#like....what was the point of releasing gen 1&2 but not 3?????

[ranger-kellyn]

you know i'm honestly still mad that RSE didn't get virtual console releases for the DS. replacing these batteries is so fucking tedious, and most copies in circulation now are the bootleg kind that don't even allow for the in-game clock :T

[cometcon]

I've been getting increasingly pissed off at stuff like this with Helluva Boss for a while now so I'm running out of room for patience and giving the benefit of the doubt.

I'm not Deaf/HoH but I do have audio processing disorder and I have been involved with the Deaf/HoH community through learning Auslan and needing some of the same accommodations in my life so it's becoming increasingly apparent just how much they get short-changed by a society that does not care and has to be pressed constantly for the bare minimum of accommodating anyone other than the expected default abled demographic.

I'm sorry but while having a character who signs was fucking amazing to see even as a Hearing person

and it's been genuinely great to have the last episode of Season 1 with actual subtitles and all of Season 2 up to this one having actual subtitles

SEASON 1 STILL HAS FUCKING AUTO-GEN

We have to read T R A N S C R I P T S to understand what's going on in the entirety of Season 1 except for the final episode because while Hearing people who aren't affected by needing actual subtitles seem to think autogen and otherwise having to engage with just a transcript is good enough, news flash, IT ISN'T. Autogen has been getting better but it still fucks up (if your accommodation doesn't bring everyone up to speed with the same access as abled people your accommodation isn't good enough) and if your video is older like Season 1s are then they're FUCKING AWFUL. Even good autogen takes more energy to engage with than proper subtitles making it still more difficult than it needs to be to engage with a video.

This has annoyed me for a while but I was hoping they just needed some time to sort out someone to go make subtitles and put them up.

At the very least I figured ok, they're at least putting proper subtitles up for Season 2. Took them until OOPS came out to do it if I recall correctly, but they did it. Strange they stopped at the end of Season 1 but ok, whatever. Give them time.

Nothing has changed. It's been 3 years and nothing has changed.

Then The Full Moon dropped directly after Mammon's Magnificent Musical. I was expecting there to be proper subtitles since Season 2 now is being given them upon release.

...

So basically fuck anyone who needs proper subtitles.

This

is officially lip service to look good, not proper representation.

You can't follow this with fucking autogenerated bullcrap pretending to be accommodation.

I saw someone sending an ask in an hour or so ago to another blog to talk about The Full Moon and mentioned offhandedly in it that they had to look at the transcript to catch a line they wanted to understand and talk about.

I'd been hoping they would just put the subtitles up maybe a day or so later at least.

IT'S BEEN A WEEK.

Vivzie doesn't care about Deaf/HoH people. She chucked the kid in for brownie points. And hey, sure, brownie point rep is better than no rep, but it isn't actual representation and really doesn't deserve that much praise if you immediately follow it up with a fucking AUTOGEN ENGLISH ONLY EPISODE.

Sincerely, fuck you too.

EDIT: There are proper subtitles on The Apology Tour, so I'm glad for that at least. It came out like two weeks after The Full Moon meaning it had to be in production at the same time so idk why they could put subtitles on release for TAT and not TFM, but whatever. And hilariously (read: mystifyingly and infuriatingly) enough, THE FULL MOON STILL ONLY HAS AUTOGEN AS OF THIS EDIT BEING TYPED ON THE 25TH OF JUNE 2024. Why? Why is it the only one without subtitles in S2? Why is S1 still all auto-gen even now, right up until the Kesha-song episode? Spindlehorse continues to confuse and annoy me with their flipflopping on their supposed caring about accommodation.

[fluffernuttermushroom]

KND Community Challenge

1: when did you start watching the show?

 I think it was near the end of 2023? I was introduced to the fandom by one of the comics that @fallen-gabrielle posted. I was a fan of old fashioned cartoons already and loved the unique art style! A few comics and several episodes later, I was hooked!

2: favorite season?

I haven’t watched trough the entire series yet(Currently on season 3). But Iike season three for all the new characters introduced!

3: favorite episode?

T.U.R.N.I.P.

T.H.E.-F.L.Y.

Q.U.I.E.T.

G.R.O.W.-U.P.

D.O.G.F.I.G.H.T.

F.U.T.U.R.E.

U.T.O.P.I.A.

4: hated episode?

P.I.N.K.E.Y.E. (ick)

5: favorite character?

Favorite character(s)!

Rachel(I often feel her ‘I have been everyone’s councilor at this point and I am tired of people’ feeling. Is this an INFJ thing?),

Hoagie(He reminds me of my cousin + we have the shared love for bad puns & dad jokes!),

Abby(Cool!),

Sally Sanban(I am obsessed with her for some reason),

Nigel’s grandson(Same reason with Sally. Dunno why), 

6: did you cry when you watch OP INTERVIEWS?

I didn't cry but It felt quite bitter sweet. I’m the sort of person who watches the end before finishing a series. So I kind of scrolled through the entire wiki and watched I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S. before actually watching the C:KND. It is an inevitable fate for all kids to grow up to grow old and gray at some point. But I have never seen characters grown up in a cartoon before. The whole episode made KND hit a bit too close to home to me. 

Ironically the episode that made me upset the most ended up being one of the reasons that I like about the KND. 

You will grow up

But you will never grow out of some things

7: funniest moment?

Wally saying “C’mon she already has every single rainbow monkey there is!”

And then watching in horror as the rainbow monkey aircraft coming into view before saying;

“Oh yeah, except that one.”

8: saddest moment?

Abby giving up in Operation M.A.U.R.I.C.E. after facing that every one she knows and loves in the KND will turn into teens & forget about her eventually. 

9: favorite KND artist?

Again, can’t pick just one! This is going to be long so the list of artists and why I like them are listed below

10: favorite canon KND ship?

3x4 and 2x5

11: favorite headcanon KND ship?

Ummm... can’t choose! Straight, Gay, Lesbian, Pan, Poly, Platonic I love & have them all!

I have a lot of different head cannons for different scenarios.

But the ones in my fanfiction are currently 1x362, 60x86, 2xAce(the kid), 83x84, 23x35

12: what's one thing you love about the fandom?

The thousands of fan theories, fan fiction with their own interesting head cannons, multiple aus and crossovers, and of course the beautiful fanart with unique art styles!

13: what's one thing you hate about the fandom?

Those weird pedo & insest shippers that keep spawning out of nowhere

14: do you wish there were more die hard KND fans in the fandom?

YES. A thousand times YES.

15: when did you start drawing KND art?

Near the start of May 2024 and have been drawing almost daily ever since! But It’s mostly animation plans and sketches so I don’t post often nowadays 

:P

16: how old were you when you started drawing KND art?

Hm, will answer that on my birthday.

17: how old are you now and are you still drawing KND art?

Same with the answer above! I will answer on my birthday

18: what's one thing you wish would stop in the fandom?

The pedo & insest ships, art thefts, rude requests and just disrespecting other people.

19: quick pick your favorite 2×4?

M.A.R.B.L.E.(Mustardy Armament Releases Big Loud Explosion) and 

G.A.R.G.O.C.Y.C.L.E.(Granite Augmented Rocket Glider Outstandingly Creates Your Cool Looking Escape)!

20: what's your Codename?

Numbuh 9.24!

(KND Community Challenge Template Credits To @arudan)

+Answer to question number 9

@fallen-gabrielle: The one who brought me into the fandom + has a lot of lovely AUs!

@midnight-the-goth-artist: Satisfies my inner goth, has helluva boss inspired art

@gen-toon: Beautiful angles & poses

@numbuh02: The scratchy art style!

@artsygirl0315: Her OCs remind me of ENA! And they interact with the fandom often

@elijaheldridge: FLOOF EVERY WHERE

@mixxxerlyishere: OC with a unique design! 

@scarlett-v-the-fox: The head cannons for minor KND characters are really intricate

@bluccoli: Rare fellow Korean KND artist & takes a lot of requests!

@gettan49: Still reading ‘Operation:  BEYOND’ it’s a really well made fanfiction

@parasite-doll: Always love the creepy art style

@mixx0: The sillies (OCs)

@kandykatz: Uses the tumblr aesthetics to it’s full extent + draws hair really well!

@bluepastels29: Insane attention to detail to her cloth designs

@numbuh900: G:KND OCs!

@numbuh-72: Great at KND edits! It looks like a part of the show if I don’t look closely

@ohlookanothercartoontofallinto: Lineless art. LINELESS ART.

@kndrules: Sector V as grown-up comics!

@sok-knd: Uses brushes really well & has a lot of different art styles 

@kukiiisblog: 3x4 art in webtoon + old cartoon style

@numbuhinfinitys: Reyna and their  cute shenanigans with the delightful children

@your-genious-artistic-girl: I dunno how she makes line arts that clear! Mine are always squiggley

@pennywhistle2021: Numbuh 30c art! Most of the fan art of 30c that I find on deviant art is theirs

@knd1234isme: Numbuh 4 in every form possible

@torra-and-the-toons: Has really specific Nigel head cannons + old cartoons!

@spicedwatermel0n: Not picky with ships & is understanding with others 

@kidsnextdoor-doodles: Moonbabies :)

@pinkmeanschaos: KND genderbend everything! And a fellow 60 x 86 shipper

@bugtoonz: Pastel art! Their art is always easy on the eyes

@rubiisun: The art style always gives me a fluffy feeling

@kommandonuovidiavoli: Everyones favorite grandma :) Penny’s chaotic nature always tickles me

@rainbowbeam231: Uses colors really well with her OCs!

@totallynoteggos: Unique concept with making the (Y/N) self insert as and OC!

@some-loozzr: Good with lighting! + The spank-happy sector V members look so scrappy I love them

[kafus]

how to transfer your old pokemon to pokemon home before it's too late!!!

the wi-fi services for the nintendo 3DS and WiiU are shutting down in early april 2024, and while it specifically lists pokemon bank and poke transporter as being available post-shutdown, there is no guarantee of how long that may be for. there will likely come a time when these services shut down, and it could be in the relatively near future.

it is also pretty much impossible now to transfer pokemon to the switch's Home service with alternative methods such as PKHeX (popular pokemon save editor for the uninformed) due to the implementation of server-side Home IDs tracking pokemon at all times - the details of that aren't super important for this post, but point is, whenever bank shuts down, unless nintendo makes an offline way to transfer to home, it will be impossible to move pokemon from the old gens to the new, even with alternative/hack-y methods.

i write this guide with the intention of making this process easier for people since transferring pokemon has changed so much over the past two decades that it's a bit of a mess, and in a timely manner to give people time to finish the process. i'll be organizing by generation so feel free to skip to any part of the guide you need. (keep in mind that transferring is permanent, your pokemon cannot go back afterwards!!)

(by the way it would mean a lot to me if you weren't overwhelmingly negative of pokemon in the tags/reblogs. i get that pokemon transferring being an online service sucks but reading that stuff in my notifications constantly is really tiring </3 make ur own post to talk about that)

to walk you through, i'll be transferring this random shiny spinda i hatched in emerald version all the way up to pokemon home. her name is Moss :]

below the cut since this is long as fuck sorry LOL

GEN 1/2 -> 3 (aka RBY/GSC -> RSE/FRLG)

this is impossible! as for the Virtual Console releases of the gen 1/2 games on 3DS, more on that later in the gen 5 -> 6/7 section.

GEN 3 -> 4 (aka RSE/FRLG -> DPPT/HGSS)

what you need:

a copy of RSE or FRLG

a copy of DPPT or HGSS in the same language as the RSE/FRLG copy that has beaten the champion and has access to post-game areas, preferably HGSS because it lets you transfer unlimited times as opposed to DPPT's once-per-24-hours limit (unless you happen to have korean DPPT/HGSS, which is not language locked in terms of transferring)

either an original DS or a DS lite, the old ones with the GBA slot at the bottom

the steps:

#1. you can only transfer 6 pokemon at a time, so get whatever 6 pokemon you want to transfer up together in gen 3. if you're intending to transfer less than 6 pokemon, you'll need to catch some extras since you have to transfer the full 6 every time (i usually just catch a bunch of extra mons on the first route, which is what i've done here with the poochyenas/wurmples)

#2. put the gen 3 game into the GBA slot of the DS, and the gen 4 game into the DS slot. both games should appear on the home menu after turning on the DS.

#3. load the DS game and spam A past the title screen. before loading your save, scroll down. you should see a "MIGRATE FROM (GAME NAME HERE)" option. if you don't, either the GBA game isn't reading properly, or you have not visited Pal Park in your gen 4 game of choice. in HGSS, the Pal Park is located in Fuchsia City, and in DPPT, the Pal Park is located at the end of Route 221 below Sandgem Town.

#4. select the aforementioned migration option and pick the pokemon you want to transfer.

#5. navigate to the Pal Park and complete the Catching Show, where you re-catch your transferred pokemon in the wild. this does not overwrite what pokeballs they were originally caught in! you will need to bring a pokemon with Surf if you have any Pokemon that spawn in the water areas. you can check what location the pokemon you transferred will be in on bulbapedia.

#6. say yes to storing the caught pokemon in your PC boxes and they'll be there!

important things to note:

pokemon with HM moves will be blocked from transfer, so make sure to use the Move Deleter to remove HM moves from any pokemon you're transferring in gen 3 before trying to transfer. in RSE, the Move Deleter is in Lilycove City, and in FRLG they are in Fuchsia City.

gen 3 -> 4 is the only step in the transfer process where held items transfer up as well, meaning that if you attach a valuable item such as a rare candy, master ball, or TM to a transferred pokemon, you can take it off that pokemon and put it in your bag in the gen 4 game.

an aside about colosseum/XD gale of darkness on gamecube:

you can transfer pokemon from colo/XD as well! unfortunately you'll need to have beaten colo/XD, and then you will also need to beat the gen 3 game... in FRLG, you even have to complete the postgame ruby/sapphire quest on the sevii islands to unlock trading with the gamecube games. once you do all that though, you can navigate to the pokemon center basement in Phenac City to trade with your gen 3 GBA title. to do this, you'll need a gamecube or wii with gamecube compatibility, a GBA (or GBA SP), and a GCN -> GBA link cable to connect the two consoles.

GEN 4 -> 5 (aka DPPT/HGSS -> BW/BW2)

what you need:

a copy of DPPT/HGSS

a copy of BW or BW2 in the same language as DPPT/HGSS copy that has beaten the champion (or N in the original BW) and has access to post-game areas.

two DS consoles of any kind (3DS is also fine!)

the steps:

#1. get the pokemon you want to transfer together in your gen 4 game's PC boxes. you can only transfer 6 pokemon at a time. if you have less than 6, catch some extra pokemon, since you need to transfer the full 6 every time. save it and turn off the DS with the gen 4 game.

#2. turn on your gen 5 game and navigate to the Poke Transfer Lab. personally i just fly to Black City/White Forest and head west.

#3. talk to the NPC in the lab to start the transfer process. you will be prompted to turn on your other DS again and open DS Download Play with your gen 4 game inserted. do that and download the Poke Transfer app that comes up.

#4. select the 6 Pokemon you want to transfer when prompted.

#5. play the transfer minigame! just drag the... bow? (lol) on the bottom screen to aim your pokeballs. there's technically a time limit, but it's very generous, and your final score doesn't matter.

#6. say yes to transferring the pokemon once you're done and they'll be placed in your PC boxes!

important things to note:

pokemon with HM moves will be blocked from transfer, so make sure to use the Move Deleter to remove HM moves from any pokemon you're transferring in gen 4 before trying to transfer. in DPPT they're in Canalave City, and in HGSS they're in Blackthorn City.

the level the pokemon was obtained at and the date it was obtained is changed upon transfer to gen 5 - it will have the met date of your DS clock and the met level of the level it was at the time of transfer. if you'd like to preserve a pokemon's met date, make sure to change the DS clock to the proper date.

GEN 5 -> 6/7 (aka BW/BW2 -> 3DS TITLES/BANK)

what you need:

a copy of BW/BW2

a copy of any 3DS pokemon game (XY/ORAS/SUMO/USUM)

a 3DS (or 2DS, i'll just be referring to them all as 3DSes here) with the poke transporter and pokemon bank apps installed. these were free apps that were once downloadable from the 3DS eShop, but the 3DS eShop is no longer available, so if you don't already have them installed you will need to explore alternate methods, AKA hacking your 3DS and injecting them in. that's outside the scope of this guide but you can find more information here on 3ds.hacks.guide. (do not attempt to follow any 3DS hacking guide not on this website, they could be outdated and harm your 3DS!)

a nintendo network ID that your 3DS is logged into (also outside the scope of this guide but if you don't already have one, it will prompt you during the process to make one)

internet connection

the steps:

#1. poke transporter defaults to trying to transfer every pokemon located in Box 1 of your PC, so go into your gen 5 game and put every pokemon you want to transfer into Box 1, and take anything you don't want to transfer out. if you want to transfer more pokemon than you can fit in one box, you'll have to transfer multiple times.

#2. open poke transporter with your gen 5 game inserted into the 3DS' cartridge slot. after pressing A through some menus and selecting the gen 5 game when prompted, it should ask if you want to transfer the pokemon in Box 1, with a preview of the pokemon inside. confirm and let it do its thing. after poke transporter is finished, the pokemon you transferred will be in the special Transport Box in bank.

#3. make sure you either have a 3DS pokemon title downloaded onto your 3DS, or swap out your gen 5 cart for one, it doesn't matter which.

#4. close out of poke transporter and navigate to pokemon bank. at the time of writing this guide, bank is still online and is free for everyone without a subscription - the main menu has an infinite "free trial" period number.

#5. select "use pokemon bank" and pick a 3DS game to connect with when prompted. it doesn't matter which one, but if you're looking to see your pokemon in a gen 6/7 game right now, pick the one you want to move it into. viewing a pokemon in a gen 6/7 game isn't required to move to home later, though!

#6. the Transport Box is located one box to the left of Box 1 - navigate to it and drag your pokemon out into a normal bank box. now you can move them to any gen 6/7 pokemon game you want, or home later!

important things to note:

even though bank connects with both gen 6 and gen 7 games, once you place a pokemon into a gen 7 game (SUMO/USUM), you cannot transfer that pokemon back to a gen 6 game (XY/ORAS), so be careful!

an aside about the VC releases of RBY/GSC:

poke transporter can also be used to transfer pokemon out of the VC releases of RBY/GSC. these pokemon are changed pretty heavily, converting all their old gen data into pokemon's modern data structure. you can find more information about all the changes/conversions made on bulbapedia. these pokemon are considered gen 7 pokemon afterwards, and cannot be moved into XY/ORAS. pokemon with held items also cannot be transferred from VC titles and will fail to transfer.

if you want to transfer pokemon from cartridge RBY/GSC and have a save dumping device, it is possible to inject the cartridge's save file into the VC versions with Checkpoint on a hacked 3DS and then transfer that way. for GSC specifically, you'll need to edit your save slightly to make it compatible with VC GSC's save format. i personally made a converter for that here that you're free to use in-browser.

GEN 6/7 -> GEN 8+ (aka BANK -> HOME)

what you need:

a 3DS (or 2DS, i'll just be referring to them all as 3DSes here) with the pokemon bank app installed. this was a free app that was once downloadable from the 3DS eShop, but the 3DS eShop is no longer available, so if you don't already have it installed you will need to explore alternate methods, AKA hacking your 3DS and injecting it in. that's outside the scope of this guide but you can find more information here on 3ds.hacks.guide. (do not attempt to follow any 3DS hacking guide not on this website, they could be outdated and harm your 3DS!)

a nintendo network ID that your 3DS is logged into (also outside the scope of this guide but if you don't already have one, it will prompt you during the process to make one)

a switch with Pokemon Home installed, which can be downloaded for free from the switch's eShop. a nintendo switch online subscription is not required.

unfortunately, you WILL need a subscription to home's premium plan to do bank -> home transfers.

internet connection

the steps:

#1. open pokemon bank and make sure all the pokemon you want to transfer are in their own boxes, and any you don't want to transfer are not in the same boxes as the to-be-transferred pokemon.

#2. go back to the bank home menu and select the "move pokemon to pokemon home" option. when you get the notice about the transfer being one-way, you'll need to scroll down to hit "Begin".

#3. you will be prompted to select what boxes of pokemon you'd like to transfer, so pick all the applicable ones.

#4. you will then be prompted to put in the moving key from home, so turn on your switch, open pokemon home, and select the icon that looks like a 3DS on the main menu. when prompted, choose "Ready!" to get the moving key.

#5. input the moving key on the 3DS, submit it, and wait for both apps to do their thing. once bank goes back to its title screen, you can turn off the 3DS.

#6. home will go back to its title screen as well, and depending on how many pokemon you moved, you may have to wait a few minutes to get back into the app. once it's done, the next time you open home, it'll prompt you to choose how to organize your transferred pokemon into home. pick whatever you see fit.

#7. congratulations, your pokemon are safe in home!!

important things to note:

unlike all pokemon games before the switch, pokemon can actually go backwards in generation on switch, so don't worry about transferring a pokemon into scarlet/violet locking you out of moving it to sword/shield, for example. (the exception to this is LGPE - nothing can be moved into LGPE and once a pokemon is moved out of LGPE, it can't go back.)

pokemon home actually has decent hack checks, so be careful when transferring hacked/glitched/otherwise illegitimate pokemon around.

pokemon from a gen 3/4 game will have their met location set to "Poke Shifter" - this is an alternative translation of the japanese name for the Poke Transporter.

pokemon on switch can only transfer into games that contain that pokemon in its dex, so not everything transferred can go into scarlet/violet, for example.

and that's it!!

there's a lot of other quirks to the pokemon transferring process at pretty much all steps, so if you run into an unusual issue or have specific questions about how pokemon data is changed in minute ways across the franchise, i would encourage you to do your own research, all of this stuff is pretty heavily documented by the fanbase. this is just meant to be a guide for casual users, and a quick reference.

this guide of course does not cover options for transferring in alternative ways, but it's worth mentioning that if you have a hacked 3DS and the ability to back up save files at any point from gens 3 -> 5, you can use PKHeX to transfer pokemon into the 3DS titles, then move them to bank and transfer to home normally from there. that's outside the scope of this guide and i'd also encourage you to do your own research for that.

happy transferring!

[amyfarbright]

Sonic 1 Mega CD Port

(download here)

(if you think this is cool, consider helping me find work/money <3)

Welcome to the Next Level!

NOTE: I'm aware of issues regarding audio playback and transitioning between zones, and intend to push an update once the contest judging period is over. In the meantime, you can use level select (Up Down Left Right A + Start at title screen) to explore the game.

At the 1992 Consumer Electronics Show, a teaser for a Mega CD version of Sonic 1 was shown within a sizzle reel. No Mega CD version of Sonic 1 was ever produced, and this footage is almost everything we know about this project, but it's extremely likely that this idea is what morphed into the separate game Sonic CD, the only Sonic game officially released for the console.

In 2006, Stealth released the Sonic for MegaCD tech demo, marking the first time any substantial effort was made to bring another Sonic game to the console. It contained the title screens and first levels of Sonic 1 and 2, with three playable characters. In the following years, he would build on the ideas in that demo further, eventually reaching a point where his setup accommodated a Mega CD version of a rom hack called Sonic Megamix.

For a long time, this rom hack was the only way to experience Sonic 1's levels, and was the closest you could get to playing the original game on your Mega CD...

until now.

This is a port of the original Sonic the Hedgehog (revision 1, mostly) to the Sega Mega CD (running in Mode 2/off a CD). Not a mere one-zone demo, not affected by an original hack's mechanics, this is a full playable Sonic game running on the Mega CD, with the source fully available, and with the intent of enhancing the game with the extra hardware.

I started this project about a month and a half ago to enter into the annual Sonic Hacking Contest. This was done as both a learning experience for myself to learn new hardware (I was already familiar with programming for Mega Drive, but wanted to explore its addons), and as an example others can learn from.

This has been tested with BlastEm, Fusion, Gens, and on real hardware using a Mega Everdrive Pro.

Features:

Expanded Sound.

The Mega CD comes with a chip supporting PCM playback for up to 8 channels, complementing the 10 sound channels already in the Mega Drive. This port leverages that by moving playback of drum samples to a custom PCM sound driver running on the Mega CD CPU.

Because drums no longer need to play on the Mega Drive hardware, an extra sound channel was added in the main sound driver to allow for more sound effects to play without cutting out channels of the music.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get CD audio playback fully implemented in time for the initial release. Most of the pieces are there though, and I intend to add it in a future update.

An open-source Mega CD game. The scene for Mega CD has grown significantly over time, and over the years there has been new homebrew and hacks of other games, but not nearly as much done with the blue guy this contest is about. This port aims to change that; this is a full game running on Mega CD, with source code and development history available for browsing right now. Code for the kernel programs to load and run the game from disk is written in mostly C using the megadev toolchain. Rom hackers and developers more familiar with the Mega Drive standalone can use the code repository as an example of how to bring more full-fledged MD projects over to Mega CD with as few changes as possible.

Other features:

Custom loading screen while files are loaded from CD

Modified title screen, to remind you that this is indeed utilizing Mega CD hardware

Various bugfixes applied (for those familiar with Sonic Retro's Sonic 1 disassembly, FixBugs is turned on)

Much smoother special stage. The movement of objects making up the maze was unlocked, and the walls now display with 128 degrees of rotation (up from 16).

Even though I started this project to have something for the contest, I'm incredibly happy with what's been done so far, and I intend to work on it further after the contest to add more features. I consider this the beginning of a goodbright future for Sonic games and hacks on Mega CD.

Note: Debug mode and sound test have not been fixed to accommodate for the code that has been moved around. Try at your own risk!

Credits

Main developer: Amy Farbright

Playtesting and bug reporting: The Let's Talk About Sonic Discord

Special thanks: @fiffle, @milly, @crepe

Code used/referenced:

drojaazu's megadev toolchain

Devon's partial Sonic CD disassembly

SCHG How-to Guide

tversteeg's Rust implementation of rotsprite

Graphics used:

CD graphic on title screen: Sega Multimedia Studio, converted from sprites ripped by Mister Man

[sgiandubh]

A study in media fabrication: the Metro interview

I was on a late, self-prescribed ☕ break at the office and lo and behold, mindlessly scrolling @bat-cat-reader's page, what do I see? S's last 'interview' to Metro UK. Rarely have I seen such a poorly cobbled fabrication, so I thought I might share a couple of quick thoughts about it.

A word about the newspaper, first. This is not, as you might think, a part of the Swedish-owned and worldwide present Metro conglomerate of free commuter tabloids, that usually end up littering the carriage, by the end of the day. Nope, and I had no idea. Metro UK is owned by DMG Media (The Daily Fail people, in other words) since 1999 and uses a different logo, to avoid being sued on what is, in my opinion a blatant trademark infringement (remember, S was the culprit the EUIPO punished for way less than that!). More interestingly, though, the print and web editions have totally different content, which means that you'd look in vain for the James Bondesque pic while commuting from Wimbledon to London, for example. The relevance of this interview is nearing 0, in my humble opinion: if anything, it just served to check a box of the PR's current media plan and justify the retainers a couple of people cashed in, as a result.

Quotes and references like the one below abound:

Now, if you imagine S talked face to face to Ms. Josie Copson for the sake of this article, you couldn't be more wrong. In fact, I doubt he knows her name or (when questioned) even if he ever gave an interview to Metro.co.uk. In plain English, he didn't "tell" Josie anything: PR probably sent her some formulaic 'answers' by email and let her add some fill-in material, then revised and greenlit the whole for release.

How do I know it? Easy: no photos. No specifics (random example: 'seated at the counter of Soho's BAFTA Bar, in London, SRH' this and that). And the almost scrupulous rehashing of the talking points we have already seen (and it did break my heart to see so many upset people for literally nothing, in here). Give or take some last minute inserts, some of which are quite dubious, to he honest.

This one, for example:

How odd. A Zoom call apparently happened, of which - again- we have no evidence at all. It's not impossible, but it is improbable. What is interesting, though, is the 'related' discreet surfing suggestion at the end of the article, which sheds new light on that Gen Z. joke - which yes, now sorta makes sense:

Why? For more (monetized) clicks and traffic. Remember the tiny detail that Metro's business model is based on a free offer. So, they have to make it viable somehow: in print, it's the ads. Online, it's all about the ads and the clicks.

The only interesting thing I could take out of this would be a very peculiar choice of words:

Being spied on... By all means, please clarify and thank you. I can think of one or two people in this fandom, regularly and almost obsessively dueling for the position of best informed in town. Using very different methods, to be sure, but still qualifying for this spying position, in my book. Both of them completely lack perspective and offer very little context, but that is of no particular import, when it's all about feeding your captive audience with nonsense.

If these two people wanted to come clean, they'd only need to write two very simple phrases:

This is a gossip blog exclusively focused on SRH.

and

This is a social media monitoring blog exclusively focused on SRH.

Not gonna happen anytime soon. Cue in the mystique of 'sources' and repeatedly absurd 'lucky strikes'. It certainly makes things way sexier than they really are. Because when you know things, you don't brag about it. Easy as 1, 2, 3.

Oh, and mark me: it's always been about SRH. No wonder the boundaries feel 'blurred'.

[daemon-in-my-head]

Hi. I'm bored. And incredibly sleep-deprived. So let me try and fix the loopholes Larian left behind when doing that whole durge/chosen of the dead 3 plotline.

Let's start with the obvious: Durge is a titan. Even if we ignore that Durge is what would happen if Bhaals pinkie decided to gain conciseness of its own, Orin is brutal. She's strong. And while she's a chosen, she's also a 2nd Gen Bhaalspawn. She hardly has any "taint" worth mentioning that could enhance her abilities, no divine spark, but Durge does. Pretadpole Durge is a menace and a savage. Look at Gortash's decked-out stats while being only level 9 and the thinker rather than the murderer. Durge most definitely was even more fearsome before the parasitic nerf.

With that established, let me claim the following: Durge is immortal. Age, sickness, poison, etc can not kill them. But legendary weapons can, although even in that case, by the grace of being a titan, Bhaal can revive them if he wants to. They are not invincible or smth. They can be hurt and all, but the damage wont be as severe for most instances, so long as there arent any cut off parts or scooped out brains. Durge would need the proper revival to reclaim that, really rebuild the body u know? Well, this also means Kressas little fun project could've never killed Durge. They would've simply felt like they were dying the entire time without getting the sweet release that would've been death. Or maybe at one point they did, but seeing how the Absolutes plot wasn't done yet Bhaal immediately pressed the undo button.

Speaking off, Durge longs for death. They see beauty in obliteration. It just sucks they can't die until Bhaal allows them to. This also explains why they're still alive and why Bhaal killed them in a redemption ending. It takes a deity or a legendary weapon to kill a titan.

Regarding weapons, guess how exactly the alliance didn't falter for as long as Durge was there but shattered the second Orin took over? Neither Ketheric nor Gortash have a legendary weapon. Orin is the only one who does, and it's a ceremonial blade set she most likely stole off of Durge's knocked-out body. Even if they wanted to kill Durge, before the plan concluded, they could hardly do it, and even if they had wounded Durge severely, they would've killed them first before Daddy Bhaal would revive them because their job here wasn't done yet.

It takes another titan or a god to kill one, so the only people capable of doing so are Bhaal and Durge. Sure other gods, too, but they're forbidden from meddling, and everyone still remembers what happened the last time a certain Tyrant pissed off Ao.

As for why Orin attacked them? Siblings. That's the only explanation you need, really. Durge prayer probably pissed her off, and she just did the sibling thing, that is, maim her bloodkin. Probably stuffed a tadpole in there when Durge didn't get up in time so Orin would have an excuse before Bhaal.

This also gives us 2 options why Gortash did nothing despite expecting the Brain to transform.

1; better chances at killing Durge when it would eventually come down to it. A netherbrain infused with Netherese Magic (which is also Durges Origin btw, Bhaal was netherese himself) simply has better odds against a quasi deity than a human does.

2; he was convinced they'd ascend as gods themselves. Durge was already a quasi deity so the last bit wouldn't have been hard. And with a deity on your side surely even a netherbrain is no challenge.

Now back to unholy thoughts-

[avs-serotonin-area]

SPOILERS FOR THISISNOTAWEBSITEDOTCOM

WIP

i wanted to compile all the results i got- mainly so i can reference it but if it’s helpful to anyone else that’s great! definitely not complete and there are 100% better lists though lol

when you type in:

Mabel - makes glowy stars appear!

Dipper - before this there was a message for Dipper to stare at the sun to see some secret writting

the image in then all black

Stanford -

Stanley - ebay link for gold chains or brass knuckles

Soos - his entry trying to dissuade you from trusting Bill, its like 3 pages long

Pacifica - her entry trying to dissuade you from trusting Bill

Wendy - you guessed it!

Gideon - audio of him humming and saying "I love you forever Mabel"

Robbie - messages between him and Thompson. They find Bill and are scared for life basically.

McGucket - youtube link for Cotton Eye Joe

Bill - a Sesame Street video about a jazzy triangle and a square??

Blanchin - video on blanchin vegtables

Abuelita - video on best vaccum for walls and ceilings

Trigonometry/math/Greece/geometry -

Blind eye -

Journal 1 - “The journal of fun”

Journal 2 - “The journal for you”

Journal 3 - “The journal for me”

Mystery - “?”

Book of Bill -

Ducktective -

Disney -

Tad Strange - it’s just a video of someone cutting bread… i think it has something like a romantic instrumental in the background

Toby Determined - takes you to a google search on “restraining order”

Triangle - i could’ve sworn it said “tri harder than that” or something along those lines but after typing it again i just see “ ) “ it’s just an end parenthesis

Gravity Falls - “never heard of it”

Season 1 - “season -1: antigravity falls”

Season 2 - “season 1”

Season 3 - “season 2”

Mat Pat/game theory - a video of mat pat saying he can’t help us this time

Weird - a video of weird al. he’s stuck in the computer

Baby/daddy -

Gun - “oh yes oh yes oh yes they both”

Mason -

Alex Hirsch - takes you to a google search for flannel

History - “‘I have received a message from the universe: 1 2 3’ - Nichola Tesla

Cipher - take you to a wiki page for the eye of providence

Portal- “portal.exe has been deleted. i bet you could build one”

Giffany - 1st time “Input deleted. AI antiviral activated” 2nd time “warning: secondary firewall breached” 3rd time "fatal warning. system under attack" 4th time "Soos!! I still love you (the distorted) we will be together" 5th time "Now downloading girlfriend. this action cannot be undone" 6th time a distorted giffany video pops up and the file is downloaded.

Blendin - “time agent lost and presumed incompetent”

No - “your loss…”

Pines - “a good family tree”

Death - “life’s goth cousin”

Fuck (other swear words etc) -

Mystery shack - takes you to a search for “confusion hill”

You’re insane - “sure i am what’s your point?”

Filbrick - “im not impressed”

Waddles - takes you to pigplacementnetwork.org

Who are you - “i could ask you the same question”

Reality - “is an illusion"

Divorce -

Disco girl - a singing audio presumably of dipper listening to disco girl

T.J. Eckleburg - “never mention that name again”

Kings of new jersey - downloads a “secret code” file

Love -

Axolotl- "you ask alotl questions"

Craz/Xyler - Jem and the Holograms theme song

Im still on your mind- seems to be a video of Stan and Ford on their boat...

Theraprism -

Rat - "Thurnburts' number?"

Deer teeth - "for you, kid!"

Tourist trap -

Paper Jam - picture of paper jam dipper. you can print him!

Fordtramarine -

Any "gen alpha term" and various other terms may result in this - "Life privileges revoked. Now releasing poison gas."

Bubble - I cant tell what it does if anything. Doesn't get a big red X though? edit: if you type in mabel after you enter bubble you get an eye sticker! if you keep entering mabel you get more stickers. the lab is now "fully mabelized"

Pinata - video of a child hitting a Bill Cipher pinata, with added sound effects

Dippy Fresh -

Weirdmageddon -

"Vallis Cineris (found when lightning flashes on the upper left corner of the wall) - "Why did you do it?"

[digi-tama-in-your-pocket]

YES! My connection finally came! I finally get to run my very first Tamagotchi Connection! Yes...... that's right, the V1 I ordered finally came!

And also some other things....

I know I know.... I said no more v-pets till October aside from the connection remake, But, listen, to be fair, I ordered the connection V1/Plus and the Genjintch long before I said that and they only just got here. The V2 and the Teku Teku Angel were just really cheap. Also Tama lunch box and chop sticks to make shipping more worth it.

So the Connection remake is probably not going to be my first Tamagotchi Connection. I was excited to run it this month, but the fact that it's not going to be here until Monday has made me change my plans.

Here's what i'll do... I want to get a bit of an appreciation for how the connection evolved, so, I'm going to run the V1 until my first Tama dies. Then i'll run the V2 until the end of the month. Then, on the 1st of the month, I'll run the remakes. That should give me more appreciation for the Connection line, at least up to the V3. I'd like to try the others at some point, I just don't know if I should buy vintage ones, or wait and see if Bandai has plans to remake more than just the V3.

The one I got is in pretty good condition, there's some ghosting, but it's barely noticeable, unlike the vintage Gen 2 I bought some time ago where it's distracting. I can see how this started forming ideas of modern tamagotchi, right down to the sound effects being similar to what we've got on the Uni. But the V1 isn't that much different than a gen 1/2, in fact I find myself fighting my impulse to highlight the 2nd icon on the bottom row to look at stats, I'm so used to them putting the stats in an inconvenient place that it's become second nature to me with black and white Tamas, even though Digimon put stats first years ago.

Why Oyajitchi for the charm? Because it's the only device I have where Oyajitchi is raisable, since they cut him out of the english Gen1 in favor of Bill. I might replace it with a different character later if I find one that fits. Someday I'd like to get a Japanese Gen 1/2 just so I can have all the secret characters available, so this is definitely a temporary home for him.

In other v-pet news, I spent a good portion of the day organizing my Digimon and trying to arrange them in a way where I'd have more space, since my Digimon drawers are nearly full. I finally came up with the idea of all of my bricks being in the top drawer arranged in rows ( X3 appears to be missing only because i'm currently running it ) and the same with my Pendulums, there's just enough space for 3 rows of six, so once the 2nd wave of PenC gets here, i'll have two full rows with just enough space for my 20ths, and a few extra devices in case I feel like checking out some vintage releases some day. The bottom drawer will be reserved for my Vital bracelets, digivices, and other miscellaneous releases. Maybe they'll surprise us an make a legitimately new Digimon virtual pet some day. They're running out of things to remake.

I actually did have to take a few v-pets out and I decided to make a container dedicated to extra v-pets and v-pets I keep for spare parts and put it in storage, Because I stupidly bought a bunch of DM20ths and ran almost none of them, part of that was just so I could have all the exclusive eggs ( even though I don't care about any of them that much ) but the other part was for customization reasons. I kept my first DM20th, and my translucent green which I ran the most and completed the library in my drawer.

[starlingflight]

Fan Fic Humble Brag Tag

Sometimes we love something we wrote so much we want to knock on every door spreading the good word of our little story. But sometimes we fear being seen as rude or too self promoting. Here is your chance to do a bit of self promo and bragging without fear because some asked you too.

Answer the questions and then tag five writers who you think deserve to brag about their work.

Thank you to @thelighthousestale @ginnyw-potter and @sophie-hatter-jenkins for the tag, I'm sorry this took me so long to do but I am chronically bad at being nice to myself so this was the hardest thing ever.

Answers below the cut (if you read, you might get a sneak peek of a new WIP! 👀)

Tagging @merlinsbudgiesmugglers @lanaturnergetup @artemisia-black

1. The funniest bit of dialogue you've written:

From A Two Step Process (Chapter 2):

Ginny nodded slowly and Harry could practically see the cogs turning in her brain as she tried to work out what had caused this sudden burst of romanticism from him. “Are you pregnant?”

Harry choked on the air he’d been inhaling, causing Ginny to laugh hysterically at his reaction. “What?” Harry spluttered, fighting to regain control of his lungs. “What kind of question is that?”

Ginny shrugged, her laughter easing to a light chuckle. “I couldn’t think what else was causing this behaviour and y’know, you’ve performed impossible feats before.”

“I’m not pregnant,” Harry said, briefly wondering how he'd reached the point of needing to say that out loud. “Are you satisfied?”

2. A story you wrote that made you cry?

Because I Knew You, when Ginny tells Andromeda she held Tonks' hand when she died and promises to make sure Teddy knows what she was like.

3. A story that makes you laugh every time you reread or think about it?

Probably Countdown! Little Teddy is always a source of entertainment.

4. Best moment of canon compliant characterisation?

The whole of ‘Forgetting’? I think this is the closest fic I have to a character study and I loved writing it because I really got to explore a lot of what I think makes Ginny Ginny. 

5. Something you wrote in a fic you secretly (or not so secretly) think is canon?

Ginny trying to fight the Felix Felicis in HBP because she no longer trusts anything that interferes with her perception. (Everything I Wanted, Chapter 10)

6. The most romantic bit you've written?

I actually don't think it's a hinny moment (which has shocked me). I think it's in Homecoming Draco asking Astoria to run away to Paris with him and then revealing that he's already found a stables/yard for Artemisia, closely followed by a decade later when he turns Malfoy Manor into a Hippogriff sanctuary for her (Wayfinding).  

7. A fic you wrote that everyone else sleeps on, that you know is excellent?

Because I Knew You - I love this fic but it's easily my least engaged with, probably because it’s gen. 

8. Wow us with an excellent excerpt?

First look at the Historical friends to enemies to lovers AU: 

“What on Earth do you think you’re doing?” Ginny demanded, wrenching the window open with one hand and dragging Harry through it with the other. “Do you not think one funeral to be sufficient within the space of a week?” 

Harry spared a glance over his shoulder, peering at the ground two stories below as his feet met the soft rug that covered most of her bedroom floor. “A fall from that height would hardly be fatal,” he said unconcernedly. “I may have suffered some injuries, but I’m confident I would make a full recovery.” 

The window rattled in the pane from the force with which Ginny slammed it shut. She closed her eyes and released a deep breath against the vision of him laying broken and bruised in the flowerbed below her window, she had seen quite enough death and injury of late without imagining yet more dire scenarios.  

 “And what do you expect people would say, upon discovering you'd grievously injured yourself falling from my bedroom window?” 

The question did not require an answer, they both knew what would be said in response to such a thing. They were both perfectly aware of what the consequences would be; special licences had been procured for rather a lot less. 

“I've never fallen before,” Harry said, sidestepping the topic of such consequences with aggravating deftness. “I've made the climb many times.” 

“Not in a very long time,” Ginny reminded him. 

It must have been at least five years since he had last attempted to climb the trellis that stretched from the the garden below all the way up to Ginny's window ledge, the trellis which had become rather more hazardous now that it played host to Fleur's beloved roses and their many thorns. Not to mention that Harry was no longer a scrawny young boy, and carried considerably more weight in the form of lean muscle he’d developed in the intervening years. 

Back then, he had utilised the trellis not as a means of seeing Ginny, but as a convenient means of accessing Ron's room, which was two floors above and impossible to reach by scaling the walls of the house. 

Ron, however, was not home at present, a circumstance which begged Ginny to repeat her earlier question. “What are you doing?” 

9. Five words to describe your writing? 

Descriptive, fluff, longing, tension, romance

10. The fic you are most proud of?

Someone Else's Life, it has a plot which I’m notoriously bad at so I’ll always be especially proud of that and I just really loved watching everyone trying to figure out wtf was going on as I was posting.

[pokesmashorpokepass]

Gen III, Complete!

That's right, we've hit another milestone and completed the polls of the lovely Pokemon of the ever beautiful Hoenn region!

As such, I'd like to take a moment to commemorate this generations...

Sultans of Smash!

(Which is just a fancy way of saying they got more "Smash" than "Pass" votes)

So, come with me as we see who's who in the world of Smashing! Our Smashables are (under the Read More because oh man this gonna take a while, especially since I couldn't help but get a bit verbose this time):

1. An oddity! Starting our list is not a Stage 3 Starter Evolution, but a Stage 2 Starter Evolution! It's Grovyle, who has presumably been (understandably) elevated by the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fans to a respectable 58.3% Smash Rating! This gives Grovyle the honor of being the first Starter Pokemon on the list to not be a final evolution!

2. But, let us not underestimate Grovyle's evolution, Sceptile! Weighing in at a cool 60.2% Smash rating for Standard Form and 57.7% for Mega Sceptile, it seems the evolutions have done nothing to trim back this leafy lizard's appeal.

3. Bringing up our next position on the list, we have the venerable Blaziken, the first of the Fire/Fighting starters! And, it seems, a real master of smashing, with a 71.8% rating in Standard Form and a 72.5% rating as Mega Blaziken! Seems the heat of their fans' passion is very much a match for the flames of Blaziken's kicks.

4. And of course, like Kanto and Johto before this, we have the pleasure of also announcing the water starter has made it! That's right, Swampert has made waves in the world of smashing, and achieved a solid 60.6% Smash rating in Standard Form, and an even better 63.1% as Mega Swampert! Guess it's true, Anchor Arms really do make everyone love you...

5. And up next, we have everyone's favorite domesticated hyena (there's a phrase I don't think exists outside of Pokemon), Mightyena! Though seemingly mean and vicious, they're a real sweetheart when you get to know them, and judging by their 55.4% Smash rating, boy howdy have a number of y'all gotten to know Mightyena! Also, fun fact, hyenas are closer to cats than dogs genetically speaking. Another fun fact, hyenas actually have pretty similar social structures and capabilities to what the Pokedex describes of Poochyena and Mightyena! Anyways, animal behavior lesson over, lets move on!

6. I think we all saw this next one coming, as their grace, elegance, beauty, and devotion to their trainer have captivated many since the earliest days of Ruby and Sapphire's release. Gardevoir takes their rightful place among the Sultans of Smash, with a dazzling 78.6% Smash rating in Standard form and a wonderful 75.1% rating as Mega Gardevoir! It truly is lovely to see that so many of you appreciate Gardevoir as much as Gardevoir appreciates you.

7. Do you, by chance, appreciate a partner with a powerful bite? Because if so, you may have been one of the ones who helped Mawile get elected to the Sultans of Smash! While their Standard Form earned themselves a respectable 58.4% Smash rating, their Mega Evolution takes it even further! How much further? Well, how about taking it to an absolutely stunning 70.7%?! Guess that extra jaw just adds that much more to love.

8. People, it seems, appreciate a number of things. Many appreciate the fine metals that can be found here on Earth. Many appreciate monsters, big and small (especially the big ones as this next Pokemon shows). And many appreciate someone who will help the environment. So it's probably no surprise that many people really appreciate those three things put together in the form of Aggron, the metal giant monster who plants new trees in their claimed territory! At 60.7% Smashable in Standard form and an unusually lacking in decimal places 55% Smashable in Mega Evolution, it seems consensus has agreed that Aggron also has "Smashable" as an appreciable point.

9. How do you feel about roses? Because to many, there's just something about roses that gives them that certain je ne sais quoi, if you will. And it seems Roselia, the Pokemon embodying roses, has inherited that something! At 52.8%, Roselia certainly has a certain romance to them! Though, uh, like with Tentacruel, maybe keep some antidotes on hand, just in case you accidentally touch the roses and find yourself on the business end of Roselia's poison...

10. Dragons! No matter the form they take, it seems they captivate the imagination and romance of many people. And Flygon is no exception. Maybe it's their power and their always appreciated typing of Ground/Dragon. Or maybe it's those lovely greens tastefully accented with red. Whatever it is, it's gotten them a nice 59.1% Smash rating!

11. Well, seems Houndoom's no longer the only member of the "My Mega is More Smashable" club, because we have another entrant. Altaria, that fluffy bird of cotton and unexpected dragon power, has made on the list thanks to their Mega Evolution succeeding where the Standard Form failed, and achieving a 52.9% Smash rating! Guess that added fluffiness really adds something. Still, also like Houndoom, respect must be given to standard Altaria, as they got pretty close to smashable at 46.5%.

12. This next one does as their name indicates (if you know Japanese) and cuts their way through the competition to land on the list! That's right, Zangoose has achieved a 66.5% Smash rating and made a name for themselves within the Sultans. Though, there's probably a comedy to be found somewhere in the fact that a Pokemon so associated with cutting should be voted as being associated with a verb usually reserved for more blunt objects. ...No? Just to me? Darn.

13. But as near anyone can tell you, Zangoose has a rival, and no way in hell is Seviper gonna let their rival take a spot uncontested! So, having worked had to get a 51.6% smash rating, they've arrived to ensure Zangoose has to work to keep that spot of theirs! At least that's what they want you to think, but I'll let you in on a little secret: That wasn't fighting they were doing earlier. Totally and definitely unrelated note, did you know Seviper and Zangoose share egg groups? ...Also unrelated, how do you feel about walking around and hatching eggs?

14. She's beauty, she's grace, her pre-evolution's annoying as hell to find in Gen III thus preventing many from having her as their ace, it's Milotic! Considered one of the most beautiful Pokemon in world thanks to their beautiful, prismatic scales and elegant moves in the water, that impressive 77.4% Smash rating would certainly seem to back this!

15. It's said in the Hoenn region that one must be careful how they get rid of their old dolls, as a doll that feels cruelly abandoned may come back to get their vengeance. And for good reason, as nobody wants a visit from an angry Banette. ...Or at least, so you'd think, but judging by the 51.1% Smash rating in Standard form and that vastly increased 71.5% rating as Mega Banette, I'm starting to think some of y'all would abandon a doll intentionally to get a Banette to come to you. Unless... y'all are hoping to show Banettes the love they never received back before they became a ghost doll? In which case, admirable!

16. Nobody wants to be like Cassandra the Oracle. To be like Cassandra is to have nobody believe you when you foresee disaster, or worse, be blamed for it! And sadly, that's just what has happened for this Pokemon. But for you all reading this, I commend you, for according to these numbers, you've seen past the superstitions and realized that, in truth, Absol was simply trying to warn people! Indeed, between Standard Form's 77% Smash rating and Mega Absol's whopping 80.4% rating, it seems people are finally giving Absol the proper reverence they deserve, though I'm sure that beautiful white fur and excellent form doesn't hurt.

17. Bagon have always dreamed of soaring the skies, and like any good dream, with hard work and determination that comes true upon reaching their final evolution of Salamence! But what they didn't tell them was that getting there would also make them hella smashable (55.3% smashable to be precise!) Though sadly, it seems there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing", as Mega Salamence lacks they smashability of Standard Form...

18. Once again, these next two prove my point about dragons absolutely capturing the passions of many. First off, we have the sister of the two Eon Dragons, Latias! Coming in at 64.1% for Standard Form and 56.2% for Mega Latias, the smashability of this dragon cannot be understated.

19. But, let us not downplay the brother in this. Latios has also made great impacts in the world of Pokesmashing! With an even 58% rating in Standard Form and a 54.4% rating as Mega Latios, it seems this dragon won't be too far behind Latias.

20. "See this fish? I'm gonna wrestle it." These are the words of a... shall we say, well known fan of this next Pokemon. Yes, it is time for Kyogre, the leviathan of Hoenn, to take their place in the Sultans of Smash! Coming in at 51.3% Smashable in Standard Form and 52.7% Smashable after Primal Reversion, seems this fish has more than one way to make someone wet, eh?

21. But of course, much like with the rivalry of Zangoose and Seviper mentioned above, Kyogre's rival just can't let them get away with this so easily! Fortunately for their rivalry (but probably not so much for everyone else), the behemoth of Hoenn Groudon has managed to pull themselves a 54.5% Smash rating in standard form and a 51.4% after Primal Reversion, ensuring they can be there to quarrel with Kyogre again! Jeez, wish we had someone who could tell them to knock it off...

22. Oh wait, we do! More specifically, we have Rayquaza with the steel chair! OK maybe we don't have the steel chair but none the less, Rayquaza's two ratings of 71.2% (Standard Form) and 67.3% (Mega Evolution) means Rayquaza will also be here to make sure those two behave! Because otherwise, Rayquaza's gonna have to show them how Mega Rayquaza made Smogon Ubers into An Actual Tier.

23. And last, but certainly not least, we have a visitor! Where do they come from? Oh, space! Yes, our final entry into the Sultans of Smash is the first Mythical Pokemon to be available through normal gameplay, Deoxys! At four forms, all of which have been voted Smashable at 79.8% for Normal Forme and Attack Forme, 58.1% for Defense Forme, and 73.6% for Speed Forme! But, not surprising. With 5 formes, there's surely something for everyone! Also, props to the person who made the "call Speed Deoxys Amtrak the way they high speed rail" joke, that got one of the best laughs out of me in a while.

And thus, we bring the Gen III Who's Who of Smashing to a close, bringing us up to an even 66 Sultans of Smash! Don't touch that unfollow button, we have more coming soon no doubt!

[foxhopfics]

Hey! I'm Nathaniel/Spiral/Fox and i write things sometimes!

You can find me @/spiralsystem on Ao3!

This blog will mainly be posting requests, as my main fics that I'm working on will be posted directly to archive, however I'll still post finished fics here!

For x reader requests I will likely use the pronoun "you" over "they" (I just think it's fun)

HOW TO SEND A REQUEST: please send the pairing you want, any tropes or whatever (not obligatory), and pick from one of 3:

- Headcanons: a quick page of headcanon points

- Drabble: quick blurb between 200-500 words

- Short fic: 1000-3000 words

Please don't be shy with requests!

IMPORTANT NOTE: IF YOU DON'T SPECIFY WHAT TYPE OF FIC U WANT, I CANNOT WRITE IT FOR YOU.

Request types I will take:

X GN!Reader

X Male!reader

X Trans!reader

Character x character

Main fandoms I'll currently write for:

Baldur's Gate 3

911/911 Lone Star

Dishonored

Ace Attorney

Vocaloid/Project Sekai Colourful Stage

Critical role seasons 1 & 2

Dc

Jujutsu Kaisen

Genshin Impact

All For The Game

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Merlin

& Many more!

More about my writing under the cut so this doesn't get super long :)

Views on shit for writing: I reaaallly don't subscribe to the whole concept of proship/antiship. I take requests on what I'm comfortable writing.

I DO accept nsfw requests, but only within appropriate age ranges. I am comfortable writing age gaps but please dm me and i'll write something on a different site, same with any other typically "taboo" requests. I will not release a "will not/will write" list because that's just inviting problems.

If you'd like nsfw x a minor!character, please specify in the ask if you are also a minor. If there is no age, I will deny the request. I won't write underage smut for adults. I also probably won't push it past an M rating.

Minors I write for:

ProSeka: Honestly realistically most of these characters are minors, but like we don't all know teenagers aren't celibate. Vocaloids don't canonically have ages but since they're all kinda minor-coded, I'll just stick to M max for proseka.

Genshin - Qiqi and Klee, Sayu, and Yaoyao. Diona is NOT a minor, she runs a bar 🙄. Bennett/razor/fischl/anybody who uses the "teen model" I consider 18 at least.

Ace attorney - pearl, trucy. If you want ema I'll write her as her older self unless specified, sorry.

9-1-1: I'll write any of the kids as a side accessory to their parents, unless you want a Gen piece about the kids. I love writing Chris & Denny :)

Dc: Ages are played with a lot in DC, so any characters that are generally accepted as minors/adults will be treated as such. I.e: Damian Wayne, Jon kent will be treated as kids unless you specify a universe where they're older (like when Older!Jon came to that one Earth)

BALDUR'S GATE 3:

The ONLY characters I won't write for this are LAE'ZEL and MINTHARA:

Minthara: killed her and saved the tieflings. No real interest in having her as a companion so I haven't seen any content with her.

Lae'zel: get back to me when she doesn't excuse slaughtering and colonizing entire towns lol. I'm native and the gith creche slaughtering the entire temple of lathander (as. As a cleric of lathander also) and she was like 🤷‍♂️ we live here now. I was not cool with that. I also really don't know how to write a romance for someone who is constantly combative towards the player.

BSD: I can only write for the ADA characters + aktugawa because. I have only seen season 1 :,) sorry

Muses & character's I'm great at writing for:

Bg3: Tav, Wyll

911: Eddie, TK

Dishonored: Corvo, Outsider (and Garett from Thief 2014)

Ace Attorney: Edgeworth, Klavier, Apollo, Clay, Simon, Diego

Vocaloid/Proseka: Len, VFlower, GUMI, Shiho, Toya, Mafuyu, Mizuki

Critrole: Percy, Vax, Caleb, Jester

DC: batfam, superfam, flashs & rogues gallery, teen titans, young justice

JJK: Gojo, Nanami, Itadori, Inumaki, Fushiguro

Genshin: Diluc, Zhongli, Alhaitham & Kaveh (and 4ggravate), Traveler twins, Pantalone, Wriothesley

AFTG: Neil, Aaron, Jean

[stingraywipe]

What’s your top three beloved Pokemon? And if you have them— your top three most hated Pokemon?

omg hi Sofie!! :0 Get ready because I have a whole lot to say about this.

Most Beloved:

Number 1: Squirtle

My absolute favorite is squirtle. What's funny about this is I can't really pinpoint a specific reason why I like him so much. My first pokemon game was alpha sapphire, and I didn't play gen 1 until Let's Go Eevee, so it's not a nostalgia factor. I think my brain just subconsciously selected him back when I was watching the Indigo League anime in middle school. The squirtle squad showed up and my brain was like "Yeah. This guy. He's awesome. This is the one." And he has been my number 1 favorite fella ever since then, and as a consequence he is the pokemon I have the most merch of and it isn't really close.

Please keep in mind this is just what I have in my apartment where I live for college, and that I have even more stuff in my bedroom back at home. Now that I think about it, Koopa Troopa is my favorite mario character, so maybe I have an affinity for characters that are just little turtles. Either way, water is also my favorite type, which means even more bonus points for squirtle.

Number 2: Riolu

Riolu's high ranking has been somewhat of a recent development for me. I've always liked lucario, but I didn't see the light that was riolu until after I watched Pokemon Journeys. Ash's riolu was so silly and adorable, and I always felt so bubbly inside when he was on screen. This shift in my preference is probably due to me developing a major soft spot for cute characters/creatures over the past few years. Most of my favorite pokemon at this point are just little guys because of it. Anyways, the reason I like him so much is because of the aura control him and lucario are capable of. I've always loved aura as a power system; the idea of being able to harness one's own life energy and see it in others is just so cool to me. I especially like how it's established as its own concept outside of moves in pokemon, making it something super unique that only riolu's evolutionary line can take advantage of. I have a lot of lore/worldbuilding ideas for PMD that would utilize aura. For example, Milo, the protagonist of the PMD verse I've been brainstorming, on is a riolu with much stronger aura than normal due to him being a pokemon with a human soul. I have a lot of ideas for how I could use this concept to drive plot points or character arcs, and I might share more in the future if I ever get time to start solidifying a story.

By the way, Milo's partner, Lilly, is a squirtle. No way I don't give both of my two favorites the spotlight.

Number 3: Sprigatito

My love of sprigatito is really quite simple. I love cats. So much. They are easily my number one favorite animal of all time. My Instagram feed is covered in them. So imagine my excitement when I saw that one of the new generation 9 starters was a kitty. My violet team is my favorite team I've ever used in a pokemon game, and the sprigatito line is a massive part of why I love it so much. Sprigatito is adorable, and my meowscarada was so much fun to use after he evolved. On top of that, sprigatito's depiction in Pokemon Horizons makes me love it even more. It's literally just a cat. It loafs. It makes biscuits.. It gets annoyed at the mildest inconvenience. Liko squishes its beans. Plus it releases a super sweet scent when you cuddle it as a bonus. It's so perfect. It's like Game Freak was like "Yeah this is the perfect pokemon for Ray, put it in the game." I have a sprigatito character in my PMD verse named Mayple, but I can't share much about her because it would mean dropping pretty big spoilers for a plot point I have planned.

Honorable Mentions: Greninja and Ceruledge

I love ninjas. I love frogs. Greninja is both. And ceruledge is just objectively one of the coolest pokemon designs ever.

In terms of behated pokemon, I don't have many that I personally despise. It's more so that I feel indifferent about them, and I would simply prefer not to use them on my teams. Usually I don't have any real reason to dislike the ones I do hate; I think it just stems from a gut feeling. The biggest one off the top of my head is the tepig line. I don't know what it is, something just feels off about them. I also dislike incineroar. I like litten and torracat a lot, but they really dropped the ball with the final evolution for me.

That's about all I have. This was really fun to do! Thank you so much for submitting this ask. I look up to you and your work a lot, and it made my night when I got the notification. I'm still pretty new to Tumblr, so I don't know exactly how I'm supposed to do things around here. I want to try to meet more people here, but my social anxiety and tendency to overthink online interactions usually shuts down anything before it can happen. Because of that, being able to answer something simple like this means a lot!! Thank you!! :D

[adobe-outdesign]

This might be a bit of a big ask but what are your thoughts on the rest of the Gen 9 cross-gen evos that weren't revealed before release (Annihilape, Clodsire, Dudunsparce and Kingambit)?

I think a lot of people kind of missed the point of Dudunsparce. Dunsparce is a tsuchinoko, a rare Japanese cryptid known for being completely useless and stealing your booze. It's supposed to be a joke, kind of like Magikarp but without becoming anything useful. Ergo, having a low-effort evo that just becomes a slightly longer Dunsparce makes perfect sense, much more so than it suddenly becoming a dragon or something.

Dudunsparce also comes in two forms, a two- and three-segment version. Not much to say about these, other than they continue the joke of it being rare but useless (given the low odds of getting a three-segment form).

Visually, one nice thing about Dudunspace is that its wings and segments are numbered 1 and 2 (and sometimes 3 depending on form). It's subtle, but it's a clever visual twist to an otherwise plain design.

However, I have to admit, there is something about Dudunsparce that bugs me a bit. I think it's just that Dunsparce has such a good design that a lot of the stuff Dudunsparce does just lessens it. For example, having the head be separate from the first body segment just doesn't look good, and neither does the tail being on a straight rod connector instead of naturally flowing into the body. I also dislike the random purple rings on the underside, which add nothing to the design and are way too low-contrast. Overall, it's a silly joke 'mon, but one that could've maybe been a little stronger design-wise.

Annihilape is a long-overdue evo for Primeape, and I gotta say, the entire thing is a brilliant reference. Specifically, to this one entry in Pokemon Sun:

Taking that 'dex entry to its logical extreme and making a ghost-type evo for Primeape is brilliant, and makes for a great concept and visual twist on the original design. The wispy hair works perfectly, the red eyes and pink nose pop nicely, and the broken shackle on the arms is a perfect visual nod to Primeape. I also love the eerie, infuriated expression.

(Part of me wonders if it wouldn't have made more sense for it to be mellow given the entry its referencing, but then again it's not actually dead yet and sheer rage is kind of this line's thing.)

I guess the only real problem with it is that it feels a bit out of place due to the sudden color shift—but at the same time I get why they did that, as it reflects the new ghost-typing and overall looks cool, so I can't really complain.

Finally we have Kingambit, my personal favorite out of all the new evos this gen. First, I'm always a sucker for cool humanoid 'mons, and Kingambit is the perfect mix of human-ish while also looking like a cool monster.

More importantly, Kingambit fits with the rest of the line perfectly. It is very, very hard to introduce an evo to a three-stage line and have it look like it actually belongs to that line (just look at Rhyperior). But Kingambit? The visuals are distinct, yet blend in so seamlessly with the rest of the line that you'd probably never guess they were generations apart if you weren't familiar with the line already. For example, the golden gloves are extended from Bisharp's hands as is the blade on the head, the shoulder pads are extensions of Bisharp's, the goat-like feet are kept, the middle blades have been extended, etc. It's masterfully done.

In terms of the design, I love the silly giant mustache blades and how they provide a focal point to draw attention to the otherwise small face. The body design is appropriately samurai-like, and the gold accents are much better used here than on Bisharp due to being more prominent in the design.

My only real issue with it is that the hair-throne is pushing it a bit. I get that it's based off of the popular samurai squat/sitting pose, you know, this one:

But having it just awkwardly scooting around when it moves feels incredibly forced and unnatural, making it harder to see as a living creature. The bottom of the hair under the legs also doesn't look great. I would've happily accepted it squatting in its default pose with the hair stopping at the legs, and it getting up to stand when following in the overworld and whatnot.

I'm also not big on the blades sticking out from the middle of the body. I get they were playing off of Bisharp's middle blades, but they look very fragile and really don't add much to the design. I feel like just having the metal rings around the middle to represent a samurai uniform would have been more than enough.

I also feel like the grey Vs on the knees weren't needed or could've at least been gold to make them pop more, though that's not terribly important overall. The top blade could've also maybe come down like 20%, just so its not competing with the mustache as much.

Anyway, overall, I think Gen 9 might have some of the strongest cross-gen evos of any game. Girafarig (already discussed in a previous review) is perfect, Dudunsparce is funny and fits the line's theme, Annihilape is a great lore reference, and Kingambit fits with the rest of its line absolutely perfectly and has strong theme. I gotta say, I'm impressed.

[echoweaver]

New Year's Resolutions 2024

Thanks to @nocturnalazure for tagging me!

Also, anyone else I might've missed. 😢 I don't know if there's a way to distinguish being tagged on a post vs on a comment in tumblr, but it would be helpful when I know I was tagged a bit ago, but I don't remember by whom.

What's your resolution for your simblr?

OK, I guess I have some categories of goals.

Modding resolution: Release the Warriorcats Mod.

This mod is really close to done, but I'm in animation muck. I both hate seeing animations look bad AND I'm not an animator. For training interactions, I need multi-sim animations where one sim observes while the other acts, and when I tried to do this, I realized that I have a lot to learn before I can make this do what I want. I need one more good run in a geeky minset, and this thing will be read to at least release as beta.

This thing is bottlenecking other smaller mod ideas. I'm proud of it, and I want to finish it. But the turn of the year has been really bad for high-effort hobby energy.

For those who have sent me asks about this mod, I am going to say something that you should absolutely not apply any other modder, including me, for anything else. Bugging me about this (in a nice way!) is probably the best way to get it finished. Hearing from folks who use my pets mods makes my heart sing. Knowing that someone cares is the best source of positive energy I have.

It's a new year, and some very high-stress stuff in my personal life has improved. I know can do this in 2024.

In my points of low mood, I have wondered if there's even any point to finishing something this high-effort for a game this old. But, like Minecraft, TS3 never seems to die. 2022-3 was actually a modding renaissance. I have built some interest in TS4 at the end of this year, but it hasn't made me even a little bit interested in abandoning TS3. So I'm going to do my best to set that demotivating nonsense aside.

Gaming resolution: Finish the Samples.

I can't believe I actually wrote that, but it could happen in 2024. Generation 8 is starting in gameplay, and in a 10-generation legacy, this is the last "complete" generation.

I will never do another 10-generation anything. There are two many different and interesting

Blogging resolution: Catch the Wonderlands up to the present.

I stopped playing halfway through Gen 3. I originally started posting this challenge on tumblr during Gen 2 when I created this simblr some horrifying number of years ago. Gen 1 was all on Wordpress and is new to the simblr. I've been reluctant to play forward on the challenge until I can bring the simblr with it.

2. What do you want from the sims franchise?

Haha. That's a complicated question. I think I may always be a TS3 player at my core. I send retroactive apologies to every TS2 players I looked askance at ten+ years ago. With that in mind, I can't reasonably expect much of anything from EA on my core hobby.

My pie-in-the-sky dream would be a 64-bit update for TS3 on Windows. That's not completely impossible, but it doesn't look likely to happen.

I'm keeping an eye on Project Rene. EA has given a good sense that they learned from the player response to TS3 & 4, and 5 could be a good synthesis. OTOH, the PRIMARY ask I have from them is 100% offline play, and I don't have a lot of hope. Though EA made the commitment to offline play for TS4, they've been clawing it back by inches over the years, and they even quietly made it impossible to install fresly-downloaded TS3 store content on 1.67. I'm fighting hard to keep my TS3 game at 1.67 because I want to be able to play on airplanes and in places I simply cannot log in. I don't give a !@#$ whether EA can validate my license. They're making enough money. They can stuff it in their butts. So, with that said, I am just assuming that TS3 1.67 is going to be the core of my fandom for the forseeable future, but my mind isn't closed. If TS5 is otherwise awesome, I can branch out.

My biggest hope for the franchise is from the fandom -- that the TS3 modding renaissance will continue. We keep renewing this old game, and as it continues to be renewed, there continue to be amazing fun new ways to play it. Thank you folks so much.

3. Any other new year's resolution?

Getting my Hobbit fanedit accepted by the Fanedit Academy at fanedit.org.

Heh. So, I have a very long drama story about my fanediting hobby. I flamed off the fanedit.org community when I attempted to submit my first edit years ago (The Hobbit, which should surprise exactly nobody who has looked at fanedits). I was floored when, in 2023, I was contacted by the head of that site to apologize for that situation and ask me to resubmit. It appears that my treatment by the reviewers prompted him to clean house and build a more welcoming community. Wow.

So, now my very first edit is under review by the "Faneditors Academy," which is the primary way to reach new viewers and gain feedback in this hobby. The site leader is involved in my review, but one of the reviewers is one of guys who treated me badly the first time, and he's complex to work with -- there's an undercurrent of him trying to justify rejecting me without a review the first time. I am determined to see this review through to the end. I am very proud of this edit. Also, the feedback is definitely leading me to take it the next level.

But I'll be honest -- working through the criticism and revisions is one reason I haven't touched the Warriorcats mod in months. I need to clear my mind and my plate to really focus on addressing feedback, and the criticism level makes that draining.

[Sharing from personal life -- another reason my modding dropped off is that this winter my trans wife came out to my socially conservative parents. We are not disowned, but it's been complicated and emotionally draining. Lighthearted play with stream-of-consciousness commentary is about as deep as I've been able to go for months.]

[a-moth-to-the-light]

Most-Listened of June 2024

[last month]

June was a ridiculously exciting month of releases--I'd been so looking forward to the new Sunmi single, plus albums from Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion, Kehlani, Raveena, and Red Velvet. And then I got surprised by comebacks from The Japanese House, Bol4, Nayeon, and Epik High! And apparently the Suho album is pretty good? And the cupcakKe one is, too? Naturally, though, I was overwhelmed by the excitement and didn't spend much time with those new releases, so this list consists of... none of the aforementioned comebacks. I'm still quite proud of my top 15, though, especially because I had a chance to catch up with some exciting releases from last month (which will be making an appearance here)!

I also got to see Lucy, an absolutely wonderful k-band I've been following since debut, in concert, and it left me with a post-concert high for like a week. (It made me super sensitive to sensory input for a week, too. Like, I couldn't listen to Repion for that whole week, because their harmonies were too powerful, they made my skin feel like it was exploding. I could also FEEL the collars of my t-shirts like ants on my neck oh my god I've never been like that before it was wild.) So what I'm saying was, it was a fantastic concert & left me with a lot of appreciation for how interesting music can be! (Which is probably why the list of five-star songs is so long this month...)

It doesn't make an appearance here, but if you're curious: my pride anthem this month was George Michael's "Freedom! '90". (This is my pride anthem every year, actually, but it just never gets old to me.) Honorable mention to Hayley Kiyoko + Kehlani's "What I Need", and I hope you had a great pride month!

1. 5D (Fifth Dimension) -- The Byrds

You know that U2 lyric that talks about "a song that made some sense out of the world"? Well, here's a song that made some sense out of my world. Like, is it super exciting? Not really. But it shifted something in my soul. It's a song about having enough, and it feels like having enough--that warm guitar, those high harmonies at the end... And the lyrics make me cry. It's a simple song, but it has the feeling of a warm shower on a snowy day stored somewhere inside it. "5D" is magical, and I don't regret a single one of the many times I replayed it this month. (Also, this completes another item on my music bucket list for 2024, which was to like a new Byrds song!)

2. S.O.S -- Taichu, Lali

Since "Top" and "Noche de Sateo" last year, I've been keeping an eye out for Taichu. They have so much charisma--if there's an 'it' factor to being a star, Taichu has it to the max. All this to say, I don't think I could stay away from "S.O.S" if I tried. I don't love it as much as "Noche de Sateo", but it's still fantastic--the beat is super aespacore, and Taichu's raspy "SOS / save your souls" is one of the most iconic lines of the year. (Spotify says they're saying save our souls, but I like my headcanon better, so...) I've been singing the chorus all month, too. I would 100% recommend checking this one out, if just for the spectacle of Taichu's first verse--they're such a skilled performer.

3. +82 -- Badvillain

I'm so happy to announce that I've finally connected with a fifth-gen group! Though I definitely enjoy "Super Shy" and "Melting Point" and a few other fifth-gen hits, I've been feeling a little like I'm missing out, since I just haven't gotten into any of the new groups everyone's been so excited about. But Badvillain? They're exactly my kind of group. They're a perfect amount of obnoxious, reminiscent of CLC, but with the sleek rapping of XG (another group I've been REALLY getting into lately) added on. I love the weirdness of this debut, the drama of it. (Purplekiss got my attention with "Ponzona", a similarly melodramatic dark-concept debut, and I stan them now, so...) I definitely don't think this debut will be for everyone, but I call it a victory for obnoxious girlpop. CLC may be gone, but Badvillain proves that their spirit is still with us!! "+82", a short b-side attached to Badvillain's debut single, was released with a performance video, and it's such a gem. And yes, it's super short--like, less than 2 minutes long--but it's so packed with explosive brass (think: Demi Lovato's "Confident" or "Tell Me You Love Me") and thundering bass that it feels much fuller than its runtime suggests. It's an instant shot of energy, like all the best girlpop is. Here's to hoping that I'll like their future comebacks, and maybe Badvillain will be the first fifth-gen group I stan!

4. Popper! -- Akrilla, Taichu

Yep, it's Taichu again! "S.O.S" was a little weird, a little industrial, but it definitely felt like a song; in contrast, I can't promise that "Popper!" is actually a song--it's more like ambient noise (ambient, if you live in a sci-fi dystopia) with a chorus that pops up occasionally. People say Itzy & Stray Kids make construction zone music, so I guess "Popper!" is kind of like POV: you're a brick in a building that is currently being destroyed with a wrecking ball. And to be clear, I love it--the layers of sound are absolutely captivating. I can appreciate that even though "Popper!" sounds like the sonic equivalent of throwing paint at the wall, it takes work to get production this pristine. I imagine that every detail had to be sooo carefully placed, all these strange, creative sounds carefully sculpted into a landscape with the appearance of chaos. The more I listen to this one, the more addicted I become--it's surprisingly listenable! (I think we can thank the ever-charismatic Taichu for that, but maybe that's just my bias talking.)

5. Cosmic Love -- Faux Paz

Here we have the sulking song of the month! I've loved this song for forever--it's actually one of the songs that got me into Faux Paz--but I was reminded of it when I heard the name of the new Red Velvet album. When I revisited "Cosmic Love", it kickstarted a craving that lasted well into July. This arrangement is Faux Paz at their strongest--the whole arrangement is dense and cushion-y, and the final chorus, in particular, makes use of the choir's wall of voices just so excellently. The soloist's voice is heart-wrenching, too. I have no idea where Faux Paz finds so many people who can belt the way their soloists do--or is it all one person? I have no idea, but they're fantastic. While we're talking about Faux Paz, I've also been obsessed with their cover of "Chandelier" this month!

6. New Me -- Flo Milli, Anycia

I wish I loved the new Flo Milli album more than I do--as someone who lives for her campy mean-girl aesthetic, I want to love all her music!! But as of now, I haven't really found much to latch onto from Fine Ho, Stay. (It's not bad at all, just nothing I've been obsessing over!) That being said, I have to give "New Me" some credit, because it has a lot going for it: a great beat, a great feature (WOMEN WITH DEEP VOICES APPRECIATION POST), and some great ad-libs (which are exactly as obnoxious as I expect from a Flo Milli song, of course). I can totally see someone else falling head-over-heels for this track, but I think I'll be going back to leaving "Not Friendly" and "Big Steppa" on repeat, instead. I'm definitely inspired to check out Anycia's new album, though--

7. Más Lejos -- Atalhos

The summer heat is really hitting now, so, as per my tradition, I'm bringing out the wistful indie rock. "Más Lejos" was one of my favorite releases last summer, and it's still just as infinitely listenable as it was last year. I was inspired to check out more stuff from Atalhos this month, too, and I'm really impressed! I'm SO hyped to listen to their album Em Busca Do Tempo Perdido, since I'm pretty sure it's a Proust reference?? That's so cool, I was not expecting Proust to show up on my Spotify.

8. you should see me in a crown -- Billie Eilish

My brother and I were talking about albums that we think would be on Best Albums of All Time lists fifty years from now, and I'm confident that a Billie Eilish album will be on there--whether it'll be When We All Fall Asleep or Happier Than Ever, I'm not sure, but definitely one of those! So anyway, that conversation inspired me to revisit When We All Fall Asleep, since I had only paid attention to its ballads before. And oh my GOD, "you should see me in a crown" is fantastic. I remember it being popular, but I don't think I ever gave it a proper listen back in 2019--I was missing out. That bass in the chorus, with those shuddering effects, feels like tectonic plates moving. This song has so much grandeur, and Billie Eilish's performance here makes me believe she's the earth itself, a natural disaster waiting to happen. This is even more impressive than I was expecting.

9. Virtual Angel -- ARTMS

This actually isn't my favorite song from the album, but I'm not surprised it's my most-listened. "Virtual Angel" has all the magic I expect from a Loona(ish) comeback--that fluttering instrumental, for one, doesn't feel like something a human could produce, so I'm quite convinced it's a gift from the angels.

10. Hide & Seek -- Pixy

After watching a video from Planet Minjae on YouTube, I was inspired to revisit some of my favorite fourth-gen discographies, and Pixy is one of those. These ladies have some fantastic b-sides, and the group as a whole is way too underrated. I love the Chosen Karma mini ("Falling" & "Whisper" oh my god oh my god oh my god), but I'd never fully appreciated "Hide & Seek" before this month. Pixy don't have the production budget to make this song as much of a masterpiece as it could be, but I can see the vision here--the tongue-in-cheek intro, the commitment to brass in the instrumental (chorus and verses?!!!?!?!!!), and that fantastic rap section. Everything about this song is ambitious, and it really should be a hit.

11. Ah Yeah -- EXID

I have a whole ramble in my journal about how this is the best girl crush song ever. (Yes, it's like technically the tail end of the sexy concept or whatever, but this is literally EXID doing Blackpink before Blackpink, so I'm calling it one of the mothers of girl crush. And it outdid them ALL. Just saying.) EXID has Mamamoo-level vocals + a 4minute attitude (I love you, LE); they're pure power, and "Ah Yeah" lets them give their all. And the way they control the song--those little moments of commanding the beat to a halt--is such a nice little touch that really elevates the girl power concept. This song isn't new to me, but I fell in love all over again this month!

12. The Killa -- TXT

When this album first came out, I listened to the first minute of "The Killa", was like oh look it's tinnitus again, and then I went and listened to "Tinnitus" instead. But I really underestimated this song! "The Killa" is hazy and distorted in a way that "Tinnitus" isn't--I find those weird, robot-y harmonies in the chorus so captivating. I love how the production here is so layered and creative, and I think this song will continue to age quite well.

13. Te Encontrei em SP -- Atalhos, Delfina Campos

Re: my Atalhos binge! This one isn't my favorite--it's so wispy and laid-back that it becomes kind of monotone--but that saxophone is wonderful. They really give the saxophone room to breathe in the instrumental, instead of relegating it to one short solo, and the fuzzed-out production is really interesting!

14. Armageddon -- Aespa

This chorus has been everywhere all month, and I'm more than happy to get caught up in the hype. Like, I can't stop craving the "imma get it dunnnnnnn" bit, and whenever I can finally get it out of my head, I hear a snippet of it on YouTube Shorts--and there, the craving is back. That crunchy production is exactly what I want in an Aespa song, too! I don't know if the Aespa ladies really do this song justice--their voices are gorgeous, don't get me wrong, I just think I would enjoy "Armageddon" more if their performances leaned more into its moodiness. So it's not my favorite Aespa song, but I'm happy to succumb to its popularity and spend a summer leaving it on repeat!

15. Boom -- Nmixx

Yeah fine I get it now. It's fantastic, whatever. Nmixx's album this year was super exciting and wonderful, whatever. (Look, Nmixx songs have a history of giving me headaches, headaches which I'm still a little bit bitter about. But I'll get over it eventually... the bitterness is hard to maintain, especially after "Passionfruit"...) "Boom" places a lot of pressure on its hooks--it's more like a highlight medley than a song--but that "tick tick tick tick boom boom" hook is surprisingly sturdy. The whole thing ends up feeling coherent in a way that is deeply confusing to me: how does it do that? What a masterpiece. Also, that glossy house section at the end is to die for!!

Five-Star Songs This Month

Butterfly Effect -- ARTMS

And here we have my favorite song from Dall. I've spent the month with the album, and this is the one that really sticks with me. That sonar-sounding vocal hook is just two notes, but it's ridiculously gorgeous.

Chokehold Cherry Python -- Ashnikko

Ashnikko has met her match with the aggressive guitar in this song. The combination of the two? It's like being struck by lightning. Also, their song "Deal With It" (with Kelis) probably isn't a five-star song, but it's SUCH a summer hit!! I've been listening to that one a bunch, too.

De Zombis -- Repion

Check out more of Repion's back catalog, they said. It'll be fun, they said. This song, the first track on Repion's first album, is such a way to debut. Like, it's painful how overwhelmingly beautiful it is. The vocals here are piercing--the front-and-center harmonies I love so much about Repion aren't something they grew into; apparently, this duo's vocals have been sending electric shocks through their music as long as they've been around. The roughness of this song's production brings a completely unique kind of intensity, too, something so different from their recent releases but in the same spirit--Repion knows how to make rock anthems that come straight for my heart.

Drug Free America -- Bleachers

A joke song with surprising longevity. Like, I appreciated the absurdity of this one right from the start, but I didn't expect to actually enjoy it as music. Here we are, though! The snappy comedy of the lyrics balances out the sonic soup of the vocal effects, and "Drug Free America" is full of fun lines that stay fun on repeat listens. Look, I've been obsessed with Bleachers for forever, now--I'm willing to indulge pretty much anything they put out, so this gets five stars and there's nothing you can do about it.

Mine -- Aespa

I think I tend to like Aespa most when they're ice-cold ("Illusion" is my favorite aespa song for a reason), and this song is right up my alley. I defer to @pocima's write-up on this one though, because she does "Mine" more justice than I could! [link]

Popper! -- Akriila, Taichu

S.O.S -- Taichu, Lali

Starburned and Unkissed -- Caroline Polachek

The I Saw the TV Glow soundtrack strikes again! After falling in love with yeule's "Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl" last month, I listened through the whole soundtrack album and zeroed in on this fascinating song. It's a hazy, ghostly scream, it's a ballad left out in the cold too long, iced over and sleeping in the snow and dreaming desperately of a home it may never see again. I don't know, it just hits. Both yeule & Caroline Polachek's contributions to this soundtrack are beautifully warped--I love how these songs find so much soul and emotion and life energy in decidedly unnatural sonic worlds.