#is is me or does it look different on DA. or did tumblr do something

[fluo-skeletons]

THIS IS SO BEUATIFUL

Forgotten Queen belongs to @fluo-skeletons Reference here

Wanted to draw this Muffet for a long time, and after my angst comic grind found a sketch already waiting for me.

[bisnes-socks]

don't mind me, below the cut is just me trying to somehow verbalise how much i love mesto duhov on a molecular and also astral levels and also trying my best to not actually cry about it.

i'm going to start with a weird tangent but.

back in the early days of covid i talked with a friend of mine how the panic around us made us, as deeply anxious people, feel more balanced somehow. she was in france, i was in finland, but the experience was the same: the anxiety in the world suddenly matched the anxiety inside us. it was somehow a new exeprience, to feel at balance, even if the reason for it was not so good.

but this, this song, is a good reason to feel at balance, and good god, that's exactly what this song does to me. i don't know how they made a song that matches something in my soul, but they did. and the reason why i started off with a weird covid tangent is because there is incredible pain in this song that matches something in the feeling of being alive to me. and to have it turned into music and played back to me is a moment of balance unlike any other, because suddenly feeling the things you feel don't make you so unbelievably lonely anymore.

there are other songs in the world that sound and feel like they vibrate in the exact same frequency as my soul, but i haven't discovered a new one in years. but mesto duhov is exactly that.

i don't usually go into joker out lyrics because i don't speak slovene or serbian, and so i leave analysing them to those who do. but this time i just want to say, that i looked up translations and not only does the music vibrate on the frequency of my soul, the lyrics are exactly what i've been feeling, what i've been witnessing, and what i've been working with for a while now. i don't want to go too much into my personal life on tumblr dot com, but the disappearance of imagination, of life, of joy, of things worth living for, are something that i've been working with on every level of my life this year, both on a personal and professional level.

this song is just this exact moment in my life right now. this is it. and it feels so oddly calming to me. because it feels like someone else sees it too.

and it's strange because once again, they have written a song that feels like i've heard it before, but i haven't. i'd know if i had ever heard anything like it, but i haven't. of course i hear the influences, but they feel irrelevant to me with this one. it's like there are moments in the song that almost take me back to like idk 2010 or something, but the nostalgia never gets a hold of me, it doesn't stick. it's almost nostalgic but it isn't, because this is now. it just feels like, when the song comes on, it's just....right. yes, that's the one, that's the song, that's the feeling, this is right.

the contrast between the agony of the verses and the resigned serenity of the pa pa pa pa paa... it's balance, it's right, it's real. it's also brilliant composing and songwriting. this song is so interesting, so captivating, so memorable. it goes from one feeling to another in a way that is striking but makes sense. 

they introduce the intesity of the verses straight off the bat, and then the quieting down and subsequent sudden stop with "pod nogami se trese / zapihal je veter, da vse nas odnese" is actually something quite familiar from rock music - you know to expect something different for the chorus. but you do not know to expect what actually happens, like it's a different song suddenly. and then they build back up to the intensity of the verses with great skill and attention to details and vibes.

the melody in "mimo mene lebdijo sami žalostni ljudje / nazaj v nostalgijo včerajšnjega dne" has to be one of the most beautiful melodies i've heard. something about it feels very familiar, very home-like, just again, very right. but it also makes me instantly emotional, even before i ever read a translation for the lyrics. just the melody alone. and bojan's vocal performance, which is absolutely top tier through the entire song. his ability to convey emotion really comes through with this one, and i'm in awe of him for it.

the instrumentation in the song is just brilliant.  the pa pa pa pa pa section is made up of sounds that bring childrens music into mind, it's full of whimsical and fun sounds, that in this context feel incredibly bittersweet and quite sad. the different guitar sounds and effects in the song, for example the sound that opens the song vs. the solo sound, bring amazing versatility and depth to the straight forward intensity of the verses. the drums portray the frustration and pent-up energy caused by the themes. the bass sound almost cocoons all of it into one and almost makes this song a physical place to exist in.

it's all brilliance from beginning to end. except once again, i wish the song went on much longer, and i miss it as soon as it begins to fade.

and i'm usually not one to loop songs. but this one i'd easliy loop all day, all week, all month, all year, my whole life, because somehow this song makes it easier to be, to breathe, to exist and to make peace with existing. 

needless to say it's my favourite track on the album, my song of the year, and quite possibly one of my favourite songs of all time ever.

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @scatterhearts

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Interview with Scatterheart

Scatter and Dema talk pokemon, dark fantasy, and advice for artists just starting out.

Dema: You are participating in this bang as an artist, and have just handed in your first progress check, which is a brainstorm or thumbnails or a rough sketch. How did that go? Is this more or less in line with how you usually plan your pieces?

Scatterheart: Yes, it is more or less how I plan "big" pieces, by which I mean the composition matters haha. I usually first look for references of all stuff that would be relevant, then edit pictures for a collage sort of sketch or also just regular sketch. Most of the time outside of "big" pieces I just go straight to drawing a thing and changing it as I go, not very efficient but fun mostly.

Dema: What media do you work in? And is that the medium you started with?

Scatterheart: I'm pretty much digital art only since I started it four years ago, and when I decided I wanted to "really learn" art stuff it was good old pencil and paper!

Dema: What made you decide you wanted to "really learn?" And what did that look like? Did you follow tutorials, specific teachers, books? Something else?

Scatterheart: I was really into anime at the time and wanted to be able to draw the characters I liked like the fanart I saw, or the source material. At first I simply copied stuff, and then also looked at a few youtube tutorials. I did have an art class in school at the time and because other classmates also liked anime and the teacher was cool we worked on that for some time, haha.

Dema: Oh that's lovely! Any anime in particular? We have a lot of DA artists who also love anime, for sure.

Scatterheart: The one I liked most to draw in/mimic the style of was pokemon in the unova seasons and also cutesy styles like K-on or nichijou. My favorite genre was comedy, clearly. I got more ambitious after I also got really into visual novels, which have really pretty art, and it coincided with trying other mediums in my aforementioned art class. But I was not good at painting or watercolor LOL, it was so hard and time consuming I went back to pencil only.

Dema: So your favorite anime genre was/is comedy, but I saw you mentioned in your artist interview that Dragon Age introduced you to dark fantasy.  I'm curious what hooked you?

Scatterheart: I guess dark fantasy has a different kind of seriousness, in comparison to like, non-dark fantasy even when it's also serious, and dragon age has such well presented/executed stories of that sort that it was like "Oh! This is what I'm looking for and now I have a word!". Like vampire stories! I think darker topics but in a fantasy way have so much potential to really get them across.

Dema: Are there other dark fantasy media that you're enjoying lately?

Scatterheart: Does Elden Ring count? If so then that one, the game is so beautiful I end up just running around looking which is great for wanting to draw.

Dema: Oh yes, Elden Ring for sure counts! Do you have other reliable sources for inspiration? What do you do if you're in an art rut?

Scatterheart: For inspiration in the sense of making me want to draw, like, at all, music videos probably. There's been other inspiration stuff for that purpose that has come and gone but that's the most consistent one I can think of. With art rut stuff, if it's in the way of "wah everything I draw looks off" or "wah i can’t think of what to draw," I do studies, outside of those cases I just completely stop doing art stuff and go enjoy doing other stuff – watch more movies/shows, play other games, do more music stuff. Last year I had my first full on art block and I just barely drew anything for a bit over six months, then organically felt again like drawing.

Dema: What do you most enjoy drawing from the DA universe?

Scatterheart: I really like drawing Sera! LOL I haven't drawn that much dragon age stuff yet. Similar to the anime fanart, when I was just starting digital art I wanted to draw Dragon Age characters but I felt like I was not doing them justice, fast forward I now mainly draw in a painting and realism-adjacent way and would like to think I'm better at conveying facial/body features so it's like, now I have the power! That aside, yeah Sera is really fun, next is my beloved Cassandra.

Dema: Any advice for other artists just starting to make fanwork who might be having those same fears?

Scatterheart: Hmm I think that if you draw in a style that isn't quite realism and want to translate the characters to it then studying simplification of features/shapes would be useful. Fortunately game renders make that easier than looking at real people and DA characters are real shapely! Another way, going to realism-ish: painting exercises like simplifying shapes of light/shadow (ie black and white only) work really well for starting and for facial features.

Dema: Those are great tips! Thank you for taking the time to chat with me today, Scatter!

Scatterheart: I hope they can be helpful tips, thank you as well for doing the interviews!

[thenixkat]

Was revisiting a lot of BB movie fics in the last few days, a common theme in them appears to be Jaime desperately wanting to know why Khaji chose him

Which made me realize that I don’t think we know why he’s the first one who activated “full Infiltrator mode” in the comics? Not that he seems to care? lol

Anyway as Tumblr’s resident pre-Jaime BB expert I’m curious if you have any evidence or headcanons!

The most annoying issue with working with retcons, which the whole Reach and "full Infiltrator mode" thing is, trying to make shit jive with previous shit.

Huh, I've not really read much BB movie fic but that's an interesting theme for folks to be focused on. Cause like, as far as I recall comic!Jaime doesn't really do any navel-gazing about why he was picked by Khaji Da? More treats it as something that happened to him but not really searching for any meaning in it. (and I love that really, very emphasizes how Jaime is just some guy)

As far as I'm aware, and take it with a grain of salt b/c it's been a long time since I watched Young Justice and the other info is from Wikipedia and I know for a fact that Wikipedia can be flat-out wrong about things ie. Every fucking thing on Mr. Calhoun's wiki page where whoever did the article confused him with two other different characters...

But as far other things go... Jaime isn't the only one who unlocked the full power of Khaji Da? In at least 3 adaptations, one of which being Young Justice and another being the very same Blue Beetle movie if I'm recalling shit from the beginning of the film right, they had Dan being able to fully activate Khaji Da. Like, it looked different on him than on Jaime of course and folks were making it look like his og costume. But like they had Khaji Da fused with Dan's spine and it being removed from his corpse after he died in those adaptations. And what it did while bonded with Dan is why folks know shit for things later with Jaime.

-> Movie Khaji Da didn't choose Ted. But in the Young Justice and some fucking live action show I can't remember the name of, Ted was the one who refused to bond with Khaji Da, because he didn't trust the alien parasite tech.

-> I've not fucking found the comics to read yet but I know the version of Ted that exists in Kingdom Come, can and does use Khaji Da and has heavy plate Scarab armor with the 'beetle backpack' that Jaime's armor also had. Tho I dislike how the Kingdom Come!Ted's armor looks, mostly on the choices in coloring and how excessively bulky it looks for a character that's a gymnast.

And really... it seems less that Jaime is some chosen one and more just he was in the right place at the right time and Khaji Da liked what it saw of him and decided to move in. (WHich is interesting given how different Jaime is from Dan [Mr. Hot blooded world trotting slut] and Ted [kind, caring, but man does he have issues])

Personally, I go with:

Khaji Da has some kind of defect that means it can't fully override a healthy and mentally stable host. Be funny as shit if it was from ramming into another Scarab like the BB movie showed.

Khaji Da had many many Blue Beetles during its time on Earth (from what it told Dan in Dan's origin story). It's 'Champions' were given the mission to protect the Earth from evil forces and villains. Given that Khaji Da was not reformed back then it probably typically encouraged its hosts to be Lethal Protectors (not me shouting out Venom but like...)

Kha-ef-re broke this chain of Blue Beetles for 3000 yrs b/c he managed to damage/injure or drain Khaji Da of power while using it for his blood magic bullshit. And Khaji was clearly being used as a heart scarab for Kha-ef-re's mummy and interred with him in his tomb that people were forbidden from opening due to curse/fear of Kha-ef-re coming back b/c he was an evil ass fucker

When Dan loots Khaji Da from Kha-ef-re's sarcophagus it immediately bonds with him, gives him the mission it gave all the Blue Beetles it had b4. But due to it being damaged, Dan doesn't have access to Khaji Da's full power. The Scarab is healing itself while bonded to Dan.

Dan passes the title of Blue Beetle and the Scarab to Ted as he's dying. Khaji Da didn't agree to it but Dan passing it on of his own volition is as good as a magic contract so Khaji has to be bonded to Ted and hates it. For several years while Ted is heroing and has Khaji Da it gives him no access to anything but its most passive of powers (the warding against evil spirits) while its focusing its energy on healing Dan's body and then reviving him and siccing Dan on the 'unworthy' Blue Beetle

Ted manages to turn the tide of the fight with Dan in his favor which impresses Khaji Da who decides that Ted is worthy of being a Blue Beetle after all and tries to force Ted to accept its power and kill Dan.

After Dan's death Ted technically could access the full power of Khaji Da (what it has available at least as its still healing itself as well from what Kha-ef-re did to it) but refuses to do so given Khaji Da was a major dick and he doesn't trust it

Later Khaji Da gets more or less stolen from Ted by the Wizard Shazam who kept going on about Ted mucking around with forces he didn't understand and the Wizard puts Khaji Da in the Rock of Eternity.

Inside the Rock of Eternity, Khaji Da soaks up power and finishes fixing itself from the damage that Kha-ef-re did to it. It's bond with Ted gets broken (free choice why).

The Rock of Eternity gets broken and everything sealed inside escapes/is flung across the country. Jaime Reyes finds a neat looking beetle rock in the dirt at a construction site on the way to school

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Eh? by u/Economy-Alfalfa-2241

Eh? Someone is going to have to explain posh branding to me - the nearest I get to posh is if we've got those carrots in that still have green stuff attached. They're all sneery, those carrots - because Lordy, where do I start?Most importantly: why is Megdusa wafting around in a huge frock and how hard were the camera crew laughing? Why is it so yellow and bleary? Did she dip the camera in the chip-pan? Are we supposed to think she's the long -suffering ghost of Casa Dumbarse: ancient seat of the House of Gobshite?Chip-pan Ghost™? Oh God help me sinners, I can't breathe 😂😂😂Is this Archfail? Or new shiny Sussex? Is one part of another? I mean, ChipPan Ghost is....something, but is this The Brand™? I'm almost expecting this to be some weird psy-op and Ari E is going to pop out from behind the huge skirts of the poshfrock with "ta-da! This is why you need our branding services!" complete with a whole new glo-up and we find out this strange, incoherent mess was all part of how to make a mahoossive SPLASH. Except Ari noped out so we just have a sort of sad.... "blop..."And what if I want Numbnut? Which of these variable organisations is him? This is the most incoherent launch I have ever seen and it leads to nowhere. No products, no services - it's the ultimate "jam later!" but it's posh jam? Say for a minute that I were utterly mental and I wanted to support Brand Suckarse: Reject Royals, then how do I...? Where do I....? Who do I...? There's no overall brand, just these placemarkers each with ill-defined lines.This is their need to stick it the monarchy; Dimbo *will have* the equivalent of the Duchy. But that not only grew up and created an entire market doing so, it's also intricately linked with the Crown and public holdings. You can't just replicate the entire thing elsewhere then try and force it into a business model that didn't even exist when the power structures of the UK were set and yes, the Duchy of Cornwall is private but it's certainly not extant just to feed a product line nor is it a straightforward company holding. It shows how little he really does know of our history that he doesn't understand why he doesn't get his own duchy to play with, waaaah.All that aside and assuming we do the usual bugger-all to stop them, even with everything working out and their keeping this, who will it even serve? Those who want tradition have a billion options, the lifestyle-gurus are selling a curated image based on themselves at least but this looks like it's trying to be BritainLite™ With no disrespect, do they have a target audience in the numbers, with the disposable income and of the strata of society to be buying The Lifestyle? There are plenty of middle-aged mums doing the whole beige thing, the younger ones have different dreams coming up....I just can't see the niche? And don't things like this rely not just on branding, but in repeat sales? Just.....who is this *FOR?* (Well, other than him, her and their egos 🙄)How many vanity projects can they support? post link: https://ift.tt/zLk4K86 author: Economy-Alfalfa-2241 submitted: March 15, 2024 at 03:36PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[shadowredfeline]

Four in One Post

For a few Responses to my Filipino Friend

First Response

I know you haven't made a birthday pic for him since you have been busy with your family business, but you can always make him one as like a random drawing if anytime you feel like drawing Yinna the Panda, or have Shadow, Lisa, Lighting and Yinna hanging out together, or you can draw Lighting a bathing suit for her and she can go to the Beach with Yinna, Riya, May and Vanilla before Summer gets ready to end.

Second Response

My mom and i use Ebay a lot and i bet that'll be the perfect site to pick up a Banapassport online, and thank you so much for giving me a suggestion where to find a Banapassport. Especially i can find some that are brand new. And i know we understand Alex could be Naive about Maxi Tune. But i know much about it since i know i have played that game a couple of times besides playing Mario Kart Aracde GP Deluxe. And for the Wendy's Meal, i bet it'll be a nice choice to have anytime you want to visit AZ as well as for trying out their theme parks.

And for my Filipino Friend's On This Day Post

Looks cute for Murukir to be in Chowder's form, and if Chowder is out of the show, then we can have Murukir as a substitute. Much like i how i remember on Cartoon Network, i used to see two characters taking over someone's place. Like Marvin the Martian is taking over Double D, and the Mayor from PPG is taking over Numbuh 2's Place. And even when they say, Numbuh 2 is Sick or Double D is on Vacation, but i like the idea of having Cartoon Network characters trying to take someone's place. They should've done it in Modern Cartoon Network if it weren't from that stupid CEO of WBD. He ruins everything and without Cartoon Network, i'll have to Warner Bros. in Persona 6 or Warner Bros. in Persona 5 the Phantom X. But however, i would love to see Nickelodeon do something like that saying like with Spongebob, let's say Lincoln Loud took over Squidward's place and Stimpy took over Patrick's place. Like if i rewrote Choir Boys from Spongebob, let's say Stimpy kept Spongebob Company while Squidward goes to the Men's Choir, and Spongebob and Stimpy watch Squidward perform at a Choir Concert. And let's say when Squidward was Sick and took a time away from Spongebob, Lincoln Loud is wearing Squidward's Clothes and told Spongebob and Krabs that he's taking over. But i know a lot of people would think it'll be different when it comes to Wreck It Ralph where people leave their own game or show.

And for my A-Pal's On This Day Post.

You know i did a drawing like that too. Except it only just drew Shadow and Caleb since they were the only two that can do something really fun for DA. But normally i haven't done so many Anniversary stuff, but i have been doing a lot of DA Tutorials on depending on which one i would be drawing. Even Lisa does that kind of stuff too.

[bexfangirlforlife]

Notes of my first rewatch of Tatort Saarbrücken episode Die Kälte der Erde:

gonna pay attention to the actual case now (update I did. Still not much focus on that in my notes)

why is them sitting in the car feeling so domestic?

I still think that the doctor is too shocked over seeing beer drinking people in the ER, as if that doesn't happen more often.

the giggling/laughing when they don't get the couch through the door

oh yeah Esther and that one girl from the bar definitely had something. Also the post that said "the barkeeper knows it/something" so true

that "Hallo, Mama." is funny

it's not the first time, but that scene in the house made me think that in comparision to the little bit of young Adam we saw in the first episode, adult Adam does seem to have some unhingedness from his father (hate to say it)

I knew I recognised the doctor from somewhere, he was the ghost mentor of Jonas in Anna und die Liebe and he played the pimp in two episodes of the second Doctor's Diary season

they (Adam, Leo &Pia) pretend like being a Fußballfan is something really rare... guys we're in germany. It's not that uncommon!

"heyyy Saarbrücken" - german tumblr once a year

Adam's "same", love it

still lowkey wish they would have danced together at the party ngl

the bridge scene aka divorce part 1

Leo: "sprich mit mir!" I've been often frustrated with Adam not really talking to Leo. Though with the info we get later in the episode, that Adam tried to tell people that he was abused by his father, it does make even more sense that he wouldn't talk to anyone, because nobody believed him back then, why would anyone listen now? (Obviously it's different, but the man never got proper therapy, so how would he know?)

so we have Leo/Notizbuch, Adam/Sporttasche and Pia/sleep deprivation. So what is it for Esther? It's not alloud to be people, so is it Esther/Fußball? Or is it something else?

"Ich kann aber besser schlafen, wenn ich weiß, dass dir nichts passiert." would make me insane in itself, but the tone of voice Vladi is delivering it in makes this line another level. (I swear I've heard that exact tone in conversations between Boris and Tobias aka canon couple Toris from sdl)

"Tiger"-"Miau" I'll never get over it

Personal Funfact: the standard radio station my dad and I would listen to, when he drove me to school had a singing competion with this one song every morning for weeks back in the day. We still nod to each other whenever the song comes up somewhere.

"Ist das dein Partner? Ihr passt gut zusammen" still insane insane insane insane insane

Ok yeah I really need Adam going crazy worrying about Leo because Boris uses him as Adam's pressure point to be a big plot point in the next one now please.

What is Adam's plan with the money though? Like what is he planning to do with it?

"Dann leg das Gartenwerkzeug weg du Vogel" it's the pause before Vogel that makes this truly hilarious

Alina's attitude and look constantly remind me of the kid in Systemsprenger

"Wir stecken da jetzt auch mit drin" ... Foreshadowing?

The hospital scene aka divorce part 2

Adam's face after Leo says "Du weißt ich würde mit dir bis ans Ende der Welt gehen, aber nicht auf diesem Weg." still kills me

"Ich bin da. Ich war immer da." fbrjfjdhsbs

"Adam Schürk, der Mittelpunkt der Welt." - "Deiner Welt vielleicht." Enter Leo's teary eyed look killing me. And the yes nod. Pleeaassee...

"Leo, pass auf dich auf. Wenn ihr ein Paar wärt, dann würde man sagen ihr habt ne toxische Beziehung." Love Leo's reaction to this

Why did you keep the knife?

The cliffhanger aka divorce part 3

The guilty look on Adam's face. He knows he fucked up, he knows and he didn't wanna. Please I can't.

THE END

I have to rewatch all the episodes close to each other (it's been a year/over a year), but I right now I'd say this is my fave out of the four, just because of the amount of insane stuff (and I don't mean in the sense like we had in hds, with the whole frosh and stick thingy) and the amount of Adam/Leo scenes we got.

[carmenized-onions]

Just wanted to hop in and wish you a happy birthday!! Also wanted to praise you and your writing. Literally everything is perfect from the flow, to the composition, the characterizations, and of course the masterful weaving of the reader insert into the lives at the beef and the bear. Honestly I even love the visual font style that you write in! I'm absolutely not shocked that you write professionally and wish they had you in the writers room at The Bear. You're absolutely phenomenal! I also wanted to ask what, if any, are your favorite episodes from the show? I love any episode with a Mikey flashback because as an oldest child with trauma and younger siblings I'd do anything for; he's kind of my thing. Anyway thanks for writing and looking forward to more!! You're so lovely. ❤️

THANK YOU LOVE !!

This means the world, I gotta print this and tape it to my inner eyelids. I am a very detail oriented bitch so it really does mean a lot to hear that like yes the characterization and story is good but ALSO the visuals/the composition is good— That makes me so so happy. Like the little intro headers, the chapter image, the fuckin’ scene ombre dividers (day for Chip, night for Carm)-- The quotation marks being in times new roman was honestly not something I did on purpose because I just copy and paste from word because I hate writing in tumblr drafts— However once I noticed it made a difference, I could never go back.

GIRRLLLL GET ME IN THAT WRITERS ROOM WHO DO WE HAVE TO CALLLL�� But really, who’s got a film job for me I’ve been slogging at this admin job and it’s fine but I would like. To be. In the career i was meant to be in. (recently joined the union though so hopefully the iron strikes soon man hhhhhh). AND WOAH A QUESTION!! What ARE my favourite episodes…

I’d say anything with Mikey 100% weirdly as a baby child with a lot of trauma? I find a lot of comfort in that guy man. He’s absolutely also my thing. But lemme pull up the fuckin directory we’ll go season by season. 

OH such a lowkey episode but S1EP04 Dogs will always have a special place in my heart. So will the pilot episode honestly, I love love love dropping into the story half way through it, it’s a tell tale rule my prof taught me and I can’t believe more shows don’t do it nowadays. Also Season 1’s finale Braciole will always be that bitch. I also think let me just check… Yeah, it’s this one. With the Cooking Show Intro? That opening genuinely scared the shit out of me because it was exactly like a short film I made. And i was like

Oh is this fucking play about me? What the FUCK?! I DID NOT PUT MY BIRTHDAY IN?

Season 2, gotta be Fishes and Forks. Fishes and Forks y’ALL WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS!!! And again, the finale FUCK bro. Freezer fight had me GOING. Literally the reason why i made the series. I’m gone. 

Season 3,,,,, Little uh…. Little less of my favorites here, I’ll be honest. But Napkins and Ice Chips were absolutely my favourites. The finale was a little messy to me, as was the opening episode (I just think in general they’ve always had a kind of very inaccurate timeline going, and so it was very hard to follow some points but like good? Like it’s grown on me? I just felt like I was on crack for the first 10 minutes). 

And this has been your onion review of da bear. Thank you so much for your thoughts I hope you like the next chap too !!!

[hyrule-kingdom-updates]

Cozy wooden chairs are currently bare of customers during this time of day—when afternoon soon crumples into dusk. 

Hello. The person typing these words is called Quill. Please allow me to indulge in the sin of pride for a moment. Above is my favourite line from last night’s chapter of HKU. I would like to quickly analysis/demonstrate why for two reasons. 1) It would relate to weekly assignments for my writing class in which my professor does not know that my submissions of self reflection are actually just renamed works of disgusting, childish, fanfiction about Zelda characters, for I am also a sinner in sloth. 2) I want to.

The following analysis has a pretentious rating of 16.8:

My current venture in Ao3 has one goal: to experiment and write with voice. Perspective. Narration. I have a bit of an obsession with unreliable narrators, irresponsible personalities. Put simply: I love lying.

I’ve sort of grown accustomed to my experiment with the blog--html, colors, asks, tags, codes. I can’t say I’m satisfied, but I can say I’m happy. I did it because I was bored of Ao3, but now time passed and the pattern switches.

Of course, I am still going to continue the original tumblr blog style updates as we are so very close to my favourite part of the story, and if I had to wait another 2 years to get the Ao3 chapters up to speed before I can share the ending, I might frankly kill myself. That Masterlist takes a good 30 seconds to load for me on my Lenovo Legion 5 Nvidia Geforce RTX 32gb AMD Ryzen 5000 series 7 and iphone 5. I shiver at the thought of doing all the work again, and then twice over.

Anyhow: Voice. It’s the constant, the bread and butter of HKU. Long have I dabbled between the realms of writing with intricate, sentimental description, and writing like a loser pissboy. Even now, the certain voice that I concoct for “Quill,” is not how I talk in real life. Of course this choice of style is forced in order to attempt to exude an aura of mystery and intelligence, but it’s not something I truly say “on da casual.” In fact, I’d say this voice of Quill is how I normally think. In real life I talk something more similar to Asivus Hartell. I look at the world of Breath of the Wild, and think to myself how it is a world of splendor and grief, a testament to the act of creation and growth despite life’s repeated tragedies, despite life’s repeated deaths. I think it is a masterpiece that sits in a corner of my soul forever. Outloud, I say: noice. And now you know why I am forever stuck in insatiable madness.

Therefore, I not only write and read sentences in my head, but I like to say them outloud, as is the case for:

Cozy wooden chairs are currently bare of customers during this time of day—when afternoon soon crumples into dusk.

It is very important to me that a sentence feels nice to say. In middle school, I was bored by Shakespeare, but now I understand his obsession with rhythm, syllables, and meter. Don’t you think this is a nice/noice sentence? Perhaps it seems a bit forced at times, particularly in the middle of it, but I like the slight disruption it gives.

There is a heartbeat present in the natural emphasis of the words: CO-zy, WOOD-en, CHAIRS-are. I try to highlight it further with the alliteration: cozy, chairs, currently, customers.

The meter is not perfect, “currently” shakes up the rhythm by an odd number of syllables so it forces a sort hiccup or inverse in the pattern. And “during this time of day” loses the alliteration of “c” that I’ve set up, trailing off the momentum. The reason? I just like the way it sounds, I like the way it transitions.

When AFT-er-NOON soon CRUM-ples IN-to DUSK. A perfect iambic pentameter. My bestie. My beloved, even. It’s a description that I like, even without the meter, but is further enjoyable(at least in my opinion) when juxtaposed with the different weird meter/alliteration in the chairs part of the sentence. It’s two different types of word-feel(there’s probably a word for that) that merge together through the shared interest in the time of day.

It’s also a sentence that I think has decent voice. It’s not something Siv would say, or Zelda or Link. It’s very flowery, passionate or pretentious depending on who you ask, perfect for something like Arcadius or ???(depending on who you ask). I never care about meter when writing for Siv, I pretty much just talk out loud about the topic ‘til it sounds good and then I write it down and edit.

This? I write out the single, favourite sentence first, and then I make a scene as an excuse to use it.

As thank you for reading this, here is another of said “excuse sentences” as I’ll call them. I am finishing up editing its accompanied scene in an update coming sooner than you think.

And they had a long, constructive dialogue much like that between a jellyfish and a ghost—bereft in true transparency.

[tsuki-sennin]

New form~! ...or I guess, to be more accurate (in my opinion at least), the rest of the new form~!

(Fucking Tumblr deleted my post just as I was making it, smh)

Anyways, Spoilers, I guess~!

-Geatsing Time

-Oh no, I sure hope Ace doesn't die before the opening credits!

-Keiwa and Neon with the save!

-Run, boy!

-He's awake!

-"Whoa man, you look terrible. Do you get injuries in the future too?"

-Deathless behavior.

-I find it very interesting how they flipflop between "era" and "world" when talking about the differences between Ziin and Ace.

-Learning the fear of human loss, huh buddy?

-Oh fuck, Nobunaga. ...are we talking Core Medals, a little bitch, a Parka Ghost, or Akira Date?

-...I don't wanna imagine him in the DGP, that's an implication I don't wanna imagine.

-Iulius Caesar.

-I have to say, the actor they got to play "A" certainly looks the part of a young Mediterranean lad from that era.

-It's definitely a Lord of Dark Odio-type situation.

-Oh fuck, Kekera.

-And Keiwa too, he's here!

-Keeps getting that coin.

-...certainly a lot to take in.

-"I die. I come back. It happens."

-We know of five major incarnations of "A". The (presumed) original, Garfield, Yakumo, Li, and of course our boy Ukiyo.

-Certainly five lives aren't enough for two thousand years, so that leaves us with far more questions than we've had before. How many wars has he fought in that weren't DGP related? How many languages has he spoken, how many spouses or kids did he have? How many friends or favorite foods or books has he read? Did he ever cross paths with non-DGP Riders before the movie? Or hell, how many times has Ace lived as woman or even an animal?

-Certainly five lives aren't enough for two thousand years, so that leaves us with far more questions than we've had before. How many wars has he fought in that weren't DGP related? How many languages has he spoken, how many spouses or kids did he have? How many friends or favorite foods or books has he read? What kind of day jobs did he have? Hell, how many times has Ace lived as woman or even eschew gender altogether? Did he ever cross paths with non-DGP Riders before the movie?

-All we can do is speculate.

-Ohhhhh, Ziin...

-I'm gonna be honest, I'm really enjoying Suzuki-san's performance, it's quite compelling.

-They say "Never meet your heroes", but...

-Oh boy, here comes the bad guys.

-Hey, Niram. Y'know that Driver of yours lets you fight too, right? I mean, Beroba's far more competent than Chirami could ever dream of being, but she's a teenage girl and you're a grown-ass man and obviously far more experienced in fighting than she is. You could very easily put her in gay baby jail if you show a little initiative.

-Shaddup Neon, he's finally doing something!

-Oh man, this is great.

-I'm being spoiled with these untransformed fights.

-"He doesn't need protecting, does he?" THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING

-Going for the jackpot, huh Neon?

-"Come, Geats!"

-I have to wonder how much of Yakumo Eisu is in there.

-Oooooh, Gigant Time! Been a while.

-Hammer Time?

-Time to dance, Commander.

-Oh, speaking of gay baby jail.

-Boost Mark Two!

-Y'know, I'm starting to think Niram got sick of me complaining and is legally shutting me up.

-Anyways, WOOOO NEON, YOU GO GIRL

-Irritating man! That's Ace for ya!

-Save your oshi, Ziin-kun!

-Oooooh!

-He's awake now!

-Ooooooh, that's a nice standby loop.

-"Move over here, please."

-Dual On!

-Hyper Link!

-Oooooooooh, that's saucy!

-Laser Boost! Ready, Fight!

-Yeah, that's a good one.

-"You like my colors?"

-Jet Lagged!

-Saa... koko kara Highlight da! :)

-350 YEARS WHAT

-Oooooh, those're some spicy effects.

-Oh, okay, he's just

-Psychic now.

-Boost Time!

-Ooooooh, theme's playing, it's real now!

-Second half too~!

-Man, this is so chaotic, I love it.

-Finish Mode!

-Laser Boost Victory!

-She is down.

-See you later, Granny Gotham.

-I see Buffa doesn't appreciate his fans very much.

-"This Driver is mine now."

-All's Well That Ends Well?

-Ooooh!

-Awww, Ziin :)

-"You're my Number 1 Fan, lad."

-"Hmmmm... You lied to us, stole my power, and have the nerve to run your mouth off at me? How adorable."

-...he knows he needs the fingerprint authentication, right?

-"Bleeeeh. Hmph."

-I think Goddess Lady's a bit displeased with you, Michinaga.

-Right, next episode.

-NEON BIRTHDAY.

-Oh no, they're ruining her birthday. That's an unforgivable crime.

-"Surprise Bull-fighting Game", well it was nice knowing you Michinaga.

[crowcussion]

1 : dr flug, zim, cuphead, tom or matt, asterik, david rose, bill cipher, bendy, flippy, patton sanders, dedf1sh and paruko, venom, ink!sans, six, little buddy

2 : uhhhh lighters cuz you can put pretty patterns on them, prettyyyy

3 : no creepos all around me (this isn’t paranoia there’s literally a methhead in my town)

4 : siren head, night crawlers (aww theyre so cute), the pig man (does he count?), mothman, probably more im forgetting

5 : light blue (you can see them in my chaotic photos)

6 : in my defense, the wormies told me to

7 : SCRUNCHIES ARE SO PRETTYYY

8 : 69 million under the vacuum that is my bed

9 : hot coffee, but not boiling hot, just not cold, unless it’s iced

10 : without thinking twice (unless your my friend, your safe)

11 : drawing, that’s basically all i do

12 : what a day, nothing

13 : 20 minutes ago i’d say

14 : YES

15 : to 2 cute dogs and a hissing cockroach

16 : totally /j

17 : farsighted, blessed

18 : shampoo, what do you want from me

19 : it’ll look like a 5 year old did it but sure

20 : soda

21 : my thirst for blood

22 : i’m not even a person, im 488384929 tapeworms in a gir hoodie

23 : LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT

24 : making fun of ground dwellers

25 : live laugh lotion

26 : all my favorite fictional characters in a room arguing over what the best snack is

27 : not enough

28 : a lot cuz germs icky

29 : so hot my skin peels, then i scratch it off and eat it, dead skin tastes better

30 : so. many.

31 : fifty different genres

32 : the fluffy black one

33 : to the doctor and she made me have a panic attack AGAIN (like bro what about my trauma do you not understand)

34 : i’m blue da ba dee da ba die

35 : EST which stands for eating sucky toddlers

36 : not once, i always have been crowcussion, i will always be crowcussion

37 : my friend ghost, GHOST YOUR SO COOL YOU DONT HAVE TUMBLR BUT I APPRECIATE YOU SM <333

38 : lavender or lemon

39 : too much

40 : my entire diet is snacks /srs

41 : 1% coffee 99% milk

42 : youtube cuz i gotta get that ✨drama✨

43 : pretty good

44 : someone who goes to school with me (i remember what you did 11 years ago, i never forget something like that)

45 : nope

46 : die hard

47 : “TRUE” (eat poop no context >:D)

48 : when i chugged a beer when i was like 5 because it had an orange on it (before you call cps, i pushed my high chair forward to grab it, took a huge gulp, then ate the orange and was very satisfied, nobody intended that to happen)

49 : sometimes

50 : ALWAYS IT MAKES ME SO HAPPYY

here’s weirder asks

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

lighter or matches?

do you leave the window open at night?

which cryptyd being do you believe in?

what color are your eyes?

why did you do that?

hair-ties or scrunchies?

how many water bottles are in your room right now?

which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

would you slaughter the rich?

favorite extracurricular activity?

what kind of day is it?

when was the last time you ate?

do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

are you a parent? (all answers qualify)

can you drive?

are you farsighted or nearsighted?

what hair products do you use?

imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails?

do you say soda or pop?

something you’ve kept since childhood?

what type of person are you?

how do you feel about chilly weather?

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

perfume/body spray or lotion?

a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times?

about how many hours of sleep did you get?

do you wear a mask?

how do you like your shower water?

is there dishes in your room?

what type of music keeps you grounded?

do you have a favorite towel?

the last adventure you’ve been on?

is there a song you know every word to by heart?

what’s your timezone?

how many times have you changed your url?

someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years?

a soap bar that smells good?

do you use lip balm?

did you have any snacks today?

how do you take your coffee?

an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site?

what’s your take on spicy foods?

you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

can you remember what happened yesterday?

favorite holiday film?

what was the last message you sent?

when did you first try an alcohol beverage?

can you skip rocks?

can i tag you in random stuff?

[roseprincessarts]

FF7 Fanfic Announcement!

Hello all of my rose petals, and the Final Fantasy fans!

I have come to say that I since I've been into Final Fantasy, I have an announcement to make! I tried so hard to get this announcement posted, but hadn't gotten the time to do that due to other stuff going on, school and all that ^^;

I've been into Final Fantasy a whole lot since two years ago ^^. Especially Final Fantasy VII most of the time :). Hence writing my 9 fanfic, I am also planning on a FFVII fanfic that I might enjoy writing and the hoping that the FFVII fans can enjoy ^^. I've been getting into FFVII a whole lot since, hence FFIX was my first Final Fantasy game ^^. And I didn't know the seventh Final Fantasy was big, or in fact, HUGE :). Here are what my plans are ^^

The Final Fantasy VII fanfic I am most plan to make is to be taking place before the events (possibly) of Crisis Core, which the game I may plan to get for Christmas, while having the time to play Ever Crisis I installed, basically the First Soldier, and could get started writing (?). But I may have to plan how the fanfic would basically go first before the main plot and getting started on writing the chapters, because Final Fantasy VII is a huge thing, but I may not be able to have the confidence into writing something like this. But however, reading and definitions, different meanings could help make my writing more interesting. And as if you didn't know, I am a simp for Sephiroth, so there could be some romantic moments that involves my OC, which I'll be designing her in the FFVII universe soon, maybe as soon as other OCs as well in the story ^^. Crisis Core Reunion is the one I need to get for Christmas (which I would really like to be looking forward to play ^^). I mean, Crisis Core in Ever Crisis could count and that I can get started on writing chapters (?), I mean, we'll see what happens after planning ^^. I am thinking about writing pre FFVII CC story, possibly during First Soldier (Ever Crisis) events and leave them there until the future after the fanfic completion to actually give me an idea how the main plot really goes ^^. So the fanfic will be written somewhat after the pre stories (that are to be leaving in my notes there to be displayed after I completed the fanfic). Before Crisis would be hard for me to get, but I could watch gameplays of it if possible when I get to that, so I would have to worry about it ^^; (sometimes my brain doesn't function right lol)

I would write the sequel in the future, as though playing the classic FFVII and watched Advent Children, since I would like the sequel to be after these events. Though I like to play FFVIIRI on Steam, though I might think about that, but it'll give me some time to complete the classic, but I don't really think it matters. The only problem is that I can't play FFVII Rebirth because it's on the PS5 and I don't have that platform, only my brother does, which is a bummer. And I really don't want to ask for it, although I have the borrowed PS4, although I might plan to get Intergrade for Steam. So I might watch gameplays of Rebirth and be sad about it (not really lol), but there might be a port for the PC like they did to Intergrade, but it's too early to think about it and will not be bringing hopes up about it, at least not yet lol, so my bad ^^. Anyways, don't think it matters to play them if I would be writing a sequel, and might watch gameplays of Dirge of Cerberus ^^

My fanfic will be on Wattpad, Fanfiction.Net (possibly) and DA, although I am not active on A03 and Quotev anymore, and if I would have it displayed on Tumblr, chapters would be splitted, otherwise I can't :/

Anyways, so I am hoping to have the fanfic ongoing, and I will do my best on my writing skills ^^. And if you want to illustrate the chapters in the future for those who want to illustrate, I'm up for it as long as you give credit ^^ and I'll be drawing some illustrations from the fanfic as well ^^

Hope y'all have a good day!

[frankhightower]

Reminders don’t work

On Sunday, June 4, I will post my last reminder for this commission opening. Quite simply, I’ve run out of ideas for how to organize my “products” logically, and don’t want to just repost the same thing twice because it would feel like spamming. This doesn’t mean I’ll stop taking commissions (I do need the money after all for basic things like groceries) I just won’t be advertising it in this way.

I only sold 1 commission with these reminders and it was when I posted the first one. It is clear that, while the reminders do indeed get the offer in front of more people’s eyes, they don’t get more sales. I saw something similar with the original YCH that spurred the price sheet: after the first week or so, reminders just didn’t do anything.

Was it the algorithm?

Believe it or not, The Algorithm/s has/have been very good with the reminders, averaging 30 views on FA, 519 on DA, and 213 on Twitter (all of them doubling that number for two days… and they were different two days on each platform!) while the original full price sheet got three times as much! I got a total of 20 likes across all platforms and 10 retweets/reblogs (Tumblr doesn’t count views but it does count that!) The numbers are probably similar for platforms that don’t track views.

Did I do it wrong?

With total views in the order of 14,000 (which is astronomical for me!) and likes being one or two thousandths of that (they are normally one or two hundredths), the obvious answer is people literally didn’t like the price sheet. However, the finished Special Passenger YCH exceeded that “normal”, so it’s obviously not the station motif that’s a problem. People just don’t hit “like” on a price sheet as often (yes, I went and looked at other peoples’).

Were the prices too high? This was indirectly tested by the Pokémon offer, which not only is half priced, but half priced with respect to my old prices – in effect, prices are a third of what I’m asking for regular commissions now. Two people asked for Pokémon but it was clear from the beginning it wasn’t going to materialize before the end of the month, when I needed the money.

Did I post at the wrong time? I specifically tried every possible time of day, every possible day of the week, for when to upload the reminders. If there was someone that only logged in, say, Tuesdays at lunch, I got him covered.

Was the price sheet too complicated? That is part of what the reminders tested. Even when reduced to just one or two options, there appeared to be no interest (in buying, that is. Remember they did get likes and retweets and one even got a comment just praising it!)

Was I selling the wrong thing? The only thing the price sheet rules out, really, is headshots, but the purpose of a headshot is to get cheaper art, which I did provide avenues for. I’ve already shown I’m willing to do most “furry specialties”, and I think anyone who has been following me knows it already.

So what did go wrong?

Quite simply, it’s a bad time of year to open commissions. I basically opened on the day of final exams; people simply haven’t been online as much since then. The fact that there’s been not one, not two, but three large conventions since then, doesn’t help: a lot of my would-be customers are also convention-goers, and they will have, of course, spent all their money at the convention!

I also opened right after Mother’s Day (another occasion to spend all your money) and late in the month (people who collect paychecks only at the end of the month will have spent their last one and be waiting on the next one)      

I may also simply not have the followers: while I have 350 on twitter and 211 on FA, 62 on DA, and 21 on tumblr, there is considerable overlap (which, let’s be honest, I encourage). There is probably only 400 followers total among all (haven’t actually counted, but the last time I did, years ago, that was the degree of overlap there was). Marketing theory says that means I can expect an average 4 sales a month. The size drive made 7 sales in one month. If there was only 1 sale in May, the average is maintained.

So what do we do now?

I have often mentioned how I need to do ref sheets for my characters (and failed), and part of the reason is to learn to make refsheets, period.

I’m going to reactivate my “dead” socials (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube) in hopes of reaching people only on those platforms.

I’m going to post the remaining Pokémon. You may have noticed some of the Pokémon sketches in the reminders could not be found anywhere else on Tumblr, that’s because I’d been waiting to make sure they appeared in order.

I need to do more YCHs. I’ve been thinking about this a long time. I have an idea for a pride month YCH I hope to show you soon

I think I need to be clearer about my situation. I’ll be posting more about it from now on.

[zombiebiologist]

oh man assuming this is aimed at me: i didnt realize my stupid tag cloud was kim discourse now ;-; im so sorry!!! this is a very good post and very tasty, and ur right about how kim’s love of the RCM is a coping mechanism. as that one really good post abt kim and moralism said, it seems insane that kim being orphaned by the revolution didn’t radicalize him. but it did. to moralism. to centrism. to avoid revolution and the pain it brings. it comes from a place of pain and PTSD and childhood trauma - to maintain the status quo, because to kim, maintaining that system is better than the danger of something new. it is an understandable position, but its not a morally good or defensible one. to me, at least, it’s the central tragedy of his character, and of the RCM in general.

went on a bit of a ramble below the cut

everything i said assumes a) a fascist harry playthrough (not that the flaws arent visible in other political playthroughs, but its most obvious in that one) and b) a kim who only exists in martinase. him after is anyone's guess, and the realm of textual analysis and fan fiction - which was a lot of what i aimed my ire at. also, the events of martinase CLEARLY had a huge effect on kim - both the near-death experience and the politics at play. a kim at the start of the game would not look at harry’s firey graffiti with approval - but he does. not only is he capable of change, but he actively continues to do so throughout the course of the story! especially with the way he’s essentially chipped away at by harry over time to tolerate his goofy little side investigations. “fuck it, let’s have more cryptids.” you could also interpret that as kim respecting a superior officer, no matter how stupid, because he is a Cop and a Cop Must Support His Ranking Officer, but im gonna say its a little bit of column a and b. it seems unclear how much the double-yefretor actually affects harry’s rank vs kim, but the “pull rank” to make him dance with you in the church seems to point to that, but also that kim will use it to excuse things he wants to do anyway.

ultimately its less a criticism of kim himself and more of the fandom treatment of him. after all, kim isn’t real. he’s a beautiful work of character design, and i want people to engage with all of that. im all for a generous treatment of him and harry - what is fanfic if not wish fulfillment, especially in the context of fix-it fic and happy relationships - but ignoring the political parts of disco elysium aside from “haha funni commies” is missing the point so hard that it swerves directly into copaganda. if ur disco fanwork is just B99 set in the world of elysium...maybe rethink your plot. or dont! im not your mom! i love a fun romp in a fun world! but part of why i personally loved disco so much is specifically how it engages with politics, and its a massive part of the story and characters. ignoring that to make kim a perfect boyfriend is poor understanding of the text at best, and liberal copaganda at worst.

theres also a fair few other good points i missed but are beyond the scope of this tumblr post: how a 1:1 comparison to american police politics is both inaccurate and imperialist (as soviet citizens militias had EXTREMELY different cultural and legal roles compared to american hypermilitarized cops), the choice disco devs made specifically to make kim half-east asian (rooftop koreans, anyone?) and the many other fun ways the game intersects race class and ideology politics, both in regards to kim and not.

anyway stan kim kitsuragi we love interesting complex characters in this house. love thank funky little police officer. also disco elysium is an utterly lovely work of media that deserves a million rambling posts and papers of analysis, even and especially if they disagree with me. its a Good Work Of Art!!! analyze that bitch!!! love u all fuck da world

i’m hesitant to jump into the Kim Discourse but i disagree with statements that boil down his worldview/morality to “kim is a good cop first and foremost, no matter what”

there are so many examples of him doing shit in the game that directly compromises the reputation and aims of the RCM, and not just in a corrupt cop type of way (though there is some of that, obviously)

if kim only cared about being a good cop, why does he go along with harry’s unhinged side missions and whims at pretty much every chance he gets, putting aside the murder investigation? we know that he has “authority off the charts” and could make harry toe the line, but he almost never does. he has a stern affect, but it’s often just for show.

if kim only tolerates/likes harry because he is a detective of the RCM, why does kim clearly get joy from their adventures that have nothing to do with, and even sometimes interfere with, their police work? just because kim says that line to harry about how “an officer of the RCM shouldn’t be on the street” doesn’t mean he necessarily believes, even in the beginning of the game, that harry is only really valuable as a detective of the RCM. he may project that as a value he has adopted, but that doesn’t mean it’s truly how he feels.

kim uses his position in the RCM as a way to distance himself from things that are messy, like politics and emotions. it’s easier for him to say to harry “no RCM detective should be on the street” than “i care about you for some reason i can’t explain and don’t want to see you sleep in the dumpster.” because he’s a pathetic little man who can’t talk about his feelings

i’m not saying that kim isn’t misguided or that his admiration for the RCM isn’t misplaced. because he is, and it is. but making his seemingly unwavering devotion to the RCM the salient aspect of his character at the expense of other things just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

also arguing that kim could never grow or be radicalized is doing him a disservice, imo. knowing harry for a week makes kim confront the rigidity of his thinking about reality itself. is it really so strange that he could have the potential to reflect and reevaluate his worldview? the game didn’t make its characters so complex and human for them to remain rigid and unchanging.

[animefreak1145]

The Brilliance of Break On Through

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Mission Break on Through—An Analysis

I have replayed the campaign of COD:BOCW numerous times—too many times truly. Did a whole playthrough where it was Hardened and soon I’m sure I shall do Veteran(something I have never done for any COD game. Not even Hardened.).

All missions have their own unique qualities—parts where the player gets a little rush of adrenaline depending on the kind of mission and how they choose to play it (Nowhere Left to Run just a plain shooting match while Brick in the Wall you can choose to remain stealthy like the good spy you are or go crazy like an eager homicidal maniac).

Even within the safehouse, there are plenty of little details to discover if you take the time to look around and observe everyone. Or, everything. (The radio if turned to a Russian station/correspondence, Adler changes it back immediately before Da Nang mission. Watching Park’s body language, as you talk to Adler and she periodically looks over to you two. Adler suspicious when you go to the Red Room or the locked room with the arcade. The T.V. being turned on in the Red Room)

But the amount of details, details, in the mission Break on Through is outstanding. I have played this mission more than any other due to me wishing to look at all the details. There’s so many, I think I may miss some. And I can’t show them off all to you cause I suck at creating gifs and don’t know how to transfer that from Xbox to my phone.

To lighten it up a bit, I won’t focus on the four different scenarios you go through—at least not each one. That would take too long and I do not have gifs/pics to show it off since Tumblr limits it to ten anyways.

I will, however, try to guide to what parts of the game you all can explore if you choose to do so. As well just how detailed they did this mission.

I am going to start with the different statements Adler says to you throughout all the Scenarios(17, 6, 11, 1). We only go through four in the actual game—but the fact it goes up to 17 or possibly more shows just how far they went in and messed with Bell’s mind.

Now, Adler seems to be a bit bipolar on how he talks to you whether or not you listen to him and all his directions. Either totally blasé and cold to giving you and pumping you up with more MK or meds, or actually a tad concerned and patient as he guides you through.

If You/Bell Stands Still/Does Nothing:

Example 1

“So you did nothing? What were you, in shock?”

He throws the words callously, mocking. As if Bell isn’t confused and lost at what is going on. He even sounds irritated that you might actually be in shock due to these memories that are just fake—not even real. Not like what he has.

Example 2

“What’s wrong with Bell?” -Adler

“I’m not sure. . .” -Park

“I guess we’ll just wait on you to proceed, Bell.”

The contrast is dizzying. He sounds concerned when he asks Park on what could be wrong with you. If he pushed you too far and now you’re just frozen. And, instead of rushing you due to how the fate of half of Europe is at stake, he decides to give you space. Just wait for you and you’ll come out of it soon enough.

He does these sort of reactions numerous times. Jumping from intimidating to the Adler we knew as the player, as Bell—kind and always in your corner that believes in you. He switches tactics based on what he believes will work really—or he just felt really on edge at times and threw the farce that you two were friends out the window.

Other examples include:

Scenario 11–Napalm Strike-in the lab in the room where you were brainwashed

“Christ, what’s happening with them?”-Adler

“A mild seizure. Sims, past me a benzodiazepine.” -Park

Again, concerned. Worried. Almost…at unease?

In the lab—tripped up on drugs. If you run through the tight shrinking hallway back and forth like so(I suck at making gifs, I’m sorry):

“Why is Bell repeating themselves?”

Or

“Bell, stop speaking in circles.”

Now, as others may have suspected, Bell is talking to everyone as they’re stuck in this horrible loop of mental torture. Most likely muttering, hands clenching and arms pulling against the straps of the gurney, moving their head back and forth depending on what they’re seeing. I always saw Bell as muttering quickly in Russian as they go through all of this—their mother tongue where it may comfort them as they’re panicking and speaking to Adler.

It’s just a nice detail showcasing how exactly Adler knows that Bell is on script—Bell saying what they’re seeing and doing and what’s going on. It shows also just how hard they put Bell through the ringer(badum tss. I’ll leave now).

All the details too when the game shows how the drugs they put in Bell affects you. Like so. The hallways appearing long. The lights looking yellow. You feel so fast—look how quick you can run. Run towards the Red Door that Adler so desperately wants and maybe this can stop. Ah, why is it running away from you? What’s going on?

I don’t know about you, but I was so lost and confused at what was going on my first playthrough. For the majority of this mission, the possibility of me being brainwashed didn’t reach the BACK of my mind till probably I actually saw the flashes of scenes about Vietnam and calling Bell a subject. So like right here.

I personally thought that I had a repressed memory or something due to me going through the Vietnam War. That whatever I saw with Perseus, I—or rather Bell—repressed it from our mind due to how violent or horrible what we saw or experienced was. And that Adler suspected and just really wanted to know about it.

I didn’t expect for the man to actually brainwash my character—us—Bell! The game made Adler your mentor, who always defended you from Hudson and believed in your skills very highly. How he and Bell were basically perfect partners when the two of you were together.

It’s amazing—cause I think that’s what the developers were going for. The absolute trust. The loyalty. The denial that ‘maybe Adler is being a little harsh but hey, this is to help Perseus so it’s okay?’ It’s perfect. Because I’m sure that is what Bell actually felt in real time.

Yet, if you go through the total rebellious choice of not listening to Adler, some thing’s make sense. The Rebellious Side shows you way more than if you just listen to Adler like a Dutiful Soldier.

You go through this room if you choose the rebellious route, the T.V.’s automatically turning on the closer you get. Of Vietnam. And now, all those T.V.‘s that turned on by themselves(the Red Room, Lubyanka, Cuba) make sense. You were actually being brainwashed. Poor Bell probably can’t ever have a turned off/broken T.V. again. The trauma.

Said trauma being shown multiple times too. Not just the T.V.‘s. But the absolute terror that Bell felt, before they became Bell, with Adler.

Like do you see this? This terrified me when I saw it at the end of the hallway. I just saw a red shadow in the distance and I legit thought I was about to be chased. Call of Duty became a horror game(I also went through the door to the ground too my first playthrough, so before this I went through zombies and I think my heart was going to jump out my chest) I thought. I didn’t want to get closer. I had to, with each step I see that it’s not a shadow but a body. And than I see the familiar jacket, the sound of whirring in my ears and see it’s Adler’s head being twisted back and forth, side to side, up and down, in a speed that in inhumanely possible.

Makes one wonder if Bell themselves sees Adler as inhumane. Not human. Adler seeming to just be a god in their head. All the Adler shaped rocks/boulders you go through and see. Even one point the V.C. becoming Adler and you killing him over and over and dead bodies of Adler being everywhere.

The man has entered Bell’s head and won’t leave. Just like Adler won’t leave Bell alone.

Heck, there’s one point in my playthroughs of this mission I was by the bridge yet there were parts of the lab by it. I jumped towards it, noticing down below there were different floors of the lab that eventually reach the ground. I jumped to reach the next floor and missed and I died.

And Adler mocked Bell committing suicide.

That was the kicker really that Adler truly is indifferent towards Bell. Like complete disregard. I know it’s fake. We know it’s fake. Adler knows it’s fake—but to Bell, it felt real. That’s the crazy part. All of this—this whole sequence feels real to Bell so each time they die they actually feel it. It’s insane. It’s cruel.

But we all know that Adler isn’t known for his kindness. Still like his character though, he’s layered.

I don’t have the exact quote he said, didn’t wrote it down like the others. I was shook he said it at all.

Moving on to the final details I’m going to talk about.

When you go through the room, I believe this comes out for both rebellious and dutiful, really depends. You see it filled with post it notes, articles, plans, and newspapers. And you see once more just how Bell has been scarred.

I don’t know Russian or German, but I imagine the notes are similar to what the English one’s say. If I’m wrong, please point it out.

There’s also post it notes which I believe is in code as well due to all the numbers—I’m not sure what those could mean since I am no decoding expert.

Poor poor Bell. And with all these pictures and plans—of Adler included—it begs the question that Bell may have been warned about the famous America’s Monster beforehand. Had to have—since Adler is basically Perseus’s adversary due to how stubborn the American man could be. It just adds more to the story, despite Cold War having quite a short campaign, they made it up somewhat with all these details everywhere.

When you finally and actually reach the room.

As you grow closer to the table, to your chair in the conference room while everyone else seems to have their own spots, there’s something I noticed.

There’s glasses. As well as a hat. And it’s Bell’s. Or at least, it used to be. Why else is it on their side of the table? By their chair? I believe it might be reading glasses due to all the decryptions Bell does, whether on paper or through a computer, it’s hard on the eyes. (I’m sure I’m not the only one who noticed this. For look at @second-vtoroy ‘s Bell)

I believe through the brainwashing, Bell might not need glasses anymore. After all, apparently they were a smoker like Adler before too but they took that out of you. What else they changed of Bell? It makes one wonder how far they truly went into molding a person.

Which just adds onto how mind boggling this mission is—this game is. This is my favorite COD game, despite how short it is. The details and choices and interactions with everyone and able to create your own character(albeit it’s very standard and not specific but it’s good enough for me) is AMAZING. I’ve always been a sucker for RPG’s and able to get that even a little in a COD game? Truly wonderful.

I couldn’t touch on everything because it would’ve gotten long, but the fun of the Break on Through mission never gets old. It’s genius multiple ways you can do it. All the details. The feelings you feel as a player as you go through it.

They truly did a unique job with this and I hope they continue with this type of game storytelling. Hopefully longer as well.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this rant basically!

Gifs made by me and used the video down below to help.

https://youtu.be/t6QkmkGGHSQ

[morning-glory215]

a small Discussion

(Please assume that I am referring to characters throughout this post - as a blanket statement here)

I’ve (+ many of my discord friends, hello Home Home) noticed something. Tumblr isn’t safe from Dream apologism; it’s got a different brand from Twitter, and it takes the form of my high school English essays. Y’know the ones, where you need two thousand words and you’re only at 500. So you crack open the good ol’ thesaurus and throw out any narrative discussion, in lieu of bullshitting your way through it.

Add in some condescending fuckery and ta-da! Your run-of-the-mill Dream apologist Tumblr/Twitter take. 

Joking aside, there’s this idea I’ve seen arching across nearly every Dream apologist post; that he had/has little to no control from around the Revolution, up to now. That he was the puppet being controlled (by who? Wilbur? Tommy?) and that he never meant anything he did! He was being forced into it! Dream, to many, was a hapless victim being pulled along by the whims of his servermates. He isn’t a villain (he is), he isn’t a tyrant (he sure wanted to be!) and his hand was forced to punish L’Manburg/Tommy/Tubbo/whoever-the-’villain’-of-the-week-is (it was never forced). 

This all just so… reductive of his character?

Dream is, narratively (and yes, the SMP has a narrative that is driven by conflict) the villain. He is the overarching force the protagonists fight/fought against. Actions made by Dream, of his own volition, drive the plot along - even without him present his actions are felt. In the most literal sense, Dream is the villain. He tried to become a tyrant through using attachments against people.

How quickly one forgets, willingly or not willingly, the Hall of Attachments (evil) in his Stereotypical Evil Villain Lair (evil).

Depriving the villain of nuance, that he had full control of his actions, by claiming his critics/antis deprive him of nuance by assigning him a narrative role is counterintuitive. Dream apologists claim they’re winning his nuance back, while in the same breath taking it away. Dream is interesting because he’s so sinister and evil and fucked up; what makes him so interesting is because he’s so calculating. I roleplay Dream pretty regularly, and I hate him because he’s so slimy. Don’t take it away by framing him as the victim, when he made it pretty clear (before the Prison, because I think he’s trying to garner sympathy) that he was Top Dog. He was the predator, everyone else was his prey.

He has always seen himself as the apex predator. Everyone else is his little game.

So let’s move onto my OTHER gripe with Dream apologists. They often have to put every character under the sun against him, in apparent attempts to highlight how victimized he is. Everyone is against him and that must mean he is being targeted for no reason. This post won’t even touch upon Tommy’s Exile with Dream much, but I think that whole plotline could eviscerate that point on the spot. Most Dream apologists like to employ what I call Higher Level Headcanons (coined by me, please pay me royalties if used! /j); they take the in-betweens of canon, extrapolate to such a degree it isn’t canon, and then call it canon. They take moments of “weakness” Dream has shown, often to win sympathy and make his victims try to placate him, and use that to show that other characters have wounded him to such degrees he’s just forced to hurt them.

Tommy gets this treatment the most (and arguably, George and Sap too) but who’s next? 

Wilbur.

Dream apologists love to mix these two up. Wilbur is the manipulative villain, and Dream is the one backed into corners. Who was it that took a look at an obviously erratic exiled man and decided to arm him? Was it Wilbur? No, it was Dream; Dream has always hated L’Manburg, Dream has never liked them because they growled at his bite during the Revolution. Who has always held the physical upperground, who punched when he was called names? If there was a weakness to exploit, Dream dug his grimy fingers in and pulled. Wilbur is, and I say this lovingly, a coward. 

When he was backed into a corner, Wilbur often floundered. He doesn’t like violence and only resorted to it in his darkest moments. Wilbur did, and does, the things he did because he felt caged and cornered and his entire world was crumbling before him. He says fucked up shit now because he has nothing to lose but Tommy now. Wilbur is a scared, lonely and broken soul. He's a modern tragedy in the way that he had little control over his fate.

Dream is a Classical tragedy in the sense that he set himself fully up for failure. He saw the warning signs, he knew the full scope of his actions and cursed the Gods anyways. This isn’t to say you’re a bad person for seeing yourself in some of his actions or that him being a villain demonizes you for liking him. How often do we see people upholding other traditional villains in media? 

Overall, this post is less telling Dream apologists they’re terrible people and more so about picking apart some iffy shit I’ve been seeing floating around in that community. Thank you for reading!