#it's not on sale rn and I only rec getting it when it's on sale just cus it's very expensive for some reason

[ichijokaoru]

putting this on my toku blog to let people know about my fav visual novel with the flimsy excuse that it has kousei amano in it. you know, tachibana-san?

[flyingcatstiel]

I’m currently reading superbat fics (sorry, destiel, stony and dinluke, I’ll get back to you some day) and I’m having great time with commenting and authors replying to me. It’s a whole new fandom experience when I can read fics just for personal enjoyment, without planning fic rec lists. So much easier to comment, wtf. Anyways, I’m following 4 superbat identity p*rn fics right now, and it’s glorious. What a feast. My favorite trope, so many interesting ways to explore it. Happy holidays to all superbat writers but especially those 4 WIP writers🎄

ETA - here be some recs

ETA, March 2024 - HERE BE SOME UPDATES!

@pinkb00bsocks asked about those 4 WIPs. Here they are! The usual disclaimer - there are plenty of excellent superbat WIPs going on right now, but I've limited spoons and these are the ones I currently enjoy.

The World and All Its Hedgehogs by Ginevra_Benci [M. 8,007 word count, WIP, 4/?] To investigate illegal arms sale taking place at a tropical resort hotel, Batman goes under cover as a vacuous billionaire Brucie Wayne and Superman takes a part time job as a porter. They didn't coordinate this, they don't know each others civilian identities. Every time they talk there are at least 3 different conversations going on and it is glorious. Also, so much lust. ;)

(Also, check out Interviewing & Counceling series by the same author. Clark is having a superhero identity crisis and Bruce is there to catch Clark gently as he spirals down. It has one of the softest identity reveals in superbat fics. ETA - the series is now complete, it has 5 parts and 18k word count. Awesome ending to the softest identity reveal story)

Watching Our Stars Align by ClarkeStetler [M, 28,840 word count, WIP, 7/14] There's a dating/chatting app only for superheroes and all identities are secret. What could go wrong? Bruce and Clark get matched under their new pseuds, and same happens to Tim Drake and Conner Kent. Now fathers and sons gotta navigate complicated relationships that come with secret identities and judging your coworkers hastily while talking heart to heart to anonymous superhero. The identity porn part happens through DM, which just happens to be another favorite trope of mine. [The story is going strong, it has 10/14 chapters now and a wonderful tangle of 3 secret identities!]

(Love) Triangles Have Multiple Centers by frozenpotions [T, 27,281 word count, WIP, 4/10] This fic wastes no time getting playboy billionaire Brucie Wayne and pining-after-his-coworker journalist Clark Kent together. After that, first time uneasy partners Batman and Superman gotta solve a case and their civilian selves gotta deal with the realities of their one night stand. Complicated doesn't even cover it! [The fic is being updated and Clark and Bruce are being put through new trials, 6/10 chapters]

A Favor for a Friend by RedFive [Explicit, 18,286 word count, WIP, 4/7] Omega verse fic with alpha playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne and omega journalist Clark Kent. I'm fascinated by dominant, flirtatious, sexually ravenous alpha Brucie Wayne who moonlights as a stoic, covered in scent blockers thus unclear second gender, Batman. Meanwhile omega Clark, due to being Kryptonian, is much less ruled by his second gender. That is, until he meets Mr. Wayne. This fic has so much lust and tension between the two. Does accidental heat triggering counts as a soulmate mark? I'm gonna count it like that. [The fic has entered the finish line, only a chapter or two are left to finish this wild, explosive, life changing story of two people who were meant for each other. 8/? chapters, 44k word count] The fic is now complete!!! 9 chapters, 56,153 word count. (Also, there's this new TV show about two gay dudes, and istg, they look like Bruce and Clark from this fic. I'm not naming it here because I don't want to highjack the show tag with superbat post, but go and check the tag on tumblr)

*****

And a special shout out to two identity shenanigan WIPs that are not actively updating but are absolute must reads.

ship-to-ship combat by pomeloquat [M, 62,737 word count, WIP, 12/13] OK, so, for me personally, this is the ultimate identity p*rn fic across all fandoms I've read so far. This fic has one of the highest amount of secret identity pairs in superbat fics. There's the usual pining silently Batman/Superman, then there's Clark dating Bruce, Superman saving Bruce Wayne from peril, Clark Kent chatting with Batman. And the cherry on top is Clark writing Bruceman fanfic which is basically a RPF of his two friends, Batman and Bruce Wayne. Which leads to an internet friendship with a fellow fan, who is, you guessed, Bruce. This fic has great reflections on fandom and shipping culture. But the very beating heart of this fic is about how easy it is to lose something you wished to have but were afraid to ask for. The fic, at 12/13, is technically a WIP, but the main reveal is already done, and it is glorious. ETA - THIS IS NOT A DRILL, the fic is finished and the last chapter is a super meta cherry on a top of delicious, layered superhero identity and fandom shenanigans parfait. 13 chapters, 76,7k word count.

10 Things Every Brucie Fan Needs in Their Life by pomeloquat [T, 8,956 word count, WIP, 5/10] The main premise of this fic is hilarious and yet so, so right. Bruce Wayne is promoting himself as a nation's boyfriend instead of a playboy, and is making bank out of his wholesome, PG rated merchandise. The chapters of this fic tell continuous story but they also can be read as separate vignettes, so there's really no cliffhanger. This fic is so soft and fluffy, it will heal your soul. Also, Superman has celebrity crush on Bruce Wayne. Batman is amused.

[thegeminisage]

ms liz, my sister is considering buying me a switch for christmas, so was contemplating games for the Switch because I'm very hesitant to get a game system but only have interest in like 2 or 3 games (I say, aggressively not looking at the decade old psp on my bookcase)

anyways, my question is: I very much love Pokémon, but I've only ever beaten the original Sapphire (and have like 4-5 other ones). I've seen you talk about Pokémon Snap, thats the photography one right? I tend to get overwhelmed by how much there is to do in the games, is Pokémon Snap like that too? are there any other games you would recommend?

and if I can make a recommendation of my own, I recently played a game named Carto on the pc and found out its on switch as well, it was very cute and fun, its rather short too, 7-8 hours but I beat it in under 7.

Have a nice day!! 🌻🌻🌻

HELLO beloved sorry it took me so long to answer u, i've been working all day, but congrats on the switch!!! one of the Most consoles of all time. apologizes in advance bc my answer got a lt longer than i meant for it to. ur not obligated to read it all LOL i have a tldr at the bottom. adhd makes me talk a lot, but it also makes me allergic to long chains of text so i understand & won't take any offense, promise.

first of all, feel NO shame about the psp. you are completely valid and that was a MONEY GRABBING FAILURE to capitalize on nintendo's success with the DS. i used mine as a glorified mp3 player that also happened to have the disc for the movie spiderman 2 in it, so i feel you. we don't judge here. think of it as a collector's item. an antique. like having a virtual boy that won't attempt to kill you in your sleep.

secondly, i feel that way a lot of times when i get a new console, like it's not worth buying just for one game, but the truth is gradually new ones will catch your interest. (also, if you check out the store once in awhile, you can sometimes find stuff on sale for $5 or less, especially indie games, and if you download your big full-price games digitally you will get "coins" which you can use to take some off the price, so it can drop to nothing - i got a 2D galaga-styled shooter called super bit blaster XL for less than a dollar, and even though it's very simple i still killed 5-6 hours on it before i finished unlocking all the ships; well worth the cash.) if you have an opportunity to grab a switch you definitely should because shortages make that difficult rn - if you change your mind later you can always resell it for most of that money back, but otherwise if you enjoy gaming it's a great investment, bc many of the games will eventually get cheaper

re: pkmn snap - i think it's a lot more streamlined than the main pokemon games. i struggle to complete those because even though i love the pokemon and the worldbuilding i find the battle mechanics get monotonous - either too grindy or too easy (so i hope you werent looking for pokemon recs and if u were im sorry lol). pokemon snap on the other hand is basically a "rail shooter," in that you can travel one of a few pre-determined paths and just take photos along the way. pretty simple, but there's a lot of replay value in getting different poses and manipulating your surroundings to see different guys to take pics of, and it's nice to be able to interact with them without having to fight them (i always felt a little bad about asking them to battle). there's a LOT of particular requests that pop up (like, take a picture of a certain guy in a certain pose), but you're free to completely ignore them if you want to. i really adored pokemon snap, so i think if you're a pokemon fan you really will too.

i confess i don't know about getting overwhelmed with how much there is to do...imo, the more there is to do, the longer you can spend playing the game and getting your money's worth - if it's in sidequests you don't HAVE to do any of it, and maybe it would help to think of it that way! or maybe you just like something with more guidance where you don't have to make as many decisions? either way, a few recommendations!! idk what games you've played previously or what you like (i'm just going off of dislike of pokemon/like of carto, which seems neat btw!) so i'm gonna list a LOT of stuff, hence it goes under a cut. (if this list turns out to be way too long for you to read you can come back w/ more details for a more personalized reclist lol. i LOOOOVE reccing people games it's not a bother i promise. i have a short list at the end just in case!)

for puzzle games: try tetris effect or lumines (pronounced lue min ESS). both are "immersive" with stimulating graphics/sounds that are supposed to help u block out the rest of the world & get sucked in. if you like competitive online play, tetris 99 and pacman 99 are both free with nintendo online membership

for a relaxing sim game, try animal crossing or stardew valley. both have a TON of stuff to do but almost none of it is missable and they're both generally very chill (though i personally enjoyed stardew much more on the pc where i could use a mod to slow the passage of time in-game - it depends on how good of a pc you have.) stardew valley offers more guidance than animal crossing, i think, but with animal crossing it's very easy to literally just get on there and fuck around and do nothing - eventually, in your routine of daily tasks (watering your flowers, talking to your neighbors, etc) something to do will just spontaneously throw itself in your path.

if you like more streamlined experiences and don't mind fast gameplay that needs a bit of reflexes, mario kart might be a good choice. it's a racing game but there's no big overworld or anything to tackle, just race after race until you're done. similarly, smash bros - there is technically an overworld involved in unlocking characters, but if you like fighting it's just a bunch of different matchups. both also have multiplayer modes!

also, if you don't mind difficult gameplay/dying a lot, ori and the blind forest and shovel knight are both on switch, along with (i think) the various sequels. they're "metroidvania" style games that involve a lot of map-checking and backtracking and they're hard as FUCK (shovel knight kicked my ass) but generally there's not too many sidequests involved. tbh i do not like being frustrated when i play games so i did not Love shovel knight but it is fun and you can be a gay and trans if you want to. i haven't played ori but i've watched a playthrough and the story is really good and the music is to die for

if you want an adventure game without a big open (overwhelming) world, the zelda games will probably be more your speed. there's generally a good balance of exploration/fighting/puzzle-solving, and they aren't terribly difficult, but aside from the newest one (breath of the wild) they're generally pretty linear and good about telling you what to do next. skyward sword is available on the switch and it's the first one chronologically so you could maybe start there if you wanted the full 3D home console experience (and it's sort of infamous for being a very linear and streamlined experience, for better or worse). if you want something a little less complex you can try link's awakening, since it has a more simple top-down perspective (like pokemon) - the graphics are really cute too, a little like carto. link's awakening involves more aimless exploration but skyward sword might be a litle more difficult to play - some people find the motion controls frustrating there's also a zelda rhythm game called cadence of hyrule which i loved, but it might hit harder if you've already played a game or two. if you like zelda, you may also like okami - it's an adventure game heavily inspired by the zelda gameplay mechanics that employs japanese folklore in the setting/story

if you like "simple" (read: older) games, you can pay $20 a year for a nintendo online membership (criminally low compared to competitors) to get access to emulated nes and snes games. the basic membership with the n64 games i wouldn't pay for unless you're just dying to play some of the games on the list - it's too expensive and the ports are bad - but the nes and snes ports work really well and you can play the original legend of zelda on the nes and a link to the past on snes. there's also a ton of other little games and classics included, like mario, donkey kong, kirby, kid icarus, starfox, ice climbers, ballon fight, yoshi's island, etc.

nintendo's star franchise is obviously mario - i haven't played mario odyssey, but i can vouch for super mario world + bowser's fury. it's a two-game bundle, and while you may find bowser's fury too open (it's a small world that opens up bit by bit, but it is something you have to run around in), 3D world is a very guided experience where you just do one stage after another. new super mario bros u is another one-stage-at-a-time mario game - i played that one when it came out & loved it (though in 3D you can run around freely, and i think super mario U is limited to the x and y axis - it depends on ur preference). to my knowledge oth have co-op modes so you can play with your sister or whoever else is around! mario + rabbids is also great - it's a strategy game, which are normally not my speed, but it was made with so much love i couldn't not enjoy it. again, a very linear experience! also, i cannot vouch for it personally, but i hear the newest mario party game is VERY good - they're essentially board games that have minigames included. if you have friends or relatives to play with it is a riotous time, assuming none of you declare open warfare on one another. (i also hear paper mario origami king is very good, but i haven't played a paper mario in years so i can't vouch for it personally either. it does seem to have rpg elements though!)

and finally, rpgs themselves! i don't know what you've played or what other stuff you've had access to, but a lot of classic rpgs have been ported to the switch. no, they aren't the best, smoothest ports - most of them were designed for the playstation consoles - but if you don't have another way to play them and it's your first time, you probably won't notice the difference, and it's a great way to get classics under your belt. pokemon games are technically rpgs, so gameplaywise they're in the same ballpark, but final fantasy games for example tend to have a strong story/character development angle. ff7, ff8, ff9, ff10/10-2, ff12, and the trilogy of ff13 (my personal fav, and it's a VERY linear experience w/ few sidequests) have all been ported! kingdom hearts is there too if you don't mind something extremely stupid that's going to be a huge timesink. and, of course, the MOTHER of all indie rpgs, undertale, is on the switch. short, linear, hilarious, heartwarming, with a huge replay value and it's one of the best games ever made - there's also deltarune, which is COMPLETELY FREE, another game in the series, and just as good (but only the first 2 chapters are out; we'll be asked to cough up some cash when the whole game is ready).

oh, and one last thing...katamari damacy isn't an rpg, but it's another famous game that got ported to the switch and it's great. very linear, extremely fucking weird/"quirky" and funny! if you like weird games you might also like "untitled goose game" which is another riot.

okay, that's everything i can think of. HERE'S THE SHORTLIST of games i think you're most likely to enjoy, in no particular order: animal crossing, link's awakening and/or skyward sword, nes/snes online (particularly dr mario), katamari damacy, new super mario bros U and/or 3D world, okami, undertale & deltarune, and final fantasy xiii (though i'm a little biased on that last point). and, of course, pokemon snap <3

sorry, that got a lot longer than i meant for it to...at any rate, i hope you get that switch and have a lot of fun on it! the AAA games get the most attention but as you can see the library is literally So Huge!!!

[starlightshore]

im kinda want to get into this sort of thing so is it okay to ask u a few questions? if not just delete this, but here goes? would u reccomend game maker studio 2, and how hard is it to use in ur opinion? and is there anything u wish u knew at the beginning of making ur fangame?

aw anon you’re so sweet! don’t worry about asking about this, its really exciting to make games and trying new things! i would not say i’m an expert, and i wouldn’t even say i know gml like. at all. i just understand a how the code is used, but now what the code itself is or what to type exactly. like, i understand the theory more so than actually doing it. which is, eh, fine? i’m getting by, and i’m still learning. i’ve only been using gms 2 for 2 months now.

also, i’m using a fangame engine! i feel its kinda like cheating lmao, but its just meant to be a framework to build your own thing off of. and i still need to learn gms2 to use it, and i plan on doing more advanced and complicated things (ie: changing how battles even work structurally.) so. i’m not good at gsm2 yet, but uh, really once you understand coding its not any harder than i’d imagine w/ other professional game engines. compared to unity, i like this better because it seems built on the idea of making 2d sprite games. its SO much more simpler and the userface (while. i’m not a fan of how it has its workspace but whatever) is simple and easy to grasp.

i can’t say for certain if i recommend game maker. its very pricey and doesn’t go on sale often. (big sales i mean, it goes on 15% somewhat frequently) i really, really recommend doing your research first. 

so here i talk about what game engines i’ve used over the last year. (also i hear Godot is good!)

at the end of that post i said this: “TLDR; figure out what kind of game and story you want to tell/make. i could of saved a year’s worth of work if i just sat myself down and realized i wanted to make a completely new fangame separate from my old blog stuff. and that i wanted to make an rpg specifically.“

and so! past me has good advice. figure out the scope and what story do you want to tell. with AL, I know it has 2 chapters, and rn i’m only concentrating on chapter 1. chp 1 has 7 nights and one area where you fight enemies. its very story/character driven and is more so like. a deconstruction of the rpg genre than an actual rpg game. (i know that the word deconstruction is over used as hell, but it is what this is.)

it builds off the themes of the original, while focusing on things that i want to focus on and develop. ut, at it’s heart, is about stories and grief, i’m just taking it to a different extreme and angle.

uh, anyway, i really wish i knew what i wanted to make and understood the source material more and what i wanted to make. i’ve. thought really really hard over what UT means, what message toby was trying to convey, how he did it and what I thought about it. understanding what YOU want from and for your project is the most important thing. WHY do you want to make this? WHAT do you want people to feel and think about when playing? or even, after playing? it doesn’t have to be super deep either.

so, figure out what you what to make, and then you can work on the how. really plan your story, but honestly i wouldn’t recommend planning it in super big details right off. also, super helpful to have a friend help you brainstorm and plot check things for you. (shout out to my friend the sniffer

anyway, don’t plan things TOO detailed because things are GOING to change no matter how well you plan! just try to get get an outline done, then rewrite it 5 more times and then MAYBE you’ll be ready to tackle a more detailed version. then write it 5 more times. i can’t stress enough how important planning is, and how you shouldn’t expect everything to work out even on draft 10! things will work, and when they do, draft 10 is going to look like bad awful nonsense cause you’re at draft 20 now and everything is much more coherent and better. games aren’t written or consumed all at once on the fly. its not a piece of fanart, a fanfic, a comic. its not updated more than once. its out, and then its just out. plan for it.

and real quick, don’t worry about art assets! depending on how you do the art, that’s most likely going to change and its going to be polished LAST. i could go more into how you should think of art when game developing, but thats another topic. just. honestly use shitty art assets and worry about it later.

kris’ place holder sprite for deltarune ^ it don’t need to be pretty, it needs to be practical.

second advice: start SMALL!!! i feel i should of done this, and frankly i probably will have to sit down and do this lmao, basically, you should make boring small games to learn the basics. I know, i know, nobody really wants to recreate asteroid when you got big ideas of making stories and animations u wanna make. but like. you really need to figure out how the program works and how the code works in theory and practice.

ok so like, think of coding like this. i got this from a skillshare video series, so uh. i’m going to retell this but in a shittier and likely less nuanced way. sorry

ok so imagine. you’re telling this guy who is trying to get to Gary’s house. now, Gary’s house is just down the road, few houses down, now, you can tell this guy that and he’ll likely find the house just fine. but if you’re telling a robot it’s not going to understand what “down the road” means. what road? how long? it needs instructions that are simple and work in a language it understands.

so you tell the robot “go down two houses, stop at sign until x seconds pass, turn right, go forward 1 house, turn ect. stop at house, ring doorbell. IF Gary answers, go inside; ELSE: do not go inside, wait;

so this what i mean by understanding the theory behind the code rather than the code itself. yes there’s complexities and differences in each language, but they’re ALL based on the same concepts. different program languages are less like different speech languages, but rather different dialects of the same. (uh, like us english vs uk english) its just different rules and “spellings” of the same core concepts.

next advice: don’t be afraid to ask for help! but also! do so within reason! if people are OPEN for helping, be sure do so in the right environment and within what time works for them. compensate people for the time and effort if you can. ALWAYS try to figure out the solution yourself first. often with coding, it can be a simple solution that you could of thought of yourself if you took the initiative to. google is your friend, youtube is your friend! (ok, youtube isn’t, but in this case! yes!) the answer might not always be easy to find, and its perfectly fine to look for help but its good to at least try on your own first!

speaking of which! LEARN LEARN LEARN! be ready to devote A LOT of time to watching and reading about game development. this goes to every game making program, not just gms2. i watch. so many videos on gms. i rec having the video play at 1.5x or 2x speed to cut down time. obvs you still need to retain the information, so speed might be not a good idea then. and its REALLY GOOD to pause and type out the code and follow along. but its also good to just understand the concepts, and theres no harm in rewatching once you’ve understood it  better at a different speed.

things WILL click and work out for you, and its going to be a very time consuming and long journey to get there. i LOVE making this game and telling this story but I also had no idea what i was getting into! and i probably will have more advice once i’m further in, (i’ve only used gms 2 for 2 months!) but thats the best i can say for now! i hope you pursue your dreams and start making things!!! you can do it!!! 

the best time to start is yesterday, the second best time is right now! even if you put a little effort into it everyday, you’ll  build up progress and you can learn SO MUCH over time and theres this whole world of possibilities out there! the world NEEDS your story and your perspective, and i think creating it in anyway you can is necessary for humanity! your work will mean something to someone someday, and i am so excited for you to start your journey!

[lemongogo]

1 The packs i recommend are get to work nd island living ! but only on sale not worth 40 bucks AT ALL but theyre the ones i got the most out of like it took me a while to get bored of the different careers in GTW (not a lot of good clothes/furniture tho) island living is v pretty to look at some cool clothes/furniture (but look them up on ea b4 buying to see if u like them) IL also introduces some cool stuff like a new career, odd & part time jobs, diving, the only thing is there’s not much

2 to the mermaid system. honestly quite cool tho 20 bucks is still a bit steep (maybe im just cheap haha) but theyre the fullest ones imo the other two i have are get together and realm of magic and these are EMPTY like you get cool clothes and furniture in GT + a pretty new town but it adds almost nothing in terms of gameplay. As for ROM it is a game pack on sale its 15€ but the magic system is quite boring nd the “magic” world is empty. I heard city living and university were cool but i havent

3 tried them. I checked and the packs are still on sale if you're interested. As for mods there is a sorcerer one by triplis that imo has a more interesting magic system than ROM. That’s the best one i can think of rn i just use a lot of custom clothing other than that but if u want ill let you know if i find any v good ones ! sorry for the length but if you happen to spend your money off my rec i wanna be VERY clear on what you’re gonna get hjnbhsdb

oh also sorry for the nth ask but i forgot to answer abt how i play i mostly build different houses and create different sims and imagine stories for them so much so that i call them characters in my head but yeah i dont tend to spend a lot of time in live mode except when i just got an expansion pack

omg thank u so much.. and YEAH DSJFSJDF i usually let myself dream about the sims being a functional game for a few minutes before going back 2 the base and just dealing w what ive got AHAHA. like its nice 2 think about the small things u’d get from the exppacks, but as u said its still pretty Bare. but i appreciate the advice !! i feel like some of the mods out there do a better job adding content to the game than the actual packs do KJSNDFLSF like how can u introduce a magic sys in one pack but add relatively nothing new 2 the gameplay. the audacity luv...........

and YEAHKH i’ll spend all this time creating a character, going thru this whole process, and then once i finally start the game i j

[tempolarriefix]

tag game

I was tagged by my writing buddy @hogwartzlou to do this - thank you for thinking of me!

Rules: answer 20 questions and tag 20 people you want to get to know better

1. Name: Serena

2. Nickname: actually, I don’t really have one. Everyone calls me Serena.

3. Zodiac: Cancer

4. Height 5’3”

5. Languages: English, a bit of Thai, and a teensy bit of Spanish.

6. Nationality: American

7. Fav season: Summer

8. Fav flower: tbh, I have no idea. we did a flower sale at my uni once to fundraise for cancer patients and the flowers we sold were sooo pretty and i remember someone saying they were their mom’s favorite flower and thinking to myself that they might be my favorite now, too. But... I don’t remember what they’re called hahaha.

9: Fav scent: omg before i read alexa’s answer to this, i was definitely thinking of food. I’m still gonna go with that. The smell when you first walk into an ice cream shop? that’s it.

10. Fav color: blue. once in high school, someone told me they didnt recognize me wearing yellow bc back then i wore blue basically every day. I wear more colors now, but blue still has a special place in my heart.

11. Fav animal: i am literally so indecisive i will probably panic and say a different animal every time you ask me this. today, i’ll go with penguins.

12. Fav fictional character: hard to pick a favorite but the fictional character who i relate to most is probably leslie from parks n rec so i’ll say that.

13. Coffee tea or hot chock? hot chocolate always. coffee is for days when i am stressed and exhausted haha.

14. Average hours of sleep: usually i try for 8 but it is finals week so its been more like 6-7

15. Cat of dog person? can i say both?

16. Number of blankets I sleep with: 2 but then when i have a guest over i’ll only sleep with one bc i give them the other & this has taught me that i really have no need for both myself.

17. Dream vacation: norway & getting lucky enough to see the northern lights while there

18. Blog established: i think there’s a website you can use to check this but that’s too much effort for me rn. idk tbh. probably like 2013? 

19. Number of followers: 1,369

20. Random fact: i have a veryyyy extreme sweet tooth

i’m just going to tag whoever comes to mind and if it’s not 20 people - which it definitely won’t be - then oh well! if you’d like to do this, i tag @allwaswell16 @lululawrence @prncspark @forreveries @ferricadooza @nauticalleeds @lightwoodsmagic @bottomlinsons @exquisitetrouble @indiaalphawhiskey @harryeatsburger @hsmp3 @lxvelylouis & anyone else who would like to do this.

[thebibliosphere]

hey sorry I'm sure you're tired of answering questions about essential oils, but my mom is really into doTERRA (like she's going to conferences and things) and the company says that a lot of their products are safe to ingest. she's genuinely trying to help people, so I don't know how to convince her she could be hurting them in the long run (and that she's part of a pyramid scheme). Any advice? thanks!

Unfortunately doTERRA do what they do extremely well in ensnaring people into their harmful bullshit. Most cults are. This article written by Kayla Fioravanti is really helpful about how to identify when you’re actually in a MLM (Multi Level Marketing) cult: https://kaylafioravanti.com/twelve-signs-cult/

She speaks from the experience of being a former sales rep for an MLM cult and having escaped one. Her website also has a lot of links and resources to helpful articles and books.

If you’re mom wants to make a career out of something like this, and really truly wants to help people, I would push her towards looking into becoming involved with the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy https://naha.org/, which has links to credible schools, resources, journals, and even has a store of their own for books and some misc other stuff.

It’s not as easy as going to a doTERRA conference and being sold thousands of dollars of oils and being told you can save the world and run your own business from home, but in the long run it’ll give her a solid foundation of knowledge, contacts and resources to buy credible oils from to actually run her own business if she ever wanted to.

A good book if you can get your hands on it is also by Robert Tisserand, Essential Oil Safety: A Guide for Healthcare Practitioners. It’s way more expensive than most other “how to use essential oil books” because well, it’s effectively a medical journal and goes into extreme detail about the safety of using essential oils. Foremost among them “do not drink them”. I honestly feel it should be required reading for everyone who wants to work with essential oils. But then I’d also like a million dollars and functional immune system.

There’s even the Tisserand Institute, where you can take online courses, and he even makes some of his things for free so that people have access to them and don’t hurt themselves. https://tisserandinstitute.org/safety/

I think he’s running a free webinar this month too, so if you can get the time zones to match up, maybe get her interested in that and let her know you’ve been doing your own research and that this guy is profoundly more ethical than doTERRA, which have been linked to several controversies like their oils not being ethically sourced and also evidence that shows their oils are adulterated and test positive as synthetics when tested by independent non affiliated labs.

And here’s the thing about that, I used to be able to google search for that term, and come up with a lot of results. But a lot of those sources are now gone. They’ve been scrubbed clean, which, y’know, if you read the “12 signs you might be in a cult” link, you’ll know is one of the primary warning signs. (So if anyone still has those links, please hit me up cause I cannot find them rn.)

A naturopath who is known to me, Katherine Maslen, also talks about how much of a scam they are. And while I disagree with her on some points (re: taking small doses of essential oil internally) I agree with pretty much the entire sentiment that doTERRA, Young Living and MLM companies like them, basically sat around a big table and decided people weren’t buying enough of their oils, so a great way to get around this was to tell people it was totally safe and totally good for you to just take a sip babes.

https://katherinemaslen.com/essential-oil-lies-what-you-need-to-know-about-doterra-and-young-living/

So again I’m going to rec getting her to look into a NAHA approved school if she’s dead set on helping people, and also maybe checking out the Tisserand Institute site. I learned a lot from him when I was first starting out. And as I’ve said in the past, I gain nothing from recommending him. I very purposefully do not post to any of his stuff using my affiliate accounts because I do not want to sell you something. I just want you to be safe. Which he does too, which is why he does a lot of things for free.

Best of luck with your mom. And heck, tell if her she wants another adult to talk to who actually has done holistic work in the past (though mostly retired from it now) I’m open to chatting. MLM cults are extremely effective at isolating people from their support groups and their families. They train them to perceive all concerns as baseless criticism, and that only they believe in your true potential. You just need to pay them money.

[viir-tanadhal]

hey!! all this dragon age art is really cool!! do you have any recs for where to start in the series (i did get origins on sale a lil while back, couldn't really get into it)

Heads up right away, this is going to be a long ass post, sorry!

If you have any questions feel free to ask me btw or if you need something clarified, I know this is long and kind of all over the place!

First off, I had the same problem getting into Dragon Age. I tried playing Origins because I was interested in the gameplay of friending and romancing your companions, LGBTQ+ characters, being able to make choices that effect the world, and the fantasy setting. However, I got too bored and decided to skip ahead and play DA2.

DA2 is obviously lacking in terms of content, story, no different races for main character, and settings (reused dungeons galore!) but I also think it is very solid in delivering the information and lore of the world in interesting ways and the characters are all interesting and compelling. Plus, it is easy to finish the main game in 24 hours so it’s a nice, quick introduction. The combat is much sleeker and easier to use and the skill/spell trees make picking the different combat options for your character a lot easier and understandable. Now, there are certain parts of DA2 that correspond to you having knowledge of the events and lore tidbits of DAO, but that didn’t bother me as much when I first played it, and you can always search up any context!

However, while I think that DA2 can be a great introduction to people seeking to play the Dragon Age series, I would recommend not completely skipping Origins unless it just doesn’t interest you enough. The combat can be wonky and put people off–it did for me– but after a few playthroughs you do get used to the turn-style combat. Going into Origins with some aspects of the lore and questions I had from DA2 can help engage you in the story a lot more and be like “oh, so that’s why so and so thinks this!” or “Oh, that’s why this happened!” 

I also understand that there are parts that can seem uninteresting and too long and I’ll go into that:

The Fade and the Deep Roads are honestly super long and very drawn out with not much going on and can be frustrating! Thankfully some awesome people have created mods where you can skip these sections:

Skip the Fade: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/816

Shortcut thru the Deep Roads: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4560/

While I totally recommend Skip the Fade, I would recommend doing the entire Deep Roads for your first playthrough, because there are some interesting and truly horrifying parts in the quest. However, after your first playthrough, definitely get the mod.

You could start Inquisition as your first game, and I know some people have, and it is definitely a viable option with the improved combat, graphics, etc. However, going into Inquisition with knowledge of the last two games can really help you understand the small things in the game and lore aspects that come up. You can totally just not, but I think knowing a lot about the world makes some of the lore reveals and other themes in the game have a bigger impact (aka why the hype for DA4 is so strong rn with you know who).

If you decide that, finally, Origins is not for you, but you want to have decisions from that game impact DA2, DAI, and soon DA4, Bioware has a website called The Dragon Age Keep where you can select and input your choices for certain major decisions in the games. Some of these decisions do need context, but I’m sure there are posts or videos that explain some of these!

In terms of DLC, the more important ones for each game would be:

Origins: The Stone Prisoner, Dragon Age: Awakening, and Witch Hunt

DA2: Legacy

DAI: Jaws of Hakkon, The Descent, and especially Trespasser (although a DLC it is pretty much the true ending of Inquisition)—-> GOTY edition has all of these!

And, if you happen to find you are more interested in the lore than the gameplay, I highly recommend Ghil Dirthalen on YouTube! She makes great lore videos and has multiple videos that go into depth about certain themes or groups or ideas in the Dragon Age universe that can help you better understand certain parts or help develop your opinions! Also, on the channel Codex Added, she and another youtuber The Exalted March are doing a funny and crazily modded Inquisition playthrough. 

What is also great is that Ghil Dirthalen is doing a playthrough on Codex Added of her canon playthroughs for the three Dragon Age games and has currently been livestreaming her canon decisions for Origins! I totally recommend watching this if you can’t get into Origins and might want to watch someone play the game who knows what they are doing and there are some great people that join the streams!

And, finally, there are other types of Dragon Age content outside of the games. There are currently five books out that depict scenes outside of the main games: Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne, Dragon Age: The Calling, Dragon Age: Asunder, Dragon Age: Last Flight, and Dragon Age: The Masked Empire. 

I have only read The Masked Empire and know for certain that it and Asunder take place right before Inquisition but otherwise I don’t know the chronology for the other books.

There are also comics as well if those might interest you more than the books!

Hopefully this was helpful in some ways, I totally get how Origins can make it hard to get into the series! 

[ponett]

i'm always looking for video game recs (even when my wallet really says i shouldn't and i just stare at my wishlist in steam longingly), but you have really cool opinions and i know you play games, so i was wondering what some of your favourites are? i'd be happy to see your thoughts on any type of game but recommendations for more obscure games are extremely appreciated too!

i mean that’s pretty broad! my favorite games are often popular stuff - your first party nintendo releases, your undertales, your shovel knights. but lemme take a look at my steam library and try to pick out some gems to recommend, since there IS a big sale on there rn

celeste - celeste just came out and is popular but it’s also so good… i enjoy difficult-but-fair platformers like this and vvvvvv and super meat boy and stuff, and i think this has to be my favorite. really accessible (it’s as hard as you want it to be, really), great atmosphere, SHOCKINGLY good and sincere story

crypt of the necrodancer - this also isn’t exactly an obscure game, but it’s my favorite roguelike by far. the rhythm-based gameplay is just too good, and like come on, this game comes with what, five remixes of its own soundtrack, that you can swap to whenever? it’s so cool

dustforce - really underrated platformer with a super chill soundtrack all about fluid movement. you play as a janitor and run around sweeping dust and leaves and whatnot off the surfaces of the platforms. once you get a feel for the movement it’s SO fun

freedom planet - it’s easy to compare this game to sonic, but the limited health and the melee attacks mean this game also has a lot of focus on combat and very very fun boss fights

spark the electric jester - also sonic-esque! this was made by the devs of my favorite sonic fangame ever, sonic after the sequel. it’s super super good - i think it’s kind of underselling it to describe it as “sonic meets kirby” but that’s not a bad way to pitch it

lovely planet - honestly one of my favorite shooters. every level is very short (and rendered in a low-poly, almost katamari-esque art style) and requires you to run through quickly and shoot a small number of enemies precisely. it feels so cool when you nail the midair 360 noscopes they want you to pull off. also that soundtrack

2064: read only memories - a snatcher-esque cyberpunk vn/adventure game with great characters and writing. VERY gay. also lots of fun flavor text from trying to use different items on different things which i live for

creepy castle - super low fidelity but very cute adventure rpg thing. think like, zx spectrum graphics. you play as cute bugs and the combat is done via a series of neat little minigames. very fun writing

diaries of a spaceport janitor - i honestly still… need to play this one. it’s hard to describe, just go check it out

owlboy - GORGEOUS 2d platformer. plays kind of like a sidescrolling zelda, where you can fly around freely and carry around your friends as part of the gameplay. owlboy is just super good y’all

okay that’s actually a lot… uh also i have a backloggery account where you can see like every game i own and what i rated them out of five stars so that might help if you want even more recs

[liu-lang]

I mysteriously lost about 90% of my makeup... I’m mostly sad about all my colourpop eyeshadows. i was so looking forward to doing a valentine’s day / birthday eye look but I don’t have any of my pinks or purples with me. when I first landed in sg I couldn’t find my makeup in my carryon luggage at all. I thought maybe I just forgot to pack it as I was in the midst of panicking while trying get to the aéroport on time. but since I’ve been back, I haven’t been able to find it anywhere in my room or apartment. I didn’t see any aéroport security open my carryon to take stuff out to inspect and if they did I’d think they would alert me ? I went through 3 aéroports so who knows what could have happened when. I’m debating if I should repurchase my favourite palettes (esp. since there’s a site wide 20% sale rn) and have my bf post them to me. you can get colourpop in Beijing bc ofc it’s more expensive ...I did some calculations of purchasing in Beijing versus purchasing in SoCal + shipping and honestly I could get more for my money by doing the latter. please share recs ! personally I only previously bought the yes please & mar palettes & a bunch of supershock & jelly much shadows (still have mar with me)