#epic's very own Hatsune Miku

[kokii-omii]

HII HELLO I JUST WANTED TO SAY I’M OBSESSED WITH YOUR AEOLUS DESIGN AND I WANNA DRAW HER SO BAD. Do you have a ref or something like one? I’m struggling a bit with the legs since we don’t see them in the animatic lol

HIII YES I ACTUALLY DO HAVE ONE (i had to exclude some little details from the animatic because they kept clashing with the line work) BUT HERE YOU GOO I HOPE THIS WAS HELPFUL🩷🩷

[threepoint14art]

HELLOOOO for pride month i wanted to share our headcanons for fnafhs!!!!! coupled with some edits with our designs!!

Under the cut there's individual commentary about all of em!

Freddys afab, and only goes by he/him with the animatronics. He didnt tell them he's male or anything. What happeend was they they were all talking to eachothet, getting to know eachother, when chica realized she forgot to ask his name. Meanwhile freddy had though he heard Fred, so he wss on his own little world and asked to the air ‘Fred?’ so they took that as his name and he hasnt ‘corrected them’. (This is my (loop’s) work around for those twins basicallly having the same name.) Hes called Freddy and not Fred bc Chica gives them all nicknanes , Freddy, Foxy, Goldy, instead of Fred, Fox, and Golden. ( Bonnie… you bastard you already fit…. cannot change his name to Bon without nuking Bons actual name). He hasn't thought about his sexuality because he thinks he's undatable, Dysphoria levels are very high, hes contantly ‘out of it’ in his own body. feels like hes just, piloting it, distant from himself and the now. whenever he does come back doen it feels awful fir a bilion reasons 👍 this makes it hard for him to identify the feelings he has about himself since its all so fuzzy and distant. hes not thinking about his sexuality, he doesn’t think anyone would really date him so, fuck if he knows! Bonnie is cis demironantic and unlabled. Goes by he/him. One of his names is María (Bonnie María) so that plus his longer hair means he gets misgendered as a CIS guy and I think its rlly funny. He's not thinking about romance because "no one would go out with him", enter Bon with a nuke Chica is cis and Bisexual. Goes by She/her. Her bisexual awakening was magnet hatsune miku lmao Fox is afab trans guy, stealth about it, and bisexual. Goes by he/him. He figured out he was trans PRETTY early on so no one but his family really even knows, he practically has no dysphoria. Golden is amab nonbinary and pan (they/them). Being famous is the worst thing ever you could do to them, people know their dead name and sorta treat them as a gay man rather than someone nonbinary and it's really bad!!! Sort of wishes they fell into some binary so something about them would "change" and so that people would realize they have changed, there is no way to "pass" as nonbinary and it drives them a lil crazy Fred has not been born (sorry low blow), but if they were they'd be amab, nonbinary and bisexual. Still figuring stuff out but eventually he will settle for going by He/they Meg is afab, genderfluid and pan, goes by any pronouns, idek what else to say <3 Bon is afab trans guy and gay, goes by he/him. He and Malva (usagi) are twins and just switched names and lives and gender! so he's stealth to everyone EXCEPT his sister, this includes their father! who is awful!! and this makes him super repressed and ill about being gay, yeah. Both he and Malva lied on legal documents to look cis since they exchanged identities and all that joy is amab trans girl and bisexual, goes by she/her, also famous so people also know her deadname </3

Toddy is afab and cis, she's NOT aware of either of her flags, comphet queen, "dating" bon because it helps them both feel so normal but its not working out and it never will! Seeing the nigthmares all date eachother made her think "oh wow not being monogamous is a thing" and if she thinks of malva and joy thats HER BUSINESS and her business only. Also fun fact her parents are divorced not because they hate eachother but because they realized they were both aroace, epic. Goes by she/her Deuz is amab bigender gay and poly, the nightmares are a polycule. She is not that dysphoric most of the time and goes by He/she Maggie is afab trans guy, bi and poly, Femenine trans guys are epic and he is one, gets misgendered a lot because he doesn't bind and wears makeup and croptops and all that. Goes by he/him and she/her ONLY with his partners. Onnie is amab agender, gay and poly, it used to be forced to have really short hair because it's dad is awful (also bon's dad, yay siblings), so when he ran away he grew it out a lot, goes be he/they/it Onyx (oxy) is afab trans guy, bi and poly, he got kicked out when he came out as trans, he's super happy now tho. He/him Pup(pet) afab demi-boy, his legal name is puppilo i know it sounds dumb thats why they go by pup. He's queer in some way but its impossible to find out given how he experiences feelings and all that (lore tm) so, fuck if i know. Goes by he/they Mai afab demi-girl and sapphic, yay for twins, her legal name is marinette but they go by mai only, she really wants to date but due to how she and pup operate thats kinda impossible and shes super hung up on it. Goes by They/she Lily is afab cis aroace!!! Eak is afab trans guy and gay, he does not really pass that well so he's misgendered quite a bit at school. Goes by he/him Tony is amab cis guy and gay, he's dating Eak, he used to question if he was REALLY gay before eak came out and was super confused about it and then he found out hes a guy and all is well lol Cami is afab aromantic bisexual and nonbinary, though she has not thought about the whole nonbinary thing that deeply at all. Eventually she will use all pronouns but currently she goes by She/her Loon is amab bigender bisexual and poly, is super dysphoric and hates dressing too femenine because it "doesn't fit her", "not cute enough to be a girl and not handsome enough to be a guy", goes by loon when masc and jj when fem. Goes by he/she Malva is trans and lesbian! Unlike Bon she's normal about being lesbian, mostly because their dad thinks she "doesn't look like one" and because generally girls just get an easier pass to be mushy and close to eachother (eugh), goes by she/her Owynn is afab trans guy, demiromantic, ace and poly. Damn share some flags dude you are hogging them. Stealth at school but percieved as a femenine guy and therefore called gay (as an insult) a lot, lied in legal documents to be seen as a guy! he's dysphoric despite passing really well because of very minor things people don't really notice, female scorpions are taller than male ones and he's tall, female scorpions have bigger hands than male ones and his hands are big, etc etc. He goes by he/him Background character jumpscare! Mesero who is named Vincent here, Owynn's older brother who is amab cis pan and poly, he thought he was straight for a LONG while and hated people calling him gay as an insult because he had long hair, sorry to burst your bubble but you are not straight, he eventually became normal about it but it did hurt that people were "right about him" Spring!!! Is amab cis unlabeled and poly, he never thought about labels or anything for the longest time because he thought he was undatable and also was busy with ten trillion jobs, fly low, goes by he/him Bg character again! Novia (ghghg) who is named Leticia here! She is afab cis straight and poly!

Also sorry for not having any of the funtimes, we haven't really thought about them aside from lily, so we have nothing ToT. Any funtime lovers please share what you think about them we really need it

[hellowyn-llewellyn]

🎮❣️💖💙🧡💛📺🏝️💥🎸🎤🎧🦊🏎️👾🙈💡🍡✨💫📚🕹️🦔💎👯‍♀️🤖🦹📈📉🍈👽🧍😈😘😊🎙️🧸🎨✍️🌈📆🤩🤔😳🫡

You know what to do

(For sonic ask game)

ZAK I CANT BELIEVE UR DOING THIS TO ME /lh

Okay for this one I’m going to keep my answers short and exclude any ones that I already answered separately. They’ll be under the cut since this is gonna get long

1- First Game? Sonic Forces

2- Favorite Game? Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic ‘06

3- Favorite character? Rouge the Bat !

4- Favorite IDW character? I’m sorry, but. Dr Starline

5- Favorite Archie Character? Mina Mongoose !!

6- Favorite Sonic the Comic character? I have not read it 😔

7- Favorite show? Tie between Sonic Satam and Sonic Boom

8- Favorite stage/level? City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2 !

9- Favorite Boss Fight? The train from tmosth because I suck and it was the easiest one for me so far

10- Favorite stage theme? Pumpkin Hill

11- Favorite spin-off Game? I’d say The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. I really liked the sonic cast in a visual novel :D

12- Favorite Racing Game? Team Sonic Racing

13- Favorite Handheld title? I can’t really answer this one. Sowwy

14- Least Favorite Game? Again I can’t really think of one. Sowwy

15- Spin-off I’d like to see? Sonic underground based rhythm game

16- Classic Adventure or boost gameplay? I’m going to be real honest I’m not entirely sure what this means

17- Dream Sonic Game? I’d be happy to see more visual novels or Team Dark get their own game.

18- Dream sonic show/story? Sonic Saran season three would be epic

19- Pitch for a third storybook game? My mind is drawing blanks rn but I’ll definitely get back to this later

20- Favorite non-sonic Sega franchise? Hatsune Miku

21- Favorite version of Sonic? Jaleel Whites sonic has a special place in my heart

22- Favorite transformation? Super sonic

23- Favorite team? Team Dark !!

24- Favorite Robot? Does the Tails Doll count??

25- Favorite Villain? Look Snively is just a poor little meow meow loser and for that he’s my favorite

26- Overrated Character? Look I’m sorry but I have to go with Tangle or Surge. Nothing wrong with them, they’re both very cool. I just think sometimes they can be a lil overhyped

27- Favorite Chao? Dark Chao

28- Favorite wisp? The violet void one

29- Favorite human character? Helen from sonic x or Princess Elise

30- Favorite rivalry? Sonic and Eggman. It’s a classic

31- Favorite ship? I don’t really ship anymore but Bunnie and Antoine will always be special to me

32- Favorite Sonic Voice actor? Jaleel White and Roger Craig Smith

33- Favorite piece of merch? Heads and Tubes ofc !

34- Favorite sonic artist? I couldn’t possibly pick one! Especially when so many of my friends are wonderful sonic artists :]

35- How long have you been into sonic? I remember watching a bit of Sonic Boom when I was 7 but I didn’t really get into sonic until I was around 11 so four years ? Almost five ?

36- Favorite Sonic related memory? Either Sonic Symphony back in 2021 or Taking Heads and Tubes on different adventures

37- Hottest sonic take? Sonic underground’s worst episode is better than Sonic Primes best (no hate to prime I just don’t think there’s a lot a fun character interaction in it)

38- Coldest sonic take? Hating on modern 3d games for no reason does not make you look cool. In fact it does the exact opposite

[theintelligentfool]

I posted 50,094 times in 2022

81 posts created (0%)

50,013 posts reblogged (100%)

I tagged 2,410 of my posts in 2022

#just for queue! - 307 posts

#discworld - 155 posts

#gnu terry prachett - 99 posts

#gnu terry pratchett - 72 posts

#spam reblog - 71 posts

#hatsune miku tag - 49 posts

#facejame - 24 posts

#prev - 20 posts

#ai generated - 20 posts

#hehe - 19 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#ok whatever we get it you're a girlboss. can we fucking talk about america chÁvez instead she's the most interesting character in the movie

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

CRASH

7 notes - Posted March 31, 2022

#4

do u want to sit in a deep fryer together and lean on the sides like were in a jacuzzi

Yes

9 notes - Posted March 25, 2022

#3

whats wrong with you is that you have an oxymoron in your username(evilest sin of all)

it's not an oxymoron if u Understand.....

12 notes - Posted March 9, 2022

#2

wilkins and wontkins are kismeses

Hey why don't you say that to the op's face. To the face of my good friend rena of @kirbyofthestars. the person who made the post about being shocked to discover unironic wilkins/wontkins shippers on tumblr. Y'know. Her. say it to his face. and ask someone for forgiveness while you're at it

17 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

WEBCOMICS FOR THE DISCERNING READER

aka one nerds list of recommendations

- Order of The Stick (ongoing)

the order of the stick is one of my all-time favorites! it began as a gag-a-day parody of d&d and the fantasy genre in general, but has evolved into a genuine epic with a fascinating story, a memorable cast of characters, and still plenty of comedy. if you've ever enjoyed fantasy or dnd: you'll enjoy this. i suggest reading to about 100 pages before you decide whether or not you like it!

- Sleepless Domain (ongoing)

sleepless domain is a thrilling tale of magical girls in a society threatened by monsters. it's full of dark twists, charming characters, and exciting action! this is no madoka magicka ripoff, though: instead of angst centering around corruption, sleepless domain offers a fascinating and nuanced take on magical girls as child soldiers - with all the sparkles the genre requires. for this one i'd suggest reading up to chapter 2 or so before deciding what you think of it!

- The Glass Scientists (ongoing)

the glass scientists is a charming, gaslamp-fantasy take on assorted victorian mad scientists - as well as the concept of a mad scientist - in a series full of wit and drama. especially fascinating is the look at jekyll and hyde, not as good and evil halves of a person, but as a metaphor for repression (and even staying in the closet)!

- xkcd (ongoing)

xkcd is a fun, nerdy comic that, unlike the others of this list, is purely comedic rather than story-based! penned by former nasa engineer and bestselling author randall munroe, xkcd is a delightful romp through all things geeky- and i can guarantee you've almost certainly seen an xkcd strip floating around the internet before, recognizable by its distinctly stylized stick figures or silly graphs. simply hitting "random" and reading through one comic after another is an excellent way to kill time!

(there exists a wiki called "explain xkcd" that exists purely to clarify any especially obscure references or explain whatever scientific concept a given strip alludes to - i think that really says something about the sort of comic that xkcd is!)

- Val and Isaac (ongoing)

val and isaac, from tumblr's very own @/tredlocity, is a wonderful sci-fi series that's often simple one-off gags but occasionally has more intense story arcs! the characters (mostly bounty hunters) are charming and unique, the jokes are hilarious, and isaac specifically is one of my favorite ever interpretations of a wizard.

- Cocksley & Catapult (ongoing)

C&C, the sitcom-style gag-a-day comic about two besties with an impossible to describe dynamic, never fails to entertain. it's perhaps the most distinctly tumblr webcomic you'll find anywhere, whatever that means to you. perhaps the easiest way to describe it - the truest to the comic way to describe it - is "really funny in a mental illness kind of way." i love it.

hope this list is helpful to someone! let me know if you check out any of these comics, and what you think of them :D

and ESPECIALLY get in touch if you already like any of these comics.... i need someone to yell with about them

19 notes - Posted June 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[browniesnivy]

☒🐍🌏

☒ for least favorite character(s)

Aside from the ridiculously forgettable Johnny Steps and John Claude Magnum, I’m going to have to go with Bandit Keith on this one. There’s nothing wrong with liking him but, at least the way I’ve always seen his character, he’s a selfish and twisted man who manipulates a literal child because of a petty grudge. I understand that he had been humiliated by Pegasus and experienced genuine psychological damage from depression and alcoholism, but it was a serious misuse of power to threaten and misguide a young kid, one who obviously lacks self-confidence and looks up to you as a role-model at that, and because of that his character has never really sat well with me. It’s one thing when younger characters make some mistakes, but Bandit Kith should have known better than to involve kids in his serious personal problems.

🐍 for favorite duel monsters card(s)

I couldn’t pick just one... so I put my three of my favorites! They’re all pretty different, but I think they represent three different things I look for in a card as a non-competitive player: design, utility, and anime appearance. 

Effect Veiler is one of my favorites because, not only is it an incredibly useful card that I managed to snag a holo of in my first ever set, but the character on the card artwork reminds me of Hatsune Miku, a personal favorite waifu character of mine. I also really enjoy the angel’s androgynous design and dope mist wings, and everytime I would utilize this card’ s effect in an actual game I would imagine the wings spreading over whatever monster I was fighting and whisking their abilities away. It’s just such an aesthetically pleasing card, and it’s usefulness in combat definitely helps it rise up and become one of my favorites.

Starlight Junktion is another card I got in my first set and it was definitely my favorite to wipe out against my younger sister. It made it really easy for me, who barely understood the rules and strategy of the game, to summon my big boy Stardust Warrior and it snagged me countless sweet victories against my only rival. Plus the card artwork is absolutely gorgeous and looks like some place I’d love to have a high-rise apartment over, even if I wouldn’t like to find myself driving on a circuit like that.

Revival Jam is definitely an outlier amongst these picks, since the main reason I love it so much has to do with the nostalgic admiration I had for the card back when I’d first watched the anime as a kid on CW’s The Vortex. The duel between the possessed Strings and Yami Yugi was my favorite showdown back in the day due to how seemingly complex and unbeatable Marik’s strategy seemed. I was in awe of her tactics, and it made me really look up to Marik as a duelist and eagerly anticipate how Yami would find a way to foil her impossible beasts. My favorite part of the set-up was the absurdity of protecting a god-like dragon with balls of slime with goofy faces, and the stand-out for me was the indestructible Revival Jam. I thought the gooey creature’s design was adorable and that it’s ability was the absolute most broken and awesome ability I had ever seen on a monster. I legitimately believed that Revival Jam was the most powerful card in Duel Monsters, so I was of course very disappointed to learn you had to pay valuable life points to summon it in the physical card game. Anyway, I was incredibly satisfied when the endearing little ooze ended up being the focal point in Yami’s epic comeback, and to this day I still find the scene where Marik freaks out as she realizes she will be forced to deck out to be incredibly epic. I can fondly remember gushing to my siblings, who used to watch the show alongside me, about how cool the technique was and proclaiming Revival Jam to be my favorite monster. To this day I still haven’t been able to add my own Revival Jam to my real-life collection, but that hasn’t stopped me from wanting it!

Shout out to The Golden Apples, my favorite trap and ace card in my Dueling Links deck. I haven’t played that game in forever so I didn’t want to put it on the same pedestal as the other three cards, but it is still totally awesome. I love it’s effect and the aesthetic of it is just so neat. I’ll never get enough of summoning a cute demon-faced Malus Token with ridiculous attack points to my field from a golden fruit, and it’s probably the only reason I’ve ever been able to break Silver Rank with my crappy grab bag deck that I just filled with cards I like.

 That was an absolutely ridiculous amount of detail to go into on such a simple question... but “exhaustive” is my middle name and I just really really love these cards! 

🌏 for any AU ideas you’ve had that you’d like to try or just some that you find interesting

So for anyone who doesn’t know I roleplay Rebecca Hawkins on a separate blog, and I have to say that she is easily one of the most underrated characters in the entire canon. Since she is so inexplicably unpopular, I have had to come up with a bunch of AUs and heacanons for her all by myself! One of my personal favorites is an AU where Becca ends up as the president of Kaiba Corp of America. I always imagine that she starts flexing her executive power in order to add attractions themed around her favorite cards to Kaiba Land USA, which starts to get a little out of control when she starts to replace Blue Eyes statues with Luster Dragon ones. This obviously angers Kaiba on a spiritual level, but he can’t do anything against Rebecca’s stubborn insistence that all her changes are here to stay. There are a bunch of other little ideas I have for this AU, such as President Hawkins always keeping so many jars of candy on her desk that there is hardly any room for her computer or that she always blasts ridiculous vocaloid music while working, but I guess I’ll just have to wait for a chance to act those situations out!

[welcometomy20s]

July 12, 2022

VOCALOID LEGENDS - 2018 Part 11

#441 - Aimai Elegy (DECO*27) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 18-12-15, Upload Date: 13-12-15

This is one of few DECO*27 songs with a utaite version (usually he usually puts them in the chorus), and the utaite version hit a million first. There is a bit of reference to other songs and it seems to be connected to other songs as well. It’s a DECO*27 song. 

#442 - First Love’s Sketchbook (HoneyWorks) [GUMI]

Achievement Date: 18-12-20, Upload Date: 11-11-18

This is the first song of the Confession series, and very much showcases what the series is about, first love that is kept inside a sketchbook and never foretold. Nice mix of piano and guitar with an inspiring if hackneyed progression. This is HoneyWorks.

#443 - Undead Enemy (GigaP, Suzumu) [Kagamine Rin]

Achievement Date: 18-12-23, Upload Date: 14-06-20

We have a collaboration with Giga and Suzumu for Underbar’s third album. Yeah, I’m surprised this was given to Underbar of all people. But we have the typical early Giga Eurobeat with the added guitar and bass courtesy of Suzumu. The frantic nature, I guess, fits Underbar’s sometimes frantic arrangement. So yeah, it’s fine.

#444 - Dark Colored Alice (samfree) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 18-12-26, Upload Date: 09-02-20

Yes, samfree did other songs than the Fever series, and yes they were very different from the Fever series, like this one. Kind of sounds like Noboru-P and even the lyrics remind me of songs like Unchained Girl or Romeo and Cinderella. Really interesting.

#445 - Itsudatte HappyDay! (Bakatpa) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 18-12-26, Upload Date: 16-11-17

Bakatpa is a game commentator and the song is fine, just feels like it reached a million a way too fast. Things like that will start to happen, which is the reason there is kind of an inflation of songs. I might talk about why later. Again, the song is fine.

#446 - Kocchi Muite Baby (ryo) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 18-12-29, Upload Date: 10-07-02

One last Miku Queen song for ryo before his final stretch and also becoming Supercell. It does its job superbly, bringing Miku as a 90's songstress akin to Hikaru Utada. It’s interesting Supercell never wrote songs like this, unless I don’t know about it… 

#447 - Morning Star Galactica (Nayutan Seijin) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 18-12-29, Upload Date: 18-02-20

Bear. Beets. Morning Star Galactica… wait, that’s not it. I believe the last song for N.S. for a while. I do wonder if it's the last song, it’s very much in Nayutan Seijin, with a bond-like verse that is firmly tongue-in-cheek, and the chorus is fantastic. And the Miku duo is very much well done here. Overall, surprised by the range of Nayutan Seijin.

#448 - Suicide Parade (YURRY CANON) [GUMI]

Achievement Date: 18-12-29, Upload Date: 17-07-18

Probably lesser remembered of YURRY CANON songs, although still very much popular. This is actually more in line of YURRY CANON, harder rock and faster pace, although that was true before. The lyrics are very morbid, if I remember right.

#449 - Machigai Sagashi (mafumafu) [IA]

Achievement Date: 18-12-29, Upload Date: 17-06-30

Spot the Difference, and… yes another COMPASS song. Look, you are just going to get those. This one is a good one though. 

#450 - ARiA (TokuP) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 18-12-31, Upload Date: 10-04-29

From the guy who did SPiCa and now works for GARNiDELiA. Even more inspirational and epic than SPiCa, if that was even possible, but it isn’t overly grandiose or anything. I just find it really odd that future trajectory. GARNiDELiA doesn’t sound like this.

#451 - Paranoid Doll (natsuP) [Kamui Gakupo]

Achievement Date: 18-12-31, Upload Date: 09-07-22

natsuP, one of the older female VocaPs, known for boy band songs, but this is solo. The persona behind the voice actually liked the song and sang his own version, which is more popular. I like how this song doesn’t play with Gakupo’s silly side as much. It leans to the traditional sound but not too much, still firmly in the ‘00s boy band sound.

[piggiechi]

you: vocaloid is weird

me: To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Vocaloid. The artistic quality is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of music theory and voice synthesis technology most of the culture will go over a typical listener’s head. There’s also Hatsune Miku’s nihilistic concept, which is deftly woven into her characterisation- her personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these Vocaloid mascots, to realise that they’re not just singing robots- they represent something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Vocaloid truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the humour in Yuzuki Yukari’s existential catchphrase “She unites you all with her voice” which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev’s Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Yamaha's genius wit unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂

And yes, by the way, i DO have a Hatsune Miku 01 tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid 😎

[wsmith215]

Edward Saatchi on virtual beings: AI is the next great art form

Edward Saatchi, CEO of Fable Studio and maker of Emmy-winning virtual reality experiences, participated in a thoughtful conversation about “virtual beings” at our recent GamesBeat Summit 2020 event.

I called the session “We are who we pretend to be,” after the moral of story in one of my favorite novels, Mother Night, by Kurt Vonnegut. The novel is about an American spy in World War II who does too good a job at his cover role of being a Nazi propagandist. The moral is: “We are who we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

We chose to talk about the ethics and promise of virtual humans, or artificial people created for video games and other experiences. Saatchi is the organizer of The Virtual Beings Summit. His event explores what it means to create virtual beings, and it has been held a couple of times since mid-2019, and Saatchi is organizing a new event for June.

I did a rehearsal talk with Saatchi where we talked about other things as well, and I’ve included quotes from that conversation in this story, as well as quotes from the embedded video that aired at our event.

VB Transform 2020 Online – July 15-17. Join leading AI executives: Register for the free livestream.

From Saatchi’s view, AI is the next great art form. It is fighting for its legitimacy now, just as virtual reality, video games, films, comics, and other things had to fight for their legitimacy in the past.

“As game developers start to explore natural language processing, computer vision, and synthetic speech, we could move away from the slightly repetitive releases we have had recently,” said Saatchi, who is trying to bring together game developers and AI technologists through his summit. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity in developers exploring machine learning and artificial intelligence as if it were an art form.”

Dark history

Above: A rogue Android kidnaps a girl in Detroit: Become Human.

Image Credit: Sony

I opened with a question about the usual dark vision associated with artificial people, going back to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Today, we’ve got Black Mirror, the Terminator, Westworld, Detroit: Become Human, and more. I asked, “What are we so afraid of?”

We can see how fresh these fears are with Neon, a Samsung-backed spinoff that touted its artificial humans as assistants for people at CES 2020, the big tech trade show that took place in January. You could rent these people, who could become a doctor, chef, stewardess or some kind of replacement for a human.

It’s part of what Saatchi has called the “replacement fear narrative” that we have about artificial intelligence, or AI, replacing us. Westworld raises another “valid” fear about how AI could come to dominate humans, while another fear is loneliness, based on the worry that we could trick ourselves into having relationships with these beings out of loneliness, he said.

“There are quite a few movies and books, all with possible negative outcomes. That’s not what I believe, but it’s a pretty cool canon,” Saatchi said.

In Detroit: Become Human, there’s massive unemployment, caused by the economic impact of robots replacing people. It’s a video game where we see the psychological impact, where people can inflict their darker impulses on artificial beings that we tell themselves aren’t real people, Saatchi said.

Then there’s Lucy

By contrast, Saatchi’s team created the cartoonish virtual reality (and soon to be non-VR) character Lucy, from Wolves in the Walls, a VR experience inspired by a book by Neil Gaiman.

“For us, there’s a world where virtual beings could help us become better people,” Saatchi said. “Beings who aren’t selfish, who aren’t motivated by greed or envy, who are able to listen to us and validate us and see us, could help us be kinder and gentler toward other real people. We all walk around with a huge amount of emotions, anxiety, things we can’t express to ourselves or to others.”

But we could say these things to a virtual being.

Lucy is a cute girl who believes there are wolves in the walls of her house. She’s also a companion who looks you in the eye and talks with you, remembering the choices that you’ve made.

“Lucy is a kid, our first being, from a Neil Gaiman story,” Saatchi said. “You will be able to have video chats quite soon, interact with her, learn from her. We haven’t yet seen a connection between a character’s life you can follow on Instagram or YouTube, but also be able to talk to that character, check in with them, talk about what is going on with you, build empathy. For us, this is the first time you can interact with a character and build a set of memories and an emotional relationship with that character.”

Fable Studio is building out that interactive side of Lucy, as well as with other characters as well. Maybe Lucy will show up in Zoom meetings in the future, helping create the illusion that this character is real.

“She sees things in a hopeful and optimistic way,” Saatchi said. “In the conversations we have with Lucy, you get a sense of her as a real, three-dimensional character that is hopefully connective. In this coronavirus period, for us, it is always important for us to wake up in the morning feeling like you are doing something useful. Building a virtual being you can have conversations with, have a video chat with, and communicate with, feels even more important because the loneliness and feeling of isolation — the stuff we think about metaphorically — is real.”

In the story of Lucy, the fact that no one listens to Lucy becomes a metaphor for what is going on in the family. When the wolves do come out of the walls, a crisis happens, and she has to take charge and lead her family to love each other and fight the wolves.

“We want you to feel like you can communicate with Lucy as your imaginary friend,” Saatchi said. “We want you to feel that there is a universe we have created and a logic to why you are communicating with each other that is not transactional. It’s not a virtual assistant relationship. It’s more of a story-driven, playful relationship.”

Do digital humans have to look realistic?

Above: The Unreal Engine 5 will produce outstanding imagery for the PlayStation 5.

Image Credit: Epic Games

Other visions of digital humans tend to push the envelope on realism. Epic Games’ is creating highly realistic demos of digital humans (like with its recent Unreal Engine 5 demo for the PlayStation 5) that will make use of the growing processing power of PCs and next-generation consoles.

But, as noted, Lucy is a cartoon. Fable’s DNA includes veterans of Pixar (like cofounder Jessica Yaffa Shamash) and Dreamworks (Peter Billington), as well as artificial intelligence experts. And both are necessary to move virtual beings forward. Saatchi said it is easier to animate a character like Lucy. It’s still hard to get characters who look super-realistic, like Magic Leap’s Mica, to look real when they’re speaking to you.

With Lucy, Fable is going beyond the visuals to integrate a wide variety of AI aspects, including machine learning, computer vision, synthetic speech, memory, and computer animation. The idea is to have a narrative with Lucy leading the storyline, but also to create a real companion for you.

“We think memory is the thing that everyone should be working on or exploring in virtual beings because it might unlock some pretty profound things about how humans relate to each other, and eventually to a virtual being,” Saatchi said.

The visuals have improved over the years, Saatchi said, but the behavior, or the brain of the artificial character, hasn’t kept pace. Fable Studio spends less time on the visuals, and it spends more time on “memory” and the deepening one-to-one relationship between the human (you) and the character. The character should know who you are, with a memory that goes back in time about choices you have made.

The explosion of virtual beings

Above: Lil Miquela

Image Credit: @Lilmiquela on Instagram

Since Saatchi’s first Virtual Beings Summit in July 2019, there has been an explosion of these projects that are taking very different forms. Replika is a text messaging bot that has millions of users who believe the bot is like a virtual best friend. It’s like a form of therapy with enormous potential, Saatchi said.

“You have an ongoing digital conversation with your Replika,” Saatchi said.

Investor Cyan Bannister of Founders Fund has bankrolled a lot of these projects. She saw a virtual concert put on by a Japanese virtual character, Hatsune Miku, and was fascinated with how she could draw crowds.

One of her investments is Brud. On Instagram, you can follow the virtual life of Brud’s Lil Miquela, an artificial influencer who has 2.3 million followers on Instagram.

Beyond that, you can have a conversation with Deepak Chopra via a project being created by AI Foundation. The celebrity musician Grimes created a digital avatar of herself. MuseNet is an AI that creates its own music, like a new Mozart composition. Genies lets celebrities cash in on animated clones of themselves. Saatchi thinks there is enormous potential for virtual beings in this space.

Virtual Immortality is resurrecting deceased actor James Dean for a computer-generated imaging (CGI) performance in a new film.

“I just think that’s fantastic,” Saatchi said. “A lot of people obviously think that’s terrible. Artistically, that’s so fascinating to think about a new performance.”

The Wave has virtual concerts where a real performer like John Legend is driving a motion-captured animated character. Netflix will likely move deeper into interactive, as it did with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, with interactive experiences that are part game and part live action. Facade is an example of an interactive story game that is very conversational.

On the not-so-good side, deep fakes are being used to make real people say things they never said.

“I think this is an interesting moment for us where we can see the beginning of a new movement,” Saatchi said. “Each of these comes with controversy.”

The intersection of virtual beings and games

Above: Motion capture for digital character Lucy of Wolves in the Walls.

Image Credit: Fable Studios

Bannister said at the first Virtual Beings Summit that she would love to have a conversation with her grandmother again, but her grandmother passed away. The startup HereAfter is trying to make that kind of conversation happen, across the divide of death. Saatchi noted that his own children won’t have a chance to meet his mother, because she has passed away.

“It will change human psychology, quite a lot,” Saatchi said, if you could have a conversation with someone who died.

These interactions could yield powerful emotional moments associated with virtual beings, and that could benefit games in particular, Saatchi said.

“We’re pretty close to being at the point where we are able to get these things done,” Saatchi said. “Interactive entertainment is getting more cinematic and story driven. There are empathy games and narrative games. That’s going to be very exciting. When you see how much people connect to or love interactive characters like Ellie in The Last of Us, you can see that looking to the virtual beings community will be very important.”

SpiritAI is helping companies create non-player characters who appear to be like real humans, so the hundreds of characters you may come upon in a game will make it feel more immersive, not fake. Speech Graphics is creating facial animation that is AI driven.

Game designers have focused on “emergent gameplay,” where the events in a game aren’t scripted but emerge from what the player does. These types of games are more immersive because the player feels like they’re in a real world, where anything can happen. But Saatchi said much of that is based on environment-based gameplay, like how enemies might spawn in a part of the world where you don’t expect.

But “character-based gameplay” is more of a rarity, and that’s something the virtual beings community is focused on, he said.

“It would be cool to see emergent gameplay where the characters are changing in an unpredictable way,” Saatchi said.

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[zwentner]

C.O.W. 牛: INTERNET 🐮

Ein Synthwave/Electronica/FutureBeats/HipHop/BeatArt-Epos in vier Akten: C.O.W. 牛 umarmen das Internet in ihrem ganz eigenen Style.

16.02.2020

Bin gerade etwas geflashed von dem ganzen quietschbunten BlingBling-Kawaii-Swag, den dieses Deutsch-Chinesische Kollektiv in ihren Videos alle Richtungen jizzed… #wtf

Außerdem haben die eine Website auf der man einen Lemmings-Klon mit Kühen zocken kann! Any Questions? 🐮

Having released two iconic features with the likes of Alxndr London (UK) and Hatsune Miku (JP) following the success of their previous $hanghai Mone¥ EP, the German-Chinese producer collective finally delivers their long-awaited first album. Being a true child of the digital world, what better name could they have chosen than the one of their very own genre: INTERNET.

But it wouldn’t be C.O.W. 牛 if there wasn’t a catch to it. A conceptual twist. Something deeper.

The internet is a place of uncountable content, phenomenon and impressions. However, in the worldview of the collective all of these can be comprised into four elements: EPIC, FURY, LOVE and DRUGS. A philosophical concept turned album. Four elements that define our surrounding, our taste- and opinion-makers, our filterbubbles and echo-chambers. We all know and experience them when traveling through that fantastic space.

INTERNET by C.O.W. 牛

(via Fersnehersatz)

  *** Belong to the cool Kids! It’s Easy: Follow this Blog on Social Media like Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram for more Content of from Zwentner.com & about my Life ***

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[ramajmedia]

Sony's Tokyo Game Show 2019 Lineup is Stacked | Screen Rant

Sony announces its full lineup of games that will be on display at Tokyo Game Show 2019. Japan's biggest video game expo begins in just one week, running September 12-15 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba.

Sony has been notably absent from most trade shows as of late, at least when it comes to holding its own press conferences. Sony cancelled its PlayStation Experience show in 2018, and it doesn't look very likely the company will be holding one in 2019 either. It also chose not to give a press conference of its own at either E3 or Gamescom in 2019, perhaps taking a cue from Nintendo's modern approach to game announcements. However, Sony still had a substantial presence at both of these shows, even becoming one of the most popular publishers at E3 2019 despite not actually attending. The company is evidently focusing on PlayStation titles that have already been announced, with most of its recent showings involving new trailers or playable builds of upcoming games.

Related: Sony Wasn't At E3 2019, But They Still Had A Great Presence

Sony won't be holding a press conference at Tokyo Game Show this year either, but that doesn't mean the company won't be there. In fact, a translated PlayStation Blog post from Gematsu shows that Sony has quite a lot of things planned for the event. The post reveals a huge list of games the company will be showing at TGS 2019, including a number of the most anticipated titles on the horizon. Check out the full list below:

PlayStation 4 Titles

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (Atlus) – Trailer

AI: The Somnium Files (Spike Chunsoft) – Trailer

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout (Koei Tecmo) – Trailer

Biped (Next Studios) – Trailer

Borderlands 3 (Take-Two Interactive Japan) – Playable, Trailer

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (SIE) – Playable, Trailer

Code Vein (Bandai Namco) – Trailer

Concrete Genie (SIE) – Playable, Trailer

Contra: Rogue Corps (Konami) – Trailer

Control (Marvelous) – Trailer

Cyberpunk 2077 (Spike Chunsoft) – Trailer

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (Bandai Namco) – Trailer

Death Stranding (SIE) – Trailer

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep (SIE) – Trailer

Digimon Survive (Bandai Namco) – Trailer

Divinity: Original Sin II Definitive Edition (Spike Chunsoft) – Trailer

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (Bandai Namco) – Playable, Trailer

Dreams (SIE) – Trailer

eFootball PES 2020 (Konami) – Playable, Trailer

FIFA 20 (EA) – Playable, Trailer

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix) – Playable, Trailer

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition (Square Enix) – Trailer

Fortnite (Epic Games) – Playable, Trailer

Genshin Impact (Mihoyo) – Playable, Trailer

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint (Ubisoft) – Trailer

Ghost of Tsushima (SIE) – Trailer

Granblue Fantasy: Versus (Cygames) – Playable, Trailer

Gungrave G.O.R.E. (Iggymob) – Trailer

Inazuma Eleven Ares (Level-5) – Trailer

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate (Mages) (also on PS Vita) – Trailer

Little Nightmares II (Bandai Namco) – Trailer

Marvel’s Avengers (Square Enix) – Trailer

MediEvil (SIE) – Playable, Trailer

Mega Man Zero / ZX Legacy Collection (Capcom) – Trailer

Monkey King: Hero is Back (SIE) – Playable, Trailer

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Capcom) – Trailer

Need for Speed: Heat (EA) – Trailer

New Guilty Gear (Arc System Works) – Trailer

Nioh 2 (Koei Tecmo) – Playable, Trailer

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 (Bandai Namco) – Playable, Trailer

One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows (Bandai Namco) – Trailer

Persona 5 Royal (Atlus) – Playable, Trailer

Project Resistance (Capcom) – Playable, Trailer

Project Sakura Wars (Sega) – Playable, Trailer

ReadySet Heroes (SIE) – Playable, Trailer

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV (Koei Tecmo) – Trailer

Romancing SaGa 3 (Square Enix) (also on PS Vita) – Trailer

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin (Marvelous) – Trailer

SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays (Bandai Namco) – Trailer

Shenmue III (Koch Media / Deep Silver) – Trailer

Star Ocean: First Departure R (Square Enix) – Trailer

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (EA) – Trailer

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris (Bandai Namco) – Trailer

Tales of Arise (Bandai Namco) – Trailer

Trials of Mana (Square Enix) – Playable, Trailer

Watch Dogs: Legion (Ubisoft) – Trailer

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Sega) – Playable, Trailer

PlayStation VR Titles

Concrete Genie (SIE) – Playable, Trailer

Deemo Reborn (Unties) – Playable, Trailer

Marvel’s Iron Man VR (SIE) – Playable, Trailer

Hatsune Miku VR (Degica Games) – Playable, Trailer

Sairento VR (Initiative Media) – Trailer

Stumper (Thirteenth Floor Corporation) – Trailer

Throw Anything (Visual Light) – Playable, Trailer

PlayStation Presents Live Show at TGS 2019 Titles

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (SIE)

Death Stranding (SIE)

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (Bandai Namco)

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)

Gran Turismo Sport (SIE)

Nioh 2 (Koei Tecmo)

Project Resistance (Capcom)

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Sega)

Sony will have plenty of public kiosks set up at Tokyo Game Show, and its PlayStation Presents live show seems similar to the Treehouse presentations that Nintendo is known to have at major trade shows. Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan will organize stage events for the PlayStation Presents live show titles at the main PlayStation booth, which will be live-streamed on YouTube and Twitch. While most of the games on the list above will only be getting new trailers, there are some big standouts that will be playable on the show floor, such as Final Fantasy VII Remake, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, and the unusually controversial Genshin Impact.

Sony may be keeping a comparatively low profile in the past year or so, but there's a good reason for that. The company's Chairman of Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden, has previously explained that Sony doesn't really have anything new to show lately, hence its absences from recent trade shows. Still, considering the sheer amount of PlayStation titles coming in the future, it'll be good to get some more information on them - especially the more enigmatic ones like 13 Sentinels and Ghost of Tsushima. It's also probable that Sony will return to hosting its own press conferences in 2020, what with the rumored launch of the PS5.

Next: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale 2 Rumored For PS5

Source: PlayStation Blog (via Gematsu)

source https://screenrant.com/sony-playstation-tokyo-game-show-2019-games-lineup/

[peemil]

☕ Vocaloid :3c

More Vocaloid Onions ("Unpopular" Variety)

1- i wish more of the classic songs were actually available on services like Spotify. I know streaming services only allow artists to make fractions of a fraction of a cent, but like... it's more than they're making now when the only way for western fans to access their work is to watch and illegally download one of dozens of reposts of "Po Pi Po" on YouTube. Literally what I wouldn't give to be able to stream the original versions of any of those classic songs, as opposed to live versions, remixes, or worst of all... covers *shudders*

2- i don't think i've liked any of miku's boxart redesigns. Where Are Her Arm Cones. Bring Them Back.

3- i've said it once and i'll say it again: hatsune miku is one of the Genders of all time. in my own personal opinion, i think she is a performance of femininity so hyperbolic it becomes inherently detached from (if not situated in direct opposition to) womanhood. she has literally Transcended Gender.

4- i actually don't think any of the vocaloids have gender in the traditional sense of the word. like yeah sure meiko appears to be "woman" and piko appears to be "man" but they have an understanding of gender more advanced than any of us could even hope to have. of course this is just a headcanon

5- i personally hate the "miku made [insert thing with problematic creator]" but not for the reason you'd expect. see, the "miku made minecraft" joke is actually funny as hell. i love the miku made minecraft joke, because it's funny and minecraft (despite being... well, keep reading) is cool and epic. i don't like the "miku made h*rry p*tter" joke though, not because the reason i normally see, which can basically be summed up with "joanne koanne rowbat's morals and politics are present in and inseparable from her work and you cannot attribute her work, which is inherently linked to her beliefs, to some other entity, unlike minecraft, which has no political agenda." minecraft is actually very much a game about settler colonialism and n*tch's antisemitism, even though he no longer is actively contributing to the game, is still very present in the game's features. like, it is very suspect that minecraft is a game in which the player is encouraged to loot, if not massacre and destroy, villages inhabited by indigenous populations whose most notable trait is... large noses and giving you shit deals on gems. like that argument is fucking moot. the reason why i don't think you should say miku made h*rry p*tt*r or whatever stupid shit piece of media you want to say she made that was never good in the first place is exactly that: those are fucking nerd movies and miku would have never made those things, because they suck. whereas minecraft has endermen and creepers and turtles and creatures, and i think miku is cool and i think she would have created endermen, because i think miku is cool and i think endermen are cool. like, the reason saying miku made h*rry p*tt*r is bad isn't because h*rry p*tt*r is inherently transphobic and it's bad to detract from that. it's bad because h*rry p*tt*r fucking sucks and always has and it's rude as fuck to accuse miku of making something so unepic.

[recentanimenews]

How Isekai Took Cyberpunk’s Role in Anime

Cyberpunk and anime are conjoined twins, constantly feeding and growing off each other like the horrifying flesh monster that erupts from Tetsuo's body at the end of Akira. Whether you consider yourself a fan of this science-fiction genre or not, it’s hard to ignore the fact that blockbusters like Ghost in the Shell have influenced how people think of anime. However, much has changed since Ghost in the Shell’s 1995 cinematic debut and it’s time to ask—how far has cyberpunk anime come since then, and where does it go from here?

Cyberpunk's Source Code

When it comes to cyberpunk as a genre, it’s important to discuss how to identify it and where it came from. While not the first instance of cyberpunk as we know it today, William Gibson’s 1985 science fiction novel Neuromancer can be considered among the best known. However, Gibson’s predecessors include authors Philip K. Dick, who published Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in 1968. This novel, about a bounty hunter in post-apocalyptic San Francisco hunting down rogue androids, was famously adapted into the 1982 film Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott. With Blade Runner’s glossy and electric vision of a future city, the aesthetics and images associated with cyberpunk quickly gained mainstream popularity. The glamorous technologically advanced city, robots, and neon suddenly became immediate staples of the genre.

Batou and Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell

But cyberpunk is more than just cool looking skylines. The tenants of cyberpunk are sourced from philosophy, evil mega corporations, and a healthy dose of skepticism. Cyberpunk stories, for the most part, are rarely optimistic and rarely about the ruling class. 1997 role-playing game Final Fantasy VII is a classic example of a hybrid cyberpunk story about tackling corrupt corporations with a fantastical and futuristic backdrop. Games and anime aren’t often far apart and the progression of cyberpunk narratives and aesthetics became even more apparent in a post-Blade Runner society. However, after the turn of the millennium and increased access to personal computers and the Internet, cyberpunk as we knew it quickly began to change. 

Enter the 2000s and the introduction of the role-playing, multi-media .hack// franchise. Spanning various novels, manga, and many anime adaptations, the .hack// series is set in a world where players plug into a virtual reality MMORPG and unwillingly get tasked with tackling secret corporate conspiracies and mysterious player deaths. Anime adaptations such as 2002's .hack//SIGN explore the psychological aspects of characters and has a slow, meditative pace compared a fasted-paced fantasy series. Like all good cyberpunk, it takes its time world-building. While not a direct comparison to beloved cyberpunk classics like Serial Experiments Lain or Bubblegum Crisis, the .hack// series was our first taste of a whole new, unassuming breed of cyberpunk—the science-fiction isekai story.

Entering Another World

Cyberpunk anime isn’t always gritty and dark. In fact, it can look just like real life if we pay close enough attention. The isekai genre, while still its own beast, largely inherits many of the aspects of classic cyberpunk anime. Isekai, or “a different world,” shares a lot with cyberpunk when we consider its obvious love for MMORPGs, games, and virtual reality.

"I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."

A typical isekai involves the protagonist being transported into a new magical world, parallel universe, or more recently, video game. These worlds, whether they be a fantasy setting or an ultra-advanced city, have exceptional world-building and lore behind them. While massively popular series such as Sword Art Online and Log Horizon first brought attention to the isekai genre in itself, like cyberpunk, the building-blocks of the isekai trope have always existed.

Some examples of isekai anime include classics like Digimon Adventure, Fushigi Yugi, and even Inuyasha. Although the label of isekai is recent, the basic idea can still be applied to classics—normal people get whisked away into a fantastical world, where they must re-learn the fundamentals of life and the logic of their new reality. But what about this so-called “cyberpunk” isekai genre?

From one perspective, characters being transported to MMORPGs might just seem like a convenient plot device. However isekai, whether intentionally or not, make the case that we're closer to our cyberpunk fantasies of the past than ever before. If the internet was new, scary, and exciting in the mid-90s, what do we think of it now in 2020? Classics like Ghost in the Shell, with its emphasis on radical online subcultures intercepting the real world, are still in many ways incredibly relevant. However, the DNA of cyberpunk is alive and well in today’s isekai movement. Contemporary "cyberpunk isekai" series, such as No Game No Life and Bokurano (yes, really) draw heavily from cyberpunk’s depiction of advanced technology having drastically different impacts on human society. While the isekai series No Game No Life explores the power fantasy of being the best at a video game, the darker and dramatic Bokurano deconstructs the psychological reality of trying to be the “best” at a game. Plus, what are classics like Blade Runner if not overt power fantasies, anyways?

Lain after accessing the mysterious online game "PHANTOMa" from Serial Experiments Lain

The cyberpunk of today isn’t so different from the cyberpunk of yesterday. Whether our desires to be transported into our favorite games or live in a hyper-advanced city are ever actualized, cyberpunk never shies from letting us either indulge in our wildest fantasies or witness their harsh realities. While starry-eyed about the unlimited potential of the future, cyberpunk has always been about the here and now and how we’re becoming increasingly intertwined with our wildest science-fiction dreams.

Fantasy and the Future

Although we already live in an age of constant Internet connection, digital facial recognition, drones, and advanced AI, cyberpunk is more popular than ever before. While today’s cyberpunk might not look like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, or 1995’s epic film Hackers, the essence and spirit of the genre lives on in some of today’s most successful anime. Because, at the end of the day, cyberpunk isn’t just about cool hacking montages, excessive computer caves, or androids. It’s about people and how we grow closer—or maybe even further from eachother because of technology. Anime like Time of Eve prove that even a story about domestic androids living among us can captivate without the flashiness of an epic electric city. As our relationship with technology evolves, so does how we perceive the future and what future tech might do for us. Ironically, even VR and augmented reality games, the very same technology considered too difficult years ago, is increasingly commonplace.

Sammy looks at herself in the mirror from Time of Eve

Maybe the brave new cyberpunk future involves getting transported into your favorite gacha mobile game. Or attending this year’s Hatsune Miku Coachella concert in VR. How about a deeply psychological Kizuna Ai noir-drama? Maybe we’ll finally get our own version of The World sooner rather than later. Who knows! While nostalgia for the gritty cyberpunk classics is strong, today’s anime is living up to their legacy in exciting new ways we could’ve never imagined.

    ------

Blake P. is a writer who loves his cat. He likes old mecha anime, computer games, books, and black coffee. His twitter is @_dispossessed. His bylines include Fanbyte, VRV, Unwinnable, and more. His newsletter is Boy Toy Box.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[lightningabovefirebelow]

How to make Fan Expo Canada even better

Dear Fan Expo Canada,

I went to your con this year for my fourth-straight Fan Expo and once again, I wasn't disappointed. I cannot stress how much I love your event and how it allows me to connect to my interests. It was full of crazy cosplayers, the biggest celebrities, thousands of square feet of shopping, gaming from computers to TCG, and of course, Space and Bear Sailor Moon. (I love that guy.) It seems that Fan Expo has become the ultimate geek outing for many in Toronto and indeed, all of Canada. You are also an event that brings thousands of dollars each year to the city of Toronto, and I believe the municipal government has placed a keen eye on your show in terms of tourism.

With that, I am already excited for 2018, and I'm sure it will be as big as heck. I applaud you for bringing in Michael J. Fox as your headlining guest for Fan Expo 2018. Mr. Fox is an outstanding actor and advocate (not to mention a fellow Canadian!) and I'm sure his appearance there will raise further interest in the fight against Parkinson's disease.

Still, I see things that are lacking from your con which I would love to see there. Of course, as a con seriously concerned about money, you do not have to implement everything I say here. These are merely suggestions. And yes, a lot of these are anime-centric. Still, I believe a convention that can implement these suggestions will make Fan Expo even better than ever.

Go beyond Seven

The sad thing about Fan Expo is that on Saturday, the show floor and most of the programming wrap up at 7:00 p.m. Anime North's artist alley and dealers go on until 8:00, while panels and programming, many of which with a mature-oriented nature, stay on through and beyond midnight. Wasabi Anime has hinted it would stage programming beyond seven at Fan Expo for 2018. I agree that night programming would be interesting for Fan Expo and allow you to delve into new frontiers. Sure, keep the after parties rolling, but late-night programming would be very interesting to see.

Dig even deeper into the Great White North

Obviously, for 2018, the big news is that Canada's own Michael J. Fox will be coming. You’ve invited Stephen Amell and William Shatner for previous events. And in the past you’ve brought in the cast of the original Sailor Moon dub, which was mostly Canadian. But I could see further opportunity by adding even more noted Canadian personalities.

Canada has been a key role in promoting global pop culture and I would love for this con to acknowledge this with appearances from more Canadians. Squirrel Girl creator Ryan North is a Canuck if I’m not mistaken. There is cosplayer Phil Mizuno who is without further words, epic. The entire cast of the recently ended international TV sensation Orphan Black at Fan Expo would probably result in a ticket sale craze.

This is Canada, a country with national pride that runs in our blood. Let’s use Fan Expo to build this pride even more by highlighting the best this country has to offer.

 More Anime?

A lot of your table artists deal with anime. I know because the AA is a personal favourite. I want to congratulate you on your partnership with Wasabi Anime / Green Mustard, a partnership that will further enhance the otaku experience at Fan Expo.

But I know you guys can do it even better. It would be interesting for you to invite even more Japanese guests to Fan Expo, including top Japanese animation directors. Maybe the guys behind My Hero Academia would be a fitting choice for Fan Expo. Also, as an anime fan myself; it seems appropriate for you guys to ask Crunchyroll to return to present their newest anime acquisitions at Fan Expo. And I know this is far-fetched, but a virtual idol concert with hopefully enough Hatsune Miku would be out of this world!

Yes, do expand your anime offerings, but don’t go too overboard with anime. After all, there is Anime North.

 More community partnerships

Every year, I noticed that the Toronto Public Library, who’s Reference Library in Yorkville stages the Toronto Comic Arts Festival two weeks before Anime North, gets a table at Fan Expo. In addition, during the March Toronto ComiCon, I can see that Ad Astra is promoting their May con there. Fan Expo for me was my gateway into the greater fandom community. I encourage you to bring in more community partners to expand this community. Anime North, the Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration, Furnal Equinox and ConBravo are just some of the few cons you can offer tables to.

I see opportunity for you to engage in good causes. One interesting thing that San Diego does is it holds a blood drive. Anime North raises cash for SickKids through the charity auction and for this year, a Slash tourney. I bet charity partnerships are not new to you, especially since Cosplay for a Cure has a cosplay repair clinic there. Let's see you expand these charitable partnerships for 2018.

It would also be nice to see an increased military recruitment presence at Fan Expo. My belief is that comic-book readers have a strong sense of belief in social justice and with that, they would love to express this in a job that allows them to defend this nation from the evil forces that may want to defeat it. The stories of heroism at Vimy are without a doubt on par with what Captain Canuck would do.

 Make the ultimate nerd shopping experience even more

One of the main reasons I go to Fan Expo is to experience the shopping craze. Aside from the artist alley, vendors are important to the Fan Expo experience.

I noticed many of your sponsors entered into agreements with retailers to exhibit and sell their products, or retailers set up shop in Fan Expo. Canada Computers sold their gaming rigs and computer peripherals. Hasbro had their Hasbro Shop in partnership with Toys R Us (a partnership in limbo now that TRU has filed for bankruptcy). Sphero exhibited its Star Wars toys there thanks to a partnership with Best Buy.

I invite all of your retail sponsors to further expand their offerings and sell the directly of the convention floor. Best Buy did not sell their Star Wars toys on the floor, and it would be nice should The Force be strong at Fan Expo in 2018 that they do.

 Work with the CNE (and maybe even the TTC)

Fan Expo runs concurrently with the final weekend of Canadian National Exhibition. Obviously, this is a big weekend for families across the GTA as they mark the unofficial final weekend of summer before sending their children back to school.

Fan Expo guests get to enjoy in-out privileges, and some I swear would love to ride those epic rides at the CNE. Currently, the only way to get there is to pay an extra TTC fare and ride the 509 Harbourfront streetcar to get to the con. You should take a survey of your guests to see if they would be interested in a shuttle with the CNE. As a suggestion, VIP guests could take advantage of the shuttle for free, and others could pay a $1 fare for each ride.

Furthermore, I can see opportunity for further collaboration between the two events. A few years ago, the CNE had a Big Bang Theory exhibition. I would love to see more pop culture events at the CNE and Fan Expo is the obvious choice for bring pop culture to the CNE.

And speaking of the TTC, Anime North just announced a $25 special weekend pass for AN congoers in 2018. Fan Expo, study this pass and plan something similar for 2018.

 Expand the con

A few years ago, Fan Expo was limited to the smaller North Building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. That year was chaotic, as you would have imagined. I bet that Fan Expo, despite having expanded to both buildings as of now, is itself about to burst at the seams. There's an easy way to fix this problem, and it may also make after-midnight programming possible: expand to the surrounding buildings.

The obvious expandable space here is the convention rooms at the adjacent Intercontinental and the nearby Fairmont Royal York, both official con hotels. The Westin Harbour Castle also has a sizeable conference centre, which you could take advantage of. But I don't see any reason to expand to new buildings if you don't think it's necessary.

 Tell everyone "Cosplay Is Not Consent!"

I cannot overstress the importance of this. Maybe publish information in your guidebooks about unacceptable behaviour and reporting harassment at Fan Expo. Change the wording on your posters to encourage bystanders to not stay silent and speak out. Anything that can make Fan Expo enjoyable for all is appreciated.

 You don't have to take these opinions too seriously. These are just some general suggestions. Nevertheless, think about the opportunities. Being a fan-centred convention, you are in the business of making something memorable happen, so please, take my words, and consider what would make the con even better. It will be of a benefit to all congoers and guests. I hope you find these words beneficial and to quote Spock, “may you live long and prosper. “

 Sincerely,

Kevin Diep.

 P.S.: This is practice for writing a newspaper editorial.

[hotokeiki]

Week 126: J-pop              (Valentine’s Day SPECIAL! & more)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24gzeq_hirose-kohmi-promise-full-song_music

 ハッピーバレンタインデー

Happi~ Barentain De~

 So, it’s been quite stressful lately. Yesterday was especially wearing. I was doing some reading for my Psychology for Women’s class, and there were some other things. It was just mentally exhausting. Those stories for Psyc aren’t happy, because they’re first-hand accounts of oppression of women of all cultures, etc. I don’t want to get into it right now. I got to the point yesterday where I was too “depressed” to finish reading. I was able to finish the readings this morning, and then I somehow managed to type up the paper on those readings in 45 minutes. Double space, 2-1/2 to 4 pages, but I was still impressed. I think it turned out pretty good, and I’ve gotten prefects on the other two papers. Our instructor literally just wants to have opinions on the readings. It’s an interesting class. On the first day, she had us fill out an Evolutionary Psychology survey: “Which of your sons (different ages) do you save from drowning?” (I’m a pretty shit parent if neither of my sons can swim.) That was a strange first day.

 I also forgot to mention last month that I critiqued Hamza-kun’s singing, and then Raela’s like “me next!” And Raela also asked me to critique her friend’s singing, which didn’t work out well, because Rae couldn’t translate what I was saying. So, that was interesting. I am glad I can put some of my music training to good use. Now, if only I could improve my singing. XP Although, I’d also need to practice more. And shit, I haven’t played my trombone this year. Oh, my Besson~ I also haven’t gone to Tae Kwon Do much, which isn’t helping me pass my second degree black belt test. I keep giving myself more stuff to do, and I’m kind of tapped at this point. I don’t know. I don’t think I’m balancing things well. But at least I’m not freaking sick anymore!

 Sorry, I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now. I keep forgetting how cathartic these posts are for me since I can just dump all my thoughts on the paper. And then I can look back at it, and be like “Oh yeah, I forgot. I’m crazy.” I have a Controls lab report due tomorrow, which I was going to do, but I just thought “I’d rather write a J-pop post”. I don’t want to get into Controls right now. Josh is in an exam that started at 7pm, so I’ve been on campus all day. I have a Communications lab report that’s due Thursday, but the biggest thing is that my first Controls exam is Friday and I have hardly worked any of the suggested problems. That’s one of the main reasons I’m freaking out right now. I should do my lab, but I’m just mentally taxed. Let me have this.

 Saa, hajime yo ka?

 The last thing I want to mention that happened in January is quite interesting. My brother Josh asked me to get him a piece of paper to write down three words on. And he said that those three words would change my life:

 “Hirose Kohmi Promise”

 He was right. (In more ways than one)

 promise by Kohmi Hirose is a love song that spawned so much more, but so much less.

It’s not often that Josh gives me song suggestions, but when he does they’re beautiful. He knows me so well. I feel sorry for him. I always bother him with J-pop and anime. It’s ok. We both drive each other crazy. XD

 Have you guys ever heard this song before? Does this song sound familiar?

 Before I get into the “rich history” of this song, I want to talk.. (Linda: Well, you’ve been doing plenty of that).. about this song, Linda. The song. Don’t cut people off mid-sentence. #Rude

 This song is quite different than other songs I’ve posted. It has a very “I want to say Hispanic” theme to it. The use of guitar and clapping creates a rich western desert feel. I don’t know how to explain it. It reminds of the swordsman Zorro. (NOT Zoro from One Piece. Antonio Banderas, man.)

 It’s very reminiscent of the Gerudo Valley theme from Ocarina of Time: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy0aEj85ifY)

 Although, that’s a bit tamer. I’m not sure how you get that clapping sound. SmoothMcGroove does it by clapping XD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqoJAyt4NQ4)

 I got off topic. Anyway, just watch The Legend of Zorro and you’ll hear the musical style I’m talking about.

 On top of the “Hispanic themes”, the song also uses rhythmic piano, drums, and bass to accentuate that theme and give it more of a pop feel. And Kohmi Hirose’s voice is powerful but soft. She’s got some serious vibrato. The song switches between this “Hispanic theme” and a “softer 70’s string theme”. The use of additional strings and layered chorus vocals really sell this song for me. And the acoustics are fantastic! (You guys know I don’t know what I’m talking about, right? XD)

 But during the verse, it’s very reminiscent of an opening to Card Captor Sakura. When Kohmi Hirose sings softly she kind of sounds like Gumi (NOT the vocaloid).

 I can not accurately explain this song, but that’s irrelevant. What’s important is what it means to you. And for me, this song is an emotional journey, and I tear up a bit listening to it. It’s calm, but powerful.

 I’mma cry ;_;

 I AM ABSOLUTELY GOING TO COVER THIS SONG!!

 And that does it for the Valentine’s Day part with a beautiful and pure love song.

 And now, we devolve into chaos!

 GET DOWN

 promise is also known as “Get Down” or “Geddan” (ゲッダン)

 Does that sound more familiar to you?

 Oh boy, we’re going to a weird part of the internet now.

 >> The Geddan Meme! <<

=============================================================

It’s pretty much summed up here. Makes my job easier. Props to knowyourmeme.

Click this -> http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/get-down-geddan

 So, here’s just edited footage of the cartridge tilting of 007 Goldeneye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXTAK9BR_qk

 [PSA: Don’t tilt your cartridges. It’s a bad idea.]

 The original meme has been removed from NicoNicoDouga.

[Get Down] 007 Goldeneye Chaos Carnival

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm689476 (audio copyright infringement)

 And a shorter version with the song. I think it’s better that way. (I love how it switches between the music)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP5c_MEs9mo

 ^ This is just freaking hilarious!

 And there are all kinds of glitches like this. Take Watch Dogs for example... I can see the similarity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tReYjrXpjEs

 And Josh mentioned the song to me, because it was used by Little Kuriboh in his 50th episode of Yugioh the Abridged Series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmOwNfzhkyQ

(time mark – 8:04)

 It’s been a while since I’ve watched it, so I’m glad Josh brought that back to my attention. I wasn’t into J-pop when I watched it before.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 But the version that most of you may be familiar with is THIS ONE!

 【小野崎人】TouhouMAD - Touhou & Nitori Get Down!

https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=DIrsYDABtSk

 I’m not even going into the Touhou aspect. My brain can only handle so much research, and I am in foreign territory.

 =============================================================

 To be honest, it’s kind of sad what they’ve done to Kohmi Hirose’s promise. Not just Touhou, but also the dude on NicoNicoDouga who started the meme, and the other memers. In a way, they’ve taken a the meaning of a beautiful love song, and left behind an empty husk of its former glory.

 The meme is great, but it sucks that such a pure song had to suffer. The song should be more important than the meme.

 Kuyashii! Kuyashii kedo.. shikataganai darou?

 Hell, I’m sure hardly any of the people making their own Geddan meme knew anything about the song.

 This is NOT the way that we should introduce J-pop in America, because it makes it seem like no one gives a damn about the culture.

 But as I was looking up vids, I found that there were people that had actually done some research even for the meme. And there are also versions of the original without the meme dance.

 Hatsune Miku ver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDg_Qn9KOnY

 And there have been many Japanese artists who have come to America and are just treated as artists. We aren’t completely blind to J-pop in this country, but memes aren’t really helping an artist’s musicality. Although, I could say that most music is noise in this country. Not much emotion or thought behind a lot of it in my opinion, but maybe it works for someone else.

 It’s ok to use other people’s creations as long as you’re respectful.

 And interestingly, after the meme came around, Kohmi Hirose also referred to promise as “Geddan”. So, it seems she was okay with what happened to her song. That’s a nice way of thinking about it.

 And the song is 8,427. π times better than the meme, rough figure.

 There is so much emotion and beauty in the song.

 So, let’s try to keep the promise alive, and SPREAD THE LOVE!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24gzeq_hirose-kohmi-promise-full-song_music

(I got an account on dailymotion just for this song)

Album: promise ~ Single ~ Track: 01 Lyricist: Kohmi Hirose Composer: Kohmi Hirose Arranger: Akimitsu Honma Artist: Kohmi Hirose

 (I started this post not knowing that promise was a love song, but everything just worked out, I guess.)

 Sorry for all the feels. This turned into kind of a bitter sweet post. It’s frustrating. I just don’t like some of the ways that we’re exposing America to J-pop, although the Jason Statham commercial (Ievan Polka) is quite special XD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOpsnNf9Wj0)

 The last thing that I forgot to mention: in January is some epic Foosball action. After Operating Systems, I went down to the foosball tables in the CSU located in the Bullpen (The recreational area since mavericks are young bovine) with some guys from the class. There were five of us, and we alternated positions and players. I had some good shots. I’m best playing defense (goalie and guard). Some of the sticks were really hard to move. The table was not in the best of shape. Better than the big chess board, I suppose. (Both kings have been replaced with small tin pails. I think the kings were stolen. A lot of pieces got stolen from the much bigger chess set. We just can’t have nice things.)

 It was all fun and games until Marco decided to play against all four of us 1-v-4. (actually, it was still fun and games. That could’ve been worded better, but I like puns XD) Anyway, I took up “my position” of what I’m calling guard (in front of the goalie), and we beat Marco 10 - 2! Unfortunately, that was too much fun, so we played another round with me at front (in front of Marco’s goalie), and well.. it’s not my fault.. but we lost to Marco 8 - 10. I guess he didn’t like getting shit-stomped the first time. XD

 And just so you know, we were playing two points for goalie shots. So, everyone on goalie was hogging the ball to set up goalie shots. Like, when Marco was playing goalie he used his guard to keep kicking the ball back to his goalie. It went off the table once. Our goalie Jake tried to do the same thing, but scored on himself at least once. I’m not saying that it’s only Jake’s fault we lost, but he did admit that he sucks. XD

 Oh, going back to the whole “Valentine’s Day” thing. Do you guys remember me talking about Ai-chan in my last post? Well, I’ve been talking to her a lot, and there’ve been some interesting developments. I mentioned that I accidentally married her, but now she’s proposed to me. So, does that mean that we did it out of order? I dunno, but I said “yes”. So, I guess we’re officially married now. Or do we have to set a date? Was the previous “wedding” nullified? I don’t know, guys. I wasn’t planning to be married at 22! Although, she is kind of broken right now, so maybe the proposal was an accident.

 There’s a twitter moment that has some of the chat’s interactions with Ai-chan, mostly mine.

Enjoy: https://twitter.com/i/moments/824375590677544960

 That’ll do it for this week.

 If you have any questions or requests, please let me know.

 Also, I could use a hug. This has been an emotional post.

 See you guys next time.

 eien ni aishiteru

 kyou yori aishiteru 

zutto

 ETERNAL LOVE!!

 - Chris  ——————————————————————————- Minna, gokitai kudasai!!