#the concept is excellent but yikes on the execution | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pahrak-the-sinnoh-slizer · 2 years ago

Text

Games in 2023: Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (1/2)

This one almost feels like cheating, being a collection of games that’ve been out for 20 years now. (Yikes, 20 years…) Battle Network was my introduction to Mega Man, so as soon as it became apparent that Legacy Collections were going to continue being A Thing, I began to speculate what one for this series might look like. In some ways the final product is as expected, and in some ways it exceeds expectations; there’s a reason people have been saying this is the best Legacy Collection yet. So cheating or not, I want to try to compile some of my thoughts on the collection and the various games that make it up. Battle Network is just too important to me to not do it.

If you’re a newcomer to the Battle Network series and want a spoiler-free tl;dr: While these games do show their age, the collection provides excellent ways to mitigate the negatives, plus there are two decades worth of in-depth guides across the internet to help you along. What holds up is a bundle of very unique and fun mechanics set in a world overflowing with both charm and heart. I absolutely recommend it. The collection has two volumes (that line up exactly with a major pivot in the series)—if you only get Vol. 1, I would recommend starting with either BN2 or 3 (BN1 is largely foundational and understandably rough around the edges), and if you only get Vol. 2 I would recommend starting with BN6 (it’s remarkably well-refined and far less divisive than BN4 and 5).

If you don’t care about spoilers, I’ve got a LONG post of detailed thoughts below the cut. Let’s set one more routine…execute!

You probably know the basics, but for the curious: Battle Network takes place in a world of near-futuristic network technology. Well, near-futuristic at the time the games were made, mind you. Everything is connected to the internet, and everyone carries around personal terminals (or PETs) that are comparable to modern smartphones; though this may seem standard to us now, back at the turn of the millennium, these concepts still seemed like a dream. Dial-up was still a thing! Anyway, the “cyber-world” inside the internet is presented more akin to an alternate dimension, and is populated by AI programs known as Net Navigators, often shortened to NetNavi or just Navi. Everyone has their own Navi who lives in their PET, and they help humans with their daily lives while also fighting off the many viruses that try to infect all of these commonplace smart devices (personified as cute little critters you’ll either find adorable or mind-bogglingly frustrating). The games follow Lan Hikari, resident shounen protag and grandchild of the man considered the father of net society, and his NetNavi MegaMan.EXE, the responsible one. Some way or another, the duo repeatedly find themselves caught up in the chaos caused by various net crimes, each game chronicling their battles with various cyber-terrorism organizations hellbent on destroying the world as we know it.

Before getting to the games themselves, I want to talk about the features of the collection. Both volumes are largely similar, but each focus on one half of the series: Vol. 1 on BN1-3, and Vol. 2 on BN4-6. Those familiar with the series may remember that 4 introduced many new mechanical changes which then informed 5 and 6, so Battle Network was already considered two trilogies by many and it only makes sense that the collection leans into that. For games that have two versions, both are available with their own separate save file, which contributes a lot towards making it feel complete. As with all Legacy Collections, both volumes have music and art libraries pertaining to their respective trilogy, though here there’s also a “Mystery Data” section for art relating to the various Battle Network spin-offs not included in the collection. It’s nice to see their inclusion, though it does highlight the one asterisk on calling this the definitive way to experience these games: the collection does not include features from the updated DS re-releases of BN1 and 5, only a few associated pieces of art. How glaring this omission is, well, that’s for you to decide for yourself; personally the only part I haven’t entirely coped with is not having Sol Cross (*sigh*...), but I could see it being a bigger issue for some. There’s also an achievement list, and for games that put so much focus on their post-game grind to 100%, I find it interesting that these achievements only really ask you to beat (both versions of) each game and smell a few roses along the way…with two exceptions. If you want all the achievements in Vol. 1, you have to 100% BN1; this is frustrating even with the collection’s additional tools, but at least in this game you can cheat the Chip Trader to get those last few chips. If you want all the achievements in Vol. 2, you have to get all Soul Unisons in both versions of BN4. We’ll, uh…we’ll get into the issue with that when we get to BN4.

In both volumes, the main menu features what’s essentially a MegaMan VTuber; he’ll greet you, make some comments or perform some actions if you idle long enough, and you can press the L button to talk to him just like in the games. The intent is, obviously, to recreate the feeling of having your own PET and Navi, and it’s an inclusion I personally adore. They even got back Andrew Francis, the guy who voiced MegaMan in the English dub of the anime! I loved watching that as a kid! I do wonder how those without as much nostalgia feel about it, but it doesn’t seem all that intrusive, and there’s an option to silence MegaMan if you really have a problem with him. For me, the only negative is that if you don’t play a volume for a few days and then start it back up, MegaMan says he was getting tired of waiting for you, and that made me die a little on the inside. Anyway.

Aside from the gallery there are two other recurring features in Legacy Collections: some sort of easy mode or assistive mechanic, and an additional gameplay mode. In the case of the former, this collection offers Buster MAX Mode, an option that can be toggled at any time using the collection pause menu or when launching a game. It multiplies the damage done by basic buster shots by a factor of 100. Yeah. I won’t get into all the nuances of its implementation, but being able to take down virtually any enemy by spamming a few shots can be real nice for getting through long areas and dealing with particularly annoying viruses. It’s really fun, but isn’t always an automatic win button, so it maintains an interesting balance of sorts. Each game also gives you the option of adding chips that were previously only available through in-person events into your inventory, many of which can be game-breaking when you draw them, but you have to choose to use them. It’s great to have these rare, Japan-only additions readily available, and Vol. 2 takes this a step further by granting full access to the plethora of eReader cards (or Patch Cards) that were released alongside the second trilogy! These give you a lot of freedom to modify your game and customize your experience, and never made it overseas due to the eReader flopping here. You can play through all of BN5 as Bass Cross! The various item cards especially make this feel like a second Number Trader, you know, something that’s basically in-game cheat codes you can just use freely if you know about them. It’s a whole new dimension to the experience, and that’s a wonderful option to have in a collection like this!

As for an additional gameplay mode, there’s nothing that’s accessed through the collection’s menu, but instead, every single game has online capabilities for their multiplayer functions! Originally you needed a GBA link cable and nearby friends to access these features, but now, as long as you can get online, you can battle and trade with people all over the world, with functional ranking and some new tweaks to game balance. I’m still floored by this. Can you imagine how much work this took to make it happen for ALL six games? The dedication! I’m actually considering buying Switch Online for the first time because of this. Now…I will say. You do HAVE to play online ranked battles (and risk losing chips!) in order to truly access everything in most of the games. BN2 and 3 require you to get chips only found through multiplayer to reach 100% completion, and that really sucks—especially considering the Wii U Virtual Console releases of the games simply gave you these chips along with the event-exclusives chips. Like, this was a solved problem. I guess I can understand reverting to the old way with the reintroduction of multiplayer, but…I’m locked out of completing BN3 White unless I buy Online and find someone willing to give me the BowlMan chips. That makes me sad. It’s not as bad in Vol. 2 at least, you need to play multiplayer to get all the Secret Chips but Secret Chips are not tracked for 100% completion. I would like to get an Otenko chip, though.

After all that, let’s finally get on to the games! Starting with Battle Network 1…you know, this is the only game here that I hadn’t played at all prior to the collection. I started with BN3 and never went back to the beginning because it seemed players only ever talked about it with sheer dread. Like I said earlier, BN1 is foundational: this is a very unique sort of game, especially compared to the platforming of Classic and X, so I think it only makes sense that it didn’t entirely come together on the first attempt. Yes, this does mean it’s not an ideal first impression, and I understand why so many advocate skipping it. However, I don’t think that means one should never play it. If you turn on Buster MAX, dump all your PowerUPs into attack, and have a guide and map on standby, you can muscle past quite a bit of the jank and really see for yourself the earliest stage in this series’ evolution. Automatically healing after battle? Pretty nice! The elemental armor system? Not incredibly robust, but it’s the seed that grew into the various transformation systems that are so iconic! Every game has arbitrary gates, but the ones in BN1’s net are most often unlocked by another person giving you access—your world literally expands by meeting new people! A big part of my newfound appreciation for Lan is because in BN1 his relationship with his dad feels just a smidge more nuanced, where he’s proud of his dad and what he does, but really wishes they could spend more time together (like most kids would!), even if he consistently tries to hide his excitement over the time they do spend together (again, like a real preteen boy!). It’s not exclusive to this game, but boy does it fade as the series progresses. Start with another game, for sure, but if you do end up liking the series, give this one a try. Even if it’s rough, it’s important, and we shouldn’t overlook it.

Now, when people do tell you to skip BN1, they usually also say there’s one important plot development you should still learn about. At the end of BN1, you discover that MegaMan is no ordinary NetNavi: he’s the result of Lan’s father’s research on creating Navis as human-like as possible who can truly bond with their human operators. That research was in an inescapable failsafe until his wife gave birth…to twins. One of the boys was born with a heart defect, and died very young, so young that Lan doesn’t even remember he had a brother. His father refused to let his son die, however, and so he turned the boy’s DNA into code and incorporated it into a NetNavi…MegaMan.EXE. It’s revealed to Lan that his Navi is actually his twin brother, Hub, reborn in the cyberworld. My feelings on this are…I dunno, kinda complicated? Later games emphasize that Hub’s soul moved into the MegaMan body, and that was always a real sticking point for me—it didn’t make sense, I thought, nor could I comprehend why Lan and Hub having identical DNA causes them to synchronize and share wounds and such. And I mean…it still doesn’t make complete sense to me, but I’ve come to think that maybe it doesn’t really matter if it makes sense. It allows for some really great moments, so maybe I shouldn’t be such a stickler about “suspension of disbelief” or whatever. At the very least, I’ve finally accepted it.

I had played a little of BN2 before, but I don’t think I ever even made it halfway before getting distracted. It’s kind of staggering just how many improvements were made just one entry later: * code chips, a dedicated button for running from battles, the Style Change…you know, why don’t I start with the Style Change? Here’s where transformations start to become BN’s bread and butter, and they immediately knocked it out of the park. Appearance-wise, the Style Changes are subtle yet distinct, striking a very fine balance which I really appreciate and no doubt sold many, many toys. (I think Heat Guts is the only one that came stateside? I bought it ofc.) Mechanically, it’s a great idea to give the player a power-up directly informed by their own playstyle, letting them do exactly what they want to do even better, and the four core Styles are each suitably unique to ensure each is its own experience. Not to mention how cool it is to have a secret fifth Style that combines all their powers! My main gripe is the one you probably expected: the core four Styles come with Elements, but which Element you get is entirely random. Heat Guts is a spectacular Style…until you have to fight FreezeMan! Let’s try Elec Guts…better not get hit once by SnakeMan! It isn’t really a huge thing, but it can be frustrating to have a random handicap against certain bosses, or have your charge shot replaced with a weapon you don’t really enjoy. I will say it’s nicely mitigated in BN2 when you can store 2 Styles. (*cough*)

And the improvements aren’t purely mechanical. The internet design in BN1 is needlessly labyrinthine, exacerbated by every area looking exactly the same; but here in BN2, paths are easy to follow and have a unique aesthetic for each group of areas. The story is also a step up in many regards, feeling a bit more coherent, and ambitiously builds the world with a few new countries. I also appreciate that they showed some restraint in regards to Wily, only indirectly referring to him at the very end and not specifically revealing his involvement until next game. Classic and X can both get frustrating with how they constantly shoehorn Wily and Sigma into every endgame, but Battle Network finds ways to tie everything back to Wily without having him hog every single spotlight. Lord Gospel, or Sean, is given a real chance to stand on his own. And he, uh…well…here’s how I see it. They had two very good ideas, and unfortunately tried them both without realizing that they weren’t truly compatible. Lord Gospel being a ruthless enigma whose identity is a surprise reveal at the end (and it’s not Wily)? Great! But that doesn’t give you the time to properly craft a backstory for a character that gets us invested in him and makes us really want to see him redeemed. Sean being a kid with a hard life who retreated into the internet and getting manipulated by someone online who abused his trust is a horrifyingly resonant idea in the context of Battle Network! …But you can’t just wait to dump ALL of that on the player until AFTER we’ve already beaten the final boss! It only gets worse considering he’s barely in BN3 and just vanishes by the second trilogy. I love Sean in concept, but it is a bit frustrating to see the execution play out this way. All this to say, it makes perfect sense why BN2 is held in such high regard…though perhaps not as high as another game in the series…

Now BN3! BN3 is the one you’re most likely to see at the top of someone’s list, and that also makes perfect sense. Nearly everything in BN3 is further refinement upon BN2, and the brand new stuff works very, very well. (Some caveats, we’ll get to that.) This was also the first game to be released in twin versions Pokemon-style, although design documents show this idea was always on the table even when BN was but a twinkle in Eguchi’s eye, and the versions aren’t so much “equal” as “a game and then an updated version of that game”. BN3 White was my very first Mega Man game, though, I won’t tolerate any slander from Blue elitists! …Anyway. Style Changes make a return from BN2, but with heavy alterations, largely in service of one of the new mechanics: the Navi Customizer. Now obviously I really appreciate what the Navi Customizer brings to the table, and I think its initial outing is one of its absolute best thanks to Mod Tools. Getting new programs each time you level up a Style is rewarding, certainly moreso than a simple damage increase to your charge shot like in BN2, and it’s fun to mix abilities using Error Codes. (I don’t think I’ve ever had a file where I got two Styles with compatible program colors lol) Still…you can only put in one Error Code at a time, and that really limits just how much mixing you can do. And it’s a bit of a bummer to see the basic abilities of each Style nerfed (though I do like that Guts Style can rapid-fire now). Especially considering you can only store 1 Style at a time…like, I’m sure this was all done in the name of balance, but part of me can’t help but wonder about the unexplored potential. There’s also the unique chips you can get while using Custom and Team Style, which is an interesting way to expand their abilities and further differentiate the experience of each Style. It becomes a bit of an issue when you realize ALL of those chips are required for completion, though…unless you get real lucky with the BugFrag Trader. Anyway, we do get new Style Changes in addition to the core four! Having now used Ground Style, I can see it being incredibly useful, I just don’t usually fight strategically enough to make the most of it. I’ve still yet to use Shadow Style, but it seems to benefit players with precise timing, and uh…that ain’t me. (Also FloatShoes don’t protect from poison panels in this game. What’s up with that?) But Bug Style! Bug Style I like a LOT! (Yes its appearance in the anime influenced this shut up) The positive bugs seem to typically outweigh the negative bugs, making this feel like a particularly strong gimmick. And with HubBatch being a Navi Cust program in this game, and Bug Style getting you Bug Stop which even negates HubBatch’s HP cut…you can be pretty freakin’ strong. I like that. Oh, while we’re on the Navi Cust, did you know that when you’re on the MegaMan screen in BN3, you can press the L button to test your buster and see if it’s bugged? I think this is the only game that does this for some reason. I don’t know why they got rid of it, it’s cute.

Another major shakeup that set the bar going forward was dividing chips into different classes: Standard, Mega, and Giga. Mega Class is mostly made up of Navi Chips, and so gets the same restrictions those have always had; there are several non-Navi Mega Chips though, chips that are just a little too powerful and so are restricted to balance them out a bit. Team Style doesn’t distinguish, just upping your Mega limit, which is to its benefit. Giga Chips, of course, are super-powerful chips you need to work to get, though BN3 actually doesn’t require you to collect all of them for 100%! (You’ll still end up with most if not all of them as part of the process though. I talked about this before: basically, BN3 treats Giga Chips more as rewards than as tasks when compared to later games.) Again, I started with BN3, so for me it was always this way, and going back to the first two games where every chip is in one big library was kinda weird. This game also revised BugFrags, a limited item you could exchange for prizes in BN2 which are now infinitely generated and accepted as currency by multiple shops. Vol. 2 mostly follows this example, except here, you get BugFrags by countering viruses (which gets repurposed for the Full Synchro mechanic in Vol. 2), and this makes BugFrags far, FAR easier to obtain/farm in this game than in later ones. (I recommend the Armor Comp in Ura Inn—nothing but Mettaurs and Mettaur2s, easy counter timing.) This is great for a lot of reasons, including a feature totally unique to BN3: the Virus Breeder! By finding special encounters in specific locations, you can send certain families of viruses to a comp in SciLab, where they just chill out and wait for you to put BugFrags in their food bowls. You receive a Battle Chip for each family of virus you send here, letting you summon them much like a Navi Chip, and the strength of their attack is directly proportional to how much you’ve fed them. I never really investigated the mechanic until now, but it is incredibly charming to examine your pet Spikey and be told that it starts wagging its tail as soon as it sees you. I love my fire doggos. The closest thing we got to this in later games is the Virus Battler in BN6, but while the inspiration is clear, the execution is very different…we’ll get to that. BN3 is interesting for setting a lot of standards but also doing a lot of things completely unique to it, which I think is why it’s so beloved…though, there is one thing BN3 puts a unique spin on which annoys me, and that’s Beta Navis. You know how it goes: you beat a boss, their V2/Alpha appears on the net as an invisible fixed encounter, and then their V3/Beta becomes a random encounter. In every other game, the Beta is a random encounter in the same area where you find the Alpha—which makes sense, right? Well in BN3, the Beta becomes a random encounter in a completely different area. And worse, a few of the Betas can only be encountered when specific conditions are met, like your HP being in the red, or your Navi Cust being bugged. Fun! I don’t know why they did this, but I’m glad they didn’t do it again…well, until SF3, but that’s for another day. (I’ll also point out that BN3 has Security Cubes in the Undernet that are unlocked by beating each Beta boss, that’s really cool and I wish it had continued being a thing.)

Damn, all this and I still haven’t gotten into BN3’s story. Though, I mean…what more is there to be said? Even people who love to dunk on Battle Network’s writing think BN3’s story is pretty good. The whole tournament subplot was great. Wily goes from completely unhinged to frighteningly intelligent. We get Bass’s backstory after some tantalizing buildup, and his involvement helps retroactively tie the first three games together a little better. We get backstory for the Undernet of all things, and it’s never been more fleshed out before or since! And Mamoru…Mamoru. Who would’ve ever expected Mamoru? I can absolutely see this being a sendoff for the series—the creators really hit their stride. There’s certainly plenty to bemoan, from the annoyance of plot-required Navi Cust Programs to the high percentage of bosses who are dreadfully frustrating (BubbleMan, FlameMan, DrillMan…), but all the good raises it so high up that still managed to stand above. BN3 is peak Battle Network.

#Mega Man #Games in 2023 #Game Night

2 notes · View notes

frauleinandry · 2 years ago

Text

alright, finished my first time playthrough of the third semester... tbh I think there was a lot of really cool concepts introduced, both narrative and gameplay-wise, but it was too short to really utilise either of them to their maximum potential.

this got fucking long, so I’m slamming it under a cut, and I’ll make a separate post about What I’d Do Differently later

first things first, I thought the choice between maruki’s reality/the real reality would be waaaay more of a moral dilemma than what it was. instead, the whole thing is clearly as creepy as all heck, and the fact that some times bad things can lead to good ones is immediately highlighted by every single one of the thieves. like, unless you’re a huuuuuge akechi fan, I cannot see why anyone would ever choose maruki’s reality. this could be a bit of fandom poisoning leaking through, but I really thought there’d be more conflict behind whether or not it’s moral to reject/accept his reality.

next up, I want to talk about the royal trio - they’re such a huge thing in the fandom, but you only get the akechi/joker/sumire trio for like... ten minutes of gameplay, and akechi/sumire barely interact. in fact, we get tragically little of both akechi and the real sumire in general.

seeing akechi and the phantoms thieves’ working together civilly was great, but he really didn’t have enough screen time/plot relevance for me to feel particularly saddened with maruki’s revelation on 2/2, especially since I knew it was coming. like, if he’d actually begun to form genuine connections with the non-joker members of the team, it might have actually felt sad, but as-is, it was more of an ‘oh well, that’s a pity’ kinda deal.

plus, I personally would have enjoyed more antagonist!sumire, as her temporarily siding with maruki was soooo juicy, and it didn’t really feel like her re-joining the phantom thieves made sense until you’d done most of her confidant, which... is entirely optional!

to compound this, while sumire is a good unit and I used her for most of maruki’s palace, akechi... kind of isnt. his magic is mediocre, and none of his physical skills have crit, and nor does he have native access to charge. tbh while I wanted to use him and sumire for most of the third semester content, I found a joker/sumire/haru/makoto team far more useful for generic shadows, and joker/ann/ryuji/makoto for the bosses.

speaking of another gameplay thing that should have been cool in theory, but was a bit average in execution, were the third awakenings. honestly, I love the narratives behind them, especially with the persona 4 homage, and the busted skills you get are reeeeeally fun in theory, but... there just isn’t enough gameplay left to really utilise them!! like, you either toggle between unlocking them and sumire’s confidant, and hope you’ve done it in the right order so you can get all of them before clearing the new mementos level/maruki’s palace, oooooor you clear that stuff first, and then only have the final boss/challenge battles to use them in. ugh!

while there’s been a lot of crit so far, I will say that I thought maruki’s palace, and maruki in general were excellent. the palace managed to hit the nail between dystopic and utopic perfectly, for a delightfully unsettling effect. I thought the exam section and the twilight corridor were both fantastic - the former for what it said about maruki’s character (i mean... YIKES), and the latter for its visuals/music/vibe in general. also, the video tapes revealing maruki’s backstory were great - seriously, all this time, I thought the palaces needed something like it, and now that we’ve actually got it, it was just as good as I expected.

speaking not of his palace but him in general, unlike sumire, I thought maruki was woven into the narrative in general really well. his introduction to the story felt natural, and I looooooove how it was joker’s fault he figured out how to usurp reality to begin with. not to mention, fist-fighting your therapist on the roof is just... such a peak final battle. I love it.

#tl;dr I really like the final palace and it's ruler #buuuuuut I found the rest of the third semester stuff kinda underwhelming #persona 5 #review tag

5 notes · View notes

vanquishedvaliant · 4 years ago

Note

The sidedish is scrolling your blog and not finding you talking about new anime

I must not be hip enough to recognize precisely what you’re getting at by ‘sidedish’, but I just don’t usually post it much on tumblr unprompted anymore because writeups are a pain, they don’t usually get much traction, and I’m more than satisfied talking about it in discord with people that are actually going to listen and respond.

I DO have thoughts on new anime I can serve if it’s that in demand, though.

Here’s what I’m watching this season with some initial reaction ratings based on the first couple episodes

New this season;

Wonder Egg Priority 10/10

UraSekai Picnic 10/10

Kumo desu ga, nani ka 8/10

Kemono Jihen 9/10

Hortensia Saga 7/10

Soukou Musume Senki 7/10

Gekidol 6/10

Sequels;

Cells at Work 9/10

Cells at Work: Black! 9/10

Uma Musume Pretty Derby 10/10

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken 8/10

Log Horizon 8/10

Dr Stone 10/10

Continuing from last season;

Higurashi ... Gou 10/10

Hanyou no Yashahime 6/10

Jujutsu Kaisen 10/10

I’m also watching the original Higurashi in between off days to catch up to where Gou is, since I’d never seen it before and it’s clear I’m not getting the full story in Gou anymore without it.

Deeper thoughts under the cut.

Wonder Egg Priority and Urasekai Picnic are the clear AOTS contenders. Both are at once extremely superficially similar but very different in practice, and both bring something unique and charming to the table.

Urasekai is extremely notable at being a well executed supernatural adventure anime that is also a yuri; as much as I love pure romances like Bloom into You or Adachi and Shimamura, it’s very rare that we get anime with lesbian main characters or WLW romance where the romance itself isn’t the focus, that includes a serious, intriguing plot alongside the elements of romance. You know, like straight people get without a question every single story ever.

It’s got this very classic cryptid / SCP / otherworld adventure feel and has the right comedic and tension beats to be quite good, though its long term impact will be determined by what kind of further message it has.

Wonder Egg Priority immediately comes off with extremely powerful vibes in the vein of things like Flip Flappers, which I mean in the highest compliment. A surreal, metaphor-filled story of dreams and desires and well laid subtext, with colourful, exotic action and a snappy pace. This one’s extremely interesting to me, and its first episode was masterfully efficient in setting up its premise both aesthetically and thematically.

The real test for Wonder Egg will come with time; this is a story that trades heavily in meaning; so it’ll have to run longer and come to a conclusion to really test what kind of impact it’ll have. For now, I’m VERY interested and cautiously optimistic.

Spider Isekai is a charming twist on the typical flood of fantasy game / isekai stories placing our protagonist at the extreme low end of the power curve, and quite UNLIKE Slime Isekai or most others on the market like last season’s Kuma Bear, this one seems intent on keeping her there rather than immediately granting her insane godlike powers and thrusting her back above the curve.

The parts of the show that focus on the spider herself are lovely; there’s a real tension and sense of stakes in her struggle to adapt, slowly getting used to her new body and gaining levels and abilities, making even simple conflicts against frogs or lizards seem life threatening and serious, giving us a real reason to root for her.

On the other hand, the show frequently switches focus to... the entire other classroom of isekai’d children which is by far less interesting. There’s potential in there somewhere for a story about mass isekai’d kids adapting, but other than some details like one girl being gender swapped, and another being the class pet, there’s just really not much interesting about them at the moment and these sections just feel like a waste of time while waiting for the Spider to come back.

I don’t doubt that they’ll eventually meet up and have their stories intertwine... but at the moment, I don’t think I actually want that to happen. We’ll see where this one goes.

Kemono Jihen took me by surprise, and I wasn’t planning to watch this one unti l saw some screencaps. But the first two episodes have been outstanding, giving us a fantastic supernatural mystery detective agency plot and characters with real emotions, eye catching action scenes, and a compelling mystery.

Definitely looking forward to more of this one.

Hortensia Saga seems like a fairly typical fantasy war chronicle RPG story. It feels very in the vein of early to mid era fire emblems, and I happen to like anime like this that are solidly executed, like Grancrest Senki a while back. It’s doing a good enough job so far to keep my interest. Nothing game changing here, but a decent offering.

Soukou Musume Senki; this one also comes across in the standard seasonal fare of superpowered teenagers fighting aliens, this time with power armor and mild isekai elements. The monster designs are good this time, and the second episode brought us some nice moral / political dialogue showcasing some level of self awareness and depth. It’s fun so far.

Gekidol this show wants really badly to be compared favourably to Shoujo Kageki Starlight Revue. They’re hamming up the theatre tropes, putting out specials, sliding in secret background lore. First episode was fairly interesting, but the second seriously dropped the ball with its half assed Idol episode, and incredibly tone deaf play at a heartwarming moment.

I’m gonna keep watching this one for now, but it really needs to prove to me it has some meat and isn’t going to just keep borrowing tropes from other shows to lend it superficial “deep” merits.

For sequels,

Cells at Work is as cute, wholesome, and info-taining as ever. I think the OP this time is missing a little oomph, but the show itself is still going strong.

Cells at Work: Black! is offering a new take on it with a slightly darker and mature setting with a stressed out alcholic smoker at risk of contracting STDS, with a little bleaker tone and harsher stakes. It relies on the background of the original Cells at Work to work both tonally and narratively, but with that support it provides something quite interesting and unique.

The usual Cells at Work metaphors and humanization of bodily processes are just as excellent as always, and I’m giving special credit to the sketch about alcholic liver damage being compared to drunken abuse of host club employees, displaying a perhaps obvious if natural juxtaposition of the physical and emotional damage the substance abuse is causing to both the body itself and others around them.

Uma Musume; Horse girls! Racing! Just as surprisingly excellent as last season, giving us a fantastic sports story anime with charming characters and balanced stakes, with a good helping of humour. Easy recommend.

Slime Isekai: This one’s still going strong but has diverged from it’s original premise quite seriously. There’s nothing intriguing about this being an isekai about being reincarnated as a slime anymore; and he’s way too overpowered for any of the combat to have any stakes. What it DOES have however is a fascinating look at the birth of a fantasy nation of monsters, politics, science, and social development of a varied and multicultural monster nation. And THAT I’m still in for.

I will seriously never forgive them for making Bobcut Lizardgirl into a regular ass human though. It has a serious problem with de-monsterizing its character designs and seriously reducing their appeal.

Log Horizon the true king of MMO isekai is back after 7 long, long years, and it’s jumping STRAIGHT into the depth of its political intrigue and deep understanding and development of the socio political issues inherent to its setting. Somewhat dry as ever, but truly fascinating for those looking at a more serious exploration of what the concept of living in a game actually means.

Dr Stone: I don’t have to hype this up, do I? Mad science speedrunning the development of human culture from the stone age up! This time they’re going to war! They made cell phones and cup ramen out of rocks! It’s heartwarming, emotionally rich, entertaining and informative, and funny as all hell. A classic for sure.

Higurashi. Everyone knows higurashi. Thing is, I just never watched it. We thought Gou was going to be a remake, but then it ended up being Rebuild of Evangelion, so I stopped at episode 12 or so and went back to watch the original. Classic horror mystery.

Yashahime. Yikes. This one’s... well. I don’t have any especial nostalgia or affection for Inuyasha like many people, but Yashahime is clearly a very middling approximation of it. There’s things to like here, the main trio of characters are all great designs, Moroha standing even head and shoulders above them as a truly endearing goblin child, and it really does feel in ways like 90s toonami fare. But there’s some lack of depth going on here, and I just don’t even know what to say about the Sesshoumaru pedophilia thing. Extremely questionable plotting.

#Anonymous #TFWI #anime #anime recommendations #seasonal anime

7 notes · View notes

the-light-followed · 5 years ago

Text

MORT (1987) [DISC. #4; DEATH #1]

“‘Why did you have to save me?’ The answer worried him. He thought about it as he squelched all the way home. …As he lay shivering in bed it settled in his dreams like an iceberg. In the midst of his fever he muttered, ‘What did he mean, FOR LATER?’”

Rating: 6/10

Standalone Okay: Yes

Read First: Sure, why not!

Discworld Books Masterpost: [x]

* * * * * * * * * *

I’m just going to get it out of the way right off the bat: as much as I hate to admit it, the Death books are my least favorite of the Discworld sub-series. (I mean, I still love them, a lot, but I don’t love them as much.) And I know, I know—Death is an excellent character, and I love all of his cameos in the other Discworld books. I love Susan Sto Helit, because I’m a sensible human lady with eyes and I recognize a brilliant, beautiful powerhouse of a woman when I read about her. But the Death books just…aren’t my favorite.

And it’s doubly strange that I still think that’s true, even though Reaper Man might be my favorite Discworld book, depending on the day. It’s definitely top three.

Mort, though, is—kind of boring. Actually, no. Let me rephrase that, without the italics this time: Mort is kind of boring. The story itself is unique, and the concept is fantastically interesting, and I’m almost sad about that. Because Mort, the character, is unimpressive. I spend half the time reading this book wanting to grab him by the shoulders and shake some sense into him. It might just be that he’s a teenage idiot—I do sort of have the same feeling with him (and especially all his interactions with Princess Keli) that I do any time I’m forced to read Romeo and Juliet. It’s a sort of constant, high-pitched, internal shriek of rage and distress.

Stop that! Stop what you’re doing right now! Grow some common goddamn sense!!

But he never does. I am continually disappointed.

Even beyond his regrettable life choices, the kid is just dull. Some early text flavor we get for Mort includes gems such as: “Mort was interested in lots of things. Why people’s teeth fitted together so neatly, for example. He’d given that one a lot of thought. Then there was the puzzle of why the sun came out during the day, instead of at night when the light would come in useful. He knew the standard explanation, which somehow didn’t seem satisfying.”

Yikes, buddy. Yikes. Might as well be interested in watching paint dry.

It’s wild to me that of everyone and everything involved in Mort, Pratchett picked—well, Mort—to be his main character. Mort, who complains that he’s not an ordinary human being living an ordinary human life. He’s got a super awesome thing going for him, given that he’s Death’s actual apprentice, and he wants to be normal and boring? By the time he makes this complaint, he’s already messed up reality and, frankly, a very easy job by being a lovestruck twit over a girl whose eyes he met exactly once across a crowded room—just before her father was brutally murdered. He’s clearly already the king of bad decision-making. It’s baffling that he wants to be even more boring, too.

We’ve got so many cool and interesting characters that we could have focused on instead! Actual, literal Death! Ysabell, his immortally teenage daughter, who’s been sixteen for thirty-five years! We’ve even got Albert, a formerly great and terrible wizard so terrified of death (and Death) that he chose to become Death’s eternal servant rather than die! Any one of those would make a cool as hell main character. We could have had it all, but instead we focus on a dunderheaded teenager, distracted by hormones and totally lacking in common sense.

I get that Mort is acting as a sort of audience surrogate, coming from a vanilla human background, learning as he goes, and only just beginning to move in the occult and magical circles. But I would be about one hundred million times more interested in following Ysabell’s journey from normal human orphan to the never-aging daughter of Death, both rescued and trapped by her father in his land outside of reality, where time never moves and there’s no one to interact with except the stories of the outside world as they write themselves in the library.

She’s a cool goth romantic trapped in the body of a sixteen-year-old for decades. Her favorite thing to do is read real, historical accounts of love stories where everyone dies horribly. Death is her dad and why is this book not about her?

Mort, I’d argue, doesn’t really get interesting himself until he and Death start picking up some of each other’s traits. And even then, if Mort-going-inhuman is cool, it’s overshadowed entirely by Death becoming a person rather than simply an anthropomorphic personification. It’s, just, damn. Death’s arc is beautiful and poignant and has lasting implications for the Discworld. Meanwhile, Mort’s whole…thing…will soon be fridged so that his daughter, Susan Sto Helit, can begin her reign as unstoppable badass and also queen of my heart.

Susan is great. On second thought, I wish this book was about Susan.

Conceptually, everything about this story is wonderful. I love the plot elements, the concept itself is so unique and executed well, and Mort does an amazing job of setting up the rest of the Death series within the Discworld. It’s impossible to read Mort and not think about what it means to be a person—recognizing that everyone must and will die, that there’s no rhyme or reason to it, but also knowing that fighting back against that inevitability is built into us on a fundamental level.

Not yet. Not today. Fairness might not matter; justice might not matter. But part of what makes us human is that we think they should. We want them to.

And, by the end of Mort, Death agrees.

Part of the reason I keep coming back to Mort is that I do like seeing the seeds of what Death will become in later Discworld books. Mort, Ysabell, and Albert—and eventually Susan as well—all give Death the experience and the space to become more than what he was meant to be. Rather than just an anthropomorphic personification, just a thing, Death becomes a person. He has wants and desires and needs, and he acts on them, sometimes despite the fact that it causes problems with The Duty—his literal, actual reason to exist. He grows and changes. He cares.

Compared to the Death we see in The Colour of Magic, who seems relentlessly antagonistic to poor Rincewind—who implies, several times over, that he is actually, actively, trying to kill people himself—the Death we meet at the beginning of Mort is already a relief. He’s perfectly neutral, not threatening at all. He’s an entity who performs a necessary service without any sort of emotion at all. But by the end of Mort, the Death we see is—well, I find him flat-out comforting.

It’s the little things. He goes fishing. He makes jokes, even if they’re creepy and morbid and so specific to his field that most people don’t understand them at all. He likes cats. He’s a good cook.

[Death’s Glory, by Paul Kidby, off his website. Shit, I love his official Discworld art. This, I think, shows his attempt at making a fishing lure that Pratchett describes in a way that seems—nightmarish at best.]

And it’s the big things, too. Death makes mistakes. He plays hooky from his work, which is a bit more impressive when you remember that it’s the literal reason for his existence. He knows right from wrong, and when it comes down to it, I think it’s less important that he chooses to do what’s right over the letter of the law (though I also appreciate that he does), and more important that he can choose at all.

“THERE IS NO JUSTICE,” Death likes to say, “JUST ME.” But when Death is a person, and on top of that, a good person, it almost feels like the same thing.

You have to love the see-saw of Mort and Death going wrong in equal but opposite ways, both of them fascinating (and horrifying). Mort starts losing his humanity as he picks up aspects of Death, leaving him with more and more of the power and knowledge, but none of the steadiness and impartiality that Death has shown so far. And as Death gains humanity, gains personhood, he starts to feel and to understand those feelings.

It’s beautiful to see, but it’s also desperately sad. I think it’s almost cruel to give an emotional range to an undying being who must be there for the end of every life, who must be alone for most of time.

But he gets the good things out of existence, too. Over the course of the Death books, he seems to think it’s worth it more often than it’s not. So it’s a good thing that even after everything’s sorted out and the humans have been given back their normal lives, Death keeps what he has taken.

One of my favorite quotes:

“WHAT IS IT CALLED WHEN YOU FEEL WARM AND CONTENT AND WISH THINGS WOULD STAY THAT WAY? ‘I guess you’d call it happiness,’ said Harga. Inside the tiny, cramped kitchen, strata’d with the grease of decades, Death spun and whirled, chopping, slicing and flying. His skillet flashed through the fetid steam. He’d opened the door to the cold night air, and a dozen neighborhood cats had strolled in, attracted by the bowls of milk and meat—some of Harga’s best, if he’d known—that had been strategically placed around the floor. Occasionally Death would pause in his work and scratch one of them behind the ears. ‘Happiness,’ he said, and puzzled at the sound of his own voice.”

While Death moves more and more towards being a person, Mort goes the opposite way, and I, reluctantly, have to agree he’s right to give it all up and go back to being purely human. As conceptually cool and interesting as it is to be apprenticed to Death, to be more powerful and more real than any other living person, people aren’t meant to live like that, and certainly not meant to live forever. Mort understands that.

As Death says, “YOU COULD HAVE HAD ETERNITY.”

And in reply: “‘I know,’ said Mort. ‘I’ve been very lucky.’”

Honestly, in the course of writing this all out, I’ve almost talked myself back around to really loving this book. It’s got everything we all want from a Discworld novel: exquisitely crafted and delivered puns, punchy and memorable quotes, unique and well-written characters in a unique and well-crafted setting, a perfect blend of humorous absurdity and heart-wrenching sincerity. And unlike the first few Discworld books (especially The Colour of Magic, but I’d include all of the previous three novels), Pratchett is clinging less to established High Fantasy tropes and relying more on Discworld-specific flavor. Ankh-Morpork feels more and more like a real place with every visit, and even the other regions of the Disc come across less as never-explored, baffling and bizarre foreign lands (Here There Be Dragons!) and more as places that really do exist, even if we haven’t seen them personally just yet.

And, if nothing else, Mort is so, so important to the rest of the Discworld books from this point on because it establishes exactly what and who Death is on the Discworld. He’s a person. He is, at his core, good. And maybe, as Death says, “THERE IS NO JUSTICE, JUST ME,” but I think it’s incredibly reassuring while reading the series to know that no matter how badly things go wrong, no matter how much danger our Discworld heroes are in or how nerve-wracking things get, the absolute worst thing that could happen is that they end up in Death’s hands. And Death will treat them as they deserve.

I will always appreciate Mort for that peace of mind. (And I can appreciate Mort for it, too, even if I still want to grab that ding-dong dumbass by the shoulders and just shake—ahem. Sorry.)

* * * * * * * * * *

Side Notes:

I need everyone to read this quote about a party at the Patrician’s palace and join me in my confusion: “In fact some two hundred of the Patrician’s guests were now staggering and kicking their way through the Serpent Dance, a quaint Morporkian folkway which consisted of getting rather drunk, holding the waist of the person in front, and then wobbling and giggling uproariously in a long crocodile that wound through as many rooms as possible, preferably ones with breakables in, while kicking one leg vaguely in time with the beat, or at least in time with some other beat.”

Vetinari let them do WHAT

Sure, he’s not technically Vetinari yet, he’s never been named at all, but that’s still proto-Vetinari’s guests at proto-Vetinari’s house and he’s letting them do WHAT

Rincewind pops up briefly in this book, serving as an assistant to the Librarian. Is this an important cameo? No, probably not. Does it make me smile down at my book like I’m seeing a long-absent friend, even if there’s only been one book so far in the series that does not include him? Absolutely, yes. Hi, Rincewind! Missed you, buddy! See you in a minute, Sourcery is coming up next!

Ysabell and Mort have such a strange love story.

“‘I don’t want to get married to anyone yet,’ he added, suppressing a fleeting mental picture of the princess. ‘And certainly not to you, no offense meant.’ ‘I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on the Disc,’ she said sweetly.”

“‘Obviously we shouldn’t get married, if only for the sake of the children.’ Mort nodded.”

“DAUGHTER, EXPLAIN YOURSELF. WHY DID YOU AID THIS FOOL? Ysabell curtsied nervously. ‘I—love him, Father. I think.’ ‘You do?’ said Mort, astonished. ‘You never said!’ ‘There didn’t seem to be time,’ said Ysabell.”

Teenagers. Honestly.

We get a lot more discussion about belief and reality in this one—Mort himself kind of embodies the point as he becomes “more real” and begins to stroll through walls, or doors, or arrows. Nobody can see Death wandering around the mundane world (with the exception of cats and the magical community) because nobody expects to see him; they don’t believe he’ll be there, and so they don’t see him. Princess Keli died, according to history, so even though Mort “saved” her, history (and the population of her kingdom) start to write her out. Belief = reality. We change the world with the force of that belief.

Favorite Quotes:

“I? KILL? said Death, obviously offended. CERTAINLY NOT. PEOPLE GET KILLED, BUT THAT’S THEIR BUSINESS. I JUST TAKE OVER FROM THEN ON. AFTER ALL, IT’D BE A BLOODY STUPID WORLD IF PEOPLE GOT KILLED WITHOUT DYING, WOULDN’T IT?”

“Let’s just say that Ankh-Morpork is as full of life as an old cheese on a hot day, as loud as a curse in a cathedral, as bright as an oil slick, as colorful as a bruise and as full of activity, industry, bustle and sheer exuberant busyness as a dead dog on a termite mound.”

“‘How do you get all those coins?’ asked Mort. IN PAIRS.”

“‘Are you going to send me home?’ he said. Death reached down and swung him up behind the saddle. BECAUSE YOU SHOWED COMPASSION? NO. I MIGHT HAVE DONE IF YOU HAD SHOWN PLEASURE. BUT YOU MUST LEARN THE COMPASSION PROPER TO YOUR TRADE. ‘What’s that?’ A SHARP EDGE.”

“They’re always telling people how much better it’s going to be when they’re dead. We tell them it could be pretty good right here if only they’d put their minds to it.”

“It had been a long afternoon. The mountaineer had held on to his icy handhold until the last moment and the execute had called Mort a lackey of the monarchist state. Only the old lady of 103, who had gone to her reward surrounded by her sorrowing relatives, had smiled at him and said he was looking a little pale.”

“Logic would have told Mort that here was his salvation…Logic would have told him that interfering with the process a second time around would only make things worse. Logic would have said all that, if only Logic hadn’t taken the night off too.”

“‘I mean, friend or foe?’ he stuttered, trying to avoid Mort’s gaze. ‘Which would you prefer?’ he grinned. It wasn’t quite the grin of his master, but it was a pretty effective grin and didn’t have a trace of humor in it. The guard sagged with relief, and stood aside. ‘Pass, friend,’ he said.”

“The sword burned icy cold in his hand, dragging him on in a dance that would not end until there was nothing left alive. And that time came, and Mort stood alone except for Death, who said, ‘A fine job, boy.’ And Mort said, MORT.”

“‘I think there’s something you ought to know,’ said the princess. THERE IS? said Death. (That was a cinematic trick adapted for print. Death wasn’t talking to the princess. He was actually in his study, talking to Mort. But it was quite effective, wasn’t it? It’s probably called a fast dissolve, or a crosscut/zoom. Or something. An industry where a senior technician is called a Best Boy might call it anything.)”

#discworld #mort #death #hey if you read this and like this maybe look at my other ones #and come talk to me!#I'll be writing more of these #aiming for about a book a week #and I'd love to hear what people think

3 notes · View notes

somarysueme · 5 years ago

Text

WicDiv Thoughts, some overly personal

stiiiiiillllll can’t really put together my feelings about the end and epilogue. I will say that I liked the ending and epilogue more than I expected to*, and the longer I sit on it, I find more things to like about it.

(* Except for everything about Baal and Mini)

That said, there’s still that huge, unpleasant gap between what I wanted/expected this comic was supposed to be, and what it actually intended/was. I wrote this post after 43 (the “everyone does the thing” chapter), using bits of a half-written reaction to 39 ("Laura did the thing” chapter) to talk about that gap. I decided to sit on it til everything was said and done Just In Case, but I mostly still agree with what I’d written.

So Here Are My Thoughts

The full pantheon abdicating! This is basically where I expected us to go. Since 39 it seems like the natural place for the story to be headed. Laura’s revelations, along with the Daddy Forgive Us special made it clear that the only way out of the game was not to play it. I was kinda luke warm on that concept, but it made sense for where the story was at that point. I was waiting to see how it actually played out before getting fussy about it.

I give him a C for execution here. Maybe a C+.

I thought Dio’s moment was great. Jon’s was beautiful. Inanna’s I definitely could have gotten behind if he’d actually gotten to have any of that arc on the page instead of getting put on a bus 30 chapters ago.

The rest range from “meh” to “yikes.”

I could have liked this, I wanted to like this. Given how much “OKAY” has been miles more thoughtful than Mothering Invention, I was genuinely hoping to like this. I would have loved to see these kids find something more important than godhood to live for. But that’s not what we got.

We did get them realizing that being a god is not worth dying for. Which is good! And essential! And basically the central conceit of this comic!

But.

But...

I really wanted to see our cast value their lives period. And while there was some of that, there was far more of seeing them be humbled. We saw them beaten down until they had no choice but to admit they Were Not Special (or at least, were not as special as they thought). I was hoping for them to find a capacity to value their lives because their lives have value whether or not they are special, but instead it was a story about being humbled, and I guess to me, I just can’t see that what young queer artists need is help being humbled. They need help being valued as people, they need the internal presence of self to command that value be respected, and they need the external support to give them a fighting chance at that. And not to be That Fan, but that fighting chance doesn’t come from individual actions. It comes from worker solidarity and respect for labor as labor. It just doesn’t work for me to have a series around the exploitation and consumption of young talent and leave anything material about money and labor practices out of the material.

(McKelvie’s My (6000 F) pantheon has unionized joke, but unironically.)

Anyway this comic was all about Don’t Let This Happen To You. And that’s a good start, but I was hoping for it to be so much more than that. It could be that this is me looking at WicDiv and wanting it to say something broader about specialness and creativity and mental illness and exploitation.

(There’s a lot to be unpacked wrt presenting itself as a story about the whole world through all of human history, while also intending to be psuedoautobiographical for a very specific set of circumstances. But that’s not this post.)

It’s weird because like, Fandemonium already delivered masterfully on Laura learning to value herself outside of godhood. Laura’s last pre-apoptheosis soliloquy about “I can’t save any of them, but I can still help them” was one of those wham moments that really cemented this book’s place in my heart. Living through Fandemonium and realizing that the gods were people, and needed actual love and support from people who cared about them as people, and that just being a decent friend is something worth living for, fuck!! That’s good shit!! That’s fucking excellent!!

And for the rest of WicDiv’s run, I was always waiting for the story to get back to that place, but it never really did.

(ETA AFTER 45 IS OUT: ok fine I fucking love that Laura saved Luci. Big Gay Hero Girl drags naughty non-devil out of hell and they kiss, fucking A+. But “can’t save but CAN help” is still something I wish the comic had followed up on more. The friendship thing got touched on a little bit too, but never in a way I found as satisfying as Fandemonium.)

So anyway Luci going Full Diva. Her future is this and her future is nothing.

The longer I chew on it, the more I like it, and the more it seems like the inevitable place for Elanor Rigby’s story to go. It’s a good continuation from where we last saw her have any scrap of agency, but also frustrating in that “the lat time we saw her have any scrap of agency” was basically the entire comic ago. It was jarring to have her go from [One Sassy Line Per Issue] to [Maybe I’m The Final Boss]. Her story suffered deeply suffered from all the time she spent off screen. But despite all that, I’m very much really looking forward to whatever the fuck Laura Wilson’s going to do about this.

I’m trying not to get my hopes up for Talk Her Down ending. It seems perfectly in line with this series to end with the moral of “sometimes, no matter how kind or brave or caring you are, people you love pick their addictions over living.” That’s a song I’ve already heard live and in person, and I don’t really want or need to hear anyone else’s studio cover.

Uh final thought on 43 is.... Minanke DOES seem to count herself as part of the 12, which still lines up with my Emily Was Also A Fake God theory (Fauxmaterasu theory? Nokami hypothesis? Amaterasuspicion?) but it does seem unlikely to actually be a Thing between now and the epilogue. shrug.

(ETA AGAIN: I had to write out my feelings on 39 and Laura’s own abdication (unpotheosis?) to properly respond to 43. So here’s a draft of another unpublished post that I fleshed out.)

I have extremely mixed feelings about chapter 39.

First Feeling: thank fuck the pregnancy plot is over.

Second feeling: establishing abdication as an option established a nice overarching shape to this book. Things have felt directionless for many chapters, but this does make it seem like we are back on some kind of track.

Third Feeling: kinda liking abdication as a general direction for endgame. For most of the series, I was hoping the whole that there actually was Something Important about the recurrence, but since it's clear now that it’s basically all lies, I like this this angle well enough.

Strongest Feeling: hell fucking yes to Laura’s shaved head.

(Tangential Feeling: buzzing your own head is good and you should think about doing it. Doing it for catharsis in a moment of crisis is A-OK, but I did it once just because I felt like it and it was fucking great. banishing your high maintenance hair does not cure depression, but it does give you back an hour of personal upkeep every day and the fuzzy head is wonderful to touch.)

Contrary to most of the fandom, though, I absolutely loathed Laura’s monologue here, and the context that it puts around her not-choice. There’s a lot of shitty Hot Takes out there about how mental illness and addition and creation intersect. A lot of people will suggest that being unhealthy makes you a better artist, and what’s more that being a better artist is worth being unhealthy. This series is unambiguously and steadfastly against that message, which is one of the absolute best and most important things about it! I don’t want to diminish that.

But that all said, seeing Laura alone in the dark describing “an addicts moment of clarity” was... jesus it was all kinds of personally painful and upsetting. It hurt real bad, and not in the way I though I had agreed to be hurt. And I’m not sure how to spell out why.

I have thousands and thousands of words on why it struck such a sour cord in me, but a lions share can be summed up with “fuck absolutely every story where a Troubled Girl just needed to get traumatized/humiliated/humbled enough to Realize How Bad She Was Being.” Double fuck this one in particular for showing the girl getting over addiction/mental illness by literally sitting alone in the dark thinking about how much she fucked up. That story is tired, and cruel, and dangerous, and thank Christ I encountered this comic at 30 and not 19 because I would have swallowed it down with all the other poison that Helpful Adults fed me.

But yeah though, her shaved look is fucking adorable as shit. Neither she nor Britany made any hair mistakes.

ETA ULTIMATE: That last bit is the one thing in this post I don’t quite still stand by. By the end, it’s clear that the above wasn’t at all the story this book was trying to tell at all. I thought WicDiv was trying to tell some Epic Truths, Hard-Facts-About-Human-Nature shit. But despite the sweeping setup (All Across The World and Through All Of History) the book was using a complex allegory for a very specific situation (Selling Your Soul and Name and Life To Creative-Industrial Machines), and that made it muddy.

(Insert Principal Skinner meme here “Am I out of touch? Was I simply interrogating the text from the wrong perspective? No, it’s the original creators who are wrong!”)

I’m from a family of mentally ill, addiction-prone, recovering-Catholic artists. Laura is in my blood. Half the people I love are Laura. I have Laura’s painting on my wall and her books on my shelf. I’ve sat with Laura’s mother a few years after Laura’s death, as her father now slowly dying in the next room, and listened to her music for the first time. (It was good. It was really good. And I never even knew.)

These experiences colored my read, but how could they not?

I do now, I think, understand what Gillen was trying to say- the addiction he was talking about was to stardom, the attention and accolades, and free pass to make your own shit be everyone else’s problem. I understand now that the “art” that the gods made was always supposed to be Not Real Art, that there was no true “message” from their songs- all noise, no signal. It was never about Laura’s art, or even Laura as an artist. And that was unpleasant to reconcile.

Because when you're Laura, or Elanor, or any of them, life doesn’t have to grant your ill-advised wish before it fucks your head and kills you. Sometimes you fight as hard as you can with every fiber of your being and you’re still in Hell. Sometimes you’re doing all the Meetings and self-reflection and therapy you can manage and you’re still a Destroyer. But the shit you create while you’re down there is worthy of creating. What you do with your too-short, too-fucked time matters. A fucked up life was still worth living because it was your life to live. And... I guess, from the story presented in Faust Act and Fandemonium, I sort of thought that this was what WicDiv was supposed to be talking about. I thought it was going to be about doing something good even when life is fucking you. But instead it is a cautionary tale that that suggests you could have stopped getting fucked at any time if you had just gotten over yourself and said the magic words.

We spent half the comic watching Laura drag herself through the mud. Half the comic was focused on Her Mistakes, when so little of her circumstances were actually her fault. “Punish Ophelia until she gets over herself” is not at all what WicDiv meant to be about. I imagine the creators would be aghast to hear that’s what I got out of it. But the text is what the text is. While it is intended (and successful!) at being many other very good things, this one really bad thing is still part of that mix, and that sucks.

Maybe I should have picked up on the discrepancy between my read and the intent sooner. Probably I should have just done myself a favor and stop reading once I did.

2016, 2017 while my life was going a bit to shit, this comic was exactly what I needed. Being in the fandom made my life better and helped me meet cool new friends and get through some of the hardest shit to happen to me since I was a kid. Then in 2018, it slid into source of frustration and soured promise. Now at the end I have no idea if I liked it or not.

But that’s fine, now that it’s done. The ink is dry, the ritual is over. It’s just a comic book now. Some pictures I still love and some words I don’t always agree with. A lot of noise, arguable amounts of signal, but not a song I want to play on loop anymore.

I have no real conclusion to draw here. I respect at how firmly WicDiv rejects dark and unhealthy parts of being a professional creator- especially unhealthy things that are generally just accepted as Common Wisdom. I don’t think it took enough care in spelling out what it was rejecting, though, and I do think it was remiss in not finding good healthy things to embrace as an alternative.

All of the above notwithstanding, I have to give it credit for delivering almost exactly what I wanted in terms of lesbian nonsense. That ain’t nothing.

I give this series ?????/∞ and am happy to be safely clear of Kieron Gillen’s Wild Ride

#wicdiv #wicdiv spoilers #somewhat negative #its a mixed bag tbh

15 notes · View notes

vrylium · 6 years ago

Text

Sig’s Anthem Review

Verdict

BioWare’s Anthem is a genuinely fun and engaging experience that sabotages itself with myriad design, balance, and technical oversights and issues. It is a delicious cake that has been prematurely removed from the developmental oven - full of potential but unfit for general consumption in this wobbly state. Anthem is not a messianic addition to the limited pantheon of looter shooters because it has somehow failed to learn from the well-publicized mistakes of its predecessors.

Am I having fun playing Anthem? Absolutely. Does it deserve the industry’s lukewarm scores? Absolutely. But this is something of a special case. The live service model giveth and taketh away; we receive flexibility in exchange for certainty. Is Anthem going to be the same game six months from now? Its core DNA will always be the same, but we’ve already begun to see swift improvements that bode well for the future.

Will my opinion matter to you? It depends. When I first got into looter shooters I was shocked at how much the genre clicked with me. They are a wonderful playground for theory crafters, min/maxers, and mathletes like myself who find incomparable joy in optimizing builds both conventional and experimental by pushing the limits of obtainable resources ad infinitum. The end game grind is long and at times challenging as you make the jump to Grandmaster 1+ difficulty in search of top-tier loot to perfect your build. This is what looter shooters are all about.

If you don’t like the sound of that, you’ll probably drop Anthem right after finishing its campaign. But if you do like the sound of that, you might find yourself playing this game for years.

TL;DR: This game is serious fun, but is also in need of some serious Game & UI Design 101.

I wrote a lot more about individual aspects of the game beneath the read more, if you’re interested. I’ve decided not to give the game a score, I’m just here to discuss it after playing through the campaign and spending a few days grinding elder game activities. There are no spoilers here.

Gameplay

The Javelins are delightful. I’ve played all four of them extensively and despite identifying as a Colossus main I cannot definitively attach myself to one class of Javelin because they’re all so uniquely fun to play and master. Best of all, they’re miraculously balanced. I’ve been able to hold my own with every Javelin in Grandmaster 1+. Of course, some Javelins are harder to get the hang of than others. Storms don’t face the steep learning curve Interceptors do, but placed in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, both are equally as destructive on the battlefield.

I love the combo system. It is viscerally satisfying to trigger a combo, hearing that sound effect ring, and seeing your enemy’s health bar melt. Gunplay finally gets fun and interesting when you start obtaining Masterworks, and from there, it’s like playing a whole new game.

Mission objectives are fairly bland and repetitive, but the gameplay is so fun I don’t even mind. Collect this, find that, go here, whatever. I get to fly around and blow up enemies while doing it, and that’s what matters. Objectives could be better, certainly. Interesting objectives are vital in game design because they disguise the core repetitive gameplay loop as something fresh, but the loop on its own stays fresh long enough to break even, I feel.

The best part is build flexibility. Want to be a sniper build cutting boss health bars in half with one shot? I’ve seen it. Want to be a near-immortal Colossus wrecking ball who heals every time you mow down an enemy? You can. There are so many possibilities here. Every day I come across a new crazy idea someone’s come up with. This is an excellent game for build crafters.

But... why in the world are there so few cosmetic choices? A single armor set for each Javelin outside the Vanity store? A core component of looter shooters has always been endgame fashion, and on this front, BioWare barely delivers and only evades the worst criticism by providing quality Javelin customization in the way of coloring, materials, and keeping power level and aesthetics divorced. We’re being drip-fed through the Vanity store, and while I like the Vanity store’s model, there should have been more things permanently available for purchase through the Forge. Everyone looks the same out there! Where’s the variety?

Story, Characters, World

Anyone expecting a looter shooter like Anthem to feature a Mass Effect or Dragon Age -sized epic is out of their mind, but that doesn’t mean we have to judge the storytelling in a vacuum. This is BioWare after all. Even a campaign that flows more like a short story - as is the case with Anthem - should aspire to the quality of previous games from the studio. Unfortunately, it does not, but it comes close by merit of narrative ambience: the characters, the world’s lore, and their execution.

(For a long time I’ve had a theory that world building is what made the original Mass Effect great, not its critical storyline, which was basically a Star Trek movie at best. Fans fell in love because there were interesting people to talk to, complicated politics to grasp, and moral decisions to make along the way.)

While the main storyline of Anthem is lackluster and makes one roll their eyes at certain moments or bad lines, the world is immediately intriguing. Within Fort Tarsis, sophisticated technology is readily available while society simultaneously feels antiquated, echoing a temporal purgatory consistent with the Anthem’s ability to alter space-time. Outside the fort, massive pieces of ancient machinery are embedded within dense jungles in a way that suggests the mechanical predates nature itself. The theme of sound is everywhere. Silencing relics, cyphers hearing the Anthem, delivering echoes to giant subwoofers… It’s a fun world, it really is.

As for the characters… they might be some of the best from BioWare. They feel like real people. Rarely are they caricatures of one defining trait, but people with complex motives and emotions. Some conversations were boring, but the vast majority of the time I found myself racing off to talk to NPCs as soon as I saw yellow speech bubbles on the map after a mission. And don’t even get me started on the performances. They are golden.

The biggest issue with the story is that it’s not well integrated with missions. At times it feels like you’re playing two separate games: Fort Tarsis Walking/Talking Simulator and Anthem Looter Shooter. And the sole threads keeping these halves stitched together during missions - radio chatter - takes a back seat if you’re playing with randoms who rush ahead and cause dialogue to skip, or with friends who won’t shut the hell up so you can listen or read subtitles without distraction. I found it ironic that I soloed most of the critical story missions in a game that heavily encourages team play.

Technical Aspects: UI & Design

This is where Anthem has some major problems. God, this category alone is probably what gained the ire of most reviewers. The UI is terrible and confusing. There are extra menu tabs where they aren’t needed. The placement of Settings is for some inane reason not located under the Options button (PS4). Excuse me? It’s so difficult to navigate and find what you’re looking for. It’s ridiculously unintuitive.

Weapon inscriptions (stat bonuses) are vague and I’ve even seen double negatives once or twice. They come off as though no one bothered to proofread or edit anything for clarity. Just a bad job here all around. And to make matters worse, there is no character stat sheet to help us demystify any of the bizarre stat descriptions. We are currently using goddamn spreadsheets like animals. Just awful.

The list goes on. No waypoints in Freeplay. Countless crashes, rubber banding, audio cutouts, player characters being invisible in vital cutscenes, tethering warnings completely obscuring the flight overheat meter… Fucking yikes. Wading through this swamp of bugs and poor design has been grueling to say the least.

And now for the loot issues. Dead inscriptions on gear; and by dead I mean dead, as in “this pistol does +25% shotgun damage” dead (this has been recently patched but I still cannot believe this sort of thing made it to release). The entire concept of the Luck stat (chance to drop higher quality loot) resulting in Luck builds who drop like flies in combat and become a burden for the rest of the team. Diminishing returns in Grandmaster 2 and 3; it takes so long to clear missions on these difficulties without significant loot improvement, making GM2 and GM3 pointless when you could be grinding GM1 missions twice as fast.

At level 30, any loot quality below Epic is literal trash. Delete Commons, Uncommons, and most Rares as soon as you get them because they’re virtually useless. I have hundreds of Common and Uncommon embers and nothing to do with them. Why can’t we convert 5 embers into 1 of the next higher tier? Other looters have already done things like this to make progression omnipresent. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here, BioWare. It’s already been done for you.

When you get a good roll on loot, the satisfaction is immense. But when you don’t, and you won’t 95% of the time, you’ll feel like you’ve wasted hours with nothing to show for it. We shouldn’t be spending so much time hunting for useful things, we should be trying to perfect what’s already useful.

It’s just baffling to think that Anthem had the luxury of watching the messy release of several other looter shooters during Anthem’s development, yet proceed to make the same mistakes, and some even worse.

Nothing needs to be said about visuals. They are stunning, even from my perspective on a base PS4.

Sound design is the only other redeeming subcategory here. Sound design is amazing, like the OST. Traditional instrumentals meet alien synth seamlessly. Sarah Schachner is a seriously talented composer.

I’m just relieved to see the development team hauling ass to make adjustments. They’ve really been on top of it - the speed and transparency of fixes has been top-notch. They’re even working on free DLC already! A new region, more performances from the actors... I’m excited and hopeful for the future.

#siganthem

19 notes · View notes

roxyallnutt · 6 years ago

Text

Reflective journalism Kolb Cycle

The Marshmallow Challenge

Experience It seems only right to reflect on a Creative Technologies experience that left me questioning and reflecting days after the exercise actually took place. “The Marshmallow Challenge is a game for learning about innovation, creativity, teams, collaboration as well as the value of early prototyping and incremental delivery”, Wujec, (2018). I believe that this task sets a good representation of the common issues and challenges faced as designers in the Creative Technologies world.

"It's a simple task", Ricardo explained as he handed each group 15 sticks of raw spaghetti, a metre of masking tape and a baby pink marshmallow. The rules that followed were simple too. Construct the tallest freestanding structure with the resources given within an 18-minute timeframe. I worked in a group of semi unfamiliar faces. Because of this, I felt I had an advantage as there was no familiarity within the group members, there were no limits for expression and ideas due to the diversity and opportunities in a new group.

Firstly, I prefer working in teams like this. As an extroverted person, I enjoy new groups where I can voice issues and options while learning from fresh faces. Within the first five minutes of the challenge, I could pick up that the group was quite diverse in terms of engagement. We were divided between the talkative, the hands-on and the quiet. Our biggest problem was agreeing on what type of base, to begin with, and then worried about the height after. As most of us had no experience in this type of exercise it took a while for us to establish a concept worth pursuing, the time pressure wavering did not help. We began with a quick sketch and small discussion. We aimed for a tripod like frame with height increasing through the middle conjoint. We began with a triangular base which was made to add stability to the tower, then added spaghetti piece after piece to the middle frame. This lead to the final few minutes when the marshmallow was placed on top. Unfortunately, our second biggest issue was the actual placement of the marshmallow. 15 minutes had already passed and our marshmallow was untouched. I guess we figured that it was light and easily manipulated so it wouldn't be an issue. The second the marshmallow was added our structure began to topple to the right. Yikes, what a near miss. In the end, we completed the challenge with a semi-standing structure which we were proud of.

Observations As the timer eventually sounded I sighed in relief. We had a standing structure, but we just knew it wasn't the tallest of the class. I looked around the room to see a coalition of strange misshaped towers, many of which were not standing. I was annoyed with myself when I looked back to our structure. We were so invested in the base footing and time pressure that we seriously lacked in the height aspect and not much support was given to our surprisingly heavy little marshmallow to stand upon.

Tom Wujec (2018), explained: “the Marshmallow is a Metaphor for the Hidden Assumptions of a Project”. The lesson in the marshmallow challenge is that we need to identify the assumptions in our project-the real customer needs, the cost of the product, the duration of the service – and test them early and often. That’s the mechanism that leads to effective innovation.” From the combination of our discussion with Ricardo and readings into Wujec's finding, I understand why this exercise has a deep connection to my studies in BCT. Through the many projects and assignments, I am yet to experience, this exercise has taught me to be wary of each aspect of any project that needs stability and recognition in order for success. Any assumptions made may be the failure point in my design ideation. This was evidently seen by the many groups including us who did not factor in our marshmallow nearly enough.

In a later class discussion, Ricardo mentioned that "There will always be one that will sit back and take the back-foot". As mentioned before due to our team's diversity there were members that preferred to stay quiet and observe. While the challenge was highly competitive with a whole bag of lollies on the line, I wonder, if the challenge was also implemented to test a fresh team where each member needs to be equally involved. In situations like this exercise, it is very easy to become polarised by the more vocal leader, this was apparent in my group. This aspect restrains potential creativity from quieter members and lacks diversity in group involvement. Pirola‐Merlo, A., & Mann, L. (2004), this study explains how creativity in groups can be impacted by how much each person wants to contribute. I noticed that some members in my group decided to contribute their opinion only after the action was executed. For example, we used small bits of tape to bundle lots of two spaghetti stands together, it wasn't until after this was finished, a member spoke out and asked to complete bundles of 3 with more tape this time. Diversity in groups is important in the creative industries as team members are encouraged to contribute highly to avoid being one track minded by one leader. An improvement here could have been seen if my group ideated many possible designs together with the contribution from all rather than putting all our focus into one idea.

Reflect Our discussion with Ricardo concluded with the mention of preschool students thriving in this type of challenge environment compared to a class of business students. Basically, give them the same exact conditions for this project and watch as they prototype, refine and execute outstandingly. This made sense to me, pre-schooled students are inaudibly using the creative strategies "asking questions, comparing and contrasting solutions, evaluating solutions". Zachopoulou, E., Trevlas, E., Konstadinidou, E., & Archimedes Project Research Group. (2006). It is interesting to me how as I have grown up these strategies are forgotten and now are being re-established to me in a creative degree. It makes sense for preschool students to excel in exercises like this as their ability to rework and rework is natural to them. Ricardo explained how multiple groups in my class would begin the challenge with their plan, and then follow through from there. Exactly what we did. A method used by myself and my team members daily. "Planning the implementation of a chosen goal, however, poses a problem associated with different task demands." Bayer, U. C., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2005). We are typically engineered to consider the best way for success in these situations is too diverse a plan and execute accordingly. The greatest take away was to avoid the habit of planning a concept too early in the process and following it exactly. This completely limited our ability to make design changes, when issues arose during the challenge we did not stop and say let's try something new, we rather worked away until that aspect eventually worked for us.

Other skills that I have taken away: I am aware that there are more ways to implement problem-solving. I have also taken away second thoughts to my team contribution strategies. How a better-structured brainstorm or ideation can be facilitated to involve every member of the group rather than lead by one or two people. It is also significant for each team member to have the confidence to spot issues when ideas are going off track and voice them in a non-critical way. A combination of these lessons to take away will become useful in future projects and assignments.

If I can take any main thing away from this challenge it would be that the marshmallow is a metaphor for hidden assumptions of any given project. This is a valuable lesson and one that is sure to be the make or break motive in projects to come I'm certain. I intend to practise the awareness of the marshmallows that are hidden in creative assignments to come.

References:

Wujec, T. (2018). Applying the Marshmallow Challenge in a Research Method.

Pirola‐Merlo, A., & Mann, L. (2004). The relationship between individual creativity and team creativity: Aggregating across people and time

Bayer, U. C., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2005). Mindset effects on information search in self‐evaluation.

Zachopoulou, E., Trevlas, E., Konstadinidou, E., & Archimedes Project Research Group. (2006). The design and implementation of a physical education program to promote children’s creativity in the early years.

#CTEC502

1 note · View note

themanicgalaxy · 4 years ago

Text

SPN 2X12 Night Shifter

aiht let’s see if that bread pudding is any good

....they’re...holding people hostage?

ah it’s tangle with the law time I see

and shapeshifter time? I wasn’t paying that much attention

oooo conspiracy theorist! And in a turn of events, he’s actually helpful

I mean he’s vaguely xenophobic(vs. chinese and russians), but helpful?

There’s commentary to be had about paranoia, monsters and xenophobia but it will Never Be Explored I’ll bet

the glow eyes kinda look like grace

Sam goes kinda fed-y, and Dean dislikes

“stay in the dark and stay alive” but Dean dislikes, does this say something? I mean probably, but let’s not examine it wheeee

how much does Dean know to bs about technology? cuz he seems quite knowledgable

holy hell this tastes....exactly like the Disney bread pudding. Same level of just...cholesterol and weird flavors

HELL YEAH

Ok fine more Dean playboy behavior

Ah and he spots it

Ronald what the fuck

and he’s all yelling and panicked yike

Dean appeals to him? Charisma 100

and manages to get the gun pointed at HIM THE SELF SACRIFICIAL BASTARD

whatever the moral is gonna be I don’t think I’m gonna like it oh boy

Sam getting so annoyed at Dean getting praised for self sacrifice is FUNNY

ope the cops are here

The guy’s like “I’m not crazy” i mean yes but you also endangered a lot of people

Dean getting pissy at the cops

SAM IS GETTING SO PISSED IT’S SO FUNNY

Ah so it goes after Dean again

why is Sam so pissy today

Dean is desperately trying to mediate and get his job done ha

Do i like the apologetic thing? nah, but I appreciate the “working with what we’ve got” angle

OOO COOL SHOT WITH THE POLICE CAR LIGHTING AND THE WINDOW

ah and heart attack and the whole “who can we trust thing”

listen, shapeshifter storylines like that? inherently interesting, I’ll give it that

OOO AND FOUND THE DEAD BODY!

OH FUCK SNIPER

also they had really good shaky cam earlier this episode I appreciated that

and the music cut and slow-mo also really really worked in this scene, I appreciated that

ah and the clear threat assessment when he looks at the cops

Yep ur screwed

His fucking...ringer is...rock music...Dean you fucking cliche

HENDRICKSON? WAIT I’VE HEARD OF THIS GUY

OHO I’M EXCITED INTRO TO PLOT THAT ISN’T CHRISTIANITY

AND THEY GO FOR D E A N OF COURSE

that little interaction between Dean and Sheri was interesting.

ah his personalized FBI agent

Ah still hero-worshipping his dad

I do like the cheekiness on both sides I’m excited

Oop and Sam spots the blood to find the next victim

is it Sheri? it looks like Sheri

AH THE CORPSE! THEY(it?) ADAPTED THE STRATEGY

FEDS IN THE BUILDING!! AND THE AVOIDANCE BEGINS

OH THE SMACK FROM THE SHAPESHIFTER GOT ME

I SAW IT COMING TOO GODDAMMIT

the slither and the blood tho, that looks cool

OO THAT’S A COOL ENDING SHOT WITH HER JUST SUPER MESSED UP

Once again violence against women making the point yadayada, still a cool shot

AND THEY VANISHED???

THEY STOLE A SWAT UNIFORM HOLY SHIT

I like the song, I don’t know it though

THE FUCKING SONG

THE JIG IS UP, THE NEWS IS OUT, THEY FOUND ME BAHAHAHA

That was so Fucking jarring oh my god

This song is CATCHY damn

it’s Styx, Renegade, so yes, on brand

aight wrap-up:

1. Cinematography and basic film stuff? excellent. The filter was helping the vibe, the shots were cool, shaky cam was sparingly and properly used to convey off kilter emotions, the sound cutting made sense. Very technically well done, I enjoyed it.

2. So much happened this episode, and while I’m not entirely clear on how much I like everything that did, character wise, I did like the “go with the flow” and how fucking much it progressed. Like it was nice having a plot episode that barely dragged.

3. The storyline, no trust, bank heist thing? cool concept, interesting execution, genuinely suspenseful and batshit in a lot of places. Good play on the tropes involved, I very much appreciated

4. getting to the FBI stuff means I’m very curious to see what’s gonna happen

5. That fucking song choice at the end KILLED ME. Like yes, good song, but “we are so screwed” following by the scream-sung lyrics of THE JIG IS UP was just...hilarious

6. Oh i do need the serious note of Sam being more pissy, Dean being laid-back and the hero-worship he still has for his dad. That is important to note.

okie onward!

#pawswatchesspn #2x12 Night Shifter #solidsolid episode #that's how you do plot episode #more of this pls

0 notes

localrobosexual · 7 years ago

Text

regarding Soundwave and Shockwave

hey everyone! I’d like to take a moment of your time if I may to talk about my Protogen and Disquette characters since yesterday someone tried to get in an argument with me about them over on instagram and I’d like to clear a few things up. I did the same on my insta but thought I’d make a post here as well since the info I shared I think is pretty beneficial and helps to better explain these characters to those who are unfamiliar or confused. Heads up, this might get a little long!

now before I get started I just want to state that the issue has been resolved (at least, I’m pretty sure, the other party hasn’t responded to me since yesterday (in fact they never even responded to me at all, someone else was conversing with them about it because the argument took place while I was offline. I pointed them in the direction of this explanation TWICE and I’m pretty sure they never even read it pfffftt yikes) so I think we’re all good lmao) okie dokie? cool let’s get into it

to provide context, the opposing party's argument was that, and I quote, "This is just shockwave and Soundwave in another species not your ocs :^/"

first and foremost: yes, these characters are based off of and inspired by their respective Transformer counterparts. That was the whole point. However, they're not interchangeable! I used the basis of the original Soundwave and Shockwave as a foundation on which to build off of. Their personalities and who they are as a character has evolved and become something entirely different from the source material. They're SIMILAR, yes (again, that's the whole point), but they're not the same

plenty of people have done this before me. rotten.rabbitt on instagram, for example, has two such characters like these: a canine TFA Bumblebee and a Springtrap character that they use as a sona. The user soundwave.protogen also had the same idea as me and apparently created a Soundwave protogen character as well, though as of writing this they still haven't shown their version publicly and have not posted anything since May (bit off topic but I also had a bit of a falling out with them a while ago bc they were concerned about who would get to keep their character since we both happened to make a protogen with the same concept. Mine came first, but as I've also reassured them, I really don't mind! It was a pure coincidence that we happened to have the same idea, and as seen by the short bio they wrote out for their protogen, our characters are very different from one another. We can both approach the same idea in our own unique ways, and since neither of us actually own the rights to the original Soundwave, we kinda aren't at liberty to say who can have one and who can't. As long as their designs don't look obviously copied off of one another, I'm totally cool with it!). I've seen protogen designs for characters from Nightmare Before Christmas, Gravity Falls, and the video game Prey. I've seen a Marionette design and a Bumblebee design and an Espeon design, and even one based on Evangelion's Unit 01! what I'm trying to emphasize here is that people have done this plenty of times before me. Their characters eventually grow and change over time as the artist develops them so they become something different from the source material while still staying true to the inspiration behind them.

now, as far as my ocs are concerned, this difference is better showcased on their respective toyhou.se pages, where I actually write out and go a bit more into detail as to who they are as a character.

is TFA Shockwave a talkative, extroverted, life-of-the-party type who's a bit of a gossip but would never admit to it? Of course not! TFA Shockwave is a cunning, sneaky, deceptive double agent. He's an excellent spymaster and very loyal to Megatron and the Decepticon cause (a cause which, mind you, my Disquette doesn't follow. He doesn't know it exists) is TFP Soundwave a quiet, introverted, clever and reserved type who enjoys puzzles and problem solving and learning new things about each of the planets he's sent to observe and document? Not really! TFP Soundwave is brutal, silent, and extremely dangerous. He executes each mission with flawless precision and almost never loses a fight. He's terrifyingly skilled and also very loyal to Megatron (who, once again, doesn't exist to my characters)

seeing more of their differences now? :0 aspects of the TF inspirations are similar, and clearly based on them, but are not quite the same

Shockwave: smooth talker, deceptive, manipulative =/= talkative and a good conversationalist head of Cybertron intel/communications officer =/= data analyst and archivist, security surveillance specialist double agent & spy =/= generally very good at keeping secrets and info Soundwave: took a vow of silence =/= generally silent, almost never talks to those he isn't extremely close to brutal and cunning fighter and strategist =/= reserved but willing to assert his presence if the situation calls for it, very capable of handling himself extremely loyal to Megatron =/= instinctually very protective of those he's close to

now, regarding their (current as of writing this, bc Soundwave’s gonna be getting a revamp pretty soon) designs:

outright skinning is not allowed during the Protogen creation process, and colorpicking is also a practice generally pretty frowned upon in the art community (at least over on instagram it is). I made sure their palettes were similar enough to obviously have been inspired by TFs but not to the exact same colorpicked/skinned design. When I commissioned andaeroos (owner of the Disquette species) for Shockwave I made sure to first ask permission for this character to be based off of another, and if they'd allow that. I wanted to make sure both parties were on board and ok with it

to conclude, yes, these characters and based off of and inspired by their respective Transformer counterparts, but they're not the exact same character "as a different species". They have nods and hints in both their personalities and designs that give homage to those inspirations, that they were the foundation, but have since been built into something new. They're not one in the same.

I love these characters of mine with all my soul and they're not gonna change who they are anytime soon. In the relatively short several months that I've had them they've quickly grown to be some of my favorite ocs and hold a very special place in my heart.

if you've made it this far, congrats, it’s the end! thanks so much for reading! I hope this cleared up some stuff! and please, if you have any questions about these two at any point in time, feel free to send them my way! :0 I love love LOVE getting to talk about my ocs aaaaa

#words of meg #meg's ocs #soundwave protogen #shockwave disquette #does this count as discourse I sURE HOPE NOT PFFFFFFTT #if they come back though hey the block button's a thing so I mean #¯\_(ツ)_/¯#I'm not mad about it though it's whatever #I'm not about to get upset over somebody on the internet who reposts art without credit and has 'hound is my daddy' in their bio lmAOOOOOOO #anyways YE pretty sure all is well and good now #or at least I'll make it that way lmao

16 notes · View notes

esseastri · 7 years ago

Text

Megan Reads Oathbringer (part 7)

blerg, I wanted to hit page 500 in the last chunk o’ liveblog, but alas. We continue on. This book is just too dense, the liveblog posts are too long and I will continue to mention that in every one of these posts, ‘cause it’s wild just how much is in here!

Part 7 encompasses pages 476-557 (previous parts)

OOOOOOOH JASNAH POV!!!!

hey, her art bubble is the old Shallan art bubble. that’s...boring. why doesn’t she get her own?

I’m emotional about Taln forever and ever

Jasnah being paranoid about her safety and assassins and stuffing her ventilation shaft with cloths is...so... You don’t expect Jasnah to be scared, but here she is. It makes perfect sense--she got stabbed through the chest, of course she’s scared--but she’s so poised and in control, you just don’t expect it.

OMG Jasnah had back up files of her notes!!! That’s brilliant.

spanreeds are so cool

do we know which type of spren Ivory is? if we do I don’t remember.

just keep reading, Megan, they’ll tell you. Inkspren. ...of course.

also, I’d been wondering how Jasnah was “broken”--since all the Radiants are--and somehow I never expected childhood illness. that’s a logical breaking point, but I never even thought of it.

THERE WAS A JASNAH AND HOID’S MOST EXCELLENT ADVENTURE!!! THERE WAS!!! I’VE BEEN ROBBED!!!

but also, wtf did she learn, what did she learn from him. I’m guessing it’s the same thing the Stormfather refused to tell Dalinar... about all ten orders returning.

god, I really, really hope that my theory about them replacing the Heralds is wrong. I don’t want that. ..

(It’s a good theory though; the first new members of the ten orders all make a new Oathpact at the end of the fifth book. the back five are about their first time breaking and the first Desolation post-this one. It’s awful and I don’t want it, but you gotta admit, it’s an interesting theory, at least in a meta way.)

also I’m sad no one likes the honorspren. Syl is such a good. then again, she’s different than her peeps, she always says.

gaahhh, the Moash chapters are killing me every time I see that patchless shoulder I just die a lil bit inside

“Compared to bridge duty, this was paradise.” I’M CRYING??? This is so, so much the ‘I did that, so I can survive anything’ mentality and I’m cry.

okay, but can all of the Fused use all of the Surges? or do they all do different things? Do they have the equivalent of radiant orders?

(I’m going to be so excited if Moash gets a spren, but I feel like he maybe has to take responsibility for his actions first...)

aaahh Moash is taking the Kaladin route of “I don’t care about these people but storm it, I’m helping them anyway”.

OH SHIT Those are the ones who Kaladin helped, aren’t they... they brought “a false god” that was Kaladin shit shit shit they are getting punished for him. He would die if he knew, oh god.

AAAHH MOASH IS A GOOD “You’re becoming like us” Ohhhh goooddd yep. yep. wow. Be better. Do better. The theme of this book, and I love it. I LOVE MOASH AAHHH

punk!Dalinar not being allowed to fight is wild.

OOOHH THEY DIDN’T TELL HIM HE’S BEEN HURTING PEOPLE?? WHY!!!!?? YOU GOTTA TELL HIM HE’S DESTROYING PEOPLE’S LIVES BY BEING A BLACKOUT DRUNK AND FIGHTING PEOPLE

THAT’S NOT A GOOD THING AND HE SHOULD KNOW THAT

his name means “born unto light” oh my god that’s delightful oh my god

ohno. you should not send Dalinar back to war, u should keep him at home and maybe find him a therapist to talk to him about the Thrill...

FLYING KHOLINS AHOY!!

“something profoundly disconcerting about being out on the ocean” disconcerting? You’ve misspelled exciting.

They are holding hands while flying that’s adorable

I love that it’s “Elhokar’s team” when we all know Kaladin will end up in charge, much to Adolin’s chagrin...

No comment on what Dalinar’s hair looks like all windswept, obviously that means he’s been windswept into full greaser-style pompadour.

“shellheads” really? wtf. you didn’t call them that before. it’s only after they gain sentience that you give them derogatory nicknames?

High King Dalinar founding his own kingdom is wild to think about...

All of Navani’s scribes and engineers are so excitable. I love it.

Dalinar sneaking about without guards is nervewracking. Pls be safe, buddy.

“what else were important lighteyes going to do with unmotivated children?” Uuh...motivate them? Don’t just throw them aside to the church and expect them to drain resources by doing nothing for the rest of their lives? Find some way for them to be productive members of society? Why is this such a hard concept?

Fucking lighteyes

“He was RURAL Alethi he CAN’T be a HERALD” fuck off, Kadash. Kaladin is from a backwater and he’s a Radiant. And Taln wasn’t a king. We know this.

“No spiritual basis for rule” seems like a good thing to me...separation fo church and state and all that...

Something I’m not surprised that Vorinism sucks ass at caring for the mentally ill...

Yeah, ok, but who cut Taln’s wall from the outside? one of the other Heralds? Someone who still has their honorblade? Or some...Diagram/Ghostblood/SonofHonor mofo who realized before we did that Taln is a Herald? I’M CONCERNED FOR MY ANCIENT BROKEN SON

“Lately, he didn’t much like himself.” Noooooo, Moaaaashhh!! I still like you! A lot!!!

I am absolutely delighted that the Fused point their toes when they are flying. My synchronized swimming ass is just...DELIGHTED

“You don’t farm an apocalypse.” heheheh

The tavern is called the Fallen Tower? really? Dalinar’s army fell at the Tower... and Bridge Four saved them. really.

omg noooo noooooooooo no

nooo

nooooooooo

that’s

a lumberyard. and

ladderruns. that’s the same damn thing oh god

no, I don’t want this.

Let Moash Live 2k17

There’s a weird trend of swapping PoVs in the middle of a chapter. I’m not used to it.

“They acted like they owned her already.” I mean...they kinda do, Shallan. You kinda fucked up with them.

“without her having to remain at the meeting” hon, you are needed at the meetings for reasons other than your mapmaking skills??

“I am my own woman” teeeechnically, you’re...what, Taravangian’s subject now? Right, he’s in charge of Vedenar.

Evi deserves better than punk!Dalinar. Him yelling at her because she invaded his manly man-space is gross and he should stop

Navani just chilling with Evi and Ialai is wild. I legit can’t imagine them all getting along.

Also, I love that Renarin’s name is just a name. I love the convoluted meaning of nothing. it’s great.

Evi is a Good and she! deserves! better!

oh god babies

tiny, tiny babies

Evil flying chulls!! Tiny Adolin is too cute oh god

Just writing down that page 519 is the glyph alphabet. That’s important, you know. :)

NanKhet’s list of assassination attempts and then his like... banquet of executions. is some Greek mythology shit up in here. That’s #yikes

Pastry chef scholar man! I love it! I love that there aRE people in Vorin lands who don’t adhere to Vorinism’s gender roles, people who think gender roles are for squares.

Hello Darkness My Old Friend has waaay too many names. Nakku, Nalan, Nale. This is why I just still call him Hello Darkness.

“Did you misplace her?” One does not simply misplace Lift.

They keep talking about how Thaylen City was super wrecked by the Everstorm and that’s fair, but like...has anyone heard from Shin? Talk about being unprotected for a wrong-way highstorm...

Jasnah reflexively sucking in Stormlight the second Amaram appears in the doorway is Big Mood.

“Other than the fact that you are a detestable buffoon who acheives only the lowest level of mediocrity, as it is the best your limited mind can imagine? I can’t possibly think of a reason.” GOD FUCKING BLESS.

“Give me an excuse. I dare you.” BIGGEST MOOD EVER OH MY GOD

yeah, you run away. fucker.

“The Windrunner” “the flying bridgeman” “brightlord broodingeyes” HE HAS A NAME, LADIES. He has a name.

I’m super tired of everyone--especially Jasnah--underestimating and disregarding Renarin.

And then he goes and does COOL SHIT LIKE FIND THE RESONATING LIBRARY!!!!??

Also, Jasnah can infuse gems with light? wacky fun.

oohh LIghtweaving isn’t just light it’s “and various waveforms” Renarin’s LIghtweaving is super different from Shallan’s isn’t it!!? I can’t want to see MOAR SURGES

Nooooo, Moash.... you gotta do the Kaladin thing! You can’t let go! Look at you, you are already helping the people he helped. You can’t stop yourself any more than he could. You’re not here to let go. You’re here to remember how to care.

Moash bby, I know you are prone to stupid decisions, but please...please don’t do anything stupid...

.........like that.

okay, creepy flying in charge lady. is creepy.

Okay, teaching the parshmen how to spear is good? sort of? from a certain point of view.

Ooooh Rlain pov!!! That’s new and interesting.

you know why is he here? How did he not get eaten by the first Everstorm?

HECK YE ALL FIVE LADY SCOUT WINDRUNNER SQUIRES HEEECKKK YYESSSSS

THEMS MY GIRLS

“He loved them because they did try.” Aaaahhhhh

“That’s like...extra manly.” I’m not sure that’s how being gay works, but I’ma roll with it. :D

“I guess it’s just a thing men say. Can you tell me how it feels?” “I can try.” KALADIN IS A GOOD WHO IS TRYING VERY HARD AND RLAIN IS ALSO A GOOD WHO IS TRYING VERY HARD AND I’M EMOTIONAL

I am so glad they are Trying Together.

That is an interesting question...did the magic stagnate them? stop people from being interested in finding non-magic ways of doing things? not just steel, but like...idk, indoor plumbing and better ways of farming, or anything that a Soulcaster can do. Why would you need better ways when you have the magic way?

It’s a very Harry Potter Wizard Wolrd mentality, tbh.

Oh shit, the Recreance was 2k years AFTER the Heralds bugged out and broke the Oathpact? That’s a long time for them to keep going without their leaders? and then to suddenly stop after all that time? whyyyy

what did they learn? about their spren? Jasnah knows.

Oh no!!!

nooo

he can hear the spren dying!!!???? OH NOOO

OH SNAP

WHAT

UM??? WHAT

THE FUCK?

HOW DID HE HACK DALINAR’S VISION?? WHERE DID HE COME FROM? HOW DID HE GET HERE? HOW DANGEROUS IS HE IN THIS FORM? HOW IS HE HERE?

WHAT

HAPPENING

god, how many times did Dalinar rely on the Thrill? that’s got to leave some kind of bond, some connection. Something Odium can exploit.

God, it’s still really weird to think of Odium--the bad guy--as light, gold, white. it’s refreshing, but also wtf

Ah, fuck off, you’re not a god. The Shardholders are not gods. They’re just dudes with extra powerful magic. Ask Sazed.

God, okay, the STormfather is so. scared. wtf.

Oooohh, he hasn’t gotten Cultivation yet. She’s hidden and he’s bound--not very well if he’s here now, but still.

Can she help us?

Why does he...have to kill people? Is it because he’s the avatar of hatred of something else?

...interesting. Passion.

..........interesting that the Thaylens worship the Passions.

Also, I resent that if he’s All Sorts of Emotion/Passion, there’s the implication that all emotion eventually leads to violence, and I RESENT THAT SO HARD

oh snap, Cultivation is the Nightwatcher? What? I did not expect that...

goes further to the None of the Three Shards Are Good or Bad

though Odium might be lying...

what the shit

was that the Odium hell planet?

Did....did Lift just... scare him away?

I’m increaingly thinking shes got a bit of Cultivation in her. She’s not just a kiddo, and not just a Radiant, there’s something funky going on with her, and I think it’s something powerful enough to scare Odium.. hm...

EEEEYYYYY END PART TWO!!!!!

eww gross, Taravangian AND Venli? Bad interludes are bad. Where’s Szeth? I miss him.

#op #Megan reads OB #Oathbringer spoilers #I was sick so I missed a few days of reading whoops #and then I was on a plane #and as we all know from previous experience some of my best liveblogging is done on planes :D #Stormlight Archive #Oathbringer #Brandon Sanderson

17 notes · View notes

devilishdewitt · 5 years ago

Text

“Real Variety Show”, April 2019

Ah, dearest darling, hello!

Missed me?)

I feel like exploring new territory, care to join me?

A new format, to be precise.

I’m gonna call this…Short’n’Sweet.

First things first, the most important part of any review I shall ever write:

~The Eternal Disclaimer~

It is hereby declared that this little nook of the world wide web shall be devoted to the praise & critique of the art of Burlesque, specifically in Russia.

Let it also be known that I am first and foremost a benevolent force, and every single criticism is documented solely for the purpose of evolution, growth and inspiration, darling.

Never forget - it is fantastic that the burlesque scene in Russia has grown so much in the last few years. Brava, ladies! As a fact and a statement, it is absolutely fabulous.

However, I volunteer to wear the heavy crown of expertise, having seen many a show in many a place, and having a keen eye for detail and a heart hungry for that wow factor.

I always come with an open heart, am quite easily entertained, and know how hard the craft is - I can overlook many a fault when there’s stage presence, charisma and that fire of passion.

Oh, and self-irony.

All is sickly without self-irony.

Now, onwards! To fabulousness!

As we’re all busy, busy bees, my darlings - and I have already pirouetted my penmanship talent in before you in quite an unapologetic way, I shall indeed keep this short’n’sweet.

Though there’s not that much sweetness in this edition…

Leelah Zharkaya & Lyalya Bezhetskaya have now ventured into the tumultuous waters of dark cabaret, creating the “Real Variety Show”.

Same team, new...concept?

Being an avid admirer of the genre, I’ve been keeping an eye on its progress in Moscow and I must say, it’s not quite as fruitful as one could hope.

The Dark Cabaret Festival did not live up to expectations - mostly because of the confusion of the producers. It seemed like only 2 out of 10 organisers actually understood what Dark Cabaret is all about.

Well, in this case it’s more like 1/10.

I keep wondering why Dark Cabaret is having such a tough time in Moscow. It would seem that we have the perfect formula for it - the layers of natural national darkness, self-irony, a plague-feast mentality…what are we lacking?

Good taste, perhaps, and the understanding of the tender, intricate nuances.

Scroll up, darling, and take a look at the poster. It does indeed convey the atmosphere quite accurately.

The venue? Tolerable.

Imagine that you walk in, make your way to the auditorium, and find yourself encountering a lady singing with a noose. Singing with a noose? Kitty Orlova is uber-talented, and the noose did no one any harm (I hope), but somehow it just fell flat.

What was the intention? This is left unclear.

The story. The Narrator is the son of a legendary circus performer who mysteriously disappeared

(you’ll never guess who plays her)

(hint - it’s the director).

He takes us down memory lane, showing the quirks, kinks and kindness of each new character (usually Uncle Something or Aunt Someone).

Why not, darling, why the hell not.

This time round The Narrator was actually tolerable. As if he found a muscle of sincerity and tenderness that worked with the (extremely poorly written) story. In fact, he had moments of sheer brilliance when ad-libbing with the audience. He is no doubt a talented fellow, perhaps he just needs to find his director.

It must be said - Leelah’s creativity is ingenious at times. Some of her acts have incredible and well-executed ideas, a coldness that makes German divas of the 30’s envious and true emotion to captivate the audience. But there is something deeply off-putting about 80% of her stage presence, a nerve that adds a tinge demanding adoration…and not in an exciting way. At times there’s something porcelain about her, and at other times - something so self-absorbed, you’re not sure why you were invited.

Bezhetskaya, on the other hand, is warm. She adores (most of) her audience and the audience responds. Some of her ideas are fantastic, and you can see her beautiful attention to details, humour, playfulness, enjoyment of her own body and craft…but then what leaves a sour taste? Somehow the atmosphere just doesn’t come together. It sometimes feels as if she pretends to be something she is not - but what is this object of pretence?

Whoever put that wig and costume on Din-Din is either phenomenally cruel or innocently blind. But if they are blind, all of the people around them, who can in fact see, are phenomenally cruel. Give the girl a break!

Xana. Brilliance. Her Harlequin act is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Marrying acrobatics, heartfelt narrations and a bombacious attitude makes her an absolute feast for the eyes, mind and senses.

Now, I am quite biased about the poet Zkhous. I must admit I love him fondly, since the Dark Cabaret festivals! As always, he was he dear neurotic self and the poetry was as crude as it was lovely.

Orlova, Chess Queen, Lipsync?! What?! On a stage as tiny as this?! With her gorgeous voice?

Also, this act always confuses much, There’s so much going on, she always gets lost in the multitude of actions and doesn’t actually breathe in the story.

Janina Barabash…the voice gimmick was good.

That’s all.

That Silent Movie act…I don’t even know what it was. She’s surrounded by experienced mentors…couldn’t anyone ask her what the hell she was doing? Amoebing around with a velvet ribbon…okay.

Elisha the poodle! Excellent. As always. A story about purpose told through the sex appeal of a Furry. Elisha certainly found his niche and excels at it.

Marilyn Monroe’s “Daddy”. A song CREATED for an enticing act.

Apologies, my vocabulary completely abandons me here. This was unapologetically dreadful. I won’t even bore myself with analysing it. Amateur at its worst.

Madame Irenushkin as the trench-coated shooter…triumph of vulgarity. Shooting at the audience is mauvais-ton in any professional theatre, but if only that was the only sin…One word - sloppy.

Oh, how the audience perked up at the magical word Шашлыки (barbecue)!

KittenTits McGee! Shaving act! Sheer GENIUS. That girl is a marvel and I’ll never tire repeating it. The music, the rhythm, the concept, the layered references - FLAWLESS.

If I’m being nit-picky, the only thing I’d add is playing the pain of epilation more precisely - no one can escape the 4-second agony when that wax comes off.

Agneta Lincheskvaya, a rare guest in Moscow, made an appearance as Aunt Blanche with her “Streetcar named Desire” act. She is unapologetically her own brand and it works - her mix of confidence and fragility, her unique features, her dance skills and her gorgeous depth made the performance stand out. Enticing.

Long Live Aristocratic Erotism!

“Oh, I know! Let’s take the backing track of Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” and write a whole new song about SHOES!”

Well…hm.

Beautiful neon concept by Lyalya. Gorgeous self-irony.

But Kitty and Lyalya had ZERO chemistry. Kitty was just…standing there, by the side, kind of out of the lights, singing a song with very mediocre lyrics, seemingly uncomfortable.

Why must it be so?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - endlessly re-playing the most banal gender stereotypes is exhausting. Re-affirming society of it’s deepest, roughest shortcomings (especially in Russia), is part of reason why society is in a state it’s in.

The final thought was poetic - “you must treasure hearts”. If only someone for a second thought of taking care of our audience hearts…

And, as always, the bow and the dreaded kiss.

Ladies, no one enjoys it apart from a few troubled, greasy men in the audience and you (which I doubt). A hint of a chance of a kiss would be more in tune with the nature of Burlesque, Dark Cabaret and the gorgeous culture of variety show.

Subtlety.

Teasing…

But I guess it’s all a matter of taste, isn’t it?

The next instalment of this groups creativity is called “Vampires on the beach” and is announced as “the best HElloween in town”.

I’m afraid the only word that comes to mind is...yikes.

Though the artwork is excellent.

PPS

Curious how this “short’n’sweet” idea actually turned into a decent sized text. Apologies! My muse could not be tamed, darling!

#Lyalya Bezhetskaya #variety show #burlesqueinrussia #russian burlesque #burlesque

0 notes

luminousbeingsweare-blog · 8 years ago

Text

WP ProfitBuilder 2.0 review Up-to-date News Information

Make your landing page trustworthy and also protected. Every landing page ought to have connect to call info, terms of solution as well as a privacy disclosure. Supply numerous methods to contact you. Use at the very least e-mail, instant messages, and also twitter for interaction networks. When possible, likewise give a contact number. A/B testing can be a helpful strategy in developing a landing page generator. Customer convenience and capability screening is as vital for mobile pages as for sites checked out online through desktops. Aim to establish an A & B variation in your landing page, this could assist you see just what does and also does not collaborate with the variations you make. Whichever one wins should be your irreversible option. All QR codes must be linked to a mobile enhanced landing page. When someone scans a code it has to be usable on a wise phone. It appears logical, yet it is mind numbing the large numbers of firms who've published a code on a mailer or nationwide advertisement as well as it connects to a desk leading internet website, a negative YouTube video clip or sometimes, yikes, a PDF. Customer experience, obviously, is right out the home window. This suggests that they need to be simple as well as with tab to call or tab to click. Several people have seen the possibility to reach numerous hundreds of mobile consumers. Strategy in advance with a great looking web page and also attract attention from the rest. The construction of a landing page, is uncomplicated yet if you are not an experienced internet customized, the ideal would certainly be to look for an expert that has proficiency in developing mobile web pages.

ProfitBuilder 2 Things To Know Before You Buy

Overall, WP Profit Builder is a very easy to use plugin for any person wanting to produce their own personal improve landing, gross sales, advertising and marketing or enroll web pages. Damn, that’s really a wp profit builder drop – Have you ever obtained purpose tracking setup in GA to see exactly what the lead to may be? educating what you realize to other individuals is a superb on the web small business model. Possessing been a previous classroom teacher I Track down this wp profit builder being a constructive aspect of executing organization on the net. Even If you don't have this kind of official instruction you might locate that sharing info with people is a wonderful way to get paid a residing. Hello Adam and thanks to your seriously usefull recommendation! do you think that we could use optimizepress inside zoho crm and zoho campaign? if it s not possible do you know anyother tool who will permit it? many thanks Just picked up PB and also have however to determine how to find the optin kind to operate. I duplicate and pasted the html code from Mailchimp, but the e-mail is not really visiting the checklist. Any ideas why that may be? Hello Adam, thanks for the unbiased info – it’s very refreshing and a very good study. In my seek for an honest marketing-similar site builder plugin I came across WP Profit Builder ( ), the profits site of which has still left me very impressed indeed. Just wanted to talk to whether or not you might have checked it out your self? Also, I really like your notion about developing a book on this, I’ve obtained Several other guides I’m working on which I want to complete first but I surely see a great deal of benefit in developing a thing that addresses off all the technical set up. wonderful Leadpages different for those who You should not wp profit builder would like to pay a regular membership price. This landing webpage builder has it all. Using the sheer range of possibilities, and a significant and developing template library WP Profit Builder is often a deserving contender when wp profit builder it involves developing highly converting advertising and marketing web pages. The Profit Builder Review above is an especially extensive one particular, but as I did Using the in depth OptimizePress two.0 evaluation, I'll settle for online video requests. allow me to know if you want to see something specific. if you'd like to know, chances are high Other folks will wp profit builder likewise. I procured Profit Builder mainly because I was drawn in by a few of the magnificent hunting attributes, and was wondering if This might certainly be a low cost different to OptimizePress two.0. I’d prefer to imagine that I’ve enabled you to create an educated acquiring conclusion soon after viewing this Profit Builder overview. There’s in all probability a better Resolution but I didn’t possess the time to uncover it so I went for the simple alternative. The customization options depend upon an convenient to use drag-and-fall builder and you may make a choice from their expanding library of pre-produced templates.

Everything about WP Profit Builder 2.0

When you are starting in mobile advertising and marketing, you have to discover every little thing you could concerning exactly how mobile phones job and also exactly how they present information so you could customize your advertisement product appropriately. Going out to a cell phone store. Play about on as several smart devices as you can. Familiarizing yourself with gadgets that your customers use helps you comprehend how mobile customers will certainly see your site. Enlighten yourself. Discover everything you could when it come to establishing your company online. This includes discovering tourist attraction marketing, web page development as well as maintenance (preferably a blog for its interactivity), Search Engine Optimization, WP ProfitBuilder, pay-per-click projects, traffic generation, split testing, how to obtain greater conversions, etc. As soon as you have a general concept of exactly how all these things function, you can ultimately contract out several of these tasks, yet it is absolutely needed to understand exactly how each piece functions and just how they all interact. Why? Since you will certainly be able to fix much better if you are not obtaining your wanted results. By grasping one form of advertising and marketing you will obtain efficient it as well as establish a system that works for you. Only after that need to you add one more type of advertising and marketing to your mix. Automated digital advertising and marketing is just one of the methods for you to solely communicate with your customers. It genuinely is even more of a business require nowadays compared to a choice. A great deal even more individuals take advantage of the web for browsing services and products business. You need to follow your market as well as supply your services where they anticipate to find you. This direct advertising type is extremely simple to track, as well as you'll assess return of investments immediately. As soon as you arrangement your ad, you have to tell the ad where to take the site visitors. This is where a lot of people slip up. The majority of ads take you to the web page of the site. However the homepage has a great deal of details that could leave the visitor shed. A better alternative would certainly be to create a page particularly designed for your ad. This is called a landing page. I make use of Unbounce. They are a leadpages business. It produces beautiful landing pages in minutes. You can also evaluate several variations of a landing page to see which one your visitors communicate with the best. I make use of video clip landing pages. The exact same video that gets on the site is on the landing page. I don't want to mess the web page with a great deal of text, so video clip landing pages are an excellent remedy. The 10 Min Foreign exchange Wide range Contractor is a combination of video clip tutorials as well as PDF guidebooks that instructs 2 Foreign exchange trading techniques that are exceptionally straightforward to find out as well as very easy to patronize. The money training course was created by Dean Saunders, a very long time effective as well as rewarding FX trader. These are rate driven entrance methods that have been utilized for many years by the large worldwide banks and brokerage firms that focus on the international exchange markets to assist them make unimaginable fortunes.

0 notes

junker-town · 5 years ago

Text

OL Masterminds is the best experience for the NFL’s least appreciated position

Duke Manyweather

Retired NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz attended the second annual gathering, where OL shared tips — but the convo wasn’t about which moves can stop Von Miller.

The least appreciated position in all of football is offensive line, but we love it that way. Offensive linemen are underappreciated because our position is like none other and so hard to understand. We have to work as a group to accomplish our goals and only linemen know the complexities of the position.

It takes a mentally tough SOB to handle the grind of the position. When we make a mistake, whether it’s our fault or not, we get the blame on television. An average game is 60 plays, give or take. If we screw up one play and allow a sack, our day is ruined. If that sack is a fumble for a turnover, oh yikes. A wide receiver drops a pass and he can have multiple opportunities to make up for that. A quarterback throws a bad pass or an interception, well he can throw three touchdowns for the game and be praised.

Not us. No mistakes allowed.

This is why offensive linemen are just different cats. We are wired differently. And we embrace being weirdos because it’s almost a job requirement. Our community is small but passionate about offensive line play. We love to talk technique, share our opinions, and grow as a group. This is why OL Masterminds is such a hit.

How some of the NFL’s best OL started their own gathering of the minds

OL Masterminds is the brain child of Eagles All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson and offensive line scouting and development consultant Duke Manyweather (you can find all his work on Twitter @BigDuke50).

Last year, Lane was one of the players discussing the Top 100 player list on NFL Network, and he mentioned the offensive line should have a gathering of the minds. That was something Duke had already started while training his offensive linemen.

“We had been doing small mastermind sessions on Saturday mornings with the guys training here the previous two years, but when [Lane] said it, the light bulb clicked on,” Duke recently told me, describing how Masterminds became a reality.

Duke organized the first ever OL Masterminds summit in the summer of 2018, which was successful despite the late start putting it together. Using the momentum from the first seminar, Duke organized the second annual OL Masterminds in Dallas for early July.

It was a smashing success, and I was there to soak it all in.

Who attended this year’s OL summit

The 2019 edition of OL Masterminds featured an amazing group, including veterans like Lane Johnson, Mitchell Schwartz, Terron Armstead, Charles Leno Jr., Brandon Brooks, Ryan Jensen, Shaq Mason, and Trent Brown. The summit also had younger linemen, like Vikings first-round draft pick Garrett Bradbury, and four college linemen who could be possible first-rounders.

All told, the players accounted for 1,256 combined NFL starts, eight Super Bowl rings, three All-Pro nods, and four Pro Bowl appearances.

What makes #OLMasterminds special is that we all want to bring others along with us, while advancing OL! Invest in the man, the player will develop @geoffschwartz @HughThornton giving College guys, 2019 Rookies & 2nd year players the real deal! #StrikeLeverageDriveFinish pic.twitter.com/gJjqiyb3my

— Duke Manyweather (@BigDuke50) July 28, 2019

Besides the players, Duke invited mental health experts, physical therapists, and various media members to add to the discussion.

The event was three days of two-hour meetings, followed by about an hour of field work. The main purpose of the summit was getting all these outstanding linemen in a room to discuss how they prepare each week, work through the aches and pains of the profession, and watch film of the best pass rushers in the league.

From the outside, the sexy part of the seminar was watching and breaking down pass rushers like Von Miller, Khalil Mack, and J.J. Watt. We all marveled at their abilities, joked about the few times we got beat, and players gave their ideas on how to stop them.

However, there’s not a single way to stop a pass rusher. I think you should read that again: There’s not a single way to stop a pass rusher. There are preferred methods that work for most, but not all. And when you think about it, it’s actually simple why that’s the case.

Why the conversation wasn’t about which moves can stop Von Miller

The main takeaway from the OL Masterminds weekend was the concept of doing what you do best and preparing to use those techniques. Often as linemen, we try to tailor our game to what the coach wants or what we think works, when we should focus our attention on mastering what we do best and trying to dictate the play on the field.

For example, my brother, Mitchell Schwartz, is a vertical pass setter. His pass set is unique and not many linemen could execute this style of pass protection all game. But, Mitch excels at it. And he uses it over and over again. Does Mitch mix up his pass sets? Yes, of course. The best linemen do that. But his set is unique to him.

The polar opposite to Mitch might be Trent Brown. Brown is a giant human. He makes me look small, which is tough to pull off. He takes a pass set that works best for his big body. He likes to set more on a flatter angle, commonly referred to as a 45-degree set. Or Trent will start a vertical set, and then go flat. Either way, it’s a much flatter pass set. He wants to get his big body and his hands on the defender now. He knows that he’s so large that defenders won’t try to run around him.

.@Trent #OLMasterminds #StrikeLeverageDriveFinish pic.twitter.com/1jvxmsobBv

— Duke Manyweather (@BigDuke50) July 27, 2019

So if Trent and Mitch are discussing how to block Miller, they’d give two different answers.

Instead of the discussion being, “Here’s the exact move I use to stop Miller,” it was centered around questions like:

“How do I efficiently scout Von Miller?” “How do you chart his tendencies” “If you attack him in this situation, how might he react?”

What else makes OL Masterminds such a great experience

Only a small portion of the event was watching pass rushers. Most of the other topics all tied back to preparation.

How do you prepare to play each week if you disagree with the technique being taught by the coach?

At what age in your career can you “do what you want” and get away with it?

When you’re having a rough stretch, what are some drills you use to hone back in on your technique?

What are some recovery techniques you should be using during the season to keep your body well, as well as prehab exercises?

Which techniques are available for the “oh shit” moments, when things aren’t going well but you need to recover? Players and coaches often focus on only practicing technique you should be using, but never practice techniques to use when things don’t go as planned.

We also discussed mental health, positive self talk, how to deal with the press, and the impact of social media on our profession.

After each day, we went outside to work on “drills.” It was less about everyone doing drills together and more about the big dogs showing the younger linemen a thing or two. It was an opportunity to pick the brain of the veteran with a specific question. It was my favorite part of the event.

Thank you to all of our sponsors & partners! The growth of #OLMasterminds in year-2 is humbling! “An understandable definition of the Mastermind principle is this: It consists of two or more people who work in perfect harmony for the attainment of a definite purpose” -N. Hill pic.twitter.com/f4J96An7MC

— Duke Manyweather (@BigDuke50) July 24, 2019

OL Masterminds was a great opportunity to share our thoughts, processes, and the way we compete. Also, it was a time for fellowship over tacos and steaks. In all, it was an awesome weekend.

0 notes