#other than the lack of bugs and the fact that it runs well (which is nice!) i am disappointed

[dyrrn]

i wish i could enjoy da:tv but it's just... bad. in a lot of ways. i'm not going to go on a whole hater rant but how the hell is anyone giving this a 10/10? it's 4/10 for me at absolute best

[andauserene]

Star Eyes

This is the part 2 of my Oshi no Ko!Transformers x Reader and this is the part 1. Sorry for the long wait, factors such as time, energy and activity took me too long to make the part 2🫂🙏🏻 (3 months missing-)

Warnings!! : mention of blackmailing, some suggestive parts (interpret on your own), mention of social anxiety, fluff and overall just sweet reader gets consoled by her Cybertronian lover(s).

Optimus Prime

That Saturday, there's only you and Raf on the base while Miko and Jack both are busy with their own thing - well, it's not like you want or need to know, anyway.

"Hey, Raf. Could you teach me the basics to hack?" You softly ask at him, kneeling down to Raf who types something on his laptop. The said boy turned his attention to you as he smiles. "Oh, sure [Y/N]. I didn't know you're interested in computer science." he gives you a tilting head look and confused one, but you only smile, with those dark star eyes.

The more you learnt about hacking, the greater you get at it. You even know how to hack surveillance data of the nearby cameras. And you can hack on someone else's personal drives. Which you don't even bother to check what's inside. "Not important..." you'd mutter to yourself. That's not what you're looking, after all. No. It's not.

Everything went great so far, but your eyes telling a whole different story. The others, oblivious to the reason why your star pupils are black and dark, just believe in your deception that "Oh yes, this is fine. This is normal. It'll return back to normal anytime soon." Which won't happen, unless someone put a halt on it.

...

Now, here you are. Snatched from where the kids are by Optimus as he brings you with his servo towards his berth. What is he doing? Well, he's just staring into your eyes. Organic, little eyes met metal, big optics. He doesn't say anything, as if he silently demands you to explain. Which you only respond by looking down.

"Little one," he speaks up after the eerie silence, making you instantly look up to him, "care to elaborate?" he gestures your eyes, and you only look down, "it's fine, Optimus. It will return to normal again."

Oh, how the Prime actually wants to believe that, had it not been the fact that you're so obsessed in blackmailing some certain people.

"[Y/N], look at me," he speaks up again, using one of his digits to lift up your chin, "please do not lie to me. I love you very dearly, and if the lack of time I give you makes you feel unloved, then I apologize to you from the depth of my spark..."

He apologies, and he looks at your soul. Slowly but surely, there are more tears flowing through your eyes. Of course Optimus notices this, and he whispers so gently to you.

"What is bothering you?" he coos softly, wiping a few tears away. "I don't know... people are very annoying to me lately, and that one girl keeps bugging me to death... I just wished she would disappear and..."

There you go. Rambling about everything while Optimus keeps listening to you wholeheartedly. Or in this case, wholesparkedly. He smiles and being patient all the time. The Prime is no one but soft spark and kind.

"She matters very little. And you have more than that to think about." he teases you gently and seductively running his digit over your thigh, making you blush slightly. Hey, at least those dark eyes are gone, and replaced with the beautiful stars he always knew. Yeah, you know the drill, don't you?~

Bumblebee

It's another Sunday, and the base is quite chill. No urgent mission, no 'Cons detected, no rambling from Agent Fowler, and everything is fine. At least, from the outside that is. Your eyes are dark, and many have commented on it, but you shake your head and turn the questions down.

"[Y/N]??" Bumblebee's voice ringing on your ears, and you turn around. Since he got his voice back, you've been very happy and ready to listen to everything he says. But, this time is just different. "Yeah? What's wrong, Bee?" you reply to him with sweet smile, but his optics telling you that he's bothered.

...

And that's how you ended up being scolded and interrogated by him. He asks you what's wrong, why are your eyes dark, what happened, why are you angry, and lots of other questions, but you don't want to answer and you keep on insisting you are fine.

"Bee, thank you for asking but please, I'm fine! I'm just... a little bit tired is all," you lied again, and Bumblebee definitely not buying it at all, "You're lying, aren't you, sweetspark?" he speaks gently as he stares into your eyes softly. "I'm not lying, Bee, I'm fine..." you insist again, and Bumblebee ex-vent on this.

He smirks and then brings his faceplate close to your own face and his voice drops into one of those seductive one.

"You know what liars get when they are found out lying?" he raises an optic ridge and smirks ever so slightly, teasing you. Despite knowing this is his method on pushing you, you can't help but blush. "Y-yeah... I know... b-but you don't need to remind me all over again!" you stutter and blush, making the smile on your lover's faceplate widen. "Good girl gets reward, bad girl gets punishment~" and those words successfully changed your eyes to bright stars again.

Safe to say you two are having some quality time after that, and how he keeps reminding you on not to blackmail anyone and just ignore those annoying people around you. And let's hope that Raf wouldn't disturb you two for some time. Whatever happens is happening~

[starlitvick]

Okay okay okay. Hear me out: Apollo x Telemachus.

I know I sound mental rn but it would be REALLY funny, and honestly kinda cute. Like you cannot deny that Telemachus would be Apollo’s type. I fear local pretty young prince is exactly the kinda person Apollo would be like “yeah I’d hit” and Tel would honestly probably go from “why is this god talking to me so often?” to “wait is he flirting with me?” to “wait but I don’t like men… but like Apollo’s kinda cute… wait no!” to “okay so maybe I like men but do I wanna get involved with a god?” pipeline of self discovery era all because the god of archery and music came down and started flirting one day

Athena is VERY unimpressed with her half brother for this one of course 😔 she is in fact their biggest hater (Ody is close in second he wants Apollo AWAY from his child)

Penelope and Hermes are very supportive of the relationship though. Penelope more in a “as long as you’re happy and he doesn’t hurt you or get you hurt I’m fine with it” way. Hermes though, he actively encouraged Apollo to start flirting with Telemachus to begin with (great grandpa being a wingman to get you set up with a god? More likely than you think)

As for the rest of the Olympians? Zeus is wondering why his existence is haunted by Odysseus and his family, same with Poseidon. Artemis is entirely unsurprised her twin brother has decided to start dating a mortal prince, it’s very on brand for him. Ares couldn’t care less, same with Hephaestus. Aphrodite is actually a big fan only because she can tell that Apollo genuinely likes Telemachus. Hera is indifferent about it but I like to imagine that after God Games she’s a slightly better step mom so she’s relatively supportive of Apollo’s prince rizzing endeavors.

The relationship itself is surprisingly highly functional and really normal despite Apollo being a god. For a long time Telemachus makes an internal vow to himself not to fall in love too much because he’s aware that Apollo tends to switch up on how much he loves his lovers sometimes and doesn’t wanna get hurt but after a very long discussion and Apollo swearing he’s serious about this (like Hyacinth levels of serious about this. Bro is LOCKED IN) and after staying up literally all night thinking about it Telemachus decides to seriously give this a chance and stop acting weird and it goes extremely well actually. They hang out daily, usually in like the woods or something or down by the shore where there isn’t anybody around simply because neither of them really wanna deal with other people knowing they’re together. It isn’t because either one is ashamed of the other or anything, just simply wanting privacy and knowing they wouldn’t get that with Telemachus being prince and Apollo being a literal god so people would probably just be staring the whole time.

Apollo also gives Telemachus gifts like crazy. He’ll write him love poems and songs all the time and is always equally as excited to show him every time (Telemachus is always just as excited to hear it because he’s never had anyone love him like this before)

Now the funniest part of this whole thing: the era where Apollo is trying to woo Telemachus. He 100% used serenading but stopped after Odysseus tried to shoot him with an arrow (to be fair it was the 10th time Apollo was outside the palace singing so the attempted shooting was pretty valid. Ody wanted his sleep)

Then Apollo started bugging Athena and tagging along with her whenever she’d visit the royal family (she knew what he was trying to do but there’s no stopping Apollo once he wants to woo somebody. Not for a lack of obvious hating though. Very actively hates on his flirting. Apollo is extremely un-subtle with his flirting too which makes it even funnier because 9/10 Telemachus just runs away because he’s never been flirted with before

Then after the flirting just turns into Telemachus avoiding Apollo at all costs (Telemachus is in his questioning his romantic attraction era during this but ofc Apollo doesn’t know this) Apollo just starts leaving love poems once a week (this goes on for about a month so four poems in total).

Then yk as I said before Telemachus decides to give it a shot blah blah blah gay people real they kiss the end 🥳

So yeah there’s me explaining my crackship. It’s essentially just: “Apollo likes pretty boys and Telemachus is a (very awkward) pretty boy”

[loki-us]

Welcome to my Mega Problematic Sylvie post

I wanted to make a list of everything problematic about Sylvie in s1 and s2 because she gets away with whatever she wants and it bugs me to no end that she never takes accountability for any of the pain she causes.

You have been warned. So let's get into it.

1. Sylvie’s way is the only way and she expects everyone else to just bend to her will without complaint

2. She is physically mentally and emotionally incapable of trusting anyone besides herself

3. She uses other people's emotions to manipulate them into getting what she wants

4. She refuses to even entertain the possibility that anything besides her own opinion is correct

5. She criticizes others' attempts to clean up the mess she caused while she herself does absolutely nothing about it

6. Always looking to ruin and run, taking the easy way out and avoiding any accountability

7. Puts her own need for revenge above the well-being of everyone else in the multiverse

8. Blames everyone else for the problems she herself caused

9. Insults everyone at the TVA for their lack of empathy despite it being the exact reason she didn't want to return in the first place. Every critique she delivers just illustrates how much of a hypocrite she is

10. Berates Mobius and all the people who are actually trying to fix her problem even though they never once blamed her for the mess they're in

11. Acts like she's doing everyone a favor just for being there and insulting everyone when in reality, Loki had to ask multiple times before finally getting her to return

12. Never willing to put in more effort than just destroying everything and walking away

13. Even when directly asked for her help, Sylvie straight up refuses. She couldn't care less about anything besides her McDonald's employee-of-the-month badge

14. Sylvie gaslights Loki into thinking they're the same, that she's not in the wrong because they're both only thinking of themselves. In reality, Sylvie is thinking only of going back to her own timeline, alone, while Loki is thinking only of making his friends happy, because that's what makes him happy too.

15. While being completely unsympathetic to Loki struggling with his greatest fear, Sylvie makes the decision that Loki's friend's are all better off where they are now. But is it really better for them, or just better for Sylvie?

16. And now, after 11 episodes and countless requests for Sylvie's help, she actually cares about the rest of the multiverse. And yet it's still solely because her own timeline is finally in danger

17. When Loki ends up sacrificing himself to solve the problem Sylvie created, her only response is a joyful shrug that she's now happy, alone, and responsibility-free.

Overall, I know Sylvie's only purpose as a character is to be a darker mirror of Loki and everything she does is understandably informed by her trauma. This is likely a result of having a limited-episode-series and having all male/not diverse writers creating female characters. Sylvie is used only as a comparison to Loki before he met Mobius, and unfortunately is never given any thoughtful character moments like Loki had showing how he was aware that his actions hurt others. In 1x1, Loki talks about how he doesn’t enjoy hurting people and only does it to maintain control. The only time we ever see Sylvie reconsider her actions is when she didn’t kill Timely, which I think is more because she saw herself in Timely as someone who didn’t want to be controlled by their ‘destiny,’ not because she developed any kindness or compassion toward him.

I understand the fact that Sylvie was never given someone like Mobius to allow her the opportunity to change like Loki did, but I don't think that should excuse her causing so much pain and being so self-centered. Sylvie never trusted or cared about anyone and that's also my biggest argument against Sylki; her loving or being driven by anyone besides herself is just so inconsistent with her entire character.

Anyway, my purpose here was not to be hateful or to search for any reason to criticize Sylvie, but instead to look critically at her character since I've seen a lot of people praise her as the strong, independent female Loki whose behavior can always be forgiven. Unfortunately, the way she was written is that Sylvie turned her own trauma into everybody else's problem and they all spent 2 seasons trying to clean up her mess. That's my take thank you and goodnight

[queenshelby]

Yes! Mr Murphy (Rewritten)

PART SEVEN: THE SHINING 

Pairing: Cillian Murphy x Reader

Warning: Angst, Age Gap, Teacher x Student, Fluff

PLEASE COMMENT AND ENGAGE!

An hour later

Needless to say, it did not take Cillian long to convince you to stay and, even though you were a little nervous about it, you felt somewhat excited about spending the night with him, albeit in different bedrooms.

Cillian, on the other hand, seemed to be a little more content and calm than you about the situation and knew that, realistically, you lacked other suitable options.

You had nowhere else to go and, if you were to go back to your own apartment, you would have run the risk of James turning up there unannounced. You knew that he was dangerous and that, alone, gave you enough reason to spend the evening elsewhere, with a person you could trust.

In so far as the situation with James was concerned, over a period of an hour, Cillian also convinced you to go to the police and you had promised him to do exactly that on the following day, right after class.

It was a promise you knew Cillian would hold you to and you had no desire to beach his trust. You, too, knew that this was the most sensible option for you and you did not want to risk another bruised cheek or two if you failed to take this seriously.

After convincing you to go to the police, Cillian then ordered some pizza before jumping into the shower as well and settling down on the couch with you in order to watch a movie.

As expected, he kept his distance from you and, despite the fact that he did, you were still close enough to stare at him and his somewhat strange looking pyjamas.

His pyjamas comprised a t-shirt featuring bugs bunny and a pair of matching grey boxer shorts which appeared to be too short even for a man of his height.

“My son bought them for me for Christmas” Cillian ought to clarify and you smiled.

“I like them. They look pretty cool, especially with the big carrot covering your crotch. It’s quite something” you teased, causing Cillian to laugh.

“Well, yeah…bugs bunny and his big carrot…what can I say…” Cillian joked and you both broke out in laughter just before your eyes caught on his legs which, too, were exposed.

They were masculine and strong, probably because of all the running you knew he was doing every day before school and, for some reason, seeing him like this. aroused you.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” Cillian then eventually asked as if he was trying to divert your look from his legs to the TV screen.

“Yeah, a movie sounds good. What do you want to watch?” you asked with blushing cheeks. You could tell that he was noticing the way you had been looking at him and, clearly, that made him somewhat uncomfortable now.

“I don’t know. What sort of genres do you like?” Cillian asked before reaching into the coffee table draw to retrieve a large blanket which, in the end, he used to cover his legs.

“Honestly? I love scary movies” you told him as you watched him hide his legs from your gaze.

“Scary how?” Cillian asked. “Like ‘The Shining’ scary or ‘gory scary’?” he then wanted to know and you did not quite understand what he was talking about.

“What’s the Shining?” you wanted to know and his chin immediately dropped.

“Seriously?” he asked. “Have you never seen ‘The Shining’?” he was surprised and you reluctantly shook your head and stammered out a quiet “no”.

“You are almost thirty, studying to become an actress, and never watched ‘the Shining’…unbelievable…” Cillian then teased and you felt as though you should correct him. You had still not told him about your true age and felt rather guilty about it.

“Actually, I am…” you began to say, wanting to tell him that you were almost eight years younger than he thought but then you changed your mind. “Never mind” you thus said, backing out of what you were going to say for fear of being rejected by him. “I may have seen it. I am terrible at remembering the names of movies though” you then said and Cillian took this as an opportunity to introduce you to cult classic.

“Hmm. Okay. How about we watch it then and see whether you can remember it? I haven’t seen thus movie in over ten years and it is pretty good” Cillian thus told you and you agreed.

“Okay. Yes. Let’s watch it” you said before asking a an all-important question. “Do you have popcorn?” you wanted to know and Cillian immediately furrowed his eyebrows.

“Really? Popcorn?” he asked and you nodded.

“Yeah. I love popcorn” you admitted.

“I should do. The kids eat it all the time” Cillian then informed you before giving you a lecture about the suitability of popcorn while watching scary or intense movies.

In the end, however, he gave in to your demands and you both settled on the sofa again with some snacks.

***

About an hour into the movie, Cillian reached over from some popcorn and you swatted his hand away playfully.  

“You said you don’t eat popcorn when watching movies like this” you teased before you popped another piece into your mouth.

“I did say that, but I am hungry” Cillian chuckled and you voluntarily handed him the bowl and laughed.

“You didn’t eat much pizza, so I am not really surprised” you giggled before realising that, just minutes ago, Cillian had opened another bottle of wine as well but then inadvertently left it on the kitchen bench.

Looking at your empty glasses, you hopped off the couch and walked towards the kitchen in order to retrieve it.

“I paused the movie” Cillian then yelled out while you padded back to the living room barefooted with his oversized t-shirt barely covering your swaying hips. Earlier that evening, Cillian had given you some of his shorts but they were too big for you and kept on rolling down, so you decided to take them off and put on your panties instead, leaving you in nothing but cotton underwear and his black t-shirt.

“Thanks. I wouldn’t want to miss anything as I am really enjoying this movie so far” you said before placing the wine bottle on the coffee table in front of him and, just after you did, Cillian poured you each some more wine into your empty glasses.

He then settled back against the back of the sofa with a glass in his hand and, just after he did, you picked up the blanket which he had, by now, pushed to the floor. But, instead of settling on the far side of the couch again, you settled down in the middle, right next to Cillian.

“It’s freezing, isn’t it?” you then said before covering both of your laps with the blanket while settling back against Cillian comfortably, not delicately or carefully by any means.

“Yeah” Cillian said, swallowing harshly. He was not expecting you to come so close to him.

“Shit. I am sorry” you then said as you realised yourself that you had leaned back against him which, after a few glasses of wine, came naturally to you.

“It’s fine. You can lean against me if you are comfortable like that…I am cool with it…” Cillian stammered in response before looking back at the movie, trying not to think of your body pressing against his.

“Oh, okay. I was comfortable, so yeah, I mean, if you don’t mind” you told him before leaning back again although, by now, Cillian’s arm felt as though it was in the way.

“Or maybe not. Your arm is in the way now. Can you move it?” you giggled and Cillian awkwardly lifted it up and then settled it around you while trying not to touch your body.

“Better?” he then asked and you responded with a quiet “yes” before you pulled his arm closer to get more comfortable.

“Y/N, I think that…maybe…” Cillian began to say just as you snuggled in, bringing the blanket with you, but just as he spoke, he realised that you were completely focused on the movie again now.

“This is intense. She needs to get out of there” you spoke, referring to the scenes on screen and, just as the movie progressed, you began to nervously draw your fingertips across Cillian’s arm, giving him goosebumps.

“Please tell me she is going to escape” you then told Cillian while fidgeting nervously but he did not say a word as, unbeknownst to you, he tried very hard not to become aroused by you being so close to him now.

Eventually, the movie intensified and you moved forward again, right onto the edge of the couch and, instead of grasping for the blanket now, you had dug your finger nails into Cillian’s arm.

“Oh my god” you said as the final scene of the movie came on and Cillian felt relieved for the fact that it was almost over.

“Fuck that was so good” you then said when, finally, the movie came to and end and your reaction amused Cillian just slightly.

“So you haven’t seen it, have you?” he mused and you shook your head before you stretched yourself and yawned.

"No, I haven’t. It was a great, but I am absolutely knackered now” you then told Cillian while moving away from him again.

“Well, it is almost eleven o’clock. We should probably go to bed” he suggested and, of course, he was right. You had a nine o’clock start and even he had to be at drama school at around ten the following morning.

“Yeah. We should” you thus said. “Thank you again for letting me stay here, and thanks for the pizza and wine…” you then told him before leaning in slightly to give Cillian a friendly kiss on the cheek.

“You are most welcome Y/N” Cillian responded, swallowing hard before wishing you a good night’s sleep which is also when you made your way to the guestroom.

To be continued…Please comment and engage. I love getting comments and predictions pretty please!

Tags: @fastfan@elenavampire21@dolllol2405@allie131313@cilliansangel@coldbastille@kpopgirlbtssvt@cdej6@kathrinemelissa@landlockedmermaid77@crazymar15@damedomino  @lauren-raines-x@miss-bunny19@skinny-bitch-juice@odorinana@cloudofdisney@weepingstudentfishhorse@allexiiisss@geminiwolves@letsstarsfalling@ysmmsy@chlorrox@tommyshelbypb@chocolatehalo@music-lover911@desperate-and-broken@mysticaldeanvoidhorse@peaky-cillian@lelestrangerandunusualdeetz@december16-1991@captivatedbycillianmurphy@romanogersendgame@randomfangirl2718@missymurphy1985@peakyscillian@lilymurphy03@deefigs@theflamecrystal@livinginfantaxy@rosey1981@hanster1998@fairypitou@zozeebo@kasaikawa@littleweirdoalien@sad-huffle-nerd@theflamecrystal@0ghostwriter0@stylescanbeatmyback@1-800-peakyblinders@datewithgianni@momoneymolife@mcntsee@janelongxox@basiclassy@being-worthy@chaotic-bean-of-smolness@margoo0@vhscillian@crazymar15@im-constantly-fangirling@namelesslosers@littlewhiterose@ttzamara@cilleveryone@peaky-cillian@severewobblerlightdragon@dolllol2405@pkab@babaohhhriley@littleweirdoalien@alreadybroken-ts@masteroperator@stevie75@shabzy96@rainbow12346@obsessedwithfandomsx@geeksareunique@laysalespoir@paigem00@lkarls@vamp-army@luckystarme@myjumper@gxorg@eline-1806@goldenharrysworld@cristinagronk16@stylesofloki@faatxma@slut-for-matt-murdock@tpwkstiles@myjumper@cloudofdisney@look-at-the-soul@smellyzcat@kittycatcait219@theliterarybeldam@being-worthy@layazul@lyn07@kagilmore@50svibes@mainstreetlilly@ourthatgirlabby@bitchwhytho@takethee@registerednursejackie@sofi128@mrkdvidal1989@minxsblog@heidimoreton@laylasbunbunny@laylasbunbunny@queenshelby@camilleholland89@forgottenpeakywriter@vintagecherryt@indierockgirrl@mrkdvidal1989@bluesongbird@dudde-44@gasolinesavages@kissforvoid@bluebird592@1eugenia1isabella1@esposadomdp@lulunalua23@lovelace42@bookklover23@iwantmyredvelvetcupcake@moonmaiden1996@marlenamallowan@cyphah (cannot tag)@majesticcmey@cleverzonkwombatsludge@throughgoeshamilton@alessioayla@elenavampire21@justforfiction@cilliansangel@alannielaraye@satellitelh@pandoramyst@duckybird101@snixx2088@kylianswag@alessioayla@pono-pura-vida@iraisbored69@howling-wolf97@aesthetic0cherryblossom@weirdo-rules@lovemissyhoneybee@dazaiscum@esposadomd@etherealkistar@ur--mommy@throughgoeshamilton

[nowis-scales]

🔥 for whatever's been bugging you lately

🔥 For FE-related things, I think for sure one thing that’s been getting under my skin is the notion that Timerra is the least popular Engage royal because she’s “just not that interesting” and is one-note because honestly? I don’t really see it. She’s honestly probably my second favourite of them all. I think for some people, they have this misapprehension that her default state is just perky-happy all the time, which is… not that accurate, I would say.

For me, the big thing that stuck out to me about Timerra right off the bat when meeting her in game was that while she was charming and funny, she was also clearly clever and had her own sense of morality that was a bit different than what you would usually see in a leading Fire Emblem character.

The Solmic way of thinking really interests me, particularly in the way it manifests in Timerra. I think there’s a lot to be said about how the country has a sort of carefree approach, but when push comes to shove, they know how to knit themselves together to keep themselves safe. They’ll lend help to one of their own if they’re in a bind, as they’re still people and they care about the world around them… but they also know when to say when and when they need to look out for themselves. Their morality is very much about choosing when to care, and who they will care about. While Albert’s first instinct as prince of Firene was to run off to try and help other people and connect with others, Timerra and Seforia agreed that Solm’s resources would best be spent trying to deal with the problem themselves, and not worry about anyone else because… well, their hands were full already. They had to look out for their own first.

I think that says a lot about Timerra because it’s not a demonstration of a lack of kindness, but rather a dedication to her OWN people. They are her priority first and foremost. The fact that she, Seforia, and Fogado all knew about Sombron but made no indication, instead focusing on protecting themselves and being certain that they could get help from the Divine Dragon, says a lot. It speaks to the degree of thought that Timerra puts into the way she conducts her life, and how she may come across as a silly, cheery girl — but she’s actually much more clever and has a stronger sense of duty than anyone seems to give her credit for. Hell, she doesn’t even react in fear when Hortensia threatens to kill her mother.

I guess to some people that’s not terribly hypnotic, but I personally find it quite compelling that Timerra, as Solm’s princess, is able to strike that balance between being warm and caring, but also thinking with a focus most immediate to herself and her people and what they need. She’s not the type of girl who wouldn’t help a friend in need, but at the same time, she recognizes that politically it’s never that simple. She sticks to her guns, regardless of whether or not it’s comfortable — and she’s never particularly ashamed of the way she thinks, either. I think that creates a neat duality in her character, because yes she is kind and often wants to help, but won’t always do so if she thinks it will cause her and her people an undue amount of trouble. It sounds relatively minor to some I think, but we so often see characters who try to help even at the expense of themselves, so it was refreshing for Timerra to still be a nice girl and know when to say when. Granted, that doesn’t mean she would have been right to decide not to help the others with Sombron, just that she would have had her own set of priorities that weren’t as easy to sway as some others. When it benefits the people of Solm to have the allyship, that’s when she’ll go forward with it.

Even outside of this, though, Timerra is still allowed complex feelings outside of the main storyline. Her support with Fogado is really charming for this, because she makes it clear that she loves her little brother, but she also feels a bit quietly resentful of him at times because of how often his escapades left her lonely. We as players know that Fogado has dedicated so much of his life to supporting Timerra in his eventual reign as queen, but at the same time, we get to see the effect that this distance had on Timerra, too… and realistically, I think Timerra is aware of how much effort Fogado is putting in to support her as queen, but she tries to express to him that she wants her little brother around, too. There’s not an animosity there, but she still has clear and concrete feelings about it, and is open to expressing them to Fogado. It shows a tendency to not shy away from difficult conversations, and to take the opportunity to handle things as they come up.

The more I play Timerra’s supports, the more I feel like just lots of new and interesting stuff comes up, which makes it a bit tiring to me that she’s so frequently dismissed as one-note. Yeah, a lot of her character IS about being cheerful, but there’s more there than what meets the eye. I think a lot of people have trouble understanding that with FE characters it’s about actively looking for things, rather than just having them fall in your lap. The cast will always be simply too big for everyone to get a big piece of the story, so if you want to know more about a character, you tend to have to make a more conscious effort to look.

[the-s1lly-corner]

General Kinger hcs

you guys already know the drill; mix of general kinger stuff as well as dynamic stuff blah blah perhaps even some x reader stuff if you squint

not very warm, very hard. hes a giant chess piece and his robe doesnt do much to soften and warm him... though the fur of his robe is softer than the majority of his clothing...

very tall, has back pain, for two reasons. one, because hes old!!!! two, hes constantly huddled in his pillow fort so hes hunching over all the time, i mean look at hos he stands.. hes hunch

this mostly applies to any post digital circus aus where everyone escapes to the real world but i can easily see this being true for kinger atm or perhaps later on, but he has some level of agoraphobia (a type of anxiety disorder, makes you not want to leave places you feel secure in. can range in severity, for some its only not wanting to leave their town for others it can be as bad as not wanting to leave a room in their own home. this is a v brief and summarized description so i recommend you guys look into it) (this might be a little self projection as admin has a mild form of it)

good friends with gangle and ragatha! as mentioned in the general ragatha hc post they have a more father/daughter dynamic whereas he and gangle have a grandfather/granddaughter dynamic!

loves telling embellished stories about himself and his adventures... probably hypes up stories about him bug hunting around the grounds

i think he keeps a bunch of bugs in his room, all in their own little homes! terrariums!

on the fence of hcing the he preserves bugs... maybe he did prior to the digital circus but stopped due to a mix of forgetting that was something he did... and if he does have vague memories stopped because it kinda... makes him feel weird, like it reminds him of how hes trapped in the circus now.. which... admittedly is not the same as the preserved bugs but shrugs

leaves flowers and things at queener/queenies room, usually he visits her old door most nights to talk to it... some nights hes consciously aware of the fact that shes gone, other nights when hes a little more out of it than usual he... doesnt

if he ever does start dating again, i think hes going to be watching you like a hawk... never letting you out of his sight and, as unfortunate as it sounds, he might come off as a little too overprotective... overbearing.... overly clingy... at times.. likely all three

definitely sleeps with weighted pillows/blankets, this one is another one thats more so for post circus au but i can see it also being relevant to the actual.. circus stuff, probably asks caine for them

speaking of caine, i can see them having a... decent relationship

theyre not close friends, i think, but theyre polite and friendly to one another

perhaps its out of familiarity and security, at least on kingers end since caine probably isnt able to abstract and hes been there the entire time

i personally dont think kinger really thinks hes royalty, as he refers to himself as in the pilot.. honestly i think he was just trying to appeal to the gloink queen... perhaps he does joke about him being a king, though

he makes dad sounds (grunts, loud sneezes, diabolical snores, ect)

fidgets a lot... usually tugs and plays with the fur of his robe... or messes with his hands (drumming his fingers, flapping them, cracking knuckles, flexing fingers, folding them, ect ect), probably paces around a lot too

has definitely tried to grab someone and run but due to his lack of arms hes run away without his hands and the person he was trying to take with him

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Thoughts on TOTK Ganon's appearance?

A lot of them!! Some would say: too many!!! Too much!! So much so that I was almost starting to turn this ask into a TotK early review, so I'll simplify my answer a little.

I have not finished the game yet, but I have seen the memories and a good chunk of it, but my opinion is therefore incomplete and subject to lapses in judgement/hasty positions. Also, my opinion on this is kind of a buzzkill and I already made people depressed and bummed out by explaining it, so I'm putting it under the cut to avoid hurting the good time of people who might not want to think about this/might disagree on this description alone (and I understand, since it's an opinion that also depresses me!!! I wanted to like everything!! I wanted to be blown away!!).

I think this Ganondorf is like OoT Ganondorf redux, but with even more problems than OoT Ganondorf, somehow??? which is honestly a flex at this point.

(I love OoT Ganondorf to be clear, but the flaws are pretty undeniable and you have to navigate through a lot of bullshit to get to the good parts)

Between the green skin that lacks any proper justification in the context of the game (I say this because I always hear "oooo but it's because he's a demon/undead" and uhhhh no, it's not because of that apparently), the fact that he's half naked but we're never ever meant to conceive him as a human person in any way but merely as a constant physical threat... Like I'm certain the famous Ganondorf Designer did their utmost to give him justice and there is an obvious attention to details in his design, and I'm not blaming them or anyone in particular for the Nintendo treatment --but it does add up to something quite uncomfortable in his characterization regardless. Even the fact that his face rigging is extremely flimsy and makes his emoting feels super strange bugs me (I heavily suspect it's because it's way less soft anime and structurally very different from any other face in the game, especially around the jaw, and so they had to do a custom rig and had to work around its limitations --it's all speculation, and I am always here for Unsettling Ganondorf Faces, but it kinda felt accidental and not intentional like in WW or TP). He's at once a lot and really not much. I find his characterization beyond barebones. Even Twilight Princess Ganondorf had more to him than this (like the man was fascinating in comparaison, show me a guy claiming to be chosen by the goddesses while sitting on a throne next to the decapitated statues of said goddesses any fucking day over what we got here)

I like the mechanical aspects he introduces; the gloom is cool, the hands that grab you are amazing, the bosses are such cool callbacks --and he's just causing messes and putting parasites in things!!! You go girl. I do love that he's having his little puppet Zelda run around causing hijinxes, that's very fun of him and my favorite part of his character in this game so far, tho I don't know if that even counts as him --and I'm not 100% sure what that even says about anyone?

But here's the thing: nobody (beyond * arguably * Rauru) seems to be allowed to have a character arc in this game, so it's hard to come up with anything to say since he's the sole cause of conflict while being almost completely motivation-less. I don't think anyone is written particularly competently honestly; it just shows more with him because a Ganondorf who's not well written reverts back to Ganondorf at his most generic expression of a baddie imaginable, with a side-serving of, quite frankly, really questionable orientalist themes that I see little excuse for being handled the way they were in the year of our lord 2023. Like I'm kinda shocked not to see more people calling the racism for what it is, because it's... pretty blatant. But that goes beyond Ganondorf and that's the whole game, and I said I would try to keep my scope limited, but!!! I will screech about imperialism eventually!!!

The other aspect of that discussion, which is inevitable, is how much does TotK erase everything that came before? I'm sure there are some amazing Zelda theorists out there who will find a way to reconcile all of this, but for now, I get the sense that Nintendo wanted to get away from their messy timelines (fair) and reinvoke some of the old songs for a new audience, and in doing so scrubbing the slate clean. My problem is not so much that they wanted to do this (even if I think BotW's solution was, strangely, much cleaner and more respectful of their own history), but what they introduced instead: and, in Ganondorf's case, he's kind of reduced to a parody of himself --one that is so unbelievably unsympathetic and impossible to relate to and also responsible of his own oppression and also not oppressed since he attacked first!! and also oppressive?? (I made A Sound when I heard the line about Rauru talking about "the last free gerudo village falling" bitch!! free according to whom??????)

Removing a lot of the Goddesses/Triforce thing (so far, maybe it will come up) also does this conflict zero favors in my opinion, as it makes everything and everyone's actions much less fated and an expression of self-determination/resilience over their predestination, and much more uhh political in a bad way, while still borrowing the aesthetics of divinity to justify its own mind-numbing moral simplicity.

I don't know. Maybe the third act reveal will really surprise me and make me reconsider my position, but it would take a lot to scrub off all the dedicated efforts made to flatten Ganondorf to his lowest possible denominator (him and his people honestly my follow-up to the gerudo post will probably be Oops! All Salt) for the sake of the most brazenly imperialistic and feudalist Hyrule to date and its really weird and uncomfortable reimagined origin story.

So uhhh, Thoughts Bad! I guess thoughts bad. :(

(Matt Mercer did a great job with what little he was given tho, and so did every voice actor)

[lostusagis]

@jiraipink asked:

"Th-There... There... There's..." She points a shaky finger to her bed. "There's a spider on my bed when I woke up!" She slept too long that it was already afternoon by the time Kamui visited; apparent by the bedhead, cutesy comfy pajamas and lack of makeup. If only she woke up peacefully to Kamui's warm smile and soothing voice, but a spider greeted her instead. Not that she hates them nor has anything against what they do, but their appearance is what scares her.

Hearing and seeing Kamui look so confused made her feel bad for worrying him. Geez. She felt embarrassed for running towards him calling out his name and clinging onto him for something so trivial. Her hands release him and she awkwardly fidgets with her fingers. "S-Sorry. I guess I just... When I saw you, I couldn't help it. You make me feel so safe and ended up relying on you..." And then a realization hits her. "O-Oh no! I don't even look ready! Oh god my hair is a mess I'm so embarrassed!" Her black nailed fingers comb through her two-toned hair speedily to at least have less strands sticking out and detangled. "C-Could you wait for me in the living room? Don't worry I may be scared, but I'm used to catching them. I don't like killing them eheh...." Namida offers him an apologetic smile before she picks up an empty jar she keeps in her room specifically for these instances and anxiously looks all over her My Melody Kuromi blanket to find the little creepy crawler.

''. . . . . .'' Kamui blinked, looking at her for a few seconds before his body would erupt with laughter. Here he was, having assumed the worst. Yet, she had screamed like that over a spider of all things.

''Hahahahaha- Namida. . . .'' It was too funny to him, although maybe he was being a bit mean. Kamui couldn't imagine something like bugs ever actually scaring him. Hell, he's seen some way bigger than the ones typically living on earth. Which is why he found this situation so funny.

''Sorry, sorry. . . .'' He eventually stopped laughing, although Kamui just kind of smiles warmly at her when she'd say she felt safe with him and relied on him too. There was an indescribable happiness from that, especially since he felt the same way.

''You don't need to feel embarrassed though, I think you still look cute even when you're not all dressed up. Not a lot of people can say that.'' The messy hair was adorable in his opinion, Kamui was tempted to take a picture but decided not to. Maaaaybe another time.

''But alright, good luck finding the oh-so-terrifying little spider.'' Kamui teasingly says with a smirk, ''If you need my help, just call me. ♡'' Although, he'd probably just kill it instead of saving it like she intended. It occurred to Kamui that's probably why she hadn't asked him for help at all.

Well, whatever, he'll just wait for her on the sofa. Kamui couldn't help but find the fact that she was still going after the spider, despite being afraid really admirable. She was really amazing in so many ways, which was why he liked her as much as he did.

No other human was this interesting.

[dailycharacteroption]

Creature Corner: Vermin part 1

(art by TyhonArt on DeviantArt)

Overview

And here it is, the last creature type of Pathfinder First Edition. This will be the last special in this format, though I’ll probably do a couple of week-long specials on how the creature types developed in Starfinder as well as Pathfinder and Starfinder Second Edition as well, so we’re not quite done. I might even do a special on templates as well.

In any case, let’s get right into it.

Skittering, rustling sounds in abandoned tunnels, the humming flutter of wings carrying a rounded chitinous form, the sudden tugging on your ankle as a previously unseen tentacle drags you down, these are the sensations that often accompany the vermin type, mostly filled with giant bugs and other simple organisms.

But what exactly differentiates creatures of the “vermin” type from the animal type? Back when we did the entries on the animal type, I pointed out that the unifying features of that type were having either a spinal column or having relatively complex brains despite being boneless, but that would be defining vermin by what they are not.

The vermin type consists of insects, arachnids, crustaceans, most mollusks, cniderians, and echinoderms, creatures that range from complex and chitinous to entirely soft-bodied or possessing radial symmetry. It’s a pretty diverse group spanning entire branches of Kingdom Animalia with little to know relationship in some places. Pretty unusual to group them together, honestly.

The vermin type also is noted for usually having the “mindless” trait, meaning they are immune to most mind-affecting effects, including most enchantment spells and certain types of illusions. However, while it’s easy to assume that these creatures truly do act only on instinct, being too “simple” for mental manipulation, complex living things are considerably different than mindless constructs, giant-sized amoeba, and lesser undead. In fact, studies on insect and arachnid behavior has demonstrated many actually have really good memories, being able to recognize individual humans and even demonstrate personalities, so perhaps it’s best to interpret it as the vermin type are far too dissimilar to other minds to use even the broadest enchantments on them.

Perhaps the most unifying thing about the vermin type, however, is that the vermin type is composed of creatures that lack internal skeletons and would be highly unusual and frightening to encounter at massive size.

The idea of giant insects, arachnids, and other vermin has been with us for a very long time, with the first film involving the concept being THEM! In the 50’s, and the first science fiction story involving them being H. G. Wells’ Food of the Gods story back in the 1900’s.

Even before that, regular-sized vermin appear plenty of times in mythology and religion, so even these so-called lesser creatures have their place. It is interesting though that the concept of dialing up their size is so recent though.

Of course, having giant bugs and the like running around begs the question of “why and how”. After all, a lot of you are probably familiar with the “square-cube law”, which when applied to biology, states that the bigger a creature is, the more stress it’s body is under just to not collapse under it’s own weight.

Now obviously in a fantasy setting like Pathfinder, the square-cube law is thrown right out the window off the bat what with all those giant cosmic horrors and literal kaiju and other titanic monsters and literal giants running around, but some still find it a stretch too far without some sort of explanation.

The easiest answer is to say that such giant-sized vermin are just a normal, ubiquitous part of the world. Meanwhile, most science fiction involving them explain it as an extraordinary external factor (typically radiation or some superfood, but in a fantasy setting you can also say magic) that either made giants of that which was miniscule either all at once or generationally. Or maybe the laws of physics are just different in the setting and the square-cube law is more of a suggestion, which isn’t entirely implausible in a setting where “altering reality through sheer force of will” is a part of the metaphysics.

Of course, aquatic vermin like crabs, sea jellies, and the like have somewhat of an excuse with the buoyancy factor, but even they can only go so far before you bump up against and trample over the borders of possibility.

Another factor you run into with giant bugs, and well, any unusually massive creature, is how they affect the food web of their home environments, which also include all sorts of other fantastical beasts, but this is mostly handwaved because it’s fantasy, not a reality simulation.

Moving on from the question of how, let’s talk a bit about the themes that come up with the vermin type. Most are giant-sized versions of bugs and critters both familiar and exotic, while others are just swarms of the regular-sized ones, and others still are fantastical insectoids that don’t quite match any real species but aren’t quite unusual enough to warrant being a magical beast.

As such, the themes of the vermin type are often the horror of being in a situation where you are prey to a creature you’d probably not notice normally, whether they be massive or simply massive in number. While this is true of most, a few vermin also play into other horrific themes as well, such as the xenopterid, which actually mimic a cloaked human before they spread their wings and reveal their clawed legs and move in for the kill.

So while the vermin type does not quite have the variety of concepts beyond Earth’s biodiversity with the photoshop scaling tool applied to it, it still can be a source of fun in it’s own right, as we’ll see as we go through the week. I hope you’re looking forward to it.

[elendsessor]

actually really hot take that likely won’t change in wilds

i hate more than just how monster hunter became less about the world, rather how even in the plots it gets phased out. it’s a lot more straightforward and that’s a problem. the westernization of gaming has been an issue to begin with because of how much multiplayer match making games blew up in the 2010s but the streamlining of the process starting kinda with gu but more with world and rise actively ruins the world. i love the quality of life improvements with hit boxes and gathering but what was removed to cut down on time and lore is just as impactful.

this mainly stems from the hunter. the gimmicks like clutch claw and the wire bugs plus the entire plot centering on you makes the hunter way too op. while that’s not really new, the fact that you’re constantly seeing other hunters, the culture’s being shown, the gathering halls, etc. doesn’t make you out to be some chosen one. yes the villages you inhabit put their faith in you to a degree but they do make constant mention of the failures of hunters, why the fee existed, and who else are they supposed to turn to? they’ll grasp at any hunter that beats some chump monsters or had one run in with an elder dragon and lived. there’s a really distinct good v evil plot too which isn’t fitting at all. yes there are monsters like fatalis and other black dragons but that’s kinda the point. they’re the exception and not the rule. a lot of monster behavior is morally grey because they’re a bunch of animals and given the lore and how the series isn’t afraid to at least heavily imply what humans did to negatively impact relations with some elder dragons (ex the ancient civilization) and even show environmental impacts no side is black and white. world’s plot in particular sucks ass to me because it barely shows the issues with humans going in and disrupting an ecosystem, being shown as near exclusively a good thing due to mons like xeno’jiva. it’s important to show humans have just as big a role to play in preserving the environment yet that’s taken away when you’re given free reign to hunt and monsters that interfere are bad. rise’s plot is just a lot of “monster bad” and nothing much until sunbreak where even then it’s not really treated the best due to lack of other hunters.

doesn’t really help that, at least to me, while i love all the additional ecology aspects such as seeing mons do more when idle, that’s kinda the end of it. it’s a look don’t touch so the high aggression rates in risebreak ruin the illusion to a degree. and because mons in worldborne are crap at reacting to clutch claws that also takes away from it. the far too empty or crowded environments make it seem less like a living world at least not as realistic as it can be. i’m hoping wilds does more but i’d argue old school shows a lot more than it’s being given credit for.

like idk the world of monster hunter is so fascinating to me since it’s themes are layered and i hate how it’s getting thrown out when i’d argue the central theme of coexistence is fucking crucial. it’s more important than ever to acknowledge how fragile our environment is, why we should work to better it, and though life goes on regardless, if we want it to be easier for all of us we have to step up.

world and rise are great games i just don’t think making the series more like hunter monster and not monster hunter does the series well, if that makes sense.

[nostalgia-tblr]

Hello this is me procrastinating having to actually write my sylki AU fic by writing a post about why sylki AU fics are a terrible idea. Pls enjoy, as I am sure you will.

Basically my premise is thus: the selfcest is not a bug it’s a feature and unless you specifically set out to create an AU environment where selfcest can actually be a thing then any given fanfic AU will lack that feature and now you face not only the traditional AU problem of “are these now just two random people who in the mind’s-eye of the reader look like the canonical characters?” but also you have to retool the entire thing because most of their canonical interaction and indeed the romance your fic is probably about is based on them being the same person.

Now I know that this is A Bit Controversial because when I say it boldly enough there is indeed pushback and so disclaimer that like all media takes this is subjective but that’s what I think. So many of the significant interactions between Loki and Sylvie, romantic or otherwise, are in some measure based on them being the same person. Like they would literally never have met if they weren’t. And now to prove this is A Serious Essay I will quote from the text:

“Your years-in-the-making plan was to tear the place down, create the ultimate power vacuum, and then just walk away. I’d never have done that.”

“Yeah? Well, I’m not you.”

Yes, that last line there points out that they’re not literally the same person, and indeed much is made of the ways in which they differ… but those differences are explored from an angle of “shouldn’t they be exactly the same” so even when it’s not about the selfcest it is in fact about the selfcest. But no, the first sentence is the one I want to focus on here. Ep 3 of the Loki show (the ep that quote is from, obvs) is what I like to call ‘the enemies to lovers speed-run’ which I am sort of joking about but also not, and that change and the speed at which it happens both rely on… yes, the selfcest, I admit this essay is a bit repetitive but bear with me here. Loki’s initial interest in Sylvie is ‘oh hey, another me’ and specifically that here is a he (well a she) who is doing something that would never occur to him and so now he needs to know why, which in the context of a redemption arc carries a certain element of ‘what would need to change to make me think like that, and should I make some attempt to do so?’ So now he has to follow her about for the remainder of the episodes and inevitably fall for her. A lot of which does seem to be based on her being The Only Successful Loki (arguable, I know, but just go with it for now) and so you have the self-attraction plus the differences between them holding the seductive possibilities of self-improvement. And also she’s hot.

And yes there are any number of fictional romances where people fall in love at first sight for no discernable reason but I contend that most of those stories are shite. Because fiction generally needs to make more sense than reality does and so we as an audience want to be able to go “okay I can see why these people would be into each other.” I at least generally don’t get that into ‘these two people have met and now they’re love. Because they just are. Love doesn’t have to make sense!!!!’

So back to the AU fic issue (remember that? I almost didn’t.) and you may see where I am coming from on this. This is a pairing with quite a lot of AU fics (probably because there’s about ten minutes of actual canon to work from and there probably is a saturation point for Fics Where They Banged On That Train, as unlikely as that saturation seems to me) and not all of them are any good. And many of them are good but not in ways that I personally find fannishly satisfying because they’ve strayed too far from what I want to read or whatever. Which often does involve the lack of selfcest and the corresponding ‘now you have to have rebuild their relationship from the ground up and it may or may not appeal to any given reader.’ I don’t care enough about these characters to read about them when they barely resemble these characters, if you get me. I am not that invested in the universe in which they are (made-up example) baristas. We have entered the world of ‘I want these two characters to get together and even though I have removed the very things that made them get together they are still going to because I am the author and that’s just how it’s going to be.’ Which is valid, obvs! But not always my thing! Arguably this is true of all AU romance fics for any pairing and the fun lies in seeing how you can make them bang when the circumstances have changed but this is a bit of an outlier in terms of what the original scenario was so it’s tricker than some.

(Also as an aside I noticed that while we all (rightly) go on about some aspects of the paring being gender-flipped a lot of AU fic keeps ‘Loki is annoying posh twat’ but then doesn’t keep ‘Sylvie is laser-focussed on a specific and slightly insane goal and is hardened by a terrible past’ and so he’s like IDK going to shut down a donkey orphanage and she has to stop him by thawing his cold heart with love which I note is basically flipping it back to what would be expected genderwise and if nothing else we’re now in territory I am less into and now that I think about it those Arranged Marriage AU things probably work more for me because they keep the ‘she is openly hostile and pissed off about her supposed destiny’ thing that I generally like? But I could be wrong about that. I am wrong about a lot of things. Possibly this entire post, even.)

I shall stop now not because I feel I have made my point and expressed it fully but because this is a lot of words and nobody has time for all of this shit do they?

[anarchomoop]

I mean, like...

Kinda, yeah?

Like, don’t get me wrong, labor cost issues eventually did become a major reason for why 3D feature animation has completely taken over for 2D animation, and unionizataion being less universal among 3D animated production as opposed to 2D animated production is part of why labor costs are smaller, but unions are absolutely not the reason why 3D animation started to become ubiquitous at this time, and definitely not as early as the late 90s when Bug’s Life and Prince of Egypt came out.

Like... A Bug’s Life’s budget info is hard to come by. I see one source citing the (hilariously low) value of 45 million while other sites are reporting over 60 million and IMDB and Wikipedia are reporting 120 million. Prince of Egypt had a budget of 60 million or 70 million with some quick googling.  I’m seeing most sites running with the 120 million value for A Bug’s Life and the 60 million value for Prince of Egypt, so that’s what I’m going to assume they were.  A Bug’s Life cost probably twice as much to make as Prince of Egypt. People were not making 3D movies to cut costs.

Tech costs of 3D animation were really, really high at the time, and it was a fairly young field without a ton of people working in it, so even without a union to lend bargaining power a lot of 3D animators were able to command fairly large salaries just based on the fact that, like, nobody was able to do what they did (and especially not at the level that Pixar and Dreamworks were doing it).  By the mid 2000s eventually the field got bigger, the tech got better and cheaper, and 3D animation eventually became cheaper to make than 2D, but during the time most of the movies contemporary to the above ones came out? Yeah.  They were expensive.

Like... using a Bug’s Life in particular... just look at what contemporary 3D looked like at the time.  Look at N64 games with their jagged, janky, oftentimes abstract polygons. Look at “inferior” and “cheaper” 3D films of the time, (hell, even Dreamworks’ own Antz, which you could argue was, like, probably the 3rd most visually impressive fully 3D animated film at the time behind A Bug’s Liife and Toy Story, and notice how much better A Bug’s Life looks). A Bug’s Life was literally bleeding edge in 1998. From where we’re sitting now, it’s not impressive. At the time? It was incredible. People had seen good, well-made, hand-drawn 2D animation. They hadn’t seen 3D on par with A Bug’s Life. It was a novelty. It was draw.

3D eventually became *much* cheaper to produce than 2D, less because of “lack of unions” (you can find un-unionized 2D animation houses pretty easily, and a lot of 3D animation was done by companies that had 2D animation departments as well, and both departments were part of the animation union), but mostly because tech got better.

Like, “capitalism bad” as the condescending nazi above put it absolutely is why 2D animation is dead now.  Studios that work in 2D have to do it with a bigger budget, longer production time, and/or smaller scale than studios that work in 3D, even before you start looking at 2D having generally more union representation than 3D. All of those things lead to the capitalist perspective meaning sidelining 2D in favor of 3D. But at the time we’re looking at here? Nah. You can’t blame companies trying to avoid paying labor costs.  3D was a spectacle. That’s why it outperformed. The march of technology has dated it in a way it didn’t date the 2D animated contemporaries, but to say “people were less impressed with A Bug’s Life than Prince of Egypt but 3D movies were still made at the time because they were cheaper” is... the opposite of the truth.

[brutalbacklogreviews]

Rainswept (2019) Review

Bottom line: This game is barely even worth thinking about. 1/10

Rainswept, published by Frostwood Interactive in 2019, is a "character-driven murder mystery game" in which you can't form any meaningful attachments to the characters, and which has a disappointing and bland mystery that the player has no hand in solving. I played the Nintendo Switch version.

Writing

As a mystery game, the writing is arguably the most important aspect of the game. The writing is also easily the worst aspect of Rainswept. The game is riddled with grammatical errors, missing punctuation, misspellings, misused sayings etc., making it very clear that no effort was put into proof-reading or editing. in fact, I would be extremely surprised if someone fluent in English even looked at the game before it was released in English. I couldn't enjoy the narrative at all due to the lack of care put into the actual writing.

The characters and relationships in the game are painfully bland. The protagonist is vaguely interesting due to his PTSD, but every character he interacts with feels like a prop to move the mystery or his journey of self-forgiveness along. We're told that he is becoming more friendly with members of the community, but we don't see any of this despite spending all of his investigation with him. We also see flashbacks from the perspective of one of the "murder" victims/possible perpetrator, Chris, which chronicle his relationship with his fellow victim and girlfriend Diane. Their relationship is completely unrealistic, they have zero chemistry and it's very difficult to empathise with them until the final few scenes with them. For a "character-driven" game, the audience doesn't even get the chance to like any of these characters.

The game utterly fails as a murder mystery. The player isn't given any relevant information until a few minutes before the killer is unveiled, and has no agency in the unveiling. It is a very linear experience, with the illusion of choice barely maintained by letting the player carry out their daily chores in whichever order they please. The player has no impact on the narrative, there is no fail-state as the game solves the mystery for you. Rainswept feels less like a mystery video game and more like a badly-written murder mystery novel that you'd skip to the last chapter of just to get it over with. It is clear that the narrative cares more about the detective's mental health journey than the murder mystery, and the mystery is barely enjoyable or even functional due to this.

Gameplay

Rainswept plays like a modern point-and-click adventure game. Most of the game is spent walking around a 2D plane speaking to NPCs and asking them questions, while occasionally investigating objects. The dialogue sections don't allow the use of the directional buttons, forcing the player to use the imprecise joystick to choose dialogue options. Outside of conversation, the game is a chore to play. The game doesn't tell the player that there's a run button (ZR, R2 etc.) despite it being sorely needed. Even with the run button, the gameplay just feels like busywork. A fast-travel option would've been greatly appreciated here. The game also features about 3 classic point-and-click-esque busywork fetch-quests. These feel completely out of place and serve no purpose other than padding gameplay time.

The game's performance leaves a lot to be desired, at least on the Switch. Loading screens are quite long and occur very often considering the game's limited locations and simple presentation. The screen often flashes bright white after loading, which is very jarring. I also ran into a bug where I couldn't move after dialogue, and had to replay about 5 minutes of conversation as there is no manual save or skip text option. Pressing the X button allows the player to see every object or person that can be interacted with... as well as everything that could have been interacted with at any point. If a character had been standing in a certain location, the interact icon will remain in that spot for the rest of the game, even if there's nothing there, which makes investigation quite confusing at times.

Presentation

The game is visually heavily inspired by Night in the Woods, and it's as if the artist/s just lifted certain elements of NitW's art style without understanding why they worked. The style is very simple, both backgrounds and characters having little detail, and would've looked much better if the colour schemes were also less realistic, a more vivid and stylised colour scheme may have suited the art style more. Another element lifted from NitW are the dialogue boxes, black with coloured text to show who's speaking. Rainswept completely misuses these, however, as there seems to only be 3, maybe 4 dialogue colours shared between the cast. This makes it very difficult to keep track of who's talking in situations where two characters have the same text colour. It's clear here that the developers just wanted the visual flair while ignoring the utility of this aspect of NitW's visual style.

The animations in this game are simple yet poorly executed. Characters often teleport between animations, sometimes even teleporting to a different location in the scene completely. Walking and running animations make characters look like eggs balancing on sticks for legs. The animation just adds nothing to the game.

The character models are very simple, with their only facial feature being their eyes. This works for most of the game, however there are a couple of instances, which are intended to be more emotional, that feature close-ups of the character's faces with the most terrifyingly hilarious eyes imaginable, or just with the game's laughably poor animation. The ugliness of the characters in these scenes completely ruins any potential for an emotional response, for instance I found myself laughing during the flashback to the murder/-suicide.

The game features pretty good music for the most part, however there is a single track that feels completely inappropriate and out-of-place whenever it appears. Throughout the game, the protagonist has distressing dreams, which are undercut by a fun and upbeat vocal track that doesn't fit in the slightest. Otherwise the music usually fits well with the game, nothing to write home about but no complaints.

Conclusion

This game has "very positive" reviews on Steam right now, which may sway people, but this game is truly awful. The story is boring, the mystery is basically non-existent, and the visuals are so bad at points that they completely ruin any possibility the game has at eliciting an emotional response in the audience. The game suffers from a very clear lack of care, likely from the publishers, while the developers leaned a bit too hard on their inspirations and forgot to make something original that can stand on its own merits. This game is a complete waste of time and truly isn't worth investing your time or money in.

[andersunmenschlich]

Thomas Jefferson to John Adams

Updated for the Modern Reader

You said you wished I'd stay alive and healthy long enough to become a Calvinist, or at least praise Calvin's god; that wish would make me immortal.

See, Calvin didn't believe in any god. What he worshiped was obviously a demon.

You and me, we worship the creator of the universe—a good guy who does good things! Calvin's "god" is so disgusting that it would actually be better to be an atheist than to insult God by saying He's like that.

Actually, on the subject of making atheism seem attractive: I think the idea that it takes a supernatural revelation to prove that God exists encourages atheism. Every Christian sect believes that, and they shouldn't! These days, apparently only 1/6 of all the humans in the world is Christian. By standard Christian reasoning, that means the other five sixths (since they don't believe in the Jewish and Christian revelations) completely lack all knowledge of the existence of a god!

This pretty much hands the win to atheists.

Modern atheists (the disciples of Ocellus, Timaeus, Spinosa, Diderot and D’Holbach) have this one argument that they think can never be debunked:

Whenever you're trying to figure out how things started, you have to assume that something always existed, right? And if you're going to reason logically, you shouldn't say there are definitely two things when one is enough to explain everything.

Then they say that it's simpler to assume that physical reality has always existed, with all its processes and changes and reproductions, according to the physical laws we see going on around us today and which may continue going on forever, than it is to assume the eternal existence of an invisible, unknown, non-physical, incomprehensible Creator.

I disagree.

Without appealing to revelation, I hold that all we have to do in order to know that there's a creator is look at how complex and perfect all of physical reality is.

Look at how the stars and planets and moons etc. are held so exactly to their paths of movement by the perfect balance between the force that makes things spin and the force that pushes things out and away from the center of spinning things. Look at the construction of our own planet, and how much water we have vs. air and land. Look at the plants and animals, and how well they work! Look at bugs! They're so tiny, but their bodies are just as functional and well-organized as the bodies of humans and elephants! Look at all the minerals there are, and how useful they are to us!

It is impossible for a human mind to take all of that in and not believe it was created on purpose.

You have to believe that there is design there. Cause and effect, all the way up to an ultimate cause, someone or something that makes stuff out of matter and motion, that upkeeps things it's currently allowing to exist in their present forms, that regenerates them into new and other forms.

We know that there's some superintending power that keeps the universe running in order. We see proof of it all the time. Well-known stars have disappeared and new ones turned up instead; comets probably run into planets and stars and so on and have to be remade somehow; certain species of animals have become extinct, and if there were no restoring power, eventually every organized living being would be extinct and there'd be nothing left but a chaotic, unliving mess.

This is such strong evidence that, for all of human history, most people have found belief in an eternally pre-existing god much simpler than belief in a universe that just exists on its own.

Only one in a million people has ever been an atheist—maybe less.

Surely the fact that most people throughout history have believed in a creator makes a creator the simpler hypothesis!

Besides which, some early Christians did actually believe in both an eternal creator and an eternal creation, without being confused about which came first in that case. Cardinal Toleto tells us that's what St. Thomas believed:

"Deus ab æterno fuit jam omnipotens, sicut cum produxit mundum. ab æterno potuit producere mundum.—Si sol ab æterno esset, lumen an æterno esset; et si pes, similiter vestigium. At lumen et vestigium effectus sunt efficientis solis et pedis; potuit ergo cum causâ æterna effectus coæterna esse. Cujus sententiæ est S. Thomas Theologorum primus."

See?

Now, that's not enough to tell us anything about the nature of this creator and maintainer.

Jesus tells us that God is a spirit (John 4:24), but doesn't tell us what "spirit" is. We know that down to the third century it was still considered a physical thing, albeit lighter and more airy than our own physical bodies. According to Huet's commentary on Origen, "Deus igitur, cui anima similis est, juxta Originem, reapte corporalis est; sed graviorum tantum ratione corporum incorporeus," while Origen himself said "appellatio ασοματον apud nostros scriptores est inusitata et incognita."

Tertullian said the same: "Quis autem negabit Deum esse corpus, etsi deus spiritus? Spiritus etiam corporis sui generis, in suâ effigie." These two experts, Origen and Tertullian, lived in the third century. So that proves what was believed then.

John Calvin seems to have copied the Jews to get his god's character. But the whole point of Jesus was to fix the Jewish idea of God's character: when Jesus spoke to the Jews, his goal seemed to be to take those blasphemous attributes the Jews had put on God and replace them with more worthy ones, pure ones, sublime ones.

Jesus's ideas about cosmology are clearly laid out in the first three verses of John 1: "εν αρχη ην ὁ λογος, και ὁ λογος ην προς τον θεον και θεος ην ὁ λογος. οὑτος ην εν αρχη προς τον θεον. παντα δε αυτου εγενετο, και χωρις αυτου εγενετο ουδε ἑν ὁ γεγονεν." The true translation of these verses is, "In the beginning God existed, and reason [or mind] was with God, and that mind was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were created by it, and without it was made not one thing which was made."

Obviously what Jesus meant by this was that all of physical reality was created by one supreme, intelligent being.

But modern Christians have taken this verse and twisted it to support their idea of three gods in one! They mistranslate 'λογος.' Sure, it can mean 'a word', but that's clearly not what it means here, because that's gibberish!

A word, an action or articulation of the voice and organs of speech, creating something? Don't be ridiculous! It obviously ought to be translated 'reason'. Translated that way—which is a perfectly legitimate way of translating it—the verse explains how God existed before everything else and created everything. Modern Christians insist it be translated as 'word' because they know that's gibberish, and the only way to make it even approach sense is to turn the 'word' into a whole other preexisting being and attribute the creation of everything to him instead of to God.

This allows the atheist to point and laugh at a god so useless that a vibration in the air does more creating than it, and to hold up the idea of a preexisting physical universe as infinitely more likely.

The truth is that the greatest enemies to the teachings of Jesus are those who claim to be explaining them. They have perverted the doctrines of Jesus to build the structure of an utterly incomprehensible imaginary castle that they like better than truth, a castle with no foundation whatsoever in Jesus's actual words.

Someday, the idea that Jesus was mystically generated in the womb of a virgin with the supreme being as his father will be filed right alongside the myth of Athena being mystically generated in the mind of her father Zeus, and I hope that that dawn of reason and freedom of thought in the United States will not only do away with all this artificial scaffolding, but also restore to us the genuine teachings of Jesus, who was a most venerated reformer of human errors (like the Jews'—and Calvin's—idea of God's character).

So much for your quotation of Calvin's "Mon dieu! Jusqu’a quand."

When addressed to the god Jesus worshiped, the god you and I worship, yes! I join you in that wholeheartedly. May we both end up in heaven whenever God wills it, us and all our ancient colleagues, and together hear God telling us, "Well done, my good and faithful servants."

[fasterthanmydemons]

“They might take requests,” Mantis replied with a shrug. She wasn’t sure. Maybe she was mistaken. When she first approached them to ask them to perform for Pietro, they seemed friendly enough. “But if they don’t, they will.” She hoped the use of her powers wouldn’t be necessary, but birthdays were only once a year… were they not? She wasn’t sure about that either. Mantis wasn’t overly familiar with the traditions followed by humans, but that was okay as long as she got the gist of it.

When Pietro agreed to carry her piggyback, she beamed. “Really? You’re okay with it?” That made her really happy. Due to the way she was raised and the nature of her powers, Mantis needed a lot of space, figuratively and literally. When she touched someone, anyone, she was flooded with emotions and thoughts that weren’t her own. She needed time alone, with her own thoughts and feelings instead of everyone else’s. She often worried that it would come across as a lack of interest for her loved ones… but Pietro was understanding, which put her at ease.

A part of her still believed he would dislike her if he learned everything about her past, her father and her siblings. Being a protective, good brother was one of the most important things for Pietro, if not the most important. Mantis knew that, and she knew she had been too scared to do anything for her siblings as they met their untimely demise at the hands of Ego. In other words, she had been a bad sister, or at least that was how she saw it. Perhaps she wasn’t meant to have anything other than a courteous friendship with Pietro, which was not only fine, but also amazing. He and Wanda had been through so much pain, and Mantis was glad they trusted her with the whole Chthon situation. She loved knowing that she had been able to do some good on planet Earth. The Guardians were still busy ever since they bought Knowhere, but for now, Mantis allowed herself to enjoy Pietro’s company and willingness to share his speed with her, and she hoped she could make sure he and Wanda enjoyed their birthday in return. She effortlessly climbed onto his back. Mantis was light as a bug. She always felt so safe with Pietro, it was, paradoxically, terrifying. It was not something she was used to, and she had no idea what to do with the feeling or how to unravel it. She could use the adrenaline his super speed had to offer.

“This is exciting,” she remarked as she held onto him tightly yet carefully; wondering if the scars on Pietro’s back would cause him pain. She didn’t want to hurt him. “I can take the speed of light, spaceships reach it when it’s necessary, so… feel free to run as fast as you wish.” Mantis mentally reminded herself not to scream or cheer out of respect for Pietro’s eardrums. Her concern for his eardrums went out the window the moment he ran.

(Aww Silence you’re too sweet, thank you, but I don’t write the best Mantis by a long shot! 💚👽 What I like about rp/fanfiction is seeing people’s different interpretations of the same characters, but I’m glad you like mine! Shout-out to you as well for the dedication you put into your muses and being overall a kind and friendly mun! 💚)

__________

{ That’s very true, it is great to see how each writer interprets their character a little differently. That’s part of the fun of writing with multiples of canon characters, to see all the little nuances that their writers add to them. =) And awww thank you, but I am in fact a derpy potato masquerading as a functional human. Shh… it’s my secret, don’t tell anyone. XD Also… this is so random, but omg you remembered that Pietro has scars on his back. That hasn’t been mentioned in so long, and it always tickles me when my writing partners remember details about my muses like that. <3 }

Pietro chuckled, knowing exactly what Mantis was thinking of doing. “If they don’t, is okay. No need to make them do anything they don’t want to do. Just that they want to play for me is amazing enough. Imagine that… me. A big nobody compared to them. And they’re going to play for my birthday. It doesn’t make any sense but I guess they’re just nice like that,” he said with a shrug. In his eyes, he wasn’t anyone overly important. Not to the world, anyway. Bon Jovi, on the other hand, had been reaching and touching people with their music for many years. Pietro couldn’t even imagine what it must be like to have that kind of positive influence on people.

“Yeah, of course I’m okay with it,” Pietro said with a nod and a smile. “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get. Am happy to oblige.” He winked at her affectionately. After all Mantis had done to help Wanda through the terrifying and complicated business with Chthon, Pietro wanted to pay Mantis back, even if she only let him do it in small ways here and there. He’d keep his eyes and ears open for any chances she might give him to be affectionate, helpful, or to otherwise show her is appreciation.

He really didn’t mind that Mantis needed her space. Maybe that was because there had been plenty of times growing up when Wanda had needed space too. Sometimes she was very clingy with him, but other times she wanted to be left alone, and Pietro learned to not take any of that personally. It helped him to then later in life be more understanding of people like Mantis, rather than taking offense or assuming he was doing something wrong. He never wanted to make Mantis feel uncomfortable, or even worse than that, piss her off so badly that she would end up wanting nothing more to do with him. That would be terrible, so of course Pietro was going to tread carefully.

When she climbed onto his back, Pietro felt good about himself. He loved to help people and do things for them, and this was quite literally carrying someone. If made him feel useful and like he was making someone else’s life easier, which was something he truly enjoyed. He waited for her to grab on securely before nodding. “Okay, here we go!” he announced before taking off. Maybe she did make his ear drums work extra hard with her enthusiasm, but he couldn’t be even the slightest bit annoyed at her for it. She was having fun, and for this short moment, she was almost sharing his powers with him, which was something not too many people had done.