#only issue is it has 6 characters in it and a semi detailed background

[tassjis]

Now that I finally finished the Justus and Ferdiand drawing I just need to finish the Spring Prayer draft next, then the Fermai sketch, then the....

[starzii]

For me I would say:

1. DEAD END

(Before this last episode, I couldn’t pick a favorite because I loved them all, but this one took the cake. The animation, the storys turning point!!!, the small details, the writing, THAT ENDING, the stakes being raised by 100%!!! And the characters and concepts that were introduced!!! It was very face value tho being mysterious and filled with a lot of suspense and stakes that may change the series as a whole no matter how many seasons it has!)

(P.S I do NOT trust Tessa for the life of me and Uzi and N are going to be stuck down there with her… one weak and now will be struggling to keep control and the other about to have a mental break due to this episode….jeez)

2. The Promenening

(Very very cool episode! Where the mysteries really start to come in and Uzi gets her powers! The outfits are so cute, on V, N and Uzi!! Love the silent Khan development. Doll is a SUPER cool character and it’s where we start to learn more about Yeva/Nori etc for real! Also we got some romantic coded cool fight dance scenes from Uzi and N, starting to establish that they are starting to really worry and care for each other beyond N’s, “you good?”)

(Ps. I really do think N really cared about her first, because she was still on the fence about him and pushing him away, telling him to stop when he would ask if she was okay in Episode 2, so Episode 3 was them making up and realizing how much they cared about each other as friends)

3. Cabin Fever

(This episode is just super cute at the beginning and super comforting at the end! We get to see how Uzi has progressed with using her solver and start to see how important Uzi and N are to each other for real after the prom episode development! Also the outfits, the students just chilling, Uzi being a bit jealous, V protecting Uzi for the first time and the mysteries were so good! Then you have Uzis anxiety attack and big transformation which is SO amazing and is the full manifestation of her powers so far. Then after more character development with Uzi and N realizing they are stronger together and have much more fun and feel safer when they are with each other. Then Doll creeping around in the background, that weird Tessa, the hands and the tape that might allude to the more of a Eldritch Hivemind then an AI taking control of the drones for their own gain, using them as puppets, like stated in Episode 2. It’s also the point of the series where the episodes happen a day after each other in universe and aren’t semi big time skips like the Pilot, Episode 2 and 3. Overall very cool episode! This episode did go a bit fast at times and is my only issue with the episode.)

4. HeartBeat

(A really cool and interesting episode where we start getting into the story after the Pilot. The animation is improved and impressively done. The Eldritch horrors in this episode really set up the basis for the horros in the rest of the series! We get to see Nori, Uzis mom for the first time which gives a bunch of implications, see one of the many ways how the Solver can trick, scare, instill fear and deceive to get what it wants, which we see MANY times over, especially in Episode 6, 5, and Episode 2. Uzi becomes scared of what N is and causes him to run off, which is where we start to see a soft side of V, and that she was never really “a prisoner”. It puts a strain on their relationship they are starting to establish that gets fixed later. This is also a big development episode for Khan, especially after the Pilot incident with him and Uzi. He realizes how much his daughter NEEDS him and starts to step up to be a better father after seeing N run off scared that he hurt Uzi. Very good real establishing episode.)

5. Pilot

(It’s the first episode of the series and I wish I could put it in first, because it’s just so beloved by me and holds a place in my heart, that I had to put it above Home. The team was really small and it’s amazing how much they established and how good the characters looked even if they were using a different program and the show looked a bit different! I love the models and the quality so much and you are very right, it gives off early 2010s 3D show! It establishes the plot, characters and early mysteries and dilemmas without sharing too much information until it was proved there would be a positive reception and a series, no matter how many seasons (though I hope there’s more then 1) and does great!

6. Home

Honestly, I love this episode. The past memories establish ALOT from Ns memories, whether fake or not. We finally meet CYN, who we thought was the solver, but start to learn that she is just one of its hosts and a small part of the bigger threat. Young Tessa is cool and the sisterly relationship she has with J is sweet. Tessa’s parents are ass and the humans kill drones and treat them like shit like not tomorrow, as abuse their daughter. Uzi is a hacking genius and Khan was worried about her but didn’t know how to show it. Doll was really unexpected and the end was very 👀👀👀 worthy, leading to the very beginning of episode 6!) The only issue with this episode is that it was a tad bit confusing and I feel like the intro after they showed the tape and CYN waking up could’ve been done to be less confusing. But that rest of the episode was good.

My murder drones episodes tierlist

(this is just my personal opinion, also i don't really tend to make this post a deep analysis or anything lmfao)

1° - DEAD END

This episode is just---- omg so perfect. Everything is just so wonderfull, i want to say much more about this one but i cant even bring myself to explain It with words yet. i just love this one so much. Also, i love how all the video reviews so far can agree with that tol 10/10

2° - THE PROMENING

One of the best for sure!!!! Its genuinely amazing and the songs in this episodes where the most catchy ones for me! Its one of the episodes that really showed the true essence of this show (also nuzi heheheh) 9.8/10

3° - CABIN FEVER

The only episode that acctually made me cry so far (/Srs) i acctually like this episode more than the third one so i could put this one in second place If i wanted but i have my personal reasons to why i dont. But this one genuinely mess with me and also the one were i got the most Liam vickers vibe from lfmao. And the animation is just ugghhh /pos. ALSO N in this episode has no right to be so cool... 9.8/10

4° - PILOT

I genuinely have a soft spot for this one because of the early 2010 cartoon vibes and other things...... I also love it because N was genuinely so scary /pos. Overall its just a really great episode to debut the characters and the word and really showed how murder drones would be Glitch's Gold Mine. Also im still shocked at how small the team was. 9.5/10

5° - HOME

This episode was really Nice! Uzi was the best part in this episode for me, she was so cute and badass ( and the litte subtle nuzi moments that only real ones realize) and i had a good time with Cyn, but overall i dont really have much strong feelings for this one because i cant really enjoy worker N in the same way i enjoy Disassembly N. (He was still husband material tho-) 8.5/10

6° - HEARTBEAT

This episode was really great! It was a nice set up to show how the real vibes of the series would be and seeing nuzi get separated Just after recently meeting was so... </3 but i cant really bring myself to enjoy this one that much when compared to the others for some reason. But still great! 8/10

--------------------------------------------------

So anyways Thats It! Go watch murder drones If you havent alredy because Its genuinely the most amazing things i have ever seen and its shocking how this series is indie

[radramblog]

Full-Art Basic Lands

Magic is inherently a game about customizability and aesthetic, and nowhere is this best displayed than in one’s choices for Basic Lands. From longtime players flexing their Beta sets, to the cheeky people running exclusively white-bordered ones, to newbies and people who don’t care as much just grabbing what they can from the nearest land station.

However, a full discussion of basic lands would be highly impractical for this kind of post, seeing as there are 244 different arts for Plains alone, and I only have so much time in a day. However, what I did want to discuss is the different varieties of some of the most coveted basics in Magic- the Full-Arts. There’s a lot more types now than there used to be, so they’re worth discussing at length. Also, they’re freaking cool- expect a fair chunk of gushing in this post.

(Update: I forgot just how many sets had FABLs at this point, so this ends up being a two-parter. The other half’s already written, at least, and it’s probably going up on Thursday seeing as that’s going to be a very fucky day for me. It’s just, like, nobody wants to read 3000 words of this in one sitting, I think.)

Unglued

The first iteration of what could be called full-art lands was in Magic’s first Silver-Bordered parody set, Unglued. Considering what these look like, though, it might not be appropriate to call the Unglued lands full-art, as maybe “alternate border” is a better description. The framing of the art on these cards is, well, frame-like, with a verticality that reminds of a tall window or Egyptian cartouche.

I believe these ones used to be somewhat divisive, and I can see why. As much as the frame is interesting, it is also fairly distracting, and the dull brown of the Land frame doesn’t look particularly great when extended. And while the taller frame well suits the art for most of the cards, the Plains looks a little weird next to the very tall trees and forbidding rock faces of the other four arts. Interestingly, the Plains is also the cheapest of the five, though this is probably owing to this version being reprinted in The List for…some…reason. And not the rest. Huh.

 Unhinged

Much like Unglued, Unhinged is a parody set, and the basics that come with it served as experimentation on the design much like the joke cards toyed with potential future card mechanics. Unlike the Unglued lands, though, the Unhinged Basics are pretty universally agreed to be fucking gorgeous.

Almost the entire card is dominated by the art of the card, with a thin frame and border the only dividers between art and edge. The modern land frame looks much more interesting than the old-border one, frankly, meaning that the parts of the card that aren’t art just look a little bit better. And that art…John Avon is an absolutely excellent landscape painter, and his skill is in full swing here. There’s intense colours and hundreds of subtle details, with the vastness of each land’s world conveyed through either an aerial or first-person perspective. The Forest and Swamp are impossibly deep, the Plains and ocean impossibly vast, the Mountain impossibly tall.

For a while, these were the de facto full-art basics, to the point where the MTGO Cube tournaments gave them to your decks by default. They’ve well earned that title, frankly, as there aren’t a lot of Magic cards that look as good as these do.

 Zendikar

Zendikar is the first Standard set to have come with an alternate style of basic, an choice made to support the set’s Landfall theme and adventurous world. For the first time, the full-art lands were made to convey landscapes utterly alien to earth, worldbuilding in much the same way as those from previous Planes like Mirrodin and Alara. This also means it was the first set with full-arts that also had more than one art per basic, adding collectability and variety to this and many future sets.

The landscapes of the Zendikar full-arts are bizarre and otherworldly, with floating rocks (and the infamous “cup Island”) and impossibly gnarled and branching trees. The violence of the plane’s Roil is conveyed through crashing mountains, steaming vents, and tornadoes of water. While previous lands have had charm, these have character.

It was the Zendikar basics that were the defaults when I started playing Magic, since the Unhinged ones were prohibitively expensive and the Unglued ones were that and also not everyone liked them. Even then they were pricy, not 4 years since their printing. It’s also worth noting that these were the first iterations of full-art basics that would get a normal-frame version, the art compacted into a standard Basic shell- obviously they don’t look as good, but in pieces of art designed for a portrait, the cropped landscape doesn’t quite work.

 Judge Promos 2014

There isn’t a lot to say about these, seeing as they’re basically irrelevant to most players. They’re the only other set of basics in the “Modern” (8th Edition-Conspiracy) frame as full arts, and they make up a panorama which is fairly cool. They’re pretty, sure, but not especially notable.

Also, fuck Terese Nielsen. And fuck TERFs in general. 

 Battle for Zendikar

I remember these fondly, seeing as the were the first that came out since I started playing, and the Fat Packs containing a solid block of them sold out almost immediately. I did manage to pick one up for Oath of the Gatewatch, though. This was the first set in the current frame, with a border that’s only tapered at the top and the black bottom section for collector information. Hot take, but I think these look better framewise than Zendikar.

As far as art goes, each land type has 4 new arts and 1 reprinted (yes, including Cup Island), and I think some amount of the unique character of Zendikar was lost in the 6 years between releases. Much of the violence and chaos of the originals is missing, and there’s more of an emphasis on the amazing vistas of the plane- brighter skies, even on some of the Swamps, and relatively fewer of the Hedrons which dominated the landscape.

However, I’d argue this works thematically for the set. Original Zendikar was about exploring this dangerous, rugged world, where survival is not guaranteed and landmarks were just as likely to float away or collapse as they were to remain standing. But Battle for Zendikar is a war story, of fighting against an insurmountable force- thus, the basics are here to show that the world and all its beauty are worth fighting for.

 Oath of the Gatewatch

This is kind of a special case, seeing as the Plains, Islands, Swamps, Mountains, and Forests from this set were the same as those in Battle for Zendikar. However, Oath of the Gatewatch added a new basic “type”, in the typeless Wastes, along with two different art treatments representing the devastation in the wake of two Eldrazi Titans, Ulamog and Kozilek.

There’s a clear winner here. The desolation of Ulamog is chalky, dry, and skeletal, and while it’s kind of disquieting, it holds no candle to the utter unreality of the bismuth landscape left by Kozilek. It’s ultimately just so much more of an interesting piece of art, a world as alien to us as the Wastes were to the game of Magic. There’s a reason that was the version they chose to put in the old border in Time Spiral: Remastered.

 Amonkhet

For a world as monobiomic as Amonkhet, the basic land art is surprisingly varied. I was wondering how they’d make Forest work on a desert plane with one main city. Unfortunately, the full-art land art is somewhat less interesting. Amonkhet, like most sets, has 4 arts per basic land type, but in this case, only one of those is full-art, making packs marginally more of a gamble.

I see what they were going for. The visions of Nakhtamun presented by these cards are relatively peaceful, with the Throne of the God Pharoah in the background adding this ominous mood, as the Second Sun slowly creeps towards it. It is somewhat jarring, though, when you realize that all of these pieces are apparently taken from the same angle, meaning that that section of the city must be a bit of a hodge-podge.

These arts are basically fine. I don’t have a huge issue, but I wish there was a bit more variety, especially considering the gorgeous shots in some of the other basics from the set. You could have put the Monuments in the background instead of the Bolas horns, like some of those other basics do, but I suppose that wouldn’t do for the next set, would it.

Hour of Devastation

The full-art lands of Hour of Devastation are the same shots as from Amonkhet, but after the God-Pharoah’s return has laid waste to Nakhtamun and its people. The rivers run red with blood, the sky is an ominous haze, swarms of insects ravage the clouds, and those big buildings acting like mountains are, uh, kinda broken.

I will confess a love for these cards, if only because the non-Swamp ones are a great thematic choice for basics in a Black-based multicolour deck. In addition, and this is kind of a unique, personal bias, but: When the Sealed League for this set came around, foils of these were given out to players as promotion, but the batch we got at our local was heavily, heavily overprinted. Thus, I have a single copy of the Forest from this set that looks utterly gorgeous, this incredible darkness only pierced by the glow of the horns that are somehow more foreboding than the night surrounding them. It’s been in my Sultai EDH deck ever since.

 Unstable

Much in the vein of its predecessors, Unstable has basic lands trying out a new Thing than the others, and in this case the basics aren’t just full-art, they’re borderless. And they got John Avon back for them, so the art is as incredible as Unhinged was.

One interesting thing about these is the haze of colour in the background of the art pieces. The Forest has this green glow, and the tinge of the clouds in the Swamp and Mountain lean black and red respectively. This helps a lot in these cards, letting the semi-transparent frame blend into the art, helping that seamless feel.

My main, and probably only, issue with these basics is the holographic rarity stamp present on every rare since Magic 2015, as while these obviously would be and did become valuable, they’re still just basics. The only real money in Unstable, sure, but I don’t think that’s deserving of the stamp, which is kind of distracting. It’s absence would also have allowed the bottom border to be even lower, were WoTC willing to compress the collector’s information to a single line. It is a missed opportunity, but not especially much of one.

[defectivenancydrew]

MID Review (finally)

Now that I’ve had a while to reflect on MID, I feel like I can give an honest, spoiler-free review. This turned out to be a much more in-depth review than I had planned on doing, but you can just read the italics at the end of each section if you just want the gist.

Controls: Okay, so for like the first fifteen minutes (or however long it takes you to adjust), the controls are frustrating. Once you get used to how to move (and it is still point-and-click), you’ll be fine. The only thing that I still didn’t have a solid grasp of by the end of the game was moving Nancy’s head around with the right mouse button--it might have helped to slow the mouse down for this function. That being said, the controls offer a lot to the game. The environments and navigation feel more realistic, and instead of jumping from scene to scene, Nancy slides through the space. It’s weird at first, but it’s ultimately superior. (Just for kicks, I went back and played a bit of LIE as a comparison, and the jumpy movement felt so weird after the smoothness of MID). Controls get a 8/10 for the steep learning curve and the more realistic movement.

Graphics: They’re not that bad, okay? On high render, the environments actually look really good and the characters are decent (low render is an understandably different story). Given the technical reasons behind the graphics looking as the do (full 3D render here versus painstakingly painted video files before), I don’t think that they’re really that bad. Puzzle renders and zoomed-in items/POIs really shine, appearing arguably better than previous games. It’s also important to consider what SCK/STFD look like compared to SEA--MID obviously looks better than SCK/STFD, but it has room for improvement. Just like the development team refined the graphics on their proprietary engine, they will refine the graphics on Unity over time. Again, looking back to the first three games, there is a huge jump in graphics quality between each game, indicating their ability to improve quickly. I’m willing to best that the next game (yes, I believe there will be a ‘next game’) will look much better than MID, and so on from there. Character renders are not as great, but this, too, is likely to improve and is probably also due to the fact that it’s 3D and not a painted video file. Their movements may be awkward, but the fact that they are mo-cap means that they may improve in future games. The only real gripe I have about the characters is the lack of facial expressions. Graphics get a 7/10 for up-close realism and room for improvement.

Performance: If you have a gaming PC or a relatively new device, you should be golden. The game runs smoothly at high render on my 2018/i7/SSD PC, but has some lagging issues at high render on my 2014/i5/HDD PC (issues that all but disappear by adjusting to low render). For those with older PCs or PCs with less processing-power, you may have to deal with way-off lip-syncs and choppy cut scenes if you also want to see the best possible graphics. The game only crashed once on my older PC (and it was more likely due to unrelated background processes I was running), but the autosave feature prevents crashes from being anything more than a brief annoyance. Performance gets a 6/10 for high requirements and the Sophie’s Choice of graphics or speed.

UI: I love the sleek, full-screen appearance and minimalist inventory/phone bar. If I had to ask for any improvements here, I might suggest that the inventory collapse into a bag icon when it’s not in use. UI gets 10/10 for maximizing space and minimizing distractions.

Environment (independent of graphics): HeR definitely stepped up their game (heh) on this front. While there are arguably no more locations to explore than in SEA, the environment is far more expansive and cohesive. You feel like you are in a small town (Salem), and you have the freedom to explore all the relevant places without jumping around or magically transporting. There’s only one location that is distant from the town center, and Nancy travels via car to get back and forth, which adds a dose of realism. We have our usual forest navigation (though it is mercifully straight-forward, unlike DOG or CAP), with the added bonus of looking around and using it to get from one place to another. The game makes good use of each space, though it’d be nice if there was more to do in certain lesser-used locations. Some of the locations really only seemed to be present to flesh out the whole environment--which is fine--but it’d be nice to utilize those locations a bit more. And when graphics are set high, the environments are quite stunning. The lighting and weather also do a good job of reinforcing the current atmosphere in-game. Environment gets a 9/10 for cohesion and light usage.

Characters (independent of graphics, story): This is probably one of the spots where MID won me over. Not only do we have eleven (11!) official characters, we have background characters that make the setting real! I didn’t count, but there were probably 10+ background characters that were present for minor commentary and realistic liveliness. For the first time in a Nancy Drew game, I wasn’t questioning where the rest of the world was. Yes, their movements were awkward and if your computer couldn’t handle the graphics, then their lips were flapping in mysterious ways, but they moved around and interacted with each other in semi-human ways. It is absolutely baffling to me that there are people who think there were too many characters. For one thing, we as fans asked HeR for more characters and that’s what they gave us. For another, the game never felt crowded. There were seven characters that were considered “main” that you interacted with often, three side characters that you interacted with occasionally, and one character that you only interacted with once. If they hadn’t been fully-formed characters with solid backstories, I might be persuaded that the number was an issue, but almost all of the characters were fully- or mostly-developed. Characters gets a 10/10 for quantity and quality.

Puzzles: This is probably the one facet of the game where it is most clear that HeR listened to fans’ requests. We asked for more realistic puzzles that were integrated into the game play and not totally irrelevant. That’s what we got. For some people, I think this made it seem like there were fewer puzzles, but I think there were just as many as before, it just wasn’t always super obvious that you were solving a puzzle (and they all but eliminated chore-type puzzles). The cooking mini game and serving mini game were both fun, nostalgic time-wasters in the best of ways. Another nice thing about the puzzles was that they weren’t super difficult as long as you were paying attention, so there wasn’t any need to google solutions or get frustrated. Puzzles get a 9/10 for fan service and perception (after all, perception is reality).

Story: MID really shines when it comes to the story line. The game delves into the full history of Salem, rightfully choosing to discuss topics that were always skirted in earlier games (prejudice, discrimination, slavery, torture, etc.). My only issue regarding the presentation of history is that a lot of the learning is optional, and can be easily ignored or missed. The actual story line of the game is well-established and doesn’t have any gaping plot holes (at least that I noticed on my first play through). There are multiple crimes to solve, multiple items to recover, and thus multiple endings/outcomes to achieve. I can’t go into too much more detail without spoiling parts of the game, but suffice it to say that the story has depth and gravity that might even place it ahead of previous games. Story gets a 10/10 for more mature themes and multiple, successfully interweaving story lines.

Dialogue: While the content of the dialogue is great and forms the foundation for much of the story, it loses me in presentation. First, the line-by-line captioning system is awkward at best, and a monologue behind at worst. I see no reason not to present the player with sentences or paragraphs at a time as before. Second, dialogue options are not so much options as dialogue tasks. You have questions you can ask, but there is no choice of how to ask them or how to respond to an answer. For the most part, you are just choosing the order in which to ask things. This, in my opinion, is a step backward from the previous games, where Nancy could be optimistic, pessimistic, direct, or passive-aggressive. Lastly, there is a strange lack of subject in Nancy’s sentence structure at times. She says “should do xyz” instead of “I should do xyz,” or “wanted to ask about abc” instead of “I wanted to ask you about abc.” While this isn’t really too weird in the context of modern speech patterns, it is still a little awkward. There are examples of this in previous games when Nancy speaks to herself, but never in dialogue with other characters. Again, this isn’t a big deal, but it crops up enough to make it noticeably strange. Dialogue gets a 6/10 for solid content and poor presentation.

Music: At first, the music seems to be nothing special; the main theme is quiet, unassuming, and a bit repetitive at times. But much like the rest of the game, it gets better as you progress. The music in Luminous Infusions and at the end of the game really stick out as great pieces, although the rest of the tracks are also very well-composed. There is thematic continuity between tracks and the tracks also reflect the game’s current atmosphere well. The music, while from a new composer, is still reminiscent of the old games, particularly the mystical tracks in CUR. I’m hoping HeR releases a soundtrack for MID in the future, but I do know there are no current plans for an official soundtrack (though you can find unofficial ones on YouTube pretty easily). Music gets a 10/10 for quality and cohesion.

Nancy: Nancy finally sounds like the late teen that she is meant to be! Nancy is witty and assertive, no longer speaking with the voice of a thirty-year-old and expressing the thoughts of a thirteen-year-old. The new voice actress is just what Nancy’s voice needed, in my opinion, though I have admittedly been a supporter of replacing Lani since about DED/GTH (don’t get me wrong, I love Lani and she will always be the classic voice of Nancy in my head, but I could also admit that her voice was losing its spark and pep). It takes a little while to get used to the new voice, but once it stops sounding different, it’s easy to fall in love with. Another great aspect of Nancy 2.0 is that she’s willing to get into it with other characters, even if they are in a position of authority. Nancy has always been an assertive character who stands up for what is right, even if it’s not easy to do. We see the return of this kind of Nancy in MID, and I hope we don’t lose her in future games. The only thing that I found a tad bit odd was how sugar-sweet Nancy was toward Deirdre. I like how their relationship was updated in order to model more appropriate/healthy female friendships, but it is a little weird considering the canon interaction model set forth by ASH and DED. Nancy’s other relationships have also matured and improved. Nancy gets a 10/10 for assertiveness and expressiveness.

Physical Copy: Well, almost two weeks after the release date, I finally got my physical copy of MID. This is unprecedented, as I always received physical pre-orders the day of or even the day before release. The long wait drove me to buy the digital download, which I didn’t mind doing, but this could be very frustrating for those not willing to pay for the game twice. I was disappointed to find that the disc art is just a copy of the cover art (which is minimalist at best), and not a characteristic color like the other games. The box art seems like it was put together at the last minute, not unlike the cover art. If it weren’t for my compulsive need to own all of the physical copies, I probably would have skipped it. Physical copy gets a 1/10 for slow delivery and lackluster appearance.

Weird Things to Complain About: Yes, there is one background character whose voice sounds like it was recorded on a Motorola Razr, but she says one sentence that you don’t even have to listen to. Yes, some of the background characters are overt clones, but we’ve never even had background characters to complain about before. Should there have been more to do in the Hathorne House or other one-off locations? Yeah, probably, but we were given a ton of locales to visit. The characters were always bobbing around and breathing, but--surprise!--this is something that real humans do. Did their feet/hands occasionally meld with other objects or the environment? Sure, but why were you looking at their feet during a conversation? Admittedly, Teegan sometimes looked like she was trying to scare off a bear or prepare for flight, even I can’t argue that that wasn’t odd. But for the most part, these are minor, petty issues. There weren’t gaping plot holes, there was actually a mystery to solve (looking at you, MED), and we got a lot of the things that we asked for over the years. There is always room for improvement, and this game is certainly no exception. I expect that the next game will make refinements based on our feedback and be even better. HeR completely changed the Nancy Drew game formula, but they used our input as a guide. They’ll take what we say about MID into consideration with the next game, and hopefully over time we will see the same level of improvement we saw from SCK to SEA. They started from scratch, and even though they had five years to work on it, the first time you try something new is almost always the worst. I don’t condone the way they treated us over the hiatus or how they treated their own staff, but I don’t think it’s time to abandon ship yet. If you play this game with nostalgia goggles on and a closed mind, you’re going to hate it, you’re going to ask for a refund. If you go into it with an open mind and excitement for something new, you might just find that you like MID more than you’d care to admit. Weird things to complain about gets an 8/10 for minor oddities that should be expected in a pilot endeavor.

Conclusion: Change is inevitable. If you were around when TMB came out, you might remember the absolute uproar that came with the UI change. People threatened to walk away from the series because of the new menu screen and bulkier interface. If you’ve played the original SCK and STFD, then you know how drastically the games improved over the span of a single year. And compare those games to SEA and it’s clear that the games are always improving. But you have to start (or in this case, restart) somewhere, and MID is our new starting point. The games will get better, and we’ll still find things to complain about (like we always do), because there is always room for improvement. There’s no point in lamenting about how good the game would have looked on the old engine, because that misses the point. The old engine could not deliver what we as fans desired. It could not handle more than six characters or more than eight hours (this is being generous) of game play. It couldn’t give us more expansive environments or smoother navigation. The new engine gave us all of these things, but sacrificed a bit of graphics. Big whoop. I’m willing to bet that none of us got into the games for their graphics, especially those of use who became fans early on in the games’ history. Bottom line? HeR gave us a good game. Not their best game, maybe not even one of their better games, but it’s certainly better than MED or SCKR. And hey, at least we finally got the game. Midnight in Salem gets an 80%, an admirable B-, because the effort and progress is there, but there are definitely things that they could have done better.

[natsubeatsrock]

The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Bonus (What If? #7)

What if Fairy Tail was like Shooting Starlight?

tfw spoilers kind of mess with this post concept

Fairy Tail is not Edens Zero. I made an important post about the different drives between the two for EZ Week 2019 on my main blog, so I don't want to say too much about this here. However, I have to admit that this isn't an unfair aspect to discuss when the two come up in my discussion. Especially since this was what drove my post.

Although, I feel like this isn't impossible as it may seem. Fairy Tail may have a reputation as a sort of "family outside of the family". But how would I "corrupt" the guild's nature?

For the uninitiated, Shooting Starlight is the guild members of the main cast of Edens Zero is a part of. While their involvement with the guild is rather inconsequential, the guild isn't as friendly towards its members. The bond between members is more arbitrary than Fairy Tail members. One member outright antagonizes another.

Now that's all well and good, but what's this have to do with this idea? It's not like there's a way to do this justified by canon, right?

Consider the following.

First, the guild has a fairly bad reputation in the land of Fiore. The fact that the manga starts with the council talking about the crazy antics of the guild is fairly important in canon. But this is something that could be manipulated towards my purposes.

The rest of the first arc has moments that could work towards this end. Natsu (very understandably) isn't excited to entertain Lucy as she joins him and Happy to find Macao and (less understandably) tricks her into the Daybreak mission. He goes to find Macao only because Makarov said that a wizard who couldn't survive the mission doesn't deserve to be a part of the guild and refuses to send help to him.

Keep in mind all of this happens after a giant guild-wide brawl. Miraculously, the guild functions despite these being regular occurrences. That everything else happens on top of that, I could easily make this idea work.

Finally, for this rewrite, Natsu doesn't love the guild to start the series. You know that speech about how he cares about the guild members as his friends, including Lucy and the people he was fighting? Not in the rewrite. His logic of stopping Bora as a phony Fairy Tail wizard? Not in the rewrite. I have him grow into his canon love and that would help with this type of guild.

What that would look like in Fairy Tail is interesting. While I could imagine several ways to do this, the best way to do this in my mind is to play off the Phantom Lord event. In canon, Laxus has an issue with the way the incident was caused by Lucy joining the guild. I would make that the start of a rift in the guild. The camps would align behind Laxus and Erza depending on how members think of their bonds as guild members. (I don't need to say much on the differences.) The issue for Makarov would be recognizing that dichotomy and doing his best to keep the two sides within one guild.

This would come to a head with two big events in the series. The first would be Fantasia. I don't want to go into too much detail about how this arc would change (read: I don't want to think too hard about this). The important thing is that Laxus is expelled from the guild, as in canon. But with him, those who sided with him also leave the guild, obviously including the Thunder God Tribe. Erza, then, becomes the one to convince Makarov to say as the master. At this point in the series, Laxus won't have too many supporters.

That would change with the second big moment: Tenrou Island. I would make two big changes to the arc, other than the obvious changes affected by the first one. First, Laxus doesn't go on the island at all. The Strongest Team can defeat Hades without his help. Second, the guild swings in favor of Laxus' view. The members we see as part of the guild in the canon x791 arc are broken off into the "old Fairy Tail" while Laxus leads this "new Fairy Tail" as a separate guild.

There are two ways to go from here. One is to have the guilds come to join again as a whole guild at some point. Either they all come together after the Grand Magic Games as a win condition on some kind of bet or the Alvarez Empire invasion reunites the factions. Otherwise, the guilds continue as two separate entities. Though something like the aforementioned invasion may force them to cooperate, the guilds stay as two distinct bodies.

With this explanation, it sounds like I've forgotten the basic idea of "a guild that doesn't value members". While one would likely turn Fairy Tail into pre-Grand Magic Games Sabertooth, this method isn't without its benefits. My explanation of this doesn't account for an obvious point of emphasis for Erza's faction: is it worth it? Is splitting up the guild worthwhile when you want the members to be a family? Should they consider their old section as a part of their family in the first place?

This also helps when thinking about some of the background characters. You can delve into the logic behind a character who doesn't get much screentime. Would they side with Laxus or Erza, and why?

For example, Chico C. Hammit isn't a name I'd expect many fans to recognize. But I could use her secret feeling for Laxus as a reason for her to join his faction. On the other side, Bisca might find a connection between Erza's acceptance of Lucy, despite causing the Phantom Lord incident, and Erza's acceptance of herself into the guild, despite faking membership to threaten people.

As a side note, this adds some interesting dynamics to guild relationships. Elfgreen goes from a semi-canon ship we see by the end of the series to its original bickering state. Erza and Laxus clash as ideological opposites and guild masters. And don't get me started on how much of a field day one could have with the Grand Magic Games as a factor in this. If I were to do such a thing, original arc ideas would delve into what this divide means for the guilds.

The reason why I'm not doing this should be obvious. This requires much more thought and restructuring of the series than I can afford. Even my biggest changes to canon can still work without too much work. Even as I'd say the series is about the guild, this is more extreme than I can make happen.

Based on Part 1

What If? #1 | What If? #2 | What If? #3 | What If? #4 | What If? #5 | What If? #6

[metalgearkong]

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker - Review

12/20/19  ** Spoilers

Directed by JJ Abrams (Lucasfilm / Disney)

Among the current social media and the 24 hour advertisement cycle, if you wanted, its possible to piece together much of the plot of this movie, or any big blockbuster these days. Its for this reason I avoided every single piece of media about Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker before I saw it. Even when bombarded with Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TV ads, and movie previews, I successfully dodged all snippets of the movie in order to be as surprised as possible once I sat down to see it. That night was tonight, and it’s felt like a long and arduous two years since The Last Jedi. Once again I have deeply mixed feelings about a new Star Wars movie, but I enjoyed myself more in The Rise of the Skywalker than I did in The Last Jedi, but not necessarily for shakesperian reasons.

The fans were worried about how The Rise of Skywalker would turn out, and as release day approached, reviews were already negative. I accidentally saw a Rottentomatoes critics score in the mid 20′s, and several videos were already uploaded to YouTube giving away that broad opinion of this film. This concerned me, as even critics liked The Last Jedi, which is one of my least favorite Star Wars movies. I let all of the negativity brush off me like a blaster bolt on Beskar armor. I went into The Rise of Skywalker rooting for it and looking to find every positive it could bring being the ninth main installment of the Star Wars saga. I was also ready for this trilogy to be over so everyone whining online could move on and obsess over something else. In an odd, semi-genuine, and semi-ironic way, I had tons of fun in The Rise of Skywalker, even acknowledging its horribly messy and rushed script.

Each of these Star Wars movies to me is like how a new chapter in the Bible would feel for a Christian, and the theater is my house of worship. The series’ trademark title blasted onto the screen among roaring trumpets, and I was ready. My auditorium applauded as the Star Wars logo shrunk to the background and the opening crawl appeared at the bottom of the screen. Seeing a new Star Wars movie in the theaters is always a holiday for me. Each film is a new addition to the lore of my favorite movie universe of all time, pulling from years as a kid before I can even remember the first time I saw it (thank you parents). This movie had me grinning from ear to ear, bringing out that inner child in me that Star Wars always used to do, something The Force Awakens partially did, and what The Last Jedi failed to do completely.

JJ Abrams continues his pension for fast paced scenes, but somehow still containing a ton of charm. We finally get to see Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega), Chewie (Joonas Suotamo), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) all working together on the same mission. The characters have a ton of charisma between them, and it inspires me to think of the potential for them having been together more often in this trilogy. I enjoyed their quips and didn’t think it got out of control or relied too much on bathos. The first half of this movie moves like a racetrack, as our heroes move from one location to another pursued by the First Order enough to almost make me dizzy. This would turn out to be a running issue with the movie, and if JJ Abrams and the editor would have let each scene go a little slower and last a little longer, it would have been more appreciated.

Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is the Supreme Leader of the First Order, having murdered and usurped Snoke (Andy Serkis) in the last film, and is on a personal quest to track down what may be the resurrection of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). The movie opens on this note, and having none of it spoiled ahead of time for me, found it to be intriguing and exciting. The Emperor is one of the best and most fleshed out characters in Star Wars, and I was curious to learn how he resurrected. Unfortunately the movie barely gives an explanation and we are simply left with the spectacle of what I call Necro Palpatine. However we do have it explained that Snoke was a mere puppet of Palpatine in some capacity, but we aren’t told to what extent, or any other kind of logical backstory. It both answers and raises more questions simultaneously, about both dark lords.

The Rise of Skywalker also goes out of its way in several places to help explain some of the more controversial elements of the prior film, and I appreciated it as a fan of the series who felt toyed with in The Last Jedi. It’s obviously a wink wink to the audience, but I’d much rather have it than not. Greatest of all was Luke (Mark Hamill) being redeemed, as he admitted he was not only wrong to go hide on the island, but toss his father’s lightsaber over his shoulder. The movie also tries to shoe-in more explanation of what Luke was doing after his Jedi Academy was destroyed, which included trying to find the Sith Wayfinder along with Lando Carissian (Billy Dee Williams). It’s not a great explanation of why Luke disappeared, and I wish this was clearly the plan from the beginning of the trilogy. The Wayfinder is basically a key to get to Exegol where Palpatine is hiding. It becomes Rey (Daisy Ridley) and her friend’s mission to find the Wayfinder, through various means and mcguffins. 

John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra returns one final time scoring a Star Wars movie. I heard a dozen of his old tracks throughout the film and I had fun naming as many as I could. For how much I love his leitmotifs and listen to his music ad noaseam, whether its giving me an emotional rush during a run or driving on the highway, I couldn’t recall any new music heard in this film. The first thing I did when I got home from the movie was try to download the soundtrack from Spotify but it wasn’t available yet. I still give this movie a big thumbs up for its soundtrack because although it isn’t new, the way Williams’ music is used and where it’s placed gave me goosebumps every time. Hearing Rey’s theme in just the right moments made me happy, and identifying other leitmotifs and variations of them were great to hear.

The acting all around was excellent for a Star Wars movie. Daisy Ridley as Rey is as great as she’s ever been, and the same goes to Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. All the side characters and comic relief did a good job as well. The banter between Finn, Poe, and C-3PO was a treat as well. Tony Daniels continues to be one of my favorite actors in all of Star Wars for conveying as much personality as he does without facial expressions and very limited movement. McDiarmid as Necro Palpatine gets very little screen time, but he’s hamming it up as the evil Emperor he’s always been, and I loved every second of it. I also deeply appreciate that the movie seemed to rely on puppets again, and one of the stand out side characters was a tiny engineer named Babu Frik (Shirley Henderson) who should have had more time in the movie.

The only “yikes” moment I felt was any time we saw Leia. It’s such a tragedy that Carrie Fisher passed away so unexpectedly, and least of all not able to finish this Star Wars trilogy. I listened to her audiobook The Princess Diarist and she seemed so excited, yet nervous, to be yet again the role that made her famous, and to complete episodes 7, 8, and 9. Her face seems to be animated on a stand-in actress, and her only lines were from old footage that was never used in Episode VII or VIII. This means Leia has very little to say in this movie, and probably had a lot less to do in the plot than she deserved to. The CGI simply wasn’t convincing for me and is the only aspect of the movie that put a lump in my throat for all the wrong reasons. On the flip side, Han Solo’s cameo was a terrific scene that also had me teary-eyed. It was a great call back to The Force Awakens, and served a purpose for Kylo Ren’s character. Harrison Ford did a perfect job, and it was just the sort of scene I didn’t know I wanted.

While much The Rise of Skywalker feels hastily cobbled together, and relies on way too many conveniences for the plot to keep moving, I found it to be a very satisfying time. You know that feeling when you’re extremely tired and almost feel drunk, and everything seems hilarious and flippant? That’s how I felt during this entire thing. I could see ridiculous script elements that either contradict or ruin lore left and right, but I think something inside me was just so happy to finally get this trilogy over with. I let the fan service envelop me even if it didn’t make sense or feel justified. Yes Rey is still a Mary Sue, yes we still got an underwhelming lightsaber duel (that she wins), yes there are too many characters, yes the plot and details can be nonsensical, yes this movie needed way more time to bake in the oven. But unlike a Jedi’s weapon, this movie may not be elegant, but it is a cathartic and satisfying experience, which is all I every hoped it would be. Now can we all take a breath and move on?

6/10

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: Kawaii Box Nov 18

So far nothing from Blippo, but it’s only been like... 3-4 days since I got the email from them, I assumed if anything it’d at least be a week, maybe two at the most. But again no tracking so I can’t be positive.

I can’t wait!

This months Japanese word: Shichimencho - Turkey

Gudetama Chocolate Bar

If you’ve been a reader of this blog then you might recognize the candy bar image on the wrapper. That’s right. It’s this again. I swear every few boxes we’re getting one. 

But for anyone new or who are unfamiliar with this, this candy bar has a textured outside, sorta giving it a log design. On the inside is wafer, usually with a very thin layer of cream. They either come in chocolate or white chocolate, and features tons of various wrapper options; I usually just see Sanrio, but I’ve also seen Disney ones and on the Blippo website they have a Detective Conan one right now for $1.90.

Rating: ♥ ♥

It tastes pretty good, and that’s coming from someone who isn’t the strongest fan of white chocolate. I prefer dark or strawberry, but regular chocolate is always good too.

It makes me think of an imitation kit-kat bar, which isn’t bad at all. But I really wish they would give us something else.  

Sakura Desk Calendar

Our next item is a very useful one for writing down appointments and keeping schedule of important dates- next to a planner that is. This is a cute little fold-able, standing calendar featuring a water color sakura theme.

And kitties of course.

It also features a side for writing down important notes or events/appointments. Available on the blippo website or $3.90.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I really love the colors and designs, they’re so gentle and pretty to look at~ Calendars are useful and all- but in all honesty I can’t even put mine on the calendar. Not only because Peach (my cat) would knock it down, but because I can’t get these ones with the folding bottom to sit. At all. I don’t know why, but they don’t work for me.

But on the plus side it’s small enough that I could keep it next to my bed in my stand, or I could put it in my bigger purses.

Sanrio Characters Sakura Plushie

A super cute Sanrio buddy to match our adorable new calendar. Each has a pretty pink pastel color scheme and cute little sakura on them. This line features My Melody, PompomPurin, Hello Kitty, and Cinnamoroll, and each one costs $4.90. These types of plush are similar to Tsum-Tsum, which means they can be stacked. Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ No, it doesn’t go with Thanksgiving like at all, but it’s so cute! I love the detail of the little flowers, which are very pretty to look at. The plush quality is also really nice, and she’s very soft~ 

Sushi Pen

Okay, still not thanksgiving- but at least this item is a food, which counts for something right?

Each pen costs $3.90, and there are 6 variations; salmon, egg sushi, riceball, rice in leaf, fried shrimp, and shrimp on rice. The topper is a rubbery plastic.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The pen is fine-tipped and it works very well. But the ink takes a while to dry so it isn’t a good option unless you plan to leave your book or paper out to avoid smears. I also discovered that the topper doesn’t stay on like you think it would. When you put the cap on the “pen butt“ it falls off semi-easily. 

Thankful Memo-It Notes & Molang Eraser

Our next item are these cute Memo notes themed after 3 different girls, and oddly a polar bear. Each set is $1.80, and they have 30 notes in total.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I think it’s a cute idea, you never really see memo notes like this here. I like how you can write on her top, and if you’re really bored you could “design“ her a new one.

What bugs me is that it feels like lately they’re always giving us memo notes, and I have them practically coming out of my ears now; but at least I have a variety to suit the mood or theme.

Going with the stationery theme, our following item is a set of adorable Molang erasers. The set costs $1.90 on Blippo.com- and to get it out the way now, no they aren’t scented. They stink like eraser. 

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The quality is pretty much like any other eraser, pretty good. They look so cute together, I can’t bare the idea of actually using them though~

Pastel Animals Coin Purse

Next up is this cute pleather (imitation leather) coin purse that features an adorable animal on a soft pastel background. Each costs $2.90, and besides this sheep, there is also a pink bunny, a light blue squirrel (which oddly says “forest” despite being surrounded by cactus), and a mint one with dancing kitties.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

For a coin purse this is perfect. It has a nice clasp to keep it shut, and the inside is really soft, but I feel like it could collect dirt easily. As much as I don’t like yellow, I still think it’s pretty cute. It’s small enough to sit in a variety of locations and not get in the way.

I will note that there is an issue with the fabric, as you might be able to see in the pic; it’s like the material is deformed. I didn’t use this yet and it hasn’t been out of packaging or the box since I took the picture. I’m not really sure what caused it, and nothing seems to fix it. 

San-X Corocoro Coronya Stickers & Kawaii Neko Letter Set

For $2.50, this is a sheet of Corocoro Coronya stickers featuring Coronya and his friends, and pretty gold line details. The sheet includes 70 stickers in total, and their smaller size makes them puurfect for dressing up plain items~

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

They’re so cute~ These would be perfect for resin projects if I was still doing them. When stickers include gold or glittery detail, I sometimes worry the sheet will end up being a mess (like the jinbeisan stickers I got a while back...). But this one is great! There are a few gold lined spots that are messy, but I would still give it an 8 or 9 out of 10.

Next is this cat letter set from the brand TreeinArt, a stationery and gift shop. There are 3 envelopes and 6 pages. I couldn’t find the exact one on Blippo.com, but I did see a unicorn set that looks like it for $2.90, so I’m going to assume that was what this one is too.

Both the paper and envelopes have a kitty design.

Rating: ♥ ♥

It’s very simple, but kind of cute still. But I kind of wish there was more to it than this this. Like I think it would have been cute if they had included a pencil and eraser (or an eraser on a pencil), or maybe a little sticker sheet to decorate it a bit more. I don’t know, to me it feels like it needs something...

Marumofubiyori Plush Pouch and Coin Purse

Our final item is this adorable Marumofubiyori pouch/coin purse. Available for $5.90, there are 4 different poses available, each one cuter than the last~

The inside of the pouch has a very soft mesh-like cloth in it, so it feels really nice to touch. The tag also includes little details on Marumofubiyori and his friends.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

With how many Marumobubiyori items that have been popping up lately in these boxes, I’ve quickly become a fan x3 they’re so precious. The quality on the pouch/purse is well done, although they used a slightly transparent white fabric (you can see the spots of his blanket through him). The applied blush is also an adorable touch~

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - ♥ ♥ ♥ Honestly I wasn’t feeling this box too much. I like a couple of the items, but it’s overall stationery theme was kind of bugging me. I love getting new pens and erasers, but did we really need all of the stationery basics in a single box? 

Price -  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥  Some of the items I was a bit surprised over how pricey they were. But I’ve seen worse so it’s not too bad, and in total this box costed $32.50- and remember, the box itself only costs 17-19 dollars. So yeah, I’d say they were spoiling us with this one.

Theme - ♥ Nothing actually fit thanksgiving, like at all. A couple of items had Thanksgiving descriptions in them- but I felt like it was forced, and I’m sure there are ways they could have achieved something that felt like the holiday besides the cover art. 

Total Rank: 4 out of 10 Cuties. This box felt completely underwhelming to me. It wasn’t bad and I’m probably being too critical, but compared to this one I felt like last months box was way better. I don’t have a problem with stationery, but I know for a fact they do have some food items that would have been perfect for a Thanksgiving box.

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

1. Sanrio Sakura Plush - I love love love love pink, and I love love love flowers! This is a perfect item for me ♥

2. Pastel Animals Coin Purse - As much as I dislike yellow I ended up really liking this purse a lot more than I thought I would. I really like pastels though so I think that plays a part in it. The sheep on mne is also just really cute.

3. Coronya Stickers - Looking at these just makes me want to sink my teeth into some delicious coronet~

4. Marumofubiyori Pouch - I kind of wish I got it in one of the other poses, but this one is still really kawaii~ I also like how soft the pouch is. I definitely want to start using this one.

5. Sushi Ink Pen - I really wish I would have gotten the rice ball one, but it’s still pretty cute. I love sushi, so sushi-themed items are automatically awesome in my books. Although looking at it too long is liable to make me hungry~

6. Memo Notes - The little girl design is pretty cute. 

7. Molang Erasers - As cute as they are, the poses are generic. Plus I was an avid eraser collector as a child, I know I can’t use these. I’d hate to ruin them.

8. Sakura Calendar - I love how pretty it looks, but the folding flap on the bottom is kind of annoying. I don’t understand why they don’t work for me >3<

9. Gudetama Chocolate Bar -  The package is pretty cute, but I’m tired of these.

10. Neko Letter Set - The images are cute but I really don’t see myself using it anytime soon.

[maddie-grove]

The Top Twenty Books I Read in 2018

My main takeaways from the past year’s reading:

Growing up is hard, whether you’re a working-class college sophomore trying to adjust to an Ivy League college, a chronically ill medieval kid trying to beat witchcraft charges, or A GHOST THE WHOLE TIME.

You can go to Kansas City or the Congo or SPACE, but you can never escape the past. 

Maybe I should be more worried about getting murdered?

Anyway:

20. East by Edith Pattou (2003)

Rose, a sixteenth-century Norwegian farm girl, loves her large family, but sometimes feels at odds with their rather staid personalities. So, when a talking polar bear offers to end her family’s poverty and her sister’s illness if she’ll stay with him for a year, she accepts not only out of desperation, but also wanderlust. This expansive retelling of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” (already a winner because of its determined, flawed heroine) shines because of its vivid use of multiple settings and its well-developed minor characters. I initially thought it was a little slow, but I really came to appreciate Pattou’s skill over time.

19. Joe College by Tom Perrotta (2000)

Danny, a working-class Yale sophomore in 1982, thinks he has a lot to worry about. His rich friends are clueless, his townie coworkers at the dining hall resent him, and his crush is dating a professor. Then he goes home for spring break, where he’s confronted with a pregnant ex and a bunch of mobsters who try to interfere with his father’s lunch-truck business. I mostly read this book for completism--I love Perrotta, but The Wishbones made me wary of his earlier work--yet this seemingly lighthearted story contains some fascinating moral and ethical dilemmas, plus a hero who is sympathetic despite his callowness. 

18. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (2010)

In the explosive conclusion of Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy, the protagonists find themselves in the middle of a war with an enemy they don’t understand, forcing them to wrestle with questions of right versus wrong, forgiveness versus revenge, and the possibility of redemption. This was an intense read, but there was a lot of genuine joy and love mixed in with the death and war.

17. Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian (2014)

In the less literally but just as emotionally explosive conclusion of Han and Vivian’s Burn for Burn trilogy, former revenge-partners Lillia and Kat try to move on in the wake of a tragedy, as well as the abrupt departure of Mary, the other member of their retribution-themed trio. The future is looking bright, but then it becomes clear that Mary is neither gone nor happy with their life choices. I read the first book of this trilogy way back in 2014 and, while I enjoyed it well enough, I wasn’t blown away. This spring, though, I had the sudden urge to read the next two books, and they were both a wonderful mix of affecting human drama and ludicrously soapy plot twists.

16. The Charm School by Susan Wiggs (1999)

Isadora Peabody, the awkward scion of an otherwise graceful old Bostonian family in the 1850s, decides to take her fate in her own hands and become a translator on a merchant ship bound for Brazil. The captain, freewheeling Ryan Calhoun, isn’t too happy with this unusual arrangement, but he comes to admire and sympathize with the independent-minded and painfully self-conscious Isadora. At the same time, Isadora realizes that Ryan’s untidiness and occasional bouts of drunkenness disguise a heart and principles and a talent for making out in lush Brazilian gardens. I was absolutely delighted by this romance novel, which is an absolute romp with some terrific character development. 

15. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (2009)

In the middle book of the Chaos Walking trilogy, the protagonists reach the end of a long journey, only to find themselves separated and caught between two warring factions. This installment does a great job of elaborating upon the world introduced in the first book, offering new perspectives on old characters, and introducing compelling new conflicts. 

14. Fire with Fire by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian (2013)

In the middle book of the Burn for Burn trilogy, classmates Kat, Lillia, and Mary deal with the fallout of their semi-successful Strangers on a Train-lite revenge scheme. Kat and Lillia want to call it quits, but their sympathy for Mary causes them to agree to one last score, so to speak. Unfortunately, FEELINGS and PAST TRAUMA and DANGEROUS PSYCHIC POWERS complicate matters. Despite my love for Ashes to Ashes, Fire with Fire has a special place in my heart because it’s the first book to explore the characters’ emotions in depth, as well as the first one to go way over the fucking top.

13. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara (2018)

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a rash of horrifying home invasion rapes, seemingly meticulously planned, plagued the bedroom communities of Sacramento. Then a series of uncannily similar home invasion murders broke out in the Southern California. In this book published after her death in 2016, McNamara makes the case that this was the work of one person, dubbed the Golden State Killer. McNamara has a clear, humane way of describing grisly and/or convoluted events, and her portrait of the dark side of California suburbia is enthralling. 

12. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1998)

In 1960, a dangerously determined and self-righteous reverend from the American South travels to the Belgian Congo, even though his own church begged him not to go. He makes the questionable decision to take his exhausted wife and four daughters--vain Rachel, suck-up Leah, nearly mute Adah, and baby Ruth May--along with him. Their new home is a shock to all of them in various ways, and that’s before a personal tragedy and the Congo Crisis enter the picture. Kingsolver makes excellent use of her five viewpoint characters, all of whom have distinctive voices and enjoyably unpredictable (yet entirely appropriate) character arcs.

11. Lighter than My Shadow by Katie Green (2013)

As a young child, Katie has seemingly minor issues around food, but during adolescence she develops a serious eating disorder and almost starves herself to death. A diagnosis and the ensuing support of her parents seem to signal hope, but recovery is more complicated that one might expect. This graphic memoir offers a nuanced portrait of the sheer range of stuff that gets wrapped up in an eating disorder: religion, gender, sex, control, trauma, the desire for independence, and so much more. Green’s “cute” art style enhances the story, both because it makes an interesting contrast to the upsetting material and because it grounds the reader in the humanity of the characters. 

10. Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker (1995)

Throughout the 1970s, FBI agent John Douglas, along with the rest of the Investigative Support Unit, compiled information about an increasingly common type of criminal: the serial killer. Gradually, they developed the practice of criminal profiling. As gruesome as it might sound to call this an excellent beach read, that’s essentially how I experienced it (not that I went anywhere this summer, but still). The pace is fast, the style is engaging, and the authors are frank but not overly lurid in their presentation of the nasty details.

9. The Beggar Maid by Alice Munro (1977)

In this collection of connected short stories, Rose, a bright Canadian girl, grows up in a rough, deprived neighborhood with her sick, stern father and prickly but not unloving stepmother. Life in the wider world brings her mingled pride and shame at her background, a largely disastrous early marriage, and eventually a satisfying but decidedly unglamorous acting career. Munro is a master of description, and she has a sense of fun that puts her head and shoulders above most short story writers. And the title story is just the most perfectly painful exploration of why someone would stay with a partner who is deeply wrong for them.

8. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (2009)

In 1985, seven-year-old Libby Day narrowly escaped death at the hands of her teenage brother, but her mother and two older sisters weren’t so lucky. Except that Libby doesn’t feel so lucky, either, because she’s thirty-one years old with massive trauma, dwindling funds, and few adult life skills. Then a true-crime enthusiast contacts her with an offer: cash in return for investigating whether her brother was actually the murderer. Dark Places may be the awkward middle child of Flynn’s novels, but that reputation is undeserved; it has a thrilling plot, a perversely lovable heroine, and a sly critique of the “Morning in America” view of the 1980s.

7. The Hostage by Susan Wiggs (2000)

In the confusion of the Great Chicago Fire, frontiersman Tom Silver kidnaps heiress Deborah Sinclair, hoping to force her industrialist father into compensating the victims of his negligence. He’s not prepared, though, for her dogged escape attempts, her hard-earned resilience, or the hints that something was horribly wrong in her life even before the kidnapping. I had my doubts about reading a kidnapping romance, but Susan Wiggs proved me wrong. (It helps that Tom’s motives are both understandable AND not presented as an excuse for dragging Deborah into his revenge plan.) The super-slow-burn romance pairs wonderfully with the action-packed plot, and I love Deborah so much.

6. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (2006)

Troubled reporter Camille Preaker returns to her small Missouri hometown to investigate the grisly murder of one tween girl and the ominous disappearance of another. As upsetting as the case is, it doesn’t hold a candle to what waits for her at home: a softly cruel mother, a barely there stepfather, and a teenage half-sister who alternates between adoring Camille and tormenting her. Sharp Objects entirely deserves its reputation as the best (if not most popular) Flynn novel; it has a beautifully constructed plot, descriptions so lush that you feel like you can reach out and touch Wind Gap (not that you’d want to), and a deeply flawed yet admirable heroine.

5. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2008)

At nearly thirteen, Todd Hewitt is the youngest resident of Prentisstown, and nobody is ever going to take that distinction away from him. Just after his birth, a plague killed most of the humans on New World, including every woman and girl. What’s more, the same plague made it so the thoughts of men (and most other living creatures) are audible to all. And the mayor of Prentisstown is a religious fanatic who won’t let anyone watch videos or teach kids to read. It’s...not awesome. Then Todd makes a shocking discovery that forces him to flee his community and question everything he knows. This book is a fascinating sci-fi take on the frontier horror story (ala The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, and, more recently, The Witch) with a read-hundreds-of-pages-a-night plot and astonishing moment of wonder.

4. After the Wedding by Courtney Milan (2018)

Lady Camilla Worth, daughter of an earl who committed suicide to avoid treason charges, has passed from home to unwelcoming home ever since, finally ending up as an unknown housemaid. Adrian Hunter, a mixed-race ceramics heir on a desperate mission to make his family happy, happens to visit the house where she’s employed. Under some very strange circumstances, they’re forced to wed at literal gunpoint. Working together to unravel the mystery and get an annulment, they grow to like each other, which complicates things. This is one of my favorite romance novels ever, with wonderful characters (especially Camilla!), an explosive plot, and masterfully explored themes of healing and being true to oneself.

3. Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult by Bruce Handy (2017)

A famous magazine writer and father of two young children, Handy expounds upon the classics of children’s literature (The Cat in the Hat, Goodnight Moon, the Little House series, Narnia, the Ramona books, etc.). As someone who frequently rereads the favorites of my youth to de-stress (House of Stairs 5eva), the subject was tailor-made for me, and Handy’s execution is impressive. He covers an amazing amount of ground, switches deftly from one mode of analysis to another, and shares plenty of funny anecdotes and moving reflections on parenthood.

2. Blankets by Craig Thompson (2003)

In this autobiographical graphic novel, Craig, a creative, devout, and deeply lonely teenager in rural Wisconsin, meets his first love, Raina, at a church retreat that otherwise would’ve been miserable. They become pen pals and are finally able to arrange for him to spend a few complicated, wonderful weeks with her and her family. Their relationship and its subsequent fallout drive him to confront his conflicted feelings about his faith, his art, and his family. This is an absolutely beautiful story, complemented perfectly by the wintry landscapes and expressive human figures.

1. Breath by Donna Jo Napoli (2003)

Salz, a twelve-year-old boy in medieval Saxony, is dismissed and sometimes even reviled by most of his community, including his own father and brothers, for the unnamed illness that stunts his growth and makes it difficult to breathe. Still, he’s got a lot going on; he helps his beloved grandmother around the house, studies for the priesthood, and belongs to a secret coven. When an abnormally wet spring drives the rats indoors and causes a strange disease to spread among the locals, Salz’s sharp intellect and thirst for knowledge are more needed than ever. This novel is a historically grounded retelling of “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” where the protagonist has cystic fibrosis, and did I ever think I would type that combination of words? No, I did not, but I am so glad things worked out that way. Napoli’s treatment of disability is unusually gratifying, because she illustrates the essential things that a society loses when it dismisses the sick and disabled (as well as some other marginalized groups, such as women). At the same time, Salz’s family and neighbors aren’t cruel for the sake of cruelty; they’re just uninformed, scared, and/or bad at managing their own problems without lashing out at others, which does not absolve them but makes for a more thoughtful story than if they were just bad seeds. The portrayal of Salz’s struggles to reconcile the different sources of wisdom in his life--Church orthodoxy, pagan folk practices, and the knowledge slowly filtering in from the Arabic world--is also fascinating, plus the pathological mystery makes for a tight, exciting plot. All this in less than 300 pages! And do not get me started on how much I love Großmutter.

[notwhelmedyet]

More than Meets the Eye, beginner’s guide / resources

This guide is long. Use the headings to find the information you need & if you’ve got resources this post lacks send them along!

Has anyone pitched the comic More than Meets the Eye to you yet? It’s a very gay action-adventure comedic drama with robots and you would probably love it (especially if you’re lgbt and/or have good taste). Here’s a few posts/articles that will tell you why you’d love it:

This article review/retrospective was what got me to read MTMTE. (warning - it has a bunch of spoilers, that didn’t bother me but might bother you)

My semi-jokey MTMTE sales pitch

@zzxid’s salespitch with dancing rats

This full entire page of radical space socialist philosophy

15 Reasons Why MTMTE/the sequel is The Best Transformers Comic (warning - has spoilers, though some will prob go over your head as a new reader)

Kiss me, Chromedome - retrospective article by The Guardian, contains some spoilers

How/Where to Read

Okay, maybe you’re convinced. Now you want to know how/where to read MTMTE. Got you covered:

Detailed guide by @gaymilesedgeworth: How to start reading Transformers Comics

My very short answer: just read MTMTE in trade paperback form. That way all the issues are in order and you get all the extra stuff (there are prose stories after a couple issues that are very important so don’t skip them!) They’re available that way as both physical and digital books.

Here’s some ways to get access, legally (US centric, sorry):

If your local library has Hoopla (digital library subscription service), you may have access to some of the MTMTE trades that way. They’d be here; but check if you library has Hoopla first.

Your local library very well might have physical copies, so check their website!

If not and you’re very patient you can often request inter-library loans (your library borrows the books from another library) or request your library purchase materials.

You can buy digital trades via either IDW or Comixology. Comixology also includes the first 5 volumes in their comics subscription service. I’ve seen the series go on sale on both of these sites at least 4 times in the past 6 months, so keep an eye out! (Sometimes IDW participates in humble bundles, which are great, but those sales are far more infrequent)

You can also buy them in trade form from wherever you can buy books/comics. US links: Amazon, B&N, Comic Store Locators

Character Guides

So you’ve picked up this comic and oh boy there are a lot of robots. You’re a little intimidated. Maybe you’re having a hard time telling them apart.

If you have the paperback, there’s a guide to the characters on the back cover/the last page of the digital volume. See a copy here.

It’s okay if you keep reading not knowing who these robots are. For real. You’ll get the hang of it. Don’t worry if it takes you awhile and you’re confused. Everyone’s a little lost the first time through.

Some helpful posts in case you’re struggling:

Here’s a guide that matches appearance -> name, and one that matches name -> background info (both spoiler free for issues 1-22)

A visual guide by @squireofgeekdom​ and @kscinewt​: here

Another helpful visual character guide by @bluering8: here

If you’re confused and need help, please ask! I’m willing to answer questions, I know @gaymilesedgeworth has volunteered to answer new reader questions. (Willing to help out new readers? Lemme know and I’ll make this a list)

Lore & Background Info

Okay, so maybe now you’ve gotten into it. You want more information, you want to know all the background lore, you want to dig deep. Awesome! Got you covered!

The holy grail of Transformers information, TFwiki. A slightly snarky, overly-minutely-detailed wiki for the digital age.

They’ve also got a tumblr if you’ve got questions.

And Chris McFeely, one of the main editors, runs a Youtube series called The Basics where he explains characters/concepts across continuities

The podcast Sound.wav has episodes talking about every issue of MTMTE in great detail.

The writer of More than Meets the Eye, James Roberts, answers fan questions on his twitter. I’ve archived a lot of those questions at @jrtweetsindex​.

More than Meets the Eye has a soundtrack, because of course it does. People have made playlists collecting it on spotify and youtube.

Further Reading

I finished MTMTE, what’s next?

If you want the direct sequel to MTMTE, go straight to Lost Light, the sequel series. It’s still ongoing and (as of right now) 12 issues have been released. There are spoilers for it EVERYWHERE on Tumblr, fair warning.

There are also a bunch of other series within the IDW comics universe, depending on what you’re interested in.

@zandergb has a chronological listing of all the IDW comics

TFwiki summarizes the IDW comics line

alt chronological guide

another guide/reading order.

You don’t have to read all the books! If you want to just read Lost Light/MTMTE, you can do just that.

There’s also a bunch of animated series, which don’t exist in the same continuity as the IDW comics. Some of them are well liked.

@ponett has a guide that’ll help you decide which you’d enjoy

And here’s a brief guide by TFWiki

There’s also the Michael Bay movies which are awful and so is he. Not gonna recommend watching them, but if you wanted to learn about film theory by listening to Lindsay Ellis dissect them, there’s a youtube series for that.

Fan Stuff

Okay...but what about fan content and fanfic and art and community events?

First thing to know: Transformers content is posted on tumblr under the tag Maccadam. (more detailed explanation why) A lot of mtmte content is also under ‘mtmte’, so look there too. I only use Maccadam if I think a post deserves to be seen by a lot of people but opinions vary.

Second thing to know - the sequel to MTMTE, Lost Light is still being published and you will see ALL SORTS OF SPOILERS for it on Tumblr. To mitigate the damage, try blocking “LL Spoilers” “Lost Light Spoilers” and “Wednesday Spoilers”. You cannot avoid it all, so if you don’t want anything spoiled, get caught up on both MTMTE and Lost Light before browsing around Tumblr.

Fanfiction:

Warning! A lot of Transformers fanfiction is smut. Please take a moment to integrate this fact into your understanding of the universe. If you can handle that, go ahead to AO3.

If you’re curious about all the terminology used in those fics, here’s a guide to it (not every writer uses every word, but this will get you started)

If you’re not into the idea of robots having sex, here’s a link to AO3 with my personal best-effort safe-search (no guarantees, relies upon people tagging properly)

And here’s a blog dedicated to recommending good sfw transformers fanfiction

If you want to know more about Transformers fanfic, I did a whole statistical survey of it, cause I’m a dork.

Here’s an old-school Transformers-only fanfic archive (I don’t see a category for IDW comics but maybe you can find somehing)

Fanart&Fanfic Events/Zines/Gift Exchanges/Collaborative Projects:

As many active projects as I could find - I’ll try to keep this one updated

Fan Artists:

(same warning as the fanfic - there’s a goodly amount of transformers pornographic art, be aware of that and block ‘nsfw’ if necessary)

There are a ton of active fanartists who draw IDW Transformers art. If you search a bit under ‘Maccadam’ you’ll find them.

@iaconlibrary reblogs a great deal of fanart & is a great place to start browsing

Roleplay:

If you’re into roleplaying on tumblr @teletrans-comm-unit runs a master list of active rp blogs

Transformers: Lost and Found is a long-running independent game set on the Lost Light

TF:Galaxy appears to be a forum-based tf roleplay game

My Favorite Jokes:

The best amazon review

Emotional labor (nsfw-ish warning)

Bros with Vows

Hands

Conventions:

There are Transformers-specific conventions, which is pretty cool! I know nothing about them but tfwiki has some info: Official and Unofficial conventions.

Regrettable Opinions:

hey this is just a quick guide of things not to do so you don’t hurt other people in the community

Do not compare Megatron to Hitler. The comparison is both vapid and offensive, as Jewish members of this community have pointed out time and again.

Don’t say transphobic/homophobic/racist/antisemitic/sexist things. You’re better than that!

Don’t attack the creators of the books/harass them on social media/make bizarre unfounded accusations of them acting in bad faith

we’re really lucky that JRo and the other creators interact with us & answer questions and don’t you dare screw that up, I’m trusting you.

on a less serious but useful etiquette note: don’t tag creators into negative reviews of their work/people complaining about their work. It’s rude to the creator & the reviewer.

That was a short list but remember to also treat other people with respect & that it’s okay to disengage with content/people that upset you.

Fandom:

There’s a guide on Fanlore, but it’s freakishly outdated and doesn’t even mention the comics. If you’re a informed tf fan maybe you should update it. 😉

Tumblr!

MTMTE is a pretty small community on Tumblr, but there are a few cool folks. Remember, ‘maccadam’ and ‘mtmte’ are your tags of choice

Various websites!

Since the transformers fandom is super old, there are a bunch of dedicated websites with traditional forums to chat on. (most of these are news sites that also contain forums) idk anything about them but maybe forums are your thing:

TFW2005 - big site with a large community but be warned there appear to be more than a few alarmingly bigoted people on that site

TFormers

Cybertron.CA

Allspark.com

Seibertron

I’m gonna throw the IDW TF reddit on this list rather than make a new section

Discord!

there’s at least two active discords at the moment. I know nothing about them or discord, but maybe one of them would be to your liking:

#1 - run by @zzxid

#2 - run by ??

The community is, like all fan communities, is a mix of good and bad, awkward and friendly, opinionated and goofy, self-serious and offensive. You won’t like or agree with everyone and there are some folks you should probably block.

Just find some people who share your general outlook & are interacting with the books in the same way you want to 💕

-Lynn. I have no qualifications to write this guide, I am not an authority of anything. I just really want you to love these books. Last updated on Dec 24, 2017, click through to check for any updates.

image descriptions below cut:

[image 1: Panel from MTMTE of Rewdind and Chromedome kneeling and holding hands while Chromedome says “Rewind, my love, it’s not for me to say.”]

[image 2: Fortress Maximus covered in small brightly colored robots shaped like various animals saying “Don’t worry, my friend, all taken care of.]

[image 3: Swerve holding a cartoonish drawing of Prowl and pointing at it, saying “No! Prowl with the head spikes and the cruel mouth and the - cross all the time! Epically, preemptively, existentially cross! And cold! Supercilious and cold! Imagine Ultra Magnus without the warmth and people skills. How can you not know who Prowl is?”]

[image 4: Trailgate in holomatter form, holding the first issue of More than Meets the Eye and saying: “Besides, I didn’t say I didn’t like it - I just don’t understand all the words. And it presumes a degree of familiarity with the Autobot/Decepticon war that I still don’t have...I suppose there’s always the wiki. Or tumblr...”

Cyclonus from off panel: “I told you to stay off Tumblr.”

Tailgate: “You’re right: spoilers. I want to enjoy it issue by issue - it only goes up to 43.”]

[image 5: Drift smiling a big fake smile and saying: “Anyway - let’s move on.”]

[image 6: A panel of Cyclonus gazing out the window in his dark and empty bedroom with a panel of narration: “Of course we’re not the only ones. This ship is a refuge for the emotionally inarticulate.”]

[blobsreviewsofgame]

Everybody’s Golf (Vita)

Everybody’s Golf (also known as “Everybody’s Golf 6” or “Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational”) is a golf game by Clap Hanz on the PlayStation Vita. I’m reviewing this game because I made a poll on Twitter where I’ve asked what I should take a look at. And because I never played a modern golf game before (besides We Love Golf on Wii, I suppose? I don’t remember much about it), it took quite a while to play/collect my thoughts/to write this. So anyways, let’s get into it.

The singleplayer has 3 modes: Challenge mode, Stroke mode and Training mode.

In challenge mode, you play 9 or 18 holes of golf against 19 CPU players with various objectives. Locations depend on the difficulty, the courses can be in mirror mode and sometimes there can be rain or a time limit for each stroke.

If you do well, you’ll earn points that you can spend in the shop for new characters, balls, golf sets, game artwork and so on. And if you get at least 3rd place in a challenge, you’ll earn a star which you need to face against a challenger that you can unlock in the shop once you beat him/her. 

The courses all have a lot of detail, often have things being in the background (like a train or wildlife) and overall look great for a handheld game from 2011.

And is it just me or are the golf courses designed in such a way that you get punished for trying to be clever and making shortcuts with sandpit?

For a newcomer like me, I suck at golf and can’t imagine getting a hole-in-one ever. Sometimes, I think it’s impossible to hit the ball in a straight line but that seems to just be my imagination. Luckily, there’s an easy mode but unlocking it was a bit odd. It seems that you can only unlock it after losing a lot of times. I don’t understand why they’d do that? Newcomers would need to struggle (and potentially get frustrated) with the game and only then, they’ll get the easy mode. But what does easy mode do? From what I noticed, nothing besides making the score for the CPUs higher so you’ll get 1st place easier and adding a clover leaf to the menu if you used easy mode for the challenge.

Stroke mode lets you start whatever you want to play on and then you just play.

Training mode lets you skip courses, change the wind or redo shots which you’d think helps at learning how to play the game but when I redid the same shot over and over, I noticed that it often changes slightly. I’m not sure if luck is usually involved in golf games but that’s what it looked like to me.

Anyways, the music has this kind of relaxing Wii Sports-feeling to it and the graphics are often really good for running on a handheld. Manga-like graphical effects, like words that pop up for various soundeffects fit the semi-cartoony characters that you can also slightly customize. There’s even some added detail. You can use the rear camera to change the skybox to whatever the camera sees. Sadly, that makes the game nearly unplayable if you’re outside (to make the skybox actually fit the game’s environment) and you can’t make the screen of the Vita bright enough to see anything clearly. If you ever played a Nintendo DS (or 3DS) system outside in sunlight, you’d know what I’m talking about.

You can also touch trees and they actually shake. Using the rear touchpad to play around with the celebratory confetti on the ground is also unnecessary but neat.

Speaking of unnecessary: Your caddy. I don’t like their annoying and useless voice clips, but you can luckily turn that off. I don’t think it’s a big issue because of that, but just wanted to point that out.

There’s also something I’ve only noticed after playing the game for quite a while. If you use the rear touchpad while preparing a stroke, you can scroll with a glove through the golf course in front of you and it’ll tell you the length away from the player and the difference in height compared to the player. Maybe that’s helpful for experts but I couldn’t use it to my advantage. It’s strange the game’s manual never mentioned this feature...

Now let’s move on from singleplayer and look at multiplayer -- oh wait. I don’t know anyone close to me who uses a Vita and/or this game.

Uhm… then what about online mode--

Oh. The servers are dead. Well, that’s not nice.

But would I recommend Everybody’s Golf on Vita? If you want a difficult, great looking and portable singleplayer golf game… then the Switch probably will have one soon, maybe. But if it won’t get one, I suppose this is probably for you. It also came out on PS3 in 2012 apparently so… yeah. If you want an easy golf game, this isn’t for you, I have to say.

[fyeahbatcat]

I Am Suicide: Review

Let’s get this over with.

This arc was published just over a year ago and it was very controversial for good reason. As you may be aware I had some pretty strong feelings last year about the way Tom King chose to introduce Catwoman. I’ll save you the trouble of reading this entire review if you just want to know if I’ve changed my mind about it; I have not.

Honestly there isn’t much story here so this is going to be quick. The story is really a continuation of the first arc “I Am Gotham” which introduced a new character Gotham Girl, because if there’s anything DC loves it’s adding teenagers that Bruce barely knows to reveal is identity to while completely ignoring his other already established long term relationships, but I digress. Long story short: Gotham Girl and her brother emerged as supers in Gotham and briefly tried to work with Batman to help Gotham City. Psycho Pirate and Hugo Strange infected her with fear which became increasingly worse and ran off to Santa Prisca under the protection of Bane. Batman decides to assemble a group of relatively benign rogues, for some reason, to help infiltrate scarier Bane’s lair and retrieve Psycho Pirate to help Gotham Girl.

Batman goes to Arkham Asylum and borrows Bronze Tiger, the insufferable Jewlee and her equally insufferable boyfriend Punch, and Arnold Wesker (the Ventriloquist minus the dummy). Tom King immediately drops a bombshell at the end of the first issue of the arc by revealing that Catwoman is currently on death row on 237 counts of murder. Queue outrage. Batman tells Catwoman that he believes that she is the only person who really understands him and takes her on the mission with him. Catwoman believes, correctly, that this is a thinly veiled plan by Batman to get her taken off of death row in which her cooperation will be exchanged for a life sentence without parole.

Batman arrives on Santa Prisca and tries to fight Bane’s army only to be thrown into what I can only describe as a torture drain. He eventually breaks out and makes his way to Bane’s throne room to confront him. A letter previously sent to Bruce by Selina is juxtaposed via text box where she talks about her childhood and reveals why she committed the murders. Apparently a terrorist organization known as the Dogs of War bombed the orphanage that she grew up in which killed hundreds of innocent children and caretakers for no reason at all. Catwoman hunted down every member of the organization, 237, and murdered them all.

Back in Bane’s lair Catwoman and Wesker sneak in while the rest of the team comes in through the front door (???). Meanwhile Catwoman, who is supposed to remain hidden, pops into Bane’s throne room, double crosses everyone, and reveals Batman’s plans to Bane demanding money and a plane for the information.

The next issue reverts to Batman fighting his way out of Batman’s dungeon this time it’s a letter that Bruce sent to Selina while in Arkham in the background. Bruce tells Selina again that he thinks that she is the only person that understands him and also reveals that he does not believe that she is guilty of the murders that she confessed to and the only reason he had her arrested her for them was because he couldn’t prove it. He vows to prove her innocence and eventually get her freed.

Back in the throne room Bane tries to break Batman’s back again while Catwoman passively watches. Eventually Batman gives her the go-ahead and she breaks Bane’s back saving Batman. So the double-cross was a part of Batman’s plans the entire time. Wesker is able to subdue Psycho Pirate because apparently he is the only one immune to his influence. Something about the dummy. Everyone leaves Santa Prisca on what I can only describe as a gum-boat.

If you had a hard time following any of that it’s because this arc was semi-nonlinear and all over the place. The going back and forth between the past and present was chaotic and while I enjoyed the letters between Bruce and Selina it was in such stark contrast to story happening on panel, and it became distracting. I was to engrossed by the letters that I had to go back to read the issue again just to see what was happening in the present. It was just too much going on at once. I’m also unclear about the purpose for Batman’s little Suicide Squad, since most of them were useless as all hell. Bronze Tiger, Jewelee, and Punch barely did anything for the entire arc so I’m unsure of why they were needed for the mission in the first place. It really could’ve been a three person job.

The letters from Bruce and Selina were by far the best part of the entire story. They were passionate,  honest in a way that they can only be with each other, and added much needed potency to the story. This was the King’s strength in this arc. My favorite part was Selina talking about her childhood. She tells Bruce that her parents abandoned her at a young age and to this day she’s not sure why. She spent time in foster care and didn’t have a good experience, and that the best years of life were at the orphanage established by Bruce’s parents. She reveals that she used to imagine being a part of the “perfect” Wayne family as a child. It was beautiful and heartbreaking.

On Bruce’s end he goes into a long spiel about how ridiculous his parent would think of what he’s become, but he feels like Selina understands him. In a moment of vulnerability he tells Selina about what can be interpreted as either a suicide attempt or a self-harming incident as a child and how this was the moment that Bruce decided to dedicate/sacrifice his life by waging a war against the criminals of Gotham. He is suicide in that sense. “It’s not funny. It’s the choice of a boy. The choice to die. I am Batman. I am suicide.”

As much as loved much of the letters, they were not without fault. Knowing what we know today, that Catwoman did not in fact murder anyone and that she was taking the fall for a friend, kind of reduces some of the authenticity of Selina’s letter. Of course at the time it was intended to inform the audience as to why Catwoman allegedly murdered a comedically high number of people, so I guess I won’t nitpick. Where I will nitpick is at the end of Catwoman’s letter when she basically tells Batman that she believes that the day he gives up hope will be the day they can be together. One of the best things about Batman and Catwoman relationship is how she inspires hope for him for a happier, brighter future. For her to hope that he loses faith is pretty twisted.

I think that King’s version of batcat, and his run in general, is a darker version where they feel tied to each other by tragedy. King, who used to be in the CIA, has obviously seen some shit and maybe making Catwoman a supposed murderer was to project some of those horrors vicariously through Catwoman, which I do not think is appropriate and the timing could not have worse. Catwoman’s own series had been cancelled months prior and this was the first time in 23 years that she had not been starring or co-starring in her own series. Not to mention this was Catwoman’s first appearance both in the Batman book since New 52 (yes, Catwoman actually did not appear in Batman for over five years) and in Rebirth and the first time we’re seeing her is in a spit mask and a straitjacket. Not a good choice and he deserved all of the criticism he got for it at the time.

I can’t say that I’m in love with this more tragic version of batcat but I’m trying to keep an open mind. I’m also not sure that I completely understood King’s suicide metaphor. From my understanding because Batman has dedicated his life to crime fighting at the cost of his personal happiness and fulfillment he is essentially committing spiritual suicide? I don’t know. It was a bit on the nose and it came off as a bit pretentious in the text. So Alan Moore is obsessed with sexual violence and Tom King is obsessed with suicide. Lovely.

If there was anything flawless about this arc it’s Mikel Janin’s art and the coloring. He brings every action sequence to life with intense attention to details and he even manages to make a perpetually naked Bane look attractive. 

All in all this story was a bit of a mess and I while I for the most part loved the letters between Bruce and Selina that was the only part I loved. It’s also a good thing that I’m reading this now after knowing what we know instead of last year when it was published when I still had New 52 vision, because I would’ve absolutely hated this.

6/10

[onlinefriednoodles]

Pursuit in Mobility - Reviews and Comparisons of selected Architectural Exhibition

*This is a course assignment (´・ω・`)

*This is a course assignment (´・ω・`)

*This is a course assignment (´・ω・`)

2. Mobility

2.1 Emblem of Freedom

 A house in general, is a covered structure on a piece of given land. Under such definition, how can human pursue the maximum freedom in the given space? The project in Weissenhof Estate, Stuttgart was one of the possible answer given by Le Corbusier, by adapting the new construction technologies. Mobility could be seen everywhere in this specific project: in the sketches of “four compositions”, the no.3 described as “Cubic composition” was the “House in Stuttgart”. [Fig.1] One can observe clearly that the spatial quality was already more mobile than other sketches, for that the sketch has strong emphasis on the pilotis and the free spaces around the central closed hatch, even more obvious than the sketch below indicated the later and more famous Villa Savoye.

 Fig.1 Le Corbusier: Four Compositions

And it is “à propos of the Werkbund exhibition in Stuttgart that Le Corbusier formulated his ‘Five Points of a New Architecture’.”[1] The concept of lifting up the building has distinctly influenced from cars. “A house like a car”, the radical and enthusiastic man “defined the type-elements of a house”.[2] The most critical pilotis are exactly playing the same character as tires of vehicles, the key element that frees the house from the fixed ground. Flat roofs, ribbon windows… All these typical elements that construct a car, then had been introduced into housing. He went so far that some criticism described the house as “a nomadic tent of concrete and glass.”[3]

 Mobility at that time, conceivably, meant the more changeable and non-restricted boundary of spaces and unblocked connections within the give sites. From the technical drawings for the houses [Fig.2 and Fig.3], it is lucid that unlike in the traditional houses with tight and thick divisions of rooms, people were welcome to move inside the house as they wish, just as moving from one carriage to another during a journey on the train. However, ironically, the long and linear 70-cm-wide corridor in the paired house, “of the same width as the corridor in every railroad car in the world”, caused so much inconvenience in practical use. “In practice, this ‘emergency corridor’ was hardly ever used.”[4] The master architect put so much attention to a perfect visual quality to achieve Mobility as that in cars, and somehow in a way, lost his well-known principles of a comfortable human scale in details. But his manifesto of the Five Points did become an Emblem of Freedom in architectural world and soon has been regarded part of the principles to define an architecture as modern or not.

   Fig.2 & 3: Le Corbusier: Drawings of HOUSE 13, 14, 15

2.2    Integrated in the House

 Perhaps because of a main background of industrial design, despite the tentative plan of making 1-to-1-scale exhibitions, at the outset the committee of House Vision had never thought to make permanent projects as Stuttgart. Even the latest House Vision 3 in Beijing turned to make more realistic and generally more house-like models, the whole series of exhibitions are more like a large installation expo. The House Vision 1 in Tokyo, was “imagined as an open space of approximately 15,000 square meters…an event venue with a roof”, with the theme of “Build Houses in New Common Senses”.

“It is the ‘House’ that House Vision wants to present, but concentration on displaying the interior rather than architectures for competing appearance.”[5]

 No wonder that the whole venue arranged by Kengo Kuma was just like an ultra-transparent factory, with single level pavilions simply constructed using relatively thin square steels, all completed in two weeks. [Fig.4] But coincidentally, the open pavilions became a great opportunity of showing a house with a new definition of Mobility, and similarly the car again got its central spot in the design concept. Honda is the world’s largest motorbike maker all the time from 1959, and well-known for its empire of vehicles and robotics. The company has developed a complete product line of light-weight mechanical assistants for close range movement, even the very short and frequent movements indoor. Collaborating with Sou Fujimoto, they tried to integrate the whole system into the pavilion and make “the movement tools as part of the house”.[6]

Fig.4 HARA Kenya: Layout of HOUSE VISION 1

The design team elucidated their disagreement of making the house “a shelter that separate interior from exterior, individual from the public.”[7] The pure white pavilion had three layers of the convex roof with same angle of slope, indicating 3 layers of spaces: the interior, the semi-interior and the exterior.[Fig.5] Correspondingly the interior programs were fairly simple: a bedroom, a bathroom, an open kitchen with long dining table, and the surrounding and continue corridor-like spaces for gardening and relaxation. [Fig.6] The light-weight vehicles were scattered all over the house, instructing the recommended situations of usage, for instance the UNI-CUB was parking quietly near the dining table as part of the chairs, revealing the possible scene that resident can use it to move to the table and remain seated to have meals. [Fig.7] Green is the most eye-catching bright color in this project: large panels of plant walls were used to define rooms rather than fixed closed walls; potted plants were set to create an environmental friendly impression.

Fig.5: Sou FUJIMOTO: Sections of the House of Mobility and Energy

Fig.6 : Sou FUJIMOTO: Drawings of the House of Mobility and Energy

Fig.7: Nacasa&Partners Inc. : Photos of the House of Mobility and Energy

From the diagrams and descriptions provided by the design team, one can clearly see that they wanted to create seamless transit between indoor and outdoor, or furthermore attempted to turn the transit system into part of the energy system for the house. [Fig.8] In his article in the documentation book, Sou Fujimoto described the ideal future as follows:

 “Henceforth, if the robotic technology could continue to develop, maybe one day, things like air chairs will surround us, following the calling commands and let us sit whenever we want. And furniture would move all over around as well; appliances would fly to people when they want to use them. Through the communication between human and machines, the wonderful world will keep spreading; the boundary of human and furniture, and of human and space will turn to invisible.”[8]

 Fig.8: Honda: Concept Diagram for the House of Mobility and Energy

2.3    Land, City, Planet

 It seems kind of natural that the narrative in China turned so grand and massive, considering Chinese tend to think on a larger scale. The theme for China House Vision was “New Gravity”, as a metaphor of the dramatically changing social reform and the uncertain future the country is facing. Kengo Kuma expressed his expectation in the foreword: “I look forward to seeing the new trend shaking the traditional concept of ‘House’.”[9] Following the guideline, LI Hu, the Lead Architect of OPEN Architecture, chose an exaggerated way to study his “New Gravity”---- the gravity on Mars. In the interview of Kenya Hara, Yung Ho Chang and LI Hu, he explained his concern for the environment, a popular topic in East Asia and the world:

 “… A similar effort on our other public project, to express our rethink to the current time, and try to convey some message to the public---- that human activities have caused irreparable damage to Earth, to this situation what can we do? Constantly thinking such questions, we therefore want to challenge the life pattern in extreme environment. We proposed building a ‘House’ on Mars, and actually through this ‘House’, asking audience a completely opposite question: Are we really going to Mars? In what way can we avoid going? ”[10]

Thus the MARS Case was born, and Mobility changed from movement among places in the city scale, to the mobility of the house itself. Actually nowadays going to Mars is not an unfamiliar issue anymore, profit-seeking entrepreneurs love to talk about applying their products in the outer space, among whom Elon Musk is one of the most standing. To make their proposal distinct from the other travelling capsule, the design team proposed the House as “a collection of Appliances; in other word, create a home by the linkage of appliance”[11], probably due to the collaboration with Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company with strong determination to develop industrial ecosphere for home automation.

 The MARS Case consisted of two part: a fixed small high-tech metal-shelled space with all the utilities and a bubble space for living. [Fig.9] As for the fixed part, the team decided the space in a scale of 2.4x2.4x2m for fulfilling minimal living standards, meanwhile all the appliances were embedded on the wall, including kitchen tools, a toilet, air conditioners, a washing machine, etc. According to their concept, the bubble, made of shape-memory material in near future, shall be able to be folded and the whole structure would turn into “a Suitcase”, perfect for interplanetary journeys. After setting up on the campsite of the new planet, the bubble can provide volcano-shaped windows for vision connection with exterior, and the extended space for sleeping and relaxing. Though designed in an isolated way, the team did not give up on making community. In the perspective rendering provided [Fig.10], a possible form of linkage was shown to suggest assumption of collective living and formation of a “smart community” under extreme conditions. LI Hu wanted the house to be not only a suitcase, but also a prototype that in the future people can consider to use as mobile homes in vocations.

Fig.9: OPEN Architecture: Concept Drawing of MARS Case

Fig.10:  OPEN Architecture: Concept Drawing of MARS Case

Compared with the previous two projects, the MARS Case has a much stronger tendency to depict a utopian future. Despite the opposite question the architect wanted the audience to rethink, the option of not going to Mars, the team actually tried to picture a perfect plan with smallest living space and simultaneously maintaining the comfort. The mobility within the house was regarded less important; even the mobility of appliances was restricted in a way, because the space was too small and too fixed to make any further personal adjustment. In exchange, the mobility of the house has been greatly emphasized; at least in the proposal people would be capable to take “the suitcases” along travels from stars to stars. From a piece of land, to cities, to the outer spaces, architects finally could not resisted the concept of Mobility planet-widely.

[1] Kirsch, K., Kirsch, G., & Britt, D., The Weissenhofsiedlung: Experimental housing built for the Deutscher Werkbund, Stuttgart (New York: Rizzoli, 1927), 111.

[2] Kirsch, K., Kirsch, G., & Britt, D., The Weissenhofsiedlung: Experimental housing built for the Deutscher Werkbund, Stuttgart (New York: Rizzoli, 1927), 114.

[3] Kirsch, K., Kirsch, G., & Britt, D., The Weissenhofsiedlung: Experimental housing built for the Deutscher Werkbund, Stuttgart (New York: Rizzoli, 1927), 117.

[4] Kirsch, K., Kirsch, G., & Britt, D., The Weissenhofsiedlung: Experimental housing built for the Deutscher Werkbund, Stuttgart (New York: Rizzoli, 1927), 114.

[5] Kenya HARA, Executive committee of HOUSE VISION (2018). HOUSE VISION 2013 TOKYO EXHIBITION, China: CITIC Press Corporation,12

[6] Kenya HARA, Executive committee of HOUSE VISION (2018). HOUSE VISION 2013 TOKYO EXHIBITION, China: CITIC Press Corporation,62

[7] Kenya HARA, Executive committee of HOUSE VISION (2018). HOUSE VISION 2013 TOKYO EXHIBITION, China: CITIC Press Corporation,44

[8] Kenya HARA, Executive committee of HOUSE VISION (2018). HOUSE VISION 2013 TOKYO EXHIBITION, China: CITIC Press Corporation,46.

[9] Kenya HARA, Executive committee of HOUSE VISION (2018). HOUSE VISION 2018 BEIJING EXHIBITION, China: CITIC Press Corporation,14

[10] Kenya HARA, Executive committee of HOUSE VISION (2018). HOUSE VISION 2018 BEIJING EXHIBITION, China: CITIC Press Corporation,27

[11] Kenya HARA, Executive committee of HOUSE VISION (2018). HOUSE VISION 2018 BEIJING EXHIBITION, China: CITIC Press Corporation,70

[live4fiction]

For @mojave-red and @durkin62

How to become a U.S. citizen from usa.gov (linked)

You must:

- Have had a Permanent Resident (Green) Card for at least five years, or for at least three years if you’re filing as the spouse of a U.S. citizen

- If you apply for naturalization less than six months before your Permanent Resident Card expires, or do not apply for naturalization until your card has already expired, you must renew your card.

- You can apply for naturalization before you receive your new Green Card, but you’ll need to submit a photocopy of the receipt of your Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, when you receive it.

- Meet certain eligibility requirements including being

- At least 18 years old at the time of filing

- Able to read, write, and speak basic English

- A person of good moral character

- Go through the ten step naturalization process which includes

- Determining your eligibility to become an American citizen

- Preparing and submitting form N-400, the application for naturalization

- Taking the U.S. Naturalization Test and having a personal interview

1 - “a person of good moral character” is subjective and any bias held by an interviewer or just one accidental screw up from the interviewee can be the difference between citizenship and going back.

2 - to recieve a green card, you enter your name into what is known as the “green card lottery” (linked)

3 - there are up to 15 forms you must fill out to be considered a citizen, but that gives NO guarantees

How to be eligible for gun ownership based on information from The Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (linked) and the Council of Foriegn Relations (linked)

- be over the age of 18

- haven’t recieved it from someone from another state

- cannot be a felon

- mentally disabled (not including suicidal, anger issues, depression, etc.)

No, I did not look into specifics based on state legislatures (I know that it’s different by state).

As for comparing the US to other countries... (Information from the Council of Foreign Relations and NPR, linked)

- We are only 5% of the world’s population but we have 35-50% of the world’s civilian owned guns.

- We are #1 in firearms per capita.

- The US gun homicide rate of 2016 was higher than pakistan, who was in a war at the time.

- Canada, after a school shooting that killed 14 children, added into the legislation a 28 day waiting period, mandatory safety courses, detailed background checks, a ban on large capicity magazines, and a ban on military grade weaponry.

- Australia, also after a horrible mass shooting that killed 35 people, basically banned all assult rifles, semi automatic and automatic, and bought back 1/6 of the of the national stock of assult weapons (around 600,000). After this, they proceeded to mandate that you needed both a “genuine need” for a firearm and safety courses.

- In Israel, where almost all 18 year olds are drafted into the military, there is a ban on assult weapons! You must also register ownership of each gun with the government, be 21, become licensed, and have a genuine need.

- In Japan, where the likelihood of being shot is 1 in 10 million, they have some of the strictest gun laws. Many kinds of guns are banned and to recieve a gun you must have formal training, written/mental/drug tests, and a rigorous background check.

To @fallen-sjw: I probably will! I’m curious to see if its like the national standard or if where I live makes it easier or harder.

To @ian-wins: I do agree that, in some ways, stricter laws can’t help. However, I disagree with the idea that gun laws are indeed getting stricter. Maybe in specific states, but in the eyes of the federal government, very little change has been made. If you have evidence against that, please link it to me! I’d love to read it.

To @clarityofchaos: can you show me some evidence? I’d love to read through it! If it is true, then different laws should be in order.

Does this answer the responses I got that were constructive? Hopefully! If not, I’ll research more and add. But please people... use good evidence and research, not just opinions. I try to :)

Hey, US government, I have a suggestion!

Look… I know you want to keep your guns. But a lot of people want to feel safer.

So, here’s an idea. Why don’t you make the process to get a gun very similar (if not identical) to the process of recieving citizenship?

I mean, if you say coming to the US as an immigrant isn’t that hard, you should be fine then. Right~?

[alice-chan-chan]

After writing this post about coloring manga caps and anime sketches I suddenly thought that it might be useful to take a look at some examples of my own colorings. Since I am an amateur and  still learning, I’ve been making a lot of mistakes. ^^ It’s useful  to know  not only “how to”, but “how to not” as well. :)

Some examples are under the cut (please ignore backgrounds and animation effects, they are not relevant).

1) my 1st manga coloring ever - February 2015.

all the colors are applied above the “lineart” in semi-transparent mode because the lines of the lineart were not separated from the background. The colors are pale, there are no shadows and lights other than the ones from the source manga cap.

2) another one from July 2015:

Looks slightly better because there were almost no “colored” dark areas on the cap. Also, I edited the lines because they looked too sharp. First, I blurred the layer a little. Then, I sharpened it. I also painted the missing lines on the hair and the shirt and erased the speech bubbles.

3) October 2015:

The same thing with blurring and sharpening; erased some parts of the white background; learned to paint colors above the source image while making the layer with it less visible; attempted to add more lights and shadows myself. As you can see, this coloring looks less pale, but the color scheme is quite terrible. x)

4) and here comes something entirely new: I tried to vector an anime screen cap and recolor it anew (January 2016)

All the lights and shadows are based off my imagination, I wanted to change the source of light and came up with my own version of shading. The lineart is in different colors depending on the areas (blue for the hair, grey for the jacket, etc.) The lineart layer is placed atop of all the others. Still very amateur-like, but looks better than everything previous, I guess.

5) May 2016, an official anime lineart colored by me:

The lineart was separated from the background according to the method described in the tutorial I’ve mentioned in my own so-called tutorial. Lines of the t-shirts were painted by me bcos the character was naked on the original character sheet. :) It was a plain lineart, no shadows or lights marked, so everything is based off my imagination. Shadows are terrible as usual, the highlighted areas on the hair look lame. ^^

6) December 2016, another manga coloring:

The lineart consists of 2 layers: a SAI vector layer which shows how bad I am at vectoring manga caps, and the layer of the source manga cap, with the background removed. I erased the speech bubbles and repainted the missing parts (with vector). All the colors/shades/lights were put beyond these 2 layers, with the layer of the source manga cap being semi-transparent. The eyes are painted on another layer above the “lineart” with a brush.

Obvious mistakes: too many filters applied, the highlights on the hair became almost invisible as well as the shadows everywhere, the face became too pale, the coat suddenly became slightly orange. XD The vector lines of the lineart are visibly clumsy and rough.

7) February 2017:

Another manga coloring. I tried to create the lineart layer the way I described it in my so-called tutorial, for the first time.

Mistakes: too many filters again, all the added shadows were lost, the hair lost its color and became white, the face became too pale. x)

Minor details that I like: the ear looked incomplete, so I painted it with vector and used the color corresponding with the skin color for this tiny vector. :)

8) February 2017, an official anime sketch colored by me:

Used the method of removing the background from the lineart the same way as previously, for the 2nd time in my life. XD Picked all the colors from an official art. Painted shadows and lights according to the marked areas of the source sketch. Attempted to change opacity of the shadows on the skin in some areas, by using semi-transparent eraser on the layer with shadows (by the way, I say “semi-transparent” because I do not remember the exact opacity, of course).

The most obvious mistakes are flowers. They look terrible because the coloring is too rough and the colors are too random, let alone the roses must have been yellow, not red... x) Another obvious mistake: I forgot to recolor the area of the lineart where the bandages are. I recolored those that are on the neck, and forgot about the ones on the hands. x)

All in all, this coloring looks the best among those that I’ve put in this post. XD It has more issues than I’ve mentioned though. I tried to point out the major ones, the most obvious ones. x)

All my colorings are usually tagged as “manga coloring” or “fan coloring”, by the way. But I use these tags for any fan colored images, my own and the ones that I reblogged.

If someone survived through this wall of terribly worded text and images, I congratulate you on your persistence. :) I hope this post was amusing and informative enough. :) I also hope that my coloring skills will improve... I need much more practice though. :)

[juniorkoyama]

How this blog came about

   To be completely honest, I am incredibly hesitant to even write this post. Even now, I am quite literally debating whether or not to erase this and change subjects. I have to consciously force my fingers to type these words. But I made a promise to post at least once per day, and I have not had the time or inspiration to churn out a bulk production of material as of yet. So, as the digits on my monitor tick steadily closer to the midnight deadline of a new calendar day, I find myself at a loss as to subject matter. A couple of hours ago, I toyed with the idea of casually letting just this one day slide. “I can make it up tomorrow by posting twice...”. But a promise is a promise and I made the promise of posting daily in order to better myself and in the hopes of making writing (something I have always been attracted to, and feel fairly capable of) into a habit. As I was simultaneously persuading and dissuading myself in regards to posting today, I found myself wanting for subject matter. Nothing seemed fun, inspiring, intriguing. So, I thought, maybe I should just provide a little background on myself and how I found myself in this situation.

    The quick version (I promise I will post more on this and elaborate heavily in the future, think of this as an introduction) is that I absolutely hate to appear vulnerable, show weakness, or feel incapable. I also despise using any disability or setback as a crutch and an excuse to not be the best you can be, and to not accomplish what you want in life. The reality is that over the past 5 to 6 years I have felt an ever increasing presence of all those things which perturb me, as well as much other pain and hardship. You see, on my 33rd birthday, I was finally diagnosed (after several years of unknown and ever increasing physical ailments, and waning physical performance) with Late Stage Lyme Disease, which becomes known as Chronic Lyme Disease or Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome if the symptoms continue to persist one year or longer after antibiotic treatment.

    Before becoming infected with borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria which is responsible for Lyme Disease, I was carving out a career in the restaurant industry. I hesitate to say “I was a chef”, because that term is thrown around all too often and far too gratuitously. I got my first restaurant job at the age of 17 as a dishwasher, and moved my way up through the ranks (not at the same establishment, but through many different restaurants) to eventually be a lead cook. I attended and graduated from Le Cordon Bleu with a degree in Culinary Arts. I then worked at several other restaurants and held various positions, from Prep Cook to Sous Chef, and eventually opened my own food business. Notice, at no point have I even said I was a ‘Chef‘... yes, I held a couple of positions as Sous Chef, but, in case you are wondering, or perhaps do not know, CHEF is a position, a title, an earned demarcation which entails lots of blood, sweat and tears, and it denotes a certain element of respect within the restaurant community. So, yes, I have held a position as a chef, but I am not a chef. I unapologetically state, right here and now, that it is a personal pet peeve of mine when ‘Chef’ is thrown around willy-nilly. I know, many people do it because they think they are being respectful or polite, and some companies call all cooks ‘Chefs’ in order to.... well I don’t really know why, except maybe to make their company seem more prestigious than it really is? Perhaps this is a skewed and negative perception, perhaps it is the truth. At any rate, if you are someone who calls anyone in the professional kitchen ‘Chef’ please refrain from now on, as it is not as respectful as you perhaps intend, and likely makes you seems much less knowledgeable than you surely are. Don’t worry, there will be plenty more rants and raves about restaurant industry happenings in the future of this blog, so, if it is something you enjoy, stay tuned!

    I digress, and to bring things back round to the crux, I was a career restaurant employee, and it is a highly demanding job, physically, mentally and temporally. To sum things up (as I said earlier, I will elaborate on everything in much more detail in upcoming posts), I ended up having to routinely quit new cooking jobs after only a few months, sometimes only a couple days weeks, of work. I became worried about my health, as it felt like I had the flu (minus the gastrointestinal issues) for nearly two whole years, and it had taken a toll on my physical, mental and emotional well being. It certainly didn’t do anything positive for my résumé either. I didn’t have health insurance, and was quickly finding it difficult to pay my bills. Finally things got to the point that I was unemployed and essentially bed ridden due to chronic fatigue and constant peripheral neuropathy - you know, that fun feeling of all your nerves and muscles constantly burning. I found this particular peculiarity highly intriguing, and it got me to researching possible diagnoses of my symptoms (self diagnosing is NEVER a good idea, just don’t do it... seriously, don’t... you’ll make things far worse than they really are) and set me on a quest to obtain consistent medical evaluation for the uninsured and broke. Eventually I came across a clinic which met these criteria, and I ended up telling my physician that I basically felt like I always had the flu, and that my muscles always burned. The best way I could describe this was being akin to when you are doing a heavy toning workout lifting weights, and you near the end of your final set, when your muscles literally feel like they are on fire and you push through those last, glorious few reps which make you feel so incredibly accomplished. It turns out, as a matter of fact, that there is a very specific biological reasoning to this highly descriptive feeling of this very specific symptom of Lyme Disease.

    And so there were many schedulings of appointments at various places, I was insanely fortunate to get an absolutely incredible medical team who actually wanted to get to the root of my problems and figure this thing out. After three rounds of blood work, for a total of 10 vials of blood, and several months (all heavily laden with doctor’s appointments) of waiting for results, I got the diagnosis. It was a bittersweet discovery, on the one hand it felt great because now there was a course of action to combat a known enemy, on the other hand it was almost worse than not knowing, because so little is known on a clinical level regarding the treatment of Late Stage Lyme Disease.

    You see, most Lyme Disease cases are diagnosed within 3-6 months of contraction. If this is the case, a short course of antibiotics and a small bit of follow up evaluation, and Bob’s your uncle, you’re back to your old self. If, however, you remain infected and undiagnosed for years rather than months, well, then the bacteria really wreak havoc on your body and play a little game of their own called “your symptoms are gonna go ahead and persist even after you kill us”. So, basically, even after diagnosis and treatment, I am still unable to function ‘normally’, as I used to. I am unable to work a ‘normal’ job like a ‘normal’ person. I can’t be relied on to show up for scheduled shifts or appointments with any sort or regularity due to my continuing symptoms. I had to figure out something to do with my life to give it purpose again.

    Writing is something I have always enjoyed, it’s been something that I have always found a comfortable creative outlet, and it has steadily rode sidecar in my brain throughout my life; constantly, though gently, pushing me to dedicate myself to it in one way or another while my conscious brain made all sorts of excuses why I shouldn’t pursue it. After a bit of thought, and a few brainstorms of various writing avenues, I decided to start this blog. I like the idea of the freedom it offers. I don’t have to write about only one thing for any length of time or number of characters, which is ideal because I love learning and sharing knowledge about so many things. I don’t even have to stick to one style of writing, and can fill in posts with pictures and other media if fitting (or if I’m lazy!).

    I thank you for bearing with me for this bit of a ramble. I usually am very disciplined about editing my work, I hate for anything to go out with errors. Today is an exception. As I finish writing this, my mind is clouded, I am about twice as tired and sore as I was an hour ago when I began this post, my forearms are burning and I find it increasingly difficult to keep track, keep course, and stay on topic in any sort of coherent and naturally flowing fashion. My vocabulary steadily declines, and my focus diminishes. I normally read through and re edit anything I write which meets another persons eyes with dogged determination so as to present my best possible work. I re-read through for continuity and flow, check for grammatical, syntactical and punctuation errors. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to proof reading an editing. But, as I said a bit ago, today is an exception as I feel the Lyme Disease winning this fight. I want to go on, to clarify points, to expand on particular events, it takes all my self restraint to NOT proof read and edit, but there will be plenty of time and opportunities for all of this later. I know this post is a bit of incohesive and semi- stream of consciousness writing. But thank you for reading, and, hopefully, not judging too harshly. Enjoy this rarity of unedited spew of speech placed in to text, for I am not going to read back through or edit this before posting. Hopefully I do not read it back tomorrow in a pool of regret, but c’est la vie, non?

Junior

[goodgameposts]

Yakuza 6 Preview Based On The Demo

This anticipated title in SEGA's long running series will release next week on April 17, 2018. A demo for the game was released recently and I have some impressions noted down in this Yakuza 6 preview. Firstly, this is coming from someone who has never played any of the other Yakuza titles before. So, forgive me for any mistakes in regards to story and character details. Yakuza 6 Demo includes the entire prologue of the full game. It is a whopping 30GB+ in size so is bigger than a lot of full games despite being a demo. It opens up with main character Kazuma Kiryu drinking in a bar making conversation with the barmaid. Suddenly, a drunk person who is presumably from a rival gang from Kiryu's past starts a fight with him. This context allows for a relevant and suitable tutorial to be implemented for the combat system. The first thing I compared the fighting too was actually Tekken - the fire coming off from punches and kicks made it so. The game does a good job at quickly teaching you how to evade, move and deliver different combos. Yakuza 6 allows the player to use the environment as appropriate to make fights more dynamic. I found this impressive - if there's a bin closeby Kiryu can make use of it to his advantage. There is also a powered up mode when a special gauge reaches a certain point which, as expected, allows Kiryu to deal stronger attacks. Good executions of combos reward players will cool quick time event style cinematics. In all, the battle system is easy to grasp and it's nice to see it's done with good old fists instead of your typical firearm or sword. The introduction sequence before you can explore is quite long. It is 45 minutes in length after the first fighting tutorial. Now, this may be offputting to certain players and that's okay. It's ultimately about what you look for in a game. Similar to Metal Gear Solid, Yakuza is very story and character driven. Hence, this Yakuza 6 preview will give quite a unique perspective as my background does inlude loving the Metal Gear series. So naturally, I was able to enjoy the long cinematics despite missing all references and so forth. I will say it is a necessity to play the previous titles to fully enjoy Yakuza 6, just like Metal Gear. What really got me hooked was the character relationships and the implementation of music. Being a Japanese game - as Japanese developers are great with this most of the time - I was not surprised by this at all. The game immediately attempts to show the connection between Kiryu and his niece Haruka who is very worried about Kiryu's fate being an ex-gang-member-who-may-go-back-in-a-gang and it's all heart warming. The series seems to show the concept that love is unconditional regardless of someone's else background as what you'd expect in real life.

Yakuza 6 WILL make you care about it's characters Further, the music's use of pianos, violins, slow tempos and rhytm complement these strong emotional moments seamlessly. This is coming from someone who has just been introduced to these characters. Those who have a proper background of them are in for one heck of a treat. The entire voice track is subbed exclusive and thank god it isn't anything else. All of the characters in this game are Japanese, it is based in Japan with a strong attention to detail and culture. By hearing people who look Japanese speak Japanese, it only shows true dedication to getting the player immersed in the context of it's world. Another cool aspect I enjoyed about the production values was how the characters were introduced. Very much like Kill Bill, characters first shown have their name displayed in a comic book strip manner. Further, the attention to detail in character facial expressions, skin and even human anatomy provides a real sense of immersion. Outside of cutscenes however, this touches are understandably lost and interactions with NPCs can feel more robotic like most games. Kiryu's objective this time is to find his missing niece who he was hoping to see again after his sentence in jail ended. Yakuza 6 then allows you to free roam to a certain extent if you want to from this objective. Here, you can visit restaurants to buy food which provide certain stats power ups. There are side quests which can be encountered, mostly voiced too, which are intriquing. After all, who wouldn't want to track down missing cats from a cat cafe? Such events allow the player to see different sides to protagonist Kiryu too. The semi-open world in Yakuza 6 does offer the player to get involved in street brawls too to gain experience. With enough experience, you can level up certain abilities and unlock more, as expected. The main issue I found was the hilariously immersion breaking aspect where police officers would do absolutely nothing if the player chooses to have a brawl with a group of gangster-wannabes in the middle of day light. The walking by pedestrains don't seem to care much either, they like to cheer you on without any seeming distressed. With the level of detail the game usually pays attention to, these observations painfully stick out. There are other mini-games like karaoke which are actually of a concern to me too. Here you have Kiryu, a serious guy looking to track down his lost beloved niece. Yet, the next thing you see might be this...

''BRB Haruka, need to bust some moves first!'' Again, this just goes back to the issue of breaking immersion. To be fair, this is completely optional after all. There are more optional activities Kiryu can get involved in. These even include trying out arcade machines and even getting drunk. The arcade machine games are legit 16 bit style old school Atari like games. They are genuinely fun to play and serve as a nice break from the main game. The Yakuza 6 demo itself is stil available to download. You can easily get around 3 hours of a good taste of the full game - something you should expect with a full on 30GB download! As someone new to the series, this Yakuza 6 preview I gathered by playing the demo has definitely spiked my interest not only in Yakuza 6 but the entire series. For someone like myself who always wants to fully appreciate any title, it would be necessary to experience the stories of all the previous games. Apart from some immersion breaking observations, I really enjoyed my time with the Yakuza 6 demo and yes, I'd definitely recommend trying it out to see if the full game is for you. GG (Pros) Level of immersion, for the most part, is done extremely well due to the use of Japanese voices, cultural refences, character and city detail. Use of suitable music fits emotional scenes and such scenes easily cause the player to care about the game's story and characters Character building moments are well focused on and allow for a strong sense of appreciation of the main character's perspectives and struggles No GG (Cons) Long cutscenes and reliance on playing the previous games to fully appreciate it is not for everyone Completely context breaking gameplay moments can cause disbelief Yakuza 6 releases on April 17 2018 for the PlayStation 4. I hope this Yakuza 6 preview was informative. In more Yakuza news, a remake of one of the series' earliest games is coming soon too. GG Read the full article