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sleepytoycollection · 2 years ago

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Sleepy Reviews: Deuce Gorgon (Amazon Exclusive)

G3 Deuce Gorgon ($24.99) with his accessories

The boys of G1 Monster High have been my favorite boy dolls of any doll line ever, to the point I have gone out of my way to collect one of every single boy character that had been made. I adore them immensely, so obviously, when I had to pick one to review, I had to pick the original Manster himself, Deuce.

He’s got a lot to live up to, so is Mr. Gorgon a worthy entry to my massive MH boy collection? Let’s find out:

This particular Deuce Gorgon is Amazon Exclusive, but there is another version in a 2-pack with Frankie that is target exclusive, which is honestly pretty amazing considering Mattel’s seeming aversion to boy characters previously. Two Deuce dolls right out of the gate? Go off then.

Keep that energy up Mattel and you have my attention. Especially if Jackson and Holt return. Please Mattel I’ll do anything. Anything. 🥺🙏

Ahem.

Anyway, the box design is serviceable. I don’t love it, but it gets the job done.

I think of lot of it is this artwork. It’s not bad, and it’s clearly trying to tie into the style of the Nickelodeon MH show, it just doesn’t grab the eye as much as I wish it did.

The back features more of the same art, as well as a full body image of Deuce, as well as a short profile for the character.

Not a lot of info, just the basics in multiple languages. It’s fine.

Some unique symbol art work for the edge of the box. A nice call back to the original boxes.

Let’s get him out of the box for a closer look:

Boom. Out of box. Magic of television.

He’s a handsome fellow, I like the new sculpt, and it’s fun they made him green.

Back view for everyone.

I love the way his eyebrows are painted. The individual hairs and expression bring a lot for me.

The only thing I might’ve changed is just the color of his snakes, I feel like they clash with his skin just a little. If they had more of a yellow undertone than blue, or maybe were just a shade or two darker, I think it would’ve looked a lot better.

Not a deal breaker, but I might add a paint wash later to adjust the color and bring out the detail though.

I do like the actual sculpt of the scales though.

I loved Deuce’s fainted mohawk look in G1 and I think it was a nice choice for his default here.

Let’s move away from our boy here for a sec, and look at his accessories. Let’s start with his pet:

Perseus returns with his own redesign.

It’s alright, I actually loved the original MH pets, so I don’t mind them being included, but they look more like the modern Barbie pets this time around. which is hit and miss.

Honestly I do think he’s cute, I just wish he was maybe more in scale. All the pets are the same size and general shape this time around, and with the even more cartoon-y design they end up looking less unique.

He does still have his twin tails though!

All the ghouls come with iCoffins (Are they still iCoffins? Surely a few monsters have spooky-pun Androids), and Deuce is no exception.

His phone case is, of course, snake themed:

How cute. I love snakes.

Along with phones, everyone also comes with a snack and a drink, for some reason, totally not trying to pad out the box, but anyway:

I tease, but actually I do think the little snacks are cute. I like his Medusa head water bottle.

The cupcake has a snake for frosting! Frosting snake! How cute.

Deuce also comes with a little tin of what I presume is scale wax. Gotta keep those scales shiny.

Like all Deuce dolls, he has a pair of sunglasses, with, one again, a snake design. It’s all snakes here folks.

See? Snake back back. I’d made to look like it’s made of snake skin. Which feels a little like a human carrying a bag made of hair. Hmm.

It does open though:

I do think the color is a little... bright. Actually, it’s not even the brightness, it’s just that it clashes. Def repainting this one.

Deuce is a barista in this generation of MH, so his doll comes with a little apron:

It’s fine, and I’m glad his love of cooking seems to be making a comeback, but it does feel a little... idiosyncratic, but does make a good segue into...

Clothes!

The most important part of a fashion doll.

Let’s start with his jacket, because I love it. It’s made of a nice denim-esque material, it has real pockets, it’s finished nicely, and just generally looks great.

Hope you’re not tired of snakes yet though, because we have more!

Snake shirt!

Also very nicely made.

Snake pants!

Construction of them is fine, but the material does feel pretty cheap. My least favorite of the fabric pieces.

Snake shoes!

They’re fine. I’m indifferent to them tbh.

It’s all snakes!

It’s also the last of his outfit, so let’s look at what’s under the clothes:

G2 MH/BTS body, G3 MH body, G1 MH body

As you can see, this body uses a different sculpt to previous Monster High boys. It’s shorter, and the thickest in the waist do far, but also has smaller hands and feet.

Honestly, I like the other two bodies better, but I don’t dislike this body either. Mostly I miss the bigger hands and feet.

See what I mean? If you were hoping G3 shoes would fit the G1 boys, unfortunately, they do not. I wonder if this change was made so kids could use Ken shoes with the boys?

Deuce’s body also have a few quality issues:

That seam line is deep, and there’s a very noticeable ridge there.

Plus he’s got a little warping from the packaging, but that can at least be fixed with hot water.

Let’s go ahead and put our boy back together, with all his accessories:

Is it just me or does he look a little... disjointed? I think it’s the shoes. They’re a different color in the box art, and I think they looked better there.

Yeah, they had more green and seemed to be a bit lighter.

Final thoughts?

He’s just a little hit and miss for me, unfortunately. I feel like they were trying to hard to stick to a certain out line of what each doll gets to come with, that it ended up with him coming with things I think would’ve ben better left off or exchanged with something else.

Instead of an apron, it would’ve been cool if he could’ve had a belt, or instead of snacks, maybe an armband, earring, ect.

I like the snacks, they’re cute. but why come with this doll? Why not save them for another?

Also, some of the color choices feel random. I’m all for unique color schemes, but we’ve got 5 different greens and four different purples. It doesn’t feel intentional, and more like an error.

But there’s also things I do like, I like his face sculpt, his jacket is fantastic, and I think it would be very easy for me to fix what I don’t like with a restyle.

Mind you, I’ve opened up a few other G3 dolls, and some are better than others.

At the end of the day you have to decide what’s a deal breaker for you. For me? I’m happy with him, despite my criticisms. I’m happy to add him to my collection, and in general I’ve been enjoying G3.

Do I think I’ll collect G3 boys with the intensity I had for G1? Eh. Bring Jackson and Holt back and then we’ll talk.

Please Mattel I am begging. At least give us that Holt Reproduction. Please?

#mattel #monster high #mh #g3mh #deuce gorgon #doll review

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lets-redesign-yansim · 4 years ago

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Let’s Redesign Akademi High School

First off the name. Let’s just change the name to a last name, cause that’s easiest, let’s go with Hoshino Academy.

The main setting of the game is the school, so it’s important to flesh it out. Personally I don’t have a major issue with the layout of the school. I think the central courtyard is a good idea, the school is fairly easy to navigate, there are a lot of diverse areas to the school, the layout is not a major issue.

As a whole I think the major issue with the location itself is cohesion. Take for example these three rooms.

They feel like they’re all from very different locations, not three rooms in a high school. I think that this could be improved by having a neutral color scheme for the walls/floors and then have most of rooms with wall décor and furniture that changes. For instance the drama club room might be more like a dressing room connected to the theater, or be a dance rehearsal room. The martial arts club during the day has the mats rolled up in the corner of the room.

In addition some of the clubs probably wouldn’t be approved by a prestigious school, so I think it would be more interesting if some of the clubs were more unofficial. For instance the Occult club operates in one of the storage closets, or the gaming club is instead a more informal group of friends in the computer lab. I think that this would make the social dynamics more apparent, for instance you might lose some reputation points for joining the occult club.

Next, the uniform.

The current uniform used by the game, as many have pointed out is the “sailor uniform” which in japan is essentially a middle school uniform. A lot of people have pointed this out before. Although the uniform is iconic in anime, it carries some pretty uncomfortable undertones. These characters are wearing a uniform for very young students (japanese middle school students are ages 12-15) while the characters in the game are implied to be sleeping with older men for money or being seduced by their teachers or taking photos of girl’s underwear. All of these elements are pretty gross at any age but the idea that they’re dressed up as middle schoolers makes it even more uncomfortable. So my solution is to use a high school uniform.

This is a common high school uniform style in Japan. The summer uniform style in silhouette looks very similar to the sailor uniform style. Make the bow red and the skirt blue and the girl’s uniform is very similar to the previously established sailor uniform.

Plus with this version you can add more on top of it. For instance giving the student council blazers while everyone else wears the summer style, different characters can have different sleeve lengths or skirt lengths or add sweaters or different kinds of bows/ties. Characters can look vastly different while still adhering to a uniform beyond just excessive hair accessories or stockings.

In addition with the summer uniform male characters can also have variety in their uniforms. With the male uniform currently employed by yandere simulator there is little variation for male students. With the summer-style uniform you can have various sleeve lengths, ties, or add jackets onto the uniform to vary male students.

Next is the staff.

The staff is too sexualized. The two teacher rivals will get their own posts but I think it’s kind of gross how sexualized the female faculty is compared to the headmaster, I know he’s supposed to be older but we all know why the female staff is designed the way they are to be sexy for the dev.

The teachers all look alike, which I don’t think is a huge problem, maybe just changing some of their hair colors if they are intended to be distinct individual characters but keeping them similar makes them quickly recognizable. The guidance counselor I think looks fine but should have a different outfit, the hyper-sexualized outfit is too much. Conversely I think that there should be some male teachers or something, it just feels strange that all of the teachers are just sexy women.

I also think it would be interesting to have the staff be more fleshed out. Some of them have favorite students or are supervisors of certain clubs. This would give more obstacles in the social dynamics of the school. Killing one person affects a web of others, insulting one person affects a web of others, befriending one person affects a web of others. And I think that should include the staff.

Finally the mechanics of the classroom.

Currently on each day the player can attend two classes of their choice. The options available are biology, chemistry, language, physical education, and psychology. These classes are intended to improve certain skills utilized in the game. Language in the final product will likely improve speech checks, and chemistry will likely allow you to use more poisons, etc. However I think that since school is such a major part of the game, it should have more utility.

Obviously it would be boring to attend a full class, but I have three ideas of random events that could occur during a class.

Let’s say a player picks a class. While in the class at random a short dialogue option appears where a student asks to cheat off of your work. You could report the student for cheating, hand over your work, tell the student you’ll help tutor them, or say no. These options would either improve or decrease the player’s social status, or even get the teacher’s trust. Small social events like this would be interesting and make the environment feel more like a school with classes and assignments going on instead of a sandbox.

My second idea is to give the player a chance to learn some information at random. Kind of like helpful hints, maybe during the class two girls are talking about how they were going to hang out with Rival X, but she was going to be at the pool tomorrow. Or the player hears the teacher talking to a repairman about how the vents have such cheap screws and should be replaced next year. Or the player learns that certain types of cleaning fluids used by the chemistry room, and the school’s cleaning supplies are flammable, and should be handled with care. Small pieces of information that the player could use to their advantage, making the classes more useful.

My final idea is having a random event for the player to ingratiate themselves to the teachers. Maybe the teacher asks for a volunteer and the player does a simple minigame. Or the teacher asks the class a question and the player has to choose the correct answer (or choose not to answer at all). If the player succeeds these minigames, the teacher likes and trusts them a bit more. Keep this up, and the you’ll become a “teacher’s pet” where the faculty isn’t as suspicious or defensive of you as you’ve proved yourself a good student.

These events would make the class time not feel like a waste or glossed over. They would be useful in multiple ways to gain information or social status or new skills. They would also give the player options for what kind of character they want to be. If they want to be a quiet wallflower they can simply observe. Or they could be a delinquent who gets questions wrong and cheats off other students. Or they can be a studious over achiever who’s respected by the teachers.

These changes and additions I think would improve the setting to make it feel more like a school. Considering how a majority of the game takes place here and that a large part of the mechanics are dependent on understanding the school, these simple changes I feel would help flesh it out from a gimmicky, unrealistic location to a complete academy.

Beyond the school I think there should be a small town or street, but that will be a separate post.

Tldr; make the academy more complex and interesting by adding a few random events and aesthetic changes.

#yandere simulator #yansim redesign #let's redesign yandere simulator #yandere simulator redesign #yansim #akademi high

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sanchoyo · 3 years ago

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danny phantom season 2, ep 12-16 thoughts! these episodes, in comparison to the first 10 or so, felt way more laid back and low-stakes, which I appreciate sometimes. I didn't appreciate how lazy jack's halfa design was in masters of time, it made me so annoyed I redesigned it. 👎🏻 u_u

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-'picking a fight with me and my upgraded form!' 'you upgraded to a mullet?' DANNNNY. YOU CANT SAY THAT TO TECHNUS. YOUVE HAD A MULLET TWICE NOW ('fun' split danny, and evil future danny BOTH HAD THEM). I HAVE THE RECEIPTS.

-danny seeing technus hurting valerie and yelling I AM GOING TO BREAK YOU IN HALF. SAMEEEE <3

-axion labs is now a part of vladco. FUCK YOU VLAD. hes not even really IN this episode, but just thought I'd throw out a nice fuck you anyway.

-'capable of blasting a single person into space in (2) minutes!' tucker. that would kill someone. i mean yeah they might get to space, but theres NO WAY THEY WOULDNT CATCH FIRE, OR THEIR ORGANS WOULDNT LIQUIFY BECAUSE OF THE STRAIN. THEY'D PROBABLY PASS OUT BEFORE THEN, BUT. ...no, okay, I get why vlad bought this company. this is RIGHT up his alley.

-danny KNOWS VAL DIDNT DO THIS, THAT SOMEONE STOLE THE SUIT. AND SPENDING ALL NIGHT CHATTING WITH HER. <3 and val is a 9TH DEGREE BLACKBELT?? danny's mom is, too!! omg and she hunts ghosts, his parents would love her. and her fav fruit is kumquat bc its a funny word. im so with danny val is amazing. I love her and I Do Not Want To Hear It From Sam.

-I knew danny wanted to be an astronaut, but the bowling tidbit is like. yes give me more useless info abt these characters, I love tiny details that make them feel more human, and im glad hes got hobbies aside from ghost stuff, we dont really see a lot of that!!! (I mean, we knew 'fun' danny from when he split himself in half liked bowling, so obv it makes sense he LIKES it, but hes very GOOD at it. so proud of him, bowling king) val calling him neil armstrong and them teasing each other. LOVE THAT.

-technus you are my favorite grandpa for setting this up. SAM WHY ARE YOU BEING SO CREEPY BE HAPPY FOR YOUR FRIEND!!! STOP SPYING ON THEM!!! who actually cares if technus did 'set them up' together, theyre having fun and enjoy each others company!!! 'you think the universe wants you two to be together?' 'i dunno, but maybe /I/ do!' EXACTLY DANNY!!! SOO TRUE.

-and valerie being happy sam said she wants to try and be happy for them and make room at the lunch table for them. and hugging sam over it. VAL NEEDS MORE FRIENDS.

-VAL GOING AFTER TECHNUS IN HER SUIT WITH (1) MILK, AND (1) TREE BRANCH AND KEYS!!!. I LOVE YOUUUU BEST GIRL. her new suit kicks ass

-dannys like 'HEY IM AN ASTRONAUT :D' AW. ...HES IN SPACE... the fact he's actually intending to give her the ring. with SAMS NAME ON IT?? IM CRINGING DANNY NO. YOU CANT DO THAT...thank god he didnt. thank god valerie cut it off and said they can just stay friends for now. tbh, they both have a lot on their plates!! they obv both still like each other...it can be a future thing!! when she knows about phantom! youre 14 theres no need to rush. I just want her to have friends and be happy :(

-...danny struggles to do (1) pull up. SAME. but all the ghost fighting in phantom form REALLY doesnt carry over at ALL? that sucks

-sam being as fit as she is, is not just a goth. shes a goth jock.

-honey I Shrank Our Kid, One of his Enemies, and his Bully: the episode

-dash's crush on phantom is So Obvious. fitness buddies :) watching them interact always makes me laugh. also, phantom, with PANTS. 'how many costume changes you gonna go through, what is this, vegas??' DASSH DJKSFHASKDF

-MADDIE GOING AFTER THE MOUSE WITH A BROOM, WHAT THE FUCK. AAAH. JUST BUY SOME KIND OF MOUSE TRAP.

-danny likes lime and vinegar chips. which sound very good.

-'our boy finally has the physical prowess of a 60 year old president!' ...poor danny LMAO

-'what's wrong with beauty pageants' oh tucker you sweet naïve child. what ISNT wrong with them. who approved this for a high school?? (I mean, yes. unfortunately child pageants exist, but...) also danny and tucker once again treating the pretty girls like objects. I need to meet the grown man who wrote this, I just want to talk...

-prince aragon's dragon form reminds me of maleficent (color scheme wise) which is always a bonus. considering the episode is called beauty marked, I feel like the sleeping beauty references are deliberate

-sam with the fake fangs. once again her accessories never miss. hate the 'not like other girls, girls who get sucked into this kind of thing are all shallow and all want to be carbon copies' bs tho.

-sam trying to be the Worst Bride, being rude as shit. DORA IS GOING TO GET KILLED. DID YOU MISS THE PART WHERE SHE SAID THE PRINCE WILL HAVE HER HEAD IF YOU ARENT THE IDEAL BRIDE. YOU /KNOW/ DANNY WILL COME SAVE YOU. JUST ACT CHILL UNTIL THEN. even if you were doing fine to get him to take off the crown, consider maybe not letting his poor sister get punished also?? sure, she could also take off the crown and has dragon powers, but did you know that for sure?? dora didnt even really realize it until you guys talked!! (or at least, she was scared to stand up to him. you had no guarantee she would...) but. good for dora. ANOTHER friendly ghost to add to the List :)

-tucker is so under appreciated in his time. if he was doing a tech-based campaign today he'd have a better shot. people in 2004 had NO IDEA how much tech would be a part of our day-to-day lives...altho. tbh if you're going to be running for student council president, maybe you should..focus on things to actually improve the school? since he's going for a tech angle, he could say like, he would be running fundraisers for the schools computers to be upgraded, etc? we've already SEEN he can be good at money-making entrepreneur type stuff!!

-oh my god wait. this episode is JUST YUGIOH?????! A REBORN PHAROH USING A TEENAGER AS A VESSEL?? YESSSSSS

-tucker using his new minion to feed him grapes and carry him. AND LOCUSTS ONTO THE BULLIES. I love how when he's possessed, he gains winged eyeliner.

-this episode is giving me big 'plankton makes everyone in bikini bottom his slaves and build monuments of him from the spongebob movie' vibes. and the pharaoh has a traitor who works for him? VERY big yugioh vibes. aknadin confirmed

-I like that danny is still completely exhausted after using ghostly wail. (still patiently waiting on him to get duplication)

-LOVE the fenton's 80s outfits. I get hes 14 and embarrassed by everything they do because theyre his parents, but. cmon, this is one objectively cool thing theyve done. love 80s fashion.

-...was vlad just standing on that streetlight waiting for danny to come out? how'd he know they'd be coming out the back? how long has he been up there???

-oh, wait, his ecto-acne has flareups? that SUCKS. danny was...well I dont want to say he was LUCKY HE HALF-DIED, but he was lucky his was pretty instant (I'm assuming that had to do with the power/scale of the portals being different?) I remember in the ep we met him, vlad made a point of saying he was stuck in a hospital for a long time, so. that really actually sucks and I feel bad. not that it excuses anything he's done...but like. it does suck.

-vlad being so sure danny wouldnt help him he made it somehow contagious to his friends to make sure he'd get help? danny is a nice boy, he wouldve helped if it was anyone else. the only reason he wouldn't have is because of the shit vlad did to him, on purpose. vlad 100% dug his own grave by being the biggest asshole, so it is very hard to feel bad for him.

-clockwork is back!!! and making danny learn lessons The Hard Way. Uhhh, okay. I kind of get Danny’s logic, that time traveling this far back would prevent vlad from becoming a halfa also, ergo no arch nemesis or ectoacne to worry about. But the fact that was basically the first solution Danny came up with to solve this problem is actually so funny. It’s so extreme

-APPRICIATION FOR THESE 80S LESBIAN BG CHARACTERS.

-vlad telling maddie in the lab (in the 80s) he has something he's wanted to tell her 'for a long time'...how long have they known each other? I assumed they met in college, since jack always calls vlad his college buddy/roommate, so jack and vlad for sure met in college, but did vlad know maddie longer? thats surprising if so. Tho we don’t know what year of college they’re in so they could mean they met as freshmen and a few years have past…speaking of maddie shes crushing the 80s look.

-vlad blames jack, but. maybe dont stick your face 2 inches from the portal??! THIS FEELS LIKE LAB SAFETY BASICS. IF SOMETHING HAS POTENTIAL TO BE DANGEROUS, DONT GET NEAR IT. WITH YOUR FACE UNPROTECTED IN ANY WAY. (altho jack didnt really give a Big Warning besides screaming BONZAI. so. also that, but cmon.) also, they need gloves, goggles, and to pull all of their hair back tbh. but fuck lab safety, I guess!

-cryyyyinnng at how lazy they were with jack's ghost form design, its just plasmius' design on jack!!! you couldve given him his own design!!

-there. I did that in about 10 minutes and its somehow less lazy than what made it into the show. embarrassing! better yet, I think the episode would've been better if maddie would've gotten the ectoacne. or maybe its just me, wanting to see her design! anyway. I'm sure people have already done redesigns of them both as halfas. I have to go look after I finish this watch through. Also mildly frustrated jacks resentment and bitterness is basically also a copy paste of vlads backstory. They’re different characters, I really don’t think jack would stew in bitterness and jealousy the same way vlad would!! I also don’t think he’d give up after one time of trying to hunt ghosts and getting laughed at. Our canon timeline says different…I dunno, I get it was for laughs, but I’m annoyed because the POTENTIAL this plot has…

-did vlad really wear a stupid cheese hat to his wedding. ok actually that kinda rules. and the cheese door knocker. the dairy-only buffet table. vlad still got rich, just on being the New Dairy King. (Assuming that means he owns a lot of dairy businesses?) ok! this actually is great. hope maddie isn't lactose intolerant!

-'no matter how hard I tried, I could never get rid of my ghost half, the half I knew Maddie could never accept' ohh, ouch, what a horrible thing to say to her HALF GHOST SON. 'YOUR MOM WILL NEVER ACCEPT YOU' BASICALLY.

-maddie strapping danny to the table with a lazer pointed at him in a secret lab she keeps from vlad that she makes a point of saying is sound proof so he can scream all he wants...CHRIST. DANNYS POOR PYSCHE.

-also, not to feel bad for alternate vlad (because, he did lie to maddie saying jack blames her and never wants to see her again...) but. being married to a woman 20+ years and she immediately goes back to jack? if she didnt love vlad and feels like she had to hide shit from him, and says she wasted her best years with him, WHY MARRY HIM. it feels like leading him on!!! cannot believe im feeling bad for vlad, but. this alternate timeline vlad is significantly Less Horrible than Our Vlad. did she not think she'd get funding for her ghost stuff? (which, fair assumption since they're considered 'ghost fanatics/nuts in canon...but...) why did she think jack or vlad would be her ONLY OPTIONS? be like your sister. be single. Actually, this au could’ve been really interesting if after the accident, vlad lied to her and said jack never wanted to see her again, but she stays single. Imagine how much that would bug vlad… like, in her mind, it was never a competition it was jack or no one type situation…

-danny being like 'leave him ALONE' this jack is a HOMEWRECKER, DANNY. let them go to court and settle this at the least. ...or just throw vlad into the portal. (100% human, defenseless vlad) CHRIST, MADDIE THATS BRUTAL. THATS MURDER.

-danny seeing his mom immediately accepting him and his dad being half ghosts in this universe, if I was him this would be a great sign that his universe's maddie would also.

-*maddie voice* "clockwork will help!" *2 seconds later, with clockwork* "I will Not Help." TOUGH LOVE KING. YES LET DANNY SEE THE SODA HIMSELF AND DEVOLP BETTER OBSERVATION SKILLS.

-when clockwork ""reset time to the way it was"" just before danny "meddled"" ...did he really erase a whole alternate timeline? ...damn. because maddie and danny both called it an alternate timeline by name, it splitting when the college incident went different, so it wouldnt have really mattered if he reset it, right. like because danny's timeline is on a different stream? why didnt clockwork just. show danny a replay and not Reset That Timeline. wh...I wonder how many people that Erased From Existence. Anyway! once again stating clockwork is casually terrifying!

#danny phantom #dp thoughts #sanchoyorambles

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aikoiya · 3 years ago

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Perspective on Crossdressing

I gotta say, I'm not really attracted to men crossdressing. I guess I just think it looks weird, they don't fill out the clothes the right ways for it to look right to me or something.

Like, sure! Dress however you want if that's what makes you comfortable! I'm just saying, it's not attractive to me.

I do think men look good in booty shorts, or a panty/lacey assless jockstrap/sissy pouch, garter, high sock/sheer stocking combo. Or even just the sheer high stockings. No bra. A bra doesn't look right on such a flat chest. Maybe a harness instead. Or nipple piercings...

No heels though. Then again, that could partially be because I don't enjoy wearing heels myself (fuckin' deathtraps) & tend to just walk around my house barefoot if I can help it. I suppose I could give the heels a pass...

For that matter, we need playgirl rabbits. Like, straight guys & lesbians get to have pictures of women dressed as playboy bunnies. What about gay guys & us straight girls getting cute boys dressed like sexy butler rabbit strippers? Like, whenever I look for one, they're usually just dressed in the typical playboy bunny leotard & fishnets & I just... It puts the wind outta my sails, I guess.

I have this image in my head of a nicely chiseled guy in a black waist coat & jockstrap booty shorts with a tie or bowtie & those weird cuffs & collar things that act as accessories instead of being part of an actual shirt. No dress shirt underneath the waist coat. Then add the ears & the tail. That'd be cute & sexy!

Also, I'd like to see a male sailor scout outfit. I see a lot of people just put guys in the standard sailor scout uniform &, this isn't even about attractiveness anymore. I just find it lazy.

Like, why not redesign the old sailor boy outfit to make it more modern & sexy & use that as the base? It'd be more interesting than just putting them in skirts. Which, again, feels lazy.

I mean, the gender inequality in fan service is amazing! Everyone talks about pay gap & the objectification of women & how the patriarchy is bad & meh meh-meh meh-meh, but no one talks about how it affects the lives of weaboos & anime fans! Where's the artistic representations of men in compromising positions? Where's the male pin-up & sexy poses!?

Like, not mentioning Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Jojo's doin' just fine on that front.

I guess that I find masculinity in my men sexy is what I'm saying? I've just never been into sissification as a concept. Something about it just doesn't look right to me.

I mean, except in cases where it's just a normally confidant, muscular, strong man being shy or getting dominated by a woman. That just... Hooo... Yeah, that's the stuff...

But no sissification beyond that! *clears throat nervously*

No hate for those who do enjoy that sort of thing. To each their own. It's just not my thing.

#unpopular opinion #crossdressing #fan service #gender equality

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fantroll-purgatory · 7 years ago

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@plumb1tes

(The image was made by me)

It’s a real good image. I want to let you know from the beginning of this review that CD and I have both been raving about what a good troll Charyl is from the second she set (prosthetic) foot in our inbox. She’s so so creepy and we both love her so much.

FIRST: Alternia, and she’s closer to being in the Hiveswap setting then the Hivebent one.

I think given our current info re: Hiveswap all that tells us is that she is living before Feferi was hatched.

Name (preferably include how you came up with it and why): Charyl (derived from one of the Deathstalker scorpion’s venom known to cause paralysis) Thytue (from a genus of scorpion called ‘Tityus’)

Age: 7.85 sweeps

Strife Specibus: Needlekind (the sewing kind)

I like it, especially since you can also swap it with the hypodermic kind. If I may suggest another option, maybe stringkind? She could use anything from silly string (comedic), to thread (thematic), to fishing line (deadly).

Fetch Modus: I can never think of a good one, lol.

I have two for you! The first is a simple SINGING MODUS based off Singer sewing machines.

The second is a CLAW CRANE MODUS like the ones you see in arcades and are invariably rigged to some extent. I like this for a few reasons:

1) it harkens back to her toy theme which is present throughout her bio, and

2) you could have the “claw” of this modus be her limp doll hand, which would just look so creepy.

Blood color: Cerulean,

Symbol and meaning: Scorrius, sign of the cunning (Hope + Derse)

We’ll get to that later in your bio!

Trolltag: tetraplegicTrinket (it’s referring to her dolls, which are trolls that are essentially permanently paralyzed, and she dolls them up)

It’s a good name! If you want to alter it slightly you can go for quadriplegicTinkerer so her abbreviation can be QT.

Quirk: Sh3 tr13s to 1ncoporat3 h3r s1gn 1n h3r sp33ch! (i want to find something that suits her better, if you have any suggestions!)

|-|-|-|- H(::)w about that she begins and ends her sentences with f(::)ur stitches and replaces “o” with (::)? -|-|-|-|

|-|-|-|- B(::)th as a d(::)llmaker and as s(::)me(::)ne with bifurcated visi(::)n eightf(::)ld? -|-|-|-|

|-|-|-|- Als(::) it mimics the cutesy way s(::)me l(::)lita girls talk by making their (::)’s r(::)under -|-|-|-|

Special Abilities (if any): Vision eightfold, with it being split to both her eyeballs, to appear like buttons, going along with her doll-like theme. It doesn’t really do much for her.

I mean tbh that holds up. We don’t know how much of Vriska’s own abilities were from her vision eightfold, her psychic mutation, or her eventual role as a Thief of Light. The girl had a lot of stuff going on.

Lusus: ScorpionMom, a giant scorpion that paralyzes Charyl’s dolls for her with her giant stinger. She also eats the trolls that die after being turned into dolls. Charyl also laces her needles with her lusus’s poison, to kidnap trolls she finds fit for being turned into dolls. Their relationship is pretty good, all things considered, though ScorpionMom keeps to herself, most of the time. This adds on to Charyl’s feeling of isolation.

I think this is oddly permissive for a ceruleanblood lusus; while Vriska’s Spidermom was obviously an extreme case, it seems that bigger lusii generally need to get fed, and will not necessarily take kindly to their ward dangling almost-available food in front of them while they finish playing with it. I think it makes more sense that Charyl uses her lusus’s poison to paralyze (and eventually kill) her victims where Scorpionmom’s full sting would out-and-out kill a troll. It can still play into her isolation because she’ll need to work to keep away from her mom while her doll is still alive, and it still gives her an easy method of getting rid of the bodies.

Apperance: She is a tall troll, around 5’9, and rather thin. Charyl has vision eightfold, though split, and makes her eyes look like buttons. She styles her hair into two long twintails, and a bow wrapped around her horn that has her symbol on it. Charyl dresses in gothic trollita garb, which is mostly made by herself, consisting of a black, frilly dress with a cerulean bow, and mary janes, and knee-high socks.

GOTHIC TROLLITA. HOLY SHIT I LOVE IT.

Charyl is a quadruple amputee, from an accident where one of her dolls, a fellow cerulean blood, was under-dosed, and managed to mind control Charyl into breaking and contorting her own limbs, as a way of revenge. The cerulean blood escaped, and Charyl managed to recover from the life-threatening experience. She managed to take some rather large doll parts, and fashion them into workable replacement limbs with the help of an acquaintance experienced in robotics.

Hm. So I like the premise of this a lot. With that said, do we have evidence that psychic cerlueanbloods can influence their peers? After all, part of what makes them so dangerous is that they have psychic abilities on par with a lowblood sans their requisite vulnerabilities. If I may suggest a different scenario with a similar outcome, perhaps an indigoblood with a particularly STRONG immune system failed to succumb to the poison in the expected timeframe and overcame her with their remaining strength. This could spur her distaste for kidnapping highbloods and still leave her disabled.

Personality: She’s pretty bubbly and energetic, and quite motherly. Sometimes she wishes she were a jadeblood so she could take care of a wriggler. She also treats her dolls (both living and nonliving), like her children, loving to dress them up and take care of their needs. However she is also very controlling, and is quite uncomfortable whenever she isn’t able to offer her opinion, or do things how she wants.

She’s pretty spoiled from her highblood upbringing, but is equally friendly to both highbloods and lowbloods, due to her not caring about the hemospectrum that much (though she turns more lowbloods into her dolls than highbloods, due to them being easier to abduct). Charyl is a lonely troll, and uses her dolls as a way to not feel as alone as she does, due to her lack of friends outside of the ones she meets online.

Yeah kidnapping lowbloods sure is easier when everything about the hemospectrum makes them easier to kill huh?

Due to the experience with the cerulean blood (which is one of the reasons why she prefers lowbloods for her dolls), she hardly leaves her hive, aside from going outside to find new victims. She is also socially awkward, and prefers the company of her dolls, mostly due to not fearing the social apprehension she feels when interacting with highbloods.

Interests: Charyl absolutely loves fashion, especially gothic trollita clothes. She likes sewing, and making her own dresses and accessories, for herself, and also her dolls.

If it wasn’t obvious, she also is obsessed with dolls, though her favorite type are the trolls she kidnaps, and permanently paralyze with her lusus’s poison. Most are unable to speak, and eventually die to the poison. Charyl dotes on them, dressing them up and taking care of their needs. She has a rather large collection of both living and nonliving dolls.

Charyl also likes playing doctor, though treats “patients” through the process of bloodletting, with the same needles she uses for her sewing.

Title: (got any suggestions?)

I do, because I don’t think she’s actually a Hope player. I mean if we wanted to stay on that track she’d be more likely to be a Rage player because her whole schtick is narrowing her own and others’ options, and I could make arguments for her being a Life or a Doom player, buuuuut.

You’ve made her bio one that’s very Of Things. She likes having material things, whether they’re bodies or dolls or clothes. And her hobby of kidnapping real, actual trolls to turn them into dolls is technically a form of recycling and of creativity.

Basically, she’s a fucked-up kind of Space player. More specifically, she’s a Thief of Space, which is GREAT because she’s like if Kanaya and Vriska had a creepy and fashionable lovechild, ESPECIALLY given that you said she sometimes wishes she was a jadeblood!

Her inverse would be a Page of Time, which I think kind of works given that she’s effectively fucking with others’ time both by freezing their progress and by dramatically shortening their lives!

Land: Doesn’t have one yet! Still on the fence on if she’ll actually play sburb or not

That’s fine! For the sake of argument let’s say her land is Land of Chloroform and Frogs (LOCAF). All these frogs just floating in chloroform. Maybe some of them are splayed out like an anatomical diagram. Maybe some of them have been taxidermied. Many of them will be dissected like a high school bio unit. It’ll certainly make it easy to see which frog have the anatomical traits you want in the future Bilious Slick. The Land probably isn’t even safe to traverse without a gas mask given how damn fast the stuff works. It’s macabre and fits really well with how Space players’ frogs tend to be frozen in time in some manner.

Dream Planet: Derse

I definitely agree that she’s a Dersite given how much she seems to be in her head. With that, she’s a Scorga, sign of the Deviser, which sufficiently vague that I guess it works?

…Oh MAN I just looked that one up and the fuckin’ arrow tail looks like a scorpion poised to strike! It’s perfect for her!

Thanks again!

Thank YOU for this creepy creepy lady! My redesign will be very very minimal but HOO BOY did I have fun making her sprite!

This is gonna come with my requisite list of credits especially because I do not have a tablet and had no goddamn idea where to start with spriting her dress. That base is from deviantart user Thefantrolls and was then heavily edited to match your picture. The horns are straight-up Vriska’s, the bow is from naphal, and the hair was made by compositing like 4 different fan-troll templates.

For the redesign, I used a prosthetic base by hmnj to make it a little more obvious that her legs are prosthetic while maintaining the doll aesthetic. For the hair I wanted to do the scorpion callback but didn’t want to do anything as obvious as the stinger braid (especially since it might lose the lolita aesthetic), so I took a note from Gothorita’s design and tried to give her scorpion claw buns?

Anyway thank you again for this scary scary woman I can’t wait to see her in action.

-TR

#plumb1tes #charyl thytue #charyl #thytue #ceruleanblood #review #redesign #tr review #submission

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attract-mode-collective · 7 years ago

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Ready To Wear, Ready To Play

As previously noted, there’s been yet another change in direction for the Attract Mode blog… which I have dubbed Version 2.8 Final CE EX Λ Core Plus Alpha. BTW/FYI. But yeah, been posting on Twitter, a lot. So much so that you may have missed something, so here’s a recap!

Note: was originally going to cover everything tweeted throughout the month, but because there’s so much to cover (and February’s short)… am guessing bi-weekly might be the way to go. Am also going to present things mostly in order.

K, enough chatter: at the very top is another fine example of a Famicom being the ultimate in fashion accessory (via nintendu). And here we have, not designer threads but designer plastic (via gamefreaksnz)...

Speaking of plastic, Sega (or someone who got Sega’s blessing, or maybe not even) made Super Monkey Ball figures? Guess so (via magimacaque)...

I was under the belief that, if I truly wanted to make an impact with the relaunch of the Attract Mode Twitter, I couldn’t just post one single piece of Klonoa fan art, but two...

And I only have one example of Cuphead fan art, but it’s the one that counts (via jothelion)...

It was Kyle who helped kick the Attract Mode Twitter’s rebirth into high gear, with the reveal of his Nintendo Power covers. So to help replay the favor, I must insistent that everyone purchase the hard copy of RPG_Friends (which I first mentioned here)...

Nothing makes me happier than seeing such a dense assortment of Japanese game stuffs (via peazy86)...

... Yet that being said, I also believe less can be more, plus a nice breeze while playing Secret of Mana is... well... nice (via sixteen-bit.tumblr)

These gamer chairs perfectly embody Japanese sensibilities when it comes to furniture, plus are a total 180 to the junk they peddle in the US (via shmups)...

Time for another excellent toco toco vid, this one features your fave old school Capcom illustrator, and mine, Akiman…

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There's so much I love about this interview with the creator of Hong Kong 1997, whose goal was "to make the worst game possible”. Though this picture of the guy is near the top of my list...

I love these kooky kids, thinking they could possibly get away with stealing an entire Final Fight arcade cab (via videogamead)...

Yeah, I feel the same way kid (via tvgame)...

"This is Jesus. He lives inside my Neo Geo MVS cabinet. He was there when I got it. He is glorious." (via arcadephile)...

The pathos that is Sub Zero at the bat, in four modded screenshots(via lanceboyles)...

The pathos that is the Kachō interacting with kids, in just three YouTube screengrabs (via gaijira)...

And the pathos that is Splatoon 2, via two screengrabs and the piece of fan art that resulted (via lunaticobscurity)...

Though in addition to pathos, Splatoon is also filled to the brim with intensity (via thewaragainstgiygas)...

Welcome to VIOLENT CITY (via shmups)...

Also, STAY CHILL (via paperbeatsscissors)...

Not that any band in which music is performed via guitars hooked up to Famicoms is all that typical to being with, but this one is most definitely not typical (via miki800.com)...

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This "what the hell is going on exactly" illustration has motivated me to finally Wario Land a spin at long last (via it8bit)...

Remember Absolutely Rose Street, the Beverly Hills 90210 meets Degrassi meets Wayne’s World-esque show that was actually an infomercial for the Sega 32X in disguise that I wrote about a little whiles ago? Well here's ad for it (via oldgamemags)...

I'm a total sucker for old Japanese video game mags, primarily ones featuring models/statues on the cover (via miki800)...

Another cover to an old Japanese game rag, this one featuring the very first Metal Gear; I wonder if this slightly cutesy take helped to inspire the Metal Gear we meet in Snatcher (via mendelpalace)...

Here we have a page from an 11 page comic, done in a single sitting, for an event that celebrates various pairings of Solid Snake/Otacon, one that's called Snot Week for whatever reason (via millionfish)...

I want this woman to be my mom (via cyberfights)...

Am obsessed with this image of a man playing Xevious in the middle of a desert that's clearly fabricated and clearly from the 80s (via shmups)...

mendelpalace sez: "This picture gives me anxiety" and I feel exactly the same...

This is comparable to my own morning commute, except for the lack of floating cherry blossom petals and various other differences (via tightenupthe)...

Spring is almost here, which means it's time for a new wardrobe, which really means it's time to get new PaRappa attire (via miki800.com)...

If a glitched Nintendo logo when booting up a Game Boy looks fashionable to you, you're in luck (via gameandgraphics)...

Tho if a glitched Game Boy Advance start up is more your style (via corruptionasart)...

Has anyone received this Mega Drive/Genesis chiptune album on a cart (described as a "16-bit VMU") yet? (via catskullelectronics)

Ever wonder what a 3 part symphony, one performed via 5 different Nintendo DSs and 5 different copies of Electroplankton, sounds like? Well wonder no more (via mendelpalace)...

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And ever wonder what an Italian-based, US-born R&B, blues and disco singer (which is how Wikipedia describes Ronnie Jones) thought of video games in the year 1980? Again, wonder no more (via aestheticoftheday)...

youtube

The new DDR, which will record your performance and also add snazzy video effects, is my early contender for GOTY 2018 (via @Sega_AM2)...

youtube

I will never grow tired or bored of watching this run cycle, ever (via shmups)...

What appears to be a Nier motion study (via sixteen-bit)...

Sakura-ha (via rosscountertv)..

To commemorate the discontinuation of the Kinect sensor (via prostheticknowledge)...

Google Translate took the original Korean & translated it as: "Ittsumi! Maria", which @NotLikeFreddy re-translated as: "It's-a me, Mary-o"...

The medium of video games most certainly has many mountains to overcome yet, but there's little denying that we've made some progress nonetheless (via videofame)...

"I have to go now. My planet needs me.” (via sixteen-bit)...

Cuz it's been a while since I shared a gif from Sin & Punishment (via n64thstreet)...

The SNES & Genesis had cool accessories and all, yet I often wonder what it would have been like if 3D printers & Etsy were around back then...

Pretty much the cutest lil thing you'll see all day is this Genesis CDX hooked up to a 5″ Sony PVM (via decideweapons)...

“'Club Sega during the Snow' is a top-tier aesthetic, I think." (via pr0jectneedlemouse)

I love old VG sound team photos, especially when they double as old band photos, like Capcom's Alph Lyra here (via videogamesdensetsu)...

You all have no idea how happy I am to finally see a decent sized version of the flyer for Deadly Sport... again, no idea (via melvanainchains)...

Here's an illustration of Terry Bogard eating a hot dog (with the rest of his Fatal Fury posse chowing down as well)...

... Turns out, Terry's affinity for hot dogs is somewhat of a thing (via busterwolf)....

... Or, perhaps SNK as a whole are simply huge fans of hot dogs? (via meldowiseau)

I absolutely love this familiar, yet thoroughly refreshing take on Samus (via lady--peaches)...

And nothing new to report, as it pertains to @deimosremus's Metroid redesign, so am just going to continue staring at this some more...

Love Hultén is mostly known for their handheld creations, like the Pixel Vision, though I mostly dig their full-sized cabinet, the Kabin 1...

"Damn Tecmo never let Microsoft live that design down" (via sixteen-bit)...

Cuz I recently began replaying Breath of the Wild...got the Switch version for the gf on her birthday... some fan art (via it8bit)...

I've seen my fair share of comics with Sonic & Tails, but never one that addresses the debug mode from the original Genesis games (via vg-libary)...

Here we have two cats, from the game Jingle Cats, occupied with the fridge (via obscurevideogames)...

And here we have just one cat, from the Sailor Moon anime, occupied with an arcade game that I am unable to identify (via sailormoonreblogs)...

Can you believe the music video for @MissyElliott's Sock It 2 Me is over 20 years old? Crazy, I know...

Speaking of Mega Man, I guess I need to finally check out Mega Man Zero, cuz apparently X goes through some kind of religious conversion or something (via omnilunary)...

And here we have Cut Man, the one we all know (and love) from Mega Man meeting his Captain N doppelganger (via mewymarsher)...

I absolutely need this on a shirt or jacket (via @buzz_clik)...

It's always a thrill, seeing a fighting stick made out of tupperware in the wild for the very first time, isn't it? (via @silva_hime)

Yes. Fighting Layer is that game in which you jump off a folding chair to smash another one on the head of a gigantic falcon (via lordmo)...

Tonight’s episode: PINBALL ALCHEMIST (via tonights-episode)...

Here we have a Tumblr thread giving suggestions on how to access a seemingly inaccessible area of a hotel lobby; my fave, for perhaps obvious reasons, is the ring path/light speed dash combo from Sonic Adventure...

Am kinda hungry atm and feel like slicing & dicing some celery & onions, plus making some Julienne Fries; anyone got a copy of Sonic 2 handy? (via sonicthehedgeblog)

A. thanks to this fan art, I now know you can also play OutRun in Hokuto no Ken PS4! & B. great piece & all, but...still a shame that Alex Kidd is missing (via inspiredfatty)...

I've legit been staring at these rotating NES and SNES gifs all day long (via 3d-bear)...

These photos from the Dreamcast Mobile Assault Tour, circa the late 90s, right before the system's launch are very... and I mean VERY... 90s (via posthumanwanderings)...

"What will your next dream be?" (via 081594)

You know that UK/US reality show Undercover Boss, in which a billionaire CEO disguises himself as the new mailroom guy? Well there's apparently a version in Japan, with an episode starring the president of Taito (via @MMCafe_Prof)...

On Valentine's Day I came across a horror movies blog that presented various horror movie Valentines, including one for Jason Voorhees that references Friday The 13th for NES (via cameraviscera.com)...

Also, for Valentine's, my girlfriend made me pixelated chocolate; the pic does the blue hearts in particular zero justice, which look like plastic toys, but most assuredly are made of milk chocolate...

... And that’s it for now! The rest of February coming up in a few!

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jodybouchard9 · 6 years ago

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How to Decorate a Coffee Table So It Reveals the Real You

istock

Wondering how to decorate a coffee table? You may have already learned that figuring out exactly what to put on your table is tougher than it looks. For one, it sits smack in the middle of the room, which means it’s on full view—so allowing this spot to become a repository for newspapers, junk mail, and the dog’s leash makes your whole living room look like a mess.

Style a coffee table right, though, and it can be a real statement piece. “Make it personal, because this space actually says a lot about the type of person you are,” says Anna Brockway, co-founder of furniture design site Chairish.

So what should you place on your coffee table? “I don’t believe in ‘shoulds’ here, just pick a few things for your coffee table that bring you joy and please the senses,” states Julie Coraccio, the organizing voice at Reawaken Your Brilliance.

To help, here are nine style tips that’ll help you achieve coffee table nirvana.

1. Consider your lifestyle

Photo by FLAT15

First off, consider your home life before attempting to declutter and then style this piece. If you have an energetic Border Collie who likes to herd your twin toddlers at top speed through the living room, an orchid and a glass bowl aren’t going to survive.

2. Think seasonally

Photo by DKOR Interiors Inc.

Let the weather be your guide. “Swap decor items seasonally, with a bowl of gourds in autumn, a large shell in the summer and springtime flowers when they’re in bloom,” suggests Jamie Novak, author of “Keep This Toss That.” Holidays are another easy theme to hit on the coffee table (mini pumpkins around Halloween and a basket of shiny ornaments at Christmas). “And try to incorporate a conversation starter or a small game that can be picked up and played with,” she says.

3. Aim for balance

Photo by Nichole Loiacono Design

Look to your surroundings for style hints, contrasting heavy, dark furniture with an airy tableau or white couches with a more grounded look, explains Novak. Strive for an odd number of items (a book, a vase of flowers, a small piece of art) as this arrangement is visually interesting, without looking cluttered.

And remember to add height as part of your design—a flat look is boring. “Three levels are ideal, with 3 to 5 inches of variation between each,” notes Novak. You can stack books to reach the height you want, but know that more items can end up messy. A well-balanced, beautiful look combines something boxy (books, a tray), something sculptural (bowl, a statuette) and an item with height, like flowers or candlesticks.

4. Add souvenirs from your travels

Photo by Jerry Jacobs Design, Inc.

A souvenir brought back from an exotic locale is an ideal coffee table addition. One look at your coffee table can tell a visitor where you’ve been—and serve as an instant conversation starter.

5. Leave negative space

Photo by Ruby Shoes Redesign

If you have the real estate, just decorate half of your coffee table, suggests Novak, as you’ll reduce the risk of clutter on top and you’ll gain room for function (cocktails!). And try to keep your look on the spare side. “It’s your home, not an accessories store—and the vignette will feel curated and elevated if there’s negative space around each item,” says Brockway.

6. Corral items with a tray

Photo by Jute Interior Design

Jump on the tray theme and use one to keep small items in order. You can match the tray to your coffee table or add a contrasting pop of color. Lucite or acrylic are easy-care and wipe clean. Edit your look frequently, even weekly, and don’t be afraid to change things up. “You’ll be spending a lot of time looking at this area, so make it inspiring,” says Brockway.

7. Keep it fresh

Photo by Neila Hutt Interior Design

No droopy plants or flowers sitting in dirty water, please. And while faux plants are fine if you’ve got kids who might topple them, the real deal is better. Keep your candles tidy, too. “Nothing is more depressing than a dusty, half-used candle or hardened wax on your tray or table,” points out Brockway. Buy a silver topper to cover the candle when not in use and take a blow dryer to the wax spots to soften and then wipe them away.

8. Make books the star

Photo by

Art books are a natural coffee table solution, as they’re easy to stack and straighten. You might also open one to display an interesting page.

9. Banish paperwork (and feet!)

Photo by STEPHEN FLETCHER ARCHITECTS

What shouldn’t go on this table? Anything valuable, of course, lest it break, and no magazines (they’ll slide off and can look cluttered). Nix old mail, the kids’ homework—and people’s feet, too (a coffee table isn’t a footrest). “If your family likes to prop up their feet, replace this piece with an ottoman,” says Brockway.

The post How to Decorate a Coffee Table So It Reveals the Real You appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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arplis · 5 years ago

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Arplis - News: Eufy Security Cameras Are the Most Affordable Way to Beef up Home Security in 2020

There are a ton of security cameras on the market these days, many of which charge monthly fees for you to access your own security camera recordings. My favorite thing about eufy Security is that their devices have excellent features and great quality video without charging cloud fees since all of your data is stored locally.

EufyCam 2 system

The fine folks at eufy were kind enough to send us a sampling of their latest security cameras to install around our house for testing. eufy sent their Video Doorbell, their Smart Floodlight with Camera, as well as their brand new, updated eufyCam 2 home security camera system. The combination of these cameras allowed us to keep an eye on our entire property within one single app, the eufy Security app.

The Video Doorbell covers the front door and front yard, the Smart Floodlight covers the driveway and side front yard, while the two eufyCam 2 cameras cover the backyard and the other side yard. These cameras replaced Ring cameras that we had previously been paying $30/year for the privilege of accessing our recordings.

EufyCam 2 Accessories

The beauty of the eufyCam 2 system is that the cameras connect to the base station, which resides within the house and is connected via ethernet to our network. The base station maintains the video storage on microSD to keep it both safe and local so that theres no need for eufy to maintain cloud servers. You may remember our previous review on the original eufyCam system, so well mainly go over the upgrades in the second iteration of the system.

The back of the EufyCam 2 base station

The EufyCam 2 up close and personal

The major eufyCam 2 features include:

Integration with Apple HomeKit Secure Video (coming soon via update)

16GB of safe, local storage inside the home base

Cameras feature 1 year of battery life

Integration with Google Assistant and Alexa

Human detection alert

IP67 waterproof cameras

Night Vision

The biggest highlight in terms of upgrades from the first iteration is the integration with Apple HomeKit Secure Video. This gives iOS users an extra level of usability and security as well as allowing users to utilize Siri to stream live video to their iPhone or iPad. The home base has been redesigned to have a smaller footprint without losing any features.

The cameras maintain their aesthetic design as well as their fantastic features, including incredible 1-year battery life and excellent video quality. Night vision looks great and provides great clarity for those late-night recordings. The eufyCam 2 is a great option for security camera installations where you dont have an existing power source. You can get yours from Amazon for around $297.49 for a 2-camera set.

The eufy Video Doorbell is a fantastic option for those who want to upgrade an existing wired doorbell. Just like all of eufys security cameras, it features local storage so you dont have to pay for cloud storage fees. The list of eufy Video Doorbell features include:

2K HD resolution

4GB local storage

160-degree wide-angle view

IP65 weatherproof

Human detection

Ability to pre-record a common response

Works with Google Assistant and Alexa

The Video Doorbell is easy to install as long as you understand basic electrical work. After turning off the electrical circuit, you disconnect your existing doorbell and connect two wires to the eufy Video Doorbell. The Video Doorbell even comes with a couple different angled mounts to ensure you get the best possible view with your new doorbell cam.

Eufys Video Doorbell notifies you when it sees a person, but ignores things like dogs, deer, etc. The clarity of the video recordings is really good and makes it easy to see whos at your door, whether its night or day. The Video Doorbell has an HDR feature that ensures you get clear video even when theres bright backlighting, which is great for our situation because we often have the sun facing our door. We would sometimes get false alerts for shapes that look like a person, so the AI isnt perfect, but it gets it right 95% of the time.

Unlike its competitors, the eufy Video Doorbell comes with a plug-in speaker in the box that alerts you to someone ringing the doorbell in the house. Similar to Rings Chime device, the Video Doorbell chime plugs directly into a household outlet and syncs simply and easily with your doorbell. Its perfect if you have a babysitter watching the kids but dont want to share access to the eufy Security app with them. You can change the volume of the ring within the eufy Security app.

The 4GB of local storage is located inside the doorbell itself, which honestly does not feel as secure as the eufyCam 2 systems storage. My concern is what would happen if someone with malicious intent destroys the Video Doorbell with a hammer. Will you still be able to access the recordings if the doorbell itself is destroyed or even just offline due to damage? With the eufyCam 2, the storage is located in the home base, which is inside your house, so even if your eufyCam 2 camera is destroyed, youll still be able to access the recordings.

The last (but not least) security camera that I installed was the Smart Floodlight with Camera, which is exactly what it sounds like. It replaces an existing floodlight and adds security camera functionality, which extremely convenient, since you already have power there. Similar to the Video Doorbell, you simply hook up the two wires, plus ground wire, and youre pretty much set. Install was a breeze thanks to eufy having the foresight to include a metal hanger that allowed me to hang the floodlight while I was connecting the wires while standing at the top of a ladder.

The direction of the LED lights are totally adjustable, however, the camera is less so. The LED lights are super-bright and were a huge improvement over our previous metal halide lamps. They make it look almost like daylight out on our driveway at night. The video and audio quality is what Id come to expect from eufy; crystal clear. You can customize the motion sensitivity and even put it in motion test mode where you can walk up the driveway and the status LED will blink when it detects motion so you know its set properly. The video storage is local to the Smart Floodlight with Camera, which features 1080p quality video with the ability for 2-way audio.

Within the eufy Security app, youve got a ton of customization options. You can choose the areas in which you want activity notifications on each camera, you can change the sensitivity of the motion alerts, and on the eufyCam 2 cameras, you can actually have it ignore anything other than humans. You can also choose the interval between motion alerts, grant other people access to the cameras, like your spouse, and a lot more. The eufy Security app is fully featured and great for keeping track of your homes security.

You can purchase your eufy security cameras directly from eufy or from Amazon.com [affiliate link].

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: Great mobile app; Simple, intelligent alerts; Human detection on some cameras; Free local storage, no cloud storage fees; Easy installation; Crystal clear audio and video

What Needs Improvement: Nothing I could find, though Im concerned the local storage in the Smart Floodlight and Video Doorbell could be damaged, therefore destroying the evidence

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/eufy-security-cameras-are-the-most-affordable-way-to-beef-up-home-security-in-2020

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josephlrushing · 5 years ago

Text

Eufy Security Cameras Are the Most Affordable Way to Beef up Home Security in 2020

EufyCam 2 system

EufyCam 2 Accessories

The beauty of the eufyCam 2 system is that the cameras connect to the base station, which resides within the house and is connected via ethernet to our network. The base station maintains the video storage on microSD to keep it both safe and local so that there’s no need for eufy to maintain cloud servers. You may remember our previous review on the original eufyCam system, so we’ll mainly go over the upgrades in the second iteration of the system.

The back of the EufyCam 2 base station

The EufyCam 2 up close and personal

The major eufyCam 2 features include:

Integration with Apple HomeKit Secure Video (coming soon via update)

16GB of safe, local storage inside the home base

Cameras feature 1 year of battery life

Integration with Google Assistant and Alexa

Human detection alert

IP67 waterproof cameras

Night Vision

The cameras maintain their aesthetic design as well as their fantastic features, including incredible 1-year battery life and excellent video quality. Night vision looks great and provides great clarity for those late-night recordings. The eufyCam 2 is a great option for security camera installations where you don’t have an existing power source. You can get yours from Amazon for around $297.49 for a 2-camera set.

The eufy Video Doorbell is a fantastic option for those who want to upgrade an existing wired doorbell. Just like all of eufy’s security cameras, it features local storage so you don’t have to pay for cloud storage fees. The list of eufy Video Doorbell features include:

2K HD resolution

4GB local storage

160-degree wide-angle view

IP65 weatherproof

Human detection

Ability to pre-record a common response

Works with Google Assistant and Alexa

Eufy’s Video Doorbell notifies you when it sees a person, but ignores things like dogs, deer, etc. The clarity of the video recordings is really good and makes it easy to see who’s at your door, whether its night or day. The Video Doorbell has an HDR feature that ensures you get clear video even when there’s bright backlighting, which is great for our situation because we often have the sun facing our door. We would sometimes get false alerts for shapes that look like a person, so the AI isn’t perfect, but it gets it right 95% of the time.

Unlike its competitors, the eufy Video Doorbell comes with a plug-in speaker in the box that alerts you to someone ringing the doorbell in the house. Similar to Ring’s Chime device, the Video Doorbell chime plugs directly into a household outlet and syncs simply and easily with your doorbell. It’s perfect if you have a babysitter watching the kids but don’t want to share access to the eufy Security app with them. You can change the volume of the ring within the eufy Security app.

The 4GB of local storage is located inside the doorbell itself, which honestly does not feel as secure as the eufyCam 2 system’s storage. My concern is what would happen if someone with malicious intent destroys the Video Doorbell with a hammer. Will you still be able to access the recordings if the doorbell itself is destroyed or even just offline due to damage? With the eufyCam 2, the storage is located in the home base, which is inside your house, so even if your eufyCam 2 camera is destroyed, you’ll still be able to access the recordings.

The last (but not least) security camera that I installed was the Smart Floodlight with Camera, which is exactly what it sounds like. It replaces an existing floodlight and adds security camera functionality, which extremely convenient, since you already have power there. Similar to the Video Doorbell, you simply hook up the two wires, plus ground wire, and you’re pretty much set. Install was a breeze thanks to eufy having the foresight to include a metal hanger that allowed me to hang the floodlight while I was connecting the wires while standing at the top of a ladder.

The direction of the LED lights are totally adjustable, however, the camera is less so. The LED lights are super-bright and were a huge improvement over our previous metal halide lamps. They make it look almost like daylight out on our driveway at night. The video and audio quality is what I’d come to expect from eufy; crystal clear. You can customize the motion sensitivity and even put it in “motion test mode” where you can walk up the driveway and the status LED will blink when it detects motion so you know its set properly. The video storage is local to the Smart Floodlight with Camera, which features 1080p quality video with the ability for 2-way audio.

Within the eufy Security app, you’ve got a ton of customization options. You can choose the areas in which you want activity notifications on each camera, you can change the sensitivity of the motion alerts, and on the eufyCam 2 cameras, you can actually have it ignore anything other than humans. You can also choose the interval between motion alerts, grant other people access to the cameras, like your spouse, and a lot more. The eufy Security app is fully featured and great for keeping track of your home’s security.

You can purchase your eufy security cameras directly from eufy or from Amazon.com [affiliate link].

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: Great mobile app; Simple, intelligent alerts; Human detection on some cameras; Free local storage, no cloud storage fees; Easy installation; Crystal clear audio and video

What Needs Improvement: Nothing I could find, though I’m concerned the local storage in the Smart Floodlight and Video Doorbell could be damaged, therefore destroying the evidence

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/01/13/eufy-security-cameras-are-the-most-affordable-way-to-beef-up-home-security-in-2020/

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technicalsolutions88 · 5 years ago

Link

Apple released iOS 13, the new major version of iOS. This isn’t a groundbreaking release that is going to change the way you use your phone. But Apple has done some tremendous work across the board to improve some low-level features as well as most Apple apps.

In many ways, iOS 13 feels like a quality-of-life update. In developer lingo, quality-of-life updates are all about refining things that already work. It helps you save a second here, do something more easily there.

I’m going to talk about many of those small refinements, but I want to focus on two things that are going to matter more than the rest — Dark Mode and Apple’s focus on privacy.

Dark Mode is here

At some point, smartphone manufacturers started making bigger phones. And if you don’t want to become blind at night, Dark Mode is a must. It took a while, but it is finally here and it looks great.

Dark Mode on iOS 13 is a system-wide trigger. You can activate it from the Settings app or by opening up the Control Center panel and long-pressing on the brightness indicator. And it completely transforms the look and feel of your iPhone.

While some third-party apps have been updated, many developers still have to release updates to make their apps work with this new setting. I hope in six months, you’ll be able to turn on Dark Mode and jump from one app to another without any white interface.

I would recommend turning on the automated mode in the settings. iOS uses your current location to time the change with sunset and sunrise — your iPhone goes dark at night and it lights up in the morning.

Dark Mode doesn’t just affect apps. Widgets, notifications and other buttons in the user interface become dark. Apple uses pure black, which looks great on OLED displays. And you can optionally dim your custom wallpapers at night.

The privacy hammer

Many geeks have tried iOS 13 over the summer. But it’s going to be a completely different story when tens of millions of people download it this fall. iOS 13 brings some much-needed changes on the privacy front, and it’s going to be nasty for some companies.

Apple is adding more ways to control your personal information. If an app needs your location for something, you can now grant access to your location just once. The app will have to ask for your permission the next time.

Similarly, iOS 13 can tell you when an app has been silently tracking your location in the background with a map of those data points.

Apple is shaming app developers directly by saying “This app has used 40 locations in the background in the past 2 days” and showing you a map. You can turn off location tracking directly in the popup. Facebook is already freaking out and wrote a blog post last week to tell you that it cares about your privacy.

iOS 13: Here are the new security and privacy features you need to know

iOS 13 also blocks Bluetooth scanning by default in all apps. Many apps scan for nearby Bluetooth accessories and compare that with a database of Bluetooth devices around the world. In other words, it’s a way to get your location even if you’re not sharing your location with this app.

You now get a standard permission popup for apps that actually need to scan for Bluetooth devices. Some apps actually need Bluetooth to communicated with connected devices, initiate peer-to-peer payments with nearby users, etc.

But the vast majority of them have been abusing Bluetooth scanning. To be clear, you can disable Bluetooth scanning and still use Bluetooth headphones. Audio will still be routed to your headphones just fine.

I hope many app developers will review the third-party SDKs that they use. Many ad-supported apps embed code from adtech companies. But they don’t always that those SDKs are hostile to your privacy.

Finally, Apple is adding “Sign In with Apple”. It is an alternative to “Sign In with Google” or “Sign In with Facebook”. Customers can choose whether or not to share their email address and developers get little personal data. It’s going to be interesting to see if it takes off.

Answers to your burning questions about how ‘Sign In with Apple’ works

Low-level improvements

There are a few changes at the operating system level. First, in addition to optimizations, animations have been slightly sped up. Swiping, opening and closing apps feels faster.

Second, the keyboard now supports swipe-to-type. If you’ve used Android phones or third-party keyboards in the past, you already know how it works. You can move your finger across the display from one letter to another without lifting it. It feels like magic.

Third, the share sheet has been updated. It is now separated in three areas: a top row with suggested contacts to send photos, links and more depending on your most important contacts.

Under that row of contacts, you get the usual row of app icons to open something in another app. If you scroll down, you access a long list of actions that vary from one app to another.

When it comes to automation, the Shortcuts is installed by default with iOS 13. Many people are going to discover Shortcuts for the first time by opening the app. Voice-activated Siri Shortcuts are now also available in the Shortcuts app.

More interestingly, you can now create automated triggers to launch a shortcut. For instance, you can create scenarios related to CarPlay, a location or even a cheap NFC tag. Here are some examples:

Launch a music playlist when I connect my phone to CarPlay or to my car using Bluetooth.

Dim my screen and turn on low power mode when I activate airplane mode.

Turn off my Philips Hue lights when I put my phone on an NFC sticker on my nightstand.

New app features

I’m going to go through some of the major changes in Apple’s apps.

Apple Arcade is here. You have to download iOS 13 to access it. I’ll let you read our first impressions in our separate article.

Photos has received some of the biggest improvements. The main tab has been completely redesigned. You now get four sub-tabs that lets you see a curated photo library.

In addition to ‘All Photos’, you can tap on ‘Years’ to jump straight to a specific year, ‘Months’ to see some smart albums based on dates and locations. You can then open those events. It’ll jump to the ‘Days’ tab and show you the best photos.

I’m not sure I like the wording of those sub-tabs, but it’s definitely a lot more efficient if you’re looking for an old photo from a few years.

Photo editing is also much better on iOS 13. It feels like you can do pretty much all the basic editing you’d do with a third-party app.

Maps is an interesting app. While Apple has been working on improved mapping data, it’s going to be hard to notice if you don’t live in California. But Look Around, a feature that works pretty much like Google Street View, is quite impressive. This isn’t just 360 photo shots — those are 3D representations of streets with foregrounds and backgrounds. I’d recommend finding a street in San Francisco and opening Look Around.

Messages now works a bit more like WhatsApp. By that, I mean that you can pick a profile name and picture and share those with your friends and family. Apple also tells you to use Memoji, but you can pick any photo. Search in Messages is also much better.

Health has been slightly redesigned. But the big addition is that you can track your menstrual cycles in the Health app. You don’t need to install any third-party app.

Reminders has gained some new features. There’s a quick toolbar to add times, dates, locations and more. You can indent items, create smart lists and more. To-do apps are highly personal, but I’m sure some people will like it.

Find My is the new name for Find My Phone and Find My Friends. Maybe you’ll be able to find your objects soon when Apple launches Tile-like trackers?

Mail, Notes and Safari received small improvements, such as rich-text editing in Mail, a gallery view in Notes, a new site settings popup in Safari to request the desktop site, disable a content blocker or enable reader view.

Files works with Samba file servers and you can zip/unzip files directly in the app — no shortcut needed. You can also install custom fonts.

As you can see, there are a lot of big and tiny improvements across the board with iOS 13. Sure, this version feels buggy at times. It’s an ambitious update with Apple telling everyone that they’re not ready to slow down the pace of iOS releases. And Apple is making some welcome progress on the privacy front.

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sheminecrafts · 5 years ago

Text

iOS 13 pushes the envelope across the board