#either way i hope i can improve my art more with better equipment

[kaibaspuppy]

im getting a laptop with a touch screen and a stylus for christmas so i can finally start drawing using a stylus again god bless 🙏🙏

[pizzazz-party]

Part 3: Ring’s Biology and Possible Origins

In the world of Ring Fit Adventure, there exist monsters, ghosts, cyborgs, robots, gods, a curious array of animals, human beings of enormous size…and Ring. Ring—a creature so entirely unique, he fails to fit into any of those categories.

Everyone has their own idea as to what Ring is, and as to where he came from. So here’s mine.

(Spoilers for the end of the main storyline. Various postgame dialogue spoilers beyond that.)

If we’re going to talk about where Ring might have come from, it makes sense to look for clues in what he’s presented as. Physically, and subtextually. So let’s take it from the top.

Stepping away from the confines of the game, Ring’s shape is based off a Pilates ring, a piece of exercise equipment who’s history dates back to nearly a century ago, as of the game’s release. It was invented to help rehabilitate wounded soldiers through physical therapy following World War I. Design-wise, though…Ring’s face draws heavy inspiration from depictions of Ancient Inca art. Specifically, he looks a lot like the figure atop this ceremonial tumi knife.

The prominent nose. The familiar jawline. A headpiece bisecting the brow. The blue commonly set into the eyes of the art. The ears—heavy earrings were unisex among the Inca nobility, resulting in long, stretched lobes. But most importantly—the statue is gold. And in the ancient Inca Empire, gold was revered as being sweat from the very sun itself. Metal nowadays is often associated with machinery, with invention. But raw metal has always been a fruit of the earth, as natural as any wood or leaf. The Inca took it a step further. They thought of gold as mystical.

Likewise, Ring’s design is meant to invoke these traits. Despite being made of metal, Ring visibly lacks gears or wiring or nozzles or hatches. His mouth may have a hinge and his flaming little hair piece may spin around. But in terms of “build,” Ring (the magical metal donut) has more in common with Pinocchio (the magical wooden puppet), than with an actual machine.

On a surface level, Ring really is best described as a “magical creature.” He’s obviously not made of flesh and blood. But he’s alive in a way that the closest comparison—sentient robots—just aren’t. Ring sweats, breathes, sleeps, eats. He ages. His metal face flexes and grows and shrinks as he speaks. Ring wields exercise energy, much in the same way that humans do, and more. He crafts, enhances, and stores things with it. Its raw essence flows through him like a fiery kind of lifeblood.

Ring’s not a human or a cyborg. He’s not a monster or a ghost or an animal. He’s made of metal like a robot, and that’s about it. And while Ring may (presumably) have the long life of a god, he lacks everything else. Right down to the proper shape and abilities. Ring, whatever the specifics, is a “magical creature” that exists in a class of his own. We never ever meet another being quite like him.

…At least. That’s what I used to think.

———

The thing with Ring is, it’s hard to tell whether he’s actively omitting facts or just forgetting them. He’s got a terrible memory. But he also as good as lies to us in the beginning, pretending as though Dragaux’s just some enemy to him.

So here is what I understand.

We meet Ring, and he and Dragaux are positioned as these perfect opposites, as perfect enemies. Ring builds others up, and Dragaux tears them down. Dragaux is flashy, an eyesore, the purple to Ring’s yellow, and yet he steals the stage every time. He’s a jerk, but he’s Ring’s jerk. We show up to every boss fight because we are invested in his story, his opinions, his downward spiral.

And that’s our first mistake, really. Because Dragaux’s accent color isn’t purple, it’s pink. Because Dragaux’s opposite isn’t Ring, it’s Trainee. And Ring’s real foil was never Dragaux, but Dark Influence itself.

———

Have you ever thought about how strange it is, this particular parasite. From a narrative standpoint, I mean. As much as it’s referred to as “Dragaux’s influence” or “Dragaux’s aura,” Dragaux is only its latest meal, not its source. And that meal has been lasting anywhere from decades to a century, at least. Dark Influence is, by nature, negativity incarnate. It could be as old as the hills. Older, maybe.

Dark Influence is voiceless, faceless. A parasite composed of pure negative exercise energy, it can theoretically exist on its own. But it thrives best when entrenched in the heart of a host. Its host—a physical creature that, once ensnared, starts exhibiting traits that belong to the Influence: like great swathes of flame in its signature color.

Does that not sound. Familiar.

Because Ring and Dark Influence? Fulfill eerily similar roles, in regards to their syncing partners.

Both of them harness their partner’s exercise energy. Both of them augment the abilities of their partner. But unlike Ring, who’s always actively helping Trainee in precise and creative ways…Dark Influence doesn’t care. I’m not sure if it can give a care about anything that doesn’t include “amassing power” and “spreading itself.” (And I think those are just instincts. I’ve yet to see proof that this thing has anything approaching a complex personality.) But whether or not it cares about Dragaux, it’s fully anchored within his body. It shares its strength with him because there’s nowhere else to store it.

Because unlike Ring, Dark Influence lacks a physical body of its own.

And that thought. How it “lacks” a body. Just sort of stuck around in my head. Because it’s funny, isn’t it? That Ring speaks and this thing doesn’t. That Dark Influence, this wildfire, is so strong and potent and infectious while Ring’s inner flames are so small and orderly and self-contained.

And then I started thinking about coins. Isn’t it funny, that they’re shaped like little rings. Isn’t it funny, that they sometimes just. Spring out of the ground.

How does a free-to-play gym turn a profit. How do all of these gyms, turn a profit.

If NPCs canonically collect coins on their travels just like Trainee… If someone isn’t just throwing away buckets of money into the mountains and rivers and skies… if golden little rings can just spring into existence alongside someone as they’re jogging…

What if it’s not a quirk. What if it’s not just a game mechanic.

What if everything—the coins, the EXP medals, the treasure chests with Ring’s face on them—what if they’re all byproducts that occur when a physical place is saturated with high amounts of foot traffic. With high amounts of exercise energy. People in Ring Fit Adventure constantly expel this stuff as they jog or work out or engage in fit battles. They don’t really direct it anywhere after its release. It just kind of gets absorbed into their surroundings. I always assumed that it helped make the land so lush and pretty, but what if it doesn’t stop there. What if, when large quantities of it gather, exercise energy naturally builds up and condenses itself into permanent, physical solids.

And I thought of Ring. Of the coins that are shaped like him. Of the medals that eerily share his face. Of the treasure chests especially, the way they scream and run and flex as though alive. (And I thought about Dragaux, who’s canonically brilliant, and how even his best statues fell short of capturing that same quality of animation.) I thought about how all three of these byproducts are golden. Just. Like. Ring.

Something like “dark” influence should have a natural counterpart. It’s a tale as old as time; perfect opposites, perfect enemies. But we never meet the Influence’s other half, do we? Just Ring.

Ring, our buddy, our pal. Ring, who’s a person in every way that matters, with hope and dreams and insecurities. Ring the “magical creature,” who, despite all of this, has more in common with Dark Influence than with any other creature in all of Ring Fit.

———

So here is the heart of my crazy theory.

Ring isn’t “partially” made of energy. He’s all energy, all the way down to his every last piece, whether it flows like a river or shines like a stone. And it could be that a long, long time ago, he existed much in the same way as the Dark Influence we fight in the game: as an unrestrained and formless entity. Not as a ring, but as a bright and brainless swathe of flames.

(Because if Dark Influence is insecurity and self-destruction and decay, balance would dictate its opposite be positivity, self-improvement, rebirth. A dangerously Bright Influence.)

And maybe it was just a natural process that got triggered when the conditions were right. But either way, somehow, someway, this particular Influence reincarnated into a shape that could better interact with people, without overwhelming or eating them. And that most natural shape condensed itself into Ring.

A baby Ring.

———

Even if you don’t buy into the existence of “Bright” Influence, Ring fully being some sort of life energy incarnate answers too many questions. It would explain why Ring is so good at manipulating exercise energy; it’s the most natural extension of himself. It would explain why Ring has the unique ability to sync with people; it’s how he originally used to exist, as life energy drifting in and out of living creatures. It would explain the aging. It would explain why Ring never mentions a parent or creator watching over him during childhood; because he came into this world totally alone. (Baby Ring belonged to no one before he belonged with Baby Drags.)

But Ring’s theoretical past life answers a few more questions. It could explain parts of Ring’s personality, his interests. (His dream of spreading positivity across the land.) It explains why there aren’t ten million Rings floating about, when coins and medals and chests are so relatively common. (Because there’s a key ingredient missing). It actually explains his five special powers. (Because I’m betting Influences have human-related origins. It’s either that, or “live humans being consumed” was part of the “perfect” conditions surrounding Ring’s birth. Which, cringe.) But more than anything, it addresses the sheer power imbalance happening between Ring and Dark Influence right now.

Dark Influence lacks boundaries and spreads itself like a virus, thoughtless and instinctive. Ring’s natural weapon against this thing should be to “infect” it right back. (I would expect some sort of sick light show to dance across Dragaux’s body during battle; yellow flames squaring off against purple.) But it doesn’t work that way. Ring the Person no longer works this way.

If Dark influence is a forest fire, then Ring is a fireplace set behind glass. At their core, these two are both energy. But the modes in which they exist divide them into separate skill sets entirely.

Dark Influence is wildfire of brute strength. It’s got range—in the spatial sense. It can spread to as many secondary hosts as Dragaux directs it to, so long as it’s fed well enough to reach for them. Compared to Ring’s measly one syncing partner, Dark Influence can sink itself into whole regions, can simultaneously feed off of so many people. It doesn’t have outright mind control powers; it’s more subtle than that. But its presence as negativity incarnate naturally works like a magnet to draw out the worst in people. There is nothing it enhances in a person that wasn’t already there, no matter how small the weakness. Coupled with the rush of power it imparts in its vessels, it makes bad decisions feel right. Even to good people. It’s, quite simply, a bad influence. (And then it consumes them.)

But other than that, Dark Influence doesn’t really do much.

Our bud Ring may only be able to light one house at a time, so to speak. But as contained as he is—Ring’s powers are more varied and nuanced, because Ring is more varied and nuanced. He’s always actively (and thoughtfully) applying energy to construct, convert, and amplify. For all its fearsome strength, the only thing Dark Influence can seemingly do on purpose, is feed.

———

(If Ring was once a being like Dark Influence, then that solves the final mystery of synchronization. If Dark Influence “infects” its host by sinking into the body, then Ring syncs with a partner by “planting” a piece of his essence inside them. This is why Trainee’s energy signature changes to mimic Ring’s; because she now carries a part of him in her beating heart. This is why Ring can freely access her energy; because this makes her a part of him now, too.)

———

So. Let’s pretend I’m not crazy. Say that all of these little details I’ve collected were intentionally laid out by the game developers. Say I’m correct, and that Ring really is, essentially, the child of Dark Influence’s greatest natural enemy.

The real question is: how self aware is Ring about all of this.

Because unfortunately, Ring not knowing his own backstory could be pretty on-brand for him. I love Ring, but from his point of view, it really could be that he just appeared one day, somehow—as an entirely clean slate. “Dark” or “bright,” these entities are brainless. Literally. No body means no brain. They can’t store memories, so they don’t have memories. Just energy.

Ring must know that he’s made from energy, too. He might even think of himself as one very lucky byproduct. But if this is really what Ring used to be (if there’s even a shadow of a chance that his predecessor used to eat people), then he might not know the full extent of his own story.

And maybe that’s for the best. I can’t imagine him choosing to get close to people otherwise. He loves people, cares so much about every single silly soul that he meets.

This would hurt him.

———

Whatever Ring’s origins may be, whatever he might have once been (if he’s ever been anything else at all)… I do know one thing. And it’s that I prefer him prefer him just the way he is.

Weird comments about my sweat aside, I wouldn’t have him any other way.

———

TL;DR: Our bud Ring has more in common with Dark Influence than with any other creature in all of Ring Fit.

If a flaming entity of negative energy can exist, then why not one made of positive energy? If positive energy condenses into permanent solids naturally and often…if Ring is made of positive energy…if Ring has more in common with Dark Influence than with anything else in this game…

Who’s to say that Ring himself, wasn’t once a flaming yellow mass of energy.

———

This marks the end. I could run wild with all the implications this theory leaves in its wake. But I’ve made my point. I’ve found every answer I was looking for. And they may not have been the answers I was expecting (or even wanting), but they’ve satisfied me all the same.

I’m done. Believe what you will.

Thanks for reading, and for sticking with me all this way. It’s been real.

-

-

-

-

-

-

DISCLAIMER: My name is Pizzazz and I take this game way too seriously. This is all for fun! At the time of this post, I am on World 36 of the post game. I feel pretty strongly about my conclusions, but I’ll go back and edit this if/when/where applicable.

-

-

-

RING ANALYSIS

Part 1: Synchronizing—How it Works and What It Tells Us About Ring

Part 2: Ring’s Powers—And What They All Have In Common

Part 3: Ring’s Biology and Possible Origins

[not-xpr-art]

Art Advice #3 - Drawing tips!

Hi everyone!

As you may know, every week or so I’m writing blog posts with art advice hints and tips for artists of any skill level in the hopes of helping some people out a bit! The tag is here so feel free to check out some of my other posts!

This week’s post is going to be some drawing tips I’ve picked up over the years that could hopefully be useful for beginner artists! 

(this is about 1800 words altogether btw)

Drawings tips!

I’m going to split this post up into little sections which will hopefully make it easier for you to scroll to find certain advice you’re particularly interested in!

Part 1 - How to get started?

I’m a firm believer that anyone can be an artist, regardless of what materials or equipment they have. So when it comes to my advice on what kind of materials I recommend for beginner artists, I’d mainly say ‘whatever you have’. 

But if that’s a bit vague, I’d essentially recommend you have a set of pencils which you can usually get relatively inexpensive online or in craft/art shops which range from 6B all the way to 6H (’B’ being for softer, darker pencils, often good for shading, and ‘H’ for the harder pencil leads which are best for much lighter shading or if you want a really faint sketch. Something important to note about ‘H’ pencils is not to press too hard with them since they’re a lot more likely to leave indents in the paper than ‘B’ pencils! For general sketching I personally use 2B or 3B pencils since they have the perfect balance of soft & hardness in my opinion!) 

Of course, you can just draw with whatever pens or pencils you already have, so definitely don’t feel you have to go out of your way to buy something new or expensive just because your favourite artists use a particular brand of pencil or pen... Of course, often higher quality pens or pencils (especially colouring pencils) will have better pigment payoff than the cheaper alternatives, but as someone who’s been using the same WHSmith pencils they got when they were a child, I definitely think that as long as you have something to draw with, you’re all set to produce masterpieces of your own!

A lot of my art education got us using charcoal for a lot of our drawing practise. It’s not a medium I’m particularly fond of personally, but it is a great way to practise being a lot quicker and expressive with drawing, so definitely if you’re up for the challenge you can try some charcoal stuff! Only piece of advice is that I wouldn’t really recommend those ‘charcoal pencils’ you can buy in some shops, since they mostly just break apart every time you try and sharpen them... Regular charcoal is messy, though, and smudges very easily, so if you are interested in using it I’d say to do a little bit of research before hand! 

(Or feel free to send me an ask if you want any further advice on using it!)

If you’re wanting to get into digital art, I’m planning on making a post discussing my tips for beginners to digital so... keep an eye out for that in the near future lol!

~

Part 2 - Getting over ‘Drawing Anxiety’

Drawing can be a daunting thing, particularly when artists who are already pretty good at it can seemingly produce a perfectly proportioned face out of thin air. But these artists weren’t magically born with this skill, of course, so with practise and some perseverance, I can assure you that you’ll be at that stage one day!

So my first piece of advice here is to be patient with yourself. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect straight away. 

Second piece of advice is to sketch constantly!! I notice a lot of people who haven’t been drawing long are really careful about how they draw, almost like they’re afraid to be rough with the pencil. So I’d really recommend just starting to sketch a lot: be rough, be messy, draw things you can see and things from your imagination! 

Observational drawing is another thing I think is crucial in improving your drawing skills (and I’ll go into more detail with this in a bit), but honestly just sketching things you like is such a great way to help you grow as an artist! And yes this includes drawing anime fanart or drawings of your original characters! 

Below is some comparisons of my attempts at drawing Freema Agyeman from 2013 to 2019... Is the latest version of this perfect? Of course not. But I just want to show what constant practise can achieve!

~

Part 3 - Observational drawing

I honestly think that observational drawing was one of the most important things I learnt in my years of art education. 

Observational drawing can take on many meanings. Perhaps it’s drawing a still life of a fruit bowl, or a life drawing class with a naked dude in front of you, or even drawing from a photo. The point of observational drawing is to improve how you translate the world around you onto a 2D surface, essentially. 

And you don’t need anything fancy to do observational drawing either! Just placing an array of things in front of you and trying to sketch them (try and focus on a mix of textures and surfaces for the objects. So, for example, including a cup along side a woolly hat will help you get a handle on how to create texture with your drawing, and drawing anything with a reflective surface like cutlery is both challenging and interesting to do! Basically just use what you have around you!)

If you’re lucky (or unlucky, depending on how fond you are of seeing naked people lol) enough to have the chance to do life drawing, I would honestly recommend it! Often the final results aren’t great, but it’s a really good way of practising your observational skills! And even if you don’t have the opportunity, just trying to sketch a friend or family member from across a room, for example, is something that can really help you improve! 

Top tip: a teacher once told me that when you’re drawing something like a face, for example, a way to improve how you draw is to see the face not as a ‘face’, but instead as a collections of shapes. Because our brains have a preconceived idea of what a face looks like that we end up drawing what we think we can see rather than what we can actually see! 

There’s a lot of art snobs who believe that drawing from reference images is ‘cheating’ in comparison to life drawing, Of course, this is bs, and I’d say I’ve learnt just as much from using reference photos for the basis of my art as I have from drawing from ‘real life’. For more information about my thoughts on references and how to use them, see This post!

~

Part 4 - Drawing from references: Tracing, Grids and Freehand (which is best?)

Tracing in the world of art is a ... Contentious subject to say the least. And I’m not really interested in getting into the ‘moral’ implications of whether it is ‘cheating’ or not.

Instead I want to focus on the pros of using something like tracing when you’re starting out. I think particularly if you’re trying to improve how you shade things, colour things or how to get better at blending, then I do think that tracing can be a useful tool! Even I used tracing in the very start of my delve into digital art, but soon found that tracing wasn’t really something that was helping me in the long run so moved onto freehand stuff. 

Overall, I think tracing is good as a starting point when you’re still learning about art, and also if you’re not too comfortable with your freehand drawing skills yet. I’d also recommend you mention if you have traced a piece if you share art to social media. Of course, no one is obligated to do this though! 

This is an example of an artwork that I traced (it’s from 2013, hence why it looks... like That lol)

But if you’re someone who perhaps has used tracing in the past and found it doesn’t really work for you, or if you don’t want to start with tracing at all, then a good ‘next step’ I’ve seen other artists get into is using grids. 

Now I have to admit, I’m not the best person to talk about grids since I’ve actually never used them lol... But I know a lot of artists who do, particularly people who do a lot of traditional work, since it makes it a lot easier to translate the reference image to your piece of paper or canvas. 

And in a way I would recommend grids more for people starting out in drawing than tracing, and this is mainly due to the fact grids force you to use a lot more observational drawing skills than tracing! If you’re interested in getting into using grids I’d recommend doing a bit of research yourself! 

The final technique of drawing from references I want to talk about is freehand! Now this is the one I’ve been doing for the majority of my art ‘career’ and honestly is probably the most ‘difficult’ to do of the three techniques. 

But I find freehand drawing particularly rewarding with the ways it can make you reimagine an artwork in ways you never intended! Like what I mentioned in my Reference advice post, I have found that making ‘mistakes’ in freehand drawing can actually lead to more interesting and unique works of art than tracing or grid work could ever do! 

I also think that freehand allows you to create your own characters or concepts in a much more free way. For example, my Spirit of Somerset piece was something I created from a variety of references (I seem to remember I used Isak from SKAM’s mouth as a basis for the girls’ mouth?) and the dragon was based on a real mishmash of references, which is something that I I feel I couldn’t have done if I’d have been using grids or tracing!

With this I’m not trying to say that freehand is the ‘best’ way of drawing, it is just the one that I personally have found to fit me the best, which is the entire point of this post! All of my advice is just pointers I think could be useful for new artists, it is up to you to find which ‘path’ in art suits you best!

And of course, I’ve phrased these techniques as separate purely for the sake of explaining them easier, but the fact of the matter is that you can use a combination of these in your art if you wish! 

If you struggle with drawing the outlines of hands, perhaps use tracing as a way to get a handle of the shape and then maybe use freehand to fill in the colour of them! Use a grid to draw a tree but freehand the leaves and bench below it! 

Remember that your art is your art, and no one can tell you how to draw things! 

~

I think I’ll leave this here for now! But I may do a part two at some point in the future! & my ask box is always open for anyone who wants any specific advice!

I really hope you found this at least moderately helpful, and a massive thank you to everyone for the constant support of these posts and my art!

[boukenboy]

#18: ユーディーのアトリエ / Atelier Judie

I've always been curious about the Atelier series - created by developer Gust, there are over 20+ games as of 2021, and judging from what I've read online, it's very popular both here and in Japan. Later entries in the series are localized nowadays, but the first few games have yet to see any kind of English release, so I decided, pretty much at random, to start with Atelier Judie. I considered starting from the beginning with Atelier Marie, but I screwed up my PS1 emulator settings somehow, and the thought of redoing everything made my spirit hurt.

True to its title, you play as a young alchemist named Judie, who lives in the outskirts of Life village. She makes a living doing odd jobs for the townspeople and the occasional adventurer. One day, a stranger asks Judie to create a magical McGuffin that can temporarily stop time. This task turns out to be a tad beyond her alchemical skills, and our unfortunate protagonist is sent 200 years into the past.

She takes it well-enough, despite losing literally everything and everyone she cared about - and takes up residence in the town Verun, where she once again begins to work as a freelance alchemist in order to pay her benefactor, the loan shark Vitoss, and to find a way back to get back home. Along the way, you'll explore the land of Gramnad, meet all sorts of charming characters, and craft. Lots and lots of craft. Ing.

In order to actually make anything, you'll need to go foraging for ingredients - each town has its own wild area to explore, and what you'll find is naturally different in each one. Judie is a bit weak at the beginning, however, so you'll be relying on hirable adventurers to do the majority of the combat. Their help doesn't come free, but I rarely had any issues with keeping a party for the majority of the game.

The combat itself is standard JRPG fare, albeit with a few twists. Instead of the usual MP and HP stats, there's an additional LP (Life Point) stat that is used for combat techniques, not magic. Interestingly, whenever any of these stats hit 0, that character will be unable to battle. This also applies to monsters. Certain enemies, usually the undead, will use attacks that drain LP and / or MP, so they present a unique threat to your more tankier party members, as they usually have dangerously low MP values.

Furthermore, only alchemists are able to use items in battle. This can make battles a bit tense, as you have to solely rely on Judie for healing. There is another alchemist you can recruit, but in my experience, this made for a unbalanced party, unless you craft an absolutely insane amount of bombs in order to make up for the lack of melee prowess. Each character has their own special skills and abilities, with very little overlap - from what I’ve seen, only Christa and Vitoss share a technique. This makes each character feel special, even if most only get, at most, 3 or 4 at higher levels. I would have liked a few more, but this is an open-world game from 2002. Yeah.

The real meat of the game, of course, is in the crafting. You'll find recipes for items through books bought from stores, and occasionally through events. Once you find the required ingredients, you'll select your desired item from a menu, and then hope for the best. Each item has its own difficulty rating, and your rate of success will rise as your alchemy level increases through repeated crafting. Be aware that crafting takes LP and in-game time, so if you're at risk of missing deadlines, you'd do well to finish any previous commitments before going on a spree.

Depending on the quality of the ingredients used, you can increase, for example, the amount of HP a healing item restores, or even change what the item does entirely. There's an item you'll be making early on that, in theory, decreases the amount of enemy encounters on the world map once its equipped. However, if you tweak the recipe a bit, you can make a different version that actually increases it, or even influence what kind of monsters you encounter. Discovering these alternate effects is a lot of fun, and I spent an enormous amount of time unconcerned with the plot just playing around and experimenting.

You also have to be mindful of the self-life of ingredients. As time passes, many items will decrease in quality, though this is mainly an issue for organic products. I was quite surprised the first time I went on a real dungeon dive - I had prepared a few bowls of cream soup, an HP healing item, just in case I needed them. Unfortunately, they spoiled halfway through the trip, so I was shook when I accidentally poisoned my entire party instead of healing them! Thankfully, should your entire party get knocked out, you're sent back home with the only penalty being a loss of time.

Speaking of home, one of my favorite aspects of Atelier Judie is the ability to move your base of operations to one of several locations - each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, in one town, you'll have easy access to fruits and vegetables, eventually being able to plant them yourself. In another, you'll have access to a freezer, allowing you to preserve delicate ingredients. My favorite town and current base is in Prostark. Here, you're only a few steps away from a smelting furnace and a mine - many of the mid-game items require ingots, so it's a great fit. The downside to Prostark is that I'm quite a bit away from nature. When I need vegetables or herbs, I have to run the risk of them rotting before I even get home. This risk is further exacerbated due to Atelier Judie’s random event system. These can be harmful or beneficial, but most of the time, they'll either improve or decrease ingredient quality. It's a surprising element of realism that I found fresh. Pun intended.

In fact, there is a lot of randomness present in Judie. Plot-advancing events seem to happen seemingly at random: I'd spend days feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere, only to be suddenly blindsided with access to new areas or characters to meet. I was often left feeling lost, as I could not discover any kind of pattern as to what unlocks what, but in general, it's best to change up your party members and move bases every now and then. The game also features random vignettes that allow you to get a better sense of who your party members are as people. These are usually comedic, and are always accompanied with beautiful artwork.

I love the warmth present in Atelier Judie. As a whole, it's simply a delight to play. The encounter rate can grate a little, and tracking down ingredients can get a bit tedious - especially so with items with low spawn rates - but overall, it feels like a lot like a fairytale. The art-style is bright and charming, even the monsters are adorable (my favorite being the Ghost family) and the land of Gramnad feels alive and bursting with character. There's an astonishing attention to detail. I enjoyed how every town's bartender, merchant, etc, had their own unique voice actor and personality. Subjectively speaking, the game just feels like it was made with love. And that's incredible.

Highly recommended!

[crowwstudies]

hello!! i’m selena and i’m back after years of not being active on this site. i still go here for inspiration but i reblog lately. rn and i’m in a slump because we have been in quarantine in almost a month and i haven’t left the house in a solid two weeks (so i’m making this post to try to cope). yes, we’re all in quarantine rn and i know y’all are looking for ways to cope/distract yourselves/be productive during this time. also, i’ll do my best to be realistic because i’m also trying to find ways to cope based on experience.

i will emphasize, NO ONE is going to pressure anyone into being productive during the quarantine because we all just want to get by.

“but what if i’m doing well during this quarantine and i just what to let time pass by?”

then this post is for you !!

1. schedule what you can do for the day

maybe we all keep saying we’re bored, we have nothing to do, we feel so unproductive this and that; so i could suggest making a list of what you do during the day to fill up the time slots of your day. this all depends on what time you wake up and what time you go to sleep (my sleep schedule is wack lately lmao i just wanted to share)

once you feel that you still have nothing to do or you still have gaps in your schedule, then you could look for more ideas on what to do or just simply take a nap (because i swear to god naps are the best). maaaaaybe you could try a new hobby and finally commit to it (no pressure, though, after all we’re going through a pandemic)

if you want some printables on a daily schedule, i have some links

universi-tea  moodyprintables

2. declutter your room, organize your desk, make everything prettier !!

okay so quarantine. we’re all stuck in our rooms, our houses, and whatever else you see. so why not make everything more pleasing to the eyes? maybe, through decluttering, you’ll find something that will remind you of something (i hope it isn’t something bad tho) and maybe you have some decors that you haven’t hung up like string lights. but please, before the string lights, consider the electricity bill, especially for families that don’t have a source of income rn.

you could also handcraft your own decorations, and speaking of that, i could transition to my next suggestion, which is...

3. try out crafting

of course, with the materials you have in your reach. you could make origami, perhaps a curtain of paper cranes, a wall of paper flowers, a string of paper decorations? these links below could suggest more

diy paper room decorations diy yarn room decorations easy wall art diy home accents fabric projects

there are more ideas on the internet, and maybe you have other materials you have stored in your house !! you can search up more diy projects based on that and you could put a twist to the ideas you see on the internet

4. have a try at journaling

based from my experience, self-isolation leads us into being stuck with our thoughts. so, journaling is one way to let out those thoughts. there are a lot of ways to journal, whether traditionally or digitally, and there are a lot of ideas on the internet. if you don’t know where to get started, here are a few useful posts out of the shitton of posts you can find on the internet

bullet journaling: a guide by bujowsofie 31 day journal challenge by coffeeandpoem journaling ideas/inspiration by gh0stylt 15 things to collect in your journal by improving-slowly 150 self-discovery and bullet journal prompts by undersoilanddirt masterpost of journal prompts by undersoilanddirt

5. learn a new language

have you ever attempted to learn a new language but was never able to commit to it? now is like... a perfect time since we have possibly months of quarantine so we’re gonna be stuck here doing nothing lol anyways you don’t have to commit either if you don’t absolutely feel like it. it’s really up to you if you want to do this for a long time since this is a way to pass time for the quarantine period. here are useful links and masterposts for people trying to learn a new language

how to learn a language when you don’t know where to start by escapetoluna 2+ months of language learning prompts by amillionlanguages language learning masterpost by languagessi tips for starting a langblr by join-the-dutch-clan

6. pick up a new hobby

there are lots of hobbies you can learn with the help of youtube (or online courses, if you can afford it; and as they say,, hope all..) here is a list of hobbies i could suggest 

drawing/painting photography playing a musical instrument writing handcrafting cooking/baking sewing

7. start working out at home

there are a lot of ways to get fit (since diets and meal plans are a difficult option ngl especially where i live in), and working out does not require equipment. you could perhaps use applications (i personally use Home Workout), or you could do yoga by watching and imitating what instructors do on youtube. you could even try getting flexible during the quarantine period or even study your favorite dances (or even just a little bit of zumba!!)

8. do some advance studying in your academics

yes. i hate mentioning this. but if your online classes aren’t suspended (hello @ my school idk what you’re doing but it’s not effective at all for underprivileged students) then you better check your priorities LMAO. i do wish that whatever situation you are in is conducive for you to be able to learn, but if you’re done with your academics you could do some advance studying so that you can get a headstart once you go back to “normal”.

9. oooooor you could study an online course you are interested in

there are free courses offered by the ivy league rn, here is the link !!

10. and lastly, remember that this pandemic is a time for you to rest and be aware of what’s happening outside. multiple factors led us into this situation and we must make a change for these type of things to not happen again. as the youth, we must be socially aware because it’s our job to help our nation.

[chaosstar290]

Reasons try out Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore.

Nintendo's been pretty casual with porting Wii U games over to the Switch, and for good reasons. Normally, I'm not all into porting games that I've already played, but my personal favorite games on the system that lack good marketing and advertising are now getting the attention and love they deserve.

Take Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for example, one of my favorite 2D platfomers. The game originally sold 1.72 million copies worldwide on the Wii U. Not very good numbers, huh? However, the Switch port managed to beat those sales numbers with 2.25 million units sold worldwide by the end of March 2019.

So while this could be seen as a way for Big N to earn more $$$, this is also a way for those who never owned a Wii U and missed out on some of the system's best titles to give these games a shot. Now we just need a port of Xenoblade Chronicles X and The Wonderful 101...and Star Fox Zero, I guess.

But that's a topic for another time. This post is specifically for my favorite JRPG on the Wii U only to be tied with Xenoblade Chronicles X....Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE.

This'll be a long one, so here's hoping you'll stick with it until the end.

Development

Before I get into the reasons, lemme educate you guys a bit. Back in January 2013, both Atlus and Intelligent Systems made a teaser trailer for a potential Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover for the Wii U.

The trailer was mostly just a slideshow with various character artwork. Despite this, there was a decent amount of hype surrounding it. But development around the game was pretty silent. That is, until we fast forward to the Nintendo Direct in April 1, 2015. We got a trailer of the ambitious SMT x FE crossover that fans were waiting for...but this was the final product.

Needless to say...neither SMT nor FE fans were happy about this. The fandoms were incredibly salty and foaming at the mouths, basically calling it a Person 4 Lite with a hint of FE. Heck, they're probably still posts on this site from 5 years ago that'll show that.

Fast forward to the games initial release, and you'll see quite a few positive reviews and thoughts about TMS. Unfortunately, the sale numbers were not all that great for the game. Obvious reasons being that it was a Wii U game, and many fans of both SMT x FE were not happy with how it turned out.

And to be honest, I wasn't feeling the game myself at first. It seemed too lighthearted and upbeat, and the J-Pop, anime-ish aesthetics were very off-putting. However, the more I saw about the game, the more I was drawn into it. Somehow all that disappointment I had about TMS originally just washed away. And considering it was a new IP, I decided to give it a chance. And hoo boy...I was generally pleased.

With that outta the way, let's get into why I'm excited for the Switch port of game, and hoping people will give it a fairer chance.

The Setting

The plot of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is mostly simple. You start out as high schooler Itsuki Aoi, the main character of the game encountering his childhood friend Tsubasa Oribe at an audition event to become a idol. It isn't until moments later in the game that the area gets overruned by shadowy creatures known as Mirages that suck out the creative energy known as Perso-- ah I mean Performa from the other idols and audience.

Poor girl doesn't know what's gonna happen next.

Despite our main characters seeming unharmed by the effect, the Mirages drag Tsubasa into their world known as the Idolsphere. And of course, courageous Itsuki takes action to follow and rescue her.

After trying to make a daring rescue, Itsuki gets bombarded by a Mirage, but somehow manages to awaken it. Taking the form of Fire Emblem Awakening's protagonist Chrom. Itsuki does the same with the Mirage that captured Tsubasa that takes the form of Cedea from Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon. The two awakaned Mirages, however, suffer from a bit of amnesia and can't quite remember who and what they are.

From there on, Itsuki and Tsubasa form a partnership with Chrom and Cedea, encountering various characters trying to reach their way to stardom while trying to draw back the opposing forces from taking over Tokyo and the world. Typical RPG stuff, am I right?

It's a fairly standard and slightly cliche plot with some common anime tropes, but for this game...it works. It's a plot that's incredibly silly, upbeat, and over-the-top, but again...it works for this game. And I love it. It may not be original, deep, or complex, but the story does its best to not take itself too seriously, and it doesn't fail to keep a smile in my face.

Aside from the vanilla cookie-cutter MC Itsuki, the various casts that you meet are incredibly charming, and go through their own personal growth as celebrities. Though you mileage may vary on this.

The Gameplay

The combat is the real star of Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Basically, it's your standard turn-based combat system...but with a few twists. If you've ever played a SMT or Persona game, then don't be surprised that elemental weaknesses make an appearance here. Along with that, the Triangle Weapon system from Fire Emblem also makes an appearance in the game.

But if you're not familiar with either franchise then give you a basic example how this works. Say that you've encountered an armored Mirage wielding an axe. The weaknesses on that enemy are both lightning and swords, and Itsuki just so happens to have both the necessary element and weapon equipped.

In case you're wondering...how the Triangle Weapon mechanic works in FE is that Swords beat Axes, Axes beat Lances, and Lances beat Swords.

The interesting thing about this is that once you exploit an enemy's weakness, other characters will jump in and combo extra attacks. These are called Sessions, and their not only powerful...but also flashy as all hell and it's glorious. Not only that, but there's also Duo Arts where two certain characters will sometimes perform a song that unleashes a powerful attack...which also strings up more Sessions. As broken as this sounds, it actually is pretty strategic for taking down harder enemies, and they can also form Sessions...so be careful.

There's more to the gameplay like roaming Tokyo, exploring dungeons, and upgrading your characters and Mirages by Tiki from Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon as well.

There's mixed opinions on the dungeon aspects of Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but...I personally enjoyed them. Aside from the first one. Once you get past the first dungeon, they get better as the game progresses. From exploring a darker version of Shibuya where you have to avoid giant cameras from sending you back to the entrance of the of the room you currently entered, to venturing through a maze-like TV studio.

There's also side-missions that you can do with your main cast that'll help them grow and develop even further. You'll be rewarded with either a special cutscene or a special attack. Or maybe both.

The Visuals

Go go...Persona Rangers?

If it wasn't obvious from the amount of images I'm posting, Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a very colorful game. Fitting with it's lighthearted theme, the amount of colors the game throws at you makes visuals aesthetically pleasing. Heck, you could make these your personal wallpaper on your phone or something.

Sure, Tokyo Mirage Sessions isn't nearly as strong as Persona 5 graphically or even artistically, but like most Nintendo games...what their games lack in terms of detailed ultra-hyper graphics, they make up for it with giving their games gorgeous artstyles.

Also, this game has some reeeeeally good artwork.

The Music

J-Pop plays a pretty big role in Tokyo Mirage Sessions, so expect a lot of vocal tracks. If you're not into this kind of genre of music, then you might wanna stray away from this game. If you are (or if it doesn't bother you), then you're in for a treat. As someone who really isn't into J-Pop myself, the songs in this game are incredible and catchy followed by some beautiful cutscenes. Reincarnation from Kiria Kurono and Feel from Tsubasa Oribe are some of my personal favorites.

The music from outside the vocal tracks are pretty good too. The normal battle theme and the Illusion Shibuya dungeon theme are just to name a couple.

What's New?

Like I said before, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is a port of the Wii U version, but with added content. Any DLC that was added in the original game will part of the base game in the Switch version. But let's talk about the new stuff.

EX Story and Songs

The EX Story is basically a dungeon that you explore in short bursts. Here you'll find new costumes such as a Joker outfit from Persona 5 for Itsuki, or an Annette outfit from Fire Emblem Three Houses for Mamori Minamoto. Or you can have a much easier time grinding for EXP. Also, much like the side-stories, this dungeon will also explore the main casts' issues and help them grow.

New songs will also be added in this port. A duo song called "She is..." sung by Tsubasa and Kiria is one of them.

Sessions

By making Sessions even more powerful and ridiculous, unplayable characters like Tiki, Maiko Shimazaki, and Barry Goodman will also join in Sessions.

In addition, a Quick Session option will be added. Which is a major upgrade in my book. One of the big issues the Wii U version had was while the Sessions were fun to watch, they took forever to get through with the more characters that joined your party. There are also smaller improvements like the Switch version having faster loading times.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this long as hell post will spark some interest into those who'll give the game a shot. I know there's small nitpicks like the lack of English voice acting and censorship, but the latter is a topic I'd rather not delve deep into.

Regardless, these small cons are greatly outweighed by the large pros this charming game has. If you're an Atlus fan, a lover of JRPGs, or wanting to play something that'll ease the wait for Persona 5 Royal, I highly recommend you give Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE encore a shot.

If you're also waiting for Persona 5 to actually come to the Switch like me, this game is next best thing we've got for the time being.

This is one of the most stylish menu screens ever.

[carolhnd2bphoto]

Graded Unit Evaluation

EVALUATION

 For my project I planned to shoot outdoors. Studio photography has never really appealed to me.  I had many ideas such as landscape, street photography and architectural photography.  The advice provided was shoot something you enjoy but at the same time go out of your comfort zone.  When I am out on my own, nature is where I go, trees, rivers, waterfalls.  They all make my photography experience enjoyable and comforting.  Leading lines are a source of comfort, they are pleasing to the eye and make sense to me. As a result of this I decided to shoot perspective/symmetrical photography.

After doing the research I knew this was the one, this felt right and felt excited by the challenge.  The style of symmetrical photography, vertical, horizontal, and radial encompass all I enjoy. Planning for this shoot was a big piece of work, for instance, a market for the work I created would be for galleries or private collections as I was considering my work to be Fine Art Photography, however, it was suggested that I consider photography stock libraries such as Alamy.  When I explored this further I found out that it is a website, you type in what can of image (waterfall) you want to see and it brings up all these images.  Basically, you can buy and sell images.  I have seen these websites before but never paid much attention up until now.

Initially when it came to planning the timetable, I was doing it as though there was a normal college timetable and that I would be working weekends. Therefore, I would only be out shooting 2 or 3 days a week and there was only 3 weeks to shoot after handing in the Project Plan.  This changed as a result of the Coronavirus Lockdown, at the time I was unsure if I could go out and shoot, fortunately I could, I had more days to go out and shoot. Fortunately I required very little in the way of equipment, I only required a camera and a tripod, no special lighting equipment, just natural light.

As mentioned above the research into other photographers such as Aaron Sisland, Ola Kolehmainen and Angie McMonical made me feel more confident in that the style of photography I was wishing to achieve was right for me. With Sisland’s leading lines and vertical symmetry in his work as too with Kolehmainen and the use of McMonical’s perspective when taking her images which gave them an abstract feel.  I liked this concept of abstract photography with the help of perspective and symmetry.

My first couple of days going out shooting, I wasn’t expecting anything good, I was just making a start, experimenting.  I was fortunate to get a nice shot of Bells Bridge,

I waited quite a while to get this shot and was hoping to get a shot with no one on it.  This wasn’t possible even with the lockdown restrictions.  This image works for me as a result of the vertical symmetry of the bridge, also the light hitting of the Armadillo and the blue sky.

As I had the car I could travel to various locations in and around Glasgow and as I was on my own the Police didn’t bother with me. I ventured to various places such as The Quay, West End of Glasgow, City Centre, Dams to Darnley and Port Glasgow. Many of my shots were taken in Glasgow City Centre. As I was in the City Centre much of the time and there were very few people and transport around, I made the decision (with advice from my lecturer) to change my project ever so slightly. I was still going to take perspective/symmetrical (they were more vertical symmetry) shots but to capture the empty streets of Glasgow along with the surreal feeling of a bustling city in lockdown.  This was achievable as previously mentioned I could wander about without the police stopping me.  Having said that I did find this an anxious experience, I knew I wasn’t doing anything against the law but when there is a police presence I felt sure that I would be stopped.  Thankfully I wasn’t as I captured images that produced a feeling of sadness.  My project has went from Fine Art to Documentary Photography, a genre that hasn’t necessarily interested me.  Having said that I did enjoy this, it was exciting (not because of the Police) I was documenting how the Covid crisis has had an effect of Glasgow City Centre and every city across the world.  There were one or two people in a couple of my final shots but for me that adds to the desertedness of the city.

This shot of the entrance at Buchanan Subway is one I like because of the symmetry of the escalators and lights. The eyes follow the lights. This image begins to tell the quietness of a city.

I took this image initially for the shot of the ambulance then when I looked back at my contact sheets I noticed the young man walking across the street.  No other traffic but an ambulance, no other people apart from the young man.

I like the perspective of this image, again an empty street (Hutchison Street).  There is darkness in the foreground with the trees and shadows but if you keep looking there is light, optimism.

This image of the entrance to the footbridge, I like simply because of the bright colours and again it documents the impact of the virus on people’s daily lives, gates that a normally open to the public are now closed. after looking at this image again, i think if i had stepped to the left slightly, the image would have a more vertical symmetry appeal.

Kelvin Way is normally a busy road for traffic, cyclists and pedestrians.  On that day, as with other days, there was a police presence in Kelvingrove Park. This particular road was closed off at either end.  I specifically took this shot for the perspective of the road and the police van.

North Hanover Street, deserted, normally busy with cars and buses. There is an air of doom and gloom in this shot with the help of the dark clouds.

St Enoch Subway, only sign of life there were 3 pigeons.  Aside from the pigeons this works from a vertical symmetry point of view and of course the fact that the place is deserted at 6.30pm.

Portman Street Suspension Bridge, I love the perspective/symmetry of this shot. Plus I managed to take this shot with no one on the bridge.

To get this shot I had to stand in the middle of the road, this is looking up towards Cathedral Street.  I like the fact that I have captured the ‘no entry’ painted on the road. Some’s up the situation at present.

I took this image on Buchanan Street, again to illustrate the emptiness of the city.  There is only one person standing at St Enoch centre in that entire vicinity.

Glasgow Green, there were cyclists, joggers and dog walkers going about their way but I managed to take this shot with no one in it. I like this image as there is a focal point, the Glasgow Commonwealth Statue), the eyes are drawn to it with the help of the trees at either side.

Of course, I complied a workbook detailing everything I had shot on each day, any changes to original idea, further research, contact sheets, my thoughts on each.  Similar to a journal.  This was a big piece of work in itself, I actually found this more daunting than the photoshoots as I do not consider my self to be artistic/creative.  As daunting as it was, the workbook was a therapeutic process and reflecting on the day’s work enabled me to explore other ideas.  When completing the workbook and looking at the contact sheets I could see my mistakes which made me critical of my work, this wasn’t a bad thing as it gave me the push to do better the next day.  This could be considered a positive.  Another positive aspect in the project was the Plan.  More so the feedback I received.  This gave me the confidence and the boost to start.  My biggest downfall my research or rather lack of research.  However, for the purposes of my Plan, research was a requirement and in doing so gave me the drive and excitement for my Graded Unit. Areas than have been successful?  The fact that I have found a new genre of photography that I like, this too is a positive.  I do like street photography, but this was different, hardly a soul to be seen, hardly traffic to be heard.  This made me look at Glasgow in a different way

 With everything there are always opportunities for improvement and photography is no exception.  The main area I feel I need to improve on is retouching (Photoshop) I can do the basics, adjusting black, whites, shadows etc in Lightroom.  A tool I did come across was a tool called Transform which fixes any perspective distortion.  That came in handy when the image didn’t quite look level. I try to avoid Photoshop as much as possible as layer masks and the like confuse me.  Therefore, I use either Lightroom or Bridge.  Another area of improvement is composition, I always thought I had that covered.  I started using 3x3 (in camera) rule of thirds to see if that would help.  It did but I don’t want to use that tool.  The issue with composition was brought to my attention my lecturer, I would maybe have to much sky or road in my shots. Fortunately, I can easily work on that. For me, the big issue is retouching.

 CONCLUSION

 I feel that I cannot properly write this evaluation without bringing in the impact of the Covid – 19 virus.  This didn’t have an impact on me in that I had to re-think my Graded Unit. I could still go outside; I wasn’t relying on college equipment such as studio lights, cameras, tripods.  I knew from the very beginning my photography would be completed outside.  The impact on me was my mental health, more so motivation to do the work.  Everything was up in the air. But I did it, got out the house with my camera and got on with it.

I was lucky, the only change I made was what I was going to shoot and where.  It was going to be city based not based amongst nature.  The main emphasis would be the surreal loneliness of a once busy city. As I have a car, I had no issues with getting to locations.  As mentioned above, there was a police presence in the city centre and as such felt rushed into taking the shots, this may have contributed to some poor quality images that I took and the fact that the tripod I used was not very sturdy for the camera (Nikon D7100 and Canon 700d).  To combat this I started using my monopod and mirrorless cameras (Canon m100 and Sony a6000). I also purchased a sturdier tripod which is yet to be used.

Some of the time I felt I was taking photographs just for the sake of taking an image, just to have something to show and in doing that would maybe only have one or two images I was happy with. Some days I would have nothing but rubbish shots but determination/learning/growth come from failures.  The rubbish days gave me the push to do more and not give up.  The big lesson there was and is not to give up and believe I can do this.  That is another area that is in need of improvement, my self-belief in my photography. When I’m not under pressure I can produce good shots but when I am feeling the pressure my nerve goes, I don’t feel confident.  Now that that I have completed my Graded Unit I feel a sense of achievement as this was a big and important project.  This was achieved in strange and difficult times.  I can learn much from this experience for when I go into year 2 of my HND. Buy a bigger workbook, do more research, learn more about Photoshop and most of all believe in my ability as a photographer.

[skookworks]

Gallery: 1-30

I had wanted to participate in Drawlloween/Inktober 2018. I like to do a little prep for sustained events so, earlier in the year, I’d checked to see if prompts had been posted for either challenge. Nothing. Checked again. Nothing. And then I forgot until October was a couple of days old. Joining in on October 2nd would have meant I was playing catch up. I hate playing catch up. I shrugged and figured, “Next year.”

A couple of days went by and the thought became, “All year.” Instead of drawing and posting an image a day in October of 2018, I decided to post an image a day in 2019. My parameters would be simple: spend no more than a half an hour on each sketch. By starting to do the sketches in early October I’d have enough of a headstart that I was sure I’d be able to manage the pace.

I posted an image a day, every day, in 2019. I actually only did 362 half hour sketches. I misnumbered a couple of my scans midway through and didn’t realize the mistake until I got the end of the year. For December 29th and 30th I posted a couple of more complex illustrations that I finished for the occasion. December 31st was a blank image – New Year, New Possibilities.

The sketches can be seen if you look at the daily posts here for 2019. To simplify things I’m going to be posting galleries of the 30 images at a time, 12 galleries total, between now and the end of 2020. This is the first one.

#gallery-0-6 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-6 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-6 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-6 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Story Seed 43

Exploring the Last Sky Jungle

In November 1913, The Strand Magazine published Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story The Horror of the Heights. At the time airplanes were novel machines and few people had flown in them. Sure, the idea that there might be entire ecosystems up there above the clouds seemed implausible but that part of the world was unexplored enough that it wasn’t completely impossible. I read it when I was a kid, probably sometime in the 1970s. By then the airline industry was well established and the idea that huge creatures were living in the stratosphere was, at best, quaint.

The skies are full of planes and, as far as we know, no one has been attacked by any air predators. Not recently. There are two possibilities why –

The 20th century air pollution and the airline industry destroyed the sky ecosystems and by the 21st century all those animals are extinct. The aerohabitats were always fragile things. The toxins that rose into the upper atmosphere killed them. Faster and stronger airplanes tore through flocks of the creatures without the pilots even realizing it. Some of the larger and speedier beasts were mistaken for aircrafts and labeled “UFO”s.

The aerohabits existed and continue to exist just outside our perception. They were seen by early aeronauts because the lack of oxygen, greater exposure to cosmic radiation and other effects of the upper atmosphere created heightened perception. The aeronauts saw things that, with better, safer equipment, are no longer seen.

So that gives us two obvious possibilities for stories –

There are places in the atmosphere where few planes fly and where the air is less polluted. I tried doing some quick googling to find out what parts of the world see the least airplanes but came up short of useful info. The Antarctic skies is probably one region. There’s a big chunk of the Pacific Ocean with no islands and therefore no spots to refuel. I looked at satellite images of those areas in Google maps and the photos there are really low rez. Humans don’t watch the places where humans don’t go. So now you’d just need a reason to have someone go there and discover the last Aerojungle.

H.P. Lovecraft’s story From Beyond features a device called the Tillenghast Resonator. When activated the resonator allows a human being to see the creatures that exist beyond our normal, limited perception. An aeronaut in a new, experimental ultralight craft, attempting to make a new altitude record, finds him/herself in the middle of an aerohabit. The craft was accidentally constructed in such a way to alter the pilot’s perceptions and senses. The pilot can now see the air beasts. And the air beasts can now see the pilot.

Recommendations

This week I’m going to recommend avoiding Facebook. Plenty of other folks have made this suggestion. The thing is designed to keep you scrolling and I find that my attention span gets shorter the longer I’m visiting it. Last week, rather than jumping on FB first thing in the morning while my coffee woke me up, I read one or two of the newsletters that I’ve been recommending. More focused. A longer read. And, once I’d finished a newsletter, it was easier to write or work on art until I had to make breakfast.

This Week

My union has won arbitration on management’s “Consolidated Casing Initiative”. All 61 stations that have tried to implement this terrible plan are going to reconvert to regular casing and delivery. My station was on the list to join this “experiment” and I’m feeling nothing but relief.

I can think of a number of ways to improve our office and street times but, in my observation, management doesn’t ask the carriers how we could improve service. So we do the best we can.

The week has been mostly uneventful personally. The cat that was chewing on the base of his tail got a shot of steroids and antibiotics and a medicated cream that we applied on the spot for a week. The raw spots have healed and his fur is growing back. The cat that needs electrolyte infusions continues to tolerate them. He doesn’t seem to love us any less afterward.

The protests and curfews slowed down the care packages from my Big Sister this week but she did bring us salmon cakes and a chicken mushroom new potato pie. On Sunday I made up a stir fry to go with the cakes. I’m looking forward to having the pie tonight.

Nationally it’s been a mess. If you’re paying attention you know what I mean. I hope that there are positive results from all this. I don’t dislike the police in general but I also don’t trust them in general. The few times I’ve been pulled over here in Seattle the cops have been polite and easy going. But I’m an older white guy. I know my experience isn’t the experience of others. I had different experiences when I was in my teens and twenties in small towns in California. My friends and I often wandered the streets at night and occasionally got stopped. I was never arrested but the cops were often confrontational, unnecessarily so. I got lucky.

If you’re out there protesting, thank you for your service. Change is inevitable, positive change requires positive intention. Constant positive intention. Stay safe. Look out for each other. The monsters win until they lose. And they always lose.

Tuesday Night Party Club #23 Gallery: 1-30 I had wanted to participate in Drawlloween/Inktober 2018. I like to do a little prep for sustained events so, earlier in the year, I'd checked to see if prompts had been posted for either challenge.

[eljackinton]

Jack's 2019 Video Games in Review

Once again it's the time of year for me to do a quick, off-the-cuff run through of the games I played this year. As ever most, and nearly all, were not actually released in 2019 and some date a while back, but who cares, I play what I like.

Prey and Prey: Mooncrash

I had a thoroughly enjoyable time with Prey. It's a tight and very atmospheric world that's intriguing to be in and fun to mess around with, however, I just couldn't get the game to stick with me. I think it's because in the end it's far too reminiscent of System Shock 2, of which it is inspired by, and I can't help but feel that the loops, and the tone of the plot was too similar for it to really grow out on it's own.

It's a good thing, then, that it was followed up by Mooncrash. It's genuinely interesting premise, of a persistent world where you play several 'runs' as different characters with different abilities, was a fresh take on the familiar Deus Ex/Thief style emergent sim, and made the whole Prey experience worth it. Can't wait to see how Arkane evolves the concept with Deathloop.

Halo Wars

It's been over a decade but I finally got around to playing the first Halo Wars game. Not a lot to say really. It's attempt at a console-only RTS is interesting to experience and is not very well executed and it's plot is just identical to the first Halo game but not as surprising. Unmemorable.

Battletech: Flashpoint, Urban Warfare and Heavy Metal

The Battletech DLC released this year all contributed heavily to improving my opinion of a game I already loved. Each one added new ideas and concepts and I'm hoping we'll see them develop over a sequel. The mini-campagins were all well written and genuinely funny at times. If I have one criticism it's that they waited until the last DLC to add a tonne of new mechs and weapons and equipment and I never go to use most of them because I'd already experienced the vast majority of the missions. Good for new players, not so much for me, but if you haven't played it yet getting it with all the DLC is a hell of a recommendation.

Hyper Light Drifter

I loved the tone and the aesthetic of this abstract sci-fi tale, but gameplay wise, it just wasn't my jam. Unforgiving and more for players in it for the challenge. Give me a more chill game in this setting please.

Ladykiller in a Bind

One of the few games that have genuinely handled the push and pull of personal morals vs personal gain I've ever seen. Despite being billed as an erotic comedy, the game is much more about thrills and tension than all that. There are some valid criticism of how the game handles sexuality (look it up if you're concerned), but in terms of games telling stories of manipulation I don't think I've ever seen a game quite like it.

Hitman (Season One)

Hitman realising that it actually works better as an episodic black-dramady was one of best moments for the world of gaming. A pitch perfect representation of a bald asexual assassin jet setting around the world to sexy locals and giving terrible people ironic deaths. A classic and I'm only partway through Hitman 2, but they certainly didn't drop the ball with the sequel either.

The Witcher, The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3 with Hears of Stone and Blood and Wine

Playing all these games back to back game me whiplash. The Witcher is one of the worst games I have ever played. It's poorly designed, badly written and has a visual aesthetic that is washed out and grim. I felt my mental health getting worse just playing it.

Witcher 2 is a vast improvement. A vibrant colourful world, solid gameplay and a well written, multi-layered plot of politics and vengeance. Only brought down slightly by it's tendency to take the tone in the edgiest direction possible. I cringed a lot, at story moments in this game.

Witcher 3 is one of the greatest games ever written. Gone is the jank of the first game, gone is the try hard edge of the second. Witcher 3 cares about it's characters as much as it does about giving you a massive world to lose yourself 2. It's the perfect marriage of cinematic storytelling and a go anywhere, do anything open world. Things get even better with Hearts of Stone, and even even better with Blood and Wine.

Wolfenstien: Youngblood

Most people had nothing but bad things to say about Youngblood, but I had nothing but a great time with it. The gameplay was a blast, the world was fun to explore, the characters were a joy to hang around with and the story, while nothing special, was still interesting enough to see how it unfolds. I don't get why people reacted so negatively.

Baba is You

The block puzzler's ultimate form. I don't see how you make a game of this genre any better after this. Just play the dang thing.

Fugue in Void

A super short (20 minutes) environmental experience. Leaves you things to think about. Not for the kind of person who can't spend two minutes in a modern art gallery.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Varnhold’s Lot

It would take all day for me to talk about my complicated feelings for Kingmaker, so I'll put it this way. Great story, great characters, great gameplay all brought down by an ill-fitting mash up with an otherwise well designed kingdom management sim and some head-bashingly obnoxious moments where massive story elements are tied to seemingly unrelated decisions you made twenty hours ago.

Damn I wanted to like this game, but as the credits rolled I just felt I'd been cheated.

Minit

A quick once-and-done that's dedicated to one particular concept that it pushes as far as it can go. What can you get done with 60 seconds per life before you respawn and how does the world react around you. Really interesting.

The Signal from Tolva

Another game that's dedicated to it's singular concept. Explore a mysterious alien world in a post-human universe. Unusual, weird and inspiring. It's free DLC has an unreasonably large difficulty spike, however.

Potatoman Seeks the Troof

A funny visual design but too difficult for me to finish.

Hand of Fate

A really interesting concept, combining a deck building game with a dungeon crawler. Tightly designed, the vast majority of your early runs will be sharp and surprising. Long outstays it's welcome however as the clunky combat controls do the more difficult encounters no favours, and you find you're only still playing to try and grind out the last few tokens you need to unlock. I have high hopes for when I eventually get round to the sequel.

Warhammer: Vermintide 2: Winds of Magic

The arrival of the beastmen is another well executed addition to the overall Vermintide 2 experience, but I wish I could say the same thing about the new Winds of Magic campaign mode. Short, sharp 'challenge maps' that require you complete them before you unlock the next, can be almost impossibly difficult at times, made all the worse that you can't play with bots and managing to catch a party playing the specific map you're on is just as impossible. Fatshark's first failed experiment with the game.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: The Shivering Isles (sort of)

I've only been jumping back in to Oblivion on and off this year, so I still haven't finished it's final DLC. Maybe I haven't got into it far enough yet but I don't feel it distinguishes itself enough from vanilla Oblivion like a lot of people claim it does, and a lot of the 'people as concepts' ideas don't work for me. We'll see if I go on to finish it in 2020.

Normally I do a top 5 of games released in that year, but I don’t think I played more than three, so we’ll uhhh, say Baba is You is my game of the year.

[malisonquill]

Half-Raptor Rex (and Emmet)'s Biology

So to start things off, Rex is roughly half raptor. For the purposes of making things simpler, I'm gonna refer to him as being half and half, but that's probably not the case. He didn't set out to be a hybrid when he altered himself to be stronger, that was an accident, so he had no say over just how raptor-y he ended up. I would say when you take into account his looks and all his behaviour and stuff it does work out to being half human and raptor. But physically? He's definitely more human. After all, his body structure looks pretty human. He's still got a very human looking torso, head, and arms. It's just his extremities (his legs, hands, and addition of a tail) that are far more raptor looking. That's why when I draw him, those raptor-y parts fade to a darker shade of blue. So like, raptor parts = darker blue like how the raptors have, human parts = lighter blue similar in tone to what his normal human skin colour would be. (That's excluding his markings of course. They don't count in that and they're all over him.)

And whilst we're on the subject, let's first take a look at his outward appearance!

So the stripes. They start on his neck near the base of his skull, run all the way down his back/ spine, and down his tail. Then there's more stripes on his shoulders, that run down his bicep and the top of his forearm and hands, stopping at his knuckles. He's also got stripes that start at his hips and go down the sides of his thighs, all the way down to stop near his ankle/ where his trousers end. (Hmm… I should probably draw a ref for all that at some point 😏)

Then like I said before, all his extremities go to a darker blue at the ends. You can see this on most pics of him I've done.

Then of course there's his strength. He's very strong, very buff, and also very tall (I’d say he’s about 7’6” and you can see his height in comparison to Lucy in this pic). I don't constantly jokingly refer to him as "beefman" for nothing! xD Cuddlesome summed it up best in her fic: 

“Dumbbells and barbells had long since stopped being a challenge for his mutated body to handle, so he’d taken to power lifting with the Rex-wing fighters. It’s the only thing that poses even a bit of a challenge to his massive arms.”

Strength was the aspect he was going for and most hoping to improve when he changed himself, so of course he’s physically very strong. To workout, he either has to lift very heavy objects or maybe use some kind of sci-fi dumbbells that can have their gravity increased (like in that one episode of Futurama). People pose no challenge for him to lift. He could easily carry both Emmet and Lucy over his shoulders, or under his arms if he wanted to and be able to keep that up for a long time. (Here’s a doodle/ wip of him doing that. Rex is a tad too big in it tho.)

He mostly uses his physical Dino strength when it comes to him master breaking. He only uses the more mystical "destroy a temple in one punch" kind of thing in rare circumstances when he's incredibly mad. Because his dino strength is enough most of the time. 

But before I can talk more about physical stuff and behavioural traits, I first gotta talk about my headcanons for Rex’s/ the Lego Movie-verse raptors. 

Now real velociraptors were covered in feathers and about the size of a turkey, only coming up to about the average adult human’s knee. Obviously the Lego Movie raptors are a LOT BIGGER and much more based off the Jurassic Park interpretation. 

So I came up with the idea that the movie raptors are a subspecies that are a lot larger. It’s a fictional world after all, you can take liberties. Though despite me doing that, I have tried to include as much real science as I can. So for example, real raptors apparently went from hatched to fully grown in about a year. And as the movie raptors are 3/ 3 ½ times bigger than a normal raptor, I think they’d take 3-4 years to fully grow. They eat a lot in that time to grow big real quick.

As for noises they make, I think they make many different sounds. They can roar, screech, growl, chirp, hiss, all that stuff. 

And for their behaviour, they obviously act like dinosaurs. So they’d do a lot of lizardy/ snakey/ crocodile-like things. But the movie has them act like dogs too, what with how they go after tennis balls and all. And personally I’ve given them some cat like aspects too xD Like with their slitted eyes going wide in fear or at something they like. So their behaviour to me is kind of a melting pot of all that.

And so of course, how does that apply to half-raptor Rex?

Well let’s start with behaviour. He has a lot of raptor instincts, and they can overpower his rational thinking when his emotions get too intense. Which is why he has a fairly good handle on controlling his feelings. Using things like meditation techniques to calm himself down is very important when you can do a lot of damage when their left unchecked. Or conversely, if the situation calls for it, he can let himself go entirely to unleash maximum destruction. 

The most obvious example with his heightened emotions is anger. He gets angry, he’s gonna growl and snarl. He starts off with quiet growls when he’s only a little angry, and would react like a human would mostly. If he was fighting someone at this point, he’d be using normal things like punches and martial arts techniques. But the angrier he gets, the more he loses control and the more raptor-like he acts. So when he’s furious and out of control, he does a lot of roaring, growling, snarling and goes into raptor fighting mode. Claws and fangs and kicks with his feet are used. (Also apparently scientists think that raised claw raptors have was so it’d be constantly sharp. So… he could use that in a fight >:3).

But raptor behaviour taking over his rational human behaviour doesn’t just apply to anger. It applies to all of his emotions. Fear can make him go wide eyed and whine, or super happy makes him go into raptor puppy/kitty mode. Some days he’ll get in a sad mood and follow Lucy and/or Emmet around like a sad puppy. He mopes and whines if they leave him (for too long). He'll just want to sit near them if they want to do their own thing, or cuddle until he feels less mopey. 

Raptor instincts taking over like that could help as a kind of defensive thing. Tho probably annoys Rex more than anything xD Like you know, if he's just trying to be chill and normal, but then someone throws a tennis ball and he has to REALLY restrain himself xD

Now obviously being around pretty much just the raptors for years, he picks up a lot of their behaviours and is more prone to doing them unconsciously. He’s generally more aggressive, but that’s probably more his normal Rex anger being heightened by the raptor-ness. He’s defensive of his food, he’ll hiss or growl involuntarily a lot, swish his tail at things, his pupils will change, etc. 

The raptors probably taught him how to ‘properly hunt’ as well. Which thinking about it, the image of him running alongside a group of them as they teach him and chase something down is almost cute? But he himself is probably gonna only take down small things. Taking down a big animal with a group of raptors might be a bit too raptory for him to want to do. Tho he probably did it at least once to see what it was like. (Also on the note of hunting, because he’s so equipped to do it, eventually during his redemption, he becomes a bounty hunter, but more on that in another post…)

All these raptor like things that he does, he only becomes really aware of post movie, when he’s hanging around Emmet and Lucy. He realises just how much humanity he’s lost after spending time with them. It hurts. It makes him loathe what he’s done to himself even more. 

But those two will help him act more human again. They can pull him up on behaviours and help him, and he’s grateful for that. Any little thing to make him feel ‘normal’ makes him feel better.

Now about some more physical stuff. 

When he’s standing still, he’ll let the end of his tail rest on the floor. Unless the floor is super dirty, then he might lift it up or curl it around a leg to keep it elevated. When he’s walking he’ll lean his torso forward slightly and lift his tail up. When he’s running at full tilt, his tail is out straight behind him and he leans forward a lot. (Almost like Naruto running xD but his arms are forward.)

Diet wise, he needs more meat than a human. He’s still an omnivore, but with a lean towards the carnivorous side. So he does need a balance of foods. And he can’t last on a meat free diet. If he tried to be totally vegetarian (not that he would xD) he would get sick or malnourished in only a few weeks. He can’t live on just veggies. And conversely, he can eat raw meat, more so than a human could, but if he tried to eat nothing but raw meat in his meals, he’d make himself ill with food poisoning after a week or two. Also to keep up his muscle mass, and also just because he’s a very big guy, he needs to eat big meals. Lots of protein, that kind of thing. 

So on that note of food, he’s got a lot of fangs to deal with eating meat, and if he was hunting prey, and that’s mostly at the front, but he does still have some flatter molars at the back of his mouth. Also he can open his mouth quite wide and has very strong jaw muscles for clamping down on things. 

His eyes are obviously raptor/ cat-like, so he can see in the dark quite well. 

His skin is rougher and feels a bit like soft scales. It’s gotta be tough you see. Means he isn’t as injured by light scratches. And the more raptor parts of him have tougher/ more scale like texture. 

He isn’t cold blooded, but in some ways he is a bit? He is a lot more sluggish in cold weather. He hates being out in it, and avoids it at all costs. He’s more susceptible to the cold too and can have trouble keeping up his body temperature in cold environments. He needs to wrap up warm and can’t stay out in the snow or something for as long as a human could. 

He can make all those sounds the raptors can, and speak and understand raptor fluently. Sometimes he talks like this instead of using words by mistake. He’s just so used to the raptors for company. 

“How many T-Rex jokes does he have to deal with?”

Mostly the raptors joke about that to annoy him if he wants them to do something they don’t want to do. But if they piss him off too much by doing that, they quickly do as they're told. He’s like their Alpha. He’s the boss, and you don’t mess with the boss 0-0

Lucy would joke about that too. He begrudgingly lets her get away with it more than he otherwise would.

Now for some Emmet stuff!

Emmet as a half raptor is still pretty sweet, but if he gets aggravated he can snap a lot more easily and violently than he would as a human. He doesn’t have any control over his feelings/ instincts like Rex does. Rex could hold himself back if someone threw a tennis ball for him. Emmet would case after it, catch it, and not realise he’s done that till it’s in his mouth and he’s chewing on it. He does a lot of things like that involuntarily. 

But for the most part, Emmet is like a giant puppy. Playful, clumsy, likes to chew on things he shouldn’t. It’s cute.  

And that’s pretty much all I can think of for now!

[tokkitchen]

[ kim doyoung, 25 ] did you hear? there’s a new addition to the hypehens family! [ tokkitchen ] was starting to get known for [ cooking/baking tutorials & challenges ] and i think they will hit it big this time around as a part of the [ kimcheese ] squad at hypehens. [ shin sunwoo ] is known to be [ cheeky ] and enjoys [ farming simulation rpgs ]. with their vibes of [ flour stained cheeks and freshly baked bread ] and a style that is unique, i think they are going to take the internet by storm!

hi there! this took me a hot minute, but i’ve finally got sunwoo’s page up and running! you can find the basics & background about him there. tl;dr he loves the culinary arts and overall is a genuine but playful person. for the love of god do not call him a flirt or be passive aggressive with him unless you wanna start some drama which i am 100% down for. you can im me on tumblr or discord (kupo#6438, my dp is a pikachu) if you’re down to plot! 

please note that any gif icons posted here and in future posts were made by yours truly.

here are sunwoo’s basics & background copied and pasted from my pages for your convenience.

Basic Information

⥼ Full Name: Shin Sunwoo ⥼ Pronouns: He/Them ⥼ Gender: Cismale ⥼ Birthday: February 1, 1996 ⥼ Age: 25 ⥼ Orientation: Bisexual ⥼ Relationship status: Single ⥼ Occupation: Creator & host of Tokkitchen ⥼ Residence: Seoul, South Korea

Physical Appearance

⥼ Faceclaim: Doyoung of NCT 127 ⥼ Hair: Black, medium length tapered short at the sides and the back, fringe clipped neatly but softly resting just below his eyebrows ⥼ Eyes: Walnut brown ⥼ Height: February 1, 1996 ⥼ Age: 25 ⥼ Height: 179 cm (5'10") ⥼ Build: Slim, very little muscle definition ⥼ Piercings: Ear lobes ⥼ Tattoos: None… yet ⥼ Clothing style: Overall casual to semi-casual and simple, prefers loose fits for pieces like sweaters, hoodies, and t-shirts, prefers fitted for pieces like denim jackets, varsity jackets, jeans, chinos, and sweatpants

Personality

⥼ Positive Traits: Warm, perceptive, playful ⥼ Negative Traits: Blunt, resentful, opinionated If you were to ask someone what Sunwoo’s most remarkable characteristic is, they would most likely mention how he treats everyone he meets like they’re an old friend. To some, that can be comforting, his easy smiles and laughs providing them a sense of security and acceptance. To others, that can be irritating: a stranger acting much too presumptuous and all too familiar for comfort. While Sunwoo does his best to be tactful and mindful of others, it’s undeniable that his personality doesn’t always mesh well with others. Sunwoo is not afraid to speak his mind whenever he finds it appropriate and necessary. He highly values improvement for himself and his loved ones. As such, he is the first to call out his friends on their bullshit, in the most loving way possible of course, seeing it as an opportunity for growth. Though he tries to choose his words as carefully as possible and his intentions are never ill, he can sometimes come off as a overly blunt, and in worst case scenarios, harsh.  In that same vein, Sunwoo never hesitates in building people up and often goes out of his way to compliment them, whether that be on their work or even on their looks, gaining him the reputation of a bit of a flirt. This is completely unintentional, as he’s not exactly aware of the way he holds eye contact with people a little longer than average, or the way his genuine tone of voice can slip into something more suggestive. He gets pretty offended if you accuse him of being a flirt and doesn’t really understand why he’s seen that way. He is an extremely genuine person, despite how he may come off. He always says what he means and hopes that other people will do the same for him. Consequently, he greatly dislikes people who are passive aggressive, finding it a waste of everyone’s time to fish out exactly what they mean.

Childhood

Sunwoo was born two years after his older brother, Shinwoo. His parents both worked at well known companies and earned good money, affording them an upper middle class lifestyle, but as a result were rarely ever home. Sunwoo did his best not to take their money for granted, understanding even at a young age just how much they had to break their backs to earn it.

Adolescence

His older brother excelled in school, earning straight A’s and getting into the first college of his choice. Sunwoo, on the other hand, was just a little above average and often felt overshadowed by his brother’s performance. This subsconsciously affected his work ethic. There would be times, for example, when he would just give up studying for an exam because he knew he wouldn’t be able to achieve the grade he wanted—that is, one that was comparable to his brother’s. Once he was old enough, Sunwoo got a job at local convenience store so he could earn his own spending money without bothering his parents. There, he regained some of his confidence and came to realize that his strengths lay outside of a rigorous school system. Still, he completed high school and decided to go to college, majoring in Business.

Tokkitchen

Sick of eating instant ramyeon for the fifth time that week, Sunwoo put aside his textbook and decided to look up simple dishes to cook. He fell into the metaphorical rabbit hole and found himself watching cooking videos for a few hours, landing on a few recipes that seemed simple enough to try. The next day, he went out to buy the necessary groceries and began cooking. His dish was… okay. It wasn’t completely awful, but it wasn’t spectacular either. Strangely enough, he wasn’t discouraged and vowed to try again the next day since he had leftover ingredients. The next day came, and this time the dish was light years better than before. Pleased with the results, Sunwoo continued to watch cooking videos online and improved his skills little by little. When he was able to perfect a pasta recipe, he invited his friends over to his apartment so that he could cook dinner for them—they would be his “first set of guinea pigs” as he put it. They were goofing around, and one of his friends took out their phone to record Sunwoo cooking. He began mimicking the narrative style of the numerous videos he watched, explaining what he was doing in an exaggerated soothing tone. It was one of the most fun nights he’s ever had. His friend sent him the video a few days later. Sunwoo watched it, cringing at the sound of his voice, but recalled how much fun he had filming it. He immediately began searching his college’s website for rentable video equipment, determined to make a cooking video, but for real this time.  After transferring and editing his very first video—"gourmet" meals using convenience store ingredients—onto his bulky, old laptop, he uploaded it to the internet under the username Tokkitchen, a reference to his apparently notorious resemblance to a rabbit. This was mostly for safekeeping—he knew his laptop was on its last legs and he only had so much hard drive space after all—but he also secretly hoped that maybe he would be able to capture a small audience. Sunwoo enjoyed making these videos so much that he went as far as changing his major to Film (his college did not offer a Culinary Arts major.) His technique and style improved significantly, and his viewer count steadily grew. It wasn’t nearly enough to justify doing it full time though, so after he graduated, he began the dreaded job search.

Present

After a year and a half of uploading videos, and just a month into the job search, Tokkitchen was suddenly an overnight success thanks to a video he had certainly not expected to be his claim to fame. It was one of his more casual videos: a half vlog, half cooking tutorial of caramel flan. Commenters seemed particularly delighted by his inclusion of footage of his three failed attempts at not burning the caramel and the resulting existential breakdown he had following them. He continued this model for his next video, and the next video, and the next video, and his channel views continued to grow exponentially. He has been praised by viewers for his down to earth personality and warm, atmospheric style.

[wizzionconsult-blog]

Catching the Fuel of the Future

Scientific research proving global warming is coming in like pre-quakes before the big one and only rock-hard and bone-headed sceptics reject the tsunami of evidence showing that the world is steadily heating up. Proving the actual cause of the warming is a bit trickier, but the massive amount of greenhouse gases we tiny humans are constantly feeding to the atmosphere sure seem like an obvious culprit. According to IMO the Shipping industry produce about 2.2% of the global carbon dioxide. Doesn't sound like much, you say? I can, with a bad conscience, admit that I agree, thinking that the pesky agricultural industry should clean up their act first. However, although the similarities are striking, the world is not a kindergarden and we should all make sure we can look our grandchildren in our eyes and tell them what we did to make a contribution. So, what options can we choose from in order to make them sail the green wave into the future?

Well, let’s take a close look at the hot contestants in this green and renewable Paradise Hotel show of energy solutions:

First, we have the strong and burly Diesel who has a great position and has won all of the previous contests, but is still pretty much looked down upon by everyone except a few devoted supporters who are working franticly to provide him with engines and cleaning systems he can use to clean up his act. He is not cheap, but he sure does deliver, and we will definitely receive a wake-up-to-reality-punch-in-the-face if he is voted out too early as none of the other contestants are really up to the task of taking over the throne quite yet.

Second, we have the blond and beautiful  Liquid Natural Gas ice queen. She has been around for ages trying to shove out mr.Diesel but hasn't really got the tactics right yet and now she's starting to look more like a cougar than a young beauty queen. She does, however, have some great advantages as she is available and affordable, although getting everything sorted preparing for her is quite expensive. She is very clean, but her dark secret, Methane Slip is actually not so secret after all, and really puts her up there with mr.Diesel when it comes to global warming. Also, you really gotta know how to handle her, or she may cause you some heartache.

Third contestant is is LNG's twin sister, Liquid Bio Gas. Now here is quite an enigma, as she is an identical twin in theory, but still much more attractive as calculator magicians can prove that she is actually reducing the total emissions of greenhouse gases. Everybody loves her, until they see the costs. After all, she really is no different from LNG, right? Perhaps Green Certificates could be the road to victory.

Next is Biodiesel, the younger brother of Mr.Diesel. He has a reputation for destroying rainforest, consuming agricultural land, killing orangutan babies, and not really being much cleaner than his brother. He claims he loves to be renewable and carbon-neutral, you just have to do him the right way!

Then you have Methanol, a clean and handsome hipster with very expensive habits, a well groomed beard and requiring us to use semi-developed fancy equipment that may work, sometimes. He can be the product of bacteria and plankton and although he thinks he's the best, he doesnt have many fans for the time being, as people love their money too much.

The star of the show is ms.Hydrogen. Now she is a work of art, as she can produce limitless amounts of sparkling green and renewable energy. She's beautiful, versatile and intelligent, but with an almost uncontrollable anger, and is known to blow up without further ado. Accidents will happen! Also, she doesn't like to travel, and getting her from one place to the other is an epic hassle. So far, her shows are few and far between, and the tickets cost much more than they're worth. But we are all hoping for an improvement!

Ammonia is the son of Ms.Hydrogen. He works well with both fuel cells and engines, and can solve the problems of  transporting green hydrogen molecules although he is very big and heavy compared to how much punch he carries. He has a toxic personality and likes to kill people.

Dimethylether or DME amongst friends, is a funky and dried out relative of Methanol. Just as clean and attractive, she also boists renewable potential as she loves to do magic with organic materials. As easy to liquify as Petroleum Gas (LPG), she is much easier to move around than LNG. And who cares about emissions, as long as they are renewable, right?

Our next contestant is a navy sailor serving jail time for serious offences, and is persona non grata. His name is Nuclear, and would actually do the job better than anyone. Unfortunately, if he makes a royal mistake he can ruin our world, and until someone can figure out a way to convert him to Thorium, Im afraid he has an uphill struggle to win this show.

Getting close to the end, Mr.Battery shows up. He is big and heavy, with very little work capacity, and he sure knows what to charge for his meager services. Unless something very unexpected happens he will continue to be mainly support cast, working best together with one of the stars, or getting short jobs where he gets plenty of Rest&Recreation.

Finally, the big ole' bastard HFO is still lurking in the shadows, and can either put on some serious sulphuric make-up, or buy expensive cruthches that make him hobble around with a green face. A pig with make-up is still a pig.

So, who's going to be the great and powerful winner of this contest? Will a single contestant demolish all competitors, will they share the show and specialize in individiual segments, or will a new challenger swipe all competition off the board?

Personally, I would love to see Thorium enter the playing field, but to keep things realistic I see ammonia and DME as strong contenders, along with LNG and LBG in sweet union. My plan is to continue my ramblings in this blog, and see where it all leads to. Stay tuned and out of Corona-reach!

[marcoacesabo]

Pizza Pie of My Eye

For the Anon that asked for  “Pizzeria worker Ace who meets businessmen Marco and Sabo”. I’m so sorry I accidentally deleted the ask when I was trying to press edit.  But here I hope you like it.

Under a read more since it got supper long

When Ace was ten years old he marched down the mountain to Foosha Village intending on asking Makino for manner lessons.  He had it all planned out. He would learn how to properly thank people so he could show Red-Hair Shanks the right amount of respect.

After Sabo dying, Ace realize how grateful he was for the pirate saving his little brother. If he hadn't there would be a very big chance Ace would never have met Luffy, leaving him alone when Sabo was no longer with them. That would have been hell.

Luckily he did have his crybaby brother and it was the only thing keeping him sane those few months where he would turn to his left expecting his best friend’s input in the conversation.  And finding it hollowly empty instead of the bright smile with a missing gap. 

He did not expect to find the lovely barkeep- she was so pretty to him. As a child, he thought she was the prettiest person to ever live- over stress with rush hour. She was running back and forth, attempting to take orders, run the bar and cook at the same time. A boat of merchants had stopped at the village port, a common thing seeing the port charge in little Foosha was much less compared to the one in the city. It wasn’t that far of a walk so they park the ships in the little village and carry everything to the bigger market place.

The men upon that ship were much less understanding of her hurried apologies for being understaffed. They wanted their orders quickly,  making snide comments to hurry.  

 Ace and Luffy had jumped in to help, allowing her to cook the food and run the bar while the two boys waited tables. Yes, they did end up breaking more plates then delivering to tables but it was fast paced and a little fun. 

Luffy got the men to lighten up with his cheerful demeanor and Ace was able to weave and wave through the tables. He never thought being in a bar could be fun, but oddly it was.  Sure some of the men made him want to break their faces but balancing the plates while dodging the various merry making keep him on his toes. 

Once rush ended, Makino had taken them to the side. She gave them a bright smile, a warm thank you (causing Ace’s cheeks to burst red) and a nice little sack of coins for the three hours they help.  

That was the first time anyone gave him money willingly. Ace had been struck in place awe of the coins.  Makino had laughed when he looks lost, gently curving his fingers around the bag as Luffy cheered in the background.  

“You deserve this Ace-chan. You worked very hard.”  She said, eyes soft as the boy staring up at her with still the same amount of awe.  “When you work hard you deserve a reward. I’m really proud of you and Luffy’s work.”

That was also the first time anyone ever said they were proud of him.  When put the coins in the new pirate fund- the old one was stolen during the fire by who he didn’t know but it didn’t feel right without Sabo anyway- and oddly enough these few coins made him feel prouder than the stake he is used to taking by force.

Was it really a surprise he kept coming back?  He returns for his lessons and if those lessons happen to happen after he helps around the bar a little, so what? It was fun, in a weird self-satisfying way when they close up and breath a sigh of relief that the day was down.  

Makino kept giving them sacks of money, which Ace eagerly added to their growing fund.  Oh don’t get him wrong, the two keep up their thieving ways and training but whenever they had a chance they would go down and earn some “honest” money. 

It didn’t hurt that she feed them after hours. Her food was heaven, cooked far better than anything the bandits could offer. Then one night, she made them something he never had before.

“Pizza?”  Ace took a look around the kitchen confuse on what he had to.   “What’s that?”

Makino’s face broke into a wide smile  “It’s my favorite food. I don’t usually make it for the bar since it takes so long but I thought you boy would love to try some. I wanted to teach you how to make it so you can have some whenever you like.”  

Pizza Ace learn was the funniest thing in the world. His first attempts to make the dough spin in the air was a disaster but Makino had been patient. She taught them how to make the sauce, the toppings, and the dough throwing was downright art in her capable hands. Another thing Ace was grateful for.  

No one ever attempted to teach him how to cook before. Maybe if they had, Ace would have found a new passion long ago.  He adores it. The way flavors change when adding just a tad different ingredients? The way Luffy’s and Makino’s face lite up whenever he made something yummy? The simple knowledge that something he created brought people joy?  

It wasn’t long before Ace was also helping in the kitchen, regulars getting custom to his dishes and able to tell the difference in who cooked what.  Of course, Makino was no five-star chef, her food was pleasant but not awe-inspiring.  Still Ace found his cooking was just as pleasant following her instructions, and he had always put a hundred percent into everything he found worthwhile. 

Just as his manners improved, so did his cooking. Over the next few years Ace found just as much joy in cooking then he did in sparing. At some point, Makino’s kitchen became his domain and he somehow had a part-time job with her. 

New dishes were added to the menu, little experiments that Ace took the liberty in creating. Makino places them under “Ace’s Dishes” and he glowed every time she arrived with updated menus, his latest creation under that header.

But his absolute favorite was creating a pizza.   

New toppings, new sauces, new combinations. Everything about it was fun. Luffy certainly appreciated being a test dummy for each one too. His pizzas were even bringing in more customers, having heard the praises from varies sailors in the market place.  

Even Garp, in his few visits, took pleasure chewing down on Ace’s famous pizza...after a brutal training of course. 

Before Ace realize it, he was about to be seventeen the year he was to set out to be a pirate, his childhood dream. And he was conflicted. He wanted to set sail...but he didn’t get as excited as he used to about the idea of his pirate life. Instead, it felt like the days were counting down to doom, and he only had a few more months left of enjoying the simple life he set up. Disregarding the training, the hunting and the muggings he and Luffy contuine. Hey, he needed to keep strong plus it was really fun. He did stop dine and dashing, mostly due to knowing just how it was affecting the establishments. Sea knows he would hunt down anyone who dared to bail on the bill they owe him. 

 Makino, stepping up as a mother figure, took notice quickly. She brought it up one night with both boys eating in the bar after hours.

“Ace-chan, do you really want to be a pirate?”  

Luffy stops eating sensing something was different in the way Ace stiffen up.  “Of course I do, Makino. It’s my dream!”

“Dreams change sweetie, and there is nothing wrong with having your interest shifting. I’ve met adults with finished careers that find they rather be something else. People are allowed to change their mind, it’s part of growing.”  She gave him a soft smile watching the oldest of the boys squirm  “I would never stand in the way of your dreams. If you want to be a pirate then do it, but only if you truly want to”

It’s daunting how she can read him sometimes.

Ace opens then closes his mouth. After a moment he glances down at his hands unable to look at either of them. It’s something he been struggling with for a while, these thoughts of what he wanted in life, truly wanted.  “I promise Sabo I set out at seventeen...”

It sounds like an excuse even to Luffy. He frowns  “Does the idea of  being a pirate not make you happy, Ace?”

“Of course! I want to travel, I want to own a ship but I just..”

Makino place a hand over his  “What do you want Ace?”

“I...want to do what you do.” Waving a hand around the room, his voice gets low as if he is ashamed.  “I like the idea of owning a place like this. Of cooking and serving and making money like this. I want...to sell pizza? But I promise Sabo-”

“Ace does what makes Ace happy, otherwise he wouldn’t be free.” Luffy interrupts sounds oddly confident.  “You promise Sabo we be free. Are you going back on that promise?”

“But I want to sail too...”

“Then you can sell on your ship!” His brother chirps unaware how baffling his idea is.  “We can get you a...floating restaurant! One that belongs to you and only sells Ace’s pizza!”

“A floating pizzeria,” Makino says sounding delighted. “Can’t you just imagine it?”

He could. He really could and Ace realize maybe for the first time in his life that this was what he wanted and which he is allowed to choose for himself, even if it’s not the grand life he always inversion. A simple life on the seas doing what he enjoys.

“Do you think Sabo...would forgive me? For not being a pirate?”

“Oh Ace-chan,” Makino says  “There is nothing to forgive. Sabo-chan would think the same”

“Okay,” Ace says feeling tears peak his eyes but being so darn happy at an overwhelming eased mind. Luffy and Makino smile differently in size but equally warm just the same.  

Using the money from the Dream Fund (rename after Luffy insisted it was no longer the Pirate Fund because it would make Ace sad)  he got a startup tiny ship equipped with everything he needed to bake the pizzas.   

And then he set out to sea chasing a new dream, the two waving him goodbye and eagerness bubbles of excitement in his tummy.  

“Come on, I keep hearing about this place. Just one hour tops! Pops wouldn’t care if we are a little delayed!”  Thatch whine tugging on Marco’s arm  “Please Marco, I need to try it.”

Marco took a deep breath through his nose, trying to ease the frustration his brother was causing.  “For the last time. No, we are not stopping in the middle of the New World Sea just so you can try some stupid pizza, yoi.”

“But we finished the mission. It’s not like we are doing anything important!”

“We have to get back. Two commanders missing could prompt someone to attack Pops.”

“Oh come on, no one is stupid to think they can take Pops, just cause we aren’t there.” Throwing his hands in the air his like the overdramatic little twerp he is Thatch whines in a high tone  “You hate me. That’s why you won’t take me. You just hate me!”

In the last ten minutes of this conversation, Marco has felt his blood pressure rise by the tens.  “Fine! If it gets you to shut up we can stop for pizza. But only for an hour, understand?”

Thatch cheers, hip-bumping Marco off the steering wheel and moving the Mini-Moby to the right once his hand closes around the wooden pieces all in a span of seconds. He’s darn lucky Marco has excellent sea legs and didn’t tumble over, otherwise, Thatch would have his foot up his ass.  “Yes of course. Just want to try the secret sauce. I bet it’s got nothing on my veggie pizza”

Marco rolled his eyes  “Figures you’re only doing this for your self-pride”

Thatch gives him a smile full of teeth  “Pirate.”

Well, that’s a good point the blond figures.  He crossed his arms with a huff “Anything else this..what’s the place call again?”

“Spade Pizza” 

“Right, anything else it’s famous for, or am I just going to waste an hour on something dumb?”

“Besides good food and that it's floating on the sea?”  Thatch shrugs a shoulder, attempting studly. Instantly Marco was on guard realizing this was another he was so determined to get him there.  “The owner is really good looking. I’ve heard most of his customers have proclaimed their love to him just as much as his food.”

 “No matchmaking yoi”

“I-I’m not!”

Marco gives him a look that screams he doesn’t believe him but drops it. The two sail for a few minutes, Marco nearly dozing off, when the pizzeria in question finally comes into view. 

It’s big with varies ports built around it for anchoring ships. The thing is painted in hues of red and black, following a theme of playing cards and fire. There seems to be nearly full, but Thatch snatches the last port before a large vessel gets the chance, giving the men on deck a little shit eating grin when they holler in rage.

Marco doesn’t pay much attention if this turns to a fight Thatch can handle it, instead, he is jumping down to tie their ship to the wood and casually strolling to the entrance. When he pushes the wooden door, he’s hit with a delicious smell as varies workers come and go with different types of food. There are groups scattered around the tables, busy enough that it looks like a full house but not a rush that leaves workers scrambling.

The interior follows the same theme as the outside, and Marco is reminded of varies bars, but more promptly it reminds him of bars he would find in the East Blue. So the owner is from there?

Marco stops before a little stand, a sign with the words “Please wait to be seated” on it.

He looks around the room when a teenager rushes at him, wearing an apron around her waist with the restaurant spade logo.  “Hello sir, welcome to Spade Pizza. How many will it be?”

“Two” 

“Okay,” she picks up some menus from her little stand  “I can sit you at the pizza bar or you can wait for a table? It is about a twenty-minute wait.”

“Bar is fine yoi”

She leads him to his seat, weaving and waving around tables of people having a nice lunch. Marco is surprised to find pirates, civilians, and marines alike. This place must be a neutral area, meaning someone strong had to be here to keep it that way. 

He makes a mental note to report it back to Pops. Marco isn’t comfortable with someone so strong so close to their territories nor with such a successful business either.. There is a reason he is in charge of all the business matters for the Moby Dick.

“Here you are. Your server will over in a moment”  She says waving at the two stoles which she places the menus in front of.  It’s right at the edge of the bar, on near the wall and another next to a bright long red-haired man.

“Thank you yoi” She nods and scurries away back to the front. Sitting down Marco in the chair near the wall glances out of the corner of his eye at the obvious wig the man is wearing. Oh, it looks natural but he can spot a disguise a mile away.  Question is why would this stranger be in disguise?

Did he find his mysterious strong enforcer already? 

The man reaches up threading his fingers through his wig-hair almost nervously, smoothing it out with a sigh. He mumbles under his breath but Marco catches it due to his fruit entrancing his hearing  “Okay be cool. Be cool. Sabo be cool. When he comes over, don’t you dare mess it up. Just ask for his den den mushi.”

Sabo huh? Interesting name. Where has Marco heard that-

“Hi, my name is Ace and I’ll be your server today. Can I start you off on any drinks?”  A   voice interrupts his thoughts. Marco looks away from the man who is turning a rosy shade to look at the owner of the voice-

And he promptly almost gets headed shotted by cupid. There is a version of a man standing on the other side of the bar. He is wearing the apron but no shirt showing off abs that could wash any clothes. An orange cowboy hat sits on soft looking raven locks, and the wavy hair falls on a face dotted with freckles.  “I ugh..wah?”

Ace luckily seems to think he can’t hear him over the noise and leans over the bar just a bit  “I said my name is Ace and I’ll be your server today. Can I start you off on any drinks?”

“One cola and a sweet tea” He manages to say after gaping at the man. “I’m waiting on someone” 

Ace nods “Coming right up.”

He turns to leave but his eyes catch the other man and he lights up  “Tobi! It’s been a while!”

“Tobi” or Sabo in disguises straightens, face redder than before  “Hey Ace. Yeah I had a lot of jobs recently but I thought I drop in”

“No kidding. How did that business deal go? Did you get what your boss wanted?”  

“Yes. I was able to find what he was looking for.”

“That’s great! I’m really happy for you. Oh hey, I saw a hair piece I thought you might like the other day so I bought it for you. Remind me to give it to you before you leave.”

Sabo looks like someone just gifted him the world, fingers playing with his hair.  “You didn’t have to do that Ace.”

“Course I did. Hair as pretty as yours needs to have the proper accessories.”  

Marco doesn’t know why but he doesn’t quite like the way Sabo is leaning towards Ace. He scowls at the long hair wig.  You’re not even real. You can’t be pretty.

Ace eventually stop chatting with Tobi-Sabo, walking away to get Marco’s drinks while Sabo is left staring at him longingly. Then quite suddenly the red-haired turns to glare at Marco and it’s a silent challenge.

Love rival  Those blue eyes say 

Bring it on  Marco’s own answer.

By the time Thatch joins them Marco is in a new found love and a newfound hatred. 

[girlafraidinacoma]

In the Lap of the Gods: Chapter Four - We’re Doing Alright, How About You?

Summary: What do you get when you mix a tight-knit art community, young, hot-blooded twenty-something university students and good old-fashioned British Rock & Roll? Probably the next best hope for art and music that generation has to offer. With her friends’ band skyrocketing to fame, what exactly does a girl do when she suddenly finds herself sitting in the lap of the gods? The answer: do the only thing she can do, rise to the occasion of course!

Pairing: Gwilym Lee!Brian May x Original Female Character 

Words: 3.8k+

Author’s Note: Yeesh, I really do take forever to update, and yes I will be calling myself out. 

Kind of AU, contains both elements from real life and the Bo Rhap universe, so imagine whoever you prefer whether they be the real thing or the Bo Rhap Boys–be free.

[ Link to the Ao3 fic! ]

Chapter Playlist:

1. Doing All Right...Revisited - Smile 2. Earth - Smile 3. Doing Alright - Queen

Chapter Four - We’re Doing Alright, How About You?

Ealing, November 1969.

They were playing the Ealing College bar tonight, one of their more favoured spots to play if only because everyone knew their names and the beer was free for the rostered band. The place was packed; the room permeated with the heat of bodies and cigarette smoke.

For November, it had been an uncharacteristically mild night. Mild enough for Roger to sport a pair of red gym shorts paired oddly with a dark t-shirt and an open denim button down. The drummer thought that they were doing swimmingly so far; he got at least two or three catcalls before they had started their set, a fact that had him grinning all the while. Brian on the other hand, ever the perfectionist that he was, couldn’t help but pinpoint the rare discordant chord he fumbled during one of the harder bits of a song. He couldn’t tell if either of the boys have noticed, but the displeasure was keen on his face as he shook his head of curls and sucked in a breath.

It also didn’t help that he could tell something was off about Tim tonight. Their bassist/lead-singer had been performing the same as he usually did, his stage presence too hadn’t varied, and had Brian not known him as well as he did he probably would not have noticed anything awry. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that Tim was holding back on something. This, of course, sent Brian more on edge and he almost missed their transition from ‘April Lady’ to ‘Earth’.

I might be at a table And suddenly I'll catch A fleeting vision of her crystal seas

In an attempt to rid himself of those nagging thoughts, Brian’s eyes scanned the crowd, hoping that at least they were enjoying themselves. He concluded that they were doing moderately well if he was being generous. Many were nodding along to the beat, some even mouthed the words or gave a whoop of appreciation, but it didn’t feel enough for the guitarist. He felt like they could be doing something more, as to what, he couldn’t put his finger on it just yet. Though the truth was that there wasn’t really much more that the crowd hadn’t already seen from them. Their novelty had worn off months prior; moreover,m they had only written a few songs and the band already agreed that they would stop doing covers. Among the sea of drunken expressions was a set of familiar eyes gazing back at him.

They belonged to her: the mystery artist he offended back at Fred and Roger’s flat that very week. He should have known she would be here he supposed, but it didn’t stop his surprise. She was the one that made the fliers for their show and she looked to have been a good friend of Freddie and Roger’s. Brian only hoped he would have a chance to speak to her later and apologize for his behaviour. He hadn’t even gotten her name.

At the moment she was positioned close to the bar, slowly swaying to the music, her pendant earrings swinging lightly as she moved. Feeling the intensity of his stare, her eyes flickered downwards, her cheeks glowing pink. Someone called her attention and she walked away from her spot, Brian’s eyes tried not to lose her in the throng of people. It was Freddie who had called her to him, he had been waiting for her with drinks he managed to procure from the bartender. Brian saw her laughing at something Freddie had said in her ear and he felt a strange churning in the pit of his stomach, he averted his eyes, not wanting to appear even more of a creep than he already probably was. He shifted his focus to his guitar, pouring his concentration into finishing the set as flawlessly as he could.

When they had concluded, Tim took it upon himself to address the crowd, “Cheers, everyone. Hope you enjoyed our show and as always…”

“Don’t forget to Smile!” The group shouted happily in response, with several raising their glasses.

“You’re bloody right!” Roger called from behind his kit, laughing.

They were packing away all their equipment into Roger’s van when Tim had said that he wouldn’t be rejoining them for drinks inside.

“What’s this about Tim?” It was actually Roger who broke the awkwardness first. For such a mild night, Roger was steadily growing heated.

“I’m leaving Smile.” Tim said rather abruptly. Nope. Brian definitely did not see this coming, and the shock was clear on his face.

“What?!” The drummer half-yelled.

“Smile. I’m movin’ on, guys.”

“And what exactly are you moving on towards?” Asked a very agitated Roger.

“Humpy Bong.”

Brian, who had been quiet for a while now, did a double-take. “Humpy Bong?”

“Humpy Bong.” Tim affirmed, “They’re going places. They’re gonna be big.”

“Humpy Bong?” Roger repeated, incredulous. “Are you joking?”

“Don’t do it, Tim.” Urged Brian quietly.

“I’m sorry guys but we’re not going anywhere with this.” The frontman explained. “What, college gigs? Pubs? I’ve got to give it a go.” He said, picking up his guitar case, resolved to leave the two without looking back.

“Well that was…” Brian fell quiet once more, his body still as a statue as he became lost in thought. So that was it then? After years of collaboration, that was the end of Smile?

“A prick move.” Roger finished for him. “Could have at least given us a warning. Shit.”

“‘Unexpected’ was what I was going for, but yeah I would have to agree with you.”

“Jesus, I need a drink.” Rog said as he turned round and tramped back inside. A beleaguered Brian followed him wordlessly, deciding that the situation called for getting sloshed with his bandmate.

Minutes later, Brian and Roger had found a corner booth back inside the bar and were talking amongst themselves. Roger had only worked himself up til now, “I can’t believe it. I’ve never even heard of them until just now! I mean what kind of name is Humpy Bong?” It took a bit of effort, but Brian had luckily talked his friend down into a more manageable simmer. The drummer sighed, visibly upset, “I think he’s right. The show was a load of bollocks.” The words were bitter in his mouth.

“There was room for improvement, yeah.” Brian conceded, not really wanting to put Roger in a worse mood.

“I’ve got better things to do with my Saturday nights,” The drummer said when he got to thinking, “I could give you their names.” He tapped the excess ash off the end of his cigarette in the ashtray, smirking to himself. Brian only pulled a long frown, clearly unimpressed with his bandmate's overcompensating facade.

It wasn't long before a familiar face came over to greet them. “Bri, Roggie. Good show.” Freddie said, strolling up to their table with a good-natured bravado. The pair could always count on him to lift their spirits, Freddie just had an innate talent to make people feel good even with just a few words and his toothy smile. What he did not count on however was to see the figure that stood just over Fred's shoulder. It appears that he brought a girl with him. THE girl. Freddie and Roger's artist friend.

Perhaps, now was Brian's chance to talk to her.

At such a close distance he could see her quite clearly now, his view unobscured by a mass of bodies. She had a square-ish face framed by a full fringe which curled to the apples of her cheeks. She looked sweet, almost child-like with her large open eyes, thick lashes and cute button nose. Tonight she was wearing a crocheted lace top without sleeves and a short denim skirt, her figure made taller by the shiny black gogos on her feet. She was beautiful, of course she was, he had known it since he first saw her, but what was now abundantly clear to him was that consequent viewings would not lessen his admiration of her.

She, meanwhile, dutifully ignored the guitarist.

“Thanks, man.” Brian said half-heartedly, tearing his gaze away from her to acknowledge Freddie.

“Thanks, Fred.” Roger was smiling at his roommate. “And you, Sweet? What did you think?” he looked over Freddie’s shoulder, eyes wide and a little hungry for approval. Brian knew the feeling, unconsciously he held his breath, waiting for her response.

“I liked it, Rog. Groovy.” She said.

Brian only just now remembers to breathe. That’s a good sign, right?

“Hah.” Roger barked, certainly less despondent now. Brian didn’t miss the unsubtle way the drummer’s eyes roved up and down her sparsely covered legs, “Killer boots.” Roger said with a knowing grin, taking a slow drag from his cigarette.

The girl bit down on her lip to prevent a forming smile. “Thanks, they came highly recommended.”

“Well, whoever recommended them must have impeccable taste.” The drummer stated with an exhale of smoke. Although Brian was at a loss as to where the conversation headed, Freddie just chuckled at the pair, clearly in on whatever joke was being shared and began to light his own cigarette.

“He has his moments.” She rolled her eyes, conceding.

“He better.” Roger quipped, before remembering that they were not alone. “Oh Sweet, have I introduced you to Brian yet? Brian, this is our friend, Wyn. That’s Wyn with one ‘n’ and no ‘e’.”

“And who’s reminded us that she’s not Welsh,” Fred cut in.

“Though it is a Welsh sounding name...” Roger added.

“Correct.” Freddie said, nodding.

“Right.” Roger chimed. “Not-Welsh-Wyn, Brian.”

“And that’s ‘Brian’ spelt the regular, boring way.” Fred bantered.

Wyn . Wyn, that was her name, and now that he had it, Brian felt that he could now begin to try and make amends.

But the girl only eyed Brian narrowly, before humming sweetly in affirmative. “Mhmm…” Her eyes travelled to him briefly before diverting her attention to Fred beside her, “Get you another drink?”

“I would love another, darling.” Fred said sliding into the booth next to Roger and engaging him in a chat. If Brian thought he had been deprived of oxygen earlier, her perfunctory dismissal of him left the man with a feeling akin to a gut punch. Wyn’s hair fanned behind her, bouncing a little with each step as she made her way to the bar with renewed purpose.

“I should --” There was a beat until Brian stood up rather quickly, his leg jostling the table and nearly toppling their half-finished beers over in the process “Er, sorry . I should probably go-- sorry…” he said, tripping over his own foot, not quite finishing his thought as he ran after the girl.

Wyn had already called the bartender’s attention, motioning for another two pints with her fingers. There was a small tap on her right and she could only guess as to whose it was. “Excuse me?” It said.

She was debating on whether she would continue to ignore him, her pride still hurt with the petty grievance. But then the voice that came at her shoulder was so tiny, her heart could not deny she lend an ear to it. She would hear him out after all.

“Sorry, I’m Brian. Brian May?” Brian internally berated himself for sounding unsure of even his own name. “You knew that already… I just -- I wanted to apologize for the other day?” There was an imploring look on the guitarist’s face.

“It’s fine.” The girl shrugged her bare shoulders, watching the bartender come back with two lagers, he placed the drinks in front of her and picked up the bill Wyn slid him in payment.

Brian’s large hand was pleasant weight on her shoulder as he vied for her attention. “No, no it’s not. Wyn, I was an arse to you, and I honestly didn’t mean to hurt you with what I said, I wasn’t thinking...Can you forgive me?” She considered him a moment, his beautiful mess of curls, the droop of his mouth, his sad puppy dog eyes full of concern. He reminded her of a poodle. She had always loved dogs...

“You’re right. You were being an arsehole.” Wyn said, deadpan. It was then that she faced body fully towards him and offered an earnest smile, “Thank you, I appreciate the sentiment. But I’m sure buying the next round could expedite the process?” She asked coyly. Wyn wouldn't admit to it, but she’d already forgiven him the second he had asked for it. She couldn’t refuse him, not with the way he had looked so distraught at her earlier rebuffing, and certainly not with those sad blue eyes.

Brian chuckled, obliging. “Happy to.” And he was, to tell the truth flagging down the bartender again and ordering four more, cheerful even as he handed his money over. They shared a smile, and both tried to check the other out without the other person noticing. “I er, I also really wanted to tell you that I liked your stuff. I found a few of the drawings you’ve left at the flat, they're good , and I’ve kind of kept one. Although I should have probably asked you first.”

“That’s lovely of you to say, Brian.” She said sounding very happy, genuinely touched by the compliment. “And I don’t mind, There’s plenty more at home. Which one did you end up keeping?”

“The Jimi Hendrix?”

“Oh, yeah! I did like how that one turned out, I’ve got a few more of him in my sketchbook. I like drawing musicians, actually, you're always in action, unbelievably dynamic. It’s so much fun trying to condense all that energy into a still frame. I always have a bit of difficulty picking which angle and the particular moment to draw them in, photographs are a great help but there’s so much choice!” She revealed excitedly.There was an unhidden passion in the way she spoke and her face lit up. “I could definitely give you more if you’d like?”

"What?" Wyn asked when she met his eyes, Brian looked at her with something she couldn’t quite describe, though he tried to contain his smile. “What are you thinking now, May?”

Absently, Brian tried to come up with an equation to map the poised upward curve of her mouth, but instead of telling her of his plans he merely shook his head saying, “I’m just thinking that I prefer you like this over being angry with me. I felt horrible these past days. I crossed some poor girl I didn’t even know.”

“Well next time don’t be so rude!” She chided, bumping his shoulder.

“And I’ll apologise as many times as you want. I’ll grovel if I have to, I felt that bad.”

“That move must be so popular with the ladies, driving a man to his knees…” Wyn giggled at his stunned expression, also not quite believing the blatant way she flirted with the man. Wyn cleared her throat, “C’mon. I know our boys will be thirsty.”

As they were going back to the table, Brian’s blue gaze widened when he found another person he recognised sitting in their booth. “Hullo, Mary. You alright?” He said, placing their tray of drinks onto the table.

The blonde in question was sitting next to Freddie, leaning into him until she saw Brian approach. Her face was still as pretty as he remembered, and Mary looked at him with a bright grin, “Fine thanks, Brian. I was just stopping by to tell you guys you played well tonight.”

“Thanks, Mary. That’s lovely to hear.” When he saw her get up and grab her coat he grew a little alarmed. “You didn’t want to stay and have a drink with us?”

“Oh um, I’ll be heading off actually. I’ve got an early start tomorrow.” She reminded him kindly. “It was nice to meet you, Freddie.”

“I like your coat,” Freddie said as she slipped it on, but his stare lingered more on the person who was wearing it rather than the actual garment itself, though the coat was very nice.

“It’s from Biba.” she informed him with a blush.

Roger liked Biba, there were lots of girls to see there, not bad looking either. “You’re still working there?” He asked with a knowing grin.

Unbeknownst to Brian, Roger’s eyes bounced between Freddie and Mary, witnessing a mutual spark of attraction. When one’s been at the game for as long as he has, seeing these things become something like second nature.

“Er, yeah. Staff discount and all that.”

“That’s good. I might have a look at your coats some other day.” Fred said with a grin of his own.

Roger stopped himself from snarkily commenting where he would get the money to shop at Biba, when their Kensington stall was slow as ever. Freddie could look as much as he pleased, looking was free, carrying on with Mary was another matter entirely (especially with her and a certain someone's history).

Mary didn’t dare look at Freddie, afraid of giving herself away more. “Well, goodbye.” she said, giving them all a friendly wave. Freddie’s eyes followed her all the way to the exit.

“Bye, Mare.” Brian said warmly. Wyn in the meantime had slipped her body into the booth, flanking Roger’s right side as Freddie did the other, busying herself with her tall lager, happy to fly under the radar. Brian climbed in right next to her.

Roger raised his half-finished drink, “How's about we all get shit-faced now?”

About an hour and a half into their drinking session, Wyn found herself gasping for air as Brian told her one cheesy physics joke, they were terrible and she loved every one of them. Okay, so maybe she shouldn’t have tried to match Roger drink for drink earlier. Freddie and Roger meanwhile had taken to the dance-floor, the drummer again on the prowl.

“So where’s you’re lead singer anyway? I haven't seen him anywhere after the set.” Wyn asked the guitarist when she finally calmed down, wiping at the tears from her eyes. There were many equally drunken conversations being held all around them, yet she doubted anyone was having as good of a time as she was. She found his dry wit and soft-spoken ways quickly smoothing out the wrinkles of her first impressions of him. Maybe she had been too defensive, too quick to anger when he wrongly assumed her relationship with Roger.

“Tim?" Brian asked with raised brows, "He’s the reason for this binge! He just quit. Without even a warning.”

This was new information to her, politeness be damned. “What? That’s pretty shitty of him.”

Brian had already lost count of how many pints he had, an unusual move on his behalf, it was probably the last thing on his mind now that Smile was on the verge of breaking up and the girl in front of him actually seemed to enjoy his conversation. His lanky form swayed a little in his seat. “He left us -- left us for HUMPY BONG . What even is that?”

“A crap name for a children’s show.” She shot back, taking a swig from her glass, before cracking up at her own joke. The two were sitting so close together that Brian’s knee had been knocking hers underneath the table.

“It’s not funny,” Brian said, giggling. “Okay, it’s a lot funny.” Brian told himself that he only felt the need to get closer to her as to hear the girl better, yep, that was definitely the only reason, and not because she was incredibly attractive and had laughed at his jokes (even the shite ones).

“Well then you’ll need someone new, don’t you?”

“We're open to ideas, why, do you have any?” Wyn almost whacked him across the face with the speed at which she pointed at the dance-floor. his eyes followed the direction of her finger. “Roger? I suppose he could sing, people might have a bit of trouble spotting him from the back, though I'm sure Rog will manage, and we'll still need a bass player…”

“No! Not Roger,” Wyn replied with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “ Freddie . Freddie can do it.”

“...I don’t know, Wyn.” he said scratching the back of his head.

“Freddie can do it!” The girl asserted with a vigorous nod of her head. “I know he can, he’s spectacular. You should hear him sing! What's that thing he said about the incisors?”

"I have no clue, Rog is the dentistry student, not me!"

"Something about more teeth, a big mouth and a larger range? You need that mouth! You need his voice!" Brian laughed a little, not at what she was saying per se, but seeing her so eagerly defending their friend only made him more fond of her. Wyn gripped his arm, her hands feeling quite warm on his already heated skin. Waiting after another bout of laughter to pass her, she attempted a sense of sobriety, “Look, I acknowledge the fact that I am hilariously plastered right now, but I know what I’m talking about. YOU. NEED. FREDDIE.”

“You called, darling?” Freddie had appeared right behind her, having returned to their booth when he finished dancing. When he sat down next to her, he undid the next button on his shirt in an effort to cool off. He smiled at Wyn's antics, apparently, volume control went out the window with sobriety.

“Fred!” Wyn said joyously. “Go do your thing.” She urged.

“And what’s that, darling?”

“What’s this about?” Roger said, finally joining them, sweaty and out of breath. He now bore a large smirk, dirty blonde hair mussed as if someone's hands had been pulling at it.

"And you said you were only going to the bathroom," Freddie teased, mouth quirking at the rim of lipstick smudging the perimeter of Roger's lips.

"And so we did." Roger winked, not saying anything else as he skulled his beer thirstily.

Wyn hastily waved him off, “We don't need to know what Roger gets up to in the bathroom, this is about you, Fred! Sing something, go on! Do a Smile one.” She encouraged excitedly.

“Tim, quit on us.” Roger blonde added, following Wyn's track of thought. “We could use a new lead.”

“Oh and this is supposed to be my grand audition, is it? Fine by me.” Fred shrugged and then he began to sing.

“Yesterday my life was in ruin, Now today I know what I'm doing, Gotta feeling I should be doing alright, Doing alright.”

As soon as Freddie opened his mouth, all eyes went to him, and soon two other voices joined his in refrain. The harmony of Freddie, Roger and Brian’s voices were enthralling; they complemented each other so well that they sounded effortlessly easy, big, vital. Wyn couldn’t get enough. She clapped at their impromptu performance and pulled Freddie into a tight hug. Roger and Brian shared a contented look.

“So what do you think?” Freddie had asked, in that moment he looked impossibly younger than his twenty-three years, with his voice uncertain, and face lit with hope. Wyn held Freddie tightly in her arms and his hands gripped at her waist, both afraid to let go of one another.

Brian grinned as he clapped him in the back, “Welcome to Smile, Freddie."

[jolteonjordansh]

Soooo, Zestiria first impressions after playing it until 4 AM!

I’ll get cons out of the way. Some bits of the gameplay feel kind of... sloppy. The most glaring thing is the camera. It tends to freak out and get too close, especially in small areas. With how this game works, I get why it happens, but they really should have polished it better before release. It’s honestly shocking they thought it was okay to release the game like that. It’s nice that they were going for something more integrated between the overworld and battles, but for now, I think I prefer how past Tales games have been done unless this system is improved on in another game, like Tales of Berseria.

The fighting also feels... really slow compared to other Tales games. It’s most similar to Graces f of the ones I’ve played, which isn’t my most favorite. Yet despite that, Graces f was very fast-paced. It doesn’t quite feel as satisfying with Zestiria. You just kind of slowly chain artes together (and you have very few to work with at the beginning). FYI, I’ve played as Mikleo, Lailah and Alicia so far. Boyfriend has been playing as Sorey.

Because of what I just mentioned in the last bullet point, I have not tried out armatization yet. It does seem fun, but somehow seems more OP than Ludger’s Chromatus. I’ll have to get a feel for it once we have another party member who can utilize it.

There’s some interesting choices with the presentation, yet overall to me it feels kind of... stiff and stilted? Lip movements, body movements, even facial expressions all feel kind of unnatural. I know Xillia or Xillia 2 didn’t feel quite this stiff either, so I’m not sure what happened here. We are playing the PS4 version of a PS3 game, but still... it just feels kind of off in general.

A few too many cutscenes, I feel. For a game that has a lot of dialogue going as you simply walk in town, which I kind of like, there’s one too many times we have to stop for very brief cutscenes that could have been solved in a much snappier fashion. I know this sounds like a weird complaint for a JRPG, but some past Tales games just flowed better to me. This one has a bit of an... awkward start.

The voice direction is a bit hit or miss. It feels a bit more awkward compared to past Tales dubs. Mikleo and Lailah in particular felt a bit unnatural. Though for Mikleo I think it’s more that he’s meant to have a sort of monotone to him and that’s a bit out of the norm for some Tales characters, especially one so early in the cast. Lailah’s kind of meant to be a weirdo I guess. It just feels like it could use some work. I do really like Alisha’s performance though, and Sorey is adorable.

Music ranges from pretty okay to... kind of obnoxiously loud? I dunno, it just isn’t really clicking with me right now. I know Zestiria has some good music though, so maybe I’ll just wait a bit. Still sad that despite having a weird relationship with White Light, we only got an instrumental version for some reason. Hence, we played the original version along with the instrumental after the prologue and it sounded really badass.

Alright, time for good stuff! The animation for the animated cutscenes continue to be freaking awesome as we left off from Xillia and Xillia 2. God freaking bless you ufotable. I hope there’s a nice balance of them in this game.

I am enjoying some of the chemistry between the cast. Sorey’s easily my favorite since he’s the biggest pure dork who’s ever dorked no surprise there. I’m actually super loving the chemistry between him and Mikleo right now. Them playfighting a bunch after forgiving each other later in the game was super cute. Please don’t make me fall into the SorMik ship train I swear to fucking God because I know it’s a painful road.

I can totally see how Sorey could come off as a bit of a Gary Stu to some people. Not sure if many people have actually made said criticism, but I could totally see people having it. But I feel (so far) he just barely avoids that by being human enough and capable of making plenty of mistakes. I can also see how he’d come off as the generic shounen protagonist to some, but to me he has enough fun and energy to him that I personally find him irresistibly likable. 

I like some of the story so far, probably because I’m a huge dork for Arthurian legend. I also just really like seeing the relationships between humans and seraphim--how they both work and don’t work out. There’s just some neat plot elements in here that I’m a huge sucker for. Also, DRAGONS. Was kind of surprised to hear they tie into seraphim. But now I’m just waiting to see some actual freaking dragons.

The way equipment works in this game is kind of interesting, but also a bit annoying to manage. There’s a lot of times we’re just spending time on managing equipment because any piece of equipment you find or buy can potentially be better or worse than another. It’s neat, though I think I am more of a basic level-up system person. 

I do like some of the scenery throughout the game and just some of the design overall. It is nice to see the Tales series attempt to return to form with fantasy after going a bit more high-tech with games like Xillia. Plus again, I’m a sucker for Arthurian legend and fantasy in general, so those are big plusses for me in general.

I think that about covers it! I have some grievances, but looking forward to seeing how things develop as we go on. I worry I’m gonna have a conflicted relationship with this game like Xillia, but there’s only one way to find out. 

[gold3nladybug]

Let's build a Legacy Deck

I do a lot of thinking about magic; you've possibly realised that, since I post long diatribes about what the game means to me on a somewhat regular basis. However, I'm not really very... let's say creative in how I approach the game. I'm not looking to explore new ground, I'm mostly trying to be as good at this game as I possibly can be. I'm pretty competitive, but my motivation isn't really winning - it's more about improving.

Legacy is a beautiful format. Not just the cards themselves, but the complexity, diversity and unbelievable skill ceilings that you can strive to attain playing these cards. I always feel like there is so much more I can learn, so many things I can improve. The level of mastery that could be achieved with these cards is seemingly endless.

So it is only fitting that we start here:

Mercadian Masques is the best Brainstorm. Don't @ me.

Now, beyond that, it's actually not that easy to branch out too far. There is a very real, very challenging financial barrier to playing this amazing format (and indeed all non-rotating formats share this problem to some degree). I own a handful of blue duals, and that unlocks a certain subset of the format for me. I bought them over the course of a year or so, and they were much, much cheaper than they are now. I doubt I'll ever be able to justify buying more, and since I don't have the quantity of duals necessary for some decks, and I own zero Tropical Islands, that subset actually isn't that large. I also don't really own any of the cards to play non-brainstorm decks - no Death & Taxes, no Eldrazipost, no Lands, no Quinn the Eskimo (yup, that's a real deck name. Give it a google, its delightful).

So, I own Tundras. That means that in Legacy, I'm pretty much always playing Miracles. My collection supports that. But that isn't really where I think I wanna be right now

Beautiful.

Stoneblade has had a bit of a renaissance recently, putting up good finishes at a high level because someone recently decided "I think I should play Death's Shadow in Legacy" and almost won the Pro Tour. Decks that play white mana have a pretty solid answer to that, and Stoneblade's ability to switch strategies between defender and aggressor is really valuable. I loved Miracles with Sensei's Divining Top, but the deck was a problem, and without that card it can't always claim inevitably. You need to win the game somehow, and Batterskull is a pretty solid somehow. But it can't do it alone.

Here's the rest of the team.

Snapcaster Mage is a ridiculous magic card. There are a lot of good instants and sorceries, y'all. In a format like legacy, though, playing the full four copies can sometimes be a liability, especially if you don't have cards like Lightning Bolt that can let you convert excess mages into a noncommittal, one size fits all kinda spell. All the cards I have are pretty specialized, and Snapcaster Mage can be all of them. Absolutely wild. I hear Tiago Chan, the winner of the invitational that led to this card, became a professional wrestler.

Wild.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor set the gold standard for what a Planeswalker could be. It feels like a privilege to be able to play with this card sometimes. One thing that I find interesting, is that in my experience I am vastly more willing to +2 Jace as my main plan than others. I get that Brainstorming is awesome and all, but the elevator going up is pretty cool too. It doesn't create numerical advantage, but using Jace's fate seal can create a lot of qualitive advantage and also let's you use an ability that wins the game. I'm a fan.

Vendilion Clique, though, might just be one of my favourite magic cards. It does a whole lot of very cool things, the most important of which to me is create informational asymmetry. This game would be a lot easier if you knew all the cards your opponent had, and usually that means you have to play cards like Thoughtseize. But that card is gross. Also, don't sleep on using Clique to send one of your own cards away, especially if that card is an equipment that you can find with your stoneforge mystic.

Lastly, we have True-Name Nemesis. This card isn't always good, but when it is it's the best card in your deck. If creatures attacking or blocking matters in a game, there is no card that does either that is better for its cost than TNN. My copies are the only cards in my deck that are altered or signed, and I normally like having things be really consistent in my constructed decks, but you can see Zack Stella's beautiful signature. Can you blame me?

So that is how I'm going to win. How am I going to not lose?

Death's Shadow matches up so poorly against Swords to Plowshares, like damn. My pick for the most outrageous removal spell of all time, even with Assassin's Trophy coming down the pipeline, Swords to Plowshares solves so many problems. A lot of this post is just me gushing about these cards, and I understand that might not be the most engaging thing to read, but I really do just love so many of them.

The rest of these spells are broadly about patching holes up. One of the amazing things about Brainstorm is that you get to see a lot of cards each game, so having a few discrete answers to unusual problems can pay a lot of dividends. Council's Judgment and Enginnered Explosives can answer weird permanents that might otherwise beat me, and Supreme Verdict (though sometimes weird in a deck that wants to put creatures on the battlefield) will occasionally just bail you out. And while it might sound funny, it really is relevant that it is blue sometimes.

This is also the best counterspell art. Still don't @ me.

Force of Will is a bit of a weird card, because in a perfect world I wouldn't even want to play it. It is clunky, puts you down cards a lot of the time and is a massive hassle to play for retail. But also, sometimes Force is the only thing standing between you and rampant degeneracy. People play Belcher in this format! It is the glue that holds the format together.

And then we get to this, and I start to question if I actually know what I'm doing. Sometimes I make these really calculated choices, trying to eke out the smallest possible advantage. Other times I think to myself "yeah, that seems right" and this is one of those times. Flusterstorm is a really powerful, versatile piece of interaction that comes with inbuilt protection and scales throughout the turn. Great with Snapcaster Mage, but absolutely worthless some of the time. People play Chalice of the Void in this format!

Spell Snare is hyper specialized, but it does a lot of things that Flusterstorm can't. There are a legion of incredibly powerful, diverse threats that exist at 2cmc in this format; Baleful Strix, Hymn to Tourach, Tarmogoyf, Sylvan Library, enemy Snapcaster Mage, Counterbalance, Exhume, Infernal Tutor, etc, etc. Snare stops them all cold, but only them.

Spell Pierce is the middle ground, the bridge between two entirely different points of view. It's kinda boring, but its pretty okay at standing in for both of the other's jobs. Spell Pierce never wins employee of the month, but I hope it knows I appreciate it.

One last spell in the main deck, and its Search for Azcanta.

X marks the Spot! I play with checklist cards almost exclusively for any DFC cards that I use, even if I'm 100% sure the sleeves I'm using are completely opaque. It is way better to be safe than sorry, and I also like not needing to actually take my card out of the sleeve to flip it when I can have the real card off to the side in an inner to place on the board when I need it.

Once, when I was playing two Azcanta in a standard deck, I asked my teammate if I should have two Azcanta sleeved, one flipped and one not, because I couldn't actually have two in the same state on the battlefield. They looked like they wanted to slap me.

After that is just lands, and you probably don't want to see that...

Who are we kidding, the lands in a legacy deck are beautiful

I'm really proud of my legacy manabase.

This is also one of those examples of those really calculated choices, optimising for the smallest possible advantages. It turns out that you're only allowed to play four Flooded Strand, and after that NONE of the fetches get both basic Island and basic Plains. Normally this means a couple of Scalding Tarns, or whatever other blue fetch you have a few copies of, but why not extract the tiniest, most infinitesimal fraction of an advantage. What if they Pithing Needle Scalding Tarn? What if they're monsters who cast Surgical Extractions on random targets to see if they getcha? Well you're not going to get me, because I have insulated myself by playing three different blue fetches and an Arid Mesa.

Otherwise, Karakas is a lovely tech land against any sort of reanimator strategy, while also unlocking all sorts of fun play patterns with Vendilion Clique. Wasteland is playing in a similar space, being a low investment singleton that can be really good in some matchups, but I don't know if I like it. I might play an extra basic over it, we'll see.

But wait, I hear you asking, why are you playing Volcanic Island. You don't have any red cards!

Entirely fair question.

All the way from the sideboard, red cards.

As you might have gathered, there are some pretty amazing blue cards in legacy. I'm not one to let people just get away with playing blue cards. It's a little weird to have a 2/1 split of red blast effects, but it's just one of those micro optimizations. Sometimes they'll have a meddling mage naming Pyroblast, you know? Also, on my wishlist is a black border red elemental blast of some description. My pyroblasts just look so much prettier.

Also I guess I lied about TNN being the only signed card I play. But again, just look at Franz Vohwinkel's signature. Impossible to turn it down.

The rest of the sideboard is pretty easy to break down. A Hydroblast, because we can't let people get away with playing red cards either. An extra Flusterstorm, because it's just a fantastic card that usually gets better after sideboard. People usually have pretty good spells in their decks, and stopping Flusterstorm from countering those spells can be pretty challenging. Disenchant is a pretty good hedge a lot of the time, for a similar reason. People tend to have some high impact enchantments or artifacts kicking around, so I usually want a cheap way to fight that available to me. Containment Priest and the two Surgical Extractions are a concession to the speed and power of reanimation strategies, that also happen to have some really good splash damage against other really powerful strategies. I kind of want to make room for a Rest in Peace, but for now these will serve. Monastery Mentor is just one of those cards that, in a post sideboard game where a lot of the removal is gone and Pyroblasts imperil the battlefield and stack, can take over a game with extreme speed and quickly end it. It could also be something like a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, but there's value in dodging Spell Pierce.

So the only part of this that might be a bit weird is the Spell Queller, Counterbalance package. My thinking is, coming from Miracles, that Counterbalance is sometimes an exceedingly powerful card. And sometimes it's pretty janky. It's hard to truly cut it from the main deck there, because it helps enable so many of the soft synergies in the deck (revealing for Predict, making all the cantrips that much better, finding spots to crack fetch lands for extra value), even though the times that it's bad it is so bad. But here, I've almost got the same amount of cantripping and deck manipulation as I would in Miracles, but my main proactive gameplan is strong enough that I don't need them in my main deck. It's a perfect card to slide into the sideboard, where I can access it both as a value engine for blue pseudo-mirrors and a desperate tool to fight combo as well.

Spell Queller was a card I considered for Vendilion Clique's spot for a long time. They are approximately as vulnerable as each other in the context of the format, but eventually the inability to profitably play it for value proactively gave Clique the nod. But the other main three drop I play kept me thinking about it. When it matters, TNN is exceptional. But when it's bad, there's nothing you want less; True Name feels like such a brick if your opponent is doing something degenerate. It's an easy swap in those situations for this powerful reactive spirit. Like Mentor, dodging Flusterstorm and Spell Pierce is a huge deal in winning counter wars while also transitioning into an aggressive stance. So many important cards are vulnerable to being quelled, and I'm honestly quite excited to play with it.

So... there you have it. That's my legacy deck. It's not perfect, and I'm sure before too long I'll end up putting Terminus back in here and going back to Miracles. It's hard to change decks in Legacy, and not just because of the price. These cards really do feel special, like you're playing with important pieces in the history of a really great, really important game. I hope I get to keep playing Legacy for a long, long time.