#sadly this game is completely lost media

[dj-cublex]

did you guys know that. lumines online

[homestylehughes]

3 times nico wanted to kiss you and the 1 time he did.

pairing(s): nico hischier x fem!reader

summary: 3 times nico wanted to kiss you and the 1 time he did.

warning(s): absolutely none. pure sweet fluff :)

wc: 2.3k

an: hi loves! I'm so sorry for my lack of posting and staying on top of everything, life has been kinda kicking my ass recently BUT the show must go on! sooooo.. new nico fic! this is one of my favorite prompts of writing, so I hope you enjoy Nico's version! lmk if you'd like me to write anyone else to this! I loved writing this, and i hope you enjoy reading it! like and reblog if you do! I hope you all are healthy and well. much love as always<3

1.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Nico swore as he kicked the front door of his apartment. Today wasn't his day, first the devils lost their game in a shootout, a game that they should have won. Having to sit through mindless, annoying media after, putting nico in an even more shitty mood. Then he got stuck in traffic on his way back home, his phone died halfway home, and just as he got out of his car it started pouring causing him to get completely soaked. Just to top it all off, if his day couldn't get any worse, he somehow left his keys inside his apartment. Which led to the three kicks Nico gave to his door before dropping his head against the cold wood. 

Nico, too busy trying to wrack his brain on how to get into his apartment, didn't hear the elevator door open, as someone began to walk down the hallway. 

“Nico, are you alright?” a sweet voice says from behind him.

turning his head slowly to see yn, his attractive, sweet as honey neighbor standing next to him in the hallway. 

“Uh hi” he rasps put

“Hi” she replies sweetly, “are you okay?” she asks again

“Um, not really. I haven't had the best day, and I happen to lock my keys in my apartment.” 

“Oh no, im sorry” she says, a genuine look of empathy running along her face 

“Its okay, i'm just going to stand here until it magically opens” nico chuckles out sadly to her 

“If you'd like you could come post up in my place until you can get back to yours? I don't want you to sit out here by yourself all night.” she says softly

“Oh no, i don't want to be a bother”

“Nico you won't be a bother, and i'm offering so please” she says to him with pleading eyes

“Okay, thank you so much. I'll be out of hair as soon as i can” he smiles to her

“Don't even worry about it, you're more than welcome over at any time.” She smiles at him, turning on her heel to the other side of the hall to open her door, Nico following behind her, shutting the door after him. 

“I see you've changed some things, since the last time i've been here” nico says as he looks around her apartment

“I have! Changing it up a bit for the different seasons. Do you like it” yn asks shyly

“I do, its very..you” he smiles to her

“Thank you Nico, that's very kind.” 

“Oh! You're soaking wet, let me see if I have anything you can wear. Follow me” she says, turning away to make her way to what nico thinks to be her bedroom as he follows her.

“Yn you don't have too” he says, feeling bad that she's doing all of this for him 

“Nico please stop apologizing it's okay, i promise” her hands rummaging through her dresser as she speaks 

“Here! I have there huge sweatpants and shirt from my college days hopefully this works for you” she smiles, holding out the clothes in front of her

“This is great thank you” he smiles back, taking them from her hands. His gaze lingering a little longer than it should over her face, taking in the soft color of her eyes, as well as her smile, drinking each bit of her features as he could. 

“The bathrooms right down the hall, feel free to shower if you'd like. I'm about to get started on dinner” 

“Okay great, thank you so much again” nico says for the 15th time he thinks tonight

“Of course nico, whatever you need im always here” sending him another sweet smile, that almost makes him drop to his knees

“Well i'm going to get changed, i'll be down in a little” 

“Of course! I'll be in the kitchen, let me know if you need anything’’

Nico nods in response before finding the door to the bathroom, entering before closing the door behind him. Looking at himself in the mirror at his wet dog appearance. Sighing before turning around, opening the shower, turning on the water to the highest setting. Peeling off his wet clothing before getting in, the hot water is doing wonders for his sore body. 

The loss of the game, or being locked out of his apartment weren't on his mind anymore. The only thing he could think about was you, and how kind and sweet you were to him and how much he wanted to kiss you. 

2. 

Nico stands outside your door after delivering 3 heavy knocks in hopes that you're home. Since the night he spent in your place, you and Nico have gotten closer, meeting each other for coffee at least once a week, talking to each other in the hallway whenever you see each other, along with constantly keeping incontact over text. 

Nico who had been gone on a week and a half roadie is finally home, after learning one day when he was gone that you've never been to a devils game he decided that he wanted to change that, which leads him to where he is now. Holding a jersey with his number on it, in hopes that you'll wear it and 3 tickets for you and any two friends you'd wish to invite. 

Your door opens signaling that your home, nico perking up instantly once he sees your face.

“Nico! You're home hi!” you say, quickly pulling him a hug, pulling back quickly sending him a smile.

“I am, and i have a gift for you” he says with a smile

“Nico..what did i tell you about gifts” yn says sending him a slight pout 

“Oh shush, you're going to like this, here” he says holding the jersey and envelope in front of her to grab

Opening the envelope and looking at the jersey silently, pausing before looking up at him. 

“Nico this is so sweet” she says before pulling him another hug

“I hope to see you there, if you aren't busy” 

“Luck for you, im off that day” 

“Good, i can't wait to see you in my jersey” he says with a slight smirk on his face 

“Me neither..captain” she says sending him a wink 

Nico can feel his chest and his pants tighten at the nickname that rolls so smoothly off your tongue. 

“Well i'll let you get back to your night” 

“Right, thank you for this again, can't wait to see you in action in person.” yn says with a giggle

“I'll play my best just for you” 

“You better..captain. Goodnight nico” yn says, sending him another hollywood famous smile

“goodnight, yn” sending her one last smile, before turning towards his door, hearing her door softly shut just as he opens his. 

Entering his apartment, shutting it behind him, dropping his head against it. The only thoughts running through his mind is how would your lips taste against his. 

3. 

It's the night of the game you're attending and Nico couldn't be more scared as he steps on the ice for warmups. The whole team was already picking on him before the game in the locker room, when they found out a girl Nico was interested in was coming to watch the game tonight, thanks to jack. 

Making his normal rounds on the ice, practicing a few goals, passing a few pucks to jack and luke as he tries to settle his nerves. He spent the last two minutes of the warm ups looking all over for you in the stands, unable to remember where your seats are at, he hopes that you're somewhere in the stands. 

The warmups end as the team now gets ready for the start of the national anthem, lining against the blueline as the song starts. dropping his head, closing his eyes letting the song relax his nerves before the game. Once the song ends. He begins to skate off the ice, but not before he sees your face. 

There you are standing, in the stands with the brightest smile he's ever seen on your face. Your hair falls perfectly as you laugh at something one of your friends said, before turning back towards the ice where you lock eyes with him. Sending him a wave and smile, Nico flashing the same in return. His eyes taking over your jersey covered body, his jersey, his number, he can't help but feel a sense of pride as he looks at you one last time before making his way to the bench. 

“I know that look” jack says beside him, sending him a light shoulder push, “she's here isn't she?” he asks, already knowing the answer 

“She is, and she looks beautiful”

“You gave her your jersey didnt you?” jack asks a teasing smile on his face 

“ i did” nico replies meeting jacks eyes, his face now holding a shit eating grin

“Awwww little Nico's in love!” jack laughs 

“Shut up.” 

“When are you going to ask her out?” he asks 

“Soon, i hope” he replies 

“You really like her huh?” 

“I really like her” 

Really liking her as nico called it would be an understatement. He would give her the moon, and anything in between, if it would make her happy. He wants to know what it's like to take her on dates, wake up next to her everyday, and most importantly what it's like to kiss her. 

+1 

“Dinner at my place at 7?” reads the text from yn as nico checks his phone after practice, a smile spreading across his face as he responds sending, “i'll be there at 7:)” before setting his phone down, to finish getting dressed. 

“What's the smile on your face cap?” Jack asks from beside him, as he picks up his gear. 

“What, can a guy not smile anymore?” he replies 

“We know who put a smile on your face cap” Jack snickers to him. “So when are you gonna grow a pair and ask her out?” he asks, as he and Nico make their way out of the locker room.

“I don't know, maybe tonight? She invited me over for dinner. Sometimes i can't tell if she likes me or not” nico sighs out

“Dude.” jack says as he turns to look at nico

“You actually can't be serious. She's definitely into you. She literally came to her first NHL game and wore your jersey, AND she invited you over for dinner randomly. She definitely likes you.” 

“I hope so, i'll ask her tonight '' Nico says confidently, Jack's words finally knocking some sense into him. 

“You better, or I'll do it myself” Jack says with a smirk, Nico sending him a glare at his words causing Jack to let out a deep laugh as they make their way to their cars. 

“YOU BETTER DO IT!” jack says out his car window, as he pulls out 

“I WILL” Nico shouts back, sending him a thumbs up. 

As nick drives home the only thing on his mind is you, and how tonight he wouldn't back down, that tonight he'd ask you out, and maybe just maybe even kiss you. 

– 

Nicos hand slightly shakes as he goes to knock on your door, giving it a firm knock. His grasp on the bouquet of flowers tightens as he hears your footsteps on the other side of the door. 

“Hi” yn smiles at him as she opens her front door, stepping back quickly allowing nico to come in, closing the door behind them. 

“Hi, it smells wonderful in here. What's on the menu tonight chef?” nico asks as he follows yn into her kitchen 

“It's a surprise” she says, finally turning around to meet his eyes. Nico finally got a good look at her for the first time tonight. He can't help but stare at her, taking in all of her beautiful features, mesmerized by how effortlessly beautiful she is. 

“Nico?” yns sweet voice breaking him out his daydream

“Yeah?” 

“Are you okay? You kinda just stared at me for a sec” 

“Yeah yeah, I'm okay. Just got lost in thought. Oh! These are for you” he says trying to change the subject, holding the flowers out for her to take.

“Aw these are so cute! how'd you know these are my favorites?” yn asks, a bright smile on her face as she takes the flowers from him. 

“You told me” 

“Wasn't that like months ago?” 

“I try to remember everything about you. I know your favorite flower are tulips, and that you hate peas, how you only sleep on the left side of any bed." Nico cuts himself before he embarrasses himself anymore than he has. His face heats up with a deep shade of red as yn stands there staring at him wide eyed over his words.

“I'm sorry that was too much, and uncalled for.” he quickly says, in a miserable attempt to cover his tracks 

“No ones ever taken the time to ever know me like that before” yn says quietly  

“ I don't know why anyone would. Everything about you is perfect and beautiful” he says, finding her gaze. 

“Do you really mean that?” 

“I meant every word.” Nico says as  he continues to look at her. He can almost see the gears moving her head as she tries to find her words. Instead of speaking, Nico suddenly feels her soft lips against his. 

His body moving before his brain does, wrapping his hands around her face pulling her into his body, their lips moving in sync. 

“Wow” nico whispers, pulling away from her lips

“Why didn't we do that sooner?” yn says almost against nico lips, bringing her head up to look at nico whose hands are still around her face. 

“I don't know, but I think I want to do it again, '' Nico says before softly kissing her. 

[daezedglownut]

I thought I’d already found all the possible little hints in XI that Sylvando/Sylvia is trans-coded.

There’s the throwaway party chat line at the French private school:

Ah, to travel from place to place collecting mini medals, learning all about the world and blossoming into lovely young ladies! The students of this school are so lucky!

If we find any mini medals on our travels, we should bring them back here right away so that we can blossom into lovely ladies too! Wouldn’t that be wonderful, honey?

There’s the fact that Sylv in Act 2 bends down to pick up items in the exact same way the girls at the academy practice with mini medals, echoing the statue at the gates of ‘La Collectrice’ - “an elegant young lady picking up a gold medal in a distinctly dignified fashion”.

Very demure. Very mindful.

There’s also the name angle to consider. Though it could be argued that if you leave home and don’t want news of where you are getting back to your dad, you’d probably go by a pseudonym or a stage name. So I don’t think that Sylvando/Sylvia not going by Norberto is a very strong piece of evidence at all.

Adding to that, the fact he ran away from home could yet be seen as a gay young man running away because he didn’t feel accepted at home. But it could also be a trans character doing the exact same thing, so I’d say it’s still very plausible. Not to mention Sylvando inadvertently following in his mother’s footsteps during Act 2 with his gang of gay little ducklings, as mentioned by the Ringmaster is actually a really cute detail, however you want to slice it:

I saw her when I was just a child. She was simply the most incredible performer… She led a parade of people out of a kingdom destroyed by monsters, and on to a new home and a brighter future. And she kept them smiling from start to finish! You can’t imagine how inspirational it was for those of us who were lucky enough to wave them on their way.

You remind me of her, you know. The look on her face as she proudly led all those people out of danger, spreading joy and laughter wherever she went…

Then there’s the fact Sylvando/Sylvia goes by female pronouns in the JP version of the game. Again, not concrete evidence based on the fact that “extremely flamboyant gay male characters” in JP media are often (sadly) treated in the exact same way, reducing them to a comic relief sort of “hodgepodge mix of everything queer” Okama stereotype. This doesn’t erase their cisness or their homosexuality. But I can see why from a western viewpoint it might seem like really strong evidence of their transness when it’s something particular to Japan that got lost in translation. The closest comparison I can think to make to “make it make sense” is in the west where gay femme—but entirely cis—males call one another “she” and “her”.

However, I found what could be the most concrete “HEAR ME OUT” evidence completely by accident:

Boxer shorts are a common suit of armor in the Dragon Quest series. They are generally considered a gag piece of equipment notable for their low defensive properties and they can only be worn by male characters.

And wouldn’t you know it, only the Luminary, Erik, Rab, and Hendrik can equip the boxer shorts in XI…

I checked.

Now. I don’t want to say this is canonical or 100% proof by any means. Sylvando could just be a flamboyantly gay man who has too much self respect than to be seen dead in those striped monstrosities. After all, I can’t imagine someone like Jasper would deign to equip them either lol

What I love most about Sylvando/Sylvia is how open to interpretation the character is. I’ve seen so many conflicting theories that are all written beautifully, and all hold merit. (I myself enjoy dabbling with how I interpret the character depending on the needs of the story I’m writing, and whatever tf my gender is doing on any given day…)

And the best thing about Sylvando/Sylvia is the overwhelmingly positive reception to the character from fans. How Sylv could’ve been a cheap throwaway gag without substance, yet arguably became the character who ‘stole the show’ at every turn and got some of the best storylines.

In the end, I didn’t want to save the world for the rest of Erdrea - I just wanted to do it so Sylv could go home and make up for lost time with his adorable, crotchety dad! 🥺💕

[lazymonth]

( I have an idea and need to note this concept / AU and for some reason OTHER PEOPLE need to know it with me! )↷

✰ King candy / Turbo if he got adapt into the popular Disney Villains media ✰🍭🏎️

In this case I have two ideas and probably the only two popular Disney Villains media I know. Twisted wonderland, Descendants <-

( Also sorry for my English.. and some swear words )

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

;; I have completely retired from this fandom since 2022 and promise myself I'll never go back to it. It's all because I lost my game account in my present phone and all my progress in the game ( more than 5 SSR cards specially Idia dorm uniform and I already in Chapter 6 ) even though I still have the game and the same account in my old phone but I'm too afraid to open it.... Well, it has been a year now since I lost it and my feelings for this game are better now. But I still retired from this fandom

Ok, back to the concept. Twisted Wonderland mostly focuses on classic types of Villains but I wanna know what it would be like if one day Disney feels a little bit funny and put the modern villains in and adapt his story into this game

Just like in WIR He starts at being Turbo does something very bad and gets kicked out but comes back as King candy. So here's the idea

☆ The character lore ;

Terlos " Kingan " Candás ( Definitely quick makeup name ) or Terlos Candás was a student of Night Raven College and belonged in the Ignihyde dorm. He's a low percent of Ignihyde students who are kinda active people but Terlos not much of a good guy doing to his power-hungry personality.

Just like most Ignihyde dorm students. He has intelligence on Technology specific hacking and gaming but the thing that makes him different from other is he's a Magical Shift player too that's literally only him and his Twins friends who's playing it in this dorm

But during one of the Magical Shift Tournaments something happens. Night Raven Battle with another school and Terlos being the spotlight. Sadly the longer the game goes player from another school start to make a score more than Night Raven and steal Terlos's thunder

He's so jealous, jealous enough to attack that player with fury. The damage is more than enough to make the Tournaments stop immediately. That poor player gets sent to the hospital, sadly the damage from the magic put him in coma

from what happened Terlos got banned for playing Magical Shift forever but not only that Terlos got fired from Night Raven...

.... but he's not giving up yet. A year later Terlos disguised himself making a new identity name Kingan Candás or KC for short and this time he's getting into another school instead of Night Raven he goes to Royal Sword Academy being the fake royal among them. KC knows that RSA is a competitor with NRC so it's a chance for him to get revenge on his old school

☆ In game story ;

The storyline runs pretty similar to Chapter 5 about NRC vs RSA kinda thing but this time the difference is it's Magical Shift Tournaments between these two schools and the one who cheats and Overblot.. is Kingan himself

While the tournaments are running Yuu and other characters found some suspicions on KC during the event. And at the end they found out about his true identity of him being a wolf in sheep's clothing. After that KC snapped so hard he got Overblot and it's Yuu and other characters to deal with it before the tournaments start

.... After that the headmage of both schools know they think about how to deal with KC this time. Luckily he doesn't get fired from Royal Sword but gets banned from playing Magical Shift ( again ) Being kept a special eye on by all teachers and staff in RSA to make sure he won't do anything wrong again

☆ Unique magic concept ;

" Cheat code! " This Unique magic has the ability to make Terlos see through every movement of what's going on like reading his own hands. Know what other people are going to do next, know their weakness or see them even if they're hiding behind stuff. It's like using a cheat code in video games to win

;; After listening to What's my name, Rotten to the core and It's goin' down so many times I start to have an idea. I know it sounds so crazy and literally almost impossible for King candy / Turbo because he's a game characters. But hey, if we high enough anything can be possible

Similar to Twisted Wonderland that focuses on classic types of Villains but Descendants Mosley focuses on their children instead. At this point I’ll throw a lot of " logic " things out of the window and trying my best to use my imagination to make things make sense as possible

☆ How KC got to Isle of the Lost ;

Just like other villains that they get brought back to life to be imprisoned in the Isle of the Lost. In this case is quite special than the other

After King candy-bug survive from the beacon he’s hiding for a while in Sugar Rush until he change the hiding spot to other arcade. Somehow can avoid Surge Protector and other game characters by going in time that Litwak's Arcade still open and no characters out of their game

KCB has hiding in another game for a while but that game get unplugging because of the unpopular. He thought he’s died already until… his eyes open again and found out the arcade gets transported into new places. It’s not normal an Arcade Central but it’s some places that’s dark but full of colorful lights. Dr. Facilier’s Voodoo Arcade

The arcade plug straight to the wall, limited him from leaving the game but in the same time KCB doesn’t hiding himself anymore that makes the characters in the game scared and hiding from him instead because there’s no one who can help them now. Well, that’s mean he’s kinda succeed on take over the game this time

Even the game probably doesn't work like what Dr. Facilier think but this little weird thing makes him interested and designed to still keep the arcade like this

☆ Royal child...? ;

Descendants of course focus on the villain's child so like.. what if KC has a kid? It might sound crazy and impossible but hear me out. Your question might be " who's the mom " but what if.. KCB doesn't need her?

" They don't know they're in a game. All they know is eat, kill, multiply "

This dialog from the movie gave me an idea about " multiply ". KCB of course still has a cybug code and I'm pretty sure the cybug doesn't give a F about gender so... Yah, you know what I mean gonna skip that egg laying part

Maybe there's a lucky one that hatches and being a Cybug Hybrid with flexible code makes them can transform between humans and The hybrid

Oh boi, it's getting more unreal and fictional every minute

☆ Get out of the Arcade ;

Now here's the " it's magic britch. I ain't gonna explain shit " parth

KC's child ( that I don't think about the name or gender yet ) because they also have a cybug code making them grow up fast and becoming a teenager in just a few weeks. So many days pass one of Dr. Facilier's daughter Celia finally found out about the truth why their arcade game acts weirdly. It's because the characters have their own subconscious and awareness

She tells her dad about this and bolt of them gets really excited about this information. Dr. Facilier and Celia designed to communicate with KC and his child tell them that they know about the character's awareness and don't need to hide anymore with promise they won't unplugged the game

After that both sides of them have become a friend specialty Celia and KC's child. One day Ceila designed to bring her digital friend to the real world. There's nothing magic can't do so she's looking for the magic that might take her friend out of the game

And guess what? She found the spell that can take something unreal to exist ( it's hard to explain and I have no idea what I am talking about ). As soon she cast the spell to KC's child the magic pulls their body out of the arcade. The effects of the magic giving KC's child and new body to fit in the real world while they still can transform to hybrid-cybug form ( similar to Mal turn into dragon and Uma turn into octopus mermaid )

☆ Auradon Prep ;

Celia recommended KC's child to come to Auradon Prep with her so they could study together in the same school. KC's child who already wants to go explore the outside world answering it and moving to Auradon Prep

Even that KC's child hiding their identity of the original being video games character and telling other people that they're just another person from Isle of the Lost

But sometimes they go back to the isle to meet their dad and update about the outside world

•─────────•♛•─────────•

♛ Bonus part ! ;;

In this part I'll explain about some of the references I put in and something that you guys might have a question with ;

【 Twisted Wonderland section 】↷

> Why did I put Turbo in Ignihyde?

: Turbo or King candy might sound more fit in other dorms like Heartslabyul doing to the red color ( and the fact KC have a reference design from Mad Hatter ) or even Pomefiore doing the purple color and royalty feeling. But the reason why I'm putting him in this dorm instead is because of his skill that is related to technology like video games and hacking and both of these seem like a skill that is especially on Ignihyde dorm. ( Also it's my favorite dorm too )

> The Turbo twins in this concept

: Turbo twins have a similar role like Jade and Floyd in the main game. They're both sticking around T. being a good partner but deep down they both kinda dislike T. a bit just like other people. And of course they're also in Ignihyde. This time it's kinda fit because the dorm main color is blue

> Unique magic reference

: " Cheat code! " It's a reference to konami code King candy used to entering The code space

【 Descendants section 】↷

> Why I don’t bring King candy to the real world too?

: Simple. It’s feel curse and I feel like it’s more good for KC if he still stays inside game ( Live action KCB it’s feel.. wrong to thinking )

> The timeline

: Timeline of this concept it’s between Descendants 3 to Descendants: The Rise of Red for making it kinda present as possible

¸ .　　★　° :.　 . • ° 　 .　 *　:.　☆

For who to reading it to this part I want to thank you for watching me writing about all this Concept, What if, AU kinda thing sm. It’s taking me a few days it finished it and don’t think it’ll be this long, LOL

Anyway I might drawing about both of this concept in future… If I won’t forget it first

[askerror87]

So, I've been considering Homestuck for a while, and I already know stuff like that all the Flash comics still work if you use the Unofficial Archive, and that none of the official post-canon content is any good, and have a general awareness of some of the larger memes, but is there anything else you think one should know before reading? You seem like the guy to ask.

Ohhhhh, you have catered well to my autism, beloved mutual

First off, I am actually a lover of postcanon in at least an authorial sense! I would argue that anyone who really cares about Homestuck by the end of the comic should at least give the 'friendsim' style games a chance, as they're built off of but not dependent on a knowledge of postcanon. Pesterquest has got to be one of the most satisfying official depictions we've gotten of who Dirk is as a character in a very, very long time. "Good" is a matter of subjectivity in this sense given that I really do think they were created to get people to challenge their perception of the characters. It genuinely saddens me that people won't even give postcanon a chance given the reputation that it has since it's pretty much a miracle that it's still going. It went off of hiatus just last year under a completely new management!!! There has never been more action in the official sense from the community in years! Hell, we finally got an actual height chart of the characters thanks to a cafe event in 2023 there has never been a better time for postcanon babey

The Unofficial Archive is a thing of wonder to me, but something I hear less often about is people talking about Homestuck.net itself, which is a massive resource for anyone wanting to do research on any aspect of the comic. You want to find ripped fonts for something as innocuous as Dirk's handwriting? Homestuck.net's got you covered. Need to track down a bunch of unreleased (in the official sense) midis that Toby Fox made for a research paper and it's practically lost media at this point (an actual real thing I had to do)? Check the Homestuck Soundtest that's hosted on there. Don't read the Skaianet Archives. If I can express anything in particular about the comic itself? Read it with the extension/ mod where you get Hussie's author commentary, it was genuinely an eye-opening experience getting to see them talk about their work even if it was mostly in a sardonic sense. Do NOT use the slur replacement project mod on your first readthrough unless you really cannot handle the occasional 'joke' because it genuinely will mess with moments you should be paying attention to for some of the kids. Is the language outdated? Absolutely. Is there a point to it? Yes. Dirk is cool as fuck and also a massive dork. I cannot emphasize how much these two go hand in hand with each other. I'm fairly sure the moment that cracked my egg was a panel of him sadly making two pngs of himself and the boy he likes kiss each other. Homestuck is good and it's probably influenced a lot more media than you think. I genuinely think the reputation it's gotten is unfair. It's ruined my life and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[antisocialxconstruct]

do you need it to be completely dark to sleep? top 3 media that have changed your brain chemistry? what was ur fav stuffed animal as a kid (or favorite toy if you didn’t have a plushie)

aw man I must have crashed before I saw this one. Which dovetails nicely into the first question lmao I don't need total pitch black darkness but I definitely need it to be more dark than not. I also can't stand little points of light in an otherwise dark room so I have to make sure there are no LEDs in sight from my bed and I have to cover the crack under my door so the hallway light outside doesn't distract me =__=

Hm...... it's gonna be all games gfdsgsd even if I'm not in the fandom anymore I really can't deny that Fallen Hero was a paradigm shifter for me. Shadowrun: Hong Kong speaks for itself considering I won't fuckin shut up about it. And then conversely even though I don't really talk about it much, Subnautica really stuck with me in a way that's hard to characterize... it's probably the only game I've never been able to finish NOT because it's hard but because it genuinely scares me too much 😭

Fave childhood stuffed animal is a tie between Mr. Carrotfoot, who I've literally had since I was an infant (used to have a photo of me in my crib with him, but it's sadly lost now :( ) and this fox that has no special name but it used to belong to my grandmother and lived in her second house and I would make a beeline for it every time we visited and just Have it the whole time we were there. It's the one and only thing I asked to inherit when she sold that house.

[jupiter-prince]

I just found out that someone managed to create a playlist of the Professor Layton and the Mansion of the Deathly Mirror' letsplay ( the remix) ??!

This has been a lost media for so long in the community and we finally managed to take a look at the remix at least, im genuinely so happy!!!

Sadly the playlist is displaying the game remix and not the original ( so dialogues and puzzles might differ) but that still amazing 🙌

I've heard about this game for the first time in the Artbook of the first 3 games, and got the link to the playlist in a French video on the topic! Like thank you sm French Layton community 🫡🫡

It's technically still a lost media tho as it's the best thing we can get out of the remix and not the official game for now ( the DoCoMo model is obviously not produced anymore and didn't get out of Japan, and even if we manage to find a phone that has the whole game downloaded ( 6 chapters complete ) on it It'll be hard to get the files out, but Im so thrilled about it!! ))

Here's the link to both the French video and the letsplay' playlist ( all in Japanese ) if anyone's interested! As well as an informative reddit thread on important infos on the game and its 'future'l!

Anyway gonna go watch Eternal Diva ( for a change /j) 👍👍

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

PSN2: How to write a mature narrative

In this age of progressive content and boundary-pushing, there is still something missing. Most of the boundary-pushing media is made for children and the media trying to be adult tends to sadly fall into the South Park trap of excess.

Enter Psychonauts 2 and I’d say one of the most mature story arcs I have ever seen depicted. Especially as this story arc has no right answer or an easy solution.

The Maligula story from start to finish has this feeling of regret and every character (minus poor Helmut) messed up in it.

To start with Lucrecia opened her mind and destroyed most of the mechanisms protecting it. That isn't bad, it was a time of experimentation. But when her country was invaded and her husband was killed? She left without rebuilding her mental defences. Yet the most important part of this is that she left at all, considering she must have known Grulovia was a shithole. Lucrecia could have taken her sister and her spouse from the country and emigrated to America.

She didn't, though. Because as flawed as it was, Grulovia was her home. Her family had lived there for generations, they had a history there. So she rushed back home to defend it. Being one of the foremost experts in her field, she became a great asset in the war. Which eventually netted her a high political position, because dystopias are nothing if not pragmatic. Morally speaking, this was not a good choice. Lucrecia was supporting a tyranny as its punishing arm. Yet, this is a choice people often make in situations like this. Grulovia was invaded once, it could be invaded again. People who have faced a defensive war often feel the need to be on their toes, even generations later.

Lucrecia ending up murdering her sister adds to the moral greyness. She did not want to do it, it was an accident. But by that point, her choices had let her into a mental state that was just waiting to explode. Maligula choosing to just drown the whole country makes a twisted amount of sense. The Gzar's orders led to the death of her sister, the country was not getting better.

So screw everyone equally, they deserve to drown.

This alone is a very mature storyline, as it showcases how a person can end up the way Lucrecia did. Many have ended up becoming monsters in similar situations in real life. Minus the psychic powers of course.

Then we come to the fallout of Maligula and how it hurt her friends. How Ford, in a desperate attempt to 'fix' things, ended up creating a massive lie and something that would affect Lucrecia's family generations later. The Hand of Galochio serves as a great stand-in for generational trauma.

He ended up hurting Helmut too since he left the poor guy's brain chilling in the Astralade without even a note stating it was Helmut's brain.

The narrative lets Ford's actions stand for themselves. Was he in the right? Was there another way? The game does not say, because to offer a solution would undermine the story's point. Sometimes, people do awful things with good intentions. Sometimes, there is no right choice but a bunch of bad ones and you must choose one.

 Sometimes, people cannot recover from such trauma. Compton was already a nervous wreck, seeing his friend become a monster was the last straw for him. Bob lost his husband and was already self-medicating with alcohol. Cassie could not figure out the role she should play. Ford destroyed his mind from the shame. Otto was the only one who kept on going, I guess he had better coping mechanisms than his friends.

On top of all of this, the person who ended up rekindling the conflict? A spoiled rotten rich boy who could not accept even a little loss of status.

The maturity of this storyline shows up in all its aspects. The choices the characters make and why they make them are sadly very realistic. The fact that the team split up and could not cope is sad but it happens. The complete lack of any 'golden ending' or an easy way out for the characters shows how intentional this was.

This is how to do a mature narrative right.

[kasururigoth]

kasuka headcanons

- love language is gift giving and he’s the absolute best at it.

- has a collection of a very niche topic (cats probably? idk I just see him gathering little cat-related trinkets. or a cat character, like garfield)

- immaculate taste when it comes to literature and cinema. absolute no knowledge on music tho. this boy probably only listens to white noise (and his girlfriend’s music.)

- brings dokusonmaru everywhere with him. can’t leave him alone at home, no one knows what that cat could be planning.

- he’d have more cats if he could, but sadly his schedule doesn’t allow him of. also dokusonmaru is friendly but he has severe only child syndrome (spoiled)

- it takes him at least five business days to process an emotion. sometimes more if there’s high demand.

- he started modeling while he was still in high school, but surprisingly no one gave him shit for that because “that’s shizuo’s little brother and you really shouldn’t mess with him.”

- has absolute no sense of fear.

(*kasuka when his brother tries to throw a whole fridge at him, some yakuza threaten him to cut his pinky off, a guy points at him with a knife, or a serial killer lands in front of his car* “another tuesday…”)

- remembers the paparazzis faces and refers to them with their names, which freaks them out all the time.

- he’s great and unbeatable at card games. (demian do you mean poker-type of card games or yugi-oh-type of card games? yknow what. both.)

- great but odd sense of fashion. could be wearing a vintage trench coat from the thrift store that was previously owned by an old, dead person. along with an overpriced yves saint laurent belt. a dollar-store plain shirt. a pair of pants that were a hand-me-down from shizuo from ages ago. and some expensive designer sunglasses.

- he believes in the lost art of love letters, but at very mundane occasions. he leaves notes to ruri around the house if he’s not going to be there. but not normal notes nonono. they’re 1900’s-esque purple prose with the most devastatingly romantic lines.

- oh, but he’s also the world’s most driest texter. he absolutely sucks at it and cannot reply in any ways that’s not monosyllables only.

- has very weird social media presence. mostly pr team has to take care of his accounts. his fans do enjoy more when it’s him posting, since no one knows what the hell do his posts even mean.

(kasuka posts a funny picture of a cat looking oddly into the camara, his manager tells him “delete that, yuuhei. it’s unprofessional.” the picture already has hundreds of thousands of retweets. it’s too late)

- sometimes he tries to come up with something funny during interviews so lighten up the air, as a lot of celebrities do. but due to his flat affect, no one can tell if he’s dead serious or just joking.

- he’s very much a loner. he doesn’t have any friends in the industry because of how unapproachable he seems like, neither did he have friends at school. but he doesn’t really mind. he comprehends that’s he’s hard to get along with, and why people don’t bother with him. so as long as he has his brother, his cat, and now ruri, by his side, he can be completely fine. also he has ton of fans around the world that love him exactly for the way he is.

- he appreciates every role that he plays as because his characters are the way he copes with what he’s missing. being an actor helps him deal with the emptiness of his being. he doesn’t do it for the fame, or for the money. he does it because, what else in the world could he do best? he learned to grow passionate about it.

[dixie12]

seabs sees the quote as soon the tweet goes up. he was following the post-game anyway, he likes to keep an eye on things, and the game was the kind of beatdown that had been rare for a long time after pat and jonny joined the team, ushering hockey back into the public perception in a big way.

brent remembered the feeling from his first few seasons, though, and sadly, from his last few, as well. it never got any easier, and he knew jonny still took it hard, even after all these years. that's why he had the google set up, so he didn't miss any depressing, self-flagellating post-game quotes like this one.

"we're mentally having a difficult time recovering," jonny had said, but brent was fluent in press conference jonny, and what he meant was "I'M having a difficult time recovering, because i'm the captain, and i should be better than this. i deserve all the boos and the criticism and more, and i promise, no matter how much the media and the fans tear me apart, i'm doing much worse to myself." and it was true. brent had seen him slumped in his stall after a game too many times, weight of the loss bearing down on his shoulders, making him look older than his years. he'd had to drag jonny out of cold showers, off of exercise bikes, away from empty hotel rooms, just to get him to unwind and start forgiving himself.

brent wondered, reading the quote again, who was doing that for jonny now. pat was the obvious choice, but he had a kid now, and that changed everything. brent knew that from experience, how much harder it got to make time for the team once there were little ones at home. he grimaced, thinking of all the times he'd walked away from jonny in his last year, his hips aching, mentally counting down games until he knew he'd have to limp away for good. and those nights, he pretended he hadn't seen jonny slip out of the locker room and back into the gym. he wished he could go back, now. there was no way he could have known what was coming: covid, the bubble, and then jonny's lost year, but everything started to fall apart so quickly, and he wishes he had those days back.

he's not ignoring it now. he dialed jonny's number, but it went to voicemail once, twice, and then jonny declined his third call, the little fucker. brent could picture it, the way jonny would be sitting at his kitchen island, still damp from his shower. he'd be sore and worn down the way you only get from playing two periods of completely futile hockey. those minutes always seemed to hit harder, leaving it all on the ice, knowing that it was all going to be for naught but doing it anyway. jonny didn't keep guilty pleasure snack food in his house, so he'd be drinking water, or a protein shake. nothing with enough sugar or salt to replete what he'd lost in the game. and then he'd stumble to bed, wake up aching and stiff and go to the rink alone to do it all over again.

fuck, seabs couldn't let him do that. jonny needed to know he had people, lots of them, who'd be there for him on a moment's notice if he'd just get over his stubbornness and fear of imposing on people and just ask. he wouldn't, though, seabs knows, so he takes matters into his own hands. a quick peek at the schedule confirms the hawks are on a homestand, and he opens expedia to look for flights. one-way, he thinks. who knows how long jonny will need him for.

[arabellaflynn]

I've found a new podcast to binge. It's called "Computer Game Evolution", written, edited, produced and distributed as a one-man show by someone who's opted to go by "Tim". It's a very witty, very thorough exploration of how video games got to be what they are, starting in the pre-history of computers when all your tedious calculations were done by hand, and sometimes by post. His intro trailer mentions that he defended a doctoral thesis having something to do with video games, so my guess is that this is the director's cut audiobook of his dissertation, now with 400% of the snark his advisor made him edit out.

Tim declines to say where he's from. His accent is distinctly East Slavic, although I admit I don't know enough about the languages in that family to distinguish between them from just their traces in his English. He also mentions that as much as he'd love to take donations for the podcast, he can't, as they don't work where he is. All of the donation sites that I know of pay out via electronic escrow services like PayPal, all of which are headquartered in the US. When last I checked, they still go through fine in Ukraine and Belarus, but have been cut off in Russia since sometime last year.

So. Russian, or at least native Russian speaker, currently in Russia. According to the media, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to shun him on principal now. Eyeing just the Middle Easterners with deep suspicion is so last season.

Listening to the podcast gives nothing to the nation of Russia. He runs no ads, and gets no money for it. A fan is apparently paying the $15 or so for his monthly hosting now -- with a company that's so American that half the testimonials on their About page are from medium to large churches who use them to broadcast services on the internet, I swear I am not making this up.

If he does indeed have a PhD in something related to the game industry then it's almost certain that he got it, if not in the US, then at least somewhere in North America. Virtually all of the formal scholarship on the topic is here, with a minority in Canada. This is bolstered by his fluent English; his pronunciation slants very British, consistent with having learned initially in Europe, but his slang and pop culture references are all American, including a lot of things so old the Zoomers who have picked them up have probably never seen/read/played the thing they came from. He has clearly spent a lot of time reading/writing in both formal and informal English, and living in a place where he needed to use it in daily life.

For the first season that went out in 2021, Tim made no comment of any kind on world events. Since spring 2022, he's signed off with a strangely non-specific exhortation to "support good causes", which I suppose is suggestive in its timing, but might apply just as plausibly to donating to your local animal shelter. He once added that you should help people who have had to leave their homes, and have maybe lost them completely, which could cover a lot of current refugee crises. Signing off for the holidays he suggested you "help people not to freeze to death this winter", which applied to a sadly large swath of Europe at the time. 

Oh, and once he completely ran out of fucks to give and signed off with, "Friends don't let friends do imperialism." Which is both a painfully American reference and a pretty clear indication of his opinion, unless King Charles III has started trying to retake India when I wasn't looking.

A lot of Russian creators, especially those working primarily in English, have fielded criticism for not stating their views more overtly. I expect most of that's from Americans. The reason they dance around things without using the words "Russia", "Ukraine", or "war" is that many of their opinions are now illegal in Russia. They're not afraid of getting canceled, they're afraid of getting arrested. As rubbish as things are getting in America right now, you still don't go to jail for having unpopular views. The worst thing that will happen to you, officially, is that you will be socially ruined and sued into oblivion. Which is definitely not fun, but also not prison. Nobody was arrested for being a shouty Trump-supporting bigot until they tried to break in and murder the Vice President.

Tim has a generally hackish disdain for large, top-heavy organizations that are in the habit of rolling over the little people in their way. He doesn't have a lot of love for the US military but he's not exactly overflowing with praise for the Soviets either. (Apparently it's still okay to criticize the USSR, because Russia is totally not that corrupt and dysfunctional anymore.) Speaking briefly of a programmer from the '80s who has since transitioned, he used only her current name, stating -- and I quote -- "I do not deadname people on this podcast." He's interjected some pretty overtly feminist snark about the proportion of women who were(n't) in the programming industry at the time. He's using his thesis for a podcast instead of a teaching career because the whole process made him willing to gnaw his own foot off to escape the petty bureaucracy of academia. Very little else has intersected with video games enough to come up, but I am inclined to think his viewpoint on the world is closer to what I'd expect from someone who went through a Western grad school than what you would be led to believe from the "official" poll results that are reported for the Russian population.

There are probably a lot more of "them" who are a lot more like "us" than the news would suggest. The news has a vested interest in scaring you. And in making things simple-minded. 

So now I'm left wondering if some guy I've never met, in a country I've never been to, whose government is doing a lot of things I don't like, is okay enough to release the next episode of his podcast. I hope so. You can find the podcast on pretty much every aggregation service (here's the page on Listennotes) and see some photos of the old stuff he covers on his Ko-Fi. Give it a listen. It's good. And it'll remind you that "Russia" -- or whatever batch of foreigners whose government we dislike today -- isn't a hive mind.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/JyxA5W2 via IFTTT -------------------- Enjoy my writing? Consider becoming a Patron, subscribing via Kindle, or just toss a little something in my tip jar. Thanks!

[onenettvchannel]

FLASH REPORT OVERNIGHT: Hurricane Milton disrupts Veteran YouTube broadcaster in Florida [#OneNETnewsEXCLUSIVE]

TAMPA, FLORIDA -- A very popular 30 y/o YouTuber, and a male veteran personality named 'MoistCritikal', whose real name as 'Mr. Charles Christopher White Jr.' had his LIVE broadcast on YouTube brought to an abrupt end due to unexpected power outage caused by the extreme weather event of Hurricane Milton.

The storm, had only within the latest weather report earlier this week, been given a Category 3 measurement at 180 kilometers per hour (kph) as it took its toll on Florida, and in particular, the Tampa region. For the likeness, in the opening theme song of the now-exited American animated television series "Hailey's On It!" on Disney Channel when 'Hailey Alohilani Banks' travels by road from her house in 'Oceanside, California' to 'Orlando, Florida', roller skating in her shoes with cross-state borders illegally. Theoretically, for its between distance, MoistCritikal's place is close to about 90 miles southwest from Orlando to Tampa's place in this very same American state of Florida.

Hurricane Milton was moving rapidly inland, growing from tropical storm strength to become a Category 5 hurricane before landfall. The tempest had weakened to a Category 3 by Wednesday evening on October 9th, but it was still piling on menace in the form of powerful winds and heavy rains. It swept through west-central Florida late Wednesday, knocking out power and throwing around damage in that region.

Recently from two LIVE videos ago, MoistCritikal was previously broadcasted LIVE in an unlicensed fan-parody version of 'TCG Card Shop Simulator' under 'PokéMod by Redh3x' on his YouTube channel (which is part of Google's Alphabet). Released last month through the Steam console in mid-September 2024, the game simulates running a trading card shop when working personally in real life. It has recently become popular among fans with its engaging gameplay and nostalgic references, which were based on the Japanese anime 'Pokémon' (Pocket Monsters) on JOTX-TV 7's TV Tokyo. However, in his LIVE internet broadcasts, the stream was cut short, when a temporary local electrical power outage knocked out the power at his house in the early morning hours, provided by his electrical company such as 'TECO Energy' for example.

In the final moments before the regional outage, MoistCritikal continued speaking to his virtual audience, discussing the forming hurricane and possible impact. The stream cut off around 4am (Tampa local time), viewers were left fretting for MoistCritikal's safety.

Following the incident, MoistCritikal took to social media to assure his fans of his safety. In a captioned social media post to OneNETnews, he confirmed exclusively that he is safe, but later refused the next day to evacuate on Thursday morning, given such kind of this disturbing weather event of hurricane. Much sadly at this rate, possibly, he does not have a back-up generator and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) combined.

In conclusion, Hurricane Milton's devastating impact on Florida, particularly on the Tampa area, that has underscored the vulnerabilities of coastal communities to significant weather events in America. This irony compared to the opening theme of "Hailey's On It!" cartoon show, meant that between fiction adventure and real-life peril, there appears to be 90 miles' difference between Orlando and Tampa that never could have been brought about before, in the wake of Hurricane Milton. HOI is now available through streaming and purchasing season pass legally through video-on-demand (VOD) platforms from between 'Amazon Prime Video' and 'Apple TV+' until digital copies supply last in the upcoming lost media, after the show search catalog completely removed on both Disney+ and DisneyNOW.

As residents across Florida grapple with widespread power outages, electrical companies including 'TECO Energy', have issued public apologies for the inconvenience caused to their frustrated consumers. These companies are working tirelessly to restore power and normalcy to affected areas within a few days from now.

As Florida begins its recovery process, which can take years or months, the resilience of its communities, including internet personalities like 'MoistCritikal', will be put to the test, under his look-a-like of the reincarnation of Jesus. The days ahead will reveal the full extent of what Hurricane Milton has done, and the long road it has ahead to getting its sunshine back in the normal daily lives.

SOURCE: *https://thebeatofthecapital.com/2024/10/09/landfall-timeline-when-will-hurricane-milton-hit-florida/ *https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/hurricanes/2024/10/08/hurricane-milton-timeline-tuesday-when-where-landfall/75570332007/ *https://www.fastcompany.com/91204501/hurricane-milton-timeline-florida-evacuation-zones-live-maps-update *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbQB3vfITU8 *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CP47KT3iXY *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh8eZvcTrd0 *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0GO9vdYvec *https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/Penguinz0 *https://store.steampowered.com/app/3070070/ and *https://www.facebook.com/100070408657823/posts/595737422783208

SCREENGRAB COURTESY for REPRESENTATION: Google Images

-- OneNETnews Online Publication Team

[carewyncromwell]

1, 2, 3, 7 (Frozen), 10 (Inside Out) and 31?

1) Harry Potter

Remus Lupin. When I first met him while reading Prisoner of Azkaban, he reminded me of all the best teachers I'd ever had: the ones that got me excited about learning, the ones that clearly both loved and were expert in what they taught, the ones who wanted nothing more than to share what they knew with the next generation and loved seeing them gain confidence in what they were studying. He also had such a calming aura in contrast to more fiery Gryffindors like Harry, Ron, or even McGonagall, and that was really cool to see. Then we learned more about who Remus was as a person -- who his friends had been, about his lycanthropy and the struggles he dealt with because of it...and yeah, I latched onto this man with all my heart! I admittedly have always had a soft spot for characters who are social outcasts (hence why my second favorite character is Luna Lovegood), but even disregarding this, I just wanted the WORLD for poor Remus! He'd had such a difficult life and he'd lost so much, and I wanted him to be happy. Sadly by the end of the series, he really didn't get that happiness I wanted for him, but that doesn't mean I love him any less. I love headcanons and stories about the Marauders in large part because of how much I love seeing James, Sirius and yes, even Peter rallying around Remus to support him out of nothing but pure, loving friendship. I only wish that things had been different and both Remus and Sirius could've rebuilt their grim, loss-filled lives with happiness the way they deserved. My other favorites include (as mentioned) Luna Lovegood, the Weasleys overall, Sirius and Regulus Black, and Professor McGonagall.

2) Hogwarts Mystery

Barnaby Lee! I explained better why in another post discussing my top five favorites, so I'll just quote that!

Barnababy!! <3 Okay, this boy is unquestionably my favorite character in the game Hogwarts Mystery, even if the writers do just make him a punchline a lot of the time. He just is such a beautiful subversion of all of the old Slytherin tropes. From the very beginning, he’s sort of framed as the “Crabbe/Goyle” to Merula’s Draco Malfoy, but he pretty quickly breaks out of that box by being so legitimately and sincerely innocent. He’s honorable and amiable to the point that MC just beating him in combat will make them his buddy, but he also blooms under their influence, showing off more of his protective and nurturing side after becoming their friend. He doesn’t want to take over the world – he just wants to be strong and to learn as much about magical creatures as he can, and he chases that ambition with determination! Slytherins are associated with selfishness and cowardice, largely because of their valuing of self-preservation, but Barnaby? The complete antithesis of that. He will literally throw himself in front of his friends to protect them from harm. And I just love that so much.

But yeah, my top four after Barnaby are Bill Weasley, Orion Amari, Talbott Winger, and Charlie Weasley; I also have a huge soft-spot for Chiara Lobosca, Rowan Khanna, Ben Copper, (as mentioned earlier) the rest of the Weasley family, and Duncan Ashe.

3) Hogwarts Legacy

Ominis Gaunt! I always love it when Harry-Potter-centric media breaks the "Slytherin is evil" stereotype (I mean, hey, I am one myself), and yeah, unlike his buddy Sebastian who sort of stays on the gray side morality-wise, Ominis proves the "bad Slytherin" image 150% wrong while also showing a side of the Gaunt family we've never seen before. I just love Ominis's sass partnered with his quiet, unassuming nature, but also his strong morals and iron-clad loyalty. Plus it's cool to now have some representation for the blind community as well in the Potterverse. My other favorites in the cast are Aesop Sharp, Abraham Ronen, Matilda Weasley, Natsai Onai, and Poppy Sweeting.

7) Frozen

It's very, very close between Elsa and Anna, honestly. I personally relate more to Elsa personality-wise, but if there was a character from the Frozen musical I would love to portray on stage, it would be Anna. I love how comedic Anna is, which is something Disney female characters and female leads in particular rarely get to be, as well as how deathly loyal and determined she is...but I also find Elsa's struggles incredibly relatable in the first film and even if the second film is flawed, that doesn't mean I don't like seeing her get a more complete picture of herself as an individual.

10) Inside Out

Disgust, actually! I laughed the most at her in the first film, and I honestly love her aesthetic. I think my own Headquarters would have my Disgust at the head of the console, being discerning with what I do and who I trust, with Joy serving as support, especially at work.

31) Pirates of the Caribbean

Not a surprising answer, probably, but good old Captain Jack! I love him as this chaotic neutral sort who's kind of just out for himself, but still does have a heart and sincerely just wants to be free to live his own life his own way. My second choice, though, I think is more surprising, and that's James Norrington! I personally think he was criminally underused and then cast aside in the third film in particular, when he deserved SO much more focus in the OG trilogy overall. If I'd written the series, I would've had James as the Javert to Jack's Valjean, chasing him all around the Caribbean for at least one whole movie and maybe even having to team up reluctantly with Jack along the way before his fall from grace. And then, yeah, give James and Jack even more time to bounce sassy one-liners off each other. Perhaps Disney was already so afraid of how obviously queer Jack is that they elected to "no-homo" him by giving both him and Norrington respectively way more scenes with the only main female in the entire cast all in an attempt to shut up the Sparrington shippers. But come on, both Depp and Davenport had way more chemistry with each other than they did with every sapphic's movie girlfriend Keira Knightly, seriously.

Favorite Character Ask!

[helliocopter34]

Here's me, 25 years old, living with Bipolar since I was 16:

Mania

Lack of sleep, thoughts racing in my head. I can't stop thinking, and my thoughts and ideas just bounce around my head. I can pull all-nighters like crazy, maybe 3–5 nights with only 2–3 hours of sleep in between.

Games are the worst for me, especially MOBA games. I can play them and never stop, and in my head, I always think that I'm the best player. I get impatient and impulsive, I laugh too loud and talk too much.

People think I have a cheerful and dynamic personality, but that's only when I've had sleep. Otherwise, I'm overly-dramatic and very annoying, and everything seems to tick me off.

I'm never able to complete anything, because something else comes up and I lose interest in what I was working on before. I can clean the house 3 times a day, do my laundry, take showers, go out with friends, and still have a lot of energy at the end of the day.

I love making friends with just about anyone, and I immediately start trusting them and thinking that maybe I can solve their problems and become the most influential person in their life.

Alcohol only makes me hyperactive, and coffee gives me headaches and makes me hypersensitive.

Since I don't have a job yet, impulsive spending isn't a problem for me. But when I do have money, I spend it on things I don't need, things that I eventually never use after I buy them.

Before I knew I was Bipolar, I thought that I was just a hyperactive person with tons of creative energy. But then, the depression followed

Depression

This is the worst and my most feared episode. And I'm not going to lie about what happens when I hit this stage. I cut myself and wait for death, I cry myself to sleep everyday and when I do wake up, I realize that I've slept through the entire day.

I isolate myself from everyone, unfollow and unfriend everyone from my social media accounts, and make the decision to run away to some empty, uninhabited place and live there for the rest of my life.

I think that I'm not good enough, that I'm nothing but a disappointment, a mistake. I blame myself for everything bad that's happened to me, and I keep my distance from people, fearing that I might cause them bad luck too.

I guilt trip myself, I shame myself, and I hate myself. Eventually, I'll hate the world and decide to have nothing to do with it. My friends will wonder why I've shut them out, and they'll eventually leave. I've lost a lot good friends, and sadly I've made no attempt to reach out to them afterwards.

Right now, I have only 12 friends on Facebook. I used to have 250, but I've unfriended them all. I'm thinking of removing all my social media accounts, I'm done making new friends, done meeting people. I'm done with this world. All of these thoughts enter my head when I'm on a depressive episode.

The whole world becomes dull and lifeless to me. Nothing makes me happy or excited. All I want to do is go somewhere and die. Darkness consumes me, and I wish that I had never been born into this world. Really, my depressive episodes are like a nightmare. I hate them, I really do.

[gaminganxious]

Buried Stars - Review

Genre: Visual Novel

Release Date: July 30th 2020

Playtime: 6hrs

Completed: No

Would Play Again?: Yes, I at least want to finish a full playthrough and see how it ends

I swear I let RNG pick this month's games. Why it decided it was sad dark games February is beyond me, but I have to give another heads up here before we git into this one. WARNING: This game deals with themes of death and anxiety. Along with most of the BS that comes from literally any form of social media.

Buried Stars is about a group of contestant singers that become trapped on the set of a game show after disaster occurs. You play as one of five contestants, Do-yoon Han. You'll try your best not to do it and stay sane while hopefully doing the same for the people trapped with you. If being trapped under rubble was enough drama for you, don't worry. Everyone you're trapped with comes with a boatload of their own secrets and agendas to uncover along the way.

I haven't played any before but the art is really good in my opinion. The characters are all well-defined and easily distinguishable from each other, and I don't get bored looking at them for minutes at a time, which is good because thats what you'll be doing most of the time.

The menu interface is dynamic and fits the theme well. I do sort of wish the character models had more than three or four expressions when you interact with them. I think that's something that might be fairly common for this type of game, but still. The music is non obtrusive, but it's also nothing to write home about, which I thought was surprising considering the premise of the story involves singers. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone actually sings in it. They haven't done so in my playthrough so far.

This game combines like three of my worst fears. Being buried alive, talking to people I don't know very well, and social media. I honestly kind of bulked at it when I first started playing and realized I would have to get people to like me. That's something I almost always need a guide for. That and I made the mistake of talking to Hyesung first, and he's a little asshole in the beginning. I toughed it out, though, and I'm glad I did. There's a Quick Save Feature that helps you manage conversations if you feel you're about to touch on an unsavory topic with someone. Or if you want to avoid losing sanity. I mean that literally, by the way. You have a sanity meter, something I completely ignored until it was almost gone. Some topics raise it, others; like investigating that body yall just found in the rubble, lower it. There's also Phater, the games version of Twitter to keep track of, and you will want to keep track of it as it will give you most of your talking points. Sadly, it is just as toxic as it's real life counterpart, so be prepared for that, or it will drop your sanity too. At least it only updates every chapter or so. Controls are super easy and well labeled throughout. There is also a very nice fast-forward option if you had to do a reload and don't want to flip through all the dialog again. 

The story so far is quite good and getting better as I go. I'm excited to see how it'll end, though I'm not sure how close to that I am yet. More than just the main story, though, each individual character has an intriguing backstory to uncover. They even convinced me to to totally hate the crappiest character by far. At least i know why he's a jerk now. I'm sure there are multiple endings based on who trusts you and your sanity level as well. It's a lot of information at first, but since you go over a lot of the info multiple times throughout the story, it's not too difficult to keep track of. It can be easy to get lost on the details if you're not paying attention, though.

Currently, Buried Stars is listed for $44.99 on the Playstation store. I would hold off on that, though. I bought mine a while ago, but I'm pretty sure I got it on sale. It also looks like it goes on sale pretty regularly. If you do find it on sale, I think it's worth grabbing, especially if you like visual novels. You can save almost whenever you want, so it's a good one to play for a bit here and there or shotgun over a few days if you prefer. 

[so2collection]

Star Ocean: Blue Sphere ~ A Review

Disclaimer: This is a subjective review. I think if you're good at skill based things like fighting games, party games, ect. you will enjoy this title more on a technical level.

Initial Thoughts I have always wanted to play Blue Sphere, as I'm sure many english speakers have always wanted to. I owned an original copy for years.

We waited two decades for a translation, and although this one was hastily made and even stolen, I think we were all happy to finally play it.

The game did get a remake for mobile phones in Japan, but it's considered lost media, so that wasn't an option, either. It's never been ported (as of writing this, it remains the only title to not have a modern port).

I even purchased two copies when FishyFaceGames printed them. Sadly, my open copy doesn't save (which seems to be a common problem). If you want to play this physical, get a different repro as I haven't heard them having any problems. Otherwise, the ROM is widely availible and I used GBA Emulator for my playthrough. I highly recommend using an emulator, do due to how much save scumming you'll want to do, especially for Item Creation and distributing SP. Having said all that, my biggest concerns going in were if this game could be completed by someone who did not have the skills to learn new battle skills through combos, as this seems necessary (it isn't, although it makes the game more difficult). My largest goal when making my guide was to provide a little more clarification on SP distribution, learning things like Lost Magic, Item Creation tips, and how to get the fabeled Blue Sphere… I think I accomplished that, so please enjoy the tips in the guide here. So, now that I've completed the game, what do I think of it, as a fan who has put 1000+ hours into SO2 on PS1 and 40 hours into my playthrough of Blue Sphere (not counting resets)?

Gameplay / Dungeons I'm going to start here. This game has so many issues. According to interviews, this game was meant to be a holdover for Star Ocean 3, therefore it was made for the Gameboy Color. The devs found making the systems simple = boring, so they did everything they could to make this a challenging (and frustrating) experience.

Firstly, learning new skills in battle. Everyone shares the fact that you must level the tree "correctly" to get the best skills. In some cases, like Celine, you must choose between high magic or her best spell; you cannot learn both. Learning skills has to be done in a secret order based on the character you're training; the only way to do this is to experiment, replay, or save scum. Even with saving, though, you can't know until you max out two entire trees, which takes the entire game. This takes away control away from the player right off the bat and can lead to paralyzing anxiety of making mistakes. You will. Dungeons are typical old school fair, but even Japanese players said they had trouble with the ones in this game. Particularly, Gravis Forest, Leviabor Ruins, and Grand Knott are troublesome and almost impossible without maps.

This can be exacerbated if you're playing on a Gameboy Pocket or a Super Gameboy, because of the limited to no color palette. A lot of dungeons also require specific Field Actions to explore, which are mostly limited to specific characters (especially Precis, the HM Slave, early on). It is nice that every character can be leveled whenever as long as you grind SP, which isn't hard to do, just time consuming. You can also go back to your ship to switch characters very often. However, late game, if you've not been leveling a side character at all, this can be time-consuming. One saving grace is the character does not have to be in the active party. I think, if they had the power at the time, being able to switch characters on the fly [in a dungeon] would have made this game's dungeon crawling SO much more fun and enjoyable. I found that treasure often was NOT worth going out of the way for. Usually towns provide enough updated equipment to keep you going and the dungeons tend to provide useless or redundant rewards. There are a few exceptions late game, though, which made exploring a bit more worth it (and you're more likely to have a character in your team to use).

Enemies are on the screen, however, they often can't be avoided, even with Dias' dash. Only a few characters can gain an initiative / surprise with their FAs, like Celine's Magic Shot. This isn't necessary but it does help and you can hit an enemy first with anyone, but it's trickier without the long range FA.

I found that running from battle did work more like 70% of the time. Running also removes the enemy from the field, which is nice. The balancing is not great, if you can't combo with a fighter. Some enemies will absolutely trash your mages at the start, making battles insufferable. Again, the only reason the mages die is because you can't freely raise their HP without messing up their skill tree. Armor only helps so much. The dungeon designs themselves aren't bad and are beautiful to look at, but there are a few times I almost dropped the game entirely if I hadn't had the Japanese guides I was referencing.

Item Creation (IC) / Misc. Mechanics So, remember I said the devs love taking control away from the players? I'm sure there are some that do not enjoy Star Ocean's random IC, but it was better implemented in SO2. Here, you must score a specific amount of points or some other specific action by completing mini-games that only use the D-Pad, which is clunky by today's standards. I can partially forgive this, but some of the games really are almost impossible, even with the support item and max level that "makes it easier". I never enjoyed this mechanic, except on the Art game. Even then, that one has a random element of which color you get to play. Limiting the Ultimate Battle Skills to the Blue Sphere item, I understand, but making it impossible to obtain sucks. I know they intended the Connect feature to be used, but this is ultimately a single player experience and the Alchemy game is too difficult to get them even somewhat consistently! I'm talking 1/50 attempts would be fine for something so rare, but I never got one. You get one free one in the entire game, but you have to be playing on a specific model Gameboy to obtain it! There are other treasure that use this mechanic, rewarding those that play on the black and white screen with better stuff, but for something designed for the GB Color, you think we'd have an option as well. Luckily, on an emulator, you can change your model, but if you're playing physical you may be out of luck. I could ramble about all the IC mini-games, as they are skill based and so your opinion may be very different, even positive, if you're good at these kind of games, but I didn't enjoy it and the lack of control to the player once again makes this an awful experience. From what I gather also, gaining a fighter's ultimate battle skill is linked to possibly sacrificing their ultimate main-game weapon. Who would decide something like that?! Sparking magic is something I haven't discussed. Honestly, it was one of the better mechanics in the game… if you knew what you needed. Often spells require: you control the character, you use the right spell (random chance to unlock), and the required stat is high enough. This is a lot of variables with no indicator. I can see this being frustrating for players.

NPCs are there and some PAs do fill out the world a bit more, but for the most part you will be screaming at them to move or ignoring them entirely. Weapons/Equiptment/Acessories are something run of the mill for the most part. You can buy them (enemies don't drop money) or make them (IC) or find them in treasure chests. The Ultimate Weapons are either obtained through Private Actions or using the Blue Sphere item I discussed previously. Making money is a problem early on. Fine. Learn Cooking and play an okay mini-game and make some. Sell stuff you don't use. This isn't the worst problem in the game, but nothing tells you how to make any money and if you mess up a skill tree teaching one of your main three Cooking, then you're out of fucking luck. Inherently, you would have 3 main party members for battle and the rest saved for IC, but I would have to bring up the problem of switching characters on the fly remotely again. Sometimes going back to the ship when you're halfway through a dungeon is just not feasible. There really aren't any sidequests to speak of outside Private Actions and Ruddle. Standard Star Ocean fair which I'll go into more below. There is a lengthy post-game that was a given for this era of Tri-Ace, including the infamous Cave of Trials (I didn't confirm this, but I bet you can save anywhere which is a relief). You have to collect the God Rings all over the game and then tackle the dungeon. I didn't do this personally as there isn't any story to be gained, but completionists and diehards will love to see it return.

Graphics / Music

I can safely say there are not many complaints here. The graphics are gorgeous, as expected from this era of Enix and Tri-Ace. Motoi Sakuraba did the best he could given the hardware and a lot of tracks sound redundant, but I never found it particularly irritating. If anything the music fades into the background. The battle theme is a banger, though!

Story / Private Actions The story isn't too in-depth. That's okay, given the space they had for the catridge. I don't think it means to take itself too seriously. Tri-Ace has never had master level writing chops, so don't go in expecting a grand adventure for the story. There's just enough to get you from point A to point B and the last 5 hours of the game contain most of the plot, explaining the world and the final boss' motivations. There's nothing bad or great about it.

Private Actions are great as always. They really kept the spirit of the cast from 2 here. In fact, they wanted to add more, but there just wasn't enough space to do so. We only get a measly 25ish PAs in this game, compared to the 100 or so in 2, but that's okay. Some of them are really fun! Most of them aren't missable, although they can't all be seen in one playthrough (there's a few you must pick between). PAs really are a highlight in this game, especially if you're a fan of 2. I recommend doing as many as you can. Some have good rewards, too.

Conclusion

I would give this game a 6/10

As a fan of the series. The frustrating elements make me score it lower. The game shines with its graphics, music, and Private Actions, but ultimately leaves a somewhat lackluster experience.

Do I regret my time spent with Blue Sphere? Not really. I think it was alright. I think if you love SO2, you should give it a shot. The game is only 35-45 hours for the main story and technical skill isn't required to complete, but it does make it easier. The frustrating elements can be weathered through (I took a one week break and a weekend break at seperate points of frustration…) I think if you love the characters, seek out the PAs. If you love the story, you may consider watching on YT instead as there really isn't a lot of meat there and the ending is very "we saved the world, let's go on another adventure!" and not the most satisfying. There aren't multiple endings here, either. Replayability is very dependent on how you play personally. I think you could get all you need from this game if you played very carefully and planned everything in advance. A replay might be worth it if you want to challenge yourself with other characters in your main team; I would find this unbearable. All in all, I would recommend it to someone who loves skill-based titles, dungeon crawlers, or Star Ocean 2. I think the game has too many issues to make it enjoyable to play or replay, but this is a very decisive title running on dated hardware with a shoddy translation. I hope this review provided some insight and if it wasn't enough, you can view my walkthrough here to see if it is something more suited to you.