#did i really take 10 screenshots of these silly videos?

[teamnick]

pierre in these bwt reels >>>>>

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers: Brave Tamer - Final Thoughts

Phew! If you're wondering why I've been quiet for a bit, it's because this game took me 3 weeks to beat. It was kind of grueling at times. It definitely assumes that you played the previous 3 (or 4 if Anode and Cathode count for 2) games and does NOT baby you at the start. It definitely wasn't my favorite game in the series, but the fact that it did away with the terrible old Jogress system earned it a lot of points in my book. There are still some Wonderswan games to play, but I think that's really it for Ryo games! Thank goodness :)

Notes:

Major downgrade from D1 Tamers visually! D1 was so colorful and exploring the world was actually interesting. Brave Tamer follows the Digimon World 2 strat of making every single dungeon pretty much identical and the hub world is bland as heck as well. You don't even need to travel to get to the dungeons you just walk up to the same hole every time. Lame.

Thank God this game lets digimon level up and evolve normally. It basically follows the Pokemon style of evolution. In previous games there were bullshit level caps unless you jogressed a zillion times. This game still has that dumb mechanic where your digimon devolves into a baby. I get that that happens in the show, but it felt pretty silly in the game. They get back to normal pretty quickly after a few battles.

Digimon recruitment is limited to borrowing digimon from digidestined from the various anime series. What an awkward concept. Ryo comes out of nowhere to save the day and then each partner digimon is like "See ya partner, I'm ditching you for Ryo!" I'm just imagining the characters that are left partner-less facing certain doom after Ryo leaves lol. Maybe it's one of those situations where they're only gone for a few minutes due to dimension hopping.

The card slash system (based on the Tamers universe of course) was interesting, but kind of annoying to figure out. After I got a handful of strong cards I couldn't be arsed to keep trying new jogress combos.

Speaking of taking the lazy route, I didn't use the majority of the digimon I recruited once LOL. It's more efficient to just stick with the same digimon for the whole game unless you want to spend a lot of time grinding, so that's what I did. I ended up with only mega-level digimon at the end which is frustrating because MegaloGrowmon and Taomon were at level 30! (They upgrade to mega at 31).

The bosses were strangely easy in this game (except for one that took me like 5 tries). What made it hard were the frickin' labyrinthine dungeons (the last one is TIMED! Evil). I have a terrible sense of direction IRL and in video games so the dungeons in this game were torture for me. You have to traverse up to 5 floors and sometimes there are so many dead ends and roadblocks that it takes what feels like an eternity. Also, there are random battles every 2 seconds that increase the suffering. In the later game I planned my route ahead of time by figuring out where the boss was on YouTube and mapping backwards from there. Here's a screenshot of me and my map in MS Paint:

(By the way, I always play Wonderswan games in windowed mode or else they look wonky. This time, that really came in handy).

I had to use multiple guides to figure out some of this game because the most popular walkthrough wasn't very good. It barely gives you any instructions on getting through dungeons, which was what I really needed.

Most scandalous part of this game was when Millenniummon called Ryo his lover (koibito)? Whaaaaa...?

I didn't realize that this game is a prequel to Tamers so I kinda did things out of order, whoops! I didn't realize that Cyberdramon was supposed to be the outcome of a Monodramon/Millenniummon jogress. Makes me want to rewatch some bits of the anime...

There was so much dramatic build up for the final battle and then it was so easy? I didn't even need to use the 10 low-level healing items I stocked up on. Oh well, guess I was well prepared.

Of course there's a post-game where you can scan all the digimon you missed, but that just seems silly. They're not partners in this game, they're cards. If I can't a raise a digimon I don't really see the appeal in collecting them all. (I mean I guess I wouldn't see the appeal in raising them all either, but the cards seem like even more of a waste of time).

The Wonderswan games have always been my fave digimon games but this one felt simultaneously half-assed and overly complicated. I'd give it like a 5 or 6 out of 10. Let's call it a 5.5.

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals: Monster Mash

Geoff Castellucci's cover of Monster Mash was uploaded on the 9th of October, 2021, being of course his Halloween upload for the year.

Honestly I don't really have any thoughts or background info to say at the start here (well I do have stuff to say, but stuff to include as part of my actual video notes/commentary), so without further ado, let's go!

Cool set design! (Shoutout to Layne, Tony, and the rest of PattyCake productions!)

Who's that I spy in the left-hand corner of the screen? 😉

I've watched like 4 or 5 different reaction videos for this video, and of those, only one reactor actually spotted Kathy right at the start of the video (though to be fair, he had the advantage of having the video paused right at the start during his intro, so he had a chance to have a full look at the scene/image). And I'm not calling anyone out here - I also had no clue Kathy was there on my first watch until the end 😂😅

Here's what Geoff said in the description of the video: "I also want to send out a huge thanks to Rick Underwood. This video had to be re-filmed due to several issues with the original footage. Rick did some incredible makeup for the first shoot, but sadly our schedules did not align for the reshoot and we weren’t able to feature his amazing work. Kathy stepped in and tried her very best to make me look like the living dead. I was already exhausted so it didn’t take much." [pfft]

Kathy is also credited with costuming for this video, and did an amazing job! (I will say more about the Backup Geoffs myself, but let's get some more screencaps first!)

Geoff is not just fantastic at doing outrageous/silly/absurd comedic stuff (albeit on the uncommon occasion), he's also great at the more subtle stuff, dry humour, etc, such as his Narrator character (Lead Geoff) in this video!

I really love how the movements progress during each chorus - starting out as four fixed poses in the first chorus, then adding a little bit of movement in the second, then really becoming more like "proper" choreography in the third. Also, the four poses represent different creatures/characters! This one is a zombie...

...then a werewolf/wolfman (like the second Geoff from the right)...

...then a vampire/Dracula (like the second Geoff from the left)...

...and this one I'm not quite sure. Maybe a mummy?

Also not entirely certain who/what Furthest-Right Geoff is meant to be, but I'm guessing Frankenstein's Monster (who, fun fact: Geoff played on and off for 10 years in a show at Universal Studios! (he last performed in the show in 2013))

And yes, we're back at it again with the contact lenses! Dracula/Vampire Geoff has completely clouded eyes, with no iris/pupil visible (how hard is it to see in those I wonder), Wolfman Geoff has the most normal eyes of the three backups/dancers, but he might still have a different eye colour? And Frankenstein's Monster Geoff (or FrankenGeoff, for short) has clouded eyes as well, but I think the actual eyeballs might be a little bit more visible there

Screencaps really don't do this justice. A particular highlight is Werewolf Geoff learning he has hips, and that he can use them! 😝😂

I have not a single damn clue what that tool thing actually is, but it looks cool, and so is the electricity effect here!

"The zombies were having... fun."

"The guests included Wolfman..." (followed immediately by Wolfman Geoff scratching at his ear 😁)

(Also is it just the lighting/angle or does Wolfman Geoff have painted/darkened nails?)

Not to spam you with screenshots (me? never 🤣) but somehow I never fully paid attention to what Wolfman Geoff and FrankenGeoff were doing when Narrator Geoff mentions Dracula 😆

Pay attention to Kathy in the background when the shot cuts back to Narrator Geoff when he hits a subharmonic on "[Dracula and his] son". She twitches! (Totally fair, I'd be doing a lot more than twitching if I was that close to him while he sung in subharmonics! (no not like that, brain out of the gutter please!))

"One two three four five" *CRACK*

Most reactors while watching this: eugh that was creepy!/I didn't like that! 😬😅

Me watching this, even on my first watch: yeah okay sure

Dance solo! But try paying attention to Narrator Geoff during this bit...

He's not only conducting the song, he also seems to be controlling at least some of the Backup Geoffs' movements!

If I recall correctly the comments I read about it, apparently Geoff did the choreography (assisted by Matthew Buckner, aka "Bucky") to a slowed-down version of his cover, so that when the moves were sped back up to normal speed in post-production, it gave it the sort of "not-quite-natural", almost "jumpy" look that you see from the movements in the video (and to think that he would've had to be lip-syncing to the slowed down cover version as well! How weird!)

(Also I'd just like you to know that while writing that previous sentence, I literally started typing "they", in regards to the "Backup Geoffs", as if they were in fact individual people... 😅😂)

"Vhatever happened to my Transylvania Tvist?"

(Also contact lens closeup! Not as cloudy as I thought, but still pretty light in colour)

"When you get to my door, tell them-" *BLOODCURDLING SCREAM*

(Hi Kathy! :D (she's wearing contact lenses as well!))

"Let's dance my darling. Shall we?" (*swoon*)

(Also shoutout to Kathy on the acting job of "extremely dazed and confused", absolutely nailed it!)

(And yes, FrankenGeoff was flossing! 😂)

Even though this had to re-filmed a few times, this still looked like Geoff had a lot of fun with it, and I often can't help but dance along with the Backup Geoffs!

Monster Mash is a pretty damn iconic Halloween song, but Geoff took it and made it distinctly his own, and it WORKED (like always, when it comes to Geoff! 😁). He always makes amazing arrangements, and for Halloween especially he really seems to go above and beyond, for both song and video!

Got a good handful of Geoff covers left for analysis posts, so stay tuned!

[caffeinated-chaos-bean]

Posting this here because I feel like standing up for myself. Do I need to? Probably not, but it's going to make me feel better and given I have addressed this type of behavior in the pinned post on my blog, I just feel it needs to be addressed.

I like Michael Jackson and his music. I've sias it before and I'll say it again, I don't care what your opinion of him is so long as you aren't being petty and using it as a means to get under my skin. I understand that people make their MJ jokes and their silly "hee hee" jokes, buy at least they can actually be SEEN as jokes. Even if they may be off color, they still can easily be read as a joke. Fine. So long as those jokes are NOT at mine or someone else's expense, it's whatever. But the moment when you make a "joke" that literally consists of less than 4 words and then get defensive when someone doesn't immediately get the "joke" and turn to insults is just bullshit and stupid.

Below are some screenshots of an interaction with someone who I am going to just consider a troll and won't be interacting with further. I will not say what site this is on, but if you use their mobile app then I'm sure you'll recognize it. While I'm annoyed with them, I do want to make it a point and say DO NOT go after and harass them. It isn't worth the time or effort, and it's just going to cause more problems. However, I didn't hide their username because it's a way to let others know that they are, at least from this interaction and my opinion, a troll.

As I touched on with them in my final response, this type of behavior and "joke" can, believe it or not, trigger someone's anxiety and ptsd from past events, and that's exactly what this did to me.

I didn't know about Michael until it shook the world and crashed the internet that he had passes away. This was my introduction to his music and his legacy and I loved it. I was in 5th grade and I went gung-ho with the hyperfixation and this lasted until the summer after leaving 6th grade. I got my friends together and we did the Thriller dance for our 5th grade talent show. I bought his autobiography and my family bought me several other books and affordable accessories that I would like. Hell, I got vote the 3ds and Wii copies of MJ the Experience video game lmao.

But... why did my love for him and his music only last those two years?

Because I was bullied. Heavily bullied. I was made a target by all the stuck up girls and stupid boys from then on and I never really heard the end of it until getting into higschool. I was told how the only reason that I liked his music was because I secretly hoped he would kidnap me, take me to Neverland, and rape me "like he did to all the other little boys and girls". Parents of these kids would even chuckle and their kids' behavior ans bullying NEVER was reprimanded, being written off as kids being kids. Whenever Thriller came on at our elementary school dances, I wanted to have fun and dance yet these bullies would make the effort to literally try and trip me and make me fall to the floor and laugh every time and is the reason I stopped going to any school dances until my senior prom.

This bullying made me stop listening to Michael's music. Note that I was roughly 13 years old at this time. I didn't listen to ANY of his music again and probably never would have if it weren't for my one IRL friend surprising me by putting an MJ spotify playlist on in her car while she drove me to the mall for my 22nd birthday.

Note that age gap? 13yrs to 22yrs. I stopped listening to his music for almost 10 years because of the bullying and harassment I'd suffered from growing up. And yes, after that I went into another hypwrfixation because I forgot how much his music helped me relax and just let go for once.

So again, what may seem like a joke to you may not to others and just might trigger their anxiety and ptsd. It sure did for me with this troll and their "joke". When this happens, my ptsd is triggered and I go on the defensive and, as a redhead, get upset. Rightfully upset, at that.

Mind how your "jokes" may come across. It may be funny for you, but for some it brings emotional flashbacks and can trigger someone's anxiety and ptsd.

[malinelle]

the thing with the breakdancing dad thing is like . for clarify i am in almost the same situation as ppl think shes in i was raised by my mom who was financially neglecting me and cutting my dad off from me when he wanted to see me and she was taking the child support money he was paying her to spend on herself i am the person who is the most in a position to sympathize with him but like i just dont. bec okay

that wasnt that many videos and the fact that its all holidays and special events isnt at all contradictory with 'he was there for some big events but he wasnt There in our lives', and the fact that this is also just like how home videos tend to work makes them really not convincing "evidence" of a happy childhood. like were u expecting to see videos of her saying she fucking hates her dad and hes never there for her To The Camera. when i was with my moms side of the family obviously you smile for pictures and act cute in front of the camera bc they get mad at you if you dont! also hes REALLY invading their privacy by posting videos that arent even of her and are instead of his other kids who literally have nothing to do with this. ALSO childhood evidence is always going to be skewed in the parent's favor bc the kid straight up isnt old enough to rly be able to advocate for themselves. notice how the videos switch to photos as she gets older meaning we have no idea how they interacted when they talked and the one text message she shows is them interacting rly awkwardly like two distant acquaintances

man fuck this dude for calling it "brainwashing". like Again it literally happened to me my mom was lying to me to steal money that was meant for us but he could just. say that. the concrete thing she did wrong. instead of being like It Was The Genders.

theres no proof that he paid anything. he said millions but like he just said that. people can lie. very silly and quirky that he has video evidence of his 10 yr old kid talking about youtube as definitive proof he was a loving father but he cant figure out how to censor one of the bajillion emails they send you when you pay medical bills. tbc i dont rly think he shouldve posted either bc again sensitive information but if youre gonna doxx your kids at least do it in a way that looks less like youre trying to use unreliable footage to make an emotional appeal over the Factual Innacuracies. same thing with screenshots of all the insane bitchy things your daughter and wife are totally saying

the most damning thing: dude you have your daughters phone number. if you really had a good relationship and she was exaggerating to make a story funnier you wouldve messaged her like "??? we made lasagna together last week why didnt you tell me i abandoned you at your mothers doorstep" and she wouldve been like "im sorry father i sold you out for views" and then she wouldve made a video breaking keyfabe. personally i dont believe women are insane gender-brainwashed lunatics so i figure she had her reasons

he stresses their politics differ a lot so my actual projection is that i figure madi as a kid was fine with her dad only showing up for holidays and not really being around and wasnt really thinking about money stuff but then as she grew up she started re-examining their relationship and drifted away from him as he became a sexist bitcoin breakdancer and so eventually she had a negative enough view of him to make a pretty uncharitable video bc if you and your dad had a huge argument over him being a sexist bitcoin breakdancer and then you saw a tiktok challenge about funny trauma you might very well think "oh man. the fact that my dad divorced my mom and then started a breakdancing career is funny as hell. im going to flatten this fairly complicated family history to fit into a tiktok" and then when her dad who she doesnt like anymore made a public response she doubled down bc fuck that guy he hates women. its not like shes sending hitmen to his front door she made a mean tiktok. ppl are acting like this has destroyed his reputation but im gonna go out on a limb and say that the ppl making fun of him for being a deadbeat dad are probably not ppl who otherwise wouldve been fans of a sexist bitcoin breakdancer. i think his core audience was never gonna be shattered by this which i am more sure of bc even before he posted a reply bitcoin bros were gathering around him like protective mother birds. if he didnt want his daughter to disrespect him and re-examine his treatment of her as an adult with a more critical eye, personally i would suggest he be nicer to his daughter and not call her brainwashed or talk about how its all genders fault. i think that would really help convince her to have a more positive view of him

[shotorozu]

hellooo,, i saw another tiktok video(and since ur like the elite on writing this type of reqs im requesting to you aha) https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSJYsk4CY/ for shoto, kaminari and monoma (if u write for him) ty 💕

‘bae lol’

(the greenscreen heart, then kiss tiktok trend)

character(s) : todoroki shouto, kaminari denki, monoma neito (bnha)

legend : [Y/N = your name] for monoma reader’s a part of class 1-A, they/them pronouns used, quirk’s not specific

headcanon type : fluff (x reader)

note(s) : oh, i absolutely love AND hate this trend, it’s mostly bc im single though :,) not like i can get a partner in the pandemic. anyways! i love your thinking, anon <3 also no proofread bc its like,, 2am here </3 will edit later!

»»————-　♡　————-««

todoroki shouto

he’s very aware of your tiktok antics, but out of all of the ones you’ve pulled on him, and asked him to do

he loves this one the most.

because shouto doesn’t have to get the lights scared out of him, and it doesn’t have a chance in ending terribly.

you brisk towards your room, knowing that shouto rests inside— “shou!” you call out to him, and he tilts his head up

“Y/N, tell me it’s not—”

“no, i swear!” you drop next to him on the bed, and you play the video. “this would be fun to do, right?”

he doesn’t say anything at first, but he definitely wants to do it, judging by the fact that he’s replaying the tiktok over and over again.

abruptly standing up, he tugs at your wrist “let’s do it.” he says with determination hinted in his voice

you’d think that he’d get the hang of doing tiktoks because of you but LMAO NO— the greenscreen failed you both multiple times in a span of 40 minutes.

the first take, the heart was blurry, the second take, the kiss was captured seconds before the kiss, and the third take— your phone fell 💀

plus, his movements were a little stiff the first few times, but after the third try— he definitely got the hang of it.

and,, he doesn’t understand tiktok effects, not even the slightest.

on the brighter note, he has more excuses to kiss you so,, it’s a win for him! he won’t get sick of doing any retakes :))

you knew the moment he focused on making the perfect heart, as he firmly pulled you close to kiss you

that, would be the perfect shot there. he almost forgot that there was a camera recording

shouto is seen replaying the filmed tiktok over and over again— and it might’ve looked odd to anyone else

but not to you, definitely. for you, it’s the norm to see him like that.

“do more trends where i could kiss you more.” he pecks you on the lips, before he leaves you be temporarily only to edit the tiktok, ofc

the tiktok itself blows up by a ton, gathering 2M likes, and 5M views, in a surprising amount of time, and you didn’t even notice how he placed his hand on your hip

until the comments pointed it out to him. which shouto replies with “i always do that. you just didn’t seem to notice.” it’s fine bc you do now

the comments consisted of “where can i find a guy like this 💔” “haha that’s so cool *blocks*” “okay but we sEE THOSE HANDS 👀”

nonetheless— please do more trends like that with him. don’t be afraid!

shouto rates the entire ordeal a ♾/10. can and will do it again. oh— and he saves his home and lockscreen as the final outcome from the tiktok. he did a screenshot it, and decides to keep it like that for a very long time

kaminari denki

again— this man is ALWAYS on tiktok, so he’s aware of most of the trends there. but that doesn’t make them any less scarier

but oh wow, he loves this trend. denki was just praying that you’d see it— and ask him to do it with you.

he was grateful that luck was on his side, since he was ecstatic when you skipped over to him— asking him to do a tiktok trend

“oh, what tiktok trend? wait— please tell me it doesn’t involve me breaking up with you for a week so you could listen to drivers licenses—”

“what? no— let me show you” and when you showed him the tiktok, he showed you this cheeky little smirk

“let’s do it! the sooner the better!” he says, and he seems more excited that you 💀

denki’s so enthusiastic, to the point that the first few takes are a total fail— as he makes you fall over your feet, as the result of quickly pulling you onto him for a kiss.

“denki— one of these days, you’re going to shatter my face”

“sorry, sorry!” he grins sheepishly. and it’s a miracle that he didn’t accidentally short circuit!

you guys try again, still persistent in getting at least a decent video, and this time— when he yanked you, causing you almost slip

he tightened his hold on you, a hand pressed against the small of your back and another hand dangerously close to your bank

the kiss is eager, passionate— and he holds you like you’re on the verge of death

and this flusters you because MAMDKWDK what happened to the goofiness 💀 i suppose that’s what happens when you have an eager denki kaminari.

you upload the video, thinking it would only get 5 likes at the very most— but it exceeds your expectations

though most people couldn’t get a clear view of your relationship dynamic with him, denki’s enthusiasm did attract the attention of 2.8M people

and in a good way, because the video did get 800k likes

the comments consisted of “when he caught you when you almost fell :,)” “damn he was EXCITED” “hey, have you told us where you got your boyfriend? i need the link to find someone like him NOW‼️‼️”

the bakusquad fawned over the video weirdly, but it quickly gets overplayed by denki— since that’s all he watched for a week or so 💀

monoma neito

bruh </3 as much as he loves you, you’re going to kill him with pranks one of these days.

he’s totally in on it if HE’S not the one being targeted, but most of the time,, neito’s the subject of your pranks

so he thinks it’s another silly prank, where you make him pick a number between 1-5 and ghost him for that many hours.

but when you show him the video one day, when you guys were chilling in your room— as per usual, he declined :,)

“sorry dear Y/N! but no. that’s my answer”

“but whyyy?? it’s so harmless!”

“the class is going to tease me for being a part with a silly tiktok like that.” and besides,, he’d be a hypocrite for participating in that kind of tiktok with someone from class 1-A.

in reality, he did want to do it. he wasn’t so sure on why he said no— but he does want to show that something so easy isn’t really a bother to him.

“oh- don’t be so sad about it! you know what?” he gently pulls you up, “let’s do it. i don’t care what those silly class 1-A kids will say anymore.”

“what? i thought you said you didn’t want to.”

“have you ever heard of a lie?” he clicks his tongue, but he’s glad that you’re feeling much better than you did 10 seconds ago.

when it comes to it, he’s actually really shy about it. not like a ‘i don’t want to be seen with you!’ more like ‘gosh, how many takes is this going to take? will i be able to kiss them properly?’

“what if i end up accidentally copying their quirk? neito— focus, damnit.” he thinks to himself, brushing the anxious feeling away.

he’s determined enough to stay focused— but man struggled a bit with cooperating with the heart shape.

“neito— not that heart!” “well, you said to make a heart, so i did!”

it takes a few tries for the greenscreen to cooperate, and for you guys to get in sync

and when he finally has to kiss you, he grins at you— a very obvious blush adorning his cheeks, as he smashes his lips with yours

then he remembers that he actually has to break free from you— and forces you guys apart, still trying to play it cool

“wow! i look awesome. only i could kiss you like that, right? i don’t need an answer, because i know it’s true!” he says with that proud laugh of his, but it immediately dissipates after the second replay

neito leaves you be, not only for you to upload the tiktok— but also because he needs to THINK WHAT JUST HAPPENED he’s running laps in his mind rn

you upload the tiktok, not worrying too much about it— as you wanted to let it sit for a while, before checking up on it

however— when you open your phone again, you get bombarded with multiple text messages from kendou, and the other class 1-b students.

“you and monoma went viral!” is what you can sum up about most of the messages, and you have to see for youself— wanting to know if the tiktok really did get 800k likes and 1.9M views in a short amount of time.

spoilers ‼️ — it did

the comments were mostly like “why can i smell the dynamic from a mile away 💔 i want that.” “he’s definitely annoying to everyone but you” “sHEESH the way he smirked before he kissed you 😩✋‼️‼️😔”

monoma flexes on a daily that he did that to your class— but he HATES how class 1-b wrecks havoc on him, by teasing him

in short— he does prefer this more than being scared. and! he didn’t have to verbally ask you for kisses 💀

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei, i only own the writing and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, reupload, translate, or use my works for audio readings without permission

[luvdsc]

while she did plagiarize, she didn’t gaslight you. stop throwing that word around.

hello, here’s a refresher for what “gaslight” means:

and here is what jenovious messaged me throughout the entire ordeal. I have cut it down to the specific messages, but if you take a look at my original post, you can see the full conversation. I really questioned myself in the beginning, like maybe I was wrong about this and it was just a coincidence because we saw the same video. but then she sent me that fake text, and that’s when I started to believe that she was actually lying to me. additionally, I didn’t know she was jensrose at the beginning until I searched through her blog after she sent me the fake text. when I discovered jenovious and jensrose were the same person, I couldn’t believe it. I was truly second guessing everything in this whole situation.

“I had no idea they were from your post.”

“i’ve read your fics, yes, mainly pussy blocked and sweeter than honey, but that’s as far as i’ve gone.”

she claims she only read two fics then. let’s review the following messages from her now, shall we? I have gotten full permission from lebrookestore and two who wish to remain anonymous to post these.

the first row of screenshots is for sweeter than honey, and that checks out. likewise, the second column in the second screenshot compilation is for pussy blocked, and that also checks out.

but let’s take a look at the first column in the second screenshot compilation. she acknowledges the dumbing down of love (slightly cropped out, but still legible) and recs let’s play pretend, i dare you, a-side, b-side, and the not clickbait series. in the third screenshot photo, she lists the dumbing down of love, all four of my not clickbait fics, and resting grinch face.

I counted 10 fics there. That does not equal only 2 fics. the overall 12 fics she admitted to knowing / reading does not equal 2 fics. Here’s a step by step calculation of that for clarity purposes:

she also recced anything written by me, which is a bit silly to do if she only read two fics of mine because you shouldn’t be blindly reccing fics without checking them out first, right? moreover, why would she call me as “my fave author” and “the best nct writer ever” if she only read two of my fics?

once again, I would like to say: if this is how you treat someone you had called one of your favorite writers, then I hope I don’t ever see how you treat the writers whom you don’t favor.

and the final screenshot in the second screenshot compilation is of her saying she does not have a phone, so she would not have been able to use any messaging app to text people.

so no, she did gaslight me. multiple times.

[feelingofcontent]

DNP Rewatch: DAN AND PHIL BLINDFOLDED MAKEUP CHALLENGE

Date video was published: 03/12/2015 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 262

I love Dan doing something silly for charity! Also his promo tweet for this was one of his (several) uses for the gay couple emoji to represent him and Phil, so there’s that.

0:28 - ahahaha, “no interest” but the format of this makes it obvious he’s at least watched some other videos of this challenge

0:38 - “I’ve only got one” ...of course if it’s something strange/out of his comfort zone for his channel, it’s got to be Phil. Also Dan calling him his “designated friend” in the description is great.

0:40 - love the matching t-shirts. love the expression on Phil’s face as he says he’s not ready. Love Dan’s soft smile as he listens to Phil.

0:48 - wtf is Phil’s little eyebrow-flick and smirk after the jump cut here

0:51 - shocked Dan went to shop for this in person actually, instead of online. also YES at the annotation

0:56 - Phil is not paying enough attention to the difference between the eyeshadow and the blush here...that will become an issue, lol

1:00 - Phil’s face while staring at the blindfold is something. Also “that’s going to be difficult” burn. 😂

1:05 - why is he acting surprised at what the material is made of? They’ve had that at least since THE WARDROBE when Phil ties it around his head. Also Dan with the gentle helping. And that annotation. 😳 This is a moment.

1:22 - yep, there we go. I love that Dan doesn’t tell him, but let’s the audience know.

1:25 - of course Dan didn’t think to get brushes or anything. Just going straight in with the fingers and face-touching. Dan is immediately amused.

1:35 - the fact that the one makeup term they seem to really know is “contour” is hilarious to me

1:45 - so soft at Phil testing how sharp it is on his own hand first before putting it on Dan 🥺 Although they already did eyeliner somewhat recently in Dan and Phil PUNK EDITS IN REAL LIFE!

1:52 - wtf happened during this jump cut that Dan ended up with it on his glabella and nowhere near the other eye?!

2:07 - love Dan’s amusement here and the teasing with the fast-forwarded editing, planned in the moment

2:27 - “illuminating” lol, the words/phrases they’ve picked up from whatever tutorials they’ve watched before amuse me

2:37 - and now we have Phil going into “I’m a little shit” mode, which is great. He is bored with actually trying, apparently. Also “to make up for the droop” what.

2:52 - yep, now he’s just trying to mess with Dan 😂

3:00 - putting the lipstick out that far, I can’t believe it didn’t break immediately

3:20 - I love this so much. I’m sure this is something Phil saw his mum doing and remembered!

3:31 - “enjoying this power too much” ...yep

3:39 - only Phil would think of this at that point, especially with the lipstick. “This is what you signed up to.”  😂😂

3:48 - Dan actually sounds somewhat sincere with that compliment. And psychic Phil here, when putting highlighter on your ears (though not lipstick, lol) will become a thing in the next couple years 😲

4:08 - Phil is me when put under pressure to think of a word I should know

4:17 - honestly, Dan is brave letting Phil near his eyes with all of this with Phil’s clumsy track record. The trust is there. Also, what is this face from Phil. 😳

4:31 - out of everything, Phil somehow had the best aim when going for his eyebrows. This is now his third use of “contour.”

4:45 - the reveal moment is great. And Phil tongue-thing!

4:56 - ooo, yikes, just finger marks down his face lol

5:08 - sure, Phil “fairly” maybe for the first couple of things... Dan apparently doesn’t need help with the blindfold.

5:18 - Phil has to test that of course

5:26 - #spon lol. I do love that they make it obvious that they know exactly how ridiculous it is sometimes, which means I somehow never get annoyed with them spon-ing their merch.

5:50 - why does Phil continue to face straight forward; he is not making it easier for Dan even a little bit

5:57 - Dan is doing a lot more touching with both hands to try to get things in the right place

6:02 - unnecessary zoom-in on Dan’s “shhhhh”...

6:04 - he really does stick two fingers right in Phil’s mouth 😳 And very over-the-top reactions. I apologize for this screenshot.

6:14 - and the little nose boop here. Phil is right about the open-mouth eye makeup.

6:30 - oh, Dan is actually attempting to use the eyeshadow applicator here

6:45 - love Phil’s reaction to how he looks already

7:02 - again, wtf happened during the jump cut here. Suddenly Phil has much much more on his cheek.

7:08 - seems to be some sort of little check-in tap here from Dan after Phil says “oh my god.” They are constantly making sure the other person is okay, even in the midst of filming.

7:15 - Phil is so disappointed, lol at the side-eye and Dan’s smug face even with the blindfold

7:22 - why would Phil even ask that?! what even is this conversation.

7:35 - pretty sure Dan knows perfectly well what he’s doing here too. Payback for some of what Phil did.

7:53 - love that Phil didn’t correct him here either

8:07 - yeah, waaaaaay to much lipstick up out of the tube

8:25 - this whole lipstick part is so messy in every way

8:36 - Dan is much quicker with ripping the blindfold off than Phil was. The reveal parts of this video are my favorite.

8:42 - “I look like I just ate someone’s neck” ...of course, Phil. I get more The Joker than a vampire.

8:47 - the synchronized lean-in

8:53 - love that Phil did a pout. Love that Dan noticed in the viewfinder and called him out on it.

9:02 - Phil with the burns in this video

9:08 - they seem to be having such a good time filming this one too

9:11 - until this moment, maybe

9:20 - I want to know if they actually phoned a friend or just googled everything. That is a mess.

9:27 - Phil panic-cleaning the carpet (which is what he included in his promo tweet). With a cleaver. 😂 Yeah, definitely some Google-ing going on. 

9:39 - Phil with that makeup holding the cleaver is terrifying, actually.

9:53 - love the behind-the-scenes of the selfie-taking. Dan posted the selfie on his Instagram.

10:03 - hahahaha, poor Kath. Dan found that hilarious.

10:37 - Phil’s deadpan “I’m really glad this will be on the internet forever” is great

I love this video a lot, if that wasn’t obvious, lol. Sometimes I forget about it in favor of more recent videos, but it’s such a good one.

[cheri-translates]

One-shot: Video call

Original author: 八重垂樱 (ba zhong chui ying)

“You aren’t asleep yet?”

The notification popping up on your phone screen startles you. Almost instinctively, you lock your phone and toss it to the side, pulling the covers up to your chin as you stare at the bedroom door warily.

After a long time, you’re certain that no one will be opening it. Visibly relaxing, you pick up the phone next to your pillow. Just as you’re about to unlock it, another message pops up.

“Are you there? Could I give you a video call?”

Well...

Without giving you time to react, your phone vibrates with an incoming video call, and a silly-looking wolf with a ginkgo leaf on its head appears on the screen... After staring at it for a while, you take a deep breath and press the answer button.

Gavin. Of course it’s Gavin.

Receiving a video call from one’s boyfriend in the middle of the night is something that brings happiness to most people.

That is, if you hadn’t wished him goodnight half an hour ago, promising him that you’d go to sleep.

“Gavin...”

Pretending to rub your eyes, you cover your mouth to stifle a yawn. “Why are you video calling at this time? I was sleeping.”

You do your best to hide the guilt from your voice. After all, this is just a video call. Even if your boyfriend is astute, he might not be able to tell that you were staying up till 1am to watch dramas.

“Is that so?” Gavin arches his brows from across the screen. “Were you really asleep?”

“Yes! I even dreamt that you returned home from your mission. You called and asked me to open the door. When I woke up, all that I saw was a video call.” You sigh in response.

“In that case, let me ask you something. Someone told me earlier that she had just started watching a drama series. So how did she reach the 7th episode just 10 minutes ago?”

“How did you know about that!”

Right after saying this, you wish you could just bite your tongue off. Even before Gavin had said anything, why did you admit to everything?

“I’ve never seen such a clumsy way of committing a crime.”

Gavin smiles teasingly. A ray of light sweeps past his face before it vanishes. He seems to be on an outdoor walk. “Did you forget that you downloaded the video app on my phone too? What did a certain silly girl say back then? ‘If my phone runs out of battery, I can use yours to watch my dramas! Isn’t that very convenient?’”

“...” You wail silently in your heart. “I was wrong. I plead guilty. Officer Gavin, please return home and punish me.”

Anyway, he won’t be coming home anytime soon. By the time he does, he’d have forgotten about this.

"Number one - you promised not to stay up but went back on your word,” Gavin doesn’t respond to your comment. He glances at you, continuing slowly. “Number two - you posted screenshots from a drama on Weibo, and added the caption ‘I can do it with him’... what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means... it means... that the scene was filmed really well! The plot is also very well written. It’s a compliment!”

You nod firmly, though you’re brimming with so much regret that you’re about to burst into tears. How could you have forgotten that even though Gavin only uses Weibo once every 800 years, he turns on notifications for your posts!

Considering how Gavin has gotten jealous of even himself, knowing the true meaning of “I can do it with him” might actually lead to your tragic demise.

“Really? Is that what ‘I can do it with him’ means?”

“That’s right!” You respond decisively.

“But the explanation Eli gave me seems to differ slightly?”

Gavin smiles even more mischievously, reminiscent of a hunter teasing his prey. The backdrop behind him changes - it looks as though he’s in an elevator.

Wait a minute... why does that elevator look somewhat familiar?

Ah!

Before you can exclaim, the man steps out of the elevator, and a door that you couldn’t have been more familiar with appears on the screen.

“Open the door. Since you don’t want to sleep, we could spend the whole night discussing what ‘I can do it with him’ means.”

-

More translated and original works: here

-

[ Permission to translate ]

八重垂樱: Can, thank you for liking them

[poppy-in-the-woods]

DOPEMAN Part 1 - Chapter 6

Tags: Explicit language, sex talk, sex in general, masturbation, use of sex toys, oral sex, fluids… not an accurate depiction of what being a cam girl actually is, and possible bad English (this text has not been proofread by an English native speaker, so it might contain spelling and grammar errors).

Word Count: 2483

Tag list: @whiteeroseeeeeee​ @triplexdoublex

Author’s note: Sunday means new chapter. This is chapter six, so there’s only two more to get to the end of the first part. See if you catch the reference to MGK in this chapter xD

Hope you like it.

On with the show!

Dopeman [21:00]: Hello, gorgeous. How are you?

ArkAngel [21:00]: Hello, Dopeman. I've missed you.

Dopeman [21:00]: Oh, yeah? Really?

ArkAngel [21:01]: My income has decreased.

ArkAngel [21:02]: Just kidding.

ArkAngel [21:02]: Of course I've missed you, silly. We’re friends.

Dopeman [21:02]: Thank goodness, because for a moment I thought that you only liked me for my money.

ArkAngel [21:03]: If thay were the case, you wouldn't be my only client.

Dopeman [21:03]: They keep being rude with you, huh?

ArkAngel [21:04]: Yes, almost everyone. I had a couple of conversations with two other guys, but...

Dopeman [21:04]: What? Did they mistreat you?

ArkAngel [21:04]: One of them got very angry when I told him that he had to pay if he wanted me to undress.

Dopeman [21:04]: On many pages it is not like that.

ArkAngel [21:06]: I know, but this is not one of those pages. The girl who helped me establish my profile, WildFlower4, told me that she had chosen this one precisely because having a base price for turning on the camera and others for different kinds of things allows her to take work at her own pace.

Dopeman [21:06]: I think it’s a good thing that you have control over what you earn and how.

Dopeman [21:06]: Also, the fact that you're not just broadcasting makes it more… personal. I like that.

Dopeman [21:07]: What happened with the other guy?

ArkAngel [21:07]: He paid me without hesitation, but he kept asking me to let him turn on his camera and… I know it's going to sound stupid, but I didn't like his voice.

Dopeman [21:08]: His voice? What was wrong with his voice?

ArkAngel [21:08]: It sounded like… like panting. I don't know how to explain it better.

Dopeman [21:08]: He sounded like a pervert.

ArkAngel [21:09]: Yeah. He gave me a bad feeling.

ArkAngel [21:09]: Besides that, he offered to buy my entire wish list in Amazonia if I’d put a dildo in each hole.

Dopeman [21:10]: And what did you say to him?

ArkAngel [21:10]: I made a "I don't do that on the first date" joke, but he kept insisting, so I cut off the call and blocked him.

[21:11] DOPEMAN SENT YOU 60 DOLLARS.

[21:12] YOU HAVE STARTED A VIDEO CALL WITH DOPEMAN.

This time ArkAngel wore a white tank top with the letters BAD BITCH in black on the front, a black harness underneath, and a black leather skirt. She had opted for a more aggressive makeup, like she was going to a rock concert, and she had let her hair down.

"Hello, Dopeman."

“You're good?” He asked. She nodded. “When was that? The pervert thing.”

“Last Saturday. As you told me you couldn't meet on Friday, I thought maybe… but you didn't show up and then I realized that you must be working and that I was a fool,” she said. “That's when that guy started a conversation with me, and for once he wasn't rude... I should have say to him what I say to the rude ones.”

“And what do you say?”

“You are not worthy to speak with ArkAngel.”

“That’s what you tell them? You're amazing,” he laughed.

“I don't think they agree with you,” she replied, unable to hide a smile. “One in particular didn't find me amazing at all.”

“What did he say?”

“He said, and I quote: ‘bitch, I have a lot of dough, stick a vibrator up your pussy and shut up,’” she replied, reading from a screenshot. “And then she sent me a pic of a wad of bills. I gave him the scripted answer, and told him to use those bills to learn manners instead of begging for sex on the internet.”

“I assume you blocked him then.”

“Oh no, he blocked me,” she said.

“I love it when the garbage takes itself out,” said Dopeman.

“Me too,” she sighed. “Oh by the way, WildFlower4 sent me a belated birthday present, do you want to see it?”

“Sure.”

“But close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you,” she ordered. Dopeman smiled, but did as she asked. “Have you closed them?”

“Yes, I have them closed.”

“Okay, you can open them now.”

She was lying on her stomach, a realistic dildo in one hand. A pretty big one, to tell the truth.

“Say hello to my new friend. I think it must be about your size, right?”

“Oh no, that thing has a bit more girth than me,” he said. “Does it have a name?”

“I haven't thought of any, do you have any suggestions?”

“You could call him… Nikki Sexx. Or Tommy Lewd.”

“I like Tommy Lewd,” she laughed. “Tommy,” she repeated, kissing the dildo.

“Do it again,” he ordered, and she obeyed. “Oh, gorgeous, that was very sexy.”

“Would you like me to put it in my mouth?” She asked.

“Yes. How much?”

“I'm not going to charge you for that,” she said. “Consider it the birthday present I didn't give you. But if you want me to stick it up my pussy, it's going to cost you.”

“It's fair,” he agreed. “But for now, you can start by showing me your oral technique.”

“I really don't have much practice, but what the hell? Now I have a test subject always ready,” she joked. “Just a moment.”

ArkAngel disappeared out of frame, and when she returned, she had removed her lipstick, and was carrying a small bottle in her hand. Dopeman recognized it right away: flavoured lube, cherry flavoured in particular.

She smiled at the camera and squirted the lube, spreading it over the toy with one hand. She stuck out her tongue and gave it a little lick, tasting it.

“Tastes good?” He wanted to know.

“Tastes like candy,” she replied. “Well, here I come. It's not going to fit all in my mouth.”

“It doesn't matter, just...”

“Yeah, I know,” she cut him off, rolling her eyes briefly.

“Wait! Take off your t-shirt first.”

[22:37] YOU HAVE RECEIVED TEN DOLLARS FROM DOPEMAN.

ArkAngel smiled and took off her t-shirt. She was not wearing a bra, just the harness, and Dopeman watched with delight as the cold air hardened her nipples. He laughed and she flipped him off, but started sucking on the toy, putting it in her mouth and doing everything she would do if it were a real cock. Dopeman released his erection and began to masturbate trying to imitate her movements.

“Oh, gorgeous, you are… you are magnificent.”

It didn't take long for him to finish, and he even warned her like she was actually sucking him off. She giggled, but continued sucking until she heard him grunt. Dopeman always made that grunting noise when he ejaculated.

“I'd like to see you today, Dopeman,” she said, leaving the dildo stuck to the wall behind her by the suction cup.

“Sure.”

[22:49] DOPEMAN WANTS TO TURN ON HIS CAMERA. CLICK HERE TO ACCEPT THE REQUEST. CLICK HERE TO DENY IT.

“Hello, ArkAngel.”

“Hi.”

“Though the truth is, you don't look very angelic dressed like that,” he said. “You look like... a succubus.”

“Yeah? What if it had horns and a tail?” She teased.

“I don't know… I think I'd like you better with real wings than with horns and a tail.”

“A tail could be useful,” she replied. “I could use it to spank you when you misbehave.

“But I don’t misbehave,” he pointed out.

“That's true.”

“Thanks for the birthday present, gorgeous,” he said.

“It’s nothing.”

“What's wrong?” He asked, frowning. “You look sad.”

“I'm fine, just... my roommate is majoring in psychology, you know? And recently she has done some work on female sexuality,” she told him. “In one of her conclusions, she indicates that female sexuality, especially that of heterosexual and bisexual women, tends to have a performative component because a large percentage of men are more aroused by visual stimuli than stimuli of any other type. She says that it is something that society teaches us from an early age, subliminally: we learn to dress sexy, dance sexy, even move in certain ways in sex, and I was wondering if, by doing this for you, I am contributing to something. I don't know if I explain myself.”

“You explain yourself well,” he reassured her. “I understand the moral dilemma, I really do, because I also have some in my work, but sometimes you have to choose between what is morally correct, and keeping your sanity and money.”

“But I don't need the money, not really,” she replied. “I do this because I like to do it. It makes me feel powerful.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. It's an incredible high. Every time I hear you breathe fast because you are nearing climax, every time you come... because of my actions, because of me, that makes me feel in control and...”

“Powerful,” he repeated. She nodded. Do you felt like this right now?”

“Tell me something, Dopeman, did you imagine it was your cock I was sucking?”

“Of course.”

“I make you come and I don't even have to touch you to do it,” she said. “You have power over me, but I also have power over you. And so we stay balanced.”

“It's one way of looking at it, I guess,” he agreed.

“With your permission, I'm going to put the t-shirt back on. I'm starting to get cold.”

“Sure. Can I ask you a personal question?”

"Is there another kind?” She teased as she put on her shirt. “Go ahead, ask me what you want.”

“If you could go back… would you prevent it from happening? To yourself from the past, the night we met, would you say ‘don't do it’?”

“No, I wouldn't. My friend says I'm breaking the first rule of cam girls: don't make friends with a client. But the truth is, I don't care.”

“It could be dangerous for you,” he pointed out.

“As long as we stick strictly to each other's computer, I don't think so,” she replied. “That is why I ask you, if you ever see me on the street, don't come over to say hello. ArkAngel doesn't exist outside of these walls, and Dopeman shouldn't exist outside of your room either.”

“Unfortunately, I don't stop being Dopeman when I'm not with you.”

“I know, but you know what I mean.”

“Yes, I know,” he sighed.

“I'm sorry, I've made you think of things you'd rather not think about.”

“No, don't apologize. I like to talk to you, and it's easier when I don't have half the blood on my dick, so…” he replied, shrugging. “And you're the kind of girl I'd break my own rules for.”

“The rule of not having a girlfriend, for example?”

“Yes. I think if we had met in other circumstances, I would have done everything I could to ask you on a date.”

“Now is it said like this, ‘ask you on a date’?” She teased. “Don't you mean ‘take you to my bed’?”

“Oh great, I'm here baring my soul and you're making fun of me.”

“I'm not making fun of you, really. You're also that kind of guy to me, the one who could convince me to do the craziest things,” she admitted. “In fact, you've already convinced me to keep doing this, when it was going to be a one-time thing.”

“You’re addicted to adrenaline; that's the drug I'm selling you.”

“You're Dopeman for a reason, right?”

“I suppose. Hey, gorgeous, I have to go, but I’ll see you next Friday,” he assured her, smiling. “Take care of Tommy Lewd, he has to be fit to play next week.”

“Of course. Good night, Dopeman.”

“Good night, my dear ArkAngel.”

[23:03] YOU HAVE ENDED THE VIDEO CALL WITH DOPEMAN.

[23:03] DOPEMAN HAS DISCONNECTED.

[23:05] YOU HAVE DISCONNECTED.

 He realized what he had said only when he logged out. He had called her ‘dear’. Was he falling in love with that girl? Maybe CC was right and he should stop seeing her, spending his money on her, especially if she didn't need it, as she had said.

But there was a problem, and it was that he did not want to stop. Oddly enough, that girl who only existed on his computer on Friday nights was the most meaningful connection with a woman he'd ever had. He had female friends, of course he did, and he also had a list of phone numbers to call if he wanted sex, but they were just a way to satisfy a need, and he knew he was the same to those women. He would never have discussed moral dilemmas with any of those girls. If he thought about it, the other woman he'd talked to about it was Qweenie. ArkAngel was his friend, to say the least.

 In her room, ArkAngel picked up the stuffed unicorn and bit into it, drowning out a cry into the unicorn's pink body. She had also picked up on the word.

“Why do you have to be so good to me?” She wondered aloud. “Why can't you be just any bad boy?”

There was a knock on the door of her room. It was obviously Anne.

“I'm sorry,” she pre-emptively apologized, starting to cry.

Anne hugged her.

“Honey, maybe you should stop seeing him,” she said.

“I can't, I… I can't.”

“You know it's only going to get worse, right? As much as you don't know his real name, or where he lives, you’re not going to stop caring for Dopeman.”

“I know. Am I going crazy, Anne?”

“No, I don't think so,” Anne said, which surprised her. Molly pulled away enough to look her friend in the face. “In a sense, being your only client, it's like having a long-distance boyfriend. Or a fling, at least. Have you ever thought that if you stopped being a cam girl, all this would disappear? I mean, you could just ask him out.”

“I don't know… He said he could break the rules for me, but I'm not sure he really wants to, you know?” She replied. “Having such a big and obvious weak point as a girlfriend is something important in his world.”

“Yeah... then you better keep being just his cam girl. You can't change a bad boy, you know that.”

“I know. And I don't want him to change, I just… I wish things weren't that complicated.”

“Life’s like that,” Anne replied, shrugging. “My grandmother used to say that there are only four things for sure in this life: the sky is green, people are assholes, nothing is easy and we are all going to die one day.”

“Your grandmother was a genius.”

“I know. Hey, why don't you put on something more comfortable, take all that makeup off your face, and we do a Desperate Housewives marathon?”

“Okay.”

“Okay, I'll go get the popcorn.”

[danjaley]

Story Process Challenge

Tagged by @nocturnalazure​ in the text, but I hope this counts :)

1. Your writing process - show us a part of your script or explain how you write your scenes. Do you write in screenplay format or novel format? Etc, etc.

Sims-stories I write in digital format almost exclusively and usually in dialogue form. Here’s the first page of “Wild Hunt”. It all started out with Lavinia’s character description and stayed there a very long time. Then it also has a stock of Gothic names, which is copied from another document, hence the German headline. Being me, I sometimes leave some silliness, like the extra-characters. (The thing about the blacksmith was that when these ‘barbarians’ caught an artisan, they sometimes crippled them so they couldn’t run away, but had to work for them. Unfortunately I couldn’t fit such a character into the story. He’s still there from brainstorming days)

This is the market scene from Chevalry, along with a lot of cut scenes. I always quote this as an example why some of the best scenes aren’t even there in my writing. The text is green because I used this to mark it as the story-in-the-story. (The expression ‘shock-blanket’ is a reference to an episode of Sherlock. Some expressions (”slain” “daughter to”) are also borrowed from Shakespeare-plays)

2. Scene building - show us you in the middle of scene building through pictures, gifs, or a video. Explain what is the best thing about scene building and what is the worst!

I rarely take pictures of half-built sets. Wherever possible, I prefer using places built by experienced builders. I have zero sense of architecture. A square small place is the most I can be trusted to do myself. Generally I prefer to work with decor and plants. This travelling cart was a different kind of challenge. I built it on a 10x10 lot and it had to be placed first, before I constructed a new set around it. On the second picture you also see the cleverly camouflaged mailbox :)

3. CC/Pose Making - do you make your own cc/poses for your scene? If so, what is your process like to create? Do you just go off the top of your head? Do you use reference photos?

I think it’s safe to say that I’m a pose-maker. Although I make a lot less poses than I used to. Partly because of time, partly because I don’t like the washed-out Blender under Windows 10 :/ In the heyday of Chevalry, I would quit the game and pose the scene myself, if I wasn’t 100% satisfied. Though the only scene I ever posed start-to finish was the haircutting-kiss. Nowadays, I rather try to work with existing poses. Back when I took requests, I sometimes worked with reference pictures, and they do give the scene some extra depth. The scene modelled after a still from “Anastasia” really taught me how much detail the artists had put into their characters’ expressions, and this translated back to the resulting poses.

4. Getting in the zone - What do you do to get in the zone to work on a scene? Examples include: show us your playlist you use when working on a scene, what’s your go-to scene snack/drink, etc.

I kinda miss living on my own, when I could dedicate a whole day to shooting a battle-scene for Chevalry. But in fact I decided to tell this story then and there because I knew it was the perfect time of my life for doing so. I’m super shy with music, and I have a limited music-library (by modern standards), which I listen to over and over again. Many of these songs have influenced characters, but can’t even bring myself to hunt them up on the internet.

5. Screenshot folder - give us a look into your screenshot folder to show us just how much goes into ONE scene for your story. (Scrapped pictures encouraged!!!)

Here is Of Chevalry, end of Chapter 6. The green ones are reference shots for depth of field blur (I don’t use Reshade). The ones with Sarmanna in a bath-suit are for editing her hands back into the picture, when they clipped through the dress.

MCarric Scenes, most recent: You’ll notice there’s a lot less greenscreen blur nowadays. I usually draw it with the blur-tool now. I still need to find a good occasion for this lovely rainbow I captured...

6. Captions - are you a caption on the picture kind of storyteller or captions in text box type of storyteller? Why? Do you do both?

Although I am more of a visual storyteller, I very much prefer the text in the post. I’m very given to typos and spelling errors and I’d hate having them baked into my pictures. Also I find the text easier to read in the post.

7. Editing!!!!! - explain and show us your process editing a scene through a video, gif, or picture. A Before and after will suffice if you aren’t in the middle of editing a scene as you answer this.

I like editing my pictures in a way that makes them look like they had been like this in game all along. Here’s Sarmanna in a bath-suit again. In cases like this one, you can even bring out the feeling a bit more. I could have dug her left arm out of the skirt. But as she’s feeling very shy and vulnerable in the scene, I made it look like her arm was close to her body. I also have a photoshop action which gives this slightly desaturated old-painting look to the images.

8. Throwback-  show us an ANCIENT story scene you did in the past and explain how you would do the scene differently today!

In 2014 I tried to tell the backstory of Anja Tilney, a Maplethorpe Island inhabitant. It was the first time I tried messing around with poses, and I remember I included this shot because Simmagmeg had just released these poses which meant much to her. This scene I still think turned out cute, but on the whole I wasn’t feeling the story any more, after a while. It was rather simply constructed, but still I felt I couldn’t do it justice with my skills back then.

I just reread it for the first time since (here...), and it isn’t quite as bad as I remembered, but back then I scrapped the project and decided to stay well away from Sims storytelling in the future...

tagging @arielovessims​, @thethingshesaidthesims3​, @windermeresimblr​, @unsimspirational​

[kyogre-blue]

OK, very belatedly, Labyrinth part 3. (This takes me so long because I don’t have the energy to screenshot so much most days lol. I wouldn’t bother since this event is extremely lackluster, but... Childe...) 

As a recap of what I remember, we left off last time with Childe and Shiki Taishou getting stuck in the Labyrinth again as it takes a few days to rearrange itself. We are determined to solve the mystery of what and why about the labyrinth and to regain Shiki Taishou’s memories because He Is Our Friend, but we’re worried that the shogunate troops will just storm the place destroy everything if we take too long. 

You can see how silly this is, given that the troops were utterly decimated by a few escaped monsters. They’re totally useless, and Sara is also not exactly a great combatant from what we’ve seen of her. She also pawned off this job on us because she doesn’t trust any of her family members (including the interim Commissioner vetted by Ei herself) to manage admin matters without her personal presence. 

Genius setup, 10/10, extreme sense of emotional investment and tension. 

And it’s about to get STUPIDER. Holy Shit. 

WELP 

As a reminder, this nonsense has been dragging for a week already. 

Childe and Shiki Taishou are waiting for us as soon as we enter. It’s... getting annoyingly obvious that this whole “Childe is trapped inside while the mansion rearranges itself for days” is just purely padding nonsense brought about by the need to explain why the content is timegatted Genshin’s usual completely nonsensical degree (normal games release a new thing every day, not every three days) and the fact that they didn’t want to deal with Childe outside the mansion. I’m okay with some choices being driven by outside limitations, but like... please put in some effort, you know? 

And Childe and Shiki Taishou have hit it off entirely offscreen. Effort? That does not exist. 

They really can’t write character interaction at all, huh? 

Or plot. 

Or intrigue. 

Or continuity. 

Hm. 

Childe did like 3/5 of the work. 

Did you expect some complexity? Lol nope

Harunosuke went to Liyue in search of POWERRR after the Saiguu was killed. We already knew all this. 

Screenshotting this just for “art of transcension” which is a term I haven’t seen before, in... anything. I suppose this is what the fox envoys practice? 

It’s a training domain. But Harunosuke closed the place down. 

This also means that Shiki Taishou, whose purpose was to serve as an administrator to the Domain, has become a discarded weapon. 

outer heaven

The tree whose roots once spread across the world... 

I skipped some dialogue here because it was pointless. Childe’s way of talking is SO ridiculous and overwrought. It’s straight up purple prose. This chuuni.... 

I just can’t take this seriously. It really can’t match up to Thunderbolt Fantasy S1 finale. Mr Snowcrow ruined all “I seek martial prowess” characters for me. 

Xinyan says that Shiki Taishou does not need to abandon anything to let go of his confusion. He needs to find what matters most to him. For her, it’s rock and roll, and who cares if others don’t like it? So she’s agreeing that Childe should go on considering himself a weapon and striving for nothing more than greater battles, as long as that’s what he cares about the most. Amazing. 

But then she drags in having company on the road of solitude. It’s nonsense. 

(At this point, I discovered that this overly dragging event DOES have a map, but they stuck it behind the tiniest possible icon in the most hard to see place.) 

Once we reach the end of this stage, there is a completely pointless and poorly put together video. 

I really, really hate Genshin’s absurd love for sticking in auto-play videos. Why do you do this instead of just using your normal engine? What is the POINT? I hate everything that auto-plays and also can’t be skipped through, and Genshin’s videos aren’t even good from the perspective of something pretty to watch. They’re littered with pointless camera angles and effects, and they’re badly paced too, and nothing in them means anything. 

(This one is especially bad, as I realized afterwards.) 

We see Shiki Taishou’s memories of Harunosuke. To no one’s surprise, he was a perfectly wonderful person and there is no emotional drama (or any other kind of tension to speak of). 

We start in one scene where some samurai are reporting that everyone is wounded and lots of shikigami have been destroyed. The situation outside has stabilized somewhat, so maybe they can stop here? Shiki Taishou speaks up before Harunosuke can actually refuse (as you’d expect per basic, BASIC writing). Harunosuke is such a swell and reasonable guy that he never even had any emotional hangups about chasing the Saiguu’s shadow. He just wanted to help her descendants. 

We magically switch to a different scene behind a paper door where it’s just two of them. There’s no transition. It’s just a different scene now. Harunosuke makes a bunch of shikigami swirl around the Saiguu’s pipe and it vanishes into light. What is the significance? Who knows! 

Then Harunosuke dissolves into light. Why? Irrelevant! 

Did we ever see Harunosuke be wrong so that him seeing the light has meaning? Nope. Did we ever see Harunosuke and Shiki Taishou interact, building their relationship so it has weight? Nope. 

Does this have any relevance in regard to the Childe parallels? None at all. 

Harunosuke never sought strength for the sake of strength. He just wanted to help stabilize Inazuma and help the Saiguu’s successor. Once that goal was reached, he peaced out with only the simplest of comments from a friend. (Thereby abandoning said friend who cannot exist outside this domain or pursue another purpose. A swell guy all around.) 

And just to make this all funnier, the whole thing was meaningless because Raiden handled it anyway: 

What does this contribute to the story of this event? 

If your answer is nothing, you are correct! 

This isn’t even what the video shows! This event literally can’t keep a consistent throughline between two consecutive scenes. 

Despite what you’d expect from the scene of Harunosuke vanishing into light, he’s not dead. This video keeps getting stupider. 

Did... did they check the story AT ALL before making it??

To summarize quickly, Shiki Taishou decides that he can’t just wait for Harunosuke to come back. He has learned due to meeting us that he should seek a purpose outside his creator. 

The purpose he chooses for himself? To do his job :)

Surely there will be other people who want to train too! 

That stuff about injuries being too heavy, this training method clearly being too much for normal humans to handle? Irrelevant! As long as they’re crazy enough to want it, it’s fiiiiine. 

How does this resolution come from meeting us, when we were sent to stop the monsters escaping out and don’t care about getting stronger? It doesn’t! Does this have anything to do with Childe, who does want to become stronger? It doesn’t! He doesn’t speak in this scene, until the emotional resolution is all done for. 

Why did the monsters escape? Not confirmed! 

He’s going to train the Commission, I guess. Why? So they can better crush all resistance next time the Shogun goes off the rails and goes back to being a dictator in pursuit of meaningless eternity, I suppose. 

Childe returns only to drop some 4shadowing. 

What past experiences? What does this even mean. 

What does this MEAN

Childe, you stupid fuck, what do you think we’ll do? We’ll beat him up and take the thing. We hate Fatui and hate all their plans. This isn’t a choice, it’s a foregone conclusion!

And what does “your final destination” even matter?? Stop trying to be cool, you brainless chuuni. If you could read, you’d have read the damn missing person posters! You know exactly what the Traveler’s final goal is! 

This loser isn’t even like the ancient assholes who can claim to know something or other about Celestia and the greater scheme of things. Childe is a pawn at best, he doesn’t know shit. 

Based on what.

We didn’t do ANYTHING, omfg. 

[steve0discusses]

The Full Metal Alchemist Live Action Movie Part 8: Watch This Episode Covered in Butts be the Only One Not Flagged by Tumblr

Gonna be risky business and not only upload all of these caps the way I screenshot them--which has just SO MANY poorly CGI’d butts but also gonna do it on the Tumblr Drafts folder, which I have been assured works now.

I’m so worried about so many things, but considering all the fears I have about like...everything else in the world right now...I guess I’ll take a risk on tumblr.

Edit: I cannot believe that I had 8ish episodes of Kaiba’s tall dueling tower get flagged but not this movie. I just....wow I cannot.

So anyway, last we left off, General Hakuro stepped in and was like “Hi guys, you like my wily plans that no one in their right mind would have ever guessed???”

Yo remember this part of the anime? Where the bodies drop from the ceiling and it’s a hunk out of the final arc--it’s here. In this movie. This movie that can’t possibly afford to do that. Lets get some CGI animated bodies in here ASAP.

(see some texture regrets under the cut)

It’s like a Monet, as the Mean Girls say, because far away and shrinked to 500 pixels this looks kinda neat. They sort of look more like those slime ball that grow in the back of your throat rather than human bodies, but they still look pretty gross hanging up there.

But then.....we zoom in. Remember again that this was full screen on my computer, and at one point was on a freakin movie screen. This level of 3d...was on a movie theater screen.

The mind boggles. The mind boggles!

Like as you know, I am an artist, and I’ve dabbled in...basically everything in my pursuit to make a dollar...and I have taken about 2 years of classes in 3D art with Maya and all those. I’m not thaaat great at it--I’m much more an illustrator/painter--but I feel like I have that reference point. Can I just say--the model is...fine...you can do a lot with layers of bump maps so you don’t need a truly detailed model (not like they did that, because they didn’t do that, but I can figure that maybe they had an intention to do that and forgot?)

But, there’s no connection of the wires to bodies. They just kinda float? The bodies are also all the same shiny-ness? To the point that it looks like a copy paste? (I don’t think it is, the wires are slightly different on a few of them) There’s just not much in the way of a texture map or a bump map. It just...there’s also something missing from the skin.

Skin is actually kind of rough to render, so when I did it back in the day, I followed like a checklist to make sure I had all the layers and steps to make someone look...clammy. Some things are kinda translucent, they reflect light a different way...especially white skin like this wouldn’t be just...white like putty. Dunno if you ever saw a white person, but we got so many veins...there was so much potential to make something really gross and fleshy.

Instead we got silly putty. It’s fine. I’m fine.

So General Hakuro decides to just...kill everyone right now.

This makes no sense to me.

That means that the whole thing of Lust killing Hughes was completely unrelated to General Hakuro. All Hakuro needed was Shou Tucker, who has been in prison for...I assume months since Ed shipped him off. And Shou was only released today? Just now? Just now when Hughes was shot?

So this all just happened at the same time by accident?

I mean the General sent us to the wrong lab initially, so he didn’t actually want us to be here, and now that we are here, he’s going to set off an entire army as a reaction to three people walking in and going “oops”?

So, lets get a look at our army.

Oh it was so disappointing, this reveal. Not just the eyeball that has a bounce light coming from below the top lip there (how did that even happen???) but also when it opened it’s mouth, it had a flat animation of skin breaking--it wasn’t actually rendered 3d skin, it was like a jpg wrapped around it or something (or at least that was the illusion I got. That is fine for a video game or a TV show, but this is a movie. This is shot so that it can be displayed in a size bigger than your own house.

What happened to the animation team on this one? Not saying I can do better, cuz no, I can’t, that 3d chapter in my life was a while back, but I’m just one guy. This was an entire animation studio and they just...didn’t render 3d face ripping (which is their entire job, to work in 3d) and then they kinda just turned on the stock physics dynamics and dropped em instead of animating them.

The way they fell was like fish from a bucket--the same amount of speed, too. they all ragdolled like a 3D shooter, their rigs just hanging on for dear life (and yes, you could see the deforming happen on the joints of these models.) I’m fine with having a computer program render something out with a physics engine...but there is a balance.

You do have to still go in there and finangle it back because...real life is hella stupid. Real physics? So stupid. It was hilarious how nonthreatening it was, too because they’re like...the size of shrimps in that zoom out image. The scale is just so wild!

It was like one bored guy in a sound booth and they multiplied his voice three times. Golden. Absolutely golden.

So these guys stride over, all of them with the same amount of speed (leading me to think it was probably a recorded walk cycle they all share with slight alterations between all of em) and they kinda just...pile on eachother in a weird way.

I will give them this: I was happy to see something that wasn’t physics or procedural. They mo-capped and animated that part for sure. It had the touch of an artist’s hand. It was also a very funny way for Hakuro to die because this guy was on screen for like 5 minutes, and maybe 7 minutes of this whole movie.

Youknow...I think it really says a lot about your nude 3d models if they’re not disturbingly human enough to trigger the tumblr filter, youknow?

Anyway, Envy looks on.

And then Gluttony saves the city.

Meanwhile, they decide to bust out the fire effects and Mustang becomes the most useful person in this entire movie. Like honestly this movie was poorly named, because it should have just been “Mustang saves the FullMetal Alchemist’s Entire Ass.”

The next part seems like I forgot a cap, or maybe missed something. I swear to you, I did not.

First off, Al becomes fullmetal and makes this happen without an alchemy circle. The show doesn’t really care to talk about that though, it’s just a thing he can do now, and you’d only notice it if you were writing a Tumblr post about it.

I swear to you, Winry is just inside of Al and there is no explanation.

There is no explanation for this.

She was on the couch...why is she not on the couch? What?

And then when you think they might have a moment, Ed’s like.

Damn.

For reals what the hell was that entire scene except for a way for Ed to get his arm stitched back on in like 2 minutes?

Outside, Envy and Lust are just strolling around the back-alley of this red brick building we have seen used for this entire movie.

And like...it’s so funny to me because they weren’t trying to run or hide. It makes complete sense why they got shot. This is what happens when you just...walk away when the whole military guard wants to kill you.

Now lets go see how Hawkeye is faring.

Luckily, all of the ambling bodies have decided to walk slowly through this one weird grass section between extremely long buildings.

And Hawkeye tells everyone “You have to shoot their heads off” and I want you to look at that scene and tell me how many of those bodies still have heads.

Oh, all of them. Don’t worry about it.

Kinda hard to see, but Ed shows up to give Mustang a hand, which was fully unnecessary but we’ll get to that in a bit.

This movie is such a gem.

Ed goes big brain and realizes that Envy is still burned up, and thus is about to pass on.

And whatever, I’ll take it. It’s not like the movie has told us that they are made out of 1000000 lives, for all we know, in the movie universe, they really are only 4 lives. Like half a cat. Maybe Father only killed half a cat instead of an entire city.

Yugi Muto would be so freakin proud of Envy for how often this guy gets hit square in the chest with fire balls. It’s basically every scene where Envy and Mustang share screen time.

And don’t worry, I don’t think Envy died? But they sure made it look like he did, which I’m sure everyone everywhere was really happy to see, since Envy’s death was one of the climaxes of the whole series. Like people used to make these lists of “top 10 saddest anime deaths” and how many people had Envy on there? Like everyone? People freakin love Envy and they did him so much dirty in this movie.

Again I have no explanation for Winry.

So Mustang is like, Ed, you make sure Winry doesn’t biff it in that corner, and I’ll do my actual job over here on this side. And yo, he did.

And so then that’s it, Lust is dead, and now we have a Sorcerer’s stone.

Man it looks delicious, right?

I’d eat the hell out of that.

Anyway, we only have one more update and we’re done with this movie!

I know!

I know! They only have 10-15 minutes to resolve pretty much everything, and that’s assuming that the credits don’t take up a heap of that. Hell, I might only have 3 caps next episode if that’s all credits. I honestly don’t remember.

Anyway, hope y’all take it easy this February, here is a link for people who just got here to read these FMA recaps in Chrono order.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/fma/chrono

[modmamono]

Why Space Channel 5 is one of SEGA’s best dumbest games ever, no questions asked. (Report 1 & 1/2.)

Space Channel 5 on the Dreamcast is one of my favorite things ever, let alone favorite video games. Though I more often watch it on YouTube then actually play it.

For those not in the know, Space Channel 5 is a game series developed by United Game Artists and published by parent company SEGA. And that’s the most Wikipedia quoting I’m gonna do in this gush piece.

There aren’t many games quite like this rhythmic, Simon says game. At least in style because this game has that in spades, the gameplay anyone can do. And I am not at all qualified to explain its style because I wouldn’t how to describe it as besides maybe very 70s?

Point is there’s something charming about this game, and I think SEGA agrees with me on that. The lead character, Ulala (seen above), appear in these games to name a few years after new Space Channel 5 games stopped being made after 2002:

2004: Sega Superstars

2006: Sonic Riders

2008: Sega Superstars Tennis and Samba de Amigo

2010: Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing 

2012: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Project X Zone

2015: Project X Zone 2

And not to mention the invading aliens have been skins of the titular Puyo Puyo in that series for a while I can’t determine. Possibly since at most 2007 up until current day with Puyo Puyo Champions in 2018/2019.

ALSO not to mention the VR game that came out recently! (How could I forget that? That’s the main reason I’m doing this.)

So it is clear SEGA loves this game and it’s sequel a lot. I don’t think their most beloved cult classic NiGHTS: Into Dreams gets that much love from the company though it certainly does get a lot itself, most games wish their parents still loved them that much long after they had a game. Anyway...

Now the part where I actually talk about the game.

I wanna say, first and foremost. This is not a review of the game. This is just gushing about why this game makes me happy.

And everything I’m gushing about is just what you get from the from one playthrough of the game. Save for one exception, I will not be talking about supplementary material, nor Space Channel 5′s lore.

And yes, this colorful dancing/rhythm/simon says game has lore. Basically any non-repeated character model has their own biograph. So I will not go into that.

You’re not missing too much, there are interesting tidbits, sometimes they fill you in on background details of the story.

Speaking of the story. I’ll start in a second. But if this is new to you, you can watch it here first (The first playthrough is only half the video):

Prologue:

We start off with a bunch of alien sitting on a space couch watching space TV. These aliens are known as the Morolians and they’ll be the main antagonists for the evening.

This cutscene has no dialogue, so this is all open to interpretation for a first time viewer. Though I do enjoy this split second foreshadowing:

And that’s when the title screen appears. Blasting you with the series’ main theme Mexican Flyer. Look it up if you must. You’ll be hearing it a lot, it’s the game and Ulala’s leitmotif.

Report 1: This is terrorism attack on an airport... I’m gonna ignore that.

This is the only piece of supplemental material I’ll talk about, as it’s present in the game itself, but not elaborated on, and it is important to two of the character.

The game starts in a flashback. In the year AD 2489 a spaceship exploded. Everybody on board died safe for a little girl.

She was rescued by a man working for Space Channel 5. A news organization that with a specific focus on dancing. That last bit is nothing special though, as everything in this galaxy revolves around dancing.

After the little girl is saved by this kindly Channel 5 Gent (Age 25) she knew what she wanted to be after she grew up. She wanted to be a sexy dancing reporter for Space Channel 5 just like him (presumably). And to meet him so she can thank him in person.

10 years later......

It is AD 2499! And the Morolians attack a space airport and their ray beams hypnotize people to dance silly.

THE HORROR!

And that’s when Space Channel 5 sends in Ulala to report on the progress.

But what they’re actually doing is for Ulala to solve the problem instead of the Space authorities.

One character I do wanna mention now is that Ulala’s producer, Fuse, is an unseen character yet is important later. He’s the one briefing Ulala in the screenshot above. And oversees Ulala’s every move.

Also Ulala never got to meet her rescuer. He either left shortly after Ulala got rescued, or shortly before Ulala joined. Given what we learn later, likely the former.

Anyway onto the show:

BAM!

BAM!!

BAM!!!

I will always love that. Ulala got down on the ground in the panicking space air port to coolly report on the panic.

As quick aside, I wanna mention that Ulala doesn’t run in this game, she slowly struts and all of her struts are simply majestic. And those amazing struts lead her to the first gameplay section of this game.

Some Morolians hold a few hypnotized people hostage. This is is a dance battle. Meaning you got repeat exactly what the aliens do in the exact rhythm they did it in order to save the hostages. And I love this gameplay. It’s simple yet fun (provided you got minimal lag, you should look into that if you wanna play this game).

The controls are:

Up: Up

Down: Down

Left: Left

Right: Right/Light

Button 1: Chu (Aliens)

Button 2: Chu (Humans)

And this is how normal people settle things in this world apparently:

Party 1 (usually the Aliens) make up a tough but fair pattern for Ulala to copy in the hopes of psyching her out.

Party 2 (Ulala & Co.) gets as many chances ad she got. And the better she does more people tune into her news report. If she wins she gets what she wants. Saving the hostage and getting Party 1 out of her hair.

Every single one lives by this code of honor and I honestly have no clue if there’s an in-universe reason. But I love it regardless. I love it when people say: Up Down Chu Chu Chu. And the Ulala repeating it.

Though frankly, I don’t like it when the Morolians issue the commands. I like it when others do the exact same commands in this same game, so it’s a little bit of a bummer the Morolians do it.

Anyways. You save the hostages and they join in on Ulala’s unstoppable strut as will always happen if you rescue people. And they strut to the second gameplay type: The Shoot-out.

The controls are the same as the above but now you gotta watch out for humans in the mix.

In general these are trickier. And I might go into that later. But they do work on the same rules.

Don’t worry I won’t go over every dance or shoot-out unless there’s something special about it.

Also I’m pretty sure you kill people if you push the wrong Chu. Don’t do that, it’s bad for the ratings!

Skipping over three battles.Something new happens, rival space news station: Space(?) Channel 42 has a reporter of their own out on the field. And that reporter is planning to steal Channel 5′s viewership. And this is HER!

You do a dance battle and she dies.

Though seriously, I like this game does this. It’s not only aliens you fight, but other factions of the Space News Media. And it’s always a nice shake up when someone besides her shows up.

You see, for the most part any reoccurring enemy has recognizable mannerisms you gotta batlle, and her is no different. It’s hard to describe for me. You kinda gotta play or watch the game for yourself to see what I mean, but I think it’s best exemplified in Report 2. And the following games.

Though one thing’s for sure, each non-normal Morolians or rival reported does bring their own genre switch with them. Heck sometimes even normal battles have unique genres. I’m am not musically inclined so I wouldn’t know hers or most others. 

Any way, before she dies she give an emotional speech and gracefully suggests to take her Channel 42 guitarist with her and Ulala accepts that’s the least she could do for a lousy reporter like her.

And then it’s boss time!

Yeah, actual bosses with actual boss characters. And not like the recently deceased as shown above. She’s practically for all intents and purposes another Morolian dance battle.

And it’s down to funky jazz music, not unlike what you’d see in Sonic Adventure! Even Ulala comments on it, confirming it’s dietetic�� Where does it come from? Not sure, there might be an explanation somewhere. But do keep that in mind. That the music we hear is also the music the characters hear as well.

Anyways:

Not Pictured: Super Stretchy Arms.

I think it’s a bit of a misnomer. Invader is correct, that’s what it’s here for. But is it really a robot? It moves like an organics and is a bit rubbery. This basically goes for all Morolian robots.

I can suspend my disbelief. You shouldn’t nitpick too much about Space Channel 5, it doesn’t want you to think too hard about it’s world even if there’s a lot to it. I’d be concerned if Space Channel 5 did wanna put its story and world building first and foremost.

But “Hypnotized Robot Invader”?

What?

Spoiler.

Robots and hypnotism... I’m pretty sure a sign that we made perfect human-like Artificial Intelligence if they can fall susceptible to Hypnosis. Even then I doubt it.

Sorry, that’s always bothered me, I get what they mean by it. It’s just the word choice... Did they mean Hypnotizing Robot Invader? This boss is great.

It starts off with a normal dance battle, but you get to watch a new Morolian enemy’s moves. It’s also quicker on the draw along with a few softballs to throw your timing off. Pretty good stuff.

And that applies to the next phase as well, where the the shooting starts.

I don’t have much to say.

Unlike the robot’s final phase where it’s the first phase again, but with guns and the robot goes to berserking speeds with the input commands.

And after you beat it, it joins you in a strut.

As does everyone you saved, No matter the gender, nor age, nobody is embarrassed imitating Ulala no matter what she does. We’ll be half as lucky to get a cool future as cool as 2499.

And with that the first report is over.

Report 2: (Age 35)

At the Morolian HQ (Presumably), their boss doesn’t like failure.

But like a good boss he doesn’t dwell on failure and moves on to the next plan. One of his lackeys has this plan: Another boss battle dance robot who operates on:

The everyone at the table is impressed. So I guess Ulala is screwed, game over.

This level is more of the same as the last one more or less, it’s possibly the most boring level in the series in that regard. It’s not bad, this is just the game bulding enough a status quo before they change things up in Report 3.

But that doesn’t make this level any less interesting to talk about, so I won’t go over it much.

The short story until something new happens is: Space Ship (think of it as a fancy yacht but in space) is being attack by Morolians, Ulala is send to report on it, and being the professional she is saves hostages as well.

She saves the captain, crew members, stewardesses, waitresses, the Space Diva (OH NO! NOT THE SPACE DIVA!), passages and the like.

UNTIL!

He voice says “I’m gonna steal you show, Space Channel 5”. And you see this ship flying by:

Another rival reporter, this one a pirate broadcasting station.

Side note: That’s sounds like the most important kind of pirate ever. Alternative news/non-mainstream with no money/rating motive blinding everything with journalistic integrity? Yes, by all means. If they’re pirates then so are Secular Talk & The Humanist Report.

Back to the silly dance game. The Pirates either jam or hack Channel 5′s signal and the Ulala is stuck with them for a while.

And then we meet that where we meet the gent above.

“[His] name is:“

“JAGUAAAAARRRR!!!” “JAGUAAAAARRRR!!!“

(Age 35)

LET’S DANCE!

Dude, I love Jaguar (Age 35) he’s gotta be my second favorite character in the series on account he’s just cool and incapable of embarrassment.

Remember the deceased of the last report? The Channel 42 reporter in the blue dress? He’s her counterpart for this chapter.

But whereas the deceased’s gimmick sounded air headed for a lack of a better term. Maybe, girly? Point is, battling her didn’t feel too dissimilar to battling Morolians despite her rhytmic mannerisms.

Jaguar (Age 35)’s gimmick is that he just adds. He starts with a simple Up. And then he adds a Chu, and another Chu. Eventually it becomes a really long chain of commands, it has to be some of the longest in the series. And you have to do them all from start to finish because he does them all sequentially. Can you repeat?:

Up. Chu. ChuChu. Right. Left. Down. DownDown. Down. Chu. Chu. Chu.

He is easing you into it, but it is by no means an easy fight. Because after the chain is at its longest, he just spamming ChuChuChu in quick succession. And then a simple Chu.

After defeat Jaguar & Co, escape by jet-pack, saying they will meet later.

This battle is a highlight for me. Coco Tapioco and the big bosses to come are better if you ask me (with exceptions). But Jaguar (Age 35) is some of the best the normal gameplay goes.

And you could argue what normal means in the context of Space Channel 5. But effectively, like Channel 42′s deceased, functionally he might as well be another Morolian if he wasn’t there to be set up for later. Because you do get person that just joins your Strut Club like everywhere else.

You gain his Jazz Man and you get a great sax solo as a reward beating him. Like how you got Channel 42′s guitarist for beating them. I like the think the Jazz Man can work for Jaguar (Age 35) again while the Channel 42 Guitarist is blacklisted.

And before we move on from Jaguar (Age 35) check out his Chu pose:

BOSS TIME!

Jaguar (Age 35): The alien mothership is retreating. Don’t you have to follow them, Channel 5? Fuse: Blast you, Jaguar [Age 35].

With the pirates giving chase, Ulala is left with the cowardly alien robot to elegant music.

Ignoring the robot’s title, while silly, its cowardice is its greatest asset. For it has kidnapped some space schoolkids, making their space teacher worry. Their space teacher can actually be seen at the start of the report.

Space fashion, am I right?

I’ve exceeded Tumblr’s invisible limit of what to put in a blog post. I’ll have to rewrite this boss what I have to say for this boss. So full, can’t spell check! We’ll be back!

[wethepixies]

Welcome to the third and final part of our staff interview series! This set of interviews focus on some of our most social staff members - our Discord moderators and our social media team. Once again, these pixies had a lot to say, so we’re tucking all of it under the “Keep reading” link!

WTP’s Discord server is the main place for the community to come together - in fact, we just passed 6,000 members! It’s extremely important to keep the server as safe and friendly as possible, and that’s where our beloved moderators come through. Without them, we wouldn’t have the loving WTP community!

Our moderators are Lila Almondpetal, Gloria Flutterflower, Daphne Moonflower, Anastasia Foxheart, Rose Morningmist, and Kassie.

What are some of your favorite memories about the original Pixie Hollow? And what are some things that you’re excited to see again in WTP?

Daphne: If I had to choose only one favorite thing then it would be shopping in Pixie Hollow especially those GORGEOUS gowns from the Queen's Boutique. It was the luxury store of Pixie Hollow, and the gowns they had were on a whole different level. I used to play Pixie Hollow every day as a kid and I even convinced my dad to get me the annual membership. I was able to make a lot of friends from different parts of the world because of the game. My best memories of the game are of Camp Pixie Dust! As for what I’m excited to see in WTP, I am exhilarated about the Tearoom and Animal Derby coming back since those were the only places you could play with other players. They were always packed with other fairies and sparrowmen and I used to hang out in those two places the most.

In her interview, Daphne sent us some pictures of two of her favorite things in Pixie Hollow - a couple of screenshots of Camp Pixie Dust and her favorite gown from the Queen’s Boutique.

Anastasia: Honestly? As a kid, I spent most of my time attending the parties. The minigames there were always so addicting! Gameplay wise, I loved baking and tailoring! I wasn't as invested in it as other Disney MMOs because I never was able to get a Pixie Hollow Membership, but I still loved to play it! It influenced my decision to play the DS games, as well as the Fashion Boutique mobile game! I will say that my love of the original Pixie Hollow has benefited my life in many ways as without it, I wouldn't have so many memories with friends I've made along the way. Also, I would've never found WTP! I think one of my best memories from Pixie Hollow has to be from the one party where I won almost all of the party games. I was pretty young when I was really into Pixie Hollow, so although it's a bit silly, I just remember feeling super proud and feeling like the queen of the party, haha! As a kid, I never really appreciated the quests (although I did do them), so I am excited for those to come back & relive that experience. However, since WTP will not have a paywall for any of the experiences from the original Pixie Hollow, I am incredibly excited to explore The Wilderness for the first time!

Lila: My favorite part of the original game was honestly how open and free it was! There was always so much to do in the game, but I never felt pressured to do any of it if I didn't want to. I could go crazy one day playing games and doing quests, and then I could spend the next day flying around, just admiring the scenery and doing absolutely nothing in terms of progress. There were no obligations at all - I think that's why I remember the game so well. I was also really invested in it - I actually kept a journal about what I did in the game, can you believe it? I would say it's made my life better in a couple of ways - when the game was still open, it was a fantastic stress reliever, and even now I love thinking about it (plus, it led me to WTP!). As for my favorite memory… well, there are so many! I'd have to say my favorite was the time a Sparrow Man and I flirted in the Tearoom using nothing but those preset Speedchat phrases. I don't know who started it, but I'm pretty sure we were both non-members at the time - maybe we were drawn together by those Arrival Day outfits. We ended up drawing a crowd; I remember seeing a lot of clapping emojis and hearts. It was insane! Sadly, we forgot to add each other as friends, so we never saw each other again. I just got out my old journal to check if I wrote down his name - and I apparently did! Figfig, my guy, if you’re out there, I was either Twilight Olivemist or Karina Lightningflame at the time. As for what I’m excited for, I'm super excited for all of the meadows to come back! I loved just flying around and seeing all of the gorgeous artwork. And multiplayer, of course - Pixie Hollow was such a social game. I loved those little things like sitting on a branch and chatting.

Gloria: My favorite part of the original game was definitely the community aspect! I made a lot of friends in Pixie Hollow that were really special to me. It was so much fun to play games and throw parties with other pixies in the Hollow! I played the original game from January 2009 to its closing in 2013. I was really invested in the game and played very often! It definitely helped me embrace my inner child and hold onto magic longer than a lot of my peers, something I am grateful for. One great memory I have of the game was the events. I specifically loved the Silly Days Event, which allowed users to access the Mermaid Grotto. And Camp Pixie Dust, of course! For WTP, I am super excited for questing! It was a really unique experience every time and led to neat storylines which allowed players to unlock some cool items. I really liked the added structure of quests in game.

Rose: I was mildly obsessed with Pixie Hollow for a good majority of my childhood. I was picked on quite a bit when I was younger, so Pixie Hollow became this sort of safe haven for me, where I could express myself without fear of judgement. I spent a lot of my time roleplaying with online friends, pretending to be waitresses in the Tearoom, or secret agents fighting crime and protecting the Hollow – it was a lot of fun. Some of my first ever story ideas came from some of those roleplays, which lead to me starting a blog and later pursuing a career as an author, so I actually owe a lot to the game and the friends I made there. My favorite thing was probably decorating my home – I loved creating different settings with all the furniture I had, from cafés to ice palaces. It was a lot of fun. I'm super excited for multiplayer – I’ve made so many friends through the PBC (Pixie Blogging Community) and WTP, so I can’t wait for when we can hang out in-game.

Kassie: I played Pixie Hollow starting in late 2008 until it closed! Every day after school I would grab my snack and head to the computer to play for at LEAST an hour. Narrowing down my favorite part of the game is so hard!! But if I had to choose I would say getting creative with outfits and color combos! I loved going to fashion contests and seeing other people's creations- that's actually how I met a lot of my friends. I think Pixie Hollow benefited me as a way to escape from the stresses of the real world. Middle school and early high school were difficult seasons for me and it was nice to venture into a mystical land where I felt people truly cared for me. One of my favorite memories was when I met my friend Strawberry. We were mutual friends with someone and we both went to her house at the same time. However, our friend was asleep (remember the lil z's?) and so we started talking and suddenly we became the best of friends! Over 10 years later we are still friends and catch up with each other once in a while. We don't live far from each other so we hope to meet each other someday! Honestly, I’m most excited to have house decorating in WTP! I remember people would spend HOURS decorating their homes and doing the coolest designs- I always concentrated more on fashion so I'd love the chance to redeem myself and design an awesome home!

How did you first find out about the WTP project and what inspired you to start working as a moderator?

Kassie: A lot of my close friends started up the project and eventually invited me to be a part of it as a moderator! In our friend group I tended to be the one to mediate conversations, so I think it was a no-brainer to ask me to moderate.

Daphne: When I got to know about Club Penguin rewrites, I thought there might be a rewrite for Pixie Hollow as well and I stumbled upon a YouTube video which mentioned WTP. I really wanted to help out with the project in any way I could so that really motivated me to become a moderator.

Anastasia: I actually found out about the WTP project through Teresa, on another Pixie Hollow site where she first posted the Bubble Bounce demo! She even DM'd me about potentially helping out as an artist, which I've always wanted to do! However, due to my schedule being a bit too busy to consistently help out with game art, I never felt like I could apply. However, I've always tried to help out in other ways, such as when I was an Event Manager & hosted movie nights! When it was decided that movie nights were going to take a hiatus, I really wanted to continue helping out in the community, and thus, I became a mod!

Lila: I first found out about We The Pixies when I joined a Club Penguin rewrite. I hadn't thought about Pixie Hollow in years, but then I wondered if someone else had rewritten Pixie Hollow, so I looked it up and found WTP! As for joining the moderation team, I'd been pretty active on the server when the application opened up, and I really loved the community. I figured I'd give it a shot - worst they could say was no, right? Well, I ended up getting the role! It’s been a really great job ever since.

Gloria: I found out about We the Pixies while doing some Google searches and checking out the Pixie Hollow community this year. I definitely jumped at the opportunity to apply to be a moderator because I have so much passion for the project and wanted to help out and connect with others who also had interest. 

Rose: I found WTP through Phoebe Bumbleflip’s blog – she published a post promoting the remake and the Discord back in October last year. I don’t have any skills that can really help with the recreation of the game itself, but I wanted to contribute in any way I could, which is what inspired me become a moderator.

(Phoebe is a member of the WTP Hype Squad, you can find her blog here!)

The WTP community is mostly positive, but have you ever had instances where you felt like server members weren't being the nicest? If so, how do you deal with it?

Anastasia: Since I'm new to the staff team, I've only ever come across a handful of issues involving the members, and most of them resolve with ease. Typically, directing people to the rules and giving them a warning is enough.

Lila: With so many people in the server, it's not unusual to see something that isn't so friendly - usually, if an argument starts up in the chat, reminding people of the rules or starting a new conversation fixes things. If things are really bad, I might talk to someone individually and ask them nicely to be, well, nicer.

Gloria: In my time on the staff so far, we have had a couple trolls and people who haven't complied with the rules, and in that situation, we generally like to calmly message the person and ask them to comply with the server rules. In my experience thus far, this usually sorts out the problem. However, if the issue persists, the moderation team would consult each other and figure out how to deal with it further based on the severity of the behavior.

Rose: They’re very rare, but we have had to deal with some disputes with upset or angry members. Usually us moderators will talk and discuss the issue and then decide the best course of action together.

Kassie: There's always going to be someone unkind who comes across the server every now and then. I think the best way to handle it is to tell them what rule they're breaking and WHY it's important that they adhere to the rule. Ultimately, our rules are about respecting everyone in the community. If we can help them empathize and understand respect I think that's making strides not only in the WTP community but hopefully in EVERY community that individual is a part of.

We've had a few events in the WTP community, how does creating one come about and how do you plan it?

Anastasia: Excellent question! As a former Event Manager, I'm the right Pixie to ask!

It all starts with the approval of administration. Once the admins approve of it (and other staff have no issues with it), you can go forward and begin scheduling a time. We typically don't do events without having a proper schedule or time frame. We also try to accommodate other time zones as best as we can, since we know that WTP has Pixies from across the globe! Then, you need to designate certain responsibilities to people. This was the purpose of the Event Managers, since we were in charge of hosting Movie/Game Night. I have a lot of good memories hosting movie nights with Alchemist (Lavender) and Asteria! With other events, staff members are chosen to have either a leading role or a helping hand in making sure the event goes smoothly. Even if they aren't in charge, it is important to note that all events typically require staff supervision. Now, planning it typically involves a discussion among the staff (and any other WTP players that may be involved in helping out). We usually try to make sure that the community voice is heard, and that they can get involved! Our main goal is always to bring everyone together while having fun, and that is the foundation of all our events.

Daphne: The Hype Squad is the creative mind behind all the events we have. Since we can not have in-game events (which we definitely will once the game is fully developed), the Hype Squad tries to come up with flitterific events to keep us in the pixie hollow spirit while we wait. Our former team of event managers was behind the shorter events such as the numerous game nights and movie nights.

Lila: Starting an event is absolutely a team effort - no matter where or who the idea comes from, we like to talk about it for a while first. For example, I had the idea for Meadow Madness one night out of the blue, and I made sure to run it by the staff and Hype Squad before I started anything up. It ended up being a huge success - we had an average of 200 respondents per round, which was pretty neat for something I came up with in ten minutes.

Rose: There’s quite a bit of planning that goes on behind the scenes for events – a lot of events are actually planned by the Hype Squad (which I am a part of) or our social media team. An idea will be presented by a team member, and then we’ll all discuss it – what our thoughts are on the suggestion, and how we’d go about holding it if it were to become an actual event. If everyone on the team agrees and the staff are okay with it, we’ll then start deciding dates for the event and preparing things like banners and announcement posts. Sometimes we’ll also have one of our members act as coordinator too, to make sure everything is running smoothly during the event itself.

Kassie: I'm personally not one of the head honchos who puts events together, but it comes down to listening to a bunch of ideas and trying to figure out which one best fits the needs and desires of the community!

How do you fit working on WTP into your schedule?

Daphne: I finished high school in April and I can't really start college until quarantine is over, so I pretty much don't have anything to do at home right now so it's easy for me to make time for WTP.

Anastasia: I try my best to moderate whenever I can- usually in my spare time. We get a lot of newcomers each day, so there always seems to be someone who needs help getting verified, or a Pixie who needs some other sort of assistance. That's the thing about having such a large community: we always seem to have some moderating to do!

Lila: I actually have the apps I need for moderation (and social media work) on my phone - now that I'm not in school for the summer, I'm traveling a lot, so I don't sit down and use my laptop very often. I think I use Discord on my phone more than my laptop, actually. Using mobile lets me check the server whenever I have a spare moment, so I can keep up with things wherever I go.

Gloria: I have a really flexible schedule in general as school and life goes, so I am able to make time to moderate and spend a lot of time online.

Rose: Mostly by multitasking – I’m almost always online, even if I’m doing other things, so it’s not too tricky to keep an eye on the server throughout the day.

Kassie: It's hard sometimes, but the easiest way for me to stay connected is to keep my notifications on when I'm not busy with the mandatory things in life like my job, planning my wedding, and investing in relationships outside of the community. Giving myself the chance to walk away here and there leaves me refreshed for the next time I log on!

Two of our moderators, Kassie and Lila, also serve on our social media team, so we asked them a special question:

How do you use social media to grow the community?

Lila: Social media is a great place to post about game updates and community events. I've found that few posts get people more excited than posts about new game features. Update posts also let people know that, yes, we are still up and running! Sometimes people think we've shut down already, and social media helps us keep the project alive.

Kassie: Social Media is all about messages. I think what attracts people to join a community is to send a message they resonate with! In WTP's case, nostalgia plays a huge part in growing our community- we are trying to attract people who are excited about something they wish they had again.

One final question for all of our moderators: what’s your favorite part of your job, and is there a way it’s benefited you?

Daphne:  Definitely talking and getting to know so many people from across the globe. I'm always down for making new friends! For me, the most impact moderating for WTP has had is on my people skills. As a moderator, you have to ensure that everyone is following the rules and sometimes people need convincing to follow a rule. It also involves solving any issues related to the game/Discord server and communicating with the members in general, which really develops your people skills.

Anastasia: Honestly, my favorite part of being a mod is being able to interact with the other staff members. They're a really lovely and creative group of people, and it's fun bouncing ideas off of each other and figuring out what's best for everyone in this community! I wouldn't quit WTP for the world! Working for WTP has benefited me a lot as so far, it's helped me work on the ways I can help organize a community. Also, it is helping me work on my time management skills, as well as my ability to work in a team.

Lila: I think my favorite part of my job is, as corny as it sounds, watching this community grow! When I joined, we had maybe 500 users in the server, and we're well over 6000 now. I never thought that so many people would remember the game, but they do. It's remarkable, really. Working for WTP is probably the best volunteer position I've ever taken up. Moderating has really helped me learn how to think things through and get help when I need it. Working on social media has also been great for my writing and graphic design skills - I've got to say that I've gotten pretty good at color combinations!

Gloria: My favorite part of moderating is helping people in the player server and sparking interest and discussion among users. It's so much fun to reminisce about the hollow with other fans. Though I haven't been on the team for a very long time, it has already been lots of fun and I have really enjoyed connecting with the community even more and getting others interested in the revival project. And the other staff members are very cool people that are really rad to work with.

Rose: My favorite part of my job is welcoming new people to the server! Being a moderator has definitely helped with my problem-solving skills – working out ways to handle situations on the server.

Kassie: Being friends with the staff is my favorite part. It is always a joy to log on to laugh and learn with friends. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Asteria and I have created a pretty strong friendship (hopefully she agrees, haha). We've known each other for about 4 years now. She makes me laugh out loud and we've been there for each other in our victories and failures. Her friendship is one I deeply cherish and I hope we get to meet sometime in the future! I care a lot about connection, community, and friendship, so for me, being a part of this team is a way for me to foster those things and be a part of it! I think I've benefited from WTP by learning how to guide hard conversations and disagreements in a respectful manner. Many people think moderators just manage the community, but a huge part of our job is to aid staff in having constructive conversations. There are definitely ruffled wings here and there, but we always get through and I've really grown through those processes!

__________________

Thank you all so much for sticking with us during our interview series! We had a lot of fun answering your questions, and we hope you had a flaptastic time reading them.

[christinaengela]

Hello friends and fans!

Welcome to my 44th newsletter – August 2020!

On A Personal Note

The 17th of July was a terribly sad day for our family because of the death of one of our fur-children, Ming. She was my little writing companion who used to sit across my shoulders sometimes, or on my knee while I typed away on my laptop.

I love all three our kitties, but Mingy-moo as I used to call her, held a special place in my heart… and to be frank, I miss her presence in my life terribly, as does Wendy.

Lily – our giant white mommy-cat, and Nyx – our little black one, were clearly in mourning as well. Their behavior has changed since she disappeared so suddenly from our lives, and even after a week, Nyx still hovers around the spot where Ming sat the last day she was with us, and Lily still searches the house for the missing kitty.

Ming used to do little things the other two kitties don’t do – some endearing, and some outright naughty – whose absence only makes her loss that much more tangible. Somehow the house seems so much more quiet and empty. Something is missing, and for weeks the empty-nest feeling has hung over it like a pall. It will be a while yet before we lift ourselves up again, and move on.

Then, in the early hours of Friday 24 July, more bad news! Someone asshat with sticky fingers burgled our Golf! Fortunately they were unprepared and set off the alarm and fled, leaving the driver side door open. There was some good news with the bad – there was no damage at all. The enterprising individual must’ve used a ‘slim-jim’ or similar tool to lever the lock open via the window channel, so no windows or locks etc. were damaged. I figure they also probably tried to steal the wheels – and then discovered I had a lock-nut on each wheel, because the only thing the bastards seem to have got away with is one single, solitary wheel-nut!

That aside, on other, much happier fronts, I completed another two paintings since last time we spoke – bringing my total number of paintings to five – and then I returned to writing again! On that front, among the BIGGEST news items I have to share with you this time, is the release of the audiobook version of “Blachart” – it’s finally here – and after three weeks of availability, I’m happy to report that it’s doing very well! More about that below!

Art

I also indulge in painting from time to time – and no, I don’t mean walls! The following paintings are in my portfolio:

“Human Nature” 2017 A4 acrylic canvas

“Balancier” 2020 A2 acrylic canvas

“Rescuer” 2020 A2 acrylic canvas

“The Awakening” 2020 A2 acrylic canvas

“The Earth Wept” 2020 40x40cm acrylic on canvas

I completed “The Awakening” on June 5, and started “The Earth Wept” just a few days later. “The Earth Wept” is on 40x40cm canvas and I finished that on July 12. I’ve also since renamed “Untitled” to “Human Nature”.

You can read more about my art projects on the Art page.

What do you think of them? Feel free to let me know!

Music

Yes – I also make music from time to time!

A selection of music tracks I made using eJay and other similar apps between 1999 – 2008 are available on my YouTube channel.

You can read more on the Music page on my website!

Activism

For those of you interested in my activism-related posts and activities, you can follow them at “Sour Grapes: The Fruit Of Ignorance“.

Current Writing Projects 

In the past few weeks I deviated from writing and went into art for a while, delivering four new completed paintings in a little over a month! In the meantime however, I made a return to writing by starting the long awaited next title in the Galaxii series!

Book 4 – still under a working title – is currently at a little over 18,000 words and growing by the day!

Editing

On the editing side of things, my friend Brandon Mullins  has been getting me into a proofreading and editing sideline over at Moon Books Publishing, and I’ll let you have any news on that as it happens!

I’ve just received the first submission for a new project entitled “Captain Jockstrap and the League of Do-gooders”! Yes, it probably is as silly as it sounds – but that’s the idea!

In the meantime, I still have a horror anthology on my desktop, which still needs a couple more submissions to reach publishing length – and more than that wouldn’t hurt! There will be no payment to writers, but participation will help get your name out there. If interested, please send them along to christinaengela@gmail.com.

Marketing – The Dreaded “M” Word! 

Portfolio 2020!

I thought it would be nice if I could produce a neat, organized catalog of all my books that interested parties could download and browse – a free, distributable and shareable catalog, and so I created “Portfolio 2020!” – a listing of all my currently available titles!

Portfolio is more than that though, because it also contains a biography as well as synopses for most of my titles – and I have a plan to update it regularly, perhaps on an annual basis! Portfolio 2020 is available as a free download from my website.

Videos

In July, I made a new book trailer video for the audiobook version of “Blachart” – and so did Nigel Peever as it turned out!

https://christinaengela.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/blachart-video-by-nigel-peever.mp4

Aren’t they great? 🙂

Sales

Getting my writing available in audiobook format seems to have been the ticket I’ve been waiting for, and these are truly exciting times for me as a writer! At this stage I have only one audiobook out, my first, and with its first month almost complete, sales are really encouraging! For the past month most of my marketing has been aimed at promoting “Blachart” and upcoming new audiobook titles “When Darkness Calls”, “Malice!” and “Demonspawn”. With more to follow, these items really could be the thing that helps promote my writing and blow those doors open that so far have tended to keep me out!

Publishing

Under recent releases this month, these are the six books I’ve released so far this year!

  July really has been a month of change. Not only was there a death in the family, but it’s also the month I closed my account with Lulu.com – the self-publishing platform I’ve used since 2005. Although I am angry with Lulu, and sorely disappointed in what they’ve done – and how they did it – I am grateful for what they did for me over the years. There’s no way I would’ve had the foundations in self-publishing I have today, were it not for Lulu. At one time, they were the ONLY self-publishing platform that would take on writers from South Africa – let alone being willing to accommodate paying us via PayPal!

Sadly, I simply couldn’t get to grips with the awful new changes Lulu inexplicably inflicted on loyal users that – in my view – rendered the platform unfriendly and totally useless. In the second week of July I redistributed the titles that were based on Lulu between Moon Books (publishing eBook, paperback and audiobook via Amazon) and eBooks via EBooks2Go, Draft2Digital and StreetLib. Frankly I think some of them that were available only on Lulu will have an even wider reach as a result. I sent Lulu the account deletion request on the 20th.

Unfortunately, due to Lulu’s short-sighted idiocy, I now have to edit and update “The Pitfalls of South African Self-publishing” as well – there’s an entire section covering how to self-publish a book via the system Lulu just casually chucked into the bin that needs to change. Frankly, I’m thinking I’ll need to base that portion on EBooks2go instead – since their system is far simpler and easier to use, not to mention less fiddly.

Also as a result, I’ve had to update purchase links on my website and social media accounts that referred directly or indirectly to my books via Lulu. If you find any I haven’t got round to fixing yet, please drop me a line and let me know! 😉

Hally Park Publishers

For quite a while now I’ve been working to expand my marketing reach, and in the spirit of that endeavor I recently contracted with Hally Park Publishers – a South African small press who also list suitable self-published titles on their website – to list my eBooks!

It’s taken a little time for them to appear on their website – after all, I’m not the only author they have listed, and I have just over 30 books – so I’m sure that was quite a job! Nevertheless, the first fifteen appeared on their site during the night (yes, I’ve been watching)!

The advantage of this arrangement – that is, listing my books on a local South African book selling site – is that it’s a new local market which already attracts its own traffic! Additionally, the prices are displayed in Rands, as well as my books being displayed alongside titles by other local authors – which should attract more local readers looking for some local literary South African flavor!

You can view my listing there by clicking on the link, or the screenshot below!

Audiobooks

“All That Remains” JEA (2019)

“See Them Aliens” MBP (2019)

“Blachart” MBP (2020)

I mentioned previously in my post “Coming Soon! “Blachart” – the Audiobook!” back in May – and in my newsletters for June and July that I’ve been eagerly awaiting the audiobook release of “Blachart” – and I’m sure you have too!

On the July 10th I got a notification that “Blachart” the audiobook was available on Amazon! As I promised in February this year, “Blachart” has (finally) been released as an audiobook! It doesn’t usually take this long to go through the production process, and I’m sure the current pandemic must’ve had something to do with it – but regardless, the eagerly-awaited finished product has arrived at last! And – WOW – what a product it is!

Narrated by Nigel Peever, “Blachart” – book 1 in the Galaxii series – is 10 hours 26 min long, and is nothing less than a rip-roaring sci-fi adventure! You can read more about it here.

I’ve also had to review a string of auditions for “Malice!“, “When Darkness Calls” and “Best Served Cold” – and I have to comment on the diverseness of the sort of voices, accents and personalities that sent their auditions in! Wow! For a writer, nothing encapsulates the diversity of one’s audience more than listening to a variety of people, male and female, reading words you wrote in a variety of accents! It’s even more of a compliment when you can hear them enjoying it as they do so! “When Darkness Calls” is narrated by Miciah Dodge, and Michelle Innes had me covered in goosebumps as she read an excerpt of “Malice!” in her Scottish accent! Currently, “Malice!”, “When Darkness Calls”, and “Demonspawn” are in production, and we’re still looking for a narrator to read “Best Served Cold”!

Coming Soon

In the meantime, here’s a look at the covers for the coming audiobooks of “When Darkness Calls” and “Demonspawn”:

Reviews

You can see all my previous reviews here.

Currently Available Titles

I now have 29 unique titles available in 4 series (not including books I’ve been the editor for, and my 16 free promotional items)! My books are available in three different formats: EBooks, Paperbacks and Audiobooks. Click the links or images below to view titles available in these formats.

Communication

Below are links to a few of my most recent posts and articles since my last newsletter:

Expand The Brand: Hally Park Publishers

Guest Writer #4: Lee Hall

Coming Soon: “Malice!” – The Audiobook!

Coming Soon: “Demonspawn” – The Audiobook!

“Blachart” – TWO Audiobook Trailers!

“When Darkness Calls” – Actually A True Story

A Visit To The Archives!

“Blachart” – A Writing Journey [cross-posted on Moon Books website]

Unleashed: “Blachart” – The Audiobook!

Free Download! Portfolio 2020!

Another Round At The Crow Bar #43 July 2020

If you want to see more articles, just click on the category links below:

Elements of Horror

FAQ Answered

Fun Facts

LGBT Heroes

The Tech Side

Secret Weapons of the Resistance

Writing Advice

Guest Writers

Newsletters

Interactions

Fan Mail, Reader Reviews & Honorable Mentions

I very pleased to have quite a few items to show you this month!

Parade.com shared one of my quotes in a listing titled “150 of the Best Relationship Quotes and Sweetest Couple Quotes That’ll Make Your Heart Flutter” on July 08, 2020. “Regardless of what language it is said in, ‘I love you’ stays beautiful, and two hearts beating together make the same sound. It is the language of Love.” – Christina Engela

The Satanic Church of South Africa shared my academic book “Satanism: The Acid Test” on their website resource page! (found on July 12, 2020) This is of course, what this book is supposed to do – educate people, demystify the occult, and relieve people of their ignorance!

Miciah Dodge, the narrator recording “When Darkness Calls” sent a message via ACX on July 07:

Jennifer Shepard really seems to have liked my article about “Blachart”! (July 11, 2020):

The audiobook version of “Blachart” received a gracious reader/listener review on the 5th of July:

On July 21, Brandon Mullins, CEO of Moon Books Publishing shared the following compliment for “Blachart” in a publishing group on Facebook:

On July 26, Scott M. Darrah gave me his opinion of the audiobook:

Miciah Dodge, the narrator for “Christina Engela’s Strangely Compelling Scifi Stories vol 1”, “When Darkness Calls” and “Duck Blind” sent me this nice email on July 26, 2020:

I display my Fan Mail, Reviews & Compliments with pride, gratitude and humility. You’re always welcome to have a look.

Hate Mail & Horrible Mentions

On July 17, somebody thought it would probably be hilarious if they spam bombed my inbox with email notifications for a fake account they created in my name – on an Asian Dating Site in Indonesia! Unfortunately for them, I left the factory with a warped sense of humor, so instead of being bent out of shape by their ‘ingenuity’ all they did was give me a few good laughs… I mean have you seen half the profiles on any dating site?? Anyway, I know how to filter and block email addresses – and the admins of said dating site were kind enough to delete the profile for me when I asked nicely, so – better luck next time, whoever you are!

I’m rather proud of my hate mail, and you can review my collection here – but be forewarned, don’t do it while eating or drinking, or you might choke while laughing!

Interviews

All my interviews are linked to from this page. If you would like to do an interview with me about my work, please do get in touch!

In Closing

Well, that’s all for this time, folks! 🙂

Thanks again for all your support, friendship and interaction!

Feel free to email or message me via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn if you have any comments or questions!

Until next time, keep reading!

Cheers! 🙂

Catch me on social media!

Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Academia | Minds | Instagram | GoodReads | Author’s Database | Library Thing | YouTube | Pintrest | Stage32 | The Book Marketing Network

If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

Show your appreciation for Christina’s work!

All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2020.

Another Round At The Crow Bar #44 August 2020 Hello friends and fans! Welcome to my 44th newsletter - August 2020!