#and i dont know for certain with metroid. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

beesmygod · 1 year ago

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BLOODBORNE LORE Q+A PART 4: SETTING ODDS AND ENDS

part 1

part 2

part 3

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this part is a little drier compared to the other 3. it's a quick mop up on any remaining minutiae about the setting before we move onto events and characters/bosses. that's the real meat and potatoes. bear with me talking about game mechanics and tomorrow ill talk about the stupid mensis ritual alright. arent you excited to hear a new baseless theory about micolash's birthday party or whatever.

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THE HUNTER ASKS:

i think most statues weren't people. but something about the human experience of obsession turns the blood in yharnam first into syrup and then into stone. the item description for the frenzied coldblood reads:

A strong will produces thick blood. Doubtless, the product of obsession, a potent source of human strength.

i think this item description is the only bit of explicit text that ties together the idea of madness inducing what the game calls "crystallization". the blood shard item descriptions confirm that after death "a substance in the blood hardens" and another upgrade material, blood gems (name self explanatory, the page is annoying to navigate) are very rarely found in coldblood.

there are hints, however, that being driven mad with bad eldritch vibes causes problematic instantaneous crystallizations. your example of the poor saps at yahar'gul is a good one. whatever happened when the brain of mensis was called forth* really flash fried the whole town in a new kind of way.

*SPECULATION!!! we can try to establish that timeline when i talk about rom.

side note: there's some women skeletons who are pushing their kids out of their way like they're george costanza hearing the fire alarm and it makes me lol every time i see it. i think its bc the little boy skeletons are wearing a little fancy lad outfit.

theres also the spikes that form in your blood when you become "frenzied", a debuff that obliterates most of your health in 1 second. when you are in danger of being "frenzied" (this happens when you look at or are attacked by certain enemies whose appearance or sound is so horrible it drives you insane), spikes shoot out of your head.

i thought this was just a gameplay mechanic to visually indicate whats happening if you miss the audio cue or the meter. but it turns out there's several unlucky bastards who peeked at the brain of mensis and got riddled with enormous spikes that came from the inside out.

imagine a monster that is so scary your blood tries to escape your body at maximum velocity. but its just mother brain from metroid.

i think most of the eyes from various corpses were pecked out by the enormously fat crows all over the place and then excreted/barfed whatever way they do in nature. they swallow rocks irl to digest shit because god forgot they need to be able to eat food to live.

THE HUNTER COMMENTS:

i clued in shawn to the original version of the lamps from an early version of the game: a chair you sit, sleep and dream in. once you know this pointless factoid, you will start noticing the frequency of really weirdly placed chairs in the game. its a chair game. adeline is strapped down to a chair. annalise sits on her throne. the spooky skeleton gatekeeper for the forbidden woods is in a chair. chairs.

THE HUNTER SAYS:

CANON! for some reason the english translation neglects to mention that its in your own handwriting which is like. part of why it would be spooky. otherwise its like iosefka left a note to herself to kill god later.

THE HUNTER SAYS:

lmfao these damn things. i dont even think about them bc the really just read as background filler but they were at one point in development going to be something important. the internal game files indicate that they are "shrines" and a cut enemy called "shrine knight" exists in a near finished condition. these concepts seem very far removed from the end product so its wild how done this enemy is. cainhurst stuff??

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ok, next time i have questions to answer about bosses in the game, bosses cut from the game and doggies. theres a great question in here about who names bosses. honestly like how tf do you (the hunter) know that's a cleric beast. you just got here. you dont know anything. a coconut fell on your head and you dont remember your address

#bloodborne #long post/#lore

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beelzeballing · 7 months ago

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thing im most embarrassed/proudest of is that ive been a fan of metroid prime since i was 9 years old (im 21) and yet have never beaten it but my 13 y/o brother, who has been growing up getting the metroid radiation from me, got it for his 13th birthday and BEAT IT BEFORE ME.

it was a huge bonding experience tho, like he only played it when i visited my parents over the weekend. id give him tips and help him with certain sections and i also beat one boss for him (the omega pirate). were currently trying to do echoes but i know much less abt it than i do prime 1 and i dont visit my parents that much LOL but its goin!!! were goin!!!!!!!! im very proud of him <3 shoutout to my brother i love my brother very much. also shoutout to my sister whom i accidentally passed my danganronpa autism onto and my cousin whom i. also got into danganronpa and by extension influenced into getting into cosplay. everybody in this family whom i love catches my case of being a nerd freak and i am very proud of that

#moogsin'#metroid #metroid prime #love all those freaks who are different flavors of stuff i like #kissing them all on the noggin

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blazingphantasm · 2 years ago

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Wait who’s Spix?

Hiya, uhh, that’d be me. An idiot obsessed with their little fandoms. I also make games, but uhh, those take forever. I also make music for those games, but uhh, I usually forget to upload those works in an easily accessible form. You probably don’t care a bit about me or my blog and that’s completely understandable! But I’ll spew some self promotion anyways:

YouTube, itch.io

My other less noteworthy accounts are easily linked to these, you’ll find ‘em no problem. It’s scary how easily these all connect isn’t it? Anyways… go along with your day!

Still here? ...really?

um ok those scary labels:

- transgender

- non-binary

- demi-girl

- panromantic

- homosexual

- gay

- lesbian

you can go harass me over this shit now

ok fine the fandoms im into (currently):

- im making a metroid fangame but i dont often post about the series

- shin megami tensei, has my favorite way of handling angels and demons in any media. also the best fucking jrpg series ive touched. (only touched 4 tho lol: smt as mentioned, final fantasy, dragon quest, and the obligatory pokemon)

- SPLATOON MY BELOVED IDOL SQUID KIDS

- SONIC THE HEDGEHOG LIVE AND LEARN FUCKERSSS

- UNDERTALE, AND OFC DELTARUNE TOO DUH

- MEGA MAN!!! but mostly x and zero series + archies take on classic. oh also the protomen but thats an aside (i dont like the classic games that much. im sorry ok. i played through 1, 2, 3, and 7 and like they were like ok.)

- oh how could i ever forget fnaf? well its here now. not as in it as i used to be but its coming back with a vengeance

- oh and who could forget… (mutuals you knew this one was coming…) HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK HOMESTUCK (fuschia blood, prospit sway, mage of heart if you were curious)

- i played through and finished portal 2 how did i not add that here before anyways i love wheatley

- bonus thing for tma fans, my friends assigned me as avatar of the web and it totally fits

um blorbos too why not (and some ranting for certain ones because favoritism):

- protoman (the archie comics… im literally crying), ZERO (he is literally my perfect character… other than the constant death fakeout thing yeah thats probably why i like the zero series’ story better than the x series’) [mega man]

- sonic (but like- but also… its complicated.), shadow (hes the coolest thing alive also a bunch of other stuff but uh ill save that for another time), silver, BLAZE [sonic the hedgehog]

- kris (the gender envyyy THE GENDER ENVYYYY), frisk, chara, susie, undyne, mettaton, berdly (what do you mean he reminds me of a certain someone? no he doesnt he doesnt at all no thats such a weird claim to make it could never be true), jevil, spamton [undertale/deltarune]

- wheatley (he is such a moron i love him) [portal]

- june egbert (ngl my friend assigned me as her and like… you know what maybe i also do kin her kinda), dave strider (what no i dont have a crush on dave strider no i dont like him at all no thats absurd what accusations are you making stop that no), JADE HARLEY, jack noir b1, sollux captor, karkat vantas, nepeta leijon, kanaya maryam, terezi pyrope, VRISKA SERKET (i stan her vriska did everything and nothing wrong), roxy lalonde, dirk strider [homestuck]

- im still missing a bunch probably

…still want more? wow you must be obsessed with me or something… im flattered 😏

too bad thats all the info youll get on me! hah! (unless you wanna like scrounge my blog for iddy tidbits like a creep)

ok idk have this tag for stuff i maek

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kozykricket · 3 months ago

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yknow its interesting though that like. with artstyles for games... its funny that i can get such nostalgia for an era that i wasnt even alive for. like. i remember a recent Astortion devlog, mr astortion said that ... he wasnt around for when pixel art was a technical limitation, but he just likes the style i find that i quite like that, as well as very low poly stuff. like, okay. games i like the artstyle of a lot that i'd consider emulating an older style? astroneer. hyper light drifter. celeste. maybe even pseudoregalia and like... the 2d sections in mario odyssey. i LOVE those. "so retro nerd emoji" i LOVE SO RETRO STUFF!!! yes theres certain pixel art styles i dont love as much as others.. but really i am a sucker for them a Lot. i love the art of stardew valley, but also of risk of rain returns in terms of actual older games, shoutouts to old pokemon mystery dungeon games and i love all pixel art, even if i feel different ways about different styles. some feel Rarer than others, like ive realized about the... someone said the Crosscode artstyle is reminiscent of SNES pixel art, and im like. hm. yeah actually. thats probably why it feels like, peculiar (not in the bad way) to me. because... you get tons of games using pixel art or replicating older styles, but theres not that many that replicate something like the era of super metroid or ... i would specify a final fantasy game but i dont know which one

#jake post

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zaptap · 3 years ago

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ive made a few of these bingo sheets and theyre fun so i decided to make one not just for e3 but also JUST for splatoon 3 (not just for e3 but for like the whole lifetime of the game). also heres my updated list of characters id like to see in smash, ordered generally by which id like more and/or think are the most realistic

since min min got in i took out helix, and since i couldnt decide whether to add in waluigi or madeline i added another row (realistically i dont think any indies are getting in but i threw some in anyway). also i was like “oh yeah maybe theyd put in a gen viii pokemon” so i threw in hatterene since thats one of my favorites.

also as for waluigi (and shovel knight for that matter) i think it would be nice to see an assist trophy get in just to break that rule. also i remember being super surprised he wasnt in brawl (back then i thought he and wario were equally important) and even though that was based on a wrong impression ive still felt like he should be in there ever since

notes about the bingos under the cut

really is about time for those n64 games, especially now that mario is dead so theyre free to release sm64 on it. game boy games would be nice sometime too

would also make sense to include banjo-kazooie in that, nintendos had a good relationship with microsoft lately and the total absence of anything banjo-kazooie on the switch is odd since it’s a dlc character (every other one has a game on switch they can use for cross-marketing, even if joker’s took a while) and i think the best explanation for that would be that theyre holding off for the nso n64 app (this is easiest from a technical standpoint because all they have to do is make a deal to use the roms)

when are they putting octolings in mk8d

xenoblade chronicles x is one of the only wii u games left that they could port (aside from ones that wouldnt make much sense like splatoon and ssb4) so i guess that might as well happen sometime. also monolith soft might be doing something else besides helping with splatoon 3

im not ready for metroid prime 4 (im over halfway through mp2 and therefore the trilogy as a whole) but it’s been a while, they might show it and it could even come out this year

hal apparently recently hinted at a new kirby game or something

the upgraded switch is obviously going to be called the Nintendo Switch ͥ since they already did the ds lite so theyre clearly naming everything in the family after the ds family, theres absolutely no flaw in this logic. idk if theyre showing it, but unlike 2019 they didnt say they werent showing new hardware (just that they were showing software, which could be taken as denying rumors, but they sometimes specify when certain things arent being shown)

metroid prime trilogy also might come this year. would make sense to release it before mp4 since not everyone is going to buy a wii u to get it (and at this point that doesnt get nintendo any money since they stopped making them)

where is detective pikachu 2. i hope it has the blue pikachu from that first tease they gave us in like 2014 (2013? that was a loooong time ago idk)

they said this was MOSTLY 2021 so i am absolutely getting my hopes up for splatoon 2

the two sinnoh games could likely be there

would be super cool if oddity came to switch. and almost as ironic as megalovania getting into smash

we havent seen the botw sequel for a couple years so we’re kind of due for an update on that

it’s ace attorney’s 20th anniversary this year so maybe theyre doing something. theyre already porting those games though so idk. maybe he’s getting in smash

whats with that watermelon mario render

i held off on watching a playthrough for ndrv3 on the off chance it came to switch and i could play a dangan ronpa game for real for once but it’s now been 4 years and we just passed the 10th anniversary of the series (albeit during a pandemic when i wouldnt expect them to have done anything) so it would be cool to see the series come to switch. i think if it still doesnt after this though i’ll just watch the playthrough, 4 years is long enough. amazed ive avoided spoilers this long, i still know next to nothing about the game

im about done with acnh but im still waiting on those splatoon items. and i ran out of storage in february so i need more of that too

nintendo did stuff for zelda’s 30th anniversary so i doubt theyre forgetting the 35th. maybe wwhd/tphd ports, idk

been a couple years since fire emblem, intelligent systems is probably up to something besides planning yet another paper mario spinoff

miyamoto forgot pikmin 4 in the oven 6 years ago and it got burnt to a crisp and thats why it hasnt come out yet because he had to start over

and splatoon

the inklings scared daft punk into quitting so now that theres no competition in the robot musician scene they should have a daft punk style group

i waited and waited and neither of my top two splatoon stages (flounder and d’alfonsino) came back in splatoon 2 so i hope just because splatoon 3 isnt in inkopolis doesnt mean they still wont return

would be sick as hell if there was a real hide and seek mode instead of just sticking to your own rules in private battles. havent played that since 2015 but it was super fun

show us the effects of the chaos world

i wanted mc craig to have a song in octo expansion and they didnt deliver. heres another chance

splatnet 3 baby

cant wait for nogami to do a funny 3 pose

abxy came back for splatoon 2.... am i gonna be that lucky again...?

salmon run doesnt make sense if youre friends with a smallfry but they could either change the story context (you just fight “evil” salmonids?) or replace it with an equally fun co-op mode

amiibo!!! i think i said this before but they should label them by weapons if these cephalopods dont have genders, would make more sense (the gendered ones had different weapons anyway)

returning characters!!!! would like to see everyone have a role of some kind

maybe #GearForAll wasnt successful in getting the emperor/spy/mecha gear, but perhaps theyll at least consider not making that stuff exclusive this time around

squid girl gear should be back. and they should call it a dress instead of a tunic because its a dress. and theres no gender now anyway

as ive said before... TRIPLIES!! you hold one in each hand and another in your mouth. and you can spin around like the tasmanian devil

remove splatfest tee annoyances: you should have a prompt at the end of a splatfest to pay to scrub your tee (to make sure you get the chunks) also it should be on a neutral brand so you dont end up with an overabundance of ink resistance up (or whatever else)

better online and cloud saves would certainly justify having a second splatoon game on the same console, as much as im loving that it exists

hopefully theres a global testfire again

sooner or later the workers will rise up and kill mr grizz

remember in splatoon 1 where if you had squid beatz (via the amiibo) you could “play” it in the lobby and change the music? then you were stuck listening to only bubble bath in splatoon 2? why did they take that option away they should bring it back

looking at those apartment buildings in the trailer i think it would be cool if you had your own room and could decorate it

an octavio redemption arc would be fun to see. in the manga he stole the zapfish because the octarians had an energy crisis, and in the end they worked out a deal to share the electricity

#nintendo direct #e3 #e3 2021 #splatoon 3 #splatoon #ssbu

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paper--machete · 3 years ago

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plum, melon, mango, kiwi, & tangerine please :3

plum - im gonna go with like 7pm. im usually not out around that time but when it gets around 7pm theres a certain vibe that you feel and everythings at peace yk

melon - disneyworld? idk this questions harder than i thought itd be. i guess the most magical thing i can think of is wifi connection. how does that shit work? i type these words and somehow they can be seen by anyone in the world instantaneously...... there’s gotta be some sort of magic involved

mango - i recently got hooked on this fancy schmancy underwear, saxx brand, i bought a pair of the super expensive platinum model ones because my friend wouldnt shut up about how good it is and good god he wasnt lying. its super soft, hugs my legs and ive already bought a second pair and probably will be buying a third in the future. i know boxers are a weird choice for comfiest clothes but TRUST me bro its so good

kiwi - ok three things i love hmm in no particular order

1. him

i want a plushie or something of this little guy so bad. hes adorable. i know i have fucked up radiohead brainrot because the natural response is to be freaked out but i dont care i love him

2. i love that my hair is dyed in a specific spot now because thanks to the roots i can tell how long my hair’s grown since we dyed it. its about an inch in the past two weeks :D

3. i loooooooooooooooooooove metroid dread. i just finished my third playthrough recently (first time was blind, second time was quick, third time was 100%) and holy shit i love it so much. the gameplay is fantastic, samus controls like a dream, but the best part about it imo is how much mercurysteam put into making it accessible and ripe for speedrunners by adding so many sequence breaks and leaving in glitches n shit on purpose. thinking about that recent patch where they removed an invincibility glitch ONLY BECAUSE it was possible for first time players to accidentally trigger it. like. wow. what a guy

tangelo - brown!

#asks

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victorian-wall-flowers · 6 years ago

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Heres some pro game collecting tips for beginners.

I've been collecting for a few years now and I've had the benefit of living near retro gaming shop were the owner has taught me alot about retro collecting. Heres some protips I've learned over the years and have been taught by other collectors.

1.) Inspect what you buy. Super obvious, but you'd pe surprised how often a small detail is overlooked causing you to loose out on an otherwise good deal. Ask if you can play test the game/console. Itll save save you alot of head ache especially if you dont know someone who can service consoles/discs.

2.) Certain consoles didnt see alot if good releases in the west. Region breaking some of them is way easier than you think. The Sega Saturn for example just needs a cheat device instead of a console mod.

3.) Learn some basic repair/maintenance skills. You'll save money on basic maintenance on things like misaligned lasers, loose disk trays, and other little things that can cause problems with your retro hardware.

4.) If you find a good deal on a game in good shape, get it if you can. You have no idea how many times I've missed out on some great new additions to my collect because I decided to hold off a week, and then someone bought it or the value skyrocketed. (Please dont spend food or rent money on games like I tend to do)

5.) DONT MAKE BACKUP DISCS/ BOOTLEGS OF DREAMCAST GAMES. It's super easy, but CDs are really bad for the motor in the laser.

6.) Just because a game looks prestine, doesnt mean it works. I ran into this alot with dreamcast for some reason.

7.) Be super friendly with local pawnshops, thrift stores, and gaming stores. You'll get better deals, sometimes first dibs, learn some new things, AMD maybe even find some new favorite games through recommendations. Several local shops have my number incase some cool games come in.

8.) Nostalgia is a bitch. It can pressure you into buying games for way too much money, or trick you into thinking the game you lived when you were 5 was the best game ever. Sometimes it's great when you get reconnected with something great from your past. (Metroid Prime, and Herdy Gerdy for me)

9.) This is especially true for fighting games, but try to find copies of games with the manual. Not only is it cool to have a complete copy of a game, theres usually some helpful or cool information in them.

10.) Some game cartridges and even systems, like the Sega Saturn. rely on a battery for saving. Keep some 2032 batteries on hand just incase and back up your saves on consoles that allow you to do so.

11.) Yes the Dreamcast disc reader is normally that loud, and yes that VMU in the controller is supposed to scream at you.

12.) Import consoles can be way cheaper. A Super Famicom goes for way less than its American sibling, and so do the games. Alot of games you dont even need to speak japanese to play!

13.) Buy the best video cables you can for your systems, especially if rocking a modern HDTV. VGA, SCART, COMPONENT, RGB all look way better than standard AV. You'll thank me for this one.

14.) Light Guns ONLY WORK ON CRT TVS. Games like House of the Dead, Duck Hunt, and Virtua Cop, will not work on an HDTV with their original releases. The Wii ports of light games are great because of this.

15.) The Sega Saturn is severely underrated once you factor in how cheap the accessories can be and hundreds of fantastic imports you can play.

16.) Yellowing of an old console (atleast in my experience) is typically caused by being in a smoking home. It's very easy to scrub the nastys off.

17.) Always keep some isopropyl alcohol and q tips on hand. Never know when and what you'll have to clean out a cartridge or console (especially if it's a disc based console.)

18.) Old dos games can still run from the original floppy disk/CD if you have the needed hardware and the DOS emulator DOSbox

18.) Most importantly, have fun. It's not about having the best collection. It's about enjoying video games and their history. Play your games, buy games that others wouldn't, but you enjoy. You like Crono Trigger on SNES? Awesome. You like that one weird Barbie game from PS1? That's just as cool. It's about YOUR enjoyment, not someone else's.

Feel free to add more tips to help some people out, and newbies, share your cool stuff with me! I wanna see what you got :)

#retro gaming #sega #nintendo #sony #snes #nes #ps1 #ps2 #xbox #dreamcast #saturn #genesis #megadrive #gameboy #gamecube

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franken-fan · 5 years ago

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3, 9 and 32 for obscure asks :)

3.) what movie/game/etc. helps you calm down?

i aaaalways default to the original metroid prime for the gamecube, that or zelda wind waker, also an og gamecube game

9.) do you believe in auras?

i dont know if i believe in like straight up color auras, but i do think that people give off certain energies that are very indicative of their personalities

32.) do you have any strange interests?

uhhh i mean i own alice cooper’s severed head so thats pretty damn strange but uhh in all honesty i guess it depends on your definition of strange, my friends say all the things i like are very niche but idk about strange

#sam answers

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pojkflata · 7 years ago

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i’m putting this under a cut because i dont wanna stretch ur dashboards, it’s not negative or anything its just long

you know one subject i love researching is how cultural differences affect the perception of certain characters or works in different parts of the world. usually i look at perceptions in america vs japan because that’s the easiest to find info on (however one example that doesn’t include japan that i know on first hand is from all of us to all of you and its popularity in sweden)

like, you know how kirby tends to look angry in american boxart? it’s because the japanese audience finds kirby more appealing when he’s cute and friendly, and americans like kirby more when he’s badass

japanese culture also kind of has a tall poppy syndrome going on (again, tall poppy syndrome is also very prevalent in scandinavia but i feel like it’s on the way out here) and has a very strong work ethic, so characters who are hardworking and humble end up being very relatable to the japanese audience. one such example being applejack from mlp:fim

there’s also a mutual thing going on with shigesato itoi’s work: americans love the mother series and don’t really care abt other things itoi has done, while the japanese audience usually ignores mother in favor of itoi’s other work

the reason franchises like f-zero and metroid have been ignored by nintendo lately is because the japanese audience don’t like them as much as the american audience

when it comes to pokemon, the kirby thing i mentioned applies. generally speaking, you will find americans loving the more intimidating and badass looking pokemon such as charizard and mewtwo, while the japanese audience loves the more cutesy pokemon (i can’t find proof for this but i suspect this is the reason electric rodents are a thing even though americans hate them with a passion)

and i’d say that as a whole, i usually lean toward the japanese end of the spectrum: cutesy kirby is great, i don’t care too much abt f-zero and metroid and i love cute pokemon so much that if a cute pokemon evolves into something ugly, it’s a huge turn off to me (lookin at u garchomp) and i either like or don’t mind the electric rodents

there are exceptions though: mother is my only exposure to itoi’s stuff but that’s mostly becase i haven’t gotten the opportunity to check out his other works.

but the one exception that i cannot stand is tingle. apparently the japanese like him because he’s funny? he’s not. he’s not funny, he’s not cute, and he is a big middle finger to tall poppy syndrome and strong work ethics. he breaks the pattern that usually makes a character liked within the japanese audience, yet he’s still loved? what the fuck. what the fuck. what the fuck. what the fuck

#triple d.txt

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johnclapperne · 6 years ago

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“What Is Creatine? How to Start Supplementing with Creatine”

Most supplements in the fitness world are a complete waste of money.

Some supplements aren’t even absorbed well, making for some expensive urine![1]

Others, like “weight loss pills,” can actually be outright dangerous.[2]

However, there are a few supplements which could be an exception to this rule.

And one of those supplements is creatine.

Creatine is one of the most popular and tested fitness supplements on the market.

Technically, it’s an amino acid derivative, but you don’t really need to know that.

That is, unless you are a chemist.

We get loads of questions here at Nerd Fitness on using creatine correctly, so today I’ll jump right in and give you the low down.

We’ll discuss everything you need to know about this supplement:

What exactly is creatine?

If you were to take creatine, how much should you use?

What time of day is best for taking creatine?

What are some of the best creatine supplements on the market?

Let’s go!

WHAT IS CREATINE?

Creatine is a naturally occurring substance found in muscle tissue.

Right now you have creatine, specifically creatine phosphate, in your body. All vertebrate animals do.

Yes, even corgis.

Think of creatine as an energy reserve your body taps into when it needs a boost. Or like, an extra energy tank in Metroid or Mega Man.

Our bodies naturally produce creatine in our liver, pancreas, and kidneys.

We also obtain it from certain foods, because all vertebrate animals contain creatine in their muscles.

So if you eat meat, you are getting extra creatine in your diet. Red meat in particular (beef, lamb bison), has the highest levels of dietary creatine.

(Don’t eat meat? Cool. Read our plant-based guide.)

Outside of diet, people often supplement with creatine. It’s one of the more popular supplements taken, and in fact, is THE most popular supplement taken amongst college athletes.[3]

The reason people supplement with creatine: the more creatine you consume – whether through nutrition or supplementation – the more will be found in your muscles.

Why should you care? What does creatine do, exactly?

WHAT DOES CREATINE DO?

Science time! To discuss supplementing creatine with any justice, we need to talk about ATP.

All cells rely on adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for energy. It’s our body’s energy currency.

Sort of like “Mana” in World of Warcraft or Magic: The Gathering, ATP is a fuel tank for doing awesome things like running, doing pull-ups, or summoning lighting.

But much like “Mana,” ATP can be replenished only so quickly by your body. With intense enough exercise, you’ll use more ATP than your body can produce. Which means you’ll run out.

It’s why people can only sprint at 100% maximum effort for a short amount of time. You just plain run out of juice, or ATP.

And depending on how you are exercising, your body will replenish its ATP through one of three ways:

Less than 10 seconds, for exercises like short sprints or heavy lifting, ATP is replenished with creatine phosphate stored in muscle tissue.

30 seconds to 2 minutes, for activities like swimming a few laps, ATP is replenished with glycogen found in your muscles.

Greater than 2 minutes, ATP is replenished with oxygen and glucose. You can think of endurance activities for this stage.

I get it, there’s a LOT more to it than that (The three systems often blend into each other, so it’s not so clear cut).[4]

Why I bring all of this up: your body can quickly convert creatine to ATP (in seconds).

This means the more creatine you have stored in your muscles, the longer you can utilize the phosphagen system – short and intense energy – to produce ATP.

It’s math: the more creatine you consume, the more will be found in your muscles. The more creatine you have in your muscles, the longer you should be able to sprint at max effort (or lift heavy, etc.).

Granted, there’s a point where your muscles become saturated with creatine and your body can’t hold anymore.

We’ll talk about dosage and absorption rates shortly. But first…

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF CREATINE?

There is good evidence to suggest that creatine supplementation does, in fact, allow for longer periods of intense exercise by helping to produce more ATP. [5]

One such study found that supplementing with creatine for 28 days allowed users to increase their bike sprint by 15% and bench press performance by 6%.[6]

This is generally why people supplement with creatine. If you can produce more energy for more intense exercises, you can workout harder.

Instead of stopping at 10 reps because of exhaustion, perhaps you can squeeze out that 11th rep if you are storing more creatine. Or instead of slowing down your sprint at 10 seconds, you keep going until 12.

If you’re looking to improve physically, being able to achieve one more rep or just a few more seconds of a sprint can be critical.

Creatine has a boatload of other benefits too:

Cell signaling. Creatine has been shown to increase satellite cell signaling, which helps your body communicate its “needs” better. I personally picture a little cell crying out “help me, I’m broken” when thinking about cell signaling. However, improvements in cell communication can have an impact on muscle repair and growth.[7]

Cellular hydration. Creatine helps your muscles retain water, which helps them work more efficiently.[8] Hydrated muscles perform better than dehydrated muscles, so creatine as a performance enhancer seems appropriate.

Muscle growth. Creatine supplementation has been shown to increase the hormone IGF-1, which is needed for muscle growth.[9] In fact, the International Society and Sports Nutrition states “Creatine monohydrate is the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement currently available to athletes in terms of increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training.”[10]

Don’t get thrown off by the “creatine monohydrate.” We’ll talk about types of creatine shortly. Just know that creatine has been shown to aid in muscle growth.

Brain health. While not technically a muscle, your brain stores creatine. Can more stored creatine help with brain health?

There is research and evidence that suggests some conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and epilepsy can all be helped by supplementing with creatine.[11] A creatine supplement might also help with memory and cognition in the elderly.[12]

Also, I have to highlight this study linking creatine supplementation with working memory and intelligence.[13] This makes sense because your brain also uses ATP, which remember, creatine helps produce.[14]

All of these studies are going to lead to a natural question…

SHOULD I SUPPLEMENT WITH CREATINE? IS TAKING CREATINE SAFE?

The use of creatine has been “extensively studied,” which makes my job of recommending it easy.[15]

The International Society of Sports Nutrition analyzed over 500 studies on creatine usage and concluded: “There is no scientific evidence that the short- or long-term use of creatine monohydrate has any detrimental effects on otherwise healthy individuals.”

However, we should acknowledge there is anecdotal evidence that taking creatine can cause kidney damage, dehydration, diarrhea, and an upset stomach.[16]

Kidney damage would be the most serious of these, let’s talk about that specifically for a moment.

Again, no study has been able to verify the claim of organ damage, and kidney function with creatine supplementation has been looked at specifically.[17]

However, if you have a history of kidney problems, it might be a good idea to talk to a doctor before you start supplementing with creatine. Better safe than sorry.

The other concern would be dehydration and diarrhea, which actually might have an easy cause and solution.

I mentioned earlier that taking creatine can help with muscle hydration. Because your muscles are holding onto more water, this leaves less water for other places. So if you start taking creatine, you should also increase your water intake!

Shoot for 16-18 ounces of water (a half liter) for every 5 grams of creatine you take. We’ll devote an entire section to dosage in just a moment.

It should also be noted, that being dehydrated puts extra stress on your kidneys. It can also cause diarrhea.

Drink water.

HOW TO TRAIN ON CREATINE

The reason creatine is so popular is because of its impact on athletic performance.

For you to receive most the benefits of supplementing creatine, you’ll need to work out. The creatine won’t lift that barbell for you.

The interesting thing about creatine: nearly any type of physical performance has been linked to improvement when combined with creatine supplementation:

Strength training. If you’re looking to grow strong, you need to lift heavy. Taking creatine has been shown to increase muscle strength.[18] In other words, taking creatine can help you lift slightly heavier or slightly more. If you do this consistently, you could start to achieve gains faster than you would without creatine supplementation.

This is the number one reason people take creatine.

Endurance. Despite creatine’s popularity for strength training, it can also be used as a tool for endurance athletes. That’s because creatine has been shown to increase glycogen stores.[19] If you remember our example from earlier on different metabolic ways to replenish ATP, you’ll recall that glycogen is a medium to long term energy source.

Meaning the more glycogen you have, the longer you can run. If you’re looking into improving an endurance sport, creatine might be worth checking out.

Recovery. Creatine has been shown to help reduce inflammation and muscle soreness.[20] Shorter recovery times, means you can get back to training sooner. More gym time can equal a stronger you.

No one likes being overtly sore. Creatine may help a little here.

When you start to learn more about creatine, it makes sense why so many athletes take this supplement.

However, I do need to mention that a majority of the benefits of creatine supplementation kick in with the conjunction of a regular exercise practice.

Supplements must be combined with a good solid workout! You don’t get big muscles or faster speeds from only protein and creatine.

They need to be combined with a proper training program!

If you’re not quite sure how to get going, I’ve got a few resources for you.

The first is our Beginner Bodyweight Workout.

It’s a circuit – where you quickly go from one exercise to the next – that you can start doing tonight in your living room or basement or spaceship. It’s one of our most popular routines here at Nerd Fitness, and it’s something you can do from your own home. No gym required.

If you want someone to help guide you – and hold you accountable – we can help with that too! We have an uber-popular 1-on-1 Online Coaching program where we work with busy people just like you to complete life overhauls. We can help you start strength training, offer nutrition recommendations, or provide you with accountability and structure to start working out from home. No matter where you need to go on your fitness journey, we can help guide you there.

If you want to learn if we are a good fit for each other, click on the big box below:

COMMON MISTAKES WHEN TAKING CREATINE

So far this article has more or less come out as an advertisement for creatine supplementation.

While there are a lot of great benefits of creatine, and not much in the way of studies showing harm, we need to talk about one potential downside.

Bloating.

Since creatine helps you retain water, you might feel a little bloated after taking it. Granted, hydrated cells perform better. But it can still be uncomfortable and cosmetically unappealing to hold onto a bunch of water.

The dosage and timing of taking creatine might be a factor, which we’ll talk about soon.

However, if bloating continues to the point that it’s interfering with your life, stop supplementing with creatine.

Speaking of creatine challenges, there’s also the fear that taking too much creatine could upset your stomach.[21]

We’ll get to proper dosage of creatine in just a moment, which might solve this.

It should be noted, that certain types of creatine are sold as “anti-bloating” and “easy on the stomach.”

Let’s talk about types and brands of creatine right now, by looking into these claims.

WHAT IS THE BEST CREATINE TO TAKE?

Creatine actually exists in multiple forms. We’ll go over each one briefly, plus give our recommendation on which type to take.

We’ll then leave you with a brand or two to try out.

First, some different types of creatine:

Creatine Monohydrate is the most common, and thus the most studied form of creatine.

It’s essentially a creatine molecule and a water molecule combined.

This would be the form of creatine we recommend. When we discuss the benefits and safety of creatine, we mean creatine monohydrate, because it’s the form that ends up being used in research.[22]

If there is a downside to creatine monohydrate, it would be that your body might have trouble absorbing all of it.[23] Which means you can pee a lot of it out. When people sell other types of creatine, they’ll generally claim their version has a better absorption rate.

Creatine Ethyl Ester is thought to be absorbed into the body easier than creatine monohydrate. There may be some evidence this is true.[24]

However, when it comes to body composition, creatine monohydrate still looks to be superior.[25]

Creatine Hydrochloride is another form of creatine that is touted as being absorbed easier than creatine monohydrate. You’ll also see claims that it won’t make you bloated.

Early evidence may back some of the claims of better absorption rates, but I would hold off on this form of creatine until more studies are done on its safety.[26]

Buffered creatine attempts to solve the stomach issues that are anecdotally reported as a side effect of creatine consumption. This form of creatine is mixed with an alkaline powder, with attempts to make it easier to digest. So far studies on the results of these benefits are mixed.[27]

Again, for now, I’d avoid buffered creatine until the research concludes its safety.

Hopefully, I convinced you to stick with creatine monohydrate. Again, it’s the most tested version of creatine there is, which makes it the most recommended.[28]

Want some recommendations on brands?

The brand of creatine monohydrate I personally take: Bulk Supplements.

dotFIT is another good brand for you to check out. MyProtein also carries a good choice. Both of those are creatine monohydrate options.

If you are going to take creatine, take creatine monohydrate. Which leads to the next question…

HOW MUCH CREATINE SHOULD I TAKE?

The question “How much creatine should I take?” will lead us to the topic of creatine loading.

The theory on creatine loading goes like this: at first, you’ll want to take more creatine so your..

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#“What Is Creatine? How to Start Supplementing with Creatine”

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albertcaldwellne · 6 years ago