#me reading again his np's description: oh-

[darabeatha]

Interesting bits about characters I write & how these bits appear in f.ate part ???:

/  Ashwatthama: he could not lift the Sudarshana Chakra (the huge wheel he swings around in fgo) when he asked for it to Sri Kirshna as its mentioned in the Puranas. Upon realizing the inmense power Sri Kirshna had over being able to hold the weapon, Ashwatthama was so embarrassed that he returned it back to Sri krishna and left the place. Curiously enough, despite not having used it (as he was physically unable to do so), in fate he seems to swing it around as easily as a floatie, being able to even kick it forward like a football.

The explanation his bio gives is that apparently, the Sudarshana Chakra he uses is something he can wield only when summoned as a servant, and one whom he taught himself how to use. Now why it appears with him? I’m not sure, personally i’m thinking of two posibilities, one being that maybe it could be a sorts of replica of the original, and the other explanation being related to the whole matter where servants incorporate into their heroic spirit code certain things that might not exactly have taken place in their story but that are so associated to them in the mind of people that they end up being granted to the heroic spirits as servants. The reason im thinking about this posibility is because of Ash’s own dialogue lines about the weapon itself and how he seems rather confused/surprised about it himself?

[funkymbtifiction]

Some kind of Introverted Feeler!

Howdy! So I've been able to narrow down my choices to Fi dominant/Te inferior; my whole life has had themes of these functions, everyone knows me for being "the sensitive one", or if you're in my family, the person to walk on eggshells around;;

My biggest concern is just trying to pinpoint if I display either Ne/Si or Se/Ni... Which I know are two *completely* different functions, but it's easy to fall victim to confusion and wondering, "Hmm, I guess I do these things sometimes!"...

Sounds like you're super confident in being sensory-aware, engaged with the outer world, and doing actual real things as opposed to dreaming and brainstorming with your INFP boyfriend -- so yes, ISFP is accurate. A lot of what you said (nostalgia about the past, etc) could tie into whatever your core Enneagram type is -- 9s in particular can be somewhat sentimental and lapse into revising old hobbies or interests or romanticizing the past as a source of comfort in a stressful situation.

[transjinako]

I was looking at Yugioh cards and was inspired to make Pierre Simon Laplace a servant so here she is. 

Foreigner: Pierre-Simon Laplace 

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Parameters: 

Strength: C+ 

Endurance: C+

Agility: B+ 

Luck: B+ 

Mana: A 

NP: A+

Traits: Existence outside of the Domain B+, Territory Creation A, Cosmic Core A+ 

Skills: 

Laplace Transform! EX: The Laplace Transform is a mathematic transformation of a function of a real variable into a complex one, done on a Complex Frequency. However, this term is often used to call up Laplace’s suit of armor. Laplace says quite assuredly that her suit is made along the basis of the Laplace Transform equation, though no one can possibly follow her reasoning when she explains. 

It is therefore obvious that... B-: Laplace was and still is a true genius, her mind moving and deducing at speeds that could even rival certain detectives. She is able to come upon ideas and theories that would be beyond anyone’s reasonable way of thinking, so even though her mind rivals that of a certain detective, she can’t quite explain her ideas well to others so the skill isn’t as strong as it could be. 

Ultra Heavy Stars A-: A destructive skill that carried over from Laplace’s approaching of a black hole. These Ultra Heavy stars are weapons Laplace often uses in combat, their gravity pulling in light, magic and anyone else too close to it’s vicinity, anything that touches it’s surface is quickly crushed from is deadly pull. However, due to their imperfect nature, they can’t last too long and collapse in on themselves soon after creation. 

Noble Phantasms: 

Laplace’s DAEMON 

Rank: A

Type: Anti Causality 

Description: Laplace had theorized that a higher being, or someone or something that understands the universe from the stars and planets in the sky to the tiniest atom would not see the past as the cause of the present, nor the present as the causality of the future as normal humans do. Instead, it would see all events laid out before it as though it were a complete mechanism. With the help of her suit, the Arcueil, Laplace is able to expand the limitations of her mind in order to see the past present and future as if they were all the same time. Technically speaking, it is not precognition, as this skill moves the user to the perspective of an outsider looking in, the forward movement of time being meaningless to that thought process. It cannot be considered to be divining one’s Destiny either, as it also takes in account the many variables of events. All this to say, Laplace is the only one able to comprehend and apply what she learns from this Noble Phantasm. 

The Arcueil

Rank: B++

Type: Anti Divine 

Description: The suit of armor Laplace transforms into when going into battle. It was created for the soul purpose of learning more about the galaxy, the solar system, the stars, while also being made with them in mind. It draws on the power of the solar system thanks to Laplace’s deep understanding of it’s harmony. The suit was also made to prove that the solar system is a function of nature rather than something divine or otherworldly controlling everything, as such, it gains the power of nature to stand in defiance of higher beings that claim to have created and control it. In another dimension entirely, it would likely be the basis for a certain police force from space. 

The Harmony of Nature 

Rank: EX

Type: Anti Threat Against Nature 

Description: This noble phantasm is the culmination of Laplace’s relationship with nature as well as the solar system. As someone who researched the solar system as well as the forces of nature, she has become extremely close to it. In respect to her harmony, her automation, her infinite complexity toward her simple goals, Laplace can only ask to power the power of nature so that she might be able to protect her. When granted this blessing, it is something akin to the Anima Animusphere, although instead of controlling the stars and planets to her will, she moves with their will. For just a short while she becomes a part of the infinitely complex mechanism that is Nature for the sole purpose of protecting it. 

(All that being said, the attack she uses while in this state tends to be a destructive kick from the air, it looks extremely heroic.) 

Description of Servant: Laplace is a strange case when in person. She is almost always wearing her armor, looking more like a robot than anything. She doesn’t put off the disposition of being a friendly person, as she can be quite robotic, dry and maybe overly logical, but she really is. She can easily get lost in telling people the things she has learned and in kind learning about others and what they know as well. She can be pretty socially dense, she doesn’t quite know when people don’t like her so she goes along acting friendly toward them when she can, it can be pretty charming in some cases. 

The reason Laplace is always wearing her Arcueil is because it allows her to be closer to nature, which might seem odd to others but when you consider how much of her life she threw into the study of astronomy you might be more understanding. She can be convinced to present herself as a normal human at times though, as that can be another way of being a part of nature, but also when she figures she doesn’t need to constantly monitor her surroundings. 

Although her alignment does claim her to be Good, she works chiefly for the good of the world. You might think a certain greater being had influenced her, but that is simply the way she is. She doesn’t hold humanity’s importance over that of the world, but she does acknowledge that humans have a duty to know about the world and defend it together, this is what drives her to keep teaching and defending humanity. 

Interactions: 

Voyager: Oooh, I know of you, little traveler, but not about you. If I could be a little bold...maybe you might be able to recount me on your findings personally? If it wouldn’t trouble you at all, as well as how you were made. You are a machine, yes? Perhaps I can use you to improve my...ah? Oh, don’t worry, I would never take you apart. You are much too precious. 

MHXX: Is that…? E-excuse me, officer…? Ah, yes we are very much matching. Ahem, who exactly...made that? I- yes, yes your suit is very cool. Regal as well, in its own way. But I just wanted to ask- my own? Erm, well, I was inspired by nocturnal birds, as they use the stars to navigate and- Y-yes! I would like to talk more sometime! Uh, see you...later? ...I couldn’t even ask where she acquired such an armor….

Waver: That Waver fellow reminds me of some of my own colleagues and professors, though he is a lot more pleasant to be around. He’s also quite expressive, i’ve been able to tell when the things i say fly right over his head several times now.

BB: A being from the moon, or rather, an AI from the moon’s supercomputer. She’s incredibly strange but….interesting too...perhaps she would let me study her, or perhaps help me study the moon some? But then again, even I can pick up on those murderous vibes so...maybe i’ll ask someone else…

Da Vinci: Ah! Madam Da Vinci! Might I join you in the lab today? I promise I will only look over the shoulder and not add too much input, I know it harms your focus! Er, not even over the shoulder? I have to sit next to Holmes…? Well...as long as he is...all up there…

Jeanne Alter: Oh hello Master, I was only popping in to get some of my books. You see, Madame Alter seems to be interested in some of my work. I saw her reading a book of mine, muttering it out loud, when our eyes caught. I was happy to give her a more personal account of course, though I do hope I didn't catch her at a bad time. When I left she seemed slumped over, as though tired. Ah, well, I can at least lend her more of my books. 

Sun Servants: You all claim to be the sun itself...Well. There are three of you and yet only one sun so- o-oh your all the sun, together. Well, and I do not wish to...question any of your logic. But perhaps you merely...derive your power from the sun instead of- Ah, as I said, lord Ozymandias, I do not wish to question- hm, Ms Quetzalcoatal I do not wish to challenge you for- Oh...it's part of your...appeal? Ms Tamamo? ….I see...n-nevermind.

Napoleon: Oh. Napoleon. Hm. Oh, don’t worry, master, we don’t have a...terrible relationship per say, but I definitely wouldn’t call us friends, even if he insists on such. We have, an understanding, I suppose. So I can tolerate him for the most part. 

[gerxrdwxy]

In The End, Everything Collides - Peterick

My first fic…

Description: Patrick thinks Pete is dating Mikey, but he isn’t. It’s more of an elaborate ruse than anything, and it definitely backfires.

Warnings: Cursing (mild language)

Word Count: 2133

Read at AO3 here or below

MCR is just lounging around on their bus, pre-show, when Gerard gets a text from Patrick. Sure, it might just be about the show - they are sharing a venue - but Gerard isn’t quite sure. Patrick never texts about the shows, he always calls.

Patrick: hey ik this might be a kinda awkward question but does your brother have a bf?

Gerard is shocked. This was definitely not what he was expecting. He glances up, though, and sees Mikey frantically typing away on his phone.

Gerard: wat, wanna date him?

Patrick: ew no I’m just… wonderin

Gerard: why?? and no idk but I don think Mikey is dating any1

Patrick: o ok thx Gerard

Gerard: np

Gerard clicks his phone off and drops it back into his lap. Frank sits back down from grabbing his and Gerard’s coffee. He kisses his boyfriend and goes back to playing around with chords from “Mama” as Gerard silently muses about Patrick’s strange text.

—

On the Fall Out Boy bus, Patrick watches Pete carefully. He’s texting hurriedly - probably Mikey, Patrick thinks. He drops back onto the couch, leaning into the cushions and taking advantage of Pete’s distraction. His eyes follow the messy black fringe that is always falling in Pete’s eyes, wishing he could walk over and push it back into place. He mentally reprimands himself: he shouldn’t be thinking about his best friend and band member like this, especially if he’s with Mikey. Which Patrick is sure he is, even if Gerard doesn’t know. Who else would Pete be texting that he won’t let Patrick see?

After the show, the two bands gather behind the venue to pack up last minute items and head back to their respective buses when Pete pulls Mikey aside. Patrick notices immediately, not that he was staring or anything… He inches his way over towards them and strains his ears to see if he can hear what is so important, and his fears are confirmed. He walks over just in time to have his hopes smashed.

“I really like you - do you wanna go out with me?” Pete asks and Mikey giggles and claps his hands excitedly, and Patrick has seen enough.

He walks quickly away, back to their bus. He slams the door behind him and is about to storm back to his bunk when he sees Pete’s phone lying on the table. He knows he shouldn’t, but he needs proof. He’s almost afraid of what he’ll see. He doesn’t know Pete’s password, so all he can see are the recent messages displayed on the home screen. Before he can stop himself, he’s scrolling through the messages on the screen.

Mikey: Good luck at the show today!

Mikey: You were great today!! I can’t wait until later ;)

Mikey: You’re a lucky guy, aren’t you

Patrick clicks the phone off, not wanting to see anymore. When it dings behind him, he doesn’t even glance back. He walks straight to his bunk and, not bothering with his nasty post-set clothes, climbs into bed and shuts the curtain before letting himself cry. Eventually, the exhaustion of today’s show washes over him and he falls asleep, tears still staining his face.

Patrick wakes up to Pete standing over him, looking concerned.

—

“You’ve been crying,” Pete states. Patrick raises his hands to his face in a futile attempt to hide his eyes, but there’s no point. Pete has seen. “What happened?” Pete asks gently. “I want to help.” Now fully awake, the events of the past few hours flood Patrick’s mind and he shoves his band mate away. Still Pete persists, saying, “Oh come on Patrick, I just want to help you!” but Patrick doesn’t respond, instead grabbing the end of the curtain and pulling it shut in Pete’s face.

Pete walks back to the main “living room” of the bus, wondering what he could’ve done to upset Patrick so badly. He picks up his phone from where it was lying on the table, checking his text messages. He scrolls, bypassing congratulations from Mikey on the show until he comes to a new message.

Mikey: So have u asked him yet?

Pete: No… he’s in a bad mood rn and idk why

—

“Mikey get your ass over here!” Gerard shouts from the other room. Mikey quickly taps out his last text to Pete before going to see what his brother wants from him.

Mikey: o. idk then but I gtg talk to Gerard bye

Pete: bye mikes, thx for the help today

Mikey walks over to where Gerard is sitting on the couch with Frank.

“What do you want, Gerard?” Gerard stands and walks over towards the opposite side of the little room, motioning for Mikey to follow.

“Hey, so this is going to be a little weird but do you have a boyfriend?” Gerard whispers.

“What the hell Gerard? No. I don’t have a boyfriend and I don’t even know why you’re asking.” Mikey suddenly thinks of something and grins to himself: “Frank not enough for you anymore?” Mikey asks, a bit too loudly. Gerard gives him his worst big brother glare and walks over to explain himself to a not-so-happy looking Frank.

Mikey chuckles a little to himself and pulls his phone back out of his pocket.

Mikey: I’m back if you’ve got anything else to say

Pete: actually, yeah

Mikey: What’s up??

Pete: so I have this idea… it’s prob not a good idea but I’m getting impatient

Mikey: Oh yeah? hmu

Pete: I kinda wanna make him jealous…

Mikey: that’s actually not a terrible idea

Pete: I feel like he’s not really interested and I wanna c if I’m can make him jealous but I don’t have anyone to make him jealous w/

Mikey: I could do it

Pete: omg thx mikes … I’ll call my “bf” later

Mikey: K call u later bye Pete

Pete: bye Mikey, thx again

Mikey wonders what he just volunteered for, but decides its for the best. He paces around for a little bit, eventually wandering back into the living area and after one glance at Frank shoved up against the wall decides that now would be a great time to go outside and call Pete.

—

It’s getting kind of dark when Pete gets the call from Mikey, but he answers right away.

“Hey,” he says, not wanting to sound too awkward while talking to his fake boyfriend.

“Hey babe,” Mikey says on the other end of the line and Pete can hear him suppressing giggles. So this is how this is going to go.

“So what are you doing tonight, baby?” Pete asks, feeling a twinge of guilt when Patrick walks in on this. He sees Patrick freeze up, turn around and grab his jacket and then practically run out the door. Mikey, oblivious, is giggling.

“You, honey” comes from the other end, and Pete wants to punch his face off.

“He’s gone now Mikey, I don’t think there’s a point to this right now,” Pete tells him, sounding a little sad.

“What, did my horrible flirting scare him off?” Mikey jokes.

“Probably,” Pete says, chuckling along with him. Pete, bored because Patrick left and Joe and Andy are God knows where, heads back to his bunk. He can hear Ray yelling in the background and Mikey mutters a slightly annoyed goodbye and hangs up. Pete lies in his bunk and stares up at the bottom of Patrick’s. He thinks of the sweet boy with the beautiful voice who hides behind hats and haunts Pete’s dreams - the boy who sleeps just above his head.

—

Patrick doesn’t typically drink, but tonight he just wants to forget everything he just witnessed. He enters the bar alone, and he leaves alone. He’s there just for the alcohol and the alcohol only. A few drinks and a few hours later, Patrick is so drunk he can barely walk back to the bus, his final bottle in hand. He downs it as he nears the bus and stumbles through the door, almost making it to his bunk before he passes out with a crash on the floor.

—

Pete finds Patrick, asleep, his face wet with tears, again. Evidently Joe and Andy were back and asleep long before Patrick got back, because Pete was the only one to hear the crash. This time he shakes Patrick awake, wondering how he could’ve ended up like this. He gets his answer before Patrick regains consciousness, though, as he realizes that Patrick reeks of alcohol. Patrick doesn’t drink.

When Patrick’s eyes open again, it’s obvious he’s drunk. Pete’s entire world narrows to find and destroy whatever made him like this.

“Hey, Patrick, buddy, what happened?” Pete asks gently. To his surprise, Patrick begins to cry again. Pete tries to pull Patrick into his arms but Patrick shrinks away like Pete’s skin is on fire. “Patrick,” he tries again. “What happened?” Suddenly frustrated, Patrick grits his teeth.

“You.” Pete is stunned, and a little bit surprised at how clearly Patrick seems to be speaking and comprehending, considering how drunk he is. What did I do? He wonders. Patrick curls up into a ball again, and Pete feels just as helpless. “I knew it.” Patrick surprises him by speaking again. Encouraged by the sudden dialogue, Pete speaks.

“Knew what?” Patrick’s face scrunches up like he’s wrestling with what to say, until he finally decides.

“M-Mikey. I knew it was Mikey.” For a second, Pete is confused. Then, he remembers his phone conversation earlier that day. But why would he care if I’m with Mikey? Pete muses to himself. He considers just playing the game, but the pain in his heart from seeing the man he loves curled up on the floor like this, piss drunk because of him, makes him decide that he will tell the truth, whether Patrick hates him for it or not.

“Patrick,” he begins quietly, “I’m not dating Mikey.” Patrick looks up, a mixture of shock, confusion, and is that relief? on his face.

“Wh-what?” Is all he can manage before tears begin to fall again. Pete breathes in, it’s now or never.

“Patrick, I- well, um… fuck this. Patrick, I’m not dating Mikey, but I do want to date you, if you wanted to do that?” Pete asks, his voice getting slowly quieter as he speaks. Patrick looks lost.

“But… but… the phone call, and the text messages, and that conversation after the show!” Patrick’s voice rises as he recounts everything he saw and heard (in summary) and then it’s Pete’s turn to be shocked.

“You saw that?” Pete asks, which probably isn’t the best thing to say. “Oh, shit. That didn’t sound right. Patrick, I- Ididallthatbecauseiwantedittobeperfectwheniaskedyouout and Mikey helped,” Pete explains, talking so fast that Patrick can’t understand nearly a word he says. “Ah, damnit, this will take a while. Maybe we should get off the floor?” Patrick nods and Pete helps him off the floor and they slowly make their way to Pete’s bunk, since it’s at floor level.

Once they’re sufficiently cocooned in blankets, Pete begins to explain, from the beginning, how Mikey helped him practice (among other things) asking Patrick out. Once Pete is finishing explaining the phone call with Mikey, Patrick lays a tired head on Pete’s shoulder and and whispers quietly into his shirt.

“I’d love to go out with you, Pete.” Pete smiles and blushes, but only for a moment until he straightens and speaks again, his tone final.

“No. I want that answer when you’re sober,” He slips out of his bunk to go sleep in Patrick’s. Patrick, drunk and exhausted, falls asleep almost instantly in Pete’s bed. When we wakes up, terribly hungover, he’s happy to realize that he remembers the previous night with surprising clarity.

“Pete,” He says, his voice quiet, hoping the man sleeping in his bunk hasn’t left yet. To his relief, he hears the bunk above him creak and Pete make his way down and poke his head through Patrick’s curtain. Patrick can feel the tension, and apprehension is written all over Pete’s face. “I still want to go out with you,” He says, and he can’t hold back his grin. He glances nervously at Pete and adds, “If…if you want me to, th-that is.” Pete’s grin is equally huge and he wraps his arms around Patrick.

“Of course,” he says, and, tension buzzing in his fingers where they lie on Patrick’s back, he kisses his boyfriend. He pulls away a moment later and, giggling, says, “Go take a shower, Patrick, you reek.” Patrick hesitates a moment, gathering his courage before saying, “Only if you come with me.”

The two boys walk giggling and holding hands, into the bathroom together. As they walk through the main room, Joe silently hands Andy a twenty and goes off to sulk.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9794450/chapters/21994796 (AO3)

[recentanimenews]

Fate/Grand Order Voice Actresses Unleash Their Thirst at USA Tour Finale

The Fate/Grand Order USA Tour 2019 came to a close in front of hundreds of fans Saturday, concluding the four-stop tour at its final destination: Anime NYC. Donned in cardboard hats resembling the massively popular game’s mascot character Fou, fans were joined by English Fate/Grand Order Producer Albert Kao as well as special guests Aoi Yuki and Rumi Okubo, who voice several of the game’s characters, for a celebration of Fate Grand/Order complete with big announcements and a rather revealing Q&A, to say the least!

  The guests were each “summoned” on stage as their heroic spirits from the game. Rumi Okubo was introduced as the voice of Astolfo and Elizabeth Bathory’s many different incarnations. Aoi Yuki followed and was introduced as the voice behind Shuten Doji and the many incarnations of Okita Soji. Okubo greeted everyone and said that despite it being her first time in New York, she already felt like a New Yorker. Yuki stated she was happy to be in New York because she’s a fan of the New York Rangers hockey team, and that despite it being her first time in New York, “I already feel like a Ranger.”

    Kao led the Q&A by asking if they’d had a chance to sight-see yet. Okubo had seen a few attractions, while Yuki hadn’t had a chance yet. She added that she wanted to go to the Metropolitan museum “where all the catalysts of the servants are,” and Okubo agreed.

  While they hadn’t had much time to spend across the city, they had been on the convention floor checking out everyone’s F/GO cosplays. Okubo revealed she had been seeking out all the Astolfo and Elizabeth cosplayers and taking their pictures “without telling them I voice [the characters].” Yuki said she had taken pictures of an Okita and a “very beautiful Jeanne Alter,” causing Okubo to exclaim that she wasn’t one of her characters.

  The subject was directed to the F/GO USA Tour booth set up in the Exhibitor’s Hall and the various features they set up for fans to interact with, including a replica of Kintoki’s bike from the game. Kao said that when planning the tour they had considered incorporating some features from the Japanese F/GO festivals, but ultimately decided to build entirely new things specially for the American audience. When asked if they’d interacted with the booth at all, Yuki said that because her character Shuten has “a very deep relationship with Kintoki,” as soon as she saw his bike she “immediately knew” she had to ride it.

    It was pointed out that on one of the large Shuten Douji images featured at the booth Yuki had taken the time to specifically autograph her thigh. Yuki sheepishly admitted that she wasn’t sure where to sign at first and the most lit up area of the picture happened to be her thigh.

  A trailer was shown for the recent Seven Duels of Swordmasters event, and the two were asked what memorable things they remembered from it, since they both actively play F/GO in addition to their voice contributions. Okubo said that the Hidden True Name system stood out the most to her. Yuki noted that “not a lot of good things happen” in the Japanese history version of the events, so seeing them retold the way they were in F/GO left her “excited and warm-hearted.”

  Okubo added that she’s sure a lot of players were surprised by the ending and that she hopes the story being set around so many Japanese servants sparked some interest in learning Japanese history. 

    The question of when Muramasa will be released as a servant is brought up ― a question that’s become a bit of an in-joke among fans for some time now. Yuki replies that she honestly doesn’t know. “Every time I meet [the developers] I ask the same question, but they never tell us... I’m sure one of these days Muramasa will come out... Until then continue to support F/GO please.”

  Kao then introduces the audience to the current Christmas-themed event: the Little Santa Alter, a rerun of last year’s Christmas event wherein users can gain Jeanne d’Arc (Alter Santa Lily) as a limited servant (a name everyone on stage inevitably struggled to say correctly). When asked what their memories of the event were, Yuki admitted that she’s a relatively newer player and missed the event’s Japanese run. 

  What stuck out the most to Okubo was the ascension material being a Gilles de Rai doll, which she wishes would be made and sold as merchandise. She also really liked the prize roulette system and would like to see it in more events. Unfortunately, she said, “when I asked our staff why we don’t do that, they kind of looked at me with forlorn, sad eyes, so I’ll never ask that question again.”

    They all joked that those were the eyes of a gacha player. “A servant will definitely come to you [if] you continue to roll the gacha,” Yuki went on to say. “That’s what gacha is all about.” Both actresses offered some emotional support to a very dejected-looking Kao.

  The topic then shifts to the different characters Okubo plays; Kao asks how she distinguishes between all the different versions of Elizabeth Bathory she voices. Okubo admitted that most of them are pretty similar so she doesn’t change things up at all before adding “The problem is the mechas... when I first received the description, I read it and thought, ‘Mech? Mecha? Seriously?!” For Mecha Eli-Chan she decided to go with a somewhat more childish performance than usual. 

  With the topic of the limited Christmas in mind, she added that she was first surprised to find out how many people missed out on Caster Elizabeth for one of the Halloween-themed events, which taught her the importance of playing the events. Yuki agreed, saying she never realized the regret she’d have as a new player who only owns Astolfo and base Elizabeth and has already missed out on getting Okubo’s other characters. Okubo jokingly asks the developers to give her some Elizabeths. On the side, Yuki adds that her Astolfo and Elizabeth are NP-level 5 and begins petting a tiny Astolfo plush that Okubo had brought on stage with her, causing Okubo to start shouting “Ah, ah, thank you. Thank you. That feels good,” in her Astolfo voice.

  It only got weirder from there!

    Kao asks Okubo about her process creating the voice for Astolfo, but she interrupts herself while answering to start making more suggestive Astolfo noises as Yuki continues to pet the plush. Regaining her composure, she answers, “He’s cute, and he’s a boy, but... He doesn’t care about being cool or boyish. He doesn’t care about gender that much. That’s what I had in mind when I voiced Astolfo.” Kao then asks what she had in mind when voicing him in the spinoff gag anime Learning With Manga! F/GO, to which her voice trails off in a simple “Ehhhh…” before moving on.

  When asked about how her performance differed between F/GO and the Fate/Apocrypha anime, Okubo said that for Apocrypha she “started from scratch again” and looked inside herself to channel her own cute and masculine sides. “Honestly, it was very hard for me.” Yuki said she originally watched Apocrypha because Karna, her favorite servant, was in it, “but then watching Astolfo in it I thought, ‘Wow, he’s cool.’”

  The conversation moved to Yuki’s role as Okita Souji and what she had to keep in mind for her performance. According to her, the staff had made it apparent that there needs to be a differentiation between her coolness in battle and her loving side when interacting with her master. “It was very easy to built the character based off that.”

    Okubo then made some suggestive comments about Okita generating and sucking up Critical Stars that the translator thought best not to translate entirely.

  Kao pointed out that Okita was first introduced in the GUDAGUDA Honnouji event which is known for its fast-paced, comedic dialogue. Yuki noted that she had been told to play it rhythmically “in a staccato.”

  When it came to voicing the role of Shuten Doji, Yuki said “I kept in mind [that] she’s small but sexy. She’s not big, but she has the sweet-scented musical voice I wanted to convey when voicing her.” Okubo admitted that when she uses Shuten in her party she honestly gets “really excited” and tries to get her damaged so she can hear those voice lines. Kao said he had never thought about playing the game that way, to which Okubo replied, “Don’t you do that with Gilgamesh? I thought you liked Gilgamesh.”

    The conversation then devolves (or evolves, depending on how you look at it) into a rapidfire Gilgamesh thirst-fest: 

  “I like it when his hair is down.”

  “His bangs are awesome.”

  “So awesome.”

  “Caster Gilgamesh in Babylonia, you have to love him,” Okubo says at some point.

  “Caster Gilgamesh is one of the characters you definitely want to have as a boss. As your work boss,” Yuki adds.

  “I want to offer my services to him,” Okubo replies. The entire crowd erupts in laughter, and Okubo attempt to clarify with “That’s spending money, right? That’s what it means,” and Kao to ask what the panel’s supposed to be about again.

  Yuki reminds the panel they were talking about Shuten Doji and finishes answering the original question by pointing out that even as a native Japanese speaker, learning to speak with a Kyoto dialect for Shuten was so challenging that she required special training for it. 

    Kao then says he was given info that they’re both in a LINE group with a few other F/GO voice actors called “FGOtaku” and asks what kind of things they talk about there, opening up a whole new can of worms.

  Yuki asks, “Can I really say that?” to which Okubo responds, “Honestly, there’s a lot of conversations that shouldn’t be recorded or archived.”

  “I love Karna, so when my love for Karna is at its full peak, FGOtaku is where I go to let out all my passion for Karna,” Yuki admits.

  “Every time she prefaces her chat with ‘This is unbelievable!’ we’re like ‘Oh no, not again,’” Okubo jokes. “Then whenever we open it we go ‘Oh that’s pretty cute,’ so that’s how those conversations go.”

  “That kind of banter happens with every favorite servant in the LINE chat group.”

  “Especially when new costumes or Saint Graph images come out of our favs. We all get excited,” Okubo confessed. “I look at the backsides of the servants. I personally love to look at the hands of men.”

  “This has kind of gotten sexual. We should probably stop.”

  Kao says he always thought he was the crazy one, to which Yuki and Okubo both reply “Same, same.”

    Trying to get back on topic, he asks which Noble Phantasm in the game is their favorite. Yuki says that her favorite would have to be Ruler Jeanne’s because of how helpful it is, and that as long as you have Merlin and Ruler Jeanne you can pretty much go endlessly during turns. “Any time there’s a battle I can’t beat, my lineup would be Mash, Jeanne, Ruler Jeanne, and Merlin. You can easily go 70 turns with that. My maximum is 158 turns.”

  Okubo answers that her favorite right now is Mecha Eli-Chan’s because of how hard it hits, and that her other favorite is Paul Bunyan’s “because it’s fast.” Yuki adds that on that note she likes Arash’s Noble Phantasm and the two perform it together. Okubo says that his voice actor told her to actually try playing with him to hear his victory lines. Yuki says that she likes how cute Paul Bunyan is, but that Arashi has nice muscles. “I like the underarm. I like the armpits.”

    Bracing himself for what would inevitably come next, Kao had one final question for them, “Who’s your favorite servant?” 

  Keeping it short and easy, Yuki simply shouted “Karna!” Okubo retorted, “You like Karna because you love Karna. I like Gilgamesh, but what I actually want to do is just watch him from afar. Trying to become friends with him is probably super hard. If you do, you’ll probably be really stressed out.”

  Yuki said that if she could summon a servant in real life it would be Karna so she could make him her husband. Okubo said she’s simply a fan of Gilgamesh’s, but if she could really go out with a servant it’d be Archer Emiya. Yuki asked if the question had changed to which servant do you want as a boyfriend, then said for her Robin Hood would be good for her because he takes care of people and she needs to be taken care of. 

    She then asked Okubo to explain in her words why she’d choose Emiya, to which she replied that he takes good care of his friends, he’s a good cook, and he’ll scold you when he needs to.

  “By the way,” she added, “If Gilgamesh was here I wanna be his chair. Please sit on me.”

  With the somewhat risque Q&A out of the way, it was finally time for announcements, beginning with details of this year’s Fate/Grand Order Thanksgiving Special running from November 20th until December 1st. In addition to seven days of extra login bonuses, the event will feature limited time missions, ½ AP cost for all daily quests, daily pickup summons, and a new Spiritron Dress for Astolfo.

  A trailer was then shown announcing that Pseudosingularity IV: Heretical Salem would be coming soon to F/GO and be the final chapter of Arc 1.5. 

  It was also announced that Noble Phantasm subtitles would be released in a same-day update across all versions, and that to celebrate the conclusion of the Fate/Grand Order USA Tour all English F/GO players would be receiving 30 Saint Quartz. 

    As the panel came to a close, both actresses offered their final words of thanks to the audience. 

  “Thank you all for coming again," Okubo led. “I was supposed to be here as a voice actress guest, but for some reason I decided to talk about being Gilgamesh’s chair. I hope when you leave this panel you forget about all that… Seeing everyone enjoying F/GO makes me happy as a voice actress and a player... Thank you all again for coming.”

  “Thank you all for coming,” Yuki added graciously. “Seeing all these American masters, I saw everyone was kind and warm-hearted. I learned that today and was very happy... The love of my life, Karna, the singularity he shines most in is five in America. I know that because he shines there America the country is my holy site. I’d like to come to America to see and meet everyone again. Thank you all for coming.”

    Are you excited for the upcoming Fate/Grand Order events? Do you want Gilgamesh to use you as a chair and sit on you too? Let us know in the comments below!

    -----

Danni Wilmoth is a Features writer for Crunchyroll and co-host of the video game podcast Indiecent. You can find more words from her on Twitter @NanamisEgg.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[goodra-king]

Transcript of Creating a Brand Name That Sticks

Transcript of Creating a Brand Name That Sticks written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

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Transcript

John Jantsch: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, and my guest today is Jeremy Miller. He is a brand strategist speaker, founder of Sticky Branding and the author of Brand New Name: A Proven, Step-by-Step Process to Create an Unforgettable Brand Name. So Jeremy, welcome to the show.

Jeremy Miller: Thanks John. It’s a pleasure to be here.

John Jantsch: So I have to tell you, I’m going to have a confession. You know my brand name is Duct Tape Marketing.

Jeremy Miller: Yes.

John Jantsch: But my original company name was Jantsch Communications.

Jeremy Miller: I love that you changed your name then. It’s one of my favorite marketing names that has been unforgettable, and following you for eight years, it’s in that range that it just sticks.

John Jantsch: Well, Jantsch Communications was terrible as a name, because it was-

Jeremy Miller: Well, it’s your name. You can’t knock your family name, your parents worked hard on it.

John Jantsch: It was my name, but people thought I sold long distance or something, I don’t know. I’m dating myself, right? What’s long distance? But anyway, yeah, we’re going to talk about that. Let me ask you the first question. What’s the job of a brand name? What does a brand name need to do to be successful?

Jeremy Miller: Well, I think of a brand name as a label in a file folder in your customer’s mind. It’s that thing that people refer to when they have a need. When you go to a grocery store, when you are talking to someone, we think in words, we think in names. It’s the way we identify something. There’s this classic scene in the Simpsons, I don’t remember if you recall, but Mr. Burns loses his power plant and he becomes a normal person, he has to do his own grocery shopping. He’s sitting in the grocery aisle and he’s looking at catsup and ketchup, and just back and forth, “Ketchup, catsup,” and everyone down the aisle are looking at him, “What’s this crazy person doing?” He doesn’t have the words to know how to buy something. And that’s the purpose of a name. It’s that thing that gives you meaning.

John Jantsch: Well, and full disclosure, I lucked on to Duct Tape Marketing. I mean, I just thought that that sounded like a good name, but I didn’t do all kinds of extensive research. But what everybody kept telling me every time I would say it is like, “I get it. It tells a story.” And so without really knowing, I think I kind of lucked onto really one of the key attributes of a great brand name, isn’t it?

Jeremy Miller: I think so. And I think a great name absolutely does tell a story, and that’s what makes it memorable, that we understand it. Now, not all names have to tell a story. A name could be an empty vessel. When you look at Kodak, George Eastman’s vision was to create a name that meant nothing, that he could breathe life into so that it became a story of the Kodak moment. So you took a descriptive metaphor and were able to apply it to marketing. We understand what duct tape is, we understand what marketing is, but by putting them together, it creates this aha moment. But it all depends on the entrepreneur’s strategy. What do you want your business to be? And then you choose the name that fits it.

John Jantsch: Let’s go to that Kodak example, because yes, in hindsight, huge brand name, everybody knows what it meant or what it stood for at one point, but when you come up with a name like that, does it require then that you’re going to invest so much energy in having to explain to people and describe it and maybe even spend years getting it to become a household name?

Jeremy Miller: Yes, absolutely. So when you choose an empty vessel such as a Kodak or a Verizon or Hulu or any of those types of names, then you have to breathe life into it and make it your own, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s your opportunity that when people interact with your business and your products and your service and your people, that’s how you’re inserting meaning and value into that name, but you’re going to have to work harder to promote yourself. So you have that balancing act, but that’s actually part of the strategy too. The biggest reason why we are going towards empty vessels is that there’s a trademark issue.

Jeremy Miller: There’s actually a naming drought. In the United States alone, we are registering 564,000 new small businesses every single month. That’s 2% of the United States population starting a company at any given time, and that’s just a mind boggling number for me. Now, not all these businesses are going to survive, but they all need names and they all need websites and then a chunk of them are going to do trademarks. And so we’re, today, experiencing an issue where all the available .coms, if you’re going to go buy a website, chances are you’re going to have to buy it from someone else. It’s like real estate. But if you throw the trademark element to the mix, now we’ve got really complicated things.

Jeremy Miller: So being able to register something like Duct Tape anything today, it’s going to be really hard. You got in at a moment in time that allowed you to create this powerful brand story.

John Jantsch: Well, and I love the Hulus and the names that you threw out there when they really evoke emotion for me. Even if I don’t know what it means, I like the sound of it or something, or even then when it’s explained to me what it means, sometimes. But can we also get too clever? I mean, I see a lot of people doing stuff where I’m kind of like, I can’t even say that, let alone spell that.

Jeremy Miller: Well, I think there’s absolutely that. So my advice if you’re inventing a word is focus on something that is a phonetic spelling versus a Latin or Greek spelling. It’s a lot easier to say Hulu than Verizon, and it’s a lot easier to remember that, same thing with Uber and other things, even though they’re short. Acura is an example of a phonetically spelled word that was invented or Swiffer is another one. We speak and think in sounds, whereas something that has more of, say, a pharmaceutical type of nature is a lot harder to remember. So there’s that element of our programming as people.

Jeremy Miller: But I would also just say this, that name is strategic. What you choose to name something should represent your brand, your positioning, what you’re trying to create. So if you called, say, a chain of retirement living centers, purple taco, you probably have got the wrong strategy, even if it sounds kind of cool. So the name has got to fit what you want to create. So your strategy is where everything starts.

John Jantsch: The name thing is hard, because you can come up with and test some names … I’ve found over the years, you’ll get feedback, people, “Oh, that’s terrible. That’s awful.” But then you go with it and 10 years in it’s like Frisbee. Probably a stupid sounding name the first time somebody heard it, but then became … And again, not everybody’s looking for naming a whole category of a device, but isn’t that a good example of sometimes you got to throw stuff out there at first maybe doesn’t just sound right?

Jeremy Miller: I’m going to come back to the Frisbee story in a second, but yes, a quirk, something that is odd or doesn’t quite fit, like Slack. How could a product focused on team collaboration have all these negative connotations? But the name is just great. Same thing with Banana Republic. If you look at the history of what banana republics are, calling a clothing brand that, is a pretty risky, bold move. But those quirks are what makes something so memorable. You mentioned Frisbee, that’s actually a story I tell in the book. Fred Morrison, who was the inventor of the Frisbee, hated that name. He thought it was the dumbest thing. The original name was called Pluto platters.

Jeremy Miller: So Frisbee was bought by Wham-O. They were the guys who created Hula Hoop and Silly String. And so [Fred Knerr 00:00:22:52], who was one of the founders, went out and he visited Fred Morrison in Connecticut near Yale, and he saw all the kids were calling this thing Frisbee. And it turns out Frisbie was a pie company in Connecticut, and what the kids did before Netflix and internet and iPhones, they would take empty pie tins and throw them around the quad. So they took the name of the pie tins and applied it to these flying saucers. And Fred Knerr was just a brilliant marketer and he saw what the customers were already calling it and took that.

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John Jantsch: So tell me this. Does everything need a name? In other words, should we be naming our processes and our products and our divisions and our job titles? Brand it?

Jeremy Miller: Yes, 100%. I think you can go probably a little too crazy on it, but I would say for something to exist, it needs a name especially in the professional services world, if we’re selling thought leadership. You look at just how you name your systems, how you name your services, not only does it give it gravitas from a customer marketing perspective, it gives it gravitas from an internal perspective. So that if you are talking about your efficiency and the way you deliver customer service, simply by giving that thing a name creates value. And so naming is probably the most important construct of language, because once something has a name, it gains meaning. And if you are deliberate on this, you are making choices of how you are going to grow your business.

John Jantsch: Yeah. And I think sometimes, you said gives it meaning, but it also makes it tangible. It’s almost like, “Oh, here’s proof that we have a 37 step process to make sure that your product or your service gets done right.” Where everybody else is just saying trust us.

Jeremy Miller: Exactly. And in the world of differentiation, especially if we’re looking at small businesses, often we are selling something that somebody else is already selling. So how you describe your services, how you describe what makes you unique and why you do what you do, those simple things of giving them names are what affects meaning and give you credibility when you describe your 37 step process for delighting your customer, then people go, “Oh, that’s why you do that.”

John Jantsch: And I know the answer to this is yes, is there a process for coming up with a name?

Jeremy Miller: 100%.

John Jantsch: You want to share that with us?

Jeremy Miller: Sure. Let me tell you a bit of where it came from. I’m a serial entrepreneur and you are too, and we work with lots entrepreneurs, and naming is one of those vexing things that consumes so much time and every time you find a great name you find someone else has taken it. And so the reason why I wrote this book was I tried to answer the question of, what do I wish I had when I went through that naming process? And so Brand New Name draws on the ideas of the GV sprint and agile project management. And the idea is over the course of two to four weeks, it gives you three stages to build your strategy, generate lots of ideas and test and select the right name for your brand.

Jeremy Miller: And so in stage one we need to build a strategy, what does it mean to have a great name? And how are you going to know it when you see it? And step two, I believe in employee co-creation, which is how do we get everybody on our team to participate and generate as many ideas as we can over the course of five days? And then the hardest part of naming isn’t coming up with ideas, it’s that vetting process. How do we find one that resonates, fits the brand and most importantly, we can own it? And so that’s what the book does. In the span of that book, everything you need to name something, whether it’s a company, a product or service is all there in those pages.

John Jantsch: Go back to number one for me, because I think that’s actually the hardest part for a lot of companies, because they don’t have a strategy anyway. And so a naming strategy is like a subdivision of strategy. What are the actual steps in that?

Jeremy Miller: So what we start off with is defining, what is it you’re naming. And so it’s the simple question of, what are you naming? Is it a company? Is it a product? Is it a service? And then describing it. My first book, Sticky Branding, I talked about this idea called simple clarity, which is the ability to describe who you are, what you do and who you serve in 10 words or less, and so we build on this a little bit. Part of what we look at in developing your strategy is to be able to answer those basic questions. What are we naming? What are the criterias? Who are our customers? How do they buy? Who are our competitors? What are the naming trends in that space? And what is it going to take to stand out?

Jeremy Miller: And so we go through those questions so that you could set some naming principles. But what you said was very interesting, it’s a subset of strategy. Oftentimes though, when we are doing a naming strategy or when I introduce this to somebody, this is the first time they’ve actually ever considered some of these questions as brand, because we’re not necessarily thinking about brand all the time. So naming is the first step for many people to actually ask the deliberate questions of, who are we? Where do we play? How do we win? How do we want to be known? And by simply getting that down on paper, starts to set the guidelines for what it’s going to take to find a brilliant name.

John Jantsch: I’ve worked with a lot of small business owners and we go through the whole strategy thing, and just like Jantsch Communications, I talked about, was a lousy name, I have to deliver the really bad news that we need to change the name of your business. Is that something that … I mean, you’ve probably faced it before, and if the name’s wrong, I mean, I suppose we can live, but we’re not going to get the message across, we’re not going to get the differentiation across. How do you address or approach that idea of maybe the name now is going to be sort of the leading edge of our strategy, because it’s going to be something that we’re going to have to change everything about? I mean, how do you address that?

Jeremy Miller: Face forward and deal with it head on. So we deal with name changes all the time in our practice. And so for example, a large part of my work is with multi generational family businesses, and we did a naming project a couple of years ago where it was called A-1 Shipping Supplies. It was made for the yellow pages basically, but 35 years later, there is no yellow pages and A-1 looks cheesy as hell. Oh, by the way, they’re doing food packaging, primarily not shipping supplies. And you deal with it. When your name is causing dissonance or hurting your credibility or preventing growth, you change it. Now, in their case, they changed their name to Rocketline, and they created a quirky, whimsical name that didn’t have a lot of meaning, but it allowed them to shape what they want to be.

Jeremy Miller: But the key in changing a name is that all that meaning and all those experiences people have had with you are associated with the one name, you have to deliberately pour those contents into the other vessel. And so you have to have a marketing strategy and a communication strategy of how you’re going to convey what your new name is and why you’re changing it to customers, prospects and whoever it is. The nice thing is as a small business, you could probably call up all of your customers and tell them face to face or over the phone why you did it, whereas if you’re talking about a large global or multinational company, it’s a lot more complicated. But generally speaking, it’s not that hard, and so if your name hurts you, change it.

John Jantsch: Is there a place for a transition? In other words, go through two name changes or something? You’ve seen people do that, where they blend the logos or something like that. Does that make sense or does that just make it harder?

Jeremy Miller: I guess you would have to tell me what the strategy is. I think within mergers, that sometimes makes sense, but those are probably larger entities with a larger communication strategy. What I would suggest is go with the name for the brand you want to be. So whatever you look at three, five, 10 years, don’t worry about what’s happening in the next 18 months, think about where you’re going and choose the name for that. What you need, though, in your communication strategy is … Where most people underestimate is how long they should be communicating the change. So they do say a 90 day or a six month campaign to communicate the change, but-

John Jantsch: “We did a press release.”

Jeremy Miller: Yeah. It’s 18 months minimum. 18 months.

John Jantsch: Yeah. You already mentioned this idea of domain names. I mean, have you ever come up with a name, and then first thing you did was look for the domain and just said, “No, it’s a nonstarter, because we can’t get a good name.” I mean, are we at a point where that is dictating branding?

Jeremy Miller: If you asked me this question five years ago, I would have said yes, 100%. Today, no. I think domain names are losing a little bit of relevance. So now, we add a descriptor. So for example, say you wanted to call your company Grant, and you want a grant.com, well I know that’s available right now, but it’s $10,000 a month on lease. I don’t know about you, but I got better ways to spend that kind of money on an annual basis. So what you look at is … So Tesla was Tesla Motors until very recently, or Buffer ran as Buffer app until their second round of funding and they could afford to buy the .com. Focus on creating a great name, and then put a descriptor on it or get creative.

Jeremy Miller: One of my favorites is Zoom, they have zoom.us or Zoom us, so they made their name a verb. The only place people are seeing domain names primarily today is in your marketing collateral and your business cards. When you go to a browser, you type in the word not in the URL, and when you see it on a website or somewhere else, you click the link, or more likely you’re going to be talking to Siri or Alexa and not even saying the URL.

John Jantsch: Yeah. Well, and there’s, as you just mentioned, .us and .ios and all those I think have become pretty … People are very accepting of those. And I think you’re right. I’m sure there’s a zoom.com, I haven’t Googled it, but I’m sure there’s a zoom.com, and so then if somebody has the exact name and a .com, that probably could lead to some confusion.

Jeremy Miller: It could, but it’s like trademarks, are they in the same space and the same category? Like you have Pandora, which is jewelry and Pandora, which is a streaming music service. So you can have multiple companies using the same names, but because they operate in different places, they can get away with it, and especially small businesses. Chances are we are local, and so the fact that there’s someone else named what you’re named in another state, it may not be all that relevant.

John Jantsch: You’re right, the behavior has changed. It used to be .com or nothing else, and I think that now, as you said, it’s not so important that people are typing it, as long as you do the fundamental SEO stuff with it.

Jeremy Miller: Here’s my most fundamental comment to branding, and this is a bit of a flippant, but build a great business. The classic example is you see a restaurant, comes out with brilliant marketing, brilliant ad campaign, beautiful restaurant, great everything, and then you get food poisoning. So the brand is, “Don’t go back to that place, I got food poisoning.” None of the marketing mattered. And I think you could actually start a small business with a terrible name, but do such great work that people love you and they come back and they refer you, and that’s your brand actually. It’s two parts. A brand is based on what you’ve done, so the results that you have delivered to your clients, and branding is what you’re going to do.

Jeremy Miller: Now, if the name starts to hurt you or you grow beyond it, now you need marketing that needs reach and that crappy name doesn’t work for you anymore, absolutely change it, but never lose sight that the quality of your business is the number one predictor of the quality of your brand.

John Jantsch: Yeah. I’ve often said, and listeners of my show will recognize this, that every business has a brand, I think it’s just whether or not they are directing it intentionally, so that goes so much to that. Jeremy, where can people find out more about you and your work and of course, pick up a copy of Brand New Name.

Jeremy Miller: Well, Brand New Name will be sold wherever books are sold. It comes out on October 8th, so Amazon for sure. And the best way to find me is just to Google Sticky Branding. Stickybranding.com is my website, and I’m on all the social networks @stickybranding, and I’d love to connect with everyone.

John Jantsch: Awesome. Thanks for taking the time, Jeremy, and hopefully we’ll see you out there on the road soon.

Jeremy Miller: Awesome. Thanks John.

from http://bit.ly/2mKQHti

[type2diabetestreatments-blog]

Ask D'Mine: Weighty Matters, Chapter 2

New Post has been published on http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/ask-dmine-weighty-matters-chapter-2/

Ask D'Mine: Weighty Matters, Chapter 2

Happy Saturday! You may experience a little deja vu on this one, as it's a topic we addressed back in December 2011... about dealing with weight struggles.

Got the dieting blues on these Weighty Matters? We hear you. Please take a gander at this week's edition of Ask D'Mine, hosted by veteran type 1, diabetes author and community educator Wil Dubois.

Need help navigating life with diabetes? Email us at AskDMine@diabetesmine.com

Tim from Washington, type 1, writes: My question is a little more nuanced than "does insulin make me gain weight?" I'm a type 1 diabetic, diagnosed in June of 2009. At the time of my diagnosis, I was 149 pounds (on a 6'3" frame). I took Lantus from the beginning, but have only started taking Novolog over the past 10 months, because oral meds were still working. Since I've been taking Novolog, I've gone off Metformin and Glimepiride. I've slowly but steadily been gaining weight ever since. I have never EVER been able to gain weight in my life. It's getting out of hand and exercise (and diet) alone are really doing nothing. Is it possible that I'm insulin resistant and this is making me pile on the pounds? Is it possible to have insulin resistance as well as being type 1?

But wait! There's more!

Tim from Washington, type 1, writes again, asking: Forgot to ask, perhaps I need to be taking something like Symlin? Do many type 1s use this? Am I strange for needing it?

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall... Wow. There are so many pieces to cover here, I don't know which piece of All the Kings Men and I should pick up and run with first. I guess we'll start at the beginning, at your diagnosis. So, for all of you T1s out there who were diagnosed as kiddos, you need to know that the adult diagnosis experience is different—on a physiological level. The destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas takes place in slow motion, opening the door for the effective use of oral meds, at least for a time.

So don't go flaming poor Tim in comments telling him he's a misdiagnosed type 2.

Now I'm going to talk about the various meds — from the perspective an educator who works with three docs and who's seen many PWDs try many things. (Disclaimer: Remember that I'm not a doctor, nor am I playing doctor, either. I'm just sharing some opinions and experience that may help.)

So... Glimepiride would be my last choice of oral medication for someone whose beta cells are being wiped out by his immune system. Glimepiride forces the body to over-produce insulin. In type 2s, it's suspected of hastening insulin dependence. So... umm... well, to my way of thinking, if your body is bound and determined to kill off your beta cells, I don't think we should be giving it pills that hasten the process. But that's just me. And again, I'm not a doctor, so what do I know?

Metformin, on the other hand, makes some sense to me. Along with its other properties, it's a mild insulin sensitizer, so it would help your body make the most of what it had left while it still had it.

Now, as to your recent weight problems, I have a theory: the Glimepiride tends to make people gain weight. The Lantus makes some people gain wait, but doesn't affect others. The Metformin is officially weight neutral, but shaves some weight off a lot of people. The entire soup you were on was likely weight neutral; with the Met's weight-sparing effects balancing out the Glimepiride and Lantus.

Then enter Novolog. Like Lantus, the Novolog makes some people pack on some pounds. At the time you started it, you also stopped the Metformin, which was the only potential weight-reducing prescription in your medicine cabinet. And that's when you started gaining weight. Hmmmmm... It seems we have a pretty good circumstantial case for the cause of your weight gain here. You could ask your doc about re-starting the Met and see what happens.

Now, as to insulin resistance. You asked if you could have both type 1 diabetes and insulin resistance. You bet your Novolog you can! Anyone can have insulin resistance. But insulin resistance doesn't cause weight gain. The two go hand-in-hand but you've got the relationship backwards. The more you weigh, the higher your insulin resistance will be. And then of course, the higher the insulin resistance is, the more insulin you need. And of course, if you believe that insulin causes weight gain all by itself (and I'm not convinced it does), then the more insulin you use the more weight you will gain, which will give you more insulin resistance, which...

Well, you get the idea. The tiger is chasing its tail here. So anything is possible, but I don't think that new onset insulin resistance could be a singular cause of weight gain.

But what to do? Is Symlin the answer? Maybe. But not the only answer, and Symlin may not do what I think you think it does. Read on.

Symlin isn't really an anti-insulin-resistance drug, like a TZD, although it does reduce your insulin needs. Symlin is a synthetic version of the hormone Amylin, a natural pancreatic islet peptide that's normally secreted by your body along with insulin at meals. Yep. Amylin is insulin's neighbor. And like insulin, in type 1s, Amylin goes missing in action.

Amylin's job? It helps turn off the liver's sugar production, slows down the stomach, and signals the brain when you are full. Sound familiar? Yep. Same job description as GLP-1, the gut hormone of Byetta and Victoza fame.

Since early on, Symlin's been approved for use by type 1s (as well as insulin-shooting type 2s), leading some people to call it "the Type 1 Byetta." It doesn't do that much for A1C lowering (adding it will buy you a half-point drop), but it does help level out post meal blood sugar spikes; and it's a kick-butt weight loss drug.

What? Oh. Of course it's not approved for weight loss! What I meant to say is that as an unintended side effect, it's associated with some kick-butt weight loss. It does so like its GLP-1 cousins, not by magically melting fat, but like this: people who use Symlin find they are less hungry because their stomachs are emptying more slowly and their brains are getting the full stomach signals: both of which result in less eating and therefore less calorie consumption. If the calorie intake is less than the calories burned, you lose weight.

You asked if Symlin is used by type 1s. Yes. Yes it is. In fact, it's mainly used by type 1s.

When it's used at all.

The reason I say this is that very few people who start Symlin stick with it. That's because it's a pain in the ass to use. As a type 1 Symlin user, you'd need to take two shots with every meal, one of insulin and one of Symlin. Or, if you use a fancy high-tech insulin pump, you have to take insulin via your pump and then your Symlin via shot. For the first couple of years, Symlin was only available in vials, making this even worse. Pump and syringe. That's like being armed with a laser gun and a stone knife. Symlin is now in pens, too, so this isn't quite so ridiculous, but I think you can see where this is going. Long-term "compliance" with Symlin is pretty poor. It's just too much work.

That said, I do know one guy, who for a time liked Symlin so much he wore two pumps: his current one with insulin and his old one with Symlin. But then one day he got them mixed up. It ended badly, but thankfully, he's still alive.

Still, if your doc agrees, I see no harm in trying Symlin. You'll likely need to reduce your Novolog by 50% when you start out.

But, additionally, Byetta—and now Victoza—have both been approved for use with insulin, so you can also give either of those a try, too. I'd even say that either of these two GLP-1 meds might be a better choice as, unlike Symlin, they work in a glucose-dependent manner. That means they pretty much shut themselves off when your sugar normalizes, while Symlin is associated with hypos that kick like a mule.

Infinitely variable, constantly challenging, diabetes itself is nothing if not strange. But, no, Tim, you would not be strange for needing Symlin.

This is not a medical advice column. We are PWDs freely and openly sharing the wisdom of our collected experiences — our been-there-done-that knowledge from the trenches. But we are not MDs, RNs, NPs, PAs, CDEs, or partridges in pear trees. Bottom line: we are only a small part of your total prescription. You still need the professional advice, treatment, and care of a licensed medical professional.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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