#pixelated carnage

[zentendo]

Quake Fans Rejoice! A Potential Sixth Dimension Tremors on the Horizon

Calling all nailgun-wielding Quake champions! Dust off your rocket jumps and prepare to face-off against Shamblers once more, because the iconic arena shooter might just be warping back into our reality. Whispers of a Quake revival have been swirling for months, but now, thanks to Xbox’s Developer Direct, those whispers have morphed into a tantalizing tease. Eagle-eyed viewers of the Indiana…

[semiregular-mons]

who keeps putting all these goos in jars?? someone Free Them

last Christmas i made my buddy @bakageta that lil Venom, Carnage, and Sleeper, so for @symbruary 's free day i decided to add on to the happy family! in order that's Toxin, Riot, Phage, Agony, Lasher, and Scream. Riot appears to have had multiple color schemes over the years so i decided to just go with the somewhat metallic look from the movie for the sake of diversity

actual sizes under the cut (they're tiny!)

[spinecurlingmice]

i love being drowned in ship content so much but nothing ever compares to the fucking High i got when gustholomule would stand next to eachother in an episode

[differentpeachmiracle]

Necroko fan art mavel

[dognightmare4]

Doodle of F.R.A.N.K. from Gori: Cuddly Carnage 

[pixelsproject]

『VS. Series』 Palette Swap Character #9 ∶ High Speed Venom / Red Venom

After MSH vs. SF, I’m honestly surprised that Capcom didn’t want to sell this character as Carnage (back in the day, some cheat code websites would actually list this character as Carnage). This is a weird evolution because I actually think if they had recolored Venom with a crimson red and edited out his logo, he’d at least look more like Carnage than Mephisto looked like Blackheart.

(Or maybe not... that looks horrible lol. Sorry for exposing you to roided, smooth Carnage.) Despite also being known as Red Venom, he’s actually orange. MvC 1 seems to have a thing for secret orange characters…

---

SOURCES ↴ Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (Arcade) Manhattan stage uploaded by the2dstagesfg (Tumblr) Marvel vs. Capcom - Clash of Heroes (Arcade) Neo St. Petersburg stage uploaded by the2dstagesfg (Tumblr) Marvel vs. Capcom - Clash of Heroes (Arcade) Rooftop of the Daily Bugle stage uploaded by the2dstagesfg (Tumblr) Marvel vs. Capcom 2 - New Age of Heroes (Dreamcast) Venom sprites uploaded by the Infinity MUGEN Team

[gleemill-games]

We start of our Tumblr adventure with one of the main characters of our game CARnage. This is the Handler, he will give you pep talks between races and make sure you are at your best throughout the game. But does he have a darker plan for you in the end? Carnage will be released on Steam later this year, we're aiming for a demo for the start of the fall and we will also participate in Steam Next Fest for the October event! I will post regularly until the release with news and updates on the development process. Tumbler will be a bit of a game-dev blog for me (Glenn of GleeMill) So expect more pixel art and some music coming this way.

And checkout our steam page to wishlist the game if it sounds tasty! Cheerioz!

[yona049]

𝕄𝕚𝕘𝕦𝕖𝕝 𝕆'𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒 𝕩 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

Part 1

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

𓆩𓆪𓆩𓆪𓆩𓆪𓆩𓆪

On a earth across the vast multiverse Miguel O'hara leaves a wife behind to grieve for him, she takes on the roll of Spiderman 2099, little to her knowledge another Miguel O'hara is about to find himself on her earth.

𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩𓆩🕸️𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪𓆪

Disclaimer°˚

>mention of death/Funeral

>slight intrusive thoughts

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Miguel O'Hara. A son, A Friend... A husband." This was all Y/n heard before her ears started ringing. Her brain scattered as she looked down at the freshly dug grave and clean polished tomb stone.

This wasn't right at all. Her whole body burning with anger when she saw only one or two friends had shown up to her husbands funeral. They'll never know what he did for this city! The pain he drove himself through, mentally and physically. Nueva York wasn't and never will be thankful for all his efforts.

Once she returned home she dropped down on the couch wearing the black clothing soaked in the rain that continually poured outside.

A once Happy household filled with laughter or the occasional fight, felt quiet. Unlike the house, the city outside was busy, traffic ushers angry drivers to a psychotic honking fit. This wasn't unusual, tho it was more active since the once hero disappeared without a trace.

Feeling drained of all emotion, Y/n looks over to the still filled trashcan. Bandages and futuristic heath packs filling it to the brim. That one horrible night is what brought this nightmare to life.

Y/n stood up from the couch and walks right by the bin and down the hallway.

When she stops in the hallway and looks at a hologram picture of her and Miguel at some vacation resort, hanging on the wall. She clenched her fists and grits her teeth. "Lyla, open the door, please."

The holographic picture quickly switches off before suddenly swapping to Lyla, wearing her usual white fluffy coat and pink heart shaped glasses. As she floats in the air in front of Y/n, she slowly removes the glasses. "This room is for Miguel's eyes only-" Lyla is suddenly interrupted by Y/n's sudden loud exclamation. "Miguel isn't HERE anymore!" This makes Lyla flinch back before she finally sighs quietly. Her eyes fill with sadness and sympathy as the pixels she's made of slowly fades out. A small opening starts growing bigger and bigger from where there was once a wall and finally Y/n walks through the doorway.

Once in the room, Y/n looks around at the walls with an infinite illusion of blackness. Completely empty and void of any objects she quickly calls Lyla again.

"Lyla, show me everything. Every file, every piece of tech, everything in this room that's hidden." she folds her arms into a protective self hug.

Slowly the infinite void starts to fill up with furniture one pixel at a time. Bits of suites in the making, a Soldering Iron and a motherboard laying on a desk.

Digital monitors watching all corners of Neuve York. Among all the digital things was real paper pinned to a cork board.

Y/n walks up to it and gently runs her fingers across the red thread. Just like she'd seen in all those old detective movies. She followed the thread to each pin seeing alot of different news paper cutouts. Tyler Stone, Carnage and Proteus. All classic villans of the great hero Spiderman.

Y/n finally spoke after a long few minutes of stareing and thinking. "The fate of Nueva York rested on his shoulders. He broke bones, scarred muscle and almost lost his life numerous times! And these people barely bat an eye. His efforts for them, all of this for THEM!"

Y/n makes a sudden scratch across the cork board! Papers are sent flying and pins drop to the ground, red thread hooking onto Y/n's fingers. This was anger, deep and uncontrolled anger. She kept clawing at the board. Ripping everything off and to pieces not bothering to take a breath or stop. When the board was finally free of all it's pins and papers, Y/n stopped, out of breath and not bothering to flinch at the holes the pins left in her hands and fingers.

A few moments passed. Lyla took this opportunity to appear again. "Y/n, your hands will get infected. I suggest disinfectant, and ointment. Please."

Hearing Lyla's worried tone, she slowly looks up though the loose strands of hair. "Lyla, I'm sorry. I-I'm.." she trails off as the warmth of tears cover her red puffy face. She sinks to the ground, hands too heavy to lift. All she could do was cry. A messy bundle of black makeup, tangled hair and bleeding hands.

After her hands were bandaged up, she was sat in the secret lab in her home. Dressed in one of Miguel's shirts with a cup of strong coffee. She looked around once more, the suit on a mannequin. No blood on the holographic suit, Only a large gash of broken pixels on the chest.

She looks back at the monitors now streaming some camera footage of all dark ally's or known crime hot spots. Her ears perk when she hears two guys waking down a particularly dark street and talking.

"This Spiderman hasn't shown up in almost 3 days now! Absent punk is binging all hell back to the city!" says a man wearing an irish cap.

His friend with a cigarette between his lips snorts and agrees "Yeah! No kidding. Well, it's not like much changed, villains always came back after he supposedly 'saved the day'. What a waste."

Y/n look a deep breath and exhaled a growl, she tried staying calm, but the anger in her boiled up once again. Her eyes seemed to redden before she looked right at the holographic suit.

Y/n Aggressively Brings the mug down onto the table.

"Lyla! That suit can be shaped to any body type right?"

Lyla looks at Y/n, not sure what she's suggesting. "Yes, but it's still a little damaged."

Maybe it was a chuckle of anger that escaped from Y/n's rapid exhales and inhales, but this ushered her on to stand up quickly and walk right up to the much bigger suit.

"Let's change a few things then."

°°

The men on the street are still chatting the night away. Taking about how they could easily be the Hero! How that would get them all the girls and money.

The cigarette smoke from the man, drifts up past the harsh gleaming street light. This is where Y/n hid. Ontop of a streetlight, effortlessly balanced thanks to the suit she wore.

Atone to her figure, the suit was no longer fitted to Miguel's large shoulders. The large opening of pixels still remained on her chest right below the collar bone. But something was different, the once blue and red suit now flipped in color. A blue symbol for Spiderman and a fully scarlet body.

Listening, seething with anger. They undermine her husband so easily. In the moment she was ready to charge, to use a powerful blow against these pests who dare to complain.

But something stopped her dead in her tracks. A melody she recognized instantly.

A small song being played on a very old radio by someone down the dark ally by a dumpster fire. A song that was playing the night she and Miguel met.

She had been invited to a bar to celebrate a colleges promotion, still being relatively new, she didn't know alot of people from Alchemax.

The rain was falling onto the glass windows. The bar stood out among the white plastic and blue lined technologies of the future, because of its original wooden texture and orange lights. The bar's "vintage night" a mixture of music and drinks they used to use in the far past.

The band played vintage instruments, and there it started, a guitar solo with a slow pace.

One by one everyone went to slow dance, long time friends and colleagues laughing their way onto the dance floor.

Y/n watched from the corner of the bar, no drink in particular, just whatever the others got.

She looked down at her phone for just a second when thunder suddenly struck. She lost her grip and her phone went flying across the bar.

"¡Oye, míralo!" a voice exclaimed.

Y/n Quickly collected herself and rushed to her victim.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to, the thunder caught me off guard!"

Her eyes land on the hand holding her phone and as soon as she grabs it she looks up into his eyes.

A very tall man with incredible build and intense stare. Brown, near red eyes looked down at her curiously before letting go of the phone.

Y/n brings the phone to her chest looking a little worried.

"Did it hit you?" she scans his face for any obvious brushes.

"No, I have really good reflexes." he finally speaks with a dark chocolate voice.

Y/n nods and reaches to put her phone in her bag.

"Again I'm very sorry-" The sentence gets caught in her throat before she could finish when another bolt of lightning strikes.

Miguel seems to notice her distress before delicately offering his hand.

"The music is louder on the dance floor. C'mon!"

A little taken a back Y/n smiles and takes hold of Miguel's hand.

Finally on the dance floor Miguel places his hand on her side and takes her other hand. She clears her throat awkwardly before placing her hand on his shoulder.

"First I throw you with my phone, now you have to inconvenience yourself with me."

He smirks at Y/n's remark and shakes his head quickly.

"Its really the opposite." they gently swing side to side with a respectable distance between them.

"I was actually looking for a dance partner to celebrate my promotion with."

Y/n looks back intro his eyes before finally feeling more at ease and smiles.

"Y/n L/n" she introduced herself.

"Miguel O'hara"

°°°

Finally being brought back to her scenes, Y/n looks back down at the men she was fully prepared to charge at.

Her breathing was rapid, eyes ready to bring down a thousand rain storms. She lifts her hand and the electric webbing shoots from her wrists.

Swiftly she lands on a rooftop but as soon as her feet connect to the ground her knees give way.

Finally she gives in to the waterfall pushing her eyelids and yanks the mask off her head. Messy mask hair and puffy wet eyes.

With the sunrise rising over the city, her cheeks gleam in the orange light.

"Miguel... How can I bring you back to me?" She whispered with barely enough energy to go above a whisper.

After some distant staring, her eyes get a flicker of an idea.

"The spider serum!"

[libby-for-life]

Hey! I saw that you do staticradio and I'm wondering if you would do this request?

so I'm not really a fan of staticmoth, so basically Vox is in semi abusive relationship with Valentino, that he can't seem to get out of, and even though Vox knows that Valentino doesn't really love him, but he's just desperate for some type of affection that he know he can't get for who he actually wants. And after a tiring day with Valentino and Velvette, Vox goes to his office for some peace, but finds a letter from Alastor to meet at his Radio Tower. Their he finds Alastor with a tied up Valentino. And since you know Alastor is known for broadcasting his carnage for all of Hell to hear.... This is Alastor grand jester to Vox to accept him as Alastor's. And we'll it's not like Vox could just say no, lol🤭🤭🫣🫣(he is very much into what he just witnessed)

Possessive Sex, with kinda non-consenual voyeurism, because Alastor is still Broadcasting, which he is aware of, not that Alastor care. He's glad that Hell knows Vox is off the market and all HIS.

Oh, my. I like how you think anon. I am more than happy to do this. Again, I will be respecting Alastor for being Ace.

Vox groaned as he sat up and another piece of his glass face fell to the ground. Valentino was too rough again and the result had his face smashed into a wall. When Vox tried to yell that he can't keep changing his screen because Val decided to have a piss fit, all he heard was, "I liked your older form. At least that form could take a hit instead of some whiney bitch. I have whores who are better-behaved than you."

Vox had flinched and slumped over when Valentino sauntered out of their shared penthouse, hips swaying in what the TV demon supposed was meant to entice demons. It just made Vox glare harder. His boyfriend was probably going to end up having sex with some slut from work and then post about it knowing that Vox would get jealous of it all.

He had once tried explaining that he didn't like to share when he was in a relationship but Valentino had just laughed before saying nobody liked a clingy slut. No apology. Not even a good explanation as to why he insisted that he sleep with every good-looking demon walking his way. No, it was Vox's fault. It was always Vox's fault.

The Media Demon shook his head. No, he could make this work! Maybe he had been a bit too clingy. Nobody liked it when you're partner hung over you and didn't give you space. He picked up a shard of glass from the ground and held it in the palm of his hand. He needed to be better. Give more. Stop demanding more. If he pissd Val off again he might leave just like—

Vox shook his screen. No. He shouldn't dwell on someone who abandoned him. He should focus on keeping the person in his life right now happy. Besides, he was needed downstairs. Velvette needed him to model something and she got angry when he wasn't on time. He got up to change his screen so he wouldn't be late.

"Are you sure this is what it's supposed to look like?" Vox asked, suspicious and uncomfortable with what he was wearing. Why was he in a dress and why were there so many straps on it?! Sure, the dress was nice, a blue and red piece that looked elegant on him and his admittedly snatched waist but he wasn't really one to wear this type of clothing.

"Uh, it looks nice," Vox said when he noticed Velvette glaring at him. She smirked at the compliment and flipped her hair. "Of course it does. I'm not the Fashion Overlord for nothing!" She peered down at the dress with a frown before snapping her fingers. The dress became shorter and the elegant dress became something out of a porno video Val would direct.

"Velvette!" He screamed. He was lucky that no one was here to witness the blush spreading across his face. "What? The only positive things your body has is your waist and ass! I wanted to show it off." Velvette explained. "Now, look in the mirror and tell me what you think."

With a blush that resembled pixels of red and blue, he carefully examined his scantily clad figure. The scrap of fabric barely covered his ass. The dress now had a low-cut v-neck that made Vox blush even harder. He didn't feel comfortable in this. He tried saying as much, but Velvette was quick to interrupt.

"You promised you would bloody help me!" Velvette all but yelled at his face making Vox sigh. This was going to be an exhausting day. He could already tell.

Vox stumbled into his office breathing out a shaky breath. "Godamn it, Val. Why do you do thi-i-is?" He muttered. He could still remember what went down just an hour ago. Apparently, Valentino needed him at his porn studio. It was important. He purred into the phone just the way Vox liked it and he immediately felt weak in the knees.

"Of course. I'll be right there." He dressed himself nicely, making sure to put a lot of effort into his suit and appearance.

He was practically vibrating as he walked into the studio. Vox tried not to look at the production going on as he tried to find his boyfriend. After asking a few demons, he finally got a concrete answer. The moth demon was in his private office. The one where they used for quick romps whenever Valentino felt like having sex with him.

Making sure he looked nice, he knocked before opening the door. What caught his attention made his blood boil. Valentino wanted sex alright. Just not with his boyfriend. He could feel his body overheating as he watched them moan into the mattress. "What the fuck?!" He yelled. Both of them looked at him but Val had the gal to laugh at him.

"Come on, baby." The moth beckoned him closer. "Want to make this a threesome?"

"No! You know I don't like this!" Vox yelled, throwing the nearest lamp into a wall. "Did you just ask me here to mock me?! Make me angry?!"

Val growled, sending the whore he was on top of trembling. "Vox, watch yourself." He said but Vox didn't even hear that. He was far too mad. "Why do you do this?! Fuck, I give everything in this relationship and yet—"

A slap echoed in the room and Vox felt himself fritz a bit now that a chunk of his glass was shattered. "Why do you bitch and moan about the stupidest of things? God, we're not exclusive, slut." That shattered something in Vox's soul. He felt numb as he heard Valentino call him every insult under the sun. He finished his rant by saying, "You've ruined the vibe, Voxy. Go mope in your tower where I can come fuck you when I need you." Vox was pushed out of the office and he heard the distinct sound of the door locking. Not even a minute later he could hear moaning and panting. The Media Demon could feel himself beginning to cry, so he walked to the nearest camera and jumped through it, disappearing into the wires.

Now, Vox was cradling his hurt face and trying not to sob as he fixed it. The water could ruin his circuits. He forced himself to sit up and head for his desk where he kept some spare screens. Falling into his chair, he was quick to change it, making sure no sharp glass got stuck in his wires.

He sighed when the new screen popped into place and he finally allowed himself to cry. Why did he keep doing this?! He knew Valentino didn't love him. It was obvious with how he was treated. Besides, his heart would always belong to someone else...

Shaking his head, he decided to get some work done. That was when he saw it. A decorative red card that smelled faintly of copper and roses. He recognized the scent almost immediately. It's been a while since he was able to smell it so directly though.

Alastor was in his office. At first, he was panicked. What the hell was the Radio Demon doing in the Vee's tower?! He had security for a reason! But then, curiosity filled him. Why would Alastor leave one of his calling cards here? What game was he playing?

Deciding to finally read the card, he turned it over. It was simple and to the point. Come to the Radio Tower before my daily broadcast.

Vox felt his inside warm up pleasantly before he squashed it. He wasn't getting his hopes up that this had anything to do with how Vox truly felt. Alastor probably wanted to fight and went to him for the most entertainment.

He should crumble the card and throw it away. He should leave it and forget about it.

"Oh, what the hell," Vox muttered. He wasn't going to do any of that. He could never ignore Alastor. Maybe a fight would do him some good.

Standing up, he stretched and looked at the time. Plenty of time to arm himself and make himself look presentable for their fight. He felt the need to destroy something anyway.

Vox stood beside the Radio Tower with a smirk. It wasn't often that Alastor invited him over for a fight but he was prepared. Climbing up the steps, he was prepared to blast open the door when it opened for him.

"Vox! My dear, you're just in time!" Alastor said with his trademark grin. "You bet I am!" Vox said, extending his claws. "Where do you do this? Street 666 would have a lot of casualties and I know you like blood baths."

Alator tilted his head before laughing. Vox felt himself deflate. Here was another demon laughing at him. He didn't like it. "Would you just tell me what is going on?!" He glitched out. He was lucky he wasn't stuttering with how his voice was betraying him.

"Oh, Vox. I'm not laughing at you. I should have been more specific on the card, but c'est la vi~."

Vox blinked and really studied the Radio Demon. He looked calm and at ease, as always, but there was no underlying tension just before they fought. "Alastor, what did you call me here for?"

"Ah!" Alastor brightened. "Of course, this way for your surprise!" A strong hand found its way to his waist and he was pulled into the tower. Vox felt himself blush at the contact but forced himself to be nonchalant about it all. If the smirk on the Radio Demon's face was anything to go off of, he failed.

"Here you are! What do you think?!"

"Alastor, what the fuck?"

His surprise consisted of Valentino hogtied on the floor with angelic rope. It glowed in the dim light of the room. The moth demon was gagged as well, but the noise coming from him told Vox he was probably cursing up a storm.

Vox didn't know what to do. Of all the things he was expecting from Alastor, this was not even close on his list.

"Now, don't be shy, my dear. We have a broadcast to do." Vox still didn't understand what the hell was going on and he said as much to the Radio Demon.

"Can't you tell? We're taking out the trash. I've always hated this bug, but I have a feeling you want this just as much as I do. To feel this miserable wretch die in its own blood."

Vox blinked. He kidnapped Valentino to kill him and he wanted the Media Demon to help?

His eyes trailed down to his boyfriend's tied-up form. He was struggling to get out of the bindings and let out grunts of effort. The moth demon's clothes were destroyed, leaving him in tattered scraps. Vox thought he looked pathetic.

"If you're still feeling hesitant, why don't you just stay and watch?" Alastor suggested. "Besides, after everything he's done, surely he deserves it." Vox thought about every time he was cheated on. How Valentino would always invalidate, humiliate, and discard him because he could. Then he would pull him back in with sweet words until Vox was hooked on the bastard's poison.

Turning to Alastor, he said, "Fine. But I'm just watching."

Then, to Vox's absolute embarrassment, Alastor gently took his hand and kissed the back of it.

"Let's begin~."

Vox watched in fascination as Alastor tortured his ex-boyfriend. Normal people should be disgusted by what they were seeing. Vox wasn't normal by any means. In fact, just looking at the Radio Demon at work made Vox hot under the collar.

How can someone look so good covered in blood?

"Well, folks. It seems this is the end of Valentino." Alastor growled, holding the decapitated head of the moth demon. "Not even I would eat such filth."

Vox watched mesmerized as the Radio Demon turned to him. He walked over to him and before Vox could even blink, he was wrapped up in tentacles. "Wha?! Alastor!" Vox yelled, struggling for a moment before the taller demon kissed him.

Sparks lept off of Vox and he shook as the kiss continued. Alastor chuckled and they both broke for air.

"Do you want this? While I might not be able to give you pleasure how most demons would, I can be quite creative~"

Vox felt like he was dreaming. Was the Radio Demon serious? Did Alastor just ask him to have sex with him?!

"If you're teasing me again, I will fucking kill you." Vox threatened before kissing Alastor again. They both moaned into the kiss, the Media Demon felt sharp fingers brush his clothes before ripping through them. Vox didn't even care that that was an expensive suit.

More clothes were ripped and soon Vox was naked and being held aloft by tentacles. When he felt something poke his entrance, he whimpered. "My, you're sensitive~!" Vox blinked and opened teary eyes and saw that Alastor was holding his cane which had a crackling microphone. He was broadcasting still?!

Before Vox could complain, he felt the rough thrust of a tentacle enter him causing him to scream in ecstasy. Alastor chuckled, his filled with lust. Despite that, he wasn't hard in the slightest. A tentacle forced its way into his mouth, gagging him perfectly.

"Do you hear that? Vox is mine. And only mine. Anyone who tries to touch what's mine gets a spot as my dinner." One last tentacle wrapped around Vox's dick and it took everything in him not cum on the spot.

"Now, listening to my pet? That, I might allow on occasion." Alastor bent down and bit into Vox's neck, blood oozing to the surface. Vox screamed and came on the floor.

Vox shook from everything and Alastor patted his head, rubbing his sensitive antennas. "Thank you for tuning in, until next time."

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and Dating Andrew Scott

(Not my gif)(Requested by @sweet-dorky-crazy )

- They say that death is like eternal sleep—that your body remains at the mercy of the living while your consciousness floats endlessly inside of your own head. When Andrew Scott is brought back to life, he finds that he is still asleep, hibernating inside of himself while his body is controlled by somebody else. The UniSol serum flows through his system and acts like anesthesia: it keeps him under, keeps him asleep, keeps him at peace. At peace until he begins to wake up....

- Andrews memories undulate in clarity. They spill out smoothly from the darkest corners of his brain, pulling back from his hands just before he can touch them. You live inside of them—crashing into his head like waves before slipping through his fingers like water. Your presence is fleeting, fading in and out of view like a ghost. You're like the view of the shoreline when his heads being pushed underwater. The short gasps of breath that he catches between mouthfuls of water. He works against the current to get to you and you keep him conscious enough not to drown.

- When his previous life begins to come back to him, it's the carnage that comes first. It cracks across his skull like gunfire: a sudden and violent reminder of the man he once was. He stands in a warzone, in the middle of a jungle surrounded by bodies and blood. He remembers it vividly—but he doesn't recognize where he is. He's lost and there's no way out. Not until he sees you....

- Recognizing you is like wading through molasses, like reaching out towards nothingness and trying to grasp onto something blindly. You appear to him in flashes. Flashes of your hands and your eyes and your face. Flashes of your touch: soft and gentle and caring. Flashes of your voice, the sound of comfort and the voice of reason in a room full of traitors conspiring against him.

- When he walks back into the command center after killing Colonel Perry, his eyes linger on you the longest. He pieces your features together one by one: makes one whole person from a patchwork of different snapshots pulled from his mind. He fits your eyes to your nose, to your lips, to your face—puts you together like a puzzle and lets everything snap into place. You come to focus like a camera, like the clearing of tv static: a crisp image made out of grainy pixels. His gaze doesn't leave you until it has to, until he's turning the corner to set down a pair of ears onto the operating table.

"I've relieved Colonel Perry of his command." He informs everyone inside of the vehicle, stopping to inspect the soldier that you and the rest of medics were attempting to resuscitate.

"G13. This mission has been cancelled. I order you back to the cooling chamber. Now!" An officer barks out at him.

"Orders? I'm giving the orders from now on. ...We have a mission to complete." The click of a gun rings out from behind him: a foolish attempt to subdue him while his back is turned. The outspoken officer from before reaches for his own weapon, moving in solidarity with the man who stands just at the corner of Andrews eye. He shoots the officer first, a perfect shot right between the eyes, then he turns on the medic who started it all, snapping his neck in one swift motion.

"Any questions?" He asks the other two medics, waiting for any sign of opposition. They remain silent and he turns away from them, traces his eyes over the area you'd once inhabited before he finds your figure yet again. In the absence of his attention, you've managed to plaster yourself against the far wall, making yourself as small as possible in an attempt to hide from view. You shake your head 'no' when his eyes lock onto yours, assuming that he's waiting for an answer. The barest hint of a grin pulls at his lips.

“Good.”

- The mobile command center has always been quiet but with Andrews sudden coup d'état, the remaining medics; including yourself, have taken to working in complete silence. The three of you communicate with your eyes, scared to even open your mouths when asking for a scalpel or other surgical device. You work far slower than usual, pausing when assistance is needed: hesitating when trying to decide how you'll voice what you need without actually speaking.

- A whistle breaks the silence, an incredibly successful attempt at gaining the entire rooms attention. Everyone's eyes jump to the man sitting at the vehicles control center. Your stomach drops when you find that his gaze is locked on you. He smiles when your eyes meet, pointing and curling a finger at you, an obvious sign for you to stop what you're doing and come closer. Your hands shake as they slowly set down the things in your grasp, hesitantly making your way over while you and the rest of your team anticipate the worst.

- You stop in the entrance of the operating room, waiting for him to tell you what he wants from you. Instead of speaking, he ushers you closer, curling his finger yet again, amusement crawling across his features. He doesn't let you stop until you're standing just a couple inches away from him. You worry for a moment that he'll reach out and touch you, but you're relieved to find that he doesn't. He asks for your name, asks how your work is going, asks when you think you'll be done.

"I'm making you my second in command, y/n. Make sure they stay on track." He informs you with a wink—you can't tell whether he's trying to intimidate or tease you. You simply nod your head, retreating back to your work as Garth and Woodward exchange worried glances with you. You wonder if it's Andrews comment that ultimately makes them go against your advice....

- When Woodward urges Andrew into the cooling chamber, you try to dissuade him from carrying out his plan. You whisper reason after reason as to why they shouldn't take action, yet none of them seem to get through to the men. You watch helplessly as Garth approaches the sleeping soldier, watch as Andrews hand springs up and latches onto his wrist, watch as he kills the man right in front of you. When he's finished, the soldier turns back to you and Woodward, locking eyes with you from behind the glass. He focuses on the man beside you, more than he does you, and you get the impression that he might have been listening in on your conversation the entire time.

"No more games." He tells the two of you with finality. Woodward, stammers, nervously trying to explain himself. You remain silent.

"Y/n, what did I just say," Andrew interrupts him, eyes still locked on the man beside you. It's obvious that he doesn't believe any of his excuses, or his obvious attempts to lie to him. You hesitantly repeat his words back to him and he smirks. "See. At least someone's listening...."

- After that, you're the only member of the team that Andrew seems to trust. Though that isn't saying much, not when there's only two of you left; besides the two bloodied soldiers that you're still attempting to stitch back together. When Andrew wants something done, he goes to you. When someone needs to get close to him, he makes sure it's you. When Woodward says anything, he looks to you for confirmation. You suppose that after your coworkers attempted betrayal, you've actually become his "second in command".

- He insists that you accompany him whenever he exits the command center, expects you to follow after him whenever he orders you to. It's why you're outside of the vehicle when Woodward manages to blow himself up, standing a few feet away from Andrew as the bar goers take turns taunting him. You keep your gaze on the ground, tensing and grimacing every time one of them makes a comment or a beer can goes flying towards your "superior". You know how this ends, they unfortunately do not.

- When the explosion goes off, you practically jump out of your skin. You're so taken aback that you actually move closer to Andrew, bumping into his solid body as he drops the man he's holding by the ankle. He storms away from you with a curse, storms into the still smoking truck and tosses Woodward's body out into the street. He lands at your feet, not entirely in one piece, and Andrew appears in the doorway soon after, ordering you to get inside.

- He rants to you as he drives to the nearest supermarket, yelling about traitors and killing and war. When he parks the truck, he barks at you to follow him, taking the two dead soldiers, each by one arm, and dragging them out of the vehicle. You follow behind him as he pulls them through different aisles, kicking things out of the way so that he can fit them inside of the freezer. He commands you to fix them and you explain that the cold will do it, if they'll even come back at all.

- One of them makes it, but the other doesn't. You flinch as Andrew kicks at his body, yelling at him to get up and stand at attention. You gently try to break it to him that he isn't gonna make it, tensing in anticipation when the man goes quiet, staring down at the body that lays lifeless on the freezing ground. When he gives up on the man, he grabs you by the wrist, pulling you out of the room as he yells about his platoon dropping like flies.

- He pinches his nose in frustration as the two of you exit the freezer, yelling out at the supermarket customers who have stopped to stare at the scene. He doesn't let go of you, and you're forced to stumble after him as he pulls you this way and that.

- He rants about the war he's fighting and the traitors who are trying to get him, and you realize in that moment that he's never left Vietnam. That he's still stuck in his final moments: fighting for his country and trying to keep himself alive.

- When you finally leave the supermarket, he drives you out to an empty motel, ordering you to stay behind while he finishes tracking and exterminating Deveraux. You wait there obediently, wondering whether or not you should flee.

- Ultimately, you decide to stay put, though you're not entirely sure as to why. You think that maybe it has something to do with you feeling responsible. Andrew is your Frankenstein's monster; a product of your own creation, and as the last of your team left alive, it's your responsibility to deal with him; regardless of what that may entail. A part of you wonders if the man will make it back, but you know better than to doubt him....

- He returns to you in two days time, knocking on your door with bloodied hands. You don't ask what happened, you don't even think you want to know, you simply usher him into the bathroom and gather as much ice as you can. He blinks at you lazily as you fuss over his injuries, covering him in bags of ice and monitoring his wounds as they slowly begin to heal. He calls you nurse, and you wonder if, when he looks at you, he sees you sitting there in an old red cross outfit, taking care of him in some hospital overseas. You tell him that the war is over and hope that the message sticks.

- In the morning, there's a suitcase sitting on the bed opposite your own, it belongs to neither of you and it's undoubtedly stolen from one of the rooms next door. Andrew is already dressed in a t-shirt, one that doesn't quite fit him, and a pair of old jeans. He tosses a dress at you and you go to take a shower, ignoring the stray ice cubes melting at your feet.

- He smiles at you when you exit the bathroom, telling you that you clean up nice. He takes you to a diner down the road and you sit in a booth silently, waiting for the waitress to come and take your order. He orders for himself and then for you, unbothered by your awkward demeanor and the fact that you're struggling to act like everything is normal.

"Not hungry," He asks almost teasingly. On the contrary, you're starving, but your more so worried about what's going to happen when the waitress comes back with the check. Andrew doesn't seem worried though, especially not when he lets out a playful: "I’m buying."

- Andrew makes a habit of talking at you, pretending he doesn't notice your discomfort as he makes one-sided banter and tells you stories from his past. He seems to have a very 'fake it till you make it' mentality, speaking to you like you're both good friends, grinning and winking at you from across the table while stealing fries off of your half eaten plate.

- You're surprised to see him pull out a wallet once you've both finished eating, though you suppose you shouldn't be: not when he's wearing another mans clothes. He pulls out some of the stolen bills and sets them down onto the table, sending you a knowing smirk when you look at them in surprise. He asks if you're ready to go and when you nod, he rises from his seat and wraps an arm around your shoulders, leading you out of the diner and back to your stolen vehicle.

- The two of you drive for the better part of a day, only stopping for gas and the occasional bathroom break. You're not sure where you're going, and you're not sure that Andrew does either, but he still continues to drive, making conversation the entire time.

- At the end of the day, you wind up in a seedy country bar. Andrew leads you to a table at the back of the room, patting the seat next to him when you move to sit across from him. You hesitantly sit by his side, smiling back at him awkwardly when he shoots you a grin. He pats your knee when he jokes with the waitress, like a calling card for when he wants you to smile or laugh. His arm winds up wrapped around your shoulders halfway through dinner, his one hand toying with your hair while he uses the other to talk. You don't want to admit that having his hands on you has begun to elicit feelings other than fear....

- His flirtation starts slow, a stray comment here and there, usually a compliment or something of the sort. You wonder if it has anything to do with him running out of things to say, or if its an attempt to get you to open up. He tells you that you look nice in your dress, better than the scrubs he's used to seeing you in. He asks if you've always had "that scar/beauty mark", gently brushing a finger against the blemish as though he expects it to come off, or maybe just to emphasize what he's talking about. When the sun goes down, he asks if you're cold, tugging the bottom of your dress just that half an inch lower, his hand coming to rest of your knee and not leaving your skin until you're both exiting the car.

- One week on the road turns into two, two turns into three. Andrew starts to get better, starts to claw his way out of the past. The progress is slow but it's there, and you find yourself wanting to be there with him.

- You try to suppress your feelings, try to ignore the guilt that comes with liking a person as rotten as him, but it's really no use. You don't know the exact moment you fall in love with him, you just sort of realize that you have. You see him get hurt and your chest tightens—an undeniable physical reaction, one that proves the very thing that you dread.

- You take him back to the motel room you're staying at, bearing the brunt of his bodyweight as he stumbles through the door. He steadies himself on different walls and furniture, trying not to crush as you help him through the room. His hands leave bloodied fingerprints and his boots leave tracks of mud, though neither of you care very much about either. He mutters out comments about the fight he got into, jokes about his blood "leaving a mark" and how you're stronger than you look.

- He watches you lazily as you gather up ice, clutches onto you like a lifeline as you help him into the tub. You stay silent, too preoccupied with your own thoughts to worry about making conversation. You're sure he can tell that there's something wrong with you, sure that your emotions are written all over your face. You doubt that you're hiding them very well, but at that point you simply don't care.

"I remember this one song you used to play when you worked on me," He interrupts the silence. He imitates the song, snapping his fingers and halfheartedly dancing in an attempt to get you to smile. "That one. ...You used to talk to me sometimes. You knew I could hear, but you didn't think I'd remember. You told me about the people you worked with, things wrong with your apartment, traffic...."

- When his body was still being controlled by UniSol, you'd sometimes find yourself alone in a room with him. Oftentimes, you were tasked with cleaning his injuries or injecting him with one of the many serums that the program administered to their augmented soldiers. You'd make one-sided small talk: used to working on normal patients who appreciated a distraction from what you were doing to them. He'd glance at you sometimes and you'd feel a bit like a veterinarian: like you were speaking to an animal who could recognize that you were addressing it, but couldn't understand a word you were saying. Your coworkers used to tease you for it, but you never really managed to stop.

"Did you do that with everyone or just me?" He asks.

"Just you." You say quietly, just a hair above a whisper, and after he takes a long look at your face, he grabs you by the back of your neck and pulls you into a kiss. You kiss him back before you manage to remember that he's still healing. You pull away from him, holding him at arms length when he makes a move to follow your lips.

"C'mon, don't say you didn't like it." He says, and you know that you won't: because you know that you did.

"You're gonna hurt yourself." You tell him and he raises a brow at you, an amused smirk pulling at his lips.

"Oh, you're that good, huh?" He teases, playfully twisting your words. You shake your head at him, hiding your smile as he settles back down onto the ice....

- Andrew is naturally affectionate but it reaches whole nother level when you're out in public together. There's rarely a moment where he doesn't have his hands on you; when he isn't holding onto you like a prized possession and flaunting your relationship to everyone in sight. A part of him does it because he's scared that you'll get away from him, either run away or just plain disappear— like your life together was nothing but a dream, and that he'll wake up back in the UniSol program or the jungle that he died in. Having his hands on you keeps him grounded, reminds him that he's out of that terrible place and living a; relatively, normal life.

- Another part of him just likes touching you; especially if you're shy and have a tendency to get embarrassed. He likes seeing other peoples reactions to his loving behavior as well. He thinks it's fun to make bystanders; especially his enemies, feel like they're witnessing a hostage situation. He hangs all over you: kissing your skin and pulling you close, keeping an arm wrapped around your shoulders, and pressing you up against his side. Sometimes he'll hug you from behind and press your faces together like you're taking a picture. "Aren't we a perfect pair?" He'll ask whoever's there with a smirk, loving the awkward/concerned way that they react.

- When he's in a less playful mood, he'll make it obvious that he wants the two of you to be left alone, sending glares to whoever's unfortunate enough to make eye contact with him and/or interrupt the two of you while you talk. It's in these moments that he prefers to hold onto your clothes instead of your body: gripping onto your sleeves or the collar of your jacket, worried that he'll hurt you on accident if his mind starts to wander. Most of the time, he'll just stay glued to your side, leaned in close so that the two of you can whisper to each other and keep your conversations private. Sometimes he'll play with your hair or your clothes, wanting something to do with his hands while the two of you go over your plans.

- He has a slightly concerning habit of playing with your ears: tugging on the lobes, toying with your earrings, twirling the hair around them, etc. He does it absentmindedly but it always makes you a little nervous....

- Forehead and Temple kisses. He'll shamelessly pucker his lips whenever he wants a kiss from you; regardless of wherever the two of you are and whoever may be watching.

- Andrew is ravenous when he kisses you: he pulls you in by the back of your neck and doesn't stop until your body goes weak against his own. He's passionate, rough, and sometimes a little dirty—definitely not the type of person you want to be kissing in public.

- Cuddling with Andrew can get a little complicated. If you're just sitting together randomly during the day, then he'll happily wrap himself around you and cradle you in his arms; usually while you lay in his lap. But if you're expecting to cuddle every night then prepare to be disappointed. Some nights he's forced to cool down instead of relax in bed beside you, spending hours in the bathtub surrounded by ice or outside in the cold where the natural chill of the air can fix his issues. Other nights, he's plagued with nightmares and isn't able to sleep, usually opting to keep his distance from you while trying his best to clear his head.

- On good nights, however, he'll keep an arm wrapped loosely around you, nudging you whenever he asks a question/makes a joke—keeping you from falling asleep until he's ready to—or waking up every time you shift in the slightest. You usually rest your head on his chest, shoulder, or in the crook of his neck, nestled close to his side while his space heater of a body keeps you warm and toasty.

- In his more vulnerable moments, he'll lay with his head on your stomach/chest, making comments about how you're "a proper pillow" and that you "can't get this in 'nam". He went down a bit reluctantly the first time the two of you laid like that, so much so that you had to pull him onto you, but once he mumbled out a "this is nice", you knew he was down for the count.

- He's very big on you showing him affection. Choosing to sit on his lap, giving him a kiss with little to no prompting, hugging him, snuggling into his side, wiping dirt or blood or what have you off of his skin for him, etc. It reassures him that he isn't actually holding you hostage; even if he likes to pretend.

- He uses a lot of pet names when addressing you; some more teasing than others. When he's being sweet, he'll call you things like honey, pumpkin, sweetpea, little lady, my girl, etc. Sometimes he'll coo out a "baby", but that's usually when he's in one mood or another. When you fix him up, he calls you "doc" or "nurse". When you cook, he calls you "chef". When he's teaching you something or being bossy, he calls you "soldier". Like I said: he uses a lot of pet names.

- He thinks it's fun to dominate you domestically: trapping you against him, throwing you over his shoulder, picking you up when you're being feisty and playfully reminding you of who you're talking to. It doesn't matter how much you weigh, he picks you up like it's nothing; because to him it truly isn't.

- Andrews compliments aren't the smoothest or the most romantic, but they're always authentic, and they get his point across all the same. He'll call you "the prettiest damn woman [he's] ever seen" and other; oftentimes vulgar, things of the like. And though he might resemble a catcaller more than a loving boyfriend, he somehow manages to make it endearing: whistling and grinning and getting all handsy with you, even when you're looking and feeling your ugliest.

- There's nothing better to him than waking up in the morning and watching you get dressed, smiling at you lazily as you walk around in your undergarments or one of his shirts. A close second is the mini fashion shows you put on whenever you get new clothes and/or want his help in deciding what to wear.

- It's best not to question it whenever he comes home with anything: whether it's food, weapons, different cars, or different clothes.

- Occasionally, he'll come home with jewelry and hold it out to you like a proud cat with it's newest hunt. Sometimes he'll slip it onto you wordlessly or talk about irrelevant things, wait for you to say something about it yourself and/or give him a kiss as a thank you. Other times he'll play with it lazily, twirling it on the table or winding it around his fingers, waiting for you to sit next to him and look curiously at his hands. He'll stop toying with it, hold it out for you to get a good look and ask if you like it.

- On occasion, he'll simply tell you to "c'mere", grab you and tug you closer, or lean in close to you himself, gently securing it around your skin or pulling it over your head. Once he's done, he'll hold you in place and look at it sitting against your skin, admiring the sight; and usually acting a little more subdued and in love.

- Whenever you're around to see him acquire his aforementioned goods, he's even more of a little shit than usual. He goes window shopping on passerby's, asking what you think about strangers necklaces and coats and things of the like. If you compliment anything, he'll ask if you want it: like it's perfectly normal to mug someone on the street just because you can. Even when you insist you don't want something, he'll sometimes say "yeah you do" and just take it anyway; though thankfully it's usually when he's robbing a store instead of a person.

- One day, before the two of you actually started dating/before you considered yourself his girlfriend, he'd somewhat intimidatingly mentioned that " [he] gives you all this stuff" yet never gets anything in return. You'd frozen in response, brain scrambling for something you could give to him before nervously deciding to offer up a bracelet of yours, fully expecting him to scoff at it. Instead of doing so, he'd grinned at you instead, slipping it onto his own wrist or tucking it into his pocket, patting the fabric happily. He gives you stolen gifts nearly every week, yet he's still all smiles and surprise whenever you give him anything of yours. "Must really love me" he'll tease you, claiming that the item will be his good luck charm whenever he's apart from you.

- Andrews a menace who likes to prompt you into action then tease you for doing what he'd essentially forced you to do in the first place: things like cuddling close to him when it's cold or squeezing past him when he's blocking the way. He also loves to joke about you "just wanting to put your hands on [him]" whenever you touch him in any way, smirking at you while you roll your eyes and/or tease him back. Don't be surprised if he makes cheeky comments towards you/about you in front of other people just to see them get all uncomfortable/awkward.

- The two of you have a lot of back and forth in your relationship. He likes banter; likes being kept on his toes, so he likes having a girl who can keep up with him and keep him in check. He also likes seeing you be all quick-witted with people outside of your relationship, it makes him proud to call you his girlfriend.

- He talks at you a lot, yammering on and on about nothing in particular, saying "you know?" after nearly every sentence even though he never waits for an answer. He's like a professor giving a lecture on respect and war and things of the like. Like an old man ranting about things that have changed since he was a kid. Sometimes you think he just likes hearing himself talk, other times, you think that talking to himself out loud; with you as an audience, helps him work through things in his head.

- It's not being on the run if you call it a road trip!

- Visiting nearby lakes whenever the two of you need to cool off; or potentially living near one if you decide to settle down someplace warm. Sometimes, after he's done exerting himself, he'll hose himself off or dump buckets of ice cold water over his head. You'll come over with a towel to dry his hair off for him; since every other part of him is hot enough to boil the water off itself, and when you ask if he's feeling better, he'll smile down at you and claim that he always feels better when you have your hands on him.

- Impromptu picnics. The two of you have all the time in the world; particularly when you're driving cross country, so you pull over whenever and wherever you want, eating and doing as you please.

- He likes stealing cars and speeding around in empty areas, doing donuts and going as fast as possible down long stretches of road.

"Let's see how fast this baby goes, eh?" He'll turn to you with a smile, and you'll just have to prepare yourself for a adrenaline filled, heart racing experience.

- Dates in the middle of nowhere. Gas stations, diners, random areas where you just camp out: they might not be places that normal people would consider proper dating spots, but neither of you have ever claimed to be normal; at least not since getting together.

- When the two of you want to have "normal" dates—bowling, mini golf, things of the like—he either breaks into the places you want to go, or scares everyone off so that the two of you can be alone. Once there's no one in sight, he acts all jovial and cheery, like he didn't just threaten to kill a room full of people just so that the two of you didn't have to be in a crowd/wait in line.

- Most of the time, you try to dissuade Andrew from leaving the house/car with you whenever you need to go anywhere; preferring to keep your deadly super soldier with a lust for violence safely away from the general public. But, sometimes he gives you no choice: wanting to be around you to keep an eye on you, or to take you someplace normal for a date, or even just to run errands with you because he's bored at home. Whenever you do take him out in public with you, he has a tendency to act concerningly extroverted, and while it might make you slightly nervous whenever he jovially interacts with random strangers, it's always a relief whenever things don't go south.

- That being said, there might be some slip ups every now and again: days where he attempts to intimidate people, acts loud and obnoxious/causes a scene, makes threats, or wordlessly "deals" with whoever's managed to get on his nerves; particularly whenever your back is turned. Thankfully, however, he usually listens to you whenever you tell him to stop, reluctantly releasing the persons shirt collar as you reprimand him and pull at his arm. He'll give them a devilish grin before he lets go, calling them lucky before turning to you with a casual "sorry baby" like he's committed some minor infraction. When it comes to him, you suppose that it counts as one; at least no one died....

- Though he'll refuse to admit it, rest assured that your boyfriend has attachment issues. He always needs to know where you're going and how long you'll be, and he hates having you out of his sight for longer than a few minutes. His behavior can seem somewhat controlling, but it's more about his fear of losing you than it is an urge to control you. It's hard for him to admit weakness so his nervousness can, occasionally, come off as aggression. He'll catch your arm as you go to leave and demand to know where you're going, telling you to be quick when what he really wants to say is "be careful".

- You had to temporarily cut contact with a lot of your friends and family while out on the run with Andrew, but you're able to reconnect with them once the two of you settle down. One of your friends doesn't like Andrew at all, and while you try to keep their disapproval of him a secret, your boyfriend finds out about it anyway.

- When they come to visit you for the first time, he manages to get them alone, and while he never directly accuses them of anything; never outwardly says that he knows that they've been trying to break the two of you up, he certainly alludes to it. He sits there like a cat ready to pounce and makes vague; oftentimes intimidating, comments about your relationship—about how much he loves you and how he doesn't know what he'd do if somebody tried to get between the two of you—and "jokes" about how he doesn't think that they like him very much.

- He'll act like nothings wrong when you finally come looking for them, cheerfully claiming that he was just showing your friend something outside, giving them a somewhat goading smile as he pulls you into his side. Your friend will remain silent, too scared to speak to the contrary, and they'll stay like that for the rest of the night. Though it'll be obvious that something happened between the two of them, you'll never find out exactly what that something was, and your friend will never bring Andrew up to you again....

- Though you'd likely move in together someplace else, if he ever had the chance to spend time in your personal place of residence, he'd make himself right at home, acting like he owns the place and everything in it. He lays in your bed, eats your food, uses your expensive shampoo, etc. He's a bastard, but at least he has the decency to clean himself up before he ruins all of your pretty belongings: chucking his boots off at the door, hosing himself off outside/showering right when he comes "home", etc. He likes to jokingly tell people that you would kill him if he tracked mud through the house.

- You liken loving Andrew to loving a reformed fighting dog. Time has turned him sweet, turned his claws dull and taught him to kiss instead of bite. He's gentle with you, gentle with his person, but there's always a violence that lingers beneath the surface, hungry and waiting. There's skills that he's never forgotten, there's triggers that've never gone away. He may never use his teeth on you, but he'll easily tear into somebody else and instantly remind you of what he once was and what he still is.

- It's in those moments that you're reminded of how comfortable you've grown in his love for you. You act like you're in charge, you yell at and give him hell, you order him around and expect him to obey. And for the most part he does. He listens because he cares and he takes your disrespect with a smile on his face, allowing you to act out and scold him without repercussion. Instead of calling you his person, he calls you his "old lady", and as Andrew would playfully put it: you "have [him] by the balls".

- Having a super soldier that needs the cold to survive, you'd likely choose to live somewhere with frosty weather. Because of this, you'll occasionally see him laying out in the snow with hardly any clothes on, looking like he's tanning on the beach instead of turning himself into a human popsicle. You'll bundle yourself up and join him outside, expecting him to say something sweet from the way that he's looking at you as you approach him, only for him to tell you that you look like the Michelin man.

"Too cold for you to be out here." He tells you halfheartedly as you settle down next to him.

"I think I'll be fine for a little while." You insist, enjoying his quiet company for the next few minutes.

"Your nose is all red." He interrupts the silence, trailing a finger down the feature. You grab his hand and pull it away, holding it in yours and resting them both in the space between you.

- Sitting out on your porch and watching the sunrise/sunset.

- Lounging on the couch together, watching VHS movies and television shows. That being said, he is the type of guy to have his own personal armchair.

- If you have cold hands, he'll develop a habit of grabbing them and putting them against his skin whenever he gets a little too warm: resting them against his heart, his neck, or his face. The chill doesn't last very long, since he's practically a heating pad, but it still soothes him and benefits you in the process.

- Sharing cold beers. Sometimes, when he goes to grab them from the fridge, he'll chuck a couple ice cubes into his mouth and crunch on them like they're a normal snack. You'll have to remind him to not do it around you if the sound of it drives you nuts; though he might occasionally do it anyway just to annoy you.

- This man can eat you out of house and home so keep that in mind whenever you go food shopping. Catch him guzzling a literal gallon of milk in the middle of the night, like damn man can you at least leave some for my morning coffee??

- He doesn't see a problem with using your toothbrush and/or drinking straight from the carton. Living through war ensured that very little is sacred to him: he's used to rations being scarce and having to do some arguably gross shit because of it. After practically swapping spit with several men in his platoon, doing the same with the woman he's been giving and getting head from is child's play.

- If you insist on learning to defend yourself, he'll put you through a makeshift bootcamp, making the experience as difficult as possible because he thinks it's kind of pointless. He's resolute in the fact that he'll always be there to protect you; and that you have no chance against any of his enemies anyway, so he'll put you through hell in an attempt to dissuade you from wanting to learn. If you think that seducing him will make him go easier on you, you're sorely mistaken: he'll play along before sweeping the rug out from under your feet, telling you to drop and give him twenty just as you think he's falling for it. "Had enough?" He'll question when you finally give up, kneeling in front of you as you lay in a heap on the ground. You'll nod your head tiredly and he'll demand that you give him a kiss before picking you up and carrying you inside.

- Asking him to teach you how to use a gun will earn you a suspicious once-over, but he'll ultimately agree: not like you can do much damage to him with one anyway. He'll set up some targets and come up behind you, wrapping himself around you as he teaches you what parts to move and how to aim and so on and so forth. Once you've got the gist, he'll stand back and watch you give it a go, hooting, hollering, and letting out proud "that's my girl"'s anytime you manage to actually hit whatever you're shooting at.

- Andrew keeps his old stuff in a lockbox. Where he keeps that box depends on how healed he is: the farther away it is, the more willing he is to let go of the past and begin to move on. If you ever got pregnant, you'd hear him digging in your yard late in the night; probably the same day that you told him. You'd discover the box gone soon after, buried deep in the Earth and away from prying eyes and curious little hands. He isn't ashamed of his old life, but it's certainly no place for a baby.

- Helping him through his PTSD. Even when he starts to get better, he'll still occasionally have flashbacks—only you'll be there too. Sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, he'll grab you and force you down low to the ground, barking at you to "keep your fucking head down before someone sees you". You'll have to recognize when there's an actual threat vs when he's reverting back to his old memories: have to recognize when it's best to listen to what he's telling you, or try to assure him that everything is alright.

- At one point or another, in one way or another, he's gonna make sure that you're bound in blood. Your blood, his blood, someone else's: it really doesn't matter whose it is, it just matters that it gets spilt. It's proof to him that you're serious, that you're not gonna leave and that you're not going to betray him. Although, even if you did betray him, he'd likely forgive you—as long as you could prove that it was an accident, or as long as you'd be willing to feel the same pain....

"Should have known you couldn't leave. We got too much history, you and me."

- Your aforementioned betrayal could come in many forms, but a physical betrayal is the one he'd respect the most. Stabbing him to get away from him or to buy somebody else some time to escape would be the most likely scenario; and the easiest for him to understand since he likely left you with very little choice. When you'd finally go back to him, claiming that you were sorry, he'd make you prove it to him by letting him stab you. So you'd stand there completely still, letting him press a knife against your torso, locking gazes with him until your eyes instinctively squeeze shut at the contact. You'd brace yourself for the pain but the pain would never come, and soon enough, the sharp tip of the blade would leave your skin completely.

"Welcome back, honey," He'd murmur as you slowly blink your eyes open in surprise, watching him put the weapon away before pressing a long kiss to your lips. "Next time I won't be so nice...."

- Andrew likes to show you off so he's not an inherently jealous person. He's fine with people finding you attractive, fine with you wearing whatever you want, and even with you jokingly flirting with people from time to time. But the moment people show too much interest in you, his amusement turns sour. He sobers up, straightens in his seat and turns accusatory. He verbally backs people into corners, confuses them into admitting things they don't even necessarily believe, and then uses their words as an excuse to threaten or attack them. If they're lucky, they escape with only a baffling and slightly frightening interaction weighing heavily on their minds. If they're not, they might not escape at all.

- People having the audacity to try and disrespect him has always amused him, but he never finds it funny whenever they try it with you. Sometimes he'll warn people to "try that one again" whenever they address you rudely; occasionally with a weapon pointed at them in a concerningly casual manner. Other times, he'll wordlessly beat them, prepared to kill them in an attempt to protect your honor. Unfortunately for everyone else in the world, he's always been more of an actions first, words later type of guy.

- The two of you have game plans for every situation you could possibly be in: where to meet if you get separated, what to do if you meet a certain person, etc. You're his everything so he wants to ensure that you're safe, and that he can always find you if something goes wrong.

- Andrews always been an "end of discussion" kind of guy. He leaves no room for argument whenever he's serious about something, and since he's the expert on survivalism and being a fugitive, you usually let him call the shots. When he isn't passionate abut something or convinced that he knows what's best for the two of you, he usually lets you win whatever argument you're having, wanting to stay in your good graces whenever he can.

- The first time you got mad at him, Andrew was amazed by how much you resembled an angry kitten. It made taking you seriously kind of difficult. But, even if he brushes off your attempts to act tough and start a fight, he'll still usually listen to you and correct himself in whatever way you'd wanted him to. The two of you don't fight very often but you do occasionally bicker, usually about silly things that neither of you care very much about.

- After an argument, he usually tries to kiss up to you. He'll sweet talk you, giving you teasing puppy dog faces as he wraps himself around you and/or caresses your skin. He'll tell you jokes, trying to get you to smile or make you laugh, make you loosen up and stop giving him the cold shoulder. He might not apologize, especially if he thinks he did the right thing, but he'll coo at you and tell you he loves you, claiming that whatever he did, he did it "for you". But, if you'd rather an insincere apology, he can give you one of those too.

- He says he loves you pretty often. Maybe not every day, but certainly enough; and usually with a peck on the lips.

- He likes to joke about making babies, but he's never fully joking....

- At the end of the day, Andrew wants a quiet little house away from all the noise. He wants the home, he wants the wife: he wants the domestic little slice of life that everyone promised him he'd have once his tour was up. If the war is really over like everyone says that it is, then he wants what's rightfully his: what was owed to him after years of combat, what he was fighting to come back to after all that time. Once he's sure that it's safe, he wants it all.

[bogbees]

a while ago, you posted some gaia figures you'd done up to look like various characters

how

i want to play the dress up game how do i access the dress up game

oooooohhhhhh nooooooooooooooooo

they're all GaiaOnline.com avatars, you'd need to make an account and use in game currency to get the items to dress up your avatar. this currency would be gained through posting in the forums, forum shops (art or graphics or whatever), mini games (you'd need to get waterfox or smth bc all the minigames are still flash based) or daily activities!

(i have 10k+ forum posts and like 12k items. I've had my account since 2008 with LOOOONG bouts of inactivity)

regrettably, many moons ago (2013 at least) there used to be this website that'd use the avatar assets for Gaia and you'd be able to make avatars without the hassle of account making. BUT ALAS. they got wiped fr the internet 😔

that all said, you can make avis with items you don't own! inventory search in the avi builder with ALL items rather than just ur localized invo. it's a terrible search system tho. god awful. colour names are like "carnage" and "wispberry." you want white hair? search "light ivory hair" and you MIGHT find smth applicable. the forums have aaaalll sorts of guides for users to refer to, from making cosplays to nakedness to colour schemes. it is A LOT to get the hang of

(I try to explain to Mel ab it but she's like "this is witchcraft to me. you're speaking in tongues" and im like 😩)

below: my current avi, a clutter avi i made with just wispberry items, my iruka cosplay avi, an avi i made for a runway theme that i turned into an oc, an avi using the invisibility cloak item, a two toned clutter avi. just to give you an idea of how many ways you can style these pixels

everything costs so much plat. Ssoooooo much plat.

[kitchfit]

Year In Review: Viddy Game Pt 4 (Happy Mario Day!!!)

Oops! All Mario! To prepare for the release of Super Mario Wonder, I wanted to play through as many of the Mario games I never played before as I could. There are a few wayward titles I missed, but I’m sure I’ll end up playing those sometime in the distant year of 2024. Damn that sounds like a fake year. I hinted in earlier reviews that this was something of a nightmare to accomplish, but that was just me being silly. They’re Mario games! All of these were pretty fun.

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga

I started out my Mariothon with the story-driven series I had never actually touched. I’ve played all the (good) Paper Mario games, but I’ve never touched the other side of the plumber’s rpgs. The combat was a refreshing change of pace after all those Final Fantasy games. It’s almost as much of a rhythm game as it is turn based, which makes it very engaging. I also like what it adds to the Mario World. Luigi has been characterized in several of the RPGs and his own spin off series, but having him along for the entire ride in this story driven game makes him somehow more endearing to me than he was before. I like to imagine this takes place right after Super Paper Mario, and Mario is making sure his best bro is safely right next to him after the shit he went through.

The Bean Bean Kingdom feels like a suitable alternative to the Mushroom one we’ve grown familiar with. A lot of the older games had introduced other Themed Kingdoms, like the Jewelry Kingdom in Yoshi’s Safari or Sarasaland in Mario Land, which is based on types of tea. And Mario Odyssey would assert the entire world being organized into these Kingdoms, so Bean Bean fits right in! It’s super fun to explore the fresh areas with a familiar aesthetic. I only wish these Bean characters would make more appearances outside of this game. I guess they show up in the other Mario and Luigis, but Reggie knows what I mean. Put Prince Peasley in Mario Kart, coward!

New Super Mario Bros

When this game released I had no idea that 2D Mario had been put on hold for ten whole years. From my perspective Super Mario World had only been released earlier that year in 2006, on Nintendo’s brand new console, the hand-me-down Game Boy Advance I got from my cousin. So when my friend showed me New Super Mario Bros. on his Fancy DS Lite in 2009, I wasn’t that impressed. This one didn’t even have the cape, or the Tanooki suit from Mario 3! I was not impressed. What it did have was a fun as hell competitive mode that I could play with my friend via DS download play (which is an awesome system they should bring back), so I never felt the need to seek out a copy.

Playing it now, the game is a lot more distinctive than I gave it credit for. While the world themes are based around the generic grass, ice, fire, etc. themes the Mario games always recycle in some way, the level designs give a good sense of cohesiveness, and the new power-ups: the tiny mushroom, Mega Mushroom, and Blue Shell significantly alter how you approach the level. When you’re tiny, you get a higher jump and can get into hidden paths, but touching Anything Will You, while Mega Mario can ignore everything and cause as much carnage as possible. The Blue Shell lets Mario continuously slide and kill anything in your path provided you keep whatever initial momentum you started with, making this game the singular moment the red plumber stole something from the blue hedgehog. The low-res 3D artstyle felt dated when I first saw this game, since I wasn’t enjoying the industry norm of changing every franchise to 3D. “Give me my pixels, damn you!” said 8-year-old Kitch. I now find it really charming, especially compared to the later entries in the “New” series. There are a lot of original enemies in this game that never show up again. I need everyone to look at the Snailicorn immediately.

Super Mario 64 DS

I was always told this was the inferior version of Mario 64 due to the limited control scheme. Instead of full 360 movement, you are now cut down to 8 directional movements cycled on the d-pad. However, I played this game on the 3DS, and the analogue stick made those 8 directions flow seamlessly. The other change is the addition of a Run Button, one that I was not aware of until futilely trying to race against Koopa the Quick. That’s right, for the entire fight against King Bob-omb, I had just assumed this game ran like shit, or that Yoshi was intentionally designed to be extremely slow until I happened to hold down the b-button as if this was some kind of. 2D MARIO GAME? In 3D??? It’s a sensible change, but one that is only communicated by experimenting with the controls, which someone who has already beaten the original game 3 times wouldn’t really think to try. And since there’s little need to ever Not Run, holding that button down for the ENTIRE GAME started to get annoying towards the end.

Otherwise, it was really nice returning to this classic. The calm atmosphere in exploring the Mushroom Castle and revealing its little secrets makes it genuinely unmatched as a hubworld, and the levels, while mostly generically themed, cram tons of personality into such small areas. Realizing how tiny levels like Cool, Cool Mountain and Big Boo’s Haunt are actually startled me, since I spent so much time as a kid exploring the nooks and crannies of those areas. There are also a lot of new stuff hidden across these levels that either unlock or are accessed by the new playable characters. Each of them have their own movement speeds and abilities, but none of them really play as well as the Mario Himself, so changing into them was mostly situational. I loved the new boss fights that unlocked them, though. Adding Goomboss from Paper Mario into the OG 3D Mario made me really happy. I’ve still never 100% this game, but if I go back, I might actually make sure it’s this version I complete.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

The awaited sequel to the GBA game, I hear absolute jackshit about this game when people talk about the Mario and Luigi series. I assumed it was the runt that came between the beloved classics of Superstar and Bowser’s Inside Story, but that isn’t true at all. In fact, I think I like this game more than Superstar. Since it’s on the DS, there’s a naturally higher fidelity with the pixel art, the premise is more interesting, and it adds a new layer to both the combat and overworld movement in the form of the BA-BIES. Since there are two new X and Y buttons, you get Baby Mario and Baby Luigi as additions to your playable characters, meaning at any one time you are juggling Four Whole Mario Bros. all for the price of One! The game is noticeably more difficult than Superstars, nothing too crazy, but I did die a lot more. Or I am just Bad At Games.

Like the previous entry, this game is oozing charm out of every bodily orifice it has. Mario and Luigi are characterized extremely well as they step up as babysitters. It warmed my heart everytime Luigi purposefully goofed up to make the babies laugh or whenever Mario shouted “BA-BIES” in concern whenever they were in trouble. It may be the most overt personality he’s ever really shown. The time travel mechanic isn’t super in-depth, the present time basically acts as a hub world, but we get some more of that Sweet Mario Lore as they explore the Days of Mushroom Past. Autocorrect wants me to say Pasta. We get to see Baby Peach and Younger Toadsworth at some point after Yoshi’s Island, an E Gad pre-ghost fascination, and also these alien freaks who look suspiciously like Fucked Up Toads. What does this mean for them? Are Toads themselves descended from aliens, or vice versa? Will we ever get to see “Toads In Space?!” Some kind of… “MARIO GALAXY???” Only the future can tell.

Super Mario 3D Land

Nintendo was able to put a 3D Mario on a handheld in the last generation, so I guess the new hurdle was an ORIGINAL 3D  Mario on the Three Dee Ess. This serves that purpose well. I could honestly end it there. The level design is well executed around the controls that are based on Galaxy, and it translates really well. They brought back the Highly Acclaimed Tanooki Suit that lends itself nicely to 3D platforming, and also seemed to be a selling point of the game? A lot of the Goombas and Koopas are now wearing the tanooki suit, and even Peach gets to show off the fit at the end of the game. You can’t play as her though, it’s just there to tease you. Luigi is an unlockable character with his own set of remixed levels, but that’s really it.

And that’s the thing, this game is fun, but it’s also kind of… Nothing? If you’ve played 3D Land, tell me: Where does it take place? The Mushroom Kingdom? That’s probably a good guess, but there’s nothing that really shows that, is there? There’s little to no cohesion between the levels. The level select is a linear screen with a multicolor background. You’ll be playing a water level immediately following some weird toy-themed level with absolutely zero context. Where are we? What’s happening? No one really looks for a story in a Super Mario game, but the lack of any real context makes this game super forgettable to me. It’s just a selection of random levels, and a Lot of the levels are repeated with slight differences. Why? TELL ME REGGIE. At the very least we get these cute letters from Peach showing her own adventure escaping Bowser. That would’ve been a fun to play, but this game won’t let you go Girl Mode. Oh well.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

This is one of those “underrated Mario gems.” Maybe the only one. Super Mario Land is pretty mediocre, so I’m not surprised its sequel fell by the wayside. It’s super creative for a GB game, and because of the power of Cool Internet People, I got to play this in color! Lucky me :) The whole game takes place in a magical theme park that was maybe created at the end of one of the Mario Parties. Did anyone else make that connection? I know one guy did. They go ham on the level designs: an area that makes you tiny so Mario is battling ants, a bubble ride that takes you into space to fight Pig Creatures, a mechanical Mario; at one point you go inside a whale. It’s wacky! The enemy design reflects this too, there’s a bunch of Weirdos, like the Pig Creature:

The goal is to find those 6 Golden Coins in each world to unlock the Mario Castle, with the caveat that Mario will lose all his coins upon a game over and have to track them down again. You only have to repeat the boss fights however, so it’s not a complete wipe. My Boy Wario is introduced in this game, and he really does come across as this supernatural, corrupted parody of our portly performer that the commercials for this game made him out to be. But the official word is he’s just Mario’s childhood rival that was upset they didn’t name a castle after him. Don’t worry, Wario! I’m sure you’ll get yours soon.

Super Mario 3D World pt 1

This one is just stellar all around. It makes 3D Land look like a tech demo in comparison. Every level showcases a degree of creativity on par with Galaxy while keeping 3D Land’s linear design. Every part of this experience is just so damn satisfying, the new power ups, targeting the tops of the flagpoles, riding on Yobbo the Swimming Yoshi, and you can go GIRL MODE. My biggest complaint about 3D land is that they teased a playable Princess Peach without actually ever giving it to you, and now I refuse to play this game as any other character. Except when the game makes me play as Mario or Toad to get all the Green Stars. Also the GREEN STARS.

The secondary collectables have never felt as necessary as it does in 3D World. They add an incentive to explore the levels or find an extra challenge that are actually Worth searching for. I don’t remember if they really gave you anything, but I still liked finding them. 

Also the MUSIC, the ost slaps so hard in this game. We’re moved to a new setting in 3D World, and the soundtrack and aesthetics match that vibe. It’s unique, it’s bOMBASTIC. There are two new power ups in the form of CAT and CHERRIES. The cat can run up walls, while the cherries can make a double of your character. The former is generally the best playstyle for most of the game a la the Tanooki suit, while the latter works as a fun challenge that gets really creative with its limits as you control two or three or six characters with one controller. There’s even a bonus mode at the end based on Galaxy where you can. Guess What? GO GIRL MODE EVEN HARDER. I haven’t done it yet but hey. I Am Going To.

Bowser’s Fury

This is one of the few I actually 100% completed. I was on a Dollywood trip with some friends and after the festivities ended at Guy Fieri’s Shitty Arcade and Ripley’s Wacky Wonderworks we stayed in the cabin and chilled out. I didn’t have a ton else to do while everyone was resting so I got really into Bowser’s Fury. Our first taste of what may be Open World Mario. It’s fun! Mario is stranded in the middle of a lake with wildly clashing aesthetics that somehow just works. Light blue dominates the eyes hampered by the slimy black of the magic ink polluting the water around you. There are small yellow islands dotting the lake and floating in the air. And when you get to these islands? Cats! They’re all cats! There are cats on the ground, cat ears on the goombas, Cat Koopas, Kitty Boombooms, everything is a cat!! Even the grass is cat fur! You have cat to be kitten me, right meow! It’s a place so suitably weird for the Mario universe, I could easily see Lake Lapcat being introduced in one of the earlier Paper Marios.

Gameplay wise this is just a big Mario Oddysey world with more… direction? The lack of a real swimming mechanic in Bowser’s Fury makes the ocean a fun place for movement and little else, though there are occasional challenges for Yobbo the Swimming Yoshi to run through. It makes Lapcat feel like a massive hubworld of sorts, with no divide between it and the level, It’s as if in Mario Galaxy you could walk straight from Rosalina’s Observatory directly onto a new planet without going through the Domes, if that makes sense. It’s short, but super fun for what it is. You get all the power ups from 3D World to play around in less linearly designed levels, and it lets you stock up on them through an inventory system. Bowser Jr. follows you around and acts cute! Mario and Bowser turn into Kaijus and you have a Godzilla vs King Kong style boss fight. I guess Mario would be King Kong in that analogy… Nintendo may need the help of John Kirby once more…

Super Mario Sunshine

I had never heard about this game’s existence until I was like 15. My friend told me it was one of her favorite Gamecube games growing up, and I did not believe her. Every description she gave about Super Mario Sunshine sounded like she was messing with me. “Oh yea it’s the game where Mario goes on vacation and he like, gets framed for vandalism? And you have a water gun and you clean paint.” Fuck off with that, you’re not getting me! I thought it was a running joke she had until I looked closely at Mario's trophy in Brawl that referenced the same name. Huh! 

Anyways this is my first time actually playing it on the 3D All-Stars collection. I started it when it was released, but I reached a point where I had no idea what I was supposed to do until my cousin who grew up with it told me I needed almost every shinesprite to beat the game. ALSO WEIRD. The other 3D Marios let you go at your own pace and pick and choose which levels you want, but here all but the last levels are required. I guess this is because Sunshine is more “narratively driven” and they want you to watch how each world changes through your actions. I can appreciate that! Mario 64 experimented with that a bit, like the tower appearing at the top of Whomp fortress in Star 2 or King Bo-bomb’s corpse appearing at the bottom of his battlefield after you coup de tated that fucker. Sunshine, however, has levels like Noki Bay where each level has Mario tackle the source of the pollution, or Gelato beach where you make sure a hotel is suitable for reopening and even get to celebrate at the end.

The controls on the other hand. My cousin described them as “lovably janky.” Mario no longer has the long jump, which startled me every time I tried to long jump, which was a lot cause I have the memory of a housefly. Wall jumping is harder to pull off as Mario does not automatically turn towards the wall like other Mario games, so you have to time it perfectly, and Mario’s overall movement is very awkward. I never felt like he jumps the exact distance I expect him to go. This is probably to make the player more reliant on Fludd, the aforementioned water gun that can let you hover as well as two other fun, but useless abilities. Fludd is very fun to use, but they take it away from you during the platform challenges and it reveals just how janky Mario is in this game. I guess it also makes them more satisfying to complete. Still, since these levels are required, I probably would have given up ever beating the game if I played it as a kid.

New Super Mario Bros 2

This is a similar case to 3D Land. It seems the goal of this entry was “put a 2D Mario on the 3DS,” which was a less impressive goal given the OG New Super Mario was already playable on the 3DS. It’s much prettier, I guess. The big name of this game is “Coins.” Coins are everywhere in this game. There’s a new power-up, the Golden Flower, that lets you turn blocks and enemies into coins. Another power-up that gives Mario a coin every step he makes. There are Golden Koopas that produce coins when thrown. There’s a counter on the home screen that shows how many total coins you’ve got, and the game notifies you every time you reach a “Coin milestone.”

Yea I’ve never cared about collecting coins in Mario games. It’s not like they unlock anything that matters in this one, they just congratulate you every three minutes and if you get One Million coins you get a new title screen. That’s kind of cool, but not something I would actually care to try and get. What I’m left with is the most standard 2D Mario game to exist. The Tanooki suit is here, but like 3D Land, you still can’t go Girl Mode. Unless you count Luigi. Genderfluïd King. Despite this, I do find myself coming back to this one quite a bit to carve out some of the bonus worlds. It’s slightly harder than the other games in the “New” series. Maybe if they leaned into that, like the OG Mario 2, it would be more memorable. Wait, this is the 3rd New Super Mario game. Why is it called 2? The hell?

New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe

As the final entry in the “New” series, it makes sense that this is the most polished version of that game style. The world designs are still based on the tried and exhausted Grass, Desert, Snow, etc. aesthetics, but here there are a lot more unique level designs or some that are SO COOL aesthetically, like the level based around a Van Gogh painting. I wish there were more levels like that, but in THE LEAST, this is the first New Super Mario game to introduce CONTEXTUALIZATION. This is something I’ve been complaining about with these new mario games. Super Mario World (the best one) has a beautiful map level-select. When you’re in Donut Plains on the map, the level reflects that design, taking place on a field, and when you go in a cave, THE LEVEL TAKES PLACE IN A CAVE. Imagine that. It’s such a simple thing that adds so much to the experience. You are actually traveling through a world, not just choosing random shit off a menu. U Deluxe’s map isn’t as cool as World’s, but it was still immensely fun to discover all its little secrets, and made me realize how much I missed World’s map design. Maybe I should play that game instead.

There is one unforgivable sin in Mario U specific to Deluxe. There’s an original playable female character in the form of Toadette! Girl Mode! Finally! And it SUCKS! It’s not actually that bad, but playing as Toadette gives you access to Peachette, whose existence replaces all power-ups in the game while playing as her. So Girl Mode is actively worse to play than any other mode, except funny rabbit mode. But that’s only if you want to be a funny rabbit. She’s meant to be “easy mode,” which is a bit demeaning given she’s the only female character, but I get the desire for an easier way for kids to play the game, I just wish it didn’t lock you out of all of the power-ups. Speaking of which, there are a Lot of power-ups in this game, but a lot of them are hidden for some reason, like the Propellor Hat and Penguin suit, which I found 1 and None of, respectively. Why are they in the game if I can’t use them? These aren’t collectors items, they’re funny little costumes that are supposed to be FUN. WE’RE ALL HAVING FUN HERE.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

FINALLY they’re letting Mario be WEIRD AGAIN. The artstyle of the New Super Mario Bros. games got heavily criticized after this one was announced for being “soulless” and “boring,” but I wouldn’t say that. Because I don’t think it’s true! They’re vibrant and colorful games with an obvious ton of talent and heart put into them. I would, however, describe them more as “corporate.” Homogenized and Marketable. Mario and Gang have been kept to their models in every game since the DS and everyone has clearly been exhausted by it. Wonder is breaking the trend, and Mario looks fucking Weird.

He’s so much rounder, his clothes have a different texture, and his eyes are bigger and brighter. His eyebrows are clipping through his hat! He looks like a plastic toy brought to life, which is not an insult. All of the characters are brilliantly animated to pull off this new look, and I refuse to try out embedding videos in Tumblr so you just have to trust me. It’s not that I want Mario to stay like this, but I DEFINITELY want them to Keep Being Weird Like This.

The weirdness doesn’t end at the artstyle. There are three new power-ups, the Elephant Apple, Bubble Flower, and the Drill Shroom, the last of which is carried over from Mario Galaxy 2’s Spin Drill in terms of gameplay. The Bubble Flower lets you capture things in Bubbles and lets you jump on them for extra air time, and the Elephant Flower turns you into a Fucking Ele Phant. Twice as big, can swipe things with your trunk, can carry WATER in your trunk. Truly the Mario experience we’ve been missing. There are also the most playable characters than there have ever been in a mainline Mario game. Peach, Toadette, AND Daisy in her first playable appearance. THREE FORMS OF GIRL MODE. Nintendo knew what my main Mario complaint was before I ever thought of it.

The main draw of this game, however, are the additions of the Wonder Flowers. There are no levels that stand out against the other, more standard levels like the New Super games, because literally every level in this game is FANTASTIC. The Wonder Flowers are an extra challenge midway through any level that changes it into something WEIRD AS HELL. Maybe the level speeds up and slows down rapidly, maybe you have to dodge walking Piranha Plants as they sing an acapella stage performance, maybe you turn into a Goomba yourself and have to avoid being eaten by a predator. It can be literally ANYTHING. Every level is exciting to go through because you want to see what NONSENSE those crazy bastards have come up with. 

Not to mention the world design. The Flower Kingdom is BEAUTIFUL and similar to the Beanbean Kingdom in terms of cohesion. There’s another country right next to the Mushroom Kingdom with a new botanical aesthetic we’ve never heard of before? That makes sense! It feels perfectly natural for it to be part of this universe. This is another of the three I went to the effort of 100% completing, and some of those last levels are HARD. I gave myself a migraine on the final badge challenge. Also BADGES. They’re cool. Some provide an extra movement option and others make movement actively worse as a way to challenge yourself. Some are just fun! It adds a neat level of replayability to the game as you experiment with them all.

You also get a fantastic reward for completing all the levels. It is. SO Stupid. Extremely dumb. And I have never been more satisfied with a completion reward in a Mario game.

Super Mario Galaxy

To end out my Mariothon, I celebrated with another playthrough of my favorite game featuring a space-faring plumber, Super Mario Galaxy. This was the game that made me fall in love with the series, and in my eyes, still has not been beaten by other Mario titles in terms of atmosphere (PUN). It is just so fun to exist in the levels in these games in a way I can’t say about other Mario titles, except maybe Odyssey and 64. I could follow the objective, climb on the honey walls as Bee Mario, or hop across apples and pears so large they’ve become planetoids and have a great time, fantastic even. But I could also walk around Honeyhive and Deep Dark and look around the scenery and play around with the controls, which are restrained, but refined compared to the previous 3D Marios. Most of the purple coin levels are designed to do exactly that. Galaxy is by no means a sandbox game, but it retains those elements from Sunshine and 64.

Maybe that feeling just comes out of nostalgia. This was at one point the only game I would play on my wii for months on end. It’s like comfort food to me. One time I heard a local cafe play the Galaxy main theme on the speaker as I was walking by and I just. Paused for a bit, leaned against the brick exterior and soaked in the vibes. Listening to that pristine orchestral track whilst watching people come home from a full day of work, or following the actions of a cat decided whether or not to eat a bug running for its life. There’s probably a copyright issue they were violating, but who cares, Fuck Nintendo.

There is one thing that I know isn’t just nostalgia. The older I get the more I appreciate the storybook section of Galaxy. Every few worlds you complete, you’ll get a notification that Rosalina has a story to tell you, and you’ll hear a chapter out of her children’s book detailing her past. It has a melancholy vibe and it’s a genuinely beautiful and heartfelt story with a gorgeous handpainted artstyle:

Supposedly, Koizumi (co-director on the game) snuck this feature in without Miyomoto’s knowledge, and he hated it. When he discovered it after the game was released, he was upset enough that to this day Nintendo has not let Koizumi direct a big release. Apparently, he thought it ruined the game’s tone. I don’t know if I believe that, and I don’t feel like fact checking that shit, but if so, I’m glad Koizumi got it past the guy. It elevates the game’s overall story to an absurd degree in my eyes, providing Galaxy with one of the best endings in any video game I have played.

My ONE criticism. MY singular gripe. Is the title itself. “Galaxy” has always bothered me. “Battlerock GALAXY?” “Loop de Loop GALAXY???” Miyomoto sir, those are SOLAR SYSTEMS. And tiny ass solar systems at best. Sometimes just singular planetoids. But obviously Super Mario System or Super Mario Tiny Ass Planet isn’t as Marketable as- What the fuck was that? Wait, hold on. Sorry guys. Computer, ENHANCE.

What the fuck is this? I’ve always noticed it there in the background, but… I’ve never considered… is this Earth??? The surface of the Mario Planet? Are you telling me all of these “galaxies” are simply a collection of stylized MOONS??? Do we ever actually leave the outer atmosphere? Well, maybe. Looking at the skyboxes of a few more worlds, it seems we do actually bounce around a few other planets, but they’re nearly always there, holding our bee-themed satellites in rotation of itself. That makes more cosmological sense, I suppose, but I’ll stand by that Super Mario Satellite wouldn’t have been too horrible of a name if Nintendo wanted some fucKING ACCURACY WITH THEIR TITLES. HAPPY MARIO DAY EVERYONE. The big MAR10. I totally planned for this to release exactly today, and it’s not just because I put this whole project on the backburner while I focused on my Real Life Job. Thank you to everyone who has been reading these (I see you). I’ve repeated before that these reviews are mostly for me, but the few people that have been leaving likes did motivate me to keep going. I’ll be posting more things on this blog in the future, but I’m not sure I’ll do the Year in Review thing in this manner again. Look forward to more of my ramblings! Or don’t! Skim them in mild interest! Don’t read them at all! Either way, wahoo! Yippee! Yahaha! And Have A Blessed Mario Day.

[grumpy-gamedev]

During the last 3 years I've been hard at work with pixel graphics and music for aforementioned CARnage, I haven't been able to focus on much else than day-job and game-dev really (apart from family of course, I'm a father of 2 wonderful kids as well, and happily married).

What I lost during these years to a great extent is my artistic skills, it's kinda weird really, I have been pushing pixels like a madman, shouldn't my art skills level up? Well, when you aim into a style and gotten into the beat, things start to happen automatically really. You don't have to question things during the way, and you convert time into assets.

So now that CARnage is out and done I want to get back to art again. And I need to start from the bottom. So for quite some while, I will be posting shitty art and sketches. This time around I really want to journal the progress so that I can look back and see if there's any growth over time.

One important thing that I take from CARnage is that the most important skill in anything you do is consistency. As long as you keep being consistent in your creative endeavor you will gain progress, this really converts well when it comes to art.

I am going to try to squeeze sketching into most of the days, as soon as I have some free time on my hands I will have the iPad at the ready and go straight into Procreate for a healthy exploration session.

At the start I will try to loosen things up really good. I have previously gotten stuck in going straight for the details and trying to rush things to have some sort of beautiful thing that I can feel proud of. But for the last decade or so I have just burned myself out in this aspect, so now it's loose n' dirty for quite some while.

So what am I showing off today? A sheet of orcsesses, a mainstay in my drawing arsenal, ever since I saw Chris Metzens amazing orcs in the booklet of Warcraft 2 (I had the nice clunky box back in the days) it's been a constant visitor in my sketch books.

I also will try to have proper inspiration material available during the sketching sessions to keep my end goal constantly in my viewport.

What goals might this be you ask? Well it's all about game-dev in the end really! I have a dream title that I have been thinking about for a looong time. And now I don't see any reason why I shouldn't focus on it. I know that I won't be able to live off of my game-dev practice. So I will convert it to a healthy hobby instead!

The artstyle that I'm aiming for right now will be towards the amazing art of titles such as Darkest Dungeon, and of course main inspiration from Mike Mignola. I've also been reading Lone Wolf and Cub lately, and I really enjoyed the artstyle in those books. So old-school ink and graphite feel, trying to simplify form and keep a more intense shape language.

This will take some time to develop art wise, and that's why I need to keep it super loose and gritty for a while now! So expect a lot of slop in the coming months! It won't be pretty, but I hope for a quick progress towards my goals in the coming year! And here consistency will be key!

That's all for this days rant! Catch ya on the next one!

Cheerz!

/ Glenn the Grumpy Game-dev

[scenekidgaming]

Listen to Pixelated Carnage by Texzias/Scenekidgaming on #SoundCloud

https://on.soundcloud.com/V5PRK

[unhingedwomandiaries]

Today's ick list:

1. Those fucking YouTubers.

2. Anyone who films their breakup drama.

3. My exes (always).

I'm eating stale hot Wotsits and hate-scrolling YouTube at night like the functional adult I am when I stumble across this absolute cluster-fuck of relationship drama that makes me want to perform DIY brain surgery with my rusty potato peeler.

These two bell-ends – let's call them Twat and Twattier – had one of those YouTube channels where they made "food hacks." Christ on a bike. Picture this: she's got these spindly fingers like she's been possessed by Tim Burton's wet dream, making these monstrosity meals that would give Mary Berry an aneurysm.

They've been together longer than your last attempt at sobriety. Proper millennial power couple shit. You know the type – sharing a YouTube channel like it's a joint mortgage.

Then – plot twist! – they break up. "Amicably," they say, which is code for "we're about to destroy each other online while pretending to take the high road." Like watching two seagulls fight over a discarded chip butty, except the seagulls have lawyers.

She's commandeered their channel like a digital Blackbeard, while he's fucked off to do stand-up comedy. Because that's exactly what the world needs – another tragic bastard mining his personal life for laughs.

Makes me think about my own ex. I was sat there in my manky Beatles shirt, juice from fresh blackberries staining my fingers like tiny crime scenes, when they dropped the trans bomb. We'd spent the night before building a Minecraft house together like some pixel-perfect version of the life we'd never have. The irony isn't lost on me.

My response? "Sound, I'll be a lesbian then." Their comeback? They'd rather shag their mate's ex. Proper rom-com material, except nobody's laughing and Hugh Grant is nowhere to be seen.

But did I blast this all over social media? Did I fuck. I'm not about to turn my emotional carnage into clickbait. Delete, block, move on. Sign up for an app like a normal person with trust issues.

Now he's living in his Tesla (which sounds like the setup to a joke nobody wants to hear), claiming she locked him out faster than my nan trying to remember her iPad password. There's a lawsuit coming, because of course there fucking is.

I'm watching all this unfold, reading comments like I'm studying ancient hieroglyphics of human stupidity, thinking this must be what Kafka meant about life being a cosmic joke.

We're all performing monkeys now, aren't we? Dancing for likes while our personal lives implode for public entertainment.

Makes me want to delete everything and become a hermit. But then how would I know when the next YouTuber couple spontaneously combusts?

Fuck's sake.

[gleemill-games]

CARnage release and postmortem

Today Friday the 13:th at 13:49 we pushed the green button and released our little game out into the wide world!

It's been quite a ride, we've been at it for almost 3 years, it takes some time to juggle day-job with game-dev for sure, and the last 6 months was quite hectic. But now it's done, it's out and about and already on the first day we've pushed a bug-fix that I managed to see in a twitch-stream.

We first thought that we would spend around 1 year of development for this game, but it quickly turned out it would take a bit more time, before we started we were participating in quite a lot of ludum dare's, so we thought we would be ready for the real deal. We were of course, but man, it took it's sweet time to come to the finish line!

What I can say now is that we did not have a clear image on what we wanted to make, we thought we knew back in them days, but CARnage has become a beast quite far away from the first blurry vision we had for it in the early days. It actually started as a Ludum Dare game (and we called CARnage CARnage 2 for a long time (the exe file still is named carnage2.exe I think)). The good thing with not having a super clear vision was that we used an agile mindset during the development, we tested out a lot of things in the early days and around the 18 month into development we finally found the right balance of things! Weapons was something you bought upgrades for in the start, but after we tested having weapon powerups on the tracks instead we found our winner!

The velocity of the development did have some ups and downs during the 3 years, we both have day-jobs of course, and at times you get really really tired of making the same game for a long period of time. But during the last 6 months we both stepped up our pace and made sure all the last pieces fell into place. This time was probably also the most difficult period as you need to make the whole package tight and complete! Putting the last pixels down was almost cathartic and pushing that green button finally were for sure.

Now we both are looking forward to a looooong rest from game-development. Back to only have one full-time job will be quite a vacation! But when the time feels right we'll go back to the trenches and start our second title. This time we'll try something completely different, so keep yer peepers pealed for that one (but not in the near future).

Lastly I will have a bit of good and bad bullet points concerning CARnage, I'll start with the bad so that I can end on a good note. These are more personal opinions from me (Glenn, the graphics guy of the team).

The Bad

Timeframe - we thought it would take around a year to develop, it took 3, 2 would be nicer, but I guess for our first title it's ok, a lesson here is to keep the scope tight and start off with a more clear vision of the end product.

Time - making a game on the side of a day-job really eats up all your time, I have been a bit less available to family during these years, something I feel a bit sad over and something I don't want to repeat. Next time I will look into reducing day-job hours and stay at at least bellow 10 hour work days with game-dev time included.

UI - I still aren't super happy with the UI we released, but it's far from the worst! We had some really gnarly variations going in the start. Having some wireframe planning on this would be great, but most of the time I was just stumbling around in the darkness. I do like how it turned out in the end, but it's far from optimal.

Promotion - This is probably the worst. We are really bad at promotion. I am quite tired of all things social media, and I think it shows in my tries to spread the word for the game, on X we have 4 followers after I tried my best to do some fun and casual promoting of the game. This will bite us in the back-end and is the basis of the last bad point.

Sales - As the first day of the release draws to a close I can immediately see from the first numbers coming in that CARnage will not be what you would call a success, we got 8 sales for the first day, mostly from people we know and that want to show support. We will probably not break-even due to us using our funds for sound effects and a last gonzo try to promote the game through keymailer to see if we can get some traction from influencers and streamers. So it feels quite nice to just go back to the day-job and get a proper pay without having an extra job on the side. And of course, you always dream of being able to slowly take the step to work more on games than the regular grunt work. I still hope this will become a reality in the future when we release other titles. But in the end CARnage is quite a meltdown when it comes to the economic side of things.

That was a rough ride for sure! Now over to the sunnier side of things!

The Good

The Goal - the goal of this whole process in the end was simple. Make a real game and release it on Steam. In this we totally succeeded! We are super proud of the product and I actually still think it's a nice game to play! Even after putting down countless hours of playtesting during these 3 years, and I think it's a brilliant game for what it is. A classic combat-racing game that has taken huge inspiration from the past! We can finally say that we are proper game-developers! We've gained a lot of experience during these 3 years, and our next title will not take the same amount of time to create for sure!

The Game - It's fun to play, and I personally believe that if it finds it's right venue it can actually sell quite well, so apart from us being the worst when it comes to promotion, if at some point it shows up on the right stream or youtube channel, I can definitely see that it can boost sales, so maybe a sleeper hit.

The Expectations - We really didn't have any expectations that this would be our breakout hit, it's our first game and hopefully the first of many. As it stands today we are just 2 very happy game developers that enjoy the process through and through. We've started GleeMill proper as a LLC and we have a start with CARnage. This will not be the end of GleeMill, but we do need a long vacation for sure!

The Experience - We did it! We made a game. We know what it takes to go the full 10 miles and we can now proudly sit back and see if our creation finds fans all around the world. This was never about the money, although it would be nice to have money to do this full time we are very happy to have crossed the finish line this time around.

Final Lap

That's all from me this time around! I will for sure start shouting about our next project when it starts up, but for now it's time for a long rest and just enjoy seeing people playing CARnage. We hope you will try it out and if you do, don't be shy and tell us what you think! Now I will cozy down in my bed with a good Terry Pratchett book and just rest my head after a wild ride that it has been!

Cheerz!

Glenn of GleeMill