#also background practice with adventure time screenshots is so good

[mispelled]

I've been meaning to draw this for over a year

[sasaranurude]

I'm a loser who both spends too much time playing gacha games and loves to hear myself talk, so here's another game review style post, this time covering my first day playing Break My Case. This time I'm not even being a little hater! I'm a lover! I'm cringe! I'm free! I love you Coly! I love you ikemen gacha games!!!!!!!

Break My Case is a new puzzle-music-adventure mobile game from Coly, the developers behind Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku and On Air. More relevant to BMC/BreMai is their game Stand My Heroes, with which it shares a writer, some gameplay elements, and of course a naming convention. Coly has developed a bit of a cult following for their unique status in the Japanese mobile gaming world: they're a company that was founded by women and hires women to make games for women. They put a lot of soul into their games. From the start, BMC is no different!

"Could you have pulled a clean version of this image from the internet so it didn't have all the game junk" no. it's my tumblr and you get my screenshots.

I (with help from friends) overviewed the initial Break My Case announcement back when it dropped. You can read that here! I said in that post that I thought a "dark rhythm game" would be a really cool direction for the game… and that's more or less what we got! GO ME!!!!!

First: the game's presentation is fantastic. Super slick graphical design and just amazing atmosphere. The sound design of this game is incredible. Genuinely. Really, really, good. All the music is amazing—I'm not knowledgeable enough to say anything other than "IT SLAPS!", but it totally does slap. The illustrations for the cards are all wonderfully atmospheric in and of themselves, and are just a delight to look at on the homescreen with its chill background music. Even just navigating menus is a sleek, seamless experience. The live2d is well-done, although it clashes a tad with the art style for a bit of an uncanny look at times. 

The atmosphere! The atmospheeeeeeere!!!

Of course, the draw to this game is the characters and story, so let's jump into that. I'll admit right now that I read the story through a machine translation—I have aaaalmost enough Japanese knowledge to fill in the gaps, especially since the story is fully voiced, but I'm definitely not getting the full nuance of the story that someone fluent in Japanese is going to get. THAT SAID, after completing the prologue, I was definitely intrigued enough that I want to continue slogging through the MTL just to read more! There's a great setup, centered around the bar Aporia and its three modes—a daytime cafe, a nighttime members-only bar, and, secretly, a "fixer" service who'll help anyone with any problem. Our main character, a woman who was just forced to quit her job at a corrupt company, gets hired to replace Aporia's eccentric owner while he goes on a who-knows-how-long vacation. The owner also has the role of "tail"—as in, the tail a lizard sheds to avoid being eaten. If anything in the fixer service goes wrong, it's the owner who takes the fall and the blame. This hasn't come to mean much in practice yet in the (quite short) prologue, but it's a fascinating setup. The story promises to touch on themes of the threads that weave our lives together, how small meetings can lead to massive life changes, and whether any human being is truly replaceable, even in our modern corporate world where people are treated like cogs in a machine. According to a staff interview, there are a handful of references to Stand My Heroes in BreMai, but the games' settings aren't otherwise closely linked.

Rough translation in alt text. The Aporia manager Ai may be the most mysterious, intimidating character, but he also beefs with a parrot the first time you meet him, so...

All the characters are staff at Aporia with various unique roles and background. The prologue just gives you a little bit of each of them, but everyone does show up, and they all have interesting dynamics with each other already. Ai, the stern manager, has some history with the MC that he refuses to divulge, and goes so far as to force psychologist Riku to agree to not look into it. The range of relationships among the staff run the gamut from the calm and mature friendship between fortune teller Kiho and art teacher Kyoya, to the unfaltering dedication of Yu to his ex-mafioso savior Tomose, to the ridiculous Takeru and Soyogu who spend their first appearance waking up after having gotten black-out drunk together the night before. My favorite dynamic of all so far is that of Kou and Mao—Kou is a playboy who insists he's not a playboy, and is introduced evading a woman by… asking the icy Mao to pretend to be his boyfriend so that she thinks he's taken and gay and leaves him alone. Which Mao exasperatedly agrees to, telling Kou that he's used up his allotment for this month which ohmygod how often does Kou do this. Kou if you're asking this guy to pretend to be your gay lover so often he gives you a monthly limit I think you might just have to admit you want him to actually be your gay lover, Kou, oh my god— 

Rough TL in alt text. Kou is letting the implication do all the heavy lifting here. He technically never said he was dating Mao. Technically. 

On to the gameplay. There's gameplay! Unique gameplay! Good unique gameplay! Oh my god, uncharted joseimuke territory! The main gameplay mode is a match-3 puzzle game with rhythm elements. As in other rhythm games, each song in the game is its own level, more or less. (Each character has two unique songs, and three songs shared with the other members of their unit.) You set up a team with cards you've collected from the gacha, which determine your power level and special skills. The "leader" of the team has to be the character whose level you've selected. The puzzle gameplay is a tile-swapping match 3—think bejeweled or candy crush—but the tiles you've matched are only cleared once a bar sliding across the screen hits them, clearing them in tune with the song. Everything cleared in a single swipe of the bar ups the combo counter. There's also a life system, where if the bar slides across the screen without clearing a single match, you lose a life… But the bar moves pretty slow. You're not likely to game over or even lose a single life any time soon. There are more difficult versions of the levels I've yet to unlock, so I'm sure the life meter becomes relevant then. There's also "auto" and "loop" features if you want to grind a level over and over for exp and items, but, of course, the computer can't score as high as you playing it yourself.

And, really, it's fun to play, so why would you want to!? The sound of matches clearing with the music is so satisfying and really makes you want to combo as high as possible. Once you've matched some tiles, you can't move them again, nor use them in a second match (eg, in a cross shape), so if you want to maximize your combo and make as many matches as possible with what's on the board, you have to think ahead about which matches you're going to make. The bar slowly crossing the screen adds a visual timed element that gives some urgency to putting all the matches together. It definitely feels like a game you can pick up an instinct for over time, which is super fun. 

All in all, a really solid, enjoyable little puzzle game. It would be fun to play even without the promise of anime boys. Stand My Heroes is also a match-3, for the record, which is what really cements the two games as being part of the same series.

Admittedly, the anime boy staring at you while you play musical candy crush is a little disconcerting.

The second gameplay mode is "Snap'n Spin", a… gameplay-lite mode that just puts chibi characters in random strange situations and lets you take pictures of them. The mode is explained to be a video game within the world of BreMai, so it's not even trying to be realistic or relevant to anything else in the game. Once you take your pokemon snaps of the boys, they get a fun little caption. You can save up to 40 pictures in your album. Other than being cute, the main way this mode interfaces with the rest of the game is that it's the primary way to unlock card stories for the cards you pulled in gacha. 

This gameplay mode is... cute? I guess? It being so disconnected from the style and aesthetics of the entire rest of the game felt weird. The chibis are adorable, so it has that going for it. And I do like some of the captions you get on the photos afterwards. My favorite were the scenes you catch of a character drinking, and then the caption reveals their current favorite drink. That's a delightful detail for a game set in a bar. Mostly, though, this mode left me wondering "why?" ...And I imagine the answer is something like "because merchandisable chibi characters are a requirement for joseimuke games." This mode could've been anything so long as these cute, starry little dudes were in it.

Urara here hated the drink and the caption revealed that, lately, his favorite thing is sparkling water. He's the youngest character in the cast, so I guess he hasn't grown into booze yet...

One last feature I want to mention is the jukebox. Like many games, BreMai has a music player that lets you listen to tracks from the game… But its music player is, genuinely, a fully-featured music player app with shuffle, repeat, lyric displays, and even background play that works when you're in another app or your phone is off. What! Wild! When I first learned a few days ago that BreMai had a built-in player for its BGM tracks, my first thought was "Well, what's stopping someone from downloading the game just to use the music player and never spending a cent on it? Wouldn't you rather have the songs on spotify so you at least get a pittance of ad revenue, in that case? It's more than nothing."

But having played the game now, I see what they did to prevent that, lol. You don't unlock the songs in the jukebox until you get an SS score on the song's level. Which, I mean, that's normal rhythm game stuff, of course. Can't fault that decision. But, as in other gacha rhythm games, your score in a level depends on the power of your team of cards, and the cards you get from the initial handful of pulls aren't gonna get you anywhere near an SS score without significant investment. So you're either buying in-game currency to buy upgrade items, more gacha pulls, or both. Of course, you can also put a bunch of time into grinding for upgrade items—they drop from levels. Gacha currency is harder to come by. So you're not getting songs in the player without actually playing the game lmfao. The character solo songs in particular (the ones with vocals rather than just instrumentals) also require you to build up rapport with that character—the game calls it "Nice". You build up Nice with them by playing their other songs and using their cards in levels. It takes 1000 Nice on a character to unlock their song. In my first day of playing, I was able to get one character to about 250 Nice, another to 200, and a handful more with a few points, so it builds at an okay pace. There's ways to pay to speed up the grinding for Nice and for upgrade items with things like level skip tickets. So, basically: you're not getting that music player to a useful state without investing either money or time, lmao. Is paying-or-grinding to get cool music you can listen to while not playing the game more "worth it" than the usual freemium game goals of better units, new in-game outfits, or prettier card illustrations? ...Honestly, maybe it is? It's novel, at least.

All gacha rhythm games have the same card select screen, don't they. These were my cards' levels after my first day of play, and you can see they didn't quite reach a suggested score of "A", much less the maximum "SS".

But I do want to stress, the monetization is, for the most part, pretty easy to ignore. Nothing in-your-face. The button to go to the shop screen is a different color, but it's not flashing with an eternal indicator, it's not popping up at every second, it's just sitting there alongside all the other menu buttons. The game isn't shoving timers in your face at all times—there's a stamina meter, which is mildly annoying, but you get ten plays when it's full, and if you're just playing casually you're probably not going to want to play the puzzle game over and over enough to fully deplete that. I know the bar is on the damn floor here but Tokyo Debunker seriously made me realize how bad it can be with mobile game monetization. BreMai is freemium, yeah, but as far as dark patterns go, it's not egregiously bad.

So, the verdict: if you're a joseimuke game fan and aren't afraid to play a game that probably won't get an English port and doesn't even have a fan translation yet (which I realize is already counting out 99.99% of people), definitely give this one a try. See if you like the gameplay—it really is worth trying—and do check out the story if you've got the ability. Or just look at the pretty anime boys. 

[waterlilysketches]

@stuckinthewrongworld Hello there I'm your secret Santa! this was a lot of fun! :3c (Sorry if the text is long I had a lot to say QwQ) (Also just so you know the background on the first picture is not mine! I just used a screenshot from digimon as I was both running out of time and am not very good or used to bg's) For Number 1: Let me just start off with I'm so sorry if this isn't what you were looking for! but I'm hoping I managed? I have to admit I was a bit confused with what you wanted so I drew a bunch of things to hopefully hit the mark :3c I saw you didn't say any specific characters and then noticed you had some original characters I could incorporate, They are so cute and cool and very fun to draw too!! I hope it was alright, I tried to see by looking through your page and I noticed a few other people had drawn them so I assumed it would be alright? I added in the end the practice drawings so you could have everything I worked on with them involved! I hope you like it! ♥ For Number 2: I saw what you said about Biomerge Digivolution and it's been a long time since I saw Tamers so I had to look it up but I think I got it! I decided to draw Sakuyamon for you because I thought she was very pretty and thought you'd like it :D For Number 3: You had said you like adventure so I thought I'd add a little drawing of Sora and Mimi gift giving! I thought it was a cute idea and from what I can tell I think you like the girl characters so I figured they'd be best :3c ♥ And finally merry Christmas eve!! I hope you love these and have a good holidays! ♥♥♥!!! and sorry if this is overkill lol I was nervous

[televinita]

Derry Girls, season 2 thoughts!

IN GENERAL

There's often still a pervading sense to me of "we had this great idea for an episode, but it was too expensive so the girls were thwarted and here's a different story instead." That said...

Why did this show not run for six years and a hundred+ episodes. I've never seen anything so consistently delightful or so untethered to continuity or a throughline in my life. These episodes might take place in absolutely any order as far as I know.

Seriously, despite many attempts to ground it with news reports and the still-mystifying-to-me presence of a baby in the background who has clearly grown older since season 1, I have no idea how much time is supposed to have passed in this series.

(if it was more than a year you DEFINITELY could have fit fifteen extra adventures in per season at least)

(Does this show have fic? It should have SO MUCH gen!fic that is just canon-compliant-missing-episodes in style, and yet, I am sure without looking that the vast majority of whatever does exist is simply not that.)

I am loving (almost) all the music! This is the dead opposite of my experience w/ Good Girl's Guide to Murder.

Getting a real strong urge to rewatch "Finding You" btw.

CHARACTERS & EPISODES

+ 2x01: got quite a delight out of Sister Michael's opposite-in-appearance, identical-in-vision Protestant counterpart

+ "I do enjoy a good statue, it has to be said," another iconic line I've known as long as I've known this show.

+ Hot Priest returns to the fold, love that for me.

+ everything about the poetry episode omg.

+ It continues to baffle me that Michelle is everything I should absolutely hate in a character, this is THE miscreant I'm always like "why are you still friends with this loser?" about in YA novels, yet she remains beloved and cherished 2 me just the way she is.

+ The Concert: an episode of pure unfettered delight

+ Let's not talk about the drugs/funeral one.

+ 2x05?? I went into this show with Erin/James on the brain, but with only a single screenshot to support it, so I simply perished of joy when he turned up at her door for Prom.

(also, Orla taking her grandfather because he's the fella she likes best?? awwww)

+ The finale!! I have also known that "you're a Derry girl now" quote (overlaid over different images) for as long as I've known this show existed, but it was still so great seeing it with context.

+ Did I rewind the girls swarming him with hugs at least seven times? Yes.

+ Also, okay, that's it, I need some version of James in a book and I am currently CURSING at how little British YA I have stored in my memory banks to make it so.

(ALSO I just remembered that a book version of Erin's diary exists and I require it. After some investigation, appears I can borrow the physical book via I.L.L. but I equally want the audiobook and it is not on Libby, sadface)

Now that I have forced myself to practice writing down actual thoughts, Imma go queue some gifsets, and I'm still going to make myself sit and process all this footage for another week or two, but VERY excited to get to season 3.

[flowertot-s]

Wynne is definitely not dysfunctional? Sounds suspicious (pls tell us more about wynne)

oh my god. holy shit. buckle in I'm abt to go buck wild

here is all of the info on my horrible little woman, Wynne Lorelai <3

more info under da cut ;)

unfortunately I don't have any screenshots of her cause I play on xbox and todd hates me and wants me dead personally

Wynne is a high elf mage who specialises in destruction, conjuration, and restoration magic. She comes from a pretty well off noble family and is the eldest of 3 children with one sister (middle child) and one brother (youngest). Her mother died of a terminal illness when she was young and she never really got over it, and her father is the worst and most putrid little man in all of Tamriel.

To make a long story short; her youngest brother is set up to inherit the family's entire estate as well as a free ride into any college of his choosing with impressive research funding to boot. Her brother is a complete brat with no interest in academia, and Wynne wants this opportunity so badly. Her father convinced her that if she put in the work and showed dedication he would consider her as a candidate.

So after many long years of dedicating herself to the study of magic and working herself to the bone for a sliver of her father's approval, her younger sister learned that he never actually planned on giving her the inheritance or the funding either way; he just wanted to see how far she would go to prove herself. She trusts her sisters word, says "fuck this shit," and sets off to Skyrim with her main goal being the College of Winterhold so that she can hopefully continue to study unbothered. She didn't choose Skyrim for any specific reason, she just wanted to be as far from her family in the Summerset Isles as physically possible.

Jokes on her cause Uh Oh! now she's the chosen one and has to save the world from certain doom or some shit.

Some little facts:

- she would rather actually die than be forced to solve other people's problems for them. wynne is decidedly not a nice person and only helps people for her own benefit or because she thinks she might find an opportunity to learn and research.

- she hates being treated like a moron even though she frequently treats other people like idiots. it's why she never got along with delphine; their senses of entitlement and refusal to budge on their own beliefs and ideas really got in the way of their professional relationship. which means that after delphine suggests (see; practically orders her) to kill paarthurnax she downright refuses and they never speak again. she still sometimes does converse with Esbern, purely because they're both scholars and like to trade research.

- she hates feeling like people pity her for what she’s had to go through but she’s still a sensitive soul, she cries way more than she’d ever let on

- she has a soft spot for the greybeards and enjoys spending time in high hrothgar just because she can finally get some god damn peace and quiet, also paarthurnax is her pseudo dragon dad

- wynne is stubborn as all hell and is incredibly good at holding grudges. if u slighted her over a sweet roll ten years ago she WILL remember and WILL bring it up just to be petty.

- her main adventuring party consists of; Auri, Inigo, Lydia, Lucien, and Kaidan

- she gets along well enough with Auri (though they aren't especially close), Inigo is her silly goofy little guy who she mostly keeps around just for fun, she enjoys Lydia's company because she doesn't feel the need to fill in silences with pointless chit chat (plus she's like. SUPER strong), Lucien is her academic pal (and also probably her favourite) and she likes hanging around him because they can talk on the same level without having to dumb herself down, and Kaidan. oh Kaidan.

- she and Kaidan have a winding slowburn enemies to lovers arc which starts off as them not understanding each other like. AT ALL. their upbringings and backgrounds are so different that it's hard for them to see eye to eye on a lot of things, which results in more than a few arguments.

- Kaidan initially sees her as a spoiled and stuck up noble bitch with no regard for anything but her own pride, and Wynne sees him as a big stupid brooding man with no capacity to show any respect to anyone.

- BUT they do slowly start opening up to each other and confide in each other about a lot, one thing leads to another, then it's all "I could tear that armor right off your body." (real smooth, Kai)

- she talks like she's the smartest person in the room at all times (she probably is) and talks down to literally everyone who she perceives as beneath her which is like, basically everyone

- she becomes the arch mage of the College of Winterhold by sheer dumb luck and it's basically a HUGE "fuck you" to dear old dad

- the only reason she even bought into any of this dragonborn bullshit was the promise she’d be able to learn and expand her knowledge, but then she gets caught up in this whole civil war business and dragons and elder scrolls and she’s just ?????? how did i even end up here

- she hates having to help people who are too weak to defend herself but her moral compass (kaidan) insists that she helps where she can even when it pisses her off

- her hands and arms are incredibly scarred from the numerous years she spent trying to perfect her destruction magic, which is why she wears gloves and bandages 24/7

- she likes fucking around with potions and mostly tests them on Inigo (who is MORE than happy to be a guinea pig for his bestie)

- she's a complete asshole to everyone who she doesn't like which is like. 90% of people, and even if she likes you, the assholeishness is only dialed down a couple notches (especially if you're stupid)

[skinks]

hi!!! what are your favourite movies? like actually good ones but also any trashy comfort movies? is IT (2017) one of them?

Hello!! IT (2017) IS ABSOLUTELY ONE OF THEM oh man, thank you for this, I love talking about movies!!!! This is possibly the most difficult question you could have asked me. Apologies for how absolutely off the rails this got, I just... love movies so much lmao

I’ve said this before, but opening night of IT ch1 was the best cinema experience I’ve ever had, I’m so glad I got to see it with a fully packed audience who were all laughing and screaming together the whole way through. I’m a huge fan of... everything ch1 was doing, the 80s nostalgia, the summer-coming-of-age themes, the solid ghost train funhouse JOY of the Pennywise performance and scares, the washed-out cinematography, the tiny background details to make everything that much more eerie, the kids’ ACTING?!

Like, a lot of the time I find child actors can be really awkward and stilted to watch, but I remember leaving the cinema really impressed by JDG and Sophia Lillis in particular. I liked that they were all allowed to be little shitheads with potty mouths, it felt like a callback to 80s movies like The Lost Boys or Stand By Me. The whole thing worked to make me really care about what happened to the kids (even if I do still have issues with how they handled Mike. I understand even ch1 had limitations with juggling so many characters, but still). I saw it another 2 times in the cinema and have rewatched it at least, I dunno, 7-10 more times since then?

Add to all of that the retroactive CANON R+E baby pining subplot? I just love it, as if that wasn’t obvious by now given my Whole Blog. It’s a really special movie to me!

Anyway!! Ok, the main handful of movies I rewatch all the fucking time are:

Back to the Future, The Lost Boys, Pride and Prejudice (2005), Jaws, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Ocean’s 11, POTC 1, The Dark Knight, Inception, Die Hard, LOTR trilogy, Snatch, The Nice Guys, Logan Lucky, Mad Max Fury Road, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Billy Elliot, Dirty Dancing, Tomb Raider (2018)...

Those are the easily consumable ones that I’ve seen so many times I don’t really have to concentrate or think about them, but I really love them and unfortunately often KEEP rewatching them instead of new stuff. It would take too long to go into why I love all these movies so much because I could write the same amount as I already did for ITCH1, and everyone already knows why those movies are good, so, lol.

I think I’m gonna have to subdivide and categorise this whole post because there are too many separate criteria for... goOD MOVIES, AUUHH ��

Okay so first off, HORROR MOVIES? I’m especially in love with Re-Animator (1985) and its sequel Bride of Re-Animator, they’re such good examples of camp and batshit 80s practical effects, and also EXTREMELY funny. I’m actually just gonna post my list of my fave horror movies that I do actually keep on my phone at all times lmao. These are in no particular order:

Wholeheartedly recommend every one of these. I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was watching Hereditary in the cinema, hoo boy. Mother! by Aronofsky is one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had (and I actually saw it on the same day I saw IT ch1 for the first time!! That was a fun day)

Psycho (1960) and The Fly from 1986 should also be on there but I couldn’t fit them in the screenshot.

I’m a HUGE fan of a ton of martial arts movies too, like Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer, Ip Man, The Raid movies, John Wick 3 is my fave of the trilogy, Drive from 1997 with Mark Dacascos is incredible, SPL 2, Ong-Bak, Operation Condor, Project A, Iron Monkey, and Zatoichi (2003) are some favourites.

My favourite Tarantino is Reservoir Dogs, fave Coen brothers are Raising Arizona, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and O Brother Where Art Thou. Love some old-timey colour correction and weird offbeat dialogue. I also love Goodfellas!!! And Donnie Brasco! And The Firm, I’m so easy for any good crime/law/gangster/heist procedural like that, especially if they’re from the 80s or 90s in a super dated way.

Fave Disney movie is Tarzan, favourite Ghibli movies are Spirited Away and Lupin III. I remember watching Spirited Away during a thunderstorm one time and it being.... god! Transcendent! Favourite Pixar movie is The Incredibles (the first one. ALSO the documentary “The Pixar Story” is great and well worth a watch, it’s very comforting for some reason) and my favourite Dreamworks movies are HTTYD1 and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron.

I tend to watch more anime movies than tv shows, so stuff like Akira, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Journey to Agartha, and my ultimate fave anime is Sword of the Stranger (2008). The climactic fight in that movie is fucking stunning and should be counted in “bests fights” lists right alongside anything live action

Also if we’re talking animated movies another hearty favourite is Rango, and a Belgian stop-motion (which at one time I considered my favourite movie ever) called Panique Au Village (2009) which is one of the funniest movies ever made imo.

As for TRASHY movies, I’m not sure if that’s the right word for how I feel about these ones but.. dumb/silly/slightly guilty pleasure movies? Ones that I feel need some kind of justification lmfao

Troy - something u must know about me is that I’m a giant slut for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, so if a movie smashes historical and mythological nonsense together with fun costumes and sword fights, I’m gonna enjoy myself. Even if they should have made Achilles and Patroclus gay. Other movies in this vein are King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and Immortals (2011)

Gods of Egypt - I know all the reasons this movie is whitewashed bullshit. But it was already bullshit with giant Anubis mecha and giant snakes and bad acting and ridiculous CGI and frankly I had a blast at the cinema (my friend who I forced to come with me did not have a blast. Sorry H***)

Avatar - yes, the one with the big blue people. This movie gets a lot of flack nowadays but I really do enjoy it just for the spectacle. The full CGI world technology was so new at the time and I love to wallow in the visuals and daydream about riding a cool dragon around in the jungle

George of the Jungle - I’ll defend this movie to the death ok this movie shaped me as a person, it is fucking hilarious and Brendan Fraser is the himbo to end all himbos. It’s perfect. The song Dela is perfect. I still want to write a reddie AU about it. It’s one of the best movies ever made and I’m not being ironic

Set It Up - I KNOW this is a dumb Netflix original romcom but consider this; it was funny and the leads had great chemistry. I got butterflies. I once watched it and then literally immediately set it back to the start so I could watch it again

The Brady Bunch Movie - when people talk about great satires or parodies you will see them bring up the same movies over and over again, Blazing Saddles, This Is Spinal Tap etc, but they never talk about The Brady Bunch Movie from 1995 for some reason, which they should. It is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and every time i watch it somehow it gets funnier

Some more general favourites that I do still love but don’t rewatch as often, and don’t wanna go into more detail about are:

Moon (2009), Crna Mačka Beli Mačor, The Sixth Sense, Parasite, The Handmaiden, Tremors, Wet Hot American Summer, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, What We Do In The Shadows, Hunt For the Wilderpeople, The Secret of My Success (I love kitschy 80s movies, is that obvious by now), The Green Mile, When Harry Met Sally, Rear Window, The Odd Couple, Breaking Away, Pan’s Labyrinth, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Eagle, Gladiator, The Artist, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, Call Me By Your Name, Master and Commander, Pacific Rim, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Legend (1985), Emma. (2020), Flash Gordon, Trolljegeren, Hross í Oss, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, WarGames, District 9, Ajeossi (2010), Tracks (2013), Sightseers, Mud (2012), Pitch Black, Four Lions, Shaun of the Dead, Starship Troopers, The Truman Show, Withnail & I....... Jesus Christ ok I need to stop

NOTABLE EXTREME FAVOURITES that I didn’t include in the regular rewatch list because they’re too heavy/not as well known/require more attention.:

Thin Red Line (1998), Badlands (1973) both dir. Terrence Malick

Malick’s brand of dreamy impressionistic filmmaking is something I find really appealing, both of these movies are gorgeous and unusual and poignant and, in the case of Thin Red Line at least, have a lot of things to say about a lot of rough subjects. I don’t totally understand all those things sometimes, but a theme with a lot of my favourite movies is that I’ll be more likely to love something long-term if it raises unanswered questions, or is surreal/esoteric etc. Plus the cinematography is incredible, and I wish there was a way to get Jim Caviezel’s narration from The Thin Red Line as an audiobook because it’s very poetic and soothing.

Let the Bullets Fly (2010) dir. Jiang Wen

This movie is WILD, it’s so much fun. It’s sprawling and intricate and epic and smart and really fucking funny, it! Has! Everything! A gang of very tolerant outlaws!! Jiang Wen’s beautiful broad chest!!! Chow Yun Fat absolutely DECIMATING the scenery, and the two of them outsmarting each other in order to gain control of a small Chinese town!!! Plus it’s long, but it packs so much nonsense and intrigue that it goes by really fast. Wow what a flick

A Field in England (2013) dir. Ben Wheatley

I know I included this in my horror list but aaaaahhh ahhhh Wheatley is one of my favourite directors (he also made Sightseers, and is directing the Tomb Raider sequel which makes me absolutely rabid.) This is a surreal black-and-white psychological horror black comedy set in the English Civil War about some deserters who may or may not meet the Devil in a field. People eat mushrooms. It’s bonkers. I love being blasted in the face with imagery that I don’t understand

Mandy (2018) dir. Panos Cosmatos

Speaking of being blasted in the face!!!!! This movie... I saw it in the cinema and I can’t even begin to explain the experience, but I’ll try. My favourite review site described it like this:

“...somewhere between a prog album cover come to life and a metal album cover come to life, and subscribes to both genre's artistic tendency towards maximalism: what it ends up being is basically naught else but two glorious hours of being pounded by bold colors...”

So, prog and metal are my two favourite genres of music. This movie opens with the quote “When I die, bury me deep, lay two speakers at my feet, put some headphones on my head and rock and roll me when I'm dead.” and then a King Crimson song, it is SURREAL to the nth degree, it’s violent and bizarre and Nic Cage forges a giant silver axe to destroy demonic bikers and there is a CHAINSAW DUEL. A galaxy swirls above a quarry. Multiple animated horror nightmare sequences. At one point a man says “you exude a cosmic darkness” and releases a live tiger. At another point Cage says, in a digitally deepened voice, “The psychotic drowns where the mystic swims. You’re drowning. I’m swimming.” and I haven’t stopped thinking about it for two years

Paper Moon (1973) dir. Peter Bogdanovich

Really fantastic movie set in the Great Depression (and also in black & white) about a conman and a little kid who may or may not be his daughter, running cons across the Midwest. It’s beautifully shot, so sharp and sweet and the progression of their dynamic is really well done because they’re played by an IRL father and daughter. Tatum O’Neal was NINE YEARS OLD and she’s so amazing in this movie she’s actually the youngest person to win a competitive category Oscar. I keep trying to get people to watch this fbdjfjdbf it’s wonderful

Alpha (2018) dir. Albert Hughes

THIS MOVIE IS A VICTIM OF BAD MARKETING ok, the trailers made it look like some twee crappy sentimental Boy And His Dog Adventure, plus it had voiceovers in American-accented english? That’s a total disservice to one of the coolest things about this film; the fact that they got a linguist to construct an entirely original Neolithic language that all the characters speak for the entire runtime. And yes, it is eventually a Boy And His Wolf adventure, but it’s COOL and fairly brutal, and it has some really incredible cinematography. The landscapes are so strange and barren and alien, you really get the sense that this is an ancient world we no longer have any connection to. And it’s also about like, the birth of dog & human companionship sooo it’s perfect.

Free Solo (2018) dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

The Free Climbing Documentary. I loved climbing as a kid, I love outdoor sports, and I love movies that elicit a physical reaction in me, whether that’s horny, scared, real laughter, overwhelming shivers, or in the case of Free Solo - HORRIBLE SWEATING TENSION. Like, I knew about Alex Honnold beforehand because of this adventure film festival I go to every year and I followed him on IG so obviously I knew he lived, but the actual climb itself was torture. My hands sweat every time I see it!! It’s incredible, such a cool look into generally what the human body can do, and more specifically, why Honnold’s psychology and life means he’s so well suited to free soloing. It’s such an exercise in getting to know an individual and get invested in them, before they attempt something very potentially fatal.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) dir. Ang Lee

I can’t even talk about this. When I was around 13 I snuck downstairs to watch this on TV at 11pm in secret, and my life was forever changed. I wouldn’t be who I am if I hadn’t seen Brokeback at the age I did. I seriously can’t talk about this or I’ll write an even longer essay than this already is

God’s Own Country (2017) dir. Francis Lee

The antidote to Brokeback Mountain, I’m so glad I managed to see this one in the cinema too. It makes me cry every time, as someone who’s spent years working on a cold British farm with sheep it was very realistic, which is expected since Lee grew up on a farm in Yorkshire. I love that this movie isn’t really about being closeted, but about being so emotionally repressed and self-loathing that the main character finds it so hard to accept love. Or that he deserves to be loved. The cinnamontographies.... lordt... but also the intimacy and sex scenes are fucking searing wow who hasn’t seen this movie by now. 10 stars. 20 stars!!!

Tomboy (2011) dir. Céline Sciamma

I saw this years ago but I’ve never forgotten it, it cut so deep. It’s from the director of Portrait of a Lady on Fire and it’s about a gnc kid struggling with gender and misogyny and homophobia in a really raw, scrappy way, it reminded me very much of my own... childhood... ahh the central performance is amazing for such a young age. I haven’t seen Portrait yet but I feel like if you went nuts for that, you should definitely check this out, it’s lovely.

Donnie Darko (2001) dir. Richard Kelly

EVERY TIME I WATCH THIS MOVIE I UNDERSTAND LESS AND LESS and that’s what I love so much about it. I love surreal movies, I love time-fuckery and stuff about altered perception etc etc and Donnie Darko scratches all my itches. I wish I could find a way to figure out an IT AU for it, because I know it would work! Somehow! Plus it’s got the subdued 80s nostalgia and I found it at an age when I was really starting to explore movies and music and the soundtrack FUCKS.

Offside (2006) dir. Jafar Panahi

I wish more people knew about this!!! It’s an Iranian film about a disparate group of women and girls who are football fans and want to watch Iran’s qualifying match for the World Cup, but women aren’t allowed into the stadium, so they all get thrown into the Stadium Jail together? They don’t know each other beforehand, but it’s about their changing relationships with each other and the guards and just, their defiance alongside hearing the match from the outside and WOW it’s so lively. Great dialogue and very funny, and such a different kind of story from anything you usually see from Hollywood.

The Fall (2006) dir. Tarsem Singh

This movie... I guess it’s the ideal. This is the platonic ideal of a film for me, it has fantasy, magical realism, glorious visuals, amazing score and costumes and production design and a really interesting, heartbreaking relationship at the core of it. I don’t know why so many of my favourite films feature incredibly raw performances by child actors but this is another one, Catinca Untaru barely knew any English and improvised so much because of that, and it’s fascinating to watch! Also the dynamic with Lee Pace is one of my favourites, where a kid forms a friendship with a guardian figure who isn’t their parent, but the guardian grows to really care for them by the end. It’s like Paper Moon in that sense. What is there to even say about this movie, it’s pure magic joy tempered and countered by genuine gutwrenching emotional conflict in the real world, it’s also ABOUT old moviemaking, in a way, and it’s stunning to look at!

Mad Max Fury Road (2015) dir. George Miller

I know I included this in my “most rewatched” section but it deserves its own thing. We all know why this movie is fucking incredible. I remember clutching my armrests in the cinema and feeling like my skeleton was being blasted back into the seat behind me and tbh that is the high I’m constantly chasing when I go to see any movie. What a fucking gift this film is

Théo et Hugo dans le Même Bateau (2016) dir. Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau

I only found this movie last year and it became an instant favourite. Initially I was just curious because I’d never seen a movie with unsimulated sex before, but it’s so much more than the 18 minute gay sex club orgy it opens with. No, not more than, AS WELL AS. The orgy is important because this movie is so candid and frank about sex and HIV treatment in the modern day, it was eye-opening. Another thing that really got me is that I’d never seen a real-time film before. It’s literally an hour and a half in the lives of these two men, their intense connection and conversation and conflict in the middle of the night in Paris, with some really nice night photography and just!!! Wow!!! AMAZING CHEMISTRY between the actors. This is such a gem if you’re comfortable with explicit sexual content.

Ok. This is already over 3k but film is obviously one of my ridiculous passions and I can and do talk about it for hours. I’ve been reading magazines about it for years, listening to podcasts and reading review blogs and recently, watching video essays on YouTube because the whole process is so interesting to me and I want to learn more!!

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of valuing form over narrative. The idea that story can often come second to the deeper physical experience and emotional reaction that’s created by using ALL the elements of filmmaking and not just The Story, y’know? Whether that’s editing, shot composition, colour, the sound mix, the actors, how it should all be used to heighten the emotional state the script wants you to feel. And so, I think for a few years now this approach has been influencing the types of films I really, really love.

I think I love surreality and mind-bending magical realism in films specifically because the filmmakers have to use all those different tools to convey things that can be way too metaphysical for just... a script? I’m always chasing that physical response; if a movie can make me stop thinking “I wonder what it was like to set up that shot” and instead overwhelm that suspension of disbelief, if I can be terrified or woozy or crying for whatever reason, that’s what I’m looking for. That’s why I watch so many fuckin movies, and why I’ll always remember nights like seeing IT (2017) for giving me another favourite.

Thank you again for this question, I didn’t mean to go so overboard. Also there’s no way to do a readmore on tumblr mobile so apologies to anyone’s dashboard 😬

[simtrospective]

SCRAPPED STORY CHALLENGE by @bugsims

01. Post a few screenshots from a scrapped scene / edit / story! 02. Share why you scrapped this specific thing. 03. Tag five friends, and watch the fun play out!

Thank you to @gilded-ghosts for the tag.

Because I wrote so much that you might prefer to skip, let me do 03. outside the cut. I tag...

@ladykendalsims - @jet-plane-sims - @boogey-studios - @pinkmonsimblr - @dynastiasimss

The above pictures (plus the related tray files) are all I have left of an idea that was half-formed to begin with and which never got off the ground at all.

01.

Depending on if you’re a follower of mine + how long you’ve been following me, you may have seen a few of these shots before but I’ll explain them anyway:

Set 1: The characters Charlie, Hick, and Craig, in their original states on the left and their enhanced, final states on the right;

Set 2: A few WIP pictures of the performance space/club/thing I built;

Set 3: A bunch of test shots I took to see how the characters looked interacting, what they did naturally, and how they looked when I ~directed them. I used these pics to try and find my editing style for the story. I didn’t find the style I wanted. Clearly.

02.

I scrapped this idea because it never came together; I didn’t connect with the characters; I didn’t care about the storyline; I’m not done with my new save so I couldn’t ~comfortably start telling this story when the rest of the world was/is disordered; and on and on. The point is, I wasn’t feeling any of this. Oh! And I hate the whole vibe and time period and aesthetic irl; what on earth was I thinking writing about it?!

So. What was this going to be?

[[Under the cut because this is... so, so long. So long.]]

Charlie, Hick, and Craig were

going

to live in Del Sol Valley in my new save, in the Pinnacles neighborhood, which I was

going

to turn into a Laurel Canyon-style neighborhood. An entire community of would-be songwriters/musicians were

going

to live in the two smaller lots and commune with one another and be the New Guard colliding with the Old Guard; the huge mansion lot was

going

to house an aging former film-current soap actor confronting his mortality and also hating the living shit out of these hippies whose existence he took as a personal affront--I digress. Back to the “story.”

Charlie, Hick, and Craig met after each arrived in DSV separately and they vibed and they moved in together, all in a matter of, like, a week’s time. Charlie and Hick vibed especially. So much in common! Such poor little rich [kids]! Both came from pampered environments in which their family money and respective fathers’ connections allowed them to skate through life and to play at being musicians because--despite crying oppression at the hands of upper class WASP-dom--they'll always have safety nets to ensure they’ll always be okay. Charlotte Grant graduated from her all-girls prep school and put on a floppy hat and became Charlie Grant; Richard Hickey (lololol) ripped up his acceptance letter to Britechester and grew his hair out and hitchhiked and told people to call him “Hick.” They’ve lived parallel lives and “recognize” one another as soon as they meet. They have an electric connection, but neither will verbalize that. Above all, they... really want to sleep together.

Craig grew up working class and has no safety net; he just wants a little adventure before he gets a real job/grows up/gets married (his gf back home is off to college; they’re long-distance; it’s... not going to work). He’s a good guitar player and he’s a good songwriter and that’s it but maybe it’ll be more? What do they say about the lottery? Can’t win if you don’t play? Charlie and Hick want to be famous ~rule the world. Hick plays guitar well and tries to write songs but they’re shitty. Charlie is passively learning the keyboard and writes songs that are not... bad...? Some are... good?

Charlie and Hick--can you tell they eclipse Craig, yet?--have weird sexual chemistry and tension: they tease, they flirt, they taunt, they enjoy one another’s attention but they never so much as hug. They both have cruel streaks as only disconnected, spoiled, emotionally stunted bluebloods can: the torture of their relationship/non-relationship gets them off more than anything else could and that thrill drives much of their behaviors: bringing wanton strangers home for one night stands, each hoping the other is watching/overhearing, fighting about little things, acting like inappropriately close siblings, acting like strangers. Craig suffers their whims; Charlie and Hick aren’t just united in their toxicity and their dreams of fame, but in how they make Craig into a third wheel or a--well, punching bag is too strong a term. Charlie and Hick think they’re teasing their bff but you know how it is to be teased allllll the tiiiiiiime and how it can make your head spin when people who can’t get along with one another join forces--without even having to discuss it--to turn on you. Their relationship gets patched up, you’re hurting, they insist it’s not a big deal and even that you even liked it. We’re all friends. We’re all best friends omg.

But sometimes they have fun together. They have a lot of fun together. Sometimes it all is everything each dreamed it would be. DSV is a wonderland and their careers are happening and life is happening and they’re best friends. They’re soulmates for life.

The three work on music, perform at clubs. Craig is starting to come into his own as a man. I hate the term coming-of-age but in the background of the Charlie & Hick Show, Craig is maturing. He has to, because C&H are fuck-ups. They jeopardize scheduled performances. They don’t know how to talk to club owners. They’re not interested in paying their dues. They are unable (or unwilling) to promote themselves without being obnoxious attention whores. They don’t practice or help write songs. They don’t take care of the house. Hick is late with his rent. Charlie thinks she can flirt her way out of everything. Craig is also the only one of them who works; he has a day job at a print shop, gives guitar lessons on the side, and makes sure the three get gigs and don’t get evicted. The only thing C&H put consistent effort toward is making the social scene or finding a party or scoring drugs or getting laid. As the group’s local star(s) rise, their fates start to change course which increases the interpersonal tension. Hick’s fun-loving nature is starting to turn into a legit substance abuse problem and he’s picking fights with the wrong people and socially devolving, his arrogance and issues and general laziness rendering him unable to relate to others; Charlie is getting a lot of attention from older men In the Business, who have the money and connections to make her a solo star, which she is shrewdly considering; and Craig’s resentment toward his “friends” and disillusionment with the superficiality of DSV is making him rethink his motivation for coming west in the first place.

Oh, and Charlie and Hick--again, as their paths change and as their weird tension remains unresolved--continue to take their bullshit out on Craig and now it’s not funny anymore, it’s not cute, it’s not exciting, and neither is it when Hick ruins a show by being too stoned to perform and neither is it when Charlie brings unsavory characters home who trash the three’s equipment and neither is it when C&H steal Craig’s songs and perform without him at a gig they didn’t tell him about.

What I intended was that the story would at first seem to be The Charlie and Hick Show, all about them, as if we’re supposed to root for them, but ideally, through my ~deft hand 🙄 the reader 🙄🙄 was supposed to be like, Um... hold on-- until it eventually was quite obvious that these two--though human; though in situations we could understand and empathize with--were captured at a point in their lives when they were Super Toxic Assholes, and what you were watching all along was Craig as Hero.

So I had ideas, but I didn’t know how to fit them together and I didn’t want a really long story and I couldn’t--I just couldn’t figure it out. I do know that the end was going to be Craig screwing them like they’d been screwing him, a final middle finger with consequences. I know that he and Hick were going to have words and Hick was going to try and fight him (such a loser) and Charlie was going to throw a Hail Mary of like... trying to seduce (lol) Craig into staying omg I always had a thing for you/we’d be such a great team/I always thought we could ~be something ~together uwu bullshit like that. Was this true? Was this true in her own mind? I think I was going to set the story up so that if you reread, yeah, it could be true, but she’s so flirty and manipulative and socially savvy and used to getting what she wants that who knows what her real feelings ever are? Ultimately that would’ve been irrelevant bc Craig never looked at her that way and hates her and Hick now; good going guys. It’s worth noting, I guess, that when I put the group on a test lot, Charlie was super into Craig immediately, went right to him, stood close to him, was eager to make romantic overtures; she went 0 to 60 in an instant and as so far as is possible in this game they had chemistry, but Craig was not feeling the romance. And no one was feeling Hick.

Anyway, Craig was going to move on with his life and Charlie and Hick were going to learn nothing and blame him, ~the end.

And then, as I continued to play my save and maybe tell more stories, there would be Easter eggs, references to Charlie, Hick, and Craig older/in the future and where they went in life in the background of other, unrelated stories: Hick’s substance abuse problems and rehab stints and going by Richard again and his eventual moderate fame and eventual sobriety and attempted comeback and his bad relationships with his exes and children; Charlie’s legit fame + marriage to a producer + eventual fade away + moderate comeback + solid second or third marriage and bff relationship with her children 🙄🙄🙄 and her palatial house on the coast and now she exclusively wears white and ivory and pampers her dogs and eats raw (but drinks wine) because it “cured” her undiagnosed, unnamed “autoimmune disorder,” which she wrote a book about resulting in a semi-comeback but as a Famous Person and not a musician. Craig going to college and becoming a high school English teacher who plays in a local band on the weekends and who has a good marriage (not to the long distance gf) and nice kids, one of whom would eventually have her own story where she pursued musicianship with her dad, which got him back into his first passion but it was a qt father-daughter project and not An Attempt to Be Famous.

So. Idk. That’s what this all would’ve been. But it wasn’t, and it won’t be!

[rainstormfes]

Anime Expo Lite Day 1 Experience!

Program: Warner Bros. Japan Presents "Stay connected with Anime"

This whole program made me so frickin happy, SEIYUU AND JAPANESE GUESTS EVERYWHEREEEE WHILE TALKING ABT ANIME YESS (note: i typed most of this while the event was going on so pls bear with all my keyboard smashes and small comments lolol i just rly wanted to make a review for this event since i knew tons of seiyuu and anime that i love would be there and talked about. Also also i am not allowed to share any screenshots or recordings of it so just fyi 👍🏻)

It started out with talking about DanMachi 3 with guests Matsuoka Yoshitsugu (voiced Bell Cranel) , Minase Inori (voiced Hestia) , Osawa Nobuhiro (from EGG FIRM), and Matsukura Yuji (producer from J.C. Staff)

They answered many questions like how the author was inspired by the voice acting from the two guests specifically, talking about specific scenes

MINASE-SAN PERFORMED A SMALL LINE WHICH WAS SO FRICKIN CUTE

one of the producers was asked about production for DanMachi and he was like ‘brUH the volumes got thicker and thicker as they kept getting released like DANG’

They prepared a teaser image for the third season and for the big reveal Matsuoka had to tear a curtain off of a huge posterboard but the curtain got caught and made it almost fall xDD (very cute and awkward moment, Matsuoka never change pls omg youre too precious)

Matsuoka was asked if there was any difficulties when recording s3 and he just talked about how Bell went through lots of growth and that he had to think about how to properly act out just how mature Bell got, considering he’s now a leader of his group

Minase-san answered the same question. She talked about how she made sure to try and keep in mind how close all of the characters are and Hestia’s mental and social growth

Iguchi Yuka (voiced Chigusa) sent in a vid message since she sings the opening!! And it was announced that sajou no hana would be performing the ending song! Both vid messages were very nice and cute and both artists just talked about how they were looking forward to everyone’s reactions to their songs and to look forward to the anime

Airing of DanMachi 3 will begin in October woop woop!🎉🎉

OML WHEN MATSUOKA-SAN DID HIS ENDING REMARKS he pointed to the posterboard and was like ‘thIS NEW CHARACTER IS CUTE’ and said ‘whO TF IS THIS’ (pointing to new characters on the posterboard lol)

The next anime that they talked about was Shokugeki no Soma: The Fifth Plate with guests: Matsuoka Yoshitsugu (voiced Yukihira Soma) (MY GOSH HES SO AWK AND CUTE OMLLLLL he was like ‘can i speak now’ cause there was that kind of awkwardness in the first segment too 😅) and Yonetani Yoshitomo (animation director)

Yonetani-san was asked how he felt abt the anime. He talked about how he wanted to express how amazing the cooking/food was as well as wanted to excite (oh b o y 😳) the audience

Matsuoka-san was asked the same thing. He talked about how he’s been following Soma since day one and thinks a lot abt his growth in Totsuki. He talked about how he kinda thinks about his own high school days (comment from director lol that he might just cry during his final recording session which i feel, its been 5 years since the first season was aired)

THEY RECORDED AN IRL SHOKUGEKI?!??!?! OMGGGG. FUKUYAMA JUN (voiced Saiba Asahi) AND TAKAHASHI MINAMI (voiced Tadokoro Megumi) WERE THERE (yall can i just- JUN LOOKS SO MF GOOD OML). 

bruh matsuoka’s mixture for a sauce for tonkatsu was frickin WACK he put strawberry jam, cream, waSABI???, KETCHUP?!?!?!, along with SOY SAUCE, there was more but that combo i put alone looks so frickin wack. 

Jun’s sauce oMG HE STARTED W NUTELLA AND PEANUT BUTTER WTF OMG THIS MISCHIEVOUS MAN I CANTTT 😂😂. He put in LOTS of mayo uhm... he crushed sesame seeds and dried fish together OMLLL HE WAS LIKE SHE NEEDS HER CALCIUM W THE FISH HES SO CHAOTIC and since he ran out of time he couldnt crush the fish properly so there were just HUGE CHUNKS OF FISH IN THE BOWL. omg when he was mixing it..... ew. the takamina was like E W. the way he was selling it was pure g o l d OMG HE PUT IN MF SQUID JUST NOW I CANTTTT HE IS IRL SOMA XDDD poor takamina she was fake crying, girl saME (she’s the judge)

Takamina surprisingly enjoyed matsuoka’s sauce (she was like the ingredients somehow WORKED xD) “it feels like i had a nice meal” (GIRL HOW??? XD)

as for Jun’s sauce review: FDSAFD TAKAMINA SAID THAT THE SQUID WAS STARING AT HER I CANTTT. she described it as a theme park which is perfect. tons of flavors were trying to be the main thing. The squid leg works with tonkatsu so it was ok in the end

matsuoka’s sauce won bc the squid in jun’s was kinda unnecessary but in the end she liked both (kinda surprising lol)

ADSJFKSFJ YONETANI-SAN DID THE ‘bursting’ thing ONCE THE SHOKUGEKI VID WAS DONE, SHOWING A SHIRT W MEGUMI AND TENTACLES OMG

Matsuoka’s comments on the shokugeki: he enjoyed doing it w jun since he was very good at talking (especially when he was making the sauce). Both their sauces were “okay” lol

Yonetani-san’s comments: he talked about how he struggled to cook when he was a child but even through the small irl shokugeki they did he learned smth lolol

Matsuoka was asked which lines were more memorable for him (other than soma’s lol): he talked about how the explanations for the dishes (the monologues when theyre being made and when theyre being presented) were difficult and whenever he recorded those kinds of lines, it was kind of difficult to record since it would be hard to express a good portrayal of soma’s energy if he didn’t even know what he was talking about (so on the side he had to keep using wiki to understand what soma was even talking abt lol)

Question abt the production of the anime: Yonetani-san talked abt how there were lots of complicated words; there were lots of cuts in certain scenes made to try and portray the energy that they wanted in the anime

“If you could try any of your character’s dishes which one would you choose?” Matsuoka: he wanted to try the chicken wing dumplings and a recipe book was released before so he tried it... and it turned out BAD XDD

Someone asked abt where the producers get ideas about the ending theme sequences: Yonetani-san’s used the songs as inspiration for the backgrounds used for the ending themes, also trying to relate to the cooking and the theme of high schoolers just going through life etc

OH SCHIZ THERE WAS A SPECIAL MANGA RELEASED. A small part of it was voiced by matsuoka, jun, and takamina it was vvv cute (the full would be released on Shounen Jump at a later date)

Ending remarks: FASDFDSA THIS ACTUALLY WILL BE THE LAST SEASON OF SHOKUGEKI OMG 😭😭. OMG MATSUOKA IS SO FRICKIN CUTE AND AWKWARDDDDD he was doing a small clap at the end hes so adorable someone protect him pls :(((

The next and last anime talked about was JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, where there was a behind the scenes vid made:

Ono Kensho (voiced Giorno Giorvanna) was there ofc along w two producers from David Pro (Kasama) and Warner Bros Japan (Omori Hiroyuki)

OMG FIRST THEY TALKED ABT THE STAND CRIES YESSS. DSFDSAF THEY ACTUALLY COUNTED HOW MANY MUDA’S ONOKEN HAD TO SAY that is so amazing i love the dedication. onoken mentioned how he talked to koyasu (voiced Dio Brando) abt counting the muda’s but he was like ‘ehhhh i never did that lol’. overall, everyone from all seasons tried to match the scenes but koyasu was basically the odd one out not rly needing??? to follow it lol

FDSAFDSA BRUH THERES 17 RERO RERO’S hirakawa-san practiced in the BATH the dedication is INSANE i love this

lolol onoken scrunches up his face when he says his mudas lol vvv cute (so thats a good tip for anyone wanting to say it properly)

one of the reasons they chose onoken in the first place to voice giorno was the fact that his muda’s were strong, thats frickin awesome (and he asked for a redo so that just shows great dedication, smth that staffs would want in their seiyuu)

next they talked abt the anime-only scene of giorno giving gelato to a kid. they wanted to show how kind giorno was despite eventually becoming a gang-star. its personal to kasama-san since he had actually went to italy and had experienced intense heat there and went to a gelato stand so he wanted to preserve that memory in film

they moved on to talk abt how the hitman team was first introduced in ep 10. they decided to enhance the anime by showing the many teams of passione in their own meeting places, trying to emphasize how close everyone was in their respective teams

THEY MENTIONED HOW THEY PURPOSELY PUT CHARACTERS THAT ARE LATER INTRODUCED IN THE ANIME WITHIN FRAMES JUST TO TEASE omg i love

next they talked about how the second theme for golden wind was kinda hard to make (the animation and song IS amazing which i personally appreciate). considering that they needed to kind of match up with “Fighting Gold” (the first op), it was hard to produce something for it. And they had already decided to make an alternate version of it as well, animation wise. For a while they were stuck but eventually they managed to create smth which ofc ended up as the second op for Golden Wind (and also mentioned how that also happened for Stardust Crusaders, with changing the op’s animation to showcase everyone’s stands and also the small interaction between joutarou and dio)

AHHHHHH THEY MENTIONED THE FAMOUS DIO POSE THAT GIORNO DID AHH YESSSS THANK YOU DAVID PRO FOR DOING THAT, they said that they felt that they needed to live up to fans’ expectations so considering how dedicated of a fanbase we are, they decided to put that little nod toward dio’s pose with giorno doing it too

Ending remarks: lolol kasama-san was like ‘watch jojo in these difficult times to brighten up your day’ and honestly i just might :D

Omori-san was also a guest for the live broadcast too! Plus, Kanno Yugo who’s in charge of the music for Golden Wind!!! (a frickin king providing giorno’s iconic asf theme)

OMG THE THEME LETS GO HE TALKED ABT IT: considering his experience with parts 3 and 4 for the themes, he felt he needed to try and one up himself lol; he’s grateful that his music is loved by the fandom and hopes to meets everyone’s expectations (my king you’ve done amazing work)

He talked about how making music for jojo feels like competing in the olympics (cant blame him lol its a pretty difficult job to one up yourself every time theres a new season. since he started working with jojo at stardust crusaders and considering how iconic joutarou’s and josuke’s themes are, needing to make smth as amazing as those themes mustve been tough but he def delivered in the end)

OMG KANNO-SAN PERFORMED LIVE AHHHHHH and ofc its Il vento d’oro :)) THAT WAS SO FRICKIN AMAZING OMG ugh that made me so happy

Ending remarks: both guests were very wholesome, saying to stay safe during this situation. Omori-san stayed behind to say a small message on behalf of warner bros japan, saying to continue to support them and thank you for supporting the anime :))

Overall an amazing experience 😊

I loved everything that happened. It was nice to finally see some of my fave seiyuu at an event despite what’s going on in the world right now, it definitely brightened up my day :D

[modmamono]

Why Space Channel 5 is one of SEGA’s best dumbest games ever, no questions asked. (Report 1 & 1/2.)

Space Channel 5 on the Dreamcast is one of my favorite things ever, let alone favorite video games. Though I more often watch it on YouTube then actually play it.

For those not in the know, Space Channel 5 is a game series developed by United Game Artists and published by parent company SEGA. And that’s the most Wikipedia quoting I’m gonna do in this gush piece.

There aren’t many games quite like this rhythmic, Simon says game. At least in style because this game has that in spades, the gameplay anyone can do. And I am not at all qualified to explain its style because I wouldn’t how to describe it as besides maybe very 70s?

Point is there’s something charming about this game, and I think SEGA agrees with me on that. The lead character, Ulala (seen above), appear in these games to name a few years after new Space Channel 5 games stopped being made after 2002:

2004: Sega Superstars

2006: Sonic Riders

2008: Sega Superstars Tennis and Samba de Amigo

2010: Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing 

2012: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Project X Zone

2015: Project X Zone 2

And not to mention the invading aliens have been skins of the titular Puyo Puyo in that series for a while I can’t determine. Possibly since at most 2007 up until current day with Puyo Puyo Champions in 2018/2019.

ALSO not to mention the VR game that came out recently! (How could I forget that? That’s the main reason I’m doing this.)

So it is clear SEGA loves this game and it’s sequel a lot. I don’t think their most beloved cult classic NiGHTS: Into Dreams gets that much love from the company though it certainly does get a lot itself, most games wish their parents still loved them that much long after they had a game. Anyway...

Now the part where I actually talk about the game.

I wanna say, first and foremost. This is not a review of the game. This is just gushing about why this game makes me happy.

And everything I’m gushing about is just what you get from the from one playthrough of the game. Save for one exception, I will not be talking about supplementary material, nor Space Channel 5′s lore.

And yes, this colorful dancing/rhythm/simon says game has lore. Basically any non-repeated character model has their own biograph. So I will not go into that.

You’re not missing too much, there are interesting tidbits, sometimes they fill you in on background details of the story.

Speaking of the story. I’ll start in a second. But if this is new to you, you can watch it here first (The first playthrough is only half the video):

Prologue:

We start off with a bunch of alien sitting on a space couch watching space TV. These aliens are known as the Morolians and they’ll be the main antagonists for the evening.

This cutscene has no dialogue, so this is all open to interpretation for a first time viewer. Though I do enjoy this split second foreshadowing:

And that’s when the title screen appears. Blasting you with the series’ main theme Mexican Flyer. Look it up if you must. You’ll be hearing it a lot, it’s the game and Ulala’s leitmotif.

Report 1: This is terrorism attack on an airport... I’m gonna ignore that.

This is the only piece of supplemental material I’ll talk about, as it’s present in the game itself, but not elaborated on, and it is important to two of the character.

The game starts in a flashback. In the year AD 2489 a spaceship exploded. Everybody on board died safe for a little girl.

She was rescued by a man working for Space Channel 5. A news organization that with a specific focus on dancing. That last bit is nothing special though, as everything in this galaxy revolves around dancing.

After the little girl is saved by this kindly Channel 5 Gent (Age 25) she knew what she wanted to be after she grew up. She wanted to be a sexy dancing reporter for Space Channel 5 just like him (presumably). And to meet him so she can thank him in person.

10 years later......

It is AD 2499! And the Morolians attack a space airport and their ray beams hypnotize people to dance silly.

THE HORROR!

And that’s when Space Channel 5 sends in Ulala to report on the progress.

But what they’re actually doing is for Ulala to solve the problem instead of the Space authorities.

One character I do wanna mention now is that Ulala’s producer, Fuse, is an unseen character yet is important later. He’s the one briefing Ulala in the screenshot above. And oversees Ulala’s every move.

Also Ulala never got to meet her rescuer. He either left shortly after Ulala got rescued, or shortly before Ulala joined. Given what we learn later, likely the former.

Anyway onto the show:

BAM!

BAM!!

BAM!!!

I will always love that. Ulala got down on the ground in the panicking space air port to coolly report on the panic.

As quick aside, I wanna mention that Ulala doesn’t run in this game, she slowly struts and all of her struts are simply majestic. And those amazing struts lead her to the first gameplay section of this game.

Some Morolians hold a few hypnotized people hostage. This is is a dance battle. Meaning you got repeat exactly what the aliens do in the exact rhythm they did it in order to save the hostages. And I love this gameplay. It’s simple yet fun (provided you got minimal lag, you should look into that if you wanna play this game).

The controls are:

Up: Up

Down: Down

Left: Left

Right: Right/Light

Button 1: Chu (Aliens)

Button 2: Chu (Humans)

And this is how normal people settle things in this world apparently:

Party 1 (usually the Aliens) make up a tough but fair pattern for Ulala to copy in the hopes of psyching her out.

Party 2 (Ulala & Co.) gets as many chances ad she got. And the better she does more people tune into her news report. If she wins she gets what she wants. Saving the hostage and getting Party 1 out of her hair.

Every single one lives by this code of honor and I honestly have no clue if there’s an in-universe reason. But I love it regardless. I love it when people say: Up Down Chu Chu Chu. And the Ulala repeating it.

Though frankly, I don’t like it when the Morolians issue the commands. I like it when others do the exact same commands in this same game, so it’s a little bit of a bummer the Morolians do it.

Anyways. You save the hostages and they join in on Ulala’s unstoppable strut as will always happen if you rescue people. And they strut to the second gameplay type: The Shoot-out.

The controls are the same as the above but now you gotta watch out for humans in the mix.

In general these are trickier. And I might go into that later. But they do work on the same rules.

Don’t worry I won’t go over every dance or shoot-out unless there’s something special about it.

Also I’m pretty sure you kill people if you push the wrong Chu. Don’t do that, it’s bad for the ratings!

Skipping over three battles.Something new happens, rival space news station: Space(?) Channel 42 has a reporter of their own out on the field. And that reporter is planning to steal Channel 5′s viewership. And this is HER!

You do a dance battle and she dies.

Though seriously, I like this game does this. It’s not only aliens you fight, but other factions of the Space News Media. And it’s always a nice shake up when someone besides her shows up.

You see, for the most part any reoccurring enemy has recognizable mannerisms you gotta batlle, and her is no different. It’s hard to describe for me. You kinda gotta play or watch the game for yourself to see what I mean, but I think it’s best exemplified in Report 2. And the following games.

Though one thing’s for sure, each non-normal Morolians or rival reported does bring their own genre switch with them. Heck sometimes even normal battles have unique genres. I’m am not musically inclined so I wouldn’t know hers or most others. 

Any way, before she dies she give an emotional speech and gracefully suggests to take her Channel 42 guitarist with her and Ulala accepts that’s the least she could do for a lousy reporter like her.

And then it’s boss time!

Yeah, actual bosses with actual boss characters. And not like the recently deceased as shown above. She’s practically for all intents and purposes another Morolian dance battle.

And it’s down to funky jazz music, not unlike what you’d see in Sonic Adventure! Even Ulala comments on it, confirming it’s dietetic  Where does it come from? Not sure, there might be an explanation somewhere. But do keep that in mind. That the music we hear is also the music the characters hear as well.

Anyways:

Not Pictured: Super Stretchy Arms.

I think it’s a bit of a misnomer. Invader is correct, that’s what it’s here for. But is it really a robot? It moves like an organics and is a bit rubbery. This basically goes for all Morolian robots.

I can suspend my disbelief. You shouldn’t nitpick too much about Space Channel 5, it doesn’t want you to think too hard about it’s world even if there’s a lot to it. I’d be concerned if Space Channel 5 did wanna put its story and world building first and foremost.

But “Hypnotized Robot Invader”?

What?

Spoiler.

Robots and hypnotism... I’m pretty sure a sign that we made perfect human-like Artificial Intelligence if they can fall susceptible to Hypnosis. Even then I doubt it.

Sorry, that’s always bothered me, I get what they mean by it. It’s just the word choice... Did they mean Hypnotizing Robot Invader? This boss is great.

It starts off with a normal dance battle, but you get to watch a new Morolian enemy’s moves. It’s also quicker on the draw along with a few softballs to throw your timing off. Pretty good stuff.

And that applies to the next phase as well, where the the shooting starts.

I don’t have much to say.

Unlike the robot’s final phase where it’s the first phase again, but with guns and the robot goes to berserking speeds with the input commands.

And after you beat it, it joins you in a strut.

As does everyone you saved, No matter the gender, nor age, nobody is embarrassed imitating Ulala no matter what she does. We’ll be half as lucky to get a cool future as cool as 2499.

And with that the first report is over.

Report 2: (Age 35)

At the Morolian HQ (Presumably), their boss doesn’t like failure.

But like a good boss he doesn’t dwell on failure and moves on to the next plan. One of his lackeys has this plan: Another boss battle dance robot who operates on:

The everyone at the table is impressed. So I guess Ulala is screwed, game over.

This level is more of the same as the last one more or less, it’s possibly the most boring level in the series in that regard. It’s not bad, this is just the game bulding enough a status quo before they change things up in Report 3.

But that doesn’t make this level any less interesting to talk about, so I won’t go over it much.

The short story until something new happens is: Space Ship (think of it as a fancy yacht but in space) is being attack by Morolians, Ulala is send to report on it, and being the professional she is saves hostages as well.

She saves the captain, crew members, stewardesses, waitresses, the Space Diva (OH NO! NOT THE SPACE DIVA!), passages and the like.

UNTIL!

He voice says “I’m gonna steal you show, Space Channel 5”. And you see this ship flying by:

Another rival reporter, this one a pirate broadcasting station.

Side note: That’s sounds like the most important kind of pirate ever. Alternative news/non-mainstream with no money/rating motive blinding everything with journalistic integrity? Yes, by all means. If they’re pirates then so are Secular Talk & The Humanist Report.

Back to the silly dance game. The Pirates either jam or hack Channel 5′s signal and the Ulala is stuck with them for a while.

And then we meet that where we meet the gent above.

“[His] name is:“

“JAGUAAAAARRRR!!!” “JAGUAAAAARRRR!!!“

(Age 35)

LET’S DANCE!

Dude, I love Jaguar (Age 35) he’s gotta be my second favorite character in the series on account he’s just cool and incapable of embarrassment.

Remember the deceased of the last report? The Channel 42 reporter in the blue dress? He’s her counterpart for this chapter.

But whereas the deceased’s gimmick sounded air headed for a lack of a better term. Maybe, girly? Point is, battling her didn’t feel too dissimilar to battling Morolians despite her rhytmic mannerisms.

Jaguar (Age 35)’s gimmick is that he just adds. He starts with a simple Up. And then he adds a Chu, and another Chu. Eventually it becomes a really long chain of commands, it has to be some of the longest in the series. And you have to do them all from start to finish because he does them all sequentially. Can you repeat?:

Up. Chu. ChuChu. Right. Left. Down. DownDown. Down. Chu. Chu. Chu.

He is easing you into it, but it is by no means an easy fight. Because after the chain is at its longest, he just spamming ChuChuChu in quick succession. And then a simple Chu.

After defeat Jaguar & Co, escape by jet-pack, saying they will meet later.

This battle is a highlight for me. Coco Tapioco and the big bosses to come are better if you ask me (with exceptions). But Jaguar (Age 35) is some of the best the normal gameplay goes.

And you could argue what normal means in the context of Space Channel 5. But effectively, like Channel 42′s deceased, functionally he might as well be another Morolian if he wasn’t there to be set up for later. Because you do get person that just joins your Strut Club like everywhere else.

You gain his Jazz Man and you get a great sax solo as a reward beating him. Like how you got Channel 42′s guitarist for beating them. I like the think the Jazz Man can work for Jaguar (Age 35) again while the Channel 42 Guitarist is blacklisted.

And before we move on from Jaguar (Age 35) check out his Chu pose:

BOSS TIME!

Jaguar (Age 35): The alien mothership is retreating. Don’t you have to follow them, Channel 5? Fuse: Blast you, Jaguar [Age 35].

With the pirates giving chase, Ulala is left with the cowardly alien robot to elegant music.

Ignoring the robot’s title, while silly, its cowardice is its greatest asset. For it has kidnapped some space schoolkids, making their space teacher worry. Their space teacher can actually be seen at the start of the report.

Space fashion, am I right?

I’ve exceeded Tumblr’s invisible limit of what to put in a blog post. I’ll have to rewrite this boss what I have to say for this boss. So full, can’t spell check! We’ll be back!

[alexdeschanel]

Hi there,

Being in quarantine, I started checking my folders for no apparent reason, and you know, I came across ‘Aion’. OMG… Viewing screenshots, I felt great nostalgia for those good old days.

Aion is one of the most beautiful computer games in the MMORPG genre that I have ever played. More precisely, this is my first game of this genre.

I remember how I chose a race of Asmodians without giving it a second thought. They attracted me their unusualness, wrapped in mystery, demonic look unlike the Elyos with their arrogance and imperial bearing. They just looked like ordinary people. Next to ordinary.

I must confess I have always liked to have beneficent influence, so my first character was a cleric as he had skills of HP restoring.

As soon as everything began, it was extremely fascinating: that mystical atmosphere, wonderful background music with a beautiful singing voice at times, burning desire to complete the most difficult quests as soon as possible, for example, get rid of the Black Claw Elites, and learn some new skills like Resurrection or Flash of Recovery. It was so nice to see a dead player, heal him and get a deep gratitude from him. I think many people understand me well, especially Clerics and Chanters, and now Bards as well.

To be perfectly honest, I was not quite a skillful player in the early days to demonstrate my healing skills in practice because there was a strong desire to learn to stand up for myself than heal. I was motivated only by my wish to get… Nevertheless, I become quite a good healer with Benevolence by trial and error. I even remember it was possible for very few people to defeat me, except for Spiritmasters with their Fears and Assassins with their Stuns. You must admit that it is so pleasant to gain a victory. It concerns everything.

Unfortunately, there appeared to be less interest in this project with each update, and it was extremely frustrating because the spectacular game turned into a sad trash which differs in no way from other MMORPG games. I was under the impression that the person, who was responsible for the project development, just killed it.

The first thing, that I was upset, is receiving a lot of XP and gifts. Instead of raising the maximum level, the developers could remove all sorts of items and gifts that contribute to the rapid development of the character as well as return the original complexity of the quests and missions. Try and remember how people got Fenris or wings of the Circle. It was vitally needed, but now you are getting such a lot of experience, so many things became useless.

I think any kinds of players are much more pleasant to enjoy the gameplay when you need to make every effort to receive a reward. They have a goal. If they want to have a high-level character, they will do it themselves without any help. It is worth nothing that the very first players achieve everything themselves. For example, in Verteron, you cannot imagine how good it was to eliminate the monsters at the Tursin Garrison as most of them were elite, and it was not possible to go alone. Or the Fire Temple, full of a great number of monsters, with Kromede bristling with life to defeat which we must have got into the full group. Now two characters can do this. No adrenaline.

The second is modern items, tainting the fantasy atmosphere. Instead of creating motorcycles, making Gunners and Aethertechs and so on, they could create, for example, Masters of hand-to-hand combat like in Blade & Soul. By the way, I do not know so far who copies who because I have a huge suspicion that Aion and ArcheAge have the same ideas at times.

The third is ubiquitous rifts. I understand well that they have to be, but not everywhere.

For example, it is much better to remove any rifts in Inggison and Gelkmaros, when level 50 is reached, you will get permission to go there as it used to be and you should possess the two fortresses to have an entrance to the Silentera Canyon to visit the Beshmundir Temple or get to the enemy territory. They should also return negative effects to any rifts and set a level limit as it used to be. The level 65+ character has nothing to do in the initial locations and vice versa.

The fourth is Newcomers’ Server. Most of the players are just sitting there to get the maximum level, and when you decided to teleport to the enemy territory, you can see only tumbleweeds. What is the use of having enemies then?

The fifth is Abyss. This location is losing its meaning with each new update: if earlier people were going to the sieges, dungeons to earn some Abyss points, and then it lost all sense of its existence in the last update. It is worth noting that we do not have the equivalent of this wild location with its mysterious battle soundtrack in other games. I was impressed by Frozen too, but it does not mean that we got to cover everything with ice.

The sixth is skills. They should return a complexity of the skills development, the cost of ancient stigmas, and their former system one. Players used to have a goal to earn kinah, which were deleted as far as I know, and Abyss points to get skills. Coins, medals and so on were personal. The players are now taking everything on a silver platter. That is not interesting for anyone.

The seventh is a Soul Healer. They should remove all his ability to the blessing and regaining the HP, MP and flight time. It is sufficient that players can regain their recoverable experience. People sincerely used to ask Clerics and Chanters, especially the last one with his Blessing of Stone, to buff them, and now pay no attention.

The eighth is a storyline. They should return the previous one, so that players have an opportunity to go to the dungeons again, for example, the very same Fire Temple or Alquimia Stronghold to get uncommon skills. Now many important moments are flying by if they were not deleted yet, of course. Recently they made a group entrance to the Haramel and Kromede’s Trial. Like Edie Britt said: ‘What the hell you have been smoking?’

The ninth is minions. Instead of making them, it would be better to create a well-designed system for domestication of wild animals as they promised. It is much more useful and interesting. Instead of it they made transformation into Minions.

The tenth is equipment. They should remove the use of high-level equipment, its complete destruction and a 100% gain by magic stones. I think, many people remember when they inserted them into equipment and kept their fingers crossed. It was a sort of mental stress, you know. There is also need to rework the system of enchantment jewelry as the careless localizers put it in the game shop for real money at a high price, thereby destroying the game balance.

The eleventh is initial locations. They should return all of them because players should perfect the tactic skills of the chosen class as well as the attack zone in previously inaccessible locations Theobomos and Brusthonin. The twelfth is locations. They should return Sarpan and Tiamaranta as well as North and South Katalams. If they made a decision to get rid of those locations later, during the course of events in the Atreia history, they could deny the high-level characters every possible opportunity of teleporting there. New players do not know who Tiamat is.

They could create an open world and a wide stretch of water to make people set out on incredible adventures on open spaces of the huge world with powerful raid bosses and fierce sea battles.

As stated above, as a result of the advent of the open world, they could add peaceful areas for building of houses, it is precisely that building of houses which is of interest to us, and not buying them at an auction, in which you can set, for example, tables for crafts, and in the surrounding area you can grow materials used in them, for example, having collected seedlings or seeds in the wild using Essencetapping or Aethertapping. It is also necessary to develop a system of trade in order to earn money through the delivery of commercial cargoes.

Develop a system of raising the level of the legion, improve graphics and game mechanics. In other words, instead of creating a lot of second-grade projects, it would be better to do one, but great. How long are the Linage and the World of War Craft on the market? People are still interested in.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that most of the changes, like I said, were taken from ArcheAge, for example, hairstyles, the same skills of the High Daeva that in the above-mentioned game are called Ancestral levels and skills, and Archeage, in turn, created fly gliders in the form of wings.

I think a partial destruction of the game began with version 3.0. We all know about the existence of the so-called Master server, which is not available in many countries, but this is not what players need.

About one of the last updates, it is better to stay silent because most of the content was removed, simplified in the extreme, there was created a powerful Dragon Lord Ereshkigal, but pretty soon you have to kill her. Is it over? Of course not, now there is the next stage of mixing with ArcheAge: they created a location in which it is necessary to care for environmental protection, and in Aion it is a location with the laboratory polluting it.

I think if the developers were truly interested in developing their magnificent project which they killed, then it would have a great success. But now it is, like I said, the next sad trash.

[zydrateacademy]

Various Sims 4 pack First Impressions

Just going to go down the side listing I see on the main menu. Also, I haven’t done a deep dive in each and every single one of them yet and I’ll be sure to let ya’ know. Eco Lifestyle: Right off the bat, haven’t done much with it besides utilizing some of its fashion choices. There’s a whole new neighborhood I haven’t really explored yet, and some of the lots have a constant trash pileup mechanic which I’m not sure I want to deal with quite yet. According to the screenshots, you can actually help ‘fix’ that somehow but that’s still an inconvenience.  Discover University: Again, haven’t played it. Purchased it last night. I have even less to say about it than Eco. I don’t really have a ‘college student’ character in mind yet, and according to some google searching it’s apparently far too easy to fail classes. But if I’ve learned anything from this game, I need to stop being afraid and just try stuff. I was afraid to be a solo, unemployed writer and that ended up being my second best paid sim. Island Living: Had it for a while, just started a naturalist islander last night. Love the area so far.

I think she’ll do fine. Will probably go jobless for a while before I explore the conservationist career. Painting seems to suit her well enough. I had fun digging through the decor to see which items functioned ‘off the grid’. I do wish her space was a bit smaller but I need room to breathe as a viewer. I got the Tiny Living pack to maybe cater for this because I want to try making a sort of nudist colony but I’m not quite there yet. Get Famous: The celebrity mechanic is kinda fun, but finishing the aspiration is a must have because it unlocks the ability to not be bothered by paparazzi. I loved how my initially unemployed writers, painters, and musicians were able to build up some fame, but the job offers they were getting were randomly generated and thus didn’t always cater to their actual skills. I wish to do a dive into the actor career eventually, but I’m not quite there yet. I’ll probably do a student before I do an actor. Seasons is probably one of the most loved in the community, and for good reason. It adds weekly dynamic events that can mix up your daily routine and change your daily goals to suit them properly. You can even get holidays off work to spend more time dealing with them! It’s very much a background mod that probably does the most, as this doesn’t so much add ‘content’ in the same way that University or Magic does. Cats and Dogs: I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I did. It just seemed like another thing to micromanage. I’m not sure how dogs are (not a dog person) but every household I’ve created since buying this pack has had a cat in it. Other than filling the bowl and emptying the litterbox, I haven’t had too much of an issue with it. My cats sometimes pester for cuddles which is something I’m more than willing to stop and do. City Living was a mixed bag for me. It was one of the first packs I got along with Vampires but I didn’t play in that neighborhood much. The apartments are a fun idea but I need to find a mod that negates the noisy neighbors thing, because it constantly drops my sims into bad moods and it’s hard to manage. They’ll also come to me to complain about noise in times where I’m not doing anything! No TV, no music... Christ. I’d love to try my hand at it again but not without a mod. Also like Seasons, it also adds festivals which interest me more than the apartments do. Get Together: The only thing I did with with this is make a DJ, which supplemented her rise to fame nicely. I know very little about this pack otherwise. Get to Work is good. Has cute aliens. It also starts the active jobs and they’re kind of a pain in the ass. I’m not sure I’ll ever try the detective ever again. I was sent on patrol to find stuff to cite but couldn’t find anything until the very end, and went home with 27$. Effectively a waste of a day. The scientist is a mixed bag, a bit one-note but I’ve been a bit better at the goals than I was as a detective. Realm of Magic is one of those that, if I see people on discord wondering which packs to choose from... I mention this one. Spellcasting is a great bit of fun and the practical magic tree is a massive time saver. You can copy small items, which I use to copy the Plentiful Needs potions and apple trees to make more of those. It basically functions like the “make happy” cheat without cheating, and a small chance of a backfire which dumps all your needs at 30%... which can be fixed by drinking another one. One of my sims can make six at a time with a single apple. So naturally, I have six apple trees. There’s also spells to clean things up, and it’s an instant endeavor so your character doesn’t waste time mopping up floors. It’s wonderful. It just takes some dedicated time to train it up. It is however, the first 20$ pack on this list and thus has a bit less to do than the other ones. I wish it had a proper Hogwarts-like school system where you could actually take classes and such. It’s still one of my favorites. Strangerville was really cute. I had some trouble with the mechanics of the final fight, in the sense that I was missing a vital step on recruiting sims but eventually figured it out. It was a fun point-and-click adventure thing, but with all your Sims needs still needed to happen. Great thing to explore when your sim has a couple days off work. The whole thing plays like a plot of Stranger Things or the lesser known Haven. Jungle Living: Haven’t touched it. Parenthood: I’m glad I have it, but I don’t expect my lesbians to have kids anytime soon. Again, I’m mostly afraid of adding another unit of micromanagement but ALSO again, I shouldn’t really be too afraid of stuff like this. One thing I’ve learned after ~90 hours on the game is that you really have to be next-level neglectful in order to actually hurt your sims. Vampires is one of the first packs I ever bought. I mostly wanted the aesthetics because I’ve modded out most of their major weaknesses. The biggest problem was the thirst, naturally. Adds a lot of Gothic and Victorian aesthetics and that’s really what I wanted more than anything. Dine out, Spa Day, Outdoor Living: Haven’t done much with them. I might have utilized some of their stuff, I know I have some yoga mats in a couple of my households but I haven’t done a deep dive into their concepts. I think my recent islander may have some outdoor living stuff. But ultimately these are all just fancier “stuff” packs... Those of which I’m not really going to review because it’s right there in the name: It’s just stuff. And as of now I only have a couple of them.

[igotyoukth]

Instagram Post. BTS

Masterlist

Seokjin

"Anyone can tell that's me, look at the shoulders!," he pointed at his silhouette on the photo. His shoulders were kind of prominent, but all in all in was a pretty anonymous couple picture.

“You are being pretentious here, Jin,” you argued, even though he was kind of right.

“Nowadays telling the truth is often misunderstood,” he shook his head and pouted,”And what’s the point if my handsome face is not even shown.”

“The point is, that I can share our picture without people cutting my head off.”

“You are sacrificing my face for your own life? So selfish,” he responded rather amused. It didn’t matter if people knew that their favorite singers were dating, pictures still effected them. You didn’t want to make new enemies with an obvious picture.

“Either my face or shoulders, people will recognize me.”

“You are so full of yourself.”

“Thank you.”

You had no other choice then captioning the picture as “Mister Worldwide-Arrogant”

Yoongi

It was so hard to find a couple picture to post, thanks to your camera shy boyfriend. He always took his selfies like it was hard work, so pictures of you together were practically nonexistent. Except for that one picture Jimin took of you.

The picture, Yoongi liked to refer as "The Fake Couple". Yes, it was so staged. You basically had to tell him through gritted teeth to smile a little and look at you. And he had complied for two second before looking away. Of course, the seconds he looked at you didn’t make it to the picture. It was you looking at him, and he stared straight at the scenery. But the composition and colors of the picture made up for it.

"Noone has real couple pictures," he tried to explain when you pouted,"You know the story behind Taehyung's profile picture? His girl cursed at him seconds before."

"You are nothing but excuses," you were already editing your one and only, precious photo,"I'm posting this, don't sue me later."

You finally posted the picture with the caption "fake couple", like he named it. He rolled his eyes, when his notifications went off. But still, he took a screenshot and you even noticed a small smile on his face.

Hoseok

Matching. Matching. Matching. That was all that mattered here. Hoseok's new habit was buying two of anything he wanted to wear. Size didn’t matter, oversized clothes were his thing anways. You were fine with walking around like twins, the people stared at him either way. The reason wasn’t solely that he was build like a god, but also that he posed. But not like other people.

How you wished that your boyfriend would just take mirror selfies with you. But no. He didn’t shy from climbing places or dancing for pictures. And you had to join him.

“You know what’s weirder than me posing like this?,” he asked glued to the wall,”you standing so normal next to me. I look like a crazy person.”

“Maybe you are a crazy person.”

“I will pretend like I didn’t hear that, so hurry,” he pressed his face even closer to the wall.

Murmuring things about bacteria and bugs you mirrored his pose.

“There is a spider on your head,” you whispered.

“I know you are lying,” he said with a fake smile for the picture. But you saw the fear in his eyes. Once the self-timer on the camera beeped, he jumped away from the wall and shook his head.

“It’s gone,” you continued your lie. It was your little revenge.

Namjoon

Dating Namjoon included, that every one of your days were little adventures. As soon as he was notified about his free days, he started planning. His favorite spot was the beach, where he met his crab friends, but he also looked out for special things like festivals and other outdoor activities.

Like the one you recently visited. People let lampions rise, with their wishes attached to them. There was no need to discuss it, as soon as he saw posters about the event, you were already on the way.

You felt like you were in a Disney movie, the one with Rapunzel. Tangled. But it was even better. Namjoon made you feel that way quite often. Like a Disney princess.

“What did you wish for?,” you asked him, and tried to peek on the paper he attached to the lampion.

“It’s a secret,” he responded.

“You can’t wish for a better girlfriend.”

“Dang it.” This earned him a push in the shoulder, that didn’t affect him at all.

“And you can’t wish for a better boyfriend, impossible things aren’t allowed.”

Jimin

While others had very few pictures with their lover, you had way too many. Not only did Jimin love taking selfies together, but also pictures of you. “Hold on,” was the most repeated thing, when you two went on a date. That’s why the others didn’t like going out with you. Wandering around could take a while, when you stopped every few seconds to pose for a picture.

“But they are all we have later on,” Jimin argued, when the other boys rolled their eyes. You nodded and supported your boyfriend. You didn’t only take pictures and stored them digitally, Jimin and you bought an album last month. Not all of the ten thousand photos made it, but you tried printing most of them. What you didn’t print, landed on your social media. Like the one you were editing right now. The one from your aniversary.

Neither of your faces were fully shown- that was the reason, why you didn’t print it. But because of that, it was the perfect secrety couple picture to post. Another good thing about your hidden faces was, that noone would know how red you were. Jimin had prepared the perfect date by the sea. Your favorite food, candles, flowers and most importantly balloons. You had a thing for foil balloons, since they became so popular online.

“One year with my number one,” was the caption you chose and seconds later the picture landed on the internet. It sometimes scared you how much you revealed there sometimes, but it was okay to brag about your perfect boyfriend sometimes.

Taehyung

His artsy side definitely rubbed on you. You were into paintings, sculptures and mostly into photography. Art had always fascinated you, even before meeting Taehyung, but now that you both could discuss and admire those things together, your interest rose. So it was inevitable that all your social media pages turned super aesthetically pleasing. And your instagram page was no exception.

You loved sharing black and white or simply minimalistic pictures. They were mostly of everyday things, that caught your eye. But you were going through a phase, where you loved photography of body parts. No, you didn’t turn into a perverted photographer, you liked pictures that emphathized the simple beauty of hands, of the corner of a smile or a mole under the eye. You didn’t have to mention who your favorite model was, right?

“Look at this,” you zoomed into the picture you took.

“You look so tiny,” he commented, when he saw it. The difference between your hands was extreme, but still cute.

“I don’t think that I am the problem.”

“I think you are.” “Should we ask Jimin?”

“I don’t think that’s fair.”

Jungkook

“Can you stay still for one picture,” you pouted while scrolling through the pictures of last night. Jungkook was still too shy, when taking selfies with you. Or worse, when other people took pictures of you. He either made funny faces or didn’t stop moving. He was doing it because he felt shy, but you really wanted to post a picture with him. Like everyone else.

“Here,” he answered, made a peace sign and posed for you. You rolled your eyes, he was pretenting not to understand.

“You better do that next time we take pictures.” As an answer, he sticked his tongue out.

“Can I post this at least?,” you showed him a still blurry, but cute picture. He was hugging you, hiding his face in your neck. But it wasn’t his affection or sudden love for you behind the pose. His members had teased him for being so awkward, and he needed a place to hide. Thank god for Jimin always having a camera in his hands.

“Sure,” he tried to sound unaffected, he definitely blushed a little when he remembered the words of his hyungs,”and send it to me, I’ll use it as my background.”

“Yes, Mister tomato,” you teased him, when his blush became very noticable.

“Don’t call me that,” he rubbed his cheeks.

“So I can’t use it as a caption?”

“No!,” he grabbed your phone and checked if the post went up. He then typed a few things before handing it back to you.

“Hug me more,” was the caption he chose.

[wwwps4]

Spider-Man

Marvel's Spider-Man from Insomniac Games is one of the most anticipated games of 2018, but did the developers manage to create the best project in the history of video games about this defender of new York and, most importantly, meet the expectations of players? Let's take it all in order. It is worth noting that the author of the review played on an ordinary PlayStation 4 (Slim), so the screenshots are made on it, and the impressions are based on this version. The article was written after receiving the platinum prize, which means that the opinion will be weighted as much as possible.

Marvel's Spider-Man, an action-adventure game developed exclusively for the PlayStation 4, was first unveiled on June 13, 2016 at E3 electronic entertainment. And now, after a little more than two years, we can enjoy it on our own.

You don't need wings to fly

The game greets newcomers with a smooth transition from the opening cut scene to the gameplay, resulting in you being in the air while flying on a web. After learning which button is responsible for throwing the web in the direction of buildings (R2), there is an instant habituation to this method of movement. It seems that you have not just launched the game, but are a veteran of it. Swinging on the web works exactly as it should in terms of convenience and realism. At this time, the character moves in an arc and maintains inertia, so you can slow down the flight or, conversely, increase its speed by using a jump at different times. If you constantly hold R2, Spider-Man will automatically release a new web and move forward. Similarly, it is easy and fast to change the direction of movement: when you press the jump button during a free fall, the main character will perform a jerk on the web, which will allow you to accelerate in the right direction. As previously stated, the web clings strictly to real objects, not to air, unlike many previous Spider games. Therefore, in places with low buildings, you will have to go down, and in Central Park you will have to cling to trees, being on the verge of hitting your heels on the ground. By the way, in order not to wait for the protagonist to fall to the height where it will again be possible to use the web, you can accelerate in the fall by clicking on the left stick.

The movement system is designed so that the dynamics of movement around the city is maintained at the same pace. Thus, if the character runs into a skyscraper, then when holding R2, it will continue to move along it in the selected direction without stopping. While running on a horizontal surface, the same button will allow you to overcome obstacles using parkour without additional manipulations. Jerks on the web, among other things, while running vertically will help to reach the roof as quickly as possible, and immediately after push off from it, continuing the path. Some of these techniques can be opened as you level up spider-Man, acquiring the appropriate skills.

The project is completely translated into the great and mighty, and in General, the Russian voice acting is not so bad, but in some places its quality is greatly reduced. But the fact that it will not be changed separately from the subtitles will probably shock some players. The only option left is to change the console language, but the whole game will be in English.

No longer a novice

Insomniac Games Studio decided to focus on an experienced superhero, who has more than one year of practice, but the plot of the game is independent. Of course, you will meet familiar characters here, but the story will develop in a new way. However, on August 21 of this year, the official prequel of this game was released in the form of a novel authored by American writer David Liss, which was subtitled Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover. Unfortunately, at the moment the book is only available in the original, in English. It tells the story of Wilson Fisk's return to new York, where he appears as a philanthropist to the public. Peter Parker knows very well the true face of Kingpin, so he will have to bring it to light. But not everything is so simple, because at the same time in the city there is a double of Spider-Man under the pseudonym Blood Spider, with a similar costume and abilities, which substitutes the hero, committing crimes. The game's plot begins at the very moment when the book ends.

Avoiding disclosure of details of the plot, so as not to spoil the impression of the readers of the article, I will only Express my opinion about it after full passage. The scenario is generally good, but, unfortunately, quite predictable and not surprising. But the animation of the characters and the environment is very lively, and the setting of plot tasks is performed at the highest level. Because of this, it is quite interesting to take a direct part in the development of history. However, the boss battles were somewhat disappointing. They look spectacular, but feel too scripted and ordinary, unlike the rest of the game. It is clear that the project puts a lot of emphasis on cinematography, but it would be possible to implement them more rich in gameplay terms. Sometimes you have to fight several strong mutants at the same time, which looks pretty cool, but again, the gameplay seems to be in the background. It is not surprising that the health scale is displayed only for the protagonist, even during a boss battle.

Peter Parker and his alter ego Spider-Man is not the only playable character in Marvel's Spider-Man. In the story, you will also have to take control of a couple of other actors, which radically changes the gameplay and makes the game more diverse. As a rule, in scenes with them, you need to act covertly. It should be emphasized that the control between the characters is also transferred during the same episode to, say, help your friend. This is not new in video games, but nevertheless, this solution is quite interesting. During the game, not so often, but there are QTE, and the transition from cut scenes to the gameplay is performed imperceptibly.

During tasks and in the lab at Peter Parker's place of work, there are two types of puzzles. In the first, it is necessary to make an electric chain of components, where the voltage often has to be taken into account. The latter are aimed at recognizing an unknown substance by the absorption spectrum. In them, you need to take fragments of an unknown substance and try to combine its absorption lines with the template.

The storm of the underworld

Battles in Marvel's Spider-Man are one of the most important components of the gameplay. When creating the combat system, the developers were probably inspired by the Batman: Arkham series, since they have obvious similarities. However, unlike Batman, Spider-Man uses more acrobatic techniques, relying on his enviable dexterity. However, he often uses a web and lifts opponents into the air, continuing the battle there. What is important, fights look like a continuous dance, in which one movement smoothly flows into another.

You can instantly eliminate enemies when they don't see you, or when you accumulate a concentration scale, use the suit function, or use the Spider's cunning devices, which will be described in more detail later. Several types of knockouts are used for undetected elimination. To perform a silent knockout, you need to sneak up on the enemy from behind. For a web strike, you must be above the target. In addition, you can discreetly eliminate an opponent by wrapping it in a cocoon and hanging it, for example, on the edge of a roof or on a street lighting pole.

[kyulkyungs]

reverse-idol!doyoung

Request: Hi! May I please request a reverse idol! Au with Doyoung of NCT? Thank you so much

(part 2 found here!)

others: jaehyun (part 2) | jaemin (part 2) | haechan (part 2) | renjun | jisung

i might interpretate his personality incorrectly i deeply apologize ono

but closing my eyes and thinking about it, i can see doyoung as a gfx maker???

doing those pastel or neon edits, either or but most times he likes working with lavenders and light blues

he absolutely loves taking his time to make colors or features softer, loving the effect he has on being able to make things even more beautiful than they are

on the rare occasion he does typography and honestly why doesn’t he do it more??? the composition and colors are fantastic but he doesn’t find it as fun to do as coloring and smoothening people

but for the longest time he was just

stuck

he had no idea what to do for his next work and it was frustrating him to no end

models, actors, singers, dancers, even his whacky friends

nothing inspired him

it wasn’t until he saw a picture of you on one of his friend’s phones

he had merely glanced over to tell his friends to stop talking so loudly about some weird band when he saw a photoset of you and his breath was taken away

he was all like “……………who is that??”

and the boys would turn slowly and peer over their shoulders only to see doyoung extremely close and trying to get a better glimpse of the image on the phone

they’d look at each other and give him a weird look

“you always tell us you’re not interested whenever we bring this up, what changed?”

and doyoung just waves it off because he. HAS. TO. KNOW!!! WHO!!!! YOU!!!!! ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!

and then all of a sudden he’s listening to your music, even some solos you had released because it “helps him focus and is really background noise for him”

yeah, no, he’s not even working while listening he’s jamming out and running the choreo in his head

he’s familiar with all the members and does edits on them too

but his main focus is on you

the only thing is, he can’t really seem to edit you that much???

because he sees no way to highlight or recolor or sharpen or smoothen out features when they’re already…………. there and beautiful

that’s one of his reasons for being so drawn to you, how beautiful he finds you and all he needs to do is make sure the colors work out together

and every comeback you destroy him even more and you can bet there will be a flurry of appreciation posts and more graphics of you

you can bet he probably has ten different screenshots of each scene you appear in

he still denies that he is becoming increasingly more loving and interested of your group when the others tease him about it

died internally when he saw your dance solo in the most recent comeback and nearly died for real when you started spitting out raps while doing it

screamed about it with mark for a week

because the contrast from how soft and sweet you looked normally in comparison to the major badass monster you threw at his face made him weak

when yuta comes up with his bias and claims that they’re the most beautiful being in the world doyoung pounces and has an entire list of why you’re so amazing and talented and godly

he even drew a couple diagrams

“you see the way their hair falls around their face?????? PERFECT 30 DEGREE ANGLE RIGHT…. HERE!!!!!”

he “caved” and bought an album for your comeback

no he wasn’t staying up late until he could purchase online and refreshed at least 5000 times

he loves your vocals and closes his eyes sometimes and tries to picture you singing in the studio, trying your best and hardest

honestly as much as he loves your stage presence and aura in videos

he loves those behind the scenes videos or those “what we’re doing on break or not on tour” videos that keep the fans caught up on what they’re doing in life

your domestic life looks so sweet and watching the way your charisma is still present when you’re not in performing mode makes him extremely soft

once one of the members video taped you sleeping and waking up and doyoung died inside because how???? can you still look so perfect???

and you were smiling sleepily to the camera and he nearly fell to the floor

the others never let him live this down

he calls you a sweet summer child and swats taeyong away from his monitor while he’s editing pictures of you because nO GET AWAY FROM THIS WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING

and taeyong is swatting him back because thAT’S HIS BIAS WRECKER HE WANTS TO SEE HIS BABY TOO

when seeing you do some sexy moves in a more mature concept he swears he cannot get enough of your expressions and how perfectly executed they are 

eventually he had the one in a lifetime chance to go to a fansign

and he got really nervous because ????WHAT DO I DO??????

does he bring you a gift? write you a note? a question? two? should he wear his favorite pair of socks? or the ones in your favorite color? does that seem really tacky?

he gets really panicky and ends up buying a small little keychain of your favorite character from a cartoon show you said you watched when you were younger

tbh he really hated that show but seeing you get so animated over these 2D characters going on random adventures made him look at the show in a different light

that was until he got caught at 3AM into the third season of the show singing along to one of the songs by johnny who just wanted a glass of water

but when the others find out that he gets to go he goes into denial real fast because he’s “not really interested still and just needs better materials to edit since some of the fansites are at weird angles sometimes”

he apologizes a thousand times in his head because he LOVES those fansites for allowing him and so many others to see such glorious pictures of you and your group

the day of the fansign he’s so jittery and even brought his own camera for photos and brought maybe three extra sd cards

while he’s in the crowd he almost falls to his knees because yOU’RE RIGHT THERE!!!!!

he has to take several deep breaths in order to calm himself and his shaking hands and snaps the first photo

surprisingly it’s actually a well taken photo given that his hands were practically their own earthquakes

when he’s about to take the second picture he sees that you’re looking in his direction and the sparkle in your eye tells him that you’re looking at him directly

and you smile

his heart beats a lot quicker and then he snaps the photo

when he looks away from his camera he finds that you’re still looking at him and you’re giving him a thumbs up, almost as if you were saying “was it good?”

and he gives one back and you smile even brighter and then nod and look away to tend to someone and doyoung swears that he might faint

he keeps taking pictures of you and even some of the other members because they’re also really amazing

but like at least 90% of the pictures are you

when it’s his turn to go through the line it’s honestly at this time that he realizes that you’re the last person along the table

when he’s talking with the other members some of them point out that they saw his favoritism for you and are teasing him a little

one even calls out to you that you have an admirer coming up and his face goes red but the encouraging smiles make him a little more confident

especially when you turned a little pink

when he finally gets to you, he finds that a grin is on his face and it won’t go away

“are all the pictures you took of me good?”

“yeah……” doyoung finds himself just staring at you a little bit and you laugh because you realize that it’s his first time seeing you guys in person

“you’re new? will i be seeing you more often then since you’re here?”

and doyoung finds himself joking around with you a little bit “idk cause i’m starting to have second thoughts”

and instead of finding his humor offensive you laugh and pat his hands a little bit

and you both are like ……….soft

and the two of you keep joking around a little bit until it’s time for him to go

and when you wave at him while holding the little keychain (which yoy loved) and call out for him to make sure he comes more so you can see him often

and he feels his cheeks turning pinker and nods in promise because

he really wants to see you more often too

[xseedgames]

Zwei: The Arges Adventure - Localization Blog #1

AAAAAAHHHHH IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING.

I’ve been working on this game for the better part of a year now, but have been unable to say anything about it for PR reasons – namely, that it wasn’t in a showable state, and we didn’t want to confuse prospective players by having two Zwei games announced but unreleased at the same time. Which is totally reasonable, but AAAAAAAHHHH I’VE BEEN WANTING TO TALK ABOUT THIS GAME SO BADLY YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

…Ahem. First off, I guess I should bring you all up to speed, in case you missed the announcement. Falcom’s 2001 PC classic Zwei!! is coming to the Western world via Steam, GOG, and The Humble Store in early 2018, under the name Zwei: The Arges Adventure. Why the name change? Well, because we already released its 2008 sequel, Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection (which was originally called Zwei II: Sky-High Great Adventure in Japan).

That’s right. Localization work wrapped on the sequel first, and now we’re finishing things up with the original.

What are we thinking?!, you must be asking yourselves. Why would we release the sequel first, then go back and release the original? Why wouldn’t we release the original game first? And since we’ve already released the more modern second entry in the series from seven years later, can this earlier effort really hold its own by comparison? 

Well, that’s why I’m so excited. Because Zwei: The Arges Adventure is good. REALLY good. In fact, I dare say it’s my favorite translation I’ve ever worked on to date – yes, even topping Return to PopoloCrois and Corpse Party. And if you’re at all familiar with me (this is Tom, BTW), that statement alone should tell you that Zwei: AA is something special, since PopoloCrois and Corpse Party are… shall we say, perennial favorites of mine. To put it very lightly.

So, yeah. Let’s address those hypothetical questions, shall we?

Why would we release the sequel before the original? Well, two reasons. One, because we can – these games each tell standalone stories, set on different floating continents with different casts of characters. Zwei: AA’s two protagonists, Pipiro and Pokkle, do make a few cameo appearances in Zwei: II, but this is done almost purely for the sake of fanservice (the literal kind, not the naughty kind). When all is said and done, these two games are completely standalone, taking place in the same world but telling very different stories with very different characters and a very different feel. Think of it kind of like the Ys series, but even more episodic (since, Ys Origin aside, Ys has the Adol-as-protagonist connection from one game to the next, whereas Zwei doesn’t even have that!).

The other reason is because of the nature of Zwei: AA’s code. The Japanese version of this game utilized DirectX 5, was formatted strictly for 4:3 resolution with no widescreen options whatsoever, offered a lovely FPS selection of 30 or 15 (seriously!), counted on players to play it with mouse and keyboard over gamepad (it supported gamepads, but… barely), and contained no fewer than six unlockable Windows desktop apps that were loosely tied to yet completely separate from the main game.

This is one of them. And that first screenshot at the beginning of this blog entry is another.

In other words… this is the kind of adaptive coding project that’s been known to give lesser programmers heart attacks. Getting a game like this to even run on a modern Windows machine at all – much less run WELL – was decidedly not a task for the meek. In fact, it’s because of the way this game is coded that we ultimately decided to translate the game in-house rather than working with any fan-translators as we did for Zwei: II, as no two programmers would handle this text the same way – and trying to convert a fan-translated script to a format that would work for us would’ve taken almost as long as translating the game from scratch.

So, yeah. Getting Zwei: II out first was pretty much just done because… erm… it was ready first. And it was always GOING to be ready first. Even with a lengthy QA process and a couple minor delays, it still inevitably got finished long before its predecessor was ready to make its debut.

Fortunately, we hired a veteran programmer to work with us on Zwei: AA… but you’ll never guess who! It wasn’t Sara, since she was busy getting Zwei: II ready at the time (and a fine job she did of it, with one of our smoothest PC launches ever!). But this wasn’t our first time working with the guy we worked with on this project, either. It was, however, our first time working with him to modernize someone else’s game – and he really did perform some miracles for us (and put up with my many, many demands for quality-of-life improvements and feature additions, to boot!).

The man in question? Matt Fielding, of Magnetic Realms. A.k.a. the guy who brought you the game Exile’s End. 

Pictured: Exile’s End. Which is also an awesome game you should play!

And thanks to his technical wizardry, you guys are going to have an astoundingly up-to-date version of Zwei!! on your hands at launch. We’re talking more than just widescreen support here – there’s full in-game integration of the Pet Monitor and other desktop apps, new control functionality for more natural gamepad support across the board, inclusion of the arranged soundtrack from the Japan-only PSP version of the game, additional art and text content not present in any previous version of the game, and much, much more (to be detailed in future blog entries!).

Moving on to the second question I asked, with Zwei: II already out, can Zwei: AA hold its own by comparison?

I think you know what my answer’s going to be, on that one. Zwei: The Arges Adventure is a freaking awesome game with a lot to offer, and differs from its own successor in enough key areas that it can very easily hold its own any day of the week. Hell, you might even like it better than Zwei: II – it’s certainly a very close call for me, but I’d say Zwei: AA gets the slight edge! 

Sure, they’re both dungeon-crawling action RPGs at their core, and they both use food to level-up, even sharing the same food exchange system to discourage grinding. And the two-character party (plus one pet), with one character taking the role of physical attacker while the other slings spells, takes center stage in both titles as well. Plus, both games are set on floating continents in the same world.

That’s a lot of similarities, but they’re all relatively superficial. You could say Zwei: AA is like the 2D answer to Zwei: II’s 3D world, but that would be discounting its snarkier and more tongue-in-cheek storyline (yes, even more than Zwei: II’s!), or the gorgeous and ludicrously colorful hand-drawn backgrounds, or the two games’ very different approaches to pets (you only get one pet in Zwei: AA as opposed to the veritable army of pets featured in Zwei: II, but that one dog or cat [or other?] has significantly more personality and gameplay involvement than its many Zwei: II counterparts), or the huge variety of minigames on offer (all of which have been adapted to play from within the game itself, despite formerly existing only as desktop apps)… and that’s just scratching the surface. In short, although the two games use the same basic template, they represent two very different approaches to game design within the confines of that template.

For me as Zwei: AA’s translator, though, I can’t help but laser-focus right on the game’s dialogue. Protagonist duo Pipiro and Pokkle are without a doubt the best pair to write that somebody like me could ever ask for. Pokkle constantly cracks bad puns (and I do mean constantly!), wears a tail for funsies, and is always hitting on women twice his age.

And Pipiro just has absolutely no filter whatsoever, and is full of so much snark that she’s fit to burst.

Practically every line out of these two is an absolute gem – and that’s to say nothing of the many quirky NPCs surrounding them over the course of their rather lengthy quest (such as the endlessly self-delusional “libertine fatass” that’s funding your adventure, and his extremely no-nonsense maid who gave him that nickname).

I… really can’t stress enough how much fun it was to write for these characters, and how inspired I was to come up with the perfect phrasing for every line. I’m extremely appreciative that we chose to translate the game in-house, as it gave me an opportunity to work much more deeply with this script than I ever could’ve if we’d only been tasked with editing it. As time went on, I found myself revising my work on a daily basis, making small tweaks here and there as new bits of wordplay or better puns popped into my head (much to Matt’s chagrin, I’m sure!). The end result is something that I can stand behind as a faithful interpretation of the game’s mood and intent – an attempt to convey the same degree of lighthearted fun and irreverence present in every line of the Japanese script, but formatted to sound more natural in English, accounting for context, tone, atmosphere, and individual character quirks rather than just hammering out a word-for-word translation.

I’ve never laughed so hard while playing a JRPG before, and I truly hope that when you guys play this one in English, you’ll find its English interpretation just as hilarious as I found its original Japanese to be. That would mean I succeeded at what I set out to do, and would bring me great joy and pride as a localizer!

And please do keep an eye on this Tumblr, as I fully intend to give lots more info about Zwei: The Arges Adventure (and more screenshots showing off lines I’m particularly proud of) in the weeks to come!

Until then, I hope you’re all continuing to enjoy Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection, and… well, I’mma go back to testin’ Zwei: The Arges Adventure now, ‘cause I want this game to be downright perfect when it’s released! And with translation and editing 100% complete, and coding probably somewhere in the 70-80% done range, that release date will be here before you know it…

[freechoicedreamer]

Body and Soul (Ch. 2)

AO3

A side note: a potential plea against the 'canon-compliant' claim - a fundamental premise set out to both stories of this alternate Final Season series - may come from the background seen on the thematic illustration of this chapter. It is a screenshot of the United Realms, as portrayed in one of the final scenes of OUAT series finale. Despite the clear visual evidence, I refuted the idea of all realms being this closely gathered around Storybrooke, seemingly as if they were mere aggregated parts of one single town. I based my assumption on the likelihood that practical production/logistics issues were more prevalent than the need to craft more carefully a setup that would not imply on geopolitical garbage and storytelling nonsense. To be honest, that came with no surprise, even for OUAT typical narrative patterns, well known for not going beyond a superficial and only apparent coherence; after all the series finale condition loosened the need of establishing a minimum continuity level. As a matter of fact, the image appears to be just an iconic concept instead of an accurate representation of a real (and reliable) geographic distribution of the united realms. Actually, it looks - more likely - as a random collage of castles and kingdoms (taken from some OUAT-CGI database) quickly assembled for just one single and short scene. In other words, one may argue that this conclusion is open to interpretation but I may counter argue that the concept all realms physically gathered like all-stuck-together has not been consolidated-by-a-solid-narrative enough to acquire the 'canon' status. In summary, in any feasible configuration, even taking into account the innumerable storytelling possibilities opened by the 'magic' combined with 'mixed fairy tales' formula, the realms should be, at least, a little bit more physically spread, say... throughout the territory of Maine, for instance. That would assure to each kingdom a minimum space to breathe without culturally suffocating their neighborhood neither being suffocated in reverse, thus preserving their original identity. That is the premise I chose to assume, as proposed by the thematic illustration on the previous chapter. 

Opening theme

There are people who paint it as the absolute absence of heat; there are those who imagine it as the infinite absence of cold. Neither cold nor heat, neither ice nor fire, there are souls who know it as the absolute absence of love, the pinnacle of hopelessness, the utter void of hatred, the utmost devastation of war, the despair of hunger and thirst, the desolation of loneliness, the consummation of envy, the slavery of the ego, and the corrosion of jealousy. For as far as these souls know, more than the absence of the breath of Life, more than Death itself, Hell is the lack of Significance.

*

Storybrooke, Sweet-Jones home

Emma and Emm are spending the afternoon together, one more afternoon in a recent row of three afternoons together at Hope's insistent requests, always justified as being “very important, Mommy”. Visiting Luna, Missy, Aunt Em, and the Belly Babies is the recurring excuse. Usually, Emma does not like to fulfill all requests for not spoiling her daughter too much but, given the current exceptional circumstances, she has found it best to give in to the girl’s wishes. And for her it is also nice, she loves talking to her sister. Each day the two realize how deeply bonded, by mysterious ties that transcend any purely familiar connection, they are. And so, here they are, sitting by the kitchen counter for a little snack while Hope runs around the house playing with the two pets. If times were different, Hope would be at Storybrooke’s Kindergarten so that Emma could work half term, but because of the exceptionalism of the moment, she took a leave of her Sheriff duties thus freeing herself to observe– and to protect - her daughter more closely.

“It's amazing how the loft became the exact expression of you and Key, Emm. I never imagined that you two would be able so soon to superimpose your personality on the legacy of who was once known as 'Mary Margaret'. The aggregated details are just a few pieces and touches here and there, such as the paintings on the walls, new curtains, a new rug, other quilt covers on the beds, but all the little details make up a whole that adds to the atmosphere in an incredibly harmonious way, not to mention the musical instruments on the mezzanine - where once was my room, creating a magical atmosphere. Your music is really magic, you know that, don’t you? It lights up the house."

"Thanks, Emma, coming from you the compliment has a special significance to me. While Mary Margaret lived here under a curse that prevented her of being close to her daughter, in a parallel reality, my mother was fulfilling the dream that was denied to yours: the dream of seeing her kid growing up, of being able to raise her daughter together with her Prince Charming. Therefore, it is a deep honor for me to live in this space, you know, it is with reverence that Key and I add such 'little details' to the vintage decor. You see…” she then starts to pointing to the objects, “these nautical-motivated paintings are all Key’s, except that canvas that we both painted ‘magically’ during the Sweet Suite adventure. There are also those oceanic-motivated frames and the big starfish, which is a magic connection with Alice - her and Robyn’s gifts to us, something like our ‘wedding gift’, and those two landscape paintings near the sofa, which are my Henry's gift. Other than that, the curtains, the bedspreads and the rug were manually woven on Hearty Island, one of my hobbies there. Now, about the magic music, I think you and I have it in our heart – and I know that not because I watched your ‘music in the heart’ story through the magic mirror, but because I feel it. Music is as much of your essence as it is of mine. Our stories may have shaped us differently: I may not have developed the warrior side towards being a bad-ass - as you use to say. Nor may you have not developed the domestic docility side, but in essence, our magic has the same origin, our essence has the same substance, our strength will always show itself – on its own style - when necessary."

“I agree with you, I also feel this connection with Music, even though I have not had a formal music education, I feel this force so deeply, like an explosion of feelings. You know, it is really impressive how mysterious this empathy between wish and non-wish versions is. For example, in my turn, I understand and deeply feel the loss of your parents and I know - I feel - that you understand on a deep level the difficulties I had in childhood mainly, to cope with the abandonment of my parents, unaware that through Music in my heart I was always connected to them. This degree of empathy doesn't just happen between us, look at our husbands, or even see how my parents feel connected to you and, I believe, to their deceased wish counterparts. This is an incredible mesh of love and union entwined after an evil wish of Split Regina - it’s really incredible..."

"Yes, it is a Mystery, one more in the Book of Mysteries: Split Regina... Back in Hearty Island, I used to hate her. I’m not very proud of that feeling, but it is the truth, I simply could not accept what she did. But… ironically, it was this wish, driven by dark feelings, that originated, in a distant past spread to the present, the duplication of worlds thus creating the wish and non-wish versions. She changed our lives with only one wish against you – and me. And then, I also hated the Good Queen because of her cruel method to bring your memories back – at least that’s how I used to think based on what I had watched. You know the story, thanks to the gods’ intervention, who kept me in touch with my parents’ souls, I could finally understand, accept, and forgive her. And thanks to all of that, Key and I could find each other, could live on its plenitude our true love. And then… there is also Wish Regina, the Evil Queen I grew up fearing and hearing about, now a reformed sorcerer in charge of the Social Assistance Ministry of the United Realms. Too many turns and plot twists with too many Reginas, don’t you think?” she asks playfully while watching Luna in Hope’s lap, both surrounded by a watchful Missy.

“Too many, I agree. I have had my own dose of struggle to deal with them, that is, rigorously speaking, with the first two of them, but I also have learned to cope, to accept and to forgive them… About their names, Killian told me that Captain Nemo suggested a numbering system to simplify their identification but they are still reluctant to accept that. Particularly, I think this may be a good ID system. Differently from the multiple wish/non-wish people, who come in pairs, in their case there are 3 of them!!" Emma chuckles.

Thoughtfully, Emm caresses her belly, "yeah, coming in pairs..."

“Confirmed then?” Emma asks tenderly.

"Twins, indeed…" Emm nods. “We have to concede this one more credit to our little Pythoness’ account!”

“Yeah…” sighs little Prophetic Priestess’ mother, “get ready for a daily renewed surprise brought by your little products of squared True Love! Wait for squared surprises, in your case!” Emma grins reticently, noting in awe the tiny points of light Hope is creating in the air to entertain Luna and Missy, and then completes her question: “How are you feeling about that? How are you and Key dealing with the idea?”

“I’m feeling truly happy and scared at the same time. You see, it is intense in two extremes: extremely amazing but also really scary given the present uncertain context and then… things are changing so quickly that Killian and I… oh, rephrasing, Key and I, had no option rather than adjust ourselves really fast to the news. Perhaps, if the circumstances were different we would have more time to freak out about the prospect of being parents of twins. But given the scenario, we both went into ‘protecting offspring at any cost’ mode and then we calibrated our momentum in that direction.”

…

As the afternoon falls and the sisters’ conversation continues, Hope and the two pets eventually join them for a snack. Emm mentions that she and Key were positively surprised and became very fond of Dr. Stephen Maturin, not only because of their personal rapport with him but, also, for his patience to explain in details all medical procedures they will follow along the pregnancy. She confesses that, despite having had a good preparation about the modern world, it was not enough to provide all the knowledge related to what she would deal with. In this sense, Dr. Maturin’s empathy is natural since he experienced the same learning stages when he came from the Land of Untold Stories less than 10 years ago. In terms of adaptation, strictly speaking, Dr. Whale's entire medical team has been updating their skills because the 21st century medicine was recently introduced to them with the arrival of those who lived in Hyperion Heights.

…

“Mommy, why Daddy and Uncle Key did not come for a snack with us yet? They are hungry too and I miss them."

"They won't be long, Sweetie, first they had to meet with Grandpa David. They learned that two other kids of Storybrooke also had sad visions that same day you had a sad vision and, as it happened with you, they didn't like it at all."

"Aye, I did not like it, Mommy, too scary... Want to know why?"

“I do, only if you want to talk about it, Honey. If you are okay with that, tell Mommy and Aunt Emm, please, why nobody liked the vision…”

“Because.... it was dark, it had a green river... Hmmn, what more… it had other colored rivers… it had Mommy, Daddy, Hope, Uncle Key, Aunt Emm, Belly Babies, everyone and… all scared… and it had empty bodies and empty souls. Luna and Missy saw everything too, they told me what ‘body and soul’ is; I did not know before, but now I do.”

Exchanging glances with Emma and changing the subject of the conversation, Emm intervenes: "Speaking of emptiness, I'm seeing two empty bowls and one empty glass of juice, so... Who will want more rations with water and more juice with chocolate cake? Raise your hand, who has a hand, and wag the tail, who has a tail!!”

…

In the late afternoon, Killian and Key arrived and joined them at the snack table. Hope asked to bathe in Aunt Emm's tub and is now in the bathroom playing the game of ‘sailing the pirate ship’ while the two couples continue to talk. Emma comments about the girl's revelations and the brothers, in turn, tell them that Storybrooke's other two children also spoke about the world of the dead. Gradually the pieces of a huge puzzle begin to fall into place and some shapes and contours begin to unfold. In this way they already know that there is indeed a threat coming from the Underworld.

Embracing Key, head resting on his shoulders, Emm mutters under her breath: “It would be so good if my parents could talk to us now, as it happened on Hearty Island through the magic mirror...” Turning to Emma and Killian she explains: “even though it has been installed on the mezzanine next to the same musical instruments as before, the mirror never turned into a magic screen again. Maybe it was the case of going upstairs tonight and trying to contact them; I could sit at the piano, meditate, concentrate and then, if I am fortunate to be inspired, play a heart-dictated song… I really wish I could talk to them again, if only the gods gave them permission...”

Elysium, Islands of the Blessed, Wish White-Nolan’s home

Sitting on the lakefront pergola at Wish Charmings' home, Rumple, Belle, W. Snow and W. David silently watch the parade of images reflected by the calm water mirror. As if watching the scene, the whole landscape of the garden - birds, leaves of the trees, flower bushes… everything is quietly still. The only movement comes from the black and white images transmitted by the retinas of Luna and Missy in their dreamy state on Earth.

"Fascinating and disturbing," Rumple breaks the silence to comment. "So .... Every time Luna and Missy sleep on Earth they broadcast images, like journalists reporting to you the latest news?"

"Not always," Snow replies. "In general, they do not communicate at all, that is, if there is no transmission, we infer that there are no problems and we are released to our eternal rest in peace, even though there are times that they dream happy dreams and we can watch our Emma with the other Snow and David, or with her twin sister, their respective husbands, and Hope. Luna and Missy simply love the sweet little girl, a special child indeed, as far as we could observe..." she sighs, turning to the lake, worried with the sequence of projected images showing the scary visions shared by Luna, Missy, Hope and the other seer children.

"I have one question. Well, actually, I have several questions, but I will start with this one," Belle chuckles trying to lighten up their mood before continuing, "exactly, do you know who Luna and Missy are?"

David shrugs before saying, "to such a straightforward question, Belle, an equally straightforward answer: exactly, we don't know. Now, by inference, we know that they are beings of Light most likely sent by the gods to the Heart-shaped Island as a company to our daughter, to look after her. I believe the time will come when we will know the exact answer to your question but until then, the inaccuracies and doubts are many..."

Snapping her fingers, as if remembering useful information, Snow goes on. "We also have a mirror in our living room that has functioned as a magical screen transmitting colorful images from Earth; actually, it used to function as a screen when Emma was in the Heart-shaped Island, it never worked that way since Emma moved to Storybrooke," Snow remembers. "It was through this mirror that we were able to talk to her, you must remember when we told you the story."

"Yeah, we do remember," Belle confirms, "… and now that you mentioned it, you see, there is a mirror in our living room as well, but it has never worked as a window between worlds. So far it has been just a mirror..."

"We should confess something," Rumple interrupts Belle. "It’s about what brought us here. It all started with a philosophical talk about rules of incarnation, a curiosity that led us to wanting to talk to the gods about the subject and that, by its turn, ended up on us missing our son and triggering our memory about the story of your communication with your daughter. We know that it happened thanks to a divine intervention so, because of this sequence or reasoning, we decided to visit you. What happened during our teleportation to your house, on the light of these transmitted images, adds more relevance to the case: Belle felt an inexplicable concern, an intuition about a metaphoric storm getting close to Gideon, which should be enough to increase our initial need to meet the gods. Now, seeing these premonitory images clearly indicating a real threat originating from the Underworld hovering over the Earth – I assure you that the need has just become an urgency."

“Well, what I can tell you is that they found us…” David explains, thoughtfully searching his own words for clues on how they should act in the present situation. “To be precise, the gods found us. Actually, Zeus found us; he came to us and told about an intense outburst, from our Emma, addressed to the Sea gods from the sands of the Island. He said it was a completely justifiable outburst that deeply touched them to the point where he came to meet us in our house and allowed us to talk to her. The rest is history but I have no idea how we could try to contact the gods...”

“There is no need, they have already contacted us…” says a voice coming from the backyard, approaching the group. They all turn to the voice direction and meet a smiling Merlin, accompanied by his loyal Apprentice, Jack.

…

After everyone exchanged greetings, Merlin revealed the reason for his and Jack’s visit. He told them that Jack was meditating in the tower, where they live, when a mirror on the wall began to display the image of a cocoon opening and morphing into a transparent-winged butterfly. Almost in a trance, he called Merlin and they both witnessed the butterfly turning into a woman of extraordinary beauty.

She introduced herself as Psyche, the goddess of the Soul and the wife of Eros, the god of Love, and told them that she was, once, a mortal princess that became immortal because she drank the gods’ nectar of ambrosia. She then explained to Merlin that the origin of his full name, Merlin Ambrosius, dates back to the desert oasis where he was born. The first trees whose fruits came to be known as ambrosia were original from that oasis although, initially, they had no magical property. Only later, when planted in the orchards of Mount Olympus and irrigated with waters of the Holy Fountains, did the fruits acquire special properties, among them to confer immortality on those who drank the nectar produced from them. Psyche then reveals to Merlin that it was this nectar, drank in the Holy Grail, which made him an immortal Wizard. Or rather quasi-immortal, since immortality is not synonymous with invulnerability - and Merlin, better than anyone, knows this Truth.

"And why did you come to me to reveal this story?" Merlin asked.

"Because the Ambrosia trees from the Olympus Orchard are drying up, as well as the waters of the Holy Fountains. Some gods - my husband included, believe that the source of the problem lies in the Underworld Rivers, and we will need the help of the Elysium souls as well as some souls in the Underworld, under the command of Persephone, to locate and neutralize this source. If the problem spreads, everyone may be affected, especially the mortals, on Earth."

…

The visitors are already gone and W. David and W. Snow are now in their living room. Sit in front of the mirror - functioning again as a magic screen, they watch their daughter playing a piano piece she has dedicated to them. The harmonious notes cross the spaces until pulsating in sync with the two monarchs’ ethereal hearts and, although not seen by her, they feel that she feels their presence. Resigning themselves to what they are allowed, the two send to their  Emma - and to the two little points of light shining in her womb - the blessings of their eternal love.

“And they say rest in peace for all eternity…” David mutters.

“Yeah,” Snow chuckles, “they never mention the stormy weather in between two lulls.”

“What can we do, Snow? Psyche didn't explain much beyond what she briefly told Merlin. According to him, she only warned that we will be – her words – ‘activated’ when the right time comes. Until then ... what can we do, Snow?"

"We can listen to the music our daughter is dedicating to us, David; we can send our beloved ones all our best energy. We can keep in tune with the other Snow and David. In practice, they are our representatives on Earth and worship our daughter as their own. In addition to looking after our loved ones, we can keep the flame of Hope alight - theirs and ours...”

On Earth, sensing the presence of her parents, Emma raises her head and looks at the mirror. In a flash, she sees their smiling faces mouthing ‘I love you’ while their image dissipates.

Enchanted Countryside, White-Nolan’s home

“Neal!”

From the porch of the ranch headquarters Snow shouts for her son, whom she hasn't seen since early in the morning, at the breakfast table.

Looking around, she sighs. The Charming Farm is the fulfillment of an old dream of David combined with more room for the vibrant energy of a preteen practicing light magic and within easy reach for Snow on her way to work. They were well adapted to the routine of a country life close to an urban life but since David accepted Regina's invitation to the Ministry of Defense the farm has not been so carefully taken care of. Snow would not say it has been neglected; on the contrary, it would not be fair to belittle Anton's good work as a farm administrator, but the lack of David's almost magical touches everywhere - in the stable, in the pastures, in the corral - is remarkable. Exception, of course, for the magic bean plantation, always over zealously cared for by Anton. Although magic beans are no longer needed to open portals between realms, as they are now unified into the same time-space dimension, the delicious feijoada prepared with them by Snow for special occasions, an adaptation of the classic Brazilian feijoada - became famous. In fact, its fame crossed the borders of Storybrooke and for the Summer School closing dinner, in Camelot, in response to everyone's insistent requests, she prepared a cauldron of feijoada that deserved the highest praise. The ceremony just couldn't be as triumphant and joyful as Snow would have liked because of the worrying news that began to come from various parts of the United Realms…

PUFFF!!!!

Lost in thought, Snow jumps in fright at Neal's sudden appearance on the porch, surrounded by a pale blue cloud.

“Did you call, mom?”

“Neal, how many times do I have to ask you not to scare me like this? Yes, I called you, my boy. Although we are discussing in the Ministry about setting up a school recess while dealing with the current crisis, classes have not yet been suspended. Are you ready to go?”

“I do but… look, there comes Dad; he seems in a hurry - as always, recently.”

“Snow! I just got a call from Killian warning that Nemo is about to land on the northeast coast. He reported an anomaly in the Enchanted Sea on the same day as the premonitions. It seems that, with the exception of humans and humanoids, all other inhabitants of the oceans exhibited, during a few hours, a completely chaotic behavior as if in a collective trance, an underwater hysteria that only ended with Poseidon's intervention - neither Triton nor Ursula could contain the sea fauna fury - the seas have been very rough, it seems. If that happened with the creatures of the Ocean, now I’m worried about the inland creatures. I’ll call W. Robin, Merida and Kristoff asking for a report on the Enchanted Forest, the Enchanted Highlands’ and the Enchanted Mountains’ wildlife; maybe it’s the case for increasing the vigilance in these areas to protect the animals.”  

“Dad, you are thinking Wish Cruella may be behind all of it, isn’t it?

“Yeah… I'm suspecting she may be behind the erratic behavior of the sea creatures, indeed.”

“Then, Dad, I'm telling you what I am thinking. I think I should work on the protection spell that Gideon taught me so that Wilby won't be left defenseless. And I think we should leave him indoors, is that okay?”

“Agree about protecting Wilby, good idea, son. If you feel safe preparing the magic, go ahead, maybe we should ask Anton to help you in extending the spell to the other animals. Do you think you can manage that? You will be late today for school but it will be worth.”

“Sure Dad, be back in a minute!!” Neal answers already puffing himself into the house to get the ingredients he will need.

“David,” Snow says, “I do not want to increase the overall worry or to generate another panic wave but, is that a case to sanction a general school break?”

“Maybe, but we’ll have to talk to Regina and some ministers first. We will deal with that in Storybrooke, after Neal works in the protection spell, okay?”

…

On their way to Storybrooke, Snow and David talk about what they are working with and what they would love to do. David knows he is much needed in the present crisis but he wishes he could go back to his farm activities, he misses the country life. Snow is happy in her dreamy work, being able to promote a real revolution on Education…. They keep talking and end up commenting on the good partnership the two Killians are developing at Storybrooke’s PD, despite Emma’s temporary license, and that reminds them how the two Emmas are becoming as close as two close sisters. To be quite honest, they have to admit that not only the two Emmas are tightening their emotional bond, they feel that the ‘girls’ are more and more becoming their very dear twin daughters...

“David, because of the fuzz yesterday night caused by Hope’s description of her vision, I forgot to mention that Emm had called me earlier with good news: they are indeed having twins!”

“That’s great news, Honey,” David smiles at his wife and sighs, “at least one really, really good news.”

“Yeah… two more babies for us to love,” Snow completes, looking at the countryside landscape through the car window.

“Mom,” Neal cut them from the back seat, “isn’t that Zelena’s farmhouse entrance? Look, there is a car getting into there!”

“It’s Robyn’s,” David explains, “she and Alice are temporarily living there while deciding where to move for good, to finally settle down – I guess they are tired of being on the roads. They have traveled a lot in the Land without Magic since they got married.”

“Oh, that reminds me of another novelty, Charming. Did you know that Zelena and Chad are our neighbors now, I mean, sort of?” Snow asks.

“Really? How come? What about Chad, doesn’t he have relatives that will want to visit him?” David asks, impersonating his Defense Minister mode.

“Split-Regina didn’t enter into little details, we talked just a bit, while waiting for Neal and Coralline at the school door, but what I know is that Zelena and Chad moved to Portland, Maine, a couple of weeks ago. It seems that he got a transfer to the East Coast in a scheme that appears to be safe, David, no need to worry. Living in Portland will allow Chad’s relatives - as well as the couple’s friends from San Francisco - to visit them without any suspicion. Regina told me that their house is near Storybrooke’s town line, it looks like Zelena has created an amulet for Chad so that he may cross it whenever he needs regardless of whether she is with him, so they both have free access to the United Realms."

“This is so cool…” Neal smiles dreamily, “I would love to have a strategic base for horseback ridings and explorations outside the Realms…”

“You can get your little horse out of the rain for now, young man. As long as the current crisis is not abated, the only strategic base you are allowed to have is our home, next to your parents," David warns him playfully..

Portland, Maine, Zelena and Chad’s new home

“You were right, the view from the room at the tower top is really beautiful, Zelena: a panoramic view of the city and the sea. A view of Paradise, with this blue sky; and I can imagine how incredible it might be during starry nights, I’m sure they will love it!”

“I agree, it’s perfect for them. It’s not a hexagonal room with a balcony, like ours on the floor below, but it has the exact breadth of sight they asked for. It was really fortunate that we found this house in such particular coordinates and with such an architecture that satisfies Robyn's poetic request, and I quote:  an architecture that reminds towers but, at the same time, invokes free space, liberation; a tribute not only to Alice's experience of breaking free from her prison in the tower but also my passing ritual of giving up magic in favor of becoming an archer, thus embracing the dream of honoring my father’s memory: a tower symbolizing a springboard for us to fly freely.”

"Poetic… Robyn was quite inspired when specified her dreamy room in our home if we were to buy a house. Listening to this quoted description leave me with no doubt, they will love their towered room. The house is beautiful. To be honest, it’s a bit too much for just the two of us but it’s fitting to be always full of life and visitors. Besides Robyn and Alice, I hope to get more guests occupying our 4 bedroom house,” he turns to Zelena.

"They will come, from the Realms and from the West Coast, I’m sure. I will love to welcome your parents and our friends from San Francisco. This is a fresh start for us, Chad, but it is also continuity. I am happy to be here, near my family and friends from the Realms and, at the same time, to keep the door open for the world we built to ourselves in the Land without Magic."

All of a sudden, interrupting Zelena's words, a feminine voice echoes off the hexagonal tower walls: "the doors of this house are also open to the worlds below and the worlds above, Zelena!"

Petrified by fright, Chad can only move his eyes toward the woman's form materializing before him and his wife. "What the hell!?" he mutters.

"Technically, not necessarily a 'hell', Chad." Smiling, the beautiful woman walks slowly towards the couple and continues, "please, do not be scared, nor fear, I come in peace. Oh! What a bad behavior on my part... I did not knock neither introduce myself. Forgive my bad manners…  So, I ask permission to come in.  I’m Persephone," she bows extending both hands to them, “nice to meet you”.

“Persephone, as in…. the goddess? I mean, Greek Mythology? Really?” he asks incredulously taking one of her hands.

“Says the Wicked Witch’s husband!” Persephone replies with a small chuckle and immediately corrects herself, “actually, ex-Wicked Witch, nowadays, a respectable sorceress. It’s an honor to finally meet you, Zelena.”

“Yeah, sure, ah… permission granted, I guess, and, thanks… my pleasure too, Persephone.” Zelena and Persephone shake hands.  “I’ve wondered so many times about you and your whereabouts, you have no idea. Hades once spoke to me about you. Despite the hardships you couldn't quite solve, he said you were determined and firm…” Zelena returns the compliment and invites her to the living room on the first floor.

…

“You must be curious about my visit," Persephone explains, "it is natural to be so. I'm not planning to go around in circles, because time to lose is something we no longer have, but... I believe it is necessary for me to explain the context of my visit to you. As a start, I think it is important to make it clear that, in the time count, Hades and I broke up for over a thousand years. While in a marital life, our marriage arrangement was described in the literature with reasonable accuracy. I did in fact alternate - and still do - my stay on Earth and Underworld with a periodicity of six months, although the part that associates this alternation with the creation of the seasons has been very romanticized and mythicized. In other words, there are truths and there are myths related to that. Truths refer to the majority of storylines dealing with my relationships in a more personal level, the mythicized part, to the creation of the seasons. You see, I’m not affirming that there is no relation between the cycles of my stay and the seasons; I’m just saying that everything is much more complex and intricate than a metaphoric legend, or myth, describing something that is real but too complex for the rational mind to absorb completely… there are Mysteries and Secrecies that are so named for a reason; for decoding them one needs to combine wisely all sciences, all areas of human knowledge, so to speak...” she smiles reticently.

“But resuming this not so short ‘introduction’, in general Greek myths are about an early world; usually, they explore themes of parental treachery alternating with tales of filial betrayal,  love and loyalty - all the essentials of good plot-lines linking birth and cosmic creation. Seen today, they have become ancient stories and part of the ancient mythological worldview. But, believe me, gods and goddesses, existed then and still exist now. We may be known only for the ancient part of our existence, but we are still ‘around’. This way, to contextualize, Demeter is in fact my mother and Zeus, her brother, is, indeed, my father.  Athena, Aphrodite, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Dionysus, Hermes, and Hephaestus are indeed my brothers and sisters. And Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Hades and Zeus are, indeed, brothers and sisters…”

“The moral code of your family is, indeed, quite different from ours,” Zelena mutters with high dose of sarcasm.

“Indeed,” Persephone agrees, with a wink, “but you must remember that we are talking about early human civilization. I understand that incest is a taboo now, but it was considered ‘normal’ and most prevalent in families of royal lineage to keep the bloodlines ‘clean and pure’. Non-royalty rarely participated in incest. Maybe that is the origin of all the drama in my family, that and our immortality, but, looking cautiously, even in many religions and traditions of nowadays, the myths of creation start with the narrative of incest…”

“You are right, when we really think about we see that most of them do start this way,” Chad concedes.

“Of course they do. The key is to never be too judgmental and keep in mind all historical and cultural context. We are talking about metaphoric stories explaining complex transcendental science. These stories usually use hyperbolic language to exaggerate some colors, or to emphasize some attributes. Take Hades, for instance. He was not as bad as they usually say, at least until the Olympian Crystal incident.  As the god of death and the Underworld, he suffered a bit from a bad image. He is often treated like the Greek version of devil, but that’s a bit of a stretch. To start, Hades never chose the Underworld as his domain. He and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, drew straws to see who would be lord of what realm. Zeus drew the Heavens and the Upper world, Poseidon drew the Seas, and Hades drew the Underworld. As the Underworld rulers go, during the time we were married he was a pretty decent king. When Orpheus descended into the Underworld to retrieve his bride, Hades was moved by his pleas and agreed to let the woman go, on the condition that, when leaving, Orpheus wouldn’t look back. You know, he did, of course, and lost her – but that was not Hade’s fault. Today, when I think about it, I see how Hades started to downgrade into darkness because of that passage, which led him to cut the Ambrosia tree in the Underworld. That used to be the only tree of my garden - in that quadrant - that wasn't dry… But it is important to note that he was not responsible for the condemnation or redemption of souls. Those who died were subject to the judgment of demigods, not Hades. As for me, although he did in fact, tricked me to stay in the Underworld - he kidnapped me - after a deal with my father he became a respectful and good husband. Differently from most gods and goddesses, we were both faithful to each other – and quite possessive, I must confess. There was a time that he fell in love with a nymph and I turned her into a mint plant so that my husband wouldn’t be able to have her as a lover. That is not my most glamorous story, I know, but, as far as a marriage between gods goes, those were good times for us,” she sights reminiscent.

After a pause, while Zelena and Chad exchanged discreet glances but didn’t say a word, Persephone continues. “Anyway, things deteriorated fast between us because of that ancient crystal, shaped like a crude lightning bolt, the Olympian Crystal. Because of an old sibling rivalry, the crystal, which belonged to my father, was stolen by Hades. My father, by his turn, cursed Hades' heart and, since then, Hades changed radically. He could not love, he could not feel. You know the story, Zelena. For us, that's when we parted and he became the cruel, vengeful god without noble feelings. Only you, Zelena, was strong enough – and I admire you for that – to penetrate his petrified heart and break the curse with a true love kiss. You were able to see his remaining good, but even that was not enough to lead him into a redemption path. On the contrary, with his distorted mind he deceived you, he schemed against you and your sister, and he caused suffering and losses. Eventually, he ended up losing his immortality. Not even his soul could be saved and, sadly, disintegrated. The irony is that he ceased to exist because of the illegitimate power he wanted to possess. That was the end of Hades but that was not the end of Evil, and that is the reason of my visit today.”

“Are you implying that you came because you didn’t like me not only killing Hades but also disintegrating his soul and your father’s Crystal? Well, I’m sorry and not sorry at the same time. In my defense, I had no option, he was going to disintegrate my sister in the same way he tried to do with Robin right in front of us. You see, I did love Hades, but not to the point of living with the burden of Regina’s death. At the end of the day, after all struggles, many curses and turns of the world, here I am. I met a man who loves me as much as I love him and we built up a healthy and happy life together. Even Regina, despite not being allowed to live side by side with the love of her life, came out of all that victorious. She was able to save his soul by opening her heart to host his soul; in other words, their love was so strong that they could overcome the soul disintegration power of the Olympian Crystal, did you know that? ” Zelena vents, holding tight to her husband's hand.

“Yes, I did, they were impressively brave. And let’s be clear, I’m not here because of Hades or of what happened to him and the Crystal. As I told you, Hades and I rarely spoke or saw each other for over a thousand year. You see, the Underworld is big enough to ‘accommodate’ its King and its Queen in such a way that I always managed to keep my distance from him, mainly because I didn't approve his evil behavior. Only after his death I went back to where you and your friends have been, that place he called Underbrooke - a section of the Underworld he built to please you. There, I helped Arthur to reorganize the broken kingdom, as Arthur used to call it. Thanks to my intervention, Arthur was able to rescue and to retrieve the essence of some lost souls who had accidentally fallen or been thrown into the Lost Souls river before being judged and without deserving such a sad fate. Actually, to be extremely honest, my coming here is indirectly connected with Hades. Going straight to the point, I came because of Hades’ legacy, the evilness he planted in a land that cannot be called fertile unless the sowing is dry, hard, and… cruel. For Evil, the ground is fertile, and that is what Hades sowed. Unfortunately, it seems, the harvest has just began. In fact, the process started a few months ago, a period of great light and love for people from the United Realms thanks to the harmonious waves of the Sweet Suite. Meanwhile, the counterpart was being unfolded downstairs, so to speak, as reported to me by Arthur, when he noticed the first anomalies in the smoke coming from Tartarus.”

“Anomalies?” Chad, increasingly frightened and uncomfortable, interrupts to ask. “What kind of anomalies do you refer to? Could you be more specific?”

“Of course,” Persephone concedes, “I’ll get there. Continuing, I was talking about Arthur. Although he and I have taken every precaution in our bailouts, some lost souls not supposed to get free and to recover their evil ego managed to escape without our help, probably they were helped by the one who took over the Underbrooke’s City Hall and became a stumbling block in Arthur's path: Cruella Deville. Apparently obsessed with the idea of returning to Earth and taking revenge on Emma Swan, who killed her to save her son's life, after freeing some lost souls Cruella stole from the library of Hades one of the ‘Mysteries & Secrecies’ books accessible only to the gods and a few humans who get permission – in this case, granted by me to Arthur."

Taking a sip of tea, Persephone inhales and exhales deeply before continuing. "Here, a parenthesis is needed, since you and others have already been in the Underworld and may wonder about what I'm about to reveal. Despite having similar buildings, as you must know Storybrooke and Underbrooke do not share exactly the same layout - quite the contrary, actually. Particularly, downstairs, the public library - where Wish Belle, a soul with unfinished business, works - is adjacent to Hades's forbidden sector. Belle isn't allowed to get in there but she has been given permission to borrow some books from there. To read and decipher their ancient texts she uses a magical translator, a gift of mine, an appreciation for her good behavior and impressive achievements as a researcher. Now, closing the parenthesis and going back on track, Arthur and I found out that Cruella not only had stolen Belle's translator but had also broken the magic lock to the forbidden library. We managed to prevent her from stealing all banned books but one of them she hid and, especially with the help of two other souls, Pan, whom she rescued from the river of Lost Souls, and Wish Rumple, she managed to read - and learn - the content of a very specific Mystery & Secrecy tome: ‘How to clone human bodies’.”

“Is that a Mystery, or a Secrecy, really?” Zelena interrupts Persephone with a nervous chuckle. “I mean, not that I don’t believe the seriousness of what you are telling us, but I’ve seen so many wish and non-wished versions of people, or split versions, of whatever that it’s really doubtful this is such a mysterious secret…”

“There's a big difference between what you have seen and what I’m referring to: you have seen body-and-soul alternate versions of people, duplication even triplication of people in a so-called quantum process of magic involving the concept of infinite possibilities. I am referring to cloned bodies, you can think about them as empty bodies, ready to host deceased souls in a process that does not involve reincarnation as we know it. It does not involve a restart, a reset with forgetfulness and detachment of the past life, with the loss of ego for starting all over again aiming at a spiritual evolution. In short, their plan is to clone bodies – your bodies, before killing you so that in a fraction of seconds they will magically switch places with your souls which will force your souls to descend to the Underworld. This way, by taking  your place, they will enter your clones. They also plan to clone all gods’ bodies, after drying our source of immortality. The process of this kind of cloning involves a hibernation state of the cloned body until the new soul enters the empty ‘vehicle’.”

“Bloody hell…” Chad interjects.

“You have no idea how bloody this hell is,” Persephone acquiesces. “The anomalies refer, as I said, to a kind of smoke that may change Nature's behavior across all kingdoms - including the Underworld. They precede, as an alarm, the main and final cloning magic, which involves the use of a special fruit cultivated in the Olympus associated with water from a special fountain there. With them we have indications that our enemies are on their way, unfortunately. Although we managed to send Pan, Cruella, Gaston and James Nolan to Tartarus, attempting to avoid the problem, now we think that sending them may have increased the likelihood that it will occur. Wish Rumple hasn’t been judged yet and remains in Underbrooke, Arthur and I will see what we will do with him, but I guess sending him to Tartarus will not be a good idea…”

After a prolonged silence, during which Zelena and Chad processed the huge amount of information, Persephone concludes: “There are some facts that we don’t know yet, for example, it seems that they have a connection on the Upperworld, some sort of help coming from the United Realms, and we really fear that, led by Pan and Cruella’s souls, the condemned souls may be plotting from Tartarus. As I said, there are lots of things we still don’t know but we do know that the situation goes beyond what our power alone can handle. We need you, humans from Earth and souls from Elysium, to help us. There is a major disaster with proportions that I would not like to think about being forged and we need to prevent that. So, there you have it, the reason of this unexpected visit of mine. I came to ask for your help.”

Enchanted Seashore, Wish Regina and Roland’s home

“Roland, where have you been? After my sister Queen announced, this morning, the suspension of classes, I didn't see you anymore; I was starting to worry and thinking about using a location spell...  I waited but you took so long that I decided to have lunch first. Now… let's go to the kitchen, my dear, to warm up your food.” Wish Regina tells the 15-year-old as he begins to climb the back porch staircase.

"No need for worry, Gina, I won’t go too far from here, promise. I was in my other room, at the tree house and didn’t hear you calling because I was chatting with Lucy, Neal and Coralline. Neal and Aline are staying at Lucy's house while their parents are in a meeting with the Queen and the others, at the City Hall."

"I see…  Well, as you know, I attended this meeting via Web, as well as a few other ministers who did not travel to Storybrooke, but in my case I only needed to be present for 2 hours. We decided that, at the moment, the activities of my Social Assistance Ministry will remain in a standby mode, waiting for more information regarding the mysteries behind the children visions and the ocean ‘turbulence’. By the way, one of the absent ministers, Nemo, warned us that he is about to land near our house and I have, since then, been waiting for the Nautilus, cooking a few dishes, a couple of apple pies… I guess they shouldn't be long. Now, about you: seriously? 6 hours of chat?" she asks playfully. “Thankfully, the power consumption of the equipment developed by Nemo and the Dragon is 100% self-sustainable, otherwise people with magic in all United Realms, working in sync, would not be able to energize all transponders that the young people use!" she quips.

“I see no problem in talking too much. Adults can spend a whole day in conversations and meetings – which is accepted as normal. What about us? This is our world too, what happens now affects our future. The current crisis seems to be so serious that the four of us needed to get together to discuss our positions, nothing that won’t be coordinated with what you will decide, don’t worry. Adults are in charge - and we know that, but we needed to align our claims and we can help. Neal and Coralline have magic, Lucy is a True Believer and I am a champion Archer, not to mention our cunning intelligence! And do not forget:  as the senior of the group, I’m kind of their leader!” Roland responds proudly, already devouring a heated lasagna.

“We will see about that, young ‘senior’…" Regina’s reply would be longer but, fortunately for Roland, the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Nemo, Liam Jr, Wish Brennan and Liam Senior, together with Ursula and W. Ariel, who traveled swimming by the Nautilus' side, “just for the fun of it!”

…

"Like Lieutenants Martin & Harris who, by the way, opted to have lunch and stay nested aboard, those four out there are becoming inseparable couples, if you know what I mean..." Brennan smiles muttering under his breath to be heard only by Liam Senior and Regina, the three sat on the oceanfront balcony. He refers to the couples walking arm in arm along the shore with the excuse of digesting Regina's hearty meal but, in fact, looking for an alone time. That is especially valid - it seems - to Liam Jr and W. Ariel, moving away as if in search of a more private corner.

“You prepared a real feast for us, Regina, everything was delicious,” L. Senior says, between sips of an herbal tea.

“Thanks, Liam. Knowing that six people were coming was an ideal excuse for me to try and forget about the problems. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to prepare anything special, I hope you stay long enough to enjoy something more elaborate. Oh yeah… something that doesn't involve seafood, out of respect for Ursula and W.Ariel. Maybe a cheese soufflé with a good red wine...” she plans dreamily. “You know, cooking for me is a therapy, especially when I'm just like now, really worried. There was a time when I used to vent going to the 'witch's cauldron', instead!!” Regina and L. Senior have a good laugh at that, and she goes on, “but now that my witchcraft times are past, my hobby is cooking, I love to try new recipes, combine new seasonings and condiments ... Sometimes I resent from not having a taste keeper more open to novelties, you know, since Roland is not that much given to spices - especially seafood, I must confess. Well, I love the sea, no wonder I chose to live in front of it taking care, obviously, to find a seaside location close to the Enchanted Forest, which is Roland's natural habitat.”

“Well,” Liam Sr. replies bluntly, “if registration for tasting your cuisine is open, I'll be the first in line to appreciate the Chef's production!”

Rubbing his beard thoughtfully, Brennan interrupts the flirtation to ask about Roland, and Regina goes on to explain how the two eventually got closer, and today share a bond resembling the one between a son and a mother.

…

Approaching the balcony, Ursula, accompanied by Nemo, asks:

"Regina, do you know why we came to your house before going to Storybrooke?"

“No, I don’t. Although I feel much honored by your visit, I must confess that I was curious about it,” Regina replies.

“The reason is simple and complicated at the same time, but I'll try to summarize it,” Ursula explains. “The location of your home is special. In fact, Nemo and I found out that some homes in the United Realms are very specially located. I do not know whether by the architects’ intuition or knowledge of occult sciences, or both, but many houses are located at points of telluric energy chakras and they are very useful as a communication channel for the members of my family. You probably know my family tree from literature – so you might know that I'm the daughter of Poseidon's union with Amphitrite and I'm Triton's sister. You might also know, I imagine, that I have many uncles, aunts, and cousins, including my cousin Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter. So… yesterday, Persephone telepathically contacted me to let me know that she was going to visit your half-sister, Zelena, at her new home in Maine. Although it is located outside the borders of the United Realms, Zelena chose a house positioned at one of these energetic crossing points to which I referred, and that opened Persephone's passage to the Earth plane coming from the Underworld. I don't know exactly the subject of their talk, but I do know that my cousin asked me to be at one of these energy points because she needed to talk to me too - with urgency - and the conversation would be lengthy, thus more complicated to sustain, via telepathy, if I were outside of them. In face of that, Nemo and I searched in his maps to locate the nearest point in relation to where we were – in other words, your home was the answer. And this is, my dear friend, the original reason that brought us to your welcoming house. The extra bonus, that is, our great time here and the opportunity to strengthen the emotional ties that bind us, might be a result of one of Cousin Eros’ romps,” Ursula mumbles and Nemo giggles.

“I see, interesting…” Regina replies, pensive. “Well, while Persephone doesn’t contact you, I invite the two of you to join us in our tea time and, then, if possible, I would like to know more about these energy lines and points, that is, if you or Nemo, or both, could teach us about them. If I got the idea roughly right, they may be useful for us to deal with what is coming even though we don’t know yet what it is.”

“I will tell what I can for now,” Nemo addresses the small audience, soon joined by Roland, Liam Jr, and W. Ariel, while Ursula quietly retreats to the living room, “so that Ursula may be free to relax and meditate.  Well… let’s start from a scientific fact: there are straight fault lines in the earth’s tectonic plates, to many people known as ley-lines. It’s also scientifically known that through these cracks the magnetic energies released are very powerful. Our ancestors have known about these lines for thousands of years: each culture on the planet has known about them yet with different names. Native Indians of this same region where we are right now, for example, used to call them spirit lines  because their electro-magnetic energy helped their Shamans to contact the spirits. The druids called them  mystical lines. In Wales, as in eastern countries, they were called dragon lines. For the aboriginal people of Australia these lines were known as dream lines. Throughout history all megalithic structures have been strategically built on top of these so called ley lines. These electro-magnetic lines may be seen as veins that receive energy from the sun, thus connecting and affecting every living thing on this planet. The atoms of our bodies, because they are surrounded by electrons, are connected to the earth’s electro-magnetic fields and our heart, as a battery, may be charged by them. Right now, Ursula is in the living room, meditating on one of these crossing points, or megalithic centers, to elevate her electrical aura, intellect, and connection to her higher self, which will activate her energy centers (or chakras).”

“Wow...” Roland exclaims softly.

“Of course there are dark forces that are knowledgeable of these lines and concentrate effort to manipulate these fields and to control or influence the geo-electrical grid. For this reason the access to this knowledge is not allowed to every mortal and few cultures have it completely mapped - the maps in my possession are a rare treasure, among the few out there with the complete grid involving all alternate and superimposed realms – such as the United Realms, which is superimposed to Maine, the Upper world, the Underworld and the Olympus. Around the world, multiple alternate realms, aligned to multiple cultures and traditions, are superimposed, which explains how Henry Mills, our Author, ended up in a realm with another Rapunzel, another Cinderella – which is made possible due to a magic quantum process of infinite possibilities.”

“I have a question, Sir!” Roland raises his hand.

“Go ahead, young man,” Nemo replies in a benevolent tone.

“How is it possible to converge, to the same time and space, characters and stories, known through literature for hundreds of years, which were, according to their origins, mismatched in time and in space? And how come that they all speak the same language - English, in our case?"

"Wow, I'm positively impressed with the complexity of your question... what's your name again, my boy?"

"Roland, sir."

"Very well. So, Roland, the ley lines - which I usually refer to as Earth’s meridians of energy, in an analogy with the millennial Chinese medicine, allow connections that mix time and space and activate, on those that are transported through them, the necessary adjustment of language skill and, sometimes, cultural adaptation. In other words, they equalize the inner communication channel of the person crossing a portal. This means that you need portals, like those opened by magic beans, like the ones I used to open, for the Nautilus, with kraken blood fuel - thanks to Ursula, this is a method I no longer use - or any other magical means to open portals between realms and dimensions. They translate different temporal and spatial planes to converge into the same plane. Before you ask – yeah, I’m seeing your eyes shining while your mind is processing the information - let me tell you one thing. Time travel in the same realm is far more complicated than that between planes of different realms and often requires dark magic. So, back to the convergence of characters originated from different times in History into a common space-time, you’ve got to remember that they are characters like all of us, right here and right now. We obviously know that these characters and stories are absolutely real – we are real!" Everyone laughs at that, before Nemo resumes, "the fact that we are known in the Land without Magic literature is also explained by the Earth’s meridian theory: during their dreams, writers, supposed to be our creators, travel through the dream lines and visit our original and very much real realms, they get to know real people that they turn into fiction characters, and by doing it the way they do, they frequently translate their dreams into mixed distortions of our real stories, you know the rest. In summary…” he sighs and pauses for a little while, “there you have it. Are you happy with my answer, Roland? "

"Very, Sir, thank you very much," the boy responds with a distant, dreamy look, sailing the waves of imagination fueled by Nemo's response.

Concluding his explanation, Nemo takes another sip of his tea and finally states, “to conclude, the Grid, with capital letter - that is how I call my maps, establishes higher levels of consciousness in a scale of 7 keys, but this is something to talk about in another day. Let’s hope Ursula will help us in understanding what is going on in our present situation and, also, in knowing what we should do to prevent chaos or to fight potential enemies.”

Underworld, Underbrooke

The air is dry, reddened by the pollution caused by a high dose of toxic gas spewing from chimneys spread along the sidewalks. However, for those who inhabit the decaying town, the existence of the permanent anomaly does not affect them yet: they do not properly breathe with lungs; though through their semi-densified souls, molded in the shape of the body they had on earth, runs a viscous liquid which - under the effect of torture, in Hades' time, gushed and bled.

The streets are empty; most of Underbrooke’s inhabitants are gathered in an assembly promoted by Arthur and Persephone, at the City Hall. The subject of the meeting may be or may be not new to everyone except for the two beings walking down Main Street: Wish Belle and Wish Rumple discussing and, in vain, trying to seek an understanding, a convergence of viewpoints.

…

"Rumple, no matter how hard you try to justify it, the fact is that you lied about not acting dominated by your Dark One persona. Dark Ones trick, Dark Ones lie! When Baelfire came back from Neverland, you tricked him and lied to me!"

Tousling his hair with his hands in exasperation, Rumple continues to argue. "Belle, we were a happy family until Regina killed Baelfire and you. We lived years of peace, harmony and love. What difference does a harmless lie make?"

"Harmless? Really? It's the cornerstone of everything that went wrong later, Rumple. It's the first domino, the first lie followed by a string of more lies. It means that all our happiness was grounded in lies. Our harmony was false, and I no longer know if your love was false too. Your love of power has corrupted your noblest feelings, Rumple.”

“How dare you?! Of course I loved you! I love you. Everything I did was because I loved you and Bael more than anything!” Rumple cuts her.

“Rumple, you know that I've always been able to see beyond the Beast, to see your primary light source despite your Dark One persona. The fact that you can't understand a truth as basic as this: our happiness was built on a lie, makes me wonder. It makes me think that you continue, even after you are dead, trying to delude yourself and, as a byproduct, to fool me too!"

"I lost everything Belle, I lost you, I lost my son, differently from the other Rumple I was left with nothing. My only option was to give up. I know I am worse now than I was when you died but ... I had no choice but to surrender to darkness. I lost Hope."

"Don't you see the pattern? Everything and everyone to blame but you! You're victimizing yourself again and we're going around in circles. I know it got harder for you after Bael and I died. But it was hard for me too! After dying we arrived here but he quickly moved on to the Islands of the Blessed. Meanwhile, with this hellish unresolved business called Rumplestiltskin, I've been here for almost 12 years now, always in a library, reading, studying the human psyche, and waiting for my unresolved, unfinished business to come in. Then you arrived, a soul completely darkened but … still, I still hoped, I still do, Rumple. I have not given up on you or on us. I wait because I'm your Hope. Can't you see, Rumple? You haven't lost Hope."

“Nah… you are the one not seeing, Belle. I know that I had lied to you and to Bael but I had good reasons. I did that so that I would be able to trick Regina and Hook by making them believe that she would cast the dark curse and he would follow me in a world where I would be vulnerable. I made them believe that I needed to go the Land without Magic to find my son when, in reality, I had already found him and we were secretly living in peace. All I wanted was Hook to cross the realms and be trapped there, staying there for the rest of his life. And why should I care in betraying Regina? She was Evil, she was a villain. So, I plotted with the fairies to capture her and to steal her magic – in one way or another, the result would be positive: the Enchanted Forest would get rid of two villains. What happened was not exactly what I envisioned, but it worked well, for a while at least. Hook moved to the other Enchanted Forest, to raise his daughter, and we neutralized the Evil Queen’s power - all realms benefited from that. I was convinced, and still am, that the end justifies the means - and the end was noble: to live in peace with you and my son, being a family of nobles with noble attitudes: charitable, generous, fair … Bael became a knight and married a Princess! We lived a happy life, we did!”

“Until we did not,” Belle sighs, and continues, “I don’t know what else I could do or say to make you see, Rumple. I don't know how far you still have in your soul traces of the connection with the Dark Ones lineage, or if it's all just you. I do not know how far you have not understood that lying is like non-consensual, abusive, sex; it is the absence of resonance, of transparency, of respect. There is no nobility where there is a lie. Nobility is, above all, a state of honesty, of sincerity. I’m not saying you did no good to a lot of people, I’m saying you did no good to yourself, mainly. Once I read a text, written by a man called Carl Gustav Jung, in his ‘Memories, Dreams and Reflections’, stating something like: You may feed the hungry, you may forgive an insult, and you may love your enemy…these are undoubtedly great virtues… But what if you should discover that the poorest of beggar and the most impudent of offenders are all within you, and that you stand in need of your own kindness; that you are the enemy who must be loved? What then?”

“Are you implying that I should love myself? Well, dearie, that would be the opposite of what you have always said when you accused me of being selfish, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely not, these are two different things and there you are again, trying to locate a loophole in my reasoning. I’m saying that you are your own enemy. Don’t trick me with your word playing, Rumple. You know what I meant. We are both too old and too dead for this kind of game.”

“One more reason for us to go back to Earth, to inhabit healthier and younger bodies, Belle...”

“Please, Rumple, not this nonsense again. I asked Arthur to come for a walk because he knows how and why I know the news he and Persephone are, right now, communicating to everyone and trying to find out who else, besides you, is behind the plan. He knows I’m aware of you being behind the sad news…”

“I still don’t see the sad aspect of it. You are neglecting a unique opportunity to keep your memories as Belle intact and be given the experience of a new life without repeating the same mistakes of the previous life. Look at my dark soul, I could evolve towards the light, don’t you see? I would be able to learn what still needs to be taught to me. Just imagine, you and I together, no dark magic this time, no magic at all, no tricks, and no lies: a new beginning – a reincarnation without forgetfulness. The prospect is fabulous: a new life in young bodies ready to express physically the pleasures of loving and being loved. Would you do that, Belle? For us, would you build with me a new life? Would you go back with me, if you knew that the cloning plan would work as it is supposed to work?”

Sighing, despite not breathing, just out of habit, Belle responds. “I love you, Rumple, I honestly do, I know – I sense – that underneath your darkness there are resilient seeds of goodness. But I could never go ahead with you in this craziness. And … you know what? I’m so tired; I need to evolve, I need to rest in peace.” Slowly, head down, Belle walks away from him, leaving Rumple completely alone.

…

"Fate behaves irrationally, and the energy of life inconveniently demands a gradient agreeable to itself; otherwise it simple gets dammed up and turns destructive. It regresses to former situations. […] Psychic energy is a very fastidious thing which insists on fulfillment of its own conditions. However much energy may be present, we cannot make it serviceable until we have succeeded in finding the right gradient. […] Life can flow forward only along the path of the gradient. But there is no energy unless there is a tension of opposites; hence it is necessary to discover the opposite to the attitude of the conscious mind. It is interesting to see how this compensation by opposites also plays its part in the historical theories of neurosis. Freud’s theory espoused Eros; Adler’s the will to power. Logically, the opposite of love is hate, and of Eros, Phobos (fear): but psychologically it is the will to power. Where love reigns, there is no will to power; and where the will to power is paramount, love is lacking. The one is but the shadow of the other: the man who adopts the standpoint of Eros finds his compensatory opposite in the will to power, and that of the man who puts the accent on power is Eros. Seen from the one-sided point of view of the conscious attitude, the shadow is an inferior component of the personality and is consequently repressed through intensive resistance. […] The conscious mind is on top, the shadow underneath, and just as high always longs for low and hot for cold, so all consciousness, perhaps without being aware of it, seeks its unconscious opposite, lacking which it is doomed to stagnation, congestion, and ossification. Life is born only of the spark of opposites…" (Carl G. Jung, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology)

*