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maga-sn · 1 month ago

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Resources Guide for new Shining Nikki players

This is Part 1: Game mechanics

Part 2: Chronology for the story and where to find lore

Hi!! I'm Maga, a daily player in SN Global server, S2 Cloudcrest, and I've been playing since release day. Lately I've encountered a lot of new SN players or Wannabe players on Twitter, and I see some confusion on how the game functions, how to farm diamonds, how does x y z feature work, among other things. So, I wanted to extend a hand and compile some useful videos, guides, docs, and tips that I think would be helpful.

Firsts things first: welcome, stylist! It's great to have you here, and I hope that, in spite of roadblocks and pulling woes, you can enjoy the game and have a positive experience playing it (⌒▽⌒)☆ Looking forward to your creations and reactions to the story~

To begin, I'd strongly suggest joining SNOD, that is, Shining Nikki Official Discord server. There, you will find lots of stylists to chat with, a space to share your outfits, channels to help you find a guild that matches your playing style, a channel dedicated to questions, guides and strategies; also activities with in-game rewards. And lots more, so it just makes sense for you to join and make the most of our community!

If you're planning on playing casually, maybe you're just interested in the story and want to read it, collect few sets here and there, then this compilation of resources will be overkill for you, and you might prefer to skip straight to Part 2 of these Guides. But, even if you're playing casually, you will at some point or another interact with different game features and be blocked by certain requirements, so it will help if you know your way around the game.

On the other hand, if you're planning on committing to the game so you want to build your account correctly from the beginning, or aren't sure yet but would like to play it safe just in case you get hooked, then this will be helpful for you.

Tip: If you haven't started your account yet, make sure to join S3 Rosset. The third server released months after the first two, so most players who locked in are in S1 and S2. Rosset is the most f2p server, with the least p2w players- so even if you're not staying f2p, it'll be easier for you to rank higher, which is a must to save diamonds. Best server to join as a new player looks like this: Rosset > Flowerland > Cloudcrest Miscelaneous: server population and competitiveness (S1 and S2)

Useful Videos

Next, I'm going to add every video that I have personally used all those years ago, plus other guides I consider important to understand the game and play smart from the beginning. Please try to read or skim my notes first and don't just dive into the videos directly.

Simply Nightshade and LoveEffie's Beginner's Guide Playlist

✔ Great, concise introduction to many game features for you to not go in blind.

✔ While these guides will feature an old version of the game with a different UI, the mechanics for the features present there are mostly the same as they are now. This applies to most videos on this list. Some game features aren't present because they hadn't been implemented yet, but I'll try to get those covered through other videos and resources.

✔ I wanted to include this playlist because they cover little things like friend affinity points, which is one of many features that have been left forgotten for a long time now, because we old players are alredy done with them, and have been for a long while.

Vivi Gaming's guides for V0 players for the first week of the game

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7

✔ I don't love these guides, because in retrospective I disagree with certain things, but I can't deny that when you're new and lost and there are so many things to do the first few days, something like this is very helpful.

✔ If I remember correctly, she tells you to buy the diamond stamina pack at first. While I did do that, I don't recommend it if your goal is to start saving from the get go. The schedule used to be a lot more forgiving back then, so that decision didn't affect me too badly, but It's still 300 diamonds down the drain, 60 short of 3 pulls. If you're really itching to speedrun stages and farming, you can do it, I can't stop you, but I have warned you. Maybe the first week it's alright, but it's not a good long-term deal (unless perhaps you're planning on paying for monthly cards often and don't mind it).

✔ I don't remember if she also says to buy diamond arena attempts to get the arena reflection sooner- but in case she does, also take this recommendation with a grain of salt. It will help you rank faster if you're not pulling for current UR limited events, but it's still spending diamonds in an otherwise free feature of the game. Still, if you feel like you want to, go ahead. And do use the Arena Calculator to manage your bought attempts.

✔ My intention with these videos is for you to familiarize yourself with the game and its core mechanics. The long format and repetitive nature of Vivi's videos makes for a great teaching tool regarding the names of different menus, tabs, features and other details. This will help you learn from the basics so you can work your way up to understanding other guides that can confuse you if you don't know the terms, concepts, and names of things very well. It'll also help you develop a routine for dailies: make some actions more natural for you so you don't forget about them. I suggest watching them while you play, so you can see the new locations or looks of certain features that have changed since.

Sei Nikki's guide on Styling Power and scoring

This video covers scoring for Clothing, Designer's Reflection (DR), Awakening, Passive Effects, Call of Reflection, Concepts, and Stylist Academy (This is super important to do early game, I'm begging you to not forget about it. I'll link a farming doc later)

✔ Obviously we've gotten tons more DRs by this point, so when she says "this is the strongest for x attribute" remember this was during global release. It can work as a reference for which DRs you should work on as a new player, but for current rankings refer to the DR tierlists I'll share later. There are plenty of f2p friendly DRs there, that will help you direct your resources to what works best with what you can get.

✔ She mentions that concepts that are part of a Resonance will be numbered, but there are exceptions, so watch out for Concepts that look like pairs, and check their resonance info on 'Promote Concept' in the Ark.

✔ Bond with Nikki isn't super high priority for scoring, but it blocks some rewards, like Chapter rewards in the Achievements menu.

Simply Nightshade's full Concept crashcourse

This video is a wonderful guide to understanding concepts, Concept Voyage stages, how does leveling and petaling (deepen) works, which concepts to prioritize and why, decomposing and merging.

Tip: I didn't go throught the entire video, just skimmed it to verify it was useful, but! In case it's not included: don't decompose R concepts, at least early game. Either merge them to obtain SR concepts (this is just at the very beginning when you're struggling to get new concepts), or leave them as leveling fodder. SSR and UR concepts take a lot of points to level up, so be mindful and allocate your R concepts wisely.

Benign Chaos on Stylist Academy

✔ Stylist Academy is a feature you need to do a lot of farming for, and includes Mind Maze and Challege Stage drops, which you get 10 tries per day for, so you should start farming ASAP so you can be as efficient as possible and not waste those tries. Of course, you'll struggle with stamina at the beginning, so even if there's a lot to work on, it's understandable if it takes a lot of time, be kind to yourself and do what you can when you can. The amount of things to do at the start is simply overwhelming. But don't neglect the Academy.

Tip: what she says about not being sure what the strategy is to choose what to upgrade, she must be referring this: First, upgrade everything to lvl 3 for the 7-day Tour Then, prioritize Dress > Hair > Accessory > Shoe > Sock > Coat > Full

Evie Gaming's Guides

Evie has several guide videos, but next I'll list the ones I think you would need the most.

Ultimate Battle Guide: These videos are heavy on math and calculations, but they offer great insight into how scoring works and what features affect your overall scores. The guide is incomplete, sadly, but that couple of videos are already a great boon.

Nail Salon: Both the video on how the feature works, and the one with tips.

Memory Stairway: Full Guide on the feature, with the weekly schedule, currencies, Idea lab recolors and score boost (though please don't reset your recolor levels if you don't want to spend diamonds freely, this is more for monthly cards players), how to best pick your DRs and concepts, and a couple other details. Super useful.

Memory Stairway Shop

✔ She says there's no reason to exchange the Star Wish (puzzle piece) currency for the Rewinding Hourglass one, but that's more for old players. Since you're new, you might prefer to work on old sets that you aesthetically like more, so feel free to play around with that exchange if it's what you want.

✔ Current Idea Lab cap level is 400, soon to be upped to 500.

Feel free to peruse the rest of her playlist, but there's a lot of videos that were meant to be useful before the events came out (pre-farming for example), so I didn't feel it was necessary.

Sei Nikki's other guides

✔ Diamond farming guide (doesn't include Memory Stairway)

Recommendation: Like she says, please don't spend your diamonds on the permanent pavilion sets. And as an adendum, don't spend your Fantasy tickets (InNikki equivalent is the blue crystals) on the Fantasy pavilion- focus on Gleam. You'll collect SR and SSR sets way faster, and slowly but steadily nip at the permanent URs. There's a strategy with Fantasy for endgame but until you get there, you'll see more results with Gleam.

✔ Intel Hub Tips

✔ Redundant, but in case you prefer her video about the Nail salon

✔ Styling Competition feature

Tip: These competition DRs are SUPER easy to max for their Call of Reflection, so make sure to check the DR tierlist I shared below and see which ones are worth gunning for if you're lacking a good enough UR. Remember; a good and properly leveled SSR with maxed Passives and Call of Reflection can beat a base leveled UR.

✔ General tips, tricks, recommendations, and reminders

More Videos:

Mind Maze

How to make and/or change your name card: unfocused but it does show you. This video is on a playlist of similar inquiries, such as profile pictures, use lighting, filters, backgrounds etc. I will continue linking a few more I consider important, but you can check out other things she explains in those.

"Why Can't I Decompose My Echoes?"

Hard stages for Clock Workshop and Concept Voyage (same idea applies to Neverfall Courtains and Memory Stairway): This video and This video

Reverie Moment: basics about our Instagram-ish feature

Set Breakdown videos so you can decide what limited events you'd like to save for, and see a variety of other sets.

Docs, Written guides, Tierlists, Archive of Past and Future Suits, and more

Here I'll put together guides and other resources available on Shining Nikki Official Discord (this is partly why I insist you join), that I have used myself in the past and that are incredibly useful. Lots of respect and love for the creators and contributors of these.

Remember to make copies of the docs that require it

Terminology used in the server

So that you can understand the other docs and answers you receive in the server

Farming Docs

Designer's Reflection upgrade costs (elexela)

Academy farming guide (kami.8518)

Crafting Sheet for Main story, Lifetimes and other Workshop sets

Designer's Reflection Tierlist

Go to the Doc

This doc was last updated mid 2024, next is an adendum made on SNOD

Again, for those times when you want a second opinion deciding on what to prioritize or if a DR is better than another depending on the context, don't hesitate to ask for help on discord!

Make-up Album by crystalrainchimes

✔ Awesome archive, because you can see the make-up close-ups on all skin tones.

Gallery for past and future event sets (both limited and permanent) by Rummi

Tip: make good use of this archive to create a wishlist. This way, you'll prioritze what you absolutely want to get and plan your savings accordingly.

Recently I sent this gallery to a new player, but they weren't sure how to navigate it, so I made some basic explanations that I'll share as well. Though, on this other post so as to not clog this one

✔ Just in case you miss Rummi's note on this- this gallery uses the TW/CN server rarities, which basically they go up to SSR instead of UR. Our URs are their SSRs, our SSRs are their SRs and so on and so forth.

Event Costs (from SNOD)

✔ Every pull costs 120 diamonds

Single SSR: 70-100 pulls

Double SSR: 130-180 pulls

Single UR + SSR set: 70-100 pulls for just the SSR set, 180-240 for both, up to 360 pulls for echo

Double UR: 180-200 pulls for one set, 300-350 for both, possibly more for awakening

Collaborations: Are a special type of event where SN collaborates with another brand and make in-game sets featuring said brand. Collabs cost about the same amount as regular events of the same rarity, though they don't come with reflections. Collaborations do not return.

Arena Costs Calculator

✔ Remember to make a copy to use it

Weekly Gems Calculator and Gem sources by Ruby, doc by nununana9515

✔ Remember to make a copy to use it

✔ Adendum to set completion rewards: If the UR set doesn't come with a DR, sometimes the reward will be 300 diamonds. If the SSR set doesn't come with a DR, the reward will be 75 diamonds (so half compared to one that has a DR). If the SR set doesn't come with a DR, the reward will be 25 diamonds (so half compared to one that has a DR).

Last words: join the discord!! there are many more guides, calculators and resources there. I just listed barebones here ;) Plus other wonderful stylists you can interact with and ask questions to.

#shining nikki #new player guide

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gluku-pikron · 2 months ago

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Stealing this monthly wrap-up from my beloved spouse.

What I Read in February 2025:

Voices of the Fallen Heroes - Yukio Mishima

Superbloom - Nicholas Carr

Wise Children - Angela Carter

We Do Not Part - Han Kang

Gliff- Ali Smith

Mickey7 - Edward Ashton

Bride - Ali Hazelwood

London Triptych - Jonathan Kemp

Hello Stranger - Manuel Betancourt

The Time Machine - H.G. Wells

The War of the World - H.G. Wells

The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells

State of Paradise - Laura van den Berg

Two-Step Devil - Jamie Quatro

Mornings Without Mii - Mayumi Inaba

Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne

Lots of opinions under the cut. TW for brief mentions of incest and trafficking.

Cover collage hastily compiled with https://sudwald.github.io/bookcollage/

Voices of the Fallen Heroes - Yukio Mishima: Later-career short works by Mishima. Mishima's at his best, in my humble opinion, when he's writing about horrible murder-suicides and unresolved desire. This is a man who understands the grotesque erotic undercurrent of repression (both individual and societal) and whose best work reflects that. Unfortunately, these were…mostly not that, and mostly bland. Several of these felt like Mishima attempting to write things in the vein of Edogawa Ranpo and not really understanding what makes Ranpo fun. I suspect we're reaching the last of what remains untranslated in Mishima's oeuvre, and we're getting into the least-interesting and least-polished pieces. Oh well.

Superbloom - Nicholas Carr: None of these "social media panic" books ever have anything new to say, and yet my dumb ass keeps reading them and hoping they will.

Wise Children - Angela Carter: High-spirited magical realism. Essentially like if the two neighbor ladies in Coraline were identical twin sisters and committed considerably more incest in their septuagenarian years. Everyone in this book has fantastic names. The Wikipedia page for this novel reads like someone's book report. Probably would not read this again.

We Do Not Part - Han Kang: A snowblind fever dream of a novel. Overall Han Kang ranking in order of enjoyment would be Greek Lessons, Human Acts, We Do Not Part, The White Book, and finally The Vegetarian.

Gliff - Ali Smith: Apparently there is a companion novel to this coming out sometime later this year. I enjoyed this one, but I am reserving judgment until then.

Mickey7 - Edward Ashton: Read this in preparation for Bong Joon-Ho's new film. Unfortunately, Ashton writes like a marginally less annoying Andrew Weir. Praying Bong Joon-Ho can do something smarter and more graceful than this clunky li'l thing. One extra star for being bold enough to include the only selfcest threesome I've ever read outside of fandom.

Bride - Ali Hazelwood: Every once in a while, I'll think to myself, "I know I disliked this sort of thing when I tried it years ago, but maybe I'll enjoy it now." It's happened for sweet potatoes and lavender-scented soaps, so I picked up a random popular romantasy to see if it extended to literary genres as well. It did not. My disdain for this is not the fact that it's written by someone who seems to exclusively rewrite the same Reylo fics she churned out years ago, it's the fact that the main character's name is "Misery," played apparently completely straight, and that it does absolutely nothing fun with its werewolf vs. vampire arranged marriage premise. Who knows, though, maybe I'll try another romantasy in five years and love it. Receives the dubious honor of "most hated of the month."

London Triptych - Jonathan Kemp: A reread from 2020. Not nearly as enamored with it as I was when I first read it, but still enjoyed.

Hello Stranger: Musings on Modern Intimacies - Manuel Betancourt: Some fun, spritely, insightful essays in here and some that my eyes glazed over while reading. Still, I'd like to give this one a closer rereading, especially the beginning few pieces.

Three Novels by H.G. Wells, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne - They were fine.

State of Paradise - Laura van den Berg: Trying to do too much at once. Somehow both sweaty and frigid. Too flighty to commit to any of its conceits.

Two-Step Devil - Jamie Quatro: I have a soft spot for religious fanaticism and pathetic old men, so. Deals with some pretty rough topics, including child trafficking. Sometimes seems a little afraid of its own heaviness. Deliciously experimental. Read in one sitting on a delayed flight to San Diego. Favorite of the month.

Mornings Without Mii - Mayumi Inaba: A brief, messy little memoir about a woman and her cat, with lots of questionable animal welfare issues. I think maybe the publishers were trying to cash in on the current "cozy Japanese lit" trend, but… oof.

#if anyone wants to share what they've been reading i am always looking for recs #not included are a few longfics i am slowly working my way through #if i included fics in my wrap-ups god only knows how long they would be lmao

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chronically-ghosted · 2 years ago

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So, it's October -- crazy, right? About three months ago, I got waaay too emotionally invested in Din Djarin and baby Grogu and the Razor Crest and, well, here we are. This blog served as a way to unleash the infectious brainrot of Pedro back into the ecosystem, hopefully finding another victim. What I got back, is community. I've been in fandom for over ten years and I can honestly say I've never seen a fandom that is so kind, so supportive, so eager to share and talk and engage with others.

So, in the three months since this blog was created, you lovely people continue to show up and everyday I am gobsmacked at the growth and support. I genuinely don't know how I would have survived these last few months had I not met some of you, so as the (shoddily made) gif says: thank you.

I've just now wrapped up my 100 Followers Event Challenge (y'all sent me so many fantastic prompts I had SO much fun!). If you're interested, they're on my masterlist or you can find them all here on this post. I'm taking an itty bitty break from writing for just a bit (might be getting a new job too) but when i come back, i can't wait to share what comes next for all our pedro blorbos!)

Now that I'm a bit more settled and have had the chance to meet some of these fantastic creators, I'd love to share them out with you:

My Favorite Places to Make PPCU Friends (Discord Servers):

Pedro Pascal Cinematic Universe (I got invited by @jupiter-soups)

Space Sisters - give @psychedelic-ink a shout if you'd like to join!

My Favorite Compilations for Fics:

Favourite Fanfic Stories (managed by @morallyinept)

Sanctuary Database (managed by @pascalsanctuary)

Spreadsheet Digest (managed by @wannab-urs)

(these folks are also some of the nicest people you'll ever meet so please do yourself a favor and go follow them)

My Favorite Creators:

@perotovar is a next level gifmaker

@trulybetty has some of the best designs i've ever seen

@daddy-dins-girl has some of the best pedro character alignment charts -- it makes me laugh every time!

@iamdesibell has my entire heart and soul with all her fanart

@saradika keeps us fed with gorgeous moodboards and dividers

Fandom lives and dies by its community so please reblog, tag, or comment if you like a piece of fanart, fanfic, or anything else someone has created that vibes with you! If you'd like to rec something or someone, please let me know -- as you can see, i love holding up other writers and creators and i always wanna hear about your fave!

My ask box is always open for requests, questions, comments, or if you wanna just bitch about how your stupid old car failed you again, I wanna hear about that too 🤍thank you all for accepting me and my silly little stories!

#taylor talks #fic recs #100 followers event #THANK YOU ALL I LOVE YOU!

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tjemegames · 7 days ago

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HSR: HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY! 🥳🎉 - TJ’s 2nd Annual Playthrough Recap

Two years of playing the same game every day is not for the faint of heart, especially when it's a live service gacha game. The last year has been... something. I’m feeling a little more negative about it than in the first year but, miraculously, I still find myself enjoying the game. More on that later, let’s get into it under the cut!

⚠️ Extremely summarized spoilers ahead for the events/storylines of HSR versions 2.2-3.2. Read at your own discretion! ⚠️

Apologies for any image distortion, Tumblr’s not a fan of long photos.

Stats Overview

Another year of traversing the silver rail has come to pass. I knew from the way that I fell in love with this game on day one that I'd be playing it for the long haul. The Astral Express Annual Trailblaze Report (data collection as of 03/31/2025 at 23:59) offered some interesting statistical insight on what I've gotten up to since the last anniversary. Sadly, there isn't a comprehensive sharable image this year, so I’ve compiled the highlights that I found most interesting:

As of today, 4/26/25, I've logged 707 days of gameplay on my main account (with a 602 day consecutive login streak)!

Companion Interactions

These were the new characters that I got over the course of the year:

My ride or dies:

I love Aventurine, he's great and he very sparingly lets my main dps die (not a skill issue, don't perceive me). I totally, definitely, only spent so much time with him because of how much I like him and not because I still hadn’t pulled another limited sustain until April 3rd, almost a full year after getting him.

I severely underestimated the amount of use my Ruan Mei has seen over the last year. I knew that it was going to be a lot, but I didn't think that she would be my second most used character since I pulled three more limited harmony units this year. Wild to see, honestly. I'm interested to see which harmony unit takes the top spot next year; it’ll likely be Robin—maybe Sunday if I get really into memosprite gaming—but I doubt it’ll be Ruan Mei again.

The KING Yuan resurgence was so real! I hadn't really used my general all that much before the midpoint of Penacony: I love him, but he just wasn't putting out the damage I needed to use him consistently. Thankfully, he got so much love this past year via Sunday and the unfortunate rise of erudition necessity, so I felt motivated to get as much out of him as I possibly could. I'm still in the Duke trenches for him, aha. Surely, I'll earn my freedom soon (I won't.)

My E2 boys, Horny Daniel and Mr. PewPew (DHIL and Boothill), saw much less action than I expected of them. I'm not going to lie, most of their battles took place in endgame or the Simulated Universe. The enemy lineups in the story and overworld during the latter half of the year didn't really allow me to use either of them as much as I would've liked to. I hope that changes here in the near future because I've invested far too much time and resources into the two of them for them to ride the bench as much as they have been.

Gallagher: cinema. I fished for his eidolons (it was a painful process) and he has been putting in work ever since then. Even though I finally cracked and pulled Huohuo a few weeks ago, he isn't allowed to take a vacation until we leave Amphoreus. I'm petty and he was far more expensive than he should've been, I’ll continue to hold that against him until I’m satisfied.

So, Nihility... Listen, DoT gaming isn’t for me. Pela is cool though. I would say that I'll try to use her more this year, but I'd be lying. Since Silver Wolf is getting buffed in 3.4 and she's been living on my bench since around 2.1 (probably earlier), I'll be making a conscious effort to get some use out of her instead.

RMC is super fun and incredibly strong. Unfortunately, Mem tries to crash my game every single time I put them on my team so I’ve gotta be mindful of where I’m using them. I haven't gotten any other Remembrance characters yet: Aglaea, while gorgeous and a little bit scary, was not interesting enough to call for pulling her. I like the idea of summoners so I’m intrigued to see what the Devs will cook up for future units. Until then, my Trailblazer will be leading the charge in that path.

Trailblazing!

The life of a Nameless can be summed up through their adventures. This is what the last year of mine consisted of:

Trailblaze Power Usage & Relic Farming:

It's been two straight years in the Rutilant mines, and I still only have one attack sphere. I'm not gonna say that the game is bullying me, but I feel a bit bullied at this point.

I understand that the grind is supposed to be challenging to ensure that you have a reason to stick around during downtime between story, events, etc. However, I feel like the drop rates could use a tiny bit of tweaking. The introduction of custom synthesis and reroll dice are nice in theory but they’re not very practical if you’re F2P or a low spender because of their rarity. It’s very much a bandaid on a bullet wound when the system is in dire need of stitches. I highly doubt that they’ll ever adjust the rates, at the very least I would like to see an increase in the ability to freely obtain these premium resources. Hell, at this point I’d just settle for more frequent double drop events. All I know is somethings gotta give. I can’t keep living like this.

World Exploration & Achievement Hunting:

The hoarder in me loves exploring the map to find treasure, collectibles, readables, and the like. I spend a good bit of time checking out the world and looking through all its nooks and crannies. You would think that the game only being semi-open world would deter you from doing so, but the more recent worlds have felt like they’re trying to cater to the players who enjoy exploration by adding more collectibles (like the origami birds and Amphoreus bugs) to find. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the exploration increase and I’m glad that the Devs had the foresight to allow you to buy hints for the collectibles that you might’ve missed along the way. The Hoyolab interactive map is helpful, but it can be a pain to navigate, the hints make everything so much simpler.

The treasure compasses have also been a great addition for explorers. It’s easy to get turned around in some of the maps with more unique layouts which can really hinder the ability to find treasure chests. Giving us a tool to track them down was the right move; I haven’t had much of a chance to use mine yet but I’m happy to have them regardless.

When it comes to achievements, I have one tiny little grievance: I don’t think that there should be character-locked achievements. Firstly, the idea that the average player will pull for every character is unrealistic. I don’t like locking people out of chances to earn premium currency because they do not have the necessary tools to even try at getting it. Sure, five jades are nothing in the grand scheme of things, but eventually those little increments tally up to something much larger, and people will have reason to feel bad about it. It helps that some of the achievements can be obtained by borrowing a unit from a friend, or with trial units during events and banner reruns, but that doesn’t cover the whole of the issue. There are still interaction, exploration, and team-based achievements that can’t be done without owning certain units. It’s frustrating from a completionist perspective and I sincerely wish that the Devs would stop allowing it to happen.

That being said, I’m a good ways off from having finished every achievement. There are so many related to the Simulated Universe and its various expansions that I am nowhere close to getting. Eventually, I’ll lock in and knock out a good chunk of them. For now, I’m not really all that worried about it, they’re not going anywhere.

Battle Shenanigans & Trailblaze Assistance:

A busy year of fighting enemies! 21 million single attack damage ain’t too shabby. Do I know who did that damage? No, not a clue. I’d imagine it was done in DU with a fuck ton of buffs and the eidolon cheese curio though.

Boothill really took his bounties seriously this year. Shoutout to everyone who used my Cowboy, thanks for the credits! I do wonder how much of the remaining funds were attributed to my other assistants; it would’ve been nice to see a full breakdown of the assists in this section. Oh well, perhaps next year they’ll give us more information.

Story Recap & Storytelling Assessment

Honestly, everything that happened from 2.2 to 2.7 has mostly left my brain (I've been dealing with some health issues for a little while now, so my memory has been shoddy at best) and Amphoreus has been a massive infodump that I’m still sorting through. That being said, this section is a bit harder to write this time, but I’ll do my best.

Story Recap

I had to go back into the story map and do some research to refamiliarize myself with this past year of trailblazing. Turns out we did quite a bit:

Learned the history of the Watchmaker and the fate of Nameless passed 🥹

Discovered the true meaning of dreaming in Penacony and prevented the resurrection of the Order

Became an amateur film maker to help repair the big screen at Clock Studios Theme Park

Became Penacony shareholders and owner of the Radiant Feldspar

Became the best damn Origami Bird Clash Player in Penacony

Returned to the Xianzhou Loufu to attend the Wardance and helped March 7th “master” Xianzhou swordplay

Got trapped in The Shackling Prison with the borisin Warhead, Hoolay, who breaks free and goes on a massacre before managing to escape his centuries-long confinement there. Learned Hoolay’s history with the Loufu, began the hunt for him with Feixiao, engaged in a brief war, and brought about his downfall during a fakeout Wardance where he loses a 1v1 against Feixiao’s dark aura, thereby bringing the Loufu to safety (yet again)

Dan Heng v. Elder Taoran: “The oath of the Xianzhou means nothing to the spear in my hand!” I love Dan Heng. SS tier scene, truly

Became the best damn coach at the Wardance: Luka loses but that’s okay because winning was the friends we made along the way, apparently

Penacony University AU: monkeys, bananas, ninjas, oh my!

Became the best damn band manager in Penacony

Fugue and Sunday’s Great Penaconian Adventure

We FINALLY get a room on the Express: DIY Room Makeover and Express Slice of Life

Sunday joins the Express (yippee!)

The Amphoreus arc begins. Phainon is so pretty. TJ is screwed

Rainbow gaslight waves do not work on Therta: Grandpa and Sunday’s Space Station Adventure

Amphoreus info dumping galore (I’m not getting into this right now. We’ll talk about everything next year)

Those were the main highlights. There were a decent number of events and side quests as well; events have felt a lot less substantial than year one, while side quests have gotten a nice increase in both quantity and quality. I do miss the days of long spanning events that felt conducive to the story and/or worldbuilding. Unfortunately, there were hardly any companion missions. I miss those as well; I hope that we’ll get more for all the characters who have yet to have one. We deserve more interactive opportunities to learn about the characters we’ve met on our journey. I don’t want everything to get sandwiched into the main quest like with Aventurine, Acheron, Feixiao, and all the Amphoreus folks so far. Bring back companion missions, Hoyo!

Storytelling Assessment

Some of this might be hard to understand because I was having trouble relaying my thoughts. I apologize in advance, the yap factory has been open too long today.

Overall, I’m enjoying the story that Honkai: Star Rail is telling. Every world that we’ve been to over the last year has had independent themes, unique ideals and problems, as well as lively environments that were able to immerse me in that specific place. While there is a recurring pattern of “hey, this place is in crisis: the Stellaron is the problem, and we need the Nameless to solve it” that doesn’t detract from the experience because of the nuance in the way things manifest and how those manifestations are handled.

Penacony was a bit hit-or-miss for me. I feel like there were quite a few moments that just didn’t hit me the way that the Storywriters intended. I don’t know if that’s because of the way we were introduced to certain characters or the fact that the reality of the dream wasn’t what was presented to us, but something about the narrative felt clunky and unsatisfying.

Maybe part of the issue is the way they implemented the shifting perspective gameplay; there were a lot of moving parts and fragments strung together in a way that hadn’t been presented before, and the tonal shifting was a bit all over the place because of it. It also doesn’t help that the cutscene sequences had a tendency of being lengthy without any way to pause them. There were times when you would be stuck in a 45-minute loop of time sequencing and perspective shifting without any real chance to slow down and take stock of the information you learned. Eh, it was a bit much, which is probably why I’ve forgotten most of it. I can only hope that the promised continuation in 3.8 will smooth out the kinks.

The return to the Loufu was interesting. It felt less like a continuation of the Xianzhou arc and more like a set up for the Wardance event itself. It was fine for what it was, but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about it in conjunction to the rest of the Xianzhou story so far. At this point, I just want to see where the pieces we’ve been given will link together with the other ships. Clearly there’s a lot of history we’re not aware of and I feel less satisfied with the information we do have when it takes so long to continue from where we left off.

I have a natural skepticism when it comes to the Xianzhou storytelling because of how rough it was in the beginning. I feel like the writers have gotten better about some things, while still lacking in others. The biggest thing for me is always going to be the conciseness of delivery. I don’t enjoy roundabout storytelling. It’s fine if I need to come to some conclusions on my own, I welcome the test of my comprehension, but don’t add in information that’s going to send me in circles around the message you’re trying to convey. It detracts from the experience and ultimately leaves me wanting for more in a bad way. Once again, I fear we’re at the mercy of time.

In a surprising turn of events, the things that bothered me about the earlier worlds do not bother me in Amphoreus. Since it’s meant to be completely unknown to the entirety of the cosmos, the excess of information dumping feels more acceptable. I’m still not a fan of extremely long and unstoppable cutscenes here, don’t get it twisted, but the perspective switching feels more structured, and I have a better grasp on what’s going on. I’m not caught up with 3.2 yet so there’s a chance that my feelings will change. I’m feeling rather hopeful about this world though—it might end up being my favorite one by the time we leave it.

Permanent Game Modes

Simulated Universe

A thing of the past for veteran players. Don't think I've gone into a SU world since Divergent Universe quick farming came into being. That seems to be exactly what the Devs wanted considering that the Sigonia & Izumo planars are the most recent ones that you can get in this mode. 'Twas somewhat fun while it lasted; although, I'm much happier with the optimized version.

Swarm Disaster

Not a fan, I don’t like the swarm bug and getting through all the pillars feels like a monumental feat. Even with following a guide that a friend from discord made, it’s just so much to do. I think I’m down to the final pillar, but it’s been well over six months since I last tried to make any progress toward finishing it. Bleh.

Gold & Gears

I like this mode more than swarm but it’s also one of the more time-consuming things that I don’t have the motivation to bother with. I think I got about halfway through with it before deciding to leave it until I’m desperate for jades again.

Unknowable Domain

I haven’t even talked to Screwllum, he’s still hanging out in Herta’s office, and he’s gonna stay there for the foreseeable future. I won’t be messing with this mode until I’m ready to hunt for its achievements.

Divergent Universe

I have a sneaking suspicion that the astronomical overtaking of the DU is the culprit behind the diminishing number of comprehensive events that we've seen over the last year.

It might not seem like it, but DU has a lot of content: a plethora of lore drops, integrations of "new" paths, consistent changes to buff names for thematical reasons (which is cool but arguably unnecessary, the time spent renaming things could probably be better spent elsewhere), and the introduction of new gimmicks in both battle and adventure domains. There's a significant amount of time being spent on this mode and I don't see it falling off anytime soon since it holds a prominent significance in the game's lore via the Genius Society.

I have a hard time gauging how I feel about DU because, on the one hand, it’s great; the planar farming optimization is something I use weekly and appreciate the efficiency of. On the other hand, the actual main content is very time consuming, the rewards have a time limit, and there's a whole upper echelon of increased difficulty content that is aimed towards a very specific type of hardcore player. Though that hardcore content doesn't usually offer anything other than brownie points, the completionist in me is disgruntled when I'm unable to finish everything in the version because the gameplay is too difficult.

sigh

Looking back at this section, I might just have beef with the Genius Society's projects specifically. 🤣

Rotational Endgame Modes

While being the main source of consistent jade accumulation (aside from the Trailblaze Missions), endgame is not free of drawbacks. Each patch is worth a whopping 2400 jades (15 pulls), which makes it almost mandatory to complete if you want to get the most out of the game. Unfortunately, turbulent meta shifting and difficulty “balancing” for the newest overpowered units have made it a pain to deal with over the course of the last year.

It’s been a while since I’ve finished endgame without deflating in relief afterward. I miss the days when it was exciting and I was counting down the days until the modes would reset; now I just want to get in, get out, and then stay as far away from it as possible until it’s time to repeat the process all over again. I don’t enjoy it now, in 3.2, as much as I was enjoying it from 2.4 to 2.6.

Apocalyptic Shadow

My favorite endgame mode by far. It’s the most recent one, having been released in 2.3, and I’d say the most unique of the three. AS has a higher ceiling of possibility for creativity than the other modes do. It’s the only mode that I want to return to for team testing and general tomfoolery.

Positives:

I can clear everything in one session

I've been able to get 12 stars every patch since it debuted

Some bosses have unique gameplay mechanics that are fun to manipulate

Flexible enough to use my favorite units effectively

Negatives:

Buffs tend to cater to a specific type of gameplay, or the newest unit being sold

An increased number of elites has made it more challenging to clear than it was in the past

Pure Fiction

My least favorite mode. It could cease to exist tomorrow, and I’d be happy to see it go. I’ve never enjoyed this mode; it rubbed me the wrong way from the start because of its need for specific units. As someone who mostly owns single-target units, it’s an absolute nightmare to manage. I sincerely think that they should’ve given us a free erudition five star to go along with it when it was originally released.

Positives:

Mechanics changes in 2.7 have made it more possible to clear with single target units

Negatives:

It takes more time and effort to get three stars than I’d like; it can take me anywhere from a few sessions to a dozen sessions to complete. There have been times when I’m unable to get all my stars, regardless of my efforts

Forces me to ask for team comp advice and shuffle relics around to accommodate a different style of gameplay

Caters specifically to erudition and AOE units

Weakness mixes on both sides are too similar, making it difficult to complete if you’re lacking multiple multi-target or AOE units

Memory of Chaos

My second favorite mode. It’s very middle of the road, I don’t really have any strong feelings about it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Positives:

I’ve been able to get 36 stars consistently over the last year

Flexible enough to allow for a variety of playstyles

Negatives:

A toss up on time consumption: can either take one session or multiple sessions, there’s no in between

Memory turbulence is often lackluster and can be completely useless if you don’t have the right units for it

The Triumphs & Perils of Warping

Would it be gacha without trying your luck? I've been keeping close track of my pulls since launch. This is my roster after two years, 550 standard passes, and 1651 special passes:

Characters

As you saw back in the stats overview, I got quite a few limited characters this past year:

Did you know that e2 Boothill was not originally on the docket for me? I hadn’t even considered getting him when he got dripped. It wasn’t until the livestream when the Devs showed off his animations that the voices started to creep in; his little lean got to me, I don't know why. When I got to hear his English VA for the first time, I knew it was jover. e0 was the plan. Fishing for Himeko ensued and I ended up at e2, aha. No regrets, I’ve had so much fun with him.

Himeko was the hardest to obtain. After eight months of hoping for her to show up on the standard banner or in a 50/50 loss, I ended up using my 2.7 Express Gift selector to get her. Hands down, the best choice I could’ve made for my account at that time; I was struggling with a lack of fire coverage and PF was annoying me enough to make me consider pulling an erudition unit that I didn’t necessarily want. That selector was honestly a godsend. I know that the folks in the discord were probably getting tired of listening to me plead for Himeko to come home. 🫠

Feixiao was another unplanned addition to my roster. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t pull her because I needed to stay loyal to Dan Heng. And then BAM! Glowing back tattoo. It was a wrap, and she took everything from me.

Huohuo was a rather late, spur of the moment decision for me because I was malding over 3.2’s MoC 12. I'd been planning to wait for Hyacine to come out so that I could try to grab her. I was also flirting with the idea of getting Lingsha the next time she reran. I made it nearly two years into the game without a five star healer so I figured I’d be okay for a couple more months. I was wrong. It’s okay though, I don't regret pulling her in the slightest. She was probably the best limited healer I could've chosen for my account with my penchant for hypercarry gaming.

I also got Sparkle, Sunday, and Robin this year. You can never have too many harmony units! The three of them allowed me to unbench some of the older dps characters that I was avoiding. I’m very happy with their performances, especially in endgame, they've made a world of difference.

Besides the 2.7 Express Gift selector, in 3.2 we were also given the choice to use a Golden Companion Spirit Token to claim either Ruan Mei or Luocha from the new Stellar Convergence shop. I decided to save my token for a future character since I already have e1 Ruan Mei and I did not feel Luocha was worth getting without owning Blade or Mydei. There’s no telling how often they will add characters to the shop so there’s a chance I’ll be holding onto my token for a long time.

Light Cones

My light cone situation is both funny and painful. I’m the ruler of useless four star cones. I don’t know what it is about my account that attracts them, but I can’t seem to keep them away. For context, I got 14 copies of The Birth of the Self this past year. 14. That’s unnecessary and hilarious. Don’t get me started on the other ones, trust, I have words. However, I’ve already yapped far too much in this post to get in to all of that.

As far as limited cones are concerned, I mostly only pull for a sig if I don’t have or like the F2P alternative(s), it has QoL or kit extension that would make building them and/or their teammates easier, I purposely saved for it, or DDD is running alongside it. Otherwise, I’m fine without it, in most cases. I mean look at DHIL, I’ve had him the entire time he’s been out, and he still doesn’t have his cone because he’s doing just fine without it.

Pull Luck

My luck is a tiny step above average, I would say. This is how things have shaped up since launch:

I’ve had 19 limited character 50/50s. Of those I’ve lost 7, putting me at an average win ratio of 68.4%:

2 losses to Gepard

2 losses to Bronya

1 loss to Clara

2 losses to Yanqing

My overall average pity is 66. Out of 25 characters received:

10 came before the 75th pull

15 came after the 75th pull

Earliest pull = 16 pity

Latest pull = 80 pity

I’ve had 8 light cone 75/25s. Of those I’ve lost 4, putting me at an average win ratio of 50%:

2 losses to Sleep Like the Dead

1 loss to In the Name of the World

1 loss to Moment of Victory

My overall average pity is 52. Out of 12 cones received:

7 came before the 65th pull

5 came after the 65th pull

Earliest pull = 16 pity

Latest pull = 73 pity

I’ve had 9 standard five star pulls. Of those I’ve gotten 5 characters and 4 cones. My most reoccurring characters are Welt and Yanqing, tied at 2 copies each.

My overall average pity is 59. Out of 9 five stars received:

5 came before the 75th pull

4 came after the 75th pull

Earliest pull = 28 pity

Latest pull = 80 pity

Aside from a few very unfortunate pull sessions that bankrupted me, I’m not too upset with my luck in the game thus far. I do wish that I wouldn’t get so many copies of Welt and Yanqing because, even though I love both of their characters, I don’t really enjoy playing with them, so their eidolons are going to waste. I suppose the bright side is that, as of 3.2, hitting e7 on any given five star character will give you special currency that can be used in the Stellar Convergence shop. Potential future dividends are better than nothing, I guess.

Future Plans & Wishlist

I’m the type of person who will always pull for a character they like over trying to keep up with the meta. HSR makes it a bit harder to stick with that mindset because of the continual influx of new premium units who powercreep each other. At this point in my playthrough, there is only one character that I’ve pulled because I felt like I couldn’t complete content without them (Huohuo).

For the most part, I try to be as strategic and mindful as possible when it comes to the five stars I pull for my account. In the early days I didn’t pay too much attention to path versatility and that has come back to bite more times than not. Having learned that lesson, these are my loose plans for the future:

Further diversify path portfolio. stop pulling hunt TJ, you have enough

Make the dive into nihility gaming, doesn’t necessarily have to be DoT but I do need to get comfortable using units from that path

Invest in synergistic units for endgame, specifically PF

Get at least one more premium sustain

Invest in premium cones with good versatility, even if I don’t want the character that cone was intended for

At this moment in time, my wishlist consists of:

Phainon: whenever he comes out, regardless of path or element, because I love him as a character. Will likely go for e2s1 if it’s worth it or he fulfills a role that I’m lacking in

Tribbie: harmony. What else is there to say really? She’s adorable, very strong, and is not likely to fall off for a very long time—she has indefinite value

Screwllum: Hoyo, when?!? I just love him. I don’t care what rarity he ends up being, I will be getting him

Anaxa: I need more erudition units, and I like his character.

Yunli: I don’t want to play with Clara on this account and she’s the only other unit who has counter mechanics. Not a high want, I would be more than fine waiting for another unit in her role to come out

Jade: still on the fence. She would be useful with PF and follow-up comps but I’m fine waiting for someone else with the same role to come out

Mydei: he’s Babygirl, sorry. Unfortunately, not a priority because he’s imaginary and I’ve got more than enough of that to go around. He’d be more of a collector’s item than anything else. That could change though, it just depends on where the game goes and if need for his role outweighs his element

Blade: collector’s item, he’s the one HCQ member that I’m missing. He’s also one of my favorite characters

Final Thoughts

Firstly, if you read all of this, you’re a trooper. I’m putting myself on yapping timeout after this because it did not need to be this long. Why am I like this?

Anyway, year two was fun. Despite its highs and lows, I can’t deny that I enjoyed myself. This game is one of my favorites. It has its problems, the first being that it’s a gacha in the first place. Eh. The rest fall in line with balancing issues and corporate greed. Without those things, the game has a lot of potential and promise. You can see it in the detail that Devs put into some of the most minuscule content (readables and random side quests). It’s a bit tragic to know how good things could be if the need to sell this product to us wasn’t at the forefront of its presentation.

I plan on sticking around for the entirety of HSR’s runtime. I love the concept of it, and I care about where the Nameless will go and how we reach the end of our journey. If that means a few more years of touch and go before the Devs truly lock in and deliver beyond my expectations, then so be it. There are worst things I could do with my free time.

May this journey lead us starward!

#honkai star rail #hsr #hsr anniversary #astral express annual trailblaze report #hsr spoilers #hsr 2.2 to 3.2 spoilers #hsr character roster #hsr light cones #tj talks hsr #tj yaps so much in this post #tjs hsr shenanigans #tjemegames

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a-moth-to-the-light · 11 months ago

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Most-Listened of May 2024

[last month]

May 2024 was finals + road trip home from uni + getting settled in at home for the summer, so the songs on this month's list were the soundtrack to a really busy time for me. (Because of that, I'm extra grateful to them for helping me power through it all!) I didn't have the brainspace to be properly excited about any new releases (except Repion's at the end of the month), so a lot of the songs here kind of snuck up on me. Surprisingly, I'd still say I enjoyed May's releases more than April's, though!

1. Not Like Us -- Kendrick Lamar

The Drake-Kendrick beef finally graced my YouTube recommended at the beginning of May, just in time for "Not Like Us" to save me from the Inevitable Finals Gloom. The beat was what hooked me at first (so string instrument!! so texture!!), but there are SO MANY good lines here--more than enough to keep me excited about this song, even after I massively overplayed it in just a few days of finals. (I'm a 'leave songs on repeat for hours as I float in and out of The Work Vortex' kind of guy, you know?)

2. Candy Store -- from the 2014 Heathers soundtrack

No complicated reason here: the vocal performances are just breathtaking, so I haven't been able to get this song off my mind for the past two weeks. Shoutout to @embraceofday for introducing me to this one! (That was a couple of years ago, I think, but somehow it came back to me recently, and I've been more obsessed than ever!)

3. Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl -- yeule

I've been getting ads for I Saw the TV Glow all month, and they worked on me--sort of? I still have no plans to see the movie, but this song from the trailer has taken my listening by storm. Lyzette G on YouTube mentioned yeule last year (I am SO jealous of their taste in music), so I'm proud to say I like a yeule song now! This is peak 'driving home on the highway at night and your heart is all sparkles because she said she'll text you later', which is one of my favorite kinds of music, actually. (Yes, this is oddly specific. But it's also like A General Feeling, you know?) It's eerily inhuman but also full of longing; it keeps a consistent, hazy atmosphere while still including a few moments of emotional punch--it's great!!

4. Down Swinging -- Holly Humberstone

Saxophone solo!!!!!!! That actually isn't my favorite part of this song, though--the way Holly Humberstone sings "watch me keep my cool tonight" at the end of every chorus is full of just SO many emotions--shame, determination, acceptance, longing--I find it captivating (really, every lyric in this chorus is a gem). I love songs like this (see also: Betty Who's "You Can Cry Tomorrow" and Lee Hi's "HOLO"), songs that aren't about being over something bad but are just about being within something bad and getting by anyway. Being stuck, and knowing you're stuck, and being okay regardless? Sometimes, I just need to know that's possible, and "Down Swinging" makes it feel more real than ever.

5. I'm the Ocean -- Neil Young

My dad and I ran across this on our (twelve-hour) drive home from my university, while we were listening through this playlist. My dad is a huge Neil Young fan, while I'm just meh about him--"I'm the Ocean" caught my attention from first listen, though, and I've been revisiting it daily since then. (Funny enough, my dad doesn't care for this one.) I love its haziness, how it walks the line between hopelessness and rage and how you're never exactly sure how to feel about the speaker, or about the song itself. I love singing "I'm the ocean / I'm a giant undertow". (Like, that is a captivating lyric. So powerful, so simple yet so layered with meaning?) I love the crunchy TV-static guitar!!!

6. From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) [Live at Malieveld...] -- Bruce Springsteen

Spotify keeps notifying me whenever Springsteen releases a new compilation album (they know me too well...)--and he just keeps releasing them. I'm not sure I needed all these albums, but I'm glad to get this gem, at least! This one has a super-singable chorus, and the fiddle solo is SUCH a high.

7. Turn it up -- PinkPantheress

Not particularly exciting, but super fun! It's a solid serotonin jam to go on a playlist with all the early Twice title tracks.

8. No Biggie -- Itzy

SO CUTE SO CUTE I LOVE IT. With "None of My Business" + this one, I've been so glad to see how well the post-NewJeans world suits Itzy. My main problem with a lot of their music, especially title tracks, is that the songs strain their vocals in ways that end up sounding unpleasant to me--a chilled-out song like this one reminds me just how listenable Itzy's music can be!

9. Rollercoaster - MTV Unplugged -- Bleachers

I think Spotify suggested this one to me. I am THE Bleachers girlie, but I'd never heard this specific version of "Rollercoaster" and oh my GOD does it make me emotional. If you've ever cried to "Someone to You" by Banners, I think you already understand what this one makes me feel.

10. The Ghost of Tom Joad (feat. Tom Morello) - Live in Anaheim, CA -- Bruce Springsteen

My #1 song from my #1 artist!! (Sorry, "Badlands". Your top spot was beautiful while it lasted, and we've had so many good times, but I just... I don't think you're the one for me anymore...) I did an essay about Springsteen for one of my finals, believe it or not, and I talked about this song in particular, so that explains the sudden spike in listens--though it's constantly in my rotation regardless.

11. Wave - Ollounder's Bold Dynamics Mix -- Ateez

It's a time-honored tradition, now: trashy club remixes are my THING during finals. This one stuck with me all month, though, because it's actually kind of compelling--I find it fun, even when I'm not speedrunning a final paper. "Wave" is just a really sweet song already, and I think this remix adds a variety of sounds that make it not just pleasant, but also super captivating.

12. Lookalike -- Conan Gray

No comment...

13. Set Me Free (Lindgren Remix) -- Twice

Re: trashy club remixes for finals. This is so trash, I can't even argue that it's worth listening to at any time other than finals season. (The synth riffs in the prechorus are kind of awesome, actually, but the vocals sound like you're listening to them through a tin can telephone.) It was a great hype song while I studied, though.

14. Maybe -- (G)I-DLE

My second-favorite G-IDLE song ever (though I have no idea how I'll make room for "Eyes Roll" and "Revenge" in an updated top ten) is never not welcome on my most-listened list, but I have no idea why this is here. Maybe I left it on repeat while working on a paper? It has the right kind of beat drop to give me the same kick of adrenaline as my trashy club remixes do--though in terms of how much I admire it, "Maybe" is on a whole different level!

15. BOA -- Megan Thee Stallion

This is a wildly addictive song. The Gwen Stefani sample is such a good hook, but it's used so sparingly that I'm left hanging on Megan's every word, waiting for it to appear again. The deep bass makes the song feel full, though--by the end, I'm left wanting more without feeling like the listening experience was actually incomplete. My favorite line is definitely the Birkenstocks one; I still smile every time I hear it! I'm so excited for the album :)

Five-Star Songs (& Albums!) This Month

BOA -- Megan Thee Stallion

Lime -- Soojin

With just a few twists on a sweet, summery formula, "Lime" manages to stand out from the pack of cheery dance songs coming out at this time of year. The orchestral intro is so exciting, and the weirdly gritty vocal production (I still have no idea why anyone would consider that on a song like this--this album has some truly baffling production choices amid all the fantastic ones) unexpectedly grew on me. This song does sweet-and-sour so well!!

[Speaking of baffling production choices: "Drop Top" from this same album is a very nice listen, but what the hell is happening in the bridge... It would totally be a five-star song for me if not for that screechy violin (?) note in the dance break. Like. Why. Why would you just repeat the same ear-piercing note. The whole time. Have you considered a riff? Or making it just a TAD BIT quieter? Or just... a lower note? Anyway. Also, the ENTIRE title track, "Mona Lisa", is a baffling production choice. Just. The whole thing.]

Not Like Us -- Kendrick Lamar

Summer Daze -- Soojin

I like "Lime" a lot more than this one, but I can't help but admire "Summer Daze" too! I'm so in love with how it's a pop b-side just feels so authentically indie-rock? Like, "Más Lejos" by Atalhos was one of my favorite songs of the summer last year, and that's an actual indie-rock song--and it feels like everyone who had a hand in "Summer Daze" understood exactly why people enjoy that type of song & decided to write a love letter to the genre. This track would fit right in with anyone's wistful k-indie playlist!

Entre todas lo arreglamos (album) -- Repion

Yeah, fuck it--I added Repion to the stanlist this month! After this EP, how could I not? The pre-release "El día no me da" had my heart already--it was so similar to their last album, though, that I found it a tad bit boring. But as an opener for a song like "Viernes", "El día no me da" reaches its full potential; it functions so perfectly that my qualms completely disappear. "El día no me da" builds up the energy to this delightful high, and then "Viernes" is the rollercoaster ride back down, full of twists and turns--I love the experimentation with rhythm, which continues in "Qué hay de ti?". It adds such a nice edge to the album; even though this release retains the things that drew me to Repion in the first place--strong vocals and incessant energy--it feels anything but boilerplate. This EP has only one flaw, and it's the kazoo-sounding thing that shows up in "Vienen de pasárselo bien". Maybe it's a perfectly lovely instrument in other contexts, but I think it just sounds silly here, and I really would rather just appreciate their (always delightful) harmonies in peace. Those harmonies do save the song for me, though! To be fair, this album only has four songs--putting it in the albums category is kind of a stretch--but these four songs are packed with enough interesting ideas to make this the fullest EP I've heard in forever. (Plus, Repion gets extra-credit points for releasing my album of the year--a full-length one, too--last year.) I'm not sure if this EP will turn out to be a smaller part of an upcoming album, but I really hope so--I love this sound for them!

#yes this order is slightly diff from receiptify again idk why it does that </3 #also soojin kind of swept this month!!#which is wild bc i didn't even know about her comeback until *after* it came out #i was scared for rizz me up bc i'm still not over the horror of taemin's the rizzness but it's actually a really cute song #so even that was a highlight!#me when 2024

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greenofrain · 9 months ago

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Only Murders In The Building Murder Board

I watched episode 1 last night and I can't wait for next week, so I just wanted to compile a list of people I think could have done it. I'll probably come back and reblog this when new episodes and new clues come out.

1. Bev Melon

It must be terrible to be named after a fruit.

Bev, the producer of the film, is passive aggressive to our crew and aggressive about filmmaking. Would she go so far as murder to close a film deal? My best theory is that she tried to non-lethally shoot Charles in order to convince him that New York was unsafe to get him to come to LA for the meeting. Once she found out that she actually shot Sazz, she took her to the incinerator so that nobody would know. Of all the film crew, I think she's the most likely. The brothers sisters are oddballs, but a misdirect, and the screenwriter and VPs don't strike me as suspects... Yet.

2. Howard Morris

I'll admit, I didn't really buy into the "Howard is the Mastermind" theory until this episode. But there are too many weird coincidences to ignore. How did he let himself in to Charles' apartment? Why does he text Mabel as soon as they've broken into Sazz's apartment? Why does he need a cadaver dog in the first place? Much to think about. Maybe he tried to kill Charles to usurp his place on the podcast? With all that said, I don't think it's Howard for 2 reasons. Firstly, if he's the mastermind and we know the show has five planned seasons, why reveal it in season 4? Second, he was way too helpful with Gravey to find a body that he killed. But then again, who knows? This murderer is much more aggressive and confident than the others, anything is possible.

3. Emma (Lucy's Mom) OR Lucy's New Stepdad

It's the return of a recurring character from a few seasons ago! I think that maybe in the year between seasons 2 and 3, Emma got a new boyfriend who tried to be a father to Lucy, but she liked Charles more than him. After Ben Glenroy's death, they forbid her from seeing him again because "he's too dangerous," and she protests like teenagers do or runs away, so they take matters into their own hands. This is a long shot, but it could be possible. We know the next episode is about two figures from Charles' past returning, and this is about the only thread from Charles' past that we haven't touched on in some capacity, so we might see Lucy return or Emma make an onscreen debut.

4. Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, and/or Eva Longoria

Hear me out.

One or all of them wants to take over for their respective podcaster. Eugene Levy has the clearest motive, wanting to become Charles in real life after playing Brazzos in Quebec and now Charles in the movie. Zach Galifianakis is clearly the most hostile to Oliver, and that may transfer over to Charles as well. Eva Longoria described Mabel's age gap with the guys as "creepy," so maybe she's trying to get the guys out of the picture so Mabel can get her "shit ton of money and build something with it." It's a crackpot theory, but a theory none the less.

And that's what I've got for now. Please let me know what you think, I'd love to hear other people's theories!

#only murders in the building #omitb #omitb season 4 #omitb s4

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girls-are-weird · 9 months ago

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MASTER LIST: One Fic for Each Fandom [J-Z]

continued from this post. please read that one first for a detailed explanation of how this list came about and just why in the seven hells i've spent so many (many, MANY) hours of my life compiling it.

back in the day, i had hoped this format could catch on as a meme type of thing, so that other people could take it as a template and make their own fandom recs lists. so i'd love to see yours! be sure to tag me if you decide to do this. :)

[ FANDOMS J-Z BELOW, A-I HERE ]

JOAN OF ARCADIA

after an afternoon, by angelgazing.

joan doesn't get it.

JONNY QUEST: TRA

jealousy (and sequels!), by debbie kluge.

the story that started it all. a new acquaintance causes jonny quest and jessie bannon to re-evaluate their relationship.

LITTLE WOMEN / PLUMFIELD SERIES

and i didn't like the ending, by readdyfreddie (M).

as soon as the post box came into view, she saw him there, reading the letter. and then, as if sensing her presence, he looked up, and jo knew nothing would ever be the same again.

NARUTO

on the symbiotic relationship, by hundredacresky (M).

somehow they ended up doing everything backwards.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION

a glass of wine rebuilt, by toasterman.

shinji and asuka learn about themselves and fall in love, causing massive ramifications. a remake of the late 94saturn's quintessential shinjixasuka story, it is part tribute and part experiment, taking the structure and plot of the original wacky shipping story while attempting to maintain series-true characterization.

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS/RIORDANVERSE

if you need, come build your home in me (and side stories!) by yrbeecharmer / @yrbeecharmer (T).

even though the world keeps falling down around him, will solace can't seem to help but keep growing up.

(a series rewrite starting with the events of titan's curse)

PITCH PERFECT

hooking up with jesse by catswandsandwalkers / @catswandsandwalkers (M).

when aubrey said to beca, "your attitude sucks, you're a grade-A pain in my ass, and i know you're hooking up with jesse," she was actually correct. slightly AU where jesse and beca are secretly friends with benefits throughout the movie. follows canon otherwise.

POKEMON

destiny, by nova.

carla says: this is a fic i read a long time ago, loved, and then lost track of. the plot is rather similar to the plot of the… second? third? movie (the lugia one!), but it was written pre-movie and the author takes it a whole different way. the characters are grown up and more mature (errrr… except gary and jazelle, maybe), and the story's AU (they all have different backgrounds) but it's very good, filled with action and adrenaline, and even some funny and romantic moments. good read. sadly, now i can't find it anywhere else in the 'net so i wonder if it's been finished since then. if anyone knows, please tell me.

THE PRINCESS DIARIES

me and you (is my refrain), by naladot / @naladot (T).

when he finally gets to the restaurant to meet his friends for a birthday dinner, the television mounted to the wall has the news on, and there’s mia disembarking from her plane, waving to the press with a practiced smile. he hasn’t seen her in five years—no, it’s got to be six, now—but he can still read the exhaustion written across her picture-perfect face.

years later, michael reunites with the love of his life. future-fic for first movie canon.

PSYCH

against all odds (take a look at me now) by shuuuliet (G).

ever since they broke up, shawn and juliet have done their best to keep their distance from one another. but now, one of their old cases has been blown wide open. a criminal that evaded arrest is back…and he’s targeting them specifically. can they make it out of this case alive? and can they find their way back to each other along the way?

(set during season 7, a few weeks after "deez nups".)

PSYCHO-PASS

beasts of all kinds by aroguegambit17 (E).

wolf and shepherd are ancient enemies, opposed in nature and design. a wolf breaks into folds a shepherd guards; a shepherd is duty-bound to fight and perhaps kill a wolf for what the beast cannot help but do to survive. but what is a shepherd without sheep, a wolf without a pack?

free, of course. what a terrifying proposition.

RANMA 1/2

ranma .05, by darren demaine.

carla says: ranma smut, and believable at that. lots and lots of story before the sex, so it's not plotless at all. and the characters are very in-character-- and that's a lot to say if he can have ranma and akane sleep together and still be in-character!

RUROUNI KENSHIN

christmas and chaos, by nooziewoozie (M).

his shirt opened down his front, showing golden skin like some kind of blue-collar wet dream come to life—he was brown even in the middle of winter and he smelled like motor oil and had hair that spiked out from his head, bushy and unruly and ridiculous. he radiated heat. some idiot part of her hindbrain wanted to soak it up. -megumi, sano; family, christmas, and sex on couches.

SAILOR MOON

adventures of the chibi-scouts, by "tuxedo" will wolfshohl.

many wish to be young again but how will the girls handle it when they get that wish?

SAINT SEIYA

la batalla de los doce tresors (aka el MEGAFIC), by marijose diaz.

carla says: sorry that it's in spanish, guys, but it really is THE best saint seiya fic EVER. written pre-hades saga, but they fight against hades-- just in a completely different way. the cycle has ended, and it's time for athena to die. only hades doesn't want to let her, and it's time for the saints to… save her? so she can die? i LOVE this fic. seriously, i've read it a thousand times, and that's a lot to say because it's HUGE! (it's not called the MEGAfic for nothing!). she manages to put in most of my favorite couples, which is quite rare, and well-- i was reading it a while back and this was actually what made me start this whole list. lol.

SAMURAI CHAMPLOO

nenju, by 3jane.

where do happiness and ever after intersect? post series, complete. fuumugenjin.

SEX EDUCATION

these are the days of their lives by howardtduck48 (M).

maeve wiley deserves to be happy. if only she can give someone a chance to explain.

SHADOWHUNTER CHRONICLES

i know you wanna go higher by orphan_account (M).

the first thing simon lewis saw when he arrived idris high school was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. however, he later discovered that if he wanted to date her, he would need to get a date for his grumpy brother, alec. and that's where magnus bane appears.

the 10 things i hate about you AU that every fandom needs. simon is new and pining for isabelle, and then he has the worst idea of his life. somehow, things work out. kind of.

SHAMAN KING

hygge, by fruitysmell / @fruitysmellz (G).

hygge. a danish word used for a special feeling of coziness and contentment, whether with friends or alone and at home or out.

SKY HIGH (2005)

the language of flowers by evergreeen / @everrgrreeen (T).

“i think he deserves to sweat about it for a while,” magenta said, reclining back in her chair. “maybe if he thinks that another guy is interested in you, he’ll come to his senses and see what’s right in front of him.”

layla’s head snapped up to look at her shapeshifting friend.

“magenta, that’s it!”

“what’s it?”

“i’m going to make will jealous… by pretending to date warren peace.”

THE SOCIETY

you don't scare me anymore by misschatelle / @misschatelle (M).

chief holbrook calmly held her glare for a few seconds. “do you mean to say that you have no memories of the past eight months?”

allie shrugged. “maybe it was all a dream.”

“can you tell me what happened in that dream?”

“why does it matter now?”

“because some of you never returned. and we’d like to understand why. We have parents who, for a second, were given hope, only for that to get brutally taken away. they’ve seen all the other families reunite with their lost children, and they didn’t get to do that. they want answers, and i don’t have them. i’m hoping you can help me.”

(four teenagers never made it back to west ham. emily warner. cassandra pressman. greg dewey. campbell eliot.)

STRANGER THINGS

be brave and kiss the girl by fatechica / @fatechica (T).

el hopper: beautiful, sweet, and instantly one of the most popular girls in the hawkins’ high junior class when she moves there after her dad takes the job of police chief for the small town. mike wheeler: king of the nerds, A/V club president, and completely invisible to girls.

naturally, mike notices the new girl - how can he not when she’s the most beautiful girl he's ever seen in his entire short life? but she’s so far out of his league, it’s not even worth dreaming about. so it’s completely and utterly confusing to him when el takes a lot more than a polite interest in him.

el, for her part, is instantly smitten with the cute nerd with gorgeous eyes, adorable freckles, and the most beautiful smile she’s ever seen. no one understands when she decides to pursue him, especially not the popular kids, but it’s harder than she bargained for to get mike to trust her, to let her into his heart. guess it’s a good thing she’s as persistent as she is popular, isn’t it?

TANGLED

her everything by fabulist / @thatfabulist (M).

being the part-time boyfriend, part-time babysitter of the princess isn't all it's cracked up to be, but eugene fitzherbert is up for the challenge. besides, he loves her. now rated M for extra sauciness.

VERONICA MARS

the orion protocol by annie174 (M).

in the immediate aftermath of the final bomb, veronica finds out things are not as they appear. a fix-it for the veronica mars season 4 final. spoilers for season 4.

X-MEN

kissing friends, by pirate turner (PG).

friends surprise each other under the mistletoe. kurtty.

X-MEN: EVOLUTION

playing with fire, by taekwondodo (M).

kurt (nightcrawler) and kitty (shadowcat) managed to get things worked out between them - mostly - but things have taken a decided turn for the worse and are only going to go downhill from here.

YOUNG ROYALS

and each slow dusk, by loyaulte_me_lie / @if-fortunate (M).

“he wishes for a time machine to turn back the clock, back to a world where his mother wasn’t on the end of the phone, saying grimly, “wilhelm, you need to come home. it’s starting.””

two months after wille’s arrival at hillerska, war breaks out. when his and erik's last-ditch attempt to leave the country goes badly wrong, he ends up stuck in bjarstad - with simon.

[ FANDOMS A-I HERE ]

#one fic for each fandom #cali loves fanfic #for future reference

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mylittleredgirl · 1 year ago

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Do you have any good book recs?

ooh good question!! some books i loved so much i have gifted to other people at least twice:

middle reader, wholesome, will fix you: everybody needs to read the adorable bunnicula (deborah and james howe) and i will not take no for an answer. a coworker told me once that she hadn't read it and i bought and shipped her a copy before we got off the zoom call. i would do the same for any of you. it's written by harold the dog, who is like "the new family pet seems like a rabbit" meanwhile chester the cat, an intellectual, is like "that is a horror beyond comprehension and i shall Prove It."

grown up, nonfiction book that may change your relationship to the human experience maybe: tiny beautiful things (cheryl strayed). this is a compilation of a then-anonymous internet advice column "dear sugar," which makes it an engaging read for those of us with Internet Brain who struggle to commit to a whole huge book all at once. it's so compassionately written and gave me such an insight into different facets of the human condition that it Changed Me both as a person and how i write characters and i fell in love with humanity. let yourself be gutted let it open you etc etc. don't read it on the bus but read it!!!!

grown-up fiction book no one has heard of: love in the asylum (lisa carey). i read it years ago but it was one of those "woah i didn't realize you could do that" because it has three points of view written in different tenses/styles. it's a personal present-day story about two people's differing experiences with mental health/addiction/hospitalization in the present, and unearthing the story of a woman institutionalized by her husband in the past.

everyone heard of it but a long time ago so let's bring it back: steal like an artist (austin kleon) this is among my favorite books about the creative process and it's little and with very few words on each page and easy to absorb! (the others fyi are twyla tharp's the creative habit and stephen king's on writing, both of which have a lot of words.) i'm not sure why it popped into my head because i haven't read it in a long time but there are a lot of How To Create posts going around so i thought i'd mention it! i have definitely given it to at least four people over the years.

#chatter post #anonymous friend #books #it's ask and answer day!!

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black-arcana · 10 months ago

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Ex-DELAIN Singer CHARLOTTE WESSELS Teams Up With EPICA's SIMONE SIMONS For New Single 'Dopamine'

Former DELAIN singer Charlotte Wessels has joined forces with EPICA's Simone Simons for Charlotte's mesmerizing new single titled "Dopamine". This track is part of Wessels's first traditional full-length, full-band solo album, "The Obsession", set to be released on September 20, 2024 via Napalm Records. Promising a deeply immersive and evocative experience, the two Dutch symphonic metal legends guide listeners through the emotional landscape of SSRI-induced numbness. "The Obsession" showcases Wessels's most mature work to date, blending progressive and heavier soundscapes with catchy elements.

Supported by her former DELAIN bandmates, who contribute to the album's heavier sound, Wessels is set to bring "The Obsession" to the stage this year. The journey begins with a release show on October 4, 2024 at Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg, followed by a special guest appearance with labelmates KAMELOT and AD INFINITUM in Drachten on October 11, 2024. After these shows, Wessels will join VOLA on their "Friend Of Phantom" European tour 2024, kicking off on November 1.

Wessels comments: "Lyrically, 'Dopamine' deals with SSRI-induced numbness that I experienced a few years ago when I was on Sertraline, a type of antidepressant. While the medication was really helpful, there were so many side effects that I'd never heard of. This song deals with some of them, and while it feels vulnerable to expose the experience, I hope it helps in breaking down the shame and taboo around the topic.

"Simone reached out to me as I was first opening up about this in an interview, and when the first version of 'Dopamine' dropped on Patreon (because, of course, we're each other's Patreons) she texted how much she liked the song. So when we were working on the album version, it only made sense to ask if she'd sing along on the track. I am so happy she agreed and after all of the shared introspection, it was great fun to let loose wearing pink wigs in ball pits and marshmallow pools for the video recordings. Musically, out of the entire new album, 'Dopamine' went through the biggest transformation. What started out as an EDM demo for a collaboration with a dance duo that never happened, became an acoustic 'Song Of The Month' on Patreon, which then had a massive overhaul when rearranging it with Timo. The new band version is an absolute banger, and the beautiful guest vocals by Simone complete the song."

"The Obsession" marks Wessels's Napalm Records debut, and while her earlier solo endeavors — full-length song compilations "Tales From Six Feet Under" (2021) and "Tales From Six Feet Under Vol. II" (2022) — already gained her a remarkable number of devotees, "The Obsession" truly takes her career to the next level.

The new album promises a cohesive exploration of fear and liberation, as well as spellbinding melancholia and dark, catchy elements meeting progressive and heavier soundscapes. The storytelling within the songs gives the multifaceted album even more depth, making "The Obsession" an exciting listening experience and Wessels's most mature solo offering so far.

While still writing and producing the songs in her Six Feet Under basement home studio and sharing their first incarnations with her patrons, Wessels now takes the songs from her new album, "The Obsession", to the next level with a band of her fellow ex-DELAIN cohorts Timo Somers (guitars, additional arrangements),Otto Schimmelpenninck Van Der Oije (bass) and Joey Marin De Boer (drums) as well as Sophia Vernikov (piano/Hammond),contributing to the new heavier sound. The album also features arrangements by Vikram Shankar (SILENT SKIES, PAIN OF SALVATION),cello by Elianne Anemaat, was mixed by Guido Aalbers (MUSE, COLDPLAY, THE GATHERING) and was mastered by Andy VanDette (PORCUPINE TREE, VOLA, DREAM THEATER).

Wessels about the new album: "On the one hand, this album tells a very personal story — through its unintended theme of fear, obsessive thoughts and the escapes from them — and at the same time it represents the joy of finding the song's true forms with everyone involved in the making of this record. That's why I chose 'The Obsession' as a title. It refers to my personal challenges with OCD that inspired many of the songs — but I've also started referring to the band as 'the obsession' because there were moments in the studio with them that truly reminded me of why I'm obsessed with making music in the first place."

Themes of fear, obsessive thoughts and escapism run rampant on the album, presenting dark and heavy on songs like "The Exorcism", "The Crying Room" and "Ode To The West Wind" (featuring Alissa White-Gluz of ARCH ENEMY). In addition, there are songs that offer a more upbeat approach to the subject — like "Dopamine" (featuring Simone Simons of EPICA) which deals with SSRI-induced numbness, or "Praise" — which sings the gospel of needing external validation in order to feel anything. The reimagining of fan favorite "Soft Revolution" won't leave a dry eye in the room, while "Soulstice" and "Serpentine" present an unprecedented dark sensuality. Each song itself functions like an exorcism, an attempt to cast out a little of the fear it deals with.

Wessels states about the guests: "I'm extremely grateful and proud to add Simone Simons and Alissa White-Gluz to the lineup of this album. They are creative powerhouses that I have so much love and respect for. Whenever we get to work together is an absolute treat and they really elevated the songs with their performances."

"The Obsession" track listing:

01. Chasing Sunsets 02. Dopamine 03. The Exorcism 04. Soulstice 05. The Crying Room 06. Ode To The West Wind 07. Serpentine 08. Praise 09. All You Are 10. Vigor And Valor 11. Breathe 12. Soft Revolution (2024)

#charlotte wessels #dopamine #the obsession #simone simons

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fel-in-cosesia · 2 months ago

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Introductions

This is a project that I started in the summer of 2016, right before my eight grade year. I was in our middle school's creative writing club and had a pretty big passion for it writing. The teacher that proctored the after school club was very instrumental in the creation of this project. She encouraged me to start writing plans for my first ever novel, which I then wrote in winter of my sophomore year in high school for a school project. That novel was then subsequently deleted as soon as I received a grade for it as I believed it was the worst thing I have ever written. It was bad, trust me. But it was an important step, which I never realized until recently. because sometimes you have to fail to learn.

While most everything from that first story is gone, aside from the characters, it was very much the basis of this story I have been creating. This daydream world of mine started to take form in the spring of that same sophomore year, 2019. there was one AP class (AP Seminar, for those interested) that I absolutely hated and instead of doing any work in that class, I would do small writing practices. My favorite of the bunch would be to open a blank word document and put my Spotify on shuffle. When a new song would start playing, I'd think up of a character, plotline, or setting that matched the vibe and/or lyrics of the song playing, and I had to stop writing the second the song finished. I usually deleted the documents before the class ended, but this is where my two main oc's came from (Granted, their current iterations are much different than how I first envisioned them, but that's for the best). That is where this story truly begins. With a main character, a love interest, and a newfound determination to make something out of these daydreams.

I started creating a whole fantasy world focused on a strange man and his orphanage, but there was still something missing. It was when I started working on a magic system that everything started to fall into place. I made multiple gods, each with their own domains and types of magic. I made Host system, allowing creatures to trade their life force to harness the gods' powers. Then, during the Covid lockdown of 2020, I reached my first big milestone. I created the first hand-drawn map I've ever created. I still have the physical copy of it, and I'll include the digital version I made a few years ago somewhere in this blog, but this is when the project truly began to take form.

I'll be honest, from here the linear progression of the story becomes extremely foggy. These characters and this world have changed so much since their first iterations, and I have still yet to write any work of fiction starring them and their world. I'm scared of failing again, like I did in November 2018. I want to do my characters justice by making sure their story is told in the best way possible, and I want people to enjoy their story. I'm not wanting to become the next big fantasy writer, but I want these characters to be out there for people to witness. And while I want this to happen sooner rather than later, I need more time to refine my skills before I can try to tackle the challenge of writing again.

Recently, I've been afraid that I'm running out of time. Call it a mid-life crisis or just plain nihilism, but my biggest fear is dying before I can finish writing this story. All of my notes are so scattered across different websites and google drives that it would be impossible for someone to compile it all. Not to mention all the information that hasn't been written down and is just stored in my brain. And once I'm gone, all of that will be gone as well unless if I do something about it. Which is what this Tumblr blog is for. I'm going to be spending the foreseeable future documenting everything I can remember and find in the hopes that if I die before I turn it all into a novel, someone can use this blog to pick up the torch in my stead. And, if I am able to live a long enough life to make the novel I want to, then this blog can serve as a way to look back on progress.

To those who stick around to read my insane ramblings about dead gods and geographical structures that make no damn sense, I thank you. These characters and this world is of my creation, and if I can entertain one soul with what is here, then that'll be enough to justify the work put into this blog. Let's have some fun. ~Fel

#oc #creative writing #writing #creative process #fantasy #personal

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falsettos-tight-knit-family · 1 year ago

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30 Falsettos Challenge in 2 Days (Part 2)

16) A Character You'd Want To Date: Whizzer. No questions asked. Next-

17) A Character You Want To Get To Know Better: As I said before, I'd love to know more about Charlotte as a character because I love the lesbians and I feel like even Cordelia got more fleshing out than she did.

18) Best Decision Someone Made In The Musical: Jason choosing to have his Bar Mitzvah in Whizzer's hospital room is something that still emotionally pains me every time I hear that song tbh

19) One Character You'd Want To Sing With: I'd take either part in any Whizzvin duet, especially if we're talking about Christian and Andrew's versions, they both have such good voices to harmonize with.

20) Favorite Cast Member: Andrew Rannells. I became immediately obsessed with other stuff he's done (I want to watch Black Monday and The New Normal so bad, but my family doesn't have Amazon Prime). Only when I watched the Thanksgiving side by side did I realize that the entire cast is incredibly chaotic in the best of ways and has such good chemistry together.

21) To Try To Convince Someone To Watch Falsettos, What Would You Show Them? I've already done this twice with my friends, the first thing I show them is a very specific compilation on youtube (Falsettos Act 1 Moments That Make Me Scream), because it's the same way I got into Falsettos to begin with

22) Which Act Did You Prefer? In terms of just music, probably Act 1 because I always lean towards more upbeat songs and it has less of a chance to make me burst out crying while watching/listening to it. But in terms of which I'd rather watch, I'd for sure say Act 2. The lesbians are there, you get to see Marvin and Whizzer get back together along with all of his and everyone else's character development, the story is absolutely heartbreaking, and I could go on-

23) Something That Makes You Passionately Rant: There's so many details between Unlikely Lovers through the end of What Would I Do that I feel the need to rant about. This is all stream of consciousness written at 2 am, so fair warning and I hope it all makes some kind of sense. So I talked briefly about Unlikely Lovers in another question, but ever since I saw someone point out how one of the reasons Whizzer probably wanted Marvin to go home was because he didn't want Marvin to have to wake up next to him if he died in his sleep, which I believe is true and the implication that he would rather spend what is hypothetically his last night alone, than for Marvin to have to go through that hurts me so bad- I already talked about the Cordelia part, but I will bring it up again because it is literally the first time we see her sad and it needs to be acknowledged more often. Jason praying to God and asking him for something for what appears to be the first time ("I don't think we've ever really spoken"). He doesn't know if God exists, but he's praying and hoping that if He does, He can somehow help Whizzer. In the Something Bad Reprise, when Charlotte says the line about AIDS being infectious, it feels like there's hardly a reaction on Marvin's end. As if he's already lost so much in the few weeks since learning Whizzer had it, that he's either numb/not surprised anymore or just doesn't care as much if he lives or dies if Whizzer will be gone by then anyway. I don't think there's much to be pointed out about You Gotta Die Sometime, but I do want to bring up how the end of that song immediately transitions into Jason's Bar Mitzvah. Whizzer finally let himself feel scared and just had an emotional breakdown over accepting the fact that he's about to die. He was sobbing by the time the transition happened and it's still noticeable as Jason starts singing. He's terrified that he's going to die, and now everyone he cares about is suddenly here. In his hospital room. All together here to celebrate one of the most important days in Jason's life, with Whizzer, who just two years ago was only known as Marvin's male lover. The one who broke up the family. Now he was part of the family, the one bringing them all together. Again, What Would I Do is just depressing even on surface level. I know everyone says they cry over "We're just gonna skip that stage" and i understand that, I'm much more emotionally damaged by Marvin's "I'd do it again. I'd like to believe that I'd do it again and again and again" which aside from showing how much he's grown since the beginning, he's not only saying he'd go through all that drama and heartache just to be with Whizzer every single time, but he also knows at this point that he is also most likely going to die directly because he was involved with Whizzer. And still, he'd do it all again for him (As I write this I am not okay-). Oh and also, in Days Like This, right before the song starts, Marvin very clearly puts on a fake smile to try and make Whizzer feel better and it really does need to be appreciated more-

24) A Character From Another Musical You'd Like To See In Falsettos: After that essay of pure sadness, I'm gonna go for the funny route and say Elder Price, not for anything story or even character related (because idk enough about the story or characters of BoM), but purely because it's Andrew Rannells² and I think the reactions to someone who looks just like Whizzer would be funny

25) A Character You Can Identify With: As much as I'd love to say Whizzer (and I do identify with him to an extent), it has to be Cordelia. Her general aura of happiness and energy, being the only one entertained by Marvin during The Baseball Game, and awkwardly laughing at Mendel's bad jokes, all are things I heavily relate to-

26) Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship: Whizzer and Jason's stepfather-son bond. I love them so so much, I wholeheartedly think that he was Jason's best dad of the 3. He came to his baseball game, despite being broken up with his father for 2 years and even when not part of the family, made it clear to everyone that he loves Jason ("I love baseball. I love Jason" "I love Jason, but this is not his venue"). He was the one who stood up and taught him how to swing the bat correctly and supported him fully, even though he knew as well as anyone that Jason wasn't great at the game. I will never be over this

--- 27) Favorite Quote/One Part Of A Song: Well the "kill your mother" line is taken from earlier so I'll say during Everyone Tells Jason To See a Psychiatrist, from when they introduced Whizzer like a Heather and through to the end of the song. The dramatic entrance, the head flick, Whizzer’s excited smile when Jason says he’ll go, Marvin mocking Trina’s hand movements during “they don’t make house calls” it’s all great

28) Something A Character Did That Pissed You Off: Marvin hitting Trina would be too obvious and the Chess Game was a metaphor, but Marvin in This Had Better Come to a Stop when he says Whizzer should "Always be here, making dinner, set to screw" and just being generally hypocritical (ex. "Whizzer screws too much to see what a joy's monogamy" sir you cheated on your wife and want to have both her and Whizzer at the same time. Idc if it's not sexual, it sure as hell isn't traditional monogamy)

29) A Photo/Edit/Manip That Makes You Happy: Here’s a couple of many behind the scenes pictures that make me smile (yes one is technically a gif)

Can you tell I love Andrew Rannells?

30) Something Else About The Musical You Want To Add (Wildcard): You know what I'm gonna simp in the wildcard- The way Andrew says a couple of his lines, specifically in the proshot, are randomly very attractive to me. I specifically mean "Hang up your clothes Marvin, breeding shows, Marvin" in TTOFL and "Sex and games in New York City" in A Day In Falsettoland. Also, idk if this is simp worthy or not, but the higher harmonies Christian hits in some of the songs (ex. Unlikely Lovers) are so pretty and super satisfying to listen to

#falsettos #falsettos challenge #Whizzer brown #Marvin gardens #trina weisenbachfeld #mendel weisenbachfeld #jason weisenbachfeld #charlotte dubois #cordelia falsettos

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moosenaround2448 · 1 year ago

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Ask game tag from @dare-g (hey thanks friend sorry this took forever lmao :3)

Last Song You Listened To:

Other than the songs I posted just before this, I've had this one man project called KidMotor on repeat. Total random discovery and I love it. Every EP is different but I'm really into 777 Lives, this art student kid from Vancouver with family originally from Mexico captures the sound of sun bleached west coast post-punk in one song and transitions seamlessly into some ambient dark synthwave in another. I really really really recommend listening to every project on his bandcamp.

Last Movie You Watched: Recently rewatched the original 1976 Assault On Precinct 13 by John Carpenter. I can't get enough of that score.

Currently Watching: I honestly don't watch many new shows or much of anything really unless it's Sopranos or The Wire for the 100th time lmao so it's a lot of youtube, currently a compilation of the Super Best Friends L.A. Noir let's play on in the background every now and then.

Other Things You've Watched This Year: Ah see above for my boring answer lmao. OH! FUNNY CONNECTION I saw the latest Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie with my dad the last time I visited home and it happened to be in the 3 screen theater :^)

Currently Reading: Forever Words - The Unknown Poems by Johnny Cash

Currently Listening To: at this very moment, Glycerine by Bush on repeat. In a general sense, been looking for and listening to underground lofi black metal projects and the like.

Currently Working On: Uhhhh I'm kinda between projects atm I guess. A few weeks ago I finished an activity/sensory board for my niece and nephew. My buddies and I are co-opping Dead Island 2 if that counts.

Current Obsession: Now that my pc is up and running again I'd like to try to get back into mixing vaporwave/mallsoft again and potentially making videos to go along with it. And my leopard gecko Godzilla :3

Tagging folks do it if you wanna no pressure <3

@200-penis-gnomes @manybackflips@soyuzam @mia-wiah @honeyed-simmy @hes-one-of-those-gothic-punks @traceamountsoftimetravel @2-easy-peasy @warkitty07 @junkdrawerbrain @shotofchinaco

#ask game #tag game #thanks :3 #long post #bandcamp #KidMotor #Bandcamp

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theresnoturningback · 9 months ago

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YEAR 1, SUMMER - PROLOGUE

A/N So it begins. My goal is pretty ambitious. I've compiled my ideas and headcanons into five years. Farmer still hasn't got a name. Once she does, I'll start a new file to play while I'm not writing or doing grown-up stuff like working, blegh.

If you like my writing, consider reblogging it. It would help a lot for my motivation and considering it's five years I need to cover, I'll be needing a lot of it.

If you don't like it, consider being kind? It's been years and I am aware I'm rusty. If it weren't for @apocalypsebi I'd be still struggling with some important details.

Anyways, anything you guys need, my askbox is open. Thanks for reading!

She could clearly remember her grandpa’s faint words as if they had spoken two weeks ago:

“There will come a day when you feel crushed with the burden of modern life…and your bright spirit will fade before a growing emptiness”

Sadly for her, that day had already come. A sense of dread would open her tired eyes every weekday just before 7 am. She’d pour herself a cup of instant coffee, drink half of it and jump in the shower. There were days when she’d just remain there for a couple of minutes longer, just to let the warm water jumpstart her brain. Regret would soon follow that moment of calm. She’d hurriedly get dressed, reminding herself shorter showers were crucial if she wanted to keep her job.

No matter how hard she tried to get there on time, she always managed to be late for work. There’s always something. Traffic, blackouts, accidents, stupid people. She was so sick of stupid people, herself included.

“One more mess-up and you’re gone. Did you understand me well enough? Gone!” Her boss had screamed that morning after she arrived ten minutes late because the bus driver started arguing with another passenger and she had to make a run for it.

“Fuck,” She muttered to herself as she plopped down on her squeaky desk chair, “I don’t deserve this, if I have to be here for 30 more years, I swear I’ll kill myself.”

She covered her head with her arms. The constant humming of the old fluorescent tube light above her was like an annoying swarm of flies. She needed to get out of there somehow. She missed the sun, the wind in her face and the peaceful chirping of the birds on top of the trees. The constant clickity-clack of dozens of computer keyboards were her only soundtrack during the workday, since music was reserved for their resting moments and even then, music there consisted of a set of Joja jingles playing on repeat. Grandpa wanted to help her when she felt like that. The envelope he had given her was somewhere in her desk drawer. She opened it and looked around, hoping she hadn’t lost it. After digging for a few seconds, she finally found it among the trash and office supplies.

“If you're reading this, you must be in dire need of a change. The same thing happened to me, long ago. I'd lost sight of what mattered most in life... real connections with other people and nature. So, I dropped everything and moved to the place I truly belong.”

To think he went through the same was a depressing realization, but it made her feel less alone, somehow. Yes, she was feeling crushed under trivial tasks, performance reports and her own colleagues’ low morale that only added up to the poisonous work ambiance. Little did she know that reading the next sentence would completely change her life.

“I’ve enclosed the deed to that place…my pride and joy.” She took a moment to take a look at the deeds to her grandpa’s old farm, remembering a couple of summers from her childhood. Her dad would take her to see the jellyfish, and she had some vague memory of her and some other kids playing hide and seek in the forest one day and looking for bugs and frogs the other. She smiled to herself, still not fully understanding what this truly meant for her near future.

“This was my most precious gift of all, and now it’s yours. I know you’ll honor the family name, my girl. Good luck. Love, Grandpa”

Immediately, her smile turned into a chuckle that carried an amount of joy and freedom she hadn’t felt in months. Years, even.

She didn’t even think about it. She got up from her seat, pulled up a smaller envelope that contained her resignation letter and placed it on her desk. Then, she took the keyboard and smashed it against the screen with all her strength. Not once, not twice, but as many times as it took all the keys to fly away as she repeated her new mantra.

“FUCK. YOU.JOJA.YOU.DON’T.OWN.ME.ANY.MORE”

“What do you think you’re doing?” The voice of her horrible boss resounded behind her, but that wasn’t enough to startle her anymore. She quickly shoved the envelope against him

“I think I’m quitting and I’m never coming back to this rathole.” She replied with a smile so wide it made her cheeks hurt. She quickly took all her belongings and darted out of the building to prepare everything for her new life.

That night she couldn’t sleep at all. Hundreds of anxiety-driven thoughts wouldn’t let her. They’d race around her mind, making her heart beat fast and her stomachache.

Oh fuck, I made a terrible mistake…What if the farm doesn’t exist anymore? Or what if the deed is so old it’s no longer valid somehow. What if other people are currently living there? I can’t get my job back, not the way I quit. The sole thought of going back to sitting through one of those three-hour long meetings was enough to put her mind to work on a more positive headspace.

Suppose the farm is still there. Let’s be optimistic about that bit for a sec—Then what? What can I do with it…? Grandpa used to have cows and sell milk and cheese whenever he could, it didn’t look so hard. Maybe I could do that…But I have no idea how to take care of a cow, maybe I should start with something smaller. Chickens? But what if it dies because I forgot to feed it? No, the guilt would kill me right after… I get it! What if…we start with planting something? She took out a small notebook and jotted down some ideas. For example, if I forget to water a blueberry plant and it dies, it’s not that tragic…as opposed to an animal…and definitely cheaper.

After scribbling some additional ideas for making money and a quick packing checklist, she could finally close her eyes and jump from daydreaming to having hopeful dreams of her new life in Stardew Valley.

Right before completely falling asleep, she whispered a small prayer.

“Please, Grandpa, help me finally make something good of myself”

#stardew valley #sdv fanfiction #writing #fanfiction

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