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jq37 · 1 year ago

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The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 17

It’s Emily Axford’s World, We’re Just Living in It

Welcome back to Fantasy High where this monster 3+ hour bombshell of an episode is dropping during one of the busiest weeks of my life! There is SO much going on in this episode that I’m absolutely going to have to speed through things to get this out before the next episode but I’ll try to hit on all of the most important points. OK, ready, set, let’s go!

We closed out last ep in the middle of downtime where we learned that Jace had a scar from being infected with a rage crystal shatter star and from there we still have a bunch more downtime to get through. Highlights!

Riz investigates the footage from the crystal cam and again has the feeling that he needs to go back to his office and check out any open-ended clues because he’s missing something.

Gorgug tries to work on a way to harness the power of the Night Yorb’s darkness since it’s trapped in his van since they’ll probably be fighting a solar deity soon. He does mention it to Henry but not why he’s doing it. He also looks into the Cloud Rider and confirms with the Aviation Club goblin kid that it would be powerful enough to lift the Hangman (referring not to the motorcycle, but to Bill’s ship which is now Seacaster manor).

Fig writes another Ankarna themed song and rolls an insane 37. That’s powerful enough that she’s able to commune with Ankarna in her dreams. She calms the distressed Ankarana with the paladin spell Atonement and by commiserating that both of their girlfriends are “out of town”. Ankarna calls Fig her hero and says that “She’s always known” before she wakes up.

Fig keeps haunting Ruben's dreams but they're abjured so she can't straight up talk to him. In his dream, she sees his house in Elmville and feels rage as well as fear. She sees a glade in Far Haven Woods and a scared pre-emo Ruben which makes her think that that's where they did whatever they did to kick things off and that maybe the old Ruben is still trapped somewhere.

She then goes full Emily Axford and–along with the help of Fabian, British Kristen, Gorgug, and Adaine–goes to Ruben’s house and FAKES THE DEATH OF WANDA CHILDA BY KIPPERLILLY. Once she’s “dead” Adaine casts Enlarge on Gorgug and throws a cloak on him so he can take her away the in the same way Buddy’s body was taken away. It’s the performance of a lifetime with a 34 but the craziest part is they know someone was watching through the window but they have no idea who it was. InSANE. Imagine if it’s just Kipperlilly watching from Ruben’s window like ???????

Finally she gets Eugenia to design a tattoo for Fabian’s bday that will let him cast Ghost Step. She’s gonna secretly tattoo it on him because sure why not.

Kristen talks to a very stressed Jawbone who has been dealing with a lot of angry kids lately which is, como se dice, troubling considering the whole rage god situation. She downloads him on everything going on and reveals that she was gonna try to have British Kristen steal files so she can see if the addresses of the angry kids form a 24 pointed star but instead she helps Jawbone clean his office and asks if she can have the addresses. He can’t give out student info but he says he’ll check a map and see if they form a star as well as checking on Jace. Kristen tells him to be super careful because the last teacher they talked to was Yolanda, RIP. (He also mentions the Sophomore Year Hotel Cav fight as being a weird thing that happened and the murder attempt of Lydia–things that we’ve already flagged as loose ends. We’ll get back to this).

Bobby Dawn is freaking out because they can’t find Buddy’s soul in corn heaven. Kristen reveals that he’s not in corn heaven and in fact is following a new god (after confirming he doesn’t have a rage crystal). Bobby Dawn thinks he’s being punked–especially once Kristen says the new god is her god’s ex-wife–but Kristen is being pretty sincere (so sincere that Murph is melting into a puddle anticipating she’s about to give the game away to one of their least fave NPCs–imo, she didn’t give away anything game ending but she was def playing with fire). Bobby tells Kristen to call him if there’s anything he can do to help find Buddy and Kristen dips to go talk to “[her] friend Murph.” Not Riz, Murph the irl guy, lol. As that happens, Bobby goes to have a whisper convo with his wife Pam who is also there. Suspicious.

Riz/Murph makes the connection that Lake Shimmerstone is called that because of the gem filaments that flow from the Mountains of Chaos. It's a classic "no rolls necessary" moment.

Kristen finally checks the bylaws and sees that the major change made was that there is no longer any inaugural period post election. So once the votes are counted, whoever wins is president right away. It was a change by Mazey requested by a faculty member--they think Jace.

Kristen checks on her brother finally and it doesn't seem like he has a rage crystal but he's pretty bummed that he hasn't been able to convert any of his friends despite being a good paladin. He's also having a little existential crisis because he has non Helioic friends who don't actually seem like scary heathens. But then he was warned that sin might be tempting. Kristen tells him that she understands and that he has to decide whether he knows himself better than their parents. She says she's always around to talk. She then does a Relaxation roll and loses 3 stress tokens! Brennan also has her roll a d6 for the Relationship track roll with Buddy and on a 6, loses her final stress token!

Like Fig, Kristen also gets to commune with her goddess. Cass says that she's trapped and the king will come to Spyre. She says her wife's "fiery hand" grasps her in death and she has to protect her from the upcoming destruction--but she can't do it as herself. She tells Kristen that Ankarna has a champion as well and when Kristen asks who Cass says she already knows the champion. Finally, she urges her to look into what Kalina said because there was to be a good reason for her saying Ragh’s name.

I’m going to leave the bullets for a moment (largely because Tumblr gets mad at blocks of text that are too big) to say that Adaine and Fig go to Ayda’s geocache and find an insane amount of spell components which would have been super useful earlier in the year. It also has instruments for Fig including a new bass that Brennan says he’ll get Emily the item card for ASAP. Back to bullets!

In his research, Riz finds the location in the Mountains of Chaos of the Temple of the Fallen Sun where Lydia's party members stopped in their travels.

Riz looking into the Loam files sees that the person they're after must have had some ability to stun their opponents which is probably the reason for the lack of defensive wounds. He also learns that Ruvina's festival was called the Festival of Frost which sounds a lot like Frosty Fair.

He finds some text about something called the War of Shattered Stones which apparently took place around when Ankarna's domain changed.

On a hunch that there is more going on with the rat grinding than meets the eye, the whole gang takes a field trip to Lake Shimmerstone and Riz finds evidence that at some point the Rat Grinders were taken here while a massive giant was fighting deadly monsters. That doesn’t make sense so they call in some rats to question who tell them that there was a giant fighting these monsters and basically leaving the killing blows to the Rat Grinders so they’d get the XP–which is mechanically insane diegetically but we’re gonna ignore that. The rats also confirm that this was when Lucy was still around. The Bad Kids think that the RG’s made a deal with this giant (who the rats say is a guy btw) to get powered up and they got crystals as their end of the bargain.

OK, that basically wraps up downtime. One more piece of business before we head to the Temple of the Fallen Sun! Zara has a talk with Fig where after heaping praise on her, she passes along a message–the appearance of a surprise meteor shower which was arranged by Ayda and is the most romantic thing ever. I won’t recap it, just watch it yourself. I can’t do it justice. Before Fig leaves for some hot tub time, Zara asks about Fig’s evaluation and Fig assures her she already turned it in.

Time for a griffon road trip! And strap in because this is a MEATY lore dump. Sandra Lynn brings everyone on griffons to the Temple of The Fallen Sun and Riz brings his files because he can’t shake the feeling that he’s missing something.

They find this infernal temple littered with humanoid bones and Fig can tell with her divine sense that it's a temple to Ankarna. There is a place where Ankarna’s name was destroyed and replaced with a Ranger’s symbol that says: Do Not Enter. Fallen Temple. There’s also evidence that someone tried to rewrite Ankarna’s name but it’s not her actual name. It’s the glyph that means her but isn’t her actual name. Which suggests that there’s a group of Ankarna followers that are trying to do stuff involving her but that don’t know her name.

Everyone who can loads up on Truesight and See Invisibility before they enter the temple. There are a bunch of pretty good Investigation checks but, in particular, Riz gets a 32 and Fig gets a Nat 20.

Fig sees a vision (and Adaine can see it too--I assume as elven oracle she can just piggyback on anyone else having visions lol) of two giantkin wearing robes with a sun emblem being executed by armored individuals wearing robes with a fiery emblem on it. This temple was built right when Ankarna's domain was changing. They’re seeing the old priests of Ankarna being executed by the new ones.

It's clear that this temple was built as a part of a state religion--the focus on conquest and strength is very empire-y. Adaine sees some writing in Giant and casts Comprehend Language so she can read it. There’s a bunch about the War of Shattered Stone and some new stuff about the temple being built for the glory of the House of Sunstone. They walk through the temple and see all this awful equipment for torture and execution. They get the sense that this is where Ankarna was changed. Her new followers did a bunch of heinous stuff in her name to force her to become infernal. As above, so below and all.

Adaine casts Legend Lore and Brennan basically salivates. 30 seconds later, Riz rolls a Nat 20 to Investigate his files. So we’re about to crack this whole thing wide open folks. Let’s do this!

Fig and Kristen explore a chamber and Kristen's shards glow so bright she has to wrap fabric around them so they don't hurt peoples' eyes. They realize that their goddesses have been in this room together before. It's where they got divorced. Fig sees a vision of a bunch of Cass's followers dropping their weapons and backing up slowly and then being brutally slaughtered by the new guard of Ankarna.

Adaine's Legend Lore starts: Sunstone was the top clan of the giants and conquered all the others--Thunderfist, Hornspear, Moonspeak, and Frostblade (Lucy’s ancestors). Ships got better which meant people started mingling and so did their gods. Ankarna and Cassandra got married. Things were good for a while but the leaders of the church of Sol didn't like having two sun gods in their pantheon so they whispered in the ears of some of the Sunstone guys that maybe conquest was the way to go (this was when they started conquering the other clans).

Clan Frostblade rose up to fight because Ruvina was so concerned with stopping her sister and at the sundering of the Cliff's of Colcath, House Sunstone was destroyed.

At this point, Riz realizes the thing he was missing in his files and it’s the thing we noticed ages ago. The weird moment in Sophomore Year. How did Ragh get cursed so he could see Kalina in the first place? Brennan plays the clip, looking like the cat who ate the canary. Porter did “Barbarian Healing” on him. That’s not a real thing. Lay on Hands is though. Porter is the one who infected Ragh. Emily, who has hated this man from day one, is LIVING.

Back to the Legend Lore: The sundering of the Cliffs of Colcath. Sundering as in breaking. As in Cliffbreaker–Porter’s last name.

They start putting things together. Him telling Fig he's a paladin to his ancestors. Gorgug sees him smite a giant stone with the force that would be needed to fell a bunch of trees in the woods. Disasuding Fig from being a paladin of Cass. His connection to Jace from the start. The large figure healing Buddy? He’s big as hell and Paladins can revivify. And Ankarna telling Fig that she’s known all along.

The Legend Lore Concludes: After the sundering at the cliffs, the remaining Sunstones changed their names (to Cliffbreaker) and went into hiding. The Frostblades destroyed Ankarna's name to free her from the corruption (but I guess that went a little too far and backfired). The name was lost but a lot of Ankarna's true followers waited for her return. That includes Bakur who the Bad Kids realize was trying to bring back not infernal, ragey Ankarna but sunny justice Ankarna. But he was stopped by her mortal followers.

Sandra Lynn watching all of this is like, “Well shit,” and points out that if the world isn’t already in chaos they must not have everything they need yet. The Bad Kids figure the opposition must be missing the name and a successful election. The election is in four days so that’s how long they have to stop it. In one final sick fusion of bard and paladin, Fig uses a riff from her base to uncover an older image of Ankarna and Cassandra pre-corruption and then they head back home.

(Note: This comes up later retroactively but before they leave, they also check for footprints and see recent ones of Porter, Jace, and Buddy. It looks like they teleported in.)

Kristen casts Sending to warn Jawbone that Porter is bad news and then they speculate some more. There was a question in an earlier episode about what does it actually mean that Ankarna died in the Red Waste. They figure out that it means that the last follower who remembered her name was killed there.

They talk to Bakur who says again that he was betrayed by Ankarna’s mortal followers. He also mentions that even in her infernal state, she would refuse to grant her followers spells when they had plans to hurt her sister or wife (even when Ruvina’s followers were attacking her).

Bakur realized that Ankarna's followers were interested in her power but not in her. Bakur also overheard conversation from Lydia's party that said that Ankarna needed to be remade in a place where a god has been borne. A god. Any god. Riz flashes back to Kipperlilly Jawbone asking where Yes! was borne.

Fig with some help from Adaine makes a fake version of Ankarna's name to give to Porter--Bacharath written in Giant. While Fig goes to give this to Porter, Adaine is hiding outside with Detect Thoughts on and Riz is hiding nearby invisible and recording.

Fig finds Porter and tells him and she found a new god and found her name but it’s annoying because she can’t read Giant which she needs to do to rez the god. She does it really casually and acts like it’s no big deal and Porter tries to play it cool but Adaine can tell with her Detect Thoughts that he’s chomping at the bit to get that name. She makes sure that Fig crits on her Deception with a portent. He (not at all) causally offers to help Fig translate and snatches the piece of paper from her. Fig then challenges him to spar and he agrees. Brennan asks for a Con roll and when Porter stomps his foot, everyone is immediately stunned (remember the mention of the stun effect and not defensive wounds earlier). Everyone but Riz who rolled a Nat 20. So he keeps his Invisibility. He also gets a high enough luck check to feel that there is someone else invisible nearby, close to Fig and Porter (note: later, Brennan tells Adaine that while she had Detect Thoughts up, for a moment she could detect the thoughts of an invisible KP).

The last thought Adaine gets from Porter as her concentration drops on Detect Thoughts is, “Did I lock the office?”

Porter helps Fig up and doesn’t actually fight her but it feels like they just saw Porter do a Legendary Action which is a weird thing for a teacher to do–even a strong one. Fig asks what the hell that was and Porter plays it coy, saying senior year is gonna be really exciting. Riz is absolutely not having that non-answer and Misty Steps into Porter’s office. With his high investigation, he just finds everything so back to bullets:

There’s a note where he’s intimidating Halo St. Croix (the paladin teacher) into letting him teach the multiclass paladins.

There are MCATs signed for him to teach both Lucy and Buddy paladin lessons.

There’s an encrypted message between Porter and Bobby Dawn where Bobby is basically saying he’s very happy for Sol to remain the ONLY god of the sun in town but a new war god? That could be OK. He also suggests Porter look into Devil’s Honey for his plan.

There's medicine to help with a psychosomatic allergic to feline dandruff (prob Kalina related).

There’s filo dough–the kind you use to make baklava (a honey based dessert).

There’s a leather cord, probably used in the casting of Spy’s Tongue Curse than smells rank.

There are tons of blenders full of whey, protein powder, and ambrosia–food of the gods. Together, they piece together that mortals aren’t supposed to eat ambrosia because it kills them. Not in a violent way–they just ascend to the afterlife. They figure that Porter is basically eating god supplements, with the intention of supplanting Ankarna and becoming the new god of rage. Explains why he suddenly has legendary actions.

There’s some cryptic, vague communication with the Rat Grinders which doesn’t give much away but is enough to tip them off that Ruben’s house is the place where they plan things.

With that they go to investigate Ruben’s place. Before they go, Riz sets up a dead man’s switch that will release evidence if he doesn’t stop it–just in case they get trapped or held up or something. Adaine also calls her sister so she can cast a bunch of protective wards on Fabian’s place–she’s a master abjuration wizard after all.

Riza goes in first and disables all the traps in Ruben’s house which means they won’t get caught but the RG’s will know someone was there later. Here’s everything they find and, like the rest of this episode, it’s a lot:

Adaine finds Oisin’s workstation and most notably finds a picture of his dragon ancestor hanging out with Kalvaxus, some notes about the Cloud Rider, and notes about stealing summons from other people (remember Adaine's mephits going haywire at Fabian's party). There's also some notes about a way to write telekinetically on the inside of a sphere. They’re not sure what that means.

In Ruben's sound studio, they find notes from Porter helping Ruben write the song Get Mad--the song he did at Frosty Fair.

Gorgug hacks into their private servers and sees all their communications. KP insists that they only call Cass the Nightmare King and (presumably) refers to Porter as the "Big Guy". She says he wants the Nightmare King and should have her locked down sooner rather than later just as soon as she shows herself in the Astral Plane. There's also stuff from last year where KP is really excited. She says the Big Guy has been looking out for them for a while and she's hyping Lucy up saying she gets to be the champion (something we know she didn't want). KP is specifically excited that this will allow them to keep up with the Bad Kids. Jace is also mentioned as a conspirator under the acronym JSD which isn’t slick at all lol.

Kristen sees evidence of Buddy helping with a ritual and stuff about where a god was "borne" (spelled correctly) so clearly they know a lot about what's going on. She also finds out what KP wants to do once she's President: she wants to shut down Aguefort as a school forever which will nullify the protections and wards it has centered on it, the big one being that Elmville can't be moved to any other plane of existence while school is in session. They think the Rat Grinders want to teleport the whole town–perhaps to set up a divine domain. Which would need followers–specifically angry followers. IDK about y’all but I feel like being randomly teleported to the Astral Plane would make ME pretty angry.

There are texts post Lucy but pre Buddy where they're like what are we gonna do now? There's a "We're all in this together now" vibe (like some kind of twisted High School Musical) and they resolve to "talk to the Big Guy"

We learn Buddy was chosen for the same reason Lucy was a good candidate–connection to Ankarna. Lucy because Ruvina was her sister and Buddy because of similar domains (Helio’s domain is a Solar offshoot). Also I didn’t mention this before but Buddy did *not* know what he was doing. Oisin and Ivy are joking about his cluelessness behind his back (Booooo I was rooting for you dude).

There’s a message from Jace telling them to stop antagonizing the Bad Kids even though they want revenge which leads the Bad Kids to question what they ever did to them.

In Oisin's room they also find a lot of stuff about dragons and an image of a fetal god being protected by the Nightmare King. Also they remember how cloudy the Nightmare King's realm was (maybe a cloud rider connection?)

Deep breath, this is a lot of stuff and we’re almost done.

There's stuff about the Thistulespring tree and Ruben’s song spreading the rage vibes that represent the crystals in the ground.

They realize that Porter is probably using the Devil's Honey to lie to Ankarna about his intentions as he's communicating with her.

They see that for the ritual they needed a body (Porter), Ankarna's name, the protective storm of the NIghtmare King, and his name inscribed by the champion of the old goddess. They realize that’s why Zara never got her eval. Fig is the champion and she did Porter and Zara’s eval on the same sheet which he swiped for this ritual. He literally made Fig a paladin so he could get what he needed. Diabolical. Aguefort needs better hiring practices.

OK. Phew. Finally done. They head out and the next day is election day. Porter isn’t at school that day which is not surprising but is concerning. They don’t see the RG’s either. After school it’s time for the big party/election at Fabian’s place. Mazey gets a booth set up and Jawbone is there as faculty to make it legit. Aelwyn has warded up the place. Fig is there as Wanda cause she’s a maniac. Adaine is casting Detect Magic continually at the voting booth to watch for shenanigans. Also Ragh shows up and he aced his tryouts! He’s gonna be a profesh bloodrush player! Hoot growl all around!

But Riz (and honestly Murph) is unsettled. Everyone’s at this party where Fabian’s victory is a sure thing? All in one location together? Rat Grinders nowhere to be seen? This is WAY too easy.

Which is Brennan’s cure to drop the other shoe.

Things are just like Adaine's visions...until they're not. The sky was always clear in her visions and now storm clouds are brewing. She gets a Sending spell from someone, "You didn't see the storm coming? Must not be a very good Oracle." Oisin. Suddenly, ping pong balls with runes inside of them start raining down from where they've been stuck in the unkept Seacaster manor for months. From when Oisin "missed" his shots. Telekinetic writing inside a sphere. Runes inside ping pong balls. As they fall, there's a sudden lurch. Winds kick up and Seacaster manor is flying above Elmville. Everyone rolls initiative!

I’m not doing proper Honor Roll/Detention this week because this was such a long episode and I'm exhausted. Honestly, Honor Roll for me for getting this up in time. Detention for Fabian for not using is 10k gold allowance to have someone clean his house in the past 9 months.

Random Notes

Gonna just stick to a few plot relevant ones to keep this brief.

Re: Adaine not seeing the storm in the same way that the previous oracle couldn't. I wonder if that’s just a blanket thing that weather evades predictions or if they did the same thing that was done during Kal’s plan to evade that oracle's sight before Aelwyn sunk her ship.

I don’t think I made it clear but Porter def killed Yolanda according to this ep.

Porter’s Legendary Action is able to stun someone for multiple rounds which in combat would be devastating.

I’m shocked they never tried to talk to Ruvina at any point during the campaign.

I am still VERY concerned about Riz being made staff by Jace and given silver. That feels suspicious given we know he’s on Team Porter Ascension.

I didn’t get into it because it was nebulous and would have messed with the flow of the recap but there was something there about teleportation circles and the Rat Grinders continually casting teleport to make a circle and maybe that’s how they’re gonna get Elmville into the Astral Plane. Just mentioning it in case it comes up again.

I don’t think we got closure on the “where the god was borne” thing. Because borne means carried, not created, right? I wonder if Seacaster manor would count because the corpse of Yes! Was brought there by Ankarna.

The Rat Grinders and Porter have at least 2 obstacles they don’t know about. They don’t have the real name (unless they got in since Fig gave Porter the fake one) and Fig is literally domain squatting on Ankarna’s domain. She already called dibs so any claiming will have to go through her.

I think it’s really nice that Adaine tried to do a relaxation track for Kristen. Handshake meme, her and Riz.

Emily insisting so hard and consistently that Porter was evil that Brennan just made him evil has some real as above/so below energy lol.

#Dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 #d20 spoilers #fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #spoilers #the report card

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kadextra · 1 year ago

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so on a whim I started reading omniscient reader’s viewpoint manhwa

..and got hooked on the story so hard that I easily blasted through all available eps in less than a week. istg they put dr*gs in this thing it’s so good???? 😭

[SPOILER WARNING! big ramble ahead. if you’ve never read it, leave this post. consider checking it out you won’t be able to put it down]

lets get this out of the way first.

RAHHHHHH KIM DOKJA….. KIM DOKJA I LOVE YOU

GUYSSSSS 🥺 LISTEN. HE’S SUCH A GOOD PROTAGONIST. MY TRAUMA BOY. MY DUDE WITH THE POWER TO INFODUMP PEOPLE TO DEATH. YOU SELF-SACRIFICING IDIOT. his cunning intelligence makes him super attractive what can I say, I LOVE smart mcs with ambiguous morality and self sacrificial nature

here’s a big ✨shut your mouth✨ to every character who’s said he’s ugly- get your eyes checked, get a job get away from him (I know it’s because of the fourth wall’s filter it’s not their fault I’m just being silly)

the fourth wall is such a cool power to have. the complexity of how it acts based on his perception of fiction vs reality as the reader …. that’s very interesting and well thought out!!! how it lowkey has a consciousness too and it’s so tied into his mental state makes me want to psychoanalyze this guy even more. probably one of the most unique powers I’ve seen created and explored in a story tbh

I think the entire system of how the world works is really well done in general. constellations watching the apocalyptic bloodbath via livestream and sending donos to their favorite little guys shouldn’t work as well as it does and cracks me up so much 😭 (uriel is the best). I enjoy learning about all the irl different fables, history & mythologies too. plus doing my own research is fun! I did a deep dive through the web to learn about dokkaebi folklore lol I’m having a good time

I also related hard to how dokja read TWSA throughout his life, the story was a companion for him. got choked up bc I reflected on how much my own favorite companion stories for years mean to me. there’s been situations I’ve thought “what would (character) do?” dokja saying stuff like “what would joonghyuk do?” felt like I got called out <3 I’d probably be the same as him if my favorite characters suddenly came to life

anyways yeah I caught up with the manhwa looked online and discovered it comes from an already completed novel with over 500 chapters and the manhwa is barely a third into adapting it though it’s been releasing every week for 4 years. and that it’ll take like 10 more years to finish. I then planted my face in my hands and screamed with despair

I’ll shrivel up waiting to see what happens……………heyyy woahhhh.. whats this light of salvation ? the novel file just completed download on my phone ? that’s crazyy wow I opened it ? im scrolling it right now ? omg I’m telling myself in the mirror “pace yourself, try to space your reading out do NOT read too fast” ?

jokes aside im excited, first I’ll take some time to read back through the earlier chapters for extra context of scenes! >:D after I finish doing that…. pls pray for my self-control to try stretching this for as long as possible. I’m pumped to see what happens next with this demon king part so maybe I’ll read along with the manhwa unless I get too impatient heh

to conclude- I had no idea the fandom of orv was so passionate. while closing my eyes to spoilers, I was looking at beautiful fanart and animatics (watched this one and ascended that’s one of my fav rin songs). I can tell how much you guys love the story, there’s always going to be people like me who get interested so keep it up :D if the fandom does end up reading this, ummm *knocks on the door* hi im new

I will likely talk about it more in the future!! tagging under “#kade reads orv” ! might draw fanart on my art blog too bc brainworms <3 happy reading everyone

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #kade reads orv #kade reads

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universitysunflowers · 1 year ago

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So how are we feeling right now? (TBB Spoilers)

Episodes 10 & 11 may be some of the darkest we've seen this season. We all knew the storm was coming but wow that was such a dramatic shift. I definitely had some thoughts and realizations after watching the latest release.

Okay first off lets talk about the elephant in the room: Tech. A lot of people thought that Identity Crisis would be about Tech and his struggle with having been made into the shadow clone CX-2, but it was actually about Emerie (I'll get back to her in a bit). Even though we don't know exactly who that shadow clone is yet, I do think it could still be Tech. In episode 11 (plus 6 and 7) we saw a lot of hints towards Tech as we knew him in seasons 1 and 2; things like the way he spoke, his leg getting crushed, his flying, and his use of Cid and Phee to get to the others on Pabu. One thing that really stood out to me when he was on Phee's ship is the way he put his hands on the flight controls while downloading her data, almost like it was second nature to him, something familiar he did without thinking (I know this is a stretch but it really jumped out at me as a parallel to the countless scenes of Tech flying the Marauder, it just felt like him again). However there is a dark side to all of this. If CX-2 is Tech that means that:

Tech destroyed the Marauder; the ship that was a home and refuge for CF 99, both during the war and after the Empire took over. It was the one real constant they had in their lives and he would be the reason it's gone.

Tech destroyed peace on Pabu; a place where he and the others felt safe and grounded for the first time since Kamino. It also means he would be at least partly responsible for destroying the lives of everyone who helped and supported them in season 2 (CX-2 was ruthless in ep 11, they made that very clear).

Tech used Phee to accomplish all of this; a friend who trusted and cared about him and rest of the batch.

Tech would be the one who hunted down and eventually captured Omega, whatever that may mean in the future.

There are a lot of people who think that bringing Tech back would make his death meaningless, which I completely understand. Some characters should die and stay dead as a way of furthering the story and development of other characters. However, in this case I do think that revealing CX-2 to be a brainwashed Tech would have huge implications for the narrative. It would mean that one of their own was responsible for so much of the destruction we have seen this season, and that just because Crosshair resisted imperial experiments, does not mean that the others have similar abilities/plot protection. It would also bring immense emotional conflict into the rest of the season (however they might do it) and could be a deciding factor in the rest of the batch's fate; would they realize what he's done and treat him as the enemy, or would they see him and hesitate, possibly losing even more than they already have. Revealing Tech as the shadow clone would be incredibly dark, especially after all of the cruel and deliberate things he has done this season that contrast to the mild tempered and caring persona we previously knew (even if he didn't always show his feelings outright). While I do think there is a possibility that he is dead and not coming back, I definitely would not put it past the writers to do something so drastic as a way of adding to the season's narrative value with a conflicting and completely jarring revelation that would have so many significant implications for so many main characters. I did not mean for this post to be so long but let's keep going anyway.

Some other more general realizations I had:

As of right now, Hunter and Wrecker don't know that Omega was taken again. That said, we might not see them finding out and the next episode could definitely jump ahead like they have done with other significant moments like Crosshair's return.

Crosshair could be blamed for letting Omega give herself up and missing the shot to put a tracker on the ship, especially if they never see her again (but I'm choosing to believe that won't happen). There is no way Hunter wouldn't have something to say about that, even after they have mostly patched things up over the last few episodes. This also contributed to the tone of the episode 11 ending; he missed the shot, meaning they have no way of tracking her and are no closer to finding Tantiss. It was a very bleak note to end on in general, not at all like some hopeful purpose driven endings we have seen previously.

Just because Omega gave herself up does not mean that the Empire is going to leave Pabu intact. She distracted CX-2 by letting him take her back to Tantiss but the other troopers were still there, and I doubt they will just pack up and leave without a fight now that Omega is back in their control.

There are only 4 episodes left; what if they don't reveal CX-2's identity at all, and just leave us guessing (I still think there could be merit to the possibility of it being Cody or a Crosshair clone but that gets less likely every time we see him). Or worse, what if they keep hinting at it to make sure we know who he is, but never give us proof; instead just leaving us with the knowledge of what happened to Tech, and what he has done, without any other closure.

Ok let's talk about Emerie. I was definitely not expecting her to be the focus of Identity Crisis, but I thought that was a really interesting twist. We haven't seen her in a while so it was nice to get her perspective, and to get a better idea of what project Necromancer is all about (though I am still not totally sure where they are going with that so I'm reserving my judgments until later). As the title implies, she is definitely starting to question her place with Hemlock and the Empire, and I am also wondering how she is going to react to Omega being captured again, especially knowing what she knows now. I definitely think Emerie will be more sympathetic towards Omega's independence and desire to help the other clones. We might even see the two of them working together on a future escape attempt? Overall I enjoyed episode 10 and I am glad Emerie is finally getting her moment to contribute to the plot, especially after her importance was so obiously revealed in Crosshair's escape attempt during season 2.

I'm sorry this got so depressing but unfortunately I think that is what we can expect for the rest of the season unless something really unexpected happens. Also if you read that entire novel then thank you I swear I didn't think this post would be so long when I was writing down my thoughts earlier but here we are.

#the bad batch #star wars #tbb spoilers #the bad batch season 3 #tbb #clone force 99 #tbb tech #tbb emerie #tbb omega #star wars the bad batch

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hikennosabo · 2 years ago

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#tristampparty day 2, episode 2: the running man

day 2 of @tristampparty!! i have less to say about this episode than the first one so hopefully this will be a shorter post than yesterday LOL

iirc this is 98 knives's seiyuu on the radio, right?!!! i am only about halfway through my jp 98 watch and can't recognize him by ear (yet) but i think it's very neat that the original seiyuus have cameos :')

also vash keeping the photo with him What If I Ate Rocks

he is such a kicked puppy of a man

why does roberto say revenge. what does he mean. what does he know. what has he figured out from knowing vash for maybe like a few hours. or is he just throwing that out there without realizing how close he is to the truth. partially, anyway. he didn't guess the savior complex part.

i'm not entirely sure what meryl means by honor...? but money is a pretty normal reason to want a plant, as we've seen and as we'll continue to see.

i like how meryl has a fear of bugs... i can relate lol. i think this character trait comes from the manga when she was kidnapped by zazie and was grossed out? i think here it also serves to reinforce her being sheltered, still unfamiliar with the world at large since worms are everywhere--WAIT HOLD ON.

PAUSE. ZOOM. ENHANCE.

RAI-DEI SPOTTED?!?!??!?! this rewatch is becoming an I Spy game with the wanted posters, jfc.

man i'm so glad i finally downloaded tristamp so i can appreciate the visuals without the crunchiness of streaming video... i can't do the animation justice with just screenshots but i love watching vash scamper around like a... i don't know. he scampers like a cockroach in 98, but this is giving a different vibe. like a... something. like a creature.

i also want to take a second to appreciate how gorgeous the backgrounds are, like,

i loooove the backgrounds, it looks like... maybe a mix of markers and colored pencil... i love the detail and the colors are so pleasing. this is such a gorgeous anime to look at, i don't know how anyone could possibly say it looks bad without them just blindly hating it because it's 3dcg. god i'm getting so distracted looking at the backgrounds that i'm missing the action AND the subtitles LOL

wasn't there a post somewhere that actually calculated how much a bullet is worth based on this information. i don't remember what conclusion it came to. but i'm thinking either food is expensive (tbh, likely) or bullets are inexpensive and vash is just poor (also likely). also it's funny that the dub changed this to donuts. ...where are the donuts at in tristamp anyway...

roberto lmao 😭😭😭😭😭 i guess that's one way to guarantee it doesn't spill

roberto up until this point has acted like meryl is dragging him along unwillingly, but here he's the one telling meryl to get in the car so they can get a move on, lol. yeah yeah we all already know he's actually a softie and that he really cares underneath his aloof demeanor.

which brings us to this scene... i don't want to say that he has vash "all figured out" because obviously he doesn't, but he's got SOME of vash figured out at least. definitely more than meryl atp. he knows vash is running from knives... i wonder how this conversation would have gone if they weren't interrupted.

yeah i don't really have that much to say about this ep, relatively speaking... i don't have any deep thoughts about the nebraskas, they're just comic relief villains anyway, i don't care about them that much, even though tristamp kind of tries to make us care a little bit by the end of this episode...

next episode is gonna be a doozy though. ohohohohohoho.

#tristampparty #trigun talk #june speaks #i need to not do these right before i go to bed lol

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real-total-drama-takes · 2 years ago

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top 10 reasons why i think julia should be a pre-merge boot next season

⚠️warning: some may find the following content disturbing. julia fans' discretion is advised

it'd piss off her fans

she's overused her potential and hogged a lot of unnecessary screentime. her schtick as a villain is extremely overpraised especially when the main twist in ep 6 that marked her first significant accomplishment didnt even make sense. you're telling me that somehow, from hearing someone say one single word, she went through all the possibilities (including overhearing a confessional from the outside) and concluded that someone was downloading the confessionals?? despite no one knowing about mk's geek persona in addition to it never having been accomplished in the history of the show before? really? they could've at least had more interesting buildup to that twist, and have julia's "clues" actually have substance because otherwise the writing was very flimsy

she's not that complex of a character canonically. it may be difficult to hear but it's objectively true

it'd piss off her fans

her villain persona is just straight up being a bully about things that arent related to the game at all. it's laughable that people call her heather 2.0 when heather certainly had a personality past being an asshole and nothing else. "but we need more mean women in media!" julia fans also hate MK and millie for that exact reason! be consistent about it.

the pre-merge boot order this season was nasty. every single pre-merge boot had potential, even more so than julia (whose personality could immediately be guessed the moment her design was released. whoop-de-doo!)... i'd like more time for dynamic characters next season and not static ones.

julia's twist was very predictable. her entire character is predictable. she's the character everyone thinks they relate to while in reality they're more of a millie. but who's surprised that people prefer the skinny white tiktok girl over the most realistically written character in the show

with all her canon screentime in the show, she's developed very little. i think it's unfair to have her be a screen hog a second season in a row when she already had her time to shine and hardly did anything unique with it. we finally get the most diverse cast this show has seen and yet everyone wants more of the most boring type of character we've already seen in 700 other shows

seriously i don't get why people think she's all that. just step outside for a moment and you'll find an entire sea of people who are exactly like her, in both appearance and personality. calling her the best villain in the history of td is ridiculous and laughable and even mal was more entertaining for me to watch. at least he was funny

it'd piss off her fans

thanks for watching! please hit that like button and subscribe for more aaawesome content💯🔥💪

#total drama #total drama 2023 #fandom takes #character hate #kind of ?

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samkat10423 · 1 year ago

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More Veronaville

As I mentioned before, I had some routing issues with the original Veronaville, and since danjaley used Riverview as her basis for her town, I downloaded an empty version from Mod the Sims and have been using it.

Anyway, I finished up the "industrial" side today. Go, me!

I decided to use the hospital from that Supernatural ep, since it looks old and has the added bonus of being a dual rabbithole.

I left the diner pretty much as it was, with the exception that I changed the sidewalk paving to the same one I'm using throughout the town. Next door was the business lot, but I already have one on the island, so I built a small firehouse here. The Monty's footed the bill for its construction, since cheapo Consort Capp didn't see any sense in wasting simoleons on one. As he told everyone in town, "Our ancestors managed quite well without one! You younger sims are just a bunch of crybabies."

Next to the criminal hideout, I bulldozed the pool EA had there, and placed a water treatment plant that I got from Mod the Sims. (It's still zoned as a pool). The place has "No swimming!" signs posted, but sims still climb over the fence and swim here. Then complain when they break out in rashes. As Consort Capp likes to say, "You can't fix stupid, and the Montys are all really, really stupid," since the medical board - at the last town meeting - complained that the ER has been overflowing with sims covered in rashes and they want more simoleons to cover the added cost of hiring more staff to treat them. What Consort doesn't know is that his grandson has been treated three times.

Across the street is where I was going to place danjaley's Globe Street strip mall. This was where EA had their science facility. Unfortunately, her lot was a bit too big for the spot. So, in my town history, there was a Globe mall here, but it was 'mysteriously' destroyed by a fire - even though it was right across the street from the firehouse - that Consort Capp didn't want. They didn't get there in time to put out the fire, because at the time the fire was blazing out of control, they got 6 other calls from the opposite side of town. Anyway, the previous Globe strip was owned by the Monty family, but after it was destroyed, they couldn't get the necessary permits to rebuild - thanks to the Capps. So, they were forced to sell - at a loss. What they didn't know was that Consort Capp bought the property - for a song - through a proxy buyer. Anyway, since the original description of danjaley's lot said it was the place to go for entertainment, I decided to place a bowling alley there. The building came from My Sim Realty. I just expanded it a bit. And in the parking lot - where there are no parking spaces - I placed Sandy's roller skating object, so my sims can roller skate outside.

In the original build, the roller skating thingie was inside, but since I didn't need it, I replaced it with the ice skating one. Upstairs are some video games.

Anyway, that section of town is now done, since I left the 'festival' lot as is.

#sims 3 #veronaville #thanks to the creators over on Mod the Sims and my Sims Realty.#and of course #danjaley!

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kirlicues · 6 months ago

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Gyms for Sims | CC-Free Sims 2 Community Lots | Create-a-Town

These two different community gym lots are built and decorated in a similar style but their exteriors are painted to look different.

Puns and cute plays on words are a notorious part of the Sims games, and because I have a few playfulness points, I’ve tried to have these lots follow in that legacy with their names.

First up is the small “Gym-in-a-Box”, named for not only its more boxy shape, but also the shape of the lot (2x2).

This little gym is 3 stories tall and provides your sims with lots of options for exercising, or soothing their over-worked muscles.

You will need to download the Maxis Lost and Found Fixed CAS Window to get it to look exactly like the pictures. The window is not included in this download. Since this is an object that came with the game, but was hidden, I don’t really consider it CC, however, if you do please feel free to replace the 3rd story windows with the regular High-Tech Loft Window that is visible on the front of the building (also on the 3rd story) above the front doors.

This lot comes lightly furnished and would most likely benefit from some added décor should you desire to do that. It should be functional without any extra fussing though.

Alright, let’s see what you’re getting with this small but serious gym:

1st Floor From top-left: Hot-Tub, Vending machines, bathrooms, entry area (with “healthy” meal options [regular grocery freezers]), main workout space, side-entry.

2nd Floor From top-left: weight room, vending machines, bathrooms, the rest of the floor is open to first story.

3rd Floor From top-left: ballet studio, bathroom, sports massage studio (could also be a physical therapy office).

CC-Free, but all EPs and SPs are required.

Don’t forget to grab the Maxis/EA “Lost and Found” CAS Window Fixed if you do not already have them in your game.

I’ve run this lot through the Lot Compressor so any random references to sims that aren’t there should be removed. I have also run it through the Lot Cleaner to remove any bits of buggy code. This lot comes with a shiny custom thumbnail so it has even more curb appeal in your Lots and Houses bin! 😄

I ALWAYS recommend using the Sims 2 Pack Clean installer to install lot files.

The link for this lot will be at the bottom of the post. Keep scrolling. 😊

Next up, it’s The Slim Gym, so named because of the lot shape (5x2) it is built on.

This lot is fairly sizable so if your computer is good enough you should be able to have your sims enjoy exercising with a plethora of not-so-fresh-smelling patrons. What could be more fun? 😂

You will need to have the Maxis Lost and Found Fixed CAS Window installed to get it to look exactly like the pictures. That window is not included in this download. Since this is an object that came with the game, but was hidden, I don’t really consider it CC, however, if you do, please feel free to replace the 3rd story windows in the black corrugated siding section with the regular High-Tech Loft Window.

I realized after packaging this lot that I also have the Freetime pre-order bonus poster hung in the ballet studio.��It is included, but you do not have to install it if you use the Sims2Pack Clean installer. This is an original Maxis/EA object however, so you probably already have it in your game.

Let’s have a look at those spacious floorplans, shall we?

1st Floor From left: pool, shower and locker rooms, hot-tub, weight room, locker rooms and showers, vending machines, main floor bathrooms, treadmills, staff offices, or offices for personal trainers/nutritionists, and the entry area (with “healthy” meal options [regular grocery freezers]).

2nd Floor From left: open to floor below, upstairs sitting area above pool, small back patio area, ballet studio, sports massage/physical therapy office, bathrooms, vending machines and eating area, the rest is open to the floor below.

Since there is a bit more space in this building, I’ve taken a couple of pictures of how some of the rooms look. You’ll notice that the interior of this building is very similar to the first gym. Feel free to redecorate it if you like.

Weight room:

Treadmills:

Pool:

Now I need to design a “Just-Right Gym”. Not too big, not too small… 🤣

Gym-in-a-Box: MF | SFS

The Slim Gym: MF | SFS

Like the first gym, this lot is CC-Free, but all EPs and SPs are required.

Don’t forget to grab the Maxis/EA “Lost and Found” CAS Window Fixed if you do not already have them in your game.

I ALWAYS recommend using the Sims 2 Pack Clean installer to install lot files. Looking for lots to add some more interest to your town? Try these: Main Street Shops Across the Street The Next Street Over Around the Corner Further Down the Street Small Shopping Center

#create-a-town lots #Sims 2 community lot #community lot #dl: lots #sims2 #s2build #ts2 build #sims 2 lot #sims 2 lots #lot download #sims 2 house #ts2 screenshots #sims 2 build #ts2 download #sims 2 download #the sims 2 #thesims2 #kirlicuessimlots

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randomisedgaming · 1 year ago

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Xbox 360 XBLA titles without Xbox One /Series X Support, still available to buy!

Following our latest video on the Xbox 360 store shutdown, here is the full list of Xbox Live Arcade games still up to buy on the Xbox 360. If you haven't seen the video you can watch it below.

youtube

With the Xbox 360 store closing on the 29th of July, this list baring the odd error shows all the XBLA games in the United Kingdom Xbox 360 Marketplace Shop. That don't work on Xbox One or Series X and will be lost for good at the end of the month. Some have Xbox One releases, but many are Xbox 360 exclusive. Now the final price drop event on 360 is due to happen on the 16/17th of July.

It seems unlikely any DLC will get reduced so the expensive Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends DLC you will just have to pay through the nose for! If we get time we will try to cover on Demand Games and DLCs next week.

Note at present we are still notes games not all games with extra download content on XBLA are listed correctly yet same with Xbox One versions of some games. As we discussed in our previous videos using the website to buy content is next to impossible and we are buy content via the Xbox 360 in console store.

Warning as per our previous video about the problems we had with the Rabbids Invasions Season Pass. We advice users avoid season passes on the service most are broken.

Any mistakes or omissions please do let us know. Drop us an email, comment or send us a tweet. Also let us know about any Japanese, North America or other games not available in the UK on XBLA and still up and we will add them. If you are looking for games already delisted then visit the excellent website https://delistedgames.com/ for a full list.

XBLA Titles still available to buy on the digital store:

# - Symbols - No games now listed

A (12)

Abyss Odyssey

Alien Breed Episode 1 (On Xbox 360 retail disc in UK Alien Breed Trilogy)

Alien Breed 2: Assault (On Xbox 360 retail disc in UK Alien Breed Trilogy)

Alien Breed 3: Decent (On Xbox 360 retail disc in UK Alien Breed Trilogy)

Alien Rage

Alien Spidy {Has DLC}

Amy

Ancients of Ooga {Has DLC}

Anna - Extended Edition

Arkadian Warriors

Assault Heroes

Awesomenauts [Has Xbox One version] (Released on modern formats with more DLC)

B (18)

Backbreaker Vengeance

Bastion [Has Xbox One version]

Batman: The Telltale Series [Has Xbox One version] (Warning to all, there is a retail version, but this is a season pass disc, which only has the first episode on it and must download the other episode, after the shutdown you will only be able to play the first episode on them.)

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - Deluxe Edition (Listed as Blackgate Deluxe Ed.)

Battle Academy

Battlezone

Bejeweled Blitz LIVE

Bionic Commando Rearmed (Listed as BionicCommando Rearmed)

Black Knight Sword

Blade Kitten

Blazing Birds

Bloody Good Time

Bomberman LIVE {Has DLC} (On Xbox 360 retail disc in Europe, but base game only, no DLC)

Boogie Bunnies

Boxing Fight

Brothers [Has Xbox One version]

Bubble Bobble Neo! {Has DLC}

Burnout Crash!

C (11)

Call of Duty Classic

Capsized

Charlie Murder

Child of Light

Choplifter HD {Has DLC}

Cloudberry Kingdom

Cobalt [Has Xbox One version]

Constant C

Crazy Machines Elements

CrazyMouse

Crimson Alliance {Has DLC}

D (18)

Darkstalkers Resurrection [Included games featured on Xbox One version of Capcom Stadium 2 & Capcom Fighting Collection]

Darts Vs Zombies

Deadliest Warrior Battlegrounds (Listed as DW: Battlegrounds)

Deadlight [Has Xbox One version]

Death Tank

DeathSpank

Deep Black - Episode 1 (Listed as Deep Black - Ep. 1)

Defenders of Ardania

Defense Technica

Diabolical Pitch

Dogfight 1942

Dollar Dash

Double Dragon II

Duke Nukem 3D [Has Xbox One version]

Dungeon Defenders {Has DLC}

Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale

Dust: An Elysian Tail (Only Xbox release, also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC)

Dustforce

E (3)

Ecco the Dolphin [Included on SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis Classics]

EXIT {Has DLC}

EXIT 2 {Has DLC}

F (12)

Fatal Fury Special (Not shown in A-Z listing has to be found using Bing search on console) [Has Xbox One version by Arcade Archive, but that lacks online play]

Fez (Only Xbox release, also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC)

Field Goal Contest

Final Exam

Fire Pro Wrestling

Fireburst

Freefall Racers

Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition

Frozen Free Fall: Snowball Fight {Has DLC}

Fruit Ninja Kinect {Has DLC}

Full House Poker {Has DLC, most is delisted}

Fusion Genesis

G (7)

Guilty Gear XX A Core Plus (Listed as GGXXACP in store, make sure to download the free DLC upgrade) {Has DLC}

Gel

Geon

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

Goosebumps: The Game

Gotham City Impostors {Has DLC}

Guncraft: Blocked and Loaded

H (9)

Happy Tree Friends

Haunt

Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit {Has DLC}

Hexodius

Home Run Stars

How to Survive [Has Xbox One version How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition]

Hunter's Trophy 2 - America

Hunter's Trophy 2 - Australia

Hybrid

I (1)

Ion Assault

J - All listed as Xbox One supported

K (2)

Kinect Fun Labs {Has DLC} (Not shown in A-Z listing has to be found using Bing search on console for both game and DLCs. Base game is listed as an add-on in store and can only be run via the Games & Apps page on the guide button, select recent then press RB twice for all and scroll down.)

Kinect Party - Base Game {Has DLC}

L (4)

Leedmees

Life Is Strange Episode 1 [Has Xbox One version] {Has DLC}

LocoCycle [Has Xbox One version] {Has free DLC, required to play game}

Lucidity

M (12)

Mark of the Ninja [Has Xbox One version Mark of the Ninja: Remastered]

Mars Rover Landing [Free Game for Kinect] (Not shown in A-Z listing has to be found using Bing search on console)

Marvel Puzzle Quest [Has Xbox One version] {Has DLC}

Masquerade The Baubles of Doom [Has Xbox One version]

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood

Meteos Wars

MicroBot

Mighty No. 9 (Has Xbox One version, but 360 doesn't have broken achievement) {Has DLC}

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (Outdated version released on all modern consoles) {Has DLC}

Minesweeper Flags

Mini Ninjas Adventures

Mortal Kombat Arcade

N (1)

Naughty Bear Panic in Paradise {Has DLC}

O - All listed as Xbox One supported

P (11)

Panzer General Allied Assault

Penalty Saver

Penny Arcade Episode 1

Penny Arcade Episode 2

Pinball FX2 [Has a now delsited Xbox One version, most table are on Pinball FX3 & FX4] {Has DLC}

Ping Pong

Prison Architect: Xbox 360 Edition [Has Xbox One version, 360 version is unfinished trash] {Has DLC}

Prize Driver

Puzzle Arcade {Has DLC}

Puzzle Bobble Live!

Puzzle Chronicles

Q - All listed as Xbox One / Series supported

R (15)

Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! (Listed as Rainbow Islands: T.A.)

Raystorm HD (Only Xbox release, newer ports also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC, however this version includes content not on the newer ININ Games release)

Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Listed as RE Revelations 2) [Has Xbox 360 retail version] [Has Xbox One version] {Has DLC}

Reaction Rally

Red Johnson's Chronicles

Rekoil: Liberator

Renegade Ops {Has DLC}

Rez HD (Only Xbox release, newer Rez Infinite release on PS4, PS5 & PC)

Risk

Risk Urban Assault

Rocket Riot

RocketBowl

Rotastic

Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot

Rush'n Attack

S (22)

Sanctum 2 [Only console port, PC Steam version has more content] {Has DLC}

Schizoid

Sealife Safari

Section 8: Prejudice {Has DLC}

Ski Race

Skulls of the Shogun (Only Xbox release, also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC)

South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!

South Park: Tenorman's Revenge

Space Channel 5 Part 5 (On Xbox 360 retail disc Dreamcast Collection America & Europe)

Space Invaders Extreme (Only Xbox release, also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC)

Spare Parts

Spyglass Board Games

Star Raiders

State of Decay [Has Xbox One version State of Decay: Year-One]

Storm

Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting (Listed as Street Fighter II' HF) [Included on Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection & Capcom Stadium for Xbox One]

Street Fighter III: Online Edition [Included on Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection for Xbox One]

Streets of Rage 2 [Included on SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis Classics & Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage for Xbox One]

Strider [Has Xbox One version]

Super Time Force [Has Xbox One version]

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (Listed as SuperStreetFighter2THD)

Syberia 2

T (18)

Takedown: Red Sabre

Tempest

Terraria - Xbox 360 Edition (Newer versions, more updated)

The Bluecoats - North vs South

The Bridge

The Dishwasher Dead Samurai (Listed as The Dishwasher)

The Dishwasher Vampire Smile (Listed as The Dishwasher: VS)

The Fancy Pants Adventures

The Path of Go

The Wolf Among Us {Has DLC}

Things on Wheels

Thunder Wolves

TiQal

TNT Racers

TotemBall

Track and Field

Trials Fusion {Has DLC}

Tron (Not shown in A-Z listing has to be found using Bing search on console)

Twisted Pixel Games Bundle (Bundle of games)

U - All listed as Xbox One / Series supported

V (3)

Valiant Hearts [Has Xbox One version]

Vigilante 8 Arcade

Voodoo Dice

W (15)

War World

Warlords (NB: Not to be confused with the 2012 release of Warlords on Xbox 360 which is a different game and is back catalogue support, this one is the original arcade & an evolved update.)

Warp

Watchmen The End is Nigh

Watchmen The End is Nigh Part 2

Way of the Dogg

Wik: Fable of Souls

Wing Commander Arena

Wits & Wagers

Worms {Has DLC}

Worms 2: Armageddon {Has DLC}

Worms Revolution {Has DLC}

Worms Ultimate Mayhem {Has DLC}

Wreckateer {Has DLC}

Wrecked Revenge Revisited {Has DLC}

X- No games now listed (RIP X-Men Arcade)

Y (5)

Yar's Revenge

Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Yo-Ho Kablammo

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels Plus {Has DLC}

Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium Duels {Has DLC}

Z (5)

Zeit 2

Zeno Clash 2

Zeno Clash Ultimate Edition (Listed as Zeno Clash UE)

Zombie Driver HD [Has Xbox One version]

Zombie Wranglers

0-9 Numbers (4)

0D Beat Drop

10 Frame Bowling

1942: Joint Strike

3 Point Contest

Japan Only XBLA Releases

Cyber Troopers Virtual-On

Virtua Striker

Any mistakes or omissions please do let us know. Drop us an email, comment or send us a tweet.

Follow Randomised Gaming on Tumblr, YouTube, Twitch & Twitter for video gaming & video content! Buy us a tea on Ko-fi

#Xbox360 #Xbox 360 #xbla #Xbox Marketplace #Youtube

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schismusic · 1 year ago

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THE DISCOGRAPHY PRINCIPLE, Episode 2: Shellac - or, The Song Remains the Same

The discography principle may be defined as an objective way to determine whether or not you're worthy of calling a band or artist "your favorite" or "one of your favorites". A possible enunciation of it goes as follows:

"Let u ≝ some asshole, B ≝ {b|b is a band}, n ≝ #({x|x is a record by b}); let p = #({y|y is a record by b in u's possession}) = p1 + p2 wherein p1 ≝ number of physical records by b you own in any format and p2 ≝ number of records by b you have downloaded. If p ≥ n ∨ p2 = n (for n → +∞), then ∃b∈B such that b is one of u's favorite bands."

When u = me, this subset of B (which we might call Bf) is comprised of six bands, off the top of my head: Autechre, Godflesh, Shellac, Kraftwerk, Fugazi and Coil, listed in no particular order.

If you want to read the prologue to this series, go here. Otherwise, let's get going.

My first year of high school was a year of exploration. Coming out of high school having exclusively listened to Pink Floyd's entire recorded output (it wasn't yet time to do anything more esoteric and perverted with record, like asking them questions, using them as spaces to be mapped out, springing poetry pieces off of them as if they were trampolines; all of that is stuff that comes the more expert you get at using records and the less respectful of them you become, which isn't necessarily a net negative) I then set out to find out more about the history of rock, sailing all alone. I'm not one of those people who get their passion for music from a relative or their parents, music was my thing and my thing only — that is, mine and the Internet's, because that's what you do in 2013 after all — you hear a name off of somewhere, you look it up on Wikipedia — the page in question usually has citation problems, provided it exists at all — and it becomes your personality for a while.

It went like this with the Mars Volta for me, my next Pink Floyd-level obsession, which consumed my conscious mind for about a full year. In the meantime I went along, getting into Nine Inch Nails (my first paid gig, on the Hesitation Marks tour; it was June 3rd, 2014) and Slint, slowly but steadily going through OndaRock's cute little "milestones" section. I never actually did go through it all the way, even though the records it includes maybe oughta be checked out at one point, but it did spark in me a form of interest in stuff that I normally wouldn't have cared for at that time. One of the names that came out of this was Shellac, a band I frankly checked out exclusively because the OndaRock page for them mentioned physics and odd time signatures. There comes a time in a music listener's journey where playing in five or in seven is simply the most big brained thing you could possibly do, especially if you're a guy who grew up on King Crimson and who thought the fact that Money by Pink Floyd is in 7/8 was hot shit — conveniently ignoring the very fortuitous slide into 6/8 right as David Gilmour is about to start his solo…

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So as My Black Ass started I was on board, my own white ass absolutely floored. I was on board the exact second the pick first hit the strings (I was later to find out Steve Albini uses exclusively copper picks and aluminum-neck guitars) and that absolutely fucked-in-the-head sound that these three guys have found a way to conjure. It's a sinewy sound, something that really requires a maximum of four different elements to obtain, and as such has a slew of imitators that never really fit the bill. What we have of Shellac (at least officially) are seven LPs, one of which recorded live and another one limited to a release of 779 copies, three EPs, one or two singles and compilation tracks, and two Peel Sessions — one of which made when the actual John Peel had already been six feet under for about a month. Critically, John Peel as sound engineer (criminally underrated) is probably the only person who could have made justice to Shellac's sound, to a point where some of these songs featured on the 1994 Peel Session might be at their absolute best there.

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At Action Park, finally, was a rock record that required of me a form of thought that went beyond simply learning the riffs and calling it a day; more importantly, it was a record whose riffs I could learn. Slint weren't as easy to me (at the time still relatively inexperienced), nor did they feel as genuinely dangerous — and Steve Albini's previous recorded output was absolutely critical in conveying that sense of forbidden. Honestly, if your first band makes songs about all sorts of horrifying violence and your second band is called — ahem — Rapeman, in reference to a Japanese erotic manga, what the fuck can I tell you? Of course everything you lay your hands upon becomes imbued with an air of deep distaste and transgression and genuine fear. Song of the Minerals is the first time I realized that there are people in the world who simply don't care about other people getting hurt and treating themselves so badly they die from it. Il Porno Star is a song that so openly and directly describes the life of somebody involved in the sex industry that it finally, for the first time, made sex workers look and feel real to me, giving them a backstory of sorts. At the same time, Pull the Cup sounded positively lobotomized, and A Minute felt so enraged for no reason at all that it made a lasting impression: anger was liberating, or in John Lydon's words anger was an energy. And best of all — I could play those songs from start to finish. Some dude, his name was Claudio, had made a webpage on the Tiscali provider which he had kept updated up until about the year 2000 and where he collected a number of guitar tabs contributed by various people. The page, amazingly, can still be found online here (as of Feb 20, 2024) and most of the tabs are still accessible.

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Surprisingly enough, it didn't take me long before I moved along to Shellac's other records; I was lucky enough to find a copy of Dude Incredible in a store back when it was first released and then a copy of 1000 Hurts at a record fair (both CD only at the time). Those two and At Action Park remain the two Shellac records I've spent the most time with to this day, and again it was very interesting getting to see this band attempt to find a way to move past that absolutely stellar debut and never really doing that, but still writing some very worthwhile songs and albums in the meantime. Upon listening to Dude Incredible it felt like the most complete summa of the band's work, and that was my favourite Shellac record for a while — it probably still is, for different, more sentimental reasons — but in retrospect that wasn't the case at all. Shellac's body of work is pretty interesting in that the single records always feel achingly incomplete once you get to know the rest of their work, but at the same time — as far as the songs they include go — all records include nothing but the very best the band could have put forward at that particular time. When I feel like listening to Shellac again I am, for time reasons, forced to go record by record, especially because it's a very logical way of going through it (see my piece on Autechre), but unlike Autechre you have this thing where all records sort of blur into one another. It surprises many people to know that Steve Albini's dream band to work with is AC/DC. As an avid Shellac listener, it puzzles me that anyone would think otherwise.

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At a certain point I stopped feeling that playful horror-movie disgust that Shellac's lyrics kinda toy with and started marvelling at just how insanely sexist some of their stuff is. Obviously, this is the kind of stuff you think of when you're sixteen and devoid of any capability to process parody and irony. I like to posture myself as though I was "in the know", as though Steve Albini's mastermind plan was to kind of lure people into thinking he was a piece of shit, but at the same time it was very easy — scarily so — to get into Prayer to God's protagonist's point of view when he sings the lyrics to the song. In time, I kind of grew to alternately despise it and try to pretend it was being somewhat parodic, until I re-listened to the song and re-read the lyrics and holy shit: it actually was parody all along. Who the fuck sings a song like that and says "make him cry like a woman — no particular woman"? It was that perfect point where the game was revealed all along: the song's protagonist likes to pretend he's a decent person, that he "respects women", but deeply ingrained within him (and fundamentally at odds with what he says he believes in) there remains a profoundly predatorial, territorial and ultimately violent view of romance and sexuality. And all was well once more. It became even better once Steve Albini decided, after the pandemic, to stop posturing as the victim and finally talk about all the stupid bullshit he did and said over the years, to distance himself from all people who ended up essentially embracing right-wing talking points for no reason other than to, supposedly, own the libs. Interviewed by The Guardian, he said something to the effect of "if the stupidest person in the room agrees with you, it's time to ask yourself some questions".

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So after a whole year of preparations, in May 2015 Shellac hit Italy and played Catania, Rome and Bologna together with Uzeda — another great band full of great people. I went there with my then-girlfriend, C., and we proceeded to creep the shit out of all the people in the queue when she mentioned she knew how to skin a hare and I asked her to explain how to do that. Fun times were had. Anyway, I knew rationally that there were three people in Shellac (Steve Albini, velocity; Bob Weston, mass; Todd Trainer, time) but until I was there it didn't really hit me. To me, Shellac was the third Steve Albini project, after Big Black and that other band. Then all of a sudden they take the stage, after Uzeda finished up their absolutely blistering hot set which I barely remember at all (despite really enjoying it), and it was bloody fucking murder. I only have a very vague recollection of what happened during the set; bits and pieces, really — me jumping like two meters into the air when the main riff for Dude Incredible hit, the ten-minute spoken word short story that Steve Albini improvises during the silent break in Wingwalker, the little bit called The Defenders of Fun (actually named Killers, and you can find a studio version of it here) they do before that same song, the impromptu Joy Division references during The End of Radio. But the best, most memorable parts of the concert were the very beginning and the very end.

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When the gig was about to start, Bob Weston came out of the backstage area and you better believe I straight up jumped him right then and there. It is simply impossible to understate just how much my respect for Bob Weston went up that night. This motherfucker, no joke, stood around and hugged me like he was my long-lost father, we talked for a full twenty minutes and after that he told me "now I'm sorry, but I have to go" and I told him "oh sorry, are you still unloading the last things?" and he very calmly replied "I have to take a shit". Which meant that this dude stayed behind for me and delayed a whole ass toilet trip for twenty! fucking! minutes! to talk to a hyperactive, boundary-overstepping fifteen-year-old who had potentially absolutely nothing worthwhile to say. But this was nothing. When the show ended (the last song they played was The End of Radio, they dragged it out for like a full ten minutes while Steve Albini rambled on for the entire duration of the track — possibly one of the band's best set of lyrics, regardless of the absolutely buttfuck insane improvised bits that were thrown in on that particular night) the last note ringed out for like five full seconds. The sheer sustain these aluminum-neck instruments put out is scary. Then Bob Weston specifically looked at me, I was standing right under the stage in front of him, and handed me his pick. To this day I still keep it within the Dude Incredible CD case, which all three Shellac have signed. To get that signature I pissed off poor Todd Trainer, who really just wanted to get his drum kit off of the stage (Todd, if you're reading this: I'm so sorry. I did not know any better and if that weren't enough I was in a massive rush. If we ever meet again, drink's on me). But another thing I will never forget about that night was their interplay. The perfect, and I hate using this kind of superlatives but there really is no other word for it, absolutely perfect way that they locked into one another and the natural flow of song bits and parts and even just the physical nature of the sound itself. These songs are not as simple as they sound, which was life-altering to me as a musician and as a person.

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So apparently Shellac have been teasing a new record for about a year. Sometimes they upload snippets of the vinyl master copy playing, some other times it's small clips from the pressing plant, other times they just play three or four of the songs live, as they have for the past four years or so. Hadn't it been for the pandemic, I think, they would have gotten the record done in time for 2021 — seven years since Dude Incredible, their last studio album. Lately (i.e. since 1000 Hurts) Shellac have released records at a very sluggish pace; some might think it's a matter of ideas slowly running to an end, I for one it's a matter of songwriting quality. Chick New Wave I didn't really like at the time, but I hear they got a couple new ones that they've played to an audience — the titles are The Girl from Outside and the spectacularly-named I Don't Fear Hell and you can hear them one after the other here. And everytime a Shellac record releases, ooh boy, it's a party: these guys' passion project is, very simply, a labor of passion; it actively refuses to play by the market's rules and everytime it's just eight or nine songs that the band felt were strong enough to release. Who cares if people on websites think that it's repetitive and more of the same and cookie-cutter, and anyway almost no one does. We as Shellac enjoyers appreciate that this is just something these three guys do for fun, and if a record comes out of it then all the better for us. Plus, it's new songs for live shows, and that's where the real substance is at. So, let's hope the record comes out soon, and they visit Italy again. I know for a fact I'll be there. Now Todd, about that beer I owed ya…

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#schismusic #musica #music #shellac #shellac of north america #steve albini #bob weston #todd trainer #schism writing #long form content #rock #alternative rock #Youtube

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