#anyway go watch elemental if you haven't. it's pretty good

[hell0mega]

this is incredibly niche, but what did you expect me to think after watching a movie about forbidden, never-before-seen love that is potentially life threatening to those involved?

[tecchous-thicc-buttocks]

barbie or oppenheimer ?

i've had a big fat crush on oppenheimer since the ripe age of 10, but I don't know if he ever be kenough 😔

[maleyanderecafe]

Pretty Boy Panic (Visual Novel)

Created by: Bingzi

Genre: Horror/Otome

This game, as many, is still in it's demo state and it's actually created by the same person who made Pocket Lover. Currently, there is only one route available, which is Li, one of the MC's neighbors, thought there is a bit of another boy Tao, who is currently still in the development that's in the game. There are three ending so far and a guide. It's not too long of a game, but it does bring up yandere elements.

The story starts out with the Tan Xin waking up and being annoyed because of their neighbors who are being loud. They haven't slept well in a while because of them and the sounds range from lewd to suspiciously like murder. Tan Xin works in marketing with their friend/neighbor Kelly. Their boss (who just got a promotion) has been very tough on Tan Xin, making them pick up his extra work, much to their dismay. While going home, Tan Xin is extremely tired and has the option to kick one of the neighbor's doors in frustration and out comes Li, a surprisingly handsome neighbor. Tan Xin vents about how loud the neighbors are, and though most of it seems to be a different neighbor's fault, Li promises not only to talk about keeping the noise down but also buying the Tan Xin's food. After going to sleep, Tan Xin notes that it feels as if someone is watching them sleep. Tan Xin wakes up the next day to hang out with Li and while talking sees a beat up neighbor come out. It turns out he had quite a stern "talking" to by Li. Li and Tan Xin go to someplace sweet to buy food and the two talk about themselves- like Li's job and hobbies. After a while Tan Xin develops a crush on Li and sees him bringing boxes into his room. If you offer to help carry them, he snaps at Tan Xin before apologizing- as it seems there are some important computers in there. Tan Xin gets sleepier and sleepier as the days go by and even starts to lose things. One particular day, Kelly has to wake Tan Xin up before they oversleep and they head to work. Kelly asks Tan Xin to write James up for workplace harassment and the two go back. Li sees both of them coming back and asks the MC if they could start dating since they like each other. He says yes on the condition that Tan Xin stop talking to Kelly. The next day Kelly seems to have moved or gone on vacation (sure, that's what happened lol) and Li invites them into his house. There, Tan Xin notes a weird smell and while looking around, finds the dead body of Kelly. After finding out, Tan Xin finds out just how yandere Li is (stealing the MC's teeth and getting jealous). There's an option to tackle him, but either way the MC gets tased and taken into Li's home. There are a couple of other endings, one where Li breaks up (?) with Tan Xin because they don't have much in common and one where Tan Xin doesn't even confess and gets tased anyways.

If Tan Xin decides to not kick on the door, they will wake up the next day to find Tao as he gets slapped by another woman. As Tao cries, Tan Xin tries to comfort him and they start talking. Upon going to bed, Tan Xin ends up getting a call from James about the fact that they need some work done, promising to get them a good word so that they can get a promotion. The passing week is a big pain for Tan Xin, either having to work extra because of the project that James gives them, or are being forced to do extra work for refusing James. To take a break, Kelly brings Tan Xin to a bar, and ends up having to talk to one of her friends there, leaving Tan Xin alone. There, she interacts with the lady that slaps Tao, which can result in her letting it pass or flipping her off. Either way, Tan Xin ends up drinking a lot, leading to them talking to Kelly and Tao as he seems to be at the bar as well. There is a decision on whether or not Tao should bring Tan Xin home or if Kelly should, with the two compromising and both bringing them home. Tao ends up giving Tan Xin a piggy back ride and they end up sleeping at Tao's place, which slowly builds Tao and their relationship together. Later on though, Tan Xin learns that both Games and Kelly have died, with someone leaving their body parts all over the place. While going home, Tan Xin walks in on Tao and the lady from before hugging. Tan Xin runs off, devastated, but Tao runs after them, reassuring them and talking to them about how much they mean to him.

In the good ending, Tao and Tan Xin end up living together as a couple, but Tao ends up suggesting that the two of them move after learning about Kelly and Jame's death as he wants them to be safe from the serial killer.

In the normal (?) ending, Tan Xin notices a strange smell in Tao's place and looks around, only to find the lady amputated and dying. They try to help her, but Tao ends up knocking them out, only to wake up to having lost limbs just like the other lady.

In the bad ending, Tao ends up knocking Tan Xin out after the talk at the end and wakes up to Tao cutting off their arm. He mentions that now that they've lost an arm, they can be with him, unlike another girl that he seemed to be projecting onto them.

If Tan Xin goes back to their room and wakes up much later, they will end up meeting Hu, a college student that is working at tech, though he wishes to do something else. Hu apologizes for making noise and talks about his hobbies about pictures, and later offers to buy them lunch in response to them making noise. They end up going to eat at the same place that Li goes in his route and the two of them get a parfait. We find out that Li and Hu are actually brothers, catching the two talking to each other in the hallway. While at work, Tan Xin has to make James a coffee, which ends up with James eating glass and bleeding to death. Hu ends up following Tan Xin around, taking pictures of them while they sleep.

The two endings that are a bit similar are Hu and Tan Xin meeting under the cherry blossoms (after hiking for a bit, I believe), though in one ending if their affection is lower, Tan Xin will tell him that he doesn't want to have a relationship with him, while the other they simply just hike together.

In the bad ending, Tan Xin and Li talk for a bit, but Hu ends up catching them and kidnapping him. He ends up chaining them when they go out for classes, feeding them sweets to sustain them.

This game has a bit of spelling errors, but other than that it's a pretty good start. While I do think that I currently like Pocket Boyfriend a bit more since it has more elements of horror, I do think that Li himself has some good potential as a yandere. I think it's pretty neat seeing Li slowly cause Tan Xin to drift deeper and deeper into sleep as well as steal Tab Xin's molar (which is... a weird thing to steal and shrug off to be honest). We also see that he's pretty jealous, not only killing Kelly but also beating up our other neighbor for being too loud. It's very likely a lot of his "computer" hobbies are more of a cover up, considering how he reacts when Tan Xin asks to help carry boxes for him. It makes me wonder if he will get rid of James as well if Tan Xin asks him too considering that he is the source of a lot of the Tan Xin's problems. It's weird to me that there's a "bad ending" where Li doesn't see Tan Xin as someone datable and yet still tasers them in the end. It's actually comedic in a strange way, and it makes me wonder when Li started falling for Tan Xin in the first place.

Tao I feel like I have mixed feelings of as well, considering that he is a playboy but he also cries a lot. I generally am not as big of a fan of playboy characters in games, but I do really like crying. This is such a pain. In any case, Tao seems to be a projecting yandere, where he is trying to replace Tan Xin with another girl (as I remember), though we don't actually get to see who she is or what she even looks like. He also murders both James and Kelly, presumably for getting too close to the MC as well as the lady he was seeing at first. Still I don't really understand or know why he ended up meeting her again near the end since it's not really explained what they were doing together, which kind of put me off with his character. Still having a playboy type yandere is a pretty bold move regardless, so I think that it does deserve some props. Really wish we knew about his previous obsession though since I think it would really shine more into his backstory.

Hu despite being the youngest and most harmless of the yanderes actually probably has the worst ending out of all of them considering he basically kidnaps and keeps them in his studio. I do like the description on how Tan Xin struggles when they are captured by Hu though since you can really feel the hopelessness of it. I think it's also cool that Hu mimics a lot of things from Li's route since they both go to the same sweets shop and both stalk Tan Xin for a bit, though in different ways. It makes a lot more sense when you know that the two of them are brothers and that Li is actually helping Hu with getting along with Tan Xin. I think it adds a bit more of a layer to it considering that we kind of understand where Hu is getting a lot of his advice from. I think for that reason, I quite like Hu's route.

I played this first when it originally was just Li's route, so some of the opinions here might be a bit dated. I think that it's impressive they were able to finish a game with three different yandere love interests, since that's not a common thing nowadays, with all the demos. Still I think while it is great that it's a finished game with multiple routes, there could be some polishing done as well. I feel like since Li's was the first route made, he's actually one of the more weaker writing characters, where I feel like Hu is probably one of the better ones because he's more recent, so if the creator ever goes back to rewrite the other routes, I think that Li's route could probably be more expanded on. I also think that Tan Xin's name is kind of funny because it basically means like greedy in Chinese (assuming I'm using the right characters), which kind of is how you can view them considering they have like three yanderes after them. Kelly is the best character though, she stays by our side through thick and thin.

Overall, not bad for a full game, especially since it had a bit of development time. It's often rare to see a full game for yanderes now a days since currently most of them are currently in a demo state. I am curious to see if this creator will make anymore yandere games in the future that I'd like to cover.

[doodledoodlesdoodles]

My way too long Opinion of YIIK 1.V (at least before I start Benevolent Psychosis.)

TLDR: I started the game with uncertain expectations though was happily surprised with a pleasant though abstract game. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea in my opinion least story-wise but I genuinely had a good time with it. Especially the battle system, it's a lot better.

Also if you don't know what Benevolent Psychosis is don't worry if you play throughout the game you'll find out eventually.

I try to not put in that many spoilers but I'll still say be wary of spoilers anyway just in case.

Also, i'm not an expert in gaming, just someone who really wanted to write down my thoughts on it.

Also I didn't read a certain book + these reflections are based on the first edition alone and not future games like Benevolent Psychosis.

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Thoughts of the original and my bias.

-

I think I should start off establishing some bias I have towards the game when I picked it up.

When Yiik was first around, I didn't really give it much consideration. I think I was vaguely familiar with a modeler of the game since I followed them on tumblr? I could be incorrect.

Though the most I became interested in the game as a whole was Uricksaladbar's video 'YIIK - The Hero You're Supposed To Hate'. I had (and somewhat still do) not a lot of experience in things like post-modernism. From my understanding of that video combined with the many others that I engaged with at the time the creator crafted a self-insert intentionally-made asshole who obviously failed to grab audiences. That impression expanded into a creator who believed he was smarter than he was by including his past failed games and declaring that 'my mistake was thinking that video games were art' upon receiving a plethora of criticisms. Criticisms that focused on things such as the confusing plot, the narrative of Alex being at the center of everything contrasting the game's moral of not being self-centered, the creator directly ripping lines from books, the bizarre add-ons of things such as the 'golden alpaca', the real-life inspiration for one of the characters being based off a real mysterious death, and lastly the game - implementing a 'mini-game' like system into rpg battle mechanics (which I believe is much better utilized in games such as Knuckle Sandwich) being at best taking way too long (To the point you don't want to use them. Some of them taking like 10 minutes) and at worst just broken overall (I believe I recall some people abusing Essentia's ability frequently).

At best some of those critiques were taken out of context or misinterpreted. For example, one of the other videos I would watch showed off an almost identical real-life copy of Alex saying it was what the creator looked like. Cue my surprise modern day to find out that he doesn't look like the insufferable protagonist at all! Wow! Some of it also was based on Kokatu's articles which wow! They definitely haven't had some controversy about being a poor media outlet in the past! (Sarcasm!) I can understand why some of it could make people uncomfortable though, I know I had originally felt pretty iffy myself over a plot point being based on real-life events or the awkward way Alex talks or certain dialogue that many said came off as 'forced'. I also didn't understand the plot and not many of the people I watched around that time seemed to either. I wasn't sure if it was intentional either and old game updates only seemed to confuse those who engaged with it more. I didn't play the game and moved on with my life, occasionally seeing friends online joke about the game or a few posts putting the protagonist in shitposts.

Cue to modern-day, YIIK I.V coming out and I hear it's going to be an improvement on the game's story and combat while also adding new elements such as the mysterious 'nameless child' character. I played the demo of the free promotional demo 'Nameless Psychosis' during a relaxing call with one of my dnd buddies. I still found myself getting a little lost (though that might've been because I was on call and half paying attention. However, some other reviews I've seen of the demo found it also a little confusing. The music and sound effects I also found a little weird.) but at least for me - the confusion felt almost intentional in an 'artsy' sorta way. I was at the very least intrigued by this version. I know the original certainly failed to attract me despite its inspirations falling into things I enjoy. Plus, regardless of my feelings about the game, it's at the very least admirable that the creators here had a passion for their project to the point they wanted to improve upon it. I bought the game at a discount with the eventual intention of playing it in the future. I tried to prepare myself a bit by watching more positive opinions of the series such as Planet Clue's 'understanding of the "worst" RPG protagonist - YIIK' and Kellkrai's analysis of the game. 'YIIK ANALYSIS' of the original ( While I did end up appreciating the dive in showing Alex's mind and how it transfers to the world around him + The analysis of Essentia, I was still a little confused haha.)

I should note I didn't even know about Deviation Perspective - Wrong Soul Reqium - additional material that works to explain aspects of I.V. So that might affect my opinions of the game.

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PREMISE

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If you don't know what YIIK is about somehow it stars Alex, he just finished college for Liberal Arts and pretty much has no idea what to do with his life as he moves back home to his town Frankton. Thereafter following a cat into an abandoned factory for stealing your mom's shopping list - Alex meets a mysterious girl called Semi in a confusing landscape before she's kidnapped by mysterious otherworldly beings. After witnessing this, Alex makes it his mission to find the woman and by doing so joins a team of internet friends to investigate. During this, the world - as planet clue says - 'gradually starts to make less sense'.In - what i'll call the 'b-plot' - stars 'The Nameless Child' (Also called Allison and Carrie) who is trapped in another world entirely. There she must trek the confusing reality that is her existence through bizarre landscapes.

Other characters include

Vella, a girl from another universe who left hers possibly from the trauma of a mysterious record. Due to her experiences, she has a lot of knowledge about the world and souls that exist inside and outside Alex's world.

Rory, a contrast to Alex (referred to as The Good Brother to Alex's The Bad Brother by the Nameless child)grieves over the loss of his dead sister. He's awkward and how Alex treats him throughout the story affects his involvement in the story.

Micheal, who was once a childhood friend of Alex suddenly inserted back into his life. He has a fascination with computer games and photography though appears to know more than he lets on about the reality he's been brought into.

Claudio, an anime nerd who owns a large chain of record shops. His family also had a mysterious disappearance of his younger brother - he's made it his life mission to find out what happened to him and other people who disappeared like he did.

Chondra, Claudio's younger sister who more often than not I found as a 'straight man' or the the one who questioned what the hell was going on around her the most. She keeps her brother company though expresses frustration with the fact that Alex has wounded Claudio in obsessing over the past.

The Essentia 2000, is a mysterious robot of Alex's dreams who claims to be his 'soul-mate' in the 'truest sense of the word'. She claims to be many people all at once but her past lies in mystery and betrayal.

Sammy (Semi), the current obsession of the online forum Onsim1999 (the one that the protagonists engage with) due to her very mysterious disappearance and murder. Who is she? Why do we keep finding lookalikes of her all around that no one seems to recognize? Why was she kidnapped? Was she even really kidnapped in front of Alex?

Krow, is an inhabitant of Alex's mind(?) and is often associated with The Nameless Girl's mysterious journey. Why is he here? What does his waxed poetics mean for our secondary protagonist?

Asuka, a professional actress and best friend of Chondra, is preparing for a role for the Japanese film director Kisage X though the performance she's preparing oddly seems to have parallels with the world of The Nameless Child and Alex.

There's technically more but these characters felt the most important to me without getting TOO spoilery.

-

COMBAT

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As mentioned before, the combat mostly circled around Wario-ware-like minigames. While that idea sounds fine on paper (and good lord the RPG genre does need spicing up every now and then) the main critique was that they were too long or too broken. While the story is probably one of the major features of an RPG, another is mechanics and battles. For me at least, the two should have harmony with each other to be a good RPG. I don't even need a groundbreaking story for it to be a 'good RPG, I'm a fan of even the original Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 whose whole story mostly surroundings Mario having to save Princess Peach from Bowser again (though I think personally paper Mario was able to have a fun twist or add ons to the story to make it unique). I'll get on the story later but the point is if your player is actively avoiding fights then you're failing as an RPG.

I'm not skilled in the nitty-gritty of everything that makes RPGs 'work' and 'not work' but I personally at least found enjoyment in the new battle mechanic.

(YIIK I.V)

(Original YIIK)

I think even UI and aesthetics alone in 1.5 bleeds (haha) have more charm compared to the original. Even little things like the camera moving down as a party member leans over a lunchbox for items or (I didn't play the original so maybe this was a thing in that one?) how certain status effects like Blind give the characters affected sunglasses.Also instead of battling on a generic landscape (Which isn't bad perse but lacks charm - especially compared to its inspirations such as Earthbound the bizarre designs of the enemies just stand out much more) the characters battle instead usually in abstract visuals or shapes. The main critique so far is that the camera angle of the battle makes it a little difficult to find out which enemy is attacking my party though usually the character screaming in horror after being attacked fixes that. Also, some characters in the game will use guns and shoot out projectiles that will slowly drain characters' health- I found these enemies pretty annoying overall.

Anyway, each character has an average attack, their special attacks or skills that cost PP (Either by destroying an enemy's Karta- I'll explain later- or until a little clock near the PP UI clicks back into place.), and their element or 'Pokemon type'. Like Pokemon - the way the types interact with each other can mean higher damaging attacks, lower damaging attacks. There are also 'clashing elements' where if the attacker and the target have the same affinity, there's a chance that the defending element will be weak to the attacking element. There's no way to switch out party mid-battle like Pokemon though so to be honest I usually ignored the effective move scale entirely and did fine. This meant that a lot of the time my party was usually performing the 'clashing mechanic'.

Another aspect of the characters you play is their Life (HP), their ATK (Strength stat), Speed (...Speed), Luck (The chance of getting critical hits), Piercing Power (The chance of attacking the target HP and destroying their 'Shields' or Karta), Agility (The chance of dodging enemy attacks), and Karta (Let me explain timeline first!).

Speed affects your character's and your enemies 'timeline'. Every character starts at the 'WAIT' region and upon entering the barrier of the 'ACT' of their timeline- you can choose their moves. Depending on how fast your character gets to the metaphorical finishing line then they perform their attacks. Mostly just a visual way of showing your turn order though occasionally i'll admit I did find it a little confusing with enemies such as 'Shitty OC' (real name! It's a sonic oc that throws bombs at you). If you lose a party member in battle an angel-like figure thing will appear on the timeline. Once they're in the ACT phase, they'll send out a new teammate to help you battle. I didn't pay attention much to act except when I was in a boss fight since I admittedly found it hard to tell the turn order at least with the enemies. I felt I usually had only a vague idea of how it operated.

Have you ever played a dungeon crawler that gave you 'armor' or 'shield' that acted as temporary hit points without ACTUALLY harming your character's health overall? Karta is basically like that in the RPG form of that idea but expanded upon. For you to attack an enemy (and vice versa) you have to break through their 'karta' and drain their life. Upon destroying all their karta (or vice versa) they will enter the 'bleed' status where they will slowly lose hp throughout the battle. You can have 3 card slots to put your cards in from the front (more likely to be destroyed first), middle, and back. It's generally good to have all Karta filled because of this in my opinion. (or use items that create temporary Karta when you run out). Plus it also engages more with another feature of Karta, that being the types of Karta at your disposal.

Each Karta will not only modify your stats as long as they're not destroyed (Some good and some bad- The Hungry Traveler gives you a speed of 150 at level 2 but others like Level 3 Torn Hat will offer a good boost in Life and Speed but take away 2 from your Agility.), give you a bonus while still in your hand (The Deep Well will change your character's type to water and auto extinguish the being on fire effect and The Seamstress doubles your life and regenerates a little bit of every turn), though ALSO gives you something if you're willing to use the card and possibly risk sacrificing a good defense you might need in battle (I like using the Seamstress's ability to restore life of all allies and The Sorrowful Maiden's ability to lower the maximum life of a target). Do I want to USE The Torn Hat to make it impossible for my enemy to pierce through my defenses (Karta) or would I be better off trying to keep it because its IN-HAND ability means I get more EXP from the battle?

It took me a bit to get into it but once I did I found myself genuinely enjoying the mechanics of it. I hear it compared to the Persona series which I've never really played before (I do need to though) mechanics.

The characters also have their own playstyle and abilities. You can also get 'combos' from how long your character attacks without getting hit. I didn't pay all too much attention to it since I couldn't really plan ahead for a enemy attacking a character but somehow I still got Alex's 'Amateur MC' achievement so shrug.

I personally used Alex for defense and using items, prioritizing his Panda Barrier move on harder enemies but otherwise playing with LP Toss, Hair Whip, or Feedback. It felt like Alex got the easiest access of moves due to the fact you obtain a decent chunk of them through natural story progression compared to the other party members who primarily obtain them through Alex's mind dungeon.

Micheal, I used it every now and then, usually when I didn't have many party members left or if he had happened to be sent out. I think despite not using him too much he has some interesting moves such as being able to create copies or enemies, turn enemies against the party, and reduce enemy accuracy. Also if your party is all blinded or all dead, Micheal will pull out a fucking gun. I found this hilarious the first time I saw him do this. I'm not 100% sure how it is different compared to the camera so take this with a huge grain of salt but I believe it does more piercing damage?

Vella's banish ability was kinda useless to me unless I happened to run into a soul survivor character (Which would suck if I entered a battle without her because that could've meant I had to kill them? I have to see if Rory's protest ability - which acts somewhat similar - could do it too. Not being able to attack the soul survivors at all in battle was a little annoying to learn at first.). Despite that I use her a lot in battles, she's got some good buffs and healing abilities and her Bass Drop ability is pretty good for handling a starting hit on some enemies.

I didn't really use Rory that often, I liked interacting with him in the game but I felt like a lot of his abilities could be swapped with Vella. If Vella dies though he's a decent 2nd option if he happens to come out. I feel like a lot of his abilities can be similar to her's anyway. He can give allies karta, give them a heart card and make them stop bleeding, convince enemies to leave the battle, and swap HP with an enemy. He also doesn't instantly attack due to his pacifist nature. Instead, if you have him 'attack' he'll enter a counterattack move which he will damage back the enemy attacking him.

Claudio, I ended up also using a lot. Dragon Jump kinda acts like a fly from Pokemon and Vampire Blades is good for keeping him alive. It's really nice to use on bosses in my experience. Also loved using Storm Fury when dealing with multiple enemies at once if I was able to.

Chondra is a 'wild card type' which means she can change her Pokemon type with the move 'copy element'. If you go towards the 'clash' mechanic more than I do i'd imagine you'd like Chondra especially since the copy ability costs 0 to use. I usually used her Spread Item effect to give my party gauze (an item that creates artificial karta space) or healing items though I didn't end up using her a whole lot unless she popped in from one of my teammates dying. Her character is one of my favorites so it's a shame that I wasn't as interested in her moves.

We don't really get Semi/Sammy that often in the game so I don't even know if it's that essential to list her off in usefulness. She works as a decent tutorial character for Alex to work off of battle-wise.

Essentia's able to upgrade her STR and use an all-enemy-focused attack that usually takes care of weaker enemies on the field. I also read that she can attack Soul Survivors but I'm not 100% sure on that one yet. I didn't use her all that much but she was alright.

Krow's abilities I do find interesting and fun to use though you can only really use him a selective amount of times so far. He's usually your ally anytime you visit Alex's Mind Dungeon and it makes sense since his moves are about healing Karta or cutting enemy Karta. He's there to make mind dungeon battles a bit easier to handle.

Speaking of which: The Mind Dungeon! In the original game, it was highly contested as being an obnoxious and confusing way of leveling up. Based on video's I've seen i'd be obliged to agree. It doesn't even really explain the stats or elements all too well.

In the new version of the game, its been updated entirely. A hub of areas for Alex to trek like a platformer to Level up (at the spawn point Krow will show you three cards to choose from and those three cards will boost specific stats. The Top shows you the leveled-up stats and the bottom shows you the modifier added on), the ability to level up Kartas to be more powerful (I'll explain this later), Obtain Abilities (Some trapped by puzzles, platforming, and unlocking overworld abilities), and see little performances by Handsome Krow (I think this is a different ish character from Krow?) and his puppet things.

Handsome Krow's performances are something transferred from the old game I believe, showing Alex's subconscious thoughts of some of the people he's encountered via transforming them into workers or inhabitants of his mind. You meet them by getting to certain floors of the original game's dungeon though they kept the dialogue of Handsome Krow explaining what floor they're on in 1.5 which made me super confused! I assumed that i'd meet puppet NPCs around the overworld but they're only there every few performances you get after leveling up.

The dark cups spread around town (ones with blue flames above it) around the overworld give you character abilities. I think the explorative aspect of it is fun though the bizarre background music in the game makes it very irritating. If you unlock another song for the Overworld via the jukebox not too far from Spawn i'd consider taking advantage of it. I got really sick of hearing the same repeat of the song even though I DID like it when I first heard it. It fits the bizarre world but man it was annoying.

You're also probably wondering what's up with the key, the fetus thing, and the blood bag right?

Blood bags are easiest to explain, after defeating certain enemies in the game you obtain blood bags that can be used to upgrade the power of the cards which boosts their stats! Physical representations of the cards are usually hanging out near the spawn ready to talk to.

The 'fetus' things can be found around Alex's mind dungeon hidden in areas accessible from platforming or using your overworld skills. There you can hand them over to this lady at her card stand and she'll hand you a key. See that golden thing next to her? You need you use a key on that. There you'll fight a version of The Nameless Child with a certain karta card on her during the fight, upon defeating her you can get whatever karta card she used in battle.

Overall besides the repetitive music, I enjoyed exploring aspects of the mind dungeon. At the very least I did want to revisit it (something I assume was not many players experience in the original) any time I got an overworld upgrade just so I could see where it'd lead me or maybe if I could get myself a new Karta to play with. Not a negative per se but I was also able to get to areas I probably wasn't supposed to due to just platforming around it rather than getting an upgrade from progressing the game. I didn't experience it TOO much (I mostly remember 2 instances of me being able to do that.) but it's worth noting I suppose.

Aesthetically it just looks nicer overall compared to the old mind dungeon. It feels more disorganized and jumbled of memories, locations,or thoughts that Alex has. One moment you're exploring a mysterious temple and you suddenly find a replica of a bedroom. The bright visual in the skybox did start to irritate me but I got used to it.

(old mind dungeon entrance)

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The Nameless Child's Gameplay

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The Nameless Child's sections don't work as RPG, her sections are more on the experimental side but I feel comfortable calling her sections more 'puzzle-like'. Her Karta usually is flavor or like inventory to me. For example, there's a section where Carrie gets trapped in tank control movement signified by a 'tank karta' card, after removing the card Carrie gets a gun (lol). The Gun Card in the corner of the screen will show how much ammo Carrie has at that moment before needing to collect a refuel. Other times her cards are 'you stepped in cat poo and now when you walk you make a frog noise' or 'you'll be safe when you walk in fire'.

While that sounds confusing and messy (and sometimes it can be, though you can always check the descriptions of your karta for clues) I found myself always excited to see what bizarre landscape my characters going to traverse this time. Whenever I went back to Alex's plot I always felt myself wanting to return to The Nameless Child. At the very least I felt less inclined to look up where to go and how to do things in her sections rather then Alex's.

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Positive Notes

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I think overall the game's ui is much more appealing compared to what I've seen of the old game. Character stats have full models and a more interesting hierarchy in the text compared to the static set of stats and a tiny icon in the original. It's so much more fun to look at compared to the original. Even the text boxes use bright blue compared to the drab brown or purple pops much more.

I think once I got used to it, I enjoyed the visual card format of The Nameless Child's karta and how that translated into her own gameplay. I think her involvement overall is an improvement and the general direction of it all feels like a niche arsty audience. Based on a line Kisage X says in one of the cutscenes, this is probably intentional.

Speaking of Kisage X, I enjoyed his involvement overall and how they used his script as the lens of the story. It feels like I'm watching a very 'artsy' director display his own abstract vision which I think matches with the vague cutscenes in the game. It also plays with this distortion of what's 'real', what's alex's world, what's 'reality', so on and so forth. They have characters that appear in the story reference a script or characters mention admiration for the director or they refer to Kisage X's distinct way of recording people by having the person not know they're a part of the story or recording.

Aesthetically I enjoy how Alex's monologues are recontextualised in the form of a standup routine. It allows his stupid nervous body language to shine through and make his otherwise pretty drab rants more interesting. It gave me a 'some trying to do standup and doing it very poorly' vibe and I'm pretty sure that was intentional given Alex's attitude.

If you like Michael and Chondra I think you'll like the update, Micheal more so though. Not to say Chondra isn't given a spotlight though, more just Micheal. She's someone who isn't stuck in the past or a delusion like the other characters and she suffers because of it. I only can compare it to Homestuck terminology so i'd compare her to the mage class. Someone who gains knowledge from her own suffering. Micheal fans will eat good though since he gets a large focus in side cutscenes of the game. He's the 'best friend' archetype but is a man who feels trapped in that role rather than naturally living it. I think his cutscenes and him pulling out a gun only when no one is around or if everyone else is blinded really displays that. His persona cracks only a few times around others.

While i'll go more into in when I talk about visuals and music, I heard some people uncertain about the reliance on physical models over the visual novel like portraits. Personally, I think it adds to the uncanny nature of it all especially when the visuals are at its most bizarre. The scene where The Nameless Child's model is shooting off balloons of a certain character or micheal entering a room of a bunch of wide mouthed puppets of someone typing away at computers comes to mind. If it wasn't clear I overall love the aesthetic of it all.

I can't get into it much without going into spoilers but I'm always a sucker for things that explore the mind even a little bit. While obviously not the same kind of game as YIIK, I always enjoyed games like Psychonauts because every time I entered a mind I was able to analyze and understand a character I previously only had a few shared lines of dialogue with.

If you're more into the surrealist way of storytelling, I think you'll genuinely enjoy dissecting this game apart. It doesn't go for a traditional storytelling approach despite what it may seem upon first glance with Alex's story. I was slightly worried when I started the game that it was just going to be the full alex run and then all the cool new stuff but luckily it wasn't that thanks to the spliced nameless child bits, side characters cutscenes, unique battles, so on and so forth.

-

Nitpicks

-

A lot of it is nitpicking and personal preferences, I want to say overall I still enjoyed my experience.

There's a certain character in Chondra and Claudio's story that appears in Alex's mind dungeon. I know it's possible to encounter them in the original but I did not so color me very confused when these two told me about it.

Whenever you go to a shop or buy something at a vending machine there's a side window of Alex's reaction to the item you have selected. If he's sweating - for example - that usually indicates that the item is probably expensive. I didn't really understand what his other reactions meant, I think he bites his lip if it's a cheap item and goes: :O when its more costly. Not 100% certain however of this.

I thought it was weird it let you buy the basic version of weapons that your party members get - especially before you're even able to add them to your team. Just sort of felt pointless and left me having more of old items than I needed to.

I did hear some people complain about the screams that characters do when being attacked during battle- I was able to tune it out just fine but I can imagine for some people it can be a little annoying.

The intro - namely The Nameless Child's part - is a bit repetitive walking back and forth to figure out what you're supposed to do. While her sections can still include that in future levels I at least didn't find it as tedious. However, it could've just resulted from me getting used to it.

For certain mind dungeons or areas, I had to google to figure out what I was supposed to do or go - Vella's mind dungeon came to mind as I could not figure out what was up with that balloon of Vella.

They do reuse the old mind dungeon's entrance section for a future part, which I can imagine people who never saw the original could be a little confused on what alex means by 'How did we end up back here?!' That could be a nitpick though since otherwise I didn't have issues with that part.

In the steam version you only get achievements after quitting the game, not the end of the world but something I noticed. Some of the achievements also felt a little weird since the battle mechanic plays much differently compared to the original.

There's a certain section of the game that builds up to your party preparing for a great disaster (if you played yiik you probably already know what it is). Before that Alex has to gather everyone in the party and during that you can still explore the world as much as you want to your leisure. As soon as you get micheal though? Even entering a dungeon to battle that one last enemy will count as an entire day so I guess don't do what I did and just explore those dungeons as much as possible WITHOUT micheal. Also a bunch of Onism1999 side quests blow up during the period of training which is a LITTLE annoying. Also before you had any option to enter the mind dungeon but now if you do that'll also count as a whole day. I think I would've liked a warning at least similar to how I was warned about Yuzu's battle before entering the area it starts his cutscene. Not only that but leveling up in the mind dungeon counts as a WHOLE DAY which really annoyed me since I was at 2600 (26 levels!) with 18 days left that I spent doing side quests and dungeons which ALSO count as a whole day. Said dens and side quests give you 100 EXP that you would need to use the mind dungeon to actually level up. I wish they counted entering the mind dungeon as a whole day rather than leveling up. I feel like I was essentially punished for trying to complete the dens and quests because it locked out of a day that I could've spent leveling my characters up.This was the only part I was VERY annoyed by and consider outside the nitpick category maybe when it comes to alex's gameplay at least...

Had weird glitches where the parties levels would be off- it used to just be a level so I didn't pay it much mind but towards the end I would have Alex at 41 and the rest of them at like 54? Not sure what was going on there since as far as I knew all the party leveled up upon alex leveling up.

I wish the Onsim 1999 side quests were something I was able to see whenever, I felt like I had to backtrack to my house just to see what other quests I had to do.

A lot of the funny lines or bizarre (Nobody cares about your dead sister, THIS THINGS DIGITAL BABY!, There are more Vellas then final fantasy games, the two brothers cameos and appearance) are still there. For someone who hasn't touched the original but watched theory videos of it I took it more as 'Alex's pretentious mind' at best and found it hilarious at worst. I can easily understand critics who say the talk sprites make the lines stand out or sometimes the lines themselves are a bit on the nose. Other times its confusing on what's the actual reality and what is a part of alex's but I suppose that'd a bit of the point. The game includes more cutscenes and visual flare to hopefully display dialogue more interestingly. Speaking of which...

-

VISUALS (and music)

-

I've already mentioned a few of the aesthetical changes previously, so it's only fair I elaborate a little more on it.

As a side note, the music was one of the most appreciated aspects of the original game and at its best, the update keeps its most promising soundtracks. One of the battle themes that played in Essentia's mind dungeon - even though it was just for normal npcs - had me bopping. Other times YIIK I.V does struggle to use repetitive music that - while nice on the first few hearings and I believe does symbolically match with the game's visuals - gets on my nerves a little bit. I was right with some of the more ambience in the nameless child's sections though other sections like the intro which plays a repetitive plink drained me rather quickly. Other songs like the custom-sung songs (especially in the main menu and final cutscene of the first chunk) appealed to me the most.

Anyway, I was told that supposedly they weren't able to get more profile visual novel-like pictures from the artist during the development of the update. I can't really confirm that statement, however.

The way the models look I can understand may be jarring for some people, especially with the fact that sometimes they move their mouth and others just straight up don't. Other times I can imagine people being uncomfortable with how each of Alex's teeth are modeled. Personally though? As previously stated I think it adds to the uncanny nature of it all. It especially matches the psychedelic and bizarre imagery scattered across the game (Especially in the nameless child's parts). Even then, I feel like I at least was able to understand everyone's emotions and feelings just fine and the locations they walked around were always beautiful to look at even when it got more bizarre.

(reminding you that this show exisited.)

It's definitely not something i'd recommend to someone who has epiliepsy issues though. It's not what i'd call Problem Solvers bad but it can certainly be a bit jarring for people who arent' really 'prepared' for it, y'know?

I'm sure you've noticed me toss around the term 'artsy' a lot. Despite the Oxford definition of it I wouldn't necessarily say it's a pretentious display of art per se, but it's definitely something I can see being a turn off for many and extremely appealing for others. Sometimes the aspect ratio of Alex's little booth talks changes and leaves wobbly red lines and other times places from the old game have been completely recolored (Mt. Town's lush forest is replaced with melancholic blues or the island that alex is trapped on after a certain thing happens has been changed to reflect the 'despair' of the situation more appropriately with black and white colors.).

It's something you have to 'open your mind to' (Hope you like that joke yiik fans). Not a lot of it will make sense at first but it's something that's still worth seeing just what happens next. The state of being confused is at least what I found personally interesting to engage with which I understand sounds very counterintuitive but if you like that mystery to it and that drive to found out what's going on I think you'll find it interesting!

As i've stated before, treat it as if you're watching a surrealist film or experimental movie like the game presents to you with Kisage X's shaky camera and visuals. Do I watch Un Chien Andalou (Don't watch this is you're squeamish to body mutilation, holes, eye motifs!) expecting a linear narrative in mind? Hell no, that movie was purposely made with no conventional plot, it uses dream logic as a narrative for the whole thing. YIIK is like that to me on my first playthrough.

A lot of the initial story is there but the cutscenes and changes that are made and interspersed throughout the whole thing really drove me to engage more with it despite knowing the general beats of Alex's story. there are so many things brought into this free update- even if I didn't like the game (I do like the game!) it's admirable they wanted to bring in this much passion for something that people at the time only ironically fandomed over. It got me at least to check out Benevolent Psychosis!

Speaking of which, Tell Kisage X that you don't think you're a parallel Alex. I think it would bring some interesting changes. Also save before you do the big battle just in case you pick the wrong option initially like I did (I thought the game wanted me to say I was him because of my player insert lol.)

[toh-tagteam-au]

Tag Team Au Synopsis – Sense and Insensitivity + Adventures in the Elements + The First Day

Synopsis Masterpost Link

Previous Part [Something Ventured + Escape of the Palisman]

Next Part [Really Small Problems + Understanding Willow]

SURPRISE y'all get THREE episodes today. These aren't really filler, exactly, but they're pretty quick to get through.

Sense and Insensitivity

Eda asks Hunter to watch King for the weekend while she looks for the Bloom of Eternal Youth. Hunter says he can’t, since he’s completely swamped with work (he needs to be seen with Luz all weekend due to the utter failure of the palisman mission). 

(it's the Golden Guard Urge to help parental figures who are suffering)

Hunter then suggests that the Golden Guard could watch King, and Eda IMMEDIATELY disagrees.

Hunter then says that he’ll cancel his plans and watch King – he really wants Eda to find the Bloom of eternal youth, his worry for Belos bleeding into his worry for Eda. Eda tentatively agrees. 

Then Hunter privately asks King if he’d be okay being watched by him and his sister when they’re on-duty (remember that King knows Hunter and Luz are the GGs), and King has his doubts since Eda made it pretty clear she wasn’t okay with it. Hunter sees it as a win-win, though, and convinces King to go along with it.

So, Hunter picks up King, gets into his GG uniform, and they meet up with Luz. Who is EXCITED. 

Luz's eyebags are becoming more and more permanent, just as a side note. She's been working harder to cover for Hunter and make sure Belos doesn't notice they haven't actually been together 24/7.

Anyway, they go around doing Golden Guard stuff with King, who gets a little scout mask and a cape for the day. King gets to see them do their job, and this is mainly a montage of seeing Luz do her Good Cop thing.

Didn’t have this section written out, but at some point during shenanigans they run into Eda. Eda sees King with the GGs, and immediately goes on the attack against Hunter, who cannot speak due to the fact Eda will recognize his voice.

At some point Luz shows her compassion for King:

And Eda softens up slightly.

(This reveals that Eda and King have privately talked about worrying over what to tell Hunter in terms of Wild Magic, since he works for the EC.)

Luz tells Eda that they think the Emperor is cursed, like her. 

So Eda is now in the know (in terms of Belos being “cursed.” She still doesn’t know Hunter is a GG [although she has suspicions]). She agrees to help Hunter learn more wild magic, not because she wants to help the emperor, but because she wants to help Hunter. She also wants to help the Golden Guards, who seem like they’re in a rough situation.

Adventures in the Elements

Eda takes Hunter to the knee to officially start learning wild magic stuff, now that she knows what exactly he needs it for, when flapjack appears. 

Eda turns it into a palisman training session. Eventually, Hunter starts to have fun, doing small missions that Eda tells him to do. At some point, though, flapjack stops working – mainly because Hunter is overworking himself. Hunter gets upset and lashes out.

Eda pops up and asks where the rascal went, and Hunter is frustrated, saying that he went to go be with some other witch. He explains what happened, and Eda connects the dots.

(Hint: this is Belos-Learned behavior. This is the first time Hunter is being told that you can just leave)

Hunter expresses that he regrets what he did, and he’ll try to be better, when Eda points out that Flapjack is right behind him. Hunter apologizes profusely, and asks if they can try again, and Flapjack agrees. 

Timeskip to Luz and Hunter in their room, where they’re both lying awake. 

(It's supposed to highlight how Luz hasn't been getting the same development Hunter has been getting.)

The First Day

WOOOOO Luz episode. Alrighty.

Luz arrives at Hexside to tutor Amity, like usual, when she finds out that Amity is doing an abomination presentation for the coven inspector. Luz finds this fishy, because she doesn’t remember a coven inspector being approved. She tells Amity to act as normal, but be wary.

When the coven inspector turns into a Basilisk, Luz protects Amity and tells her to run. She says she’s going to try talking to it, and then jumps in.

When the basilisk is defeated, Luz thanks Viney, Jerbo, and Barkus. She finds out they’re in the detention track, and she becomes upset at that – it’s coven guidelines, but it doesn’t feel right.

Cut to Amity, who is in the auditorium still. She picks up a light glyph that Luz dropped and activates it, realizing that she didn't use any actual magic that whole fight. Luz runs in and checks if Amity is okay. Amity asks if Luz does dangerous stuff like fight basilisks all the time, to which Luz says “kind of”. In the light of the light glyph, Amity asks Luz to be careful, and Luz blushes and agrees.

Previous Part [Something Ventured + Escape of the Palisman]

Next Part [Really Small Problems + Understanding Willow]

Synopsis Masterpost Link

[lightflame]

Tagged by @bagadew (Also tagging in @waermeflasche because you tagged me weeks ago and I didn't get back to you)

Last song I listened to: Soap by The Oh Hellos. I burn CDs and listen to them in my car. (The first few I tried to give themes and titles, and select the perfect song orders, but ended up kind of bad and the other was cursed and wouldn't play even though I remade it three times, so I just switched to throwing a ton of songs together on "Random Mixes" and enjoying.) I was listening to my very first random mix on the drive home from work and this one came up. It's a pretty snazzy song. I think Theseus and Hello, My Old Heart are my favourites from the band.

Last book I read: Can I do a couple? I just recently finished Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell. It's the first book of Court of Shadows, the sequel series to his Greatcoats series. Greatcoats is one of my favourite series, filled with swashbuckling action, clever humour, and an absolutely miserable protagonist, Falcio val Mond, who always manages to get back up and keep going anyway. I read everything de Castell writes, and after a string of books with severe pacing problems (check out The Malevolent Seven for a book that doesn't have a second act) and other problems (I have a hard time seeing any book topping Crucible of Chaos as the worst book I've read this year), he finally seems to be back. The book didn't pack quite the emotional punch of some of his other books, but it definitely made me want to jump up and cheer for the heroes at the end.

The other book I just finished is The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. I liked her Winternight Trilogy (look it up and be prepared for some absolutely gorgeous covers, with prose to match), so I was excited to see something new from her. This book was about World War I, with some fantasy elements used for magic realism. (Portraying a soldier's struggle with addiction and PTSD through the lens of him losing his soul to the devil was a brilliant idea.) I most subsist on a steady diet of fantasy books, but this one had me hungering to read a few more historical books. I might have to pick up some books about the Halifax Explosion.

Last film I watched: I haven't watched much on my own for a while, but my friends do a movie night every Sunday. The last two times I tuned in, we watched Jesus Christ Superstar and Pokemon 3: Spell of the Unown. They were both fairly cute movies. I liked Judas's actor.

Last TV series I watched: I've been making my way through The Office for the first time. I'm on Season 3 and this happened to me, actually. There was some stuff I was like, "Wow, that was funny. I should tell my coworkers about it," but then I realized that I can't be the guy who tells his coworkers about this funny new show called The Office.

Last video game I played: If visual novels count, Umineko. I've been working my way through it slowly for about five and a half years and I'm finally closing in on the end. It's peak fiction and the greatest love story of the twentieth century. It's also funny I picked a game this insanely long for my first visual novel. Other than visual novels, I just finished Pokemon Legends: Arceus, after putting in 104 hours this year. Completing the Dex is my favourite part of any Pokemon game, so having it be more involved and include a big checklist made the game basically crack for me. I've also been casually playing some Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) with my brother. Every time we play it, I'm always amazed by how good it is and how much content it has. I want to take command posts forever.

Last thing I googled: "Dandadan Aira". I just started the manga the other day and I like her best, so I wanted to double check her full name, I think? Other than that I'm mostly looking up when books are available at my local stores. I've been religiously checking when The Book that Broke the World will be available and I'm not even sure if I'm buying it.

Last thing I ate: A few snacks from my snack drawer. I also had a Quaker yogurt bar at work. I bought a big box of them last year, but I had to throw them out because of the Salmonella. (Chewed through a lot of them before that came out, though, including eating three on an airplane.)

Amount of sleep: Supposedly seven hours, since I went to bed right after finishing The Warm Hands of Ghosts last night. The only problem is that if I get to bed at a good time, I sleep fitfully, so I'm either sleeping poorly or sleeping well, but not getting anywhere near enough sleep.

Currently reading: I started Empire of Silence, the first book of The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio, at work today. I've had the first three books sitting on my shelf for a year or two and I finally got around to starting it. (I'd resolved to do both this series and Kushiel's Legacy this year, after having both for so long, and I got that one done at the start.) I'm not very far in, but I enjoy the writing style a lot, even if a lot of the worldbuilding is obviously cribbed from Dune. (Whoa, look, mentats.) I've heard it picks up a lot in the second book, so I'm excited for what's in store for me.

Passing this on, I'll tag @somerunner @lyssq @soulsinshadow @lunawithsocks and @dancerladyaqua. (They also have currently watching and sweet, salty, or savoury as questions, which I didn't do.)

[saltyr3mix]

I haven't watched outsiders smp however maze au intrigues me SO!

Either take this opportunity to freely ramble or tell me about Carly if you need a more specific topic.

As much as I would absolutely love to ramble about the maze au, it's very unfinished. I've been rejecting working on it because I know that if i do i may actually never recover. So I don't have a lot to say on it.....carly on the other hand.....

To learn from the tragedies: she's doing her best. She's been through a lot but won't let that drag her down at all. She becomes a little more relevant in book two where there's a a whole massive B plot about her and Ridley. The plot of tlfft was written before season two, so she and Ridley have a very different dynamic, that is to say she absolutely despises him. Hates everything to do with him. So she starts to try and understand and like hear him out and befriend him at some point. And is also like a good like pillar of hope? Doesn't let anyone else get stressed or panicked about the past. She and Alyssa make a plan of like all the things that trigger people and how to avoid them and how to help if if to occurs anyway.

Shattered dreams: typical standard Carly. I don't think there's anything really important to say here. I really like her dynamic with the triplets here. I think that was my favorite part with her in it.

One shots/you'll live until I die: I feel like Carly is such a strong character you can really put her anywhere and she'd act the same. In most of these fics she's either not around a lot or plays a sort of role model, guiding role. Some how always coming off as a sister to like almost everyone she interacts with.

I'd like to take a moment to call out Roller Gays Carly for a minute. She's awesome. Best I've ever written her think. Idk something about whatever Danger put in to Vivian Dawn just- their dynamic is amazing and it helps me write Carly better I can't explain it but yeah. Viv is like.....cannon to most of my fics unless stated otherwise. She's not always mentioned and sometimes never even is important to plot or Cary but she exists in nearly every universe.

I will make them create my world: girl has blood lust<3 cursed with violence and rage<3 killed so many people<3 anyway she's a girlboss and deserves your respect. She died to some unknown cause by the forest that he had mistreated as a child. If there's one thing I wish I would have down for that fic, it would be to include more magical or like absurd and wacky elements. I was a little too focused on the war aspect to describe the wonderland bit.

Buried masks: finally! A fighter! Despite being like theeeeeee second to last person to be brought down (they arrive in the order they died in cannon if that helps you), she makes the biggest impact. Both because at this point Sara is so tired of the waiting period and knows that Carly is very very stubborn and more importantly, rebellious. She takes matters into her own hands and jumpstarts some things to do with cheer a little early.

This isn't an entirely bad decision, as Carly would have reacted the same either way, and now Sara's made it to where she can't be a physical problem for at least a few weeks. The real issue lies in the rest of the group, but mainly Eric going like what the fuck Sara! You can't judo that to a person!

"oh but it was a gift!"

And then they realize all their 'gifts' they've collected over the years are actually terrible and weird. Which like they knew but it got blocked out over time with familiarty.

Even after Carly recovers and with Eric's help finishes Sara's whole introduction thing, she's not going down easy. This girl is a menace she gets on Sara's nerves more than anyone else and will not be sitting around and playing doll. Nope not her.

It takes some pretty intense lash back from Sara for Carly to get more in line with everybody else. I think one of the darkest moments in the fic that I keep referencing, is Carly doing something to her mask and that being Sara's sort of final straw with her.

But you'll have to keep reading to figure out what that leads into.

skating in silence/swap au: I really liked the idea of giving Carly a broken soul that represents the opposite of her in the sense that it's insecure and quiet and a little bit more compassionate over Combative. I wish more people played around with swap aus in this fandom lol, I have like 3 but broken Carly is so fun. I've been calling the "cheer" aspect of her either Cherry or Cassy and she is very sweet. Yeah the Cheer animatronic has a tendency to whatch a kid fall and skate over and slowly help them up gently with positive reinforcement only to blink and then throw them on the rink and see if they sink or swim, with no in-between.

Superhero au: She goes fast!!!! Super speed!!! She's the Vigilante Derby! She was left on the hero towers door step as a baby and Eric not knowing the correct protocol at the time took her in and just adopted her. Any way she grew up around heros and promptly hated every single one of them. She joined the training program but dropped out because of the stress it gave her. She wanted to help people but she didn't want re-ward for it. And she didn't want to deal all of the vague rules and policies that the organization had. So she talked to her father about it and he allowed her to partake in vigilantism! (She would have done it with or with out his approval but this just makes things easier) of course he has his own set of rules for her but there a lot easier to understand. Plus he helps sneak her old hero technology to use.

Ridley enters the picture at some point as a younger brother who is the exact opposite of her and absolutely adored everything hero related and went on to be one. Carly and Ridley become pretty good friends with Ben while he's there in the program.

That's all of her backstory. She appears every now and then for fighting reasons or to cause Eric stress but she's mostly ok! She teams up with Damien, Oliver and Ben later for their mission because she's in pretty good standings with all the other vigilante s in the area and after everything the organization did to Eric and Ridley she's more than happy to take it down.

Steven universe au: she's a Corrupted carnelian. I like to think her corrupted traits have like green and yellow coloring. How does she go from monster to semi-normal gem with out a bunch of diamond magic????? I- just uhhhhhh.... Idk? It happened. Well figure it out.

Anyway she hates Ridley and is super jealous of him because Eric is her guy! Eric's all excited to see her again and Ridley had no clue who she is. And it just sucks for all parties. But they get over it. Likely through celio and Wiatt stepping in.

Because Carly is corrupted she's prone to lashing out and getting agitated easily. Meaning the rest of the gems have trouble connecting with her. She is also very very anti-homeworld and completely pro-crystal gems. This causes problems with people like the triplets and Ben and sometimes even Damien tho he'd never dare admit it.

She also doesn't know lewis was a diamond. So. That's not great.

All of that will sort itself out over time. Right now where I'm currently writing and working on the plot she is in a bit of an interesting situation. After flying to home world to Save lewis and minimum wage trio because the Sara can't go five minutes with out doing unethical sciences. The crystal gems land on homeworld and begin to be chased. Unfortunately, Carly and Mask get taken by their pursuers and are Rejuvenated (memory wiped)

Now everyone is freaking out! And I don't know how I'm going to fix it yet so for the time being she's just like that!

Maze au: HALF DEMON CARLY MY BELOVED!!! She's so silly. Got sentenced to death maze for speeding/hj. I don't know why yet but that's what I've been telling myself cause it's funny. Anyway she's definitely a runner. Best one they have if I'm honest. She thrives in the maze and running helps her blow if steam so she doesnt loose it at her clearing mates. Eric wasn't her father before the maze, in fact they come from different districts but in the maze she looks up to him and respects him more than anyone else and he feels a large sense of pride in her and they are just very sweet.

Oc au: so Carly is Alive!!! And is with Winnie in his old arcade! A lot of her character has been explained through other posts already when it comes to that subject so I'm going to on a quick ramble about earlier Carly in this au.

I think one of the first scenes we ever did was Twins vrs Roller gays race? Right after everything with lewis. Anyway imagine this, your doing your average routine if spreading ghost stories about the caves beneath the facility. (I full heartily believe all of the rummers in that video tape were the twins fault.) Anyway your doing your thing and these two decked out lesbians appear behind you and ruin your story with logic! How dare they!

And then! They have the audacity to challenge you to race, in your own turf. On the rink you may have been beat but their taking you on in your grounds, they want to race you through the maze. You laugh and say easy you could beat them blind folded.

And so they hand you a set of blind folds. And yeah this race just becomes more absurd until both sets are bind folded and have their hands tied together.

Ready set go!

Twins take off! Roller gays immediately toss off the blind folds and put on skates. Their plan? Follow the twins but faster and then just lie at the end and put the blindfolds back on.

As you can see, every party involved is very mature and responsible and nothing bad happens during this race at all what do ever. No one gets injured :3

(ok so maybe the twins also cheated a little and decided to use the employee short cuts, which aren't as safety regulated as the rest of the maze, and maybe one of the mad house employees forgot to shut the plot convenient electrical hazards box And maybe they ran right into it on accident and roller gays had to take them To Oliver to help first aid with the electrical burns.)

I love the oc au so much it's so silly.

Anyway hope you enjoyed the Carly Head cannons!!! I would recommend outsiders but I'm not entirely sure if it for everyone, its 21 hours long! But if your thinking about getting into it but not wanting to make that commitment, I forced Theater to whatch it with me over the sumer with a very speedran version of the series the cut out everything that wasn't a major plot point. If your interested you can ask them for the link to that playlist!

[eponastory]

Why Waterbending is underrated... and how Earthbending can be used on the human body...

It really is underrated, and I hate that the potential was never really explored other than bloodbending bad and taboo.

The human body is this amazing machine of water, organs, cells, bones, muscles, bacteria, acids, elements, and minerals. Just to be clear, everything with two or more elements is either a chemical, compound, alloy, or mixture. Most compounds are solids, most mixtures are gas or liquid, and chemicals can be solid or liquid. Alloys are almost always metals. Anyway, getting off track here with chemistry.

In LoK, we get a bloodbending villain. It's been a while since I've seen the show, and when it was airing on Nick, I kinda stopped watching it after season two because it kinda got boring to me and I really didn't like the writing for the show. It was... well it wasn't that great because there could be more to it that just wasn't explored. It sucks that they didn't. But I really don't care for the show. Back to the bending side of it, the first two seasons kinda explored bloodbending enough to where we got the basis of Bloodbending is bad.

But how can waterbending be used on the body besides the blood? Well, I'm about to tell you.

Starting off with bone marrow, it is the stuff that blood is made in within the bone structure itself. Yeah, I was shocked to learn that too, but if you are in the medical field, you know what I'm talking about. The spleen has the other major blood duty, but it's the marrow where it's made. Knowing that opens up some dialog.

Blood cells, in particular, have a certain amount of water in them. So does the plasma they inhabit. But your muscles, organs, skin, and soft tissues also contain water. A waterbender like Katara could literally tie your small intestines in a knot if she wanted. Talk about a bad day. She could dislocate a joint with the flick of her wrist by manipulating the fluid in those joints. I wonder if she could do something about those ganglion cysts in my wrist? But the point is that waterbenders can do some crazy amazing shit and the surface was only scratched in the show. We get a taste of what can happen with Hama. Imagine pulling blood through skin? Yeah, that can happen, too. Draining the body of blood through the skin, then using that blood to fight... creepy, but really cool.

Actually, it's probably a good thing we only got a taste. No one wants to see Avatar: Bloodwar... although that's a really cool title for a semi horror story in the universe. But I'm pretty sure stopping the heart is only one thing. Exploding heads? Oh yeah, I'm sure that is possible. Not literally exploding the head, but the brain is surrounded by spinal fluid, which is also made out of water... you get where I'm coming from.

Bending also comes from the intent of a bender as well. All bending can be dangerous and used for nefarious reasons. Just like a fork can be used to eat with or to stab someone in the eye... it's the intent behind the person wielding it that makes it a weapon or a tool.

Just like how Toph could use the very small amount of metals in your body to do harm. She's not going to because she is a good person. She doesn't bend to harm. It's the same with Katara.

Now, Ozai and Azula on the other hand... their intent is what makes them powerful. Azula intends to make people fear her. Ozai intends to eliminate entire cultures... that is what makes their fire deadly.

Where as Zuko never intends to harm anyone. He does by accident, but that's really all we see.

I really wish they explored bending in more depth, especially with a hard magic system in place. Waterbending is only limited by morals and intent. Most bending is, but I truly think waterbending is the most powerful form. Earthbending is limited by the land at the benders feet. Firebending's limitations haven't really been explored except by the Sun and Sozin's Comet being the draw for energy. I go more into depth on the lighting post. Air is not really explained much either... but it's similar to water in that respect.

But yeah, more concepts with bending would be lovely.

What do you guys think?

[ao3-oner]

Update/Announcement on the We Keep Falling Apart Series + My Intended Worlds Sequel to Mad Scientist Incorrigible

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by.

As you may have heard, I have decided that I will no longer be writing a sequel for Mad Scientist Incorrigible during Worlds this year despite planning to do so for the past few months. I want to assure you that this decision did not come without series deliberation and perhaps an undue amount of anguish. With that said, if you're interested, I'll explain at least a handful of the reasons that I have decided not to write this fic:

I don't want the fic to feel contrived

For context, when I first started drafting this Worlds fic way back in May, I felt confident that JDG would make Worlds and I would be able to continue the series in the way that I wanted to. It wasn't until the LPL summer split started that I realized I shouldn't have taken as much for granted, and I started drafting my back-up fic just in case. No matter how you try to spin it, a sequel to MSI set in a universe where JDG doesn't make Worlds is a work-around, an exercize in "things didn't turn out how I wanted, but let's try to patch things up anyway". I feel like, with the narrative I set up, in this universe, I cannot properly address and resolve the conflicts that I set into motion in MSI while still paying proper respect to all the characters. This was the thing I was most worried about when drafting my back-up Worlds fic: that narrative elements would come across as forced or contrived and the characters would not seem genuine.

2. I am still mourning the loss of what the fic could have been

As implied, it was always the case that the fic I really *wanted* to write was the version in which JDG makes Worlds. If I were to write an alternate version of that fic, it would lack some of the moments that I've been brainrotting about for months, the scenes that I've been wanting to bring to you. It would just feel bad to be constantly reminded of what we're all missing out on, of what could have been. That was just one reason why it was absolutely soul-crushing for me to watch JDG get one game away from making it only to face defeat: that match was absolutely brutal, too, consisting of Ruler being head-and-shoulders above everyone else on both teams, but still losing only because his teammates (not Kanavi - we love you Kanavi and seeing him take on supporting champs rather than carries to help Ruler was inspirational) were playing insultingly poorly and he could only carry them so far. I wish I was exaggerating. I'm not. Ruler deserved to make Worlds - he deserved this fic. However, with things playing out how they did, I'm afraid I can't give it to him.

(Side note: one consideration I had was "If you like the fic idea where Ruler makes Worlds so much, then just write it anyway." I've considered this, but ultimately decided against it because it feels dishonest to what I've set up the WKFA series to be - fics that are grounded in what actually happened, also because of the next reason:)

3. Irl Ruler and Lehends have actually gotten their shit together???

This is the one reason on this list that is actually somewhat positive lmao - but yeah, if you haven't been following, ever since MSI, Ruler and Lehends have actually been pretty vocal about talking to each other. They both really wanted to meet at Worlds, Lehends said that he'd be interested in potentially playing with Ruler again in the future, and overall, they've just been very sweet. With all that going on, launching into an angsty narrative that starts out primarily vihends seems kind of silly to me. I'd feel overdramatic for writing something like that, and Idk, I've probably always been overdramatic, but I feel like it's much more apparent now. So, good for them! I hope they play together again soon <3

4. The fic would take a LOT of my time when I have other fics that I'm more excited to work on

It should come as a surprise to no one that writing longer multi-chapter fics is a significant time investment, and unfortunately, as I am a working person who also has other commitments and hobbies, I do not have an infinite amount of time to spend on writing LoLRPF. With that said, if I were to commit to writing a Worlds fic, that would consume nearly all of my LoLRPF time for the next two months. In that same amount of time, I could write a number of other fun fics, including more RuLehends - angsty, smutty, and/or otherwise - that I would actually enjoy writing. I was happy to delay all my other fics for the change to construct my grand narrative with JDG at Worlds, but now that we're stuck dealing with the knockoff, I feel like my time would be better and more pleasantly spent working on other projects.

5. I don't want to write the fic!

For all the reasons listed above and any number of less articulate ones, I have come to the conclusion as the writer that I do not feel like continuing this series. That, in and of itself, is justification enough not to, with no other explanation necessary.

I hope that clears up some of the questions/comments/thoughts you may have, but if you want to hear more, then please don't hesitate to DM me or shoot message to my inbox. I am also happy to share some of my thoughts about what the Worlds fic could have been, and I might even be convinced to share some snippets of scenes that I pre-wrote during my brainrot over the past few months.

With that established, I am officially marking 8 Seconds to Base as the last entry in the "We Keep Falling Apart" series and marking the series as completed.

I understand how disappointing it is to get excited for a fic or series only for it to get discontinued, so I apologize. Life happens. Unfortunately, my hype for this year's Worlds is almost entirely dead now. I'll take care of myself, though, and hope that you all do the same.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day <4

[fairytale-poll]

MOD'S CHOICE POLL

Mod's own propaganda under the cut:

Sasha as Red Riding Hood:

During submissions, I became so absolutely excited when I saw this pop up. I don't know who decided to submit it, but they unlocked some childhood memories for me. Back when I was a child, my family visited Pakistan (my parent's country of origin) for the entire summer. One day I, bored, asked for some movies to watched and my parents and uncle brought back some clearly bootlegged DVDs dubbed in Hindi/Urdu, and Bratz Kids Fairy Tales was one of them. I watched it so many times, you have no idea- I think that I might have wrecked the whole DVD with how much I watched it. (A similar thing happened later on when I obtained a clearly bootlegged copy of Bratz Fashion Pixie too but that's another, non-Red Riding Hood related story.) I wasn't surprised that it was eliminated right off the bat, but my childhood nostalgia dictated I put it here, or else I would be betraying the 7-year-old in me.

Shang, Tao, and Paotze:

Another childhood favorite of mine. This picture book has such beautiful art and I remember being very surprised by the story as a child. I found a PDF of it online to reread when the contest started and honestly it still holds up. The three sisters that are the Red Riding Hood in the story I feel are genuinely very clever. And for nothing else, look this one up solely for it's beautiful art which is just breath-taking whether you're a child or an adult!

Lamb:

Not going to lie I never played this game. My good friend who I adore submitted this to the poll and it immediately got eliminated and I just felt bad lol. But it does look cool & I trust their taste so I do think that this game is great. I want to play it but I am really bad at getting myself to play games.

Aku:

Samurai Jack is a CLASSIC and I dare you to not watch this clip and crack up. Mako was a gift of voice acting and I miss him so much. Also this episode is just pretty amusing.

Amy Lee:

My sister was actually the one to submit this and I will use her own propaganda here: "Evanescence was a voice of a generation." Honestly this song is kind of just okay, there are better Evanescence songs, but got to respect the effort they put into the music video. Who can resist to choose Amy Lee anyway?

The Path sisters:

Like many people who know this game, I know it through Izzzyzzz's two video essays on it. I didn't play the game afterwards, but I did watch some play-throughs since I don't play many games + it seemed mostly like a walking simulator anyway so I felt like I got the same effect. It is AMAZING and has so much story and analysis and I love shit like that... In particular, Scarlet, Ruby, and Rose are my favorites whose stories really resonated with me, even if I haven't exactly gone through their life experiences. Ginger too. And there's some really horrific imagery in Robin's...I would recommend everyone find a way to experience this game-- whether that's playing it, watching Izzzyzzz's videos, or finding a walk-through/analysis of it, it's worth it!

Lisette:

So this manga is sort of obscure but it is also sort of nostalgic to me. Well, nostalgic by proxy. My sister read it when I was younger and told me some details about it and for some reason it stuck with me. Like??? For no reason. It's not even that good lmao. The first chapter right off the bat is pretty edgy & handles sensitive topics very badly. But goddamn if I do not think about random elements of the story for no reason. I don't really remember shit about Lisette but hey this picture of her looks really cool.

Red:

If you notice a theme among these being "nostalgia" you would be right, as this was another nostalgic offering from my childhood that I would watch semi-annually. I was also fond of the sequel, though I thought it felt like a different series than the first one. (Which isn't unusual with animated sequels to popular movies, but the fact that the sequel was set-up by the ending of the first one implies it was planned? Weird). But anyway Red is iconic and funny and voiced by Anne Hathaway and also her sad emo song "Red is Blue" sometimes still gets stuck in my head, so take that as you will.

Chacha:

I know absolutely nothing about this series. But it looks very cute so I like it. I love cute magical girls they deserve the world. Also I looked it up and apparently the Studio who did the Akazukin Chacha anime would later do the Yu-Gi-Oh animes from the 2000s and 2010s, so there's the obligatory mention of nostalgia.

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 16 – DARK FIC

The Laird in the Water by jellybeanforest

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: M Words: 17,920 Tags: Dark Fairy Tale Creatures, Graphic Violence, Cannibalism

Summary: In 14th century Scotland, Steve is a child with an imaginary friend that lives in a nearby river, the site of many drownings and horrific discoveries. His Nan claims it to be the work of a kelpie. Steve doesn’t believe her of course. Kelpies are a myth, old wives tales to keep children from playing near swiftly-moving streams and young women from entertaining the company of handsome strangers. However, as he grows, Steve realizes that the young man in the water may not be quite as imaginary nor as innocuous as he once believed.

Reasons why I love it: I love, love, LOVE the world building in this! It always amazes me when people can write in a style that perfectly emulates the time period the story is set in, and jellybeanforest does an excellent job of it here. The setting is so good, and I absolutely love the dark fairy tale elements. I adore this fic, so if you haven't read it yet, I hope you give it a go!

Stars and Stripes Forever by Anonymous

Pairing: Steve/Tony, Steve/Avengers, Steve/Loki Rating: E Words: 29,604 Tags: Rape, Major Character Death, Sexual Slavery

Summary: Steve wakes in a very different 21st century. One where he's owned by the man who fished him out of the sea.

Reasons why I love it: This fic is all the Steve whump our sick little hearts could desire. Please do mind the tags – everyone aside from Steve is the darkest possible version of themselves, and they act accordingly. It gets pretty graphic at times, but that's what we love about dark fic, isn't it? Anyway, this fic is amazing, and if you like disturbing shit, you'll love this one!

Not In Kansas Anymore by fohatic

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 28,585 Tags: Multiverse, Non-Con, BDSM

Summary: It was truly uncanny, how alike they both were. His voice. His mannerisms. His meticulously-groomed facial hair. If he didn't know any better, Steve would've thought that it was the same man he’d left back on Earth-617... The only noticeable difference between them was that look in his eyes... Steve hadn't missed it, the way that this Tony was watching him as if he were a rabbit that had wandered into a tiger's lair, regarding him with an unsettling sort of amusement as he invited him deeper into the penthouse, brown eyes sharp and smoldering with something that Steve didn't recognize. -- Steve Rogers attempts to covertly gather intel on a mysterious weapon from a parallel universe's Tony Stark, and ends up in a predicament that he never saw coming.

Reasons why I love it: Okay, first of I just have to say – the scenario that fohatic came up with here is an actual stroke of genius. It's so, SO well thought out, giving the perfect reason to have completely unavoidable non-con in a fic, with neither of the parties involved being at fault. And the turmoil when what happened is revealed is all the more delicious for it. I love this fic so fucking much, and if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend that you do, because it's brilliant!

[zhongrin]

Heyo. I started playing HSR a little after you posted that you started HSR, and I'm stuck in the first world too.

Holy heck, the quests. The quests to unlock things are a lot longer than I expected. In short, it took me almost a week to unlock daily commissions. I rely a lot on March 7th and Dan Heng and I'm having so much trouble in Belobog. I have died and continue to die multiple times. 😅

Also, I am bad with the combat system too. I'm like auto-farming Calyxes because my characters are not clearing content anymore.

I send this in solidarity, because HSR is kicking my butt too, despite the over like 8 - 10 hours of pure gameplay I've done so far. And I still don't think I'm anywhere close to the end.

Also, congrats on getting Robin!

Go go Meirin! You got this!

right. i haven't even glanced at the side quests orz

try pulling for the discounted standard banner whenever you can! who knows, you might get a good character from there! i got bronya which is apparently one of the best supports, especially for dan heng?

so far what i'm feeling is like hsr is... pretty ruthless to f2p players. i don't remember struggling as much with genshin. i can't imagine farming calyxes without the help of my friends' support characters (which are like, maxed out, lv wise). and tbh the mini bosses were giving me so many difficulties??? which is kinda wild. i kept dying at the boss BEFORE the final boss lol

i also observed you really need to have the right character and the right team comps, otherwise you can't win in battles, since elemental reactions doesn't exist. granted you could do it the hard way, but with march 7th being the only preservation character & natasha being the only abundance character & no ruan mei in my account…. ogh.... ugh..... orz

anyway, personally i don't enjoy the combat in hsr that much (as i don't with most turn-based-combat games) and i dread leveling up the equilibrium thingy, haha… i wish we can set the combat difficulty like in p5 but i know it'll never happen because then it'll invalidate the gacha part of the game.

story wise, i was confused at first because of all the foreign terms being thrown at us, unexplained. but when i got into more of belobog chapter, it's been quite an immersive experience! there were some hiccups here and there ofc, but it was fun to watch.

[curio-queries]

FRI(END)S : THE SONG

This post is part of a series of my thoughts on this release. It's time to finally get these out of drafts and posted before Hobi's release. Here are links to the other posts:

QUICKCOMBO: Continuation

QUICKCOMBO: Termination

The Song (this post)

The Music Video

The Promo

First, if you haven't heard the song yet, please give it a listen and make your own impressions.

Initial Thoughts

The night this was released, I was having some sudden internet issues and was slightly panicking about being able to work the next day so I was admittedly a little stressed by the time I got to listen even though I stayed up specifically for it.

Usually I would listen to it first on Spotify before watching the music video but I was able to get the mv to load first for some reason. My first impression on the song itself was actually a little bit of confusion as to how long the track actually would be given all the 'non-song' space in the mv.

When I did finally get Spotify to work, I definitely thought it was too short but I was so excited that I was vibing with it as much as I did. V's solo work is very hit or miss for me, with most of LayoVer being a miss. I don't think the album was bad, I just had a hard time with it since none of the tracks really appeal to me. But Fri(end)s? I liked on the first few listens. Which is kinda funny because I was actually wondering pretty early on if Fri(end)s would work as part of LayoVer...more on that later in this post.

I still think the song is too short. I realize that's the trend these days as it's more of a marketing tactic but that doesn't mean I have to like the trend. Especially with the extremely clear folding of the song into two parts, it's pretty obvious to even some casual listeners that there's something missing. Not enough to make it a bad song but it just feels slightly unfinished.

Performance

If you haven't already watched the Live Film, I highly recommend it.

I know it's kinda a flex in music communities to value live versions over studio releases but I rarely fall into that camp. (I honestly think it has something to do with a sensory issue I have and extra noise that is often present in such recordings...anyway back to V). This performance is so great! It perfectly embodies both Tae's personality and the energy needed for a song like this. I honestly just felt so good listening to him sing this because he did it in the exact same way I do when I sing along to music; adding extra little rifs and bits just for the fun of it and avoiding the typical notes that all of the members leave out of most performances.

I'm not qualified to comment on the musical technique needed for this song but there are definitely some fun challenges that make for a satisfying singalong once you've nailed them!

LayoVer

If you haven't listened to the complete album in a while, here's a link. Always a good idea to give an album a complete top-to-bottom listen every once in a while, especially this one with how Tae agonized over track sequence of his solo work as mentioned during Festa 2022.

So, if you just list the key words of the lyrical themes and musical elements of both Fri(end)s and LayoVer, you'd think they'd be an easy match but the more I investigated, the less I think so.

First, I'm not really a music researcher when it comes to credits or following specific contributors but from what I can tell, there weren't any of the same individuals listed between the two projects except Tae himself. Which honestly surprised me.

Just going off of memory, I thought it'd fit in smoothly either before or after Slow Dancing but after trying it out, it just doesn't land for me. It absolutely deserves to be its own single and I'd initially wondered if it had been ripped out of the album as the track to tide us over during this chunk of ms but I really don't feel that way at all.

It honestly reminds me a little of how JK released 3D as a separate track. That song (as much as I don't love it) does stand on its own without the support of an album. Maybe Fri(end)s was one of the other songs Tae found during his search for LayoVer but that team didn't have enough material for a cohesive album? He didn't want to lose it so kept it as a single to release later.

I want you all to know that I wrote the above before seeing this video...thanks for proving me right V!! 😆

More thoughts on some of the meaning(s) of the song in my mv post!

(Sidenote, if you haven't seen the full set of the gif at the top of this post, I highly recommend checking it out. It's gorgeous! Absolutely astonishing work @kimtaegis 😍)

[bunbitti]

Me when I finally E2S1 my Aventurine from E1S0 (idk the difference besides more debuffs and extra defense (extra 40% is wild) but at least I got to free up one of my relics for crit rate for inert salsotto)

Anyway uhh I used up that guarantee I had for E2, so uhh hopefully I win that 50/50 for Sunday

Been farming relics for Sunday, fortunately got a bunch of crit damage when leveling (I've been farming since the sacerdos set came out beginning of 2.6) but also people keep doing speed stuff and I really haven't prioritized that for most of my other characters so I guess Sunday might just be a fast boi but I'll see what I can do to fix the others' speed and maybe I'll manage to do better in end-game content

Anyway I heard about the new remembrance path and that trailblazer's gonna be ice remembrance with summon (iirc, but my memory is dogsht), so at the very least Sunday's specialty can be used on them lmao

I do want to get Jiaoqiu's eidolons and lightcone in the future, I currently have plenty of ehr on him and getting more dot on him would be awesome

Getting an Acheron is somewhat tempting but I'm still saving for Sunday and also I'm sure my Acheron build won't be nearly as good as a lot of people's out there since I don't have the funds to E2 her or anything

I still need to finish building that Gallagher I randomly got from one of the banners for another sustain, better to put him with Boothill and not keep spamming Luocha bc Luocha is my only other limited sustain rn

Meanwhile in zzz I got Lycaon after I lost 50/50 on Burnice who I got later but didn't get the signature w-engine for, and I've been leveling their butts off (do you know how slow it is to build 2 characters who need different kits) because I might get Lighter if I enjoy his gameplay (already have Koleda for fire/stun which is pretty manageable) but also I'm tempted to just continue having all of the men in zzz

Lycaon is doing pretty well, so is Burnice; I spent idk what in-game currency to get Lycaon's signature w-engine but haven't built Burnice's non-signature w-engine yet

Anyway getting a fire dps like soldier 11 would be cool, also need an ice dps (maybe I should've pulled for Ellen) and I gotta build my electric characters a bit more, especially bc Qingyi now sucks now that I'm allowed to get characters to level 60 and Qingyi hasn't gotten there yet (aka she only sucks rn bc underleveled, not that she's actually bad) and I only have Anton as a dps and he's so damn energy-reliant that I have to watch the bar really closely to make sure it doesn't deplete all the way before I can switch out and let it build up again

Also I've just been avoiding doing anything about ether bc there's currently what, two characters total who are on ether and I only have Nicole

I've been slapping Jane/Seth on most things and it works decently even when it's not the ideal element, pulling them was the best decision I have made in this game

I like it when all of my characters have decent personal damage (me when c6 seth does a lot of damage when you parry and switch to him, then do the shielding basic atk before going back to jane)

Also free Harumasa??? Need him bruh

Skipping Yanagi, I don't got the pulls to get both her and maybe Lighter even though I kinda need the dps but I'm sure things will work out at some point

[gothmiqote]

What is your favourite depiction of romance (or sex if you prefer) that you have produced? Or if you haven't produced one yet, then what is your favourite example from another creator?

I've got some stuff in my drafts that I can tell I'm going to like, but since that's not public content yet lmao I'll have to go with the book & game versions of Geralt & Yennefer (the netflix show doesn't exist to me). There's an element of soulmate mystique there sure, but fundamentally they're two people who want to be with each other and are willing to move mountains to do so. I'm a sucker for strong personalities that occasionally clash but share the same core values, so you still get that nice feeling of push & pull without falling into 'yeah they love each other but they don't actually like each other' territory. I love how domestic they can be even if there's still that consistent thread of fantasy-levels of intensity. I'm also a huge fan of couples that have to grow as individuals before we get that gratification, watching them effectively get divorced and then make the conscious choice to try again & get things right this time is absolute Peak. And bi4bi m/f content has always been a weakness of mine lmfao. I can't even think of a specific scene tbh, they're all pretty good (the first that comes to mind is 'You smell wonderful at this funeral' which is such a small moment but it's so telling, he's normally a pretty serious & introverted person and yet! Willing to be a bit silly in an otherwise sombre situation because he literally can't help himself with her).

Anyway yeah, while I don't ever emulate their story (I doubt I'd do a cheap retelling justice anyway), it's not hard to see bits of this dynamic creep into my own work. it's not 100% the vibes i'm going for with varha/estinien but reading the witcher truly did alter my brain chemistry & taste for romance.

relationship development questions

[joju-but-trek]

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episode 1: Into the Breach, Part 1

Somehow, Robert Beltran has returned.

I didn't know that Netflix released Prodigy until about an hour ago, but I'm glad they did. For people who missed the entire saga, two years ago Paramount released season 1 of an excellent Star Trek series called Prodigy. The pitch was that it was a group of (mostly) kids from the far side of the galaxy escaping slavery to come to the Federation, and it was excellent. The characters were compelling, the stories were fun, and it was pitched as an entry to the franchise for kids. Also, the animation looks vaguely like the Clone Wars style. I was in. And then on top of that it's also a follow-up to Voyager, my favorite Star Trek show that I really need to finish writing my reviews for season 1 of.

Anyway, Paramount killed it and wiped it from streaming. After months of fan and crew campaigning, Netflix picked it up and agreed to release the already finished second season. It came out yesterday as a single 20-episode drop, and I've decided to watch it and keep up my reviews of it. I think I want to space out my reviews a bit so I can focus on the individual episodes, so that's how this will start. I would like to do an episode a day, but I don't trust myself to keep to that, so there will probably be some gaps.

So, episode 1. Is it a good premiere? Short answer, mostly. 8/10.

I haven't seen season 1 since I first watched the show, so I'm a bit out of the loop. This episode did a good job of reminding me who the characters were and why I liked them, but it did throw a few curveballs for character arcs that I'm not sure I love. I'm happy with how they handled Zero, Rok, and Jankum, but I think Dal needs a bit more expansion. He's the protagonist so he'll definitely get it, but for a first episode it's a weird place to leave him. Basically, the season starts with the kids in training (I *think* they're all kids, Zero's either a million years old or ten and I can't tell), and they're all adapting more or less OK to formal Starfleet life. Except Dal. Dal doesn't want to actually do any studying and just wants to be a spaceship captain who goes on adventures and shoots things. It's a pretty simple arc, but it's also a kids' show.

I do like the dynamic of all the other main characters wanting to be part of Starfleet and it putting strain on their friendgroup while Dal just wants to do what he wants to do, and the running gag that he refuses to read Temporal Mechanics 101 is a fun joke and a plot element. I'm torn because I kind of want more from the show than that, but also there's only so much you can do in 22 minutes and still expect kids to follow and I recognize that.

In terms of Voyager follow-up, Janeway has a secret mission! That's fun! I like the way her new bridge officers look in the animation style, especially the Andorian I can't name. That species just looks good in this definitely-not-Clone Wars render. Also, I like Andorians. Sue me.

The Doctor is also back! The Doctor is one of my favorite Star Trek characters ever, and I'll explain why if/when I do a thing about Voyager. I'm glad he's back. It feels like they struggled a bit with using Robert Picardo as a voice actor - it just feels a little stilted - but I've also only seen the first episode. I'm not sure why he's on the mission in-universe, but I'll give it time.

The Voyager-A is ostensibly studying a wormhole but secretly rescuing Chakotay, which is a good way to keep the threads from season 1 going and also giving the crew some conflict with Admiral Janeway. In season 1, they got pretty attached to Hologram Janeway, and not having the same relationship with the human version is going to be a fun dynamic to play out. I know they made this a while ago, but I am very curious how much they knew about Robert Beltran (Chakotay's actor) and his feelings about COVID vaccines at the time (he doesn't like them).

Two timeline things that are interesting to nerds - Voyager-A and the mention of the Romulan evacuation. I was halfway through an extended paragraph about the timeline of Voyager-A being here and what that means for the Lore before I realized what I'd done, so I'll make that a separate post. The Romulan evacuation comment is just interesting because that's a plot point from the Abrams Star Trek reboot that puts the events of this show way closer to Voyager than I thought they were, so it has not been that long for Janeway, Chakotay, and the Doctor. I wonder if this will come up, or if I'm overthinking it. If I had to guess, it's probably the latter.