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therummesoccupied · 6 months ago

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IDW'S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, ISSUE #70 - THOUGHTS

Keeping with standard Review!Tay tradition, I'm very late to the party again, but at least this time the new issue doesn't come out tomorrow, so I'll take the wins where I can get 'em.

You've likely heard by now, but this issue was really, really good. Like, I'm not sure I even could find anything to complain about, even if I'd wanted to. Every single aspect is thoroughly on point. The closest thing I could even fathom to complaint is that I don't really care for Sonic Riders, so this arc had to kind of win me over, but even that was accomplished early in the previous issue.

And just like last issue, the first thing that really had me in this one's corner was the art. I've already spoken at length about how much I adore Min Ho Kim's and Aaron Hammerstrom's pencils, and with the phenomenal showing from Kim in Issue #69 (nice), Hammerstrom has absolutely followed up.

Keeping true to his Uekawa-inspired style, his art manages to drive the intensity and motion of the high-speed scenes, while also utilizing strong character design elements and posing to really sell certain panels. He even gives us some real Henshin shit out of Sonic here.

The writing also continues to entirely slam in this issue. I think I remember Evan Stanley once talking about her reputation for writing fluffy, low-stakes, side stories, and seeking to show how well she can handle action and drama, and I'm really glad to say she totally pulls it off here. The action never feels dull or slow, and the characters all feel active and driven.

Speaking of the characters, this issue might have the strongest character writing in the entire comic, hands-down. It's been said by other IDW Sonic aficionados before, but every single character gets something to do here - something that matters to that character specifically.

We get Sonic as the Phantom Rider, which I absolutely love. I said last time that I like Sonic occasionally displaying some roguish behavior, letting the noble, heroic persona down for a bit and being the daredevil showoff the series sells him as. He spends the entire issue daring the authorities in charge of the race to do something about him, and doing everything in his power to piss Jet off. Sneering in the face of power and taunting his opponents until they're red in the face is what Sonic does!

And it's not even like he's being a total asshole here.

Like, people get to be in danger, and he still helps, but like. Even then he tries to hide that he's doing it. It's Good! This is peak Sonic!

Surge gets some interesting stuff here, chasing off the Phantom Rider and being met with unexpected praise and applause. This is a really neat angle to play for her, because she was kind of built to crave Hero Worship by Starline, and she is the way she is partly because, when she was working under Starline, every single thing she did was met exclusively with negative reinforcement - a reflection of Starline's time spent working under Eggman. It's kind of neat that Eggman's treatment of Starline continues causing him problems long after Starline's death like this.

Then there's Jet:

And Jet gets to be all pouty because, not only did the Phantom Rider steal his spotlight during the race, but now Surge is stealing the spotlight after the fact, despite the fact that he won! This seems to be setting up a budding rivalry between Surge and Jet, which was a story beat I had never considered. I'd always wanted to see what Surge would do confronted with another one of Sonic's rivals like Knuckles or Shadow, but seeing it happen with Jet, somebody with an ego to match her own, is really cool. Also they're both green. They're the only two Sonic "rivals" outside of Metal Sonic that haven't experienced some form of heel-face turn, and remain pretty explicitly bad, or at best neutral, guys. And they're greeeeeen.

Our big bad, Clutch, treats the whole thing with relative unease, but I like how calmly he approaches it. Once more, he plays this manipulative businessman villain archetype really well, keeping his cards close to his chest until he knows what he's dealing with. He also sends Mimic after the Phantom Rider, which has some really cool implications.

It's entirely possible that Mimic and Sonic are on their way toward some form of confrontation, which I said last time would be a really neat dynamic to explore since they've never really met, and neither is the kind of opponent the other typically deals with. But more than that, with Mimic being under specific orders to quietly unmask Sonic, I could see things playing out so that they learn of one anothers' identities, with neither being able to blow the other's cover for risk of blowing their own.

I could even see this breaking really bad for Sonic if he even tries to expose Duo as Mimic, as Silver tried to do that once before and was not only seemingly proven wrong, but also had the trust the other Diamond Cutters had in him entirely shattered, while their trust in Duo was only strengthened. Sonic is already putting a lot of good will on the line with his Phantom Rider antics, if he ends up falling for the same game as Silver, it's possible he could not only ruin the faith the Diamond Cutters or the Restoration have in him, but in the image he has with the world at large.

Not that I'm entirely certain he'd care, mind you. Sonic has already shown in stuff like SA2 or Black Knight that he doesn't really care if he's in trouble with authority or if not everyone sees him as a hero. He just does what he thinks is right and that's good enough for him. So who knows?

The Diamond Cutters are a little less present in this issue, mostly trying to bring down the Phantom Rider, but there is one subtle little bit of storytelling I really like here.

Lanolin, attempting to corner the Phantom Rider, knocks him into one of the course's glass tunnels, which shatters with the added weight of Clean Sweep's security crew, putting the racers inside at risk. The expression on her face and the small "no..." seem to reflect a bit of horror at realizing that her actions have directly put people in danger. A lot of folks have been hoping for Lanolin to face some kind of reckoning over her decisions as a leader, and while I really like Lanolin as a character, I think it would be interesting for this, and the eventual reveal of Duo, to really shake her faith in her skills and make her reevaluate her approach.

In addition to the Diamond Cutters themselves, we get a real quick bit with Jewel here:

Ever since Sonic and co. were disqualified from the tournament, Jewel has been trying to reach out to them to check in, but Duo, who appears to still be acting as her assistant - yikes - tells her over and over that he's tried every means of communication (which is, of course, a lie), and that he's had no luck getting in touch.

And here, we see our first little bit of someone within the Restoration having their doubts about Duo. I don't know what tipped her off - she seemed just as invested in him as anyone after the incident with Silver - but it's clear she doesn't buy everything he's saying here. She knows something's up. The question is: What will she do about it? What can she do? As Clutch pointed out last issue, she's got a lot of eyes on her. She's not an action-hero like Sonic or the Diamond Cutters. She's an organizer. But in this respect, she works as a perfect heroic foil to Clutch, who does not boast any special abilities of his own, just a diligent mind and a willingness to follow carefully laid plains with a subtle demeanor.

Lastly, we get a bit of Amy and Tails sneaking around the Restoration shuttle.

While Tails gets some nice bits here - namely a neat little nod to Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog with his dumpster diving - Amy is really the one with the best display here.

Amy has spent so much of IDW, and really a lot of recent Sonic media, being the collected one. The beacon of normalcy in a rag-tag group of child prodigies and daredevil speedsters. While she fills this role well, it also leaves her somewhat meandering for things to do in terms of character dynamics. There was a time when Amy had a hot-headed attitude to rival Sonic and Knuckles. She was a bit reactionary, and it gave her some neat character quirks.

There's a balance to be struck between these two extremes, but I think we're finally nailing it down with this arc. With Amy knowing her way around the shuttle after her time spent there during the Metal Virus, but then excitedly dragging Tails along, grimacing at his ruffling through the trash, shrieking with terror as a weird robot hand grabs onto her face, and barking in anger as she realizes whose hand it was, I get the sense that we have the real Amy here again!

Yeah, she's still "the normal one" (kinda, they've been playing up her ridiculous strength again lately as well), but she also has the spark that made her chase after Sonic on his adventures in the first place. I really like her here!

So, once again, this arc (Extreme Competition, as its been named in the TPBs) leaves me thoroughly impressed in way that I did not expect from a Sonic Riders-centric arc. This is some of the most on-brand Sonic writing with some of the most accurate art I've ever seen. It seems to me that, after all this time of IDW being good but not quite hitting the mark for a lot of fans, the series is finally hitting its stride. I remain excited to see what comes next, and hopeful that there's still lots, lots more to come after this arc wraps up.

One other thing to mention: It was revealed in the Fan Letters section at the end of the issue that there is currently an IDW Sonic crossover in the works:

Now, speculation has been rampant about what this crossover could be - TMNT, Transformers, MLP, even DBZ with the recently-announced TMNT/Naruto crossover setting a precedent for anime/manga crossovers - but I'm throwing my hopes and dreams behind what appears to be the popular theory: Godzilla.

It makes sense. Godzilla and Sonic are both properties IDW currently has the comics rights to, both owned by Japanese companies. Godzilla fits the notion of a "BIG threat" to Sonic and co., both in terms of size as well as the implication that the figure crossing over will serve some form of antagonistic role. Godzilla even works relatively well within a Sonic storyline, and Sonic is no stranger to kaiju fights. It'd be very easy to do a story about Eggman trying to awaken/control some kind of ancient, powerful creature, only to reveal that said creature is Godzilla, over whom Eggman swiftly loses control, and Sonic and friends have to find a way to stop his rampage and return him to his proper place.

Honestly, they could make it a canon story if they wanted to. Hell they should make it a canon story! I love Godzilla!! Make him canon to Sonic!!! FOR ME SPECIFICALLY.

Time will tell what the big crossover is, and where the comic will go next, and I'll be sure to be fashionably late with my review.

Till then, thanks for reading!

#sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic #idw sonic #comics #video games #extreme competition #clean sweepstakes #issue 70 #sonic 70 #idw sonic 70 #godzilla #crossover #magic cordless drill

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minerwarfare-suzuya · 8 months ago

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A Scam and A Spiteful Client?

Mobox87 is a scam. Why do I say this? Well if we go back to previous posts talking about Mobox87's prices on her OCs and her Patreon subscription. We can recap some stuff that has been nearly lost when this blog almost got taken down from false reports made.

Now before further discussion. I do wanna state that these are old posts I'm linking. Some of these are likely dated and might not hold up well since Mobox87 likely changed her prices as time went by, which I'll be going over those changes.

Anyways let's bring up-

OC adoption price scam:

I have to say during the time that has passed. Mobox87 has made a better approach in selling off her OCs with prices now and I think this was something she took a good understanding out of the criticism thrown at her.

But of course, I still think the biggest gripe is the characters being sold in designs that look alike... Though that's not my only issue about these OC adoption sales.

My biggest issue has to be OCs being sold twice and I've been catching on to that with Miles buying OCs. I think it should be stated that once you buy that OC you should get the character completely and not have to be sold just one variant. Every version of that character design should be sold to you.

Except one thing I want to clarify is that Mobox87 didn't charge Miles $200. Miles offered her that amount and begged for the OC to be sold to him.

Honestly, Mobox87 should've already given him the character design prior to the first purchase of Oliv but no she took the cash because "She really loves money" (Who doesn't? Lol).

Other than that I think the biggest elephant in the room is still Mi-

Her Patreon subscription overpriced:

Okay, this obviously remains unchanged and I think it'll remain like that. Her Patreon is basically dead and it is currently left with an unfinished comic. Plus, you can just subscribe or donate to her Kofi for $5 and that's a far more affordable option that offers more considering Mobox87's activity on Kofi.

Either way, making only 1 subscription tier $70 for access to a patreon that has very little posts and an unfinished comic isn't worth it. You would totally need a lot more locked posts or content shared to want to pay that amount.

So-

We've talked about the issues with Mobox87 being a scam and we kinda do see that there's been some changes regardless of how Miles spends his money carelessly. Despite one thing-

The Spiteful Client

Yeah, I shadow dropped a post on Miles and made it private for awhile for a certain reason until now. I just think it's time to be full on more open to the fact that no one really accepts Miles'apology at all. I don't need to fake the funk with anyone and it's better to be honest about it.

Miles has not changed at all and has gone out of his way to bully people in private through direct messages.

To put matters even worse. Apparently he has resorted to now buying Mobox87's OCs to spite others from buying them. He has not done this one person but with two people which ironically Mobox87 knows about this and has taken Miles side.

It's no darn secret that Mobox87 would keep supporting Miles'bad behavior because his money is what gets her to hustle online.

So, there's NO POINT in announcing on the Affinity blog that you're selling OCs when it's basically being treated as a bid and that you let Miles still get the upper hand in buying your whole stocks.

There's no fucken sale going on at all! It's clear that your only buyer is going to be Miles and I think it's better off that you're honest about it.

Anyways, I think until then. This will be the second to last time I'll mention Mobox87 in drama since I do wanna talk about her in a more important post because there are some things that thegoldfiles (Moboxcritique) blog doesn't really talk about.

Until then I'll catch y'all later on talking about Arion since there're far more important things to talk about.

#mobox87 #miles jeffery #rant

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justinspoliticalcorner · 8 months ago

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Rachel Leingang at The Guardian:

The posts are ominous. “Pick a side, or YOU are next,” wrote conservative talkshow host Dan Bongino on the Truth Social media platform in the aftermath of former president Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions. The replies were even more so. “Dan, seriously now,” one user wrote in response to Bongino. “I see no way out of all this mess without bloodshed. When you can rig an election, then weaponize the government and the courts against a former President, what other alternative is there? I’m almost 70 and would rather die than live in tyranny.”

That’s a common version of how many people on the US right reacted to the Trump verdict, drawing on a “mirror world” where Trump is seen as the selfless martyr to powerful state forces and Joe Biden is the dangerous autocrat wielding the justice system as his own personal plaything and a threat to American democracy. Calls for revenge, retribution and violence littered the rightwing internet as soon as Trump’s guilty verdict came down, all predicated on the idea that the trial had been a sham designed to interfere with the 2024 election. Some posted online explicitly saying it was time for hangings, executions and civil wars. In this case, Trump was charged with falsifying documents related to a hush-money payment made to an adult film actor to keep an alleged affair out of the spotlight during the 2016 election – a form of election interference from a man whose platform lately consists largely of blaming others for election interference. The verdict has been followed by a backlash from his followers, those who for years chanted to lock up Trump’s political opponents, like Hillary Clinton.

On the left, the mood was downright celebratory, a brief interlude of joy that Trump might finally be held accountable for his actions. But there was an undercurrent of worry among some liberals, who saw the way these felonies could galvanize support for the former president. On the right, in the alternate reality created by and for Trump and his supporters, the convictions are a sign of both doom and dogma – evidence that a corrupt faction runs the Joe Biden government, but that it can be driven out by the Trump faithful like themselves. Trump’s allies in Congress want to use the federal government’s coffers to send a message to Biden that the verdict crosses a line, saying the jury’s decision “turned our judicial system into a political cudgel”. Some Senate Republicans vowed not to cooperate with Democratic priorities or nominees – effectively politicizing the government as recompense for what they claim is a politicization of the courts.

They echoed a claim Trump himself has repeatedly driven home to his followers: that his political opponents, namely Biden, are a threat to democracy, a rebrand of how Biden and Democrats often cast Trump. For his most ardent followers, the stakes of the 2024 election are existential, the idea that he might lose a cause for intense rhetoric and threats. And, for some, the convictions provide another reason to take matters into their own hands during a time when support for using violence to achieve political goals is on the rise. Indictments against Trump fueled this support, surveys have shown. Some rightwing media and commentators, like Bongino and the Gateway Pundit, displayed upside-down flags on social media, a sign of distress and a symbol among Trump supporters that recently made the news because one flew at US supreme court justice Samuel Alito’s home after the insurrection.

The terms “banana republic” and “kangaroo court” flew around, as did memes comparing Biden to Nazi or fascist leaders. Telegram channels lit up with posts about how the end of America was solidified – unless Trump wins again in November.

“If we jail Trump, get rid of Maga, end the electoral college, ban voter ID, censor free speech, we’ll save democracy,” says one meme in a QAnon channel on Telegram that depicts Biden in a Nazi uniform with a Hitler mustache. Tucker Carlson, the rightwing media heavyweight, waxed apocalyptic: “Import the third world, become the third world. That’s what we just saw. This won’t stop Trump. He’ll win the election if he’s not killed first. But it does mark the end of the fairest justice system in the world. Anyone who defends this verdict is a danger to you and your family.” The former president’s supporters also opened their wallets, sending a “record-shattering” $34.8m in small-dollar donations to Trump’s campaign on Thursday, the Trump campaign claimed. The massive haul came after Trump declared himself a “political prisoner” (he is not in prison) and declared justice “dead” in the US in a dire fundraising pitch. “Their sick & twisted goal is simple: Pervert the justice system against me so much, that proud supporters like YOU will SPIT when you hear my name,” Trump’s campaign wrote. “BUT THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN! NOW IT’S TIME FOR ME & YOU TO SHOVE IT BACK IN THEIR CORRUPT FACES!”

Right-wing MAGA nuts reacting as you expect to Donald Trump’s conviction: anger and fear that he is finally being held accountable.

#Donald Trump #Joe Biden #People of New York v. Trump #Right Wing Extremism #Right Wing Violence #Dan Bongino #Tucker Carlson #2024 Presidential Election #2024 Elections #Catturd #Phillip Buchanan

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famiconblogs · 1 year ago

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The Heta-Uma Appeal

Garo 1982 September Issue with cover art by Yumura Teruhiko

Heta-uma. 'Heta' as in 'bad', 'umai' as in 'good'. Not officially recognised as an art movement, the wave of manga/art/illustrations that kicked off in the 70s were seen as being "so bad it's good". There are a number of different ways to describe heta-uma, with terms like "unskilled" and "ugly" being used to categorise the rough look of the art. Check out this highly detailed and informative article from Sabukaru for more on its history!

If you're wondering who pioneered the craze and led the charge, look no further than three artists deemed to be the most influential and notable: Yumura Teruhiko, Ebisu Yoshikazu and Takashi Nemoto. Garo was a platform that allowed these artists to spread the name and fame of their crude and raw drawings, often featuring gritty and vulgar subject matter. Heta-uma is a style that rejects the norm and pushes outside the box for new ways of expression, going against standards to evoke new reactions in readers. It aims to leave you laughing, gagging in disgust and everything in between with its sheer variety of storytelling. You can find gag manga, comedic shorts and satire. You can find political and social commentary veiled underneath raw and seemingly shallow drawings. It's a style that I honestly took me awhile to get into, but my appreciation slowly began to accelerate as I dived into alternative manga, especially mangaka like Ebisu.

Ebisu Yoshikazu: First Exposure

My very first read from Ebisu was a book titled "I Wish I Was Stupid" (Watashi wa Baka ni Naritai), now being released in English by Breakdown Press, an extremely exciting occasion for alternative manga fans. As far as I know, there are few heta-uma mangaka with an official English book, one being Hanakuma Yuusaku with his "Tokyo Zombie" published by Last Gasp in 2008. Takashi Nemoto also had his "Monster Men: Bureiko Lullaby" published in English by Picture Box in 2008. At the moment, Ebisu's "The Pits of Hell" by Breakdown Press is also being reprinted, so I'd hope that demand is high enough for more heta-uma exposure to the English market. There are also alternative manga anthologies like "Ax (Vol 1): A Collection of Alternative Manga", "Sake Jock", and "Comics Underground Japan" that feature heta-uma mangaka and artists like Suzy Amakane and Carol Shimoda amongst others.

But back to Ebisu. I was again exposed to his works via a haul video by Shawn from Japan Book Hunter, and the cover of the manga was enough to get me interested. The book is raw, disgusting, incredibly vulgar and in-your-face with its crazy drawings on confronting subject matter. It blends dark humour with satire on Japanese society extremely well, all supported by rudimentary character designs of salarymen, housewives and naïve children. I loved the weirdly random and surreal settings that feature UFOs flying in the sky, coupled with the desolate backgrounds that emphasise the other-worldliness of Ebisu's work. Its content is extreme, and it left such a lasting impression on me that I had to explore further into the world of heta-uma. I picked up "The Pits of Hell" after that, and am definitely planning to get more Ebisu books in the future.

AX Magazine: A Bigger Picture

Assorted AX issues featuring heta-uma artists Takashi Nemoto, Goto Yuka, Shiriagari Kotobuki, Family Restaurant and Hori Michihiro

After discovering Ebisu, I had bought myself a whole stack of AX issues, opening up a whole new world of more contemporary heta-uma. This is where I became addicted to artists like Goto Yuka, Shiriagari Kotobuki and Family Restaurant, all centred on more a more comedic/gag style of manga. I still have a long way to go in terms of reading up on all the wonderful heta-uma out there, so I would say I'm still only on the first couple of steps in. One of my favourite heta-uma works that I'm still reading at the moment is Goto's "Justice Corps" (Seigitai), a gag manga following a group of vigilantes fighting to protect the city from monsters and villains. It's a pretty simple premise, but the slapstick humour combined with very rudimentary drawings gives off a nostalgic kids-show vibe. Addicting, straightforward and fun.

Justice Corps vol 1 by Goto Yuka

Shiriagari's "Jacaranda" is another amazing story that follows the violent and chaotic destruction of a city and its subsequent rebirth. The manga begins with a woman on a train brutally beating an old man for accidentally leaning on her shoulder as he struggles to stay awake. Nobody tries to do anything to help, a common critique of passivity in Japanese society that you can find in lots of other manga. Over the course of the story, the city is ravaged by a giant Jacaranda tree that sprouts and destroys the entire landscape, massacring the people around it as buildings topple and fires burn. The art is intense and the civilian deaths are brutally depicted through most of the book. Though, the end result is that of a blooming Jacaranda tree that towers over the city, hailed and prayed to by the survivors. There is little dialogue with most of the sound dominated by screams and onomatopoeia, but Shiriagari's raw and rough art style very much lends to a violent story like this. You can interpret the narrative in many ways, with one observing the first event of the woman's violence on the train as a karmic catalyst to the Jacaranda sprouting. This book is a good example of how the heta-uma style can also lean towards quite sincere and more serious works, a great display of versatility.

Jacaranda by Shiragari Kotobuki

Although, I must say that not every heta-uma work I've read is a favourite for me. "Jacaranda" is, in my opinion, an amazingly raw and hard-hitting work, but Shiragari's "Twin Adults" (Futago no Oyaji) series is very much a hit or miss. You can find individual chapters throughout many of AX's early issues, and there are also tankobons that collect all the stories into one book. The series features two twins arguing and playing, both up to whatever antics they may be up to, but not many of them land for me personally. On a different topic, Takashi Nemoto's subject matter is also a bit too raunchy for my tastes. I appreciate his art style as a whole and actually really love some of art that don't feature extremely explicit imagery, but the usual abundance of the dirty stuff isn't for me.

Left: Takashi Nemoto page from Garo 1983 April / Right: "Futago no Oyaji" from AX vol 8

The King Terry Obsession: Present Time

Various 1983 Garo issues featuring cover art by Yumura Teruhiko

Yumura Teruhiko. King Terry. Terry Johnson. Flamingo Terry. My current artist obsession. The artist is a man of many names. King Terry is attributed as the founder and pioneer of the heta-uma movement from the 70s and onwards with his "artfully artless" illustrations, a quote from Ryan Holmberg which I find is an extremely fitting description. You can find his article below!

King Terry mainly drew illustrations and has only put out one manga in his career, "Penguin Rice", where he drew the art for a story written by Itoi Shigesato for Garo in 1976. I haven't found a copy of it yet, but my eyes are always on the lookout for it. But for now, I'm satisfied with the various Garo issues he'd illustrated covers for, all of them addicting to look at. Yumura had illustrated all the covers for Garo's 1977 issues, reappearing and staying as the physical face of the magazine from 1982-87. He's an artist that has grown on me over time, and I can't give a clear reason why, but it's very much tied in with my love for alternative manga.

And that's pretty much my experience with the wonderful world of heta-uma. To conclude, I want to have one last section about an event that I feel was an extremely important one for heta-uma and alternative manga fans outside of Japan.

Heta-Uma Mangaro: Le Dernier Cri Exhibition

Le Dernier Cri, a French publishing house headed by Pakito Bolino, is your one-stop destination for underground and alternative art that thrives outside of the mainstream. They sell high quality silkscreen prints, books and posters from many Japanese artists and mangaka, many of whom I've talked about before. In 2014, Bolino and Taco Che owner Ayumi Nakayama curated an extensive collection of works from Japanese artists in the double exhibition "Heta-uma Mangaro", a gallery of 40 years of Garo and heta-uma history. There was a catalogue book released for the event that is long OOP, but I'm still patiently waiting for one to pop up sometime soon. But having such a large event specifically for alternative manga and heta-uma is an amazing feat that I hope will inspire bigger and more frequent exhibitions like these. Thanks for reading!

#manga #hetauma #alternativemanga #manga recommendation #art review #manga art #manga panel #japanese culture #japanese history #contemporaryart

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ellies-cycling-notes · 1 year ago

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Day 17: Findley State Park to Van Buren State Park

Distance Covered: 81.27 miles

Total Time (including rests): 7:10 (8:03am-3:13pm)

Time spent riding: 6:22

Average Speed: 12.8 mph

Apples Eaten: 4 (fuji - 7/10, fuji - 6/10, fuji - 7/10, fuji - 5/10)

Today's ride was another boring, yet alright, one. It was basically 80 miles straight West from one State Park to another, only going North or South to switch to less busy roads. The entire ride was on various state roads and side roads, most of which had rather good pavement. I made rather good time for a few reasons. There was the good pavement as mentioned, and then also I had a tailwind for most of the ride, and thirdly, this ride was really flat. I barely had to switch gears at all, and when I did, it was more likely to be because of a sudden change in wind making the ride too hard or too easy, rather than because of going up or down a hill. The weather was also really nice, barely getting above 70 Fahrenheit, and oftentimes cloudy for miles on end.

I stopped twice on the ride, once about half-way through, and once only 10 miles from my campsite. I wanted to not take that second stop at all, but I was getting really hungry and didn't want to hold off on lunch.

Today's ride's main focus was on conserving the battery on my phone. One of my power banks is dead, and I think I might have to use my laptop as a power bank to get my phone fully charged for tomorrow. Because of that, I took various measures on the ride to extend my phone's power. For one, the fewer number of stops meant I spent less time just sitting looking at my phone (of course, that didn't really matter in the end because it meant I arrived at my campsite earlier, and this would have more time reading stuff on my phone). I also kept my phone's brightness as low as I could, and even turned off my maps whenever I was about to be on a straightaway for several miles, only turning it back on again when I believed myself to be close to the next turn.

I saw a few interesting birds on today's ride. In addition to the normal ones, I also saw a peacock on a front porch, a vulture by a field, a bird I think was a hummingbird (it was moving too quickly for me to be sure), and what I think was pheasants in a yard. Apart from those, today's ride didn't really have anything that stood out, which is kinda what I expected, biking across rural Ohio.

Design Notes

Today's notes are probably going to be short (I don't actually know, I have a few key points that I wrote down during the ride, but most of the substance has yet to be written).

I've been thinking about character stats/ability scores. This train of thought comes from 2 places.

1) Yesterday's ruminations on Procedural Generation got me thinking about Characters, Inc. again, in which each character has 6 (maybe 5, I can't remember) stats that affect how well they do in a dungeon. I'll go more into detail later in this section, because I spent a lot of time specifically thinking about Characters, Inc.

2) I've been reading LitRPGs, which are a fantasy sub-genre where the fantasy world has game-like elements, often including ability scores.

Ability Scores

I understand the necessity of ability scores in games in order to simplify complex systems of the world, but there's always something about them that feels awkward. There's always too much overlap between certain abilities, or cases where it doesn't make much sense for you to automatically become better at multiple unrelated things. For example, bench pressing should increase your Strength, but in most games that would also increase your leg power, even though they're different muscles. With that being said, I do enjoy the use of ability scores as measures of characters that aren't directly controlled by players, because then those abilities end up being used in more broad stroke ways, and so it makes more sense. For example, if you have a character with high dexterity, you can't guarantee that they'll succeed at a certain parkour move, but if you give them an entire parkour course, they'll probably complete it more quickly than someone with a lower dexterity score. That brings me to my discussion of Characters, inc.

In Characters Inc, you the player send a party of characters out on a quest, and only receive the results of said quest. As such, this is the perfect place to make use of ability scores, as they can be used to broadly define a character's strengths. Here are the ability scores as I remember them in Characters, Inc. I will describe the ability and what it used to do, if I can remember, as well as what I would have them do if I was to remake the game.

Strength (STR) - Every quest in Characters, Inc has a hidden power level the party has to beat in order to complete the quest. STR contributes directly to meeting that power level. In addition, when distributing damage amongst the party, characters with more STR will have been targeted more by enemies, and so will receive a larger portion of the damage.

Agility (AGI) - I don't remember what this does in the original version of the game. If I was to remake it, it would have 2 main effects: it would influence how long it takes for a party to complete a quest, and it would act as a buffer relative to one's STR such that they are targeted less if they have high AGI.

Endurance (END) - Endurance directly impacts how much health a character has.

Toughness or Defense (TOU) - After getting assigned damage, TOU reduces the amount of damage that a character takes. If I remake the game, it might also increase the amount that the chosen character is targeted, because otherwise a high TOU character is useless without high STR.

Magic (MAG) - Similar to STR, this directly contributes to the power level of the quest. It also increases the chance the character is targeted, but at a much lower rate than STR. Thus, it pairs well with characters that have lower END or TOU.

Luck (LUCK) - Increase the rewards characters receive from the quest. Every quest has guaranteed rewards, but this stat increases the chance for additional gold and/or item rewards. In the original version, each character's luck was used independently to figure out additional gold and items, such that you could get at most +1 item per character. If I was to remake it, I'd probably have it that the character with the highest luck is taken as a base, and each other character's luck is added on to that, but not to the full amount.

That's all. There's no pics today, as the ride was rather bland and boring. Tomorrow I'm headed straight North to Ann Arbor. I hope the wind will've calmed down a bit by then, because I'd rather not ride 80+ miles with a headwind.

Previous -- Next

#blogpost

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spinningbuster98 · 2 years ago

Video

youtube

Mega Man X7 Part 2

Warning: Viewer’s auditory discretion is advised

So X7′s level design is bad, but mostly due to the controls and camera.

On their own most levels are bland, uninteresting and forgettable. Like there’s nothing I can comment on with Soldier Stonekong and Tornado Tonion’s stages other than the former’s has this nasty issue where oftentimes the midair dash just refuses to work over certain cliffs for some baffling reason, forcing me to hover with Axl to be sure.

Splash Warfly is long as shit and you can really start to spot how much the camera angle sucks here: it barely allows you to view what’s in front of you! That first miniboss is so awkward because it constantly goes off screen while the camera is stuck right on your ass!

There are occasions where you are allowed to move the camera, like with boss fights such as Tornado Tonion, but in this case the camera will ALSO keep track of the boss despite you wishes, and you can ONLY move it left or right, not up and down meaning you’ll be stuck with that shitty angle no matter what.

Flame Hyenard’s second half is a great example of this: you can’t see more than 3 feet in front of you in a level that constantly bombards you with enemies flying from offscreen, that can knock you in the insta kill lava that is still insta kill even if you have I frames because now is a good time to call back to Mega Man 1 I guess? Add the clunky controls and this just gets worse

And yeah Flame Hyenard.

If you know what you’re doing you can handle him easily enough, plus every time you hit him with his weakness he stops talking for a bit.

But if you DON’T have his weakness or just don’t know that the real one is on top of that giant robot goat thing and waste your time with his copies?

The memes are no exaggeration

youtube

As for each character’s gameplay style:

Axl has the barest essentials of the X gameplay formula, plus a hover but minus a charge shot.

The lack of a charge shot is the reason why I recommend you turn on rapid fire in the options because otherwise this game will quickly transform into DMC2′s cousin, forcing you to button mash non-stop throughout the levels. But with the rapid fire you can just hold down a button and things will die quickly with minimal effort. It ain’t fun but you’ll have to make do

Axl’s main selling point is supposed to be his ability to turn into certain enemies:

1) You have to kill an enemy with his Copy Shot which takes an eternity and a half to do the job, you CAN soften up enemies with normal attacks but sicne they have no visible healthbar you’ll have to count your shots so that you don’t accidentally kill them

2) There are only like 5 enemies in the whole game that can be copied

3) Their movesets are extremely limited and clunky, really only needed for 1 or 2 optional items

4) You can’t turn back until your weapon energy depletes on its own (or at least I’ve never found a way to do it)

So yeah I think I’ll be using it a grand total of once

The funny thing is that this ability was likely inspired by Mega Man’s original conceptual idea of being able to copy Robot Masters instead of stealing their weapons, and idea that will once again be proposed in some form in Mega Man ZX to better results

And as for Zero...

talk about a fate worse than death

His combos are slow, clunky, have no elegance, do less damage than previously, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid getting hit as you’re comboing.

Zero is absolute shit, aside from his double jump and SOME of his special moves being useful against some bosses (as you see here), but other than that no: he barely feels playtested, I swear he’s near unplayable in 3D

As for X...well you have to unlock him first! Yep! In a MEGA MAN X game!

And there’s a reason for that (though not a good one as you’ll see).

You unlock him by either completing the 8 stages or by saving about 70 Reploids, which results in its own series of problems as you’ll see

#youtube #mega man #mega man x7 #my gameplay #tw: flame hyenard

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the-firebird69 · 15 days ago

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Dad Builds Audi for Daughter, Earns Invitation to Audi Headquarters #ndw...

youtube

So he said I wonder if you could get one of those BMW supercar small ones make one out of wood switch it out and drive downtown and back with the license plate I said well that's an intense idea you have to use regular Wheels but yeah so I was thinking of doing it but I didn't then he says there's different kids and I know that and this is a little big for her but she grows into it and you can make a mold and nobody's using this plastic from Saturn which is weird it's a way of saying it you're saying it later and I got it and you can make all these different moves I've made of cars and the original would be a high-end toy and the others would be the Lauren toy of the same car and I thought about it I thought that's pretty intense and the wood one would be sought by them very wealthy and the electric powered metal ones by all sorts of other people and you can kind of get away with using electric it's true he says he needs lights and stuff in a horn I get why this is going to be intense but I know he's saying is the cars are unique and you can get away with it and you can actually make real cars and it would be a new car online I got a whole bunch of them like 50 different cars and they're all different and they're not made after cars though they are with it I'd like 20 of them are new and he says well cuz you can't really use them even on a toy you can replicate them so then I said I like this idea of making the name similar and people can put the real one on and I like the idea of having my cars out there and I make a whole bunch of kit cars and several will become real ones then the other stay as a kid it's kind of a really cool idea just to use electric he says the ones that are aerodynamic and have a top on them or you can put a top on are the best and you'll see why so I figured it out it goes a lot faster and further and dog cars they're really some of them are dogs from the past into real cars and they still have them. I'm putting it together there's an outstanding idea it goes from 70 miles a charge to about 300 and using like a Ferrari type thing and it would be like a mini for real no it'll be a C1 or similar and the lady from the show once More she wants one and she's trying to say what model she says like the Bugatti toy and we say people might think it's a toy and she laughed and said oh yeah but no I like the Bugatti and it can make it as a kit car replica it just has to say it on it and they don't have an electric but this would be just as fast and s*** her eyes open and she said no but yeah it's electric boogie woogie woogie and the more powerful electrics will go very very fast and they're not designed like Tesla on the wheel no we have an ideas a lot of them are not that great but this is great I'm going to go ahead and try and put this together and there's a certain size car you can make it to a mini but they're kind of a waste these days these aren't minis and she said right now but this is going to be awesome these things are going to fly and it'll change the electric car industry and Trump doesn't seem into it now he might be but I don't think he's going to make it

We need this idea out there and like right now and it's for toy cars and go karts it is four sizes you can get gas or electric can they sell the electric motor and drive all set up already and we want to make molds of BG cars because the other cars they make are really stupid looking and they're not real cars and kids love these and he has ones that are not actual cars but they're massively cool and we might try and pay him to make them or a certain amount on each one we make if someone else makes them but using the Saturn plastic is the key if you use that it's out of use that needs to be popularized so we're going ahead and we're going to try and do it and he said that plastics perfect for kids they always break the other plastics no matter what it is and woods and metal they dent and why can't anyone think of it. There's a less expensive version second garbage can it was made in the past and it works it works better than the Saturn no but it works very well and heck you know they going to start out somewhere the colors would look like a toy color at first but they're not it would look like a cool car kind of helps make it happen and BG thought about it and said I have to do it now is making a mold no but we need to do this

He's still a stick in the mud and he's not going to do anything but there's other people it will they're not real big but they can get it going so he wants them to come forwards we don't have to use the car designs they have unless they want to but you can make a kit out of your own later with this kind of system it's it's actually true you make him just bigger and a few more I added components but what he's saying is that you would have a contest and you would have children to sign cars have children send in car designs and have a contest and they would win so much money and trips to Disney and so many cars and they would be famous these kids will be famous and also it's starting to take off a little

Thor Freya

Yeah we wouldn't be like you we want to do something and this would help get it going we want these toys we want things we can use and we want to use off-road stuff cuz if he was off-road stuff it'll work they won't let us drive around on the road. And yeah that humbug is great that would be one of the designs to do this and to get it going it's mother and father and I'm going to start putting it together they're my mom and dad paternal as well

Yeah actually child of ours that's me

it's a child of ours and it is us and we are going to get this going

Thor Freya you like his choice and actually his wife's around somewhere I wonder if he knows and he says I have a girlfriend and he's smiling and says oh and he's honored it's great his parents are around so yeah that's proper ly those are great little toys and it's going to be great

Olympus

Wow so much fun we have to get to the store you have to get this going geez not to the store

Hera

Zues

#Youtube

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exilederdrick · 1 month ago

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Path of Exile 2 – Days 19 – 24: Early Endgame

Platform: PC

Controls: X-Input Controller

Class: Titan

Level: 70

Skills:

Rolling Slam L15 with Overpower, Splinter, and Aftershock Boneshatter L14 with Execute, Impact Shockwave, and Magnified Effect

Volcanic Fissure L14 with Fire Infusion, Ignition, and Persistence

Shield Charge L14 with Stomping Ground, Second Wind, and Momentum

Armour Breaker L14 with Martial Tempo, Break Endurance, and Break Posture

Seismic Cry L14 with Premeditation, Murderous Intent, and Dazing Cry

Hammer of the Gods L14 with Brutality, Fist of War, and Fast Forward

Attrition L14

Overwhelming Presence L14 with Precision

Content: Trading, 10 Tier 1 maps, 2 Tier 2 maps, 1 map boss, 4 Expeditions

So this is still early feedback and it occurred as I finished my holidays and time with family. It also occurred during a massive flareup, so I can't ignore how that probably affected my experience.

But I can definitely see why Endgame is so controversial.

There's a term in miniature painting called “The Ugly Phase.” It usually hits after you finished with many of the fundamental steps that are important for creating a beautifully painted miniature. However, no matter how well you've been painting, and how well you've done those fundamental steps, there's a point as you start to put in the details where the miniature will start to look bad. Things like initial metallic or non-metallic metal layers, initial layers or glazes for creating shadow, fine details before they're complete, they can all just make the miniature look like it will never be good. It's not that you've messed up or that you don't know what you're doing, but even to a trained eye things look like they're not going well.

I feel like Endgame is in “The Ugly Phase.” I think there are good fundamentals here and systems that will one day be great and fun to engage with. But, especially after that dynamite campaign, right now they feel shallow and unfinished.

Since this log is going to be almost entirely “What I'm struggling with,” I do still want to make sure you know I'm having fun and I've been wanting to play more while I've laid in bed nursing a killer migraine. And even if I give up on Endgame, I want to roll another character and play through the campaign again. So you really have done great work.

But it's clear that more of that great work needs to come to Endgame.

Most of the points I want to make from my experience are things that I don't know for a fact are issues that actually need fully addressed. Additionally, I know you often take the stance that players are good at diagnosing problems, but not solutions. But there is one thing I'm sure of, that I think you should change right away, and I'm going to lead with that.

Bring Back Map Bosses

PoE2's bosses are fantastic! For three acts I greatly enjoyed exploring to find them all and overcome them. You intentionally put a boss in each area, and that added so much more to the campaign.

So why isn't there a boss in each map?

My suspicion is this was tied to the idea of having maps originally be single attempt only. I can imagine how having a difficult boss in each map might be too punishing if you brick any map when you die. But from my one death, it looks like you've rolled this system back. Now if you die, you lose your Waystone and portals, but you can attempt the map again. This should mean I can attempt a boss multiple times, as long as I have Waystones.

I think having a boss in each map will make the experience more fun, tense, enjoyable, and rewarding. I think knowing that you'll at least get boss drops for completing a map will remove some of the feels bads with traveling through empty maps.

Honestly I'm kind of surprised this isn't already a thing. If I'd designed these bosses, and then someone came to me and said, “I don't think we should have them in every map,” my first thought would be that we screwed up a system somewhere else.

Trading Feels Out of Balance With Crafting

As I progressed closer and closer to endgame, crafting became less and less effective for fixing my gear. As item levels rose and the variance in the mod pool increased, it became nearly impossible to get improvements with my Regals and Exalts.

So I get to Endgame, complete my first map, and I decide I need to fix my gear. I load up the trade site and find significantly better gear than anything I've seen, all for an Exalt a piece. Selling some Vaal Orbs got me those Exalts, and now my gear is in a much better place.

In interviews, Jonathon said he wanted us to be using Exalts on items. If you want that to happen, they need to be more rewarding. I think mods should be weighted by item level, but I know that will have knock on effects, so I'm not as sure of that as I am about bosses.

Progression Feels Slow and Directionless

One of the things I loved about the campaign was that progress always felt relatively steady. Yeah, sometimes areas felt to big, but going from zone to zone, leveling up, finding monsters, Ascending, all of that felt near perfectly paced. But that feeling is gone now.

Now I finish Cruel, I get that amazing transition, I talk to everyone, get my first new challenge and it's . . .

Beat 10 maps.

Then I clear that and I get two points on my tree . . . which aren't enough to reach any notables. And it felt like the only right answer for what to get was increasing the amount of higher tier Waystones. So I do that, and I get my next quest . . .

Beat 10 more maps.

I don't want to make too many comparisons to PoE1, as I do believe this game should be taking steps forward from there and not treading back. But the Atlas has always felt like it had a clear sense of direction with a clear and finite goals to pursue. When the Atlas Tree was introduced, the progression felt natural and steady. Beat a map under the right conditions (which you always do), get the loot, get the Atlas Tree point, use it to progress towards the content you want to do, and you get that nice visual marker on the Atlas that you've done it. Ten maps in I would usually have one or two Notables on the tree and would already be shaping the content I'm playing.

But now it's more like, “Okay, I have to clear 10 maps. Well I guess I'll get my Hideout. There's Expeditions nearby and on the way, so I guess I'll grab those. Okay, now I have my Hideout plus Gwennen, Tujen, and Rog. I've got two passives that will hopefully help me get the Waystones I need. Plus you can Reforge lower tier Waystones into higher ones, just like old maps. I guess I'll go grab Dannig, then let's try a map boss. Now to figure out what to do for the next 8 Tier 2s . . .”

I just don't feel I've made all that much progress, and what progress I've made feels like I'm still setting up to do things. I've got all 4 of our Kalguuran friends, so now I can actually start doing Expeditions for real. I've unlocked some Atlas Passives, so now I can actually get real rewards.

And speaking of rewards, maps feel notably less rewarding. In the campaign, I frequently had to go back to town to drop off loot I was interested in before completing a zone. Now I often clear maps without ever having to portal back. And that's with my rucksack full of Waystones!

This might be tied to monster density, which also feels off. I haven't had any of the fun and hectic encounters like I experienced in the campaign. Instead it feels like the pace of combat has slowed down. So I think this is another area that needs tuning.

I'll add one final little note on progression. It's a small thing, but a little touch I think would be quick and easy. As a PoE1 player, I know who the Kalguurans are. I knew that once I found Gwennen and she showed up in my Hideout, that I'd be getting the other three. But maybe you should add some dialogue to her, Tujen, and Rog about keeping an eye out for the rest of their party. That would queue in players that they might want to do three more Expeditions so they'll know what rewards they can get.

So that's my first impression. Maps feel slow, empty, and unrewarding. I want to do pinnacle content, but that usually requires being able to do higher tier maps. At 15 tiers, and 10 maps a tier, I'm not currently feeling enthusiastic.

But as I said, even if I give up on Endgame I still don't feel like I'm done. I have five more classes and 11 more Ascendancies to try. And I want to try them all! And I know your team can do this. I remember what the original mapping system was like. So I know you'll get this out of “The Ugly Phase” before Early Access ends.

#path of exile #path of exile 2 #live blogging #liveblogging #grinding gear games #live blog #liveblog

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vishnu920 · 6 months ago

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Pricing strategies for digital freelancers

In the fast world of freelancers, have you ever felt like you worked hard as a freelancer and send the invoices, and you think—did I charge too little? And did I charge too high? You are not alone. Finding the right pricing strategies for digital marketing services It’s like investing in a minefield. So it’s time to rethink your pricing strategies.

Let us understand by a case study. Sara is a graphic designer who has been working freelance for five years. Sara started freelance because she loved the freedom it offered—choosing her clients, working on her hours, and doing projects that were passionate about her. But regarding her growing portfolio and her client review, Sara worried about pricing. She works long hours and hardly makes a couple of dollars. What's wrong with her?

The problem is Sara's pricing strategy. Like many freelancers. She didn’t set a price based on her thoughts the client would be willing to pay. She is not charge the value of what she delivers; she charges hourly. Without thinking about how much time she gives to revision and with clients' communication. As a result, Sara undercharging and overworking. As like many freelancers common scenario.

Sara's story is not uqine. A survey by Payoneer found that globally, freelancers earn hourly only a couple of dollars. It depends on your location, experiences, and specialization. In a study of freelancer union, 70% of freelancers struggle to get paid that they deserve. There are many facts—lack of pricing confidence, fear of losing clients, and simply not knowing how worth their work is.

Understanding Pricing Models Don't fall, as Sara understands all types of pricing models and knows which one works for you. Hourly Rate:

Hourly rates are so common for freelancers. especially for beginners. The faster your work, the less you earn. Here you are not paid as your worth.

Project-Based Pricing:

Get paid on project-based is more profitable. It allows you to check all factors of work, including revisions, with Clint's communication and meetings. It requires clear knowledge of the project to understand the project scope.

Value-Based Pricing:

This model is based on the value of your work that you delivered to clients. Here, no matter how time it takes. A value-based model increases your earnings. But it requires strong communication and confidence in your value proposition.

Make Your Pricing Strategy

Know Your Worth:

Try to understand rates for your services in the digital market. website Like Fiverr, Upwork, and Glassdoor, proved insight into the prices of what others was charging for your services. But not go with the crowd. Consider your skills, experiences, and the unique value you provide the clients.

Test and Adjust:

Setting a price is not permanent. You can experiment and adjust the rate with different models. You start with a rate you are comfortable with and increase it when you get more experience, confidence, and more skills. Communicate with Opely with your clients about your pricing. And ready to justify the worth of your delivered work.

Build in Flexibility:

Build a flexible level of pricing and give the clients to choose what fits their project and budget. This helps you to get a wide range of clients and maximize your income.

The Importance of Confidence

At the end, confidence is the key to your success. Who you have confidence in your work is very important. like Sara, who changed her pricing model to a project-based model that reflects her work value. and eran more money and not getting stressed. She learned communication skills and openly talked to her clients.

Conclusion:

Pricing your services as a digital freelancer is both an art and science. It needs understanding to market and your worth value. Adopting the all-strategic to make your pricing strategies. Make a profitable and stress-free freelance career. Always remember your pricing is worth your work values. So set your pricing for your value and watch your career growth. Want to know more? So go with this link pricing strategy for digital marketing services.

#freelancer

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frontproofmedia · 7 months ago

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Dolo Flicks: MaXXXine Review: Ti West highlights the price for obsession with fame

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By Hector Franco

Follow @MrHector_Franco !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id))(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

Published: July 18, 2024

"Now, say it with me... I will not accept a life I do not deserve!" -- Maxine

All the films in a series or franchise are rarely considered top-of-the-line or high-quality. Director and writer Ti West continues the trend of delivering top-notch horror with the third installment of his X series, MaXXXine. The film is a direct sequel to 2022's X and follows the pseudo-prequel Pearl.

MaXXXine stars Mia Goth as the titular character, Maxine Miller. It follows her journey attempting a future as a famous actress in Hollywood in the 1980s, against the backdrop of the infamous Night Stalker serial killer murders of the time. Maxine receives an opportunity to work on an upcoming horror movie sequel, and the events of X come back to haunt her, putting her new career at risk as a mysterious leather-wearing killer watches her every step. MaXXXine also stars Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon.

In 2022, when West set on what could have been a disastrous goal of putting together a trilogy of horror films, each with its own distinct style, many were skeptical as to how they would turn out. Two years later, West has put out one of the most anticipated films of 2024 as the final film in his horror trilogy, MaXXXine.

MaXXXine, following the path of the previous entries, is a film that stands out in both style and design. X was a 70's slasher with elements of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, and Black Christmas. Pearl served as a slow-burn character study with a character descending further into madness. What X and Pearl have in common is their smaller cast, making for a more intimate experience. MaXXXine, however, strays from the formula, carving its own unique path as a crime-thriller slasher.

The opening sequence of MaXXXine displays how the film will separate itself from its predecessors. It starts with an audition, where Maxine confidently outshines her competition and then takes us on a ride through Tinseltown to her next destination. This approach is so well executed that it instantly pulls the audience into the lifestyle of the main character, the setting, and the film's visual style.

" You've made it to the belly of the beast. Congratulations, very few come this far. To stay here, you must make it your obsession. Eliminate all other distractions because if you take your eye off that prize for even a moment, the beast will spit you right back out where you came from. You may never get a taste for you again." -- Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki)

One element of West's trilogy that will be remembered is how each entry utilized the look and style of the films it mirrored. MaXXXine is a stylized slasher in the vein of some of Brian De Palma's work, such as Body Double and Dressed to Kill and Italian Giallo films of the 1970s. The cinematographer for each installment is Elliot Rocket, and MaXXXine is arguably his best work. The well of nostalgia for the 1980s has nearly run dry, but Rocket and West's technique and usage of colors bring a level of polish to MaXXXine that stands out from its contemporaries.

"I have to give Ti tons of credit because that is the kind of thing he's very focused on," Rocket told Indie Wire. "He'll push really hard to make sure that the aesthetic, the colors, the clothes people are wearing, what the hairstyles are, what the props are, what the color of the wall is painted.

“It's really just a matter of someone who's in charge, plus all of the other people who are working on it creatively having the vision in their mind to create a consistent and cohesive aesthetic in terms of all of these things that are going to be in front of the camera."

Goth has been the foundation for the trilogy's success, putting forth career-best performances. Yet, MaXXXine asks less of the famed actress than X and Pearl. In X, Goth played dual roles; in Pearl, her performance was the center of every aspect of the film. The cast allows for breathing room for the Maxine character, allowing others to shine. Kevin Bacon's Louisiana Private Eye, John Labat, is one of the film's highlights. Bacon brings a level of levity and fun to the film in-between moments of stylized violence. Along with Giancarlo Esposito's agent for the stars, Teddy Knight, MaXXXine's vibrant look bleeds over to many of its characters.

For the bloodthirsty horror fan, MaXXXine has a plethora of memorable kills. The kills are where the Giallo influence truly comes to life. In one scene, Maxine is pursued by a Buster Keaton impersonator and has the tables turned on him. Maxine pulls a gun and forces the man to strip, only to viciously stomp his testicles. This scene, like many others in the film, is a perfect example of the stylish violence that permeates MaXXXine. The colors used, along with the overly sexualized violence, infuse for an almost humorous moment that leaves audiences covering their faces in shock.

Time will only tell how West's trilogy will be viewed. However, its standing in recent horror history firmly places it as the best series of films of the decade. Each film is connected yet different enough for fans to pick any of the three as their favorite. MaXXXine, with its unique style and narrative, has left a significant mark on recent horror history. Despite a few narrative issues, specifically with how the film reaches its resolution, MaXXXine is one of the year's best horror films and certainly one of the most memorable and engaging.

4/5****

(Featured Image: A24)

#HF #Mia Goth #Ti West #Horror

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jaderimehardt · 1 year ago

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Opened my Etsy Shop!

Hello! o/ I mentioned in last night's blog post that THIS post was coming today, so here we are!

It took a while to gain the courage for me to do this, but I finally opened my Etsy shop!

With my Etsy shop open, the path is open for me to place Resin pieces in it whenever I desire to. All my products will be in one place. And like before when my shop was on RedBubble, all items in my Etsy are still using my own self-created art/graphics with no use of AI.

I use a completely outdated freebie version of Photoshop CS2 for my art. I show some of my layer work here on my Tumblr if anyone is ever curious enough to browse through my posts or follow. I might make it a habit to show more of that in the future because the world is becoming more accustomed to using AI and society is becoming split on the matter.

But enough on this controversial topic, I just wanted to make it clear that I do NOT use AI and I'm not a fan of it in the art world.

I knew I wanted a Print-to-Order on-Demand "Partner" and that was something I was looking heavily into for the longest time. Actually I think this was causing me the most anxiety, because this is important! This is where quality of products comes in. I do my homework guys. I research thoroughly.

I found one I'm very pleased with, and it's Printful. Look forward to future blog posts similar to my "RedBubble Product Review Posts", because I've ordered items from Printful with my graphics and I'll be doing reviews on their items. I'll try to do them more often too 👍🏻 (assuming life doesn't get in the way and I have funds to do so, lol)

So far I've added 38 listings to my shop. I don't want to overcrowd it. I feel for the amount of designs I have and the amount of products Printful has available for me to utilize, this is balanced. From here I'll work on new designs.

If there is something OLD that you may have liked (in my RB shop) and is no longer available (in my Etsy shop), I apologize, but I have to put the past behind me and move forward.

There is a fear of "Will this work for me, or not?" on Etsy, because I need to pull in traffic and their rating requirement system is harsh- basically need 5-stars otherwise you drop out of their search engines entirely. But "nothing risked, nothing gained".

I'm putting this at the bottom of the post because it's more on the ranting side, but RedBubble upped their tier fees again which also inspired much of this change.

I mentioned this in a Tumblr post a couple days ago, but to break it down and put it in perspective:

An Artist in "Redbubble Standard" tier who earned a 25$ paycheck in a month used to get charged an 11$ fee. That's 43%. Couldn't change their tier. It progressively scales worse, and all us RB sellers thought that was bad.

Now with their new system, that they tried to play off as "This will include a fee increase of less than $1 for most artists.", is significantly worse. (That's literally how they phrased it in the e-mail)

If you make 25$ a month in "Redbubble Standard" tier, you get charged a 17$ fee. That's 67%. And it continues to rise at an insane rate- in the 70%+ range.

They have a form you can attempt to submit, trying to "get a real person to reevaluate your shop to be placed in a different tier"- but that doesn't work. I tried it. Pretty sure that inspires false hope and it's bogus. I didn't even get an automated basic reply back. Not a "you submitted a form!" or "you've been denied." or "your evaluation is in progress.", nothing.

RedBubble products were okay quality. At times the quality wasn't that great in my opinion but people liked the items I felt that way about and economics is all about supply & demand 🤷🏻‍♀️. I was fine selling their items because the pricing was on par with the quality. The saying "You get what you pay for." comes to mind. But would I go out of the way to buy their items? No.

And I'm going to apologize again if any or all of this sounds negative or sarcastic or moody... I'm just saying things like I see it 😅🫠

Thank you everyone who has been supporting me all this time! 💖 And to anyone new! 💖

(I know the point of posting on this website is to tag all the things, but I feel bad and weird about tagging all the things 😖)

#jade.blog #etsyseller #etsyshop #accessories #clothing #octopus #ffxiv job stones #konpeito #space #ginkgo #mugs #journals #totebag #bomberjacket #stickers #galaxy #night sky #milky way

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extremelyblackandwhite · 4 years ago

Text

innocence - 33

PAIRING: bodyguard!bucky barnes x innocent actress!reader

WARNINGS: assault, swearing, trauma, tones of ptsd

A/N: this chapter is heavy with prominent mentions of assault. if that triggers you, please skip this chapter.

NEXT CHAPTER

She stood in the middle of the set, surrounded by bright lights as the cast and staff moved around to change the setting of the set design. There was nothing she could really feel and she felt herself almost out of her own body, the lack of sleep weighing not only on her eye bags but on her brain and ability to properly function. She felt she was watching herself out of her own body, watching as she dragged herself from scene to scene, almost changing into a completely different person when the cameras were on. It was mechanical, an ability of someone who’d been acting since she was a child. She slipped in and out of her own consciousness, almost knowing everything with a sharp eye but ignoring it. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t sleep. Any news that appeared regarding HYDRA or criminal organisations were always a trigger to keep her up at night. The silence itself was a trigger. Every blank letter she would get would send her into a spiral, every knock on her door. Wherever she turned, either Bucky or however haunted her seemed to surge. Except this time, Bucky wasn’t around. Sharon was but she couldn’t help to think something was off.

Two weeks.

Something was off.

She was no super soldier and she was no agent so all she could do was merely put a smile and say “nothing” whenever they asked her if something was wrong. Not that they asked, she was a good actress after all so to everyone else, even Sharon, she was peachy keen, with the same shy smile she always had on set. After all, this was the place she could be anyone but herself. Anna, the character she was playing, was so far removed from her own personality that whatever she felt seemed to dissipate mid takes. Yet, there was no comfort in becoming someone else, becoming someone who was so one dimensional she’d rather be back in her mind. Wherever she turned, she felt trapped, shackled by the weight of her own thoughts. There was nothing she could do.

- CUT! It’s a wrap everyone. - the bright lights dimmed as a ‘pop’-like sound removed her from her own dazed consciousness. She clung onto her own arms, turning around with a quickened heartbeat which slowed down as she realised it was merely a bottle of champagne which was now being half poured into flutes and half poured onto the floor. Yet, all she could hear was a buzzing in her ears.

She stood in the middle of everything, almost like a movie shot. Things moved fast but she knew they moved slowly and she remained there, in the middle of the shot, listening to everything as if she were underwater. Everyone was celebrating, drinking and laughing out loud but she couldn’t hear anything. Just a buzz. That’s all she could hear. The buzz and the sound of the wind bustling her dress.

- Y/N? - Sharon moved through the crowd, knowing way too well what was happening. She had seen it before. She carefully put her hand just slightly over her shoulder, not touching her but anyone would sense it. - Can you breathe in and out?

- Huh? - she was once again pulled out into her body and suddenly everything was just too fast, everything was just too loud as if someone had pressed the forward button on an old VHS tape. Her eyes moved side to side as her own hand pressed against her chest, a forceful reminder to feel her own heart beat. - Yeah, hum, I just need a break.

- That’s fine. - Sharon nodded her head and started to guide her out the middle of the set; however, a much familiar sound of heels hitting the gravel halted those plans. The she was, always board in hands. - Move.

- You’re needed. - Ms. Olson pointed at the actress in front of her with her pen. - The director wants to speak to you.

- Yeah, that’s fine. - Y/N pulled a fake smile. There was no use putting a fight, she had already done so and something told her not to stray too far off the cage they had put her in. She knew that with Bucky gone and Sharon under the cover she was one of her old university classmates which had settled down in New York as a stage manager, she had no protection, at least no personal protection. What she had belonged to the agency and if she toed out of line, she’d be left to fend for herself. She could barely look at the mail without shivering, much less fend for herself. She was a short woman, anyone taller than her could easily overpower her and that was the sad truth.

Once again, she found herself out of her body, watching as she walked the gravel with Ms. Olson to the trailer belonging to the director. Y/N was tired, she had no intention of wanting to speak to anyone, all she wanted to do was try to sleep yet here she was knocking on the door of the man she had learned to stray away from. The door was opened by his assistant, a small woman barely in her twenties, couldn’t be much younger than 5 years from Y/N, who had an almost meek look to her, hunched back even. Before Y/N could ask her what was wrong, the director, Mr. Powell, was already yelling out for the assistant to leave and for Y/N to come already. The girl stepped out and closed the door behind Y/N, leaving the two of them inside his trailer. It was grimy with papers and open bottles everywhere and the stench of smoke was thick in the air. It was almost comical, cartoonish even how it looked as if a cartoon, over exaggerated version of a 70′s movie director.

- Sit down. - he pointed to the spot on the brown couch near him. She was hyper aware of everything as she sat down on the couch, yet living a big space between the two of them. - You almost ruined my shot today with those puffy eyes, darling.

- I’m sorry, sir. I’ve been having some personal issues, I thought they would’ve de puffed by today.

- I’ve heard. - he took a puff of his cigarette which laid in the middle of his calloused fingers, laying against the couch rest as if he were on top of the world, when he was merely as much of an unknown as she was. He was no famous director, he wasn’t even a good one. - I thought you were missing your shadow. Where is he anyway? Lost his mind again? You know, darling, I’m always worried about you. I mean once a killer, always a killer, right?

- ... You’re pathetic. - it came out of her lips without her even noticing it. She stared at him with a lack of respect few people saw yet as quickly as she said those words, she was pined down against the brown leather of the couch. She could feel the cracked leather against the skin of her neck. His hand gripped her throat, hard, cutting her air flow and keeping her against the couch cushions.

- You ungrateful little bitch. - Y/N started kicking her feet, trying to somehow roll over on the floor. - I gave you the best role, put up with you not losing any weight and looking like any average shopping girl and how do you repay me? By being a whore?

She continued to kick her legs up in down so fast it had already started to tire her muscles. Her hands clawed at his face, leaving scratch marks which were sure to remain red and angry on his cheeks.

- I’m gonna give you some advice, darling. You wanna get ahead? Start whoring yourself for someone other than your boyfriend.

His hands left her neck and he returned to sit down where the place where he had been, as if he hadn’t just chocked her against the couch pillows. Y/N got up from the couch and bolted towards the door, pulling it open and climbing down the stairs, noticing the assistant was in front of them. Same meek look, yet Y/N continued to charge away from the set villa until she stopped on the sidewalk, sitting down as she watched the traffic in front of her. The weather was cloudy and dark yet somehow the cars lights made it brighter and it hurt her head. It hurt her head too much. The smell of fog and the bright lights hide her away as she tucked her head in the middle of her knees, chest going up and down yet no tears rolled down her face.

- Hey ... - Sharon sat by her side. - Let’s go home, yeah?

The fog merely thickened and lowered, covering the whole of New York in a somber mood. The wind itself was also fast and freezing and as Bucky stepped inside government headquarters, the mood as just as somber. The lights were yellow yet everything had a weird green-like tinge. Everyone was mechanically induced into their own work yet he was hyper aware of everything. Two weeks. Two weeks to bring in a HYDRA general and a senator which were sure to buy their own bail and go back and all he could say and think was he was tired. James “Bucky” Barnes was tired and worn down.

He strutted towards the interviewing room where Agent Cox and Doctor Raynor were. It was nothing new to him, it was always the same; he would return from whatever assignment had been given to him and be questioned on it by whatever agent was looking over the case and then had a “therapy” session with Doctor Raynor. It was never to check if he was alright, or at least it barely was. They just wanted to see him, to see the Winter Soldier was still inactivated. He understood that yet that didn’t mean he particularly liked it.

He told the agent all he wanted know, from where he had found the two he had just brought in, to some background info. There wasn’t much to say and when he was done, he was left with Doctor Raynor. He stood against his metal chair, convinced to get this over and done with so he could go back to Brooklyn. Back to her.

- How are you, James?

- I’m good, doc. Can I go now?

- James, that’s not how this works. You should know that by now. - she opened her notebook. Great. - Tell me about the mission.

- It was an extraction, mission. No one got hurt. - lies. He had gotten hurt, he had taken a pretty harsh blow to his cheekbone which was developing into a nasty purple bruise, yet, that was not who they were questioning him about. If he had gotten hurt, it didn’t matter. - No nightmares either.

- Are you lying to me, James?

- No, I just want to get out of here. I haven’t seen my girlfriend in two weeks.

- Tell me about your girlfriend. - she closed the notebook, almost as if this was off book yet he knew that nothing was off book. Not for him. Everyone has the right to privacy but the Winter Soldier. - What’s her name?

- Y/N.

- How old is she?

- Younger than me.

- No need to be hostile, James.

- No need to ask me about my love life, doc.

- Any big fights? Any ... problems regarding your condition? Healthy sex life?

- Are you asking me if I abuse my girlfriend? - his blood boiled yet he tried to keep cool. He knew an anger outbreak would only keep him in this session for longer than he wanted. Despite this, he chose to get up and leave the room.

He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear those accusations, he didn’t even want to think about it. Bucky did not like the idea of the Winter Soldier and Y/N together. He didn’t want to merge those two worlds together. The Winter Soldier was someone, a part of him which he didn’t fully understand and he didn’t want Y/N together with it. No, Bucky wanted Y/N to only see whatever bit of kindness, whatever few bits of goodness lied within him. He didn’t want her to the Winter Soldier’s girlfriend. He knew he didn’t deserve her and that title only further reminded him.

He continued to be lost in his head, those questions running through his mind as he unlocked the door only to be met with Sharon pointing her gun at him. She lowered her gun once she realised who it was that stood in the entrance, putting the gun back in between her jeans and her shirt.

- Two weeks? That was long.

- Not my fault, Sharon. - Bucky dropped his duffel bag to the floor. - How is she?

- Not good. - Sharon crossed her arms. - You have to tell her things, James. C’mon, you can do that with me and Steve and maybe even Sam. We know them, we’ve been in missions before but she doesn’t.

- Spare me this.

- She barely slept while you gone, James. God, are you so afraid she’ll stop loving you if you tell her about the Winter Soldier that you’d rather her live in constant anxiety every time you have to leave?

- I won’t have to leave.

Sharon scoffed, grabbing her jacket from the coat hanger.

- Do you seriously believe that, James?

- Since when do you care about Y/N?

- Stop being your worse enemy, James. She deserves to know.

God, she sure was awful now, Bucky thought to himself as Sharon left probably to return to Steve. The flat was intact, things were just as he had left them and everything was quiet except for the TV in the living room. Their bedroom door was slightly opened, probably so Sharon could keep an eye on Y/N. He took his shoes off so his steps wouldn’t alarm her and walked into the bedroom. She was there, in the bed, laying on her side, sleeping peacefully. Bucky walked up to her side of the bed, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

She stirred in her sleep, eyes slowly opening as Bucky began to shush her, trying to make sure she went back to sleep. Last thing he had wanted was to awake her up.

- Bucky? - she held herself onto one arm, the other hand coming to rub the sleep off her eyes. Once the blurriness dissipated and she confirmed it was indeed her Bucky, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, almost knocking him into the bed.

Bucky melted in her touch, burying his nose in her hair, sensing the scent of vanilla from her shampoo and the warmth of her skin. This was home, not Brooklyn but her. She was home, she felt like home. She pulled away from the hug for a bit to examine him, her fingers brushing the bruise on his cheekbone.

- What happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?

- I’m fine. It’s just the bruise, Y/N.

- I’ll get some ice. - she prepared to get out of bed but he pushed her back on it. She felt onto his chest and he held her against him with one arm. What he did not expect was to see how uncomfortable she became at the inability to move. He was used to playing around with her, rolling around or having her on top of his chest.

- What’s wrong, princess?

- Nothing ... - she shook her head. - I just missed you. I was afraid you were hurt or you were dead.

- I’m not hurt, I’m here.

- You’re staying, right? - she questioned, rolling to his side of the bed, laying on his side. - You’re not here just to visit.

- Yeah, I’m staying, princess. - he caressed her cheek, leaning his forehead against hers. Sharon’s words, however, kept pulling at him. She loved him, he knew she loved him. Right?

- You’re making the face.

- What face?

- Your thinking face. - she cuddled against him, fingers softly pulling his chin down so he was looking at her. - What are you thinking about?

- You love me, right? - he probably sounded insecure, he could hear himself sounding insecure, his voice cracking. She cocked her head to the side before raising her fingers to trace his jaw.

- Of course I do. You think I’d be marrying you if I didn’t love you?

- I wanted to hurt them. - he blurted. - I wanted to torture them. Both of them.

- Who?

- Every time they send me to any of these assignments. Make amends ... I wanna hurt those people, I wanna hurt them like they hurt me and I hate it.

- Buck ...

- I’m ... I wanna be a good person, Y/N. I wanna be good. - he shut his eyes tightly. - And I’m not.

- It does not make you a bad person to want to hurt you hurt you, to want revenge. You do not act on it and that’s the difference. You’re not a bad person, Bucky.

- You’re the only person who thinks that.

- Doesn’t matter. - she smiled at him, softly kissing him. - I’m not expecting you just to move on and let it go. It’s part of your life and it’s part of you and I love you. All bad and all good, I love you.

- Maybe you need a better judgement.

- I have the best judgment between the both of us. I have no thrown myself off a plane without a parachute.

- That can’t be your way of winning arguments.

- It is my way of winning arguments. - she giggled at him. - Let’s just go to sleep.

The night seemed short, way too short but it did not matter because both of them were there. It was calm, too calm until a harsh knock had both of them wake up from her slumber, the morning barely bright yet there was already some light. Y/N clung onto his arm as another harsh knock was delivered against his door. Bucky moved slowly to take his gun from under the bed before he walked out the bedroom, putting his gun behind his back as he opened the door. The police stood in front of him, quite a few of them. Way too many.

- James Buchanan Barnes, you are under arrest for the alleged harassment and stalking of Miss Y/N Y/L/N.

taglist: @disasterbi @lookiamtrying @buckysteveloki-me @americasass81 @jamesbarnesappreciationclub @lostinthebeans @mariahthelioness29 @oh-nohoney @peaches-roses-sins @theadorasabditory @sipsteacasually @saiyanprincessswanie @booktease21 @noiralei @learisa @everythingisoverratedbutgreat @uglipotata72829 @naturalthrone22 @husherstan @mandiiblanche @vicmc624 @newyorkgoddess @itsallyscorner @chipilerendi @emzd34 @writerwrites @bluevxnus @that-girl-named-alex @captnrogers @nsfwsebbie @sarge-barnes-sir @niki-is-a-thing @cynic-spirit @tenaciousperfectionunknown

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akiisame · 4 years ago

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Genshin impact guide - how to into artifacts

How to into artifacts and team set.

A guide by me for my kawaii @stupidneko and whoever is in need.

Okay, so, as a word of introduction before well start with this long ass post, I’ve never wrote anything like this so be patient with me.

ALSO ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE SO SORRY IN ADVANCE FOR ANY MISTAKES

In my personal opinion artifacts are more important than the characters themselves, they can turn every 4* into a main dps (yes, even amber). 50% of your DMG will come from items, then the other 50% will come from weapon, talents and the character itself, but this is a story for another post.

First let’s take a look at what kind of artifacts do we have. Each and every character have 5 slots for artifacts:

Flower of life - or just flower, for short

Plume of death - feather

Sand of eon - time watch piece

Goblet of Eonothem - goblet

Circlet of Logos - head piece

Each of the pieces have two types of stats: main stats and sub stats. The first two pieces, flower and feather, always have the same main stat.

For flower it's HP

And for feather it's ATK

Then for the rest of them it can be anything, from good main stats like this:

(The following items have high stats because most of them are on max lvl)

... to less of a good stats, like this:

Goblets also are the only artifacts that has the possibility to have element DMG bonus as the main stats:

While head piece are the only artifacts that can have CRIT DMG and CRIT rate as a main stats:

... but they too can have less of a good stats like healing bonus or DEF.

Now, to the sub stats. They can vary from less appealing stats like HP, DEF and Elemental Mastery:

To a great stats like CRIT DMG, CRIT rate and ATK:

Unfortunately that's where the tricky part comes in. You cannot chose which substats the item will have. They will randomly appear. All that's left is to cry and pray.

But how do you get more stats on your item? That's simple, you need to level it up! We call it 'enhancing'. Depending on the rarity of your item( they vary from 1* (one start) to 5*(five stars) ) there are different max lvl cap. I'll mostly focus here on the 4* and 5* items. Max lvl cap for 4* is lv16 and for 5* is lv20.

Every artifact you'll get is always lv1. To enhance an artifact you'll need mora and another artifacts. The main stats will grow with each level, but the substats will update every 4th level (so for 5* item new substats will appear on 4th, 8th,12th, 16th and 20th level). Let's take this 5* feather: Bard's Arrow Feather

As all feathers it has ATK as a main stats and quite decent substats. You can enhance it by giving it other artifacts. You can also auto add artifacts of given level (1*, 2* or below, 3* or below and 4* or below)

Or you can chose items manually if you click on the gray '+' icon. Once you do it, there will be a list of artifacts you can use for enhancing. Only items that are not given to any characters will appear here.

Let’s enhance it up by one lvl (there’s limit of pic so I can’t show it ksmosjnwk). As I said, the main stats got better, but the substats didn't change because that was only the 1st level. So now let's enhance it to lv4. Once we choose enough artifacts to enhance it to lv4 we’ll see an information that one new substat will appear. (It doesn’t always have to be new substats. Sometimes the substats that the piece already have can get a boost).

Let's see what I'll get:

... Yea, I'm going to cry.

But for real now, that's how the artifacts work. Depending on your luck you can get a great items or a depression.

Usually people always aim for artifacts with ATK and CRIT as a both main and substats, but that all depend on you team composition.

But Akii, how do I chose good artifacts for my characters? How do I build my team?

I'm happy you asked. We can have up to 4 character in the team. Usually people aim for a team consisted of one main DPS, one healer and two supports, but ofc that all depends on your style of the game and your needs.

What is the most important in building your team and deciding on artifacts is the characters talents themselves. You absolutely have to check their talents and passives before giving them any artifacts, cause for some of them items with HP as a main stat could be actually good (like Barbara, since her role is only healing she doesn’t make more than 100 dmg on her normal attack but she heals a TONS).

Let's take my team for example, I’ll explain what their talents do and choose artifacts accordingly:

Razor as my main DPS

Qiqi as my healer

Xingqiu as my support

And Xiao that is none of the above but I just got him so I really wanna use him lmao

Usually I'd have Bennett in my team that would work as both healer and support, but yea, Xiao happen. Anyway, back to the topic

Since Razor is my main DPS I am focusing mostly on the DMG he can do. That's why when choosing artifacts for him I was aiming for the one with ATK/CRIT.

I do believe right now is a good moment to introduce artifacts sets. Each artifact has its own sets. There are plenty of sets to chose from. Now, the question is, does it matter from which set the item comes? Yes, it does.

Every set has all 5 types of artifacts to offer (a flower, feather, time watch piece, goblet and head piece). Depending on how many of the pieces from the same set you'll have you can get different stats. Let's take everyone's favorite Gladiator's Finale set. If you equip 2 pieces of Gladiator your get additional 18% of your base attack. IT'S A LOT!

But if you equip 4 pieces of Gladiator your normal attack (the single mouse tap, not the skills or the hold tap) will be increased by 35% IF your character has a sword, polearm or claymore (so it doesn't work on characters with books and bows, sorry Amber).

As I was saying, since my Razor is my main DPS and his role is to hit, not deal Electro DMG, I gave him 4 pieces of Gladiator's Finale just so he can have these additional 35%. But his head piece belongs to Wandener's Troupe. Why? Since every character can have 5 different artifacts, and the set's bonuses are only up to 4 pieces, the last one can belong to any other set. I chose Wandener's because it have CRIT rate as a main stats, so it's perfect for main DPS character. (The last piece doesn’t have to be the head piece, it can be any of the other 4 pieces).

You can check the character stats and the difference in the artifacts by going to your character menu and then clicking on the ‘details’.

For example here are my Xiao stats calculated with all the artifacts he has right now on him:

And here I have my Xiao without any artifacts and with 1* weapon:

DO YOU SEE THE HUUUGE DIFFERENCE?

Next we have Qiqi, my healer. One would think that, if she's a healer, then it would be good to have a set that is designed for healers on her, right? Wrong.

Let's take a look on Qiqi elemental skill (You can check your character skills by clicking on ‘talents’ in the character menu):

(APPARENTLY TUMBLR WONT ALLOW ME TO POST MORE THAN 10 PICS IN ONE POST SO ILL HAVE TO PASTE THE INFO FROM WIKI, THANKS)

When Qiqi hits a target with her Normal or Charged Attacks, she regenerates HP for all party members and all nearby allied characters. Healing scales based on Qiqi's ATK. Regenerates HP for current character at regular intervals. Follows the character around, dealing Cryo DMG to enemies in its path.

It's says that the heals she gives is based on her overall ATK. Which means the more ATK she has the better her heals are. That's why, in my personal opinion, it's better to focus on raising her ATK and energy recharge. Ofc, there's nothing wrong in having for example 2 pieces of Maiden Beloved (set's name designed for healers, 2-Piece Bonus: Character Healing Effectiveness +15%) on her. If those pieces main stats will be ATK then this will work amazing, but unfortunately I don't have any artifacts like this.

Next are supports, Bennett and Xingqiu. Since their role is not dealing DMG, but more of a supporting you can give them sets of a 2 pieces. Let's take a look at their elemental burst:

Bennett:

if the health of a character in the circle is equal to or falls below 70%, their health will continuously regenerate. Regeneration scales based on Bennett's Max HP. If the health of a character in the circle is higher than 70%, they gain an ATK Bonus that is based on Bennett's Base ATK. Applies the Pyro element to characters within the Field.

Basically you just ult and switch to your DPS (or whoever you want honestly). If the character you switched to (or Bennett himself, his ult works on him too) HP is below 70%, they will receive heals. If their HP is above 70%, the incoming healing with cease and they will get attack bonus based on Bennet BASE ATK (only when you have him c0, so with no constellations. On c1 (his first constellation is unlocked) there is no HP restriction, so his ult buffs the attack no matter of your character current health). So it’s not the same case as Qiqis. Base attack is the base amount the character have with weapon equipped but without any artifacts on, so the only way to rise base ATK is to maximize character level and to give them weapon with high amount of attack. Then we should focus on giving him as much of an energy recharge as we can so he can load his ult faster. Then it’s up to you whether you wanna make is a healer or side DPS. In healer case you should focus on rising his HP amount by giving him artifacts with that stats and substats cause, on the contrary to Qiqi, the heals he gives are based on his own max HP, not his ATK. In side DPS case you can focus on the overall dmg he makes.

Now let's take a look on my Xiao. His role is a dps, just like Razor. So one would think that it would be the best to max physical DMG on Xiao too, right? Wrong.

Let's take a look on Xiao's elemental skill and Elemental burts:

Skill:

Xiao lunges forward, dealing Anemo DMG to opponents in his path.

Burst:

Greatly increases Xiao's jumping ability. Increases his attack AoE and attack DMG. Converts attack DMG into Anemo DMG, which cannot be overriden by any other elemental infusion. In this state, Xiao will continuously lose HP. The effects of this skill end when Xiao leaves the field.

Both of them covert the DMG into Anemo DMG. Which mean that no matter the physical DMG bonus, if he doesn't have any Anemo DMG he won't be as useful as he could be. That why my Xiao has 2 pieces of Gladiator and 2 pieces of Viridescent Venerer that gives him +15% of Anemo DMG bonus. (y’all have no idea how long it took me to write this thing correctly lmao)

As the last piece i used Wandener's head piece again to give him that additional CRIT rate. (yes, his Anemo DMG can be scaled with CRIT rate, too). Ofc my Xiao still lacks a lot of power we can see on some videos on yt.

Okay Akii, I understand how does the artifacts works and what to which to chose when thinking about the character role, but how do I actually get the artifacts?

That's actually the hardest part. You can get them from domains. Each domain have two sets of artifacts at the same time, which means depending on your luck you'll get the artifacts from the set you want or the artifacts you don't want BUT can use for enhancing later on! Gladiator's and Wandener's don't have its own domain, but can be achieved by fighting bosses like cubes or regisvines and from weekly bosses like Dvalin, Andrius and Childe.

Now that you know everything you need to know about artifacts you can go and start doing the domains...

only to waste all of your resins and get tons of shit artifacts with DEF as a main stats and then start crying after your one good artifact with ATK as a main stat and CRIT as a substat gets shits like HP, DEF and more HP after enhancing. Have fun <3

#genshin #genshin impact #artifacts #genshin artifacts #genshin guide #tutorial #how to #genshin artifacts set #razor #qiqi #xiao #bennett

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