#and especially in Chapter 2 being based around the Internet

[discussionswithgyetti]

Blog Post #3

Q1: Although social media is public, are there moral issues for the monopolization of spaces in which marginalized groups may go to cry and create change (especially while taking into account current government states)? 

In the revolution will be digitized, the authors discuss the role of the internet as a public sphere for activism for black activism, during a time in which there was a lack of safe, public spheres for social change. (Everett, 2011). This book was created in 2011, before the extreme monopolization of social media platforms. The use of unofficial forum websites have died down, and individuals often use these new platforms to elicit social movement and create eroding change. However, especially taking into account the current climate of politics, and the digital revenue based oligarchy that appears to be forming within the United States, I would like to question what the moral implications of these “public spheres”, when taking into account that the attention we provide, the adds we watch, and the data we give, all seems to line the pockets of capitalist oppressors. 

Q 2: The new jim code states “thus, even just deciding what problem needs solving requires a host of judgements; and yet we are expected to pay no attention to the man behind the screen”. In what ways do narratives and discussions around new technologies affirming the idea that new technologies are “unbiased”? 

Algorithms and data driven decision making is often seen as “out of the hands” of individual technicians and social media programers. As is stated in the race after technology, the new Jim Code article (Benjamin, 2020), a neoliberalism, colorblind view of technology has taken president. I reflected back on my own experiences prior to this class, as I also had lived under the assumption that algorithms were deemed as absolute. After taking into account my previous opinions on algorithms, and what this article states in regards to neoliberalism and productivity, I realized that production in “logic” has been moralized as being good, without further thought. Logic being different then empirical evidence, logic more so meaning a no nonsense, individualistic approach to the world. 

Q3: How does the exclusivity and gatekeeping of knowledge about algorithms contribute to its continued harm, as in regards for marginalized communities. 

In this week's Power of Algorithms chapter, the author states “It is impossible to know when and what influences proprietary algorithmic design, … except as we engage in critique and protest” (Noble, 2018). This statement made me question, how has the privatization of these public spaces prevented marginalized individuals from being a part of the conversation when it comes to their own algorithms, and what information they see? If updates and changes are made that change the info that people are exposed to, then why are consumers NOT more a part of the algorithm creation process? 

Q4: How might issues regarding online algorithms worsen as Artificial intelligence takes search engines by storm, now automatically generating simple consumable answers? 

This question stems from an ending remark made in the power of algorithms chapter (Noble, 2018), stating that there is a lack of human context in some types of algorithmically driven decisions.? Questions for me arise, such as, what results are used in the AI image generations? It can’t be all sources, are they the sources that pay money to be prioritized on google? The further distilling of responsibility (now AI being seen as absolute truth) may make it even harder for individuals to fight against algorithmic oppression, because it adds another “middle man”. 

References:

Benjamin, R. (2020). Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Polity. 

Everett, A. (2011). “The Revolution Will Be Digitized: Reimaging Africanity in Cyberspace.” Digital Diaspora: A Race for Cyberspace, State University of New York Press, pp. 147–82. 

Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York University Press.

[rainbow-journalist]

What do you think of High School Aus?

I like school themes, some people don't like them because of the cliché in animes, but I like to feel nostalgic, the best years for me were in my high school, in my sophomore and junior year. I can't say the same for my middle school year.

Would you guys believe that I started watching Rain code after chapter 2? Before this, I didn't really care about this game and thought it would be bad because I was obsessed with Danganronpa at the time and only thought about Danganronpa. Now, look where I am, Having an obsession with a short king, and making drawings of it until now. XD

I don't watch anime because I'm lazy , but I still enjoy the theme and teen drama. Also when the creators use teenagers in horror scenarios, it's always good, the time when horror RPG Maker was the height of the internet was the best year. I miss this. ;-;

I also think anime school uniforms are really cool, especially the girls' ones (I still think boys deserve better uniforms)

About high school au.....

Tw: 🎭⚠️ + spoilers and big text

I'm in a bit of a conflict of what a high school AU would be like, on one hand I want all the characters in Rain code to be high school students, and characters like Dr. Huesca to be the teacher.

Even Yakou would be a high school student, be friend of Vivia and the Amaterasu Researcher, and Yakou being the dramatic student for grades and school tests. I know he was going to be the teacher, but imagining him being the student would be funny. On the other hand, I wanted to imagine them being school employees, imagine what kind of teacher Makoto would be? Maybe a biology teacher. Biology was my favorite subject in school and I loved reading books about it.

Silly little headcanons like student Makoto having shorter hair than his adult self, to give a touch of difference, (and also based on me imagining that his original self had short hair when he was younger), He would wear a mask that could cover half of his face and also imagine that he could be the leader of some club, or even be part of the student council, or the school union. Imagine this drama: Yomi Hellsmile would be the leader of the student council, but would use his power and popularity to bully the other students and wreak havoc on the school.

I also imagine that Amaterasu could be an elite private school, and WDO would be a standard public school? The characters being from different schools, but still having some drama, involving school sports at a certain point, or them meeting at a bus stop or after school would be interesting. But it's more fun if they're from the same school or the same class. XD

The strangest things only happen during the school year

Makoto could also be the popular student, especially for the girls who would find him cute because of his baby face and height.

About his height; He could be a standard height for a school age or relatively short for a teenager. As previously stated, in my case, I stopped growing in height after the age of 18, although each person can grow and develop in different ways. We could apply this to the characters.

Homunculi stop growing after reaching biological maturity, right? He would still grow and develop until he reached physical maturity and stopped aging because of immortality.

Physical or biological maturity usually occurs around the age of 18 to 21, although it can vary slightly depending on factors such as genetics, nutrition, and general health. This includes the closure of the growth plates in the long bones, which marks the end of height growth.

You guys may also think that his original human self may have had problems during his physical development, making him too short for an adult. If Number One became the leader of the World Detective Organization at a very young age, the chronic stress and burden of responsibility may have damaged his biological growth. This may explain his supposed fragility and weakness. Nothing is confirmed.

Makoto would also be clear proof that Yuma has always been an adult, despite the characters not having official ages, and I don't have much of a problem with age headcanons.

So, I guess that's it. I hope that answered your question, anon.

[dorokora]

Chapter 16 Prologue Part 1:

We start with narration from Tu'er Shen about like him, this city is kind of futuristic. There are people who can only survive in cities. In the past, he had no place in his hometown. We cut to MC and Mononobe walking through Shinjuku. Mononobe thought to himself that he couldn’t imagine being back. At that time, his mind and body were worn out from the loops, and he was in no condition to stand in front of a classroom. But now he’s here, something that was unpredictable. MC and Mononobe made it back to Shinjuku where all the teachers are happy to see him again. Cut to the internet, comments are talking about the recent battle in Future City, the alliance, and how the Rule Makers got what they deserve. They wonder what will happen next. One comment talks about the two world reps who disappeared. Another comment think that was a AI or bot and notice that a lot of those start showing up, too many of them in fact. We cut to the club where Tu'er Shen is sleeping. He left the building and jump from building to building in future city. The rule maker mobs are unsure what to do now, since Michael and Amaterasu are gone. Tu'er Shen found Uzume. Uzume ask what is he doing here. She ask where he’s been during the battle but remembers that he’s an outsider now. Tu'er Shen just left the Rule Maker the day before the battle started. Uzume finds it suspicious that he left the guild a day before a serious battle and still hangs around the base. Tu'er Shen says he can’t live anywhere but this city plus he can see the future so even if someone comes after him he can escape. Tu'er Shen ask what exactly happened in Future City.

We cut to the remaining Rule Maker World Reps. They discuss the current state of the game. The game is currently in a stalemate. The Warmingers have 4 World Reps, also counting Balor who’s been acting independently. The Invaders have 2, not counting Shinya who has distance himself from them. The Rule Makers currently have 5, but won’t count MxOther since they have been working for the Game Masters this entire time. There are now doubts about the fairness of the game being run. Plus the Exters have joined the battle, and the Game Masters have taken action. The three major are keeping a watchful eye on the situation.

Back to Tu'er Shen and Uzume. After her explanation Uzume ask Tu'er Shen what will he do now regarding the guild battle now. He says he’s not interested in that sort of thing. As long as he can survive that day, it's okay. He doesn’t want to risk his life again. Uzume ask him about his first love in his home world. Someone who was important enough to risk his life for. Uzume ask if he ever wants to meet someone like that in another world again. Tu'er Shen doesn’t think so since they live in different worlds. Back to the Rule Maker World Reps, Horus starts talking about the Prize’s supervisor, Mononobe, being revived. He thought his body wasn’t able to last long. Onyankopon enters the room to explain that the piece of Solomon that landed in Yurakucho was reassembled by him, it was his job. Horus is not happy to see Onyankopon. Ahura wants information especially about their guild master Curren and her robot. Onyankopon says he’s a hardcore human lover but since Curren is half human he’s not interested in her. He only teamed up with Michael because their interests coincided. Michael and Amaterasu were trying to expose the unfairness of the management side. Onyankopon’s job was to expose Utopia’s system and the clone kids. Onyankopon starts telling the story of Mononobe, where the clone kids get their human half from.

Mononobe and MC have a chat after the welcome back party. Mononobe says his body feels better than he thought. He knows MC has a lot of questions. MC ask what exactly is Mononobe. Mononobe reveals his summoner mark and ask MC if they remember meeting Solomon in Yurakucho.

[thesmophorus]

talk to us about Charon worship, Herakles worship, or Hera worship-- three figures that get very little attention in polytheistic spaces compared to ones like the internet's darling Hermes

OH BOY WOULD I LOVE TO!! thank you for the ask <333 im so excited i gotta do all three of them and pray i dont hit character limit again LMAO HERAKLES: there's two main things that draw me to herakles: 1) his liminal nature. he's both given these divine tasks from literal birth (the snakes in his crib) but is also so deeply human. he's suffered devastating things, and yet, he keeps going, he perseveres. is he worshipped as a mortal hero or as one of the divine? there's evidence for BOTH in antiquity (see oxford handbook of herakles chapter 33 for more). herakles is often an aggressive figure, and through his labors, it can be seen as him 'taming' the wilds and being a helper to society. it's such an interesting juxtaposition and its hard for me to articulate it because of just how deep it runs. 2) herakles lives out every mystai's dream. he's an initiate of the eleusinian mysteries, has been to hyperborea, and he earns apotheosis and a life with the gods, forever in their company. i look up to that. this doesn't even mention all his other adventures outside of his labors! he's got so much going on, and it's all fascinating. herakles has a lot to do with protection, masculinity, athleticism, and averting evil. upg wise, i worship him as an example of someone to look up to -- despite all the things he's been through and the impossible tasks facing him, he's determined and never gives up and asks the gods for help (side note: his relationship with athena is so interesting). i find that he gives me courage and is just a fun and protective presence to be around. if anyone is interested in him, i highly suggest oxford handbook of herakles. fantastic book. CHARON: honestly, charon is a newer figure in my worship, so i don't have a ton of particular sources to share about him. i like that he's a friendly face to the end. i think a lot about the inherent verbal pun of 'khaire kharon' based on how similar the two words are and greeting the ferryman as a friend. there's something to me about his hardworking nature. upg wise, i like to collect my spare change for him and put it in a little dish as an offering. not just for me, but to pay it forward for anyone who might not have anything to pay him with for their ferry. i just find him to be a really interesting figure tbh and im excited to develop my relationship with him more. HERA: oh boy oh boy where do i start with our lovely queen of the gods. i love the orphic association with her and winds -- thinking about how that pairs with father zeus and his storms endlessly delights me, a cosmic dance from the king and queen. her relationship with zeus fascinates me endlessly. they both get a lot of shit on this site, but in cult, they were considered to be deeply in love (theogamia, daedala, their epithets gamelia/gamelii). hera is the keeper of father zeus' oikos (household). she is the one who decides if who gets to join the oikos and who doesn't (much of her persecution of zeus' children without her can be interpreted as her deciding who and who is not worthy of being in her oikos). in cult, she was often revered as an all-mother figure, especially in argos and samos, and i love that interpretation of her. she's a very complex figure, and i love that about her. i love her role in women's lives. i think a lot about her epithets pais, teleia, khera (girl, married woman, widow [from when she separated from zeus for a period of time]). no matter where you are in your life, hera will be there for you. i find that very comforting. upg wise, i pray to her about just about anything. i find she's always a comforting and listening ear. i like to pray to her about my relationships, given her marriage related epithets. i find that she gives me confidence and courage to stand up for myself like she does, to carry myself in the world with grace. i just really like her okay thank you SO much for this ask, this was an absolute treat to talk about. i genuinely appreciate it so much, gods be with you always and bless you

[agentnico]

Squid Game - Season 3 (2025) review

Anyone recall that rumour of Hollywood A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio being cast as one of the VIPs in the final season of Squid Game? Look, this just reiterates to not believe everything you see on the internet, but I was at least hoping that based on the criticism of the original season that they���d cast more apt actors as the VIPs this time around. Well they are indeed back, but nope, they are as awkward as ever! Hey, at least you can’t blame this show for lack of consistency, for better or worse.

Plot: The last time Squid Game saw Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), he was at his lowest — physically and emotionally. The Korean drama’s protagonist ends the Season 2 finale lying on the ground, grieving the sudden death of his closest friend, Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), and the failure of his attempted rebellion. Now it’s time for Gi-hun to stand up again. Squid Game Season 3 reveals the final chapters of Player 456’s story.

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk seems to have run out of things to say about income inequality and the monstrousness of the ultra-rich, as dramatised in the nasty, violent, winner-take-all series of exaggerated children’s games that its economically threatened contestants played. It was the decision to split what was clearly designed as a one-season story into two that utterly wrecked the relentless momentum and suspense that had made Season One so exciting, despite the bleakness of its subject matter. Games that once would have begun and ended in a single episode were sometimes spread over two, or episodes didn’t feature any games at all. And that season (2) devoted, so, so, so, so much time to the survivors voting after each game on whether they should continue playing or split the current prize money equally. 

With Season 3, even though there are even less episodes, there is somehow even more voting. There’s a vote in the first episode. In the third. In the fifth. At one point, the players stop to conduct a vote in the middle of a game. It’s staggering how much time is devoted to these things, especially since we know the game can’t end early or there’s no rest of the season. During one of the votes, we cut to the posh viewing room where the evil billionaire VIPs gamble on the winner, and one of them really says, “Watching the voting this year? So fun!” And another of them really says, “Oh, it was more exciting than the actual games!” It’s hard to tell if Hwang actually believes this, or if he put in that exchange as a sarcastic message about compromises he might have had to make on behalf of Netflix’s desire for more episodes spaced out over a longer period of time. Regardless, each vote sucks all the energy out of the show, and it never fully comes back later. 

At least in Season 2 we had contestants and characters with some level of moral decency that you could root for. Yet in Season 3 any likeable character is quickly disposed of by the first half, leaving you with all the leftover despicable bastards to deal with, as such getting rid of any level of suspense or care by the end since you don’t actually mind if any of the final contestants snuff it. Oh, and watch out for some very cheap and uninspired uses of CGI for a dog and more notably a baby, with the latter playing a fairly big part this season, yet the special effects on it were almost disastrous. Again, we are supposed to care for this baby, but I’d say it’s up there on Twilight: Breaking Dawn level of bad. The only two characters/performances worth mentioning are Lee Jung-Jae as our hero Gi-Hun and the villainous Front Man played by Korean acting legend Lee Byung-Hun. The latter I am endlessly impressed with no matter what I see him in, as he can keep such a straight face, yet showcase so much with his gaze and slight facial twitches. And as for Lee Jung-Jae, he’s terrific, balancing the guilt and trauma he holds following the ending of Season 2, to the level of rage and anger and determination of wanting to do the right thing. His character arc has been absolutely great to follow from start to end, even though I think where his character is left in the finale is slightly anticlimactic and airless. A final choice that he makes loses the visceral impact due to the surrounding other characters we don’t give a crap about. But again, nothing but applause for Lee Jung-Jae’s performance.

Season One of Squid Game still stands strong and proud above everything else this show has offered since, and Season 3 leaves us on a very unsatisfying note, especially due to a puzzling and on-the-nose A-lister cameo in the concluding scene, that acts as an obvious cash-grabbing set up from Netflix for a unnecessary Squid Game: LA spin-off.

Overall score: 5/10

[canyouhearthelight]

Nihilus Rex Ch. 10: First Move

This chapter took 2 weeks to write. One to hash out what all our intrepid villains would need to do to pull this off, and one to actually write the chapter and make sure all bases are covered.

I and @baelpenrose have taken very few liberties with what this trio is doing, but I want to double-down on his note from the previous chapter: trying this would not only be extremely illegal, but in 2024 it wouldn't even remotely work. Especially not the lien release part: most of those records are digital now, and each bank has maybe four people total with the level of access required to release them. Maybe four.

Cause I am, I am

A little wicked

I am, I am

Hands red, hands red

Just like you said

I am, a little wicked

Valerie Broussard, “A Little Wicked”

After two detours - one to find another thermos, the other to fill both - we managed to make our way to a mall so old and worn-looking that even Spirit Halloween would give it a pass. Nils led us around to a side entrance before holding the door open with a sweeping gesture.  I rolled my eyes good naturedly, Bishop groaning behind me as we shouldered past.  Pausing to rub the dust from an old map with one sleeve, I found what I was looking for and glanced up. “Please tell me the stairs are in good shape?  Best Buy is all the way on the fourth floor.”

“They are, and it is, but we won’t need either.”  I suppressed a shiver as he reached past me to tap a location on our same level. “Sears.  The television section is down here, and the cable connections are still intact.”

“And we didn’t enter on that side because…?” Bishop asked, seeing how far away it looked on the map.

“Internet is up, power doors are not,” came the dry answer. “And this door was the only one I could get my hands on a key for.” 

“How did you - “ I started.

“You don’t want to know, Baklava. Plausible deniability - if anyone gets busted, Nothing did the breaking and entering, we weren’t aware he wasn’t lawfully here.” Hiking his bag further up on his shoulder, Bishop grunted. “Let’s go.”

Walking through the mall gave the eerie impression of being a zombie movie - rustling could be heard constantly, along with voices coming from beyond some of the locked grates covering storefronts. Squatters, I realized. Better use of the space than just leaving it here to rot, I thought approvingly. At least they aren’t freezing to death outside.

“Anyway.” Nils led the way into the employee break room in the Sears, one where he’d clearly helped himself to a few of the beanbags from the small furniture store, and locked the door behind us. “Router is behind the counter. We got wifi, we have a place to sit, we have work to do. Everyone, grab a beanbag or a chair. Local squatters won’t bother us in here - there’s an arrangement. I paid for a generator, they don’t mess with my stuff, and stay out of my way when I need to do a thing.” 

I made a mental note to bring food next time, provided I could figure out a way to bring it without Nils or Bishop noticing - last thing I needed was Bishop informing Nils about my stray-cat tendencies.  Grabbing a bean bag and an abandoned tray to set my computer on, I nested in and started getting everything connected.  Once I was happy with where everything was at, I dug in my bag for some snacks, pulling them out triumphantly before realizing Nils and Bishop were staring at me.

“What? You said we had work to do.”

Nils started snickering. “Not that. Just. Never known anyone who brought chili pistachios to a hack job. That’s all.” He shrugged. “Kind of cool.” 

“Creampuff. You and I both know if it was anyone else - like me, or even like Shade, you’d be saying something that would end with everyone either laughing or punching your lights out.” Harvey glanced at him with exasperation.

I offered some of my snack. “Keep the nut jokes to a minimum and I’ll share.”

“Please, Lash. We are not WintermuteWeasel. We come up with classier jokes than that when there is a lady present.” Nils replied, with faux-dignity. 

“In that case, I won’t offer you this,” I sighed dramatically, holding up a bag of homemade jerky. “Because god forbid you put my meat in your mouth.”

Bishop leaned past Nils. “I will gladly put your meat and your nuts in my mouth,” he managed to deadpan, making me throw my head back laughing before handing over both pistachios and jerky.

Nils blinked. “Apologies, clearly I misunderstood your sense of humor. My apologies. I’d do this casually, but you now strike me as the type who’d doubtless prefer a bit of begging for the privilege of your tasty, tasty nuts. Please…” He gave me giant puppy dog eyes and fell out of his bean bag chair, doing his best attempt at looking pathetic, not quite topping how he’d looked when bleeding in a torn suit, but much, much funnier. 

I surrendered and nodded for Bishop to pass the snacks over. “And don’t worry, I didn’t cook any of these, so they taste really good. Fair warning, the lamb jerky is - “

“Hooooleee crap,” Bishop gasped around a mouthful, grabbing a bottle of water and taking a big swig. “Spicy. Very very spicy. Lots of cilantro spicy, was not prepared.”

“That,” I finished lamely. “So go slow or we’ll never get any work done.  Speaking of the Weasel… Any word?”

“Called him, he should be calling back in….” His phone started ringing. “Now. I’ll deal with him, try to keep quiet, both of you. It’s gonna be easier if you two don’t acknowledge that I’m buying for you so he doesn’t hold up the sale for something gross, you know?” He stepped off. “Wintermute, yeah. Best icebreaker. Needs to be less than 30MB. Able to tear through the absolute best encryption out there? Can you do it?”

Something on the other end.

“Need to get a worm and a data bomb through it, and be able to activate the data bomb on the other end after the worm has had time to work. No, you don’t need to know what for. You just need to know the parameters. High end, government encryption. Less than 30MB file size.” Harvey got tense, and began rolling his eyes, held the phone away from his head for a minute. He began doing ducklips - might have picked that up from me.

Eventually he put it back to his head. “Yeah, I get it’ll be expensive. No, no I will not disclose who I’m working with. Cash only payments. Yeah, I can pay that.” 

He hung up. “Great. He’ll meet me in a few weeks. He bitched about it, a lot, but after a bit he said he could do it. It’ll ring three thousand. Each of you down to cover a grand?” 

I squinted and did some mental math. “Yeah, I can cover that.” I’d have to bite the bullet and work on some more anime commissions, but the money was practically sitting there otherwise.  “Richie McWhiteboy, you don’t need to auction off a leather jacket or anything, do you?”

“You know what’s sad? I am so useless in so many ways, but I have the kind of academic credentials where I get paid to research for the university as a grad student as long as I keep helping professors with their research and it covers rent. All my jobs basically just cycle in paying for other jobs and expenses. And I still have money left over to give away. Yeah, I can throw a thousand - probably a little more if it’ll take strain off of you two.”

Bishop winked at me. “Ah, to have rich people problems, right?”

I threw my hands up. “I will totally take financial help in providing snacks and decent coffee. Titties only get me so far.”  Belatedly, I realized what I had said and covered my face with both hands. “ART!” I shouted. “ART!”

Nils snickered. “Most artists have drawn big tittied anime girls for money, and most academics who need it have either written Marvel fanfiction for kinks they didn’t want to know about or written someone else’s papers. Don’t think about it too hard.” 

Bishop just shook his head as I peeked through my fingers and dragged over a second bean bag to prop his feet on. “Before we get completely derailed by a taco joke, let’s reel it in, children.  Our not so friendly neighborhood perv is working on the encryption breaking, do we want to do the worm or databomb first?”

Nils looked to me. “I’d prefer doing the databomb first, since a spore with extra activations is easy enough and just having it done early so all we have left is the hard part means that when we’re done with the hard part we don’t have anything left, but if anyone has any objections to that I’ll hear them?”

“The county records…?” I asked, glancing between the both of them. “You know, the physical liens? With the counties?”

It was completely the opposite of reassuring when Nils went pale and Bishop’s eyes glazed over. With a deadpan, almost contemptuously exhausted tone, Nils grunted, “Fuck. Alright, malware 4 and 5, another encryption breaker, another databomb, let’s go. And find some way of getting those released. And finding which ones we’re looking for…”

“I mean a dial-up bot that just asks after public records isn’t hard, you and I have made like a few dime a dozen ones, that’s easy. Hell, I have a DDoS botnet or two we can repurpose, just collecting dust. Start generating those to get public records on liens, they’re public record. Hard part is the lien releases, that’ll take…some courts and counties take digital copies or faxed copies of the notarized forms, I say we collect the records with that and start sending forged copies out. I mean, we’d need to pay a good forgery guy, but I know one. It takes about thirty days, but we can mill the fucking things once we get all the records and get good fake state seals made.”

“Make sure they are backdated by several months,” I suggested. “Totally Purloined Letter it, act like they’ve had it this entire time and lost their copy. They’ll be too embarrassed to object.”

“Right, add about a month to the process for that and finishing our worm and encryption breaker, county records are easily breakable, we can make our own icebreakers for that but we’re gonna need a lot of computers to launch that many attacks at once…That, plus adequate databombs.”

“Add another twenty five days after we send the fake releases, give time for as many as possible to be recorded,” Bishop added. “They’re less likely to be lumped in with the attack, that way.”

              “Okay. That, plus I have to regularly commune with my morons on their “orders” for the “joint operation” about dealing with the “evil shadow government.” Nils sighed. “Okay. We have a lot of work to do but we should be able to manage it. We can’t brag about it after, which kinda sucks because we’re rapidly approaching Inception-timed-to-music levels of bullshit, and if we pull it off any reasonable world would give us bragging rights forever, but there are way worse things.” 

              “I don’t suppose any of your far right fucknuckle brother uncles are notaries?” I sighed. “We’d never be that lucky.”

              “Sadly, no. I do have a relative who is but she’d never get caught up in anything illegal for political reasons, perish the thought,” Nils’ voice took on a note of contempt. “She conveniently forgets that marrying her husband was illegal until around 60 years ago, and that the entire concept of civil disobedience is ‘breaking the law for political reasons’.”  He shrugged. 

              Bishop grunted, snagging a thermos. “Pocket notaries going on Santa’s wishlist in the event we are ever good little boys and girl…. We are now at 55 day lead time, minimum. The thirty days will give us time to come up with hardware without getting too much scrutiny, and we use that time to let bots dig up the information we need on the liens and student debt.” I blinked and he waggled a finger at me. “I didn’t forget that part, don’t worry. Student debt is going to be the least painful, because zero potential damage there, Sallie Mae can just fuck right off.”  

He typed for second and tilted his head. “Then we send the faked releases - I don’t know if my guy can do them in bulk, so it would be smart to have a program to mock them up as back-up.  Who can code that, because I’ll be too busy.”

I raised my hand. “Digital art en masse is my area of expertise,” I nodded confidently. “I can cobble something together from my animation stuff, no problem.”  Would I test it by using it to clear my commissions inbox? Probably, but they didn’t need to know that.  I already felt guilty enough about it.

“Okay, so I’ll handle the databombs and the basic icebreakers, Bishop will repurpose his dialup net, and Lash will get the mock-ups ready so we can mill out fake lien releases. I’ll also handle getting the gun nuts ready and primed for when we go. We’ll work together on the worm since that’ll be the hardest part.” Nils was standing, the irritated exhaustion gone, eyes suddenly alight. “We have a little less than two months, and when that’s done, we’ll be paying back the banks for the 2008 crash and all the futures they stole with student loans. And we’ll be stealing a lot of them back. Let’s get to work.” 

[thespamman24]

Welcome to the 2024 Sbvevies!

The Nominees For Smelliest Film Are

The Substance: Body horror smells bad

100s of Beavers: It technically didn’t come out this year, but everyone saw it this year. Anywhoo, this film is filled with animal guts and unwashed, smelly men running around. Sorry, only the men are running around. The animal guts stay perfectly still. 

Dune: I just know Baron Harkonnen smells rancid. “Oh, but wouldn’t he douse himself in perfumes?” I hear you ask. Wrong! In chapter seven of “Chapterhouse:Dune”, it reads, “The Harkonnens all smell like shit all the time”.

Alien Romulus: Everyone is in a tight, claustrophobic environment, running around, and getting their sweat on. That’s not even to mention the actual aliens, as they probably smell gross. Also, you just know that CGI Ian Holmes smelled disgusting, with all his milky tubes hanging out.

And the winner is…

FURIOSA! Where do I even begin? Immortan Joe’s strange, sickly form?  The hundreds of sweaty, sweaty men who probably never bathe? All of the car oil? 

The Nominees for best screaming are…

Dune, Part II: This is for that aaaAAAAAAaaaAAAAA

Alien Romulus: Being chased by a spooky monster often leads to lots of screaming, as is the case for this movie.

V/H/S Beyond: Being an anthology film, there’s a high diversity of screams here.

And the Winner Is…

CHALLENGERS! My favorite part of tennis is always when the people go “Ooh! Aaah! Oh!”

The nominees for artistic hornieness are

Megalopolis: Audrey Plaza plays a character named….what was it again? Platinum Buttocks or something, I believe. What’s important is that the film is horny.

Alien: Romulus: This is here by virtue of being an Alien movie.

Nosferatu: Considering the subtext of the horniness, I feel bad about putting this one here, but Robert Eggers will shoot me if I don’t.

The Substance: The fact that this film isn’t directed by a straight man is mind blowing considering how many shots of woman’s butts there are. Maybe that’s a point.

And the winner is…

ANORA! There is more fucking in this movie than…I dunno, a place where there’s a lot of fucking.

The Nominees For a Lack of Subtlety re

The Substance: I wonder what this film is about. Something tells me it has something to do with sexism and the entertainment industry, but I don’t know why.

Juror Number 2: There’s like twenty different scenes where someone goes “Well, the legal system isn't perfect, but it could be worse”. I GET IT!

Emilia Perez: They sing a song about top surgery and how penis becomes vagina, and that’s an entirely different brand of unsubtle.

And the winner is…

THE JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX! Being a sequel to the first joker means it automatically qualifies.

The Nominees for Worse Fake Accent Are:

Selena Gomez for Emilia Perez: I haven’t seen the film, but everyone on the internet is really mad about Selena Gomez’s accent. 

And The Winner Is:

Half The Cast Of Dune II: Fremen don’t talk like that. I won’t tolerate this bullshit..

The Nominees For Most Dysfunctional Family Unit:

I Saw The TV Glow: Well, yeah, duh, abuse is dysfunctional. Way too bring the mood down. 

Anora: The funniest scene in the film was when the Russian guy asked his parents if they would love him if he was gay and they went “Dude, we already fucking hate you”. At least, I think that's what happened. It’s been a moment since I saw the film.

Dune, Part II: Kissing your uncle on the lips is gross. 

The Apprentice: I’m just gonna assume based on the fact that Donald Trump is in it. Every unit he’s in is a dysfunctional one.

And the Winner Is…

MAXXINE! However, I can’t say why, because it’s a spoiler.

The Nominees For Actor Who Clearly Didn’t Want To Be In The Movie Are:

JK Simmons from Red One: No one has actually seen this film, so I’m just assuming.

Jeff Goldblum from Wicked: The man seemed stoned, which I guess is the usual vibe Jeff gives off, but he seemed especially stoned this time.

Dakota Johnson from Madame Web: Haha funny joke, wait a minute, that was this year?!? What?!?

And The Winner Is:

Everyone In Kraven! I haven't seen it, but it’s clear that none of the actors wanted to be in Kraken, because why would they want to be?

The Nominees For Most Queer Subtext:

Love Lies Bleeding: There’s queer subtext in the sense that there are gay people, and they have sex, but they’re not saying that they’re having sex when they’re doing it, thereby making it subtextual.

Queer: There’s queer subtext in the sense that there are gay people, and they have sex, but they’re not saying that they’re having sex when they’re doing it, thereby making it subtextual.

Conclave: There’s queer subtext in the sense that it’s the funniest possible reading of the movie.

I Saw The TV Glow: I mean…yeah.

Wicked: Why is there not an entire industry of ship art for this particular musical? Lord only knows how much Hamilton ship art the internet has forced me to see.

Look Back: I actually only included the category because I wanted Look Back to be on this list. 

And the Award Goes To…

Deadpool and Wolverine! I actually have seen a lot of fanart of this one, and not by choice.

The Nominees For Worst Vacation Experience Are,

A Real Pain: I don’t want to investigate the troubled relationships I have with my family members on vacation. That’s what jobs are for.

Juror #2: Jury duty is a kind of vacation experience in a way, and it’s usually not this stressful.

And the Winner Is…

SPEAK NO EVIL! I want to speak during my vacation, thank you very much.

The Nominees For Worst Job Experience Are,

Abigail: Everyday when I go to work, I pray there are no explosions.

Civil War: Absolutely under no conditions do I want to risk death for my job.

The Substance: This isn’t just a bad job experience for Demi Moore, but for everyone in the final ending scene. Those poor camera men and tech guys just wanted a paycheck.

Saturday Night: Yeah.

And The Winner is…

CONCLAVE! This one’s here because it feels the most like being stressed out at your job.

The Nominees For Best Animal Are:

The Cat from Flow: He seemed nice.

Sonic from Sonic 3: A Sonic is a kind of animal.

The Bees From The Beekeeper: Bees are pretty neat as small yellow objects go.

And The Winner Is…

MONKEY ROBBIE WILLIAMS FROM BETTER MAN! He’s a monkey who sings. My hands are figuratively tied. They’re also literally tied, but that’s for unrelated reasons.

The Nominees For Unluckiest Janitors Are:

Abigail:  A lot of surfaces get covered in blood in this film.

Gladiator II: Not only is there blood everywhere, I don’t think janitors in Roman times had a good salary. Also, mopping up the arena is probably difficult because how do you mop up sand?

Dune, Part II: Being a janitor in the Dune universe has got to suck because you have to deal with space goop, which is the worst kind of goop.

Anora: That one maid probably had a really shitty time that day.

And The Winner Is,

THE SUBSTANCE! No amount of salary benefits could pay for having to mop up a boob eye.

The Nominees For Best Press Surrounding A Film Are:

Madame Web: God, the interviews were so funny.

Challengers: In order to get hype for the film, the screenwriter created a viral video of him wanting potions ten years earlier.

A Better Man: It was funny to find out that there is a secret celebrity that the British have been keeping from us for years.

And the Winner is…

WICKED! All I want in my life is someone to be my Ariana Grande to my Cynthia Erevo, is that too much to ask? 

The Nominees For Worst Film To Show To Aliens Who Have Never Seen A Movie Before And Also Don't Know Anything About Humanity:

I Saw The TV Glow: I just don’t think they would understand the themes. 

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Having not seen the first two, the aliens would be confused.

VHS Beyond: There’s a lot of evil aliens in this one, so it would be awkward. I guess I could have put Alien:Romulus here, but there’s (basically) only one species of evil alien in that one. 

And The Winner Is…

 THE SUBSTANCE!

If aliens see it, they may think that people normally do this, and that will weird them out. 

And Now, The Categories You’ve All Been Waiting For! The Nominees For Sexiest Jerk Are,

Feyd Rautha in Dune, Part II: I mean, come on.

The Racist Bishop in Conclave (his name is Tabasco): He’s a shitty person, but the swagger on this guy is insane.

The Mother From Longlegs: I like a woman who knows what she wants.

The Serial Killer Guy In Trap: Massive DILF energy with this guy.

The Younger Version of the Lady in the Substance: It was kind of mean of her to (spoiler), but I could fix her. 

Art The Clown From Terrifier 3: Don’t judge me.

And the award goes to.. Feyd Rautha! Tabasco was close, but I find vaping unsexy, even if he looked really cool while he did it. 

[mmmbuttery]

I just wanted to put in a couple of cents for claim 4 "England had a homophobic propaganda campaign against Italian tourism because Italy was turning their kids gay" but it's complicated and comes in a couple of parts.

There was a British propaganda campaign against Italian tourism but it was because of Catholicism:

In Our Time (radio show on BBC and is available online) has an episode called The Grand Tour from May 2002 which talks about some historic British anti-Italy propaganda. The show is mostly about cultural resonance of European travel to the British, but a speaker mentions a campaign against travel overseas (based mostly on xenophobia) mostly because of fears of Catholicism in Spain, France and Italy, which is the home of the Vatican and the Pope, hence ground zero for bad (~3:55 minutes in). It is in this section that the pamphlets and sermons are mentioned by Jeremy Black, Professor of History, University of Exeter (maybe he's got some references to the pamphlets and sermons in his book, The British Abroad: The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century which is mentioned on the show but I haven't read it).

2) Italy turning kids gay:

In Our Times doesn't discuss this.

There is further discussion about ignorant tourists behaving badly, aristocratic young men, gambling, sexually transmitted disease, drunkenness, and general sexual license while traveling which sounds like it's mostly heterosexual but homosexuality is is also mentioned. There is also discussion of people being sent abroad as way of having them behave badly outside Britain and hence using the Grand Tour a bit of a relief valve- so there was actively wanting these people to sin elsewhere, including Italy. (Like the old spring party week stereotype but Europe/Italy instead of Daytona Beach)

There is a passing reference to homosexuality as the 'Italian vice' (~19:30 but speakers did not go into why this vice is specifically considered Italian, perhaps in combination with the decriminalization of homosexuality mentioned in the Todd's video (?) but that happens toward a much later part of the period of history the show is talking about) and they refer to William Thomas Beckford, an aristocrat and writer who self-exiled after proof of his complicated sexual history appeared, and then traveled across Europe after 1784- so in this example, he was outed before he traveled to Italy and wasn't made gay by Italy (wikipedia ref).

Further, there’s a chapter in the book Italian Sexualities Uncovered, 1789–1914, called  The ‘Italian Vice’: Male Homosexuality and British Tourism in Southern Italy, where the author writes that same-sex practices were thought to have originated in Italy and that "in some writings it [sodomy or pederasty] was linked to Catholicism" and maybe this connects up to the first bit but the reference here goes to an Italian document and I don't know Italian, so that's that. However, the chapter continues by claiming that British male homosexuals actively went to Italy for sex a lot (especially southern Italy, because of the social leniency before decriminalization and the lower cost of living and also the belief that because the climate is hot, so were the sexualities of the people who lived there), to the point where Italians considered pederasty “il vizio inglese” or (as google translate calls it) “the English vice.”

I still think the claim as made by Somerton is wrong and it's a little complicated to pick it apart, but I wanted to give a reference (not saying any of these is the source of Somerton's claim or wherever the person he got it from got it from).

Note, I am not a historian but I happened to have heard this episode years ago and so I went back and dug around a little bit extra on the internet to figure out where this claim came from. If actual historians want to weigh in on this (I'm sure actual historians are actually busy with other stuff), I'm all ears.

This video is important.

We all watched the hbomb vid (or at least got a summary of it) explaining how Somerton stole much of his "research" word-for-word from other queer creators and writers.

Okay, so, we unsubscribe from his channel; we've done our part; everything is cool now, right?

Unfortunately, no. The biggest damage Somerton did may not have been to those he stole from. Rather, it was inventing large swathes of LGBTQ+ history out of whole cloth, tinged with his own incel-adjacent brand of misogyny and weird anti-establishment centrism.

Worse, many of the "facts" Somerton invented are freely circulating on the internet, even on this website, and they are coloring how queers - and especially young queers - understand our own history.

So it's not enough that Somerton's empire burns and he flees with his tail between his legs. We need to actively purge all of the nonsense he injected into the discourse - out of his own personal agendas and resentments - in the years he was posing as an intellectual authority (perhaps the intellectual authority) on our history and experiences.

So give it a watch. It's not nearly as long as the hbomb video and it's neatly organized as well. Save it as a reference for the next time someone pulls out a "Somerton fact" you need to debunk.

Let's work to preserve our history from liars and charlatans.

[otomebanshou]

Opinionated piece on Tengoku Struggle -Strayside-

Below is a very opinionated piece based on my feelings after completing Tengoku Struggle Strayside. Please do not take any of my comments to heart, I just like to ramble and get things off my chest to throw into the void of the internet. Enjoy.

SPOILERS DISCUSSED!!!

Let’s start off with strong feelings. I didn’t like the game. 4/10, I may give it a 5 just for Sharaku being the saving grace of the game to be generous. I was always with the crowd that was down for some longer routes for love interests. This game put that to test for me with 12 chapters (13 for Goemon) for the boys and god damn did it wear me out.

So let’s move on to that. The game is way too fucking long for its own good. Not in a good way is it long, it’s way too damn fluffed up with pointless shit and beating around the bush. I could barely spend quality time that mattered with literally all the guys because the route wanted to push it’s very subpar plotline. 

The plot is atrocious. Not as bad as Charade Maniacs but honestly it was just as insulting. “We need to get the bad guys who escaped hell! …but we can’t fight them.” is honestly a really stupid plot. They had me going for a second, hopeful, that based on how things went down in Sharaku’s route (my first route) that it was all just leading up to a pokemon battle with the route’s villain and Rin was the pokemon trainer. Me, playing it at the time, when I got to the fights with Asaemon, I thought “oh ok! Maybe this is how the game is going to go, that’s cool I guess!” Boy was I fucking wrong. The game doesn’t know where it fucking wants to go other than beat around the bush for 90% of the chapters. 

The routes honestly would’ve been better off at 7 each, 8 for Goemon I guess. Like I said, a lot of the routes spend a majority of the time beating around the bush especially when it comes to feelings and where the fuck the plot is trying to go. Or maybe you’re Kiku and you are bitching and moaning about your sister who hates your guts for 11 chapters. No seriously his route can literally be summarized by: Kiku: Azami! Stop helping the bad guys! 🙁 Azami: ew no I hate you! Kiku: 🙁

Meanwhile, Yona and Sharaku had some of the better routes, developments, and just overall better everything. It doesn’t save the game for me however. It still left me feeling “wtf is the plot actually trying to be” for the entire time. But to give some praise, Yona is a very interesting character and his love for novels, including smutty ones, was a very nice touch that leaves me feeling very fond of him! Sharaku was just wonderful and I really enjoyed how deeply sweet his gestures for Rin were.

JacK, I love you but your route (and your personality) is a bit all over the place. I somehow felt like ranking him as my number 2 because, honestly I don’t know, I just liked him? He definitely had me on a rollercoaster of what the fuck is going on because he’s just so hot and cold and I still don’t really have a grip on who JacK REALLY is. But, like everything else, I’m blaming the writers here.

Finally, Goemon. Disa-fucking-pointing. LOL. He’s not as bad as Kiku, but lmfao, the common route hinted at the fated lovers trope, like a very typical otomate game. Fine ok, I ADORED Akaza so I had some hope. Some faith. DASHED!!!! Goemon is somewhat cute at the very least, questionably obsessed with himself that he kinda sweeps under the rug and never really talks about again, and he’s well liked. But that last part made him kinda boring to be honest. My main issue with him is the route sucked!! Rin and Goemon LITERALLLLLLYY beat around the bush about this whole “I loved you in the previous life” for ELEVEN CHAPTERS. It’s not even like rewarding. Goemon KNOWS and Rin doesn’t. I thought in like chapter 4 or 5 this shit would get cleared up and they’d build into something really amazing. Nah bro Goemon is just like “yeah uwu i really loved this dango shop, the girl there was beautiful uwu” and Rin spends nearly EVERY chapter going “god i wish i was the dango shop, the dango girl, hell the dango he ate ;_;” and Goemon kinda just.. Lets it happen which I found absolutely annoying LOL. I think the only real positive I have for this is Sharaku was funny, no shocker he’s funny in every route, and Goemon’s VA is really good, because otherwise I was really bored. My face when it said: chapter 13 PLEASE JUST END IT PLEASEE I DON’T WANNA KEEP PLAYING THIS SHIT

ALSO THE WRITERS PUSHED IN A RAPE SUBPLOT AND A OUT OF NOWHERE “BETRAYAL(????)” AND IT WAS SO BAD LMFAO like holy moly I felt nothing for that part other than “yup there it is, that's the shit they love to do for no fucking reason WHAT SO EVERRRR”

Ok, we are nearing the end I promise.

Side characters? They ranged from pretty cool to what the fuck is the point of you. 

The coolest? Asaemon, and the couple that I forget the name of. I also kinda like Shin.

Azami is pretty mid tbh. She’s just a bratty girl. Nothing really new.

Shinobikuni is the most disappointing villain? Like she literally… did nothing. Lmao @ the ending where she just kinda lets Goemon win without a fight like “lol you got me i guess!”

Lol Mukkun wtf, the whole betrayal was so short lived it lasted like 2 minutes before it just… moved on… and changed the villain… LOL…………………

And then the white haired dude I forgot the name of. He was actually ok until… yeah lmfao wtf. I honestly couldn’t really even be mad at him because it just was such a sudden and weird choice that I just… didn’t feel anything. I was more mad at the TERRIBLE decision here. And so fucking out of nowhere like why? Actually I know why, it’s only purpose was to cause shock and I’m so disappointed.

The characters who stole the show are obviously King Enma and Mr. Corporate slave. XD They were the most enjoyable and honestly very intriguing of the cast. Always bringing humor to the table and overall brightening up my glum mood from a shitload of pointless text that brought nothing to the table. King Enma was a delight, I wish his presence was more prominent in the game.

Now, Rin.

She’s honestly just ok. The eventual background information about her that you get, obviously, from Goemon’s route was ok. I was kinda with it but that was ruined by how Goemon’s route ended up. Sometimes I really liked Rin then other times I was kinda bored with her. Not that she’s bad or I think she’s a deadpan MC, just… I don’t know, I didn’t really end up loving her. She was just ok. The whole man hating thing makes sense now but I feel more bad for her in the sense I can’t believe the writers just did that to her randomly. I don’t think I’ll ever be over it.

I forgot the cat. He was ok I guess. I wasn’t crazy about him. Did chuckle a few times at the dick biting jokes tho.

Last thing, I did *most* of the memory stuff extras, but tbh after Goemon’s bullshit route, I was just so fed up with the game I skipped about the last 25% of them. I completed them by force skipping. I just couldn’t anymore with the game. It was already so long and I was so drained by the game’s refusal to just.. End things.

So yeah. 4/10, other people will probably like it. I also didn’t really think Birushana was a very interesting game, but a lot of people really like Birushana. So, to each their own. I'm happy the game was localized and am thankful for everyone who worked on the game!

That’s it! If you read this far, you get a gold star sticker from me and I’m sorry for my opinionated piece/rant. lol

[a-adler-arts246-03]

Week 7: Chapter 6 + Immerse - 2/23/24

I enjoyed looking at and reading about how the typographic message can be conveyed through a lot of different means. This chapter really emphasized dynamic communication, which is super relevant especially to our Immerse project. I liked the reminder that syntactic refers to the form of the type, and semantic refers to its meaning; I feel like I learned that somewhere along the way, but did not remember which one was which. It was also interesting reading about the “feeling” of type and the balance between designing with logic and intuition. This made me think about my own process for creating graphics. A lot of the time, I start out with basic elements of what I need on the template, like certain words or information. Then, I try and let intuition work, and look through inspiration to see what strikes me. When I make sports graphics, sometimes I’ll just go through the pictures that the team photographer uploads, and wait for one to strike me so I can decide what aesthetic direction I want to take the graphic in. Intuition really is important in design; however, without checking myself for hierarchy and legibility and using that sort of logic, I would probably end up lost in a graphic that doesn’t serve its purpose well. 

I think the Immerse poster is going to be a challenge, but I am looking forward to learning more about augmented reality. My initial ideas revolved around nature; I was thinking about how to get the viewer immersed in a scene, like being underwater, in the crest of a wave, or in the mouth of a tiger. However, I have to think more about type and incorporating that into the poster to serve as the main element. I think I could use the general shape of the tiger but create the words within that shape, like in the stripes; I saw a lot of neat examples on the internet with type that was stretched and melted to look like waves or stripes. I think that could also work with the water design in a similar stretched or warped way. This weekend, I’m going to work on mmore type-focused sketches based on my original concepts but reworked. I don’t really know what the type is going to say, haha, but I will work on that. Then, I want to keep moving forward with one or two of the concepts to create a first draft of the poster.

[hoodieimp]

Fixating on the Addisons is so fucking funny when you think about it. Like wow we really went and blorbo-ified the Concept of Online Advertising as a gay friend group-slash-polycule

[roamingwildflower13]

Here is the way I see it as ot7 

(As in I genuinely love 875, all 7, no that’s not a joke, my bank account and streams can attest to this) 

Everyone on social media has the chance to be toxic. You all know that, and see that. Why? Well in my opinion it’s likely because there is something incredibly wrong with them. Likely something in their personal life or history, a conflict resolution issue, a trauma, loneliness or longing to be a part of something, grief or emotional pain, family neglect, lack of love, the list is endless. For example often people throw shade at Jimin’s family, or V’s, based on little to no fact about their family life, almost like their own projection 🧐. In a lot of ways these people are NPCs in real life, but what they lack there in the real world, they try and make up for online. Especially twitter. There is a few people on here like this for sure, who spout nonsense hateful rhetoric, and act like know it all kings, but in reality are sad lonely loveless people hidden in their bedroom of their parents basement in the backend of goodness knows where (you know who you are).

People will use their nameless and faceless accounts to post whatever is on their minds, with little thought or regard to the consequences . Thought about the content, and no thought about the fact that once it’s out there it’s there for good. Screenshot and filed away. Also no thought to the fact that whoever they are hating on is a human being, not a puppet. 

If you really think about it this happens in every fraction of everything on the internet. Some spaces are more prone to it, Twitter is the worst for it imo as TikTok usually warns you against saying certain things, as does instagram. Twitter though, is a battleground. 

I’m not sure if I stand alone on this but I became a fan to have fun. That is what I want my fandom experience to be like. I love music and want to talk about it and jump up and down in excitement when something happens in my fandom. But this often isn’t what happens if you engage in fandom spaces, unless highly curated. There are too many bad eggs who ruin it. 

Just yesterday as I’m sure many are aware now, Hobi started a live and Jin and Jimin joined it. Both were joking around, and Jimin was telling about cleaning his house and listening to Hobi’s songs. Something about a cow lick… it was cute and for a moment the timeline reflected that. Log back on later and it’s all gone to shit. Some solos (tkkrs, jjks and kths) had decided to start a hate train on other solos (pjms) by creating a fake group chat, but it is all for dragging Jimin. Fake ‘Army’ immediately called it out, which is suspicious in and of itself. And chaos reigns again. 

It’s never going to get better. We cannot take the internet back

Anyone as I said can make an account, or two, and post whatever crap they want out there. On the wilds of the internet it doesn’t matter what or who you are, you can hide. We’re all hiding technically, (but I think on here we have more discussion and intelligence. Not all, but most, there are a few really bad eggs on here too, I’d name them but I have class).

I think chapter 2 has brought out the worst in people, the preceding pandemic years bought casual stans to the fandom also, and this combination is a disaster. You’ve got people who join and their narrative is based on cult edits and rhetoric. You’ve got solos who like an artist and realise they are the member of a band with a decade long career, but hate their origins.  People who don’t care to research Bangtan Lore or look back at original content. You’ve got all of this and more and it’s a toxic combination. It’s not what Army is about. It’s not what the members want nor stand for. But the people it affects the most in online spaces is us. As fans we can chose our experience, the fact that some chose to hate is wild to me. What’s the benefit of that in the long run? Where is the joy? That’s not why Jimin makes music, for his fans (bias or solo or Army) to then take that and use it as a weapon to shade his members. No. He didn’t pour his soul into Face to have people shit all over it. 

To me and true Army, if you are a solo on the likes of twitter you are likely just an anti. Using that solo mask as an excuse to be a miserable person online, never caring that you are the cause of the hate on your supposed fave, by consistently setting up the one you claim to Stan. You likely only care about creating conflict and chaos, thriving in the attention you gain, the ego boost from people agreeing with you, the brief high and your follow count going up. 

Because here is my line in the sand, whilst you may want to call yourself a solo, and I get it I do, the one thing that really drives the hate of true Army towards solos is the hate on the members. 

Why? Because the members would not want that. That’s the truth. 

So call the fandom what you want, or individuals within it, I don’t care, but do not drag the other members. 

Now I only see posts from PJMs mostly, because Jimin is my bias, and other solo stans I follow a few of but only the ones that don’t cause trouble. The ones that hate on other members is a hard block and report for me. 

If I see any solo stan make a hate tweet that include the lines ‘not unprovoked’ I die a little inside of embarrassment. Because it just shows lack of maturity and intelligence. Tit for tat gets us where exactly? 

The worst of them is the maknae line solos. You’re out here tweeting or writing hate on them and for why? These boys (now men) have grown up together, no matter what they love each other, and no, I’m not exaggerating. So whilst a solo may get off hating on Jimin, calling him out, sending death threats to his family, name calling him, Jungkook is enlisted with him. If you get off on hating Jungkook, calling him from a pig to a dog, Jimin is out there enlisting with him. 

Cocojm (who i loathe with my entire being) out there yesterday shading JK letting its mask slip, because an article came out re a past award, setting up Jimin in the process, because then here come JJKs  tweeting that he was the first to win said award, hating on Jimin, and yet all the while Jimin and Jungkook are enlisted together. 

(Do you see how misdirected the hate is, you can make a hate tweet, drag someone, get that high you are craving, but you’re going to get that crash/low right after. Because the only person you are technically affecting is yourself, your health and your karma.) 

As a solo you don’t have to like the other members but you sure as hell should respect that your fave loves them. Imagine hating on Hobi and Jimin is all ‘I love you’ on Weverse. That’s his Hobi, his room mate and they are the of best friends. They are all family and they have told us this time and memorial. They have a friendship tattoo for a reason. Always hold that in your minds eye. 

You’ve also got to remember to the members themselves Army is their fandom. The ones who have supported them, protected them through years of trials and tribulations, and are the ones whom they love and are thankful for. The ones they say their songs are for, the ones they write to on Weverse. Etc. 

Army isn’t wholly represented on the internet. Shock horror I know. That’s not to say the hate isn’t there, that some major accounts do deserve the questioning they get when they don’t support Jimin, they truly do. But then to me they aren’t Army. If you don’t support all 7 you are not Army. Period. If you are going to use awards to hate and shade on a member, you are not Army. Period. These men did not give their literal blood sweat and tears for people to tarnish their band, their fellow members, their body of work or artistry. They did not want you to trend ‘bts disband’ daily on twitter, as was happening again yesterday. I mean the disrespect. 

Now to Jimin. I don’t know for the life of me why Jimin is so often the centre of all the hate, the belittlement and shade online. All I know is that he is. It is the most head scratching (and heartbreaking) thing I’ve ever come across in any fandom I’ve been in. This isn’t a new thing either, Jimin has been the subject of death threats and scrutiny often far beyond the others for years. The only thing I maybe think it is, goes back to what I said at the start about self worth and ego. Jimin is too much of everything, and him being him triggers people. And it’s so polarised in extremes, you either love him or hate him. It’s never middle ground. To me he triggers their insecurities, their ego and their sense of self worth. He is everything they aren’t and more so. He is both a really good decent fcking human being, a truly stunning man, and yet instead of loving him for who he is as an artist and a person, people lash out because that’s what happens when people are insecure. He is everything they will never ever be, not that money means much, but he is rich, successful, talented and beautiful, those are facts. He is, as the quote from Rent says ‘I'm more of a man than you'll ever be - and more of a woman than you'll ever get." And I think that’s what subconsciously people hate. They know deep down that their faves would chose Jimin over them. They know if he was standing next to them people would look at him not them. This man would walk into a room and everyone would look at him (we’ve seen it happen) He commands attention, he is captivating just by existing. Not only that but as i said above, he is a really good human being. A truly unheard of and lethal combination. (Maybe the only other person that comes to mind when I think of a famous person like this is Audrey Hepburn, beauty, grace and humility like our Jimin). He is once in a lifetime. 

He is so human and so ‘normal’ Linking back to yesterday you’ve got Jimin at 8 PM at night cleaning his house listening to ‘sweet dreams’ and then haters on the internet are obsessing and fighting over him. He is the main character in this story, and yes sadly this comes with good and bad sides. It’s not okay, it is not acceptable and it should be challenged by reporting it and counter acting it with positivity and love. (No i am Not joking, energy matters). 

I have no idea what the new chapter will look like, what they are planning etc. I do think though that a lot of solos or people who became solos in the past three years have no idea what BTS is like as a group, when they function as a whole. So they are likely in for a shock from what I’ve heard. I do hope people grow the fck up and enjoy whatever it is the guys have in store for us. I for one am not going to let Stan twitter ruin it for me. I’ve waited years for this moment and I will enjoy it. Miserable hateful people be dammed. 

Time will tell whether the members want to address these divides, and the hate. I guess V saying ‘7 or nothing’ didn’t work the first time. We shall see. In the meantime though report, block and mute. Do not engage in the hate if possible because that is what they want. They want validation. Report and block, but most of all, celebrate, stream, and uplift the person you say you bias or love. That’s what they work so hard for after all 

An aside - I also want to add that as much as people want to defend Jimin, I would remind people that he is a grown man of 30 years of age. He does not need fans to speak for him, to belittle his choices (career and personal) and he certainly does not need to be babied. Let the man live his own life. 

This was likely all over the place but all this to say I love Jimin, I love Bangtan and I cannot wait for what’s to come next and as above, no one is going to spoil that for me, or for the members themselves. Not on my watch. 

Oh and here, report and block

It's been a long time since I last posted. I’ve been quiet for too long. I've thought about whether I should post at all, but I need to get this out of my head. Out of my heart.

As a Jimin biased ARMY, the last few years have felt like a nightmare. From the negligence and mismanagement by the company, to the excuses and bitterness from the fandom, the euphoric dream has devolved into something so twisted and ugly.

To say I am disappointed is an understatement. I'm utterly heartbroken and disgusted to finally realize what this fandom has become. I should have seen it coming. I was warned before, but I was too blind to see what was right in front of me.

Since I became an ARMY, I have vehemently and relentlessly defended this fandom. However, even back then, I witnessed the hate towards Jimin come from not just outside the fandom but from within. Jimin biased fans were told to “Report and block. Don’t engage.” Jimin fans did just that, but the hate continued to escalate. It got louder. It spread farther. It has since reached the point where it's clear ARMY does not find any of the malicious or threatening rhetoric alarming, and the majority rather doesn’t care.

Recently as last year, ARMYs turned a blind eye to Jimin’s father becoming a target of hate. His father had to turn off the comments on the Instagram account for his café, and deleted any trace of Jimin, it had gotten so bad. Not even a few days later, ARMYs came out of the woodwork to protect and defend JK’s dog from “Jimin’s vile fans”. I could not believe what I was witnessing. In real time. The hypocrisy was deafening.

ARMY has earned the title of the most toxic fandom, and it is speed running towards self destruction. It has become so fractured and disjointed. ARMY now only cares about it’s collective ego. The AMAs drama is proof of this. The way ARMY as a whole went about it was disgusting, and I will never forget what happened.

Jimin was belittled. Jimin was decided as less deserving. ARMYs decided Jimin’s talent and art paled in comparison to RM's. ARMY teamed up with other BTS member’s solo fandoms who openly hate Jimin. Jimin once again was sidelined by his own fandom.

ARMY decided what makes a “true ARMY”.

“If you vote for RM, you are a true ARMY.

If you vote for Jimin, you are a solo.”

This message was shared across all social platforms. This idea spread across continents and was translated globally. ARMYs made it clear that Jimin and his fans are the bane of this fandom. Any ARMY that did stand up for him was vilified and labeled an anti, a solo.

So, being a Jimin fan makes me a solo?! Having Jimin as a bias makes me a BTS anti?! Thinking Jimin deserved an award that would reflect his achievements in America means I cannot be a “true ARMY”?!

Then, I must be a solo. At this point, I don’t even want to be associated with such a hypocritical and hateful fandom. I've tried to stay positive. I’ve tried to convince myself that I’m overreacting. But after what just happened with the AMAs, I can no longer tolerate the blatant resentment of Jimin and his fans from ARMY. And to make matters worse, now that it’s over, ARMYs have collective amnesia, claiming none of this ever happened.

I’m tired of biting my tongue.

I’m tired of feeling like I have no place in my own fandom.

I’m tired of being let down over and over again.

I’m over it.

I’m done.

I imagine many will unfollow my account. But, honestly, it will only prove my point.

ARMYs don’t care about Jimin. They think little of him.

Unlike the other members, he is not allowed to have his own fans.

Unlike other members, he does not deserve the awards he has.

Unlike other members, he’s not as deserving of recognition and praise.

Unlike other members, he is nothing without BTS.

I have seen all of this. I wish I was making it up.

Since chapter 2 started, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, kept complaining about PJMs this, and PJMs that. Always calling PJMs “the worst”, the “most vile”. Never the other solo fandoms. Just PJMs. No other member of BTS has been subjected to the kind of vitriol I’ve seen against Jimin for having solo fans. No other member of BTS has been directly associated with their solos as much as Jimin has. It’s hypocritical and reeks of animosity.

I have seen this mentality even here. Right here in this community on tumblr. It sickens me.

I once did not understand how any ARMY could become a solo, but now I do. When you have to deal with constant bullshit from your own fandom, with no accountability, it’s only natural to want out.

PJMs may get a bad wrap from ARMY, but I understand why they keep growing. Continuing to be an ARMY with Jimin as your bias is impossible. Anyone that claims Jimin is their bias, but has sided with ARMY, until even now, is no Jimin fan. How any Jimin fan can witness what I have and still feel comfortable in such a toxic environment is beyond me.

ARMY has lost it’s heart. There is no more genuine love between fans. Just hate. Hate has clearly won. You are either a “true ARMY” or a Jimin fan. There’s no in between.

So, I choose Jimin.

I will always love BTS, but ARMY is no longer a safe place for me.

[elodieunderglass]

Elodie, is there an amount I can pay you to persuade you to translate all of Moby Dick like that during Whale Weekly? It's incredible and I desperately want to read the whole thing. I am serious about the money.

(In reference to this “line by line translation of the first chapter of Moby Dick into insufferable modern idiom” I wrote:)

For those who don’t know, Moby Dick is getting a Dracula Daily treatment starting November 21, which will be called “Whale Weekly.” Rumor has it that it will take ~2 years to complete. I’ve seen a blog called @whaleweekly which is collecting an initial book club, and I believe there’s a discord, etc, so there should be a small community of people to read it with.

People HAVE been deliciously split between “reading this post has been strangely educational, and has made Moby Dick easier to understand in its original form” and “OP this is an active and violent warcrime and feels like acid on my skin,” which are exactly the two emotions I like to evoke in my writing.

And I AM about to go on maternity leave for about a year, so it’s tempting! I get demonstrably weird when my intellectual life is supposed to revolve around babies too much. Based on prior experience I write strange posts like “why are dogs dogs” and get way too invested in correcting people on the internet who are wrong. This strongly suggests, in fact, that I (being mentally healthy ofc) need to be more mature about things and simply go to sea. Or simply have a clear project. And part of mat leave, even with good benefits, is always unpaid and therefore terrifying, so it seems charming and hilarious to counter that by “graduate level analysis of Moby Dick.” CAN YOU IMAGINE. What a conversation starter.

“What are you doing after rhyme time?”

“Oh, putting this thing down for a nap and translating Moby Dick for tips.”

“Translating? Like, into another language?”

“You could say that yeah”

But I’ve never taken money on the internet, so I’d have to think about it. Especially the pressure I would feel was implied to produce something worth paying for. Like, in the first chapter of Moby Dick there’s a whole entire joke to unpack about Pythagoras, beans, winds, and farting. It’s an elaborate fart joke that I just didn’t sit down to unpack because I wrote it on a lunch break: I would feel more compelled to unpack every joke and reference and modernise them, and that would literally become a graduate-school-level course of study.

Also, I really don’t have the education and political knowledge to think deeply and helpfully enough about Ishmael’s/Melville’s racial lenses, nor do I have the savvy and experience to interpret them usefully for a diverse audience, that will naturally consist of people at all different levels of learning. It’s fine enough to translate the first chapter, so that people can see how underneath the 19th century styling, this is an unreliable narrator with lots of things wrong with him, and lots of jokes that you’d miss.

But the layers on layers of “how to interpret Ishmael-via-Melville’s chaotic, festering, toxic, educational, revelatory, exoticising, sympathetic, distasteful race relations - which show the underpinnings of American racial construction and other educational things, and are quite useful for humanities majors to study - without referencing Elodie’s own politics? or having Elodie be annoyed by people assuming that interpreting 19th century literature means that Elodie subscribed to Melville’s beliefs?” (Because I have some experience with reading comprehension on the internet, enough to make me look at some chapters of the Big D and say, I am not touching that in public, not even with a very long harpoon). If it was for a graduate-level or lived-experience or otherwise politically savvy/invested audience you could trust everyone a bit more to get to work on critical thinking and unpacking the translation, but if your audience is naturally assembled because you promised to make something accessible, the intention of the project being to make it accessible to more people, then you have to take your lumps and accept that people will take the translated content in bad faith and will go, like, “wait, this is uncomfortable content!!! I take it at face value! I blame YOU for it!” And I’d have to think REALLY proactively about how I managed that. If I was a scholar of English, literature or politics I would consider it my duty to do so; but I minored in English a long time ago and am on the journey of gradual acceptance that my best contributions are basically just jokes.

This is a long-winded answer to a lovely question, and probably shows way too much insight into why I enjoy comprehending Moby Dick.

[deltarunas]

Something I’ve seen almost no one mention is that a lot of the reasons Ralsie seams suspicious or knows too much is that... well. I think that Ralsie is the personification of Kris’s horn headband.

Think about it. The dark world in its self seems to be a giant analogy (a literal one though, it really exists in that universe) of childhood coping mechanisms, or at least coping mechanisms that usually draw in troubled kids. The main cast so far consists of Kris who’s struggling with identity and depression, Susie who’s implied to have an unhealthy home life and insecurities, Noelle who’s struggling with familial and possibly parental death, and Berdly who’s dealing with perfectionism. All troubled teenagers looking for an escape from reality, one that’s easier, more fun, one that’s loving and accepting and has no social norms.

Not to mention Seams comment about as your adventure continues you’ll get stronger and wont need them as much, but you’re always welcome to visit, or Ralsie saying they’ll have a home away from home. Or hell! Even the fucking quote on the darkners wiki.

“Our purpose - Darkners' purpose - is to assist them. It's the only way we can feel truly fulfilled.“

It seems pretty clear to me. All the first darkners are toys, games, something many kids turn to as a coping mechanism. The second dark world? Completely computer based. I think everyone knows teens especially teens who feel unaccepted turn to the internet and videogames as a way to cope, to escape from a reality thats too rough on them.

Whats a coping mechanism that’s focused on in chapter 1?

Kris’s head band. Ones with red horns. Kris when in the library in chapter 2 can find a book on how to care for humans, and the most notable thing about that book is that if you have them look inside, they see a picture of a group of humans, causing them to slam the book shut, presumably due to anxiety and discomfort. Kris has a detachment from who they are, both metatextually because of the possession and loss of control, but also the society they live in. We don’t know what happened to humans, but that book sounds pretty condescending, and we know there aren’t any other humans around. They presumably struggle with that. A lot. Especially since for a long time before that headband they ASSUMED they were a monster, or at least wanted to fit in with their family. Toriel mentions not knowing where it went. It could possibly still be on Kris’s person, even if it’s not in their inventory.

That being said, it’d explain almost EVERYTHING odd about Ralsie! Why Ralsies an anagram of Asriel, why Ralsie LOOKS so much like a Dreemurr. It’d be how Ralsie knew much more of the outside world compared to the other darkners, who are trapped in an abandoned classroom or static library computer room. If Ralsie was the headband, he would’ve seen so much through Kris’s POV. It explains why Ralsie was able to properly replicate Asriel’s room for Kris. It’d also explain why Ralsie has pink horns in comparison to all the other goats we’ve seen. As well as Ralsie’s attachment to Kris.

[ponett]

If its not your thing feel free to delete this but I'm curious if you have any ideas of where deltarune's plot may be going or just things you've liked about it in general since you've been reblogging about it lately, I've been seeing people that are posting their ideas and theories after playing the game and its always very interesting to me seeing how other people engage with stories and the details they take note of when trying to put the pieces together!

(Deltarune Ch.2 spoilers obviously)

I think after Chapter 2 we have a much better idea of the shape of the game, although this is a Toby Fox joint so we're obviously in for a wild ride regardless. I loved that Ch.2 picked up on the obvious dangling thread with Noelle going to the Dark World... but then also threw a total curveball with Berdly. Obviously with that cliffhanger it seems like Toriel is going to be joining us in Ch.3, but I wouldn't be surprised if we spent time with most/all of the other classmates by the end of the game. I want to have Catti as a party member. I want to learn about Jockington's tragic backstory. It's also possible that more of the adult Undertale characters will take part in the Dark World story, but I'd expect the kids to remain the main focus. Deltarune is very much following in the tradition of stories about kids getting transported to fantasy worlds that exist to help them work through some stuff

I also definitely noticed that both of the Dark Worlds so far have been based around forms of escapism (games, the internet), with Ch.3 teasing a TV-themed world, so I expect that to continue. Especially after Ralsei's lore dump scene where everyone's like "yeah this world seems great actually, we should just stay here forever" and Ralsei's like "no you literally can't it will cause the end of the world"

Speaking of Ralsei, I know everyone's majorly suspicious of him, and that absolutely seems intentional, but I don't personally expect him to be evil or anything. There are definitely things he's not telling us, and like, come on, his name is an anagram of Asriel, and there's the little hints about the red horns. Something's up. But I just don't think the cute little guy that they sell not one but two different plushes of is gonna be pure evil in a series this good-natured. Whatever his motives are, I expect him to ultimately be sympathetic

I'm almost more interested in where Susie's story is going. For one, it seems like she's really got some baggage that we aren't privy to. She also keeps making concerning comments about wanting to hurt herself that feel like more than just her being an edgy kid. But in a series where the player's control over the protagonist is such a literal part of the world, it also feels EXTREMELY intentional that both chapters so far have given us segments where we control Susie alone. I haven't personally seen this get brought up much, but it really fascinates me. With Kris clearly having their own motives and resisting the player's control, it almost feels like Susie is being set up as the real protagonist. I have to wonder where it's all going

I could speculate more about the deep lore or Gaster or whatever, but these are the questions that excite me about the rest of the game right now

[carnelianwings]

Harvestella Review

For a game I meant to just spend the afternoon on, I ended up playing all afternoon, followed it up with a 4 hour impromptu stream, and now it’s 1 am. So to me, it’s been a fantastic game so far. Definitely not a game you want to rush, as I discovered after dying no less than 4 times in the first 2 chapters alone, but if you take it at a casual pace and don’t actually push your character harder than the game wants you to, you’ll be fine. (I’ll come back to this point later.) Also I should note that I jumped into this game blind knowing that it’s a full game and a farm sim/rpg hybrid and zero knowledge of the staff credits (especially the composer rofl).

Doing a proper detailed review based on the 8 hours I’ve spent playing this today, tucking this behind a cut because good god this got long lol.

tl;dr: Unexpectedly fun, worth trying at least the demo if you’ve played (and enjoyed) Sakuna of Rice and Ruin (it’s very similar in concept and execution except you’re growing more than just rice and it’s a full fledged 3D action RPG instead of 2D beat ‘em up), OST is amazing, it’s just that $60 price tag that’s a little YMMV. Based on the 8 hours I’ve played today, easily an 8/10

Starting with the cons - the biggest one here is the price tag. For the type of game it is, I’m not entirely sure it’s worth the $60 release day price tag. Definitely get it on sale when it happens; it’s definitely worth it at a lower price. At its current price, though, it’s a massive YMMV. I’ll give it some more time to see how the story pans out to decide whether or not it’s worth the price tag - I’ve spent enough years of my life playing Tales to know just because the opening plays all the tropes straight doesn’t mean the rest of the story will too.

Speaking of Tales - despite this being a SqEnix title complete with the Final Fantasy style character designs and look, there’s definitely a few things that scream Tales and Star Ocean in here. Time will tell whether or not how much of those “Hmmmm this doesn’t feel like FF but definitely feels like Tales/SO” vibes pan out.

The biggest win (actually there’s 2) for the game is definitely the OST though. If you loved any of Go Shiina’s contributions to Tales OSTs over the years (especially his contributions to Zestiria/Berseria’s) definitely give the OST a listen. It’s fantastic, it’s amazing, even though it’s not a Tales OST I actually want a copy of it. If this is what we get from Go Shiina parting ways with Bamco Tales Studio, then I’m not going to complain too hard.

The other big win (which I think has been spread around the internet at this point), is the fact you can choose to play as a male, female, or non-binary character. I’m honestly impressed they included this as an option, now all I’m wondering is if the post-game romance options also let me romance any character of any gender, because 8 hours in and I have to say - I kind of have a crush on Aria, and I would be very sad if I can’t romance her post-game just because I opted to play as the female MC. Also just saying I made my female MC with blue hair and eyes before I even saw Aria, so I swear we’re red/blue compatible and just ... let me date her and make her happy *sobs*

Combat is a little “meh” for now, but there’s signs it’ll get better as you unlock new Jobs and gain levels. Despite people saying there’s no dodge/evasion in combat, there is, but it’s a skill you have to learn off of melee classes ... which, if you’ve been around Tales long enough, will sound really familiar. I can definitely say if you’ve played Tales those same skills will help you get pretty far, and being able to equip 3 Jobs with you when you go out exploring and swap between them gives you a lot of flexibility ... kinda like Ludger actually. My biggest gripe is that there’s no healer for now, so you’re really reliant on early foraging for food and whatever you can farm for HP recovery - but at least you can eat food while you’re in combat and whatever you use on yourself also applies to your other party members so you’re not burning through all of your food stores before you get around to renovating the kitchen and you can cook food for better buffs/HP recovery instead of stuffing your face with whatever random herbs/veggies/fruits you’ve foraged/grown. The AI is decent, but you can’t really adjust what they do in combat or their strategy but at least they won’t go half-cocked on what’s essentially a Giganto Monster and get one-shot. It’s a little annoying though if you’re playing as a Mage because this means you have to be the one to open combat and the monsters aggro on you once you get into (casting) range so it’s a little annoying.

As for the farming sim part, it’s pretty standard farm sim, straight out of the f2p microtransaction mobile game playbook. That said, this is a full game so you don’t have to wait for onerous timers to grow your crops, the farming itself is more plant/water/wander off and do your questing/monster smacking/materials gathering and come back to harvest the next day kind of deal. Having played Sakuna of Rice and Ruin (and loved it) I was hoping this would be how it got implemented so I’m satisfied with how that turned out - plus this also scratches that “I want to play a farm sim” itch I get once in a while that leads me to downloading some terrible f2p microtransaction mobile game to play for all of a month before I hit the paywall of “wait 1+ day(s) for thing” and get fed up with it.

As for the general side quests - I highly recommend you do them as they pop up, as they really help you with earning money and gaining exp for leveling. They also show up at the right time for your level/story progress, so it’s definitely a good way to supplement you with what you need to tackle the main story. Plus you get to learn more about the NPCs in the town, and everything seems to point in the general direction of “You really should get to know everyone in town Because This Might Be Plot Important Later”. Oh, and that’s also where I’m getting a lot of the Tales/SO vibes - for all that the overall game world looks bright and shiny and happy, there’s definitely undercurrents of “This is actually a Crapsack World” that wouldn’t be out of place at all in a Tales game, with a few NPCs you encounter that wouldn’t be out of place in an SO game for both aesthetic and world building information they’re dropping. Also they encourage you to enter the various dungeons multiple times, which is a good thing, since that also helps break up the leveling monotony and it doesn’t feel like you’re just grinding monsters for exp.

Overall, it’s a pretty fun game, the characters are engaging, the plot is interesting thus far (even if it’s pretty standard JRPG storytelling) and as a casual-ish game it’s fun. Maybe not worth the $60, but definitely worth getting if you see it on sale.