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tuna-mayo-egg · 2 years ago

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Please introduce your chosen subject area. What interests you as potential starting points or areas of research? What influenced this choice?

I am interested in the idea of virtual communities and rituals as a way for people to communicate and connect across continents and past language barriers. A major contributor to this is the internet, video games, social media platforms and virtual reality. Communities on platforms such as reddit, twitch and discord can communicate their shared interests through visual imagery. Interactive virtual worlds on games such as Minecraft and VR allow greater physical presence. We are at a point in history where it is estimated that just under half of the global population play video games. The recent pandemic has left more people open to and appreciative of embodied digital experiences and we are now living in a world where tech corporations are eager to bring the next predicted phase of the internet, the Metaverse, into existence. Interrogating and understanding these sites of shared cultural heritage is not just fascinating but essential.

Even if digital spaces are seemingly ephemeral, they are still real. These are spaces where we have lived. And how have they affected us? The inner workings of the subconscious are a product of one's environment. Although I do not know enough about it yet. Rituals - series of actions - are one way you can connect to your environment (and this is a product of magic. Magic being defined as ‘a purposeful engagement with the phenomena and possibilities of consciousness.’) I have referenced cooking as a personal ritual practice and would like to explore other peoples, as well as more stereotypical ritual practices that link to mysticism and spirituality.

Being able to emotionally connect to people or places virtually is a ritual practice and has negative impacts, for sure, on one's mental health and cognitive development but there are also, a lot of positives. I have noticed Virtual communities imitate society, reflecting real life characters and ideologies. When tasked to complete a video game, hundreds of thousands of people had to work together remotely to advance in it. Good and bad characters emerged. Similarly in R/place communities had to work together to form images by individually placing pixels. Wars began when the whole board was covered. But, in both examples, communities made up of people from around the world were able to communicate and create something spectacular.

As a user of generated worlds in video games and escapist online communities I became interested in these phenomena. Researching into how it allows you to connect with others, and how this virtual environment challenges our conception of space and how we interact with it. Alongside this, these online social rituals influence how we interact with people in real life. How is the mind subconsciously affected by being constantly online, a new phenomenon that did not affect our parents' generation.

I can cross reference this with other ways our subconscious interacts with our environment and different present and historical views on consciousness. E.g., the shamans, the occult, mysticism and bohemianism, integral to the lifestyle my dad grew up which has subsequentally effected mine.

This is influenced by an immense interest in why I am captivated by certain aspects of Japanese culture. Influenced by my exposure to Japanese culture from an early age, e.g., through Studio Ghibli and Nintendo. I am interested in Japan's religious connection to nature and the spirit world (kami), that is referenced subtly in its media outlet - games, anime, music, documentaries, and food etc. One way I love learning about the culture is through online communities. Specifically, foreigners who moved to Japan for distinct reasons and document their day-to-day life, generating a community around it. For example, I love learning how to cook authentic Japanese dishes as I gain nuanced understanding of the culture from subtle changes in technique. For example, the way you chop vegetables and prepare stock has taught me about the history and culture.

Please contextually reference your subject matter. What art, design, cultural, historic references can you look at to gain insight? Describe them and why they are relevant.

As I begin to understand the behavioral patterns of users in more permanent virtual worlds - video games - as well as the multi functionality coded into these landscapes I have been looking at: Video game atlas - Mapping interactive worlds book, by Luke Caspar Pearson and Youkhana. This book maps the synthetic environments in video games, how they challenge us conception of space and how we interact with it. Certain aspects of spatial design have been challenged by the rising prevalence of video games making them the ideal settings for the act of speculation. Each video game world imperfectly reflects the 'physical' world that surrounds us. In giving ourselves permission to take these spaces of play seriously, and to study them in depth, we can understand and re-imagine the 'real' world in new and diverse ways.

Technology in ‘real’ settings can also change how we communicate with others and the environment.

An example of this: Listen to This Space' are compositions you can listen to by the river Thames in Radnor Gardens, produced by someone in the community gardens, using sound recordings made on location. This offers people the chance to hear an unfamiliar perspective of space, creating an exchange with the local community and an insight into how the environment has changed from when it was first recorded. For some who use this space every day it interrupts their daily routine, giving them the opportunity to engage with their surroundings. Allowing people to communicate with a more personal voice shows how virtual communication can be positively harnessed. People across the world can connect with people that share their niche interests and have the capability to collaborate as easily as they would if they were in the same room.

London designer Arthur Carabott has worked with composer Anna Meredith to create an augmented reality app that immerses listeners in a piece of music. Called Moonmoons AR, the application allows users to place six virtual speakers anywhere in their surrounding environment. Meredith's song, also named Moonmoons, is then played by the app with each instrument – from the bass to the cello – played through a different one of these speakers. By physically moving between the different sound sources, users can craft their own personal "aural experience", changing the direction from which they hear the instrument and its volume – the closer they get, the louder it will be. This effect is called spatial audio, which Carabott explains is "a bit like virtual reality for the ears". Further giving the user the ability to personalize a virtual connection.

To gain an understanding of the negative effects of the internet existence, I will highlight the difference between positive use and harmful use. Post-Internet Cities introduces the idea that the internet has, since its cultural inception, been conceived of as an emancipatory technology. Conversely, the "accidents” of the internet—surveillance, fake news, the propagation of ideological evil, doxing, etc.—forces us to critically call into question the value of this emancipation; for who, and at what cost? The glut of information has generated intense competition for people's attention. Psychologist Herbert A. Simon noted, “What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. ” One of the first consequences of the so-called attention economy is the loss of high-quality information.

Search engines and social media platforms provide personalized recommendations based on the vast amounts of data they have about users' past preferences. They prioritize information in our feeds that we are most likely to agree with—no matter how fringe—and shield us from information that might change our minds. Advertising, like this, is the most blatant form of bad magic being practiced in the world today. Its practice progresses in leaps and bounds, while our human neurology and our capacity to deal with these techniques progresses at a much more leisurely crawl, impacting your subconscious.

Alan Moore's From Hell details Nicholas Hawksmoor's' use of dark cathedrals in Spitalfields showing the way your environment can subconsciously affect you. They feature obelisks in place of steeples, pyramids for towers, imitation sacrificial altars instead of arches. A rich language of symbols that seem to contradict, even mock, the architectural vocabulary of Christian churches. He relayed his oppressive a-genders that he had been working on through Architecture and succeeded in casting a shadow on all the surrounding streets as well as the people who live/d there. This is an interesting reference as it analyses the capability the buildings around us have of completely dictating our psychologies. The landscape we exist in we internalize. If you are living in a place that appears to be a rat trap, inevitably you are going to think that you are some sort of rat.

How does this subject relate to the bigger picture of your own areas of expertise? Have you explored similar concepts before? Talk about a project(s) you have done in specialism that is relevant either conceptually or technically. Which mediums, techniques, materials that you have mastered on the course so far could you utilize in your FMP?

Space and how people interact with it has been something I have enjoyed exploring on multiple occasions. How the subconscious reacts to the environment and how you can subtly alter people's experiences through design. Mapping human behavior and finding commonalities tells you about the human psyche.

In a project about craft, I interrogated what it means to have complete control over one's environment in a public space. Looking at places of refuge within urban and natural settings I understood the level of self-control required to feel safe. Referencing the internet and ideas of imposed algorithms on search engines, stripping away liberty from the user, led me to design an interactive frame that would give solace to someone that has been separated and feels isolated from their environment. Without instruction, they would stumble across this and choose to interact with it. The aperture left behind by the previous person would give them an insight into what they were viewing, connecting them via nonverbal communication.

Alongside the use of traditional craft techniques employed in that project, I have also learnt a great amount about processing unrefined materials into something useful. I can process raw wool into felt and yarn using hand tools: carders, a spindle, a Diz. I can utilize how these processes become rituals for people and communities and how they link us to the past. Also, how these unrefined materials feel spiritual, powerful, and positive.

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smiledotdeer · 2 years ago

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(( I feel like talking about myself outside of the few asks I sent in for that meme, so here we go!

Hi! I'm Sunny! Nice to meet you!

I live in Texas. Yeehaw.

I hit the big 3-0 this year. Specifically, on January 19th. Woohoo!

Speaking of my birthday, I share it with my grandfather! (The month and day. Not the year. LMAO.)

I have two half-brothers. One is 21 and the other is 17. They both share the same father.

My favorite color is green!

I LOVE horror! Movies, books, creepypastas, analog series on YouTube, etc. etc.! I can't say I've ever been truly AFRAID of anything in the genre, though; merely varying degrees of unsettled.

I also love video games! I played WoW for the LONGEST time (15-16 years), but I unsubbed this year due my interest finally dying out. Nowadays I play Tower of Fantasy, Genshin Impact, and FFXIV! I also enjoy The Sims, Stardew Valley, Starbound, Splatoon 3, Minecraft, and countless others.

I have a very wide range in music taste. As long as it isn't loud and mindless screaming or rap, I tend to enjoy it! My Spotify's "general music" playlist is a mishmash of varying styles from Celtic to pop to metal to oldies and everything in-between.

I also have an Alastor playlist on Spotify that I've been slowly building up for a while now; not for music HE enjoys, but for music I believe fits his character. HMU if you want the link!

I struggle greatly with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and very probable autism on a daily basis. I find it difficult to properly express myself, as well as share my ideas or even just ask people to do things with me like write or play games, even though I really want to because I hate feeling lonely.

The 1999 live action version of Animal Farm is, oddly enough, one of my comfort movies. I put it on very often and usually wind up falling asleep to it.

I am 100% a cat person. I love dogs, too, but cats have my heart. Black cats are my absolute favorite.

Some other things I love: coffee, Coca-Cola, pixel art, desserts, snow, pine scented candles, yellow roses, rats, snakes, rain, the smell of gasoline, bell bottom jeans, fake nails, puns, hugs, and singing.

My childhood TV shows consisted of The Magic School Bus, Are You Afraid of the Dark, The Bear in the Big Blue House, Little Bear, Blue's Clues, and Franklin.

I think that's enough for now, haha. Starting to run out of steam. I hope y'all enjoyed learning about me a little bit! 👉👈 ))

#here comes the sun (ooc post)

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blucmoon · 3 years ago

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━ ☾ ⊹ ( bang chan, cis male , he/him ) say hello to HWA YOHAN / CHANCE HWA, the TWENTY FOUR YEAR OLD that seems to have a lot in his hands with HIS job as a STREAMER AND CONTENT CREATOR! beyond that, they seemed RELIABLE AND PASSIONATE upon first glance. i heard someone say they’re sort of SELF-CONSCIOUS AND CAUTIOUS though. HE seems to live in a 2 BEDROOM APARTMENT in SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA. anything else to add? oh, yeah! he also USED TO BE A PROFESSIONAL GAMER PART OF SEOUL DYNASTY (OWL) UNTIL HE GOT KICKED OUT.

basic information

― full name: hwa yohan / chance hwa ― nicknames: yohwa ― age: twenty four ― date of birth: october 3rd, 1996 ― birthplace: cheonan, south korea. ―hometown: sydney, australia ― current location: seoul, south korea ― living arrangements: 2 bedroom apartment ― ethnicity: korean ― nationality: dual, korean (natural born) and australian (naturalized) ― gender: cis male ― pronouns: he / him ― orientation: demiromantic, heterosexual. ― religion: atheist ― occupation: streamer ― language(s) spoken: korean (fluent), english (fluent) ―accent: heavy australian accent

physical appearance

― faceclaim: bang chan / christopher bang of stray kids. ― hair: naturally brown, though he often dyes to a variety of colors, mostly black and blue. right now, it’s a purple color that’s already fading. ― eye colour: coffee brown ― height: 171cm ― weight: 56kg ― tattoos: none at the moment. ― piercings: lobe and upper lobe on both ears. anti-tragus, orbital and rook on the left one. double helix on the right one. ― clothing style: regularly techwear when he goes out and athleisure at home.

personality

― label: the cynical ― positive traits: attentive, dependable, reliable, passionate, brave, energetic, honest, humorous, clever, versatile, truthful, affectionate, sociable ― negative traits: self-conscious, cautious, opinionated, arrogant, detached, critical, tactless, stubborn, loud, quick-tempered, harsh, unfiltered, cynical, restless, ambitious, ― hobbies: baking, collecting enamel pins and funkos, jigsaw puzzles, skateboarding, reading, listening to music, curating playlists when he has time, learning origami. ― habits: obsessively organising, borrowing books and rarely ever returning them (he forgets who they belong to ok), really bad road rage, awful at keeping track of time, people watching, always wears a black ring on his left index finger, always hugs something when sleeping, gets easily impressed by things, quotes movies and shows in regular conversations, knuckle cracking, snacking between meals, eye rolling without noticing, squinting when concentrated, crossing his arms over his chest, running hands through his hair, slouching, rolling his shoulders. ― zodiac sign: sun libra, moon gemini, ascendant libra. ― mbti: infp-t “the mediator” ― enneagram: 8w7 “the nonconformist”. ― temperament: melancholic ― hogwarts house: ravenclaw ― moral alignment: chaotic neutral ― primary vice: greed ― primary virtue: diligence ― element: air

trivia:

― he’s played all kind of games and his twitch channel was created 9 years ago (whew) and it currently has over 5 million subscribers. currently, he streams mostly genshin impact, valorant, league of legends, overwatch, spider-man: miles morales, cyberpunk 2077 and the witcher iii. every now and then he makes charity streams. he also makes special lives with other gamers and figures where they play games like among us, minecraft, fortnite (though he absolutely hates it), party animals, fall guys and other party games.

― despite the rumours around him and his parents, he’s never talked about them to the media. it’s not like chance hides the information, after all it’s online, but he swerves questions about them and pretty much decides to not say anything about them just to avoid controversy. his parents didn’t mind until last year the company they worked at offered him a sponsorship and yohan turned it down. it’s safe to say they were pretty hurt over this and they haven’t talked much recently.

― yohan is, in his words, the biggest fan of spiderman (not really) but he’s his favorite heroe of all times and he collects everything and anything that has him in it. his biggest collection is funko pops with over 30+ figurines. he collects funkos of various other interests of him as well as enamel pins.

― lowkey a weeb. he likes watching anime in his spare time and if he likes it too much, he’d buy the manga and read it as well. his latest obsessions are kimetsu no yaiba, boku no hero academia, haikyu and jujutsu kaisen.

― won’t ever admit this out loud, but almost every ghibli movie makes him cry his eyes out, even when he’s watched the same one over and over again. he prefers to watch these on his own. his favorite one is grave of the fireflies.

― it took him a while to get used to korean culture, a part of him is still trying to. luckily, his family would speak in korean in their household most of the time and this helped him not struggle as much when it came to the language. his streams are most of the time in english to cater to a bigger audience, but recently he’s got himself a small team of an editor and a translator that’s helped him add subtitles to the videos he uploads in youtube.

― his current setup is completely sponsored except for a few extra things he’s bought himself and he has minimal experience when it comes to builds, though he’s really interested in learning and has recently researched more about the whole topic, hoping to get his first custom build by the end of the year.

― has terrible road rage and this is the reason why he doesn’t own a car or a driving license, even being in the backseat makes him anxious and would much rather prefer to use the bus, a bike or his skateboard to commute between places. taxis and other rides are his last option, if he’s quite honest.

― as a neighbour, he’s polite and tries to be mindful just to avoid needless problems. the first thing he did was soundproof his office in order to not disrupt others, but sometimes this doesn’t work as well due to how loud he can be. chance will try to greet every neighbour he encounters either with a wave or a simple nod.

― loves dogs but doesn’t feel he’s responsible enough to take care of one yet, though he will certainly volunteer to pet-sit his friends’ dogs.

background:

born in cheonan, south korea to two very affectionate parents and an older sister, yohan was the name given to the first boy of the hwa’s; a small loving family who moved to australia two years after his birth.

the reason for this is that his mom was promoted to become the director of a renowned gaming company that was opening its new headquarters in sydney. his father is a software engineer specialised in videogames development who works under the same company.

his sister is a graphic designer and she, too, is currently working with them in the multimedia and design area. she’s almost 7 years older than him and ever since they were kids, she took a protective role over yohan.

it was easy for yohan to get really invested in videogames from a young age, after all, his parents would often bring home their newest releases as well as games from other various companies (his father liked to play a lot as well and he himself was a fan of many games, mostly the nintendo classics).

fast forward to his teenage years; he was actually good at school, not the best, but definitely did good enough to not worry his parents with his grades. sports always piqued his interest. he was part of the basketball team and would use his skateboard often to get to school (which would earn him earfuls from the teachers saying how dangerous it was.) other than that, he was an active member in the gaming club (shocking, i know).

at 14 he got his first close up at what esports were like after participating in a tournament of counter strike, junior division. his team (which was made up by members from the gaming club) won and he got to watch matches from other divisions, only growing more and more fascinated about the whole thing. the idea of becoming a professional gamer didn’t seem so far fetched then.

around late 2011, the same year twitch started as what it is, yohan found the platform and immediately grew curious about it. it was fascinating to watch other people play, thus it didn’t take him long to start his own channel under the username “chance” right after he turned 15. it took him a while to find his own pace there, not quite sure of what to say or how to act. eventually, he saw that the less reserved and cautious he was, the more people watched and liked his stream, so from then on, he stopped worrying about what ifs and what people would think about him.

this is a double edged sword: as his popularity grows, he becomes more and more brutally honest and less mindful of the consequences his words and actions could have. whereas he quickly became one of the public’s favorites, he was also viewed as someone potentially problematic that could bring a bad reputation to the community, though this only seemed to be a prejudice from other gamers and public figures.

he doesn’t care, however, and chance was pretty dead set on keep doing his thing. he was also really active in tournaments, either small or big, and other teams would often reach out for him to fill in. he rarely ever turned down an opportunity and even though they didn’t always win, participating was more than enough for him to gain the favor of the audience.

when he was 18, a formal contract to be part of the chiefs esports club (a recently founded professional club with teams competing in counter-strike: global offensive and league of legends based in australia) was presented to him and of course he signed.

between his streams, which had become a tri-weekly kind of deal, and the “training” with his teammates the rest of the days, it was clear that yohan wasn’t in the slightest interested to pursue a higher education, and honestly his parents didn’t complain about it as he was already doing well on his own. nonetheless, his sister was concerned and pushed him to at least take a couple of online classes (which he did, but mostly to learn how to edit videos and understand audio aspects to improve the quality of his streams.)

around this time, nasty rumours about his parents buying his way into the club were spread which earned him the dislike of some of his teammates. it was the first time yohan ever encountered a situation like that but thanks to the management, he was able to move past that. the oceanic pro league was founded in 2015, a professional league of legends competition, and the chiefs esports club participated and won. this helped the rumours around him disperse for he proved his skills were what put him into the team. sadly, he left the club a year later.

for the next couple of years, he focused on his stream and growing his community. yohan was invited to different events, tournaments and other collaborations during this time and he was always excited for them. he even decided to create a youtube channel to upload highlights and vlogs.

then, the overwatch league was announced (chance quickly became addicted to this game and even reached top 500 in competitive) and he was contacted by the seoul team (seoul dynasty) to become part of their team for the inaugural season. like that, at 21, yohan packed his bags and moved to south korea.

between 2017 and 2019, he was part of the team as dps. he had to change his schedule yet again to stream only on the weekends and with some restrictions his contract established (like not talking about the team or the league live). some of his fans voiced their dislike for this new attitude of his, which yohan brushed with a roll of the eyes and a joke.

however, before the 2020 season started and the team was on break, chance was one day streaming and offhandedly said a comment about another player in the league which he had a match with. this caused a really big commotion online and several pro-gamers were rubbed the wrong way about his words (to this day, he still doesn’t know what was so wrong about calling out someone t-bagging him in a pro game) and his reputation was admittedly tarnished. the seoul dynasty’s management team decided that it was better to let him go.

that’s how last year, chance moved into his current apartment after looking online for a new place to live.

in the present, he streams 5 days a week a variety of games and his schedule varies, some days he goes live in the mornings and other days really late at night. he has a steady income from various sponsorships as well as the monetization of his youtube channel, which he updates twice a week.

#INFO.TXT #CHANCE.EXE #LOC.SEOUL

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hazbinhoteltheories · 5 years ago

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Do you think video games exist in Hell if so who of the main characters would play them & what type of video games would they play

I can’t see a reason why there wouldn’t be video games in Hell. Especially since other forms of entertainment, like TV shows, have already been established. And I think some of the misfits would be really into video games and others not so much.

As for what kind of video games each one would play, or if they would at all, that would be going more into headcanon territory than speculation but I love me some headcanons so let’s go.

Those that would.

Charlie: I think Charlie would be fascinated with video games, specifically if she got her hands on any that came from Earth. The girl was born and raised in hell, so I’m not sure if she’s ever gotten to see what Earth is like. Anything that can give her and insight into the world most of her people come from, all the different places there are, what they look like, what their cultures are like what people’s lives are like, what stories they have, she would just eat up. And especially with Vaggie by her side to tell her everything she wants to know about them, she would play as many of Earth’s video games as she can. But her absolute favorites would be anything by Disney and anything with something cute in it. Like the Kirby games and Animal Crossing.

Vaggie: I think Vaggie would like video games that have a good story, a unique art style, and clever world-building. Especially if they had a gothic style. Think Alice Into the Madness or Hollow Kight. She would also really like Batman Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and Arkham night.

Angel Dust: Not many expect it, due to him being from the forties, but Angel actually finds video games to be a lot of fun and he plays them with Cherri all the time. He’s a little embarrassed to admit he only had a vague idea of what video games were until Chrerri introduced them to him properly. Before then, he just thought they were a kind of kids toy. But he’s very much acquainted with them now. He would like Bendy and the Ink Machine, because of the dark twist to the kind of cartoons he used to watch as a kid, and Cuphead would make him feel nice and nostalgic. He wishes there was a gay version of Huniepop or a less innocent version of Dream Daddy. If those exist um, he won’t be very productive for a while. Let’s just say that.

Cherri: Girl is from the eighties. Video games were the best thing ever to her, back in the day. She still owns an NES and an Atari 2600, which she guards with her life, but she’s kept up to date with everything video game-related since her death. Now, she owns loads of consoles and has played hundreds of games. If she had to pick a favorite type of game, she would go with classic beat em up style type of games. One of the things she and Angie do the most when they hang out at her place is play a ton of multiplayer fighting games. Their favorite is Skullgirls and seeing Peacock and Parasoul duking it out is a common sight on Cherri’s screen, as they are Cherri and Angel’s main PCs. Cherri is also on this sort of journey to play all the NES and Atari games she didn’t get the chance to play because of her death and often, she takes Angel along for the ride. They played ET the Extra-Terrestrial once. They burnt it.

Nifty: Nifty would be ADDICTED to dating games. Obsessed wouldn’t even be the word.

Crymini. Girl is a hardcore gamer. She be teabagging noobs in Call of Duty every day. It would be hard for her to pick a favorite genre or a favorite game because she plays everything except games that are “for pussys” even though she secretly plays Minecraft and would tear someone’s throat out before she admitted it but she loves action and survival games. Left For Dead, The Last of Us, GTA, Red Dead Redemption, the Borderlands series, Resident Evil, Assassins Creed. The list goes on and on because her collection is quite impressive. She’ll also go to arcades sometimes out of nostalgia. She’s destroyed everyone’s high scores in the one she goes to. Baxter: Workaholic Baxter would probably never allow himself the time to play video games and even if he did, he’d probably thinking of other things he could be doing with his time. Not necessarily work-related things, but things he simply enjoys more. But I can still imagine him having one exception. I think Baxter could be one of those people who own a Nintendo DS simply to play brain training games. I think those would help him unwind.Those who wouldn’t;

Alastor: Its canon Alastor doesn’t understand modern technology at all. So he would probably just be utterly confused if you gave him a game console. He might enjoy watching other people play video games though. Specifically horror games. He would find them amusing.

Husk: Doesn’t give a fuck about video games. He sees them as “kids stuff."

Sir Pentious: I think Sir Pentious would be more interested in how video game consoles work than video games themselves. He believes it’s important to stay up to date with the technology of the modern world. But he doesn’t have time to waste on such "mindless entertainment.” as video games. Hell isn’t going to take over itself. Mimzy: Doesn’t like them all. She’s still mad at video games in general over Guitar Hero. Every time one of those games was released, her neighbors would be playing on those plastic instruments and blast rock music for months. Which she hates. She would honestly beat the shit out of whoever created Guitar Hero if she met them in real life.

Katie Killjoy: Isn’t in the least bit interested in video games but she is glad that they exist. She’s made a lot of money from demonizing their existence.

Tom Trench. Understands them as well as Trump understands equality. He can’t wrap his head around them at all.

Yet despite all that, I can still picture Charlie and all her squad all trying to destroy each other in multiplayer games. Like Super Smash Bros, TF2, Overwatch and the game with the finishing moves they half wish they could enact on each other in real life, Mortal Combat. Like, this would be a regular thing they’d do together and it would always get super competitive and out of hand. It might even get the ones who don’t play video games that often to start playing them out of sheer determination to beat the good ones and get to be the smug ones for once. It would be oh so satisfying to beat them at their own game, literally. Although, didn’t Vivzie say that if Alastor thinks he’s losing at a game, he’ll take over it Jumanji style to make sure he wins? Yeah, I don’t think these would end well.

#hazbin hotel #charlie #vaggie #angel dust #cherri bomb #nifty #crymini #baxter #alastor #husk #sir pentious #mimzy #katie killjoy #Tom Trench

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mattkenzie · 5 years ago

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My Highlights of 2019

So with 2019 coming to a close (and I have to say that the year has come and gone... but I strangely had times that slowed down). This year I recently started to use hashtags so that is a learning experience and maybe get myself noticed for a while.

Ships of 2019 ❤️

Beau and Jester (Critical Role Season 2)

Catra and Adora (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

Movies 🎥 🍿

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This year my local cinema was closed for refurnishment so I never got to watch much movies this year. I used to like going to the movies but there is this unwritten rule where ‘you can’t go into a cinema on my own’ and ‘going to a U-Rated (Universal) as an adult without a child is frowned upon.’ So I think you know what? I’ll get the movie physically so I can watch it twice as it pays for my cinema ticket. Maybe in the new year I’ll hunt down the MCU Boxsets.

Avengers: Endgame 🥇

🍿 Captain Marvel 🥈

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse 🥉

Sonic the Hedgehog (So glad Sonic got an update!)

Avengers: Infinity War

Spider-Man: Far From Home

🍿 Steven Universe: The Movie

🍿 Black Panther

Doctor Strange

Frozen 2 (My principle still stands that I detest Frozen)

How to Train Your Dragon

💿 Lord of the Rings

💿 Thor Ragnarok

Guardians of the Galaxy

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Spider-Man: Homecoming

🍿 Toy Story 4

The Hobbit (ONLY the first 2 films!)

Spirited Away

Movie Characters

Live Action TV 📺

Animated TV 📺

TV Characters

Music Groups 🎤🎸🥁

Musicals 🎭

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Just the one musical that I’ve enjoyed this year and that is...

Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice, being young and naive doesn’t mean that I’m an easy mark.)

Books 📚

This year I have promised myself that I’d read a new book once a month back in 2018 and it came back with a vengeance in 2019 and I have been enjoying reading more that I prefer fantasy and built such a small library. Yes, this year I’ve been spending less time watching television and giving my imagination a creativity an exercise. I think in 2020, I’ll try to give YA novels a chance... yet I noticed the YA protagonists are female. I want to try Leigh Bardugo’s Trilogy, The Throne of Glass, The Mortal Instrumentals and more of Rick Riordan. I do kind of feel bad for not reading The Simarrillion (as I never got into books as a child/teenager).

Harry Potter series 🥇

Percy Jackson and the Olympians 🥉

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)

Discworld

Good Omens

Authors and Poets 📚✒️

Video Games 🎮

youtube

So I’ve been spending less money on video games this year it feels like it’s a good thing but sometimes we have to be adult about things in this day and age because responsibility demands sacrifice. I do find life difficult at times but I know that I can pop in a CD and find enjoyment in the games that I want to play. So what about the video games that aren’t on the Tumblr fandom list? Well to abridge my list... Trails of Cold Steel 1 & 2, Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2: Enhanced Edition and Planescape Torment & Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, King of Fighters 2000, King of Fighters ‘97, Fatal Fury Special and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. I was ecstatic to hear Terry Bogard being in Smash. But what about those games that are no Tumblr but not on mine? It’s simple, I’m not interested in them.

Overwatch 🥇

Minecraft 🥈

🎮 Fire Emblem: Three Houses 🥉

Undertale

🎮 Pokémon Sword and Shield

🎮 The Sims 4

🎮 Persona 5 (I can’t wait for Royal)

Deltarune

🎮 Danganrompa

🎮 Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Can’t wait for the sequel)

Stardew Valley

🎮 Borderlands 3

🎮 Kingdom Hearts III

Detroit: Become Human

🎮 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

🎮 Ace Attorney (Still salty about not having Miles Edgeworth Investigations and The Great Ace Attorney though)

Taletale: The Walking Dead

🎮 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

🎮 Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Cyberpunk 2077

Dragon Age Inquisition

🎮 Fallout 4

Minecraft ⛏

I’ve stopped watching Minecraft videos for about 2 years now (as I loved the Yogscast), but I somehow do miss playing it on my phone or on a console, I think in 2020 I will get a copy on the Switch because one of my friends have been playing Minecraft on the Switch.

Mobile Games/Apps 📱

To be honest, I don’t do any form of mobile gaming (I’m mostly against the idea of ‘micro transactions’ just the sake of pay to win). Like when it comes to video games on computers and consoles I will gladly get the DLC to give my games more depth and longer replay value.

Video Game Characters

Raphael (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Pokémon

youtube

So with Pokémon Sword and Shield being released, I was having some mixed feelings about it. Did I like the Thanos snap? I can live with it. Did I like the new pokémon? Some of them are a hit and miss (I liked the starters, I chose Scorbunny at first but when I was spoiled with Grooky’s final evolution... I jumped ship). Do I like the Dynamax/Gigantamax system? To be honest I was hoping for Armoured Evolutions.

Brand New World

Grooky Gang

Anime & Manga

Web Celebrities

Web Series

So with me losing interest in television comes a rise in watching my shows online. I normally do enjoy watching Critical Role on Monday (as I need some sleep on Friday at silly o’clock in the morning) but I have enjoyed discovering Sander’s Side (YouTube’s version of Pixar’s Inside Out) and listening to The Adventure Zone that I bought the comics (I can’t wait for Volume 3) and Dimension 20’s Fantasy High.

Critical Role 🥇

RWBY 🥈

Sander’s Sides 🥉

The Adventure Zone

Camp Camp

Hazbin Hotel

gen:LOCK

Dimension 20

Memes

I will never understand memes (so please don’t ask)

OK, Boomer!

Raiding Area 51

Thicc is the new Phat

Tumblr Communities

So I stated that this year that I would be reading a book once a month and I have started to appreciate them more than I do with Television and Video Games so I’ve been blogging what books that I have read and eventhough I don’t know what is getting released (like I do with video games and movies). I have been enjoying starting out with bookblr.

Bookblr

Art Styles

Beauty & Fashion Brands 👕👖🥾

Sadly, I gained a lot of weight this year that I now have to get size 46 waist jeans and chinos so I buy clothing from Bad Rhino (I am not proud of myself for that), but the good news is that my brushing/flossing have been improving and I have stopped biting my nails ever since I bought myself nail clippers.

Astrology ♒️

I don’t really follow astrology but I like to look at the Aquarius posts for fits and gigs so apparently Aquarius is in 3rd place in the trending.

Aquarius ♒️🥉

Tumblr and Social Impact

LGBTQIA+

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n3rdlif343va · 7 years ago

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11 Questions TURNED INTO 55!!

Everyone, I love you, but I am not this interesting!! These questions were definitely interesting though, proving once again that you are all more creative than me ;) I was tagged by @yuuris-piano @gothandtired @fullmetalkarneval13 and @d2diamond (3 times because you are trolling me and I would still snuggle you. I think that’s love lol)

@yuuris-piano and @gothandtired questions are above the cut and then I put the rest under the cut, because the other two have potty mouths lol Alright, here we go!!

1. What kind of person would be your roommate? Someone who contribute to chores and can easily exist in the same space as me without needing a lot of attention.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Hopefully still alive

3. Form of media you can’t stand? I don’t watch the mainstream news.

4. Is Love pain? No. Real love has its painful moments, but love should never be painful all the time. You are doing it wrong if it is

5. If you were a dragon, what kind of dragon would you be? Toothless and I would immediately find Hiccup ;)

6. Ideal home. Not cluttered, with lots of pictures on the walls, and lived in/comfortable. I don’t want to live in a museum

7. Ideal book/story to read. Personal growth. A character discovering themselves through adventure or mundane.

8. How many blankets do you sleep with? 2 to 4

9. Any veggies you dislike? Nope, I love all veggies and fruit!

10. If you were a superhero/villain, what would be your power? Superhero, I would want the power to heal. Both hearts and injuries/illnesses. I would want to inspire kindness and love in others.

11. Who is your inspiration? The world.

@gothandtired:

1. Perfect date? October 31st ;) 2. What are you looking forward to right now? Finishing a lot of my WIPs, @phichitzine, Christmas

3. Biggest pet peeve? Meanness. People who are unnecessarily mean grate on my nerves 4. Movie that you could watch over and over? The Little Mermaid and Shawshank Redemption 5. If you could learn another language without restraint, what would it be? I would get back to Hebrew and French, and I would try German 6. Last thing you read? Article, book, fanfic, etc I reread A Wrinkle in Time, and I am once again trying to get through Casual Vacancy (after 8 tries, if I can’t get through it this time, I quit) 7. Most comfy clothes you own? My black oversized sweatpants and my robe that looks and feels like a giant white puffy teddy bear 8. Something you “can’t” do, but lots of people “can” do? I can’t skip. At all. 9. 3 things you need to have if you were stranded on an island? Pen and Paper, fresh water 10. Favorite toy when you were a kid? My dollhouse or my babydoll named Twinkle (don’t make fun of her name, a kid did that in 4th grade and I threw him down a hill. 2 weeks on crutches for that guy) 11. What is something that your friends will never let you live down? Crotching Victor. The fact that I once dressed up as a nurse for Halloween, the costume was not decent and I regret my life every time the pictures crop back up.

@d2diamond 1st Questions

1. Describe your idea perfect partner for life? “Perfect” is not a thing. Laughter, hugging me when I’m upset, honesty, and knowing when I need space, those are ideal qualities

2. Your favorite dessert? Eclairs!!!

3. What’s your favorite kind of music to dance too? *hangs head in shame* Pop music…

4. Fess up, did you ever insert yourself into a story? (Mary-Sueism) No, I purposely keep myself out of my stories

5. What is your favorite holiday trope to read about? Being snowed in together. Does that count?

6. Have you ever kissed anyone under the mistletoe? Yes.

7. Kiss me, I’m not Irish! Would you? Hell yeah, get over here!

8. Out of all your favorite characters, who would you Kiss, F**k, and Marry? LANGUAGE! But for YOI, Kiss Phichit, F Chris, and Marry Seung-gil

9. What’s your favorite flower? *is confused* I’m not a flowers kind of girl. I killed a cactus once and bamboo. No one trusts me with flowers

10. *Holds out hand* Dance with me? *immediately starts doing the cabbage patch*

11. ABO/Omegaverse: Hell YEAH! or F**K NO! Get that nasty shit away from me? LANGUAGE! Lol Also, I don’t get it lol

@fullmetalkarneval13 questions:

1: What was the first fic you ever read? Like ever ever? Not sure, but it was probably Kim Possible or Dawson’s Creek related (don’t judge me! *hides*)

2: Have you ever received a gift you had to fake a smile at? Yes. A pink sweater with a tiger striped flower on it. I mean honestly, what the hell

3: What’s your favorite fic at the moment? UMMMMM I like all of mine ha ha but outside of that? Maybe…. This one: we know the game and we're gonna play it or take my heart (I don't need it anyway) ( @katsukifatale)

4: Have you ever been out of the country? Yesum, France and England :)

5: Right back at ya. Kiss Marry F**k? Seriously with the potty mouths!! LMAO. I already answered this one, see above!

6: Would you rather ride a unicorn or swim with mermaids? MERMAIDS!

7: Favorite pastime? Writing, staring into the void pretending that it counts as writing

8: How many words can you write in a day without being interrupted? The most words I ever wrote in one sitting, as in continuous writing without stopping or getting up from the computer was a little over 7,400. Yes I am a beast (*hides as everyone eyeballs my lack of updates*)

9: *holds out hand* Go skydiving with me? Been there, done that, would love to do it again

10: What’s your favorite video game if you play them? Anything Professor Layton. Kingdom Hearts. Disney Infinity. I like Minecraft and I like Rocket League even though I am super bad

11: Do you watch tv, if you do, what is your favorite tv show? BROOKLYN 99!!!!! And I loved New Girl. And Bones. And Miraculous Ladybug

Diamond Second Questions

1. Which do you prefer best? Dark, Milk or White Chocolate? Dark chocolate for SURE

2. How many pillows on your bed? (or Nest) 6 lol

3. Have you been keeping up with @lucycamui and @crimson-chains Siren AU? Nope, I struggle to follow things on Tumblr lol

4. On a scale of 0 to F**K ME NOW, how sexy do you think Otabek Altin would look like as a pirate? I’m not really into the pirate thing. I have reasons for this, which I would answer only if prodded.

5. KISS, F**k, or Marry - Guang Hong, Leo & Seung-gil. UMMM, I would kiss Guang Hong on the cheek, and the last two for Seung-gil. Sorry, Leo, you can give GH a proper kiss if you would like

6. Can I add you to my story as an extra? (If so, please send me your characters physical description in my ask box!) As long as I am super extra! You know what I look like silly bean :p

7. What is your Patronus? A field mouse. I don’t know, ask Pottermore

8. If you are an animagus, what is your animal? A hamster

9. What musical instrument can you play? If not, which one would you like to learn? Baritone horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass guitar and a couple of cadences on snare drum. I don’t think my brain could learn anything new at this point

10. What’s your all-time favorite movie? The Little Mermaid and Shawshank Redemption, live action Beauty and the Beast is probably third tied with Wonder Woman

11. How many licks DOES it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? I don’t know, I don’t like lollipops because they have to stay in your mouth too long

Diamond 3rd Questions

1. Shameless plug time: Link to a story you’ve written that you would like to see turned into a movie. (If not written, then read, or made art for). Be my chef, Yuuri or the rancher AU that no one has seen yet

2. I feel like having some pancakes. Share some with me? Absolutely! I’ll even make you my blueberry panacakes!

3. You’re a Prince/ss, describe your kingdom. Everyone works together so that we can all succeed together. And I don’t have to wear dresses.

4. Where is your most ideal place to sit and read? Outside in the woods

5. Harry Potter or Twilight? (Yes, I’m bringing this back) Harry Potter, get out of here with the sparkly ill-developed vampires!

6. What school would you attend in the Harry Potter Universe? Hogwarts although technically I guess I would have to go to school in America. Lame.

7. What house in that school would you be in? Gryffindor! Sorted by Pottermore :)

8. Create a Holiday! What day or time of the year… UMMMM June 15th

9. What does everyone celebrate? Kindness!!

10. How does everyone celebrate your holiday? By doing random acts of kindness for a whole day!

11. Post for me below, the cutest picture you have. You get a GIF

#eleven questions #turned into 55 #ya dorks #I love you all #random nerd stuff #tagged posts

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elboyo-blog · 7 years ago

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About Youtube Rewind

Right so… youtube rewind 2017 is out. Everyone’s favourite end of year tradition, showcasing all the trends people were talking about, and all the topics and creators on the site that cultivated the community around to make youtube stand ou…

I should stop. This is all bullshit as I am aware you all know, yourtube rewind is, was and always will be throwaway ‘look at us we’re unique!’ shite, but this years was especially aggravating. It really boiled down a reality that has been creeping up on us for a while. Youtube rewind 2017 just shows that youtube doesn’t want to be youtube. Of course that could be seen that last year, for example the whole Dwayne Johnson at the start but I believe that can be justified with the fact that Dwayne has a channel just for himself, what isn’t justifiable from last year at least is the fucking talk show hosts like trevor noah and Seth ‘cumstain’ myers. This only gets worse and worse with this years entry however. But I’m getting ahead of myself, lets just break it down (tl;dr at the bottom)

overview (This will be the most chronological so watching along helps)

Right so off the fucking bat the vid starts with a Stephen Colbert(Not a youtuber) talking to Lele Pons (A viner and Instagram star who flocked to youtube where that ship sank) and some girl beside (I think she’s popular but I don’t know her), we then see some random girl run into the room and start the cue to ‘Despacito’ which I can see why it is there at least, as it sprung to the highest viewed it can have justification. It then cuts to some people dancing and switching shots locations and people (one of which is that one DJ marshmallow or whatever who, again, isn’t a youtuber). It stops at KSI (Who I’ll get too) using a fidget spinner (which ill also get too) with some some vloggers/IG stars beside him (probably). Oh, hey Rhett and Link. We then get showcased to a slime playground of sorts. I have no fucking clue if this was a trend at all. The only thing I can link this too is all the ‘homemade slime’ tutorials I always hear about. The only thing I really got was ‘Wow! Muselk is thicc’ but other than that the whole thing I think was pointless. Then, for some reason, they put rinestones on their faces? Again, was this a trend? Like, was there a whole underground rinestone craze that slipped under people’s noses? Like most things though, I doubt if it was a trend it even started on youtube. Anyway, they do the dua lipa thing, go to Africa, uuuuuuuugehiehehiihesfiefbfrbeube, do dance crazes during said ‘uuuuuuuugehiehehiihesfiefbfrbeube’ that didn’t originate on youtube and HEY! The eclipse was a thing right? EventhoughthatprimarilyhappenedintheUSthereforealienatinganyrelatabilitythatyoutubewasgoingfor buuuuuut I digress. They do do one thing right which is the whole meme graveyard idea (fitting, I know) parodying the video for the worst tayloer swift yet (nothing beats love story fight me) oooooooh but then the DAB! They hit that DAB! Into yet another ‘uuuuuuuugehiehehiihesfiefbfrbeube’. Oh cool poopy’s there. Don’t know who that other person is but maybe it’s a new character in the poppy lore or maybe its just a person I don’t know or maybe recognise. The whole hurricane Harvey thing they pull next is insulting to the point ill reserve a whole section to it. Skipping that we go to a roof party with the DJ and the fidget spinner, a perfect almagimation of all that isn’t youtube based trends, seriously the dj could maybe be related as he uses youtube as an outlet for his music but fidget spinners were a physical thing! It was a brand! Literally this year’s version of silly bandz! Yes Susan, include this! Very youtube, much wow! Fuck off. Anyway, we see the party is home to the biggest twats of youtube, team 10 and the pauly boys (Note: that’s a nice band name). with them on the roof are stars that again, didn’t start on youtube. Most of them are viners and/or IG stars with like one or two from fine bros React (I shit you not if you look in the back there’s the old guy from elder’s react). We cut to more slime bois (hey Tomska). When they cut back, (yes holy shit it is the guy form elders react! Jfc) and they do their sick moves like the floss, a move YouTube claims to have homebrewed as well (come on guys, Katy Perry tried to claim it first). Hey, look its every 14y/o girls wet dream. More slime boyos. I think KEEM screams the floor is lava but… that trend was an IG trend wasn’t it or like the last vine trend, but it got Ol’ Yellered, like, just because Fine Bros do a youtubers react to it doesn’t make it a YouTube thing! Jeez louis. Big Shaq’s there, that’s neat. Some filler dancing and cuts when they cut back to the graveyard reinforcing that is it a graveyard for dead memes which I have problem with, because that would insinuate that ‘All Star’ died this year. No, it didn’t, and as long as Steve Harwell is still on God’s green earth no it won’t, yes its popularity has dulled but it was actually a meme that just faded away, cropping up every once in a while, its survival is different to similar trends like ‘We Are Number One’ which can make people I know physically wince when heard. All star didn’t die, it’ll be back if it even left in the first place. More vloggers and traditionally attractive people flash by as a whole recap happen of the torment thrusted upon me. The last live action sketch is Lele and her friend greet the non-youtuber rounding out the production. The credits are actually the best part of this however as we see different pseudo-animators (think more odd1s out, less Psychicpebbles), such as Extra Credits, Tabbes, Jaidenanimation, Odd1sout, Rebecca Parham, ItsAlexClark and Simon’s cat. Though their subject matter is just as pander-y shite as the whole vid you can see the effort in their animation and it’s nice to see that youtube finally removed the dildo it has been shoving up most youtube animator’s asses for the last 3-5 years (but by ‘removed’ I really mean they just slapped a sign on it that says ‘here at YouTube, we love our animators!’ and pretend they solved the problem.

Dead fucking memes/(hate to use the phrase but) irrelevancy

The Dab, fidget spinners, shooting stars with more probably but it was hard to see during my stroke, point is, YouTube is out of touch and has zero self-awareness when it comes to memes and trends

I know the word sounds pretentious as hell but seriously, here’s a my honest-to-god reaction of who I saw on screen

· Not a youtuber

· Don’t know

· Despactio guy 1

· Don’t know *3

· Despacito guy 2: electric boogaloo

· Don’t know *2

· Dj boi

· Vannos

· Don’t Know *4 Ft. Lincoln

· Don’t know *3

· Quick flashes of the great unknown

· KSI and his favourite toy (not counting NetNobody’s dick)

· Don’t know *6 (Empire was better)

· Another 3 I don’t know but there is that one guy who screams a lot, think his names guacamole or something

· @rhettandlink and another guy, classic trio

· Don’t know*2

· Don’t know*slime

· Don’t know* rhinestone

· Hey, its @a-kind-ale-war

· Africa – Toto

· Slo mo guys among the dead meme cosmos

· Otherwise, you guessed it, no clue

· Don’t know * field

· Don’t know any of the eclipse crew

· @caseyneistat

· God’ wrath in the form of comets coming to smite us as failed creations

· YouTube Is Shutting Down My Channel and I'm Not Sure What To Do

· His beautiful bastards (nameless in my lack of knowledge)

· 6 zombies that died in obscurity, nameless and unknown, ‘tis a shame

· Why I left Smosh

· The cosmos of people I don’t know

· KSI’s brother

· Poppy

· A DC lawsuit

· Mooooooooorrrrrreeeeee spaaaaaaccceeeee

· A youtube circle jerk of self-righteousness (more on that later)

· People holding hands

· The shitty vine family

· Team 10 bitch who the hell are flipping you

· The other one

· Shitty IG ‘Comedy’ Squad

· Black guys and backpack kid (Note: another good band name, though it needs tweaking)

· @thetomska getting face fucked

· Victims of the great slime massacre (slime control now!)

· Old guy from react

· Don’t know*roof party

· Every teenage girls wet dream/gay ship

· Daniel Keem saying floor is lava

· Lava victims

· A very cold rapper

· Don’t know but has a sword

· More zombie boys

· A cluster of people 2012

· Forehead in the back again (sorry jack)

· @markiplier

· Why I gave the pope Undertale

· A finale of people I don’t know being absorbed by the cosmos

· Neato mosquito animators

As you can see a good majority of the stars I doubt much people know, probably only chosen for the brand friendliness which begs the question…

Exclusions/double standards

A lot of people were excluded from this year’s rewind, which isn’t a surprise in the slightest. This issue was brought up last year as well, but with this year it showcases some hypocrisy with possible reasons to exclude folks. Firstly, KSI, he had the whole beef with NetNobody (the greatest Minecraft youtuber there is) but Netnobody was excluded, it couldn’t be numbers or presence as before retiring, Adam had about 11 million subs, maybe he declined, like most sane people would, or maybe because he neither pulls the views or the family friendly influence that he used to. Its safe to assume Ricegum and IDubbbz got rejected by choice, again sanity, or because of their beef, which is again hypocritical of the site as KSI was allowed on fine and Keem along with the Paul brothers aren’t the angels of Youtube either. Again, it seems YouTube is really trying to push this family friendly goofball persona which is perfect for the weird kids and the cool kids which is true but is only really surface level in the rewind and the reality isn’t really shown otherwise. Also fuck that Nazi racist Pewdiepie amirite ladies?

Hurricane Harvey debacle

I believe this is honestly the most insulting aspect of the rewind. Though it had good intentions it just highlights YouTube’s utter ignorance. Not to pull a PJW but this is dictionary definition virtue signalling. Youtube makes themselves out to be all together, yes youtube, you are the most influential platforms of our generation, cat videos and make-up vlogs can save the world! In all seriousness though this is one of the most botched poorly executed thing I’ve ever seen, and I’m counting HWNDU. For one thing the tone and flow is horrible, the segment is frankenstiened into the middle of the video and puts a halt on the relatively well paced video, and is followed by a radical hip and swaggity dance party yeah! As if the whole was a task by the team and when they were down with it they thought; “right, that’s over with. Back to the fun and cool stuff yeah!” if they kept the pace by putting the thing just before the credits as to highlight the message at the end and while everyone’s lifted by the message they’re treated to the credits and the talents of the wonderful animators. However, that would only make the segment flow correctly as, in my opinion, it comes off as quite nepotistic to big creators. A method they could’ve done is before they filmed or edited anything they could’ve announced to fans and viewers to send in webcam clips and videos of them holding hands in unity or saying unity, showing a UNITY between fans and creators. That said this brings me to my conclusion;

Conclusion

Youtube doesn’t want to be youtube, it wants to be a family and advertiser friendly site for all to come, it wants to be seen as a beacon for ALL internet trends and ideas and it wants to be seen as a user and creator friendly platform. But youtube isn’t this, and youtube hates that. This year has seen the worst year in the sites history for user treatment and contact showing double standards with actual users and companies such as talk show hosts, with things like the adpocolypse rumoured trending tab rigging and trending tab blacklists. Along with this is the, as I said, nepostistic outlook on creators, with youtube success being less and less consistency based and more and more luck based on one video blowing up and staying that way, and trending (along with youtube in general), should facilitate a rise in creators and ideas instead of promoting channels who already have 5-6 million subs and censoring a lot of voice directly or indirectly. With no other options for video site (realistically, nobody uses vimeo or dailymotion and fucking rip vidme) youtube’s current state is more dire than ever and their push for a false identity within an identity crisis for the site is very obvious. This alongside their cowardice and compliance with controversy like in the nazi Pewds situation is showing to be really damaging.

Tl;dr: get a fucking backbone youtube and stop pretending to be something that you’re not.

#youtube #youtuberewind #idubbbz #rant

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henry-atkins-the-3rd-place · 7 years ago

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Favourite Artists

This is also part of my Summer homework.

Um... Do YouTube Animators count as Artists? Actually, the fact they’re on YouTube makes no difference to if their work was in a cinema.

As a lover of cartoons, the crazy and the weird, I found my favourite place on the Internet!

NewGrounds!

...

Oh... and, YouTube too, I guess...

Lots of animators don’t get enough credit from YouTube because of their algorithim which basically rewards any one channel that uploads content like a never ending money printer.

It’s a shame because there are amazing animators on the internet who only the fans seem to be supporting. Animators like:

SexuaLobster

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUawWaOXZtk

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_hBoDz_Qp8

This animator has... questionable taste but that’s what i love about him. His absurd ideas on screen is alot better to me than someone who holds back to make only safe videos. Sometimes his videos do come across as inventive like one of his earlier and my favourite animation of his, ‘Central Bwankers’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DdfLtOrBPU

This is a nutshell video about how bankers seem to be working for themselves rather than being fair. Watching it will fill you in.

A similar video is on the channel ‘FlashGitz’ which I will also be showing in this post further down below.

Weebl’s Stuff

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMqIWmFkXvU

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBoLA_BQ4tU

In his first first animation on the channel he described his content as not being random but absurd.

Yes.

Cartoons and songs galore with sketches on the side. This British animator doesn’t stop surprising me with the crazy and dumb stuff they come up with. I can’t give you a theme since it rarely becomes consistent other than the general weirdness that follows his videos wherever he goes.

Vrahno

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NvnHykvjoQ

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDRn0vEJko0&t=37s

I agree. That’s a big jump between a childs attempt at stopanimation with action figures to a multi-layered 3D animation of Godzilla monsters fighting.

This is only part of a much larger scene he’s working on with more monsters in the works which I’m very much looking forward to.

I much prefer 2D animation but 3D animation has a place in my heart when people use it to an effective extent. I even enjoy his twist on the characters from the Godzilla franchise making them have more personality. In fact I can’t remember which Godzilla movie it was but the monsters had voices and spoke to eachother through speechbubbles. I don’t think it carried over into the dub but the communication between the monsters was still there and it passed the occassional nod to each other. Vrahno, however expands on this concept in an amazing way that turns these classic monsters into actual characters!

He does some Bionicle stuff too which isn’t too bad but by nerdiness for Godzilla makes me biased.

Slamacow

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx2pCu5WWL4

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsk7uZI4_NI

Yes. He Is a Minecraft animation channel. But i think his animations stand out.

It’s well above the level of the cheap minecraft animation I see in Minecraft Music videos and at the beginning of multiple channels. Believe it or not but Slamacow’s Minecraft animations have Effort!

As an example of why I like Slamacows animation so much I want to do a comparison test. I’m not going to put an image of one of his animations next to a minecraft music video clip or a minecraft intro clip. I’m putting it next to an image from the official Minecraft Story Mode game! tell me which one looks better. Be honest.

Slamacow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGiSgPP-8mc

Minecraft Story Mode:

The point I’m trying to get at is are the mouths. My god, the mouths!

I get that much like in the lego movie, they wanted all the characters to look like exactly how it would work in real life. McSM’s logic is everything must be squares though. It’s not the skins moving but the entire heads of the characters grow extra squares when they exclaim and every mouth movement makes Mr.Game and Watch have smoother frames per second.

Slamacow may have bendier and curved animation but unlike other LEGO digital animation where it did the same thing, Minecraft is a computer game so since it’s clearly seperate from reality, bending seams more natural. LEGO doesn’t bend at all because its rel and more tangeable version is plastic and everybody knows this so bendy LEGO animations look unnatural.

The LEGO movie made sense making sure that everything animated realistically in a way that even the fans will think it makes sense. Minecraft Story Mode animated all of its characters similar to the actual game but took some liberties which is fine. The face is where I draw the line. The LEGO made the 2D printed faces animated which makes sense. The Minecraft Story Mode could have done the same thing but with pixels which is also fine but instead they made cubic caves they call mouths which looks disgusting to me.

I... think I should probably stop ranting and move on.

ThunderHumor

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bqNAcRlQ6o

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBg4Km4r5Xk

To be fair, alot of this guys stuff doesn’t have a massive amount of substance except for a special few which lead me to this channel in the first place.

i.e. Minecraft Misadventures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ugwz1nEm_Q

This is a short series currently consisting of 4 episodes. Again, not much substance but of course it’s a strange take on the blocky series none the less.

I’m... starting to see a pattern with the stuff i watch. Hopefully that changes soon.

Robert Benfer

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyyS14eyrn4

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GANql36pBSQ

Only one long running series on Roberts channel is the reason I always visit his channel. And it’s ended.

Klay World is a grim, stupid yet somehow loveable show about clay people. And that’s all you need to know.

Have a look. It’s comedy is just slapstick and silly noises with smoothly animated and simple designed clay characters. I’ve seen plenty of videos explaining how a silent or simple designed main character in a videogame makes it easy to identify with. the clay people in Klay World are almost identicle other than the occassional prop or a different coloured clay. This is also similar to how Nostalgia Critic (also YouTube) described Goofy in his video ‘Is Goofy secretly a Badass?’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__b8p02SYPo

The last episode he looks at is a classic episode of a whole stadium of classic Goofy characters yelling, beating each other up and being rowdy adults like how classic Goofy was portrayed as. He described the Goofy clones appearing in the episode as ‘not Goofy’ since each character was designed differently but was of the same species and age as Goofy. This meant they could be as violent as they wanted and couldn’t tarnish the official Goofy character since every person throwing a punch, biting and kicking another was similar but not the same. The same goes with the Klay World characters. Some characters have names but everyone else is violent cannonfodder. There to explode, get sliced or shot by another.

Sr Pelo

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD-VbCWzWto

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igfJIZayiy8

Disclaimer: If you watch any of Sr Pelo’s videos, be prepared since alot of his videos include Ear Rape Screeches, Screams and Manic Laughter! You have been warned.

Sr Pelo... is an odd one. He’s the one friend you might have who might not say much or have much to contribute to a conversation without making stupid/silly noises. This is not a jab at him. I think he’s funny.

He’s over the top to every degree. He does some impressions too (discluding his screaming).

I think his designs are a tad like mine. Cartoony but just underdesigned and simple enough to classify and practically an animated doodle.

Zeurel

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR35EkkB_p4

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5Q9hqH9lI

Her videos are short and I really mean short. As in they range from 0.03-7:23 to my knowledge. Believe me, they’re usually just over a minute or under a minute long.

Each short is expressive but to be honest, I like her work but the length of each upload restricts it. Some of her videos are longer and really show that her longer videos can leave a larger impact than... this...

SUDDENLY...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwc8W2NTHwI

For example, these are some of my favourites that are much longer.

Drawn Together~: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX0APeh8e1Q

Robo Western HD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ln9XobU6oc

Yes, it’s not a long list but then again there aren’t alot of long animations she’s done or alot of animations on this channel at all.

RageNineteen

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cszgvxuJkM

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W7mx9mvXfg

British and hilarious. he rarely animates over Game Grumps or other audio like his latest animation. The rest of his videos are shorts or full-length cartoons and occasionally live sketches of either random or comedic sketches like Monty Python.

There is a particular series of videos he’s done that I can’t help but rewatch. A documentary on different subjects called L.I.A.R.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dmIgYEjGh8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiDzG2WmrmY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWLOmVLPEJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhcn8Wn95mA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4PAleIlYbs

Not to mention the Action Bunnies Series which is a bunny version of the ASDF Movies in Tomska’s channel. I have purposefully discluded Tomska from this list because apparently he doesn’t animate his own stuff as mentioned in one of his Blogs when he didn’t pay the original animators of the first ASDF Movie. He still makes great sketches though.

RubberNinja

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgoSRjWWVho

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSpZgKBjwmg

RubberNinja, better known nowadays as “Goddammit Ross” on the super-popular gaming channel family known as Game Grumps used to animate before playing video games, being a sadist to his friends and drawing on the Game Grumps show, Doodle Doods.

Ironically one of my cartoon characters I drew for fun years ago was also called Doodle Dude. not likely I’ll be bringing that back anytime soon.

There’s not alot of animations on his channel. Neither do many of them have a story to tell. It’s mainly just random humour which I like but I prefer the other stuff he’s helped with on Game Grumps and in the music done by the band one of the Game Grumps members is part of ‘Ninja Sex Party’ and the short series of video game songs, ‘StarBomb’.

Piemations

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_04xi7ddh8

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX3CY4XQZ5g

Piemations is funny and can clearly write funny sketches with clear punchlines and setups as well as being good at random humor as well.

Alot of his stuff is based off video games and in some cases, movies, so alot of his humor will also be in-jokes about the game and characters which might catch others offguard.

Apart from that he’s a great comedian whose got a clear animating style and a very clear progression in how his animation with virtualy no changes in his designs have gotten better.

As an example he re-animated his first animation that was a half minute joke about the Spy from the popular Valve Steam game, ‘Team Fortress 2′, AKA ‘TF2′.

Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX3CY4XQZ5g

Re-animated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaeFLz0Eu6E

PikaPetey Animations

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-WFmq9hE9c

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y8DQa9H3Cw

Pika has a short library of animations which are either Pikachu themed or My Little Pony. Some of the videos are for conventions, some are for fun.

Unfortunatley only five videos on this channel are finished and has a any substance or jokes rather:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esbthhiFglQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YHA3EwXhFY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmvwOYw4oz0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9btOIfDrKn8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVnJq4QXgFA

I really like Pika’s sense of humour but it’s sad to see it spread to thinly like this.

TwistedGrimTV

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfzbCg3sdco

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rrK0xPzpvo

TwistedGrim is Grim. Well, not really all the time. It’s more or less themed grim. Like how years ago there weren’t horror games like we know them that are almost just like the movies. There were Halloween themed games. Normal games with scary aesthetics but not scary gameplay like Alien Isolation does.

It’s funny, still, and reminds me of Zeurels work from earlier. It has a similar artstyle and comedy but devels only a pinky toe into the Grim theme the channels named after.

Actually, not many of the videos on the channel are Grim or even Grim themed at all! The latest videos are Overwatch animations while probably 35-40% of the videos are remotley Grim related.

Pixlpit

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7pGdKTw0mU

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8PI6FWc-1Q

Yet another 3D animator with an original style.

I like to make the correlation between Funko Pop figures and PixlPit’s models that he uses for his animations since they all have almost exactly the same style if it wasn’t for the defining features they are given.

I described the horrendous mouths of the characters in Minecraft Story Mode as “every mouth movement makes Mr.Game and Watch have smoother frames per second.”. Some of the movements in PixlPit’s animation is similar except alot of the movements are smooth at times too. An interesting blend.

I mentioned earlier that PixlPit’s characters are almost all clones of each other other than their defining features and I compared them to Funko Pop figures but I noticed while browsing YouTube that there is an animator who has character designs that look practically identical to Funko Pops figures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3B4fMC_71A&t=29s

Seanzoz

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7LZGy5QlvI

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajMzpiyZ4GA

If I recall, the method used in Seanzoz’s animations is basically like stick figures with detailed limbs. Not drawn characters but files containing limb and hand sprites to be moved but connected to other sprites. Like a puppet. This method is albeit, a bit lazy since a prime example I remember it being used in main stream media is Johnny Test on Cartoon Network (and was awful), but the difference here is Seanzoz makes highly detailed sprites for each characters as well as design backgrounds and foregrounds that are also highly detailed.

It’s as if someone got the Mona Lisa (or some other painting that has time and effort put into it) and did the same thing by moving her arms, hands and head on pivots.

The comedy is very much there as well but all the videos he makes is a parody off a TV show or video game.

What’s nice is he makes long videos with well-written comedy in them and a consistent rate of quality. What’s annoying is he isn’t the only one who does this making him not as unique as I’d hoped he would.

The channel ‘How it should have ended’ Makes animations in the exact same fashion as well as the exact same style of comedy as well. as in everything is they do is what Seanzoz does too.

Vivziepop

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGW7aE14m7o

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLqtHTXyPZs

To be frank, I love her drawing style. It looks amazing. No doubt. Annoyingly she doesn’t animate often anymore. She mostly just does speed art now. For others who draw only it might be nice but I prefer seeing someone whose talented enough to take art and make it move naturally without a loss in quality. That takes skill. Vivziepop has animated alot before. As proof she made a music video of Kesha’s ‘Die Young’ and it’s fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PKNuZovuSw

But that’s nothing less to her credit. Her art style is sharp and unique as well as eye catching. The same goes for her animating skills. As unfortunate as it is that she doesn’t animate often, she still knows her stuff.

Screwits

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1stb_ILUa0

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItOPzuIRLVI

9 videos in total. All animations... What a track record...

Screwits art style is very similar to the artstyle you’ll find on NewGrounds.com. The outlines are thick, black lines, they rarely have shading and the comedy varies from random/stupid humour to more teenage humour with swearing and sex jokes.

You know, after describing his animation and NewGrounds animation like this I now realise how much of a lie Screwits’ YouTube logo is. It’s shaded, it has a variation of other colours that pop out and look alike to Vivziepop’s colour pallete. Nothing about it reflects his animation style at all.

I mean. I do like his comedy and animation but it somehow seems... under-developed. Another YouTuber and Animator on NewGrounds is EgoRaptor (who will also appear later on this list) who has developed his skills amazingly to the point that you can see that even his art style changes between cartoons. but I’ll be talking more about that later.

Tithinian

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXDzmhl-7bM

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOzJWZNI97U

Tithinian has an odd method of animating that... there is no animating sometimes. Well... what I mean is that sometimes there are fluent moments where things move and of course mouths move smoothly as well but sometimes for those slower moments he has an image of what the character would look like and not change from that until the character emotes again. The transition between those frames would be instant but the character would always bounce a little by being stretched before looking normal again. I’ve seen alot on animators on YouTube do this. Especially for the Game Grumps animated videos which Tithinian also falls into the catergory of for the most part.

Don’t see what I mean? Here’s an example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIEkjsCZ7jU

Pay very close attention to all the characters and keep in mind how I described them. You’ll see what I mean. It’s only Semi-Animated.

But despite that, I think it’s always interesting to watch all of his videos just for the designs he gives all the characters. Especially when the characters yell, scream or get angry. It’s like just letting me or him do what they will with a notepad and pen which usually leads to these expressive, exaggerated and mostly crude drawings of the characters. It’s a whole gallery!

Pegbarians

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4P88lLxYxQ

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMEn1OfEGo4

Pegbarians is... an odd channel to describe. They make animations but they seem... boringish... Let me explain.

When I think of main stream animations, I think of Pixar, Disney and DreamWorks and their sensible and believable worlds. I use ‘sensible’ in the most broadest of terms. Despite how they’ve made worlds of talking cars, singing cats and adventures of ogres and donkeys, they have a consistent and realistic atmosphere. Nothing is just random and nothing happens to take away from a current moment of drama.

When I think about the Internets animation from animators outside of the main stream, I list all the different animators that also appear on this list. They’re crazy, insane, creative and literally anything could happen!

However, there is a third place to look. Advertising.

I’m talking about 3D models of low rendering,

High quality 3D animation

and 2D animation commonly found on the internet as well.

This kind of animation is too similar to what Pegbarians do which makes them feel more... manufactured than creative.

I enjoy their content but the plan style with a lack of outlines or expressive imagery just makes it look like what’s actually meant to be an animation that advertisers would want their brand represented by rather than another animator or another comedy sketch writer who can freely speak their mind even if it includes swears. Like they designed themselves to be semi-enjoyable for the public and just safe enough for ad revenue to be at its best.

Moleman

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdupAtbg6Es

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqU7qktIruc

It’s odd why there was such a change in art style and medium in a span of only 10 videos but they’re all good videos.

There’s the 3D model videos that either look like digital muppets or have mouths like sock puppets, and there’s simple 2D animation.

I have no complaints. Although the majority of her videos are just game grumps animations, they still prove to be funny, intresting in design and even gets across her unique style that I look at and immediatley know as, Moleman’s.

MattyBurrito MB

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8amyRgcL80

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q3QtKShCQI

This is a yes and no kind of channel. His comedy is great, his animation and art style are great as well but somehow I can’t shake the feeling that he could be doing better... wait... I know what it is now!

Most of the time there’s a lack in movement other than the odd moment. Oh My God. He’s Tithinian! Just less expressive and absurd with his drawings.

Yup. That pretty much sums him up. He needs to add more animation than he already is or make his art style more interesting. I... feel like I’m making unessecary demands.

NotePaddle

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIPDlJRZwEY

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9UPwSrYVlY

Now this is what I’m talking about! Cartoony visuals with expressive designs, bright colours and proper comedy to boot even though it’s mostly slapstick and silent other than the odd speech bubble!

it’s what I love about cartoons to begin with. The ability to take anything in existance and give it a remarkable twist to shift anything about it like its character and design as well as invent something entirely new! Animation and drawing as well as all mediums of art is meant as an escapism from reality. That fact alone is why I hate soap operas on TV or in animation. Real life can be sad and depressing which is the entire reason we turn to the screen or pages of a book. Having that new world reflect that sadness and depression back at us is redundent unless it offers us something more to think about or look at.

NotePaddle hits the nail right on the head for me.

Joe

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDijRDj_8BY

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2APuxubWSmE

Ukino Joe (or Joe as he calls himself now) is exactly what I described as what I think animation on the internet is like by nature. Random, weird and creative as well as expressive.

Joe has a show right now in collaboration with Danielle Kogan called ’Great the show’.

There’s no pattern or rhyme or reason to his content. It’s meant to be random and strange but strangley tame at the same time. It usually shifts from art style to art style every so often while still adhering to the customary ‘Joe’ style.

Im not even a Panda

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH3VJ25waJM

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ezJzVl4V4

Another Game Grumps animation channel. As much as I enjoy the Game Grumps and their comedy, I think YouTube may be a little oversaturated with the GGAnimators. I’m fine with alot of them because they sometimes take the audio and change the entire situation of it from its original recording. Like this one. The audio came from their gameplay of Resident Evil but they changed the context in the animation to take place in ‘The Legend of Zelda: WindWaker’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3B4fMC_71A&t=64s

Surprisingly this is the same animation I described as having the near law suit design to Funko Pop’s figures.

There are other GGAnimators who just put a fun spin on their animation that makes it even more fun to look at than just animating 2 people in a living room in front of a TV with a games controller in their hands.

InEaP’s animations are a little underwhelming but still get a somewhat good animation across. So they’re neither creative or expressive unfortunatley. It’s sort of an iconic design since the majority of their animations use a thin brush tool on the outline but then again that’s not very defining in the grand scheme of things.

Martina McKenzie

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=561zkbseprY

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rjjlFzrCME

The early stuff she’s done isn’t very interesting but the later stuff (more specifically the Undertale animations) are greatly animated, written and pop out like a cartoon you’d expect would be designed. With bright colours and thick black lines. I’ve already gone over this diatribe so I’ll be moving on.

Forrestfire101

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbOYPQ1So_c&t=64s

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JbauUAjuSA

This was the first animation channel I watched and enjoyed about... 12 years ago probably. He has been doing LEGO animation for a long time now and I say he’s practically innovative. While other channel have simple LEGO animation with barely any natural movements, FF101 was green screening bricks to make minifigures jump and fly instead of hanging them from string or using translucent LEGO stick pieces. That and he draws mouths moving on each frame using... probably MS paint. Primetive but effective. In fact I think there was an entire video dedicated to it on his second channel, ForrestFire1001.

...

Okay. Apparently it doesn’t exist anymore or I just can’t find it. I specifically remember he showed off his bendy tripod thing in it. However I did find this short SFX breakdown video he made which is just as useful in this context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqztgE50sz8

Hot Diggedy Demon

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w2cFhiobko

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSagkXsX8YA

Max’s videos have a clear theme. Crude humour with hints of self-actualisation and realisation of the depressing and inevitable end of our lives as well as not turning its head from the existance of the blemishes on the face of humanity. And it’s hilarious.

He knows how to be satirical. He knows how to create a scenario that would seem cruel or sad but he knows most of all how to make fun of it. He’s wacky and cartoony with the edge that will take you off guard. Sometimes even impulsive but definitely reminds you that the world and our lives can or will be shit awful but it enlightens everyone to enjoy it anyway despite that grueling fact.

He’s surprisingly good at translating his designs from 2D to 3D as well.

As I’m also a drawing coneseiur who prefers drawing by hand, I’ve tried myself to translate my drawing style to 3D. It’s, NOT, easy. But somehow Max pulled it off in his recent series, Brain Dump. A surprisingly intelligent but equally as immature as you’d expect from his humour as he analysis movies, TV and other... stuff.

Eddsworld

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxtRL1tclds

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdNRqOMaH68

Starting on NewGrounds and even made a short for the BBC Comedy channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eahA3dB-eqQ

This is all I think of when I think about British cartoons now because of how much it reflects Britain throgh its classic slapstick, writing and cultural references.

God rest his soul when the original animator, Edd Gould, died of Cancer. He was even half way animating part 1 of a 2 parter animation before he died. So I suppose he died how he lived. Doing what he loved. Animating.

In his name, his friends continued his legacy by finishing his work and ending the series before handing the rights back over to Edds family. It couldn’t have been done without the help from the fans who supported them.

This is pretty much the most interesting animator on the internet to me because of its story. In Edds life and in Edds wacky world he put so much effort into.

aMAX Animations

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIasEKIH2XI

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11jy0LfIpiI

I could swear that all of his animations are made in MS Paint.

Alot of his stuff is either Game Grumps or Vinesauce animated content. What’s different is that even though his drawings are realistic and relate to the story at hand, it still has a charm to it. He adds the necessary details and adds unecessary details that really brings together the scene brilliantly! Some great examples was the reflection of Joels childhood friend gone sociopath in his eyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9kDJyk5H_I

The snow storm foreground at a bus stop in Sweden:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8wYdg7mKtc&t=553s

And the flashing of red and white from the computer screen lighting up the diml classroom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7lBwWayhVE

It’s fantastic and somehow he did it in probably MS Paint. By far the best animator in terms of setting the scene.

Don’t hug me .I’m scared

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbL-NSkXnl8

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hIKKYv_3Ic

Okay. This channel isn’t exclusivley animation. Instead it’s... actually, I’m not sure.

It has some animation in both stopmotion and 3D but it’s mostly puppets and disturbing imagery. Not really something to go into though without preparation.

It’s a twist on the Muppets and Sesame Street and gives a brilliant commentary on TV productions capatilising off childrens programs and what-not. Definitley something to look into but personally I prefer the Film Theory channels take on it.

Harry Partridge

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krRFlzwnw3U

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0cZY7ef_mk

Who here remembers the old Disney movies.

Aristocats

Cinderella

Beauty and the Beast

The Fox and the Hound

Lady and the Tramp

The cartoony yet realistic hand drawn movies. The main stream classic stuff.

Harry Partridge is the Internet version. How amazing is that?! His animation is the most amazing quality I’ve ever seen on YouTube since it looks just like something Disney could do but in Flash. It’s ridiculous!

Egoraptor

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAioZzuhOQg

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77_4n7CeiHA

Egoraptor is one of those defining animators on YouTube who started on NewGrounds. Over the years he’s evolved over time and along with it his comedy and art style. But especially his art style. A good way to illustrate this is this short fan animation that presents some of his art styles in one shot by morphing Dan on screen between them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8ycDu-mMXg

It’s not long but it makes some sense.

Alan Becker

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhikdD6Hf2M

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxM1cnphLpw

To me this is one of the most impressive channel in terms of technicality. His most famous series ‘Animator Vs.’ features a stick figure gone rogue and the computers user has to combat this combatant collection of lines from destroying his computer using the computer itself and even other stick figures. There are other episodes that don’t feature the user and instead the stick figures finding other programs and websites to play with that still leads to even more trouble. Overall it’s animated amazingly and creativley since it uses everything about the PC that you can think of to the animations advantage.

FlashGitz

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFnFKu9QqoA

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zSxQnZ3TM8

FlashGitz is expressive in more than one way. Through their animation they have expressive visuals (of course). But they’re more expressive through their writing. The first video they uploaded was of their view on what GameWorkshop (The company responsible for the Warhammer franchise) are thinking at the board meetings. This video is to ‘express’ how the community felt from their perspective about the excessivly high price of their plastic models which were often given game breaking statistics in the game.

Another video they made expressed what they thought feminists and social rights activists were to them stereotypically thanks to the bad apples ruining the bunch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XARMbTEGVDk

The same for being Politically Correct:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg0D1PpgCXs

Aaand the unreliability of online information and the boredom of using conventional means of information:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqqQT-CcTsU

Not to mention the console wars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqucCVzP-Og

And many more... Not to mention some random stuff and sketches.

OneyNG

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1RpLoLyi6c

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qutm9kaCV8

Much like his first video, this is indeed a random channel. The epitome of silly. He makes structured videos in many cases but somehow still manages to let it slide down the slippery slope of silly without end. It’s odd. It’s perculier. But most of all it’s him.

I agree that him in real life would probably be like watching one of his cartoons. Stupid but funny to the better people of the internet... probably.

I... like him. Don’t judge my standards please.

I feel like in the beginning I wasn’t clear about what my standards are to begin with but I’ve slowly revealed it bit by bit within this post. Let me give you a clear picture then.

What I love about animation, drawing and art in general is the ability to... well, I think Seto Kaiba from the recent Yu*Gi*Oh! movie does it justice.

It’s true. It upsets me when people use it not to create but to make something boring. Usually to point at a real world problem that you just know will depress you. This medium should be used to express yourself, represent something amazing. Indulge in the escapism it allows you and make sure to spend that time wisely to make an imprint that’s unforgettable. However you can do both at the same time. Be creative and depressing.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

This is a perfect example of an art medium changing the world amazingly through a creative and imaginative story but still sends out a message and a point on how the working class suffer the most as well as the children that connected to the lords and ladies and changed society as they knew it.

However a skeleton in a pile of rubbish and a cardboard box marked ‘Home’ will not... It’s just depressing...

I should also point out what’s most important to me in art. An art style. I didn’t take GCSE Art for a reason. They’d force me to do realistic images and glue stuff to paper and the like. Not my idea of fun in my opinion. I enjoy all these animators because of their unique styles. They bring so much to their viewers through the eyes and minds of their fantastic worlds and how they perseve reality through them in their own wacky ways. And that’s what I love.

P.S. NewGrounds isn’t really my favourite place. It was just a joke. It’s still good but YouTube is easier to use since having flash isn’t a must.

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simonsoys · 8 years ago

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So what movie genres do you think the UT cast likes? I can imagine Alphys and Sans nerding out and nitpicking sci-fi movies together for one thing heh.

Ooh! Good question! Asks like these are my favorite haha!

I’m actually going to broaden this to TV shows too. Maybe like, what their Netflix history is.

Frisk

Loves Pokemon. Has watched every single episode in sequential order. (Toriel insists on knowing what Frisk is watching, so she’s had to sit through all of it too. She’s mostly confused by what the point of all this is, and is going to barf if she hears “Gooomygoomygoomy” one more time, but admits she quite likes Brock.) Also watches a lot of Pokemon-like shows.

Occasionally watches Sesame Street, even though it’s below their age range. It’s hard to find monster-positive shows.

As for movies, its pretty much anything animated or based on a kids’ book and nothing else right now. Everything must have a happy ending.

But even more than watching Pokemon shows, they’re into Youtube Let’s Plays. They like Minecraft videos, especially Stampy. (Undyne thinks the concept of watching other people play video games is ridiculous and yells at Frisk to go outside.)

Ambivalent about Frozen. Liked Olaf but that’s about it.

Favorite movies: Matilda; The Little Prince.

Toriel

Likes PBS Masterpiece Classics, like Downton Abbey and Indian Summer.

Probably likes Benedict Cumberbatch.

A sucker for soppy British movies.

Loves The Walking Dead more than you’d expect. Carol is her favorite.

Likes the variety of crafting shows that humans make and put on TV and YouTube. Has thought about making and uploading some of her own.

Gets overly invested into some of Frisk’s kid movies. Bought Frozen on DVD for Frisk. Honestly. For Frisk.

Favorite movie: Philomena

Sans

Into Sci-Fi movies a lot, even though he knows the science is bogus. He and Pap both like Star Wars, it’s got a lot of non-humans who are good guys! (A head canon I ACTUALLY had previous to this ask– the two of them have seen the first Star Wars, but it’s the only one that’s fallen into the Underground and circulated. They don’t know about Vader’s relation to Luke or what a Yoda is. The monsters are possibly the only fans on the planet who haven’t been spoiled on the ending of the OT yet. Some kind human souls learn about this and set up a screening of it in a theater, so that monsters have a chance to see it properly before having it ruined for them. It’s beautiful.)

He also has a large appetite for 90s high school romcoms? Like 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless. It’s light and funny.

Not as big on TV shows. Likes to have the experience done and over with in one sitting.

Falls asleep without fail during Frisk’s movies.

Except for Frozen, which Toriel’s watched so many times, he managed to stay awake once for it. He thought it was kinda stupid through 2/3rds of it, but the final act got him. SIBLING LOVE is relevant to his interests and now he kind of digs the movie.

Favorite movie: The Fifth Element.

Papyrus

Watches The Bachelor religiously.

Watches Dancing with the Stars religiously.

Still watches anything MTT comes out with.

Not a binge watcher. He likes shows that are on live.

Likes to watch random YouTubers’ Vlog channels, and no one’s totally sure why. It’s so weird… watching them daily, they feel like friends that haven’t met you yet.

Animated shows are for children. …But Power Rangers is cool.

Sees every superhero blockbuster that comes out in the theater.

Doesn’t typically watch anyone else’s shows or movies. If it’s not something he likes, he doesn’t have time for it.

Forced to sit through Frozen at least once. Whined about Elsa’s amateurish ice magic technique and poor casting form throughout the ordeal.

Favorite movie: Star Wars.

Probably watches PG-13 movies eVEN THoUGH THEY’RE NOT YET 13??? Scandalooz!

Is more of a Digimon kid. Arguments have been had.

Also likes superhero movies a lot, and Godzilla movies.

Watches a lot of Ninja Warrior/American Ninja Warrior, and has decided they’re going to take the challenge someday.

Hates Frozen, 0/10,literally the worse movie ever.

Favorite movie: Any Godzilla movie where he’s a good guy.

Undyne

Is disappointed to learn that anime isn’t real. But that’s okay because soon afterwards she discovers Jackie Chan movies and that’s even cooler?? Martial arts are her new jam.

Likes the idea of Ninja Warrior shows, but just feels like there’s a significant lack of real danger. Needs more fire and deadly pits.

Likes watching YouTube videos of people playing musical instruments in really crazy and incredible ways.

Sometimes likes more artsy films? Like with music, she’s not all action all the time.

Still watches anime with Alphys, even though she’s learned the truth.

Frozen had fighting! And magical transformations! And a gripping love story! It’s practically an anime! (Though not the best one she’s ever seen.)

Favorite movie: Hero

Alphys

Continues to be anime trash. Probably likes most of the gay sports anime the best. Also cute romances like Ore Monogatari!

Watches MST3K with Sans sometimes. They also found this old show where people build RC robots with sawblades on them and fight each other and they LOVE it. They’re considering organizing their own tournament at some point.

Not as into sci-fi movies– but is very into complaining about sci-fi movies. Likes to write long blog posts about why they’re bad/inaccurate.

Likes Dr. Who, despite the above statement.

Really likes cheesy romances. Watches a lot of K/J/C-Dramas.

Total weekly intake of movies and shows in hours is obscene and embarrassing to repeat.

Has blogged about Frozen’s clunky narrative and weak execution of its core themes, but has to admit the characters are lovable and has drawn at least one fanart of it. Has the unpopular ship of Elsa/Hans and just won’t let that shit go.

Favorite movie: Mew Mew Kissy Cutie: Super Lovely The Movie: Extra Doki Extended Cut Edition

Blooky

YouTubing music videos all day.

Watches concert recordings.

Watches MTT’s show every day.

Downloaded the Frozen soundtrack off the internet, but has never watched the movie and genuinely has no idea what it’s about.

Forgets they own a TV 90% of the time.

Favorite movie: ?? Doesn’t really have one. …Sorry…

MTT

Competition shows are great, but he gets frustrated by how long and drawn out human reality tv is. Between each commercial break it should be wall to wall excitement! That’s his philosophy anyway.

Is actually consuming as much film as possible now that he’s on the surface, from a variety of genres. Where Napstablook and Undyne are passionate about music, MTT sleeps and breathes film studies.

Watches the news a lot too?? Probably the best informed monster besides Asgore. He has a news program of his own, and filters a lot of the world’s current events through to monsterkind. He has to always be in the know! …It also helps for making funny, topical statements. His 1.5 million viewers love topical statements!

He’s actually a really effective reporter. There’s no region too dangerous for him, he’ll report from anywhere. War zones. Active volcanoes. Maybe even space? All while doing it in a stunning blazer and perfect hair.

He’s busy a lot, so doesn’t actually have time to watch too many things.

Frozen is exactly the kind of movie he’d make, except that Elsa’s sparkly dress did not have enough screen time. For that matter, more characters needed sparkly clothes. Someone bedazzle that reindeer, stat.

Favorite movie: Grease; Moulin Rouge

Asgore

New to movies and TV, but is slowly getting into them. There are so many violent movies and shows out there! So he mostly lets other people recommend things to him. A member of Oprah’s Book Club. He watches the movie versions of the books he’s read.

He likes stories about peoples’ lives. Watches Dr. Phil every afternoon. Recently he’s been touched by the stories of My 600 Lb Life and Teen Mom.

Is the only sports fan in the bunch. Prefers being there in person to watching on TV, but that’s not always feasible. Paints his face, even when he’s watching from home.

Frozen was a good movie and he enjoyed it quite a lot. Thank you, Undyne.

Favorite movie: Tuesdays With Morrie; Fried Green Tomatoes

Flowey

Loves YouTube Poops and he doesn’t know why.

Hates sad movies. Hates any movie that makes any attempt to make him feel things. Up is a dumb movie.

Doesn’t really care about TV or movies, but likes to watch with other people and chatter over it to ruin their experience. He really just wants to be the center of attention.

Probably pretends to like Adam Sandler movies, but doesn’t actually like Adam Sandler movies.

Likes America’s Funniest Home Videos, especially the ones where people fall off water skis.

Frozen is disgusting and would’ve been better if everyone turned into ice and died. The end.

Favorite movie: Anyone else’s favorite, so he can ruin it for them.

Chara

Doesn’t have much experience with TV or movies outside of what Frisk consumes.

Secretly has the same crappy taste in anime and K-Dramas as Alphys, but is stuck with Frisk’s over-indulgence in YouTube and Pokemon.

Sibling estrangement and isolation is a theme too close to home. Spends too much time drawing parallels between themselves and the rest of the cast, to the characters in Frozen.

Favorite movie: Frozen

#infullmoon #ask #Simon UnderTalks #undertale spoilers #getting through as many asks as i can lol #sorry i still have a few more old ones

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sporadicbeepboops · 8 years ago

Text

20 Games I Loved in 2016

The Switch delay. Several big AAA duds. Another year without an official Mother 3 U.S. release. 2016 could have been a disappointing year. (Outside of video games, it certainly took its toll.) But at least from my perspective, the good far outweighed the bad. Virtual reality finally made it out of the gates, and despite some hiccups, it shows real promise. Long-delayed games like Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian somehow made it to store shelves AND surpassed expectations. And love it or hate it, Pokémon Go inspired a genuine pop culture craze the likes of which we’ve never seen before, at least as far as games go. I think all of that is worth celebrating.

Before we get to the list, some quick shout-outs and no-brainer caveats…

2016 was not kind to the Wii U, but the 3DS quietly had one of its best years ever. That’s partly reflected here, but I couldn’t make room for Dragon Quest VII, Fire Emblem Fates, BoxBoxBoy!, Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Gotta Protectors, to name a few. Sometimes it felt like Nintendo was just cleaning out its closet — how long ago was DQVII released in Japan? — but we benefited either way.

Overall, I played fewer games this year, but the ones I did play held my interest longer. Thanks to various microtransactions and DLC, 2016 probably hit my wallet just as hard.

What didn’t I play? Stardew Valley, SUPERHOT, Final Fantasy XV (at least past chapter 2), Frog Fractions 2, Hitman — oh, and I didn’t get to stuff from last year like Yakuza 5 or The Witcher 3, either. Yakuza 4 was pretty solid though.

I left off any new ports of games that came out last year or prior, unless there were substantial additions that changed the experience in a meaningful way. That meant The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD and Mini Metro weren’t in the running, while Rez Infinite technically was.

Love making lists, hate ranking items in said lists, just because I’m incredibly fickle. There’s a good chance that I’ll want to shuffle everything around the moment I publish this. But my podcasting buddies are counting on me here, so it’s time to be decisive.

Keeping all that in mind, here are the games I really loved in 2016…

20. The Witness - I’m already cheating because if I’m being honest, I didn’t actually love this game. The Witness takes a couple dozen hours to finish, and I spent at least half of them staring at a notebook, drawing grids, connecting dots, and having no idea how to pave forward. But even if I didn’t love the game, I respect it immensely. I admire Jonathan Blow’s commitment to this singular idea, of taking the kind of puzzle you might see on a restaurant placemat and coming up with every possible permutation of it. And there is of course a “meta” layer on top of that, where solutions to each component change the environment around you — tree top bridges that unfold based on the paths your lines take, or colored glass panels that create new puzzles on top of old ones. It might be cold and off-putting at times, but The Witness is still commendable as the ultimate puzzle box.

19. SuperHyperCube - I bought into PlayStation VR for games like Rez Infinite and RIGs — big, flashy, “immersive” experiences. And they delivered! I’m a very happy PS VR owner, and I hope Sony builds on its momentum this year. (I’m skeptical, but then being a virtual reality early adopter was always a leap of faith.) However, while I got exactly what I expected from most of the launch titles, it's the simple puzzle game seemingly modeled off of “Brain Wall” that I keep coming back to. I turn on the headset to play Job Simulator or Battlezone, but I always play a couple rounds of SuperHyperCube before I’m done. A solid case for virtual reality not as a thrilling roller coaster, but a hypnotic, relaxing voyage.

18. Headlander - The best game Double Fine has put out since Iron Brigade. Free-roaming Metroid-style exploration, a perfect 70s-synth sci-fi score and a fun body swapping gimmick at the heart of it all. I wish there were more vessels for your noggin to control, but there’s a strong foundation here.

17. Kirby: Planet Robobot - It’s easy to take Kirby games for granted, and that’s especially true of Robobot, which uses the same engine and many of the same powers as the recent Triple Deluxe. What does the former bring to the table then? Smart level designs that take advantage of the new mechs without letting them dominate the action. A novel mechanical world that feels distinct from the typical pastel meadows. New amiibo support. OK, so maybe it doesn’t add that much to the series, but it’s right up there with Super Star anyway.

16. Pokkén Tournament - This game is a fresher, more enjoyable fighting game than Street Fighter V. It doesn’t even matter (too much) that the single player is pretty thin or that the roster is small. When’s the last time you played a one-on-one fighting game that felt truly new? Pokkén is a great 3D fighter and a great 2D fighter at the same time, which is no small feat. And it’s also a gorgeously animated recreation of those battles we all imagined happening in our Game Boys 20 years ago.

15. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - The popular sentiment seems to be that Madagascar is when this final Uncharted entry really takes off. Slow drama and frequent cut scenes give way to island exploration and memorable shootouts. My take? The back half is fun and the epilogue is lovely, but I could spend an entire game in Nathan and Elena’s living room, or hopping around the globe for the next story sequence. Wherever you stand, this is a fine way to close out a reliable series.

14. Picross 3D: Round 2 - Seven Picross games — eight if you count the Twilight Princess freebie — on the eShop. That’s a lot of a perfectly fine thing. But none of them are Picross 3D. Thankfully, the real deal finally arrived this year, with hundreds of puzzles and a few extra gameplay wrinkles. Worth the premium price tag.

13. Titanfall 2 - The campaign didn’t need to be good. Multiplayer FPS games live and die by their multiplayer, and many developers seemingly write off the single player experience as an afterthought. That’s why Titanfall 2 is such an unexpected treat. The factory, the time hopping, the airborne carrier — all cleverly designed, with platforming gimmicks that would feel just as suited for a Metroid Prime game. I think the reason the new Mirror’s Edge fell flat for me was that this game featured the same parkour moves in a much more exciting package.

12. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE - This crossover game is Persona-lite, yes, but I think that sells the characters and world a bit short. While its inspiration focuses on the pressures of being a Japanese high schooler, #FE is all about the Tokyo show biz scene. Pop music, soap operas, microwave cooking shows — it’s all very goofy, but the game still takes its protagonists’ dreams and ambitions seriously. #FE also makes clever use of the Wii U GamePad, turning it into a tablet/social app that helps keeps the conversations going. Even if you’re not into this particular “scene,” #FE may still win you over.

11. Rhythm Heaven Megamix - I can’t get enough Rhythm Heaven. They could put 20 new musical minigames on a cart annually and it’d make my list every year. Sumo wrestlers, lumberjack bears, monkey slumber parties — all magic.

10. Severed - A Vita game! It’s great to see DrinkBox Studios stretch beyond sidescrollers with this first person dungeon crawler full of grotesque monsters and creepy, colorful mazes. Swiping and poking on the Vita’s touchscreen feels great. The controls are key to Severed’s success; if battles were menu-driven, the entire game would fall apart.

9. Pocket Card Jockey - I hope Nintendo keeps letting Game Freak be this weird. It’s not just that it’s horse racing plus solitaire. It’s your jockey biting the dust and being brought back from the dead to repay his debt to the angels. It’s the brassy, big band score that accompanies every race. It’s horses with luchador masks and cats hanging from their backsides. Pocket Card Jockey is a miracle of localization.

8. Pokémon Sun - Yes, another Pokémon game. The Alola region is the best thing to ever happen to this series. Previous games had regions based on cities like New York and Paris, but the results always felt half-hearted. In Sun (and Moon), the tropical island setting influences everything from the creatures you catch to the trials you complete. I’ve never demanded a believable world from this series, but that’s kind of what we get here, and it’s terrific.

7. Inside - This is the type of game where the less you know going in, the better. It’s Limbo — a previous Justin GotY — filtered through a twisted dream logic that I still can’t get out of my head months later.

6. Paper Mario: Color Splash - I know you don’t like Sticker Star. Rest assured: that 3DS oddity feels like a rough draft for Color Splash, which improves upon its predecessor in every way. A textured, vibrant world that rivals Tearaway in its papercraft. Thrilling scenarios like a train heist, an underwater game show and the throwback above. Hilarious dialogue that mostly makes up for the many, many identical toads. I miss the liberties Intelligent Systems used to take with the Mushroom Kingdom, but everything else about Color Splash restores this spin-off series to its former glory.

5. Overcooked - This year’s couch co-op champ. Cooking with a partner is all about communication, and that’s doubly true when the kitchen is split across two flatbed trucks or on an iceberg rocking back and forth. My friends and I love head-to-head games like Smash Bros. and Towerfall, but it’s nice to play a game that’s all about puzzle solving and careful planning together. And I love the wistful stage select music.

4. Dragon Quest Builders - Minecraft has always fascinated me, but I don’t do well without direction. That’s why I’m so grateful for Dragon Quest Builders, which breaks down the open world construction into small, manageable tasks. I started off just sticking to blueprints and keeping decorations to a minimum; now, I’m spending hours building up towns the way I want them to look, for no other reason than my own personal satisfaction. Even taking the crafting element out of the equation, Builders does a great job of capturing the adventuring spirit of its parent series.

3. Pokémon Go - I didn’t set out to put THREE Pokémon games on here, and in a vacuum, this is much less satisfying than Pokkén or Sun. But we don’t play video games in a vacuum, and certainly not this one. I played Pokémon Go in Central Park, talking to strangers to find out where the Ivysaur was hiding. Or I played on my lunch breaks, exploring parts of South Street Seaport with coworkers that I had ignored for years. Go’s peak came and went, but it remains one of my fondest experiences of the year.

2. The Last Guardian - Another game that’s more than the sum of its parts. The Last Guardian is finicky and sometimes frustrating. Trico is hard to climb. The camera doesn’t know what to do when you’re up against the wall. So what? How many games feature a creature this lifelike? He may be an illusion made up of A.I. routines, scripted animations and fur shaders, but all of those elements come together in a uniquely convincing way. His evolution from reluctant ally to friend has a subtlety I’ve never seen before. I’m glad Ueda spends as much time focusing on the inner struggles as he does the external ones. Hope it doesn’t take another decade for his next game.

1. Overwatch - I didn’t even know what Overwatch was until two weeks before its release, and even then, I didn’t expect much from it. I had played Team Fortress 2 and thought it was just fine. I knew what to expect. Medics, tanks, builders — that sounded familiar to me. But I was so wrong. Overwatch isn’t just a team-based shooter; it’s the superhero team-up game I’ve been longing for since “The Avengers” was in theaters.

All 23 (and counting!) heroes have their superpowers, and all of them have their jobs to do. What really sets Overwatch apart is when these heroes are bouncing off of each other. Any combination of six is going to have its own dynamics. Mei dropping ice walls to give Reinhardt time to recharge his shield. Junkrat dropping traps to help Bastion watch his back. Mercy gliding up to Pharah to give her rockets a little extra punch. Every battle brings new possibilities and strategies to the table. I’ve played over 100(!) hours and feel like there’s still so much to learn.

But it’s not all serious business either. The colorful personalities, animations, costume designs and more do so much to shape the world, even when I know next to nothing about the overall “lore.” Last year, Splatoon felt like the only shooter I’d ever need, but Overwatch has actually managed to supplant it in my heart. That’s something this Nintendo fanboy never thought he’d say. Can’t wait to see how Blizzard builds on their masterpiece in year two.

#video games #games of the year #games of 2016 #nintendo apologist

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