#the last of us loadout

[abbysthighs]

I have to say, even though I strongly prefer playing as Abby in No Return (or Ellie), I was really enjoying Joel's loadout last night in the Daily Run. That custom, fully upgraded revolver is pretty sick. It may actually make up for the fact that Joel can't dodge.

[aloysarrow]

I wish GI wasn't trying to push people (kinda specifically longer players) away from the game, like damn. I really hope new players are watching closely and not just deciding "there are haters" or "complainers." Some of the things, like the age old where's the end-of-game road map, have been actual game needs that haven't been addressed for years. Game needs, guys. Idk, if you still call some people haters/complainers, then I'm probably gonna call you a bootlicker lol

[skeletalheartattack]

👁️👁️ do you still play tf2?

👁👁 a little! i don't play much of Live TF2 these days, only because my computer would rather explode than allow me to run it at a good enough framerate, though there's a few settings ive only experimented with recently on other source games.

i deeply love tf2 as what it is still more or less, it's mostly my laptop that's always been a problem is all :(

[baeshijima]

once again asking hyv for either artifact loadouts in a future update (where u can have different slots for artifact builds on characters to make it easy to change between multiple builds) or a mechanic where u can reroll certain affixes on an artifact

[felassan]

More from Game Informer: ''A Deep Dive Into Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Combat, Abilities, Skill Tree, And More''.

The article contained new screenshots of skill trees - one for Level 30 Warrior Rook, one for Level 30 Mage Rook, one for Level 30 Rogue Rook, and one showing the 'pop up info' for the skill Wall of Fire. Going by these screenshots, the 3 specs for mage Rook are Death Caller, Evoker, and Spellblade. I think this is the first time the three specs for mages are confirmed. I wonder, is "Thorne" this Rook's custom first name, or one of the faction-defined surnames?

Text in last image reads:

"- Large circle: Class - Diamonds: Abilities - Medium circle: Major Passives and Ability Upgrades - Small hexagon: Traits - Small circle: Minor Passives and Stat Boosts"

Other excerpts from the article:

"Every single entry reimagines what combat is like and I would say our goal was to make sure we had a system that allowed players to feel like they actually were able to step into the world of Thedas. They're not a player observing from afar – they are inside of this world. Being this authentic world that's brought to life, the combat system needs to support that, so you are in control of every single action, every block, every dodge, every swing of your sword." [...] "During my demo at one point, we use a sword-and-shield Warrior Qunari that hip-fires and aims their shield to throw it like Captain America while hammering down big damage with a sword" [...] "a Mage's firewall that deals continuous damage" [...] "This extends to companions, who, at your choosing, bring three abilities (of their five total) into combat, executed either with quick select buttons or the pause-and-play combat wheel. Every time you rank up a companion's Relationship Level, you unlock a skill point to spend specifically on that companion – this is how you unlock new combat abilities. This extends to companions, who, at your choosing, bring three abilities (of their five total) into combat, executed either with quick select buttons or the pause-and-play combat wheel. Every time you rank up a companion's Relationship Level, you unlock a skill point to spend specifically on that companion – this is how you unlock new combat abilities. " [...] "Passive abilities unlock jump attacks and guarantee critical hit opportunities, while abilities add moves like firewall and spartan kicks to your arsenal" [...] "Busche says BioWare's philosophy with the skill tree is "about changing the way you play, not the statistical minutiae." 

-

"If you completely ignore companions in combat, they will attack targets, use abilities, and defeat enemies all on their own. "[Companions] are their own people, "Busche says. "They have their own behaviors, they have their own autonomy on the battlefield, they'll pick their own targets. As their plots progress, they'll learn how to use their abilities more competently, and it really feels like you're fighting alongside these realized characters in battle."" [...] "Busche says there are more explicit synergies, with intentional combos where specific companions can play off each other, and you can queue up their abilities to do just that."

-

"Busche utilizes Veilguard's dual-loadout mechanic. As Rook, you can create two weapon loadouts for quick switch-ups mid-combat. As a mage Rook, she uses magical attacks to add three stacks of arcane build-up to make an Arcane Bomb on a Sentinel, a mechanical set of armor possessed by a demon. If you hit the Sentinel's Arcane Bomb with a heavy attack, the enemy will take devastating damage. Once the Sentinel has an Arcane Bomb on it, Busche begins charging a heavy attack on her magical staff, then switches to magical daggers in Rook's second loadout, accessed with a quick tap of down on the d-pad to unleash some quick light attacks, then back to the staff to finish charging its attack. She then unleashes the heavy attack, and the Arcane Bomb explodes in a liquidy whirl of green magic."

-

""I've seen [Veilguard's combat] refined over time [and] I love it," BioWare general manager Gary McKay tells me. "I love that balance of real-time fluid action, but also the ability to have the depth in the RPG, not just in terms of pause-and-play, but the depth in terms of how you bring your companions into the battlefield. What are you going to do with their skill points? What's the loadout you're going to use? Everything is about bringing Rook to the center of the battlefield, and I love it."  Former Dragon Age executive producer and Veilguard consultant Mark Darrah feels Veilguard is the first game where the combat is legitimately fun. "What I see in Veilguard is a game that finally bridges the gap," he says. "Uncharitably, previous Dragon Age games got to the realm of 'combat wasn't too bad.' In this game, the combat's actually fun, but it does keep that thread that's always been there. You have the focus on Rook, on your character, but still have that control and character coming into the combat experience from the other people in your party."  I get the sense from watching Busche play several hours of Veilguard that BioWare has designed a combat system that relies heavily on players extracting what they want out of it. If you want to button mash and use abilities freely when their cooldowns expire, you can probably progress fine (although on the game's easier difficulties). But if you want to strategize your combos, take advantage of elemental vulnerabilities, and min-max companions and Rook loadouts, you can do that, too, and I think you'll find Veilguard rewards that with a more enriching experience."

[source]

[paper-mario-wiki]

For my birthday last year, I purchased a particularly special item for myself as a treat; a Pro Killstreak Strange Phlog. A wretched artifact to be sure, and one that does not gain the approval of your peers when you become proficient with it. Because of this, I named her "The Stinker" as that's what you typically call a bad joke, and paired her with the most obnoxious cosmetic loadout I could muster. When I equip this loadout, I become evil, and I cannot be held accountable for my vicious deeds.

Here's the strange count on it 4 months in to having her (give or take a month and a half break from the game I took during late fall, plus the fact that I only use it about 50% of the time, the other 50% being the classic puff-and-sting, my favorite loadout), as well as 3 particularly satisfying rampages, two with uber, one without.

[kelgorath]

lance reddick is missed by so many, but i can’t help but think of how special he truly was to the destiny community. so many of us have heard his voice nearly every day for the last decade. i think of how everyone came together that day and in the days after. every single tower i entered that day was full, and everyone was paying tribute to their commander.

i think of how he was stuck on the last mission of lightfall, and how someone looked up his last equipped loadout and recreated it exactly on their own character to finish the mission for him. it really was a collective process of grieving the fact the someone who had been with us from day one wouldn’t be there to see the story to its end. that being said, i think the decision to cast keith david was absolutely the best thing that could be done in a truly heartbreaking and difficult situation. i think he will do a fantastic job and i’m glad that bungie is keeping all of lance’s original lines in-game. it still gets me sometimes when i queue into strikes and hear his voice.

the destiny community loved lance, and lance loved the destiny community. per audacia ad astra, rest in peace commander.

[ranticore]

visored longwing harpies & the hall of faces

I did say there was no exclusive global culture on Siren shared by humans of a certain body type, and I lied, because there is One.

The early settlers on Siren were the unaltered human workforce of a certain megacorporation. While an almost unlimited budget was poured into the dodgy gene programs, since that was why they chose to settle a planet so far out of the reach of The Authorities, everything else was done pretty cheaply, including the settling itself. In order to map out their new home planet, incredibly cheap mass-produced aircraft were used by pilots. These aircraft could be made quickly and easily at the settlement site because they lacked a flight computer or any real sensors - or any equipment at all in the cockpit. Rather than a multitude of different equipment loadouts on an aircraft that would take time and effort to swap out or maintain, the pilots instead used these visors which were universally compatible with the one-size-fits-all aircraft. It's kind of like how it's easier to just carry a phone around with a calculator app than it is to carry a phone and a calculator, even if the phone app calculator experience sucks by comparison.

The visors were the real expensive kit, each custom built to a pilot's exact needs and flight style, and they were built to last. the aircraft fell apart in the following centuries but the visors remained, hyperlight plastic powered by the planet's native star, and something interesting happened. The remains of the first settlement were largely inaccessible to anyone but longwing harpies, and these harpies had the right head shape to fit the visors. Many of the pilots had filled their visors with video and photo files from home, from Earth, like a worker decorating his cubicle with photos of his family. Some had been decorated on the outside, as well, resembling birds. The harpies that found the visors obviously tried to use them. They found themselves experiencing visions of strange worlds, recordings of long-dead pilots and ATC, and found that each visor can interface with every other one, no matter how far apart. Each visor came with its own callsign, its own name, which has remained for thousands of years - and because of this, each visor is considered by the cultures of Siren to be a named character with a distinct personality (eg. the swan visor was cygnus2, it is known now as Signastoo)

I keep posting the map and it needs to be redrawn but essentially every red triangle is an ancient telecomm tower. These became the only remaining waypoints on the visors' HUD and mapping software, meaning that 1. a true global culture could emerge, with longwings gathering at these sites, and 2. visored longwings became the gold standard for navigation on Siren. In a world that is basically just water, that's a big deal.

There exist only a few thousand visors (about 3k I'd say). The unused visors are kept in the Hall of Faces, the ancient aviation bay at the first settlement in West. Because of how water levels and land structures have changed over the years, this building exists on a mesa that rises another few thousand feet out of the water, with sheer sides, and is utterly inaccessible to anyone but a longwing harpy. When a visored harpy dies, the visor is returned here. If you want to claim a visor, you need to hold an interview with one of the elders at the site, who will test you rigorously to see if you can inhabit the character of one of the visors. If not, too bad. If you do get it, it's yours until either you die or you do something considered 'out of character' for the wearer of that particular visor. It is DEEPLY discouraged to steal a visor off anyone because it would be largely impossible, given how they all can communicate (imagine a gigantic worldwide discord server where the location & name of every person is known at all times... the drama is likely insane but at least if someone steals a visor, everyone will know about it)

not every longwing desires a visor because it comes with a lot of responsibility alongside its automatic prestige, and you can't really give it up once you have it. also there's always the possibility of being diagnosed with a super annoying, glitchy, or hated visor character lol. but among the roughly 2700 visored harpies on Siren there does exist a global culture exclusive to them. they chat to one another long-distance, engage in closed-practice ceremonies where they all get high and look at videos of Earth, and essentially become a class outside the mundanity of normal life on Siren. to the rest of the population, they basically become telepathic wizards

Terwyef's visor (first pic) is called Scrappercharlee and is one of the more common models, tho it has been decorated over the years with extra bits. Scrappercharlee is a bit busted and half the HUD is missing. Miakef's visor (second pic) Signastoo is one of the very fancy and well-known ones, it's shaped like a swan's head and likely belonged to a high-ranking pilot who could afford a bit of frippery and showmanship back in the day. Birds do not exist on Siren and harpies are mammals so the swan itself is symbolically meaningless, but the bird-style visors introduce the idea of 'a bird' in the abstract, and this has been imbued with its own form of meaning by harpies.

[amyoffline]

It's done! The outline for—

—is below the cut. The goal of this project is to explore the following phenomena with as much context and nuance as I can manage, tracing our history over the past 15 years:

What about us, and what about Dan and Phil, drew in and continues to draw in a very specific audience. If they are a ranch metaphor, we are a pizza metaphor 🥗🍕🫶🏻

Why we were Like That™, by which I mean so parasocially invested in them that we became, at times, the most annoying people on the internet. Much of that reputation is undeserved, and the videos on the phandom to date have been strongly negative. So, uh, I guess I'm going to put my face on camera and (mostly) defend us.

Reblog, share in your Discord servers, reply, or send me messages/anon asks with feedback or resources if you have any! Especially if your experience being in this fandom community has been dramatically different from mine. There are TIT spoilers near the end of the outline, but I'm not tagging because certain individuals seem to be lurking over there. Thank you!

Chapters:

Full outline:

introduction

cold open

felt personally attacked by jonathan haidt's last press tour

showed up to the phrenaissance 11 months late

had an unexpectedly strong response to their new content, needed to find out why

what the hell are we doing here?

- phenomenology (academics are professionally insufferable) - research question 1: what drew the audience in? - research question 2: why were we Like That™?

what we're NOT doing here

- a strict content analysis or "wow we sucked" video - providing sources for things best left uncirculated, thank you

reflexivity (personal biases)

- american zillennial in public health - in the youtube audience by spring 2010 - lurking in the phandom on tumblr 2013-2015, back* since 2019 - fan behavior i did and did not engage in

(----): truly necessary background information, i swear

(pop) cultural trends, tech, and their intersection

- nerd/geek identity and the first online weirdos - broadcast tv & the music industry vs the internet - defining "emo" - blogging & vlogging - early internet comedy

broader social/economic trends

- so the U.S. economy collapsed in 2007 - a decade that sucked except for rom-coms and square enix games - the flip/slide phone + digital camera + mp3 player loadout

(05-8): early youtube and early phil

youtube: a great video uploader without a clear purpose

the content on the website

- crossposts, corporations, and creative/social outlets - omg guys it's amazing phil - contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: justin bieber

the audience of "early adopters"

contemporary social media sites and forums

(2009): origin story

a wild dan appears… in the comments

the global constant that is teenagers being messy online

daring my old school district to sue me

- "one town's war on gay teens" (literal rolling stone headline!) - epidemiology 101: rates of… ugh… "unaliving" oneself - ways kids cope when it seems no adults will help them

the earliest days of dan & phil

- hello internet + pinof - a chronically overexamined timeline - file deleted ---* so how big WAS the audience at the time? ---* acceptable funny/edgy language was just different

contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: lucas cruikshank

omg it's meeeeeee

- how amy & friends were using youtube - ways i was just destined to end up here - being in social environments with peers 3-6 years older

(2010): is it "twenty-ten" or "two thousand ten?"

youtube is a platform about to explode in popularity

- the algorithm before it was The Algorithm™, lost site features - let's take a trip through the wayback machine :3c - actual dan & phil content in 2010 - the green brothers found vidcon - contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: darren criss

social media: also about to explode in popularity

- facebook was cool at the time, believe it or not - law of equivalent exchange: 2010 amy cringe compilation - the birth of instagram and pinterest - youtube slash livejournal (the first phanfics… sort of) - shockfic and its place in the overton window

the beginning of "the great rewiring" as haidt calls it

- ways social media is about to dramatically change - third spaces become online spaces - confounding variable: changing expectations of teens

(2011): the end of an era, the start of an age

a very long tangent on fandom and pop culture

cultural exchange

counterculture and teenagers as concepts

the first british invasion: the 1960s

- beatlemania and its descendents - moral panic about the virtue of tween/teen girls - tv/film/fashion trends being imported from the uk - in parallel, star trek births the modern fandom

the second british invasion: the 1980s

- synth/new pop that came out of the punk movement (hi, emo?) - confined mainly to music and fashion - cool britannia

it's harry freakin' potter

- absolute titan of pop culture influence - the rise of online fandom: examining the horrors ---* what is "wank" ---* flaming, sockpuppeting, and general cyberbullying ---* censorship: ffnet purges, boldthrough, & strikethrough ---* other fandom shenanigans of the time (yaoi paddles, anyone?)

harry potter's over. now what?

- for those who needed coming-of-age hero's journeys ---* twilight and YA dystopia waiting in the wings ---* some pretty iconic tv shows start or hit their stride ---* the mcu's phase one ---* takeaway: the rise of "geek culture" generally - for those who just wanted to go to hogwarts ---* doctor who & the wider world of bbc programming ---* british vloggers, you say? where? on youtube? brb--

end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming

dan & phil in the first half of 2011

- a continuation of 2010… for now - the videos - british pancakes as a case study of bad fan behavior

streaming and social media

- the birth of snapchat, twitch, and younow - netflix starts developing original programming - multi-channel networks (mcns) - digitour

dan & phil in the second half of 2011

- and they were roommates (omg they were roommates) - fantastic foursome - youtube glitches out - the super amazing project - the first proper baking video + wait, is that the bbc?

~ baking interlude 1: christmas cookies ~

the family sugar cookie (sorry, delia)

amy's 2011

(2012): why is anyone nostalgic for this

the transition from desktop to mobile

- massive growth in smartphone ownership 2011-2015 - things one might do on mobile one might not do on desktop - non-online ways smartphones changed being a youth™

what is tumblr and why is my child using it

- how the site is meant to work - fandom, memes, aesthetics, and SOME public figures - want to be anxious and depressed in peace? come to tumblr - this site seems a little……… gay ---* tumblr's very queer, very neurodiverse userbase ---* legacy media representation in 2012: bad! ---* actual academic research on tumblr users (yes, it exists) - the tumblr experience for non-native english speakers

amy becomes a vibrating mass of panic and paranoia

- in context of the above - additional rant about the american public school system

the growing dan & phil audience

- investigating the origin of the term "phannie" - more collaborations = more viewers - more video uploads = more /invested/ viewers - younow and interacting with fans - watch time replaces clicks in the algorithm

online etiquette, or lack thereof

- mid-transition from the 2000s to the 2010s - "professional internet celebrity" is still basically brand-new - lack of boundaries - various ways to be an asshole online - unsupervised kids simply do not engage in best practices

the end of 2012

- dan and phil move to london - wikipedia vandalism - tiptoeing around a top contender for the phandom's greatest sin - super amazing project DONE, now it's BBC RADIO TIME

(2013): arguably the most important year

- wait. what's that six-second video platform over there--

[amy's curated vine compilation]

- a new wave of internet comedians (read: future youtubers) - the zillennial lexicon - other platforms start emphasizing short-form video content - magcon

emo is BACK - well, sort of

- fob hiatus ends, mcr breaks up. my god. you had to be there - more open ties to nerd/geek culture than in the 2000s - these things once again intersect at dan and phil

dan and phil in the first half of 2013

- siri, what's a "sex symbol?" why are you booing me i'm right-- - d&p are everywhere - radio shows, interviewing, hosting - youtube uploads on their individual channels

rapidly changing cultural attitudes towards queerness

- gay marriage will be legal in places other than canada soon - a lot of assimilationist rhetoric though tbh - parallels to the pop feminism of the decade

hey kids, let's talk about compulsory heterosexuality!!

- what is it and why do people do it - academic, tumblr-level, and anecdotal research - the dannies, the phillies, and the phannies

amy

- the closet™ - mental health stigma - 2013 dnp posts from my main blog

dan and phil in the second half of 2013

- subscriber milestones, vidcon - joint content before the gaming channel - phandom starts having a major presence outside tumblr

(2014): achievement unlocked!

it's time to talk about rpf

- definitions (a chance to be annoyingly pedantic) - academic perspectives and fan discourse on the ethics - when the subjects clearly aren't fine with it - so… we can acknowledge "shipping phan" was different, right? ---* sometimes the subjects are fine* with it, actually ---* how dan and phil started to handle the shipping ---* obvious differences between phan and other rpf ships ---* sharing my favorite passages as a first-time phanfic reader

dan and phil in 2014

- wikipedia vandalism 2: electric boogaloo - bbc request show → internet takeover - the 7 second challenge - youtube content, subscriber milestones, rewind - cons and award shows

tumblr reaches the peak of its influence

- yahoo's attempts to monetize the userbase - buzzfeed and aggregators steal our jokes and bait our clicks - legacy media dangles carrots and uses us for free marketing - the legend of korra breaks TV precedent, almost out of nowhere - the tumblr user experience ---* on mobile, without xkit ---* on desktop, with xkit ---* 2014 dnp posts from my main blog

gamergate and its long shadow

- trolling, renewed and revamped - algorithms push increasingly extreme content - the broad conservative backlash conglomerate - increased normalization of conspiracism in general

my greatest sin [not clickbait] [very funny]

- so, circling back to comphet… - the actual story

anyway, let's talk about danandphilgames

- a star is born: dil howlter - different types of gaming content on youtube at the time - why did 17yo amy not subscribe? well…

~ baking interlude 2: chocolate cupcakes ~

make your own frosting. it freezes well

roasting myself further

(2015): it's not queerbaiting when it's real people

facebook "pivots to video"

- mark zuckerberg lied. water is wet - causes other platforms to REALLY double down on video - the birth of musical.ly - corporate-branded creators (read: future youtubers)

queerbaiting enters mainstream public consciousness

- academic origins - early fannish and acafan writing - johnlock, destiel, and sterek - statistics 101: type i error, type ii error, and queerbait

dan, phil, and the phandom

- bbc, cons, & the brits - danandphilcrafts - phan conspiracies ---* japhan ---* body language experts ---* timeline truthers ---* floor plan investigators ---* no but seriously imagine it - regular youtube uploads ---* solo content ---* joint content ---* subscriber milestones, rewind - tatinof uk and tabinof ---* on "selling out" ---* revisiting the statistics 101 lesson: now with real people! ---* never meet your heroes (unless they're dan and phil)

amy's (temporary) exit from the phandom

- it's legal adulthood with a steel chair!! - growing discomfort with some fans' behavior - 2015 dnp posts from my main blog - the closer: final fantasy vii

(2016): season finale

vine's imminent demise

- content platforms behaving badly - content creators behaving badly

youtube after "the great rewiring" (as haidt calls it)

- version 1.0 of the modern youtube algorithm ---* deep neural networks for dummies ---* what's holding creators accountable, or not - advertising and sponsorships ---* basically every child and youth™ is watching now ---* the battle for our attention ---* regulators start to crack down on undisclosed ads - the rise of drama/tea content (and later, channels) ---* youtubers are now seen as regular celebrities ---* dan and phil as the butt of other youtubers' jokes ---* baiting the phandom for engagement

tatinof us and aus

- a proven new model for live show tours - show & documentary released to youtube red (now premium) - [sigh] the tour bus

sea change in online fandom

- the newer, sometimes queerer media in korra's wake ---* better and more representation in live-action tv shows ---* voltron (i'm sorry!!!) ---* the mystic messenger craze ---* alice oseman & heartstopper - the new dynamics of #discourse ---* proship is to anti as phannie is to phanti ---* the bad behaviors of the 00s get a new coat of paint ---* new, though: fans harassing creators ---* a personal note on ace discourse

dan and phil presence off-tour

- the internet takeover ends - regular content, subscriber milestones

so. uh. current events.

- brexit - sorry the united states is a font of chaos - ripple effects

closing out the year

- amy finally gets an anxiety diagnosis and treatment! hurray! - dapgo, rewind - bbc radio awards & the boncas - gamingmas

(2017): time for a rebrand

tangent - sit down!!! buckle up!!! today's lecture is on PSIs & PSRs!!!

"parasocial" as defined by the current zeitgeist

- summing up youtubers' and laypeople's opinions (not dan's) - an unfairly negative stance overall, imo

older academic literature

- the 1956 paper (yes, 1956) - with traditional celebrities - with fictional characters

current academic literature

- with youtubers and other content creators - positive effects on the audience - negative effects on the audience - broader societal implications

fandom spaces as a parasocial experience

- parasocial and truly social interactions with each other - phandom as a supportive, welcoming space for oddballs - what research i can find about neurospicy folks, + anecdotes - me and everyone else on planet earth move to discord

inherent transactionality

- the nature of celebrity - positive effects on creators - negative effects on creators

reexamining early phandom through a parasocial lens

- the good, the bad, and the ugly - the role audience demographics played in all of this - entering, exiting, and remaining in the phandom

end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming

vine is well and truly dead

- some had prepared to become primarily youtubers (smart) - some move to musical.ly, insta, facebook, or snap (less so)

the sun sets on danisnotonfire

- i am very normal about dan's hobbit hair, i swear. - the last dnp content before the rebrand - new apartment, new floor plan investigations

adpocalypse now

- youtube has become the village elder of platforms ---* increased scrutiny, increased responsibility ---* some youtubers had been getting away with !#$!#@% - the scandals ---* pewdiepie + logan paul ---* elsagate and being "family- friendly" (read: ad-friendly) - censorship and monetization ---* adsense revenue goes down as advertisers pull out ---* the glory days of posting whatever and making bank are over

amazingphil and ~daniel howell~

- youtube & younow content - that week in march - vacations and conventions - conjoined baking and the concept of a "soft launch" - daniel & depression → dan as a mental health advocate - truth bombs, ii announcement, rewind

(2018): the phandom vs the hiatus they told us not to worry about

interactive introverts

- "giving the people what they want" - in hindsight… - let's talk about dnp fans from the global south

youtuber burnout

- it wasn't just dan: (more examples than header fits) - the old model was simply not sustainable - newer contributing factors - research on burnout, plus personal anecdotal experience

other dan and phil content

- younow/rize lives - dan's last videos before… you know… - phil's solo content in 2018 (quiff!!) - pinof → wdapteo - the gaming channel

other stuff happening online and in the world

- youtube raises the barriers to monetization - many "pivot to video" creators are now independent - the modern youtuber's multiple streams of income - continuations of societal trends in 2016 - musical.ly becomes tiktok - notable: she-ra and the princesses of power

the hiatus™: part myth, part reality

- how long dan was actually offline - major confounder: tumblr implodes almost overnight - major confounder: perception of content density from '13-'16 - major confounder: rapidly maturing audience - major confounder: our temporal awareness is about to go way ↓↓

~ baking interlude 3: scotcheroos ~

minnesotans and their obsession with "bars"

amy has one last existential crisis (you know, to date)

(2019): demolishing the closet with a nail bat

phil videos in the first 5 months of this very important year

basically i'm gay

- my thoughts - its legacy in the canon of "coming out" stories - multiple things can be true at once

coming out to you

- my thoughts - its legacy in the canon of "coming out" stories - why phil waited (actual explanations, speculation)

amy's 2019

- return to the audience, not really to the phandom (rip tumblr) - strange coincidence that i also had a major life transition

dan and phil: still here, freshly queer

- twitter becomes the main nexus of phandom, by default - regular phil uploads + brief return to younow - vidcon

(2020): go home and stay there

so it's a goddamn global public health crisis

- infectious disease perspective - effects on overall well-being of adults - effects on kids and teenagers (sorry to all of you) - political and economic impacts

hitherto unforeseen levels of online content consumption

- tiktok replaces basically all short-form video content - yet another wave of new (otherwise unemployed) youtubers - you're watching a video essay. these got really popular now. - being young and isolated: thoughts from younger phannies

the Content™ bc that's the one word we use for this now

- phil's videos - when dan is around - that attitude magazine interview - pour one out for the phil solo project(s) the panini wrecked

further political disaster… avoided?

- checking in on the state of social issues previously discussed - unfortunately,

(2021): welcome to the 2020s, we have lingering trauma

THE PHOUSE?!?!?

- social media posts - the stereo shows

other dan and phil videos

- phil's solo videos - gay and not proud - hometown showdown - other joint videos - phil's #shorts (sounds normal in american english)

panini updates

- vaccines soon, uwu??? + entrenched misinformation - pros and cons of remote work - pros and cons of remote school - pros and cons of remote socializing

you will get through this night

- younger me really could have used this book too, dan - thoughts as a professional in a related field - reflecting on some of my more unique circumstances

daring my old school district to sue me (again!!)

- updates: racism and transphobia - updates: right-wing freaks take over the school board again - residents vote against improving mental health resources

(2022): dan returns (still not on fire)

hey so politics are um getting worse

- americans lose the right to reproductive freedom ---* the quickest of histories on where these freaks came from ---* this shit kills people. - trans kids become the punching bag of culture war discourse ---* fuck off! (gently) ---* fuck off! (i have a knife) ---* checking in on terf island

we're all doooooooooooooooomed

- dystopia daily my beloved - the style, the substance, the metatextual analysis-- - not everyone loved it, though. why? - the promo - dan on tour + sister daniel

amy's 2022

- i got covid - then i got long covid: brain fog, pots-like symptoms

some more news (i will work on my warmbo impression)

- dan joins tiktok + danisnotinteresting uploads - phil: uploading less, busy doing remote crisis management - twitter is acquired by an idiot jackass - heartstopper on netflix! ---* the show and what it means to people ---* drama (revisiting "real people can't queerbait") ---* why this has anything to do with the phandom

~ baking interlude 4: cinnamon rolls ~

- lovingly, recipe changes and corrections :) - if i have an opinion about anything, it's sweet yeasted breads

(2023): the phrenaissance

phil

- joins tiktok! - youtube uploads through september - what even is phannie tiktok. i've never used this app. help.

dystopia daily b-sides

- dan memes of 2022 - the 2023 dystopia daily episodes

amy: the doctoral candidacy process

- purgatory, privilege, poverty, and free pizza - checking in on what this is like outside the united states

pretending the panini is over

- complaining about post-adpocalypse censorship standards - honest take about "giving up" on covid - who gets the short end of the stick

the youtube algorithm is BAD and UNINTELLIGENT, actually,

- unhinged rant about not hearing about the gaming rephrival - because i was offline from other platforms. like, @amyoffline.

pov: you are a phannie (not me) on october 15th

- what i was doing on october 15th - saying goodbye forever, spooky week, and november - gamingmas - phil uploads through december

(2024): fifteen years of terrible, terrible influence

hey what the fuck is going on

- dan and phil ---* joint and phil videos ---* jokes they never would've made ten years ago ---* a collection of emotional posts about how far they've come ---* people want fun and silly content again. we'll get to why ---* nostalgia, hope, and other warm and fuzzy feelings - the phandom ---* ancient parasocial attachments, reactivated instantly ---* people are way more normal now. let's discuss why ---* tumblr vs twitter vs tiktok phandom

we're all doomed, youtube version

- my thoughts - thoughts on "dan should/shouldn't" do video essays - i can't objectively evaluate anything he makes bc [gunshots]

terrible influence tour

- legally phlonde - the concept: healing one's inner child / taking it back - we gotta talk about phannies in the global south again - no but seriously imagine it? ---*ogres are like onions, they have LAYERS ---* [placeholder for whatever does(n't) happen]

anglosphere current events once again

- the likely us tiktok ban - the tories get fired - [placeholder for whichever hell americans manifest] - witnessing genocide and feeling powerless

ffx full-circle moment to the intro of this video essay

- the night i found out they came back - why i am doing this, now with context - reflections on a nearly 15-year (parasocial) relationship

whatever youtube uploads we get during fall/december

AMY SEES TIT (nov 14)

- the vibes at the phamily reunion - buying merch to apologize for eternal ublock origin use - how much should i document?? (not during the show) - phanspiracies confirmed - atlanta confessions - favorite bits - the alternate universe where i went to tatinof and/or ii

(2025): the horrors persist, but so do we

whatever 2025 content is out while i'm still working on this

our parasocial social club

- let me be philosophytube for a second ---* every interaction has a parasocial element ---* what are we obligated to do as a phandom, actually? ---* as people who parasocially care about these two dorks? ---* what else should we be doing socially to be at our happiest? - "they're my gay uncles" vs "i'm a little in love, even now" ---* riffing about the boundary/overlap between these camps ---* sibling reads me for filth in a single text (sister daniel...) ---* at least we're all in this together

what's going to continue to draw people in

- grown adults drawing our cat whiskers back on - updates on queer/nd kids - updates on anxiety/depression rates - updates on tech and the broader environment of content - world still feels doomed

tangent - the "hard launch" and why people want it

what are people referring to, exactly

- general definition and other examples - when it comes to dan and phil - maybe they hard launched already and we just missed the memo

the ludonarrative of phandom

- if you got here early on - if you got here in the mid-2010s - if you got here after they came out - if you got here post-hiatus - final fantasy comparison: ffvii's chokehold over first-timers

a rom-com for the ages

- the tropes in play - brief tangent on the evolution of the genre - queer romantic comedies - final fantasy comparison: ffviii's plot and squall/rinoa

phriends… or…

- wholesome influence, slice-of-life - projection - final fantasy comparison: ffxv's gameplay loop, the chocobros

humans don't like ambiguity

- from a media perspective (narrative tension) - research from the hard sciences - final fantasy comparison: fanille ---* the first gay final fantasy characters, actually ---* ffxiii's character development process ---* fang and vanille in the text. brb, clawing at the walls ---* so, if anyone is looking for a phyuri au prompt…

tl;dr: reality is not fiction. make peace with not "knowing"

end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming

the phuture

- phil's big solo project when??? - dapg is just the joint channel now - youtube has changed since when dan last "regularly" uploaded - nothing lasts forever, and that's okay

~ baking interlude 5: ranch + pizza ~

- ranch propaganda and ranch metaphors - showing off my dough and sauce skills

conclusions

- a lot has happened in 15 years - [placeholders: don't write your conclusions before you do your research]

Proof this project can only be done in consultation with Tumblr: no other platform we're on could accommodate a post of this length and formatting detail lol

[lunasurvivin]

The Speedrunners in Ward are so odd to figure out. I’ve taken the time to figure out some of their powers as best as I can and I’ve come to odd results. Long essay as well as Ward spoilers below.

Before Ward, the Speedrunners were originally a group of time manipulating capes that operated in Seattle. As someone attempting to create a Seattle cape scene for the sake of creating worm fan-fiction, I’ve been having to research and understand their powers.

The capes I’ve been researching are specifically Final Hour, Secondhand, and Last Minute. End of Days is a part of the Speedrunners as well, but I am excluding him as he seems to have been a recent addition to the group, coinciding with their increasing association with the Fallen.

The trio’s powers initially make sense, their time powers are described rather plainly and make sense as typical worm powers. Final Hour can slow down time for a single target and switch targets at a moment’s notice. Secondhand can enter a state that allows him to move across distances in the span of femtoseconds at the cost of struggling to move across space while doing so, moving through it like it was molasses. And lastly, Last Minute can reverse the flow of time on objects, making them reverse their movements. All of that seems fine, but the problem is that they don’t just have time powers. At least one of them, possibly even all three, also have tinker powers.

The fact their group has a tinker is obvious, after all, their first direct appearance in Ward is them engaging in a trade of tinker knowledge(Shade 4.3). In that same chapter they are described as all using tinker tech. The presence of a tinker is clear, but the identity of that tinker is not. Victoria even speculates that all of them could be tinkers. The identity of the tinker(s) is ultimately never stated, but it is heavily hinted at later in Ward in several places. At one point, Snag notes that he helped Final Hour work on a tinker frame, implying Final Hour is a tinker. In the same chapter Snag also notes Last Minute helped Snag with creating a “loadout chamber in his right arm” (Shadow - Interlude 5.y). These two thoughts imply that Final Hour and Last Minute are both tinkers.

Beyond this, there is additional information that suggests Secondhand is a third tinker. During the interlude Dying 15.y, we see the perspective of Secondhand. During this, Secondhand shows a heavy understanding of the tinker tech equipment he uses. He knows the material the tech was made of and even recognizes the numerical readings that the tinker tech of his suit gave him. Additionally, he is able to differentiate these numerical readings from “just-for-fun diabolical symbols and magical diagrams”. The fact itself that he can recognize what is “just-for-fun” heavily implies he is a tinker, as a regular person likely could not discern what is necessary or not in tinker tech.

Based on the available information provided, we have to assume that Final Hour, Secondhand, and Last Minute are all tinkers. With that in mind however, we must then consider what specialty each of them could have. The main problem is that line of consideration is that despite there being three tinkers, there are only two specialties hinted at. The first tinker specialty is time manipulation, which I imagine one could already safely assume was the case in a group of time manipulators. The second tinker specialty hinted however is much more unusual, power alteration.

Before I get to the power alteration specialty, I will note all of the clearly time manipulating technology that appears to be related to the Speedrunners. In Shade 4.3 Last Minute is noted to have tinker weapons that react differently when experiencing time in reverse compared to when experiencing time normally, he is also shown to use those tinker weapons in Shadow - Interlude 5.y. In Dying - 15.5, a beam is fired that creates a bubble that reverses time on the mechs, repairing the parts of them in the bubble to near pristine state. In Infrared 19.z Dragon is noted to have an engine modified from the work of Speedrunners, at the time now known as the Thomais Fallen, that would affect time manipulation attempts. Those are the only examples I could find of their time manipulation tech, but it shows that there is most likely time manipulation specialty within the trio.

As for the other, much more unsual tinker specialty, there are several more potential examples. During Shade 4.3 they are all described as using some kind of tinker tech to augment their powers, but two of them stand out for this specialty. Final Hour with his tinker tech can cause additional effects to the target he is slowing time on. Secondhand’s tinker tech suit both allows him to move with less strain during his mover state and also cause an explosion on exiting the mover state. Secondhand shows several more odd power shifts as time goes on. In Shade 4.3 he is also shown to be able to enter a mover state that is fast, but not the near instant speed of his typical power. During this altered state, a quick movement in this state causes him to cause an explosion of slowed time. This additional mover state is highly abnormal from both the regular power he displays in other occasions and from what Victoria knows his power to be like, suggesting a potential power alteration. Later in Ward, in Dying 15.y, Second Hand is also noted to use tinker tech that at the cost of energy makes entering his mover state possible even when his power usually had a required cooldown period. These examples so far are similar in that they alter a time based power, however the next one is different, it alters End of Days’ power.

End of Days’ power is specifically noted to not be time related and is said to “phase things into desolate alternate worlds”(Beacon 8.1). Based on what we see in combat of him using this power, it is temporary and not permanent(Shadow 5.12). I think this because it would have been far more advantageous in the fight we see him in to have made it permanent. Also in Beacon 8.1, it is stated that they think End of Days used a “tech-augmented version of his power” to help the Thomais branch and himself escape into another world. The Thomais Branch ultimately ends up at Teachers Compound. If we do not assume the possibility of a power altering tinker specialty, this turn of events is incredibly strange. His power is not shown to be permanent nor is it implied that he is capable of picking the world targets are phased to. His typical power simply does not align with the events that occur unless his power was altered somehow.

Assuming that there are indeed these two tinker specialties, that leads to yet more questions, specifically “who has what tinker specialty?” and “Why are there only two obvious tinker specialties?”. The first one I can possibly answer with evidence, but the second one requires speculation. I will start with the first question. I think Final Hour is implied to be the power altering tinker through an example from earlier, Snag is noted in Shadow - Interlude 5.y to have helped him create the frame that adds additional effects on his targets. As Final Hour was the main one creating it, the possible power alteration specialty that allows for its construction in the first place must be his. As for the time specialty, Last Minute is strongly implied to have it with the existence of his tinker weapons that work differently in reversed time. Based on the available evidence I can say Final Hour is most likely the power altering tinker and Last Minute is likely the time tinker, but I cannot with certainty say what Secondhand’s specialty is. He clearly understands all of the tech he is using well enough to be a tinker, but that same tech he uses shows both aspects of power alteration and time manipulation.

This strange detail brings me to question two, why are there only two obvious tinker specialties? This is where speculation becomes much more necessary. Firstly, it must be noted that tinkers with secondary non-thinker powers are already a rarity, we do not see many of them in Worm or Ward. Secondly, it must be noted that the odds of three people all triggering with a time manipulation power alongside an additional tinker power is incredibly low. Even lower are the odds that those three people would come to live in the same nation, much less form a group together. The odds of that occurring is almost astronomically low… …unless their powers are all connected. There are two possibilities that could lead to their powers being connected. They could either be buds of an existing cape (or possibly multiple capes) with temporal manipulation powers and a secondary tinker power, or they could be a cluster. We can likely rule out the first possibility, as we know from Shade 4.1 that the Speedrunners “do not look like family”. Additionally, they just aren’t bonded to each other enough to suggest the involvement of budding. Dying 15.y notes at one point that the four capes of the Thomais branch huddled “without closeness”. Without the possibility of budding, this only leaves the other possibility, a cluster.

The idea of the three initial Speedrunners being a cluster is odd at a first glance, for one, you’d likely think that with Ward’s heavy focus on clusters that it would have surely come up. I cannot explain why it never came up, but I can say that the possibility of the three being a cluster explains some inconsistencies and oddities that otherwise would go unanswered. For one, it would explain how such a rare trio came to be in the first place. If the group was a cluster, the chances all three having a time manipulating power alongside a tinkering power becomes far more likely. As an additional consideration, it must be stated that a tinker trigger alongside a time manipulation trigger would result in a cluster with tinkering and time manipulation. Two tinker triggers alongside a time manipulation trigger however also results in a cluster with tinkering and time manipulation. Two tinker triggers would explain why at a glance a cluster of the three Speedrunners would appear to be just two main powers, tinkering and time manipulation.

Two main tinker powers would also explain the strange detail from earlier, Secondhand’s lack of a distinct tinker specialty from Final Hour and Last Minute. For this, let’s assume some possible positions of the cluster based on the powers and tinker specialties I have shown. Final Hour would be the main aspect of power altering tinker given he was noted to work on a power altering frame, Last Minute would be the main aspect of the time manipulating tinker given his apparent time manipulation tinker tech, and Secondhand would be the main aspect of the time manipulating power as he has the notably strongest one, a mover in his case. This would mean Second Hand would get two minor tinker aspects, time manipulation and power alteration. If he had two minor tinker powers, it would explain both why Secondhand understands his technology so well while also not showing a distinct tinker specialty from Final Hour and Last Minute. It would be because he doesn’t have a distinct tinker specialty and is just using the minor aspects he got from his clustermates.

With the idea of a cluster in mind, it must be asked, why is there no apparent kiss/kill dynamic? Why is there no apparent personality bleedthrough? I myself cannot answer those questions beyond mere speculation. There are two possibilities, for the first possibility it’s possible there is a very weak kiss aspect. It is noted in Glow-worm - p.4 that 25% of the time partnerships are made between clustermates, the definition of partnership in this instance is as follows, “The term partnership is used for romantic pairings in instances where sexuality and gender allow, and close friendship or formed teams with members in other cases.”. Based on this definition, there is a chance for a kiss aspect to make clustermates form a team together but not be otherwise close. For the second possibility, theres a chance there simply is no kiss/kill dynamic, the wording uses to describe the likelihood of one is things like “typically”, or ��prone to”. It gives the impression that there is a small but non zero chance that clusters without a kiss/kill dynamic can form. If this cluster formed without one, they may have just ultimately teamed up due their similar backgrounds and knowledge of each other.

To conclude this lengthy and long winded essay about the Speedrunners of all people, I will state what I think is likely the case. I think that the three original Speedrunners come from an unstated cluster trigger, with an additional power altering tinker ability that is similarly unmentioned. THAT is why I find the Speedrunners so odd to figure out.

[moontheoretist]

~ Shinobi602 on Twitter

Rook's blood interacted with the ritual so now they're tied to the Fade according to Solas (they can communicate with each other)

The two figures seen at the end of the demo are the Elven gods Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain

Solas is trapped in the Fade while the other two gods are now free

The Lighthouse (our base) is in the Fade, was Solas' home base and now becomes ours

We will use the Eluvians to traverse the world for missions similar to Inquisition's Crossroads

Bellara is next up to recruit after the opening events in Arlathan Forest

Bellara is specialized in electricity compared to Neve's Ice powers

Light and heavy attacks confirmed

Dash, parry, and charged moves

You can unlock additional jump attacks in the skill tree

You can set up different weapon loadouts to change mid combat

Can bookmark/pause combos by dashing and then resume them after which is apparently really cool

Rogue and Warrior can parry, but Rogue has longer window - no Mage parry but they can throw up magic shielda automatically as long as they have mana

Arlathan Forest's whimsy willy starkly contrasts to other areas. The promises some grim locations and even grimmer story moments

You rank up your relationship bonds with your companions by helping them on personal quests and taking them with you on main quests. How you help, what you say, choices you make, etc all determine your relationships

It's so ironic that Solas is now trapped. LOLZ. Anyway, I CAN LIVE IN THE FADE!? HOLY MOLY MACARONI I ALWAYS WANTED TO! A little sad at not Mage parry, but also relieved, because I suck at parrying.

I can already see Ghil Dirthalen being so happy their theory about who is Moonhead and Beetle being so correct. Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain enter the stage as the last Evanuris to be alive (?) as I suspect they were the souls of Archdemons Wardens kept butchering. Depending on your choices in DAO, Uthremiel, i.e. Falon'din may still be alive too, but they're trapped with Solas now, because Solas ate him when he ate Mythal at the end of Inquisition. I wonder if they'll get blighted considering that from what I remmeber Evanuris were sealed in the Golden City (Black City) and we know that this particular place is full of the goddamn Blight. Or maybe not, as Gameinformer claims that Solas was moving the Evanuris to a new prison during the ritual so he may have as well been sucked into that new space. Gameinformer is so juicy. I still didn't read it, but I will do so! *salivating here*

Also, Rook as the Veil whisperer was not on my bingo card. Or more like Rook being the Solas whisperer, as it's about Solas not the Veil.

[allwormdiet]

Buzz 7.1

Oh boy, some calm, thank goodness, I hope there's no storm that might interrupt this somehow

Oh, Taylor. You've gotta find a better way to score physical intimacy with people than this, you are not going to get what you're looking for

I was already a bit reserved about whether I thought these two would work out and that was before reading the rest of this arc, so...

Does Lisa know that this is going to end the way it does? I can't imagine she would, she wants her team happy and the way things are about to go between these two is not going to be super happy. Maybe she's reading Brian wrong, if what he said is true about not being so good with girls, and her power is misinterpreting the data

Taylor, you both fucked that up last night, don't pin it all on Danny. You could have told him and given him the opportunity to prove you wrong, to give you something better than the worst-case scenario, but you overruled that and left your home out of. Pride? Shame? C'mon girl.

Fucking finally we get the Alec backstory

Fucking creepy power, though I guess the real creep factor is that he's willing to use it and has used it to make a fucking slave army out of brainwashed women

On the one hand, I get pressing Alec for information, because all of a sudden that's something that the rest of them may have to worry about, but I'm not sure threatening him into talking is the way...

I think that's the youngest age we have for a trigger event so far. And it was deliberately induced by Alec's father. Utterly horrifying.

So... Alec doesn't seem to think he has any kind of moral core, and I'm not sure that's true? Lisa is still the only one out of the group who carries a gun, and Taylor is out here with a knife that she's used to take eyes and toes at this point; Alec's got a comparatively nonlethal loadout, so even if he doesn't feel bad about killing, he doesn't put himself in a situation where it's easy to do.

Taylor, hon, I don't think it's on you to judge him, much as you would love to

Like. Was Alec even treated as a person before he got his power? Was he treated as a person after that? None of the adults in his life ever made an effort to raise him, because they were either his monster father or his father's brainwashed slaves who only cared about him, so any "parenting" would've come from older siblings probably about as fucked as him.

You know what? I'm laying it out here now. The fact that Alec is lazy, selfish, and kind of an asshole, who's not great at reading people and prioritizes personal pleasure over most other things? Actually no joke a huge mark in his favor, because that's who he's figured out how to be after spending 12-13 years of his 15-16 years of life in Hell (which, as I've long suspected, is contained within Montreal) and then three years on the run as a career criminal. The worst thing that I can say about him is that he acts like a shitty teenager, and people act like shitty teenagers while coming from normal homes. Congratulations, Alec, you will be getting a trophy for good behavior (given the circumstances) delivered in the mail

This is sweet. Even with this unpleasant surprise, Brian is still reluctant to act like they'd leave Alec to deal with Heartbreaker alone

This is the most obvious downside of the arrangement, setting aside the matter of "can we trust Coil" (hahahaha)

Rachel, fucking bless you for being the voice of reason here

Yes! Bonding time with Rachel! Friendship rank up with Rachel! Upgrade your Social Link with Rachel in order to strength Personas of the Chariot Arcana!

Actually has someone made a read of the Worm cast as Persona S.Links because I feel like you could make some interesting choices there, obviously Taylor fulfills the Fool/Wild Card role

This is smart as fuck actually. She's basically cutting Brian off before he can interject as the head of the team and establishing her own stance within the hierarchy

An explicit bargain, made with rules for Taylor to follow and consequences if Taylor breaks those rules, all slanted in Rachel's favor.

One day you're gonna call her Rachel in your own head, Taylor, and I can't wait for that

Current Thoughts

Main thing with this chapter is that we've gotten all but one Undersider backstory filled in with Alec's ties to Heartbreaker laid out. Lisa's the last holdout, and I suspect she'll remain mum on the subject as long as she can get away with it

I'm still of the position that Alec reads a lot more shallow on the surface than he actually is, but all we have to go off of is what he says and what he does, with the trick that it's filtered through Taylor's own fairly biased perspective (she thinks he's a coldblooded murderer because his father ordered him to kill an enemy gang member, and that's certainly a read of the situation but she's just as likely jumping to conclusions). He's also taken care to not do much when he can help it, save for the Bakuda fight where he worked his ass off keeping them all alive. It's a waiting game to get to the meat of his character, I suspect, same as basically every other Undersider except Rachel.

Speaking of which, really enjoy the next chapters with Rachel. By far the Undersider I'd spend the most time with. We'd hang out with dogs and not talk to each other for hours, it'd be great.

Anyway, after a brief little scare with my entire account getting temporarily dropped from existence, I'm going to start using the alt I made @wormstreetsback as a backup for this one, on the off chance something goes horribly awry again. It's just going to be reblogs of my own stuff so don't follow it yet, unless you're fine with doubled posts.

[imkillerbae]

Hello I hope you’re having a good day/night!

Not sure if your looking for request or ideas but thought I’d throw this out there in case you are.

Yoru and reader who recently got together get into an argument because he hardly acknowledges her in front of the others. Reader thinks it’s because he is ashamed of her. While in truth Yoru is just anxious about getting teased or causing reader to have a bad reputation or anything like that.

Anyways reader goes on a mission a few hours later, still angry, and gets seriously hurt. Once Yoru finds out, he freaks out. Angst to hurt/comfort

If you don’t like this then that’s fine and I don’t blame you at all XD.

Are you KIDDING ME? I LOVE THIS IDEA. But damn, ya’ll like angst a lil too much it’s concerning. Thankfully I enjoy making them so that makes me worse. We’re all mentally ill here in the imkillerbae blog. And yes, I am looking for requests. Keep requesting!! It keeps me motivated.

Weak (Part 1) (Valorant Yoru x Fem!Reader)

Part 2

You picked your loadout for the mission, gripping the Vandal with so much force you can hear your gloves grinding against the metal, scratching the paint. You huffed and forced the clip inside the gun with a smack from your wrist, strapping it to yourself. Your eyebrows were still furrowed, ears almost releasing steam. Harbor and Viper look at each other, then back at you.

“Is everything alright kid?” Harbor asks with a smile, concerned. You blow your hair away from your face and clutch the gun tightly. “Yeah,” you spat.

Fuck Yoru. Fuck him. I hope he chokes on his own ego.

You thought it was a good thing, to leave for a mission carrying anger with you. You could’ve used it against the mirror agents, maybe shoot Yoru’s double in the head for good measure. But as fate would have it, that wasn’t the case.

A few hours ago, there was a mission briefing on the 3rd floor, in a large room with chairs placed around a long oval table. Large monitors were positioned on every side, as well as mission briefing papers. You were late because you had to attend to some personal needs of yours. Little did you know, the others that came too early were discussing something else.

“What did Brim say about Raze though?” You heard Phoenix ask. You hide behind the doorway and listen, smiling to yourself. You wanted to spook them.

“Well, let’s say that he wasn’t too happy at first. Not because he doesn’t support us, but because he doesn’t think it’s smart to have relationships with fellow agents. But of course, we know how much of a loverboy that old man is.” KJ giggled.

“Really? He’s not into us dating each other? That seems unfair.” Phoenix complains, and you can almost hear him pout. “It’s a big risk. A collapse in a relationship between people has a ripple effect. It’s not as linear as you think.” Sova comments.

“Well what about you and Y/N, Yoru? Does Brim know? At least he has a clue about me and Jett. Haven’t heard any comments though.”

As you heard that, you blushed. You and Yoru only started dating 2 weeks ago. Well, dating in its broadest sense. You and him shared mutual feelings for each other for a long time now, maybe even ever since you got into the protocol.

“Still below me in target practice? Cmon Y/N, I know you can do better,” he would tease, laying his elbow on your head just to further humiliate you with your shortness. You try to punch his side playfully, and he dodges, smirk getting wider.

“Wipe that smirk off of your face. You haven’t seen the last of me yet Yoru.” You rolled your eyes, smiling before turning to the range. “Wipe if off for me then,” he huffs, bending down and smiling to your face. You didn’t know whether you wanted to punch him or kiss him. Maybe a bit of both.

Somehow your banter turned into flirting, and before you knew it, he was confessing his love for you. That was two weeks ago, when you were both assigned to scout an area. You’ve known him for a while now, and you always knew him as curt and upfront. But that day, you saw him as someone who was shy, someone who was scared of his own heart.

“Sumanai. I don’t know why I feel this way, and I don’t wanna hassle you. But I can’t keep this to myself anymore. I’ve been meaning to tell you that I love you Y/N. I love you.”

Most importantly, someone who gathered up the courage to be vulnerable enough to hand their heart to someone else.

“We’re not a thing,” Yoru replied coldly to Phoenix, and you heard your heart shatter from the piercing words.

“Huh? Wait I thought you two were dating,” KJ sounded surprised, mainly because you told her everything about you and Yoru. “No? We’re not dating, where did you even get that idea.” He huffs, crossing his arms. “I don’t know? You guys are inseparable, you always look for each other, the nicknames? That kinda gave it away,” Phoenix reasons.

“Nope, nothing’s going on between us. Cmon guys, don’t be crazy.” You decided that you’ve heard enough and came out from behind the wall, smiling with gritted teeth. You didn’t see it, but Yoru tensed immediately as he heard you speak. You give them a smile, taking your seat next to Sova.

“Alright, ready up! Everyone take their seats,” Brimstone enters the room, Viper beside him. Sage was on vacation, you suddenly remember.

“Y/N?” KJ calls, eyeing you. Are you okay? She says with her eyes, and you nod. “Oh man, sorry, I didn’t mean to stir anything here. Was just curious, I swear.” Phoenix held his hands up as he sensed how tense Yoru was. He just made a huge mistake. He didn’t mean for you to hear those lies he made up.

He stood from his seat on the table to sit next to you but he was immediately stopped. “Gekko! Can you sit next to me please? I wanna play with Wingman before I deploy. To calm the jitters ya know?” You smiled at the green haired boy, and he eagerly smiles back. “Sure! Wingman likes you a lot anyways. Save me a seat buddy!” He releases Wingman, and he dashes across the table, saving the seat for Gekko. For a moment, you met eyes with Yoru, and he gave you a glare, while you returned it with a side-eye.

Yoru instead sits across you, but during the entire meeting, you did not look at him. You only hugged Wingman as he slept in your arms, listening to Brimstone and Gekko’s flustered mess of jokes. Yoru in turn just sat there, miserable, watching you flirt with a tennis ball. He wanted to kick Gekko’s head off his shoulders at that moment.

After the meeting, you immediately stood up from your seat (after excusing yourself from Gekko and Wingman of course) and quickly walked to the elevator, trying to avoid Yoru. He catches up with you as you enter it, pressing on the B1st floor button rapidly. As it closes, he slips in a teleportation orb in the elevator. And before you could blink, he was already towering over you.

“Don’t talk to me,” you spat, glaring at him with so much anger you could burn a hole in between his eyes. Your eyes watered as you glared, fists clenched and ready to hit him if he ever took a step closer. His look softens. He didn’t mean to hurt you.

“Y/N, listen—”

“Listen? Seriously?! I listened plenty an hour ago! ‘We’re not a thing,’ then what are we? What am I? Some sort of toy you play with when it’s convenient?”

“No you’re not. Listen, I didn’t want them to know—”

“I know damn well why. I’m not as strong as Skye, or as pretty as Neon. I’m the girl you settled for. I’m not enough to inflate that huge ego of yours.”

“What?” Now he was also getting angry, the blood rising from his neck. “Hang on, what the fuck are you implying? That I’m ashamed of you?” His voice rises, a fist landing above your head with a loud bang. You flinch, but don’t let it show.

“As if that wasn’t obvious already. You barely acknowledge me anytime we’re with the others but morph into someone else when we’re alone. Someone I don’t even think exists anymore.” You held back your tears as best as you can, voice quivering.

“You’re crazy,” Yoru accuses, and you gasp. The nerve of this asshole!

“Crazy? That’s rich coming from someone who confessed one minute and the next, he pretends I don’t exist.”

“When did this become about me? I’m trying to explain—”

“It’s always been about you! You, you, you! You’re selfish, egocentric and fucking heartless! I can’t even understand how you say ‘I love you’ without knowing the meaning of the word.” You snap at him, breathing hard.

He stares at you, eyes dark and clouded. He slowly retracts his arm and backs away from you, standing with closed fists. His blood was boiling in his head, he wanted to yell back. But he loved you too much to say anything hurtful. Why couldn’t you see that? And did you really see him that way?

The elevator chimes, and the door opens. It hangs there for a while until he spoke. “Fine. Think whatever the hell you want. I don’t care.” He says with gritted teeth. He quietly steps out of the elevator, leaving you there, silently weeping.

[sprintingowl]

Leadbellies

Leadbellies is a 30 page tactical merchant mecha ttrpg set in a pastoral world.

It is the direct consequence of me watching too much Spice And Wolf while attempting to fall asleep, and it's about as cozy as a scythe.

Anyway, you take on the roles of mech pilots in a country that is recovering from the last war and carry goods from town to town, trying to avoid scraps with the weird holdout militias that are convinced that with another couple years of war they could totally win this time guys it would definitely be worth it.

Leadbellies uses d6s and a chess board and plays like red rover.

You have a variety of mech frames and loadouts. You can upgrade your mech. You can fill your hold with old bluegrass CDs.

I dunno what else to tell you. You've formed an opinion about the game by this point.

[paper-mario-wiki]

I used to play TF2 a lot in the late 2000s/early 2010s, and I miss it terribly, but the times I've poked back in there haven't really been like... any findable servers I want to play on. Let alone nocrit servers! What's the server situation like these days, I heard there were terrible bot problems, have all the good ones gone private? Are private servers even still a thing? How do people find good servers to play on nowadays, basically.

As of right now, the biggest no-crit no-RNG-bullet-spread server that people play on are the Uncletopia servers, but I don't play on them cuz they're always full and TF2uber fans are kind of annoying. Plus there's class-limits, which I find ultra smelly and extra boring.

I play almost exclusively on casual matchmaking.

I am able to shrug aside random crits and a relatively unmoderated playerbase (as composed to the moderated Uncletopia) in exchange for being able to get into random games with new people almost instantly whenever I want.

Bots are around, but the entire playerbase has basically figured out efficient bot-kicking as if it were any other regular part of the gameplay experience, so unless there's a situation where there's more bots than people OR in the rare edge case when an entire team is full of cunts who wont kick, they're not a gigantic issue. At least, not in any capacity that'd stop me from queuing casual. There's typically a noticeable uptick in bot activity around the time events roll out tho, like the Christmas and Halloween events.

I don't know anything about private servers. The last thing I'd want to do is lock myself into a room with a bunch of people who are always there. The fun part of TF2 is fighting new people, who have different costumes and personalities and loadouts and fighting styles!

That's why I queue casual.

[swaps55]

Mass Effect Vanguard Guide

Other Guides: Guide to Basic Infiltrating | Shield Gate and YOU | Adept Guide | Sentinel Guide | Soldier Guide |

First and foremost, this is exactly what it says: a guide. It is not the right way to play this class; it is a way that I have found very effective after well over a thousand hours spent running different builds and different classes in campaign and ME3 Multiplayer. If you build it differently and like your style better, great! If you are having fun, you’re doing it right.

But if you are struggling at all with the Vanguard class or don’t click with it, this guide might help you. The build, loadout, and strategy are designed with higher difficulties in mind. This kit can easily make quick work of insanity and is a lot of fun if you enjoy using your face as a weapon.

THE BUILD

Shepard has 8 skill trees + a Bonus Power. At Rank 60, you can max out 8 skills and have enough points leftover to take the 9th to level 4. For this build, I recommend only taking Cryo Ammo to rank 4 (or skipping it entirely), and maxing everything else. 

Prioritize Charge, Nova, Incendiary Ammo, Assault Mastery, and probably a few points in Fitness here and there.  

Breakdown under the cut! 

Incendiary Ammo: Incendiary ammo might be one of the most brokenly overpowered skills in the game. The explosive evolution adds a flat damage value vs. a percentage on every other shot, which is insane. On rapid fire weapons that do less damage per shot, like the Tempest or the Typhoon, you're basically doubling the amount of damage you're doing. Add the area of effect you get with the explosion? You're now inflicting this chaos on anyone else who’s nearby. Are you using a piercing mod (the answer should be yes)? You now have a shot at another roll for another explosion, because the damage call can pass through the armored target and torment the cannon fodder behind it. A piercing mod reduces the damage on your bullet, but not the explosion. This is super insane on shotguns, because you get a shot at the extra damage roll per pellet, not per shot. Shotgun blasts have multiple pellets per shot.

Have I mentioned that this is affected by increases in power damage? So any power damage increases you take in Assault Mastery make incendiary ammo better.

Rank 4 – Damage. To hell with your squad. I mean, your squad is amazing. But trust me, you want to be selfish with incendiary ammo. You can do so much more with it than your squad can.

Rank 5 – Are you handy with headshots? Take Headshot damage. Would you rather have more ammo capacity? Take Ammo Capacity. Whatever makes you happy.

Rank 6 – Explosive Burst. Always take explosive burst. There is no universe in which you want anything other than explosive burst.

Cryo Ammo: This is your dump stat. I don’t even put my leftover points in cryo ammo, because the circumstances in which you would choose cryo ammo over incendiary ammo do not exist, if you are going for maximizing damage. Cryo ammo is really nothing more than a debuff, and you know what’s better than a debuff? Killing it. Now, if you just want to snicker at enemies with a health bar freezing solid and toppling over, that’s different. 😊 But when it comes to higher difficulties, cryo ammo just doesn’t stand up to the effectiveness of other ammo powers.  

Pull: Pull doesn’t provide nearly as much benefit as your other skills, so I suggest speccing into it last. It can, however, be a fun way to toy with mooks if you’re bored of scattering them like ninepins, and offer an alternative for dealing with Guardians if emptying a shotgun full of fire into their mail slot doesn’t quite do it for you. Pull will also prime biotic explosions. It’s not elegant, but you can do it.

Rank 4: Duration vs. Radius: I go for Radius, because as a Vanguard nothing stays alive long enough for duration to matter. But if you are having trouble with timing to get biotic explosions, you can choose Duration here.

Rank 5: Lift Damage vs. Expose: Go for Expose, which increases all damage to the target, including biotic detonations. Again, things don’t stay alive long enough for lift damage to do much for you.  

Rank 6: Recharge Speed vs. Double Pull. DOUBLE PULL. Why would you choose one pull when you can have two? This skill already has one of the fastest recharge speeds in the game, so choosing recharge speed doesn’t gain you anything.

Biotic Charge: Biotic charge, of course, is the signature skill of the vanguard, and while there are plenty of playstyles you can use that don’t hinge on charge…why would you? Charge is stupidly fun. You can be reckless, silly, and stupid, and no one can stop you. You’ll make so many things explode you can hear colors. There isn’t a problem your face can’t solve, unless the problem is on a platform out of bounds.

Charge is also a detonator power, which means you can set up biotic explosions by painting a target with warp, reave, dark channel, and even pull, and then slamming your face into it. Charge will also create a fire explosion when you ram your face into something that’s on fire from incinerate or….incendiary ammo. Hey, who has incendiary ammo and can make their own fire explosions? VANGUARDS. 

Rank 4: Force & Damage vs. Radius. Dealer’s choice. Do you want to smash for face against one thing with all the force? Or smash your face against all the things with less force? ME3 tends to emphasize cannon fodder over high tier enemies, so if you’re a little shy about running straight into the arms of a banshee and prefer to use yourself as a bowling ball into a pile of husks, go for radius. Otherwise, go for damage.

Rank 5: Weapon Synergy vs. Power Synergy. For most playstyles, power synergy is what you want here, especially if you like to spam Nova, as power synergy makes your nova hit harder. However, if you prefer to charge into something and then stick your shotgun down its throat to set it on fire with fire bullets, take weapon synergy.

Rank 6: Bonus Power vs. Barrier: I recommend barrier here, because the number one problem vanguards have is not giving a fuck, and having charge give you your shields back when not giving a fuck lands you in a sticky situation will generally save your life. Also, the cooldowns on this kit are so fast you really don’t benefit that much from randomly getting a free one to justify giving up those shields you really need because nova.

Shockwave: Shockwave is another detonator for biotic explosions, and it’s a handy mid-range attack when you’re stuck in cover or don’t want ravager goo all over your face.

Rank 4: Force & Damage vs. Radius: Shockwave’s biggest weakness is its short reach, so I choose radius here. NOTE: In the Original Trilogy, this skill is bugged on PC. Choosing radius actually causes this skill to do ZERO damage. So if you are playing OT on PC, choose Force. This bug appeared to be fixed in LE when I tested it.

Rank 5: Detonate vs. Reach: While reach would be great, because again, range is this skill’s biggest shortcoming, detonating combos is what makes shockwave so good. I recommend detonate, unless you find yourself not using it for explosions.

Rank 6: Recharge vs. Lifting Shockwave: Either one will work here, really. Lifted shockwave is cute, and can help you set up explosions, so I tend to choose it.

Nova: The companion skill to Charge! A lot of people are afraid of Nova because it depletes your shields. But I encourage you to practice with it, because if you get comfortable with the pattern of charge + nova + shoot it on fire until it’s dead, there isn’t much of anything a vanguard can’t handle.

Yes, even banshees.

Rank 4:  Force and Damage vs. Radius: You can choose either here, though I will give the lean towards force and damage. If something manages to evade the radius, stick a fire shotgun down their throat to make them think about what they’ve done.

Rank 5: Power Recharge vs. Half Blast: I recommend power recharge here, because decreasing the effectiveness of nova means it dies slower, and Power Recharge speed increases your recharge speed by 25% across the board for 15 seconds. That means CHARGE recharges faster. Which means you can lock yourself in a continuous loop of faster recharge by charging and nova-ing until everything is dead. Remember, this kit does not have a grenade power because SHEPARD is the grenade. Realize your full potential and blow everything up.  

Rank 6: Pierce vs. Sustain: Don’t be tempted by Sustain, and the allure of sometimes not using up your barrier. Choose Pierce. Not only does this make you more effective vs. Armor and Barriers, but also shields, which is something biotics aren’t great at. If you feel naked without your shields, remember you have a FIRE GUN that can protect you until Charge is primed and ready to give you your shields back, and Rank 5 means that recharge is faster.

Assault Mastery: Here’s where things get stupid. Assault Mastery makes all your badass shit even more badass.

Rank 4: Damage vs. Influence & Force: I understand that the Influence bonus is really attractive here, but we’re focusing a build that services combat, not story, and Damage brings you to a 20% power bonus vs. the 10% if you choose I&F. Remember, power damage not only affects your biotic powers, but also your ammo power. Remember how stupid Incendiary Ammo is? This makes it stupider.

Rank 5: Squad Bonus vs. Weight Capacity: Be selfish. Your squad is great, but Shepard is a god, and do you know how your make gods even more badass? Let them bring heavier guns.

Rank 6: Shotgun Damage vs. Power Intensity: Even if you primarily use a shotgun and don’t rely heavily on powers, the 20% power damage bonus from Power Intensity is better, because it also applies to Incendiary Ammo. And it gives you the freedom to use other guns if you want to.

Fitness: Let’s make this short and sweet: As a vanguard, you are not punching things with your fists, you are punching things with your face, so for ranks 4, 5, & 6, go Durability, Barrier Recharge, and Durability.

Bonus Power: I recommend any biotic power that sets up combos, since setting up combos is what Vanguards are not great at. Between Reave and Dark Channel, I prefer reave, because you can paint multiple targets, it staggers the target, it stacks, and it gives you damage reduction. I do NOT recommend Flare. While it is a really cool power, it has a painfully slow recharge speed, and vanguards need to move fast.

Reave:

Rank 4: Duration vs. Radius: I choose radius, to paint more targets. It’s not gonna live long enough for duration to matter.

Rank 5: Damage Reduction vs. Recharge Speed: The recharge speed is a little painful, so if you aren’t having trouble staying alive, you can choose it. If you’re dying, damage reduction will help.

Barriers & Armor vs. Damage & Duration: You can go either way here, but I prefer Barriers & Armor, because you can fire a reave at a banshee and then ignore her while you go bowling with the cannon fodder. When all your toys are dead, you can then ram your face into the banshee so she explodes.     

The Weapons

The weight capacity bonus you can get from Assault Mastery means Shepard can be this powerful and carry some REALLY good guns. I recommend weapons with a high rate of fire to take advantage of Incendiary Ammo. Shotguns are the obvious choice, but any weapon with a high rate of fire that keeps you close to or at a 200% cooldown is good.

My favorites are the Piranha and the Hurricane, the latter of which can take advantage of a power mag bonus. But since you are already giving up a valuable mod slot for the power mag, if you need a stabilizer to use it comfortably, I’d recommend going with something else. The Talon is a good choice because it is lightweight, fires quickly enough, and it has a damage bonus to shields and barriers. Basically, it’s a pocket shotgun. The Reegar is a weapon that can be REALLY dumb, since it melts shields, and it benefits from a piercing mod, but its drawback is that it is very short range on a class that already struggles at range. If you want to use it, I suggest the piercing and thermal clip mods.

Speaking of the range issue. I have two words for you: The Indra.

The Indra is an automatic sniper rifle, one of the absolute best weapons in the game, and Shepard can carry it and STILL HAVE A 200% COOLDOWN. Also? It costs 10k credits on the Citadel at the beginning of the game. Is it counterintuitive to carry a sniper rifle on a Vanguard? Yup. Is it immersion breaking? Possibly. But remember, this is a combat guide, not a story guide. Put the Indra on Shepard with Incendiary Ammo, and congrats! You are now invincible.

How to Play

Vanguard is a high risk/high reward class. It’s designed to play fast and at close range, so if you are trying to play it like an adept, you might not get good results. Get comfortable playing with your shields down (you’ll get them back with the next charge), don’t be stingy with medigel, and don’t fret too much about top tier enemies like phantoms and banshees. You might occasionally get sync killed, but truthfully, your damage output is so high you can often stagger them out of their murderous intent. Even turrets can’t stand up to this kit:

Turn on incendiary ammo the moment you load into a mission and leave it on. I suggest mapping charge, nova, and reave (if it’s your bonus power) to the hotkeys so you don’t have to use the power wheel for each, and make it a muscle memory. Charge everything. Nova with impunity. Shoot everything that isn’t dead until they’re on so much fire they wish they were. Use the power wheel to pause the game and get your bearings or figure out what’s shooting you. Use your squadmates to either strip shields or set up biotic explosions. Use and abuse combat roll to get out of trouble if charge is on cooldown. If you’re about to die, charge first, then medigel. Reload canceling is your friend. (If you are not familiar with reload canceling, I plan to make a post about it.)

A vanguard should rarely stop moving, except for the occasional stint behind cover to regroup, reload your gun, or set up an explosion. If you stop charging, you’ll probably die.

This class is a hell of a lot of fun if you let it off the chain and go hog wild. Don’t be afraid to die. Taking the risk – even if it doesn’t pay off all the time – helps you get comfortable with the batshit playstyle if it’s not something you’re used to.

I love all the Mass Effect classes, but this one is my favorite because this is how I really love to play the game. I hope this guide helps!