#i've seen this game a lot on my dash

[shyroism]

I'm playing Your Turn To Die tonight!! I've been holding my self back from playing this until I could stream it, so I'm very excited!

[esteemed-excellency]

Flumblr tag game!

Show me your oc’s cameo vs what they actually look like in art or picrew! (all cameos can be found here on the wiki)

I was tagged by @letheology @thedandy-detective @t6fs @the-dye-stained-socialite thank you! 💖💖

Hiram's cameo was made by @waterlogged-detective and his portrait by @letters-of-fire (if you guys are reading this, consider yourself tagged in the game)

I had the bagcameo on the old profile, but it ended up as the base design for another rpg character I was playing years ago. Hiram has the phantom cameo because his main accessories during the early game were the Sneak-Thief's Mask and the Beguiling Mask.

Tagging @eddie-dearest @that-fella-snipsnop @that-giorgione @thunder-threnodies @thegreatyin @londonfalling @light-lost-logs @gmalaart

[lvebug]

idk guys i think we should all let people have fun and not bully them for having hobbies on the website where we all talk about our weird hobbies. if something isn't your cup of tea just don't interact with it but why are we all up in arms? i've seen so many unique and unusual rp blogs that i dont see how a jesus blog is any different.

[divinelght]

tag dump.

OOC TAGS. i've got a lot on my mind. ⸻ ( ooc. ) do it all for love. ⸻ ( promo. ) keep the sun in your heart. ⸻ ( answered. ) the gold and the rust. ⸻ ( dash games. ) to live for the hope of it all. ⸻ ( memes & prompts. ) after this i'm never gonna be the same. ⸻ ( threads. ) AURORA TAGS. always an angel / never a god. ⸻ ( mirror. ) a light that never goes out. ⸻ ( study. ) sun: keeper of flame. ⸻ ( aesthetics. ) walk always in the light. ⸻ ( lathander. ) every good intention. ⸻ ( musings. ) let me put my lips to something. ⸻ ( desires. ) VERSE TAGS. a hero's journey. ⸻ ( act i. ) i have seen what the darkness does. ⸻ ( act ii. ) these roads are changing me. ⸻ ( act iii. ) now the darkness got a hold on me. ⸻ ( corrupt. ) DYNAMIC TAGS. where you go i'm going. ⸻ ( daemon. ) here is my hand. ⸻ ( astarion. ) your needs / my needs ⸻ ( sidxreus. )

[constellationcrowned]

MUSE AESTHETICS Bold for constants, italics for situational things

Muse: Kariom

“just braid your hair if you won’t brush it, at least, you useless girl.” / pulling on your skirt with one hand as you shuffle away. / “you’ll get it done before the day is up.” / guilt that isn’t yours to have. / it’s a crooked game, but it’s the only one in town. / chains. / a face in the mirror that you don’t recognize. / “how could you do this to me?” / the sharp sting of guilt. / you feel something even though you’re paid to do the opposite. / the family you never had. / falling backwards through time. / quicksand. / drowning, but you don’t save yourself. / “you’re getting better.” / “they smile like a snake.” / you’re the stars and the sky. / there’s a part of you that couldn’t stay away even if you were forced to. / they are your wings, there’s no doubt there. / “let’s take off somewhere. let’s fly.” / you edge a bit too close to the sun. / another ghost to take your place after every stumble. / deep roots in the ground slashed open in the sun. / rock candy melting in water. / waves rise and leave the foam behind. / the precipice you call home has a tip you’ll reach eventually. / happiness is the best front a man can make. / discomfort at the tiniest of touches. / the sky opens up when you see them. / rain comes down. / poppy fields. / your sanity hanging by a thread. / “oh god, what have you done?” / your mother had the most beautiful gardens, but you can’t grow anything worth a damn. / the similarities between deep space and deep water. / they’ve got a devil on their shoulder and an angel in their mind. / you tried to help, but it only got worse. / now they’re dead, it’s all your fault. / adam & eve in the garden. / a temptress in crisp button-downs. / “fuck, you’ve gone off the deep end, haven’t you?” / they lie so perfectly you almost forget yourself. / the spark that lit the kindling on your funeral pyre. / you smell like the mountains in the winter. / crisp red apples piled up on the table. / your shoes are sharp, but your wit is even sharper. / a soft, hollow spot sits in your chest. /

there’s a place you’ll never leave no matter who tries to stop you. / the seat of power fits like a glove. / heavy is the head that wears the crown. / you share a space, but not a mind. / they think you are weak; you are, maybe. / “what are you going to do with all of these pills? ” / an empty bird’s nest. / broken pencil tips. / there’s an empty paper in front of you that you’ll never fill. / “we want you to succeed. i hope you can grasp that.” / “they weren’t there when it happened.” / quick to anger. / corruption. / there’s a red string tying you together. / the scent of whiskey on the horizon. /“you’re the best friend i’ve ever had.” / pink tipped fingers lock in secrecy. / “jump. i dare you.” / 99 red balloons drifting through a hazy sky. / you try to lift your head up, but it’s so much effort. / always walking on sunshine. / marble under the sun. / “i was hoping that you’d understand.” / there’s a million reasons to come down from the clouds, but you can’t be bothered. / loon is the word of the day. / hair twisted up with glitter butterfly clips like a haphazard mobile. / you drift, but you know where you’re going. / no one has any dirt on you because you’re infinitely spotless. / the empty side of your bed they crawled into when they were nine. / court hearings. / “i miss you.” / siblings are a funny thing. / they point out every family-shaped hole in every picture on the mantelpiece. / a lone wolf separated from its pack. / god-blood. /“they say your name is death.” / all-consuming passion. / think about the things you did. / feed off the daylight. / no signs of life. / “what are you waiting for?” / a diaphanous sea of rose petals. / pure wilderness. / if you’re hungry enough, anyone can stop caring about something long enough to eat it. / spine like a ladder, and his weary feet can’t find purchase. /the burn was so slow no one ever saw it coming./ learn through teaching. / there were things; your own acts from which you could not recover. / how the other half dies. / “have you ever thought about why trees bleed?” /  your mother crashed against the rocks to give you the world. / you are not safe. you are alone. no one is coming for you./ “go down with me, fall with me.” / i am awake in the place where women die. / thunder rolling on the hills. / black on black on black on black on bl — / the long game. / restless hands. / ivy infiltrating an empty, corroded church./ you will do anything to spare them. / a cemetery by the moon, unblessed. / every sparrow god forgot. / even when you walked one would think you waltzed. / the worst monsters wear the faces of men. / “madmen know nothing, but you should have seen me.” / “my blood ran cold.” / power corrupts. / wood grain and nail tracks. / no scales are strong enough to judge you.

[tau1tvec]

S/O to a few of my favorite TS3CC Creators

I know this community is small, and therefore doesn't get as much love and attention as it deserves, but know that it is alive and well, much like my love for it, and it's many thanks to these ppl for keeping it fresh and fun even today.

@simtanico literally what would my sims be without you and your amazing sliders, slider fixes, and conversions.

@rollo-rolls you always work so hard to keep our sims looking stylish, I know a lotta people in this community appreciate you as much as I do!

@johziii you put so much love into your CC as you do your sims, homes and gameplay, you're truly the whole package!

@sim-songs an absolute legend for helping revive the Maxis Match ts3 community!

@nectar-cellar an absolute legend, period.

@imamiii idk how you do it, but you make this game look how it probably would had it been released today. Whether it's your gameplay posts, or your CC, I know when I see your post on my dash, I'm bound to be blown away.

@sourlemonsimblr still can't tell whether we're playing the same game, bc everything you post looks like The Sims 10, but I am so glad you're willing to share your CC with us, so maybe one day we will be playing the same game, lol.

@pleaseputnamehere just thought I'd let you know that I kiss your nosemasks goodnight as I tuck them into bed.

@xiasimla an amazing talented and devoted creator all around, every download post is a WIN.

@martassimsbook you keep my love for ts3's buy/build mode alive!

@billsims-cc ty for never giving up on us. 😭😭😭

@bioniczombie for sharing your amazing conversions, and helping run one of my favorite ts3cc finds blogs!

@satellite-sims although you aren't too active right now, I miss you, and I love your conversions sm. The extra work you put into making them the absolute best quality, just like all your posts is so loved and appreciated.

@simbouquet your mods and fixes are such a MUST, you always know exactly what this game needs, and execute it like a pro.

@phoebejaysims another amazing modder keeping this game truly interesting, ty so much for your dedication.

@criisolatex you're like some ethereal being sent to Earth on a mission to make ts3 the best it can be, and you're kind enough to share it with us.

@nemiga-sims-archive you pop out every once and a while like an all year round Santa giving us presents to throw into our games. TY!

@olomaya you work so hard to expand and improve and also make the gameplay in ts3 a lot more interesting.

@twinsimming you know you carry ts3 simblr, right? 💕

@thesweetsimmer111 besides being just the most talented animator I've ever seen in any modding community, your dedication to the youngest and ignored age groups is most admirable, ty.

@flotheory yet another talented and devoted modder giving ts3 the love and attention it deserves. I just know the devs would be so proud.

@greenplumbboblover you've always got something big up your sleeve, your ambition knows no bounds, and the ts3 community is so lucky to have you.

I'm likely forgetting some folks, so I'll probably add some more when I remember, and ty again everyone on this list for working so hard to keep this game alive, and fun, and freeeeeee!

[unsubscribed]

Saw the Beast Games allegations on my dash again and I think I've finally managed to articulate why anyone who was still supportive of Jimmy should have seen this coming a mile away.

What a lot of people noticed about the eye surgery video was that it was dehumanising, which was met with the response that Jimmy wasn't doing anything overtly cruel or exploitative, he was using his money to help people who wouldn't get help otherwise, "benevolent" dehumanisation if you will. If you've ever been on the receiving end of a social service or large charity organisation you've probably experienced this.

The problem is once you dehumanise someone in a "nice" way it makes space in peoples minds to dismiss genuine harm. It's part of the reason the whole charity industrial complex is set up the way it is, it allows the moderately left-leaning upper middle class to feel like they're helping the same people their lifestyle systematically exploits without noticing the necessary cognitive dissonance. After all, the disadvantaged aren't real people with essential dignity, they're just inert receivers that you shovel money onto for good person points.

So seeing this benevolent dehumanisation in a Mr Beast video was a huge red flag to a lot of people who've either been on the other end of it or know someone who has, because we know what it paves the way for; malevolent dehumanisation, the textbook kind that gets you abused, neglected and exploited.

[mvlionheart]

🤪 -em (dash)

fic reading ask game: wild card! ramble about something!

ramble topic for this is going to be how amazing i think the f1 fandom is at bringing writers and artists together! also doubling as a reading rec list!! i have seen so many great pieces of art based on fic and i've seen fic written inspired by art and both of these things bring me so much joy. recently @hotmandrivefast dropped some glorious qatar lestapiastri art that inspired @sincerelylancelot to write this banging (literally) accompaniment swipe the key (come inside)

a few other examples of this amazing symbiotic creation-culture:

@chamberkat drew some very compelling landoscar post singapore art that inspired me to write singapore heat, which they then made me cry by making some beautiful cover art for!! full circle and such an amazing gift.

another amazing collab recently featured @unlapped & @hotmandrivefast gifting us their shared vision for an austin winners room au. 10:35 is the fic and the two comics can be found here and here! alice also did some beautiful art for lia's fic bloodsport, which lives rent free in my mind!

then of course, the wonderful author who sent this ask @formula-fun, the love of my life, has gotten some amazing hmdf art for the awe-inspiring if i had words series - so many people have rec'd this fic, and i know it has touched a lot of hearts. in more light-hearted and raunchy fun, there's also this venom fic art for fire + sound. ok i could honestly go on and on, and there's so many more amazing examples. feel free to reblog and add to this list, i love to see author and artist collabs!

[halstarionsandwich]

Neither One Of Us

Astarion x Tav (Tav is unnamed w/ a semi-fleshed out backstory that isn't elaborated much on, no descriptions of physical appearance, afab, referred to with she/her pronouns)

Warnings: 18+, oral (m/f receiving), unreliable narrator, dubious consent, angst, implied past sexual trauma

WC: 1.8k

An Aside: hi~ I'm Elle! this Is my first time ever posting any of my writing!! This is technically smut, but it's mostly just an incredibly self-inserty exploration of trauma. it's not a super fun read tbh so tread lightly. i've thought a lot about how Astarion would respond to being in a situation where he's the manipulatee. this is the result of those thoughts lol

divider by the lovely @/cafekitsune <3

The decision to bed you wasn’t a tough one for Astarion. It was the only choice he had, really. If he wants to ensure his survival, ensure he is rid of the tadpole that’s made a home in brain, he has to cozy up to at least one of the members of his party, and who better to choose than her. Their leader.

She’s too kind for her own good, really. Overly-trusting, generous to a fault, no sense of self-preservation. Her nearly seventy years of life spent sheltered in a nunnery, dedicating her life to worshiping Ilmater, seem to have left her ignorant to the cruel realities of the world they live in. Her forgiveness was swiftly administered after their first meeting, where he tackled her to the ground with a knife to her neck--an incident she brushed off as a simple and excusable misunderstanding. She was quick to welcome into the party all who claimed to have been on the Nautiloid ship with them without so much as a bit of scrutiny. She insisted Wyll spare Karlach’s life, comforted him when he was subsequently transformed into a devil, convinced Gale to remain in the party after the revelation of the bomb residing in his chest. The list of her good deeds is immeasurable at this point.

It makes Astarion sick if he thinks about it for too long. 

The idea of someone helping others for no reason other than to do just that, to help, is incomprehensible to him. Where were these do-gooders when he needed them? When he was imprisoned, feeding on vermin and forced to whore himself out to attempt to sate his master’s unceasing desires? 

Surely he had prayed to Ilmater in that time, just as he prayed to any other god he thought might listen. Why hadn’t he sent her to him then?

He’s spiraling again. Ruminating will do him no good, he decides. He steels his nerves when he hears the crunching of leaves steadily approaching. 

He had thought that bedding a nun would be a bit of a challenge, and if he’s being honest with himself, he was looking forward to making a game out of it. He didn’t expect her to so readily follow him into the woods after the tieflings and their party members had settled in for the night. “How naïve,” he thinks to himself before he steps into her field of view and flashes her his signature smirk, the mask of seduction he’s spent the last two centuries perfecting.

“There you are. I’ve been waiting.” He stalks towards her. “Waiting since the moment I laid eyes on you. Waiting to have you.”

She says nothing in response as he closes the distance between them, taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger to force her to hold her gaze on him. Her eyes are wide and shining faintly in the soft glow of the moonlight. It’s a look Astarion has seen countless times, presumably mesmerized as she gazes upon his dashing features. She’s quivering. Whether from the cool breeze wafting up from the river nearby or from nerves he’s not quite sure. He guesses both. A non-answer isn’t refusal, and he takes the look she gives him as his cue to kiss her.

He can feel her inexperience in the way her lips clumsily move against his, in the way their teeth knock when she tilts her head to take his tongue deeper into her mouth. He begins to undress her, and she flinches when he pulls her shirt just above her navel. She curls in on herself, arms pulled tight to her sides and hands laid on her chest. Only for a second though, then the tension dissipates.

“Good, darling. Let yourself be known. Let me get a taste of you,” he purrs into her ear. The praise softens her, and she allows herself to be stripped bare before him.

He hears her wince when he urges her back against the closest tree, but she does not protest. Astarion sinks to his knees and caresses her thighs, an attempt to soothe her. She’s quivering still, and she’s too flustered to look at him. With one shaky hand over her eyes and the other on her lower belly, she spreads her legs ever so slightly, as if she knows that’s what he was about to ask of her.

That is how this is supposed to go, after all. She’s to let him have a taste of her, just as he requested.

He leans in, his nose resting in wiry tuft of hair adorning her mons as his tongue slips past her lips to lap up the arousal he assumes to be gathered there. She whimpers, and he’s surprised, though not unpleasantly, by the distinct lack of taste to her. Her fingers clench and unclench where they rest while Astarion shifts his focus to her clit. A strangled moan leaves her, and he opens his eyes to find hers squeezed tight. Her breathing is labored, each exhale landing on the offbeat of the steady rhythm of her fingers gently scratching her own skin. 

It’s almost methodical, the way she does it. 

Entrancing, even.

In no time, she announces the imminence of her climax. “I-I’m close…” The first words she’s spoken since appearing before him, and he can barely register them with how quietly she squeaks them out.

There’s a hitch in her breath, followed by the most perfect, high pitched moan he’s heard in decades. Her body’s reaction is nothing compared to the perfectly executed sounds she makes. Not even a faint tremble in her legs. 

He’s brought back into the moment when he feels a gentle tug on his hair urging him to look up at her.

“Let me return the favor…” 

He’s unsure of how long exactly his mind had been elsewhere, but she didn’t seem to notice that he wasn’t fully present until this moment. “Of course, darling,” he grins at her, laying back on the patch of grass beneath them.

Where she was timid and unsure before, the sweet little nun between Astarion’s legs seems confident in every move she now makes. She kisses him again, just a peck before her lips and tongue trail a searing hot path down to the waistband of his trousers. 

Her hands are no longer unsteady as she rids him of his clothing, pulling his pants and undergarments off in one fell swoop. Holy and devout though she may be, her tongue feels positively sinful licking up the length of his cock. It’s almost enough to stir something within him, something akin to desire that has long laid dormant within him. Almost enough to feel pleasurable. 

Just as he didn’t expect her to take up his offer to meet him in the woods, Astarion wasn’t expecting her to be good at this. She takes him into her throat with what seems to be practiced ease, and he acknowledges her efforts by moaning and writhing as authentically as he can manage. 

He feels pressure behind his eyes, then a brush against his thoughts. Something is trying to get in. He recognizes this sensation. When he held the blade to her throat after cornering her on the beach where the Nautiloid ship crashed. 

Their parasites are connecting them.

“Until I can bear a fraction of your burden, Sufferer, I shall.” 

It’s her voice he hears, though her mouth stays occupied as her head steadily bobs up and down. She’s seemingly unaware that her thoughts are being projected into his mind. Her next thoughts are disjointed, coming to him only in fragments as he feels the connection start to slip.

“If this is what… him to trust… stay with us… Suffer I shall.”

He props himself up on his elbows and reaches down to brush her hair back and away from her face. Her eyes are clenched shut again, concentration fully set on bringing him pleasure. Though when she feels his touch, cool fingers running through her hair to rest on the side of her head, she opens them. She pulls her mouth off of him with a soft pop. Her lips pucker, and she taps them with his swollen, pink head.

His unbeating heart drops to his stomach. 

Astarion hasn’t seen his own reflection in two centuries. He’s all but forgotten what he looks like by now, but when he looks at her, Gods, he can only imagine what he sees in her to be it. Or what he doesn’t see in her, more like it.

Her gaze is directed at him, but she’s looking right through him. If her thoughts were still rattling around in his brain, he’d surely hear nothing but that prayer to her God. “Until I can bear a fraction of your burden, Sufferer, I shall.” 

She sees the burden of suffering as righteous, as all worshipers of Ilmater do. An act deemed holy and necessary if they are to help others the way they’ve devoted their lives to. 

She doesn’t want this. She doesn’t want him. 

Her motivations are the same as his. Gain his trust, just as he wants to gain hers. Give him reason to stay, just as he wants to give her reason to. She wants something from him—though what exactly it is, he’s not sure—and in order to do that, she’s convincing him in the only way she knows how. In the only way they know how.

As the haunting revelation settles in—that neither of them are doing this for the sake of pleasure or out of a desire for intimacy and that there is more to her then she had previously let on—she wraps her lips around him once more. His body betrays him, as it always does in moments like this. 

“Ahh, w-wait!” He tries to lift her head, but she doubles down and throats him again as he climaxes. His nails dig into the dirt beneath him and his hips buck up towards her while she swallows every drop of his release.

She still has that faraway look in her eyes as she sits up, and her hands are unsteady again as they wipe away the mess on her face.

“How was that for you…?” She asks softly, slowly gathering her clothes and slipping them back on.

“I haven’t experienced anything like that in a long, long time.” This answer seems to please her, though he doubts it would if she knew what he truly meant by it. The light slowly returns to her eyes, and Astarion finds himself feeling for just the briefest moment as though he wishes to never see it dissipate again.

“You’re too good for us, you know,” he stands and extends a hand to her, pulling her up alongside him. “Me especially.”

“Nonsense.” She bristles, seemingly taking offense to his statement. “You are all deserving of good things. You especially.”

There is a pregnant pause, both of them unmoving while holding each other's gaze.

Astarion never planned on getting attached to any of these people, especially not her - the moral zealot dead set on saving and having mercy on every poor soul they come across. Her, the poor soul he had every intention of manipulating for his own self-interest.

He feels sick again at the budding sensation of camaraderie welling up within him.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

If you made it this far, thank you for reading!! ily

[ponett]

ive seen you post about doctor robotnik's ring racers occasionally on twitter and would like to hear your overall thoughts on the game

I'm enjoying it a lot! It plays well, has a ridiculous number of unlockable characters and tracks, and is generally just really polished. This would be impressive even for a paid indie kart racer that cost like $20-$30, but for a freeware fangame that's somehow built off of Doom? It's nuts. So much love and care went into this. I've been having a lot of fun playing through all the Grand Prix cups and clearing out the challenge board, which I've only completed 47% of it even with over 15 hours of playtime logged.

It's absolutely one of the most hardcore kart racers I've ever played, though, and that's gonna turn some people off. While playing solo even easy mode can be difficult, especially thanks to the rival system that gives one CPU buffs over the others. Anything below 150cc is a complete joke for me in Mario Kart, but even playing on the "normal" difficulty in Ring Racers (now renamed "intense" in the 2.2 patch) kicks my ass, and if you place poorly in a Grand Prix race it gives you a game over and makes you redo the race. I can't even imagine touching the higher difficulties at my current skill level.

This is compounded by how technical the game is and how many options are at your disposal. Spin dashing, tricks, fast drops, collecting and spending rings, an item roulette that can be manually stopped, a high risk high reward chargeable melee attack when you have negative rings, the ability to harass and be harassed by other racers while positioning yourself before the start of the race, gates that can only be passed through when you have a high level of boost, lots of items with different quirks that reward skilled play. And of course, perhaps most daunting of all to new players, there's the game's unique slope physics designed to mimic how they work in the 2D Sonic games, which will often require you to either spend rings for a small boost or stop and charge up a spin dash to get up a steep hill.

All of these add a lot of complexity to the game that can be pretty daunting early on, which is why it has an infamously long story-driven tutorial to introduce all of these mechanics. I'm not sure said tutorial actually does the best job introducing how those mechanics will actually be put to use in races, but I can't blame them for thinking the game needed it. (I do have to admit I am annoyed by the game's insistence upon framing everything via Sega Saturn inputs, though. I had to open the settings screen to figure out what buttons the tutorial actually wanted me to press.)

Some of these things have already been addressed in the first couple patches, of course. You can now exit the tutorial way earlier, some unlock requirements have been relaxed, there's an option to let the game automatically use your rings for you, easy mode has been made easier, a handful of problematic courses have been tweaked, etc. And I'm sure they'll continue to refine the game based on player feedback. But it's probably always going to be a fairly hardcore game. It's hard and has a high skill ceiling by design. Nintendo's never gonna make a super technical new Mario Kart for sickos - not on purpose, at least. They need it to be a pick-up-and-play party game that sells 70 million copies. But a freeware fangame not beholden to shareholders can experiment more and try to cater to that more hardcore crowd. Say what you will about Ring Racers, but it absolutely has a specific creative vision of its own beyond "Sonic Mario Kart," and I respect that even if the game sometimes frustrates me

[felassan]

Game Informer:

"A Deep Dive Into Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Combat, Abilities, Skill Tree, And More by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 18, 2024 at 02:10 PM If you're at all familiar with the Dragon Age series, you likely already know BioWare has experimented quite a lot with its gameplay. From Dragon Age: Origins' real-time strategy RPG approach to Dragon Age II's mostly-set-within-one-city action experience to Dragon Age: Inquisition's strategy-action mix, BioWare hasn't quite defined the franchise's combat. However, a through-line is apparent from Origins to Inquisition: BioWare seemingly wants this franchise to be action but has attempted to shift to that without abandoning its longtime fans.  With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare has completed its transition from strategy to real-time action, but thanks to an optional tactical pause-and-play combat wheel that harkens back to the series' origins, I feel it's found a great (battle)ground for Dragon Age combat. Of course, it's hard to tell how Veilguard's action will hold up over what is sure to be a dozens-of-hours-long RPG, but if what I've seen so far is any indication, the studio is on to something. A Shift In Strategy"

""I think the first thing to keep in mind is that combat [...] in the franchise has been an evolution," game director Corinne Busche tells me within BioWare's Edmonton office. "Every single entry reimagines what combat is like and I would say our goal was to make sure we had a system that allowed players to feel like they actually were able to step into the world of Thedas. They're not a player observing from afar – they are inside of this world. Being this authentic world that's brought to life, the combat system needs to support that, so you are in control of every single action, every block, every dodge, every swing of your sword." Busche says players complete every swing in real-time, with particular attention paid to animation swing-through and canceling. On the topic of canceling, I watch Busche "bookmark" combos with a quick dash. With this mechanic, players can pause a combo's status with a dash to safety and continue the combo where they left off afterward. Alongside the dash, there's a parry for some classes, the ability to charge moves, and a revamped healing system that allows players to quickly use potions by pressing right on the d-pad.  Busche says each character will play the same in a way, regardless of class, in that you execute light and heavy attacks with the same buttons, use abilities with the same buttons, and interact with the combo wheel in the same way. During my demo at one point, we use a sword-and-shield Warrior Qunari that hip-fires and aims their shield to throw it like Captain America while hammering down big damage with a sword. Pressing the same buttons as a mage might throw out magical ranged attacks instead of a shield. [embedded link to DA:TV gameplay reveal video] Abilities, like a Spartan-like kick from a Warrior or a Mage's firewall that deals continuous damage, add to the player's repertoire of combat options. Warriors can parry incoming attacks, staggering enemies in the process. Rogues have a larger parry window, and Mages can't parry at all but instead throw up a shield that blocks all incoming damage so long as they have the mana to sustain the shield.  "That is just the baseline that allows us to get that level of immersion of, 'I'm actually in this world; I'm a part of it,'" Busche says. "But again, the abilities, the strategy, linking my companions' abilities together to perform devastating combos, that is really where the depth and the complexity comes into play." Abilities And The Skill Tree"

"[caption for image above] Warrior Rook Skill Tree This extends to companions, who, at your choosing, bring three abilities (of their five total) into combat, executed either with quick select buttons or the pause-and-play combat wheel. Every time you rank up a companion's Relationship Level, you unlock a skill point to spend specifically on that companion – this is how you unlock new combat abilities.  Though companion skill trees pale in comparison to Rook's expansive tree, which features passive abilities, combat abilities, and more, as well as paths to three unique class specializations, there's still some customization here.  You can find the skill tree for Rook and companions within Veilguard's start or pause menu. This menu contains pages for Veilguard's map, journal, character sheets, and a library for lore information, too. Here, you can cross-compare equipment and equip new gear for Rook and companions, build weapon loadouts, and customize your abilities and builds via the aforementioned skill tree, which looks relatively easy to understand."

"- Large circle: Class - Diamonds: Abilities - Medium circle: Major Passives and Ability Upgrades - Small hexagon: Traits - Small circle: Minor Passives and Stat Boosts You won't find minutiae here, "just real numbers," Busche says. In other words, a new unlocked trait might increase damage by 25% against armor, but that's as in-depth as the numbers get. Passive abilities unlock jump attacks and guarantee critical hit opportunities, while abilities add moves like firewall and spartan kicks to your arsenal. As you spec out this skill tree, which is 100% bespoke to each class, you'll work closer to unlocking a specialization (which doesn't take reaching the max level of 50). Every class has three specializations, each with a unique ultimate ability. Busche says BioWare's philosophy with the skill tree is "about changing the way you play, not the statistical minutiae."  Companions In Combat"

"If you completely ignore companions in combat, they will attack targets, use abilities, and defeat enemies all on their own. "[Companions] are their own people, "Busche says. "They have their own behaviors, they have their own autonomy on the battlefield, they'll pick their own targets. As their plots progress, they'll learn how to use their abilities more competently, and it really feels like you're fighting alongside these realized characters in battle." Speaking to companion synergy, Busche adds, "I see all the abilities Harding has, and I see everything that Bellara is capable of. And sometimes, I'm using vulnerabilities synergistically. Maybe I'm pausing or slowing time with Bellara so that I can unleash devastating attacks with Harding, knocking down the enemy, and then me, as Rook, I'm rushing in and capitalizing on this setup they've created for me. It is a game about creating this organic sense of teamwork." Busche says there are more explicit synergies, with intentional combos where specific companions can play off each other, and you can queue up their abilities to do just that. That’s what the pause-and-play combat wheel is for in Veilguard.  In this screen, which pauses the camera and pulls up a flashy combat wheel that highlights you and your companions' skills, you can choose abilities, queue them up, and strategize with synergies and combos the game recognizes, all while targeting specific enemies. Select what you want and release the wheel to watch your selections play out. Putting It All Together"

During a mission within Arlathan Forest after Veilguard's prologue, Busche utilizes Veilguard's dual-loadout mechanic. As Rook, you can create two weapon loadouts for quick switch-ups mid-combat. As a mage Rook, she uses magical attacks to add three stacks of arcane build-up to make an Arcane Bomb on a Sentinel, a mechanical set of armor possessed by a demon. If you hit the Sentinel's Arcane Bomb with a heavy attack, the enemy will take devastating damage. Once the Sentinel has an Arcane Bomb on it, Busche begins charging a heavy attack on her magical staff, then switches to magical daggers in Rook's second loadout, accessed with a quick tap of down on the d-pad to unleash some quick light attacks, then back to the staff to finish charging its attack. She then unleashes the heavy attack, and the Arcane Bomb explodes in a liquidy whirl of green magic.  "I've seen [Veilguard's combat] refined over time [and] I love it," BioWare general manager Gary McKay tells me. "I love that balance of real-time fluid action, but also the ability to have the depth in the RPG, not just in terms of pause-and-play, but the depth in terms of how you bring your companions into the battlefield. What are you going to do with their skill points? What's the loadout you're going to use? Everything is about bringing Rook to the center of the battlefield, and I love it."  Former Dragon Age executive producer and Veilguard consultant Mark Darrah feels Veilguard is the first game where the combat is legitimately fun. "What I see in Veilguard is a game that finally bridges the gap," he says. "Uncharitably, previous Dragon Age games got to the realm of 'combat wasn't too bad.' In this game, the combat's actually fun, but it does keep that thread that's always been there. You have the focus on Rook, on your character, but still have that control and character coming into the combat experience from the other people in your party."  I get the sense from watching Busche play several hours of Veilguard that BioWare has designed a combat system that relies heavily on players extracting what they want out of it. If you want to button mash and use abilities freely when their cooldowns expire, you can probably progress fine (although on the game's easier difficulties). But if you want to strategize your combos, take advantage of elemental vulnerabilities, and min-max companions and Rook loadouts, you can do that, too, and I think you'll find Veilguard rewards that with a more enriching experience.  For more about the game, including exclusive details, interviews, video features, and more, click the Dragon Age: The Veilguard hub button below."

[source]

[donovankinard]

what's up guys!!! monthly recs - some holiday-related fics and then just general fics. i've not had as much opportunity to read fic as i normally do, and i'm pretty disappointed by that, but the hecticness of the holiday season has restrained me, unfortunately. for december we've got a lot of buddie and tevan, tarlos, bathena, mateo/nancy, polyfire, saltommy and a dash of henren! happy new years<3

🎁 cheap décor and flavoured cheer || @theclaravoyant evan buckley/eddie diaz/tommy kinard || 4k When Eddie flies back to El Paso, something goes terribly wrong. A fic about hurt/comfort, nostalgia, Christmas and coming home.

🔥 thursdays child has far to go|| @kinnsporsche evan buckley/tommy kinard || 17k Tommy laughs, as much as it can be called a laugh when he can barely get the air to do it, but his breath still grazes against Buck’s lips, the ghost of what he really wants. It’s warm, and Tommy’s still looking at him, and it’s been eighteen days, and he’s baked on nearly every one of them. They’re in a crashed helicopter and Tommy’s pinned down and it’s a terrible idea and it’s been eighteen days, he’s counted every one, and- Buck kisses him.

🔥 snowflakes falling like winter butterflies || 2pretty_2die evan buckley/tommy kinard || 1.6k “Oh man, I don’t think I’ve seen snow in nearly a decade.” “I don’t think I’ve ever seen snow outside of TV and movies.”An off-handed comment made while they cuddled on the couch watching Tommy’s favorite (Christmas) movie on Netflix ended with Buck scouring the internet for a surprise for his boyfriend.

🔥 Misperception || @emphasisonthehomo evan buckley/tommy kinard || 7.2k There’s a new kid at Harbor. He’s the youngest rookie they’ve ever gotten, one of those guys that went for the academy right out of high school. He’s also gay. Flamboyantly gay. Tommy’s jealous. OR: It doesn’t occur to Tommy that he should come out.

🔥 Bulletproof || ScarsLikeVelvet evan buckley/david 'deacon' kay || 1.1k (S.W.A.T. crossover). A rain of bullets is the beginning of the end for Evan's and Eddie's time at the 118. Their professional paths divide, but they remain close all the same while making new friends.

🔥 take my hand, heal my wound || 2pretty_2die evan buckley/donovan rocker || 1.2k (S.W.A.T. crossover). Buck expected a lot when it came to a day of hanging out with Christopher. He knew they’d play some games, maybe watch a movie, go indulge in some good food—because he has definitely turned the kid into a fellow foodie—and likely spend some time out in the sun. What he did not expect to happen was to end the day cleaning gravel from his boyfriend's hands.

🔥 A quiet place || @calinaannehart athena grant/bobby nash || 2.7k Athena had given up trying to sleep somewhere around three and had settled on the couch to wait for the sunrise. It used to be her favorite time of day, the array of reds, oranges, and yellows that painted the sky over the backyard as the sun inched its way over the horizon offering a prelude to a beautiful day. Now, however, it served as nothing more than a countdown.

🔥 Sprinkles of Joy|| BatThatBites mateo chavez/nancy gillian || 2k Mateo and Nancy are tasked with making the cookies for the 126 winter party. It can’t be that hard, right? ….Right?

🔥 A Crack In The Facade || immortalje carlos reyes/tk strand || 634w Working on last bits of release paperwork, Carlos tried to process the conversation he just had with TK and the glimpse it had given him behind the facade he wore for everyone else.

🔥 my lover's body is a map || @kinnsporsche evan buckley/tommy kinard || 15.5k They're all scarred. All of them. There isn't a single person in the firehouse that's unscarred, it's just the nature of the job. But that doesn't make the process of getting them any easier to deal with. Or: the one where Buck's drawn to Tommy's scars.

🔥 voyage || miss_tessa carlos reyes/tk strand || 1.4k The night before Carlos goes to see his father, and the moments after.

🔥 love from the other side || @fallout-mars carlos reyes/tk strand || 2.4k “Baby, oh my god,” TK replies, the words rushing out. Barely realizing what he’s doing, he manages to abandon the cups on the table over the hospital bed, moving to his husband. He’s glad he has enough hindsight—or paramedic instincts—to go to his uninjured side, because his first response is to help steady Carlos. He’s fine on his feet, but TK does it anyway, just to feel helpful. “What are you doing up?” he asks as he leads Carlos back to his bed. “You really shouldn’t be up, baby. I thought I could leave you alone for five minutes without you walking around.” Carlos says nothing until he’s back in bed, groaning softly as he lies down. TK follows, hovering over him so he can fluff up the pillow Carlos puts his head on, and that’s when Carlos sighs.

🔥 Campbell’s Soup for the Soon-to-Be Ranger Daddy’s Soul || cyrusbreeze carlos reyes/tk strand || 3.7k Carlos reflects on the possibility of raising Jonah with TK. Ranger Campbell and his family offer a surprising amount of clarity.

🔥 We can make it out (right?) || BatThatBites mateo chavez/nancy gillian || 2.7k Nancy didn’t expect to have her hands sticky with her boyfriend’s blood. Mateo didn’t expect to be bleeding out in a warehouse fire. They both didn’t expect an asteroid to be hurtling towards Austin

🔥 looking forward to the future || @fallout-mars carlos reyes/tk strand || 1.5k Glancing over his shoulder, he looks into the empty backseat of their truck. He stretches a little, careful not to strain himself or his stitches, then gestures behind him with one hand. “You think we’ll be able to get a car seat in here?” Meeting TK’s eye, he gets a blank stare in return. “What?” “A car seat,” Carlos repeats. “It’s good we ended up with this. There’s no way we’d fit one in the Camaro. In fact, we’d be violating multiple traffic offences if we did.”

🔥 you can breathe now || @decafdino carlos reyes/tk strand || 1.7k He gets the call while he's at work, because of course he does. Of course the universe decides that something terrible is going to happen in the middle of a shift. Well, fuck the universe. That's TK's philosophy.

🔥 I can't explain what's up with me today || @neversleepuntilfive carlos reyes/tk strand || 1.3k "Hey baby, are you okay?” TK quietly asks his boyfriend, who is sitting on their couch with his head slumped against the armrest. He just came home from his long shift. Carlos doesn’t answer him immediately, contemplating if he can gather his strength and push through it so TK isn’t worried. The truth is the day was horrible. He doesn’t even know why. Carlos usually gets up with the sun. But today, he doesn't. He's feeling terrible and can't think of a reason why. There is no reason as far as he is concerned.

🔥 Not your fault but mine || Liv_lily carlos reyes/tk strand || 13k TK stood just outside the recovery room they’d wheeled Carlos into, leaning heavily against the wall. There’d been a never-ending stream of medical professionals going in and out since the surgeon had let them know that everything went well, that a full recovery could be expected with time. He squeezes shaking hands into fists and tries to control his breathing, tries to stop the weight on his chest from collapsing in. He feels shaky and nauseous, panic crawling up his spine. Deep breaths, four count in through your nose. Hold four counts. Four count out your through your mouth. He tries to match his breathing to the slow beeping of the vital signs monitor, tries to take comfort in the steady rhythm. He should go into the room.

🔥 in our reflections of one another (we will start something new) || cyrusbreeze carlos reyes/tk strand || 212k (SERIES). Four years before the events of the pilot, Carlos and TK met in a bar in New York City. Their intense one night stand resulted in more than just a lasting impression. When TK arrives in Austin, both Carlos’ and TK’s worlds are rocked to their core and the impact of their night together has ripples that will last for the rest of their lives.

🔥 I am sorry for your loss || carlando_addict carlos reyes/tk strand || 2.3k TK dies and Carlos tries to process what his future will look like without the love of his life.

🔥 Faithless Plea || lonechronicles evan buckley/eddie diaz || 8.2k “I have done everything I was supposed to and still my life has fallen apart, and been ripped to shreds. I, I don’t know how much more I have left in me. You have taken everything from me. You can not have him too. You can’t take him away from me too. Please, please, don’t take him away too. Give Buck back to me because I cannot survive this, I cannot survive anything without him.” His voice was loud, not yelling, but loud enough that if someone had come outside they’d hear a voice. “I don’t even know if I believe in you but here I am, asking, begging, praying, a faithless plea if you will, just, please. Please, for the love of everything that you stand for, bring him back to me. I don’t survive this if he doesn’t make it.”

🔥 Him || lonechronicles evan buckley/eddie diaz || 5k He’s trapped in his head. The lyrics eating at him from every corner of his being. Religion and God and the sins of loving another man, the story vivid in his mind. A man raised on faith, feeling lost and disconnected. Trying to find himself, to understand himself, while feeling like that removes him from everything he's been taught to believe in. Feeling like connecting to himself will rip him away from everything that he knows, alienates him from his family, leaves him heartbroken and alone. So he hides. Hides himself, shelves his feelings and pushes through with what he’s meant to do. There’s a path perfectly laid out for him and it’s safer to follow it. It’s easier. He loses himself but everything else in his life stays intact, and that might just be enough. At least it is for a while.

🔥 you will get a sentimental feeling when you hear voices singing || @smilingbuckley evan buckley/eddie diaz || 2k Buck mopes, has a conversation with Bobby, and goes to a charity event.

🔥 a wolf without a foot || @screamlet evan buckley/tommy kinard || 34k Tommy wants to find his way back to Buck, but he has to find a way through himself first.

🔥 They Can't Take That Away From Me || @rdng1230 evan buckley/tommy kinard || 3.5k Tommy dabs the corners of his mouth with a napkin and gets up from the table, going over to the record player. “Is it wrong that I kinda like that there’s these gaps in your musical knowledge?” Tommy sighs, slipping a record out of the sleeve and placing it on the turn table. “You teach me so much, it’s nice to be able to show you things too. Makes me feel like I’m listening to things for the first time.” Buck feels his heart swell three sizes. He still feels like Tommy’s the one instructing him most of the time. And here comes his boyfriend calling him the teacher. He has a sneaking suspicion his love for this man will never stop growing.

🔥 Shafted || @sunnywithachanceofbi sal deluca/tommy kinard || 6.1k When the 118 are called to rescue a group of employees trapped in an elevator shaft, the power goes out again mid-rescue, leading one of the crew to get hurt.

🔥 100 Days of Henren || @theclaravoyant hen wilson/karen wilson || 4k (ongoing drabble collection). A series of 118-word drabbles centred on Hen, Karen and/or both. Written for 118dailydrabbles hiatus challenge.

🔥 Frost & Found || @sunnywithachanceofbi evan buckley/tommy kinard || 13k Two years after losing his husband (Sal), Tommy magically brings a handsome snowman (Buck) to life! Through his naïveté, the snowman helps Tommy to laugh, feel and love again, as the two fall for each other just in time for the holidays...and before he melts. ☃️

🔥 proof of god in your soup || cardiacsweetheart evan buckley/eddie diaz || 13.5k “God, we’re too old for this.” “What, love confessions?” Buck asks, just to be annoying. Eddie glares at him. “Not what I meant, but sure.” Or: Buck thinks he was born to be left behind. Eddie proves him wrong.

🔥 sell your fear and leave me standing here || @redgoldblue evan buckley/tommy kinard || 12.8k Buck bakes, has sex, and goes to gay bingo. Tommy wallows, gets told off, and wallows some more. Eventually, they kiss again.

🔥 The "Tommy Writes Hotshots Fanfic" Series || @herrmannhalsteadproduction evan buckley/tommy kinard || 7.7k Tommy gets sucked into the Hotshots fandom. (It's Karen and Maddie's fault.)

🔥 Chasing Fires || @thatmexisaurusrex evan buckley/tommy kinard || 150k 24-year-old Tommy Kinard meets 19-year-old Evan Buckley as Evan tries to steal food at a grocery store. Tommy decides to let Evan crash at his place until Evan figures out what his next steps are, giving Evan the same help someone had given Tommy when he had been kicked out of his house years ago.

🔥 our secret moments in a crowded room (they've got no idea about me and you) || @speaknowbuckley evan buckley/eddie diaz || 13.3k Professional Baseball Player Eddie Diaz and Professional Football Player Evan "Buck" Buckley have been married for the past six years, not that anyone outside of their close circle of friends and family knows that. But after they're photographed together and the internet starts going wild with sleuthing and conspiracy theories about their relationship, they're forced to consider whether or not the time may be right to come out publicly.

🔥 comeback of the year || @ambernotember evan buckley/tommy kinard || 5.1k Casey distracted him with stories of baby eagles and a dispensary hostage situation while Tommy drank his whiskey and worked his way towards telling Casey what had happened with Evan.

🔥 with a little help from your (best) friend || @exhaustedpirate evan buckley/tommy kinard || 1.9k “Why aren’t you wearing pants?” (or, what happened after buck and eddie sat down the couch)

STATS: # of fics: 35 # of authors: 30 # of words read: 575k

[canmom]

how much power does tech really use, compared to other shit?

my dash has been full of arguing about AI power consumption recently. so I decided to investigate a bit.

it's true, as the Ars Technica article argues, that AI is still only one fairly small part of the overall tech sector power consumption, potentially comparable to things like PC gaming. what's notable is how quickly it's grown in just a few years, and this is likely to be a limit to how much more it can scale.

I think it is reasonable to say that adding generative AI at large scale to systems that did not previously have generative AI (phones, Windows operating system etc.) will increase the energy cost. it's hard to estimate by how much. however, the bulk of AI energy use is in training, not querying. in some cases 'AI' might lead to less energy use, e.g. using an AI denoiser will reduce the energy needed to render an animated film.

the real problem being exposed is that most of us don't really have any intuition for how much energy is used for what. you can draw comparisons all sorts of ways. compare it to the total energy consumption of humanity and it may sound fairly niche; compare it to the energy used by a small country (I've seen Ireland as one example, which used about 170TWh in 2022) and it can sound huge.

but if we want to reduce the overall energy demand of our species (to slow our CO2 emissions in the short term, and accomodate the limitations of renewables in a hypothetical future), we should look at the full stack. how does AI, crypto and tech compare to other uses of energy?

here's how physicist David McKay broke down energy use per person in the UK way back in 2008 in Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air, and his estimate of a viable renewable mix for the UK.

('Stuff' represents the embedded energy of manufactured goods not covered by the other boxes. 'Gadgets' represents the energy used by electronic devices including passive consumption by devices left on standby, and datacentres supporting them - I believe the embodied energy cost of building them falls under 'stuff' instead.)

today those numbers would probably look different - populations change, tech evolves, etc. etc., and this notably predates the massive rise in network infrastructure and computing tech that the Ars article describes. I'm sure someone's come up with a more up-to-date SEWTHA-style estimate of how energy consumption breaks down since then, but I don't have it to hand.

that said, the relative sizes of the blocks won't have changed that much. we still eat, heat our homes and fly about as much as ever; electric cars have become more popular but the fleet is still mostly petrol-powered. nothing has fundamentally changed in terms of the efficiency of most of this stuff. depending where you live, things might look a bit different - less energy on heating/cooling or more on cars for example.

how big a block would AI and crypto make on a chart like this?

per the IEA, crypto used 100-150TWh of electricity worldwide in 2022. in McKay's preferred unit of kWh/day/person, that would come to a worldwide average of just 0.04kWh/day/person. that is of course imagining that all eight billion of us use crypto, which is not true. if you looked at the total crypto-owning population, estimated to be 560 million in 2024, that comes to about 0.6kWh/day/crypto-owning person for cryptocurrency mining [2022/2024 data]. I'm sure that applies to a lot of people who just used crypto once to buy drugs or something, so the footprint of 'heavier' crypto users would be higher.

I'm actually a little surpised by this - I thought crypto was way worse. it's still orders of magnitude more demanding than other transaction systems but I'm rather relieved to see we haven't spent that much energy on the red queen race of cryptomining.

the projected energy use of AI is a bit more vague - depending on your estimate it could be higher or lower - but it would be a similar order of magnitude (around 100TWh).

SEWTHA calculated that in 2007, data centres in the USA added up to 0.4kWh/day/person. the ars article shows worldwide total data centre energy use increasing by a factor of about 7 since then; the world population has increased from just under 7 billion to nearly 8 billion. so the amount per person is probably about a sixfold increase to around 2.4kWh/day/person for data centres in the USA [extrapolated estimate based on 2007 data] - for Americans, anyway.

however, this is complicated because the proportion of people using network infrastructure worldwide has probably grown a lot since 2007, so a lot of that data centre expansion might be taking place outside the States.

as an alternative calculation, the IEA reports that in 2022, data centres accounted for 240-340 TWh, and transmitting data across the network, 260-360 TWh; in total 500-700TWh. averaged across the whole world, that comes to just 0.2 kWh/day/person for data centres and network infrastructure worldwide [2022 data] - though it probably breaks down very unequally across countries, which might account for the huge discrepancy in our estimates here! e.g. if you live in a country with fast, reliable internet where you can easily stream 4k video, you will probably account for much higher internet traffic than someone in a country where most people connect to the internet using phones over data.

overall, however we calculate it, it's still pretty small compared to the rest of the stack. AI is growing fast but worldwide energy use is around 180,000 TWh. humans use a lot of fucking energy. of course, reducing this is a multi-front battle, so we can still definitely stand to gain in tech. it's just not the main front here.

instead, the four biggest blocks by far are transportation, heating/cooling and manufacturing. if we want to make a real dent we'd need to collectively travel by car and plane a lot less, insulate our houses better, and reduce the turnover of material objects.

[tvlandofficiall]

since you think seam will be a secret boss, what do you think their motive will be for fighting us?

i personally think that, over the course of the game, seeing how strong the heroes have become, they start to have hope for the future. they've been trying not to, because they know these hopes will inevitably be dashed - better to not have hope in the first place, so that it doesn't hurt when they're proven wrong, right? but they just can't help themself.

so the fight is basically one last desperate attempt to snuff out their own hope. if the heroes are strong enough to beat seam, seam will finally let themself have hope that maybe this messed up world really can be fixed, and they will lend the heroes their strength to help them do this.

i have more thoughts on this matter but i have trouble putting thoughts into words...!

i'm going to take this ask as an opportunity to tangent about something i've wanted to tangent about for a while, but to make sure i answer everything here, let's break it down;

this question is one i see a lot. it's a pleasant surprised to see you've pitched it as something with an answer you've thought about, because most often i see it used as a counterargument proposed without an answer. "why would seam want to fight us? they're a nihilist!" is something i've seen in a few threads and comments sections when the topic of seam as a boss comes up. but being a nihilist doesn't make them a flat character – undertale has a whole separate character that is a bit of a nihilist, too.

but seam isn't just "sans but again", either – toby fox simply likes to play with character foils across both of his games and these two have just as much that sets them apart as they have in common.

i like your idea – of the trio casting off being so-called "heroes" and challenging fate itself instead. seam beginning to develop cracks in their bitter and cynical attitude towards them as a result could certainly be an interesting turn for their character to take. overall with seam, a part of what makes predicting them tricky is that they're a shopkeeper who'll almost certainly get new big chunks of dialogue with each chapter. think about how much of their dialogue is situation-specific across both chapters – and think about how much dialogue shopkeepers get in general! and their secretive personality certainly doesn't make them an open book. that said, we do still have a good foundation of other things right now that could motivate seam to fight us. seam loves to fight, has a bit of a bitter 'tude towards the trio thus far, is curious about what might've happened to jevil, and seems to want our shadow crystals for something. (see my big seamnalysis for me going more in-depth on all that.)

these are all left as dangling threads – points of intrigue that could be touched on again at some point in the future. and if they are, all of them could make for interesting boss fight material! my personal pet theory is that i like the idea of seam wanting us to get stronger so they can finally have a good fight again, but another idea i've been entertaining lately is that if they do want the shadow crystals because of some more directly gaster-related reason, maybe it's out of curiosity. after all, gaster exists on a higher level of fate than even the light world – and given his ties to the prophecy and to us he seems pretty concerned with making sure nothing shakes up the status quo. to know everything about fate – not to change it, just to know it – that'd be an interesting motivation too, even if that idea leans more towards something i'd like to see explored in fanwork than it does towards a prediction i would feel certain making about the game itself. there's a lot you could do and a lot there to work with!

[2aceofspades]

4.) When did you become a fan of TMNT?

18.) Who is your favorite villain?

19.) Who is your favorite ally?

27.) What is something you love to see in TMNT art/fics?

28.) What is one thing you would like to see explored more in TMNT art/fics?

33.) What is your favorite thing you've made for TMNT?

35.) Which character relationships are your favorite to write/draw?

Sorry there's so many 😅 you don't have to answer them all if you don't want to.

I absolutely ADORE your art btw, it is so amazing and so nice to look at and it's just ✨✨✨

Anywizzle, I hope you have a great rest of your day/night :]

4.) I guess I became an official fan a little bit after the Rise movie came out. Of course, I had known about TMNT when I was pretty little cuz my older sib was a fan. I also watched a bit of the 2003 show and 2012 show growing up ✨

18.) I really like Big Mama. She's such a slay 💖 I also really like Rise!Shredder and the Mud Dogs

19.) Cassandra 😭💙✨ that's my girl 💙 Also April cuz she kicks major ass and is such a good friend fr fr 💚

27.) Angst 😌 but like, relatable angst~ So, written or drawn trauma that speaks to me, I suppose. It's a major reason why I adore EMD so much. It makes me feel seen and understood in a way that hits so hard in such a good way augh yess

28.) That's a good question, and one that I can't say I've thought too much about, to be so honest. I think, for me, I would like to see more of Big Mama's assistant on my dash, but that's more so me just being out of the loop hehe 😅 There is another more serious topic that I would like to see be talked about, but I don't really have the words to articulate it currently.

33.) Whew, um...if not the 3K celebration I did for EMD (cuz that was so fun to create hehe~) then maybe some of the more rendered pieces I've made for my own au (rip TWFTB). Although, I love a lot of the stuff I draw for EMD for many reasons <3

Here are some of my overall faves in no particular order~

I don't yap about or draw for my own au anymore, but that's okay/gen

35.) I love drawing f!April and f!Cassandra being all lovey-dovey 💕 It seriously makes me so happy and I should draw them more 😤♥️ Also, I loved drawing f!Raph and f!Leo co-leading in the resistance in my au.

No worries at all! I love these ask games and I very much appreciate your curiosity 🤗✨

Also AAAWEEE!!! Thank you so much!! 🥹💙 I really appreciate it 🙌🙌 I hope you have a great day/night as well 🌟 Thank you again!!

(:

[yooniesim]

ok unfortunately for yall the dash made me have a thought so now I gotta ramble lol

but ya know. maybe it's bc I've had so much time away from here and all the bitching (/affectionate) but over the past couple years, I get less angry about this shit and more solution-minded. and I don't mean for the community as a whole (that's impossible lol) but in a sort of... personal circle/responsibility type of way. like what we can do among ourselves without the confrontation aspect bc, just being honest- from my perspective & experience, the anger and the bitching doesn't really accomplish shit. not to say it ain't justified, & it's important to raise awareness for sure, but i swear me & a lot of others that have been talking about this for a long time have just been barking in circles without anything budging one way or another. which leads to burnout/emotional exhaustion not just for the ppl in question but for followers/mutuals/friends. I spent far too long and waaaay too much mental energy thinking that being the loudest and the boldest would get something to change. but the scammers keep scamming and the shit just keeps going. and sure it's fun as hell to shoot the shit and pick and bitch and laugh with your mutuals. baby yall know I love a good simblr circlejerk. but ya know, when you sit down and think about it it's a lil depressing. and the ppl you're talking to/around are already Aware and eventually the anger wears off and they're just tired of hearing about it. you're preaching to the choir and everyone is just pissed and tired with no clear goal to work towards.

Part of that exhaustion is why i made @alwaysfreecc as a positive way to boost always free creators, without focusing on the paywallers. as well as always supporting alternate ways of getting paywalled cc. but I think it takes a lil more than just that. I think, like the post I just reblogged was saying, people need to learn how to make their own content too. I know there's a learning curve, but so many things paywallers make are outright easy to do yourself. Some aren't- there are paywall creators that put great effort into their content and make it worth your money- but a lot of them are. And that isn't to say you should make everything yourself, there's nothing wrong with supporting creators that make content you find interesting or wouldn't want to do yourself, but it can be really rewarding to learn how to make simple edits and recolors on your own. And, image editing and 3d modeling skills can also benefit you elsewhere in life! Whether professionally or when modding other games. Knowing how to make cc in sims helped me figure out how to make certain things for skyrim and fallout, for example. Hell, it's just plain FUN to figure out and do, and I think the community could always use more of that.

Also, sometimes it's freeing to just, stop using certain creators' content. Like, i used to be bitching yet downloading stuff off dhm and shit, out of spite mostly cos half the stuff I didn't even like. But since I cleared out a lot of paywallers' stuff, besides a few I think are worth it/doing things honestly, it just feels better. I don't even think about those mfs anymore until I see something about them on my dash and then I can barely remember who they are lol. You don't realize how much you really don't NEED any of that shit & how you were kinda just downloading it to be downloading it, until you toss it. AND it feels great to have mostly always free creators' content & support them. Liiike i feel proud of ppl i saw get started and are STILL FREE and making awesome stuff, it's exciting! even when I'm not playing the game, I see their posts and be like "dang I need to grab that when I update" or "man they've gotten so much better in so little time" or "wow I never thought of that idea/seen that before". Bc always free peeps get to be so damn creative bc they don't have deadlines or turning off their paying audience to worry about. Like it's so cool and positive and I love that.

idk, just. based on what I've experienced here, i feel like it's kinda time to focus less on what the assholes are doing now (aka the same exact thing they've been doing for years) and more on what to do to make our own personal experiences better. which I know a lot of us are doing! I just wish I personally had done it earlier lol so maybe someone else needs to hear that too. like toss these dummies to the curb and replace them is what I'm sayin. If not in the whole community but just your personal circle. raise awareness as needed sure but don't let em take any more of your energy. cos if you are petty like me (😂) it'll hurt em way more to cast em out than yell at em. all the ppl that have bitched at me yet still have my cc in their folders come to mind lmfao, cos personally that gives me more satisfaction than anything else so I know it's probably the same for the scammers! Like a "you hate me but you can't bear to not use my shit huh 😏" type of deal. Don't give em that sick pleasure! (/projecting) Just focus on you and yours and make some sick ass content for yourself, then share it to me thx 💅