#since that's what humans are like

[awkward-teabag]

It may not even be that they're cynical or anything, just that they're overworked, underpaid, and expected to keep a certain output no matter how many co-workers get fired. That or there's a "content pivot" which means much of what they review are things they have little to no interest in and may actively dislike.

It's particularly bad with professional video game reviews given all the firings, the sheer breadth of video games in terms of content and gameplay, and how it can take a dozen or more hours to form the framework for a proper review.

It's hard to do that if you're the only one doing reviews now and expected to put 1-2 reviews out a week... of brand new games so you don't even have a backlog to pull from.

(There's also a massive issue where publishers will blacklist a company if a review isn't glowing enough and fans who can get vitriolic and violent if a game gets a 7/10 or lower.)

It's hard to not get jaded when you're pressured to do things you don't enjoy and doing the work of several people while also having to deal with the fallout if you phrase things "wrong" or don't outright lie to keep your sanity, safety, or because you were told to do so.

But it applies to reviews in other industries, too. What may be a negative for one person may be fine (or a positive) to someone else. They're not wrong for pointing it out, though, and just because something is a review doesn't mean you can turn off your critical thinking.

And please read multiple reviews to get a better understanding of something rather than reading one review and taking it as gospel. One person complaining about something may just be it wasn't for them or they were having a bad day, if multiple people complain about the same thing, it may be a sign of a larger issue.

And by the gods, a stranger pointing out a negative or under-developed part of something you like in a review is not a personal attack against you.

Sometimes you encounter negative critique that you disagree with where you have to recognize that nothing the critic said was technically wrong, but they just have a far more cynical and low-patience lens through which they are reviewing the work that highlights all flaws and prevents them from experiencing the more lighthearted joy in the little things about a piece of media that do work really well.

Unfortunately, professional reviewers are particularly prone to this as they are forced to mechanically grind through every new major release in their medium to get paid, regardless of whether it's their type of thing or if they have any patience for its genre expectations or particular approach, and are often primed to have a bad time with anything that can't push past that hump by being an unexpectedly moving piece of art. Which arguably makes them some of the worst people to qualitatively review the experience of engaging with a piece of media for entertainment, but there you are. The system might be flawed somewhat.

[egophiliac]

YOU MANIFESTED THE TWEEL CARDS CONGRATS

YOU'RE WELCOME EVERYBODY!

seriously though I was probably like. 60-80% thinking we'd get at least one tweel for chapter 10. but I was NOT expecting it so soon! both of 'em! in August! a shame we're not getting a Coral Sea event after all...but I guess I can be resigned to that and ALSO excited for getting shiny sparkly glowing(!!!!) mertwins along with Azul fighting his inner demons and going right for the eyes! AHHHH I CAN'T WAIT

(also heeeey I recognize that rowboat... 👀)

[hinamie]

*catboys ur shounen protag*

[bunnieswithknives]

OH MY GOD??? HAS IT SERIOUSLY BEEN A MONTH????? I am so sorry guys

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[starfall-isle]

6/3/24

[noxcheshire]

If ya’ll know Madoka Magica you will understand how beautiful and haunting the art of the witches that show up on screen are.

LIKE

It’s gorgeous.

That unsettling feeling of seeing something beyond yourself, beyond your sense of consciousness and knowing that this could very well be your grave.

It’s a labyrinth of feelings, of misery, of regret, and wanting that traps its victims in a forever.

You know what else is unsettling?

Death.

Death and ghosts and everything beyond it.

So imagine with me then, that the Infinite Realms and those ecto-born and ecto-contaminated don’t see the ghosts the same way.

Amity Park and its residents see the invading ghosts as close to their real form in life as they are in death.

Those not touched by the Infinite?

They see them the same way as witches. Unnatural creatures that unsettles the mind and environment to allow the ghosts access to the living world.

Maybe that’s why Maddie and Jack Fenton do not see ghosts as sentient things. They have seen them as humans see them, things filled with misery and pain, stealing from those too foolish to wander in the Ghosts domain.

The GIW are much the same, seeing the ghosts as the ‘witches’ they are, not what they were.

Danny doesn’t realize how unsettling he truly is, no one in Amity Park baring the Fenton parents and the GIW do.

Not until he is summoned on his first official Kingly summon, unaware of the looming gaping horror that stood staring back down at the humans that lived outside of Amity Park.

[theblindgoddess]

Epic the Musical AU

An au that begins after Aphrodite wins the golden apple and she shows Paris what is basically a magic video recording of Helen, telling him about his future bride.

However, in this magic video recording Helen is spending time with Penelope, and Paris goes "forget that Helen chick, I want that one."

And Aphrodite just goes with it, so instead of kidnapping Helen, Paris and Aphrodite kidnap Penelope, and a baby Telemachus to help them better control Penelope.

Odysseus is rightfully murderous, and even if he doesn't have the benefit of a treaty to get all of the Greeks on his side, he is still able to strong arm and lie his way into getting that massive army to besiege Troy and get his wife back.

And over in Troy Penelope is making the situation as insufferable for Paris as she possibly can, she will cause all of the problems until she can get back home safely with her son.

This au would be called Penelope of Troy.

[gloriousmonsters]

love when you can ask the Narrator why the Princess is a Princess and he's like 'well i uhhhh YOU did that. maybe it's because uh... something something about her being above you... but still approachable... look i don't want to analyze or anthropomorphize your--' my guy. i am a primal being of Order and Eternity and Shaping. You're the one who convinced me I was some dude and were quite willing to take credit for shaping my view on the world through narration five seconds ago. Are you gonna look me in the eye and tell me the desire to interpret something worthy of adoration and more powerful than me as a dommy princess is written in the very nature of the universe or are you going to show me your browser history like a man

[nouverx]

Maybe a cool idea would be Alastor and Luci from one of your human aus dying and seeing eachothers demon forms for the first time, making fun of one or the other

I love your artstyle btw

I think you mistook me for someone else lol?? I don't have any human AU,,, I did make a human design to Alastor but it's canon compliant so,,,

HOWEVER, it has been a while since I last drew my human Alastor so here he is

[ruporas]

invisible scars (referenced previous talk here)

[ID: A colourless, digital Trigun comic of Vash and Wolfwood talking about Wolfwood's scars. They're both laying in bed and topless. Vash lays on top of Wolfwood, playing with the rosary around his neck. Then, Vash kisses a spot on Wolfwood's chest. Wolfwood asks, "What are you doing?" Vash smiles sadly, "You got shot here. In the last town we visited. You didn't even bother moving."

Vash props himself up over Wolfwood, who frowns slightly. Wolfwood is quiet for a moment before he says, "You remember that, huh?" Vash grabs Wolfwood's left wrist and brings it to his face. "And here." He kisses another spot there. "When you helped free the hostages from that robber..." Wolfwood dismissively says, looking away, "Was a lucky shot." Vash huffs, “Don’t brag. Jeez.”

Half of Wolfwood's expression is shown, eyes returning to Vash who is now sitting up, continuing to say, "And..." Vash goes on and kiss Wolfwood's right palm. "You got cut here, even though that girl was aiming at me." A moment from the past flashes, of Wolfwood grabbing a knife aimed at Vash, his hand bleeding.

At present, Vash moves down and puts another kiss on Wolfwood's right shoulder. "And here, from watching my back." Another memory flashes of Wolfwood and Vash back to back. Vash looks back as Wolfwood grins while holding Punisher, bleeding from multiple gunshots in his shoulder.

"And," Vash combs up Wolfwood's hair to reveal his forehead, "Here." A final memory shows Wolfwood with a regeneration vial in his mouth while getting shot on his temple. The next panel is framed in blood with Vash at the center, eyes wide and stunned in horror. The next panel is a closed up shot of Wolfwood's eye, locked on Vash's face.

Back to present, Vash’s head is bowed down as Wolfwood raises a hand to his nape and says, “Spikey.”

Wolfwood looks serious and frowns as he says, "We talked about this. Those were my decisions. They're not there anymore. Forget about them." Vash looks very sad before he smiles ruefully and says, "I still see them. All the time." He leans down so they touch foreheads. Wolfwood’s sorrowful expression can be seen as Vash says, "You protect so much. I could never forget what you've done to me. And many others..."

In the last image, they're drawn more cartoonishly. Wolfwood sweats and asks, "You don't actually remember every wound, right?" Vash points at a spot on his chest. "Kuroneko left a scratch here 7 times." Wolfwood, startled, says, "Why the hell are you keeping count—" End ID]

Credits for ID here and here

[chalkrub]

mockley time it's mockley time will you have some mockleys of mine

[fatal-blow]

one thing i havent seen anyone talk about yet in dungeon meshi is how sometimes the party just fucking. forgets important info. and usually it bites them in the ass but it feels so natural and human. like yeah my ass would probably forget what namari said about senshi's pot too. and then whatever plans the party makes are always built on half-remembered info, autism sauce, luck, and a solid chunk of actual dungeoneering expertise at its core

it's actually what really makes me wonder sometimes if dunmeshi was based on an actual dnd campaign, because the goofy fuck ups just SCREAM "pack of dipshits playing dnd together and NO ONE is taking down notes"

and then ryoko ties it all together into a unique sequence of events that never perfectly resembles A) whatever the reader thinks they might do or B) whatever the party had planned in the first place and turns it and its just augh. its so good!! i wanna see what these freaks think of next!!! what fucked up shit are you guys gonna do to get out of this one!!

[astralzeraphias]

megatron’s holoform

[gamebunny-advance]

Oh.

Nintendo out there just casually (kinda) confirming the "descended from humans" and "the wraiths are involved in all of the spaceship crashes" theories.

(source)

Okay, they're not really "confirmations" but more like they're officially addressing the different theories that people have about the true nature of PNF-404 and are telling you to keep on speculating on your own time.

Take these translations with a grain of salt since they're machine translations.

[surreal-duck]

es rarepair week 2024 day 1 | AU/future

lil ghostic au of mine!!! yuzuru and the rest of fine are long since trapped souls in an abandoned mansion of which rst come across while looking for shelter during a storm :] it doesnt um. particularly end well

[autiacorart]

I don't know what I'm supposed to do Haunted by the ghost of you