#each episode actually teaches you about different cult tactics

[sistersorrow]

Isekai where the MC doesn't get any OP abilities and starts from square one, but they do have one useful set of skills from his old life: they were a cult leader

[angrybatart]

Re: Fun video games that (probably) won't fry your laptop. These are all on Steam.

-Factorio - Strategy/puzzle game about automating an enormous factory while siphoning natural resources from an infinite alien landscape. Highly moddable. Still receives occasional updates. Includes in-game tutorial, and peaceful mode if you don't want to fight the planet's giant cockroaches. Allegedly indirectly teaches you about software engineering.

-Killing Floor - Co-op first-person shooter survival horror. Work alone or with friends (difficulty scales with player count) to fend off waves of increasingly deadly mutants in locations ranging from West London to secret underground labs to Santa's workshop, before squaring off against their mad scientist creator. Already sequeled twice and receives no further updates (don't expect a huge player base), and many weapons (and cosmetic skins) are locked in DLCs.

-DEFCON - Real-time strategy about global thermonuclear war, inspired by the 1980s movie Wargames. Take control of one or more territories and try to eradicate as much of the population of up to fixe enemy territories while minimizing your own losses. Highly moddable, and often goes on sale for really cheap. Includes in-game tutorial. Was once the focus of an actual for real scientific study.

-DUSK - First-person episodic Boomer Shooter. Take on the role of Dusk Dude as he runs and guns his way through more than 30 levels of Pennsylvania backwoods, corrupted cityscapes, and places beyond the understanding of men. Fight your way through legions of cultists and nameless terrors, and finally, the cult's leader, Jakob. Somewhat moddable, and offers an arena-style multiplayer. Features a kickass thrash/industrial metal soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult. HD version also recently released (as a free add-on to the original game).

-Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - The third (and arguably best) iteration of the classic tactical stealth game, though almost totally separate from the stories of the first two. Play as Sam Fisher, a spy for the NSA as you use gadgets, cunning, and state-sponsored gymnastic skills to unravel the latest plot to push the world toward all-out war. Includes in-game video tutorials. Features co-op and versus modes (though I've never tried them).

-Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - Top-down arcade-style mass murder simulator drenched in blood, neon colors, and '80s aesthetics. Play as a nameless protagonist (fan named "Jacket") receiving orders from mysterious phone calls, and bludgeon, slash, and shoot your way through buildings crawling with Russian Mafia, wearing rubber animal masks that give you different abilities. In the second game, the story expands as you play as several other characters in the aftermath of Jacket's actions, each with their own motivations, yet inexorably bound together. Features many synth-pop tracks from various artists, available on a neon magenta vinyl record. Go for the high score and show off to your friends how amazing and handsome you are at a critically-acclaimed indie game. Second game also comes with a short virtual comic book!

-FAItH: The Unholy Trinity - 8-bit style religious horror game with rotoscoped cutscenes, developed b Airdorf Games. Play as Fr. John Ward in 1987 Connecticut as your quest to right your wrongs and complete an interrupted exorcism spiral into madness and the true depths of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Features multiple endings, game modes, an arcade mode, and an in-game tutorial.

-Bloodrayne: Terminal Cut - A PC port of the cult-favorite third-person hack-and-slash. Play as Rayne, a dhampir hired by the mysterious Brimstone Society to handle situations too otherworldly or dangerous for mere humans; Which mostly involves slaughtering thousands of Nazis before they can get their hands on otherworldly artifacts. Includes a bunch of special codes that can be inputted to make the game easier, harder, or to activate "Juggy Mode." Game doesn't have any actual nudity but definitely enjoys its jiggle physics. One sequel (not as good IMO but also on Steam), a spinoff game, and also spawned at least 1 movie and some comic books IRL.

-CARRION - Metroidvania-style reverse horror game. Play as an unfathomable lump of runaway teeth, tentacles, and God-knows-what as you tear your way through Relith Labs, on a mission to escape and consume anyone who gets in your way. Evolve as the game progresses, growing larger and acquiring new abilities. Includes a small Christmas-themed free DLC that is essentially more of the same.

-Gone Home - Short, narrative-driven game about returning from Europe to your parents' new home, and discovering your sister is gone. Explore the house, discovering notes, clues, and secrets as a story of growing up and self-discovery unfolds. I don't want to spoil any of it, just take my word for it that it's a good game, and not violent or anything like other games on this list.

-Omen Exitio: Plague - Visual novel RPG where you take on the role of a doctor during an outbreak of a mysterious, deadly disease. Unravel the mystery bit by bit as you are hounded by madness and mysterious figures with ill intention, and make decisions that may alter the course of history.

-Hacknet - DOS-style programming game apparently inspired by hacking scenes in various movies. Delve into the world of professional hackers, complete jobs for clients, bypass security to break into servers, and discover the fate of your late benefactor, as his/her automated failsafe leads you toward the truth. "Labyrinths" DLC also available, and can be accessed and completed at any time before, during, or after the main game. In-game tutorial provided. Features an amazing techno soundtrack by various artists. Should not be confused with real-world cybersecurity activities - Those are much more difficult.

I have more, but this alone has taken me an hour to write. Let me know your thoughts.

Definitely been meaning to check out FAItH, and I've heard of Gone Home. If I remember what I saw in the trailer correctly, it sorta reminds me of that Edith Finch game.

As for that Plague game....do I get to actually be a plague doctor??????

[thefreakishmuffin]

Hetalia is coming back, and I have some thoughts...

Alrighty everyone, here we go! As if 2020 couldn’t get more insane...

(This is a longer post, so I’ll add fun gifs to separate the walls of text so it isn’t so exhausting to read).

So, if you’ve been on the internet since the early 2010′s, you’ve most likely seen, or at least heard, of an odd show called Hetalia. This anime, with the manga originally created by Hidekaz Himaruya, was later adapted into an anime. For those who are either new to the internet or have been living under a rock for the last decade, Hetalia, first going under the name Hetalia: Axis Powers, is a show about different events in world history and world politics, all being portrayed by people who represent different countries. Each country - or character, you could say - is essentially the embodiment of all their respective country’s stereotypes. 

For example, Germany is extremely strict, loud, militaristic, and often angry or stubborn. Italy is an absolute coward who is obsessed with pasta and beautiful women. And America is an over-the-top, loud, bombastic, arrogant dork who is constantly downing fast food and calling himself a “hero.” The list goes on and on, but you get the idea. 

Hetalia was, and still is, an extremely weird show. And with season seven on the horizon, coming to us in Spring 2021, I feel like I ought to talk about it. And why am I taking the time to talk about it?

Because I am a veteran Hetalian. 

(Me laughing but slowly dying inside)

You read that right. Throughout all of middle school and the first few months of high school (almost four years), I was an absolute obsessive Hetalia fangirl. Outside of the internet, I was the biggest fan I knew, along with the guy who was my best friend at the time. We’d binge watch the show, read and write fanfiction, bring others into the cult fandom, talk about it almost constantly, draw fanart, watch the funny mmd video compilations on YouTube, delve really deep into world history, quote and reenact all of our favorite scenes - we even cosplayed England and Prussia one year for Halloween! This was the show that made me the HUGE history nerd I am today! I even got a book on the complete history of Prussia one year for Christmas.

Yep. We were those kind of fans. (Not gonna lie, as a now twenty-year-old woman, I still kinda cringe looking back at my middle school years. But I was having fun, so who cares?)

So when I heard we were getting another season after a five year hiatus, you’d think I’d be super stoked that a show I was once madly in love with was coming back from the dead, right? 

(The part of me that is thrilled about Hetalia returning)

Well... It’s a little complicated. I won’t lie that I am really excited for this new season, and I’m of course gonna watch the entire series over again in preparation for it. But I have some hopes, worries, and mixed emotions about everything happening, and everything that may or may not go down when the season eventually airs, including the time leading up to it. I even have a particular topic I want to get to, but you’ll see that later in the post.

To address my worries, we first have to go way back to the early days of the fandom. For the most part, the Hetalia fandom was just really weird, fun, nerdy, and quirky. Nothing wrong with that. I feel like the fandom already had an odd reputation, but at least it wasn’t a bad one. That is until we had some... How should I say... Toxic behaviors and incidents start to take place. 

Allow me to explain. How I see it, every fandom has some kind of toxicity level. The toxicity level is from the fans who are, well, toxic. We all know who they are, and you’ve likely met at least a few here and there. And the toxicity levels vary from fandom to fandom. In some it’s very low, and in others it’s very high. I wouldn’t say the Hetalia fandom’s toxicity level was super high, but it wasn’t incredibly low either. We had the usual problems, like some intense shipping wars and people debating on different ideas and headcanons, but the Hetalia fandom had something a bit different going on.

(My two personalities trying to coexist in peace)

You see, a lot of people didn’t like - or even hated - Hetalia, because they saw it as racist and offensive. If you admitted you liked Hetalia outside of the fandom, you ran a definite risk of getting either shunned or degraded for it. And if that wasn’t bad enough, you had a group of fans - a rather small group of fans, mind you - who did some pretty insensitive things that ended up landing the fandom in some serious hot water.

You’d have people in that small group of fans who’d openly do the Nazi salute while cosplaying Germany at conventions, and there was even the incident where you had fans cosplaying as Nazi Germany to the holocaust museum, where they decided to pose doing the Nazi salute. I even saw a cosplay of Germany and Prussia pointing guns at the Star of David, which is a well known symbol of the Jewish faith. Not to mention the fans who seemed to fetishize Nazi Germany and Prussia. Now, I may not know about everything these people did, as I was pretty good at staying on the light side of the fandom, but these were some pretty well known and disgraceful problems that everyone would find out about sooner or later.

Sadly enough, it was that small, tiny percentile of the fandom that did things that were so offensive, so wrong, that it was greatly magnified by others, thus giving the fandom its toxic, even cringey reputation. And I really hope we don’t have to relive that all over again.

(Me singing songs about punching Nazis and eating pasta)

So what I hope is that we are able to leave all of that behind us. Though I’ve already seen some Twitter users try to start drama all over again by reposting the offensive cosplays, and Tumblr users getting their panties in a wad because they apparently have nothing else better to do. But because a vast majority of the Hetalia fans are like me in that we’ve grown older and matured, I’m hoping we can help guide the younger, newer fans in the right direction.

And I won’t deny that I am very worried about the newer fans getting harassed and bullied on social media. I don’t have a lot of advice when it comes to the haters, other than the usual ‘ignore them and don’t respond’, tactic. But just know that if they don’t leave you alone, you can always block them.

And here’s another bit I want to touch upon. While I can completely understand why people see this show as racist and offensive, I honestly don’t think it is. If anything, I think it actually teaches us something. And no, I’m not talking about history right here. I’m talking about the stereotypes, and how they are portrayed. I think this show helps us to understand that all of these different stereotypes we have about different people and countries are all stupid and silly.

Do we actually know a German who is exactly like Hetalia’s Germany? No. Do any of us know an Englishman who is identical to Hetalia’s England in every way? Of course not. This series helps us to understand that the stereotypes so many of us hold onto today are nothing more than just stupid, silly old ideas that have been blown far out of proportion over the years. 

Many people try to claim that this show is overtly racist and tries to divide, but in my opinion, I think it ties us together.

(My last two braincells writing up this post at around midnight)

At the end of the day, I’m incredibly excited and eager to see the new season of Hetalia, and everything that it will have in store for us. And it’s fun too look back on all the nostalgic memories I have of this show. This is all I have to say for now, but I may or may not be coming back to this topic in the future. Might even make another blog for Hetalia while I’m coming back to the fandom. After all, this is known as the fandom you can’t escape from.

Now if you excuse me, I’m gonna go press play on Hetalia: Axis Powers episode one, and let myself spiral into insanity once again!