#it IS tough to go thru but it's also interesting

[helianthus21]

let's gooooo

every new thing i learn about armand makes me more obsessed with him

[jadeazora]

Champion's tierlist. Mostly ranking on initial battle, memorability, and personality. Lance and Geeta have better rematch teams, but you have to pay $30 for Geeta's (I personally enjoyed SV, but the games do have a mixed reputation since they were fairly glitchy, so not everyone was willing to do that), and grinding in HGSS was still kinda a pain, so I only ever bothered doing Lance's rematch once.

Trace, honestly, is memorable only for the Cubone, but has a rather lackluster team that doesn't even have full movesets and is just another friendly rival. He's very bland, especially considering that he's replacing the iconic OG final rival battle for that game.

Geeta's team is AWFUL. Using a trapper last? Using a Kingambit not last? Veluza, Gogoat, and Avalugg? Girl, why do I have to pay THIRTY DOLLARS for you to use your Pokemon correctly? What are you doing?

Diantha has zero story presence, but her team is pretty cool. Tyrantrum, Goodra, and Mega Gardevoir are all pretty solid Pokemon. She's not a hard battle, but in Gen6 they hadn't balanced the EXP Share yet, so it's easy to be overleveled if you use it.

Wallace, Steven (particularly in ORAS), and Iris are all better type specialists than Lance. Steven has two Sturdy Pokemon including one with Toxic, Wallace has Milotic (a Specially bulky Pokemon in a Gen where the moves strong against it are special) and Ludicolo (it probably won't kill you, but Double Team is annoying, and Flying and Poison weren't common attacking types back then. Fly is also inaccurate, and it's pretty much the best move you likely had access to. Unless you went for Dodrio as your Flying type and had Drill Peck, but it's a very late option when your team was probably set), and Iris at least demands a Fighting type in addition to the Ice/Dragon coverage. All Lance needs is Feraligatr with Ice Punch/Ice Fang, and Ampharos with any Electric moves for Gyarados.

Leon is a better battle than Alder, but how the game handles him just ticked me off. Like, it's good having a proactive Champ, that's why I like Alder, but I hate how the game uses him to sideline you until it literally can't anymore. SwSh was a boring game for me, and when anything interesting would happen, he was literally there to just shoo me off into doing my Gym Challenge. It feels like it goes against the "it doesn't matter if you're a kid or adult, anyone can be good at battling!" mantra of Pokemon, and having him be the face of that just made me kinda resent him. The player still feels relevant with Alder.

N, Kieran, and Nemona are some of the best rivals/Champs in the series. I like the story aspects to N and Nemona's fights more than finding them tough, but N had such a cool role in the story, and Nemona's love of battle and enthusiasm makes her a really fun character. Kieran basically has the best of both worlds in a tough battle since they use actual strategies in the DLC, and he's one of the most interesting rivals we've had for a story perspective.

Cynthia has the most aura of the Champions, and, especially with BDSP, has the toughest non-DLC added battle of them. Her roster also has very hard to get Pokemon like Milotic and Spiritomb. The physical/special split made Milotic easier to deal with, but back in Gen4, Spiritomb had no weaknesses and could usually live at least one hit. Garchomp is always strong, but in BDSP, has a Yache Berry and hits like a truck due to being properly EV'd. In Platinum, she's also pretty proactive, going thru the Distortion World with the player.

[son1c]

sonic not knowing how to ice skate when he first gets to snowpoint and not really being interested either cuz frozen lakes are orders of magnitude worse than regular lakes irt drowning in them. but then jack mocks him for it like, you can't even skate? and you think you're better than ME??? as if! and sonic is like oh, ok. it's on.

and the people of snowpoint teach him how to skate and he's a fast learner so it doesn't take too long... but he wipes out a lot, mostly cuz he just wants to keep going faster and faster, but ice is, well, slippery! and jack is keeping a tally of the amt of times he's wiped out like man, slow down! you're making it hard to keep count! LMAO

but she'd also be the first person to jump in after him if he managed to cut a hole thru the ice with his reckless speed... cuz it's not like anyone else is tough enough to save his sorry butt!

[johnslittlespoon]

ok 1. these are my tough and sweet drafting docs, i have never been this insane about outlines in my life this is what getting on adhd meds does to a man. someone sedate me (i have also Never drafted out a fic until i started writing for this fandom jfc) (also sry i forgot to mute spotify b4 making the vid and i cbf to reexport)

and 2. i think i've mapped out the whole storyline for TAS gahhh my heart already hurts. i'm pretty set on an ending and it's gonna rip my heart out to write (in the best way) but leaves space for a long epilogue (or possibly even a second fic lol we'll see if my interest holds, i either fixate for a few weeks on an idea or i'm locked in for a year). as of now the fic will be set from july 2005 to june 2006 + the epilogue aughghgh but i gen have sm more i could write if i were to do a time skip and write a second fic, i just have so many other aus i wanna write if i can prove to myself i can commit to chaptered fics like this so :')

all the major events are plotted, most gaps in between are filled with the scenes i've been brainstorming in my docs, but i'm sure i'll come up with plenty more as i go knowing how i operate rip lol. esp going thru asks, i still have so many to get back to regarding tas i'm sorryyy!! honestly sometimes i read them and have to go straight to my doc to plot and then i forget to respond to the actual ask lol y'all are cooking <3

this fic is gonna be sooo long, def longer than yadiym. i'm thinking minimum 12 chapters if i end up sticking to this stupid long wordcount per chapter but the story/plot keeps expanding as i write so i'm probably gonna eat my words and idm as long as i can keep myself fixated/inspired lol :')

also don't mind me i'm just yapping to myself atp bc it helps me to post my progress somewhere other than in my notes app so i can refer back easier and also bc it makes me hold myself accountable if i speak it into the universe lmaoo i'm peer pressuring myself xoxo

[raphaellight]

One scene to break us all

I grew up on Star Wars. I'm more of a new era fan, with prequels being always a part of it. Also, as a kid I was watching Clone Wars series on television. It definitelly made both my idea of the world and humor more dark than psychologist would consider healthy, although I have my own opinion on refusal to expose children to tough themes in media, but thats not what I want to write about. I want to write about a scene that I can't really recall having much interested in when I watched it as a kid yet now, I can watch it over and over with tears crumbling every time I see it.

Why didn't it affect me? Affect us? Why was it that in the past it felt like an exposition? We can account it to my small brain not really comprehending what's going on, waiting for a cool duel between Anaking and Obi-Wan among the fires of hellish landscapes. But I think there can be a deeper cause. One that was explained in quote accounted to Joseph Stalin. "One death is tragedy, thousand is a statistic"

Execution of Order 66, without any Star Wars uniwerse background, is about the scale of events that happens in the movie. I heard that scenes used in that sequence were primarly planned to be at the begining of the movie to showcase scale of Clone Wars, notify a viewer about how all of galaxy is raging in fights between clones and droids. They scrapped that idea and used it to showcase the scale of Palpatine's victory over Jedi: all around the galaxy, with one sentence, Sith Lord wiped out hole Jedi Order we came to know thruout the prequel trilogy. That's what I mean by exposition. It's shocking and terrifing on it's own, but ultimatly, those were just the events. Emotional weight was put in the Jedi temple.

So what changed? Why is it now that I watch order 66 I can't help but shed at least one tear?

As I said, I was watching Clone Wars on television. But it was occasional, when I have the time and hit the right channel at the right time type of watching back then. Then I watched it preety much from beggining to an end when I was a bit older, but it still didn't feel that close to home, as it was way back when it was still ending on Yoda and his little journey. Even then tho it already altered my perception of the movies.

Then came the time, the year 2020, everyone will remember as the year pandemic hit. But fans will know it was also a year of the finale release, Clone Wars season 7, featuring phew side plot-lines, Echo, Bad Batch, martez sisters and Darth Maul. But most importantly, it finally got to that point. It finally allowed us to hear "Execute order 66" in the show. And as it did, it did justice to what Order 66 represents. The end of an Era.

By connecting the Clone Wars show, by putting it right into the events of ROTS, it symbolically made all of that happen thru out the show part of the Prequel Trilogy for good.

Now we don't see sexy, blue alien chick getting blasted in the back. We see Ayla Secura, kind yet tough master that helped carrying Anakin after he took explosion onto his chest, getting shot multiple times by Commander Bly.

We don't see weird looking brown Jedi getting shot down by clone pilots on some airy planet, we see Master Plo Koon, the one that brought Ahsoka to Jedi Temple, dying before he could blink.

We don't see a long headed man, concerned about wookies in previous scene, confused at clones. We see Ki Adi Mundi, man that almost died in the second invasion on Geonosis and bickered around with Anakin and Ahsoka, terrified of the sight and feeling that his clones are out here to kill him.

Thousand deaths is a statistic. It's the exposition of scale. It's how the history is written in the book. The war took thousand of innocent lives. That is important on it's own. But you won't cry over it. You will cry over a death of the ones you cared about. Over the ones you got to know.

At the beggining, when I said about watching Order 66 scene, I lied a bit. I ment watching the extended edit, fan made, connecting all the scenes happening in the universe that were ever made for screen. I'm still waiting for any cinema to release the Revenge of the Sith movie that starts from that episode in season 7 Clone Wars, then follows both story lines of Anakin and Ahsoka together and when it gets to Order 66, it puts all the scenes possible, even cut scenes from Jedi Fallen Order, as it too crushed my heart, when I realised what's going on when Kal high fived a clone on his way.

Order 66 started as a statistic about thousand deaths. Years have passed however, allowing us to witness characters truly involved in it to the point where the scene, being not far from two decades old now, is more heartbreaking than ever before.

Follow for more star wars content and may the force be with you

[breakbeatbun]

hi!! i was watching the BalloonSMP vods and first off, i love your avatar in minecraft, esp the ear twitches, its very cute. second, how did you get the water to look like that??? i've only fucked around with mods so idk anything about shaders or resource packs, is it one of those? if so, is it one you downloaded or made?

also thank you for the vods bc i never knew about the little frog mod and now i have it in my game and im never deleting it, i love them, they're so cute

have a good day/afternoon/night!!!

thank you! that model evolved a bit over the course of the SMP (you'll see if you can keep up w/ it all of course haha) and i'm STILL adding and changing and cleaning things, but i'm pretty happy with where it's at! everyone seemed to be real impressed with the live expressions i was doing and it felt nice to add that to our interactions ... (customizable player models mod if you're interested!)

second: yup, shaders! depending what modloader you're using you can grab either Oculus (forge) or Iris (fabric) and then browse for some popular shaders on modrinth! i'm assuming you're still early in my vods, at which point i was definitely still using Complementary Unbound. they most notably added the warm lighting, the clouds, the clear/wavy/reflective water, and some hand sway! unfortunately though those got to be too heavy for my aging PC and i switched to either Super Duper Vanilla or Sildurs Enhanced Default at some point, before ultimately turning them off midway thru the SMP because they broke some custom stuff that was made for us. (i've still yet to find a new shader that actually does everything i want & doesn't make my computer frow up ... still looking)

regardless what you end up going with, some of those shaders will take some tweaking to get them to behave right. minecraft w/ shaders has always been notoriously a little tough to run, & YMMV. also i recommend picking up the Modrinth Launcher if you can! it makes searching for & adding mods/dependencies/shaders/resource packs/data packs easy as fuckk.

I'D ALSO NEVER HEARD OF RIBBITS BEFORE BALLOON & IT'S SO PRECIOUS ... the little song they play never gets old to me. it sounds like home. thank u 4 the kind message & hope you're well yourself ! ^^

[ooooshetriesss]

Announcement/Update Cat parents of MALE CATS SPECIFICALLY! If their under 8 &/or u’ve yet to learn about ‘the possibility of obstruction (something that CAN & WILL happen to certain genetically predisposed cats; swap them to wet food for their safety & PLEASE READ)

Hey guys💔 Todays rope had to be canceled. I had to rush one of my boys to ER. It was pretty serious, pretty scary & after 2 days I was finally able to bring him home but, I’m gonna have to keep an eye on him.Because of his size & the meds he needed; they hit him heavy so, he needs help going to the bathroom & using the water bowl.

Thank you to everyone whose reached out via IG as this was going down; if I didn’t get back to you, my apologies; it’s been a bit hectic but Im sincerely grateful for everyone’s concern.

IF U HAVE MALE CATS; SWAP THEM TO WET FOOD FOR THEIR SAFETY if u wanna spare a 1k vet bill,

(I was so shocked to hear both the vet & a lot of my fellow cat owners say “yeah it’s common, most ppl just don’t find out their cats intolerant till the worst happens; & because cats mask so well; at that point, it can truly be serious…)

I know Miami is densely populated but not everyone is 10 mins away from a vet. Also times are tough; I cannot stomach the idea of someone losing their cat cause they didn’t have 1000$ on standby (which who the fk has that these days)

I want to make this last part exceptionally clear..,

I am someone who has had a job since before I was legally allowed to obtain one… I’m one of millions of Americans who couldn’t afford college nor qualify for financial aid… I have worked to the BONE In everything from service industry, to blue collar, to maintenance(both in terms of house keeping & even assembling & maintenance of salt water aquariums..was even a groutsmith) like most Americans, I’ve never had insurance & lived paycheck to paycheck + have made just enough to get by since I was 15.

I didn’t have ‘luxurious purchases’ I had medical bills I couldn’t even afford a regular minimum payment on… I didn’t save for ‘exuberant trips’ … I saved to get a weeks worth of groceries…

I never bought a car..: but some days I spent just as much as I made just to get to work ..(& while the men were praised for riding their bikes & showing “that type of initiative…” I was berated for showing up to work “in such a condition” “It doesn’t matter u come in early /before we open to “fix urself up”

When YOU WALK IN THRU THAT DOOR, U WALK/TALK/COME IN LIKE UR ALREADY ON THE CLOCK… U SHOULD BE COMING IN EARLY ANYWAY (just for them to yell at u for actually coming in early)

The ONLY REASON, I (someone who would literally run into a burning building & d*e for their animals; for animals who weren’t even mine) someone who would miss meals so they could eat THE best food…someone who LOVES & is DEDICATED to their creatures, who would do ANYTHING for them, & MOST importantly..

Someone who was DUMB/NAIVE ENOUGH to be ‘the hardest worker in the room for souless companies/selfish ppl for 30+ yrs was ONLY CAPABLE of getting my baby THAT care NOT because of a “traditional (what yall call ‘honest days work’) IT WAS BECAUSE OF WHAT IS CONSIDERED SW. full fucking stop.

& because I had a women who had both a virtually non interest credit card AND my back♥️ (I’ve told u once, I’ll say it again; Grandmas a gangster)

I know SM likes to frame SW as an option for women who “don’t feel like working/ want expensive luxuries things & are looking for a free ride..”

What we’re lookin for is a career that allows us to still man the ship the way we need to, we’ve been expected to..

It allows us not just means for survival, but the capacity to do so WHILE we continue to be the caretakers of our family & (for some particularly exceptional women) the caretakers of our community…

I wanna make it SO clear this is NOT A DIG to ANYONE, ESPECIALLY the vet& staff that helped us & are appreciated SOOO DEEPLY. These are ppl who are overwhelmed, burnt out like the rest of us, expect unlike nurses, they usually aren’t given a 1/4 of the respect other medical professionals are. PLEASE be kind to them. (I know it’s difficult when emotions are high)

But while this was not my regular content, I know ALOT animal lovers on here… times are tough, there only gonnna get tougher… information is invaluable..

1 week before this happened; 1 woman made a video sharing how she JUST lost her MALE CAT (due to this)

Because of THAT video, I was aware this could even happen…

Because of a incredible vet & her team who TRUSTED me when I said “I will figure out the money, u have my WORD” my boy is safe & while expensive; they made it as affordable as possible…

And because of another woman who had my back w/a piece of plastic at the drop of a hat, I was able to bring him home.

And because of some incredible supporters & community like yall who like my content & share it, push it into the algo, find me on other platforms s & interact, even if they can’t financially contribute.. because of being lucky enough to be supported; I was able to make that happen for my boy. Every single variable is what came together to keep him here today & my heart… can’t even think of how to properly thank you all.

The community looked out for me.. & while this post may be all I have to give back ATM.. it’s what I got..

MALE CATS=WET FOOD TO BE SAFE!!!

(Also, CONSTANT FRESH WATER SOURCE BOTH BY & away from their food ; by their food so they have some to access while eating & some away so it stays fresh & can help them pass more easily.)

Love u guys xoxoxo.

We’ll be resuming to our regular scheduled content next week lol

Till then, xoxoox - hummingbird + ‘Fil’ @ooooshetriesss

[warmilksz]

❤️How would you and your person be as a couple?❤️

hello everyone ⭐ I hope this post finds you well!

Take a moment to breathe for 4 seconds, hold it for 6 and release for 8. Do this as many times you need to renew your mind🙏. Now scroll up and pick whichever pile resonates with you the most.

Most importantly, Thank you for reading, following liking and reblogging( u dropped this--👑)

This is just for fun, it doesn't predict any futures, you control your own destiny.take was resonates and leave what doesnt for someone else ❤️

For the first image I'm getting, on the surface you guys are a calm couple. You guys seem so relaxed in each others energy. That calmness is really the trust you have for each other that people see. Sometimes you both may get frustrated with eachother but you still keep the bigger picture a priority ( ur love and trust for each other ) 💞 I'm getting your person thinks you are very cute, but not sweet if that makes sense lol Maybe your a bit of a brat haha. But they find that unique and interesting, like adding spice to a dish. Do you tease each other? I think you know them. (There's someone whos sexual frustrated here😂) you may be annoyed by your person at times, but you can't help but feel a gravitational pull towards them bringing you back. Like they do something to annoy you, but then they buy you flowers and you forgive them or you do that to them. I don't think they're annoying you on purpose though. It's just who they kinda are lol but when they eventually feel romantic towards you, it balances itself out. Your relationship is sweet and spicy. Sweet feelings are nice but Maybe you like that spice in your person too 😉.

For the second image, I'm seeing you guys when ur deep into the relationship. You're both working hard to make it work. I think for some, you both have a lovely thing going on. your person and you are both putting in similar efforts as a couple.( I think u guys seem pretty normal intimately movies/park dates, hand holding, yknow stuff u see in chick flicks lol) Your relationship is full of learning to trust each other and I feel that u want to definitely make it work. I can't shake the feeling that maybe someone has something on their mind in this pile that might influence this relationship. I'm not getting in a bad way so don't panic 🫣. Someone could be going thru a tough time emotionally or mentally and may hide it from the partner. They don't want you to see them like that especially after all the work u guys put into each other (aww🥲). Regardless of what it is, you guys will make it thru it and come out stronger and closer. Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly 🦋

Finally, you guys have been through some tough things but you're in a period of calmness now. I feel so happy. (Such a transition from the last pile) It's giving married old couple ❤️ (even if ur young haha). When there is conflict u guys talk it out and smile after. Maybe u guys will have pets, kids or both. This person also seems like they really are in it for the long haul. They wanna do somethangs with u group 3! Perhaps some of you were taught traditional values and gender roles growing up and that Is a foundation for ur togetherness. Some how in todays society, u guys managed to balance ⚖️ ur values and ur partner's values. Y'all both feel equal and valued regardless. They are patient though and won't rush you. (You/them may lose/exchange your virginity with this person) That's so beautiful 😭. I think this relates to traditional values cause someone here feels dominant 🧐lol. Like they want to build with you as a equal but if needed they also wanna protect you and shelter you without u having to lift a finger 👑💕

[hautsreadsmarvel]

"The Fantastic Four" (1961, issue 1)

Not every issue deserves its own post, but I think the very first one does. It's a goldmine of insight into this age of comics.

Lookit that, our very first comic book cover! I dig it, except for the part where I didn’t realize where the Human Torch was in this image immediately and so it briefly looked like the monster was speaking. And also the part where the Invisible Girl turning invisible doesn't seem like it will help her. And also also the part where the depicted scene doesn't happen in the story.

Going into this, I should probably clarify that I know next to nothing about the F4. I do know their names and powers:

Reed Richards, under the alias "Mister Fantastic", is the leader who can stretch any aspect of his body to incredible lengths. He's also a really smart inventor, to the point that the Reed Richards Is Useless trope is named after him

Sue Storm, alias "the Invisible Girl", can... turn invisible. And get captured a lot.

Ben Grimm, aka "the Thing", is super strong and super tough.

Johnny Storm, aka "the Human Torch", is Sue's brother and can burst into flame for a limited duration, gaining flight and pyrokinesis.

Also, Sue and Reed will be married and have two kids (one of whom is nigh-omnipotent?), the Thing is divinely mandated to never return to human form, in the multiverse there’s a “Council of Reeds” and also an evil Reed called the Maker who can elongate his brain to get smarter, and the F4 used to be the most popular Marvel heroes. All that out of the way, let’s dive in!

Huh, you could buy this for 10 cents. I wonder how expensive that is in today money…? $1.03. Wow. Also, does anyone know what that M C label between the CCA stamp of approval and “10c” means? Is that just an abbreviation for Marvel Comics?

Love the artwork, including the way that the mysterious guy who totally isn't Reed Richards is colored in the bottom right. That flare gun is pretty cool too, what with its ability to form words. Could you imagine having a flare gun to signal your friends like that? Damn.

On the other hand... the cops. Le sigh. I get a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of cops for a long while as symbolic shorthand for justice and goodness. Blech.

First part of this story is the F4 all heading to the flare's location while demonstrating their powers. Basically all of them cause some trouble for the unsuspecting citizens of New York - Sue bowls people over running invisibly thru a crowd, speaks and frightens someone into thinking there's a ghost, and causes a taxi driver to flee for his life after attempting to pay him while invisible; the Thing busts out of a clothing store and wrecks the door, scaring the passerby and causing the cops to shoot him (w/o resulting in harm); and the Torch slags a car on his way over... we'll talk more about the Torch's intro in a bit.

There's no way doors keep being unwieldy for the Thing. It begs the question of how he got into the shop in the first place (possibly he squeezed thru carefully or used a larger entrance, but in his haste just plowed thru the wall), and it's not a particularly interesting antic to show whenever we want to show the F4 unintentionally causing havoc. The whole Thing intro is a pretty effective introduction to his character - actually, they kind of all are. This intro sequence showcases their potential to be menaces and positions them as fantastic oddities within the hustle and bustle of New York; Sue is a little careless, the Thing is grumpy about hiding himself from the world but also doesn't enjoy his strange body drawing attention from the public, and while the Torch may love working on hot rods, he's also a hothead so excited by the prospect of the first F4 mission that he bursts into flame INSIDE the car and melts parts of it into slag before taking flight. A promising start for characterization, I suppose.

Also, again, the flare gun is SO COOL. You can pre-program it to form sequential messages? Fuck having powers, I want one of those.

Back to the Torch's intro. His appearance in the skies is so disturbing that the government sics fighter planes on the "unknown flaming object over Central City", and here begins the silliness in earnest.

You know how fighter aircraft engage their targets by swooping in like a pack of orcas, to savage their foes in melee combat? Yeah, me neither. Why are they getting close enough that he can saw straight thru them, when he wasn't even able to melt more than a torso-size hole thru a car he was in? It’s that shit in action movies where it feels like the jet pilots are trained to try and bull rush their targets, and it never ceases to irritate me*. That's just the appetizer though. The real silliness is...

You know how governments LOVE firing nuclear warheads at hostile targets? You know how they LOVE firing nuclear warheads at targets directly above ONE OF THEIR OWN CITIES? Look, I get it was the ‘60s. Of course everyone had nukes on the mind. Of course if you want to shorthand “really powerful kablooey” you just say “nuke”. But what immeasurable stupidity this is! Why, they oughta sack the officers that gave that order! Now the obvious fix would be to just... not call it a nuke. But our task is not to control, but to see, and so we bear witness to the first of many terrors running rampant in the Marvelverse - nuclear weapons getting used all the damn time.

…And then Reed stretches his arms up, catches the warhead, and flings it into the sea to explode. Thus starts the long trend of “safely” disposing of nuclear ordinance by lobbing it into the water. Thus also appears an unstated but consistent property of Reed’s super-stretchiness: he can arrest the momentum of things much stronger and faster than he by grabbing or grappling them, and then throw them the fuck away despite lacking the apparent necessary leverage to do so. Unlike my prior umbrage re: jet fighters and nuking one's own cities, I actually have no problems with this - as long as it’s internally consistent, I don’t really give a shit that a superhero-verse has different physics than ours, and I find the insistence that their physics MUST match ours to be nonsensical. If that really upsets you, I got bad news about basically every superpower.

After that follows a flashback to the origin story of the F4 - they stole aboard a rocket and piloted it to space so that AMERICA (THE BEAUTIFUL, GOD SHED HIS GRACE ON THEE) could defeat the vile commies (better DEAD than RED!) and make it to space first... but they hit some sort of radiation zone... crashland back to Earth... and discover they've all mutated in some way. After that comes their actual first adventure: Reed has discovered that nuclear powerplants across the world are being claimed by sinkholes, they fly to the mythical "Monster Isle" to track down the perpetrator, fight some random monsters that aren't really worth writing about (and Reed again demonstrates that he can lift really large objects and throw them into the sea), they fall into the center of the Earth and meet "the Moleman"... the Moleman, who I vaguely recall is going to reappear in some future Marvel comics, is apparently a hideous-looking guy who was shunned by society, fell into the Hollow Earth and became the blind leader of its monstrous creatures, and now plots to overthrow the surface world by first depriving them of their powerplants. He also has a "radar sense" that makes him an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant - basically spider-sense. Yeah, not a great villain, and not a particularly compelling adventure if you're looking for anything more than cheap thrills.

Nevertheless, the story is a fun read, and justifies its price (which is admittedly 'free', in my case...). It's pulp for kids, OJ optional. It makes for a great introduction into the Marvelverse, and if this was your first superhero story ever I think it would be pretty neat, but the actual adventure is bleh (weren't threats from the Hollow Earth already getting stale by the 60s?), and Sue and Reed don't have much character beyond "heroic do-gooders".

*What bothers me is not a lack of fidelity to actual military operations. What gets my goat is the lack of conception of distance that this particular cliché indicates. It’s why I also get pissy when fiction treats different celestial bodies as practically next door, trivializes what travel distances are like for people who don’t have cars or commercial jets at their beck and call, etc. Distance matters! It's an important factor influencing human history and our individual lives, and it can greatly enhance the texture and stakes of a story! Don’t just foo-foo it!

[yanderu-deredere]

Hello!! Ive been slowly working my way through your ocs and can i just say!!! They are soooo tasty, your brain is very big, also linking the profiles is soo nice im terrible with remembering stuff so its a nice refresher

Anyway i was just wondering how do you think Ayaka would be with a childhood friend darling 🤔

a/n: SORRY ANON BUT YOU'VE HIT THE JACKPOT this is literally my SPECIAL INTEREST i absolutely DIE AND LOVE THE CHILDHOOD FRIENDS TO LOVERS TROPE

ayaka yamato ★ profile

being childhood friends with ayaka means getting to know the social media super star before she became popular girl material

before, her hair was pitch black and she also had a lot of acne. like now, she wore thick rimmed glasses but they were always plain black. she also wore a lot of formal clothes, chosen by her nanny. stuff like button ups, long pleated skirts, etc

as a kid, ayaka was basically caged so, to be her childhood friend, your parents had to have been really good friends with her parents

ayaka's parents often scheduled play dates with their good friends' children as a way to gain more social power among the rich

unfortunately, that's really the only way you could've met her before she began her rebellious phase

like frfr ayaka was basically isolated as a child. i cannot stress this enough lol

her little brother was doted on by her mom and her older brother was coddled by her father (since he's the heir) so, often times, she was left to her own devices

she, of course, had nannies and tutors but none of them really truly treated her like the child she actually was

to everyone she met, she was a yamato. and that was the only thing that mattered about her

this made her very hungry for affection and she took whatever she could get

and if you gave her any sort of affection? when she's starving? she'd eat that shit up and praise the ground you walk on LOL

though caveat to that is that you'd have to be in the same boat as her LOL becos she's always been easily jealous, especially back then, and if you were more free than she was, she'd resent you too much to get attached to you

she'd definitely use you as her guinea pig when she starts experimenting with fashion and make up too lmao

when she does go thru her transformation from goody good daughter to how she really wants to live her life, she brings you with her

but she won't let you become a socialite like her. no, you're only allowed to be with her, to be close to her, to be her friend

anytime you start slipping from her grasp, she starts isolating you until the only person you feel comfortable clinging to and depending on is her

"Do you think there's more to life than this?"

You looked up from your homework to see Ayaka staring intently at you, her head resting in her arms. She was pushing around one of the fruit peels that she'd left on the desk but it was obvious from her expression that she'd been serious about her words.

You considered her words for a second before cocking your head a little to the side "What do you mean?"

"I don't know... more to studying. More to being the kid of a CEO. More to all of this." She just huffed in reply before leaning back and crossing her arms "Feels unfair that we live like this."

I don't want you to live like this. She wanted to say but the words just stayed lodged in her throat.

Unfortunately, she didn't inherit a lot from her parents but she did inherit their inability to express affection. The sweetness, the love, always felt awkward and tough on her tongue.

She wanted so desperately to tell you about her feelings, to let you in and let you know, but all she could do was peel you clementines and sit by your side, hoping and praying that you'd notice her.

Certainly, if not her, you found yourself thinking about her words. You'd never really thought about that before. You were always following your parents' rules that it felt blasphemous to consider going beyond them, to see what it was like beyond the rules and the gilded cage.

Because you were aware. You knew the life they had you live--the life Ayaka's parents had her live--was one of imprisonment, doomed to never do what you wanted to do.

But you'd lived the life for so long that imagining what life would be like any other way left you drawing a blank.

"Let's start living life our own way." Ayaka suddenly uncrossed her arms and took your hands into hers, that eager grin on her face infectious "You and me. Nobody cares about me like you do, anyway."

"And nobody cares about you like I do, right?" There was something dark to her tone right then, like there was more to her words. But she looked so mesmerizing, so sweet, that you found yourself nodding.

Ayaka only beamed even brighter "We'll decide how we want to become, not our parents."

[stars-and-magic-swords]

Jwcc for the fandom ask thing!

Thank you for the ask Shadow! Camp Cretaceous deserves all the love and attention, fingers crossed that we see the gang in chaos theory (darius and ben already confirmed let's goooo!!!!)

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): damn this is tough. It's really, extremely close between yaz and darius, but I'll have to go with yaz (why are 90% of all my favourite characters emotionally repressed?) But yeah she's super cool and strong and her character and development are super interesting and together with sammy they're just cuteness incarnate

scrunkly (my "baby", character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): darius my baby dino nerd i will never let anyone hurt you (i want to turn him into a plushie and squeeze the life out of him). Also poor dude was going thru this shit at age twelve wtf get him some therapy

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/ underappreciated fave): I really don't see very much love for sammy, sure it's not like people dislike her or anything, but i feel like her character often gets glossed over (is that even an expression that exists?)

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won't shut up about it for a week): dave and roxie (it's two but who cares) honestly I have so much respect for them, they did their very best regarding the circumstances and i will not let anyone say anything negative about them

poor little meow meow ("problematic"/ unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): hmmmm kenji?? He has some pretty good wet cat vibes in the latest seasons. yes I know there's also early ben but I don't know, maybe because I watched them a long time ago??? I know the fandom adores ben and I love him too but I can't really relate

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): it seems like a habit of mine, to always torment my favourite characters the most. yeah it's between darius and yaz again, what can you do. there's just so many good and creative ways to hurt them, and they're already traumatised so they basically do half the setup on their own

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): wait are we saying send them to hell "affectionately" or literally? Anyway I'm gonna go literally because I cannot decide and I'll of course go with kenji's dad. like, what the fuck is wrong with this man

Just realised I didn't mention brooklyn at all, sorry girl please I love you too 😭😭

[phagodyke]

Would love to hear ur thoughts on Hades game sometime because I too loved but had beef with the game and I think we are the same ….

yessss, disclaimer I haven't played it for like 3 years and I only played 10 hours/got to the end once before I dropped it so i might be misremembering some things but I stick by my opinions! under the cut cuz this is long as fuck 🫣 my haterism has no limits

ok so basically my grievances w hades can be split into 2 main areas: gameplay + narrative, I'll break them down in that order.

firstly gameplay - roguelikes/lites are my fave genre so I was predominantly approaching hades from this angle + its failure here is the clincher for me.

I found the gameplay repetitive and stale. this isnt a criticism of its permadeath like ive seen some ppl make - I usually relish repetition/grind especially in permadeath-based games bc I find tactical challenge fun + love the learning curve, its soooo rewarding. but hades is ultimately just a glorified button masher. mob/boss movesets are boring + unoriginal, and can generally all be fought the same way. trying to do otherwise drags out fights; it actively discourages emergent gameplay so theres little variance WITHIN runs. the pool of rooms for procedural generation is far too small so theres little variance BETWEEN runs. there's no real challenge to combat, difficulty is mainly increased by heightened mob tankiness as you get further in a run. movement/combat doesn't flow well, its mechanically very weak, relying heavily on its permanent upgrade system instead of developing skill in the way you approach the game. all the weapons feel clunky and don't really offer any unique challenge/benefit so theres virtually no point switching between them and the grind to unlock them all is so pointless… god there are just SOOO many hack n slash crawlers that keep it fresh even for hundreds of hours and hades fails miserably at keeping it fresh for even 5 measly hours :^/

I didnt like the boon system either - its far too simplistic + shallow. its fine to rely on chance, this is part of the random generation, and I think it had a lot of potential in that it was a good way of combining aesthetic w gameplay itself. but this is pretty much the only form of resource management - and theres barely any management to it! theres no reward for exploring different builds, they dont really synergise BETWEEN gods in interesting or useful ways, so the game encourages you to just stick with one god throughout, and biases random generation towards boons youve already collected. part of the fun for me is learning HOW to design a build, and working with the randomiser to play flexibly, but hades just isnt interested in that at all...

also - I don't like the permanent upgrade system, I think this detracts from it as a rogue. every time you should be starting on square 1 - maybe you pick up health upgrades etc throughout each run, and maybe you unlock new weapons etc for the random generation pool, or purely cosmetic upgrades, but the point of permadeath is that it RESETS! zags base health + dmg should be the same 50 hours into the game as when u first open it. make a different genre of game if u dont wanna do that lol. I also think IF youre going to say fuck it and add a permanent upgrade system, you should also add unlockable permanent biome shortcuts bc ur just making it boring as fuck to have to waste time grinding thru earlier biomes with unskippable combat once youre op for them.

I GET that they did this to make the game more accessible* to players who dont typically enjoy rogues, but it just makes it really disappointing for those of us who DO love rogues, and it always feels cheap to me when games are like "well of you want challenge then set the difficulty yourself with these modifiers 🙄" like just make the base difficulty TOUGH up front and then add an easy/story mode and accessibility features* for players who don't want the challenge.. if you're gonna call yourself a rogue the gameplay should be the PRIORITY not a throwaway option

one of my biggest peeves with hades is how people now laud it as one of the best rogues - whenever I mention I like the genre I almost always get asked "oh, like hades?" and it pisses me off so much… its a rogueLITE not roguelike, ie. it has rogue ELEMENTS but its not a true one and imo, it does a pretty shit job implementing them! I would have a lot less resentment towards it if it wasnt marketed as the forefront of the rogue genre - frankly its a very basic rogue with very mid gameplay, its characters/design are by FAR its strong point and it should be sold as such. its misleading and makes me sad that this is what most people think of when they hear rogue :-(

*(side note - accessibility in this game is another major flaw. theres really no excuse for a game as popular as this to be so lacking in accessibility options. allow people to bind keys together or use coloured outlines or have colourblindness settings or alter font/text size etc - its not that hard! dead cells did a great job of this lol)

anyway... moving onto my second criticism - narratively, its also unsatisfying.

the hades plot is, loosely, about a cycle of abuse, so the 2 natural directions to go in with this are either: #1: escaping the cycle, or #2: continuing it forever.

#2 is the easiest to do with a rogue format - bc of permadeath the game is already cyclical, so all you have to do is create an ending which loops perfectly back to the start (smth like 'its impossible to truly defeat/reconcile with his father so even after zag beats him, hades drags him back to the start again). obviously this is a miserable story to tell, but tbh I think it wouldve been interesting + fitting - so much of greek mythos is about cycles and the unchanging nature of the gods, and they LOVED eternal cyclical punishments. plus theres smth rly tragic about zag gradually helping everyone else while no one else can save him from his family LOL

#1 is a bit harder to do - this is the story they WANTED to tell but I just don't think it worked… the driving force plot-wise is his desperation to escape. realistically for this to happen the game needs to be finite, which it can't be due to its rogue nature - somehow you have to end up at the very start again. the main solutions I can think of for this are:

a) after the final boss, insert some time travel shenanigans (easy to fit into the worldbuilding using a character like kronos) and all of zags progress with hades is unspooled. this can be completely out of his control, or it could be a choice the player makes (to end the game here or choose to go back and relive zags past in order to progress npc questlines). eg. what happens in dead cells. again, tragic but it makes more sense to me

-or b) bite the bullet and give the game a completely finite ending after beating hades. if players want to go back and play more to complete other npc questlines, they pick up play from before they beat hades. this isnt explained "narratively" bc the plot is already concluded and now theyre just playing for fun (eg. what going under does)

I also think for a character-focused story-rich game, roguelite was a really terrible choice of genre as it locks every interaction behind pure chance and hours of grinding - just really baffling why they decided to do this, especially when theyve had such success previously making games within different genres (transistor, bastion, pyre). the core of the issue for me is that the devs wanted to create a game that was both story rich AND a rogue - and these things arent mutually exclusive, but the best features of each contradict each other when you try to balance them in a way to appease their respective fans (ie. the challenge/complexity of the gameplay is heavily restricted by keeping it easy for ppl unfamiliar with rogues to pick up, but the strength of the narrative arc is simultaneously weakened by the fact that as a rogue it has to be perpetual bc of permadeath + you're working with procedural generation…)

I'm not going to beef with the artstyle or music bc I rly loved them both (even if I wish the body diversity was better!), or with the interpretations of greek gods bc literally every piece of media abt greek mythos has to decide how to interpret them and I think its silly to be like "this isnt CANON" - since we actually dont HAVE a strict "canon" for many of these stories bc theyve been retold/translated in so many conflicting ways lol. I've just heard ppl complaining abt that and I dont think its worth complaining about 🤷‍♀️

ANYWAY tl;dr: hades should've been an action-heavy isometric metroidvania… it wouldve made it far easier to focus on character questlines (ie. with respawn points + a fixed map), unified the story they wanted to tell with the gameplay SO much more effectively, and allowed them to reach the full potential of both, whilst also playing up to supergiant's previous game-making strengths. but thats my 2 cents!

[lenakluthor]

5,7,9 for the gif makers question thingy

YESS I KNEW YOU'D COME THRU ILY

5. What is your favorite movie/TV show to gif hmmm, that's tough because there are some shows i loved giffing that i no longer have any desire to gif. but of my current fandoms, i think supergirl is my favorite. sometimes the lighting gets hard to work with, but most of the time it's fun to color and it's inspiring me the most to make more fun gifsets instead of just straightforward gifs of scenes.

7. Who are your top 3 gif makers there are a few gifmakers that aren't active anymore that i still really love, but i'll stick to people active bc i'd rather shoutout people who are here. in no order, i'd say @richardgrimes - i really admire the way she plays around with color and her gifs always bring me the fun, saturated colors i crave. i had a fangirl moment when @saw-x followed me back because i think her gifs are SO creative and fun and the quality is always so clear. and i also really enjoy @morgana-pendragon's sets- she has so many interesting and creative ideas and i love seeing what she come up with. but also there are SO many talented gifmakers on tumblr choosing three was HARD.

9. What/who inspired you to start making gifs i'm gonna be real, i've been making gifs for over a decade now so i don't really remember. i honestly think i was just seeing them all over tumblr and wanted to learn to do it myself. i remember the first gif i ever made was this tiny litle gif of reese witherspoon doing something funny for an interview, and i was so pleased with myself that i had figured it out. and then i just kept going because i loved it so much. i may take years off at a time sometimes, but i always come back to gifmaking eventually. i love it. coloring, specifically.

gifmaker asks!

[lakesbian]

hm… freaque 📓

📓 A headcanon about their hobbies

yaaay a silly one :) alec like all of the undersiders does not have a lot of time for a rich hobby life but he 'slacks off' by taylor, brian, and lisa standards so he's got a lil more free time than them. he's not very good at picking up new hobbies or learning things because "it's boring" (read: he has depression) but he likes his art and video games and movies. i think when he was a kid he was really into hiding and drawing for hours to pass the time and he made up a bunch of 7 year old typical OCs. they were all really strong and tough and cool and could fly and so on but really terrible things happened to all of them all the time anyway. not a single happy ending in any of those comics.

he stopped drawing as much when he entered The Pussy Mind Palace from ages ten thru thirteen but then tried it again after he joined the undersiders, discovered he still liked it and was still good at it, and decided to branch out into other mediums (particularly graffiti) for fun too. now he's really into drawing extremely cool undersider costume/emblem/base designs he'll never show them. and sketches of things he saw recently that he thought were interesting. he's drawn all of the other undersiders at least once as a "well i'm bored and the costumes are pretty cool i guess" thing. totally draws himself as regent looking all Cool and Badass and Maybe Even Having A Throne. absolutely tried to act all irony poisoned and detached and uninterested when aisha found the entire page in his sketchbook that was just her doing cool stuff as imp but he's not fooling her. she saw that concept drawing of them Posing Badassly with matching costumes. once every like 30 sketchbook pages there's just the most violent gore and/or sex act and/or both at once you've ever seen, which he thinks says absolutely nothing about him. yes he uses reference images to make sure he fully grasps what exploded heads look like.

oh and he loves being like "i am going to draw something ironically, as a joke, and then post it to PHO, also ironically, as a joke, to troll them, as a joke, ironically." and then he spends 5 hours meticulously drawing something that could, if you turn your head 90 degrees, squint, and assume the most conservative mindset humanly possible, theoretically be mildly inflammatory to someone somewhere. and posts it and reads and likes all of the comments complimenting it.

he kinda sucks at video games btw. there's, like, one (1) he's spent enough time on to be good at and he's smug about it but outside of that he's just genuinely not very naturally good at them. his depth perception is fine and everything he's just not very good at concentrating on strategizing for long enough because there's no actual threat to his life to get his brain going. he totally overinflated his perception of how good he is because brian is Even Worse and he won those incompetent v. incompetent matchups like 75% of the time but then he starts playing aisha and just gets his ass handed to him 9/10 times

[nanistar]

Hiya! Just wanted to say I’m really enjoying your comic! It’s really refreshing to read about a place your obviously passionate about. All the little put ins about insects and animals make me feel like I’m learning about someplace. Another thing I enjoy and it’s mostly just a your art-style or choice is the cat mullets XD Their so fun and give so many more impression of their profile and vibes <3 Right now roosterpaw is my favorite. I been waiting all my life for a warrior cat like him. Your world is so weird and cool. I have so many questions on how they operate. Like how can daisystar and flickerstar be sisters(I assume to help with clan genetics stuff)? Is it open borders and everyone is looking out for each other? Don’t worry about answering all these. I’m just enthused and invested. You made me wanna try a do a D&D rp warrior cat game. Themed with tropical beach side coast :) I can wait to start learning. Thanks nanistar mobiusghost. Came for your enlightening sparkpelt video, stayed for you~

wow thank you so much, this is so thoughtful!! i love the desert and i love creatures that are highly adapted to fit their niche and i love bugs and animals and sharing information about them :] and a tropical d&d warriors sounds awesome and super fun!!

as for your questions, flickerstar and daisystar are both halfclan, half sag/sun. their mom cricketsong was a sagclan cat, dad stonefang was a sun. parents decided to stay in their different clans instead of moving in together, but the sisters were raised knowing their father as he came to visit often, and when they were to be made apprentices, they were given the choice about who to live with. flicker, being the more curious and adventurous of the two, decided to go live with dad in sunclan and daisy stayed where she was comfortable.

the borders aren't completely open, they still do patrols and scent markers but it's more out of routine and warning other animals than anything. in general, they tend not to hunt on other clan's territory unless they're bringing said food to the clan (salt could hunt on marshclan territory if she was bringing a snack to hollowspur) but like most things, the rules are mainly just guidelines. lone cats have no fear walking thru other clan's territories, and when times are tough they tend to share resources. also, clan switching is an uncommon, but normal thing. since there's no reason to really be wary of other clans, there's not much talk of loyalty or suspicion of cats that switch. (plus i hate the canon nationalism of the clans and don't want it near me or my comic lol) sometimes it is for necessity; most sunclan cats that happen to be born with primarily black or darker pelts struggle under the direct and open sun, so they move to sagclan. cross-clan romances and friendships are perfectly normal and respected. most of the time, cross-clan romances end with one of the pair moving to the other's clan, but not all the time (salt&hollow have no interest in moving in together) and cross-clan kittens are typically raised knowing their history and knowing their relatives in the other clan, and aren't scorned or shamed about it. (also the birthgiving parent is under no obligation to reveal the other parent, and it's not too uncommon to search for a sire outside of Clan territory) all in all, the clans look out for each other, and support each other, but are still their own individual groups with their own cultures that make them unique, but they are willing to share aspects of these cultures and celebrate them with the other clans :>

[johannacantsing]

ok I’ve been having more dental pain recently and my plan was to not have any more dental issues/emergencies for another two years (or more would be great) but ice hasn’t even stopped the pain some nights so obviously I’ve been freaking out bc I only trust one (1) dentist (I’ve had so many bad experiences and now I need to correct all the shit that was done to my mouth) and it’s a ~holistic~ dental office with like mercury free procedures and ceramic implants and all this shit so it’s like walking into the damn waiting room is eighty billion dollars so I was muscling thru the pain (tough guy) until I had (embarrassingly this was my actual plan) more money saved up from my new job that I’m applying for now in Korea AND getting a book deal so I’ll have some capital to put down so I won’t need (quoted 40k) to put the entire restoration on a loan bc 1 they’re gonna get all up in there and it’s probs gonna be some problem that makes it more expensive and 2 a lot of it does actually need to be or should be done at the same time for the best result which sucks the most ass ever PLUS my thought was the more my book deal is the less I need to take out bc personal loans have an insane interest rate 😭 and also I would put some in saving so that if I need help paying the loan each month then I would have something to pull

I did (and still am a little tbh) consider getting a personal loan for the whole restoration and then telling the lender that I won’t pay it back bc I don’t have the money and then it will go to collections and fall off my credit in seven years BUT since it’s such a big amount they’ll probably go after me for it so it’s almost definitely not worth it-I’m like 98% sure it’s a really bad idea but when I needed my first emergency tooth extraction I would have pulled it out myself if I had had pliers and I honestly to god thought about going to Home Depot during the day (good thing I didn’t bc I would have pulled the wrong tooth that will need to get pulled eventually so that part wouldn’t be too bad it just wouldn’t have fixed the excruciating pain and also I told my dentist that and apparently for molars if u don’t extract it correctly u can tear the fuck out of the gums and then u won’t be able to place an implant which is lowkey my main goal in life a little to get my mouth fixed so yewouch! that would have sucked if I ripped both out and couldn’t get implants. I think I might have been able to too which is fucking nuts. like the most desperate of times to be sure but if my dentist couldn’t have seen me on Monday I really might have 😅

I wandered-but the good news is it seems like there’s at least a few holistic dentists in Korea so I could at least get an extraction with the prep for an implant if needed (I’m gonna try to do a bunch more research and try to find a dentist that can do the implants the way my American dentist does them bc even if it’s more expensive compared to the titanium ones or whatever it’s still way cheaper than in America bc this country is a shithole in some ways and that’s maybe number one)

so I’m freaking out a lot less knowing I can get at least the basic extraction and shit done if I need to 😫