#i love being straightforward its awesome

[thevastnessof]

my youthful hubris leads me believe that if I got put in a shonen manga I would thrive. I wish I could be completely nuts

[cyborg-franky]

prompt: Hello!! First off thank you guys for such an amazing blog & event!! I was hoping please, maybe I could request g/n reader (if applicable) with either (or both) Law and Kid where they are all hit with a type of truth-truth devil fruit and are all unable to lie for the rest of the day (or until they get the user) it can be SFW or NSFW either way <3 Thank you all again for such an awesome blog!!

Repost of mine from libary of ohara

SFW - GN READER

- Law clocks it fast and not because you keep spouting off the truth but because his usual little white lies to avoid hurting Shachi’s feelings didn’t come out and he told him exactly what he thought about the new hat.

- So, Law, like the mature adult he is, hid from you.

- Every time he heard your voice, or someone said your name he basically tucked in his limbs and just rolled the heck away.

- He was not ready to admit his feelings for you to himself yet let alone to your face.

- There might have been many gross misuses of his power for a quick getaway.

- Sometimes throwing Penguin into your path as he noped out of there.

- It wasn’t till you snuck upon him, that he thought he was alone in his office did you confront him.

- It must have been because he’d been hit with the same power attack as you had.

- Why was it though? Did Law have these negative thoughts and feelings about you, and he just didn’t want to blurt them out?

- You’d seen Shachi crying to himself at least twice today over Law’s newfound truth-telling power.

- Taking a breath, you burst into his office and shouted out “Law, what is your problem with me? Why are you avoiding me!”

- Law spun around and stared at you, eyes wide as his mouth opened and it came out.

- “Because I am in love with you and I am not ready to admit that and I can’t handle having feelings for someone, everyone I love gets hurt.”

- You gawked at him, and he sighed.

- There it was.

- “Are you happy?” Law grunted, a sneer on his face as pink worked its way across his cheeks.

- “Yes, because I love you too.”

- You’d both been hit with a truth-telling devil fruit, it took ages before anyone realised it wasn’t just you who had been affected by it.

- Kid was just the type of person to be blunt and straightforward, he wouldn’t say anything behind someone’s back that he wouldn’t say to their face.

- You’d been telling everyone everything and it was getting hard. You wanted it to wear off before you confessed your feelings to Kid.

- Looks like you didn’t have to worry about that. At least you weren’t the one to spill it first.

- Killer was smart, and sly he was going to use this to his advantage. He’d seen you both dance around your feelings for far too long.

- Sat around the table for dinner Killer sits there as madness descends all around as everyone stuffs their face with his best pasta.

- You are staring at your food, trying to avoid being asked anything.

- You were exhausted because you felt you had no secrets from anyone after the day unfolded and the power still had you in its clutches.

- Only Killer and Kid knew it was gripping the captain too.

- Killer looked over at Kid and cleared his throat. “Kid, do you have any romantic feelings? And if so.. who?”

- Kid tried to put his hand over his mouth, glaring daggers at Killer but it blurted out, as well as some pasta.

- You stared wide eyes at your captain, his confession. Your own soon tumbled from your lips, cheeks as red as Kid’s hair.

[liquidstar]

do u have any recs for folks newer to the yuri genre? I've never really read any manga other than shounen and some magical girl stuff

Omg i can totally give yuri recs. (And which ones to stay away from. Sakura Kiss has cousin shit in it, Citrus has stepsister dubcon, Dragon Maid has lolicon, Happy Sugar Life is also lolicon but it’s edgy about it and tries to act like this makes it deep, we can do better)

Anyway here’s my actual recs! I'm going to give details but if you don't wanna read them I bolded all the titles.

YuriKuma Arashi (By Ikuhara of Revolutionary Girl Utena fame), is about lesbian bears. But it’s actually a metaphor for the simultaneous objectification and demonization of lesbians, the expectation both for purity and predation. There are some nitpicks I have with it like the sexualization being a bit too much to bring the point home, but overall I do like its themes and its message. And I think the ending pulls everything together really nicely. There is both a manga and an anime, and I believe the anime came first. I’ve only seen the anime so I’m not sure if/how the manga deviates!!!! 

Bloom Into You is an absolute must. Like, for real, I think it’s one of the best romances out there, yuri or otherwise. It gets really deep into both characters' respective psyches and the ways that they’re both Very Screwed Up when it comes to love and romance, or really just life in general. Giving details would be doing them a disservice honestly. Both characters are very messy but also do try their best to genuinely communicate, and what comes of that is a lot of teenage lesbian drama, but the growth they both experience though it TOGETHER is just great, and you can tell they care about each other so much.

Okay this one I’m not really recommending for the good writing, it’s more-so just really cool. Liberta (EXPLICIT) is a series about a vampire who can turn her body into guns and a human woman who is sick of being seen as lesser in her ordinary life. And then they fall in love and are vampires together. The artstyle and character designs are awesome and it has some really cool fight scenes. However it also has full blown barely censored sex scenes. A few of them. One of the women uses her tail at some point. If that’s not what your cup of tea is, give it a pass. 

Anyway for something more wholesome you should check out The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All, which I’m actually not fully caught up on bc life, but has still been a super fun read so far. It’s about a girl who works at a music store, and her classmate who gets a crush on her while she’s at work. The classmate doesn’t realize that they’re the same person, due to her looking different at work, and thinks her worksona is a guy. Hijinks ensue. 

Otherside Picnic is also highly recommended. Its manga adaptation is lagging behind the light novel, which I can’t find a translation of online (But if anyone can help me out w that 🙏). The story itself is about two college students who go on adventures to a parallel plane of reality, which contains cosmic horrors who can only communicate with humans through fear so intense it will make you go insane. They’re also looking for someone who went missing, and gain cool powers like Ghost Hand and Sans Eye. Yes this is still a yuri series and it’s also really really extremely fucking cool. 

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, is a slice of life story about… Well exactly what it says. A woman with a passion for cooking, making lots of food and sharing it with her neighbor, and they end up bonding through this. It’s also like, cool to see a big butch woman for a change! The story itself is very straightforward but I love watching the relationship progress as well as the mc question her sexuality. This story will absolutely make you super hungry though.

Show Me Your Bust (EXPLICIT) is also exactly what it says on the tin, though it’s technically a webtoon. Again this is a series with explicit sex scenes, but it actually does have a story and actual depth to its characters. Honestly there’s a lot to unpack with all of them and a lot of the relationships aren’t totally healthy but it’s a drama so that’s the point. 

A Monster Wants To Eat Me is actually hard to describe without spoilers. It’s about a girl who lives by the sea, meeting a mysterious girl with eyes that remind her of the ocean itself. The girl says that she’s actually been looking for the mc for a long time, and it’s revealed that….

And lastly I wanna mention Hanamonogatari, a story about an old widow who begins to regain confidence in herself as she experiments with make-up with the help of another old lady who works at a local cosmetic store. Honestly it’s very very very sweet, it’s rare to get romances like this of old women when so much of the focus of romances (yuri or otherwise) is often on the characters being attractive. I also really appreciate how the make-up is being used specifically to accentuate their wrinkles. Not hide them. Because aging is beautiful too. Sadly IVE ONLY READ TWO CHAPTERS BECAUSE I DONT THINK THE REST ARE TRANSLATED IF ANYONE OUT THERE CAN HELP ME PLEASE DO 🙏

[weirdmarioenemies]

I love Waddle Dees! I just wish they were a bit crunchier.

Perfect!

Name: Sectra Dee

Debut: Kirby: Triple Deluxe

Sectra Dee is exactly like a Waddle Dee... but it’s a bug! Isn’t that grand? Yes! It is! And you agree. For a little while, I was disappointed these were not called Waddle Bees, but I’m over it now! Sectra Dee is, thematically, a good name, especially since it facilitates the naming of variants, as well! And there are so many variants!

The most straightforward is Parasol Sectra Dee! Parasol Sectra Dee is exactly like a Parasol Waddle Dee... but it’s a bug! Isn’t that grand? Yes! It is! And you agree. Parasol is one of my favorite abilities for how whimsical it is, and it’s even more fun to see a bug using it! This insect can’t fly, but at least it can glide jovially.

But these variants are not all merely Sectra Dees with different props! They are so much more. Kirby is not in Dream Land anymore, no no. He is in Bug World! “Buzz buzz!” -the bugs

Sectra Burt is the one Sectra variant blessed with the miracle of flight! Bronto Burt is already vaaaguely bug-like with its particular style of wings, but this one goes above the ambiguity and is oh so bug. It even has a pointy stylet on its face! I know it will slurp some liquids! I hope not yours or mine!

Then there is Sectra Knight, a bug redesign of Lanzer, a spear knight enemy! This one is especially funny to me. It looks like it’s wearing a mask with a bug face on it! Is it a fraud? Is that a non-bug under there? Or is that its real face, and its cuticle is just shaped in such a way it looks like a mask? I will assume that it IS a mask, and it has the exact bug face underneath. I’m a silly one!

Sectra Shooter is a bug who will shoot you! Imagine being stung by a bug, only to notice the bug is feet away from you, and just shooting you with arrows out of spite. I’m glad that doesn’t happen in real life, both because it would hurt, and because people would use it to hate bugs even more. But Sectra Shooter is a cool creature! Very cool compound eye shades, and I like how the top of its head kind of evokes a hat, with its antennae like feathers!

Finally there is Sectra Gordo, who we have talked about before! The most different in style of all of these, and also one of the funniest. Just a levitating and indestructible beetle. Magical beetle!

But this post is about Sectra Dee, and I got sidetracked! They have only appeared in Triple Deluxe and Blowout Blast, only having story significance in Triple Deluxe. But it’s kind of vague! All we really know is they inhabit Royal Road, the realm of Queen Sectonia, and probably serve her. But that’s all we get! I like to think they really are just like Waddle Dees, little guys just living their lives, not truly meaning any harm but maybe sometimes getting roped into bad crowds.

At least, we get some Sectra Dee Content in one of the manga, where they are serving Taranza just like Waddle Dees serve Dedede! Cinematic parallels. Are those eyelashes on the one in the back? Awesome! a Girl Bug.

Hypothetical Bandana Sectra Dee

[lamialamia]

a, g, i, and o for hbo war ask game <3

a. make a moodboard/edit/headcanon for who you think is underrated for any of the shows.

Bill Leyden is so underrated! I love that little man who just don't know how to quit. My HC for him: Leyden loves melodrama, after he gets a tv, he would be an avid watcher of soap opera.

g. masters of the air and generation kill both seem to have more discourse surrounding them than the other two. which did you enjoy more, and why?

oh this is a hard question. Because I enjoy the writing of GK a lot, it's so fantastically written but i'm not very fannish about it (i do ship BradRay and read their fics, but overall probably not that fannish). On the other hand, MOTA frustrates me with a lot of its writing decisions (enough for me to write meta analyses for it), but I definitely I'm more fannish about that show.

In conclusion: MOTA wins 'being entertaining'. GK wins 'satisfying writing'. Which make them both enjoyable lmao

i. tag some of your closest mutuals and choose a show portrayal from any of the miniseries' that reminds you of them.

ashdsahkj

@blood-mocha-latte Ray, with a little Roe in the mix. fun-loving but also intense and dedicated ;)

@ewipandora is it weird I think you are quite Talbert? idk but i see it

@gorgeousundertow i know you think you are similar to Nix, but I actually give you the joy of reminding me Burgie haha, with some serious Lipton vibe uwu

@screwby straightforward and very awesome. Doc Bryant. No doubt about it.

@ep6bastogne Malarkey! but maybe more introverted haha

@the-cinnamontography-is-amazing my partner in crime and other stuff. keep fighting the good fight! and for that, I see ack-ack in you, especially with his speech about 'war worth fighting for' xD

@staud harry welsh. he's fun, you're fun. such a darling, the both of you :D

o. say something nice about a ship that you don't understand.

this is hard, mostly because ship I don't understand i would just don't remember. but i guess i don't really understand Speirs/Nixon? however, goddamn those two are hot together, like their genetics might make some crazy out-of-this-world beautiful kids.

Ask me anything from this cool thing

[adobe-outdesign]

thank you for doing neopets reviews! could you review hissi, including my favorites UC plushie and darigan hissi? thank you!

Hissi are pretty simple, basically just a snake with wings, but they're a well-designed snake with wings, which is what matters. The wings themselves add a lot of memorability to what would otherwise be a pretty generic design, and the light yellow underbelly breaks up the solid color a bit while accenting the eyes. Another nice feature are the rattlesnake-like spots, which add just the right amount of detail to the design.

For the most part, Hissi were mostly left unharmed from conversion... except for the wings. Changing the wings into more hand-like structures is just such a strange decision—no other Neopet with wings had this done, for starters (Pteris and Lennys just had their wings cupped a bit, but weren't given anything resembling hands). Plus, was it really so important to have them hold items that it was worth screwing with one of the best parts of the design? Converted Hissi are still pretty nice, don't get me wrong, but the original will always be the better version.

Favorite Colors:

Darigan: The UC Darigan Hissi is just amazing. The body is fairy straightforward, now sporting spikes and V-shaped underbelly scales, but the big changes are to the tail, mouth, and wings. The mouth has a long tongue, the tail is extra thin and long with a black tip, and the wings were given this awesome webbed look with very distinct anatomy. The purple-and-black palette also looks great. I do wish the tongue was maybe a yellow or a blue, as the green feels a little out of place, but it's otherwise pretty fantastic.

The converted version is... fine. It's just inevitable that a design that relies on unique body shapes would feel more generic when converted. On the plus side, the conversion is pretty loyal, missing only the black from the spikes and sporting slightly different spots. Either way, a good color all around.

Halloween: Continuing with the spooky vibes, Halloween Hissis have always been pretty cool-looking. They sport a black-and-red base color that works well on its own, and then top it with a really nice-looking set of bones that resemble actual snake vertebrae. Particularly nice is the skull, which doesn't have a jaw and sits on top of the head, with a pair of fangs to boot. I do think the wings look a bit clunky due to being entirely bone instead of only partially, and the eyes might've worked better with the accent red, but overall a really nice design.

Faerie: I've just always found this one very pretty. It sports a fairly low-contrast palette of blue, turquoise, and purple, but it just works really nicely together. It having four pairs of wings is pretty cool conceptually, and the second pair have a bright turquoise inside that really make them pop. The body also has a lot more spots than usual, including sort of a mottled purple that goes over the entire body, and the yellow eyes accent the body well. I have heard it said that it would be better without the hand-wings, which is agreeable, but overall this one's just really pretty.

BONUS: Reviewing this one on request. The plushie Hissi isn't really my cup of tea, but it is very cute, sporting a well-worn look and a soft color palette befitting of an old plushie. It's very cute, and I love the tongue on the UC version.

However, I guess my issue with the UC version is that it never really felt much like a Hissie to me, on account of the wings being down and the entire head being vastly different. I feel like the best UC plushies still keep the iconography of the base pet, but here it gets lost a bit. Still, its an appealing pet if you're into that kind of look.

(The converted version is mostly accurate to the UC, but the brow ridges drive me nuts because the perspective on them is all wrong. But I digress.)

[dragonmarquise]

Since devil theory is into anime, what types of genres do they usually watch????

Oh boy, this is gonna be a fun one to talk about :D

Well, for the most part. Also a bit long!

But first, something that’s probably not needed, but just in case: A disclaimer that some of the series mentioned here might not have aged well in terms of like… depictions of minorities or handling certain serious topics in questionable ways. I know a lot of the stuff I loved as a kid had problems like that.

*gestures towards Cardcaptor Sakura which has at least 3 different child/student x adult/teacher relationships, including the protagonist’s own parents for fuck’s sake!!*

Long story short, some of the mentioned series here are ones I have watched myself at some point in my life! I still love some of these for the good parts, but I’m not gonna make excuses for the bad parts (if what I just said about Cardcaptor Sakura doesn’t already make that clear). Again, this kind of thing is probably obvious for most people? But it’s also probably a good idea to state the obvious anyways.

So yeah, now that the disclaimer is established, onto anime talk!! Also a bit of manga talk here and there, since there’s overlap with different series. :u

Reiterating from my big Devil Theory post, all four of them had a little anime-manga club going during their school days (Nunchaku was an honorary member since she still lived in the US during this time). Adding more to this headcanon/idea, they kinda-sorta still have the club going, but it’s really just the four of them hanging out and watching/reading/talking about anime-manga stuff together like friends anyways. Also debates on stuff like power levels, which characters would win in a crossover battle (a la Death Battle), arguments over why a certain manga series does or did not deserve to have an anime adaptation, etc. :P

Also each of them have been bullied for this particular interest to some extent and at some point in their lives. Even with anime and manga being more “acceptable” these days, their first instinct is to still keep quiet about it, and hide any merch they have from anyone who notices. It takes each of them a while to actually open up about the topic to their own partners, let alone any friends outside of their own little circle. They get there eventually!

Moving on to the specific topic of favorite genres, in general they’ll at least check out the popular stuff together. Astro Boy, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, YuYu Hakusho, One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, Full Metal Alchemist, Mob Psycho 100, My Hero Academia, Delicious in Dungeon, Odd Taxi, also various anime movies like the Studio Ghibli films, so on and so forth. You probably get the point! Dragon Ball and its sequels is probably the big one they all remember starting off with. Each of them also have preferences for other stuff they’ll watch/read on their own!

Just as a reminder of who’s who, I’ll put in parentheses which OC corresponds to which DT palette, and a little blurb about them.

For specific favorites for Sai (spring palette, guy with anger problems who gets it sorted out eventually), his favorites are pretty straightforward: as long as it has awesome fights, he’ll watch it! He’ll suffer through a show with a crappy plot if it at least has excellent animation for the fight scenes. Like basically “we saved the budget for the fight scenes and cheaped out on everything else” levels of blegh. Same with manga, it better at minimum have cool art and fight scenes or it ain’t worth it in his opinion. Also he was absolutely inspired to get into art because of those fight scenes, and thus he now works as a freelance artist!

For Nunchaku (summer palette, butch lesbian with high gremlin energy), she really likes sports manga. Admittedly I don’t know a whole lot about this genre of anime/manga myself, but from snippets I’ve seen, I know it can get wild sometimes! Because of the period of her life where her parents forced her to do as many sports as possible, she knows a decent amount about a lot of different sports. She likes to see how the series she reads/watches compare to the real thing, and enjoys when things get really ridiculous.

Also a big fan of the early seasons of Pokemon, Digimon, and Yugioh. Those were her big intros to anime besides Dragon Ball. The later seasons of those three, eh, not so much. She doesn’t hate them but doesn’t love them either, y’know?

In addition to that, she also keeps an eye out for good wlw/yuri series. Nunchaku mostly checks out series made by (or at least written by) actual lesbians, bi women etc. But even then she has a very small pool of stuff she particularly loves, and is also frustrated with how little butch x butch stuff there is.

For Bō (winter palette, blond hair and weightlifting tech guy), he will check out anything involving mecha or cool technology, though he doesn’t always like them (Neon Genesis Evangelion is probably a big one that he regrets watching at all). At the least, if he likes the designs of the mecha/robots featured in the series, he’ll still buy figures or kits of them.

With series he’ll check out on his own that he actually likes, it’s mostly gay manga (i.e. stuff that tends to get labeled as "bara" in Western anime fandoms, even though the term itself is not generally seen as a positive in Japan. At least from what I’ve researched, it probably varies). Of course he enjoys them because Gay, but also because they tend to feature characters with similar body types as him who aren’t meant to be jokes in some way. Which, probably says a lot, doesn’t it? :(

So then besides those two genres and the big popular series he’ll check out with his friends, he’s more into gaming. Like, they all play video games and have their favorites, but Bō is the only one who would call himself a gamer. He has suffered through a lot of horrible video game adaptations of various series, lol…

And finally Daishō (autumn palette, leader of Devil Theory and sometimes basically roleplays as an anime villain while in costume lol), with his love of horror movies, he is also of course a big fan of horror anime and manga! Though whether he genuinely loves what he reads or not kinda depends, due to… sorta complicated feelings.

Okay so, the idea is, for a long while (including even into adulthood), he would check out particularly gruesome and gorey series, even if it got to a point of making him feel genuinely ill. Like, I’m talking about stuff with no deep story or themes to them, no cathartic or at least bittersweet endings. They were mostly if not completely just for the shock value of truly horrific things happening to the characters, who never survived in these series.

And a lot of the time, he read them just to laugh at the characters for being stupid, thinking they deserve the suffering. This also applies to non-anime/non-manga series too. He’d check out the stuff even big slasher fans would want to avoid, if that gives a better idea of what he was seeking.

After sorting out some personal issues (a lot of issues actually, including his big guilt about almost getting his friends and himself killed due to the deal with Faux), he comes to realize he only bothered with that particular subset of horror as a form of self-harm. Again, the big guilt about the Faux deal going wrong, though also guilt about feeling like he’s not doing enough for his friends, that his problems aren’t as bad as other people’s, and so on. Made himself suffer through horror content he can’t stand himself as a sort of subconscious punishment.

Once he works through those feelings, he stops reading/watching stuff like that. He even throws out and burns a lot of the books/DVDs/etc that he collected from that horror subset. After that, he still enjoys horror stuff of course! But he actually respects his own limits and doesn’t force himself to watch/read stuff he knows will just make him feel terrible or ill. He’s a big fan of Junji Ito stuff, plus other stuff in the same vein.

And, I think that about covers it! I was expecting to namedrop a few more series than this, but eh. :P

[sketchehm]

Ohhh what's are You thoughts about c!discduo and their final?

HI!

OK. As a general statement, I loved the finale. I put some thoughts here. (warning it's a bit long and also how I observe Tommy and Dream in general)

Some basic thoughts are that it reminded me of an anime (none in particular just had that vibe haha)

The "bad guy" was only trying to protect his home and the protagonist realized it in the end, it was just cool to me in that regard. And then it blew up, because the protagonist had thought he was doing something for the greater good. It was just awesome in its baseline to me

A bit further though, its about the absolute human nature that is shown in both Dream and Tommy. Its the desperate nature of Tommy needing to understand why Dream did what he did, but never quite seeing Dream outside of his own ideals until he is basically forced to see things through Dream's perspective. It's the only way to break Tommy's stubbornness and to actually learn and realize how his perception of Dream had been so warped for so long.

It's realizing both of them want a happy home, but one had a definite picture of something to go back to, while the other barely understood what it meant.

Dream wants to be happy with his friends. And Tommy realizes how his idea of a happy home is almost non-existent. Being happy with your friends is home, something Tommy has never truly worked for and only chased materialistic desires in hopes it would lead to that. It's realizing he took away something so easily obtained from both Dream and himself. Its listening to Dream actually speak and realizing how relatable Dream can be. It isn't about Tommy forgiving and forgetting about whatever traumatic experience he went through with Dream. It's about realizing how they both continued to hurt each other when they both wanted the same goal.

And in turn, its Dream seeing that Tommy has actually understood his true goal that Dream falters. It's realizing all his actions have slowly led him away from this ultimate goal of him being happy with all his friends and living in peace and it's his greatest enemy(annoyance haha) stating it in the most straightforward way that he realizes what he's done.

They've both hurt each other in ways they'll never truly come back from, but they also grew in this moment in large ways.

They were both a catalyst to each other's actions and now that it had been resolved, the reset just made sense. It drives home how sometimes understanding can come too late in life. And in this new world, there is hope that they can finally find that home they always wanted.

[syrupspinner]

steam next fest 3 the finale maybe

i have recently become much less confident that nextfest is all one word, also

yeah, its missing some pizzaz, like music and sfx work, but the devs are pretty open about it being early so ill look past it. the gimmick itsself is fun! its simple and straightforward in a good way, and i like how it iterates on runs. the good items taking up more physical space and getting burried in your deck is a really good expression of balance. good little roguelike! wishlisted and played for way longer than i thought i would

straight up couldnt get this one to work. no buttons or keys do shit. i unplugged my controller, relaunched it, a bunch of stuff, still stuck on the first screen. shame, i was really looking forward to giving it a shot

this is a good demo! it does a good job at presenting the game and letting you know what its all about. i got the basics really solidly, and i see how the additional environments would iterate on the core gameplay loop. i dont think this ones for me, it seems a bit too sandboxy and score-based for me, but i recognize that this is a well made game and i think itll be really enjoyable for its target audience. check it out if you like simulator/management things, or if you want to try the genre out!

okay, just finished the tutorial, and im kinda split. first, the action feels great and the movement it stellar but yeesh this controller binding is messing me up. it only feels comfortable for me to keep one finder on the front of the controller, and i switch between the bumpers and the triggers with just my index. literally the only games that arent comparable with this approach, by expecting you to use bumpers AND triggers simultaneously, is this and hotline miami 2. the worst part is, i only figured out how weird this feels by the second-to-last tutorial, so i gotta redo all of it with kbm. after that, the game felt a lot more reasonable to get my fingers around (i probably wouldve switched spacebar and shift if i played longer), and i can confirm that the controller layout is my only obstacle to this kick-ass game. i will say that i wasnt expecting it to be a survival game? i thought itd be kind of a roguelike progression-through-a-dungeon thing, but its more about staying in a small space and defending. i already had this one wishlisted, and im glad i know what to expect now, this seems like itll be an interesting "kill 20 minutes before bed" game (in a good way! i love those)

right away, this feels like its to scotland what kisima innitchuna is to alaskan first nations. only its all stop motion and the entire ost sounds like a simon & garfunkle open house. maybe this comparison is stupid, the point is that this is awesome and you need to play it now. it may look like you get what the games about when you look at it, but it feels different to control. i dunno how to explain it, the artstyle makes the controls feel... different in a neutral way? please just try it, words fail me. this may very well be a once-in-a-lifetime game

game froze midway through the opening. man, bad luck today. it gotr working in the end, and MAN does this make me feel like a game reviewer. the game isnt hard per se, i can beat all the levels pretty easily, but the game asks you to be pretty damn talented if you want those a ranks. replay the level, route the best way to kill everyone as efficiently as possible. by the end youre gonna feel like harding. i feel like the full games gonna be a bit to tough for my blood, but im gonna have a stellar time watching the action from the sidelines. catch this at GDQ 2026

yeah i uh. went back to play more. damn this is more fun than i thought itd be, this is a good ass roguelike

before you read on, let it be known that this is objectively one of the best made and well put-together games ive tried this entire festival and all of my gripes with it are from personal preference. trying this game has led me to understand what people enjoy about punch-out (its clear inspiration) better than any 15 minute video essay could: its a puzzle game that relies on twitch reflexes and trial-and-error. its your job as a player to be attentive to the bosses's minute difference of animation to tell you exactly how to dodge and exactly when to strike. thats a great game! i feel genuinely remiss that i dont like trial and error and split-second weaknesses, or else i wouldve enjoyed this game way more. if youre on the fence about it, please give it an honesty try, this game knows exactly what to be and how to be it. the animation is great, both from the perspective of telegraphing attacks and just looking fantastic, the games vibe and personality is choice, and the gameplay itself is tight as hell. please just give it a shot

i guess thats the beauty of a demo, huh? it lets you figure out if youre gonna like a game before you commit to it. i hope if you take anything away from this 3-part... idk what youd call it, i kinda just gave my opinion about shit. look, im trying to tell you to try these games out yourself, hopefully this helped you figure out what is and isnt worth trying according to your own personal taste. and if youre not sure, give it a try anyway. demos are free, yknow

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

Disney and Dreamworks have been locked in combat since day one, and honestly, can you blame them? The Katzenberg/Eisner feud is pretty legendary, with both men taking potshots at each other in films, and the drama behind stuff like A Bug’s Life and Antz has been done to death. The thing is, in the early years of Dreamworks, it was pretty clear that no matter how hard they tried, Disney was the one who was taking the Ws when it came to the cinemas. Stuff like Sinbad and The Road to El Dorado were flopping pretty hard, and while The Prince of Egypt was a success, the failure of the former two ended Dreamoworks’s hopes of ever competing with Disney in the 2D animated market. What’s a studio to do in a situation like that? Well, someBODY ONCE TOLD ME...

Shrek didn’t just solidify Dreamworks as a contender, that movie changed the course of animation in the 2000s all on its own. With its snarky humor, pop culture references, awesome pop soundtrack as opposed to musical numbers, and celebrity cast, Shrek codified many trends for animation going forward—for better and for worse. But whatever impact the film had pales in comparison to one simple, unignorable fact: This movie came out on top over Disney. It won the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Picture, and considering how long Disney was in that game that must have really fucking stung. While Disney spent the early 2000s floundering and releasing flops that would only become cult classics later, Dreamworks was riding that green wave Shrek produced all the way to the bank. What’s a studio to do in a situation like that? Well, someBODY ONCE…

Oh no.

Chicken Little was Disney’s blatant attempt at making their own Shrek (with blackjack! And hookers!), but to say that things didn’t pan out well for Disney there is a vast understatement. Michael Eisner made sure to meddle as much as possible, turning a more straightforward adaptation of the fairy tale into a snarky, self-deprecating comedy about baseball and aliens, which certainly is a choice. This choice had some dire consequences; while not a bomb by any means, the film ruined the already-struggling career of The Emperor’s New Groove director Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer left Disney with Dindal and went into making guitars, and ultimately Eisner himself became a victim of the film as well, with it being the final blow to his tenure at Disney after a decade of failed investments. Eisner ended up passing the torch to Bob Iger, who turned out to be a better leader than Eisner who never did or said anything quite as stupid!

Audience reaction to the movie has always been pretty mixed, to say the least. Reviewers on YouTube such as Schafrillas, Doug Walker, and Mr. Enter have used the film as their punching bag at various points, with the latter in particular helping shape the image of Buck Cluck as Disney’s most vile father figure. Audiences these days aren’t particularly receptive to it either, with most people considering it Disney’s absolute worst film, though there are nostalgic viewers with a soft spot for it. I first watched the film myself a few years back, and I was thoroughly disgusted and unimpressed by what I saw; for the longest time, I had it higher than Doogal on my list of the worst films ever. Fucking Doogal! Can a film really be that bad?!

Well, I decided to give it a second chance and find out if maybe my perception was just colored by all the negative reviews. Is Chicken Little really that bad, or is this just a so-so Shrek ripoff that people overreacted to?

THE GOOD

Most of the characters in this movie are actually decent, even if they’re a little cringe. Chicken Little himself is a likable dork, which only makes all the suffering and setbacks he goes through that much harder to watch; I think they made him too likable, y’know? His friend group is pretty solid as well, with Abby being an okay love interest, Runt being a nice guy (or maybe I should say Nice Guy considering what he does with a bimbofied Foxy Loxy at the end), and Fish Out of Water being a cute “lol so random XD” character. They aren’t the best thing ever, but they’re all pretty decent. I can see why Zach Braff likes voicing the title character so much, and it is cool he got to be in the best Kingdom Hearts game, so that’s something!

Though of, course none of them hold a candle to the absolute Chad that is Morkubine Porcupine, a character so fucking cool that he refuses to give this movie the dignity of more than three single words out of his mouth. If he had more dialogue, the whole movie might collapse under the sheer power of his voice. He’s like Black Bolt, except a porcupine, and in a marginally better piece of Disney media.

There’s a great sequence at the end of the movie that has a Pee-wee’s Big Adventure-esque film within the film about Chicken Little’s exploits… except he’s a ridiculously buff rooster voiced by Adam West in a film that looks like an insane version of Star Fox from the brief clips we see of it. Runt is in there as a hardcore, ugly warthog and Abby is an overly-sexualized space bimbo, but I’m not even particularly bothered by the fact they gave the girl chicken breasts because Adam West’s chicken breasts are so much more massive. 

The entire scene, as brief as it is, is delightful thanks to West being West, and it honestly makes you wish that the whole movie was just a ridiculous space battle adventure… And everyone’s wish was granted when they released a pretty good video game based on this silly concept!

Of course, as is typical of any Disney movie, the best part is without a doubt the villain: Buck Cluck, Chicken Little’s own father.

 In his youth, he was a strapping sports star, and because of this he feels a deep sense of shame at his son’s wild antics and is completely unable to relate to him. He constantly puts him down in front of others to try and salvage his own reputation, throwing him under the bus at every opportunity and refusing to support him. And even after Chicken Little pushes himself to the limit and becomes a baseball star all so he can earn even the slightest smidgen of his father’s respect, Buck is quick to cast him aside once more all so that he can try and keep the dignity among the townsfolk he mooched off of his son’s victory. Buck Cluck is the proto-Mother Gothel, a distant and absent parent for the ages, and one of the most despicable foes the studio has ever produced. Hell, I might even go as far as to say he’s one of the greatest villains of all ti-

Wait, hold on. I’m being informed that Buck… isn’t intentionally a villain? He’s supposed to be… sympathetic…?

THE BAD

I’VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT! BUCK “THE CUCK” CLUCK’S A BITCH-ASS MOTHERFUCKER!

Ok, ok, let’s be serious for a second. I’m gonna get a bit controversial here, but Buck Cluck isn’t nearly as evil as people make him out to be.

Let me explain: While the film’s narrative completely and utterly fails to make his redemption feel earned at all, it’s not like he was ever really intentionally or even physically abusive like Frollo, Gothel, or Lady Tremaine were. Buck Cluck has a very real problem a parent can have, in that he has a hard time relating to his son while being a single parent that is likely still dealing with the loss of his wife. The issue is the movie doesn’t bother trying to flesh him or his feelings out and tries its damndest to make him look like a good guy all while he emotionally neglects his child.

All this being said, his vocal performance from The Princess Diaries director Garry Marshall is actually pretty great, he gets a few good jokes here and there, and it’s actually really endearingly goofy when he overcompensates with loving his son in the third act. While I’m never going to stop treating the character like he’s Chicken Hitler, I want it to be clear that my jabs at him are very much in the same vein as someone like Huey Emmerich. The difference, of course, is that Huey is an intentional case of making a character you love to hate, while Buck is accidental. And that’s why this segment is here, in “The Bad” part of the review: The movie failed this man so bad that he is put alongside characters like Shou Tucker, Ragyo Kiryuin, and Fire Lord Ozai in animated parent rankings. How do you fuck up that badly? Mainly by deleting the scenes where he actually gets development or characterization beyond being a lousy parent, that’s how!

These writing issues don’t just affect Buck, though; literally the entire movie is as messy as that Kentucky fried bastard’s characterization. The main issue is with the story itself. Now, when you have a movie called Chicken Little, you kind of expect an adaptation of the fable of the same name. And since this is Disney, you wouldn’t be stupid to assume that’s what they’d do, considering adapting fables, myths, and fairy tales is basically their bread and butter. But that is decidedly not what they did here; instead, they decided to make Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius by way of Shrek, because movies like that were popular at the time, and what we’re left with is a film populated by mean-spirited jerkasses who do nothing but dump on our likable main character as he takes part in a story to win the love of his dad via baseball that suddenly, out of completely nowhere, turns into an alien invasion movie about halfway through. Absolutely none of these elements work well together, and the film comes off felling like it was stitched together from unrelated scripts and turned into an unholy Frankenstein of bad ideas.

Not helping helping the disjointed story are the desperate attempts to seem cool. I like Morkubine Porcupine, he’s one of the better gags in the film, but he is so plainly a desperate attempt at creating an ensemble darkhorse that it hurts (the fact it actually worked in spite of this is nothing short of miraculous). The humor is very much aping Shrek, with lots of snarky humor and mean-spirited characters which ends up not working because it’s too cruel, and even ignoring that the pop culture references (a staple of Dreamworks at the time) just all come out of nowhere. Why is the fish reenacting King Kong? Why are these animals watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, and why is Indy still a human? Why did Disney think referencing the lemming suicide myth was a good idea when they literally perpetuated that myth by driving lemmings off a cliff for a movie?

Then there’s the animation. It is so blatantly obvious that this is Disney’s first time making a fully computer animated movie without Pixar’s help. A lot of characters look really unpolished, and even worse is that a lot of the characters are extremely overanimated. If you wanna see what I mean, watch Abby at the end of the dodgeball scene when she’s talking to Chicken Little. She just never fucking stops moving! Once you notice it, it becomes really distracting.

But by far the worst thing this movie does is the constant needle drops. This movie would make The Super Mario Bros. Movie blush with its overuse of licensed music, and it sure feels like Suicide Squad took notes from this because they cram so many tracks in here it’s not even funny. Sometimes they even just have thew characters sing them because… who fucking knows. Barenaked Ladies gets a pretty fat W with their song “One Little Slip” playing over our introduction to Chicken Little, but after that we either get the most obvious songs possible for any given seen (“It’s the End of the World as We Know It” plays over the alien invasion at the end, because of course it does) to “what the actual fuck is this doing here in the movie” (“Wannabe” by the Spice Girls is sung by Runt and Abby during a karaoke session, proving that canceling the Spice World review was not enough to save me from this band).

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Alright guys, here comes my hottest take ever: Chicken Little… isn’t that bad.

Now, don’t get me wrong! This movie is still not really good at all. It’s disjointed, mean-spirited, confused, and stuffed to the brim with the tropes and trappings of every bad animated movie of the 2000s. But all of that is also what helps make this so genuinely fascinating! When Dreamworks did stuff like this, it was whatever, that studio is a rising contender in the animation game… but this is Disney! This is THE animation studio, the biggest around, and they’re making every single mistake possible because they want to try and beat Dreamworks at their own game, and they are failing at it! It’s honestly so funny that they tried to make their own version of Shrek without any sort of understanding of what made Shrek work.

But even beyond that, even though this movie is bad, it’s not really worse than Shark Tale is, and that is a premier so bad it’s good film. Really, this movie is the opposite of that film in many ways. Where that film had a world that was too overly nice and propped up the shittiest main character animated at the time, this movie has an insanely cruel world where the sweet, charming, heavily traumatized child is incessantly beaten down and belittled to the point you half expect him to try and dive headfirst into a deep fryer; where that film had a single generic plot that was at least remarkably consistent, this film has two separate plots that don’t go together at all and just end up making both halves of the film feel stupid and pointless; and where in that film Oscar is desperately seeking love from his peers due to his sheer selfishness, Chicken Little just wants the love and respect of his father. Pile on that the mountain of similarities, from the overuse of lame pop culture references for the sake of pop culture references gags to the bland love interests, and you have the Awesomely Bad Animation Double Feature of your dreams.

So yeah, I think the rating it has is about what it deserves. This is easily one of Disney’s weakest entries for sure, but it’s not without its moments and it has some amusing jokes, charming characters, and Adam West as a buff space chicken. If you go in with lowered expectations, you might be amused, but honestly I get why this film is so absolutely despised. It really isn’t great at all, and is firmly in the “so bad it’s good” category. You can’t really expect much more from a movie that presents a character whose biggest crime was just being an asshole getting their personality overwritten with a girly-girl one that the comic relief fat guy insists is perfect as a hilarious joke and then leads into a dance party ending where the whole cast sings Elton John.

...Or you could expect more if it weren’t for that son of a bitch Buck Cluck. Fuck that guy.

[freelanceexorcist]

I tagged one of my moots, but is it OK if I complete this myself? No? Too bad, I did.

FFVII spoilers and absolutely obnoxious length under the cut.

Character: Sephiroth, Compilation of FFVII and FFVII Remake trilogy

Do you project onto this character?

Not that I’m aware of.

2. Did you always like this character?

I discovered FFVII not long after Crisis Core came out, so I was late to the party. I was more into his aesthetic at first, but after taking in CC, I really went off over the complexity of the character. Back then, a lot of Big Bads in the media I consumed were straightforward villain types who were just there to menace everyone and be defeated at the end without much development. He was among the first antagonists I encountered who deployed the duality of being a bad, bad man who used to be a good one until he crossed a line he couldn’t easily come back from.

3. What first drew you to this character?

Not gonna lie, it was how he looked at first.

4. Did you initially dislike/hate this character?

No.

5. If this character were a woman, would you honestly still like them? Or in reverse, what if they were a man?

I think I would. I like well-rounded and complex characters. One of my other favorite characters is June Osborne from The Handmaid’s Tale (show canon). She’s a good person deep down and is nurturing to those who need her help, but when it comes to Gilead and its architects, she is ruthless to the point of being terrifying at times. She started out as someone who just wanted to go along to get along, both before and after the fall of the US, and life turned her into a badass.

6. Do you have any nicknames or pet names you use for this character?

I distinguish between the two apparently separate versions in the Remake trilogy as Glenniroth and Jenovaroth. Does that count? I also refer to teenage Sephiroth as Baby Seph.

7. Does the character’s age matter to you?

No.

8. Does the character’s looks/design matter to you?

Absolutely. How can it not? He’s absurdly beautiful.

9. Does this character remind you of anyone you know? Does that affect how you see them?

Not really. I’ll have to think about that.

10. Do you see yourself in this character even without projecting?

I’m nowhere near that awesome.

11. How did you “fall in love” with this character?

Same way you fall in love in real life. You see someone and you’re like “damn.” Then you get to know them better and you’re theirs for life.

12. If you could write effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what story (s) would you write for this character?

As a matter of fact, I have an AU fic in the planning stages that works on the premise that he is removed from the library before he snaps but not before learning a thing or two about his past that really pisses him off. Vincent will be involved in this, but I’m not sure how yet. Because he doesn’t snap and burn Nibelheim, Shinra does it for him.

Professor Hojo’s plan all along was to destroy the town, imprison the survivors and experiment on them, and that’s why he got there so quickly and was seemingly immediately ready to get started. Anyone else in the town would be killed to keep them from telling anyone what they witnessed. He wanted Sephiroth to lose it and do what SOLDIERs do best and destroy shit. When that didn’t happen, he had to improvise and call in a strike team to get the job done (with President Shinra’s blessing of course). The cover story would be that the town was attacked by monsters that were infecting the villagers and the attack was the equivalent of the army nuking a city to contain the zombie apocalypse. With deepest regret, we must announce that our beloved Sephiroth was lost to us in this attack.

Sephiroth’s lack of mental break and survival was a lucky break for Hojo, because he would be able to get his S-cell samples directly from the tap. So orders were given to take him down, severely wounding but not killing him, which would make him easier to handle. He’s ridiculously strong and fast, but he’s not immune to nor can he dodge bullets.

So truss him up, stick him in a mako tube and give him a cocktail of drugs that act as a sort of Lotus Eater Machine where he’s stuck inside his head living the life he though he would have lived if he had successfully deserted from Shinra. It would keep him docile because he would think it was real. But as with any similar scenario, he would eventually realize that none of it is real and that would snap him out of it. He’d bust out, find Zack and Cloud on his way out the door and off they’d go, but not back to Midgar. Zack would head there, but Sephiroth would take Cloud north because he heard that the healers up there know how to alleviate mako poisoning.

Yeah, it’s a work in progress…

At this point, I was thinking of having Sephiroth as the protagonist who travels the world along with other characters he scoops up along the way and Aerith as the deuteragonist in Midgar with Zack, Tifa and Avalanche. Eventually the two groups would meet up.

It’s going to be a series of multi-chapter stories patterned after the “seasons” of a TV show, and each chapter being the “episodes” connected by a story arc. I don’t know how many there will be yet, it will end when I run out of story to tell.

13. If you could draw effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what scene (s) would you draw for this character?

Probably scenes from the premise described above.

14. Are you physically attracted to this character?

How can you not be? He’s a total smokeshow.

15. Are your thoughts surrounding this character usually sexual, non-sexual, or a mix of both?

Mix of both, but mostly on the non-sexual end of the spectrum.

16. Have you ever cried when thinking about this character? Genuinely?

No. Not yet, anyway.

17. Have you ever felt physical pain over this character? (ex: physical heartache).

No.

18. Do you prefer to see this character suffer or know peace? Angst or comfort? Both?

Oh, both, but with peace being the ultimate outcome no matter what happens.

19. Does this character serve as a stress ball/ security blanket for you? Something you run to after a bad day to feel safe or happier?

Definitely.

20. Do you feel affectionate towards this character?

I’ll have to think about that one.

21. Are your feelings about this character platonic, romantic, or familial? All of these feelings at once maybe?

Familial toward Baby Seph. I just want to kidnap this kid, send him to school, encourage him to make friends and play video games while I make him lots of pasta as my army of robot snipers protects him. Eat some more pasta, Baby Seph, you look thin.

I suppose my feelings toward the adult version are platonic even though I find him ridiculously attractive. I don’t imagine myself with him, but when I get the occasional hankering for seeing him paired up, I’m partial to Sephiroth/Aerith, maybe Sephiroth/Genesis if the canon dynamics are preserved and I’ve even seen Sephiroth/Tifa done very well.

22. Do you think you will always love this character?

It certainly seems that way now. I’ve loved him since 2007 or so even with very little new content and I seriously doubt there will be no new content after the trilogy ends because Square Enix can practically print their own money thanks in part to him.

23. Has this character permanently altered or impacted your psyche in a way you won’t forget?

If that’s a way of saying I’ve got permanent Sephiroth brain rot, then yes.

24. Do you ever dream about this character? If so, describe a dream you once had about them.

I can’t say I have. I don’t dream much and when I do it’s usually about me and my mom fighting. They say dreams about dead loved ones are them coming back to visit, and it’s just like her to use the opportunity to give me a hard time.

25. What kind of fan-fiction do you read about this character? If you don’t read fan-fics about them, why not?

Gen fics, but the occasional pairing as well. I’m partial to ones that take place pre-Nibelheim and show the “slice of life” scenarios with or without the rest of the Himbo Holy Trinity or Zack. AU fics where Nibelheim is averted and his life goes in a different direction. AU fics where he does do a Face-Heel Turn but works with various other main characters because he’s acting out of Enlightened Self-Interest (the fic Epiphany on AO3 does a great job of portraying him this way but unfortunately it appears to have been abandoned by the authors).

I tend to avoid the ones where he’s portrayed as the usual monstrous villain. I can get that from canon and I haven’t seen many where the author goes outside the lines.

26. If you look for this character’s name on AO3, what tags are you including or excluding?

Sephiroth Needs a Hug, Sane Sephiroth, AU, Alternate Timeline are usually included. I exclude many of the pairings, but only because it makes for more efficient scrolling when gen fic is what I’m most interested in. I don’t bother to exclude the rare ones for that reason, because there aren’t many of those.

27. Do you like to ship this character with other characters or do you prefer not to?

When I get a yen for it, I’m partial to Sephiroth/Aerith. I’ve even seen Sephiroth/Tifa done very well. I could even get into a Sephiroth/Original Character ship if the OC is an actual functional character and not an obvious self-insert. Nothing against that, I’m just a little allergic because of all the blatant Mary Sues running around back in the day.

28. Do you get defensive about this character? If yes, then why?

Sometimes, but I keep it to myself. It’s just aggravating when people seem to deliberately misread him and act personally offended when he gets any kind of character development because they want to stay forever mad at him for killing Aerith. Like, any new developments for him don’t negate the existence of the original game, folks. I don’t even bother checking if anything on TV Tropes gets updated regarding him, because that place is crawling with those types. And don’t even get me started on those people who accuse you of Draco in Leather Pants-ing him anytime they see a take that isn’t “he’s evil and I hate him!” And then there are the folks who feel the need to point out his bad deeds any time they see a fan gushing over him. We all saw the same media, chief, we know what he did. Do you want us to call 911 over it?

29. Do you affectionately bully this character?

Sometimes.

30. Are you especially sensitive about this character?

A little bit, but I keep that to myself as well.

31. Are you ashamed of liking this character?

HELL no. I wear my Sephiroth brain rot like the Medal of Honor.

32. If you could make this character a meal, what would you make them?

Shrimp scampi. I hear he likes seafood and pasta. I’ve also heard that if you and someone else both eat something with a lot of garlic, you won’t smell each other’s garlic breath. If we have to shack up until we could sound the All Clear on the breath front…

33. Are you “blinded by love” for this character or do you accept any flaws they may have?

Mass murder aside, I embrace his flaws. Flaws make for a well-rounded and complex character.

34. Does this character inspire you with little things in your daily life?

The opposite happens, actually. You know those posts I make sometimes where I have Sephiroth losing his shpadoinkles not because of anything he read in the library but because he finally had enough of That Fuckwit from Field Services’ emails and Teams messages and ridiculous demands? All of those have happened in my professional life. If you hear about a small town in Southwestern Pennsylvania burning to the ground*, it’s because I stopped writing posts like that.

*No, I would never do something like that in real life. Most likely not. The fate of hundreds is in your hands, Fuckwit from Field Services.

35. Has this character ever prevented you from sleeping because you can’t stop thinking about them?

Nah, thinking about the plot bunnies hopping through my head that were inspired by him is my melatonin.

36. Do you feel a spiritual/soulmate connection with this character?

No, I tend not to do that with fictional characters, even ones I’m as obsessed with as Sephiroth.

37. Is your love for this character a secret from people you know in real life?

Yes, but mostly because no one I know in real life knows who the hell he is. Most of them have heard of Final Fantasy, but that’s about as far as it goes.

38. Do you tend to joke more about dying or killing for this character? Both? What causes the distinction?

Neither. I mostly joke about him losing his shit because of fictional versions of one or two incredibly aggravating and demanding work colleagues. For the sake of me continuing to receive a paycheck and staying out of prison, this will be my outlet when Janice and Keith are on a roll.

39. Do you feel lovesick over this character?

No, he’s not real.

40. Are you very empathetic towards this character? When they feel a certain way in the story, do you feel those emotions too?

Yes, definitely.

41. Do you prefer to interact with this character directly via self-insert/reader type content? Or do you enjoy seeing them mostly with other characters in the story and/or your OCs?

I don’t consume much Sephiroth/Reader content, but I’ll have to check it out. As for OCs, the story I’m thinking about will have three prominent OCs and yes, they will also be products of Project S. In my idea, there were originally 10 S-types including Sephiroth. Two of them didn’t survive infancy and four were lost in various battles during the war. The remaining three are scattered to the four winds when the story starts. They and Sephiroth are connected in a way that they can sense each other but can’t pinpoint a precise location. I’m playing with the idea of a romance between him and one of them, but whether that gets included depends on how it will enrich the plot or move it forward.

42. If you could, would you write this character a song or poem?

I suck at poetry or songwriting, but get me speculating about something related to him or his place in the story and I could go on for hours.

43. What type of weather makes you think of this character?

Hot weather, because I HC that he doesn’t like it. Which made me come up with the following scenario of the Himbo Holy Trinity and Zack goofing off on a message forum one day:

Angeal: Seph, you need to take a vacation. How about a few days in Costa del Sol?

Sephiroth: Too hot.

Zack: hot damn…

Angeal: And my band ‘bout that money, break it down

Genesis: Girls, hit your hallelujah

Zack: Woo!

Sephiroth: *posts video of Uptown Funk* And if I have to have that song in my head for the rest of the day, so do all of you.

44. Which season makes you think of this character?

Hm, I haven’t thought about that.

45. Do you feel as if you are intimately familiar with this character?

A little. Enough that I can recognize subtle things about him.

46. How much do bad interpretations of this character upset you?

Not upset so much as aggravated. Some takes seem so deliberately bad that it’s so obvious they’re comically exaggerating his bad traits just so they can continue to hate him for killing Aerith.

47. Does this character ever make you laugh sincerely?

@rottenpumpkin13 ’s takes on his and the boys’ shenanigans sure have me laughing out loud most of the time!

48. What’s your favorite physical/design feature for this character?

I love the Remake trilogy’s design for him. Everything about it is just *chef’s kiss*

49. What’s your favorite personality trait in this character?

Pre-library, the way he showed such kindness and protectiveness to the people whose safety he was responsible for. The look on his face after he failed to save that security officer and the way he shook his head after he put the mission on hold to look for him and had to report that he wasn’t found was heartbreaking.

50. Link your fav song, playlist, aesthetic board, fan-fiction, reference pile, personal artwork, analysis post, meme, headcanon, or quote for this character. Whichever one (s) you are most comfortable with!

This song really makes me think of him. I deliberately chose the Limp Bizkit cover over the original version from The Who because the cover adds a new verse that I think describes him very well (apologies in advance for any unskippable ads).

No one knows what it’s like to be mistreated

To be defeated

Behind blue eyes

No one knows how to say that they’re sorry

And don’t worry

I’m not telling lies

But a verse from the original that isn’t in the cover fits as well

If my fist clenches, crack it open

Before I use it and lose my cool

If I smile, tell me some bad news

Before I laugh and act like a fool

If I swallow anything evil

Put your finger down my throat

If I shiver please give me a blanket

Keep me warm, let me wear your coat

Oh, and did you know that Behind Blue Eyes was originally written as part of a rock opera Pete Townshend wrote after Tommy? It was called Lifehouse. There were a few live shows at the Young Vic Theater, but the project was eventually aborted and some of the songs from it ended up on other albums. Behind Blue Eyes was on Who’s Next.

In the rock opera, the song was sung by Jumbo, the main antagonist, a dictator who tightly controlled the entertainment that the public consumed, and rock and roll was considered barbaric. The hero was the leader of a resistance group who embraced rock and roll and tried to push it to the masses.

Behind Blue Eyes is sung by the antagonist when he realizes that he’s seen as the villain when up until that point, he though his intentions were good. It’s described as a first-person lament.

Sound like someone we know? Sure it does.

Anyway, this is more than long enough. Thank you for sticking around if you’ve made it this far and I hope the rest of your day/evening is peaceful.

[sunshine-in-a-bottle]

I'll be honest I dont know anything about Maricraft I wasnt into mc content before Dream/ds.mp 😭 However I would still love to hear you rant about how its considered an ancient realm compared to d.smp and other servers and more about Lasercorn being connected to the Blood God. He was my favorite from the OG Smo.sh Games squad :3

You're letting me talk. This is the equivalent of letting a vampire into your house I hope you realize this.

ok so quick background, I wasn't into streamer content either before DSMP, but after getting some fun updates about Smosh coming back, @quaking--aspens pspspspsed me into watching his little guys do minecraft from way back when, saying "oh you know there's a couple of really interesting parallels between Lasercorn and cDream" which of course immediately peaked my interest because I am the most normal person alive.

He was absolutely correct but this was also a trick to get me invested and it worked 100 percent. I am a fool in fools shoes.

Lasercorn does Crimes (murdering an entire village) because Mari tells him its a good idea!

And then gets called a tyrant immediately afterwards by her.

He becomes the Ultimate Enemy who they (there's a bunch of people) team up with sometimes. Then in a Grand Finale after many battles and conflicts Mari decides shes going to blow everything up with TNT. Also Lasercorn gets betrayed again a couple of times despite him trying to be more genuine and straightforward, because sometimes you give someone an inch and they take the mile.

(Someone kills Lasercorn's horse. He's very pissed about it.)

The roleplaying isn't nearly as cinematic and dramatized as it ends up being in the dsmp but I wasn't really expecting it to be. These are just dumbasses having fun in 2014 minecraft, most of them don't even know how to play the game. Lasercorn is the only person doing any research and its inevitably why he wins most of the time.

And now here's where the insanities comes in.

When Lasercorn murders a whole village, consider that this act peaks the Blood God's interest. Lasercorn is the very first person to form a covenant with him, an avatar of violence and destruction. In Maricraft, people would tweet him prompts and suggestions to do in game, which is the equivalent of 'Chat' for him. He would also watch the Maricraft videos after they were posted, allowing himself to get info on what the other players were doing (visions and info that the Blood God gave him.) He holds grudges and he's the most wrathful person in the world.

Now, in the sort of "middle" of their minecraft timeline, they experimented with a lot of mods, having wands and amulets that could do all sorts of things. They could also, coincidentally, revive the dead. Real Cool And Awesome. Consider the concept that servers had all these magical items and backups to prevent players from perma-death, safeguards in the early days that they just don't have anymore with the life system. Maricraft was 10 years ago to the DSMP, and by the time Schlatt gives Dream the revival book, most of these ancient artifacts are used up and useless. The revival book surviving this age is a small miracle.

There's more things regarding Hermitcraft (which started in 2012, which is before Maricraft began) and EvoSMP (where the Watchers lore came from, 2017) and other servers and MCC. But when I started typing this I got distracted by something and walked away from the computer and I'm just now sitting back down and realizing I don't have the focus for more typing. The focus is gone. I'm posting this now and worrying about the other stuff later.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Flying Cookie

Debut: Chameleon Twist

Hello. I have never played Chameleon Twist in my life! I sure would love to, though. I feel like it is the epitome of scrimblo games. Croc will always be THE Scrimblo to me, but I don’t know! I just feel like Chameleon Twist is more raw, potent scrimblo energy, to the point that maybe it’s not healthy, but it is such a tantalizing indulgence I can barely resist.

Look at this. These are just some scrimblos. They are chameleons that turn into those. Literally new Scrimblo Forms just to justify them being platformer mascots now. It is awesome.

But what’s REALLY awesome is Flying Cookie! One of the enemies in this game is just this ice cream sandwich, with eyes and hands. I love it so much! It appears only in Kids Land, which I thought was very weird, since I would expect it to instead appear in Dessert Castle. Then I realized I was reading it wrong and that level is actually called Desert Castle. Hey! I never played the game! I just think it’s funny!

Everyone seems to just know it as the ice cream sandwich, but according to the manual, its name is Flying Cookie! Still AN ice cream sandwich, and still a very straightforward name, but I am happy to know its REAL name.

Flying Cookie appears alongside its little buddy, Choco Kid, who we know it loves, because everybody loves a Choco Kid. I can’t argue with that! If you don’t love a Choco Kid, then honestly, I’m sorry, but just get outta here.

Flying Cookie is honestly an incredibly basic enemy and it saddens me to say that. It just shows up, in just two rooms, and is sort of In The Way. But I love it!!! And it got to be on the level select screen and even the box art, so it is so very loved!

Flying Cookie floats in midair, and does this funny dance! Even in little sprite form, it is quite a distinct ice cream sandwich, and I can really imagine its flavor and texture. I think I would eat Flying Cookie? Like, I wouldn’t want to eat it if it is alive and have eyes, but I would eat the inanimate ice cream sandwich it is based on. Yeah.

That is sort of all there is to Flying Cookie! Very, very straightforward, but I love to look at this funny cookie, and I love to make YOU look at it. I am like a wizard, beaming imagery of Flying Cookie into your brains from miles away! I promise to only use my powers for Funny!

[myloveforhergoeson]

Lengthy comment left.

I make no apologies. ;)

oh my friend thank you so much!! literally just the sheer size of the comment in my email made my heart swell so so so much. i truly cannot put into words how much your support means to me :') thank you for giving me the space to share my story and talk about it all the time and taking precious time away from your day to dive into my content and share your thoughts <3

now, everything i have to say under the cut <3

"I love how Roxy was so excited when Gustavo mentioned going multiplatinum. Of course that would be her main focus. She's not interested in the sold out stadiums. She wants the awards."

yes!! while she's not worried about awards in the sense that collecting them means something in hollywood, its more about the reach of her music - someone nominating a song of hers for an award, what that implies about the impact and the effect of her words... good lord im crying just thinking about it 😭

"I love how you actually focused on another reason the New Town High song was a big deal - especially for Kendall. Being able to have one of his songs - preferably a love song - on his girlfriend's show would be a big deal for him. I actually wish the show focused on that angle a bit more."

thank you!! i know on here we like to joke about how season 3 and 4 kind of erase everyone's characterization from the first few seasons, but personally i've always felt this episode in particular also falls into that category. so weird for kendall to be a gustavo ass kisser, so i definitely needed to give him a reason if that's how i was going to write the story :)

kendall: write a song about love for my girlfriends show because im in love with her

roxy: what's that? you want to sing another song about my boyfriend?

"Okay, first of all, Storm in a Teacup or Rip-Off the Old Block are awesome song titles."

I'M TRYING SO HARD 😭 <- someone who could never be a songwriter. something early 2000s pop punk bands loved to do was take a common phrase and twist it into new meanings or make it punny or combine it with another phrase (i.e. i'm like a lawyer with the way i'm always trying to get you off) (i love you pete wentz) so that's my attempt at a small nod to her taking inspiration from the scene around her to write her music in minnesota <3 now that it's all pop, her content's shifted just a bit for more palatable and straightforward titles

"And I love the way she immediately starts thinking about what her dad used to do for her when she was sick and immediately apply it to James. It was a very sweet touch."

in my first draft james actually fought her a bit more about taking care of him because he really didn't want her to get sick! but when i was writing out the parts where she was taking care of him i was thinking 'she's 17 where did she learn all of this?' and there's only one person that could've been LMAO so i took their back and forth out and made it more narrative, glad you thought it was a sweet touch :)

"And I love how James fell asleep on her. Shows how comfortable he is with her. (Also, the falling asleep in the middle of a conversation... that's my dad sometimes - the only difference is James doesn't snore.)"

i regret to inform you james diamond does snore but i cut it out of the final drift. at the end of the chapter when james makes fun of her for being a double dipper the conversation was essentially

james: rox! gross!

roxy: you literally just kissed me with tongue? and don't act like you're so perfect - you literally snore so loud you big jerk

james: don't you ever imply that i snore again!

roxy: imply? i'm stating it as fact

which was not as good as what i came up with afterward hehe

"Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! Communication wins out in the end!"

😭 me when i project my communication issues onto my oc and then fix them 😭

"Why do I suddenly want Dak to appear again so Roxy can rub her newfound happiness in his face?"

i want dak to come back so bad (i say as the author of this story like i don't make the decisions) because i miss writing him aghhhh ! he will at some point some time eventually i just need to make up my mind about when. i have a few ideas but i'm not really married to any just yet. same with stephanie!! when will she return from the war!!!!!

"Oh. Then the jerks from Roxy's past had to come and ruin it. Once again, I shall like to offer my services in dealing with the douches. Maybe the guys and Gustavo could team up and destroy their career before it can even take off. Maybe something a la what they did to WayneWayne is in order..."

no comment. just love your ideas sm!

thank you so so so much again! <333

[adobe-outdesign]

Have you done the braviary/mandibuzz lines for the reviews :3?

(I prefer to do one line per review, so I'm going to split this ask in half and do the Mandibuzz line today and do Braviary tomorrow)

Vultures are some of my favorite birds, so I gotta say, this line is a real treat. While a vulture Pokemon sounds pretty straightforward, this line plays around with the fact that they're scavengers to create something really unique and interesting.

Case in point, Vullaby. Normally I dislike any sort of "diapered" Pokemon—it's far too humanoid for my tastes, and human babies are far less cute than baby animals anyway. However, in this case, the "diaper" not only looks like a cracked egg, but it's also an upside-down skull, with the legs coming straight out of the eye sockets. That's such a morbidly awesome idea that I can't help but love it.

Outside of that, the simple brown and pink color palette is pleasant and the vulture influence is obvious, not just in the bones but also with the bald heads. I also really like the general personality of this thing, which looks just like what you'd expect a creature that wants your skull to look like.

While Mandibuzz doesn't have anything quite as clever as Vullaby in its design, it does still have some fun bone elements in the form of its "skirt", which is actually just a jawbone of some kind. It also has am additional bone in its hair, which makes it look remarkably like a cavewoman without being too on-the-nose about it.

Speaking of which, this line is all-female for... some reason. Not sure I entirely get why, but I do appreciate that they decided to make the female-only bird line vultures of all things. The design also isn't overly "feminine", with the only vaguely female-ish elements being the eye liner and the jawbone skirt.

Outside of that, it keeps most of the elements from Vullaby in-tact, including the colors, the bald head, the bones, and the neck scruff. This keeps it coherent as one line while establishing unique elements for each evo.

So as a whole, this is a great line. Aside from being pretty unique birds in general, the use of bones is super clever and straightforward to understand. The colors are nice and the personalities are super fun. 5/5 would let them have my bones after I die

[splashink-games]

A Note On... Ann Ultra and the Cyber Neko+ Statues

ANNO: Mutationem is an action platformer by ThinkingStars! Explore a cyberpunk world while fighting the baddies in your way!

This game was a much-needed change from the games I've been recently playing (which were a bunch of management and strategy games). I needed a little action in my life, so to say.

I played the demo of this game way back when, during a Steam Next Fest. And I don't often play demos, but if I remember correctly, a friend had recommended it to me. It was immediately interesting with the style the dev team was going for—half side-scrolling, half 3D exploration.

The art is actually one of the best points of the game because of its unique 2D-3D thing. The cyberpunk world is really cool, especially with the bright lights in the city areas contrasting the derelict combat areas. The character design is awesome. Main/Named characters feel unique and recognizable. Plus all the shiny specials effects!

And everywhere feels rather "lived in", in that nowhere in the game does it feel they added a space without worldbuilding. It shows through the art as well as the documents and posters spread across the maps.

Speaking of documents, the narrative for this game is fairly straightforward. Very mcguffin-chasing, though it allows us to meet a variety of characters before delving into the hidden plotline that we get glimpses of throughout the game. Solid pacing and storytelling!

I also really like the supporting cast. Well, Ayane. Her banter and relationship with Ann very much fills the void in between main story points. It also helps that I found her love for her best friend (that goes as far as calling Ann, "darling") endearing.

Mechanics-wise, I really liked the upgrade systems in this game. The traditional "get skill points when defeating enemies to unlock stuff in your skill tree" is something I missed for a while. It also didn't give me enough to unlock the entire tree, which is surprising, but doesn't hurt the gameplay in any way.

I will say that the melee weapons are a bit unbalanced. Once you get the dual swords (fast weapon with a little less damage), the regular sword is pretty useless (it's slower, with middling damage) because it doesn't have enough upside. And then the two-handed sword is always good/useful because of its armour-breaking.

The ranged weapon, on the other hand, felt very extra because of the melee-focused, low item-usage way I played. Ended up with over 70 magazines of ammo for the small gun despite using it more often than the others. Plus, you don't unlock the last ranged weapon until way near the end. Ultimately, I probably would've had an easier time if I'd used them instead of hitting and running with melee.

Also super surprised that they added input combos for certain abilities in the game. Like left, left, X performed a lunging attack. Didn't expect it, but glad to have some variation in combat that would otherwise end up being button mashing (not that I dislike that sometimes).

Platforming in this game is smooth and you get new movement abilities at a good pace. There's no need to backtrack in this game, which is nice.

ANNO: Mutationem is an awesome platformer that combines 3D exploration with sidescrolling combat!

As always,

Enjoy gaming!