#bringing the infinite world boss home

[danmeiblr]

He just like me fr (I have acute rhinitis)

[rairai-raven]

Theory Time Theory Time!

So with the newest trailer for Sonic X Shadow Generations, I feel like I can confidently say who all of the bosses will be.

To start, the base version of Sonic Generations had 7 boss battles, 3 big bosses (being the Death Egg Robot, Perfect Chaos, and the Egg Dragoon), 3 rival battles (being Classic Metal Sonic, Shadow, and Silver), and the final boss (the Time Eater). For the sake of this theory we're going to assume that Shadow Generations will follow this formula too.

Adding on, all of the bosses that will be presented in this theory will have some form of connection to Shadow, meaning that any bosses that Shadow has not interacted with, even if the boss is popular, will not appear.

And lastly, each of the bosses must have appeared within the game where the stage has originated. Here are all of the stages that have been confirmed as of the Doom Powers trailer.

Radical Highway (Sonic Adventure 2)

Final Chase/Rush (Sonic Adventure 2)

Bullet Station (Sonic Heroes)

Westopolis (Shadow the Hedgehog)

Kingdom Valley (Sonic 06)

Sunset Heights/Park Avenue/Ghost Town/Enemy Territory/City/idk pick a name (Sonic Forces)

Chaos Island (Sonic Frontiers)

Getting the obvious out of the way, we have our 2 confirmed bosses, being the Biolizard and Metal Overlord.

The connection between the Biolizard and Shadow is a no brainer so I won't talk about it, however Metal Overlord is interesting and may be deeper than what most people think.

Bullet Station being the featured stage of Sonic Heroes, and what happens in at the end of Bullet Station?

We find a Shadow Android (followed by Neo Metal Sonic copying Shadow's data). Seeing that Android leads to a currently amnesiac Shadow to question his identity and if he is a clone. And who pray tell was the first one to propagate the misinformation?

Neo Metal Sonic. Even if Eggman himself kept the charade going, Neo Metal Sonic (and by extension Metal Overlord) was the one who started the doubt. By fighting Metal Overlord, Shadow can confidently say that he was wrong about who Shadow is, and the only robotic copy around is the one in front of him.

Deciding who the last big boss has been a toughie, and while there is the obvious, I'll be saving that one for the end. Who do I believe is the best candidate then?

The Knight from Sonic Frontiers. Admittedly this one is more of a stretch, however with the given stages we are shown our pool of potential bosses is slim, but that doesn't mean there isn't a connection. In Sonic Frontiers, the Ancients have fled their home planet and landed on Earth with the Chaos Emeralds. With Shadow being both part alien and having chaos abilites, it's not so far fetched. But here's the kicker.

Gerald has visited Angel Island in the past, along with actually seeing the Master Emerald. And what are heavily connected to the Master Emerald that our Ancient friends have brought? Now everything's coming together. So why the Knight in particular? Mainly because it's on Chaos Island where the fight originally took place. But really any of Sonic Frontiers' main bosses would fit.

Now onto the rival battles! Starting with an easy pick, MEMPHIS TENNESSEE Mephilies.

Despite being erased from existence, Mephiles has played a huge role with helping Shadow assert his identity, choosing to forever protect the world even if it turns against him. And with the Time Eater's shenanigans bringing back Crisis City bringing back the erased God wouldn't be impossible.

Not to mention Kingdom Valley is actually where Shadow first met Mephiles in his campaign, the God using Shadow's shadow as a base for the we all know him as.

The second rival battle I believe will happen is everyone's favorite weakling, Infinite.

Given that Sonic Forces is being represented, the character whose whole identity and image have been shattered by the hedgehog makes sense showing up. Although this leads me to ask, why is Sunset Heights in particular the one that's being represented?

Well, that's where the Shadow Clone appears of course.

This is where we learn that Shadow wasn't a bad guy again and was merely being copied by the Phantom Ruby. Perhaps as an intro cutscene to the fight we could have Shadow see his clone doing bad things, with Black Doom taunting him about his inevitable fate of a creature of destruction, before revealing that it was one of Infinite's clones. Shadow would then fight the creator of the clones as an affirmation of who he is.

Now for the final rival battle, I have two options. The one that will most likely happen, and the one I want to happen. The first option is Emerl the Gizoid.

The Dark Beginnings prologue features Emerl, an ancient robot of destruction who Gerald later rediscovers and creates a soul for it based off of Maria. As the prologue shows, Shadow was there during Emerl's rehabilitation and fights him in Sonic Battle. If what shown in the prologue actually happened on the Ark and is not some sort of hallucination, then this rival battle will show the beginnings of Shadow's good hearted nature as he protects Gerald on behalf of Maria.

Despite there being no Sonic battle stages, the fight itself will most likely be apart of the Space Coloney Arc as shown in the prologue.

However, there is one rival battle I really want to happen. Sonic The Hedgehog.

In Sonic Generations we fought Shadow, so how about we fight Sonic in Shadow Generations? However this time it won't be on the Ark, nonono. Instead, it will be on Prison Island.

Faker rematch time! Bonus points if they redub the beginning cutscene to that fight. Plus, with Shadow Generations taking advantage of the fact the fights can take place in a 3D place (as shown in the Biolizard fight), we could be fighting Sonic in an arena instead of the race in Sonic Generations. Now why do I want the Prison Island fight in particular?

Prison Island is where Shadow does his first truly good thing after reawakening from status. Saving Rouge. While claiming it's for the emeralds, deep down he's a good person at heart, he's just so blinded by rage at this point.

With all the possible bosses listened, there's an interesting theme going on, that being Shadow's identity. With Emerl, Shadow wants to save those he cares for. With Sonic, Shadow proves that he is a good person suffering through grief. With the Biolizard, Shadow recognizes what Maria's wish truly was and defies his creator to see it through. With Metal Overlord, Shadow has seeds planted in his mind wondering if he's an Android. With Mephiles, Shadow asserts that he will always fight even if others don't believe in him. With Infinite, Shadow sees that his future self will never turn to villainy again. With the Knight, Shadow will learn more about his origins.

All of these bosses are connected to Shadow's identity, and who pray tell wants to mess with's Shadow's identity the most?

THE DEVIL FROM THE BIBLE

Black Doom.

All throughout Shadow the Hedgehog he's been gaslighting Shadow into joining his side for his own gain, manipulating the hedgehog with promises of showing him his past that he cannot remember, trying to make Shadow something he's not.

It is my firm belief that we will not be fighting the Time Eater as the final boss, Sonic's got that covered. Instead the final boss will be Devil Doom.

It's the final boss of the hit game Shadow the Hedgehog TM, how can you NOT including him as the final boss of essentially Shadow the Hedgehog 2?

After so long since defeating Black Doom, Shadow has grown and reaffirmed who he, and he's not gonna let dear old dad dictate his life again.

Well that got a bit fanficy at the end! Jokes aside, I hope you enjoy my speculation on who the bosses are and what the potential story could be!

[kyndaris]

I Am Astro Bot!

There is something whimsical and carefree about the latest title from Team Asobi. While the PlayStation 5 came equipped with Astro's Playroom (primarily as a bid to showcase the powers of the console and the DualSense controller, Astro Bot takes one back to the good old days of wonder with its charm, vibrant palette and how fun it is to play. Is it any wonder it has wowed audiences of all ages despite the controversy surrounding the shuttering of Concord only a few weeks prior?

Some, of course, might feel like it's a cash grab and celebration of all things PlayStation (which it is), but this latest mascot platformer brings something we need in this day and age (especially after the recent US election).

Levity.

I've never felt as much joy as I did with Astro Bot (the challenge levels notwithstanding). From the early hours of the bots cruising through space in their PlayStation spaceship to all the bosses of each galaxy where each part of the PlayStation 5 has been hidden due to some green Martian-esque bad guys. What's more, it brings to bear the power of the PlayStation 5 without focusing on realism. The cartoony art style, in fact, makes the game pop in a way so many others games fail to do so.

And yet, it doesn't skimp on the capabilities brought about by the PlayStation 5 with its love of filling each stage with various knick-knacks to show off the particle effects. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a better game on the PlayStation 5, with the possible exception of Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart.

It just goes to show realistic graphics are not the way to go. Rather, the ones which hold up the best are the ones that pick something stylistic. Certainly, Astro Bot will be far more memorable than another bland washed-out open-world game.

More than that, Astro Bot is a game that never overstays its welcome. While I suffered from much fatigue with the likes of Tears of the Kingdom, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Horizon: Forbidden West and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Astro Bot was much more compact. Each stage, or planet, could be completed in just a few short minutes - thus making them infinitely replayable. Deaths, too, weren't too harshly punished.

But I digress from my effusive praise.

In every sense of the word, Astro Bot is a celebration.

Of the long storied history of PlayStation, yes, but also of gaming in general.

What I liked most was how our protagonist would take on the roles of other PlayStation powerhouses. The love and care dedicated to those levels brought a smile to my face as I played through them - from the God of War inspired one to Uncharted. Heck, even Loco Roco with its very unique way of traversal!

Even without the PlayStation powerhouses, Astro Bot also had special powerups that could be used for specific stages. These included the frog boxing gloves, the dog rush, chicken booster, metal ball upgrade, the monkey, and even a magnet! I loved how each were utilised within the levels they were located in, and especially in how they could be used to tackle the galaxy bosses.

Not to mention the music!

I loved how each themed stage had specific music tied to it - from the ghostly haunted ones to the ice stages to even the underground mushroom ones! I mean, who doesn't love a dancing fungi in the background? Heck, even the main title's song managed to sneak its way into my head!

From a story perspective, there isn't much to write home about. Astro and friends are attacked by a green alien. The PlayStation mothership crash lands into a desert planet, its core parts scattered. It is up to Astro to collect them all and rescue the other bots (all 300 of them). He does this by heading to five different galaxies and defeating the big hulking bosses at the end of them. Once that's done, he and a special hero from the PlayStation roster head to one last planet to round up the missing part before taking it back to the crash land site.

In the end, Astro and his friends battle against the aliens to win back the CPU.

They win, of course, but not without some sacrifice. Yet, though the game ends on a sad note, Astro is thrown back from the void he vanished into, broken. Like the ship itself, they are brought back to life with the help of the other bots.

So ends the game, with a playable section of the credits!

What's not to love?

And if you're asking me why I'm referring to Astro as 'they,' well, I really should be referring to the bot as it. After all, Astro is a robot. To give Astro a gender would be the HEIGHT of wokeness. And since I read on an online post that the REASON why Astro Bot was such a good game was because it wasn't woke, Astro must remain an 'it.' Or they/ them.

Of course, should Astro choose to go by male pronouns, who am I to argue? It certainly doesn't affect me, or deter me from enjoying a very good game (maybe one of these days, I'll go over how anti-woke politics on the internet has truly enraged me one of these days, but this post isn't it. I just want to enjoy my video games without people trying to pull it down because they feel like having a woman main character or a trans side character is somehow 'shoving the woke agenda down their throats').

In short, Astro Bot was a joy to play through. I liked how it encapsulated what made gaming so fun in the past, and bringing it to the present. This was just a silly little robot running around colourful worlds and tackling enemies with aplomb. And while I don't think the gaming landscape needs to be saturated with such titles, it was a welcome relief to the grittier realism that has infected a lot of modern gaming. Here's to many more adventures with Astro (with perhaps a return for some beloved older titles).

[strayheartless]

Saw something on Twitter that asked what the point of Genesis was; whether people liked his character or tolerated him. They suggested that he was badly used as an interesting character and I just want to throw my two Gil in here.

To me Genesis is perfectly used in Crisis core but you have to understand what his role is in mythology/alagorical sense to truely appreciate him. I am not trying to be pretentious when I say that I’m genuinely meaning it.

Genesis isn’t just the Loveless obsessed mini boss. There is actual depth to his character. However, his characterisation confuses a lot of people because it’s different from others.

Genesis at the core of his characterisation (and goddess knows it would inflate his ego if his character had been made that self aware.) acts as one of the fates. He is prophet, death bringer and actualiser. He recites the prophesy [Loveless] and brings about the events of FFvii.

Loveless cannot be read as anything other than a prophesy. It just can’t. You just need to listen to all of the lines that are vocalised to know that:

“When the war of the beast brings about worlds end, the goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar she guides us to bliss her gift everlasting.”

Arguably this stanza references the war in Wuti and the creation of Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth. “Wings of dark and light” references quite literally their own singular mutations that spring forth as a black wing (Genesis) and a white wing (Angeal and Sephiroth). It then goes on to highlight their ascension into their life stream. This is simply the prologue.

The mistake everyone makes is assuming that the poem is simply talking about the three firsts. It’s not. It is dually talking about the trinity and Seph, cloud and Zack.

“Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. We seek it thus and take to the sky. Ripples from on the waters surface the wandering soul knows no rest.”

This part of Act one refers to both Sephiroth and Cloud. Sephiroth is the one in CC who is wandering lost without a home nor a family. His friends have deserted him, and he is alone. By FFvii this is Cloud. He quite literally cannot catch a brake.

The “ripples from the waters surface” surface is the reflection of the two stories. It is the distortion of Sephiroths identity as the hero he has been trained to be into the monster he becomes. It is also the distortion of clouds own identity as his mind is broken and takes on someone else’s identity.

“Three friends go to battle, one is captured, one flies away, the one that is left becomes a hero”

Captured =Angeal and Zack

flies away = Genesis and Sephiroth

Becomes a hero = Sephiroth and Cloud

Angeal is captured more or less in modeoheim and dies. While Zack is quite literally is captured by Hojo with Cloud and dies as a result of that captivity. Arguably Zack was never free.

Genesis was the one who flew away from Sinra and from Nibleheim. He fled before he can behold the consequences of his actions. He his arguably the lynch pin for every major development in crisis core. Had he not challenged Sephiroth; had he not gotten hurt and been unable to heal then nothing that transpired would have happened. Had Genesis not revolted; had he not taunted Sephiroth the plot would never have come to the conclusion it did.

Sephiroth is also the one who flies away in therms of the main FFvii plot because he disappears after Nibleheim, he is the antagonist in a very similar way to Gen in CC. He appears every now and then to fuck up Clouds day and had he not been hurt by Cloud non of what happens in FFvii would transpire because it is that moment that puts Cloud at the forefront of Sephs mind. It is that moment that interests Hojo enough to experiment on Cloud and connect him to Sephiroth via the J-cells.

And then there is the hero left behind. Simply put, Genesis and Angeal leave Sephiroth to become the hero. They make villains of themselves and Leave Shinras golden boy behind to clean up their mess. And when sephiroth dies Shinra immortalises him by reporting that he died a hero. We know this because Aeirth literally states it in FFvii when cloud asked her if she knows who he is and she answers that he was a war hero that died five years previous.

Cloud by comparison is the one left by ALL of them to become a hero. Zack is dead, Sephiroth is now the villain, Genesis and Angeal own deaths impact so much of Clouds own story that they doubly place a burden of expectation upon him. Cloud literally carried all of their dreams and Honour around with him as he uses the Buster sword.

But I digress. Without analysing the entire play (at least the parts we have) you can see from what I have looked at above that Loveless isn’t just some poem; It’s a prophesy.

And Genesis being the one to speak this Prophesy is significant because he is quite literally the lynch pin for all of it. Like I said, had he not been hurt then events would have progressed differently.

I’m not saying he is the most important character of the story. He’s absolutely not; that is Cloud. But he’s not unimportant, nor is he just there. He is one of the most interesting plot devices FFvii has in my opinion.

Because he is quite literally the mouth piece of Minerva. He is a fate of the gods. He is past present and future, and he serves as the narrator at the beginning of the Shakespeare play to profess “two houses both alike in dignity.”

Genesis isn’t nothing. He is a walking Oman of death and destiny.

((Please remember this is my opinion and if you disagree I’d love to know but blessed don’t be rude. I like discussing but I really hate being yelled at.))

[web-novel-polls]

Have You Read This Web Novel?

If you’re in the process of reading this web novel, please choose whichever option best fits your situation. You do not have to be completely finished with it to answer “yes.”

If you’ve never heard of it, please read the description below the cut!

See similar polls and results here!

Novel Updates:

As a renowned fierce god in the infinite flow world, Ye Jia deliberately hid his strength after clearing it and found an idle job in the Logistics Department of the Paranormal Investigation and Management Bureau. He originally thought that he would be able to return to his salted fish life and live comfortably. But what Ye Jia didn’t expect was…… One day, he opened the fridge and was met with an evil spirit’s vicious head, “Boss, boss. Did you miss me…..” Ye Jia: “………” He slammed the door shut and fell into deep thought. Wasn’t there something wrong with this world? The TV behind him was broadcasting news: Recently there has been a surge in paranormal events and the number of missing persons has sharply increased. It is currently under investigation….. * With the infinite flow escape game unexpectedly crashing, countless demons and ghosts trapped in it were released, bringing disaster to the world. Only Ye Jia who cleared the game knew the truth. All of these……..were old acquaintances……… Ye Jia: My life is too difficult. #I clearly just want to be an ordinary corporate s*ave# Finally, one day, he saw an unexpected monster. After two seconds of silence, Ye Jia greeted dryly: “…….You came out too. What a coincidence.” The man before him smiled and slowly approached him, “My boyfriend ran away from home. Of course, I should come out to catch him and bring him back.” Ye Jia: “……..” Who would have thought that, along with the global sensation of ghost doors opening in the mortal world, there was also….. His peach blossom debt. It can’t be, sir. This is also okay?

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Forces (PS4)

An underrated Sonic game...?

After Sonic Generations in 2011, Sonic Team experimented with a different format in Lost World. 2017's Forces is then a follow-up of sorts to Generations with the Classic and Modern versions of Sonic in the game bringing their respective gameplay styles. They are joined by a third gameplay style in Forces... and now I must convey to you a conspiracy theory, and the reason I'm playing this immediately after the Boom games (also I finished watching the show, it's very good).

The timing of Boom as a high-profile spinoff and some 2016 promotional artwork depicting the three Sonics together may suggest that at some point in development Boom's Sonic was to appear alongside the other two. There is some evidence in the final product to support this: the third element in Forces is the custom character, who has swappable Wisp-powered weapons and... a grappling hook, which is not dissimilar to Boom's Enerbeam. Some lines in the script about Classic Sonic being from another dimension have led people to assume they were repurposed from referencing Boom's Sonic; I consider this a red herring due to the timeline of scripting and early drafts we have access to, but I could be wrong. More convincing is the final boss—the "Death Egg Robot"—having a suspiciously similar appearance to Lyric's mech suit, perhaps leftover assets being reused. Boom Sonic's scarf and sports-tape bedecked gloves and shoes are available as Avatar cosmetics, so it's not like Boom was totally memory-holed either way. There's never been any official statements about this, so we have to piece together what information we have, but it seems plausible enough to me. Now with that out of the way...

On the surface Forces seems to be taking a "darker and grittier" angle on the Sonic universe (although I'd argue that many games in the series have been trying this to various degrees since Adventure). The characters talk about war sometimes and the "Eggman has taken over 99.99% of Mobius while Sonic has been tortured in space prison for six months" plot sounds absurdly melodramatic, but once the game gets going it's mostly pretty light on in its tone and themes, not much different to other Sonic games. A handful of Sonic's friends do stuff off-screen and chat to you over the radio; I wish they'd pulled out all the stops for character appearances given the stakes of the story, but oh well. No Blaze, again.

The new co-antagonist is Infinite, the try-hard-iest edgelord you've ever seen with the dumbest, most awesome metal theme song. His illusion powers make for one or two cool level concepts, but often they are just a simple plot device. These powers also enable the reuse of previous antagonists like Zavok (snore) and Shadow... also Chaos is there in one cutscene and then proceeds to do sweet bugger all for the rest of the game. Some missed opportunities here.

Forces lifts the Classic Sonic crossover concept from Generations without much interrogation. He just shows up through a portal for no reason and since he’s one of those silent protagonists for no reason, he isn’t even able to tell anyone about the Phantom Ruby (the source of Infinite’s powers) also appearing in Mania, which none of the other characters remember for no reason (something something other dimension??). His sidescrolling Classic-style levels were my least favourite but I’m glad they were included for a change of pace. He’s also been given Mania’s drop-dash which is a great snappy movement upgrade.

Modern Sonic is your standard boosting 3D corridors / 2D sections / rail grinding gameplay with homing attacks and stomps. The really interesting new addition is of course the Avatar, whose gameplay is a little slower paced and includes swinging and the Wispon. You choose from various weapons between stages and some are much more useful in certain levels; I wish the game indicated a recommendation. But most of them have powerful attacks for smashing groups of badniks as well as fun movement tech. A fourth level style has Modern Sonic team up with the Avatar, combining their abilities.

The story plays out across a world map, going back and forth sporadically over the eight or so different environments. Of course many of these are throwback biomes, but with fun twists like a desertified Green Hill or a casino/jungle, and they invariably look colourful and detailed. The 30 levels are quite short on average (and some are even reused wholesale between characters), but I don’t mind this. It makes revisiting them for collectibles and missions breezier, and I ended up 100%ing the game thanks to this. Free DLC added three new Shadow levels plus the ability to play as Shadow in parts of the main game, as well as the option for Super Sonic which made those repeat runs even more painless. I believe this is also the first big Sonic game to do away with the concept of extra lives entirely, which I must applaud wholeheartedly.

I’ve gone too long now without really getting into the Avatar/Rookie/Buddy, which really is a genius feature. People have been making their own Sonic OCs for forever, so integrating that in the game is an easy win. I loved creating characters that aren’t otherwise in the game, like Blaze, Sticks, or Fang, characters from other Sonic media like Tekno, Bunnie, or Sally, and even other furry-type characters like Krystal or Bubsy. I then adored unlocking more and more costume parts and dressing them up! It’s a great incentive to engage with the mission structure. It’s too bad you’re locked to one type until you beat the story, so I picked Tekno as my primary for the bird’s double jump ability. Truly this concept is powerful, and I’d love to see it expanded in future games since the options for customisation can feel limited. This definitely needs another pass.

My final point is about what I think is one of Forces’ greatest strengths: the soundtrack. While still grinding out Avatar levels and mission unlocks, I sought out the game’s music to listen to at work. I used to think I disliked vocal tracks playing over gameplay but I was wrong! (Maybe I just don’t like Crush 40, but don’t tell the Sonic fans I said that.) Whenever the main theme Fist Bump kicked into the chorus during a double boost, I got hype every time, that song is sick as hell! The Classic Sonic Mega Drive-style tracks rock, Infinite’s theme is a banger, even the jingles are a joy... the game is just infused with track after track of cool techno-symphonic music in different tones. Truly I developed a deep respect for lead composer Tomoya Ohtani playing this game (even though I already thought he did a great job on Rush Adventure and Unleashed).

Before playing Forces for myself, I just knew that fans thought of it as "one of the bad ones", that it was supposedly farmed out to a B-team and half-baked to mediocrity. Sure it's got flaws and weaknesses, the story is dumb, the bosses aren't great... but it's solid, stylish, and I thought it had such a fun energy and so much cool stuff; now it's my favourite 3D Sonic game! To be fair I haven't played that many of them, so I'm going to work on that. Either way I've learned by now that my feelings on Sonic often go directly against the grain of mainstream opinion, and I'm so totally fine with that if it means I can listen to Fist Bump on repeat over here in the corner. It's a brand new day...!

[madelinemccoolname]

another magnet movie mreview double feature

toy story 2 and monster's inc.

I swear I don't mean to do 2 at once, I'm watching these semi-daily but I can only review when I have energy, okay break and go

Toy Story 2

Do you ever watch a movie, and find that secretly, scenes from the whole movie are burned into your retinas and are drawn on your eyelids, this was my latest experience watching toy story 2. Toy story 2 is about an inversion on the original, woody is in a secondary location and it's up to the boys to bring him home while he has cowboy doll adventures with jesse and the horse and that other guy. Definitely a more novel setup than "what if a kid was evil" but it leaves a lot of the movie on the shoulders of the boys, who're fun but i would hesitate to say any of them "contribute", honestly mvp of the rescue mission might go to fake buzz, who gets the vent open *and* fights that weird zurg that shows up. I know all it sounds like i've done is complain, but that's mainly because i dont have much else to say otherwise. Toy Story 2 is a natural feeling expansion on the original, talking about one or two things the movie does well would just be repeating "well they did this better than the original, and technology improved over time"

toy story 2 gets a 9/10, and the original gets retroactively bumped to an 8/10

memorable bits: the video game bit, when woody finds all his cool shit, "when she loved me" (honestly the buzz half of this movie is less than the woody half that's why all these scenes are woody's), the invention of asmr cleaning videos, star wars references fuckin everywhere, the entire last 30 minutes being stuck in my brain since childhood with it's weird soft lighting and like fun gray stuff

monster's inc.

Now this is a movie I can analyze. Monster's inc. is about how we need green energy fucking now, naturally it was released in 2002. Sully and Mike are working class factory men in the scare factory, a power plant but instead of torturing rocks they torture children by going into their rooms at night and scaring them. They do this with minimal safety equipment and with an understanding that touching a human child is explicitly dangerous. This becomes clearly false as they meet our third lead, a human child they call boo, shenanigans and hijinks ensue, they get boo back to the human world, get their coworker randall and boss mr. waterknot put in prison for human trafficking and they switch to green energy laughter. i find this movie far more interesting as a metaphor than as a movie to be critical about (it's another 8/10 if you want a score, i really like the score and the world but find it drags in the middle until the climax). So, their boss was secretly funding a more efficient, but far more unethical way of getting oil scream, instead of going with the even more efficient and powerful and infinite laughter, but it doesn't really seem like mr. waterknot even really knows about the laughter. Actually now that i think of it nobody knew there was an alternative until the end, so ig the boss wasn't the worst fictional capitalist i've ever seen, because at least he wasn't also suppressing the cure, he was just stupid. but who cares about his plan his shit is incidental randall is a class traitor! like straight up actually doesn't care about selling out human kids, and doesn't give a fuck about mike and sully getting banished for like 5 minutes, just so long as he gets a promotion he'll kill his lil peanut guy to get his way. it's like a really messy metaphor but it works as a compelling case for "but why not solar power tho?" y'know? like that one comic that's like "but what if we cleaned up the world for future generations for nothing" but like as a movie, why shouldn't we use green energy? even if it's nothing but better for the kids

memorable bits: uhhh the fuckin doors, that scene with mike and randall with the clock, the scene where they shave that guy, the sushi place (which blew up in the pre-9/11 cut), the fuckin monster offices in the back (need that in kh), "welcome to the himalayas", nemo in boo's room at the end, "i'd kidnap a thousand children before i'd let this company die" for some reason playing continuously in my head whenever i think of this movie, rozz the slug lady, celia, the ending tease,

[firemandeanbuck]

what if...

(tribute to this post by father) (major character death, there will be pain btw COMIC SPOILERS)

Hob had a dream. Or was it...? A dream? Well, it sure was, or elsewhere would he find such fantastical creatures, Gods and Legends, mourning for the death of someone?

His body was flowing down a river, in a big black swan boat. The sky was the greyest Hob ever felt. It was like a shadow was casted over the entire universe by the wings of a Titan. They mourned the death of someone they knew very personally. Hob had a feeling he knew him too. He had not seen his face, but he knew him, he had not remembered his voice, yet he heard him saying goodbye one last time to his kingdom. Leaving everything and everyone behind, never to look back. This isn't a trick, or deception, or a play. No, this was real life.

No coming back from there.

Words were spoken in countless languages, unknown manners and with various level of emotions. The little girl with insane hair said nothing more than 2 words, she was clearly upset. The crow talked fondly, if a little harshly, of his boss. They went to hell together and challenged Lucifer, he said. Someone in the crowd scoffed loudly..

When the fire rose up into the sky as a phoenix, everyone was returned home. Gods and the funny creatures walked out the gate. But Hob woke up.

((1 month later))

Inside the barn, Hob sits around a fire. He is greeted by a familiar face. Familiar yet. Distinguished. He doesn't recall who she is, all he knows that she is someone he knows, or at least used to know.

She tells him about her brother, about life, about dreams and death. Hob tells her about his life, about his aspiration.

Death tells him about her idiot brother. A hollowness digs into Hob's chest, weighing him down. The final blow, while waking, comes when Death tells him Dream is no longer, he is dead. he attended the funeral. Hob needs a drink, he needs to get away, to be alone with his thoughts. No, no, this can't be true. The man with whom he met every century, the one who hears his stories about life and the ONLY perosn he had been genuinely open with, is DEAD.

He can't. Hob had lost so much over the corse of 6 centuries. he can't-

But he seemed immortal. Dream did. He seemed infinitely bigger than life, he seemed unreal, like a wild imagination running around unrestricted. Oh, so mighty and great. Even gods dont question him

Yet, in his heart of hearts, he KNOWS its true. That's the funeral he attended, and he saw her there, for she was also mourning her brother. Even now, as she is talking to him, grief is crystal in her eyes. She doesn't want to tell this story, yet, she feels like she OWES her brother to. It's what's proper, what's right

Then, she asks him to take her hands.

Hob hesitates. He asks her, "How did it feel?"

"Like death. A part of me went with him and forever shall be with him. I have no control over such matters", Death answers, rubbing her hands together.

"I'm sorry", Hob place his hand on her shoulder, "My condolences to you, Death",

"Y'know, I was his sister before I was DEATH", she told. Her head hung low, the curls were curtaining her face but the tears were unmistakably there.

"I cannot imagine the pain. To think that who WOULD NOT go away actually do, in front of your eyes. But... to be the one to take him there. I'm so sorry, Death. If I could, I would've changed our places"

"Thank you", she wiped her glittery tears, "So?" Once again, she had extended her arms.

They looked so inviting. No more pain, no more struggling to hide his identity, no more problems of the world, no more lost loved ones, no more changing times taking a toll on him, no more finding new love, no more grieving for the past.

But... GWEN. She will be alone. Hob doesn't want her to feel what he did. She is good she doesn't deserve such pain.

"Will I be forgiven?"

"No one is condemned in my realm", assures Death, her gentle smile reminding Hob of summer in the open country, warm breeze bringing the sweet smell of fruits. Oh, how much he wanted to go.

From somewhere far, far away, his beloved mother was calling him into home. His little sister running back to him, showing him her collection. The sun kissed his skin. He could feel the soil and grass under his feet.

There it was. Such a strong nostalgia, the bittersweet feeling that leaves a foul taste when its over. He doesn't want it to be over

"Okay, I'll come with you"

[thaumium-block]

1) if you Had to pick a favorite out of ur minecraft ocs who would it be.

2) tell me abt galu!!! (if ur favorite isnt galu)

Hardest question,,,,,,,

But given how much lore I've done for the Galuverse over the years and how essential it is to my minecraft canon, yeah Galu is probably suitable as favorite.

Have some lore dumps taken from my lore doc :]

[...] Galu was enamored with writing the moment he came across it. Few of their people knew of its true power, and at first, neither did Galu, but he would learn swiftly the value of the written world.

Pages upon pages of glyphs, all hand-bound into leather folios, each book a portal into a world of Galu’s own making. At first, this was metaphorically, but soon, power entered every symbol he wrote, and the portals became literal, tangible. He became a seasoned traveler, diving into their books and encountering all manner of self-made wonders and civilizations.

It was not long before They took notice of the countless worlds being created without Their input, and so the Primordials converged above Fifth Shard, blotting out the light sigil that served as its sun. They called for Galu Terwyn the worldsmith, and when they arrived, They didn’t scold them, but rather praise them, for creation is something to be proud of.

They rewarded Galu with a mystical blue box slightly larger than a Fifthling. It was special, They said, and had the power to take Galu to infinite worlds. This box was called a TARDIS, and They had recreated it from a distant past.

So Galu traveled, leaving Fifth Shard behind, considering the TARDIS his new home. In their journeys, they learned more of magic, and became a technomancer; integrating magic into the scientific process, and devising mystical machines. At length, though, they grew lonely.

Endless travel not solving feelings of being alone, Galu decided to learn more about the creation of life. So determined, he decided to begin creating and cultivating clones of himself - imperfect clones, for having someone exactly the same as them would be boring. The first clone remained by his side, an assistant, but all the rest, he cared for until they were mature enough to go out on their own, at which time their minds were erased and they were sent off to a random world.

[...] Appearance Details

Violet eyes, sky blue skin, long, pointed ears, slightly curly, short auburn hair through which two navy horns sprout, each forming a half-circle pointing inward. 6 feet and 6 inches tall.

And here's a clone

This Galu was dropped onto the planet Aure after battling his creator, causing his once majestic horns to be nearly gone (his mind was erased). He trained for a few years as a monk, while studying thaumaturgic alchemy on the side. At length, they came across a quite solid ghost [...], who spoke to them of a “swamp hell”, and so it became their mission to gain access to this realm. During the course of the servers life, this guy formed a knockoff crimson cult with the ghost, worshipping Praetor B. Root and bringing the wisdom of the beetroot to the village their tower overlooked. He also mastered monk skills, and dove deep deep deep into the void side of thaumaturgy, carving a hole through the nether into the endless void, charging into Their domain with the holiest of holy swords, and waging war against Them for ultimate power. The goal of swamp hell was met soon after, with the ghost eagerly exploring the swamp dungeons with them, eventually entering the sewer dungeon and defeating the sludge boss. Eventually, this Galu was tricked by the ghost, whereby the ghost took his body and effectively became him, and Galu themself became an Eldritch Warden as payment for trying to fight Them.

Appearance Details

Sunken red eyes, grayish blue skin, long, pointed ears, stubs of navy horns that look like they were violently torn off peeking through an untamed mane of auburn hair. Dresses in a brown outfit practically encrusted with gold based on how many decorations are on it. Over it, similarly decorated void thaumaturge robes are often worn, the hood often down unless it needs to be up, revealing a headband of curiosity.

[tkou-intotheunknown]

About The Knights of Universix- Into the Unknown

In the expansive universe of The Knights of Universix, countless worlds from different shows, movies, books, and games coexist in a vast multiverse, each as its own unique realm or “Dimension.” These dimensions are like alternate realities, each with its own set of rules, characters, and environments, allowing for boundless possibilities and adventure. Within this grand multiverse, heroes, villains, creatures, and landscapes from across popular media are woven together into a single cosmic tapestry, offering limitless opportunities for exploration and epic storytelling. This structure enables the Knights to embark on extraordinary journeys, traveling between dimensions and encountering diverse challenges, characters, and environments along the way.

Though the multiverse is infinite, in The Knights of Universix: Into the Unknown, only certain dimensions will be explored in depth, each chosen for its significance to the unfolding narrative. The different realms within this story present a dynamic mixture of genres and tones, ranging from mythical worlds filled with ancient magic to futuristic landscapes dominated by technology and survival. Each dimension adds a new layer of intrigue, as the Knights face unique challenges and opportunities that push their abilities and reveal deeper mysteries at every turn.

The nature of this multiverse allows for unique crossovers, where characters from various franchises come together in ways never before imagined. These interactions create rich, complex dynamics that drive the story forward and keep the stakes high. Whether the Knights find themselves in a peaceful setting, brimming with untapped potential, or in the midst of a dangerous realm filled with monsters and hostile forces, they must adapt to the environment and its challenges. As they move between worlds, they gain new allies, face powerful foes, and uncover secrets that will shape not only their destiny but the fate of the entire multiverse.

Each dimension serves to challenge the Knights in different ways—physically, mentally, and emotionally—forcing them to confront their fears, develop new skills, and build alliances that could turn the tide of battle. This grand journey through the multiverse captures the essence of adventure, blending familiar elements from beloved media with the unpredictability and excitement of stepping into the unknown. The possibilities within The Knights of Universix are truly endless, with each step taking them deeper into a universe brimming with surprises, danger, and discovery.

Here are the realms that I will be using/mentioning-

R-Alpha-beta- The Shadow Realm- Apocalypse’s Domain

R- Alpha-0- The Void- The Void King’s Domain

R- Alpha-1- The Mother Realm

R- 1.00 - Our World

R- 1.01- Httyd

R- 1.02- Subnautica

R- 1.10- Good Omens

R- 1.16- Exovir, The Mixing Pot Realm-The Knight’s of Universix’s Home Realm

R- 1.17- Baldur’s gate 3

R- 1.18- Supernatural

R- 1.42- Ark Survival Evolved

R- 1.69- The Arcana: A mythic Romance

R- 1.66- Black Butler (Alois is still alive)

R- 1.88- Souleater (after the battle against Asura)

R- 1.99- Monster Hunter

R- 2.00- Creatures of Sonaria

R- 2.26- Minecraft

R- 2.40- Resident evil

R- 3.67- F.E.A.R

R- 3.77- Gears of War

R- 4.32- Harry Potter/ Fantastic Beasts

R- 4.67- Dungeons and Dragons

R- 6.66 - Hazbin Hotel/ Helluva boss (before episode 8)

R- 6.69 - Dungeon Meshi

R- 7.45- Alien (xenomorph)

R- 10.43 - Murder Drones (before final episode)

In other realms, the possibilities are limitless, allowing for the existence of anything imaginable. These alternate dimensions can bring to life popular ships, such as Radioapple and Jucio, letting fans see their favorite characters together in ways that defy the constraints of their original stories. Beyond romantic pairings, these realms can host alternate universes where history has been rewritten, creating new realities shaped by a single changed event. Entire worlds might emerge where familiar characters take on unexpected roles, alliances shift, and destinies are altered, offering endless opportunities for exploration and storytelling. Whether it’s through unexpected relationships or dramatic twists in history, these realms thrive on creativity, offering a canvas where anything—from fan-made scenarios to entirely new worlds—can exist.

Meet the Knights of Universix:

Universix – The wise and capable leader of the Knights of Universix, guiding them with strength and insight.

Silvia – The last of the Moon-Crown NightFury Drevil, and the portal master for the Knights, controlling dimensional travel.

Xin – A Fallen Droddess and the team’s medic. With a taste for blood but a heart of gold, she provides healing and care for her comrades.

Alissa – The lovable Arcana-Ribbon Dramon, known for her charm and warmth within the group.

Ethan – The brooding Ender Dramon, driven by loyalty and duty, always watching over his team with a protective eye.

Spiken – The timid and nervous Nergigante Drevil, often shy but brave when it counts.

Nergalent – Spiken’s serious and protective father, keeping a watchful eye on his son and the Knights.

Demetria – A party-loving Velkhana Drevil, bringing joy and energy to the group.

Diam – The prankster of the Knights, a mischievous Whip-Tailed Diamond Dramon who loves keeping things light-hearted.

Jaisnavi – A fierce warrior of the Knights, the strong and honorable Gold Drangel.

Cato – A highly intelligent and loud Thunderdrum Dramon, whose sharp mind is an asset to the team.

Magissa – The sassy Changewing Drangel and alchemist, always ready with a witty remark or a powerful potion.

Starry – The coffee-addicted Infernix Xenogon, with a fiery spirit and a need for caffeine.

Arawn – A friendly and approachable Ender Dredator, known for his warm demeanor.

Apep – The Chief, a formidable Allspecies with a strong presence and unmatched skill.

Maeve – The adventurous Shinigami, always eager to explore and dive into danger.

Sylvie – The ever-hungry Forestfire Dramon, always ready for a meal and never far from the action.

Ben – The battle-hungry Infernalfist Dramon, always looking for his next fight and never backing down from a challenge.

Collin – The calm and collected Enderite Other Realmer, providing balance and serenity to the team during their most intense moments.

(Featured- Jaisnavi)

[paragonrobits]

So as an addition of sorts to one of my last posts; the biggest and most evil villains of the setting as some kind of super-ghost???

One idea I had a bit ago (which has since been mostly dropped, and the bits i liked integrated into the main concepts) was a setting premise based on a mix of Kingdom Hearts and Eldin Ring; the former bringing the characters having lost their homes and worlds due to the schemes of an alliance of villains who command terrible monsters born from evil itself, and winding up forming newfound friends and powers from it, challenge this alliance and the monsters they command, which represent a far more dangerous force entirely

the second giving us the premise of the world as the characters know it being a very dangerous one, split into many regions ruled by powerful monsters which, in turn, command and empower other monsters to act in an organizational capacity, acting as a true army and military forces rather than a semi-mindless band of beasts. Additionally, after a certain amount of time, these monsters could revive their minions, meaning that any attempts to build a long-term civilization in the area would be doomed to failure as these monsters would simply whittle them down

this would be used to create a mass combat/nation building premise; the characters must defeat these region bosses in order to stabilize the area.

the first premise may be used in specific scenarios or treatments of my core setting (such as one focusing more on them finding a home with each other, or where the pain of having lost the world they knew is integral to their character, or even a concept that just plain works better than the characters having been born into that strange new world), and the second one can apply pretty well overall. But this does leave the villains.

The earlier versions of my setting proposed that there was but one mortal world, infinite in scope. These villains, presented as incredibly powerful and deliberately vague in nature, were EXPLICITLY coming from somewhere outside, with most assumed to be very powerful fighters who in turn commanded groups of powerful warriors and massive groups of mindless monsters, and all serving a far more powerful but indirect master.

(Basically, modeled after the Stormtroopers working for imperial commanders, who in turn must deal with Darth Vader, who is the most powerful minion of Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious.)

At one point I had a vague idea of an 'evil world', some kind of villain realm these antagonists created at some point, in a very unpleasant and tyrannical (or chaotic murderscape) regime, periodically emerging to the newfound mortal realms to enact their mysterious plans, for some reason unable to do so more directly or be there for too long. And then, I had an epiphany:

a lot of these ideas were inspired by the Deathlords of Exalted; incredibly powerful ghosts, generally too strong for even player characters to fight directly, who in turn command massive armies of the undead, empowered Abyssal Exalted deathknights to serve them, and whom answer to the mysterious and dreaded Neverborn. Additionally, at the time, I had some unformed ideas about there being various kinds of undeath, the normal sort being regular vampires and the like, dangerous but not INHERENTLY malevolent (only winding up like that if they let themselves fully become a ravening beast or amoral lord), as opposed to a more dangerous form of undeath which harkens to the classic DND take on undead as an existential peril.

Combine these ideas, and here you have a new possible avenue: these evil forces are immensely powerful ghosts or specters from some previous age, clawing their way back through sheer force of hatred or even converting themselves into these undead as a kind of lich, who now dwell in a mysterious realm of undead that is completely alien to the world, and whose previous actions are at leaste partly responsible for the state of the multiverse.

[basic204]

Writing Prompt

Please write up your normal day but make it cyberpunk example:

The first size chirping of my digital alarm brings me out of the hazy sleep I barely got last night into a tactile world of sunlight and stuffy air that seeps in through my windows and past my air filter. I can already hear the sounds of the city outside of my window the film of grime on it giving everything a hazy look. I look away from the window to the universe and the palm of my hand. A 19 by 9 window Of 8 million pixels flares to life with a simple button push infinite configurability and it's the closest thing we have to the morning post Only a lot less friendly. The online forums are already active and justice like the city that never sleeps they continue to share, message and post reminding me that even after I die and my body is cremated the net will buzz on barely noticing my existence.

I leave the cubicle in my room and walk into my kitchen oh this tiny apt. I grabbed my cup and fill it with dihydrogen monoxide. I put it into a machine that blasts it with microwaves to make the molecules jiggle to simulate heat we don't even have real fire anymore just directed energy. As that's happening I spend the next 30 minutes playing catch up on all the things I missed in the twilight loneliness of my room while I slept. The only real connection now come what I see on my screen. The directed energy box beeps and lets me know that my dihydrogen oxide is Finally hot I steep my black tea I'm pouring some ultra filtered milk.

My com chirps once more encrypted message from my boss he needs me come in. He needs me to set up new cloud servers. I'm a Sysadmin. While the code Jockeys are tapping away all night to build you your quick serve applications. I'm the one who keeps it all running who keeps the firewalls hot so the keyboard cowboys don't tear it all down for the LOL's.

I spin up my encrypted Messenger making sure to set it to its maximum settings. I can already hear the transistors in my phone worrying as I type out my message and it prepares to send a 256bit encrypted message to the other side of the country.

We don't even work in the same cities anymore everything's remote. I even work from home. I've never even really touched a physical server in my entire life no I'd log in through command line interfaces plugged right into my eye sockets to the screen in my hand pair it it takes me a few moments to configure the servers spinning them up and then setting them out to their tasks like good little soldiers .

Cloud computing is all the rage but at the end of the day it's all just someone elses computer and I don't trust anything important anymore to be on someone elses system. If I don't own the network then I don't put anything sensitive on it anymore.

As I watched the code scroll as my configuration sets up I check the news and see a new cyberattack takes down AT&T the largest network in the country taking most phone services offline. For me I set up my own years ago piggybacking on the network this city set up. Yeah I said I'm a system administrator but it doesn't mean I wasn't a hacker in a past life you all got to start somewhere.

I see that pharmaceutical networks are being Disrupted by the digital chaos. I checked the configuration on the rest of the servers to make sure they're hardened just in case this stupidity continues. I drink down my tea and I decided it's time for me to head outside and meet up with a few friends I have left in this city

I put on my air filtration mask filtering 99.999% of all the air I breathe to keep out The noxious and polluted air but to also protect me from the return of the flu and covid19. Add over to my elevator and take it down and as I pass the various floors in here the voices of my neighbors talking once I'm on the ground floor I hear my neighbor Gloria arguing with the security guard about who they should vote for president doesn't matter they're both digital sock puppets nothing's going to change. I hear Gloria ask her phone her facts about one of the candidates the AI on her phone reaches out into the net and scoops up the most convenient pieces of information and presented to her just how she wants it curated to exactly the way she wants to see the world. I drawn out the political nonsense by putting in headphones and tuning into a consensual hallucination does it make my way to the Enter way to the trains.

[mediumcutsteak]

Like A Warrior (Ichiban Isekai Pitch)

I'm sure I'm not the first person to suggest this, but after Infinite Wealth, I think Ichiban needs his first real spinoff. And I think it should be an Isekai adventure. I realize some people might roll their eyes, but alot of Isekai's worst trappings and annoyances get set aside by bringing in characters we already actually like like Ichiban, Nanba, Adachi, and Saeko.

The story would be easy to write with a competent writer's room. Some turbo nerd causes an Isekai portal that rips him and Ichiban's party to a fantasy RPG world, and so Ichi, Nanba, Adachi, and Sae have to escape while Zhao, Joongi-han, Seoung-hui, and idk maybe Kiryu or someone try to help them get back from their side. The theme of the story is healthy vs unhealthy escapism, as Ichiban tries to get home without a thought to staying ("I have a friends, a city to go back to now. A home."), while the villain dweeb is set on staying because his real life sucks. Itd be even more fun if Ichiban has to play the Demon Lord while the villain plays hero because of his delusiona of grandeur (while also tying back to Ichiban's consistent theme of being the underdog that people have to learn to root for). In the end, maybe the villain can be redeemed through Ichiban's support, or maybe he rejects Ichiban's advice and destroys himself. Either way, you have a plot with a strong thematic core, a hero and villain with thematic continuity (especially since Ichiban should be able to relate to unhealthy escapism with his early years obsession with DQ), relevant to modern issues like male loneliness epidemic and the increasing isolation and escapism of people, and all of it is synchronous with the type of game being made

And Ichiban can be a total dweeb! Just cause hes not staying doesnt mean hes not excited to be in a real fantasy world with magic and stuff! And all his friends are like "this kinda sucks" but also are kind of happy for their boy and are willing to induldge him some. We get a new dope setting made by the best map designers in the business, with all kinds of weird minigames like working at an alchemists shop, and the more you play the minigame the better the items in supply will be. Little stuff like that. Have a bunch of unsubtle references to popular RPGs, and do the Ishin thing where we have fantasy versions of other characters (Dragonkin Kiryu as an optional boss????).

With a half way comptent writer's room and RGG's usual penchant for silliness, i think this is a slam dunk.

[that-is-just-so-typically-me]

Getting better is such a mysterious process. I know I’m always making progress, even with my stumbles and valleys, but I never expected progress to look exactly as it does. I’ve gone entire years of my life without crying, absolutely numb. That fact confused me then, but with hindsight I later understood that was a symptom of being in an unhealthy pattern that prohibited growth and kept me at a stagnant, stale safety. I’ve opened up in the years since, but recently, I’ve faced the opposite phenomenon. I think I’ve cried at least a little bit almost every day for a couple of months now (it’s hard to be sure). Sometimes from sadness, but mostly just from how overwhelmed I am at the impossible, fragile beauty I notice around me. I’m so easily moved watching shows or films these days - even though I can see the intent of the creators to pluck my heartstrings from a mile away, I buy in every time even if it’s embarrassing. I cry watching videos of people waving goodbye to the baby goose they rescued as they finally fly off with the flock. I cry listening to songs that remind me of my sisters’ love for me. I cry when my cat puts his paw on me as I get up because he just wants to stay connected to me. I cry thinking about how precious a gift it is to earn someone’s trust. I cry when my friends achieve something that they worked so hard to do. I cry seeing people choose every day to be soft when the world has given them every reason to be hard. I cry when I see two beautiful self-expressive teens holding hands and eating ice cream on the hood of their car in the Baskin Robbins parking lot at 9:00pm on a Sunday (god, how lucky are we to live in a world where two young hearts get to know love and ice cream and warm late nights in the springtime). I cry when I realize the two mascs hugging outside the grocery store haven’t let go for a whole minute, even though one of them has a skate board rolling off, and I know it’s the kind of hug where someone’s holding their loved one so their pieces don’t come apart and shatter on the pavement. I cry when I get a text from a loved one saying they are thinking of me. I cry seeing my farm boss’s grandchild pull up his first carrot from the soil she worked so hard to bring to life, the earth she tends while fighting for her life, that she cares for so well and receives care from in turn. I cry seeing my friends get back up every time life has pushed them down, pushed down one thousand times and yet always one more time. I cry thinking of my mother’s aging hands, her infinite capacity for acceptance and love, how I can feel her love deepening for her children (how is it possible?) as every year goes by. I cry with gratitude for the old me who never gave up each time it was all too much, waiting for me to come home into my body and love myself for the first time in my life, because I think I’m finally coming home. For the first time in my life I cry with gratitude for the lessons of pain, I cry for how much four years of this pain has taught me, how I feel like I became an adult for the first time in my life but how I feel like a child again in the best of ways. How the pain has made and is making me bigger after a lifetime trying to be small, how my anger and sadness and loss have lit up the moonless night of my life like a meteor, how for the first time in my life I feel I’ve begun to see. How I notice the entire world alive and rich and aching in the faces around me and the air and earth and seasons, how it’s expanded my capacity for empathy and joy (so much love and connection and compersion in places where only fear and envy and dismissal lived before), how all the loss has made all I get to have and have to lose so much more precious to me. I sit with the sadness and anger and fear and pain in ways I never could before. For the first time, I invite them inside for a cup of tea and let them all cry - and I do not dismiss the joy and acceptance and hope from the table. For the first time I am trusting myself to feel my way through this.

I don’t know how I can be living on this knife’s edge between pain and gratitude all the time, but I am - what I’m going through is the worst and the best thing that’s ever happened to me, somehow.

[manikrege]

If you've ever been told you're a bit too much...

You will not see me admit to this very often.

But I intertwine with the plants that I water way too quickly & intensely.

And I keep pouring my heart out everyday.

Until one day I miss it because of work & it looks like I've stopped caring.

Or until one day I water too much & wilt you away.

I don't know why this happens. The over-loving. The over-caring. The attachment. The infinite giving and only giving but hesitating when I'm taking or asking for something I know I deserve.

The immediate trusting.

The seeing good in everyone.

The believing that people are usually not without an agenda when that's far from the case.

It hurts that this is kinda my mistake, a weakness I must learn to overcome.

It hurts that no matter how much I try to hide it, the water flows out eventually, and I lose myself in the devotion of my plants.

I try really hard to make everyone think that I can do just fine without a garden.

But anyone who's given me the privilege of nurturing them - of letting my hands become soiled in the mess of their flaws, so that I can gently nuzzle the tender roots of their soul, and make them see how I see them - they will tell you that I'm like taking in a long deep breath, one molecule too much.

I'm like taking in a long deep breath - comforting and relaxing at first but uneasy towards the end because of the weight it thrusts upon your lungs.

If you've been my friend, you will know that I love too fiercely. If you've been my boss or colleague, you will agree that I work like an absolute maniac.

That is just because I take pride in bringing my heart to every meal I have to make. I have no filters oh God. And no matter how much I try to hide my authenticity to protect myself, it eventually shines through because most people either couldn't bother less or they are more talented at protecting their true feelings.

In the process of opening up too much too fast, even after a million warnings & hard lessons on not to do so, I do end up cutting & bleeding myself on the very thing I'm trying to cook well.

I feel a thousand emotions when I'm with you & every time we're together they're so much that I just want to exist together. I like spending alone time with people, if that makes any sense. I mean I just like knowing and listening to them. I don't need to watch a movie or even have a two-way conversation to enjoy them. I have this habit of squeezing value out of every second we're together.

Small talk and pointless conversations or activities make me jittery. I would rather work in silence with you. Like the day I came over during work hours and we both spent the whole time on our own calls & assignments. The silence has never unsettled me because all that matters is me sharing the same space with my subjects.

Which is what scares me. It scares me that I told you not to think too hard about the future but part of me is already building it and you'll leave like everyone else. Not deliberately maybe but as a consequence of life happening.

Life happens. People get busy. People grow apart. We might settle in different countries, I know we both will. I also hope we'll still keep in touch after it. But the distance, I don't know. I'm scared I will miss you too much and I don't like being that vulnerable.

So.

So.

So.

So I am going to stop trying to water you.

What I mean is that I will stop trying to hold myself responsible for your happiness or your growth.

Wild plants in the jungle grow just fine through the seasons. When they get rain. When they get sunlight. When it's freezing cold.

Plants survive. People survive.

They don't need a gardener.

But what they need is space to grow in all directions. What they need is to be extended.

And so I will be your hummingbird. Sprinkling everything you teach me & make me feel in all directions. Taking the love we experience together as packets of pollen to grow a more beautiful world.

I will make my home in you but hold neither of us down because I know how much I love to fly and how much you love to stand tall.

I will go from tree to tree, plant to plant, and make a forest out of our garden. Telling everyone about you. And telling you about everyone.

I will let us travel whenever and wherever we need to, knowing that I will feel your love through the root of a root of a root, in some form or the other, because I like to believe that every soul is spread across the universe. And I will try to do what I asked you to do - to enjoy this moment we have as it is, as it exists.

See I, and you will not see me admit this often and so easily, I intertwine with the plants I water too quickly and intensely.

Because I have come to accept that it's not just them who need me, but me who needs the garden, too.

Loving is simply my breathing. Loving people gives me meaning. I find strength in service.

After all the mishaps, I've been trying so hard NOT to take that long deep breath I love. I've been trying to cautiously control how much I inhale and exhale.

But you showed me how much I actually missed caring for someone else. you taught me that healthy relationships aren't about the control of give & take. They're just about finding the right people where it won't matter.

Finding the people who would let you show love your way, and who you'd enjoy and respect as they love you in theirs.

So let me show you the thousand ways in which I do, and let me experience all of yours.

[justicekylar]

Hello Friend!

This looks like fun

Two currently

I am the DM of that campaign

Orum Gashback, liberator of Mirfield. Son of Volen Gashback, Chief of the Gashback Tribe. I am son of Graul Gashback, Once-Chief of the Gashback Tribe (its my big himbo fascist killer orc)

Paladin. I mostly DM so . . . yeah. Stereotypes are real

I'd love to play a character who doesn't have to make plans and can just be a funky guy. Comic relief

Yes, but I was the DM. I was running a game where the final boss was a devil who used illusions and who wrote newspaper articles decrying the PCs as awful with some truth and some twisting of truths. Now, In the second to last session I had two NPCs take advantage of the fact that they were under the Zone of Truth spell to tell their cleric adopted child (a PC). The NPCs told their PC child that they loved them, that they believed in them, and that when this fight was done that they'd like for them to come out and adventure with them. They said that they were ready, but needed to finish this first. The player loved this (crying at the table) (player is gay and has bad parents) and loved their two adopted dads in game. Last session starts and I put a letter in front of the PC with the two adoptive dads. I tell them that that letter contains the absolute truth and not to open it until I say so. After some party bonding the PCs are ready to start the final session. Campaign ender. They go find this devil who had been making their life difficult with lies and their political machinations. In her office they find a portal to hell. Naturally. They walk through this foul tear in reality to find a bridge to hell. Gaps in the walls lead to the infinite abyss between the realms. Hellfire flickering and illuminating the walls and the final boss. The final boss, this liar and reporter of twisted truths, holds in each hand a rope leading to a cage. The two cages hold one of their loving parents each. The monologue begins. Talks about all the trouble the party has given them. The twisting reporter spits hate that they chose to stand against her. That they had a choice and she never did. So she thinks it fitting that they choose again. That they have to pick which one gets dropped into the infinite. They have to kill one of their parents. The villain compares the two parents, contrasts them, and then starts counting down. 5, 4, 3, 2- The adopted PC picks. The boss drops both. The battle begins and the boss begins with a Villain Action of "The Lie You Believe". Each PC opens a slip of paper passed to them and they read it out. The fighter sees the orcs that murdered his parents. The bard sees his old slave master come to reclaim him, the phantom rogue sees the person who killed him come to kill him again. The adopted PC, the poor cleric they are, sees the their Tiefling adopted father. It reads: "You find yourself alone in this red cavern save one figure. They are curled up in the fetal position like they are just trying to get away from all of the pain in this world. They stir. Hearing you. As they slowly stand up you see their thinness, their tail that ends in a spade, their ram’s horns. Unable to make eye contact with you they say through a pained voice: 'Why. Why did you do that. I didn’t want that.' You see [your father], but he can’t seem to bring himself to see you." The PC's then go on to have an epic boss battle where the adopted PC even gets the final blow. But then its time to go home. They walk back. They think about how much emptier their house will be. Their loving fathers dead. The villain defeated but not before dealing a blow to them that they might never recover from. They walk inside their house and I tell them to open that letter from before. The one that contains the absolute truth. It reads: "[Your father] and [Your other father]’s death was an illusion. I was just in a silly goofy mood. Lol" The campaign ended with the players all physically getting up and attacking me. It was so much fun

Make Way for the King by Ohana Bam feels very Orum for me.

Yes! I think the one above was very funny. Players thought otherwise. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I do not. Bought dice have bad luck. Gifted dice bring good luck

We are both large men with dead dads. We both hate fascists.

In person. In person by a mile. The energy is just off online and I hate the technical difficulties

I have been playing for about 6 years now? Wow. Time flies

I wanted a classic kind of hero who was going to kill undead and fascists and undead fascists

King Dead Guy the Skeletal Revenant who had a voice like Skeletor, didn't understand the concept of women, and was seeking a Nemesis was the most fun to have. Such a dumb guy. Master of Yoga tho

Voices are hard. I feel like I have a few, but doing them long term and switching is hard to do. Remembering inflections and where the voice sits in my mouth is hard

Pirate Politics while an Undead army from an age past marches on the city. If you want to check it out you can here. I love talking about it and interacting with people about it

Nope. Got close once, when I was talking to my god about how my animal companion was hurt and it was my fault because I was born wrong. That was a hard one

I listen to my own. As seen here /shameless plug

I have played Honey Heist, Vampire: The Masquerade, City of Mists, Pathfinder 2e, and Dungeons and Dragons 5e. I think that playing other games helps you understand each of them more. I am super excited to play the upcoming MCDM rpg

Yep. Most of the time they deserved to die. Sometimes the dice go that way, sometimes the DM really shouldn't have put that many monsters in one combat

A hard question. I liked the King Dead Guy fight because it was fun to play him and make stupid bone puns the entire time. I think that the best combat narratively and mechanically was the fight against that aforementioned devil boss (I didn't even mention the part where she summoned an old PC that they had to fight during the boss fight as well)

A secret third thing. I like roleplaying during combat. Both have their place and that place is an overlapping venn diagram in my preferences

I have entirely lost count. Most I haven't played. Too many

Yeah, so if you're a DM figure out what themes and vibes you want to go with. Which things you are deciding to value. Like, is if you want to go for a pulp action adventure don't stress over counting arrows. That doesn't help your game feel the way you want it to feel. Communicate this with your players so that they understand the tone of the game Also for DMs, for a good session the checklist is generally: - Something to fight - Something to talk to - Something learned - Something gained (physical) - Some movement of the storyline/plot/arc of a player character For a player, show interest and work with your DM to make things happen. Its a lot more fun and it takes work off their plate if you are honest and express what you'd like to see in game

Bullying my friends

That was fun. Have a good time and happy rolling!

|| DND ASK GAME ||

1. How many campaigns are you currently playing in?

2. Do you DM?

3. Who is your current PC?

4. What's your favourite class?

5. Is there a type of character you want to play but haven't had the chance?

6. Do you have a favourite moment from any of the campaigns you've played in?

7. What song(s) describes your current campaign / player character?

8. Do you have any funny campaign stories?

9. Do you collect dice?

10. How is your PC similar to you? How are they different?

11. Do you prefer playing online or in person?

12. How long have you been playing DND?

13. What was the inspiration for your current PC?

14. What's your favourite NPC you've encountered in a campaign?

15. Is there any skill in regards to DND that you're currently trying to improve?

16. What's the plot of your current campaign?

17. Have you ever cried during a session? If so, what happened?

18. Do you watch any actual play shows / podcasts? If so, which ones?

19. Have you played any other ttrpgs aside from DND? Would you want to?

20. Have you ever had a character die?

21. Favourite combat encounter?

22. Do you prefer combat or roleplay?

23. How many PCs have you created?

24. Have any tips for DMs / players?

25. What's your favourite thing about playing Dungeons and Dragons?