#i have considered making my own fan region. many times. but i will not do it here | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jujumin-translates · 8 months ago

Text

★ Main Story | Act 13 - Budding Spring | Chapter 15 - Ketchuped To Hell

Company Employee A: I’m so sorry to bother you.

Company Employee A: We’ve been able to handle English-speaking and Asian countries just fine, but this region is a little more difficult for us and there aren’t many people in the company who would be able to help…

Company Employee A: I’ve been considering outsourcing, but I haven’t gotten approval yet. Please, can you at least make sure there aren’t any parts that could be misunderstood in the machine translation?

Chikage: That I can do easily.

Chikage: …

*Typing*

Chikage: (So this is the final document.)

Chikage: --.

Chikage: (...Same last name and everything. I still hate myself for reacting to it out of reflex.)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Tsumugi: It’s been quite a while since the voting period for the final selection started, and yet the notices of debut performances aren’t showing any signs of stopping.

Kazunari: And there are still just as many new troupe and troupe member recruitment notices too~.

Kumon: That reminds me, there was a kid in one of my classes that said they were thinking about starting to do theater.

Tsumugi: It seems like the more people are exposed to the opportunity, the more people become interested in it.

Tenma: And because of the SNS Votes, more and more theater companies are shifting their focus to streaming.

Omi: While working on a photoshoot the other day, I met someone who works in the film industry and they said they’ve suddenly been really busy lately.

Yuki: A lot of people’s impressions from overseas are starting to pop up online.

Tasuku: The new Fleur Award really is helping to bring life to the world of theater, just like they said at the first press conference.

Azuma: It’s especially amazing considering things have only just begun.

Sakyo: Yukio-san is the type of guy to be in the eye of the storm when it comes to theater.

Guy: With the increased attention on it, he and Kamikizaka must be very busy doing various interviews.

Sakyo: Well, I’m sure Reni-san’s handling it just fine.

Yuki: The number of reviews on the theater forums has gone through the roof, but a good chunk of them are pretty scathing.

Yuki: Even performances done by famous theater companies and playwrights are getting stuff like, “I couldn’t understand the dialogue because they talked too fast, but the costumes were cute, I guess.”

Yuki: And “It suddenly turned into a contemporary dance thing and I had no clue what it was supposed to mean, but overall it was interesting.”

Azami: Honest but harsh, I guess.

Sakyo: They probably didn’t understand the stylistic beauty of that troupe, so it’s likely just them being candid on their first time seeing them perform.

Tsuzuru: They’re interesting to read, but I fear the day they come after us.

Sakuya: I wonder what they’re gonna say about us…

Izumi: Let’s not overthink things and start catastrophizing. We’ll be fine as long as we be ourselves.

Itaru: Right. If we worry about it too much and disappoint our existing fans, we’ll become the harbingers of our own doom.

Yuki: Well, it’s probably best that we all limit ourselves when it comes to reading reviews.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Door opens*

Yuzo: Mornin’.

Tsuzuru: Good morning.

Sakuya: Good morning! We’ll do our best today!

Izumi: Sorry to do this when you’re busy preparing things for your own troupe, Yuzo-san.

Yuzo: It ain’t a problem.

Itaru: Have you figured your attack plan for the Fleur Award on your end, Yuzo-san?

Yuzo: We’re just gonna do what we always do. That said, we got our asses kicked durin’ the pre-votin’.

Izumi: MANKAI Company placed 70th.

Yuzo: We were 103rd.

Sakuya: Furinkazan was!?

Tsuzuru: Even though you’re so popular your tickets sell out every show and you have a pretty solid fan base…

Yuzo: That’s ‘cause most of our fans are older.

Yuzo: So most of ‘em didn’t even know the pre-votin’ existed or if they did know, they didn’t know how to do it.

Yuzo: It’s gonna be a tough battle, but we’ve gotta fight in it in our own way.

Yuzo: Well, this ain’t the end of things, so we’re gonna take it at our own pace and not try to rush it.

Yuzo: But that’s just Yukio-san throwin’ us curveballs in the same way he always does. The things that guy comes up with never fails to amaze me.

Izumi: Haha… that’s him, alright.

Yuzo: Well then, if you’re all ready, then let’s get things started.

Sakuya: Okay! We’ll do our best!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Yuzo: …

Izumi: What do you think…?

Izumi: (I haven’t felt this kind of nervousness in a long while…)

Yuzo: Haaah… You’re as stiff as ever.

Yuzo: Given it’s a sequel to your debut performance, there ain’t any problems with the way you’re interpretin’ the roles, but overall, you’re fightin’ spirit just ain’t there.

Yuzo: Tsuzuru, you’re still havin’ your doubts about the script, and that’s why you’re not fully focused on the play, ain’t it?

Tsuzuru: …Yes.

Yuzo: And the rest of ya are too focused on wantin’ to put on a good performance to get the results ya need for the rankings.

Yuzo: ‘Course, puttin’ on a good performance does matter, but you guys should damn well know that by now.

Yuzo: Above all, you should think about what ya wanna convey and accomplish with this performance again.

Yuzo: Do ya wanna earn your spot in the rankings or do you wanna show off your growth…

Sakuya: --.

Yuzo: ‘Course, there’s nothin’ wrong with wantin’ recognition. But if that’s all you’re doin’ it for, then you’re just earnin’ points.

Yuzo: You’ll end up bein’ consumed by thoughts like, “If we do this, we’ll be more popular and get more points” or “If we do that, we can get some extra points”-- But what we’re doin’ is theater. It ain’t a competition.

Yuzo: What is a Spring Troupe play to you guys? What are you doin’ this for? Who’re you doin’ this for?

Yuzo: You’re doin’ a sequel of your debut play. What did that play mean to all of you back then?

Yuzo: If you’re gonna do a sequel to your debut performance, maybe it’s best ya go back to those origins and give ‘em a look over again.

Yuzo: …But do it with some caution, yeah?

Izumi: (I wonder if Yuzo-san is also pretty worried about the new Fleur Award.)

Izumi: (No, I’m sure companies other than Yuzo-san’s are worried too… We’re not alone in this.)

Izumi: (What place does our troupe have in the rapidly changing world of theater…)

Izumi: (Maybe we need to rethink the path we’re going to take.)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Citron: It has been a long time since we have been ketchuped to hell like that~.

Masumi: Criticized to hell?

Itaru: His kindness stat has been upped since back then, though.

Chikage: Isn’t that because of how much he approves of us?

Masumi: But that just makes fixing the parts he doesn’t approve of that much harder.

Sakuya: There… really is no easy answer, huh? Our Spring Troupe’s acting… our origin…

Tsuzuru: Who would’ve thought it’d be so hard just to be ourselves?

Chikage: Because sometimes you’re not the one to understand yourself the best.

Izumi: We decided to do this sequel in order to go back to our roots and remember where we started…

Izumi: So, what do you all think was the best part about Spring Troupe back during the first RomiJuli?

Sakuya: To be entirely honest with myself, my acting skills were horrible. All I had back then was my desire to act.

Tsuzuru: But you’ve still got that desire even now.

Sakuya: Yeah! If anything, I love and cherish theater even more than I did back then.

Masumi: So I wonder what we’re “lacking” now.

Itaru: I mean, I’m pretty sure I’m way more absorbed into theater than I was back then, at least.

Chikage: Our bonds as Spring Troupe have deepened and we’ve all improved too.

Citron: I do not feel like we are lacking anything~…

Masumi: But I get what Yuzo was saying.

Tsuzuru: Same here… He was right about me not being able to shake my hesitation about the script, too.

Chikage: Differences from our debut performance, huh…? For better or worse, this is no longer our “first time” on stage.

Itaru: You mean like our freshness is gone, or something? Well, there is a certain something about an author’s debut work, I guess.

Sakuya: You can only have one “first time”, so it’s not something you can do again, huh…

Tsuzuru: So, does that mean that, in a way, we’ll never be able to surpass our debut performance…?

Itaru: Sad, but true.

Masumi: Something that can’t be surpassed despite our improvement, huh…

Itaru: The impact of a first time and a blissfully unaware, reckless drive do have a certain power to them.

Sakuya: Hmm…

Izumi: …

Izumi: (Everyone seems gloomy now.)

Izumi: Let’s let this problem sit for a bit and each think about it more individually. We’ll have another meeting about it some other day.

Tsuzuru: Gotcha.

Itaru: …Yeah.

*Phone buzzes*

Sakuya: Ah--.

Izumi: The meeting’s over, so you’re okay to go and take that.

Sakuya: Sorry, excuse me, then.

*Footsteps*

Sakuya: --Hello, Sakuma speaking. I appreciate your call.

Sakuya: Um, I’m so sorry. About that…

*Door closes*

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Iv: maintenance’s been extended

shiki: I have more exams tomorrow, so I probably won’t be able to play much today.

Iv: our’s start on thurs

Kar: Good luck

Iv: don’t you got em too?

Kar: Started the day before yesterday

Iv: oh, so you’ve already started

shiki: Cool about it as ever.

momo has entered the chat.

Kar: Yo

shiki: You’re late today.

Iv: you got exams too, momo?

momo: Ran away from home

Kar: Way to change the mood lmao

[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]

#a3!#a3! translation #sakuya sakuma #masumi usui #tsuzuru minagi #itaru chigasaki #citron #chikage utsuki #// was a little unsure of going with that as the title by my beloved friends assured me that it was funny

25 notes · View notes

buff-electra-truther · 15 days ago

Text

Some of my Electra headcanons (exhaustively long LOL)

My mental image of Electra takes VERY heavily from irl US train context, which I largely explain here. I very much tend to make Stex characters into reflections/parodies of real industries and politics vs some independent train society. It’s more train Hetalia with the kid playing them acting as the government/railroad authorities. I’m prone to sidelining or outright chucking canon out the window in favor of realism for a lot of things (especially since the real life thing is often more nuanced and interesting). Which leads to many… almost hilariously contrarian preferences for them (though they aren’t that incompatible with canon portrayals).

I’m actually not that consistant on how I picture many aspects of the character. The variety of depictions in canon is part of their appeal. But the following are things I tend to do consistantly

-I use they or he inconsistently between posts. Honestly I see Electra as a pretty neutral character in my mind and I don’t see them as caring much about pronouns.

-Electra was always a trial/exhibition unit and genuinely doesn’t remember life outside public scrutiny. Basically a train child star. Situation akin to Amtrak testing X995/X996 in the 70s or the X2000 and ICE 1 tours in the 90s. Basically going around the country on publicity tours and trial runs (where possible- which isn’t many places beyond the Northeast Corridor). They eventually go into regular service on the NEC and just become another one of their class, but tend to be its public “face”.

-The race depicted in canon is basically a trial of different engines. Racing isn’t Electra’s main career (or anyone else’s), they’re just normal trains in their countries selected for the event. Electra just works normal regional trains, downgrading to commuter trains later in life and maybe freight work depending on how sci-fi our timeline gets.

-They have poor boundaries and social issues from not really being around other engines or working in normal situations early on. They don’t tend to get into deep, attached relationships. Ironically, they’re actually very outgoing (almost too bold a lot of the time) and VERY affectionate. They endlessly crave being cuddled and held and pet, and once they feel safe around someone it goes from “please pet my head” to “you have free access to my butt now” in no time. It generally fades with age, but they have a lot of weirdly childish tendencies (for better and worse) ala Michael Jackson for similar reasons to him.

-Personality-wise, I tend to make Electra a lot warmer/hotter than most others. A lot more outgoing, surprisingly approachable, and someone in constant motion, but also a lot stronger willed, pissier, erratic, and downright mean. Mentally I always think of loud, fast, snarky northeastern transit/rail fans who shit talk EVERYTHING (but also secretly want it to get better). Mainline electric trains in the US are just so synonymous with a string of big cities known for being loud, fast, and/or abrasive that I tend to mentally associate Electra with varying shades of their stereotypes.

-I’m generally very sympathetic to Electra lashing out and throwing tantrums because well, they DO have a lot hanging on them and considering the pressure that would have been on them then and now, trying to look less like a backwards embarrassment to the Nationals and justify their existence to a government who could care less about them…. it’s a wonder they aren’t pelting the preservationbait choo choos with tourist railroad flyers, telling them how ugly and unglamorous the main line actually is now, and hijacking the show for an extended rant on who REALLY got wronged in US rail history. They have their own feelings dismissed in favor of short-minded populist pleas and romantic sentiment time and time again and that can lead to them getting bottled up and exploding on people.

-Electra actually becomes pretty reasonable to deal with when not stressed and agitated and people are working with, not against them. They tend to be domineering and smug, but are a lot calmer and can be reasoned with if you actually have a rational conversation. Physical touch or talking about non-transport interests are easy ways to soothe them. They can be pretty fun to hang around if you’re like minded and can withstand their personality, they’ve seen and know a lot and can go on and on about things they care about. That and train gossip… they know so much damn train gossip from being in areas with so many connections from elsewhere and being physically in so many places.

-I lean heavily into them being a “stereotypical liberal” and being treated like one because I think it proves a lot of points about rail electrification politics in the US. Others act like they’re whiny, entitled, and out of touch… but it’s something that really is practical, is popular almost everywhere else in the world, and USED to be pretty common in the US too. People will make fun of them saying “civilized society is where you can walk out and buy nice rolls and pastries at any corner store!” and “we should do VAT and just pay employees to begin with instead of having tipping”. I’m not very consistent on what basis I give them, but basically all of them are super European because there aren’t really any US-based companies making them later in the 20th century and uh, it shows.

-Acts more like a urban transit fan than typical foamer, constantly going on about logistics, fictional subways for places like Cleveland, going on and on about the economic merit of electrifying lines, figuring out whether a Deep Level London Underground train would fit in one of Musk’s stupid car tunnels, and crying about the trolleys vs “omg big boy!”. They just do not care about the romance of steam engines or fallen flags or how luxurious 50s sleepers were, just screaming at the state of electrification and public transit in the US over the past 70+ years.

-When compared to subways, they get REALLY offended… on behalf of the subway. Electra is genuinely very defensive about being electric and standing with other electric trains in the US due to their history of government and corporate obstruction. Even “low-class” public transport is closer aligned with their needs than anyone on the uncivilized unelectrified high iron out west. They know there’s a high chance they get demoted to commuter service in New Jersey and aren’t above anything. They’re not even hostile towards freight service- they know they’re bound to get drafted into it eventually and would be good at it, they just get pissed at how backwards the big Class I railroads are and how they perpetually get in the way of electrification and their fellow Amtrak comrades.

-Bonus: yeah Electra will joking call anywhere not electrified “uncivilized” only half-jokingly. Leading to hilarious declarations like calling Ohio and Texas “savage wastelands”and vigorously defending cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia. I mean, they’re basically immobile in that 90% of the country so can you really blame them?

-Pretty much all trains probably hate cars to some degree but Electra REALLY hates cars. Electra has probably been victimized by cars the most of the main cast, government investment in highways was one of the main dooms of electrification in the US, and highways were never expected to be profitable vs Amtrak. Oh they HATE cars on every fucking level and think they are Moloch Incarnate. Even comparing them to Moloch vs Satan is a very old anti-car messaging thing because they burn things and early car accidents disproportionately killed children. Buses are on thin ice. Planes are grudgingly accepted as a necessary evil but a more humanoid Electra wouldn’t fly unless there was no other option.

-Make various whines, whimpers, chirps, hisses, screeches, and buzzes akin to actual electric trains. They are not quiet and actually make a lot of distinctive noises. Electra is one of those incessant hummers, which is cute at first but gets grating after a while (a lot of things about them are this way). Their cooling fans are also fucking LOUD, especially when set in older periods. I think most if not all the 80s-era engines I associate them with sound like vacuum cleaners. I’m inconsistent on how cold tolerant they are, but they tend to be more vulnerable to overheating vs being too cold. Traction motors make plenty of heat, ESPECIALLY with old dynamic brakes that basically are resistance heaters like space heaters.

-It’s something I’m very vocal about but I have hilariously contrarian physical preferences for Electra vs… almost everyone else. My mental default is that they’re short and very cute, but also unambiguously an adult. MUCH denser and beefier than most picture, electric engines are not “fast but weak”, they tend to be compact and very powerful for their size (and often end up becoming mixed traffic later in life). I wildly oscillate between Koffi Missah and 90s-era Mykal, who look wildly different other than the above two things but I love both of them visually for different reasons. Koffi has that MJ/Prince look to him and cute boxy appearance that matches the irl AEM-7s used then. Mykal has the soft face and curvier silhouette that resembles the generic image of more modern electric engines… even heavy freighters tend to be very smooth and “cute” vs American-style diesel ones. There’s also the weird parallel between him having the kind of soft, smooth, flat features a ton of black guys have irl but are weirdly pretty rare in media, which matches how electric trains are everywhere but largely ignored by train media. I tend to draw Electra the latter way more because it’s fun and I think the combo of “idealistic yet weirdly average” is super fitting.

-“passenger geared” Electra looks more like the above, but can be “freight geared” and suddenly turn into uh, 2013-era Mykal. Not as fast but actually very capable on heavy freight service, especially on steep inclines (VERY common crossover for electric express locos irl). Electra generally shifts more to freight service later in life.

-Older Electra mellows out a lot and is much sweeter and gentler. Smooth, handles the Freight like they’re all carrying eggs and fine china, very efficient and doesn’t move more than they really need to. Still VERY firm when pushed by others, and pretty snippy and testy, but a lot calmer with a lot less pressure on them.

-Little visual things… I’m very consistent on Electra having deep brown/black eyes (though I’m equally fond of them being bigger and heavier lidded OR strongly almond shaped). I see them as having basically no body hair and probably not much of any on their head either, not even eyebrows/eyelashes. They actually wear falsies out of necessity and just like getting fancy with them. Probably due to some nebulous autoimmune condition they keep under wraps.

-Very in tune to electronic music (mostly favoring older 70s-80s era stuff), appreciates subtle differences between various synths and tones and has a very good sense of pitch. Quickly falls into pretentious prog rock territory, they love their weird time signatures and microtonality and questionable concept albums. But don’t you dare insult disco around them. They might be disco’s biggest defender. They think listening to “stupid meat and potatoes troglodyte rock” from the time is the real insult. They also listen to a lot of weirder world music and like it the more authentic it is.

-They downplay their interest and abilities in visual art but are genuinely really good at bold, graphic stuff and makeup. They genuinely enjoy a lot of modern abstract art most people hate and take even the most pretentious money laundering pieces at face value.

-Electra’s kind of a snobby coastal urbanite but I tend to make them a lot more down to earth than most others. The kind of trains they’d work on were decently nice but not really fancy (ESPECIALLY vs older passenger trains most other characters are associated with). They’ve been weirdly sheltered due to their upbringing but are just too closely associated with regular regional and commuter trains to be fully out of touch. They’re a lot more utilitarian in associations than steam excursions or whatever UP corporate/anachronistically pre-Amtrak passenger train Greaseball runs. Yeah Electra assumes people know more about art or music history or public transport politics than they probably do, but they’re also the type who’ll explain that kind of stuff if you don’t and broadly support public education in general (because more educated people tend to vote for the kinds of politicians who help trains like them lol). Kind of goes full circle where they’re seen as pretentious… but a lot of what they support is just the norm in Europe, even in countries that aren’t that rich.

-I have a weird amount of eating-related headcanons despite them having no reason to. So apply these to a more humanoid setting. I think they go from noticeably hungry to weak and exhausted VERY quickly, but also get knocked out by overeating, so Electra eats smaller meals very frequently. They also just have a sensitive stomach in general, it’s partly why they hate flying. They have a lot of food intolerances and a system prone to upset. Definitely lactose intolerant, doesn’t handle high fat well, probably has issues with legumes and specific vegetables and some random artificial ingredients. Not terribly picky based on taste/texture but comes off as fussy because a lot of things will just genuinely make them sick. It’s stuff that can be managed with home or over the counter remedies, it’s just really annoying to deal with.

#stex #starlight express #stex electra #headcanons #it’s honestly funny how much people don’t use railroad realism with this character specifically #because it leads to a lot of very different and interestinf depth

19 notes · View notes

kazarinn · 1 year ago

Text

Future subbing plans

When I first put Hurricane Touchdown out three years ago (goodness, has it really been that long already?!), I wasn't really planning to make fansubbing a regular thing, but after having worked on the Saint Tail project enough, I've started getting a little more used to it, so I decided to put a little more proper thought on what I want to do with it. This post will only be here, so my Tumblr followers can consider this to be an exclusive scoop ☺️

Regarding Hurricane Touchdown: As probably many of you know, Discotek Media recently announced an upcoming release of the first three Digimon movies, which, naturally, will include the Japanese version of Hurricane Touchdown. As is etiquette for fansubbers, I will be removing the download links for the Hudie release once that drops. However, I will be leaving the translation script file accessible to preserve the hard work done on it, and to leave it accessible for anyone who can't use the Discotek version for any reason (importation issues, region locks, etc.).

Raw script files can still be used with videos by putting them in the same folder as the video and giving them the same name, and the transcript is very easy to open with any standard text editor, so I think this will be a good compromise to keep the translation accessible and easy to reference. This is a workflow I started using with Saint Tail due to the unusual nature of its localization situation, but it's something I think I want to consider making use of going forward as well.

Regarding Saint Tail: Nothing really special to report here; I'll be releasing and revising sub scripts as usual until I've finished the series (I'm hoping to get it done by the end of the year). I haven't made a firm decision as to what will happen after that, but since it is a fact that the official release still has serious translation problems, I do think I want to do something to address that a little more aggressively once it's done.

Regarding Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning: Based on the US screenings of the movie, it seems that the official English subtitles for the Japanese version are actually a transcript of the English dub, but with Japanese names swapped in. Surprisingly, this isn't as much as a detriment to the translation as you'd think it might be (the English dub script seems to be surprisingly close to the Japanese script, rather unusually for Digimon standards), but nevertheless, this is extremely bad translation practice and offends me on a personal level. As such, if future releases turn out to still be using this translation, I am considering making my own subtitled script for it.

For the record, because of how close the English dub script is to the Japanese script, I don't think this is actually that much of a detriment to understanding the movie; in fact, I would argue that LAST EVOLUTION Kizuna's official English subtitles are far worse and mistranslated in a more dangerous way. A theoretical The Beginning fansub would be, at most, something that would be done to satisfy a personal pet peeve and to address some minor loss in nuance that isn't reflected in the dub script, especially in regards to the Chosen Child partnership lore it presents (something that I know can be quite a serious issue to a lot of Digimon fans). So I'm not going to make guarantees about whether I'm going to do it in the end, and I wouldn't get your hopes up if I were you, but I do at least want people to know that this is an issue and that I currently have this idea on the table. As with Hurricane Touchdown, if I do put this out, it probably would be in script-only form.

As a side note, I do plan on translating The Beginning-related material (interviews, etc.), but I would rather put them up at a time when a sufficiently large percentage of fans has actually seen the movie. If you're from a non-American country and your country will be having a screening in the near future, please reply to this post with the date so I can get a good idea of when people will be watching it ☺️

#Digimon #Digimon Adventure 02 #Hurricane Touchdown #Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning #Saint Tail

31 notes · View notes

sweet7simple · 6 months ago

Text

Terms and definitions that you can maybe apply to your fan works

I don't know anything about computer or mechanical engineering (it's very funny to me that I am in the Transformers fandom and I don't even care about cars), but I do care about improving my writing. I have gathered a list of terms that sound very sciencey and applicable to mechs, some from Martha Wells's "Murderbot Diaries," some from fanfiction/fandom (shout-out to the Crime in Crystals series by Aard_Rinn and Baebeyza, they wrote Transformers better than any Transformers comic/TV show did), and a lot from just surfing through Google and going, "well, what the hell is this? Okay, but what the hell is THAT?".

Also, as I was writing this post, I ended up getting sucked into this article:

And this really bloated my already long list of terms. Very easy to read if you want to glance it over yourself.

It's not an exhaustive list and who knows if it will be useful to you - but maybe you can reblog with your own add-ons of terms and definitions you think make a Transformers fan work just that much better.

The list is below the cut:

100% CPU Load - CPU is fully occupied with too many processors/applications/drivers/operations - not necessarily synonymous with an overload.

Actuators* - A device that causes a machine or other device to operate (Ex: a computerized unit instructs the actuator how to move the tires on a vehicle); create linear and rotary movement (Ex: A hydraulic actuator on a valve will move that valve in response to a sensor/signal); Linear actuators "move a piston back and forth inside a cylinder to build pressure and 'actuate', or complete an action".

* Think of actuators as devices that help produce linear motion and motors as devices that help produce rotational movement. Hence, some consider actuators as a type of motor. But a motor is not a type of actuator (jhfoster.com).

Alternator - Converts mechanical energy to electrical energy with an alternating current. The stator and rotor inside the alternator work as magnets and rotate to generate the alternating current. Then the alternating current (AC) is transformed into a direct current (DC) that charges the battery.

Archive (Archive files) - used to collect multiple data files together into a single file for easier portability and storage, or simply to compress files to use less storage space.

Arithmetic Log Unit (ALU) - the part of a central processing unit that carries out arithmetic and logic operations on the operands in computer instruction words. In some processors, the ALU is divided into two units: an arithmetic unit (AU) and a logic unit (LU).

Augment - Make something greater; increase.

Auxiliary Battery - Designed to run as a backup to the starting battery and provide power to some essential equipment like engine start/stop and other systems that require power while the engine is off to put less strain on the main battery and alternator.

Bandwidth - A measurement indicating the maximum capacity of a wired or wireless communications link to transmit data over a network connection in a given amount of time.

Behavioral Coding - A term used in Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries; essential, code for behaviors.

Branch Instructions - Use programming elements like if-statements, for-loops, and return-statements; used to interrupt the program execution and switch to a different part of the code.

Branch Predictors - Track the status of previous branches to learn whether or not an upcoming branch is likely to be taken or not.

Buffer - A region of memory used to store data temporarily while it is being moved from one place to another.

Cathodes vs Anodes - Cathodes are the positive electrode while the anode is the negative electrode; electrons flow from the anode to the cathode and this creates the flow of electric charge in a battery or electrochemical cell.

Catastrophic Failure - Complete, sudden and unexpected breakdown in a machine, indicating improper maintenance.

Central Processing Unit (CPU) - Primary component of a computer that acts as its "control center"; complex set of circuitry that runs the machine's operating systems and apps; the brains of the computer. * Components: Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), Control Unit (CU), Datapath, Instruction Cycle, Registers, Combinational Logic, the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), etc...

Clock - Determines how many instructions a CPU can process per second; increasing its frequency through overclocking will make instructions run faster, but will increase power consumption and heat output.

Combustion Chambers - An enclosed space in which combustion takes place, such as an engine; jet engines also have combustion chambers.

Condition Codes - Extra bits kept by a processor that summarize the results of an operation and that affect the execution of later instructions.

Control Bus - Manages the communication between the computer's CPU and its other components.

Control Unit (CU) - Manages the execution of instructions and coordinates data flow within the CPU and between other computer components.

Cybermetal - Element native to Cybertron and Cybertron alone.

Datapath - The path where data flows as it is processed; receives input, processes it, and sends it out to the right place when done processing; datapaths are told how to operate by the CU; depending on instructions, a datapath can route signals to different components, turn on and off different parts of itself, and monitor the state of the CPU.

Diagnostic and Data Repair Sequence - Term used in Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries; exactly what it sounds like.

Diode - A semiconductor device with two terminals (a cathode and an anode), typically allowing the flow of current in one direction only.

Discrete Circuit vs Integrated Circuit- Single device with a single function (ex: Transistor, diode) vs Devices with multiple functional elements on one chip (ex: Memories, microprocessor IC and Logic IC).

Drivers - A set of files that help software (digital components, such as Microsoft Office) interface/work with hardware (physical components, such as a keyboard); allows an operating system and a device to communicate.

Electromagnetic (EM) Field - A combination of invisible electric and magnetic fields of force; used in fandom by mechs to broadcast emotions to others.

Flags - A value that acts as a signal for a function or process. The value of the flag is used to determine the next step of a program; flags are often binary flags which contain a boolean value (true or false).

Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) - Consists of an electronic control unit (ECU) and related accessors that control aircraft engine performances.

Gestation Tank - Used in mech pregnancies, you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Heads Up Display (HUD) - A part of the user interface that visually conveys information to the player during gameplay.

Heat Spreader - Often used in computer processors to prevent them from overheating during operation; transfers energy as heat from a hotter source to a colder heat sink or heat exchanger.

HUB - A device that connects multiple computers and devices to a local area network (LAN).

Inductive Charging - How I imagine berths work; wireless power transfer (ex: Wireless charger or charging pad used for phones).

Instruction Cycle - Also known as fetch-decode-execute cycle; basic operation performed by a CPU to execute an instruction; consists of several steps, each of which performs a specific function in the execution of the instruction.

Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) - The figurative blueprint for how the CPU operates and how all the internal systems interact with each other (I think of it like a blueprint for the brain).

Irising - Term used in fanfiction (specifically the Crime in Crystals series) to describe the action of the of the spark chamber opening ("The Talk", chapter 6, my absolute favorite chapter out of the entire series). I just really liked how the word sounded in that context.

Life Codes - "For those of us who were forged, Primus, through Vector Sigma, generated a pulse wave. Each one a data-saturated life code faster than thought, brighter than light, racing across Cybertron, sowing sparks..." (~Tyrest/Solomus, Volume 5 of More Than Meets the Eye)

Memory Hierarchy - Represents the relationship between caches, RAM, and main storage; when a CPU receives a memory instruction for a piece of data that it doesn't yet have locally in its registers, it will go down the memory hierarchy until it finds it.

Levels: L1 cache (usually smallest and fastest), L2 cache, L3 cache, RAM, and then main storage (usually biggest and slowest); available space and latency (delay) increase from one level to the next

Depending on the multi-core (a core is usually synonymous with a CPU) system, each core will have its own private L1 cache, share an L2 with one other core, and share an L3 with more or more cores.

Motors* - Any power unit that generates motion; electric motors work by converting electrical energy into mechanical energy... when this happens within a magnetic field, a force is generated which causes shaft rotation.

Multitasking Operating System - Allows users to run multiple programs and tasks almost simultaneously without losing data; manage system resources (such as computer memory and input/output devices), allocate resources, enable multiple users, and eliminate long wait times for program execution.

Network - A set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. Computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other.

Network Feed - The continuously updating stream of content that users encounter on networking platforms.

Neural Network - A type of machine learning process that uses interconnected nodes (like neurons) to teach computers to process data in a way similar to the human brain; a form of deep learning that can help computers learn from their mistakes and improve their time.

Nimbus - A luminous cloud or a halo surrounding a supernatural being or a saint; has been used in fanfiction synonymously or in junction with the corona of the spark.

Nodes - A connection point between devices that allows data to be sent and received between them.

Oil Sump/Oil Pan - Don't forget to change your mech's oil.

Out-Of-Order Execution - A paradigm used to minimize downtime while waiting for other instructions to finish; allows a CPU to choose the most timely instructions to execute out of an instruction queue.

Overload - Orgasm; an electrical overload occurs when too much electricity passes through a circuit, exceeding its capacity; an information overload is when a system receives more input than it can process, or a state of being overwhelmed by the amount of data presented for processing.

Pedes - Feet

Pipelining - A technique used in computer architecture that allows a processor to execute multiple instructions simultaneously, improving overall performance.

Processing Capacity - The ability and speed of a processor, and how many operations it can carry out in a given amount of time.

Program Counter - A special register in a computer processor that contains the memory address (location) of the next program instruction to be executed.

Programmable Nanobots/Nanites - Cybertronian microbots programmed to do work at the molecular level; used popularly for surface healing and pigment in mechs.

Protected Storage - Provides applications with an interface to store user data that must be kept secure or free from modification; a storage method; a function in mainframe hardware.

Protoform - Formed of an ultra-dense liquid metal and are extremely hard to damage; the most basic Cybertronian form of raw, free-flowing living metal; first stage of Cybertronian life cycle

To create a Cybertronian, you need the protoform, the life-giving spark, and alt-form information.

Register - A type of computer memory built directly into the processor or CPU that is used to store and manipulate data during the execution of instructions.

Ex: "When you run a .exe on Windows... the code for that program is moved into memory and the CPU is told what address the first instruction starts at. The CPU always maintains an internal register that holds the memory location of the next instruction to be executed [the Program Counter]"...

Resource Allocations - The process of identifying and assigning available resources to a task or project to support objectives.

Risk Assessment - Focus on identifying the threats facing your information systems, networks, and data and assessing the potential consequences should these adverse events occur.

Routine - A component of a software application that performs a specific task (ex: Saving a file).

Servomechanism - A powered mechanism producing motion or force at a higher level of energy than the input level (ex: In the brakes and steering of large motor vehicles) especially where feedback is employed to make the control automatic.

Servos - Hands

Shellcode - A small piece of executable code used as a payload, built to exploit vulnerabilities in a system or carry out malicious commands. The name comes from the fact that the shellcode usually starts a command shell which allows the attacker to control the compromised machine.

Semiconductor - A material used in electrical circuits and components that partially conduct electricity.

Semiconductor materials include silicon, germanium, and selenium.

Struts - Bones; A rod or bar forming part of a framework and designed to resist compression.

System/System Unit (in computers) - A setup that consists of both hardware and software components organized to perform complex operations/The core of your computer where all the processing happens.

Task Specific Accelerator - Circuits designed to perform one small task as fast as possible (ex: Encription, media encoding & machine learning).

Teek - Used in Transformers fandom in conjunction with EM Fields; when a mech "teeks" another mech's field, they are feeling the emotions that mech is broadcasting.

Transistor - Enables a computer to follow instructions to calculate, compare and copy data.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) - A standard plug-and-play interface that allows computers and peripheral devices to connect with each other, transfer data, and share a power source; allows data exchange and delivery of power between many types of electronics; plug-and-play interface is also a type of sexual activity used in fandom.

Warren - Used to refer to a group of minibots with their own social hierarchy and culture (Seriously, read the Crime in Crystals series, it's better than canon).

#transformers #macaddam #world building #Terms and Definitions #Transformers Terms #Computer Terms #Please Add Your Own Terms and Definitions as you see fit

14 notes · View notes

an-inspired-eternity · 11 months ago

Note

👀

ok full transparency this is infact. an au i still really want to write. but you know how it is the 2020s urge to just have no joy or motivation to make creative fan products

ANYWAY my wxs* focused fantasy au!! i have a couple rp blogs for it but that's the closest i get to making content for it rn..

*other characters involved but wxs has the most developed and involved

ANYWAY let me go sicko mode under the cut hehe. taking a bit from my rui blog bc i dont wanna retype all dat

worldbuilding

there is a big magical forest at the center of the region, it's considered dangerous and somewhat risky to travel through, as the inhabitants (which are primarily either magic users/"witches" or other inhuman beings. but there's also some standard like. fantasy jrpg monsters yk how it is) consider it their safe home and may not take kindly to outsiders or anyone trying to harm the forest.

magic users have varying reputations in the kingdoms outside of the forest, some don't mind and maybe even are welcoming towards them, others frown upon it but ultimately don't care, but some might even consider it taboo or forbidden to dabble in. it's for this reason that magic users born in the kingdoms may ultimately leave their homes to live in the safety of the forest instead

virtual singers (theyre the only ones to come up in story, but not the only ones) are among many of the guardians of the region, originating from the forest.

miku is basically the god of the world (likely under another name- or the goddess's name is known only as hatsune but not miku), but can't physically interfere in her primary state (think the law of cycles from pmmm), and so sends "fragments" of herself (sekai mikus) to help people and in the case of this au its the prsk characters

wxs :)

the otori family are the rulers of one of the kingdoms (the kingdoms do not have names. do not look at me), rakunosuke, the original king of the otori kingdom before emu's father kounosuke took over, was a lot more of open to magic users and other fantastical beings, and taught his son and grandchildren accordingly. when he passed, however, kounosuke and his elder sons would teach the younger children to be more fearful and wary- that not every being they'd encounter would be friendly

tsukasa & saki grew up in a small town with their parents, but fell on unexpected hard times, this resulted in them having to leave the town and it's inhabitants behind, the two ended up on their own, later joined by a semi amnesiac toya, where they were later adopted and raised by the otoris, being raised as royalty accordingly. (tsukasa trained to be a knight however, and toya felt very strongly about not wanting to be a heir unless absolutely necessary, resolving to use his smarts to tutor the other kids)

hinata helps emu and saki do their hair btw they r the sisters ever

rui is a natutal born magic user who grew up in a town that was not quite favorable to them- atleast not to magic users who don't restrain themselvesm rui wanted to experiment with his magic to see what he could do- all for the sake of helping people- be it healing, or doing visual tricks to make others smile, but the other villagers were afraid and/or distrusting of him. fearful of the villagers turning that hatred towards his parents, rui fled the village one night without telling his parents (at best leaving a note explaining why he left) to go stay in the forest.

nene is a friend of rui's- a mermaid from said forest, rui would visit when he was younger, coming to see her at the lake she stayed at. there, alongside their third companion (mizuki), the kids would discuss all sorts of things- magic, nature, society, the world.. nene doesn't know much of the world outside the forest, but wants to see the ocean someday.

tsukasa went out on a patrol to scout the areas of the region a bit further out from where the kingdom was situated- it's there he comes across rui and his "familiars" (kaito and wxs!miku) and the story begins! but tsukasa's big adventure also inspires emu to go on one of her own and play catch up ✨️

#answers #project sekai #wonderlands x showtime #prsk fantasy au #OK I THINK THATS A DECENT AMNT... ITS ALMOST 1 AM WHAT IS BRO YAPPING ABT

11 notes · View notes

tanya-shiza · 2 months ago

Text

Tired Gold busts (1/2) // LMK Medicinal Flower AU

Part 2: [LINK]

I wanted to make 1 small post, but as it says in my description, I am a big fan of posts with a lot of lore. So, this post was turned into info-post about Shi Tiao! And the next one will be about Wei Jian 💙

About Shi Tiao:

Shi Tiao means «stone that far away», which implies that he was left by the Lady Bone Demon far in the past.

Now, without the Lady's charm, Shi Tiao's eyes turned golden, which puzzles him because his natural eye color is purple/violet. Only later he will find out that this is a hint that there are still some powers left in him, but they are not demonic anymore.

After Lady's death, the Mystic Mayor lost the meaning of life and decided to go back to what he was doing - pretending to be the Mayor. But this obviously meaningless. (Moreover, now Shi Tiao needs to eat and sleep to live). So, he restored the passport and re-studied at the university and, then, won the election.

Shi Tiao is NOT the mayor of the Megapolis. I didn't give the town a name, but it is small and very close to the Megapolis. (1 hour drive without traffic jams).

While the Mayor was re-studing at the university, he managed to become friends with Yá Liàng. They even had a short romance, but it all ended quickly. The woman was upset because Shi Tiao put forward his candidacy in the same town as her, which automatically made them rivals. She left and they never saw each other again.

Shi Tiao is very kind and caring. He loves his town very much, so he does not strive for promotion (become a regional official). He is quite satisfied with his position.

His kindness is most evident in his friendship with the 14-year-old girl named Hua Kan. One day he was invited to a party at her school. After school he noticed that she was heading into the woods. He worriedly asked why, and the girl naively replied that it would be a shortcut. Shi Tiao's fears were justified and Hua Kan got lost in the forest. Shi Tiao led her out of the woods. She, of course, didn't trust him, because he followed her into the woods 🙄, but she was grateful that he helped her get out of the woods.

Hua Kan unconsciously perceives Shi Tiao as a father figure. This effect is amplified given that her mother pays little attention to her and Hua Kan is desperate for the parents' attention.

Shi Tiao has never had children, but he also sees Hua Kan as a daughter. (Considering Hua Kan's mother, Shi Tiao will probably have to adopt Hua Kan.)

Many people say that Shi Tiao is untidy, which is true. The man only washes his hair when the itch really distracts him from his work. (Thankfully, Wei Jian and Hua Kan are here to remind him about hygiene!)

Shi Tiao's hair has grown a lot and the blue lock of hair has become invisible, although it is still there. (At home atmosphere or when taking a bath, Shi Tiao ties her hair into a ponytail 🤭)

Shi Tiao has an expensive car. But it is not because it is very new, but because it is very ancient. As a lover of vintage, he bought an old mechanical car that breaks down from any sneeze, but Shi Tiao still loves his car very much and is not going to sell his car.

At first, Shi Tiao missed Lady Bone Demon very much. His depressed state and indifference to his own health is due to the loss of the one for whom he lived last 500 years.

Shi Tiao often works overtime on purpose because his job is all he has. Given his poor sleep, Shi Tiao made it a habit to visit a bar after work. (There Shi Tiao and Wei Jian first met.)

Due to his depressed state, Shi Tiao is easily succumbed to depressive thoughts. There was even a period when Shi Tiao, convinced by his own thoughts, that he is unworthy to be loved, deliberately avoided Wei Jian. Hua Kan noticed that her friend was somehow sadder than usual. Wei Jian had hard time to convince Shi Tiao that he is worthy. (This happened when they were still friends.)

#lmk #lmk au #oc #my oc #fc #fanon #fanon character #Shi Tiao #Wei Jian #art #lego monkie kid #monkie kid #fanart #mystic mayor #Tired Gold #Medicinal Flower AU

6 notes · View notes

fakemon-archive · 2 years ago

Text

youtube

ASTRA DEX, created by DarkNe0s (2009)

Did you ever make your own pokemon when you were younger? Maybe drew them, sprited them, and then shared them on some long-gone corner of the internet?

What kind of pokemon did you make?

Today, we have plenty of guides to making fakemon that more closely match the design style and philosophy of official pokemon designs, and MANY creative and incredibly talented artists bringing these fan-made dexes to life. But even still, it's hard to say what exactly makes something a pokemon design- especially when it's something that varies so much between generations.

Good Lird. The similarities between these seems to start and end at "IT IS GREEN".

Ultimately, what a pokemon should look like is entirely subjective- but that's obvious enough, isn't it? That's just the base line of fakemon design itself. Everyone and their mother knows it.

Let's have some fun. What should your pokemon look like? Do they need to be as close to official design styles as they can be? Or can they be frightening, cool monsters? Maybe something more cartoonish? What's the weirdest you can get with them? Who's to say you can't get any weirder? What should limit you?

You can answer that on your own time. Let's look at the ASTRA dex!

SKIPPEA - LEAFALING - JETRANG

The Astra region begins with a TERRIFICALLY creative grass starter- a samara, or "helicopter seed", which becomes an actual helicopter before its final stage- a powerful grass/flying-type jet! It's a very fun and well-designed line.

There's also the more... "up-to-date" version on deviantart, or at least as up-to-date 2009 can be considered. The most noticable difference lies in the middle stage, given a much 'beakier' face. It and its first stage have also been given a lighter shade of brown, as well as dark pupils that match with the final stage.

Meanwhile, Jetrang is the perfect animal- the only change it recieved was being made just slightly more aerodynamic.

GOFLARE - SMOKOAL - BOMBURROW

How cute! It's a magma gopher with a gradually cooling shell of rock forming over it- AND it's a landmine! If this thing ends up in your golf course, you best just give up. Once again, other than slightly lighter colors, only one stage has received particularly noticeable changes- this time the final, being given clearer markings and removing the lava pit on its back to be a more solid shell.

One of my favorite bits of this line is how the middle stage is given the typical angry Sugimori eyes, while the final has those dark sweet-looking cute eyes you see on things like eeveelutions and vulpix. A very darling creature- I think I'll take it to the local golf course!

SQWIMP -CLAWDAWD - CLOBBSTER

Oh. Oh

Sqwimp

As you can tell by the complete lack of difference between the video version and the deviantart version, this is THE perfect beast. There's very little to say on it- it's a poor little shrimp that grows tough armor, and becomes practically untouchable! ... Except for its antennae, which are quite vulnerable.

Actually, it reminds me quite a bit of a certain videogame extraterrestrial... though, it's hard to say whether that's by design or pure coincidence.

Ah, this got pretty long already! As such, the rest of the post is simply going to be an image and link compilation of the rest of the dex that exists. The purpose of this is both to showcase the dex, but also to preserve its existence.

How much digital information is lost in a day? A youtube video from 2005 could be taken down for using copyright music, and nobody might even notice. An old, forgotten forum could finally shut down, throwing years of shared comments and ideas to the wind. It's insignificant to most, you don't need to cling to everything really.

My main interests lie in creature design. Both in original creations and fan-made. Not as a professional, but in general- I love seeing what fantastical things people create, and what you can learn about their own thought process through them. What they imagine makes a good design, or a cool concept, or an awesome creature- in these cases, what they imagine a POKEMON to be on their own terms.

This blog is meant to archive old and unique fakemon projects wherever I can find them as best I can, in case they should otherwise be lost to time. If you have any projects of your own that you'd forgotten, or if you know of anyone else's, please feel free to share! I have a lot of love for these things, and I'm hoping to spread that love to others.

Anyway, most images should have links to their original playlist / video / deviantart upload. Now, do note that unless explicitly stated by the original creator, these designs and sprites are not for free use in other projects.

And of course, if you are the original creator of these and have your own comments / would like the post to be removed, please feel free to speak! No need to be shy on these webpage

DarkNe0s deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/darkne0s

DarkNe0s youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DarkNe0s/videos

#incomplete dex #youtube #deviantart #Youtube

62 notes · View notes

deadcactuswalking · 6 months ago

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 20/07/2024 (Eminem's The Death of Slim Shady, Ice Spice/Central Cee)

For a seventh week, Sabrina Carpenter tops the UK Singles Chart with “Espresso”, right above her other track, “Please Please Please” at #2. Other than that, it’s Eminem, football and a whole lot of nothing. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

content warning: language, discussion of sexual predators and misogyny

Rundown

As always, we start this week with our notable dropouts, which are songs exiting the UK Top 75 - the region I cover - after five weeks there or a peak in the top 40. This week, we bid farewell to: “Tobey” by Eminem featuring Big Sean and BabyTron thanks to self-cannibalism from his own album, “Mind Still” by Sonny Fodera featuring blythe, “Pick Up the Phone” by PAWSA featuring the late Nate Dogg - not that it matters since there’s a near-identical song still charting, “Close to You” by Gracie Abrams, “She’s Gone, Dance On” by Disclosure (unfortunately), “one of wun” by Gunna and finally, “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay because of course it was here in the first place.

So, naturally, the Euros happened recently and like much of what the UK’s been doing, the England team got close to saving face but ended up embarrassing itself at the final hurdle to the international community. Naturally, we don’t have that massive of an impact on the charts since we lost, and we lost on a Sunday, which means for most of the tracking week, they’ve been falling but some still notched impressive landings on the chart. I’ve discussed the vast majority of these - though not in the same way I do legacy hits now - in the episodes from July 2021, where I even go into some detail towards the making of the songs and why they’re football anthems. There’s even a full review in one of those because a “new” song considered a football anthem had debuted. As for this week though, I’ll briefly mention “World in Motion” by New Order at #53, “Vindaloo” by Fat Les at #46, “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond at #44, “3 Lions” by Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds at #8, as well as one I haven’t touched upon, the classic “Dancing in the Dark” by Bruce Springsteen. England fans have adopted the Boss’ 1984 hit to sing the praises of a specific player, leading it to scrape the top 40 at #36 this week. It peaked at #4 in 1985, with “I Know Him So Well” by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson sitting at the top spot, and a smoother cover by Big Daddy - yes, really - would serve as the title track for an EP that peaked at #21 on the singles chart the month after. The original was at #27 that week though we all know which version has stood the test of time.

As for, well, everything else, there’s not too much to discuss, but we do see solid, notable boosts for “Lies Lies Lies” by Morgan Wallen at #58 - great - as well as “Apple” by Charli xcx at #42 and “Move” by Adam Port, Stryv and Malachiii at #39, which are otherwise completely fine songs.

As for our top five, we have many a familiar face: “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish at #5, “Houdini” by Eminem at #4 (more on him later), “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey at #3, and of course, the two aforementioned Sabrinas. Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the episode: my exhausted ramblings on whatever new entries happen to appear in the top 75. Let’s go.

New Entries

#74 - “Alibi” - Sevdaliza, Pabllo Vittar and Yseult

Produced by Sevdaliza, Matthias Janmaat and Mucky

I’m vaguely familiar with Pabllo Vittar through her collaborations with artists such as Rina Sawayama and Charli xcx, though I’m surprised to see her chart at all, let alone with two people I’m even less familiar with, so I was wondering what the deal was here. Vittar is a Brazilian drag queen who seems very successful in her home country, and means a lot to the LGBTQ+ community there, but I had to look more into Sevdaliza and Yseult. The former is a Dutch singer born in Iran who has been active and relatively successful since the 2010s, working with some experimental Latin artists as of recent. The latter is a French singer who won a reality TV competition and eventually they all banded together for a trio single, the first of two consecutive female trios (kind of, Vittar goes by male pronouns in his private life but not in her public persona). This track makes use of a classic Cuban song “Rosa, qué linda eres” and brings a Brazilian funk rhythm for what, if translated correctly, seems to be a about a ride-or-die girl who she loves and acts in some way as her alibi once she murders this guy, basically saying that this… ahem, close female friend, will be the reason she is able to kill him because of her loyalty, or at least that’s what I got out of the translation that could very well be wrong. The multilingual song brings the intensity of baile funk and its mechanical-sounding synths and drums to a pop format that is pretty refreshing, and Sevdaliza’s vocals, though they don’t always hit as intimately, feel fittingly breathless and sensual, before a sample of the chant from the classic Cuban “Rosa” acts as the anthemic hook. I might prefer how playful, albeit repetitive, Yseult is with the instrumental, it feels like she’s right in each pocket it’ll force her into, and that’s really compelling when the instrumental is this unconventional. If I have a problem with anything, it’s probably Pabllo Vittar not feeling necessary to the track or the weird groove that it has to settle on in the chorus to fit all of the elements, that hits a weird note even if that warped, looming bass is there to steer it. Overall, I’m surprised this charted but I completely understand why even if it’s unlikely to stick around. It’s a good song with some very obviously viral elements and I hope that some of these gals at least land some kind of presence elsewhere on the chart.

#63 - “My Oh My” - Kylie Minogue, Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo

Produced by Steve Mac

Okay, so I have mixed feelings on all of these artists but they generally range towards the positive. I’m just confused to how you can successfully land all of these artists on one song, with a typically quite generic producer at the helm, without overwhelming the mix, and the answer seems to be by writing a pretty bare-bones song with an annoying hook, Auto-Tuning the Hell out of it so that Kylie becomes a robot again - though not nearly as effectively as on, say, “Padam Padam” where that was part of the appeal - and delivering a pretty bog-standard house drop that doesn’t even feel like it belongs in a specific genre. It’s kind of tropical, mostly a future house sounding bass, kind of has a slap house feel to it, probably can be considered a deep house song, but it all coalesces into a whole lot of nothing by just not having that strong of a hook or even performance from Kylie, who phones it in and is so awkwardly crushed in the mix that when the more organic vocal production and subtler delivery from Tove Lo comes in, it feels really out of place. It should go without saying that my Queen Tove Lo kind of just steals this song entirely and there’s a reason why they kept her for last. Bebe’s lyrics are quite cute, I love how they all play off their star signs and use a similar pre-chorus structure, but she doesn’t stick out in the mix as much and ends up kind of vanishing, but Tove seeps her backing vocals into the post-chorus before she appears and just through having a lot more natural charisma than these two decided to approach the song with, as well as a clearer multi-tracking effect that actually distinguishes the takes really nicely, runs away with the whole song as the only presence that actually matters or has a lasting impact. The song’s fine, if teetering towards over-produced schlock, but at least I can find some elements of it that I enjoy and could see working, which is honestly not what I expected. I was fully guessing it’d be a “too many cooks” situation where everyone collides into a mess, but it keeps itself together decently well overall.

#47 - “WOMAN’S WORLD” - Katy Perry

Produced by Dr. Luke, Vaughn Oliver, Aaron Joseph and Rocco Did it Again!

We did not need to do this. That’s the one thing that keeps pestering me about this song, its rollout, its credited writers. We just didn’t need to have this happen. It seemed like Katy’s Vegas residency was doing well, that she was back doing some more EDM features that were okay but at least drew a bigger name than say, Bebe Rexha. She hadn’t worked with Dr. Luke for the better half of a decade, she hadn’t really needed to put out more pop music for the past few years, but after Witness, now a certified pop music history book staple for curating the modern idea of a “flop era”, she did continue to release music that really didn’t need to do well, it just needed to show that she wasn’t done. I am not sure if that has worked, the general opinion of the public on Katy Perry isn’t one that has once mattered because her personality, whilst quite evident in those songs, wasn’t the driving factor behind their success. It was that they were great pop songs. Even the ones I didn’t like had such painfully obvious reasons to why they were successful. Not only could Katy Perry live off her catalogue, so could Dr. Luke.

So why have he and his cronies - who I’m convinced do all the work anyway - found their way into Katy Perry’s credits again? I hear a lot of gossip about paperwork, contracts, and some kind of legalese that’s preventing her from NOT working with Dr. Luke but from what the public knows from trusted sources, and really from the song itself, this is a conscious effort to perform, release and promote a feminist anthem written and produced by someone who, and I say this with the lightest quote marks known to man, “allegedly” raped and abused Kesha, whose single did not crack the top 75 this week, probably because she’s gone independent and no longer has the support of the spineless but pocketed industry behind her. Katy Perry, however, has that support. She has a promotional EP featuring remixes of this song, labelled after different “types” of woman - “doing the most woman”, “transcendental woman”, “naked woman”, etc. She released the single on Capitol with not just a music video but a behind-the-scenes video on X which she seems to have had cocked and ready to go for when people see through the thin attempt at faux feminism. If this is satire, Katy, it doesn’t explain the choices you made on who to work with for it - in fact, it makes it a whole lot worse that you are so flagrantly allowing for a group of men, let alone including Dr. Luke, to belittle the idea of female empowerment in order to fill their pockets and yours. Is there no shame in that?

You could very much make the argument that it doesn’t matter who worked on it or what happened behind the scenes as long as it’s a good song, but I’ll make the same argument I used for Ye: even if it’s not explicitly in the text, the creation of a text and its authors inform its content. Sure, it’s more obvious when Ye says that he keeps a few Jews on the staff now, but the video for “WOMAN’S WORLD” contains very little in the way of empowerment or diversity in what women it represents, and especially less in what roles they’re being displayed in, particularly because none of it is new or even progressive for this kind of cause. Masquerading as a Suffraggette on a construction site is heavy-handed and awkward when you spend a great deal of the video in robot legs (for some reason) just… looking at women, living in a world where women can do anything they please. That’s great and all, but Katy barely participates - at some point she flies over this new world on a helicopter - because why should she? If anything, by creating and promoting this song with such a video, she’s participating in Dr. Luke’s predatory scouting for young women to capture them in villainous record deals, she’s not participating in feminism. An activist, or really, any person, does not need to be perfect and some of the greatest fighters for justice have been messy, messy people, but it’s worth spotting that when it appears because those nuances, those small mistakes, are more telling of the person behind them than whatever performance they put on.

Speaking of performance, the song is garbage. Katy sounds okay though she’s never truly been the powerhouse vocalist she wants to be, and it’s not like this staccato song is giving her much to work with. The verses work in list format, repeating themselves and calling strictly to both male gaze and the male gays (“mother” is weaponised in a Trainoresque way here), when they’re not coughing up generic platitudes that ring meaningless on an ear who has read, seen, heard or watched anything else. Even “Roar” at least has a cohesive conceit and doesn’t insult your intelligence. The chorus is stiff and does the bare minimum to count as a chorus whilst producing possibly the least catchy lead single Katy has ever put out, and there’s not even an extended version to complete whatever that pointless bridge tease is at the end. The song just peters out after some vocal riffing on what I assume counts as a post-chorus, like it’s ashamed of its own existence. I’ve communicated with people who don’t actively know or keep up with pop music, and they expressed their distaste for this. Thanks to her sticking by a predator, and thanks to an industry lifting up that predator’s failed clinging attempts for relevance that have unfortunately been successful and Grammy-nominated, she has released a single that disestablished whatever goodwill she had. For whatever you can say about her music or her fanbase, she absolutely had the general public, who don’t listen to the albums, don’t care about the credits and will just bop along to a catchy tune in their car. Now, Katy stands on a hill built on the dregs of her fanbase and people that just don’t care. Men may have produced and written this song, but this woman made the world that she lives in now, and not only is it not pretty, it won’t be kind to her either.

#15 - “Did it First” - Ice Spice and Central Cee

Produced by RIOTUSA, Lily Kaplan and Nico Baran

Part of me feels bad for Ice Spice. She was making songs with her fun personality and her slightly above mediocre producer RIOT, and that virality really propelled her to a stardom I don’t think anyone would want so quickly, especially since Ice Spice really isn’t a great vocal talent or presence. She can rap, but she’s clearly still somewhat of a beginner who can’t find the pocket perfectly on much of her production, which is often minimal or at least interesting, which harms the end result so much more when she’s not really prepared for it. She was really attempting for her equivalent of rapping rapping on “Phat Butt”, or at least showing some improvement in her skill, but I still worry for this upcoming album, as she hasn’t had the time to really improve technically or even as a vocal presence, as she can still be whispery or unconfident in a way that doesn’t always feel purposeful, and all this time in the limelight, which she’s smartly extended not by improving but by out-memeing her last single, can’t go too well for her when it’s based purely on virality and character that she’s yet to confidently prove on record.

This song with her boyfriend Central Cee - who really should probably spend some time alone for a bit considering his relationship songs - demonstrates much of the same. It’s partly a revenge song that involves him cheating and Ice Spice cheating in response but also celebrating the toxic relationship and all the sex in a way that is just mindless and not very interesting from Ice Spice, who is so locked into one boring flow and sounds like she’s having no fun with it, saying the same things she’s always been saying despite the existing narrative of the song. As stiff as he is, in many ways, Cench’s verse is self-aware and has a cute line about the time he takes to finish his verse, it’s probably a highlight, but overall, this is definitely a half-baked product that sounds rushed to capitalise on the relationship going viral for… a lot of the wrong reasons. “Doja” was actually about his bisexual girlfriend, it was a semi-autobiographical piece if you will, so anything about Central Cee claiming himself as selective and smart about who he’s messing with just hits a weird note, since so much of that relationship drama ends up in the music. What saves this from being completely worthless is the beat, which takes Lily Kaplan’s vocal and stutters it below a Jersey club beat with a lot of filtering and gunshots that appeals to me just on a basic sonic and aesthetic level. I like how the beat sounds, but not much about the rest of this is giving me much to enjoy. Very much not excited for that album coming soon.

#13 - “Renaissance” - Eminem

Produced by Luis Resto and Eminem

As I said last week, I wrote in detail some of my first-listen thoughts on Eminem’s new album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace), on my RateYourMusic listening log (account name: exclusivelytopostown). I have revisited and come away with even more thoughts on this, but the songs that debuted didn’t really give me much to chew on. I expected “Brand New Dance” to show up, which would be great because that might be top 10 favourite Eminem songs for me… and it’s also recorded way back in 2004. It does a lot better of a job than the songs we see here in demonstrating the appeal of this record, probably best exemplified in “Guilty Conscience 2” - the first half and a bit is a massive joke, wherein an aging Slim Shady, who is no longer nearly as interesting or biting as he once was, is trying to take one last bout of energy and nuisance within the new, “mature” Eminem, who of course is indistinguishable so the two are conflated, realise they’re kind of the same person, just the parts that Em regrets are still part of him, and this leads to Em killing Slim and spending the rest of the record trying to prove himself… posthumously, maybe, the timeline’s a bit unclear, to both his family and the rap game. That sounds fascinating and also a mess, and it is quite frankly, so much more of both than I was prepared for, but it’s also a fun, surprisingly short listen for an hour-long comedy bit in rap form. Em’s always been known for his commitment to bits, and this is the most he’s committed to anything, but you can also hear some more classic Eminem beats on here, some great features, and the uncanny way he sports his earlier voice against his newer tone, with them overlapping and rubbing against each other the whole time. It’s an album with a lot to discuss, and I’d love to get into “Evil”, “Lucifer”, “Antichrist”, “Road Rage”, “Temporary”, even “Bad One” (and half of these songs I’m not even too crazy about - Hell, I don’t like “Road Rage” or “Bad One” at all), but no, as most fans will listen to the record in its intended order as both is normal and good, as well as what Em instructed on his Twitter, we get some of the more straightforward tracks as they’re the first two.

Our first track is the not-even-two-minutes-long introduction, “Renaissance”, which doesn’t signal a return to Slim Shady as much as it does a focused and clear-sounding Eminem, one that’s more on point than we’ve heard since 2013. Part of it seems like it was written and/or recorded earlier in his career, but with the smoother delivery and cinematic production, Em’s moaning about the rap game and his own fans comes off much less like whining and bitching than it does a more triumphant walk away from Slim Shady’s gravestones with bars as intricately placed as ever. I love when he rattles off of complaints people make about other rap albums instead of listening to them and evaluating them based on valid reasons, comparing it to people refusing to understand the art of Picasso and hence picking them apart based on their own ignorance rather than an understanding of the work. I hated J. Cole’s last record, I’m harsher to Kendrick than most and VULTURES 1 just made me sad, but my criticism comes much more from empathy and wanting to enjoy the music and hear where it’s coming from than it does a complete dismissal, which I hope shows in the fact I’m giving a passage most would write off as an old man waving his fist at clouds a fair shake and optimistic interpretation. I don’t need to tell you how slick the rhyme schemes are, it’s Eminem, and every bar is loaded with content, references and double-meanings, in such a constant flow that it reminds me of his Encore and The Eminem Show verses where he would just go on and on even if he lost track. Thankfully, this song cuts out before it can do so and seamlessly transitions into…

#11 - “Habits” - Eminem featuring White Gold

Produced by White Gold, Eminem and Narza

It’s fine. It’s not a single, for sure, considering it’s five minutes and starts with a skit before going straight into semi-offensive Slim Shady rants that basically explain the entire conceit of the album, including its dumber ideas like “PC court”. White Gold, a new staple to the typical Eminem feature list, sings the chorus and has a kind of confusing role but ultimately gets off the idea that both Eminem and the fans both miss and need the Slim Shady persona, with this song supposed to lead into that idea until it becomes painfully obvious through his repeated jokes and lame punchlines wearing you down - in a pretty funny way - that he’s full of shit. I love the bridge adding some needed depth to the song so it actually makes sense outside of the record, and the flows on the third verse are crazy, both the slower, pretty hilarious sing-songy way it starts and the most on-point “fast-rap” passage he’s ever had. He talks about pronouns, Caitlyn Jenner, misogyny, and little people, his main focuses on the album within this persona, and it almost grates on you before this track is finished even. I even don’t think the South Park sample is too on-the-nose, and if it weren’t so attached to the album’s concept or it had a better chorus, or Hell, even if it had the “Trouble” interlude properly latched on to add some more depth, it would probably get into good territory. For now, I’ll stick to my preferred tracks, which, apart from “Fuel” with JID, have all been mentioned across these two reviews and the top five. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a more accessible track from Em debut next week.

Conclusion

This wasn’t exactly a week full of surprises and it should be clear that Worst of the Week goes to Katy Perry for “WOMAN’S WORLD” and whilst I see less purpose in that Ice Spice track, on a pure sonic level I think “My Oh My” by Kylie Minogue, Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo is less appealling to me so it gets the Dishonourable Mention. Both are ultimately serviceable disappointments anyway, and Best of the Week should also be plainly obvious: Eminem grabs it with “Renaissance” whilst a surprisingly close Honourable Mention is granted to “Alibi” by Sevdaliza, Pabllo Vittar and Yseult. As for what’s on the horizon, Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall is the last to go solo, that should make moves. For now, though, thank you for reading, long live Cola Boyy, and I’ll see you next week!

#pop music #song review #uk singles chart #eminem #the death of slim shady #white gold #ice spice #central cee #katy perry #kylie minogue #tove lo #bebe rexha #sevdaliza #pabllo vittar #yseult

3 notes · View notes

sinnohlunarfestival · 1 year ago

Text

^^^ CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE BROADCAST OF THE RACE!

Transcript from the Second Segment of the Lunar Race:

Good morning everyone! My name is Kinsey, with Sinnoh Now in conjunction with Goldenrod Radio.

It's a chilly, windy day up here in the Floating Isles brought you you by Lysader Labs, Macro Cosmos and Devon Coporation. Mankind truly has gone above and beyond indeveloping all kinds of amazing technology, haven't they?

The racers are lining up at the starting line right now and the crowds taking spots on the various isles are cheering and screaming. I can see flags from various regions flying up. From my vantage point I can make out flags from Kanto, from Paldea and Unova! Loads of fans are making their support known.

Our two pinch hitters, Yris and Hilary, are doing some stretches alongside their Garchomps.

Miss Rika is looking pretty confident beside Sosu. Despite being a Ground Type Specialist, she seems pretty at home up here in the sky.

Alistair is pumping up Daisy with a good pep talk. Must be a holdover from his days at Pokestar Studios, eh? Heard the stars there really bring each other up.

Brian is getting his equipment ready for his ride with Chelsea as well as Auwa with her mount.

Giacomo seems to be riding without his signature hat. A good choice; the winds up here will be pretty brutal. Wouldn't want to lose his hat and never see it again.

Green and Blue are both looking pretty confident in themselves. Which of these flyboys will get ahead? Can we expect another win from Green Oak?

Ashe is talking with Kumiko, looks like they're still sporting their colours together. Looking fashionable with your bandannas, you two!

Hassel and Ghetsis are pretty quiet, such stalwart figures. Ghetsis looks so regal and composed and Hassel so calm. Dragon experts really are something else. Considering how they placed last time, will this be their redemption arc?

All right, everyone is getting into place. Unlike the the Water Track, the Sky track is high up in the air. Last time, the Water Track left off at the Pokemon League and that's where our racers will be kicking off! Starting from one of the Floating Isles above the League building, our racers will dive off their platforms and into the sky, headed towards the first marker at Veilstone City! After that it's a straight shot through Solaceon to Hearthome, with several obstacle hoops to fly through in between, and then touching down just outside of Eterna City.

There's quite a bit of danger involving this part of the race, but no worries! We have several members from the Pokemon Centers ready to go as well as many air marshals riding on their own Pokemon in case they need to catch our riders and their dragons.

Now...let's cheer on our racers and pray for their safe journey.

*1....2....3....GO!!!*

And they're off to a great start!

Diving headfirst into the air below, Hilary and Yris are leading the charge, followed by Alistair and Giacomo. The others are following suite and – oh, Team Luxray has gotten off to a bad start! Instead of diving off spectacularly as they had some days ago during a display of Pokemon and human bonds, both have tripped up and tumbled off of the starting platform instead! They're catching themselves up, though, Rika holding on fast to her mount and they're joining the rest.

The air is full of racers flying majestically through the clouds. We are now following them via Pokemon Taxi to get the best view and the best sound! Courtesy of the Safari Zone for volunteering these amazing Pigeot carrying the team safely along the track beside the racers.

Up ahead a large flock of Starly are incoming! Rika and Sosu dove under them, losing a bit of altitude, but gain distance and speed. Racer Hilary and Green Oak have veered to the side, avoiding the huge group of little birds. The rest of the group isn't so lucky and some have been pelted with the incoming bodies of little Starly. Oh, the marshals have caught the little ones affected by the impacts. Don't worry folks, they're all right! The Racers aren't in danger either, flying ahead to catch up.

Not to be outdone by his fellow Paldean, Hassel has caught up and surpassed Rika. Team Mamoswine is soaring ahead, leaving behind Team Luxray in their dust. On his tail is Green Oak of Team Girafarig. Keeping up a good pace is Yris of Team Bidoof, with Hilary and Aluwa coming in behind them. The others are starting to lag behind with Brian at the end of the pack.

We are headed towards Hearthome, but before that, we have the special aerial obstacle course which will prove the bond and maneuverability of each team.

Famed racer Aluwa is shining here, weaving through each loop like threading through the eye of a needle. Doing rolls in mid-air and whirls – what a show off. How graceful. Hassel is no slouch, either, moving through the obstacle with equal grace on top of Rosso. King Ghetsis is following Hassel's every move, gracefully going through the air as well, almost seeming to make a ballet in mid-air with Maryse and Team Mamoswine as their dance partner.

Blue seems to be having trouble, they've bumped into the loops more than once. Oh, Brian and Chelsea seemed to have selected a loop much too small for them to go through and have gotten stuck! The air marshals are flying over to help them get detangled safely and off they go again! Come Team Garchomp, you can do it! Go, go, go!

We're getting past Herathome and into the home stretch.

Currently Giacomo has shot to the forefront on Tyrant, leading the pack to the finish line.

He's followed by Ghetsis, then Aluwa and Green. Next we have Hassel slowing down a little, with Alistair, Yris, Blue, Hilary, Ashe and Brian. Looks like getting stuck in one of the loops cost Brian a lot of time!

We are losing altitude now as we near the finish line and the winds are getting a bit rough as a result as she change the distance between ourselves and the ground. Everyone is making the preparation for landing in front of Eterna City, but a few racers are struggling.

Oh! Aluwa and Hassel's safety harnesses have failed. They are hovering just a bit above their Garchomps, but they are holding onto dear life. Unfortunately it's not easy to make Garchomp turn around, though the other racers have noticed what's happened and are calling out in concern. Oh, the air marshals are coming in to keep an eye on the situation. They should be getting there in time – oh! Oh, no! Another harness malfunction! Hilary of Team Bastiodon has been completely thrown off of his mount! They have separated and the marshals are diving to go help him. The Team Bastiodon Garchomp is also diving to try and catch his rider. Down, down, down...CATCH! Great going guys! Hilary is back up and holding on – phew, that was a close one, but he's on his way again.

We can see Eterna City now! Alistair at the forefront now, Team Bidoof flying beside him. Will this be another photo finish? Oh, but wait! Coming from behind, zipping past Giacomo and Green, Ghetsis and Hassel are now outstripping everyone in the last few seconds. Just zooming ahead like bullets! It's coming down to the last couple of yards and we have A CLEAR WINNER!

GHETSIS HARMONIA HAS CROSSED THE FINISH LINE WITH HASSEL IN SECOND PLACE AND ALISTAIR IN THIRD!

Followed by Yris, Giacomo, Green, Rika, Hilary, Aluwa, Ashe, Blue and Brian. Guess that mess up in the air really cost him his placing. That's okay, Brian, you and Chelsea did your best!

Well, that was an exciting race two out of three for the Lunar Race. Last time we saw Ghetsis Harmonia in 8th place, but he's shot up to 1st! How amazing, what a comeback.

Thank you for tuning in everybody. I hope to see you again January 21st, for the final leg of the race.

This is Kinsey of Sinnoh now, signing off!

#sinnohlunarfestival2024

3 notes · View notes

puddlesl1me · 6 months ago

Text

MMO Minecraft

First, I’d like to say that I am not referring to MCMMO, the plugin that like half of all survival servers have. That’s a very boring plugin, everyone uses it, and it doesn’t serve much of a purpose. I’m talking about a potential actual MMO Minecraft server that I would like to see, but I understand would not realistically work.

I like the idea of an MMO Minecraft experience. I like multiplayer Minecraft, especially survival multiplayer, and having a large number of players able to play on it means more potential interactions between random players, which is something I enjoy seeing/being part of. I also understand, however, that this would be very hard to do well. There’s a few inherent problems within Minecraft itself that would make this harder, and they’d need to be fixed.

The first issue would be a gap in wealth between players. Minecraft doesn’t have much in the way of vertical progression (we’ll get to that problem later), but it’s still worth pointing out that there will be a huge gap in wealth between the top players and the newer players. I’m not actually certain this is an issue, but I imagine it could be. The wealthiest people completely stomping newer players isn’t something I’m particularly interested in seeing, as it would decrease the draw for newer players to the server. There’s a few different ways I can see to fix this, and they could all be used in conjunction or separately, depending on how they’re done.

First, limiting automatic farms. This might end up happening because of lag anyways, but automatic farms are a huge part in what makes players so powerful. To have access to unlimited resources with very little work is a huge boon, and means that you have all the power to do whatever you want to. Limiting farms would mean that the wealthier players have to spend some time actually getting the materials they want, which would decrease the power gap a little. This idea would also include either getting rid of villagers, or heavily nerfing them. I understand that villagers are powerful, and some find them necessary as the only reasonable way to get mending, but mending could very easily be added to the enchanting table. I made a post talking about this specifically. In my opinion, villagers should not be seen as a necessity, and the way to fix villagers is to nerf them while buffing other things to compensate.

The second idea comes from a book series I used to read, and might read more in the future, Steve the Noob (link is to the first book). This section will have minor spoilers for the second saga, so if you plan on reading the series and care about that, move on to the next section I guess. This idea is to split up the world into regions that are for specific power levels. Regions might be decided based on experience levels (although you might need to rework the experience system for that to work), money (in-game currency system, although I’m not a huge fan of this idea), or some other means. There would be downsides to moving to a region that is lower than your current region, to keep wealthy players from stomping newer players. If we took the experience system as an example, maybe level 30 is the cutoff point for going from Region 1 to Region 2. If you’re above level 30 and in Region 1, your experience points would go down at a speed based on your current level, until you’re at level 30 again. Going to a region above your own isn’t penalized, however it isn’t encouraged since higher level players will be there.

Finally, the available wealth could be limited. This is inspired by another book series I read a while ago, and mentioned in a previous post, Herobrine: The Complete Collection. In that series, the world is a sort of MMO experience of Minecraft. However, there isn’t a huge gap in power, seemingly because no one has many diamonds?? (from what I remember at least). So, to limit power, it might be worth considering turning down the spawn rates for diamonds, and increasing spawn rates for iron and gold ore. To make this more complex, and more interesting, you could also have randomly generated areas where ore spawns are shifted more. For example, there could be a section where diamonds generate at a normal amount, rather than their nerfed amount. Or maybe there’s even less diamonds in an area, but there’s a huge amount of coal or iron. Ancient debris/netherite might also be limited, but that’s not a guarantee, since it’s already so rare. These changes are dependent on the other changes made to deal with the power gap, as if there’s regions for specific power levels, this all might not be necessary, and might actually hinder the experience.

While the power gap in Minecraft can be large, it also tapers off at a surprisingly low point. Most MMOs (as far as I understand it) have a lot of vertical progression, which Minecraft doesn’t really have. You get wooden tools, then you get stone tools, then iron, then diamond, then netherite (if available), and that’s all there is. 5 different basic stages, not including enchantments, isn’t a whole lot. For an MMO experience, it would be a good idea to add some more vertical progression into the game. More materials, or better armor/tools, or different modifiers that can be added to stuff. Artifacts or magic items or stuff like that. However, this isn’t the only way to expand the content in the game, nor is it the only way that content should be expanded in this case.

Vertical progression is good, but adding horizontal expansion would be prudent. It’d be boring if every player had the exact same gear with the exact same enchantments, because there wouldn’t be any room for creativity. Adding materials or armor that gives benefits other than more armor would be useful (for example, armor that has less armor than netherite or diamond, but grants an effect such as speed or jump boost). Alternatively, more and better enchantments that are mutually exclusive (such as fire protection/blast protection/projectile protection/protection, and sharpness/smite/bane of arthropods) would mean for more creativity - it means players have to choose between what good enchantments they want. This would add much needed variety to Minecraft PvP - everyone chooses the same thing, because it’s almost always the best thing to choose. With this MMO, I imagine there would be a fair amount of PvP, so it’d be nice to fix up the combat system a little bit.

Another point of problem is the End dimension. This is an issue for most large multiplayer survival servers - the first people to get to the end get the nearest elytras, then the next people have to travel further to get elytras, and it takes more and more time to get one before people just give up. I propose two potential solutions for this. First, just removing the End, or at least the elytra. With this MMO, I anticipate that elytras will be a bit too powerful for the wealthiest players. Unless they’re nerfed somehow, I feel like it might be a bad idea to include them. There can be other ways of fast travel that are either added to the game, or are created by the players, so elytras are not essential. Removing the End itself also has the added benefit of one less biome to interact with, especially a biome that’s so hard to access. The second solution would be to include elytras as a drop from the Ender Dragon. Elytras are supposedly made of Ender Dragon wings; it would make sense if they dropped from the Ender Dragon. This would provide a renewable way to get elytras, which would solve the issue of players eventually not being able to get them.

One final issue I’d like to cover is spawning in, and how players populate the world. While it makes sense that players will make their own societies and such (hopefully), the world being too crowded could be an issue, especially at spawn. My proposed solution is to change the spawn area as more players join the server. For example, the first 100 players could spawn between 0 and 1000 blocks away from 0,0. Then the next 250 spawn 1000 to 2000 blocks away from spawn. Then the next 500 spawn 2000 to 3000 blocks away from spawn, and so on. These numbers aren’t perfect by any means, and there’s probably some math that can be done to determine what the best spawning radius is for a number of players spawning in, but the exact numbers aren’t important right now. The idea is to spread out players, so that they have room to build their own bases and mine for materials and such, while also allowing them to interact on occasion. 0,0 will obviously become a large city most likely, as people will probably gravitate towards it, but other significant coordinates such as 1000,0 and such might become cities as well.

There’s probably a huge amount more issues with an MMO Minecraft experience. Actually moderating it, making sure it’s relatively safe, stuff like that. And adding all these features would take a lot of work; not only implementing them into the game but playtesting them before the release of the server so there don’t need to be as many nerfs later on would take a lot of time. Adding more content might also be a good idea - actual dungeons rather than just mob spawners, places that require better gear but give out better rewards, stuff like that. That’s why I mentioned that this isn’t a realistic idea. It’s something I would love to see, sure, but I don’t think it’ll happen.

Nonetheless, I have shared my ideas on this. I have shared my vision with the world. If someone ever tries to create something like this, or if I ever decide to, this is here. Feel free to add onto these ideas - I’d love to see further ideas to adjust the game so it’d work better as an MMO. Alternatively, feel free to tell me I’m wrong. It’s not uncommon for me to be wrong, so it’s very possible.

TL;DR I would like to see an MMO Minecraft experience, but because of wealth gaps between players, the lack of vertical or horizontal progression in Minecraft combat, and the overall idea of the End dimension and elytras, it probably will not happen.

thanks for reading bye see you next time i write a minecraft manifesto

#thanks for reading my stuff #i hope you like it #minecraft #mmo #idk how to tag this stuff ok #my stuff

0 notes

edmturnmeon · 10 months ago

Text

TAEYEON To. X Vinyl LP Review

Featuring stunning black-colored 180gm vinyl first pressed and made in Japan, this limited edition Taeyeon's vinyl is exquisitely curated and highly sought after by vinyl enthusiasts. IvanYolo Taeyeon To. X vinyl LP is an incredibly special gem for every Taeyeon fan out there. With its limited edition release on March 4, 2024, in South Korea, it's been a long-awaited release for all of us K-pop vinyl collectors and SONEs who have only dreamt of owning this vinyl since the mini album release back in November 2023. This, without a doubt, marks Taeyeon's 4th vinyl release, with previous remarkable vinyl releases including I, What Do I Call You and INVU.This album, which was reviewed for the To. X Myself CD version, has the title song of the same name, 'To. X', and it also includes tracks that showcase Taeyeon's incredible vocals and talent. Additionally, following a successful The ODD of Love concert in Singapore Asian tour of 12 performances in 8 regions last August, Girls' Generation Taeyeon is back with 'To. X' to once again fascinate music fans with her unique sound and style. The 'To. X' vinyl LP comes in black and is weighted at 180gm for high-quality pressing, making it the perfect addition to any music lover's collection.

Securing The Taeyeon To. X Vinyl LP

Buy Now I was incredibly thrilled when the highly anticipated Taeyeon's To. X Vinyl LP was released, as it quickly became one of the most sought after Taeyeon vinyls by collectors. Many of her fans were eager to add this unique item to their collection, and I was among the lucky ones who secured a preorder through the TUMY group via fan site.After waiting for about 4 months, my much awaited vinyl finally arrived at my doorstep, delivered without any complications through local courier services. Although there were slight delays due to the limited edition nature of this release, it was worth the wait to finally hold a copy of this amazing To. X vinyl in my hands.I eventually decided to get a another To. X vinyl from the same vendor where I got my INVU vinyl from Shopee (which cost me about RM709, estimate USD$151) for future investment, providing a chance for other vinyl collectors who are looking for this limited edition To. X vinyl and hoping to increase its value over time. With the growing popularity of vinyl collecting, I believe that preserving rare and sought-after editions like this one will not only benefit me as a vinyl collector, but also contribute to the wider community of music enthusiasts.https://youtu.be/t_wF0TNGPYUUnfortunately, my recent experience with a lost parcel has left me feeling uneasy about the safety of my deliveries. In order to alleviate my concerns, I have decided to utilize the secure and reliable services provided by Parcelhub. This way, I can be confident that my parcel will be handled with the utmost care and stored in a secure location until I can retrieve it.Parcelhub offers the P Collect convenient solution for having your parcel delivered and securely held for pickup at one of their branches. This P collect service allowed me to rest assured that my parcel from South Korea was in safe and reliable hands at Parcelhub's location. Ensured to be stored in a secure and protected location, all I have to do is confidently present the unique reference code received and complete a nominal RM2 payment for convenient and prompt parcel collection.

The Limited Edition To. X Vinyl LP

After 4 months of waiting, I was thrilled to add To. X vinyl to my vinyl collection - it's now my third Taeyeon LP, alongside the limited edition INVU and What Do I Call You. I truly hope with all my heart that SM Entertainment will consider reissuing her remarkable first 2015 album 'I' on vinyl. It was extremely challenging to locate online and is currently quite expensive in today's market. Featuring stunning black-colored 180gm vinyl first pressing and made in Japan, this limited edition Taeyeon's vinyl is exquisitely curated and highly sought after by vinyl enthusiasts. With a collection of 6 tracks including "To. X", "Melt Away", and "Burn It Down" on Side A as well as the mesmerizing "Nightmare", "All For Nothing", and "Fabulous" on Side B, this record is a must-have for any true Taeyeon fan. The To. X vinyl edition comes with stunning 30cm x 30cm size posters that are perfect for decorating your walls and adding a touch of artistic flair to your home. Display them in a square wall art frame for a truly unique look that is sure to impress. To increase your chances of successfully acquiring a sought-after limited edition vinyl, it is imperative that you act swiftly and secure your pre-order or scour online marketplaces like Shopee or music stores as soon as the release is announced. Delaying your search could result in a higher purchase price, as prices typically increase after the initial release date. Stay ahead of the game and act fast to ensure your collection is complete. Read the full article

#Girls'Generation #K-Pop #SNSD #Taeyeon #TaeyeonAlbums

1 note · View note

goldensimisage · 10 months ago

Text

A bit off topic with my writing stuff here and elsewhere, but I feel it's worth bringing up since people are asking for it yet again in the wake of Legends ZA's announcement: I think the opinion that the national dex was a bad idea that game freak hung an anvil over their own heads by implementing in the first place is probably my hottest pokemon take.

On one hand, the longer it stayed around, the more pokemon would become transfer only while still being required for dex completion, because there are only so many species you can naturally fit into a region. That'd definitely make people mad, because they already do when it's >20 pokemon for vgc before dlc makes them catchable too. Imagine the shit storm if it was 600 transfer-only mons next to the 400 Paldean natives in the base game. So you'd need a constantly updating living dex for the shiny charm, and even if you have one, you gotta wait 1-3 months for Home compatibility and the charm is just unobtainable beforehand.

And on the other hand, it getting cut was always a matter of when, not if. And when you consider the fact that Pokemon fans (like the rest of the internet really) get more rabid by the day, the backlash was only going to get worse the longer the national dex stuck around. Pre-covid when dexit happened, people were already willing to try and ruin a man's career and public image with fake rape accusations, so if they kept the natdex throughout the switch era and only resorted to it by, say, gen 15 when we hit 2,000 pokemon, Masuda would get Shinzo Abe'd the next time he made a public appearance.

#ooc #I'm probably better prepared for this because my boy Pansage got cut at the earliest possible opportunity #pokemon rambling

1 note · View note

mysmashplaythroughs · 11 months ago

Text

Pokemon Gen 1 Semi-Playthrough (Part 5)

Pokemon: Weepinbell.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Earlier in Arbok’s entry I said it was the last of Team Rocket’s Kanto Pokemon. When posting that entry on the blog I realised I’d made a mistake in saying that, Team Rocket did have two other Pokemon during the Indigo League, however they appeared so rarely initially that I almost forgot this was the case. When looking up about it to remind myself, I realised James Weepinbell or rather Victreebel had such a bizarre story I felt I had to go over it. It appeared after a flashback referencing James catching it off-screen and taking it to Butch and Cassidy (Team Rocket’s Rivals) who were pretending to run a daycare but actually planning on stealing all the Pokemon left with them for Team Rocket. They evolved Weepinbell into Victreebel to make it stronger and when James found it again it affectionately let out a high-pitched scream and bit onto the top half of his body. This became a running gag and Victreebel didn’t do too much for a bit before becoming more commonly used in the Orange Islands and Johto. Then Jessie and Meowth forced James to trade Victreebel for a Weepinbell that knew Sweet Scent for one of their schemes. At first James was heartbroken however he soon grew to love his new Weepinbell that actually did well against Ash for once. It did so well in fact that it evolved without a leaf stone (required to evolve Weepinbell into Victreebel) after it’s victory. After doing so however it made a huge mistake and bit Jessie, in her anger she outright kicked it off the team. At the same time the Magikarp Salesman (yes the one I mentioned in my Gyarados entry from the games) who James had traded his original Victreebel to similarly got angry at it keep biting him and kicked it away as well, the two smashed into each other in the sky, landed and fell in love leaving together. I guess I’m just recounting the anime here but still that was such a wild ride I’d forgotten about (or might have actually missed although I have vague memories of it) that I just felt the need to mention it, plus it’s more than anything else I could think to say about for Weepinbell overall. I think I might have used it on a team once but I don’t remember it being too great.

How I caught it: From what I remember I believe I caught Bellsprout on Route 15 as well as Oddish. It is possible I came across a Weepinbell but Bellsprout is more the one I seem to remember catching.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Slowpoke.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Master Spirit.

Moves: Confusion.

My feelings on it: I’d be surprised if there were many people who disliked Slowpoke, I’m a fairly big fan of it. The anime helped with it’s depiction of Slowpoke but it’s also one of those Pokemon where even back in the Gen 1 games it was easy to ‘get’ what it’s like. Even better it was a psychic type back in Gen 1 which made it a very worthwhile Pokemon to add to your team. Slowpoke saw a slightly bigger role in Gen 2 with their appearance in Azalea Town, Slowpoke Well being a landmark of the town. This game also was the first time mention was made of Slowpoke tails being considered a delicacy and it underwent an interesting evolution in the series going from something seen as cruel and evil with Team Rocket doing it in Johto, yet it became something seemingly legally used as food in other regions such as Kalos, Alola and Smoke-Poke Tails (assumedly smoked Slowpoke Tails) are an ingredient that can be used in curries in the Galar region. Honestly I think this is a fairly cool bit of world-building for the series where some regions see this as a terrible practice whilst for others it’s common practice, it’s often mentioned that Slowpoke’s tails can fall off on their own and grow back very quickly. The worst thing about Slowpoke, which is obviously in the name is it’s speed where there are very few Pokemon I believe it will be faster than (barring level differences), but beyond this it's a Pokemon I’ve always liked and used a couple of times.

How I caught it: I believe I caught Slowpoke on the Seafoam Islands, it was fairly easy to encounter so didn’t take long, I caught it in a Pokeball as always.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Slowpoke has a unique role amongst all the other Pokemon in Smash as a Master Spirit. I’ve not really decided yet how I’m going to approach Master Spirits, most likely depending on their role such as shopkeeper spirits requiring me to reference their shops, explorer spirits referencing exploration in their original games etc. For Slowpoke its role is a Dojo spirit who can teach a spirit a ‘style’. Honestly… I’m not that up on the styles and things in World of Light, from what I gather they alter stats so in basic terms a ‘defensive style’ will boost defensive stats over offensive stats. Slowpoke seems somewhat unique as it grants ‘Forgetful style’ which in effect from what I’ve seen restores a spirits stats back to their original levels. I did initially plan to just say that was all there was to say on this, but I realised this actually does match something in the Pokemon games somewhat, the Move Deleter who in earlier games would allow your Pokemon to forget a move, handy for getting rid of HM moves they couldn’t forget otherwise. I don’t know if this was a reference to that or just simply Slowpoke being forgetful, but it’s the closest I can think of for a reference to the series. Beyond this I gave Slowpoke Confusion as a move which I believe is being referenced in it’s spirit battle as your controls will suddenly reverse during the battle.

Pokemon: Slowbro.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: So like Slowpoke I like Slowbro. Honestly, Slowbro’s always been an enigma to me, it’s a combination of two Pokemon as it has a Shellder on its tail, the two seemingly both evolve as the Shellder looks different both to it’s regular form as well as its own evolved form Cloyster. The second odd thing about this is it’s said often in Pokedex entries that Slowbro can devolve if the Shellder fell off of it’s tail, this is a mechanic however that has never been used in any of the games for any Pokemon. This whole idea is very interesting and cool to me however, I like Shellder biting into a Slowpoke’s tail and releasing venom into the Slowbro allows it to have more immunity to pain as well as stand on two feet and inspires it slightly beyond its usual temperament as a Slowpoke. I will also mention there’s another evolution for Slowpoke not mentioned in Smash that is fairly different known as Slowking, in this case the Shellder bites onto Slowpoke’s head instead of its tail and its venom releases actually make it far more intelligent to the point it supposedly attempts to solve the mysteries of the world. It’s said this vast intellect however will completely disappear along with all memory of it if the Shellder falls off of Slowking which is a somewhat scary thought honestly. I suppose as I’m going over other forms, I’ll briefly mention that Galarian Slowbro and Slowking are somewhat darker versions of them both with Galarian Slowbro having Shellder biting on its hand which can cause Slowbro a lot of irritation causing it to lash out at anything nearby, Galarian Slowking has Shellder covering most of its head with the Shellder being a lot more dominant and actually controlling the Slowpoke as well as apparently making various chants that are undecipherable.

How I caught it: Similarly to Slowpoke I believe I caught another Slowpoke in the Seafoam Islands and then evolved it later.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Drowzee.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Drowzee’s an odd Pokemon, it’s actually fairly accurate to what its based on being a tapir, also I didn’t know before but assumed it had some mythological reference which it turns out is the case with baku in Japanese myth being a creature (commonly depicted as a tapir) that eats bad dreams. What’s interesting is Drowzee’s often depicted as somewhat sinister (especially in the anime) in it’s ability to eat dreams, however it seems like in mythology it’s actually somewhat more friendly being something children call on to help take away bad dreams, there is a risk however in calling upon it too often as this can build its hunger to the point that it might also eat a person’s hopes and desires. In a way this has been the most interesting I’ve found Drowzee ever after learning this, it’s a shame this more pleasant side of Drowzee seems less emphasized however with it apparently preferring to eat nice dreams over bad dreams and it’s somewhat creepy aspects such as finding children’s dreams tastier as well as apparently your nose itching during the night meaning you’ve likely had a Drowzee eating your dreams through it. There is a nice aspect in that it apparently shares it’s favourite dreams with those it trusts but it’s definitely not as friendly sounding as the baku seems to be. I suppose I should briefly mention it’s more notorious evolved form, if Drowzee’s somewhat creepy Hypno is undoubtedly so, it’s said to hide away from humans and lie in wait for victims who it puts to sleep and steals their dreams. It’s also said that Hypnos have been known to kidnap people who’s dreams it likes and there apparently was even a case of one taking a child away with hypnosis. I mentioned in Cubone’s entry about it from what I’ve seen not being too involved in the creepypasta Lavender Town sorts of things, Hypno is front and centre in these sorts of stories however and honestly it’s not that far from how creepy stories about them in canon are. I realise here I’ve mentioned more about the mythology behind Drowzee and Hypnos whole… thing, but really this is the most interesting thing I have to say about Drowzee and way more than I was expecting to cover.

How I caught it: It’s funny, I had one route in mind when it came to Drowzee similar to a couple of other Pokemon I associate certain routes with, but then I realised after looking it up this route is the only one Drowzee is found in Gen 1 being Route 11. Naturally this means I caught Drowzee here with a Pokeball as always.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Krabby.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: This is a Pokemon that it’s only due to the anime I have affection for, but in this case it’s a lot of affection. Ash’s Krabby was his first Pokemon in the anime to be transferred as he already had 6 on him, this showed off the mechanic from the games as well as implying that Pokemon in the PC are, at least in the anime transferred somewhere else where they’re looked after rather than being stuck forevermore in a PC. Due to this Krabby didn’t look like it would have much to do but this changed with the Indigo League at the end of the Kanto season where Ash decided to use Krabby in battle. It did surprisingly well and fairly quickly evolved into Kingler. Ash’s Kingler was pretty cool managing to do well in a few battles and the voices for Krabby and Kingler I think stuck with a lot of people who grew up with those episodes with me hearing a few people imitate it even years later. It’s due to this I grew a fondness for Krabby and especially Kingler having one on my team in the past. There isn’t much more I have to add beyond this however.

How I caught it: I can’t remember for sure but I believe rather than fishing for one I found a Krabby on the Seafoam Islands. Since I decided on the Pokemon from the Melee intro later I think in this case I specifically went there for Krabby alongside others such as Slowpoke.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Rhydon.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Two things come to mind for me when it comes to Rhydon, firstly that it was apparently said by Ken Sugimori to have been one of the first Pokemon ever created, secondly an infamous moment in the anime where Pikachu managed to defeat Blaine’s Rhydon by hitting it’s horn with an electric attack, despite Rhydon even in Gen 1 being immune to electric attacks. It’s interesting on that second point that Rhydon later gained the ability Lightning Rod which attracts electric attacks towards it which it will be unaffected by, whether this was inspired by the infamous moment in the anime I don’t think has ever been mentioned. Honestly Rhydon’s never been a Pokemon I’ve had many thoughts on which is somewhat surprising really now I think about it as I quite like Rhinos, mostly related to my love of Donkey Kong Country and Rambi, it surprises me therefore that I didn’t try to get a Rhyhorn to name Rambi but I don’t remember ever doing so. It did make for a good Pokemon for Giovanni however, although along with others back then it’s quad weakness to water and grass definitely didn’t help it feel intimidating. It was one of those Pokemon that gained another evolution in Gen 4 which I think made it even more fearsome, but I admit I don’t have much knowledge of how good it made it, mostly as it was another trade evolution.

How I caught it: From what I remember I believe I caught Rhydon in Cerulean Cave rather than catching a Rhyhorn and evolving it. I believe I would have caught it simply on the journey to find Mewtwo there rather than searching it out specifically as it wasn’t too uncommon I believe, it did require a little bit of tracking down however.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Electabuzz.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Electabuzz is one of those Pokemon I always think of as strong and would try out but I’ve usually gotten something else I prefer by the point they become available so I don’t bother. It doesn’t help that it was originally in Pokemon Red and therefore the version I didn’t have as a kid. My main exposure to it beyond toys was in the anime, it had some pretty odd appearances there. The episode I probably remember most with it in it was where there were two gangs fighting in this town over which would be appointed as an official Pokemon gym. One group had Scyther and the other group had Electabuzz. I remember this episode also introducing this thing that was ignored I think ever since of both Scyther and Electabuzz being sent into a rage when seeing the colour red. Other than this, probably the thing I remember most of Electabuzz is its voice in the anime, I’d advise looking it up if you’ve not heard it before, it’s really something. Electabuzz similar to Rhydon and also Magmar who’s the next entry gained a new evolution in Gen 4. Electivire will actually have an entry later down the line so I won’t comment much more on it, but it definitely is another reason I’ve always seen Electabuzz and Magmar as being more like rivals (with them both also gaining a pre-evolution in Gen 2) and why even back in the early days I was always surprised they went for Scyther rather than Magmar for that anime episode.

How I caught it: As you can see, similarly to Arbok Electabuzz was one of the few Pokemon entirely exclusive to Pokemon Red not appearing in Yellow or Blue. Due to this I realised the only option I really had was to catch Electabuzz in Pokemon Crystal. I caught it on Route 10 in Kanto which makes sense as in Pokemon Red it was found only in the Power Plant which was on Route 10, however as in Pokemon Crystal the building no longer has wild Pokemon it instead appears in the grass outside on Route 10.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Magmar.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Magmar is a Pokemon I always thought was meant to be some amazing uber powerful monster. The reason for this was the episode of the anime where it first appeared (I believe) as Blaine’s main Pokemon. I remember how instead of coming out of a Pokeball like most other Pokemon it rose up from the lava surrounding the battlefield and managed to defeat Ash’s Pikachu. Then in the following episode for the first time Ash’s Charizard actually decided to fight for him as it felt like Magmar was a worthy opponent with it being easily one of the best fights in the original series. Magmar was again another Pokemon I wanted to try but rarely had on my team because of how late it appeared. It always felt odd though that Blaine didn’t have a Magmar on his team until Gen 2 not even having one in Pokemon Yellow which changed a lot of gym leader’s teams to be closer to the anime. Apparently this was because the games development happened before Blaine appeared in the anime, however even so I still felt like in Gen 1 Magmar was an obvious choice to go for as part of the fire gym leader’s team that late in the game, especially when instead he has Ponyta and Growlithe along with their evolved forms. Given Magmar only appears in Pokemon Mansion on Cinnabar Island where Blaine’s gym is it feels like an obvious choice. Beyond that Magmar as I said in the last couple of entries had a fair few similarities to Electabuzz only as a fire type, it gained a pre-evolution in Gen 2 with Magby and in Gen 4 an evolution with Magmortar. Unlike Electivire, Magmortar doesn’t appear in the Smash series so I guess I’ll just say it’s a design that’s grown on me, I used to find it too over the top and I felt it destroyed my image of Magmar being so cool etc, but now I realise how goofy Magmar looks really (although I definitely still like it a lot) especially with it’s weird butt forehead (I realised writing this sometime I have to have an Electabuzz and Magmar and call them Beavis and Butthead one day…) Magmortar does have the cool handcannon arms so that also helps.

How I caught it: As I decided to cover the Pokemon in the Melee opening movie later down the line I didn’t run into the problem I did with Weezing of having restarted my Virtual Console copy of Blue before getting the exclusive Pokemon I needed. Due to this I simply had to track down Magmar in Pokemon Mansion, however I do remember after looking it up realising I had the best chance of finding one on the third floor. As I wanted to get it fairly quickly however I ended up going to the very small room you can access easily, so therefore I spent a lot of time just going back and forward in this small room, still eventually I found Magmar and I remember catching it fairly easily in a Pokeball.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Seel.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Pokefloat.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Seel is often put forward as an example of one of the most unoriginal of early Pokemon, partially just because its name is outright Seal but with two es. Honestly, I can agree, there are other Pokemon that are just versions of animals like Rattata but even then I feel they have a bit more to their design than just being a rat. I still think Seel is fine however, it’s definitely not one of my favourites by a long stretch, but I don’t think every single Pokemon has to be weird or deviate a lot from a real life animal, it does have the horn and tusks afterall. Also, when it comes to seals, I’ve realised after watching videos of them and sea lions in the past how much they can remind me of dogs and Seel specifically has a very ‘doggish’ face, honestly it’s the type of Pokemon that if they were real I would probably like as a pet. Beyond this I really don’t have much to say about Seel.

How I caught it: From what I remember I encountered Seel fairly easily in the Seafoam Islands so there wasn’t much of note with regards to it.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: This is the first of only two Pokemon in Gen 1 who appeared exclusively in the Pokefloats stage. I debated whether to cover them but given I have just so little else to say about Pokefloats to begin with (when it comes to it being based on anything from the games, not what it’s like as a stage) I felt it was worth it to just include the Pokemon that exclusively appear on it. Beyond this, as it’s just a floating platform there’s nothing more to add other than catching it in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Lickitung.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Pokefloat.

Moves: Lick.

My feelings on it: I mentioned in Weepinbell’s entry how I forgot there were two other Pokemon in the Indigo League anime that belonged to Team Rocket, this is the second one which belonged to Jessie. I won’t go over it’s whole history like I did with Weepinbell as it’s not that interesting, but I did find it interesting that it’s the only Team Rocket Pokemon that seemingly got to have a happy ending with another trainer, being accidentally traded for a Wobuffet and the trainer seeming fairly happy with Licktung who seemed happy with him. I remember as a kid getting Lickitung and immediately thinking of Yoshi which I would have nicknamed it if it wasn’t for the fact that in Red and Blue it is a Pokemon only available through an in-game trade (similar to Farfetch’d) which means you can’t change its name. I like to look at descriptions of each Pokemon when writing these posts just to remind me of some lore facts relating to them, but honestly reading Lickitung’s is just disgusting with constant comments about how it’s tongue is not only sticky but stinks, this might be one of the rare times hearing more about a Pokemon has put me off it more than I was before.

How I caught it: Despite being an in-game trade Lickitung is available in Pokemon Yellow in Cerulean Cave. I believe I ran into one during my journey through there and caught it then rather than bothering to go back to Blue and do the trade for it.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Initially I thought there would be nothing to add as this is another Pokefloats Pokemon, however I realised somewhat uniquely Lickitung will extend it’s tongue for fighters to fight on as the stage progresses. Due to this I figured the move Lick was worth noting which is already known by Lickitung anyway. I caught it in a Pokeball like everything else.

Credits.

For information on this game I used to research relating to attributes such as movesets etc for Pokemon I must give credit to Bulbapedia, Serebii and SmashWiki.

The screenshots in this post are taken by me using the Photo Club feature in Pokemon Ultra Moon, screenshots using Nintendo Switch in Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Trophy Images taken from SmashWiki. Spirit Images were taken from The Spriters Resource submitted by Random Talking Bush.

#pokemon #pokemon red and blue #pokemon ultra sun and moon #pokemon yellow #generation 1 #gen 1 #nintendo 3ds #3ds #super smash bros #my smash playthroughs #my smash playthrough

0 notes

dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance · 1 year ago

Text

Toledo and what we learned on the way to Toledo...

September 13, 2023

We left Ubeda and headed north to Toledo.

It was a long trip today but with Carolina you know you will be learning a lot on the way. There have been many conversations about the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the dictatorship of Generalisemo Francisco Franco, so today Carolina spent a lot of time filling in our gaps. I am AGAIN so frustrated to not know this history. Oh, I knew some aspects. I knew Hemmingway was not a Franco fan but i really did not know that this brutal war lasted for nearly three years (July 1936-March 1939), claimed at least one-half million lives and sent another one-half million refugees into exile.

This entire thing has taken on new meaning to me since I hope to see Picasso's "Guernica" at the that Reyna Sophia Museum when we go to Madrid.

First, I think we can all agree - in retrospect - that Franco was a deluded, sick and twisted man. His strong belief that Spain must be a 100% Catholic country caused the deaths of 100s of thousands of people. Additionally, his believe that if you held a viewpoint that was not aligned with his - imprisonment or death was a great "persuader" to get you to change was evil. He used all of the methods Hilter used to cleanse the population of Spain - but he did it first. He called the Catalonians the "Jews of Spain" and did what was necessary to rid the world of them. He arranged to have the Nazis bomb the Basque region. He took Fascism to a new low. and historians have said that he and his regime previewed the WWII for all to see.

While Spain remained "neutral" in WWII, Franco supported the Axis Powers and did whatever he could to support them including sending troops, money and equipment while claiming neutrality.

So what were the sides in the war? The left side, known as the Republicans, was formed by the Spanish government together with unions, communists, anarchists, workers, and peasants. On the other side were the Nationalists, the rebel part of the army, the bourgeoisie, the landlords, and, generally, the upper classes. The Nationalists won the war, which ended in early 1939, and ruled Spain with an iron fist until Franco's death in November 1975.

Franco's regime did not end after WWII but continued into the 1970s reigning terror on his enemies. Spain is #2 behind Cambodia with the greatest number of mass graves. Think about that - my friends. The Basque Region - where we will be visiting on Sunday - were also considered traitors and people were tortured and imprisoned.

Franco was considered unwelcome in the international community because after WWII dictators that killed their own people and arrested political opponents were kinda' frowned upon. They were not allowed to join NATO even though they had leaned hard into the Allies once it appeared Germany would be defeated. BUT then this happened:

I am still NOT sure what happened to make President Eisenhower so happy to greet Franco - but I'm guessing it was Franco's strong anti-communist stance. You know the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing. Anyway, Spain's fortunes turned at this point.

Now, I am NOT naive enough to think I would explain to you all the happened under the Franco regime - but for most people it was not a good time from 1939-1974 BUT what I do know is that there are people who long to go back to that time. No doubt it was people who WERE having a good time during that time period - but it is very upsetting to many Spaniards.

We stopped at a place that supports the return to the Franco style regime. It reminded me of places that support Nazism in the US - and probably in other places around the world. It made me sick - but there we were at Casa Pepe.

I thought this was interesting as well:

My Spanish is not great - but I know this says (sorta') protection from the virus, De Sanchez (the current president of Spain) and all the groups of Communists and Separatists." The Separatists are of course referring to the Basques and the Catalonians. Fascists unite!!!

Enough of that!

We have left Andalusia and are in Castilla La Mancha.

And what famous author lived in Castilla, long ago? Miguel de Cervantes who wrote the 17th-century novel Don Quixote. Which was adapted into a Broadway musical in the mid 1960s "The Man of La Mancha". (Now in my head I'm hearing "To Dream the Impossible Dream. But that is just me.). Anyway as we drove along, we saw these:

and then...

Don Quixote is always fighting the windmills that he believes are monsters - and low and behold - there they are in the middle of Spain. This place used to be a wheat mecca and they needed windmills - lots of them, but I didn't know that! In recognition of this famous author - Don Quixote statues are everywhere.

Then finally we arrived to TOLEDO!!!! Located on the banks of the Tagus in central Iberia, Toledo is known as the "City of the Three Cultures" for the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims, and Jews. In Portugal this river is called Tegas and runs through Lisboa. FYI - don't look for any Muslim or Jewish communities today. Sad...

And of course there are Roman Ruins - those darn roaming Romans....

What a beautiful city. We settled into our hotel had a great lunch of vegetable soup and carcamusas (pork stew) and began a walking tour of this city. First up, St. Tomé Church and El Grego's masterpiece - "The Burial of the Lord of Orgaz."

Ok - this sucker is huge and you can look and look and never really know what you are looking at - but our city guide, Carlos, knew and he enlightened us. This painting is about a well-liked city patron, Lord or Orgaz and how important he was that even his death both out the big guys of the church on earth and in heaven. You would have to be there to get the full picture - but there are lost of well know city people in this pic, including El Greco, his wife and children. It was a who's who of Toledo at the time. Pretty cool.

And while we were there we took a look inside St. Tomé Church.

We also visited the Jewish neighborhood a population that was very importance in the history Toledo - until they were run out or killed or "converted." in the 1490s.

Toledo had the biggest Jewish population in Europe prior to the 1490s. There were 10 synagogues in Toledo in 1400 and the oldest written document from the Jewish quarter date back to 300 CE. The most famous synagogue in Toledo is the synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca erected in the city of Toledo, Spain in 1180 (according to the inscription on a beam). It was constructed in Christian territory, the Kingdom of Castile, by Islamic constructors, for Jewish use. It is considered a symbol of the cooperation of the three cultures who populated the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages. The synagogue is a Mudejar construction, created by Moorish architects in Christian soil, for non-Islamic purposes.

By 1500, this was a Catholic church but the name and the architecture was left untouched. It is the oldest Synagogue in Europe today.

Toledo is also home to a Cathedral built in the 13th century. You will be happy to know it is still a Catholic Church.

The inside is magnificent.

The truth is I'm starting to get Cathedral overload. I am WAY over the opulent golden walls and icons that the hungry cannot eat.

Clearly, I am tired.

One more thing - TOLEDO STEEL.

From the Toledo website:

Toledo has been a traditional sword-making, steel-working centre since about 500 BCE, and came to the attention of Rome when used by Hannibal in the Punic Wars. Soon, it became a standard source of weaponry for Roman legions.

Toledo steel was famed for its very high quality alloy, whereas Damascene steel, a competitor from the Middle Ages on, was also famed for a specific metal-working technique.

Today there is a significant trade, and many shops offer all kinds of swords to their customers, whether historical or modern films swords, as well as medieval armors and from other times, which are also exported to other countries.

Toledo is magnificent!

Madrid tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

0 notes