#so i can unlock Lots of Stuff with this sale and i'm So Happy

[cidthesquid]

Movin' on up! - Style Savvy: Trendsetters #06

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This title serves a double meaning, I made some good progress in Trendsetters.. ...and my Copy of 'Fashion Dreamer should be arriving today! But until then, new outfit of the day:

I'm a little less happy with this one :-/ I was told I needed something in the 'feminine style', for a meeting with Imogen. (The current head of the luxurious 'Enin Chen' brand, also the founder's granddaughter) But I was broke, and did not have a lot of stuff that fit in my closet, So I ended up with this feminine/bold hybrid look, as I feel it's the best I could do without going against my character style (without spending more money) But in the end, I guess it was not enough to impress her :'(

Ok, well, I guess we gotta do what we gotta do... I don't have enough stuff in my normal color scheme, and the exhibition hall is closed, so....

It's been a while since my character's worn pink, I think the last time was... my first fashion show in fashion forward. Basically my first ever real event in a 'style savvy' game! I have nothing against pink, I use it all the time for customers, But, I never really felt it fit my own character, I've always preferred 'pastel pink' over most other shades, and I think it turned out pretty well! (given my limitations)

And it was enough to pass the event!

So I was able to unlock the high-end brand! (too bad I'm broke, haha) Also, the very next day...

Men's Fashion is now available! This should be interesting, Since I played 'Fashion Forward' First, I have no idea how this is going to work. (good thing they give you free stock to get you started) I may be a guy IRL, but that does not mean I know how to dress, lol. And lastly...

I now have a way to actually get rid of old/unwanted stock, you can have clearance sales! Not as convient as the 'buy back' from the later games, but I'm glad to now have at least something, and it's a bit more realistic too! --- Overall, the Game Started Pretty slow, Noticeably more so than 'Fashion Forward', But for the last few sessions, I've been enjoying it a little more each time I play. I still think I prefer 'Fashion Forward', but I strongly disagree with those that call this game 'skippable'. It may not be the ideal starting point, but I still think it's worth playing.

"But that's just my opinion!" XD [Next Post] or [Read My posts on Fashion Dreamer]

[lemonhoney777]

New Beginnings - March 2nd 2024

I am positioned for potential. I have moved into a new apartment all by myself, no roommates, conveniently located in the center of the city. My own art adorns the walls. My stuff is sprawled to my liking.

For the first time, I feel limitless. Like I can control my surroundings - my endeavors - like I can wash clothes whenever I'd like, or stay up late, or lay on the couch.

Today is Saturday. For context, this week I had a cold, so imagine my nose chapped from tissues and snot. I still feel 15% of the symptoms, but today was my Saturday, so I was driven to make the most of it.

I slept in, woke up at 10am. I put on blue biker shorts and a baggy shirt with a frog on the back of it. I ran errands and then came home and cleaned my apartment. I made an egg sandwich. I drank a big cup of coffee.

Last week I hung a big piece of raw canvas on my wall. To describe the size of this canvas > The size of a dog bed for a golden retriever. Or, I could easily lay on this canvas in a fetal position. Today was the day I started to paint it.

First I started with big magenta swirly lines, and then filled in the lines with green, blue, and orange. I didn't like the blue, so I waited for it to dry and then painted over it with purple.

Then I started working on some smaller pieces. I also walked around my apartment and touched up the paintings I had hung on my walls. Sometimes when you hang a painting, you start to see all the defects, and you just want to touch it up.

Then I went to the thrift store in search of some magazines or books that I could cut up and collage. I found an assortment of National Geographic magazines. As I was shopping, I got a call at 4pm from my mom who said she was at my house... I was expecting her to come by at 6pm, so I rushed back home.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw my mom dressed up cute in a floral skirt and a tank top. She had just attended an Orchid event (Where vendors display various orchids for sale), and she complained that the prices were outrageous so she left early. She is an avid orchid collector. I unlock my door and welcome her inside.

She drops off bags of stuff (that I didn't ask for). We sit on the couch and chit chat. She tells me about my personality as I was growing up, and my core traits.

good traits: Chatty, inquisitive, empathetic, discerning of trust, intelligent

negative traits: over-emotional, high expectations of others

We discuss my development, which diverts into a discussion of my parent's divorce when I was 14-16. Now, almost a decade later, i'm asking my mom why the divorce happened.

I will spare you the details, the past is in the past. You can predict why they got divorced - they were unhappy together, and it was meant to happen in God's timeline. Both of my parents are in new happy relationships. My dad has had a girlfriend for 6 years, and my mom is remarried.

Internally, this conversation resurfaced feelings of being a wounded child. I have inherited equal personality traits from my mother and father. I have my fathers anger and my mothers anxiety. I become a different version of myself when I am in the presence of either parent. I become more tailored to their traits, more appeasing.

At my college graduation I couldn't focus on my academic achievements. Moreso, I was just in awe that my parents were in the same room together, happy and chatting and reminiscing on old friends they use to share. Sometimes I wonder, when will be the next time I get to see them in the same room? My wedding?

I miss my nuclear family. I know people are complicated, and we're all adults, I just miss being under the same room as my mom, dad, and brother. When you're a child, you don't realize that one day your family will scatter across a map, hundreds of miles away, only to be seen on PTO long weekends or your graduation.

But at least I can still call them and chat with them. And they're happily in new relationships. I would not have wanted them to be unhappy together. But I just wish we could get together once a year to get dinner and chat. Or at least, I wish they didn't trash-talk each other to me. I wish I could be my full self around both of my parents, instead of hiding parts of me that resemble the other parent.

Regardless. Later that night I opened Tumblr, hoping to create a daily blog, which I will use to document my life by practicing my writing. I accidentally logged into the tumblr blog I ran when I was 12 years old - 16 years old. I skimmed through my old blog, and found a long post about my struggles to understand the divorce my parents were actively going through, and the guilt I felt as I moved back and forth between each parent's house. I felt empathy for my young self, it felt like I was reading her diary. Reading this post after 10 years, it hit me in the gut. It felt like divine timing to read this post, on the heels of my discussion with my mother.

What did this mean? Why is God prompting me to contemplate the heartache from divorce I felt 10 years ago? Why am I still so hurt, even though I have healed and I am happy for their new relationships, and I know the split was for the best?

I don't have the answer. All I did was log out of my old tumblr account, and create a new tumblr blog, and wrote this long post for the void. I am my mother's daughter, and my father's daughter, resembling both of them at the same time.

Things I did well today- Thrifting, cleaning, art, seeing family, eating, sobriety,

Things I could do better- Rest, relax, go with the flow, laundry

Thanks for reading!

[voidendron]

Space Barbie™ Part 2: Role Reversal AU Edition

I'll do one for the Reversal girls (and Xaerez) tomorrow but I need sleeeeeep

[anti-yuri-on-ice]

Hi, my friend thinks Y//o//I is positive representation, whereas I feel it's nothing more than fetishization. I've tried to drop the topic because I'd rather conserve our friendship, but she keeps telling me to provide evidence and won't back down. It's fine if you don't, but I've seen this blog backup their points with sources, and I'm wondering if you have a compilation of your more thorough analyses on why Y//o//I is fanservice. Thanks for all you do.

Hello, I am that one gay man who works here, love when girls decide what is good representation for me.  First off we have our obvious links to another gay man’s review.  Important things for you to have are uncensored kisses and censorship in Japan.  Regardless they’re gonna bring up these points, crush them.Other Links;It’s Up To InterpretationAn Adventure Into The UnknownThe Choreography of the Butt

So guys, you finally did it, you unlocked Mod 3′s opinions on representation.  I’ll say two things straight up;1. Not everyone, especially not every gay man, will agree with me2. I am fine with people liking fanservice, I’m fine with people liking fetishistic stuff, my issue is being handed porn and people going “look it’s good representation of you!”

Because that’s what piss on it is.  It’s basically pg-13 porn.  All these naked dudes to say semi “romantic” mostly-stalkerish things.  With dramatic zooms on their anti-gravity tears and shiny lips.  Like I’m uncomfortable to begin with but let’s talk about the obvious.

Everyone in this show is a fucking twink.

Yes they’re figure skaters, but they’re all twinks and here’s the thing see the twink demographic, it goes primarily to women who want to watch gay porn.  Just like how straight men want to watch hairless big tittied 18-year-old lesbians, women want to watch hairless soft 18-year-old gay men.  All the same.  You can also throw in all those other formulaic things for teen to middle-aged women!  Soft boys who have everything but god they’re just so sad and they’re crying at everything.  Cough every romance novel popular in these age ranges.  So first and most obvious point, they made characters to appeal to women.  What kind of characters appeal to gay men you may ask, well I’m sure some of us like twinks, that’s not a surprise but you’ll mainly find.

Bears.  Yes, we know by now I can’t do these without mentioning Otouto no Otto.  Why can’t I?  Why that would be because it’s a manga with a gay character written by a gay man to teach people about homophobia with no fanservice, despite the fact this author also writes gay porn.  It’s a very different kind of manga, it’s not solely about representation, it’s also about making things better, which I’d happily pick up any day.  This manga is one I’m very happy about.

But back to the point, when people want to appeal more to gay men, you notice a trend in bears, in muscular guys, in tough fighting scenes where they’re all gonna fight, they’re gonna take down the government, and then be forced to kill their loved one or watch them die!  Amazingly all that ridiculous manly, masculine stuff people make fun of?  It all comes in with gay characters too.  In the end, we’re still men, and a lot of us are still into this stuff or at least that’s what the sales chart tells us so.  

So if yuck on fuck ass is meant to be representation for us and not fanservice for fujoshi, why dd we take from the chart that says women, and not men?  Well, answer the first is well they wanted a figure skating anime.  Okay, why does that have to be gay?  Oh well, we need more representation (that’s a lie its because we have a stereotype that figure skating and dancing are feminine hobbies and all men in them are gay whoops did I say that out loud?).  Well, Mod 3, shouldn’t you be happy?  How could they have done this better?

Well my dear strawman of every other anon we get, let’s start by removing this;

The romantic scenes?  No the god fucking awful shiny lips what the fuck is that about anyway.  Seriously, I only ever see lips this shiny in women’s media, and I don’t get it, this is one someone needs to explain to me, why are you all so supposedly into this?  It’s not a focus at all in men's’ media, where did this come from?  And while we’re at it remove this

This is some stalker-ish shit that is the reason Jun// //jou Rom// /antica was a new york times best seller.  Oh?  Did we forget about that?  That while yuck on fuck ass may have sold well so did freaking New York Times Best Seller Jun/ //jou Rom//  //antica.  Number 6 in the manga category!  And oh boy look at this it’s almost like there’s no damn difference.

But hey.  That doesn’t mean all good representation is done by gay men, hell some of it isn’t done with gay men in mind.  But this is where you see a stark difference in what people feel is representation of them.  That’s because we’re all different, so different things relate to us.  But here’s the strict rule.

IF YOU AREN’T A MEMBER OF THE GROUP YOU DON’T GET TO DECIDE IF IT IS GOOD REPRESENTATION!

BEING A GAY MAN DOESN’T MEAN YOU GET TO DECIDE WHAT IS GOOD REPRESENTATION FOR LESBIANS!

BEING A LESBIAN DOESN’T MEAN YOU GET TO DECIDE WHAT IS GOOD REPRESENTATION FOR GAY MEN!

Yeah, guess what, it’s as simple as that!  I’m white, I quite frankly can not say if yoi had good representation of say Chinese people, based on my own opinions, I have to listen to the various opinions of Chinese people to find out what is the general consensus.  It’s that simple!  And another thing to note;

Gay men can like a thing without it being good representation!  Yep boys, I’m Mod 3, and I fucking like Ade// /kan!  Is it good representation?  NOPE!  Is it meaningless fanservice for girls?  Mostly yeah!  But I have fun with the story and it makes me laugh so I fucking like it regardless!  Things don’t have to be good representation to be liked!!  It’s that simple!!  You don’t need to use everything you like to fuel your moral superiority!

But back on topic, there are things by non-men that I feel I liked as representation.  I like N// o.6, that has emotional teen boys kissing, and that makes it hard to pin down what is so good there.  Might be the fighting and the murder and clear references to real life issues and also gay men destroy the government.  Like yeah, that sounds like the mentality of most of my friends.  Why do I like sam/ //flam?  Superheroes.  Also, I don’t feel sam // /flam is trying too hard for that female audience a lot of the time.  You know I have a list of things I felt were good representation of me, all contain violence.  I’m an incredibly transparent person.

But what makes the best representation?

It being canon and not treated as a fucking joke.

Oh yuck on fuck ass isn’t it SOOOO funny that a couple might get engaged!  Let’s hide the kiss and act all joke-y about it in interviews!  Let’s not have the characters actually talk about a relationship or if they want to be together like adults, let’s not have them even discuss if they want to get married, let’s just use it as a fucking joke for the lulz.  Hilarious.  Not tired at all.  Not done by 500 different shows.  Revolutionary.

If you gave a shit, you wouldn’t have made it a joke.

I’m done for now but expect me to charge back in with more and more links.  For now definitely, check out the review by the man I linked at the start and also check out Rantasmo’s Yaoi Fangirls Need More Gay.

[cidthesquid]

Style Savvy Trendsetter #10 - Final Thoughts & Moving on..

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So I've decided to take a hiatus from this game. So this may be my last post on 'Trendsetters', aside from my 'Final Photo Album' (TBD) Much like Fashion Forward, I plan to check back in from time to time, but I think I'm mostly done playing it for now, and will move on to Styling Star after taking a break for a few weeks.

Overall this game was A LOT of fun! And I'm glad I went back to play it after Fashion Forward, rather than going straight to the third game, 'Styling Star' While I still prefer 'Fashion Forward' overall, this game still does a few things better!

Instead of Doing a straight comparison, I'll just list off a few things I think the game did really well, this will have some overlap with 'Fashion Forward', obviously. But I think it will better illustrate how I may have felt, if I played this game first.

What I really Liked... #1 - The Small Talk/Character Writing

For the crazy number of characters in this game, it's crazy how much unique dialogue you'll find! And it's actually well written too! The Style Savvy world is full of fun and quirky characters! And sometimes after serving someone they'll offer to meet up later, and continue the conversation with the outfit they bought

#2 -The Linear Progression:

Design Outfits, raise the 'happiness level' , and unlock new stuff! And each of the customers even have a stamp card that fills in with each individual clothing item you sell them, So you have progression with each new customer as well! Other activities such as drinking at the cafe, following up with a customer, and even changing your own outfit, and winning fashion contests, all add to the gauge meaning most in-game actions will make you feel like you're making progress!

#3 - Fashion Contests!

Aside from just restocking inventory, and selling clothes, At Night, you'll also be able to enter fashion contests! These have their own separate progression line, (So I HIGHLY recommend you try to do at least one every few in-game days) Each have their own style theme, And you'll pick a model, and prep her outfit, hair and makeup to best fit. They can be alot of fun to design for, you'll have access to every clothing item you've ever bought, so you'll never have to worry about restocking. There are four levels of contest, Starting with "Beginner's Contest" and ending with the most difficult “International Contest”, and you progress by getting first place multiple times in each level. But by getting 10 stars on each 'level', you can start earning money for winning those contests, however this money goes to your 'personal funds' for house stuff, makeup, and hairstyles, etc. not clothing. so it won't effect your shop economy. I'll talk more about this later, but you need to complete the 'International Contest' to complete the game. (see the credits)

#4 - Shop Management:

As you play the game, more brands become available, each updating their stock daily. So it can be fun to check in each day to see what's new, each brand has a 'item of the day' that you can get on sale, and you get a free 'sample' of everything you buy, so no matter how many you buy for your customers, or if an item sells out, you'll always have one you can wear yourself! While your shop inventory is limited (increases over time) you can buy an item in bulk, and it will still only use up one slot, So if you find something you like, you may as well buy a few, if you're overstocked, you have the option to sell the clothes back, so it's fairly low risk, but does require some planning.

#5 - Dress-up/Decorating!

As expected, you can style your own character, outfit, hair makeup, color contacts and more! You can even use a photo you've taken as reference to easily, switch back to a previous outfit, or try someone else's style. But you'll also be able to decorate your apartment, flooring, furniture and more can be bought and switched out.

-------------------------------------------- What I thought could have been better: #1 - The "Guess My Style" challenges.

These are the bane of my existence.. A customer will come in and ask you to pick out an outfit that "matches their style", This actually means they have one specific style you like, and you need to guess it based on what they're wearing. You then have to make an outfit that you think will fit what they're looking for. For obvious styles like 'Rock' or 'Goth', it's easy, But they may come in wearing a 'feminine' outfit that's much more on the 'cute' side. (I'm not saying these should be removed, as I'm sure some players don't find them as stressful as I do, but I wish the customers had different icons to determine that 'style challenge' they offered, so I could avoid them at times)

#2 - Limited Photo Opportunities:

For whatever reason, this game has some pretty heavy restrictions on how/when you can take pictures/screenshots. Remember, this game was on the 3ds, long before every console had a dedicated 'screenshot button', so documenting my journey though this game would have been way harder without playing on an emulator. (yes, I own the game, I'm playing from my own personally dumped rom) The only times you can take a screenshot are when you see the 'R' Button in the top right corner of the screen, (see pic 2) This means you'll have FAR more opportunities to take pictures of other characters, rather than show off your own. Walking around town, trying out a new hairstyle/make up, or even changing your outfit, all locked out, But find some NPC's at the cafe? sure, you can snap a pic! Fairly late in the game, you'll unlock the Photo Studio. This allows you to select a background, and one of four poses.

But you're then just presented with 3 fixed photos from the given pose 'style', and you have to pick one.

This really limits how you can show off your outfit, and makes full body shots impossible.

#3 - Contest feedback/Progression:

While I did enjoy the fashion contents overall, they don't really feel like they have much in the way of meaningful progression. Each difficulty bracket does make it harder to pass, but you're given the same prompts as ever, "Make a cute outfit" for example. So you make an outfit you think looks really cute, and you end up getting second place? The only feedback the game gives you is pretty much "do better" or "try again" Without any metrics for what you did wrong, or what's expected in this higher bracket, it really feels random. I've read online, that once you're out of 'beginner', you have to not just match the theme, but also make sure you add 'just enough' to your outfit, (layer/accessories) not too much, but not too little. And since you don't get any cash for this, getting anything other than first place is pretty much a waste of time. The game dose not provide the tools to help you improve, and the best reward you can expect is a single clothing item, and a little bit of progress towards the next 'level up' I think a better increase in difficulty would come from asking more of the player, such as "Make a gothic outfit in purple and black", "or style using one of these items", or really anything would help increase the difficulty of later contests, while making them interesting. And instead of hiding the rules dose not really add to the experience either, if they instead used this as a way to teach basic color theory, or style blending, etc, it would have been more fun, and instructive at the same time! -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Speaking of 'levels' in the Fashion contest, unlike with leveling up your shop, there's no clear way to track your progress to unlock the next fashion contest. At first I thought it was 'collect 10 stars', but nope, I unlocked the second after just 8. then for the second level 'Permeir' I managed to get all 10 starts, and the third level still did not unlock. I asked on discord and supposedly you unlock they next level by getting first place with every single 'theme' (gothic, bold, girly etc) in a specific level of contest, but there's no way to track that, and the themes are random, so after 2+ hours of purely grinding the 'premier' fashion contest, I pretty much just gave up on it. (yes, I even tried filling the happyness jar multiple times)

---------------------------- Final Words On This Game/Why I stopped -------------------------------

I had a lot of fun with my time in 'Style Savvy: Trendsetters' and I'd still recommend it to any style savvy fan! But I just feel it does not have enough left to keep my attention. This game is laser focused on the shop management aspects, and as fun and important as the contests are, they kind of feel like an afterthought to pad out the game length. And when the game already only really has a few activities you can do, and a limited number of characters to interact with (outside the shop) It kinda makes the game world feel small, some people may enjoy the strict routine, but it's not really for me With men's fashion being extremely limited, I can see why they removed it.

I've unlocked all the brands, and I'm not really seeing anything fun pop up in the store other than re-colors All my new unlocks seem to just be inventory upgrades, makeup sets, and backgrounds for my shop and photo mode and I just don't really feel like I have anything else to look forward to other than grinding contests until I reach the credits. Again, none of this means the game is 'bad' by any means, just not really something I'll be sticking with. I can still see why people love this game, the progression is MUCH clearer than Fashion Forward, but sadly Trendsetters will not dethrone the game in my heart. ---- But anyway, Thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun making this, so I hope you had fun reading it as well. [Next Post] As always, all comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome!

You literally can't bother me, (unless you go out of your way to be a jerk), so post whatever you want to say! ---- Edit (05/30): Turns out the 'Elite Contest' has an addtinal unlock condition. The game and main wiki dont mention this, but you need to both complete all the fasion catagories, and the next shop event. "Style the soap opera actors". So now I have a path forward, But as this is a multi-day event, that's a little hard to track, i'll work on this later. thanks "trendsetters info" for the clarification.