#i also probably should have used an actual toy but all of mine are way bigger and also at home

[dear-future-lovers]

penetration is so very appealing to me but i’ve never been able to do it in a way that actually feels good :( and last night i lowkey was fuckin myself w the estrogen applicator and i was like wait i kinda get it?? i kinda get it? and then i went to the bathroom and was bleeding because i hurt myself so like. fuck me i guess idk.

[cielettosa]

Popularity does matter and helps measure a characters worth. If they are written well then they generally will be the most popular. Also you should care about popularity seeing how that keeps a conversation going and keeps that character relevant and keeps the fanarts and fandom works coming.

Levi is no longer popular and that just goes to show that he fell off as a character. He had potential to be something great but just left many disappointed. This is why he's no longer the face of aot or the most popular in his show. (Eren took that shit back!!!) This is why he's losing polls to characters like Gojo. He's just not relevant anymore. You're more likely to see Eren and other characters on anime fan creator pages than Levi now. Levi barely pulls in the interactions and likes on twitter whereas Eren and Mikasa are bringing in the numbers. You see Levi used to be the talk of the town and the anime IT boy. He used to be everywhere and if you spoke against him you'd be swarmed. Now that doesn't happen. People just don't care. If you have a character that was that popular and now they're barely talked about, you know something went wrong. You know they fell off and disappointed people because their writing was lacking. So yes I do actually think popularity measures the worth of a character.

Hey, angry warrior.

Here is the thing about throwing shade from the anonymity – it takes about as much courage as a moldy banana peel challenging a hurricane. If your opinions are so earth-shattering, why hide behind anon messages like a frightened internet ghost?

I find it hilarious that you are saying Levi is the one who "had potential to be something great but just left many disappointed" when in reality it is Gojo who has left many disappointed. (Not hate)

Let's talk popularity. You act like it's some holy grail of character worth, this infallible judge of quality.

Newsflash: popularity is fickle. It's a vapid internet windsock, blowing whichever way the latest meme dictates.

Sure, a well-written character with depth can grab attention, but sometimes pure entertainment value steals the show.

The goofy dumb hero with a tragic backstory might not win a Pulitzer, but they keep the popcorn tubs overflowing, right?

Trends shift faster than Kardashians change their hairstyles.

Characters dominating discussions today are yesterday's news tomorrow.

Guts is one of the most well written character of all times, but we rarely see him dominating popularity polls. Because popularity is a snapshot in time, not a mark of quality.

Are Kaneki and Light still relevant online? Maybe, but probably not the first name that pops into someone's head when they think "hottest anime character." Why? Because Tokyo Ghoul and Death Note are not the shiny new toy everyone's playing with anymore.

That doesn't make them bad characters now, does it? Just means Jujutsu Kaisen is the new kid on the block.

Popularity reflects the current hype, not some objective measure of quality.

Now, about that "Levi isn't popular anymore" claim.

Here's a little fact for you: Levi is declared the most popular anime character of all time. Still riding high on My Anime List at number 2, with Eren trailing behind at 13th and your precious Gojo at a respectable 16th.

Funny how you cherry-picked one popularity poll to fit your narrative (Anime Corner 2023), isn't it?

Bet that pinches a bit in your anonymous little corner.

I don't use Twitter (X) now, because that platform lowers the IQ of the entire internet by several notches. Who cares who's trending there? It's a chaotic mess of fleeting opinions and manufactured outrage.

Attack on Titan season four took a sharp turn, shoving Eren into the villain spotlight. His descent into darkness was undeniably intriguing, and I can see why it grabbed people's attention (and mine too). Let's not forget Eren is the protagonist. The entire story revolves around him. Of course his character development and tragic romance with Mikasa would be a focus!

But here's the thing – Levi's popularity doesn't magically disappear because Eren's on the rise. They're both compelling characters in their own right.

In fact "Bad Boy" manga that is going to be released is revolved around Levi.

So, instead of anonymously whining about a perceived decline, why not ditch the negativity and have a real conversation? What makes a character truly tick for you? Is it the emotional depth, the badassery, the hilarious quirks? Let's dissect what truly makes a character shine, instead of resorting to schoolyard taunts about a fictional character.

In the end, Levi's legacy in Attack on Titan is undeniable. He's a fan favorite, a symbol of unwavering strength, and a character who continues to inspire cosplay, fanart, and endless debates. Maybe the hype has shifted a bit, but his impact and popularity on the anime world remains. So, take your anonymous complaints and channel them into something constructive. The internet could use a little less negativity and a lot more genuine discussion about the characters we love, flaws and all.

[subzeroparade]

Just finished reading the 8th chapter of A History of Iniquity. Man, I love your takes on Messmer so much! He as a character feels like a gold mine to dig into and is such a joy to spin, imo. I'm happy that you seem to be taking an interest in him :') Speaking of all Soulsborne characters, what do you like more when it comes to drawing/writing them: a total freedom/building from a scratch or when the characters are already fleshed out in the game (for FromSoft standards, of course xd) and there are more "toys" for you to play with?

I’m going to answer your question specifically as it relates to writing, because I think that’s the more engaging take (also writing and drawing are vastly different creative exercises for me). Also caveat that I am always more interested in writing a good story than accounting for (or overexposing) every little excruciatingly minute lore detail, unless it is in favour of the narrative. 

Obviously it's nice to have a lot to work with: dialogue, environmental storytelling and descriptions of what Character X has done/built/conquered/fucked up, how they’ve communicated with other characters, shades of a timeline, etc etc (proportional to Soulsborne, of course). Personally I find evidence of interaction with other characters to be particularly useful, since it provides multiple reference points, and that’s a fair amount of scaffolding already on which to start building. Morgott is a good example in Elden Ring, as is Gehrman in Bloodborne - two characters with (comparatively) extensive lore, in-game interaction, voice lines, etc. We know what many other characters think of them, and how they in turn feel about the world around them - so it’s easier to fine tune those traits that are canonically evident (Morgott’s bitterness and catholic self-loathing; Gehrman’s stark regret and helplessness), and it provides a path to one of my favourite things in storytelling: working backwards. How did they get to where they are now? Become the person we meet in-game? This is especially rewarding with older characters, imo (for the tumblr children, when I say older I mean minimum 50+, or whatever is equivalent to a very old demigod. Like an actual life that has been lived).

HOWEVER (ᵕᴗᵕ) I think it’s a more interesting exercise to write NPCs with literally two lines of canonical info (Tricia, Huw, Caryll, etc) and a useful way to hone solid character development. It requires nuance to build someone believable (irl I’ve found the older you get and the more variety of people you meet, the easier this becomes). It takes a lot more convincing to make someone like Tricia compelling versus someone like Morgott, and working with vague or faceless NPCs means a lot of digging around their periphery. Where do they fit into the world, and when? With whom would they have interacted, fallen in with, opposed; what would they have believed? How would the narrative’s canonical events have affected them, changed them, etc etc (keeping in mind they are probably more narrowly shaped by their circumstances as well). 

To me, what makes these peripheral characters interesting is precisely the fact they are not OCs  - they are nothing like the Hunter, or the Tarnished. They are not the hero of the game, who is by definition a blank slate - and yet will, by default, encounter everyone and leave a mark on the world. At times it can feel a little like writing an OC, as there’s so little to work with - but these secondary characters do exist within certain parameters, and sometimes they’re stricter than we think. These characters will not change the world, even if they deeply affect those around them. They will toil in obscurity, stick to the sidelines, fail, be forgotten, make mistakes - though not ones that are grave enough to shake the story itself. So there cannot be that sort of limelight-bathing, grating, insufferable hero-uniqueness there is to most OCs. Instead there should be a normalcy to them, a groundedness for believability. If they are your POV or a main character in fic, they also need enough dimensionality to be fully expressed people. In truth I think that’s where I have the most fun.  

Anyway tdlr I love all my “toys”. Ty for the ask :) 

[demilypyro]

hello wow nerd reporting in. very excited that you're starting in WoD, it's my favorite old expansion. hunters are probably the most beginner-friendly class out there so good job there too. to make your life easier i would suggest getting CurseForge to download some addons. Adibags makes your inventory way more manageable, and Leatrix Plus offers a lot of quality of life things like auto-selling junk and some UI support. TomTom is useful for following guides since it's the coordinate system everyone expects you to use. Can I Mog It is nice for keeping track of armor appearances. those should get you started i would suggest a new toon for every xpac you want to level through, yeah. while you're diversifying, i would suggest getting one of each of the four armor classes so you have someone to collect appearances. your hunter already wears mail and your cool dranei pally wears plate, so that leaves a mage/priest/warlock to wear cloth and a druid/rogue/demon hunter to wear leather. wow is a dressup game <3 if you haven't figured out professions already and want to do so, an important thing to note is that you can Only have two professions per toon, where i think in FFXIV one character can do all of them. there are professions that are meant to pair well together. if you want to make your own armor for your hunter, i'd suggest Skinning/Leatherworking. skinning's also a high-value profession if you care any about gold but you don't have to worry about it. the professions that pair well together are Tailoring/Enchanting, Herbalism/Alchemy-Inscription, Mining/Blacksmithing-Jewelcrafting-Engineering. engineering gets you access to a bunch of cool toys. enchanting is nice because your materials come from melting down armor which means you get things from just regular questing. i actually prefer to double up on the gathering professions (skinning herbalism mining) but to each their own. i hope this helps and i'm sorry for busting down the wall to your inbox like koolaid man. i hope you have tons of fun!! last thing if you make a druid (which i highly recommend, they're blizzard's favorite child and get tons of cool features) i recommend making a worgen druid if only because worgen have by far the coolest starting zone. hope this helps bye

:(

[marshallpupfan]

Outside of my usual update posts, I try not to talk about my Marshall collection too much. I'm often worried someone might get jealous if I bring it up a lot, or that others may see it as me trying to brag... or, in the case of someone on Twitter, use it as an excuse to whine about a character they don't like! However, while looking over my shelves to find spots (heh) for my latest purchases, I realized something that I felt was worth talking about...

My collection's becoming a time capsule, huh?

PAW Patrol is ten years old now, and throughout its history, we've seen so many toys, plush dolls, and other types of merchandise based on its characters, films and themes. However, once these products fulfill their purpose, most of them disappear, never to be seen on store shelves again (at this point, you'll have to hope you can get lucky and find them on Ebay or something). Granted, this isn't a new concept, as companies have been doing this before any of us were born. But whether it's a figurine based on a subseries, a candy-filled tin cup, or something else entirely, many of these products are now starting to become lost in time.

Take this ornament, for instance. When I first found out about it, I could only find a single picture of it on an old page on a Sears website (listed as "out of stock" for many years). If you go looking for it now, you likely won't find anything about it anywhere. Unless I'm mistaken, the only place you'll see it now is... well, on my account.

How about lunch boxes based on particular themes? I feel like Sea Patrol was pretty big for a while, but with the launch of Aqua Pups, you probably won't see any of its illustrations anymore. There's also that figurine and plush doll of Marshall wearing his winter Sea Patrol coat... which popped up once and then never again.

How about this product? It was never sold in the USA, so I had to import it from the United Kingdom. I still think it's one of the coolest items in my collection, since whoever manufactured it clearly put in the extra effort to make it look quite accurate to the character... and it's just a shampoo bottle! It was made in 2016, so you won't see too many of them anymore, especially unopened and in good condition. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if only a handful exist now.

What about the old plush designs? Some have floppy legs, while others can stand on their own. Now that Spin Master's switched to a new style, you likely won't see these in stores anymore. Some websites might still sell them, but otherwise, they're a thing of the past now.

How about my Ready Race Rescue theatrical poster? Yes, believe it or not, it actually played in some! As far as I'm aware, these posters were never sold in stores, which means they were made specifically for use in theaters. Once the mini-movie drove ran its course, most of them were thrown away. I was fortunate someone not only kept one, but also put it on Ebay, too. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the few that still exists.

I could surely go on about the many other products we'll likely never see in stores again, but no doubt we'd be here all day. Again, this isn't anything new or surprising, since the old always gets pushed out in favor of the new at some point or another. But hey, just because something is old, that doesn't mean it should be forgotten! Honestly, I like tracking down these older products and, in a way, preserving them so they can be viewed by fans once again... especially if it involves a favorite character of mine!

Of course, it's difficult to say if any of this will mean anything in the future. PAW Patrol is big, but it's no Mickey Mouse or Star Wars. I have to imagine a Pup-Fu Marshall toy from 2015 can't compare to a Luke Skywalker action figure from 1977. Thus, I have to wonder... will PAW Patrol ever become just as big, or will it inevitably conclude and simply fade from our minds as the years go by? Will anyone look back at these toys and see them with the same level of fondness? It's possible that, in ten or twenty years from now, everything I've purchased will only be worth a dollar or two at a Goodwill or yard sale. Perhaps my collection's only good for collecting dust?

Well, even if that's true, I don't mind. These items are linked to a character I love, so regardless of how the future views them, they'll all remain special to me. Perhaps, in the end, that's all that matters. :)

[normystical]

uhh just some ramble/rant/vent thing idk. i'm not gonna try too hard making it pretty. hopefully i make sense here :P

okay soo first of all i'm aromantic. i can't love someone romantically. well, maybe one person, but that's another story and i'll touch on that in a bit anyway. this one person has a crush on me. we already do have.. intimate.. interactions. he also seems to see sex as "wholesome." like it's a way of showing love.

recently i've been feeling.. kind nostalgic.. over what we did when he thought we were dating. he confessed to me, i said i don't know, i assumed we were friends by default, he assumed we were dating by default. it was.. nice actually. i kind of miss it. like how we'd hang out around his town. when we were at that restaurant and we were leaning on each other while waiting for our food. when we were walking around, listening to the waves crashing, me pointing out how much clearer the stars were in his area than mine... i kind of miss it. and he said recently that he still has a crush on me. i also made it clear to him that i will never be able to love him that way and he understood.

so it seems that there's no reason not to just go fuck it we ball and date anyway. but... first of all, i'm inconsistent. i'm worried that will apply to him, too. he's a tad clingy, too, meanwhile i'm kind of distant with him. i'm worried it'll drain me or something and i'll leave him, idk. also, for some reason, it just doesn't feel right telling anyone that i have a boyfriend. i mean, i'd be cool with him calling me his girlfriend, and i'd be okay with peers who know about my dilemma understanding us as a couple of sorts, but i don't want to allow people to think that i'm actually in love with someone, for some reason. also, it feels like a... temporary solution?? if that makes sense?? i want him to break up with me. i want him to move on. i want him to find someone who can actually love him. i don't want to date him forever. pardon my lemon demon brainrot but it's like the lines in white bread boyfriend, "i want to be your typical toy and break up in time for college plans."

idk. it's probably just mostly nostalgia and guilt, i guess. though it was kind of enjoyable which is why i miss it, and i feel like if he knows i can't love him that way it could maybe possibly become more comfortable for me. but idk.

oh right forgot to touch on the other thing. i might be uniromantic. already had one... crush? i think? hard to tell. i'm worried if i actually *do* finally meet him again and i'd have to break up with the other guy just for that. i guess. though then again the intimate relations on their own make that whole situation complicated regardless, since double allos see that as cheating anyway...

wow, actually, writing down my thoughts helped a lot. oh. also realized that maybe it has to do with my general discomfort about lying, even to the simplest degree. like, in this case, lying to others that i have feelings i cannot feel. anyway... i don't want to disappoint him or let him down. i know i'm not enough for him and i can never be enough. and i don't want to act like i am enough. and tbh.. i want our intimate relations to last but not our theoretical "romance." i just don't know what to do. idk if i should date him or not. shouldn't i want to shout my love from the rooftops or something? isn't it bad if i want to keep such a status secret or at least not associated directly with me? am i just selfish for wanting to relive some pretty memories?

[shwoo]

I would like to thank the English language for allowing me to make burrito-related puns about secrets for both this fanfic's chapter titles.

TItle: Just Dropping in (part 2 of 2) Summary: Filbo has lived with his dad almost all his life, but now that he's back from Snaktooth, he's decided to stay with some journalist who wasn't even part of the original expedition. Filbo's dad has some suspicions. He has a lot of suspicions. (Also on AO3)

.

Chapter 1: Keep It Under Wraps! Chapter 2: Don't Spill The Beans!

"What are you feeding him?" Miglo demanded, glaring. He entered the kitchen nook and started pulling open doors at random.

Theobe ignored him until they'd finished pouring the milk, and then offered Miglo a mug. "Here's your coffee."

Miglo accepted it without acknowledgement, but he did take a sip.

Then he opened the cabinet under the sink, and whirled around. "Why's there ash in your garbage? What have you been burning? Are you making Filbo cook?"

The ash had nothing to do with food, but Miglo sounded so incredulous that Theobe couldn't resist setting him straight. "He cooks twice a week," they said, pointing at the fridge. "It's on the chore wheel."

Actually, it was more that Filbo got cooking lessons from Theobe twice a week, but Filbo had been making definite progress. He'd already figured out how to judge which size of saucepan to use, and it had been almost a week since Theobe had had to remind him about keeping his other paw out of the way when chopping vegetables. He'd been getting better and better at chopping the vegetables evenly, too.

"Um, and that's just paper ash," Theobe continued. "Snorpy always insists we burn his letters." That was a little bit of misdirection that Snorpy would probably appreciate. The ash in the garbage wasn't the original letter, which Snorpy had sent from an undisclosed location at his uncle's farm, but a decoded copy that Theobe and Filbo had made earlier that day. It probably wasn't necessary to burn the copies, but it was what Snorpy wanted, and it made Theobe feel like a real spy.

"Snorpy?" Miglo demanded. "Sn-- That's not even a real name!"

Theobe shrugged. He really was insistent on nitpicking everything. "It's short for Snorpington. Like that show about the fake detective?" It was an uncommon name, but not that uncommon.

Miglo walked off through the door Filbo had left through, still holding his coffee. Theobe followed quickly, to find him staring at one of their bookshelves.

He took the Grumpy Baby in the "Mayo" sash from the top shelf and brandished it. "This is not an officially licensed Grumpy Baby toy!"

Apparently it was easier to memorise them all the Grumpy Babies than Theobe had thought, if Filbo, Gramble, and Miglo had all done it. Maybe Theobe should get in on that. "It's custom. Gramble made it. For Filbo." He'd made Theobe one as well. It had a little press hat, which was cute. They kept it in their office.

"That's not a real--" began Miglo. "W-- No. It is. Very common name." He put the Grumpy Baby back and leaned over to inspect the cassettes on the shelf below. "What is this? G-Files? Grump Peaks… Collector's Edition? My son isn't into this trash!"

Theobe sighed. "Those are mine. You're kind of grasping at straws now." They half hoped Filbo would come back soon, but also it wasn't Filbo's job to try to control his dad's temper.

Miglo turned around suddenly, and Theobe was starting to wonder how he didn't get dizzy from doing that so often. "I'm sick of listening to you mocking me. We both know you were never on that island, and no matter what threats you made, how you got Filbo to play along, I'm not leaving without him!" He poked Theobe in the chest. "You're some kind of monster, you know that? Stop preying on a good-natured kid, and find your own stories! You're gonna be doing a lot of time when I'm through with you."

"I'm a journalist!" said Theobe. What kind of hack did he think they were? "If I say I went somewhere, I went there. I've got pages of notes and interviews to prove it!"

They frowned, remembering what kind of information was in their pages of notes and interviews. It could be a problem if Miglo actually wanted to see them.

Miglo didn't ask. He said "Now where is my son? Is he really in the bathroom?"

"I guess so," said Theobe with a shrug. "That's where I thought he he was going." Filbo did sometimes excuse himself to the bathroom when he got overwhelmed, but if he'd eaten that whole pack of gummy grumps, the bathroom was where he needed to be.

Miglo took a swig of coffee and headed for the hall door, and Theobe followed, hoping he wasn't planning to barge in. He'd clearly made up his own mind about what was going on, and they weren't sure what they could say to convince him otherwise. At least without revealing the whole truth. He didn't even seem inclined to believe what Filbo told him.

Also, what was all that stuff about Theobe preying on a good-natured kid? Filbo was barely a year younger than they were.

In the hall, Miglo hammered on the door with the toilet paper decal. "Filbo! Are you in there?"

"Oh, hey dad!" said Filbo, from the other side. "I'll be out, uh… soon." He laughed slightly.

"Make sure you wash your hands," said Miglo, with a glance at Theobe.

Theobe wondered what Miglo would think about the bathroom arrangements in Snaxburg, and decided not to bring it up.

Miglo was already opening the door opposite the bathroom. "What is this?" he demanded, peering inside.

Theobe peeked in behind him. "That's my room." It looked like Filbo had taken down the certificate of completion he'd made them, though not the alien taxonomy poster next to it. He hadn't touched the books, magazines and newspapers strewn all over the floor either, so Theobe hoped it looked lived-in enough to not seem suspicious.

Not that there was anything to be suspicious about, if you weren't Miglo Fiddlepie.

Miglo pulled open the next door up, and Theobe said "And that's my office."

Filbo had cleaned up in there as well. The desk looked strangely bare with the journal closed and the loose notes cleared away. Even the expedition photo was missing.

Apparently this was another thing that required Miglo to turn around as fast as he could. "You made your second room into an office? I knew you weren't giving him anywhere to sleep!"

"Uh…" said Theobe. At this point, Miglo had progressed past grasping at straws, and was just outright making things up to be upset about. They weren't going to try pointing that out this time, though. "No, Filbo's room is over there." They pointed at the door opposite their office.

Filbo's room, or the spare room. Whichever it was now.

Miglo took a look inside, and didn't seem to find anything to criticise immediately.

"We didn't have time to grab much before the island exploded…" said Theobe, to forestall any complaints about how empty it was.

"The island--?!" Miglo began. "Never mind. Oh, you let him have a record player and a boombox."

"Those are just his," said Theobe, following him in.

There were piles of meticulously labelled party mixtapes on one side of the boombox. Filbo claimed he had one for every occasion, and he'd even managed to make a pretty good mixtape entirely out of all the Do The Wiggle remixes that Wiggle kept gifting them.

On the other side, so Filbo didn't get them mixed up, were a couple of Grumpin Park cassettes in their cases. Miglo picked one of them up, and Theobe held their breath, but he just nodded slightly, put it down, and moved on to Filbo's card shelf.

There were only a few cards on it, and almost half of them were encouraging notes from Chandlo, but Filbo insisted that it was going to grow, and that his card shelf at home was so full he could barely fit anything new on there.

Miglo picked up the glitteriest card, and read the front aloud. "I'm Sorry." He opened it up and kept reading, with increasing incredulity. "Dear Filbo. I'm sorry for… bullying you so hard back on Snaktooth? I was really mad at your whole, like, life philosophy, but that's not an excuse, lol. You're actually pretty cool, like, in a lame way? XOXOX? Beffica?!'" He jabbed at the card with his other hand, almost spilling his coffee. "And she drew some kind of sideways happy face… Is this even a real apology letter?"

"She put a lot of effort into that," said Theobe.

She'd shown them her original attempt, and their first suggestion had been to begin it with something other than "Dear squeeb (j/k lol)". Sincerity did not come easily to her.

"Care to explain why he's still in contact with someone who bullied him?" said Miglo.

Theobe opened their mouth to suggest he ask Filbo, and Filbo rushed in, his paws dripping wet. He was still hiding his left arm out of view, but he'd got rid of Theobe's boots, and both feet were now clearly normal Grumpus paws.

"Dad, it's okay!" he said. "Beffica…" he laughed. "She was going through a lot. Well, we all were."

"Filbo," said Miglo. "Take your arm out from behind your back."

Filbo chuckled, and backed against the wall. "Uh, I'm good."

"Well," Miglo continued, "if you can't do that, at least tell me why you're so set on staying with this stranger! This isn't like you! Remember college?"

Filbo looked at Theobe. "They're not a stranger…"

"Then why didn't you know their last name when you called?" Miglo demanded.

"Oh, uh…" said Filbo. "Well, we didn't really need last names on the island. It wasn't like high school, with… six Befficas." He glanced at the card in Miglo's hand. "Just one… heh."

Miglo sighed. "I don't know what this Theoblab grump told you, but they're using you."

"Hey!" said Theobe, but Miglo was already leaving the room.

"I'm getting you out of here," said Miglo, as he walked, "no matter what."

Theobe and Filbo followed, with Filbo mouthing the word "sorry".

Miglo returned to the living room and grabbed the phone, then turned and leaned towards Theobe, so close that their noses were almost touching. "Listen to me, you… journalist. If you don't let my son go right now, I'm gonna make some calls, and you're gonna go to prison for a long, long time."

"Okay," said Theobe.

"Buddy, he's serious!" Filbo whispered. "H-he's gonna…"

Miglo leaned back, and grinned. "And you can forget about working as a journalist ever again."

That wasn't something he could do.

But Theobe glanced at Filbo's horrified face, and remembered what Miglo had said about Filbo's sister. It had seemed like an empty threat, but… Filbo had agreed. Filbo thought it had happened, and he was close to his dad, and his sister. If Filbo thought that Miglo had those kind of connections, and had seen him use them… maybe he had.

"Uh…" they managed. They were sure there was something sarcastic they could say, but all they could think about was that Miglo might be able to ruin their career whenever he felt like it. The thought was encroaching into the place they kept their words. "Uh, wait…"

"I'll reimburse you for the phone bill," Miglo added, putting his coffee on the table.

Filbo glanced at Theobe, then said "Dad, please don't call Poppy Barolb…"

Miglo balanced the receiver in the crook of his elbow, and held up both paws with all fingers extended. "I'll give you to the count of six."

"Don-- I--" said Theobe. Maybe he was bluffing.

Maybe he wasn't.

"Five…" said Miglo, putting down a finger.

All right, Theobe was too stressed to speak. It had been years since that had happened last, but they were a successful college graduate now, and they'd recently faced down several giant monsters and a whole hoard of smaller ones. They were definitely mature enough to break through this.

Miglo put down another finger. "Four…"

They just had to explain why Filbo was hiding his arm. They had promised Filbo they wouldn't tell Miglo about the Bugsnax, but they were sure he wouldn't mind.

Miglo lowered one arm. "Three."

Given the circumstances.

"Two… one…"

It was hard to see how Miglo could possibly freak out more than he already was, and that was what Filbo had said he was concerned about. So it'd probably be fine.

Miglo hesitated. "Nothing to say? Really?"

"Strawb…" said Theobe. No, that wouldn't have made sense anyway. Filbo hadn't had a strawberry arm for a while now.

Miglo put down his last finger. "Zero." He looked at Theobe for a second, then retreieved the phone and started dialling.

"Stop!" said Filbo.

Theobe hadn't been able to take their eyes off the phone, but now they turned to see that Filbo had pulled the phone cord out of the wall. And he'd done it with his left arm. The one that was still green and lettucey.

Miglo dropped the receiver. "Filbo! Your arm! What happened to your arm?"

"Filbo…" said Theobe.

"Neat, huh?" said Filbo, a little unsteadily. "I… I think it's a lettuce burrito?" He gave a fake-sounding laugh.

"No, it's not neat!" said Miglo, rushing to him and taking his arm. "What did that journalist do to you?!"

"Technically…" began Theobe. If the truth was going to suddenly come out, it might as well be the whole truth, and the whole truth was that Miglo was right. They'd given Filbo that Inchwrap. They had done that to him, and to most of the others as well.

"Dad, I did it to myself," said Filbo. "Bugsnax are real, and they're on Snaktooth Island, and I ate a lot of them, and… and that's why we had to come back."

"What?" said Miglo. He held up Filbo's unresisting arm and squinted at it. "Bugsnax? What are you talking about? You think… Bugsnax did that to you?"

"I know they did!" said Filbo, waving his free arm around. "Lizbert didn't wanna make it public until she was sure, cause, you know, Grumplantis, and then she wrote Buddy when she was sure, but by the time they got here, Liz was missing and everyone left town…" He shook his head. "Uh, the point is, we all thought Bugsnax were going to solve our all problems, but they're parasites, and they make you want them so they can, uh…" he frowned. "Make you… become them? Liz told us all about when we found her again… Buddy, you know more about Bugsnax than me. Can you explain it?" He smiled nervously.

Theobe seemed to be able to form words again, so they said "Sure." They'd done a lot of thinking about how to explain what had happened on the island if the opportunity came up, though they weren't sure if Miglo would listen. "The island has a number of ingenious tricks to keep grumps from leaving," they recited. "The currents, atmospheric anomalies, aggressive wildlife… But its best, and most effective method is the nature of the Bugsnax themselves. When Bugsnax are around, it's hard to even want to leave. Think of it like a pitcher plant. The Bugsnax are the nectar that attracts the prey, but also the prey's downfall."

They were proud of that metaphor, which they'd come up with after a suprisingly in-depth discussion with Wambus about carnivorous plants, but Miglo just snapped "What?"

"Uh," said Theobe, as Miglo took another sip of coffee, "the island produces Bugsnax, and somehow, being around Bugsnax make Grumpuses think the snax can solve their problems." The effects of the Bugsanx seemed to amplify issues that their victims already had, and Theobe was very interested to know how they did that. But not interested enough to go back to find out. They guessed.

"For me, I just wanted everyone to be friends!" said Filbo cheerfully. He frowned. "Wait, why did I think making sure everyone had Bugsnax would… do that?"

Theobe could think of a few reasons, and felt that he'd still been doing better than Floofty and their self-decapitation plot, but they didn't want to set Miglo off again. So they continued. "In truth, the entire island is a living organism, and that organism… is made of Grumpuses."

Another part they were pleased with, but Miglo just said "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The more the victim eats, the more they turn into Bugsnax," said Theobe, indicating Filbo's arm. "If they eat too many, they transform completely, and… lose themselves. They become part of the island." They weren't totally sure how that happened, because Lizbert hadn't been very specific, but they guessed it was a good thing that they weren't sure. If they'd seen it happen while they were on the island, then that would mean… one of the others would be dead. One of their friends would be dead. You couldn't take that back.

"They lose themselves…" said Miglo thoughtfully. He stared at Filbo's arm. "And that's gonna happen to you?! Lizbert dragged you to an island that lures in weak-willed people and eats them?!" He was shouting by now.

"Hey, I didn't say weak-willed!" Theobe protested. They were pretty sure they'd only been protected by their allergy. And they'd still got very into cataloguing the Bugsnax, as well as giving out as many as they could to the others. "Anyone can get caught up in it. That's why nobody should go there ever again."

"Dad, it's almost worn off," said Filbo, pointing at his foot with his untransformed hand. "I'll be fine, as long as I don't eat any more Bugsnax. And I won't! Even if there were any around here."

"You can't be sure of that," said Miglo.

"I can!" said Filbo, more forcefully than he usually spoke. "Because… because I'm not weak-willed, or a screw-up, and I am good at some things, and Dad, you can't protect me forever."

Miglo looked like he wanted to say something, but he just looked from Filbo to Theobe and then back again, and drank his coffee.

"Just trust me, Dad," said Filbo. "I'm twenty-six! You don't have to rescue me every time it looks like something bad might happen. You're mad at Lizbert for tricking me into going to Snaktooth Island, b-b-but I knew the whole time where we were going!" He took a deep breath. "I'm the one who didn't tell you, Dad. I-I was always gonna tell you, but I didn't wanna upset you and I never found the right time, and then Liz mentioned it because she thought you already knew…"

"You didn't want to upset me?" said Miglo softly.

"I wanna make my own decisions about… about making my own decisions," Filbo continued. "I… sometimes I kinda like it when it's up to me." He looked at Theobe. "In fact… I think I wanna stay here a little longer. Even after the Snax wear off. Uh, is that okay, Buddy?"

"You can stay as long as you want," said Theobe. They'd actually been worrying about when Filbo would decide to go home, they realised. They were sure he'd be fine, but… they weren't ready yet.

Filbo said "It's good to see you again, Dad, but I'm not coming home yet."

"You…" began Miglo. "I…" He seemed to rally. "You're being ridiculous. You're my son, and you need to come home right away."

"I don't think that's more important than what Filbo wants," said Theobe, who'd really thought Miglo was going to listen this time.

"He doesn't know what he wants!" snapped Miglo.

Nobody said anything for a second, including Miglo, who was staring at his own paws like he'd never seen them before.

Then he sighed. "Filbo, all I ever wanted was what was best for you." All of a sudden, he sounded exhausted. "If what's best for you is not being in your life anymore… Then that's what I'll do."

Filbo looked aghast. "No, Dad, that's not what I meant! Maybe you could… be a… little less… in my life?" He spoke so tentatively that it ended in a squeak. "Why don't we talk again… tomorrow? Tensions are… a little high. Right now."

"All right," said Miglo. He opened his arms, and he and Filbo hugged, Filbo with both arms this time. Miglo rubbed his arm where Filbo's lettuce hand had touched it, and added "Uh… sorry for trying to destroy your career."

The correct response to that would be that that was okay, but it wasn't okay. Instead, Theobe just said "Uh."

Miglo took one final swig of coffee, put the mug back down, said "And thanks for the coffee," and walked out.

"Heh," said Filbo, after the front door closed. "That went way better than I expected."

Theobe couldn't tell if he meant that or not. They said "Sorry for freezing up back there."

"No, no, I should be sorry!" said Filbo. "I should never had made you promise not to talk about Bugsnax." He laughed. "Your career is really important to you, huh?"

Theobe shrugged. "I guess so." If they couldn't be a journalist, then who were they?

"Well, I think your story is really great so far!" said Filbo. "Your editor's gotta accept it!"

"She has high standards," said Theobe. She'd earned them. "But… maybe she'll like it," She had to.

"And hey," said Filbo. "Even if she doesn't, you're really good at, uh, journalism. You can just get another job, right? At another newspaper…?"

"Uh…" said Theobe. "Right."

(Previous Chapter)

[rockinlibrarian]

🍲🍠🥮🍚

Thanks, anon! This is the writer asks with all food emoji here. Other people can ask, too, I'm generous that way.

🍲 When did you start writing and why?

Like @uniasus, first grade. I had a story dream, as is still my wont, but that was the first (of many) time I said, "That dream was a good story! I should write it down!" I wrote it in a pile of paper folded in the middle and stapled together and added illustrations. It was called "The Christmas Elf" and was about a Santa's helper who was sick of making toys so took our church hostage at Christmas Eve Mass. It could probably go into all sorts of deep things about worker's rights and such that I was surely not thinking about at the age of six. A few years back I even said, "Actually that is an interesting premise, maybe I should rewrite it as a proper picture book." But then I decided it also needed to be in verse, which is dumb of me, because I'm not a poet, and I just made it so much harder for myself, and so I never finished the grownup rewrite either. Oh yeah, I never actually finished the one I wrote in first grade, either. Which leads us to the next question:

🍠 How long does it take you to write one of your fics or a chapter/part?

I considered just leaving my answer at that. But a more complete answer is who knows? I am utterly inconsistent. I will write feverishly and have a story NEARLY done and then not finish it for over a year ("Child of Hypnos" I'm thinking of you-- I really thought it would be a quick one!). I'll rush an idea off in a day, or I'll take years. It's definitely been harder to make time to write in this past year when I've had a full-time job with a Commute, after being Part-Time Literally Down The Street for years. Which again brings us to the next question:

🥮 Do you have any writing milestones you're working toward?

I would just like to finish what I've started, to be honest.

🍚 What genre do you have the toughest time writing?

I was going to say Action Scenes, because I have had trouble when I've had to write them, but then I remembered my favorite old pipe dream, The Mystery. I LOVE mysteries. It's been one of my favorite genres since my mom started reading me Nancy Drew (at about the same time that I started writing). But I haven't got the ...patience? to write it. The careful PLOTTING of it all! The considered laying out of just the right clues at just the right times! Look, I am SURE there are ADHD mystery writers out there whose ADHD actually helps them do it, but mine refuses (much like there are ADHD TEACHERS whose ADHD makes them quick on their feet at dealing with classroom management, but mine just overwhelmed me). It's just too too much to keep track of! Wish I could, though.

[benis-chillin]

Backlog Reviews 2024: Bionicle the Game

Platform: GameCube

January 12th, 2024-February 28th, 2024(incomplete)

So…This is a fucking disappointment.

Now, Bionicle is literally a franchise that has defined my life. I love the lore, my iconography when it isn't an ass is a Kanohi Hau, and I have many of the toys. Heck, I even have a storyboard from the second movie!

However, I never had a console that could run this back when it was new, I never gave the PC version a go, and even after we got our Wii with backwards compatability, it was YEARS before I got it Gamecube ready.

But I always had a curiousity with it, since it was advertised in the Bionicle: Mask of Light VHS I grew up with. It looked, frankly, amazing to kid me, and I REALLY wanted to play that level with Tahu Nuva surfing on lava. Always loved that scene in the movie, and Tahu Nuva was my first Bionicle, so makes sense.

So this year, 21 years since it was released, I finally sat down and played it, and…

Most of it is just OKAY…With a cheat.

Basically, this game's only form of attack is a sort of weird energy blast that takes forever to charge. In fact, when testing the rom, I played Tahu's stage legit, and I just felt silly jumping all over the place and shooting off a blast when the thing finally filled enough to shoot. So, for my own sanity, I grabbed a cheat that gives me infinite energy, which made everything WAY more managable.

Though this does expose the game's weak shield gimmick as not all that helpful, since most enemies barely hit you, and your health points regenerate fairly quickly after you defeat them, so why not cut the shield and just give us infinite blasts? It's way more fun that way.

Moreover, the game also has a "Nuva blast" technique that is so finicky that you'll probably not find yourself able to do it consistently even once you figure it out. It's like, hold down the shield button to charge up energy, then press another button(Y, in my case)right as you let go for a small shockwave effect. Yeah, only really useful when they force it on you.

Though another big hinderance may be that this game was not at ALL optimized for the Gamecube controller. I'm of the opinion that the Gamecube controller isn't right for ALL games, but it's the best option for all the games it works in. And the fairly simple controls of this game SHOULD work out, but literally the only good button is A as the jump button. B is shield, X is the shoot button, and Y is for special attacks and actions. L and R are used as secondary camera rotation buttons(that barely even worked for me, and I don't think that was a controller problem), and Z seems to be unused.

And this layout is a nightmare!

X in particular should be reserved only for actions that you don't need to do as much, it should not be the MAIN firing button, especially if you need to use Shield and Shoot TOGETHER, as it seems it wants you to do.

My layout would keep jump as A, but make B the Shoot Button, put Shield on the shoulder buttons(you only need the stick for the limited camera in this game), and keep Y as special. Just my opinion.

Though Idk how much it would help the sluggish movement and turning speeds of this game. It was DREADFUL getting anywhere in this game! I actually started playing my next game, Batman Arkham Asylum, in the middle of this, and the difference in control fluidity was staggering. Felt like an N64 game.

This could've been a frame rate problem, though. I noticed that the PS2 footage I occasionally checked out was a lot smoother than mine, so I think they just didn't want to optimize anything for GC. Also had a recurring glitch where the music would just cut out at random points in the level. Not sure what was up with that.

As for the story…

What story?

Things just HAPPEN in this game with no rhyme or reason! First the Bohrok attack for two levels, then we're fighting the Kal, then we're fighting Rahkshi! Sonic Mania had more of a cohesive narrative than this, and Sonic Mania doesn't have a damn narrative!

And honestly, I could put up with all of this for most of the game! I was just happy to be experiencing a new-to-me piece of Bionicle media! I love Bionicle so much that I was willing to put up with a bit of bullshit!

But then came the Tahu Nuva level. The one I had been looking forward to for a good chunk of my life. Finally, I could experience lava surfing with Tahu like I always wanted to! I had this experience with the Toy Story 3 video game back in the day where I would just sit down in the Woody's Round-up mini-game and just ride Bullseye around town until I got tired, or the game crashed(it was on Wii). But still, the experience of getting to embody that part of one of my heroes was unforgettable.

And this level is completely broken.

Half of the things you're meant to shoot don't let you target them, shit keeps on getting in your way with no way to avoid them, and the Rahkshi will just randomly decide to be completely out of your firing range at certain points. The shot will fire, they will seem in range, but it never hits. And naturally, the defeat cutscene is unskippable.

Yeah.

So, I finally had to just give up. My heart was broken. I'm sad about this. So long, I'd wanted to do this…Guess I'll be waiting a while longer.

3/10

Next up is the one I've already started: Batman Arkham Asylum on PC. See ya then!

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[silvernyxchariot]

I'm angry and I can't sleep. It's also probably the insomnia... So, I will say.... Good night, pleasant dreams, and have a wonderful Monday or Tuesday if you're in a time zone ahead of mine to everyone...

Except for:

Transphobic parents who force their child/children into being homeless because they've kicked them out of the house AND stolen money straight outta their bank account. Fuck you lot in particular. (I saw the fear and pain in that person's eyes. They were betrayed. Heartbroken. And about to tear up right in front of me at the till. Motherfuckers, YOU decided to have a child or children. You don't get to give up on them and disown them because YOU'RE a piece of shit excuse for a parent.)

⚠️Warning for the rest of my rant. It's just about role playing, shitty role play partners, and someone that still pisses me off. It's not pertinent to the above. You don't have to read it, but I can't stop you. 🤷‍♂️⚠️

People who refuse to make OC info sheets. We don't want you pulling a Deus ex Machina out of your ass. It's not "flaunting your weakness to your enemies." It's called being courteous. Like I don't play D&D, but I'm 100% certain people make character sheets with their characters' info on it to share with the group.

Anyway, I'm going to be aggressive NOW. Is this straight forward enough for you???? :)))) I DID NOT ASK FOR HELP OR ADVICE for my Kaveh. I found nothing you said helpful, just discouraging. I BUILD MY CHARACTERS MY WAY. "Invested Kaveh," you say you have, do you actually like Kaveh? 🤨 Or do you just have a superiority complex when you throw out advice that I specifically DID NOT ask for? We Know. Kaveh is built for bloom. We Know. I know how to research and use the internet used to study Kaveh's builds. I have invested in 3 different builds for MY Kaveh for different playstyles, gave him weapons only he gets to have/use, and supports dedicated to him because he deserves everything 👑. Your 20 questions sounded so ignorant. If you don't understand that people can build characters however they want from the start, that sounds like a you problem. So, for the ten millionth time, let👏people👏build👏characters👏how👏they👏want.👏 If I want help, I will actively ASK or, again, Google it and research it myself.

People who want to use "But I took cLaSsEs in xyz" in an argument. In a role-play community, no one gives a fuck. You are a complete STRANGER over the internet. You could be lying for all we know. The point of the matter is you're being a shit role player partner. I'm kicking you out of the chat because I don't want to deal with you. The rest of the group doesn't want to deal with you. You're like a 4 year old child who isn't allowed to play with their favorite toy. 🤦‍♀️🤦🤦‍♀️🤦

Bitches who try to argue with me for their interpretation of someone else's (mine) voice. I've met so many Karens like this at the bookstore, at work, and now you're making me deal with your bitch ass online. What is this, Twitter??? "I'm sensing a tinge of aggressivity from you," "Omg, you are SO rude 😡!" And "I've never been treated this way before!" First off, what the fuck; it's no one else's fault if you're offended over someone doing their job💀💀💀.

People who don't contribute the role play. It doesn't even have to be role play. It's just someone sending boring and bland DM/PMs. You know the type, "Hi," "Hello," "How r u," "Hey..." If you want attention or friendship, you should really offer more than 1 or 3 words of communication, especially if YOU'RE the one instigating it. Don't lash out at me, "OK. Maybe we should have an actual conversation and say things 😊 to each other," when I was just minding my own business. But yeah, sure. Great conversational skills you got there. You're the random netizen who's looking for attention. It's no one else's fault if you're blander that all-purpose flour.

[mickstart]

hi!

I was reading your blog and I’ve seen the deconstruction burger thing before on the internet, and I do it too, with sandwiches and fruit and pizza and well, everything I eat. I do some things other people post about frequently too, I have hyper-fixations, (I love formula 1 as well) I get upset about certain things that most people don’t and most of everything goes over my head and I don’t love being touched.

But I’m a 22 year old, I feel too old to actually do something about it, people my age don’t get diagnosed with autism really, but sometimes I feel so far behind from everyone and I’ve always felt a bit out of place, my parents and my few friends say I'm quirky or peculiar, but yeah, I don’t know, I don’t even know why I’m sending this. I guess, I thought I would like to know where to begin you know?

I hope I’m not rude or disrespectful.

I loved Without a Hitch by the way, it made my whole year last year!

Thank you and please don’t feel pressured to reply?

Hey! Sorry this took a while I wanted to like, gather my thoughts so I could try and point you in the right direction? First of all, it sounds like you're questioning whether you have autism and for me that meant I sought out a diagnosis. I think before seeking an autism diagnosis it's important to consider why you need or want one. Any reason is fine, there's not a wrong one! If you want answers, some sort of peace with yourself, access to specific support that is gated off, or just to know, it's all good. But it's also important to know that because an autism diagnosis can be so difficult to access, and in some countries and areas even result in a loss of autonomy, it is absolutely not required unless you want or need it. If stim toys or weighted blankets or specific free to access autism information sites like the national autistic society help you, use them.

This isn't to discourage you, more to reassure you that you don't have to like Get A Certificate to relate to autistic experiences and take advice and tips and use them to help your day to day life! But if you do want this question answered then the diagnosis process can be very lengthy for adults depending on where you are in the world. I can only talk about my experience in the UK but it took a year from my first discussion with a doctor to my diagnosis, and that's pretty fast honestly. It absolutely does happen though, don't let your age discourage you. I was 22 when I was diagnosed! (Fuck. That feels like yesterday.)

If you're at university your best bet would be to talk to your mental health team. They fast tracked the diagnosis process for me. I brought it up with the counsellor and I did several questionnaires the main two of which were the autism quotient test and the empathy quotient test (aq and eq) and then when those results indicated autism as highly likely I was sent to my GP with those results to ask for a referral to the autism diagnosis team. (The gp told me there was no adult autism diagnosis team in our area BC GPs can be fucking incompetent so we had to go back and forth a few times telling them how their own damn service works)

If you're not at university and you're in the UK then raising this with your GP is probably your best bet. (not all of them are as useless as mine I promise.) Wherever you are in the world your doctor should be able to tell you how the diagnosis process works there. It can be highly localised. Not every country is using the same diagnosis protocol and not every local authority has the same procedures. If they don't, the aq and the eq are online and you can take them and print them out to go back to the doctor with. They're official screening tools. They can't give you a diagnosis but they can indicate how likely it is that you are autistic.

Honestly my first recommendation would probably be to take them, or at least the aq, if you're curious and want to have an indicator. I had to take them with my mum there to give me an outside perspective, as many questions ask for them so try having a friend or family member with you when you take it if that feels comfortable. Also, if you can, take that person with you to the doctor to advocate for you! Doctors take outsider testimony about autism more seriously in my experience.

This is a lot of information, I'm sorry about that! Grappling with the question of autism and the way it impacts your identity can be frightening and confusing. I highly recommend the national autistic society (UK) website as a more organized source than me that can give you more information and advice on how to proceed if you're questioning.

Sorry for this massive rant. Basically, you are not alone, and you can have answers to these questions. Where there was once a huge confusion and a sense that I just didn't belong on this earth with real humans there is now a comforting knowledge that there is nothing wrong with me.

[ruth-posts-pokemon]

Well, guess I should introduce myself but like, a little more in-depth than I did in my bio. Sooo, pinned post time!

My name’s Ruth! I use she/her and they/them pronouns, and I’m an ace demigirl. I’m from southern Unova, and have only been a trainer for a few years, but I’d like to think I’m at least a halfway decent one. I’ve kiiiinda tried the gym challenge but it’s not a huge priority of mine, I mostly just wander around wherever and then stuff and things happen to me. Isn’t that just how life is? Anyways I’ve got ADHD and also am not the best at doing the whole being a normal person thing, but I’m still happy to chat and answer questions and stuff when my executives are not being dysfunctional. I’ve only been lurking for, what, 3 years…

I have more than six Pokémon, but I’ll go ahead and introduce the usual party I have with me.

Red Tide: Dhelmise that showed up while I was minding my own business tossing pokébeans into a saltwater canal and then followed me even after I ran out. Technically my starter since they were the first Pokémon I ever caught but as you can imagine the situation was far from the usual planned or scheduled or otherwise not spur of the moment sorta deal. Something something insert comparison to Ponyta girl movie trope minus saving a farm. They’re pretty docile and don’t seem to have much interest in battle, but apparently they’re really old and really strong?? Certainly saved my behind a few times, I can say that much… Oh I should also probably mention they’re the red Dhelmise in my profile picture. No, I still don’t really know how they were holding that toy. Red Tide does what Red Tide wants.

Lumen: Chandelure, but I caught her as a Litwick. Basically I was hoping to get a birthday gift for my mom and found her terrorizing a Bed Bath & Beyond by trying to burn all of the actual candles. Decided I’d try to do the employees a favor and ended up having to spend most of my cash on candles to convince the little arsonist to follow me, and then she didn’t stop following me even after the bait candles were destroyed, and the rest is history. Nowadays Lumen is only mostly a little shit(affectionate) who I can somewhat trust not to do arson if left to her own devices. On one hand it’s nice that her mischief isn’t destructive, on the other you have no idea how many times I’ve been woken up because SOMEONE decided to use the smoke alarm to get attention. At least she quickly figured out trying to pick on Red Tide was a great way to get a liquidation to her whole self.

Soul: Aegislash, I found him as a Honedge at a Renaissance Faire looking really confused and lost. Er, well I mean he kinda found me and I just didn’t notice for a while... Might’ve started hanging around when I visited the booth selling replica swords, he would’ve blended in perfectly there. Almost had the world’s worst high-five when noticing Red Tide’s little shadow, but things worked out and I guess the two liked each other enough for him to want to join the team. Or maybe they were doing the Dewpiderman pointing meme at each other over being red. Anyways, he’s always been shy, even after evolving, but he’s definitely not nearly as timid as he started out. Still tends to hide behind anyone or anything he can in unfamiliar situations, though. And also definitely didn’t get his name from a final boss in a game series I really like on account of them both having similar colors and one eye. Lumen doesn’t terrorize him anymore but I don’t think they have much of a bond either, just tolerance.

Kazoo: I and everyone around me always expected I’d be a bug trainer, but it took all the way until finding Kazoo to have my first bug type. He’s a Galvantula now, just kinda showed up in the house one day and kept unplugging my 3DS to feast at the outlet, and like. What was I supposed to do, kick out a little Joltik in the middle of a hailstorm? Just a little creacher whos only crime was being hungy and not knowing what an electric bill is? Send him out to get conked in the head by ice chunks almost a fifth of his own size? I simply could not do it, and that’s how I ended up with funny little guy who probably has one or two thoughts throughout any given week. He didn’t even care about being held like burger! What a guy. I don’t think any of my Pokémon don’t get along with him— Soul actually warmed up to him really fast, even— though Red Tide does sometimes get tired of having their wheel used as an inconvenient perch that spins around. He used to help me save on dryer sheets by simply eating the laundry static, but now I have to deal with a spider who really wants his mandated warm laundry basket bed time and long story short be careful what you teach your Galvantulas as Joltiks. Small price to pay for Kazoo.

Barque: Lapras, and the only core team member I actually battled to capture— that situation was what actually got Kazoo to evolve. Red Tide needed an ocean buddy, fully evolved Lumen needed to be kept under control, and I needed a Pokémon that could use Surf and actually move faster than a walking pace. She’s probably the most interested in battle out of the gang, even more than Lumen, and uh… They don’t really get along, but that’s mostly because local chandelier likes causing problems on purpose and local boat animal likes stopping her from causing problems on purpose. For better or worse. It’s not on sight anymore thankfully. She gets along great with everyone else, and seems to do a good job of keeping the peace when everyone’s out of their balls. Out of curiosity a while back I had some testing done, and apparently she’s all the way from the coast of Galar! Quite the trip to have made.

Cheerio: They are a Meltan and I found them in the trash. Legit had no idea what they were at first because my ‘dex didn’t recognize them, but folks online were able to give me the important info. If Kazoo is baby, then Cheerio is like, mega baby. Creacher with a baby license. Fittingly, they’re best pals with Kazoo, and it’s really cute to watch them hanging out. Soul seems suspicious of them, and Red Tide used to be(and I think is still a bit intimidating to the lil fella on account of being hugelarge), but they were quick to figure out what metal is off limits so I don’t see any problems arising there. Barque is actually a bit protective of them and Lumen wasn’t even given the chance to try and pick on them like she did Soul, but I get the feeling even she wouldn’t have really had it in her to bully what is more or less a metallic blob baby. When not in their ball Cheerio likes hanging out under my hat or on Barque’s head. They’re heavier than you’d expect, but then again they are made of metal, so… Anyways if anything happened to them I’d KO everyone in the room and then myself.

Aaand that’s the gang. One of these days I’ll get around to sharing pictures of everyone, and maybe talk about some of my other ’mons, too. Spoiler alert: Barque is the only one who doesn’t fit with the theme of just showed up in my life one day and made themself at home/catching them was somewhat of an impulse decision that worked out/I didn’t know how else to check if I was about to make a new friend or get murderized to death by a wild animal. You know how it is in Unova.

[dkmbookworm]

Just to add my own two cents on this. I myself also interpret what calypso did as SA. (And to reiterate to anyone who comes across this, the nature of what happened is ambiguous and you are free to have your own readings of it)

I know it’s easy to say “Soon Into bed we’ll climb and spend our time” is just a singular line and shouldn’t be used as the only reasoning of it. But the line doesn’t exist in a vacuum and there’s a lot of her other behaviors within the song that set off red flags.

To start with the line itself, it isn’t calypso asking him in any way or suggesting it. “Soon” is a statement, not a question. It will eventually happen even if it isn’t now

Not only that but it’s all the ways that she is constantly pushing herself on him against his protests. She refuses to ever actually listen to him and insisting that she is “what he wants and needs”.

When Odysseus finally does snap back at her, going as far as to physically threaten this woman. She swings her weight around by revealing herself as a goddess. He can try but he cannot hurt her. He cannot do anything to stop her. Yeah she says “I bring no pain”, but she is not a reliable narrator. She doesn’t want to hurt ody, hurting him brings her no joy or satisfaction. But she does press on the fact that he belongs to her.

“You’re mine, all mine” with the music becoming ominous behind it

So we have established a pattern of her directly ignoring his boundaries, refusing to listen to him, establishing her own authority/superiority over him, that he is her property, and that what she wants to do is not a request but a statement of fact

I think based on all of these, it is fairly reasonable to assume that some kind of sexual abuse took place in this time period. Or at the very least it would fall under attempted coercion with her trapping him there in the hopes he will eventually give into her desires. Which is still pretty bad.

And i think this is actually a good thing because there should be nuanced portrayals of this abuse. Calypso is not an intentionally cruel person. She means well and she probably even sees herself as helping Ody in some capacity. ‘Healing a trauma ridden soldier with her love’; you can see the narrative she’s spinning in her head. She doesn’t understand or contemplate why she cannot have him if she wants him, why he would refuse her when she’s a beautiful immortal goddess.

He just needs time to adjust, he’ll learn to love her. He doesn’t know what’s good for him, so she’ll be there to guide the way.

None of this is motivated by malice. But it is selfish and entitled and ignorant. Things that anyone can fall prey to. It can be easy for someone to just ignore your boundaries, it can be easy to wave away your protests because you “don’t know what you want”. And even just the childish thought of “Why don’t I get to have this if I want it”

And that’s it. Calypso is dangerously childish and ignorant. She is all the impulses of a child that were never tempered and was just given her very first toy to play with.

Edit: I would also like to add the element that Calypso plays within the narrative of the Wisdom saga when her clearest parallel is with Antinous. Both represent Odysseus and Penelope's unwanted romantic interests in the story. Both of them feel a sense of ownership and entitlement to the two of them and both show a clear sexual interest in them. The main difference is that Antinous is outwardly aggressive and cruel in his intentions while Calypso is sickly sweet and has a nicer veneer over it. Another main difference is that Penelope has been able to keep them at bay for now, but Odysseus is completely at his captor's mercy

Don't you think your posts about Calypso SA'ing Odysseus are a reach? You said yourself it's one line. Why is Calypso the only character you have to hold as true to the Odyssey? No one else gets this treatment.

It's not that I am intentionally holding this one specific character directly up to her Odyssey counterpart and saying they have to be the same. I just haven't written or posted any other analyses / critiques of earlier sagas. Eventually I might do that. I assure Calypso is not the only character I look at under a microscope.

Simply put, no, I don't think it's a stretch of any sort or I wouldn't have said it. I did mean it. But I think maybe I didn't make it clear enough why I was saying it.

I'm not using the two lines across the entire musical to insist that she raped Odysseus because I want her to be this irredeemable villain. I can and will concede that, yes, Calypso has no frame of reference for socially acceptable behavior, especially that which pertains to sexual relations. Her songs in Epic really expand on her story in a way that the Odyssey simply does not care to.

I simply think it's important that Odysseus remain representation for men that have been sexually assaulted. He's one of the earliest examples of it, and that is constantly swept under the rug of "he's just a cheating piece of shit" to a lot of people (thank you, Madeline Miller — sorry, that's mean).

That is why I brought it up on my posts. And that's why I think those specific lines were left in the musical.

[bahamutgames]

SAGE 2023 Postin'

Yay!! SAGE 2023 has started! Last year I didn't make the time to play much of anything despite having a year to do it lmao, and that really bummed me out so I really wanted to get ahead of the curve and go ahead and play some stuff! Idk how much I'll play from this year's showing cause there's a LOT of great stuff! But I'll make however many posts it takes. Here's what I played tonight that I think YOU should check out!!

Dotty Game - by Wootinaboot

A game from a friend of mine! This is a SUPER cute Megaman like where you play as an ADORABLE little bug and blast mushrooms! This demo is really neat cause it's actually a gameboy file that I had to play through emulator! Although, you can just play it in browser on their itch so that's nice too! Controls are tight, sprites are great, music is REALLY nice and I was surprised by how challenging it could get with some of the bosses. There's also a LOT of hidden stuff to find so be sure to play it all the way through! You do NOT want to miss the special surprise let me tell you!

The Wingless Bee - by Ryansil

Another game from a friend and famously, the creator of Pac-Man as you all know. This game I was not expecting at all, it's actually very similar to Frogger! Though it is kind of gloomy and sad. But it's cool and the demo really shows some neat stuff like perspective changes and boss fights. It's simple but I genuinely had an out loud "AHA!" moment when I figured out how to fight the boss. Cool stuff!

Sonic McOrigins Plus - by Difgue

FINALLY, GAMING IS GOOD AGAIN! I have SO MUCH nostalgia for these old Sonic McDonald's toys! I tried to collect all of them but obviously couldn't (I didn't even realize there were SO many!) But I can relive wonderful memories of Shadow Grinding, Shadow vs Omega Hockey, AiAi Banana Catcher, Amy and Rouge Tennis ect ect. I knew there were efforts to archive these types of game & watch styled games but I hadn't really tried any before myself. This feels great and even works great on my dinky phone!

F-ZERO POCKET - by Linky493

This was such a neat one! F-ZERO on Gameboy Color! It has a TON of characters and tracks, I was actually seriously shocked by how much was in here. It's a little difficult to play though but weirdly enough I feel like that's authentic to how a GBC F-ZERO would be. If you're a fan you gotta check it out the novelty of this one alone is so good!

Toree Saturn - by Siactro

Probably the least surprising thing I've ever said by this point: I love Toree! I've played the whole series and I think at this point I've S ranked every stage in the series??? Maybe? It's been a bit since I looked. So of course I had to try Toree Saturn! I hadn't seen gameplay prior to playing this so I figured it was just gonna be another level pack. But to my delight, no! It's actually a Toree Sequel! A brand new game! New models, new moves and mechanics! Now I am BEYOND excited for this game! I still have to play Kiwi 64 but it looks amazing and Siactro hasn't missed once yet. This was a lovely surprise!

Dono's Tale - by Super Item Studios

WOW! WOW WOW WOW! This one absolutely blew me away! I've had my eye on this game for a bit (I'm so sorry I missed the kickstarter, y'all, I WISH I HAD MORE MONEY I'D FUND SO MANY INDIE GAMES!) But I finally got to try it with this demo and just WOW! This game is SO good! Absolutely GORGEOUS artwork that looks so authentically SNES it's amazing. Super cute music and designs, this was an absolute treat! My favorite powers were fire + wings! I wish you had more use for the other powers, though I do assume a full game will have levels soley based around each of Dono's abilities. This game rules!

Bub's Big Blowout - by Miles' Games

DUDE THIS GAME LOOKS REAL!? FAN GAMES JUST STRAIGHT UP LOOK LIKE OFFICIAL GAMES NOWADAYS THIS IS NUTS!! Bub's Big Blowout is a 3D Platformer translation of Bubble Bobble and honestly, it rules! I genuinely think Taito should give them the resources they need to make this a real game cause this is SO high quality and it's just the demo! I don't even think the game is done. This seriously looks and feels amazing! Only issue is I couldn't get my controller to work with it, but if it did I think this would feel almost 100% official

Sonic Battle Rush - by FreeGilio

A 2D Sonic Fighter? Using Sonic Battle Sprites? And Shadow has a Mephiles alt? YES YES YES!! A 2D Sonic Fighting Game is basically one of my dream games, but surprisingly I haven't tried any of the dozen fan attempts at the concept... Until today! This demo only features Sonic and Shadow and 3 stages, but it absolutely RULES! Both characters feel fantastic and unique and have fully fleshed out movesets! I was even able to string together some goofy little combos by myself and overall it felt super satisfying to play. Also there's a ton of modes and even ways to loadout your characters such as having 2 at once or taking turns. So the demo has lots to do! I'll absolutely be keeping up with this game going forward!

---

Today I just played some stuff that caught my eye from the SAGE 2023 trailer but I will try to play some more stuff as the year goes along! So if you have anything you think I'd like or if YOU submitted anything to Sage that you want me to look at just cause you want people to see your game? Why not, send that to me too!

There's so many amazing indie games it's genuinely hard to keep up with all of them. But SAGE is seriously becoming my favorite place to just discover new stuff or finally get to try things I'm excited for! Again I'm bummed it just kinda slipped my mind to try anything from last year but already we're not repeating that mistake. I encourage you to go try some stuff too if you have the time! Or at least just take a look at what's available! Everyone put in a LOT of hard work on these games!

[ginnsbaker]

Im backkkk i was so pleasantly surprised to see a new chapter its the best thing to wake up to. You already know this is gonna be long so apologies in advance and i’ll try keep it short (I probably won’t succeed)

Wanda’s therapy. Just wow. The way you wrote it felt like i was having a therapy session (but like a genuinely good one cos ive had 6 therapist who weren’t good and most of them took notes and I love how you specifically mentioned that). I also think the way wanda has changed in just a few chapters has shown so much maturity and personal growth I mentioned it after the last chapter but it shows here as well. I think she’s getting better at making peace with her decisions and becoming more comfortable with herself. I like how the therapist reassured her that one night doesn’t negate all her progress it’s something i wish mine told me but its very true and its important otherwise you end up in a vicious cycle. To sum that up i love her i love her growth and the way you’ve written her is just perfect.

When i read these quotes and sometimes song lyrics pop into my head a lot and two came to me through this part i may have quoted these before so sorry if i have 💀. The first goes “if you see yourself in the correct way you are all as much extraordinary phenomenon of nature as trees, clouds, the patterns in running water the flickering of fires, the arrangement of the stars and the form of the galaxy. You are all just like that and there is nothing wrong with you at all”. I think it sums up wanda quite well because if you really consider it we are extraordinary we are made from stars with features so unique to us like how no one has the same fingerprints and things like that really are crazy things caused by nature that are beautiful and amazing and if you see yourself in that way that imperfections aren’t something to be frowned upon that past decisions are learning experiences then it okay and you’re just fine. The other one basically says you should regard yourself as a cloud because no one looks at a cloud and says its the wrong shape or anything and by doing so you develop a new level of self confidence which i think is something wanda needs and thankfully is working towards.

Next Agatha. I adore her. She’s protective of wanda and really giving it to reader and im here for it. On one hand im glad she didn’t say what happened cos that would be betraying wanda but im so ready for reader to find out and shit to hit the fan. I just loved the conversation her sass and cryptic comments she was basically toying with reader and it was perfect chefs kiss nothing more to say.

Reader and wandas conversation I actually think wanda handled this better than reader did just in the sense if you were an outsider looking in on the conversation wanda seemed more put together than reader did which is a shift from before when wanda seemed like the lost puppy in conversation. Speaking of puppy i hope sparkys okay i love dogs and if anything happens to him it will be the saddest thing in the entire serious minus wandas overdose. Wanda reassuring reader about sparky was adorable

Im having to take breaks while writing this cos im in a waiting lobby for an appointment 💀

Finally yelena reader and kate. My first thought is reader’s reaction is totally out of proportion they slept together sure but its in the past and yelena clearly has no interest in kate anymore id understand if they were really close with a flirty relationship and there were feelings involved for both parties but its not and yelena has stayed with reader even when she arguably shouldn’t so there is nothing to worry about, but i do get the fact that reader has been cheated on before so that worry is there. Correct me if im wrong but i think reader is more upset yelena didnt tell her more than it happened, but in all honesty I don’t think they’ve really talked about their past in that way not to mention reader was sleeping with wanda so im not sure why they’re so mad. And to ruin yelenas night is a bit shitty not gonna lie. I genuinely don’t think kate meant to create a problem but as a proud member of team wanda i kinda like it 😂. Also thank you for having reader realise they don’t know yelena that well. I touched on it after the last chapter that both of them had changed since college and i said i felt yelena was more in love with who reader was then and the idea of them than who they are now and the fact they got away from her then. I think this chapter shows its also true for reader, its easy for them to fall into a relationship with yelena cos of the past but they don’t really know each other anymore. It just seems like they’re settling both of them too lost in thoughts of what could’ve been and its not right for either of them.

I still think reader needs therapy but i think that goes without saying now 😂

And i adore wanda #teamwanda

-🧃

I'm gonna have to bullet point my replies lol

I'm glad my research paid off. The detail though about therapist just taking notes while you're talking.. that's a personal observation for me. I think it's quite rude. I think a good therapist's priority is to listen to you. I hope more and more will be just attentive, cause I think at the end of the day, we just want to feel like someone's really listening to how we feel.

i'm gonna bookmark just the whole thing about being made of stars. you should consider giving writing a try if you haven't :) and im on my way to googling those lyrics right now

Agatha-i wrote her to be thoroughly loyal to Wanda cause she needs that

Sparky will be okay and I swear I will never kill an animal in any of my fics :)

Correct me if im wrong but i think reader is more upset yelena didnt tell her more than it happened - Yup, you got that right.

genuinely don’t think kate meant to create a problem - correct once again. she's just clumsy and awkward. kinda like the kate bishop we know from Hawkeye

Also thank you for having reader realise they don’t know yelena that well - which is also a basis for her reaction when she found out about kate and yelena. and it's going to be explored more in the next chapter

Your insights are gold as always. I find myself nodding a lot to a lot of your observations. I'm glad that you always catch the little details i subtly include in the narrative. Well done.

Oh, Wanda. (yeah i adore her too)

thank you for reading the latest chapter and sharing your thoughts. love love love hearing from you as always

[bugscrew-diary]

Blogpost on Girlhood rewritten 4 sydney eheheehe

I started making this post a while ago and then didn't because I had no real reason to finish it but now I do so here u go hehe.

I've noticed that many of the women I know (myself included) had phases where they believed they were not women. When I try to explain this to cisgender people who haven't experienced that, it goes over their heads a little bit. I think they believe that very few people genuinely struggle with realizing a queer identity, and that most people just "know."

When I think of my early teen perspective, I think it actually makes sense that I jumped to the conclusion that I may not be a woman once I realized that my thoughts on gender do not align with most people. When you're in middle school, coming into an understanding that the arbitrary traits our society assigns gender to are actually pretty illogical is hard to do without it making you think you must be transgender to think that way. When you're in middle school, the only other people you know of that think that way are probably transgender.

But recently, I've been thinking about it a little differently. Not to say "Younger me should have known!" because I think it's good to contemplate and experiment with your own gender, even if the conclusion is that there's nothing to be changed. I've seen this discourse online before so it's not like it hasn't been said before, but that few years in online queer communities where it was pretty much exclusively about what label you wore and what pride flag you used was really harmful to queer ideology as a whole. Instead of breaking down the walls that queer people feel trapped by, it just added slightly bigger walls around the initial walls. "You're either this or that" became "You're either this, that, or maybe one of these 55 other very specific labels. Also you have to pick one or you're not really like us."

Some people were kind of beyond the idea of forcing one specific gender label, but not quite beyond the hyper-specificity of it all, so they would pick a few different labels. But then, those people would get piled on, it would cause a bunch of fighting and discourse and accusations of bigotry, and all of this was probably really frustrating for older queer people to see. They were watching a bunch of young people pass the "One size fits all" approach to identity, but get stuck at "These few sizes should fit all, but if they don't, we'll just make more until we get everyone!" I wish my younger self could have seen a community of queer people who understood that identity can be, and pretty much always is, an extremely individual experience.

I think this wave of identity-forcing and then identity-policing I grew up seeing made it really hard for me to accept that I didn't really need a one-word answer to my identity if I didn't find or even want one. Before I struggled with my identity, I felt the same way about myself as I do now. I don't think my "gender" has changed with my ideology shift.

I remember liking my brother's toys more than mine. We had action figures, mini Halo figurines, and Legos. I was introduced to gaming through watching my brother play. I can't recall a single toy of my own because they simply weren't as impactful for me. I'm really trying to think right now but I can't remember any of my own toys at all. Before writing this, I think I would have described my childhood gender experience as disliking "girly" things. But now that I really run it through my brain, I realize that I just didn't care about them and I liked my brother's experience better. Any perceived "dislike" of girl things was probably just because I felt like I had to pick a side. I remember calling myself a tomboy despite always dressing like a girl. It was just the way I felt about things.

Even now, most of my favorite things about myself and favorite pastimes are what people consider masculine. I've picked up more feminine traits over the years because I'm more comfortable with femininity, but they're nowhere near the most important things about me or what comes to mind when people think of me. Being a little girl unimpacted by femininity made it hard to think I could just be that, someone who absorbs femininity passively without rejecting it. I love feminine and girly things when I see other people engage with them, but applying them to myself doesn't really work for me. I used to think if I wanted to be "feminine," it would be absurdly more effort and useless to achieve that, but it turns out I just don't like it that much.

I hope this suffices sydney sowwy it took so long