#Minecraft story mode is what helped me make friends with this one kid who was into fnaf

[rockingego]

I had the opportunity to be normal but then minecraft story mode happened

[beatboxing-puppy]

saw some posts on this website discussing what sort of videogames the dunmeshi characters would play and i think everyone is wrong. everyone is wrong except for me so im going to spell out exactly who plays what. putting it under a read more because im going on a damn tangent.

Laios: He's not a gamer he does not play games on purpose he will only ever play video games when his friends ask him to join them in their multiplayer things. One day tho Falin told him about Monster Hunter and now thats the only thing he plays aside from Spore and he has sunk countless hours into that damn game. Also he probably has played Some pokemon but he doesnt like PLAYING it he just likes it in concept he knows the name of all the pokemon

marcille: people keep saying she would be a cosy gamer playing animal crossing and stardew and other cute games ^-^ its so lalalaaaa NO!!!!!!! no she does not. Marcille plays games that stress her out on purpose marcille plays overwhelming micromanagey games like lobotomy corporation and rimworld and etc. She also likes games with deep lore and mysteries to discover. The only thing that doesn't fit in this category that she plays is Minecraft shes always in there CREATIVE MODE building virtual dungeons and other crazy shit. Also she plays on her work laptop with trackpad ok

Chilchuck: This one is for me. This one im just basing off my own dad ok. Chilchuck used to be a hardcore gamer in his youth but specifically he was playing stuff like world of warcraft and old school runescape he had really big setups so he could run several instances of the game at once on all his alt accounts so he could beat a boss by himself and he was really good at it. But then he had kids and didnt have time for this sort of thing so he stopped playing videogames aside from occasionally helping his daughters beat a super hard mario level. Later in life he probably discovered some shitty little low-commitment phone game like pokemon go or pikmin bloom or some daily sudoku puzzle thing and he plays it every day but its not that big a deal. He has been pressured by his friends and daughters to make a roblox account but he hasnt played it at all.

Senshi: THIS guy is the one that plays animal crossing. He logs in when he can but hes not on that every day grind. Also he doesnt play the newest one he doesnt play horizons he plays one of the DS ones. Wild world probably. He either doesn't like or doesn't know about the nintendo switch. Whenever one of his villagers say that they want to leave he'll nod solemnly and say smth like "Well... I suppose it'd be selfish to ask ye to stay, friend... Just promise me you'll stay safe and never forget me... Go and explore the world. Wish ye the best." Plus his island would be covered in weeds. He also has some mobile games he enjoys angry birds and candy crush and crosswords (gotta keep the brain in shape!) but other than that he doesn't videogame much because he prefers board games and tabletop stuff he isnt too jazzed about all this modern technology plus a console or a laptop and all that gaming equipment is a lot to lug around and hes a nomad he would NOT have that shit

Falin: Now FALIN is the cosy gamer. kind of. Falin plays animal crossing new horizons sometimes and has fun making a bad island on purpose. Very mildly "bad" tho the worst she'll do is use the drawing feature to hide a giant penis on the beach or whatever. Or she'll give her villagers silly outfits. She also plays minecraft (either skyblock or she makes a new world and explores and builds a couple houses and then forgets about it and makes another new world) and roblox (likes 'trolling' strangers by dressing up funny and acting kind of strange in roleplay servers but she's never actually mean or anything.) But the big thing she likes is story-driven indie rpgmaker games. She's the person who will say shit like "Yeah I played Blums Booglies the quest for Big Dinners and it was so good I cried for 9 hours" completely unironically.

kabru: social gamer like laios but the games he plays on purpose are the sims (he likes to cause them problems) and online multiplayer games (he likes to peoplewatch). I can also see him doing absurd and tortrous challenge runs of games like No items no pokecenter one type hardcore nuzlockes. im correct

izutsumi: ACTUALLY trolls people on roblox. And she plays needlessly gory flash games. Maybe she calls people dumbfucks over valorant voice chat sometimes

[destinygoldenstar]

Which Love Triangle Is Worse? (Ninjago Vs Total Drama)

Hey, this is called a sponsor, right? For advertising something? Why don’t we try it? For a book?

Destiny’s Burden. An original story by yours truly.

The world of Destiny takes place a century into the future, where Earth and all its morally questionable implications were wiped out for the sake of a utopia.

The beloved savior, Mary Sue, rescued everyone from extinction by creating a world system that would change all of humanity.

Destiny, from all the Chosen One stories you’ve heard, is the dominant force of society. Those who’ve praised Mary Sue have been granted a loving world of kingdoms with the clearest right and wrong, and lives of great fortune. Those who’ve rejected her ideals were cursed to become the Dark Lords, the villains and the black of the stories that would come.

When certain children come of age, they are granted a destiny of their own, abilities of a Chosen One, and given clear stories for them to follow and train for. Stories that would bring peace to their wonderful world, against the Dark Lords who dare to try and change it.

A generation of Chosen Ones begins with Charlie Sue, the descendent of Mary Sue herself, being assigned the task of becoming the savior of the entire land after a group of Dark Lords steal power.

With the help of a few Chosen One friends, Charlie must train for the day he claims his place as Destiny’s savior.

And if Destiny really is that pleasing of a utopia.

An original fantasy action story by yours truly. Questions are free to be asked in messaging me, and followers of my blog will, in time, get a chance to beta read parts of the story and give much needed feedback to make this a great passion project. More info coming soon.

Now, onto the post.

You know, this was easier to decide than I thought.

I know, it didn’t sound like it would at first.

Okay, lets think of a better intro...

Both of these cartoons means quite a bit to me. 

I already talk about Total Drama on my blog quite a bit, to the point where I think some of my followers think I’m a TD blog. I’m not. There’s other stuff I talk about. In fact, there’s even more I could talk about with TD, and opinions I have yet to share. 

However, it is an absolute CRIME in my head that I have not talked about Ninjago as much as I do with TD. I mean, I made a Skybound review awhile back, which holds up on my opinions, but that’s about it.

Why do I say this? Well because, I have the LAMEST childhood over. I did not grow up with Total Drama. I watched it when covid hit and I had nothing better to do. I didn’t even watch Avatar The Last Airbender until last year, which is NUTS. 

I was more so into MLP as a kid, but I stopped watching it around Season 6, not through any puberty hit, but because my parents HATE me watching MLP. (For reasons I don’t get.) And I was also bullied heavily for liking MLP, so...

I also was obsessed with Minecraft Story Mode. (And I did make a few posts about it. They’re old, though.) It’s sad to me what happened to that series...

I also binge read the Sailor Moon manga, and I have all the books still. I watched the 90s show too, but... I honestly did not like it.

I would say, ‘what a surprise, the book is better’, but you’d be shocked to hear the Sailor Moon fandom say that the 90s anime is superior. For me... no.

Then I had one brief RWBY phase. And I mean BRIEF. In actuality, I don’t hardcore hate the show, but the one aspect of the show that prevents me from getting into it is it’s awful protagonists. I dunno, maybe I’ll make a post about that topic, because it’s astounding to me how bad their protagonists are.

And if you know me, I more so tend to have more to talk about when it comes to the flawed shows rather than shows with perfect writing. I said it over and over again, YES, I’ve watched ATLA, and Arcane. Those shows are amazing. Do you want me to praise those shows like the 7 billion other people on planet earth have?

Okay, I’m getting off track.

But there’s one show in my childhood that I distinctly remember being a part of my childhood more than any of these: That’s Ninjago.

I remember when I was around eight years old, and my sibling and I would tune in every week to watch an episode on Netflix. And I don’t even like the shows my sibling watch. But we both bonded with this show specifically. I think it has to do with this being the first show I’ve watched that wasn’t just one episode adventures. This was a show with substance, with story arcs that branch for multiple episodes, with characters to follow. Something I was not familiar with at the time.

Also Zane. Best boy. No I’m not taking criticism.

Before I even made my Tumblr account, I would write private essays talking about Ninjago. They’re terrible. 

I have huge memories of this show. I WANTED to talk about this show for awhile, but couldn’t figure out what to talk about.

And then in my creative writing class, we were talking about tropes we hated. 

My teacher said ‘the love triangle’. (I didn’t have that on my list, surprisingly)

It seemed like everyone, besides myself, hated the love triangle trope. And it seems very valid.

Like, just pick one love interest, darn it!

So that got me to make this post. Why a contest between these two shows?

Well they both have a love triangle that the majority of the fandom hates, they’re both known for destroying a relationship people liked, and they both take place in their Season Three.

And also, everyone hates these plotlines, so I wanted to ask myself, are they really that bad? More importantly, which is worse?

That’s what we’re here for.

Keep in mind, this is my POV on these plotlines. There’s obviously gonna be disagreement and I would love to hear your opinions when reblogging.

Also SPOILER WARNING FROM HERE ON OUT. IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED EITHER OF THESE SHOWS AND DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED, DON’T CLICK ‘KEEP READING’. Watch the shows, and then come back.

But there’s one key factor that I think makes people lean to one argument:

Bias

My first claim is that it has to do with nostalgia of the show that springs our reactions.

When I watched the Ninjago love triangle as a kid, I was confused, cringing, and angry.

When I watched the Total Drama love triangle when I’m older, I was just like ‘okay, so we’re doing this.’

So obviously, there’s a great line of bias. As a kid, your brain hasn’t fully developed, so when bringing up a concept that isn’t black and white, and emotionally damaging, you’re gonna get heavy results. 

It was the same for when Zane died in Season Three. I was a kid. I was TICKED.

Looking back now, that was an expertly built up scene and one of the best payoffs to a character arc in the show. 

‘Animation is for babies’

And yet you have this:

“Are you working for Silco?”

“Fuck you”

-Arcane. (And that’s the LEAST adult thing in the show)

It’s the same thing with shipping.

Kids media are given the simplistic idea that romance is absolute. That you have one person destined for you and it will all work out.

A love triangle is... complicated, for kids heads.

So when another guy a character is in love with enters the picture, kids are gonna be confused and relatively act negative towards it. Despite the fact that love triangles... do actually exist in the real world?

Anyone remember Hamilton? Of course you do.

This is why we tend to hate Love Tringles in my eyes.

But I want to be as objective as possible with this, and discuss each storyline and their problems. So lets coin toss and decide which show we start with.

*Flips coin*

*Gets Heads*

Ninjago, it’s your lucky day.

I guess it’s fitting since I watched this show first.

Ninjago (Jay, Cole, and Nya Love Triangle)

Ninjago is a show produced by LEGO, which tells the story about a group of ninjas being assigned to face against the evils of the titular world. It’s also LEGOs biggest TV show to date.

This is more of an action superhero show than anything, and I think that’s gonna be the biggest difference here. Both shows I’m talking about have different priorities.

But I’m just focusing on the love triangle.

This plotline springs in its third season, Rebooted. It’s an eight episode long season, and the plotline gets introduced in the premiere briefly, and stays relevant all season between the three characters involved. It gets carried over to season four in that third episode, and it’s mentioned briefly in the premiere of season six. Then it ends.

People tend to hate this love triangle for a certain reason:

Why?

WHY was this love triangle needed?

I tried researching what was going on behind the scenes when the decision was made, but I could not find anything. I may be bad at research though.

My best guess is this:

Ninjago was originally supposed to end after Season Two: Legacy Of The Green Ninja. However, from the success of the show and insane toy sales, they made the decision to continue the story and make a third season. The task of continuing a story you designed to end is... daunting. For any writer.

So my biggest assumption on why they decided to do a love triangle was because they were still struggling to figure out what to do with the story of Ninjago from where they intended to end it.

I don’t hate Rebooted. Rebooted has its moments. But the season also carries a lot of lows, and this is one of them. It’s why I think most of the fandom sees this as a mid tier season overall, and pretty mixed.

So lets give context to the love before the season:

Right from the pilot episodes, one of the missions of the newly formed ninja team was to rescue the fire ninja Kai’s sister, Nya. 

And the lightning ninja, Jay, says this:

“We’re saving a girl? Is she hot?”

Right off the bat, and before they even met, the writers implied that Jay was gonna have a thing for Nya, the most major girl character in the entire show.

Jay and Nya properly meet in the second pilot episode after Kai rescues her, and they exchange their favorite colors. It so happens to be blue. Flirting.

Right off the bat, there is no hate each other until they love each other bull, there is no will they or will they won’t, from the moment they met, these two have had a thing for each other.

In fact, we don’t even really do a ‘will they or will they won’t’ with them, because the flirting carries over in the proper first season of the show.

So much so that their big milestone in their relationship is in Episode 8.

Yeah. That’s quick. It’s almost impressive.

Basically, that episode has Jay trying to impress Nya, Kai tricking him into giving his sister an allergy (like the great brother he is), and despite this, Nya accepting his proposal to go on a date. Unfortunately, Jay gets his finger pricked on a snake fang, and it’s worse sounding than it sounds when you know the context of the show. Wacky hijinks ensue when their secrets of their identities clash, with Jay being a nobody from a junkyard, and Nya being a Samurai ally to the ninja and wanting to keep that a secret because of some sexist bull. 

But by the end of the episode, they make up, confess their feelings, and become an official couple.

From there, there’s minimal drama between their relationship for the rest of Season One, and all of Season Two. It’s just been them flirting and praising each other, and being supportive. 

There was also an episode where an evil clone of Jay kisses Nya, and tells the real Jay about it, which makes Jay so mad that he essentially MURDERS him. 

Compared to Total Drama, and due to different show circumstances, this is actually a very tame thing to do.

So, Jay and Nya as a couple, pre-Rebooted, has had next to NO issues.

Now you might be wondering, if that’s the case, WHY IN THE NAME OF HECK did they decide to throw Cole into this? Where did he fit in all of this?

Well, I just rewatched all of Season One and Two for this post, and in terms of Cole and Nya interactions... there was nothing.

I’m not kidding. These two have not had ONE interaction with each other pre-Rebooted. The most is when Nya is talking to all the ninja, not Cole specifically.

So why would Nya suddenly have a thing for a guy she never talks to, when she has a good relationship with Jay?

And whatever you Total Drama people who haven’t watched Ninjago are thinking, it’s even dumber than that.

So in the premiere of Rebooted, they go to this sci-fi tour at the new Ninjago central tower... thing. The ninja are left doing plot stuff with Cyrus, and Nya is left to take care of kids and be a chaperon to a field trip. Little girls find this ‘perfect match’ machine, which is SUCH a real thing in the real world (sarcasm), and they make Nya try the machine.

And her perfect match is said to be Cole.

THAT is how Nya gets feelings for Cole.

Told you it was dumber than you think.

She did not gain feelings for Cole through any interaction with him, or other people pressuring the concept, or even her current boyfriend being any wrong to her. 

No.

It’s a freaking. MACHINE.

So right at the next time Nya is focused on, she is flirting with Cole. She mistakes him referring to the students with their kids, she gives him the looks, and she’s also holding hands with him.

Yeah. Nya is essentially CHEATING ON HER BOYFRIEND.

And again, she’s only doing this because a MACHINE SAID SO.

It’s not like she’s even trying to hide it, as Jay catches them. 

This makes Nya look horrendously unlikeable in the season, as you’d expect.

Why is this so OOC for her? Because there was ZERO prompting for this to happen. None. 

At most, you could say that Jay’s ego made her feel lesser of relevance, but to Ninjago’s credit, they do address that... IN SEASON SIX. 

So that’s not an excuse here. We’re talking about BEFORE Skybound.

Until Skybound, and I guess Tournament of Elements, Nya hasn’t had an issue with Jay’s ego. Again, in the episode where they hook up, she tells him that he doesn’t need to impress her. And they both agreed on such. 

In the third episode of Rebooted, it’s revealed that PIXAL is the AI of the machine that did all of this. Not only does she not apologize or tell Nya that she should let her heart decide, but she encourages the cheating and to dump Jay.

To be fair, I don’t really hold PIXAL accountable for the love triangle. At this point in the story, she’s just a robot doing her job, and knows little about showing humanity. And she just woke up from a near death experience, so yeah, I think it’s safe to say that she was numb when she told Nya this. PIXAL is really not trying to harm anybody, or say anything personal, she’s just saying what the program of the machine told her to say.

However, Jay hears PIXAL claim that Cole is Nya’s perfect match, explaining that Nya was indeed cheating on her, and it absolutely ENRAGES Jay.

So much so that when an unexpected Cole walks into the room, Jay physically tries to beat him up. 

They were friends before, and had some playful teasing in the first two seasons, but now it’s gone.

This is, deemed by many fans, one of the WORST scenes of the entire show.

I don’t blame them. I hate this scene too.

Even if you take the so called build up out, the scene is accompanied by awful dialogue and puns, so... there is NO ironically enjoying this either.

So from then on, Cole and Jay hate each other and spend the rest of the season fighting over Nya. To be fair, past this episode, it just turns into spiteful comments, and doesn’t escalate to any physical fighting until Season Four. 

And it’s not like they’re trying to kill each other. Quite the opposite in fact. (Jay does oblige in saving Cole from getting lost in space, no hesitation)

So yeah, this season, because of the love triangle, assassinated all three characters involved. And mind you, I LOVE Ninjago’s protagonists. I LOVE these characters. So when I say they’re OOC here, I mean it.

I already talked about Nya and how this was out of character for her. Because the sexist BS is the biggest pet peeve I have with Nya. Otherwise, she’s very compassionate, assertive, and a girlboss with a very strong character arc throughout the entire show.

Jay does have a right to be angry. After all, he was cheated on. But I think he’s mad at the wrong person. He never blames Nya for this at all, and only pins it on Cole as a heartless monster. That’s odd to me, because Nya cheated, and he SAW THAT. I thought he would yell at her at least once, but no, instead he demands she picks him like an egotist. That’s what someone possessive would do, and Jay has NEVER done this before.

Besides, if you think about it, he’s only mad because PIXAL, an AI, said he was no good for Nya. In that case, he should be mad at PIXAL too. Sure, I said that PIXAL couldn’t help it, but if I were Jay, yelling at her would be warranted. 

But nope. It’s all Cole’s fault, even though Cole was kind of a victim of circumstances.

Speaking of, why is Cole even into Nya?

Like I said, they haven’t talked before this. Cole has shown no signs of liking Nya, in fact, he seemed to support Jay and Nya as a couple. This is especially strange because Cole is the kind of character who knows exactly what he wants. If he was into Nya, he would’ve said so right away, especially before Jay even got with her.

The worst part is, the rest of the season only consists of Nya trying to decide who she likes, and the other two trying to fight for her affection. I don’t think they even mention the cheating after this. And again, it goes absolutely nowhere until Season Four, Episode Three.

In that episode, Jay and Cole are forced to fight each other by Clouse rigging the titular tournament. They’re actually not okay with this until Neuro, a guy who can read minds, escalates their rage. Then they’re okay with beating each other up with a ton of rage and grief towards each other. 

Before the match, Lloyd tells them to remember who the real enemy is. He is referring to Chen. This is the driving force to the rest of the fight.

In a fight scene that is actually visually pleasing, ngl, Cole and Jay go all out until a random point in the middle where Cole decides, ‘hey, you’re not my enemy, and I never even liked Nya, so yeah, I’ll just sacrifice myself so you can stay in the game, symbolizing how you won this love triangle.’

And they make up.

Despite the little effort and prompting beforehand. Like I said, they only did this because Lloyd said so. So why are they making up now if they hate each other so much?

And then any love life plotline with Cole completely drops, and Cole is left with no love interest until Master of the Mountain. Cole and Nya have some scenes together after this, but it’s clear that they’re just friends and it never goes anywhere. And in Skybound, the love triangle is just treated as the plot device that broke up Jay and Nya, as they get back together.

So did the love triangle really amount to anything besides that?

No.

You can wipe out this plotline entirely, and not much changes. The villains don’t take advantage of that specifically, and they forget about it afterwards, with no build up beforehand. 

Yeah you could argue Chen and Clouse took advantage of it, but they were after the ninja because they were spoiled the behind the scenes drama of their little game. They were threats, and an alliance, which their games try to discourage. So they would’ve set Cole and Jay up against each other anyway.

I fully understand why people hate this plotline, as it’s used for unnecessary drama. Unlike Total Drama, which uses titular DRAMA as a part of the plot’s torture, Ninjago has no reason for their drama to be unnecessary. This is not a torturous scenario Ninjago is living in, this is an action show!

I guess I can appreciate that Jay and Nya were able to recover from this and get back together. They even get married. My heart sings.

And at least in Ninjago, this plotline drama doesn’t seem to escalate, and people are able to forget about it.

Total Drama is a completely different story.

So lets talk about that.

Total Drama (Courtney, Gwen, and Duncan Love Triangle)

 I talked about Total Drama quite a bit on my blog already, so I’ll be brief.

Total Drama is about a group of teenagers being scammed onto a game show to try and become celebrities. Torture ensues. 

It’s far more treated like a reality show in cartoon form, I guess that’s the best way I can explain it.

Despite the fact that the love triangle here is HIGHLY loathed, even more so than Ninjago, and that I did headcanon posts of all three characters, I’ve avoided talking about the love triangle before this.

That fandom is THAT violent when it comes to this topic.

You will NEVER get the same POV about it.

So what I’m gonna say is guaranteed to tick off at least half of the people who read this.

PLEASE, just hear me out.

I don’t really ship either.

I haven’t been a hardcore Jaya fan either, but it’s the same mindset I gave to Duncney and Gwuncan. In the latter two’s case, it’s because they’re trapped under such awful circumstances, that being the show’s setting used to stress them out, screw up their heads, and torture them. And also the executives who forced this on the writers.

In the context of Total Drama’s writing staff, they didn’t want to do this either. They were forced to by the executives, who wanted to teach kids that breakups happen and you could end up with someone else.

That sounds like it has good intentions...

Until you find that the actual moral they delivered with the first breakup was that ‘If you break up with someone, the entire world will hate you. And you deserve it.’

I don’t think I need to tell you that’s a bad message.

To be fair, I’ve never been against either ship involved, so I don’t hate either.

But the canon circumstances?

OOF.

Let’s get this started:

So the first season of Total Drama is kind of a different story than with Ninjago.

Unlike Ninjago, which just had Jay and Nya as a couple and Cole was someone I assumed was ace (welcome to the club), all three people involved in the later love triangle had an established love interest and relationship.

Gwen, the third wheel and the Cole in this case, had a relationship with Trent, your typical guitar playing love interest and as generic of a love interest as you can get. But they get in a few shenanigans with Gwen being a stubborn loner, and Heather being Heather and doing one of my most hated story tropes, so they don’t get together until the end of the season. 

And then in season two, Trent gets his character assassinated and becomes possessive over Gwen, OVERLY so, and it causes Gwen to break up with him because as I said in previous posts, Gwen doesn’t know how to deal with relationships. 

And then the entire world treats Trent like a victim, that Gwen was the abusive one, and everyone hates Gwen.

And this is just the START of the Gwen social punching bag.

Then in season one, there was another relationship relevant to this topic: Duncan and Courtney.

They’re presented as your typical bad boy/good girl dynamic.

And they actually had fun chemistry. Ngl.

Duncan flirts with her, and Courtney tries to deny her feelings for him and masks it through lectures, claiming she hates his rude and rebellious behavior. Despite this, they keep having sexual tension, and they have a kiss in Episode 12.

You could say Ninjago has an advantage then, but keep in mind that Ninjago has 13 episodes in its season one, and Total Drama has 26 episodes. So I’d say they’re both impressive.

I would say that on an enjoyment standpoint, Duncan and Courtney, and Jay and Nya are very fun couples with fun chemistry. That’s why people liked them.

Jay and Nya however, barely had any drama going on in their relationship before Season Three.

Duncan and Courtney are a different story.

Like I said before, Courtney tried to deny her feelings for Duncan and masked it through lecturing her own love. It’s not until she finds out about Duncan’s more positive traits that she realizes she wants to be around him. Or rather, she can FIX him.

Yeah. Courtney is a fixer upper.

This is a trope in romance, and not a very good one if you ask me. Usually, I use the fixer upper to claim why a relationship would NOT work.

SHUT UP FROZEN.

And I don’t want to take this all out on Courtney and say she’s the problem. Duncan is a jerk as well. He’s a bully, he cares more about his image than being himself, and he also does stuff we’ll talk about in a minute. But in terms of the couple aspect, Courtney is the one raising the red flags in the beginning.

Now, I do think Courtney cares about Duncan and thinks she’s helping, but that is not the point. You can love your partner, and still abuse them.

Instead of these two working through their differences, Courtney just hands Duncan a list of things she wants to change about him, and is VERY strict about him following that. Prior to this, Duncan has annoyed her by trying to flirt with her, and she responds through lethal hits to the nuts, or physical punches, or mentally guilt tripping him. Prior to even that, she DITCHED him in his hour of her need for a million bucks.

Yeah, Total Drama LOVES romanticizing abusive relationships. That is a PROBLEM.

So Duncan, in his stress of the relationship, decides he doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore, and he votes her off the show, breaking them up.

And then he wins a million dollars, and they get back together.

“Now you’re saying that I’m a gold digger, but check my gleam up, hey go figure.” -Six

And then in Celebrity Manhunt, they publicly humiliate each other yet again, sue each other, and break up. So what was the point of them getting back together?

I heard people claim that in this same special, they have a kiss on the bus while bickering, so that means they’re back together.

If you want to see it that way?

Courtney did.

But let me ask you this: Where in this episode was that confirmed? Where did they agree to get back together?

Exactly.

Duncan never made it clear to Courtney that they weren’t back together in his mind. They had what you called a fling. Duncan does this. He is a horndog.

This is Duncan emotionally using Courtney for his own image. See, I told you Duncan wasn’t innocent in this.

Then there’s Gwen.

Unlike Cole and Nya, Duncan and Gwen actually DID have interactions pre-season three.

In season one, their dynamic started around the slasher episode, as they bonded over their shared enthusiasm for blood and gore in movies. They orchestrate the survival plan for the challenge, and betray each other, but I don’t think either of them took it that personally. They also helped each other/bickered in the castaway episode.

Their friendship properly starts in season two, where they have friendly interactions and help each other out in challenges. Gwen even picks Duncan first to be her teammate. 

It gets to a point where Trent, Gwen’s girlfriend at the time, gets jealous and thinks Gwen is hitting on Duncan. Gwen denies it and claims they’re friends, but no one believes her. In fact, when Gwen is sent to the Aftermath show and broken up with Trent, everyone accuses Gwen of dumping Trent for Duncan. Another reason why the show wants you to hate Gwen and absolutely no one else.

That is frustrating.

In the Celebrity Manhunt special, it’s revealed that Gwen DOES indeed have a crush on Duncan and just doesn’t want it to surface because he’s with Courtney. When she hears they broke up, she becomes interested again.

This is a year after season two, so we don’t know what happened that made Gwen change her mind.

Did Gwen and Duncan bond off screen?

That’s an even bigger possibility in this show than in Ninjago given the circumstances, but they never establish that they did.

Duncan quits Season Three at the start, but the producers track him down anyway. Before he returns, Courtney talks about how she misses him, and wants him back.

GWEN IS IN THESE SCENES BTW.

There’s also this exchange between Alejandro and Courtney in episode two that I noticed upon rewatch that I find interesting:

“Such witty remarks from such fiercely intelligent women. I’m both humbled and intrigued.”

“Nice try. But I’m with Duncan.”

“And what pity it is that you should give yourself to a quitter, who doesn’t deserve you.”

“That’s not-Duncan is-totally-you’re just- will someone hurry this camel up?!”

Obviously, Alejandro is playing her. He is the season’s bad guy after all. He’s taking advantage of the relationship strain. 

But consider how Courtney stutters when trying to defend Duncan? She’s trying to dodge any notion that Duncan would leave her. She thinks she’s doing the right thing, and can’t fathom the idea that she’s done something wrong. She doesn’t WANT to believe they’re broken up.

I’m shocked no one brings up this scene, actually.

During this, Gwen and Courtney, being on the same team, become friends from their shared hatred of Heather. Really, I think they just became friends because they’re the only non-simps, non-insane, non-horrible people on their team.

Friendships come from very unlikely places sometimes.

They didn’t really have any interactions before this. Cole and Jay had two whole seasons being on a team.

And then we get THE SCENE.

Duncan comes back, and immediately, Courtney lectures him for leaving her, then embraces him. He says that every time he ran from the cops, he thought of HER.

He’s staring at GWEN.

GWEN REALIZES THIS.

It brings her in a spiral of question late at night, and she’s clearly not thinking clearly. Are Duncan and Courtney a thing? Are they not? Does Courtney deserve him? Is Courtney a bad influence? Does Duncan like Gwen? Is Duncan interested in her?

Duncan shuts out any questions by coming into the bathroom to kiss her.

Thus, he cheats on Courtney with Gwen.

This can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but I think there’s two we can bring up.

One is the nature of Duncan’s character.

He is a horndog who cares about his image. He wants to be seen as a bad boy and not his true self. He wants is bad boy persona to be his true self. He wants validation from the people around him, so anyone who finds interest in that persona, he will bang. 

He’s not sweet good intended Nya. He’s quite the opposite.

But I don’t think it’s clear what his intention was. Was he trying to escape his situation with someone he trusts? Was he trying to spite Courtney? (I mean, All Stars implies that) Was he trying to start over with a new girl? Is he using Gwen? Does he actually love Gwen?

None of these questions get answered. We are given NO clear idea why Duncan did this. That’s why there’s such a division in perspective.

They could’ve at least had a confessional where Duncan explained his intent, whatever it was, but nope.

The other factor is the influence of the show.

This is the machine from Ninjago.

This is the PIXAL, if PIXAL was a sociopath.

The show fans assumed there was something going on with Duncan and Gwen, and they pressure them into trying to admit that being the truth. EVERYONE, throughout the year, pressure this. Geoff, Heather, fans, Chris, even Courtney herself. 

I talked about this in other posts, so I’ll be brief. The show screws up the morality of SEVERAL characters, to the point where they will do nasty stuff you wouldn't see them do in season one, where they were pure.

It’s very easy to assume that Gwen would only have feelings for Duncan because the show is pulling her strings.

But they don’t establish that either. That’s just my interpretation of it to try and make sense of this writing.

So take all of this with a grain of salt.

Gwen regrets the kiss afterwards, somewhat, well, only because afterwards Courtney goes on and on about how Duncan’s her boyfriend. I think Courtney’s just rubbing this in because she knew Gwen was crushing, and wanted to keep her away from him.

I guess you could say Courtney is Total Drama’s Tsundre.

That makes a lot more sense in a minute.

Gwen and Duncan discuss the matter of Gwen kissing Courtney’s boyfriend in a song. Duncan sings he has no regrets, and Gwen reminds him of Courtney. They both agree that they should stop with the secrets and come clean. They know what will happen, so it’s better to just tell the truth.

Then Duncan gets mauled by a bear, so they have to wait until after the challenge.

But then Alejandro figured it out and outs it to Courtney, ruining it.

Courtney IMMEDIATELY becomes bloodthirsty on Gwen, and next to EVERYONE joins Courtney in berating Gwen. (Except Cody)

This scene, alongside the Jay and Cole scuffle, hurts to watch.

But I will confess, I prefer to watch the Total Drama fallout scene, because I think the voice acting in the scene is better. You can feel Courtney’s heartbreak as she screams at her nonstop, and the sinister craziness awakening in her. And Gwen CRYING?! REGRETTING what she did?!

Come on, there’s at least SOME value here besides Cody getting a dub.

Even if it is little value besides Cody getting a dub.

From here on out, EVERYONE on the plane (Again, except Cody) HATE Gwen’s guts. They will not let her forget what she did. They will never give her a single iota of grey area besides ‘You suck Gwen, we hate you, the entire world hates you, and you deserve to be hated. Go jump off a plane and die so we can have a party about it.’

Gwen and Duncan even try to apologize, but no one takes it.

This is like Cole and Jay, only it’s not just Jay berating Cole, it’s EVERYONE.

I think I would’ve stopped watching Ninjago for years if that was the case, because that would’ve been PAINFUL to watch.

Courtney is the key factor of this hate club, and rallies everyone up to hate on Gwen and Duncan and try to remove them. Sierra, Heather, Tyler, Alejandro, who the last one WANTED to happen as he’s now in control of her. 

And unlike Jay, Courtney actually DOES berate the cheater for what they did. Deserved.

But then again, at least Jay doesn’t sing a song about trying to kill the other point of the triangle.

50/50.

To Courtney, this is all a serious betrayal. Gwen and Duncan were the only people Courtney allowed herself to open up to, and then they betray her. She has a right to be mad, but not a right to her actions driven by the madness.

For Gwen, Duncan is now the only person she can feel safe with. People tend to cling to the kindness in their life that’s the closest to them. This is why Gwen chooses to stay with Duncan and ignore all the hate she’s getting. She needs love in this moment. 

And then Duncan tries to play Alejandro by pretending to still be into Courtney. It’s an act, but still.

We never see on screen if Duncan explained himself and apologized to Gwen.

Ninjago had a whole season and three episodes worth of love triangle drama.

Total Drama only has three episodes.

And then it abruptly ends unconcluded. 

Courtney wanted to get revenge on Gwen by dumping her off the plane and making Duncan jealous of her.

Technically, she WON.

She gets Gwen out, and she, not intentionally, uses Scott to make Duncan jealous, which causes Gwen to leave him.

Sorry, getting ahead of myself.

Now lets address All Stars.

You could argue this focuses on the love triangle as well, and... kinda? But, All Stars seems to bail on EVERY plotline World Tour had. I have NO IDEA why this is, as unlike Rebooted, World Tour is a FAN FAVORITE SEASON. But they bailed on everything.

And it’s clear that the writers had no objective with giving the love triangle an ending. 

The season is more so focused on Courtney finding a new boyfriend in Scott, that she plans to use, Duncan being thrusted into a heroes position and wanting to be a bad guy again, and Gwen, once again, being hated by everybody around her.

Duncan and Gwen have NO romantic scenes together, and Gwen constantly shuts him out in favor of trying to make things right with Courtney. The girl she BETRAYED.

She also claims that Duncan was not Courtney’s boyfriend at the time, thus she didn’t do anything wrong...

I’m ASSUMING Duncan told Gwen that story to get her on his side. THAT would make sense of this phrase. BUT the writers never establish that.

And again, Duncan only gets jealous because Gwen’s ignoring him when he’s trying to help, and Courtney’s finding a new slave to give her the win. My assumption is that he’s trying to strike up a conversation with Gwen, considering Gwen wanted to make things right with Courtney, but again, no establishment that this is Duncan’s motive.

So Gwen gets fed up with that, and dumps Duncan, shutting him out of her life.

This scene is SO QUICK, that it feels like an afterthought. There’s no blowout, there’s no prompting, there’s no remorse for the action later besides one Duncan confessional, it’s just ‘okay, they’re broken up now, Gwuncan haters can chill the F out.’

Is that the motive? What about the people who liked Gwuncan as a concept and wanted to see more of them? 

Here’s a writing tip: If your fans don’t like an aspect of your story, DON’T bail out of it. WORK on it. MAKE IT BETTER.

In my series that I’m doing, Destiny’s Burden, a lot of my beta readers didn’t like one of my characters at first. They considered her insufferable, annoying, selfish, and stereotypical. But instead of writing that character out of the plot, I took the time to give that character development, and have them develop less of a spoiled personality. Now that character is a fan favorite among my beta readers.

THIS IS WHERE YOU DO THAT, BUT WITH THE LOVE TRIANGLE.

THIS IS WHERE YOU WRITE IT BETTER.

And then there’s the last part of this. Gwen and Courtney making up.

Unlike Tournament of Elements, which threw in the forgiveness at the last minute, Gwen actually puts in the effort beforehand to be friends with Courtney again. She tries REALLY hard actually.

Gosh, I CANNOT believe I’m saying ALL STARS did something better than THE TOURNMENT OF ELEMENTS. WHAT AM I ON?!

And, looking at the Cole and Jay tournament fight, and the Gwen and Courtney boxing match... this is the same scene.

This is literally the same scene, minus the sacrifice Ninjago had.

They duke it out, they beat each other, and they apologize in the middle, explaining that they never missed the girl/guy, they just missed each other, and they make up and become friends again.

I prefer the Ninjago scene though, because it’s way more visually pleasing, and the dialogue seems more sincere to me. Courtney and Gwen’s ‘apology’ is so corny I can’t-

So what is the ending of Total Drama’s love triangle? Courtney and Gwen become best friends in la la land, they trash over Duncan, and cheer when he’s thrown in jail.

And then Courtney betrays Gwen, making all the love and support Gwen got back meaningless. But hey, that’s not relevant to this topic.

Most people in the fandom claim that this was character assassination on all three characters. Just like I said with Ninjago. 

Here’s the thing: Total Drama has more episodes around this time. Ninjago didn’t. I know NOW it’s not a contest on which show had more episodes, but looking at it, Ninjago, in four seasons, had 44 episodes, and Total Drama, in four seasons, had 91.

This is a double edge sword, as on one hand Total Drama has more to work with. On the other, Total Drama has more to work with.

After all, like I said, we are given no clear motive for why Duncan even cheated, or didn’t tell Courtney that they weren’t together anymore. Gwen was cheated on technically in season one, and here she is doing that same emotional betrayal in season three to Courtney. And again, the whole ‘he wasn’t your boyfriend’.

There’s multiple instances where literally ONE MORE SCENE of ANY part of this plotline could’ve helped it make more sense. But no. The writers just really did not want to write this. Again, they were forced to. It shows.

But I will say this, unlike with Ninjago’s love triangle, the Total Drama love triangle is SEVERELY plot relevant. You CAN’T write it out.

Everyone says they should’ve just written it out... how? 

Every fanfic I’ve seen that’s written the love triangle out actively made the story less interesting, and gave the three characters involved nothing to do. 

The villains, again, take advantage of the situation to give themselves plot armor. This is how Alejandro uses Courtney. She would’ve never helped him otherwise. This is what makes Heather jealous, prompting the last quarter of World Tour. This is what season two’s Gwen bashing has built up to. This is what makes Gwen the biggest social punching bag of the entire show. This is what spawns Gwen to become a villainous vulture. This is the start of Duncan’s downfall, and his mental distress getting him behind bars later.

You NEED the love triangle to be a thing for the story to make any sense.

I’m sorry, but that’s what I see.

Which is Worse?

Now to answer the money question.

Which plotline is worse?

This is REALLY subjective. So take it with a grain of salt.

Both of these plotlines have huge issues. They are both dampers to their season three. 

Ninjago had a worse motive, a more pathetic fight, dragged on, and had no plot relevance whatsoever.

Total Drama had a more unlikeable cast participating, poor establishment of motive, ended way too quickly, and suffered from no ending.

I think we can both agree on the quality on both of these plotlines.

It really depends on which plotline I would prefer to watch a compilation of over and over again.

And in that sense...

I think I’d pick Total Drama as the better one.

This is for a few reasons: 

One is that Total Drama is a far more morally grey show, so its characters are far more morally grey than with Ninjago. It’s more believable that the TD characters would do stuff so spiteful towards each other, than the Ninjago characters. This makes it so that you can see everyone’s point of view, and the plotline becomes welcome for multiple interpretations. 

Two is that there was SOME build up to the cheating. You could say that it was bad build up, but at least it WAS build up. What build up was there in Ninjago? Oh yeah, none.

Three is that Total Drama’s plotline is actually plot relevant. If I have to watch the love triangle to watch World Tour, I’ll watch it. I won’t skip it. If I skip it, I know I’ll miss vital information for the rest of the story.

That said, though I say Ninjago is the worse plotline, it does have an advantage of having a better makeup scene, and an actual ending. And the characters were able to recover because of that.

Because, with all six of these characters, I DO like them all. I want the best for them (even if Duncan arguably doesn’t deserve it)

But let me know your thoughts. Would you agree? Disagree? Is there something I missed? Let me know.

[samthecookielord]

Sam makes a pinned post on her main 2021 2023 2024colourized

Art Blog: @samtheartblog (mostly just reblogs from my main lol)

Open to art requests and art trades!! Shoot me an ask! or dm me (if its an art trade)! :]

So sorry if I haven't responded to your ask in a while!! I am cursed with the spell of forgets to do that and/or procrastinates

💜Do not repost my artworks to other platforms. The only exception is Discord, but please link the original post if you do! You may use my art in profile pictures/headers/etc. on any platform as long as you credit me via link, or username + platform :]

🎤Want to dub my comics? Ask me first! I'll probably say yes, but it's good practice! (Plus, I'd love to see the dub when you've finished! And I can also help if you need isolated panels and such!)

Wanna know how far I am into the Layton series or look at my playthrough videos orrrr look at layton AUs i consistently tag on my blog?

🍪carrd🍪

🐈neocities🐈

☕Ko-Fi☕ (im selling stickers!)

🎀COMMISSION INFO (open)!🎀

Check #cookie lords commissions for examples!

🍭Art n stuff🍭 <- #cookie lords art

✨Edits n stuff✨ <- #cookie lords edit

🎵Music n stuff🎵 <- #cookie lords music

🎮Games I made🎮<- #cookie lords games

🖌hi fight me in the dennys parking lot by drawing each others ocs!! (theres a bunch of my oc refs here)🖌

🎯Artfight Hitlist Form

Feel free to ask me about my ocs or aus!! :]

Once again i apologize to anyone who follows me for one specific thing loll

(Vv Feel free to request that i add any of my blog's tags to the list below!! vV)

🎉🎉 Cool AU or OC tags/links or whatever the hell i want idk:

MY AUS!!! vv

#one but spaceboy i mean comety is there for some reason - hfjone but spaceboy from omori, taken directly from headspace, is thrown in with batch 3

#omori deltarune au - consists of 90% spaceboy content LOLL but some lightner!spaceboy content isnt tagged with this cuz idk. Find it in the lightner!spaceboy tag lol (omorune masterpost)

#omori soft science au - me and pastel were like What if our ocs were omori..

#pastel corruption stuff - literally anything i post that has to do with @ pastel-player's corruption concept

#sol omori au - margaret dooley, aka Elegy in Headspace, adventures with her friends Terrence, Bruise, and Noël as kids

#mcsm s3 admin jesse au - what if season 3 of minecraft story mode existed and jesse was forced to become the admin? (Poll series & doc here)

I moved my layton aus to my layton status post (scroll up!)

OC STUFF!!! vv

#paint city - original oc world based on different kinds of art

#2 bards 1 evil wizard - shadows over loathing ocs and obie go on a journey together (timeline doc here)

Straight up just a spreadsheet of people's loathing ocs have fun

#magic stick smackdown - hypothetical stick figure fighting game where everyone has magicpowers

#interdimensional server shenanigans - catch some glimpses at this friend oc server im in where we roleplay as our ocs crossing over in one discord server that timespace!kale created

BLIND DATE TOURNAMENT POST

Blind date tournament sequel post

Blind date tourney THREEQUEL post

MODDING TAGS vv

#loathing shenanigans - (for west of loathing and shadows over loathing) it is a Journey in there

#oneshot shenanigans - not much here

#omori shenanigans - mostly memey graphics editing

#wandersong shenanigans - just memey music changes

ETC. IDK vv

#random stuff - my talk tag sorta. Im rlly inconsistent with it tho lolll (i used to just use it for anything non-fandom related but now its a talk tag i forget to use sometimes)

Capitalist poll. (Read the saga in order here!)

SOL CHARACTER COMPILATION MASTERPOST

#vibe doodles - any art i make of my sona :3 i think i mightve also used this tag wrong early on but i dont feel like fixing it

#artfight - look at my artfight attacks

[angelofdiamond]

Togheter again for the eternity (DTMG story-fanfic)

https://uzuluna.tumblr.com/post/62408515996 . This is my story-fanfic about this post , all credits and rights going to @uzuluna (WARNING TAKE NAPKINS AND BUCKETS FOR TEARS AND HEARTS)

P.S. Soleana belong to me also the extra part , because do part of an my story , I have would added the extra for give more soft brother-relationship and a little spoiler..

Billy was so sad he has been disconsolate since his best friend... his brother Spencer at the age of 50 died of old age... so the media wanted to get through it but... BJC knew how things really went .Spencer had aged yes, but he kept fit, eating healthy, training body and mind and above all doing good works .. many times BJC has seen his brother go into hospitals to encourage children and others with his fame to not to give up their dreams, to share them, not to lose sight of the fact that there are more important things than the dreams themselves, he saw how he protected the kids from bullies..in short..he had become a wonderful adult..but now all this .. zero..*flashback *.

One day Billy, at Spencer's request, went over there to check if the technicians were doing a good job with lights and everything else. He suddenly noticed, however, two figures he had never seen come into one of the dressing rooms, he thought: "ok come on, they will be the usual interns who came late" but the curiosity was too much for him and he walked away following the two figures .. .the dressing room they entered was that of ... Spencer!

BJC: "ok ok calm Cobra, they will be two fan interns and they took the opportunity to see the inside of a dressing room of one of the most famous horror filmmakers that Hollywood has ever been able to see" Billy saw them stealthily escaping and saw only a blond tuft and another light brown color, he went in and saw everything as if no one had been there except ... for a strange glass next to Spencer's water bottle, Billy sniffed him but felt nothing strange but strangely had a bad impression, took the glass in fact, and threw it away.

SW: "Billy! What are you doing here !? Didn't I ask you to check if the technicians were doing a good job?" Spencer had returned from lunch with his mother, after all the fame on him, he could always find time for the others dear to him, including playing video games with Billy as he was when he was 14 and a half ..

BJC: "yes ... oh yes! Excuse me Bro-meo but suddenly I saw two people come in here and then I followed them, anyway it's quiet, the technicians are doing a good job"

SW: "Thank goodness, wait ... did you say two people? Who were they? Interns?"

BJC: "I don't know ... I thought about it but they left in a hurry and left a glass I had never seen before and then threw it, you'll thank me after * posing as a star *"

SW: * facepalm * "Billy tool-box I left that glass for medicine! Do you remember? medicine for the cold? But were you listening this morning? "

BJC: "probably ... I remember you mentioned something but I was too busy with the jar of PB"

SW: "as always ... uff ... feel today was a long and tiring day, could you please tell Shanila that after they finish closing everything? Let's continue tomorrow"

BJC: "Ok ... hey bro '... everything okay? You know I'm always there if you want to talk"

SW: "yes, I know ... it's just that ... I don't know, I have the clear feeling that not everyone appreciates what I do ... and today I had the confirmation ..."

BJC: "wait wait wait for what you mean !? Who doesn't appreciate what you do !? Make scary horror movies! Modestly thanks also to the man! To the legend! The Cobra!" Spencer could not laugh a bit at that exclamation. .ehh yes..your brother hadn't changed at all and that was fine with him he reassured, he was happy when his best friend in absolute was close to him to comfort him ... Spencer would not have gone by ANYWHERE without him ..

SW: "guess who I met at Wi-Fri?"

BJC: "Rajeev?"

SW: "maybe, but try again"

BJC: "Mallory?"

SW: "I doubt you leave your husband for me, try again"

BJC: "You won't tell me ... yet !? But he wasn't retired !?"

SW: "pension over bud', as far as I heard from Buch, Ponzi works there after his collapse at school and inside the boarding house..just saw me he told me about all the colors and hurt me sincerely .."

BJC: "that head of cheese expired! What did he tell you !?"

SW: "trust me and better ..."

BJC: "WHAT ?!"

SW: "that the world without me and mine movies , it would be a better place, which is my fault since I entered there in that school, that he is now like that, and that everything I do and what I will do will be useless and never remembered, that I will be alone forever ... "hearing those words Billy was shocked ... how could a person be so cruel, Billy is the first to keep the image of a "bad boy" he was a bit rude but never cruel, put him first, and he knew he was alone a cover, so much so that he apologized every time ... he knew that in the world most of the managers were slimy, cruel and profiteers, he had a couple of them close to his misfortune, but never so cruel, for what he remembers ..

BJC: "don't listen to it ... YOU UNDERSTAND IT !? DON'T LISTEN TO IT! FORGET WHAT IT SAID TO YOU! YOU'RE A WONDERFUL PERSON, MAKE GOOD TO ALL, IF YOU ARE FAMOUS DON'T LET YOU FAME THAT YOU CONSUME IT .. NOT LIKE ... MYSELF ARE YOU AN EXCEPTIONAL PERSON LIL 'BRO, AND DON'T ALLOW ANYONE SOMEONE TO TELL YOU THE OPPOSITE !? "

SW: "whoa! Calm friend! I understand but don't scream!"

BJC: "tell me you understand!"

SW: "I understand! I understand! Geez ... you're worse than my mother when she scolded us because the cookies were gone * laughs * remember?"

BJC: "* laughs in turn * pffft how could I not remember? That time in addition to the stomach ache we got a good scolding"

SW: "which theoretically I only caught it because you didn't see it" * they laugh together *

SW: "Billy..thank you..I appreciate it very much that you are close to me..I also really appreciate the fact that Shanila and Rajeev are with their work, thank you .. please go tell her?"

BJC: "ok!" Billy went to tell a Shanila from the change of plans, while Spencer, intrigued by the story of the two people, looked at the security cameras and noticed that the two figures looked a lot like .. Lolo and Ponzi! Spencer chilled but did he force himself and check if they had moved something, noticed that they had put something in the glass and in the bottle? The same glass that Billy threw away! Most likely they had put in some powerful laxative and Billy had saved him! Cabbage! Upon his return Spencer would surely have embraced him very much and thanked him over and over again. He took the bottle and checked it, he noticed nothing suspicious ... until ... he heard footsteps. I thought it was Shanila but it wasn't. Two people entered the cabin with force, blocking Spencer by the arms and holding him still. Fortunately, the training sessions with Jessica and Billy were useful because he immediately got free and threw a bottle over him.hitting the man, he grabbed his video camera and turned it on so he had some proof, fortunately it was well hidden.

SW: "why do you do this? Go away or call security!"

Both: "you have ruined the image since you came to that school! You a loser, become famous! You deserve to suffer!" Spencer tried to escape but the woman stopped the door, the man took it from behind and the woman took the bottle. Billy, who in the meantime had warned Shanila, felt that something was wrong and immediately flew to Spencer. He heard a loud noise and a strangled rattle .. it was Spencer! He was lying on the floor coughing, he was pale ..

BJC: "SPENCER! SPENCER! WHAT YOU HAVE FRIEND! REPLY! BROTHER REPLY FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC!"

SW: * coughs * bo..bo..bottle..inside there was some cyanide..the video camera..there are the tests..Billy..I have cold..so...stay with me .. * coughs * "

BJC: "cyanide ...? What is it? Hey buddy stay awake! I'm here with you! SPENCER! * Shakes him * Spencer was becoming paler ..

SW: "it is a poison * coughs * very deadly..is almost immediate effect .." Spencer started crying knowing that now there was nothing more to do..he was dying ..

SW: * crying * "hey .. friend .. apparently I won't be able to finish this movie this time eh?"

BJC * starts to cry * "don't ... don't even say it as a joke..you..you.you have to finish it you are the only one who can..hold on now take off to call for help and you will heal..start well"

SW: "against cyanide if you do not act immediately there is no way to save me .. * puts his hand on the transparent cheek of Billy * we had..we had planned to stay together until the end and beyond it? * Cries * you would have done by uncle to my children if I married.. real brother? "

BJC: "Uncle Billy ... does not sound bad" * he is not theremakes her not cry loudly * "please .. don't go .. stay with me..it's my fault. .I had to stay here..who I stuck not to go..and only my fault .."

SW: "hey .. hey..shh shh it's not your fault, if I hadn't thrown the glass I'd be so long and I wouldn't have had time to tell you things .."

BJC: "don't talk ... save your breath, surely Shanila will have seen that we are not back and now she is coming to us"

SW: "there is nothing to do .. but I want to tell you the same .. thanks .."

BJC: "for what?"

SW: "to be my brother..my best friend, to be our relative and to be back after what happened to you..thanks for having me * he cries * .. for giving me a wonderful life full of joy, fun and adventures .. please go ahead .. "

BJC: "how do you go on ... what does it mean? Spencer! Hold on!"

SW: "you .. * the voice starts to get lighter * you ..i love ya brother..i'll come to take..yo-- "Spencer could not finish the two sentences that his body went out under the eyes of Billy.. his little brother..his best friend in absolute... gone...turn off. Billy cried so loudly that he caught Shanila's attention, that when he saw Spencer's body he screamed, cried, and asked what had happened. Billy, in pain, picked up the video camera to give it to Shanila who would give it to the police..but what would it do? * fine flashback *

Billy woke up from that painful memory, remembering how at the funeral there were all the people that Spencer had done them good ... after his funeral Billy was crying for 9 months on his grave .. day and night, his mother (Billy's mother) approached him at the end of the last day of the ninth month and told him ...

Soleana: "my son ... stop just torture yourself like this you are not at fault ... be at peace, so you can be with him ... "

BJC: "I don't deserve it .."

SC: "?"

BJC: "I didn't deserve to have a brother like that! I don't deserve joy or eternal happiness! He...he has always taken care of me ... giving me a chance to have a "normal" life. To be my best friend and now ... now they took it away from me and I didn't do anything to stop it! I don't deserve anything! I deserve to suffer ... I ... I want him to come back! That we come back like we used to spend time together school to defend us from Ponzi! May he stay alive in prison! .. I ... may stay that way forever ... and only my fault ... "

SC: "it is not true! You do not deserve all this! My beloved son you have to let go of this pain ... it is not easy and I know it..but let it help you..It will be much easier for all of us"

BJC: "I ... I don't deserve to be your son ... to have a family like that ... I destroyed it ... I destroyed everything ... as always"

SC: "it's not true! I couldn't have asked for a better son than you * hugs hard *! You..you .. you have no fault..but if you want to stay a little alone I understand you, just .. please remember that you I will visit every 2 days ok? "Billy nodded, took the camera and the pendant and went home.

From that moment on, Billy spent all his time keeping the house tidy, at least trying to comfort, even as a ghost, Spencer's parents and then one day they decided to leave for some time ... the paper said 3 months on vacation ... who could blame them? Leaving him alone for 3 months. His mother often came to visit him, to compliment his work ... but nothing moved him ... it was destroyed. His mother noticed that he was holding Ponzi's spare wig, the one they had both taken for a little revenge, but they would have returned it if it wasn't already he had another, and a bright feather ..

SC: "is that it?"

BJC: "I found it next to me when I was well ... I think it's some pigeon ..."

SC: "she's so bright and light. I doubt she's from some pigeon ... can I see her?" Billy nodded. The mother took the feather and inspected it better ... there was no doubt it was an angel's feather. He picked up the feather and felt pervaded by a warm force, that strength allowed him to see ... Spencer! He was trying to get close to him but his pain was so strong that it formed a barrier. Seen this, he put down the feather and said aloud ..

SC: "you did a great job, I advise you to go to REST and to DREAM a few things, maybe you could do things you couldn't do before!"

BJC: * strums the wrong rope * "ouch mum! I understand there is no need to scream! I go! ... night .."

SC: "night my love..I hope that in your dreams you will find a bit of serenity and awareness .."

BJC: "?"

SC: "nothing my love .. now rests" Ghosts generally do not normally dream like before but "dream" their memories of when they were alive .. and for sure Billy did not dream of good things for a while or at least yes but...they all turned into nightmares because of the pain. Soleana went into the kitchen and heard a sweet voice that said "thank you". Billy closed his eyes, clutching the feather so soft and the wig ... he began to dream. He dreamed of the moments he spent with Spencer, when he was small and when he was a teenager .. but those dreams were distorted with a thousand voices around him that always repeated to him: "it's your fault! You left him alone! You don't deserve anything!You deserve to suffer forever like a ghost and not to be with him in the light! You don't deserve it! You won't stay with him ... NEVER! YOU WILL BE BLOCKED FOREVER ! "Billy moved frantically, suffering in his own memories, blaming himself for something he had no blame for ... blocking him there ... until the feather in his hands lit up, opening a gash in Billy's nightmares and bringing him with himself in a brighter spot. "Billy looked around and noticed that his" colors "came back to him when he was alive. He felt strangely good but still aching ... and then he saw a figure on the horizon. very familiar and could not believe it .. that figure noticed it very quickly, smiled at him, held out his arms forward to say "run to hug me tool-box!", and it was wrapped in that same light .. it was .. Spencer! His little brother ... his best friend returned to being 14 again, he was there with open arms just for him. Billy was about to take off from him ... but he remembered that he didn't deserve it, and everything started to do new darkness but this time, Spencer ran to him holding him close, and the shadows disappeared. Billy burst into a loud cry ...

BJC: "little brother .. are you ... really you? I'm not dreaming?"

SW: "shhh yes big brother I am, in your dreams but I am really I * hugs him more and more strongly *"

BJC: "leave me please! I don't deserve anything .. it's just my fault .. it's my fault!"

SW: "tool box is not your fault for anything ... don't you remember? I told you no?"

BJC: "It's not true! It's just my fault. I have to stay close to you! I deserve to suffer!" Spencer heard them saying, he squeezed Billy more and stroked his back and told him it wasn't like that. Billy calmed down a little but still wept bitterly until he asked him in tears ..

BJC: "Why are you here? Why aren't you in Heaven? What is this place?"

SW: "I'm here for you, to come I asked the angels if it was possible for me to come and get you, they said yes, it would have taken a while, and I had to pass the barrier you created, but I could ... if I could. This is a sort of room where the light of your dearest dreams is not reached by the shadows, so they explained it to me "

BJC: "What do you mean to me? Are you an angel now.. little brother?"

SW: * hugs him even more * I told you, or at least I tried, that I would come and pick you up and wait for you and say that I'm not yet "

BJC: "I ... I ... I don't deserve it! I'm a bad person! I've hurt everyone! I deserve to suffer not being with you and being happy forever!" Spencer denied all the statements he had said and he explained that up there they knew what Billy really was like, they had seen his pain, which is why they immediately allowed him to go and get him and explained to him also why he had become a ghost ... not for eternal punishment, no ghost, unless he wants it, he remains on earth forever, sooner or later when they have learned their lesson and carried out the mission, they go beyond ... Billy had learned the first two lessons: to say to love another person besides himself; being able to learn to live normally and recognize their mistakes by trying to remedy them; being close to the people you love and ... letting go of the pain inflicted not on his own account but on other people. Billy hadn't even learned this last thing until Spencer said ...

SW: "I would never have gone without you..from anywhere paradisiacal and beautiful it could be..I missed you more than my life big brother..I now take you with me..in Heaven .. you won't be alone anymore .. we'll always be together and .. "

BJC: "will we still play like we used to?"

SW: "yes"

BJC: "and will we be inseparable as it used to be?"

SW: * laughs * "yes silly *

BJC: "and...and .."

SW: "yes, you can hug me as many times as you want, as long as you don't hold me too tight, * laughs *"

BJC: "aside * laughs with tears in the eyes *, will I be able to play my music? Will we also play like when we were little? Will I really be with you * crying *?" This time Spencer was crying

SW: "yes ... yes ... one hundred times yes and we will wait up there for the other people dear to us"

Having said these words, Billy got up and all the pain he had ... let him go, aware that they were right ... it wasn't his fault. Waking up, Billy stared at his mother, who came up to greet him, stroked him and said to him ...

SC: "you're ready .. let's go ... we'll see again" she kissed him on the warm forehead because now Billy was ready to go beyond ... but not alone ... he would never have gone alone in both cases in reverse... but with his brother. Spencer could finally appear, in addition to going into dreams, ahead of Billy and they both ran to hug hard. Billy and Spencer hugged their aunt / mother hard with the oath to see each other again when the time comes ... Billy and Spencer were enveloped in a warm light and lifted slightly into the air, slowly disappearing ... the two remained embraced by that light, laughing softly ...

SW: "Hey Billy you put me down * laughs *"

BJC: "no you forget it! * Laughs *" Billy had taken it and thrown it slightly like when they were little and started tickling his tummy and Spencer laughed .. he laughed so heartily that Billy laughed too and had no intention to stop ... they were happy..finally after so much pain suffered by the bullies, by crazy fans, by slimy principals..now they were finally together for eternity. They had kept the oath of a long time ago ... stay together forever in life and beyond. Spencer asked him if he wanted to bring things and see the rest of his family and friends and say hello to them before he left, Billy nodded. They took seeds from the flowers of the garden of their aunt / mother that were the most beautiful to plant them in Heaven, Billy's guitar and pendant, Spencer's photo album and video camera. They all greeted each other hugging them gently.

BJC: "Do you have any regrets?"

SW: 'just not having finished the film "

BJC: * laughs *

SW: "hey why are you laughing friend * rubs his head *?"

BJC "because your BFFE has finished the film"

SW: "whaaaaat !? How?"

BJC: "I directed, with the help of Shanila, the rest and .. violá!"

SW: "Billy you are the best! * He jumps on him hugging him and giving him the punch *"

BJC: "I know! * Bulb in the head *"

SW: "because you have that look..oh no ...no..do not allow yourself "

BJC: * tickles his belly *

SW: "no..pfft..hahahaha stop * laughs * as they ascended to Heaven, Billy started playing with Spencer as when they were little, tickling each other and a sort of" war "started. Spencer broke free and he began to do it himself, only he didn't stop easily ...

BJC: "ppfft..hahahaha Spencer! Stop! I suffer it! * bent in two and began to laugh like when Spencer made him laugh with that application that simulated the mouth of the zombie * "their laughs were so pure and so full of joy that children of they heard and said ..

Children: "Mom! Mom! The sky laughs!"

MB: "you know, it is said that when the sky laughs, it is because two pure souls who want an infinity of good, have gone up to Heaven "

B: "so this means that two souls are in Heaven?"

MB: "yes, but I think that for how the sky shines, they are two souls who have suffered in life and are now finally together .."

SC: "together again for eternity..so how was it supposed to be..you, after all, you swore it when you were little.two brothers, best friends, that even if distant relatives..you wanted an infinity of good .. sharing that good with everyone ... now only an eternity of joy and happiness awaits you ... my angels ". In Heaven, Spencer and Billy played with all the joy they had inside ... not ceasing to laugh, hug and fly together with each other, and with all the other angels, in the clouds ... in a place where no one would ever do them of the hurt, wounded or other ... where they would have waited for their family ... the two brothers had finally gone to Heaven together, remaining together again for eternity ... from then on,every time they played laughing, the sky released a shining powder on their loved ones, making them feel the same happiness they had given them and continue to give.

End...?

Extra :

BJC :" hey Spence' how end the story? "

SW : " ? "

BJC : " the story about the little angel and of the his little child friend..how end? "

SW : " tecnically never end..has a first ending for the main story part one "

BJC : " ook I don't know what mean , but for the moment?how end? I'm curious *puppy eyes *

SW : " never change BJC eh ?*giggle *"

BJC : " nope never *leans on Spencer's right shoulder with half-closed eyes ready to listen to the story* "

SW : " do you remember where we can stop? "

BJC : " at the sad part "

SW : " well..the story end that..." under their cherry tree in Heaven, which shook the flowering branches in the wind, Spencer told the end of the story he was telling Billy when they were on Earth, but in reality that story really has no end .. because even though they are now up there, the adventures and stories with them will not cease to exist and be created, starting from there too with them there will still be many adventures, who knows ... maybe even back on Earth ... no? everything is possible with two brothers-best friends like them...

The stories never end...

[im-m-azing-art]

Madison Jura Character Sheet

It’s a lot so 

What does s/he do too much of? Be alone Too little of? Talk with people Most prized possession: Why? Silver Play musical instrument? Nope       Which one(s)?       How did s/he learn? Does character like animals? Dogs and cats but not much else Any pets? Robot cat ?? Likes music? Any really       What kind? Just nothing too loud TECHNICAL Owns a computer? Yes/No       If not, why not? Email address(es): madisonjura@gmail.com probably       If more than one, each used for...? "Handle": Jurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrah        Meaning to character: her last name with a lot of r’s Uses computer for business, pleasure, both? Play computer games? Yes       If yes, which game(s)? If yes, how many hours per day? Probably minecraft or any other sandbox games       If so, are they/it multiplayere game/s? Not usually Name used on each game & meaning to character? Cat_robots, cats.. robot.. List 4 online site(s) (URLs) visited daily?       1. Youtube       2. Twitter       3. Instagram       4. Various websites to buy materials UNCATEGORIZED Person character secretly admires: No one rlly Person character was most influenced by: Cole Most important person in character's life before story starts: her mom       Why? She was the only one there for her really

Character's Full Name: Madison Jura          Reason or meaning of name: Old self insert Nickname: Maddy or anything really         Reason for nickname: Maddy was an old nickname Birthdate: August 27 Astrological Sign: Virgo but she doesn’t believe that astrological stuff PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Age 12      How old does s/he appear? 14- usually 2 or three years older than she is Eye Color: light blue      Glasses or contacts? She has both if needed Hair color: darkish brown       Distinguishable hair feature (bald, receding hairline, etc.): she doesn’t care about how her hair looks usually so she’ll cut it in weird ways and just let it grow out again       Type of hair (coarse, fine, thick, etc?) thick Typical hairstyle: undercut or just however it gets cut Height: 4’7 ft Weight: 100 lbs.       Type of body/build: chubby Nationality: Ninjagian ? (Appears European) Skin tone: light Skin type: sometimes dry Shape of face: round Distinguishing Marks?       Scars? Miscalenious but usually has them covered Most predominant feature: eyes change color when using her powers       Resembles (famous or not): me.. Accent? none Is s/he healthy?  moderate                                                       If not, why not: she doesn’t go out much Physical disabilities: none Physical abilities (what is character good at? sports, etc.): she can run pretty fast for a short amount of time. Also had inventions that help her physical abilities. FAVORITES Color: Gray Music: Any Food: Pancakes Literature: Hot-to guides Expressions: Confused and :/ Book: anything non-fiction Quote: “Nothing is work unless you'd rather be doing something else.” Expletive(s) (swears): fuck Mode of transportation: her inventions (mainly silver) HABITS Smokes: No       What?       How often? Drinks: No       What?       How often? Worst bad habit? Blocking others off Quirks: If she does get close to someone she’ll do anything for them. Can invent a lot of things very quickly and can be very creative BACKGROUND Hometown: Ninjago City Type of childhood: Decent but lonely First memory: getting ice cream with her mom Most important childhood event that still affects him/her: Father leaving       Why? Not having a dad makes her jealous of others with good relations to their fathers and can sometimes be weary. This also left her with just one parent. With only one parent she was alone a lot and this made her pretty closed off Lower education: elementary school, left after to join the ninja Higher education: never went Booksmart or streetsmart? More so streetsmart but is good with electronics Religion and/or religious views and/or tendencies? Just the general First Spinjitsu Master thing Firsts: Job? Freelance electronics Kiss? No :( Sexual experience? NO >:( FAMILY Mother (name): Srene Jura        Relationship with her: it was decent Father (name): Marc Jero       Relationship with him: b a d and mostly non-existant Siblings: none       Birth order: none       Relationship with each: none Children of Siblings: none Extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.): If she does she never met them besides for her grandparents on her mothers side Close to family?  Yes/No CHILDREN Does character have child(ren)? No       How many? Are all children with the same partner?       If no, why not? If no, what is the custody arrangement? How does character relate to his/her child(ren)? Which child is character's favorite?       Why? Character's most favorite memory of his/her child(ren)? Character's least favorite memory of his/her child(ren)? Is relationship with children good? Is relatioinship with children important to character? OCCUPATION Where does character work? Nowhere specifically        How many years? Since she could build Relationship with co-workers? none Like his/her job? yeah       Why or why not? She likes building Dream job: she likes to have no specific job ATTITUDE Greatest fear: Having the one person she’s close to hate her Worst thing that could happen to him/her? Her jealousy could get her in some pretty deep stuff What single event would most throw character's life in complete turmoil? Powers disappearing Character is most at ease when: Everything is calm and she’s with the person she likes Most ill at ease when: too many people are around and everything is crazy Priorities: person she likes-herself-everyone else Philosophy: nothing specific How s/he feels about self: Sometimes over confident but her self-esteem can be easily shattered Past failure s/he would be embarrassed to have people know about: stupid stuff she did while she was alone and past failures with inventing If granted one wish, what would it be? Being able to be close to multiple people       Why? She’s uncomfortable branching out Daredevil or cautious? More daredevil       Same when alone? A little more careful when around other, especially someone she likes. Biggest regret? Not trying to make friends with kids her age while she was still at school Biggest accomplishment: her inventions, mainly silver Minor accomplishments: performance enhancing electronics, being a semi-celebrity amongst a certain crowd of young inventors. Character's darkest secret: deep down she is really jealous of people close to people she likes that take up even a smidge of their attention       Does anyone else know? Not exactly              If yes, did character tell them?              If no, how did they find out? She is not the best at keeping up a nonchalant facade PERSONALITY Greatest source of strength in character's personality (whether s/he sees it as such or not): creativty Greatest source of weakness in character's personality (whether s/he sees it as such or not): jealousy Character's soft spot: the person she likes       Is this soft spot obvious to others?  Y e s       If not, how does character hide it? Biggest vulnerability: she’s not very skilled without her electronics. Which of the 7 deadly sins does character fight (or give into, willingly or not)? She tries not to but fails       (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride) Which of the 7 virtues does your character have (or fight against)?       (chastity, abstinence, liberality, diligence, patience, kindness, humility) TRAITS Optimist or pessimist? pessimist Introvert or extrovert? introvert Drives and motivations? Talents (hidden or not)? Building, drawing (mechanical), creativty, electronics know-how Extremely skilled at: building, electronics, drawing Extremely unskilled at: interacting with people. Good characteristics: creative, dedicated Character flaws: jealous, oblivious Mannerisms: fiddles with electronics or building materials, doodles a lot Peculiarities: her sense of humor is slightly specific and obscure and sometimes laughs at inappropriate things. SELF-PERCEPTION One word character would use to describe self: eh One paragraph description of how character would describe self: Good at building but makes up for that with being socially stupid. All around, eh What does character consider best physical characteristic? Her eyes, she likes them What does character consider worst physical characteristic? Her fat, it’s not much but it’s still there.       Are these realistic assessments? Sort of              If not, why not? Her weight is fine and she gets her eyes from her dad who she hates How CHARACTER thinks others perceive him/her? What four things would CHARACTER most like to change about self? (#1 most important, #2 second most important, etc.) Introverted-ness jealousy awkwardness More aware If change #1 was made, would character be as happy as s/he thinks? No       If not, why not? Everything on that list would need to be changed or it would probably just be worse INTERRELATION WITH OTHERS Is character divorced? Why? no       If yes, how many times? no Has character ever cheated on any signficant other? no How does character relate to others? Not very well How is s/he perceived by... Strangers? Very well Friends? Decent Wife/Husband/Lover? N/A Children N/A Co-workers? N/A Protagonist? Decently most times Antagonist? Sometimes with respect and sometimes not First impression character makes is: “Wow she is good at building”       What happens to change this perception? She has a terrible personality What do family/friends like most about character? Her abilities tbh What do family/friends like least about character? Her passive-agressiveness GOALS Immediate goal(s): build stuff Long range goal(s): she hasn’t decided yet ; her goals change a lot How does character plan to accomplish goal(s)? She thinks she’ll just figure it out How will other people around character be affected? It depends on what she decides to do PROBLEMS/CRISIS How character react in a crisis (calm/panic/etc.)? She’s fine under stress unless people are rushing her How does character face problems? She isolates herself or just doesn’t do anything       Kinds of problems character usually runs into: Enemies : her dad How does character react to NEW problems? She takes a minute to process it then usually tries to figure out something to do How does character react to change? The gets easily upset and grouchy

GENERAL Jewelry? no Other accessories? Drives a ... : MECHANICAL CAT DRAGON

Where does character live? Wherever the ninja are       With anyone?  Yes/No Where does character want to live? In the country but with a good wifi signal Spending habits (frugal, spendthrift, etc)? Oh god she’s terrible with money but she has a lot of it so it’s just terrible

[crystalsoul16]

RFA + Minor Trio: Video Games

So I got bored, and being the Mystic Messenger obsessed game addict that I am, my mind wandered to wondering what sorts of video games the RFA would play, like types or genres and some examples (aside from LOLOL in Yoosung’s case of course lol), which led to making this headcanon post. Of course, these are all just my personal headcanons, and I would love to hear what thoughts you guys have for this subject! Sharing headcanons is fun~!! Sorry this got kinda long tho lol I guess I got carried away ^^;;;

Note: If you’re on the mobile app and only see Yoosung’s section, copy and paste the post’s URL into your mobile web browser. That should fix it~

💚YOOSUNG💚

Well we all know that he’s addicted to LOLOL, and probably plays or has tried other MMOs. As perfect as those are for him, I’m looking at other types of games for this. Otherwise it’s too easy lol

Plays RPGs and adventure games the most

When he can make a custom character, his preferred classes are knight or warrior classes, but he’s also open to playing as mages

Definitely the kind of player that picks up every. Single. Side quest. Because he wants to help everyone

Need a certain number of rarely dropped items? No problem!

Want to deliver an item to someone who’s not even a two minute walk away? He’s on it!

Got a super difficult optional boss that you want dead that can–and will–display the Game Over screen multiple times, and you’re offering a class-specific item he can’t use as a reward? Sign him the fuck up!

Unless they want something he doesn’t agree with… -gives Skyrim’s Blades the side-eye-

No matter how hard he tries, he just can’t bring himself to play the “asshole/aggressive character” style

“Sure, this assassin was hired by that one traitor who wants us dead, my party is totally against letting him live since he might try to kill us again, and we have absolutely no reason to trust him aside from his seemingly honest answers which he could have just fabricated to save himself, so logic seems to point at killing him to be safe…………buuuuuuuuuut he could be a helpful party member and then no one has to die!”

Also, he loves games that encourage interaction with other players!

“People think that you don’t get any friends if you play games… but you get tons!” TRUTH!!!

So yeah, games with interaction are great!

Honestly MMORPGs are fucking perfect for him and and that’s why he’s addicted to LOLOL! lol seriously dude game with me plz

Really likes Pokemon for the sense of community with trades and battles and such

Totally attempted to make a competitive team at some point

Whenever new games are announced, he and Seven figure out who gets what version so they can trade version exclusives and such

Can never beat Seven in a battle tho… The one rival battle he can never win T^T

Also this guy is a Kirby fan fight me on this

♥ZEN♥

Not a lot of time for gaming with his schedule, but he doesn’t mind using them to wind down or as a distraction when he has the time or feels really stressed out (and if working out doesn’t help first)

He’s a fan of the more cinematic or story driven games, like Shadow of the Colossus, Heavy Rain, and The Last of Us

Knowing this, Yoosung recommended some Telltale games to him

Zen got hooked. The Wolf Among Us is probably his favorite

Plus their episodic releases really work with his schedule, with each episode lasting about 2 hours, give or take. So if he starts on a fully released one, he can do one episode a day until he’s done

Sometimes he and Yoosung will talk about how their stories went or what choices they made

“Wait, you knew what ‘Glass him’ meant???”

“Of course I did, Yoosung, that’s why I didn’t choose it! What did you think it meant?”

“I thought it meant giving him a drink, not smashing the glass in his face!!!”

“lol well now you know in case they use it again!”

“T_T”

Also, I’m sure this likely goes without saying, but this man is damn good at DDR style games or Pump it Up I guess cuz Korea but you get my point. Good luck trying to beat him lol

I mean, first off, he’s clearly got great rhythm considering his job

And second, great form of aerobic exercise! So why not?

Might try to get Yoosung into exercising more by tricking convincing him to play this with him

He’s definitely a “freestyle” sorta player, doin’ all sorts of flashy moves

Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been asked to do voice work for a game

Maybe a dating sim…

💜JUMIN💜

Okay, let’s get the obvious out of the way. This man definitely plays Neko Atsume and no force in this universe can convince me otherwise. It’s about cats and you really only play it in very short intervals through the day, which works with his schedule. It’s perfect for him. Moving on 

With his busy schedule due to running a company and whatnot, there really isn’t a lot of time for him to sit down to play video games despite owning a couple of systems apparently. It might be days or weeks between play sessions. So casual games are more his thing

Okay so, hear me out. Animal Crossing New Leaf

You’re in charge of a village and what gets built where, gotta manage your finances with paying off your house and having new structures and businesses built, sometimes schedule meetings visits with the villagers, cat villagers

NOTHING BUT CAT VILLAGERS

Questions Tom Nook’s business strategy regarding the house

“Why have the house expanded before they pay for it? A customer could easily betray your trust that way by never paying you for the final expansion. Paying ahead of time as you do with the exterior customizations would be wiser.”

“Jumin it’s just a game… ;;;;;;” 

Probably made Jaehee get a copy of the game to make some tasks easier

“Assistant Kang, you have perfect oranges in your village, yes?”

“Yes, though why are you asking me right now? Don’t you have a meeting in five minutes?”

“I’m passing the time, and Mitzy requested an orange.”

“Don’t you have regular oranges to give her?”

“Of course, but Mitzy deserves no less than a perfect orange.” plus he still needs her picture, and prefect fruit will help with that

-_-;;; “……I don’t think I can get one to you before the meeting, but I can have a full basket ready for you after you’re done.”

“That will do.”

Also, do not let this man play Minecraft

Remember, this is the guy who made fucking blueprints when he was told to draw a house when he was a little kid. He would definitely get carried away like that in Minecraft 

Like in the tutorial when they tell you to make a house? Basically just a simple box with a door? pffft, nah. That won’t do

He would probably end up building the most elaborate cube-based house you could possibly imagine and leave you wondering how the fuck he had the free time to build that

“Firstly you need a nice foyer to leave a good first impression. A standard house should have at least two bedrooms, though three would be ideal. And a living room and a kitchen are both necessary, of course. I suppose a library or office is optional, but they make a great addition. Getting enough colored wool proved to be difficult, but adding some color with carpets keeps the house from looking bland and–”

“Jumin it’s just the tutorial! You just need a one room house with a door and a bed!”

“That’s not a house, though. That’s a shed with a bed.”

-facepalm-

might use it to help plan out layouts for new buildings

💛JAEHEE💛

Man, most of these guys really don’t have time for gaming, huh?

Jaehee probably has the least amount of free time for gaming tho. Poor Baehee barely has time to sleep :c

She’s honestly really not that into games tho, so this doesn’t bother her. There are much more productive things she can do in her spare time like get some sleep jfc let the woman get enough sleep for once plz!!

Though if Zen did do a voice in a game she would play it in a heartbeat, or look up a playthrough at the very least. Nowhere near the same as seeing him actually acting up on a stage of course, but surely he can do a great performance solely with his voice!

Like Jumin, casual games that you can put down for long periods of time would suit her best

Actually ends up liking Animal Crossing more than she thought she would or wants to admit

She loves how the villagers are always happy to see her and always rooting for her, and she absolutely adores Isabelle

Probably has a Brewster plush or figure somewhere in her cafe

While I don’t think she’d actually play them, I can imagine her being REALLY good at fighting games

Just takes her a quick look through those lengthy combo lists and she’s got that shit memorized, and with a few practice rounds she can kick your ass with perfect wins before you even know what hit you

But of course, she probably wouldn’t play them, so you don’t have to worry about that :)

❤️️707❤️️

Yay, someone with some time to game!

Actually no, that’s a lie, but he procrastinates on his work a lot, so he has game time

Anything that’s humorous or gives him a chance to be a jackass would be his shit

Sometimes you just need the stupid humor of a goat flying through the air in ragdoll mode to help you get through the day, y'know?

He also enjoys puzzle games to exercise his mind, and racing games for obvious reasons he can go fast without risking his babies’ safety lol

Okay so in Yoosung’s route, he mentions playing GTO (assumed to be a knockoff of GTA), which makes sense for him because cars and high jinks, but with that in mind you know what he’d really get a kick out of?

Saints Row, especially Saints Row IV, cuz that one has hacking elements, and you get superpowers, and you gotta save people and shit. Sounds great for the Defender of Justice, no? The comedy and great music selection is a bonus, really c:

As for being a jackass… Be cautious if you invite him to play Mario Party with you.

He will purposely aim for the Chance Time spaces just to watch everyone else freak out about it, and he will aim for stealing your stars and often succeeds

He’s also really fuckin’ good at Mario Kart. Do not challenge him unless you like being hit by blue shells and other such items

Also, Battleblock Theater. Great puzzle platformer, good humor, and in co-op mode, a great chance to be an ass!! Much to Yoosung’s dismay lol

“Seven, stop throwing me into the water!! And stop blowing me up! We won’t get the time bonus at this rate!”

“lolol who cares, seeing you get mad is worth it~”

A grumpy Yoosung later got revenge by shoving 707’s character into the water

they laugh about it later lol

💙V💙

Guys, this poor man can’t see well at all. Like, he can only see a little bit out of his left eye. That kinda makes video games a challenge for him

That being said…idk he probably liked Pokemon Snap when he could see

Okay seriously this time, imagining he can see well and his life isn’t shit. He’d be a big fan of games that are about exploration and have stunning views or a unique art style

He’d probably really like Okami, Unravel, and Journey

Ori and the Blind Forest! Get it? Cuz he’s.........into artistic games and that game is really fuckin’ pretty

and he’s bli--

Also Firewatch. That game is fucking gorgeous. He would take so many screenshots in that one plus there’s a camera feature in the game lol

Also imagine him and Jumin playing Animal Crossing together and tell me that’s not the cutest shit

It’s a cute and light-hearted game, which I feel like he’d be into, he can play it on his 3DS when travelling, and it’s something he could play with his best buddy~ I’m down for this

Oh shit sudden thought

Okay hear me out! In an attempt to try to get closer to Yoosung, V asks him to teach him how to play LOLOL. Yoo might be a little hesitant at first but eventually agrees to it and holy shit it actually goes well and yay they’re bonding!

And damn V does a great job as a support mage

Of course V can’t play much due to travelling for work, but they try to schedule play times around that and make it work out. And during his travels, if V comes across a location that reminds him of some scenery seen in the game, he sends a picture of it to Yoosung and can this be a thing? I want this to be a thing because I need more Yoosung and V fluff in my life okay sorry for the ramble MOVING ON

seriously tho he probably really liked Pokemon Snap as a kid

💔SAERAN💔

Look me in the eyes and tell me this guy doesn’t rage quit

Like Michael Jones Rage Quit levels of rage quit

That first one is definitely him and Seven

Otherwise he’s pretty much silent when playing

As for games he’d like, anything that’ll let him blow off some steam, like shooters or fighting games

Need a partner for CoD Zombies? Or need someone to co-op Resident Evil with? Well, he’s not much of a multiplayer sorta guy, but if you can convince him then you’re set cuz he’d be damn good at those! 

And Multi-man Smash mode in Smash Bros is very therapeutic to him

Especially when his brother gets on his nerves

Which is often…

You can tell he’s really pissed off when he breaks out Mortal Kombat > ->;;;;;

Also, I can’t help but think that he’d be pretty good at the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games

As in “really fucking close to 100%-ing Through the Fire and the Flames on Expert mode in GH3” pretty good

Seriously his hacker hands are probably really fuckin’ fast I’m sure he could pull it off

Though when his bro sets up a “Family Game Night” and you know he would totally do that at some point or some sort of gaming get-together and sets up Rock Band, Saeran usually prefers to play the drums

holy shit drummer Saeran tho

Oh yes, thinking of gaming nights, if you thought Sev was a monster at Mario Kart, hoo boy, Saeran can be pretty ruthless himself

Except he usually saves all of his blue shells and other misery-inducing items for his bro

In a way he’d be your ally if you get stuck behind Seven

But when they need to team up, like for a 2v2 minigame in Mario Party, you are done

Those two working together make a lethal combination that you could never hope to defeat

I blame twin magic

💘VANDERWOOD💘️

So, hear me out. Card games

They probably play casual card games like Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, Hearts, etc on their phone to pass time

And they come across as a decent strategist to me, considering their job

And card games tend to focus very heavily on strategy

So card-based games like Shadowverse and (don’t laugh) Yu-Gi-Oh and such are probably up their alley

They’d also be really good tactical games like Disgaea

But for the most part they just favor those simple card games like Solitaire. They have too much to do to focus on other such games

Not that Seven hasn’t tried to drag them into gaming with him!

They only agreed to it when they thought Seven would get back to work after a quick game of Mario Kart or Smash Bros or something

Would lose on purpose to make the game go faster

Sev would know though and try to force them into another round

“This time with feeling!”

（；¬＿¬) “…Alright, fine…..”

Another victory for 707

“Okay, you won again, now back to work.”

“Oh come on, one more! You looked like you were having fun that time! Sorta kinda!”

-Vanderwood pulls out taser-

;;;;;;; “Right, back to work! Understood!”

Was definitely having fun tho. Don’t tell Seven

[entergamingxp]

The spiders in Grounded are gorgeous but they’re absolute menace • Eurogamer.net

Please be warned that there are images of spiders in this article.

My dad had a spider in his shower for months and he named it Boris, and when one day the spider was no longer there, he seemed genuinely upset. It seems they’d formed quite a bond. I must have inherited his befriend-a-spider gene because I rather like them, like having them around the house. They’re my household security against other pests. When I see occupied corners and windowsills I consider the room well fortified because nothing stands a chance against them. They’re beautifully efficient, wonderfully designed.

Grounded

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment

Publisher: Microsoft Studios

Platform: Played on PC

Available: Out now in Steam Early Access (£25) and on Game Preview for PC and Xbox (included with Game Pass).

But not everyone likes them, you might be surprised to hear. When I try to tell my girlfriend it’s good to have them around she doesn’t seem to understand. “Can you get rid of it? Don’t pick it up!” She doesn’t even care if it’s a house spider and it’s supposed to live here! She wants it evicted, how heartless. Mind you, one did crawl across the duvet onto her neck so I suppose that’s a contributing factor.

At least the spiders have me, their friend, around to displace them kindly. I hear horror stories of people vacuuming them or stamping on them, tearing around their houses causing spider genocide just because these things tried to make a home there. What a nightmare for spiders we must be. If only the roles were reversed, then we’d see!

Well what a coincidence, now they are. Welcome to Grounded, a Honey I Shrunk the Kids backyard world where you are the size of a paperclip, struggling to keep yourself fed, watered and alive among an ecosystem of things you never really noticed before: gnats, mites, aphids, all of which are now the relative size of a cat.

It’s a base-building game like Minecraft where you gather materials from the tiny-big environment around you, felling blades of grass the size of trees for example, and then turn them into a wide array of different things. The more materials you analyse at a research station, the more options you unlock, and there seem to be a lot, from stuffed mite pillows to slime sconces and mushroom gardens.

To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

This is a montage of me playing. There are spiders.

But Grounded, unlike Minecraft, has a more scripted world, with a story to providing structure and a path of sorts to follow. You’re essentially trying to find out what the hell is going on and why you’re so small, and why there are tiny research bases here. There’s not a lot of story implemented at the moment but what’s there shows promise, especially when you find a quirky robot with a moustache and dialogue options and daily quests. Here, Obsidian’s RPG hallmarks are plain to see.

But when I said Grounded is a world of things you’d never noticed before, of batteries and baseballs and juice boxes lost in the grass (quite a messy backyard actually), that’s not entirely true, because living here, of course, are spiders, and they’re magnificent. The care and attention Obsidian has lavished on them warms my heart. It’s in the way they move, the way the legs come up and over as they feel their way forward, eerily gliding along like a scrunched up horror hand, or in the way their legs tuck close while they rest. And the size of them: my god they’re big. They’ll make you feel like Frodo facing Shelob. There’s no mistaking who’s boss here.

Spiders are the menace of Grounded, and there’s an arachnophobia mode that reduces them to friendly floating blobs if you’re totally not OK with that. They patrol around their nest, barging great blades of grass aside as they go (if you see grass-forests swaying, you know something big is on the move), and if they catch sight of you, even from a fair distance away, they will roar and rear up at you with their front legs held high, in the spidery way they do, and charge. And gee whizz can they shift! Because of course they can, they’re spiders – have you seen how quickly they shoot across your bedroom floor? They pack a punch too. Don’t think about fighting one, trust me. I can’t remember how many times I’ve been pounced by a roaming orbweaver while absent mindedly smashing acorns around the oak tree, and how many of my stuffed backpacks now lie around the trunk there.

But it was another spider encounter that really stuck in my mind. It all started when I needed to get out of a base under the oak tree because I was perishing from hunger and thirst. It was night time and I didn’t have a torch, and I knew what folly it would be to tear out into the dark knowing what could be there, but what choice did I have? It was then that I heard a noise, a kind of guttural growling.

I decided to investigate and poke my head out of the doorway and the moment I did, I heard a roar and the drumbeat of combat and darted back inside. “ALERT: Threat Engaged,” the game told me but I couldn’t see what it was. I waited, regained my composure and poked my head out again. Something moved and then a giant head with many glowing eyes and two huge fangs span to face me. That’s no orbweaver!

I bolted back inside to watch horrid thick, black legs feel around the entrance for a way in, but the beast was too big and couldn’t get in, or so I thought. Emboldened, I edged forward with my puny-looking spear and poked it and, to my surprise, it backed off. I waited, stared at the door, nothing happened. Did it go?

I edged forward again. Roar! No it hadn’t gone! And this time when it roared something unexpected happened: it jumped into the hallway with me. A wolf spider. A tarantula-looking spider the size of a car was now blocking the only exit from the underground base I was trapped in.

I mean!

That moment terrified me. Even watching the footage back now gives me chills (it’s included in the montage embedded here, be warned). But it was thoroughly exciting. When I reloaded the same encounter and played it a different way, waiting and then dashing madly for the water as soon as I saw a hint of morning, I ended up on a leaf floating in the middle of the water watching the morning sun sweep across the garden to chase away the dark and light a new day, and I tell you, it’s one of the sweetest sunrises I’ve ever seen, and all because of the terror of the night before.

All the same, I was starting to get a bid fed up of dying to spiders. My experience of Grounded had been dominated by them and I wanted to know what more was there, so I set about studiously avoiding them. I knew roughly where the orbweavers patrolled (I had no idea where the wolf spider came from) so I steered well clear of them, choosing to stay close to the starter area where I would build a home.

Now, I’ve been around that starter area a lot and I have never had any trouble there, except for the time I punched an ant and then it steamed into me with a load of its mates and I learned the hard way not to mess with ants. But otherwise, no trouble. So imagine my surprise one evening when, while putting up some grass walls, I heard another bone-shaking roar and another – or maybe the same – bloody great wolf spider leapt into the base with me.

Somehow, by kiting the herculean nightmare around my research lab and then hiding inside it, I avoid those fangs, and then I cheated a bit by building a “lean-to” bed within reaching distance and slept the night and spider away even though it was standing right next to me (nothing like bending the rules in a tight spot is there?).

I recovered, and then bit by bit I began making the progress I was after. I made an acorn breastplate to go with my cloverleaf armour, and I finally found a thistle plant to collect spikes from for my spiky club, and to make arrows. I was still steering well clear of orbweaver patrol grounds, still being super cautions, and it was paying off. Until guess what I heard? You guessed it: Roar! And stampeding through the grass like an elephant through a jungle came the bloody wolf spider again. Why me?! What have I ever done to you? I helped your friends when I was big – why won’t you let me be?

Gulp.

But now there I am, holed up in a fizzy drink can with an apparently furious wolf spider trying to get in, even though this time it really can’t – fizzy drinks cans, folks, they’re great base fodder. No matter how far the spider wanders out of sight, the moment I step outside it comes barrelling back over the horizon to get me, so I’m pinned. I’m not entirely sure the spider is working properly, to be honest, but in some way I don’t mind because it seems appropriate I’m helpless before this wonderful beast. I’ve become slightly obsessed with it, with the idea I might one day stand up to it, and then what – I become king of the jungle?

Plus, I imagine, this is what it’s like for all those spiders around people’s homes who are hunted for no other crime than trying to exist. Maybe this wolf spider is taking the collected pain of its species out on me. Silly thing. Doesn’t it realise I’m a friend? My dad knew Boris.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/08/the-spiders-in-grounded-are-gorgeous-but-theyre-absolute-menace-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-spiders-in-grounded-are-gorgeous-but-theyre-absolute-menace-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[actutrends]

GamesBeat managing editor Jason Wilson’s favorite games of 2019

Each year, it gets harder to nail down my favorite games of the past season. Part of this is because there are just so many studios putting out fantastic games. The rise of live-service games plays a role here, too — each year, the living games I enjoy seem to get better and take up more of my life. I can’t think of a better time to enjoy games, and as my compatriots at GamesBeat have shown, this year has had such an amazing amount of quality — be it on PC (my favorite platform), consoles like the PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch (portable mode is a godsend for role-playing games), or my phone. Here’re my favorite games of 2019. Note: These aren’t the games I consider to be “the best.” The most important factor is how much I enjoy playing them (and, increasingly, how much my kids enjoy watching me play them). The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds can be gorgeous.

Obsidian Entertainment is one of my favorite studios. It’s made three of my most-played RPGs of the past 15 years — Neverwinter Nights 2 (and its expansions), and the two Pillars of Eternity games. The Outer Worlds is different than these. You’re running around a system of planets that are at the mercy of a group of greedy, power-hungry corporations. It’s a capitalist dystopia, but it’s a funny one. And it skewers a world in which plutocrats, not people, run things. It also comes with a good character-building system, and its loading screens show off fantastic pieces of art (some of which only shows up based on your decisions). It wears its Fallout influence on its power armor (its makers include some of that landmark RPG’s creators). The Outer Worlds will also leave an important legacy for Obsidian: a fantastic finish to its run as an independent game studio. Pokémon Shield

Dynamax Pokémon loom over the battlefield.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

Years ago, I wrote about how much I hated Pokémon when I tried Red, the then-new release for the Nintendo 3DS. But last year, Let’s Go: Pikachu captured my heart. I credit part of this to my children, who love the TV series and the cards. Yet the game has plenty to recommend it. It’s cheery, and the way so many of its characters are supportive of you and each other is touching in an age where so many people seek to just tear everyone and everything down. It’s also fun to find all these new Pokémon, use the Dynamaxx power to turn them into giant monsters, watch them evolve, and explore the world. My favorite part, though, had little to do with the gameplay. Every time we encountered a new Pokémon, my kids would look it up in their books, helping me find its vulnerabilities and plotting how I should set up my team. Pokémon’s better when we’re playing like this, together. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

There are fouler things than Imperial Stormtroopers in the deep places of the world.

Image Credit: Respawn

Respawn created new worlds and characters in Jedi: Fallen Order. It nailed how I’ve long thought a Jedi should feel in a game. Using your Jedi powers and lightsabers to smash through legions of stormtroopers just feels right. Mixing in metroidvania-like levels gives players plenty of places to explore, and I enjoyed going back to different worlds in key moments of the story (like your second time on Kashyyyk). But most important, it creates a compelling, sympathetic character in the Second Sister, showing that a servant of the Sith can be more than an evil person with a lightsaber. My only quibble: I wish Respawn’s easier modes made it, well, easier to deal with some of the challenging platforming sections, not just nerfing combat. Mistover This is a fantastic spin on Darkest Dungeon and Etrian Odyssey from Krafton, a small team inside the larger Krafton Game Union group. You start in a town, recruit a party, get quests, and outfit your crew. This is where it feels like Etrian Odyssey. But in town, you open up different buildings as you accomplish quests, the first of its many Darkest Dungeon influences. Food and light play a role in the exploration as well. Once you’re in a dungeon, moving around becomes more like a traditional roguelike. For every move you make, the monsters move as well. Combat is strategic as well, as your formations and the abilities you choose matter on the battlefield. It’s a fantastic take on roguelikes, and it’s worth playing. Grindstone

Grindstone is a clever puzzler in which you slay monsters by drawing lines for your buffed-up brawler.

Image Credit: Capy Games

Capy’ Games Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes and Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery are two of my all-time favorite mobile games. So when Grindstone hit Apple Arcade earlier this year, I had to check it out. And when it debuted, I spent about 2 hours playing it. It reminds me of Clash of Heroes in how you line up enemies to slay. It’s a puzzler. You draw a line from your warrior through groups of baddies. It’s simple enough that young children can understand it, but it gets complex enough that it becomes a real challenge to accomplish every map’s goal. It’s fantastic, and I think it’s the best game on Apple Arcade. Magic: The Gathering — Arena

The Brawl decks I’ve settled on during the final day of the event.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

Two years ago, I had no idea I’d love Magic. Now, I play it almost every day thanks to Arena. It’s a fantastic adaptation of the granddaddy of all collectible card games. I’ve learned to play every color, and I’ve even had success beating tuned netdecks with creations of my own. I’ve become a better-than-average draft player as well, and when publisher Wizards of the Coast introduced Brawl, I not only found myself making decks in Arena but with my growing cardboard-card collection as well. Earlier this year, Arena left its open-beta status. The game still has some problems. Most days, you’ll find someone on Reddit complaining about performance issues. Wizards’ monetization tactics are annoying — more than once now, it has introduced an idea (such as the 2-to-1 wild card crafting cost for Historic cards), then changed it after outcry from players. Right now, it’s charging 10,000 in-game gold for a month-long Brawl event, and while you do get one special card as a reward, it’s pretty much charging you to play what I and others consider to be Arena’s best format. That sucks, as Brawl should be a format we can play in a queue, not just in a friendly challenge, at any time. But despite these issues, Arena has proven to be the best way to play Magic when you can’t shuffle cards with your friends. And that’s pretty awesome. Hearthstone

There be dragons!

Image Credit: Blizzard

Year 5 of Blizzard Entertainment’s free-to-play collectible card game might be its best yet. Hearthstone’s development team has been more active this year than ever before, introducing a flurry of prompt card changes to fix problems, better in-game events, its first new mode in years (Battlegrounds, which is pretty dang good), and a willingness to try new things (like the recent Wild event or Arena rotations). It’s even telling better stories with its expansions. Like Magic, Blizzard has stumbled some this year. During its Wild event, it didn’t do anything to address the power of Evolve Shaman, which drove many players (like me) away from Standard and into other modes like Battlegrounds … or spending more time with other games. And its handling of the Hong Kong situation was clumsier than a newborn calf trying to stand up for the first time. But even with those problems, Hearthstone feels more vibrant now than any time since its first expansion. And that’s a good thing for Blizzard and its millions of players worldwide. Dragon Quest Builders 2

Even the quest lines have punny names in Dragon Quest Builders 2.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

I’ve never been able to get into Minecraft. I know it’s fabulous. My kids love it. But I like a little more direction, and I get this from Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Builders series. In the sequel, you’re building your way to defeating a great evil. It’s charming, and as you finish off quests, you open up more building materials and options. It has most of the fun of a Dragon Quest game, but with a sandbox openness. It’s neat, and it’s even more fun when you play with kids. Disco Elysium

Disco Elysium is like no other RPG that came out this year … or in any recent year.

Image Credit: ZA/UM

This might be the trippiest RPG I’ve ever played, and I dig it. You play a detective coming off a bender, trying to solve the mystery of a hanged man left on a tree. It doesn’t have combat, really. You face decisions in conversations you have with the characters around you (and in your head). The system revolves on skill checks in conversations and reactions to the words you and others use, not weapons, warriors, or wizards. It’s fascinating, and it developer ZA/UM delivers something I’ve rarely seen in my decades of gaming: an RPG where choice, not combat, matters the most. A Plague’s Tale: Innocence

A Plague’s Tale: Innocence is a fascinating game.

Image Credit: Asobo Studio

I’ve been fascinated with this game since seeing it at E3 in 2017. It’s from Asobo Studio in France, and it’s about a 15-year-old girl and her younger brother surviving during a horrible plague afflicting France. And rats. Swarms of rats. Millions and millions of rats. The pair must use stealth to escape an inquisition that’s after them … and may be at the center of the plague. It’s a terrific, terrifying story, and it has the bonus of capturing the repulsiveness rats and magnifying it into a game that both fascinates and disgusts. It’s unique. Honorable mentions Code Vein Etrian Odyssey: Nexus Iratus: Lord of the Dead Metro: Exodus MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Path of Exile Queen’s Wish: The Conqueror Slay the Spire The Surge 2

The post GamesBeat managing editor Jason Wilson’s favorite games of 2019 appeared first on Actu Trends.

[multiplegamestyles-blog]

Top 10 Xbox 360 Games (IMO)

So Microsoft gave up on the Xbox 360 consoles a little while ago, but they’ll always have a place in my heart. I’ve spent hours upon hours playing games with it, and it was a big part of my childhood. So, today I’ve chosen my Top 10 favorite Xbox 360 games. Be aware that I’ve played all of them till the end, and that this is my opinion.

This post will be covered with spoilers that may take away some of the fun parts of playing a brand new game. Without further ado, let’s begin.

10 - Terraria

Terraria is a great game, everyone knows that. You can explore infinite worlds that are never the same, you can fight 12+ bosses, and it even has an event that you can trigger that is actually a crossover with another one of my favorite games: Dungeon Defenders 2.

I recommend you to check it out.

9 - Project Gotham Racing 3

That’s a really cool one. PGR 3 is a racing game, where you can compete online if you have an Xbox Live Gold account, or you can play in campaign mode, where you race some of the hardest bots I’ve found out there, I must say.

If you don’t fancy a solo game you can play in local CO-OP, and design your own races. That’s really cool, right?

You can buy tons of different cars, and even have them displayed in some fancy garages! It’s definitely worth a try.

8 - Dragon Ball Z - Battle Of Z

I really like Dragon Ball, and the only reason I’ve not included Dragon Ball Xenoverse is that I don’t own it, and I haven’t actually played it. So I can’t give an opinion.

But that doesn’t mean that I don’t own any Dragon Ball games! DBZ - BOZ tells the whole DBZ story, back from Sayans Saga up to Battle Of Gods. You can even play as Vegetto if you buy him!

As the game progresses you’ll start to get some cards that can be equipped to increase a hero’s power.

When you get to a certain point of the game (after defeating Beerus, I guess) you’ll be able to use any hero at any stage, to the point of fighting Nappa with Goku SSJG. Mindblowing.

7 - Dungeon Defenders

If you like a good strategy game, that’s definitely a must play. Dungeon Defenders is an Action, Strategy, Tower Defence game where you can play as one of the multiple characters of different classes with different powers.

You can play as an Apprentice, which is kinda like a mage of some sort, you can play as a Monk, a Squire, a Hunter and others too.

On Dungeon Defenders you must defend Eternia Crystals, which are (warning - oversimplified content) magical crystals that monsters wanna destroy. Basically.

As you kill monsters, they drop weapons and equipment that you can use to make your character insanely stronger. The weapons vary for each class. If you’re playing with the apprentice you’ll get wands, staffs, and rods. Squire, swords, and so on and so forth.

It also has an online multiplayer option and supports local CO-OP up to four players too.

6 - Perfect Dark Zero

This is a game that I wasn’t able to finish (lack of time, and, you know, X360′s problems). But it’s a rather wonderful and rainbow-ish game. Or no. You play as a secret agent that has to take down, well, I can say, super-criminals that have amazingly a lot of high tech stuff.

Again, if you don’t fancy a solo game you can also play Deathmatch mode, which even has bots for the case that you don’t have a friend available.

Now, it’s an FPS game. And I’m not that into FPS games. That’s the only reason that this is as below as it is in the list. But it is an amazing game. Rare (or Rareware) makes amazing games and I like most of their work. Most of it. (I’m referring to Kinect Sports here).

5 - Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

God, I love this game. I’ve beaten it many times, and I still find the time to do so. Who doesn’t like at least one Lego game? On Lego... I’m just gonna abbreviate it, it’s a rather long name, you know. On LSW: TCS you play through the whole story of Star Wars characters, from the 1st to the 6th movie.

You can also play the game as Indiana Jones, for that matter. I’ve played this game a lot as a kid, and I play it till today.

4 - Viva Piñata

You can kill me because I’d rather play this one than play Tomb Raider Legends, which I also own, but it’s just that Tomb Raider isn’t my kind of game, you know.

On Viva Piñata you must grow a garden in a given area that increases as you progress the game, with the objective of becoming the best gardener in the land. Right on the beginning, you’ll know Leafos, the girl that’ll help you know the game’s controls and tell you the objectives.

The game has a whole city, you can say. It has a pinãta hunter, a doc and even a shaman.

You have side objectives too, such as finding the great Dragonache, the rarest piñata in the game. You can only have one of them per garden.

This is another game made by Rare. There are a few more in this list.

3 - Minecraft

C’mon, Minecraft! I know this game since... Since I can remember! And don’t tell me it’s a kid’s game! I know that’s the focus, but it’s still fun. Minecraft is a game that you can play with friends, online or offline, or alone if you’re fancy doing so.

Do I need to say anything else about Minecraft or does everyone know about it?

2 - Banjo Kazooie - Nuts and Bolts

I know, the Banjo-Kazooie community doesn’t like this game as a Banjo-Kazooie game, because Rare transformed what used to be a platformer game in a racing game. But I do like this game, and it was through it that I’ve known the Banjo-Kazooie franchise. And, while I like every single game, this one holds a special place in my heart.

Plus, I don’t know any other game that lets you build your car from scratch with the freedom that Banjo-Kazooie - Nuts and Bolts offers. 

1 - Kameo - Elements of Power

The number one in this list. This is literally the first game I ever played in an Xbox 360. In any console, for that matter. It’s a 360′s exclusive game, but you can play it on Rare’s game compilation released to the Xbox One console, Rare Replay.

You control Kameo, an elf that can transform into twelve different Elemental Warriors, where each one has unique skills. She can transform into a boxer plant (Pummel Weed), a dragon that creates fire tornadoes or even a yeti!

The objective is to end the war between elves and trolls and to defeat the strongest monsters, such as the Shadow Trolls, creatures that have imprisoned the Elemental Warriors, or Thorn, the king of all trolls.

Its graphics were amazing at its time, and it was one of the first Xbox 360′s games.

That’s my favorite game by far, and in my opinion the best game Rare ever made. Unfortunately, they’ve canceled its sequel because Microsoft wanted them to make Kinect Sports. The world is funny, isn’t it?

A Few Honorable Mentions (IMO as well)

Tomb Raider Legends

Castle Crashers

Battleblock Theater

Kinectimals

Burnout: Revenge

Banjo-Kazooie (Remake)

Banjo-Tooie (Remake)

Rare Replay

GTA V

Dragon Ball Xenoverse (1 and 2)

But Igor, why didn’t you put as number one the Rare Replay game if you like Rare so much?!

Well, that’s simple. That’s because Rare Replay is not a game. It is a game collection, a compilation.

What about GTA V then?

Eh...

You know, the best part is that now you can use almost any Xbox 360 game in an Xbox One. That’s amazing. If you don’t agree at some point or believe that I forgot something, please, let me know your opinion in the comments below!

Also, if you’ve got some time, check my game; it’s really cool. Its name is Land Of Enchantments. Visit my Twitter too, @igorvasiak_mgs!

[megadads]

There’s been a lot of conversation over the past few weeks about the video game Fortnite. I’m not talking about the usual conversations about games that you’d see on Twitter or in a Reddit thread, I’m talking about a broader discussion that’s happening on morning talk shows or between parents on Facebook. Fortnite has become a phenomenon with over 40 million players and is becoming one of those few games that transcends the typical gaming audience (like Minecraft or Call of Duty). People who aren’t normally a part of the gaming conversation are hearing about this game and are curious about what it’s all about.

The story that’s gotten the most attention is one that aired on the morning show, Good Morning America recently. It featured a mom who was concerned about how much time her kids were spending with the game, and a conversation about what kind of effect these games can have on children. I thought it was a pretty level-headed story that didn’t jump to any conclusions and actually brought up some of the positive things about gaming such as the social interaction. So I was a bit surprised to see how many gaming industry folks were pouncing on the story and lashing out about parents needing to do a better job of parenting instead of blaming games. It got me wondering, why are people so afraid to have this conversation?

I guess it makes sense for the initial reaction from the gaming community to be defensive when the mainstream media begins asking questions, for decades gaming has been under attack from journalists, politicians, and special interest groups. But things have changed in recent years. Gaming has grown to such a degree that half of all Americans now play video games. Teachers, doctors, lawyers, men, women, kids, grandparents. And study after study has not only debunked theories about the harm video games do, but actually pointed out the many positive effects they have. So I would argue that despite the unsubstantiated claims and finger-pointing from our current President, the games industry has nothing to worry about.

As far as the statements that parents should do a better job of parenting and not blame video games, I would say this: I think it’s good that parents want to know what their kids are playing and whether or not it’s appropriate. From what I’ve read, (most) of the questions haven’t been “Will this game turn my child into a killer?” but rather “What is the right amount of time for my child to spend gaming?”. Yes, in an ideal world parents would be fully knowledgeable about every bit of media that their children consume, but that’s unrealistic and a bit naive. Being a parent is busy and complicated and it’s just not possible to research every cartoon, book, game, and song that they like. I know myself that there are plenty of things that I don’t know about PJ Masks or Taylor Swift. That doesn’t make me a crappy dad, it just means I’m human.

For those that haven’t seen the game, Fortnite is a 3rd person shooter which features two modes. A single player version which has you building and defending a base from waves of zombies, and a multiplayer mode (which is by far the more popular mode) which has you and/or a team battling against 99 other players in a “last person standing” style battle. In the hours that I’ve spent with Fortnite it’s easy to see how it’s become the mammoth success that it has. The gameplay is fast, fun and not overly complicated, and it’s accessible for those who aren’t experts in online multiplayer games (like myself) but there’s enough of a learning curve that skilled players can excel.

It also features a colorful art style that makes it immediately more appealing than many of the other games in the online shooter space. The visuals help to create a more lighthearted tone that may help explain why Fortnite is more popular with younger players than other similar games. And while the game is all about gunning down everyone you see, there is no blood and the violence is more akin to something you’d see on a cartoon. So while you may not want your 5 year old playing it, it does make it a bit more friendly for older kids.

There are two factors though that I think explain how it has become so immensely popular. The first is that it’s free. You can spend money on season passes which help you earn outfits, emoticons and other visual improvements, but you can also play the game forever without spending a penny. The other is the social aspect. You can hop in and play a few quick rounds all the while chatting with your friends. Those two things combined make it incredibly easy to see how it has spread through schools and social circles.

The main thing that I think concerns parents who are unfamiliar with video games and Fortnite in particular, is how much time should a child be spending with the game (or their iPad, or television, etc.) and that’s not an easy question to answer. There are studies out there that deal with how much screen time toddlers and younger children should get, but when it comes to older kids I think it comes down to each individual child. Obviously there is such a thing as too much time spent playing games, as a parent I think you just need to take into consideration other factors such as how much social interaction they’re getting, making sure they get regular exercise, and making sure that too much time spent gaming isn’t affecting their grades. As long as your child has a healthy balance of these things, you shouldn’t have too much to worry about. And we in the gaming community shouldn’t be worried when people come asking questions.

  It’s Okay to Ask About Fortnite There's been a lot of conversation over the past few weeks about the video game Fortnite.

[dorothydelgadillo]

How to Survive Working From Home During Your Kid’s Holiday Break

I spent the twelve years since my oldest daughter was born as a stay-at-home dad and homemaker, and—during that time—periods like winter break when the kids are home from school were busy but manageable. But this year’s winter break marks a big change for me—it’s the first one where I’ll be juggling a job on top of childcare. The kids and I made it through my first working summer—barely���but the summer was regimented enough with activities like camp that it was similar to the school year. The intense two weeks of winter break are a different ballgame, though—too short to really schedule a routine, but long enough to create all kinds of productivity pitfalls.

In hopes of avoiding those snags, I wanted to get ahead of the curve and go into this winter break with a solid plan. I know what will happen if I don’t, and it’s not pretty—by the end of the break my two daughters and I will be rocking back and forth, feral, snarling, and blinded by the light of day when we finally emerge from the house, and my coworkers will have sent a search party. I figured there’s got to be a better way, so I reached out to a group of work-from-home parents, hoping to learn their strategies for transforming winter break into the holly, jolly time of year we’ve all heard rumors about.

Get Ahead of It With Workarounds, Co-Working, and Working With Others

Although winter break is listed on school district calendars months in advance, it’s easy to be so caught up in the minutiae of the day-to-day that its arrival turns us into wild-eyed reactionaries. But, according to Lindsay Nash, Marketing Manager at Waldo Photos, with just a little bit of pre-planning we can meet those two weeks with a proactive, cool head instead. Start that planning as soon as possible (like now).

Remote work typically comes with a certain level of flexibility—half the time your colleagues aren’t even in the same time zone, so there’s leeway for scheduling meetings and deadlines— and winter break is a key time to use this to your advantage. Nash—an American expat who works remotely in South Korea—always makes sure to schedule winter break meetings and conference calls when her kids are either asleep or out of the house. In her case, her employer and team are open to working with her timeframe, but even if you’re working in a less forgiving environment, a little bit of creative planning can keep your kids and conference calls separated. Nash suggests looking to nap times, early mornings, late evenings, or even taking your laptop and heading out of the house to a park or coffee shop for uninterrupted meetings.

On the other hand, Nash says you could flip the script entirely and keep your kids close. Nash’s kids are curious about everything she’s up to—whether she’s working at her desk or trying to take a trip to the bathroom—so one of her strategies is to simply include them in her work. Nash sets up a desk near hers and provides “work” activities (coloring sheets, math problems, and puzzles), allowing them to be co-workers with her. Even if it only lasts a little while, kids will feel like they’re “in” on the action, which means you can take the moment to get some work done sans interruption. You may still be followed to the bathroom, however.

Set Boundaries Around Lunch Breaks, Blood, and Fire

With your kids are running around the house while you try to answer emails, boundaries are more critical than ever. During the weeks that his kids are home, Paul Dessert, Web Developer at Airbus Defense and Space, sets aside his lunch hour as a time to visit with them, and he preemptively steps out of his office for a few minutes each hour that he’s working to check in. When it’s time for him to buckle down, though, he closes and locks his office door and enters “Do Not Disturb” mode. By being accessible to his kids on a regular basis during the breaks it makes it easier for them to recognize and understand the times when he can’t be interrupted.

Making clear what counts as an emergency is key, and Joshua Peskay, VP of Technology Strategy at RoundTable Technology—sets up winter break boundaries in living color by instating a “RAG” (red, amber, green) status system in his home office. Green means that Peskay’s working, but it’s fine for the kids to come in if they need something or want to talk, amber or yellow denotes that if it’s important, it’s okay to interrupt, and red means that if the kids aren’t on fire or bleeding, don’t come in. A system like this further codifies and regiments boundaries, removing the ambiguity that can quickly lead to irritation and bickering when the kids are expected to read your mind. Not that I’d know anything about that, of course.

Hire Yourself Some Temporary Childcare and Housework Help

After spending so many years as a homemaker before doing paid work from home, outsourcing domestic chores doesn’t come naturally to me—I fear that if I hired someone to clean my house, I’d spend a week cleaning it myself in preparation. But when I add up the amount of time I already spend on housework and parenting when I have the benefit of having my kids at school all day, I know I’ll need to call in reinforcements when they’re home for winter break.

Nancy Fulton and Mark Mazur work together from home, each owning and operating their own businesses—Fulton runs online and face-to-face events for producers and screenwriters in Hollywood and Mazur is an app developer and CTO. They’ve been at the home entrepreneurial game for over 20 years now, and in the meantime have raised three kids. With many a winter break under their belt, they’ve developed a good deal of insight into staying sane and productive with kids home and underfoot.

According to Fulton, their secret is outsourcing. As two parents with paid work (in addition to parenting responsibilities), there comes a time when you need to hire outside help, and it becomes crucial to put some of your money toward making more money without losing your mind.

Start by hiring a housekeeper or cleaning service to pick up the domestic slack—if only for the duration of the school break (this could mean somebody comes just once a week or every other week—just enough to keep the place clean but without racking up a massive bill). By paying someone to take out the trash, sterilize the bathrooms, and do dishes, you’ll be freeing up precious time that can be spent both on work and on connecting with your kids.

In addition to housekeeping, Fulton adds that hiring a nanny or babysitter to spend time with the kids during the break is another wise investment. She and her husband usually recruit students from their local junior college or university, and that having someone occupy the kids for even a few hours a day frees up precious time that might otherwise be spent refereeing sibling disputes or being nagged relentlessly to take them ice skating.

If a nanny isn’t a financially viable option, turn to your community. Nash says to remember that—despite the feelings of isolation that can creep in when you’re home with kids during winter break—you don’t have to be alone. Nash has cultivated a small community of fellow remote-working parents who take turns watching the kids. Kids get to play with friends, parents get quiet working time, and everybody’s happy. And even when it’s her turn to watch the group of kids, Nash still gets more work done than if she just had her own, since they’re all preoccupied playing with each other—so you might consider opening up your house to parents who don’t work remotely and can’t take on watching your kids, but can provide their own kids as distractions for yours.

Give Up the Fight About Screen Time

For the past few years, the major parenting debate seems to be screen time. In fact, when I made my inquiries for this story I didn’t expect to hear any shout-outs to tablets, smartphones, video game consoles, or other digital pied pipers, but several of the pros I spoke with brought up the beauty of screens.

James Pollard, Marketing Consultant at TheAdvisorCoach, says he’ll sometimes pull out an early Christmas present—particularly a video game that his kids can lose themselves in for a few days—as a winter break tactic, while Nash says that screen time is a natural part of contemporary parenthood, and sometimes ends up being her go-to for a moment of peace, quiet, and productivity.

I personally gave up the fight over screen time with my kids years ago. In fact, I never really fought it. I felt like I couldn’t regulate my children’s screen time in good faith without regulating my own, and so—whenever my kids are home—the floodgates of Minecraft, Roblox, and YouTube are wide open. But to my surprise, my kids end up regulating themselves. Both of my girls have healthy social lives, my youngest plays soccer, my oldest writes fiction, and they excel in school—all while using screens to their heart’s content. And so, like Pollard and Nash, I’m on board with a screen-friendly winter break.

Of course since they don’t have hard and fast limits, my kids get sick of their screens pretty quickly, and then we’re back to square one—the two of them irritated with me for not entertaining them, and me irritated because they’re up in my grill while I’m trying to work. And so this year—armed with the tips listed above—I’m going to get ahead of the situation! I’ll stop working in the living room with a girl on either side, and turn our storage room into an office to establish some boundaries. I’ll set aside money to pay for a housecleaner so my kids won’t grow up remembering me as the guy yelling at them to get off the couch when I’m trying to lint roll it. I’ll take advantage of my flexible remote work by shifting the bulk of my work to times when the kids aren’t around, and try to network with other parents in similar situations. And screens. Lots and lots of screens. For me, of course. I hear there’s a new Mario game out.

from Web Developers World https://skillcrush.com/2017/11/13/working-from-home-during-holiday-break-tips/