#i hope you don't mind my addition op

[siverfanweedo]

okay but this as well as small dicks. Is it kinda FUNNY to joke that people have small dicks? yeah but listen it's just rude and gross. Hell when my female friends do this my exact reaction is to say 'as a proud small dick owner'

"neckbeards" are a common facial hair pattern for people with PCOS and hirsutism and people who go on T and people who have a lot of weight on their face. It is not funny or cool or based to use physical features as a moral attack, and especially not when it's a common feature of intersex people and trans people and fat people and countless other types of people who society already mocks.

[darkdragon768]

Various doodles of the Dorito Twins.

I just like to play with them like dolls and put them into situations.

[sinsatmidnight]

30 Years Later

Pairing – Kim Minji (JiU) x Male Reader

Words - 3101

Sins – Smut, oral, sumata, shower sex

So...it's been a while. I have not been keeping up with what goes on Tumblr, I have to admit, and nor have I read any (most? I may have read a couple during this period) of the many stories that people have started after I stopped. I'm inevitably rusty, but I had this draft I started a long while back that I somehow got into the mood to finish, so I figured I may as well post it, just for fun. Maybe someone will enjoy it. Hopefully you like it if you read it! And no, I don't expect a significant uptick in activity from me, but I may pay more attention to some of the other stories being written. Working on this was not quite the healthiest thing (because uh, I may have overused a certain part of my body the last couple of days) and let's just say one of the reasons I'm posting this is because it already had a significant bit written. But I kinda wanna subject myself to more of this...abuse(?) now. Ugh I'm rambling, but anyways, hope everyone has a good day (or night)!

(2130 hours, 20 September 2220, Eternity)

It started out muffled. The droning sound breaking into your consciousness, jolting it to life. You have no idea what it is. Or where you are, for that matter. Your eyes are closed. But your ears are sharper now that your mind is actively concentrating on listening.

A voice. Female. You can’t make out words but she sounds calm. And then your eyes slowly open, almost as though forced open by an outside force. That’s when you remember.

“Condition is stable, consciousness gained, cryo pods are opening.” That calm, droning female voice comes through clear to you now. There is a soft hiss as the transparent door of your cryo pod slides to the side. The light outside your pod is quite soft, and yet at the moment to your eyes, it is blinding. Disoriented by your awakening, you lay in the gel bed as you try to get your bearings.

“Eden? Status update…oh, and what is the current date and time?”

The ship’s AI, Eden, responds in the electronically generated calm tone that all shipboard Ais use. “Welcome back, Commander. All of the Eternity’s systems are currently running optimally. All crew members are in good health. It is currently 2130 hours, 20 September 2220.”

Your mind does the math easily despite just coming back from the induced cryo-sleep. Thirty years. Well, that would be right. Crew members were supposed to be woken up after thirty years to run manual checks on the ship’s condition and look over all data collected automatically by ship sensors and the AI. They stay up for two weeks and then go back into cryo-sleep. And after the first thirty years, this is repeated every five years.

Your mind remembers that crew members aren’t woken up alone, they’re normally woken up in pairs as an additional safety measure. One person who can handle technical or mechanical issues on the ship, which in this case is you, and one more person who is medically trained to check on the sleeping crew and in case of medical emergency.

Your gel bed is softening; rapidly melting as you defrost and becoming less of a gel and more of a slime. A marvel of human technological ingenuity; the clear gel froze quickly, was non-toxic in case of accidental ingestion, while also serving as a shock-absorbent and anti-bacterial bed for cryo-sleep.

You need to get out and check who else was awakened with you. As your hands reach and hold on to the sides of the pod, you realise that you have an erection. Your mind immediately jumps back thirty years prior, to the minutes right before the crew enter cryo-sleep. It might have been from thirty years ago, but those are your last waking memories and they feel like just minutes ago instead.

You remember undressing before you enter your cryo pod; cryo-sleep has to be done naked and trying to unpeel clothing frozen to a person for years is painful. And that was when your eyes caught sight of the occupant of the pod opposite you.

With long dark hair and incredibly kissable lips, combat medic Kim Minji drew attention wherever she went. She was tall, gorgeous and had a body that drew a reaction from your own. As you watched her unzip her white bodysuit and slip out of it, stripping off her underwear and getting naked, you felt the blood rush to your penis and you were glad that she was too preoccupied with her own cryo-sleep preparations to look over at you. You ended up getting frozen before your erection could soften.

Back in the present, another female voice that definitely wasn’t Eden’s cuts into your thoughts. “You’ve had that for thirty years, Commander?’

As you stumble out of the pod, the melting gel dripping all over the floor, your eyes immediately catch sight of Kim Minji’s naked body standing outside her pod, the clear slime dripping off her body and giving it a shimmering sheen under the soft white lights of the cryo chamber. You quickly realise two things: that Kim Minji is your medically trained partner that you’re going to be alone with for the next two weeks and that your erection won’t be going down anytime soon despite your embarrassment at getting caught. You technically outrank her, but that doesn’t matter when there’s just two people awake on the ship.

Minji’s gaze is fixed upon your groin and very obvious erection and a smirk plays on her red lips. “Oh, Minji, I-“

Before you can think of an excuse, Minji cuts in. “Thanks for the compliment, I guess. I’ve never had a guy have a boner for me for that long.”

You smile sheepishly and try to change the subject. “Let’s go wash up before we start work.” At the far end of the cryo chamber was the doorway to another smaller room. A shower chamber with a row of showerheads which to wash off the slime with warm water before you got dressed. There were no partitions, they didn’t bother with them, given that everyone is naked in the cryo chamber anyway. And anyone outside the showers can see into them, given that the walls and doors are made of transparent shatter-proof glass.

You drip clear slime onto the silvery metallic floor beneath your bare feet and the metal doesn’t feel cool to your touch, but given that you were completely frozen minutes ago, that’s understandable. The two of you make your way towards the shower chamber, walking past the other cryo pods which stand up at 45-degree angles, glancing at the naked bodies of other crew members stored in cryo-sleep within them. The water from the shower feels warm to you, a nice comfortable temperature. Minji is next to you, the water flowing over her naked and fit body. It's not helping your erection. Her voice cuts into your thoughts. "I can feel some slime on my back still, could you help me scrub it off?" You hesitate for a moment but then your hand reaches forward and runs over her smooth back, swiping the slime off. You feel Minji's body shiver at your touch, and she lets out a soft moan.

You are sure that your erection is pointing straight up now. Not that it wasn't before, but this situation is just prolonging it.

"Oh, that's nice. Can you do it a little lower, please?" She asks, and your hands move further down. Your hands are caressing her pert ass now, the soap lather coating it and making it feel smooth. Minji is letting out soft moans and you are enjoying touching her. As you wash her ass, your fingers stray between her legs, rubbing against her dripping vaginal folds. She is wet and it is not the water causing this.

"You're doing a great job, Commander. But there's a lot more I need you to wash for me." You turn her around so that she is facing you. You look into her eyes and she is biting her lower lip. Minji has a perfect pair of breasts, firm but soft and a nice handful. They are covered with soap lather now and you find your hands moving forward to massage her tits. You pinch her pink nipples, feeling her tremble as you touch her. Minji leans into you, her wet body pressing against yours. She feels hot to the touch, as though her temperature has gone up.

"Look, I really feel like I should help you with that boner of yours." Minji whispers breathily. "Can I do that for you, Commander?" She has already reached down and taken your hard length in her hand, her thumb rubbing the head of your cock, spreading the precum that had gathered. She gives your cock a gentle tug, and it takes all of your willpower to not cum on her right then and there.

"Fuck, Minji, that's- that's fine." You let out an odd mix of strangled gasp that ends in a muttered assurance, as her soft hand continues to firmly stroke your erection.

"Thanks, Commander. I appreciate it." Minji presses those incredibly kissable red lips up against yours, and her tongue hungrily comes out to play. You reciprocate, even as your hands are busy continuing to explore her body. Her hands, on the other hand, are one of the most pleasurable experiences you’ve ever had as your wet cock is deftly and smoothly pumped and stroked.

With a wink, Minji drops to her knees, the water from the showerhead splashing her face and wetting her long hair. She presses her tits together and wraps them around your throbbing shaft.

It feels good and your body instinctively thrusts forward, your hips rocking back and forth, fucking her breasts. Your balls are tensing up, and you can tell you aren't going to last long. It is smooth and slick between her breasts and the tip of your cock is rubbing up against her lips with her tongue comes out to tease the tip. Your eyes stare at her as she looks back at you and with a smirk, Minji parts her lips, taking the head of your cock into her mouth.

The tip of her tongue swirls around the sensitive head, licking up the precum that continues to leak. Then, she starts bobbing her head forward and back, taking more and more of your shaft into her mouth, eventually releasing your cock from between her tits. Minji hums contentedly as she sucks and swallows your cock, and her hand is wrapped around the base, pumping you in time with the movements of her head. Minji’s other hand has drifted between her legs, and she starts to furiously masturbate as she blows you. Her slender fingers plunge in and out of her leaking vagina as she keeps her thumb vigorously rubbing her engorged clit.

As you lock eyes with the gorgeous medic on her knees in front of you, she gives you a sultry look, her lustful eyes peering into yours as she sucks you off. Minji’s expert tongue swirling around your shaft and the vibrations of her moans as she takes your dick deep into her throat very quickly becomes too much for you. Your hands need to grab something, to get control.

Your fingers run through her long hair and roughly grab hold of her head, pulling her towards you as you thrust into her mouth hard. You hear her gag a little, but she doesn’t stop with her movement. You feel the pressure building up, and your hips are moving of their own accord. Your cock is hitting the back of her throat, and your balls are tightening.

With a moan, you cum in her mouth. Thick spurts of cum erupt from your dick and fill her throat. She swallows it all, and stands up, licking those red lips. "That was tasty. It’s not every day you get to taste cum stored up for thirty years."

You barely register her words, breathing heavily. That was the most intense orgasm of your life. Your cock is still hard, but Minji is seemingly satisfied. For now.

Or maybe not. She steps away from you, and turns around, bending over. Her shapely ass is facing you, and her pussy is glistening. She looks back at you and wiggles her hips. "Can you help me clean down here too, please?"

You can't refuse Minji’s request. You have to return the favour, after all. You move towards her and rub her pussy. It is dripping wet, and her juices are flowing freely. You stick a finger inside her and feel her walls clench around it. She lets out a gasp, and pushes her hips back, as if wanting more.

"Oh, I really need it, Commander." She pants, as you continue to finger her. You pull out, and she lets out a groan. "Why did you stop?"

"Just making sure you're ready for me." You reply as you give her pert ass a quick spank, drawing a low moan from the medic. You position your cock at her entrance and push inside her.

She gasps and whimpers as you enter, and you feel her pussy walls tighten around your shaft. You start to thrust into Minji’s soaked pussy, and she groans while pushing her hips back to meet your thrusts. You grab her hips and pull her closer, helping her out in an attempt to get ever deeper inside her. She cries out in pleasure, as you fuck her as hard and fast as you.

It doesn’t take long before you are getting close to climax, and she is too. You can feel her walls tightening around your shaft, and her breathing is getting faster. You grip her hips tightly and pound her harder.

"Commander!" She moans, as she orgasms. Her juices flow over your cock, and you can't hold back any longer. You pull out of her and explode all over her ass and back, creating a sticky mess there. And then you plop down on the ground, all this exertion so soon after coming out of cryo-sleep has taken a lot out of you.

You both pant, catching your breath. Minji crawls over and kisses you deeply. "Thanks, Commander. I can't wait to work with you for the next two weeks." You can only nod breathlessly in response, your tongue wrestling with hers. Minji breaks the kiss and stands up, with her back to you. “Well, going to need your help with this mess here. Your fault, so you clean it up, sir.” Your gaze goes over her cum-glazed skin and you stand up to grab a sponge from the side of the room, lathering it up with some body wash from a dispenser. You start to work on cleaning her up, using the sponge to get your semen off her skin. But Minji is inherently distracting. It is clear whenever you touch her that she is affected by it. You hear some sighs of pleasure, even the occasional whine when your hands leave her.

This inevitably affects you and you are somehow hardening again down below. You make a split-second decision and suddenly press Minji's wet body up against the wall. You swiftly follow that up by sliding your semi-erect dick in between her soaked creamy thighs. You start to thrust in between her thighs, making sure that you brush against her pussy fold throughout.

"Oh, you're naughty, sir." Minji pants lustfully. You can feel the warmth of her vagina radiating through your thrusting member. You are quickly erect once more. This feels even better than her sucking and giving you a titfuck. "How is this, Minji?" You whisper into her ear.

"Fuck, Commander. That's… that's really good. Really, really good." She whimpers breathily, her body pushed up against the transparent wall, tits first. Your cock continues to slide between her thighs, teasing her pussy. You are both covered in soapy suds, the water from the shower spraying and splashing on the both of you. Her skin feels silky smooth and slippery to the touch. With each thrust, her ass and thighs clap loudly. You reach forward and fondle her tits, her nipples hardening and her breathing quickening. You keep thrusting, enjoying the feeling of her soapy thighs wrapped around your shaft. Minji is moaning and gasping with each thrust, and her breathing is getting faster.

Her legs are trembling, and her juices are flowing freely, mixing with the soap suds and water. Your balls slap against her clit, and she cries out in pleasure, her whole body shaking. You reach forward and grab her wrists, pinning her to the glass wall. She lets out a moan and arches her back. You kiss her neck and shoulders and continue to fuck her soapy thighs. She is whimpering and moaning with every thrust, and her juices are flowing freely, making her inner thighs and your cock very slick and slippery.

Your thrusting becomes faster and more urgent. Minji is definitely close to climaxing; you hear her moans and whimpers are getting less coherent and more urgent; you’re sure you catch some lust fuelled whining and babbling about wanting your cum and something about being fucked hard. Your cock is slamming against her pussy, and her walls are clenching around it, her juices leaking out. She is breathing heavily, and her legs are trembling.

You release one of her hands and guide it down to her clit, prompting her to start rubbing it furiously. Her fingers are a blur, and her moans become louder and more urgent. You continue to fuck those soaped-up milky thighs of hers, and she is practically screaming in pleasure, her voice echoing off the walls of the shower room. Not that you had to care about anyone hearing you. You did have an odd sort of audience in the rest of the crew outside in cryo-sleep, just beyond the transparent wall you have pressed Minji against.

Your cock is twitching and pulsating, and you can feel the pressure building up. You are both close to that final edge, and the only sounds are your heavy breathing, the splashing water, and the loud clapping sound of her ass and thighs slapping against your cock and balls.

You thrust forcefully into her thighs a few more times, and then you erupt. Your thick, creamy load sprays onto her thighs and the transparent wall, coating them in your semen. Her body shudders, and she cries out, reaching her own climax. Her juices flow over your shaft, and she slumps down, exhausted. You follow suit and collapse next to her. You both lie there for a while, trying to catch your breath. You do catch out of the corner of your eye, that Minji takes a few licks of your cum from the wall.

The two of you eventually manage to finish your shower and dry up, with you eyeing Minji the whole time as she puts that white bodysuit back and zips it back up. She catches your eye, bites her lip, and then smirks naughtily. You’re both relieved and regretful that your cock is worn out and needs rest. That would have brought it back up. You and Minji are both very well aware that you don't actually have much to do over the next couple of weeks, other than the occasional diagnostic check of the ship’s systems and such. The ship’s AI, Eden was there to handle the heavy lifting. And so, you're very much looking forward to the next couple of weeks alone with Minji.

[bizarrelittlemew]

hello ida!! I love your gifs and I find the info and resources you share really helpful, especially in terms of gifmaking. I was wondering if you would mind sharing what the correct etiquette is for when we spot a stolen/uncredited gif come across our tumblr dashboard? I don’t like/reblog posts if I suspect the gif is stolen, but I wasn’t sure if there’s something more you (or gifmakers in general) wish people would do to help.

if you can’t or don’t want to answer this that’s completely fine! just if you had any tips :))). thank you for all the gifs you make for us!! x

hi anon thank you for this lovely message and great question!!

first, some tips for spotting when gifs are stolen/uncredited: (it sounds like you already know this anon but i've been asked before so i might as well include it)

if the post has several gifs and they are different sizes/dimensions - this is the easiest one perhaps. gif makers usually put effort into layout. if the gifs are weirdly cut off because they're not the same height, it's definitely suspicious

if the gifs are different quality - some grainy and/or choppy, some crisp and smooth

if the gifs use different fonts for subtitles

if the gif(s) are posted alongside unedited stills/screencaps

this is more difficult, but if the coloring styles of the gifs are different. things to look for are: saturation/vibrancy, the amount of contrast/light, the colors of the shadows, whether a particular color is very prominent/emphasized

if it's an account you don't know makes their own gifs and they suddenly post some, or if they post a lot of gifs that fit the above and from many different scenes

obviously, if the gif is watermarked with a different username that OP has never used, or if they say something like "i found this gif" or "someone posted this gif to discord"

if you actually recognize the gif(s) and know that it's made by somebody else/from a different post

these are just some things to look out for. if i see some of these signs, i usually investigate: does OP usually post gifs that you know are their own? do they have something on their blog stating they make them (like e.g. a link to their gif tag, or if it's mentioned in their bio)? of course, if it's one of the very obvious signs, like i recognize my own or a friend's gif, and it's uncredited, then it's directly to...

what to do when you spot a stolen/uncredited gif: (aka your actual question anon <3)

this is unfortunately a little more difficult since you can't control how people react to being called out for not crediting properly. luckily, most people just genuinely don't know how much work goes into giffing (i wrote a little more about this here) - they will usually be receptive and add credit to the post. but some people will be dicks no matter how kindly or even just neutrally you go about it. just remember they are the ones breaking etiquette, not you.

anyway, some things you can do if you spot a post with stolen gifs are:

don't like or reblog (as you already mentioned) - in order to not spread the uncredited version further

in a reply, ask for the source of the gif to be added to the main post. i usually mention that making gifs takes work and skill, and seeing them reposted (re-uploading to a new post, not reblogged) without credit is incredibly demotivating for the people who spend their time making them (or some variation of this)

that said, what i have sometimes done is reblog with the addition of a link to the original post(s) and asking them to not steal gifs in the future. but this is mostly when it's my own gif(s) lol

i sometimes link @saltpepperbeard's excellent post about giving proper credit

i hope this is useful/helpful and again thank you for asking <3 i'm always happy to answer questions about gifs!! 🫶

[fernthefanciful]

Hey. Hey psst, come here

I found "the right one" twenty years ago. We've been married for ten. She is the love of my life and everything I could ever wish for. And guess fucking what?

Still Ace

"what if you havent found the right one yet🥺🥺" what if i hit you with a metal pole

[neopoliitan]

RWBY Evermorrow Ep.7 Director's Commentary (or something)

The newscast segment was a late addition, we decided it was best to move a scene to a later episode for a better sense of narrative. I even already animated that whole scene so we don't need to worry about it!

We were gonna use Lisa Lavender here, but decided it was better to use Cyril due to availability of existing cast members as the scene was kind of last minute. We see it as Cyril being the guy in the studio, and Lisa being the reporter in the field.

Khaki's prison number is funny if you can decipher it.

Originally this episode was a big ol scene of RWBYCRDL recounting the mission to Oz and Glynda, then the punishments being dished out, but I was having such a dull time writing it that we decided it was best to cut the recap of the immediate previous episode and hope the teams' reactions did the work. I think it was for the best, a glorified recap episode seems like it would've been a waste of production; if it wasn't fun to write it wouldn't have been fun to watch.

It was a good time to bring in Glynda as she's always been Beacon's voice of reason around Oz's more whimsical tendencies. She's to-the-point and will make no excuses, which sells the teams being reprimanded more. Plus the added questioning of what exactly Ozpin is saying to Cardin offscreen is an interesting question in the viewer's mind.

(Also our Ozpin VA was kinda unavailable but for a very good reason lol)

Let's talk Dove. You've probably noticed he's very much the reasonable one on EM CRDL at this point, which is very intentional as going in I wanted to make them more interesting than Cardin and the Cardins. CRWBY once said Dove was the most skilled of CRDL, which is an interesting angle, and Doves are a symbol of peace which inspired me to make him the """nicer""" one, albeit a bit embittered by his lot in life. This episode has a montage of the moments in ep5-6 that really lay it all out that he's a little better than the others on his team, which is why Ruby vouched for him.

There was going to be a decent focus on family in this episode, but eventually we whittled it down to just Russel's and Dove's. Being like "oh and here's a character's parent being funny and mad" worked twice, but three to eight times might have gotten old lmao

Why did I pick Bertilak for Russel's guardian? Green. Mohawk. Moody. Not a big Faunus fan.

Okay so that's only part of it. Russel has been consistently portrayed as a bit of a doormat in EM, following Cardin's orders or deferring to the next biggest fish if he's not around. His actions around Bertilak imply that the latter is the source of all that behaviour.

Dove offers Ruby an "Olive Branch". I don't know if I can get more unsubtle than this.

Don't ship them they literally feel nothing about each other. That's canon.

Why did I pick Shopkeep for Dove's grandpa? Closed eyes, and Shopkeep is everywhere. That's literally the joke.

Pyke Rite from The Grimm Campaign.

There were a few characters I really wanted to get involved sooner. Can you believe it took us till Ep7 for Ren or Nora to say anything? It felt good to have all of JNPR and OP(A)L fully animated in the same scene, and was fun to set up dynamics like Oscar being a fanboy, Alyx being a little shit and the two teams generally getting along.

In comparison to 6 this episode was a lot calmer and a lot more talk-y, but hopefully we managed to make it fun. The animators and VAs did amazing as always (the former has basically eclipsed my efforts at this point), and I'm looking forward to ep8 very much! Bigger and better!

If you have extra questions about this ep you can shoot me an ask, I'm always down to self-indulge lmao

[porcelain-gal]

tw/cw .. mentions of psychosis, paranoia, and christianity

. . . CONTEXT + PSA!

i had someone in my inbox basically say that shifting can cause psychosis and/or paranoia due to some reasons they provided and i'm going to be speaking on this and giving my opinions on this topic! i accidentally deleted the post like an idiot so i can't reply to it directly which i apologize for!

please keep in mind that these are my personal opinions and i am in no way a mental health or spiritual professional or anything of the sort, i'm just speaking about my own thoughts on the matter.

also to those reading, please don't be disrespectful to op because they were respectful in their original message and this is a serious topic i wanted to discuss!

. . . MY THOUGHTS!

My opinion on this is: people possibly having these issues isn't because of shifting itself.

one of your points was that people sometimes make others feel like it's their fault for not getting their desires (i paraphrased so i apologize if that's not entirely accurate but that's what i got from it!) notice that it's not shifting itself causing that issue, it's the community.

say christians say to another other christian who is struggling that they aren't being recognized/forgiven by god because they're doing something wrong and they're just shitting on them and whatever. then this person goes on to start spiraling into paranoia and all this stuff thinking that they're being shunned by god or that they aren't pleasing god. this person isn't feeling bad because they're a christian on it's own, it's because of the community making them feel that way.

for another example, say someone who is a dog owner is dealing with a dog who has health issues and people in the dog community are blaming the owner because they think they aren't taking care of the dog meanwhile the owner is doing everything they can, essentially blaming the owner without knowing their circumstances. in this situation, the owner doesn't feel bad because they own the dog and are dealing with its health issues, it's once again because of the community blaming them.

if both the christian and the dog owner simply decided to leave the community or just ignore it, they would be able to get help and heal would probably continue on their life being a christian and a dog owner. why? because the issue was never what they were doing, it was the people around them fucking with their head and making them feel bad.

for the second point, if someone is developing psychosis and paranoia, literal mental disorders, from not obtaining their desires then i personally believe that person was not stable in the first place. if said person decided to just stop shifting entirely and leave it, they would still have to deal with the possibility of going into psychosis and paranoia over other things because shifting was never the problem, it was their mental state.

your average person won't just develop whole disorders from simply believing in shifting. people believe in gods and higher powers and aliens and manifestation and all these things that sound just as fantastical as shifting and a lot of them aren't dealing with those issues but there are people who do. the only difference is that the majority of people who do develop these issues were never mentally healthy to begin with.

and of course there are special instances where seemingly normal people develop issues through believing in these things but those are pretty rare and usually happen because of additional causes, not just what they're believing in/doing (e.g., someone converting to christianity and being taken advantage of by other christians, causing them to develop issues.)

i hope this explained my point of view on this and maybe gave some others some insight! if you don't agree, then you're valid of course but please don't be disrespectful or rude in the comments or my inbox. thank you for reading!

anti-shifter, proship/profic, ageplay, pro ana, bigot/incel, and any variation dni

[alchemicaladarna]

o//

OP! You ain't have to put me in my feels on the significance of Bads presence/absence. It's so scary! But that's why I love and appreciate his qsmp addition and care for the eggs. Let's be real honest. If Bad did not do what he does.. we would have more than four eggs dead and gone. Fight me on that if feeling frogy. Hah.

We literally almost lost Pepito last night. Phil and Bagi resorted to OG methods of finding him,(the map, which is unreliable) they did not know what to do during vital seconds before death. They were stuck. Okay? That's scary. No other parent is really thinking of those things, especially now, new server and busy schedules. Bad mentioned to qphilza that he should set up the pearl chamber for chay and lullah and he kinda brushed it like nah.. its all good. Mmkah sir.

Thank you Bad!!!

Bold take but I'll say it: Every creator wants or enjoys the EGGs presence but not all are actually willing or able to care for said egg/s. (Still waiting and in hope for the 2 life system to be a thing of the past because it gets stressful.) In real life it take a lot to care for child and its no different on qsmp.

It take the village and when events come up in real life(vacations/conferences etc) it gets scary on the server.

It was awesome for em sunny and pepito to get a bday party and as much i love seeing all the little egg beans bounce around and thrive.. with only three adults? - My mind: PLEASE!! I'm so glad we don't have an active enemy yet..

I could go on but im not going to right now. Pfft. I'll be nice. Watching bads streams of the eggs pov have given a new light.

GG Batboyhalo

OMG WAIT I ONLY SAW THIS NOW NO WAY💀💀

Yeah, exactly!! Listen, even dead, bad still makes sure that the eggs are and will always be first priority. There's a reason why he set all that up before he died.

Also like, even recently now that he's alive again, even though he doesn't remember the eggs, he still has this like instinct to protect them.

The memories may be jumbled but the love is still there.

[loveofdetail]

@sigilmint oh friend this comment made me so 😍

Short version: As far as in-game actions, really all you need to do is initiate his romance, betray the grove, roll to convince him to stay in the party, then continue his romance, roleplaying the situation however you want from there.

Long Version beneath the cut—this has a lot more to do with how my own out-of-game decisionmaking got me here, and how I interpret the macro-arc of my party/character.

My first bg3 campaign is a co-op game where we are mostly trying to do Good Route Things. Gale has been stuck in camp permanently because I was dead set on playing a wizard myself.

So I started my solo campaign with the vague notion of doing a Full On Evil Run. My character, Vuei, is a disillusioned and broken oathbreaker paladin. I was planning to romance Minthara because if she's only available in the evil route, might as well go all the way.

But I recruited Gale and immediately had a category 5 "Ohhh I can't not fuck him" moment.

Now, at the time I thought that betraying the grove would straight-up lock you out of his romance. Tbh I'm not sure why I thought this? But somehow that was the impression I'd gotten, so, I promptly jettisoned all my Evil Plans in favor under Get Under Gale's Robe ASAP.

I got all the way into Act 2 like this. Defeated and looted the whole goblin camp, made it to Last Light, all that.

Then one night I wanted to play but I was feeling too mentally wiped to make real progress and real decisions, so instead I loaded a save from right before saving the grove. I figured I would see what it was like, get to hear some Minthara dialogue, that would be that.

Instead I got one of the most immersive emotional rollercoasters a video game has ever given me.

I failed some rolls to deceive Minthara and started spinning a narrative where Vuei, who has recently lost everything and everyone they thought they valued, just... panics. Doesn't see a way out other than bending to Minthara's demands. Goes reflexively numb and nihilistic because apparently this is just the way the world works.

From there, the entire sequence from the combat itself, to Karlach (who was in my party) leaving me, to the reactions of various people at the party... it was just Moment after Heartwrenching Moment. I'm leaving some details out here because they really deserve to be experienced first-hand but at the end I was like. Staring at my ceiling processing all the implications for the characters.

Gale specifically delivers one of the Verbal Smackdowns of All Time to you afterward. You have to persuade him to stay.

But he does stay.

This was the point when I started getting the feeling that maybe his romance flag was still active? And the implications of THAT... my mind just ran wild with them. Who was this guy who would bitterly, righteously tell you that you're making him worse, then give you a second chance, secretly thinking maybe he's Not Actually So Different, then fall in love—ACTUAL love, not just 'I don't deserve better' resignation—with you despite it all?

I never reloaded my original save.

The game doesn't actually let you have any additional decompress-and-discuss dialogue after persuading him to stay, but in my imagination what I filled in was: a really painful heart to heart where Gale and Vuei agree Never Again. Where they are both at a loss as to how they can even go on from this. But they have to. So they will. At least they know the other feels just as guilty and ashamed as themself, and that counts for something.

It also made me think, why the pure black and white Evil Run/Good Run dichotomy? I really, REALLY latched on to the story structure of a party that makes One Huge Ruinous Fuckup at the very beginning that colors all their further attempts to Do Better, and that's how I RP'd going into act 2.

For instance: we couldn't rescue the tieflings but maybe we can extend the same grace to Minthara that we hope might be extended to ourselves.

In terms of game mechanics I actually took quite a hit here. Karlach took a bunch of great gear with her when she left (this may not happen in the current patch? unsure) and I decided my characters would not have it in them to go back to the goblin camp just to completionistly gobble up loot.

It felt like penance. The very beginning of the tangible consequences of the thing my character will regret most, for the rest of her life.

I felt closer to my remaining companions. Bound by atrocity. The last ones standing. By the gods it shouldn't have happened this way but after that we will NEVER doubt that we have each other's backs. I put Astarion in my party for the first time ever and this is when I began warming up to him as a character. Eventually when Shadowheart killed the Nightsong, it was like Vuei (and Gale) deeply disapproved but couldn't bear to cast judgement. The only thing to do is be there for her and hope she does better next time. We are all just hoping we'll do better next time.

The morning after our lowest point, we trudged resignedly to Rosymorn monastery. The stark, sublime grandeur of the landscape was a slap in the face. It was wrong that such beauty could still exist as though the world was indifferent to what we'd just done. It was wrong that we could literally climb above the ruins we made and in the distance they're just... another part of a breathtaking view. But here we are, standing on this cliff, somehow still able to feel wonder.

The new dawn imagery was both a lash and balm.

We carry on. We find a way.

OH ALSO I gave Gale Volo's eye and continued making Alterations to him as things progressed. Being vague because that's quite a bit further in but yeah, Gale Undergoing Changes is another big part of my vision here. It's All Connected.

[nottcommitting]

special ops: lioness review: 7/10

We're 16 episodes deep into Taylor Sheridan's femme war saga, and so far it's about as dull and repetitive as empty shell casings in the middle east. For all its effort though, the 8 episode per season production does manage to keep viewers mildly entertained with a clandestine performance from Nicole Kidman and a couple of action packed sequences in the desert. Everything else is just shy of a sand storm cluster-fuck. The premise is based around seasoned Special Ops Chief, Joe McNamara portrayed by Zoe Saldaña. McNamara runs a classified CIA program known as Lioness, under which she scouts female marines to infiltrate the female family members and friend groups of terrorist organizations. Conceptionally, Lioness leaves little to critique, as it is a provocative idea that should and does work, but odd casting, dull dialogue and weak plot development make it hard for this thing to really take off. Starting with the top, most of Sheridan's characters are irritably miscast. Only Kidman, Jennifer Ehle and Martin Donovan fit their roles. Let it be known, Morgan Freeman is also obviously exempt from any criticism. Michael Kelley on the other hand just barely scrapes the bar as most of his performance is near identical to his House of Cards character, Doug Stamper. I don't mind it though. After all we're still in D.C. Not surprisingly, Dawn Olivieri is another painless addition.

On the other end, some of the worst casting choices include Dave Annable as Joe's Husband Neal, [half the time I can't understand a word he fucking says], the vast majority of the Lioness metal heads, Thad Luckinbill as QRF Team Lead and story lead Zoe Saldaña herself who in my opinion lacks the cut throat grit needed for the material. In fact the separation between actor and story is so noticeable I find myself feeling she and Kidman are portraying a dynamic similar to Glenn Close's and Rose Byrne's in Damages. In Lioness Kidman is the cold, calculating one, while Saldaña is the frantic, emotionally in tune number two. You could argue the show needs that balance to survive the same way Damages did, but I would prefer to see that empathy come out in the marines. [Apparently Sheridan agrees; citing 1.07, 1.08 & 2.05, 2.06].

Moving on to point two is dialogue. It's not the best. Most scenes and dialogue are flat, but I respect Sheridan for not flooding the script with Michael Bay's cheap military lingo. However, only Kidman and Donovan's scenes really seem to pique any interest of mine. Every time the two of them are on screen I find myself leaning in just a little bit closer, because they're the only two individuals that have an intelligent line of conversation in my opinion. Even the pacing of their delivery is some what of a cat mouse orgasm. It's a shame they don't have more screen time. I certainly prefer them to Saldaña and Annable's scenes which honestly become redundant by the middle of season 1. There's only so many times Joe can fight with her husband or her teenage daughter. No matter how you spin it, it's always the same conversation and it always will be. Two decorated government officials with high clearance however, is a prize to be won. There's no telling where the tension could land, as the conversation is always changing depending on the political climate of the country. Going forward, I should hope Sheridan would be more mindful of that, but so far he's investing far too much time in Joe and Neal's more perfect than necessary marriage. Then there's the famous Cruz Manuelos sexuality storyline. I'll give season 1 a pass. Cruz taking the time out to figure out she likes women felt natural, but seeing the exact same scenes repeat themselves in season 2 infuriated the fuck out of me. We only get 8 episodes per season. Time is of the every essence. Why Sheridan chose to waste it building up to another "I'm not sure this is who I am" make out session in bed is beyond me. Not to mention Cruz's love interest once again falling in the category of "target" was another let down. So much of it was been here, done that with no real concrete payoff. Suffice to say I hope Taylor's imagination reaches a bit further in season 3, or else people might begin to think he can't write for lesbians at fucking all. Which would really suck considering Cruz is one of the show's leads.

Last but not least is Sheridan's wobbiling plot development. Season one was thankfully more linear, but season 2 was all over the fucking place. One minute it's about a kidnapped congresswoman & the cartel, the next it's about some shady DEA guy and immigration at the border, five minutes after that it's about a random side mission in the middle east. Things changed so often and so quickly I couldn't keep up. By the end of it I remember sitting back in my chair and thinking- was all of this created just to introduce a helicopter pilot? The Lioness program could obviously use someone with wings, but it seems like the sort of thing you clear up in a conversation at the start of the season. Instead Sheridan pushes this character all over the plot and screen like two windshield wipers. And it isn't any wonder. Wikipedia cites Sheridan is currently directing, writing, and producing all 7 of his active television series. The guy is so way over extended it makes you appreciate the predictable but functionally stable offerings of Shonda Rhimes and Dick Wolf's syndicates. Both senior pioneers in television seem to understand that less is more, and quality is infinitely more effective than quantity. Needles to say if Sheridan doesn't become more realistic about his limits as a creator, hiding behind 8 episodes a season will eventually fail him and Lioness could be the first of his creations to get cancelled.

Final Review: Sheridan's got 8 more hours to convince me it's worth another season.

[retphienix]

Finished my little modded run of Terraria :)

So PRIMARILY this run was testing out-

Storm's Additions and the Artificer's Accessories.

Most other mods were minor or QOL, though special shoutouts to Fargo's Paper Mario badges and the Block's Leveling mod which I'll mention briefly.

I'm not great at Terraria, I can beat it on normal no prob (like here) but expert is really challenging and I've never committed to just beating the base game on it yet, so I'm not above grabbing a mod here and there to inch things in my favor to allow me to not just hit the hardest wall in the world every single progression point lol

The latter two mods were mostly that for me.

The Paper Mario badges are all minor (to moderate) buffs and my (unskilled but experienced) judgement would be that they add up to like 3~4 accessories worth of buffs once you unlock nearly all of the BP to equip them, with a 'decent' drip feed of BP throughout progression so you can't just JUMP to having all that power ASAP.

So UNDOUBTEDLY a "Make it easier" mod but not a "Here's a broken 1 shot every boss item" mod. And considering that you have to acquire the badges, I'd say this is a pretty nice mod. Yes, you are stronger. No, you're not "Broken / Given it for free", felt more like unlocking additional accessory slots via getting BP and badges :)

If you don't mind making things easier while adding new loot to seek out for your build (that is mostly independent of your build in terms of emphasizing one playstyle or another) then I recommend! But if you're hoping it's non-impactful then uh, no, it DEFINITELY gives you a minor to moderate advantage.

Most are kinda small or not boss significant, like making enemies drop more hearts on death (without using statues this won't matter much most boss fights), but some are rather impactful (but cost most of your BP lol) like 50% defense which genuinely seems crazy but does kinda take away most of your BP.

Personally, I thought the badges felt fair. Yes, some are really strong, but they are found late game and aren't CRAZY. Some more HP, some more MP, a berserk (low HP) damage buff of 50%, 50% defense buff- there are BIG buffs in here but they often come attached with rarity and BP cost.

All in all, I enjoyed this mod but from the start to the end I always wanted "More" badges, which without checking the mod page, and considering some of the badges I DID get were ultra rare drops, I'd wager it was a grind issue and I just didn't find more to enjoy.

I'll probably continue using this one! It is lightweight in terms of impacting actual gameplay, gives me more loot to seek out, and demonstrably buffs me to better tackle many of the harder-than-vanilla content creatives like to make in their mods :D

Next on the smaller mod side was the Block's Leveling Mod, which, I won't sugar coat it, is both why I could beat the final challenge boss and is also a mod I made exactly 1 use of- during said boss lol.

The mod can explain itself more thoroughly for itself, but the short version is you can use equipment repeatedly to build XP in that weapon and make it stronger- by base options this can get to level 100 for 3x the damage (A TON!!!!). It also lets you toggle applying xp to yourself for a small (1.4x) buff.

I had the mod "on" but you have to attach a rune to a weapon to get xp, otherwise you're playing vanilla- and you have to turn on player xp for that to work- and I decided I'd only use either feature if I felt stuck.

So I actually didn't use this mod at all.... until the VERY last challenge boss of my experience. So I can't really comment on this much beyond it's "POTENTIALLY OP AS HELL", can be exploited via training dummies (lol), and can be a get out of jail card I guess?

Not a big fan of this one. Not for any fault of the creator; It's more that the concept isn't too exciting in Terraria for me, and when I sat down to actually "use" it I didn't really enjoy just messing around blindly until all of a sudden my weapons did 3x the damage and I could beat the boss easily.

Not for me, I won't be using this mod again I don't think.

Artificer's Accessories is a mod that adds some new armor based around a new "pseudo class" and a handful of accessories based on the same.

The gist of the new class being accessories as cooldown based weaponry (or tools/buffs etc). Artificer armor often come in the form of "Middling as hell buffs compared to similar progression equipment, but grants you additional accessory slots and any artificer accessories will have reduced cooldowns while wearing this".

To avoid going into too much detail, I actually really enjoy this mod.

But... maybe not exactly for the intended purpose?

I USED some artificer pieces towards the end of my playthrough, and I love that a ton of them exist, but I mostly used the armor portion of this mod because I rather enjoyed the build diversity it encouraged.

Artificer armor generally scales itself as "Lower damage output, a unique "feature", and accessories" and I found that really fun to use without actually using artificer accessories lol

My final armor set was the towers variant which more or less just granted me middling stats, 3 more slots, and a buff to damage and defense if I use an artif-accessory

But on top of that it gives an extra minion and some more life regen, altogether this let me play around with my various accessory options a lot more and find a happy medium of survivability and build freedom on what weapons I went with (I primarily Maged this playthrough).

A standout for me was when I got the alien varient, the Xeno set's main gimmick was granting me a recovering halo shield of 100 hp

which I rather enjoyed :)

But yeah, Artificer's is a mod I think I'll be continuing to use in the future as well because the accessories are 'neat' but mostly unexplored by me, and the armor is actually really nice for making hybrid builds of sorts- though perhaps on higher difficulty that stops being the case due to their defense values which most closely resemble mage armor of a similar level, though I'd argue that equals out- less magic damage but more slots etc.

And finally the meat and potatoes of this modded playthrough which... maybe... shouldn't have been the meat and potatoes but ended up being a mod I like a ton regardless: Storm's Additions.

Storm's additions adds over 300 items and I figured while it's light on bosses (3) maybe it could make for a full mod playthrough experience, and the answer to that is, "Kinda" but with an asterisk of quality.

Storm's only adds 3 bosses, that in itself means it didn't really transform the playthrough like something as immense as Calamity does but who would reasonably compare every mod to that ridiculous behemoth. What Storm DOES add is a TON of equipment EVERYWHERE.

I was using almost exclusively equipment from Storm's from about the halfway point to the very end because there's just so much good and fun stuff in there!

My biggest complaint would honestly just be that my pre-hard mode experience felt close to vanilla. This is probably due to me exploring in ways that happened to prevent me from finding fun pre-hard mode stuff, but it's what I experienced all the same.

The SECOND I hit hard mode though? BAM! AWESOME WEAPONS! AWESOME ACCESSORIES! AWESOME NEW GEAR TO MAKE! LOVED IT!

I would go so far as to say I would currently recommend Storm's to any modded playthrough as just a set of "additions" rather than the core mod you're seeking to explore.

It expands a ton of vanilla stuff in great ways, even just giving the Towers more enemy variety was nice.

And it has a ton of equipment that feels both appropriate to the progression point and REALLY FUN~! With plenty of items like accessories that I could easily see being valuable even in mods that often power scale to the extreme like Calamity can.

The bosses were all pretty well done as well. The final boss definitely feels like a calamity style "challenge" boss with a ton of phases and bullet hell patterns to learn.

As mentioned earlier, this is the closest I came to anything that can be considered "cheating" in how I defeated him. I got him to less than 1/3 health twice, seeing his second to last phase in the process, before deciding that I would give in and actually utilize the leveling mod to push myself over that wall.

What kinda sucks is I definitely could have done it without if I abused the nurse or made a better arena but I knew that going in- I chose to take the boost because I was losing interest more than anything which is my decision to make lol

And like any good challenge boss he gives an ABSURD weapon on defeat- one that can be shimmered into a different equally absurd weapon as well. Nice :)

Storm's is obviously yet another mod from this list that I think I'll simply keep on in all future playthroughs. And it's the one I think I'd most highly recommend because it really does, quite simply, only ADD to the experience with it's additions. Great mod :) But, as implied, since it's mostly adding side content stuff- equipment etc, it's not exactly a mod to frame a playthrough around like I did here- it's named correctly and should be seen as something in addition to your mod of choice- I basically just played "Vanilla....+ Storms!" which was a lot of fun! But take this info and run with it however you please :)

That was a fun playthrough :)

[ladygojooo]

the coffee was cold now. you didn't know how to drink it when the act meant that you'd accepted something of his again.

giving was no problem - no, you had always been hasty to give, so worried that if you didn't sprinkle your friends with physical tokens of your affection, they'd up and leave you behind. you gave and gave and gave throughout your teen years with the six of you (it wasn't enough, why was it not enough, did suguru see through you and decide that you weren't worth it anymore) until there wasn't anything left. even then, you gave some more.

no, taking this cup of coffee - an espresso that had been made for you at least an hour before - meant that your whole perception of geto post-fight with yuuta and gojo had been wrong. it meant that he wasn't just back to keep the higher ups off him and his family. it meant that maybe, just maybe, he was back for you too.

that idea was quite absurd. he'd done nothing but snarl and brush you off with cold smiles and callous words. in fact, the only out of character thing he'd done the whole time he'd been back was accept the bag of coffee beans with a quiet 'thanks'. he wasn't the same as before.

you didn't think he'd ever be the same as before.

which is why you sat in the chair, cold espresso tauntingly in front of you, begging you to change your mind about how cruel suguru was. if nothing else, gojo would snatch it up and chug it, leading to an even worse time with the first years during their lesson. gojo and caffeine mixed together was a good recipe for disaster.

you leaned forward, picked up the cup, and drank the coffee in a few gulps.

you ignored the tears sliding down your face and your heart aching once more.

it was exactly how he used to make yours in high school.

(whoops, my hand slipped)

thinking about an au where satoru convinces suguru to come back to jujutsu high after his fight with yuuta… reformed cult leader sugu who is a lot more hateful than your suguru was, a little more dark and brooding, but still so undeniably soft for you :’)) that unspoken love between you that hasn’t faded even though you’ve both changed, even though you aren’t lovers anymore . you gift him a bag of coffee beans and your chest aches when you find out he only drinks tea these days but he thanks you quietly and when you wake up in the morning there’s a cup of espresso on the counter . i feel normal about this

[deltastra]

Tower of God Season 2 OP Thoughts

As I am a Webtoon reader, THIS POST WILL HAVE SPOILERS SO ANIME-ONLIES BEWARE but to be honest, I would say my whole blog is spoilers for anime-onlies so keep that in mind!

In addition, THIS IS NOT AN ANALYSIS POST. THIS IS JUST MY GENERAL THOUGHTS.

First off, RISE UP SLAPS SO HARD AND GENUINELY FITS THE VIBE OF THE FIRST ARC OF SEASON 2.

I was so unsure at first but to be fair, maybe the trailer didn't do a good job of hyping up the OP for me. I still liked it, but I was unsure. Now, however, I am SO on board with this song. TY NiziU!!

Starting off with Bam drowning?? That's cold! But a good way of showing to the anime-only audience that Bam was not forgotten and the story is still following him in a way!

I want to point out the cut-from-paper style that the studio is using for this OP. I'll give more thoughts about this towards the end of the post! But for now, I love it!

Team Sweet and Sour looking at Viole with fear is so </3 I do like that rotating angle with them surrounding Viole!

Ah! Also another thing I noticed when watching episode 1, the studio isn't trying to hide Bam's eyes. They're making it very obvious that Viole is Bam. And you know what, good for them. Let's face it, a lot of us weren't thinking that there is no way Viole wasn't Bam when we first read the Webtoon right? I do wish they only showed his eyes during impactful scenes though. But that's just my opinion!

This is like my second favourite part in the OP. Seeing that animation of Bam struggling to reach his friends from Season 1 looks so real. It feels like FUG is LITERALLY pulling him away from them while hes desperately trying to go back. A wonderful way to show how FUG treated Bam. The animation of his arm movements feel so real.

AND THAT SPLIT SECOND WITH HIM PULLING DOWN THE SCENE AND WE SEE THE STARS? I LOVE THE PAPER LOOKING LIKE IT WAS RIPPED! It brings back that paper style the OP is doing. Also the way Bam tries to reach his friends only to fail and we see the stars instead? Love it. He was betrayed cause of those stars when you think about it. Of course this split second has some other meaning but as of now I don't remember. Still one of my favourite scenes from the OP though! One of my favourites....the top goes to...you'll see. (I believe you all know)

I ACTUALLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS STORYLINE, THE OP REMINDED ME OF IT. I won't read that part of season 2 again, I'll experience it through the anime to remind myself.

HAHAHA I LOVE THIS SCENE WITH THEM. IT GIVES ANIME-ONLIES SO MUCH CONFUSION. Like if you were an anime-only and you saw THIS. What would you think?

Why is Khun helping her? Are they in love, why are they holding hands like that??? Maybe he's pretending to like/help her! Who are those people in the back??? Hahahahahaha. Love it. (Also I plan to make a post on my thoughts on Rachel one day. and spoilers, it won't be a rant post. I hope I remember to make that post though, lol)

YOOO ITS FUG! HWARYUN AND HA JINSUNG YOU BOTH LOOK GREAT! It's so nice to see them aga-AYO WHOS THAT GUY AT THE TOP???? FUG EXPLAIN YOURSELVES. Also Karaka I see you there buddy, you're not sneaky.

The princesses! Love their new looks! Also I noticed Yuri's VA changed?? Why?? Could someone tell me?

I remember in 2016, I was like, "woah it would be so cool if this Emily app was real!".......haha.......chatgpt............anyway

Why is she so perfect, like what's her secret? SIU BRING HER BACK PLEASSEEEEEEEEEE. Also I liked the lip-syncing part! It felt off when I first saw it, but it grew on me!

Don't do this to me.....the way they smile at eachother please don't do this to me :((((

HORYANG CAUGHT IN 4K!!! Okay but tbh I forgot he had a crush on her.

Ngl the transition to the song here felt like a betrayal cause I thought the beat was gonna drop lol.

Not going to screenshot all of the parts here cause it will take time. I just want to say, THIS IS HOW YOU DO FORSHADOWING WITHOUT IT COMING ACROSS AS "SPOILERS". I loved TOP by Stray Kids but man, looking back at that OP, THEY SHOWED US NOTHING. At least this feels more packed and shows you what you can expect. in fact, you can even come back to this OP after the cour and go "Ohh so THAT's what that scene was forshadowing!" Love it!

The sillies! I love them so much!!!!!!!!!! They felt like a family which I loved....It's so nice to see them again. Also maybe I'm looking too deep into it, but I love how they show Viole with no colour while the rest of the team is coloured. I like to see it as the team providing Bam some happiness in his life as Viole. I don't know, that's just me. I'm sappy when it comes to them.

BEST PART BEST PART THIS WAS MY FAVOURITE PART IN THE OP I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. THE TRUE BUILD-UP REVEAL TO UREK BEING IN THE OPENING (AND IN THIS COUR) IS PERFECT!

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT ROUGH SKETCH OUTLINES ON HIM? IT JUST FEELS LIKE HE'S OOZING WITH POWER! RANK 4 BABY!

AAAAAAAAAAAH

HEADON I SEE YOU THERE BRO. EXPLAIN YOUSELF OVER THAT STUFF WITH ENKIDU WHAT WERE YOU COOKING????

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET THIS NEW STUDIO COOK WITH THIS FIGHT PLEASE. SEEING VIOLE VS HORYANG IN EP 1 GIVES ME A BIT OF HOPE. BECAUSE THEY HAVE A LOT OF EXPECTATIONS ON THEM SINCE THE GREAT JOURNEYS OP FIRST CAME OUT. Nice that Viole will wear his casual clothes though.

Nice job covering Khun lol. It legit took me about a week to realise that it was him because I forgot he wore that at the Hand of Arlene.

THEY LOOK SO HAPPY AND EXCITED TO BEGIN THEIR JOURNEY <3

I love them so much.

Alright now let me just yap a little about my overall thoughts on the Opening as a whole!

You see, I....saw the OP when it leaked. I tried my hardest to ignore but I was too curious. What were the leakers saying about this looking trash? The style is genuinely unique!

I adore the cut-from-paper style, so what if they're only doing it to save money? They did cost-cutting WHILE making the OP as unique as possible. I would glady take this style over black screen with text and short animated scenes of Bam fumbling. (Yea I went there)

Besides, the opening does a great job of hyping you up and showing you JUST ENOUGH of what you can expect, the rest is up to you to figure out. All the forshadowing is done perfectly, only webtoon readers can pick up on the clues, while anime-onlies have the pleasure of going "OMG I FINALLY UNDERSTAND THIS"! It's a win-win for both of us!

Overall, a fantastic opening to the new season, I look forward to see what they'll do with Cour 2. Will it be paper-style as well? Who knows... But for now, i can say that...

WE ARE SO BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lover-i-lover]

Spencer and y/n

There might be mistakes, i'm not great with grammer in any language. English is my second language.

You knew Spencer would be late coming home tonight. If he came home, so you decide to indudge yourself by looking around his apartment. You hadn't told Spencer you were staying over until he came home but figured you didn't need to. He'd be happy to see you, right?

You'd certainty be happy to see him again. When he'd rushed out this morning you were barely awake, it was around 4:30 and he'd kissed you goodbye and along with an apology for ruining your weekend plans of staying in with him.

You'd had half a mind to grab him by his tie and drag him back into bed, but not the strength to do so. So that was you got, your weekend of cuddles and kisses turned into no cuddles, and one kiss. You're not mad but a little disappointed to have his job yet again ruin a planed weekend. While you yourself are in the FBI, you're in a white collar crime unit and therefore you're safe from being called in on your days off.

You try to be understanding, but sometimes it sucks to left alone in the early morning hours. You'd thought about going back to your own apartment, but decided against it. You'd just cleaned op after dinner, and definitely didn't look through his entire kitchen out of pure curesoist. You put on your favorite music before looking through the first of many bookshelves.

You find a book that looks a bit out of place. A book you know isn't Spencer's normal type. It's the romance novel you've been rambling about for almost a week now. Maybe you left your own copy here by actident and Spencer set it away without looking closely. You pull it out and run your hand over the cover. It's not the same addition as yours. It's a newer. Why would Spencer have your favorite book?

If someone else left it here Spencer would have returned it emetlltly.

You yelp as arms settle around you. You hadn't heard Spencer come home over your music.

"I figured you'd find it eventually " He murmurs, pressing a soft kiss to your neck. "Don't scare me like that!" You reach back and half heartily slap his side. He huffs. "Don't snoop around my appartement then" he mumbles, swaying the both you of you from side to side.

You find this behavior odd, sure you like it but it's not normal for Spencer to initiate physical touch. "Hey.. You alright Spence?" you ask, setting the book back on the shelf. You'd discuss it later. You wrap your arms around his. Spencer tucks himself further into you, face burried in your neck. "Tough case?" You question, knowing it had to at least an important case for him to be woken op at 4 in the morning.

"Mhm" He finally hums. You're sure this case was a couple, maybe a boyfriend killed his girlfriend or the other way around, it's the only good reason for Spencer to act like this. "A couple huh?" You ask, maneuvering around to look at the man still clinging to you. He won't met your eyes, only hiding his face in the crook of your neck. "Mhm" you hear him mumble some more but you can't hear him clearly. "What was that Spence? " You ask, gently rubbing his back.

He pulls from just enough to be understandable. "The wife and the mistress killed the cheating husband and left him naked and wrote 'cheater' on his chest with lipstick, then dumpped him in front of a strip club" His breath sends a shiver own your spine. "Damn okay, that's a lot" You say, letting him hide in your embrace. "I'm sorry.....Are you hunrgy?" He shakes his head. "Well, couch cuddles?" You ask, sliding your hand op into his hair, ruffleing it slightly. Spencer nods and you drag the both of you to the couch. Spencer moves to lay under you and you let him, hoping the pressure would help calm him. You settle atop him, carefully avoiding his hipbones knowing laying on them would make you both uncomfortable.

You lay your arms around his neck, shivering as your top slides op and reveal a bit of your lower back. Spencer's arms wrap tightly around you, warm and comforting. You don't bother turning on the TV, only wanting to enjoy Spencer's company. "Spence" You say, shifting slightly. "Yes?" He answers, shifting under you as well. "Why do you have that book anway?"

"You've being talking about it for a while, i wanted to know what it was about"

"So you going to read it?" You asks, laying your head in the crook of his neck, pressing a quick kiss to his skin. "Is that a promblem?" Spencer asks, grazing his hand op under your shirt to feel the warm skin of your back. "No, no i'd love if you'd read it. But be warned" You chuckle "It's not as innocent as it looks"

"I think i'll be alright" Spencer mumbles, sounding tired. You close your eyes, it's not that late, but it's the weekend so sticking to a sleep schedule isn't a high priority at the moment. "Thank you darling" Spencer mumbles. "What for?" "Being here"

"Of course, i love you"

"I love you too"

[rayclubs]

The best fantasy religion I've ever come up with was Death worship by a devoted necromancer. In that universe Death was an obscure yet definitely real entity, and my necromancer acted as its priest, except his duty was keeping people AWAY from his patron. He would wander the world, kind of like a monk on a pilgrimage, and educate the public about how vengeful Death is, how it operates, how curses are born, how to ward malevolent spirits off, and many other such things. He'd perform funeral rites and see that the dead were taken care of properly, he'd exorcise those who couldn't cross over themselves, and yeah, he would raise the dead, but there was always so much dignity and fairness to it, he would actually make pacts with the dead to get permission to call upon them before he dared to disturb them, and he'd always see to it that they returned underground after he no longer needed them. All to keep people away from ever ever crossing paths with his patron God, who wasn't even malevolent, just naturally detrimental to human existence.

When inventing a fantasy religion a lot of people a) make the mistake of assuming that everyone in fantasy world would worship the same gods and b) assume that polytheistic religions see all of their gods as morally good

[ellies-cycling-notes]

Day 18: Van Buren State Park to Ann Arbor

Distance Covered: ~88 miles

Total Time (including rests): ~8:11 (7:44am-3:55pm)

Time spent riding: ~7:31 (Approx. 40 minutes of rest)

Average Speed: 11.7 mph

Apples Eaten: 2 (fuji - 5.5/10, fuji - 6/10)

First of all, you might notice that I did not give exact values for today's ride. This is because my phone had a malfunction on the ride, and I had to disable the app I use to record my ride, and as such, I don't have complete accuracy in what I did. The approximations given above are estimated from Google Maps, as well as personal guesses about start/end times + break lengths. I rounded down, assuming that I took shorter breaks, and the entire ride took longer.

With that out of the way, today's ride was another pretty bland one. Similar to how yesterday's ride was a straight shot West, today's was a straight shot North to Ann Arbor. It was slightly more interesting than yesterday's ride, though, due to a few unusual parts of the ride. Almost all the ride was on state/side roads again, but there was a 15 mile or so stretch on bike trails, which was rather nice. In addition, the worst part of the ride was a side road which was a rocky gravel path I had to ride on for about 5 miles. I probably could've found a way to go around it, but as I was in rural Ohio at the time, it probably would've meant having to bike off to the side 1 or 2 miles to find a better road, so I just went through with it. I was worried about getting another flat, but my worries were for naught. This makes it so that I have now gone the entire set of rides from Pittsburgh to Ann Arbor (the Ohio rides as I'll probably call them) without getting a single flat. Here's to hoping the pattern continues! (Knock on wood)

I went through quite a few road work zones on today's ride, but the cars around me were usually polite, so it wasn't too bad. The most fun one was when I was able to ignore a 2-mile detour, because I could just take the pedestrian pathway over some train tracks that was still available.

Weather was also pretty nice today. When I woke up and got started on my ride, it was in the low 50s, and even as the ride went on, the heat never really got to be too much. I did end up drinking more water than I expected, but yet again I was saved by the new small water bottle I've been carrying in my handlebar bag.

On the topic of my handlebar bag, I think I might be carrying too much in it. It uses velcro straps to stay on the front of my bike, but some of the velcro keeps slipping, and I'll sometimes have to take a stop for 30 seconds or so just to readjust it. It's never enough to be a huge problem, but it is something I always have to be aware of.

Design Notes

Going straight into design notes today, I have just one topic on hand. It might be a long one, or it might be short, in which case I'll probably have more to say about it later.

Overpowered (OP) Items

To start of, let's define what I'm referring to by "OP Items." These do not actually have to be items in games, but rather can be any game object which can belong/be assigned to a player (whether that be skills, abilities, items, or something else). With that, I have three categories of OP items in mind. Before describing them, I'll note that these three categories have a lot of overlap between them, especially categories 2 and 3:

Items that are just really strong. These are items that tend to break the balance of a game in favor of one player, or in favor of THE players in the case of a cooperative game. An example of this would be any high-level D&D equipment when given at too low a level. I will be not really discussing this type of OP item specifically much in today's notes.

Items that warp the rules. These are items that introduce new rules or reject existing ones, changing the way the game is played. They are often just situationally powerful, or give small increments of power over time. They may need you to be more strategic than those of category 1. Some examples of this include the "Fleet Logistics" and "Lightwave Deflector" Technologies in Twilight Imperium, which both allow you to take actions otherwise impossible, or the "Dead Branch" relic in Slay the Spire, which warps which cards are beneficial for you to play/have in your deck.

Build-around Items. These are items that are powerful, but only in situations were conditions are properly met. They require players to think deeply about how to maximize their potential, or they end up being rather weak. A lot of Magic: the Gathering combo/synergy cards fall into this categories, as do certain D&D spells.

Why am I suddenly discussing OP Items? I think it's partially due to my thoughts from the last couple of days, but I'm not sure exactly what lead to this train of thought. It may have been the games I've been thinking about, it may have been what I've been reading, I really don't know.

I wanted to give my design thoughts on OP Items. I tend to greatly enjoy them in games I play, especially those of category 2 & 3, as they provide great moments in gameplay when you first get them, or when you figure out the right way to use them. When they appear or are first used, it usually marks an important turning point in the game.

With that being said, I have a much harder time designing with OP Items. One of my first games, Atropos, which I designed with my brother and a friend, was focused around "Treasures," which were mostly OP items. But since then, I haven't designed many games, if any, that have OP items in the same sort of way.

I think it largely boils down to being a result of my approach to design of game mechanics, which I like to call "Spreadsheet Design." When designing, I try to organize and classify things using spreadsheets, quantifying attributes, and balancing things out as I work. OP items are harder to quantify, especially those of category 2 & 3, because how strong they are can ebb and flow. Depending on the game, you might have an upper and lower limit of what you want such items to be able to do, requiring even more restrictions that increase the tightly-wound-ness of the game.

In a competitive game, you have make sure that one player does not just win the game because they received/have a certain OP item. With that, one of the most dangerous types of OP items are those that spiral into more OP items as the game progresses. There's also the case of OP items which either are stronger the longer you have them, or have a set strength. For example, an item that gives +1 to all your attack rolls is much stronger and gets much more use if received earlier in the game, while an item that gives a one-time-use +20 to an attack roll is good any point in the game, but may not end up having the same strength if received early in the game, because you probably don't want to waste it then. This is why build-around OP items are often some of the best in a competitive game, because that means it's up to the players' strategies to determine whether an OP item actually breaks the game in their favor. At the same time, this could backfire, because if a player is going for a certain strategy, and they just happen to receive an OP item that slots into that strategy, they may run away with the game.

OP items may be easier to manager in Cooperative or solitaire games, but those still have the issue of possibly breaking the game tension that exists between the players and the game. Even those types of games are typically less fun if they become way too easy, to the point of not really needing to strategize.

In my games, I tend to not include OP items, because I'm not very adept at managing the flow of a game correctly, and adding OP items would just throw an additional wrench in that flow. And then, by the time I think I have the flow figured out, the game is too set in its design to really add OP items at that point.

I do have some ideas for games that want/should have OP items. For one, I think Characters, Inc. would do well with OP items, especially ones which warp the rules of the game, because while it's one of the games I'm most proud of, that's more from a coding perspective than a design perspective. At the moment, it's much too straightforward, so it actually kinda needs a wrench thrown in. Moreover, I have an idea for a game that kinda takes the "OP Item" idea to the extreme, being focused completely around getting items/abilities with game-breaking effects, and combining/making use of them to their optimal situation. In fact, that's something that might be able to exist in Time Loop, with the offset of OP items resulting in a higher chance of temporal instability or temporal paradoxes. But that's an idea for another day.

This is all for today. Little late posting tonight, didn't have too much to say about the ride today. I'm now resting in Ann Arbor, and on Wednesday I'll be starting my final stretch back to Chicago. Today's design notes ended up getting a little carried away from me, but I'm not gonna bother editing them, so they may be a little jumbled and I don't know how much sense they'll make. Til next time!

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