#server-side components

[carolamandaus]

Back-End Developer

An IT Services back-end developer, under our brand name, is tasked with constructing and upholding the server-side components of web applications and software.

[codeonedigest]

GraphQL Client Side & Server-Side Components Explained with Examples for API Developers

Full Video Link - https://youtube.com/shorts/nezkbeJlAIk Hi, a new #video on #graphql #mutation published on #codeonedigest #youtube channel. @java @awscloud @AWSCloudIndia @YouTube #youtube @codeonedigest #graphql #graphqlresolver #graphqltutorial

 Let’s understand the GraphQL components and the way they communicate with each other. The entire application components can be categories in to server side and client-side components. Server-side Components – GraphQL server forms the core component on the server side and allows to parse the queries coming from GraphQL client applications. Apollo Server is most commonly used implementation of…

[talenlee]

Finding Pokemon That Wear Pants

Pokemon are lil guys. They are in many cases, just lil guys. But there are some Pokemon that exist further on the continuum of ‘a weird lil guy’ than other Pokemon. I’ve said in the past that if you found out your server at a fast food store was a Lucario, your reaction wouldn’t be ‘oh gross there’s an animal back there’ but ‘oh hi there lil guy.’

One of the traits of a lil guy versus an animal, though, is that lil guys do things in human ways – tool use, language, cultural practice, but most importantly of course, is wearing pants. Pants are how you represent a character as having some engagement with a greater society at large, which is pretty weird when you consider the nature of pants being gendered. Yes, it is a way in which we accept the Pokemon as being individuals in society, in that they buy into a gendered form of clothing. Wait, where was I?

Clothes! Clothes clothes clothes, fashion, style, these are important things for the identity of Pokemon. After all, Meowth engages in fashion, you Philistine, and Team Rocket’s Meowth is very high on the Lil Guy O Meter. If we assume a Pokemon needs to wear pants to ascend up into Lil Guy Status, then there’s surely a list of ways to investigate that, thanks to the Bulbapedia page of Costumed Pokemon.

(By this metric, Donald Duck isn’t a lil guy.)

Some Pokemon wear ‘stuff’ as part of their normal look. Particularly, Machoke wears a belt and what looks like booty shorts, which is fun because Machoke and Machamp have no gender dimorphism, which suggests that this beast has enough of a sense of modesty to not want something on their crotch exposed, but for all of the Maches, it’s tits out. Similarly, Mandibuzz has a bone in its … hair? Which is either a really weird thing for it to grow naturally or it’s an expression of some kind of aesthetic. Cubone and Marowak wear a skull, according to their pokedex entries (but the skulls of WHOM, we’re never clear on). And what’s more, there are, no doubt, a lot of Pokemon who wear pants in fanart — and whatever’s going on with Lucario is no doubt going to get edited by enthusiastic artists.

(Considering a regional variant of Lucario that has side pockets turning their thighs-that-look-like-shorts into cargos.)

Here is where we find ourselves with a problem about the assumptions of clothes-ness. The assumption for this sake is that unless we see some indication otherwise that the Pokemon’s component elements can be removed or changed, it doesn’t really ‘count’ as clothes because we can’t, for sure, say that it’s not just part of their body. Both Smeargle and Slowking look like they’re wearing hats but we know one of them it’s explicitly a symbiote and the other, we have no reason to believe it’s not part of its body.

Do we have any place where Pokemon wear clothes that are explicitly and obviously actually clothes, not standardised as part of the Pokemon’s design? Well, there’s a few obvious examples, in the form of the cosplay Pikachus from Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire that lets Pikachu take on the form of things like a Luchador or a Rock Star. Pikachu can wear one of a number of hats, as well, and of course, transition her gender. Which is an odd thing to say, but that is literally what it looks like it’s doing. Continuing away from the Pikachu Privilege space, Pokemon Go brings us the Event Pokemon, which includes Squirtles wearing sunglasses, Pikachus wearing hats (god damnit, there they are again), and honestly pretty cute things like Blisseys in flower crowns, but nobody wearing pants. Jigglypuff, Pichu and Pikachu in Smash Bros don some headgear – caps and bandannas and crowns and bows, those are all accessorising. If we’re looking for signs of a Pokemon wearing pants, so far, all thse avenues leave us stuck looking at only Pikachu, and largely, it’s when Pikachu is doing some kind of a costume.

But hang on, what about skirts? The discerning person’s pant? Well, turns out that a whole range of Pokemon wear skirts in the anime! Serena has a Braxien that wears a skirt, and Dawn’s pokemon don skirts not just once, but thrice – and they’re different skirts!

Skirts, clearly, are more important than pants. After all, Pikachu has worn basically one kind of pants, so far and Buneary has worn an ice dancer skirt, a cheerleader skirt, and a maid skirt, which means that Buneary is three times the man Pikachu can be.

Still, the ever expanding leviathan of Pokemon is relentless and in its growth it eventually picked up a MOBA game, which… exists. Pokemon Unite is a game that allows players to buy skins that put ‘holographic’ clothes on their Pokemon, which I find a particularly novel idea because on the one hand, hey, clothes, on the other hand: why are they holograms. The fact they’re holographic clothes kind of underscores the idea that yeah, okay, sure, we’ll put these things in clothes but they’re not going to be clothes clothes. And they’re honestly, pretty sick! They look cool, and they really ramp up the lil guyness of the Pokemon wearing them!

Mostly though?

They don’t add pants.

Obviously at this point I am down a rabbit hole. I started looking into Pokemon clothes because it was interesting and then that led me to ‘pants’ because I thought that Donald Duck joke upstream was pretty good and that then led me here, and now I’m finding myself wondering just why pants are so rare in these kind of character designs. Across all the Pokemon Unite hologram outfits, I tracked about seventy five that I think count as wearing something like ‘pants’ or a skirt. There are some challenging judgement calls here, though; Blissey, Delphox, Hoopa and Tsareena are all built like their design incorporates a skirt, and their outfits don’t change that skirt design, either putting something above or below that, and I don’t know how to make that judgment call.

There are some truly unhinged choices in these designs, though. Originally this started out as a joke to make a sort of spreadsheet of the kinds of things that you can do with a Pokemon’s design but buckle up because now we’re dealing with something truly crackers. I want you to see these things. I want you, the majority of the people in the world who have not and never will play Pokemon Unite that read this blog, to see the way they decided to implement some of these outfits.

Over 378 costumes, about 73 of them introduce something like pants or a skirt to the Pokemon in question. Of those outfits, there are some truly amazing choices, like Absol asking and answering the question ‘if an Absol wore shorts, it would wear them like this.”

Where Pokemon with ‘skirts’ don’t change them with clothes, amazingly, Lucario and Cinderace, who look like they’re wearing shorts, add on extra elements that integrate those shorts, but also have costumes that change the shorts into other kinds of shorts. Which means that this outfit – well, okay, it’s a hologram we know how the outfit does it, but this outfit is basically painting their legs to fit a different aesthetic. Which I guess makes Cinderace a homestuck?

Special shout out here to Greedent, where taking a shirt and applying it to a pokemon that has otherwise entirely benign design of chest fur, somehow makes that fur look like some truly uncontrolled pubes.

I did also find that there’s a point where Mr Mime in Pokemon Unite can wear one outfit that adds shorts, which is somehow more perverse than not wearing them at all.

Alright, what does this tell us?

Absolutely nothing

But in the process I got to show you this picture of a Slowbro wearing gardening clothes, and the Mamoswine sticking its teeth through its hoodie sleeves made for them.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[purplekoop]

So Subnautica 2 got its first trailer today, after already having some teasers and interviews reveal its existence and main new feature of co-op multiplayer, and of course my excitement is right back at its usual highs when thinking about one of my favorite games ever. My friends I've shared the first game with are already hyped for the eventual multiplayer sessions, one even taking it as a sign to play the original on the spot for the first time. But in this excitement I checked the comments on the trailer, and saw some comments that... baffled me. Obviously looking at youtube comments for just about any game is going to worsen your mental health, but beyond the murmurs bemoaning and making edgy comments about Below Zero were people that are excited for the game, and listing what they hope a new Subnautica could offer. Such as... improved combat? New "enemies" and "bosses"? in... Subnautica??

Now, to some people this is probably just petty word choice that just puts Subnautica in line with almost any other game where things can attack you and you can attack them back. But to me, it conveys a misunderstanding of what Subnautica is, and what makes it so so special as a game, beyond just its worldbuilding and survival mechanics, but with its environment, its tone, its heart as a game made with the intention of doing more than just meet expectations.

So, here's:

A Brief Piece on Subnautica, Online Culture, and What Makes a Game Special

(note: this post will be free of any spoilers for Subnautica 1 or Below Zero, but does contain brief references to real world violence.)

If you took any number of people with a shared favorite game, and asked them why it is, it'd be bafflingly improbable to find they all like it for the exact same reasons. Most mediums of art are like this, but video games especially lend themselves to a greater number of different factors for what makes them enjoyable for different people. Not only can games have audio, visual, and narrative components capable of replicating or outright containing other mediums, but there is the added layer of interactivity and the art of creating a feel of gameplay adds a unique and extremely subjective element to a game as an experience.

Take Sonic the Hedgehog, a series that has a remarkably enduring fanbase for a franchise often panned by outside critics for the gameplay of some entries. While many fans love the series exclusively for the satisfying high-speed flow of some of the games, what draws just as many fans (if not more) is the impeccable soundtracks, or the charming and well-designed characters, or the stories that define those characters, or even the potential for further stories with them that fans realize themselves. A Sonic fan who hasn't even played a single game themselves but still loves the characters, style, music, or whatever other element has just as much reason to be called a "Sonic Fan" as someone who's played every game but never once interacted with the more character and story-oriented side of the fanbase. This dissonance between gameplay-biased fans and fans who enjoy the non-gameplay aspects isn't hard to find, but even within a gameplay focus there's a countless array of potential reasons someone enjoys a game. Minecraft fans for instance consist of speedrunners, minigame server grinders, hardcore challenge runners, people who play on peaceful because they're scared of the monsters, friend groups who goof around on a server playing normal survival badly, absolute mad lads making particle colliders or supercomputers, and your little cousin who just likes building roller coasters. Every single one of these is a valid way to play the game and enjoy it. Even if the core survival mode is the "intended" way to play, it'd be odd to say any of these other options are any less valid.

So... what about Subnautica? More specifically: why my frustration then, if those who see Subnautica's mechanics as a game with enemies and bosses to fight ought to be just as "correct" under this perspective as any other way to perceive the game?

Well, by my own logic, I can't dispute the traditional "fight enemies to win video game" approach as an objectively incorrect way to play the game. If you have Subnautica by whatever means, then you can certainly use the limited tools it offers you to kill any hazardous or non-hazardous creatures you deem fit. You could possibly even use the mods I presume exist that expand the arsenal of conventional weapons you have access to. You're taking an interactive medium and interacting with it how you personally deem fit, in a way that doesn't harm anyone else in any remotely realistic capacity. I can't stop you, or call you an objectively bad person, or even rightly think that much lesser than you.

I can still disagree though, and I'd like to elaborate on why.

Subnautica's lack of conventional weapons or general emphasis on combat is a very deliberate design choice with a very specific point of origin. According to the original game's director Charlie Cleveland, the game was first conceptualized around the time of the Sandy Hook shooting. While recognizing games aren't responsible for these real world atrocities, the idea of making another game that encouraged violent solutions and gun usage wasn't exactly appealing. Instead, Subnautica was made to be a game that encouraged other ways to solve problems. Even the worldbuilding within the game reflects this, as the PDA reveals a terrible massacare led to the banning of fabricating any weapons other than the bare essential survival knife.

This has been the one piece of developer insight on any game that's stuck with me the more than any other. Not to say that I think we should not make games with any kind of guns anymore, that'd be both fruitless and short-sighted. But it's hard for me now to see the world we live in and wonder how we choose to reflect it in the works we create.

For the unfamiliar, I have a few hopeful game projects of my own, one of which is a team-based shooter with the working title "War Bots". It exists as both a love letter to a subgenre I've sunk plenty of hours into enjoying, with the hope to expand and improve on the ideas they present. The violence is intended to be "cartoony", or at least disconnected from realistic violence due to its playable cast being robots and its enemies being hostile plant monsters. Most of their weapons are unrealistically fantastical in some form or function. The overarching story, as pathetically ironic as it may be to try and say, is meant to be a tale warning against mindless violence and mistrust, and that we can only survive by working together to not repeat the mistakes of our past.

I use the tag "war bots" to note my posts showcasing my art and writing about the project. Also using the tag is an entirely unrelated account... using it to discuss developments in drone warfare in the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. I can't say it feels great knowing I'm sharing terminology and concepts with very real atrocities committed daily on real, innocent people, and using them to talk about a video game I want to make. It doesn't feel right to scrap the project after this much effort, but I don't know how much retroactively applying themes and a story will change the fact that it's. A shooter.

Maybe a bit dramatic, but all that is to say I very thoroughly respect and appreciate Subnautica's active design against violence as an intended solution. Beyond the external reasoning and in-universe backstory, the game also has a very palpable friction against using the tools of violence it does offer you. If you do decide to kill a creature much bigger than a Peeper, which is a tedious process that gets exponentially worse with large creatures, then all you're left with is a corpse. No meat, no materials, even if it's something like a Stalker that has some other means of reaping resources from it. It doesn't poof into a convenient cloud of dust, or dissolve into darkness that gives the deed an excuse as part of a grand war of objective "good" and "evil". It simply remains a limp, static body slowly floating down as a reminder of something that did not need to be done, and brought nothing of value from being done anyways. You could scan it more easily than ever, since it can't run away or fight back. What a reward, huh?

So then... why? If nothing is gained, then why is violence still such a popular and desired approach to play the game? And why does it only seem capable of escalating, with it becoming a contest to see what's the biggest creature you can take down, even if the process is just using a Stasis Rifle to stun it indefinitely while you hack away at it with a pocket knife, a grueling tedium that can't possibly bring any joy? Why did those comments reduce this game's unique approach to dealing with innocent animals to simply be a matter of "enemies" and "combat" in the same way that thousands of other games already offer? When the game down to its very heart and soul wants you to get by in any other way, why is there such a pull to take the path of most resistance anyways?

Well, I think one reason is kind of a natural trajectory that comes out of games as a medium, especially those that interact so heavily with online culture, to pressure players into exhausting every possibility a game can provide and then pushing them further. It feels presumptuous to call it "just human nature", as I think the drive to play games as exhaustively as possible doesn't seem to be a universal experience. Instead, I think it's more often prompted by circumstance. An obvious instance is that someone who doesn't play many different games (either by limitations or by choice) and thus would naturally try to get everything possible out of each one. But I think a more common example, especially for a game with a specific history like Subnautica's, is that it comes as a result of online culture. I recall at the end of playthroughs by the big youtubers that skyrocketed the game's popularity, like Markiplier or Jacksepticeye, one of the last things they did before ending their series was to take down the biggest Leviathans they could. Because after all, they did everything else, right? They reached the ending, had plenty of laughs and screams along the way, what's left to do that's worth doing? But viewers liked the video series, why end it if there's anything left to keep it going? And this isn't to say a big youtuber was the first to try and kill a leviathan, it was probably someone who wanted to got bored and/or wanted something to brag about on a subreddit or steam forum. And then with that community aspect, the cycle perpetuates: "if someone else did it, am I really done with the game until I do it too? Am I too much of a coward for not wanting to sink my time into this like other people already have?". And then after the greatest obstacle has been cleared with tedium but relative ease, the pursuit then becomes to go further. Bigger, badder monsters. better weapons. More rules to make it harder. More challenge. More bragging rights. More because More is all there is left to do.

And then so what we're left with is not only the modding scene of the game being so heavily biased towards these sorts of hyper-aggressive additions, but now the desires of many fans for the actual next game are simply just "More To Kill". Not because it's interesting in of itself, but because that's the expectation.

But is it wrong then for people to want this? Well, no, for reasons I already outlined. But I think it is tone deaf to the artistic intent behind the game, and also to what I think makes the game special.

To me, what makes Subnautica such a special game is how beautifully it surrounds you in a believable world that feels both so warmly familiar and yet so alien, without trying to push into an uncanny valley. The flora and fauna of this world look and move so organically similar to life in our own oceans, yet look distinct in a way that feels oddly more charming than offputting in most cases. I think there is some personal bias though, as I could only sleep most nights as a kid with Finding Nemo on my little bedroom TV, and as a result fell in love with marine life and the lovingly rendered ocean environments that Subnautica captures the feeling of so wonderfully. The way the light dances on the sandy sea floors, the vibrant fish and coral. And looking up from this ocean to see a window of light: which in the game is your guiding target as a lifeline to air in your most dire moments, but was just as much a sign of comfort in hardship and the endurance in life in the film. The very nature of light ties the game into some of my fondest memories in such a profound way.

Of course, for as many people who like me are endeared by the ocean environments the game lovingly recreates, just as many are deeply terrified of the endless, unknowable abyss of the ocean, let alone one with even more deliberately horrifying creatures. I think that sort of dichotomy between comfort and fear is something so unique about Subnautica in particular, where its genre is up for debate as a cozy and uniquely nostalgic survival game or a gut-turning horror game just based on your perspective.

I do think Subnautica's breadth of optional mechanics, while technically being what enables turning its creatures into mere "enemies", are another part of what cements it as one of my favorite games ever. The base building mechanics are so needlessly, gloriously in-depth, to where the inevitable bulk of any playthrough for me is working towards creating a comprehensive mega-aquarium of every species I can put in a tank or growbed. There's also the variety of tools that aren't useful enough to keep your precious inventory space open for at all times, but are so fun to play around with needlessly. Not to be a hypocrite, but it's so funny to breed Crashfish and then use the propulsion cannon on them to make an extremely inefficient rocket launcher that takes too much space to reasonably do any useful damage. Alternatively, you could accidentally hit a big angry fish with your car 47 times to where it's so pissed off it dies by its own fault. Highlight of my streaming career. Regardless, the expansive variety of ways the game lets you interact with it is endlessly endearing, both in spite of and because of the fact you're not required to utilize most of them.

But I think one more big reason Subnautica is special is because it defies a conventional game structure of seeing every living thing that opposes you as an "enemy" that's most efficiently dealt with by getting rid of it. Subnautica hopes you see its world as alive, filled with creatures living their lives in the same way you are. Some of them are meant to be food, for you and for other creatures, but that's part of life too. Every simulated ray of light, bed of sand, patch of coral, and motion of creature is delicately crafted to make this planet feel as believable as possible while still making a satisfying play experience. And by doing so, with just these subtle details, the game offers a question of how do you see this planet, and burdens you to consider the consequences of your presence.

I could absolutely go on further about Subnautica, going more broadly into just what I like about it, but I wanted to keep things ""brief"" just to focus on this more specific topic. I might have lost some nuance or couldn't quite elaborate on every little detail, but I didn't want to leave this tumblr post in production for too long. I was tempted to make an extensive Undertale comparison, as another chronically misunderstood game with the appeal of "these aren't just enemies" that gets boiled down by edgy teenage boys to "how much can I stroke my ego by styling and fixating on the hardest arbitrary challenges it can offer" while completely ignoring any kind of nuance or themes aside from maybe digging into Lore (tm) for the sake of Lore (tm), but it felt like too much of a tangent distracting from the actual subject. I do have a more specific post about Undertale/Deltarune's community and poorly aimed focus that I need to rewrite at some point, but that's for another time.

If you read this far, thank you so much for your time, and hopefully you got something out of my rambling here. I don't often do these long "essay" style posts unless I'm particularly inspired, and hoo boy were those trailer comments inspiring. But this took a bit to write out, so hopefully it was coherent enough to read.

All that said though SUBNAUTICA 2 WOOOOOOOO

[writernopal]

forced a few words out for M.O.W and I do mean forced because ive been feeling really disheartened about my writing lately but on the plus side, i got a chance to test drive my new writing server, and i have to say, i feel like ive outdone myself here.

ive basically created my own version of an online based writing tool (GDocs, Dabble, Ellipsus etc), sans a few of the grammar checking and power user features using Obsidian and few other things, but i have multiple OS and device support (including mobile), real time syncing (when on a network), offline mode when im not, different document export capabilities (docx, pdf, etc), automatic nightly backups and, most importantly, data redundancy.

its pretty exciting because its finally at a place where its usable and the peace of mind of knowing where my stuff is at all times is huge. theres a few more components i need to work out (im getting a new laptop soon so i'll need to add that to this ecosystem) but the server itself is done and working!

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

(Sorry for the back-to-back asks, I was looking through your blog and got distracted by the postman)

I've been trying to find a post I swear I remember you making explaining the rules of Tali, but am coming up empty when I try to search for it on your blog. Can you help me out? All good if not, tumblr do be tumblr. Hope you're having a good day!!

i too suffer from 'cant find my own shit in tumblrs garbage search" disease i had to pull this from the laoft discord server akjsdhaksjdh

Tali, named for the game pieces, which are the talus bones of ruminants.

Each bone has four sides - a broad convex side, worth one, named "Iron," a concave broad side, worth 2, named "Stone," and convex narrow side, worth 3, named "Gold," and a concave narrow side, worth 4, named "Silver." (yes silver and gold are in that order on purpose, humans consider gold more valuable but fae are the other way around)

(when i play these games myself or write them, i just use a d4, but technically talus bones are not equally likely to land on every side. a closer (but still not perfect) analogue vis-a-vis probability would be to use a six-sided die and treat 1 and 2 like Iron, 3 and 4 like Stone, 5 as Gold and 6 as Silver)

you roll four tali - most rolls, you simply add up the total value of the sides, but certain combinations of sides are treated different

First combination roll - 1, 1, 1, 1, or four irons, also called "Cursed Irons." this one varies the most in behavior depending on exactly what game youre playing but its always bad, and usually not worth any points, sometimes worth negative

and there are three categories of trump rolls

Akind (4 of a kind of 2 or 3) which are worth double points,

Doubles (2 pairs), 1122 is lesser doubles (worth 15), 1133 is odd doubles (worth 20), 1144 and 2233 are both middle doubles (worth 25), 2244 is even doubles (worth 30), and 3344 is greater doubles (worth 35)

Finally, Crowns, also called high trump - four 4s, called Silver Crown OR one of each (so 1234), called a jeweled crown

The game Remus and Io play is called "Riches" and is a simple first-to-100 game. the only real odd mechanic is that Cursed irons "robs you" and cuts your points in half.

a variation of Riches called "Iron Riches" has multiple rounds, and is played somewhat in reverse - the first to 100 in each round immediately loses all their points, while the rest keep theirs. at the end of all the rounds, whoever has the fewest points wins.

there are other games you can play but thats the only ones i have real concrete ideas for. "playing blank" means to play without magic, on chance alone. most games can be played in such a way to incorporate some element of gambling, but its not an inherent component of any of them

[muse-matrix]

So... It's been a while since I last logged in here. Longer still since I properly did... much of anything here, outside of a few scattered posts. Part of me had been kinda dreading coming back here but looking at when my activity really dramatically dropped off, I think I understand what happened.

So, way back in february of last year, I was bouncing between a lot of things. I was running around doing a bunch of stuff to try and secure a new job, and I did manage that- A big component of my not being here was just me adjusting to having to work again, after being unemployed for almost an entire year. It was tough to get the right structure going, but I managed it. And despite starting college just a couple weeks ago, I've mostly managed that too so far, I think.

But that isn't... the main reason why. Probably. I think.

You see, what else happened in february, was that I got booted from a community I'd been a part of for years. It encompassed my involvement in a card game I loved, as well as the FF14 free company I'd been part of at the time. Someone who was, at one time, a good friend of mine misinterpreted something, and was so incensed by it, they took some things I said out of context and absolutely slandered me to the mod team of that community. (Yes, it actually is as bad as it sounds. I checked.) As a result, I was privately labeled some pretty nasty things, and shunted from their discord server without so much as a word. None of them would speak to me, none of them would even give me a chance to tell my side of things.

Obviously, that stung. A lot.

It had me pretty dejected about a lot of stuff, for a really long time. Probably why I mostly got off of here- I retreated to a different blog where there was less pressure (self-imposed) and more freedom for me to just, kinda, do whatever I wanted without fear or worry. I needed space and freedom to move myself around how I wanted for a while. And then that led to me feeling bad about not coming back here, which made me put off coming back here even longer... You see where this goes.

But at this point, it's been a year and a half. I'm pretty much over that fiasco, I haven't spoken to any of those people since, and they've evidently been content to leave it alone too, given I haven't had any mobs of angry pitchfork-wielding card game players coming after me.

And recently, Kako came back! She's RPing again and that's fun to see. I know a lot of you I've still been in contact with regardless, her included, so most of you probably are already aware of a lot of this stuff, but writing all this out is part of my process, so bear with it. The important thing is, after a lot of time and thinking about things, and seeing friends return to RPing and watching things happen from afar... God, do I want to get back into it with you all.

I very likely still won't be super active, but I'm going to at least try to be consistent. This is supposed to be my main, after all. I'll probably take the next week or so to clean up the muse list, cut a bunch of stuff, get a bit more focused and the like. Not that I'll actually stop playing any given muse- I'm wont to flip-flop between characters I enjoy, and I'm loathe to let fun interactions pass me by just because a character 'isn't on my muse list', but I ought to give myself a bit of structure, at least.

So... I'll try to be here every day, at least. Even if it's just to check in. This'll be a fresh start for me, I'd say, not that any of my old lore or whatever is getting abandoned. It's just... It's been a long time. It'll take some easing back into things for me, so I'm not even going to worry about whatever asks have been left to rot in my inbox, stuff like that.

Given it's been such a long time, some of you may... have blogs that I'm not currently following, cause I've missed them or what have you. So uh, if that's the case, please shoot me a message so I can correct that.

[planetarysemaphor]

𝔼𝕟𝕕𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕞𝕦𝕥𝕖 𝟘𝟙

Slugs are friends.

01.Rigelian Bodyplans

Mmf'tir. A race hailing from the 2nd moon of Rigel. A fairly warm, oceanic world. According to their ships archives, they are a living fossil on their homeworld, one of the last of the Mucorposi kingdom, their survival is thanks to a number of reasons, but most important one of them is their insane adaptability, spawned out of their equally unhinged lifecycle.

_ (fig.1 Rigelian Hydra (Mmf'tir<a>umf'm)) The Rigelians' life starts inside the hydra as a bud. These buds grow into the larval rigelian, and develop internal organs before fully separating from their host.

The Hydra itself is the backbone of rigelian social structure, serving as both a nursery, 3d printer and information server. It's the longest living form of a rigelian, able to survive up to 230 years, however, due to the fact it has no "main" head, it is unable to heptate, and therefore is doomed to expire. This however, does not bother the hydra, as it does not posses any manner of autonomy, it's previously exhibited personality erased entirely.

_ ((fig.2 Rigelian larvae(Mmf'aAr))

The larvae remain in the shallow waters for the better part of 6 years as they grow in both sentience and shape. During this time, they go from animals in need of tending to, to menial workers, able to preform manual labor in specially designed exobodies.

_ (fig.3 Rigelian larvae piloting an Aethlynn exobody)

The Aethlynn was developed long before the first official contact with humans to aid in ambassadorial duties. As you can see, it's nervous system is not integrated into the larvas, allowing for easy separation when need arises.

_ (fig.4 The Aethlynns major structural components) This body is a middle ground between rigelian and human anatomy, created based on the data received by the rigelian ships brain over 192 years prier to it's arrival in the solar system. At that time, the ship had not utilized electronic sequencing interpretation. So from what little it could understand, it sourced that humans had long, dexterous upper appendages and strong, upright standing lower ones. This minuscule amount of info it applied to the basic rigelian body plan, resulting in the aethlynn.

_ (fig.5 Rigelian larvae piloting a golem exobody)

The golem is a unique exobody, a result of collaboration between rigelian colonists and humans. If we remove the opaque exogracii, we can see that the main body is an incredibly dense pod of structural exogracii, making the golem a kind of hardsuit for manual labor.

_ (fig.6 golem exobody with opaque exogracci removed)

These exobodies have become so popular, than there are multiple scientific efforts to create a method to allow for other races to pilot them, sadly, there has yet to be any meaningful development on it.

_ (fig.6 Adult Rigelian(Mmf'tyr))

Also known as "the heirophant" this exobody is unique as it's nervous system fully integrates the larva into itself, allowing not only for more precise control, but also heptation and further evolution. The Rigelian will spent around 30 years in this state, until it heptates, turns into a hydra, or expires of old age.

_ (fig.7 Side by Side size comparison)

Rigelians evolved to be rather large due their amphibious lifestyle, of course, it should be noted, that any exobody can be modified by the hydra to suit the rigelians personality and preferences. The most popular bodypart to grow among the colonists are the sensory lobes on their head, which allow for a better depth channel pickup range.

[trashland-llamas]

I Was a Human

[Written as part of the @mcyt-halloween gift exchange for @kozzax]

Jack remembered the burning inferno that was hell. How the embers had eaten away at his flesh and the smell of brimstone filled his lungs even though he was no longer there. Even now on the surface again, his eyes saw the desert basin with its red and purple sand. It was all still at the forefront of his mind but he couldn’t tell if it was a dream or reality. Clawing his way through the topsoil, he climbed up to his feet. His limbs felt so sluggish, so heavy. Barely able to use his body after months of laying in a tomb. His brain wouldn’t move his leg despite mentally screaming for it to move. It took a few tries before Jack could make his way to the front of the Big Innit hotel. 

Unclear if days or months had passed by. Walking through the doors, he made eye contact with Captain Puffy at the front desk. ‘But you’re supposed to be dead.’ Those words filled his body with a sense of dread. ‘Can I at least take a shower before dealing with all of this?’ Referring to the concept that was socializing. ‘Yea, sure. Take as long as you want.’ Handing over a random key card to an unused room. Not that the hotel had many patrons to begin with.

It annoyingly takes three separate attempts before the key card actually works like it’s supposed to. He didn’t have the energy to kick down the door nor the money to replace the damages that would cause. Sighing, Jack let the door fall shut behind him. The layout of the room is just the same as every hotel room he’d seen in his life. Immediately going to the adjoining en suite, he paused when he came into view with the mirror. Is that really what he looked like? Half of his body seemed to be composed of robotic elements. 

Hissing, he retracted his hand from where it had touched a patchwork of wires and stitches. No wonder Captain Puffy had looked at him with such a shocked expression. The components looked to be melted into the skin somehow. Scar tissue surrounding the edges. ‘How am I still alive?’ Jack asked himself in a low whisper, just now noting the caked dirt and blood under his fingernails. The right half of his body that was still skin, was more bloated and had a waxy consistency to it. Able to see his veins with the pallor, cheek bone extremely pronounced with its hollowness. Turning on the skin, he scrubbed under his fingers, watching as the water turned murky. Once happy, he pulled his upper lip up to see the state of his teeth. Not surprised at the yellowness and slightly irritated gums. 

Debating whether to get in the shower as he was unsure if he’d end up electrocuting himself. He had already died once and had gotten hell that time around. Who was to say he wouldn’t get some other realm the second time? With this ‘fuck it’ type mentality, Jack continued on, turning the facet to a random temperature he guessed to be lukewarm. Emitting a string of cuss words when he felt the water to be frozen cold. Ultimately discovering that he in fact wouldn’t electrocute. The robotic side did explain why his limbs had refused to operate earlier, heavier than his muscles. Asking himself if he’d have to incorporate polishing into his daily or weekly routine.

‘Thought Tommy was running this place, how long has it been since I died?’ Jack asked, now sitting across from Captain Puffy, wearing what clothes she could find from the lost and found that would fit him. ‘Tommy asked me to fill in for him today. Temporary thing. But it’s been…6 months since you died.’ Filling the cups in front of them with tea.

‘...6 months?’ Jack echoes, his mouth suddenly dry. He had been gone for half a year now, roughly 182 days. Yet the server had seemed unchanged. ‘Did–was I given a funeral? Did anyone mourn?’ His voice was hoarse from disuse, the phrasing stilted. If Captain Puffy didn’t know any better, she would describe his tone as angry. ‘No. You weren’t given a funeral, not an official one, but Ponk did write you a death certificate. Death by sinkhole, I believe.’

‘So no one?’ The question was a defeated one. He had gone through all that pain and suffering for what? To come back, barely half a man? ‘Jack, I’m merely one person. I can only give you my perspective. No one on this server keeps track of everyone, always involved in their own stuff. Ask around, there has to have been someone,’ Puffy sternly responded. While she was done being the server’s therapist, she wasn’t going to watch Jack run himself into the ground when he had done the impossible. When he had somehow managed to acquire his three lives back. ‘At least ask around. Give this living thing another shot. You used to be as thick as thieves with Niki.’ Giving him a vague starting direction. 

‘What if I can’t find a purpose?’ Jack asks. All that was left of the tea was the leaves at the bottom. Seeing a butterfly in the graininess as his finger ran around the cup’s rim. ‘You’ll find something. It’s only your first day back. You’re bound to rebuild,’ Puffy then tells him to sleep on it, cement the memories of the 6 months he spent in that hellscape. To Jack, it didn’t feel like 6 months. In fact, it had felt exponentially longer. Trapped in a purgatory where nothing looked recognizable. Where all he heard for miles were screams. And now he was dropped in a different state of limbo.

The rest was well needed as it made Jack realize what he had to do to gain some semblance of peace. The brain fog lifted and once he had spent enough time getting used to his new body, he left the hotel in search of Niki. Assuming she might feel the same, having been dealt a similar card by those in power thus far. They didn’t care who or what was lost when they played house, the presidential, special edition version. Noticing two people had been at the center of each and every conflict; Tommy and Dream. No one knew where to find Dream with his aloof nature, thus he’d have to go after the former. There’d have to be some consequences for treating others’ lives so carelessly. In itself, it was its own form of cruelty.

Alas, the journey ahead filled Jack with a fiery, bottled up rage that made it clear he’d only stop once he saw this endeavor to the end.

[definitelynotshouting]

Hunger AU Topic of The Day: Crafting Tables

So if you know me even a little bit you will know that i literally can never leave well enough alone when it comes to worldbuilding. In that vein, i have been noodling on the concept of what crafting tables-- and by association, crafting itself-- are like in the hunger au.

As the folks in my discord server probably know, i've been noodling on this for a while.

But a few days ago i finally came up with an answer, and that answer is: crafting tables arent actually tables in hunger au. Instead, they're a plugin that's a little larger than your average USB drive, and are designed to interact directly with a Player's comm to facilitate crafting.

To talk about that, though, we need to dive into what crafting is in hunger au.

In hunger au, crafting is essentially a chemical reaction, if that chemical reaction was made up of code instead of molecules. Crafting components are arranged together in a corresponding pattern and then, using the crafting table (also called a crafting upgrade, or even just a crafter), have key elements of their code stripped and rearranged, forming an entirely new object. The crafting table is vital to performing this transformation without having to wholesale code the object by yourself via comm-- something that takes far too long when it can be done with a crafter in a matter of seconds.

This leads into the interfacing side of things. While your typical comm is already capable of the same function, it's only in a very limited capacity (aka the 2x2 crafting grid in your inventory). Attaching a crafting table to your comm offers a more robust and extensive selection of crafting commands, so the Player doesn't have to make up an entirely new item from scratch.

As an example, one could arrange a few wooden planks and a cushion in the general shape of a chair, then attach a crafting table to their comm, and through use of commands, could turn those planks and the cushion into a chair. By consequence, since these objects aren't being made via typical irl construction, anchoring items like nails aren't necessary. The chair would come out as one whole piece.

The physical look of a crafting table is, as previously mentioned, a little larger than your average USB drive-- so keeping them plugged in, while useful for crafting purposes, is less than convenient, considering comms in this universe are anchored to a Player's wrist. Most Players keep several lying around, or carry one in their inventory or even just their pocket-- but it's not uncommon to lose them and just have to make another. They're easy to craft using a comm, and one of the first things a newly spawned Player instinctively knows how to create.

They're also somewhat customizable for those who care enough to do so. Many Players end up changing the surface code of their crafters, so that they resemble something other than the default crafting table texture. Scar's, for example, looks like Jellie :]

Alright this post took me way too long to write but i hope this makes sense and you guys like the additional worldbuilding :] ive been thinking about this one for a while now, and im so glad to have finally gotten it figured out!!! :D

[songbirdsanctuary]

A Tango Tek and ImpulseSV fic

This takes place in season 7. I wrote this about a month ago.

Warnings: Self-harm(No blood, very brief)

Word count: 703

-A Tango Tek and ImpulseSV Fic-

Tango Tek always prided himself on his dedication to his projects. Whether it was tackling colossal builds or fine-tuning intricate redstone contraptions, he poured his heart and soul into every endeavor on the Hermitcraft server. Season seven had been particularly exciting, with the introduction of Decked Out and the relentless expansion of his base. But lately, something felt off.

As the days wore on, Tango found himself increasingly overwhelmed. The weight of his responsibilities pressed down on him like a heavy blanket, suffocating and relentless. His once boundless energy waned, replaced by a gnawing fatigue that seemed to seep into his bones.

It began subtly at first. A missed redstone signal here, a misplaced block there. Small errors that were easily rectified. But then, the mistakes grew more frequent, more glaring. Tango's meticulous designs faltered, crumbling like sandcastles beneath an encroaching tide.

His mind became a whirlwind of chaos, thoughts spiraling out of control like unruly vines. Doubt crept in, insidious and unrelenting. Was he not good enough? Was he failing his fellow Hermits? Was he losing his touch?

Tango tried to bury his insecurities beneath layers of determination, to drown out the cacophony of self-doubt with the steady hum of redstone. But the harder he worked, the louder the doubts grew until they consumed him entirely.

One particularly tumultuous night, Tango found himself standing amidst the ruins of yet another failed project, his hands trembling with frustration. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, threatening to spill over as he fought to regain control.

That's when ImpulseSV found him.

The gentle hum of redstone echoed through the dimly lit corridors of Tango's base as Impulse made his way toward the source of the commotion. He found Tango standing amidst a sea of scattered redstone components, his shoulders slumped and his expression haunted.

"Tango?" Impulse's voice was soft, laced with concern as he approached his friend. Tango turned to face him, his eyes hollow and weary.

"Impulse..." Tango's voice cracked, betraying the turmoil raging within him. "I don't know what's happening to me. Everything feels like it's falling apart."

Impulse stepped forward, enveloping Tango in a warm embrace. "Hey, it's okay," he murmured soothingly, his words a comforting balm against Tango's frayed nerves.

Tears spilled freely down Tango's cheeks as he clung to Impulse, his emotions threatening to overwhelm him. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he allowed himself to let go, to relinquish the facade of strength he had been clinging to so desperately.

Impulse held him steady, a steadfast anchor amidst the storm. He listened as Tango poured out his fears and frustrations, offering words of encouragement and support in return. And slowly, as the night wore on, the weight that had been bearing down on Tango's shoulders began to lift, replaced by a sense of solace.

In the quiet hours before dawn, Tango and Impulse sat side by side, their laughter mingling with the gentle hum of redstone. And as the first rays of sunlight bathed the world in golden hues, Tango knew that no matter how dark the shadows may grow, he would always find light in the unwavering friendship of those who stood by his side. They soon both fell asleep.

Tango woke after only a few minutes, and looked at Impulse who was still asleep. Tango felt a bit better however, as dawn approached, a lingering sense of frustration and anger still gripped Tango's heart. In a moment of overwhelming emotion, he clenched his fists and, with a primal roar, unleashed his fury upon the nearest wall. The sound of his knuckles meeting solid stone reverberated through the corridor, a stark reminder of the turmoil brewing within him.

Impulse woke will a stardled shout and watched in concern as Tango's hand throbbed with pain. Without hesitation, Impulse reached out, gently grasping Tango's injured hand in his own.

"Tango, you don't have to bear this burden alone," Impulse said softly, his voice was soothing, and his eyes already tearing up "Please.. We're here for you, always."

And in that moment, as the warmth of Impulse's touch seeped into his bones, Tango felt a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness. He would be ok.

[lyinginbedmon]

I know full well that I've got an uphill struggle when it comes to marketing Various Types, because it's 2024 and everyone already uses Origins and thinks it's the bee's knees (and to their credit, Origins is a good mod), so you'll forgive me for harking on about VT but I do earnestly believe that it is more than viable as a competitor of the aging popular mod.

All this was true as well back when what is now Various Types was part of Various Oddities (which itself enjoyed some considerable popularity whilst Origins didn't share space in the same modloader), but I'll try and break it down a bit to drive home why I think it's worth giving a look:

First, it doesn't work like Origins. In Origins, you choose (or are randomly selected) a "origin", of varying levels of "impact" usually between 0 and 3. Depending on server config, you might get another one after dying, but that's it. This means the range of gameplay is only as diverse as the datapack in use, because each player is locked into just one component.

Various Types, in stark contrast, actually presents the player with a full-blown character creation system. You choose a species, which is similar to an origin, and are then able to choose templates that modify it. Moreover, those templates can be stacked on top of each-other, in different orders and with different results. So whilst the range of gameplay is still limited by datapack, it is roughly combinatorially massive. The default species and templates that presently ship in the alpha, by itself, theoretically offer up to 286 builds (template conditions permitting). The server has a "power" setting that helps to constrain how drastically overpowered characters can be, but the variations possible without even breaking 5 power are staggering against the dozen or so origins that Origins ships with even today.

This ultimately means that players are always able to be at least a little different to one-another. Even if they share the same species as the foundation of their character, an Insectile player is quite distinct to an Aquatic one.

Even among the less-impactful templates, a Gravekin Orkin (essentially a still-intelligent zombified piglin) has some stark distinction from a Reptilian Orkin (roughly a lizardman). Though personally, I'd rather not get on the bad side of either one of them, especially if they just heard me call them piglins...

Secondly, and by absolutely no means least, the core component of the mod (the character sheet) has intentionally been constructed such that it is incredibly easy for others to expand beyond its current and original confines.

Want to build a magic mod and need to track what spells people have and how much mana? All you need to do is register a couple things to the right registries, and it'll work just fine. Want to build a class system on top of it and player an Othall Ranger or Muckie Druid? Same thing, same ease.

In essence, and with no shred of hyperbole, Various Types has the capacity to be the foundational element of any conceivable per-player customisation mod. Just as long as people give it a chance.

Thirdly, the laborious devotion to clean visual aesthetics. I'm not gonna give Origins much sheet for this one, it's very much a product of its age from when Minecraft didn't really support anything that wasn't a texture rendered on a repeating dirt background.

But Various Types really fits in with the more recent era of Minecraft UI. The character creator screen alone really deserves a look. Each species can be given a distinct background to complement its lore or function, such as the Crioch species being from the End and therefore having an End City as their background, versus the sunny green forest background used by the Overworld-native Linn species.

Every species, template, type, or ability can even be given custom lore text. All of them. The sheer volume of options for RP alone are staggering.

Oh, and did I mention that your avatar is visible in the creator screen? As well as the character sheet display screen?

Which doesn't sound like much on its face, you can see your skin in your inventory screen all the time after all. Except that's not actually a player being rendered in either screen.

It's a custom entity. With a custom model. That can play animations.

Every time you open that screen, your avatar will wave at you to say hi. Stick around on it long enough, and you'll even see them strike a pose right out of a fighting game or casually sit down for a moment.

You can even see what your build will look like in full on the character sheet screen before you finalise it.

And that screen is itself no slouch. It prioritises clean minimalism whilst still giving access to every detail of a given build.

Which is great, but especially so because Various Types has four favourite ability keys (which you can assign activated abilities to quickly and easily from the ability menu, from which you can also just click on any ability to activate it) and absolutely no limit on how many abilities you can have. Passive OR activated.

It's really more comparable to the UI screens of Minecraft Dungeons or Legends than anything on offer by any other mod in the same niche.

Seriously, go check this mod out. It's in alpha right now, but more or less the only thing missing from it is just more abilities, and I've got a list as long as my arm of those to implement.

[sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee]

Hiii I’d like to request a love letter from the Riddler pretty please. My OC is like a robot/android made by Lex Luthor that gained human consciousness. She’s like super insecure because she looks human but she knows she’s not real.

"Physical Record" Riddler x f!reader (Valentine's Day Event)

NGL, I've been excited for this one because wow what a concept. You're really going full-in on the OC and I love that for you. This ask is for the ongoing Valentine's Day Event!

TW: None

The letter was a strange thing to find on the dining room table of your shared home. He easily could have sent an email or a text message and you would have gotten it instantly. Yet here it was, a envelope with your name written on the outside. If you look to the side, you notice there are multiple paper scraps thrown in the trash. Letters that didn't make the cut. This was important.

To my Galatea,

We spoke of many things recently- the nature of humanity. The creation of your robotics chips, your synthetic synapses and electrical wiring. How it relates to what makes you physically. It is merely a segment of what makes your being.

We both know the half-life of the digital world. The erasure of internet records at the whim of a server wipe-out. Computer programs that become outdated and archives lost. Despite my own fondness for it all, I recognize that it's the physical that remains within the confines of museums. And so, I leave you with a physical record of my feelings.

One day, when I am long gone, and your components no longer run, I hope that this letter will remain. When the historians look upon us and wonder what we were to each other- let them know that I love you. I want them to know that you are a person, as real as I am.

Even as I peel away your plates for maintenance, and replace the coolant and antifreeze inside of your body, I see you. Our minds exist beyond the barriers of flesh and metal to something deeper. A soul? I'm not quite sure, but if anyone had such a thing, it would be you.

You are more human than any person I know. I think we should make letters our new "thing." Let them serve as echoes of us beyond the limits of our own time. Physical. Frail. Human.

In aeternum te amabo,

Edward Nygma

[floral-moon-light]

QSMP Philza update, go watch the Wednesday the 25th and Friday 27th updates if you don't want to be spoiled.

Nothing really major happened Wensday, philza went exploring for a bit after getting on to see if there was more black concrete, which there was.

He then spawns in his Minime who he later names Little Twat (not a joke).

Then he spends an hour and a half with Fit and Tubbo talking to the new Cururucho AI at spawn, occasionally getting flirted at, told stuff that could not be true and such, and trying to exploit the AI.

They then went to lucky duck before returning to spawn because Tubbo needed to get his minime Kitkat back after it randomly disappeared. So a random fed. worker came, had Tubbo dance then Phil got board and decided to work on leveling his minime, leading him to dig down under spawn to tr and find iron I believe leading him to drop down into a massive wold edit hole. Cucurucho then joins Phil stares at the strange area before giving Phil a quest to build an aquarium.

Phil then went off to gather materials and mobs for the aquarium, was joined by Fit for a while before Fit leaves, after which Phil spends a few minutes exploring before returning to spawn near the nino to "build the aquarium," if you count an outdoor aquarium with 5 tanks and no other infrastructure. However it counted so Cucurucho have Phil his requested building block rainbow glass or at least the components for it. Phil then went to gather sand for the glass, spent time looking at glitched terain for an hour or so. After which he headed home, hat a none cannon chat with BadBoyHalo and Royer about whether the Brazil or Vagus trips were better, before Phil went off to do a few cores before getting off for the day at the nest.

Friday had some lore happen, but it was nothing major or egg related. If anything it related back to the bird cage with the "wise crow" comment.

To give a better flow of events, Phil woke up, decided to work on upgrading his now 2 mini me's, affectionately called Little Twat, and Little Shit (normally, I would censor a curse, but the name is the curse word so...). With Little Shot asking for a weird mushroom (twice.). After doing some of the Minime quests he went home, had an existential crisis due to the black concrete at his face spreading, then went inside to check the message chest, finding nothing. Then while doing further checks he found strange vines on the inside walls of Tallulah's seed garden, which he followed to the back wall to find a picture of a skull with vines on it and a book asking if Phil remembers his time before the server and promising help.

Side note, I personally want to say that that is Kristen, the goddess of death, trying to communicate with him. It seems to out of place to be the federation, and with how different Phil's ticket is from the rest it has to point to outside interference. And one of Kristen's main ways of talking with Phil previously when lore related back to his wife revolved around crows. So her leaving a critic crow book? Seems plausible.

Plus, sleep is often described as the line between life and death.

Phill took some pictures then called Fit to come see, with Pac joining along, only for when Phil brought them to the area of the message to find it gone like it was never there and all his proof gone. This sent Phil into a minor panic that he tried to brush off, even though booth Fit and Pac believed Phil had seen something.

To get his mind off that, Phil joined Pac and Fit's dungeon crawl, during which he lost his shield, before the group separated after completing the odd triple dungeon with Phil exploring a bit to find materially to replace his shield, followed by minime item collection, a brief dungeon raid, raiding egg backpacks to get the means to get a minime item (a type of mushroom), before he goes hole, does a brief check of stops the eggs loved, ended up back at the dream spot, before going home and getting off.

Also, on the 29th, two messages's appeared on the QSMP Twitter involving the 4th, one involves the train station, one seems to involve Cheyanne.

No clue what it means, other then something happening November 4th.

Good night all.

[cyberkiss2uu]

good morning pokemon community umm. gymsona w other gym leaders i think match their vibe ^_^ do nottt ask me what gen any of these ppl are from dude i play pokemon pearl and cant even tell u who the gym leaders are in that. i opned the pokemon wiki and scrolled

anywho more info and stuff below break hehehehehehehhehehe

> this is all copypasted from when i talked ab it in a server LOL

ermm okie side note my only pkmn knowledge is like. pearl. so my bad :3 but the way i made the gym it kinda pushes how gyms traditionally work ... its more like a game show [because i always loved doing the little interviews thru pearl and the contests n stuff] where theres 8 contestants and they just bracket their way down to the final battle against the gym leader/host who is. me technically. but jamie crown is their name ^_^

one fun thing i thought of was because its a live show u wouldnt rlly be able to .. leave and go to the pokecenter and heal or buy items.. so ud have an option to heal between rounds at ur little podium :3 all with pokecenter certified tech or whatev of course !!

because its not gym members i realize it doesnt rlly lend itself towards being a typical gym since it would be ppl from all over coming to compete thinking emoji.. but it kinda works as a like. elite four minigame LOL idk :3 i didnt think ab it too hard

and then in terms of the team i chose

> starmie to fit a celestial theme i have going on w my friends hehe i originally had jirachi but that seems. unfair

> luxray .. my fav pokemon and i originally was going to do an electric gym

> meloetta coz her earpiece thing is vry similar to the og design's earpiece and semi inspired the earpiece now

> and tinkaton for being super cute and also like wat if she helped build and repair stuff... ik the dex entries mention tinkaton being a thief usually but . thats ok i support womens wrongs

and then real nerd alert ☝️ the outfit i just redesigned i think comes together sooo well im so happy w it. the collar being mirrored on the top of the boots, the vaguely sci-fi aesthetic taht i love w the wavy patterning kinda veering towards like 80s and that retro-futuristic look that i love.. the capelet kinda looking jester-y [i looove a good jester aesthetic] plus theyre very 80s. gameshow host personality LOL.. the star tie is super cute i think and the little luxray star shapes around and even in the eyes <333 idfk im just so happy w it its so cute and awesomeee

also the visual of jamie tellinf starmie to use surf in a densely packed room with a high concentration of electrical components on live television is sending me into a FIT because they ARE bimbo enough to do that

and also the design alt and the old outfit :3 the last one is just an outfit i found looking at rhythmic gymnastic leotards n went OH THATS SO JAMIE hehe.. the old design is so dear to me and i still rlly like it but i love this new one a lot ^_^ idk i think their design will change a lot regardless because being a game show host i think they would have lots of diff outfits as opposed to a uniform but.. pokemon logic u wear the same outfit for the rest of ur life