#and ghost trick mechanics do not make well for post battles. if that makes any sense

[ghost-trick-heritage-posts]

Listen, these two series may be best of friends, or such, but Missile deserves the win here. Vote for the doggy. He deserves it so so much. Let's bias this poll in our favor and GET THAT DOG A WIN!

It’s the end of the Tournament!

I think

[ohthehypocrisy]

Mimikyu for Pokemon Unite! (OBSOLETE DRAFT)

With Halloween just around the corner, Pokemon Unite has added Mimikyu into the game. While any Ghost Type would’ve suited the festivities, Mimikyu is unique in that it’s got multiple concepts working for it that make it very holiday oriented.

For one, it is wearing a cloth to disguise itself as another pokemon. You know what that makes Mimikyu? A trick-or-treat’er, and nothing brings out that Halloween spirit by spooking others with a costume you made yourself. It’s also somewhat like a haunted doll, adding to the spooky levels. While it has the normal appetite for sweets and treats, that doesn’t stop Mimikyu from reaching out with its creepy claws and leaving haunting scratch marks everywhere.

That said, Mimikyu is also really popular, so much so that it’s inclusion was foretold months ago, whether it be from a plumbing problem or wishful thinking. I also liked the idea of Mimikyu joining Pokemon Unite, and thus I ended up making a moveset for it.

However, because Mimikyu is now in the game officially, that renders my draft obsolete. So, instead of scrapping the entire thing, I figured I’d show you guys what I had so far before the official reveal was made public.

How close was I? You’d be surprised.

-

As usual, the entirety of the original post will be in BOLD but all post-release commentary will be in ITALICS, just like this paragraph here.

I don’t remember when this draft was made, but I was working on this post intermittently throughout Season 2. Despite knowing how popular Mimikyu is, I didn’t think it’d be added into the game so soon. I thought a pokemon like Gourgeist would’ve been added into Pokemon Unite, especially for Halloween this year. Well, maybe we’ll see the ghastly gourd next year. 

But for now, here’s the original ‘Mimikyu for Pokemon Unite!’ draft.

Basic Attack - Melee/Atk

Becomes a boosted attack after 3 hits. The boosted attack deals more damage and repairs the shield granted from Disguise by a little bit. If Disguise is broken, the attack is always boosted.

-A lot of the pokemon movesets I make have a strong emphasis on the basic attack and what utilities they provide for the pokemon and its playstyle. While I gave Mimikyu a slow basic attack, it was meant to spotlight the importance of its ability Disguise, which you’ll see explained in further detail below.

Ability: Disguise

The pokemon starts with a large shield that doesn’t fade. While the shield is active, the pokemon is protected from having its stats dropped by moves and field effects. If the shield is depleted, the disguise breaks, boosting Mimikyu’s attack and movement speed. The pokemon that broke the shield will be marked and receive extra damage from your attacks. The ability is reset when the pokemon returns to base and restores their HP fully.

-I’m happy to say that I was very close to what the official version of Disguise ended up being, in that breaking the Disguise triggers a revenge mechanic for Mimikyu to go ballistic. 

But I didn’t want the ability to just do nothing before it was broken. I wanted a small but valuable utility to be granted to the player so that they could weigh the risk versus reward of having Disguise breaking during fights. For that reason, Mimikyu’s Disguise ability grant it an immunity to debuffs while the shield is up, allowing it to make dives much more safely. This also renders it immune to the speed dropping effects of Speed Flux Zones and Slow Smoke, though this is mostly useful to the player when they are making a mad dash to score points.

The reason the ability is a shield instead of an effect is because it can be repaired mid battle, through your attacks. The official version has the Disguise come back up when a set amount of time passes, or sooner when you KO opposing pokemon. I can dig this version, as Mimikyu utilizes some Speedster tricks to get in and out of fights. My original idea was that Disguise could be repaired sooner if the player landed their hits, though I originally envisioned a much longer cooldown for the ability.

Move 1: Shadow Sneak

A long reaching shadow stretches out and grabs an enemy and pulls them in. If Disguise is broken, the pull effect is amplified. Can grab berries and stray Aeos orbs off the field. 8s cooldown.

-In addition to a revenge mechanic tied to the Disguise ability, I also wanted a fundamental change to your moves if your facade was broken. Mimikyu would’ve used Shadow Sneak not only to pull enemies in, but also to pull in berries and stray Aeos orbs off the ground. But if Disguise was broken, the pull effect is stronger, making early game wipeouts much easier, provided you were playing in tandem with your allies.

Move 2: Astonish

The pokemon lifts up its cloak and frightens any nearby enemies, stunning them and reducing their defense. Deals more damage and stun if Disguise is broken. 9s cooldown.

-I think I would’ve changed this move a bit if I had more time. Shadow Sneak would’ve made for a strong combo with this version of Astonish, but it’s designed more like an opener rather than a finisher. I would’ve changed it so that the move is stronger the closer you are to the target, but everything else would’ve been the same. Yes, it still would’ve Stunned enemies, inflicting stronger Stuns if Disguise was broken.

Move 1a: Shadow Claw

A claw made of shadows reaches out and slashes at the enemy. The attack has a high chance of dealing critical hits and critical hits will restore the shield Disguise by a small amount. If Disguise is broken, extends the reach of the attack and critical hits will reset the cooldown of this move. 4s cooldown.

-In my head I was envisioning an attack similar to the official version of Shadow Claw, but with a rapid series of long range slashes instead. I mean, I even got the cooldown exactly right, though the attack is different in execution. Instead of restoring HP, this version of Shadow Claw can only repair the shield of Disguise and only through critical hits, requiring a bit of luck to break through an opposing team’s fortifications. 

The broken Disguise version has the move reach out further and have critical hits reset the cooldown of the move, making Mimikyu go absolutely crazy at the opposing team for ruining its Halloween costume. The critical hit rate would’ve been the same though, meaning it only needs to get unlucky once or miss the attack entirely to lose out on the offensive pressure the move provides.

This move was designed with a somewhat frail Mimikyu in mind, as not all All-Rounders are bulky, or even normally defensive. Yeah, Mimikyu has higher than average Sp. Defense, but it’s vulnerable to big hits, which is why it uses a Disguise to tank a hit before being exposed to worse damage. The shield and effects of its moves make Mimikyu tougher than it actually is, somewhat like how Aegislash operates.

Move 1b: Leech Life

The pokemon reaches out to grab an enemy and pulls them in, dragging them into its cloak and starts draining their life energy. Restores HP as you deal damage. Any shield damage you inflict on an enemy restores the shield of Disguise. If Disguise is broken, extends the reach and increases the damage dealt. Afterwards, spits out enemies directly in front of you. Can be used to grab berries and stray Aeos orbs off the field. 9s cooldown.

-I wasn’t planning on turning Mimikyu’s Z-Move from Pokemon Sun and Moon into a Unite Move here or anything like that, so I settled on a compromise through its Leech Life attack. 

While Shadow Claw can repair Disguise through critical hits, Leech Life would have contributed to Mimikyu’s longevity by stealing HP directly. You lose out on the ability to repair Disguise more reliably, as you can only do so by attacking enemies with shields with this move.

The Disguise broken version extends the reach and increases the damage dealt, making it very useful at sniping frail Attackers in the middle of a team fight. Leech Life retains the effect of grabbing and pulling in stray Aeos Orbs and Berries off the ground.

Move 2a: Wood Hammer

A powerful swing with a wooden stick strikes the ground in front of the pokemon, dealing damage and stunning all enemies caught in the attack. If Disguise is broken, shoves enemies a bit and this move has no cooldown. 6s cooldown.

- I’m actually surprised that they didn’t add Wood Hammer to Mimikyu’s official moveset, as it has an actual club made of wood for a tail as part of its Disguise.

Anyway, Wood Hammer is basically a much stronger version of Astonish, but with no extra range. A big heavy attack with a guaranteed Stun needs to have some drawbacks to it, and remember, I was making Mimikyu out to be somewhat frail for an All-Rounder.

The Disguise broken version adds Shove to the moves effect but also removes the cooldown from the move entirely. That sounds busted, but not in practice, as the Shove effect pushes enemies out of range of the followup Wood Hammer. You can go buck wild with Wood Hammer as you can mash the attack repeatedly while moving around, but you would be risking your own life as you are without Disguise and putting yourself in range of the opposing team’s melee attacks and everything.

Move 2b: Play Rough

Target an enemy, then dash and reappear in their shadows behind them, stunning and shoving them. If Disguise is broken, reduces this moves cooldown to 2 seconds. 5s cooldown.

-Again, I’d like to point out that, while predicting Play Rough for the moveset was easy, I was also dead on predicting the amount of cooldown the official version has. 

I didn’t want to make an exact copy of Zacian’s version of Play Rough, unlike the official version of the move, but I did want to give Mimikyu some extra range to deal with long range Attackers like Decidueye. The idea behind Play Rough was to single out problematic enemies and shove them into the fight, forcing them to engage you or your melee inclined teammates. It can even thwart escape attempts by appearing behind them and Shoving them and Stunning them long enough to get finished off by either Leech Life or Shadow Claw. The Disguise broken version reduces the cooldown of the move to 2 seconds, though I think that’s too long for what you’re getting out of this move.

Thinking about it now, I probably would’ve rearranged the moves here a bit. I mean, Leech Life can pull enemies in while Shadow Claw can attack enemies a fair bit away, but when combined with Wood Hammer, you’d have almost no range. I probably would’ve put Leech Life with Play Rough together on the Level threshold and put Shadow Claw and Wood Hammer together as the last move you could’ve learned, to make sure that Mimikyu had favorable matchups against pokemon of all ranges.

But there’s no point in mulling it over now, especially since it’s in the game. But since I mention I wasn’t going to add Mimikyu’s Let’s Snuggle Forever Z-Move into its moveset, what was I going to replace it with?

Unite Move: Costume Party

Repairs your Disguise ability and grants all teammates within range a Mimikyu costume. The teammates will gain the Disguise effect for as long as they have the shield. The Disguise effect wears off when the teammates uses a move or an attack or a Unite Move or when time runs out.

-You gotta keep in mind that everything in this draft was a work in progress and that this version of the Unite Move was the barebones idea of what I wanted Mimikyu’s ultimate attack to be. As to what it was supposed to be...I may have forgotten, or I would’ve have made it up as I went along.

For the most part, the Unite Move gave you a free repair to your Disguise ability and even gives your teammates a Disguise of their own. This effect basically hides your allies and makes them look like you, but it’s also why I made Disguise a shield and not just an ability. The Disguise placed on your allies break when just about anything happens, but that brief moment of duplicity can be just the thing your allies need to get the jump on the enemy. For instance, an ally Zoroark or Ninetales can pop their own Unite Move when they’ve got a sufficient audience surrounding them, or an ally Gardevoir or Greninja can hit multiple enemies at once with their Unite Moves and clean up house afterwards.

As for what bonus effects would’ve been granted, I’m still not sure. Maybe the Unite Move would’ve prevented Disguise from breaking for a short while or something. I’m not sure. There’s a reason this post was never made in time, as I needed to figure things out as I workshopped everything.

-

But you get the gist of everything, I hope. I was making Mimikyu out to be a tricky little All-Rounder that treated itself to KOs and such, using its Disguise ability to get away with its heinous crimes.

That about does it for this post. The next upcoming release is Meowscarada, another pokemon I had made a draft for, but never really finished. When that pokemon is release, I’ll be making another post like this, going over everything the original draft had made so far.

Until next time.

[lothiriel84]

Just a few random considerations after my latest rewatch of series 1 of BBC Ghosts last night. 

Ghosts vs. the living

It’s extremely interesting that while as a rule humans are completely unable to see/hear ghosts, (some) animals are in fact shown to be able to sense the presence of a ghost, to the point of attempting to interact with them - see Tali (?) the dog barking up at Robin, and then wanting to be petted by Pat. 

It remains unclear whether that’s down to some kind of sixth sense specifically possessed by animals (dogs? bears? any animal at all?) as opposed to humans, or it somehow implies that the animal in question had a scrape with death at some point in the past. (Although the latter doesn’t sound very likely when it comes to Barclay’s dogs, or I should hope so, at least.)

Another interesting point is how often exactly do dead animals turn into ghosts. So far, the only animal ghost (or should that be ghost animal?) we’ve been shown is Button House’s resident pigeon - could that be because animals don’t often have any real unfinished business barring their access to whichever sort of afterlife is reserved to their kind? (But more importantly, was Arthur Shappey right in believing heaven is, in fact, full of otters?)

Schrödinger’s (attempted) murder

As I mentioned elsewhere - probably in the tags while reblogging someone else’s gifs, to be honest - I believe Julian being genuinely unable to tell whether he successfully pushed Alison out of the window or she basically lost her balance and fell as a consequence makes for a much more interesting scenario. 

To be absolutely clear, that would make no difference when it comes to him being guilty of attempted murder; he is shown to have no qualms whatsoever about killing Alison, and when all is said and done, it hardly matters whether his goal was reached by his own hand or through dumb luck (plus a non-indifferent dose of carelessness on Alison’s part).

All I’m saying is, think back of how much trouble he had with pushing a vase which was comparatively not all that bigger than a cup. And even if he did know for sure - admittedly, he might be capable of feeling the reaction of the object he pushes against, should he succeed in doing so - I, as a viewer, would very much rather be afforded a little room for doubt. Not for the sake of Julian’s character, but as I feel it somehow raises the stakes of this particular storyline.

Alison as one of the coolest characters ever

Not only does Alison figure the whole seeing-dead-people situation mostly by herself - with a little help from the ghost therapist at the hospital, but she could have easily written off the entire episode as yet another of her alleged post-traumatic hallucinations - but more importantly, her reaction when she realises she’s effectively stuck with a haunted house as well as a potentially bankruptcy-inducing mortgage is one of the coolest moments in the entire series. 

I dare say most people would be inclined to lose the plot a little bit, when faced with such simultaneously dire yet completely absurd circumstances; Alison, on the other hand, simply unbuckles her seat belt, gets out of the car, and confronts the ghosts head-first. And not only that, but she’s smart enough to call them out on their real reasons for haunting her, to the point they actually confess what they really want from her. (Which sums down, in most cases, to trivial requests such as being allowed to watch war documentaries, or having an incriminated portrait removed from a room.)

Forget her questionable choices when it comes to financial matters, she’s a feisty young woman capable of handling a herd of recalcitrant ghosts, and that’s more than can be said of almost any other character in the show. 

The Captain and the morality of choices

It’s hardly a mystery the Captain is a bit of a bastard, and we all love him for that. Right at the beginning, he is presented to us as someone who would make a show of wanting to ‘say a few words’ about the dearly departed just so he could immediately proceed to ‘bagsy her room’. I’d say his general mindset could be summed up as something close to the end justifies the means - with the caveat that we actually know very little about him aside the military persona he chooses to present himself as all the time. 

If I had to hazard a guess, facing everything life death throws at him as a military campaign could either be a subconscious defence mechanism, a habit so deeply ingrained he couldn’t shake it off if he wanted to, or something he elects to do as a way to cope with the listlessness that comes with being stuck in limbo (potentially) for eternity. And, quite possibly, a combination of all three. 

The main thing is, rules are important for him, but so is winning whichever military campaign he embarked upon at each particular moment in time. When his plan to enroll the plague victims as his new army fails, he resorts to strategic subterfuge in order to win the war; as they say, all's fair in love and war, and more often than not, battles are won by military tactics rather than such things as a superior army. He is very much the Odysseus of Button House, with the significant difference that he’s not so much attempting to conquer an enemy city as he’s fighting to take back control of an outpost he used to be in charge of.

In this (probably unfortunate) parallel, I’m afraid the poor Kitty serves as the infamous Trojan horse. (Juan Domingo, please, we’re not getting into this all over again.) The Captain knows Alison trusts her, and his subterfuge will therefore go undetected until it’s too late; and yet, remarkably enough, he still decides to offer Kitty a choice on the matter. Admittedly, he’s already counting on the fact that Kitty is neither particularly smart, nor in any way prepared to give up on Alison anytime soon - however, he still offers her a choice, and I feel like that is very much relevant to his character. He is, for all intent and purposes, tricking Kitty into fooling her friend/the person she loves; but while he’s concealing all the important facts from her, he’s not robbing her of her choice entirely. 

(Should Kitty have decided to prioritise Alison’s happiness over her own, I daresay the captain would have come up with yet another plan to overcome the temporary setback. Neither scenario makes him any less of a bastard, but he’s still a man of principles after his own fashion, and that’s how I choose to read him, regardless.)

A final note on Robin

I’ve made no secret of how Robin is my favourite character by far, just as I believe he is for a significant portions of fans of the show. As mischievous as he loves to be - which is, all things considered, a comparatively tame reaction to being stuck as a ghost for an incredibly long time, with very little hope of ever moving on - his pranks are mostly harmless, and he is at heart the kindest, most emotionally mature of all the ghosts. (Yes, even when he’s scampering around, marvelling at the builders’ equipment. If anything, it’s a sign of his natural curiosity and intelligence; we are, after all, repeatedly shown he is particularly good at problem solving as well as playing what basically boils down to blindfold chess.)

As often as the other ghosts tend to remark upon his language skills or lack thereof, they should probably pay more attention to all the occasions in which Robin’s brains made the difference, and I’m including his emotional intelligence in that category. As others pointed out before me, he’s a trickster with a heart of gold, and the only sane man among what is basically a swarm of squabbling children. 

And he faces all of that armed only with his peculiar brand of humour, and his enthusiasm for new things to discover, including - why not? - new ways to scare the living daylights out of Alison, just for the fun of it. 

[flimflamfranky]

[Brook as a Pokémon would be a shiny Dubwool or a shiny Wooloo. Skeleton Brook is a skeleton Normal/Ghost skeleton Dubwool. Skeleton Dubwool Brook is able to learn some additional Ghost type moves and Ice type moves through TMs.]

ooo i really like the idea of brook as a shiny dubwool gijinka...oo im having drawing ideas...

pokemon is my thing and i love doing research, so ive been looking into what type of moves brook could know:

Ice Shard or Freeze Dry (for his ice abilities). ice shard is a physical move with priority, while freeze dry has a chance of freezing the opponent (and fits better than other moves that freeze)

Grass Whistle, which puts the target to sleep. i chose this over sing bc the description of grass whistle implies that it’s done by an instrument/body part than singing, which i think fits brook better

Perish Song, as another sound-based moves; any target that hears it gains a perish count, and faints after that hits 0; this doesn’t parallel any of brook’s abilities but it does fit his whole death vibe

Extreme Speed, Fake Out or Shadow Sneak - these are moves with increased priority which fits brook’s speed-y nature; extreme speed is a basic damaging move; fake out can only be used in the beginning of a battle, which fits how brook’s fights usually go (fast, one-hit knock-outs); and shadow sneak, also a basic damaging move but ghost flavored (+ has that shadow aesthetic) Aerial Ace also works - it’s described as a speedy move that never misses.

Slash or Night Slash (for brook’s sword fighting). these are slashing moves with high critical-hit ratios.

though, as much as i like the aesthetic of dubwool!brook, dubwool is not a great fit for him. dubwool is a slow-ish tank with charging moves while brook is a fragile, hard-hitting speedster with slashing moves. of course, finding one pokemon that fits his general abilities and can learn the moves above is impossible, but i do have some ideas:

Kricketune. honestly probably the best fit, with it’s music aesthetic and slashing abilities. and it has distinctive hair (a fun mustache)! it’s stats are overall low, but it has high attack and speed, which fit brook’s abilities. and it can learn a fair number of fitting moves.

Potential moves: Sing, Perish Song, Night Slash, Aerial Ace, Sword Dance, Laser Focus

Gengar. a very typical choice, but it does fit. gengar causes a severe chill, which fits brook’s undead chill. plus, it’s a fast pokemon, with a high speed stat. and gastly could fit brook’s afro, design-wise. unfortunately, it’s more of a special attacker than a physical one. and brook always being a ghost type doesn’t really work as well.

Potential Moves: Perish Song, Confuse Ray, Sucker Punch, Icy Wind, Laser Focus, Trick

Mr. Rime. honestly, i only picked this for that dapper aesthetic. it’s not very quick, and it has more of a dancer aesthetic than a musical one, but hey. brook would make a very cute mr. rime.

Potential Moves: Ice Shard, Freeze Dry, Teeter Dance, Trick, Confuse Ray

Toxtricity (Amped Form). punk rock aesthetic! specifically fits post-ts brook with it’s rock vibe and guitar playing. other than that, not a great fit, in terms of abilities (electricity and poison doesn’t really map to any of brook’s abilities).

Potential Moves: Eerie Impulse, Boomburst, Scary Face, Thunderbolt, Screech, Overdrive

honestly, the whole “being dead” thing is hard to tie in, bc there are no ghost pokemon that have swords/sword-like abilities or a musical aesthetic.  and the transition from alive brook to skeleton brook is hard to reflect, mechanically. there are a few ghost pokemon that are specifically dead (yamask and phantump come to mind), but none of them fit well either.

but! there is a mechanic that could fit brook’s situation, or at least would be an interesting twist on it, and that would be Shadow Pokemon! from the pokémon colosseum. this is more of a corruption process, since it’s caused by removing emotions, and it would definitely be a good fit for moria and his whole shadow thing. but i think it would be an interesting fit for brook, too.

like, brook was a normal pokemon, but then he was corrupted into a shadow pokemon (possibly due to losing his friends). he was then stuck as an emotionless shadow for a while, until he was freed by the straw hats. he returned to his original personality, but kept his shadow abilities and form (aka his ‘skeletal form’). not exactly how shadow pokemon actually work, but it still fits with the concept. plus, there are shadow versions of normal moves that i think would fit brook well, like shadow panic.

but yeah, i really like the idea of op characters as pokemon, and now i really want to draw straw hat pokemon gijinkas.

[gamearamamegathons]

Dragon Quest V: Out of Order

Circe here! So, uh, yeah. After the hero and Henry are kidnapped, we flash forward and it turns out we end up toiling away as slaves for ten years. Nnnot much to say about that. Apparently the guy in charge around here is the high priest of the Order of Light, who claims he's going to save the world or something, and to that end he's having all these slaves build a huge temple. It's, you know, not a great scene. Things pretty much go along as normal up until we see the guards whipping a girl, and so we and Henry turn on them to try and protect her. We're launched into a battle in which I have access to all my spells, which raises a lot of questions if we could've just summoned fucking tornadoes on people this entire time. In any case, I win the fight, but we just end up jailed for our efforts. And that would be the end of that, except that it turns out the girl we tried to help was the sister of one of the guards. He heard that after the temple is finished, all the slaves will be killed, so he helps you out of there and asks you to take his sister Maria with you. So we float outta there on a barrel and end up washing up next to a nunnery.

So yeah, that happened I guess? The nuns help us get back on our feet, and Maria stays there, so it's just us and Henry...for now! This game introduces an exciting new mechanic, which is the ability to recruit monsters. And not just a temporary one-off thing like in Dragon Quest IV, monsters we fight in battle can decide to join us afterward, and become full-fledged party members. The roster of monsters here seems surprisingly deep, and we start picking them up right away, but the one I start with and keep in my party is an ordinary slime. It seems like our party size is back down to 3 for this game, so it's just me, Henry, and the slime. New party members can join on, but you need to buy a caravan, similar to how we had one in the previous game. We can find one in the town of...Oracleberry? Okay.

Apparently the big thing about this town is that there's all sorts of gambling and stuff going on at night, but I'm not really interested, so I just stock up on weapons. Henry is hilariously weak, seeing as he's level 1 and wearing rags, so I get some basic equipment on him. We travel further north, and we find a ruined town that looks like...well, it looks like Santa Rosa. Our hero is really not having a great life thus far. Apparently, after Henry was kidnapped, the queen blamed Papas, and destroyed his entire town as punishment. Which seems like kind of a non-sequitur, but we know this is just a coverup anyway, so I guess that's okay. There's an old man in town who tells us that Papas hid something valuable in the cave, and now we can take a little boat down the river into the cave to find another section of the dungeon. Here, we find a surprisingly familiar item -- it's the Zenithian Sword! We also find a note to us from Papas. In it, he says that our mother was taken away by some evil, and the only way it could be defeated is if the legendary hero wielded the Zenithian equipment against it. But, even though he spent his whole life seeking the equipment and the hero, all he ever found was this sword.

I admit, I'm a little confused about the whole thing with our mother. I guess she didn't die in childbirth after all, so either something was communicated poorly, or I just misunderstood...or else, it gave that impression on purpose? I don't know, it's weird. But I guess it doesn't matter that much. From here, I decide to go back to Alcapas to see if I can meet up with Bianca. Alcapas is fine, but it seems that Bianca's family sold the inn and moved away. So that's no good. Instead, let's go east, to Reinhart. Unsurprisingly, it seems that the queen is using King Dale as a puppet, and Reinhart has fallen into tyranny and suffering. Of course, it's not a simple matter to get inside the castle...I'll admit, I got a bit lost here. We can get in the front entrance to the castle, but the way in deeper is blocked by a guard. As we leave, Henry remarks that he remembers a secret path inside. Of course, I remember Henry's secret passage, so I immediately set about trying to get in there. We can't access the area the passage led to, but it is connected to a side door...which is locked. I spent a good while trying to find a way into this area, before I gave up and consulted a guide. It turns out I had it all wrong. You're supposed to notice that when the drawbridge is up at night, it reveals a secret tunnel underneath, which you can reach via a boat. I noticed this passage when I first entered Reinhart, but I immediately forgot. And in my defense, Henry's dialogue seemed to be reminding the player of a secret passage they already saw, so it was actively misleading. Is this because of the translation, or was it also confusing in the original? No way of knowing, I suppose.

Well, I'm grouchy about needing to use a guide for that, but there's nothing for it but to move on. The secret passage leads to a dungeon, naturally, and here we find the queen in prison. Eh? This is a bit confusing at first, but if you recall, we've seen imposter monsters before, so perhaps this isn't too surprising. What *is* surprising is that the plot needed to replace the queen with a monster at all, I mean, she seemed pretty evil from the start. I didn't bat an eye when I heard she was destroying villages and oppressing people. But apparently the real queen regrets her ruthless ambition now. Woulda been nice for you to reach that decision before you kidnapped us into slavery, lady. Well anyway, we make our way to King Dale, and Henry reveals that he's his brother. When Dale hears that his real mother is in prison, we all decide that something has to be done about it, and...I think it's Dale who tells us what to do next? In any case, we find out there's a hidden teleporter that can lead us to a tower where we can find a magic mirror that can reveal the monster's identity. No surprise, the Mirror of Ra is back.

The teleporter actually takes us just a bit south of the nunnery, so we could've walked here if we wanted, but this is a lot more convenient. Makes me wonder if we could've gotten the mirror early. This dungeon is a bit annoying because it ends with an invisible path you have to figure out by trial and error (if there was a trick to it, I didn't find it) but we eventually got to the mirror, and head back to Reinhart. It seems that Dale has tried to resolve the problem himself, and we come to the queen's chambers to see two queens there. Well, we've got the mirror, so we just use it on the queens to find that one of them is a...goblin hula dancer? Okay. This boss fight isn't very hard, so we take care of that, and save the day. After all this, Henry decides to stay by his brother's side, but luckily I've been slowly filling up my caravan with a whole host of non-human companions, so I replace him with a slime knight. Guess I'm rolling with a slime theme, here. Henry tells us that ships should be sailing in a harbor called Vista, so I guess that's where we'll be headed next.

Now that I've gotten into the game a bit, I can talk about localization. I'd hoped I'd have more interesting things to say, but largely it seems fine and pretty unremarkable. For the most part, spell names are following the conventions of the previous Dragon Warrior games, so no surprises there. It seems like a lot of the monster names are fairly literal translations, or just straight up the same name as in Japanese, since a bunch of the original names are actually in English. There are some spelling errors here and there, but nothing too surprising, it being the work of a small fan group instead of a professional localization team. There's also some incongruous swearing here and there, but it's rare. Oh, and as you may have already noticed, Nintendo of America-style censoring is out. House of Healing are called churches, people get drunk at taverns, and our dead party members are coffins instead of ghosts. But all in all, you might barely notice it's a fan translation. Well, it makes playing the game pretty smooth, so I can hardly complain.

I've been playing a lot of Dragon Quest lately, so my next post might be something different. I dunno, I'm still thinking about it. In any case, I'll see you then.

[gibsongirlselections]

Election Meddlers Find a Scapegoat

Like me, until recently you got most of your news from PeaceData.net. It was where you looked to form your opinions, including the all-important one about which way to vote. What you missed on PeaceData you caught up with via Facebook memes and Tweets from people you do not know.

Or maybe not. Maybe like nearly everyone on planet Earth you have no idea what I’m talking about and never looked at the now-defunct PeaceData site. That reality should pretty much end the discussion, but this is 2020. So you must know by now that Facebook claims an unvisited web site named PeaceData was actually a Russian influence operation targeting voters in the United States, all the while posing as an independent news outlet. PeaceData’s sneaky tactics included hiring real freelance “journalists” to write about U.S. politics and racial tensions from their parents’ basements.

PeaceData also operated 13 Facebook accounts, now suspended, supposedly using fake identities and “coordinated inauthentic behavior” by people with some kind of link “to individuals associated with past activity by the Internet Research Agency,” the Russkie company which U.S. intelligence officials say was part of Comrade Trump’s 2016 win.

Yep, that old story: Russians, social media, blah. To say PeaceData itself truly does not matter, especially in relation to the attention it has received in death, gives too much credit to not mattering. What does matter is how the intel community, quasi-private tech firms, the media, and the Democrats worked together to exaggerate the threat and create the narrative outcome of “foreign influence.” Pay attention; this is the magician revealing how the trick is done.

It seems the Russians have gotten so good at influencing cow-like Americans that only five percent of English-language articles on PeaceData actually concerned the U.S. election, out of over 700 articles published. You’d think no one would have even noticed they existed. However, a company called Graphika nonetheless told Facebook to conclude “this facet of the operation suggests an attempt to build a left-wing audience and steer it away from Biden’s campaign.” See, the conclusion from Graphika is by making almost no impact whatsoever, PeaceData was actually “trying harder and harder to hide.” It worked; Graphika found most of the English-language posts achieved only single-digit engagement.

Back to net nanny Graphika for a moment. We don’t know who funds them. Their venture capital was raised privately, in two tranches of about three million dollars each, in 2014 and 2019. We do know who they work with. Their current “Innovation Officer” is Camille François, who once worked for Google’s analytics offshoot Jigsaw before quitting to run a project for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, alongside now Graphika CEO John Kelly (no relation to the Marine.) Their December 2018 reporting helped Democrats “prove” the Russians used Facebook and Twitter to influence the 2016 election. Graphika also has ties to the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Defense Department’s Minerva Initiative. If you look at their stuff you realize they write like spooks, talk like spooks, and snitch out news sites like spooks.

What is missing from Graphika’s spooky work is any evidence whatsoever of any actual influence on the only thing that matters: how people vote. Graphika offers nothing quantitative, claiming only that by using American freelancers PeaceData was part of the “fabric” of communities and this made them credible. A step up from 2016 efforts, which relied on what Graphika said were foreign “trolls who typically researched American life so they could more effectively pose as U.S. citizens online. One key trick was to watch American TV shows like House of Cards.”

One is inclined to imagine here the customer service rep with a south Indian accent who asks you to call him “Mike” and wonders “How it goes my man in that American town of Iowa?” Older readers, please substitute Boris and Natasha voices.

So who are these nefarious American writers unknowingly selling out their country? The New York Times tracked down one who ended up writing for no money somehow, though PeaceData rates of $75-$200 per article fluttered below average (lots of unknown sites recruit freelancers for small payouts; PeaceData used Guru). This particular PeaceData journalist also once played Rusty in Starlight Express before selling insurance. One of his recent articles outlines his battle with dementia. Sorry to pick on the poor guy, but the NYT profiled him and it seems using such services to influence an election may not be the best use of those rubles.

He did write a nice piece claiming Susan Rice would have made a fine Vice President. One point in her favor was “I challenge anyone to find a video, or statement which shows Susan Rice raising her temper, shouting, acting hysterical or making comments.” Rice of course is known for her signature profanity and temper; here’s The Washington Post calling her out for describing Lindsey Graham as a “piece of sh*t.” Her f-bombs are legendary. She famously flipped the bird at Richard Holbrooke, told France’s UN. ambassador “you’re not going to drag us into your sh*tty war” and drew complaints of disrespect from allies on the UN Security Council.

But before just calling a Susan Rice-like bullsh*t on this whole sad attempt to frighten Americans into believing foreigners are here to steal our precious bodily Internet fluids, let’s go have a look at some of what else PeaceData had to say.

For example, here’s a quote from a PeaceData article about Q-Anon: “The effort to mainstream conspiracy is meant to distract from the true mechanisms of exploitation and alienation, while allowing for the continued consolidation of capital and upending norms with power grabs. As liberal institutions fail and capitalism continues to deliver uncertainty, the extension of a false mythos—that promises to yield revolutionary change and free the masses—gives allure to desperately confused people.”

Ok, that was too easy, somebody just held on to their Socialism 101 textbook. Another PeaceData article, on the post office, is lifted idea-for-idea from the NYT: “One way or another, the truth always comes out and with President Donald Trump, his motives were especially apparent after a news conference in the White House Briefing Room. He admitted on Thursday he opposed additional funding for the United States Postal Service (USPS) in order to make it more difficult to deliver mail-in ballots. Trump’s desire to not expand on voting by mail further sent society into a chaotic state amidst a pandemic.” The NYT said “President Trump stirred new questions on Thursday about whether he would seek to hold up new money to the Postal Service to impede mail-in voting this fall in the middle of the pandemic.” Kinda the same thing, but one is Russkie propaganda and the other is the New York Times.

It is very unclear that any of this is illegal. Foreign organizations hire American writers all the time. And the line between “taking an editorial stance” and “influencing an election” lies closer to how paranoid you are than anything in the law. That did not stop the FBI from telling social media to act against PeaceData based on Graphika tattling. The action Facebook (and Twitter, who called PeaceData “Russian state actors”) took against PeaceData was based entirely on so-called violations of Terms of Service. That allows the social media giants to show off how they are doing something to, whatever, save democracy. Facebook was not asked to return $480 in advertising money PeaceData spent.

PeaceData doesn’t matter by itself. The real value in this fluffy jihad against a no-name site is to create a talking point to allow the MSM and Democrats to announce again that Trump is being helped by a foreign power, that our electoral process is corrupt if Trump wins, and to revive whatever distant warm, wet memories the faithful had of Russiagate. A little daydreaming that maybe the old tricks will work this time where they have failed ever before.

For the rest of us, no big deal, just a glimpse behind the scenes of another Deep State information op where under the cover of blaming foreign collusion, corporate America, the intel community, and the media hide their own collusion, here, in the Twilight Zone of democracy.

Peter Van Buren, a 24-year State Department veteran, is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan, and Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the 99 Percent.

The post Election Meddlers Find a Scapegoat appeared first on The American Conservative.

[fictionerd]

A New Story

Chapter One: Bard - Post 1

“I’m finally free to begin my TRUE adventure.” - Marilene Lavoie

---Last Seed, 16th, 4E 201--- Sing, Divines, of Marilene who from High Rock set out into the sea, Who across the haunted waves did fly to Solitude and Freedom, Sing now that all may learn of youthful spirit which in time may fade, But though the winds of fate may blow against your spirit sputtering Look to her tale and 'gainst that gale square up your back and shout attack, Defy the storm of wind and fate as did our hopeful heroine.

---Last Seed, 17th, 4E 201--- Good morning, Journal. This feels odd, but at the same time comforting. I've not kept a diary since I was a little girl.

Oops, that's right. Melodia say's that you're supposed to call it a "Journal" to feel more adult. Sorry about that. So, where should I begin? I seem to have made an entry last night, but for some reason it's in Cyrodiilic Hexameter.

To transcribe what was said there for those with no art in their soul and to expand upon it a bit: My name is Marilene Lavoie. I am a Breton from a not-quite noble family in High Rock. All my life I adored the tales great heroes and heroines. I longed to be like them. To adventure and make a name for myself. My fondest, most heartfelt dream is that one day a young girl will read stories of my deeds and find in me a friend as I have found in Alessia, Tiber Septim, The Nerevarine, and the Hero of Kvatch.

Unfortunately with the Empire still reeling from the Great War and conflict rife in the land my family wanted to keep me safe at home. So I set forth with a plan. I applied to study at the Bard's College in Solitude and with the help of my friend Melodia's help I was able to get accepted.

It took some convincing, but my parents eventually relented. So I set sail over the Sea of Ghosts and arrived in the city at the first of this year. I've mostly spent that time studying under the teachers at the college. After all, if I plan to make a break for it and seek my story I'll need a reliable way to earn coin. I doubt my family will send me an allowance after I leave the relative safety of Haafingar.

By the -N- Eight! I've just noticed how late in the morning it is. I ought to get to the college. Headmaster Viarmo said he wanted to see me this morning about something important.

By the   Eight. I can't believe this. Any of this. I'm positively shaking with nervous energy. Melodia you little Daedra I'd forgotten all about the Tattoo! That's what I get for letting you take me out drinking.

"We need to celebrate your birthday!" she said.

Nevermind that my "Birthday" was months ago.

"I was away at the time! Let's do it now. You're old enough to drink, so drink!"

So I obliged her. She's probably my best friend in Skyrim. To be honest she's probably my best friend in all of Tamriel. I just wish it weren't so easy for her to convince me to do stupid, STUPID things.

I should explain: Yesterday Melodia returned to Solitude after months of being away in Cyrodiil visiting her family and touring the counties as a Bard. She found me first thing and practically dragged me by my twintails to The Winking Skeever to drink with her.

It was, a long night. Somewhere along the way she taught me this trick she'd learned using Alteration Magic. It let's you essentially apply a tattoo without the needles and ink and hassle. At her insistence I gave it a try with a tattoo on the back of my right hand. I was surprisingly good at it.

So what's the problem? Well we got pretty drunk as the night wore on with Melodia buying drinks from what seemed like a bottomless purse. When I woke not only had I forgotten about the tattoo I seem to have forgotten the trick to changing or removing them. Assuming Melodia even taught me that part.

I was fortunate. When Headmaster Viarmo spotted it he complemented the design. I swear the Altmer was grinning. He must have some guess as to who is behind it.

Still it was incredibly embarassing to just walk into the college with a new permanent fixture to my skin and not remember I even had it.

Should one transcribe a sigh in a journal? If I were writing stage direction for an actress I certainly would. I suppose for now this paragraph will suffice to inform you that a sigh belongs between last paragraph and the next. (Note: Revisit this thought later)

So, I suppose you're wondering (Is you the journal or some mysterious future reader?) what it was Viarmo wanted to see me about. Well that's the other half of why I'm physically shaking with nerves.

You see, normally the Bard's College requires a service of its applicants in return for admittance. In my case I had Melodia's recommendation and a humble donation from my family. I'd made it clear to the Headmaster that I would prefer if he found some task for me to accomplish at a later date, and today he's given me such a task.

Jarl Elisif has forbidden the Burning of King Olaf festival. Viarmo believes that if we can share with her "King Olaf's Verse" we may be able to convince her to lift the ban.

I can understand Elisif's feelings. If my love had died I wouldn't want people celebrating something that bears any similarity to their passing either. Perhaps King Olaf's Verse will put light to the situation and one way or another we'll be able to resolve matters.

As for me, I'm FINALLY going to go on an adventure! My first quest. The first labor of Marilene the Bard. I am to retrieve the last remaining copy of King Olaf's Verse from Dead Man's Respite. If, indeed, it still exists.

I must away. I'll need to arm myself if I inted to delve a Nordic tomb. Who knows what terrors one may face. In sunken halls where Nords of old did pace.

Skyrim is a beautiful land. Troubled beneath the surface like so many things of beauty, but this does not diminish its beaty in my eyes. For there is beauty in chaos as suredly as there is beauty in calm.

Since when does passing you on the road constitute "Interfering with official business"? Divines. Some Thalmor can be insufferable.

---Last Seed, 18th, 4E 201--- Oblivion the stories mentioned the smell on occasion, but I didn't think it'd be this bad.

I've undertaken my first heroic feat, though it wasn't the intended retrieval fo the verse. On my way to Dead Man's Respite I found a group of necromancers holed up in an old fort. I could not bring myself to overlook this travesty and so I set to cleansing the place of their vile conjurations. I'll admit that it was a near fight, but as righteousness was on my side there was no way I was going to lose to villains such as these.

I discovered a great many things within their library, but chief among them was a book outlining the art of the spellsword. This is an old Cyrodiilic martial skill that many thought lost in the last two centuries.

It allows one to cast magicka while still armed. I've grasped its most basic mechanics thusfar. This will make my future encounters with villainy much easier.

I've reached Dead Man's Respite. This place looks pretty old. I wonder what I will find within. I wonder if I'll find the verse within.

The Ghost of a Bard! Perhaps Svaknir? The one who penned King Olaf's Verse? I shall follow this spirit and see what it is he needs to show me.

I've been attacked! These things. Walking corpses. Perhaps the Draugr I've heard so much about? They jumped me when I lifted this strange jeweled claw from its pedastle to open the way forward.

I've come upon a sealed door. Either it has been barred to any who enter or the ghost of Svaknir needs me to look elsewhere. There is another path to the right. I shall look there for now. I do wonder, though, what magicks seal this portal. I also wonder if I could figure out how to use them on my bedroom door when Melodia is visiting.

I've found it! King Olaf's Verse! It's here. Parts are damaged, but I'm sure we'll be able to glean something from these ancient pages. Now to return to Viarmo with the good news!

What I put pen to paper to record in this moment is perhaps the most incredible thing to ever happen to me.

After retrieving King Olaf's Verse I followed the gost of Svaknir once more and he unsealed the door. Within was an assemblage of the creatures that jumped me at the entrance, and whom I've been fighting my way through to reach this point.

Svaknir called out to King Olaf to rise and face his vengeance, and one by one the creatures stood and came at us until finally the lid of the Grand Sarcophagus at the top of the tomb flew off and what I can only assume where the remains of King Olaf rose from within.

It was a harrowing battle, but finally we were able to put down the unliving king. I can scarcely believe this. I, Marilene, on her first real adventure have fought alongside the vengeful spirit of a bard put to death for his verse, and against the Undead remains of the very king who sentenced him.

This is the sort of thing stories are made of. It's always been my dream, but I scarcely expected to be involved with such a thing on my first quest.

After the battle with King Olaf I notced this strange wall at the back of his burial chamber. It has markings that almost seem to be stylized talon-scratches. Could these be a language of some sort? I'll make note of this. It could be important later.

---Last Seed, 19th, 4E 201---

As I sit and watch the effigy of King Olaf burn, I think back over the past few days. This is the first moment of clarity I've really had since I woke up on the seventeenth. Melodia. It had to have been her who set all this up. She shows up in town the night before Viarmo sends me out to collect King Olaf's Verse? She insists on celebrating my "birthday" which leads to me sleeping in the next day?

I left Solitude in college robes two days ago. Today I returned in armor. I've been tested by combat, actual combat, in only the brief time I was away from the college. Melodia knew. She must have known. Even now she eats a honey nut treat all the while eyeing me with that mischievous sparkle that tells me she's just gotten one over on me.

I've learned just how dangerous the roads and wilds of Skyrim can be, and am prepared now to travel them. She knew, and by extension Viarmo must have known my real reason for being here. After months of study and practice they've finally seen fit to loose me out into the province.

With the burning of King Olaf I've been officially named Bard by the college. I'm free to travel. Free to perform. Free to use the abilities I've been practicing since this plan first came to my mind.

I'm finally free to begin my TRUE adventure.

[coralbasementpost-blog]

Bubble Witch 3 Saga Cheats Codes, Tips, Tricks And Level Guide

You are Downloading Bubble Witch 2 Saga Hack and Tips Latest APK 1.6. Last Updated: Dec 16, 2014. Finally, the other major addition to the game is one that will remind you of Super Mario Run; Stella now has a house, and you get to rebuild it as you go. As you level the house up, you get rewards like unlimited lives, power-ups, and so on. This feature is designed to give players a long-term goal to aim for outside the level-by-level bubble bursting, The house designs have a Disney feel to them, and I think this addition should help make players feel that their time playing the game matters. Bubble Witch 3 Saga hack is compatible with the latest version of the Bubble Witch 3 Saga for Android and iOS devices. Play through bubble bursting levels, free the ghosts, save the animals and most importantly defeat Wilbur! Today, our team bother things you all the Bubble Witch 3 Saga Hack Tool and Cheats Android/iOS Game that will give you access to unlimited number of free Gold Bars. This Hack tool is very easy to make use of so you're getting unlimited Gold Bars, for no effort in any respect. Stella the Witch is back and she needs your help to defeat the evil Wilbur in this exciting adventure! A large numbers of people are playing Bubble Witch 3 Saga game for its ultimate graphics and battles currently offered in the game. Take on this epic saga alone or play with friends to see who can get the highest score! Add Unlimited Gold Bars And Lives Yes, both Bubble Witch 2 Saga hack tool download and online Bubble Witch 2 Saga Gold generator are completely free. So , if you looking for a working and great optimized fresh hack for Bubble Witch 3 Saga, just click link below and Get it from our own official site. Say No to the use of unfair Bubble Witch 3 Saga hacking tool or cracking tool anywhere anytime in the game! So prior to a use the Bubble Witch 3 Saga Apk Hack Tool you may want to note down your Bubble Witch 3 Saga game account a spot. Use Bubble Witch 3 Saga cheat to get in-app purchases and obtain freebies in the game without spending any money. This new game from the developers at is a fun in itself and will make you quite addicted to such a fascinating and challenging game we at decided to post the Bubble Witch 3 Saga v 2.0.8 Mod Apk which is loaded with unlimited amount of lives booster and moves which will make your game play even more easier and less challenging. The reason for this change points to one of the overaching design philosophies of Bubble Witch 3; removing frustration and making the game easier to play on the go. For that same reason, the developers have added a new mechanic whose purpose is to do away with the frustration of getting a useless bubble and having to just dump it somewhere on the screen. Bubble Witch 2 Saga Hack and Tips developed by Bubble Witch 2 Saga Hack and Tips is listed under category Books & Reference 3.3/5 average rating on Google Play by 147 users). Even right now lots of time players on Bubble Witch 3 Saga using our hack and also be stay as top ever. Now then, I wanted to see if you could hack Bubble Witch Saga 3. I would really appreciate it! This newly developed online Bubble Witch 3 Saga Apk Hack have safe approach to access Bubble Witch 3 Saga game servers and carry out the hack with adding unlimited resources whenever with any amount using your choice. Bubble Witch 3 Saga Mod is actually dedicated for Android os and iOS system and work with each and every mobile devices witch have iOS v5. 01 or Android v4. or later (in both cases). Help players by posting about this topics on Bubble Witch Saga Game Post section. On this Online Bubble Witch 3 Saga Cheats we've got added feature to get in your game account which can be most imported on this hack tool. Note: FB email ID for hack Golds Bars and you can use it any Device like iOS, Android etc. Should you have downloaded some other Bubble Witch 2 Saga hack tool other than ours, that most likely did not work we could tell simply because there's lots of false sites out there. This new game from the developers at is a fun in itself and will make you quite addicted to such a fascinating and challenging game we at decided to post the Bubble Witch 3 Saga v 2.0.8 Mod Apk which is loaded with unlimited amount of lives booster and moves which will make your game play even more easier and less challenging. From the makers of Candy Crush Saga, Bubble Witch Saga & Farm Heroes Saga comes Bubble Witch 2 Saga! Report and describe the latest new Bubble Witch 3 Saga hack or bug glitches you know below for better gameplay. Take on this epic saga alone or play a portion as well as buddies to see who can acquire the highest score! This Hack tool is very easy to make use of so you're getting unlimited Gold Bars, for no effort at all. On the whole Web, of course, you have already found some Bubble Witch 3 Saga IPA or APK files to install on your smartphone, but still full of viruses to damage your smartphone / tablet. Bubble Witch 2 Saga Cheat Tool Undetectable, Safe and Effective (100% Guaranteed).

[mechagalaxy]

Mycroft Holmes - Inteview with Brian Leslie King

Squad Wars 3320 Mycroft Holmes #710713 with Brian Leslie King #309012

..1103hrs ZULU, Grid 60781-19925 -Squad forming up point (2 hours, 57 minutes to go).. Hail of shouts, metal bashing metal and a few swears as final-final checks are completed. A few pilots control their mechanics work while others are just happy to not be close enough to be involved and let the mechanics get on with their duties. Slightly away from the din a single pilot lounges on the foot unit of his old but by the looks of it, newly up-gunned Red Ant using its frame as a shield to the glaring sun. Hey, HEY HEYA! Long time no see -how'd you get permission to this place old buddy?! News pass?! Heh heh, a word in the right ear and a few credits in the left pocket is my guess BUT hey! You're here just before the 'off' so shoot, I got some time.. get a nice picky of me ay' -ah, it's for my family.

ANN: Hey, the camera can only do so much. Squad Wars. What do you think of it? A nice diversion or needs to be the new normal?

Brian: Squad Wars, it's a nice diversion and really should happen more often and not regularly to keep people off-balance, especially now as we are about commence our own Squad Raids into Unification space (AT LAST!)

ANN: Why do you say that?

B: ..AT LAST?! Why? Because I'm sick of these guys coming over here and blowing up our stuff -time for their stuff to get wrecked for a change.. uhhh, the 1st bit -ok, variety my old friend, you can't drink Root Beer Moats all your entire life without a little change now and then -say Malt Scotch or Wood Alcohol, whatever floats your boat.

ANN: Who are you fighting with this time out? Division?

B: Brotherhood/Dragons -Squad GAMMA, Division 6 under short-term contract. Last week I was with The HF helping sorting out a few bits and bobs and pitched out of my clan to let another, closer level trooper in to improve the average for them -decided not to 'sit out' and tried my luck on Free Agents, got picked up by Squad DELTA and transferred here. A good, solid bunch here and learning new shh… stuff to boot! Old dog-new tricks kinda feeling, hopefully a Silver or Gold feeling really (wink, wink).

ANN: Did round one go as expected for you?

B:Yeah, well everybody pitched in and followed our assignments and our glorious (and smart!) Leader, German and we gave the ol' Bunnies a not embarrassing loss. What do predict for the next two?

ANN: predict for the next two?

B: Our next squad/target is the Star League so we hopefully will do the same to them and round 3?! Naturally a surprise but there are 2 strong contenders which I will not have to mention to you or the fight-fans.

ANN: The missions into Unification are yielding some extra Hatoraides and the Unification version of Stimpacks called Revivers. Have you been collecting any and if so, are you using or hoarding?

B: Oh the Unification stuff, I'm most definitely hoarding that shh… um, those thingies! Once we're over there on their turf I want as much combat-stims as batteries and bullets to use on them where they’ll do the best.

ANN: Other new items recently available were two Chroniode Enhanced equipment items, the Ghost Focus cockpit and the Flux Herald engine. Did you pick them up before they were sold out? What do you think of them and what mecha do you think they would be best used on?

B: Matey-potatey did I ever -I hovered them up and proceeded to attach them where they would be most useful.. did I say Assault Class 100T?! Yeah I did.

ANN: A new 100 ton is the Slate. It will take a while to get them ready to go for the higher divisions, but have you purchased any? What is your initial assessment of its capabilities?

B: I'm greedy, a couple of senior HF officers (no names of course) said they'd come out and looked good for a crystal mech so I went out and bought two! Though not an equal to niode one, it's a helluva a lot cheaper to level up and with niode equipment should give a good account for itself -resources are pretty tough to come by in vast amounts, if you're not HOUSEHOLD unit or the mega-rich. So salvage we're pulling off with from Unification space is a godsend to some indeed.

ANN: The Boys are Back! Looks like another showdown between the Prince of Flowers and the (previously assumed dead) Prince of Iron. This time over a mecha booster. Which way are you leaning, boost the Freon or the Gigus, and why?

B: Heh heh -siblings and their rivalries ay'. Hmmm, troubling because I've got a soft spot for both! If squeezed I'd probably bank on the Gigus, for an 80T it should be way faster and dodgy like me (hah) but it probably end up the Freon which is not a loss in anyone's book. Go little freezy-guy.

ANN: Speaking of the Prince of Iron, any thoughts on his sudden return? And in a position of power within the Shogunate?

B: Did I say rivalries a-la Shogunate styles?! Man the stuff they've being doing their 'landed gentry' for the past 1000 years makes for much soap opera bloodbaths and a tidy salvage/sums earned by the mercenary clans.. ahem, just quietly.

ANN: What do you think of the newest Circuit format?

B: Not a great fan of the current system tho I understand the prizes of course, the incentive. I did ok a few months ago in the circuits -solid Bronze winner and regular Gold/Silver too but it will take time for it to balance out and as I'm not interested in jumping up the levels to compete due to resource restrictions. I'll just have settle for a bum-deal or just get out I suppose.

ANN: Also, Crystals are now salvaged from regular battles, and occasionally from mini-boss fights. Good addition or unnecessary, and why do you think that?

B: For the above reasons the occasional windfall is most welcome, I'll not deny that so in that respect, long may that continue.

ANN: Any other questions or comments?

B:No, not at the moment. Thinking on Round 3 and then OUR raid into the Unification Domain. Ah.. got an angry chirping from me Red Ant. Let me jump down while listen to my headset. Hmmm Ok sorry, looks like my time is done for this 'view. Movement orders you know the drills so shoot straight, keep ducking and weaving and mind the screaming -they just die like that! (hah) Hope to catch you up post-SW for more than a few social beverages and the story -naturally.

  l��0P�e

[ksparksthefuture]

K. Sparks: Things Aren’t What They “Post” To Be (Blog)

I haven't been compelled to blog in a long time. Today's era has been reduced to tweets, doing it for the vine, throwing it on the gram' and snap chatting. A well thought out post that exceeds 140 characters has seemingly become obsolete. Nonetheless every now and then I get the urge like your old uncle that has absoultely no business on the basketball court hoopin, but finds himself getting crossed over. Fortunately for me I still got it like Uncle Drew.

Recently one of my friends quit music. She’s a talented singer/performer and in all honesty better than most mediocre singers you hear on mainstream radio. When she sings you feel it in your soul, placing passion mixed with intonation and just the right amount of connotation within her vocals. In the words of old black women in pentecostal store front churches on Sundays, that girl can sang. Last year when I was piecing together my album ‘Seasons Theme’ I had written a few hooks and had her lay some sample jazz riff vocals. Once we finished recording we began discussing music, song placement, business and other dynamics. When I asked her what she is presently working on the conversation shifted, disheartened she stated... 

‘I stopped doing music. Nowadays I only do session work’ 

Completely taken back, my natural and initial response was why because she has a natural gift. Some musicians have to work at their craft to get better while others are just naturally dope, she being the latter. Plus we’ve been working together for a while over my past few projects. Her response was simply this...

 ‘I make $750 monthly from music. Artist like Drake are selling millions. It’s not worth it’ 

And just like that she summed up her life’s dream and passion within four simple words ‘It’s not worth it’. Years of diligence, studio hours and performances to arrive here. This is where our conversation commenced. What started as a routine recording session in my studio turned into a three hour therapy session about; perspective. 

Perspective is a funny thing. Regardless of sex, race, age or profession one thing is certain, ultimately we live and die by perspective. How you view the world is a reflection of how you see yourself, and if you’re not careful that can and will shape your daily actions. Those daily actions will indefinitely determine your future. The man that takes the bus to work everyday envy’s the man with a car because he wants to drive. On the flip side, the man with a car may envy the man that takes the bus to work everyday because he has to pay a car note, insurance, and battle traffic everyday. That’s perspective.  As we spoke further I began to realize her perspective was off. She had embraced a negative and defeat-us attitude that it’s nearly impossible for an independent artist to succeed in the present musical climate of Major Labels that fund artist with radio play, promotional budgets, and buy their own albums to boost sales. The first thing I explained is that...

‘In order for anyone to determine success you must first determine what success means for you’

And when I say you, I truly mean you. For example, an independent artist may look at Drake and envy his level of success. I’m not taking anything away from that. But let’s entertain numbers. On Facebook Drake has over 35,000,000 Likes. And for his Views album set a record at 245.1 million streams. Pretty big numbers. But album sales for Views were only 4.14 million. That number isn’t bad by any standard in todays deplorable music climate. But it does show a large disparity when it comes to people that purchase music versus people that simply like artist social media pages. That means out of 35 million Likes only 4.14 million of those translated into sales. If everyone purchased his music sales would be way more massive, basing this upon his social media following. Which brought me back to my point, perspective. 

‘Don’t be fooled, things aren’t what they “post” to be’

If major artist can't get the majority of fans to purchase their music what makes you think an independent musician is any different. My friend had 1000 Likes on her Facebook artist page before she deleted it, which means that a monthly income of $750 equated to a 75% return on her fan base. Now although those are not Drake sales numbers, technically speaking her percentage is better. See the perspective. When you view yourself against unrealistic expectations things don't add up. However when you apply realistic perspective things make sense. An independent musician that is able to write, package, distribute and retain ownership of their content is in a powerful position. I then began to discuss the power of Influencer Marketing. Yearly I do tons of ghost writing which leads to music placements in commercials, movies and etc. A perfect example of this is a song I recorded a few years ago with my brother Ahmad. He's best know for recording his hit song ‘Back In The Day’ released under Warner Bros Records.

We connected to record my single entitled ‘Black Magic’. After building back and forth about the concept we agreed to discuss the topic of shady record label business, how most people’s favorite rappers are poor, and the Ins & Outs of 360 deals taking advantage of musicians. We released the song and didn't think much of it until something strange started to happen. I started noticing the song getting significantly more traction and fans requesting to purchase the record. I wasn't sure where the random influx was coming from until I saw this posting on Youtube.

Chris Ramsay utilized the song in one of his card trick videos which amassed over one million views. If you notice above you can clearly see he has 140,671 subscribers to his Youtube Channel. The video has gained 1,078,094 views. Thus the influx. Also, there was an increase in demand for my single ‘Blindfolds’ from my album ‘Self Portrait’ once Monster Energy and Marie Claire, and movie directors began purchasing the single to utilize in their commercial ads like the Toyota BMX Triple Challenge, Victoria Secret Super Model Elsa Hosk, Model Shanina Shaik, and countless others. 

In a nut shell Influencer Marketing is when brands that have massive followings utilize your content. In music industry terms we call this a co sign. It's no different than if Jay Z or 50 Cent featured on your song, they are now giving you their coveted stamp of approval, which in turn puts an entire new demographic of fans they have on to your content. Songs you think are old, played out and no longer relevant can possibly take off. Look at Raphael Saadiq’s song Good Man that was released in 2011. By industry standards that song is old news. But thanks to the Netflix show Luke Cage, they utilized the song in their show and once again the song is revitalized. Read the comments “Luke Cage brought me here”. Influencer Marketing with brand power can cause excellent rewards for musicians. Once I started doing music placements I became connected with power brands to record music. I noticed things began to shift in a positive way, the energy was different. My content was no longer isolated to the underground, new opportunities began to generate within additional corporations, movies, and commercials until I started doing over 100 placements yearly from content. I have over 500 songs within my music catalogue and continue to create content at my own pace, making what I want when I want. The whole purpose is to have fun doing what you love to do, which is music; while generating revenue. Within this same conversation I also explained the beautiful part about music placements is that musicians get paid on the front end from the company that needs music, and also on the back end from mechanical royalties, publishing and music sales. When people hear content within commercials they always seek to purchase the content. If you read the c section, comments always request to know "what song is this?" or "who is the artist?". It’s the automatic win. 

But let me pause and digress. There is another dynamic that plays a key role in musicians being successful in regards to placements, and once again I revert back to perspective. When placing music and pitching music to companies be mindful that this is like the NBA, you're only as good as your last performance, people will disregard and doubt you. I've seen it time and time again when individuals become that quintessential rapper, singer or producer that feels because they got one song or beat placed they have arrived and will now see residual income indefinitely from that one placement. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and this will break your heart worse than Musiq Soul Child creating his alter ego The Husel and making bad trap music now, oh the tragedy indeed. If you are that type of person quit now, ctrl + alt + del your career because that is a losers mentality. The name of the game is hard work, and you have to be consistently good. Think about it like this, you get a beat placed once and don't create any new content. Every day that passes there are young talented and hungry producers that attend community college full time, drink Star Bucks late’s and live off they momma cranking out beats quicker than Devante made Timbaland and Missy do in his basement before they were famous. Remember that time Jay Z was talking about the kid with the Apple Jacks. It's real, he’s real; and he already surpassed you. So get with it or get left behind.

Needless to say, at the end of our therapy session my friend had several laughs, a renewed thought process in regards to not only music, but ultimately her perspective which led to her recording the hook on this song. 

When you leave money on the table, the waitress cleans up...

So many artist are leaving money on the table and have no clue. Have you ever heard of Perrin Lamb. Chances are that would be a firm no because he's not as famous as the Justin boys (Timberlake or Bieber) and doesn't tour consistently across the country selling merchandise to fans. But he did have one of his songs randomly added to a popular Spotify playlist. As a result he received a payment of $40,000 from Spotify. Don't believe me, then read his article here in The New York Times. This is because Spotify pays artist for streaming of music. Now in full disclosure, granted the pay per stream is deplorable (somewhere between $0.006 and $0.0084 on the dollar). However, we're not talking about the quality of the amount, we're merely interested in the quantity of the amount because that's precisely how Perrin Lamb was able to see such a payout. $40,000 isn't a massive amount of money, but I'm certain it's a decent payday no Indie musician would decline. It's a clear cut example of how streaming can work in artist favor when positioned correctly. Ultimately musicians need to position themselves to have their music heard on each and every platform as possible. This means having your albums distributed properly and readily available for streaming on all digital outlets. For Indie Artist they normally debate about which distribution is better, Tune Core or CD Baby. Ah yes, the proverbial enemies that go hard at each other worse than Martin and Pam. When people ask me which is better they’re surprised to hear my answer, neither. The best digital distributor for Independent artist hands down is Distrokid. Let’s break it down, CD Baby charges $60 per album ($40 for album cost and $20 for Album UPC. That’s a one time fee, but on the back end they treat you like a two dollar whore and take a 9% commission from all of your sales. In my opinion if I pay you to distribute my album you are not and should not be entitled to any of my sales. In the words of your favorite high yellow rapper/singer “you wasn't with me shooting in the gym” or in this case “you wasn’t with me mixing in the stu”. Tune Core on the other hand initially charges $29.99 for album cost, however they then charge yearly $50 to keep those albums live on all digital retailers. If you don't renew, your album disappears like her career. With that said, Distrokid offers the best deal hands down. You have several payment options, but the choice I prefer is to pay $34.99 annually, and you can distribute unlimited music. That means regardless if you distribute 10 albums or 100 albums you still only pay $34.99 annually and retain all of your sales. See the difference.

Phil Jackson ran the triangle offense and you can too, sort of...

Within the importance of streaming there is also the importance of having what I call The Triangle Offense. It contains your Agent/Manager, Performing Rights Organization, and Sound Exchange. Those are three players that ensure you're not leaving any money on the table. The agent/manager is responsible for positioning your music to generate income (If you don't have an agent/manager do it yourself until you have adequate representation). Examples of outlets content can be placed with companies are such as commercials, movies and etc. From that point depending upon what format your music is utilized that will determine whom collects your publishing, writers and or mechanical royalties. PRO's such as ASCAP, BMI and etc ensure you are compensated when your music is played. However you have to stay on top of them because they cater more towards their big name artists, and often lesser known independent artists get over looked. Sound Exchange is also important because they are the clean up crew in a sense. They also make sure you are being compensated for your content. Any artist can sign up, and once signing up you will be instructed to fill out spread sheets with pertinent information such as the albums Bar Code, UPC & ISRC numbers for each song from the albums (hence why you need proper distribution for your music).

Stop making excuses, start making progress...

If you're a musician there is no reason why you aren’t taking advantage of all the present opportunities. Every-time I read about these men it’s a constant reminder that we have no excuse not to try everyday. If at some point you recorded music, singles or albums and they are presently sitting on your hard drive collecting dust you are to blame. You are the type of artist that believes you can't win because you don't have the resources and time to tour. You are the type of artist that records music and sits on it forever without releasing it because you constantly get in your own way. You are the type of artist that once upon a time had the passion for music because God instilled the gift within you, but ultimately you became defeated into accepting you will not earn revenue from music. Change your perspective. The days of having to tour are not the only way to make income. There are hundreds of what I call new age musicians that are quite comfortable doing it their way. Making quality music, releasing it at their own pace, and when corporations want to utilize their content non exclusively they get paid. As an independent musician you may not sell 4.14 million records like Drake, but you most certainly have the ability and capability to sustain a healthy lifestyle while reaping the benefits of your hard-work. So even though things aren’t always what they ‘post’ to be, ultimately you can decide what angle and approach works best for you. In the words of Amel Laruex, the possibilities are infinite, the only question remaining is simple; what's your perspective.