#the hardest fight so far imo

[lambment]

As a resident Kallamar officianado (and fanboy) I can help give some details about Kallamar to help with characterization. Squid failwife is a coward but he's considered, by me at least, to be the hardest bishop to fight. So he failwife but he still bishop for a reason. He blusters about how you will fail and that all the past vessels were failures during the first two runs in Anchordeep, but on the last one will ACTUALLY begin freaking out and even go so far as to say "take Shamura not me!!!" Mystic Seller also describes Kallamar as "Foolish but never discriminated when it came to using the power of the crown." Lastly, confirmed to be canonically polyamorous!

Kalamazoo officinado I love you,

I agree Kallamar felt harder than Shamura imo, failwife ✍️ but bishop ✍️ for reason ✍️.

Okay I do remember him being like “plz no, take my sibling instead” and was like, damn…. Alright.

okay my man didn’t use his powers indiscriminately I can respect that. He said plague be upon ye, not you.

In the kindest way, making the most rizzless (in my minds eye srry) one poly, is killing me. I cannot imagine that man with a spouse, let alone several, but that would be a fun little twist.

Incredible info, okay I have to cook with this now

[hopeymchope]

I wish Spike Chunsoft would just go full "Persona" with Danganronpa and milk it with tons of spinoffs.

I'd be there for every goddamn one of them on DAY ONE, you know. Pick your genre! The minute they figured out how to make a decent third-person DR action game with Ultra Despair Girls, that should've opened the floodgates wide IMO. In fact, if you take any given Persona spinoff, I can tell you how easily/naturally they could develop (and I could get super-hyped for) a Danganronpa equivalent.

Danganronpa Arena is SO obvious. It's the MOST obvious spinoff, and it has been sitting there waiting to be creating for seven goddamn years now. Ever since Kodaka said he wants a DR fighting game. Hey, remember that official DR3 Staff Book art that showed Nanami dreaming about it? Many of us have shared fan ideas for the story and/or for character moves. COME ON, y'all. What's the holdup?? DO IT! DO IT NOW!

Danganronpa: Dancing? FUCK YAS. I mean, there's already some wicked dance remixes of the game soundtracks in that Crypt of the Necrodancer DR content, so why the hell not?? And I recall that @dreamrlu did some great fanart (1) for how the (2) V3 crew could dress (3).

Danganronpa Q, a dungeon crawler? Despair Dungeon already exists, so it's COMPLETELY NATURAL. It's just a higher-quality production of that same concept! And if you haven't seen that fanmade version of the first "Persona Q" opening where it's the casts of DR1 and DR2 meeting up? It's AMAZING.

Danganronpa Tactica? Imagine leading squads from the Future Foundation (including DR1 and DR3 cast members) in missions against remaining Remnants of Despair. I've been playing a lot of tactical RPGs lately, and there's a lot of room to tell a ton of story in this format... plus it's not like you even have to make complex graphics to make it work, so SC doesn't have to worry about struggling with 3D renders if they don't want to. Just consider how Digimon Survive pulled this off with 2D sprite art!

Danganronpa Strikers is, uh, maybe the hardest to justify — but if you set it in the virtual world, that could make it easy! Since Danganronpa S already took place entirely in VR and contained a load of combat encounters, why the hell not do a similar setup for an action game? And if you prefer to keep in the real world, there are still a number of characters I could easily justify making playable in such a scenario — Genocide(r), Sakura, Asahina, Mondo, Nekomaru, Peko, Akane, Great Gozu, Seiko, Munakata, Maki, Gonta, etc. I can even picture some more-unlikely candidates such as Kimura slotting into the roster. I don't even like musou games that much, but ofc I'd play the SHIT out of this one.

Look: I know I'm an insatiable fan who just wants more precious content with these characters. But you can't convince me that these things wouldn't also SELL. The brand reached new heights of awareness and sales with V3, and they haven't really capitalized on that at all aside from giving us "Danganronpa S." We haven't even gotten a new anime since DR3, FFS! And I'm confident that any one of the ideas listed above would sell far better than a weird digital board game with RPG combat set inside VR, frankly. :P

[6ad6ro]

my review of each game in UFO 50: BARBUTA - intentionally "hard and obtuse to reflect the era", but imo it works. haven't gotten far but i really appreciate it. BUG HUNTER - kinda hated it at first, but wound up really liking it once i understood the basics. NINPEK - controls great. appreciate the mr goemon inspiration. but sadly way too hard. PAINT CHASE - a fine game. sorta like pacman. MAGIC GARDEN - a really cool take on snake. took a minute to warm up to it tho. give it a chance. MORTOL - what a cool idea! lemmings combined with a platformer. gets hard fast but fine. VELGRESS - inverted downwell? it's neat. super hard but i'm just bad at it lol. PLANET ZOLDATH - an awesome bitesized roguelike. this game is sick, don't skip it. ATTACTICS - i'm too stupid to play this. but also i don't really want to learn. just okay. DEVILITION - seems more interesting than attactics, but i want to play it even less. KICK CLUB - bubble bobble clone, seems amazing at first. but all too quickly turns into tedious bullethell drop puzzles. after world 2 you'll wanna stop playing. too bad. AVIANOS - hard but kickass strategy game. has game customization and difficulty settings! MOONCAT - a big reason to buy ufo 50. weird and great! BUSHIDO BALL - do you like windjammers? this game kicks ass. gets real hard tho. BLOCK KOALA - i've never liked sokoban and i never will. seems fine if you do. CAMOUFLAGE - didn't wanna give it a chance at first, but it seems alright. lil stealth game. CAMPANELLA - it's probably a fine game but i hate playing it. maybe if it had a healthbar? GOLFARIA - amazing idea executed poorly. i wish i liked this more, but it's annoying to play. THE BIG BELL RACE - campanella combined with super off road (or sprint). better than campanella, but that "touch the walls and die" shit makes it way worse than it's inspirations. WARPTANK - seems cool. i def need to spend more time with it. WALDORF'S JOURNEY - good, cute game. hard but small scale, making it very fun. PORGY - an even bigger reason to buy ufo 50. small scale metroidvania. cherried it. ONION DELIVERY - god, what were they thinking? has so much potential but wayyy too hard. CARAMEL CARAMEL - such a good game ruined by a two-hit gameover. booooooo. PARTY HOUSE - this game is just really really good. hard to explain, just try it. HOT FOOT - imagine if super dodgeball had shit controls. why does my player autoswitch? i may never give it another chance… DIVERS - weird swimming rpg. i need to give it more time, but seems ok so far. (skipped over next 5) FIST HELL - a final fight clone? hell yes! but then i realized it was more like playing final fight on hardest setting with a single credit. aka "not fun". another example of a good game mossmouth ruined by making it too hard. (skipped over next 10) PILOT QUEST - tied with porgy for being my fav so far. zelda 1 combined with crafting. but you gain resources even when playing other games. kicks ass, PLAY THIS FIRST. cherried. (skipped mini and max) COMBATANTS - tbh i heard it sucked so i jumped ahead to it. they were right… (yet to play final 4) ??? - awesome but can't talk about it.

i'll update with the rest of the games once i try em.

[oleanderblume]

Hey I'm healing from top surgery so I'm gonna masterwork the stages of healing I've been experiencing cause people are always leaving shit out :D

• You will sleep. Often.

So, basically after I got my surgery done, I had a whole concoction of medication and all of it knocks you the *fuck* out. If you fight it, you're simultaneously fighting God. That being said, take it. It's made to make your existence more bearable. Because if you're Top Surgery came with liposuction, like mine did, wherever you had liposuction will hurt. So just count on doing just about fuck all during that first week.

• You will need help, accept it.

And I mean with things you don't think you should need help with. Yes, getting tall things, but also in that first week and ESPECIALLY the first couple of days post op, you might even need help getting out of bed, opening doors.

The general rule here is you can't life anything over 15lbs, but *really* it's "you can't do anything where you can feel your stitches pulling" which is basically everything sans going to the bathroom. For me, the hardest thing was being so in need of assistance, that I legitimately couldn't lift my torso up enough to get out of bed, I figured it out after day 3 though.

• You will probably have to have drains, get over it. And yes. They suck, but for a specific reason.

Everyone talks about how shitty drains are, but I've never heard them say *why* drains suck because they hurt after a period of time. Usually around end of week 1, and for me, all of week 2. By week 2, I legitimately wanted to Rio these Fulkerson out.

But I wanted to rip them out because of a bunch of reasons.

1. They werr placed in a way where i couldn't see them and had limited access to the insertion site, closer to my back than my side. This made it very hard to deal with near the end for reason 2.

2. They fucking itch, and if they don't itch, they legitimately hurt. (This is why that pain medication is helpful imo.) The insertion site has loose stitches keeping the drains in your body, and your skin eventually wants to heal around it, now imagine constantly itching and/or aching, in a place you can't touch or even fucking see— constantly.

3. It's kind of gross. This wasn't a big issue for me. I have a morbid curiosity (I wanted to take a video of my sister pulling out my drains bit they didn't) but for folks who don't like the idea of having to pour out your body juices to measure and record, that can be squicky.

4. Fucking dogs. Dogs and quick movements, especially of other people is the MOST terrifying, because I was constantly afraid of pur dog jumping up and tearing those fuckers out of my body.

Now I'm gonna talk about the actual healing process and how that feels.

Week One— The least painful, but most disabling.

The first couple of days, I was essentially entirely reliant on my sister. I couldn't go to the bathroom without her help to get out of bed. At this time, you still have the anesthesia in your system so you can't feel a whole lot, other than gravity, and you're still pretty sleepy. It's advised to get up Avery few hours to shuffle around, but honestly, taking a nap is all you'll want to do.

Of course, the sitting up rule still holds, you can't really lay flat on your back, and you won't want to, because it's hard to fucking get up without help.

As far as pain goes, you don't feel much in the actual surgery site. Some surgeons include additional liposuction (this method is used to reduce the liklihood of dog ears or excess skin from the procedure itself)

^^^this will be the most painful thing during the first week^^^

It's because you get a lot of bruising, both external and internally when you have liposuction and it causes a lot of aching. The ache will gradually fade around the week 1 end, especially if you heal well from bruising you might have some numbness left over, but likely not from the liposuction. Those bits will be tender. You'll be given (or have bought) a compression garment that will come in very handy. It's not the same as a binder in that it's much easier to remove. The tightness won't be as restrictive, and it will help with liposuction healing and keeping your gauze in place. This is made to be worn basically 24/7 with exception of showers and washing. It *will* chafe, and you *will not* feel it. Prepare for that.

You can't physically do much of anything during this week, I couldn't open or close heavy doors, grab anything heavier than maybe 5 lbs, and most definitely not reach for anything. As mentioned, I couldn't lift my own ass out of bed, so I definitely couldn't drive. They *say* you can drive after the first 2 days. Don't. 1, you're probably on pain medication which knocks you put in about an hour of taking and 2, you're probably underestimating the strength and movement involved in using a steering wheel.

Over all, this is actually the easiest part of healing, pain wise. It's definitely the hardest if you don't have someone to care for you and help you during this time because you most definitely can't do it on your own.

Week Two— This one fucking SUCKS.

This is the week that the anesthesia has definitely worn off and you're running in pain medication. I was given a concoction of Gabapentin, Oxycodone, Diazepam, and over the counter Extra Strength Tylenol. Use them. Probably more than you think you should, honestly.

I had/have a very bad habit of not taking my pain medication as much as I should be because I'm low-key afraid of overdosing, but honestly. You won't overdose unless you take waaay too much of all your meds at once.

You'll still have to be sleeping sat up a bit, but you'll have significantly more mobility and strength— that doesn't mean you can over extend yourself. The 15lb rule still exists, and you don't want to extend your arms fully.

At this point, you'll be regaining feeling, it won't be a whole lot, but it comes in stages. (I'll go in depth near the end of the post)

This is when the drains become an aggravation. If you haven't had them taken out by end of week 1, week 2 you more than likely will, and up until then, they will get worse and worse to deal with.

For me, because of where they were placed, they were directly where I couldn't see them and couldn't fuck with them, but I laid on them every night, and of course, my skin was beginning to heal over the sutures, causing aching and unbearable itchiness. THIS is why you want to take your meds. In addition, remember how I mentioned the compression garment and the chafing? You're still wearing that. And if you haven't been closely watching your chafing, by week 2, you're made fully aware of it, because your under arms and sides will have gained feeling by then, and it will fucking hurt. Get band-aids. I have a stack of them up and down my sides where my drains were, and where I've chafed the most.

By your first week post op appointment, the surgeon has probably removed your gauze and any sutures covers for nipple grafts. They'll tell you how to do nipple and scar care. This varies from surgeon to surgeon, but I'll tell you about mine.

I had nipple grafts, so for week 1, I had little gauze squares on top of my nipples and sutures into my skin to protect them. At my post op those were removed and my nipples were covered in Vaseline and telfa paper. (It's basically a medical gauze covered in a plastic that easily sticks to moisturizing gels)

As for my actual top surgery scars, instead of having open sutures, I have my stitches, along side these sticky "brackets" they are plastic and run along my front and sides, except for directly under my nipples because of proximity. The plastic little brackets act as a tension that essentially pulls my skin together and keeps the stitches from stretching and forming wide scars. They fall off on their own once the skin has healed to the point that the tension isn't sufficient for them to keep sticking to my skin (they legit look like little plastic bridges and they are very satisfying swimming tools if you like running your fingers along the bumps they make under your binder) they also move over time, my two center ones have formed a triangle lol.

These brackets prevent me from having to do regimented scar care that some other folks have to post op, so I'd ask about them in your consultations :) you still have daily nipple moisturizing, and draining if you still have drains, but that takes a load off of the laundry list of shit you have to keep track of every day.

NOW FOR PAIN :D

You will be in pain. First it will be itching. The most annoying, persistent itching you have ever felt in your life, and you have to be incredibly care where it's coming from. This itching is actually normal. Itching is the lowest registry of pain your body has, and as you heal and your nerves regenerate, you will feel a variety of very weird things, but most definitely it will involve pain and itching.

Next will be what I'm gonna term "zingers" these are like spikes of tingly pain that you get in your chest, probably in your nipples the most. They don't really hurt, so much as just feel particularly strange and they are annoying too. Not everyone will experience this, and not necessarily both nipples or at this stage, it's highly dependent on how you heal and if you regain feeling in your nipples at all.

I was expecting myself to never regain feeling in my nipples again because of the type of surgery I had (double incision) so it took me by pleasant (and also awful) surprise.

Other weird sensations as your nerves begin regenerating are "hot/cold" and "inexplicable tightness" and of course, "let's ache".

•hot/cold is basically if you took IcyHot or Vicks Vapor Rub or any kind of menthol topical ointment and rubbed it all over your chest. It doesn't hurt, but it is very interesting. It only lasted about 2 days for me, but it was notable.

•inexplicable tightness is exactly as it says. It *feels* like your skin is being pinched, this also doesn't exactly *hurt* but it's not a particularly pleasant feeling. It's just your nerves waking up and going "Oh hey, I'm closer than I was to my neighbor than the last time I checked" it's more noticeable when standing and you feel compelled to hunch over a bit because it's sort of tricking you into thinking your skin will somehow rip open if you don't. At least, it does that for me lol.

• let's ache is also exactly what it's called. It's specifically (for me, mind you) a persistent and constant ache directly along my stitches, specifically the part that wasn't given brackets because of how close it is to my nipples. This is probably the only part of me that hurts not *just* because of nerve regeneration, but also because of increased movement and higher tension because j can't put brackets there. However, I do put scar tape there, which helps, if possibly only through placebo.

By far though, the most distracting pain will be from your drains, if you still have them in.

Medication does weird stuff to your sleep pattern and dreams— additional notes.

So, because I've only just ended my Week Two of post Top Surgery, I'm gonna talk about the weird shit that the medication does and it's major affects.

So, my prescription is 2 antibiotics, 2 pain pills, 1 anxiety med, 1 antinausea. I also have over the counter pain medication, but it's functionally useless right now.

My personal routine is wake up, take antibiotics, and take at least 1 of the prescribed pain meds. My oxy lasts 6 hrs, the gabas last 12. Both will make you sleepy and dizzy, and also give you weird fucking dreams and royally fuck up your sleep schedule.

So, if you've not noticed, you'll be sleeping a lot. You're in the process of healing, and your body literally won't let you stay awake for much longer than 3 or 4 hours in that first week. Later on, it gets much easier, and if your me and don't *want* to be unconscious 90% of the time, it becomes a toss up between "Do I want to take ineffective Tylenols and be awake but in pain the whole time? Or do I want to take effective prescribed pain meds and have to lie down for a nap in roughly an hour because I'm too loopy/mentally foggy to carry on a conversation?"

The prescription wins most every time lol. Soon, as a result, I sleep a vast majority of the time. I can technically stay up in spite of the medication, but it is *very* hard, and even harder if you're trying to be active. Gabapentin is longer lasting and stronger than my oxycodone, and it makes your head feel like it's full of cotton balls. It works fantastic for pain relief, but at the cost of precision motor function and focus.

It gets harder to walk and carry on a conversation because it's a sedative and you're actively fighting your body saying "go the fuck to sleep"

Other weird side effects from the drugs and the healing have are psychological and emotional!!

It's commonly said that post top surgery you can have depression, and I would say yes— but also no.

It's more of being at the mercy of wildly fluctuating emotions and how they manifest. Typically in the form of crying, I've noticed. But not necessarily depression as I'm familiar with it.

Now, this can be for more reasons than *just* medication, and it has no bearing, in my opinion on how one might truly feel about their operation. Some factors include whether or not you take testosterone.

Low testosterone is known to be a cause of depression in cis men, and it works exactly the same for trans men and people who take testosterone. Previous to your surgery, you'll be required to stop taking a lot of your medications, including T if you're on it. This massive dip in T can *definitely* contribute to feeling depressed post op, but for a lot of guys familiar with T, this is a kind of depression you can largely tell is artificial— because it goes away the next time you take your dose XD

Other things that affect your mood is of course, your own hormones. The human body runs on hormones, and our body having gone through invasive surgery like top surgery will of course put your body in overdrive to repair broken connections, and to do that, it releases hormones. Which, in addition to reaction chemically inside you for healing purposes, also are the things that literally control your emotions.

This, in combination with the medication you've been prescribed, and the medication you've had to delay taking, can have a major impact on your mood and mental health. It doesn't necessarily mean you regret getting top surgery (you would know if you did)

But it can manifest in fluctuating mood, how you respond to emotional or psychological stimuli, dreams, nightmares, and how subconscious fears may manifest in them and the occasional intrusive thought. Also you will probably cry. And probably a lot. Over stupid shit too.

Things I've cried over in the past 2 weeks.

Typing "things I've cried over in the past 2 weeks"

A 5 second clip of futurama

A 15 minute excerpt from a 3 hr video essay of a gay furry dating Sim I have literally never heard of or played.

Talking about crying or what I've cried about so far, even when no emotions are attached.

Thanking a person for talking to me.

A good hug

The fact I can't watch Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius.

A video essay about Wizards of Waverly Place.

A donut

That my brother helped me get cheerios down from the pantry because I can't reach that high right now.

My sister getting me curry

Curry in general (tearing up typing it right now)

Getting top surgery

As you can see, a lot of those are just weird shit to sob over for a solid 5-45 minutes.

I've also had a bunch of super weird dreams, and the biggest cause of that (aside from drugs and healing) is sleeping position and pre-existing conditions.

I have sleep paralysis, it's a chronic condition triggered by sleeping on my back, and unfortunately, when healing from top surgery, you have no choice but to sleep on your back for at least two weeks :D

So that's a thing to be wary of, if you deal with that.

Okay, that's all I got in terms of stuff that I haven't ever seen people talk about or even mention in regards to top surgery. So yeah.

Oh also, I have 2 (lightly used) GC2B tank binders to give away. One is trans pride colors, the other is a olive green. Size XL (ideal for folks with at least 38 C cup size) so if anyone is interested dm me :)

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

For the Writeblr asks:

hand-written love letter: what do you think is the best part of your wip

sewing machine: what scene do you think was/will be the hardest to write

Thanks for the ask! (From this game)

hand-written love letter: what do you think is the best part of your WIP?

I think the best part of TSP is the dynamics between the characters and their individual voices. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm very proud of the dialogue and the interactions I've gotten between everyone. I spent a lot of time focusing on the characters in the background to get them right in the draft. And so far, it's turned out very well!

I did write myself into a bit of a corner with multi-POV in first person, but the voices are much more distinct now, and I've grown as a writer because of it! I have to think so hard about how this character will say something, or their thought process given an event. It's great. I love it. It's growing every day. What was once a burden is now a strength, imo. Is it perfect? I'm not so proud to say yes. But it's improving. And that's what I'm taking away from this.

sewing machine: what scene do you think was/will be the hardest to write?

Oh 100% breaking into places and stealing shit.

So far the hardest scenes to write have been ones with excessive world building and fight choreography. But nothing will be compared to the infiltration in Parts 3-5.

First - plots are coming along and not 100% clear to me, even if I have a broad idea. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. The main issue is that I am in a world where people have POWERS.

In the "Draft Four" of Pts3-4 that I have, I bullshat a lot of it. I had the main group use their powers to break in, knowing full well Alium would have security measures in place. Of course they'd have sensors that prevent people who can turn invisible from sneaking undetected! So how are they getting in????

I'm....working on it. It's not for a while but that's not the point!!

Hopefully I'll have a better understanding of Alium tech by then, since I'm working on world building right now.

Thanks for the ask!!

TSP intro

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester

[omgeto]

I read your tags on the smut tips post so I’m here to ask, how do you write a good angst to fluff piece? 😌

idk what possessed me to say my angst to fluff pieces were my true calling BUT since thats what literally ALL my Haikyu fics are and all my non full smut fics are I might as well. AND I LOVE SHARING MY WISDOM I FEEL LIKE A GURU hehehehe.

FIND THE WRITE ANGST TO FLUFF BALANCE: like tbf this one is just down to personal preference of what you want to write. since at the end of the day angst to fluff fics are just fics that start with angst and end with fluff BUT imo to make it sweet and juicy you really need to find the write balance, have you ever read and fic and thought damn this barely had any angst or vice versa. so when it comes to writing NON smut angst to fluff fics I think depending on how heavy the angst is you wanna do like a 60% angst 40% fluff or 70% angst and 30% fluff. but this point kinda leads into my next one...

BALANCING UR SHIT RIGHT: so with this, I think the hardest part of writing angst to fluff fics is that you have to find a problem that angsty enough to be worth writing about but not TOO angsty that it makes the reader look dumb for forgiving the character and having a fluffy ending. to combat this, I usually just make the 'fluff' part of my endings the apology and always kind of imply or just straight out state that not EVERYTHING is cool but you'll work towards fixing it and you can still have a sweet moment come from that.

HOW TO WRITE A FLUFFY REUNION: since I realised that some people actually struggle writing the actual fluff part. but deep it if ur writing x reader fics you just gotta ask your self "if someone did *insert whatever angsty thing they did* to me, what would I want them to do to fix it" tbf half of the time the angst I write in my fics id dump a dude for, but when ur writing for the masses and writing a fluffy ending that cannot happen lol. but usually like just ask urself what you'd want and its 8/10 the right answer. but if u have no ideas then, just start with AN APOLOGY (surprise surprise) a heartfelt apology and some promises to do better and be better and all that lame soppy crap, THAT ALWAYS GOES A LONG WAY and then boom.

HOW TO WRITE ANGST: now I could do a whole separate post on how to write angst, since I actually think my angst is stellar. but so I dont bore you, I'll just say for me personally ITS ALL IN THE DIALGOUE. like yeah descriptions go a long with in any form of writing but for a real juicy piece of angst you have to make them verbally fight (or physically fight if u REALLY WANNA GO THERE but we do not beat up eachotehr so no thank you) but yes the key is in the dialogue like and it doesn't have to be long dialogue but a good back and forth argument which REAL EMOTION THATS WHAT COUPLES AND PEOPLE DO.

BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY MY OVERALL POINT IS JUST TRY AND MAKE IT REALISTIC. HOW? ASK YOURSELF "HOW WOULD I FEEL IF THIS HAPPENED TO ME" OBVIOUSLY SOMETIMES THE SITUATIONS ARE FAR FETCHED AS HELL BUT IT SEEMS U GUYS FORGET THAT UR ALSO HUMAN BEINGS JUST AS UR READERS ARE SO.... DO THAT AND ITLL ALL BE FUN.

[im-no-jedi]

the (true) problem with the TBB season 2 finale

the more I’ve been thinking on it and pondering wtf happened and why the fandom is reacting the way that it is, I’ve come to a conclusion about the season finale that I think explains it all.

over the years, I’ve been able to train myself to separate my personal opinions from things and look at them from an artistic perspective, despite the subject matter. things like blood and gore - although they still gross me out - aren’t as bothersome to me since taking theater classes in college and learning the science of how things like that are done in media. I’m able to look at things and critique them artistically as opposed to with pure emotion.

while I do still react on pure emotion (as some of y’all witnessed last Wednesday 😝), I also try to look back on things with that artistic perspective in mind. which is what I’ve been doing with The Summit and Plan 99. and while I can appreciate everything that happened artistically and dub each individual thing that happened as nothing short of a masterpiece, there’s one major issue that I realized right from the start that has been solidified now for me more than ever.

it was way too much content.

I’ve said already that I thought The Summit was done really, really well. the pacing was good, and it felt like the high-stakes TBB episodes we’re used to. but then Plan 99 hit. and golly gee, did it hit hard.

pardon the comparison, but everything that happened in Plan 99 was a literal train-wreck. Tech’s sacrifice. everyone getting injured. Cid’s betrayal. the Empire invading Ord Mantell. Hemlock capturing Omega. Crosshair and other Clones being experimented on. Emerie’s reveal of her true identity. and to top it all off, it ended on a cliffhanger.

that.... is WAY too much to absorb in one episode. like... waaaaaaaaay too much.

let’s just look at the fandom itself as an example. what’s everybody focused on right now more than anything else? Tech’s sacrifice. that in of itself is the hardest hitter here, by far. that alone was enough to carry the finale in terms of emotional intensity. but no, it didn’t stop there.

the team came out of the whole thing battered and bruised, with Omega seemingly taking the hardest hit. not too terrible, it’s happened before, like when Omega got taken by Cad Bane right after the whole Bracca endeavor. but here’s the thing. they barely had time to even grieve the loss of Tech before the Empire showed up on Ord Mantell. adding that plot point in so soon after losing Tech was literal lemon juice on our open wounds.

and then they had the gall to slap us in the face with everything on Mount Tantiss. do you know I’ve seen literally NOBODY talking about Emerie? we literally got confirmation of another female Clone, and NOBODY is talking about it???

this is what I mean. individually, on their own, these plot points are good and were done well imo. but geez louise, I felt like I went through a Super Saiyan fight having all of that thrown at me in one single episode. I feel like even if something like Tech’s sacrifice had been put at the end of The Summit as opposed to Plan 99, it might’ve alleviated things just a tad. still would’ve been too much though.

I’ve been absolutely blown away by every story choice made this season. I feel that way about the entire show, honestly. but I also think the finale was a misstep, solely in terms of the amount of content shown. I feel like this should’ve been the opener for season 3 as opposed to the end of season 2. at least have Omega getting captured be put off until then. cause right now, despite Omega being one of my favorite characters, I’m also still more focused on what happened to Tech more than anything else! and don’t even get me started on the Emerie thing, good GRIEF 🙄

again, individually, these plot points are GOOD. very good imo (except maybe the Emerie thing but I digress 😝). but man... why did we have to get them all at once. I remember, I literally stopped breathing at one point while watching Plan 99; that’s how bad it was. I was so overwhelmed and overstimulated and emotional that it was hard to even function. @jam-n-ham and I just sat in silence for like a full minute once the episode was over, unable to process what had even just happened. and well... I don’t necessarily count that as a good thing 😬

so yeah. all this to say, despite how good the individual plot points were in Plan 99, it was just far too much content for one episode. I think the whole thing with Ord Mantell and Mount Tantiss should’ve been held off for the beginning of season 3. because putting all of that immediately after the loss of Tech made it nearly impossible to even absorb properly as an audience. and the fandom’s reaction is proof of that.

[boopernatural]

Thoughts on the last of us part 2?

Omg… you have no idea what you’re walking into anon…

It is far and wide the most impactful game I’ve ever played.

There is a lot of criteria in which I could judge it and you asked and I have the day off so…

Firstly, the gameplay!

In my opinion, the gameplay in this is some of the smoothest, most fun of any game. Just like the first game, the transition from cutscene to gameplay is so fucking seamless I was sometimes taking a minute to realize I was in control again. The vast map and wide variety of controls you have over the character to me is incredible! Playing as Ellie is my favorite, she moves so fluidly and the jumping, climbing, ducking, crawling all of it feels so natural and immerses you so much. The highest difficulty I’ve beaten it on is hard so I can’t speak to the grounded or survivor challenge, but for me hard was perfect balance of challenge while still being fun and not too frustrating. The fight near the end with Ellie as the boss was the hardest one for me. And the rat king was a good chase scene/fight too.

Secondly, the visuals.

Naughty Dog never disappoints me with how fucking stunning their games look. The map of Seattle is seriously an amazing feat. Even during gameplay I’m struck by the beauty of the surrounding world, just like tlou1(esp after the remaster). I play on PS5, and so the graphics are just fucking phenomenal imo. My normal gaming experience is decent quality visuals in a cutscene and then clear jumps to gameplay more focused on function. TLOU2 (and 1) doesn’t make you choose. I seriously want to shake the creatives at Naughty Dog and just thank them for all the late nights and missed family dinners they must’ve had to create such intricate and well made visuals.

Some examples of shots I just think are neat:

Thirdly, the story/character arc.

I’ll admit it. The first time I played through this game I was miserable. Joel’s death was a nightmare come true, for Ellie and me. The scene was so well crafted, the dread building up to it, everything. Joel finally settling in and opening himself up to kindness and even heroism (in saving Abby) was his fucking demise. I don’t know what that says but… well, that’s what happened.

I was able to shelve my grief and enjoy the Seattle bits with Ellie and Dina because like her, I wanted those fuckers dead. The drama between Ellie, Dina and Jesse somewhat mirroring Mel Owen and Abby was interesting, but I felt our Jackson trio was much kinder to each other and healthier and would have worked it out a lot better. Jesse dying was so unfair.

The flashback scenes with Joel broke me. The entire museum arc… god. I’ve never played a video game that devotes an entire chapter to gameplay of something mundane and fun, no threats, no fights, the only interaction is climbing a big t-Rex or spinning a planet diagram. The dialogue is amazing, shows how comfortable they are with one another and that they’re really operating like a father and daughter. Things weren’t all doom and gloom. Joel getting her the tape, encouraging her to wear the helmet and close her eyes and Ellie being fully immersed into this fantasy (similar to what Riley does for her in the DLC with the arcade game!) I just love that the people who love Ellie foster and groom her creativity and imagination.

Ellie was trying so hard to ignore the lie between them, to pretend things were okay, and sometimes she could. Sometimes she forgot that this horrible thing existed underneath the surface.

But of course, it festers and rots when it’s untouched. The finding strings portion was amazing. Joel was OP as hell and I like that the game really shows how nothing will stop him from keeping his girl safe. He fucking kills a bloater with a machete and doesn’t get hit once. Unheard of?! The ending sequence where she confronts him was hard to watch. You feel what both of them are feeling and are somehow rooting for both of them to not have to address this pain.

Ellie returning to the firefly hospital… Joel racing after her, pulling her in for this hug like they’ve done it plenty before, you talk to me…

The devastation in both of their faces when the truth does come out. They both want so badly for this thing not to be here. For everything to be okay.

Then, you get to the theater. Abby is there. I’m thinking: I’ve reached the end! Let’s fucking kill her.

And then….3 years earlier.

I was angry, actually. I did not want to redo these three days as this character I despise! Even though Abby had great gameplay and some awesome fights that were really fun, I found myself just waiting for it to end. I was like game, this bitch killed Joel, sorry but I don’t care about her or her people.

The Tommy sniper bits were amazing and made that all feel worthwhile. Seeing him on the warpath to avenge his brother, and seeing his real darkness through all the evidence he left behind was amazing.

I liked the storyline with Lev and Yara, didn’t like the Owen/Abby abrupt back shots scene. Felt like a very NSFW siblings or dating moment. Not an Owen fan one bit! Felt bad for Mel, even though I didn’t like her as a person. Felt worse for Ellie when she realized what she’d done to her.

Then, finally got back to Ellie at the farm. I was pleading right alongside Dina for her not to go. Joel would have wanted this for her, this safe quiet life with her family. Everything would still be worth it to him if she stayed. He would have fulfilled his purpose. To give Ellie a life.

And then she fucking leaves…even though I knew she would, I was devastated for my Ellie. All I’ve ever wanted since I saw that lil switchblade-wielding lunatic is for her to be safe and happy. But it is in character for her to get in her own way.

Santa Barbara was fun, the Rattlers made me full of rage bc they were so difficult lol but a super unique concept and I enjoyed the play through of those parts a lot.

Ellie being the one to save Abby’s life. I love this. I am biting this I am chewing it I am swallowing it whole. I have so many thoughts on this one choice that I could write another way too long post about it.

Ellie and Abby finally have a fair fight. Even ground, both wounded and weak, both tired of all of this.

I wanted her to kill Abby. Still do, actually. I personally think… you’ve already killed hundreds of people who weren’t even the ones who directly killed Joel lol… but ok. I get what the game was trying to do. I just didn’t roll with it. That’s really my only story critique. And it’s barely a critique cause I like the ending as it is too.

Especially because, after my 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc play through, I grew to like Abby. I enjoyed her scenes and gameplay much more the second go through when I knew what to expect and where it was all going. I always thought her revenge on Joel was fair bc an eye for an eye, he’d do the same thing and Ellie did worse. But looking at her differently helped me enjoy the story more.

It would have hurt a lot more I think, to watch Ellie murder this girl I liked, and in doing so doom the little boy she’d sought to protect. Abby and Lev at the end as a mirror for Joel and Ellie in tlou1 was just… how can I make out with a concept? So. Good.

Ellie’s ending is so gut-wretching and sad I can barely even talk about it. 

She lost everything. Her biggest fear was ending up alone. Joel died before she could make things right with him, she lost Dina and Jesse and JJ and Tommy.

The flashback with Joel to the night before he died did provide me a little solace. Merely in the fact that Ellie was able to come out to him, something she was scared to do, and knew that he loved and accepted her as she was. (Honestly how could she ever doubt that?) and that he died knowing she still cared for him and wanted him in her life. I just know he must’ve spent that whole night feeling hopeful and anticipatory for the future. Fucking crushing.

When she picks up that guitar, a gift from Joel, the first bridge he rebuilt after their tenuous return to Jackson, the connection he forged between them when something unspoken was trying to pull them apart, the only way he could truly express to her how much she meant to him, and obviously a way Ellie reciprocated that…

Gone. She can no longer do the one good thing that threaded between them even after his death. And she abandons it.

She leaves the guitar there. The guitar she loved so fucking much she got the moth from it tattooed on herself forever.

I don’t know where she’s going. I’ve seen some say maybe she’s going back to Jackson to try and make things right. Unfortunately… that isn’t the interpretation I had.

I do know that this game made me feel things a video game never has. Living with these characters for so long. I felt Joel’s pain when Sarah died in the first one, and that was a sorrow that carried over into every scene of every game. I felt -viscerally- the horror and agony and pure unbridled rage at Joel’s death. I felt each misstep, each loss, each success and each surprise. These characters are not avatars to be played, they are people, and it’s fucking incredible. This story is complex and huge and sometimes really frustrating and unpleasant, and sometimes you hate it and sometimes you love it.

Neil Druckman said that whether people like his stories or hate them, as long as they’re not ambivalent, he’s done his job.

To me, Neil has done his job tenfold.

[awakened-dreamers-blog]

Ultrakill Layer 7 thoughts (spoilers obvi)

7-1 /// The Garden of Forking Paths: Great level. Super creepy and off putting, even with having watched the trailers for the level. The first time the mannequins activated for real scared me so bad that my soul fully left my body. The Minotaur showing up the first time also scared the crap out of me. Overall, the level captured the whole "labyrinth" vibe really, really well and the leadup to the Minotaur part of the level was great. Speaking of the boss, its visual design was really great and worked with the lore to make a surprisingly tragic story. The fight itself was a bit finnicky with the trams, but surprisingly easy once I got the hang of it, and the second phase was even easier (a bit too easy, imo).

7-2 /// Light Up the Night: I have mixed feelings about this level. The sound design and visual feel of the level are great, and some of the segments were really cool, particularly the clocktower and the library-looking part. I wasn't a fan of the fact that you could just go anywhere in the level at any time, that felt weird to me. I would have appreciated something akin to the sand in the Greed layer; as it is now, just being able to walk on relatively flat ground feels kinda boring. I have... thoughts on the Guttertanks, but those aren't about the level itself. The ambush when you return to the train station with the bomb was really well done imo. Probably my favorite section of the level was the library section, since the room design allowed for a lot of shenanigans with the sharpshooter pistol and the electric rail, so that wasn't as annoying as the first Guttertank fight.

7-3 /// No Sound, No Memory: Absolutely stellar level. The atmosphere throughout the entire level is excellently moody and eerie, and the lack of jumpscares (except for one) really contribute to the sorrow that pervades the level. The first three blood trees were fun fights I love the gardeny design of the first section. The friendly fire chaos of the last room was a ton of fun the first couple times, although there was a lot of stuttering. I do wish that any kills throughout the room contributed to the blood for the tree, since I died multiple times to the stupid blood puppets. That was really anticlimactic and kinda ruined the mood. Otherwise, a really good level.

7-4 /// ...Like Antennas to Heaven: An interesting boss battle, to say the least. The reveal of the Earthmover at the very beginning was *amazing* and I'm always a sucker for "climbing up a gigantic boss" sequence. The defense system was a fun stationary boss but it was pretty easy. The boss itself was really easy too, once I realized that I was just shooting towards the middle of a circle. Personally, I would have preferred slower moving lasers, more health, and an additional obstacle to fight/dodge. My main critique of the level is that it doesn't feel like a layer climax, at all. The hardest fights of the level were, by far, the ones against the Guttertanks and other normal enemies and not the intense, 1v1 duel that I like so much about the other boss fights. The Metroid Prime-esque countdown escape was really, really cool, though. I just wish the sequence was less about fighting random enemies and more about tough platforming. Also, I know that the golden arm is obviously the eponymous "Godfist" but I'm still not a fan of not getting an arm at the end of the first layer of an act.

Lore: Love how Hakita captured the feeling of a self-perpetuating cycle in the Final War. Reading about the individual stages of escalation was really, really interesting and marched the visual design of each enemy well. Can't wait to see which six-lettered King built the Minotaur for Minos (more than likely the next prime soul).

Mannequins: A fun and surprisingly challenging mix of Filth and Strays with an extra layer of horror. Incredible visual design and animation. I do wish they were a bit less bullet spongey because it doesn't really fit their aesthetic as is, but adding a few extra enemies to compensate.

Guttermen: Great visual design and lore. They're not too hard to deal with on their own, and I'm glad to have another use of the Knuckleblaster (Hakita, please, PLEASE let us map seperate buttons for each arm). When they have a hunch of other fodder around them, they make interesting counterparts to Mindflayers as high-priority targets.

Guttertanks: Ooooh boy. I really like some of the things about them, but I have a lot of issues as well. Having an enemy that forces players to either stay far away or risk a well timed dash to get some blood is an interesting shakeup, but I do think the punch should at least be parryable. As is, the punch feels way too fast to react to, way too high-damage to recover from, and knocks you back like a million miles. For enemies that are supposed to be long-ranged artillery type things, their ranged attacks are surprisingly easy to deal with (especially with the freezeframe rocket launcher) but their melee attacks are way more of a threat and they have way too much health. I would prefer it if they had either significantly less health (or some kind of massive vulnerability, akin to the streetcleaners) or if their melee attack was nerfed and their ranged attacks buffed slightly.

Other thoughts: The new puzzles with the golden orbs is interesting, but I would like if the Whiplash had slightly more of an autoaim. Thank Gabriel that the voids on the puzzle sections don't damage you. Also, my computer isn't the best, but I was having a ton of performance issues during the third and fourth levels. Nothing too crazy or fatal, just some annoying lag and stuttering.

Overall, Violence was a really great layer, one of my favorites. I do think it needs some minor changes and tuning, but I'm excited for the psecret level and the new alternate gun, plus everything else yet to come from Hakita.

[hollow-knight-fights]

I'm taking the tags I put in one poll and putting them in their own post because I just want this said out loud

#dont feel bad that you aren't 'good' at the game! i have 500 hours in hollow knight now and i have a lot of trouble with a lot of boss figh #i still struggle with hornet sentinel sometimes #i personally ADORE mantis lords because i spent so much time fighting them and fighting nothing else that i can beat them with ease #and it took me 3 months of pure dedication and hours of fighting and working at it to be able to beat them once #and continuously making new saves just to beat them again and again (And i still failed a lot) in order to beat them #thats all to say that every player is going to have a different level of skill #most people who play hk play a lot of games and are innately better at it #hollow knight is the second game ive put more than 50 hours into#the first being skyrim and thats a game i play way too much #also not to mention the amount of time you put into a game does NOT equal skill!! like i said i have 500+ hours in hk and i struggle with a #lot of 'easy' bosses!! #i love this game! i love all the fights and tbh this round in particular has been hard bc i see people just. not liking certain fights and #dont understand that. i LOVE gpz even though its by far the hardest and worst fight in the game imo #its fun! its so much fun conceptually and i love the music and the design and even though his attacks SUCK i still love fighting him #anyways. dont feel bad that you have a hard time at a game that isnt easy :) #(i still have trouble with flukemarm lollll)

[bnhaobservation]

Another Shouto anti not tagging their anti Shouto shit properly. Plus is you're going to do anti-Shouto stuff then please learn to read because Shouto said his attack MIGHT not have worked. The MIGHT being the main word here. The point was not to say Shouto was weak and Dabi was strong. It was about Shouto making a stand and imo mocking Dabi as he did so and as he should. Plus we know it was all Shouto because in a previous chapter it was outright said the other Todorokis's ice wasn't doing a thing. It merely lowered the temperature temporarily before going back up again and did it look like they stopped the explosion before Shouto got there? I must have missed the part where the rest of the Todorokis stopped the bomb that was Dabi and while Shouto did nothing.

But leave your Shouto hate out of the Shouto tags no one needs it here and now kindly fuck off to the Touya Todoroki tags or Dabi tags where this piece of shit wankfest belongs.

Anon, if you were to have some basic reading comprehension you would have realized Shouto is my favorite hero and therefore that calling me an anti is beyond stupid and normally I would have just blocked you and ignored your ask but hey, a chance to talk about my fave hero? Of course I’m going to catch it.

Now… the difference between you and me is that you seem to think Shouto has to be the strongest hero and someone who act arrogant and likes to mock his brother and who won all on his own, while I think what makes Shouto the greatest hero is that he ran there, knowing his ice couldn’t compete with Touya’s fire, but still doing it because, guess what, fighting impossible battles in order to save people, is what heroes do and that cooperation with his family was what allowed him to triumph.

Because Anon, I never said it was Rei, Natsuo and Fuyumi who stopped Touya, I said it was Rei, Natsuo, Fuyumi and SHOUTO who did the trick, because the fact that friends (or, in this case family) help the hero to win is, guess what, a recurring trope of shonen manga.

The story keeps on stressing that nobody can win on their own, that they have to join forces, that they’ve to become the greatest heroes together.

Shouto is a goddamn amazing person, who basically faced the impossible and managed to save the day.

It doesn’t take from him that he did it with the help of his family, it was foreshadowed it had to be the family who would stop Touya and the family NEEDED him to do so, because Rei, Fuyumi and Natsuo alone wouldn’t have managed in the same way as Shouto alone wouldn’t have managed, because unity is strength and anyway it’s clear Shouto was the biggest contributor to the victory but, what’s more, finally Shouto’s whole family is united, it’s past of his own world, he’s no more cut from it because he’s part of the hero world.

It doesn’t take from him that Touya with his fire, to quote Shouto ‘reached uncharted territory where he can’t thread’ because it actually shows how brave he was to go there and fight anyway.

It doesn’t take from Shouto how he acknowledged Touya’s fire was stronger because it shows that Shouto is finally seeing his brother, you know the same brother he wanted to eat hot udon with even though Shouto prefers cold soba, that Shouto is humble, that Shouto can acknowledge other people’s qualities.

It doesn’t take from Shouto how he occasionally makes mistakes, because he always works his hardest to fix them.

What’s more, despite having been groomed to become the strongest hero, despite having been cut out from the family by his father, Shouto managed to instead become the hero he wanted to be, a hero who uses ice instead than fire, a hero who’s not a bully who hurts others but who’s reassuring, a great friend and a great family member, a hero who’d great not because he sits on top of the mountain and looks everyone else from there, but who’s great because no matter how high the mountain is, he keeps on putting all his efforts into climbing it.

As far as I’m involved, Shouto is goddamn great.

If for you Shouto is someone who’s cool for something different, suit yourself, I don’t care, but keep your rudeness and your assumptions about me out of my ask box. If you can’t you’ll just be blocked.

[my-pokemon-rambling-blog]

I personally think Cynthia is overrated. I like her as much as the next person, but I think she’s overhyped. I played DPPt, and, yeah, she was hard, but is she worthy of having a whole section of the fandom worshipping every step she takes? No. I can’t really speak on the manga counterpart because I haven’t got to those chapters, so I’ll talk about the anime. I think the anime opened up a lot more of her character. She likes sweets. She is indecisive, warm, gentle, etc.

I heard about what happened in M8 in JN, but I myself refuse to watch JN until I find a subbed version for it because I like sub over dub. As for my very heated opinions on JN, I think M8 added on to my strong disliking of JN. I think I like BW more. As for the handling of Cynthia, I think we needed more time with her to really understand why she decided to retire I guess. Idk if it’s stated explicitly or I’m just pulling info out my ass. I think Cynthia is okay in the anime. Honestly, all the champions kinda suck in the anime imo. Diantha is probably the best out of all them.

In PMEX, the only side game I played other than Go, Cynthia gets way too much treatment. I saw there was an Aura alt for Cynthia. I will say, I am VERY biased since my no. 2 fav character is Riley. Like, do you know a character who is heavily associated with aura? Riley! No! It’s Cynthia! Uh?!?!? No? Riley fits the bill perfectly. It would’ve been cool to see Riley debut in PMEX through that event or smth idk. I’m not up to date with Masters.

I also think Cynthia is an easy scapegoat for people to hate characters. That doesn’t make any sense at all. What I’m saying is Cynthia is used to explain why people hate certain characters. For example, people meme on Diantha for being super easy, which is fair. What I don’t think is fair is to compare her boss fight to Cynthia. Cynthia is one of the hardest trainers in the series period. Comparing Diantha to the likes of, idk Lance(?) would be an easier connection.

Coming back to the M8, I heard of discourse about Cynthia vs Ash. As for the match itself, I think 1) that matchup is bullshit. 2) Steven or Iris should’ve fought her. Maybe Alain. As for what I’ve heard, I heard people say it was sexist that Ash won against Cynthia. I personally don’t see it. Cynthia, a woman, lost to a boy. Therefore it’s sexist doesn’t make sense to me. Don’t get me wrong. I think Cynthia losing to ASH of all people is stupid, but I wouldn’t go so far to call it sexist. What I will call sexist is if all the female trainers lost round 1, but that didn’t happen.

When I think of strong trainers, I think of Whitney, Norman (because I was a stupid kid), Winona, Sabrina, Morty, Lenora, Steven, Elesa, absolutely no one in XY, and Red. Cynthia too, but those trainers come to mind first. Cynthia is strong and tough to beat, but is she on the levels of Steven Stone for me personally? No.

Also, I think Volo’s character actively fails in regard to Cynthia. Like, Volo can’t really stand without context of Cynthia. The theme doesn’t make sense, nor the team without Cynthia. And I get that most if not all of P:LA doesn’t stand without context of DPPt, but I think all the characters stand on their own without their descendants as context. All but Volo, and even Cogita for that matter. Who is Cogita but a woman who lives in fuck off some where in Hisui? Well, she gives directions to legendary mons! Other than that, what else? Nothing. Kamado was a cool guy. He had a fear of Pokemon due to traumatic experiences in the past. He’s protective of the town he calls home. That is somewhat of a far departure from Rowan. I want the same for Volo.

[m0kent0sh]

SO, LET'S START. I'LL EXPLAIN MY REASONING

KAGEYAMAS

1 - Original. Was chosen by eliminating others. Also his expression looks the most like him imo

2 - Yachi. I feel like for her he still looks if not scary, then loud

3 - Tsukishima. He is the shortest out of all of them, which makes sense from his perspective. Also he likes to piss off Kageyama

4 - Hinata. I like how you went with different styles for everyone, especially this cartoon-y, simple style. It's Hinata bc I didn't find Hinata in this style, lmao

5 - Yamaguchi. Idk, he just doesn't look like himself in this one to me :0 Also I think Yamaguchi doesn't know him that well yet

HINATAS

1 - Tsukishima. Pretty self explanatory, lmao)

2 - Original I think. Or I need to swap 2, 3 and 4, I'm still not sure. I feel like Hinata would be thrilled to have clones)

3 - Yamaguchi. They became friends, so he thinks Hinata is sweet ^^ That's it

4 - Yachi. Honestly? Chose this one only bc of the cute cowlick ^^

5 - Kageyama. Shines brighter for him. Also he loves thinking in volleyball, so Hinata is determined.

TSUKKIS

1 - Yachi. "WHY R T-T-T-THERE SO MANY GAINTS???"

2 - Kageyama. For him Tsukishima is more pointy and annoying

3 - Original. He is embarrassed bc it's not every day you're being perceived as a lamp post

4 - Hinata. "He always insults me >:(" Also the colours are more vibrant

5 - Yamaguchi. "Tsukki is pretty..." Thinks a bit higher about him than he actually is. And he observed him a lot, so he looks more pretty

YAMAGUCHIS

1 - Hinata. I'll go with vibrant simple style for him, yup

2 - Original. He's a bit confused, flattered and embarrassed :з

3 - Tsukki. LMAO THE MOST OBVIOUS. As I said for Yamaguchi's Tsukki, they observed each other a lot during their friendship, so there is a lot of details that Tsukki likes like freckles or remembers like brackets. Also Yamaguchi is more talkative around Tsukki

5 - Kageyama. I think they don't talk much so far, that's why Kageyama makes his assumptions based on his observations, especially on court

AAAAND YACHIIIII TBH she was the hardest

1 - Hinata. Same vibrant simpler style

2 - Yamaguchi. "She is cute :o" Also looks more... ironed out? Idk, we usually perceive people we like in a more positive light

3 - Kageyama. She was the one who panicked when they were fighting. Also maybe for all the balls that flew her way lol) Also might be orig

4 - Original. She kinda confused, but otherwise supportive

5 - Tsukishima. She is the shortest lol

Dungeon Meshi’s shapeshifters are such a fun tool for character and relationship exploration, so I stole it :D here’s a guessing game between the Karasuno first years (with the added difficulty that I don’t ever draw them exactly like in canon lol). Would you be able to spot the fakes??

I’ll post the answers tomorrow :DD

[lockhvrts]

so.. the abhorrent beast boss fight in the ailing loran huh...

[cosmicaces]

abstraction got really hung up on "aurion good, devaedra bad, good vs evil" that theyve completely disregarded the overall complexities in gig's original story. i'll give them some credit with the worldbuilding involving the guar and the direction they took charnok's character (it feels very in character for him to want to start his own house), but the other decisions... my god. i'll put it under a read more

they tried to write conclusions for basically every character, with aisling finding her fathers killer and the war ending with devaedra being sealed in the rift (which is. weird since the rift isn't an alternate dimension + she already Lives there).

they killed off adonaius? adonaius was the current hierophant in the original lore, i have no idea why they'd do that. they replaced him with some girl named nara. after the war, anyone who was semi-good now serves under nara. tyto, voden, roland. cool. that's boring.

the guardians can be apparently killed really easily, which is. directly contradicted in vadasi's cards where it was established that only the kai knew how to kill them via severing their connection to the land (which is where their power is drawn from; this is likely what we're doing in the power races during rampages.)

anyone they didn't know what to do with got shafted. beckett, tripp, sven, these are just the ones i've seen so far. they're so wildly out of character and they just... fully disregard their Already Established Characters.

becketts obviously hits me the hardest since she's the character i literally named myself after. they ignored her having initially been in the same pirate crew as imani (and, overall, have misinterpreted their relationship), they ignored her joining aurion for monetary reasons and said that she joined for "the adventure of fighting a big snake." adventure, thats what they reduced her character down to. being very childish and nonstop adventure. ugh.

idk WHAT they're doing with roland and kajir. roland's lore kinda sounds like his alpha lore but then it takes a wild turn. he was a hunter, dad gets killed by margrave and xeno ig, he joins sky city police, is told not to pursue the margrave, does so anyways, gets people killed, margrave shows mercy (huh) and rips off his arm, then he finds nara and becomes her bodyguard.

its fully different (and worse, imo) from what motiga had planned for him. see, roland was originally a cop in sky city. he resigned after seeing the political corruption and became a bounty hunter to deal out his own type of justice, its why he only takes dead or alive bounties. his arm had been shot off by a sniper. to continue work he arranged something with tesserus, getting a new arm. a good friend of his was killed by kajir's crew. roland took on kajir's bounty, tracking him down to his hideaway. while the latter escaped, roland was able to destroy his treasure hoard. the two are now in a game of cat-and-mouse

i haven't looked at kajir's lore yet, from what i gathered i thiiink he's a mercenary/bounty hunter. in the motigan lore, he was a sky pirate. he stole an artifact from a moon temple and it allows him to turn invisible.

vadasi is suddenly fine with hk. this is a glaring error. she talks about how "tesserus has stolen their cores to imbue them with life. war machines, wearing the hearts of their saviors." saviors? i'm sorry, SAVIORS? 1.) iirc hk is the ONLY tesserus machination to USE kai tech and 2.) the kai's technology was the UNDOING of their civilization, they weren't saved by it they were DAMNED by it. vadasi HATES hk, she LITERALLY has a prox line for him where she says "i would have you destroyed." where do you get SAVIOR from that

this is funny but also. what is this exchange between voden and rutger:

uh, first and foremost, voden's old too? and... what does beauty have to do with this? why do either of them care about it? again, funny exchange but wildly ooc. also... rutger didn't come out of retirement because of devaedra taking control, it was tesserus desecrating the ghost reef. rutger doesn't care about house conflict, this is literally stated in one of his cards:

"Rutger, my dear friend. We need you now more than ever. I would not have come to you if the situation was not dire. The corruption is spreading - and what we all hold most dear is in grave peril." - Voden

"I hear the stones, and the mountains, and I hear you, young Voden. But you and I cannot do this alone… I am too old, and my body is beaten. You are too young, and your face is too hideous. What chance do we have?" - Rutger

"These things are true, old man. You are old and I am gorgeous, but the world's fate cannot rest on what we're not. We are Wardens - you command the very ground we step on. It is our charge to help, always." - Voden

The Old Guard I, Common: Which house was ruling didn't matter, as long as they respected and cared for the land.

i don't understand why abstraction felt it was necessary to tether the characters to aurion or devaedra, there was way more nuance than that. only a few characters had clear alignments, some steered either ways, others were fully unaligned.

i know most people don't care about the lore so i'm one of the few to Really Be Bothered by this but ugh. man. this was the one thing i was afraid of happening with the game coming back and it happened

im so happy to have gig back but man. the character assassination and the undermining of the og lore that abstraction added in is Really Bad

[emperorbubblegum]

Okay, now that I've cleared Olympus I've got some thoughts. This might be a long post and there's gonna obviously be spoilers so here's a cut

Alright so first, I'd like to preface this with saying that I never really liked Musashi. Historically speaking he's one of my favorite figures, and I'm glad that the one we know isn't the one from Proper Human History, but she just never really seemed that cool I guess. It might be because I haven't finished Shimousa yet, but she was annoying in Summer 4, and she felt unecessary in LB1.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way. Damn. I rarely cry, especially not in reaction to pieces of fiction, but damn did that one scene get me close. I knew something was going to happen, but holy fuck was that just... the exact amount of epic and tragic that I like in games. Honestly after that, I don't know if anyone could dislike her.

And on the topic of servants who've grown on me: I think Caenis is probably one of my favorite servants now. I love his final ascension's design, and his character really speaks to me. His fights weren't hard by any means (as stated in a previous post I'm loaded when it comes to sabers), but after Demeter (hardest boss in the game imo), Aphrodite (who I unga bunga bustered with Orion), and Wodime (stall strats for life), his fights were a refreshing break from both the previous challenging and easy bosses. Plus I summoned him in like two tickets immediately after I finished the last section, so, y'know.

I've never really liked the humans of the Fate series, because other than the Stay Night cast, they all pale in comparison to the servants. I mean, why wouldn't they? The servants are the stars of the show. However, Wodime Kirschtaria is such a fantastic villain.

He doesn't shit talk you the entire time you're fighting him. He doesn't blindly do what the Foreign God wants him to do. He isn't some weak ass bitch hiding behind his much stronger servants.

He regards you with respect, almost like an equal. He follows his own ideals that honestly, from a different point of view, are quite heroic in their own right. And to top it all of he's a master at combat, being able to take on Caenis, the Dioscuri, and even Zeus. He's formiddible enough to actually be considered a threat without being completely overpowered, provokes in a way that isn't just "woe is me, my backstory's tragic", and actually has a genuine motive that makes his entire plan that much more threatening - unlike, say, Beryl, who's just there to have fun - and in my opinion, that's what makes a good villain.

This is definitely the best chapter in FGO so far, and from what I've heard, Avalon's even better. I can't wait for future chapters, so I'm probably gonna try and play them on my JP account as soon as I can. As for NA right now, though, I'm probably going to just QP grind until the Anniversary to make sure I have enough for Castoria.