#no idea how many things i marked as 2024 and posted as such but uh yeah ignore those | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mrs-gauche · 1 month ago

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Hey guys! 🙂 It's the end of 2024 and I realized today I haven't posted on here since finishing Veilguard.

Well, to make it short.. since then, I've spent a lot of time thinking about it, replaying it, watching my friends who are DA casuals and not into fandom play it (which was very enlightening but also hilarious 😂), so now.. I feel like I'm at a point where I know exactly what my issues with this game are and I've made peace with it. I still love Dragon Age! And I love parts of Veilguard and I had a ton of fun playing it (though probably for all the wrong reasons 🥲). When I first finished the game, I cried tears of happiness that after ten years my favorite character actually somehow got a beautiful Happy Ending and closure, but also tears of sorrow that this marks the end of the story that was set up back in 2009.. and tears of mourning that this story had all the potential to be so so SO much more.

Dragon Age is a very weird franchise in that all the games have been, in many ways, vastly different from each other and to be a fan of the whole series means to recognize all its flaws and changes, but still loving it because of its unique core elements that glue it together and make it so special. I could sit here for hours trying to put into words what I think went wrong with Veilguard, but I know many people have already done so far more eloquently than I ever could. This blog was always meant to be just a positive little corner to share my love for these games and silly VA stuff with other people and I'm sure I will eventually reblog all the two million posts I've liked over the past month, both positive and critical. But for now and the new year, I want to focus my time and energy on just being creative, getting back to drawing and trying to realize ideas about DA I've had for a looong time and that's my way of "emotionally recovering" (that sounds so dramatic 😂). 💜

With that being said... What a crazy decade year it has been for me personally in this fandom... So I want to look back at it, just some rambling under the cut, 'cause I'm a little sentimental now, I guess. 🥲

Before I created this blog, I was mostly just a lurker on here for many years, despite being a fan of BioWare games since.. uh.. forever? lol But I was always waaay too insecure about my English, let alone my own art. I also have social anxiety, so maybe that was part of the reason why I decided to finally create this blog at a time when the fandom was at its most dormant? lol (There is also a whole separate post for another day about how Mass Effect influenced me personally and how it made my biggest dream come true, the enormous honor to voice a few NPCs in (the German version of) Andromeda. Still the craziest thing to ever happen to me. lol)

So, seeing all the crazy excitement and the fandom fully revived this year and all these months leading up to Veilguard was both incredibly overwhelming, but also the most fun I've ever had as being part of a fandom! This year also marked the first time I posted my own art online and I can't even put into words how crazy it was seeing the response to that and I still can't believe that Trick Weekes not only commented on but also reposted it, that is still f*cking insane to me and I'll never forget the morning I woke up to see that. lmao

So yeah.. THAT happened. Followed by what I think has to be one of the weirdest, craziest marketing campaigns I've ever seen. lol Going back to 2022, we truly had it all...

A title announcement on a random Thursday that was probably done so that it would not be confused with the Netflix series announced a few days later. A tie-in comic more than a year before release that was... a little pointless? lol A vinyl collection that spoiled the composers a year before release. A title change literally two days before the first trailer. A reveal trailer that left many in shock because of its tone shift and complete lack of the former title character. A line of Game Informer articles that left us often times with more questions than answers. Every single article being deleted the very next month due to GI shutting down. An actor panel at SDCC happening right as Sag Aftra went on strike. A "fandom" party that had nothing to do with Dragon Age. Jason Derulo. An artbook that accidentally revealed the release date with its pre-order, which was then deleted. Twice. Memes about roadmaps. A second trailer that in hindsight probably should've been the first one. An audio drama by a different writing team with some baffling (but funny) lore mistakes. A combat showcase starting off with a disclaimer that "footage had been edited due to spoilers"... followed by THE biggest spoiler in literally the first ten seconds. The first IGN video with super spoilery dev commentary. A hand-on preview event with 140 people leading to spoilers galore... Did I mention spoilers? lol

That was when I stopped looking at stuff online, so I don't know what happened after that, but WOW, what a crazy ride that was. 🥲 Truly a DA4 Summer to remember and I'm unironically so grateful to have witnessed it in real time with all of you. 😂

Then finally, after ten flippin years of tinfoiling, speculating, reading crazy development stories and clowning around at every gaming live event, Veilguard was finally released and it will probably go down as the most emotionally charged Halloween of my life. lmao

Then it was time to actually play The Veilguard. Which took me about a month.

A month filled with what I can only describe as a crazy rollercoaster of conflicting emotions. Aside from everything having to do with Solas, I'd say my personal highlights of the entire experience was seeing Felassan (I screamed), the PHOTO MODE and even one hilarious "breaking the fourth wall" moment, where I would frantically run around in Elgar'nan's trap in "Blood of Arlathan", to a point where I would yell at the screen "SOLAS, I COULD USE SOME HELP NOW, HELLO???" and hearing his flippin voice literally two seconds later going "Yes, you called?" and I freaked out so hard I dropped the controller. 😂😂😂 Also, as someone who romanced Alistair in my first playthrough of DAO and brought him to the final battle not knowing he would sacrifice himself, you can imagine my flashbacks when I saw Davrin dying at Tearstone.. who I had romanced. 💀 Or the Dark Ritual flashbacks when I saw Morrigan wanting to talk to me right before the final mission. lol Getting the Felassan rune actually made me tear up a little. There are many little moments like that that I loved or that made me emotional, but ultimately.. Veilguard is a game that, for all the amazing graphics and cutscenes and flashy combat.. the more I think about the story and the lore (or lack thereof), the more I end up confused and trying to figure out what it is that's breaking the immersion to me in a way that the previous games didn't.

But anyway... I finished Veilguard, though the DA craziness of 2024 wasn't over just yet and I didn't know that the best was yet to come in December. lol

So.. Years ago, one of the main reasons I created this blog was to make silly "appreciation posts" about Solas' German VA and ramble on about my love for his performance.. I even remember making a post on here like three years ago talking about how I would sadly never EVER get a chance to meet his VA personally, because that man never ever goes to any fan conventions or public events. lol

Well... GUESS WHO I MET AT THE GERMAN COMIC CON EARLIER THIS MONTH!!!

YES GUYS, without sounding like a weirdo (because despite my obsession with voice acting, I don't care for VAs social accounts or anything beyond their work as a VA), but after years of jokingly referring to this blog as the "Ozan Ünal Appreciation Blog", and kinda the reason I made this blog in the first place, I finally met the man himself and it was probably the best friggin fan experience I could've wished for. 🥲🥲🥲

See, I've met a lot of different VAs at Cons before, who were all super nice and awesome to talk to.. but let me tell you, this guy has such an incredibly contagious positive attitude and charm!! lol Me and my friend were literally the last to stand in line at his booth before the event closed, there were TONS of people (there were quite a few VAs at the Con, but his booth had BY FAR the most people in line the whole day lol) and yet he made sure to take the time to talk with every single person, asking questions, was genuinely interested in our opinions, joking around and just generally SO FRIGGIN NICE. And he's just a very chill and funny dude? lol

And it was so funny, because there were SO many people and yet apparently I was the only person that day to talk to him about DA and Solas and he was SO excited about it 😂😂😂 (I bet like 90% of the fans talked to him about his VA work on Vampire Diaries, The Big Bang Theory, Gravity Falls and Nicholas Hoult lol).

And of course, because DA4 happened so recently, it was still fresh in his memory. He told us that he even watched some Let's Plays and asked what we thought of the game and I'm still laughing so hard, because he was literally like "Oh yeah, the lore is MASSIVE and it was so overwhelming and I could barely keep up with it, the whole time I had no idea what I was talking about.. like, what exactly IS Mythal??" LMAOOO His performance for Solas was so good and so convincing and now I'll always have to picture him standing in the recording booth, no flippin clue what he's actually talking about. lmaoo And then my friend was pointing at me like "She's actually a walking lore encyclopedia" and then he was like "Oh, you should've been in the booth then!" lol

And I'm actually quite upset on his behalf now, because he also told us how, when the English VAs were officially announced, he had actually made a post on social media about how he was returning for Solas in DA4 and how he got in so much trouble for that because EA told him they were going to make an official announcement.... AND THEN THEY NEVER DID??? Like, I was desperately waiting for an announcement about the German voice cast and they simply never made one, we literally had to wait for the credits to be published? (Also, the German and French version have only one female and one male voice for Rook and no one knows what happened there, we tried to contact them about it, but no response so far?? It's like they don't even care.) That's EA for you...

Anyway, we then chatted a bit more about his other work and stuff and he recorded an audio for me (I actually got him to say the "Vir shiral malasa, bellanaris" GUYS AND IT SOUNDS SO GOOD, like I was so nervous, asking "Could you do elven..?" and he was like "Sure, it's been a year, might be a bit rusty" and then he just knocked it out of the park?? lmao So I have both Lavellan's AND Solas' WEDDING VOWS NOW. 😭😭😭❤❤❤❤❤)

So yeah, that was my meeting with Ozan flippin Ünal and what an awesome guy and amazing VA and what an "epic conclusion" of this year of the Dragon (Age) 2024. lol And the timing feels so strange now, because, in a way, it feels kinda like coming full circle?

Like I said in the beginning, for years I was always mainly a lurker in the fandom and the reason why I created this blog was to join in on the hype/speculation train for DA4 and to talk about Solas' German and French voices and share my silly edits and gifs. And now I've played Veilguard AND I've met Ozan Ünal.. both things that, at some point, I wasn't sure were ever going to happen.....

So.. In terms of my fandom experience, this year was crazy and whatever 2025 brings and whatever happens with this blog or DA in general... I love this fandom (especially my little Solasmancer bubble <3) and I love Dragon Age and whoever's reading this, here's to 2025 and I hope you have a Happy New Year!! 💜💜💜💜💜

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7grandmel · 1 year ago

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Todays rip: 12/01/2024

9来4s

Season 2

Featured on: THE SILVAGUNNER CHRISTMAS COMEBACK CRISIS ORIGINAL SOUNDTRAXX: vol. 1

Ripped by dante

youtube

Uh, so, hi, everyone. I'm going to apologize ahead of time if this post reads a bit more shakily, a bit less structured than what it maybe usually does. I always have a timeline of rips to cover over the week laid out ahead of time, and was really not expecting to cover 9来4s as part of it - I thought, naively, that today would just be a day like any other, one more on the pile. I wake up, get dressed, check the SiIvaGunner YouTube feed - and almost collapse onto the floor in shock.

The Christmas Comeback Crisis is back. Ten hours from the point of writing this sentence, the eleventh episode of the main SiIvaGunner storyline will premiere on YouTube.

I don't think I've ever done an effective job of conveying to people just how much the Christmas Comeback Crisis means to me. Sure, rips that I love are one thing, with those you can understand what I'm talking about with just a listen yourself. But the Christmas Comeback Crisis series is so difficult to truly appreciate without the knowledge, the memories and attachment to the channel from having been with it the whole time. To me, it marked the point where all of SiivaGunner's potential as a narrative, all of the loose threads of lore and jokes, all of those feelings of joy and sadness and comradery that flew like sparks throughout Season 1s 9-month run, were distilled into a streamlined narrative. It felt as if a bunch of stray thoughts were finally put to paper, a world envisioned by all of SiIva's viewers finally envisioned with an engrossing conflict and beautiful art. And it felt to me like the team themselves knew just how golden the idea they'd landed on was, as the scope of the storyline quickly expanded from just Christmas of 2016 to eventually enveloping the entirety of Season 2's run.

The final core episode of the Christmas Comeback Crisis released at the tail end of Season 2, on Christmas Day. That is to say, December 25th, 2017. It is currently January 12th 2024 - six years, two weeks, and four days have passed, as the main story of the channel has remained in limbo. When I watched that episode, live on the date of upload, I was still a teenager. I've followed the channel since, still immensely invested, still closely following and paying attention to the lore introduced since - the Side Stories and Haltmann's Archives of Season 3 and Season 4: Episode 1, the King for Another Day Tournament and its fallout across both episodes of Season 4, the many misadventures of Wood Man across Season 5, having seemingly left the Christmas Comeback Crisis canon altogether to explore different worlds where he could have fun with little consequence - only for it all to come crashing down on him in Season 6. After all of that time, all of that buildup, after Season 7 has already been one of the channel's all-around, best-ever years - the cherry on top has landed. Episode 11.

Beyond the lore, the world, the artwork, the storyline, the characters, and the community that's supported it all, what has held the Christmas Comeback Crisis together for me and many others has been the sheer passion present in all those aspects - including, of course, its outstanding soundtrack. I've talked about it before with voiceless, with 時の回廊＜ver. CCC＞, with vlEP, and now here - but dante is, genuinely, an *exceptionally* talented musician, possibly my favorite amidst the entire SiIvaGunner team, and he has been completely outdoing himself on the Christmas Comeback Crisis' soundtrack since the day it first began - his music, remixes, arrangement, and overall sound direction has breathed a kind of energy and life into the story that's immersed me in ways I could never have expected.

9来4s plays during Episode 8 of the Christmas Comeback Crisis, An Acrimonious Assault - which sort of marked a point of no return for the series. After the 6th episode, Advent of Hell, just barely managed to release during Christmas of 2016, and the 7th episode, Loves the Ladies, released four entire months later due to expressed production issues, it felt like the team had officially realized just how big the project was getting. Yet, despite the woes that the 7th episode had presented, the team pushed on - and the series continued until the end of the year. That energy, that hype and love for the channel, is echoed all throughout 9来4s, and it's a feeling I haven't truly felt since that Season that the series once ended during.

At least, that's what I once said. Because now, *we are so fucking back.*

#todays siivagunner #season 2 #siivagunner #siiva #dante #soundcirclet #christmas comeback crisis #siivagunner ccc #siivagunner lore #lore #hiroyuki sawano #guilty crown #Youtube #Bandcamp

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yobotica · 2 months ago

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rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have wips

Thanks @mirrorthoughts and @razielim for the tag! :3

I have a lot of WIPs, so I'll organize them by fandom below the cut:

Assassin's creed (All ShaunDes or ShaunDes lite except one)

Always a Templar!Desmond

Artist Desmond

AU-gust part 2 FANTASY STORY

Eyes on the firmament pt 2 (soul marks)

Fallout AU

Fictober 2019 - Assassin's creed Secret

Firefly - space AU

Futuristic Mecha Thing (Ezioleo)

Ghost Sequel

historian shaun cook desmond shared youtube

What the Body Allows (shaun gets injured) (if this sounds familiar, this one is actually posted up to like ch. 10 on the kinkmeme from uh, 2015)

AUgust 2024: - Space Travel - ShaunDes - Nomad - ShaunDes - Reality Show - ShaunDes

Deus Ex (Jensard flavored)

Didn't know they were a couple

jensard fake relationship frank's ex au

Pacific Rim AU

Pritchard a rich boy

Pritchard's social engineering

Things we designate ourselves pt 3

Werewolf-vampire AU sequel

August 2024: - Musician - Jensard

Febuwhump 2021: - Mind control - "Hey, hey this is no time for sleep."

Fictober 2023: - "Don't Worry, I got you."

Dishonored (corvosider)

Unnamed WIP post game

Titanfall 2 (jack/bt)

A Weary Soul Seeking an Echo (posted up on Ao3, but it's definitely still in progress, so any asks about this will just get thoughts on where I want it to go, or maybe deleted scenes or thoughts on stuff I've added)

DS9 (garashir) (Challenge mode, my earliest writing, none of it ever posted anywhere, I don't think. I can't quite bring myself to call these abandoned but they've got the oldest, least disturbed cobwebs on them for sure.)

Quickening AU

Dressed

Ideas

Lucid Dreaming AU

Proxy

Shit about cold that I don't really like

Snippets 'Contradictions'

Terran Court AU

Untold Stories

Phew, that's all the ones I'm willing to share or talk about at least, lol. It's a lot and way too many to tag, so if anyone has WIPs to share please continue the game! If you saw this from me, feel free to tag me or even send and ask and I'll ask about one of your WIPs! :3c

(also I guess feel free to ask about more than one since there's so many? If more than one are interesting??)

#wip game #tag game #my writing

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preciousmetals0 · 5 years ago

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CoronaCoin? Maybe Not; Dropbox Like It’s Hot

CoronaCoin? Maybe Not; Dropbox Like It’s Hot:

Friday Four Play: The “Crypto Goes Viral” Edition

To paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcolm, “Capitalism, uh, finds a way.”

If you’re not familiar with the great Dr. Ian Malcolm, he’s the chaos theory mathematician from 1993’s smash hit Jurassic Park. And the nifty little cryptocurrency I discovered this morning is nothing short of chaos.

Say hello to the CoronaCoin. According to a post on Reddit, the CoronaCoin is a way to bet on the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Here’s the info:

Bet on the coronavirus pandemic by investing on CoronaCoin, the more the virus spreads the more valuable the token becomes.

CoronaCoin (NCOV) is a ERC20-compliant token. The total supply is based on the world population (7,604,953,650 NCOV) and the token will be burnt once every 48 hours depending on the number of infected people and fatalities, so the token is deflationary and also non-mintable.

CoronaCoin’s website touts the crypto as the “world’s first coin backed by proof of death.” Does that mean it’s backed by death certificates?

It’s clearly not backed by the coronavirus itself — I’m not even sure what it would mean to back a crypto with a virus.

How would you even take delivery? Why would you even take delivery?

Now, I have no idea if the CoronaCoin is a real thing. (Is any cryptocurrency a real thing? For that matter, is any fiat currency truly real?) However, I find myself simultaneously disgusted and intrigued by the idea.

On one hand, we’re betting on death and ostensibly profiting from a virus outbreak. Rooting for the death rate to climb is in bad taste, to put it mildly.

On the other hand, think of the hedging and speculation possibilities. The CoronaCoin could be the perfect hedge to every issue surrounding this outbreak. (By the way, hedge funds have been doing this with bonds for years already.)

One thing’s for certain: Capitalism does, indeed, find a way.

And now for something completely different … here’s your Friday Four Play:

No. 1: Corona and Coke

Speaking of COVID-19, The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) joined the growing list of companies warning that the virus would negatively impact earnings.

This morning, Coke said that the coronavirus would shave $0.01 to $0.02 per share off current-quarter earnings. Unit case volume is expected to slip, as is organic revenue. (But is that free-range, cage-free organic revenue? Hmm?)

But never fear, Coke investors! Despite China being the company’s third-largest global market (according to case volume), Coke maintained its full-year outlook. What’s more, it also boosted its quarterly dividend by 2.5% to $0.41 per share.

If you’re curious, Coke’s dividend pays out on April 1 to shareholders of record as of March 16.

So, you have that going for you … which is nice.

No. 2: Dropbox Like It’s Hot

Today, shares of Dropbox Inc. (Nasdaq: DBX) enjoyed their best day since going public. Indeed, DBX surged nearly 25% on the open this morning, as analysts lauded Dropbox’s quarterly report as a turning point.

Deutsche Bank AG’s (NYSE: DB) Karl Keirstead called the company’s report “potentially thesis-changing.” Yes, it was a veritable love fest for Dropbox today.

So, what has practically the entire analyst community buzzing? It was partially the 19% surge in revenue on the quarter. But the real stunner was Dropbox’s boosted operating margins.

The company lifted operating-margin forecasts to land between 28% to 30% by 2024, up from previous estimates of between 20% and 22%. That’s a pretty significant jump — “shocking,” as Bernstein Global Wealth Management analyst Zen Chrane would say.

Oh, and Dropbox also authorized a $600 million stock buyback plan. I hear that’s the thing to do these days — even if your stock is trading near all-time highs.

Cutting through the hype, the bottom line is that a bit of profit-taking might be in order if you’re a DBX shareholder — just a bit, you know. The company has solid prospects and has successfully dismissed subscriber growth concerns, so its outlook is solid. Today’s spike is a bit rich, however, and better prices should emerge in the next week or so.

No. 3: Martha, My Deere!

During the worst of the U.S.-China trade war, Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) found itself in the thick of it. But the “phase 1” deal is on, and Deere’s helping itself to a bit of what is all around. (That Beatles reference was way too much work…)

The point I’m awkwardly trying to convey is that Deere dug deep and grew amazing profits last quarter. Earnings and revenue both blew past Wall Street’s targets, and the company held firm on full-year guidance.

More importantly, however, Deere said that farmer confidence is rising. “Farmer confidence, though still subdued, has improved due in part to hopes for a relaxation of trade tensions and higher agricultural exports,” said CEO, John May.

Deere is looking for $2.9 billion in sales this year. Holding that line will be important for the company — especially when so many others have issued coronavirus warnings.

No. 4: Cloudy With a Chance of Sell-Offs

Sun, sun, sun … here it comes. And there it went. Whoosh!

Shares of First Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) plunged more than 13% today, after it reported a bearish trifecta. The company saw a loss of $0.56 per share on revenue of $1.4 billion. Wall Street was looking for a profit of $2.75 per share on sales of $1.7 billion. It even lowered guidance for fiscal 2020. Oof…

For the full year, First Solar expects to earn $3.25 to $3.75 per share on revenue ranging from $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion. The consensus stands at $3.64 per share, and sales of $3.36 billion.

For a company based in Tempe, Arizona, that forecast isn’t sunny at all. What’s more, First Solar is considering exiting its solar farm-building business.

“Given the significant evolution of developing utility-scale PV projects in the U.S., we believe now is an appropriate time to evaluate our options,” said CEO, Mark Widmar.

That’s code for: “Competition is killing our solar farm-building business, so we’re getting out of Dodge.”

Hopefully, First Solar can get some much-needed cash for its solar farm business and then redouble its efforts on panels and the like. It needs to stem those losses somehow.

Great Stuff: Go Viral With Blockchain

Are you happy now, capitalism? Is this the end game: crypto coins backed by death?

I mean, I know I told you earlier this week to suck the marrow out of the bull market … but not like this!

Whatever you hear about CoronaCoin going forward — because someone somewhere will undoubtedly figure out a way to make a crap-load of cash from it — remember to ask yourself this week’s handy little mantra…

Am I speculating? Or am I investing? (Or are we dancer?)

If you’re looking for real, bona fide investment research into the tech that makes cryptocurrency possible, “blockchain” is what you’re looking for. Today’s blockchain leaders are solid, well-run companies that thrive on, you know … actual business models and not global pandemics.

You know who knows the blockchain industry inside and out? Banyan Hill expert Paul Mampilly!

Mampilly knows … and you don’t want to wait on the sidelines, as this brand-new blockchain industry is expected to surge up to 77,400%!

Click here now to learn more about Paul Mampilly’s blockchain research.

That’s all for this week. But don’t fret, you can get more meme-y market goodness by following us on Facebook and Twitter!

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

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goldira01 · 5 years ago

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