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tiffyfoundsomething · 6 months

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I haven't had much to talk about lately as far as dolls or doll repair tools go because I've been busy with other things.

My S.O. has been playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, though, and I have some thoughts.

Which is on sale right now for $40 on Amazon:

He's been playing on PS5. Since he's the one playing, I can't give much of an opinion on the combat system or item storage, etc.

I can say there are a ton of mini- and sub- games that he's enjoyed like a bottomless dungeon, an Animal Crossing-like island resort to take care of, baseball, card games, a Pokemon spoof, a dating game, and more.

The game references and mimics many other classic video game genres.

Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth is the first in the Yakuza series that he's played (he didn't even know about the series; I did but only from other people), and it was also conveniently a perfect place to hop into the franchise because you get a quick rundown of the games that lead up to this point. Even having not played Like a Dragon, the first in the Yakuza series to feature Ichiban Kasuga as the lead and a whole new battle system (it's now turn-based RPG style) and most of the characters already being established, Infinite Wealth makes sure you know who everyone is and how they're tied to Kasuga and Kiryu.

The Yakuza series is well known and well loved, and despite some heavy, emotional story the series doesn't take itself too seriously.

LaDIW looks really great. There is some disparity in quality between cinemas, cut scenes, and game play but that's normal.

Characters have individual facial hairs. There is texture in the clothing. For the most part the movements are fluid and natural, though at times they are stiff and weird. In-game animation has gotten worse as the game has gone on but the cinemas are consistently high-quality. I wonder if they were in a crunch for some segments, or if they used a different, lower quality studio for those parts.

The opening chapter is tedious. Cinema after cinema, they're long, they're awkwardly written, they go on and on and on long after the points has been made much like this sentence. If you can get through that, the rest is much more enjoyable.

I have noticed the ending cinemas are similar to the beginning in that they are awkward, keep going past the point being made, etc. That is a bit frustrating.

The English voice acting is..... I wouldn't say it's great, but it's ok. Sometimes it's really obvious when one V.A. is doing multiple voices and that can disrupt immersion. Seunhee likes to hiss her S's at the end of sentences and that gets under my skin. That's just a me, thing, though.

The characters are dynamic, flawed, and very lovable. It's easy to feel like you're hanging out with a bunch of your friends, experiencing the same things they are, together.

There is a lot of melancholy in their individual stories. Illness, unrequited love (tons of unrequited love), taking responsibility, letting go of the things they want in order to help the people they love.

They are also mostly in their 40's which makes them a little easier for me to relate to.

I am old.

There is a bit of misogyny in the game.

The male characters have skin texture, scruff, wrinkles, eyebags, and flaws while the female characters are all flawless, smooth, and generally younger.

There are 3 playable women and 7 playable men.

Male characters get jobs like cowboy, chef, breakdancer, and surfer, while the female characters get jobs like maid, dominatrix, and idol singer. There is no overlap, men don't get to be maids and women don't get to be chefs, for example. The men also get a lot more jobs than the women do.

There is a lot of ~younger woman interested in oblivious older man~ going on, too.

Everyone is equally capable, though, and all of the characters are treated as equals by the other characters.

Without spoiling anything, some features and activities do become redundant due to how the game is set up (you'll see). Like you'll go to Location A and do something, then go to Location B and.... do it again.

All in all we've both really enjoyed it, and I'm dreading the game ending because we've enjoyed the experience so much.

#yakuza #yakuza like a dragon #yakuza like a dragon infinite wealth #game review #ps5 #affiliate links

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arterartthings · 10 months

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DisneyFormers AU- general premise/concept

A plethora of different Disney characters suddenly start turning into protoforms and are being mysteriously teleporterd across several universes and timelines to Earth many years after the end of Cybertronian War…

Autobots

After the end of the War, most autobots settled on Earth and continue to protect the Earth and its inhabitants. Optimus Prime has stepped down from being the leader of Autobots, focusing on working as firefighter and raising his and Elita One’s sparkling. Autobots work closely with G.I. Joe, protecting the Earth from its every corner. When several of Disney character protoforms fall to the surface of the Earth, Autobots make it their duty to help and train them to become seld-sustainable as bots. And make sure they don’t fall victim to the Villains…

Decepticons

After the war, Megatron is still unable to come to terms that the Allspark is gone. He has stuck in place for many years at this point and is unable to move past that and go foward.

Many Decepticons, frustrated with their leader’s inability to leave the past behind, abandoned the case and moved foward, taking jobs among humans, joining Autobots or just living their best lives on Earth. Nemesis, still orbiting around the Earth, is an interesting place. What used to be a warship, now became a cozy quarters for the remaining Decepticons who have moved on with their lives and Megatron.

The things especially shake up, when an unusual protoform bot is found in the void of space above Earth. Especially it gets interesting for scientist Shockwave…

Disney Heroes

Several of Disney characters suddenly start turning into Protoforms and are flung across several universes and land on current timeline of Transformers universe. This AU mostly follows the shenanigans of one particular group of characters that crashlands in the middle of Nevada desert (with exception of one) (I'll separate them into groups here, according to the movie they're from. Sorry for stupid of those). It consist of:

Cinderella Gang 👠✨ (After the events of Cinderella III: A Twist in Time)

Cinderella, aka. Cindy/Cinder- transforms into an adventure bike. Her little animal companions are always with her built-in pockets. Her default weapon of choice are shurikens that always come back to her, but also uses help of her smaller friends

Prince Charming, aka. Henri- transforms into Zarooq Sandracer spoof. Uses a lightsaber-like fencing sword with built-in plasma shield

Anastasia Tremaine- transforms into Formula 1 bolid (she actually scanned the vehicle by complete accident, but stayed with it). Her weapon of choice are yoyo-style chained

Cinderella's companions

Jaque and Gus- Cinderella's pocket mice companions. Combined, they turns into self-defense long-distance taser for Cinderella. When on their own, they transform into small RC cars.

Bluebirds- Cinderella's pocket bird companions. They transform into two small spying drones capable of recording hours of voice transcription

Bell tower Gang 🔔⛪

Quasimodo- he is a triple changer. Transforms into Boeing Chinook spoof chopper and a SWAT tank. During his time in different world, he picks up a hobby in Dungeons and Dragons and picks up a job of creating custom D&D figures. Suffers condition where the chopper kibble heavily concentrates on one side of his back (reference to his hunch), causing problems with balance. His weapons of choice are "Mantis Shrimp" gloves.

Esmeralda- Transforms into Cadillac Eldorado cabrio model car. Her weapon of choice is a pair of chackrams she hides in rims of her car mode. She also has a small self-defense non-lethal blaster. Frequently accompanied by Djali

Phoebus, aka. Phoebe- transforms into Ford Interceptor spoof. During his time on different timeline he picks up a job of policeman in Nevada police department, paired up with Barricade, a former Decepticon deserter, as colleagues. His weapon of choice is a crossbow-style heavy gun.

Clopin Trouillefou (oh boy, a fruity one)- transforms into Harley Davidson Trike spoof. His weapon of choice is unconventional, as it's a sentient sniper rifle called Stitches (his handpuppet in HoND universe). He also uses a large energon scythe for close combat. One of his special abilities is using his foot wheel kibble as roller skates. He can also join his legs together for stable riding in straight line ridiculously fast when sharpshooting mobile targets.

One-offs

Lars (from 101 Dalmatians: Patch's London Adventure)- doesn't transform into anything in the beginning. He's technically not a Transformer as he lacks a functioning T-Cog. Instead, he's a sub category of sentient robots closely related to Transformers- Energeticon (they're capable of holding large sums of pure energy in relatively small bodies thanks to their mutated sparks). Unlike the rest of heroes, he's actually found and rescued by Decepticons andresodes on Nemesis, working as close assistant of Shockwave. Or maybe he's more than just Shockwave's lab assistant...

Bradley Uppercrust III (from An Extremely Goofy Movie)- transforms into Jaguar XJ220 spoof. His special gimmick with him is that his kibble is completely detachable and detached kibble transforms into a hoverboard. His weapon of choice is a pair of hook swords

Matsuda Kaito, aka. Clio (original character, tied to HoND universe)- Clopin's distant relative (half Roma, half Japanese). Transforms into Shotaro Kaneda's iconic bike from Akira (he scanned the bike during its tour across US). His weapon of choice is energon Nagitana.

Author's comment about Clio

"I really just want to talk a bit about Clio's backstory. Clio is a rebellious teenager from Azuchi-Momoyama period of Japan. He is considered a hot bad boy by today standards. In reality, he's a young adult frustrated with living as a son of a samurai and is scared of bearing responsibility as a warrior in near future. Even his choice of weapon is considered unworthy of a samurai by his father. Clio even hates being referred to with his real name. When landing in world of Transformers, Clio feels very free inside. He also has opportunity to be with Clopin- a distant relative he is very closely bonded with and could only exchange letters until now. He also realizes that he has very deep feelings for his teammate, Bradley Uppercrust III. This experience is opportunity for Clio to grow emotionally and prepare for his inevitable future as a samurai."

And it's that for now. I'm going to post more about that in the future and give potential story bites in the future and reveal the Villains soon. Stay tuned!

#disney #transformers #au #alternate universe #crossover #proof of concept #original idea #the hunchback of notre dame #101 dalmatians #cinderella #an extremely goofy movie #disneyformers #transformers fan continuity

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dndhistory · 1 year

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123. Various Authors - Dragon #48 (April 1981)

A really long issue, this one, over 90 pages, but it's also the special humor issue that was quickly becoming an April tradition for Dragon magazine, so you have within this issue 48 1/2, which basically consists of spoof articles and columns. The highlight there goes to a comic that includes all the characters from Fineous Fingers, Wormy, Pinsom and Jasmine meeting up.

However, the rest of the magazine has some serious contributions to AD&D with a long feature on Underwater Adventuring, giving a lot more detail than the rulebooks on how to process that kind of adventure, a really long article on Druids and their place in Dungeons rather than just wilderness, an opinion piece on how to choose your DM, another long article on the use of Mules and an Instant Adventure randomizer.

Leomund's Tiny Hut covers, at length, how to design adventures appropriate to any level of adventurer, how to calculate how many monsters and their challenge level to party level and number of PCs. This is quite useful stuff and it goes on for 7 pages, being actually pretty comprehensive stuff. That's one thing noticeable about this issue, the articles are getting longer and going more in depth as Dragon goes on.

#adnd #dnd #ttrpg #ad&d #d&d #dungeons and dragons #dnd art #dungeons & dragons

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rookie-critic · 1 year

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Rookie-Critic's Film Review Weekend Wrap-Up - Week of 4/3-4/9/2023

The Fast and the Furious (2001, dir. Rob Cohen) [REWATCH]

I have to label this a rewatch on a technicality, because I have watched it before, but it must have been back in 2001/2002, because I don't remember anything about it. I've also never watched any of the FF films besides this one, so this will be a journey of discovery. I think what works about the Fast & Furious that started it all (not to be confused with Fast & Furious, the fourth film in the franchise) is that the characters are compelling and the central story of it is engaging. Sure the VFX are horrible and the film is so uber-early 00s that it physically hurts to watch/listen to sometimes, but in a way that kind of adds to the charm of it. I've heard it compared to teen exploitation films of the 50s, and while I don't think I've ever seen one of those, that sounds like the exact vibe it has. Thankfully, most of the film's ear/eyesores lie in the first half alone, so it doesn't detract too much, and again that almost adds to the charm. I know the praise didn't start rolling in for this franchise until the fifth film, Fast Five, but I think the OG FF film was a pretty solid start to one of the most lucrative film franchises ever created.

Score: 8/10

Currently available to rent/purchase on digital (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, etc.) and on DVD, Blu-ray & 4K through Universal Studios.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023, dir. Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley)

My full-length review from this week, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was a fantastic adaptation of one of the more adaptation-elusive games out there. Directors Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley, as well as everyone in the main cast, were able to capture the spirit of what a fantastic D&D campaign is all about. It has fun with the fans instead of at their expense, and is a comedy without ever falling into being a farce or a spoof of its source material. My only complaint (and it's not even really a complaint, per se) is that, a few times in the film, they go into very heavy exposition on certain aspects of the world's lore in order to provide context to certain characters and scenarios that, to the D&D uninitiated, will very possibly cause glazed-over eyes and checked watches, but I promise these moments are very few and fart between, and they never last longer than a minute of runtime. This one was probably the most fun I've had in a theater for a 2023 film so far.

Score: 9/10

Only in theaters. You can read my full review for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves here.

A Thousand and One (2023, dir. A.V. Rockwell)

I will always go out of my way to see the smaller-budget, not as well advertised indie films just as often as the big-budget blockbusters, and I'm so glad I did for A Thousand and One. A film that analyzes how CPS handles women and children of color, and to an even more niche and specific extent, the nature of CPS and the foster system in mid-90s to mid-00s New York. Teyana Taylor is undeniable as the film's central character Inez, a woman fresh out of Riker's Island and looking to get a fresh start on her life with her son Terry, who, when the film starts, is in the care of an overstuffed and possibly abusive (it's not confirmed, but it is heavily implied) foster family. The film follows them (as well as Lucky, Inez's on-and-off romantic partner and a father figure to Terry) from 1994 to 2005, when Terry is on the cusp of turning 18. The questions the film presents are complex and not easy to answer, and I feel like some of the things the film presents and wants the audience to agree with them on aren't things I necessarily did, but I am heavily sympathetic with Inez' situation as well as the film's central argument about the question of what guardianship and being a parent really is. For a debut feature, director A.V. Rockwell knocked it out of the park. Score: 8/10

Only in theaters.

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002, dir. Justin Lin)

I diverted my Fast & Furious journey to a film that, while technically not an official entry into the franchise, serves as a somewhat-official origin story for one of the franchise's most beloved characters, Han (played here and in the Fast & Furious films by Sung Kang). I gotta say, once I got past the lo-fi production and the requisite sexism and homophobia that plagues most films from the early 00s, I really, really enjoyed this. The acting from the then fresh-faced cast (which includes a pre-Harold & Kumar John Cho) was exceptional, and the story of the film, that analyzes suburban boredom and the societal pressures placed on Asian youth in America, was really thought-provoking and well-written. It has a few trappings of a new director finding their footing, but it really doesn't take too much away from the film. Any person looking to go on the Fast & Furious odyssey should slot this one into their lineup, it's worth the watch.

Score: 8/10

Currently streaming on STARZ.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023, dir. Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic)

I really wanted to love this. I wanted to post this and be so excited to rant and rave about how much relief I felt because the Mario movie was amazing. However, amazing, it is not. Now, by no means is it bad, or even ok, the Mario movie is a very solid, good film, but it has a fair number of issues. That being said, if you're a fan of Illumination and the general humor and vibe they bring to every single one of their productions, then good news, you'll love this. It falls perfectly in line with that sensibility. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people. I find the Illumination brand of humor to be very cheap and lackluster most of the time. They just try too hard, and ultimately I think that's what holds the Mario movie back from being great, because it does everything else right. The voice acting from the entire cast (and I will include Chris Pratt in that group) was impeccable, with Charlie Day and Jack Black as the clear standouts. The references to the world of the Super Mario video game franchise are all so much fun to experience and look for as a fan of the games, and frankly it's what saves the film from mediocrity and almost makes up for the very lackluster humor and the unoriginal, baseline narrative. If you're a fan of the Super Mario video games or Illumination's previous animated outings, you'll find a lot to love here, if you're not, I highly doubt this will connect with you on any level.

Score: 7/10

Only in theaters. Keep an eye out for a full review of this coming later this week.

Air (2023, dir. Ben Affleck)

Air was a harmless, effortlessly entertaining fluff piece for one of the most iconic shoe lines to ever exist. The cast is amazing, the writing is solid (not to mention hilarious. The film basically functions as a comedy for a majority of its runtime), and the true-life story of the uphill battle Sonny Vaccaro had to fight to get Michael Jordan signed to Nike is as fascinating as a story like this can be. It's not going to go down in the annals of film history as some historic business-drama or anything, but it is incredibly well-made and I personally can't find a ton of fault with it. There are some pretty blatant pieces of product placement that are way more overt than product placement should ever be in a film (not counting the fact the film is basically a 1 hour and 52 minute commercial for Nike), and it commits the period piece sin of throwing way too many period-appropriate references at the audience so that you really don't forget that this film does, indeed, take place in 1984. However, again, I couldn't help but enjoy this, and that might just be because of my appreciation for Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, and Chris Tucker (basically the entire cast), but if that's really why, then so be it.

Score: 8/10

Only in theaters.

The Wicker Man (1973, dir. Robin Hardy)

What a film this was. Who would have thought the film that inspired that 2006 Nicolas Cage-trainwreck of a remake would be not only an amazingly well-made mystery/folk horror film, but also a cutting commentary on religious stubbornness and extremism. Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee are exceptional as the film's opposing forces, and the way the film and director Robin Hardy really don't try to sway you against either side, but merely presents the characters and the lifestyles as they are and lets you be the judge, is remarkable. The film has aged astoundingly well (outside of the handful of musical sequences in the film's first half the long overstay their welcome), and I don't think I could have been more pleasantly surprised and impressed with this than I was. If you're a horror-movie buff and have not seen this, take the time out of your schedule to watch it. It's a benchmark film that I wasn't even aware I was missing out on all this time. Thinking about how this was a double-bill with Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now back when they both came out blows my mind. To have been a teen in 1973 and to have witnessed these movies back to back. I can only imagine.

Score: 9/10

Currently streaming on AMC+ and Shudder.

2 Fast 2 Furious (2002, dir. John Singleton)

Unfortunately, the magic and character development that made the first Fast & Furious film so watchable was not transferred over to its sequel. The story feels very deflated when compared to the intrigue of the original, and the cast at large doesn't feel quite as lively and fully realized as the Toretto-clan does. That being said, not all is lost when it comes to 2 Fast, because Tyrese is here now, and he's hilarious. The back-and-forth between Paul Walker and Tyrese is unquestionably funny, and it's the film's secret ingredient that makes up for the fact that the film as a whole isn't really that interesting. Ludacris is also pretty great as Tej Parker in this installment. It's funny how they knew what worked from these first few installments in the franchise, and knew to take all of those elements and combine them into one cohesive team for the franchise's golden-era. Just seeing them work out the kinks in the early installments is an experience all unto itself, and it's making me even more excited to get to what many fans consider to be "the good ones" (although I did really like the first film).

Score: 6/10

Currently available to rent/purchase on digital (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, etc.) and on DVD, Blu-ray & 4K through Universal Studios.

Enys Men (2022, dir. Mark Jenkin)

The last film on this week's docket was a bit of a disappointment. I was excited to see this one, it seemed like a continuation of the trend that Skinamarink is a part of in this new, highly experimental horror-scape. I'm all for watching fresh takes on how horror stories can be told, and was ready for another one in that vein. Sadly, Enys Men (pronounced like "Ennis Main," it means "stone island" in Cornish) feels just a tad too impenetrable. I wouldn't say I didn't understand it, I found the story to be quite easy to follow considering how disjointed and abstractly it's timeline is laid out. I wouldn't even say I didn't get it, in a way, because I saw all of the things that the film was throwing at you that are clearly meant to mean... something. I just don't have any idea what that thing is. My entertainment value from Enys Men came more from piecing the mysteries of the film's narrative together, and ultimately that proved to be a dead-end and not the point I think director Mark Jenkin was trying to make. Beats me if I'll ever be able to figure out exactly what that point was, though. Maybe that's closed-minded of me, but I find myself having increasingly little patience for movies that are so vague you have to be on a very specific wavelength to understand. It is sufficiently spooky, but vibe alone does not a good movie make.

Score: 5/10

Only in theaters.

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adventuresingingerland · 2 years

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It’s Midsummer, so I offer this portrait of my D&D group’s cinnamon roll Fen for the special occasion!

Too long have I slept on the fact that this firbolg is a major hottie, 👏but 👏 no 👏 more! 👏 @gabedoodles I am ready to give your boi the justice he deserves!

#I can't believe it took most of our party a spoof drawing by our DM to realize what a gorgeous person we are partying with #I blame it on Brynn and his accidental sexiness distracting us #fen'quen #fen #the high fives #h5s #Dungeons and Dragons #d&d #dnd #rpg art #art #artists on tumblr #firbolg

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kootiepatra · 6 years

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Christmas gift project, part 3 (end)

#fan art #dnd fan art #dungeons and dragons #Volo's Guide to monsters #spoof #parody #artists on tumblr #funny

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agentnico · 4 years

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Community (2009-2015) Review

“Cool cool cool.”

Plot: A lawyer, whose law degree has been revoked, is compelled to join the Greendale Community College. Students of diverse temperaments join his study group which leads to quirky and memorable encounters.

Very recently the original cast and showrunner Dan Harmon held a Zoom virtual group meeting where they partook in a table read of one of the classical episodes of the show, after which they followed with a Q&A and a catch up, and seeing all these lovely faces back together again made me want to look back on a sitcom that brought so much fun and randomness to our screens...well, at least in the first few seasons. Similar to Arrested Development, it definitely dipped in momentum in the final few seasons. That being said, I am still hopeful for that promised movie as foreseen by Danny Pudi’s Abed under the famous quote “six seasons and a movie”. Who knows, with Community recently popping up on Netflix, maybe its resurgence among the fandom and hopefully new watchers will boost its chances to finally achieve that goal.

What made Community so great? At first billed as a modern day comedic take on the classic 80′s flick The Breakfast Club, following that setup in the pilot (with the final scene even playing us into the credits with Don’t You Forget About Me), what we are then left with is a show with two sides - surrealism and sentimentality. The former is somewhat the main reflection of the show’s overall identity. The creator and showrunner Dan Harmon is possibly the biggest geek on planet Earth, or maybe even outside of it, as proven by his endless imagination with his popular cartoon series Rick and Morty. He’s a pop culture nerd through and through, thus stuffing every episode of Community with endless references to movies, TV shows and video games, with one of the main characters basically acting as if life is a movie. The references spiral from loose quotes to straight-up blatant spoofs. In the 19th episode of season 2 “Critical Film Studies”, the start sets up a Pulp Fiction parody, yet by the end we somehow manage to find ourselves in My Dinner with Andre. The central group is taken over by gleeful spirit in season 3 episode 10 “Regional Holiday Music”, a straightforward parody of Glee with full on musical numbers and a great recurring gag where the group keeps asking “what the hell are regionals!?”. “Cooperative Calligraphy” (S02E08) is a satire on the classic TV trope - the bottle episode. A bottle episode is when the characters interact within only one or two settings - often to save costs. And how can one forget arguably among the best episodes of the entire series “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” (S02E14) - a burlesque caricature of, well, Dungeons & Dragons - a nerd’s dreamy orgasm! There are so many crazy out-there ideas and gags thrown into each episode, yet all the while pulling off a parable about friendship and individuality that is not saccharine.

Looking through the lens of sentimentality, there is a feeling of warmth that can be found behind the quick-wittiness and weirdness of the series. One of the central friendships is that of the characters Troy (played by young Donald Glover, soon-to-be Childish Gambino) and Abed (Danny Pudi, most recently seen in Rob McElhenney new Apple TV series Mystic Quest: Raven’s Banquet) who end up becoming roommates, doing everything together, even hosting a fake morning show Troy and Abed in the Morning (a hilarious on-going gag throughout the series) and having a signature handshake. Thus when their friendship is put to the test in “Pillows and Blankets” (S03E14) by building rival forts made out of, you guessed it, pillow and blankets, it is actually genuinely upsetting seeing them on opposing sides. Yet following a Game of Thrones-level epic battle (with pillows and blankets!!), we see their beautiful bromance come back to fruition. All the other main characters have their relations between each other, and its due to you falling in love with these characters that makes this show so great. Be honest, who was rooting for Jeff and Annie to get together in the end? Or more-so, the Dean getting his shot with Jeff??! We were all engrossed!! So what went wrong?

As per usual with these kinds of things, the show’s quality dipped due to behind-the-scenes drama. End of season 3, creator Dan Harmon was forced to leave and was replaced, which immediately reflected on the series’ style, having lost it’s membrane that held together all these infinite amount of pop-culture knowledge, and then also the on-set drama with main cast member Chevy Chase, who was very unhappy on the show, so quit after throwing about racist slurs and disrespecting members of the crew. Again, a huge loss for the show, as his performance of Pierce Hawthorne was one of the show’s best characters. Swiftly after this Donald Glover (arguably the best and most memorable cast members due to his inexplicable comedic timing) left to pursue his music dream (boy do I wonder if he succeeded?........), after which Community could never brush off the feeling that something was missing. The first 3 seasons are comedy gold, seasons four and five are a bit lacklustre, and then the short season six is a small little final hurrah, though, again, never reaches the highs of the first seasons.

That being said, Community is still a staple show in TV history, having propelled so many talents to bigger things. There’s Donald Glover who went on to do his Childish Gambino redboning, Dan Harmon got Rick & Morty, Ken Jeong went on to be in The Hangover movies, Alison Brie can constantly be found in various film and TV projects and probably most notably the Russo Brothers who directed a bunch of episodes for the show have gone to direct the highest grossing box office blockbuster of all time. Fun fact: Kevin Feige (main producer behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe films) was so impressed with the Russos on how they managed to balance action, heart and humour in S02E23 “A Fistful of Paintballs” that this was one of the main reasons he gave them directing duties on Captain America: The Winter Soldier. At it’s prime, Community provided us with great laughs, heart and a fantastic cast, and so I do truly hope that the promised movie will one day soon become a reality. For now, if you haven’t seen the series, or you’re considering giving it a cheeky rewatch, it’s available on Netflix worldwide and on Amazon Prime in the UK.

Overall score: 7/10

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mawklee · 4 years

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🎥!!

thank you!!

🎥 do you have any favorite scenes from your hyperfixation?

YES okay heres a list, I'll try to keep it relatively short lmao

- troy and abed singing Somewhere Out There to the rat

- basically every trampoline scene from ep 2.07, that whole story is so funny and troy is so cute in that episode lmao

- the pulp fiction spoof episode, when chang is trying to convince troy to open the briefcase and then troy strangles him against the jukebox while the pulp fiction music is playing!! cinematic masterpiece

- britta's scary story about man hook hand hook car door

- "I love you." "I know"

- the last scene of the conspiracy theories episode with jeff and annie and the dean. the dean saying "would that this hoodie were a time hoodie" is honest to god my favourite line in the entire show 😭

- JESUS WEPT

- the dean's peanut rap

- "happy valentines day" "it is now" your honour they are in love

- troy having a breakdown singing reading rainbow in the bathroom

- troy and abed and annie doing a shadow puppet show for jeff and britta 🥺 when jeff cried over horsebot 3000 🥺

- abed's first song in the glee episode

- arizona spelled backwards is still arizona

- and last but not least. the dungeons and dragons sex scene

#yes this is me keeping it short wnsnfjgkskfj #thank u for sending an ask <33 #ask

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doomedandstoned · 4 years

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The Bog Wizard Sees All!

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Review by Billy Goate

Album art by Al Seamer

Michigan's BOG WIZARD was introduced to us in last year's Doomed & Stoned in Detroit compilation when they shared "The Wizard in the Bog." The lyrics carry a similar sentiment to "The Troll" by Saint Vitus, though arguably the latter was a more sympathetic character than this:

In the bog, he plies Dark and twisted blackened sorcery

He shapes, he knows Never ending hatred for humanity

Their lies, death throes Neverending fuel for his treachery

Now following the EP, 'Campaign' (2018), which was the culmination of more than a decade of casual jam sessions, the Ludington trio of Ben Lombard (guitar, vox), Harlen Linke (drums, synth, vox), and Colby Lowman (bass) have battened down the hatches to bring us an ambitious 12-track album approximately an hour and five-minutes in length.

I suppose it is fair to say that 'From The Mire' (2020) does not behave like the typical album, but its episodic quality sure would make it an attractive soundtrack to an indie film.

They'd make one hell of a good pairing with Psychic Dose, too. Both are fascinated by the swamp as a setting for mythical lore, both have a similar lo-fi production epic, and both have some of the meanest growls and nastiest riffs in the entire marsh.

The record opens by sampling a preacher sharing his laundry list "dangers" that Dungeons and Dragons portends, undoubtedly from one of those scarey Christian video tapes that got passed around to concerned parents (mine included) in the '80s. "Is this dangerous? You decide."

Right on the heels of that statement the Bog Wizard comes stomping out of the muck and into your earspace in classic doom fashion, accented by sludgy southern riffing and vocal harmonies reminiscent of Brimstone Coven.

"Submission In Defiance" is a promising beginning and bleeds right into "Tarrasque" (a dragon-like creature from the D&D universe), which is presented with epic doom bravado. "City in the Mountain" follows in like manner and its forlorn quality gave me flashbacks of the late, great Rhode Island doom outfit Pilgrim (another band that incorporated fantasy RPG themes in their music).

Doomed & Stoned · Bog Wizard - From The Mire(2020)

Without these programmatic elements to guide me, my first listen got a little bogged down in the album's mid-section, particularly with some of the instrumentals (e.g. "Gnarled Cane," though that bass does eventually get down and dirty like we're used to hearing from Missoula's Swamp Ritual). Second listen had me better acclimated.

It's worth noting that when you hear clean singing alternating with much grittier strains on a song like "Shapeshifter," that's not two people, it's just one: Ben Lombard. I found his vocal performance pretty darned convincing on the whole. His range isn't operatic, but it can soar when he wants to and his "dark side" vox are achieve the tone and pitch that Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe might reach if he could, you know, sing.

Overall, the album is a grower, with a good handful of songs that will grab you right from the get-go and others that will probably take a time or two to fully digest (like the grand finisher, "Swamp Golem"). Then again, you just might be in the mood to slow headbang all the way through.

Bog Wizard's From The Mire surfaces from the swamp waters of doom this Friday, July 3rd (pre-order here). Today, Doomed & Stoned is bringing you its world premiere.

Give ear...

From the Mire by Bog Wizard

A Listener's Guide To Bog Wizard

By Harlen Linke

The album was put together earlier this year, self recorded and produced in our drummers basement, where we usually practice. We sound-treated the space, dividing it off from the rest of the basement, placing the guitar cabs outside of the drum area, and recorded directly on bass, so we could get away with playing everything live together without much bleed between mics. We tend to have a fair amount of tempo changes and it would be a nightmare to try to record every part separately, our music is very go-with-the-flow.

We worked with Max Schoenlein of MAS Audio (who also does shows with us, doing lighting usually) who ran the board. We worked with him on our original EP as a two-piece a few years ago. Our bassist Colby used to own a recording studio, and I've had experience mixing music, as I've dabbled a bunch in the past on various projects and mixed/ mastered our EP, so collectively we had all the pieces to self produce this full length album.

We recorded the whole thing over the course of 4 weekends in January 2020, and Colby and I passed a few early mixes of one song back and forth for awhile before settling in on a rough template to apply to the rest of the album, doing a massive amount of iterating and adjusting over the next few months, finishing the process of mixing and mastering in May. It was a pretty great learning experience, and I think the end result turned out great for what was a pretty thrown together studio. We're very proud of it.

Our bassist joined in November of 2018, and we've been working on writing this album since then, in addition to learning some covers and doing live shows locally. Ben and I tend to split the writing between the two of us, with one of us coming up with a few cool riffs and concepts, and jamming on it to figure out where it takes us. We tend to improv jam a lot of our new ideas and record everything we do, going back and listening to what we did and picking out the good parts to apply to a more structured song that we refine over time.

Thematically, we have a focus on fantasy/Dungeons & Dragons, as well as spoofing off of the '80s Satanic Panic era, but role playing games have a pretty big influence on how we go about writing our lyrics as well. I'm credited in the liner notes as "DM" or Dungeon Master, which in D&D context is the person who runs the game and story that plays out, with the players interacting with it. And while I do usually handle running our games outside of the music, we also apply this dynamic to our lyrical writing process.

Often I'll lay out a rough idea or story we want to make our song about, and Ben and I will talk through where it heads, with me leading the narrative and Ben refining it, and eventually writing the lyrics to fit the idea. While not all of our songs are handled this way, the ones that are end up as very linear story based songs.

One example, the song "City in the Mountain" tells a tale of a visitor experiencing the wonder of a sprawling underground city, with the lyrics seeming to be from almost a tour guide describing the city to them as they enter. The song has this looming theme of misearned wealth and power accumulated in the city, culminating in the reveal of an ancient magical creature contained under it that is driving it's growth, and the sacrifice of the listener being the final step of their trip deeper into the city, to placate the creature.

Or "Submission in Defiance," which the first act of the song is about an adventurer setting out to confront a highly intelligent mind-controlling enemy, and their realization that the only way to get close is to allow this creature to take control of them, and the existential struggle that a decision like that requires. However, the second half of the song describes their new mental state after this happens, which is complete submission to the enemy, doing the entities rage-filled bidding as almost part of a hive mind, with an implied complete failure of their original intended goal.

Overall, our From the Mire takes heavy fantasy influence, a few songs being straight up retellings of D&D games we have played together in the past ("Shapeshifter" being the most notable example of that, which is actually a game that had a character my daughter ended up getting named after), but we do sprinkle in our fair share of social commentary and deeper thoughts about the world applied to the setting.

From the Mire by Bog Wizard

The Bog Wizard himself is a recurring character in the album, a crotchety old bastard of wizard, living in isolation in his swamp, who doesn't take kindly to trespassers. Our single "Swamp Golem" is a song about the conjuring of a massive hulking creature created from swamp muck (featured on the cover of the album and CD itself, drawn by Al Seamer) to enact revenge on a nearby village for that very sin. He's a very "get off my lawn" type, taken to the extreme.

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#D&S Debuts #Bog Wizard #Michigan #Doom #Metal #Fantasy #Doom Metal #Sludge #Dungeons and Dragons #D&D #D&S Reviews #Doomed & Stoned

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drasilfaemir · 5 years

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Here is my entry for the Unsounded Fanworks Contests! I titled it “Labyrinths and Lions” due to the almost mythical status of lions in the comic and a little alliteration forming a spoof on Dungeons and Dragons. If you would like to vote for me you can find the contest here! http://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/Contests/2020/2020_entries.html Now for some more about the project itself. My love of Dungeons and Dragons goes back to 2nd edition (but seriously, fuck THAC0) and has been recently re-awoken with Critical Role’s second campaign. It seemed only fitting that I combine it with Unsounded for the contest this time, given the story’s roots in RP. These minis base models were drafted in Hero Forge for gits and shiggles a while ago. I decided for the contest to take that to a whole new level by modifying the 3D file in Maya to better resemble the characters. For Sette I re-did her bangs and hair in the front and the flip in the back. I sculpted the blue shirt from scratch and did the sleeves for the red shirt as well. The entire top of the pants was also re-done in order to have the gathering and rope belt. For Duane I made the caplet, shoulder armor, and front swoosh pieces. I also had to completely re-sculpt his hips which got lost in the war of the meshes, and addedon the front and back hanging parts of his shirt. I also added in his nose bandage and leather jaw strap. After printing them on a resin printer they were hand painted by me as well. The set was kindly donated by my friend Christian and the dice are already existing sets that I felt matched them pretty well. The top photo was taken by LM Shoots, who can be found under that moniker here as well as instagram and twitter

#Unsounded #duane adelier #sette frummagem #Dungeons and Dragons #dnd minis

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hey-hungry-im-dad · 8 years

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Been working on some new stuff! Take a look and let me know what you think! More on the channel! :)

#me #comedy #short #film #movie #funny #acting #action #fantasy #dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #spoof #film making #cinematography #lighting #youtube #focal #focalfilms #like #subscribe #video

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investigatingnonsense · 5 years

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When I was a teenager, and playing Dungeons & Dragons, I used to love playing the bad guy! Some of my favorite D&D memories were ones where I could stalk hapless villagers in the dead of night, not to mention running from a fictional law. It was way more thrilling than rescuing some ancient treasure or tied up dame...

In 2003 I had never heard of ARG when I started working on a series of web pages on Yahoo Geo Cities. It was a conspiracy spoof that would lead you on a virtual quest for the Holy Grail complete with Monty Python's Knights of the Round Table as helpers and Darth Vader as the adversary. The quest took place all across space and time and even into the alternate universe via daath... You can imagine how delighted I was when I found out about ARG.

I had been off line for a few years and that's all it takes for the internet to pass you by. It had evolved, yet there was still a lot of mystery. I think people were still a bit unsure about just how much someone could get away with some cannibalistic mayhem and not get caught. Now most of us know that there's very little, indeed, that gets past Big Brothers ever present watch. Most of the ARGs I found out about were dead, but when I finally found one to latch on to, I quickly figured it was an art peice, and that's what drove me to it even more.

It felt like there was someone else out there like me, with a similar aesthetic view about film making. I guess my sense of how to play the game was off a bit, as my understanding was that ARG was always happening, in real time...

I wanted to be a character, damnit! That's the only reason I was in. Didn't matter if I was part of that ARGs grand scheme or not, The Beatles didn't play back up for Elvis! I had my thing, they had theirs. They merely opened a door..

There were no rules written anywhere that said we couldn't play games certain ways, this is ARG! You interact with the knowledge given to you, as you interpret it. What I inturupted was that that ARG was getting tired and wanted to quit. Seeing as many had already mistaken me for them, I had no problem filling the inevitable void they would leave, if ceremoniously done. Think Dread Pirate Roberts 😉.

Well, time goes by and here we are. Time influences our perception of things and what we thought was cool yesterday is silly now. Things change and so do views. I know there are things I wanted to say but didn't get around to and I know there are also things that I may disagree with tomorrow. I just really wanted to address this elephant, no, I wanted to stand up for this elephant, because I feel it's high time someone should...

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ask-the-guiding-light-cast · 6 years

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Episode 13: A Post-Mortem

So, yes, I’ve got a few asks in the inbox, but figured I might as well put this out while it’s still Valentine’s Day. This is a behind-the-scenes look at the episode that just finished, so to speak.

To get the basics out of the way, this was always a really out there episode, even in my original outline. Team Radiance’s part of the episode (with Sunset Shoals and Primarina) mostly remained unchanged even as I made revisions to the plot. The actual Primarina fight did change up. Originally, I planned to base it off the Courtney Gears battle from Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. But, when the time came to actually writing it, I was getting real sick of action scenes and wanted to try something different. I knew I was planning to have Team Radiance spoof Team Rocket, so I took it to the logical extreme and turned it into a performance battle, with Team Radiance imitating the “Team Rocket Team Song” from XY&Z, while Primarina acted much like DJ Octavio of Splatoon fame. Aside from that, there was only one big change on Team Radiance’s part...

The episode was supposed to end with a one-night stand.

Originally, I planned on having Kahuna Raichu throw a party for Team Radiance. During which, Shane — who’d never drank a drop of booze in his human life — would get some spiked berry juice. And things would spiral down from there. It was going to be with Espeon, at first, but then I changed it to Tessa, then Silvally, then back to Tessa... and then I ultimately dropped it completely. It wouldn’t feel right for me to write something like that.

I suppose what sealed it was the fact that the original Episode 14 was completely cut out of the fic. Initially, I didn’t have a Rem Canyon expedition team. Then, I had it that they would get captured by Totem Kommo-o’s tribe, but Jangmo-o would inexplicably escape and bump into Team Radiance while they were going to rescue everyone. So, I would’ve had time to show off Jangmo-o’s backstory and address the one-night stand issue. But the problem was that the overall logistics became a nightmare.

First off, Jangmo-o escaping would’ve required a serious asspull. Second, Metagross was meant to crash the party, kidnap everyone in the tribe and expedition group, and flee to Voltaic Crater demanding the Dawn Shards as ransom. But this created a big plothole: how would Metagross get in and out of a dungeon with only one real entrance without bumping into Team Radiance? So, I changed it so that Team Radiance fought the dragons, only for Metagross to crash the party and fight them. But that created additional problems with Zero and Ultra Dragonite that I can’t talk about yet.

So, basically, I nixed the entire episode... which led to Jangmo-o’s backstory being woefully rushed, as some pointed out either publicly or in private. I’m not surprised. I crammed it into one chapter. Any way you slice it, that was a bad decision. And my biggest fear is that you all aren’t going to like the current version of Episode 14. Which I’m still drafting because, like, my mood and motivation are in a downward spiral. Now that the fic’s approaching the climactic episodes, I’m honestly not sure I can pull it off successfully. I can only hope you guys enjoy what’s to come. ;~;

#ooc #GLspoilers #rant #behind the scenes

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