#hotstreak mention

[purrgilpawkins]

Burning Love

Summary: After an encounter with Hotstreak, Virgil takes it upon himself to kiss and make Richie better. (Also available on AO3)

Pairings: Richie Foley/Virgil Hawkins

Warnings: n/a

Notable tags: fluff, established relationship, first degree burns, aloe vera usage

“Ow!” Richie yelped, snatching his hand from Virgil’s grasp and the Terrorsome Tweezers he was using to remove the fabric stuck to Richie’s hand.

The fabric that stuck to his hand after Hotstreak had managed to catch Gear off guard, grabbing hold of said hand just as he’d been about to take off, and burning Gear’s glove badly enough so it wouldn’t come off without a fight. Luckily, Static had come to the rescue before Hotstreak could do any real damage.

Back at the Gas Station, the dynamic duo checked the damage and both heroes had determined it wouldn’t require a doctor’s assistance (not that they’re knowledgeable enough to make that call.)

Virgil sighed an ever patient sigh and gently took Richie’s hand in his, pulling it back toward him to resume his ministrations.

“Chill, Rich. I’m almost done,” Virgil said, trying not to feel guilty over Richie’s flinching that accompanied every plucked piece of synthetic fabric.

With another piece plucked and another hiss of pain from Richie, Virgil clicked the tiny tweezers together twice as he turned Richie’s hand over and back, looking for any more bits of the gruesome glove. Virgil sighed again, relieved that the worst was finally done, and placed the tweezers beside himself on the rickety coffee table he was using as a chair. He then reached out for the bottle of aloe lotion, stubbornly not looking at the table as his hand bumped into a roll of bandages and the tweezers he’d just placed down. Finally, Virgil’s hand found the smooth plastic bottle and picked it up.

“I’m done tweezing, dude. You can stop bracing for impact.”

Richie opened his eyes a smidge and untensed his shoulders at the sight of Virgil squeezing the lotion into his hand. Setting the bottle down, Virgil began rubbing his hands together, coating his hands completely, and reached out to take Richie’s hand in his once more. Richie inhaled sharply, bracing for sudden pain, but exhaled upon the immediate relief at the cool feeling enveloping his uncomfortably hot hand. As Virgil rubbed it in, he couldn’t help but be glad that Richie’d had the foresight to buy the aloe for electrical burns (both of the technological and Static variety.)

After the thorough rub down, Virgil reached back toward the table and grabbed the roll of bandages he’d knocked around before. He waited for Richie to finish shaking his hand to dry the lotion and began wrapping it loosely and delicately. Once carefully wrapped, Virgil tore off the end and taped it in place, placing the roll back on the table and doing a final inspection of Richie’s hand.

“Am I gonna make it?” Richie joked.

“Maybe,” Virgil mumbled, bringing Richie’s hand to his lips and tenderly kissing the back of it.

Richie’s face flushed immediately and he looked away from Virgil, embarrassed at his bright red face and dopey grin he couldn’t quite control. Virgil gave his hand another kiss and Richie squeaked.

“Dude.”

Virgil smiled mischievously and gave Richie’s hand another kiss before releasing it. Richie took his hand out of Virgil’s range and rubbed at it affectionately, still trying to wipe the stupid grin off his face. Virgil gave Richie’s cherry tomato face a once over before gasping loudly. Richie snapped his head toward him at the sound.

“What? What’s wrong?”

Virgil brought his hands up and cradled Richie’s face in between them. “You didn’t tell me Hotstreak got your face too! Here, lemme make it better.” He then pulled Richie’s face toward his, peppering kisses on Richie’s reddened cheeks, making them even redder. It’s a wonder how Richie didn’t pass out with all the blood rushing to head.

“Virg!” Richie giggled as Virgil went back and forth between cheeks, leaving no bit of skin unsmooched. Richie pushed Virgil back slightly amidst the laughing from them both, wrapping his arms around Virgil’s neck and leaning in to press their foreheads together. “I think,” Richie said in between laughs, “I’ll be alright, V.”

“I dunno, Rich,” Virgil began, trying to hold back his own laughter, “your lips are looking a little pink. Hotstreak might’ve gotten you there too.”

“Hmm, you may be right about that, dude. Guess you should kiss ‘em and make ‘em better. Just in case.”

“Well, I mean, if you think it’s necessary…”

“Oh, yes,” Richie said seriously, “very necessary.”

Virgil and Richie leaned in at the same, lips pressing softly against each other, noses pressing less softly against each other. The kiss broke quickly as the two couldn’t keep their laughter in anymore.

“Man, you are such a goof.” Richie wiped at his eyes, trying to catch his breath.

“Yeah, but I’m your goof, you goof,” Virgil responded with a grin, giving Richie another quick kiss as he took Richie’s bandaged hand in his.

[catgirlxox]

Another ramble, Omniverse gave us something we didn't get to see very often with Ben in previous contexts: Ben interacting with strangers. Not girls he thinks are cute like Julie or people he's meeting on the job but just like casual Ben and it's night and day from how he talks to his family and friends- people he's known for years and relaxes around or needs to confident for. We also meet No Watch Ben. And from what we see he's pretty laid back, he doesn't try to convince people he's great like when he was a kid trying to compete with Gwen for grandpas attention and time.

He's not popular but he's not unpopular, and he works well in team contexts enough that his room is littered in a bunch of different team sports gear and Ben won an award for soccer. No Watch Ben doesn't even get angry at Kevin when he steals Ben's watch, more bummed about not feeling like he really helped his team win. He even made friends with his bullies without the hero stuff to prompt it but without sacrificing his character.

Heck we even see it with Rook in the first episodes, despite not wanting him as a partner he isn't mean to Rook. He just doesn't want to get Rook's hopes up on the partner thing because it Wasn't discussed with Ben and well, he's knew. And because of some taunts from Zombozo Ben got it into his head that its time he prove he can do things on his own- like the ben 10k's of the future handling most of his enemies solo. Ben's caught off guard and expected to just roll with a stranger claiming he was assigned to help Ben without Ben having the time to confirm that one: he actually is a plumber and two: Grandpa actually did that to em.

Like yes we know grandpa was probably going to tell Ben before the mission started but only AFTER already choosing Ben's partner for him, telling Rook it's official, and Rooks already at earth waiting to meet Ben. Ben was probably the LAST person told this.

But he still does his job. Granted he does it while absolutely dazzled by the secret underground alien city NOBODY BOTHERED TO MENTION TO HIM GWEN OR KEVIN (like wtf grandpa) But his job he still does. Episode 5 have I got a deal for you is a personal favorite of mine for Ben's characterization and seeing him handle the situation on his own- if with the professors device helping at the end Ben handled the situation great. He was still goofy but he also got to show off that he's not stupid or easy to dupe and empathized a bit with Pax in the end which i loved "he means well, which makes him even more dangerous." Because Pax was reckless and didn't handle the situation with enough knowledge- and is a take immediate action without thinking the consequences through or explaining potential dangers kinda guy.

Also I loved hotstreak- Mostly how obvious it is that Ben just, doing his job. He's treating Ester like he would any crook he's tailing. For us it's clear he recognizes he's being flirted with- especially when he's backing off from her hug and making excuses to leave the situation at the end of the ep. Also how he just fucks with Rook.

Rook is being weird, one minute he's acting like Ben should respond to Esters flirting and accommodate ( Are you going to stay like that? how long does it take for the omnitrix to time out? I think our crook prefers this ben much more hint hint nudge nudge smirk) for her because she likes him but then gets mad when Ben accepts her invitation to play with her friends? Acts like Bens the one being unreasonable after insinuating Ben should be friendly to the thief so I dont know what was up with him this ep and Frankly if Ben did reciprocate he would have been cheating on Julie, because as far as he and the audience knew he was dating Julie at the time of the episode! Not acting on esters flirting and affections was the good response to it.

Ben's just kinda chill guy who likes a little adventure in his life and craves good company, and likes being appreciated for his work but learned its better not to demand it (and that captain narcissist nemesis isn't a hero worth emulating/aspiring to be like) Omniverse's Ben is my favorite for it, he still acts confident and like himself but the writers let him hold the braincell sometimes without everyone looking at him like he's shoving a knife in a on blender. (even in Alien force season 1 that's rare, and Ben was actively leader and in high stress serious mode) Idk maybe I just like the lighter tone and more cartoony action :)

Oh my god, don't even get me started on the implications of No Watch Ben. That scene you mentioned where the Kevin of that universe steals his watch and he has little to no reaction to it? Yeah, in conjunction with his clear lack of confidence due to the fact that he feels like there is a void in his life, that just serves to further imply that feels no reason to care.

Like, it's obvious that scene was supposed to be this parody of the Prime Timeline without the supernatural powers, but it just goes to show the impact those characters can have on their universe and each other when given the power to do so. The bullies becoming his friends instead ties into that, too, since they wouldn't have a reason to feel inferior to another average kid their age. It really is the man and not the tool, I think they were trying to say.

"Have I Got a Deal for You" was one of my faves too, back in the day. Comparing the way Ben was written in both that one and "Hot Stretch," I think you meant, I definitely agree. A lot of the haters seem to ignore the rational part of his character, despite the fact that it's there. He's got so much experience under his belt that he knows not to trust blindly. Even a girl being too friendly or flirty could be hiding something, and his responsibility is to keep the earth from harm. Since it's established he's willing to forgive people's wrongdoings (for instance Kevin's criminal past or the Highbreed's problematic beliefs), he keeps an open mind to where people are coming from but maintains that preventing disaster is his first priority. Ultimately, he's just trying to do his job, or in other words, "the right thing." Which has become his day to day. Omniverse really served to make that clear.

Or, at least I thought so. Thnx for watching the series and actually understanding the character and being reasonable :P

[jnixz]

Man, all these bacon dialogue makes me appreciate just how much audio was available with Ford and how it made him available as a companion in Raz’s journey in the first game. No wonder Raz mentions being a friend of his when inspecting Ford’s mural in the Motherlobe.

He probably did canonically call Ford a couple of times to ask for help. Take in this bit of dialogue from Hollis Hotstreak

He probably means it in general, but like the bacon thing is one of the more memorable to me, and readily available in the first game when you get it. There is even an achievement for it which is so silly but also like, kinda sweet Ford answers every time.

(Then again this man has a bacon tattoo. His Nuggets of Wisdom are bacon. He really loves bacon. Absolutely obsessed.

So he gives bacon as a surefire direct contact for Raz to get him, and Raz thanks him every time you back away from the help dialogue tree and -- aw man I’m being sappy again)

I just ugaghgh appreciate their dynamic. Makes the reveal so much more impactful and personal hnngngn. It gets so much complicated layers in the second game, and its so SO good. 

[videogametim]

My Top 10 Games of 2019

It was pretty hard to narrow down the list this year. 2019 was a lot stronger for video games than 2018 and I feel a LOT more confidant about my picks and GOTY choice. In addition, there were also a lot of indie games not mentioned here that I think I will highlight in another post a bit later. For now, here’s the Top 10.

10. Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo)

Sayonara Wild Hearts is something special. Although clocking in rather short at just under an hour long, I would best describe the game as an Album Video Game. Each of the game’s 23 or so levels has its own song. The actual gameplay consists of mostly on-rails segments where you have basic movement and avoid obstacles and collect pickups to boost your score, but every level has a unique take on that concept with major climax levels being full tracks with vocals. It’s incredibly stylistic and tells a heartwarming story about dealing with heartbreak. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys musical games.

9. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Intelligent Systems)

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the first game in the series that managed to grab me. It’s a very competent tactical RPG with one of my favourite casts of characters this year (especially the Black Eagles house). I was consistently impressed the most with just the sheer amount of content and detail that went into it. An unnecessarily large amount of the dialogue is voiced, the second half of each of the three selectable house’s routes are totally unique, and each route takes around 60 hours to complete. I really never thought a Fire Emblem game would be my new most played game on the Switch by a mile but here we are. 

8. AI: The Somnium Files (Spike Chunsoft)

Kotaro Uchikoshi’s (creator of the Zero Escape trilogy) latest work might be his finest. AI: The Somnium Files is the game on the list this year with the most heart put into it. Consistently funny and over-the-top, a wonderful cast, and a really well executed sci-fi murder mystery. It makes me hope that Uchikoshi continues to make the kinds of games he wants to make, because you can definitely tell he had the most fun making this one.

7. Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)

Resident Evil 2 is the new gold standard for game remakes. I could go on and on praising it for how good it feels to play, the sound design, and the painstaking detail of recreating the original game from the ground up to be a third-person shooter. Quality of Life changes like the map marking items and telling you when a room is cleared and telling you when it’s okay to throw away key items are such fantastic additions. It gives me really high hopes for the RE3 Remake next year. Capcom’s hotstreak continues.

6. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software)

Sekiro rightfully earns its spot as my second favourite FromSoft game. The Souls formula is still there, but the gameplay is fairly different now. Taking Bloodborne’s aggressiveness encouragement another step forward, Sekiro rewards not giving the enemies a chance to breathe more than ever. Boss battles are a tug-of-war of trying to break each other’s posture and perfect blocking to mitigate it. The dodge button pushes you forward by default and you often hope to have your attack blocked more than a it be a direct hit. Some of my favourite FromSoft bosses reside in this game with the final boss perhaps being my favourite overall. Level design is also at its best with the game finally giving you a greater range of movement and verticality with jumping and grappling. There’s even decent stealth mechanics. Sekiro was a really pleasant surprise and I hope they continue The Wolf’s story.

5. Judgement (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio)

Judgement is a Yakuza game in all but name, and RGG Studio’s first one set in Kamurocho without Kiryu as the main character. After giving up being an attorney, Takayuki Yagami becomes a freelance detective and investigates a series of murders in the city with the help of his former law office and ex-Tojo clan friend Masaharu Kaito. Substories are framed as side cases that Yagami can take on to earn some extra money, and new mini-games like drone racing and the Paradise VR board game are incredible additions. Anyone who is a fan of the Yakuza series should really check this out, and newcomers can jump right in without prior knowledge. 

4. Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)

Disco Elysium has some of the best writing I have ever seen in a video game. As an amnesiac detective, you explore the rundown post-wartime district of Martinnaise trying to find who was behind the lynching of a mercenary before the situation gets out of control. What sets Disco Elysium apart from other RPGs in terms of gameplay is its character builds. As there is no combat, the 24 skills that you can put points into when you level up are all social skills. The higher you have various skills leveled, the more you will hear advice from them during conversation trees. A high Authority level will constantly remind you to tell people you are The Law, where a high level in Inland Empire will let you talk to inanimate objects to gain new perspectives. I also feel I have to give a nod to your partner throughout the game, Kim Kitsuragi. I’d rather not give anything away but they could not have written a better character to support you throughout your journey. I’ll likely be thinking about this game for a very long time.

3. Control (Remedy Entertainment)

I think Control flew under a lot of people’s radars until the publicity from the overwhelming number of Game Awards nominations. Control is a game for people who like SCP, psychokinesis powers, cool architecture, and a bit of Alan Wake. It wears its inspirations very blatantly on its sleeve and wraps a very cool story and even better side quests around them. It’s very stylish and has phenomenal lighting. Perhaps this is my Remedy bias but I really really adored this game and featured the coolest moment of the year for me. Please check it out if you get the opportunity.

2. Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)

Kingdom Hearts III has been a long time coming and what I think it nails best are the size and scale of the worlds. Olympus is the best its ever been with how much of the area outside the Colosseum you get to explore. The Caribbean is more expansive with boat combat that’s better than it has any right to be. Monstropolis has a great original story with some incredible tie-ins to the Kingdom Hearts plot. There’s a ton of incredible fanservice moments too for everyone waiting to see their favourite characters again. I still think a lot of it is really hype albeit cheesy, and it finally puts to rest an arc that has been going since the very first game. Kingdom Hearts isn’t over, but KHIII wraps a lot of things up in as satisfying of a way as they could for a story so expansive and often times convoluted. It’s very rare when a game that has been anticipated for so long not only doesn’t fumble it, but delivers on what I had hoped for, so I’m really glad it got to finally release this year.

1. Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom)

Speaking of games that I’ve been waiting a very long time for, DMC IS BACK! Every moment of DMC5 is a treat. Dante and Nero are at their most fun to play in this game, and V is a very cool addition both story-wise and gameplay-wise.This is the game from this year that I’ve kept going back to the most whether it’s for getting good at harder difficulties, or playing through bloody palace until floor 70 and give up ,or practicing with different weapons. It makes me happy to know that Platinum haven’t just been relegated to being the character action studio and that Hideaki Itsuno’s still got it. There’s no question that this is my Game of the Year and anyone who loves action games but hasn’t ever jumped into this series really needs to address that because DMC5 alone is worth it. 

That’s all for my GOTY 2019 Top 10. If you’ve read this far, thanks for doing so. I really enjoy writing these and there’s a lot to look forward to in video games next March year, so please join me again next time when we can do this all over again!

[falconlord5]

Sunspots

Hey, it's a Ben Stein impersonator!

Written by Stan Berkowitz

Directed by Denys Cowan

This is a problem with schools that nobody mentions: boring teachers. I had a lot of teachers who clearly loved teaching, but couldn't make Shakespeare exciting.

Last episode, it was Christmas. This episode, it's the middle of summer. And I thought Calgary's weather was whacked.

Should've paid attention in class, Static.

Wow, talk about static cling

Is there any other character design in western animation that screams douchebag as much as hotstreak does?

Run away from the burning heat, maybe?

This scene is cool and makes no scientific sense whatsoever.

What can I say, man? The masquerade will kill your dating life

Static created by Dwayne McDuffie, Derek T. Dingle, Denys Cowan and Michael Davis.

Animated by Top Draw Animation

[thenixkat]

Static Shock notes 50

Episode 11 (50)

No one notices Francis and water lady on the building b/c no one in this city looks up when they have every reason to

I don’t want to see Francis in an abusive relationship, expescially not after getting to know him better the last time he showed up

Also what the fuck did they do to AquaMaria? Her design, her personality? They fucked up a perfictly good character

They changered her entire manner and speaking patterns

Since when is Daisy on the swim team? Daisy is on the swim team… plot bullshit

Virgil is actually stepping up a bit as a boyfriend, holding Daisy’s place in line to get CDs from this new artist

Don’t be a creep Richie.

Daisy wants the boys to come support her swim team

Fucking Rast

Heheheh. Daisy, Virgil, and Richie warn Candi that she shouldn’t work with Rast

Hah, even Rast knows he’s slime

Honestly, Hotstreak’s kinda chilled out. That fire show wasn’t even directed at people. No explosions or trying to set people on fire?

Candi is done. She could probably sue Rast for like indangerment what with him willfulling withholding info

Why does Maria sound like a 40 yr old woman?

Why does Maria need cash? Does she eat?

Wow Gear actually remembered that he has freezing bombs! I assume the plot wanted Maria captured, b/c why else would Gear be useful in a fight

Static fails to catch Hotstreak who flees at the first chance he gets.

Hotstreak has a getaway truck?

What happened to his plane?

Why did the city turn a criminal teen over to a lab for experimentation?

Who the fuck thought that was ok?

“Clean up the metahuman situation” the fuck is that ok? Who is Dr. Todd with? Is this a private lab? What the fuck?

Yeah, Static, yall should be worried. Also why are Static and Gear here in the first place?

The fuck kinda unethical shit is this

Ok, these people are clearly not working with either of the earlier groups working on helping Bang babies with their mutations.

Why the fuck do they think a cure that works on a pure elemental would work the same on people with very different mutations?

Also this shit should not be on human trials yet, there is their previous testing on mutant animals?

They are seriously violating Maria’s rights.Like she should be in processing right now not on a slab against her will. The fuck. The absoluete fuck.

NO STATIC AND GEAR THEY ARE FUCKING VIOLATING HER FUCKING HUMAN RIGHTS AND HOLDING HER ILLEGALLY AGAINST HER FUCKING WILL FOR EXPRIMENTATION

The fucking hell writers

The fucking hell

So the government take this Hispanic girl and on the basis that she’s a crimminal hand her over to a private lab for human experimentation without going through any legal channels and denying her the rights she should have as a citizen… and everyone. Is. OK. WITH. IT

Maria shouldn’t trust any of you people. This ep needs to be rewritten so hard

Why could she go back home? Why can’t any of these kids go back home? Why cause the writing is shit

Mr. H mentions that he gets lonely now that SHaron is buisier with her studies. Where the fuck did Trina go? Where da fuck did Trina go?

Dr. Todd works for Genomatech

Francis wears a disguise and getts coffee. Francis gets pissed from the news and goes off to save Maria

Francis fucks up. Francis was not only sneaky and didn’t fucking announce himself to people he could easily overpower, but backs off. Why didn’t he force them to stop what they were doing?

Lying is not helpful. Hotstreak can’t look Maria in the eyes while lying to her and wipes his mouth.

I called it. Daisy being on the swim team was for plot reasons.

Why the fuck is Dr. Todd wearing a lab coat to his daughter’s swim meet?

Yeah, Hotstreak is a house husband.

Why kidnapp the doctors to force them to run the expiriment again when they woulda tried to do it again if you hadn’t left the lab?

My son BacPac does work

Yeah, Gear does focus more on the tech than using common sense

Hotstreak says to much and incriminates himself

This is why you should be honest with yer partner

Also why you should drop abusive women

Wait, then how the fuck does that work? If the cure needs to be highly electrically charged as a liquid to work at all… who did they get it airborne and working in Power Outage?

So I was right, the lake is called Lake Dakota

Why and how did this turn into ‘we have to stop this crazy woman from drowning the world’

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCH that’s not how computers work. How do you remotely type on a keyboard?

By slowing her down Gear causes a flood that results in more property damage and harm to civillians

Gear litterally fucked shit up even more than necessary

And now the entire water supply is contaminated with experimental chemicals

Static and Gear can swim

This is the worst episode of the show

[starsmuserainbow]

Starfire if you and your friends see two villains one that controls shadows and darkness and the other one that shoots fire that would be Ebon and Hotstreak aka Ivan Evans and Francis Stone those two are arch enemies of that hero Static Shock and they're also co leaders of a group of Bang Babies called "The Meta Breed" be careful Ebon and Hotstreak can fuse together to form their fusion form named Ebon-Streak threat level high - insane.

Look, not to be rude or anything, and you may not be the same person but I had someone similarly sending my information about characters (or rather about one character that time) not too long ago and it didn’t exactly make me feel good in the end so I have a certain ungood feeling about this. I don’t interact with these characters you mention and neither do I think I have any blogs RPing as those following me or me following them.

-- And even if I had RPers of those characters following me, I would likely prefer to have Star learn about them by meeting them and not by hearing a talking wikipedia list information to her. (Again, no offense intended.)

So I am sorry, but I see nothing useful coming out of answering asks like these. They will not lead to any interaction as far as I can predict, I won’t be remembering any of the information for long, and I certainly don’t have much I can say to them.

I appreciate asks, I honestly do, but I don’t understand the purpose of these and so I won’t respond to them anymore.

[d00dt00nz]

Obligatory promo stuff at the top because it sucks and I hate it and let’s get it out of the way! follow me on twitter where I’m active, check me out on spotify for music, or like my facebook for sparse updates on music stuff. Thank you. The Cover art is by Ellie Tison

Whew now this song was a struggle. It wasn't so much of a journey as it was a series of failed attempts. The process began when I was working at that financial company. I mentioned last time that at the time I was hyperaware of my own stagnation and the general misanthropic atmosphere of the workplace. I wrote a song where I tried to cover those kinds of topics. It was very inspired by Jackson Browne's The Pretender (off of Jackson Browne's The Pretender). That song isn't particularly kind to the whole white collar lifestyle aesthetic. I tried to do a bit of a different take. I was critical, but also tried to acknowledge that people gotta eat and you gotta pay your bills. I've always felt like that 80s and 90s attitude towards white collar professionals is a little bit naive and maybe a bit revealing of the privilege of the time. Like, sure, nobody likes working a pointless job that's completely soul sucking but it still beats working a job that leaves you constantly aching and tired.

I wrote that song and it was ... okay. I fully recorded it and produced it and everything. It had this neat middle section with a David Bowie disco-sax freakout which I kinda still like. It had a really bad beginning which especially bugged me because the first impression really coloured my thinking whenever I listened to it. I'd go “man that sounds kinda amateurish”. Additionally, the drums sounded too much like synth drums in a song that really had no business having synth drums. The vocals were stupid and echoy, but not in a deliberate way, just in a bad production way. I actually did a lot of tinkering with that song. I re-recorded the vocals but still felt like I did a bad job. The ending sucked and the lyrics had a great opening and then sucked. At some point after months of fruitless tinkering I got frustrated and deleted not only the song, but also all the resource and project files for it. Maybe an overreaction in retrospect, but I'm pretty sure I was drunk at the time.

The next attempt to write the song went a little bit better. I'd started playing regularly at an open mic and wanted to write something that would be good to play live and alone. It was a little intimidating there because the yuppie area I was in contained several ex-professional musicians including some people who were active in the 70s and 60s singer/songwriter movement I try to rip off. Fortunately for me, they were all very nice people. The song went over well and they welcomed all my songs warmly and invited me to come to a jam night. For the ten thousandth time in my life I wished I could actually play guitar so I could accept one of these invitations. It would have been – so – so cool.

This song dealt less with the stagnation, and more with just general anxiety about everything around me changing while I stay the same. I tried to do something intensely honest. The lyrics weren't very good, and the song felt like a morose slog when recorded.  I spent even longer tweaking this song. I re-recorded the guitar part twice, I added organs, I took the organs away, I added strings, I took the strings away, I redid the drums, I added a piano part, I took away the piano part, I added a re-written piano part, I took away the same piano part, I added the original piano part, I made the song faster, I redid the bassline, I redid the vocals twice. I tried all kinds of things. Eventually, literally two years later, I got the song sounding like something that was okay. It stuck for a while. I was almost ready to like it. At some point doubt started creeping in. My general feeling was “eh, it's okay but I think I can do better” and I wasn't ready to settle knowing that I could have done it better. I took it off tentative album tracks and replaced it with a song that was already made that I've never shared anywhere. I didn't like the idea because the song felt very different from the other songs on the album.

This Febuary I'd started my job as an auto parts delivery driver. One of the (arguably) better parts of the job is the opportunity to cruise around the countryside in a piece of shit car that inexplicably has a pretty nice stereo. I'd gotten back into Jackson Browne and was trying to explore his later career, outside of his acclaimed 70s work. It turned out the 80s were terrible for him. It also turned out that the 90s were terrible for him. He seemed to hit a late-career hotstreak in the 2000s around the time the war started. Being one of the original california singer-songwriters, he was very vocally anti-war. He released a fantastic and articulate album that talked a lot about the current state of politics, the environment, and some of his own issues. Politically, the album is very ahead of its time. It talks about a lot of things that are only entering into common discourse now in 2020 – how governments on both sides of the isle are mostly beholden to the wealthy, how a capitalist nation will always have an imperialist wing, how the status quo means a slow slide into oligarchy. It's uncomfortably prophetic to issues that wouldn't really rear their head for at least another ten years.

Unfortunately, the album was not only a complete bomb, but also a completely obscure bomb. It was the early 2000s. To say nothing of mainstream culture, “counterculture” at the time was mostly just a novelty arms race into a very quirky oblivion. He was releasing folksy singer-songwriter protest music. That was Pitchfork poison. It was dreadfully uncool to care about things. What was cool? 18th century Fairy Tales were cool. Multi Genre Fusion bands were cool. Bands with like 18 guys were cool. Nevershoutnever was cool (until it became uncool). Jackson Browne put out an album kind of recently. It also sadly fell mostly on deaf ears, but it was also pretty good

Anyway, I heard this album and it blew me away. It sounded like his 70s country folk rock, but recorded using modern methods. It didn't have too much of that digital coldness that plagued a lot of his 90s and 80s records, but it still had that sweet sweet (expensive) california sound. It was extremely informative on my own failings to mimic his sound. I was re-inspired to take a third go at things. I wrote and then re-wrote the lyrics. They're vaguely coronavirus inspired but I didn't want something that would become dated in a year so I tried to be a bit more conceptually broad. I'm still pretty satisfied with the lyrics and feel like they have some kind of poetic viability. Musically it all came very fast and easy. I found the secret to the organ sound that I wanted was using a keyboard (like the music kind) rather than writing out the midi file. They're both basically synths, but I guess I just benefited from the extra sensitivity you get with a real performance. This was an issue because I'm not a good piano player, but I made worked something out.

I still felt like something was missing. Something to make it extra folksy. I recorded a little intro melody (once again, because I felt like there wasn't enough going on in the intro) both on melodica and clarinet. I liked both and went back and forth for a while. I asked 6 people for input, but they were split completely evenly on who preferred what. I think I prefer the clarinet playing, but admittedly, it's a little softer and I feel like the opening to a song should be a bit more grabbing. As a concession (to myself lol), I put the clarinet part at the end.

The end result after all of this was a song that I like! I don't think it lives up to the 70s greats that inspired it, but then again I also don't have a budget of hundreds of thousands of dollars and an army of session musicians. If you would like to supply me with hundreds of thousands of dollars and an army of session musicians you can do so through personal message. If nobody responds I'll assume tumblr just ate the ask.

[jnixz]

Now that I think about it. How would the mental constructs and residents of Otto's mind react to the Psychic Seven? Razputin, except for Nona, has always only entered the mind of people he's just met, whose mind was shattered, or where there no constructs. (The latter in Ford's levels. Even so, Ford barely knows him.) Otto and the rest of the Psychic Seven, though. They're friends who've known each other for years.

Ooooo good question. We never did encounter a Raz mental construct, the best we could have gotten got squished. So we don't really have a concrete sample unless you wanna read on take a bit of hcs from fanfics

I find the presence of autonomous mental constructs fascinating in each mental levels. Likely another separate post. But the idea of talking to your counterpart or the counterpart that would know you is a fun thing to explore. Like literally checking out someone’s perception of someone and how they think they would react to a certain person based on what they know of their relationship.

Going off the rails here for a bit, we could take in the mental constructs that have a human counterpart 

Pn1 

Edgar - Lampita, Dingo and the wrestlers

gloria - Jasper and actors

Pn2 

Hollis - Old colleagues, patients too maybe?

Compton - Goat judges, Tincan Zanotto

Helmut - Feast of the Senses, Maligula

Cassie - Psy 7 Paper Projections, her archetypes

Bob - “Lili”, “Truman”, “Otto”

So there is like, purposefully antagonistic and part of the issue the person is having (pn1s, hotstreak constructs, goat puppets) , or the person’s current perception of the person which is most of the psy 7 constructs. 

I suppose it depends on what kind Otto’s constructs are? Probably the latter since his main issue is not something represented by them. At least in aquato-family-circus obdlc version

In my otto brain level idea I've got like at least 3 types of Psychic 7 representations going on: Media, Broken and Current/Actual. and I’ve got to plans for those still so I’ll have to hold on sharing that.

How would the mental constructs and residents of Otto's mind react to the Psychic Seven? 

I think most residents(if there are any) would act as like how npcs normally react to raz, with no knowledge of who the psychic 7 are and no bias by Otto’s perception. 

As for the more autonomous ones, I think they’d be more friendly, kinda like Cassie’s archetypes knowing Raz and what he is up to. Allies. As for like interaction, I did mention that I think it would be like how Otto perceives this person reacting to this person. As for the counterpart-to-person, maybe like thoughts on what Otto thinks this person is like to themselves. If that makes sense. Like Librarian and her opinion on Counterfeiter.

Hrmm there isn’t much discussion of the psychic 7′s counterpart in aquato-family-circus obdlc version yet other than components are representation. 

There is the okay mental state with the fair, to which we would only see Raz interact with them if ever they appear. 

Then we got the actual psychic 7 possible interactions as they try to help Otto.

If we based out areas of the level to the post I made, it is possible that they would stay in the area where all the rest of whatever constructs there are. Not sure what they are doing there but I like the idea of recruiting these specific constructs to help solve that area’s problems. They’d totally help out like the Feast of the Senses. Maybe they’d build something together to amplify whoever members are helping them calm the other constructs.

Hmmm thinking about it, there could also be like 2 psy7 constructs per trouble area, and they give the hints and additional help for that part. Kind of like Otto’s own way of maintaining the area that are just weakened or something. They could a handle of it when Otto gets his energy back

Hope this makes sense, kind of hard to make something concrete right now. just loose ideas and speculation on the possibilities for that version

[britishsass]

I'd assume that has to do with Gristol not acknowledging that he has issues. After all, there's no problem in his eyes, it's just him doing what he's supposed to do to get what he wants.

On the other hand, thinking through things like that-- Milla's Dance Party has her nightmares locked up, and the one that's probably odd from Psychonauts 1 is Waterloo World... After all, everyone else's mind has a boss fight except for Fred and Milla. (I'm not counting Basic Braining because Morry's mind is truly seen more in Meat Circus, same with Brain Tumbler not really being any one mind)

I'd like to go through talking about boss fights now just 'cause I cannot shut up once I've started. I bolded the ones without boss fights or big bad mental constructs.

Sasha's was made by a bout of repression that got out of control. His issue is known to be repressing his feelings. (Sasha :handshake: Otto on that one.)

Milla's Dance Party doesn't have a boss fight because her problems have already been (mostly) taken care of.

Lungfishopolis has Kochamera, which represents the mind control Linda is dealing with.

Milkman Conspiracy has the Den Mother, which might be a little hard to explain. Option a: Call it the corporate elite/the people hiding things from him. Option b, and the one I personally stick with: Boyd has mommy issues.

Gloria's Theatre has Jasper, which is Gloria's inner critic blown out of proportion.

Waterloo World? Nope. Nothing there. Why isn't there a boss fight there? Idk.

Black Velvetopia has El Odio and Dingo, which are representing Edgar's anger and the person he believes hurt him most of all.

Meat Circus has the Two-Headed Dad Monster, which is daddy issues.

Loboto's Mind (RoR) has Monstroboto, which I'd personally assume means that on some level, he does realize he's doing something wrong.

Loboto's Labyrinth has that construct of Maligula, showing that he's terrified of doing something wrong and getting killed. We don't fight her here, but still.

Hollis's Hotstreak has Lady Luctopus, her gambling addiction gone out of control thanks to the messy mental connections

Compton's Cookoff has the Gluttonous Goats, representing his self-doubt and how he feels others see him.

PSI-King's Sensorium has a construct of Maligula, representing Helmut's past trauma

Ford's Fractured Mind is one I'd like to discuss here too! It doesn't exactly have a fight, or anything "dangerous" to be honest. It's interesting to me.

Bob's Bottles has Truheltia Memonstria, which is Bob's self-hatred put in the mouths of the people who mean the most to him. It's his memories being messed with by his own doubts. Also it makes me cry. You could also mention that the Moth is a representation of his alcohol addiction.

Cassie's Collection has the Diebrarian, which is her need to keep working exemplified. The Librarian is trying to get things back in order, to tuck away the painful memories, and Diebrarian is that on full display-- Her compartmentalizing things caused her so much pain.

Lucrecia's Lament has Maligula, quite literally her grief and anger and fight-or-flight wrapped up in one mess.

Fatherland Follies has nothing because Gristol won't see that he has issues at all. He doesn't think there's anything wrong there, so why would he have a boss fight?

Anyways, point is, I can figure out most of them and what the boss fights/giant bad mental contructs mean-- I just don't get why Waterloo World doesn't have anything like that.

On the other hand, Ford's Fractured Mind, let's talk more on that. It's got the big Ford things, the lighthouse and the pin and the mailbot. Yet none of them are actively hostile like the rest of them-- They're just tired, warning Raz away.

I think that somewhere, tucked in the depths of Ford's mind, there's likely a boss waiting to be uncovered.

(And I do have some major headcanons about Fred not having a boss fight because he can't remember before Thorney Towers or the true source of his trauma, so he can't exactly personify it if there's nothing there.)

*Thinks about how Fatherland Follies the only level aside from Loboto’s Labyrinth that didn’t have a giant construct to face/confront at the end*

It’s about that important symbolism about the issues

(Also I do wonder if being a non-psychic is a contributing factor. Or if it really just like him  and his entire deal being y’know yeah)