#and then its so hard getting all the stuff out to reuse

[ganondoodle]

( totk rant?)

i have talked alot about my problems with totk in detail, as most of you probably know by now- but there really is a vibe of big ambitions but then not committing to it throughout the game

they want to have that building mechanic in it no matter what in a world that isnt in any way build around it, mister "freedom = good, linear = bad" guy wanting to give you ultimate freedom in the game (which imo leads to it being nothing again) but not committing to it and it creates a really toxic loop of things being more punishing than rewarding

you can build a fuckton of weird vehicles, but big parts, ESPECIALLY the glider, is on limited time so you cant actually go anywhere you want; they know giving you absolut freedom will remove any possible challenge- so they limit it by making the glider part timed, but then they cant do that for every single part bc it would be almost impossible to create anything that works well when every part is on a timer and you dont know how much of its lifespan is left bc you accidentally hit a fan once so now its uneven with the other one AND the more parts you have the more it uses battery, it makes sense, so you cant build soemthign super overpowered right at the start and its just kinda logical, but it leads to you being incentivised to build something with the fewest parts that dont have a timer-

then theres the battery power, which they try to limit by putting its upgrades behind multiple different currency exchanges, which is frustrating and leads to alot of grinding and gets overpowered really fast (it works against itself too that said currencies are all placed in the most undeveleoped and repetetive area of the game and are all never involved in anything interesting, its reused old enemy camps and the same mines everywhere, theres not a single reward in the underground that actually feels rewarding imo)

then you get the autobuild thing, so you can skip the building part of the building mechanic that is the main selling point of tha darn game, bc they know it can get frustrating to rebuild your things over and over so they give you a skip button for that if you are one of those players that doesnt like it BUT THEN they cant jsut let you do it for free so they give it a price, either spend the same currency you need for the exchange for the one you need for battery upgrades or spend parts you collected- both of which are things players generally save up and refuse to use (like the -never use any health potions bc what if i need it more at some point- thing is a problem for a reason)

then theres the added thing of the building stuff despawning incredibly quickly, im gonna guess its otherwise a performance problem (that the game is already struggling hard with) but it makes the entire already bad loop of trying to fix a problem with bandaids over and over even worse, you dont want to go too far away from your vehicles bc it will despawn and waste all that you used to build it, its like a leash to you stopping you from actually using it for more freedom- and potentially adds another annyoance bc you might try to bring it with you as far as you can, a monster truck in the depths you spend all your parts on gets stuck on the first bits of terrain you run into and you desperately try to get it out without destroying it, and if you cant you need to spend a ton of resources to build it again, even with autobuild

which is how you get the hoverbike, stupidly overpowered and boring but doing anything else is just less efficient in every way, it uses the least amount of battery, never breaks, is only 3 parts to rebuild

(i know me in particular doesnt enjoy the building in totk at all, for all those reasons and more ...... shiekah ........ and i know you CAN still choose to doing it more creatively, but you never need to, its entirely based around YOU making it fun for yourself, and i dont think its that controverisal to say a game should be fun and challenging without you having to create all the fun yourself and set yourself limit it all yourself)

similar goes for the dungeons, they heard you want the dungeons of old times back, but their strict adherance to freedom (which they themsleves contradict) leads to them being more breakable and less dungeony than even the titans in botw, they cant make it linear, thats BAD, so you can do any puzzle in any order, it cant build on any of the others bc you need to be able to do it when you want (the only one going slightly against that is the lightning one? maybe?), totks dungeons dont even limit that you cant climb them (even the titans in botw recognized that makign it easy to break so they are made of the same unclimbable material like the shrines and other shiekah tech) and the new abilities make them laughably easy to break ( .. im not even gonna mention the water temple one bc ... you dont even need to do anything there to break it to make it easier)

they wanted to cater to people wanting old dungeons, but didnt commit to it, making them WORSE dungeons than the titans with the only bonus being they got different designs and a longer build up to it (that often feels more like artificial filler than actually part of it ... like the missing lore tablet at the zoras and the missing part is a few steps away from it at best)

(ALL THE WHILE they DO limit you in SHRINES, you cant climb the walls again, for some reason, you can climb any other sonau structure though, why not that? idk, but dont limit it enough either bc you can break it all in really cheap and unsatisfying ways with ultrahand and time reversal alone- and they CANT limit those bc those abilities are the main ways to solve the 'puzzles'- botws abilities were .. well, limited in what they could do making them much more balanced, but moving sth with ultrahand and then stepping on it and time reversing it can be the boring solution to any 'puzzle', the best and only really good shrines are the ones that take all you shit bc it wactually forces you to be creative BC ITS LIMITING YOU)

(funnily enough a big possible reason why they removed the bombs from botw is bc of the glitches with it ...... like the new stuff isnt even worse and you dont even have to try lol)

people speculated on there being underground exploration due to the first trailer? people are worried about reusing the surface? ok they put the entirety of the surface map into the game again, but dont commit to it being a full thing, its horribly underdeveloped and filled with either nothing or reused filler material, while also neglecting changing anything substantial about the surface, and then the sky isalnds they even reduced and really there isnt anything of substance on there either besides the tutorial (hey, seriously, if one of botws most defining feature is its wide and empty sky why the hell would you decide to use that same map to put in your sky islands idea in), not commiting to one idea but doing all of them badly

ganondorf? well, they sure put him in there, but really what does he do? fuck all, the entire actual game hes jsut marinating in his own miasma juice for no reason, he doesnt have any presecne in the game, all he gets its a few scenes in the "story" that are told through memory cutscenes in a stupidly mega distant past i dont give a fuck about and all he does is go through the most stereotypical villain checklist of both actions and speech, they want ganondorf in there but dont commit to him ACTUALLY being there (listen i love ganondorf but really calamtiy ganon was more interesting than totk ganondorf ok im SORRY they did him so dirty)

they want dragon zelda and link 'losing' his arm be a big epic sacrifice but then .. again, dont commit to it, they tell you its oooh so irreversible and whatever and then at the end just fukcing reverse it, with no build up at all, and NONE of your own input, it just happens, and its not JUST zelda but also links arm, reversing it BOTH even and you dont even need to have all shrines (that are supposedly to cleanse your arm of miasma, i guess thats a non problem if you just stab the source of it to death instead)

they want it to be a sequel but also its own game, not committing to either and leaving us with this weird .... more alternative universe thing, vague references to botw but also acting like it never happened, slight changes, like zeldas hair, to make her seem different when shes exactly the same (you cant imply waifu zelda would ever age and not look like a little doll) and ignoring anything about her character from botw (no im serious, ooh shes nerdy for 3 minutes at the start and one time in a written thing from some servant of da royals in the past and thats it, interest in the shiekah? whos shiekah?- if anything her character is reversed, really having even less agency than in botw, that one decision to dragon is like, it really doesnt matter and not really her decision bc she didnt have a choice and it gets reversed anyway without her even remembering)

even retreading all of botws points (but doing it worse imo), but then attempting to differentiate itself from it by removing a big thing that made it what it is (shiekah) without giving it any or any sensible explanation among more, not committing to either sequel or AU and so doing both incredibly badly

(not quite the point but what i have been questioning for a while ... they way raurus abilities work ... so do all sonau have those? was it just a normal thing to have? could all sonau just glue shit together and jump through ceilings? he never uses anything of that when we see him? why is it just in the shrines at the start and its like .. he just gives it to you ...?? huh??is it part of his arm .. jewelry??)

(anyway, tin foil hat moment but it just feels like either there was a huge internal fight about everything or they neglected it in favor for something else, like say, a movie that earns them billions and is faster and cheaper to make than a game... or just dont care anymore i guess, idk which is worse tbh)

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 07/09

Anonymous asked: also, thats pretty distinctly not vriskas handwriting (page 2196). the hell is terezi even talking about?

Terezi, for god's sake.

@manorinthewoods asked: I'd like to note that Pyralspite's eyes are either an eighth the brightness of Alternia's sun, or Pyralspite has the ability to psychically burn out people's eyes just by wanting to. Probably the former. ~LOSS (30/8/24)

I should have guessed that Vriska's cruel and unusual punishment for Terezi was yet another case of Mindfang Roleplay.

I think it's likely that Pyralspite does have some sort of ocular ability. After all, Terezi's lusus had a vision-based power, and she's probably Pyralspite's direct descendant.

@gogogoat495 asked: Say, what do you think of the reuse/mix of animation and music from Dave: Ascend to Seer: Ascend? Is it a simple callback or are there deeper parallels between the characters and story beats?

Well, they are both lead-ups to a climactic fight between 'siblings'. Other than that, though, I'm not really sure. Dave and Terezi have always got on very well, but I can't really see any direct parallels in their personal arcs.

@manorinthewoods asked: Mindfang's classism is ridiculous. This woman straight up said 'one of such middling 8lood' about someone literally one step below her on the ladder. If she were Tavros, she would be oppressing Aradia so hard. ~LOSS (29/8/24)

In Terezi's own words, she's 'a little too teal' to be considered a true highblood. I think there's a hard line of separation here, where anyone below Vriska's caste is considered a midblood at best.

In other words: to be a blueblood, you really need to be a blue-blood.

@manorinthewoods asked: Nepeta, whose handle is arsenicCatnip, uses arsenic's atomic number as a significant element of her quirk. This implies that arsenic has the same atomic number in Alternia as on Earth, which in turn means that, at the very least, the two universes likely share a periodic table. Odd, given how one has widespread psychic abilities and the other doesn't. ~LOSS (29/8/24)

I think it makes sense that Earth inherited some of its scientific concepts from Alternia. It wouldn't be the first thing we inherited!

@heliotropopause asked: TG: maybe if you kill her at least we can finally stop obsessing over her Hah! homestuck's been over for over for almost eight years now, and people are still doing vriscourse to this day. There is no escape, i'm afraid.

'Vriscourse' is kind of killing me. I'm kind of disappointed that this is my first time hearing the term, because I'd probably have been using it this whole time.

@probablyapineapple asked: im not completely caught up on reading this liveblog yet (currently up to s67) but i think youre on track to understanding these characters better than literally anyone

Well, thank you! I have, admittedly, posted some rather hot takes in the past, though. If I recall correctly, my Act 5 shipping chart was my most controversial post to date.

@bladekindeyewear asked: Back during these times in the comic, there were broad theoryposting camps advocating for both narrower and broader interpretations of Aspect domains/powers. I know you're avoiding as much outside influence as you can, but I'm wondering if maybe after the end of this Act, you could accept some community Theorydiving from around this time that could unlock more tools for you to understand hidden evidence for Aspect Stuff you might have missed? […]

I'm definitely considering something like that. Specifically, I'd love to take a look at some of the comic's early theories - ones that had already been disproven by this point in the comic. That'll allow me to get into the headspace of Homestuck's earliest theorists, without influencing my own as-yet-unproved theories.

@manorinthewoods asked: Perhaps an older Legislacerator's job is less actually trying to pursue justice, and more going through cargo cult-esque rhythms of justice, taking its trappings and trying to bring it about while having no understanding of what they're actually doing and what the meaning of their actions is. Maybe, like the Subjugglators, they're an entire social class/blood color based around a single cult? ~LOSS (28/8/24)

I think Dave was pretty on the mark when he described early legislacerators as bounty hunters. Maybe they assumed something marginally closer to an attorney's role in Alternia's modern age - but in Redglare's era, the ideal legislacerator was a violent thrill-seeker, more concerned with bloody combat than courtroom paperwork.

@violetsquare111 asked: I do wonder how big, exactly, is the multiverse in Homestuck. I guess that's a bit of a weird question if there are "infinite universes"… but infinite potential doesn't mean infinite already-existing universes, does it? For some reason I always thought of the amount of Sburb sessions/universes being fairly small, in the grand scheme of things. Less than a million, maybe. I really don't know where I got that from, and there's probably some throwaway line in the comic contradicting it, but if applicable then it's another possible explanation for how Perfect Jack would be one-of-a-kind.

It's not impossible. That would imply that the overwhelming majority of sessions are doomed to fail - but, honestly, they might be! After all, neither of the sessions we've seen so far have been unambiguously successful.

@iris-in-the-dark-world asked: i had a dream that you went from page 3703 to page 7053 in one day

You dreamt of Sally on Adderall.

@spiddermen asked: hihi i just caught up with your liveblog and im so happy to have a chance to reread hs along with you, the first time i read it was when i was like… twelve? so nine years ago? and pretty much all of it went over my head. but now im finally getting to appreciate this masterpiece and your observations are making a lot of stuff click for me as well. so its cool to finally get to understand how freaking good this story is and i cant wait to see you react to some of the crazy later stuff also i hope this doesnt trip the spoiler sensor but some of the answers to the questions you're asking are only answered in sequel material so i do really hope you'll read those, they're ignored by a lot of the fans but they're honestly really really good and i feel like you're the kind of person who would get the intended experience out of them. and psycholonials as well! everyone ignores it but it practically is homestuck (2) to me

Thank you! And yeah, we've talked a bit about this before. Cat and I had a discussion about the subject back in Act 3, and I'm well aware that this comic isn't going to answer all of my questions. Honestly, it would be pretty surprising if it did - I've been digging really deep into aspects of the comic that are clearly just meant to be background details.

As for whether I'll be dipping into Hussie's other projects, or Homestuck's non-canon material - I'm certainly going to check them out, but only time will tell whether they get the full liveblogging treatment. That said, if it addresses questions of mine that Homestuck itself doesn't elaborate on, consider my interests piqued.

@manorinthewoods submitted: I sorta skimmed Homestuck, and missed out on basically all of the Flashes going through, so I totally missed the fact that WQ wrote a romantic fanfic about herself, which is really funny. It does have a serious aspect, though - it implies something about her relationship with WK, no? I suspect they may be friendly with one another, but fate gives their relationship a bit of tragedy - as well as a bit of 'we are simultaneously both forced to be in a romantic relationship and also only being co-rulers'. Is WQ<3WK a thing? Doesn't have to be. I suspect it may be something like WQ<>WK […]

Plus, Carapacians are clones, so it's not like the Royals need to make any heirs. Really, they only need to be co-workers - but the idea that they might have a moirail-adjacent relationship is very cute.

Anonymous asked: Grimdark Rose: "Vengeance and rage are all I live for now, seeing my dead mother makes me feel nothing, I will-" John: Exists Rose: "OMG bestie hiiiiii" ~DJ

First Vriska, now Rose. It seems like John's the perfect calming influence for any out-of-control Light Player.

Anonymous asked: Not sure if you noticed, the tapestries about the kids' quests are all referencing the [S] pages with misattributed quotes associated with each kid (pages 82, 307, 444, and 2988). The quotes are, respectively, from Maxims by Francois de La Rochefoucauld, The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, Drop It Like It's Hot by Snoop Dogg, and possibly an original piece by Hussie ending with a line from Hamlet. I don't think any of them mean anything.

The quotes might not be Hussie originals, but they definitely seem to evoke the kids' respective Quests. Dave's quote is a bit of an exception, though...

Anonymous asked: "They wait for he who would drop it while it's hot whilst the pimp's in the crib." I mean, you laugh NOW, but knowing Andrew and this comic, can you honestly say this won't end up having an incredibly important and literal meaning? @walkerbehindyou asked: Is there a quest more suited for Dave than to show up at his denizen’s (certainly the pimp of LOHAC) palace in the past and drop straight fire?

...but perhaps that means it's foreshadowing something we haven't seen yet. If Dave ends up making a Choice, I wouldn't put it past him to rap an answer to his Denizen.

@iris-in-the-dark-world asked: the soundtrack of the grimdark rose segment really gets to me. i'd highly recommend the first few songs of that album

Black Rose/Green Sun was a great song. It evoked a very different feeling than anything we've heard before, and really highlighted how alien Rose has become, now that she's been fully submerged in darkness.

@manorinthewoods asked: Ooh, here's an idea - when you do the Sahlee-and-Sally Let's Play, set it in an alternate Sburb that's based on all of your incorrect theories. Every Land has a God Tier Moon orbiting it, for instance. Would be really cool - your theoretical Sburb has a lot of super fun stuff in it. ~LOSS (12/8/24)

Oh, I like that idea. It means I can finally bring back the anti-Skaia, which is probably my favourite since-disproven theory.

Anonymous asked: I never realised that the pillow that Rose uses then is the one from her mum - well spotted :,(

A mother will do whatever is best for her children.

And a daughter will remember what was best about her mother.

Anonymous asked: So. Do you think that a Horrorterror-Boosted Rose has any chance against a First Guardian Prototyped Jack Noir? We've seen that if left alone Jack can destroy Entire Worlds and his teleporting is Nigh Instant, plus who knows how far he can go in a single teleport! […]

Dark Rose is arguably a God-Tier level threat, but we've just seen Jack one-shot a God Tier. I don't think she has a hope - there's only so many bullet-time stabbings she can take!

Anonymous asked: its really interesting to see you say that rose saying she felt mom was a sister and a mother at once made u feel like there must have been camraderie. for me, it reinforced the idea that moms parenting forced rose to act like a peer to mom when it came to her alcoholism? in the sense that moms alcoholism took her out of commission, and made it so that rose had to take care of herself in a lot of ways that a parent would, putting them on similar levels. So its interesting to see a different interpretation!

It's not impossible. To me, Rose's monologue reads as if she's trying to express her admiration of her mother. This is the first time she's admitted to having positive feelings for her guardian, and I think she's regretting that she never voiced these feelings to the woman herself, before it was too late.

That's just one reading of her words, though. I think her monologue here is meant to be ambiguous, just like the Lalonde mother-daughter relationship always was.

@manorinthewoods asked: Ooh, you're thinking of a Carapacian player, huh? That would be interesting - imagine if they go in with, like, complete knowledge of how Sburb works, so they prototype something super strong in order to buff the Ring that they then steal and equip. ~LOSS (12/8/24)

That would be interesting. Carapacians are the only species where the game can't fully compensate for the power of your race by buffing Underlings, since buffing the Underlings would also buff the Ring I'm abusing!

@skelekingfeddy asked: re: troll romance: i generally lean towards xenopsychology, mixed in with a secret 4th thing (humans can also feel troll romance), with a little dose of propaganda, and also an undercurrent of parody (because Hussie. everything has an undercurrent of parody (e.g. pretty much all the trolls are based on internet stereotypes). i COMPLETELY disagree with the notion that the quadrants are made up unhealthy bullshit. i think theres a genuine evolutionary biological origin for the quadrants if matespritship is all about Companionship, then kismesissitude is all about Competition, Rivalry, a drive to push yourself and make yourself better. both are generally healthy and beneficial in their own ways. the evolutionary basis for moirallegiance and auspisticism is the need for pacification, a better half, to prop up matespritships and kismesissitudes and keep them from being interfered with (as described in-comic). each quadrant is the result of a genuine primal, biological urge

I don't necessarily think the quadrants are fabricated, but I do think that the version of them that exists on Alternia are unhealthy more often than not, particularly when it comes to black romance. Monogamous auspisticism requires an overwhelming amount of emotional labor, all the kismesissitudes we've seen have been toxic at best, and there has to be a better way to do this.

Anonymous asked: My brother's been going through your liveblog recently and it's been fun getting to re-experience it through him, especially being reminded of all the theories you have that are shockingly accurate in very inaccurate ways. The two that come to mind are your theory that Jade was engineered in a lab (which, she kinda was, but that's not unique to her) and that John's version of Sburb is bugged (the meteors, it turns out, were a part of the game as it's meant to be played, but this whole 'tumour' thing sure isn't). Also, while I'm here, going to recommend checking out Temporal Shenanigans by Rachel Rose Mitchell, which is a gorgeous fansong about Aradia that shouldn't have any spoilsies at this point. I would also rec PhemieC's music with the caveat that many of their songs are spoilery - while most of the troll-specific ones should be alright, I'd definitely say to get someone else to go through them first to be certain. Hope you're doing well!! And I look forward to seeing more of your liveblog if and when you return to it! -Megido

Oh yeah, I was talking about how Jade was made in a lab! I'd totally forgotten about that theory.

You know, her Dreambot is actually interesting in retrospect. The bed that controls it looks suspiciously like a Quest Bed, which makes me wonder just how much Grandpa knew about Sburb's lore, and what exactly he was trying to do here.

Anonymous asked: I find it a bit funny (in good way) how aspects of your troll and human sona are kinda opposites, like life and death type of thing, sweet

Really, it's mostly just me hedging on my own Aspect. Plus, having two 'sonas lets me explore twice as much Sburb lore, allowing me to come up with two weapons, Lands, Title powers, and the like.

Within the hypothetical context of the fic, I've been thinking a lot about why there'd be two Sallys. Like, was one 'sona partially cloned from the other? If so, who was the original? Technically, the Alternian version would have existed 'first', but the existence of time travel ensures that that doesn't mean much.

@manorinthewoods asked: Rather appropriate that Rose's weapon is her Thorns. ~LOSS (10/8/24)

Ayyy!

@ipunchvampires asked: "You should understand [Rose has] been corrupted by various entities with some rather questionable motives," says Entity with Rather Questionable Motives corrupting her. Kind of the perfect Doc Scratch line, honestly.

Doc Scratch is an awful person, but he's still a funny fuck.

@heliotropopause asked: wait. is that *Guybrush Threepwood* in the boat there??? @elkian asked: At the risk of being the 88th person to say something, the troll in the dinghy is a Guybrush Threepwood cameo (using the more cartoony style from Curse Of Monkey Island etc.). Man's truly unfortunate, or maybe he's lucky for not being a focal character? XD Anonymous asked: that 'one random motherfucker on a little dinghy' is in fact, guybrush threepwood from the monkey island series, thrown in as an easter egg by one of the artists who made assets for the flash @sanctferum asked: the troll on the dinghy is Troll Gybrush Threepwood. the guest artist for that scene confirmed this on the now-defunct MSPA forums IIRC

Ahahaha. Mystery solved, I guess!

I've been wanting to play Monkey Island for some time - and now I need to, so that I can understand the true backstory of of GY'BRSH TRPWUD.

Anonymous asked: I love this section, because I think it really shows something about Dave (and Rose). Because Dave just says whatever pops into his head, when he's getting command prompts, he just repeats them uncritically. (That also supports that when he said he didn't love his Bro, it was his honest reaction) @ben-guy asked: David "Zero Filter" Strider was absolutely not ready to have thoughts beamed directly into his head by an exile lmao @krixwell asked: It's so funny to me how when thoughts are incepted into Dave's subconscious mind, they just come falling right back out his mouth at the first opportunity. Filter, what filter? Those sunglasses don't hide shit.

Reminds me of his stress-rambles from early on in the comic. The reason he wears those shades is, I think, because he is a naturally expressive person - he just doesn't want to be.

[glutko]

Today, on Echoes of Wisdom's release day, I'd like to talk about THE most obscure place in the Zelda series.

It's Durod.

...What? You don't know Durod?

Hm. I don't blame you...

It was only mentioned in a character's name in an official Dutch guide of Zelda's Adventure that was only published in its entirety across the last three 1999 issues of the CD-i magazine CD-interactief, which itself was reduced to a section in a different magazine.

Okay, let's sort this information out.

Like many other CD-i games, Zelda's Adventure had a guide that named a bunch of characters and enemies, and - at the very least - was based off official material. Characters such as Alice and Kron the Peddler have unused voice lines where they say their names, and these names are used in the guide. (A similar thing happened with Kulvan, the blacksmith from TFoE).

Due to the late release of Zelda's Adventure (1996) in the CD-i's lifespan, there were almost no publications that published the guide... apart from the Dutch CD-interactief magazine. It posted small tidbits from the guide in its tips and tricks section until, by 1998, it was reduced to a section in the Oog & Oor magazine. There, it started posting full guides of CD-i games, including Zelda's Adventure.

This was one of the last guides they published before ending, and this is where Durod comes in. According to the guide, one of the White Steed Lodge patrons sitting around the table is named Debblin van Durod - in a Dutch name, "van" indicates a person's place of origin:

Another character has a partially translated Dutch name; Bitterbeck de Bergman.

So we have Debblin, a person from Durod. Cool! The guide might also say they're a deerhunter, but it's hard to tell as I don't know Dutch and had to machine translate it.

And that's, um... literally all we know about Debblin and/or Durod. No other NPC mentions Durod, not even in unused dialogue. The lone person at the table you can talk to (the brown-clad man who I'm assuming is Debblin) reuses the owner's dialogue line, even though there appears to be dialogue for him in the game files:

And, as far as we know, no other place in Tolemac is called Durod, not even in the guide or the known development assets.

This person and the land they hail from are complete mysteries, even within the absolutely anomalous series entry that is Zelda's Adventure.

Who in the world is Debblin from Durod?!

Maybe we'll find out some answers if more Zelda's Adventure pre-release stuff gets released. But until then...

[imkazz]

finished saiki k and i am not coping well

yeahh i get why they said theres no development until the last 2 episodes. because i have thoughts. more than i had for season 2 or season 1.

@peapodsinspace ing because this isnt from discord and i was freaking out with you real time when i was watching loll

cannot believe this is only about three episodes. how is this just three???? im just going to go in chronological order and hope for the best and barely proofread loll

the future talks. ohhh i am ill about the future talks. saiki kusuo has more pressing matters than his future and it kills me every time. because he cant focus on himsef- there is an active volcano that he has always been rewinding time for. he cannot have the time to think about university or a future career until this is all over, which is so unlike me (a normal teenager) that it makes me ill because this is what a normal teenager should be thinking about, not the fucking country that you have to save by yourself. and at least i was so happy that they were crowding around kusuos desk until they started talking about the very future that he has to save, and then i was even happier to hear that kuboyasu and hairo want to become teachers because those types of characters always kill me (despite the fact that the anime also made fun on the fact that it is a trope too) and they are both really good picks from the gang to actually become them. i also enjoyed the quiz game they did to guess kusuos college- teruhashi was the only one to get a ‘hm good guess’ out of kusuo, and his chosen places are literally ‘economics’ ‘literature’ ‘literature’ and the fact that everyone said “thats so normal”in distaste implies that they believe that kusuo could do better. and then THIS.

and the fact kusuo thinks “maybe this could go on forever…” with a smile on his face???? like my dude you are wayy too attached to them noww..

ok so it seems i might even just. be doing a paragraph per episode. now.

the robot?? i agree with what i said my first watch: WHY IS THE SAIKI FAMILY SO DEPENDANT ON GENERATIVE AI AND ROBOTS. i wasnt sure which one it would do- if it would fool all his friends or if it would be too suspicious for them. but i was dead wrong- it says ‘yare yare’ too many times and it is obviously saiki kusuo in the flesh (get it?). i was growing more concerned (and out of breath from laughing) at all the shenanigans that happened along with how kusuo attempted to get rid of it, showing a bit more of his battle iq and intelligence along with his relationships with the other psychics, through his quick strategizing along with utilising his abilities to help in specific situations, along with the relationships he has cumulated with them in order to get them to trust him and follow his word when serious times arise. not only that, but kusuke gets additional information about all of that along with us the audience because he is also a part of the audience (my brain hurts from some of this stuff). 

then for the battle. i am illllllll. so. for many many episodes, we have watched kusuo try and make plans to avoid his friends in all sorts of situations. but this bit? its golden. he finds a disadvantage from not knowing what toritsuka has been doing all week, and that temporarily weakens him until he comes up with a new plan on the given information he knows and has pieced together himself, and then used it to get his body back. then not only that, he begins to fight without his limiter. and we know its hard even with the limiter!! we watched him struggle to throw balls, and then practice to ensure that he could control his strength. amazing already, but then he begins to turn a bad situation into something favourable especially with toritsuka in the mix. because both saiki brothers are smart af. even if toritsuka isnt of use, kusuke reuses him as a hostage and then when that doesnt work, himself and the limiter (all things important to kusuo). kusuo is able to put together that the bomb was fake because kusuke spoke for too long and he remembered aiuras word and trusts her power. 

and then the battle plan is so smart?? kusuo is able to use his disadvantages as advantages (teleportation doesnt need the 3 minute cooldown), and then purposefully drained his strength to be able to pick up the limiter and put it back into his head without breaking it. he could read toritsukas mind and realised that he didnt actually hate kusuo (i found how this was shown as really cool too? instead of the background it was soft shapes and colours implying friendliness as it showed both of them). he made enough of a friendship with toritsuka to get him not to hate him even after being brainwashed. kusuo dragged out the battle to try and gauge what the cat tank could do. AND HES SEVENTEEN. what shocked me further was the fact that he took out the limiter. which he thought would reveal his powers to the world. sure its an asshole thing of kusuke to say/do to kusuo but he at least disabled it a long time ago. but im more focused on kusuo. he took it out. he took it out. thats HUGE. he really thought he would be letting go of normalcy and never be able to go to school without being worshipped. and he did it on his own terms. i was so happy to see how he was smiling and happy thinking about his friends too.. like kusuo was happy with the time he spent with them as a normal kid. but then he was so ready to blast them with full power after both of their comments lolll. and i also found it interesting how kusuke took off his telepathy blocker when explaining why he disabled it so that his brother could know he was telling the truth. and the fact that they moved past the fact that kusuke made a limiter that completely erases kusuos powers?!??!?! and i was confused when toritsuka and kusuo moved past it so easily but. thank fuck they revisited that tidbit???? what made me sadder was the fact that kusuo wanted it so badly, and yet couldnt. because of the volcano. it was good foreshadowing when kusuo thought ‘move forwards.. theyre right. i should clean this up quickly’ in the first part of the episode and then to have this too.. the emotional turmoil is too much. on one hand he could get rid of powers he hates and yet he still has to save the world which he has been putting on hold because he needs more power. like yeah please kill me now, especially that last interaction between toritsuka and kusuo. like yeah hes fake mad at toritsuka at first but then he has to give his genuine thanks because there was no way kusuo would have won if it was just himself, as toritsuka was a key part of the battle from his new powers to his status as a hostage to the fact he broke past the brainwashing.

and when they finally start planning that trip (callback to the first segment of episode one!!) and they decide upon the place where an active volcano has tried to blow up for four years. absolute madlads. kusuo diverted them at first but its a comedy anime too- ofc they are going to oshimai.

and everyone asking why he cant go is hillarious too.. “what plans do you have?” “im sure its nothing important!” ‘im saving the world?!’ yeahhh he has to go, because he cares. he doesnt want them to cancel what they think is their last fun time together before third year. its not because his mom forced him. its because he loves them. the cumulation of four years with these losers has made kusuo soft for them.

when they actually get to oshimai, i would have loved to watch their shenanigans. im sure they are chaos incarnate while on a play date with each other, but i really liked how the anime showed the tension that kusuo had. even as the rest of them were having lighthearted conversations, there was always a pit in my stomach as kusuo continued to refer to the mountain and was generally downcast while the group did all of those activities i would have previously have laughed at if it was not for the huge threat right there and despite the fact that kusuo looks the same as always (silent, in the background, neutral face) i felt nervous because he had said so just barely a minute ago and hadnt mentioned again. its shown through the way he allowed teruhashi to do as she pleased, how he would look at the mountain constantly, not say anything mentally to the audience.. it was offputting and really set the vibes. his face reflected in the window, with owari yama right there too? perfect way to end the segment.

i found it clever how saiki used a previous part to help him: the robot. he now knows that nobody suspects anything if he just says ‘yare yare’ and he now uses this with his hypnosis (seen in many episodes, such as s1 ep 24) to mesh together a perfect stand in (according to his friends OOF). and then he uses the clones (from s2 ep22) to help with the eruption (s2 ep13). not only that, his plan is pretty good. he has already used toritsuka as a stand in (when kusuo turned kaido and nendo into stone) and then aiura has already helped him with a previous eruption which he had to turn back time on. it was also a callback to kusuo in the previous episode: no way kusuo would have asked kusuke for help on how to solve the volcano problem if they had not cleared some things up after the fight, and no way would he have if there was no power canceller, and no way if the limiter being pulled would still tell the world about his powers. this is a big climax towards things that the plot has been working towards, and it is a mix of everything: many specific instances, his training, previous lore, character development, his friends and family, kusuos priorities, his emotional stances. they all played some sort of part in his plan to enable time to move forwards.

i was concerned to see him beat up (because looookkk hes just two years older than mee and also pretty oppp) but i was so fuckin pumped that time was moving forwards and he was also pretty happy, given the smile. and the joy immediately left. because everyone showed up, and then to show that alternate universe where things were almost the same but slightly different?? and the fact that kusuo literally told all of them about his powers because he knew he could go back in time and erase all of that? its killing me because he did that because he knew he could experiment for a reaction and then erase it as if nothing actually happened. and it really seems like theres no getting out of it right. his friends saw him, they see the clones, they see toritsuka faking as kusuo, they see the real kusuo holding the ground and preventing the eruption. theres no lying to get out of it. but the same as i thought from the shipwrecked episodes, of course saiki kusuo gets out of it. kaido realises it too and he just wants the truth because he trusts kusuo so much. its been there since the beginning, how much kaido cares about saiki and wants him to be happy because kusuo has made kaido happy, and how much kaido values their friendship. he has always wanted kusuo to remain safe and happy and to be friends with each other.. we see how the rest of them just want kusuo to tell the truth, because they will love him no matter what. and it was shown through the alternate timeline, too, how they dont care about the powers, even if they dont understand, that they know kusuo and know that he has their best interests in mind because he is their friend. and somehow its nendo who is the reasonable one, we have seen him be kind and understanding towards both kusuo and others at so many instances but it is this one that touches kusuo because nendo has always been there for him, throughout all sorts of situations. sure he is dumb, but nendos strength is not athletics. it is his kindness. 

then the fact that everyone agrees with him.. theres no way this is a comedy anime. this is a slice-of-life coming-of-age angst/horror anime which has comic relief.  it was shown through the alternate timeline, too, how they dont care about kusuos powers, even if they dont understand, that they know kusuo and know that he has their best interests in mind because he is their friend. and he knows that even if it is a different timeline, that they would still remain the same in the stance. so he speaks. with his mouth. its huge!! his eyes are shiny because this is absolute confirmation that they would love him even if they knew that about him, because he has given them the same treatment- he has seen a huge part of them that they dont share, and he still loves them, so the opposite is also true. ..but he cant share it yet, not until his powers are gone of course. and it makes sense, of course. if i was one of his friends, i would prefer learning about that after his powers are gone- and this is a decision he is sure about. kusuos powers have caused him so much suffering. while he has many typical teenager traits, he is all in all, incredibly different due to his enlarged responsibilities over himself and the world. sure, his powers have helped him in many situations, but for kusuo, the bad outweigh the good and this has been his ultimate goal for a very long time. while removing his powers will not get rid of the weirdness surrounding him, it will get rid of a lot of the pain and stress. and i was so fucking excited when hairo said that kusuo called everyone over- because we the audience know what will be happening. and it would definitely be for the best, as kusuo really wants to apologise for many of the things that happened because of his powers. 

and then the fucking window.

then this is why im very happy for the watch order to be posted. because this cliffhanger is too much without reawakened episode 6.

i find it so funny that while kusuo has lost his powers, that he still has the ability to break the fourth wall. when asked if his delusions are the same as kaido in middle schooler syndrome, he has to reply with an “absolutely not”. i love how he is feeling the effects of losing his powers. he has relied on his powers as another limb his entire life, and they are suddenly gone. even if they are overall bad, he still used them daily and isnt used to life without it because he was forced to live with it previously, meaning that he would find some use through the disadvantages. i also really liked how while kusuo could very blatantly feel the loss, he could also appreciate the beauties of normal life. actually be able to see his friends rather than just a skeleton, probably have a peaceful sleep, any of those powers he couldnt turn off have finally done so and he has a lot less weight as a result. it is really interesting to watch him try and get out of situations he would have previously avoided using his powers, as he has to rely on his own intuition and chance rather than himself and his abilities. 

but it is an anime, and god hates him, so kusuo is stuck with teruhashi on their project. he sees the disadvantages everywhere- things that normal people are used to but he is not, and it seems like good representation for disability- having something and then suddenly having it gone, so you are only left with routines that are no longer possible because you are missing a key component. and not only that, there are hinders towards kusuos journey. 

he gets a fucking bookshelf toppled over onto him. huhhhhhh???? would you really go so far as to kill a kid for accidentally becoming partners with a girl for one school project?? and i was also confused until i saw nendo- in all his glory. seriously, this guy is insanely good at protecting people without a single thought beforehand (he has to get it from his dad right). and not only that, we watch toritsuka and kuboyasu against the bullies- two people insanely good at beating people up. this is a great place to show some character development- nendo gives a speech to kusuo about how even the strongest can need protecting, and it is shown with how nendo instinctively went to protect him from the bookcase and toritsuka/kuboyasu went to beat up the ones who caused it.. finally kusuo himself can get protected by his friends. because he isnt used to it in the slightest. he desperately wanted to get rid of the powers without fully realising how much he relied on them for daily life. even in dangerous situations he would subconsciously rely on powers he doesnt have anymore, and he even realises it and doubts his decision. but nendo comes in and saves it and i find that very precious and important to kusuo to realise that he doesnt always have to be the overpowered one because there are people around him who still care regardless.

but it doesnt last. he cannot even get used to having no powers because they come back only two days later. the way it was presented was pretty cool, too, with how kusuos hand made an indent into the wall from where he slammed it, to the thought bubble from kusuke. and i also thought the way the dawning horror was shown was pretty cool. the purple and blue spirals towards a terrified kusuo without his limiters or glasses, at night, while kusuke continues talking and says that kusuo has evolved past being human in order to control his powers? yeah terrifying, i felt the horror in me too. because how long had he been evolving for? if hed gotten rid of the powers faster, would it have worked? if he hadnt spent so long on the volcano, could he be normal? was he ever actually normal? was it only recently since his body had changed to adapt? because with his body, kusuo relies on his powers. it could be compared to another heart, or a limb. his body needs powers because that is what they are used to. eyes that see through skin, a brain that can hear thoughts, muscles that are used to carrying boulders.. the list goes on and it shows that he has no choice but to use powers, as his mind has always been on fixing problems using parts of him that he has always had, his own biology has been on that. yeah psychological horror much.

the fact that it doesnt work. being told to live normally and peacefully without thinking about his powers doesnt work. because kusuo is far too used to them, he doesnt even think before using them for the little things in daily life such as opening the door or pushing in his seat. its like a papercut on your finger and only then do you realise how much you use that finger all the time- he doesnt realise it until its too late. and then he continues to remain ignorant until it actually happens, such as clairvoyance and new (useless) powers forming. he is already too used to it that he uses them without realising, because that was his normal. kusuo can also realise this with his dawning terror at each thing that happens with his power, with the foreboding patterns with dark colours and his horrified face. he is trying so hard to deny it because even if there are good things that come with his powers, ultimately, they cause him suffering. but it doesnt even fucking work.

its really sad to see him accidentally use powers, as they come back swiftly. kusuo is trying so hard to deny his symptoms but there is really no use: the illness is back. he teleported home, used clairvoyance, talked using telepathy, went invisible, used psycokinesis, saw through someone.. theres too many to deny that his powers are back. but kusuke asks valid questions: did anything good happen without them? and the answer is kusuo thinking about the bookshelf incident. because there are both good and bad things from it, he had to get protected and was weakened by the fact he couldnt see it coming, but it was good to know that so many people are willing to protect him. but then theres a fucking meteor. its also a manipulative thing for kusuke to do, asking that question and then thrusting a natural disaster upon his brother going through an existential crisis. because kusuo has a choice to make. he could try and suppress the powers even further and live a normal life until the end and let kusuke deal with it as that is the path that he chose. or kusuo could accept that the powers are a part of him and that people will still love him regardless, and make the choice to save the world and possibly never live normally again. and its a shitty situation all around. a seventeen year old should not have to make such a choice.

and yet he has to. because kusuo can hear his friends pleading for help, their fear, their reactions, confusion. kusuo knows he cannot have his father do something of this scale, or let his brother do something like that to their dad. he cant let the meteor hit earth because everyone he loves is there. kusuo was always one to complain verbally(mentally) about shit he gets wrapped up in, but from the context clues and his actions throughout the series, he has shown just how much he cares and tries to help even with how much he drags his feet and complains and insults. because all kusuo wants is for his friends to be happy, and to live normally. but those two things cannot coexist, at least not for long. and then he smiled. he chooses their happiness, because that is the kind of person kusuo is. he has said that he is a psychic in so many situations and for so many reasons, but at the start and end of the series, it is the same ten words.

“so my life of peace is over, but i feel that is not so bad after all.. perhaps i like to deal with hassles after all. yare yare. my name is saiki kusuo. and i am a psychic.”

[st5lker]

what did u think of marinas new album? we were both On here when ADIAML came out and i remembered you were not too fond of it.. whatcha think of the new one doe

ive actually refused to listen to it im kind of over her </3 i did listen to the first handful of singles and probably might check out the rest of the album out of curiosity at some point but i dont have high hopes from the singles LOL. i will give her one thing in that her instrumentals are getting more fun then theyve been for a while but the lyrics are so fucking unbearable to listen to for me that i just cant turn my brain off and enjoy that part. i feel like some people are capable of turning their brain off and just enjoying the dumbed down girlboss pop music but i cant im sorry. i got into her in the first place because she was like one of a few musicians that showed such a deep sense of self-awareness and like... vulnerability, specifically in the ability to criticize herself. like how many people in pop are willing to make music not only criticizing their own flaws but SATIRIZING them???? that was the entire appeal of her first two (and a half lol) albums to me and now its just entirely gone. its not even about her needing to be depressed and not make happy songs like whatever she went to therapy yay but even when she would make happy songs like they always had an edge and a bite to them thats hard to put into words but it always made them feel far more vulnerable and human than her modern stuff. like the emotions of the happy songs in froot (which to be clear was already the beginning of the end lol) still came across more to me like "life might suck and so do we but we wouldn't be sad if there wasn't anything to be happy about" if that makes sense which is a much more beautiful and human tone to me than her little girlboss white feminism power anthems. like froot as a song had the tone of "wink wink dont you want to be naughty with me?" which inherently has to imply making risky decisions and breaking "rules" (and not just the rules that shouldn't exist, the ones that are there for good reasons too) like just living in the present even if you might regret it later, which is happy and fun but its also real and human, sometimes having fun is a mistake but that doesn't mean it's not worth it. like a song with that tone has to acknowledge that its an emotion youre not supposed to indulge in or feel all the time otherwise it wouldnt be exciting... but now her music just lacks all edge and its just like "oooh my life is AWESOME and im so sexy and so rich isnt it great <3 and im such a powerful woman that takes no shit so nobody can hurt me especially not myself <3 nobody ever makes mistakes at all because everything bad that happens is the result of the STINKY BOYS so lets all vote blue and get rid of trump and everything will be great bc pain and bitterness aren't natural emotions and certainly are never our own fault <3" like im sorry but girl oh my god. youve literally turned into the caricature you were MAKING FUN OF in electra heart and not only that youre PROUD of it which is why youre reusing that aesthetic in the cuntissimo video while neither you nor any of the white gays listening to you seem to have even an ounce of self awareness of the fact that the whole point of that album was that... electra heart was not a good person or somebody to look up to the album was literally supposed to be a tragedy... like oh my god it seriously feels like a young adult novel when one of the rebels gets kidnapped and brainwashed and now they're unrecognizable like something happened to her when she moved to LA somebody put something in her vegan protein shakes because that is not the same person i started listening to. somebody said she really just needs to become a fitness influencer at this point and its like i wholeheartedly agree go do yoga by your 10 million dollar pool and leave your damn macbook alone so i can stop being BETRAYED AND INSULTED BY YOU

[ecto-hazard]

Tf2 clone hc/au cause they're in my beautiful mind again

General scifi bullshit

Since the third generation of the war, all mercs are clones of 9 original mercenaries who were the best of the best

since clones can be respawned repeatedly and know almost nothing beyond fighting, the war has gone on far longer than the mercs think it has. its probably closer to the 80s

cloning technology and respawn technology are basically the same thing. They generate your body after death based on biological data, including genetic and nongenetic factors (such as scarring, surgeries, etc)

No clones are exactly alike. If they were, the respawn tech wouldnt be able to discern which individual clone to generate since they have the same sequence.

Generating a new clone is a more extensive process than respawning. Random mutations are induced in the original biological sequence to ensure no exact duplicates exist, and the initial generation takes a bit longer to process. Once the clone is produced, they're often catatonic or lacking long term memory and take a day or two to reach their "normal" level of awareness. They undergo testing during this time period to ensure they're fit to fight and aren't going to offset the red/blu stalemate by being over or underperforming

clones that are considered unusable for being deemed physically unfit or otherwise incapable of maintaining the stalemate are terminated and recycled so they can reuse the australium and matter used to generate them in the first place

memories across the clones varies. you have some instances where their memories overlap well (like the case of both red and blu soldier's remembering being a lawyer) and some instances where their entire past is a haze. all that matters to the administrator is that they remember being at war and theyre too busy killing each other to discover gaps and overlaps between them

there's six main clone lines for each merc that make up the six main teams overseen by the administrator (Ajax, Citadel, Echelon, etc). they all came from an original individual, but particular traits are found across clones on a specific team

Team Fortress is made up of reject clone lines that are mostly functional, but arent fit for the proper warfare involved in the higher level teams.

Specific merc info

scouts line was demoted to tf just for being too "annoying." its hard to take him seriously at his job if he's constantly blabbing.

soldier's are pretty easy to generate. the tf line was demoted for. obvious reasons. clones that don't quickly develop ferocity are usually destined for termination

pyros are interesting. the tf pyro files were completely corrupted after a freak fire during generation. the resulting clones are freak mutants that normally would go straight to termination. but it turns out if you just stuff those guys into a rubber suit and give them a flamethrower, they do their job just fine. said mutations do tend to lead to lower clone lifespans, but pyros are pretty cheap to replace, and the other team members usually never notice a difference

the team fortress demo line is far more prone to alcohol dependencies than the other team lines, hence being demoted. but so long as you supply a constant stream of cheap whiskey, they get the job done

the heavy line is considerably more competent, but was demoted for being a bit too smart for his own good. they needed big guys who could shoot big guns, and fortress heavies tend to be a bit more suspicious of the whole ordeal. we dont need him shooting the Really big guns

the original engineer had a high position in tfi. the fortress line was demoted for being a bit more unhinged under the surface, making him a risk if he got his hands on better equipment. you dont see any higher team engineers sawing their own hand off

medics are particularly hard to clone because the original medic experimented on himself so much, adding in the random mutations often makes him unviable and instantly terminated. the reject line in particular is quite messy, hence the demotion

sniper's line was demoted for being generally uncivilized and gross not that he would give a shit. theyre also the most prone to memory gaps, given the original's already bizarre past

spy's line was demoted for the excessive smoking. despite memory gaps being common among spies, they have yet to stumble across one that doesnt remember being scout's father. for whatever reason, that memory from the original seems to be ingrained in all of them, even if they dont remember their own name

[tookishcombeferre]

Hi Sofia Fandom!

I have a couple of questions for y'all merch sleuths/ people who make cool stuff out there in the fandom/ people who know where to *find* people who make cool stuff because Squish wakes up at 1 AM asking for cheese and, as such, I am a tired old boy.

Plus, some of y'all are amazing at finding stuff in ways I am NOT. I know my gifts. Finding merch/ shops are not one of them. (I once spent two or more hours trying to find a single thrifted book. It did not go well.)

Squish is starting school this Fall. We'd like to have incentive stickers that are "special" for school related things. (Making it through the day w/o an accident, picking out an outfit and sticking to it, getting dropped off and not trying to run back to the car, etc.) Heck, I might even need a set of incentive stickers for myself. (The first time I drop Squish off without crying all the way home, the first time I get through a whole school day without pacing the floor of my living room ... you know first time parent things? Let's just say the closer Squish *gets* to school, the more I understand why Roland sent Baileywick on that Buttercup trip. XD And, like, I know he's *wrong* but I also *GET* it.) **** So, all my commentary aside, are there any good places/ shops to find Sofia stickers online of the whole cast? **** Squish's favorites are: Sofia, James, Amber, Cedric, and Greylock - in that order. They think Greylock looks like their dad. Which, if Greylock had a beard, he does.

2. Squish is in their dressing up dolls phase. They have a couple of baby dolls. **** Do you know any shops/ people I can commission, who know these characters pretty well, who could make clothes of the characters for her dolls? **** (My cousin quilts, but I don't think she really makes doll clothes. And, I had my first costuming credit recently. But, I'm still high key apprenticing and, as such, basically just made a hat or two. I can kinda sorta tailor my own clothes, but actually making clothing is *WAY* more than I feel comfortable doing right now.)

3. This is more just a general thing. But, Spouse Unit and I are big on upcycling/ reusing as much as humanly possible. This does seem to be a pretty long term interest for Squish, especially given that the new show is coming out in the next year, and that's likely going to target their age group pretty hard. **** Does anyone know good online stores to thrift pieces in what will soon be an ONSLAUGHT of new merch? **** Thank you so much for your help in advance.

I *am* excited to get Squish some new stuff of the new characters, especially. However, I'd also like to *not* contribute to the giant landfill, if I can help it, unless its to create something I know doesn't already exist. Like, the doll clothes. I've looked, and I've never found anything like that.

I feel like, other than what to do about the state of the entire world being on fire, casually, the hardest thing about being a parental unit right now is figuring out the balance between what to get new, what to hand down from your own childhood, and what you need to thrift because they've gotten into a show that was between eras.

My brother kinda watched StF, but he didn't have merch. He was too old, and he wouldn't have asked for anything.

All of my siblings and I ... err ... grew up in a very "princesses' /princes' things household." In fact, my dad almost had a conniption *watching* that episode with my kid. He definitnely knows I'm gender non-conforming, at the very least, and he still feels this way?

It's a very long story.

We're ... working on it.

But, all of that to say, I don't have any hand me down Sofia stuff for them myself because my brother was the one in the age range.

So, I thank y'all merch sleuths for your service.

💜💚 A parent on a mission 💜💚

[thevondoom62]

Let's just rip this band-aid off. $50. ML Maximum Spider-Man is not worth that price on an objective level. This should have been $40. Unfortunately, I have spent that kind of money on other Marvel Legends before so this is nothing new to me. I will say, I do genuinely prefer this over Hasbro's previous M.O. of sticking much demanded classic costume A-listers in two-packs with characters very few were asking for. A few accessories in the bin is much less painful than a whole other figure.

The discourse surrounding this figure has been absolutely exhausting, so I'll keep that talk to a minimum. I'll just say this: this is a REALLY good and fun figure. It's the best ML Spidey by a solid margin. Good enough that I need them all again on this base? No. But I could maybe be convinced on symbiote Spidey. As I said, on an objective level, this isn't a $50 figure. But subjectively, I feel like I'm getting that kind of fun out of it so I don't regret spending that cash?

The articulation is really good, can get some great deep crouches out of this set-up. Some even better than the MAFEX. However, the MAFEX still has this beat overall thanks to its smoother articulation and more advanced engineering. I was deadset on not getting the Maximum since I was so satisfied with Medicom's effort, but then I realized something. MAFEX figures aren't fiddle figures. They aren't something you can keep on a desk and repose endlessly. I had to paint seal mine to even feel safe doing that since the 185 has notoriously chipped blue paint and I've had issues in the past. Even still, how long until I break a wrist or the sealant won't hold up to repeated stress anymore? ML figures are fun to me exactly because I can just pose them mindlessly. All to say, even with the MAFEX, this one still has merit to me.

The overall look is pretty good, but not perfect. I remember when looking at the Fahrulstore McFarlane heads, I said this figure's headsculpt wasn't as close to Todd's art as I had hoped. Looked closer to a MvC Spidey. In-hand? It's closer than I first thought. I thought it was too sharp, but the subtle rounded curves are more easily seen in person. I do think the rims could stand to be thicker, but that's because when I think Todd's Spidey I think the cover to Spider-Man #1. This one is more the cover to The Amazing Spider-Man #301. Eyes are still a bit far apart tho.

If you want thicker rimmed eyes, this figure has that option... For only one side. The alternate masked head is strange. I get what they were going for, but it's not exaggerated enough. It just looks like he attached two asymmetrical lenses rather than a deliberate expression. Should have just had both eyes shaped like that, I would have much preferred it. The other alternate head is... something. It's not a bad sculpt, actually I like it, but it's so dang stylized that it just makes a hard contrast with the photoreal printed face. It's uncanny. I removed the stark red lips to dial down that Joker effect and it helps a lot imo. I actually really like it now. For those that don't, the RYV sculpt fits on the body. It's a bit big and doesn't sit perfectly on the neck, but you can make it work.

The other accessories are similarly good, but flawed in terms of execution. All the web effects are cool, but not super practical in most cases. The two web strands are so noodly they require some creativity to get any real use out of them. The web shield is probably the highlight, I love that thing. Other accessories I love are the webshooter hands. It's unlike anything else we've ever gotten in the line and makes the unmasked figure look so much more complete. Regardless, it could and should have come with more stuff at this price. Where's the half masked head, loose mask, slice of pizza, or the web effects you can wrap around figures? All of those could have been reused from previous releases.

While going on about flaws, the plastic feels soft. This isn't a huge problem imo except for those bicep pegs. That has been a constant worry with Legends figures and these have me sweating. The paint is also a bit messy in some areas. The weblines don't align in small places, there's mess on the shins, the blue is showing through the red on the midsection, there's touches of red showing through the blue on the right arm. Of course, I've had much more expensive figures with even worse paint so I'm not exactly hurting over this. It was also a bit shiny, I hit mine with one dull coat and will probably hit it with another just to further protect the paint. The engineering also has some oddities. Why do the legs on the back spider extend onto the butterfly joints? Why can't the legs get closer together without using the drop downs? Why's the neck feel kinda restricted? These are all easily modded, but for this price they shouldn't be a problem at all. Just to note, I did modify the hips and neck for slight added range. Very slight tbh but just to be completely transparent here.

Wow. I've never written this much for anything, but there's a lot to say I guess. To sum it all up: great figure, imperfect but tons of fun that carries a terrible price. Two things can be true. Really, great figure but terrible price is probably gonna be in our future no matter what. Things are not looking good for this hobby (or in general) and I'm not sure how much more I'm gonna be involved in it. Never gonna quit, but there's a reason you've been seeing less activity on here as of late.

[pathfinderunlocked]

Healthy Boss Template (CR +3)

Wait, why did a giant health bar just appear in the sky?

Artwork by Jeff_Chee_471 on Reddit.

D&D and Pathfinder have a really unusual idea of what a "boss" is compared to, like, any video game ever made. They often tend to just take an enemy that would be part of a group of normal enemies if you were about six levels higher. When they do something more unique, it still tends to be balanced like that. Tons of offense, not that many hit points, but often extremely hard to hit. Adventure designers often try to make up for this design by making a boss weaker but giving it minions, but that doesn't change the fact that there's really no concept of a creature that's inherently a "boss creature" in this game.

And sometimes that's fine. But sometimes you just want a big chunky fight that's balanced more like how a video game boss is balanced: only a little more damage than other creatures, but way more health, and the ability to recover if you do nasty stuff like stun it. Something that lets the players go all-out using their abilities, and rewards them for doing so, instead of having to spend most of the fight just focusing on not getting attacked, because they know one attack can take them out.

This template isn't a global solution. It'll get old, and if you reuse it too much, players will find strategies that bypass it. That's why I design so many different boss monsters that each work differently. But if you want to convert an existing monster into a boss, this is one way to do so without a lot of effort, and without just giving it the advanced template and several fighter levels to max out its offense.

Some of the options for different abilities are there to deal with different kinds of player strategies, rather than because they're appropriate for different kinds of bosses. If your PCs use vital strike, give it vital negation. If they use combat maneuvers, give it reset stance. If they cast a bunch of spells on the terrain, give it undo. If they rely on hungry pit, give it escape to nowhere. Don't feel bad about using this template specifically to counter them, since the inflated HP and the limited uses of these special abilities mean that the players' strategies will still be useful, they just won't instantly win the fight.

Healthy Boss

Healthy boss is an inherited template that can be applied to any creature.

Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature + 3.

Hit Points: A healthy boss's hit points are three times as high as the base creature's.

Initiative: A healthy boss gains a +10 bonus to its initiative.

Defensive Abilities: A healthy boss can never be surprised, and is not considered flat-footed before it has acted in combat.

Special Abilities: A healthy boss gains 1 of the following special abilities:

Bolstering Cry (Ex) Twice per day as a move action, a healthy boss can grant all allies within 60 ft. a number of temporary hit points equal to its new challenge rating. When it does so, it also suppresses the following conditions on affected allies other than itself for 1 round: blinded, confused, entangled, fatigued, exhausted, nauseated, paralyzed, shaken, sickened, staggered, stunned. The healthy boss does not need line of effect to these allies, but they must be able to either see or hear it. Second Wind (Ex) Five times per day as a free action at the start of its turn, a healthy boss can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to its new challenge rating. These temporary hit points last for 10 minutes. It can only use this ability only once per round. Vital Negation (Ex) Once per round, a healthy boss can halve the damage of a single incoming source of damage. It can choose to use this ability after hearing the amount of damage that it would take. This does not require an action.

Additionally, a healthy boss gains 2 of the following other special abilities:

Aura of Recovery (Su) The healthy boss gains a 40-ft. aura. At the end of each of the healthy boss's turns, one of the healthy boss's allies within this aura (including itself) gains a new saving throw against any one ongoing harmful effect that initially allowed for a saving throw. Escape to Nowhere (Su) Once per day, at the end of an enemy's turn, a healthy boss can escape to the ethereal plane, as if using ethereal jaunt. This does not require an action. It remains in the ethereal plane during its next turn. At the start of its second turn after using this ability, the healthy boss returns to the plane it was on, but is staggered during that turn. Legendary Resistance (Ex) Once per day, when a healthy boss fails a saving throw, or when an enemy succeeds on a check against the healthy boss's spell resistance, the healthy boss can expend its legendary resistance to treat the roll as if the healthy boss had succeeded on the saving throw or the enemy had failed on the check against spell resistance. A healthy boss with a total challenge rating of at least 9 gains a second use of Legendary Resistance per day, and a healthy boss with a total challenge rating of at least 18 gains a third use of legendary resistance per day. This does not require an action. Reset Concentration (Ex) Once per day, when a healthy boss fails a concentration check, it can steel its mind against future distractions, gaining a +10 bonus on concentration checks for the next 10 minutes. This does not require an action. Reset Stance (Ex) Once per day, when a healthy boss starts its turn prone or grappled, at the start of its next turn after being successfully subjected to a combat maneuver other than trip or grapple, it can spend a move action to stand up, free itself from any grapples, pick up a single item within its reach, end the effect of a dirty trick maneuver, and move up to its move speed without provoking attacks of opportunity. Upon using this ability, the healthy boss also gains a +5 bonus to its CMD and a +10 bonus to Acrobatics, Climb, Ride, Swim, and Fly checks for the next 10 minutes. Undo (Su) As a standard action, once every 3 rounds, a healthy boss can revert the effects of any number of ongoing or instantaneous magic spells that are affecting itself, other creatures, or the surrounding environment. Each spell effect it attempts to undo must be within 60 ft. of the healthy boss, and must have been applied during the last 10 minutes. Even instantaneous spells can be reverted with Undo, but damage is not reverted. To attempt to undo a spell, a healthy boss makes a caster level check against a DC of 6 + the effect's caster level, using its hit dice as its caster level. If successful, the ongoing spell ends, or the effects of the instantaneous spell are reverted.

[toopunkrockforshul]

I didn't get full black out like last year (I had all my books I needed but alas, Life really nuked my reading speed and I tried to back load things too much.)

I did some hard mode, but not all, was trying to be less intense about stuff this year lol.

5 star reads:

Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

The Adventure Zone: The Suffering Game by The McElroys and Carey Pietsch

The Devourers by Indra Das

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

Full details below the cut:

First in a Series (Incomplete) - The Giver by Lois Lowry - I didn't get to this book even though I do own it. It is technically a reread but it's been a while.

Alliterative Title (Hard Mode: The title has three words or more that start with the same letter) - The Scum Villian's Self Saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu - 4.5 stars

Under the Surface (Incomplete) - Delicious in Dungeon by Ryoko Kui - one day I will actually read these

Criminals - Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson - 5 stars

Dreams - Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater - 4.75 stars

Entitled Animals (Incomplete) - The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid - I am 5% into this book and unsure if I want to finish it

Bards (Incomplete) - Space Oddity by Catherynne M. Valente - have this book out from the library but it is overdue, might come back to it in the future because I did enjoy the first one

Prologue and Epilogue - Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott - 5 stars

Self-Published or Indie Publisher (Incomplete) - The Door into Sunset by Diane Duane - I own this whole series and did finish the last one as part of bingo, but alas did not get to it this year

Romantasy - A Power Unbound by Freya Marske - 5 stars

Dark Academia - Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro - 4 stars

Multi-POV - The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake - 4.75 stars

Published in 2024 - The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb - 4.75 stars

Character with a Disability - The Adventure Zone: Suffering Game by The McElroys and Carey Pietsch - 5 stars

Published in the 1990s (Incomplete) - Trouble and Her Friends by Melissa Scott - I am 64% done with this book but it is Very Overdue so I think I'll have to return it and get it out again to finish it. Might reuse it for next year's bingo?

Orcs, Trolls, and Goblins - Oh My! (Incomplete) - Unnatural Magic by C.M. Waggoner - sad I didn't get to this one, I have it out from the library but it is also overdue, definitely want to get it out again.

Author of Color - The Devourers by Indra Das - 5 stars

Survival - System Collapse by Martha Wells - 4.5 stars

Judge a Book By Its Cover - The Edge by James Smythe - 4.5 stars

Set in a Small Town - The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen - 4.5 stars

Five SFF Short Stories (Incomplete) - Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes - changed to this last minute because the other option I had was taking forever to come in, and just never got to it

Eldritch Creatures - What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher - 3.75 stars

Reference Materials - Kinning by Nisi Shawl - 4.5 stars

Book Club or Readalong - To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose - 5 stars

[kaibutsushidousha]

To be honest, your discussion of Minase's positive and negative qualities piqued my interest. What do you think are the main recurring fgo writers' strong and weak points? Also where would you rank the lilim harlot event?

For the sake of brevity, I'll stick to one per writer. Picking apart everyone to the extent I did with Minase would take forever and would be better done after their respective Ordeal Calls.

I hesitate to call Higashide's comedy his strong point because his huge hits are about as frequent as his huge misses. I suppose I'll go with clarity for Higashide's main strong point. Even when I think he sucked at delivering his point, I can always tell what he's trying to say, which is not something I can say about Sakurai's most compressed scripts. His weak point is his lack of ambition. It's nice to have at least one person in FGO's team who will never try to escalate things, but I can't see it doesn't make his stories more forgettable in the long run.

Minase was already detailed in his own post.

Meteo’s best quality is a tone setter. Requiem, Salem, and all his events come with an atmosphere that feels very tangibly different from what FGO usually does. Often his events are bad, but never they lack a unique identity. Which segues into his weak point, being that many of his events are comedy events and the man is simply not funny. Bullying Erice is his only consistently good joke, and when he tries other things, the results are more miss than hit. See Las Vegas and Wandjina World Tour for major examples of comedy events that failed hard at the comedy side.

Nasu is a master recycler. I don't know how he does it but the man is constantly reusing the same structures, the same themes, or the same dynamics and somehow it never feels repetitive. There is always something that makes the whole recipe feel fresh and unique despite being so easy to recognize the same usual ingredients there. And what I dislike about Nasu in FGO is how he's still stuck at the concept of selling waifus from the girls with routes days. Everyone has their list of characters who get ship tease with Fujimaru but only in Nasu's case it feels like an overwhelming majority and that some of the choices create too large of a difference between the summoned character and the character in the main story. Was it really necessary to do this with, say, Morgan? Melusine? Tenochtitlan?

And Sakurai I saved for last because one major reason this post took this long is that I was struggling to sort out what is characteristically good and bad about her. Well, even now I don’t have a simple and satisfying answer. Things can’t be simple with Sakurai, unfortunately. One friend of mine described the experience of reading Sakurai scripts as “playing chess against an opponent that doesn’t tell that you are in a game of chess” and that’s honestly a fascinating way to phrase it.

Sakurai is an intriguing combination of inflexibly ambitious and inflexibly professional. She has grand ideas for her characters and she will include them in the script without fail. But she's also strictly adherent to script size limitations. While Nasu is making Camelot and Avalon le Fae with total disregard to every possible limit, Sakurai is cramming so much into Septem's and London's microscopic file space that it becomes utterly incomprehensible. Nasu wrote Last Encore's plot as a whole ass novel and hired Sakurai to convert that into anime scripts because Sakurai is his expert in fitting a lot of stuff into tiny spaces. Tunguska was tossed at Sakurai because probably no one else could fit into its raid event constraints. And because she doesn't compromise on what goes in, her alternative is not revealing the mysteries about her characters but laying out all the hints so the players can figure it out themselves, which is a really fun thing once you're used to it (read: aware that you're playing chess against her).

And the answer to "Where would I rank the Lilim Harlot event" is 1st place.

[blackarachnya]

anyway i beat the elden ring dlc a few days ago (started lvl 100 and eventually capped at 150 and 18 scadutree blessing by the end) and my final verdict is that its fucking incredible, i cant say its a 10/10 bc theres still some frankly inexcusable bullshit (5+ reused dragon fights including a new all time worst, final boss phase 2 performance impact, npc gank fight*) but literally everything else is fucking stellar. the map is one of the best designed world maps ive ever seen in a game and going through the individual segments really recaptured the feeling of opening up lordran for the first time in ds1. as for that thing everyones talking about - im sorry to use the SI words but to be blunt all the complaints about the dlc's difficulty have entirely been a skill issue lol. yes its hard but fromsoft dlcs are always hard and given how difficult elden ring already was what else were people expecting? the expansion literally gives you its own self contained leveling mechanic. use it.

yet more camera issues aside most of the new bosses are amazing - special shoutout to messmer, the dancing lion, bayle once i switched to a longer range weapon, metyr, and maybe midra. negative shoutouts to the golden hippo and commander gayass for their ds2 hitboxes but they are comically weak to fire and i was using the new anvil weapon on them so they died in like 10 hits lol. rellana was also fucking annoying but i have a feeling ill figure her out when i get to rl1. of course the elephant in the room is the final boss and my thoughts on him are uh. well i dont know. i love the first phase but dear god they really went overboard with the onscreen effects in phase 2 and i dont think he would even be half as difficult if you could actually see wtf hes doing. the hair does not help. lorewise no one would actually be confused why hes there if they actually did the npc quests but its a fromsoft game so admittedly i cant really blame people for missing those. but still. my final thoughts are that his design decisions are highly questionable but after beating him i got that good sense of accomplishment instead of "thank fuckign christ thats over" so thats a good sign. i dont feel like going into more plot stuff rn but i think it did a mostly (but not entirely) satisfactory job answering questions i had about the base games (very messy) story. prepare to see some really bad takes about miquella lol

anyway yeah its fantastic. literally the size of an entire souls game on its own. well worth the purchase. play it

*yes i know the game really wants you to summon for it but i simply refuse to use summons and there is 0 excuse for how those npcs behave together in a 3v1. fucking eat me from behind leda.

[nerves-nebula]

Has the overall story of Loose Stitches changed significantly since you started drawing it?

BOY HAS IT. ITS LITERALLY CHANGING AS WE SPEAK. anyway this got long so. under da cut

so, like most stories, it's changed a lot since the beginning. i was technically drawing it years before i started on the comic you see before you nowwww HOWEVER i get what u mean so i wont post any old art of atchkie or anything to make a point

TO GET TO YOUR QUESTION: since i started drawing and posting it, things have changed SIGNIFICANTLYYYYY. for example, hanheppi culture (which wont be relevant for years) was basically nonexistent when i started. the only reason you guys know hanheppi people and loose stitches are related is because i literally didnt have a name picked out for the hanheppi, so i had to file them under "loose stitches related" thinking i probably wouldnt post much about them anyway. and ppl started noticing that because i got around to developing them ON THIS BLOG WHILE POSTING LOOSE STITCHES. lol

as for the characters, they've changed too in a lot of ways. dotty's whole deal was generally outline before but i filled it in over the last few years and now it's like. genuinely could be its own novel lol.

ATCHKIE'S personality has been kind of hard for me to get a handle on because they are a kind of person who i don't have much in common with. but i think i'm getting a better idea of them as time goes on.

Reg Willow and Eden are still being workshopped cuz they're gonna appear later on and i haven't written them very much, so they're actively changing as we speak.

and then of course the entirety of part 2 has undergone major changes and is still actively shifting in huge ways. i see part 1 as basically set up and foreshadowing and getting to know the MC's and part 3 (if it can be called that, im prolly gonna break up part 3 into different chunks tho) as the pay off/explanation portion.

but part 2 is kind of more like a road trip adventure that the characters take on the way to trying to find things out about themselves and their goals. they run into a bunch of weirdos and its basically just the part where i get to have a ton of weird shit happen and then they run away. half of it is not even plot relevant and i'm SO EXCITED FOR IT!!!

and because it's way more flexible and is basically just a "author gets a free for all to do whatever it wants" card, it changes rapidly and often. I've brought in characters from past stories to fill in spaces, and i've combined certain plot points and storybeats. i've cut shit i didn't think was fun and then added entire towns just for 1 scene i wanna do. so thats probably the part thats changing the most.

other minor things that have changed is the near spontaenous creation of characters like professor silk, leilah, and mia. what happened with them was that i had points in the script where characters would talk and then i realized that if they were gonna have all these interactions with characters, they should probably be reoccurring ones instead of a bunch of one offs. Now professor silk is a minor but recurring characters, and Leilah was upgraded to full on girlfriend almost on a whim. Mia was the most spontaneous one tho.

in the scene where Mia throws dotty off the balcony, that was SUPPOSED to be Leilah and just some random friend atchkie was hanging out with. but since Mia had appeared before i was like fuck it, why introduce a whole new friend when i can reuse what was a one off character? and then while blocking out the fight it was just easier for me to imagine someone accidentally throwing dotty via strings than Leilah pushing them off in the struggle like i'd planned.

i could keep going on with stuff like this but the tl;dr is: yeagh. shit is changing constantly and all the little changes end up with the finished product being vastly different from the start.

and thats why i love serialized stories. there's an inherent jank to it that i cant get enough of on both the process side and the reader side.

[kelocitta]

Hello! I love your use of geometric shapes and saturated colors in your illustrations. Which artists influence your work?

Honestly while I can name a lot of artists who serve as some sort of inspiration for things like creature design or color, I can't really place ones for specifically the geometric aspect! I'm sure there are some out there, but I think a large part of specifically that is probably just me personally liking balanced/clean/symmetric stuff along with most of my sketch papers growing up being gridline paper, so doing sharp geometric shapes was common. I also tend to think of my lineless art as similar to layered paper art, which has to be physically cut out. Its sort of one of the reasons I reuse colors often? Like you'd reuse the same piece of paper

Color wise I pull a lot from my friends, save a lot of art I think does interesting stuff with colors, etc. Generally I might skip through a couple artworks for a good "starter" color or a palette I like and go from there, adjusting it for personal preference. All the parts are drawn in little individual bits, so I can change them all independently. So often I have colors in mind at the beginning, but don't actually pick them till the very end. Here's some pieces to show how that gets fiddled with

And if you go back far enough, everything starts as a yucky mash of whatever colors made it easiest to tell one piece from another with zero regards to palette

I just really like bright saturated colors and honestly just kinda feel it out from there. Sometimes that's making it brighter sometimes that's making it a little more washed out. Sometimes I decide what I was going for doesn't actually look as nice as I thought. It's sort of hard to name inspirations directly because so much of what I do I do effectively by feeling, and I have piss poor memory so naming exacts is real hard. If I tried to list people whos art I think about a lot we'd be here all day. I know a lot of my recent stuff has had more direct inspo from Boxheadpaint who has just amazing shape language (but almost the exact opposite of 'geometric' but I try and match their vibe a lot when I'm trying to draw a little looser and less stiff. Also looooove how they texture stuff)

[bubble-bones]

20 Questions, Writing Edition

Tagged by @elf-trash, thank you! <3

How many works do you have on AO3?

44, apparently. When did that happen?

What's your total AO3 word count? 1,752,806. It appears that I yap.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Cyberpunk 2078: The Rebel Path (Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, V/Johnny)

Trust (John Wick prequel, John/Helen)

Cyberpunk 2003: Never Fade Away (Cyberpunk 2077 AU, V/Johnny)

Endless Dawn (Twilight AU, Bella/Edward)

Cyberpunk 2003: The Ballad of Buck Ravers (Cyberpunk 2077 AU, V/Johnny)

What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily Cyberpunk, John Wick and Dragon Age. I've published some (classic) Tomb Raider stuff and Baldur's Gate 3, but I also write for the Witcher, Love and Deepspace, and various Final Fantasy games that I haven't published loool

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to. Even if I don't respond, I read every single one and I always get a big stupid smile on my face

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I cannot think of one - I really don't enjoy angst without some sort of pay off lol. I can never commit to sadness.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Seeing as I rarely finish fics (😬) I only have a few that are finished. I'd say Trust easily though.

Do you get hate on fics?

A few times lol. It was hard not taking them to heart at first but eh, they're just some lil guys on the internet, who cares?

Do you write smut?

>:) (translation: ofc I do)

Do you write crossovers?

Not really. The only time I consider it is if there's some fun dynamics between very similar characters, but I've never written anything beyond some brainstorming / outlining.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Mercifully no, not that I'm aware of.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, but it kinda fizzled out. I do a lot of brainstorming with one of my friends and we often stick our ocs in the same universe, but I don't really co-write with anyone anymore.

What's your all-time favourite ship?

Though that changes all the time, I think I have to say Solavellan. It's had me in its grip for YEARS and I don't think I'll ever escape.

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Given the fact there's a part of me that's still delusional enough to think one day I'll fulfill my teenage dream of finishing a Naruto fanfic of all things, I don't think I have a good track record for finishing fics at all. Any of my fics could be up for this one ngl.

What are you writing strengths?

I've been told I'm good at interpreting characters well? I like to think I'm good at getting how a character thinks/talks down well.

What are your writing weaknesses?

FOOD. Oh my god. I'm not an adventurous eater irl so describing food in any sort of appealing way is so immensely difficult. Like what is the character eating? Idk bro. Sustenance??? Don't make me describe it because my palette is that of a child's.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Okay I do it in two ways: if it's a full conversation in a language the character can understand that isn't the primary language (English) the fic is written in, it'll be in italics to suggest it's in another language, but the reader can still understand. The second way is using brief words or phrases (like Elvhen in Dragon Age) but always tagging the translation at the end in case the reader might not know, but then trying to reuse only the words I've already established so it helps understanding via repetition. I think if the reader has to go and use a translator you've gone too far, come back, I don't know what you're sayingggggggggggg-

Favourite fic you've ever written?

Hmmm, that's a hard one because I think that changes per whatever hyperfixation I currently have. I think I really enjoy the concept of Helena and enjoy thinking about that (even if I don't write it lmao) and Fen'Harel Ma Ghilana. The fics I've finished are at least a few years old and make me cringe to think about which is kinda tragic, but what can you do? Circus, clowns, etc etc.

Tagging: @glitchinginthegarden @seraphfighter @moderndaycirce @pikapeppa @timaeusterrored @tarmac-rat

[zhaliacain]

Huntikmas day 10- What Tupperware the team are using

Sophie:

Pink matching sets, and they have to be stackable. I think the key thing for Sophie here is the aesthetic, she doesn't want her leftovers and snacks looking cluttered. I think Leblanche does a very good job at keeping everything organised and stored neatly in the kitchen cupboards.

Dante:

Bamboo containers. I think at this point in Dante's life he's come to the conclusion that it's better to have heavier but more hardwearing utensils that are going to last him a long time (he doesn't know yet that decision changes every few years). The glass or hard plastic might be heavy but that's a price he's willing to pay to keep his kitchen organised.

Zhalia:

Bold of you to assume she and Dante aren't sharing Tupperware. Okay but in all seriousness I was torn with Zhalia because her kitchen looked really nice and I'd like to see some good kitchen storage solutions going alongside that... but then she blew it all up so I suppose that doesn't matter anymore. Since life, Tupperware, and flats are all so fleeting apparently, I reckon Zhalia just reuses takeaway containers she's got from elsewhere. They've all got more use to be had out of them and she hasn't got time to be worrying about a kitchen cupboard.

Cherit:

Finding miniature Tupperware isn't the problem, there's loads of keyring and dolls house accessories out there, the problem is finding some that can actually hold food. Cherit gets these little round tubs for his snacks at home, he's old enough and saved the world enough that the foundation should at least be paying him a snack budget or something that can be delivered to the house. Plus they're small enough for him to handle and stack nicely.

Lok:

Lok has this cupboard. It's a mismatch of containers and an amalgamation of Tupperware he's had since he was a small child and still works so its never been thrown away. Somehow the hoard keeps growing, the lids keep shrinking, the walls warping and some of them have that weird orange stain but no matter what, if you ask Lok for Tupperware he definitely has some.

Den:

"Life hack, you never lose track of the lids if you only have like five containers"- Den probably at some point. What he failed to consider is that you actually have to keep on top of the washing up for this approach, instead he often ends up cling filming his food and leftovers because he's got nothing left clean. Yes he's done the pasta in just clingfilm walk of shame before. Fortunately not much gets left uneaten for long around him and Lok.

Harrison:

When you are in a cult, you don't get snack breaks. Instead Harrison utilises space with his water to contain snacks for on the go and he's used to putting weird stuff in the compartments if he has too. He's also the only one out of Lok, Den and him with the self control not to eat all the snacks in one go and can make them last during his murder hikes.