#latest+mobile+themes

[hojiteaversion]

Laia Burnell, final girl

For day 1 of Halloweekend, hosted by @rc-appreciationweeks

Additional assets by BeautifulCome!

[therandomartmaker]

Reasons Discord's New Mobile Layout Update is Bad

The reply function is redundant, as most people are used to just holding down and tapping the reply option at the top. If they're going to change it, they shouldn't have gotten rid of the member list for this functionally bad option. It also doesnt line up with any other platform in terms of swipe direction.

The member list is gone from easy viewing

It doesnt auto open your last group chat/DM making multiple simultaneous conversations far more difficult and longer

It's already broken my app once (Locked all channels including other servers' to one channel. I could not access anything except that and my DMs.)

You can not see images that have been pinned in the pins tab.

The search function was fine before. Where did your before, during and after date search go??

All of Discord's individuality is disappearing.

Getting used to a mobile format actually impedes usage of the desktop format and likely discourages people from multiplatforming discord because theyre so used to the "intuitiveness" of the new "tailored for mobile" experience

There is no way to CHANGE IT BACK. This is like Tumblr rolling out Tumblr Live without any Disable button At All.

Why are they marketing midnight mode as Something fucking ENTIRELY new??? It has always been a feature on Android as the AMOLED theme???????

DARK MODE IS NO LONGER LOW CONTRAST AND DISCORD IS DEVOLVING INTO AN ACCESSIBILITY NIGHTMARE

Disable swipe-to-reply by activating full-screen Launchpad in Advanced Settings

Discord’s new layout is apparently permanent. Keep sending feedback and rating it one star on all appstores; if you get redirected to the advice article, double tap gove feedback.

If you, too, dislike the theme, head to settings (you can double tap your account picture) and go to Appearance, scroll to New Layout and Send Feedback.

Overall, what they've done is disorientate every single current user on discord, and you cannot avoid it unless you've not updated to the latest discord because this is not an update. It is a feature that has already been on the latest update and is being slowly rolled out, like Tumblr Polls.

Good Luck, and may we send as much feedback as possible and have them make it optional or at the least, revert it. I've already sent in at least seven complaints to discord, commented on their instagram post about the layout and I'm about one star review it on google play and app store.

This isnt just the appearance and vibes being off like the new (ish) app icon, this is a matter of functionality.

[psuedofolio]

I've been continuing my quest to draw 100 different characters, once a day every weekday and a couple weeks ago was like... "Girls and Mecha" week. And I tried each time to have like... a different take on the theme but would still have certain similar aesthetics. With the exception of the "school girl" the other machines were inspired more with industrial or construction machines.

So like... here's a power loader type mech. And a power armor type design. Then there was like... a mecha pilot but all she got was a roomba. Then there was the "pilot" and there was the girl that is actually the mech for a tiny robot. Was fun!

I had this whole lore where it was some corporation fighting some future union rebels on some space planet. Maybe I'll expand more on that someday.

EDIT: It occurs to me I should probably include the flavor text from when I tweeted these out. I'll put them in the same order as the images here:

"You know Kimmie, from the loading docks? Yeah she took to the Pile Bunker like a champ. You should see her tear open the corpo APCs."

2. "The off world colony workers repurposed the excavator suits into mobile armor frames. Corporate needs you to shut this down, now."

3. "The workers at the BIG PLANT found a little creative solution for taking their work with them while moving through and monitoring the factory floor. They've taken to personalizing their "Desk-bas" thinking of them like their own little mecha."

4. "The Cortex Walker, inspired by some particularly cruel science fiction, was Corporate's latest attempt to demoralize the rebel factions. While impractical from a mechanical perspective, the psychological impact of firing on captured allies could not be understated."

5. "My Best Friend is An Alien (and Unfortunately That's my Type!)"

[bobbiedebruyn]

So you just joined Tumblr?

Tumblr basics + Fandoms/Gifmaking

Congratulations, you just landed at Tumblr! This hellsite (affectionate) can seem intimidating and complicated at first, but once you grasp the basics of it it’ll quickly turn into your own personal little hut in the forest. Tumblr is a website where you and only you curate your dashboard, you’ll see the content that you seek on your own. In this post, I’ll explain the basics of Tumblr and the basics of how fandoms function here with the help of Bob. Okay, let’s get started.

1. Blog customization

The first thing you should do as soon as you land on Tumblr is add a profile picture and header before you interact with people. You want to be distinguishable from bots and therefore avoid getting blocked. You can also add anything to your bio, there's no character limit. Some folks add their name and pronouns, but there are no rules about that. There are also no rules about profile pictures. It can be a picture of you, a picture of your dog, a picture of a rock, or a picture of your favorite character. If you plan on staying on the fandom side, you might notice that a lot of fandom blogs have colorful-looking icons (a cutout of a character on a colorful background), for these icons and also headers I suggest checking out source blogs that make those icons. For starters, @iconheadersource is a goldmine where you definitely going to find something that’d suit you and your blog.

Tumblr on mobile and Tumblr on desktop are two different creatures when it comes to customization. On the desktop, you can customize your blog with coding (HTML + JS). Now Bob will demonstrate to us some examples of blogs on desktop.

If you want to customize your desktop blog, I suggest checking out @phantomcodes and @glenthemes for the codes.

Tutorial on how to install themes

Using javascript on Tumblr pages

2. Search Engine

Nice! You've made your blog look pretty! Now, let's shift our focus to the search engine and ways to discover content. As mentioned earlier, you curate your dashboard by looking for things you enjoy and like. Search using hashtags or the names of your interests (TV shows, movies, birds, music, etc.) to find your piece of cake. For instance, folks who create posts about TV shows you like use tags to ensure their posts reach others interested in the same thing. So, let's go ahead and search for something right now.

Once you search for that specific tag, you are redirected to the corresponding tag page. Here, you can see that posts are sorted by "Latest" or "Top" (indicating posts with the most notes). On the right side, you will find related tags and blogs which are frequently using the searched tag. By following the tag, both the tag itself and the posts tagged with it will automatically appear on your dashboard in the "Your tags" section. You have the option to filter tags according to your preferences. In the settings, you can choose to block specific tags if you prefer not to see content related to some particular topics.

The only method for sharing posts and content on this website is through reblogging. On Tumblr, reposting others' content, including art, gifs, and fics, is not accepted. Reposting means downloading art, gifs, etc., creating your own post, and then sharing it. And that's a big no-no, strongly discouraged. Your likes essentially function as bookmarks, and you have the option to set them to be private. When you save something, it doesn't appear on your friends' dashboards.

We don't censor things here, and I advise you not to do so too. If you need to mention a word that might be potentially triggering or could be flagged on another social media, feel free to say it. Many users have specific topics and tags filtered out, so if you use variations like "K!tKat" instead of "KitKat" in the tags, it can bypass the tag filter, potentially causing more harm as people will see content that triggers them. And remember to always tag posts that have flickering or flashing!!!

If you want to organize your reblogs or make comments on a reblog, use the tags section and not the comments section itself. This is called "#add tags." Feel free to type whatever you want, but keep in mind that the original poster receives notifications when someone reblogs their post and adds tags. Yes, all tags are visible to us.

Okay, so let's quickly recap this information with the help of our dear friend, Bob.

3. Social interactions

So let's move on to one of the crucial topics - how to make friends on Tumblr? Personally, I don't think there's one particular formula for that. Sometimes you just see a funny bloke posting about something as random as desert rain frogs, grab them, and go "You're my friend now" and that's how you become mutuals. 

However, there are other, more common ways to become friends with someone. You can start by reblogging someone's post, adding tags to the reblog, and then following the person. Create your own posts, tag them to ensure they reach the folks who are interested in the same things as you, and participate in fandom events and challenges if you're into that. Interact with people you want to befriend, message them, send them asks. You will eventually find your crowd. You'll also find swifties, and fans of supernatural who never moved on from that destiel love confession four years ago, they also can be your friends, at some point, you will become friends and chill with each other. Be open to new interests to make sure your dashboard is not dull and boring.

Tumblr doesn't have the supposed hierarchy, and you don't have to listen to anyone who tells you otherwise, you curate your own experience and blocking is pretty normalized here. Notes and followers (which are private for everyone) don't really matter, stick to your beliefs and your vibe and you'll be fine. We're all equal losers here.

4. Fandom / Gifmaking

Fandoms play a significant role on Tumblr, they're closely tied with gifmaking. As a fellow creature of fandom, I'm adding this part because we don't gatekeep - more gifmakers and fandom enthusiasts mean a better fandom experience. As I mentioned earlier, everything has its tag, making it easy to find your favorite TV show fandom by searching for the tag. This is also how you can connect with people who share an interest in that specific TV show. Upon entering the tag, you'll stumble upon numerous moving pictures – these are GIFs. People create GIFs of everything, from their "blorbo" (the term for favorite character) to beloved ships and favorite moments. There are also plenty of creative GIFs with different coloring and complicated effects. And the best part? You can do it too!

There are a lot of ways to make GIFs. Some people use Photoshop, and some use Photopea which is an excellent accessible option. I'll be linking posts for Photoshop under this text. For Photopea tutorials and guides, please check out @photopeablr.

I've been making GIFs for three years at this point, and those are the tutorials I used when I was just starting out:

how to make a gif:

comprehensive guide 101

basic gif making tutorial + mvp player installation 

gifmaking for beginners

how to install MVP player on a PC

film downloading & screen-capping tips

correct photoset dimensions 

coloring

how to fix orange-washed characters

how to: coloring east & southeast asian celebs

channel mixer

colored background

color manipulation

vibrant coloring

how to brighten dark scenes

color isolation

effects

glitch effect

blending

crossfade transition

gradient effect in the text

gradient text

red colour accent on the b&w gifs

how to add a gif in a template

blurring gif backgrounds

using templates

text

text tutorial 1

font resources

understanding fonts and typefaces

split text

subtitles

other

icon tutorial

gif headers 

For more tutorials, inspirations, and resources - please check out @usergif. It's a good source blog for all gifmakers.

Wait but what's a source blog? These are blogs that center around a specific theme, creating content for a particular topic. They are managed by multiple editors, these blogs track their own tags to reblog content related to the theme. They can be source blogs dedicated to gifmaking (just like @usergif), a TV show, a movie, a character, a celebrity, a sports team, or literally anything else. Typically, these blogs incorporate terms like "network," "source," "central," "creators," "hub," or "daily" in their usernames, making them easily distinguishable from regular personal blogs. Examples of source blogs that come to my mind right now are @dailyanakin, @heartstoppercentral, and @nancywheelercentral.

Let's also talk about tracking tags, which are often included in blogs's bios, whether they're from source blogs or solo gifmakers. You can add these tags to your posts when creating a gifset related to a specific source blog or something you know a particular gifmaker would appreciate. Basically, the gifmaker can search their tracking tag, much like a regular Tumblr tag, and view the most recent sets in which someone used their tag.

The last thing I want to talk about are usernames, and main and side blogs. On Tumblr, we have two types of blogs: the main blog and the side blog. The main blog is the initial blog created when you sign up for your account. This blog has full functionality and all features, allowing you to follow other blogs, like posts, and send asks to other blogs. In addition to the main blog, you can create side blogs on your account. Side blogs lack some of the features of main blogs; you can't like posts, follow other blogs, or send asks from a side blog. They have slightly different functionality – a side blog can be password-protected, have multiple users, and allow you to send direct messages to people. Other users can follow your side blog, and you can receive asks from them.

Many people use side blogs as URL holders. For instance, when a new TV show is announced, someone might be the quickest to save all canonical character names. You can then message that empty side blog to inquire if they're willing to trade that specific URL or if it's available for a giveaway. Canonical URLs are often challenging to obtain, so many people add letters in between or at the end or use symbols like "-", and they also mix names and surnames of different characters.

5. The End

Okay, so we've just covered how Tumblr works, how fandoms operate, and how to get into gifmaking. I hope this guide by me and Bob has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, feel free to send them to my ask box or simply ask Bob. I hope you enjoy your stay here, and that your experience with this website will be a positive one.

[changes]

Tuesday, April 18th, 2023

🌟 New

We’re working on allowing everyone to Blaze each others’ posts! Please note that there’s now a setting to disable this for your blog, if you don’t want any of your posts blazed. There will also be a per-post Blaze toggle. And just in case people miss this post or that Staff post, there will be a banner shown to all users across all platforms informing them of this new feature, so they can turn it off if they don’t want their posts being blazed. Also, if you have been Blazed, you’ll have the ability to cancel it before approval (or rejection) by human moderators, or extinguish it after approval.

We’ve added the ability to crop and rotate images in the image editor in the latest iOS and Android apps.

We’ve added “Last updated” / “Created on” dates to themes in the Theme Garden on web.

We’re removing the emoji from the dashboard and explore tab labels across all platforms.

In the new post editor on web, we’re refining the design of the tag input field to help more people discover it and use it.

🛠 Fixed

Fixed an issue in the new post editor, specifically when using it in a mobile browser on an Android device, that was causing the content block options to be anchored to the left side instead of the right side.

The next version of the Tumblr iOS app, 29.1, has a fix for the problem of not being able to buy Ad-Free Browsing.

🚧 Ongoing

We’re aware of an issue in the Android app which could cause the wrong image to be loaded into the lightbox when tapping on an image in a post, we’re working to fix it ASAP.

🌱 Upcoming

We’re working on adding the ability to set community labels to posts in bulk to the Mass Post Editor on web.

Experiencing an issue? File a Support Request and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Want to share your feedback about something? Check out our Work in Progress blog and start a discussion with the community.

[tailschannel]

Sonic Forces Mobile roundup: Tech Knight Silver teased, Surge the Tenrec leaked

Several character events have been teased and leaked alongside new patch notes for Sonic Forces: Speed Battle. Here's a quick run-through of them all.

Surge the Tenrec leaked

Take a look at the official SEGA HARDlight render of Surge the Tenrec, spotted within the game's files. Not much is known about her runner specifications and release window as of yet, but more is expected to be revealed later on.

Surge will join Whisper the Wolf and Tangle the Lemur as the one the latest IDW Sonic comic characters to appear in official games media.

Tech Knight Silver officially teased, Mummy Knuckles coming soon

SEGA HARDlight posted two teasers for the upcoming slates of character skins in Speed Battle: the "Tech Knight" skin for Silver the Hedgehog, and the "Mummy" Knuckles the Echidna skin.

All of the aforementioned runners were inadvertently teased by name in a spreadsheet leak from the game's developers in late June. Since then, a spokesperson acknowledged that the slate was "subject to change," but did not rule out the release of the mentioned characters, which all came to fruition as planned.

A spokesperson did not acknowledge the leaked renders of Surge and Tech Knight Silver as of press time, due to a policy that prohibits discussion of datamined content.

New in-game events

Speed Battle players can collect Special cards for Sonic the Werehog and Reaper Metal Sonic during the "Graveyard Smash" event. The mission rewards will alternate between each character in the event, scheduled between 24 to 31 October. The event's bonus box will contain 15 cards for each runner.

There is also a new "Brawl Mode" event to earn guaranteed cards for Sonic the Werehog and Reaper Metal Sonic. Scheduled between 24 October to 7 November, players will be placed into teams between the two runners.

To score points in this Team Vs Event you will need to hold the Brawl token, and carry the Brawl token over the finish line. Deal damage to rivals to steal the Brawl token from them, but if you get hit they'll take it back!

The winners of the event will receive 50 cards for their chosen runner, while the runners-up will receive 25 cards.

The new Halloween-themed events followed the launch event for the Classic Super Sonic runner, timed to coincide with the release of Sonic Superstars. Here's the specifications, in case you missed it:

Patch notes

Here's a brief look at the official update notes for version 4.22.0 of Speed Battle. Expect various bug fixes and Tails' Vault improvements.

Balance changes

Reduced damage on 'Sharp Shelter' for Boscage Maze Sonic,

Reduced radius on 'Brutal Barrier' to one lane for Linebacker Omega,

Removed invincibility from 'Twin Tail Boost' for Movie Tails.

Gameplay changes

Added a ray-beam effect on spawn of 'Cyclone Charge' for Longclaw,

Metal Sonic can no longer steal 'Steal'.

(h/t Sonic Mobile News, article contributed by Spectre, Syn, and Scarlett for the Tails' Channel newsfeed.)

[cheesy09]

[CN] Kiro's Wrapped in Silk Date

🌸 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date that hasn't been released on the EN server yet! 🌸

Note: This date explores some very suggestive themes, so if you do not meet the game's recommended 17+ age rating, I'd suggest to avoid reading this date.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[PART 1]

The clear night sky seems to have been washed by spring water, and the stars are akin to diamonds against the dark blue gauze.

[MC's Company Name] has recently discussed collaboration with LEEZY, a well-know foreign fashion brand, and therefore I personally made the trip to come to their headquarters in West Asia.

The first reason being because they attached great importance to this collaboration, and second one being because Kiro too was filming in this city.

It's been three months since Kiro came here to film a movie. During this time, all we could do was accompany each other through the tiny screens of our mobile phones every day.

So when this opportunity to "visit work" presented itself, I immediately applied for a visa and flew over.

After several days of meetings and visits, the contract was successfully signed. The other party hoped that we could promote the latest season of their clothing.

I was also invited to attend this charity dinner party being held by the lake tonight.

In my drunken stupor, a slight sense of dizziness floods my head. I lift the shawl of my dress, shake the wine glass in my hand and look at the figure standing close by--

Kiro smiles and talks to the person in front of him, his golden hair shinning brightly in the darkness of night.

Seemingly noticing my gaze, he turns his face slightly, and his blue eyes catch my sight.

I raise my glass, smile at him, and take another slow sip. His eyes flicker for a moment and he calmly looks away from me.

Not long after, he smiles, nods, and comes to me with a glass of wine, lightly touching it to mine.

Kiro: I'm back!

MC: Was that the producer who invited you to the dinner just now? Why don't you chat for a little longer?

Kiro: We've already chatted for quite a bit. He even asked for my autograph for his little daughter.

Kiro: So, from now on, my time is all yours, MC.

Kiro: That being said... how much have you had to drink?

He seems to have noticed the unyielding warmth on my face. He raises his hand and gently touches the side of my face with the back of his hand.

That familiar body temperature departs as soon as it touches, leaving me feeling a little disappointed. I simply pinch his fingertips and take the opportunity to slip my fingers into the gaps between his.

MC: Not a lot, maybe... five or six glasses.

Kiro: That's not a lot...?

He lowers his head slightly and draws closer to me, the glimmer of expectation in his eyes quietly falling into mine.

Kiro: MC, should we run away?

MC: Now?

Kiro: Well~ You're going back to Loveland tomorrow afternoon, and I won't be back in China for another three weeks.

Kiro: There are less than 15 hours left. I don't want to waste another minute.

That reluctance tucked away in my heart is outlined by his words and tugs at my heartstrings.

All the work that needed to be discussed has been taken care of, so I nod. After paying our respects to the organizer, Kiro takes my hand and leaves the venue.

-

The taxi takes us all the way back to the hotel. After getting out of the cab, I stop, shake our intertwined hands and look at him eagerly.

MC: ...My feet hurt.

A smile seems to flash across those blue eyes. The next second, my body grows light and I'm being held in his arms.

Kiro: [chuckles indulgently] Hold me.

Amidst the cool night breeze, the embrace I am nestled in is particularly affectionate. I put my arms around his neck, and from time to time I run my lips across the side of his face, which is now slightly cooled by the night wind.

After entering the room, he bends down and gently places me on the small sofa.

The warmth that came from being close to each other seems to escape. Just as I am about to reach out and hug him, I suddenly feel my clothes tighten. Seemingly pulled by something, he too, falls towards me--

Those slightly wide blue eyes suddenly close in within my field of vision, and a warm softness unexpectedly falls against the corner of my lips.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[PART 2]

The bright moonlight falls on the tip of his slender eyebrows, creating a faint white circle, akin to a piece of fallen snow.

His blue eyes appear deeper than usual. Through the moonlight, I can clearly see myself reflected in that clear spring.

The tenderness lingering at the corner of my lips stays for a moment, then departs slightly.

Kiro: Sure enough, you still smell like champagne.... I'll get you a glass of water.

I don't let go of the hands holding him. All I do is blink my eyes and soften my voice.

MC: ...I don't want to let go.

Noting my retention, he doesn't get up and just gently kisses my ear.

Suddenly, he pauses slightly, picks up the beaded chain on my clothes with one hand and shakes it.

Kiro: Turns out that there was a "trap" waiting for me here.

I follow his line of sight and see that the pearl chain from my clothes had somehow managed to get entangled with the accessories on his outfit.

Kiro: I won't leave. So... there's no need for this.

Those slender fingertips travel along the intricately wound chain and slowly disassemble it under the moonlight. Every now and then the silver chain reflects a cold silver light, like starlight dancing along his fingertips.

The alcohol gradually takes over my brain, and the person in front of me appears to be covered in a layer of mist under the moonlight.

My hands slowly slide along his arms to his back, feeling the familiar contours of his muscles under the thin layer of fabric. And when his tight buttons block the path of my fingertips, I gently undo them--

His white collar falls open a bit, revealing the lines of his collarbone.

Kiro: [Almost breathlessly] ....Why are you still being naughty?

MC: How could I....

When my nails gently scratch his waist, I feel the body under my fingertips stiffen slightly, and the breathing in the air suddenly grow heavier.

I blink innocently, finding some kind of pleasure in this long wait, and gently squeeze along his waistline.

Just as I'm busy enjoying myself, he suddenly grabs a hold of my wrist and then raises it above my head without any explanation.

At some point, he manages to untie the longest chain of beads and holds it casually between his fingertips.

His eyes, which have always been clear, are now stained with a hint of drunkenness, influenced by my own, and even his voice sounds hoarse.

Kiro: [huskily] If you keep making trouble like this, we won't be able to finish undoing this tonight.

Kiro: [x2] Leave your hands to me for now.

A cold touch falls on the skin of my wrist. Along with the slight rustling sound of metal, something wraps around my wrist one after another. Belatedly, my somewhat sluggish brain realizes that it's the chain that was untied from my dress.

My heartbeat inexplicably speeds up.

MC: [blushing] Kiro....

Kiro: [voice soft yet seductive] Don't move, it'll be fine soon.

As he says this, he deliberately slows down and enjoys every minute the peaceful moonlight has to offer.

The cold tassels brush against my skin from time to time, leaving at the first sign of touch. Tiny stimulations flow along my skin and blood vessels, causing my heartbeat to grow a little faster.

MC: Mmn...

I shrink on reflex, and he gently holds me down.

Taking in my state, he smiles softly, supports my knees and raises them slightly, lowering his head and kissing the spot where the chain grazes me.

His overwhelmingly hot breath seems to carry with it a small fire, burning along the blood in my veins.

As time passes by, the body's sensitivity seems to be heightened, feeling the other person with every ounce of strength.

I want to hug that warm back, but I find my hands tied together, unable to move freely. So I simply raise my ankle and gently press it against his calf.

As if eager to occupy the little time we have left, the breath tracing the side of my neck grows more and more rapid.

In the room soaked in moonlight, the tips of my fingers are tightly clasped, as if the vacancy formed during this period of time is being filled.

The overlapping of shadows is reflected on one side, almost blending together, blurring the slowly approaching moment of separation.

This night seems to go on forever, but also seems to pass by in an instant.

And amidst the chaos, I feel as if I'm being held in a scorching embrace.

-

Wanting to turn over a bit, I felt my wrist tighten. And when I open my eyes, I find a familiar metal chain still hanging on my wrist.

The other end of the chain is loosely wrapped around Kiro's wrist. Looking at the bright white pearls, my mind goes blank for a while.

At that moment, the mobile phone screen next to my ear lights up, and a travel information prompt pops up.

"The pre-scheduled flight has arrived. Please arrive at the airport two hours before departure to complete formalities..."

In that instant, the strength against my waist tightens slightly, and a tired warmth presses up against it.

Kiro: [sleepily] ...Is it morning already?

MC: Mm. It's time to get up.

I forcefully turn over and peck him softly on the lips.

He lets out a "Huh", turns over and pushes me under him. Using the grip of the chain, he grabs my wrist and nuzzles my neck.

Kiro: Okay, Kiro is attempting to get up. Progress is 1%, 14%...

Kiro: [sighing in mock defeat] Kiro has failed to get up and has now entered the Miss Chips mode with a five-minute countdown...

The person behind me mutters and hugs me tighter.

-

I don't know how many five-minutes pass before we finally get up from the bed and wash up.

Holding me in his arms, he helps me tie the straps behind my back.

Kiro: You really don't need me to take you to the airport?

MC: No need. Didn't the director give you an "ultimatum" to arrive on set by 1 o'clock in the afternoon at the latest?

MC: You concentrate on filming. I'll contact you when I get to the airport.

Hearing this, he curls his lips in frustration.

Kiro: Sigh... I wish I had a time machine. It could take us back to last night, or take me to 20 days later, when my filming ends.

I suppress the longing in my heart, raise my head and gently kiss his lips.

MC: You can rest for a few days when you get back. There are several new handicraft stores that have opened on Huapu Street. We can wait in line to visit them.

MC: Or we can play games together at home and rest together.

Kiro: Okay, it's settled.

Warm fingertips occasionally glide across my skin through the chiffon fabric, taking their time, fearing that this little time will quietly slip away from our fingertips.

Feeling a sense of comfort in my heart, I change my position and lean into his arms, gazing up at him.

MC: How long will it take you to fasten them?

Kiro: It's a bit complicated. Might take a while.

He looks at me and says earnestly.

Kiro: So, before you get ready and leave for the airport... let me hold you like this for a while.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[PART 3]

After returning to China, I put the new collaborative project on the agenda. And in the storm of work and overtime, three weeks quickly pass by.

Kiro has successfully completed his filming and returned to China. Our reunion lasts for about two nights, but I'm unable to find the time to fulfill the promise I made to him about going shopping together--

The release date of LEEZY's new season of clothing gradually approaches, but I still haven't formulated a promotional plan that I'm sold on yet.

MC: What's missing....

Facing a dozen documents on my computer, I find myself feeling a little distressed.

Just as I am about to pick up my mug and take a few more sips of black coffee to refresh myself, a warm embrace greets from behind.

Kiro: What are you sighing about?

I put down the black coffee, smile, turn around and hug him back.

MC: Did you sleep well?

Kiro: Mm-- I just dreamed that my Miss Chips was being chased by the document monster, and I quickly woke up.

MC: ...Don't tell me. That dream is quite vivid.

Noting my slight frustration, he rubs his chin on the top of my head and looks at my screen.

Kiro: Are you still writing about LEEZY's announcement?

MC: Yeah... Their latest season's clothes were the ones they gave me before, with a lot of straps on them.

MC: I've made several promotional plans, but they all seem to lack a bit of novelty...

Kiro: Generally, brands will focus on a theme when designing a new season clothing line. Wouldn't it better to explore options based on their theme?

MC: Their clothes this season all have a lot of straps and chains on them. Their theme of design is said to be "Entwining".

MC: But this theme has been done by other brands before, so I couldn't find a unique direction to take it in.

Kiro: If you can't get any ideas by just looking at the information, shouldn't you try out some other methods?

MC: For example..?

Kiro thinks for a moment and then snaps his fingers.

Kiro: I've got a good idea. Besides, I've got nothing to do today, so let me be Miss Muse's inspiration-finding assistant!

MC: [excited] What?

He pulls me up from my seat and winks.

Kiro: Of course, we're going to use the method we're both good at - shooting!

Kiro: But this time, let's switch roles. You can be the model.

-

Kiro: Hmm... This angle of the light box should be fine. For the lighting...

I change my clothes, walk into the huge dance studio, and see Kiro adjusting the bracket of the lighting board.

The backdrop has been decorated by him in a simple manner, with various colorful ribbons hanging loosely but not messily. A stool is placed in the center of the background wall.

When he sees me come in, his eyes light up, and he comes over and takes my hand.

Kiro: I want the opinion of a professional producer: What do you think? Is it pretty good?

MC: It's very layered, and the color and backdrop complement each other well!

Watching my eyes light up fills him with a sense of pride.

Kiro: Feeling the theme for yourself might give you different ideas.

He leads me to sit on the stool, guides me to hook my hand on the hanging ribbon, raises his camera and presses the shutter.

After taking a few photos in various positions, we lean in front of the camera and look at the pictures.

Perhaps because of his rich shooting experience, Kiro is very good at guiding postures and states.

Kiro: What do you think?

MC: The composition and lighting are very good, and can be used as a photo album. It's just... I still feel clueless.

I look through the pictures carefully one after another, but I still get the sense that something isn't right.

MC: ....Is it possible that the characters don't fit the environment well enough?

After listening to my words, Kiro also lowers his head and thinks for a while.

Kiro: Wait for a moment.

I watch him drag out a box from the standing cabinet on the side and rummage through it. Then he picks up a large number of differently styled decorative chains and ribbons.

MC: Why do you have so much of this stuff?

Kiro: They were all leftover props from previous shoots. I had a feeling that they'd come in handy sooner or later.

Kiro: Now, let me "transform" the model and scene.

-

After we add some of them to the background wall, we open the stool up wide and I sit directly in the middle of this tangled up scene.

Kiro holds a long ribbon and casually wraps it around my thigh.

The cool silk gently touches my skin, making me shiver and my entire body tenses up.

As if noting my slight nervousness, Kiro chuckles, drawing the ribbon around my waist, and then wrapping it loosely around my wrist.

Kiro: Don't be nervous. Do you still remember the lesson in perception you took before?

I follow his voice and recall that in the greenhouse, he had once taught me bit by bit how to use senses other than sight to feel.

Note: This is a callback to Perception Date :>

Kiro: [voice enticingly soft] Try searching for the feeling of having your body wrapped in ribbon.

Following his voice, I carefully feel the silk wrapping around my skin - soft and thin.

Kiro's mirthful voice is akin to the ribbon entwined around my body. He gently lifts it, leaving my heart feeling a bit itchy.

Kiro: [x2] Raise your right hand a little higher... yes.

The hand holding the ribbon moves, and the soft fabric slowly slides along my skin and tightens slightly. My eyes subconsciously follow it.

"Click"--

The soft click of the shutter occasionally dissipates in the quiet air.

He adjusts the position of the ribbon around my body, arms, neck...

And the soft fabric seems to come to life in his hands, ensnaring all of my thoughts and following in his lead.

Occasionally, he adds one or two thin pearl strands that make a crisp sound every time my body sways.

I think of the chain wrapped around my wrist on that moonlit night.

My heart beats loudly, and my ears are so hot that they are on the verge of bleeding. I can't help but move my body.

MC: ...You - please be serious.

Kiro: Hm? But I am seriously trying to help you find that "entwining" sensation.

His eyes widen slightly, but the curvature at the corners of his lips betrays the cunning in his heart. It's as if he's playing an interesting "game".

I purse my lips, suddenly curious about the "reason" that has captured his interest, and with a bit of force, I grasp a hold of his wrist.

His surprised face gradually enlarges in my field of vision. He stretches out his hand to the wall beside my face in order to support and steady his body, and for a moment, his breathing becomes chaotic.

MC: In addition to being entwined, I too want to experience what it's like to entwine someone...

MC: Can this superstar help me out?

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[PART 4]

There's a hint of a smile present in his brow.

Kiro: Sure.

The hand holding me tightens. He turns me over and my entire body presses up against him.

A scorching body temperature comes from our closely connected skin, and the side of my face and the base of ears are also dyed in a slight warmth.

I prop up my body, and following his example, I slowly pull a ribbon from the side and gently touch it to his ear.

His whole body seems to relax, lazily waiting for my next move.

Kiro: [whispering temptingly] Need help?

MC: I - I want to experience this for myself first.

Even though I say this, I'm unsure as to what to do next. I aimlessly wrap the ribbon around his slender fingers and slowly slide it down...

Stopping on his well-jointed wrist.

I wrap the ribbon in my hand around his wrist, imitating his actions from that night, and tie it into a somewhat clumsy knot.

He arches his eyebrows slightly and glances at me.

Kiro: [I HV NO IDEA HOW TO DESCRIBE HOW SEDUCTIVELY HE DRAGGED HIS VOICE HERE BUT HNNG-] I see... I reasonably suspect that you're trying to "avenge yourself".

MC: I'm just serious about set design!

Another pale yellow ribbon is loosely wrapped around his neck. I hold the other end of the ribbon and trail it across his arms, chest, the curves of his sides...

Then, gently tighten it.

The hair of the person in front of me is slightly tousled, and entangles with the strings of ribbon scattered on the side.

Among these bright and beautiful colors, those blue eyes gazing at me get darker and darker.

Kiro: [temptingly soft again] Does this give you inspiration?

MC: My eyes have captured it... But I also wanted to capture this on camera.

I lift up my camera and capture this scene.

His languid eyes look directly into mine through the lens, like a warm current hitting my chest.

Kiro: [x2] Actually, there's something else that could also help you.

MC: ...What?

Kiro: [x3] Unlike entangling something, untangling these entanglements could also be fun... Do you wanna try it?

He holds my hand, guides my fingers to pick up a ribbon that had dropped onto his skin, and slowly pulls it away.

I look down at him, wrapped in colorful ribbons, and at this moment, he looks as if he's waiting to be unwrapped...

Like a gift.

The memory hidden in the recesses of my mind cause my heartbeat to pound a bit out of control.

Noting the pause of my hand, Kiro raises his eyes slightly, a couple of doubts present in his eyebrows.

Kiro: ...What's wrong?

MC: It feels like I'm opening a gift...

He startles slightly, and then a smile appears on his lips.

Kiro: I've always been a gift belonging to you alone. You can open it at any time.

The black ribbon absentmindedly wraps around his fingers, drawing out lingering memories and taking me back to that Valentine's Day filled with the scent of essential oils.

This time, I take over the role of "signee". I lower my head a bit and approach him, gently tugging on the silk threads in my hand.

MC: You are also the most precious gift given to me by God.

All of this is a call back to Entwining / Unwrap the Gift Date released for the game's first Valentine's day event :>

What answers me is a gentle pressure on the back of my neck and a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth.

The pounding in the left of my chest grows faster and faster, as if mirroring my desire to open this long-awaited gift to see what surprises are kept in store.

One by one, the ribbons are pulled away from him and scattered to the side.

After tearing them all off, I am left confused for a moment. He takes my hand and gently places it on the button of his shirt.

Kiro: [voice dark & husky] You're not done yet.

A burning sensation comes from beneath the thin silk fabric.

Kiro: [x2] Continue.

Bewitched by his gentle voice, my hand slowly travels down from his collar, and with just a slight flick of my fingers, the buttons of his white shirt come undone.

One, two...

Those blue eyes seem to bear an indescribable gravity. Just the way he gazes at me alone prompts me to draw closer and closer.

By the time the last button comes undone, our breaths completely merge.

His slender fingers grasp my wrist unobjectively and he lowers his head a bit, biting the chiffon string on the bust of my dress and gently tugging it open.

His scorching hot breath falls on the skin of my chest, like a falling spark, setting my entire chest on fire.

Kiro's eyes are half-lidded, and his somewhat hoarse voice carries an inexplicable rough quality to it that gently caresses my eardrums.

Kiro: [x3] Did you like that?

His headless and baseless words are so soft that they almost scatter with the heat of his breath, but they fall heavily onto my heart.

MC: Of course I liked it... In this world, I like you the most.

Upon hearing my answer, his breath suddenly surges and almost melts into my body.

Even though it's obvious that there is no pull from any thread, my body feels bewitched. I unconsciously murmur his name.

MC: Kiro....

My fingertips glide over his skin, seeking out his deeper exploration. He deliberately feigns ignorance, however, and tilts his head in curiosity.

Kiro: What's wrong?

His curled fingers tighten a bit, and the breath in my ears makes me feel as though my ears are about to combust into flames.

I bite my lip, unwilling to lose in this silent tug-of-war, and turn my face a bit to the side.

MC: I was just thinking that I do have more ideas... Mmn.

As if dissatisfied with my answer, he lightly nips at my collarbone, causing me to tremble slightly.

Kiro: [with the hint of a sulk] I can't believe you're still thinking about "work" right now, Miss Chips.

Kiro: Looks like I'm gonna have to get even more "serious" to make you think of me with all your heart.

There's a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice, and he presses the tip of his tongue to my collarbone and gently licks it.

He unties the chiffon straps on my chest bit by bit, slowly and carefully, his gaze, now shrouded in desire, still feeling extremely precious.

Due to the time we spend together, this throbbing that almost engulfs me never seems to fade away. It only gets stronger and stronger.

MC: I always think of you with all of my heart...

I close my eyes and allow our interlocked fingers to tightly intertwine.

The last strap of chiffon is finally undone. He gently releases his teeth and the soft strap drops to the floor beside him.

Daylight gradually fades, hiding away all the warmth and turbulence of the night.

[END]

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

More Translations: Here

[kustas]

I'd love to hear your hashtag wha critical thoughts about recent developments if you feel like sharing them :)

I'll preface this with saying that for this answer I will not be making a distinction between my personal tastes and what is "objectively worst". The TLDR is I have felt like WHA's been dipping in quality since book 8 approximately.

One of WHA's strong points is its ongoing theme of accessibility, via its premise of how magic is purposefully restricted from people, and via its characters, mostly the kids, who showcase various life issues and allow the story to talk about how to solve them. Disability is an important one and was at the center of book 8, which is one of my favorites. You get to see Tartah and Coco work together for a goal (=making their friend a better mobility aid), and by doing so they brainstorm the why and then how which allows for complex notions to be carried out and explained to the reader. Cute story with touching implications that flows well. This quote in particular sums up so well what WHA is "about"

After this we transition rather brutally to the latest ongoing arc of the Silver Eve. This arc has been ongoing for years now, and three volumes, making it the longest so far, I'll come back to that, putting a star on it [*]. It delves further into aspects of accessibility the series had talked about before - access to magic, access to healthcare, and poverty. This is where this blog's namesake gets relevant. Custas is a kid who was already poor, who got badly wounded ending up disabled, and who because of that was stuck in a situation with no good endings: he can't make money in his state and needs money to get out of his state. On top of this gets added magic, and comes back the question at the center of WHA: Is it wrong to restrict the use of magic, and how?

After the arc is kickstarted by Custas getting his share of spilled beans of magical secrets revealed, enter immediatly strong players via ch.48's introduction of the Wise Ones and the king himself. The political aspect of how the world works was not mentioned before. Great chapter, interesting stuff all around, personally answered much of my questions. Immediatly after this chapter the focus in 49 fully switches to the Knights and their job, and the rest of the chapter is dedicated to a story of a sexual assault survivor and how she made it. It's a surprising topic to see pop up and it's handled with the respect it deserves. Chapter 50 goes back to Coco and her troubles. This concludes book 9 and...it makes for a Lot of stuff to deal with. Put a Second star on that. [**]

Addressing those stars before we move on:

[*] This arc is taking forever. WHA's arcs in earlier volumes only took a few chapters. This arc has taken three books thus far and I doubt we have reach its climax yet. I personally don't like it and it raises an issue the series did not have before: Will the payoff be worth it? Where it is worrying for the future of the series is that manga serialized regularly tend to up the stakes progressively until the end and it might...not work out.

[**] Too many things at once unresolved. This has already had consequences with the progressive vanishing of something WHA was once excellent at: sneakily introducing elements that get used a few arcs later in important ways. The manga has been, for a while now, accumulating unfinished plot threads via not answering the questions it opens and instead adding more and more characters. Jumping from a group of characters to another was not an issue beforehand because unlike this arc's, chapters took place at different times and/or in totally different places. The Silver Eve is both set in time AND place, making it hard to follow because all sideplot happen at once.

Book 10 continues to accumulate ongoing unresolved plots with: the royal family being shady, Agott's struggles irt. her mother, Dagda running around confused and tracked by the Knights, Custas and Ininia jumping Tartah and Coco, and Galga's accident + relationship.

Book 11 does the same adding Agott's crush on Coco, the actual festival, Jujy's inner troubles...Funnily enough, this page is a good summary of the ongoing mess.

Instead of solving all of this stuff we instead get stakes ramped up to 100 with the introduction of what I can only describe as a kaiju attack. As much as I love the horror and drama element, given what was already going on, this does NOT strike me as a good decision.

Now, we go back to the three latest chapters. These follow the same subplot: Custas' faction change and Coco's attempts to save him. This subplot has, to me, a whole lot of issues. Way earlier on in the story, even before Dagda's ambush, I had issues with how Custas was portrayed in relation to his anger, being drawn weirdly spooky for...a frustrated poor kid? Others have also pointed out it wasn't great to have one of your only dark skinned characters be a slum kid. Obviously given my handle on here, I am still a huge fan of the character. After chapter 45 (included), I already found it a bit tasteless to have so much horrors piled on him. WHA is a rather unsubtle series at time which I really, really dislike. Sure, makes it hard to miss the point, but when you're dealing with sensitive topics it can fall into touchy territory fast...

In the latest chapters, Coco appears to save Custas, the "how" part of her plan still being a mystery. Meanwhile, a timelooped and very confused Dagda looks for him, accompanied by Lulucy, who knows them both and is unaware of their ties with forbidden magic. She ends up telling him to abandon the faction he sided with by literally ripping off the brim of his hat with her magic. Meanwhile, Lulucy starts attacking him on sight. I have so, so so many issues with all of this.

Coco's story is about knowing the system in place sucks. Custas' story is about being screwed over by the same system. The story explicitly points those two out as mirrors: Custas is what would have happened to Coco without the right support. Coco's unique POV on the pointed hat witches shows us many prior times they are not the good guys. Hell, Custas himself talks about how the pointed hat's magical gatekeeping prevented him from living a better life.

To me, the point was supposed to be: the system in place doesn't work, which results in people in need not getting help. We loop back to the accessibility I started off mentioning. Yes, before the current system, bad things happened - but the current system is still allowing other bad things to happen now. So...why is Coco pushing Custas to join the pointed hats and abandon the faction he sided with? If a character who was upholding the status quo was doing so it would make sense (like Beldaruit) but Coco as a main character exists partially to point out why the pointed hats are not good. She demonstrates it to the reader via what happens to her AND knows it as a character. It comes off as inconsistent and frankly makes little sense.

Speaking of inconsistencies...why does Lulucy not recognize Custas, a child she's known for a while? Why does the young prince, introduced as a suspicious character on behalf of his family's unknown goals, become a helpful selfless little guy? Why are the Knights, originally introduced as an antagonistic faction because they are a milita enforcing the status quo, suddenly portrayed as fighting for good as a bunch of remarkable individuals?

Ah yes, the cops. I'm going to address something really fast about them. It makes me frankly uncomfortable the author chose their faction to evoke the two very sensitive topics of sexual assault and homophobia. I think the way those topics themselves were handled without greater context was surprisingly good, and it's touching in the first place to see an author who not only cares, but uses her series, destined partially for younger readers, to explain why she cares. However, Witch Hat is a very black and white series: the bad guys are bad and ugly and you should dislike them, the good guys are good and you should like them. There are some exceptions but who have been losing steam as of late. While originally introduced as a group of individuals who act in problematic ways for their day job, the Knights have slowly lost that bad guy flavor to become a fun band of colleagues/friends. They are law enforcers who enforce unjust laws, but it seems that the author's not on board with people hating them because this is the second time she gave a Knight a tragic backstory that makes them more sympathetic to the reader. First of: I do not see what's to redeem about them if the story's about changing an unjust system, so I don't get the necessity to make them nicer. Secondly: at least in my country (which has legal gay marriage and notably less sexist than Japan) law enforcement is renowned to not help sexual assault victims or gay people. The Knights Moralis are fantasy cops and cops, in real life, tend to abandon people who need their help regarding those two issues - if not worsen them, and count a majority of sexists/homophobes among their ranks. Making your unsubtly cop stand-in faction have both characters with those issues comes off as at least a poor decision if not bad taste.

(big words from the guys introduced in the story by arresting a bunch of children who were on a rescue mission for a misunderstanding they would not have cared about. Die idgaf)

Some more surface level things:

The art. The first books of WHA are noticeably more complex in their style featuring more reaslistic proportions for the characters. Latest arc has seen art lose some of the decorative "classic" flair in the linework and characters looking simpler and stylized to look way...Younger? In a way I do not like. Yes, it's expected for manga series to see their style evolve. I also want to make this clear: I consider the pace imposed on manga artists to be inhumane and if Shirahama had decided to draw her manga as stick figures to work less I'd be down for it.

The dialog. While WHA is very in your face (you may call it preachy) the dialog in the latest chapters especially Coco's feels off. A 12yo wouldn't give off speeches about the world in the heat of battle. When it's a calm scene between two characters discussing a deep thing, sure. When it's an epic public adult figure (see: Dean), sure. I'd prefer having the kids talk like kids.

Goddamn the story has become less nuanced and subtle over the time. Scenes like Qifrey getting confronted by Tartah post mindwiping his grandpa owned. The story's current "morally grey" moments just don't do it for me anymore. No, I don't want the witch politicians of the faction you established as a mistake beforehand to continue. I don't care if the fantasy cops are offended by a grieving husband pointing out they suck. I kinda wish he'd thrown hands actually

So...yeah, that's about it. While WHA's plot beats has always been impossible for me to predict, I don't know if I can trust where the story is going anymore. The fans eating it up confuse me and I might even get hate for posting this. Truth is, while some aspects have always been more or less present in the series since the start, I've felt like the really good bits that balanced it out have been going extinct. I don't know why and it's none of my business to. Some friends have pointed out we might be reaching a point where the author ran out of pre-written story and is now improvising. What's a bit concerning to me is I've also noticed she's way less active on social media, where she used to post regular bonus material for the series, this has stopped and I hope it's not because she lost her interest for the series or way worst, is overworked. Given the conditions for mangaka it wouldn't be impossible and like previously stated, I am of the opinion that no comic book series is worth putting their author's life, health and free time down. It's more important than me disliking the comic.

And regarding Custas - him joining the atelier to study with Qifrey would not be a good ending, no matter what the fandom says. It won't be cute found family. Custas has a family who's unique member wouldn't be able to follow him as a witch. That ending would separate a very traumatized child from the only adult he has in his life that gives him unconditional love and support. Custas needs to not be seen as a criminal so the rest of his life won't be over, and also a whole bunch of cash.

I'm not excited for the anime.

[mariacallous]

One of the Western populist right’s enduring myths about President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is that it is steeped in traditional values, a bastion of virtue standing in opposition to an increasingly godless West. In the United States, the fascination with Russia as a supposed global center of conservative virtue has especially gained currency in MAGA world.

This image of Russia as a traditionalist’s paradise led former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson to offer both Putin and Russian far-right philosopher Alexander Dugin, one of Putin’s most vicious cheerleaders for genocide in Ukraine, the opportunity to expound their views to millions of Americans in a comfortable, uncritical setting. It is the reason that MAGA-aligned U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene talks about Russia as a strong protector of Christianity. And it’s why former Trump administration National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has framed Putin as a defender of “family and God.”

The contrast between myth and reality couldn’t be starker. The truth is that Russia is one of the world’s least religious societies, with only 9 percent of Russians attending religious services at least somewhat regularly, according to a poll conducted in 2022 by the Moscow-based Levada Center. By contrast, nearly one-third of Americans are frequent churchgoers. Just 1.4 million Russians—a mere 1 percent of the population—attended the most recent Christmas services. The Russian state also persecutes Christians who do not adhere to Russian Orthodoxy, including Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and, of course, anyone connected to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Nor is Russia a bastion of what true conservatives would consider traditional values. Based on data calculated by the Guttmacher Institute, the Russian abortion rate from 2015 to 2019 was nearly four times higher than that of the United States and more than twice as high as that of Ukraine. Russia also has the fourth-highest divorce rate in the world—60 percent higher than in the United States and more than 50 percent higher than in Ukraine. Those among the U.S. and European far right who project their own ideals onto Russian society ignore the obvious and copious evidence.

The false image of a god-fearing Russia is hardly accidental. It is the consequence of systematic efforts by Putin and his propagandists to craft talking points for the global right—an effort that has accelerated since Russia launched its all-out war on Ukraine in 2022.

It wasn’t always so. After the Soviet collapse in 1991, a Russia shorn of most of its empire struggled with its post-communist identity. Under its first president, Boris Yeltsin, the country waded into the waters of a Russo-centric patriotism. But his chosen successor, Putin, supplanted this worldview by nostalgia for the former Soviet and Russian empires, as well as adulation of brutal autocrats such as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Tsar Peter the Great.

Today, to both mobilize Russians for a bloody war and undermine support for Ukraine by appealing to the political extremes in the West, Putin and his ideologues have crafted a new mythology that depicts Russia as a bastion of traditional values rooted in religious faith.

This theme was front and center at Putin’s fifth inauguration as Russian president on May 7. In his address, he declared that “support for centuries-old family values ​​and traditions will continue to unite public and religious associations, political parties, and all levels of government.”

From their putative moral high ground, Putin and his propagandists in the Kremlin-controlled media have used the bully pulpit to rail against Western “woke-ism,” political correctness, and secularism, earning admiration among right-wing populists in the West. By projecting Russians and the Russian state as deeply religious and steeped in tradition—and by denouncing the Western establishment for its supposed attacks on traditional values—Kremlin propaganda has made serious inroads among cultural and religious conservatives in the United States and elsewhere.

This has helped create some measure of sympathy for Russia’s war against Ukraine among certain segments of the far right, which see Putin as a powerful voice on their side of the culture wars.

Margarita Simonyan, the head of Russia Today, the state media conglomerate responsible for most of Moscow’s global propaganda, crystallized the postulates and far-reaching ambitions of Russia’s traditionalist propaganda during a television appearance in February.

Speaking on the heels of Carlson’s fawning chat with Putin, Simonyan saw a major opportunity for Russia to find fellow travelers and new allies among those disgruntled by secularization in the West. Unlike Ukraine and its Western backers, which she called adepts of “satanism,” she described Russia as “the city on a hill” to which the world’s traditionalists can now flock to escape their stifling secular societies. She declared that traditionalist messaging is the “beacon of a wonderful idea” whose appeal can be likened to that of communism during the Soviet era. Russia, she continued, might even counter its severely shrinking population by attracting disgruntled traditionalists from around the world as immigrants to a new promised land of traditionalism.

To this end, the Kremlin announced a new decree on Aug. 19 that eases residency rules for refugees from countries where “traditional values” are under attack from “neoliberalism” and other supposed secular ills.

Aging Russian kleptocrats such as Putin, who formerly served in the security services of the atheist Soviet state, engage in performative religion at most. As the investigations conducted by the late Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny documented, the Russian ruling elite, including Putin himself, is obscenely wealthy and deeply corrupt. But state media outlets diligently portray them as god-fearing believers, generous patrons of monasteries, supporters of religious media, and sponsors of newly built churches—all paid for with money they have stolen from the Russian people.

These performative good works are applauded by the security service operatives who control the upper reaches of the Russian Orthodox Church. Purged and brought under complete state control under Stalin, the church has consistently promoted the aims of Soviet and now Russian policies. It is a vocal supporter of Putin’s war against Ukraine.

At the apex of performative piety stands Putin. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, born Vladimir Gundyayev and believed to be a former security services operative, has lavished praise on Putin for being “truly the first Orthodox president” of Russia. The link between Putin’s proclaimed religiosity and something approaching a divine right to rule Russia has also become part of the new ideological canon—back to the roots, if you will, of Russian Orthodoxy as an imperial church.

“May God help you to continue to carry out the ministry that God himself has entrusted to you,” Kirill said during Putin’s inauguration in May. Given the long-standing collusion between the Kremlin and a compliant church, it is little wonder that religious leaders actively support Putin’s war and encourage Russia’s young to lay down their lives.

To mask the degradation of spiritual and religious life, Russia has built a vast Potemkin village of new churches. Around 30,000 new parishes have been added in the post-Soviet era, averaging nearly three every day since 1991. Given Russians’ negligible interest in religion, they stand largely empty.

Simonyan’s comparison of Putin’s traditionalist, pseudo-Christian posturing with the global appeal of communism is apt in ways that she did not intend. Like communism, whose façade of equality and social justice masked mass repression and the emergence of privileged, all-powerful elite, today’s Russia has little patience for moral and ethical principles. Instead, the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church serve the exigencies of a kleptocratic mafia that rules over a deeply damaged, militaristic, and highly unequal society.

Indeed, in time, Russia’s newest state ideology is very likely to become another God That Failed—the title of a landmark 1949 book in which six Western intellectuals broke with communism, declaring that it was just a cover for a new form of dictatorship.

For the moment, none of this matters to the Western populist right, which has blithely ignored the carnage that Putin has inflicted on Ukraine. Nor will Russia’s performative religiosity put those Westerners off; their projection of virtue onto Putin’s Russia has become too important a part of their cynical politics. If your enemy is the West’s liberal and tolerant society, then the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

[hashtagloveloses]

so are you back on tumblr after a while or you're new? welcome! it's a lot nicer here lately, and, shockingly enough, the website actually works a lot better too, thanks to the hard work of a bunch of very talented people. the mobile app is constantly improving, but if you're on desktop and used to use things like missing e or xkit, the latest helpful extension is XKIT REWRITTEN, which you can go download and read about at @addons that was created by @april, who worked on new xkit back in the day and now works at tumblr itself!

here's some other helpful tips to know:

PLEASE REBLOG THINGS. it's the main form of engagement here. there is no penalizing for spam interaction, most people are not looking at your blog directly, and it is the main way people find you and you find good content to follow. for original content like fanart and fanfic, it also REALLY helps people out. likes are better for like, personal posts, and for storing things for later. also, it doesn't matter if you blog is a jumble of things - it's yours, nobody cares, and that's kind of the purpose of the site

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PROFILE PHOTO, BANNER PHOTO, AND UNIQUE URL (that isnt like a bunch of numbers or something), or else people will think you are a bot and block you. you don't have to do anything fancy, you can use the default tumblr theme on your blog itself, but just make sure you look like a real account PLEASE

DO NOT CENSOR WORDS. much like on twitter, if you censor a word for a trigger, it will do the opposite of what you want - people's blacklist and mute functions won't work if the word isn't spelled out in the tags or the text of the post. also there isn't post suppression here.

Don't like your dashboard? Getting bored? Feel like your community is getting annoying? JUST FOLLOW MORE PEOPLE (and maybe unfollow some. a block and an unfollow are always ok). nobody cares, or can see about your follow ratio, and it'll help your dashboard feel more lively (you'll also not give as much of a shit about petty dramas). the follow limit is 5000 last i checked

keep your comments to the tags (unless it's like....really funny or adding something good? use your best judgement). the tags are helpful for subject matter, but you should also use them to talk as like side commentary!

Close your ask box to anons and don't share personal information if you don't want to. You are under no obligation to share your name, age, diagnoses, history, location, face, and you SHOULDN'T. and the ask box is great but if it gets overwhelming just close it. If you're a minor, maybe say somewhere that you're a minor, but that's it. (that goes for any social media site)

MAKE YOUR LIKES AND FOLLOWS PRIVATE. for the love of god. just protect yourself.

just like any social media site - be critical about the things people claim are true on here. screenshots, takes, facts, can be skewed and you should do extra research before believing anything just because somebody said it on tumblr dot com

DON'T GET INTO QUEER OR NEURODIVERGENT LABEL IDENTITY DISCOURSE. whether you are young or old, on tumblr or another site, things will just get confusing and weird. if you learn something here that makes you feel affirmed, great! but also please make sure your interaction with fellow queers (or other neurodivergent people) is not limited to just this site. get involved with a local or school lgbtq center if you can, get to know queer people in your life or queer spaces if you can. (and if you can't - go read about queer history somewhere other than tumblr. do research, watch movies and documentaries. look into disability organizing and history outside this hellsite). Label discourse is also how many unknowing queers and others get recruited to T*RFy shit unknowingly so....be careful out there.

Don't get guilted into things on your dashboard. You should definitely care about the things people are talking about, but you don't have to know about every ill happening in the world at once to be a good person. If you're feeling lost, or hopeless and endlessly scrolling or feel guilted by people online, pick ONE thing you can do, for people in your local community, and then just make a reasonable effort to stay informed otherwise.

create an original tag for your "original" posts, aka the posts you make that aren't reblogs, so you can look at them later

explore the QUEUE FUNCTION! you don't have to use it, nobody cares if you reblog spam, but sometimes it's fun!

Don't know who to follow? Go follow the tags of things you like (TV shows, movies, musicians, aesthetics, whatever!), and suggested posts will pop up on your feed, or you can go through the tag and follow some people who look interesting

[girlyholic]

SEO for Informative JFashion Blogs

You might have noticed it by now, but it is a major pain to get your Tumblr blog to show up in the results of the various search engines. This is mainly because most of them switched to "mobile-first" indexing over the past few years, meaning the mobile version of your blog is what counts and that one is pretty bad by default for Tumblr.

So here a few general tips on how to get your content properly indexed:

get a responsive theme, meaning that it adjusts to the reader's screen size and therefore works as both desktop and mobile version

go into the "advanced options" of your theme editor and turn the default mobile theme OFF, it will make your desktop theme also act as your mobile one

while it's important for hashtags to be visible below posts, make sure they don't show up on the main page as the clutter can make your blog being mistaken for spam

if not already, change the inside of your title HTML to {title}{block:PostSummary}: {PostSummary}{/block:PostSummary}

fill-out the "keywords" meta with what your blog features (example: "jfashion, japanese fashion, information, outfits, inspiration, articles")

add your blog (username.tumblr.com) to Google Search Console and confirm via meta tag as it will help to optimize and boost your blog's performance on the web

at the above, go to "sitemaps" and make the search engine track your latest posts by adding /sitemap.xml

set your custom pages you want indexed to "show"

if you have any important posts you really want to make sure are properly indexed, put their link into the "URL inspection" bar on the top and it will tell you the current status as well as allow you to force indexing

After all of the above it might take a few days to see any results, and if there is anything causing issues preventing your blog from being properly indexed Google Search Console will let you know in its notifications. I recommend to check the site once a while in general as it also gives a nice overview of how people find your blog and what kind of posts they like, making it easy for you to tailor your content to their tastes. It's handy, isn't it?

Let's make jfashion info blogs great again!

[stormflyblue]

can u tell us more about my magical girl au? I love hearing about aus like that lol

SCREAMS!! YES!!! sorry that it took so long to respond to this, i had to write a lot and im answering on mobile where i cant type as fast!! (also apologizes for my grammar in this, i was in a silly mood) prepare for the massive info dump under the cut!!!

okay anyways! the “magical girls” are wxs (bc im biased for them) and their theme would be “sweets” and “deserts.” their outfits are based around the fluffy dreamland set + other cards that i think suit them. (ex: nene messenger of feelings combined with her afterparty with fireworks(mermaid nene)) but emu is only based off of her smile of a dreamer card bc she’s the goat and it’s her focus. she’s sort of the leader of the magical girls (sorry tsukasa!! youre my favorite but ur not the leader for this au!! i have a lot of plans for you though >:3)

HOWEVER bc rui and tsukasa dont have clear full body outfits in that set im thinking of basing their outfits on different sets. tsukasa is the most clear for me, because he’s going to be an combination of his backstage encouragement card (lilykasa) and his an unexpected classmate card. i dont have any ideas for rui but i want him to be based on a lim card of his so his hair can change during the transformation ueueueuwuuwe (；′⌒`) .

since their theme is around sweets im thinking of naming their “charm” or those things that give magical girls power “___ candy” emu’s would be “sweet candy” since she’s the leader. nene’s would be “mermaid candy”. tsukasa would be “star candy” and rui’s would be “robo candy” or “thunder candy” (IM SORRY RUI I AM NOT TREATING YOU RIGHT IN BUILDING THIS AU 🙏) the names before ‘candy’ is either based off of their cards (nene) or their overall personality or actual theme (tsukasa, rui)

the order of who turns into a magical girl would be emu -> nene -> rui -> tsukasa. emu was the first to recieve her powers and has been fighting against “evil” for a good length of time. maybe around 4-6 months. because of this she is somewhat popular around japan and on the internet. everyone has at least heard of her if theyve stayed up with the latest trends. (saki is a MASSIVE fan of her’s).

nene recieves her candy during a particularly difficult fight she witnesses emu having. (here). in this au nene is more pessimistic that gets resolved soon when she gets to know emu more. the reason she knows emu’s identity in the comic i made is because she soon realized it after emu said something eeriely similar to her magic girl persona. she then confirms it during the battle and as she realizes the reason for why emu fights, she is determined to reciprocate those feelings to her. thus, she recieves her candy.

tsukasa and rui im not sure yet but i want it to be an accidental encounter. maybe during a show they have an enemy appears and they have to fight, thus leading tsukasa and rui to find out their identity. im still not sure how to make the enounter different for tsukasa and rui since i want there to be at least some time for nene and tsukasa to get popular on emu’s level (or at least close to it).

the “big bad” that magical wxs is fighting is called project DULL. it’s…nightcord… yeah. the enemies are n25. they have tragic backstories and i really want to see them snap at someone sooo /lh. haha! no actually though i want n25 to have another secret persona that NO ONE knows the identity to. even themselves. they work together but they have no idea of the real person theyre working with. yes, they still in n25 together working on songs but they also work together as the main “villains” (wink wink. nudge nudge ;3). a few times one or more of them come to their nightly vcs more tired than usual and theyre suspious but brush it off thinking “oh they must have had a more exhausting day than usual, i wont pry but i’ll tell them to take care of themselves!”

virtual singers and sekais still do exist in this au by the way! im also thinking of making each group into a villain fighting group but i have no idea where to start with that and i think my brain would implode trying to think of all of their lore in one go soo no mention of them here lolol.

project DULL wants to reset the world to a state where everything is neutral. no positive emotions, no negative emotions. no sicknesses either! the main reason they oppose magical wxs is bc n25’s “neutral” is tasteless (or at least that how i think) and wxs is based around sweetness and the different flavors of everything.

there are many other things i want to explain about project DULL and others associated with them but that would be spoliers and it would ruin the surpise!!! one last thing about them is that theyre based off their imprisoned marionette set and wear masks. (WINK WINK. NUDGE NUDGE)

this is all that i can think of right now. if i have any more information i want to dump i’ll just reblog. sorry if it’s a lot!! thank you so much for asking!!! <333

[cherrylng]

Muse - Matt Bellamy Interview [ROCKIN'ON (August 2010)]

Matthew Bellamy Interview "Our music is very pure and very different from the mechanised society that awaits us at birth. So we resist any kind of pollution from invading our souls and our inner selves."

Interview: Takuya Furukawa / Interpreter: Noboru Takami

First of all, I heard that a huge UFO appeared during your current European tour and that you blocked the MTV signal at the German festival ‘Rock am Ring’. 「Hahahahahaha.」

What is the tour like at the moment? 「It's been amazing. We're playing the biggest stadium concerts of our career so far in the last two weeks…… First we have the Stade de France in Paris, then the San Siro Stadium in Milan, and tomorrow we'll be on stage at the Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid, so it's like we're in the middle of the excitement right now. We've put a lot of work into the stage set this time, and as we did at the Budokan, we're inspired by the image of the Ministry in George Orwell's novel 1984, which is a pyramid-like government building with a giant mirror ball eye on top, the images on the building's panel screens are synchronised with the sound…… There was also a mobile second stage that reached the audience and rotated, a UFO-like object flew over the audience, and a girl performed acrobatics above the audience's heads along with it. But at its core, it's still a rock concert, with a theatre-like atmosphere.」

Incidentally, is there any chance of seeing this UFO at Fuji Rock? 「I don't know, I can't say at the moment (laughs), but if we can catch the UFO, go to Japan and come back to Europe safely again (laughs), then maybe the UFO will make an appearance (laughs).」

(laughs). As well as UFOs, Muse's lyrics have a content that could be called epic poetry, with a cosmic motif that, coupled with the spiritual world, seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Why do you think you are attracted to such motifs? 「Why do you think you are attracted to such themes, like the universe? Maybe…… I think our generation today is the generation that is consciously aware of the universe and its origins…… I think they are conscious of how small the earth is in the vast universe, the connections between humans living there, and the connections between us and the universe, and through science they seem to have a better understanding of these things. And I think it's very exciting because some of the spiritual thoughts are connected to areas that have been scientifically proven. So I think that's why I feel so attracted to these themes and subjects because they are now at the cutting edge of our understanding of the reality we live in.」

Moreover, in the case of Muse, there is no nihilism there at all. The title of your latest album, The Resistance, was also symbolic, but I feel a certainty in Muse's music that ‘hope’ exists in this day and age, and that it can be attained by making the sound huge. Bands like this are rare even when you look around the rock scene today, so why do you guys think this is possible? 「I think it's because my love for music comes from a very pure place, and it's something that we don't have much contact with the general society and life on Earth that we normally see. For me, music is something that comes from a place closer to nature, or from the relationship between myself and nature when I feel close to it. So I think it's very pure and very different from the mechanised society that is waiting for us when we are born. When my music is born, it feels very hopeful, optimistic and very pure, but at the same time it also has contradictions and conflicts with the world that is waiting for it when it is born. In those moments, there's a feeling that the music needs to be protected, so in some cases, "The Resistance" is about that. It's about resisting any kind of contamination of your soul, of your inner self. And I think that the younger generation of today has something like that inside them. Something is not right, and it is especially strange that they are so disconnected from nature.」

And I think it's amazing that Muse have managed to achieve this with a three-piece band, but then again, when you formed this band, did you ever think about bringing in a fourth member? 「No, the choice was more of a practical one, simply because there was no one around to be the fourth member (laughs). It was more like it happened by chance. When we started out as a three-piece, I didn't want to be a singer, I wanted to concentrate on guitar, and as a guitarist I wanted to play with Chris on bass and Dominic on drums. And all we wanted was to find a singer, but it was impossible to find a singer in the town we lived in (laughs). So I ended up being the singer as well. After that we just followed that format for a long time. I think the reason why we've stayed as the three of us is because we've known each other since we were very young. Live we have a fourth member, but in the studio we always feel that three is enough for us.」

So today, I'd like to ask you a few questions in retrospect, you are now the number one band in the UK, both in name and reality, but incredibly, no UK label wanted to sign you before your debut. Why didn't they want to sign you? 「Because I think the music we were doing was always a bit out of step musically with the fashionable rock music of the time. Even now it feels slightly off, but when I first started this band, we were doing more progressive rock music, more hard rock music. At a time when the world was all about Britpop. Oasis and Blur and stuff like that. So we were particularly…… Well, record companies are very conservative in the way they make decisions, so they don't like to take risks. So when you act conservatively in the creative world, you look for things that are already popular. Or styles that are already popular. I think that's what caused a lot of difficulties when I was starting out.」

In fact, the media at the time pointed out the similarities between 'Showbiz' and Radiohead, didn't they? Looking back, what was Radiohead like for you? 「Did you mean for us when we made our debut? I think I first discovered Radiohead with their second album, 'Bends', I think…… When I first heard them, I was impressed by the intricate and elaborate sound they made. I thought it sounded very intelligent and different from any other band that was around at the time…… So it was definitely a band that I was more attracted to than Britpop, which was popular at the time. But I think I liked what became more their guitar music, because while I also listened to that in Radiohead, I liked their harder musicianship. So in that sense, they were certainly a very important band in the 90s.」

Do you think there were similarities between you and Radiohead in terms of your musical approach and your ability to stay out of fashion? 「Yes, there were similarities in the fact that they were not influenced by trends. But I think the musical approach is completely different. What we are looking for through our music is optimism, positive energy in the experience of living as a person. Whereas I think what Radiohead are looking for is more the opposite.」

You have in fact developed your own identity from there with your work, but if there was an album or song that was a turning point for you personally musically, which would you say it was? 「Rather than this song in particular being a turning point, I can think of a number of different songs that have had major imprints. For example, ‘Plug in Baby’, or ‘New Born’ from the second album. Those songs were the ones that started the shift towards a more high-energy concept. Our fans became more interested in our live shows from then on. With the next album "Absolution", for example, I'd say ‘Time is Running Out’, or rather ‘Apocalypse Please’. Anyway, some of the songs on that album were the first to introduce the lyrical, epic grandeur of the album, which was quite a surprise, but we continued to pursue that afterwards. The next album, "Black Holes and Revelations", was also a surprise with ‘Starlight’, but it was a turning point for more uplifting and optimistic musicality. And then in the latest album, "The Resistance", ‘Uprising’ is a shift, and I think it's a shift towards more political emotions. So there are quite a lot of songs that have brought different impacts and different shifts again for different reasons.」

It took a long time for you to break into America, with ‘Plug In Baby’ being rejected for inclusion on "Origin of Symmetry", but was there a moment when you felt you had a breakthrough there? 「I think it was with "Absolution". That was generally recognised in America as our debut album…… It's actually our third album. But instead, we had a lot of exciting experiences. It's true that when we toured around the time of the first two albums, there was a part of me that was frustrated that we didn't get to America much because there was no interest in the US at all, but instead we ended up touring Europe and other parts of the world, Asia and Australia, so I was very glad that we didn't have to get involved with America. I've discovered so many culturally interesting countries and places as a result of the tour. If we had toured the US, I don't think we would have had the time to do that. That's what made the third one so interesting. We were seen as a completely new band in America, and everyone thought this third one was our first album. So it was fun for us to be a new band again, we suddenly felt young again (laughs) and we felt like we were starting all over again as a band. It gave the band new energy and inspiration, and that led to our fourth album.」

From the very beginning, you've been throwing your own confetti and putting on some kind of over-the-top live shows. Now you have a huge stage set that synchronises with that, but did you always have a vision for your live performances? 「I think so. I just used the word ‘vision’, and that's exactly what it is, because I've had a vision of our futuristic performance for a long time. In fact, when I'm writing songs, I'm also thinking about how I'm going to present them live as a performance, so I'm always visualising and having visions of how they should look, how they should be, and that also helps me a lot when I'm composing. So, sometimes I've thought in advance how I should present a certain song as a performance, and that also helps me as a starting point for designing the stage set.」

(laughs). And "Black Holes and Revelations" is an album in which genre barriers are broken down even further. Classical, techno, heavy metal, electro and many other genres were cross-fertilised in this work. What do genres mean to you? What is the first image you have of a song when it comes out? 「That's an interesting question…… It's true that I don't have any concept of genre. At least when I'm writing a song, I'm never conscious of genre at all. The first thing I think of when I write a song is…… I don't really know how to explain it, but it's like some kind of vibration or tremor that's hard to describe. Or maybe I could say it's a combination of some kind of vibration and emotion. In other words, where emotion is trying to transform itself into vibration…… You know, I'm trying to respond to this in a very serious way, you know (laughs). And it's a very interesting question. I mean, you're asking me what I see and imagine at that moment, and for the moment, the concept of genre is not in my mind, and for me genre is something that comes into view only at the very end. So at the very beginning, all I have are feelings and sensations, and maybe I'm trying to find something deep inside me. Or maybe it means I'm trying to find it from my soul. And by translating that search into a kind of vibration, some kind of mood is created. And from there, you are led to play a kind of harmony or melody. You are also led to play a certain kind of rhythm. So you condense those harmonies, melodies, and rhythms around that certain vibration. And then I try to somehow make each of those elements fit together and make it into something very pure. After that is done, you then bring in the instruments. I think about stuff like, "Is this the drums, no, this is not the drums, this is the orchestra". It's like throwing all sorts of elements towards a certain vibration that's already there. The vibrations are like magnets, so I guess you could say I'm making custom magnets (laughs). Anyway, some instruments are very strongly attracted to it. But there are some instruments that don't stick. And then you end up with a certain object, and that's the first time you can be put into a genre (laughs). It was a very interesting question, so I really had to put it into words (laughs).」

Incidentally, I think your latest album, The Resistance, is your most conceptual and narrative work to date. The suite ‘Exogenesis Symphony’ that closes the album is very dramatic, but what message did you want to convey with that suite? 「About ‘Exogenesis Symphony’…… Well, a lot of the songs on the album are about politics, love and everyday life, but the ending is about flying away from the earth into space and looking back and seeing the earth as a very small being again, getting smaller and smaller in the distance. I wanted people to feel that kind of feeling. And I wanted people to think about the smallness of our own existence. I wanted to create a very cinematic kind of music, the kind of music that you might hear in a sci-fi or space film, to make you think that you are travelling through space right now. I wanted to make music that would make people think that I am travelling in space, and that once I am out in space, life is not limited to the Earth, but may exist in other places. And while singing, I wanted to connect a kind of emotion to something more universal and omnipresent, not just limited to Earth.」

I think it's the fans who have supported you all along. Muse's shows attract all kinds of fans, but are there any fans who have surprised you by making you think, "Oh my god, there are people like that here too!?!?" 「Yes, well, as our fan base has grown, we've been able to swallow more and more different types of audiences, so we have all types of people. It's unimaginable, and it's amazing to see everyone from young kids to old people at the same time. But the first thing that really surprised me was that at the beginning, at a live performance for the second album, when I met a very old man, maybe in his 70s, and after the show I met him and talked to him, and he didn't know anything about rock music at all, but he was very knowledgeable about classical music, and we had a very good time. He came to our concert because he thought we were classical musicians playing very hard music (laughs). I was really surprised that he didn't know anything about the rock genre and had come to listen to classical music first. I was extremely impressed by that. That someone of that age, and with that kind of musical understanding, would be interested in us.」

Last question. Now that you're recognised as one of the best live bands in the world, do you have any ambitions you haven't achieved yet? 「Well, so we like to play live, but we also want to grow in the studio. I hope that one day I can capture that feeling of the live show on the album. I know that's a very difficult thing to do, but I definitely want to make it happen one day. Also, as a songwriter, I feel like there's a lot more I can express through the songs that I want to keep improving, and I think there's a lot more truth that I can explore in songwriting. So I want to keep improving in that area.」

Translator's Note: Finally got around to translating this interview. Next up to post later on are Dom and Chris' interviews. Despite having translated other interviews from different eras, it feels like I'm still stuck in TR era content even months later lmao 😂

[megatownac]

Who still plays Pocket Camp

I still play Pocket Camp. I have a full friend list of over 90 people who still play, too. I was surprised yesterday morning when I started up the game and got the message that it was shutting down in a few months.

I've been a Happy Helper member for, apparently, 1,738 days, getting Leaf Tickets every month as part of that plan, so I'm sitting on a stash of over 4,500 tickets still that I can't possibly spend before the game ends and they become worthless.

I also stockpiled snacks. I had over 4,400 gold treats yesterday, 4,000 bronze treats, and 1,980 silver treats. I just found it tedious to give them away, and really only bothered when new characters showed up so that I could level them up to be on par with everyone else. That's also when I would give away all of the themed snacks, so I only have, at most, about 200 of any of those. I last gave them away about two months ago, I think, when the last batch of new animals dropped.

I play the game a lot, actually. I have a special voice trigger for Alexa where I say "Alexa, do the thing," and it starts a 178-minute timer for me. If I say "Alexa, do the other thing," it lists all of my active timers so that I can see how much time is left. I harvest my flowers, tell Alexa to do the thing, and when the timer goes off again, I open the game up. I just hit level 599 today when I gave away another 120 gold treats, 5 at a time to 24 animals, to see if I can give them all away before the game ends.

I've never been good at moderation.

But nothing lasts forever. The game has felt unsustainable for the last couple of years. There's a new set of furniture items each month for the latest event, but for years now each month has had a bug-collecting event, a fishing contest, and a gyroidite-collecting event each and every month. It was a pattern, and I was getting tired of it. How many new items could they possibly make before the game simply became too large to keep updating it? Apparently, two more months' worth.

I still played, though. If nothing else, I justified it by saying I was getting weekly Platinum Points. I spend those points. I've gotten calendars, keychains, posters, all kinds of things with those points. I had to pay shipping, of course, but I still got those things. I guess I'll have to do the actual monthly "quests" in Switch Online or something if I want to keep getting Platinum Points. I sure ain't gonna play Fire Emblem on my phone.

I knew this would happen eventually, and the game did last for seven years, which is incredibly long for a mobile game that hasn't had any major changes to it in so long. I do wish I'd been able to add Hiropi to my Switch friend list, though, or find out who they are. We've given each other a combined total of over 2,700 gifts now, since we've managed to keep it going nearly every day.

I have no idea what the offline version of the game will be. Maybe I'll be able to get all those fortune cookie items I never spent Leaf Tickets on. Or landscape items I never bought. Maybe they'll finish releasing all of the animals. I'm sure there are still some they haven't.

Or maybe, just maybe, I'll find myself with a lot of spare time all of a sudden after seven years of playing the same game.

Wouldn't that be something?

[cope-to-anime]

the hashira and their phones

☆ what’s their phone like? what’s in there?

tomioka giyuu

does NOT name his contacts

has games but they’re the type of games you’d think are boring like snake and sodoku

his phone is always on silent mode because the ringing shocks him

seen-zones your messages often, either replies in 5 seconds or in 5 days

he uses his note app to make grocery and to do lists

himejima gyoumei

has cats as his home and lock screen 

sometimes forgets that siri/alexa is enabled so he gets spooked 

one of his fondest memories is when he first got his phone and all the other hashiras entered their number in it 

phone has been dropped a couple of times but it’s so sturdy

he has a little cat keychain plugged into the headphone jack of his phone. 

rengoku kyojuro

has the latest model phone but doesn’t know how to fully use it

loves to take photos

his lock screen and home screen are the same: rengoku family pic

has premium everything like Spotify premium, YT premium, etc

food delivery app gold membership holder

iguro obanai

has those tempered glass covers that are dark and tinted so you don’t see what he’s doing with his phone from where you’re standing 

at first he didn’t want to have a phone case because he likes the grip he has on his phone, but mitsuri insisted he get one so he did 

slither.io master 

gallery has a lot of pictures of nature but rarely has ones with him in it 

phone always on silent, mitsuri in his important contacts

tokito muichiro

uses moving phone lock screens, minimal motions like clouds in the sky or shapes floating around 

always forgets to turn off their mobile data or wi-fi so their phone drains fast 

blue phone case with mist details, doesn’t have a pop grip 

he drops his phone often but coincidentally he either drops them on a soft surface or the fall isn’t strong enough to leave a crack 

he says the most satisfying thing about his phone is him taking off the plastic cover from the screen when he first got it 

shinazugawa sanemi

sanemi actually takes very good care of his phone

he knows how expensive they can be so even if his phone is old it still looks good as new

his lock screen is a default image but his home screen is a family pic during genya’s high school graduation

he doesn’t really have games on his phone because he’s too busy but he used to play fruit ninja

his messages are mostly him checking up where his younger siblings are and when they’ll get home

uzui tengen

the noisiest ringtone EVER 

has 1000+ unread emails 

phone gallery has multiple folders but mostly it’s selfie and groupie folders 

when he listens to music he listens to it in full volume 

is part of Kyojuro’s premium account family plans 

kocho shinobu

butterfly phone case with wavy body for a better grip 

overall theme inside is purple and white 

family photos in her phone are in her favourites folder

has that beaded hand grip that tangles and hers are made with butterfly beads 

phone on silent most of the time but when it isn’t she has a violin cover of a song as her ringtone

kanroji mitsuri

cute games like neko atsume and hungry hearts

she would definitely let kids borrow her phone to play games

her phone gallery is filled with pics of people she loves, food, and pretty clouds

all of her contacts have nicknames and corresponding emojis

she’s the type of person to give her password away to her friends

[changes]

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023

🌟 New

Original posts are now indexed by our search engine (almost, just about) immediately. Previously, it could take minutes or hours for a new post to appear in search results. If your posts have been missing in search and tags for a while, try these troubleshooting steps.

On web, we're working to remove the option to use the legacy post editor. This week, we're removing the option to use the legacy editor for some users, for post types other than text/photo. More updates to come as the rollout continues.

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We've updated the Theme Garden on web with a list of featured themes, which are all NPF-compatible.

🛠 Fixed

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Nothing to report here today.

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Nothing to report here today, either.

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