#i forgot this game when i started to play odyssey but i will continue

[harrycollins]

I am in my Baldur's Gate mood once again 😞

[thegeneralsnotebook]

Adventures in Deckbuilding #218: Rainbow Dash, Ambassador of Loyalty (Blue/Purple Aggro) [Adventure Pauper]

Rainbow Dash, Ambassador of Loyalty

Proof By Contradiction

Sometimes it’s easy to settle on a direction to pursue when putting a deck together. Were I building for this Mane in Adventure in general, this would have been one of those weeks. Basically throughout all of her existence, this Mane has been used for one thing and one thing only: Farming. In fact, this RD is probably the archetypal Farming Mane right now in Adventure, though you still see Celaeno from time to time, and other Manes can do it. But this one fits right in, with a flip condition that supports the play of T1 double-Troublemaker very well, especially when you get a free move thanks to Tarnished Reputation.

But all of that, true though it was, was only mockery to my ears as I started with this build. Because the Fates had decreed that this was going to be an Adventure Pauper deck. Indeed, this week I had to take a Mane nearly purpose-built for Farming and play her in a format where Farming is literally impossible. There are no Epics in Pauper, and neither are the few cards able to promote Troublemakers up to Epic available either, as both Cozy Glow, Think Big and Alicorn Amulet are Rares.

Well, at least some of that default intuition could still be useful. You still want to start with Tarnished Reputation. Because frankly now that there are none of your own Troublemakers to challenge (and obviously no Staff), the first faceoff our Mane can get into is likely going to be a Problem Faceoff. We certainly don’t want to actually spend the two AT to move RD up if we can avoid it, so that’s what we do. (Though please do remember that you need to move your Mane before you play any Purple Friends. I forgot about that in my testing game and it meant I just had to waste 2 AT and a full turn.)

Looking at the colours that I could have paired with Mane with, I settled on Orange, Purple, and White fairly quickly. I discarded Orange almost right away, not because that deck would be bad. In fact, it’s probably the best combination of the three, as Blue/Orange’s Adventure cards are great and many of the best cards in those colours have low rarity. Rather, in my usual way, I discarded Orange because it was too obvious. I didn’t want to make just another Blue/Orange Big Stuff Goes Fast deck. So I settled on Purple since I really wasn’t feeling White.

Blue & Purple still have some pretty great cards between them. Ultimate Organizers and Daring Do are both examples which have seen the light of constructed play in the past. Though now that I think about it, they aren’t actually old Adventure-only cards. Most of this deck is actually Core-legal, with just Ever Vigilant and Tirek’s Reign of Terror coming from older sets. (Also To Griffonstone and The Trouble With Trixie in the Problem deck, with good reason there as well.) In fact, it’s not just a Core-bias, it’s a Leaders-block bias: we have 9 distinct cards from Leaders Block versus 9 from other sets. Perhaps that’s a recency bias, with me instinctively reaching for more familiar cards from Core, or perhaps it’s just a sign that design continues to be refined and many of the later sets are on whole more competitive than the older ones. That being in terms of general card quality, on average, rather than the tip-top peaks where the Odysseys Block does still shine brighter.

I’m not really coming to much of a point in this article, which is often a tricky thing about Pauper decks. I would advise anyone looking at this list though not to underestimate the Blue/Purple Dr. Hooves. In the sort of aggro-midrange-type matchup that may often arise in lower powered formats, he is quite useful, especially once you get more than one out. I was on the whole pleasantly surprised with this deck’s competitiveness, even after wasting the above-mentioned turn. It’s still a deck that nobody in their right mind would ever play, but I guess that with a more suited Mane it just might be worth pursuing.

Next week, it’s Pauper again, but this time in Core, and with a Mane that’s honestly going to be kind of interesting in a format without Rares. It’s Cozy Glow, Double Dealer!

[rawrroarart]

Diakko!Odyssey AU

Most recent update: 8/28/2020 I added the comic of them meeting and also wrote a little snippet under the Diakko section

Welcome all. This post will officially be my master post of the Odyssey AU which will be updated as time moves forward so that I can link all of my related art to it. Yes I will not be posting multiple separate Updates in text posts how it’s traditionally done, but instead there will be information with each art and then a link back to this post. This is to avoid clutter since I hardly post on this blog anyway so it wouldn’t be fun having to scroll through all of my “OH ALSO THIS HAPPENS!” to get to art. Also I keep changing my mind on a lot of things in the AU so disregard information under the arts anyway as I will be posting here what is actually relevant.

Another key thing: I will be avoiding spoilers as much as possible until they are either shown in art or stated explicitly like I do in posts because I am the absolute worst at surprises. But anyway fear not for spoilers. Things said here are things that should be hinted at/known already. (and also I hardly know anything but maybe I will in due time)

Without further ado..

Introduction

What is the Odyssey AU?

The odyssey au is an alternative universe combining both Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and Little Witch Academia into this (very random) adventuring story that takes place in ancient Greece. I guess I can’t say that it’s random since one of my favorite things about both ACO and LWA is the ties/references to mythology with the former obviously more rooted in the mythology and the latter just fun easter egg references. 

The general premise is that Diana is a misthios(mercenary) who travels with Akko, a shapeshifter, across Greece to find the answers pertaining to her origin.

The first art post: Diana and Akkoros

While living her life as a misthios, Diana searches for the answers pertaining to her origin and superhuman (described as “magical”) abilities along with Shapeshifter Atsuko, who commonly uses her powers for flight, but is not shy to switch to animals more suited for combat.

But I don’t know what Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is?

That’s fair and understandable. Honestly my AU diverges a lot from the game so I don’t think knowledge of ACO is exactly necessary it’s just fun to understand the connections if you know them. Basically the key things you need to know from ACO as of now is: 

Kassandra (the protag) is known as the Eagle Bearer because she has an eagle that is known as the “eagle of Zeus” throughout the game. And they adventure together and Ikaros (the eagle) can hunt n kill things and See things and tbh he’s rly just a cool eagle but not a shapeshifter or anything lol

Kassandra is a Mercenary (misthios) which is basically a for Hire fighter/person who will p much do anything for money (if they want to do it) 

Kassandra is usually referred to a demi-god because of her powerful fighting abilities in which I mean yea she literally has powers and can blast people like a billion miles away (im jk but-)

Kassandra can tame animals (which ones depending on your skill level). You can tame uhh wolves, lynx, leopards, lions, bears. This is where my ‘shapeshifter’ idea began and it pretty much fit perfectly since Akko’s favorite spell is the shapeshifting one. 

Other than this, the most important things to know for this AU is just,, general mythology,, I guess? Or history? General history of mythology and how people worshipped/acted in accordance to the gods. And I’m not saying im going to be historically accurate obviously, nor even mythologically accurate (if that’s even a thing lol), I’m just here to have a good time and enjoy my gay mercenaries while talking about gods/goddesses as if I even know (thankfully I have my gf who is way more interested in mythology than me to help me)

I’ve only played like half of the Atlantis DLC after beating the game so whoopsie. I honestly really wanna replay everything now that I have this AU just so I can focus more on details and what I can yoink.

Characters

Diana

Art: 

Diana’s sketch-dump though she really needs a new one.

Diana in wheat field

Diana is the main protagonist of the story, but they pretty much both share the spotlight anyway. Her goal is to find out why she has certain powers (which I have officially decided, finally...) that aren’t exactly human. Since being a misthios was an easy way for her to travel and make drachmae, she chooses to do it while on their journey. Dammit I came up with her lore but as per the rules of this masterpost I can’t write about it until it’s out smh.. Ah I forgot that I already spilled that she is a goddess/demi-goddess (haven’t decided which yet) so yea that’s the Tea.

Described as very beautiful, there are rumors of her that state she is a pathway to Elysium (despite many people not deserving to go to Elysium). She is also known for her stoic face and a red bird that follows her around.

Diana is only found smiling with Akko and keeps buying Akko clothes despite her outer grievances each time Akko destroys something.

Diana was there with her mother at Chariot’s speech/performance.

Diana is skilled with any weapon.

Akko

Art:

Akko sketch-dump

Akko is a shapeshifter who travels with Diana across Greece in search for her idolized Chariot. Trusting both Diana’s skills and powers, Akko decides that Diana is the best choice to help achieve her goal as they adventure together.

Orphaned at a young age, Akko is, at first, very unfamiliar with how exactly to use her powers because there was no one around to teach her. She uses a bird most often because it is her first and most skilled transformation, but eventually learns to use stronger animals over time. Also eagle-vision is much more useful to Diana when they’re scoping the grounds anyway.

Like all shapeshifters, Akko has a symbol on her neck that signifies what she is. Due to the high prejudice against shapeshifters, Akko stays an animal to avoid being known, and also does not transform in front of others unless to kill them. If she has to be a human, Akko commonly wears a hood to hide her neck. 

Akko is one of the last shapeshifters to exist, and, despite Chariot being rumored to have finally been murdered, she still believes Chariot is alive. 

Akko was with her parents when they all attended Chariot’s final speech/show and here began her dream.

Akko can use a dagger if she needs to.

Side-characters

Akko’s Parents: Shapeshifters who were murdered when Akko was a young age.

Chariot: A shapeshifter who somehow had a voice and power that even normal people listened to. Akko idolizes Chariot because, despite the hate against shapeshifters, Chariot was well known and was an activist for shapeshifters despite the danger upon her head. Chariot mysteriously disappears one day for reasons unknown, and everyone but Akko assumes she was finally murdered.

Shapeshifters

Shapeshifters are defined as humans who possess the ability to transform to any animal at will. Unfortunately, because animals were seen as less than human, shapeshifters were defined as “punished by the gods” and so many decided shapeshifters needed to be removed from the world for sin. This causes a massacre of shapeshifters to the point that they are instead a rarity.

Shapeshifters do not transform with their clothes, and so either destroy them or lose them depending on their transformation.

All shapeshifters have a symbol on their neck which is what is used to find them. They can also be found by their human personalities/characteristics when they are an animal. 

If weakened, shapeshifters return to their human form and cannot transform until they are stronger.

Diakko

Art:

Meeting (Comes with a 500 word story!)

Misthios!Diana and Shapeshifter!Akko Sketch-dump

Diana and Bear!Akko

Fancy Diakko (the first continuity error lol)

Diana and Akko adventure together and do all of their quests together as a rag-tag chaotic duo. God I’m so excited for this section I wish I could make art FASTER but anyway:

They meet at about 17 years old but the main story takes place when they are 18+

The two get off to a wrong start when Diana saves Akko’s life. Because Akko is a shapeshifter, she’s high in value to kill probably by some cult idk but there is always a bounty on her head. When Diana saves her, Akko assumes Diana only did so to steal the drachmae from the original perpetrators, but Diana really just leaves her alone afterwards. Confused, Akko legit just starts tagging along LMAO she finds Diana interesting and so follows her and Diana’s just like what the fuck but eventually she gets over it. They become powerful assets to each other as Diana can now scope the skies with Akko and Akko is pretty much protected under Diana. Then when Akko gets much stronger Diana gets extra manpower and protection too. 

Akko enjoys staying in her human form to spend time with Diana.

Diana keeps buying Akko clothes just because it makes Akko happy (and also, despite Akko uncaring because her transformations are so frequent anyway, Diana doesn’t want her to be naked??)

Diana is easily persuaded by Akko and puts Akko’s interests first (feeds her first, considers what Akko would want, etc.)

[spacegaysss]

Lionel vs. all of the odds

He absolutely can’t believe it. His team must collectively share two brain cells for this to happen again. How in the world could they have left him behind for the  2nd time in one year? In moments like this he really wishes that his co-captains were a little more responsible, but there’s no point in pondering that now, he needs to figure out how to get home as fast as possible.

Making his way through the tunnels of the Signal Iduna Park, he really hopes to find someone who can help him, maybe call a taxi or figure out some other way to get to the airport. He’s so caught up in his sour mood that just as he’s turning the corner, he’s colliding with someone very tall and solid.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t really pay attention to where I’m going.”

Leo’s already bad temper worsens when he practically has to crane his neck to look up at the guy who so rudely ran into him. Turns out he just got bulldozed by Dortmund’s keeper, Roman Bürki. And let’s just say he doesn’t particularly enjoy the sight of the one person who dared to come between him and his first Champions League goal of the season.

“Are you lost or something? I thought your team already left?” Bürki has the audacity to ask him. How kind of him to remind Leo of his current misfortune.

“Uhm, do you even understand me? I’m sure Paco is around here somewhere if you need someone to translate.” The keeper is still trying to talk to him and it’s getting more annoying by the second.

“I understand you just fine, thanks for the vote of confidence. Yes, the bus already left and yes, they forgot me. Again. Now if you’d be so kind as to get out of my way so I can go find someone who knows how to get to the plane in time, that’d be amazing.”

Leo has had enough of the babbling keeper and doesn’t wait for an answer before he shoulders past him in search of literally anywhere to go. To really get the message across that he doesn’t want to have anything to do with the other, he even pulls out his phone and starts to swipe at the display, even though Geri still hasn’t called him back.

“I could take you to the airport if you want” Bürki offers, unfortunately not getting his message and easily matching his pace with his longer legs.

Leo gives up and looks at Bürki skeptically. “You really know how to get there in time before the plane leaves? Because I couldn’t really reach anyone on the bus and if they still haven’t noticed that I’m gone…”

He’s not gonna lie, it stings a little to be forgotten. It’s not like he’s the center of attention at all times, but at least Luis or Geri could’ve noticed his absence by now.

“Well, it’ll definitely be quicker than calling a cab first and it’s not like we haven’t taken the bus to the airport from here a thousand times.”

If Bürki insists on driving him, who is Leo to refuse. So he replies with a short “Okay”, holds onto his backpack tighter (the fool might offer to carry it for him) and motions for the keeper to lead the way.  

They spend the walk to the garage in silence. It’s awkward, but Leo’s not really a fan of small talk and Bürki doesn’t seem to want to aggravate him further. Once they reach Bütki’s car and climb into the monstrous jeep, Leo leans back into the comfy seat and closes his eyes. He has absolutely ignored how exhausted he is. With the injury he hasn’t really played much recently and the game has taken everything out of him. He couldn’t exactly relax until now, being too upset about his team, the draw, the lack of chances, his repeated abandonment… but now that he has a minute to come down, the tiredness lies on him like a heavy blanket.

He's pretty sure that he would’ve fallen asleep immediately if not for Bürki’s ongoing chatter.

“So, what did you think of your first game here? I always thought that it’s pretty intimidating to play here. It’s completely different if you’re the home team. But you know that of course. I reckon it’s similar with the Camp Nou.”

Leo just makes vaguely confirmative noises since he really isn’t in the mood for chit chat. The drive is a lot shorter than he remembers, but that might be because he fell asleep in the middle of it. He only wakes up when Bürki opens the door on the passenger side and looks at him with a pitying expression on his face.

“Hey, I’m sorry to tell you, but the plane has already left. It looks like you need to spend the night.”

Deep down, Leo must’ve known that this will happen, because he doesn’t feel anything but a deep sense of inevitability.

“Fine, but I don’t think I should stay at a hotel. Or the club. The press would probably go nuts with all the rumors that might cause.” Leo muses, hoping that Bürki hasn’t lost his helper syndrome all of a sudden.

“Well, I guess you could stay at my place until tomorrow and see if the club could send you a plane or whatever it is they do in a situation like this.” The goodhearted keeper relents while already making his way around the car to continue their odyssey.

The drive to Bürki’s place takes a little longer and it’s no surprise that Leo falls asleep again. This time he doesn’t even wake up to Bürki opening the door, oh no, it’s a lot more embarrassing than that. He needs to be shaken awake. Like a kid that fell asleep on a long car ride that’s too big to be carried inside.

Leo’s still grumpy when he climbs back out of the jeep and almost trips over his own feet on the way up to the keeper’s flat. But his mood improves a little at the prospect of a warm bed. He had absolutely forgotten how cold it can get in Germany in early autumn.

Bürki is confidently leading the way through is apartment which Leo takes as his cue to follow him.

“So I don’t really have a guest bedroom, but my couch is super comfortable. I’ll just get you a blanket and pillows and stuff. Oh, and I have a spare toothbrush that you can use.”

He’s already left before Leo can answer, so he just sits down on the aforementioned comfortable couch and looks through his backpack for his toiletries, suddenly glad he took a long shower back at the stadium.

Bürki is back with a fluffy looking blanket before Leo could get his stuff out, motioning for him to get up so that the host could prepare his bed for the night.

“Have you tried to call your teammates again? Maybe they’ve had time to look at their phones by now.” Bürki inquires, still trying for chit chat.

And for some reason, that’s the straw that gives Leo the last push. He’s exhausted, abandoned, unhappy about his performance and now he’s crying on a stranger’s couch in the middle of the night. He should really get a grip.

Meanwhile Bürki is just staring at him with a deer in the headlights expression. He keeps standing in front of him for a minute before he gingerly sits next to him and pats his shoulder in a ‘there there’ kind of gesture.

If Leo thought he was pathetic before, that’s nothing compared to the moment when he gives in and clutches to Bürki’s (maybe he should start thinking of him as Roman now) shoulders and buries his face in the other’s broad chest.

“I’m really sorry, this can’t be easy for you. And I really didn’t mean to pry or anything, I’m just really bad at smalltalk.”

Leo just shrugs, not trusting his voice right now.

________________________________________________________________

Leo blinks awake slowly, bright sunlight shining in his face. He must’ve passed out from exhaustion last night. Once his sight has cleared up and his surroundings no longer look blurry, he notices that his head is lying on someone’s lap. That can only mean…

He jumps up from the couch as soon as he’s figured himself out, grabbing his phone and dashing into the bathroom. Once he unlocks the device he finds 24 missed calls from Geri, along with several messages from his team mates as well as the coach. Before he can call his best friend back though, there’s a tentative knock on the locked door.

“Hey, are you alright? You’re not sick or anything? “ Bürki asks concernedly.

There’s really nothing else to do but open the door and answer the man face to face if he wants to keep any part of his dignity.

“I’m fine, thanks for asking. I was just gonna call back Geri and I didn’t wanna disturb you.”

Wow, great going there Leo, lying to the man who basically rescued you last night.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I was up.” The taller man answers with a charming smile and Leo can’t help the blush that spreads all over his pale face.

“Well, that’s good then. I guess I should call him back now and figure out how to get home.”

“Yeah, I bet your team’s worried about their star player.”

Leo knows that the other is just trying to ease the tension, but he can’t help the dark chuckle that escapes him. Where was his team’s concern last night when he could’ve used it?

“Thank you. For taking me with you last night. I hope I didn’t inconvenience you too much.” He tries to rectify the situation. He was pretty mean yesterday. Mocking him, taking his help for granted and then crying on him before falling asleep on his lap, effectively trapping the other on his couch.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, it’s fine. Really. I’ll leave you to it then.”

The rest of the morning passes rather uneventfully. Leo calls Valverde instead of Geri, who promises to send a plane to get him, which leaves him loads of time to pack his backpack and say goodbye to his host.

Turns out Roman even makes some decent eggs and coffee, so they spend an hour sitting around the kitchen island in more or less comfortable silence.

At eleven, there’s a knock coming from the front door, which Roman hastes to answer.

Leo just stays in his place, not really eager to see anyone this morning. From his position in the kitchen he hears two people talking in a language he doesn’t understand, probably German.

Before he’s really processed who exactly shows up in Roman Bürki’s flat before noon, someone strides into the kitchen and heads straight for the coffee.

Then there’s multiple things happening at once: the person, who turns out to be Mario Götze, whirls back around, looking like he’s seen a ghost, Roman steps back into the kitchen all while insistently talking to the new comer and shooting Leo concerned looks.

“How? Why are you here? What are you doing in Roman’s kitchen?” Götze asks him, thankfully switching to English.

“I couldn’t get home last night, he offered to let me stay.” Leo answers, trying to stay cool. There’s no need to freak out now. This is just a minor annoyance.

“What… the hell? You know what, I’m just going to drive to the shoot now and tell everyone that you’re not feeling well, Roman. But you better show up later.” Götze leaves in a hurry, his coffee forgotten on the counter.

“So, you had a press thing this morning?” Leo asks the keeper who’s looking a little dazed where he’s standing by the door.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Mario will cover for me and I can always show up later.” Roman assures him.

“Well, if it’s alright, you could just take me to the airport now. It won’t be long until the jet arrives.” Leo offers, hoping not to inconvenience the other any further.

“Sure, c’mon then.” Roman agrees, already on the way to the garage.

As Leo gets in the car for the last time for the foreseeable future, he thinks that this might’ve been one of his crazier days in his life.

________________________________________________________________

Hi everyone! I’ve been putting this one off for a while, but I promised @boreussia-durmmund I’d write something with Roman and Messi for the amazing Champions League match, so here it is. If you like obscure pairings as much as I do, you’re very welcome on my blog!

PS: Here’s the link to the article about Leo being forgotten at Anfield Road.

PPS: Find more obscure pairing here, here and here. (The sequel to Rafa and Roman will be coming this week)

PPPS: My requests are still open.

[ts-beijing-olympics]

EP 2 - In My Kerrigan Era - Joey

Even though I was eliminated by basically my entire tribe I don't blame then but I didn't like the way they carried it out. At the same time I'm not gonna sit on my ass and wallow. I'm taking these guys down and it's time they realize why I'm a winner

I formed a trio with Andry and Timmy, whether or not they’ll stick to it, that’s up to them, but right now in Round #2, I want to continue to reach out to Austin and Justin, ideally we go to zero team meetings before Monty turns on Wheeldecide.com and pings us with the “HEY BESTIESSSSSSSSSSS GET TO THE ARENA”(that, but in lowercase). Also, shoutout to Dennis for being amazing at what he does.

These players can throw anything they send at me. I'm not backing down and I'm going to fight for my position in the game.

OMG i forgot to do this ANYWAY. We started the game! Yay! So many twists! In game currency, redemption, Arena comps. Tea is I know like 8 people going into this game. Caitlin, Andry, Justin, Madison, Emmy, Adam, Mark, and Pat I all at least know. Some like Adam I have played with and have good blood between (Adam). Some i have bad blood between (Mark and Madison) and the rest i have either been hosted by, hosted with, or hosted myself but have never played with. YIKES. Lots of intertwined connections. I'm obvs most worried about Madison and Mark, even though Mark and I are cool outside of Venue, and Madison and I had a talk during Day 1 about working together and burying the hatchet from Odyssey, you truly never know. Mark might wanna get me out cause he thinks I'd want revenge from venue, and Madison might want her own revenge from me IDOLING HER OUT in Odyssey. Oy vey. I wanna use my connections to keep me safe in the game, even the rocky ones. But it can't be the only thing I rely on or else I'll end up with a MAJOR blindspot. So getting to know people on my team like Zach and Daisy is gonna be crucial to make sure i'm in with the most people possible. Gonna be interesting to see how this shakes out.

Ughhh it's been a long day personally so losing the arena comp just really sucked. I know I don't want to be seen as a comp threat, so losing is good. But this round has so many advantages and disadvantages tossed around that im kind of.......... ugh. I know I did everything I could and that's what sucks. I also think my team is the dry team.... literally loved talking to ppl at the arena but these folks are a snooze fest 

I got a gold medal!!! Even if they wanna take me out, they can’t! Imagine if I could go on some winning streak and keep this bad boy until the merge. One can hope. 

So happy 2 have won a medal. Wish I knew when I should be coming back to the blog....

Okay but maybe Jabari just completely big brained that entire moment. Getting voted out while getting a 10% Arena advantage, AND lying to everyone about what you have for the emoji hunt, and getting to stay? Power moves only here in Beijing. But honestly, this challenge is all about one thing: agency. As long as we can do the puzzles fast and absorb the disadvantages, we'll be fine. It seems like we'll be fine for this round as long as the winners dont win, we'll be good. Caitlin is a threat in challenges and can't go home if Dwen goes to council, which again would be ideal. Cicero I hate to see you go, you seemed nice, but read next time.

i didn't think i would lose the arena comp, so that was honestly such a shook to me (but i did say my comp skills aren't what they used to be). anyways, i hope my team doesn't hold it against me right now. there's so many disadvantages being thrown around this round that i think that will be the deciding factor in this comp tbh

I would like to just point out that I hate jigsaw puzzles, especially online ones cause i suck at them most of the timeeeee anyways, the vibes here at Dwen have been incredibly chill, I genuinely get along with everyone so if we ever have to go to a team meeting, it'd be a little stressful, but I feel like ive made good and strong enough connections to keep me here. I do feel though that my timezone may be a detriment to the team, but I just have to make sure I build on these connections and MAKE them want to keep me, rather than me begging to stay. For now, my trust rankings are as follows: Daisy > Caitlin > Zach > Max, but this could all change by the next team meeting so we'll just have to wait and see! 

I'm happy that my old team won but it's very bittersweet and I'm sure I could have pulled through the comp a little more. In other news I didn't secure my second ring and now the next course is to prepare to take whoever was on Bing down.

Welp...we're going to a team meeting and that sucks ass. Had a call with joey and andry and we're set on voting Austin. It's bittersweet since Austin is my friend and personally I would rather have Justin out but like I'm fine either way. Apparently Justin is telling Austin that because Austin didn't give him a name yet (keep in mind it's currently less than 3 hours after results) that it's probably him (Justin) getting votes or that people are just scared to say names. I think that's because he is more of an older org player where people really did used to talk about the votes and plan stuff shortly after results when nowadays it's a lot of last minute plans. Although now we have already made a plan but like that is certainly not the norm. I am having a lot of fun already this season and I am looking forward to what is going to happen next round.

okay so last night I called with Timmy and Joey. Originally when we got on the call they said they were debating between voting either Austin or Justin, with a preference for Justin to go. We called for about an hour, and throughout the call I just kind of kept on bringing up the fact that we know where Justin’s head is at right now as he’s messaging us telling us how he thinks, Austin is not doing that. And by the end of the call Joey said OK well I think I want to vote for Austin. And then Timmy said yeah I think that’s the smarter play, and I went with it as well. I think I could’ve been a little bit smoother and trying to make sure Justin stayed, but ultimately I wasn’t gonna let Justin go and I think that voting off Austin was the easier move, then going against Joey and Timmy in this round. They could be playing me, and choosing to vote for me in this round. Obviously with the first round you never know how things are going to go. I hope things work out in my favour tonight, but I will not be surprised if they try to pull a fast one on me.

So I'm very happy that we're safe, but I don't know how we still almost lost. I realize that my time in the challenge wasn't incredible, but still. Lord help us the next time we don't have disadvantages to give to the other teams. I also feel bad tacking all those disadvantages onto Andry and Austin. I really like them both and wanna work with them. But I was worried that I was being seen too much as a leader on a four person tribe. So I said we should save the Rhon team since they're already at four like us. But what I really wanted was for Dwen to get the disadvantages. Caitlin and Keaton are my #1 targets at this point. And Caitlin has a gold medal and is safe at the first team meeting she goes to. So my hope was to wipe that out. Because I don't want to end up in a situation where someone else having a gold medal puts me in a situation where I'm in trouble. I mean I've got a gold medal now too, but ya know. The only problem with that would have been a 50/50 shot of Daisy and David going home, but high risk, high reward. I let Mark decide who we were giving them to because basically everything we've done up to that point was my decision, so I'm trying to take a step back moving forward. I just hope we can pull out the next challenge too.

Honestly there isn’t too much to say here. My trust was correct, we won a challenge, I’ve dipped for a bit. We chilling and I happy thank you for coming to my Ted talk

The vote will happen in about 45 minutes, and like always I am super paranoid with the first vote in a new group people. I think this is really where trust is built, so it’s important that that people stick with the plan. Everyone’s been a little quiet, which isn’t super on brand for this group. With that being said, can’t help but feel nervous when it is like that.

I thought I did way BETTER at the immunity two wow… And so that’s on tea. Not me getting 14 minutes and having the AUDACITY TO SAY “was i the fastest?” bye 

Something seems off I am not getting a good vibe 

Also I feel bad we took out Cicero it was a tough choice, obviously I didn’t want anyone to go home so soon. But I like my team a lot but I know it won’t like this forever!!! 

Week two was MUCH BETTA. I love Jessica forever. I really didn’t want to try and keep Jabari but it was up to her to throw out a name. There’s also a chance that I might try to team up with the guys if things stay the same moving forward. Yikes but like with never voting out Jessica. I hope if a swap comes in with Timmy or Andry 

not much to say been a chill round. Dwen hasnt had to vote anyone out so that's good. I like these folks so i hope we can stay away from TMs but if i do have to go then i have a plan. not sure if it'll fly but i think i can make my case at least on why it should happen. We'll see!

[contradictoryenigmas]

2019 Postmortem: 10 Questions

2019 is coming to a close and it’s time to look back via ten questions. If you’re new to this series, I recommend checking out the ones I did in 2017 and 2018. While 2019 had its ups and downs, this was the first year where I can say it worked out quite well.

What made up your body of work this year? Which parts are you most proud of?

Most of the work that made up this year was with my new day job as a car specifications researcher. You may think that researching car specs would be easy, but I wasn’t fully prepared for how in-depth it would go. For example, I have to look up both the liters and cc’s of an engine to input into the system. Nevertheless, a lot of knowledge I had from writing reviews and previews has come in handy when trying to decipher what a company names a certain piece of tech or figuring out where to find that one piece of information.

As for my writing, I haven’t done much. Towards the end of last year and beginning of this year, I was feeling less enthusiastic about writing anything - feeling like I was phoning it in to get something up. When I started my new job back in mid-February, I took a break to try and give my brain a break from it. I have slowly dipped my toes back in it during the spring and summer, but started to do more towards the end of the year - a combination of writing for an internal news service my company offers and finishing a backlog of reviews. Writing is still a bit of struggle as my creative side of the brain is still running on fumes and I only get about a quarter to half-way on a piece before setting it aside, most likely not coming back to it.

There were a couple of pieces that did make their way out over the year and I’m quite proud of them.

Afterthoughts: The Sad Trombone of the 2019 Detroit Auto Show (Cheers & Gears): Some passing thoughts on what would be the final Detroit Auto Show held in January. It would be memorable for all of the wrong reasons and made me wonder what the future will hold as the show moves to the summer for 2020.

Three Years On, A Brain Dump (Contradictory Enigmas): Looking back at three years of this site, what has come, and what I had hoped to do in the coming year - sadly none of those items came to fruition.

What were your top 5 moments of the year?

Finally achieving a major goal of getting a job

Turing 30 years old

Beginning to make some progress on other major goals

Reducing my hermit tendencies and going to a small number of events

Continue working on giving me more space to relax

What are you really glad is over?

Uncertainty reared its ugly head again throughout the year. It ranged from whether I was the right person for the new job I had accepted to worrying about whether or not I would have enough money to cover unexpected expenses. Luckily, I remembered that if I took it slow and worked it out - whether through thought or writing it down - the uncertainty would begin to wither away.

How are you different today than you were 365 days ago?

The most difficult part of this year is trying not to feel like I need to constantly work. Being a full-time freelance writer for the past seven years left me with a routine of constantly being busy to try and keep myself afloat. Drew Magary on Vice sums it up quite well.

When you freelance, you know that every job is temporary. You might get paid well, but you can’t assume that will always be the case. I remember being pathologically incapable of turning down work when I freelanced. Every assignment I didn’t do was money lost. I felt as if I already HAD the money and was giving it away by not doing the work.

That meant I gleefully accepted multiple gigs at once, and on weekends, and over holidays. I can’t speak for other freelancers out there, but a kind of PTSD sets in if you do this long enough, where you always fear the faucet will be shut off with a cursory email from a temp boss or, worse, no emails of any sort. There’s such a short distance between “I freelance” and “I’m unemployed” that the two statements often feel indistinguishable.

Emphasis mine.

This feeling still resides in my head and constantly tells me that I should be doing some sort of work, even though I know that giving myself some breathing space is good. This wasn’t helped by my growing amount of work throughout the year as new hires that were brought in around the same time as me either decided to go with another career or were let go. Getting some of their workloads on top of mine meant the feeling of “when will I find the time” started to creep in. Only setting some ground rules did this alleviate this feeling somewhat. I’m hoping this feeling goes away as time goes on.

I mentioned last year that I was re-diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). At the time, I was seeing a psychiatrist and was on medication to help me control some of the various issues I’ve been dealing with. But a combination of the new job, not having the time to make the hour-long trek to see the psychiatrist, and the expensive cost of the medication meant I had to put a stop to this for the time being. This has meant a return of the various symptoms (being able to focus on one task, having my mind wander, forgetting various things, etc). It has also meant that it is hard for me to relax with anything for a few moments because it doesn’t provide my brain enough stimuli to keep me occupied. Oddly, doing work of some sort seems to provide stimuli. But it comes at the cost of me not being to relax.

Pic Credit: Pina ADHD_Alien

On the plus side, starting this new job has brought something that I wanted for some time - separate spaces. What I mean by this is having one space for my work (the office) and then another to relax (the house). Previously, I would be working on stuff in the same room where I would sleep, causing all sorts of anxiety and feelings that I should be working on. Having that separation allows me some breathing space, despite that being somewhat difficult.

It’s also nice having a steady income and not one that is a roller coaster of sorts. Various amounts of money coming in at different times gave me a lot of stress. Moving to something that follows a regular pattern not only gives me a bit of breathing room for anything unexpected but also allows me to plan out new ideas and trips,

To cap off this section, I’m glad that I’m still involved in covering the automotive industry. I have dialed it back by a large amount, but I think this may be for the better as it means I can take more time and produce higher-quality pieces.

Is there anything you achieved that you forgot to celebrate?

Nothing that I can think of.

What have you changed your perspective on this year?

Talking about my mental health in public. I’ve been slowly talking about how I have both ADHD and clinical depression on various forums after seeing a number for friends and people who admire talk about it. I’m still in a grey area of how much I should reveal and whether it is worth it. I can see there is a lot of good as you see other people come out of the woodwork and reveal some of the issues they’re dealing with. But some don’t believe mental illness is a thing or will go out of their way to make it worse. This is a balancing act that I’m trying to figure out.

Who are the people that really came through for you this year?  

A lot of the people that I work with at my job. Whether it be the various supervisors that would take time to answer a question I’m sure they have been asked countless times, to the other researchers who I might help with a quick issue or chit-chat about whatever, they have all played a part in making me feel welcomed.

What were some pieces of media that defined your year?

The Heavy, Sons: It has been a long time coming for the group’s latest album and it is very much worth it. All of the traits that I like about their previous albums such as the gritty sound and soulful lyrics are present. Heavy for You, their first single off this album has been on constant repeat.

Choom, Progger: I can’t explain why this dark jazz-funk-rock hybrid song just clicked with me. Maybe its how all of the instruments are arranged to provide a dark mood in one part, and then rise with something lighter later on. All I know is this song helped out in some bleak times during this year.

Nintendo Switch: An early Christmas gift to myself, I’m surprised at how much I have been playing. It is cool to play something on the TV and then undock it to continue playing while on the move. This has captured the magic and fun that I had been missing on playing video games throughout the year. So far, I have beaten Super Mario Odyssey and will be checking out Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

What will you be leaving behind in 2019?

The feelings of not being able to fully plan out stuff. Since starting the new job, I have been able to make slightly more concrete plans to ideas or items that I want to do soon. Some of these have come fruition, while others are still in the planning stages. This may not seem like a big accomplishment, but considering that the past few years where it mostly treading water and putting off various items because of one thing or another, it is a huge weight off my back.

What do you hope to accomplish in 2020?

There are two items that I want to work on writing and photography. I’ve been feeling either drained or hit a wall in terms of knowledge and want to expand it more.

For my writing, I want to try and recapture some of the fun and creativeness that I had when I first started many moons ago. I have some books including The Writer’s Way that has been recommended by a few people to help rekindle this. I’m also wanting to do other writings such as doing some history pieces, and more stuff on this blog. But of course, trying to find the time to do this will be one of the challenges.

As for the photography, I’m planning on doing some sort of online course and some reading to help me understand basic photography ideas, along with exploring various settings on my DSLR. I tend to shoot mostly in Auto without the flash and while it does deliver decent photos, I know that it is capable of more. I’m also wanting a new camera, a prosumer point-and-shoot to expand the possibility of taking more photos.

There are some long-term goals sprinkled in here such as working towards moving out of my parent’s house into my place. I have started saving up a fair amount of cash to cover a security deposit and a month’s rent, but I’m trying to aim for at least two to three months of rent to give a bit of a cushion. Also taking some sort of vacation is in the cards. Not sure where I want to go, but I do know it will be out of state.

That’s a wrap for this year’s postmortem. 2019 wasn’t a complete mess and hoping 2020 continues that trend.

[timsim26]

E3 2017 Thoughts

Wolfenstein: The New Colossus

Bethesda had 2 of their big guns ready to roll this year and each one hit very hard. The Evil Within 2 looked terrifying but amazing and the star of the show was Wolfenstein. Wolfenstein: The New Order was a massive surprise for nearly everyone. A brilliant story driven shooter that was intensely difficult, but very satisfying to play. The New Colossus looks to be every bit as entertaining as the original, however Machine Games now have the trust and the budget to deliver something very special. From the trailer and the reports of gaming journos having played the game, it sounds absolutely phenomenal and mechanically wild. Shooting in a wheel chair, now that sounds like something never done before and the cast look to be every bit as wacky and memorable as the first entry. The premise of the story looks very entertaining and Machine Games is not shying away from the challenging content like Nazis or tough political situations. The other major tick that Wolfenstein receives is the fact that it is sticking to the Bethesda formula of coming out this year! I can’t wait. 

Xbox One X

Microsoft had ticked every box as their press conference went forward. Native 4k gaming, 6 terraflops of GPU and “The Most Powerful Console on Earth.” They also started to highlight some of the game that we would be playing on it that looked absolutely insane. The new Assassins Creed, Shadow of War, Super Lucky’s Tale, Crackdown and State of Decay all promised entertaining experiences, running in 4k. We will see if this is true, however the console is currently 100 dollars more than the competition and this was the huge issue when the Xbox One and the PS4 launched. Will we see developers take advantage of the specs that Microsoft has offered or will they stick with what the Pro can offer. This will cause significant issues for Microsoft and the X, as then the same experiences are being offered for a higher priced box. This could easily be fixed with some first party exclusive games, but once again we didn’t really see anything unique, promising or unexpected. Phil Spencer did say there are a number of unannounced exclusives still coming that are 2-3 years away, which is fantastic, but for the minute the Xbox One X is a really hard sell. 650 Australian Dollars for someone who doesn’t own a 4k TV is not really selling me at this current moment. We will see if it is a hit when it launches, but with all the hype from last year, I really think Microsoft’s big bang, ended with more of a fizzle. 

Shadow of War

Wolfenstein is a game that looks absolutely amazing, while Shadow of War is a game I am still really not convinced is going to be good or better than its predecessor. This is coming from someone who considered Shadow of Mordor 2014′s best game. All the gameplay and trailers shown so far have highlighted very similar combat mechanics to the first game in combat areas that look very similar to the first game. This is fine if there are significant improvements made and Shadow of War needs to highlight these. I enjoy the aspect of humour and a more light hearted nature explored with the character of Bruz from the Microsoft Conference, but what I am intrigued to know is how much is procedurally generated and how much of it is scripted. This really is a waiting game for me and I hope Monolith nail it. 

Sony’s Remastered Conference 

Remember last year when everyone lost their minds about how good a show Sony put on. I think everyone forgot that E3 is about showing off games that people can play. Remember why people enjoy Bethesda’s conferences, games that come out near after they announced. Games that are not just concepts at the time they are being shown off. In 2016 Sony showed off Death Stranding, Detroit: Become Human, Days Gone, Spiderman and God of War not to mention The Last of Us part II at Playstation Experience. We have played 0 minutes of these games and we will play 0 minutes of these games in 2017 and I am sure that we will 0 minutes of these games in 2018. This to me is alarming as Sony is so cocky and over confident that they can show off games that are not coming for years and years to generate good press. Everyone seems to be in love with everything they are doing at this point that they didn’t realise once again they showed off games that are well and truly miles off releasing. I think this year, it became more evident that these bigs games are going to be fantastic when they launch, but it would have been so much more impactful if they announced and showed off God of War and Days Gone this year and released them at the end of this year. Sony is well ahead with sales and this is giving them free reign to do whatever they like. Surely at some stage it is going to come back and bite them in the ass. 

Nintendo ✓

Nintendo delivered this year. Metroid Prime 4, A Pokemon game for Switch, excellent looking DLC for the game of the year, Zelda and the general support that the Switch needs to be the console that so many fans desperately want. Nintendo had a fantastic conference and continue to deliver for their fans. This along with Super Mario Odyssey and Nintendo have one exciting future. 

[gavinbowman]

February - Almost forgotten

Hey, I had family visiting when the calendar flipped over this month so I almost forgot about this. But hey, it’s still early March and I’ve been later before so I’m not going to cry over it.

February mostly continued the trend of recent months. I’m getting on okay-ish. I’m trying to strike a good life balance and that’s hard but important. A big part of me just wants to lock myself in my office until I figure all this shit out and get back on track, but there’s a good chance I’d die or be institutionalized before that happened and even in the best case scenario my kids will be in college wondering what happened to me. So balance it is. And this month I probably spent more time with the kids and family than the work.

But the work is still happening, we will clear this mobile deck soon, get the apps lined up for release, and we’ll get on with trying to wrangle Monsters & Monocles into a finished product. As is customary for me, I’m mostly excited about getting to that next stage, but I already have my eye on starting on new stuff after it’s done, so the greener grass syndrome is obviously never going away. But we have two games to just wrap for mobile releases, one mostly just needs all the store stuff like screenshots and some final testing, and one will hopefully be about there too if we get a good run at it this month.

I feel like a bit of a stuck record, but this stuff all takes so much time when you have life coming at you from all angles too. Getting there.

On the play front, I’ve been playing a little bit still, but Tetris 99 just stomped into the gaming space that Smash was occupying, and I’ve barely looked around since. I picked up Mario Odyssey and grabbed a few moons after one of my kids was running around in it, and I feel like I might stick with that for a while and bump up my moon total, I felt bad last year that I never got back into it after the initial burst.

I think that’s mostly me for now, I’ll be back in a few weeks time to say almost exactly the same thing about March!

[centurionrecords-blog]

Fandoms List

I suppose first off I should really make a list of what fandoms I’m in/series I’m actually into. I’m usually less in the fandom or more into the series itself because reasons. Now, this doesn’t mean I’ll write about everything on this list. But if you wanna know, just send an ask. The worst I’ll do is say no.

*Fire Emblem - Starting off big. This series has been my main point of interest due to a group a friends I’ve gathered because of it and I’m so glad tbe series os gonna continue. I’ve played and completed 7, 8, 13, 14 (Conquest), and 15, and there are things I love in all of them.

*Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus/etc. - Gotta be honest, I’m a bit of a slut for mythology and Rick Riordan’s books are just unf to me. I love em.

*Etrian Odyssey - Okay, I’m listing this one because I love a lot of concepts and classes in the series, but I’ll shamefully admit none of the games I’ve played have kept me interested. Which breaks my heart, so I hope V can change that because I wanna be into it.

*Ace Attorney - Ho boy, this has been a ride. This is the series to have most recently captured my interest due to my newest friend and I’m glad for it. I’m on the second game right now, but I’m enjoying myself.

*Soulsborne - Another huge one. This series tickles my fancy so hard. From the magic, weapons, and armor, to the incredible bosses and characters, to the lovely descriptions, I’m just in love with it.

*Type-Moon - I’ve honestly fallen out a bit with their series, though I do still like them. Now I haven’t had a computer to do the VNs, so let that serve as a word of warning. I’m an anime/manga/wikia secondary.

*For Honor - I love it. I’m not saying whether it’s good or bad, but For Honor pulls me in. I absolutely adore the Knights and some Samurai. They need to tone down those dlc classes though.

*Asura’s Wrath - LITERALLY A FAVORITE OF MINE, I CAN’T EVEN START ON HOW MUCH I LOVE IT. It just feels so good and fun, and the visuals are lovely and goodness I gush so much over it.

*Marvel - Not a big comic fan tbh, but the recent Avengers related movies are killing it. My top picks would have to be the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and Doctor Strange.

*Binding of Isaac - I really like Isaac but I’ve only got the 3ds version and it seems all the really fun stuff came after that.

*Enter the Gungeon - Tbh, I think I just like Roguelikes in general. Having random power ups and weapons spread out over different map designs and not knowing what might come next is a thrill.

*Metal Gear - This was just a really fun series for me, even though I started on MGS 2. It’s one of the few experiences where if I could erase my memories if a game and play it again, I would.

*Mortal Kombat - My first arcade fighter series. It’s one I’ve stuck with for a long time. Though I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite arcade fighter anymore.

*Tekken - I only got into Tekken fairly recently, but I thoroughly love it. It’s really fun and I enjoy a good handful of characters.

*Soul Calibur - I’m still sad V was a mess, but I still enjoy the series.

*Blazblue - More like blazblew my mind with how fun this game was. I was so used to the simple and consistent pace of Mortal Kombat and Blazblue murdered that immediately.

*UNIEL - Under-Night was another pretty fun game, though while I enjoyed it, I despised the permanent “stylish” combat.

*Guilty Gear - After my friend told me that BB was the soul successor to this series, I quickly got dragged into it as well and fell in love with it. I especially loved Accent Core, and while Gold Johnny can to to hell with his instakill bs, I liked the Gold Modes, and there are some characters I want to see playable again still. Like Order Sol.

*Megaman - Ho boy. A game series I started out with early on. I adore it still. I think I’ve actually played through every iteration to at least a degree.

*Drakengard/Nier - I almost forgot this one. And boy howdy. I started out with Drakengard 2. And i honestly only got the first ending because I didn’t know there were more. So when I picked up Drakengard expecting a similar “slightly fucked but ends up alright” story, my heart was torn up and tossed on the burn pile. And Nier made things worse. So of course, I love the series.

*Kingdom Hearts - A series I still enjoy, but maybe not to the degree I once did. I want to wrap the story up for good and I hope we get that with 3.

*Final Fantasy - Of course, I also enjoy this series as well. Though more like certain titles or concepts within it. I’ve played I, II, IV, X, XII, XIII, and XV and only completed I and XV for various reasons.

Persona/SMT - Another series I’ve had some fun with, though not exactly to the degree any of the subfandoms might like. I played a bit of Nocturne, Digital Devial Saga, Strange Journey, and Person 5, but I’ve only finished P3 and P4.

There’s probably more I’m forgetting at the moment. There’s a lot of works I like and I never made a list before, but I think this is a good start.