#its nowhere near the amazing things everyone else has done with communities and stuff | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ordonianhero · 4 years ago

Text

Because of Her

Legend and Twilight Bonding

no warnings needed

3,260 words

Its 3am when I am writing this, so please excuse my messy writing. I get many have strong feelings about their ships within this community. This piece won't be going into that. More so it will explore the character's conflicted feelings about a certain character they had traveled with before they vanished and destroyed the Twilight mirror. One of the links between their world basically. What was Midna to Twilight? Keeping to Jojo's own words and from their various statements about it all. This will be just a conversation that takes place after Legend reveals his own conflicted feeling on the loss of a Gal in his own life. (Some text is copied from things Jojo herself has stated along with text from the comic itself. Linked Universe characters and content belong to Jojo and her amazing work. I will add a citing/source page at the end of the story to where I got text and information.) So I hope you and enjoy? Down this rabbit hole we go.

"Hey don't think you have me figured out! I wasn't always that way."Legend scolded in his small bunny form.T

he rancher just smirked as they walked and then said," Oh yeah? what changed? Really this form is definitely different then how you act." Legend stopped, in shocked of the question and then statement. He looked up at the Rancher who was in front of him, looking down.

He then hopped a bit forward before standing back up and walking on his back paws. He glared, trying to figure out what to say.

"I don't know...I've just been traveling the world to train but.... Maybe it hasn't been all that good for me." he finally replied.

"some bad experiences?"The rancher frowned in concern. Legend stayed quiet. "Places?" the Rancher continued. Nothing. "people?" He tried again. Nothing. They walked slowly, then Twilight paused and turned his attention to the Collector. "a girl?" A girl. Legend looked away and turned his back to the Rancher "I'll never see her again...and it's all my fault."

The Rancher knelt down and places a comforting hand on the back of Legend's head and softly said, "I never wished to share that in common." The veteran didn't fully register yet those words, though they were a comfort to hear. He didn't know why.

The veteran sat down roughly once they had returned to camp. His hair dripping in Pink. Most of the other guys in the camp had their jabs at him. The rancher kept his mouth sealed and just smiled. after the Captain made his own joke about how you should drink your potions not wear it. The leader, the old man seem to be about the only one quick to ask in a caring way if there was something he should know. "No." and with that he was left alone. Once all the joking was done, the topic turned to what everyone had gathered, along with giving everyone a shock when Captain had stated that the Traveler and him had taking on a large group of monsters on their own. "what now?" The oldest leader of the group stated after that statement. "Yeah we found them all." the soft wavy hair Traveler said. "They're tough, but no problem for us. Nothing a potion can't help." he then continued with a flashing smile. The captain brushed his fingers a cross some scratch marks left from the fight. "Sure only after we ate dust a few times." the captain replied to that statement. Smiling and chuckling. Few members of the group gave concerned looks. The captain brushed off his shoulder a bit, which still slightly hurt from being bashed in earlier. His eyes then looked over at sky and he just grinned at the pouting youth, "if only we had some back up." jokingly toward them. "Then don't run off without me." The youth sassed back. Not really in the mood.

With all said, Food was served out to each other by their talented chef and wild one. The topic had turned to what their next move was. They had seemed to finally come into an agreement that they should fix up their weapons for what may come next. which was always a unknown for them. It seemed like these enemies appeared out of nowhere and with a few dull blade and broken ones, probably best they get those taken care of, along with making sure to hit up the town that the Rancher and Four had walked through. No real need to rush out quickly. Legend felt slightly less embarrassed now that the focus was off of him. His mind wandered into the conversation he had had with the rancher earlier. How could this guy know or share such common feeling as he has about losing the most important person in his life, enough that it slightly altered how he was. He eyed the Rancher who was chuckling at something the young sailor who seemed animated about some of the epic fighting The leader and had done while in search for some answers.

The guy is so stoic, humble, and clearly as mischievous in a playful way. A lot like their leader. How could he share such a common with him? A girl? The guy seem to be able to read most of the group like a book. Now that his own suspicions were confirmed, who else knew? Wolfie and the Rancher were the same being? However the whole "girl" thing, and sharing that, had he himself experienced a loss as such? none of the guys really got talkative about that kind of stuff besides Sky and their Leader. The Captain mostly just mentioned how he has had a few women in his life. However the Rancher only once jokingly brought up his heart being broken. Beyond that. Nothing. They all had their secrets. That's fair to say. The chef wasn't shy to sharing stuff. However the rest of the guys, just didn't talk about certain subject. Relationship stuff more so. however what reason was there to talk about that sort of thing?

The night was getting late, each one of them pulled a stick to when they would do a watch in the night. The rest would go to sleep and then wake when needed. For once the Rancher chose to do the last of the watch and with that went off to go sleep beside the horse. Sort of away from the rest of the group. Odd. Legend shrugged. Captain took first watch for the night. Legend just bundled up on his blanket and closed his eyes. slowly drifting off to sleep. His dreams softly washing him back to the time of when he met the fine red head that rescued him that day. A single tear gently escaping his closed eyes and down his cheek. It was all my fault! Twilight's loyal horse companion Epona gently nuzzled him as he laid beside her. He had curled up, his face covered slightly by his blanket. It's amazing how much an animal can sense when something is wrong with their companion. She rested her head near his. Twilight wasn't great at hiding his emotions, however this moment, he wanted no one to see him in this state. Not even the old man. However he knew full well they knew.

Before Time had gone to sleep, he walked over quietly to just check on the pup. He sensed there was something to be said about what happened and why the Veteran's hair was pink. Twilight's facial markings were that from the dark crystal he uses. However there seemed to be something deeper that went on. The fact he chose to sleep away from the group was particularly unlike him. He eyed the bundled up youth. face hidden from view, so he could make out from the little light the camp fire gave out. He wish he knew what ate at him. Though the two often spoke in private and he shared quite a bit with him. there were things he didn't know. He knew as much as the Pup was willing to share of his experiences on his own journey.

In the Morning once everyone was fed a bit of food, then Four, Captain, Sailor, Traveler and Legend are set to fix up the Wild one's sword. and whoever else's blade needed a fixing. Sky went and settled down under the shade of a Tree nearby and pulled out the harp. gently plucking away at the notes. Playing it more drearily then before. Their leader came over listening carefully before saying something about it. He looked over at the youth who still playing "I'm a bit home sick." the sky child solemnly. The Older gentleman softly smiled at the youth. The older hylian then set his blade aside, "no...I don't believe so.....those notes tell a different tale." a single off sounded pluck came from the younger hylian. "I miss her." He finally opened his eyes and looked up at the sky. Then resting his head back and closing his eyes, imagining her beautiful face. he smile. Her laughter. he let out a soft sigh, "Everyday away from her is torture." The elder was off looking in the distance, knowing fully how they felt. Missing his wife was never easy, however he always felt assured he would return home to her. He fidgeted with the ring on his finger slightly. The sky child shifted and looked over at them. "you do, don't you? How do you handle it? How do you handle being so far away from your wife for so long?!" The younger one asked. Time looked over at them at the rush of questions thrown at him. He then moved over closer to the sky child, laughing "oh- the heart of youth."

"ITS TERRABLE!" Sky Pined raising his arms up slightly.

Time leaned over and clapped the lad on the back, as sky rested his head in his hand. "Let age mature you and your heart will calm itself." The elder spoke. Sky was unconvinced and replied "That's good to hear, but what about now?" looking mournfully at them. The elder reach his hand out to them, "well...spend this time while apart to question yourself. Sure, you can swing that sword around and ward of demons. But what are you without it? what are you to her?" Sky's eye widen at the very honest question being asked of him. what am I to her, without this blade?

Twilight had taken to doing some sword practice on his own after he ate. Thinking maybe practicing would help focus and balance his mind from the conversation The veteran and him had the other day. I will never see her again. hit a particular spot for him. He himself wasn't very sure what even was he to Midna when they were together. He knew she was his companion, forcibly by things out of his own control. She wasn't particularly nice to him, however being the person he was. He continued to show her kindness despite all her insensitive way. Often mocking his world, the people, and him. Like somehow her world was by far more superior then his. Though after some time, she actually started to change her views and thoughts of those of the light world and for a moment the two seem to connect. He raised his blade up, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath and letting it out. Centering his mind, blade and body are one. He flourished his sword a bit, before getting into a stance and focused once more. Then moving in quickly for a jab, next moving fluidly of to do a side swipe. He stumbled a bit. shit, not focused enough. come on. focus.

Legend walked in just as it seemed the Rancher was swearing at himself it seemed. Stumbling a bit doing what? Meditative sword work? Sure the guy was a good swordsman in their group. That was no doubt about that. Just seeing him like this though? He stood there a bit more, seeing that the ever so quick to noticed something was off Ranch hand was in another realm in itself. The way they handled their sword, was one that very unique. it was like it was one with him. However right now, kind of looked like he was trying to hack and slash at annoying little bugs. He smirked. "I think I'd leave the fancy foot work to the Captain." He joking stated, to grab the older youth's attention. Rancher looked over, the blade in his right hand and the glare across his face. "Right." he muttered. Legend back up slightly, "whoa there. Sorry." Twilight sighed and sheathed his sword. He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "I am sorry. was just trying to center myself like the smith suggested. However right now, that is not easy task." He crossed his arms in frustration at himself. The smith seem to know how to truly balance himself. There was a time where he himself could do it without a thought. Now, with being around all the others and them sharing their own experiences. He had so much running through his mind. Though in battle he usually didn't let interfere with what he was doing. Usually, that's because his job is to protect the group like how he was so focused on protecting people he cared about. These eight members were like a whole line of family to him.

"You are so out of sorts, after the little talk we had the other day. what happened to the whole 'that's a wound for another day.' motto." The veteran said giving Rancher a worried look. "I sense this has nothing to do with your 'dark magic' thing now, but about a whole slew of stuff. one being about sharing a common sense of losing someone." The Rancher's lips were tightly shut, jaw clenched. He let out a long exhale out his nose. "I don't know what to think at the moment, if I am quite honest."

what were we? She's not returning He had a lot of mixed feeling. Legend stood there quietly watching as he watched the Rancher's eyes seem to dart about as if he was working something out in his mind, then grow in to a almost frustrated look at time. Who was this someone he lose to get him all worked up? Legend sighed. he moved forward and placed his hand gently on Twilight's arm. "Look, you helped me out the other day. I think this wound or whatever you are processing, need to be addressed a bit. You don't have to get into much of it, just enough for me to understand." The Rancher softly smiled and let out a sigh. "Fair enough." he replied. The both took a seat on the ground. Twilight searched to how to explain what Midna was and who she was. "So, I may have joked about having a broken heart. I may say that wasn't in part of anything romantic. Matter fact I don't honestly know what to think of what I was to this person. One, she was a Princess from another realm all together. Two, I am a nobody really." a nobody, if that was he thought of himself? Legend thought as he listened closely. a quiet pause, the rancher rubbed and tugged at the tension on his shoulders.

"when I first was introduced this the princess, she was in a form not of herself. She was full of bitterness for our world and mainly had her own agenda. I at first kind of fought with her, however after some time I felt it better to just kill her with kindness. She soften after some time and had a major change of feeling after some time. We bonded fairly closely. Almost like a tight friendship at the least. However more of the mutual agreement we were helping each other. To return our worlds to its rightful ways. when all was said and done, her true identity revealed. Like you, her true form was far more stunning then I had imagined. She then left. sure she wanted to say some parting words to me, but instead she just said 'see you later' shattering the gateway to both our worlds. I was left with this empty feeling." He placed a hand to his chest. He let his hand fall back to his lap. His companion is what we share in common then? thought quietly to himself. this was the most open the Rancher had been about something. what was he to say?

Sky after having such deep conversation with their leader is wondered by pure accident into the Rancher and Veteran seeming to have a very heartfelt conversation. He stayed back a bit. Twilight seem to be at war over something to do with his guide is what he sensed, but the way he talked out them. it sound as though the bond between the two was rather close and He was conflicted on his personal feeling about them. after a bit of awkwardly plucking at the grass Legend cleared his throat. "sound like she never left you with anything to say anything more of what you two were. that sound pretty frustrating and I am sure she had her reasons. Sure you could ask yourself a million what ifs. However at the end of the day it seems like this, she knew something through the kindness you had shown that she really couldn't return that back. also smashing the gateway to each other's worlds probably for the better then have something like what happened ever happen again." Twilight looked at Legend and nodded. "I think I have to agree with you on that." he replied. "That doesn't make you a nobody though. I am sure she hold you close in her thoughts and thankful in the end for all you had done. However there was not much of anything else." Legend finished. Twilight softly smiled at the veteran. "thank you." Legend smiled back and then stretched. "I think its best we get back to the others."

"I think that's a good plan." The rancher got up, he lent a hand out to help the veteran up. which he playfully smacked away, "I am not busted like the old man." as he got up. they both just chuckled as they dusted off and walked their way back to camp. Sky then showed himself as they made their way back. Causing Both of them to draw their swords. "Hylia!" barked Twilight. "Scared us there little bird." he said as he stored his sword away. "sorry didn't mean too." his hands up ready to block. Legend shook his head and sheathed his own sword and flung and arm around Sky, "You you ease dropping on Rancher and I?" the veteran ruffled sky's hair a bit as he held him in a head lock. "n-no, no ease droppin', I was just bird watching." Twilight and Legend eyed each other and laughed. "Okay then."They said in unison. The three of them walking on back to the Camp. "so what you thinking the others maybe up too?" asked sky. "Oh Goddesses for bit anything too intense. I could do with some light hearted discussions right now." Twilight stated. "Yeah wouldn't want anymore past related topic to pop up. like split timelines or some sort." Legend Jokingly added. "Right." the three of them laughed.

-fin-

Sources:

characters from- @linkeduniverse @jojo56830

copied text:

“Its complicated”

A girl

“Its Terrible”

“enemy within”

Jojo: “There will be some sweet hearts in lu eventually. All other relations major or minor characters alike are about Family Friendship and community. Not shipping. not shipping wars.”

note: with this, I am keeping to her request. Midna shall not be making an appearance in her comic nor in my stories. Midna has left and that’s that. She maybe brought up in conversations. Other wise. she is not magically showing up. please respect the creators wishes.

35 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 4 years ago

Text

Why Pokémon Has Endured For 25 Years

https://ift.tt/3aGzdnP

This article is presented by:

In 1996, Joseph Tobin was a professor of early education at the University of Hawaii when he decided to walk into a hobby store in Kaimuki for field research.

“They had some Pokémon stuff—the Japanese versions of the cartridges,” Tobin recalls. “People could buy them in this store before they were even available elsewhere. We interviewed the owner and decided that Pokémon would be a really interesting thing to study.”

Tobin had a pre-existing interest in Japanese culture from time spent in Japan as an exchange student and therefore continued his research in other hobby shops and toy stores throughout Honolulu. As the years progressed, he traded Pokémon cards with children who were adamant that he would not get ripped off in lopsided swaps. He followed as a colleague’s six-year-old son spent 90-plus hours with his Pokémon Blue cartridge for the Nintendo Game Boy, learning to read, understanding maps, and calculating sums in the process.

The years of Poké studies culminated in Tobin hosting an academic conference in 2000, where educators, anthropologists, and other cultural experts gathered in Honolulu to discuss this massive, yet certainly fleeting, Pokémon phenomenon. The findings and arguments of the conference were collected in the insightful and thoroughly-researched, yet tragically named, Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon.

“We thought we better hurry and get this out before the craze is over,” Tobin says.

25 years later and the Pokémon craze is nowhere near over.

Today, Pokémon is one of the most successful, if not the most successful entertainment entities in human history. Pokémon is the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, having taken in an estimated $88 billion in revenue. According to eBay, there were 160 million searches on the platform for Pokémon cards last year, and they outsold even baseball cards. In December of last year, a Base set 1st edition PSA-graded 10 “shadowless” Charizard card sold on eBay for a staggering $350,100. The Pokémon games are now in their eighth generation and have sold over 340 million units. The long-running anime is in its 24th year and features more than 1,100 episodes.

In defense of Tobin and The Rise and Fall of Pokémon’s title, the franchise, created by Game Freak and Nintendo, did seem like it was on the ropes in the early 2000s. “Pokémania” had largely died out and financial markers like the Pokémon card market had cooled. But Pokémon didn’t need a lengthy Pokémania to become one of the most successful entertainment franchises ever. To find success, all Pokémon needed was a consistent track record of innovative creators behind the scenes and a dedicated fan base of children—and eventually adults—willing to catch them all.

“This will probably be something you hear from me and the rest of the team at Pokémon a lot. But Pokémon really is for everyone,” says Daniel Benkwitt, Senior Manager, Communications & Public Relations for The Pokémon Company International. “As long time fans will tell you, Pokémon has always been around throughout many iterations. The fans have been dedicated to Pokémon for 25 years, no matter when they came in.”

Benkwitt has a unique perspective on the nature of Pokémon’s ebbs and flows. Now working on the franchise’s 25th-anniversary celebrations, Benkwitt joined the Pokémon Company during Pokémon’s 20th anniversary—the same year that the massively popular augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go debuted.

“I was excited to work on an exciting franchise, but who knew what it was actually going to be once Pokémon Go had launched?” he says. “Truly, Pokémon Go on the 20th anniversary brought Pokémon back into the zeitgeist.”

In many ways, Pokémon Go served as a reminder of what the Poké die-hards already knew: this is Pikachu’s world and we’re just living in it. Whether it be through the series of beloved games, a highly successful card game, long-running anime, or sheer power of brand alone, Pokémon is one of the last quarter century’s big pop culture winners.

The reasons why Pokémon survived its early fad status to blossom into a titan of entertainment are varied and innumerable, but it all starts with accessibility.

“There’s a variety of different ways and different touchpoints that fans can enter into Pokémon. My personal story is the anime,” Benkwitt says. “For a lot of folks, it was the video games, because that truly is the core of the franchise. Everything emanates out from there.”

Let the Poké Games Begin!

Pokémon Red and Green first premiered in Japan on Feb. 27, 1996. Its English counterparts, Red and Blue, would arrive in North America in 1998. Just about everything that’s appealing about the Pokémon franchise is apparent in those first two installments: exploration, training, trading, battling. The games capture creator Satoshi Tajiri’s experience of collecting insects as a boy in Japan, scaled up and fine-tuned for a larger, and eventually more Western audience.

The games have evolved over the years, moving from a Matrix-green original Game Boy sprite display to the gorgeous, full-color three dimensions of Nintendo Switch. Along the way, new generations of fans have found their respective access points into the games and the franchise at large.

Pokémon content creator Ron Sroor is part of the next wave of Pokémon fandom, having been born after Red and Blue even debuted. He knows as well as anyone that the appeal of Pokémon has been constant, even if the heights of the franchise have waxed and waned.

“To the people who were around at the beginning of Pokémania, it seemed like it was dying down, and it definitely was,” Sroor says. “But it never stopped being big. It was going from the biggest thing ever to just a normal, big thing.”

Like Benkwitt, Sroor came to Pokémon through the anime before coming to appreciate the larger tapestry of the franchise through the Pokémon Black and White games, which are set in a world approximating his native New York City. Now Sroor interacts with Pokémon fans via a variety of creative YouTube videos in which he discusses elements of the games like tier lists for powerful Pokémon, and shares his own artistic Pokémon renditions.

“I think the Pokémon are the draw of the franchise. They’re the perfect formula for creating creatures that aren’t too monstrous, but also not too childish or too cute,” he says. “Every single Pokémon is based on something, whether it be an animal or myth, and every location in the game or in the show or whatever is based on places in the real world.”

Cardboard Craze

Though the Pokémon series of games were the progenitor of the franchise, Pikachu and friends quickly proved too big to be contained by only one medium. The Pokémon Trading Card Game was first published by Wizards of the Coast in October 1996, just eight months after Red and Blue’s debut. These days, the Pokémon Trading Card Game (now under the auspices of The Pokémon Company) is considered one of the “Big Three” TCGs, alongside Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Competitive Pokémon TCG player Andrew Mahone recalls experiencing the first wave of Pokemania when he was in fourth grade.

“1999—it was everywhere. Kids were playing the cards at recess, at the pool, wherever we went. I got captivated by the initial craze as it was the cultural phenomenon happening at the time. And being 10 years old, you’re the same age as the hero in the Pokémon franchise. So it really hit home with me there.”

Like many other kids of his generation, Mahone set Pokémon aside throughout his high school years and picked up a diverse array of other interests like soccer, skateboarding, and competitive running. It was during college, however, that Mahone met back up with the franchise that never truly went away, playing Pokémon Diamond and Pearl on the bus to and from track meets.

Sponsored

The Best Pokémon TCG Decks for Players Cup

By Anthony McGlynn

“I fell in love with the franchise all over again doing that, and I played the DS game for hundreds of hours throughout my college career. When I graduated college, that’s when I was like, ‘Okay. Well, now I want something else that’s competitive to do now that I’m done with sports.’ That’s where I got into competitive Pokémon.”

Mahone attended his first competitive TCG event in 2012 and won his first regional championship in 2015. By 2017, he was making YouTube videos about the competitive Pokémon TCG scene. That channel has now evolved into his multimedia enterprise Tricky Gym, supported by Full Grip Games.

As part of the Pokémon TCG diaspora, Mahone has had a front-row seat to the game’s latest renaissance, this time likely driven by young adults looking to connect with their past while stuck indoors due to COVID lockdowns.

“We see a lot of young adults now in their mid-20s and 30s revisiting Pokémon because they have such strong nostalgic feelings for it. It came out in this very impactful time in their early childhood.”

I Wanna Be the Very Best…

One of the reasons that so many adults have warm fuzzies for the franchise is the storytelling around it. Premiering in 1997, the anime story of Ash Ketchum and his quest to become a Pokémon master has been a constant companion of the franchise through 24 years and hundreds of episodes. It also had a tremendous impact on the woman who would one day voice the young hero of Pallet Town.

“It was hard for me even as a kid to see it as a fad, because of the show,” Sarah Natochenny says. “It had heart, relatable characters, and adorable, unique creatures. This wasn’t just a game or set of toys. Pokémon had a story.”

Natochenny is an artist with eclectic talents and interests. After winning a bronze medal at the Junior Olympics in rhythmic gymnastics in 1999, she studied at the Strasberg Theater Institute for four years while also doing improv at UCB, and taking voice and dance classes on the side. In 2006, she auditioned for the role of Ash Ketchum in the Pokémon anime’s English dub, taking over for the role’s progenitor, Veronica Taylor.

“Pokémon was the biggest job I booked. It was only my second voiceover job, after a medical industrial,” Natochenny says. “I was the perfect age when Pokémon first came to America, and I loved the show and remember begging my parents for the cards. I had one deck. I have no idea where it is or whether or not there was a million-dollar card in there.”

Since 2006, Natochenny has voiced Ash, his mom Delia, along with a host of other human and Pokémon characters (Buneary being a particular favorite because it’s very cute). As part of the Pokémon 25th anniversary, Natochenny is most looking forward to wrapping up work on Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, along with some of the other planned festivities.

“I’m looking forward to celebrating with fans and continuing to bring joy to people who grew up with my portrayal of their favorite character. I’ll also probably dance to the music that comes out, so tune in to my social media to see if those dance classes paid off,” she says.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

25 Years of Pokémon

As Natochenny suggests, The Pokémon Company indeed has big plans—musical and otherwise—for the franchise’s 25th anniversary.

The team has been working on the celebration for over a year and has partnered with UMG and Katy Perry for a year-long musical campaign called P25 Music. Other corporate partners include Build-A-Bear Workshop, General Mills, Levi’s, McDonald’s, Jazwares, Scholastic, Mattel, Funko, PowerA, and The Wand Company (which is manufacturing a lifelike Poké Ball). And there are still more announcements to come.

“All I can say is, stay tuned because the rest of the year is going to be quite exciting with more surprises. Pokémon likes to surprise its fans,” Benkwitt says.

One thing that wouldn’t surprise its fans is if Pokémon one day observed a 50th- anniversary celebration, or even a centennial. It certainly wouldn’t surprise Tobin, who is still an early education professor, now at the University of Georgia.

“I’m not surprised that [Pokémon] has lasted this long in the sense that I think it’s really good,” he says. “It was really cleverly designed and it has a really rich narrative. I’m happy to see that it’s made it.”

Shop Pokémon on eBay today!

The post Why Pokémon Has Endured For 25 Years appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3aJSIfe

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

0 notes

spectrumscribe · 7 years ago

Text

one, two, step-

@rhi-draws-things three million years ago drew me my goatsona (goat persona) for my DnD group, and i was supposed to give her something in exchange, so uh sorry i’m late Rhi but here’s a Thing that i hope you like.

set in/based on Rhi’s excellent tmnt 2012 Fusion AU. an alternate universe where mutants have the ability to fuse with other mutants and also humans. its v good trust me.

Borne out of habit and repetition, there’s eventually a day that Mikey wanders into the barn specifically just to see Donnie, because he’s got nothing else to do and no one else he wants to talk with. Not that he really wants to talk, what with a weight of aimless uselessness sitting in his chest and a snarl of unhappy emotions waiting to spark into a right storm. He just needs… something. Something to do, someone to see who isn’t anyone inside the farmhouse.

Of course, Donnie is about as welcoming as he ever is these days. Crookedly slouched, absolute intensity on his work, no room for niceties or kindness. Just steely determination to fix things.

Donnie has been like that since they got here, and even worse since he diagnosed Leo’s coma as one that could be indefinite. Mikey has seen only scarce glimpses of his older brother, since Donnie can’t figure out how to sit still longer than passing out on the couch for a few hours. It’s a little weird, seeing Donnie behave so much like Mikey sometimes does. Honestly, it’s disconcerting, and it gives away just how really upset Donnie probably is about Leo, and their father, and everything.

It makes him a right asshole to talk with, too.

Mikey says hello anyway, and rolls his eyes at the curt greeting he gets in return, as well as the “go away, Mikey, I’m busy,” that follows right after.

“You sure you’re busy? Not just obsessively working on shit ‘cause you’re neurotic as hell?” Mikey needles, leaning on the desk beside Donnie and hoping to maybe start a good bicker. His brother doesn’t even look up.

“Mmm,” is all Donnie grunts. Oh, so he’s regressed to monosyllables? Nice.

Mikey pokes Donnie’s shoulder. His brother shrugs it sharply and keeps working. Mikey just about rolls his eyes out of his skull.

“Skill testing question: when was the last time you stood up, and if that number is not below five hours ago, how much feeling have you lost in your lower half at this point?”

“Mgh.”

“That answer just fills me with new knowledge, really. I feel all warm and tingly and shit. I might write a thesis paper on it.”

“Go away, Mikey.”

Mikey sighs loudly, pushing away from the table dramatically. “Look, I’m bored as fuck, so not I’m leavin’ until you stand up and at least attempt to take care of yourself.”

“I’m fine,” Donnie says, even though his voice is rough and his eyes bloodshot. Mikey frowns, watching his brother’s steady fingers keep working at the helmet-thing for April. Though his hands move fluidly, Mikey sees a serious slump of exhaustion to Donnie’s shoulders.

And not even a herd of wild horses could drag Donnie off to bed, not while Leo’s still asleep and Donnie has work he apparently has to do, even though he needed a break like, forever ago. Mikey knows his brother well enough to know no matter what he says… nothing is going to make Donnie go and actually take care of himself right now.

Desire for a good mock fight evaporates in Mikey, and he’s left feeling worn out again.

Mikey sighs to himself, watching his brother try to single-mindedly solve everyone’s problems in one go. A part of him is kind of jealous of Donnie’s sheer determination and near compulsion- at least he has goals, and drive to do meet those goals. Mikey has energy to burn, but nowhere to aim it on this stupid farmland. Playing with chickens and cooking meals only keeps him entertained for so long, but right now that’s all he knows how to do. Everything else is outside his capabilities.

Mikey misses home, misses their friends, misses their missing father and things being easy, at least sometimes. They’re all cooped up in the farmhouse together right now- him, Donnie, Raph and Casey and April- and yet it feels like there’s distance between them all, so long as the gap Leo left remains open.

Mikey’s lonely, honestly, and he knows his brother probably is too. Unwillingness to actually talk that out doesn’t erase it from being a thing.

Donnie has no energy to keep this endless workhorse drudgery up anymore. Mikey has too much energy to handle and not a single task left to spend it on. Neither of them is willing yet to actually talk about all the horrible stuff sitting inside them, but they’re both in serious need of closeness with someone, because this isolation feels like it could kill.

And then Mikey nearly smacks himself upside the head. There’s an easy solution to all of this.

“Hey, Donnie?”

“Mm? What.”

“Turn around.”

“What? No I’m working-”

Mikey grabs the back of Donnie’s chair and spins him around. Donnie barely lets go of his tools in time, unwillingly rounding with a scowl in place and his mouth already open to scold.

“Fuse with me,” Mikey says seriously, and Donnie’s mouth clicks shut.

“…why?” Donnie asks, giving Mikey a suspicious look. Mikey grins, grabbing his hand.

“Do it and you’ll understand,” He says cryptically, just to annoy Donnie, and hauls his brother out of the seat he’s probably been in for the last ten hours. Donnie stumbles, blinking rapidly and muttering about hypoglycemic attacks and the chances of him passing out mid fusion dance. Mikey ignores Donnie’s grumblings, and artfully corrals his brother into the dance.

Donnie drags his feet at first, annoyed and clearly at the end of his science-‘til-I-drop binge, but Mikey feels a tingle start in tips of his fingers as they fall into sync. It spreads up his hands and arms, from his toes up his legs- fluttering and warm and making him feel lighter than air. There are hints of sadder things, of heavy hearted emotions and pain, and those feelings from Donnie are evenly matched by Mikey’s. Neither of them is okay, neither of them is willing to talk about it. Not yet.

Fusion removes the need to talk.

Mikey laughs in surprise as Donnie abruptly spins him, his brother abruptly throwing himself 100% into the effort to fuse, and there’s Donnie’s familiar laugh; something Mikey hasn’t heard in weeks since they arrived at the farmhouse. It’s creaky in places but its real, and it makes a bubbly feeling burst in Mikey’s chest.

They spin together, drawing close as their feet slide and tap in perfect sync- they’re at opposite ends of the scale nine times out of ten, and then there’s times like this, where it’s all ease of movement and simple knowledge that the other knows the exact step they’re going to take next- where everything just makes clear perfect sense, and there’s no falter in their communication at all.

They’re the B-team for a reason, and it’s not just because their older brothers are sometimes jerks and get too easily exasperated with their eccentricities. It’s because they sometimes just click.

Donnie actually smiles, and it’s like months of stress lift from his eyes just with that expression, and Mikey mirrors the toothy grin with all the sincerity he’s got in him. It overpowers all the twisty awful emotions he’d had before this, and Mikey finally feels nothing but okay.

Donnie obviously feels the same, laughing freely as they dance, and against the echo-y rafters of the barn and mixed with the smell of old wood and hay and substances Mikey couldn’t even name- it’s amazing sounding, and it draws more exhilarated laughter out of Mikey.

Step, step, and twirl- they crash together in a burst of feelings and understanding and unconditional familial affection and love-

-and Monnie opens his eyes, all three of them feeling significantly less achy and awful than Donnie’s had, and from a much higher perspective above the ground. He yawns, feeling the urge to go and sleep off the fading exhaustion one part of him has, but the burbling energy the other half provides gives boost to the absolute determination he possesses, and then he doesn’t need to anymore.

Stretching his four arms above his head and behind his back, Monnie sighs happily as strength and vigor erases aches and cramps from bending over a desk and bedside. Good fucking god, why didn’t he do this hours ago, if not days? Weeks, he could have done this weeks ago, rather than sit around feeling miserable and tired and aimless and too wired to sleep at all. Why didn’t he? Everything is so much easier to handle now that he’s fused.

Both sides of him respond that it’s because he’s two parts of dysfunctional individuals with communication problems. Monnie tells himselves to fuck off.

He glances at the now very short table all of Donnie’s projects are scattered across, and finds a dozen new solutions popping into his head now that he’s got a fresh streak of creativity to add to the genius’s, and all the knowledge needed to articulate, refine, and execute the ideas. The daunting tasks of medical, mechanical, and economical problem solving are much less stressful, now that he’s got a thrum of excitement in his chest and broader perspective.

Of course… a repressed part of one half is calling to the restless part of the other half, demanding to be outside in the sun and getting his blood pumping. Part of him has been cooped up in this barn for weeks, and it makes the other halve jittery just to experience secondhanded. Monnie feels it thirdhanded and he understands both sides of the equation.

“I need to finish this, though,” Monnie mutters to himself, picking up his tools and the helmet and examining them, as well as absently starting to rearrange the desk into a manner that suits all him instead of just one half of him. He really does have so many things to get done- so many things, jeez- but the sun is warm and the wind is sweet and part of him recalls a very lovely climbing tree not far from the farm.

Admittedly, Monnie is as determinedly focused as he is impulse and whim driven. He needs to get work done, but he also needs to get out and stretch and re-fucking-lax, Donnie, you’re tying yourself up in knots like this-

-I know what I’m doing-

-wrecking your posture is what you’re doing-

-like you’re one to-

-talk, slouching so-

-much of the time over-

-videogames-

-desks-

Monnie shakes his head, quieting the brief squabble with himselves. His fusion remains solid despite the bickering, which is nice since it’s been ages since he was himself, and while he has occasional scattering days where a lot of messy and painful feelings make his emotions and opinions invert and turn sharp and terrible and hating, aimed at himself and himselves and everything- Monnie really, really does love himself a lot. Even if he finds bits of himselves annoying at times.

He’s made of two halves that click just right, sometimes, despite being such laughable opposites in so many ways, a perfect mix of them both… and that topic of thought leads Monnie to an idea.

“…strike a balance!” He tells himself triumphantly, setting down his tools and projects. “One- two- one hour of hiking, and then work for a few more, and then dinner prep and another walk? Yeah, that seems fair.”

Both parts of him are in total agreement that being away from the farmhouse will be good; getting away from the oppressive silence and failure that lingers in the upstairs levels, choking and painful to even think on. That will ease the continuous worrying Leo’s coma causes for everyone.

Which Monnie isn’t going to do, because he has a tree to climb and a forest to explore with new eyes and so very many things to accomplish after that.

Monnie steps away from the desk, humming pleasantly to himself an aimless but upbeat tune as he walks towards the barn doors. They open easy as anything for him- he has twice the strength of either side of him- and Monnie is bathed in the hot afternoon sun as he steps out.

The wind is sweet, the more indoors-y half of him finds delightedly, and he laughs to himself as he squints up at the blue, blue sky. It really is such a lovely day, and being himself makes it seem even lovelier.

Raph is on the porch currently, fiddling with what looks like his sketchbook, and staring at Monnie with something between exasperation and confusion. Monnie waves cheerily, and turns the motion into a quadruple flipoff as he absconds from the farmhouse lawn. Raph had been snappish and unpleasant to Mikey this morning when he just tried to say hi, and Monnie feels absolutely justified in flipping his brother off and explaining nothing of why he’s fused.

The forest welcomes him and the jaunty steps he takes speed up as it does. The trees are taller and thicker than anywhere in NYC, a hundred birds and small animals are just nearby, and the earthy rich scent of everything speaks to a nearly buried part of his brain.

It feels wonderful. The tug of duty and responsibility and guilt and love remains, tying Monnie to the farmhouse despite how much he just wants to run and run and never look back, but he lets none of those things seize hold of him.

Monnie will go home later, finish projects and make dinner for everyone- later. For now, he has a tree to climb.

#rhi-draws-things #Donatello #michelangelo #b-team babes #tmnt #tmnt 2012 #Fusion AU #Monnie is a cutie #shame i didn't get to include how unstable his temper can be sometimes #oh well #that's for another time #My writing #man i owed this forever ago rhi i'm so sorry for being late #inspiration is Hard and writing is Harder and i get distracted so easily #glad i finally got this done #hope you like it <3

60 notes · View notes

kaedekayano · 8 years ago

Text

okay, i decided to disregard/circumvent the stayfocusd time limit just for tonight because fuck it, i don’t have anything to do tonight and i definitely deserve a break. and i like thinking about characters. so i just finished bnha ep 13 (the finale), and here’s my thoughts! finally on the computer yay

for those who know bnha/follow the manga, of course you’re welcome to discuss this stuff with me, but please don’t spoil me on anything or i will cry

i’m still trying to decide the fate of all might. like i said before, he started at the top and he’s got nowhere to go but down. there are a couple routes i think he could take: he lives for a while, then dies tragically but inevitably at the end like korosensei did; he gets abruptly killed off in the middle at a climactic, suspenseful moment, shocking everyone and terrifying them because what will they do without their symbol of peace; he lives, but he has to stop being a full-time superhero and finds another way to live, basically. of course, while i do like analyzing plot for plot twists and all that, i’ve always preferred doing character analysis to everything else, and i’m not that good at predicting plot.

but honestly, sounds like the dude’s gonna die. and if he does, i hope it’s soon, because this was being foreshadowed from episode #1 and i’ve been waiting this entire season, thinking every single episode, “is this the episode he’s going to die?” and he’s not a favorite, but i do like him enough (and am aware enough of how his death will emotionally wreck izuku as well as other characters) that the constant dread is wearing down on me. i am constantly in a state of terrible suspense. (but like i said no spoilers no one is allowed to tell me what happens okay i gotta find out for myself)

kind of a tangent but everything comes back to AC on this blog, so. AC changed the way i think about a lot of things because getting so heavily involved in the canon and fandom, and being exposed to others’ interests, made me far more open-minded than i used to be. for example, i really wasn’t good at shows with large casts (AC and the almost 30 students, BNHA’s students + teachers) before, b/c i didn’t track them very well and am shit at matching names to faces as well as recalling personalities, but hey, obsessing over the entirety of class 3-E for months will change that. also, all my favorites were. usually. karma types, for lack of a better phrasing. i could never relate to cinnamon roll (TM) characters. or characters who weren’t emotional disasters. (boy i had trouble liking nagisa at first.)

regarding what i keep saying about types: the girls, in terms of personalities, aren’t quite my usual thing. the closest person in terms of preference to the characters i typically like are yaoyoruzu and jirou. but honestly who cares because right now i like them all, and they are great and fabulous and uraraka is adorable and i like her a lot. i wanna see her have some character development first, though, and oh god the girls are my aesthetic. momo’s hair and jinou’s general aloof aura + earphones and tsu’s frog quirk and holy shit, pink alien girl? i don’t know her, she hasn’t had much time in the anime yet, but she’s. she’s a girl. who’s pink with alien features. how the fuck is that not the coolest shit ever

as fond of todoroki, as always. i looked up a bit on him on the wikia but i don’t want to spoil myself. but i did pick up enough to solidify my adoration for him. >.< i need to stop but god, i’m really fond of him. fuck. so fond.

izuku’s character continues to develop and it’s really wonderful. i used to live for mentor-student relationships, but then i realised (and AC did not help) that the mentor usually ends up dying, so i’m trying not to get attached to this mentor-student relationship and it’s not fucking working. the conversation he and all might had in the hospital beds at the end. shit, man. don’t get attached don’t get attached don’t get attached

something i really appreciate is that i knew this fandom really adores bakugou (and i say this as someone who literally doesn’t know shit about the bnha fandom), so i assumed he’d be one of those assholes who gets glorified by the narrative because it’s okay if he’s an asshole as long as he’s talented and handsome uwu he’s just being snarky haha how funny!! i mean yes he is an asshole but he isn’t glorified by the narrative, the narrative doesn’t hide at all that, while not totally evil, he’s a complicated character who genuinely can be unlikable and is kinda fucking awful. so that’s a pleasant surprise. i thought the narrative would revolve around him more b/c the fandom’s so fond of him but it doesn’t and i’m really glad, the whole class is really great (and imo the school too, i’ll talk worldbuilding later) and they all deserve focus.

i’m usually incredibly fond of villains, but i also mostly read YA fantasy, where the villains are very often attractive young characters who are snarky, charismatic types who draw the reader in and are way too likable. AC villains weren’t like that for me (although i ended up liking them anyway, just blame my friends lmao). the villains in BNHA so far aren’t quite the attractive young character archetypes either, but i really like them anyway. i wanna know their motivations a lot. what’s the relationship between nomu and shigaraki (i kinda already brotp it)? what led shigaraki and kurogiri to want to kill all might so badly? who made nomu the way he was? if the motive is a personal grudge or a tragic backstory, fuck. i’m weak as fuck for personal grudges and/or tragic backstories in villains, alright?

also, shigaraki’s hands shit + the way his quirk behaves/is animated is this level of slightly surreal horror — not really over-the-top gory/melodramatically creepy, but definitely disturbing — that’s an aesthetic i’m quite fond of, although only in moderation.

uraraka’s power, while hardly unusual, is imo something that can go really far and has incredible potential. it’s definitely gone amazing places in past characters who have the same power in other fiction. i wanna see her develop it.

and now i’m gonna talk worldbuilding, because while i’m not that great at analyzing it or doing it myself — i’m decent enough to pull together a convincing world for my fiction, but that’s about it, since i’m not great at understanding how the world works, let alone how changes would affect it on a wide scale — superpowers are something i’m quite fond of.

so, there’s this one YA series called the reckoners, by brandon sanderson. he writes a lot of stuff about people with magic, and i love his work, especially the reckoners. i am bringing this up for two things. one, the protagonist is also a guy with no powers who’s unusually obsessed with the intricacies of the superpowered people and their superpowers in a world where superpowers just started randomly appearing and became integrated into society, although he’s obsessed because of a vastly different reason from izuku.

two, the worldbuilding is really good, and the powers are unique. it’s very different from your typical story about superpowers. in my opinion, every kind of basic power — telekinesis, manipulating elements, reading/controlling minds — has been used. i wouldn’t say it’s impossible to come up with new basic powers, but it’s damn near close. but what’s good about superpowers nowadays, what makes them interesting and original, is not the power itself, but its limits. how far can it go? what are the weaknesses? how can it be used?

i’m gonna give an example i’m really fond of — regalia from the reckoners. she’s a character who first appears in the second book. regalia has the ability to manipulate water, which we’ve all seen plenty of times in fiction, right? but it’s not just typical shit like “oh, look at this huge tide destroying a building!” my memory is fuzzy, but one of the things she can do is use the reflections created by water as windows.

it’s hard to explain, but like, if you look into a puddle (and remember, water can reflect), and she’s paying attention, she can appear and look back at you and talk, like in a mirror. she’s able to communicate with you through it. she can keep an eye on the city she rules over because she flooded the entire place with water, making it a sort of island, and is able to watch everyone through its reflections. now that’s something new, even though water powers have been done to death.

i like how bnha handles the drawbacks of superpowers — it makes a little more unique. i’m not entirely pleased, but:

one post i’ve read on howtofightwrite (an excellent tumblr, writers who write action or anything involving combat should check it out!) is how, realistically, if you have super strength, every time you actually use it to anywhere near its fullest potential, it will fucking shatter your body. which is kinda what’s happening to izuku, i’ll explain in a sec. but like, if you punch someone, your knuckles hurt afterwards. except izuku’s punches are super super strong, so it hurts him way more than the normal person.

so i think that’s good! it’s a nice twist on how super strength usually works! but i’m still a bit displeased, because seriously, super strength is not at all new and it’s implied he’ll learn to control it instead of continuing to just have to deal with this particular drawback. all might learned to control it, which i don’t see how it makes physical sense, but whatever, fuck it, magic is magic. so i don’t think the blowback (looking for a word here?) resulting from his punches are actually because of realistic physical reasons TM that i just theorized, it’s just magic/being unable to control it, which is sad because c’mon, science and magic working together is cooler instead of “he got used to it by getting Good at his powers!”, but oh well. i’m not a doctor, anyway

honestly, i’m kinda disappointed that the most powerful heroes have super strength/superspeed, and that’s the only twist on it, and not even a terribly big one if izuku’s just gonna learn to control it through the power of experience. it’s not unique or new and i’d like to see something a little cleverer, i guess? like, i really like the idea of people adjusting to their powers and any drawbacks through just intelligence and the power of science and technology and wit, instead of practice/improvement upon the ability itself.

anyway, enough about izuku’s power. something else i’d like to see addressed is the emotional impact of izuku being quirkless all his life, and suddenly he has a power and everyone thinks he’s amazing. because it sounds like being quirkless fucked him up a ton. the protag of the reckoners is powerless and makes the best of it, and that’s what i really appreciate about the series — he never ever gets a power, he just figures out how to get through terrible life-or-death situations based on wit and his allies and cleverness and being amazing because you can still do amazing things without being born with those things. while i’m not saying izuku needed to take that route — what is it when he’s thought all his life he’s inferior, worshipped this one guy who turns out to be horribly vulnerable, and suddenly he’s got one of the most powerful quirks out there? (im assuming this gets addressed later though)

something else: how does society restructure itself now that everyone has a quirk? here’s the best thing about the reckoners: the people with the powers are the bad guys. like, not “oh, some people misuse their quirks” but almost everyone does, and what all the superpowered ones do, after they suddenly get their powers, is basically taken over the world. they’ve set up this tyrannical government in the usa where different superpowered people rule the cities and it’s basically a dystopia with superpowers, but the superpowered ones aren’t the rebels, they’re the oppressors. it’s a great twist on the typical superhero narrative. it changes the structure of society a lot. think legend of korra, but worse, more pronounced, a more oppressive regime.

so like, how does the world in bnha change now that 80% of people have a quirk? i really wanna know. UA is a start, but there’s got to be more to it than “there are schools trained to teach heroes, quirkless people feel bad about themselves, and heroes fight villains. and the villains don’t like the heroes because of that.” give! me! more! you don’t have to write me an encyclopedia of information (dear matsui, thank you for building your characters so much shit like the rollbook info exists, but not everyone does that) but what else is there? there has to be more than that.

some of the superpowers are interesting, yeah, but none of them stick out so much. i’ve read too much stuff about superpowers to be easily impressed, but really, “school of heroes” has been done a lot and while i like bnha a lot so far, they’re gonna have to go above and beyond what they’re currently doing to really impress me. rn i’m really curious what they’re gonna do with mineta ‘cause his power seems so fucking useless but he’s clearly there for a reason (how’d he pass the entrance exam?). the other powers don’t stick out much to me. stuff like tsu’s frog quirk or todoroki’s half-hot, half-cold shit (instead of just one) are just unconventional enough for me to raise an eyebrow, but not much more.

anyway. hoping they expand on that. but the worldbuilding isn’t horrendous or anything, i’m really enjoying all the powers and the worldbuilding’s good enough, just could be taken a lot farther. like, the potential is wow. god, i already love the characters so much, though

oh, also. not interested into getting into bnha fandom or the manga as of right now, and this blog is staying AC, but talking about it is still fun (i like discussing things!) and i’m gonna watch s2 when it comes out.

#bnha lb #i decided to readmore this because i realised it's 2.4k words and it's not even like structured meta just me talking

2 notes · View notes

repwinpril9y0a1 · 8 years ago

Text

Inside the VR hit ‘Rec Room’ with Against Gravity, a breakthrough virtual reality startup in Seattle

Nick Fajt, CEO and co-founder of Against Gravity, a virtual reality startup in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

Is there a more universally accepted measure of “Damn, that was fun” than the high-five? For players of the virtual reality game “Rec Room,” there doesn’t appear to be.

Seattle VR startup Against Gravity has measured more than a million high-fives among players of its signature game over the last several months. Judging by the popularity of the game, the enthusiasm of the small team that keeps improving on it, and my own joy after playing recently, millions more high-fives are on the way.

It’s also translating into millions of dollars in funding. The company recently raised $5 million from the likes of Sequoia, First Round, Acequia, Vulcan, Maveron, Anorak, Betaworks, The Venture Reality Fund, and a host of angel investors to finance its unique and popular take on interactive gaming.

Against Gravity developers play Rec Room, the company’s signature game. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

With brick walls and exposed beams, the company’s offices in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood look as if they were ripped from a Startup Starter Guide. The 15-person team at Against Gravity moves around and communicates like work is indeed all play.

The leader of the pack is co-founder and CEO Nick Fajt, who is guiding the 10-month-old company after spending several years at Microsoft, including as a producer and program manager on HoloLens.

“Many of us had been working in the AR/VR field for a while,” Fajt said. “Our belief was that social was really going to be the killer app, but it would take a lot of iteration and experimentation to get there. So that was kind of the approach that we took: Can we ship really fast? Can we iterate really quickly? Can we get feedback from people? Can we use that to shape and craft the experience moving forward?”

As the signature product, Rec Room serves as a “VR social club” where users get to play active games with people from all over the world. Picture walking into an animated — nowhere near hyper-realistic — locker room, changing into your outfit of choice and then choosing a game to play (ping pong, darts, paintball, disc golf, 3D charades, etc.) and friends to play it with.

An ‘internet sized opportunity’

Fajt, a young guy who looks like he just walked out of a real gym, is a firm believer in VR being the next computing platform, and he calls it an “internet-sized opportunity” that won’t come this year, but certainly over the next decade.

“What we wanted to do was be there early and use that time to learn as much as possible,” Fajt said. “We think social is going to change shape — it’s not going to be the way it works on mobile or the web.”

He theorizes that social on the web is very “asynchronous” with timelines and likes and retweets, but it’s not very real time. On mobile, everything is moving to a very photo/video “ephemeral state.” But VR and AR social, Fajt said, has the potential to circle back and involve more real-time interaction.

The proof, as simple as it may seem, is in those million high-fives exchanged in Rec Room. Fajt said it’s notable because there is no game-play consequence to the action.

“It does nothing,” Fajt said about the hand slapping. “It’s just normal humans being normal humans, and I think that’s the kind of thing you don’t see in a traditional console game. That’s the kind of thing you don’t see on multiplayer shooters. It just feels very different. It feels like you’re actually standing in the room with somebody else.”

Rec Room paintball. (Against Gravity Photo) Rec Room disc golf. (Against Gravity Photo) Rec Room 3D charades. (Against Gravity Photo)

Fajt is taken aback by the quick progress Against Gravity has made with Rec Room in its short lifespan: a 98 percent rating on Steam; one in three HTC Vive users have played the game; over 100,000 people played in 2016.

The ‘magic’ of social VR

He repeatedly uses the words “magic” and “magical” to describe his work and VR in general.

“Social VR is very magical, it really does feel different than playing multiplayer games,” Fajt said. “We’ve also found that there is an opportunity to create an app where people can make friends. This isn’t like a traditional social network app where you’re making connections with people you already know. A lot of what we’re trying to do is take people who are really interested in VR, introduce them to other people who are really interested in VR and hopefully make lasting connections there.”

Fajt said Rec Room drew a good amount of inspiration from Wii Sports, which he credits for showing how active gaming could appeal to a very wide audience, from small children to grandparents. But the Vive as a device and VR as a platform are a whole other opportunity and Against Gravity is seizing on making it all feel unique.

“The way to extract the maximum amount of magic out of this is to focus on things that can only be done in VR,” Fajt said. “So, not focusing on things that are kind of 2D in nature; not focusing on things that are ports of old content. We’ve really tried to build things from the ground up that are meant for VR.”

Fajt credits his time at Microsoft and HoloLens with shining a light on what was possible with new technology — and what he believes is still to come.

“Working at Microsoft was an awesome and amazing experience. Working at HoloLens was an especially amazing experience,” Fajt said. “As a technological achievement, it’s really incredible what they’ve been able to do with that. For us, just working on it for many years we felt like, ‘We’ve seen the future.’ These sort of technologies are going to be ubiquitous and these sort of technologies are going to be mainstream consumer technologies. It’ll probably take a number of years but I very firmly believe that. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

He also thinks that Seattle’s big gaming ecosystem, coupled with larger companies like Microsoft and Valve that are deeply involved in the VR and AR space, rubs off on the city’s smaller collective of companies. And combined it’s all helped to position Seattle as “one of the poles of VR.”

Where VR attracts tool makers which work on stuff that helps people build things, and cinematically minded companies which view the platform as the future of movies, Against Gravity is intently focused on interactive gaming.

“I think the trick for VR and AR is that there are very few best practices in place,” Fajt said. “You’re kind of inventing everything. Everyone’s just stumbling forward figuring out the best way to do these things.”

What it’s like to play Rec Room

youtube

I spent nearly an hour inside Rec Room being shown around by Fajt. Within five minutes of “getting dressed” in the locker room, I dismissed my previous reservations about the game’s rather simple and playful design aesthetic. I just wanted to play.

I shot some hoops and threw darts and played 3D charades with a can of spray paint. I played a couple holes of disc golf and fired multiple rounds on the paintball course.

I spun around, jumped, tried to pick stuff up, drink water, drop stuff and get lost.

I even attempted to high-five with Fajt.

“By keeping the art style very simple, it makes us able to do a lot of things really quickly,” Fajt said. “I think when people were starting to dive into VR, a lot of people thought that the only way you could execute on the magic was to make photo-realistic avatars, photo-realistic environments. I think the thing that you see is that your brain just accepts it, like, ‘I’m here. We’re outside.’ It doesn’t need to look like a super-realistic tree. It can look kind of like that cartoony tree and you’re just, ‘Yup, I’m here. I believe it.'”

I did, and I didn’t want to leave.

Fajt and I also teamed up to play Against Gravity’s newest release in Rec Room, called Quest. The game involves a more fantastical idea than, say, tennis, as users wield a sword or bow and arrow and team up to take on monsters in a “dungeon.” But even that dungeon is approachable and fun as it’s set to look like a play put on by the school theater department, as players roam the hallways.

Quest in Rec Room. (Against Gravity Photo)

There’s also something entertaining about being outside the game, in reality, and being in a workplace where any number of people are interacting on a much different level thanks to the devices on their heads and in their hands.

Fajt again can’t avoid noting how special it is to be constantly inspired to create and iterate.

“I think there’s something really magical about being in a space where you’re not pushing the rope, the rope’s pulling you,” Fajt said. “And I think that’s happening for us, in terms of the number of ideas we have every day — ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we did this or that or this or that?'”

As I was putting on the Vive headset for my demo, I noticed it was raining hard against the windows of the brick office building. But inside the brightly lit game, the weather was quite different. I threw a Frisbee around a sunny course with green grass, trees and a mountain backdrop.

When I was done some time later, I removed the headset and the afternoon Seattle skies were still dark with rain clouds. I couldn’t help but remark on the contrast in weather reality vs. virtual reality.

“It’s always sunny in Rec Room,” joked one of the Against Gravity employees.

Download Rec Room for the HTC Vive and the Oculus Touch.

Against Gravity workers cheer as they work, using time inside the game to identify bugs and make improvements. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) from DIYS http://ift.tt/2kqyxdV

#DIYS

0 notes

repwincoml4a0a5 · 8 years ago

Text

Inside the VR hit ‘Rec Room’ with Against Gravity, a breakthrough virtual reality startup in Seattle

Nick Fajt, CEO and co-founder of Against Gravity, a virtual reality startup in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

Is there a more universally accepted measure of “Damn, that was fun” than the high-five? For players of the virtual reality game “Rec Room,” there doesn’t appear to be.

Against Gravity developers play Rec Room, the company’s signature game. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

The leader of the pack is co-founder and CEO Nick Fajt, who is guiding the 10-month-old company after spending several years at Microsoft, including as a producer and program manager on HoloLens.

An ‘internet sized opportunity’

The proof, as simple as it may seem, is in those million high-fives exchanged in Rec Room. Fajt said it’s notable because there is no game-play consequence to the action.

Rec Room paintball. (Against Gravity Photo) Rec Room disc golf. (Against Gravity Photo) Rec Room 3D charades. (Against Gravity Photo)

The ‘magic’ of social VR

He repeatedly uses the words “magic” and “magical” to describe his work and VR in general.

Fajt credits his time at Microsoft and HoloLens with shining a light on what was possible with new technology — and what he believes is still to come.

What it’s like to play Rec Room

youtube

I shot some hoops and threw darts and played 3D charades with a can of spray paint. I played a couple holes of disc golf and fired multiple rounds on the paintball course.

I spun around, jumped, tried to pick stuff up, drink water, drop stuff and get lost.

I even attempted to high-five with Fajt.

I did, and I didn’t want to leave.

Quest in Rec Room. (Against Gravity Photo)

Fajt again can’t avoid noting how special it is to be constantly inspired to create and iterate.

“It’s always sunny in Rec Room,” joked one of the Against Gravity employees.

Download Rec Room for the HTC Vive and the Oculus Touch.

Against Gravity workers cheer as they work, using time inside the game to identify bugs and make improvements. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) from DIYS http://ift.tt/2kqyxdV

#DIYS

0 notes