#i'd feel pretty bad as a content creator if my work was only used to attack some other work

[motheatenscarf]

Amidst all the James Somerton fallout, I think it's important to remember not to moralize whether or not you or others fell for his grift.

Obviously, if you were rallied into being one of his attack dogs on social media when he put some pretty heinous hits out on people, uh. You might have other problems and should probably evaluate how you spend your time online and how you treat other people before you start caring about the rest of the points I'm about to make. Priorities, etc.

But for the rest of us, it's surprisingly easy to miss just how awful a creator can be.

If you only watched his videos that caught your interest, if you don't really follow creators on social media, if you skip livestreams because watching Some Guy talk unfiltered into a bad camera angle with shitty lighting for hours on end sounds like a fucking nightmare to you, you're not really gonna catch most of this shit. At least, you're not gonna catch most of it from any perspective but the one he tries to spin.

This is a reminder to be skeptical and to trust your gut and check sources if something sounds wrong, but also. Uh. That's still the creator's responsibility not to plagiarize and to fact check their work. You're not morally obligated to be as thorough in curating your experience as someone who is making sure they take every ethical precaution before absolutely destroying a "creator's" credibility in a video like H-Bomb's or Todd in the Shadows'. You're literally just some guy. Most people, myself included, watch these videos as background noise while doing at minimum one other task, you're not gonna google every damn thing he says, especially not on media analysis, where the POINT is to have one's own opinion. THEY'RE the ones trying to be "influencers," or, laughably, "creators." The standards are on them.

And for the isms, phobias, and misogyny, well. Frankly, for my own perspective, I gaslight myself all the damn time when I see red flags. Good Allyship™ has been telling me for years to ignore my own discomfort when someone criticizes a privileged group, especially one I'm a part of. I'm a cis asexual white-passing and probably neuroatypical woman, I am constantly trying to be aware of my own relative privilege while simultaneously doubting my own reaction to things. Despite this, I'd still liked to think I'm a skeptical person, but nobody's immune to everything. Everybody has weak spots.

If you got duped or fell for James' scam, that sucks. I feel ya. I fell for it too, I've seen probably 40% of his catalog over the last couple years and really liked what I'd seen. I recommended his channel and videos to people even if I didn't always agree with every point he made, but it felt important to at least consider what to me seemed like a unique perspective that had value or added to a conversation. There are red flags within his content, his analysis, his rate of publishing, his weird diatribes, that in retrospect, really all added up into things I should have known better than to ignore. But, for reasons I'm interrogating and am adding to my list of things to be aware of about myself, I didn't ignore them, and got grifted. I donated to his patreon a few times, probably gave him like $20 grand total over the years, about as much as I've given H Bomb. The important take away here isn't to be ashamed of the fact that you were fooled, it's to remember that you're fallible.

And it's good to recognize that about yourself. Everyone is, and the ones who say they aren't are lying. They're either gonna be the next person to feel really stupid and foolish when they fall for a scam, or are themselves the grifter.

No one is immune.

[fereldanwench]

a couple weeks ago, i saw a conversation asking if virtual photographers should be called "content creators," and it's a topic that's kind of been rolling around in my brain since i saw it. very raw brain dump under the cut:

the question was framed with the implication that "content creator" is a, idk, like some kind of aspirational, prestigious title, and since it was asked in a vp community, pretty much all the answers were yes. a lot of the reasons for why it should be considered content creation were like it's really hard work (with a fair amount of comments that it's harder work than streaming/making videos (which as someone who has done all of the above, idk if i'd agree with that, but ymmv)), it's an art form, it serves the same function for companies as other "content," etc.

there's a lot to unpack here, and this is just some cursory thoughts so im not gonna touch on all of it, but i just thought it was really interesting how so many people were so adamantly defending the honor of being called a "content creator" because I've long felt like it's a term that devalues creative work.

i'm especially not fond of it fandom spaces because i feel like it puts really weird and harmful expectations on people who make fanworks (either by the community or on themselves) to treat fandom like a side hustle or even a professional venture rather than a hobby. not that there can't be some overlap, especially nowadays, but i'm just very protective of my personal fandom experience being a reprieve from all that nonsense.

and tbh, i feel a little weird when people comment on my stuff and refer to it as "content." it's usually complimentary, which of course i really appreciate (and if you've ever referred to my stuff as "content," it's totally fine, please don't feel bad, especially if you're not a native English speaker--i know the term is ubiquitous in English-speaking social media spaces and these connotations aren't universal even to native English speakers), but i just don't think of anything i make as "content." even when i was a streamer and felt closer to the whole "content creation" mindset, i still always felt kind of disconnected from the term. and the stuff i do for cyberpunk (art, fic, vp, all of it), i would collectively refer to as "fan works," not "content." "fan works" just feels so much warmer and sincere and soulful.

i will say, though, that it's a battle of semantics that i've largely let go, tbh--even I've caught myself on a few occasions using it as a collective term for a creative body of work online--but i just thought it was kind of interesting that my immediate reaction upon seeing that question was "i don't want VPers to be called 'content creators' because i think that cheapens their work" only to see a slew of VPers proudly say YES WE ARE CONTENT CREATORS AND WE DESERVE THAT RECOGNITION.

my perspective, though, is from one as a fan who just wants to make and share stuff for fun and doesn't have any grand professional aspirations with what I'm making. i think the conversation i was reading through was between a lot of people who did have those sorts of aspirations with their virtual photography, which opens up a bunch of other shit that i don't feel like getting into right now bc it's getting late, lmao.

[incandescentflower]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

a getting-to-know-you meme for people to introduce themselves in the bbs fandom by @fiercynn

note: "fanworks" are defined here as pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc. please include this note with the meme unless you have a different definition!

name and whatever you want to share about yourself

I'm MJ. I love writing fic and talking about shows with people. I write mostly BL. I am in a few fandoms, but bbs is definitely one I'm still writing (albeit slower lately).

this is crazy long so here's a cut -

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

I started watching after episode 2 aired. The name first turned me off. I didn't actually know who Ohm or Nanon was, lol I know right? I enjoyed some Thai BLs but none had hit for me. I saw a gif set of when Pat and Pran were looking at that empty dorm and Pat grabbed Pran right by the thigh and I was like, what the hell, I have to know what is happening there. Except, they were fooling me that this was just a light, silly, flirty show and hit me with such emotional resonance that I haven't freed myself yet. I wrote my first fic at the end of November 2021 and have been writing for them ever since.

favorite ship(s)

I am Pat/Pran through and through. I like other ships too but they are the reason I'm here.

favorite character(s)

I love both Pat and Pran. I like writing more from Pat pov because honestly Pran hits a little too close to home for me. :) All the side characters are fun and that is one of the reasons I love this show - Ink/Pa especially.

favorite episode(s) - these kinds of choices are just cruel but I would say episode 11. The raw emotions throughout it just killed me.

favorite scene (s) - rooftop aside, I recently mentioned the "thanks for trying to make this silly guy happy" scene from 11 as one of my favorites of all Thai bl (it's true), besides that, the scene when Pran brings Pat the drink, Pat tries to offer to say they aren't together anymore, the way Pran initiates them holding hands under the table and the way Pran knows Pat liked his drink less sweet. My heart tugs just thinking about it. <3

one thing you would change about the show if you could

more Ink/Pa would have been so nice and also, stop teasing us P'Aof and give us Wai/Korn

what are some of your favorite fanworks made by other people?

This is absolutely impossible. This fandom has so many wonderful creators in so many ways - art, fic, meta, edits. I think some things just stuck in the brain either because they were given to me because that's what I love about fandom most - the giving - or I was struck by them as they really hit my feels about the show at the time. but this is by no means an exhaustive list and I don't even know how I'd do that.

@geonbaeeee makes all kinds of amazing art, but I loved this one because they are some of my favorite scenes.

when I think of bbs art, I always think of this series. I don't even care about weddings tbh, but I just love how all their personalities are displayed here and I do think this is exactly what Pat and Pran would want haha

@funyasm made me this wonderful mood board for bbs as gift that was a big heart hug

@creativityobsessed wrote the coolest music meta about episode 5 and I still think about it sometimes.

I've been fortunate enough to be given two really wonderful gift fics. @galauvant gifted me Family Ties with some good Jindapat siblings content and triplelovescore gifted me a crack in the foundation with some excellent Pat hurt/comfort. Both were so good at giving the heart a little twist.

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

I would say if you've only read one work in the fandom by me it's probably Up the Ante. And I do love it, but I think honestly, my favorite might be one of my least read - "I'm here, if you want me," which I wrote in the week between episode 11 and 12 in that "you had to be there" time in the fandom. It was a "if they really did break up let's fix-it" fic. I think it could have actually been a longer AU if I had any patience at all, but I needed soothing in the moment lol. Pat's love for Pran shown in the way we all know he would give it - as self-sacrificing as possible, and Pran's love of Pat shown through his music. It just felt right.

Anyway, I have others too. Honestly, it's like trying to pick a favorite child. Fanworks are works of love and each have their reasons for why I wanted to write them and why I love them.

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol) ha ha, look, this show has a theme song with multiple versions, a secondary song, another song that is now an in canon Pran-written song, Pat's ourskyy song, the og trailer song, the when we were younger instrumental, when the lyrical version is also amazing, and one of my faves is Keep Coming Back to the Start which we only hear for a tiny bit at the end of episode 6, but is an awesome song. but okay, yeah, beyond that and the instrumentals, I have a whole playlist that includes these and others. many songs come from some of the amazing edits out there. anyway, that's a long answer to mention "If our Love is Wrong" by Calum Scott, which I got from this edit (yes this is a cheat to link another fanwork)

idk anything else you want us to know?

I've met some really kind people through the bbs fandom and I really appreciate them very much. <3

I know that there are definitely people who used to be in bbs fandom not tagged in someone else's posts but I am not sure who still considers themselves in it. so this is a chance to say so. :)

[themsource]

Hi! I'm new to fandom and I am going around asking different creators if they have any advice for me if that's okay

First off congrats, that's really awesome that you've discovered a passion for something enough to engage in the fandom space! ❤ I hope you have a wonderful experience in whatever fandom you're joining ^^ (If it's UT—YAY! XD lol)

Anywho, sure I can give some. But uh, it'll be derived from what I've experienced and won't be pretty. There's nothing guaranteeing you'll experience it at all as I have but still it has some stuff I wish I'd been told before getting heavily involved and learning stuff the hard way.

Placing it below a cut so people can easily avoid reading if they wish.

Be careful who you interact with. (People that frequently bad mouth others—make callout posts with no hard evidence.) And don't take someone's word on a person's character as truth.

You could become a victim of callout posts/drama no matter if you've spoken to the person or not. If it's someone you've been talking to a while or have only been kind to in interactions. Unfortunately people can be quick to jump on anything that has the slightest possibility of being taken negatively and spin it that way even if there's no ill intent or maliciousness behind it. Or they can paint you as negative just because.

You will face labels such as "Problematic" or "Toxic" to name a few, and once you get associated with those you'll see that a large portion of a fandom can and will blacklist you over it for their own mental safety, and/or to avoid potential drama you carry with you by probable association (such as "my idol creator hates you so I will too so they don't dislike me." or "I heard from someone that you think people that like this shipxship are stupid, and I like that ship so no bueno." Etc.)

Things I've said that people have called me "problematic" to my face for over the years:

"It's entitled and selfish for a following/fan base to get upset because the creator wants to explore a new genre the fanbase isn't comfortable with or used to, especially when they've labeled and warned so it can be avoided. Those aren't real fans or supporters."

"I ship Frans."

"The content you make doesn't matter when it comes to fiction. It's not real and neither are the characters. It's dumb if someone judges you over it."

"I don't believe hearsay without proof." (Twitter drama for example about someone)

"Denying where an idea comes from just so you can feel valid and good about yourself is wrong, especially if you're wrong in what you thought you knew and just don't want to admit it."

"I just wanted to be a Hufflepuff."

"I love pinapple on pizza."

"He said, she said, is a political debate. Because all it is is throwing words and accusations around without any evidence to back it."

"Chara is evil."

"Fluff is nice but sometimes you just need really dark unhinged stuff to balance it out otherwise it'll get bland."

"You can like content and not like the creator. And vice versa. I will always separate the art from the artist."

"I don't believe in the term 'problematic' when it comes to fiction."

"Toriel was just as much in the wrong as Asgore was."

There's probably more but these are the ones I was made aware of.

Other labels that have been pushed on me because of what was said above that fall under "problematic": P*do, Weirdo, Freak, R*p Apologist, Transp*be, and Exclusionist just to name a few.

Though none of those labels remotely align with my personal views and stances. It won't matter to a lot of people though if you've been "warned" for with those labels used. This world currently is very "Guilty until proven innocent" instead of "Innocent until proven guilty." Which means it'll be very hard or impossible to change someone's mind especially if they were "warned" by a friend.

You'll also find a lot of people will isolate and detach from you if you disagree on something such as how you view a certain creator or their work, so a lot of the time people will keep their mouth shut just to fit in or to not experience rejection, or will go so far as to say things they don't mean to appear as if agreeing. This is called an "echo chamber" and if you don't fit it, you'll likely get booted. Be prepared for people to maybe DM saying they agree with you, but ultimately not speaking up for fear of backlash for themselves. If someone does speak up? Cool! That's an awesome person and you are lucky to have found them.

So am I problematic given the examples above? To some maybe, others no, some definitely yes, and everyone has the risk of being viewed that way too. Thankfully just like most things in this world though, online you'll find not everyone will share the same viewpoint or opinion. You will undoubtably find at least one person that won't care how others label you.

I have a really small, really closed, friend group. There are six people I know for sure are lifelong friends that I've made through fandom. They took the time to get to know me, listened to my views even if they disagreed and did so amicably (as I've done too), and if there was an issue always talked to me about it. Six may not seem like much but you'll find a smaller number of people who truly understand you vs a crowd that you have to say the "right thing" or make the "right content" for is so much more fulfilling.

The golden rule is something I try to live by: "Treat others the way you want to be treated."

And the best way to determine that is through interaction. If they reciprocate the golden rule that is a positive indicator that they might be safe to interact and eventually open up to. It's best to decide for yourself what a person's character is like and if they're safe rather than having others decide for you by word of mouth, including the very person themselves because you'll find a lot of people in fandom tend to have terrible self confidence.

Unless there's hard proof like an admittance or gloat that someone can provide, then oh boy—the block button is a friend.

Personally, I've learned it's best to just post your stuff, give someone a like or reblog here and there, and answer any legit asks if they're received to try avoiding unnecessary conflict. But that's just me.

Don't get involved in "picking sides". (You're with us or against us nonsense)

This is a quick way to get you avoided and blacklisted because you'll either disturb someone's echo chamber or you'll be seen as a drama mama when people are here for content and fun, not the latest issue or gossip going on.

The world isn't black and white, and that includes the issues and viewpoints in it. It's shades of grey. By viewing it as black and white you leave no room for nuance, and people that use the "with us or against us" arguments so vocally expect 100% percent compliance or none. You're not allowed to agree on one thing pertaining to a topic but disagree on another thing on the same topic because then "you're adding to the problem".

Now this isn't to scare you into thinking that you can't trust someone you want to be friends with by opening up to them with your opinions. No, please do, that's how friendships are made, but if you feel like there is the slightest risk they'll drop you like a sack of potatoes then you probably shouldn't. It's 50/50 gamble sometimes. And if they do well they weren't your friend to begin with and you're better off without them. Bizarrely some in the "with us" camp believe having you around with a viewpoint they can't stand will somehow influence them in a way they don't want. Which is honestly just ridiculous to me because that eliminates the principle of free thought and will.

So I advise just enjoying the content you see and making it yourself if that's what you want to do. Don't turn yourself into an advertisement board for free harassment from those who actively want to pick a fight and make you look like a bad person somehow on top of it. Some get joy out of just destroying people.

Ignore the trolls

Every fandom has trolls. People who like to give shit and bully just for fun (for them) aka harassment. This can include "kys" messages or other negative things in your inbox from anons, comments on your post bashing a ship though it was clearly marked so it could be avoided, etc. These come in all ages and demographics, from minors and yes even from grown ass adults in their 40s and up. Sadly trolls can't be avoided no matter how popular you are or how wholesome the stuff you engage with is. You could be a mute virgin nun and still be attacked for something.

The only thing you can do is ignore them. If they get bad, really bad like do doxing (the exposure of your real identity), report them. They've been around since even before the invention of the internet and will be around even after.

Don't take being blocked or muted personally.

Some just block or mute to avoid content they don't like, and with how algorithms work on certain websites just you liking something without reblogging or sharing can make it show up on their feed, especially if you share mutuals or are gaining traction in a tag or whatever. This doesn't mean they dislike you personally.

And if you find someone does block or mute you over a comment you made recently or what have you, still don't get hung up over it. Chances are you probably wouldn't have a very productive conversation in the first place. Unless it's a case of misunderstanding since online text boxes can be too limited to get your meaning across, then I rec either reaching out a quick message via an alt to clear it if you truly care enough about the person.

But don't ever try to not be yourself just to please someone. If after talking they still want nothing to do with you based on differences in views, drop it. It'd just stress you out in the long run to linger over it.

And if you make an honest mistake, sometimes people will hold that against you, but it's best to just let that go too, because not everyone will hold that against you, and given time a few will get over it and even see where you were coming from after the anger dies down. Mistakes happen and they will happen. You can't hold that against yourself. Tagging can be confusing, the wrong word could be used when describing something, etc.

Just stay calm, take a deep breath, and compose yourself before you react. It's a mistake, not the end of the world. Let people block that need to block, don't take it personally because odds are they're hurt just like you are, apologize where you can, and just try to do better.

In the great words of The All-American Rejects, move along.

Don't do DNIs if you can help it (Do Not Interact lists)

I don't recommend having DNIs, I see it as a bar to what could otherwise be a good friendship so long as you simply tell them your boundaries.

DNIs can be taken as a red flag by some that if you see anyone that fits the labels you choose for your list that you automatically see them as a bad person, regardless of nuances or discussion, and that you'll likely target them for harassment if you come across them in a mutual's post or share a space for a community event. Obviously this is for the mundane labels, I've seen people list "Apple Lovers" (yes the fruit), and Vegetarians, to name a few.

I'm not saying that people who use DNIs will harass, just that I've seen it happen and have been targeted over it too as have others.

Seriously harassment can and will happen from anywhere, it's the internet, better prepared than not though.

But if you really feel you need one to feel safe. Please make sure you research the true meanings and definitions behind the labels you select. Otherwise people will stare out of confusion, or block you over more misunderstandings.

Have fun

Create and curate, for you.

Make the type of stuff you want to make or engage with without fear of judgement. Be shameless in what you enjoy because that's the only true way you'll enjoy being in a fandom. People will judge you anyways, no matter what, so don't get hung up on it.

Out of my friends there's some that absolutely loathe some of the content and ships I enjoy, so they don't follow my socials to avoid that content, but they still encourage me to be happy and to keep "doing me" with what I write or draw, because they know my character isn't reflected in my consumption. And the right people will see that with you, and encourage you if you're honest and happy with yourself even if they may disagree with it or not.

This is the most important bit of advice I want to give. Given the other stuff I know it may seem overwhelming but trust me it really is worth it in the end once you find a rhythm, and pretty soon after enough time you'll find yourself roiling your eyes over the other stuff when you've reached a place of comfort and contentment. Because once you have that none of the other stuff matters. Ultimately that's what every decent person strives for in a fandom. It may be easy or it may be difficult to reach but it's possible.

No one can hurt you when you're having fun and you're happy with yourself. Words will roll off like water on plastic after a point and trolls/bullies will largely disappear if they realize their name calling and words can't hurt you or sow doubt.

You also won't feel as lonely if you don't receive interaction on something once in a while because you'll still feel the joy from having made it. That's another thing, don't join a fandom just for attention and validation from others. That's the number one way to find disappointment and to end up dropping from a fandom in the end other than simply losing your hyper fixation after a while.

With that I wish you luck! Sorry if this was long winded ^^ and please don't take this as a be all end all guide, this is all just personal opinion and interpretation meant to help. (I also am terrible at discussing my thoughts cohesively and accurately so I apologize if anything is confusing.)

I hope you live your best fandom life, I'm rooting for you. ❤

[copepods]

hey, I’ve heard over the grapevine that you’re a fan of Star Wars. I’ve only ever watched the first released movie and the first season of Mandalorian, but I would like to get more into it. However, I don’t know what order to watch the movies and all of the tv shows and extras etc etc. do you have any recommendations?

sure!

if you're interested in watching the movies, i'd recommend watching them in the order of release- A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, then The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith, then The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and the Rise of Skywalker. some of the movies are definitely worse than others, but i'll leave it up to you to decide which ones you like more lol. if you want to watch shows, i'd recommend watching the movies first, since everything uses them as a basis. there's also Solo and Rogue One, which both take place in between the prequels and the original trilogy. you can watch those after if you want, or not at all if you aren't interested.

the Big TV Show in my opinion is The Clone Wars, which has 7 seasons and takes place in between AOTC and ROTS. the creator, dave filoni, is the big guy behind shows like The Mandalorian right now, so i'd recommend watching that first if you want a reference for some of the characters that appear in the later shows. of course, TCW is pretty freaking long, so if you don't want to watch all that there's plenty of watch guides on google that give you the most relevant episodes and what order to watch them in. if you give the show a go and don't like it, that's fine! it's not required viewing, it just gives some added context to everything that happens in later shows. it's also really really good, esp after the first 2 seasons.

there are a lot of other tv shows as well, and you can kind of pick and choose which ones you want to watch (or all of them!) but it's definitely up to you.

Star Wars Rebels takes place shortly before the original trilogy (ANH-ROTJ), so if those end up being your favorite movies, check Rebels out! the new Ahsoka series is going to be a sequel to Rebels of sorts i believe, so it'll give some context if you want to watch that too.

Star Wars Resistance is one that takes place during the sequel trilogy (TFA-TROS), so if you're a sequels fan, that adds some new characters and fleshes out the resistance a little more! i haven't seen it so i can't speak for its quality but there's not all that much supplemental content for the sequels, this is pretty much the big one.

The Mandalorian takes place after the original trilogy but before the sequels. if you're interested in watching more, go for it! it's not required, though. a lot of characters in the 2nd-3rd season are from Clone Wars and Rebels, though, so keep that in mind!

The Bad Batch takes place after the prequels, centering around some clones that made a brief appearance in The Clone Wars. if you want more clone-centric content, you might like this one! i haven't watched it for personal reasons (a lot of the clone designs were horribly whitewashed) but feel free to check it out.

Tales of the Jedi is a relatively new one, that adds some supplemental content to characters from mainly the Clone Wars and the prequels. episodes kind of span all over the timeline. it's relatively short, so if you like the Clone Wars, feel free to give it a shot!

Kenobi focuses on Obi-Wan, and takes place before the original trilogy. to my knowledge there's really not all that much stuff in here that comes from other shows, it's a pretty self-sufficient one. if you like obi wan (i certainly do), give it a try :D

Andor centers around a character from Rogue One and takes place before it. i haven't watched it yet myself, but i've heard it goes into a lot of deep and interesting territory about fascism and how the Empire works, and Rogue One was one of my favorite movies, so i'd definitely recommend it!

edit: I KNEW I WAS FORGETTING SOMETHING there's also The Book of Boba Fett! has characters from both the original trilogy and The Mandalorian, id watch if you're a fan of those :D

that's all the main stuff out right now to my knowledge! there's also a ton of books, video games, etc that i'm not even going to begin to list off, and then the whole Legends canon that disney retconned (which i know next to nothing about), etc. i hope this suffices!

[morellanimmermehr]

What’s your honest opinion about posting content on Dorian? And Dorian as a platform? I am hearing contrasting opinions and the bad ones are bad but the good ones make it sound really interesting.

tl;dr - The app and engine are kind of clunky and there are some improvements I'd really like to see, but overall I've been really enjoying posting on Dorian so far.

I'll go into more detail under the cut, but if there's a specific aspect you have concerns about that I'm not addressing or you have follow up questions please do come back and let me know!

Note: I'm only using Dorian for Arcana fantales, so my opinion is purely from that perspective.

First of all, after being used to the Arcana app, Dorian is definitely a bit of an adjustment. The app has a very different feel, it can be kind of slow, and I know some people experience bugs (though I personally haven't really had issues with that).

Similarly, the engine that creators use to make the stories can be a bit slow and buggy, though it's improved even in the few months I've been using it, and I've always found the Dorian staff really responsive when issues are reported to them.

Despite the above, posting on Dorian is actually super easy. There wasn't much of a learning curve at all for me in terms of using the engine.

One of my biggest gripes right now is probably the alignment of the Arcana sprites in the app. The taller sprites (like Muriel's) have cut-offs at the top and it really doesn't look good. I understand that's being worked on currently, so hopefully it will improve.

I would also like to see them implement choice memory and permanent unlocks for premium scenes. I've seen these things requested a lot, so I hope they'll come eventually.

Streams feature pretty prominently on the app. I found that off-putting at first and was sure I would never join one. Then one day I caved and gave it a try and… now I'm kind of hooked? Seeing people react to my stories in real time has honestly been amazing. I still don't stream myself because I'm shy, but I watch pretty regularly now.

In general the reader engagement I've been getting on Dorian has been awesome and a real motivation boost. Between comments and the livestreams I hear from so many more readers than I ever did on AO3, and I'm loving it.

In terms of the interactions I've had with the Dorian team, I honestly have only good things to say. As a creator, it's really up to you how you want to use the platform. If you are interested in things like growing your audience or increasing monetization the Dorian team are very happy to help and will offer suggestions. But if you don't care about any of that and just want to post your story and move on, that's fine too; there's no obligation, and you have full control over the story you want to write (as long as it doesn't break any guidelines of course).

[trash-slvt]

Wow, this blew up. This was a silly post i made before i'd had my coffee or meds but its a sentiment i've been thinking about a lot recently. ive been reading through the notes and theres way too many to reply to. but they mostly fall into these categories: apollo dodgeball / if you knock on enough doors asking for the devil: I think thats actually a big part of why i made this. Youtube (or any corporation) will do everything it can to make more money. they would implement this in a second if it were both technologically feasible and socially acceptable (or at least, acceptable enough to not cause too much of a backlash). a decade ago, this concept met neither criteria. now its dangerously close to meeting both.

The web was built on a model where the website sends you content and a suggestion of how to render it - to give users the freedom to interact with it however they choose. Since then, there's been a battle between corporations and this principle as they use every trick they can come up with to force you to render the content the way they want you to.

The most effective way that corporations have achieved this is with apps. Paraphrasing Cory Doctorow[1], an app is just a website that its illegal to mess with. So many of the notes are people saying "i wish i could block youtube ads on my phone/smart tv/game console". this is a problem, and a bad sign of what to come.

another thing that makes this concept technologically feasible and socially acceptable in my opinion is face id. Having a camera scan your face automatically before letting you progress has become normal. Its common to put tape over your webcam, but nobody puts tape over their phone camera. Somehow, we've been trained to view it differently. more broadly, I dont think the web is meant to be profitable. The old internet was full of small forums run at a loss fueled by the passion of their creators. When corporations moved in down the road with enough money to drive the forums away and take over, those corporations still didnt turn a profit. and they havent for a decade. Now they're getting desperate and they're going to extract as much as they can from their users to try and recoup those costs. Your outrage over the concept of this is important. Visible backlash to hostile practices works. its important that we all say Fuck That loudly and often. Youtube is adding a five second delay for firefox users: I read about this immediately after making the original post. this is such a brazen move by google. I hope they get in some serious shit for leveraging one monopoly to bolster another but im not familiar enough with international law to know if thats likely.

Regardless, google has been showing their hand lately with so many hostile decisions. Their only leverage is their user base. Don't help them. Switch to firefox. if you need to, you can make firefox pretend to be chrome for specific websites Ads are getting worse / loud ads in asmr videos / pragerU and other evil ads: Ad blocking still works! please use an ad block! install ublock origin! Youtube is working hard break ad blockers but the ublock devs are working harder to keep them working. you just need to update the filter lists every now and then. here's a guide I still want to support creators: Find a way to support them directly! youtube is a notoriously unreliable income source. Check how the creator you want to support would prefer you support them. Chucking them a few bucks once will go a lot further than watching ads.

Piss kink references: Thank you tumblr for being tumblr. A lot of the replies have been pretty heavy so these silly responses have been surprisingly refreshing.

----

I highly recommend Cory doctorow's defcon talk about the state of the web and how we can fix it. it put words to things i'd been feeling for a long time and introduced me to new ways of thinking about some of this stuff. Its linked at the bottom.

Its been wild having this post break containment like this. Tumblr is my place for shouting into the void and im used to most of my original posts not getting much traction (which is fine, or maybe even the point). the concept of over thirty thousand people reading something i wrote is hard to even conceptualize. I wasn't at all prepared for this but its touching that so many people resonated with my anger and frustration.

Okay, i'm going to go outside and remind myself that there is still so much good in the world. Fighting corporations is important but don't forget to also marvel at a cool bug or something to balance it out [1] - DEF CON 31 - An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification - Cory Doctorow [Invidious link] [yt]

[northropi]

More Twitter shit and this time I'm feeling especially grim about it, oomfies.

The pattern my usage of SM took after trying to quit it is kind of indicative of why a lot of people didn't. You set up to leave, you start using alternatives, but because not everyone does you end up stuck in a transitional "I'm phasing this site out" state indefinitely. I use Twt far less now than I did then and really my overall general doomscrolling has been greatly reduced even across my now multiple sites, but in the big picture, shit has been fucking rough.

I've noticed, and no doubt you have too, how heavily I've shifted from creating to consuming. In addition to how tight my schedule is, how limited my resources are, my motivation has been utterly destroyed by having to start over. I never had a lot, but here the only one who consistently sees my posts is Alaska. I can accept just making things for myself but I can't imagine being happy as a hermit reduced to only in-person art showings. Still, that really feels like where things are heading. Every site is either bad for art, not even oriented towards art to begin with, gives zero visibility, or doesn't allow half my work to exist.

I kind of quit Tumblr as an art/writing outlet due to its AI thing, as I did on DeviantArt. But at least they have an opt-out even if that's an incomplete solution. I guess that's just where the bar is now considering what Twitter's doing. I'm still utterly lost though. DA had some instant success but with its slop problem that might not be waiting for me when I come back, Tumblr is obtuse at best and hostile at worst, Newgrounds has some pretty steep standards before it even gives you the privilege of appearing in people's recommendations, Bluesky is absolutely serviceable but its launch was a wet fart after a failure to build momentum up to then, I dropped Wix over Palestine, Obsidian offers something but it's paid and SFW, Reddit, I don't even know what Pixiv is, and Eka's is a walled garden and also, you know, not exactly something I'd use exclusively if give the option.

Am I being dramatic in saying that I think we're kinda witnessing the death of writing/illustrating content creators as internet personalities here? Because at this point I think we're gonna be reduced to posting decontextualized scraps in forums with nowhere to really follow us in the way YouTubers and Streamers have relatives security in.

Unless you go to the sponsor of today's video, SQUARESP--

[uraverageemodrainergamerbf]

the muppets. (2015)

I'm currently watching one of the more recent show starring my favorite puppets, and I have to say I'm really pleasantly surprised by this one. Most of the post 90's muppets content, following the early death of their creator Jim Henson, has been kinda rough. Each time it's very lacking and misses a lot of soul, especially the disney + productions, which just consists of way too mich guest stars and not enough muppet magic ( more on that on another post) but this one is different.

Starting it I had no expectations, but it quickly became more than I hoped for. First of all the show concept is really fun, it's a show in the form of the office, where we see the backstage and production of a late night talk show starring miss piggy. There's no music, it's very mundane most of the time it's just people trying to work and I just love it. Seeing Kermit slowly becoming crazy while trying to hold together this crew of completely chaotic maniacs is really entertaining. The one on one interviews a la The office is a great idea to focus for little moments on each character.

But I had some problems starting the show. Some jokes are just really not appropriate in my opinion (weight jokes are just terrible) and a bit toxic sometimes, especially at the start of the series. It's also very cynical and kind of cold at first, everyone is pretty mean to each other and I hate it, the muppets just don't act this way for me and it's pretty infuriating to see them mocking other on their insecurities

So the show's humor is kind of a mixed bag at the start, it's more oriented toward an adult audience than your usual muppet show, while not being shocking or totally inappropriate. And they walk that straight line pretty gracefully most of the time, if you ignore the sexist jokes

But GOOD KNOWS WHY at the middle of the season everything changes. The characters start having a lot of compassion and try to help each other more and care more, while still making fun of each other, but in a more respectful and gentle way. The plot thickens for a few characters, and the friendship just starts to shine. Kermit starts to actually support all his old friends and that's super cute. And even after that the story takes another great turn (spoiler warning) : the network tries really hard to change the show by sending a hipster jackass to modernize it, and the muppets just decide to stick together in front of adversity and try to come up with new ideas to satisfy the network. And they have trouble so Kermit leaves a meeting at one point. But then they start making the muppets show opening with office furniture. And it's so cute and Kermit comes back see them and says "i know what to add to the show: our friends" cause you see in this series they are not performers but work for Kermit and the only muppets really performing is Peggy. And so they literally transform the show into the muppet show and it's so sweet. They start to sing together on stage, playing old bits they use to do and you can just feel the love they have for their show and crew (watch me talk abt them as if they were real). And they also lose the problematic jokes or at least there are way less than in the first 5/6 episodes

The guest stars are really neat too, most of the stars are being real assholes and are quite funny, I especially loved the drums duel between animal and dave grohl

So despite a pretty rough start, if like me you're very attached those very loveable characters, i'd say the show is worth your time, if you can overlook some really bad jokes and storylines, the concept is really fun, the jokes are really funny most of the time, there are great storylines, especially in the second half of the season, and I'm now very sad they couldn't build on the momentum and had to see their show cancelled, it's a shame

[freevoidman]

ok stream thing is actually done. Thoughts beneath the cut bc this is just more of a personal rant and observation than any kind of genuine criticism that should be taken to heart by anyone lmao.

i will say this was about waynera/diotv (splitting it up there just in case i'm too used to twitter censoring) and that:

the DOUBLE bait 'n switch is incredibly fucking funny and that trailer at the end was really cool

I think people are super justified to have been annoyed at the entire thing being Breaking Bad because holy fuck man so much of that was painful as hell. Wayne i love your comedy but never abridge anything ever.

Were some people being hella fuckin dramatic? absolutely. However, holy shit that was a nearly 5 hour long stream that started an entire hour late and I really can't blame people for initially being super mad. There's bits and then there's that entire stream.

I'm trying to put a lot of my bias aside bc this is the exact kind of comedy I don't like, mixed with a show I do not enjoy beyond recognizing the talent and skill that went into it (sue me I really just don't enjoy Breaking Bad or its many associated memes) and that ending was cool and clearly took a lot of effort! I am certain that people genuinely enjoyed the entire thing, it's just that this specific type of comedy is stuff I don't enjoy (I chuckled a lot more at weird physics bugs or dumb game interactivity screwing with things--pure improve moments that can't be scripted and don't feel inherently "dumb").

I also think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if there wasn't an initial bait and switch. Live streams are always difficult for me to get into bc of the premise of them being live and, if there's something dull or that I personally don't enjoy, I can't really "skip." This was just like. Every part of what I hate about streaming combined with the constant sour taste of thinking i'd been "carrot on a stick"-ed into watching something I really didn't like. I would've rather have been given a genuine title and content related-tags and realized I missed the trailer at the end (of a five fucking hour stream) and been disappointed about that then the initial reaction I had.

I also do know that the RTVS crew just. does this. And i know it's this type of stuff they like doing! Hell, I can acknowledge the insane amount of skill, time and effort that went into this stream as well--it was a custom map with multiple areas, props, and had a whole team working on it and making sure everything went semi-according to plan. they also like fucking with the audience (the chuckee cheese bit, another thing I loved a lot, was intentionally done to piss people off, but I loved it lol). IDK, just mixed feelings all around about this, though this is hardly the end of the world or anything terrible to me. But I can also acknowledge that other people in different timezones were also excited and put aside time to watch, only to get nearly 5 hours of breaking bad. I'm in the camp that wasn't super screwed over and I know that trying to coordinate things on a timezone basis is borderline impossible at a certain point, but I do get a lot of people's ire over this.

Just to be clear: I hold no hate to wayne or the crew about this and, to quote a good ol' adage: artists owe you nothing. Creators owe you nothing. They wanted to do this, and they did it, and I'm certain people liked/loved it! I just think there's a difference between, like, Pyrocynical making a thumbnail with the Petscop protag and the video having nothing to do about Petscop (something you can figure out pretty quickly) and a livestream hyped up for over a week advertised as a follow-up to something a lot of people have been excited for, and then doing this type of stream.

And, again, I'm biased here. This is the kind of comedy I don't like. I have made active attempts to like it, and I cannot emphasize enough that it just does not click for me. This was not a stream that would've ever clicked for me and, honestly, the only reason I'm reacting positively towards this is because I left and managed to come back at the perfect time. Tomorrow I'll watch the vod and maybe sit with the last half hour but damn man, it was rough to sit through most of that up until the intermission.

mmmmmm i don't want to post anything definitive or openly annoyed until the stream is officially over and done but this really gives me a sour taste in my mouth and i genuinely can't enjoy it

[jaskiersvalley]

(Season 2 spoilers)

So I've started watching S2 and I want your opinion. They really make Eskel show up for one episode, be a jerk and then die. After your writing I felt attached to him and thought this was very unfair. They didn't even really give him scars!

I will pop this under a cut because, as you say, spoilers for Season 2! It is also a bit of a ramble, oops.

Okay, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about this, the show, and Eskel as a whole. After watching the show my kneejerk reaction honestly was that Episode 2 just didn't happen. But I've done a fair bit of reflecting, reading and picking through things and have come to several conclusions.

1. The show hasn't taken Eskel away from the fandom. We're still here, still loving Goat Dad and his polite, succubus fucking, fisstech taking ways. If we're being realistic, the show was never going to give us fanon Eskel. But what can it do for us? Bring more people to fanon. There wasn't enough of Eskel in the show for there to be an exceptional amount of content for him but there was enough to maybe pique interest for some viewers. They'll come to fanon for more Eskel content, maybe hoping for a fix-it and they'll find us here, welcoming them with loving arms and showing them our interpretation.

2. He was a dick in the episode where he turns up, which is not at all the side we see of him (what little there is) in the books or the games. But let's try to put it into perspective. He's just come off the Path, got home. On his way up encounters a weird Leshy. When he tells his family, Vesemir chides him for fighting it for 6 hours without killing it. So is Eskel going to then admit he also got injured? Given that he's already in a bad mood, hurting and tired, he's not going to want to risk ridicule. But the flashback in Ep. 3 shows much more the Eskel that fanon wanted to see. Which leads me onto the next point.

3. The show is action adventure with a focus on the family bond between Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri. It has very limited space and can't include everything from the sprawling lore of the Witcher world. Because there's a huge amount that they could pick and choose from, not just the books and the games but the Gwent lore, the Table Top RPG. This is before we consider that the show creators want to make their own mark and have their own ideas and theories explored. As amazing as it would have been to see more of life at Kaer Morhen, the bond between witchers, there just wasn't time. There could have probably been a whole series dedicated to Geralt, Lambert, Eskel, Vesemir and Coen's relationships. But that's not the focus of the show, they're merely supporting characters there to further the story of the main characters.

4. As for the scars...well. Again, it's all interpretation. The books and the games didn't match in terms of scars. I can only imagine that such extensive prosthetics would have been uncomfortable to wear and work in (just think of Anya Chalotra's problems with her pre-transformation Yennefer look. It had some serious consequences for the little I know.). They also had a different actor than planned, Covid restrictions to contend with, and probably wanted to have their own interpretation of the character. They turned Lambert ginger with long, luscious hair yet I've not seen so much kickback against his casting.

5. Basil Eidenbenz did a fantastic job. Poor guy already had fandom rallying against him from the day he was announced as the replacement Eskel. Too young. Too skinny. Too pretty. Frankly, if that was me, I'd be devastated to walk into something with already so much hate against me. But he did the show, in Ep. 3 he gave Eskel some real warmth, gave a flash of what fanon decided Eskel's personality is more like. He worked with what he had, what the script and the directing allowed him. And kudos to the guy. His portrayal of Eskel might not be what the fandom wanted, but he gave an excellent performance in his own right.

So what now? Fandom feels let down by canon. That's nothing new. We're going to do what fandom does best and write/draw/create all the fix-its. We'll continue with our own characterisations, make something that makes us happy. Canon is nothing more than a suggestions, we can pick and choose our own. And in The Witcher fandom? We have a whole feast to choose from. So don't let the show's portrayal bring you down. Use it, celebrate the bits you liked from the show and politely ignore the rest. Am I going to continue writing Eskel? You bet. Will it be show canon Eskel? Probably not. But that does not mean I can't cherry pick aspects from the various canons and mash them into something of my own. I can only hope everyone else can do the same and focus on the bits that bring them joy rather than what they disagreed with.

[hauntedfalcon]

Can we stop acting like the fact that AO3 didn't have to fund legal fees is a bad thing?

Its literally what we, as content creators, want. It means no jumped up Anne Rice wanna-be came after content creators. It means that the content creators using AO3 did so within full service and operation of both the law and site policy. It means that we were able to do what we enjoy doing, without threat, for two consecutive years.

Probably because people were too busy with a literal global pandemic to be serving C&D or DMCA forms over fucking fanfic, but hey, who knows, right?

It is not a bad thing.

Also, just so you know, AO3's fundraising goal is the literal bare minimum figure they'd have to have as their in-flow cash in order to function based off a cashflow forecast and internal financial analysis. Have you ever looked at your job and worked out the bare minimum you'd have to work to have all your bills paid? Yeah, that's AO3's set target for their fundraisers.

For full transparency, here's the flow chart of AO3's full 2022 budget and cashflow.

THIS IS WHAT WE WANT.

Personally if I saw that AO3 had a $00.00 flatline for in-kind legal advocacy every single year? Fuck yeah. I'd love that. Because it means nobody needed it.

But I'll bet you're pissed that big bad AO3 got so much money, mm? Its okay widdle babey, here's the cashflow analysis of the biggest corporate charities to make you feel better. AO3's annual income for the last six years alone doesn't even touch the figures you see below.

AO3 is literally not taking away from anyone. The only thing you're mad about is you feel entitled to that money because you have this skewed notion you would've received it had AO3 not. That's not how life works. AO3's donations aren't even 50% of the top 10 global charity networks and corporations. AO3 isn't 'taking away donations people in need would've received' or whatever other half-assed argument you've got brewing.

Just leave it the fuck alone. Nobody's making you use it. Nobody's forcing you to donate. Literally nobody is 'missing out' because a few hundred thousand people donated their spare change to fund the one fucking site we have, at all, that is worth said spare change. I'd rather throw a dollar at AO3 every single day for the rest of my entire life than be forced to used Wattpad or LiveJournal.

Oxfam 2019 - 2022: £30,790,000. A 24% increase. Bernardo's 2021: £280,500,000. RSPCA 2021: £151,800,000.

wow, it’s amazing how many defenders of a fanfic site manage to be so fucking illiterate.

yes you petulant little stooge, I am pissed that AO3 got so much money when people on this webbed site are literally starving and trying to pay for surgery and, you know, actual important shit like that

I’m pissed that every six months the Greek chorus of “ooooooooooooh donate to AO3 and the OTW because the legal work they do is impoooooortaaaaaaaant” starts up again, that legal advocacy is the number one thing people cite to get other people to part with their money, that mutuals who really should know better have told me that the OTW is ~~~pretty much always~~~ involved in some legal development when all of that is a full fucking lie, it’s a goddamn joke to imagine one nonprofit’s legal department is actively protecting all of us from being sued while somehow also spending no money, especially when they didn’t even protect their own users from having their work stolen off AO3 and put behind a paywall a couple years back, give me an entire break

and in exactly the same way, “because of your generosity, we have a sizeable surplus and we’re now looking into a diversified investment portfolio” was a lie for years and it never happened and they finally just… quietly omitted it from their financial reports

I’m pissed that a fourteen year old nonprofit has never bothered to diversify their funding at all with grants for specific projects, and instead relies on unallocated funds from donors, and they justify this piss poor practice simply because “we are supported entirely by our users” looks better

I’m pissed that every time I mention how their “transparent” budget is actually pretty pants about certain things, like the fact that they changed the amounts in their estimated columns to match what actually came in, and how nonprofit budgets are publicly available for this exact reason, so that we the public can decide if they’re actually doing what they ought to be doing before we give them our money, some tiresome little pissant climbs out of a puddle to send me a link to the exact fucking spreadsheet I got my information from

so no I will not be leaving it alone, thanks, I will fucking increase the fucking thing. you sound like a sucker, so you’d better go donate to AO3

[elvisgrace]

Check In Tag

Got tagged by @esotheria-sims!

Why did you choose your url?

The origins of 'elvisgrace' are long lost in the mists of time...

Nah, I'm Grace, and back in high school *cough* years ago, 'elvisgrace' was the end result of some joke that I can't even remember at all anymore, save that I thought it was hysterical. It's been my username for pretty much anything and everything non-work related ever since, tracing all the way back to the halcyon days of AOL and Hotmail.

TBH, I'm grateful I can't remeber it because no duobt I'd have to commit jigai due to extreme secondhand embarrasment on my younger self's behalf.

How long have you been on tumblr?

Since 2017, but actively posting is a pretty recent development.

Do you have a queue tag?

No, I'm pretty impulsive as far as posting goes. I usually reblog immediately, and post to my simblr only when I'm uploading something, or have a question for the community.

Why did you start your blog in the first place?

Initially it was to follow all the amazing creators posting here so I could snarffle up all the latest cc, then I started using it to upload my stuff as well because creating a website seemed like too much effort.

I probably will one day, but it will only be to mirror/back up all my content here, because I love the community interaction between everyone, and I'd miss it too much.

Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

It’s Hit Girl from Kick Ass. I love her.

Why did you choose your header?

I don't have one.

What’s your post with the most notes?

Either my #university overhaul secret society default, or my follower's gift.

How many mutuals do you have?

How many followers do you have?

172, so three away from my next followers gift!

How many people do you follow?

388, almost all simblrs.

Have you ever made a shitpost?

Does reblogging TS2 memes count as a shitpost? If so, yes.

How often do you use tumblr each day?

When I was using desktop only, maybe every 2-3 days. Now that I have the app, multiple yimes a day.

Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

No, but I have been outraged on individual blog's behalf twice. Once when someone sent @yakumtsaki a kill yourself anon, and again when someone reblogged one of her memes and was shading her in the tags. Collectively, I've felt really bad for all the Russian simblrs, a great deal of the long-standing members of the community who are 100% against the war and have been getting dumped on solely because they are Russian.

How do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

Depends. If I've seen that it's already been reblogged a ton, I don't bother. If it's public/humanitarian interest relating to an ongoing current event, I usually do.

Do you like tag games?

Yes!

Do you like ask games?

Yes again!

Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

@pixeldolly and @deedee-sims

Do you have a crush on a mutual?

Tagging @megamassikalove, @janika31, @yakumtsaki, @frauhupfner, and @emperorofthedark!

[mechanicalinertia]

STMPD Recommends Bubblegum Crisis Fanfiction (Sort Of): Terror From The Deep! Ancient Fansites! Pre-Millennial Relics!

Tumblr wiped my first draft of this post, but let's give it another go all the same. Basically, I've spent many a late night hunting Bubblegum Crisis fan 'pages' (back when a website was called a webpage, boy wasn't that a time) via various links, links to other links, links to sites that can only be accessed via the Wayback Machine, ancient internet archaeologist shit. It's... fascinating work, to say the least. There's a lot of good, a lot of bad, and overall a lot of content that I feel that fans wouldn't dream of producing nowadays. RPG fansites, for example, chronicling various mecha a play session threw together via Mekton and whatnot. Or just straight-up review and explanation sites. Or sites dedicated to holding an author's fanfiction independent of Usenet or wherever.

Are any of these useful resources for a Crisis superfan? Probably not. Are they as engrossing as a good fanfic? Again, probably not, unless you're weird like me. Either way, let's get right into it.

Andy Skuse's Raven's Garage: Probably the biggest fansite still being hosted, on an individual server no less. Old, too, it got its start in 1995. Let that sink in.

Raven's Garage is a massive site, grown over the years by virtue of archiving other people's lost 'infosites', Bert Van Bilet's fanfiction, download links to Duke Nukem 3D reskins, and Craig Wigida's Fanfiction Guide... and one of Skuse's own pieces of fanfiction (it's not very good, we'll leave it for later). It's massive, not all of it is totally functional (but that's all the bits Skuse lost to time, not his fault), and it's just... essential, I guess? Yeah. Essential sounds right.

The Bubblegum Crisis Center: While this site does exist fully on the web, it's worth noting that it's primarily focused on the AIC-solo outings of Crisis (2040, ADP: To Protect And Serve, Parasite Dolls) instead of, you know, the good stuff. (Parasite Dolls always lacked a certain something for me... creativity? It's not badly written the way 2040 is, but it feels like too much of a retread of old ideas.) So we're just going to ignore it for now.

Bubblegum Crisis Links Page: A nice little Geocities (how many of these sites have a black background? Geez) dedicated to linking to other people's stuff. It's pretty big, but it ultimately pales in comparison to...

A Bunch Of Links With No Name: I'm not actually sure where I found this page, but what I do know is that it's very useful to track down small or otherwise insignificant dead pages which might be marginally amusing. You know, the kind of pages marked as 'shrines' to a given fictional character (this was before the term 'waifu' got into discourse courtesy of Azumanga Daioh). There's some weird shit in here, much of it of dubious quality, but it's funny? You can sort of giggle at how stupid people were on the internet even back before social media got just about everyone online for good. Like, and this is just an example...

The Disgruntled Fan's BGC Page: There's a few pages like this out there, where basically one guy has a beef with Priss for existing and just extrapolates that anyone who likes her is stupid. Fanfics like this, too. I've long held that if you don't like Priss, then you may not really like Crisis as much as you think you do, for she is its emotional core for better and for worse. But noooo, somehow her being part of the story makes her a screentime hog who prevents the story from reaching its true potential. Whatever that means.

(Is BGC's story not high art? Sure, but does it neeeeeeed to be? Moreover, was that Priss's fault or just the fault of creators who wanted to make something fun that didn't try to be more than it was? I'd argue the latter.)

Still, though, the writer here doesn't like No Armor Against Fate, apparently because Priss slept with a cokehead in the original version (not Neo, I don't think), and because he felt that Hagen shoved lesbian tendencies on every girl in the series. Which, hey, knowing Hagen he's probably not wrong! Still doesn't excuse the snobbiness that feels incredibly cringey in retrospect. Oh, and speaking of which:

JChao's Bubblegum Crisis Review Site: This is comedy gold. Cringe comedy, mind you, but comedy nonetheless. This is another one of those guys who wanted BGC to be 'deeper', which sounds all well and good (okay, he likes Sylia more than Priss and wishes the former got more screen time) until you click on his ADP Files review:

"This series may easily be what BGC should have been."

Grammar problems aside... yeah. This guy thinks that High Impact Sexual Violence The Anime was somehow a masterpiece of deep insight into the human condition, which should tell you everything about how seriously to take his opinions. No, really. It's funny. Laugh.

Sylia: Da Bomb: This is probably the only 'shrine' page I'll put in here, because I think it's... interesting? Y'all know I'm a serious Sylia / Celia simp, so I was interested to see what this was about when I found it on a links page. The argument the guy is laying down is essentially that Sylia is a) probably a Boomer, b) she's the coolest Knight Saber, and c) she's a stone-cold bitch who cares mostly about the mission and keeping the Sabers together, not about them individually, and we ought to love her for it. Which... yeah? Kind of? Maybe? The point is this guy makes some half-decent points (and ribs on Rei Ayanami fans) that maybe you might even halfway agree with. So if you want a decent shrine, check this out.

Bubblegum Marriage Prospects: Priss and Sylia: Even before the term waifu was popularized... there was simpage. Deep simpage. These two pages are but one part of a massive compendium of nerds writing about whether or not x or y anime girl would be good to marry and have kids with I am not making this up. And they come off very differently.

Priss? She's sexy, fast, wild, furious, dangerous, you could make good money off her rockstar career ("If you can manage a pop star, you can probably reap an enormous amount of cash"), just don't bring her home to mom and get ready to do most of the housework. Sounds great.

Sylia? Relatively attractive, but cold-blooded, solely dedicated to The Mission, and the sex? Get this:

"At first glance one would expect her to be vanilla to the core; but positions of power, abnormal childhoods, high levels of stress, and outward emotional repression are often associated with sexual... eccentricities. Do not be overly surprised to find yourself bound hand and foot, gagged, and/or suspended from the ceiling at some point during your honeymoon."

See what I'm saying? This is funny, how much thought people put into this shit like twenty years ago. And what's even funnier is that I can form opinions about this that disagree with these two writers, I have put enough thought into this. What is wrong with me? A lot.

Christian Conkle's Bubblegum Conundrum: Now we get into RPG-based fansites, which as a rule are a little less chatty and have more nice, calming spreadsheets outlining large mecha used to kill people. How pleasant.

Anyway, this site focuses around a campaign set in the Cascadia Metropolitan Axis, (Portland-Seattle-Vancouver - take that, Shadowrun!), one where the PC's and other characters actually get marker-drawn art of their fine selves and their hardsuits, plus other gear... so that's a high bar to clear right off the bat, having actual art of everyone and their toys. One gets the sense that Conkle understands the tone of BGC, too, cyberpunk that's just a little superheroically melodramatic, focusing on macro plots instead of micro plans. So it's all great fun to read.

Also worth looking at is Conkle's great big 'Garage' section, which contains tables used to rapidly construct various big bad mecha in the RTAL system... give or take some house rules. Good house rules, but house rules nonetheless.

Christian Conkle's Dragon Knights 2050: It's a later campaign Conkle did, this time constructed as an Eva ripoff, where humanity uses giant mecha piloted by kids to fight the orbital Boomer Kingdom. I never looked into it much, because hey, it's an Eva ripoff, it's really BGC. I include it out of amusement more than anything else.

Robert Farquhar's Bubblegum Crisis Web Archive: It was discovering this page, one of the many recommended by RTAL via BGC EX - that one expansion I gushed about a few posts back - that inspired me to write this whole post. And if that doesn't mean something to you... yeah.

See, even if Farquhar (whatta name that is) was focused more on an ADP-style campaign with upgraded Masamune Shirow-lookin' battlesuits, the thing about this site is that it contains the work of several other player teams uploading their hardsuits and Boomers and powersuits and characters and even a few Cyberpunk 2020 conversions for all the world to see. So there's a lot of cool concepts, and even some MS-Paint-lookin' art of some of said concepts. For that alone, I love it deeply.

Actually, there's one particular piece of art which I think was made by a guy who designed a separate hardsuit concept that I really liked. I tried finding the guy's site, but it's gone, too. Another unsolved mystery.

Kain The Seeker's Bubblegum Crush: Another site featured in BGC EX, focusing on a campaign set in Cyberpunk 2020's Night City, but alas, it's woefully incomplete. The only part of the campaign site, really, is some background and some stuff about the characters, and that's it.

Luckily, we have a rough idea of why this site is unfinished thanks to Farquhar: apparently the hard drive of 'Kain' (I do so hate people using that name for edgy fictional characters) crashed, the site was lost, and then it was resurrected, with all the Boomers and whatnot that we see fragments of on the Web Archive. Alas, that site proper is lost to time.

Maybe that's for the best, though. Some of those Boomer designs are literally 'lol your waitress Boomer now has a laser gun concealed in her, prepare to die player characters', a cheap-o CP2020 trick if there ever was one. I don't want to know what the rest was like.

Bubblegum Crossfire: Sabers and Angels: A simple little site focusing on an LA-based group, featured in BGC Ex. There's not a whole lot to recommend it, the art's small portraits and not very good ones at that, the story's a little less exciting than Conundrum... but it's there.

Bubblegum Crossroads: Chicago 2033: No art, but it's a complete RPG site with some cool worldbuilding and a cool concept for interchangeable 'battlegloves' allowing some modularity for combatants.

That's it, so far. Go forth, my children! Explore the Dead Net!

[gods-and-punks]

Ratatouille Voice: "Anyone Can Draw"

Okay idk I'm not a professional artist, I don't even consider myself "good", though I've made some pieces I'm proud of. [Shameless link if you wanna see how full of shit I am.] But I honestly truly believe that anyone can draw, and anyone can improve. Yeah, you might not be where you want to be, but if you really want to get better, let's harness that "feeling bad about my art" and turn it into drive "so I'm gonna do something about it"!

I've been drawing off an on for over a decade, but I've really improved in the last 3 years, and here's what I think happened:

I learned to 3D model fast. Which is to say, I learned to turn shapes over in my mind and figure out how slight changes in angle affected what I see. I can't conjure images in my head very easily or with much detail, so learning to layer details and give volume to an idea in my mind was a huge hurtle I never realized I had until I uhh had a senior project that required me to face and then get over it.

I started making deliberate decisions about what I wanted. (Ie, my art isn't a passive experience "i guess this is how things are", I started making choices of what I wanted it to be like.

I stopped mindlessly practicing - I started doing research and doing very deliberate practice and experimentation. I did research, I found videos, and I chose what I spent time on. I tried different combinations, I drew low-stakes sketches that no one had to see. I also stsrted doing warm ups!! It matters!!

And I know this doesn't sound like the "ideal" that art should be spontaneous and natural and I feel it too. But I don't have talent, so I have to work at it. And I am a PhD student in a non-art field, so I have limited time - so I have to work smart.

Part 1

So I know 3D modeling isn't really accessible, approachable, and all that (it's also not not accessibly, i just learned school of hard knocks so I literally cannot teach anyone how to do it); but I also don't think it's necessary. What you need to do is draw still life. Yes, its not the fan art you want to draw, but it will help! (And I do not suggest starting with your anime figures either, use simple kindergarten shapes.)

Learn to draw things you see in your room, go pick stock photos and recreate them. Trace parts only to learn how the lines come together, duplicate from sight!

I strongly advocate taking up charcoal if you can, it teaches you how to think not just about the thing you are drawing, but think about it in reference to its surroundings.

https://youtu.be/KD2v0Dwg2og

https://youtu.be/nkDObgH6ixg

https://youtu.be/emcO79uteN4

Part 2

This is the one where you gotta swallow your pride and ideals, and look at things practically. If you want to be in an art industry or just help yourself feel better about your hobby, your art should never be an "accident".

And what that means is that you chose to draw faces like that, you chose to use darker thicker lines, etc. "That's just how I draw x" as a response to art criticism is a really bad sign. But if you've already decided that you aren't happy with your art, then I think you're already... ready... to make a change - you've already had this "come to earth" uncomfortable epiphany that you probably have some room to grow. And honestly, I love and respect you even more for it!! Everyone can grow, and you have done the hard introspection to say that you want to!

So now we need to start looking at what other artists do that make you admire them? I love how sketchy the lines are in Tite Kubo's Bleach manga is, so I try to emulate it. I'm not stealing his art, I'm learning from it. I love how fluid Katsura Hoshino's D Gray Man is, so I embrace that and try to incorporate it in my scenes. But note: these are "qualities" of the art. I am framing these as "attainable characteristics" that come from the art I can look at. Its not "D Gray Man is pretty, why can't I do that" or "Bleach is so cool, I'm just not good enough".

No! Kill your doubt gremlin!! and start looking at the reasons you love and admire the artists you do. Go on insta, find someone to adore, pour your <3's on their pieces and learn from them by looking at how they use line and shape and tone and whatever.

https://youtu.be/NEvMHRgPdyk

Part 3

So I just kind'a put links where I though they would help, so now I'll list the various playlists that I keep my favorite videos in. The people who make them are good, not always gentle, but they have helped me out a lot.

Remember that things that work for one person may not work for another, but you have to try. If you don't have talent (which tbh is pretty common and is 300% not an insult, just just something I had to accept), you have to work for it. And that sucks, but that's life, and you have to decide if this is worth the effort.

And if it is, I hope this helps you see that you already had the agency to learn this!! It's all free on the internet, because of content creators who want you to learn!!

Anyway, take it or leave it, but this actually worked for me so I thought I'd post about it.

[pinnochiro]

pinn reviews - final fantasy xv

a long ramble about final fantasy fifteen that sort of looks like a review, as written by someone who finished the game fifteen minutes ago and needs to get these words out of his head. spoilers inbound.

i'm a pretty big fan of video games. i don't know what my first was, but it was probably either banjo and kazooie or mario kart 64, at my cousin's house when i was very small. i think that video games as a medium are so interesting, since the fact that video games are inherently interactive changes the way that they tell any story. it's a shame that despite loving video games so much, i'm absolutely terrible at them.

i'm absolute dogshit at video games. whenever i boot up something new, i always play on easy mode because. i'm that bad. unfortunately, this means that a lot of video games are simply. impossible for me to beat. that's fine, as at the moment i live with my good friend lizz, who is certifiably Good at Video Games, and so we've been playing video games together for a little bit now. typically this means that she will actually play the majority of the game while i sit with her and watch, but occasionally i'll have a go, but she'll end up with the controller as soon as a boss fight or puzzle or a mechanic i just can't seem to grasp shows up. we recently played through the entirety of the kingdom hearts series together, and this was an absolute blast of a time. i'm glad to say that i adore kingdom hearts now, and it's become one of my hyperfixations, which you might be able to tell from my icon. but we'd finished the kingdom hearts series, and we were left to move onto something else. we'd also played final fantasy 7 remake, so in my wisdom, i suggested that we play another final fantasy game.

we looked through the ff games that were already purchased on our consoles thanks to lizz's uncle, and eventually, we decided that we should play. all of them. however to start, we were going to play final fantasy xv, 15, and work our way backwards through the mainline, single-player games.

i'd heard that xv wasn't very good, but honestly, i was still quite curious. one person who i'd been following on twitter for years was pretty obsessed with the main party members, to the point where i knew their names and what-not even though i didn't have much of an idea what the game itself was about. i remember watching a video by supereyepatchwolf a few years ago about how the game sucked, but i couldn't remember much of the details, and i knew, based on my obsession with kingdom hearts, that xv had started as a different game called final fantasy versus xiiv. i don't know all the details about versus thirteen, but i do know that it was originally helmed by the creator of my beloved kingdom hearts, mr tetsuya nomura, and that after many years, the vast majority of the game was thrown out, nomura wasn't in charge any more, and the whole thing was rewritten and reworked, which sounds like a fairly rough development cycle. but so what, i don't care about gameplay. i want to play the video game with those cute guys that i see fanart of on twitter, and lizz seemed happy enough to play through it with me.

and so we started final fantasy xv. i've been told that since the game was practically dead on arrival, they threw in a bunch of new content and reworked a lot of the early game before i got my hands on it. so my gameplay started with a scene of the four guys fighting some demon dude on fire and they're all old and grotty. whatever, that cutscene ends and we're put into a combat tutorial. that's over and we're on the road in what looks to be central america, pushing a car.

our four leading lads are noctis, the prince of the lucis empire, his best friend prompto, his bodyguard, gladio, and his chef and other things, ignis. i do quite like the main four members of the party in xv. prompto is quite easily my favourite, voiced by robbie daymond of goro akechi fame and with a bunch of fun little animations and quips that make him very likeable. he gets extremely excited at the idea of riding chocobos and has what i considered the best scene of the game, where he and noctis meet on a motel rooftop and discuss prompto's imposter syndrome, since he's only part of noctis' official retinue as his best friend. noctis is a fairly typical main protagonist, he's in love with a woman he hasn't seen in eight years and needs to go marry her or something, i don't care. gladio is a tough macho man with a mullet who wears leather jackets and wields a greatsword, and is apparently only 22, which is at least 10 years younger than i assumed. ignis is a strategist and chef, who takes on the most authoritative role and constantly tells noctis to not drive his car at night. i was not a fan of ignis at the start, but he grew on me, especially with how hard the game hit me with his personal arc. the four boys are off, driving to noctis' wedding in a different country across the desert when their car breaks down. we then run into the first issue of the game.

cindy is a mechanic. she also has her ass and tits out constantly, like your sleazy uncle's shirt with a naked woman was instead semi-alive as a video game person. she fixes your car and acts fairly sexual and it's just like. why do we have to do this. aren't we over overtly sexualised women in video games who have no reason for the way they dress other than the character designer was horny? whatever, i like women as much as the next guy, but cindy's design just. makes me feel so uncomfortable.

anyways you get to do a little driving around with the boys, until you stay the night before catching the boat to your fiance. overnight, you find out that noctis' kingdom has been basically destroyed by an invading empire called niflheim, and practically everyone noctis knows, including his father, are dead. you learn that noctis and his bride to be are also assumed dead, with noctis hearing his own death announcement on the radio. the game has a bunch of added cutscenes that are actually footage from the three-hour-long prequel movie that came out after the game, are extremely hard to follow and honestly i had no idea what i was looking at. anyways, noctis' family is dead, so it's time to do some hunting sidequests.

that brings us to the combat, i suppose. rather than the turn-based or even active turn-based combat that the series is known for, xv opts for more modern action rpg-styled combat. i was, naturally, terrible at this, but i managed to get around it with the fact that. it is almost impossible to die in this video game, provided you have enough items. the game allows you so much time to heal yourself that there's practically no way to have your entire party wipe unless you're doing absolutely terrible, and even then, your party members will probably try and heal you themselves before that happens. lizz tells me that the combat is boring, you just push the same button over and over and then you win. i do appreciate that, for someone like me who is terrible at reading enemy movements, there is a giant button that pops up on screen that tells you when to push the block button, but even then i was prone to fucking it up. whether that's the bad game design or my terrible gaming abilities is up to you to decide. anyways, the game is fairly easy but has annoying combat, your teammates limit breaks will only land about 50% of the time (or never, if you are gladio) and i was still bad at it, so i didn't have all that much fun.

instead of an active levelling system, the game will only tally your character's level ups when you either make camp or visit a hotel. camping is, in my opinion, the only saving grace of this game. each time you make camp, you get to see the characters doing fun little camping activities together and just hanging out, ignis will cook up a new meal in a dramatic fashion and everyone will compliment him and eat it off their coleman's branded plates, it's just very fun. you also get to see what pictures prompto has taken, which is one of my favourite gameplay features. prompto's passion is photography, and while i support him in this wholeheartedly, his picture taking skills are, quite frankly, awful. the game will randomly take shots while you're on the move, which leaves you with a delightful selection of awkward poses, characters hidden behind bushes, pictures taken while someone is half-dead in combat, and snaps where the natural lighting absolutely makes it impossible to tell what's going on. it's hilarious and going through prompto's collection of photos each night is honestly the best part of the game. we managed to wind up with a few shots that, even despite being scripted events, turned out absolutely terrible, and i will cherish those forever.

anyways, since noctis' father and fiance are dead, that leaves him the king of lucis. the only important person to make it out of the capital alive tells you to drive to the middle of nowhere, where he randomly springs on you. hey. go into a bunch of these dungeons and absorb a bunch of swords, this is your destiny as king and how you will defeat the empire. noctis goes, uh, alright i guess, and you're set loose again to wander around for a bit collecting the 'royal arms'. this plot point wasn't explained well but hey, whatever, we're collecting the glowy swords and that's fine.

you're introduced at some point to ardyn, the main antagonist. he's old, kind of groady and wears a fedora. he's a dick to you and talks about his automobeeel. apparently my friend miri thinks he's hot, she is wrong.

i can't remember what happens specifically but you're told that your fiance is still alive and in fantasy venice, and she's talking to the gods on your behalf to borrow their powers. there's a mission where you follow some purple trees that are electric, and you do that i guess. i enjoyed riding the chocobos around, but couldn't care much for the plot at this point. ardyn leads you to a volcano, where you fight a giant lava god. he tries to step on you and i, a denizen of the internet and with an active fear of foot fetishists, was extremely uncomfortable. noctis becomes friends with foot man and a lightning god who lived in those trees, and ardyn steals your car.

very upset by this, noctis and his gang risk everything to sneak into a military base and steal it back. because this is a video game, this works out fine.

there's a little mining city which is all about Girl Power, because all the Women run the Mining Industry like Girl Bosses, and you hang around there for a bit. because all the women are so Empowered, they wear bikinis all the time with overalls over the top. gladio decides he needs to fuck off for a bit, i have no idea what he does since i haven't played the dlc, and then he comes back with another scar. you hang out with his sixteen year old sister, who has a crush on the engaged and 20-year old noctis, and then you drive her to a lighthouse. when she's in your party, she can't really fight, but she gets a pink chocobo and i thought that was very cute. we turned out own chocobo white and lizz named him 'jones' after a mount she has in ffxiv.

eventually, you have a long boat ride over to fantasy venice. this is the part where the game stops being 'fun with a few issues in combat and a rushed and poorly told story.' the open world, which was a main feature with a bunch of little areas to find where noctis can fish, little hunting sidequests and random photo spots where prompto takes touristy photos, is now gone, and it will not return for the entire rest of the game. you can 'go back in time', but the open world was the most enjoyable part of the game, and it kind of really sucks that the main story doesn't let you have any more freedom like that.

after arriving in fantasy venice, you have a talk with fantasy hillary clinton and beg her to let your girlfriend summon a god into the middle of her city. hillary agrees, and you don't get to meet up with your fiance, because even if the game is constantly telling you how much noctis loves her, there is. barely any interactions between the two in the entire game. from what i can tell, they met when noctis was a child and they haven't seen each other in ten years but are still fantasy dog pen-pals. noctis marrying her was supposed to make an alliance or something like that, but her brother has betrayed her to the army. noctis' girlfriend is also an oracle, which means she can heal people, i guess? everyone talks about how important she is and she's constantly telling people that she needs to use her powers to help noctis but she's practically a non-entity.

as can be expected of most female love interests in a game primarily focused on men, noctis' fiance is killed while summoning a god for noctis to befriend. noct gets very mad about this, and turns super saiyan and kills the god back, but his girlfriend is dead and that's super sad you guys. there's a beautiful prerendered cutscene where she says goodbye to noctis but since we barely know her, and we've only been told over and over that they're in love without anything to actually well, show this, it didn't have much of an impact. fantasy venice is destroyed, and ignis is blinded while trying to help calm the giant raging god.

iggy's blindness and how the game makes you account for this and grow to care for him was one of the highlights, in my opinion, as well as crushingly depressing. while i'm not disabled and have no right to say if this was 'good disabled representation' or anything like that, i believe that the game handles it decently enough. the group falls apart as noctis is upset about his girlfriend, gladio is extremely mad that noctis won't care for ignis, and prompto just wants everyone to get along. there's a mission where gladio constantly yells at you passive aggressive things to noctis about how he's a cunt for running, which is obnoxious, but the character arc itself is fairly strong. when you make camp, ignis can't cook anymore, so everyone eats cup noodles in a depressing ass cutscene. ignis remains in your party for the rest of the game despite his disability, and he doesn't magically regain his sight like other fantasy media would do, which at the very least i think is good. i'm not sure what the opinion of actual disabled people is of the character, considering how often disabled characters are either turned into misery porn to make the abled audience be glad that isn't them and if ignis' arc falls into this trap, but i hope that it wasn't handled too poorly, as that would just be another terrible mark in this game's list of bad moves.

the characters eventually make it to the evil empire's capital, which is abandoned and filled with daemons. the characters learn that ardyn is super evil and taught the king of the empire how to turn humans into daemons, which has now happened to the entire city. the 'magitek suits', presumed to be enchanted armour that fights as the empire's infantry, actually house the souls of the human-turned daemons. honestly i like this as a plot point but the game handles it pretty terribly. there could have been more lead up to this, the explanation is pretty lacking, and prompto's Big Plot Twist is. terribly handled. turns out that prompto was born in the empire and was going to be one of those empty soldier daemons, but he was rescued by people belonging to noctis' empire. not that the game tells you that. instead, prompto goes 'turns out i'm one of ... them' and Does Not Elaborate. The game doesn't tell you shit, not about prompto's past, not about how he feels about this, not about how anyone else feels about this either because the other party members just go 'oh that sucks, good thing you're not evil' and the scene ends. robbie daymond tries so hard to sell these terrible, terrible lines, and it almost entirely fails, i'm so sorry prompto. fortunately because i'm a nosy ass, i read prompto's wikia page and knew the plot twist ahead of time, because i don't think i would have even registered it if i didn't.

anyways everyone in the evil empire is dead and ardyn starts talking about how he's immortal and an ancient king of noctis' country but the gods thought he sucked because he's too evil. i missed most of this because the cats got the zoomies and were dashing across the couch right in the middle of his speech so i can't tell you anything else. noctis tries to get a big magic crystal to fight him and instead. gets schlorped inside.

TEN YEARS LATER

yes then ten years actually pass while noctis is asleep. the game shows this by switching the head on noctis' character model to have a beard, but that's it, no changes in animations or whatever. the sky is permanently night and only one human civilisation remains, the rest destroyed by daemons. as a plot point, this ends up feeling. extremely worthless. why was noctis asleep for ten whole goddamn years? so we can wake up and go 'damn it sucks out here'. but it's barely even a like, incentive to fix everything, because you have a long talk with a former child you were friends with where he talks about how humanity is still going fine and everyone's okay and the world has moved on without you. it feels. pointless. when you meet up with your party members, they are exactly as you left them, only with slightly different character models. there is no change in the voice performance, the character's movements or how they talk to show that they've been without you for ten years. they barely mention it. i'm just. so confused as to why they decided that a ten year timeskip was the way to go? since nothing really changes, couldn't you have made it like, two years? one year? six months?? have the characters react a little more? something??? at least if it was only a year or so i wouldn't have to deal with the fact that noctis looks like norman reedus with his shitty facial hair now.

anyways after that there's a bunch of long and boring boss fights. you fight some dead kings for some reason, your party members get a little bit to talk about how cool they are and how much they love noctis, and then you meet up with ardyn. there's another boring boss fight and god this was only a few hours ago but it's already gone from my head. you summon the gods and the old kings to beat the shit out of him after you both go super saiyan again? there's incredible music but it feels barely earned and just kind of eh. anyways, noctis dies, which was the price of using the crystal of light or whatever the fuck. his ghost marries his fiance's ghost finally, and they smile as they look at one of prompto's pictures. you can pick any picture you want to go here, and then the credits roll, showing all of the pictures you saved of prompto's shots. showing me all the pictures at the end is honestly lovely, but it really only served to remind me of how much more fun the game was in the first half. and that's the end, of final fantasy xv.

so what did i think of the story? it's terribly cobbled together and struggles to get you to feel anything and play out all the plot beats. you feel awful for the countless employees who spent years working on the beautiful cutscenes only to have them be in this game, which sucks and the story barely gets through. there were parts that i enjoyed, mostly the thing about the daemons being people, but honestly the rest of it is a mess. it's hard to follow at the best of times and just awkward and terribly written at the worst. the ending is cheap, and it doesn't feel like you've actually accomplished anything. i left that game feeling numb and empty, sad that i'd wasted so much time to end up with such a colossal failure of a conclusion.

i had fun with the game when it was my four little guys running around doing sidequests and camping together. after the midway point of the game, there's none of that, and you're bogged down into a plot that just pushes you from point a to point b and boring overlong bossfight to boring overlong bossfight. the character moments between your party are a lot of fun, but the second you hit fantasy venice, everything is pretty much on rails and you can't do anything except what the game tells you explicitly to do.

should you play this game? no lol. if anything i've mentioned about the story interests you, you'll be better off watching a lore video or reading the wiki. if you do want to play it after all that, just don't proceed after the myrthril refining quest, it's pretty much all downhill from there. will i play the dlc? unlikely, i think lizz and i will just watch a cutscene movie of those.

this game left me feeling empty and numb and not in a fun way. i wanted, so, so hard to like this game, and it all crashed around me in a beautifully overproduced and confusingly written cascade. i love you prompto, but even your cute little freckly face and terrible photography can't save this trainwreck of a game.

tl;dr - final fantasy xv sucks. i hope that 13, our next ff game, will be better.