#i am Not a big on fan or anything but im a pc fan who likes o and n separatelyand it makes me feel like a child of divorce

[gaiaxygang]

this is where i start rambling about how on were the last duo within onpc to meet because i think its very funny that they were the last to meet and also the first to stop talking to eachother in public

[waffliesinyoface]

This Yahtzee Croshaw video got posted on youtube today, and I want to talk about Video Game Crafting Systems!

I don't imagine that any of you remember this, but I actually ranted about this before.

Minecraft is mentioned in the video already, so I won't go over that in too much detail. I appreciate that the game has a recipe book nowadays, simply because it has essentially replaced the need to have the wiki open in another window. More games should incorporate something like this!

It's fine to be a bit obtuse and make the player figure things out, but developers really need to come to terms with the fact that every game ever will have a dedicated fan wiki crop up before the game even launches.

Ideally, most games would also come with a little notepad feature that lets the player write shit down themselves, but that would only really be useful for people playing on PC. It would be convenient, though.

So, aside from minecraft, what are other crafting systems I like?

Final Fantasy 14 - I like that going out of your way to make sure you have the best materials at the start makes the final recipe start with higher base quality. I like that you have to do a bunch of mental calculations to juggle both the item's durability and your CP bar. I like that once you're high enough level, the game lets you just go "nah im good thanks" and instantly craft something if it's far enough below your level.

However, I don't like that gear from dungeons and raids automatically outclasses anything you can make, and that materia is limited to bumping up one or two stats. (IE: max crit and then whatever else is good for your class).

Recettear - I'm putting a big asterisk on this one because while I like it in theory, it is way too much of a pain in the ass for 90% of what you can make, and the drop rate on some of the items needed is unforgiveably bad.

Making the best sword in the game should require some effort and drops from bosses. This part is good. I am praising this part specifically.

However... some items require you to get 10 semi-rare drops from an enemy that spawns randomly on 5 floors out of a 50 floor dungeon, and a boss drop from a different dungeon, AND a random item sold by an NPC who only comes to your shop under specific conditions and tries to hawk random, mostly useless goods, for five times what they're worth. Out of a selection of dozens of possible items.

And then, after you can finally, FINALLY craft that sword, you have to put it on display, hope that the adventurer who can equip it tries to buy it, dissuade anyone ELSE who wants to buy it, and then sell it to them for pennies on the dollar because these fuckers are all broke even though I pay them thousands of gold every time I hire them to go into a dungeon. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SPENDING ALL YOUR MONEY ON, LOUIE. WHAT DOES YOUR BUDGET LOOK LIKE.

*ahem*

Atelier Ryza - every triple A game that makes you gather random sticks in a field fucking wishes it was this. Let's go over a couple reasons why it's good.

You have multiple tools for gathering ingredients, which allows for more diverse ingredients from each source. Smacking a tree with your staff causes uni (spiky acorns) to fall off. Cutting it with a scythe grants you bark or vines. Hitting it with an axe gives you wood. Blowing it up with a magical bomb staff (please play ryza) gives you charcoal. All of these ingredients come from the same source in a way that makes sense intuitively, and encourages you to experiment hitting things with new tools to see what you get this time. .

Gathering is both quick and meaningful. While picking up items off the ground only grants you one resource, the things you actually hit with tools give you several at a time. Charge up that axe swing and you'll knock the tree over in one go, giving you like 10 logs at once. However, you also have limited storage space out in the field - which can be upgraded WITH crafting - so you aren't obligated to pick up everything. You aren't just mindlessly hoovering up everything. You have to pick and choose that which you actually need, which makes that which you DO take home more valuable to you. .

The crafting system is fluid and materials stay relevant. Some slots in the alchemy grid will ask for a specific item - you can't make the material needed for the second tier of weapons without an ore locked behind strong enemies in the first proper dungeon - but some slots will just ask for [metal] or [plant], which gives you more freedom. The element value of each item also plays into it. IE: sometimes a slot will need one element to fill it up and unlock that attribute, but the NEXT slot will only unlock if you put in materials with another attribute. You either have to choose one to max out, OR, try and find another material that satisfies BOTH conditions. .

There's a great deal of customization and depth to the system, which means you can create items that actually feel unique or tailored to your needs. This ranges from what stat an item can boost, its innate qualities (medicine that heals vs medicine that cures ailments), and what traits it has (higher quality multipliers, or stronger skills, or better at status affliction, etc). Later on, you get the ability to sacrifice items to give other items even more customization. One of the best weapons for Ryza is made by maxing out a trait on her starting weapon, and progressively building it up into the later versions while deliberately making sure that you don't unlock their respective traits. .

The game is based around crafting, not something just tacked on as an afterthought. Crafting is the primary gameplay loop, and everything revolves around it. Exploring means more resources to craft stuff from. Combat is done primarily because monsters drop items to craft stuff. Quests unlock new recipes to craft. The entire plot revolves around Ryza wanting to become better at crafting things. .

Crafting lets you become absolutely fucking cracked and break the game over your knee. So many games will have crafting systems, but limit how far you can go with them. You might be able to make the best weapon in the game, but realistically, it's only about 20% stronger than some vendor trash you pick up. Atelier Ryza says no. Atelier Ryza says "if you really want, you can exploit the hell out of this." Atelier Ryza says "I will let you cram 30 ingots made of alchemical gold from hell into your staff, seal a philosopher's stone inside it, and create a weapon which can oneshot gods." And that's beautiful.

[freyito]

(guy who's only posting updates and reminders) NOT TO BOTHER ANYONE but i am STILL WRITING FOR HSR DONT WORRY. im afraid people think i switched my hyperfixations so suddenyl to elden ring but its like...... my hsr and elden ring hyperfixations coexist. very peacefully actually. it's just a change writing for elden ring cause well. its lowkey like a whole different language i have to learn which is actually so fun (i'd kill myself /j if i wrote elden ring with MODERN ENGLISH. anyways.)

and ive said it before but im making the shift to longer fics too.. i really enjoy quality over quantity cause it feels like my writing improves the more i write yk...

also im STILL on the job hunt. i'll most likely start working two jobs so my time to write will decrease drastically... and ontop of that i got back into ffxiv recently. so lowkey all my mind wants to do is dress up my viera and kick my feet at npcs.

on the ffxiv topic i will also most likely be writing some ffxiv fics too lol. big fan of estinien here. big fan. his biggest fan, if you will. like several years ago after i finished heavensward i made a blog dedicated to writing the ishgardians. never wrote anything tho lol.

ANYWAYS. ON TOP OF ALLLLLLL OF THAT. im burnt out and it sucks. so im like replenishing my energy by playing games. a lot of the time im on my pc and laptop at the same time, and i use my laptop to write. i have a tendency to see certain things as work when they're just meant to be fun (ex: streaming, drawing) and since i want to become an author, my fun little blog i made to take a break from writing turned into "this is work". so im trying to convince myself that this is FUN again !!!!!! yaaaaaay. anyways!!!!! THATS ALL

[fictionfixations]

spoiler alert: i get SO off topic talking about other stuff. (if you cant tell i like talking. or well expressing my thoughts. anyway its 2 am i can use the excuse of impulse actions from lack of sleep)

i dont even know why im trying when obviously the next update is going to require even more storage and im going to have to drop it (its like 50 gb in actuality but it needs double to like. open it and do SHIt. i dont know this stuff man)

ahghgusihdfiufh (it was worse. ive. deleted a bunch of stuff that i dont play as much.

only games left are Star Rail (which im not dropping. ive poured so much time genuinely invested in story and characters idk what im gonna do when i run out of space to play. maybe cry.), Roblox (i genuinely dont know how much storage its taken, and I don't play it that much but LISTEn it fills a lot of game cravings that i cant play the source cause holy shit my storage.), Osu (the only game i can play without wifi.)

i wanna play the other games on mobile (i used to play star rail on mobile ngl LMFAO then realized 'hey this is fun' and moved to pc after genshin got too big. or maybe i had both at the same time i cant remember now ghreuigh) but uhm. the farthest i get in wuwa on mobile is like the opening loading screen before we see the rovers (it just stops there. even the music stops i think?? ive left it on and did other stuff but nothing happened and its either it wants me to wait super long, or theres just no hope) i did the tutorial for solo leveling arise on mobile but then trying to do literally anything else (like trying to access the menu) kicks me out of the game so then i had to move to pc. genuinely scary game first time around it shut down my pc, and even at lowest graphics kept warning me that 'for smoother gameplay you should have lower graphics' or something so fan on all the time (i have a fan pointed directly at my laptop.) and honestly. im not even that big of a fan of solo leveling why am i here (meilin fisher that is why. anyway i got her. so. shes not even an actual character outside the game??) ive literally only seen the anime and i forgot most of it😭

zzz on my phone is just black screen. it kicks me out. the farthest ive gotten is it asking if i want notifications but it still kicks me out

identity v i cant even download everything i think, i just have it to log in for pc. but uhm. i guess i cant anymore? but also i cant remember if i can still log in through other methods so uh its staying on mobile (to be fair i only got super into it cause of danganronpa collab so)

oh i found whatever it was that was taking 2 gb on desktop LMFAO

no wonder i was so confused on wtf it was

anyway. um. this is very much a shame. cause. i only get so invested in stories in games because im actually playing them. otherwise i cant guarantee im fully focused cause i get distracted so easily. um.

now about mobile storage and everything

uh. i have an iphone 6 pro. no idea if thats bad or not but uh. probably not that great. ? ? idk man idk how it compares to newer phones i want to get a new phone (at least for all the games i cant play on that phone) but then i got an iphone case cause my former one was actually cracked so... its staying (from the zzz website)

so its probably the phone in all honesty thats the issue (people were talking about who they wanted to play when starting the game and i got myself all hyped over ellen so. d'aww.)

and in the case its actually storage.. uh. tough luck. nu carnival is. a gacha game. and i got the character i wanted there, but its more convenient to go through like daily kinda stuff. ..also confession time if yk the difference uh. listen it was a hassle downloading it im not gonna delete it then have to reteach myself how tf to download it again because oh my god

twisted wonderland (aka disney tw LOL) is my OTHER fixation besides star rail. ive gone through all the story (including JP which i dont have cause i cant read it but fan translations for the win) + most event stories (i havent gone through anniversaries, new year sale 2024 JP, and like i think theres a crewel one rn..? or thats just the new card., tapis rouge, playful land, thats it). i love this game. so much.

if i told you ibis paint x used to take i think like so much more space because it still had the stuff since the VERY beginning... anyway idk what to use it for now but if i ever need to edit something...

kinemaster ^

i kinda already talked about identity v

bang dream. i LOVE rhythm games. and pretty designs. and vocaloid. and japanese songs.

in all honesty i lose interest in things so fast and drop them. then i get interested in other things, etc etc. and then i get back to a fixation on, say, rhythm games and wanting to play them a lot. then i can get bored and get interested in like. idk. life simulation(?) games like sims 4. or minecraft specifically the wynncraft server (which is like a fantasy thing..)

which is kind of why i have a bunch of stuff that i dont play often still because one day im gonna want to play it and then go back.

for laptop i just got rid of the games i wasnt interested in playing at the moment so. yeah

anyway if you cant tell i like talking about stuff. and justifying stuff (well its more like it started because i was worried to be judged. ive never been judged over what i like?? only like. once or twice?? that i can recall? but at one point i just started getting in the habit of justifying beforehand for everything after seeing the internet with their pitchforks directed at so many people so. yee.)

off topic. ive checked in on tiktok sometimes. and i just wanna say. how often is it that y'all get comments on old posts that are just variations of 'reminder' or 'remember this' ?? LISTEn the amount of comments that just say "reminder" and THATS IT (bro someone commented 'reminder' TWO times on the SAME post like DAMN. i mean they commented on someone else's comment on that post too with 'reminder' so probably trying to bother someone else but like wHY)

like. i mean. ive posted cringey shit hasnt everyone but it kinda feels like they're trying to shame people? like 'haha remember your past?'

maybe im sensitive. i mean. if this was past me i wouldve probably taken it to heart since yknow its still a work i created, but honestly now its just kinda funny

but idk if anyone else is being bothered by this (i mean. people generally go through old posts and delete ones they dont like right? i kinda dont do that so i mean. maybe yall are better off for that)

just wondering.

[hallowsweenie]

My playthrough of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines!

I’ll be playing this on PC, with the most modern Unofficial Patch installed.

My character is a Tremere kindred named Vega, who dresses a little more matrix-y in my head than shown.

I’ll log my updates on my progress on this thread!

Update parts 1-4

Part 5

I have gone through Downtown LA and into Hollywood. I am falling increasingly more and more in love with this game.

Dialogue choices in this game are proving to be more and more genius with nuanced commentary on the time it came out through the lips of well voice-acted characters. Some examples

and if anyone should know anything about me, im a celebrity and movie NUT and i LOVE all the references to these two things!

With Romero: he wanted me to watch the zombie-infested graveyard while he was gone, but I didn't want to kill zombies. So I offered to get him a hooker instead. Guy was real grateful

A really cool part for me was when I, a vampire babe, had a sword battle to the death with a vampire hunting babe inside of a stripper peepshow joint.

Apparently I did this too noisily and got some crap from VV. It was sad. I'm really into VV but I think i fudged it with her by doing this.

A part that was well enjoyed was Grout's Mansion, as I'm a big dark Alice in Wonderland fan as well as maddening ramblings with pretty scenery. This place had the most Vibe inducing look to it and it's gonna stick with me for a long time.

THIS SECTION WITH THE MANNEQUINS WAS VERY CREEPY FOR ME! I AM AFRAID OF THESE KIND OF THINGS SINCE SILENT HILL 3!

So as a big museum fan the museum level was a hit. I got very frustrated with the cameras part in the basement but i thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere. 9/10 would go to this museum and its exhibits irl

RAPTOR JUMPSCARE!

Where I'm currently at is trying to get this nasty fuck at the Sin Bin to reveal the whereabouts of the creators of the snuff film the Baron sent me after to go and find. He won't budge. Too scared to talk about it, and I haven't put enough points in persuasion or intimidation - and i dont have $500. I spent it on clothes

now time for detail appreciation

Let it be known the internet cafe only had a MEN'S bathroom

[914m]

I AM WHO? — album redesign

open for hq

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

hellooooo, fellow figure skating enthusiast here!! im so sad to hear abt yuzuru :( do u think nathan's score was too over the top or good enough? i feel like ever since 2018 hes become the judges favorite and his scores have been increasing consistently... dont u think thats a bit weird? sorry if my wording sounds off

Hello, it’s totally fine to feel sad for Yuzu, but I think we should not forget, that his prime goal was the 4A and not a medal of any other color than Gold. And I think Yuzu can be proud of his accomplishments and there was no need for him to proof anything in Beijing at all. And a 4th place finish is not bad and certainly not diminishing any of his past achievements. He is still the legend and will remain a legend.

I think this is the question many ppl were curious about, so I hope I can use your ask as a chance to explain my stance on things. And sorry that I took such a long time to answer.

There are many layers to the question and this is also why it's not so easy to answer. I want to look at both Nathan’s and Yuzu’s scores because you mentioned both in your ask and imo the upset about Nathan’s scores are often in relation to Yuzu’s lower scores.

So these are the two layers I try to explain:

A) the way it could/should have been scored  B) the way it was scored and how things currently sadly work in judging

I tackle those two layers under the cut as the reply turned out rather long.

My conclusion first, because honestly I have no idea who wants to read this whole details mess of an explanation:

I think over the last 4 years Nathan’s scores are debatable and often unnecessarily over the top. What cannot be denied though is that there are things beside his passport that is playing in his favor: his consistency, his level of difficulty of jumps that was constantly higher than those of his rivals (BV), not only higher than Yuzu’s, and that being unbeaten for almost 4 seasons besides that one mishap at Skate America 2021 makes a difference in scoring, it makes the scores rise. (You can see that with Yuma too over the course of this season, his scores constantly grew with each win and the PCS rose too. And you could also see the opposite happening to Shoma in the past, when he was in the slump he didn’t receive the same amount of GOEs or PCS like he used to.) It’s not how it should be at all, but this is a trend you can see with a lot of skaters through all disciplines. So following this sport for an amount of years scores of a particular skater increasing constantly is actually nothing new and also not Nathan exclusive. 

I do think that Nathan deserved to win. He had two visible clean skates and showed an incredible level of difficulty. I do think though that especially his PCS are far too high. 97 PCS for the free skate definetly rubbed me the wrong way when Jason Brown (and I am not even a  Jason fan) with intricate skating received an even lower PCS (Yuzu was limited through his falls with a PCS cap, but to Jason it didn’t apply that’s why I use Jason as example) and also imo Nathan’s basic skating is rather scratchy, he has no knee bend, his edges aren’t as clear as of those of all 3 Japanese men. And I don’t even want to touch the subject of Nathan’s transitions or the lack of (but admittedly this is a problem for many top skaters except Jason and Yuzu). But I do think that Nathan performs in his own way and that his programs suited him, so I wouldn’t say he doesn’t deserve any good PCS and a problem in PCS in general is that the categories aren’t really seen diverse. If you get a 9 in one segment, you will receive something around that for all other segments too. I think that the margin between Yuzu and Nathan was far too big, despite Yuzu’s mistakes and I also don’t think that Nathan’s difficulty alone should have given him a 20 points lead over 2nd Yuma (who was also pretty clean) and almost 50 points lead over Yuzu. I am not a fan of rescoring but at least on PCS alone I would deduct about 15-20 points over both programs from Nathan - I would probably give looking at what everyone else received 86-88 PCS for the FS and about 40-42 PCS for the SP - (btw would deduct a bit on Yuma too, so the result still wouldn’t change).

But even if I don’t agree on Nathan’s scores I do understand where they are coming from and it’s also in the realm of what he usually scored over the last seasons, so I think we cannot detach just one event from all the others and score it completely differently, because even though the system definetly makes scoring from scratch possible, the way the system has been used since the start, it’s not scored from scratch, but bases a lot on reputation. If it’s on purpose or not judges still tend to think in categories of the 6.0 system. The system may have changed, but sadly most judged are still the same. And new judges also cannot judge completely out of the box what everyone else judges or they will get replaced. So while I don’t agree with the scoring, the problem lies in the system and in the humans that aren’t willing to comply to the rulebook invented, not in certain skaters.

What imo makes Nathan’s scores so frustrating is that he wouldn’t need to be shooted up so high to win. Would have been totally fine for him to win with 20 points less and then imo less ppl would complain about his scores. The general problem is the feel that quality isn’t rewarded over quantity and then on top for not rewarding the quality, the scoring is still as if Nathan would have a higher quality, which is utter nonsense, he already is rewarded in BV for quantity and difficulty, no need to reward him for quality that isn’t there. This is the true crime, not that Nathan wins, but that his scores imply he would have no areas to improve.

For a detailed explanation on all of this and more and how Nathan’s and Yuzu’s scores came together, you can further read under the cut. 

1st Base Value 

For the possible BVs let me refer to my scoring predictions of the SP and FS to see maximum scores and what GOEs Yuzu and Nathan received throughout the season

Nathan had an advantage of BV from the start, but with Yuzu’s mistake (a required jump being nonexistent) his BV dropped even more. 

Base Value awarded at the event as follows:

Nathan SP 49,87 (no mistake) Nathan FS 94,34 BV (mistake in the free a 1F instead of 3F, a spin got level 2V) = 144,21 BV Yuzu SP 36,10 (1S instead of 4S) Yuzu FS 89,93 BV (mistake underrotation on the 4A) = 126,03 BV Point difference is 18,8 points between Nathan and Yuzu.

I think the BV is the least debatable part in the scoring of these two. If we want to look at something it would be UR calls and levels given. I think there is no debate about Yuzu's calls. Nathan if we want to be picky we could probably find some things to debate, but I haven't looked into it. Simple reason, this tech panel was lenient on all skaters from place 24 to 1. For the FS there are 5 UR calls in total (one Yuzu's 4A) and like 6 "q". This isn't much considering there were 168 jumps performed by the men in the free skate. Imo the panel has to follow a line for all skaters. It would be unfair if you are overly critical of some and lenient to others like it happened at the Women SP. So yes a different panel might have seen some things differently and maybe it would changed placements but still in the end it's about fairness and same judging standard on everyone and for the tech panel judging in the men event I see no unfair behavior.

2nd GOEs = Grade of Execution

I think @SkatingScores (Twitter) does a fabulous job in displaying details of the scores, you can see much better which judge gave what GOE and PCS. So here are the FS scores and SP scores (pls look at the Twitter)

Let's see how many + GOEs Yuzu vs Nathan earned in their short programs and free skates, but let's also remember that Yuzu had two falls in his FS, so received negative GOEs for two of 7 jumping passes. And Yuzu also had a 1S which gave completely 0. So again here was a disadvantage for Yuzu.

Nathan GOEs: +16,11 (SP) and +27,07 (FS) = 43,18 GOEs in total

Yuzu GOEs: +11,97 (SP) +9,69 (FS) = 21,66 GOEs in total

You can clearly see that Yuzu received far lower GOEs, which is on one side understandable because of the mistakes of Yuzu, but especially in the FS the differece is still extreme. If you look at the protocol you can see that Yuzu’s GOEs aren’t low, but some jumping passes could definetly have gotten a bit more GOEs. 

I think this is a part where the original idea of a wider GOE range was good, but in reality it became a tool for altering the results in certain skaters favor. Normally it should benefit skaters who perform elements with higher quality. The reality is far from that. I wouldn't say the GOEs that Yuzu received are downright wrong, though could also been higher. But the question is does Nathan deserve this high GOEs in comparison? If we compare jumps of Nathan from 2018 and 2022 do you think they look different? Better? More creative entries, exits? No? Well his GOEs would imply that his quality has risen. I don't think that Nathan should receive 0 for his good landed jumps, because that's also a bit too harsh, but +5 should not happen. His jump technique is undeniable stable, besides his Axel. I won’t go into detail, how the requirement for the GOEs are. I think the department where Nathan lacks is definetly creative entry and exit to his jumps and his 3A technique is really horrendous and definetly not effortless, so should be limited to +1 GOE at best) And what irks me more than Nathan’s jumps are his spins. I mean yes ok he got a level “deducted” this time, but I wouldn’t give any of Nathan’s spin +4/5 because his positions are not aethetically pleasing and also not creative. Yuzu on the other hand should receive +5 all across the board for his spins imo. And also like I explained in the beginning Nathan’s edges aren’t deep, so the quality of his steps is also not as good.

Still there is yet again the same problem as with PCS, Nathan was the last skater of the event, he performed clean and this increases not only PCS but also GOEs. Judges tend to get more generous with GOEs for “clean” skates and the last group.

3rd PCS = Program component score

Let us take a look at PCS. I won't lay out all details, but here is the detailed chart how judges should apply PCS.

I think Nathan's PCS were far too high for both SP and FS. 47 PCS when Yuzu with a more complex program got the same, Shoma with better skating skills than Nathan had less...it just doesn't go together. 97 PCS for a free program that still had one mistake, minor but still, and also Nathan's basic stroking is rather scratchy, he lacks the knee bend all 3 Japanese guys display so well, yet his SS were valued higher. Complexity of program nowhere to be found to justify 9,5+ in all categories. You can maybe argue about PE and IN, but that's about it. I would cap his PCS at 88 at most for the free. I don't think there was no concept, or that he didn't perform, or that he should get the same PCS as the last skaters, because Nathan is indeed fast on the ice, he does steps and turns - the quality is a different matter - his SP especially isn't as empty - it lacks quality of edges - but it's not as basic as some low level junior skaters which some make it sound like. Yuzu on the other hand would fulfill all criteria to get 100% PCS, so 100 for the FS and 50 for the SP, but in both programs he made obvious errors.

In the SP there was one - the 1S, in the free skate 2 errors with the two falls. Hence his PCS are trapped at a certain maximum and this he did get. So imo Yuzu's PCS have been according to the rules. Maximum for a program with a mistake is 48,5 PCS for the SP and 91,5 PCS for the free skate. Yuzu earned 47,08 PCS for his SP and 90,44 PCS FS, this is not far from what he could get at maximum, so I think that was ok, but I don’t understand how Nathan could get close to maximum for a perfect skate as well, because the quality doesn’t match.

Nathan’s PCS are over the top. A 10,0 should only be given if you can't do it better at all and I think there are many parts where Nathan could improve. Look at the number of 10s, I just ugh...wth There was no component under 9,5, which is defined as “excellent”...I have no words left for this joke.

But it’s not the first time he received several 10,0 and higher PCS than everyone else and admittedly it would have been rather comical if judges suddenly decided Nathan will get PCS under 90, a thing that never happened since 2018 for a clean skate. He is scored this way for the last 4 years. 

____

It's bad that judging is this way but this is what judging has become, it prefers clean skates and many quads over quality. And you know what? Yuzu knows all of  this, he could have played by that too. But he chose not to follow this pass to please judges and get the results, he chose to do things his way. Was it worth it? In terms of medals? Probably not. But he stayed true to himself and I said it before and I say it again: Yuzu is beyond titles and medals. He won all what the sport does offer. He is already a legend. Yuzu's name is written in the history books many times. It remains to be seen if ppl will remember Nathan in 10 years. Olympic champions are many ppl, world champions even more, but there are only a few ppl who are remembered as legends. And Yuzu is a legend.

And with this I conclude this monstrosity of a post. I hope I have explained myself well enough and for any further question, don’t be afraid to ask, just don’t expect prompt answers.

[wsgeon]

hey everyone! ummm this is peyton (also the mun of lee hyeon) taking a second shot at a second character — i have a lot of muse for this one, so i swear he’ll be around for a while… 🥵 this is ryu geon, yes his name rhymes with hyeon’s & no i do not care ♥️ he’s the lead guitarist/vocalist of meta and also the son of a former nobody rockstar, but i’ll get into all that below! like this post if you’d like for me to come into your ims to plot, click the read more for more info on geon, and/or click here to be taken to his pages: CAREER, DOSSIER, PINTEREST.

HISTORY.

born in autumn ‘97 to a “budding rockstar” (translation: “no yeah i swear our band’s really starting to take off, we sold twenty-three tickets to our last show!”) & a woman with commitment issues ♥️ geon’s dad always told him that his mom left because she had some dire matters that needed to be taken care of and SWORE that she cried the last time she held her dear baby boy, but all of his dad’s bandmates say that she was just some groupie and had to be persuaded into carrying her child to term… who can say for sure?

naturally, there are no pictures of this mystery woman. there was one (1) of her holding infant geon, but then he found out that that was actually a sound tech who worked for his dad’s band… and he just never corrected geon’s assumptions LOLLLL

anyway! he was always really close to his dad, considering they were a two-person family. he has a set of grandparents, an aunt and a couple cousins but they were never involved with geon’s life because his dad is the #blacksheep of the family. geon and his dad against the world, am i right?

uhhh geon was also kind of a black sheep growing up, but he didn’t really notice? he was a happy kid, very energetic and enthusiastic. a lot of adults in the area looked down on him & his dad, but he was SOOOO blind to it because his dad’s a god in his eyes and HE’S always been nice to everyone, so why would they not like him??? because his clothes smelled a little like dad’s cigarette smoke??? big deal

wasn’t troublesome (beyond talking too much), but a lot of people still expected bad things from him :/ “his father’s a dirtbag, i’ll be surprised if that boy doesn’t end up in jail by 20”, “he won’t amount to anything without a proper role model in his life”, “his dad is teaching him how to slack off”, “he won’t contribute anything to society”, etc. he kindaaa picked up on this as he got older but pretended not to because it was more rewarding to play dumb and keep being a good kid(tm) to prove them wrong

was basically a mini version of his dad. same style, similar features, birthmarks in the same places, same “live today, die tomorrow” approach in life, same affinity for singing & playing rock music. ummm he loved his dad a lot. a lot. a lot. wanted to make him proud SO BAD, started his first band when he was 15 and they sucked so bad but his dad was their biggest fan… you know how it is. a lot of people misunderstood him, but he was a very good guy and such a great parent

TW DEATH unfortunately he passed away just shy of geon’s 18th birthday and your boy still hasn’t forgiven the world for taking his dad when he was in the middle of his angsty teen phase — had he known that their time together was dwindling, he would’ve been so so so much better to him END TW

his dad’s band actually rocketed into the charts after he passed & suddenly they were getting loads of publicity, lots of “what a shame that he went under-appreciated” which pissed geon off SOOOO bad because why couldn’t they have had that energy when he was still alive? he’s still mad about it five/six years later

this is getting kinda long, so uhhh tl;dr, he ended up staying with the drummer of his dad’s band until he was old enough to live alone/READY to live alone, but he changed quite a bit. was really going through it, quit his band, stopped putting effort into school. barely graduated. went from being a social butterfly spending every weekend at a gig or with friends to spending all of his time on a pc or in front of a tv, playing console games. the internet comforted him when nobody else would/could and then he met the future members of meta <33333333 #newbeginnings

present day geon is still struggling, has to go to counseling bi-weekly but he’s coming back out of his shell! he wants to fall in love with life again, just wants to tread carefully... outgoing & will talk to absolutely anyone, but he still spends most of his time alone. hard to reach by text, so if you wanna talk to him, you better call/facetime LMAO. talks a mile a minute, especially if you get him going abt something he really likes. laughs a lot, smiles a lot, more habitual than actual signs of happiness but yk. ummm he has a really loud voice, mostly controlled nowadays but he still gets carried away sometimes. an absolute menace during long drives/flights, sorry meta.

funny but only when he’s in large groups. feeds off of other peoples’ energy, really good at reading a room and breaking the ice/making everyone comfortable, but if you meet him 1-on-1, none of his jokes land quite the same.

i envision him as being the kind of guy who carries himself in such a way that you’d assume he’s really popular/out of reach/maybe even full of himself, but he’s... not like that... at all... in fact, he’s kinda irritating when you get to know him. the personification of a flood followed by a drought and vice versa, always either too much or not enough. gets used/ghosted/dropped/dumped/whatever a lot because he’s soooo fun in the moment (if he isn’t in his feelings), but draining long-term.

really emotionally intelligent, in touch with his feelings in a way that a lot of people never thought he would be (probably thanks to counseling tbh). he’s very very rarely the type of person who will make you wonder what your place in his life is — he’s communicative, kind, honest. ummm he thinks that intimacy between friends needs to be more common, so he’s really affectionate with the people in his life. type of guy to tell you he loves you every chance he gets (calling you when he’s drunk, sounding like a clingy ex type beat) & greet you/depart with a hug. losing his dad kinda fucked him up in the way that he won’t leave/hang up until his friends say “i love you” back, gets kinda (re: very) upset if he’s denied that and/or a hug.

TRIVIA.

has been playing the guitar “longer than he’s been walking” (not really, but he swears it’s true).

uhhh he really likes nail art, but he’s kinda hesitant in what he tries? mainly sticks to black polish (or other plain colors), but sometimes he’ll get little designs added in as well. mainly does it himself because he still doesn’t feel comfortable in salons... if his work looks bad, leave him alone <3 he’s trying

inspired by people like kurt cobain, nicky wire, yungblud, billie joe armstrong & damiano david in the fact that he’s not against wearing dresses or skirts on stage. doesn’t do it ALL the time, but often enough that it doesn’t go unnoticed. some people say that he does it for attention because he doesn’t dress like that elsewhere and tbh they’re probably kinda right

interested in history (only SOME... dinosaurs, ancient civilizations, specialized areas like the history of circuses/clowns/skateboarding/punk, stuff like that yk), stand-up comedy & documentaries. could spend a whole day watching documentaries and would say he had fun, has a lot of useless knowledge that nobody gives a fuck about and is kinda dumb when it comes to things that matter

when it comes to music, he prefers playing really fast and heavy rock or punk over anything else, but he actually listens to a lot more soft indie on his own time... he’s too tense these days to be listening to anything else RIPPP

the vibe: homemade tie-dye, ripped slipknot t-shirts, frosted tips, neon crocs with alien & peace-sign charms, chipped black nail polish, calloused hands, cheesy pick-up lines used NOT to land a date but to pull a smile, driving until he’s lost, stupid socks paired with pressed suits, dramatic poetry in an iphone note, etc. 

PLOT IDEAS.

people he met through online support groups about coping with grief

uhhh an on & off relationship that’s been going for who-knows-how-long. the reason for this is up for discussion, but i imagine that he hasn’t given up yet because the constant highs and lows are a good source of inspo 🤪 artists must suffer for their art!

opposite side of the coin — someone he’s interested in, but he’s NOT disloyal so it’s a pattern of persistent courting when he’s single vs intense friend-zoning when he’s not and they’re getting tired of trying to figure out what he wants from them

someone else who likes nail art & can convince him that NOBODY cares if he goes to a salon

someone (probably female but doesn’t really matter tbh) who feels like his feminism is entirely performative… maybe they attack him directly for it or maybe they just REALLY don’t like him and they’re super vague about it idk. either way, please tell him that activism is much more than recommending one female artist a year and saying “clothes have no gender 🤪” so he can be praised for the bare minimum (his heart is in the right place but his skull is empty)

someone super introverted who comes out of their shell with geon! uhhh maybe they think that he’s the one doing them a favor, but in reality spending time with them has been doing wonders for his mental health

other people who like to skate. let’s congregate at the local skatepark and scare the middle schoolers away

someone who inspires him musically, for whatever reason. lots of late nights in studios, idly strumming his guitar and writing lyrics that definitely aren’t about how their eyes look in these dim lights… umm maybe he thinks he has a crush on them but really doesn’t and ends up hurting them eventually, maybe he really DOES have a crush but will (probably) never do anything abt it or maybe it’s entirely platonic and he just admires them a ridiculous amount

someone who likes to make music as a hobby, prob won’t publish/release any of it but it’s fun to imagine. spontaneous meetings with geon in the middle of the night, recording songs together and keeping the WORST takes for the laughs. there’s probably a diss-track of them going in on each other floating around somewhere even though geon can’t rap for shit

night owls who keep him company on the phone, even if they can’t be there physically. them talking really quietly vs geon shouting at them while he plays games LMAO

gaming buddies. come over, maybe you can carry geon through his game of the week or you can both fail but have fun while you’re at it… or you can scream while he fends off that hoard of zombies behind you

i’m typing this at the last minute (literally) so i’m gonna stop here, but i will get a proper plots page put up asap with a wider variety of connections!!! but as always, please do let me know if you have any other ideas. i’m always happy to plot and write with you all 🌚

[letteredlettered]

hi! ive been following your writing for a few years now and i drop by periodically to check if you have anything new posted, and im really surprised that you seem to be enjoying the untamed? im curious what you think about the show - its story and characters, the acting, the production, etc. idk if you know, but the untamed is the most successful example of a current trend in chinese entertainment, where popular online novels centered around a gay romance is adapted into a 'safe' drama.

continued:

due to the many explicit and implicit restrictions imposed on creative media in china, many crucial plot points have to be changed (often badly) or removed, including the nature of the relationship between the main characters. the untamed is considered the most loyal adaptation so far, but like all other works in the genre, it received criticism for weak acting and queerbaiting. that's why im really curious about what you think of the show as it is, as itself, free from its context.

if you're interested, you could also check out guardian! it features much better performance and chemistry by the leads imo, but the story was heavily botched bc the original incorporates and reinvents a lot of classic chinese folklore beautifully and stuff like that is considered disrespectful and not-pc. i think it's really sad how so many great pieces of writing with complex world-building and plotlines are simplified into... idek what to call them, but just, less than what they are.

im sorry this turned into a rant. as a mainland chinese person with oh so many frustrations about our current society, it's hard to comprehensively describe my feelings about the untamed's popularity. it's the first mainland chinese show/movie to gain this much organic interest abroad so i should be glad? but, but. anyway, yes, im sorry.

There’s no need to apologize for ranting, but I admit to some confusion as to whether you want your question addressed or the rant. Because I’m me and tend to be thorough, I’ll address everything, in reverse order.

First of all, I’m sorry that this show is sad to you. I’m sorry that the popularity of it is difficult. I’m also deeply sympathetic to your frustrations about your society, as I too am deeply frustrated by my own.

Secondly, yes, I’m aware of the context of The Untamed. I’m aware that the book it’s based on is a BL novel, and that, in order to align with Chinese politics, overt queerness was erased from the adaptation. I’m aware of the censure laws of gay media in China. I’m also aware that some aspects of necromancy and morality were adjusted to make the show more palatable for general audiences, but I’m fuzzier on those details. Lastly, I’m aware that the popularity of the show calls attention to certain things, such as fanfic, and that attention results in more censorship,

The fact of this erasure and this censure provokes a lot of questions: by consuming this product, which contains erasure and censure, do we engage in the erasure and censure? By posting gifs and writing fanfic and talking about this product, do we increase its popularity, thereby encouraging additional erasure and censure? By increasing the popularity of this product, do we diminish the popularity of the original gay morally gray canon, thereby decreasing representation? Do we discourage other authors in China from writing explicitly gay morally gray material? In short, are we allowed to enjoy this media?

I don’t know the answer to these questions. However, I do know that boycott is a very effective tool when it can inflict economic pain on the producer, or when it can exert pressure on an entity to change. That said, I feel like a lot of the calls to boycott certain media these days are a lot like telling people to stop driving their cars to stop climate change: it’s suggesting that individuals can solve the problem, which presupposes individuals are the problem, and therefore fails to address the scope of the problem, or present the possibility of a real solution. Not watching The Untamed isn’t going to change laws about portrayals of homosexuality onscreen in China, partly because the laws in China are a much bigger problem.

The other part of it is that The Untamed is coded queer, so if you run a successful boycott against it, you end up with . . . less queer TV. I know a whole lot less about China than I do about the Hays Code, but if you had told gay people during the Golden Age of Hollywood that they couldn’t enjoy movies that were coded queer because they weren’t explicitly queer, they’d have said you were crazy. In fact, many people will tell you that media that was coded queer was a big reason we got more explicit queer stuff later. And as I’m sure you’re aware, the US is still fighting that battle . . . partly because it wants to sell movies to China.

So then there’s a question about whether me, an American in the US, liking something coded queer from China but not explicitly queer--does that encourage Chinese censorship? Should I only support texts that are explicitly queer? But the answer is the same--it’s not addressing the scope of the problem, and by supporting texts that are coded queer, you could be paving the way in the future for something brighter.

But you weren’t talking about boycott! You were talking about your discomfort with the popularity with this show, which I accept. I understand feeling uncomfortable. I can only hope it makes you a bit more comfortable to know that plenty of fans are deeply aware of the context and do wrestle with the question of what liking this show means in the context of a society that would never allow aspects of the original to be portrayed onscreen.

Thirdly, I’m not against trying Guardian at some point, but by comparing the acting and chemistry of the leads to The Untamed, I feel like you prove our tastes are very different in these regards. I love the acting of the leads in The Untamed; I found their chemistry off the charts. It’s okay you don’t feel the same.

Lastly, you asked my opinion of The Untamed: its story and characters, the acting, the production, sans context of the canon upon which its based and censorship laws in China.

a. I love the overall story, but the plot has deep plot holes. Quite a few segments do not actually make sense to me, because the plot is so haywire. However, I’ve never cared that much about plot, except when it gets in the way of characters and themes, and for the most part, this plot serves its characters and themes, except when the parts they leave out are so confusing that I cannot follow the story. As for the story, it feels like it’s built for me, because ultimately it’s about moral decisions and how to make them; it’s about guilt and paying for mistakes; it’s about learning, changing your mind, and remaking yourself. Really, I’m not sure there are many stories I love more--except they killed my favorite character, and I almost quit. So, that certainly put a damper on things.

b. I love the characters most of all, although the villains are really two-dimensional. However, large parts of the plot are not Hero vs Villain, they’re Hero vs Society, and then some Hero vs Himself in a way that suggests the Hero is no longer a hero. I could talk about the characters forever, but suffice it to say I think they’re really strong. Also, the relationships are really exquisite, particularly when it comes to family dynamics. Unfortunately, they killed my favorite character off. Also unfortunately, there are six women in this show, only two of them are main characters, and every single one of them dies. It disgusts me.

c. I think the two leads are exceptional, in particular Xiao Zhan . . . when he’s not being too broad, which he is quite a bit. However, I do wonder how much of this is direction and production style, because in many instances, he’s quite subtle, and the choices he makes are astounding. Then there are times where it’s like they needed more footage, or wanted to drive home a point, and he turns on the extra, and it’s awful. It could just be him, but I actually feel it’s the case with most of the actors, which does make me think it’s a directing issue. Meng Ziyi never really has that problem though, because she is the most perfect of all. But then take He Peng, who I actually thought could be incredible, but every scene was just SO BROAD that I began to feel sorry for the poor dude having to act that part. But there is nothing to be said for Wang Zhuo Cheng, who really is just terrible, which is sad, because it’s a great part.

d. Production-wise, it’s really hit and miss. So much of the locations are truly beautiful. A lot of the costumes are too, unless the shot is too close. I actually don’t mind the wigs; I love the long hair. The CGI is terrible. And then while a lot of the shots are beautiful, some of them are awkward, and the pacing is really difficult, imo. It really seems like they wanted to drag it out, and there are so, so many scenes where I’m sort of embarrassed that we’re in the same scene or that we’re still looking at someone’s face, or that everyone is just standing there waiting for the shot to finally end.

I will say that film is a language that does differ from culture to culture. It could be that both the broadness of the acting and the awkwardness of the editing are my cultural lens based on American and a lot of western film. When I watched older Hollywood films, the acting is a lot more broad and maybe a little less “true” feeling, but I understand that it’s not the case everyone in the past was a bad actor. It was just a different style, so I’m not sure I’m equipped with the cultural knowledge of Chinese acting, cinematography, and editing to be able to really judge the value of these things.

I do know how I feel, which is that the editing is the biggest hurdle for me while watching the show. However, I feel that the beauty of it makes up for a lot, and the strength of the characters and themes really carries it.

I hope I addressed your points adequately, and I wish you well.

[kaaras-adaar]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER. REPOST DO NOT REBLOG !!

NAME:  Owl, K, Kmod.

PRONOUNS: He/Him

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: I don’t mind. If it’s first interactions, I assume IM’s and asks is totally an okay way to communicate with me. If I feel we’re in for the long haul, then I’ll offer my discord (or add you if you offer). I generally only chat on discord with mutuals, tho. I will say, I’m REALLY antisocial. Some days, I’m too tired to reply/talk, even tho I’m online. My work is incredibly taxing when it comes to my people metre, so please never take offence if I’m not responding. Sometimes I’m online but not at my PC as well. I will reply when I can. Just know it’s not you, it’s 100% me! Ask all of my close RP buddies, and I’m sure they’ll all agree :’D 

NAME OF MUSE(s):  Kaaras Taashath Adaar 

RP EXPERIENCE/HOW LONG (MONTHS / YEARS?):  Oof... wow, I think I started Rping back in... maybe 2008? 

PLATFORMS YOU’VE USED:  DevART notes, email, livejournal, MSN, Skype, MERP forum, chat rooms, Tumblr. 

BEST EXPERIENCE:  Probably the people I have met here in the DARP community. Some of you are my closest friends, and I find that even with distance and time between us, we can still pick up like we’ve never stopped, and I really love that. Real life is busy and sometimes you just can’t talk all the time, and you guys understand that. I miss my days in the Transformers fandom, but mostly because I was younger and more carefree (the place was very toxic). Being able to write Kaaras has been such an amazing experience over the years, and I’m a lot wiser for it. 

PET PEEVES/DEALBREAKERS: Pet peeves, too much ooc content and too many RL (modern) FC posts on my dash. I don’t mind fantasy/medieval ones, but when I see FC’s with mobiles in a world I don’t write in, it feels very out of place for me. I have a really odd thing with FCs. Not a deal breaker, though. Dealbreakers?  Just don’t be a cunt. If you’re policing people how to write and being a cunt on my dash, I’m not interested. Callout posts are childish no matter who you are. I don’t care for your excuses and your white knightery. I’m too old for that shit, and it looks disgusting even if you’re trying to take the moral high ground. Just unfollow and be done with it. You don’t like the way they said or write something, then act like an adult and deal with it maturely. Leave the high school drama at high school. Politics is also a big thing that is starting to piss me off as well. I work hard every day, in healthcare, in the middle of a pandemic, on the front line... the last fucking thing I want to do when I get home is see bullshit politics on my dash when I deal with fuck heads all day at work. I’m here to WRITE and enjoy myself, not deal with the real world and its politics, let alone seeing people ‘splain. If I wanted to deal with that, I’d just stay at work all day. 

FLUFF, ANGST OR SMUT:  All. I’m a fan of all of it, so long as there’s chemistry between the characters and we’re going somewhere with it.

PLOTS OR MEMES:  I love both. Admittedly, memes are probably the best ice breakers for me, because I don’t have a lot of time to plot anymore--that and being so tired from work makes my brain frizzle out and I can’t even THINK of plots. Memes spike interest because some of the best PLOTS have come from memes. Both have their place, I’m just a tired old man who can’t think of plots much anymore, which is sad because I used to have so many ideas. Whether it’s because I’ve been writing Kaaras for so long that nothing seems new anymore? Or I’m just very tired and my poor, Aspie brain is too filled for new ideas to come in. IDK. But memes are a good way to start things! Also, they can be really random which makes Kaaras react in ways I’m surprised! But once we write a few times, then plots will be sure to come, and I do love discussing them! When I have the brain capacity :( 

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES:  Unless it’s just short bits of dash commentary or a one-off, I prefer longer threads. It’s difficult for me to delve into anything in a short reply. (Fox pretty much hit the nail on the head, so I’m keeping their response here).

BEST TIME TO WRITE: Whenever I have a day off work. Fridays are generally my best, because I’m home alone and have all the space to myself. Weekends I need to do errands, groceries and like to spend some time with my partner playing games or whatever. Generally speaking, Monday--Thursday I’m pretty dead tired. 

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S):  In some ways, for sure. We both have very high moral compasses, and we both see people as people. Kaaras has a lot more patience than I do, and is certainly kinder and more forgiving. We are both neurodivergent, and we both require our alone time to recharge. Kaaras is far more poetic than I could ever wish to be, and we’re both very blunt (although Kaaras is better at dealing with confrontation than I am). I would say that we can both be very quick to detatch ourselves from anyone/thing that is toxic as well. Both of us are absolutely fuelled with rage when it comes to seeing innocent people being harmed as well--he definitely gets that from me lol. We both love animals and have farm experience. But we are also VERY different in many ways, too. 

Tagged by: @ravusnightblossom​  Tagging:. @many-tales-told​ @sunlilted​ @andrastehope​ @aylenlavellan​ @dragonagedmage​ @wolf-at-worlds-end​ @wclfdreamt​ @nehraa-asaaranda​ and anyone else! Tag me so I can read! <3 

[ofmelodys]

☽˚｡⋆. 𝑴𝑬𝑳𝑶𝑫𝒀 𝑯𝑨𝑵𝑬𝑼𝑳 𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑲

[ 𝐉𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐈 // 𝐂𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍 // 𝐒𝐇𝐄/𝐇𝐄𝐑 ] – oh my god, is that [ 𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊 ]?! the tabloids can’t seem to stop buzzing about the [ 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐎𝐍𝐄 ] year old [ 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑/𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐁𝐄𝐑 ]. the industry has dubbed [ 𝐡𝐞𝐫 ] [ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐇𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄 ] and sources say, [ 𝐬𝐡𝐞 ] is [ 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐃 ] and [ 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 ], yet also [ 𝐍𝐀𝐈𝐕𝐄 ] and [ 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄 ]. yet, with all this gossip, who really knows?! one thing’s for sure, though– queen bee has it out for [ 𝐡𝐞𝐫 ]!

my lovely bbs , i know already that i love u all KJNJSKNJ . hi friends ! i am s, i reside in the cst timezone, im 21 and my pronouns are she/her. although classes have just started for me, i think this semester will be pretty easy so i’ll be around to develop melody! ok, i’ll stop ranting. below you will find mel’s bio and wanted connections! please like this post and i’ll hit you up to plot or reach out to me on discord at L𝐚𝐮𝐯, 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐯, 𝐋𝐚𝐔𝐯 😩✨#5550. 

** TW: ANXIETY **

☽˚｡⋆. 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈 𝐁𝐈𝐎 !

melody haneul park was born and raised in toronto, canada. her father, park kyungsoo, was originally born in busan, south korea, and her mother, susan park, was also born and raised in canada. her parents had met at work after kyungsoo had transferred to toronto for his new job. they quickly fell in love, didn’t hesitate and got married. soon enough susan was pregnant with their little melody.

after mel was born, her parents decided not to have any more kids. one was enough for them, especially because neither of them wanted to stop working-- kyungsoo was due for a promotion to a senior position role in this corporate org, and susan was too. because of this, melody quickly fell into the world of daycares and nannies.

throughout elementary and middle school, melody was an extremely shy kid. she didn’t have many friends and kept to herself.

in high school, she tried to open up a little more-- she joined the anime and video games club, since she was absolutely obsessed with everything technology-- her parents gifted her a pc gaming set-up and she fell in love with the world of gaming ever since. her first game was mortal kombat and from there on she played every type of game you could imagine. realistically, she had more friends online than she did at school, so her video games were her escape.

throughout high school, she learned some basic coding skills (and also how to hack certain systems, but that’s lowkey a secret) and realized that she eventually wanted to work in the world of it or some form of technology, maybe video game design?.. 

her father was all for it, but her mother was skeptical. even though she was, melody still graduated and decided to major in video game design at her local college.

in her freshman year, she was semi bored of her classes-- so she joined extra curriculars, like the gaming club, anime club again, etc.. but she was still bored, so she then decided to start up a twitch streaming account. she would stream gameplay of an abundance of games, but the video game that got her the most views and caused her to go viral was overwatch. 

once her following was getting bigger and bigger (on both twitch and youtube), and she was gaining a large amount of income from it, she started to wonder if video game design was still what she wanted to do..

after some thinking, she decided to drop out from college after her freshman year. while her parents were both extremely disappointed in her decision, they didn’t fully understand how much money she truly could make from streaming and making youtube videos. 

after dropping out, she decided to pack everything and move to la. again, of course her parents were disappointed, but they tried their hardest to support her.

flash forward about two years, and melody aka melodiesgaming, is now in the top ten channels with the most subscribers, and top ten in twitch as well. right now she is streaming a lot of animal crossing new horizons gameplay, along with silly games like fall guys and overwatch every now and then. most of her youtube videos are about playing obscure small games that people had never heard of. 

one thing about her and fame that don’t mesh well is that she’s.. not very good at socializing lol? like in interviews and at big events its so obvious shes uncomfortable and anxious and her agent tries to help her with it but ... eh lol. she was diagnosed with anxiety at a young age which also contributes. 

but when she’s streaming or interacting with her fans, she’s super outgoing and hilarious!

she is also lowkey naive, falls too fast, all that jazz... 

she claims that she is straight but she is a closeted bisexual. she has no idea when she’ll be comfortable enough to come out to the public but hopefully that’s soon.

also, she’s insecure about not being a good enough streamer/youtuber when she clearly is because why would she have this many subs yknow?? also, esp bc she lives in la she feels like she has to keep up with appearances and that’s a big insecurity as well.

☽˚｡⋆. 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 !

** CONNECTIONS OPEN TO ALL GENDERS UNLESS SPECIFIED **

- best friend (0/1)

- best friend/streamer youtuber buddy (1/1) taken by noemi

- friends she met online (1/?) one spot taken by venus

- childhood friend if anyone is from canada (1/?) one spot taken by tarik

- first love (0/1)

- first (secret) time with a girl (1/1) taken by poppy

- first time (general) (0/1)

- rival/enemy/bully (0/?)

- ex ** must be a man unless the relationship was secret ** (1/?) one spot taken by baz

- summer fling (0/?)

- sister bond (1/1) taken by annie

- skinny love (0/1)

- close friends (0/?)

- clout pal (0/?)

- unrequited (0/1)

- confidant (1/1)

- fwb, one night stand etc **must be man unless secret hookup which would also be fun** (0/?)

- enemy with benefits **see above** (1/1) one spot taken by sienna

these are all simply ideas and i’m open to literally anything!

[thebeautyoffandoms]

hi hi, im kinda curious of who am gonna get so I’ll try for HQ so here it goes

im a sagittarius, 4’10 (tiny b) asian, im bi, have long straight black hair underneath dyed light blue, dark brown eyes and im a infj-t! im a genuine person, I’m very introvert (shy/quiet) at first but extrovert at the same time between internet and rl since i always teasing/joke too much making fun of people so much,sarcastic, really competitive, hyper person depends who I’m with, passionate, straightforward I try to stand up for myself within my feelings, mood swings! (that’s why I’m socially awkward) and lastly a very anxious person.

i like to listen to honestly any kind of music, draw, play video games during my pc, reading, and all tho ive have social anxiety, so i like to stay home a lot so I couldn’t really be a going out person so Ik I like being alone now since I got used to it, and lastly boba within food as well. my love language is spending quality time, words of affirmation and maybe physical touch, and I’m okay with shipping with a female or male it don’t matter to me! but that’s all thank you and take your time writing this! have a wonderful day tysm!! ^w^ 💌

Hello! You’re so very welcome, and thank you for requesting! I’m so sorry this took so long, but I hope you like it!! <3 I hope you have a wonderful day as well aoanwrfon <33

For you, I think Kuroo Tetsuro would be a lovely match!

While it may not seem like it, I do think you would be Kuroo’s type for many reasons! Not only does your appearance sound super super cool (plus we know Kuroo likes long hair), plus the fact that he can tease you about your cute height, but he’s completely head-over-heels for your personality as well. Kuroo’s a bit of a more open and determined person, so he’d be able to try and strike up conversations with you. Once you two grew closer, he quickly realized he wanted you to be his s/o. Kuroo gets to deal with someone like Kenma, so he’s used to sarcasm (and tends to be just as sarcastic) and won’t get offended. He’s also competitive, so he’ll be a bit too excited to compete with you, and will probably use your competitive-ness to try and get you to join a volleyball team if you aren’t already on one. Also finds it amazing when you stand up for yourself, though he’ll chuck a volleyball at anyone who says anything even remotely negative about you. While he’s still a teenage boy, and probably doesn’t get moodswings, he does his best to ignore them, unless you need someone to talk to. Because, like I said, he’s dealt with Kenma for a long time, he’s used to staying home and playing games. Actually, he’s probably rather good at it by then, so that gives him something to compete with you over <3. Despite how a lot of the fans try to depict him, Kuroo is still a dork. He’s a sucker for getting to sit and read with you, maybe with music playing in the background. He’ll also feel so incredibly proud if you show him some of your art. He’ll probably flash a proud smirk that screams “yes, that’s my s/o! They did that!!” I don’t have many headcanons for Kuroo’s love language, though I sort of feel like he’d use most of them, or just roll with yours. Want to spend quality time? Yes please, he’ll be there in 5 minutes. Gives you a bunch of compliments, looking at you so genuinely loving every time he does. Loves to pat your head, or sling an arm over your shoulder, kiss your temple, or give you a big hug whenever he can too! All of it, baby!! He just loves to show you that he loves you <3

[unpopularly-opinionated]

RE: My post earlier about the Ooblets Epic Games Exclusive backlash.

I’m not going to show the Twitter user, if you follow the indie game development scene on Twitter it’s likely you’ll recognize this tweet, either way that’s not who I am. The Ooblet’s account on the other hand is fair-game since it’s basically a product placement.

I feel it needs reiterating how utterly dense this kind of tweet is, and how completely skewed the narrative for this issue has gotten, so let me reiterate in obnoxiously large and emboldened font to try and get the point across:

THE GAMING COMMUNITY IS NOT TOXIC

“Honesty” and “transparency” are all well and good, but unless you’re honestly trying to drive away your own community, perhaps you should try being a little less honest and a little less transparent. No one (or I guess no one but this guy and the few who agree with him) is going to thank you for honestly throwing them under the proverbial bus after they’ve spent months, if not years, supporting your project; your dream.

I’ve heard from others that “this is just how they write” and “it’s meant to be funny”, and to an extent, I can understand that. But let me just include some screenshots from the post in question to reiterate my point, because I feel like my previous post didn’t quite get the point across:

(Context: What the Epic Games Exclusivity Deal means for you, the fan and/or financial backer of Ooblets).

I get that the Fortnite bit is the joke, ha ha, Fortnite used to be wildly popular, I get it, good meme. What isn’t the joke, and what was part of why people got upset was the first bit, specifically the “download the Epic Games Launcher and make an Epic Games account” bit, that bit.

Now, I personally have no qualms about having the Epic Games Launcher on my PC. I have long since looked beyond the ‘scandal’ of tech companies saving and selling my data to distant lands to be used for nefarious moneymaking schemes. Is it bad? Sure, maybe. Would I prevent it had I the chance? Of course. Do I have that chance? Not a chance in the world, so I decide to live with it.

That said, many others have not reached that point of fuck it, and understandably so. I hit that point because of my negative outlook on society as a whole but, praise be, there are in fact still some optimists out there who look at these shitty corporate tactics and say no to them, and good on them for that.

That is what I would say is the bulk of the primary issues people have with the Epic Games Store. The missing features bits aren’t terribly important, as even this post says, if you have a social life on Steam, then use Steam. The EGS does not need to be your do-all replacement.

This is where the post should have stopped. Here and now, had this post ended, any and all issues with this decision would have been but a whisper in the wind. As I said in my previous post, yes they undoubtedly would have received plenty of critical, and non-critical backlash for the decision regardless, but ending the post here would’ve 100% put the developers on the right side in this situation and I’d be right up there agreeing with that tweet.

(Context: Are you angry at Epic and/or us for this decision?)

Referring to earlier when I said that playful tone and humour are all fine and dandy, I understand that this is probably meant to sound playful and humourous, but it comes across as largely self-important and ignorant, and the bits that follow do in no way dissuade from that appearance.

While my response to this complaint was similar to their own, in that you should just use Steam for the features that the Epic Games Store lacks, they go on to essentially say that this is just baby EGS and that Steam used to be just like it and look at it now.

While they aren’t technically wrong, from a development point of view, the big thing they need to understand is how web standards have dramatically changed since 2003 when the Steam store launched. Launching a store, of any variety, without a shopping cart is a big no-no.

As far as missing features go, that’s not like missing a friends list or a IM feature, that’s missing a crucial part of a web-based storefront. Imagine going to a store and only be allowed to purchase one thing at a time, that would be ridiculous.

Their response to this was as corporate as any triple-A publisher, or really any corporation at all, from any industry. Just a complete disconnect from society that frankly is unwarranted from what is quite literally a two person operation. Not to mention, their response is quite literally what every parent warns their kids about at a young age. “But mooooooooooooom, everyone is doing it!!!!” Yes sweetie, but if everyone jumps off a bridge, are you going to?

Apparently, yes.

And not to discount the idea of making money, by all means make money, but let me put it this way, had they left this post exactly where I said they should have previously, all of the blame would be at Epic’s feet. Because at the end of the day, having your game be exclusive to one service does not make you money, it makes them money. So this whole “everyone is doing it” schtick doesn’t fly when coming from the developers. Had this been a post by Epic (and frankly with all the shilling I could be convinced it was from them) then this argument might have made just a tiny bit more sense.

Underlined in yellow are the jokes; the “playful” and “humourous” attitude I’ve heard so much about. Underlined in red however, are what the developers are actually genuinely saying with complete and utter seriousness.

“There are worse things in the world to be upset about.” I kid you not, that’s their argument.

Now, all of that reiterated, to get to the actual point of this post (wish Tumblr let you do multiple “Keep Reading” lines but I digress), the article linked in the tweet here is about the previous “non-critical” backlash I mentioned they’d receive, though multiplied exponentially by their horrendous blog post, and further community responses to said blog post.

I’d like to refer to a completely unrelated post I made quite a while ago that really needs to spread like wildfire if you ask me:

RECEIVING INSULTS, UNCRITICAL FEEDBACK, AND/OR DEATH THREATS DOES NOT INVALIDATE THE CRITICAL FEEDBACK NOR THE ISSUE AT HAND.

I am by no means wiping away death threats or mean words as things to scoff at, by all means take them as seriously as you will, but under no circumstances should 20+ people telling you to kill yourself invalidate the hundreds of fans and financial backers who are upset with your recent financial decision, or your response to criticisms to those decisions.

This happens time and time and time again. Someone of note does something bad, for one reason or another, and instead of responding to the completely warranted and justified criticism and feedback they instead play up the 15+ people who IM’d them to drink bleach and throw it up as “an example of the ever present toxic gaming community”.

More or less, the substance to this article is their “apology”, and I use that term very loosely but I’ll get to that, to the community at large for the recent events. The post summarizes the issue from their (biased) perspective, posts some screenshots of the colourful responses they’ve received, the usual woe-is-me schtick.

I’d like to highlight a few bits from it to further exemplify the continued mindset of these people:

I have given the full context to this next statement with these screenshots so that I can now take parts of these statements out of their context to, at least to my belief, succinctly identify the mindset of these folks:

“I understand the relationship people think they might be owed when they exchanged money for goods or services, but...we’ve never actually sold them anything and don’t owe them anything at all.”

I don’t want to get off-topic any more than necessary, but this, this right here is why fundraisers, Kickstarters, GoFundMes, Patreon subscriptions, or any other form of crowdsourcing platforms need to be handled with extreme care. I hesitate to say regulated legally, but I am by no means opposed to that idea.

I want to express this carefully and plainly: LEGALLY, yes they are absolutely right that they do not owe anyone anything. At least to my knowledge, they didn’t have a formal Kickstarter, their financial backing came primarily from whatever it is they do for a living AND the support of their Patreon backers.

And while I do not feel that it needs addressing, for the sake of consistency I will address it: MORALLY they owe the game to anyone who financially supported them with the express purpose of developing the game.

“We definitely owe all of you who supported us, but also fuck off you entitled cunts because we don’t owe you shit.”

When in the face of well-deserved criticism, deflect deflect deflect. As if a broken record, I’d like to again emphasize that yes, legally they owe no one anything. Morally, they do. Legally, they don’t. Morally, yes. Legally, no.

This, in essence, is a response to the majority of people who are like me, who aren’t screaming vitriolic personable attacks, telling them to drink bleach, long jog off a short pier, the works. Essentially: “If you aren’t with us, then you’re against us.”

Because apparently pointing out your blatant mischaracterisation of the gaming community, your outrageously awful personal relations skills, and most especially your morally bankrupt understanding of the relationship between you and the people financially supporting your passion project means we are, by their logic, on a level equivalent in nature to the 10+ people telling them to drink bleach.

Fixed for typos:

Remember how I said this was an “apology” in the loosest form, well what I was referring to was how in the beginning during their (totally unbiased) summary of the events, they more or less said “Sorry you didn’t respond the way we wanted you to.” Beyond that, yeah, it’s not an apology.

And why would we expect one? Nothing they have spat out in the face of their fans so far has even a hint of self-realization or self-reflection in it. Even their acknowledgement of their (horrendously under exaggerated) bad PR skills comes across as a hollow acknowledgement, if it can even be referred to as an acknowledgement at all, because if you truly truly acknowledged it, then this post wouldn’t exist.

As to this anti-Semitic fabrication making the rounds, I have not seen it so I will take their word for it that they did not make one, especially since I have seen fabricated evidence involving Discord messages rearranged out of order. What I feel needs addressing specifically in this chunk though is his reference to “my messages taken out of context to insinuate I don’t care about our patrons/fans”, because if you’ve seen my previous post then you’ll know no amount of context makes this statement look good:

Sure, it’s a true statement of fact now that they have Epic’s money, but it’s fairly obvious that it reads “We have Epic’s money now, we don’t need you anymore.” I’m sure they didn’t mean that, but that when combined with their other statements regarding how they don’t owe their patrons anything, what they are saying is clear as day.

But hey, credit where credit is due, at least with this we can agree:

But of course, as these people are now infamously known for not ending their posts where they reasonably should...

Now I know how much money goodwill, faith, and morals make, and again I would fully expect this kind of response from the likes of EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda, or fuck even Amazon or Facebook to show that corporate greed has no industry bounds, but this is a two person team whose passion project is to make this game which is being financially supported by loyal fans and future customers.

And that’s just it, that is the mind-boggling part to me, that this is all just the self-important, mischaracterising, morally bankrupt, and childishly ignorant ramblings of a small little husband and wife duo.

In summary...

As was said in the blog post, I’m sure that looking from the outside in we don’t get to see the full scope of the vitriolic comments they’re receiving, so to that I give them credit, and the most sincerest of apologies. I’ve received a few death threats and vitriolic hate-filed messages in my time on the internet, and while personally I am unphase by them, I can fully understand that it can be damaging to one’s self-esteem and self-confidence, especially when it comes in relation to your passion project. I am sorry.

But unwarranted, hate-filled, vitriolic, suicide-baiting messages do not invalid those of us criticizing you for the things that you did do, the words that you did say, and the actions that you did take. I mentioned this in my previous post, but as it stands, the centerpiece to this issue isn’t even about the Epic Exclusivity Deal anymore, it’s about you. You and your treatment, of not just the community at large (for which, might I add, is your primary customer base), but of your treatment towards your loyal fans and financial supporters along the way.

You, for whatever reason, act as most of us have come to expect a soulless and faceless triple-A publisher would, when in fact you are just a two person team with public faces. You’re taking the shots that the likes of EA, Activision, or Bethesda would and have taken, but you’re forgetting that it is above and beyond easier to find you then it is to find them.

All we, but more importantly your fans want from you is for you to make the best game that we all know you’re capable of. And for those who supported you this far along the way to be given even an ounce of respect, despite you not needing their support anymore.

[awkward-toshinori]

Hey Yo, can I get all 200 asks for the ask meme thing? Please and thank you!

Absolutely

200: My crush’s name is:

Horia

199: I was born in:

Romania

198: I am really:

friendly and trustworthy

197: My cellphone company is:

Digi

196: My eye color is:

Aqua Blue

195: My shoe size is:

7,5

194: My ring size is:

20?? hell if i know tbh

193: My height is:

5′7

192: I am allergic to:

nothing

191: My 1st car was:

I can’t drive yet!!

190: My 1st job was:

No jobs yikes :c

189: Last book you read:

Sword of Destiny!!

188: My bed is:

messy and full of plushies

187: My pet:

no pets but ahh  my baby plant

186: My best friend:

I’ve got tons of them and I’m pretty sure they know themselves

185: My favorite shampoo is:

ah I don’t really have any preferences

184: Xbox or ps3:

*big gasp* ps3

183: Piggy banks are:

They’re superb but I would feel so bad about wrecking one

182: In my pockets:

Glasses tissues

181: On my calendar:

uh there’s nothing noted yet

180: Marriage is:

Something quiet amazing and lovely, at least from my point

179: Spongebob can:

aww man I don’t watch spongebob

178: My mom:

is shorther than me, that’s for sure

177: The last three songs I bought were?

I didn’t buy any songs but I did buy albums and the last three I bought I suppose were Aenima by tool, Portrait of An American Familly by Marilyn Manson and Slipknot by Slipknot, I think

176: Last YouTube video watched:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q9UafsiQ6k

175: How many cousins do you have?

2 or 3 I think

174: Do you have any siblings?

Yes, one

173: Are your parents divorced?

nope

172: Are you taller than your mom?

yes B)

171: Do you play an instrument?

Not yet but I’m planning on getting a bass so

170: What did you do yesterday?

I went to a cool concert

169: Love at first sight:

not rlly

168: Luck:

nope

167: Fate:

also no

166: Yourself:

no *oops doopsie I’m sorry*

165: Aliens:

yes

164: Heaven:

nah

163: Hell:

no

162: God:

nopety

161: Horoscopes:

not really

160: Soul mates:

hmm  a bit

159: Ghosts:

no

158: Gay Marriage:

157: War:

not really

156: Orbs:

not really  :/

155: Magic:

no but I find it interesting154: Hugs or Kisses:

hugs

153: Drunk or High:

I personally wouldn’t go for any of those but drunk ig

152: Phone or Online:

online

151: Red heads or Black haired:

black haired

150: Blondes or Brunettes:

ah, blondes

149: Hot or cold:

cold

148: Summer or winter:

winter

147: Autumn or Spring:

spring

146: Chocolate or vanilla:

vanilla

145: Night or Day:

night

144: Oranges or Apples:

oranges

143: Curly or Straight hair:

straight

142: McDonalds or Burger King:

McDonalds

141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate:

White Chocolate

140: Mac or PC:

PC

139: Flip flops or high heals:

flip flops

138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor:

sweet and poor tbh

137: Coke or Pepsi:

coke

136: Hillary or Obama:

Obama??!!

135: Burried or cremated:

cremated

134: Singing or Dancing:

singing

133: Coach or Chanel:

coach

132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks:

I uh, none

131: Small town or Big city:

big city

130: Wal-Mart or Target:

I had never went to one though Wal-Mart

129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler:

Adam Sandler

128: Manicure or Pedicure:

Manicure

127: East Coast or West Coast:

East Coast

126: Your Birthday or Christmas:

Christmas

125: Chocolate or Flowers:

flowers

124: Disney or Six Flags:

disney

123: Yankees or Red Sox:

Yankees

122: War:

I uh personally don’t agree with them and uh dunno

121: George Bush:

Don’t have one yet

120: Gay Marriage:

I find it lovely but too sad it’s not legal here so

119: The presidential election:

Quiet stinky as in no good choices

118: Abortion:

See this topic rips itself in two, if it’s intentionally done I personally think it’s the worst thing to do but that someone can do whatever they want, it’s their body after all, though if it happens and it’s not intended just, big sad react

117: MySpace:

I don’t have an opinion on it

116: Reality TV:

I don’t really watch it nor like it

115: Parents:

I would’ve appreciated if my parents showed me more support and love but not that I have anything against our type of relationship at the moment so

114: Back stabbers:

I totally not like them so I choose to cut contact with them 

113: Ebay:

It’s fine till now

112: Facebook:

I’m not a big fan of Facebook

111: Work:

If it’s something I love, it makes me feel good but if it’s not it kind of brings a feeling of uneasy and frustration to me

110: My Neighbors:

They’re chill, the baby and the puppy are my favorites 

109: Gas Prices:

kinda shitty here

108: Designer Clothes:

They can design what they want however they want, this is not really a topic of interest for me

107: College:

I can’t wait to get to it ngl

106: Sports:

Not one of my interests but they do look fun

105: My family:

I tolerate them easily but yeah I love them

104: The future:

Other than that I’m scared as hell regarding the future? nah

103: Hugged someone:

Eh!! Today!!

102: Last time you ate:

7 hours ago??

101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile:

Oh last week I think

100: Cried in front of someone:

U H, yesterday

99: Went to a movie theater:

last thursday

98: Took a vacation:

last Christmas

97: Swam in a pool:

last summer

96: Changed a diaper:

never tbh

95: Got my nails done:

OH, it’s been ages since I’ve done that

94: Went to a wedding:

4 years ago

93: Broke a bone:

never nyehehe B)

92: Got a peircing:

I don’t have any but planning on getting some

91: Broke the law:

never

90: Texted: 

minutes ago

89: Who makes you laugh the most:

tbh, my friends

88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is:

my stuff but mostly my baby plant

87: The last movie I saw:

Captain MArvel

86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most:

finishing high school

85: The thing im not looking forward to:

Missing upcoming opportunities

84: People call me:

Satana(I have the perferct explanation)

83: The most difficult thing to do is:

talk in servers or groups tbh

82: I have gotten a speeding ticket:

Oh I’d feel terrible and embarassed tbh

81: My zodiac sign is:

LEo

80: The first person i talked to today was:

my boyfriend

79: First time you had a crush:

in 5th grade

78: The one person who i can’t hide things from:

My boyfriend.. because he knows when something’s up with me or if something’s not good

77: Last time someone said something you were thinking:

hmmm weeks ago I think

76: Right now I am talking to:

@angelwings-234

75: What are you going to do when you grow up:

be a programmer 

74: I have/will get a job:

I hope to get one as a programmer in the future (though hell If I know what exactly yet)

73: Tomorrow:

I’ll probably hope for school to end faster just so I can nap

72: Today:

I haven’t done much tbh

71: Next Summer:

Will be so busy and I’m so not up to it

70: Next Weekend:

I’ll be going to a cool ass contest

69: I have these pets:

I have a baby plant!!!

68: The worst sound in the world:

static noise

67: The person that makes me cry the most is:

myself?? sounds a bit edgy

66: People that make you happy:

all the close friends in my life and some artists along with stuff I enjoy a lot

65: Last time I cried:

yesterday

64: My friends are:

There are too many to list them but luv them all

63: My computer is:

full of games that I’m probably not going to finish in the following 2 months

62: My School:

kinda sucks when it comes to students

61: My Car:

does not exist yet

60: I lose all respect for people who:

who are rude and big mean bags of shit?? I could detail this but dunno

59: The movie I cried at was:

Interstellar 

58: Your hair color is:

blonde

57: TV shows you watch:

SOA, Gotham when my bf watches it and I don’t really like TV shows though I have some on my waiting list

56: Favorite web site:

https://www.pbinfo.ro/

55: Your dream vacation:

just, somewhere around a forest, it’d be quiet lovely ngl

54: The worst pain I was ever in was:

tooth pain

53: How do you like your steak cooked:

a bit raw tbh

52: My room is:

ass messy as me

51: My favorite celebrity is:

uhhh Corey Taylor

50: Where would you like to be:

Right now?? At my bf, if it wouldn’t bother him..

49: Do you want children:

ABsolutely

48: Ever been in love:

still am ig

47: Who’s your best friend:

I have too many but love them all so much

46: More guy friends or girl friends:

I have more guy friends apparently 

45: One thing that makes you feel great is:

achieving something

44: One person that you wish you could see right now:

All of my best-friends tbh

43: Do you have a 5 year plan:

I do

42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die:

Not yet and I doubt I’d do it

41: Have you pre-named your children:

me and my bf came up with some names but who knows

40: Last person I got mad at:

My bf i think

39: I would like to move to:

another city in my country, a much bigger one

38: I wish I was a professional:

artist

37: Candy:

Haribo

36: Vehicle:

Renault or Dacia

35: President:

don’t really have one

34: State visited:

I haven’t been to any at all

33: Cellphone provider:

Digi

32: Athlete:

I don;t have one yikes

31: Actor:

Hmm Benicio Del Toro

30: Actress:

I like some but I don’t have a favorite one

29: Singer:

Peter Steele, his voice is simply, lovely

28: Band:

Ohhh anon Tool and Cargo atm

27: Clothing store:

I don’t have a fav one

26: Grocery store:

any??

25: TV show:

Sons Of Anarchy

24: Movie:

The Alien trilogy

23: Website:

Twitter I think

22: Animal:

Cat

21: Theme park:

I don’t really have one

20: Holiday:

Christmas

19: Sport to watch:

ski jumping

18: Sport to play:

Volleyball I think

17: Magazine:

Don’t have one

16: Book:

The Shinning

15: Day of the week:

Saturdays

14: Beach:

Don’t really like beaches

13: Concert attended:

Truda’s concert for moment but I suppose Disturbing’s going ro replace it or maybe Cannibal Corpse, who knows

12: Thing to cook:

Pudding

11: Food:

Noodles or cremeschnitte

10: Restaurant:

One called Anna

9: Radio station:

don’t have one

8: Yankee candle scent:

dreamy summer nights

7: Perfume:

men’s one are my favorite, gotta admit it

6: Flower:

ORchids

5: Color:

purple and black

4: Talk show host:

don’t have one

3: Comedian:

A romanian one, can’t remember his name

2: Dog breed:

German Shepherd, American Eskimo, Border Collie, Golden Retriever, Siberian HUsky there are too many I can’t choose only one

1: Did you answer all these truthfully?

yes I did it oh god

[thisbibliomaniac]

Would you hate me if I asked for all 200?

 I could never hate you my darling !

200: My crush’s name is: ohhhh I’m not posting that here XD

199: I was born in: hell 

198: I am really: average 197: My cellphone company is: stupid 196: My eye color is: brown 195: My shoe size is: inconvenient 194: My ring size is: 7 on my ring finger, 8 on my middle finger 193: My height is: 5′5″192: I am allergic to: according to my most recent rescan, egg yolks, corn starch, and ... something else 191: My 1st car was: a windstar 190: My 1st job was: ice cream shop! 189: Last book you read: Pride and Prejudice. loved it 188: My bed is: blue, green, purple, and pink 187: My pet: obi, who is so cute 186: My best friend: amazing wonderful beautiful incredible 185: My favorite shampoo is: maui vanilla 184: Xbox or ps3: nintendo 64183: Piggy banks are: for collecting cool money 182: In my pockets: scrunchie and box cutter 181: On my calendar: seeing @dangerously-human asap! 180: Marriage is: unlikely 179: Spongebob can: die 178: My mom: cool beans 177: The last three songs I bought were? these boots were made for walking, 9-5, idk probably something by kelly clarkson 176: Last YouTube video watched: steven crowder on the catholic boys. worth the watch 175: How many cousins do you have? oh gosh. so many. i was gonna add them up, but honestly? there’s at least 40, and aint nobody got time to mentally run through the whole family 174: Do you have any siblings? yes 173: Are your parents divorced? no 172: Are you taller than your mom? lol yes 171: Do you play an instrument? piano 170: What did you do yesterday? worked :/[ I Believe In ]169: Love at first sight: nope 168: Luck: i joke about it, but not really 167: Fate: no 166: Yourself: heck no 165: Aliens: nope 164: Heaven: of course 163: Hell: definitely 162: God: absolutely 161: Horoscopes: absolutely not 160: Soul mates: yes 159: Ghosts: no 158: Gay Marriage:  nope 157: War: yes 156: Orbs: ? 155: Magic: cats are magic [ This or That ]154: Hugs or Kisses: hugs 153: Drunk or High: neither 152: Phone or Online: phone 151: Red heads or Black haired: ahhhh. both 150: Blondes or Brunettes: brunettes 149: Hot or cold: cold 148: Summer or winter: nether D:147: Autumn or Spring: autumn 146: Chocolate or vanilla: vanilla 145: Night or Day: night 144: Oranges or Apples: apples 143: Curly or Straight hair: curly 142: McDonalds or Burger King: ew neither 141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: milk140: Mac or PC: pc always 139: Flip flops or high heals: both!!138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: ugly and sweet are not mutually exclusive 137: Coke or Pepsi: pepsi 136: Hillary or Obama: haahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha135: Burried or cremated: idk i wont be there 134: Singing or Dancing: singing 133: Coach or Chanel: walmart 132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: taylor hicks!!!!! 131: Small town or Big city: in between 130: Wal-Mart or Target: both 129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: adam sandler 128: Manicure or Pedicure: manicure 127: East Coast or West Coast: east coast 126: Your Birthday or Christmas: neither 125: Chocolate or Flowers: both 124: Disney or Six Flags: disney 123: Yankees or Red Sox: Indians [ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: a necessary evil 121: George Bush: i was like 12 so 120: Gay Marriage: wicked 119: The presidential election: ridiculous 118: Abortion: murder 117: MySpace: useless 116: Reality TV: depends on the show 115: Parents: not really sure how to answer this 114: Back stabbers: dump them 113: Ebay: sneaky 112: Facebook: another necessary evil 111: Work: the most necessary of the greatest evil 110: My Neighbors: enigmas 109: Gas Prices: too high 108: Designer Clothes: why? 

107: College: not for everyone 106: Sports: baseball is the best 105: My family: wild104: The future: D: [ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: my coworker hugged me yesterday 102: Last time you ate: got shish tawook earlier 101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: havent really seen anyone 100: Cried in front of someone: i dont do that 99: Went to a movie theater: couple weeks ago 98: Took a vacation: went to see stell and danger 97: Swam in a pool: a looong time ago 96: Changed a diaper: longer ago 95: Got my nails done: never have 94: Went to a wedding: probably a cousin? so also a long time ago 93: Broke a bone: never 92: Got a peircing: ears 8 years ago 91: Broke the law: i do not do that either !90: Texted: stell just now [ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: @identityconstellations88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: solitude 87: The last movie I saw: far from the madding crowd 86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: seeing danger 85: The thing im not looking forward to: work on monday 84: People call me: boring 83: The most difficult thing to do is: exist 82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: never 81: My zodiac sign is: nothing 80: The first person i talked to today was: my mom 79: First time you had a crush: high school 78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: i can hide from anyone ;) 77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: usually do 76: Right now I am talking to: stell 75: What are you going to do when you grow up: uhhhhhhh74: I have/will get a job: hopefully never again, but thats not my luck 73: Tomorrow: bible study! 72: Today: shish tawook 71: Next Summer: who knows 70: Next Weekend: sleep 69: I have these pets: obi, walker, punky, daisy, loki, and lady 68: The worst sound in the world: nails on a chalkboard 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: no one 66: People that make you happy:my friends 65: Last time I cried: idek 64: My friends are: amazing 63: My computer is: dependable 62: My School: over and done with 61: My Car: adorable 60: I lose all respect for people who: give up their pets , especially for petty reasons 59: The movie I cried at was: oh goodness i dont know 58: Your hair color is: red 57: TV shows you watch: so many 56: Favorite web site: i dont think i like any of them 55: Your dream vacation: paris 54: The worst pain I was ever in was: 53: How do you like your steak cooked: medium 52: My room is: purple 51: My favorite celebrity is: oh goodness i have no idea . tom hiddleston probably 50: Where would you like to be: ireland 49: Do you want children: yes48: Ever been in love: no 47: Who’s your best friend: stell 46: More guy friends or girl friends: girl friends 45: One thing that makes you feel great is: being with cats 44: One person that you wish you could see right now: any of my friends 43: Do you have a 5 year plan: no 42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: no 41: Have you pre-named your children: no 40: Last person I got mad at: my boss 39: I would like to move to: ireland 38: I wish I was a professional: nothing. i dont want to be a professional anything. i hate working for other people. they suck. every single one. [ My Favorites ]37: Candy: reeses pieces36: Vehicle: corrola 35: President: RAND PAUL 202034: State visited: hawaii 33: Cellphone provider: they all suck 32: Athlete: jason kipnis 31: Actor: tom hiddleston 30: Actress: sandra bullock 29: Singer: lea salonga 28: Band: needtobreathe27: Clothing store: walmart 26: Grocery store: walmart 25: TV show: the office 24: Movie: so many 23: Website: already asked 22: Animal: cats 21: Theme park: not really a theme park fan 20: Holiday: reformation day 19: Sport to watch: baseball! 18: Sport to play: bowling 17: Magazine: none 16: Book: madman 15: Day of the week: friday 14: Beach: the one in jersey stell and i went to last year 13: Concert attended: tobymac and brandon heath together 12: Thing to cook: snickerdoodles 11: Food: shish tawook 10: Restaurant: idek 9: Radio station: majic 105.7

8: Yankee candle scent: cinnamon 7: Perfume: honeysuckle 6: Flower: roses 5: Color: pink 4: Talk show host: regis philban XD 3: Comedian: probably john mulaney 2: Dog breed: pitbull 1: Did you answer all these truthfully?  yiss 

thanks dan

[readingwebcomics]

Analyzing Questionable Content: Pages 201-250

Marten’s closer, Dora. Of course she’d go for his first.

Okay, I’m just going to be upfront and honest with you guys. I’m just really not feeling it for this batch of comics, and that’s part of the reason why I had taken the previous week off. That’s not to say this batch is bad or anything, it’s just... I feel like I have a lot less to say about it than I should. So I apologize ahead of time if this feels too short or if it’s much more dull than usual. I’ll try hitting the high points and give you the proper character analysis I can muster here - the fact that what you see right now, with Marten and Dora going on a date and Faye’s reaction to it, will provide quite a deal of character insight.

For example, right here. Not even a single page later and Faye’s genuine irritation over the situation is showing, despite what she has to say about the situation.

Ignoring for the moment the stupid contraction thing (which, if memory serves, will thankfully be dropped after this batch of comics), do Faye’s eyes look... different to you guys? I don’t know, it feels like Jeph’s making an attempt at a slight tweak in his style here and I mostly notice it in Faye’s eyes. I could be looking way too deep into it though, I’m willing to accept that.

They have some light banter, part of which includes Faye continuing to press on the fact that Dora is hyper-sexual and will jump Marten’s bones the second she gets the chance, Faye goes on and continues her nice streak with Marten by offering to make him dinner. Now, I could take this time to point out the obvious, that Faye is clearly doing this much for him not just out of a sense of guilt over how she’s treated him but also bolstered by the fact that, even if subconsciously, she does NOT want Marten to be with another woman and is vying to keep his attention on her... But Faye doesn’t give us a chance to ponder that for very long.

I don’t blame her, the rims of cans are fucking horrifying. Not as bad as the edges of an outlet box, but thin slices of metal ain’t fun let me tell you.

Despite this, there’s really not much to say about the outcome - we learn that Faye’s last name is Whitaker and that this city has a “punching intern” for the local hospital.

That... can NOT be legal. Then again, if this city held itself to any standards of legality I’m certain the Irony Cafe would be closed already due to false advertising. Plus, this is taking place in America and Faye isn’t freaking out more about not being able to afford the hospital bills than the fact she was injured, so maybe that’s the trade-off to having a halfway decent medical facility.

Oh, and when everyone gets back home, we get a bit more insight into the mechanics of Pintsize.

That raises some questions. If this is unique to this particular platform Pintsize’s AI is housed in, how was he able to taste the cake mix in his previous body? If this is universal between Anthro PCs, then why didn’t Marten already know this if he’s been with Pintsize as long as has been implied thus far? I mean I get it, Jeph’s using this as an outlet to create some lore behind the funny robot people in his comic’s universe, but... I dunno, it just feels like this makes Marten seem more incompetent than anything if he didn’t know this about his own Anthro PC. Maybe if he helped explain it alongside Pintsize to Faye to showcase that he knew about this as well? I dunno.

The next day, Steve gives Marten a call:

Faye, your irritation over the situation isn’t exactly subtle. Also I’ve said it before but I’ll keep saying it - sarcastic Marten is best Marten. I like this Marten a lot.

And so, as a wise Skeleton once said... DATE: START!

We’re already off to an amazing start with Ellen kicking off! And, oooh, it looks like she tripped and injured herself in the initial play! Can she recover, folks? Well before we find out, we have another comic involving a drastic art shift deliberately invoked from Jeph:

In all seriousness, the art shift isn’t... bad, per-se, it just looks so drastically different that it catches me off guard. As is what usually happens with Jeph in these situations, it takes the next comic for him to reel himself back and find a happy medium between his original style and the new one he wants to experiment with:

Marine Biology is not for the weak of heart. You knew what you were getting into when you took on that major, Ellen. But yeah, while I’ll get more into detail as to what I think about the art shift at the end of the post, I’ll say here that I like it as a natural evolution. It seems like every time Jeph improves, the face is the bit that gets the most focus every time. Remember just last post when I was complaining Jeph wasn’t talented enough to portray the silent emotion he wanted to in Faye’s face? Now, I feel like he probably could.

The date goes well enough, and the evening comes to a close:

My bet is that Steve’s like the Pied Piper of arachnids. I’d believe it were that the case, at least. Also it was mentioned to me that Marten probably did have the eye-shine like the rest of the cast did, but his eye color just made it harder to spot. In this page, that becomes clearer - still hard to see, but much easier than previously.

Oooh dear. Steve’s in some hot water now. Also I just realized that as of yesterday I’m as old as Steve is. Good God, I’m an actual full-blown adult. Christ.

...I’m going to put off thinking about that for too much longer as we move onto the rest of this batch, okay? Okay.

Anyhow, Dora invites Marten into her apartment for some coffee where she cuts right to the fucking chase:

It’s probably for the best you read the conversation yourself, they’re pages 226-228. I say this mostly because I really don’t have anything to add or comment on here - Dora’s a smart lady who gives good advice here, makes it clear that while she’s interested in Marten she wants him to be happy, and all-in-all is one of the coolest people ever. Go Dora!

Go... Dora. Oh. Well, I still think you’re cool. Let’s give this woman some time and cut back to Steve and Ellen!

I have some things to say about this situation that I’ll touch on a little bit later. Marten gets home and makes it clear to Faye that nothing happened between himself and Dora. While quite clearly relieved, she’s a touch confused.

So I’m not the only one who feels strangely sad whenever I eat a s’mores Pop Tart? Oh who am I kidding, I’ve got depression, I’m always fucking sad. And hey, speaking of sexy times, Pintsize throws his proverbial hat into the ring!

Honestly, I kind of knew I should’ve kept track of that pink Anthro PC, but would you believe me if I told you they never got a name? Also could AI fuck over IM? My bet is that 2004-speed internet wouldn’t exactly make it smooth. But man, imagine having sex over the ‘net on Fiber.

...too much? Too much.

The night ends, Steve parts from Ellen telling her he needs a couple of days to sort his head out, and Faye comforts Marten...

...in, erm, a very Faye way... oh hey, Faye, Fae! I wonder if that was intentional on Jeph’s part. Probably not, Faye isn’t quite a Maniac Pixie Dream Girl. For one thing, she’s better written.

If memory serves, I think Dora mentioned she was a blonde previously? Either way she’s crystal clear with it now. Also, while I complimented Jeph before on his faces... I’m not going to lie, he could stand to improve drawing skirts. I don’t blame the guy, I imagine skirts are fucking hard to draw.

Oh, and here we begin an annual tradition of Questionable Content:

I’d like to start a petition for all Questionable Content fans to go by the fan-name “Turkeys” now. You with me, fellow Turkeys?!

...no? Eh, fair enough.

Here we get some interesting information. At least, it gets interesting in the wake of what comes up later - the timescale is more-or-less confirmed here that this takes place around the early to mid 2000s, likely 2004 or so since that’s when the comic was written. I always assumed, considering we have walking AI around, that the universe of Questionable Content took place in the near future... but rather, it seems more like it takes place in an alternate version of history where our technology is slightly ahead of the curve. And yet a lot of pop culture phenomena remained as it did in our version of history, if what they’re saying is true. Again, this doesn’t get super relevant until later comics where we see just how far advanced the technological level in QC has become.

Ellen drops by the Coffee Shop for some advice:

Faye’s gotten a LOT more open recently. Back near the beginning of this comic she would never, never openly admit to giving into any kind of carnal need, and now here she is candidly talking about private shower times.

And while they’re discussing things at the Coffee Shop, Marten and Steve are having their own conversation back at the apartment:

Now here I need to put in my two cents. The characters make a point of saying how they don’t really think the age difference is that big of a deal. Were she legal, which she will be in less than a week, there’s no real problem with an 18 year old dating a 24 year old. I know this is entirely a matter of personal opinion and I fully expect people to disagree with me here. I also suspect this is going to make me sound like a prude, but... yeah, I think there is a problem, there.

Ellen’s a freshman in College. She’s JUST turning 18. While she’s shown to be intelligent enough to get into college early - and good on her for that - she lacks the emotional intelligence or maturity to really strike out into a relationship with someone six years her senior. And Steve, for his part, is too old to get anything out of a relationship with someone so much younger than he is. There’s no real connection there, the difference in emotional maturity is going to make itself evident before too long and the relationship is more prone to self-destruct.

Like I said, feel free to disagree with me there. If you feel like there’s room for a relationship in such an age gap, let me know. I wouldn’t mind starting a conversation or changing my mind, but that’s where my mindset is there - it just wouldn’t work out.

Remember that last line Dora said. It’s going to get much funnier later, to the point where part of me wonders if that was deliberate foreshadowing on Jeph’s part.

And here we welcome Ellen’s roommate, Natasha. My oh my, characters are building up, ain’t they? Just give it time, guys. It gets so, so much worse.

(Also am I the only one stuck on that first panel? Just... I know they already made the joke about her dual-major but there’s something so surreal to that I kind of can’t escape it)

And now, to round out our batch of 50:

Wow. It seems like Dora’s a touch more insecure than she lets on, huh? She seems so cool and in-control of herself that moments like this where it’s surprisingly easy of her to accept that she may have weirded the object of her affections out are much more blatant.

Now that we’ve reached the end of the batch, let’s do our usual beginning and end comparisons:

Like I said before, Jeph has clearly put more detail into the faces. He’s taking steps in the direction of “realistic cartoon” if that makes sense, further details in the wrinkles of their clothes, their bodies looking more defined, that sort of thing. I can’t really decide if I like this newer style better than the older one, but it’s no question that the newer style is a technical improvement. Nice work!

So what’d I think of this batch? Eh... plot happened, I suppose, but it feels like not much ended up happening. I dunno, for my money this felt a lot slower than the last batch... but then again, last batch had Amanda drop by for a visit, so that may have something to do with it. Either way, we have outright confirmation if we didn’t think so before that Dora is super into Marten, but it’s also made clear she’s not going to step in between the dance he and Faye are partaking in right now. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is entirely up to personal opinion, I suppose. I dunno, I feel like having Dora as a potential wild card offered the possibility for drama to shake up the dynamic going on, and without her I fear the dynamic may stagnate.

I mean, I know exactly how the dynamic’s going to go because I’ve read it, but you get the point I’m trying to make here.

Anyhow, you know what time it is now - data analysis time! In this batch of 50, we have...

Marten: 34/50 – 68%

Faye: 29/50 – 58%

Dora: 24/50 – 48%

Ellen: 15/50 – 30%

Steve: 12/50 – 24%

Pintsize: 11/50 – 22%

Natasha: 2/50 – 4%

Miéville: 2/50 – 4%

 Grand Total:

Marten: 200/250 – 80%

Faye: 192/250 – 76.8%

Dora: 75/250 – 30%

Pintsize: 61/250 – 24.4%

Steve: 34/250 – 13.6%

Ellen: 18/250 – 7.2%

Amanda: 12/250 – 4.8%

Sara: 7/250 – 2.8%

Jimbo: 5/250 – 2%

Turing: 4/250 – 1.6%

Raven: 3/250 – 1.2%

Miéville: 3/250 – 1.2%

Scott: 2/250 – 0.8%

Natasha: 2/250 – 0.8%

Ell: 1/250 – 0.4%

Personally, I won’t be satisfied until Jimbo overtakes Sara in his number of appearances. You can do it, Jimbo! I BELIEVE IN YOU!

...erm, in any case, tune in next week for the thrilling next installment of QC! You ready for more backstory on our main characters? I know I am! See you then.