#its not that i don't like them. its that the effort vs rewards

[lightnersdream]

i gave up on making more references. you will draw paleet

[knightsickness]

Hi! I hope that I don't bother you with my question. I'm asking out of genuine interest for an analysis and also because it has been 5 years since I last read any asoiaf book.

Coming from you comparison of Cersei's and Tyrion's time as Hand, what obvious mistakes did Tyrion make? I was probably not paying too proper attention because Tyrion did a lot of sympathetic things like ending Jeoffrey's terror on Sansa, or came up with a great strategy to limit casualties during Stannis invasion. His downfall struck me as Cersei conspiring against him, and Tywin taking all the credit for the work his son did. But I feel like I missed something here, and don't have all the details. (Again genuine question, not a "how dare you imply that perfect innocent angel uwu did anything wrong" way!)

i originally wrote a much longer list for this but i think the myrcella episode sums up most of the problems w tyrions politicking in microcosm

the entire point of the scheme is to embarrass cersei and undermine her with the removal of one of her spies. a lot of tyrions moves in acok are ridiculously cersei-focused because it makes him feel good to get petty wins over her he enjoys doing kings landing spy vs spy antics. constantly asking ‘what is cersei doing? does cersei know what im doing?’ when the answer to both is invariably ‘spying on each other’. when theyre still actively fighting three major enemies all this effort to plot and spy feels like it could be focused elsewhere. the scene where they laugh at stannis and renly pettily stupidly fighting each other rather than them obviously an acknowledgment of this neither of them notice

the idea to tell all the small council members different plans and then identify whichever one he told the story cersei gets mad at him for as her spy is good on paper a lot of tyrions moves are motivated by what makes him feel clever. in practice its kind of a mess

the idea of littlefinger having harrenhal is initially proposed to him by tyrion (who notes littlefinger looks extremely excited) as a reward for him arranging a hypothetical myrcella arryn match and then snatched away annoying and alienating him. its then next raised when littlefinger has obviously requested it to kevan/the tyrells/etc as his prize after the battle of the blackwater and he gets it. this isn’t necessarily direct cause and effect littlefinger always wanted to be a big lord he could have wanted harrenhal on his own but it seems like he was told he would have it, formulated his affc taking-over-the-vale plan, and then found out tyrion was fucking with him. again getting one over littlefinger makes tyrion feel good its gratifying to have the biggest schemer at court going grr you used me as a pawn and lied to me do NOT do that shit again

one of the main strengths of the situation tyrion inherits is a hypercompetent small council he immediately sets to turning on him (petyr) and giving them dangerous personal secrets (varys) while fantasising about having all their heads on spikes over the city walls

the idea of an elaborate plan to prove pycelle of all people is an incompetent lannister toady is absurd. you can tell that by talking to pycelle once. worse this makes pycelle hatee tyrion when if tyrion hadnt noticed he is ALSO a lannister he could have benefited from this !!

the sending myrcella to dorne plot that tyrion commits to lest cersei thinks he wasn’t serious and this was a finding-the-mole ploy (in which he gave them plans so obviously shocking and upsetting to cersei that if theyre her allies theyd immediately tell her) is terrible on the face of it and in affc proves to also be terrible in practice. the two outcomes are she gets crowned or killed both explicitly to start a war with the lannisters + burning one of your two spare heirs on the outing pycelle as a fraud and annoying cersei and littlefinger plan is. misguided. its insane to me he goes through w it he could still say ohh i changed my mind + let cersei think she’s persuaded him out of it (giving her a false win) or even just say yeah i was fucking with you haha you fell into my trap and exposed your own spy but he doesnt do either

tyrion’s conclusion on the plan is ‘this doesnt actually prove i can trust varys and littlefinger. theyre just untrustworthy in a subtler way. nobody in the world is as smart as me nobody has ever been this good at politics’

[macsimagines]

Shinichiro and Draken with a s/o who has a pet cat or rabbit or something and her pet is always taking up her time?

Me and my babygirl bunny

Shinichiro Sano VS. Noodles the Cat

This man has fought and bled for what he believes in. He has faced adversaries that would make most men crumple in fear, and has garnered the respect of many of them. So for him to call your pet his most hated enemy really does mean something.

He is mad salty about it. Not even going to pretend he doesn't have issues with Noodles the cat. You're his sweet perfect angel that was sent form heaven as a reward for all his efforts in this life. Your cat was some kind of divine retribution for crimes he must have committed in a past life.

"Hello, my sexy beautiful and absolutely perfect angel, Y/N~~~!!! .... and Noodles." "Mrow~"

Shinichiro swears the feeling of hatred and disapproval is mutual however. Your cat is constantly hissing and swatting at him when you're not looking. Ever seen a grown man get punked by a cat?

"He's the devil-fucking-incarnate baby, he tried to slit my throat last night I swear-," "Oh baby, stop being silly." "...B-but the scratches..."

Truthfully, he's too scared to demand you choose between him or the cat. He doesn't want to risk you picking that feral trash goblin you call a kitty-kitty over himself... Cats don't live that long anyways... Right?

Ken Ryuguji (AKA Draken) VS. Mr. Fluffers

First and foremost, he bought you the fucking thing. Worst purchase of his life.

But you had confessed, a deep and profound love for the cute little fluffy beasts one night. Had told him it was your one true hope and dream to have one someday and he had decided about a year of you two moving in together he would make that dream come true.

So what if the little beast looks like it craves human flesh, he's sure the little guy is just skittish and that with time it will warm up to him.

Wrong. So very fucking wrong.

Mr. Fluffers loves you. He eagerly awaits your pets and hops onto your lap to receive your attention and affection. Draken, however, he seems to be out for blood. Every time he walks into the room the rabbit is thumping and kicking up his feet at the mere sight of him.

"I'm pretty sure this thing is sayin' fuck you with its eyes." "Don't be ridiculous, and Mr. Fluffers has a name."

Meanwhile Mr. Fluffers:

He knows how much the little fucker means to you though. And he is by no means scared of a bunny. He can kick that bunnies ass...maybe.

Draken lets the little thing stick around despite the fact that it only seems to bite him and naw on his things. Anything to keep you happy.

[geostelar5]

"Because your my friend, any other stupid questions?" - I feel like this moment really needs to be emphasized, because as much as we talk about how Annabeth had a shitty childhood, has abandonment issues, etc. I feel like we don't talk about Percy's as much because he doesn't really bring it up that much. But its really important to Emphasize that all his life, up until Yancy it has been Percy and his mom VS the world, and for someone who's fatal Flaw is Loyalty, this must have KILLED Percy more than anything else. Not having anyone to really connect to, to live your life giving everything for your friends that you manage to make, only for it to be thrown in your face as you are ratted out, as you are betrayed or you have to move schools again. Percy is a person who THRIVEs when he has a group around him, he is a natural Leader, someone who brings people together, a grounding presense because everyone can trust him. They know that they can trust him because betrayal would never cross his mind. So, imagine how powerful, how impactful it is to Percy when he FINALLY has not one, but two friends that he can throw his whole heart into loving and trusting and they return it with just as much frevor. To assure him that they WONT turn against him, to be on His side no matter what. Grover was the first person that Percy met who clung to him and bonded with him, wanting to be his friend first and foremost. His best friend, the first one who didn't give up on him when it got tough. And now we have Annabeth, the second one, this girl who used to seem to hate you for who your dad was is now assuring you that she would turn against her mom, who she clearly craves approval from because you are friends. Who makes it sound like its the most obvious thing in the world to her. That your the idiot for even bringing up the possiblity that she would turn against you. Imagine how powerful that is to Percy, to finally have your Loyalty Rewarded, to assure you that *NO* your feelings and wants to go to hell and back for those who love you aren't wrong! That you WILL find people who return that love like its second nature to them. To hear some validation for all your efforts in the form of two best friends who will ALWAYS be there for you.

[egg-emperor]

Predicted to see the "I'm not calling you a good girl, that was shit" meme or whatever with Eggman and Sage done inaccurately compared when done with Metal and yup lol. Y'all really don't remember the canon dynamic and how conditional his praise of Sage is, to think he'd still praise her like that if she didn't succeed in doing what he wants

He only praises her and calls her a "good girl" if she did exactly what he wanted the exact way he wanted. The scene where he yells at her suggesting something that'd benefit him but not with a method he approves of, working with Sonic, shows that he doesn't care about intent or give an A just for effort, if there isn't any success

It has to be to his exact desires/terms/standards. The times he praises her and says he's proud to her is only after she literally saves his life,

and saves the world he wants to rule.

He calls her a "good girl" only after she does all that lol (and even sacrifices herself in the og ending), not just because She Tried. It wouldn't be enough. She literally had to save his life and the world and give everything (including her life in the og ending) to get that kind of praise

How he acts when she has good intentions and tries her best to appeal to his desires in a way he doesn't like vs when she does so in one of exact ways what he wants, for comparison:

Second is literally the next scene and you can trigger it to play immediately after the first btw

Plus wouldn't overpraising her for every small thing take impact away from the rare cases he finally does anyway? Whether it's to show how conditional and manipulative he is or even for the surprise of being genuinely proud and praising (but still always in a self-centred self praising way as her creator of course), it'd diminish the meaning if it was happening constantly and so easily

Eggman absolutely overpraises his ingenious creation to himself all the time to stroke his own ego, and speak of it highly once proudly when introducing it to enemies. But not to its face in direct interactions anywhere near as commonly, the particular occasions would be when he's especially proud and wants to let them know to keep it up

He keeps his standards high to keep them working hard for those very rare moments of praise. It creates a stronger drive when it's a rare and hard to get reward. He *programs* creations with this desire, even

Recieving his praise is one of those rewards. It most certainly is in Sage's case because it touches her the most and she clearly works so hard in being loyal and efficient to receive

Thanks for coming to my ted talk and yeah I got a lil petty over a silly meme my bad :P But I always love more opportunities to talk about their dynamic and how it's a lot more unique and nuanced than people are acting like it is.

Sage may be the golden child compared to Eggman's other creations and something to boast and take pride in by him, which is very appealing to his ego- but he's also very calculative in where and when he actually openly shows it, especially in front of/to her directly. The nuance and complexity makes it super interesting and compelling!

[doberbutts]

Hi, I recently came across a post of yours that said

"The only thing men have to lose from supporting feminism is misogyny. Feminism is not about tearing men down. It is about lifting women up."

I disagree with this assertion. Well, the first one at least, I absolutely agree with the second one.

I think men, materially speaking, do have things to lose from supporting feminism, aside from just misogyny.

Men would lose the ability to take advantage of women's labor. Either for free in the form of labor around the house, or for cheap by paying them less compared to men (this usually being achieved by relegating the majority of women in the workforce to positions that have been devalued as a result of being associated with womanhood, like teachers or nannies or housekeepers and so on).

I don't believe it's dangerous to acknowledge that oppressors dont have material reasons to cease their oppression, because after all if they they would've stopped a long time ago. Misogyny is pervasive not because of some pure ideological effort, but rather because it's a convenient excuse for the people in power to take advantage of a quite large subset of the world population (and as consequence spread as an ideology).

Of course I do think that quite a lot of men, once they understand this reality, would choose to reject the privilege being offered to them as they recognize accepting it would mean taking part in and upholding the system, but in doing so they're clearly not only giving up misogyny, but a tangible advantage in life that would make their lives easier (not to mention that, even if they did want to do this, the system is nonetheless pervasive and inescapable in its current form, so they would still benefit regardless of their intention. That's male privilege, after all)

I also do believe that men of all sorts suffer from living under the system. I reject the idea that all men equally benefit from it and that none ever feel its aftereffects. That being said, I do still think it's relevant to acknowledge that even men whose manhood is questioned by the system (either rejected or seen as a threat or any other way in which it doesn't fit the perfect idea of a wealthy abled cishet white man) and suffer as a result are rewarded for being men in the first place, even if they can't take full advantage of the benefits reserved for the ideal male archetype.

(I'm largely leaving my thoughts on how trans men fit in all this because I believe that to be a fairly complicated discussion)

I hope I don't come across as picking a fight or arguing in bad faith, and I'm open to hearing counterpoints if you feel differently from me (of course, if you even care to engage at all. Feel free to ignore this if that's not the case)

I mean I don't think you're picking a fight I just think you're dramatically misunderstanding what I'm saying, partially to the point where you're saying you disagree while repeating my logic back at me.

Men have nothing to lose from supporting feminism except misogyny. Taking advantage of women's labor is, in fact, misogyny.

Feminism is not about tearing men down but about lifting women up. Yes, by losing male privilege, one could I suppose argue that there are a lot of losses that come with that. To me, that is not a material loss, because the only thing we'd be removing is the entitlement to that privilege.

When I say feminism is not about tearing men down but about lifting women up, what I mean is this:

There is a fairly well documented pay gap, with men of most demographics being paid higher (even if marginally so) than women of equal demographic. Fixing the pay gap isn't lowering men's salaries. It's raising women's. What they have stays the same. What they lose is the ability to pay women less- the misogyny.

There is a fairly well documented disparity regarding women in the workplace vs men, especially in physical labor and in STEM. Fixing this issue does not remove jobs for men- it judges job candidates on their actual ability instead of sex or gender.

This is also what I mean when I say this contributes to a net positive for both sides: don't hire a shitty welder just because he's the only man applying. Hire any number of the experienced and proven welders that are women who also applied. Return to teaching welding in schools, get any kid interested in the trade the knowledge they need to start. This will not only improve the quality of the trade skills your specific employer has to offer, but it will also improve the quality of trade skills for the future generation that will replace you when you retire or die. Literally the only thing men have to lose in this situation is misogyny- the misogyny of keeping women out of the workforce, and the misogyny of keeping women from learning the trade in the first place. They get more qualified people working and all for the low low cost of not being a jerk to women.

Misogyny, like most oppression, is about control. It is not about making things better for just one demographic, because often time that very same demographic does suffer under that oppressive system while simultaneously benefitting from it. As said in my previous example, continuing to hire shitty welders just because they're dudes while deliberately passing up good welders just because they're women just makes things worse for everyone.

Not accepting college applicants just because they're women while taking substandard men who can't get in without daddy's money just makes things worse for everyone.

Continuously questioning the credentials of accomplished and professional women traching a class while nodding along in agreement to some jerk-off man's half-assed non-researched opinion on twitter just makes things worse for everyone.

Voting for Old White Man #736194 because his opponents with politics that align more closely with what the country wants- and needs- are women just makes things worse for everyone.

Ditch the misogyny. That's all. Level the playing field by actually bringing women up to the standard we've set for men. Feminism is about lifting women up.

[katyspersonal]

Watching Nightreign network test stream ( x ) right now, it looks very interesting so far

1) Characters are not named even when you'd expect them to be! Like Morgott is just called 'Fell Omen', Loretta is just called 'Carian Royal Knight'... Guess this is thematically appropriate! So they're like what Old Dragonslayer would be had From not made DS3 🤔

2) I now really wonder whether they'd change a subtle detail about Loretta's weapon where instead of unalloyed gold it's still a glintstone! Would be really based

3) So far I get an impression that the three-headed wolf thing seen with the statue of a woman in Farum Azula

is more likely to be a type of creature than one of a kind! In Nightreign it is called 'Tricephalus' in Roundtable when you pick an enemy (the only choice yet since it's a network test), but its actual boss name is 'Gladius, Beast of the Night'! So tricephalus is name of the species, and Gladius is name of this specific one!

That makes me wonder what ARE these things. 🤔 'Of the Night' maybe refers to Lord of the Night, and considering the statues placement under depiction of primal Elden Ring it is equivalent of Shadowbeasts? Just instead of Empyreans, they serve the... whatever this position is. Antagonistic one to the Empyreans of the Two Fingers as well, indicated by literally everything about Nox! Should they just be called "Lords"? Empyreans of the Two Fingers and Lords of the Night (stars and moon).

4) Unfortunately, Aldia definitely doesn't appear to jumpscare us in this game if we rest at the Site of Grace..... because we don't rest at it in this game ;-; You just run near it and level-up apparently? Or so it seems?

5) This game is really rewarding for killing optional bosses apparently, because after killing one you get a choice of a reward! Can be strong stat boost, a particular weapon, a skill or whatever! Which is good for me, I love obliterating everything

6) This game is like those Elden Ring mods that force you to try every other weapon by randomizing it every minute, because you can NOT just pick a weapon and go with it! They break fast and you have to pick these or create them из говна и палок or something like that! Great choice because it is a natural excuse to try out all of them! There is a reason those mods exist to begin with :p

7) Morgott has new menacing voice lines in this game XD Cool

8)

me: Damnit, so Guardian IS a male character! They had ONE job to make this character a girl. Now we can't make "what boys want vs what MEN want" memes with Recluse and him.

@val-of-the-north: ...we can STILL make them tho?????

9) I might have spoken too soon about wanting to play as Recluse; the game has a really fast pace, so I think playing as melee fighter would help me to waste stress and aggression that builds up with it better. I'd just want to aggressively smash attack button.

10) So far I feel slightly nervous because it looks like playing with other two people makes the game TOO easy. I am not a fan of the idea of a From game to reward you for putting no effort in, personally, hopefully it will be a bit more challenging in the final version.

11) Seems like Gladius has a sword made of Primordial Gold thing (the red gold, same as literally everything Crucible Knights use)

It is hard to see though as it is always moving

[qinwenzheng]

cannot even say wta is in its straight era because technically it is not but the vibes are so weird. not necessarily bad. but weird. i think it's because there is no balance. what do i mean by that? i don't even know. am i rewriting history in my head? maybe. i think the "old era" of like...serena/maria/caro/angie/aga/ana/vika were so...not necessarily messy but so different? the rotations were better somehow. you could group them together easily and they played each other more often.

but now i feel like im lying!!! like aryna/iga, aryna/elena, elena/iga in theory have a similar sort of dynamic that can translate from on court to off but i cannot make it work...coco's rotational abilities are interesting to me because there is potential. i think jess is so....straight married boring and maria fell off the face of the earth. even tho i still think they're fun mirrors of each other meaning...it's a flop fest. you understand me etc. iga is just like....you can't even have messy (fake!!!!!) fun with her psychologist or whatever. that video of her inviting jasmine over for pierogies for CHRISTMAS like girl...i was thinking. and then NAOMI who i thought was the centre of the wta universe is like...where are you? iga/naomi is still interesting to me but their lives SEEM so opposite that i find it hard to like. just ignore the fact that naomi has an entire baby. even tho rpf is FAKE fake fake. and just using them as pre-tense for stories. like i get that i am not really a tinhatter in any sense of it. but idk. i think that's part of why m/m rpf is more popular because it's like. easier to forget about the rest of their lives where with women it is still so much more centred? idk. maybe i've lost my marbles. who else even is there. i know i wrote a dreamwidth post with all my potential pairings i'd write but...that is under lock and key. aryna is def, imo, the most rotatable because she is the most extroverted and in everyone else's business. i thought emma had so much potential but now i'm like...mhm. karo is like. ok dyke but also ? mhm. doubles is so...i could make it work but the effort vs. reward of writing it stresses me out too much. bianca is my favourite "no homo" "im not lesbian just to clear that up" remix but she's so isolated from the tour that it's hard to make it work. absolutely NOBODY cared about emma/bianca even though i still think it works and is interesting. jannik/carlos does nothing for me i'm so sorry. holger/anyone i can be into. i keep starting and deleting a very dumb and indulgent denis/domi fic where domi decides to coach denis and it is a mess that's kind of successful except it ends up with a v weird sexual dynamic ¯_(ツ)_/¯. if i am being honest i am still thinking about dyke novak. sorry. other pairings i just...idk. i don't even think the current crop of players are boring but there's just less content and they feel more media trained/resistant to saying anything interesting? but then i read transcripts and watch interviews and i don't know if that's true. even in trophy speeches...it's like i see. i think i still just have brain blockage of how f/f is perceived vs. m/m and i'm not...trying to be like well you must read/write f/f to be a good person because that's...stupid. it is just...i do not care about men nearly as much as i do women in any facet! it is not on purpose! or to prove anything or out of any sense of ~activism. i just cannot find men that interesting and i do not want to come across as standing on a soapbox or whatever. but idk. the difference is interesting to me? i felt like it was SO easy to come up with random tidbits of ideas/stories/pwp vague ideas for the like....2012-2018 era and now i'm stuck half the time and everything feels so repetitive. maybe there's just less...grounded in reality and the season is so jumpy without consistency (not of results but just of repetitive match ups or like...they are in the same place. and talk to each other off court) or whatever. i thought the olympics was going to be ripe with rpf happenings but no! it was just this weird "qinwen isn't friendly" bullshit. tho i guess that did result in one v good fic so there's that. idk. i have no point here.

already on AO3 pairings (* indicates ive written them already, from only this season, restricted from dec 2023 to now)

jannik/carlos (192)

roger/rafa (46)

holger/casper* (39)

daniil/stefanos (34)

karen/andrey (16)

novak/rafa (15)

grigor/andrey* (12)

daniil/andrey (11)

novak/andy (10)

flavio/ben(12)

jannik/sonego (8)

stefanos/zverev (7)

hubert/iga (6)

carlos/ferrero (6)

nikola/mate (5)

fritz/zverev (5)

jess/maria* (4)

iga/qinwen* (4)

draper/jannik (4)

novak/roger (3)

aryna/iga* (3)

karo/iga (3)

andrey/zverev (2)

daniil/daria (3)

paula/aryna* (2)

holger/jannik (2)

elena/aryna* (2)

carlos/novak

grigor/hubert

novak/holger* (2)

emma/bianca* (2)

iga/elena* (1)

qinwen/li na* (1)

naomi/iga*

maria/serena

jannik/carlos is soooo dominant it's crazy...good for them etc. the gap between m/m and f/f is wiiiiild but not really surprising. other pairings i've written but before this year angie/andrea, caro/serena, caro/alizé, caro/kristina, borna/donna.

potential pairings (that i would write, probably)

iga/bianca

novak/denis

aryna/jess

madi/sloane

jess/madi

coco/iga

jasmine/iga

donna/maria (technically already wrote this but)

elena/qinwen

holger/denis (spider man meme basically)

retirement fic still has a hold on me...which is so dumb but it does. but it never hits the way i want it to. maria/serena/caro/angie and any iteration of them....you have my attention. there's other pairings that i'd never write but think are interesting. jess/taylor, emma/qinwen is like...i can see the vision and i deeply respect it but i cannot make it work. reading it, hell yes. idk. i am back at a point where writing feels very useless and too self-indulgent and the payoff isn't really worth it but. who knows. off-season is a great time to make shit up.

[retphienix]

honestly the most universal truth about my experience in warframe is that with anything that needs grinded my preference has always been "Endless mission > Constantly redoing a short mission"

And the fact so many of the grinds in warframe are outright player hostile to that kinda sucks ass

I mean even the fundamental design of how endless missions exist (for the most part) is against that and that has always bothered me, like why even bother having the enemies get stronger if no rewards are accompanying it? Not even like, noteworthy increased credit drops- anything! The fact rotations universally cycle back to AABC instead of offering anything worth a damn to continuing beyond that first C is annoying!

Some aren't though! Thank you, Disruption, I'm so so so so so sorry that I hated you at launch, you have truly come around to being something I adore <3

But then you have like "Eidolons vs Orphix" where the "go fast, restart, go fast, restart, go fast" option is the only viable one because the other one is not just "slightly" worse, it's EXPONENTIALLY SPIT-IN-PLAYERS-FACE WORSE for like, no good reason.

You have the annoying grind I did for the first time in like 2 years recently, grinding lith relics (the relics themselves) since the most efficient way is to just keep doing the void capture over and over, yippee 40 seconds of gameplay, my favorite lol Where's my endless mission that gives tons of liths, hmm? Where's the defense mission where wave 10 gives 3 relics and wave 15+ gives like 5 since 5 waves equates to 5 minutes on average anyway, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

The recent operation being "Redo this mission 10 billion times" instead of any sort of endurance deal that I can just keep doing until I'm done doing it, that was a touch lame. EXTREMELY rewarding but representative of the "just keep redoing it" format for rewarding content instead of any sort of relevant reward for endless missions.

If it's fast, it's rewarding as all hell, like cracking relics on base chart.

If it's slow, it's like DE forgets to incorporate scaling rewards for the time put in- what happened to endurance defense and the like? I'm nostalgic for good endless content (even though that was more a symptom of there not being rewarding content but I digress).

We really do have like 2 endless formats that at least attempt to be rewarding in the entire game, and isn't that just a fucking joke?

Disruption with its endless BC rotation where you can choose between B or C and just keep fighting forever- nice!

And Arbitrations- which are lacking in evergreen rewards to keep people doing them- but they ARE on the same mentality where endurance = endless C rotation, that's something! And like steel path you are 'passively' being rewarded via vitus essence which is another thing I wish was further explored in endless mission types (more of the passive thing- more steel essence for going longer etc).

Sadly, I don't see Warframe really throwing much of a bone my way. The game as a whole is all about speed now and it's great fun! I just want some more love tossed towards endurance of all forms, from going 20 minutes in survival to going 60 minutes for the hell of it, gimme something worth the effort my guy.

If you would have told me nearly ten years back that the game would still be following AABCAABCAABC rotations for endless missions I'd be like "what? Surely not! Surely they reward you for going further :D" and I'd be wrong.

thank you Disruption and Arbs for being the exception, may you both be granted nodes/shop options that increase your viability even more! (beyond just relic farming :()

[taegularities]

hi, big hug 🩷 im sorry you feel like a "writing machine" or unappreciated for your works. i understand the whole "high effort with little reward" and i often feel like people online can start to expect things out of others, often forgetting that it isnt bots running these accounts, its humans. i appreciate you, even if i say it a lot less now. i think working full time and going to school is super draining, i do it too and i often find myself relaxing by reading (including your works) i cant imagine the amount of planning and effort that goes into writing big pieces like you do, but i promise to try to put a bigger effort into appreciating you when i can ✨

that said - if you do decide to write cmi, i cant promise that itll get the same hype it used to (god i miss old tumblr too 😭) but i hope you know that at least one person will enjoy and appreciate the crap out of your work 🙏 i love you always, take a moment to breathe in the sun today (i say this to my students and it made me giggle writing it out to you, but i do hope you try it)❤️

i do love you sm 🥹 tbh, i do feel appreciated for my work most of the time, but it's been so odd lately? like something shifted? how people ask for updates or pose rude questions when i've said so many times i barely get to breathe — that's when i feel a bit sad bc i'd just love a lil 'hey don't overwork and take care of yourself' instead of a 'you keep teasing us and then disappear' lmao 😭 the time and brainpower (that we don't have) that goes into stories is insaneeee, but we're still always so happy about one lil paragraph. 25k vs 20 words, and we still get so excited about them. but yeah, just in general.. pls y'all do remember we're not bots, those words in fics don't just happen :')

tysmmm, baby, i adore you and am so glad you're always here to support me no matter what. those of you who do all have my heart. (gosh yeah there was way too much sun today and i'm so bad with the heat, so i'll enjoy the fan for tonight 🤣 this is so cute 🤍)

[ladysolwind]

I broke out the 3DS and started playing Echoes a few days ago. Simultaneously, I both really love and am severely irritated by it. Some thoughts about it from someone who has played Gaiden, albeit over a decade ago.

The streamlined gameplay definitely has its benefits. Battles flow really well and it makes combat very easy to plan. The HP based magic can get so broken so fast if you put one mage on attack and one mage on heal. Promotions really feel like an upgrade. The one item system with no durability is different, but not necessarily in a bad way. Like finding a silver bow is a reward and not just like "oh cool free bow." You have to really think about who gets what. Also because this system is so constrictive there are some wild items in there.

The visuals are a glow up. I really like the character designs vs how everyone looks in Gaiden. Compared to Shadow Dragon, I feel like there was a lot of effort and creativity put into the redesigns. Mathilda probably wins as my favorite character design in the game. Hot damn that woman is beautiful.

Like if the girl on the left is just as pretty as the girl on the right.

Shout out to the music, too. Like some of it slapped in 8-Bit Gaiden glory, so it only gets better. With Mila's Divine Protection is probably one of my favorite songs in all of Fire Emblem.

Complaints and my Fire Emblem plans under the cut.

The grinding. Oh lord, the grinding. It's brutal. Going through dungeons and having the tiny three monster fights over and over. It's tedious as all hell and I am not here for it. The DLC helps, but that's not all that much of an option during the first two chapters. And you have to grind. It's unavoidable.

It's also a real pain in the ass to even promote. Like I just finished Chapter 4, and every time I needed to promote, I had to fight this giant hoard of necrodragons to get to the dungeon, then fight an unavoidable encounter in the dungeon, promote, evacuate, and then fight the necrodragons again on the way back to where I was.

Archanea. I get it, it's pronounced to reflect how you pronounce アカネイア but it sounds stupid this way. This is very important to me D:< the Archanea games are very close to my heart. Shadow Dragon was my first. Don't make it stupid.

Yet all of it is still such a step up from Gaiden that I'm not even that pressed about it. Yeah it sucks, but Gaiden was so much worse!

My plan at this point is to go through every Fire Emblem game. I've played Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Gaiden, and Mystery of the Emblem. The first two were with a lot of save state abuse rewinding, and fast forwarding, so it wasn't the authentic experience but, I mean, come on. They're clunky Famicom games. This was less of the case with Mystery of the Emblem.

Then I haven't played another game until Shadow Dragon. I've played every game since, including spin offs, except for Tokyo Mirage Sessions. But that leaves a pretty big gap of some really beloved games in this series that I only know through osmosis, Heroes, and Engage.

My plan is to play and rank them as I go. Next on my list is Fates. In order to give it a fair shake I'm playing all three routes, but in order to make it tolerable I'm refusing to make any child units. I'll do it in Awakening where it makes sense, but not in Fates. Maybe I'll marry Corrin off but that's it.

So far this list is:

1. Three Houses

2. Engage

3. Echoes

With Engage beating out Echoes by a smidge solely because of the tedious grinding in the former.

Let's see how long I'll go until I burn out.

[krokaxe]

do you have any advise on stopping copying? its happened to me too but i dont want to lock my accounts or delete my work

Assuming you mean other people copying your work? Don't delete anything. Leave a distinct timeline of your work around.

If you want to stop material from being immediately accessible, you can make posts private (at least on Tumblr). It's what I do to keep my work around— so I can access it Immediately if plagiarism continues after its been hidden— across the board. That way I can make posts public and reblog for visibility if the need arises; it keeps the original dates there for reference.

This is going to be long so I'll put the rest under the cut.

I have a lot of posts set to private and fics archived to prevent my material from being ripped off that way. However, if you have DMs/conversations with people where you discuss the work that they're copying, make a record of it. Screenshot and do a video screen grab. You might have to do a long scroll if it's on the likes of Tumblr or Discord, but it's better to have a cohesive reel of the conversation for the sake of transparency.

Now, unfortunately people who copy other people's work don't often take kindly to being called out. It depends on the severity. The only reason I haven't named people directly is because I'd rather simply present the compiled Evidence to those who point it out to me.

However, if it continues— or travels further into the audacity zone— I will simply make an accessible list with compiled evidence. I strongly suggest you make 'case files' for yourself in much the same way.

In the era of call out posts being made to wage attacks over arguments, stick to the facts. As much as it is a personal matter, I'd suggest keeping any personal commentary out of it. It's easier to digest as X + Y = Z.

The thing about plagiarism is to remember a lot of people are desperate for internet clout. Like, deranged levels of equating numbers/attention to success. We all want attention for our work— hence we post anywhere at all— but the apparent need to be First and The Person Who Does The Thing is pretty blatant amidst those who would rather rip off others than put in the work.

Being good at anything requires effort— a willingness to put time and energy into learning. People who copy don't do that. They want rewards and validation; they're not doing what they do for creative integrity.

Block evasion is something you will likely be facing, given these sorts don't be like to be told no. Unfortunately there's not much we can do about that— it's not like people who steal directly from others will give a fuck about set boundaries.

So, in short:

Compile evidence: your work vs the copied work. Links, screenshots, video grabs etc. A timeline is your best bet for relaying plagiarism. If you need help compiling easy to understand comparisons, you'll have to DM me off anon. I won't be doing that publicly because it would only be used for avoidance purposes lmao.

Block the offending parties across the board. Including from any sideblogs and the like.

Don't delete your work! You can hide posts/archive most things now. You may need it to reference back to.

Don't stop creating. People will Always do this one way or another; don't drop what you love to do just because there's people who are so entitled as to try and take advantage, yk?

As I've said before, people who plagiarise aren't doing what they do because they want to join in. It's an entitlement issue— they want what they perceive to be a Reward without bothering to work for it. There's no joy in that.

I truly have no time for people who plagiarise lmao. Just remember that it says a lot about them as people.

@krokaxe self tag for rb purposes

[rorschachisgay]

i find reading 4chan posts absolutely fascinating in a like anthropological study way. everyone on that site has something horrifically wrong with them but there's a clear dividing line between people who are managing their lives but hang out on there because they are also unbelievably racist vs people who know theres something wrong with them and with the world but cant cope with it and get encouraged by the site to sink deeper into their own misery. i think there was a point in time when there were people on 4chan who werent reprehensible human beings but we're long past that point and now its just purely egregiously awful.

but there is something so interesting about it as a like hive of human suffering. no one on there is like actually happy with their lives. sometimes you get those posts like the turtle one i just reblogged that are kind of beautiful in their earnest appreciation for life and that we can all empathise with but there's no doubt in my mind that every single other post that user has made is like talking about the pussy phrenology of different anime girls.

you have this very specific type of person who is completely disaffected by society and is deeply isolated, either has no real friends or no one he feels close with enough to be actually honest with, understands that the system we live in is broken and that he himself is a broken person, but has chosen to concentrate all that anger and misery into becoming the most hateful version of themselves possible. probably doesn't even see it as a choice because he doesn't see immediate reward for making the most minute amount of effort to improve his life, so assumes that it's totally helpless. and that's not to say they don't live in circumstances that do make profound change incredibly difficult because i have seen that some of them do, but there's also a refusal to stop being in online spaces that are actively encouraging you to destroy yourself.

there's this very specific type of person you get, which is someone whose rage and misery comes from their own narcissism. they are convinced they are smarter, better, more worthwhile than everyone around them, that everyone they know is a moron and a worthless person. but they themselves see no success and no happiness in their own life, despite the fact they feel they deserve better. and because they know they're the best person alive but they're also a failure by their own metric, they become hateful both internally and externally. obviously to some extent we all feel something like this, we all at one point or another get stuck in a shitty job or shitty class or shitty family that is holding you back and you're with genuinely bad people. but with this case, with this kind of real internalised hatred, your anger escalates outside of just immediate irritating coworkers, there's this genuine pure and unbridled hatred and rage for everyone around you for experiencing any kind of earnest and genuine emotion in the face of your own misery.

and that kind of mindset is an epidemic on 4chan, that each of them deserves more and that they despise anyone who feels anything earnestly. they're not really capable of escaping their own cynical hatred. unsurprisingly you see this a lot with white supremacists and misogynists, since most if not all 4chan users are also white supremacists and misogynists, where their whiteness and maleness should automatically make them the superior but they aren't successful and therefore there must be some other reason, some kind of conspiracy against them. there's this constant awareness on 4chan that the system is fucked but they're also unable to put the pieces together because of their own bigotry and their own refusal to see that they might be wrong.

it's interesting to me because on one level there's things I understand; i have been profoundly lonely and isolated almost my entire life, i feel disenfranchised by the terrible system we live in, i love the movie Drive. i can also sometimes understand the desire to make yourself as reprehensible to outsiders as possible, to become some kind of truly vile thing to make everyone who doesn't understand feel ill and uncomfortable and awful. but i also can never understand everything else, the deep-seated true venomous hatred for all humanity, the bigotry, the total close-minded determination to be miserable. it's like looking through some kind of hideous black mirror of what life could be like if i didn't grow up being taught feminist theory and anti-racism. because i don't think there's any single innate trait that proves you can or can't be one of these people, it takes effort. you have to work to expand your knowledge, to open your mind, to keep trying. you have to be able to accept when you're wrong. you have to choose to care about people.

but like i said i do read a lot of these posts and it is always fascinating to me how much these people try to escape their humanity but are so human in doing so. there's something kind of Sisyphean about it.

there was a trend back in the 2012s on here to talk about 4chan like it was full of leet dark hackers and at some points in time there have definitely been people on there who know how cybersecurity works and how to get around it, but as of this present year in the 2020s, the userbase seems to be almost entirely just the most pathetic, saddest part of humanity imaginable. i assume that has a lot to do with the shifting userbase, the website changing hosts and domains and owners, etc, and the different face of the internet now. mostly now i think they're just profoundly sad.

and its like. I do find these people fascinating. but they are also so fucking unbelievably mind-numbingly boring. they will never produce anything true or beautiful because they are so fucking scared of feeling and of people. they will just sit alone for their entire lives believing that if it's going to get better it will only be because of someone finally recognising their genius.

i don't know if you can or can't help them. I don't really see it as our duty to do so. if someone is a nazi for their entire young adult life i don't think any of us should have to fix that for them. I think if the system we live in is changed it will also make life better for them, because it will make life better for everyone, but i don't particularly want to assign the duty of "we NEED to help these poor racist white men" to anyone. i understand how people get in these positions but it's the same issue again and again. a total refusal to take any action out of a sense you should not be inconvenienced, people should hand stuff to you.

i have no real deeper conclusion here. i just find something really strange and interesting about looking at a post about seeing a beautiful spark of hope for humanity and knowing that that same person, the day before, wrote about how he intentionally shit himself in public to try and make a woman on the bus uncomfortable.

[spectre-writes]

I called it a while back, but I'm still disappointed. I would pay full price for a full campaign mode. I am NOT paying for bite sized chunks that they can spread out and force me to pay drastically more than a full game would just to get some actual story conclusion. It's predatory. Heck, I'd pay full price for OW2 if it came with the promise of hundreds of free unlockable cosmetics, new maps/modes, events, all new heroes instantly playable etc. for years to come. OW2 is already a shell of its former self, with everything trying to point you toward the shop and hook you on the idea of microtransactions, the quality of the game is being sacrificed in the name of profit and it shows.

At this point, there's very little for f2p players... battle pass gives you next to nothing on the free track. Can't earn enough in game currency to buy anything (1 skin a year if you grind all your weeklies every week). 'Events' are likewise just an excuse to try and sell you more skins in the shop, with maybe some sprays or name cards you can earn by grinding a lazy event mode (like deathmatch with some new abilities and a limited hero pool is not exciting seriously, or a Rein Vs. kids mode that pretty much already existed in custom games).

Archives is gone. They give out old skins veteran players already have as rewards occasionally because they can't be asked to make anything that requires effort if they can't sell it for sweet sweet money. New hero out? Oh you can't play them unless you hand over your money or grind for weeks... (Hero locks should not even exist, spits in the face of the original philosophy of the game, which was an even playing field with everyone having access to the same tools).

Matchmaking is terrible. Removing end cards was a mistake. Push is boring and I'm not a big fan of 5v5. I don't think they've done anything since OW2's release that I've actually been a fan of?

Like I get wanting to earn money... I get it. But this is plain predatory, and I honestly don't understand how they expect the game to live a long life when they aren't creating anything to entice f2p players back? Overwatch is a multi-player game, it requires a good player count to keep q times down... Sell your stupid $19 skins the the shop if you must, but unless there's exciting content for people who don't want to pay for a battlepass or other microtransaction bullshit, the game will die.

These new story missions might promise 'permanent unlock' but the fact people have to pay $15 to even play them means the player pool will already be small... a few weeks after release, you'll struggle to even play them, they'd have to fill your team with bots... Plus, if the first bundle is underwhelming, you bet your ass less people will buy the next one, so the problem will only get worse.

Look, honestly I'm just tired... I've been playing Overwatch since the first summer games, some 7 years (?) back... about 2000hrs on the clock... longtime fan, it was my biggest obsession for a shameful amount of time. I've bought the art book, figures, clothing, I've watched the OWL, I've drawn fanart and written fanfic, got other people into the game... by all accounts I should be an ideal customer. But because I keep the hell away from any kind of microtransaction or ingame purchase (that's a rabbit hole I don't want to go down) my experience is unimportant.

I made a pledge to myself last year that I wasn't going to give Blizz another cent (not even merch) until they made meaningful change to how they operate and the future of Overwatch, and frankly that's just not going to happen. I've barely touched it for the last couple of months, I think I'll log on to play a few matches in the next week, then uninstall for good. It hurts but I think it'll be for the best. I don't even feel excited about it anymore. Maybe I just play once in a blue moon because it's so familiar.

Sorry for the rant but I just want this off my chest.

Blizzard exec 1: hey, what’s the Worst thing we could possibly do in the middle of all the PVE outrage?

Blizzard exec 2: 😏

[greatwyrmgold]

HoloSurvivors comparison

So I've played a lot of HoloCure, and I recently noticed that there's a Vampire Survivors demo on itch, so I've been playing a bit of that. I felt like talking about the differences. Beyond the obvious aesthetic differences, the big difference I noticed is that VS is more grinding while HC is more overwhelming.

(Caveat: I've bought all the HC upgrades and almost none of the VS ones, meaning I'm fighting the lategame HC hordes and struggling against early-game VS enemies. I think the conclusion applies in general, but I've been playing the most overwhelming part of HC and the grindiest part of VS—in part because I've turned off the HC upgrades for a couple games, in part because my conclusion is more nuanced than "VS is hard".)

Let's start with health. VS makes it easy to lose health brushing against an enemy, but hard to recover that health; enemies don't seem to drop food, and there aren't any healing items I've seen. By contrast, HC drops food more regularly and renewably, while making it tougher to lose a little health...with aggressive swarm attacks and tight enemy packing that makes it easier to lose a lot of health from a single mistake. When things go wrong in HC, they go wrong fast; when things go wrong in VS, it's a game of attrition, losing health as the enemy horde grows.

Of course, it's not just the health systems that cause this impression. Vampire Survivors's weapons feel weaker, and it's not just the upgrades—I still feel a difference after refunding upgrades and disabling gacha rank bonuses. It's easier to hit enemies with the weapons, both because the areas usually hit larger areas and because you can aim more HC weapons. Plus, each attack can hit more enemies, due to both larger attack sizes and more forgiving hit limits.

To balance this, HC throws a lot more enemies at you—I'm pretty sure more were onscreen by minute 2 of HoloCure's first stage than any point in VS's five five or so, and there were also shrimps. Also, the "bosses" in Vampire Survivors (as far as I've seen) are relatively weaksauce; they have a bit more health, but they're not that much more dangerous (or rewarding) than ordinary enemies. HC bosses are bigger, more dangerous, and more rewarding. The sum effect of these weapon and enemy tweaks is immense; VS has you trying to evade enemies and hit them with finicky weapons, while HC is more about prioritizing which part of the enemy horde to focus on first.

There are other differences that come into this. VS enemies drop XP less consistently (though I think in somewhat greater amounts); XP feels more scarce, and chasing it down is a bit more involved, since pickup ranges are a bit shorter. HC special attacks let the player deal with the occasional situation about to get out of hand, which lets the devs push closer to that line without making the endgame unplayable. And, of course, those obvious aesthetic differences.

Vampire Survivors's art is dull, and I don't mean that in a "programmer art" sort of way. (At least, not just in that way.) The color palette is drab, the sprites don't move much, the projectiles are simple. It sets a grim tone, and makes it easy to see exactly how grim things are. HoloCure's colorful art and energetic animation makes things pop; the detailed projectiles and effects of its weapons, especially the collabs, push this even further. It makes the game more overwhelming, forces you to focus on the forest (since you can't see all the trees), and makes you put in some effort to figure out which part of the enemy horde needs to be focused on first.

The "Vampire-Survivors-like" genre is still pretty young, but even with these early and straightforward examples, this sort of compare-and-contrast exercise is interesting. Seemingly minor mechanical and aesthetic tweaks add up to completely different experiences.

[pumpumdemsugah]

“Praying for natural hair to end” made me laugh because that was me for some years lol. I tried to do protective styles but I’m not a wig wearer(hat like feeling that creeps me out lol) and weaves irritated me after about two weeks so that left braids and such but for me, those took so much effort to put in and my 4c hair grows too quickly for it to be worth it. For the first 6 years of my journey I bought into the hype but later I realized I could use normal shampoo and have a regular routine and nothing bad would happen lol. I still wasn’t loving the pain that came with leaving it for even a day, or how long it took to style in the mornings so during lockdown I loc’d my hair . I’m 6 months in and it’s worth the 8 years of loose natural hair. I feel like people should be more honest about their feelings but also experiment. I get not speaking up about natural hair because people go directly to self hate but some of the girls really sit and watch a wavy girl routine and then stew at their afro results lmao. It’s just not that serious but also, you’ll really never know what your hair can do if you don’t get familiar with it, because the shit ain’t going to change or disappear lol.

RIGHT!! I'm so happy for you and your hair are on the same page. Many modern natural hair outlets are about making content and views. These women have reason to encourage buying products you don't need. With that being said, some things just don't work for your hair or lifestyle. Styling is more of an exact science than daily hair so this focus on styling Vs the everyday means a lot of women are starting on the hardest part first. Daily hair care isn't as hard, it just takes long to figure out and lots of so-so results or routines. Its alot of repetition and repetition isn't as rewarding as a well executed style so i get wanting to have a nice twist out Vs finding a moisturiser that works for you

You have to get to know your hair. The office will get use to you and your chunky twists and unslicked edges, practice getting comfortable with that. When white girls rock a messy bun, that's them wearing a bonnet and eventually people relaxed about straighter hair textures not being perfectly styled

Consume content by people with hair like you. Nothing is wrong with being subscribed to people that don't have your hair, but if that's most of what you're feeding yourself you're going to feel stupid and unappreciated and angry. Type 3s didn't take over the natural hair community, Black women just keep over consuming content made by them so they kept getting branding opportunities ( yes brands also contribute but this Types 3s took over thing isn't honest because that's all some Black women want to look at). Its come to the point people are surprised when a Black woman with type 3 hair has an afro. There's this expectation as someone with looser hair that you ought to be miss wash n go and its something ive felt more and more. This expectation didnt exist 10 years ago and its because of social media. We can change whats normal again but we have to be willing to confront our baggage and expectations of our hair and that's unfortunately very boring and long