#i put in my basic strategy in the post so others could give it go if they want

[spookyjarchivist]

sometimes i think about how we don’t actually use the hobbit characters real names (and probably more i haven’t done much of a deep dive),, like bilbo’s real name is bilba, we know this, it’s canon, we just call him the fake translation bilbo bc we see that version used throughout the books, ive seen one or two people in fic make their real names their real names in a fake “hobbitish” language and then have their fake names be “westron”-ized outer name versions like the dwarves do, which is a wonderful way to squeeze it in, but it’s a bit weird we never just use their real names, like yeah tolkien was basing it off of the translation style of his time, but it’s also a bit of a translation faux pas nowadays, so theoretically we should be using their real names if we’re in keeping with the evolution of translation standards, which is a very fun way of looking at it, a bit tempted to do some thorough research and make an “updated translation” version of the books, which is wholly unnecessary and no more than a fun novelty item type of thing, but it feels like the exact sort of nonsense tolkien would love, the main things that would change besides names would likely be some turns of phrase or minor words and proper nouns and such

[spread-the-influence]

So when Ragatha has the influence. She turns into an emotionally manipulative lil freak who tricks people into letting her get closer by either acting pathetic and sad or like your best friend there to help.

But WHAT IF someone else had the Influence. And by someone, I mean Pomni. Would she have a different strategy of getting close to people? Would her personality be shifted in the same way? How would Ragatha and the others react? What would a post influence pomni act like? Would Ragatha still have a crush on her?

And most importantly, how goofy would she look making an evil grin with those cool green eyes like Ragatha does.

hoo boy !

well ! there's already an interpretation for influence pomni out there ( the jokester you'll always be famous to me ) but i'll still put down my take

in all essence , the influence is a plot device that gives a character Ringmaster Powers but because the way they attained that power is through Psychological Torment they're Insane by the end of it . so they have a lot of power but since it's created by a Virus it's not permanent and thus is able to be reversed . so like there's a lot you could do if you want to influence another character

i see pomni getting off the high of Being In Control . because she isn't in a sane state of mind she would use it to assert dominance instead of for good . she would be a lot more aggressive in her approach , just outright saying Yeah i'm the new ringmaster now and you guys CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT Now put on a play to entertain me or you're going in the Pit . she's also only infecting everyone just as a way to put a Tracker Inside Of Them , so they can't misbehave or talk shit behind her back because she'll Know .

basically she's going to be worse than ragatha in every way . so of course everyone's going to be very Terrified .

for ragatha , i see her honestly being more creeped out than anything . like this is definitely not the jester she's fallen in love with . not helped by pomni inevitably picking her as the favorite and treating her less harshly compared to everyone .

but i mean there's still some feelings in there

[shirecorn]

Your reindeer designs give me such childish joy I can't wait to see the rest. What's your process (aka any advice) for designing from scratch with something like just a name or concept?

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See more free tutorials!

You can see my process unfold in real time by joining any tier of my patreon discord. Which doesn't even have to go through patreon! If you want, you can just pay me $20 and let you in for a year (and then lose track and probably keep you anyway)

Here's a preview using comet! (nevermind the preview thing I wrote you a whole lecture lol)

initial sketches in 2021:

Revisited in 2022 and 2023

I was constantly asking which design was the weakest, why, and how to fix it. Whenever I tested without the magical comet behind it, people could only guess who comet was by process of elimination.

I didn't want to rely on throwing icons into the design. I wanted each one to communicate through shape and silhouette alone. It would be like drawing a little cherub with a bow and arrow floating along with cupid. If you have to include a nametag to communicate, your design can be improved.

So I tried a few different strategies to say "comet" before I realized I could twist the antlers into any shape I wanted. I was worried I would have to discard the drawing and restart from scratch! Which is what I did for rudolph about 6 times before I had a breakthrough.

Then I gave my patrons a brief lesson in antlers to explain where and why I was placing the tines. When I stray from the caribou structure, I do so knowingly in order to achieve something that cannot be achieved within the caribou shape, like dancer's tutu. Know the rules before you break them. My goal is to make animal nerds (myself chief among them) happy when they see species-specific anatomy instead of cop outs.

I tried a few things before figuring out antlers could become comet

Another thing that often caribou have is an unsymmetrical "spork" that comes forward off only one antler. I figured this out by looking at hundreds of reindeer pictures and saving them to my reference folder. A few of my designs have this, that's what the little spiral is in the final comet antler design.

When I put comet in my lineup, I realized that the antlers I drew were way more stylized, chunky, and "tribal" than the others. I had already changed the proportions on one of my designs to match, so then I had to hack away at the basic comet rack to make it look natural.

I already knew that comet's colors would be easy because a basic reindeer already Has the big comet on the shoulder. But here's a peak at all the reindeer images I posted for my patrons to look at.

As you can see below, I chose reindeer markings for all my designs instead of other deer or animals. Even vixen is tied to actually possible reindeer patterns rather than copy-pasting a fox. Almost all of my designs have light-colored anklets on dark colored legs, which is very common with caribou of any color. This is the sort of thing no one tells you; you have to observe it yourself.

Ft cupid's early design! I was continually testing out my reindeer silhouettes and colors on new people, taking their feedback, and fixing what wasn't clicking.

I know I could have made vixen sexy and curvy to play into a recognizable trope, but I really wanted them to be scary and fox-like. Sometimes you gotta do what you want and not what you think will appeal to audiences. Reindeer Days is a purposeful exercise in audience resonance. Most of my art is 100% me and what I feel like doing with no regards to anyone else. So it was a fun challenge!

My patrons also got to see me making fun of corporate designs for recognizably/cliches at the expense of literally anything good

One of these is going to get a lot more "that must be vixen!" results from people who aren't constantly thinking about animal colors, markings, hunting strategies, and teeth.

And one rocks.

Vixen changed the least from the initial 2021 concept!

A Vixen is a female fox. In english slang, it means a cunning, fierce human woman, and sometimes sexually attractive or promiscuous. Quite often an insult to someone because she won't date you!

But to me, a vixen is an animal. A predator.

When designing to reference something, I like to hit it at multiple angles, referencing obscure trivia about something to delight and educate. This is done by researching a topic deeply, far below surface level and beyond what you think you need to make your design. Or in my case its just knowing a bunch of animal trivia already.

After researching/dredging your knowledge, sit there and Think. Don't draw anything. Come up with several ideas and then throw them all in at once for the ultimate trivia design.

Trivia about red foxes:

They have Long bushy tails

They have teeth that include large sharp canines, flat incisors, triangular premolars, and chunky molars with points on them that slide scissor-like with the molars above to cut meat via chewing

They hunt rodents in burrows under the snow by jumping into the air, arcing, and slamming down with their face through the snow

They are orange

They have a dark vertical stripe on their snout

They have black legs, with the backs and bottoms being orange

Translated into the design:

Pose based on a fox jumping, about to land in the snow

Antlers twisted to resemble teeth

Long (for a reindeer) bushy tail

black mark on snout

Some adjustment to the pose to be at the top of the arc and flow better.

Tinkering with the design to make it recognizable but not 100% copypasta fox

I was finally happy with a design that absolutely showed "fox" while still being creative and plausibly caribou shaped. This would absolutely communicate who it is! I thought!

The most obvious one of the bunch! After all, everyone knows what a vixen is!

Nope! No they do not

Want to be part of the design process, help me with WIPs months before everyone else, see exclusive doodles every day, and join a funky little community?

(you also get to see photos of my dog)

Connect your discord to your patreon and join any tier to automatically get added to the server. Not a fan of patreon or monthly subscriptions? message me here, on ko-fi, or via email (shirecorn.art@ gmail.com) and ask if you can pay $20 to get put in the server for at least a year and longer if we work it out later!

This was supposed to be a preview to get you to pay me but instead I wrote an entire lecture for free because I can't help myself.

Want to thank me for the free info? Tag me when you use what you learned! Comment and give feedback! If I could pay rent with attention I would never need anything else in life.

You can also thank me by tipping my ko-fi! I use it to buy pens since I die if I have caffeine. But could you imagine??

[oneatlatime]

Bitter Work

Life took me out at the knees for a couple of weeks but I'm back! I'm hoping this is a nice restful episode after the relentlessness of The Chase.

I have to say, Toph's nicknaming skills are on point. I never would have thought of Sugarqueen, but it fits perfectly.

This is me. Every morning.

Full nose plant from Appa.

And the beat up Sokka quota is fulfilled. Very funny Toph, but completely uncalled for. If someone had catapulted teenage me 50 feet into the air while I was trying to sleep, it would have been fully justifiable homicide.

Aang is always trying to run before he can walk. What was Iroh always saying to Zuko about basics? Aang needs that speech too.

I was really on the ball in my post about how airbenders aren't homicidal, actually. Rock is a stubborn element. Yay me!

Aang earthbends = Earth bends Aang.

Seriously, how did he mess up that badly?

Cozy.

Thank you Zuko for the incredibly obvious exposition that's somehow completely in character. Interesting to see that Iroh and his son had brown hair, but Zuko seems to have black hair. More hair variety in the Fire Nation than I thought.

Tangent time! I love the contrast in social intelligence (I guess that's the term?) in this scene. Zuko wakes Iroh up with an infodump, some bad tea, and then gets straight to discussing strategy. Iroh's first actions are to compliment the bad tea, then dispose of the refill in a way that won't hurt Zuko's feelings (probably not necessary, as Zuko seems to be the type that's oblivious to all things other than the task at hand when he's focused). Iroh, injured and awake for all of 15 seconds, jumps straight to actions that help look after his nephew. And Zuko is trying! That's why he made tea! But still, he doesn't even ask if his uncle's feeling ok. Zuko has such a massive gap in his education - he can probably reel off the specs of all Fire Nation battleships, but he doesn't know how to be a human person. Contrast that with Iroh, and especially Katara, who makes friends and connections with such aggressive forwardness that she's at times more steamroller than teenage girl. It's funny how privilege plays into this too - Zuko comes from probably the single most privileged (on paper) family in the world, yet it's the children of the impoverished water tribe who have the more well-rounded education/socialisation.

"She's crazy and she needs to go down" go a full belly laugh out of me.

"What if I came at the boulder from a different angle?" Jesus I was REALLY on point with my post about the airbenders. Credit where credit is due, this show has such good writing/worldbuilding that viewers have picked up what Toph is laying out in this episode already. Also a little bit of stealth character work in there - since Toph is putting into words what we've been thinking this whole time, she now reads as trustworthy. This show is so good. So thought out.

Maybe it's just VLC being weird, but methinks Katara is having some trouble with her eyeball.

Katara STOP BABYING HIM. This is why I don't like Aang having a crush on her.

Honestly it's refreshing to have Toph giving it to Aang straight, no softening the blows.

I really like this texture.

Sokka's club is a giant bottle opener. Or at least a multitool.

ROCK SUITS

wait

ELEMENTAL FASHION

oh this is going to be haybending all over again.

They are totally going to have to nerf this girl. She could defeat the Fire Lord right now.

Earth beats water tribe

Someome who knows more about tea than I do: Why are both pots necessary?

"requires peace of mind" well that's out. Sorry Zuko, we'll have to get you a taser instead.

"So we're drinking tea to calm down?" "not it's to get the nasty ass taste of the sludge you brewed out of my mouth. I mean yes." For what's looking like an extended training montage, this episode is far funnier than it needs to be.

I pretty much don't notice Zuko's scar anymore (it's just part of his character design) then every so often a certain frame of animation will come out of the blue and remind me that this kid's missing half his face. I don't know if it's intentional on the part of the animators, but his scar is prominent this episode.

So it sounds like bending lightning actually corresponds with how lightning in our world works. Neat.

In an absolutely Shocking turn of events (pun absolutely intended), Zuko fucks it up. Fucking shit up: the autobiography of a Fire Prince. Has a nice ring to it.

Toph I know you go hard, but maybe apply a sense of proportion to this?

It kind of looks like Aang's about to be run over by a giant scoop of caramel ice cream.

Toph is such an interesting mishmash of bluntness and emotional intelligence. I don't think I've seen a character like that before.

Zuko being self aware for once! Everything always does explode in his face. Except when he's being the Blue Spirit. Seems he's more capable then.

It's a tragedy that this boy wasn't around for the emo movement. He would have single-handedly sustained Hot Topic.

Zuko going "WHAT TURMOIL?!?!?" is like Katara going "I'M COMPLETELY CALM!!!!!" last episode. Also got a laugh out of me.

"I'm as proud as ever." OF WHAT?!?!? What could he possibly be proud of? He's a homeless fugitive with a stolen horse bird and a half-dead uncle that he can't even properly brew tea for. The self-delusion is strong.

Is pride the source of shame? Honest question, I don't know.

There's a surprising variety of trees in this part of the Earth Kingdom. Where Zuko and Iroh are there are fluffly hardwoods, probably deciduous; Toph's training ground is ringed by cartoon pines.

This whole bit is too cute for words.

"Now come back boomerang" This is a training episode, it's not supposed to be this funny!

Are there voice acting awards? Like voice acting oscars? Sokka's actor needs one. Or several.

I should have waited to answer the ask about airbenders and just copy pasted Iroh's speech here. Except for the water = change bit. That doesn't make sense.

What can I possibly say about Iroh's speech? It's the thesis for this show in a single paragraph.

Pretty.

Are characters' eyes a different shape this episode? Aang's eyes change colour all the time, but everyone's eyes seem more cat-like.

I do love me some constructive bullying.

Sokka is so refreshingly self-aware while still totally oblivious. He is meat and sarcasm, but he's so much more!

"Have you got any meat?" He said that in an Irish accent.

"You're gonna pull my fingers off and I don't think the rest of me is coming!" Do you ever come across a sentence that is so obviously an innuendo that your brain trips over itself trying to decipher it?

Sokka's hair must be so fluffy. It's got so much volume.

Why can't he go get Toph? I think being stuck in a hole outranks avoiding an awkward encounter.

FOO FOO CUDDLYPOOPS

"You must not let the lightning pass through your heart, or the damage could be deadly." Foreshadowing?

Today in 'things Zuko thinks it's acceptable, nay, expected, for parental figures to do' - attempted murder as a teaching method! What went on in that palace?

Is this the closest Sokka's come to dying?

He's earthbending the air! Doing air but earthlike. You know what I mean.

I thought she was levitating.

Toph is so smart. She does the airbender thing and comes at the problem from a different angle. Telling Aang to stand up for himself doesn't work? Fine. Let's bully him into standing up for himself. And it works!

This episode's MVP is Sokka's patience.

"You tried the positive reinforcement, didn't you?" uhhhhh sure!

Appa getting vengeance for Sokka. Nice.

Theatre kids.

I wish Zuko would just have the breakdown he's obviously hurtling towards so we can get started on the rebuilding arc. Every time I think he's a rock bottom, he keeps digging.

Luten is Katara. Let's not read too far into that one.

Final Thoughts

I defy any episode from this point on to fulfill the Beat Up Sokka Quota as thoroughly as this one did.

In a lesser show, the 'Aang learns earthbending episode' would have had Aang & Toph as the A-plot, and Sokka & Katara doing something completely unrelated as a b-plot, and probably no Zuko at all. Sokka does have his own thing going on this episode, but the fact that they managed to weave in both water tribe siblings so organically is so satisfying. Of course a team member struggling to learn a new skill would seek out his friends. Of course his friends are in the area, observing the lesson to varying degrees. It feels so much more real to have the characters who aren't 'useful' that episode still there, rather than conveniently absent.

Zuko was very Zuko this episode. He's correct that he needs more training for his inevitable next encounter with Zuko jr., but Iroh is also correct that Zuko is a bundle of issues held together by a different bundle of issues. Not to jinx it, but I thought I detected a hint of self-awareness from Zuko this episode, although it seems to have occurred despite his best efforts to suppress it.

Iroh's Zuko-wrangling skills were sharp this episode, despite being injured. And his wisdom was off the charts. Zuko was also not as annoying as I usually find him, and unlike in Zuko Alone where I found his quieter self to be out of character, it fit this episode. Maybe he's turned over a new, quieter, leaf? I loved "she's crazy and she needs to go down" both as a joke and as a statement. Shared blood doesn't trump someone's actions, and I'm glad to see a show meant for kids acknowledge that. Although, given that this show has no problem depicting objectively BAD parents and families, I can't say I'm surprised.

In a testament to Jack de Sena's skill, Sokka get a soliloquy this episode and pulls it off flawlessly. Kudos to the animation team for making Sokka's face fit the words so well. Double kudos for whoever had the balls to approve 'stick Sokka in a hole and put an apex predator on his head to force self-reflection' as a plotline.

There was a lot of exposition from a lot of different characters this episode, but it's mostly unnoticeable. It just makes sense that that's what they would be talking about at that point in time.

I think I said it above, but I'll say it again: the worldbuilding in this show is phenomenally well done. How do I know this? Because I was able to construct most of Iroh's monologue before watching this episode, just by paying attention. This show rewards focus and attentiveness. (Almost) nothing that Iroh said was not something the audience has already observed for themselves. Not heard, but observed. That 'show, don't tell' thing.

This episode was way funnier than it needed to be too. Not just the obvious stuff like *inhales*

FOO FOO CUDDLYPOOPS

but tiny one-liners buried mid-conversation and character interactions too. Momo turning into a reed didn't have to be there, but it was, and it was funny. It wasn't exactly restful, but it was a relief to have an episode that really didn't move around after The Chase.

What I like most about this episode was that it went farther than it had to. This was a training episode. It could have been just training. Anyone familiar with training episodes would expect just training, and be satisfied with just training. But Avatar said 'nope, we'll do better than that' and organically incorporated a heap of character stuff, worldbuilding from multiple perspectives, humour, multiple characters undergoing self-reflection, the next step in the domestication of Zuko, what I'm hoping wasn't a heap of foreshadowing, and pretty backgrounds as the cherry on top. They didn't have to go so hard, but Avatar always goes hard. I like that.

[biggaybunny]

Thinking again about the original Spyro games and 3D space in games.

The move to 3D was a tough one for platformers. I think we can all agree on that. Even fondly remembered titles from the era of the N64 and the PS1 were known for having tough or clunky platforming controls. Camera problems, awkward character control, issues with depth marking, difficult gaps; there were all sorts of problems. Hell, the platformer genre shrank to near-nonexistence in the coming generations of games; Mario Sunshine for the gamecube, the first 3D mario after 64, is considered one of the weaker entries, despite having gone to extreme lengths to try and compensate for the difficulty of platforming in 3D (they gave you the ability to hover in air and correct missed jumps, this wasn't by accident).

But back to when platformers were first breaking out into 3D, you can see that a lot of different strategies were used to try and compensate for the difficulty introduced by the new dimension. Crash Bandicoot is well-known for its tactic of restricting the player to two dimensions at a time, giving you obstacle courses of various types to run through, but mixing them up between and even within levels so you still felt like you were playing a 3D game. Other games would give you a double jump to help correct yourself, though the examples I can think of were games that came out a little later (like ratchet and clank for the ps2), so they had the benefit of seeing what worked and what didn't for the first wave. Mario 64, interestingly, simply toned down the difficulty of the platforming challenge, as well as the punishment for failure in all but a few areas (mario had never had a life meter in the 2D games, and certainly wouldn't survive falling in lava in those). You might expect me to say "and that's why Mario 64 was more successful" or something, but that's not my point, and honestly, I think discussing that would be beyond the scope of what I'm trying to get at.

So what I'm trying to get at is that the move to 3D required anyone who wanted to make a platformer to think about space. How they wanted to handle space, how they wanted the player to interact with space. For the platformer, space itself, the geometry of the game, is crucial. Now, obviously, every game is affected by its geometry. A shooter is drastically different if enemies can only come at you from a corridor or from any direction. I'm not saying it's not important for other genres, I'm saying it took even greater importance for platformers. Because it's not enough to say, okay, the player can move in any direction. You have to go a step further. How can they move through every direction? What limits them? What details are there to the geometry that aid or impede that? How many directions can they move at any given moment? In a lot of platformers of the day, a lot of the actual challenging platforming sections tended to happen against walls, or in areas where the player had only to move forward and back, or side to side, at one time, neither both at once (you see this in basically everything Rareware made for the n64).

Spyro (remember what I originally said this post was about? lmao) embraced the possibilities of 3D like no other early platformer did, in my opinion. While Crash put up guide rails and Mario slowballed the challenges for you, Spyro was about using the depth and breadth of the 3D world. Other platformers jump vertically, but Spyro went horizontally. Your challenges weren't above you, they were over there. Yes, way over there. In the distance. Yes, all the way over there. You can't translate Spyro back in to 2D because it actually used all 3 dimensions. What you could see, you could get to, and not by walking over there, but by using your skills. For me personally, as a child, I never even saw the draw distance limitations as a downside. Gliding over a vast chasm and watching treasure and enemies "come into view" as I got close was exciting! It was exploration! Seeing a place and figuring out how to get over to it was a challenge. Trying to eyeball a trajectory and see if I'd make it was exciting. It was all made possible by using the distance and depth of the world, and the relative height of regions of the land. The entire 3D landscape was there, for you to traverse in fun and interesting ways.

There were some drawbacks, yes. Missing a jump in a traditional platformer is often something you find out quickly, and you can quickly learn and iterate on your mistakes. Missing a glide in Spyro often wouldn't be apparently until the 14th second of a 15 second glide, and by the time you got back to where you jumped from you couldn't be sure where, exactly, you had jumped from and if you just needed to try again. The level design was also often hit or miss with clueing you in to the existence of hidden jumps. And by necessity, levels had to full of large open gaps most of the time, which often make the world feel empty and kind of eerie. But I think these are all things that could've been solved with a little bit of iterating on them and some cleverness. Just take a look at how well Crash 4 works after the first 3 Crashes kind of hit a wall with their formula.

I really think that even modern entries in the 3d platforming genre struggle to take advantage of the potential of their world as well as the original Spyro did, at least conceptually. It's a shame the series has been mismanaged as badly as it has for as long as it has, but then again, even the original trilogy was getting pretty bad by the 3rd one. It's just a really hard formula to get right, it was probably a lot easier to copy what everyone else at the time was doing and add more gimmicks and minigames and side characters. So instead of getting to explore rich magical landscapes with a unique moveset as a cool little purple dragon, we got to go skateboarding with Hunter.

I fucking hate Hunter.

[greentrickster]

Before Binghe starts actively courting Shizun he realizes that he’s going to have to deal with his most dangerous opponent in this goal: Liu Qingge. He is a powerful adversary who has an (annoying) amount going for him and also those four years Binghe wasn’t there to bond with him. This will take strategy, and a deft hand.

Binghe: (pointing at the third slide of thirty-six slide presentation on why it would be better for Shizun to marry him first) Furthermore, Big Bro Liu is a skilled warrior, but has demonstrated no ability or training in keeping house or entertaining company, both of which are key duties of the first spouse. I, in contrast, have been training for such things my whole life, and would in fact prefer to be the one to handle such things-

(Slide seven gets into how LQG, being a war god, would be better suited for protecting Shizun from enemies and finding him cool monsters via night hunts)

(Slide nine allows for the possibility of LQG taking Shizun along on night hunts, but Binghe gets to come too because he doesn’t trust LQG’s cooking skills)

(Slide fifteen is just “Can you even balance a budget?”, that’s it, that’s the whole slide, it is accompanied by a pointed look and nothing more)

(Slide seventeen gets into how two balance two peak lords being married to each other and living arrangements)

(Slide twenty-two I’m the caretaker, you’re the provider, and Shizun is spoiled rotten, this is how things should be)

(Slide twenty-five admits that Binghe and LQG will probably have to start getting along if they want this to work since Shizun likes both of them)

(Slide twenty-six adds that, as a husband instead of househusband, LQG has 0% right to wearing a character apron. He can have a regular one to help around the house if asked, if he has complaints learn how to do laundry, the character apron is a privilege, not a right)

(Slide twenty-seven puts forth a potential breakdown of timetables for when they should each start courting and how they should support each other in these endeavors)

(Slide thirty-five relents that this is, of course, all hinged on Shizun being willing to marry either of them - Shizun’s word is law)

(Slide thirty-six: Questions?)

Liu Qingge has many questions and much confusion, especially over the fact that Binghe seems to be making some legitimately good points and have some decent ideas in here, especially regarding both their strengths and weaknesses.

And, while I do enjoy a nice throuple with these three, a good ol’ equilateral triangle relationship, in this AU I like the idea of Shen Qingqiu being in romantic relationships with both Binghe and Liu Qingge, and Binghe and Liu Qingge in a queer platonic relationship with each other. The idea of them somehow sliding into this quiet, mutually supportive relationship laced with non-sexual intimacy and shoring up each others’ weaknesses. And Luo Binghe stays home while Liu Qingge comes and goes as he needs and pleases, and they all give and receive different things from each other.

Thinking about it, it might be interesting if Liu QIngge was actually more comfortable with Binghe visiting his dream realm than Shen Qingqiu, just because in his dream realm there’s the whole environment to communicate what he wants to say instead of just words, which he has a hard time with. Possibly Binghe could teach him a little about controlling his personal dream realm, maybe learn how to send messages in dreams so he has a way to call for help if something happens on a mission or night hunt and there’s no one nearby to help him. In return, Liu Qingge helps Binghe re-hone his sword skills (regardless of iteration, this world they live in is dangerous and fighting skills are basically a requirement, even for a househusband), since he and Binghe are both physical cultivators in contrast to Shen Qingqiu’s spiritual cultivation...

...also this was meant to be a semi-humorous post about Binghe trying to get Liu Qingge to go along with his plans via a slideshow, when did it turn into serious relationship development and exploration between the two of them and how this relationship fits into this AU...?

Anyway, point is, these two can be super hot together, but I’ve enamored myself with them quietly leaning on each other in this AU as they care for the man they both love in their own ways.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Thoughts on Taskmaster s18e06, written as I watch it:

- Weirdest banter section yet this season, well done to both Greg and Alex on that one. I’m with Greg, I would also love to have an actual fight with Alex Horne. Also, is there going to be an explanation for why Alex is wearing the pocket coat from the locket task?

- I have now played the video long enough to hear the prize task category. I’m glad they didn’t make us wait long for that explanation.

- Still in awe of the Zaltzman commitment to prize tasks. Not all the prizes have been great, but none have been low effort. This is the second week in a row in which he’s basically brought in a Bugle monologue as his prize; I could see a Bugle opening with a list of ingredients on the elixir of life that include batshittium and dolphins, and a list of warnings about not giving it to pets.

- Baba’s prize – pretty good, amusingly goes with the Little Alex Horne character, but he definitely just told the production staff to make a keychain with a few words on it and no one even bothered to make them look nice. While Andy, I bet at least dictated to the team exactly what the label on the bottle should say, down to the fine print warnings.

- Jack’s prize – better than his previous ones, mostly, though I think he sold it wrong. It’s “most fun thing”. Whoopie cushions are fun with their intended use, you don’t need to pretend they’re some other exercise-based thing. Just say surprising people with that noise is a fun prank.

- What the hell, Emma? Did she bring in two tickets to the cover band that played her wedding? The Bon Jovi cover band? What a weird thing. What fun. And a QR code makes it even more fun, a mystery code in your pocket. And then you get a cover band. Good prize.

- Rosie’s prize – I always like prizes that are really specific to the prize task category. In this case, she was the only one to go with not just a fun thing, but a thing that gets more fun if you put it in a pocket. Good job.

- What fucking part of the theme park is this? No wonder they set so many horror movies in theme parks.

- First thought on hearing the task instructions: it doesn’t say anything about them needing to stay on the bridge. Surely there’s a way to get down there, taking the frying pan with you, in well under fifteen minutes, so you’d have time to look through the fish before putting one in the pan. I mean, if this was filmed after the locket task, they should definitely also know to look around the bridge for dotty fish.

- Update: Yep, just saw Emma find the one on the back of the pan. I enjoyed the excitement on her face upon finding it, the hesitant pride on putting it in the pan, and then the regret of realizing there might be an even better one that she missed. What a journey. I feel like Emma takes us on a lot of journeys in this show.

- Baba is primarily on this show to big up himself, I think. He doesn’t appear to care about winning. He doesn’t appear to have a specific strategy for profile boosting. But he is big upping himself a lot.

- Ohhh, you can make a dotty fish. And I thought I was being clever with the “go pick them up, on the bridge or the track, instead of just fishing” plan. Good one. I was so sure that Andy’s pen would be a red herring, so quite pleased for him when it turned out to be useful.

- And my idea of looking on the bridge was the actual red herring. Fair enough, Alex.

- Love that, to follow up on his prize task that was a lie, Andy has now jumped into the first task with a further lie:

When I'm transcribing Andy Zaltzman quotes for Tumblr posts, I often find myself including the "um" and "uh" in the transcript, and then wondering if I should because normally you'd leave stuff like that out, but with Andy's style of speech, they seem like such an integral part of what he's saying. Glad the Taskmaster subtitler has agreed with my choice to leave them in.

I know, Greg. The Zaltzman lies are sneaky. Although some comedians who've worked with him long enough have the opposite problem, start responding to his statements as though they're all lies and Andy has to clarify "Oh that one was true, actually."

- 657 dots? Holy fuck, Andy. He is here to win.

- You've heard of Jamali Maddix not knowing who Greg Davies is. Now get ready for... Babatunde Aleshe not knowing who Alex Horne is, while filming the tasks with Alex Horne.

- You've heard of, "perform a scene from Taskmaster the Musical" (season 6). You've heard of the nursery rhymes (season 2). Now get ready for, puppets.

- Heh. Jack implied "cunt".

- You know, I was going to say I think Jack Dee should be marked down because I never like it when a task attempt is significantly improved by the editing, as this one was, with their farm background. But then they zoomed out and took out the added background, and we can see that Jack did actually make a set and the puppet, so well done. Also that was quite a good sketch for that short a time.

- I like Greg this season, I feel like he gets to be a bit more fun lately. Seems slightly less tied to the autocue. Like there have been a few seasons where it seems like they were marketing his "The Taskmaster" character so hard that they'd just stick really Taskmaster-y lines on the autocue but that had become the extent of him being funny. I assume jumping on Alex after getting him to lean in close wasn't on the autocue. That was funny. Greg should do more stuff.

- Look. I know this is funny.

Anyone with any kind of sense of humour would laugh out loud upon seeing the above screenshot. But what I cannot quite explain is why, upon the first reveal of that image, I absolutely lost my breath from laughing, probably harder than Taskmaster has made me laugh since Sam Campbell in season 16. Holy fuck. Andy.

It was the subversion of expectations. When they said "Pidgeor" I assumed it would be something fucking weird, because it's Andy and inventing weird shit is his thing, so I was trying to picture in my head what little creature he'd create. I was picturing a combination of the Pokemon Pidgey, and Pliny from Lee & Herring. And then they reveal this. Those gloves don't fit right. Where the fuck did he find that mask? Has there always been a cape there? Fucking hell. Andy. You've outdone yourself.

- I can't get over this guy.

On the subject of giving credit to editing vs. the comedian, I found myself briefly wondering how Andy made his voice all echo-y like that, before I remembered about the existence of post-production. My brain's initial reaction to the voice is to assume Andy can just do that.

- This is the funniest shit I've ever seen.

Why did Lee & Herring get the big TV show for their bird puppet? It should have gone to Andy Zaltzman.

- Jesus, Emma's puppet is creepy. I did not know someone could make their own hand look so creepy. I think the fact that it's very clearly a rubber cleaning glove somehow makes it worse, but I don't know why.

- Well, Emma's had several tasks where she's tried to get off with Greg, and one where she tried it with Andy and Baba. Nice that she's gone for one with Alex too.

- By comparison to the others, Baba sticking a sock on his hand and telling kids to deal drugs seems pretty tame. It's also funny to me that he's the first to put an actual sock on his hand.

- The first but not the only, I see. I want to know how fast Rosie had the idea to put actual sticky brown stuff on her hand, in addition to the fabric-based poo, because I don't think most people would come up with that, and that really sells it. Well done.

- Well, it's been a while since we've had straight-up gross-out humour on Taskmaster. Alex getting that stuff all over his face has to count. Always expanding the humour sources on here.

- Fucking hell, that was a great task. That has to go down as an all-time Taskmaster classic. A rare one where every single creative effort was strong. That was so much fun.

- Another Taskmaster escape room. I have never done an escape room and never had the desire to do one, but I do enjoy watching comedians do them.

- I think this is the first time I've noticed a disability accommodation for Rosie in the filmed tasks. Though I might just be unobservant, as it took me until halfway through the season to notice that they gave the contestants chairs with arms for the first time, presumably to help Rosie balance in the studio. Either way, any disability adaptation has been quite unobtrusive, so that's cool.

- Ah, I now see why they had to specifically show us this particular disability accommodation, that Alex was cutting wires for Rosie. Because he fucked it up at the end. That's an interesting situation. Not fair to penalize Rosie for that.

- Yeah, Greg's right. You can't mark her down. I've not stopped to write stuff much during that task because there isn't all that much to say about the escape room stuff, even though I enjoy watching it. But I will say: absolutely not fair to penalize Rosie because Alex was being annoying. She could probably have cut the wire herself in 8 seconds.

I do have to admit, Jack was quite funny in this task. Solving it fast but being bloody annoyed about it.

- Damn, Zaltzman is killing it in this episode. Won that one too.

- So it's that season 13 live task but with a job instead of a name. Cool, I don't mind at all when Alex finds a workaround to essentially repeat tasks that are good enough to deserve repetition (which that season 13 one definitely was). This will be fun. It's been a while since they've brought in NPCs for the contestants to play off, I feel like they used to do that more often. I miss Fred the Swede.

- Oh shit, it was Quentin! I didn't realize it was the same guy until they said his name at the end! Oh that is fun! I can't tell whether Andy was intentionally calling back to another previous task, with his anesthetist guess (probably not). That's great, they've established another running NPC. Quite funny that it's the second time on Taskmaster they've been desperately trying to guess what type of doctor someone is. Also funny that it took over 75 questions in season 13 to find his name, while in this one, they almost immediately, mostly accidentally, stumbled upon his field of work.

- That is the second episode in a row that'll go down as one of my all-time favourites. Fucking amazing. God this season is good.

[moonyasnow]

*spinning the wheel trying to decide who to ask what about for the relationship asks*

How about for leomoe:

Who is the one who fusses the most? Does their S/O mind very much?

Which one of them gives "that look" when they other is acting like a fool?

Artemil:

What's an insecurity they hold about their relationship?

Is there a word or gesture that makes either of them melt?

And Mallina:

Who is clingy?

What is a song that reminds you of the OCs' relationship?

Feel free to pick and choose if this is too many!

Here are all the questions being referred to

Hi Ner~!! Thanks very much for the questions ^^ (I love yapping so much—) And given that I'd already finished answering all those questions my friend challenged me to answer by the time you wrote that comment about it (just waiting to post it until after the Birthday Event is done) It's clear no questions are ever too many for me >:)

And spinning a wheel is a really smart way of doing it! Honestly I myself got a bit overwhelmed seeing the list of all the ships lol

For the Leomoe questions:

Who is the one who fusses the most? Does their S/O mind very much?

And

Which one of them gives "that look" when they other is acting like a fool?

100% Tomoe on both

She is on a MISSION to try to somehow sneak vegetables into any food she cooks for him because they're necessary for a healthy diet. Or she'll tell him to go take a shower after Magift/Spelldrive practice, or she herself will brush his hair so it doesn't get knots. While Leona might act all 'ugh annoying' about it, he's not used to having someone fuss about him like that, at least not from a place of genuine care, so he doesn't mind it. If he did, he would've made it WAY more clear a long time ago.

And when Leona is being particularly rude to someone, she'll put her hands on her hips and pout slightly and just say "Leona!", her way of telling him off if he neglects his manners too much. For as much as she's never minded his lack of manners, she's very aware that at a certain level of rudeness, it's just a conscious choice rather than not paying attention to etiquette. So she does try to stop him when he takes it too far, when he's going out of his way to be rude to someone.

And the better she gets to know him, the better she learns ways to basically trick him into taking better care of himself or being less mean to people; take actions that will lead to him basically having no choice.

It just ends up becoming another 'game' they play with each other, another battle of wits and strategy they engage in on the regular. Though if Leona really minded it as much as he acts like he does, he'd be trying way harder to 'win' said 'games', or just ignore them entirely.

Artemil~

What's an insecurity they hold about their relationship?

For Artemisia, it's her health issues.

She's worried she'll end up another person he'd be forced to take care of, like with Kalim.

When she gets sick, which isn't uncommon due to her weakened immune system, she feels guilty when Jamil takes care of her, and worried she's bothering him, even though how often she gets sick isn't something she can control.

She's trying her best to become more independent, but her frail body isn't something she has control over.

For Jamil, it's the fact that Artemisia is an actual Seven-damned princess.

And he's a slave in all but name.

No matter how much they like each other and get along, and are even good for each other, a lifetime being taught to always serve those of higher rank than you doesn't go away over night. The notion of him needing to always mind himself around her goes away fairly quickly, especially as he learns she likes the real him. But the little voice he hears in the back of his mind when he gets when he's 'too familiar' with her, or he teases her, tells him that he's doing something he's not supposed to. That he's overstepping his station somehow.

And even if they can find a way to be together long term, he could never offer her as luxurious a life as she'd be leaving behind to be with him.

Is there a word or gesture that makes either of them melt?

For Artemisia, it's Jamil calling her any synonym of pretty.

Growing up, before she really knew anything else about herself, she knew she was 'ugly', because she was taught that she was, in the way people would look at and speak of her, sometimes not even behind her back. It doesn't help that her mother never really helped with her self-confidence at all, especially not in that area.

It's so bad that she refuses to have any kind of mirror in her room. She avoids reflective surfaces like the plague. The reason she refuses to wear anything but pastel turquoise and pastel green is because she thinks all other colors in some way draws attention to her features. So her color choices are her wanting to drown herself out in them.

I think at first she thought Jamil just didn't care at all about her appearance; and to her that was good enough, just because she was never really expecting that anyone could actually look at her and think she was beautiful.

So when Jamil says she's beautiful, with a tone of voice as though it's something she should be well aware of, even when she eventually starts getting more used to it she can't help but ask "Really?" just to hear him say it again.

And for Jamil, the thing that comes to mind first is from before he even finds out she likes him; the fact that, whenever she spotted him, her face visibly lit up, and she almost always tried to go over to speak to him as soon as she did.

Sometimes she'd show up in Scarabia, even despite the sun, with Kalim acting as her tour guide of sorts. She'd always look so neutral, but as soon as she saw him it was like there were stars in her eyes.

So yeah I think seeing how happy she always was to see him, and how much she genuinely wanted to spend time with him— and only him, never sparing a single glance at Kalim when she didn't need to— was an important part in him falling for her.

She never seemed that excited to be around anyone else. In fact, she even seemed to want to avoid most people.

And as their relationship progresses, I think what makes him melt the most is the fact that she lets him touch her often, and even likes it. Since she has such sensitive skin and sense of touch, being touched by others is often overwhelming for her and uncomfortable. But when he holds her hand or puts his arm around her, she leans into it.

And finally, Mallina!

Who is clingy?

B O T H

I cannot state this enough

They are both INCREDIBLY clingy with each other.

And in a way, I think that's part of why they work so well together. They're both used to always being the more clingy one in their relationships (maybe with Malleus and Sebek being the one exception) and there's just something so comforting about finding someone who's just as clingy as you. Because for Irina, and probably for Malleus too, they're clingy with things and people they love. So how clingy they are with each other, weirdly enough, makes both feel more secure in the relationship? Because both of them see it as a form of affection, always wanting to be by the other's side.

Irina has definitely had trouble in the past because her friends have called her 'too intense' in showing her love for them or being 'too clingy', to the point where she forced herself to hold so, so much back, just in an effort to make them stay. So to her, this is the first relationship she's ever had, whether platonic or romantic, where that side of her is not even just accepted, or even embraced, but also returned in full.

And for Malleus, Irina clinging to him so tightly is just more proof that she really isn't afraid of him at all.

What is a song that reminds you of the OCs' relationship?

And as for this question...

I always come back to 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri~

Tag list: @another-random-paradise @thehollowwriter @faefum @cactus13-rolloflammesimp @beneathsakurashade

@nyx-of-night @theolivetree123 @babyghoul138 @skibidibabygirl @screamintoad

Please let me know if you wanna be added or removed from the tag list! ^^

[literaticat]

hi jenn! im in the very fortunate position of having multiple offers on my book. what sort of questions/things should i look out for to choose between—what seems like—two stellar agents? thanks!

Congratulations! That's definitely a "champagne problem" :D

The other day (week? idk) I wrote a post about what you might expect on "the call" with a potential agent, and there was a link in there to potential questions to ask. (There is LOTS and LOTS of advice on the internet about what to ask a literary agent, too, so I won't reinvent the wheel by writing it all down here!)

Basically, though, just go into each call with an open mind and see what they have to say. You can by all means have a list of questions like the ones in that link above -- but I bet they will answer many of them before you even have the chance to ask. You can absolutely compare and contrast their agency agreements. You can absolutely ask to be connected to a couple of each of their clients to ask them what THEIR experience has been. (Caveat that obviously they aren't gonna give you the info for people who hate them, so it's likely the clients will give nice recommendations -- but still, it's useful to hear!)

Remember that this is about YOU and YOUR needs and YOUR book. So don't base a decision solely on "this agent/agency is more flashy" or "this agent is more internet famous" or whatever -- I'd listen to them both and see if you like their communication style and agree with their assessment of the book. Does one of them seem to "get it" more than the other? Is one of them more "editorial" than the other (and do you WANT that)? Does one of them have a big track record in that kind of book specifically? What are their thoughts about a strategy for YOUR book?

Let's say one of them says, "oh, this will sell for six figures tomorrow, I'd send it out as is" and the other one says "well, I think this needs some revisions" -- the first one, I'd raise my eyebrow at a little, tbh, because I don't give a shit who you are, NOBODY can guarantee that a book will sell quickly and for a large pile of money. (In THIS economy???) -- the second one, I'd want to know what kind of revisions -- major, minor? Do you agree with the general thrust of them? Do they, in talking about the book, seem to be nailing things that you have actually thought about already? IF SO, that would make me feel like... yeah, they are probably right! And I'd lean toward Agent 2 in that scenario. If, on the other hand, I really wasn't feeling the revision they mentioned, maybe that would make me lean toward Agent 1 -- I'd just temper my expectations by putting a large grain of salt on the "six figures tomorrow" business! ;-)

After you talk to them both about themselves and their agency and their feelings on the book, and you've asked every question you can think of or find online, and you've compared their agency agreements, and you've spoken to their clients -- well, it could be that they are both perfectly excellent in the exact same ways -- but I'll BET they are both excellent in slightly different ways. So sleep on it. What does your gut say? Does one just FEEL right to you?

(If after ALL that you truly can't decide, well, they both must be great, so really, it'll be fine either way! So at that point, I guess you do what I do when I'm trying to decide what to eat for dinner. Get a coin. Agent A is heads, Agent B is tails. Flip it. Whichever way it lands, what's your instant reaction? Do you feel satisfied? Or kinda disappointed? That's your answer!)

Good luck! Yay!

[yakuzabrainrotlive]

Couldn't play Y4 today because I was studying and taking care of irl stuff, so I'll just write my Akiyama first impressions post now, as promised! I've played up to the first cutscene with "Lily".

This was supposed to be, like, a surface-level thing where I kinda guess stuff and do some basic observations, but according to Microsoft Word I got... around 1200+ words deep. So yeah. Good for you guys who like to read my rablings that I didn't take my meds today! But also... this IS my unmedicated self's ramblings, written at 10-11pm so... (attempt to) read at your own peril!

For those of you who want the short version, TL;DR is provided (and highly recommended) at the bottom!

So, Akiyama! What a guy.

-He's low-energy and has trouble taking care of himself, his work and his surroundings (laid-back or depressed? maybe it's a little bit of both - as a treat. Maybe executive dysfunction?). This is clear in how messy his office is, how Hana reminds him to eat and brought him lunch (implying he regularly forgets to, or just doesn't eat), and how it seems to be a common occurence that she has to encourage him to do his work. And yet, despite the chill vibes and slow pace he keeps, he manages to also be chaotic in the way that he's unpredictable to those around him, in terms of his business strategy, and in how he makes quick decisions on the spot – ones that don’t make sense to people around him, based on what they (think) they know about him.

-In front of most people, Akiyama pretends to be all laid-back and just this… guy who just does his own thing because he’s quirky and doesn’t care, but he's not fooling me at all; he cares, and he cares a lot. About many people. He's literally looking after the homeless in town - so much so that they feel safe enough to let him into their space to have a chat and drink with them, and ask him for things.

^This is probably no small feat, considering how the homeless are treated in Kamurocho (there's literally groups who hunt them for shits and giggles) and how uncertain things are for them in general in that area. They seemed genuinely happy to see Akiyama.

-Now, an argument could be made that he's doing it for his own benefit: having the homeless population on your side can be an advantage (for example: the Florist used them for discreet info gathering), but... I don't see it. I think it’s because he’s been there and he feels a great amount of empathy for them. Now. Why do I think he wants to have a mask of indifference in the first place? Well, to put it simply - shit’s dangerous. He has enemies in the money lending industry, which probably includes numerous Yakuza groups too. Can’t be caught caring, y’know. Both for his sake, and theirs.

-And so. We get to the neon yellow elephant in the room that has to be addressed; the way he handles his loans. I think Akiyama only takes on clients who he sees as either A: having the potential to make it big - the ones he can later maybe benefit from, or who he simply sees as benefitting from his loans the most, or B: - heavily speculating here - good? (decent?) people who are down on their luck. Ones who, he thinks, deserve a second chance, people who don't have anyone else to ask for help. If he was in the business for money and other benefits alone, he’d be charging interest out the ass like all the others, but he doesn’t. He merely tests people to make sure they don’t grab the money and leave the country, or waste it and never pay him back. He wants to see these people succeed – at least the ones he thinks will use the money to get back on their feet or to become successful, that is. People who could be more, who could FLOURISH, had they some extra help from outside. The tests including stuff like volunteering and caring for the elderly further point to a possible more altruistic side to his business.

He can't just go giving money out - he'd go out of business very fast. So he lends, with no interest. Just a test of trustworthiness, and terms that he finds will give him some benefit back, as well. He is running a business here, so him wanting to get something back from the customers instead of them paying interest is fair. Terms will also motivate the lendees keep themselves on the right track AND probably ward off the worst of the bunch, the ones looking for the easiest, quickest money they can get.

-People genuinely think Akiyama is weird - crazy, even - because of how he runs his business, and he seems totally fine with that. Which further makes me believe he’s purposefully built up this a mask of an uncaring and sort of ...unhinged man. He could explain himself and openly state the goals he has for the clients to dispel this negative, 'crazy person' image people have of him. But... that’d just be suicide; he’d openly admit to competitors/enemies that he has people he cares about and that he wants to see his lendees succeed. That’d be like ASKING for extortion and for terrible things to happen to the people who have visited his business in the past or who will do so in the future.

-He's good at keeping his cards close to his chest, too: in one cutscene people wonder why lendees don't ever lend from him twice. And what's the answer to the question that we hear? Something to the effect of "I don't know. They probably wanna avoid interacting with that nutjob ever again". People have NO idea why he does things the way he does. They know he lends money to people he sees as having potential to succeed in the future, but they don't even consider the possibility that some lendees he's simply helping get back on their feet.

-As for his goals? No clue! Besides keeping the business running, I don’t feel like I have enough information on him to parse any long-term goals out of this guy. Maybe keeping Kamurocho as chill as it can be? To prevent unnecessary bloodshed? He did go out out of his way to settle the dispute between the… the uhh… *has to google the name* the Kanemura peeps and Ueno to prevent escalation of the situation? But then again, Arai seems to have been a long-time friend, so maybe it was just to make things easier for him? As of now, he doesn’t feel particularly ambitious.

As for speculation on his background? Since my facial memory (even for fictional characters) is total garbage, I’m not 100 % sure, but I think maybe he was in the photograph that was in his drawer? He seemed quite well-off in that one. So how does he end up homeless? I feel like he either joined the yakuza and the family he joined disbanded, leaving him with nothing. OR he suffered a career- or family-related setback that landed him on the streets? Him being ex-yakuza would make sense since he seems to be quite informed on all the relevant lore and relations between families. But he also DOES work quite close to the... darker side of things with his business being what it is. But... he also fights very well. We’ll see! Maybe they explained it aready? If they did, am sorry! I was playing the game too late into the night so I was kinda eepy towards the end. Gonna re-watch the cutscenes from late chapter 1 and early chapter 2 when I keep playing.

Now, any relation to characters from previous games I wanna speculate on? I don’t see any real reason to think he knows Kiryu; he only referred to him with his DoD moniker and didn’t seem too interested or thoughtful about it. It was just him referring to a famous person. Majima? Don’t see it either. Anyone else? I don’t really have any reason to think he knows anyone from the past games as of now.

TL;DR:

According to my, at-times very faulty, sensors that are prone to overcooking:

Akiyama is a kind person trying to give others the second chance they deserve (as he himself got), while also trying to disguise himself as a chronic IDGAFer at the same time because he has enemies. He's a kind man living in a world that tears people like him apart.

Mans is probably depressed or at least suffers from executive dysfunction or like... low blood iron levels, based on how low-energy he is and how little he seems to look after himself and his office, and how he seems to have a tendency to… go at his own pace at work. Hana keeps (or at least tries to keep) him functional - or that’s what it seems like, at least.

He probably offers loans based on if he thinks lendees will get back on their feet, or if the loan will make them flourish business-wise.

Ended up homeless, maybe because he was ex-yakuza or because of a setback in a civilian career or family life.

Can’t say how he ties to characters from previous games, or if he even does at all. Besides Nishiki unknowingly acting as form of divine monetary intervention, that is.

[starryjkoo]

Alright, not to get too caught up in the MHJ drama, but I’m crying because I just reread my now deleted post-Golden rant complaining about BSH, SB, and my issues with their strategy and I got to this part

😭😭😭

No but I was right. Say what you want about MHJ, but NewJean’s was truly HYBE's only other major success outside of BTS and it had nothing to do with BangPD and it turns out that it absolutely did piss him off LMAO. I knew it. You don't have to believe everything she says, but the elevator thing was basically confirmed and there's no normal, well adjusted adult who would ignore young girls like that if they weren't an immature, petty asshole.

Not to be messy and reopen this can of worms, but it does make me think it's even more likely that he might have been a little bitter over LC hitting #1 considering he couldn't take credit for it. He had that whole article in billboard that came out around the same time talking about how they were going to get the next #1 through their connections or infrastructure or however he put it, which was clearly referencing SB & HYBE America. I think he was trying to make it seem like this whole Scooter A&R strategy was ingenious and vital to Western success based on how hard they kept pushing and talking it up. So if MHJ was telling any amount of truth about his attitude and how he acted towards NWJN's, I just can't help but feel like he must have felt at least a LITTLE negatively about LC hitting that #1 right after he was talking such a big game about how his system (that he spent a billion dollars on) was going to be vital to that next #1.

LC was a Korean song Jimin made with a small in-house team so it must have been a little embarrassing for him to say all that to billboard (and probably investors lol) and have it be immediately invalidated. And LC so clearly demonstrated that BTS and the members could still pull off these big feats without him or his ideas and massive investment and personal involvement. And yeah, billboard did target LC right after that to try and smear it's success, but I think this argument still holds up. Especially because if LC was given any extra care or support it could have kept charting. And what billboard did in it's second week was insanely dirty.

(I’m not saying he was MAD about it, or that he didn’t talk it up to investors after, or that he sabotaged Jimin like a vengeful cartoon villain, I’m just being petty and speculating and saying I don’t think he was thrilled about it considering the circumstances)

Likewise NewJean's released music that did have a good chunk of English but was still Korean, and they managed to break a bunch of girlgroup billboard records as well, and that's ANOTHER project that BSH didn't have his hands on at all. In fact it was one he didn't believe in. Yes, ILLIT broke their record for getting their debut song on billboard quicker, however BSH followed the formula that MHJ created and apparently didn't even consult her or give her any credit while creating a group that was clearly inspired by her work (I genuinely love ILLIT and think they have their own identity! But they do follow the formula that MHJ popularized). So it's not like he got another group on billboard with his genius, it was again just following a formula someone else created (Magnetic was a bop and I loved the whole EP, so I'll give him that!).

I honestly don't even know what SB brings to the table that's so helpful because all they need for a pop song to succeed is basic charting tools like CDs and remixes and playlisting, which they could get before him, and basic decent promotions for visibility. And he's not doing anything interesting or helpful for the non-pop releases even though there's a massive market here for indie, alternative, R&B, and rap. Why wasn't CBTM on college stations? He's useless because the pop releases don't even need much to be successful. And none of JKs promotions were new or unique or something they couldn't have gotten before SB either. And if he's doing something else behind the scenes, I don't think that's worth it either.

JK did have more GP tuning in, but his solo debut was still heavily carried by ARMYs who took advantage of every provided tool, so nothing revolutionary they couldn't have accomplished pre-SB. It wouldn't have worked for anyone else like I said before either, a good example being TXT and their Jo Bros collab which flopped. BSH was all overconfident (top 10 on billboard lol) about it because he thought the secret to success was simply - western producer, western collab, english - but their fans didn't care for the song and therefore it didn't do well. So yeah, at the end of the day it's about good music and/or having a big fandom willing to carry (and that very rare charisma the BTS members have). Not whatever stupid synergy strategy BSH thought he unlocked. Honestly I wonder if he's really that stupid to think that they could get a hit with just those things, but I'm starting to think so. Genuinely what good decision has he made lately that wasn't just following trends?

Won't rehash everything again but this MHJ drama did make me look back on all this discourse even though I swore I was done with it. I'm not as bothered by all of this now, I just think it's interesting to look back on and compare some of her criticisms of HYBE & BSH to many of our own criticisms and speculation. While I take her words with a massive grain of salt, I do think there's a lot of outside evidence to back up some of her claims about the company and their issues (and I'm not her fan or excusing her actions or saying she's always truthful either).

Of course I could be totally wrong, just my thoughts. I'll go back to looking forward to Jin returning and upcoming projects because at the end of the day the BTS members are the ones responsible for their own careers and they have to be the ones to advocate for themselves and deal with their company, but the plus side of this situation is that I hope at least some K-ARMYs are approaching the company with more scrutiny and hopefully holding them accountable for certain things, although I won't hold my breath. It was hilarious seeing HYBE's quick response to their complaints about Jin's hug event though. I wish I-ARMYs would stop being such company stans (you can criticize HYBE/BH without being a manti you know) but not getting my hopes up.

I just sincerely hope that this whole SB creative strategy won't carry over into BTS music, or any more of their solo work. I wouldn’t care if the quality was there, but imo it’s too inconsistent (I definitely enjoy most of Golden! Seven is a bop, SNTY is 10/10). It’s not about creating art or good music for them, it’s about trying to design a song that they think will chart. And songs like that will almost always lack in some way. So I hope this doesn’t become a pattern and the members retain their creative freedom and recognize that they definitely do not need to rely on those people for a hit (ofc unless the want to work with them).

[straw-beret]

what's up with the pacman machine in the link click opening?

well friends, I'm about to cobble together some information that is so irrelevant to the main plot!!

(also: i came up with this theory prior to episode 11 coming out, but when it did, it only really solidified it for me).

more under the cut :) and spoilers for the most recent episode of link click (episode 11 season 2)

if you know me from my most recent link click post, you'll know i am unnaturally obsessed with the claw machines of the season 2 opening.

But wait, what's that third machine in the middle? The yellow-ish one that's sort of dimly lit?

it's a fucking pacman arcade machine.

a pacman arcade machine that doesn't appear in the show itself.

being me, i had to go on the most unnecessary deep dive into what the hell the relevancy of this pacman machine could be. it's jammed between two of the claw machines in the intro but mysteriously absent in the episode itself. and while i don't have an explanation for THAT (if anyone has an idea, pls lmk!!), i do have some info on the game.

when you start up a game of pacman, this is the general visual you're going to get:

In my opinion, the most important thing to note is the colours of the ghosts. Notice we've got three in that box: blue, pink, and orange. And outside we have red. Do these colours happen to remind you of anything— or rather, anyone?

that's right. the link clickers are the ghosts in Pacman.

All jokes aside, I do think there's at least a bit of merit in this observation. Because red— i.e. qiao ling, is isolated from the power users.

(pink could be either of the Li twins, for convenience's sake i'm just going to assume it's Tianxi for one bit of speculation i'll explain later).

Why isolate one of the three original mains from the other two, and instead have a new character take her place?

Because, as I speculated before in my claw machine theory, qiao ling is not safe!!! in both the claw machines and Pacman, the symbol/motif associated with Qiao Ling has been positioned on the outside of the box.

Now, a character being in the box doesn't guarantee safety, you'll know this especially if you've seen the most recent ep (s2e11) and the trailer for ep12. However, it does provide something of a line of defence— i.e. the box is sort of a symbol for the fact that CXS, LG and LTX are power users.

Qiao Ling was the very first person to get possessed by red eyes, she is the most 'vulnerable' of the OG 3 in that sense. aside from her martial arts realness, she can't defend herself on a supernatural level. she no way of teleporting out of a fight like CXS or seeing into the future to predict her opponent's moves like LG could.

qiao ling, as a normie, is isolated from the power users and thus more at risk to being harmed by the enemy. For the ghosts, it's Pacman, and for the link clickers, it's this motherfucker:

crustlord of the century Qian Jin.

I think pacman is supposed to symbolise him on account of 1. the yellow eyes and 2. the fact that he's out to get basically every single one of the ghosts:

QL

CXS

LG

LTX

Hence why this theory works a lot better with LTX as the pink ghost instead of LTC— Tianxi betrayed QJ, and the one thing he hates most is betrayal.

I feel as though the AI patterns of the Pacman ghosts sort of align with this too:

"Each of the four ghosts has their own unique artificial intelligence (A.I.), or "personality": Blinky (Red) gives direct chase to Pac-Man; Pinky (pink) and Inky (blue) try to position themselves in front of Pac-Man, usually by cornering him; and Clyde (orange) will switch between chasing Pac-Man and fleeing from him"

"Each ghost's name gives a hint to its strategy for tracking down Pac-Man: Blinky always chases Pac-Man, Pinky tries to get ahead of him, Inky uses a more complicated strategy to zero in on him, and Clyde alternates between chasing him and running away."

^^ those two quotes are from the Pacman wikipedia page, a robust source indeed. in the first quote I put the colours of the ghosts in bold and by their proper names for reference.

If we assume Pacman is QJ and Red ghost is QL, and we remember how she bitch slapped QJ in episode 3 season 2:

I'd say that at the very least the AI behaviour + QL's actions are somewhat correlated. And i'd say that the AI behaviour of the other ghosts lines up with their respective characters, LG being strategic and CXS being a bit more chaotic in his approach. As for Xixi, well, we kind of haven't seen enough of her to say.

but "via," i hear you say, "Li Tianxi got fucking murk'd in episode 11, AND she's the one with red eyes! why isn't she the red ghost, and not qiao ling?"

I see you and I hear you. Both QL and LTX have associations with both red and pink, and in fact upon first coming up with this theory i thought LTX was the red ghost as well. But considering the placement of the Pacman machine (between the claw machines+around the rabbits, see my previous post for details on the stuffed rabbits and their relevancy) as well as official art and in-show costuming, I figured that it made more narrative sense (and theory sense) for QL to be the red ghost. Plus she's just more heavily associated with red than either of the Li twins, who are costumed in more light pastels

for reference, I put TC both in and out of drag above^^ and in his xixi cosplay, he wears almost entirely pink.

back to the theory. Qiao Ling's ghost is on the outside; and the stuffed rabbits that I'm almost positive symbolise her are piled on the outside of the claw machines. Surely this isn't a coincidence, right?

this all comes back to my theory that Qiao Ling, as the outsider of the group, the only one without powers, and the last to be informed of all the supernatural happenings, is going to meet a certain fate either by the end of s2 or around the start of s3. And I think the show has tried to set it up from the start.

Although Qiao Ling didn't become incredibly plot significant until I'd say about halfway through S1, we saw a few glimpses of her that were framed to highlight her vulnerability. Off the top of my head, I can definitely think of the horror-movie esque way s1e3 opened, where a strange man, later revealed to be Chen Xiao, approaches her from behind after appearing in a dark alley. Plus there is of course, her possession by LTC in s1e11. So from the get-go, she is framed as the odd one out of the main 3, and the most at risk.

then we get to the intro of s2, with the stuffed rabbits and the pacman machine, and it starts to come together, as stupid as that may sound. the writers are foreshadowing that something is gonna happen to Qiao Ling, and given the way everything connects, I'm of the opinion it could be death, or possibly grave injury.

that's all i've really got to say! curious as to what others might think of this, because it's all founded on the colours of a fckin Pacman game lol.

_

having seen the e12 trailer for s2 and qiao ling looking like she was gaining a power, I wonder how the finale is going to play out and if it will fit with the visuals and symbolism in the intro. oh well, we'll see!

also good LORD these posts take a long time to make!! let me know what you think, and also if you've got any clue as to why the Pacman machine appears in the intro but not the episode. Maybe IP reasons, although i don't see why they'd end up including it at all in the intro if copyright or IP was a concern. anyways, that's all!

[myimaginarywonderland]

F1 is killing itself. It started years ago and it has continued on ever since.

How you might ask? Well for starters let's talk about broadcasting. I can only speak for my country (Germany) but F1 has been taken off any market and made an exclusive Sky sports product. Which is terrible considering it was basically never before behind a pay wall and the TV commentator team had been there for such a long time that even my parents/grandparents knew about them. When you have such a well established commentary team and then not only take that away but also basically put F1 behind a paywall, you are going to lose viewers.

Then, F1 marketing has someone been some of the worst it has been in years. In theory when you have something like DTS it should be an opportunity, a chance to show some of the behind the scenes. Instead, what you get when you watch it is made up drama, fake rivalries etc. Yes it might attract viewers but it gives a compleltly wrong picture of the sport and almost all of the drivers.

Adding onto that, there's the Vegas GP. I think everyone knows that Monaco is prestigious, the F1 track that is probably most considered flashy but F1 is trying to do that with the Vegas GP. Why? No one knows. Also no one cares. The reason why most people are excited wasn't even the race, it was because a driver who currently isn't even driving wanted to have a race there. Fans do not look forward to racing there, instead the most anticipated thing is the stories that might happen outside of all racing. That tells you everything you need to know about that GP. Yeah, they want to attract viewers with it and visitors and oh, what was that? No one in their normal life could afford those tickets. Yeah, that's what I thought. Going to F1 GPs has become so expensive that many people can't even afford it and adding even more expensive venues to that is not going to help in any way.

While we are already talking about GPs, how about we acknowledge the fact that having the current season is absolutely insane? Not only are there's weird small gaps between races not enough to give drivers a rest, we also are harming the mechanics life more and more by basically not allowing them to see their family or be able to take a break. Not to mention how insane the spread out of races is to make them even more inaccessible and environmentally damaging.

While are already talking about tracks, maybe it's time to acknowledge that this calendar is for the most part boring? Sure there are some good tracks but by removing so many beloved tracks that have brought actual great racing, F1 is further digging itself a deeper hole. And also, don't call yourself a world championship when we still have no races in Africa. (I will mourn this until it changes especially now having seen with Formula E how well the Cape Town race was visitied.)

We could also talk about other things like how a crash that could have killed a driver should not be nominated for any award or how Abu Dhabi was a fundamental moment that marked the sport priorizing spectacle over safety but that's just going to make this post longer and longer.

So, let's talk about why we removing free practice is one of the worst ideas possible and for me personally will lead to a point where F1 can't return from.

Free practice might not be watched by many fans because it is on a Friday, a workday. And depending on where the timezones are going to complicate that further which is totally alright. Free practice doesn't need to be watched by everyone. It however for fans gives them an opportunity to get familiar with the track or in some cases is even maybe the only way a fan might come to a race considering the tickets for Friday are the cheapest. It offers new fans an opportunity to have a look at the track layout and not be thrown in complelty without any knowledge. Furthermore it's an opportunity to learn for maybe more strategic fans how possible strategies might look like, what things might be taken advantage of etc.

But that's not even what it is about. Free practice first and foremost is for the drivers and engineers. It gives drivers time to test out different setups, offers engineers to opportunity to test race strategies, is a chance to see how much conditions have changed etc. It is important for the safety of the paddock as it gives drivers to opportunity to get familiar again with the track and test limits before actually having to race. It helps to get out of the vast majority of unknown conditions and get into a territory where drivers feel comfortable with the track and the car. It is crucial to the safety first and foremost.

Getting ride of free practice would not only be a huge lose for fans but it would also mark the final point of no return where drivers safety truly stops being a concern.

Getting ride of free practice would be the final nail in the coffin and would be another reason we can later out to a list of all the things that probably led to a fatal accident.

F1 claims to know things aren't what the fans what and yet I have not once seen them even approach fans to ask for their opinion. Instead of gaining fans with their actions F1 is actively pushing them away.

[seraphicghost]

Talk about mhastuck, I beg of you. 🙏

the god tiers and why i picked em kind of a long post so im putting it under the cut

Deku - Heir of Hope

Heir: Passive manipulation class. One who is changed by their aspect or inspires change in their aspect.

Hope: Control over positive emotions and hope itself. Metaphorically it represents belief.

well its obv. He is the one who inherits hope. He bends it to his will and inspires those around him. hes the leader because of the faith he has and wants to everyone to feel like that too! its not too difficult to find his classpect. In terms of character, i think deku would naturally want to motivate his friends throughout the game and when he eventually goes grimdark, hes just VERY firmly having faith but in a pissed off way. Hes just a good lil guy C:

Bakugou - Prince of Time

Prince: Active destruction class. One who destroys their aspect or one who destroys with their aspect.

Time: Control over time itself and the purity of the timeline. Metaphorically it represents patience.

i think most people jump the gun to give bakugou the aspect of rage but thats not really who he is. Bakugou is not built on hate, hes just grouchy and super impatient. As a Prince of time, he'd be the one who destroys time. to me, itmimics the damage explosions can do but more so in a grander scheme of things. His ability can straight up fucking destroy time as he he'd like but i think as bakugou, he'd know exactly how to use it over time but it'd take learning given his impatience. Princes are also bossy mfs and thats him! Destruction and regret are riddled inside him! he'd be wishing he could go back and leave everyone with doomed timelines until he gets a grip. Bakugou destroying time also just sounds fuckin cool.

Shoto - Knight of Heart

Knight: Active exploitation class. One who makes use of the aspect given to them.

Heart: Control over emotions and the soul itself. Metaphorically it represents one’s inner self

i was told he'd be a better blood player but to me that doesnt make any sense. The whole point of shoto is to break blood bones (as my bestie put so well). His entire character is built on becoming his own person and making his power his own. Hes emotional and wants to understand his inner self. He's empathetic (i.e the "hes just like me" scene) , hes understanding. as a knight of heart, he makes use of that. He would struggle with it as first but overtime become amazing at it. He'd be able to provide stability to his friends emotionally and create bonds with them. His understanding of his friend's emotions would help him know how to get them to act in just the way they'd need to survive.

Ochako - Maid of Space

Maid: Active creation class. One who creates their aspect or one who creates through their aspect.

Space: Control over size, speed, and placement within space. Metaphorically it represents creativity.

From what i know, Maids tends to struggle with their role as a person. I think Ochako would be in the shadow of others until she's able to understand her own worth. she has insecurities will struggle with that until later. And Space because 1. gravity duh. 2. its a creative aspect. Its the inverse of time (BASICALLY i want her to scruff bakugou when hes being an idiot). She'd be tasked with fixing things. She'd had to get bakugou to get a grip, she'd have to be the one who shakes the grimdark out of deku, she'd create paths for them and herself and just go apeshit! I think deku would be the lead of the team, bakugou the strategy, shoto would be support and ochako would be the rock. she'd keeping them all together while also paving her own.

idk the other four yet but also from my understanding, a game cannot be truly successful without a time and space player so two of them had to be it and deku was already hope and i got attached to knight of heart shoto. also sorry if this is DUMB lol i just love writing about godtiers even if im a lil wrong :L

[mylittlesecrethaven]

I Read Project 2025, So Here's A Rundown I Guess: Part 3.3

Idk if this counts as political, but I'm just reading the stupid book online and putting down what it basically says and some other stuff i Guess. (it could get political I guess? Idk. Just kinda wanted to make these posts since I'm reading the book and I kept getting annoyed with people just saying what the book says instead of writing down exactly what it says and what page to find it on)

(That's not saying I won't do the same thing, but for some things I'll rewrite what it says unless it just needs to be summarized. I will have page numbers though)

(also, if this stuff does go into effect, I will be fearing for my life and the lives of many others for the effects this could have on people. for lgbtq, minorities in religion, race, and ethnicity, and those who are poor. this will effect everyone and a lot of people should be afraid of it. that is not be getting political, that is me saying that this is a scary plan meant to give powerful people even more power)

(also, if you want a faster rundown than waiting for me to give shitty interpretations of this, go to the wiki here. it sums it up pretty well, but it doesn't state everything.)

Department of Defense Reforms -

U.S. Army:

Increase army's budgets to remain the world's most powerful land power, accelerate development of army weapon modernization to replace outdated combat systems, increase funding to improve army training, increase army force structure by 50,000 to handle two major regional issues simultaneously, reform recruiting efforts to recruit more people (Pages 108-109)

Increase production and keeping of critical ammunition and repair parts fir weapons, prioritize adding expeditionary planning in all weapon designs to better the chance of having an advantage, increase the level of joint force training with other branches, prepare to remove soldiers from U.S. based transportation buildings that have been compromised by opposing forces (Page 109)

"Stop using the Army as a test bed for social evolution," demand accountability in senior leaders to help increase public support for military service, reestablish bases to help gain experience for high-ranking officers for the planning and leadership of army formations in large scale operations, examine logic of up-and-coming army concepts about using long range weapons and their effects without considering how to gain an advantage by closing in and defeating an enemy on land, realize that high intensity land combat operations cannot be sustained through unit rotations during said combat, change national guard deployment structure during extended operations to prevent destabilization and preserve military volunteerism in communities, change army school curriculum to concentrate on preparing for large land operations that focus on defeating the threat, address the underlying causes that are increasing army suicide rates (Pages 109-110)

U.S. Navy:

Build a fleet of more than 355 ships, develop and implement unmanned systems to help manned forces, require that range and lethality be key factors in making and sustaining ships, aircraft, and munitions (Page 111)

Reestablish the general guard to better than it is now (an advisory position that helps make decisions on strategies and basic ship decisions) (Page 111)

"Harness innovation and willingness to tolerate risk so that 'good enough' systems can be fielded rapidly," use the space development agency as a model (an agency that delivers space-based capabilities to war fighters faster and cheaper by using commercial development), establish an oversight board of directors (Page 111)

Produce key ammunitions at the maximum rate with significant capacity, employ the widest range of techniques to enhance ammunition supply chains and workforce (Page 112)

Mandate qualifications that show a core competent in war fighting, make the Headquarters Staff focused on Warfighter Development to develop such requirements, require war games to be used as experience gaining learning environments, make sure it is known that navy forces can and must maintain the ability to defend sovereign territories like out allies and partners, "train to balance the effects from kinetic to no kinetic and from lethal to nonlethal through effective command and control" (whatever that means) (Page 112)

U.S. Air Force:

Adopt a two-war force defense strategy to help attain resources the Air Force requires quicker, eliminate pass-through funding (funding that is sent to a state agency or institution and is then sent where it is needed from there), increase the Air Force budget by 5 percent annually (Pages 113-114)

Increase F-35A attainment to 60-80 per year, increase build capacity for B-21 to produce 15-18 per year, increase Air Force aerial fueling capacity, develop and buy larger quantities of advanced mid-range weapons that are sized to maximum targets per attack, accelerate the development and production of the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, increase the number of EC-37B electronic warfare aircrafts from 10-30 (Page 114)

Attain an optimized advanced battle management system, produce the next generation of air dominance systems for aircrafts, improve moving target engagement capability and capacity against sea, sea surface, and ground mobile targets, build more resilient communications and sustainment for survival in a "contested environment," establish a vigorous and sufficiently funded electromagnetic spectrum operations recovery plan (a plan to better recover troops with electromagnetic systems) (Pages 114-115)

[tedturneriscrazy]

I have now completed Sea of Stars, including collecting all the Rainbow Conches and unlocking the true ending. Here are some assorted thoughts about it (spoiler warning for those who haven't finished it):

I like how the game encourages you to use everything at your disposal, which includes skills and healing items. The MP recovery with basic attacks combined with live mana is a good stopgap for when you're tapped out, and allows you to develop a sort of rhythm to combat. Recovery items are also relatively easy to get between the recipes and abundant ingredients, including the best ones in the game.

The Lock system offers a great deal of complexity and strategy to combat, and encourages you to use pretty much all skills and party members to the fullest

The combo system is great and offers a wide variety of techniques and abilities that helps keep the combat fresh and exciting. The fact that it clearly harkens back to Chrono Trigger doesn't hurt, either. (Just an FYI, I will likely be making a lot of comparisons to CT, because a) it's inevitable given it's a direct inspiration and even brought on Yasunori Mitsuda to compose a few tracks, and b) it's my favorite game, so yeah)

That said, I feel like each of the party members could have had two additional base skills to vary the combat a bit more outside of the combo system. Speaking of which, I kinda wish there were 3-way combos, as well. Just imagine what they could have pulled off with those...

On another critical note, there's a curious lack of status effects, which I felt might have added some nice flavor. I feel like this was mostly replaced by the Lock system, and odds are incorporating status effects might break the flow of the game. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing stuff like poison or sleep or whatever. This might just be a personal taste thing, as I'm sure plenty of people are glad that this was omitted.

The folks at Sabotage managed two incredible character feats imo: They managed to create a character who is widely beloved both in- and out-of-universe without going overboard (Garl), and they were able to have a character who is literally a cyborg ninja pirate without it being silly or cringeworthy, and in fact is one of the more serious and narratively dense characters in the game (Seraï)

In fact, I would say most of the characters are quite memorable and likeable, and it's easy to become attached and invested in their arcs. The main exceptions are, unfortunately, Valere and Zale, who I think suffer a bit from generic main character syndrome and being tied to a Chosen One narrative. Also, B'st comes in a tad late into the game for him to have much impact, and his whole trait of having a strong will kinda falls flat when not much time is given to his backstory or development. That said, these are relatively minor gripes on my part, and I definitely don't dislike any of them.

The soundtrack is fantastic, naturally. Standout tracks for me include Encounter Elite (boss battle) and Mountain Trail, though plenty of other tracks are also great.

I was able to recognize the Chrono Trigger-inspired narrative elements (time manipulation, post-apocalyptic future world, going back to a moment in time to swap out a major character to save them from death), and it made me happy to encounter these.

The art direction and character design are immaculate. To put it in as few words as possible, everything is appropriately appealing and appalling as is called for.

Overall, I enjoyed this game immensely, and it kept me occupied for a good long while. I would highly recommend picking it up for your platform of choice. If I were to give it a numerical score, I'd say 9/10.