#i say that but imagine if they announce the next OG game and it's called 3rd OGs

[tastycitrus]

Akimi: You know, I've been wondering—why is 2nd OGs called 2nd OGs if it's considered Episode 3 of the OG series?

The Steel Dragons:

Ryusei: Well, you see, OG1 and OG2 were compiled into the same game as OGs, meaning they're the first Super Robot Wars Original Generations, so 2nd OGs is called 2nd OGs because it's the 2nd Super Robot Wars Original Generations.

Akimi: But that just raises more questions. Why are OG1 and OG2 counted as the first SRW OGs when they're two different games? And what about Gaiden—

The Steel Dragons: COUNTING IS HARD, OKAY?!

[askaceattorney]

Dear Asexual-Deesasters,

Mod Edgeworth: 

If you want to know the answer to that question, go to this link.

Dear Skibot99,

Co-Mod: I’m fairly certain it was The Mod, but I don’t know for sure.  He actually had another one before it, made from an old Ace Attorney musical animation.  I haven’t been able to locate that video, unfortunately, but here’s the old banner:

Ah...  Those were good days.  Good days.

Dear Dawsongfg,

Co-Mod: It’s fine.  Besides, it won’t be too long before those letters are accepted, so maybe we’ll hold onto them until that time.

Dear skibot99 again,

Mod Edgeworth: The Lost Turnabout hands down. All logic is thrown out the window the moment Phoenix had amnesia. It’s clear the Judge knew something was wrong with Phoenix, so why didn’t he call for a recess or check on Phoenix? Not to mention Wellington was annoying. He’s probably the only character I would be hesitant to play as when answering letters, if only because he was so unbearable.

As for Turnabout Ablaze, I do agree that it is a drag to get through in the end, though the entire game of AAI was boring, aside from the game mechanics. As a case by itself, I wouldn’t put it as my least favorite, if only because I did get some funny parts out of it.  It also contributed to the overall story, whereas The Lost Turnabout could just be taken out and it wouldn’t effect the overarching plot.

Co-Mod: I’d probably have to go with Turnabout Big Top.  I honestly couldn’t figure out the part where you have to present Max’s poster without consulting a walkthrough.  Why couldn’t we just present Max himself?  Besides that, the ending was largely underwhelming -- the murder weapon was hidden under Acro’s blanket the entire time, but instead of seeing a screenshot of it there, we just have to imagine it.  Maybe it was a filler case, but that was no excuse for it to end so poorly.  Not to mention one of the witnesses was a literal puppet.

It’s hard truth, Trilo.  Live with it.

Dear skibot99 and Anonymous,

Mod Edgeworth: I… think I heard from her when the localization of DGS was announced? I know Mod Kristoph and Mod Maya introduced themselves when I came into the group. There’s a third person, but I only heard from her once. As for what’s going on with her… I don’t know.

As for the flooding the inbox, it’s fine. I won’t promise a letter or two won’t be deleted, but we may make an exception and I’d hardly consider 4-5 different letters flooding the inbox. However, I do highly suggest lowering your letter sending to no more than three a day to prevent deletion of your letters. The only time I’d say your letters are flooding the inbox is when you’re sending 10-20 of them, especially of the same letter, and we have to scroll down for a while to get to the next letter. We will only choose three out of that pile and delete the rest.

And yes, we do have a few that send us 10-20 of the same letter to multiple characters in the span of five minutes. Geez.

Co-Mod: Mod Paups has had to remain absent for personal reasons, and sadly, has recently communicated to me that she wishes to leave the blog entirely.  Thanks for all you’ve contributed to this blog, Mod Paups, and best of luck in whatever you do next!

(Referenced Letter)

Dear mungeondaster,

Mod Edgeworth: Since I answered this one, I shall answer your letter.

(^ Why do I always use this sprite? ^) Actually, the localization never specified if Manfred Von Karma was born in Germany or not. In fact, we never knew the German part until Justice For All when Franziska Von Karma was stated to have flown all the way from Germany. It never specifies any reason for this and fans were quick to jump to the conclusion that it means the Von Karma family were German, which… isn’t entirely true? Manfred Von Karma never said he lived in Germany and, for all we know, Franziska could’ve lived in Germany to study law or something.

Now, the OG does give us more specific detail on this, being why I answered this the way I did. In the OG, both Von Karma’s were born Japanese, but lived in America or at least have an estate there. It specified that they were originally born in Japan, which would be translated to LA, California in the localization. While using the OG canon isn’t normal here, I will use it, if the localization doesn’t specify things. In this case, it never specified if the Von Karma’s were born in Germany or if Manfred Von Karma lived in America. Since he had to wait out the Statue of Limitations for DL-6, we can assume he lived in LA for 15 years or more. That means he’s American.

I am still getting the hang of writing letters, but I try to stick to canon as much as possible. If you believe we’ve made an error in our letters, feel free to let us know, but also show proof, if we go against canon. We’ll be sure the letter is sent to the right mod or else fix it.

Dear  Bluedragoncody,

Mod Edgeworth: I... don’t know how to feel about that.

Also, I accidentally deleted your previous letter before this one when trying to post it on here. I’m so sorry about that. If you could remember it, would you send it again?

Co-Mod: I’ll just respond to this with an old classic:

Dear Aceattorneyismyjam,

Mod Edgeworth: I-I’m not a pro! I accidentally deleted an important mod question from bluedragoncody, because of my inexperience. Oof! Again, so sorry!

Granted, I am good with digital art and writing essays, but I’m still trying to get the hang of being a mod here. Believe me, I do get corrected on several mistakes I do here. I can’t really call myself a pro just yet. I’ve only just started becoming a mod here last month lol

Dear Dahlia,

Mod Edgeworth: I thank you for your support of this blog and my essay. Manfred Von Karma is also my favorite villain and someone I do feel is underestimated as a one dimensional villain. I think people hate him so much, because of how he ruined Miles Edgeworth’s life without looking at the bigger picture. They focus on the bad things with their black colored glasses without dissecting Manfred Von Karma’s character as a whole. 

One thing I love about this blog, even before becoming a mod, is that no one here ever portrayed Manfred Von Karma as the one dimensional villain. He can be snappy at times, but as proven in many of our previous letters, he’s also portrayed as being calm when threatened, polite at times and absolutely loves his wife and children. Yes, he’s a terrible person, but that’s what makes him so interesting. He’s a bad, evil person that does good things from time to time. It doesn’t justify any of his horrible deeds, murder included, but it does make him human.

Co-Mod: I’m...going to assume you’re a different Dahlia.  (I’m grabbing a Magatama of Parting just in case, though.  I’m sure you can understand.)

Anyway, thanks for being such a loyal follower!  This blog’s been through a lot of changes since it began, and since I joined it back in 2017, so I’m glad it’s still a good source of enjoyment for you.  I’ve seen all sorts of cringe by now, by the way (some of which I wrote myself), so don’t worry about it.

I’m also glad that the characters still sound like themselves and not like us.  The hilarious personalities and quirks given to them by Capcom’s writers, as well as the humanity in so many of them, make them easy to relate to, and thus fairly easy to mimic.  I may have said something like this before, but I see myself in a lot of them -- in Athena’s fear of inadequacy, in Apollo’s desire for justice in a world where it’s hard to find, in Sebastian’s confusion about where to go next after his world falls apart, and possibly even in the von Karmas’ desire for perfection.  I of course identify with their positive feelings as well -- Phoenix’s smugness when he gets things right, Athena’s joy after pulling off a victory in court, Adrian’s pride after her self-confidence is restored, etc. -- but there’s something about the struggles they face that make them easier to relate to, on top of being that much more awesome in the end.

Unfortunately, I can’t promise anything about this blog continuing on in perpetuity.  For one thing, I don’t plan on being around forever (I’m fairly certain the other Mods don’t, either), and for that matter, there’s also no telling how long Tumblr will be around.  All I can promise is that I’ll give my best while I’m here, and that the love from you and everyone else who shares it here is sure to be what keeps us going.  Thank you for your contribution!

Dear TurqouiseJavelin,

Mod Edgeworth: Hm... not bad ideas. Though, we mods choose our own mod names under the condition that it doesn’t match anyone else’s mod name.

Co-Mod: What Mod Edgeworth said.  Choosing the name “Mod Athena” may or may not increase your chances of being hired, though.  *wink, wink*

Dear Anonymous, 

Mod Edgeworth: Actually, Gregory was stated in the Autopsy to have died by a gunshot. However, you do bring up something interesting. If Gregory Edgeworth realized he was dead and last remembered Robert Hammond strangling him, he wouldn’t think “I died by the shot of a gun.” Since the Detectives weren’t aware that victim had died unconscious, they’d assume the victim would recall being shot and killed. This makes me wonder if Gregory Edgeworth was channeled, but never brought to court to be cross-examined.

There are still holes, but I do like your aspect on DL-6.

Co-Mod: Dang...  No matter how many times you come back to this game, there’s always something new to think about.  I honestly hadn’t considered those details about Yanni Yogi’s trial.  Your explanation makes the most sense to me, but there’s one other possibility regarding Gregory’s testimony -- he may have chosen to lie about who murdered him in order to protect his son from a murder charge.  That’s all open to interpretation, of course, so your guess is as good as ours.

It’s a good thing we’re not actual defense attorneys, huh?

-The Mods

[vynnyal]

Throwing random thoughts, headcanons, and a variety of pasta at the wall (but only those having to do with vessels and/or their biology this time): The Thrilling Third Installment™

...aka pretending i can be dark and dramatic jskhdfd

Thk's larger form is not the standard, but the exception. Thk was cited as being "raised and trained to prime form", which people take to mean pk assisted in the vessel's natural growth. However, that conclusion leaves a lot of unanswered questions, most important of which being “then what about Ghost?” In short, I think that train of thought is backwards. Vessels can't grow- they are ageless, and immortal. We know this due to Ghost, despite living as long if not longer than thk, being completely unchanged over the years. The only thing pk trained into "prime form" was thk’s mind and fighting prowess. Their body... well, I think it was mutated. Most likely either directly by pk, or ordered by him- and with the shenanigans happening over in the sanctum, I wouldn't be surprised if Soul was involved, too. In any case, it was in no means natural. Vessels are corpses reanimated by void; neither corpses nor void tend to make drastic changes on their own all that often. Whether pk predicted the vessel’s “issues” and intended to manually “upgrade” them from the beginning, it's hard to say. But... yeah. Unless Ghost goes out of their way to make themselves grow- if its even possible, now that pk is gone- its fairly safe to say, they never will.

...with that in mind, we are promptly gonna ignore that for the rest of this post lmaooo

Grown-up vessels wouldn't look like thk; while they are described as being raised into "prime form"... prime form, to whom? Rather than looking like an idealized pk soldier, it sounds much more fitting that they’d have an entirely different, natural adult form. Consider: their cloaks being longer and fuller, perhaps filling out into something with a more practical use to their “species”. Better yet, they could even grow up to be more beast-like. Feral vessels, YEhaW

The black egg temple is cited as being "built to sustain [vessels]", yet it can't be their lifespan that is sustained. Rather, it seems the egg is specifically designed to keep the radiance from tearing thk apart, physically and/or mentally. Ngl its p obvious, but worth noting.

Sorta-au where Ghost’s shade has 8 eyes, and/or is generally all-around more cryptid-looking.

@ the sharpshadow charm and the strange, 6-eyed creature their shade turns into: kudos to this post, they bring up something super interesting- the creature not only resembles the Shade Lord, but the lord outright becomes it during the Embrace the Void cutscene.

makes me respect the ol’ civilization a whole lot more if a single charm can turn a baby shade into a baby lord.

The concept of finding ghosts unconscious body, laying next to a corpse, while they battle in their dreams. Alt: when ghost enters the dream realm, their shade leaves their shell... And protects their body from harm.

If steel soul mode is taken as canon, just how did ghost and the shade meet? Alt: Ghost may never have “met” it at all, as it technically doesn’t exist in that mode- instead, its more of a metaphor than an actual entity.

What the vessels looked like- or were supposed to look like- before the void. Alt: a story following a child, alive and untouched, that somehow managed to be spared. They could even have a gender. Alt alt: the void intentionally spared them for some purpose, or even out of simple kindness- or at least, something that resembles kindness.

Re: the shade inexplicably having a nail: all the vessel's swords are crafted from “will-bearing rock”- of which i’ve come to lovingly call living stone- and as such, are of void themselves. That's how the shade seems to conjure up its own copy; it merely shapes it, from the ground, using void. And, while more of a stretch, Ghost’s nail being some sort of living stone/pale ore alloy could explain just how Ghost can do seemingly pretty crazy things with an otherwise ordinary nail. Better, while 100% a baseless hc, its material might actually enable Ghost to build it up and modify it to suite their size as they grow older. finally, a logical reason adult Ghost has an adult-sized nail-claymore. hdsfghjfghdsjf

On that same thought: Ghost outright invented the "art" of manipulating- or creating- living stone to make their nail. ...gimme a sec. The other escaped vessels have nails, too, right? Either meaning they also discovered this ability... or that theres some legitimate ground for the “vessel gang” hc. Or, yanno, i’m reading too much into Ari’s sprites but sHHhh

How did all the vessels know to race to the top? They seemed to be falling merely because they had just been born and had literal, actual baby strength; yet not only did they inexplicably risk everything competing to the top, they somehow knew death was waiting if they lost. Alt: pk just, bringing a fucking megaphone and telling them like a sports announcer.

What if Ghost made it, and instead of falling, they managed to joined thk at the lip? What would pk do? Push them off the edge??? Or just adopt them both?? Oh fuck au where they're raised as twin sacrifices. Or worse yet, they’re raised unequally, and one is trained only as an afterthought. As a backup.

Alternatively, pk keeps all the vessels au, only a few years later when they're grown. Pk now has a literal army of pure knights. Radiance is fucked.

Hm. If vessels were fully coherent entities from the moment of birth, why was there a crib in the white palace? Did... did they use it? I have a feeling team cherry made that asset before the abyss scene lmaooo alt: they did, uh, use the crib. Cue a very awkward scene of thk, clearly not a normal baby, staring at wl with like... idk, the poofy baby hat and pacifier. I can’t tell if the image is more funny or more sad rn shdfgfjsdgg

The og notes that inspired this post, in case my rambling makes more sense (and w/o the awful comic hjsfgjsdfhj): Oh oh OH i GET it now. The void is all about "will" and whatnot, right? And shades are "fragments of a lingering will"- will, like the one you leave after your death, but instead of inheritance its the vessels' desires...last regrets.... DAMN team cherry, that symbolism is clever as heck. That took me a while. Kinda funny how a will is, technically, a person's last regrets Like I knew they were last regrets but I didn't understand WHY. Duh, it's because they're literally Made Of Will. They are the vessel's "wills". I'm so stupid.

Ghost, walking thru the abyss, getting increasingly fed up / freaked out, ducking into a crack in the wall. They follow the crack into the Scream Chamber, pause, then exhale in relief that this was EXACTLY what they needed.

Ghost's shade rolling up its void-sleeves like “fuck it, ima defeat thk myself”

Why was thk's sword there? Was its pedestal decayed? Did it fall from their body? Was it place there as an afterthought, or hurriedly? alt: taking thk's sword before freeing them, but doing the mom thing like you're grounding them hdhfjchjch

I can’t believe it just occured to me now, but... as objectivley stupid as the vessel’s test was, Ghost... technically came in second place. What if that whole scene was a metaphor? Because really, it’s just too silly to take seriously. To do so isn’t too far fetched, either; many other elements in the game’s story are better taken as symbolic or metaphorical, anyways. Take the PoP cutscene- while it could’ve been a literal moment, where they just happened to find themselves standing around and took the moment to appreciate each other... imo it makes much more sense to read it as the concept of their faint ~forbidden love~ and parental pride itself. Or, better yet, the scene at the end of the 4th pantheon. Sorry, but I severely doubt that was an actual event. What I’m trying to get at is the significance of “second place” in the cutscene. My brain is too fried to chase down any other possible connections to this theme rn (if thats even what the theme is), but even without proof, the theory smooths out a few interesting tidbits related to just how Ghost could tough it out when all others failed. All except for #1, anyway. Either way I’m just happy to take this as an excuse to pretend that cutscene didn’t literally happen because like, l m a o

The story of a small group of vessels as they work together to escape hallownest. (aka the aforementioned vessel gang hc... im sure theres a more formal name but you get the idea). Its impossible to tell how long it took them to discover that near-invisible hole, the last exit remaining after the king ordered the abyss to be sealed up. Once they did, however, the remaining vessels were quick to make a desperate scramble to escape- only for the entrance to suddenly crumble shut, far, far too soon. The remaining 8 slowly made their way through deepnest, their numbers quickly dwindling as the jouney started to take its toll. The group was nearly wiped out by those terrible, spiney-legged creatures that used their own kinship against them. Only three finally escaped the deep, yet only two made it through the basin- the third, largest sibling, left to fight alone againt a hopeless battle, just to buy the others time. It was in greenpath, so close yet so far to their goal, that the second succumbed to the infection. It was a mercy killing, that nail through the heart. The last, after all of that, finally made their way to the very precipice of howling cliffs, hesitating for just a moment to gaze out upon the still-fresh ruins of hallownest. But only for a moment, before Ghost jumps down to begin their journey beyond this wretched place.

A vessel running from its shade as it tirelessly pursues them, the vessel refusing to put it to rest.

tw: suicide, + personal on main

Ugh ugh ugh ugh Either thk was fully conscious and in terrible pain for all those years... or they couldn’t feel anything at all. The former is horrible, but imagining thk waking up, chained, unable to do anything but wait for Ghost to heed their call? Did they turn their nail on themselves to help Ghost, end the pain, or some awful mix of both? For someone who has personally dealt with close friends and family that struggled with suicide themselves, hollowknight is one of the worst horror stories I've ever seen. And the fact that the story is so personal, so open to interpretation? The fact that each character is so genuine yet vague enough to be read completely differently to someone else’s biases? Its why hollow knight- the game, and the character- will forever be one of the most powerful stories to me.

in short, good LORD THIS GAME IS SO FUCKING SAD

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Legacy is a Lonely Color [a post 5x11 ficlet]

If there is one person Lena would least expect to see standing on her balcony, it's Winslow Schott.

She'd seen the news about the Toyman, and admittedly felt a pang of regret that the shift in reality had so ill-served such a bright personality. But the man on her balcony doesn't have the manic glee Lena glimpsed in the news footage. Instead, the smile that greets her with a small wave is calm, his gaze steady as he regards her through the glass.

Curiosity spurs Lena to open the door, though she can imagine what has brought a Legionnaire to her doorstep.

"Good to see you're not insane," she greets as Winn steps inside her office. "Or should I be worried about any cymbal-clapping monkeys rolling around here?"

"Har har," he retorts. He turns towards her as though reaching for a friendly hug, but stops short when Lena stiffens and turns away. He diverts his intention by sucking in a deep breath. "Nope, no murderous monkeys this time. But if you're interested, I know a guy."

He clicks his tongue with a wink and a pair of finger guns, and Lena fails to keep a smile from pulling at her lips. Mutual grins linger between them for a long moment, before Winn's fades and Lena remembers herself.

"What are you doing, Lena?"

Lena folds her arms stiffly across her chest, jaw clenching as she squares her shoulders against the accusation that falls softly in the evening shadows.

"Excuse me?"

"Non Nocere? J'onn showed me what almost happened, and Lena-- this is not the way."

Leveling her very best Luthor glare at the Legionnaire. "I'm curious, Agent Schott... do I miraculously survive into the 23rd century?"

Winn blinks, his features scrunching in confusion. "Um-- no...?"

"Then I'm curious as to when we became friends enough that you can presume to know anything about me."

To her surprise, Winn only smiles, even as he ducks his head as though to hide it. "No... I know. We're not friends. In fact it's really my only true regret about going with the Legion."

Lena doesn't understand. Despite the high-octane circumstances of thor previous encounters, they never became personal. Perhaps, over time, they could have been true friends, but Winn had been long gone before Lena was admitted so deep into Kara's circle.

Sensing her confusion, Winn continues.

"Yeah, turns out when people in the future know you used to hang with the OG Supergirl, they want to know everything. Including what you know about her brilliant and beautiful best friend Lena Luthor."

Lena scowls. "Your future has its details wrong. We're not friends."

Winn's lips pull into a grimace. "Yeah. I heard that too."

"If this is some kind of ploy for me to--"

"Kara doesn't know I'm here. She's not that kind of person."

Resentment coils in its nest, deep in her chest. Lena's fingers tighten painfully on her biceps. "Well, I'm sure you have reason to believe that."

Winn's lips pinch together, but he moves on. "Anyway, my point is that those guys knew more about you than I did. And the more I learned trying to catch up, the more  I wished I'd made more of an effort to know you when I had the chance. I mean, I always knew I liked you-- you're AWESOME-- but I didn't realize just how much."

Lena shakes her head. She's had enough lip service to last her a lifetime, anf she has no interest in empty words from Kara's closest friend--let alone one who doesn't look like he'll be abandoning the future to rectify the situation. "We're both intelligent people, Mr. Schott. We both know you're not here to learn my favorite color and braid my hair. And knowing your history with Supergirl and her friends, I'm going to cut to the chase: there's nothing you can say to me tonight or two hundred years from now that will convince me to trust her again." She is done giving second chances. She is done offering her heart to others and having it returned to her in pieces. But Winn regards Lena with a smile that rests on his features with a maturity she doesn't remember seeing before. "The only person you need to trust again is yourself." A jolt arcs clean through Lena's core. It takes all her control not to recoil from the soft accusation, but Winn must see the reflexive flinch, because the next thing she knows, warm hands take her by the shoulders. Somehow the soft touch lays her bare, slicing through the bubble that's surrounded her since the night she killed her brother. Tears spring unbidden to her eyes. "No one can survive as an island. Not even the great Lena Luthor." Winn's own smile turns damp, even as it broadens. "El mayarah." Just like that, Lena's defenses snap back up. She blinks away her sudden emotion, scoffing. "Another load of--" Winn interrupts her curse. "Stronger together isn't just Supergirl's motto," he tells her. "It's L-Corp's too." Lena freezes. L-Corp? That means-- she stares at Winn in question, but he doesn't elaborate. "Non Nocere is not your legacy." He says it with such certainty that Lena can't find any protest within her. "Trust yourself," Winn says, "and you will find your way. Whether or not that way lies with Supergirl is up to you. But if you abandon yourself... you'll be lost forever." She's already lost. Lena knows it, however much she tries to deny. Non Nocere was as much about DOING something as it was about fixing something. It's all the more clear now that her company is Lex's again and she has absolutely nothing to show for the last four years of her life. But maybe it's not gone for good. Maybe Lena has a future ahead of her after all. And now she has a direction in how to get there. "It was good to see you." Winn pulls away, and backs up towards the balcony. When he floats to step onto the rail of the balcony, Lena calls out. "Winn." He pauses, pivoting to face her recklessly enough to make Lena's heart lurch in alarm. She swallows it down, though, and focuses on him rather than the drop at his heels. "Are you really not going to ask why I have the interface cube from your ship?" He's got to have noticed it missing by now. But his eyebrows lift indiscernably. "Do you really think I wouldn't know a piece of 23rd century tech when I see it?" Winn affects an innocent shrug. "I don't know what you're talking about." Leaning against the doorframe, Lena folds her arms with a smirk of her own. "I think I would have liked to know you too, Mr. Schott." Her confession earns a grin, and another wink. "Catch you around, Miss Luthor." With that, Winn spreads his arms wide and simply tips himself backwards, plunging into empty space. Just as a cry catches in Lena's throat, his head pops back into view, gleeful and giggling. "I've always wanted to do that!" And there goes Earth's very own Legionnaire, zooming up towards the cloud covered sky. Lena watches him go, her thoughts racing as swiftly as he flies. In the days that follow, his words continue tumble about Lena's brain. She weighs them carefully, lets them lead down a multitude of potential paths until she settles on the one that suits her best. It's risky, with a high probabilty of failure, but alternatives leave her with more certain, but less favorable outcomes. And there is always one way she can up her odds. She bites the bullet late one evening and knocks loudly on a beige metal door on the rent-controlled side of down. The sound is almost lost in the laughter she can hear from within, but in just a few moments the knob turns and the door opens to reveal Kara Danvers gaping on the other side. "Lena!" she blurts, cheeks flushing. "You're here!" Lena shrugs. "Well, it is second-friday." Game night. Kara steps aside, and Lena deigns to step inside. As she does she, she casts a cursory glance across the stunned faces staring at her. Only Brainy seems to be missing, but his seat is filled neatly by Winn, whose eyes crinkle behind a disguise of glasses and nothing else. Her own seat has been comandeered by William Dey, who regards her with a stare that feels particularly loathsome. Reflexively, Lena does the math since his arrival in National City, and has to swallow the scoff that scrapes up her throat. Kara invites a coworker she hates in a third of the time it took Lena to earn her inclusion. It doesn't surprise Lena. Not now. "Don't worry," she delivers, half to Kara and half to the staring audience. "I'm not here to participate. Not that you're low on numbers." Kara comes even with her, eyes wide and unblinking, as though Lena might disappear in an instant. "Then... why are you here?" she asks. "Is everything okay?" "No," Lena clips shortly. She revels in the flinch she earns. Nothing is okay. Kara knows that. "H-how can we help?" Kara stammers. "You can't. I have a job for Supergirl." William Dey, of all people, is the first to react. "Supergirl doesn't answer to Luthors," he declares, rising to his feet. Before Lena rolls her own eyes, she notes a flash of irritation that travels across Kara's features. Perhaps she still has some spine after all. "The salary we issue to her direct deposit every month says otherwise," Lena drawls. "And I fail to recall where you were invited into the conversation, Mr. Dey." "I'd be happy to relay a message," Kara interjects before Dey could fire back. "What can I tell her?" Lena tilts her head towards Dey. "I'm afraid it's personal." Kara adjusts her glasses. "Oh, um-- I trust him." "That means nothing to me." Again, Lena revels in the way Kara jerks under the pointed barb, cheeks flushing. Lena almost hopes Kara will tell her to fuck off. Having Supergirl's assistance would make her work easier, but she doesn't exactly enjoy the thought of spending the time with her either. In the end, Kara turns to the rest of the room. "We're calling it an early night," she says. "Sorry, William." "You don't have to drop everything just because she--" "Welp, I'm pooped anyway," Nia announces, climbing her feet. "Next time I'm gonna have to take a nap before game night. Really takes it out of you, huh?" "Right," Winn nods. He claps Dey on the shoulder. "Come on, man. There's probably still time to catch a taxi." Nia feigns a bathroom break, giving her a reason to linger as Winn guides Dey out the door. Lena ignores the glare the reporter levels at her on his way out, focusing instead on the way Alex kisses Kelly goodbye and promises to be home as soon as she can. Soon it's only Alex and Kara left. Nia emerges as soon as Dey leaves, and a few minutes later Winn re-enters through Kara's open window. This time, when Lena turns her gaze back to Kara, she finds Supergirl gazing back at her. She's still in civilian clothing, her hair still twisted up like Kara Danvers', but it's the hero whose eyes lock on her, a large presence even as she regards Lena with a gaze that isn't anywhere near accusatory. Interesting. "What do you need?" Supergirl asks. Lena recenters herself with a silent, fortifying breath. "Lex. He's planning something, and I intend to stop him. And I will, with or without your help, but it would be faster with more bodies." She looks at the people who lied to her for years, held her at arm's length even as they made a show of embracing her. She doesn't need them, but to reclaim her legacy, Lena's willing to invite them in. If only enough to remove her brother from the field of play. "Who's interested?"

[scifrey]

My Very Spoilery Endgame Review - What I Liked, What Annoyed Me, and Two Questions I Am Left With

I was very satisfied and enjoyed it very much. The theater burst into applause in several instances and it was great to celebrate the end of an era with fellow fans.

Now for the spoilery critiques and praise.

My favorite moments were:

Thor reconciling his self-image and self-worth with his mother

“I’m still worthy.”

Loki escaping and (hopefully) living in at least one timeline - because if Steve went back to “trim the branches” then this means he returned the Tesseract to 1970. Which means the branch where Loki snagged the Tesseract and was not imprisoned on Asgard may have endured*. 

Ken Jeong’s cameo.

Stan Lee’s cameo.

Banner coming to terms with who and what he is and living comfortably with the Hulk.

Basically everyone really leaning into the self-love  and self-value by the end of the film.

“That is America’s Ass”.

“I could do this all day.” “Yeah, I know.”

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.”

“Ha! I knew it!”

“I am Iron Man.”

Scott finding Cassie alive.

Wong’s exasperated reply to Strange’s “Is that everyone?”

Nebula’s redemption. This is a princess (as Squidward calls Thanos “sire”) who saves her own damn self.

How the thing that gave the game away to Thanos was actually really clever and well executed; this wasn’t a “heroes are just stupid this one time” (like how Quill screwed the pooch in Infinity War when they had the damn glove). It was something that I genuinely hadn’t thought of, and I assume no one, not even Nebula, would have thought of. It worked. And it worked well.

All the ladies supporting Carol in the final battle - which was awesome but also felt a bit like the moment was added only so the Russos could check it off a “don’t piss off the feminists” list.

How the final battle set it up well for the next phase - I liked how the Glove Relay was from an OG Avenger (Hawkeye) to the new Avengers - Black Panther, Spider-man, and Captain Marvel.

“I love you 3000″.

Falcon!Cap - finally! Yay!

The sound of the armor that started it all being forged as the endcap of the credits.

However.

I wish Bucky and Steve had also had a meaningful moment at the end, like Steve and Sam, something that made it clear that even though Steve was older now, he was no less Bucky’s best pal. 

I'm very, very annoyed that they Fridged Natasha. I mean, I get it. Someone had to die. And we all knew Hawkeye was going to go back to his family, so it wouldn’t be him. And I do love how they did the death, how Nat and Clint fought with one another to the be the one to make the sacrifice. And her death would have been especially cheap if Bruce had just Snapped her Back. I get it.

And if there wasn’t a long history of Fridging female character to ensure the male ones have enough Man-Pain to have a character arc and impetus to be a hero, then you know what? This would have been a really moving sacrifice. It would have really worked.

But there is. And in light of that, it’s left me... itchy. Uncomfortable. Because in the context of the film alone it was a great death. But in the context of the history of comic book narratives, it sucked.

Also, what does this mean for the Black Widow movie? Will it actually be a prequel? Will it be Budapest? And if it is Budapest, will they use the same actors, or cast new, younger ones?

I also don't understand the narrative reason why they had to make so many fat jokes around Thor.

I mean, yeah, it makes sense he was depressed and stopped taking care of his heath, and self-medicated with booze and food. This was a strong and meaningful narrative and I really liked that he was given the opportunity to mourn, to question his purpose, to become more than just muscles and a hammer in terms of character construction. That he could grieve and struggle, and be filled with crippling regret that kept him indoors and hiding, and filled self-loathing.

 As a character choice it made sense. And I liked that he was still a powerful warrior while chubby, and that he didn’t magically become slim again when he suited up. It was wonderful to see him be no less powerful, dangerous, dedicated, and no less kick ass while sporting a keg instead of a sixpack. 

But they leaned awfully hard on that “fat joke” button and by the time Rhodey said “Cheez Whiz?” I was over it. Its got tedious and frankly a bit insulting.

Teasing someone for suffering because he lost literally everyone he loved is not cool. The jokes fell flat, for good reason. They were cruel.

And when the Russos announced that they had included the MCU's first openly gay character I was hoping that it would be a main character, not some rando dude in a talk therapy meeting. I wanted Bucky and Sam to confess feelings, or Bucky to Steve even if Steve couldn’t return them, or Valkyrie to at least have a wife in New Asgard, or something.

But TBH it didn't surprise me that they made it some nameless dude in group support. Like J.K. Rowling, the Russos are happy to queerbait but too cowardly to commit, and they always have been. I’d be annoyed but it’s not worth the energy. 

At least when the guy mentioned his boyfriend it was a “no big deal” mention, and nobody made a “are you cool with this, Cap?” thing to really point out that ooooo, this dude is queer.

But those are my only gripes. The rest of it was thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying.

Especially all the little call backs. The "I am Iron Man" and “I could do this all day” stuff - it felt like little gifts to the fandom.

However, I have two questions.

1) When people were Snapped Back, were they Snapped to their previous exact geographical location? Because if so, what about people who had been in transit? Did people who were Snapped Away while in a plane just... appear mid-sky and plummet to their deaths? Were people on spaceships Snapped Back into the void of cold space? We saw in Infinity War that helicopters crashed into city streets - the pilot, that means, was Snapped Away. When that pilot came back, where did he come back? Did Bruce think to Snap them all into safe places? (I mean, I assume the Stones accounted for Spacial Drift and the location of planets in orbit... maybe it accounted for people who would have Snapped Back into deadly situations?)

2) I do love that Steve and Peggy got their life together At that point Pegs would have been like... at least 10 years older than Steve? Maybe 15? What would her neighbors think of Sugar Momma Peggy Carter and her Very Much Younger (Looking) Husband?

Did she introduce him to anyone? Did they have neighborhood BBQs? At that point everyone would have known who Captain America/Steve Rogers was so did no one recognize him? What did they say? (Did we get Beardy Steve back???) They had kids, canonically, so was Steve able to attend their T-BAll games and school plays?

One assumes that Sugar Baby Steve would have been the House Husband, because Pegs was running Shield and Steve was out of the game. He’d never be able to show his face at SHIELD because Howard would recognize him, and so would Arnim Zola, so HYDRA would have known that Captain America survived and I imagine they would have given anything to get him into the Chair.

It makes me think that Sugar Baby House Husband Steve would have been very isolated and possibly lonely. Maybe he had a few neighbor friends, but can you image how torturous it must have been to live so privately? To know that Bucky was out there suffering and being tortured and brainwashed and that he couldn’t do anything about it? He couldn’t go save his best pal?

That Peggy could never bring him to the SHIELD Christmas party, to visit her new baby godson Anthony, never attend anything with him.

And it makes me think Steve had to vanish from her life right when his earlier self entered it so like... as soon as she started getting sick enough with Alzheimer's he had to leave. 

Because that’s when younger Steve came into her life, and started visiting her in the nursing home. 

But he had to abandon her when she needed him most, and that is very tragic. How did Steve reconcile that with himself? Especially with returning to a future where she was dead and his friends were alive and he didn’t need to be the Secret Sugar Baby House Husband any more?

All in all, it was very enjoyable and I will watch it again. 

And I look forward to the FanFic.

* This means that Loki in that branch also likely did not participate in the battle against the Dark Elves. His character growth in that moment was likely delayed, but I believe he ultimately would have processed his extreme confusion, self-loathing, and hatred of his betrayal by his “family” Thor enough to join forces with him against the destruction of the universe when it mattered. Perhaps having the extra time to do so might have even served him better.  I don’t know if this means Odin chose to die and Hela was released, thus triggering the destruction of Asgard. I don’t know what this would have meant for Ragnarock - possibly with Odin as the King when he died the defenses would have been better (though I argue the culture and peace of Asgard thrived under Loki, especially with his dismantling of the Empire and the valuing of the Arts) and they would have saved Asgard or at least not lost so many.

And if Asgard had not survived, perhaps in this version something different may have happened, and Loki wouldn’t on the survivor ship. Perhaps he was on a different ship. Perhaps he wasn’t present for the battle at all and in a completely different part of the universe.

If he was elsewhere this means 

a) The Asgardian survivors would have lived because Thanos wouldn’t have targeted the ship, and Thor would have been less self-loathing. 

b) When Thanos found Loki with the Tesseract in this branch, it’s likely Loki was able to ingratiate himself to Thanos and gave the Stone to him without Thor there to tip his hand toward an immediate betrayal murder attempt. I subscribe to the theory that Loki was just as mind-controlled during The Avengers and the Battle of New York as Barton (though I wouldn’t call Loki totally innocent in everything) and that he had been suffering from extreme mental health issues following his unsuccessful attempted suicide. In this case, he would be willing to play the long game to get his revenge on his abuser Thanos. Then, later, hopefully, he joins Thor’s side to save the universe against Thanos (as he did against the Dark Elves)- betraying Thanos and perhaps stopping the Snap before it happened in that timeline. Or if not stopping the Snap, perhaps being a part of the new Avengers if he survived it, or joining in the final battle if he was Snapped Away.

Anyway - I have lots of Loki Thoughts. Feel free to adopt any Plot Bunnies this may have generated in reading this. 

[whatimconsuming]

The story of Discord is the story of platform shifts. Jason Citron started his career in game development studios creating some of titles for Xbox and Play Station 2 (that’s how old he is 😂) that you probably never heard of 😬. Platform Shift: Mobile In the 2008, the “app store” was just announced and Jason thought this would be the perfect time to take the entrepreneurial plunge. His thesis was that with the launch of mobile gaming on the iPhone he would get “free distribution” if he manages to become a “launch title” (ie develop his game before the app store is live). After all, whenever a new console comes out, there is always new set of games that offer a new kind of experiences that are “native” to that console and new gaming behaviors are born….this was a once in a life opportunity. Jason raised some seed capital from the uncle of one of his roommates and was off to the races building Aurora feint. He pulled off being a launch title and Aurora feint was one of only 50 games that were available on the app store on the blessed day.

The Good News: it got rave reviews…partly because of the limited competition at the time, but also because Jason was just an extremely talented game developer. The Bad News: the business model didn’t really work. Aurora feint’s Business Model The Business model for the game was very similar to other stuff that Jason had worked on in the past. He gave the game away for free and build a premium version that had multiplayer dynamics (such as competing with friends on leaderboards...competing in ghost matches....etc)….this was a very common behaviour for PC….but what he didn’t realize at the time was that with new platforms…comes new expectations and subsequently new consumer behaviors. The $8 price tag (probably out of thin air) to access those social features didn’t really work. As time went by, and more games were build around the iPhone, and the price tag was anchored at $0.99 - $4.99. Jason and his 5 person company made a meager $30k in revenue from this game….a far cry from a “hit” game.

The pivot to OpenFeint One day, while discussing with the another founder, Citron realized that the iPhone did not have Xbox live in it, but their Aurora Feint 2 did have a similar feature. From my very shallow understanding Xbox live is just a platform that allows gamers to play multiplayer games, communicate with each and discover new games. In an act of desperation, Jason decided to spin out those social features and sell them to other developers, in an attempt to become equivalent the Xbox live for iPhone….the only problem was he didn’t really have any money to pay his engineers let alone hire new ones to build this in time…or anyone for that matter….to get Jason put up a landing page...photoshopped a couple of fake screenshots ...the message was "xbox live for mobile." He convinced Techcrunch to cover “the launch” and took that mailing list to investors…sprinkled some “vision” on it and raised a bridge round. He used the money from that round to hire 10 new developers to actually build the product The $104m payout

Over the next two years Openfeint took over Jason’s life. As someone whose life revolved around gaming, I can’t even imagine how it must have felt like to build the entire infrastructure for social gaming on the iPhone. By 2010, Openfeint had more than 10 million users and was powering 30 of the top 100 games on the App Store. Next year the company was acquired by a Japanese company (named GREE…but thats not really important) for a whopping $104 million (for reference the company ever raised $3m). When Jason signed on the dotted line, it was under the expectation that he will now have the resources to build the Xbox live for mobile. But as with many acquisitions…the story took a sour turn after the deal closed… Rinse and repeat (for iPad) Jason took a 7 months hiatus after being booted out of his own company. Jason took the time-off playing video games….A LOT of video games. Around that time, in 2013 the iPad was in its first years of inception and slowly making it to the main stream. While everyone saw iPad as a tablet, Jason saw it as a new platform shift for gaming…specifically for playing team-based games. He hypothesized that the iPad would make these kind of multi-player games more accessible and that the only problem was that there wasn’t enough high quality games being produced. Ready for round 2…Jason started another company…this time named Hammer and Chisel. Hammer and Chisel was a game development house that focused exclusively on creating high-quality iPad games. The vision for Hammer and Chisel was to replicate the Openfeint model for iPad. Fates Forever

After a few hit-and-miss with launching different games (3 to be specific), Jason had Another ONE(idea) up his sleeve…this time for a game called Fates forever. In a true Sell-Build-Ship manner that we can come to expect from Jason, instead of putting in the hours to build a game and see it crumble in-front of his eyes, he, instead, chunked up the art ....and started posting it on reddit along with explaining how the “game worked”(there was no game at the time…just some art). He took feedback from and incorporated it into into the art and ultimately the game mechanics. Six months later, Fates Forever shipped to the app store, and yet again didn’t really live up to the expectations of Jason or the team. The pivot to Discord

Jason was going around in circles trying to figure out how he can “fix” Fates Forever. In a conversation with Stanislav (Stan) Vishnevskiy (a developer at Hammer and Chisel then and cofounder of Discord later) Jason was complaining to Stan that the chat experience on Faints Forever sucked. He then went on a rant explaining how the ideal communication platform SHOULD work for developers. And so the OG idea of Discord was born. The idea was building Teamspeak meet skype. To take a step back Teamspeak was one of the more popular tools at the time used by gamers who played team vs team games. The problem with Teamspeak, at least from Stan’s prespective, was that to start a conversation on Teamspeak users had to download the app, pay for it and share their IP address (IP address is kind of like your mailing address) with other team members. Cutting through the noise Jason and Stan started building the first version of Discord as a side project within the company. First 20 customers The first 20 customers for Discord were friends, friends and friends. For the first 5 months, Jason and Stan were building Discord and hammering their gamer friends to use it. Their friends signed up but weren’t actually really using the product. Everytime they asked them why, they highlighted that they needed this feauture or that feature. Stan and Jason would go build it and come back to them…they got excited for a minute and then demanded more features. This loop kept going on and on and at some point the team had spent 3 weeks not shipping anything, they figured that maybe Discord just wasn’t as important as they had previously thought. First 200-300 customers Those 3 weeks where yet another reminder to Jason of how important distribution was. He figured that gaming communities were far and wide on the internet and that the product was at a point where it could be stress tested by more than just his unappreciative friends. So Jason and Stan got one of the friends to post in the Final Fantasy 14(a popular game at the name) subreddit. They reason they narrowed down to this one specific game was that there was a new expansion (i.e new features, content..etc) coming out which meant that was a lot of anticipation, speculation and excitement about the new release on reddit.

Their friend posted a simple link saying “"Hey...did anyone try this new voiceover IP app called discord [link to a voice chat].“ Jason and Stan immediately jumped onto the voice chat and started talking to anyone who showed up. The Redditors would go back, say "I just talked to the developers there, they're pretty cool," and send even more people to Discord. That kind of kicked the snowball off the top of the mountain.

Fun fact: Discord now claims this day (May 13, 2015) as their “launch day” First 1000 customers For the next 1000 customers, Jason and Stan focused all their product work on just 3 games, all of which had upcoming expansions (i.e new releases) in an attempt to make integrations with these games as seamless as possible. They then did the same Reddit routine, got a friend to post on the game’s subreddit asking if member had tried using Discord and accompanying that message a link to a voice chat where Jason and Stan were waiting to meet and greet and answer any questions anyone had. To double down on that strategy, Jason and Stand started doing some 1:1 promotion with “guilds” of these games. Guilds are “an organized group of video game players that regularly play together in one or more multiplayer games. Many guilds take part in gaming competitions, but some guilds are just small gaming squads consisting of friends. “

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #384

Top Ten SDCC 2019 Predictions

Every year when I do this sort of thing, it gets harder. Like I said before with E3, it feels a bit like my nerd tastes have narrowed, and I have a lot less free time to enjoy the plethora of nerdy things out there. Plus, it feels like these big multimedia showcases have expanded to the point where announcements are made over a period of a fortnight or so as companies hold their own side-conferences, or smaller players wait until there’s more oxygen in the room once the big guns have had their say. Add to this the fact that Sony skipped E3 entirely this year, and DC is more or less doing the same with SDCC (at least as far as movies are concerned), and you have a recipe for me just making stuff up. I could have done an E3 Top Ten just about Xbox rumours, and I could have done this about the MCU (when do we think we’ll see the X-Men in an Avengers movie?!). Maybe I will!

Regardless, we amble once again towards a San Diego Comic Con. This year is probably going to be most notable for Marvel’s contributions; sadly with no comparable DCEU panel we won’t get any more info out of Batman, Wonder Woman, or Harley Quinn. I’m a little bit out of the loop with what the Big Two are planning comics-wise, and anyway, SDCC isn’t quite the hotbed of comics news it once was. But with a few exciting-looking panels, I’m sure there’ll be lots to talk about.

Usual caveats apply: I’m not insider, I know nothing, these are all guesses, some more educated than others. Sometimes this turns out to be a wishlist. Let’s see how wrong I was, eh?

MCU Overload: now Endgame is out of the way, I think Marvel will be a lot less cagey about their future. I predict release dates and official announcements for most of Phase Four (Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi, a few sequels); the surprise tease of some Black Widow footage; something we really weren’t expecting (Squirrel Girl, perhaps, or a Captain Marvel sequel featuring Kamala Khan). In short, I think Marvel will seriously dominate all the headlines and get us thinking eagerly about what we’ll be watching this time in 2024.

Avengers Re-Assemble: there’s going to be a couple of Avengers retrospectives, and I predict we’ll see a repeat of the 2011 SDCC when the cast of The Avengers/Avengers Assemble (delete as regionally appropriate) appeared on-stage together for the first time. This may very well turn out to be Robert Downey Jr’s last panel appearance to discuss Tony Stark (funnily enough, however, I don’t think it’s the last we’ve seen of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers…). This will be a big event, and rather melancholic, too.

Disney Plussed: as well as all the Marvel film shenanigans – most of which are still too deep in pre-production to offer juicy morsels to the faithful – I think we’ll see loads of stuff about the MCU Disney+ shows. A proper, full trailer for Loki (which I think is the first to film), as well as oodles and oodles of info and maybe even footage from whatever’s lining up next. I think we’ll see Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, and Jeremy Renner all on stage. We’ll get proper synopses for all of these shows. And, yes, I think Falcon and Winter Soldier will still be called Falcon and Winter Soldier, and it will sort of be about Sam Wilson’s journey into becoming Captain America.

Making it So: okay, moving reluctantly away from Marvel, I think the Star Trek: Picard panel will be another highlight. Jean-Luc himself, I believe, will be on stage, alongside some of the cast, and one of the show’s directors: Jonathan Frakes. They will release another, fuller, trailer for the show, and a release date too. And maybe – just maybe – we’ll even get a tease for the next season of Discovery. Engaging!

Top TV Trailers: keeping things on the small screen for the moment, there are a few panels dedicated to upcoming genre TV. TV shows which, to be honest, I probably won’t find the time to watch. But even though production has only just started on some of these shows, I still think we’ll see some footage. The Witcher, the Netflix book/game adaptation starring latter-day Superman and best-case-scenario moustache model, will have a full trailer; meanwhile, the as-far-as-I-know-still-untitled Game of Thrones spin-off will have some kind of Con-exclusive sizzle reel or teaser. I’m way, way behind on Thrones anyway so the spin-off doesn’t really interest me, but I do hope I can find space in my busy schedule for The Witcher.

Continued Transformations: the new Transformers comic feels like it’s taking a while to build, and moves a mite slowly at times, but it is building a new and compelling world, amazingly finding a unique spin on the 35-year-old franchise. A spin-off mini-series focussing on the Constructicons has already been announced, but I think SDCC will see the unveiling of another mini; maybe a prequel detailing the war with the Threefold Spark? Alternatively – if the core series is not expanded – maybe we’ll get another crossover. My personal preference would be Rodimus and Megatron’s Lost Light crew winding up in Equestria. What? A guy can dream!

Teen Titans Go! Straight to Video: after the My Little Pony movie a couple of years ago, I thought a sequel would make its way to our screens before the series wrapped up; I was sort-of right, but the second MLP movie is going straight to Netflix. I wonder if something similar will happen with my kids’ other favourite movie based on one of their favourite shows, Teen Titans Go! Maybe it’s early doors, but I think a sequel movie to the utterly fantastic Teen Titans Go! To the Movies will indeed happen, but it’ll wind up on the DC Universe streaming platform rather than go cinematic.  

OG Titans FTW: sticking with superheroes too young to drink, and again following on sorta-kinda from Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, I think as a SHOCKING TWIST we’ll get official confirmation – but no other information – about a revival of the original Teen Titans cartoon. Just a teaser trailer, and a “COMING SOON”… but this would really, really make my SDCC.

She-Ra’s Sibling, Take a Bow: so the new season of the excellent She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is coming next month; this we know. There’ll be a panel about the show, and given that it must be essentially completed, we’ll get a nice full-fat trailer. But. Here’s the thing. I think we’ll get the barest – barest – tease of a wider universe beyond Etheria, perhaps by the merest suggestion of She-Ra’s brother. I don’t actually think we’ll see He-Man in season three, but I think She-Ra will perhaps learn the word “Eternia” and discover that she may, indeed, have family out there. I imagine – and hope – that they want to keep the focus on Adora and her friends, and not drag the show’s centre of gravity off in the direction of a big, strong, and more famous male character.

Yesterday’s Agents: finally, we go full circle, back to the MCU… sorta. Because at this point, can’t we all agree that any Marvel TV show – apart from, presumably, Agent Carter – takes place in an alternate but very similar universe? I mean, there’s no way the characters from Agents of SHIELD or the Netflix Defenders series exist in the mainstream MCU without their being called up during the whole “On your left…” bit in Endgame. But regardless: Agents of SHIELD. A show that has had mixed fortunes but which, on the whole, has been really compelling and entertaining. I’ve just started on season six but so far it’s been great. But like many great things, I think it must end. Season seven is coming, but – unless they do eight at more or less the same time – I think that’s it. You had a great run, with some cracking stories and wonderful characters that I’m going to miss. But with the whole Disney+ thing, I feel we’ve seen the end of, well, all other Marvel shows. And this is what they’ll announce at SDCC.

So there you go. Not necessarily a vintage year but enough to get excited about. For me, really, it’s all about the MCU! Let’s, shall we?

[auxgod]

San Diego Artist To Watch 2019

In the past, it usually took a year or two for an artist to really find their groove and reach their audience. One or two early singles would lead to initial buzz, but that breakthrough moment took time. Not anymore. 

This list is by no means an attempt to name all of 2019's potential breakthrough acts. There are plenty of other artists who could have been included, but these are some of my favorites that should be on your radar. 

Sethii Shmactt-

By the time this list comes out The MOB x CG rising star might be in the studio making another blap! Sethii Shmactt has continued to prove he’s one of the popular faces in San Diego and with the success he’s beeing receiving since the release of “Strip Talk” Sethii is definitely a name i’d remember.

YHG Pnut-

Figuring out who you are as a young artist isn’t an easy task but Kosher Life’s YHG Pnut had no trouble with this at all. When i first came across his music he had only been making music for 3 months prior and since then he has become one of the most popular names in San Diego. Receiving a lot of love from the youth by popping out at various schools around the city, Pnut looks to keep momentum going with the release of his upcoming debut he’s finishing up.

Ghost Dad-

Since announcing “Break Bread” was available on all streaming services, many began to ask when we’d be blessed with more music from the 4th FL front man Ghost Dad. Well it appears the way is over as the San Diego rapper decided to gift us with the official cover and release date to follow up and with the lyricism and wordplay that Ghost Dad embodies, it’s easy to say this may be one of the most well rounded projects in 2019.

Axelle Goldie-

Now that the buzz around so-called "alternative" R&B is fading out, artists are finding ways to push the genre forward in more subtle ways and Cairo Egypt’s Axelle Goldie personifies this. Being a triple threat as an Artist, Graphic Designer and Event planner, the San Diego songstress has been teasing us with her highly anticipated project “Cigarettes & Stolen Whisky” and it looks like in 2019 we will finally receive it. No word on the official release date or track list but with tracks like “Never Let Me Go” & “Blue Monday” we can expect the shit to be fire!

O’Way-

By the time O’Way released his video for “Gettin Shifty”, he was already one of the most buzzed about new artists in the music industry. Despite being incarcerated, the San Diego rapper is full of Izm and incredible 1 liners that you could use in almost any situation. Expect Plu$ Tax to be the new Death Row is O’Way continues to have an incredible 2019.

Sebby OG-

The whole entire Suav City collective continue to each play their part whether it be dropping singles or cinematic visuals. Next up to bat is Sebby OG and 2019 seems to be the year we will finally receive his long awaited debut “Jimmy Panthers” Sebby has an all around fun style which you can hear on songs like “Hundred Dollar Feels” and a whole solo project from him would be exactly what his fans have been waiting for.

DBRVSS-

Ever since he released his ep “3.0″ in 2018, Dbrvss has been one of my favorite artist in San Diego and if you’re still sleeping on him you gotta wake the fuck up. Having a great ear for production and word play that’ll motivate you to get some money, Dbrvss is expected to be releasing something new very soon and im sure he will be on everyones radar by summer 2019.

Sir Karri-

Sir Karri came out of no where with his ep “I Felt A Way” for all his YUNOS and got everyone anticipating an album release. With him working on visuals along with running his own podcast to shed light on local talent and creatives doing their part, Karri has placed himself in the driver seat and now it’s just a waiting game on when he decides to drop the official project. 

Kalia-

Kalia songs are honest and relatable whether she's rapping about worrying about others or nascent relationships, she delivers verses in a refreshingly straightforward way, and her presence on instagram is great too with her #KaliaTakeOverTuesdaze . It's still early days, but Kalia's emergence feels like the start of something very special.

ServvvOne-

ServvvOne might be the youngest on this list but do not let that mistake you. The artist/producer has been making waves since 2017 and it looks like it’s finally leading him in the right direction. His soundcloud is full of unlimited waves and his beats alone are crafted in a way where his sound has become a trademark. Lets hope we get another body of work from Servvv in 2019.

Lil Gino-

Artist like Lil Gino can be so versatile that it’s hard to put them in just one category. Hearing his track “Tainted” late last year put him in a different class with vivid imagery and punchlines, it’s fun to imagine what a full length project would sound by the San Diego rapper. Lets hope Gino blesses the streets with an album 

Saucalini-

Saucalini easily my favorite San Diego artist and has continued to prove time and time again he’s a star in the making. Many saw signs of this on “Stone Cold Pilots” with Sebby OG but after releasing “Mardi Gras” and “Bluer Pools” a full length Saucalini mixtape is what the streets need

BLEACH-

The minutes I heard his name i knew bruh was dope and i was 100% right. Songs like “Fee” give you the perfect introduction of what to expect from the San Diego rapper. Whether its his gritty vocal tone or his punchlines, Bleach is a name that you should expect to see more of in the music scene in 2019.

DRECAT-

San Diego’s DreCat is one of the most underrated acts and if you haven’t heard “Made In Daygo” you should prolly go listen DreCat displays his versatility and lyrical structure on every song he’s apart of and one rapper who’s all about the bars, no gimmicks! After being nominated for having one of the best albums of 2018, lets hope we’re fortunate enough to get another full length project.

Gang$ta L-

Gang$ta L seemed to be on a hiatus after releasing his “Port Tape” a few years back but apparently that wasn’t the case. In 2018 he emerged and came back with his “Showtime” ep to let others know he’s back on his bullshit. Now with a steady growing fan base and a signature vocal tone, lets see what Logan has mapped out for the rest of 2019.

Khofa | #AuxGod

Khofa is a known name in San Diego and whether it be for actual music, setting up events or selling merch, he’s someone always staying busy. After releasing a few singles in 2018, Khofa has decided to give us his long awaited project titled “Fatherless” and after speaking with him about the project, it won’t be like your typical album. There’s a story and message around the project I believe everyone will enjoy once it’s released.

MemoTheMafioso-

MemoTheMafioso is someone i would not be sleeping on because he is a problem! The San Diego rapper creates music that make you wanna chase a bag and stay the fuck out the way and with him gaining hundreds of streams and views by the day, The ball is in his court on when he decides to give his fans an ep in 2019.

ObnoxiousAssYabbie | #AuxGod

Yabbie is one artist i can say I have never heard anyone sound like before but many have mimicked after. The SEM Gang front man has created his own lingo and delivery making it fun to be a fan because with every release, you learn a bit more of the lingo and appreciate the work ethic that much more. Yabbie has been going stoopid with the visuals so lets anticipate an album is in the works.

Q.Hype-

Since dropping his Cranium Curse project in 2017, Q.Hype has been on a tear releasing singles and visuals making sure he’s one of the artist you name when talking about consistency. Q.Hype marches to the beat of his own drum so don’t expect his music to sound like your ordinary radio hit. He does just about everything and looks to capitalize off that in 2019.

Kevin Watts-

Kevin Watts is on a mission to release one song per for the entire year and with already being on week 14, people are paying attention. Many are waiting to see what happens when he reaches his final week and if a project will follow but regardless, the journey is whats making people gravitate to the rappers content in 2019.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #374

Top Ten Things I Want from the Next Xbox

Well, it’s getting to that time again! E3 isn’t too far away, and this is One Of Those Years. Big announcements, hardware, speculation, rampant fanning… it’s all go!

Recently, Sony have discussed aspects of their “next PlayStation console”, presumably to get ahead of the announcement game as they’re skipping E3 entirely. It looks like Nintendo will be revealing a new, somewhat cut-down version of the Switch very soon, with a slightly souped-up version possibly coming later in the year. And Microsoft have earmarked their standard pre-E3 conference as the time when they will, at last, lift the lid on their next Xbox or two.

And so, inspired a little bit by a recent, very fun, Eurogamer podcast, I’ve been thinking about what I want from the Xbox Two (or whatever it’s called). And, yes, I’m just thinking about the Xbox, because I’ve got an Xbox. For better or worse, I’m in that ecosystem, and frankly I don’t have the time or money for multiple consoles (although I do really want a Switch). Plus, to be honest, I’m far more interested in the general direction that Microsoft seem to be going than Sony; sure, the PS5 looks like being an evolution and is a simpler proposition I guess (assuming what we think about it is true). But Microsoft focusing on software and one game purchase carrying across multiple platforms and even console generations, that sounds more up my street than “just” sexier graphics.

Anyway, here we go: ten things, some realistic, some not, that I’d like to see in the next Xbox. I’m not really focusing on games here, more the hardware – what I want the box to do.

Backwards Compatibility: this is a no-brainer, surely? Microsoft have really leaned into this, and I think it will continue. All Xbox One games should work, no question, and all of the 360/OG Xbox games already in the Back Compat list should work exactly the same on the new machine. I’d also like to see a graphical upgrade from Xbox One games played on the new machine, like when you’d play certain Amiga 500 games on the A1200.

Backwards Compatible Hardware: I’m not really aware of this happening before, but I really think they should extend the “it all works!” notion to include hardware. Sure, refine and improve the controller, but just make it so that the new box can use the old stuff too. I know they want to make money but it’d be a great incentive if I went in to the next generation knowing my kids already had two working controllers to use.

4K Blu-ray Drive: basically, I don’t want a discless Xbox yet. I do, in fact, buy most of my games digitally nowadays, but I still buy Blu-rays and physical editions of games when I really love them. I want my Xbox to be the only thing under my TV if at all possible, and that means a Blu-ray drive. What I hope is that, if they make a two-tiered system, the cheaper option still has a BD drive, because I have a feeling that any top-end Xbox 720 will be a mite bit pricey.

A Sub-£400 Price Tag: speaking of which… I’m fairly convinced, in my own head, that Microsoft will announce two iterations of the next-gen Xbox. It’ll be a bit like the Xbox 360 “Core” and “Premium” editions (although hopefully the cheaper option won’t be quite as cut-down). I think they’ll cost about £350 and £400 respectively, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the relative success of the Xbox One X means that MS feel comfortable charging a high premium for the top-tier version. I like having nice things, but I’m also a tight-arsed Yorkshireman, so at the moment I’m ambivalent towards which iteration I’ll be getting. If the cheapo option is discless, it’ll be a no-no; but if the sexy version is £450 or even (gulp) £500 that’ll be a tough decision.

Keep the HDMI-in: I’m not sure how popular it is, and whether it’ll be worth the hassle of Microsoft including it in the hardware, but I for one really like the TV-in functionality of the Xbox One. I suppose it can be a little fiddly having to access the Xbox first to watch TV, but seeing as we hardly ever watch TV or use the PVR, we pretty much always go through the Xbox regardless. It’s nice to flit between “live” TV (well, stuff we’ve recorded on the PVR) and the rest of the Xbox functionality. Maybe this will be something that’s retained for a “high-end” Xbox Vol. 4 but ditched for a lower-priced model.

Controller Standby: okay, this really is me just chasing something that would make my personal life easier, but one thing that irritates me with the Xbox One is the controller turning itself off. This is because we use the Xbox as a media hub in the living room; virtually all the media we watch – Netflix, iPlayer, Blu-rays, you name it – comes via that little black box. I did buy an Xbox remote control, but its functionality was a mite limited (nowhere near as good as the 360 media remote), and besides which, it broke. Using the controllers is fine (and easier if you need to navigate the dash), but they turn themselves off to save battery life, and it feels like it takes an age to make them come back on. Some sort of standby mode to reduce battery drain, but where the controller comes back to life, fully functional, the minute you press any button, would be fantastic. Or, y’know, bundle a remote.

Bring Back the 360 Quadrants: speaking of controllers, one thing I really miss is the little circle of light around the Xbox guide button that was on the 360 controller. It’s a simple thing, but lighting up a quadrant of that circle was an ideal way of indicating who was using which controller. Maybe nowadays hardly anyone is playing local multiplayer; maybe more hardcore games use other methods. But some way of easily identifying who’s in control of the dash, or which is the “primary” account at that moment, would be very useful, as it can get a touch confusing. Tying a profile to a controller feels elegant to me, but what do I know? Oh, which reminds me – unified controller settings! That was a godsend last gen, so why did they get rid of it? I wanna tell the Xbox that I play inverted, and then not have to do it for every single game. Please bring that back Mr. Microsoft.

Streamlined Interface: the Xbox One dashboard and whole user interface comes in for a fair bit of stick. To be honest, I don’t mind it, but it is fiddly, and it’s certainly a step back from the Xbox 360 experience. I’m not sure if my problems with it don’t just stem from the console targeting people with other interest than myself; I really just want fast access to my games and apps, and a quick way to check out my friends, achievements, and friends’ achievements. I hope they bring back the old “Guide” so there’s a really, really fast way to access that info “on top” of the dash, so to speak. But seeing as it’ll almost certainly be based around Windows 10, I hope they make it really customisable, too.

Intelligent Use of the Cloud: let’s face it, “The Cloud” is Microsoft’s USP as far as consoles are concerned. Sure, everyone has a cloud nowadays, but set against Sony’s “it’s a console but really good” and Nintendo’s “everything is mega-weird and super-cool”, Microsoft saying “all your stuff works everywhere” is a nice little hook. I hope it does work. Cloud processing was this generation’s hyperbolic disappointment, on display in Crackdown but far from the revolution we were hoping for (a bit like that funky sci-fi camera they had last generation…). Game streaming, however? Yeah, sure. The thought of playing my Xbox games anywhere – on my laptop, on my phone, on a Switch – is quite exciting, not just because “yay games”, but because they’re my Xbox games. Playing, I dunno, Halo 5, continuing the story, maintaining my progress, earning achievements… it’s an enticing prospect. On the Eurogamer podcast someone suggested that streaming could be potentially used (or, rather, hypothetically used) to create an “instant-on” situation, where you can start playing a game immediately before it’s finished installing or even downloading. Stuff like that would be nice. And I hope they extend Play Anywhere too, making more games cross-platform.

Discless Play: okay, this is a long-shot, as I imagine MS doesn’t want to go anywhere near the ideas they had when they announced the Xbox One; but all the same, I loved the sound of some of those ideas. Chief among them was the ability to install a game off a disc, but then play it from the hard drive without needing to put the disc in the machine again. I get why some people don’t like that, because of the restrictions it could place on resale, but I’d love it as an option. Seeing as this upcoming generation appears to be all about digital, downloading or streaming games, the concept of a physical unit or physical ownership is a little bit old-fashioned. Now, I’m a big proponent of physical media, but all the same Netflix is way more convenient. If I can rip a CD – or even automatically download its contents from Amazon – then activating a digital copy with a physical product would be great.

Right, there you are. Ten things I wanna see in the new Xbox. Will they come true? Well, maybe some. But I imagine I’ll still be scrambling on my hands and knees looking for errant Halo discs.