doesn't mean everyone is attracted to YOU" - which is true, I guess. But fixed NPC orientations do give you less scope to play bisexually, and it gives you less scope to play genderqueerly, because NPCs will respond to you in a cissexist way.

& I feel like it gives more primacy to the character than the player, if that makes sense.

Like, as a bisexual *player*, there are naturally more characters I'm interested in romancing. And the straight blokes of reddit are, unsurprisingly, annoyed at there being an unromanceable woman, and unhappy with the idea "but there's this man you can romance" being their only other choice. & you know what? I think that's valid. These people are digital, and the purpose of a computer game is to give players a fun, immersive experience in which they get to live a make-believe life; "this character I'm kinda into is not attracted to people like me" isn't the kind of immersion I'm looking for in a standard AAA gun game.

A lot of people are commenting that the world of Cyberpunk seems pretty bisexual and like that would be a worldbuilding feature. I don't think they're right, but I do think the idea they are grasping at but don't have words for is correct. The cyberpunk world is hypersexualised-but-strange, erotic-but-repelling, sex is commodified but hollow, your choices are infinite but you're too jaded to care, bodies are customiseable, and society has broken down.

So yes, it is a queer setting - not in the sense of, monosexuals no longer exist, but that the gendered/orientation norms should be real science fiction. Maybe one NPC will romance anyone with a cock. Maybe another is really into cybernetics. You know? Something about "NPCs are either gay or straight" is above all dull and poor worldbuilding.

But yeah, I don't have a real argument here - I havent played the game - but I do think some of the questions raised about what a game ought to be are interesting.

[siodium]

REVIEW: BURIED STARS ☆

came across this korean mystery vn and i knew i had to get it bc someone commented that it had a similar feel to danganronpa/zero escape O: seems like i have a type

i usually don’t prefer to get digital copies of games but there was really no choice... i heard the physical copy is sold out in korea and resales are going for 200 USD ain’t nobody got money for that

i don’t think anyone i know is gonna purchase this game and play for themselves and i can’t share the game either bc it’s a digital copy sooo i’m gonna write a review~ please enjoy!!

basically the plot goes as such: the survival reality tv show Buried Stars was about to commence the finals of its current season with the remaining five contestants when the building suddenly collapses. most of the audience and staff members were safely evacuated except for seven ppl (the five contestants and two staff members) who are trapped in the wreckage with just their smartwatches that connects them to the outside world via calls (problematic bc they can only call a restricted number of ppl and the signal inside is shit) and phater (bootleg twitter). after trying to make some calls, everyone was then told that the rescue team would take around six hours to break into the collapsed building to get them out.

ok so they just have to wait it out... in an unstable building that can come down at any moment. cool.

then!!! they find the producer’s dead body, seemingly a victim to the falling debris!! they’re down to six survivors now.

despite the circumstances, voting is still ongoing and some rando on phater claims that the contestant in the last place will die as if the atmosphere wasn’t bad enough.

this is your smartwatch interface!! most of the functions are pretty useless with regards to the actual gameplay but it’s just fun to play around with them i guess

for e.g. you can change the background and ringtone but they don’t affect anything

there’s this feature that keeps track of changes that occur when you pick certain conversation topics during communication rounds and it’s really useful for replays!! too bad it doesn’t keep track of sanity changes in mc

this is the mc!! even though he looks like he would be a tsundere punk he’s actually very soft?? kinda like saihara but with a bit more spine

AND THIS IS MY BEST BOI GYU-HYUK

i lowkey ship them bc of their interactions alsjdkasjs jUST LOOK AT THIS

i was expecting there to be a lot of mysteries but given the circumstances i guess it makes sense to not have that many... there’s no murder mystery if it happened in an accident site and looked like an accident you see

a lot of conversation topics focus on the character’s backstory and stuff so you get to learn more about the characters while waiting for rescue (one of the goals of this game is actually to collect characters’ profiles!)

bonding through a shared traumatic experience sounds reasonable

did i mention that the cutscenes are fully voiced (either in korean or japanese depending on your preference)?? i played it in korean for my first gameplay for ~Optimal Experience~ but i switched to japanese in subsequent plays bc i wanted to be able to understand what the characters were saying without reading the text

the only thing that throws me off is that characters are given japanese names in the japanese dub but the in-game text still uses their korean names??? why

my boi gyu-hyuk is voiced by takuya eguchi and hyesung is voiced by shimono hiro (i actually doubted my ears at first bc hyesung sounds angry 24/7 and i only know shimono’s derpy zenitsu and troll ouma voices sweats;;) wOW 👍👍👍

the first ending is the same for everyone even if you picked the best options

they call it a “normal end” but tbh it’s a bad end bc everyone dies and nothing is resolved

after you clear the game for the first time you will get to replay from the start but your options will change so you can proceed towards other routes!! yay

oh yeah in case anyone is wondering this game is rated T and bodies are shown in the form of a silhouette with non-explicit close-ups during investigation so if you can’t handle graphic stuff it’s not too bad

warning: from here on there will be spoilers for the true ending and other endings!! stop scrolling if you have even the slightest intention to play the game

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collected all the endings after 30ish hours of gameplay!! i wanted to strive for 100% completion in achievements but i’m not sure how to get some stuff... might go back and try other options in the future

in the true route you receive help from this random phater user plughole aND I JUST LOVE THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN HIM AND DO-YOON LMAO

idk if anyone tried to guess who the real culprit is but it turned out to be

my boi gyu-hyuk......

he had his reasons (not trying to say he did no wrong) and it’s just unfortunate that things turned out this way

while playing, i thought to myself... if there was one person i would glue do-yoon to throughout the entire game it would be gyu-hyuk... bc i was certain he wouldn’t hurt do-yoon

i was right tho... even in some routes where do-yoon catches him in the act, gyu-hyuk didn’t try to silence him

CRYING

i don’t know much about korean law but he has THREE murder charges on him whicH SOUNDS LIKE DEATH SENTENCE

i’m sad bc there’s no way to save my boi even in his best ending

plughole visits you in the hospital in the true ending!! he is also a troll irl it seems

he was kinda sus in the beginning but i really hoped that he was a Good Guy to keep do-yoon sane in the wreckage

and i’m glad he was

do-yoon looks super baby in his hospital clothes

he was not kidding when he said that his actions were bc of his sister (who is a hardcore fan of do-yoon) lmao

aaa the girls are doing great after their treatment!! they visit do-yoon too!!

yeah i also want to know why do-yoon is the only one still hospitalised with all those bandages when everyone else is fine but i guess maybe he got injured when he protected gyu-hyuk from falling debris at the start of the game

...

if you don’t find out the true culprit of the murders gyu-hyuk goes free and he visits you every day in the hospital aND SAYS STUFF LIKE THIS

ugh it hurts me

...

there’s also a joke ending (when you pick the “i’m the attacker” option lmao) which i appreciate a lot!! something to lighten the tense mood is what i crave for in games like this

somehow i feel like it’s even scarier than the usual atmosphere bc of how ooc everyone acts

BUT YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT’S REALLY SCARY?

there’s a horror route that you can enter by using the “laboratory” conversation topic on everyone and expressing how much it creeps you out

and the entire game shifts in genre to actual horror (like with paranormal activities)

IT WAS REALLY SCARY AND THERE WERE HANDS EVERYWHERE AND EVERYONE WAS ACTING WEIRD ASLJELKASJ i had my eyes closed half the time and i regret playing on my monitor

i didn’t take many screenshots bc as i mentioned my eyes were not looking at the screen for most part but i hope that you can kinda understand where i’m coming from with these two screenshots

...

the game is actually split into two major routes (A and B) which differ in who gets saved and who dies

you can only start on the B route after you get the true ending which is in the A route

unfortunately there is no route where everyone (even if you exclude the producer bc she dies before do-yoon regains consciousness at the start of the game) survives TT

if hyesung and seil survive then gyu-hyuk kills himself and leaves a note but do-yoon tears it up so we don’t know what he wrote

overall a solid mystery vn with beautiful graphics and enough routes to keep you occupied for many hours!! i highly recommend following a walkthrough bc it’s not an easy game if you want to collect all the possible endings and achievements

cuz there are minor changes to the epilogue depending on how close you are with the characters

i actually don’t play a lot of VNs but i feel like all VNs need the route map thingy in AI: the somnium files

my only gripe about this game is prob the derpy translations which usually isn’t a big issue (imo at least) but for a game priced this high?? i expected better

anyway that’s all from me!! thanks for reading til the end hahah i wanted to write a srs review but i just ended up simping for gyu-hyuk

[ambitionsource]

Hi, I am so here for all this ambition content right now. I check this page every day! I remember u guys mentioning about a rl and dasher road trip and I was wondering about that! Thank you!

hello pal!! literally so honored and happy that you’re enjoying ambition and the fact that you check our page every day... ugh you’re too sweet. hopefully the nonsense we do around here is entertaining! very happy to have you in our fandom community <3

so yes, rl + da road trip! i hope it’s okay that i took a bit to answer this, bc i wanted to ruminate on it for a bit before typing it up. so as y’all know we refer to the summer between s1 and 2 as “cruel summer” (thank u tswift), and similarly we have a code name for the summer between s2 and 3 which is “summer of love.” this is admittedly mainly because of rl, but also because a majority of the characters are in such a better headspace this summer than they were last.

boppin the rest under a read more, because i just go on... and on... and on............. (i really love rl & da)

-- Maggie

one facet of this summer is that around... july sometime, dylucasher decide they want to take a trip down to virginia beach (or the beaches in that general vicinity) because they want to check out a beach that isnt grey and cold like the ones close to them in ny, and because a trip before their last year of school together seems like a fun and Classic idea. originally they plan it for just the three of them, but somehow riley comes up and all of them agree -- especially dylan -- that it would be way more fun if she came along too. so they try to convince her to come along, which doesn’t take much convincing, it’s more so about figuring out how she’s going to get around cory because if he knew she wanted to go on a like week long trip with her boyfriend (who he doesn’t really trust) and two other boys he would probably have a heart attack.

you know, it would be like “you can’t go on an overnight trip with three boys!!!” “dad, you know dylan and asher. they’re gay. they’ve been dating for three years. they’re GAY. i do not think i’m at ALL at risk in that scenario???” fsdfSDKGDL

so riley devises a plan / cover story that involves like “going to stay with mom” for a few days, maybe a lie about staying over at isa’s or yindra’s for a couple days in there, you know, she lays out the whole lie and then bribes maya to go along with it and help cover her tracks (rl have very inverse influences on one another -- where riley sort of tames lucas and helps calm him and make him less feral, she develops a bit of a rebellious streak from him or just better identifies the nuances of which rules should be followed vs which were meant to be bent or broken..)

the good thing about this road trip is that it’s what truly cements riley’s friendship with dylan and asher. they’ve been toeing the line of friendship for like two years now (as riley said in cruel summer, she regretted not taking the time and establish a friendship with them in sophomore year before everything fell apart), and it’s kind of like it’s bound to happen. riley and asher takes a little more time to grow and develop just because of the kind of person asher is, but on this road trip dylan and riley just Click. like they were basically made to be best friends, dylan is the first person who kind intrinsically Gets riley and they match each other in terms of enthusiasm / personality / brightness. again, a friendship that’s just been Waiting to happen, and this trip really brings that to the forefront.

(on that note, i once joked that when dylan and riley get really into chatting about something and lucas zones out, they start sounding like the villagers in animal crossing to him. like if he stops paying attention for even a second suddenly dyley sound like this. and i stand by that claim.)

as for the trip itself, its not like i have the whole thing perfectly plotted or anything like that, more just... musings and ideas. oh and a playlist, of course i have a playlist. obviously they’re really good about swapping around drivers and sort of organizing their time since they only have a week, and i think it’s mainly funded by dylan’s youtube vlogger coin. asher helps and riley chips in her fair share, but dylan basically covers lucas because obviously he can’t pay but they all want him there. he makes up for this by driving the most even tho the other three insist its not a big deal.

when it comes to sharing space, the quartet of them are pretty good at it. obviously when they stop for the night they just share beds by couple, but it is interesting to think about how different these two relationships are in terms of like... you know, where they’re at. like its super easy for da to share a bed because they basically do that all the time now, but for rl breaking that boundary would be a kind of unspoken big deal and lucas would be so cautious about it. like they spend most of the summer in riley’s car (can’t hang out at her place with cory there and no one is going to lucas’s) and so theyve probably like fallen asleep together there once or twice and maybe napped ONCE at riley’s place when maya and cory were both gone in the 2.5 months they’ve been together, but it’s still... not the same. so at first lucas would be really nervous about it, but after the first couple of nights he’d relax and realize its really not that big a deal -- esp since riley seems pretty confident and comfortable with it. by the end of the week, lucas wakes up in the middle of the night and riley has cuddled up next to him and he’s like... okay MAYBE sharing a bed with someone makes points. perhaps.

one of the nights on the way down the coast, what truly breaks the ice for dylan and riley is that they break out a SMALL amount of alcohol and both get tipsy (which for them is just like. giddy and giggly and very chatty. they’re both happy drunks without a doubt). lucas and asher don’t indulge bc lucas doesn’t trust himself getting intoxicated and asher is just wary of it in general, but they figure dyley can do it as long as they’re both supervising. so dylan and riley talk A LOT that night and truly form their Kindred Spirit bond and also lucasher end up regretting letting them drink bc for like a half an hour dyley do this thing where they just pretend to share secrets with one another. like they theatrically whisper in one another’s ears and look at lucasher while they’re doing it and then start laughing and they’re literally not saying anything Important (like it’s probably like riley being like “psst... i think lucas is... hee hee... lucas is hot”) and then dylan cracking up and agreeing but bc lucasher don’t know what they’re saying they’re like ha ha very funny........... but y’all aren’t talking about us doe right. wait, what did you say. hold on --

a lot of the trip is also based around being in nature and the outdoors, since they don’t get to do much of that day-to-day in manhattan. considering one of their favorite spots to hang out as a group during senior year is at central park, they’re all definitely fresh air outdoorsy kind of people to a degree. so like, stopping at parks, going on hikes, and of course the beach itself. i made an instagram edit of one of said hikes when i was testing a template i made:

naturally, and i swear this happens at least once on a long road trip whether it is with family or friends or any combo of people, but you hit a point where you get irritable and start to get a little sick of one another. i think in this case that mainly starts between lucas and asher, because although they’re Best Friends i think lucas has a knack for finding ways of irritating him. and also lucas probably gets irritated by dylan’s high energy after too much time with no breaks, so he’s also snappy, and as they’re on the way back up to nyc people are spatting at one another or getting snippy over stupid things so riles is like. here’s an idea! how about we split up for the day when we get to philadelphia. this is an excellent idea and none of them are opposed, so when they arrive in philly, dylan and asher split off to go explore the city + historical sites.

what do riley and lucas do? well, riley takes lucas to meet her grandparents, of course.

at first lucas is like ummmmmmm no because he’s SUPER nervous about meeting her family -- the only family he’s met is cory and we know that’s... unideal, and eric, both of whom have a completely different perception of him bc of school and his behavioral record. he’s yet to meet topanga or auggie yet or anything like that -- but riley assures him that her grandparents are chill and she has no doubt she’ll like them. they’re also meeting lucas with a completely blank slate (i.e. no preconceived notions about him like those who work at aaa), so it’s not hard for lucas to make a good impression since he really is like... a good guy. not to mention no way is he snarky or deadpan in situations where he doesn’t feel comfortable or like he has the right lmao, so he’s on his BEST behavior around amy and alan.

the good thing is that alan himself kind of had a similar background and run on the wild side that lucas does (kind of like jack, altho jack was never as troubled as lucas), and so i think he would kind of... inherently Get him. like he’d strike up a conversation with him and at first lucas would be like omg why is this man speaking to me please i’m invisible pretend i’m not here... but after a bit he’d find it’s surprisingly easy to talk to alan. and they’d talk for like an hour and get on pretty well. meanwhile, amy is talking to riley and is like so... let me guess. cory does not know you’re traveling with your boyfriend???? and riley is like... perhaps. maybe don’t tell him? pretty please? and once amy convenes with alan and is like how is he and alan is all “he’s fine, we can approve,” then they agree not to rat riley out.

riley and lucas also climb up into the matthews tree house and take a look around and they comment on how strange it is that cory and eric once used to like, hang out in there and in that house and were once teenagers (lucas: be careful this is humanizing your father too much for me). and i’d think they’d sit up in the treehouse for a little bit and just talk and riley would talk about how nice it must’ve been to grow up in the suburbs like this, and she’s surprised when lucas agrees and he admits he fucking hates living in manhattan. and that kind of prompts this subtle internal thinking in both of them of like hmm well... maybe in the future when things are different and we can make our own rules maybe we’ll move out of the city and into a quieter life... they don’t say any of that out loud, but they’re both thinking it. and at the tail end of that conversation riley kisses lucas which turns into a Really Good Kiss... but then they’re interrupted by amy calling for them to come down for dinner and its kind of like lmao, they’re both a little bashful but in a casual silly way

[fruit-teeth]

MADD FRIEND MADD FRIEND hope you don't mind if i ask a bunch of questions ^^" 1, 4, 5, 9, 15, 26, 30, 32, 38, 41, 42, 48? hope it's not too many, I'm really curious. I don't know many other MD'ers

Aaa thank you!! I don’t mind at all, I’ll do my best to answer them! I’m just now starting to be more open about my daydreaming, since I’m learning more about it and trying to understand myself better, so knowing other people who experience this is really helpful!!

1. For me the repetitive motion is pacing/running, though I pace most of the time. It’s possible for me to daydream without doing those things, although the daydreams I have when I’m sitting still or lying down are more low key and calm compared to the ones I have while moving around (most of the time, anyway).

4. Honestly, the perspective depends on what type of daydream I’m having or what’s going on. It tends to be third-person perspective, like I’m watching the events take place the same way I would watch a movie, but then other times (and what usually ends up happening) I take on the role of a character within the daydream, but it’s someone who isn’t actually me. Since a lot of my daydreams are TF2 related, the characters I tend to sort of gravitate towards and assume the roles of in daydreams are almost always Sniper, Medic, Scout, Spy, or Miss Pauling (I can take on roles of other characters, but these are the ones I daydream as the most). I guess you could say these are my avatars, but they change depending on what scenario I’m daydreaming about. However, I can interact with my paras as myself and not as someone else, but that usually happens if I’m stressed, anxious or bored.

In my non-TF2 daydreams, my avatar is a fictionalized version of myself called ‘Sapphire’, and Sapphire is basically me just with less anxiety over things. They’re everything I would like to be in real life, like the dress the way I would want to dress and they speak the way I wish I could speak, and usually I’m them in daydreams where I’m internet-famous in some way or where I do something really great.

5. I don’t really have linear daydreams?? They’re more like...episodic adventures that don’t really connect to each other. I mean they can, and they have before, but I get bored or certain plots quickly or they can sometimes get violent in ways I really don’t want them to, so I quickly abandon them to start a new, more comforting one.

9. Honestly...before I knew anything about maladaptive daydreaming, I was really ashamed of it. I mean, it was fun and I enjoyed it, and I always loved that it gave me ideas for stories (I have always loved writing), but my parents thought it was weird and they let me know they thought it was weird pretty much from the very beginning. They also tried to get me to stop doing it more than once, and didn’t understand that it was something out of my control. So for a long time I was super embarrassed by it and I thought there was something wrong with me, but it wasn’t until very recently that I discovered it and found out it was something lots of other people did.

15. Almost all of my paras are adopted from fiction, and they always have been, ever since I was a very small child. I only have a small handful of paras that are versions of real people in my life, and these include my girlfriend, a few friends I’ve had over the years, my old youth leaders from Sunday school, and also a few celebrities (although I don’t daydream about the celebrities much anymore).

26. I do actually! I act out my daydreams when I’m alone, mostly, or in the shower. But sometimes I can’t control it and I do things or make facial expressions that correlate with whatever’s happening in the daydream, and I have been caught doing this on more than one occasion, and it’s always weird to have to justify it to someone who doesn’t get it. I also do speak to my paras out loud, or for them, when things get either really intense or really funny (I have laughed out loud or quoted random vines SO many times because of daydreaming scenarios, but literally everyone in my life is used to it by now), and also I sing sometimes.

30. I don’t need music to daydream, but I like to have it because it adds a lot to the experience. I wear headphones, but I don’t always pay attention to how loud the music can get, and I do worry a lot about accidentally damaging my hearing through doing this but my hearing is fine according to hearing tests I’ve done, so at the moment I’m good.

32. It’s very energizing to me! Especially when I think of a good plot, it actually wakes me up a little. However pacing for a long time makes me very tired, and when that happens I have to pause my daydreams to do something else for a while. But like an hour or so later, I go right back to doing it.

38. I talk with my real-person paras whenever I’m daydreaming a conversation I’d like to have with them, but with my fictional paras, I tend to get into discussions with them when I’m stressed or upset. They give me advice if I need it and they’ll also let me vent, but most of the time they do something to distract me from what’s going on, like holding my hand or telling me a story about themselves.

41. My very first experience with maladaptive daydreaming happened when I was in first grade. My teacher had yelled at me about something I did, and she punished me by making me sit out in the hallway away from everyone else. I remember I was sitting there sobbing and wishing I could go home, when I suddenly just started imagining Team Rocket from Pokémon (I was a HUGE fan of Pokémon, and I loved Team Rocket) coming in and taking me out of school with them to go to the mall and watch movies at the theatre. It was very comforting, and for about a year or so I would daydream stories about hanging out with Team Rocket. They were my first paras, I guess you could say, and I actually really miss them sometimes.

42. I didn’t really know it was different until my parents started asking about it. I think they thought at first that I just had a really active imagination, but when I got older and I kept doing it, they started wondering if something was wrong with me. When I was first diagnosed with autism, my mother asked the psychologist about my pacing and my daydreams, and the psychologist essentially was like ‘it’s harmful and it needs to stop’. I remember being asked, “Are you going to keep pacing when you’re in college? When you’re married? Do you really want to keep doing this? You have to stop sometime,” jokes on that psychologist, because it’s been over a decade since she said that and I am in college now and I STILL do this! In all seriousness fuck that bitch

48. Oh yeah, I’ve had to edit my daydreams more than once. Usually if something gets too weird or fucked up or violent, I’ve had to sort of slam the brakes and backtrack to try again. Sometimes it’s hard to get out of those scenarios, though, and it can get really scary or sad sometimes, and afterwards I feel really exhausted and upset. That doesn’t happen a lot, though, thankfully, but when it does happen it’s really unpleasant.

[vensoul]

So.. I’m kinda gonna do this 40 question for writers thingy because I’m bored and I think it’ll be fun!

Gonna tag.. @erenaeoth ok let’s gooo

Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic: I stay in the mlm realm typically. I like writing slow burns and long stories but sometimes I’ll cook up a one shot

Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to? : I really really wanna write a kinda forbidden love story but I don’t know how many people are down to read about internal and external homophobia :/

Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole? A/B/O never.

How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?: I have so many fic ideas bro. I really really really wanna write a Shane/Rick slow burn but I have too many slow burns already

Share one of your strengths. I like angst?

Share one of your weaknesses. Not very good at making people cry

Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it. Viktor knows the cause of his father’s pain. Supposedly, Balboa, Creed, and Drago were at a party celebrating Balboa’s win again. And it was great for awhile, before some guy tried to pick a fight with Creed. Drago had to break up the fight, and not too long after he had stopped it, Creed was stabbed. So there Ivan was, staring at Apollo desperately trying to stay alive. He could recite every detail. Hand on his bleeding abdomen, the blood running from out of his mouth. Balboa trying to get somebody to help them, yet nobody would help. Apollo’s last words, everything. His friend died in his arms, and it messed with him. In more ways than he could explain, he couldn’t even eat for awhile.

Okay, so I was experimenting with an idea for Rocky and I guess I’m proud of the fact that I can be creative with the way I can bend timelines?

Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it. The two of them locked eyes with each other, Rambo only began to get more nervous than he already was. Neither of them were sure what to say, there wasn’t much to talk about. Neither of them wanted to talk, they barely knew each other. But, assuming that the conversation didn’t have to be about the war, Austrian vet scratched his facial hair, before sitting up straight.

“What’s going through your mind?”

His Austrian accent was probably thicker than the hair on John’s head. John sat in silence for a moment, what was going through his mind? Could he find anything else that wasn’t related to a painful experience? Anything at all?

”Blank.”

John probably spoke for the first time in days, and the change in his voice even surprised him a little. The best way the Austrian vet would describe it, there was not a shred of hope in his voice.

I’m proud because it’s stallonezenegger I love Arnold and Sly they are so 😌💕💕💕

Which fic has been the hardest to write? Warmth.. I’m not straight so writing wlw is kinda hard bc i’m not rlly invested in it?

Which fic has been the easiest to write? Theraputic, Fighting Spirit. Anything with Arnold or Sly or any of my other faves really..

Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby? For me it’s both! I’m passionate about writing but it’s something I do bc it’s a rlly fun hobby for me uwu

Is there an episode above all others that inspires you just a little bit more? Episode? Not really but I guess Rocky has changed me a bit 🤠

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across? My friends suggest that I try to be more descriptive.

What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across? None so far

If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose? Please film Fighting Spirit, sly please Adonis and Viktor are dating

If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be? Sly and Arnold..

Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order? From start to finish, I didn’t know you could write any other way.

Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines? I sometimes use notes to keep track of the plot so I don’t forget it

Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse? No?

Describe your perfect writing conditions. At night alone or in a dark place 💕

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting? No.. not always.

Choose a passage from one of your earlier fics and edit it into your current writing style. (Person sending the ask is free to make suggestions). Do I really wanna do that? In another post.

If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why? A fic I deleted called new home, it was a fic where Kano was a dad with kids and yea it was crazy

Have you ever deleted one of your published fics? Mmhm, I deleted the Kano as a dad fic, then I deleted a Kano/Terminator fic and i don’t even know why I wrote that but it’s funny, then I accidentally deleted a letter John wrote to the T-800. So yeah.

What do you look for in a beta? ...A bottom??

Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind of beta are you? I’m verse but we’re not ready for that conversation.

How do you feel about collaborations? Depends?? But I’m open to it.

Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much. AAA @erenaeoth @badbessie and someone on ao3 but idk if he has tumblr. They’re stories always keep me interested, and they’re everything I wanna be in a writer and I just 😭

If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose? yo.. lemme write a sequel to this Viktor/Adonis fic called trust fall. BRO

Do you accept prompts? I don’t just accept them, I need them.

Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant? I will do some things with canon compliant if it benefits the plot idea I have but all my fics are usually set in AUs. Kinda?

How do you feel about smut? I well.. it’s hard for me to write bc I just.. embarassment. It’s slightly hard for me to read to bc it’s like hhh bro i just wanted y’all to cuddle

How do you feel about crack? It can be funny as fuck the less sense it makes

What are your thoughts on non-con and dub-con? I mean.... i’m very touchy about it. Maybe if it was used correctly and it was for a plot then yea. But if someone is genuinely into it it’s like... ur into a federal crime sir.

Would you ever kill off a canon character? I have... and I’d do it again

Which is your favorite site to post fic? AO3, can’t imagine posting anywhere else really. WELL, tumblr maybe.

Talk about your current wips. Currently working on a Rocky/Apollo oneshot, then after I finish that I’m making Florian/Masias. It’s crazy

Talk about a review that made your day. Ughh anytime somebody compliments my writing 🥺

Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them? I haven’t gotten one yet! Haha only criticism. I’ll listen to what they have to say, then use what they say to try and better my writing

Write an alternative ending to Theraputic.

..... in another post doe 👀

[onepunchmiss]

OPM s2e7 Live blog

“The S Class Heroes”

IM SCREAMING ALREADY I ONLY READ THE EPISODE TITLE ALRIGHT OK SO IT BEGINS TODAY, MY DEATH guys I am so pumped for the S Class focus thats about to begin with this episode like from here on out they become main players in the series and asfdbfhirksvfjkevfsnjkvfnjek how is it legal for ONE SERIES to contain SO MANY FAVES. Anywayyy Before I get started I’m actually wondering- this is the 7th episode of the second season… do we know how many episodes the season is supposed to run for? S1 only had 12 i think. I’m… I’m not even close to ready for it ending. Now that they’ve introduced Orochi, I’m not even sure where a good break in the plot would be?? Random concerns aside, lets get to the episode. As always, I’m watching this as someone who has read the manga and web comic to date

OROCHI IS PINK HE IS HOT PINK THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY BEFORE THE TITLE SEQUENCE HITS ME LIKE A GUT PUNCH EVERY SINGLE TIME AND I STILL PAUSE IT AT ZOMBIEMAN OK off to a great start woo

Oh thank god we’re starting with the tournament I can stop quite literally holding my breath. Alright its Choze time. I’m actually excited for him to do things, his face has been nothing but terrifying thus far and hes one of those characters that are just fun to hate unapologetically. I love over-the-top Nazi stand-ins for that reason tbh

OH FUCK OH GOD I LOVE HIM also GAROU hiya welcome back I know it’s only been 2 weeks but i missed you so much thank you for gracing my screen for 5 seconds OH HECK the dramatic music and beginning of the internal monologue just being blatantly REJECTED caught me off guard I cackled AH WAIT WAIT

EYESIGHT DOGMAN ASDFGHK MY BABY IS COMING IM DEAD IM FUKKIN DEAD ALREADY I MISSED HIS CUTE VOICE hey no wait that was very quick?? I must withhold my bias, we’re at the point now where I have SCRUTINIZED every single panel of the manga over and over because of all of my faves, so even the smallest differences will be glaring to me. As much as I want all the action to be drawn out as it is in the manga, I know that’s never been how the anime has rolled. I must bite my tongue.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THE ONLY TIME WE’LL EVER SEE HIM AND YET!!! oof i had to pause for 2 minutes to chill out and actually type. I. I just. juST. BOI ARE YOU OK WHERE ARE YOU ARE YOU WELL AND WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE G4 tell me your secrets

WAIT COME BACK i dont give 2 SHITS about sweet mast HECKK

speaking of whom get off my screen u creep I have a personal bone to pick with u disrespecting the bae as you will

[SCREAMING]

Oh god this whole scene is so EXCITING and TERRIFYING child emperor’s face as Pig God just eats her, speaking of which -QUIT CUTTING BACK TO THAT TERRIFYING IMAGERY ASDFGHJ  

YES THEY KEPT IT YES YES YES YESYEYSYEYS YOU DONT UNDERSTAND how much Ive been looking FORWARD to that little scene??? im crying how is it possible to work myself up so much of this please help

ok ok back to the tournament give my heart a break phew Hey Choze if you’re genes are so superior then where are your eyebrows????? You dont pull it off HALF as well as Z does. Jeez everything about this guy is so absurd I can’t help but laugh irl the damn DNA helix rolling across the screen dude just stop you’re embarrassing yourself

although you DO know how to strike a pose. change ur name to Poze. Wait no. Your name is now GMO Corn I lied.

AGAIN GETTIN ME WITH THE WEIRD COLORS Hundred Eyes Octopuss is red and blue OK SURE

DEATH GATLING DEATH GATLING ASDFGHJKL guys I cant look at Narcisstoic oh no “no you’ll do no good”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I WASNT EXPECTING THIS THIS EPISODE BUT I SHOULD HAVE I WASNT PREPARED I paused it I’m afraid to push play he’s not on the screen yet i can still turn back and make it out alive -

                    Behold.                                     the moment   I          died        

I actually have this thing with eye gore and seeing it in motion fucked me up I had to skip 10 seconds but anyway FUCK he’s so SPARKLY and PRETTY

Noting also the music there totally gave me flashbacks to the Darkmatter Thieves invasion for a split second and that sequence in general was really well done I like how they emphasized the suckers sticking to the concrete and everything- it have the monster a lot of weight imo. Of course the studio would be fools to not give Tatsumaki the the utmost respect like that sooo

SPARKLY and PRETTY and TEMPTING FATE YOU FOOL yo I was so excited to this scene but I feel like they didn’t make his response angry enough it’s funnier when it so uncharacteristically mad I might do a redraw with the face he makes in the manga………….. FUKKIN was smiley face man just yelling noises to cover flashy’s voice???? FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

OH MY FUCK WE’RE GETTING MONSTER CELLS THIS EPISODE. OH MY HECK WE’RE COVERING MUCH MORE GROUND THAN I THOUGHT WE’RE ONLY HALF WAY THROUGH THE EP

plot progression plot progression plo t p r ogr e ss i on hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Kamikaze being the badass that he is i lov

SPEAKING OF LOVES LOOKY LOOK God i love those three Okamaitachi is a WIFE and IAI is a BAE HEY WAIT let them speak come back they said words i want voices!!!!!!!  this is going so fast??? Oh my god I was absolutely not expecting to get the Suiryu fight this episode holy crap holy crap?? Ok but I’m getting pumped the music is hype “trying to hide his nervousness by looking like a doofus” “this is how I always look” Oh saitama why do they do this to you. Jeez as much as I love everyone else I forget how much I miss him. 

Oh and he’s getting his hopes up again sweetheart no

This is so good I’m hardly pausing to type my thoughts I’m too invested AND NOW ALSO IM DIGGING THIS MUSIC this is good v good yes and there goes Saitama being a genuinely good person offended by this jackass Saitama is too good for this world

His voice… I love him sm. aaaaaaaaaaaaaand its over. hmmmmmmmmmmmm so I have a guess as to what the post credits scene will be but let’s just see

YUP I KNEW IT cause we skipped it last week and now that we’ve introduced the monster cells it was only logical Genos no bby stop getting completely obliterated mannnnnnnnn

In all, no real complaints??? My children?? Have began to appear finally??? I just wish they literally went word for word shot for d\shot with Drive Knight if only because I’m STARVED for DK content in general. But based on the pacing of this week’s episode, will definitely cover a lot of ground and be pretty intense. I should be less, uh, screaming? Next week too. I’m exhausted from spazzing every 10 seconds hah. Well, I just skimmed the manga again and there might be some but yeah I think I can calm down for maybe 2 weeks. maybe. take a wild guess who should show up right around that time. ANYWAY Thanks for reading see yall next weeeeekkkkk

[vgwriter]

Red Dead Redemption 2: A Review

The Good

Red Dead Redemtion 2 came out last October to a grand opening. It is certainly an instant classic and further cemented Rockstars reputation as one of the few AAA developers to make truly AAA worthy games. But, is this game really that flippin' fantastic?

spoilers

#1-The Story

This games biggest strength has got to be its story. Arthur's redemption and how it conflicts with Dutch's Micah fueled descent into madness is what anchors the main storyline. There are many moving parts within these two opposing forces that sometimes overlap and other times occur almost as in a vacuum. What makes it brilliant is that each mission and camp scene reveals something new about the characters involved, unfolds more of who they think they are and who they really are. It is a difficult thing to do for two pages, let alone a 60 hour game but somehow Rockstar pulled it off. The side content (or stranger missions) also all fit in to the story and expand characters for the player. Whether helping Mary or robbing with Micah, the player always learns more about Arthur and the people involved and to me, it's fascinating. Within the story there are important themes that are masterfully explored. To name a few: Obviously, the idea of redemption plays a huge role in the games plot but I think it has an equal partner in the question of can someone really change? or do they just become more of who they were? The comparison of the two ideas is played out beautifully with Dutch and Arthur. There is also the clashing of ideologies, with Dutch and his gang being anarchist facing a rapid expasion of civilisation. And of course, the dying out of the old west outlaw comes in with the theme of change which graces every character and mission in this game.

#1.5-The Characters

In the end, this game hinges on it's characters. Every member of the gang is their own person with their own reasons for riding with Dutch and their own desires driving them in life and this makes for an exceptional game. Now, every character is great but there a few who stand out to me that really make the game shine. Arthur is a complex fellow whose moral compass is a bit of roulette wheel due to game design but no matter how you play the story it is clear that he thinks of the gang as his family and Dutch as his father. Speaking of Dutch, he is also an exceedingly complex character whose goals and ambitions come to define him and shape him into the man we see in Red Dead Redemption. Charles is a good man whose situation is defined by his heritage and skin color rather than his own actions; he is by far the most likable member of the gang. We see John Marston go from a childish manboy who never takes responsibilty to the family man trying to bury his past. Sadie Adler (oh boy), while I don't like when seemingly pedestrian characters go from hunting housewife to gang killing badass, I gotta admit, Sadie did grow on me. Her transformation is sadly unseen for the most part but I think that is because Rockstar cut out a few missions with her involved. Last, but cerainly not least, Rains Fall and Eagle Flies. Rockstar does an amazing job with writing these two opposing father and son characters and their tragic story. They portray the Native American not as savages or perfect helpless victims, but as real people in a lose-lose situation with their own faults and personalities outside of their struggles. Each character is fully realized and interesting in their own way and they carry this game through its shortcomings.

#2-Voice Acting

Roger Clark is an excellent lead throughout the entire game with absolutely zero dips in quality. Aside from Clark, Benjamin Byron Davis makes a return as Dutch as well as Rob Wietoff for John Marston. Davis does an amazing job with his expanded role and Wietoff is great at making John into the John we see in RDR1. Peter Blomquist made me hate Micah Bell more than I ever hated a fictional person before and that is an accomplishment. I could go on down the cast lineup but it is safe to assume that each voice is directed and performed incredibly.

#3-and, uh, the GRAPHICS

While I am not a believer in the idea that great graphics makes for a great game, the realism is important in this title. Motion capture was used extensively (like, even on the horses) and it gives that whole game a grounded feeling. Like, yeah, people move like this in real life. It beautifully accents the voice acting and really gives the player the full impact of the story as though they were watching a movie.

The Bad

#1-The Rootin' Tootin' Shootin'

Rockstar has been using RAGE (Rockstar Advanced Gaming Engine) for over a decade now and it is starting to show its age. While playing the game, getting into cover felt like guess work sometimes. I would hit right bumper and instead of going for the rock right in front of Mr. Morgan, he would get behind a tree 3 yards away with his back to the people shooting at him. This clumsiness is horrible because the actual shooting is pretty fun. What was introduced as a Table Tennis simulator (seriously) has made some seriously impressive games but the combat has become stale and clunky. Hopefully, they will focus on fine tuning the combat because the engine is great at making vivid worlds with powerful draw distances, which is perfect for what Rockstar does.

#2-Oh, That's Your Fast Travel?

Rockstar made a huge map. It is massive even without the epilogue and the only free transportation the player has is a horse? "Well, Rockstar developers, will there be a fast travel system in place? Oh, only in camp and inaccessible from literally anywhere else?" Seriously, why did they make a huge map with such slow transportation and only one way to fast travel? I cannot count the number of times I misclicked and sent myself to the other side of the map and had to take a longer trip. Also, there was no way to fast travel back to camp, free or payed. It was a real hassle and felt like game padding to me.

#3-The Length

This is a 60 hour game. That is more than two days of content and while most of it is a gripping story, there are some definite dips in gameplay. The fast travel system, or lack thereof, is the biggest contributor to this unwanted down time in the game. The player has to ride out for 5 minutes to one mission where they ride halfway back to camp. It's even worse when the mission is nowhere near a fast travel point should the player even be in camp at the time. Also, the lack of mission variety begins to show after chapter 5, with each mission being a shooting gallary while trying to protect certain people. Not every late-game mission is this way but enough to where it is a bit monotonous.

The Ugly...Verdict

Well, it's far from ugly. Overall, I give the game a solid 4/5 with it being one of the best games I've played since The Witcher 3. High and well deserved praise.

[kingkadence]

Aaa I had someone ask me the same question and I realized after reading people's posts that being 'anti' about a ship is different than just not liking a ship, 'anti' means you think its morally reprehensible or something and 'antis' are known for judging and attacking people over ships. I was using the anti label up until about a month ago but dropped it as soon as I figured that out. I guess the term for just not liking a ship is notp?

Here! Is basic guide to not liking a ship (all my opinions based on what I’ve read, y’all r free to think what you’d like)

Lvl 1 - “disliking a ship”

You see content for a ship, might make you uncomfortable or put you in a bad mood. Maybe you don’t have a particular reason, you may just not be fond of it. Or hey! Maybe you just never thought of the characters seeing each other that way. Most of the time you see it, it’s new, it’s foreign, and you just never imagined them together. With this, it’s common that after a while of exposure you might even like it after a while! Or even just have a neutral opinion. Ur dislike isn’t too serious, you don’t talk about it unless someone brings it up, you’ll scroll, you mind ya own.

Lvl 2 - notp

You see it and it makes you… hhhh internally. If someone posts this you might scroll or even go as far as muting posts or unfollowing. The ship described in one word for u is just “No.” for whatever reason it may be. It might be because you don’t like the character the other is paired with, you might think that the fan base behind the ship is gross, you might just hate both character but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ who knows. Your resentment goes deep, and if you see someone post this kind of stuff, you will surely avoid it. You’ll go on a rant on how much you hate it if someone brings it up, not one that’s offensive, you’re just passionate with the hate you have for this ship. You might make bash edits or amvs of them. If a mutual posts this ship, you may grumble, you might say “I don’t ship this but the content is nice” ((heads up pls don’t do that it’s annoying and destructive to content creators))

Lvl 3 - ship hate

Definitely hitting a radical status but not there yet. It’s toxic, let’s just put it that way. You may not like the ship because it gets in the way of your otp, to you it may seemed forced in canon writing, you may even go as far as to say the ship is abusive, who knows it might be, but harassing other ppl over it,, isn’t abusive behaviour??? Lol ok. Anyway, you may have an account dedicated to how much you don’t like it, you will bring it up to people constantly to the point where others might say hey,,,, chill dude. You are VERY active in the discourse tag, you are sure to write your own opinions, very passionate, but very pushy. You may even comment on ships saying “ew gross, x ship for life!!” and you probably got into a fight in the comments at least once. You see an account post it, you block them. A mutual? You are VERY tempted to unfollow, if you haven’t already.

Lvl 4 - anti

This,,,, just oof,, you think the ship is LEGALLY an issue, very morally wrong or you just fucking hate the hell out of it bc it gets in the way of your ship and you’re grasping at straws to say why it’s toxic. (I actually was internally an anti for a while when I was like idk 14, suffered bhad from these symptoms, fun fact) you will go out of your way to voice your opinion, you will purposely message people telling them they’re disgusting calling them names, not even really justifying why it’s bad?? Telling ppl they’re fucked up……… doesn’t let ppl know why they’re fucked up but I mean go off. Anyway, you DEFINITELY have thought about running a hate account, you post other people’s art and content without crediting them, and proceed to hate on the content. Whenever the fandom is brought up you cannot CONTAIN your hatred for whatever discourse is going on. Let’s face it whatever resentment u got, it’s MUCH more chaotic than the love you have for your ship. Just down right negative all around. Explosive, unstable, if you don’t harass the people in the fandom, making them unsafe. (ie: sending gore pictures, death threats, making them and their followers WILDLY uncomfortable) you send it to the creators! You threaten the lives of people who make the show, you are disruptive, and literally have no personal boundaries, and you don’t give a shit about the writing, the plot, the developing of characters. You want your ship, or rather, you DON’T want other ships. To the point where human lives clearly don’t,,, matter to you????????? But cartoon ones do are you GOOD

(Imma do this one bc sometimes it’s okay to not like a ship!)

BONUS LVL - activist shipper

You don’t like this ship because it’s ACTUALLY hurtful and not because a ship is getting in the way (*ncest, p*dophillia, genuine abuse between these characters in canon etc) commonly antis will think they’re apart of this group, or this group will think they’re antis. Nnnno!pe! It is TOTALLY ok to dislike/hate these ships and think it’s insensitive to post things like this that may actually hurt people. I’m not gonna SAY which ships but if you’re shipping a 25 year old with a 10 year old,,,,,,,, u rlly gotta think,, about ur moral compass. ESPECIALLY if you’re sexualizing kids in your content. These people are commonly in discourse, but they voice why it’s bad, they voice their opinions RESPECTFULLY. Because AS SOON as you tell someone to die ur rlly pushing it. These people are here to educate, they’re not here to hurt. They want people to learn and grow and know what’s harmful and what’s not. They might get into an argument, nothing might change, but they’re happy knowing that they’re fighting for people who have been hurt bc of these topics and they’re not comfortable being silent about it.

-

Let me tell you, it’s ay okay to dislike and hate a ship. But don’t let it consume you, just like how you shouldn’t let ur otp consume you?? And if you see GENUINE bad happening in a fandom don’t be afraid to speak up, but be MINDFUL, RESPECTFUL, AND EMPATHETIC!! I am not on board with some of the ships ppl post but telling someone to die isn’t gonna help them learn what they’re doing is wrong. And if you don’t think you can PROPERLY TELL SOMEONE hey this content is hurtful, maybe,,,,,,, get someone else to do it,,,,,,, bc ur literally being just as harmful.

((Also while I’m on my soap box stop shipping abusive wlw/mlm JUST because they’re gay,,, that’s xtremely fetishy,, and as a gay guy I don’t approve :/))

Anyway, take this or leave this, just what I think

[tumblunni]

Aaa im so full of poke hype and lovv! <3

I feel like maybe doodling my kid self, for some reason?? Like embrace the nostalg and also show some love to that awkward lil kid who didnt really know who they were yet. Its interesting how much i've changed over the years!

Hell i might even draw personas of myself dressed as all the protags from all the different generations? But they'd be mostly the same for like the first 20 years, just me getting real tall and fat lol. I had almost floor length hair for SO LONG it felt really freeing to chop it all off and i never went back! I think i kept it cos it was loke.. Camoflage? The only 'girly' thing i had so i could pretend to myself that i was straight and cis. Plus a literal shield cos i could be 90% hair and just one eye poking out XD So yeah it'd be funny looking at me over time, its just this girly-looking kid getting increasingly more macho outfits and increasingly more girly hair and increasingly more socially anxious, until within the space of 18-25 i suddenly have this giant self discovery freedom explosion and change completely! Its funny how if anything i look less masculine now? Like im way more comfortable with the fact that i'm someone in between genders, and its not a binary of having to be something i'm not just to escape some other thing i'm not. Its also kinda funny how these gender roles felt so restrictive when i was crammed into one of them, yet dressing with both at once seems just as freeing as having neither. Tho still no matter how i dress i always get misgendered one way or another since non-binary acceptance is still far from the norm. But still im so much more me than i've ever been before, and its great to look back so i can realize how far i've come!

So lol maybe i'll just draw old kid me playing "her" first pokemon game, and leave out the next decade and a half of the same thing but taller. And i could just draw current me in a few different attempts at a pokemon outfit? Like when i did my sprite edits i just did me in my usual outfit i wear IRL, now im thinking maybe i shoulda designed a wish fullfillment ideal gym leader costume or something? Tho im too lazy to start the sprite edit project all over again with this new design lol. Oh and maybe also draw my pokemon go outfit? I dont wear it all the time but i had a fun lil look i wore the other day that i ended up laughing at cos i accidentalky wore all blue even tho i picked Team Valor! Now i wanna wear it all the time lol. Oo and maybe cosplay as my fave characters? If i cant afford to do it IRL i can at least draw it!

So yeh in summary somehow i feel really confident in my identity today and i wanna draw pics of me. Mild ego time!!! Or rather just wishing i could fly back in time and motivate my kid self by showing them that they woukd actually have the freedom to be themself some day. I dont even really think of it as "I used to be a girl" but just that i was always feeling this way and didnt know the words for it, or that other people felt the same way and it wasnt an 'abomination against god'. And for some reason playing a gane with selectable genders really helped me let out some of my feelings during that confused childhood of absolute repression. "I just pick a random gender each time cos it doesnt really matter right? Doesnt everyone just pick the one with the outfit they'd rather wear?" I absolutely knew that was a lame excuse and none of these other kids actually felt that way, but at least it kept people from suspecting i had queer reasons for my queer actions. In a time where i didnt even know what queer meant except that it was Somehow Bad. Gah, this is why sex education needs to be inclusive! Even when i was old enough to learn about straight sex i apparantly wasnt old enough to learn about gay and trans people! Let alone asexuality lol... Man it was a whole nother mess to be dealing with an anomolous lack of sexual attraction at the same time as i was repressing something everyone told me was 'inherantly too dirty for teenagers to know about'. For so long i was just told that crossdressing was 'a sick fetish men have for wearing women's underwear' not just.. A woman is a woman and is telling you she's a woman and you wont listen to her. And for some reason they always obsessed with MTF trans folk in these sensationalist hate sermons, i guess because 'a man who gets off on dressing like a woman' just sounds like the more disgusting version when youre a sexist homophobic transphobic piece of shit throwing your bigotry at children. And at the same time also aphobic and telling me i need surgery on my genitals if i dont want sex. Mannnn kids those days.. i really hope kids these days have it better! I hope everyone who dealt with that shit managed to find love and support eventually, even if its still a damn crime they had it denied to them during their most important childhood years. The whole concept of 'an innocent carefree childhood' is so unknown to me, its ironic people claim they want to keep "lgbt politics" away from children in order to preserve that innocent childhood...

Aaaaanyway im rambling lol! In summary pokemon was one of my only coping methods during that childhood and the only small way i could pretend someone accepted me. Even if it was just by whispering no when the professor said 'are you a boy or a girl' and being happy at the little genderless mons like magnemite or the legendaries. I dont think i would have ever realized it was actually POSSIBLE and had words for the complex dysphoria i was feeling, if i hadnt played this dumb lil series of games.

Anyway thats probably also why i never had any attatchment to gen 1 despite being born right as the first wave of pokemania was coming out. The memories i have of those times are complex. Im just excited to revisit kanto as a new and happy person and maybe make new memories! I already barely remembered actual Yellow compared to FRLG, it was kind of a trip to play it on virtual console and remember all the tiny bits of sexist writing that games used to have during that era. It was like 'whoa i never noticed this was wrong as a kid, this finally explains why it made me uncomfortable!' Also the gameplay was glitchy and the plot nonexistant and the translation rudimentary and limited. And the mons weren't very good and i prefer pretty much every other generation and especially Garbodor and Vanillite, dammit!

Ok im going offtopic again

So yeah like i said im happy that Let's Go has managed to make me hype even thougj i didnt enjoy kanto the first time around! And its good how much it represents my journey out of that shitty childhood so now i can revisit it and pretend this is my first time and None Of That Happened, Thanks

So anyway bunni draws past self. And gets emotional. And rambles for hours in a dumb post.

Ok bye

[aurimeanswind]

Cold Breeze—Sunday Chats (11-19-17)

Another week, another Sunday

It’s been a long week for me. Not in actuality, because I’ve slept an average of 10 hours a day every day this week, which is both a good and a bad thing. It’s good because I’ve been sleeping crazy well. It’s bad because it reminds me of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, of my sometimes inability to drag myself out of bed to do anything. It’s also a common habit I fall into when I know I’m depressed, and while I push back as much as I can against that overwhelming feeling, it’s still there. Ever-present. And it sucks.

It helps to know that the ExtraLife team, now disbanded, is definitely full of the melancholy. We all miss each other. Some more than others, assuredly, but there is just so much love an affection there. I think taking that step back in the aftermath of ExtraLife, the distance, the pride fills me more because of the tight bonds that were just driven home over that week. 

It’s full on Persona-style bonds. Maxed social link meters and unbreakable relationships that serve as tentpole and standing memories and gifts that we all cherish, equally. It’s a comforting feeling, in the sad/loneliness. 

But I digress.

It’s been very good for games! And I’ve sunk my teeth into some big ones this week.

What’s On Tap

Assassin’s Creed Origins

This is the really big one. I’ve spent about 25-ish hours with this title this week.

I love this game, which is super surprising. I wrote a big long thing about all the wild changes they made on this blog, so I’ll refrain from repeating myself here.

One thing I really love in this game is Bayek, the main character. The relationship with him and his wife Aya is just so good. They just fucking love each other so much and its disgusting but sweet and kind of nice. it’s this central bond that the plot swirls around and it’s really strong, unlike other AC games.

I also think the side quest quality in this game is remarkable. It reminds me a ton of The Witcher 3. While I don’t think the voice acting is quite up to that same par, it’s astoundingly excellent. 

I dont’ have many complaints about this game. I really just adore it. And I’m thankful to my friends Barrett and Youssef for recommending it.

Destiny 2

I’ve only been playing a bit here and there, with another playdate with Tony and Greg tonight. It’s been fun playing the game again though, and I’ve excited for the new content coming early next month.

Overwatch

I just wrapped up playing some Overwatch just now, trying out Moira.

Moira is excellent. She is exactly what the healing team in Overwatch needed, a new on-the-ground healer. I feel like Ana is just not an effective healer at all, at least on console where aim and precision is not as strong.

What I love about Moira is that healing is a resource for her, she needs to tap into it, and if you run out, you can’t heal anymore. It means you need to use her primary energy drain weapon, get out there, and be aggressive in order to be able to support your team.

It’s a lot like Doomfist’s shield, which he generates for using his abilities on enemies, and it requires him to use his skillset to then be a better and greater asset to his team.

Moira also heals herself with her attack, so she benefits herself and her own play style by being aggressive.

I really like her. She may take top spot as my primary healer, but I am also incredibly fond of Mercy’s new ultimate, so it’s a toss up. Much like all the many characters I play in Overwatch, it’ll depend on the situation.

Questions

Remember to look for my tweet on Sunday afternoons with the hashtag #SundayChats in it. Reply with your question, and you’re in here.

Let’s do this.

On a personal leve, because I don’t think 2018 will hit the same highs for me, I want there to be more surprises. Again, this is for me, because I think there were huge hit surprises this year for folks like PUBG, but I just didn’t have quite so many hits.

On that note, I hope those surprises come from smaller, indie games. Like I think that was a collection of titles that got lost for me this year because of the stellar AAA games that took the spotlight, but those weird and nuanced and special indie games are some of the best experiences I live for, and I hope with more room in 2018 I’ll be able to get lost in them.

Personally I just use the Twitter app on my phone, and I’m happy with it. Most folks I know swear by Tweetbot, but I’ve never really gotten to use it myself.

As for Desktop, it’s all about Tweetdeck. You can tweet from multiple accounts, and have just multiple timelines open it it. On mine I have a news story feed for games, my timeline, my mentions, my notifications, and then the IP notifications too. It’s the way to go, in my experience.

It was the greatest thing I’ve ever been a part of for about a dozen different reasons.

I’m excited to be able to relive it in the archived videos.

I’d love to visit Hyrule castle town either from Breath of the Wild or Twilight Princess. This is all pre-apocolypse, of course, but especially in BotW it seems like such an incredible and bustling place. I’d love to see the different peoples and cultures of that world melted together in that supreme beauty.

Another one is Hengsha from Deus Ex, because it’s the two-layer city, kind of like Midgar from FF7. I’d just love to see that in person. That’d be more of an architectural look, just to see that crazy design in person and up close.

Another would be Inaba from Persona 4. Just because that place is like a second home for me. I’d love to finally see it in person.

Hrm, that’s tough. I have a lot that I just need to boot up and get through at this point, so it’s likely the ones that I just know I’m not going to get. A big one is Night in the Woods. I’m determined to make Edith Finch happen, but Night in the Woods seems like a really special game that I’m just not going to get to.

That list of indie games is depressingly long for me too. Pyre? Probably won't get to it and I want to play that so bad. Steamworld Dig 2? I may not get to that this year. I’ll definitely play it but probably just not this year, and that’s such a massive bummer for me since I loved the first one so much. The Housemarque games this year too, since I loved all the times I played them in preview settings.

I do still have some time, and I plan on getting through a few good things between now and the end of December. We’ll see what doesn’t make it.

For me its a handful of titles that maybe Nabeshin has thrown out to me. I’d like to try Red Dead Redemption at some point. And 999. Those two are huge standouts, but outside of that, it’s hard for me to think of some franchise that I haven’t dipped my toes into at least a little bit with the given time. 

I should probably play Tokyo Mirage Sessions someday but we’ll see. Still have it sealed in the plastic wrap.

Man, this is so hard. Ideal is tough too, because maybe that implies I’ve been there?

The place I’ve always wanted to go my whole life is Ireland. Its the motherland right? It calls me back. That, and Japan. I’ve wanted to take the journey to the land of the rising sun since I was old enough to barely mutter JRPG. Those are the two places.

Let’s go.

So, for context, I saw Justice League last night and... I really loved it? Like, I loved everything about it?? I feel crazy, like I’m Greg Miller defending Batman V. Superman??

But I think if I saw it again or I took the step back, I could totally see why people dislike it so vehemently. I was honestly shocked because it... well, it felt like Justice League to me. It felt like it was out of an entirely different DC Cinematic Universe. And maybe my expectations were so low? I don’t know.

But anywhere, there are going to be spoilers in my response here, because Liza deserves the best response I can muster for this, since we’re JL believers.

YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

Boy when Superman shows up and is just straight up like, good, smiling, wise cracking Superman (again, a totally different character than he has been up until then, but I didn’t care because fuck I miss good Superman) I was just grinning ear to ear. They managed to tap into Henry Cavill’s charisma and make him shine as someone I could actually believe is Superman. And just seeing him work with a team and work with other heroes, like, that’s Man of Steel I know and fucking love, and they just nailed it in this movie. It made me so happy. You have no Idea. It’s like I’ve waited my whole life for that.

So yeah, he was my favorite, but I liked everyone! Any second Wonder Woman was on screen was perfect. They made Batman feel so much more like Batman here it was ridiculous. I liked Cyborg a lot, and I feel like they gave him a great arc from self hatred in the beginning to “wanting to live” in the end. Aquaman and Flash were just a ton of fun. 

For me it’s just under Wonder Woman since I thought they just nailed Wonder Woman so well, but I really really loved it, as I’m sure you could tell. I was just a happy kid grinning that my heroes were finally on screen together, and it was rad.

Haha oh my god okay I don’t think I can pick ten different fingers, but I was thinking about this when I grabbed the question. Probably like, someone who’s fingers have powers, like Emperor Palatine or something? I guess Cole McGraff would be the real world video game equivalent, but someone who would let me shoot lightening out of my fingertips. If I could just choose one then one of theres and then the others from all the characters in Until Dawn.

Because why not

#AgentOfChaos

Eh.

It’s fine.

Honestly, the lesson you shared with me Tyler has been a really great one. For folks curious, it’s about Mountain Tops. It’s a great analogy to the higher moments we find ourselves in in life.

https://twitter.com/acegiak/status/924762544383782912

That and one I’ve taken to heart over the last two or so years, which is just to listen, and to care, and to pay attention. You don’t need to interject your opinion in every controversial topic, and far too many people do. But that doesn’t exempt you from paying attention.

We don’t have anything concrete in the works, but we have a lot of ideas. I think PAX East is something to expect us at, and I think more written work in the future is something to anticipate soon too. Not more from who is there, but more and new voices. Exciting voices too, if we can muster it.

I’d totally be down to play Overwatch for 24 hours. I just love the loop of that game. I’d probably hate myself and it at around the 18 hour mark, but I think I could still muster it.

Least willing to do would probably be something best experienced in short bursts, like a Spelunky, or a Flint Hook, or a Cuphead, Some games require breaks and I think those fit into that fine. Doesn’t make them worse or bad by any means, but when you can walk away and come back better rested, those are good picks.

The Checklist

I have been essentially off reading stuff, but it’s worth shouting out a thing my best friend Jazz wrote today, about ExtraLife 2017.

http://brazenbebop.blogspot.com/2017/11/extra-life-2017.html

She is getting into the writing of the content, and I’m excited to support her and see what she comes up with.

I am tired again, but excited to finish some things I’m working on.

Thanks for sticking with me, and for the unending support.

And for taking care of me.

Much love.

Keep it real.

[pinksweatergettingbetter]

“at least the jury is still out on that one, so to speak”

so to speak is right, phoenix :T

-

“I WANTED TO KILL YOU. WAAHHHH”

ok rayfa. easy there.

-

aw. the dad is so strong that he cant even bear to see the murder brat sad. 

hdgdhfgh im gonna die he’s trying to cheer her up by acting like the bad guy

at the risk of sounding tumblry, phoenix wright is a cinnamon roll, to pure or whatever 

-

...is this kooraheen’s ‘happy people’?

.....i don't like it

-

ahlbi doesn’t get to be an assistant but he does get to carry all my unwanted crap!

-

“first the high priest, and then his disciple! maya fey will pay for this!”

ah yes, she’ll pay for killing off people we recently proved to be dangerous insurgents. 

-

WHOA OK GRAPHIC 

-

well ok there’s no possible way Maya could have killed him that night.

“they think she came down the stairs and stabbed him” yes in front of 200 praying people. no, they weren't looking up but probably the sound of a knife being driven into flesh and also footsteps may have alerted them???

-

rayfa wants to know how a time of death is determined, not for real... but because she wants to know what the idiot groundlings believe ?

either she’s an idiot and she doesn’t realize its completely legitimate, or the writers are still trying to make fun of religion via the “science and religion don't mix” joke which quite frankly is getting REALLY TIRESOME

-

ok... well I'm not scientific expert but doesn’t the body eventually reach a steady temperature? how could you determine how long the body took to cool down if it was cooled down for a long enough period of time? also, it was really cold on that mountain. 

something tells me this will be useful later.

-

again capcom, pointing out how unlikely your plot is doesnt make it better. it makes it worse.

-

“I will curse you and your disciples for eight generations!”

I'm pretty sure apollo and the series has already been cursed, mrs. inmee.

-

every time she kisses his picture i cry 

-

Zehlot arrived at the same time as Maya, but Mrs. Inmee is more inclined to believe that Maya is a murderer? I mean yes she supposedly killed off the other two, but jeez. Talk about favouritism. 

-

they let us check out the trash again... simply for a joke about phoenix digging through trash. I'm not sure how to feel about this.

-

katchu-dehmal, eh? Pokémon gonna sue 

-

hey um mrs. inmee

you've got a little something on your wrist...............

-

“Puhray always prayed a lot”

the terrible naming convention just makes that sound incredibly stupid

-

“She may say these terrible things, but it was just the way she was raised, I guess”

um... a lesson in tolerance i guess

-

“I didn’t know him very well”

you didnt know the guy you stayed with for two years?? man i guess Puhray really did pray the most.

-

i love that theyre mentioning ramen and burgers

and also that phoenix is offering to buy for maya

its the little things that make this game liveable 

-

everybody loves steel samurai!!!

-

“Whooops... its coming undone... WHOA!”

yes, it is indeed a very sexy picture. nice legs.

-

“tentacled hag frog”

what is this, last airbender??

-

“a spirit’s memory is cut off at the moment of death”

well of course. that’s how Mia was able to come to court knowing what was going on and being able to set phoenix on the right direction!

genius retcon there, guys. I guess that’s why Mia doesn’t make a comeback in this game :/

-

“helped neighbouring countries seek counsel”

actually thats an interesting callback to the original games where they state that before DL-6, Misty and Kurain village were famous for helping out people in high places. this i do not mind so much.

... though i doubt this would prevent you being invaded, Kooraheen. Also considering she mentions ‘keeping their unique culture’ as an aside to that fact, and the fact that a lot of this fictional country is based off of Tibet... Ouch.

-

“ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS!!!”

hey, there’s that ol’ Khumerican spirit!

-

“so the queen can perform the dance of devotion? that’d be a sight to see”

Phoenix stop imaging the queen in a mini skirt.

-

“theres no reason to panic, the police are on his trail”

the police that let him run on foot out of a crowded courtroom. 

id say you can panic now.

-

in exchange for his visual youthfulness, phoenix has physically aged considerably.

meanwhile, Gregory Edgeworth was rocking major wrinkles at 35 and he was fit as a fiddle.

Oh Capcom, when will your beauty-based cruelty end??

-

are we legit going to search for Datz

-

ok now i rly wanna hear what a Warb’aad sounds like.

-

further proof that phoenix is a huge carnivore. i am pleased.

-

boy kooraheen isn't very accessible is it. stairs everywhere

-

i love that no matter where he is, phoenix is always buying food for children.

-

alright enough fun stuff. into the absurdly spacious sewer we go!

-

I'm legitimately laughing my ass off why is it so funny that Ahlbi didn’t know his dog could track scents????

-

AAA WE’RE IN

WE’RE IN A FUCKIN SEWER

IM YELLIN

-

...oh my god no... i stg... dont you dare 

OH GOD 

OHHH GOD 

fuck....

i dont know who’s stupider: the rebels or the police

-

he... can eat... an entire apple... that is half the size of his face... in one bite.

this, truly, is a man to be feared

ranger hobo, your new nickname is Potential Vore Machine

-

>phoenix likes apples

further proof he is a good boy

-

wow thats even worse

i thought they’d just put their base in the sewers, but no; their base is an OLD LAW OFFICE AKA THE FIRST PLACE YOU’D LOOK FOR LAWYER REBELS

again, not sure who’s stupider: the rebels, or the police?

-

“public enemy #1 is a lawyer? didnt see that coming”

clearly you expect more from this game, phoenix

-

“Im gonna sell out my best friend!”

>doubt

-

OH OK NEVER LOOK SURPRISED AGAIN CLOSE YOUR VORE MOUTH JESUS CHRIST

-

if he wasnt a rebel anymore he'd have kicked your ass since youre a lawyer, phoenix. its not that hard to put together that he’s lying. ...for some reason. 

-

LAME. YOU cant show him your badge??? bullshit.

-

fucking christ even when he whistles his mouth is larger than it should be. 

-

he really is rebel!larry isn’t he

-

so Dhurke has a power glare, huh? 

GLARE OFF WITH EDGEWORTH, GLARE OFF WITH EDGEWORTH, GLARE OFF WITH EDGEWORTH

-

“is this a law book? the dragon’s mark has been branded onto the cover...”

pfffttt edgy 

-

hmm. must be a new law-book if the defence culpability act is in it, since if i remember correctly that law was only recently introduced.

-

i love that Dhurke’s shit is just everywhere in this stupid house

-

...no way is he actually doing to

i...

like

i can’t even say punk’d. Phoenix, why would you try on a jacket that once belonged to a rebel leader while inside a rebel base that you’re not even sure is friendly to you? 

like i 

sense of preservation just goes out the window at the idea of looking cool?? actually to be fair that kind of makes sense for Phoenix so 

phoenix you should take it home and get it dry-cleaned.

-

“hmm this is an old photo...” says phoenix looking at a photo that’s as bright and shiny as the day it was taken. also he correctly guesses that it was taken 20 years ago based on... what evidence??

actually if he actually acknowledged that thats OBVIOUSLY APOLLO THERE then he’d have an actual metric to go by but NOPE! just bullshit magic deductions!

-

yeah or Nahyuta’s pulling a long game and you assholes are too impatient 

i cant believe I'm defending sadmad :/

-

WAIT A SECOND. ARE YOU TELLING ME....... THAT KID WHO LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE APOLLO....... IS APOLLO?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?

-

somehow Datz carried Phoenix through a tiny trapdoor and into this room huh

-

yay psyche locks!

-

YES!!!! YEEEEES!!! I GOT TO PRESENT MY BADGE

Soj... you may not be... completely horrible.

-

yeah phoenix, he was going to stab you if he thought you were on the side of the Queen

feel even stupider about that jacket now?

-

“Keera was working with the government the whole time?!”

well i mean what other motivation would they have? even if they were doing it for religious reasons that still lines up with the government’s intentions. 

this whole thing has a blacklisting smell on it too.

-

“a lawyer killed the queen, so the public turned against lawyers”

if that was how things worked, America would loath actors. 

-

“why does he have to jump like that before running off”

cause he’s a cartoon character 

-

“Well I guess we’re friends now”

oh phoenix 

my lonely baby

-

also where the fuck is Shah’do? That dog is a better policeman than every official in Kooraheen.

and i love that nobody notices people entering and exiting a sewer in broad daylight.  

-

well that was exactly where i thought it was

-

WOW GOOD GOING PHOENIX YOU DUMBFUCK

“HURRRHH I THINK ILL GO FIDN TH  SOOPER SECRET REBEL BASE WITH THE FUCKING PRINCESS IN-TOW. GENIUS!!!!”

OH YES, AND THEN TELL HER EXACTLY WHAT IT IS. AND THEN LET HER COME INSIDE WITH YOU WITHOUT THE INTENT TO SHUT HER UP

BRILLIANT!!

PHOENIX WRIGHT, TRULY THE REBEL’S GREATEST ALLY.

-

ohhhhHHHHHhhhh

well well well well well well

this is interesting

-

“I think I’ll take a picture of this super secret rebel base”

hhhnnngghhhh

-

search every nook and cranny eh

-

“if the rebellion ever happens, i hope its bloodless”

while that’s sweet of you phoenix, you can count on it now, sincE YOU’VE REVEALED THE SOURCE OF THEIR WEAPONRY TO THE ENEMY

-

“What’s this? A bloodstain?”

Hope it is not Chris’ bloodstain...

-

CURSED NOISE

CURSED NOISE

TURN IT OFF!!!

-

this is where capcom hides characters they don’t like

Klavier is somehwere in this room....... festering

-

well we’ve come to the end of another investigation 

tbh I'm starting to get into the storyline, though it still doesn’t feel like an Ace Attorney game

it’s more like... it’s like someone took their Ace Attorney AU and made an entire game about it. It’s got some cool points to it, but all in all, it just doesn’t... fit, I guess?

Oh well. onto trial #2 and saving Maya’s butt once again