#the full version is an animated video that lives in my brain that I will never make

[picnokinesis]

LET YOU CUT ME OPEN JUST TO WATCH ME BLEED GAVE UP WHO I AM FOR WHO YOU WANTED ME TO BE

[whiteraven90]

hello, I hope you're having a good day <33 I saw your recent post on my dash and I was STUNNED at the animated scene! It's insane to me I get to see your characters animated. Feeling blessed to be alive to see it, I am not exaggerating. You know, one of these times where you wake up and things are a little bumpy in your life but there's one thing that shines brightly you didn't know it could give you so much excitement? Yeah, that kind of thing ((:

I took my time for the past hour to reminisce over your blog again. It is one of the places I really love scrolling through and reading your writing. I had a question, if you don't mind me. The way you have improved is truly admirable. I know this might not be an easy ask to say "hey, how did you learn how to paint", so I'll ask this instead: I don't know how long you've been working full-time in art, but when do you make time for studies / drawing for fun? If it's not too much to respond to, how do *you* study? I remembered your posts with your redlines and wanted to ask how do you go about those, or if you switch your routines based on your needs (sketches vs speed painting backgrounds etc). The notes there were very interesting, seeing the mental exercise.

Pretty sure you have a fKTON of stuff on your plate, so please don't feel obligated to respond quickly or even at all. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my message and for all the time you take to respond in general. Love reading your responses <3

Take care, ok? <3

I'm glad the animation made you feel better! I'll put the answer under the Keep Reading thingy.

I'm not entirely sure... I think I don't study as much as I should/could. I mostly learn as I go. Standalone studies are helpful, I'm just drawn to doing things that are more fun/satisfying to me or things that actively progress my creative goals. Imperfect illustrations for my stories, and incomplete research for worldbuilding! Many people learn faster than I, and those people do a lot more studies than I, but I have no info on whether they have more fun than I. Dopamine is rocket fuel, so it's important. :)

I'm always on the lookout for reference pictures, but I study almost only when I have a practical goal in mind, I guess. Studying is part of my job too, I think? As an indie concept artist I'm supposed to build a hoard of references and pull several new/sensible things out of them, and I think part of this process is understanding the material, and revisiting even what I already know. Illustration is similar. If I'm commissioned to draw an anthro alligator, it's time to study gators. It's not separate from work.

I mean, straightforward version: I wake up at 03:30, make coffee, and start working for myself until the paying work starts, lol. Brain is fresh before noon, and tired late in the evening just like everyone else's. It also helps that the city more or less shuts up at 4am.

The studies with the redlines... I do them when I fancy drawing characters or creatures but feel out of shape. I can get discouraged, feel like I forgot how to draw. I sketch if I plan to sketch, and paint if I plan to paint or want to study colors Drawing live models helps. Studying videos of people and things in motion. Hopping down rabbit holes about how/why things work (e.g. flintlock, Davy lamp, mansard roof). Drawing from refs. Hoarding refs. Trying different mediums (e.g. charcoal, 3D, etching). Small screenshot of one of my ref boards for the animation; I'd say I studied it a lot. How clothes move, what are good clothes, how do good clothes move, lion/tiger + human + eagle anatomy (from specific angles during specific motions if/when possible), how to dive roll, proper sprinting form, how to survive falling from a great height, spearfighting, pole vaulting, poledancing, lighting, colors, environment, kicked-up sand in motion, spear types, emu/cassowary/griffon vulture feet, etc. I didn't draw studies, unless you count the animation itself (I would).

[putschki1969]

Kaji Fes.2023 Day 2 FULL Video

»»——  CLICK ME 🎁 CLICK ME ——««

❗FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ ❗CREDIT me if you SHARE on other sites❗

Yes, finally we have a recording of Day 2. Even though I was there for Day 2 back in December, I was still excited to experience the whole thing again. Unfortunately, I never got to write my report so I guess I will use the opportunity to share some of my memories and current thoughts.

Here goes nothing┗(•ˇ_ˇ•)―→

street corner: Looks like they cut this. I am surprised because they had a much longer slot for Day 2 (3 hours instead of just 2) so I was sure they would be able to squeeze all of it into the broadcast but apparently not. Oh well, can't say I am said about that because being confronted with the accordion right from the get-go at the live really didn't leave a good impression on me. I had pretty high expectations for the whole thing and this intro left me more than underwhelmed. Thank God we transitioned right to "希望の光".

希望の光: Now THIS is the intro I was hoping for. What a gorgeous melody! I wasn't familiar with the track but my God, I got goosebumps all over. I literally felt this in my entire body. The gradual build-up to a more grand-scale symphonic arrangement towards the end really impressed me. I am just obsessed with the uilleann pipes and the Celtic sound. I honestly struggle to get beyond this because I keep rewinding the video.

prelude to Act 1: The look on my face when I heard those first few notes. I was shooketh to say the least. I most definitely did not expect them to do the Kalafina block this early in the live but I knew that if they were doing the Madoka instrumentals, the most logical thing would be to transition straight into a Kalafina track. While I have never watched the anime, these are melodies I hold very dear to my heart so I loved this. It was also a great pleasure to hear Eri Ito live for the first time. I will never get enough of Yuki's more classically trained vocalists. it's such a pleasure to listen to them.

Numquam vincar: After "prelude to Act 1" this was no surprise at all but damn, I am so glad they played this. I've never actually had the chance to experience this track live even though they obviously performed it numerous times during Kalafina live intermissions. What a pleasure to be there and truly feel the epicness of that intro. Once more I was covered in goosebumps.

Magia [quattro]: At this point I knew it was coming but it was still a shock to my system. Like I said earlier, I was sure that they would wait until the very end to do the Kalafina block (that's what they had done for earlier lives) so I thought I had some time to prepare myself and get into the groove so to speak. My body certainly wasn't ready so maybe that's why my brain couldn't properly compute the whole thing. I remember not being as hyped as I expected to be and that made me kinda sad. I am so grateful that we are getting this recording and a blu-ray release because I feel like I couldn't fully appreciate the performance while I was there. Getting to see it again is a real treat and I must say, I like this much more than the previous FJ "covers" we have gotten of this song. Hikaru and Keiko sound so perfectly in tune and I just love their powerful delivery. For the most part, I don't mind the higher harmonies provided by Yuriko and Joelle. Although during some parts (e.g. mayowazu ni yukeru nara), I feel like Joelle and Keiko don't harmonise very well together but whatever, it doesn't bother me too much. On a random side note, I wasted way too much time wondering about why I thought that Keiko's arms looked kinda naked until I finally realised that the puffy sleeve pieces of her outfit were missing.

storia: I did not expect this to make it onto the setlist but I am a big fan of the song so I was happy when I heard the first notes. Overall, I think I like this version well enough although I will admit that my favourite part has always been the chorus with Keiko and Wakana so it is a bit jarring to hear Joelle for these parts. Don't get me wrong, Joelle sounds great and I feel like the harmony between her and Keiko works better here than during "Magia" but still, it can't quite touch my heart. I mean, just thinking of all the Kalafina performances where Wakana and Keiko gaze lovingly into each other's eyes while they sing the "yasashii uta..." line makes me tear up. Nothing will ever be able to replace that for me. A few days later I attended Wakana's concert where she also performed "storia". This may sound ridiculous but hearing those performances more or less back to back almost felt as if the three of them had been reunited. Even though this might have been a coincidence, just the idea of this little connection had me in tears.

君の銀の庭: Oh, another cut song. Thank God we are getting the Blu-Ray. I will be honest with you though, I am quite sad that they chose two Kalafina songs that I don't particularly like. I couldn't get as excited as I wanted to be. I think I had no complaints about this performance, enjoyed everyone's vocals and didn't really notice Wakana's absence. But I guess that's because I wasn't a big fan of the song to begin with :P

to the beginning: It will forever be a mystery to me why this is such a fan favourite but oh well, let's not linger on that. In some way, it's almost a blessing in disguise for me to not have such a strong emotional connection to these songs because it helps me appreciate the new versions a lot more. No matter how skilled of a singer Joelle might be, if I am invested in a performance with a prominent Wakana part, there is no way anyone will ever live up to that. It's 100% a me problem, I realise that but I doubt I will ever be able change that way of thinking. Anyways, this was a perfectly fine rendition.

海と真珠: Don't think I've ever heard a JUNNA song. Not a huge fan of her voice, it's just too generic for me. But there's something about this song that I like, especially that those hey-hey woah parts. The chorus is decent too. It's not a track I would skip but also not something I would actively seek out.

太陽の航路: Not my cup of tea. I can tell that there is a nice melody hidden in the chorus but it's a bit too fast-paced for me.

time to sail!: Yet another cut. I loved this. Was already familiar with it from a previous recording so I really appreciated getting to hear t live. It's somewhat of a very epic and grand-scale version of "Umi to Shinju" which I am only realising now XD

The main theme of “L.O.R.D”: Can't tell you how very much I am in love with this song. The first time I got to experience this live was in Taiwan back in 2019. The song is so fucking good, I will never get tired of it. I was utterly blown away by Joelle's vocal prowess. I know it always sounds like I am low-key bullying her but that's really not my attention. I am just forever too hung-up on Wakana to ever be able to accept anyone else taking up my favourite parts of her.

I talk to the rain: Can't wait to hear this again on the Blu-ray.

a song of storm and fire: In my report for Day 1 I did talk about tis and "salva nos" being my first introduction to Yuki Kajiura's music. I feel so privileged to have finally been there for a live performance. Needless to say, it was everything that I could have asked for. Watching the recording now doesn't even do it justice. It was so much more powerful at the venue.

ring your song: This always brings tears to my eyes. The melody is just so beautiful and when they all join in, it's literal perfection.

ことのほかやわらかい: God dammit, I really want to like this song because in theory it should be right up my alley. I mean, the instrumental intro is to die for, it's so promising but then it's just all over the place and I can't get into it T_T

夜光塗料: Not a huge fan of ASCA unfortunately and I do not care for the song either.

雲雀: Surprisingly fond of this. Very nice melody. Can see myself listening to it on a regular basis.

君が見た夢の物語: Not much to say about this except that I enjoyed Keiko's lower harmonies. It's not a bad song per se so I probably would have liked it more if it didn't have ASCA on main.

everlasting song: This is always fun although I do enjoy the version without FJ ASUKA more. I know that sounds horrible considering it's literally her song but I will never be a fan of Yuki's vocalists with a more generic voices. Wakana's "kimi no me ni..." will forever be my favourite!!

世界の果て: No thoughts really.

優しい夜明け: Joelle is a much better fit for this See-Saw song than Yuuka. Very enjoyable.

君がいた物語: A favourite of mine. Do I prefer the version with Wakana? Of course! Do I have fun with this version too? Mostly yeah! Kaori's always work for me here but I can tolerate it.

Rainbow~Main Theme~: This was a nice treat. Very fond of KOKIA as a vocalist and this is just a super beautiful song. Have always liked it.

風よ、吹け: Not as smitten with this new KOKIA song but it's nice enough. I certainly wouldn't skip it

lotus: Wow, two Hanae cuts! How rude!!

inverse operation:

目覚め: I do love the Wakana versions but I also enjoy versions with other main vocalists. And of course, Hanae does an amazing job.

夕闇のうた: I know this didn't leave a good impression on me when I first heard it and I can't say I feel much different about it now.

荒野流転: This upcoming FJ Yuuka corner didn't do anything for me, it was the point where I started to get really tired and distracted. It was a struggle to still pay attention even though these were all more up-beat songs.

Silly-Go-Round: Nope.

cazador del amor: Meh.

nowhere: The only song I actually enjoyed from this corner. ASCA thankfully used a voice that I didn't find too grating (which can't be said about rito, JUNNA and Lino). Almost wish I had stood up for this performance and the next because Keiko was spending a lot of time on the left side of the stage (I had an arena seat pretty close to the stage on the left) but I probably wouldn't have had a good view of Keiko anyway so I preferred to just watch the screen. And to be honest, I am not the type of person to stand up and do some weird moves anyway so it was probably for the best. No need to embarrass myself in front of people who actually know how to move their body.

zodiacal sign: I mean, when is this ever not an absolute pleasure?

into the world: I was hoping to see Hikaru again since almost all the other guest vocalists had had a second appearance and yay, she came back on stage for the final song before the encore! "into the world" was such a perfect ending. I definitely got choked up, especially towards the climax of the song when Keiko was really putting all of herself into it.

red rose: Not my favourite but a good track for all the musicians to shine again.

Parade: It's my favourite song from the album and a fitting ending for this behemoth of a concert. At this point, everyone was close to tears after Yuki's little speech so that made it so much more moving. Love, love, love!! Right after they all take a bow and everyone is leaving the stage, I am glad they zoomed in a bit on Keiko who was wiping away some tears and leaning on Hikaru. That moment killed me at the live.

[lisa972kdlz]

(Il y a une version française juste en dessous: Bonne lecture !)

UNDERVERSE THEORY:

Have you noticed it too?

That soul, there...

TheeeeeEEEEre !

Have you ever wondered who it might belong to?

When I was listening to the song "Broken Truce", my eyes glided over this soul without lingering on it. I told myself it was just a slightly strange heart like so many others you find with the different OC's the Creators come up with... But the day my brain finally twiged that it wasn't normal, it made me wonder...

Huh, that's strange... A weird soul covered in black in an image illustrating a song in a web series that has a habit of playing on words and images to imply clues... shown directly in the foreground, blurred what's more, interesting, isn't it? I've checked the series and I've never found in Error's cables any souls other than the normal ones; monster souls and red Determination souls. Not even human souls like Kindness, Patience, Justice, etc. Jakei is a person who pays attention to detail. Given that she animates her series on her own and that it's a mammoth task, she's got into the habit of not cluttering up her plans with unnecessary details. So why would she stick a random soul in there?

That's when I said to myself: no. This soul has a meaning. But whose could it be? And why would it be in Error's possession?

There are lots of characters whose souls are gloomy and a bit odd... Error, X-Gaster, Fatal Error, Fresh, Nightmare...

Firstly, even if it looks like one, it can't be Nightmare's because his soul is an apple. Anyway, Error's cables have no effect on him, and then, well... It simply wouldn't make any sense or be of any interest to the story.

Error's then? After all, he's a corrupt being in a way, and we're talking about an appearance in a song about his relationship with Ink. But even if he had one... It would be glitchy and certainly not that different from basic monster souls. Same goes for Fatal.

Gaster has his soul in his possession and it doesn't look like that anyway...

Fresh, his soul is directly the parasite...

Gee, who could that be?

Ink 🤔?

No, I'm such an idiot! It can't be Ink's soul because Ink has no soul ^^ !

...

Wait...

INK HAS NO SOUL (⁠┛⁠◉⁠Д⁠◉⁠)⁠┛⁠彡⁠┻⁠━⁠┻ !!!!!!

Here's my theory: the soul in Error's threads is Ink's soul. Let's look at it: it's covered in a kind of blackish liquid with bluish tints. Black liquid is often associated with hatred or suffering. And if not, it's simply covered with ink. And blue, whether in general or in Underverse 0.7's context, is associated with sadness. So: sadness and suffering, in a concentration so strong that it had an impact on the very appearance of the soul... The emotions Ink must have been feeling when he was stripped of his essence! Ink suffers from severe denial in relation to the emotion represented by the blue, since it's the only one that's always full, so it coincides. And whose soul would it be otherwise? Why would Jakei have drawn it in THIS video specifically? A song about Ink and Error? Why in the foreground, showing that it's important, and blurred, showing that it's a hidden element that will be revealed in the near future?

And why would the soul have ended up in Error's threads? It's not hard to imagine, Error has a whole gallery of souls in his Anti-Void. He'd clearly be able to wander into an empty AU at random and find it on the floor, going, "Oh, that's a pretty one, why don't I add it to my collection?"

But what I like most about this theory is everything it would involve:

It would mean that Ink could get his soul back at the end of Underverse, bringing to a close his character development. See him finally come to terms with his feelings and get his soul back so that he can feel for himself, freely, accepting what that involve and facing once and for all the suffering he has ostensibly been running away from...

It would mean that finally, there's a reason why Ink live even without a soul in his body, because well, that's something I've always wondered about his character! His soul has been extracted from his body, but his body is still moving, and lives only on the emotions provided by the ink in his vials, like Kris in Deltarune when he rips out his soul.

It would mean that, come on, he might be able to recover a viable memory?

And above all... It would mean that Error had the opprtunity to kill Ink for good FROM THE BEGINNING and that he was incapable of doing it just because he didn't know it was his 🤣 !!!! And THAT is handsome!

Error at this moment:

An hilarious polt twist–

Unless he'd simply forgotten he had it, which is... Clearly possible coming from Error.

The only problem with this theory is that, in Ink's comic, he doesn't just rip it off his body... He's tearing it apart. The soul completely crumbles to dust. So canonically speaking, it's impossible.

That said, it's a detail that can easily be overlooked if you're keen to incorporate the idea into a story, especially as Underverse never set out to make complete canon.

So why not?

In any case, if this theory is wrong in Underverse, I think it's still a great Headcanon ^^

__________________

THÉORIE UNDERVERSE :

Vous aussi vous l'avez remarquée ?

Cette âme, là...

LÀ !

Vous ne vous êtes jamais demandé a qui elle pouvait appartenir ?

Quand j'écoutais la chanson "Broken Truce" mon regard avait glissé sur cette âme sans m'y attarder. Je me disais que c'était juste un cœur un peu bizarre comme tant d'autres qu'on trouve avec les différents OC's qu'imaginent les Créateurs... Mais le jour où mon cerveau à enfin tilté que c'était pas normal, elle m'a beaucoup interrogée...

Primo : tiens, c'est bizarre... Une âme étrange recouverte de noir dans une image illustrant une chanson dans une websérie qui a l'habitude de jouer sur les mots et les images pour sous-entendre des indices... montrée direct au premier plan, floue qui plus est, intéressant, non ?

Segundo : j'ai vérifié dans la série et je n'ai jamais trouvé dans les fils d'Error d'autres âmes que les normales, des âmes de monstres et des âmes rouge de Détermination. Même pas des âmes d'humain comme Gentillesse, Patience, Justice, etc.

Tertio : Jakei est une personne qui fait attention aux détails. Étant donnée qu'elle anime toute seule sa série et que c'est un travail de titan, elle a pris l'habitude de ne pas encombrer ses plans de détails inutiles. Alors pourquoi elle fouterait une âme bizarre LÀ ?

C'est là que je me suis dit : non. Cette âme a un sens. Mais à qui pourrait-elle être ? Et pourquoi serait-elle en possession d'Error ?

Il existe plein de personnages dont l'âme est sombre et un peu bizarre... Error, X-Gaster, Fatal!Error, Fresh, Nightmare...

Premièrement, même si elle y ressemble, ça ne peut pas être celle de Nightmare vu que son âme est une pomme. De toute manière les câbles d'Error n'ont aucun effet sur lui, et puis surtout bah... Ça n'aurait aucun sens ni aucun intérêt scénaristique qu'elle serait là.

L'âme d'Error alors ? Après tout c'est un être corrompu d'un certain côté, et puis on parle tout de même d'une apparition dans une chanson parlant de sa relation avec Ink. Mais en admettant qu'il en aie une... Elle serait glitchée et très certainement pas si différente des âmes de monstres basique. Pareil pour Fatal.

X-Gaster a son âme en sa possession et de toute manière elle ne ressemble pas à ça...

Fresh, son âme est directement le parasite...

Mince, qui ça peut être ?

Ink 🤔?

Bah nan, qu'elle idiote je fais ! Ça peut pas être l'âme de Ink vu que Ink n'a pas d'âme ^^ !

...

Wait...

INK N'A PAS D'ÂME (⁠┛⁠◉⁠Д⁠◉⁠)⁠┛⁠彡⁠┻⁠━⁠┻ !!!!

Voilà ma théorie : l'âme qui est dans les fils d'Error est celle de Ink. Observons la : elle est couverte d'une sorte de liquide noirâtre aux reflets bleuté. Le liquide noir est très souvent associé à la haine, ou la souffrance. Et sinon, à l'encre tout simplement. Tandis que le bleu, que ce soit de manière générale ou dans Underverse 0.7, est plutôt associé à la tristesse. Tristesse et souffrance, en un concentré tellement fort que ça a eu un impact sur l'apparence même de l'âme. À savoir les émotions que devait ressentir Ink au moment où il s'est destitué de son essence... Ink qui souffre d'un gros déni par rapport à cette émotion représentée par le bleu vu que c'est la seule qui est toujours pleine, donc ça coïncide. Et à qui serait cette âme sinon ? Pourquoi Jakei l'aurait-elle dessinée dans CETTE vidéo spécifiquement ? Une chanson qui parle justement de Ink et d'Error ? Pourquoi en premier plan, montrant que cela a de l'importance, et floutée, montrant que c'est un élément caché qui sera révélé dans un futur proche ?

Pourquoi l'âme se serait retrouvée dans les fils d'Error ? Pas compliqué à imaginer, Error possède une galerie entière d'âmes dans son Anti-Void. Il serait clairement capable de se balader dans un AU vide au hasard et la trouver par terre en mode : «Oh, tiens, elle est jolie celle-là, et si je l'ajoutais à ma collection ?»

Mais ce qui me plaît le plus avec cette théorie, c'est tout ce que cela impliquerait :

Ça voudrait dire que Ink pourrait récupérer son âme à la fin de la série, concluant en beauté son développement de personnage qui le poussait à assumer enfin ses sentiments et récupérer son âme pour ressentir par lui-même, librement, en acceptant ce que ça implique et en affrontant une bonne fois pour toute la souffrance qu'il a ostensiblement fuie...

Ça voudrait dire que finalement, il y a une raison pour laquelle Ink est encore vivant même sans âme dans son enveloppe corporelle, parce que bon, c'est quand même quelque chose que je me suis toujours demandée sur son personnage ! Il a son âme extraite de son corps mais son corps est encore en mouvement, et ne vit que par les émotions procurées par l'encre de ses fioles. Ça s'est déjà vu dans des éléments canons, quand Kris de Deltarune il s'arrache l'âme.

Ça voudrait dire que, allez, si ça se trouve, il pourrait récupérer une mémoire viable ?

Et surtout... Ça voudrait dire qu'Error avait DEPUIS LE DÉBUT l'occasion de tuer Ink pour de bon et qu'il était pas fichu de le faire parce qu'il était pas au courant que c'était la sienne 🤣 !!! Et ÇA, c'est trop fort !

Error :

Un retournement de situation hilarant xD

À moins qu'il aurait tout simplement oublié qu'il l'avait en sa possession, ce qui est clairement possible venant d'Error.

Le seul problème qui vient à l'encontre de cette théorie, c'est que dans le Comic de Ink, il ne fait pas que se l'arracher à son corps... Il se la déchire. L'âme tombe complètement en poussière. Donc canoniquement parlant, c'est impossible.

Cela dit, c'est un détail qui peut être facilement négligé si on a envie d'intégrer cette idée à une histoire, surtout qu'Underverse n'a jamais eu la prétention de faire du canon complet.

Donc après tout pourquoi pas ?

Dans tous les cas, si cette théorie est fausse dans Underverse, je trouve que ça reste un super Headcanon ^^

Ink belongs to @comyet

Error!Sans belongs to @loverofpiggies

Underverse belongs to @jakei95

"Broken Truce" belongs to @nyxtheshield

[overdicebro]

Slay the Princess is a masterpiece, we already experienced the full game and walked endless playthroughs just to see how many changed and how many did not. Stp as the complete game is beautiful enough but I think we need to talk about the demo too, in the demo not much was revealed except the complete chapter 1s and a glimpse of the chapter 2 so we only get to just conjure some thoughts about the game's plot with what the game has, idk but I've been watching the game's demo since on Manlybadasshero's channel so yeah it was my introduction to the game.

So I've been rewatching the demo videos and I think there's something interesting about our assumptions before and how they differ in the full game, but even with our assumptions it still can be true since that's the games nature. Before I remember that many people believed that the narrator was the one who pulled all the strings and the narrator is bigger than both TLQ & TSM, some already caught on the main plot of the game but there were many comments discussing theories about the game is essentially just a "what if?" alternate version of Knights & Princess games, and how it's an edgy and more darker version of Stanley Parable etc. with the narrator gaslighting you and stuff. But the main thing is that the narrator was a BIG direction of the game and it's mystique led as to believe as such.

And I'm always emphasizing that one Nightmare Scene where she took off her mask is what made ME to believe that there could be a backstory to this. But there isn't, there wasn't people that could back up the background of the Princess, there aren't animals found in the world(construct), there were no birds but trees, there wasn't a story of the Princess that could back her up that she's HUMAN or even a real princess at that. Because she isn't a princess or THE princess, she's the Shifting Mound titled as a princess. (Quick Tangent here: I think the Narrator could have made TSM into something else rather than a princess, he could have made her a seamstress as he likes; maybe the Narrator just doesn't like royalty)

Especially TLQ, it's already given that he isn't human but his voices and his choices morale make him seem human a little. Many people in the comments actually thought TLQ was made to be a bird-like creature to be diverse to its players. There aren't exactly hints at the demo that we are a god and the half of TSM because the focus was centered on the Princess, even he has no backstory, no background, no nothing.

It was obvious that the 2 didn't really have a life except the plot device of TLQ slaying the Princess. So that should've been a big sign to ME atleast that I shouldn't expect a backstory or something to make things less vague. I thought in the complete game we will be given more hints about the 2(+narrator) and expand more on the personal things.

But no, in the full game we were given answers to our previous questions but were also given more. The “world” was just a construct representing many more worlds to be devoid of change. That's why there weren't many living beings surrounding the Construct, just Shifty & Gary (+ the trees). Because the Narrator wanted a scripted situation to happen in order to release his tension regarding death.

So basically the Narrator is actually the only one with an ACTUAL backstory, yet his story and where he come from isn't expanded more because, again, the game is centered around the two TLQ & TSM. 2 Gods and concepts reuniting again after being separated by a desperate man with a fear of death.

So again BASICALLY what my assumptions of how the Narrator was BIGGER than the two. He is actually smaller than the CONCEPTS of Permanence and Change. He tried to desperately remove death from the universe which is actually badass af by splitting the pair and making the other kill the other.

It just hurts my brain to think that the plot I subconsciously made was so drastically different compared to the final game. Yet it's satisfying at the same time, cause tbh I was expecting for there to be boss fight with the Narrator and finally breaking out of the artificial plot, instead we got an argument with Shifty and finally breaking out the artificial plot. Which is essentially the same thing just a WHOLE different execution of what I thought.

Thank you for listening to my ted talk

THIS SHI LONG ASFF bro I should go to sleep goodnight peeps

[stemmmm]

My second entry into this series...

Stem's Thoughts on the Game Design of Harvest Moon 1 for GameBoy

What is a farming game if you take everything away other than the farming? If you whittle the whole thing down to its very core without any distractions? In this case it turns into a paradoxical kind of game that wants nothing more than for you NOT to play it.

Intro –  Memories of the Past

To understand what I mean by that, let’s take a step back to explain exactly what this game is. While I wasn’t overly familiar with this game before I played it for my research purposes, there were certain aspects of it seared into my brain as a child because it was the first Harvest Moon game I’d ever played (and one of the first games I’d played period). I remembered you could farm, and there was some kind of weird cave. I remembered you could have a cat or a dog and that you could play as a boy or a girl. I remembered that the town was just a menu where you could see the girls who run the shops. Most importantly, I remembered that the game autosaved. I remembered all of this because I had borrowed my friend’s copy of the game before going on a family trip where my mom made me share my games with my toddler cousin. He promptly destroyed my friend’s save file and I spent that trip in a 6-year-old panic trying to cover up that anything happened by making the file look the same as I remembered it being, in a desperate hope my new friend would still talk to me after I returned her game. (Everything was fine but she was mad.)

Returning to the game over 20 years later, I discovered that it’s pretty much a port of the SNES game, though not a good one, but I felt forgiving because it was on the dinky GameBoy. Instead of leaving home to take on a random farm, the game opens on the ghost of your grandpa pleading to you to become a MASTER RANCHER! He tells you that he’ll come back at the end of winter to see how you’ve been doing before he floats back up to heaven and leaves you with a video tutorial of how to farm, which existed in the SNES version but as an option on the title screen, so it was a bit less intrusive. 

So, similarities with SNES: the farm layout is generally the same, with all the same buildings like house, barn, coop, and shed, and the fence is still there too. Details like the well and the stumps that you’d originally find Harvest Sprites in are gone, and the flowerbox that keeps track of your power berry progress has been moved inside your house, which means that your fields have a lot less random stuff blocking off spaces, and that there’s actual room for crops inside your starting fence! The tool shed is the same, holding all of your working equipment, plus one of each kind of spring seed to help you get started. The shed is a more mandatory part of your daily routine than it was previously, because the lack of buttons on the GameBoy means there’s nothing you can press to swap out your tools, so swapping just isn’t an option. This doesn’t end up being as painful as it sounds because you’ll want to go to the shed every day anyway to see the Harvest Sprites who live in the cave in the back. The cave has four rooms, a main room where you can harvest mushrooms that grow every day, which makes up for the lack of forest to forage in, then there are three side rooms with a hot spring, a river which starts blocked off by a giant rock, and a room full of impassable stone pillars. The last two rooms don’t come into play until much later in the game.

Inside your house, there’s a note on the dining table that lists your animals, money, and also how much food and drink you have stocked. This is, in my opinion, part of the most interesting mechanic this game introduces, which is having to buy food to eat. There’s no cooking mechanic, so you’re forced to spend your money to buy meals and beverages at the restaurant and bar in town. Every morning, noon, and night, your character will automatically eat something, which restores a little bit of energy and indicates to you what time it is in the day. This mechanic existed in the SNES version too, but you never had to buy food. Having food in this game helps keep your happiness score up which is required for good endings, and it gives you something to spend your money on, though food and drink don’t really cost enough for it to be noticeable.

The town is, of course, a menu. You get to choose between the flower shop, bar, carpenter, church, tool shop, restaurant, and animal shop. Each place is manned by one character from the SNES version, mostly the marriageable girls, with the carpenter and animal shop manned by the two men who owned them in the other version since they ran out of girls. You have the ability to buy things, but that’s it. I won’t keep you waiting to know if there’s anything more to their stuff in this game because I already knew it going in. There’s no relationship mechanics with any of them, no marriage (after all, you can play as a girl and this game is old). You can't even talk to them. There’s a couple random events with the girls but they trigger based on the day more than anything else.

And that’s it! That’s the whole game! Get farming! 

I won’t lie, I was actually kind of excited at this point. From any reasonable angle, a farming game where the only thing to do is farm and farm and farm with no other real goal or progression outside of that is very obviously a red flag for what is at best an extremely boring game, but I was in something of a mood I guess. I was riding the high of SNES and at the time, I was interested in playing farming sims in the worst possible way– spending every last cent I ever made on crops, whether I could sustain all of them or not. It was my way of inserting a challenge into games that were otherwise extremely easy, because I found that once I stopped struggling, the game stopped being fun. By some kind of miracle, I had stumbled into a game that seemed to be designed for me to do exactly that, so I ran with it!

Immediately, I spent every last cent I could scrounge together on seeds, and while I waited for them to grow, I made friends with the Harvest Sprites. They told me that if we became better friends, they would help me on the farm, which was an interesting proposition! They didn’t do much of anything for me in the last game, so I was curious what they could do here. I gave them the mushrooms growing in the cave rather than sell them, to get the sprites’ friendships even higher. My efforts very quickly came to fruition when one offered to take my sickle to upgrade it. It would only take twelve hours, how exciting! One in-game day later and I learned that they meant twelve REAL LIFE HOURS. 

This is where things became concerning. I was trying to avoid wikis at this point because I wanted a genuine-feeling blind playthrough, so I didn’t know if this meant twelve hours of gameplay or twelve hours in general. I also wasn’t even sure if any of it would work right because I wasn’t playing on original hardware, though I expected whoever put it on the 3DS eShop wouldn’t make such a poor oversight that would cause the game to straight up not function… right?

A day of real life later and I noticed a distinct lack of sickle in my toolshed. It was about to become a problem. I managed to finally plant enough grass to buy a chicken, but I wasn’t able to actually cut the grass and the game wouldn’t let me take the chicken outside, so rather than earn money on eggs, I had to spend it all on more feed for it at the animal store. I was also using whatever time I had left in my short days to clear out my field of tree stumps, stones, and weeds to make room for my ever expanding crop empire. While this was happening, I started purposefully leaving the game on and idle whenever I wasn’t playing to make time pass more in hopes that I’d get over the twelve hour mark. By the end of spring, the sprites started to tell me that we were good enough friends that they would help on the farm, but I never noticed them do anything. My greatest saving grace was that when summer came, my unharvested crops didn’t wilt. Rather, they just vanished completely and left their tilled spaces in their wake ready for more planting– a blessing because without a scythe, I would have been completely screwed by having a massive amount of unfarmable land around my house.

On the 2nd of summer there was a typhoon, and that’s when I really started to realize something was wrong. My chickens weren’t fed and grass wasn’t cut after a day of forcibly not being able to do anything, which proved to me that the sprites didn’t help at all. On the flip side, my crops seemed untouched, no tilled land was untilled, no new weeds or debris had shown up in my field. To top it off, after a full season of weather happening, none of my fences had rotted. Could it be the case that these things were also tied to real life hours? If so, why would nothing ever happen? Neither passing time in real life nor manually changing the time of my 3DS clock made any difference.

The Sprite Timer

I couldn’t take it anymore at this point. I gave in and tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with this game, or with the emulation of it at least, if that was the source of my problems. Spoilers didn’t matter if I couldn’t just play the game, and besides, why was I so worried about spoilers? There was barely anything TO be spoiled!

It turns out this game has a nifty feature where if you press “select” twice, not once but twice in a row without backing out of the first menu with the B button, you can find a hidden menu with a setting called “timer”. If you press that, you’re asked if you want to turn on Harvest Sprite Help and can set the speed to fast or slow. This whole time I’d been worried that I’d miss out on parts of the game by not having the little manual that came with every GameBoy game, and my god, I was feeling it now. How on earth is anyone supposed to find this otherwise? This is never indicated anywhere in the game that I could find. Meanwhile in SNES, I was constantly running into signs every two feet explaining the most basic mechanics to me inside the game!

After recovering from that heavy blow, I turned on the timer set to fast and put my game down to do a little more research. In short, time passes inside the game while help is turned on. I tried looking more into some old forums to see if people had anything to say about this, but none of them got even close to bringing it up. I did however find a thread on reddit where someone mentioned having to not just close out, but reset the game to make things work. That actually made sense to me because the virtual console really only seems to do save states. So I reset the game, set my 3ds clock 4 more hours forward, and then got back in. The game was two full days later, my grass was cut, and the sickle was done. I felt sick.

I almost dropped the game then and there because this deranged mechanic freaked me out so much. If I forgot I set the timer and left the game, I could lose entire seasons to this hellish mechanic. Why even have it? Why take the experience of playing the game away from me? The only things that kept me in were the fact that technically, I would never need to use the help mechanic again because it’s only opt-in, and the game honestly felt very good to play. I made sure the timer was turned off, and went back to the daily grind. I harvested my crops, cleared my field, bought some cows, realized that my cows couldn’t be let outside at all (but they could be taken out for walks which triggered a VERY cute animation) so the fence was truly a meaningless entity here… Then things just kind of stopped happening and I started to get bored. 

I finally went and looked up the ending requirements. Ship 4,500 items and have found six power berries. 4,500 items is steep, but I’d been planting a crazy amount and didn’t keep good track so maybe I could surprise myself. Six power berries though? That was literally impossible. Almost all power berries are dug up from your field, and only 5 in total are available until your grandpa magically expands your field at the start of year two. To top it off, if I didn’t find all of the existing ones before that happened, they would be erased. That doesn’t seem like too much of a problem since I still would only need six, but that’s only for the first ending! There are THREE! And each time the requirements increase. So with little time to spare as I was already getting into fall, I started plowing.

And plowing. And plowing. And plowing.

I was pretty over the game now. The shock of the timer mechanic was a pretty big blow, and learning the requirements for the endings, mixed with the fact that it would take years of in-game time before I’d get to use any of the rewards associated with them, had worn my enthusiasm down pretty completely. My only hope was that just maybe, if I got everything but the power berries, the game would decide that my efforts were good enough and would give me a good ending anyways. Unlike SNES, this game at least has crops for fall and winter so I wasn’t completely out of things to do when those seasons came around, but still, by the end of the first winter, I was broken. I knew I had only gotten half the crops I'd needed and was short by at least 50 happiness. My options were either to throw the game in the garbage or push through another year trying to make up for it and get the genuine experience myself. I wasn’t on a hard deadline like in the previous game anyways, so I had infinite time. The years were going to keep rolling. I should have stopped playing. Instead, I learned why the sprite timer exists.

Winning Through Inaction

Come spring of year 2, Grandpa upgraded my fields to be twice as big for absolutely no reason, since it was already a pretty unusable size to start with. I got to work spending all the money I could on all the crops I could, and covered my field in them. I did my best to manage them myself, but I was exhausted by the game at this point. One day when I was done playing, I set the timer to slow and turned the game off. When I returned and reset the virtual console, the game presented me with a screen telling me the day, time, and how much the sprites had done to help me while I was gone. The numbers were pretty meager but this made time pass faster in a game that I was truly beginning to hate, so I started doing it more. I started being more purposeful in my actions and would try to make sure my fields were freshly sown before I left so there was less chance of days where the sprites would have nothing to do, and I would get more crops out of the deal, but even that didn’t seem like enough.

So in fall and winter, I stepped it up a notch. I bought 100 seed bags at the start of each season and then went into my system settings to change the date by a few days while the sprite timer was on. It wasn’t an exact science, something didn’t go to plan pretty much every single time I did it, but the result was that by the end of winter, I’d actually shipped twice as many things as I needed to somehow, despite having only shipped half of what was needed before and working my ass off for it. But we take what we get!

I thought I was short 20 happiness by the end of year 2, but grandpa was forgiving and he gave me a fishing rod that almost exclusively pulls garbage. This item is the exclusive purpose of that one room in the cave that has a river in it. It’s useless and adds absolutely nothing to the game at a point where it’s already boring as sin to get through.

To get to the next winter, knowing I didn’t need anything else, I switched the help to fast and skipped days that way, which felt very pathetic and like a waste of time and effort, but I finally got my pickax and went to town on the last room in the cave, the one filled with pillars. There’s actually two of those rooms, and they're just wall to wall pillars that I could smash for nothing but a couple of power berries to get myself to full completion.

By the way, the last completion item you can get is an umbrella that makes it rain the next day. I don’t remember accurately, I don't think I made it to the end of the next year to pick that one up, because why would I. I didn’t actually farm anything in that last year I played because the requirements to reach the level of “Master Rancher” were already attained when I got the first special item. There was truly absolutely nothing else to do. There were no more house upgrades to get, no more fields left to clear or plow, no more money I needed– good god no, I couldn't get rid of all the money I’d made by this point if I tried. Therefore there was no reason to fish either when I’d gotten that rod; I can’t cook it, there’s not a compendium of collectable fish (foreshadowing), all I can do is sell it, so why bother? The pickax gets you power berries which are useless at this point beyond giving you a completion percentage because all they give you otherwise is more energy, and since you aren’t farming, you aren’t burning that anyways. The only unique things that can come up at this point in the game are single, random events with each of the girls that I couldn’t even get to trigger for half of them. I don’t know if they got missed because I was sleeping away entire years or if I just needed to keep playing random days until they hit, but for a couple seconds of content, is it really worth it when I’m already this sick of the game?

Don’t Play This Game

It was really, really disappointing coming from the exhilaration I felt after finishing SNES to be met with… this travesty. The game has nothing in it and gives you nothing for your time, in fact it’s so baffled at the thought that you would spend time playing it that it encourages you not to. The one good thing about this game is the fact that since the 3DS eShop closed down, there’s no legal means of easily obtaining it anymore (as far as I’m aware).

[the1trueanon]

thinking about how Sage/Rosemary's plant motif and gardening connection started out as an aesthetic choice, but have actually grown into being very strong symbolism for how Rosemary is meant to represent life and being lively and being alive versus simply living

because Rosemary is meant to encompass the idea of being human and being alive. while Sage is like everyone else and is very much simply living, her general character being muted and soothing and just existing, Rosemary is designed almost as an exact foil for Wally. where Wally is unsure of expression and emotion and doesn't quite grasp it all, Rosemary is extremely emotive and lively, almost to an overly animated degree. BUT! Rosemary isn't just animated, like the other puppets are. she isn't just bouncy or excitable, or gets frustrated at simple problems. she has crises. she goes through human struggles, as a soul who once was human. she knows what death is, but is grasping to understand her own. she's unpredictable. she's happy and enjoying time with her friends one day, and unable to leave her house from the crushing weight of everything she's experienced the next. she puzzles through existentialism. she doesn't just feel happy or sad or upset, she gets depressed and anxious and lost. Wally can't predict her, he can't tell how she'll react (which I 100% think he can for the others. he's too observant not to, observation is his whole thing), he doesn't understand but he wants to.

and what makes all that even better is she doesn't just go through these things alone, she talks them through with the others. she shares it, she lets her emotions and experiences and overall livelihood overflow into the others. she's so full of life that she passes it on to characters who, frankly (hehe :3), shouldn't have been touched by it previously. and yet by sharing it, she doesn't hurt them more, but instead ends up helping all of them understand and reason through the -- honest to the puppet gods horrifying -- breakdown of a world that once was simple and happy and innocent and safe. they mature with her, and she somewhat unwittingly acts as their guide through that (WHICH. ANOTHER FOIL MOMENT. BECAUSE WALLY IS ROSIE'S GUIDE THROUGH THEIR WORLD AND THE TWO'S ABILITIES TO REACH OUT BEYOND IT).

and I've always loved having that idea brought up, about Rosemary being so lively. "You're so full of life" -- practically the most accurate way to describe Rosemary at any state of being (and, ironically, spoken by Wally, who again, I unwittingly ended up making Rosemary a sort of foil for). She is meant to symbolize life, she and Sage are meant to be this sort of "living vs. alive" thing, where neither is bad but its obvious how different they are! and I just! the idea of Sage, a character essentially set to be a sort of vessel for this human who brings this idea of truly being alive to these guys who desperately need it in a time where just living isn't enough to brave whatever horrors are coming for them now, also bringing things to life as her job and aesthetic is just!! augh, it's such nice symbolism and even a nice lil taste of foreshadowing maybe?? and I love it so much!!

and like! genuinely this all kicked of subconsciously and I didn't start connecting it until I thought about trying to maybe change Sage/Rosemary's motif (which, tbh, I started thinking about because I've designed her Reboot AU version (who I'll be sharing soon ;3 wanna get a good collection of doodles to share with you guys before doing so), who instead has a fashion aesthetic instead of plants. I'm not sure why yet other than I like it and I've been influenced by the dress making videos I keep seeing lol)! and I realized that I genuinely can't because it's not just aesthetic anymore! it's ✨symbolism✨!!

ANYWAYS I REALLY FUCKINNG LOVE THIS PROJECT AND I LOVE CLOWN AND THEIR BIG BRAIN AND I LOVE MY LIL RABBIT AND I LOVE EXISTENTIALISM AND I LOVE SYMBOLISM AND CHARACTER DESIGN AND IM SORRY FOR RAMBLING ABOUT IT FOR A REALLY LONG TIME OKAY BYEEE 💖

[neurodivergent-uni-support-group]

When your brain refuses to function with the same strategy everyday

I've recently finished writing my dissertation after 3.5 months, so am still just about living in academic mode. Unfortunately one thing I haven't seen people who struggle with executive functioning talk about as much is the fact that I can find a strategy that completely clicks with me and works perfectly, but then won't even help me get five minutes of work done the next day. So, I'm gonna slowly build a masterlist!

This was originally supposed to be specifically about how to find the right music to function with but might as well broaden it out a bit. If anyone has any strategies/music/website recommendations that work particularly well for them, let me know and I'll be happy to add them!

Music

Lofi Girl Livestream - Starting with the obvious one, but it's well-known for a reason! The song styles remain consistent enough to not get distracted by changed while still being different enough to keep the brain working, people are constantly in the live chat so there's an element of bodydoubling, and it's a livestream so you don't have to worry about changing songs partway through work. Plus if lofi hip hop's not your thing, they have a synthwave version too.

There's a platypus controlling me but it's lofi (1hr edition) - Getting a bit weirder now, I will admit, but I stand by this one 100%! At least once in every assessment period I will have it set to loop and playing for a full day. If instrumental music leaves too much room in your brain to be distracted, this one usually does the trick. The first couple of rounds might seem more distracting than it's worth but half an hour in, you'll be golden!

Mario Kart Double Dash Full OST - This doesn't specifically have to be Mario Kart Double Dash, but it is a fun one! Basically just think of a game that makes you feel nostalgic or comforted or happy, see if there's a full OST for it and hopefully it'll help. Other soundtracks I'm a fan of using are Danganronpa 2 and Professor Layton, but it depends what kind of speed/genre you prefer.

Minecraft but it's raining - Kinda similar to the previous one but this time it's particularly peaceful OSTs with extra sounds on top! The one linked is the video I use the most but it's the same few songs repeated over and over for 10 hours so depends whether you work better with repetition or variation. There's also an Animal Crossing one here.

8D Lofi Girl (2hrs) - If normal lofi and added rain isn't cutting it, 8D might be the way to go! Since the music is constantly changing direction it adds a bit more interest to your brain. It's only 2 hours long but there do seem to be a fair few others on YouTube so shouldn't be too difficult to turn into a playlist or queue.

I'm Still Standing - Just the song. I just put it on loop and for some reason it sometimes works. Pick whichever song you want for this, though maybe keep it for final day crunches and be prepared to never be able to listen to the song again outside of work.

Websites and Apps

Forest - The main programme I've been using this time around! You set a timer and choose a tree, and every time you complete a time period of work without going on one of the apps/websites on your blocklist, another tree is added to your forest. It comes as both a Firefox Addon and an app, which can either be used synchronised or separately. Be warned, if you do want to synchronise them, you'll need to buy the premium version of the app, but it's a one-time payment of £3.89, so if it's something you can afford, it can be really useful.

Noisli - A mix of background noise and generally useful features, this one's a website and an app. It has lots of different background noises and you can mix and match them to make your ideal work setting. There's also a timer and space to type within the website if you don't want to move outside of it during work!

[rabbitholesitrippedon]

Culture shock and the internet

I’d like to talk a bit on the nature of culture shock, and how it works on a mechanical level in our brains. Some people who tend not to ever leave their country or region don’t necessarily think about what it’s like to live in another country, and explaining the nuances of how another countries culture works would take an age, so instead i'm going to use the internet as the example, a place we’ve all migrated to sooner or later.

I’ll leave a link to a video here, put it on in the background while you read this, or better yet, on a second monitor/phone. That way you can see and understand what it is I'm explaining as I explain it.

This video is technically funny, but also a full on vibe, it’s a bit of an old meme but that doesn't make it any less of a banger song. First it’s based on the song gangsters paradise, that a stranger with minimal contact to the internet might know by heart, so it’s a strong start, but that's where the simple ends.

Vocoding is the process of taking the audio for one thing and compressing it against another signal, this can lead to unexpected and fun artifacting that in this case is used to turn beatboxing into a more melodic format. Vocoding in this way is uncommon at best outside of the internet, but still possible.

The beatboxing used is Verbalaces thanos beatbox, the movie itself is common outside of the internet but the beatbox is wholly original and exists only on the internet. All of these levels combined make the audio portion of the video and that alone is a lot of information to have to explain to a “foreigner” to the internet.

If someone with limited or no understanding of the internet were to hear this, they’d simply think it was a worse version of the song they’ve heard, not understanding the potential enjoyment or comedy of the song, and this is only the beginning.

The video is RTX Morshu with a funny filter over it. RTX, in the modern age of the internet, is used when a common or simply modelled thing becomes suddenly more complex and well animated. It’s a bastardisation of the RTX branding used to describe a particularly powerful line of graphics cards used to produce complex lighting.

Morshu is a character from an old and obscure legend of zelda game that people who make jokes on the internet decided could be made to do and say funny things, it followed naturally that someone would have him sing/beatbox.

Bringing all the elements together we have the totality of the video, stretched to 1 hour in respect for the old 1 hour challenges from the early days of internet funnies. Now that you have full context, consider what a tourist sees.

A 1 hour video of a random fat guy making incomprehensible sounds in the tune of gangsters paradise. It makes no sense, yet most of the people who saw the video understood innately. Culture shock isn’t the shock of realising everything is different in another region, it’s the check that those differences have meaning.

Culture shock is realising that the little details of your life are arbitrary, and that if you’d lived somewhere else you’d be a totally different person, it’s realising that these strangers from a distant land are just as deep and complex as you and your friends are.

My most memorable moment of culture shock was on a visit to japan, I sat in the common area of my hotel looking out the windows at a massive billboard of a naked woman trying to work out what product they were selling that could possibly warrant such an advert.

Then it struck me that it was an advert for the mall across the road, the advert wasn’t special, it was common, this was simply how such businesses marketed themselves, and i realised that in the UK a billboard like that could only be used for certain products and services. I realised how arbitrary it all was.

Culture shock is ultimately subjective, and you’ll never experience it until you travel and experience it, but I hope I've given some small insight to those who’ve never travelled.

[chanstopher]

I resisted most kpop and all kpop fandom for a very long time 😆

I got into visual kei in high school (2007 ish) and one of my online friends also listened to some. She got me into J dramas, from where I got into KAT-TUN in 2010. She also watched K dramas and listened to kpop and she sent me some, but not being able to sing along by ear or through romanized lyrics frustrated me since I'd been able to do that with Japanese since I first listened to anime openings and such in middle school. I did listen to some 2ne1 and Big Bang, but mainly Japanese releases since at that point I was studying Japanese and reaching conversational fluency.

After college she and I mostly fell out of touch, KAT-TUN had slowed down after losing a member in 2013 and then another later, LiveJournal got taken over by a Russian "news" company, so all my sources of music and drama torrents were gone, the two main VK bands I listened two took hiatuses or had record company issues (one came back, the other eventually broke up), and so I was back to mostly listening to top 40 radio.

At some point, I got suggested a "reacts to kpop" video on YouTube, and I was like, "I wonder if I'll even recognize and of these groups." The answer was no, I did not, but one if the songs was Blackpink's Whistle, and I was like, "damn, this song is fun," so I started listening to them. I still didnt keep up with anything beyond just their music (and still dont), but it got some kpop on my radar again.

Then I went to Holiday Matsuri in 2021 and went to the hottest men in anime show, which is a men's burlesque contest. The winning act performed to God's Menu and Lisa's Money, two bangers that I hadn't heard because I wasn't actively paying attention to new music. I went and looked them up and played a Spotify kpop playlist the whole 6 hours drive home to add new songs to my library, but I still didn't look up any groups. I continued like that for about a year, just liking individual songs. Then, around when Time Out came out, something made me look up the Stray Kids youtube. I had watched the God's Menu video that first night I heard the song, but I didn't watch anything else. I subscribed to the channel that time, but u still didn't dive into the music videos or add a bunch to my library. Its like part of my brain new I'd not crawl out of that hole and it wasn't the right time for it lol

Finally, late August of last year, I let myself watch the music videos and listen to full albums. Then I resisted any additional content outside of "making of" videos for another month (which is a while for a disabled person with nothing to do but consume content).

Now, here I am. Awash in the swamp. Watching Han and Chan and understanding nothing 🤣

Thankfully I had already planned to learn some Korean since its the third most common language where I live and I had started watching kdramas, but its hard! I still have some bias to Japanese releases for that reason 😆 but it does vary by song since some don't fit/match rhythmically to the Korean versions as nicely as others. Hopefully I'll get there with Korean. I have to remember I have decades of familiarity with the sounds and basics of Japanese compared to very little familiarity with Korean.

this is a wholeeee journey u did not take the easels to mordor lmao but omg i’m learning so much about how things were found in the 00’s and 10’s when i was content to go to warped tour and never be online lmao but this journey feels educational with all the stuff u were into! and ur bias for japanese releases is understandable especially jyp groups they just hit different so i can understand having spent all that time learning japanese and being into japanese culture would only add to the fondness for them! your will power to get into skz so slowly is amazing I don’t know if i’ve ever done such a good job of avoiding diving straight into something the second i found a part of it i liked, but alas we all end up in the skz swamp one way or another lmao

[fancoloredglasses]

[RERUN] Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling (as painful as a camel clutch to watch)

With the recent passing of Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri (AKA the Iron Sheik) at age 81, I thought I would pull this review out from the archives. Unlike most of my RERUN reviews, not much will be changed except fixing a broken video. I remember a live-action clip from the show that featured The Iron Sheik and his then-partner Nikolai Volkov getting their hands stuck in cement, but I can’t find it anywhere on the internet. If anyone can find it, please let me know in the comments.

Instead, in honor of the fallen Legend, here’s a clip of the late Mr. Vaziri at his best!

(Thanks to The Best Wrestling Promos of All Time)

[As a side note, Vaziri was in the US for over 40 years before his death. I don’t think his English EVER improved!]

If you would like to see the original review (with the broken video fixed), you may do so here.

(Thanks to Derek S)

[All images are owned by DIC Animation City and World Wrestling Entertainment. I promise I’m too poor to sue]

Blame psychelynx for this. They requested it, and I’m doing it (under protest)

OK, confession time again. I’m a long-time fan of professional wrestling. I also grew up in the northeast, so the only wrestling I could get was the World Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE. Damn pandas...). Later, once I was able to see “southern style” wrestling through World Championship Wrestling (WCW) I realized what I was missing.

These days, I still consider myself a wrestling fan, but a lot of what’s on TV is a far cry from wrestling, but that’s a rant for another day. We’re here to show how much the World Wrestling Federation (I will not be using their acronym as I don’t wanna get sued by the World Wildlife Fund or WWF) pandered to kids in the era of Hulkamania (and how dumb they thought kids were in the 80s)

[NOTE: A few of the wrestlers featured had an allegiance shift and/or were fired during the original airing (or shortly after), plus their popularity may have faded due to later events. I am therefore just looking at the show as its own “universe” outside the World Wrestling Federation, though I will note how things may have differed.]

The “cast” were as follows (and I will have to explain who’s who, as they don’t look like their namesakes and the voice actors don’t sound anything like them either)

For the good guys (or “babyfaces��, to use wrestler lingo) we had...

From front to back: Hulk Hogan (note that his cartoon version has a full head of hair when even in 1985 his hairline was receding down the back of his head), Tito Santana (I actually had to watch a couple of episodes to be certain who it was), “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka (who was decades away from being arrested for a murder that happened before this aired), Captain Lou Albano, Wendi Richter (who was fired while the show was on the air), Junkyard Dog, Hillbilly Jim, and Andre the Giant (who was about a year away from becoming a bad guy and challenging Hogan for the title)

For the bad guys (or “heels”) we had...

Big John Studd and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (just months before becoming a babyface and leaving to film They Live) along with...

Nikolai Volkoff, the Iron Sheik (who never actually had abs that looked that good), Mr. Fuji, and the Fabulous Moolah

Also featured on the program were...

Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and...

“Mean” Gene Okerlund

[Looking at the cast of characters, it’s kind of sad how many are no longer with us. I think Tito Santana, Hillbilly Jim, Wendi Richter, and Hulk Hogan are it!]

The shows featured two short cartoons (or one full-length cartoon) filled with plots that would have been rejected by the Three Stooges (such as Junkyard Dog and Piper in a race for the right for their car to be crushed by a giant robot dinosaur) and the wrestlers are complete idiots (such as Andre trying to hide a radio the babyfaces need by sitting on it (keep in mind that the real-life Andre the Giant was billed as over 450 pounds))

In between this comedy “gold” (more like lead), we are “treated” to “comedy” sketches by the real-life wrestlers such as this lunacy...

(Thanks to  Saturday Morning Deathgrip)

There is one minor bright spot (just for the sheer comedy...certainly not for the music) that came from this show. It repeatedly showed this little ditty, a cover of Wilson Pickett’s Land of 1000 Dances, performed by pretty much the entire lineup of the World Wrestling Federation

(Thanks to morrisonAV)

Holy crap, is that Meat Loaf on drums?

[BTW, anyone who can identify everyone in this video has my undying respect, as I don’t remember everyone and I grew up watching the World Wrestling Federation!]

Of course, given what was on World Wrestling Federation programming in the 80s, I guess you couldn’t be too surprised by any of this.

If you would like to see this lunacy, it’s on Internet Archive. If you would like to see an episode reviewed...uhhh, NO!

(Thanks to WWE)

[moderndaymadscientist]

Aw, jeez! Now I get to expose my questionable music taste to the world! So, in no particular order…

Sucker’s Minute - Rinse and Repeat. All the little layers, the sounds, the noises, the echoey vocals, everything??? It feels like pure tv-static beamed directly into my brain and I love it. 10/10 would space out to again.

Everything We Know a.k.A Expiry Comes for Us All - Jayden Wark. Okay, shortening this title because the full, official title is nearly one hundred words long. Anyways, aghghghh this song. The video, first of all, is amazing. The art, the blend of real life and animation, the symbolism, warning for bugs though. And the music??? Just. The feeling. Aough. 10/10 listened to this about fifteen times during an existential crisis.

Chemical Overreaction/CompoundFracture - Will Wood and the Tapeworms. That ending. Augh. And the live version??? It… It blends so well into the beginning of Skeleton Appreciation Day that the first time I listened to it I just. Didn’t notice. This was a really hard choice because Will Wood makes some of my favourite music ever, and I was really torn on this.

Do It All The Time - I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME. This. This is the song ever. Seriously though, the vocals, the music, the video, perfectly fits in with the sort of off-corporate vibe. I was stuck between this and New Invention, but this one just won out.

Touch-Tone Telephone - Lemon Demon. This has been my comfort song for… uh… a very long time. This song has just gotten me through a lot of very dark moments in my life, and I see it as sort of a testament to the fact that I did, in fact, survive. That and ancient aliens, of course. 11/10 for sentimental value and also funky music. Go listen to it now.

And now for the tags (in no particular order, I don’t tend to play favourites!) This rant got way too long, but I rarely get the chance to talk about my music taste and favourite songs, so can ya blame me?

@spines-tvo @arlodoinghisbest @otaroddball @ash-jam @charles-breaks-beakers @martyrofacrimescene @daffysbrainrot @drzevia @ratthewratterson @dustystripe @crocslederg @i-eat-worlds @pastelspooks @glitchxcat08

Plus anyone else I may have forgotten to tag! :D

tagged by my lovely friend @immabethehero <3

✨when you get this you have to put 5 songs you actually listen to, then tag 10 of your favorite followers✨ (non-obligatory)

1. digital animal - honey claws (abby do NOT dm me abt this LMAOO)

2. washing machine - vanishing girl + rosemary fairweather

3. los imanes - odisseo

4. it tore your heart out - dirt poor robins

5. something something lake - drive45

im tagging: @abbyhaslongshorts @last-honey @hyenaskill @devilsjude @melodiiium @seaskiies @on-the-outside @uhhbeans @butnobodycame627 @skatle-skootle-demon-noodle

[rapeculturerealities]

The Assassination of Amber Heard. “If you were being strangled, would you… | by Hannah Summers | May, 2022 | Medium

Once the couple reached their divorce settlement, they released a joint statement, agreeing “Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain.” I was relieved to see Depp admitted that Amber’s allegations weren’t false, and assumed that would be the end of that.

To my horror and disbelief, a new hashtag soon began trending on Twitter — #JohnnyDeppisInnocent (which would later become the infamous #JusticeForJohnnyDepp). That was my first brush with the abuse apologists who have dominated social media over the last few years, swarming anyone who dares to question Depp’s innocence with abuse and vitriol. Little did I know, it was just the beginning.

Amber Heard never claimed to be a perfect victim. She never said she didn’t fight back or hit Johnny — in fact in her 2016 deposition, she admitted to just that. When you are living in an abusive situation, your brain is in constant panic mode. You become the most toxic version of yourself. Like an animal backed into a corner, you do what it takes to survive. Amber was recorded saying to Johnny, “Please, I’m begging you to stop. I feel like I have a heart attack almost every day. You’re killing me.”

“If you were being strangled, would you or would you not try to save your life any way you could? Ask yourself if you would encourage your daughters or sisters to not try to keep their lives when someone was attacking them yet again.”

However, in late 2018 Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman — famous for his shady links to Russian oligarchs and disinformation campaigns including the 2016 election — released a statement claiming Johnny Depp was a victim of domestic abuse: Depp would sue both Heard and The Sun in the US and UK respectively for defamatory statements. And in January 2020, an edited, out of context audio was strategically leaked by Waldman. Amber’s words were both misquoted and misconstrued as her taunting Johnny for being an abuse victim, when the correct transcript and full recording hears her sobbing over the phone, telling Depp she thought he was going to kill her and refuting Depp’s excuse for his violence — that it was a ‘fair fight’, so he was a victim too. Waldman was kicked off the US defamation case for leaking evidence, but the damage was done.

Depp’s fans, Men’s Rights Activists, and even some misguided feminists went feral for this recording. Johnny Depp became the poster boy for male abuse victims, and Amber for female abusers. The doctored transcripts and edited audio recordings went viral on Twitter, and Heard became public enemy №1. The internet was no longer safe for her.

Never mind that texts from Depp to actor Paul Bettany proved he already had sexually violent murder fantasies about Heard — drowning her and burning her alive and raping her burnt corpse. Never mind the video of Depp shouting, smashing glasses, kicking doors and slamming cabinets, something aggressive enough for a domestic violence charge in other US states. Never mind that Amber’s medical records noted her injuries and had documented the attacks. Never mind that Heard already had pictures of her bruises with confirmed metadata — but of course the narrative then changed from Photoshop to special effects makeup. Amber was now an abuser, and Johnny her victim.

[iamapoopmuffin]

Teen Titans Episodes Explained Badly

Divide And Conquer: Aight, first thing to establish here, you take any one Titan out of the equation and the entire team is fucked, thank you and goodnight.

Sisters: If you ever wanted to get your sibling arrested, here’s a handy dandy guide on how!

Final Exam: “Did you order a crack team of ace assassins?” “No.” “Great, here you go!”

Forces Of Nature: Some old dude convinces two teenagers who have never heard of stranger danger to start some fires

The Sum Of His Parts: Reject humanity return to robot

Nevermore: Journey to the centre of Raven’s brain

Switched: Anatomically accurate puppets give way to your classic body switch storyline

Deep Six: Beast Boy vs a hot guy. The Titans get wet.

Masks: A secret identity within a secret identity

Mad Mod: A cheerful reminder that school sucks and is full of creepy people. Also never trust British people.

Car Trouble: I steal your car I steal your car I steal your car I steal your car I st

Apprentice - Part 1: Slade, a bitter divorced father, hasn’t seen his children in a long time so he steals one of Batman’s children.

Apprentice - Part 2: Robin does not want to be Slade’s son

How Long Is Forever?: Back to the future

Every Dog Has His Day: I heard you like dogs so I traded your dog for a dog. Also if it’s green, it will love annoying Raven.

Terra: The Titans let a homeless girl crash on their couch and she tracks mud everywhere

Only Human: Atlas’ entire life is this one video game and he probably lives in his mother’s basement

Fear Itself: Have your nightmares ever come alive and tried to kill everyone you care about? W̶̢̧̖͚͎̙̗̰̦̹̏͗̽͊̒̊̂͐̏̏͒̌͠ͅỏ̸̢̥̻̑̌͑́̏̓̈͐͜͝ų̷̭̫͙̘͕̣̏̑͂̍̈̋̽̍l̸͖̙̭̩̘̩͇̱͎͑̌d̶̡̧̡̛͎̪̳̰͉͖̠͈̗̽̃̎̏͑̈́͊̚͝ ̶͖̞̅̂͌̅̏y̶̖̯̮̩͈̻̹̣͆o̶̙̰̽͆̆̔̿̂͠u̵̡̫̩̹̅̄́̅̈́͆̾̉̀̐̌̂̚ ̶̨̢̛̥̺͍͙͎̥̣̼͇̲̞̳̄́̂̇̉ͅl̵̮̿i̵̢̢̛̹̞͕̲͐̈́͜k̵̡̺̏̊͌̿͊͆́̅̍̂͑̕͘͝ͅe̵̛͇̕ ̶̧̧̨̟̺͍̞̤̱̗̲̦̺̹̌͂̏̀̌͌̚ţ̶̫̞̣̬̣̜̙͛̓̂̋̀̍̀̏͐̇͒ͅh̴̢̧̡̭̭̱̙͙̼̊͌̅̋̎͊̉̓̓̚͜͝e̴̥̩̩͔̰̫͆̇̇̐̂͛̊́̀m̴̡͇̀̊ ̷̦͚̖̯̌͛́̄̔̄t̶̢̤̫̰̲̖͚̗̜͔̫̫̖͚̿̓̑ͅo̴̳̹͎̗͍̜͂̆̅͛͐̈̐̈́͒̽͘͠?̶̨͖̲͈̩̲͎͍̪͇̤̺͑̾̇͂̆̾̈̈́̅̅

Date With Destiny: Sexual harassment ft. moths

Transformation: Puberty. That’s it, that’s the episode.

Titan Rising: Homeless girl joins team and doesn’t track as much mud around the house this time.

Winner Take All: Overgrown furry gremlin thing makes kids fight each other then shoves them inside a necklace

Betrayal: Bitter divorced dad ruins teenagers’ date

Fractured: Being from another dimension appears and accidentally turns the world into a crayon drawing

Aftershock - Part 1: Terra is evil? Terra is unyielding? I’m packing my little rucksack-

Aftershock - Part 2: You thought everyone was dead but no, they’re fine...wait, a volcano is erupting-

Deception: Cyborg goes back to school but it’s evil school

X: When your evil alter ego suddenly becomes a person in its own right.

Betrothed: Never let your sister plan your wedding

Crash: Get sick, eat everything.

Haunted: Robin gets poisoned and hallucinates vividly.

Spellbound: The dangers of getting way too attached to a character in one of your books

Revolution: History lesson on crack

Wavelength: Evil Academy 2 Electric Boogaloo.

The Beast Within: Reject humanity return to Bigfoot.

Can I Keep Him?: Please do not feed your silk worms mysterious alien goo.

Bunny Raven...Or...How To Make A Titanimal Disappear: “Hey kid, you wanna see a magic trick?”

Titans East - Part 1: A new Titans team but Brother Blood wants to make it Evil Academy 3 Steel City Drift

Titans East - Part 2: Hypnotism and violence. I hope you kids like the threat of death!

Episode 257-494: Fat nerd escapes into TV and becomes James Bond

The Quest: Robin gets advice from some talking animals

Birthmark: Slade is never getting invited to another birthday party.

Cyborg The Barbarian: Back To The Future but it’s the film where they end up way in the past. Cyborg falls for a dead girl. This boy is really not lucky in love.

Employee Of The Month: Beast Boy gets a job working for a talking cube.

Troq: The Titans help an intergalactic racist and don’t question it when he states they need to commit mass genocide for the good of the universe.

The Prophecy: Oh yeah also the world is about to end lol

Stranded: “Well thank fuck this planet happens to have an atmosphere we can all survive in.”

Overdrive: “I’ve started a gang. The current members are me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me and me.”

Mother Mae-Eye: Overbearing parent simulator

The End - Part 1: Satan comes to visit his daughter and burn everything.

The End - Part 2: Everything is on fire.

The End - Part 3: Raven tells her dad to fuck off.

Homecoming - Part 1: Meet The Parents, Beast Boy edition

Homecoming - Part 2: What would you give up to chase down a team led by a homosexual brain in a jar and his monkey boyfriend?

Trust: Madame Rouge melts in direct sunlight.

For Real: You ordered the Teen Titans, but we didn’t have it in stock. We’ve substituted and price matched Titans East, now without hypnotism.

Snowblind: Starfire helps Captain Russia™ face his radioactive personal demons

Kole: Jurassic Park but nobody gets eaten

Hide And Seek: Would you rather fight a giant gorilla or babysit children? Quickly now, we don’t have much time.

Lightspeed: No Teen Titans here, just bad guys and even worse flirting.

Revved Up: Basically Wacky Races.

Go!: “This is the story of how we met. Except I tell it better than Robin does, my version has pirates!” “God damn it, Beast Boy-”

Calling All Titans!: “Here’s every single hero we could get the rights to for this. We sure hope no-one’s got any evil plans for all of them...”

Titans Together: Oops, evil won. SIKE!

Things Change: Beast Boy harasses the fuck out of a girl who looks like his ex.

The Lost Episode: I hope you like music, ft. don’t trust British people 2 electric boogaloo.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 20: Pharaoh’s Cool New Trick

Digging my way through quite a pile of commission work (funny how these things only come all at once or not at all), nearing the light at the end of the tunnel, was looking forward to some free time to catch up on my many little side projects when I was asked to take off for a weekend to do some cat-sitting to which I would NEVER say no to a cat, so like...Rip this blog I guess, we only update like once a week nowadays, but what do you do?

That’s right, play Puzzles and Dragons! The only phone game worth paying any attention to! Where they just released Pegasus on their Yugioh Collab and he looks pretty great!

So I’m just gonna take a second for some art appreciation, because the Puzzles and Dragons art team is just A++++ honestly, and yes, I did pull 13 times to get a Pegasus in my monster box, and yes, he is a completely insane team leader that is absolutely broken when paired with Yugi (the numbers are so satisfying) but...look at him. He looks so good!

(also I finally got Joey Wheeler, and so now my gatcha cravings are settled. And, don’t worry, I play this game so much that I was there during Christmas when they offered like a bajillion stones for free so I didn’t actually use real money on this.)

Now PAD also released a Weevil and Rex, and I don’t know why, and neither does the art team because they still look pretty good but in comparison to all the mains, they sure do looks like just some shorty guys in some casuals.

though I gotta admit, I want to learn how the hell this art team does swooshy effects, because man, that would make my art so much better to just have flames violently exploding out of all my art. Why am I not doing that more often? I have the technology.

anyway, I didn’t bother trying to pull them. Maybe I’ll accidentally pull them when they eventually release a Duke Devlin. (also, RIP to the fact that Roland will probably never be in Puzzles and Dragons but like...I can only send them so many polite letters covered in stickers pretending I’m some 10 year old child and writing in my broken Hiragana “Roland in PAD?”. Thems the breaks. (They also might not remember who Roland is.))

Shoutouts to the card that Weevil is holding that is censoring this nipple on the booby spider, PS.

So because this is not actually a Puzzles and Dragons blog, and it’s been ten eons since I regularly updated so I could remember episode to episode...where the hell were we?

That’s right, we’re on an island now. This show’s wonderful obsession with evil islands (and spoiler, this is one of the few Yugioh Islands that doesn’t explode at the end. Mostly because Kaiba isn’t here to do it or this place would be cinder)

(read more island stuff under the cut)

Anyway, after announcing “hey guys! Screw islands!” Yugi immediately collapses and without any warning.

Apparently the armor is a big ol parasite, which is something that Yugi is so used to at this point that he refuses to admit that this is a problem. Just normal Muto stuff, refusing to tell anyone that he has a serious illness going on underneath that giant mass of hair.

(the sailor moon vibes coming off this weird orb energy)

Sort of feels like a call back to S1 when Yugi was clearly possessed and everyone else was like “He acting weird to you?” except it’s S5 and everyone has learned to never trust Yugi when he says he’s fine and they are responding like he is about to die. Which is correct.

Outside of the cave falls this scroll that is...glowing, I guess. So they open it up and get a bunch of hieroglyphs that give them the “riddle of light” and like youknow...it’s riddle stuff.

They’re doing this riddle for “wings.” And it’s like...everyone’s monster here has a set of wings or an ability to fly. Every single monster except for I dunno, flaming swordsman? Hell, Yugi himself had two sets of wings when he fused with Dark Magician (which was weird, and I still don’t like to think about what technically was going on there.) But we have to go and get ourselves even more wings.

Weirdly, Joey turns to Tea and does something that in any other show would be completely normal. He was like “you want to stay here with Yugi, don’t you?” and it was the first time Joey has ever actually addressed the fact that Tea and Yugi are close. Uncharted territory. I was amazed at the amount of casual shipping that is happening here. It’s almost like a normal ass relationship.

So the boys decide to go off, and be boys and tackle this themselves. And they shouldn’t have, because Tea is smart for this group, and also has the only healing spell.

Like if you’re playing D+D you wouldn’t typically leave your only healer behind. Just saying.

Also like...Grandpa Muto went with them? I guess he’d have to since he’s the translator but also...kind of weird to leave your grandson dying in a cave, but maybe that’s just the Muto lifestyle.

Do not be fooled by my caps, no one has addressed the Bakura in the puzzle for 3 seasons. I’m starting to think this show will never address the Bakura in the puzzle. Which honestly, that would be hilarious if they made a big deal out of that plot point and then couldn’t use it in the end.

And speaking of plot points that kind of come out of nowhere and don’t make full sense with the continuity of the show--Joey has regressed back to the 4th grade.

Hey show? What?

So like if you love Joey, this is not the arc for you, because this arc he is reduced to a Himbo and nothing else. Straight up didn’t know what an echo is, but is very strong and pretty, I guess.

This inevitably happens with any TV show becuase different people make different parts, and I’ve brought up before that sometimes it feels like some teams only have loose post-it notes of what any character should be like at any given point (ESPECIALLY with Seto Kaiba’s timeline) but like...

...Personally I’m mot so fond of this interpretation of Joey, kind of ignores Joey’s best traits, and makes Tristan look way too smart in comparison (and like I always pinned Tristan to be the Himbo of the group, but maybe it’s because they give Tristan so little else to do?)

And like don’t get me wrong, Joey’s a dumbass a lot of the time and needs to get corrected by his pals...but...to the point he doesn’t know what an echo is? He’s a dumbass in a High School student sort of way, youknow?

Anyway, they get down to this big ravine, and they have to destroy this stone while the light passes over it. Kind of feels like a Breath of the Wild shrine quest, actually. In fact, I think Breath of the Wild recycled the shadow/sunlight pathing quest like 4 or 5 times. (I love Breath of the Wild to death but boy did they run out of ideas at the end there.)

They have to fight a glass monster and it’s kind of like...do you know the game Balls 3D? probably not, but it looked like a bunch of random shapes stuck together like a 90′s animation. They basically went to war with shapes.

Pure Himbo energy, has several pokemon, but punches for his pokemon instead of using them. A power move if I ever saw one.

Youknow that would make pokemon a lot more interesting if you could like throw out your pikachu, and then choose to just physically run up to your opponents Eevee and sock it in the jaw. Raise of hands--I know you all would love a version of pokemon like that. Let Ash Ketchum punch a Ratata.

Bro has informed me that Ash does do something like this in the anime. But I’m not talking about the anime, I’m talking about the video game. Give me the option to physically combat my rival. This is what I want, Pokemon.

They discover a way to break the monolith, and the show thinks we’re like actually 7 years old (because the show is Y7, although I forget because it deals with so many dark themes) so the show is going to hold on to this puzzle for a while...just to fill time. And it’s fine because we gotta switch over to Pharaoh anyway.

Yami has this dream again. He attempts to fuse with Dark magician to overcome the dream, but alas, he is still not strong enough.

Yugi wakes up in this murky cave while Tea is out washing out like...some rag? (he’s also still got a rag, so I guess multiple rags were required for how sweaty Yugi is.)

Yugi says “I feel like I’m a new man!” a lot in this episode, and every time he calls himself a man like he’s some sort of adult it’s very funny to me.

And then this plot lore dropped.

I mean I guess inevitably it had to happen...

But man, end of an era. It was freakin hilarious while it lasted: that Pharaoh refused to read ancient Egyptian because it’s like 2002 and he is a High Schooler living in Japan and he actually doesn’t WANT to resolve the mystery of the puzzle. Maybe the people who made this arc don’t know about how in S2 and S3, the fact Pharaoh couldn’t read Marik’s back tatt was like...a really big issue. He couldn’t read the God card, he couldn’t even read that massive tablet that read “HEY PHARAOH THIS IS LITERALLY YOU”. KAIBA had to tell him how to read the God card for him. Freakin Seto “Magic is a lie” Kaiba had to tell him how to use the God Card because Pharaoh couldn’t read it.

But like...Pharaoh finally gave in at some point after the world was devoured by the Leviathan, and before Kaiba finished building Kaibaland (which was already built in S1 but wtv)

The timelines on this show have always been a mishmash...but this one is just like...

...show are you trying to convince me that at any point in this show after season Zero, Pharaoh had any idea what he was doing? Did he sap that brain energy straight out of Joey Wheeler so he could do this?

Wow.

(secretly hoping he forgets how to read Egyptian after this arc is over and the show goes back to the other development team)

Pharaohs reasoning is that, if this is the riddle of the light.....

....then where is the riddle of darkness????????????

and when Tea was like “Pharaoh that is not even remotely logic. Omg it’s so bright outside, lets go back to gross cave.” and Pharaoh was like “Tea! You got it!” and she was like “What the hell are you talking about?”

Not gonna lie, I saw the Orichalcos green, and I got concerned.

Anyway, Yugi gets very frustrated and was like “ugh, lets go save em. They’re gonna die (again.)” and marches down there as if he didn’t pass out an hour ago.

And he fuses with Dark Magician again while everyone else (including his grandpa) was like “Yugi are you freakin kidding me? The suit freakin kills you omg! Tea you had one freakin job!”

And then we get the plot twist that...I mean it makes sense but it was choreographed in a confusing way.

And out of no where this guy shows up again:

So this mysterious man shows up and says “If you don’t succeed you have to live here forever” which...nice...that would probably save the world a lot of problems if Yami got locked away and took his OP puzzle with him. And then this man also says “if you do succeed you become VERY POWERFUL” and Yami was like. “...”

This whole episode had a theme to it, where Tristan and Joey were trying to prove that they could do things on their own and without Yugi’s help. And honestly...felt a little bit misplaced. Yami’s the same guy who murdered Yugi last season with the Orichalcos so like...

...I mean he is probably more reliable than Tristan who once died and turned into a robot monkey for 10ish episodes.

and then they flew into a glowing door.

Folks, this was wild to look at.

This is wild.

And at this point I closed Photoshop and thought I was done. But then I looked at my timeline on the video and was like...wait...there’s more?

and I’m really glad I kept watching because it went back to Alex, who...is apparently just still at those steps in this haunted ass Pyramid.

Now we’re watching Yugioh.

I forgot for a second when they turned Joey into a Himbo and made Pharaoh literate, but we’re back. I mean...

...look at the liner art on this adult man.

So...I posit the question...has Alex spent the last 2-3 episodes doing nothing but applying eyeliner to his face in the dark? Because he absolutely has. And honestly, the vibe of being in a spooky haunted pyramid with barely any light, just applying eyeliner down the edge of your face...that’s a Yugioh vibe, if I ever saw one.

This arc is wild. Anyway, next episode we do even more fetch quests and riddles? Just going to guess now that we probably will.

(and for those new here, this is a link so you can read them from the top. Which, since we’re in S5, means you got like...hours of Yugioh content to read through. Enjoy the rewards of my weird hobby.)

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[cephalog0d]

(I'm just moving into the actual response because I'm on mobile and doing tags is hard XD)

Batkid backstories are all SO FLUID even without taking all the retcons and reboots into account, I think the best way to approach it is to just decide which one you like the best and take that as canon, because it's not like the writers are going to be consistent with it XD I'm a firm believer in Selective Canon Acceptance (or what I like to call Canon Casserole, where I throw together the bits I like and ignore the stuff I think is boring or bad) because if DC is allowed to rewrite and remix their own stuff whenever they want so am I. (New 52 did a lot of very strange things to the Batkids, a bunch of which was unretconned in Rebirth, it's kind of a giant mess tbh.)

As far as the DCAU -> comics, ooh boy. Disclaimer that my brain is Full of Bees so while I can remember hyperfixation details like Babs's middle name (it's Joan) my memory for my own childhood is fairly fuzzy. XD

Batman the Animated Series started airing on TV when I was in daycare (around 3?) and apparently that was acceptable toddler tv and I fell in love and I blame my mother for who I am today because of that and showing me Star Wars at like 5. (I have one VERY vivid memory of a specific episode of BTAS from the time.) (It's also weird, in hindsight, how much I specifically loved Robin considering he's not even in it that much, but kids are weird. And this is why I will always have some bias towards Dick, I can't help it. My other favorites were Harley and Killer Croc so.)

And then when I was older I saw JL/JLU (Wally 5ever because of that) and Static Shock and Batman Beyond and all those. I didn't actually start having access to/*reading* comics until probably college? And I honestly don't 100% remember where I started. I read a lot of early wiki stuff online, I watched videos in the early days of that being a Thing online that talked about comic stuff, and I think I just kind of started reading things? (I definitely remember the first thing I actually owned was Secret Six which is a very weird entry point for literally anything, although I had read stuff before that, it was just the first one I bought.)

I'm trying to remember my first exposure to any given Batkid and besides Dick and that weird version of Tim from DCAU I really can't recall, they're all just things I know now with no memory of learning. XD I've been a little more systematic in the last few years going back and filling in things I missed in my very scattershot approach but there's a lot.

(I...might have built myself a giant sortable spreadsheet of character appearances because I'm THAT kind of nerd. It has a master list tab where I can sort for multiple characters at the same time to see where they've appeared in the same thing. I'm very proud of it.)

(It's been 7 years and I'm still mad about SS because that's the only live action Killer Croc I'll ever get and it's THAT MOVIE and because I'm one of the like four people who cared about that series prior to that and it has so much lost potential and also Jared Leto and his...everything. Although the absolute trash fire that is the New 52 version is still worse somehow. Stunningly terrible.)

Okay, maybe its just that I'm a kid of an immigrant so my cultural touchstones aren't the same as everyone else's but being a comics fan feels surreal.

Like. Stephanie Brown is my blorbo right now, and she's a minor c-tier character, with a whole lot of comics under her belt but about three tv appearances. She's not nothing, but to call her a big deal would be A Stretch. Because I read everything with her in it, I picked up tfz, a book ft Jason Todd, an antihero who I've heard quite a lot about through fandom but who's stories I haven't actually read till now. Because I vibed with that I picked up the man who stopped laughing, and read about his arch-nemisis the Joker.

Then panels of the Joker show up on Fox News and I feel like I'm having a stroke.