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talesofafangirlwithadvr · 4 years ago

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October/November Picks

Long time no see! So...it’s been a little bit since I’ve posted a wrap up. I had all intentions of posting one after October, but then you know life gets ahead of you and before you know it it’s Thanksgiving. Not much has changed in my viewing habits for these past two months, so I thought I’d group them together for a mega wrap up. Hope you enjoy :)

Without further ado here come some spoilers.....

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SECRET SOCIETY OF SECOND BORN ROYALS

This Disney + original movie was one of my highly anticipated watches for the fall. I am disappointed to share that it was a let down. The concept was such a cool and creative one. Having the second born in a royal family not simply be the “spare” but be the protector...with superpowers! (In a very YA way, getting their powers at a specific age.) They just should have gone about the story in a better way. I wanted more time with them learning about the powers and to make the villain stronger. Overall the acting wasn’t bad (which is good for a Disney + original), but it was just lacking. The movie was LONG and yet much did not feel like it happened. It was cool seeing Casa Loma (the castle they filmed at) as I was just there two summers ago. Sadly, I will not be watching this movie again.

VIOLETTA SEASON 3

We all already know how pumped I was when season 3 of Violetta was released on Disney Plus in September. I couldn’t believe it after waiting so long for the second season. I really enjoyed the beginning of this season and knew we would be headed down a road where I would grow tired of the storylines.

We have hit that point.

Quick Violetta rant. Things I am done with:

Roxy and Fausta plot

Fran and Diego being a secret

Herman and Priscilla

Pablo not at the studio

Milton being evil

Ludmilla lying

Recently, my sister is catching up to where I am in the season, so this has pushed me to watch more. I am on episode 43 and some of the above venting has been solved, so that is super exciting. I am finding myself wanting to watch it more now, so fingers crossed it continues to get better.

JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS

Kenny Ortega has done it again! When I first heard the premise for this show and watched the trailer on Netflix I wasn’t too sure. Then both of my sisters watched it and they wouldn’t stop talking about it, so that was a sign that I needed to watch it. Since then, I have watched the show twice and can’t stop listening to the music. THIS. SHOW. :) I get the hype. It’s just so wholesome and feel good. The characters are well crafted and the episodes go way too fast. They are the kind of characters (and cast) that make you wish you were a part of the show. I can’t wait for the next season (because there better be one). Definitely add this one to your list if it’s not on their already.

THE OUTPOST

The Summer CW shows were pushed to the fall line up due to delays in filming of the originally planned shows. I hope this means that they’re getting a little more love this year. The Outpost deserves it, as it is currently in its third season. (I think it might have gotten a little more now that the 100 is over and the commercial aired during the 100′s last season. Maybe people heard Black-blood and decided to give it a go.) This season has seen a new threat and during the first eight episodes there’s been MANY twists and turns, making it hard for me to remember how this season started. There’s been a lot of unrest in the Outpost and changes in who is in charge. While there are some unnecessary plot-lines (like that Tobin had to be married), I’m really enjoying others. Like how important Janzo is, his relationship with Ren, more Munt and that TALON AND GARRETT FINALLY GOT TOGETHER!!! It makes me so happy and is what we deserve after these three seasons. I love how strong both of their characters are and how they are both Warriors. I hope the season ends strong.

PANDORA

Just like The Outpost, Pandora was originally a Summer CW show that is now airing its second season. I really enjoyed the first season (like more than I was expecting), so I went in with higher hopes for this new season. Unfortunately, I have been let down so far. With the first season, there were parts that left me confused and my biggest review of this show has always been how there were gaps or moments where I didn’t know how much time had gone by. Those kind of things I could overlook, but this season the overall plot just seems weaker. I think this in part because of so many new characters. I know a lot of the season 1 cast ended their characters’ plots away from the Academy, but I wasn’t expecting them not to be a part of this season’s story. That has been a difficult adjustment. I also feel like I only understand Jax’s story and not so much about the other government/rebellion points. It’s getting a little better, but I hope it gets to be more enjoyable.

THE SPANISH PRINCESS--SEASON 2

When I originally was creating this list I had just started this season, and felt completely different than I do right now. I just finished this season last week. Much like my above review on Pandora, The Spanish Princess wasn’t sucking me in. I had a few episodes gather on the DVR. Then once we hit episode 3 or 4 and more drama was starting/Henry was starting to show glimpses of the Henry VIII we all know, I was growing more interested. In season 2 of the Spanish Princess, we do not see a loving Catherine and Henry for long. Problems Catherine have in conceiving a boy (male heir) are one of the main focal points, as is Woolsey’s growing influence on the king. With several sub-plots this season, I specifically enjoyed learning more about Meg in Scotland (as a big Mary Queen of Scots/Reign fan, I liked seeing a portrayal of her grandmother) as well as Princess Mary Tudor (who I was unfamiliar with. I loved her and Charlie Brandon’s relationship and wish we could have gotten more.) Each week I watched this show, I found myself Googling a lot. That is always one of my favorite parts of watching a historical drama based on true events. I know right now it looks like the producers aren’t continuing with the Tudor line and might have a different part of history as their next show, but I wish they would. I’m feeling the call to watch the Tudors as it’s on Netflix and I haven’t seen it before. I want to learn more about his wives.

BLOWN AWAY

In a complete shift from a period piece, here is another Netflix show I thoroughly enjoyed watching last month. Do you find the act of glass blowing to be extremely interesting, but you would never dream of trying yourself? Or do you like competition game shows that are not like anything else you’ve watched before? Then Blown Away might be for you! It’s a very fast watch with only a handful of episodes that are about a half hour a piece. (I honestly wished they were a bit longer because it was SO GOOD!) Each contestant is a glass blower and they get to show off their skills by competing in a specific challenge. Each episode you see someone get eliminated until the final where the winner gets a residency at Corning Museum of Glass in upstate New York. This show came out in 2019 and I am hoping a second season comes out.

LIFE IN PIECES

This CBS comedy was one that I remember loving when it first came out. But I only remember watching the first season because then I couldn’t remember which day it was on. (It’s going to sound weird, but because I don’t watch a lot on this network I often forget it exists. We also only had a one room DVR at the time, so we couldn’t tape more than 2 things. Oh, the joys of multi-room DVR). After I finished my re-watch of Derry Girls in September, I was looking for another sitcom to re-watch. This was when I stumbled on the full series of Life in Pieces on Amazon video. (It’s free to watch with Prime.) I was so surprised to see there were 4 seasons! Since then I have been watching a good amount of episodes when I sit down to watch it. Now I’m about mid way in the second season. I highly recommend this show if you haven’t seen it before. It gives vibes of Modern Family. Very short episodes that include four storylines. The format is one that I haven’t seen done before in a sitcom.

SUPERMARKET SWEEP

The revival of the beloved game show from the early 90s is now hosted by Leslie Johns and is the best thing you should be watching on Sunday nights. If you know your grocery shopping list like the back of your hand then you are all set for this show. Leslie Johns is hilarious as are the cast of characters that are regulars in her supermarket. I think it would be a great TV show to be on and I’m not just saying that because I want one of the sweatshirts (although that would be great). If you want (another) feel-good watch, look no further! You catch up on demand.

RE-WATCHING

ANNE WITH AN E

It’s hard to believe that we only got the third season of Anne with an E at the beginning of this year (as this year feels like its been going on forever and when I watched the third season I was in a much less stressed place). Currently, I am teaching a class involving Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. The main focus is on how these stories get adapted in recent times and include such modern plots (and sub-plots). Naturally Anne with an E is perfect for this topic (and after watching season 3 at the start of the year) was one of my major reasons for choosing this topic. (The other being Greta Gerwig’s latest Little Women.) As I’ve been planning my schedule, I’ve re-watched this show. There is something so great about watching it from season 1 all the way through to season 3. You get to watch them grow up and it’s crazy to see how young they first were. Comparing it more to the novel has been a fun time, but also analyzing it more has been great and made me appreciate it even more. With all the stress of our current situation watching this show has made me escape and feel good. (Yes, I know I’ve used that word a lot in this wrap up, but it’s true.)

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Hopefully my next wrap up isn’t as delayed. Wishing everyone a happy holiday season!

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number-1-kuaidul-fanboy · 4 years ago

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Punch Out Wii Boxers Ranked

Thought I’d give my opinion on this since I’ve already expressed biases towards/against certain characters. I will be including Donkey Kong and Doc Louis but not Little Mac (because he is the objective best). The list will go from 15: the worst, to 1: the best. Before I start, I’d like to say that all of these characters are good, well-crafted characters, it really just comes down to personal bias who you prefer. And with that, let’s get started:

15. King Hippo

King Hippo is barely a character. Everything he “says” (there are apparently translations) just boils down to being hungry and he has no personality outside of that. I don’t hate him, but I don’t really care about him. His fight is also pretty boring all things considered. The contender fight is pitifully easy once you know what you’re doing and his title defense fight can go on for a long time and get very monotonous. At least his music’s kinda cool.

14. Super Macho Man

As someone who lives in America, I hate Macho Man with a burning passion. It’s not because I’m “patriotic,” it’s actually kind of the opposite. I’m not offended by his stereotype because it’s mean, I’m annoyed by his stereotype because it’s accurate. I deal with people like this on the daily: in the news. His catchphrases are obnoxious (except sometimes when they’re cut off. That’s kinda funny, admittedly) and he’s egotistical even compared to some of the others. He’s the type of person I actually want to punch in the face so I thank Punch Out for giving me that opportunity but I still hate the character. His match is fine. It’s a bit too easy in both contender and title defense compared to Soda and Bull but hey, at least they tried. His music’s alright.

13. Donkey Kong

Don’t get me wrong, I love Donkey Kong’s inclusion in this game. I think it’s amazing that Nintendo made a match for one of their most famous characters and the fight against him is very unique and challenging to win by KO. That being said, I never really played Donkey Kong so I don’t really have the connection to this character that others do. So yeah, great cameo, not one of my favourite fighters.

12. Bald Bull

Sorry, Bald Bull fans, but I’m not the biggest fan of this raging lunatic. In fact, he kinda creeps me out. People make jokes about Great Tiger being a furry (which he is), but Bald Bull straight up acts like a bull to the point of literally assaulting the poor referee. It’s kind of gross. To that same point, he is also completely shameless about his horrid anger issues which is personally not fun to watch. I get that he was driven mad by the paparazzi (or whatever that cutscene was trying to convey) but it’s still pretty over the top. I’m also not a big fan of his fights. It’s not too terribly difficult in contender mode (except the stupid bull charge) but it’s downright ridiculous in title defense. I firmly believe that his title defense match is the hardest in the entire game, yes even more difficult than TD Soda and TD Sandman. I cannot express with words how much I despise the star punch gimmick. Getting the star punches is frame perfect, making it feel like luck, and getting hit once makes you lose them all. And you need those stars to even knock him down. Seems a bit extreme for the middle fight in the world circuit, doesn’t it?! I was at this fight for hours and was over the moon when I finally managed to beat him. Also, his music kinda sucks. However, I put him over Macho Man because despite everything I just said, I don’t actually hate Bald Bull. I hate his fights but I don’t hate him personally like I do with obnoxious american.

11. Soda Popinski

Oh boy, Drunk Man. I don’t really see many reasons to like him but not any to hate him either, apart from his stupidly difficult fight, that is. I actually find it pretty easy in Contender. There’s a lot of strategies to knock him down really fast and his pattern is pretty basic. As for title defense, did they really need to make it that ridiculously hard? Yeah, there are tricks to make it easier and he has a set pattern but getting into the rhythm of that pattern is incredibly difficult and one slight mistake sets you back to two stun punches. It’s beyond frustrating. And yet the game deems him and Bald Bull to be easier than Macho Man. Why? As a character, Soda is just kinda there for me. It’s fun to make jokes about his steroid soda at least. Also, his music is for some reason one of my favourites tracks in the game. It’s just so epic.

10. Bear Hugger

Alright, now we’re onto the characters I actually like. Bear Hugger is a fun character. He’s one of the more exaggerated stereotypes though I can’t really say for sure whether this one is accurate or not but I’m guessing the maple syrup and hockey stuff at the very least is. I also love the squirrel. It’s implemented into the fight kind of oddly, but it makes his title defense fight pretty enjoyable. It’s a difficult fight but not one I’ve lost recently. The contender fight is fun too, it’s definitely one where I get to spam a ton of star punches. His music is good too. Not much to say on Bear Hugger, he’s fun but I like the other characters more.

9. Disco Kid

Kinda sad that the Wii version only introduced one new character to the roster but at least it was a fun character. Disco Kid’s matches are not a challenge. Contender mode, title defense, he’s one of the easiest fights in the game. He makes up for that by being incredibly over the top flamboyant and cocky, this time in a fun way. I like that he dances throughout his whole fight, I think it’s cool when every little aspect of someone’s match ties into who the character is. Disco Kid is a flamboyant dancer and that is perfectly shown through his mannerisms in the fights. I especially love how in Title Defense, he’s not really bitter or determined to beat Mac he’s just like, “Oh a dance club? This is cool, might as well work this stuff into my boxing routine.” It’s pretty excellent. I’m not a huge fan of disco, but his theme music is pretty good.

8. Aran Ryan

If there’s one thing I’ve seen since joining this site, it’s a lot of Aran Ryan. People on here really love this guy and even many of the YouTubers I’ve seen play this game say he is one of if not their favourite character in the game. Personally, I think he’s a little overrated. However, I do still like him and see why other people like him. He’s sort of a “love to hate” kind of character with him being a complete psycho that’s probably a sadist and a masochist considering how he seems to enjoy being punched and beating the hell out of everyone. It’s fun in a twisted way. His fights are also both pretty fun. Everyone really likes the cheating aspect and yeah, it’s pretty ridiculous that he can literally bring in a weapon and get away with it. However, it also makes his fight stand out from the others. He’s so horrible that he’s just fun to beat up. It’s also the only world circuit fight in title defense that I don’t hate with every fibre of my being. So yeah, fun character, with excellent music might I add.

7. Glass Joe

Here’s another favourite here on Tumblr. To be honest, the fact that people on here liked Aran Ryan didn’t surprise me at all. In fact, it seemed perfectly in character. However, it did surprise me to see how many people liked Glass Joe. I thought he was kind of underrated before but now I see that he’s getting the love he deserves. I love how even though Glass Joe is in every way a french stereotype, he also directly defies the stereotype of the french being quick to surrender. He lost one hundred times and still didn’t give up, becoming determined to defeat Little Mac after earning the headgear. It’s unironically really admirable. Glass Joe’s fights are never a challenge. Contender, title defense, champion’s mode, motion controls, he’s always kind of a joke. However, he is meant to be a tutorial fight for new players and this game gets much more challenging as it goes on, so it’s understandable. They did do a good job at making him more challenging in title defense, but it was still pretty easy at least in my opinion.

6. Von Kaiser

Von Kaiser’s a little underrated in this fandom. Maybe I’m speaking from bias, since I have so many headcanons about him but I really do think he’s a good character. He is just as much of a coward as Glass Joe and isn’t a much better fighter (his contender and title defense fights are both incredibly simple) yet Von Kaiser has a significantly better record than the rest of the minor circuit and even Bear Hugger, with 23 wins and 13 losses. He must’ve gotten those wins from somewhere and I doubt they were all from Glass Joe. That combined with the fact that Kaiser is the oldest boxer in the game (42) makes me think he was once a great boxer but has now passed his prime and refuses to give up, sort of like Glass Joe, but a little more tragic. Regardless, it’s fun to speculate. And I feel kinda bad for Von Kaiser, I mean the dude gets beat up by kids and basically goes mad after being beaten by a seventeen year old boxing newbie. Also, his music is pretty intense despite the fact that he’s treated like a joke by the game. Like Glass Joe, they did do a good job of making Kaiser more difficult in title defense by giving him a one hit KO and plenty of fake outs, though I don’t particularly struggle with either of those.

5. Sandman

Sandman is scary as hell. None of the other boxers really intimidate me, even the one with ridiculously difficult fights, but Sandman is a different story. Everyone else in the game has some kind of silly quirk even when they are serious but this guy is deadly serious about boxing. I mean, they introduce him by showing him beat the shit out of everyone you just faced before, some of which the player may have struggled with. It’s a great introduction for a final boss. His fight in contender is certainly the hardest in that mode and while I didn’t struggle with his title defense fight as much as TD Soda and TD Bull, it was still incredibly hard to beat. And unlike TD Soda and TD Bull, he actually has final boss vibes, so he does deserve his rank (unlike some other characters). Similar to Aran Ryan, his fight also requires the player to be more on offense, at least in my experience.

#4 Doc Louis

Doc Louis is severely underrated in this fandom and just in general. I love how encouraging he is to Little Mac even when he loses repeatedly, I love his silly tips that more often than not are cheesy dad jokes or puns. He’s just a good wholesome dad that loves his chocolate. I love him. Sadly, I have not played Doc Louis’s Punch Out so I don’t really have a perspective on how the fight is apart from videos online but it does look pretty fun, and it’s freaking Doc Louis. How can you not love him?

#3 Piston Hondo

This guy is also kind of underrated, maybe because he’s a bit vanilla? I don’t know, but apart from Sandman, he is undoubtedly the most serious about boxing. It’s actually a bit scary. I mean, this dude can catch a sword in his bare hands and outrun the bullet train, he could easily become champion after Little Mac retires. In fact, for me at least, his title defense fight is the most challenging fight in the major circuit for me. Yes, harder than Bear Hugger and Great Tiger. Those fake outs and speedy Hondo Rushes kept getting me. So yeah, very dedicated to boxing. He’s also just very respectable in general, keeping a calm demeanor throughout the fight and even bowing to show respect. He also doesn’t laugh at you when you get knocked down like literally everyone else does. (Apart from Don, but he still taunts you by asking if you want more.) Yeah, he gloats, but he’s a good sport. It’s nice to see someone who plays fair amongst a crowd of cheaters.

#2 Don Flamenco

Yet another character I’m surprised doesn’t get more attention in this fandom. I dunno, maybe my opinions are just weird. That being said, Don Flamenco was always going to be one of my favourites as he is the only foreign speaker in this entire game I can understand without subtitles. Though even if you don’t know spanish, Don’s character is still very clear and very amazing. Like, I’m sorry, but his contender intro is the best sequence in the entire game. You know immediately what he’s all about and it’s just so beautifully over the top to see this try hard dance his way into the ring with a rose. Actually, “beautifully over the top” is a great description for Don Flamenco in general. He hits every note of the “Spanish man” stereotype in the first few seconds you see him: being a bullfighter, getting all the girls, dancing the flamenco, and just being handsome in general. I don’t know if that last one is an actual stereotype but it’s undeniably true. And none of that is a bad thing. He is a positive figure, if a little cocky, and all of these things that the game could make fun of him for (the NES version certainly does), are actually shown in a positive light. I’m not too fond of bullfighting being shown in that light but it is very popular in Spain so… eh. Also, I do like that Don Flamenco fights like a bullfighter in the ring, baiting you into “charging” or attacking before countering. It’s a nice detail. However, it does make the fight a little too easy. In contender mode, even without doing the infinite, I barely have any trouble with him. He’s easy to get stars off of, his attacks are not that hard to dodge or counter, and if you do the infinite combo, you can destroy him in seconds. In title defense, he is more difficult for sure, but he’s the easiest fight title defense fight in the major circuit. That being said, holy cow is he amazing in title defense as well. He was already over the top in contender but in title defense, after one loss might I add, he acts like it’s the end of the world and becomes completely emo. This could’ve been completely obnoxious or stupid but in my opinion, it makes him very entertaining. He’s just so fun to watch in general, I love his epic music, and I love this angsty telenovela character. Amo al personaje Don Flamenco. El es tan entretenido y guapo. Necesita más amor. Because I mentioned that I know spanish earlier and the first first thing people always ask me is to speak some so there you go. Onto number one.

1. Great Tiger

If you’ve seen my other stuff here on Tumblr, you probably knew this was coming. My very first post on Tumblr, as well as the second, was about Great Tiger and I have tons of pictures of him in my likes. I guess I just have a thing for charming arrogant divas. Seriously, while he’s not as over the top as someone like Disco Kid or Don Flamenco, Great Tiger is a total diva and kind of a show off. He’s always using his clones to glorify himself or taunt you, which would normally be annoying but for some reason, it’s not in his case. And it’s not because I don’t know what he’s saying, the inflection in his voice makes it clear enough that he’s trash talking (and I’ve looked up translations). It’s because Great Tiger has a sort of cold determination, like he is ready to destroy you first, glorify himself after, probably the reason he doesn’t have a taunt, unlike nearly everyone else in the game. He is completely focused on the match and very cool-headed as well. He’s very respectable, even when he’s literally telling you to go drink your mother’s milk. On a side note, I looked up those translations as a kid and I still can’t get over the fact that that is something he actually says. Like, what on earth Nintendo? Still, it’s kinda funny to me. Anyways, I love Great Tiger’s fights. His contender form is fun and I love that intermission scene where he switches places with Doc, showing what a likeable douche he is but his title defense form is my favourite in the game. I really love the magical element, what can I say? The flashing jewel is like a game of Simon put to boxing, I love that he teleports all over the place, the Magic Rush is gorgeous bullshit, and the fight keeps me on my toes but not to the point of being impossibly hard. It’s also fun to experiment with certain elements of the fight, because it can be incredibly varied depending on what you do. just really fun. Whether I do the special knockout or play through the whole fight, I have a fun time fighting Great Tiger. It also helps that his music is spectacular, my favourite in the game. I dunno, those bongos just feel so good on the ears. Great Tiger is also just really interesting in general, and I feel like there’s a lot of unanswered questions about him. How does he have magic? (I know the NES version has an explanation for this but the Wii version does not and is substantially different.) What is the extent of his abilities? Is the jewel the source of his power? It seemed to be directly linked to his corporeal clones in title defense. Is he even of this world? I don’t know, but damn it’s fun to speculate on. I’d love a story just about his backstory, how he got his magic, how he became a boxer, I care about that stuff. So yeah, Great Tiger is the most interesting character in this game, and that’s why he’s my favourite. (I also low-key crush on him, but that’s subjective :)

Anyways, hope you enjoyed my list, it was kinda long, but I have a lot of opinions on this game and this is a good place to put it.

#punch out #punch out wii #glass joe #von kaiser #disco kid #king hippo #piston hondo #bear hugger #great tiger #don flamenco #aran ryan #soda popinski #bald bull #super macho man #mr.sandman #sandman #opinions #favorite characters

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whatacartouchebag · 5 years ago

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So I recently did an AMA over on the Fair Game Effect discord server, and it was a whole mess of fun! I loved being able to get the chance to chat about the creative process that goes on behind the scenes, so I wanted to be able to share the answers with the rest of you ♥

I do tend to get kind of wordy for some of these answers, so to save your dash, find out a bit more about my writing process under the cut!

Keep in mind that there are mild SPOILERS up to the latest chapter of And The Reason Comes, if you haven’t caught up!

Question: I absolutely love the cadence of your writing, especially the slow way you unravel emotions. Was there something particular about the relationship between Qrow and Clover that you felt lends itself to this style of writing? Can you talk a bit about how you decide which emotional bits get more attention, and how you decide the depth to which you describe those emotions? That’s 2 questions, sorry.

Cart: Thankyou so much!! The biggest part of writing these two really comes from the fact that they're both adults with a lot of stuff on their plates. They've had enough experience with life along the way to know a few things here and there. They don't tend to rush into things, unless it's a good fight, and there's a lot of mutual respect for space and trust and time, so it was all about expanding on what's already there. In canon, we were always shown that there was this soft sort of trust building up between the two of them, but it was never anything in great leaps and bounds.

Qrow's shown himself not to be the sort to blindly trust without reason, and how easily that can break, so going into Reason I always kinda knew it would be a slow drag of letting him work himself out around this new force in his life. Clover himself has shown that he's this quiet but gently reassuring presence in his life, and putting them together is like a match skirting the edge of kindling. They work so well together; they recognise there's something there, so it was just a matter of letting them fall into step over the course of the fic.

As for the second question, hoo man, that's kind of a mixed bag answer! It all really depends on the brainstorming process of what plot points I want to tackle, and in what order they fall onto the page. Sometimes it's also a matter of just letting the scene play out by letting the characters say what feels 'right' at the time (which can sometimes go INCREDIBLY against what I originally had planned). There was always going to be heavier scenes versus lighter ones, so it's a bit of a balancing act to know when to let them come up for air, or when to let them linger. Not just for them, but also for the audience.

That's... probably the biggest thing I keep in mind when writing the heavier emotional scenes. It's not just the characters going through it, but whoever's reading it, too.

As to the depth part, that's... something that depends on the rhythm of what's happening. If it's a scene of heavier realisation, sometimes shorter, punchier sentences help portray that (eg: Qrow's realisation of what home is to him in the latest chapter), but other times, it takes something meatier to help feel what they're feeling (eg: that first kiss and Qrow's subsequent reaction). It's that striking-a-balance feeling again, and finding what works best for the pacing of the scene, and it's something I always have fun writing.

Question: What parts of Reason do you enjoy the most so far?

Cart: can I just say i've adored writing the whole thing jkhdfk

Man, I... really don't know how to answer this one. I've enjoyed the entire process of the fic, because it's been such a fun ride of ups and downs. I adore writing these two together, so sometimes it's the little things that really tick all my boxes.

I do get a giant kick out of writing action scenes, so the sparring match and the canyon fight with the Nevermore were pure indulgence for me to go through. I love the tender, more simple moments, like the noodle shop, or any of the time spent with the girls. Getting to see them through some heavy emotional moments, like at the lookout, or at Clover's apartment. Being able to explore some characters and have fun with them along the way; I mean, writing Winter has been an absolute blast and I never thought she'd be as fun to write as she has been.

Honestly, though, it's just a treat to be able to write a scene where Qrow is genuinely happy, because it's something that's so very rarely shown, and being able to give that to him is just so good.

Question: What is your planning process like? Reason is such a big story, how much of it was planned at the start? Did you have all the major plot points decided then, or did some big ones strike you along the way?

Cart: Kind of fifty-fifty, actually! I had a few big story beats in mind before I started putting pen to paper, but a lot of smaller, in-between scenes generally fall into place somewhat organically along the way. There were always some things that I wanted to do from the outset, for example, the sparring match, the noodle shop, Clover's breakdown, and the Nevermore fight.

Along the way, ideas will pop out of the blue while I'm doing dishes or something, or if I've been stewing about how to connect certain points. Those usually get jotted down and shuffled or reworked depending on how the story is progressing. The usual process kinda looks like this:

It's just quick little snatches of notes, but the actual scenes get WAY more fleshed out as the chapter plays out. Some things don't make the cut, depending on pacing, or if it doesn't fit the flow of where a scene goes, or if it's just going to pad out the story too much (as you can see from the last note there, it's something that never made the cut in the restaurant, but it was a fun idea to play with).

Question:

In addition to

Reason

, you also wrote a series of fics for Fair Game Week! How was writing those different than writing for something long-form like

Reason

? And which FGW was your favourite to write :)?

Cart: I actually get a real kick out of writing shorter prompts, because it really helps keep myself better in a character's head, ie seeing how they react to different situations, knowing how they'd respond to something, that sort of thing. It's a good mental break to be able to sink my teeth into something shorter, and with a concise ending, rather than a bigger, ongoing project like Reason.

As to a favourite, man, I adore Feint because getting to go over the parts and pieces of Harbinger was amazing, though I really do have a soft spot for Sinew because writing a sick floppy bird getting cared for by Clover was just fun.

Question: It’s so lovely to hear about how much you’ve enjoyed writing Reason from your answers! Have you gotten stuck on any part, and if so, how did you work through that?

Cart: Oof, I have gotten stuck quite a few times along the way. Wrapping up the restaurant scene was a big one, and definitely when Ruby, Clover and Qrow left the canyon to return to Mantle. There's an upcoming scene with Winter that I had to revisit quite a few times, because of certain subtleties in phrasings or how she was speaking very carefully with someone without either of them saying too much that would cross a line. I still find myself getting stuck with Ironwood, but mainly because I still haven't gotten his voice right in my head.

Working through them, to me, is just a matter of pushing ahead with a scene, letting characters talk to one another, or letting them get their own thoughts out, because sometimes in doing that, it helps me stumble across something that leads into another scene. Or having a goal to work towards - another scene - and just finding a different way to connect the two.

Question: What inspired you to begin writing Reason?

Cart: Honestly? It was seeing Qrow taking the first real, productive steps into healing, and finding himself working alongside this positive parallel of a person, and reacting so wonderfully to it. After Clover's introduction, it was clear that he was going to be such a healing presence to Qrow, and watching Qrow open himself up to this man little by little was something that was wonderful to see.

It was because of that I really wanted to do something with this healing process, and help the two of them connect in a more solid, in-depth manner. It's honestly why them becoming a couple took so long to come around; I wanted the focus to be on their trust and connection first, and their relationship as a couple to come afterwards.

Question: If you don’t mind me asking (feel free to ignore if this would be too spoilery!), but going forward with Reason, are you planning on including any canon scenes from the show?

Cart: It's something I've been tossing up for a while, pretty much ever since I started writing it, to be honest. It's why the fic takes place in that little handwaved time pocket between their arrival in Atlas and the elections, because it gave me enough time to play around with something if I did include canon scenes.

Going forward... I'm not too sure! If I did, then many things would certainly change, but at the current pace of things, and with the loose ending I have in mind, it might be hard to wrangle in. But hey, maybe we'll see!

Question: You navigate through a lot of different emotional beats in Reason so deftly!! Do you have any strategies you use to keep everyone in character as you write?

Cart: Thankyou! A couple of things I always try and keep in the back of my mind when writing: does this sound like something they would say in canon? And is this something that the audience is going to find enjoyable?

Obviously, the characters change a little over the course of the story, so subtle changes will be there, but for the most part, I always stick to those two loose rules when I'm putting pen to paper. As an aside, Reason wasn't actually my first foray into writing these characters! I wrote just a few simple, throwaway scenes and snatches of conversation, just to get a feel for them and their voices before I really started writing the bigger stuff.

#Fair Game #Cart writes #Reason #AMA

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cyberramblings · 4 years ago

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Kingdom Hearts BBS, DDD Blind Thoughts

Spoilers for Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and earlier titles in the series. Also warning that I have insomnia and these are utter ramblings on the last 24 hours of blindly binging the Kingdom Hearts series as a total newcomer to the series. Haven’t played three yet and just started Dream Drop Distance. With that warning.....

Birth by Sleep was a ton of fun. We ended up needing to grind a little to make Aqua playable, but that ended up forcing me to learn the game mechanics much deeper, and even my friends leveled up their playing of the game! It was really cool to unlock some of the high tier spells like Triple Firaga and Thundaga Shot, although I do wish we had gotten to chance to unlock even more. I should remember how much more fun the game was after some internet research.

It was very satisfying to unlock the true ending so easily. We had only missed 2 of the 12 required Xehanort Reports. The 2 we needed involved grinding the arena for maybe an hour total and then 5 minutes of finding a treasure chest. We were then able to roll smoothly from Aqua’s finish into the final episode.

Aqua’s fight against Braig was laughable easy, but the final fight against Vanitas/Ventus was slightly tougher. The real challenge was fighting Terra/Xehanort but then the REAL challenge was phase 2 of that fight. I got them all on the first try! It was a really enjoyable flex of my gaming skills in front of the friends.

From a story standpoint, Birth By Sleep had my favorite story of any KH game so far, by a huge margin. I liked certain elements of the KH2 ending (Riku and Sora teaming up, Kairi’s keyblade) but BBS has been the only game where I had any sense of purpose or desire to see how it ends. They did a great job of having each of the 3 routes reveal new information even if played out of order (Xehanort taking over Terra, Vanitas having Sora’s face, Aqua taking care of comatose Ventus).

Obviously it helps to have Leonard Nimoy and Mark Hamill join the cast, plus Aqua’s VA absolutely dominates every scene she’s in. Terra’s VA reminds me a lot of Leon’s monotone edgy boy voice acting (David Boreanaz or otherwise). Of course Ventus shares a VA with Roxas, but the twist of Vanitas being Haley Joel Osmont is really great because he sounds so much older. I think it would have been easier to predict that twist if I had recently heard more of HJO’s Sora voice in Dream Drop Distance or KH3.

Aqua is, of course, the great standout character from BBS. From the start, we got attached to her because of her known prevalence in KH3 on top of her cool design, Arrow voice actress, and the fact that we could finally play a girl (plus one with more human proportions than Kairi). It worked out really well how we saved her for last and had to kind of unlock the secrets of her play style by finally mastering the various gameplay systems.

I much prefer the command deck system compared to the gameplay of KH2. To be fair, these are the only two KH games I’ve beaten. I’ve only barely touched KH1 and Chain of Memories. I felt like BBS did a good job of fusing the action gameplay of KH2 with the (potentially) satisfying deck building of CoM.

Re: Coded is a fucking mess. I might actually go back and play it on a DS emulator just to see the gameplay, but god damn the story is a flimsy excuse for a retread. I almost wish we had skipped it entirely, but just watching the opening and ending worked out pretty well. In the end, it’s literally just “Mickey is gonna give Sora the memories of all the other protagonists” which is badass but probably going to be mentioned again before being relevant. I will say that the ending with Riku and Sora being summoned by Yen Sid for the mark of mastery test is fucking badass and elicited quite the reaction from all three of us. The series is finally starting to have that feeling of “the stakes are high and I want to see what happens with these characters”.

This was expressed most fully in the intro to Dream Drop Distance. Step 1: invoke Disney Magic with a silhouette of magician Mickey. Step 2: Orchestral Simple and Clean. Step 3: use entirely new cinematic footage instead of splicing together an AMB. Step 4: show every keyblade wielder standing side by side. Apparently that’s enough to make me actually cry. We all got very excited by this intro, so it was a bit of a let down to start the game and be seemingly replaying KH1 again.

Of course that’s not the whole game, but I’m still not sure what the whole game is. Riku and Sora have to...wake the seven sleeping worlds to earn their mark of mastery? Are they dreaming all of this, or what? Seeing The World Ends With You was cute for like a second before realizing that I know almost nothing about it. Flowmotion is similarly kinda neat at first but quickly becomes annoying, but maybe it will grow on me with time.

Speaking of fun at first but quickly annoying: Dream Eaters. The Pokémon-esque system seems like a time waster that’s perfect for 3DS but maybe not so much for our tourist play through. The Dream Eater designs are cute when they’re on your team, but strike me as a bit annoying when fighting the same ones over and over. Heartless and Nobodies felt more generic, but that made them feel a little less repetitive to fight over and over. I see the same god damn rainbow colored Panda every god damn fight. To be fair, I think each world randomly contains certain types of Dream Eaters every time you visit it.

Speaking of Worlds, I’m not really looking forward to Hunchback of Notre Dame or Pinocchio world, but at least they’re new worlds instead of retreading Halloween Town, Agrabah, Olympus, Neverland for the millionth time. What I am looking forward to is The Grid from Tron Legacy! I don’t think we’ve seen any Disney world that specifically spotlight a sequel to a Disney world we’ve already seen. We revisit Halloween Town, Agrabah, Beast’s Castle, Olympus, Atlantica but only for some minor follow-up fluff. The Tron world in KH2 meant a lot to me having just seen the film. The Lightcycle combat could’ve been a little more true to the original, but the visuals were so faithful plus having Tron’s actual actor was so fucking cool. Sora and gang getting Tron outfits was so cool too. Also would’ve liked to have a disc fight, but the Sark/MCP fight was spot on. Hopefully we can get both of more in DDD!

It’s a perfect excuse to revisit The Grid since Legacy looks so different from the original. Now, The Grid is not a true world in KH2 but instead part of Hollow Bastion’s computer system. I’m curious if The Grid in DDD is a sleeping world or something that exists within another world, or if it is somehow connected to the KH2 Tron world (which would get real weird real quick if that version of the Grid is a copy of the original, but Legacy is supposed to be set in The Grid 30 years later).

Oh, I like that DDD has the command deck system but I don’t like the pets, I don’t like the link system, I don’t like reality shift, and I don’t like flowmotion. It just seems like BBS with all the RPG features crammed into the pet system with a bunch of gimmick infused into the combat system. Admittedly, gimmick is one of the biggest strengths of the KH franchise, but flowmotion just seems silly. Perhaps I’ll like it more when I get used to it and potentially get to customize the moves.

I’m not sure yet how I feel about the drop system, but I do like getting to play as Riku. I think multiple protagonists is a smart way to stretch the assets and tell 2 stories per world. I rather enjoyed the way Aqua, Terra, and Ventus interacted with some of the Disney worlds. Hopefully we get something similar in some of these worlds.

The dive mini game is definitely gimmicky nonsense clearly designed for the 3DS. In general though, all the games in these collections look great and feel great. I suppose that is why Days, Coded, and Back Cover are cutscenes: to keep the average quality of gameplay roughly somewhere in between KH1 and 2 between all the titles. In fact, I think KH1 is easily the worst feeling out of all the ones thus far. I’ve always complained about KH hopping between systems, but now I can’t really complain about that anymore. My complaint still stands about the games being overly complicated. Plus, the games are clearly taking themselves way too seriously, but that’s very clearly part of the charm.

Really, I suppose the games aren’t that complicated if you heavily condense Chain of Memories, cut out Coded, and try not to think too hard about the phone games. Then it just becomes: Sora defeats the heartless, Sora defeats the nobodies, Roxas backstory, Aqua/Terra/Ventus, training/prep montage, then KH3. Oh, and try to forget that somehow the upcoming rhythm game is canon.

#kingdom hearts #kh #kingdom hearts birth by sleep #birth by sleep #dream drop distance #kingdom hearts dream drop distance #kh ddd #kd: ddd #kh bbs #kh2

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polkscastle · 5 years ago

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January Pokemon Direct Thoughts

Hey, Everyone. It's been a while since I last talked about new Pokemon Direct info, but, after watching the new Direct today, I have some thoughts I'd like to get out. So, if you're interested, thanks for sticking around. -----

- DLC Expansion Passes: I actually really like this idea. Mostly because I was recently thinking that this should have been a thing since Gen 6. Since X and Y, I've kind of felt that the Pokemon games have been a little lacking in post game content. At some point, you just end up doing all the game really has to offer. I also felt that new special Pokemon giveaways (Diancie, Hoopa, Volcanion, Magearna, Marshadow, and Zeraora) lack a lot of the flair that's supposed to make them memorable. From what I remember of Gen 4/5, these special giveaways always coincided with special in-game events: You get a special item, trigger a story event, unlock a new location, and then you battle and catch the new Pokemon. These newer giveaways just gave you the Pokemon out right which, while fine, is too simple and just lacks a bit of the old, fun theatrics. Not helping is that all of these "secret" Pokemon are quickly found out long before hand thanks to hackers.

When I was thinking about this, my thought was that having these special Pokemon being revealed and catchable as part of DLC updates would fix these issues. You can add new content post game, really show off the new Pokemon, and even keep them secret till the official release. And lo and behold, that's just what they're doing. Admittedly, the biggest problem with this model may be pricing (I don't want Pokemon to bleed its fans dry). The thirty dollar price kinda chilled me at first sight but, in the end, I don't think it's that bad of an investment for those who are truly interested for year long updates. (It's certainly better than needing to have to buy a new full price game just for new content).

So far, both "The Isle of Armor" and "The Crown Tundra" look incredibly interesting to me and, I can't wait to play them!

- Expanded National Dex: I never spoke my own opinion on the big National Dex issue that was (is) a real hot topic surrounding Sword and Shield. Honestly, I didn't feel it was too big an issue for me and my enjoyment of the games. Personally, I go into these new games with a personal rule of only using new Pokemon to get a feel for them instead of relying on old favorites. I will admit that GameFreak could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by just waiting another year or so to develop the games with a full Dex instead of insisting on a big release every single year. Fans can be "impatient" but, I could wait.

That said, I did predict that this might have been wait they were going to do a along; just release updates that would expand the Dex. It turned out to just be a matter of waiting. Also, I do appreciate that these updates are still free separate from the Expansion passes. Good show on that at least GameFreak.

- New Pokemon:

- Kubfu: Scrappy little teddy bear cub. I LOVE THEM!! =^w^= Headcanon: Will try to fight anyone and everyone he comes across but, their all too enthrall with their cuteness

- Urshifu: So Cool!! Really love the intro they gave em in the trailer. Wonder which form I'll end up with...

- Calyrex: I'm intrigued; mostly about how their plume-top resembles a big English crown and appears to act like a hot air balloon (Symbolism)

- New Regis(?): Fun! I want to know more about you guys! Like, if they're still based on different eras in time, what would they be?

- Galarian Legendary Birds(?): Oh cool! I guess we may Regional forms for Legendaries now

- No Gen 4 Remakes: Let me just get this out now. I am not happy that there was no news about any Gen 4 remakes. BUT, I am not upset over this fact. I love Diamond and Pearl but, if they're going to have remakes, I'm willing to wait and not pester the game developers about them. GameFreak is not obligated to make these remakes, and demanding them won't make them come any faster (not for any good results).

Apologies. I just keep seeing this Gen 4 Remakes posts/comments and they just keep getting pushier and pushier. I'm tired -_-

- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX: Now, this is interesting. I guess we're getting remakes of spin-off titles now. Funny enough, I've never gotten into the Mystery Dungeon games. I had Explorers of Time but, strangely I could never get into it. Maybe, if I get this, I can finally step into this series from where it all started. ^^

----- That's really all I have to say for the moment. TL;DR: I like what I saw from the Direct and have good hopes for the future.

Hope you're having a great day, Friends ^^

#pokemon #pokemon direct #pokemon sword #pokemon shield #kubfu #urshifu #calyrex

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surveys-at-your-service · 5 years ago

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Survey #256

song lyrics here.

Would you date someone who still lived with their parents? Well considering I still live with my mother, I'd be quite the hypocrite if otherwise. Are you a generous person? I personally think so. Do you have a close relationship with your family? With my mom, extremely. Do you think there is life on other planets? Well, define "life," I suppose. Bacteria, stuff like that that science defines as life, yes. Complex life, I don't know. Would you enjoy a night of playing video games? Fuck yeah. Are you sexually attracted to any inanimate objects? ???? No. Would you watch a porno with your partner? UH NO I'm personally not at all interested in porn, and I feel it'd be awkward anyway? Have you ever stolen from your work? No. How much does intelligence turn you on? I guess like your average person that finds intelligence attractive. Do you ask someone out or wait for them to ask you? History shows it varies. Do you own any sex toys? No. Do you talk about your sex life with either of your parents? Well I don't have one now, but historically, I very timidly have with my mom about something. Generally though, I don't. I keep that very private. Do you search someone on the Internet before a first date? No. How often do you use Facebook at work? I'm unemployed. Do you enjoy television or movies better? That's hard, but maybe movies. I don't really watch either, but movies, when they have a good plot, are usually more enjoyable. Would you consider donating your body to science after you die? Sure thing. I personally want to donate my organs and have the rest cremated, though. Are you a romantic person? Yeah. Would you be okay with your partner hanging with their ex as friends? It would seriously depend on the depth of their relationship, where they're hanging out, how long... that kind of stuff. I am very serious about letting your partner have friends, including w/ the gender they're interested in, so I try to be open-minded here. Are you careful with your money? It's hard to even say with how seldom I have any. Do you like to be friends with someone before dating them? Absolutely. Do you like soccer? No. Is it more fun to go out just with your date or on a group date? Depends. I'd say I USUALLY prefer uhhh... single dates? How often do you go dancing/clubbing? Never. Is marriage a necessity for two people who love each other? Uh, no. Do you meditate? No. Have you ever been fired from a job? No. Is there anything you think science will never be able to explain? The soul. Do you cook fancy meals for dates? I don't cook. You don't want me to. Is intoxication ever an acceptable excuse for acting stupid? Fuck no. Do you believe in an afterlife? Probably. Do you litter? NO. Would you have sex with someone hot who you hated? nO????????????? Do you have a career plan? Kinda, but who knows when the fuck that's coming true. Do you mostly cook your own meals? Well, I mostly microwave stuff. I never use the stove or oven. Could you live with someone who was really messy? To a certain degree, no. Do you believe in fate or destiny? No. Have you ever had sex with someone you worked with? No. Would you date someone just for the sex? Nope. Have you ever had a one night stand? No. Have you ever lied about the number of sexual partners you’ve had? No. Are sex and intimacy the same thing? "Sex is just one example of intimacy. There’s other ways to be intimate, including ones that don’t involve being sexual at all." <<<< Exactly this. Have you ever played strip poker? No. How often do you get angry? "I’m someone who gets irritated, moody, upset, and frustrated often, but not angry." <<<< Also this. Do you consider yourself an emotional person? VERY MUCH SO. Is work important to you? Considering how harshly I shit on myself for not having a job, most certainly. Have you had cosmetic surgery? No. On a first date do you pay or do they? In every experience but with Sara, they did. I only paid on Sara's and my first date out of trickery lmao. Do you only date people who have jobs or are full-time students? No. Could you date someone who does drugs? Nope. Medical marijuana is fine, though. Have you ever been to a sex shop? No. Have you ever had a threesome? Nah. Do you enjoy discussing politics? Noooo. Would you do a striptease for your partner? WHOA I would feel WAY too awkward gd. Would you date someone who doesn’t have a car? Yeah. Is it wrong to watch porn if you’re in a relationship? That depends on the people in it. Some mind, some don't. Idk how I'd feel it if was my partner. Do you think men should pay for everything on dates? Hi, it's 2020. Women don't need to be "taken care of." Would you tie up a partner if they asked you to do so? Yeah. Have you ever had sex in a public place? No. Would you date someone twice your age? No. Should a child caught masturbating be punished? It'd be weird at a certain age, but no. It's normal to explore sexuality and what you like, and perhaps even more importantly, it's way better for you to let your sexual urges out privately versus... you know. Being forceful on others. Do you tell your friends you love them? Of course!! Maybe it's just how I was brought up, but I've always gotten kinda confused when (particularly good) friends don't. Love is platonic just as much as it is romantic, and you should let people know! Do you like playing tic-tac-toe? I mean, I guess? What about hangman? It's more fun than the former. Did you play hopscotch when you were younger? Yeah. Did your older sibling ever tell you freaky stories that you believed? I remember at least one. Do you have a yahoo account? It exists, but I haven't touched it in an eternity. I don't even remember the password. Are you a violent person? Definitely not. Do your siblings dye their hair? Not really. They occasionally get highlights, though. Do you still have any of your exes’ stuff? Besides gifted stuff, no. I think. Who can you best relate to in the last book you read? That I finished, Clay. Because he's dumb and hungry. Are you indecisive? Unbelievably. Do you collect anything? What? Meerkat and Silent Hill stuff. What are you listening to? An Emzotic video. I'm like,,, hooked on her stuff. I've been on a MASSIVE animals video binge lately, and she's a FUCKING MOOD. What was the last compliment someone gave you? Idr. What are your pets’ names? Roman and Venus. Gah, I need more bbz. What did your first best friend look like? Last I've seen a picture of her, she was a somewhat bigger person with long, curly brown hair, and she's always been very tan. Did you have a role model growing up? Steve Irwin. If you could learn how to play one instrument, what would it be? Guitar. Is your best friend dating anyone? Do you like them? No. Do you want to move? Very badly, and we probably are soon. Do you have a big family? My extended family is giant. Do you want more or less siblings? I'm happy with what I have. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Great contentment in all I do. Surrounded by love, changing the world in even tiny ways, etc. What is the trait you most deplore (dislike) in yourself? I realized it semi-recently and honestly don't want to share it. Only my old therapist knows, I think. Besides that one, the fact I'm very impulsive with words when I'm upset, probably. What is your greatest extravagance? I'm really creative and passionate. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Probably the glorification of virginity. I would know. It was a MASSIVE DEAL for most of my teenage years. On what occasion do you lie? When it's a thing where I feel it's just better to not be honest. Now I honor honesty a lot, so I avoid it as much as possible, but no, I don't believe it's always the best policy. What do you most dislike about your appearance? My weight. Which living person do you most despise? I don't know about one specific person. The traumatized part of me says Jason's friend that encouraged him to break up with me, but I know I rightfully shouldn't even dislike him, save for the fact he was pretty arrogant. What or who is the greatest love of your life? I don't know. When and where were you the happiest? Well, it depends. If you mean in a specific moment of most intense happiness, lots of times with Jason. An extended period of happiness, early into recovery when I lived with Colleen. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Recovering from the breakup. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? A house cat. Seems like a pretty good life. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? At least from my experiences, harsh rejection when you try your best to please that person. What do you value most in your friends? As far as a sweeping characteristic they all share, the will to listen and just be there for me in times I really need companionship. Who are your favorite writers? I don't really have favorites. Who is your hero of fiction? Hm, I dunno. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Uhhhh I also don't really know. I'm not enough of a history buff for this. Who are your heroes in real life? I answer this enough. What are your favorite names? Alessandra and Severin. Do you like watching reruns? No. What do you think is worth waiting for? Deep relationships. Should parenting classes be mandatory for new parents? No. What is the number one thing people are always asking you for help with? English/writing. What movie did you love the original but hated the sequel to? I remember the Ghost Rider sequel was nothing compared to the original. It was okay, but. Are you more talk and less action or vice versa? More talk. Have you ever given someone a handmade present? Yeah, especially as a kid. What type of person angers you the most? Probably those who can't put their pride aside for anything. What do you think should be a wonder of the world that currently isn’t? I don't even know what they all are to get a proper grasp on the question. What comforts you on bad days? My mom and Sara, sleep, YouTube, sometimes regrettably food, etc. Do you treat yourself and your body with respect? Not very well. Something you eat that other people would find gross. *shrugs* Nothing that's too weird. Have you ever broken the law and didn’t get caught, if so how? Yeah, and obviously by not screaming it to the world, but also because none are massive. Something you fear might change you. The aftermath of heartbreak. It still affects me today and makes me see less hope in love. What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you? Volatility. Have you ever resented someone, if so what for? "Stealing" Jason, and the other person for accusing me something of so fucking selfish and vile I don't even like saying it, especially when she was my damn therapist that I loved and trusted. How old do you think is too old to have a baby? "Old enough that getting pregnant would cause significant harm to you or the baby." <<<< How have you changed over the last five years? I've definitely become wiser and more open-minded. Have you ever painted a house? Nope. Have you ever had a surprise party (that was an actual surprise)? No. What makes you feel miserable? Eating badly (particularly too much sugar makes me feel shitty), doing nothing/extended boredom. What’s the best costume you’ve ever worn? Don't have a clue. What’s been the hardest loss you’ve had to take? Jason. A loss without actual death is, wow, awful. I mean death is too, but holy shit it hurts when that person chooses to leave you. Do you like sunny days or rainy days more? Depends on the temperature and my mood. Who is your favorite movie director and what’s your favorite movie from them? Tim Burton, of course. Alice In Wonderland. What is the furthest you’ve ever got a paper airplane to fly? Not very far. Nothing impressive. Do you like the person you are becoming? It depends on the context. Honestly, by this point, not really. What’s the highest you’ve ever jumped into the water from? Not high at all. What inspires your ideas? More than anything, music. Just a single lyric, sometimes one word, spawns a sometimes very complex concept. Have you ever assembled furniture by yourself? No. Have you ever bolstered your resume to get a job you really wanted? No. I have a really, really hard time lying for a job. Have you ever had an internship, if not what would be your dream intern job? No. Do you prefer chicken, beef, or seafood? Chicken. Have you ever had a health scare? Yes. What do or did you hate the most about dating or the dating process? Opening up again. What do you frown upon when it comes to raising kids? Spanking. Have you ever been professionally photographed? Yeah. Do you influence people more than they influence you? I very much doubt that. If you could ask one person, alive or dead, only one question, what would you ask? If he regrets me. Do you buy anything organic, if so, what is it? I don't think so? What was the name of the first album you ever bought and who was it by? I believe it was You're Awful, I Love You by Ludo. Do you have any prejudices you’ve admitted to yourself? No. Who is the very first friend you ever remember making and how old were you? Brianna; I was two. What makes you lose sleep? Stress. Anxiety. PTSD. Do you floss or use a toothpick when food gets stuck in your teeth? I floss. Have you ever made out in a bathroom? Pretty sure that's a negative. Ever physically fought with member of the opposite sex? YIKES no. Well, besides playfighting. Ever walked in on your friends having sex? No. Ever kissed a friend’s crush? No. Has anyone ever called cops on you? No. Do you swallow gum when you’re finished? Noooo that's so uncomf. Ever tackled someone to the ground? Not in a way that was a harsh fall. More like a crumbling to the floor. Where was the last place you fell asleep other than your bed? Hm. Maybe in the school library, but I doubt that, really. I don't think I ever actually fell asleep. Did the last person you kiss have piercings? No. Did your parents spoil you as a child? No. Have you ever had alcohol poisoning? No. Ever thrown up in public? Yes. Has anyone laid on your bed besides you? Yes. What bothers you more, when people lie or when people complain? Depends on the severity. I think lying is more hurtful, though. How many bracelets do you have on your wrists right now? Three. Who took your profile picture on Facebook? Me. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed? More towards the left. Has anyone ever drunk called/texted you? No. Would you ever date anyone your parents disapproved of? Yeah. I'd consider their reasonings, of course, but it's my decision.

#survey #quiz #questions

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karak9 · 6 years ago

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Another stupid long post about how I don't know my own fucking gender

This is honestly just copied and pasted from a yt comment I made on an older vid and I figured I'd share it here bc tumblr loves this shit I guess lol. God damn I've been questioning my gender for so long and ik rn im prob not still in the best position to be thinking about deep life shit like where I am mentally and im dealing with a lot in my life and also very insecure about potentially being trans bc a lot of my friends don't seem like they would be very accepting and my bf is only really into girls. I asked him how he would feel if I was nonbinary or looked like a boy and he just said he wasn't totally sure but he's only attracted to girls :c he's the sweetest bf in existence and im honestly so afraid of losing him, so aside from obviously not wanting to deal with all the other trans shit, I definitely hope im not trans bc I don't wanna lose him. Anyways, ill start with my childhood I guess. I was always super tomboyish. My older sisters (im the youngest sibling btw) were always p tomboyish so maybe I kinda got it from them but I kinda felt like I was more tomboyish than them? I felt like I was the most boyish girl I knew, like even meeting other tomboy girls in elementary school I felt like I couldn't really relate to them or like they couldnt relate to me enough idk. I also remember once making up a song about being like so tomboyish that I was basically a boy or something along those lines and sang it to my best friend at the time who I copied like all the fkin time (it honestly wasnt healthy lmao I didn't have good parents, also I think I started making up songs bc she did that and I wanted to like impress her), but she thought it was stupid and weird so I just forgot about it and moved on. I was embarrassed to even enjoy playing with dolls or play dress up games online and was determined to play masculine games like runescape (even tho I ended up doing girly shit in runescape anyways lmao) and considered myself one of the guys. In 5th grade when I started needing to wear a bra I absolutely didn't want to, tho some girls in my class thought it was weird I didn't wear a bra when they found out and that made me more insecure about it, but since then I've p much only worn sports bras. I have bought some more normal bras bc I wanted to look attractive in them for my SO or whatever but I still highly prefer my sports bras and can't stand wearing the other ones unless I have to bc my sports bras aren't clean lmfao. I always hated talking about genitalia and breasts n shit but that could just be bc of how I was raised and how my family was always so strict and such radical Christians and anything sex related was a sin, idk if its dysphoria or not. I've never rlly liked my chest and hated showing cleavage like so god damn much and still do but maybe that's the same thing or maybe I just want smaller boobs and that's it idk??? Like I'd want to appear to have a completely flat chest at least, idk if I'd want to actually like have a guy chest or not? Also huge issue with ppl seeing me naked or touching my boobs but again idk if that's gender related or just a normal issue I have. Tho I had a friend in high school (a girl, a very weird lewd girl) who would occasionally grope my chest randomly and it wasn't a huge issue but kinda made me uncomfortable and more aware of my chest. I really like when I wear big hoodies or when I lean over so my shirt kinda poofs out and it looks like I have a flat chest underneath. Though im not super uncomfortable with my boobs, like normally ill want nothing to do with them but I don't mind my SO touching them especially if they're really into it. I wouldn't say im rlly dysphoric about between my legs either, like yeah I think its weird and I hate monthlies and stuff but I think that's normal. I think if i woke up one day and had a dick I would be fine with it, I'd prob even enjoy it tbh lmao. I once had a dream that i was, well, a male dog like,,, ya know, with a female dog, and not to sound weird af (hey we were both dogs ok) but I think i kinda enjoyed it? I don't really remember any other dreams where I remember actually having a dick or feeling it but I've had several dreams as a male person, but p much all of them were like, I was seeing through a character's eyes or smth, not really that I was a guy, so idk if that's normal. I have the same dreams about being other girl characters, I'd say its split about 50/50. Because of this game community im in, a lot of ppl assume im a guy, and a lot of people still think im a guy and I haven't really bothered to correct them but idk if I find it more enjoyable bc its funny or if I enjoy not being referred to as female for once. I'll admit I feel most comfortable referred to as they/them, like without a doubt, if I could go by only 1 set of pronouns for the rest of my life it would be they/them. But ik that's not enough to call myself trans. I definitely wouldn't want to be 100% male. Like if I imagine myself as a grown man vs a grown woman id prob choose to be a woman. I don't like my voice but I think that's mostly just bc I sound 10 years younger than I actually am, and wouldn't really want a deep/masculine voice. Like a "tomboy" voice would be fine if that makes sense? I don't want facial hair or want to have a masculine body, I like that I have curves and soft skin and small hands. Personally I like my hair long bc its soft and people love it, but sometimes I kinda wish I had short hair and could pass as a boy. Like I'd wanna be a typical cute kpop boy ngl lmfao. I like the whole cute androgynous/feminine boy look and wish I could pull it off. Tho I also like really girly things sometimes and am okay being seen as a girl, i just want to be cute and attractive. Ik whether im trans or not I like being a mix of feminine and masculine, tho I admit in the past I've been kinda insecure bc I used to be super sure I was nb and thought me liking girly things and wanting to still havd long hair and wear girly clothes made me seem like "not trans enough" or whatever. But i guess here I am questioning myself again anyways. If I am nb, it sucks that ill never really be able to be openly myself and all but I've accepted by now that I kinda have to pick a binary and choose what I want to be seen as for the rest of my life, and im ok with being female. There are some things I dont like about my body whether they're really gender related or not but I can't afford to transition and wouldn't like most of the effects of T and am afraid of surgery and not sure I want top surgery enough to ever get it anyways, but I think if we lived in a perfect world and I could magically change my body at will and I wasnt afraid of judgment or being unattractive or whatever, I'd probably want to look androgynous and itd be cool to be able to change my genitalia at will lmao. If I had to choose 1 genitalia over the over I honestly have no idea what I'd choose but I have no desire to ever get bottom surgery, at the same time tho I honestly wanna someday get surgery or w/e to never be able to get pregnant. I just could not handle pregnancy or giving birth and I don't even like babies and breast feeding sounds awful so if I ever have kids they will be adopted 100% and most likely be older and like not newborn babies lmfao, babies are honestly so weird to me and they stink and cry and they're so fragile and im so afraid of like dropping them when I hold them lmao. But I like my nieces and nephews and I like being the cool aunt (is there a gender neutral version of aunt/uncle?) who lets them use my art supplies and helps them do fun stuff even if I get tired of them sometimes lol. Idk if that's gender related either but yeah I guess. This if kind of a more recent thing but I often say I'd make a great bf kinda as a joke bc of how I am in relationships like being the stereotypical sweet bf type who makes things for their partner a lot and wants to be their knight in shining armor and their protector and all that, but again prob not rlly trans related lmao just thought I'd throw that out there I guess. So when I was 17 was when I really started getting into trans stuff, prior to that I mostly just learned from my parents that trans ppl were "against god" and all that bs, and eventually started realizing lgbt+ isn't as bad as my family said and later realized I was bi. But anyways I met an agender person online when i was 17ish and I'd never heard it before and thought it was really interesting and asked them how you know you're agender bc after hearing their explanation of it i thought it described how I felt, but ofc they weren't transmed and just described it as being like a deep feeling or whatever and since then i started calling myself agender (and switched between a few labels but basically nonbinary) until my transmed friend told me I was ridiculous and that I wasn't trans, and honestly he was a huge dick but im a huge pushover lmao and I thought well he's trans so he must know what he's talking about, and though I felt discouraged about it I stopped calling myself nonbinary. Then I began questioning it again after not too long and basically since then I've been questioning my gender off and on. I'm now 22 and god I fucking hope im cis but also I feel like a part of me doesn't want to be cis if that makes sense?? Idk if that's because I don't like being a girl for some weird deep reason I don't know about despite being pretty sure I've gotten a lot of my feelings and their reasons behind them figured out, or if it's because I am trans and dont want to force myself to pretend im a girl 100% forever. At the very least, whatever the fuck my gender is, I want to continue going by they\them wherever I can and pretending to be a boy to strangers online and I'd love to cosplay male characters and bind and occasionally just dress masculine for the hell of it and probably wear sports bras for the rest of my life. I feel like in a way I cang possibly be trans because I can live with all of those things and be fairly comfortable still being seen as female for the rest of my life. But idk, I have bpd and other mental shit so sometimes im not great with my feelings (tho I do try really hard to identify all of my feelings/emotions and stuff) but at the same time bpd can cause weird identity shit so maybe its just a weird mix of a bunch of crap and im not actually trans but just weird and tomboyish enough to question my gender for 5 years and still be unsure. Also I know a lot of ppl suggest talking to a therapist/psychologist/whatever professional and trust me I would love to but I can't currently and am unsure when ill be able to bc they're expensive and I live in the middle of fucking nowhere so finding a decent therapist around where I live rn is going to be very difficult. Also, I have fucking crippling social anxiety lmao like I'd be so afraid to open up about this stuff even to a professional. So if anyone could suggest anything online that could help that would be amazing

#Trans #nonbinary #nb #genderqueer #gender questioning #transmed #pls help me lmao I hate my brain sm #also im so sorry if this post is scuffed af #im on mobile #its 4 am I cba

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briangroth27 · 5 years ago

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Mini-Reviews: Ralph Breaks the Internet & The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

I’ve gotten behind on reviewing movies I wrote down thoughts on but never posted, so here’s some quick thoughts on some not-so-recent releases.

Full Spoilers for both of these films…

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Ralph Breaks the Internet is a fun, solid, enjoyable film with a strong message about friendship (and its limits)! I didn’t think Wreck-it Ralph needed a sequel and this doesn’t quite reach the highs of the first film, but it proved itself worthwhile and I was pleasantly surprised when it took things in a completely different direction by inverting Ralph’s (John C. Reilly) goals. Instead of trying to belong with the other denizens of his game by proving that he can be a hero, here Ralph becomes the villain by fighting to keep things the way they are with Vanellope (Sarah Silverman). I liked how big her role was here and I was rooting for her to move past the confines of Sugar Rush, since she’d outgrown it and needed to keep developing.

The marketing made it look like this would mainly be focused on internet gags and Disney IP mashups, and while most of that worked (especially the Disney Princess crossovers and Ralph’s attempts to go viral!), the character work between Ralph and Vanellope was much deeper than I was expecting. That aspect formed the emotional core of the movie and was by far the standout element of the film. The idea of a friendship turning toxic and possessive here was well-explored and definitely a story worth telling. Ralph absolutely goes too far—to the point where he nearly accidentally gets Vanellope deleted to keep her with him—and I’m glad the movie didn’t let that slide or write it off as not a big deal. Gal Godot’s Shank character was also a cool addition and I really enjoyed the effect she had on Vanellope while becoming a rival for Ralph.

I was definitely sorry to see Fix-it Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer) and Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch) get next to no screen time here, as they were both standouts in the first film. The subplot about them being new parents was fun, but I would’ve rather seen them join Ralph and Vanellope in the internet (and they could’ve still done babysitting jokes while they tried to help Ralph). Their reactions to the internet would’ve provided a greater range of jokes than just Ralph and Vanellope’s did, and their absence was the biggest negative for me and the thing that felt the most off about this sequel.

I thought the first movie could’ve explored more styles of video games and I kinda have the same feeling about the internet here, but ultimately the acting, humor, and character development in both films won out. If there’s a third one, I’d like them to explore the relationship between the video game characters and the people in the real world: I’m satisfied with the explanation that it’s just their job to play the game along with the players, but I wonder if there’s something more to explore there. Whether we get Ralph 3 or not, Ralph Breaks the Internet is definitely worth watching, worth learning from in terms of its message of healthily letting the people closest to you move forward (even without you), and is another really good entry into this franchise!

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

While not quite as novel as the first LEGO Movie or The LEGO Batman Movie, this sequel was definitely a worthy follow-up! The change in scenery to a Mad Max-inspired LEGO wasteland was fun and it was nice to revisit this offbeat cast of characters. Expanding the universe from Bricksburg to the “Systar System” was a fun way to bring in a variety of new characters and environments, keeping things fresh. The constant threat of “Armamageddon” was a solid end-of-the-world plot that touched on Toy Story-esque ideas while feeling fresh and specific to this franchise. It also pulled the real world and the LEGO realm together nicely, feeling like something kids’ imaginations would come up with under parental disciplinary threats.

I was very happy to see The Second Part deal with what I always thought was the first film undercutting its own message in its final seconds: The LEGO Movie established that anyone could play and everyone’s ideas/imagination were valid, only to add that this did not apply to the little sister in the family, since her Duplo blocks’ arrival in Bricksburg was treated like a terrifying invasion. While that’s an outlook a lot of brothers have when they’re young, the first movie played it as a joke at the last second, making it the final word and that always sat wrong with me. Here, that becomes the entire premise and the reveal that her attempt to play with her big brother got her vilified and turned into the “villain” was an excellent commentary on toxic masculinity. Rex Dangervest (Chris Pratt) continued that trend, embodying a super-masculine parody of Chris Pratt’s roles in the MCU and Jurassic World franchises to hilarious effect. I’m glad the movie showed us he was the real villain and that Emmett’s regular personality was the healthier one, rather than supporting the “cooler” Dangervest. Rex being left under the dryer was a clever parallel to the complaints that white male audiences are being “left behind” as more women and minorities take the center stage in movies like Star Wars and the MCU (though while Emmet/Rex was literally left behind, those complaints are vast overreactions…there are still hundreds of male protagonists out there). Rex turning Emmet into a more “badass” action hero like himself is also a cool way to use the time travel aspect to depict toxic masculinity infecting even the kindest of hearts. Rex’s plan to trigger Armamageddon also felt a lot like these angry fans crying that their favorite franchises have been ruined and are “over,” trying to cancel what they previously loved (or freeze it in amber…or a storage tub) so no one can have these characters if they aren’t the center of things.

WyldStyle (Elizabeth Banks) was awesome as always and I liked that she got to see the real world as well this time. That she was the one to figure out what was really going on was a nice beat too, especially since it was pointed out that she did a lot of the work in the first film but Emmet got the credit. Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) was a great “villain” & I liked how they animated her shape-shifting. Her relationship with Batman (Will Arnett) worked really well for me & felt like the sort of thing a little sister would do with her brother’s action figures. I think it’s important that Batman and Whatevra still get married after Finn (Jadon Sand, Graham Miller) and Bianca (Brooklynn Prince) patched things up: ultra-cool Batman—who could easily be another bastion of toxic masculinity—doesn’t settle down just because he’s been captured and forced to, but gets married after the sibling rift is mended and the toxic anger Rex was manifesting (from Finn) is gone. The blended LEGO world of Bricksburg and the Systar System—Syspocalypstar—was a cool mix of the siblings’ personalities and a great message that we can still make room for each other in our lives, imaginations, and fandoms.

The songs are catchy and fun, the animation is great, and the pacing is brisk. It didn’t feel like they relied on cameos from other IPs in this movie (even Batman’s reduced role works better now that he’s had his own movie where he can be the focus) and the message is solid. I’m not sure where they go from here, but I would definitely watch another LEGO Movie! Until then, check The Second Part out!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

#ralph wrecks the internet #the lego movie 2

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hazuukashi · 7 years ago

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900 Follow Forever~

Alright~ So I should really have finished writing this long ago. But I’m glad to have gotten 900 of you wonderful people following! With that being said, I’ve got a big plan that won’t be a follow forever at 1,000, so this should tie me over until then. You’ll have to wait and see!

In the meantime, for this follow forever, I’m gonna drop some compliments for some special people. My focus this time is on character and portrayals and giving compliments there rather than focusing on out of character relations. Because everybody needs compliments and validation on their writing every once in a while, right? These are, of course, in no particular order!

@ultimatetalentless: The way you play your dork is always amusing. There’s rarely a thread that I’ve seen of yours that felt even remotely out of character. Slightly too salty sometimes, I’ll admit, but it’s still so in character and realistic to the salthoge boy that I’m always amused to read your threads. Personally, I laugh every time he doesn’t play towards Leon’s egotism but they’re still best buds. It’s grounding and I laugh every time, I swear.

@detecaive: A wonderful Dweebhara. Despite getting off on a rocky start, somehow Leon and Saihara’s interactions have been grounding and realistic and I appreciate that. On top of that, your boy himself is realistic and the mindset you convey through your posts seems to fit his character quite nicely. I love reading ya stuff on my dash too <3

@bloodsplatteredmoon: An amazing doggo boy. You can write him in such a wide variety of situations, and I’ve personally been so glad to write with you all this time. Please remember how awesome you are, and your writing is both entertaining and knowledgeable in regards to your character. I’m impressed.

@the-taboo-king: You seem super knowledgeable about your character and it shines through what’s unspoken in your posts. His mannerisms and his thought process is super strong and it’s extremely in character, at least in my opinion. It’s also entertaining to hear his rather... Inappropriate and informal thoughts as well at times, and everything about your portrayal is rather awesome. Well done.

@bourbonwish: Awesome writing! I’m really glad to bother your boy. You do a character that had some backstory but such little time on screen so much justice. I enjoy seeing you play off of different people, and I also enjoy seeing you develop his relationship with Jin. It’s both cute and realistic and meaningful and it’s just awesome in general.

@anthrcpclcgy: A good snakeboy. Please do try to turn down his mad roasts. Aside from that, I laugh often when you play him and I’m really glad to see you finding some joy in writing him. Keep up the good work, since you’re doing so well and staying true to his petty instigating ways.

@nonludum: Again, thank you for giving Celestia some dimension in your writing. I’m really glad to see your posts on my dash and you interacting with others. Very little doesn’t impress me when you write and it’s super amazing when you stay true to her mind-fuckery. Keep it up!

@astralheart: I think you have a good thing in Kaito. You seem to understand his mindset and his potential relationships well. He’s goofy but also serious when he needs to be. His antics are very entertaining to read when they’re on my dash and it’s generally awesome to read.

@crossxskulled: A great Ryuji to be honest. I laugh at all the video game references, but what really impresses me is your tone and thought process for him, as even in the ‘meme-y’ replies, his voice is still super accurate and that’s an amazing feat to pull off. You seem to really understand your character and I’m always impressed by your posts. Awesome job, yo.

@withoutalignment: I’m going to be complimenting our recent thread and your soft smol. You’re getting his voice down quite well and I appreciate the one thread we’ve been doing together. It’s impressive how well Leon and he interacted and I’m super pleased by how easily their interaction came. I think that speaks to the quality of your portrayal here, so I’ma give you a smol thumb up!

@neuro-snarker: Awesome job writing a character that we don’t ever actually “hear”. He does have some canon material, but not enough, honestly. And I’m really shocked at how you’ve developed him into something very easy to understand and mess with and interact with. I always enjoy our threads together and you’re doing an amazing job with the surgeon.

@inabaleader: Great dork of a portrayal. We haven’t done much but I always laugh at the things we do. I think you get his tone down quite well and I absolutely look forward to doing more things with you. Antics will ensue, I swear!

@ofvaricty: GAAAAAAAAAAAY! No seriously, I do enjoy the muses I’ve seen you play and it’s really funny at how quirky some of them are, while also having the potential to be so serious and thoughtful. You’re an awesome dude, dude.

@chariodyne: Another awesome Blondie! You get his tone down super easily and it’s impressive. I appreciate the antics our boys get into and the sheer amusement that spawns from their stupidity and broing around. Love ya.

@fortunefucked: An amazing Komaeda. I love seeing him try to make friends and try to have some fun. You seem to understand his situation quite well and bring some clarity towards that entire situation as well as Komaeda’s potential feelings during that time in his life. I enjoy threading with you and look forward to seeing what’s coming up!

@lunalty: I know you haven’t been on Dweebshima lately, but god is he amazing and you know him so well. Our things we’ve done have been so entertaining and loveable and I absolutely love seeing Mishima get some awesome development. You do an amazing job with him and I look forward to doing anything and everything with him and you. Awesome job giving an underappreciated character some love.

@miishou: An amazing avocado boy! I love our bromance between our boys and it’s fucking amazing just how natural their relationship seemed to develop. You really get his thought process down pat and his easygoingness comes out in full force. I’m very impressed with your portrayal and love interacting with ya <3 Show me a ton more yo.

@lepuretta: Your love for your girl is super pronounced and I always love seeing people love their muses so much. Your girl is exciteable and bubbly and it’s really pertinent to the character. At least in our interactions, they’ve all been amazingly quirky but meaningful while maintaining an amount of enjoyability that just makes me laugh every time. You awesome~

@forgedhope: A good Kiibro. You get his tone very well and his relationships seem super natural from what I’ve read. Your posts are both sometimes quirky and sometimes meaningful and feels-y and I enjoy reading what you’ve got goin’ on all the time. Awesome brobot that Leon appreciates <3

@infinitemcses: While we haven’t done a ton of threads yet, all of your muses that I’ve interacted with have been fairly well written. They’ve all got their voices down quite well and even Teddie and Yosuke’s quirks are very noticeable and awesome. You deserve some praise yo. It ain’t easy to write multiple muses at once with the same amount of IC-ness as ya do.

@axesona: Awesome portrayals from what I’ve seen. Ya get their thought processes down fairly well and I’ve got no regrets in RPin’ with ya. All of the muses across your blogs are well written and you should be commended for writing them all so well. <3

And now this is the part of the Follow Forever post where I tag a bunch of people that I can’t exactly come up with words for. All of these people that I’m tagging below are worth the follow. I absolutely recommend if you’re reading this to take a look at the people below and perhaps follow ‘em. They’re all awesome people that deserve your attention!

@unboundmuses, @mvsendex, @mystxryious, @hopefilledmarshmallow, @ultimateheadmaster, @ultimate-impostxr, @chesskilled, @checkeredscarfs, @pannthxr, @robot-fxcker, @entwinedthreads, @veritaphobic, @inaried, @thedetectiveofinaba, @volleystolen, @needlepunk, @forgedtruth, @ishimru, @owda, @the-ultimate-maid, @rationalclover, @hell-howling, @zuchter, @suyoichan, @entcmon, @dafcnder

Otherwise, I love all of ya that I interact with and I look forward to reachin’ my 1 year comin’ up in a month and a bit! Hope to see all of you kickass people stickin’ around then. Anybody tagged on this absolutely feel free to reach out and I’ll throw ya a thread ANY time. And if you aren’t tagged on this, and we haven’t interacted much before, by all means hit me up too.

#[my way: ooc]#follow forever

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mistabonbon · 6 years ago

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I’m kinda torn when it comes to Warframe.

I’ve had it on my PS4 since the PS4 first launched and a lot of it I used to enjoy so much.

It was a game that was heavy on Co-op that I could still play on my own and just be paired with random people who, for the most part, knew what they were doing.

It was a game where if I wanted something extra cool, I could put aside a day or two and work on getting it, and by the end I’d feel satisfied in the effort I put into it.

But then we got to Archwing.

Archwing was interesting at first, still kinda is, but to get more Archwing gear?

That day or two of doing one thing became a whole damn week. The items were put behind game modes that were annoying to play, took forever to complete, and no-one liked playing them, so you hardly ever found a full squad for it. On top of that horrible experience, the drop chance for the item you’d need were stuck behind playing the game mode for an absurd amount of time, and even after you played it for that long there was a HUGE chance you STILL wouldn’t get the items you need. You would instead get some stupid thing you don’t even care about in the slightest.

I wasn’t too insanely bothered by this at first. I could just play everything else the game had to offer that WASN’T Archwing.

Then we got Nidus, Vauban Prime, Valkyr Prime, etc.

Warframes, base Warframes that you could get an use ANYWHERE. One of which is a Prime variant of my personal favorite, Valkyr.

Nidus alone is a fucking mess to work towards.

You play a game mode kind of like a mix of Survival and Defense where you’re swarmed by hive of increasing difficulty over time and you need to pick up special drop items to put into consoles that will decrypt information over time as long as you keep putting these items into it.

A fine understandable and, to some small degree enjoyable mode at first.

But then you see that you need to play it for 20 minutes in a single run for just one chance at getting a piece of Nidus that you need, and ALL THREE PARTS OF THE BLUEPRINT ARE BEHIND THE 20 MINUTE WALL.

“That’s fair/understandable” you say, but then you see there’s five other items in that same loot pool after you play for 20 minutes that have MUCH higher drop rates. We’re talking 20%-30% drop rates while Nidus is nowhere close. You can play that mode for a whole damn day and not get a single part of Nidus’ components. To make things even worse, most of the people playing that mode either have no fucking clue what they’re doing, or they do, but they leave the game before you’re done 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile with Primes, that’s a whole new shit pile.

The way acquiring Prime stuff USED to work: Play specific missions within the Void for a chance at getting items that you need to make X Prime thing.

This was great because you would always go into these missions with other people who were farming for things that were ALSO behind the same wall that the items you needed were behind. You’d go into a Void survival, everyone would decide on 20, 40, 60 minutes, etc. and you four would go that long. No one would leave, people knew what to do, it was great. Sure the drop rates were still rather shit, but it was a lot more tolerable.

The way acquiring Primes works NOW: You play specific modes/missions to acquire Relics, specific relics have the ability to drop specific prime parts when you use those relics to play a Void mission. You can increase the chance of the drop for the item you need by using a specific resource and “charging” the relic with it.

This sounds fine, and on paper it is, but in the actual implementation into the game itself? THIS IS ABSOLUTE SHIT. Why? Because the drops you need are not tied to the specific missions anymore. Obviously that’s the case. But on top of that, they’re tied to a thing you need to farm. ON TOP OF THAT. You COULD have a higher chance of getting the thing you need when multiple people have the same relic. A group of four people with charged relics that have say a 10% chance of dropping a Valkyr Prime part EACH, that’s a 40% chance of getting that Valkyr Prime part. BUT. If you ever want that kind of chance, not only do people need to have that relic and have it charged to the max, you need to organize the use of four of it with a group.

No longer can people just go play the game, do what missions they want to, and get things done within a reasonable time frame.

If you can’t organize a farming session with a group of people, then you’re stuck playing a handful of things for fucking WEEKS because you play X thing and use X resource trying to get X item and then you run out of that resource you need to get that item so you need to play a DIFFERENT thing to try and get more of that resource to try and get that item again.

It’s not fucking fun. At all. Now more than ever the game feels like it’s Pay to Win because if you want to keep enjoying the game and NOT be stuck doing one bullshit thing for an entire damn month to the point you can’t stand even just looking at the damn title screen of the game? Fork up the dough, buy platinum, skip the fucking bullshit grind, ACTUALLY ENJOY THE GAME.

But over the past few months, Warframe has gotten some huge updates. And I mean HUGE. The Plains of Eidolon a while ago. An “Open World” space where you can involve yourself in hunts, psuedo-events, missions, and you can fight giant ancient robot monsters at night. Plus there’s a settlement of friendly NPCs with stores, factions, bounties, etc. PLUS YOU CAN FISH. A lot of people were surprisingly hyped for that.

They had just recently release The Sacrifice, which I played, and while it was a bit annoying since it focused to heavily on using your Operator in combat, it was honestly one of the more satisfying quests in the game, and it had probably the MOST satisfying way to get a Warframe.

In the Sacrifice, Umbra is added to the game. You play through the Quest to get him of course, but you don’t just get a blueprint then need to do a million other things to get his components and the resources needed. No no no.

In the first mission you get his blueprint, but it’s incomplete. You have it in your Foundry but it needs more data.

The next mission you run, you get more of that needed data, and then you can build Umbra. No components, no extra blueprints, just the one and a couple resources.

Once you build him, Umbra is max level, with a catalyst, and it’s own Warframe slot added into your inventory, and are tasked with equipping it. However, once you do, Umbra comes to life. It reacts violently to being alive again, and threatens to kill your Operator. But you manage to do Transference with Umbra and you see a memory. One that shows a bit of what Umbra remembers from it’s life BEFORE being a Warframe. When you come out of the memory, you learn from Ordis that Umbra has escaped from your ship and has gone somewhere else. Your Operator decides to chase down Umbra, do transference with it, and learn more about the memory with the goal of helping it come to terms with and move on from that moment in their original life.

Over the course of the quest you learn about the origin of the Warframes, of how they were first made, of the dark, horrible truth to it all, and you lose something, as the name “The Sacrifice” suggests. Thankfully it’s not one of your own frames, that’d have just been stupid, but what you do lose is HUGE.

But by the end of the quest line, you come to understand the torment Umbra had been going through ever since they became the Warframe they are. The painful memory that runs through their mind over, and over, and over again for who knows how long. Not only do you understand, you help Umbra. You support Umbra, and work with them through that torment so they can move past it, and work toward the future. To stopping the insane prick that started everything.

Once it’s done, Umbra stays with you. Umbra doesn’t just run away and disappear, not at all. They recognize you as a Tenno, as their Tenno, and stay so that they can now help you.

A lot of the fandom/community jokes about Umbra now being your Operator’s dad, because they certainly do kind of become a father figure on some ways.

But Umbra is now one of your Warframes that you can use whenever you want, and Umbra’s pretty damn great, not only is it a pretty well buffed up Excalibur, it’s and Anti-Sentient Warframe. It’s second ability is an AOE stun that will REMOVE all the resistances that a Sentient has built up! Add on the exalted weapon it has already being great against Sentients and the fact it has 720 HEALTH, Umbra’s a FANTASTIC Warframe for the Void.

Also, Digital Extremes recently had Tennocon, and during Tennocon they showed off a half-dozen new skins coming to the game for various Warframes, two NEW Warframes, AND a NEW OPEN SPACE.

They also showed off a new game mode where you and three other players operate an entire ship, flying it around, using it’s canons in battle, and you can send someone to fly to the enemy ship via Archwing and do things on the ship as if it’s a normal mission, while someone who’s still on your friendly ship can hack into the enemy one and help the person who boarded it!

The game type is pretty damn interesting, I gotta be honest, but it also makes me worry that it’s going to be EXTREMELY anti-solo.

What I mean by that: I’m worried you’re not going to be able to play it alone and have any chance at succeeding, and that even with a random group of people, unless EVERYONE knows what they’re doing, you’re going to have a VERY hard/messy time playing it.

On top of all of that, ALL of these big new things coming to the game, it’s being released for Nintendo’s Switch console.

Warframe.

A game with a future that looks very promising, but at the same time, very unfriendly for solo-players and console players.

#warframe #digital extremes

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xseedgames · 7 years ago

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2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza Blog! #5

It’s time for our last Q&A blog of the year. It’s been a fun time answering all these questions--you guys had some seriously good ones!--but now it is time for us to chill out and celebrate 2018. Hopefully we can give you guys good reasons to celebrate 2018, too!

For our final Q&A blog, we have answers from:

Ken Berry, Executive Vice President / Team Leader John Wheeler, Assistant Localization Manager Ryan Graff, Localization Lead Liz Rita, QA Tester Nick Colucci, Localization Editor Brittany Avery, Localization Producer Thomas Lipschultz, Localization Producer

Question: Does working on a game affect your enjoyment of it in any way? Do you anticipate playing the full package after it is done or do you play through it beforehand anyway? Have you ever been spoiled on a game through work and if yes how severe was it? - @MizuUnNamed

Brittany: It definitely does. It's like the difference between babysitting a kid over the summer vs. giving birth to that kid and raising them till they leave the house. Even the most frustrating things about a game will somehow become something you love in a weird way, because it’s your kid and it's your responsibility to raise it right. When you're localizing a game, you're choosing every single word, and every single decision you make for that game will shape the experience for the thousands of people who play it. Characters I'd normally hate as a player become characters I love because figuring out their dialogue is a joy, and stuff I never thought about in localization are now very particular to me because I want my kid to go out into the world looking its best.

I will always play the games I work on. Sometimes I play them in Japanese beforehand, but there are days where I edit a file while playing line-by-line just so I can look at a character's expression and match the line written to the face. Then I replay it a few time as the English builds come in, tweaking it bit by bit, because it feels different to see the English on a sheet compared to seeing it in-game. It takes a ton of time, but I'd rather have a final product I can be proud of than to give up because something requires extra work.

Liz: When I started working here the first thing I tested was Corpse Party PC. I played it for like 200 hours and that game is much shorter than that haha. I loved every second of it, and recently got to test it again for the Linux + SteamOS release. Oh boy, that was a treat <3 I also got to work on Cold Steel II and at the time I didn't have the consoles the first released for, so I just watched playthroughs online... bless Cold Steel PC! I don't think I've ever been spoiled on a game through work before.... except maybe for Book of Shadows? But I don't even remember that spoiler so does it really count?

Nick: This is going to vary widely from person to person. For me...admittedly yes, working on a game does impact the enjoyment I’m able to derive from that game as a finished product. I understand, going in, that simply by virtue of working on a game, I will know its plot from beginning to end, see all the character development (including optional stuff that you might not even be able to view in a single playthrough), and in general become a subject matter expert on its world and lore. I’ll have knowledge of all the optional events and the items it’s possible to get – and sometimes, even a few that exist but were never implemented.

Working on a game is usually a months-long endeavor, during which we often end up playing the game in various stages of beta (or even alpha) readiness. We experience bugs we hope you never will; all the times text isn’t displaying correctly, voice or music isn’t playing right, or the battle system is falling over foaming at the mouth. By the time a game is ready to be sold, we’ve spent more time with it than would probably be considered healthy from a consumer perspective.

Outside of post-launch support/tweaking I’ve done for games like Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection, I’ve never picked up a game I’ve worked on here after it launched. They’re good games, and I’ve been proud of each project I’ve worked on so far – it’s just that I’m someone with a low tolerance for repetition. You know – the sort who would get sick of even my favorite movies if I watched them every day for a week straight. As cool a game as Trails of Cold Steel might be, I’m in no hurry to sink 80 hours into an RPG that I focused all my attention on for the better part of an entire year.

While it IS perhaps a bit regrettable that I “ruin” my ability to enjoy a game in a normal-player context by working on them, I feel it’s a small price to pay if I can help deliver something that players will really enjoy their time with.

Question: When you brought over Rune Factory 4 to Europe, what difficulties did you encounter? How was the process? - @Marower

Brittany: Hey! This is perfect for me! We really wanted to bring RF4 to Europe, but with the developer now shut down, it wasn't possible. We spent ages looking for a programming team who would be willing to help us that also had Marvelous Japan’s blessing, and then it became my little pet project. I had zero experience with the process, so it was a lot of learning and guidance from my boss, Ken. We were able to update the text a bit to fix typos, but because we would never be as familiar with it as the original team, we wanted to touch the game's code as little as possible since we didn't want to risk breaking the game.

I tried to reproduce this one rare bug that causes the game to crash at the end of arc 2 (this is present in the Japanese, too, so it wasn't introduced in English), but it was impossible. I started the EU version from scratch and went up to that point. There were rumors that soft resetting the game caused the issue since it really wasn't programmed to handle soft resets too much, so I did that as often as I could. Nothing. Oh, man... I wish I could've found the pattern that caused such a weird crash. It's rare, but no one wants a crash in their game.

NA only has one rating, but Europe requires several different ratings, so that's an interesting process. The store pages all require various languages, too, depending on the region. I learned that because you could palette-swap character models to simulate gay marriage that the game had to be 18+ in Russia. 18+! For a Rune Factory game! All of the processes take a bit longer, but it was mostly a lot of communication, paperwork, confirmations and such. All worth it to finally get that game out there!

Question: What process leads to additional content in localized releases? Things like additional voices for Trails of Cold Steel on PC. How do you decide which titles get "a little bit extra"? - @Baust528

Brittany:

Me (messaging programmer on Skype: hey are you up Sara (programmer): Yeah. What's up? Me: lmao wouldn't it be awesome if we could put x in the game Sara (ten minutes later): It's in the game.

That happens a lot. As a more serious answer, since we try to localize games we're personally passionate about, it's easy for us to see what we'd want as a fan, too. So we'll sit around and go, "Wouldn't this feature be nice?", and we'll see if it's doable. If it is, we'll do it.

The extra voice acting in Cold Steel PC came about because we wanted to do it for PS3/Vita, but it wasn't possible. I asked if we could put the games on PC one day, the boss worked out the numbers, and we realized that avenue was perfectly possible. We thought adding new voices would be great, because the English cast was very well received in English. Turbo Mode and ultra widescreen were both Durante, though. Those were awesome.

Generally, if our programmers have an idea they'd like to add to the game, we allow it. They're programmers! They know if it's possible, and if it makes the game better, who are we to say no? That's how the Sky games have gotten so many improvements over the years, too. We're incredibly fortunate to have Sara as a programmer, because she takes each project very personally and still finds ways to improve them years after launch.

Tom: There are a lot of factors that go into things like this, but one that's come up a couple times now has definitely been our inability to license the Japanese voices. We figured, if we can't offer dual voice to players, why not use whatever budget we may have set aside for that to give them something a little extra? It may not be exactly what they want, but it's at least something we can offer them to show that we truly did put our best foot forward with this release

Nick: As weird as it may sound, it starts with just someone asking, “Hey, could we do this?” Sometimes, what we’ll want to do is evident due to what’s perceived as a shortcoming in a game. Trails of Cold Steel had a lot of voice acting, but weirdly left protagonist Rean silent in a number of scenes where all the other characters were voiced. That was the initial impetus for us wanting to get back into the studio for the PC release and record all the voicework we couldn’t for the PS3 release (in which we could only supply voices for lines that were voiced in the Japanese version).

Similarly, when I was planning out the recording for Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection, I thought, “We’re having people in to record these battle voices and we’re gonna pay them a minimum session fee anyway, so...why not add some story scenes onto that?” So in the end, we managed to include a solid amount of voice acting in there for a game that, in its original version, had very little.

Question: Have you ever considered localizing otome games? It would be nice if you can bring us some handsome boys. （*＾＾*) - @NymphNayade

Brittany: Hmm.

Question: Can you comment on the difficulty in trying to get Japanese developers to support same-sex couples/marriage in games like Story of Season or Rune Factory? - @atelier_michi

Brittany: XSEED's always been very openly supportive of adding that. I don't know what difficulties there would be in Japan, but I try to think of how much progress we've made to be able to openly ask for same-sex couples/marriage in games. It wasn't long ago that the idea was ludicrous. I remember when Ellen DeGeneres came out in the '90s and it affected me very strongly, especially since my parents would actively tell me, “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” So even if it's not in the current SoS games, I'll ask for the feature every time I visit Japan, because I think being open about it is an important factor to making progress on that front. Nothing will happen if you don’t fight for it.

I'd really like a whole variety of relationships in the SoS. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, or even a unique relationship outside of sexuality like dating a single parent or supporting your partner as they transition. It's that sort of variety that makes life interesting and great, and I think introducing these concepts in a series as darling as SoS normalizes them and helps children to perceive them as innocently as heterosexual relationships and concepts. It's very educational. Normalizing it more would teach people to ask more questions, too, instead of rejecting any type of orientation or relationship that seems foreign to them.

I remember for the first SoS game we published, Hashimoto-san said he had animals die in the game because he wanted children to be introduced to the natural process of life and death. It wasn't meant to be a bad thing, but something we should be comfortable with because that's part of what it means to be alive. Something to that, lol. Anyway, I'd like for just as much heart to be taken to represent more kinds of people in life, too.

Question: A rumor is going around that you guys are avoiding publishing fanservicey games outside of Senran Kagura. This came in wake of you guys seemingly passing on Valkyrie Drive. Is there any validity to this rumor, and if so, why? - @WaywardChili11

Brittany: did people forget we did a game with literal strawberries and a banana as a costume

That's a weird rumor. It’s also dumb. We've done fanservice games in the past, and we'll decide on whether or not to do them on a game-by-game basis. We're not necessarily passing on them because of fanservice, but I also don't think fanservice is core to the XSEED brand, so it shouldn't be a given for us to do fanservice titles just because we’ve done them in the past. Many of us enjoyed Onechanbara and we have some SENRAN KAGURA fans in the office, so we published those because we originally liked them as games that happened to contain fanservice.

We’re also not big on censoring games, so I’d rather pass on a game than work on it after it’s been censored. If I were to localize a title and actually choose to censor it, I’d piss of people who don’t like the fanservice content, I’d piss off the people who want that content, and then I’d be pissed off because if I felt something was so horrible that it needed to be censored, then I probably didn’t want to work on the game.

That doesn’t mean every fanservice game is off the table for me, but I would need to evaluate it to see if the game is for me, as I would any other genre. Like, Lord of Magna is overall a super-cute game, but it also has an out-of-nowhere hot springs scene. I felt that scene detracted from the game because the rest of the game was adorable and innocent. That said, I didn’t remove the scene, and I still loved working the game. It’s a game with fanservice I would still happily play again.

Meanwhile, SENRAN KAGURA sells on fanservice, but the gameplay is pretty good. I admit that I prefer the older titles for DS/3DS which were more ridiculous titillation with a good story than the more overt modern titles, but again, that just means the series is no longer for me, and that’s fine. We still have SK fans in the office, and they enjoy working on the series.

Another factor is gaming trends and our overall rep as a company. Fanservice games weren’t always as hot as they are now, and XSEED started off with a variety of genres, with our niche eventually falling to RPGs and such. Every trend has a rise and fall, and if we pick up every fanservice game regardless of quality just because it’s hot now, we’re alienating the audiences that love us for action, RPGs, and so on. We may even alienate retailers or future marketing opportunities for the games we license outside of that genre. We’ll have shot ourselves in the foot if the fanservice trend falls when we made it our bread and butter. I like having a job.

Tom: We certainly don't have any problems with fanservice, as I think we've proven quite thoroughly at this point. But we also don't ever back a game simply BECAUSE of its fanservice. When we release a game, we do so because (1) we like it, and/or (2) we see some really good potential in it. If it happens to have fanservice, great! If not, also great.

On the flipside, we also turn down games for a variety of reasons. Maybe we hated the story. Maybe we hated the gameplay. Maybe we felt it took its themes a bit too far, or that it had a lot of wasted potential that it never quite lived up to. Maybe we put in an offer on it but were outbid, or the developer appended unusual terms to the license that we weren't willing or able to accept. Maybe the developer simply didn't want to work with us for some reason, or we didn't want to work with them. Maybe we didn't have time to work on that title, or maybe we simply felt someone else would be able to do a better job with it. Tl;dr version, there are a LOT of factors that go into licensing decisions!

Our reasons for turning down a game aren't really something we can ever outright tell you guys, due to the NDAs we all signed when we got hired. But suffice it to say, it's never simply because of fanservice. Fanservice may potentially contribute to a larger tapestry of reasons for passing on a title in extreme cases (though they'd have to be pretty extreme!), but rest assured, we'll never say no to a game simply because it shows a lot of skin. Good games are more than skin deep, after all!

Nick: Here’s the Nick take: Most of us here don’t mind fanservice. It’s fun, it’s saucy, and folks can have a good time with it. If you look at our lineup, you can see we don’t shy away from games that have fanservice (Oneechanbara!), and games that push the boundaries, as Senran Kagura sometimes does, certainly aren’t out of the realm of consideration. A boob, a bulge; it’s all fair game here.

But here’s the thing. The games a company releases become part of their oeuvre. We have a reputation for quirky Japanese games because we’ve released enough of them that it’s a noticeable trend. The same would happen if we opened our gates to every fanservice-laden game that came knocking. Speaking personally, I don’t want us to have a reputation as a publisher whose stock in trade is mainly cheesecakey fanservice or smutty games. That kind of pigeonholing doesn’t help us as a company, and at worst, might even preclude some future licensing opportunities.

I think a lot of people get the impression that we turn down fanservice-laden games for some sort of censorious or moral reason, but that’s not especially true. There ARE cases where we might think, “If we licensed this, the ESRB wouldn’t let it through without forcing us to censor enough that the primary audience we were licensing it for in the first place would be upset,” and there are times when a game might simply be in bad taste and we decide we don’t like how it handles sexuality.

Sometimes, iffy material gets through in spite of all that. The SENRAN KAGURA series has done well for us, so we continue to publish those games even though a number of us in the office have concerns about how each new game seems to push the boundaries further and further in terms of what’s allowable (either by the ESRB or by common decency). We keep a close watch on that, and we’ve communicated our feelings to Takaki-san and his team. We strongly dislike having to alter content in this way, so if a game is so stridently sexual that we think we’d probably be forced to do so by the ESRB (as was a going concern with Valkyrie Drive, iirc), that factors into our decision-making process.

More often, the mundane truth is that we’ll turn down a game of this type because our evaluation play-tests show it to not be very fun to play. It’s not uncommon for games in this vein to just focus on piquing prurient interests or trading in tawdry titillation while the actual game underneath feels janky to play, or has no depth once you get past ogling your favorite waifu. That’s something that can’t be conveyed through a screenshot or even game video, which leaves hopeful players confusedly thinking we passed on a game for reasons more related to its content.

There’s a solid balance to be struck between acknowledging and publishing content for a mature audience and turning down projects that don’t jive with us, and I want you guys to know that we DO put a lot of thought into keeping this balance healthy.

Ken: When we first published SENRAN KAGURA Burst in late 2013, it was a much stricter retail environment so we had to approach the title with caution. We needed to see if there was a market for the series in the West, and even if there was the absolute worst thing that could happen would be to start manufacturing only to hear that retailers suddenly don't want them or want to return their units because of a complaint they got. Due to the success of the digital-only release of SENRAN KAGURA Burst we were able to release the next few games in the series physically at retail (so the "no physical no buy" people really need to thank their digital-buying colleagues), but that doesn't mean that we get a free pass to release anything in the future. As each new iteration seems to push the envelope further and further, we need to be careful exactly how far we push - at some point if we push too far and the whole levee breaks, it could have repercussions for games that have already previously been released.

Question: Who is best girl and boy? - @MizuUnNamed

Brittany: Can I get Crow Armbrust and Crow Armbrust for $500?

Tom: Narcia and Pietro, of course. But only for each other.

Liz: Rottytops and Ludus! What did we do to deserve them?

That’s all, folks! It’s been a wild ride, but hopefully we answered your questions well enough.

#XSEED #Q&A #Localization

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brandoncarlo · 7 years ago

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ch*ck please is what got me into hockey very recently though i still love it just because it's a happy gay comic that i can just enjoy but what is it about the fans you don't like? PS i'm...learning about hockey and just enjoying watching games and learning about players and blogs like yours have been really helpful and fun!!

check please has gotten a lot of my close friends into hockey and that’s fine I just find that the vocal ones, tend to act like sports are horrible and terrible or that they’re somehow better for getting into “fake” hockey first. also yes they tend to fetishize gay men and ignore the voices of mlm in their community and a lot of the times talk down to them and because it’s a pretty big fandom it can turn against actual mlm really easy.

not to mention check please has a lot of misinformation in it and a lot of fans treat it liek gospel which isn’t necessarily their fault because they trust that this comic is true although i don’t think they should because it is still just a comic. but they show little respect for the actual game even as they want to be fans of it. and like if they don’t want to be fans that’s fine but getting into sports by being like “well i know everything besides these people who have invested their lives in it” is just not great for most people.

and like obviously if you don’t do these things i’m not talking about you. plus it’s not like i avoid check please fans. it’s just if a check please fan tries to educate me on something i already know or i see a post where a check please fan has written 4 paragraphs on how fighting works i just. want to slam my head on a table lmao.

again that’s not to say i hate all check please fans. i made my blog @hockeyknowitall FOR check please fans on purpose. I want the ones who want to learn, like you, to have a reliable judgement free area where someone is just, saying hey i’ve watched this sport for years and I want you to enjoy it at the same level I can. because there’s a lot about hockey that you know because you pick it up, not because you read the rule book. Like 100% i love helping people learn about hockey all day it’s one of the most enjoyable things for me. but check please fans, in general, tend to talk down to hockey fans and mlm which i fall into both categories.

#Anonymous

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tearasshouse · 4 years ago

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Mostly vidya ramblings pt 3C

Previous post here.

Right, software time. A cursory glance at my PSN Profile will show that I’ve met my personal quota of getting the platinum in at least 10 PlayStation titles over the year, with a few PC titles sprinkled in for good measure since hey, I have access to a Windows machine again (though it’s not exactly a games machine, unless your definition of a “gaming rig” is something with a 15W Core i3 and modest laptop Radeon graphics). While I didn’t start out meaning to rank these games, I find I have a tendency to do so anyway and while I’m certainly not saying these games are outright bad, they were absolutely lower on the rung, so I’ve dubbed this part “C” (again, no disrespect to the devs or any who rate these games higher than I do; these are just my personal assessments). These are OK games.

The Darkness 2 (Steam)

Enjoyable, somewhat! I put this down like, ages ago when I picked it up for a song on PC, feeling it was too basic and uh “console shootery” at the time. Often times, having restrictions placed upon something can net great results, and hamstrung as I am by my less-capable hardware, I’ve only been picking up Steam games that could run on lower end hardware, or anything released prior to say, 2015. Surprisingly this runs at something stupid like 200 FPS on my machine with V-Sync off and all settings on High at 1080p, so go figure. Anyway, it’s a short and enjoyable shooter. I don’t know anything about the comics upon which the game(s) are based, but Jackie is a likeable character, the Darkness powers are fun enough, the locations are varied, the supporting cast surprisingly interesting and the plot was actually pretty cool too, with a major sequel hook that we’ll probably never get.

Ori & The Blind Forest (Steam)

It sorta hovers a bit below 60fps while running at 1080p, but it’s all just a bit reductive when one spends more time looking at the framerate counter than playing a game, no? The blessing and curse of PC gaming I suppose. Anyway, as a Metroidvania the game is a bit annoying. As a piece of interactive fiction, it’s too saccharine and feels like a B-tier Dreamworks production for children which, I suppose shouldn’t be a knock against the game but I have to say -- wasn’t my cup of tea. Reminds me a bit of Child of Light by Ubisoft -- gorgeous to look at, benign if not frustrating to play (those escape sequences can piss off), and young gamers would probably find more to like in the...emotional tidbits than most adults.

Crysis 2 (Steam)

So apparently this got delisted off Steam but now it’s back up or something with EA deciding to put their back catalog on the platform or something? Anyway, like this list implies, Crysis 2 is an okay game, nothing more and nothing less. The nanosuit energy depletes a bit too quick for my liking, and you’re really made to feel like a badass only some of the times, in quick and short bursts, not unlike BJ in the new Wolfenstein games by MachineGames (any more prolonged exposure to hitscan weapons and other bullshit will quickly send you to the loading screen). Thing is, I don’t want to feel like a badass only some of the time? I mean, you put a ripped supersoldier type doing the Badass Looking Back At the Viewer Pose on the cover and I expect to be able to do certain things without stopping for a breather every 20 seconds, ya know? If you’re going to give me the power fantasy, commit to it. Or, find ways to keep the flow up and reward mastery to make players earn said fantasy (something the new DOOMs have done and why those have been so successful). I certainly don’t envy game devs for having to balance this shit, but id Software showed you one way of how you might do that while the Crysis games and those of their ilk just feel slow and unrewarding.

Quantum Break (Steam)

Really surprised I was able to get this running on my PC but hey, it runs on the Xbox One so how hard could it be? I dearly love Remedy’s games, even if they’re a bit straightforward at times and you get the feeling they’d rather be in the business of non-interactive fiction than games making at times. Well here is a TV show hybrid! Made exclusively in partnership with Microsoft as part of their TV & STREAMING, TV & STREAMING, SPORTS & STREAMING strategy of the 2010s. I didn’t care for the plot, nor the endless email / audiobook / loredumps scattered around, nor the characters, any of it. I will say the final stage with the super high tech offices was a delight (boy wouldn’t I love to live the corpo life in such beautiful, clean office environs). Lance Reddick was a treat as always. Peter “Littlefinger” Baelish shows up to do a thing. Yeah, it’s a Remedy joint through and through. 2019′s Control was such a highlight for me that I’ll take any kind of prototype-y take on it (and QB certainly feels like a rougher, worse version of Control, at least mechanically).

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs / Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (Steam)

These titles were certainly...things that I installed onto my PC and sat through... Yes. Look, I’m not one to dog on walking simulators, and I know the devs have faced tough times recently but I still feel these are acquired tastes and could be appreciably improved in too many ways to name. Of the two, Dear Esther is the one I’d rec because at least that one was quite pleasant to meander around in while Amnesia left me disappointed that I’d wasted my time, physically sick with its subpar performance and muddy graphics, flaccid with its stodgy plot and left absolutely disappointed that I’d wasted my time on such a bizarre and confusing payoff towards the end. Chinese Room, I mean this in the most constructive way possible: maybe try a different type of game next time.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (GOG)

I remember putting in some decent time into the DEMO version of RtCW’s MP mode, being amazed at the time by the particle effects, with child-me just running around the D-Day map with the flamethrower out. Anyway, years later and I finally played the SP campaign. It’s maybe better than Allied Assault’s? It feels more consistently entertaining anyway. Hell I think I like these boomer shooters better than MachineGames’ recent efforts (which isn’t saying a whole lot because I find those games just merely okay). I promise you I’m not just being a crotchety old fart.

Ys: Memories of Celceta (PS Vita)

I’d been playing through this over the spring on my Vita TV, before it bit the dust eventually and I’ve been meaning to go back and wrap up the cheevos. I was a bit lukewarm with Oath in Felghana (my first Ys), but could definitely see the appeal in the series, as boss rush games aren’t really my cup of tea (ie. it’s the journey and not the destination of say, a Souls game that is the meat for me). Definitely a game that would benefit from a 60fps refresh and cleaner graphics than what the Vita can provide. I’ve already got a copy of Ys 8 in shrink wrap and have my eyes set on emulating Ys Seven or grabbing the GOG version. A game where action is king and story or character development is secondary; I would prefer more of the latter to make this more of a JRPG and less of a “predominantly Japanese action game with superficial RPG elements”.

Catherine: Full Body (PS4)

I paid $70 for this on day one and I’ve gotta say... should’ve waited for the price drop. I’m a somewhat lapsed Atlus mark, and I still hold the original Persona 5 as my no. 1 in the PS4′s lineup (with Dragon Quest XI possibly being a tie), yet I bought this knowing it wouldn’t really be for me. Why? High difficulty in a genre I don’t play, like at all, a relatively short clear time (in itself not an issue and frankly welcome these days HOWEVER...), and a somewhat unsatisfying payoff despite being a supernatural romance thriller. I bought this as seed money for Atlus’s P.Studio/Studio Zero, in the hopes that Project Re: Fantasy will knock my socks off just like the latter day Persona games have. Because in spite of the contents not really appealing to me, it’s still supremely well made, and it’s not everyday that games like these get made, so there you go. Look, if I could go back in time and put this money towards 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, I probably would, but then the Catherine steelbook is ever so pretty...

Tearaway Unfolded (PS4)

The OG game is one of the most charming little 3D platformer/collect-a-thons out there, and as far as children’s games (or er, “games that also appeal to children”) go, more of these and less of those please (your Child of Lights and Oris). I’d go as far as to say the OG version is better than the PS4 version, though the PS4 version is also quite good. Really, if I wasn’t going for that stupid Misplaced Gopher trophy, this would probably be an easy shoe-in for the B-tier list, but I place this demotion firmly at Media.Molecule’s feet. That cheevo is cursed.

The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (PS4)

I’d almost forgotten about this! If that doesn’t qualify for making the C-tier list then I don’t know what else does. I only know of Swery65′s qualities through osmosis, having watched the 2BF’s legendary LP of Deadly Premonition and the gone-too-soon D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die. He’s an interesting person with interesting ideas but crucially, as a game dev, his output is just... kinda mediocre? If not outright bad? Case in point with this game. It looks and runs like garbo; it plays like garbo; the character designs are cute; the dialogue is pretty good; there is a wonderful and gradual “twist” to the main character that was super spoiled for me when people were discussing and promoting it (like, that is my bad, but also internet discourse on any kind of entertainment media is just *fucked*); there’s a lot of semi-colons in this sentence so I’ll stop here.

And the balls to charge like, what, $40+ for the game on PSN?? I’d gotten it for way less on a sale but in a day and age when $1 could buy you 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and MS might also throw in a curio like this in there just to fill in the gaps, it makes you wonder if these kinds of games can ever turn a profit, especially when the end product is this jank. And these are commercial goods, make no mistake, any aspirations to being an art piece or social critique notwithstanding, so that also brings to the fore the whole aspect of pricing games, relative value, production and marketing costs, blah blah.

IF you like something different, can appreciate games made on a shoestring budget with arguably bad gameplay and technical deficiencies, but has...heart? Then look no further to the output of this man. The most C-worthy of all the titles listed here.

#vidya #gaming #tech #tl;dr #long post #games #videogames #2020 in review

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ultraericthered · 5 years ago

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Y’know what? I ought to present my own version of this, but for anime shows only.

- UPDATED AFTER 2020 -

A Place Further Than The Universe: One cours perfection. 10/10

Ace Attorney: The Animation: Watched both seasons of this at the same time I was getting into the visual novel series. While neither season are as good as the games themselves, they mostly do great at adapting the original and best trilogy of Phoenix Wright. 7.5/10 overall (S1: 7/10, S2: 8/10)

Akame Ga Kill!: Watched this in 2016. Ridiculously try-hard with it’s edginess and bleak, torn-up world. There are some good characters and action scenes to be found, and you can have a lot of fun with its stupidity, but overall it’s not even as good as it’s manga, which wasn’t that much better anyway! 5.5/10

Angel Beats!: Watched and finished it very recently. Absolutely loved it while it lasted, it was hilarious, emotionally resonant and gutpunching in all the best ways. I even got it on Blu-Ray after finishing it, it is that good. The biggest drawback would be that yeah, its storyline was meant to have gotten the two cours treatment in order to properly develop the characters and arcs, as the intention for so much more clearly shows at points. 8.5/10

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day: First watched this last year and re-watched it this year. Incredibly well done emotional tale of loss, grief, friendships fractured and renewed, growing up and moving on with life even in the wake of tragedy. Menma is among the most precious anime characters ever. Only loses a point for some parts not hitting as strongly as they should’ve, which was thankfully a rarity. 9/10

Assassination Classroom: Seiji Kishi hits it out of the park again with probably the biggest show I’ve seen him direct. Korosensei is an iconic anime character and Sonny Strait plays him to perfection in the dub. The biggest drawback would be that a lot of the student characters are interchangeable and scarcely explored or developed as their own individuals, especially compared to the manga which had more time and opportunity to do so. 8/10 overall (S1: 7.5/10, S2: 8.5/10)

Attack On Titan: Saw some of this in 2016 but haven’t really kept up with it since, but from what I’ve seen and heard, it gets profoundly good. 8/10

Bakugan: Battle Brawlers: Can’t really consider any of the other Bakugan series’ to be ones that I “watched” ‘cause they’re just awful, but this first one was actually pretty enjoyable. This would’ve gotten a solid 5 had it not been for a single character and a single plot twist regarding her, which boosts it’s score considerably. 6/10

Berserk: Haven’t actually watched this in full, but I know enough about it to give it both my respect and my overall disinterest. 5/10

Beyblade: Never really sucked me in. It was mostly pretty stupid. 2/10

Beyblade V-Force: It’s not exactly good, but it’s a notable improvement over the first series. I could actually find myself engaged with this one, particularly whenever the Saint Shields and Zeo Zaggart were around. 4/10

Beyblade G-Revolution: Meh, not as good as V-Force was. 3/10

Black Cat: Watched this in 2014. It was an overall decent Shonen anime with an enticing setting and fun characters, but it really went off the rails from it’s manga counterpart towards the end and that just felt off to me. 7/10

Black Lagoon: A Tarantino style anime, and all that entails, for good and for bad. I find I’m only really watching it for Dutch and/or Revy anyway, and I’m probably hardly alone there. 7/10

Bleach: This series was actually really good in it’s first four or five seasons, but man did it ever go to shit afterwards due to having to adapt a manga that did the same. 4/10

Blood -C: Saw this in 2016. It was...bizarre. Probably one of the most WTF-inducing experience I’ve had with an anime, but it sure left an impression. 6/10

Blue Exorcist: Saw some of this last year, will probably be watching more of it at some point. Pretty weird premise, but I enjoy what gets done with it and its characters. 7/10

Candy Candy: Old anime I’ve only watched some of. At it’s best it’s alright and certainly not anything terrible, but the writing is pretty simplistic and it got drawn on for a bit too long. Not helping is that it was apparently not a pleasant experience for the people making the damn thing. 4/10

Carole & Tuesday: A Netflix exclusive Shinichiro Watanabe anime that I like to imagine takes place in the Cowboy Bebop galaxy. It’s first half was so fucking solid - what the Hell happened in the second half? 4.5/10 overall (S1: 6/10, S2: 3/10)

CLANNAD The Animation: Jun Maeda’s VN Magnum Opus was adapted into an anime that covered both the initial VN and After Story. Filled with endearing, likable characters and a well developed narrative across years of a life lived and shared with others, it’s overall very strong, emotional, thought provoking, wholesome, beautiful, and just gets better as it goes along. 8.5/10 overall (Initial Series: 8/10, After Story: 9/10)

Code Geass: A well put together and infectiously entertaining series with a compelling main cast of characters in it’s debut season, but not very thought through as a narrative, which ended up costing it towards the end. The second season was a trainwreck and nothing that’s come after it has been any good. 6/10 overall (R1: 6.5/10, R2: 4.5/10)

Cowboy Bebop: A 26 episode masterpiece of animated storytelling. First watched it in full in 2013 and my love for it has not diminished since then. 10/10

Danganronpa: The Animation: Scary, intriguing, and super fun animated adaptation of a delightfully twisted visual novel. 7/10

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak Academy: FUCK this one, though! It seemingly seeks to actively diminish, desecrate and destroy everything that worked about the plot and cast of characters in the original two visual novels, and it’s just abysmally written all around. Has zero reason for existing. Am not a fan. 1/10

Darling In The FranXX: It started off fun and has things in it that I enjoyed (Zero Two and Ichigo are both so bae), but after 16 episodes it just fell apart completely and was overall Studio Trigger’s weakest outing at that time. 5/10

Death Note: Excellently dark crime drama and psychological thriller series starring one of the greatest villains to come out of a Japanese medium, but am I alone in finding the anime adaptation to be wanting in many areas? I like the manga and even the two Japanese live action films better. 8/10

Digimon Adventure: An absolute classic of a children’s fantastical adventure anime that even adults can enjoy, and it still holds up all these years later. Whether I see it subbed or dubbed, it’s just delightful. 9.5/10

Digimon Adventure 02: Following up Adventure with a direct sequel wasn’t the wisest idea, and the writing gets majorly sloppy, especially in the show’s second half. Despite this, it’s entertaining and has a good heart to it. 6.5/10

Digimon Tamers: This is to Digimon series’ what Evangelion was to the mecha anime genre, and contains the most appeal for mature audiences. 10/10

Digimon Frontier: A neat Super Sentai gimmick, some great villains, and a Digital World with an excellent lore behind it is wasted on a series that’s mostly poorly structured, poorly written, and a downright chore to get through. 4/10

Digimon Savers: While it had a very strong middle section, it’s always weighed down by hitting off these by-the-numbers Shonen series cliches and leading to a truly terribly conceived final arc. 6/10

Digimon Xros Wars: It started out just plain fun, then it actually got super engaging and epic. And then that “Young Hunters” season fucked everything up. 7/10 overall (S1: 6/10, S2: 8/10, S3: 1/10)

Digimon Adventure Tri: A revisiting of the Adventure universe several years later was a nice idea. Too bad it was absolutely let down in execution by poorly stylized animation and fanfiction level writing. 2/10

Digimon Universe: Appmon: Is more kid friendly even than most other entries in the franchise, but it overall succeeds at being what it sets out to be. 5/10

DN Angel: A standout anime-exclusive character and an intimidating villain just barely saved this anime from total disaster ‘cause otherwise, it is BAD. Read the manga instead. 2/10

Dragon Ball: A Shonen anime classic that started strong and finished strong, featuring some of the most memorable characters, gags, and fights in manga/anime history. 7/10

Dragon Ball Z: My gateway anime, so it’s very fondly remembered. It started even stronger than it’s predecessor, but somehow finished weaker and while mostly entertaining, it was too bogged down by filler that made this ball drag on. 6/10

Dragon Ball GT: Needless. It had some good ideas and moments of fun and humor at the start when Aya Matsui was writing for it, but afterwards it became a stale replication of DBZ that almost feels like bad self-parody. Not a fan. 3/10

Dragon Ball Kai: It’s original 98 episode run was the quintessential Dragon Ball Z anime, trimming the needless filler and keeping the sagas moving at a good pace. The “Final Chapters” series that only covered the Buu Saga wasn’t as good ‘cause it’s the Buu Saga, and even so, they half-assed it. 9/10 overall (S1: 10/10, The Final Chapters: 7.5/10)

Dragon Ball Super: Always fun to watch for the characters, the fights, and the ideas that Toriyama has brought to the table for others to work with, but the franchise can never quite escape it’s Buu Saga slump at this point, especially when it’s all the Goku and Vegeta Super Saiyan Super Show. 6/10

Duel Masters: In terms of the dub, I was with this Yu-Gi-Oh! rip-off turned Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged predecessor for it’s first season, but it lost me in it’s latter two. 4.5/10

Elfen Lied: Shows promise in the first couple of episodes, but then just turns rancid and is a poorly written, poorly executed, not at all pleasant anime to sit through. This is another case where the manga is infinitely better. 4/10

El Hazard: The Magnificent World: One of the finest anime OVA mini-series’ I’ve ever seen in terms of artwork, storytelling, and creativity. 7/10

El Hazard: The Wanderers: Y’know how some animated movies get shows spun off from them? That’s what this feels like, and while it’s not quite as strong as the original OVA, it’s still irresistibly entertaining to watch. 7/10

Eureka Seven: The journey is slow and rough, but the ultimate destination makes this anime a masterpiece and an experience you don’t regret once it’s done. 8.5/10

Eureka 7: AO: No goodwill it built up early on can redeem this steaming garbage pile for taking an absolute shit on everything that made the original as good as it was.1/10

Excel Saga: The best pure comedy anime I’ve watched. Shinichi Watanabe is a strange, twisted, maniacal genius and I am so here for what he turns out. 9/10

Fairy Tail: When it starts out, you’re totally with it. But then as it goes on you realize that this is just another poorly realized Shonen series that’s not worth your time. Or at least, that’s how I saw it. 4/10

The Familiar Of Zero: I gave this one three strikes and it was out. Set pieces for an interesting action-fantasy comedy are completely wasted, I could give no shits about the plot and characters, and the main romance is based in domestic abuse. This anime is vile and should be avoided at all costs. 1/10

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya: A magical girl spin-off of Fate: Stay Night starring Ilya Von Einsbern in the lead role with Rin and Luvia as sidekicks. I certainly got enjoyment out of it when I watched it in 2017, but it’s overall just okay. 5.5/10

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003): Always been torn on this one. What it does well, it does very well. But when it goes wrong, it goes frustratingly wrong. So I could never fully get into it like I’d wanted to. 6/10

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: Now this is more like it! 10/10

Full Metal Panic!: Saw some of this in 2016. It’s fun when I watch it, but aside from the main characters and their antics, it doesn’t stick out in my memory most of the time. 5.5/10

Future Diary: It begins as total dirty-wrong trash, but you quick get the sense that it’s deliberately, calculatedly so, which makes it easy to have fun with it in spite of some bad writing here and there. It’s endgame really saves the whole thing, and Yuno Gasai is Iconic(TM) for a damn good reason. 6.5/10

Hellsing (2001): What the BLOODY Hell is all this deranged, gritty nonsense? 3/10

Hellsing Ultimate: Now this is more like it! One of the best horror anime of all time. 8/10

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni: But not THE best. If you ask me, THIS is THE best horror anime of all time. It gave me chills when I first watched it in 2015 and it does so whenever I revisit it. But despite all the misery and scares, it’s got such a great heart to it and is so well thought-out, intricately plotted and incredibly written. 9/10

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai: Not quite the memorably scary spectacle that the first season was, but it’s story escalates to the point of perfectly done closure and emotional catharsis in the end. 8/10

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kira: 4 episodes of goofiness with the Hinamizawa cast. How can you go wrong there? 7/10

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Rei: This was alright, but I actually enjoyed the silly first and last episodes more than I did the main story in the middle three. 6/10

InuYasha: The anime’s first three seasons were solid, so it was upsetting to see all of it’s potential go to waste as the show dragged out and stagnated. “The Final Act” at least finally brought things to a worthy close. 6.5/10

Kill La Kill: Seconding animebw on this one, except my score’s not quite as high. 8/10

Little Witch Academia: A fun outing at a discount Hogwarts for witches, with main characters whose antics you find yourself not tiring of as it goes on. 7/10

Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions: Pure madcap high school romcom FUN from start to finish, with a good amount of heart to it too, particularly in the initial season. Far surpasses it’s own source material in every regard. 7/10 overall (S1: 8/10, S2: 6/10)

Love Live: School Idol Project: A nice, breezy, down-to-earth, oftentimes funny and sometimes seriously emotional school idol-based series. 7.5/10 overall (S1: 6.5/10, S2: 8.5/10)

Love Live Sunshine!: Same as above, but even better! 8.5/10 overall (S1: 9/10, S2: 8./10)

Magic Knight Rayearth: Yeah, this one’s a famed mahou shoujo class for a reason. 7/10

March Comes In Like A Lion: 8.5/10 overall (S1: 8/10, S2: 9/10)

Marmalade Boy: Saw some of this in 2017. It’s alright, but falls a bit short of it’s potential despite the nice chemistry of the lead characters keeping it afloat. 4/10

My-HiME: This one needed to come together much better than it did. It was fairly enjoyable in it’s first half, but it’s second half was a tonal mess. 6/10

My-Otome: Meh. It’s alright, but not even as good as My-HiME. 5/10

Medabots: Watched this from time to time a long time ago. It’s decent fun. 5/10

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: It’s first season, when watched in proper order, is a fantastic bit of absurdist comedy meets slice-of-life meets science fiction in one big chaotic mess, with the lead characters of Haruhi and Kyon really giving it it’s appeal. The second season was a disaster that killed any chance of this anime getting any more content. 7.5/10 overall (S1: 8/10. S2: 3/10)

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam: I got some enjoyment out of this one because it’s so bad. It goes so relentlessly grim and depressing that it becomes hilarious to watch unfold. 4/10

Mobile Fighter G Gundam: This is what Gundam, and most mecha anime in general, should aspire to be - an infectious balancing of over-the-top action, campy humor, and actual sincere heart and drama to it’s overarching plot. 9/10

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: One of the most well known Gundam series and one that I find just alright overall. I mainly enjoyed the most memorable characters like Duo, Relena, Zechs, and Trieze. 5/10

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Has exceptionally good themes, messages, ideas and characters. Had it only been executed just a little bit better overall. 7/10

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Y’know what? I’ll take all the flaws of the first SEED series over whatever the Hell this crap is. 3/10

Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The first season was another case of a good idea with lackluster execution, and the second season was so bad it killed any and all interest in Gundam that I had going forward. 3/10 overall (S1: 4/10, S2: 2/10)

Monster: A psychological thriller/morality tale masterwork, as an anime and a manga. 10/10

Mushrambo: How...how am I supposed to properly judge this one? My only memories of it are from it’s dub, “Shinzo”, which was downright incoherent half the time. ???/10

My Bride Is A Mermaid: Watched this in 2015. Half the time it felt like it was trying too hard to be an Excel Saga type of show, but the other half of the time, it’s weird and wacky charm won me over. Watching these weirdo characters getting into mishaps is a lot of fun. 7/10

My Hero Academia: Pretty much the One Piece of the new era. 6.5/10

Nadja of Tomorrow: A competently done take on what’s essentially a young woman's’ novel in animated form. Mostly enjoyed this one for Rosemary, though. 8.5/10

Nanana’s Buried Treasure: Watched this just a while back. The idea behind this series is so intriguing, so what a fucking letdown that it both doesn’t go all the way with it and only lasts for a measly 11 episodes, ending with no resolution to the story that had been developing whatsoever! 4/10

Naruto: It was alright in it’s first series and could even be entertaining and exciting, especially during the Chunin Exams. Post-timeskip, I don’t think I’ve seen a Shonen series that I consider to be more wretched and terribly written. Kishimoto is a hack author and a shit person. 2/10 overall (S1: 3/10, Shippuden: 1/10)

Neon Genesis Evangelion: You know I love this one! Another 26 episode masterpiece of animated storytelling, one that deconstructed and redefined the mecha genre and was very influential on both mecha anime and anime in general. It’s impact cannot be denied or understated, ever. 10/10

Nisekoi: The first season actually managed to work for me in spite of some truly lousy writing for it’s main story, and the second season plus OVAs were actually not quite as strong in spite of discarding said story. But overall, it’s a pretty charming and entertaining affair with a very fun and engaging female lead. 6.5/10 overall (S1: 6/10, S2 + OVAs: 5/10)

Noragami: Share animebw’s sentiments here, except I liked the first season better ‘cause it had more Hiyori involvement. Hiyori is super bae. 7/10 overall (S1: 7.5/10, S2: 6.5/10)

One Piece: Loved this one back when it was in it’s prime, got so damn fatigued with it afterwards. Can’t say it’s bad, but it’s gone on so long that it’s well past the point where I see it as good and worth my time. 6.5/10

Ouran High School Host Club: Not much story and character development going on here, but the comedy was on point and the characters just plain fun and endearing in how over-the-top they could go. 6.5/10

Pokemon (Original Series): The Gen 1 section of the original series is an absolute classic in it’s imaginative writing and consistent quality entertainment value. The Gen 2 section just went on too long and got more and more stale until it at least managed to stick a good landing in the end. 7.5/10 overall (G1: 9/10, G2: 4/10)

Pokemon: Advanced Generation: The same formula established in the previous series but with a new coat of paint. It was average at best and had some particularly good episodes in the Battle Frontier arc. The score gets bumped higher than I’d give it otherwise due to the sole factor of May and her development as a character, which was excellently done. 6.5/10

Pokemon: Diamond And Pearl: The same ol’ formula but with more gimmicks and ongoing storylines added, doing nothing to detract from the fact that the paint was starting to dry here. Mostly not very fun to watch or look at, and overall a badly written vanity project for a hack writer. PokeAni at it’s absolute weakest. 3/10

Pokemon: Best Wishes: This one took a soft reboot approach and shook up the formula, being the breath of fresh air that the anime needed, and I love it for that. But the writing wasn’t always top notch, and the series as a whole peaked early into BWS2. Following the Episode N arc, there wasn’t much reason to engage with it anymore and it’s final year was overall a trainwreck that sent the series off with a whimper. 7/10 overall (S1: 8/10, S2: 5/10)

Pokemon XY: For it’s first two years, it was Diamond And Pearl all over again except it did some thing even worse. But some of the stuff it gradually set up did bear fruit in its third year, XY&Z, which had a captivating main storyline to it that concluded in a spectacular climax. I’m overall not a fan of it, though it has more to do with it’s fanbase than anything it actually did. 4.5/10 overall (XY: 3.5/10, XY&Z: 5.5/10)

Pokemon: Sun and Moon: This has to be the most drastic and welcome reboot that the anime’s had yet. With an overhaul of the writing team now led by Aya Matsui and a fresh approach totally free of the usual patterns, this is the best and freshest that PokeAni has ever been since it started and I’ve been enjoying it immensely. 9/10

Pokemon Journeys: 7/10 overall. (Main series: 7.5/10, OVA: 5/10)

The Powerpuff Girls Z: It’s not Craig McCraken’s series, but it’s clearly not trying to be, and for the most part I thought it did alright at being it’s own thing. 5/10

The Prince Of Tennis: SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE. 1/10

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: This is to the magical girl genre what Evengelion was to mecha anime and what Digimon Tamers was to Digimon. Deliciously dark, cruel, and intense the more it goes on, but also effectively emotional and with some good spiritual, moral themes to it. 9.5/10

Ranma 1/2: Like Inuyasha, its first three seasons provide some quality enjoyment before it goes to shit in the following seasons. I still gladly take it over the manga, but the dated dirty humor, sexism, racism, and homophobia that pops up frequently is wince-inducing either way. 5.5/10

Rave Master: Actually a really good manga. Not so good an anime. I remember more about the silly dub and it’s cheesy music than I do about the anime itself. 5/10

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Haven’t watched it in full, but what I have seen and what I do know about it is that it’s quality Shoujo with much to enjoy and appreciate. 9.5/10

The Rising Of The Shield Hero: It’s not easy to adapt something from a source material that was putrid garbage written by an incel with serious issues, but boy is it fun to watch people try. While not as good as the manga adaptation, I think this anime came together pretty well and is a guilty pleasure. 5/10

Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals: Better than anything else in the Naruto franchise, proving that Rock Lee makes a better underdog lead than Naruto Uzumaki ever did. 6.5/10

Rurouni Kenshin: An action-filled and dramatic yet also humor-filled and charming anime series, and one of the all-time classics of Shonen. 8/10

Sailor Moon: If you want a straight-up magical girl anime that provides the best of what the genre could offer, you cannot ask for better than Sailor Moon. One of the all-time classics of Shoujo and a very well put-together series. 8.5/10

Sailor Moon R: Almost as good as the first. Has a very rough middle section with a very bad subplot featured, but overall an ideal follow-up and a classic in it’s own right. 8/10

Sailor Moon S: This is where the Sailor Moon anime begun to lose it’s luster. Was solid in its first half but got downright miserable in its second half, with even a stellar climax leading into some shockingly awful final episodes. Saving graces were an iconic lesbian romance and an excellent main antagonist. 6/10

Sailor Moon Super S: Well I do enjoy it, mainly for the fun Circus baddies, but...it’s really not good. Too much formulaic filler fluff and not enough story or character development, with Chibi Usa’s character getting way more time and attention than was necessary, becoming an unwanted irritation as a result. 4.5/10

Sailor Moon Stars: Yeah, it’s really sad how low Sailor Moon sunk as an anime by the end. I’m hard pressed to find any redeeming value in this one besides top-notch animation and some enjoyable villains here and there. 1/10

Sailor Moon Crystal: A more manga-accurate Sailor Moon adaptation. The first arc was adapted and animated pretty atrociously, the second arc was adapted and animated marginally better, and the third was an amazing improvement and a thrill to experience. 6/10 overall (S1: 4/10, S2: 6.5/10, S3: 8/10)

School Live! - A silly, cute, wholesome and light-hearted 12 episode anime that encapsulates the School Life/Slice of Life subgenre in anime. No Zombie Apocalypses, psychological horror, and emotional pain to be seen here, no sirree! Though if it did have such things, I supposed that’d make it worth 8/10

Scry-Ed: Saw some of this long ago. It had some fun points in a “So Bad, It’s Good” way, but more often it was just horrendously plotted and aggravating to watch. 2/10

Shaman King: A fairly average Shonen anime on the whole, but it actually ends great when compared to how its manga source material ended up. 6/10

The Slayers: Watched this in 2005. This, years prior to it, was everything that “Familiar Of Zero” failed to be. Incredibly fun and absorbing in how it goes about things, with a deeply flawed yet lovable and hilarious main cast. 9/10

Slayers Next: Watched this right afterwards that same year. As great as the first one was, this one was even better, with a more tight overarching narrative, more comedy and further fleshed out character dynamics, and great new additions like Martina and Xellos. Slayers never got better than this. 9.5/10

SSSS Gridman: A dang good reinvention of the old Kaiju-fighting Tokosatsu hero, Gridman, for only 12 episodes. The action, atmosphere, and animation is never dull, and while some of the characters could’ve been better developed, the core arc given to the villainous Akane Shinjo more than makes up for it. 7.5/10

Star Driver: Watched this twice last year and have been revisiting it even now. There’s just something about how it’s setting, it’s soundtrack, it’s characters, it’s formula and it’s overarching narrative all click together that makes this campy and unorthodox yet sincere and thrilling take on a mecha anime a thing of beauty and an absolute joy to watch. In my heart it’s a 9/10, but for technicalities’ sake (that whole section with Madoka and Kou really made the show falter), I give it one grade lower. 8.5/10

Tenchi Muyo!: Another enjoyable, beautifully drawn anime OVA mini-series, where the writing and animation is always top notch.It spun off a whole bunch of other shows and really popularized the “harem anime” genre that I’m not particularly a fan of, but this here was the best that Tenchi could ever get. 7/10

Tengen Tonpa Gurren Lagann: Unlike animebw, I enjoyed the section of the anime where Kamina was around ‘cause of how knowingly stupid and fun the show was. and then it got even better following his tragic demise. It was the goddamn time skip and everything they did following it that took me out of it. At least the animation, action and effects were always superb. 6/10

Toradora: In it’s first season, it was as good as anime romcoms get. But I feel its second season really faltered by piling on more melodramatic angst and unpleasant complications than what should be possible for these characters, especially Minori. Plus, it all ended way too predictably. 8/10 (S1: 8.5/10, S2: 7.5/10)

Trigun: An anime classic to this day for certain, but I think it’s also kind of overrated. 7/10

Umineko No Naku Koro Ni: Strong material, utter travesty of an adaptation. 4.5/10

Vinland Saga: One word properly describes this one: EPIC. 10/10

Vision Of Escaflowne: A well remembered fantasy-action Shoujo series from the 90′s. Quality entertainment with a very unique heroine and some very touching emotional bonds at the heart of it all. 7/10

WataMote: I enjoy it. Don’t know if I can put into words what it even is, but I do enjoy it. 7/10

Wolf’s Rain: Another 26 episode (actually 30 episode) masterpiece with the writing talent of Keiko Nobumoto. But damn, this one’s depressing as fuck. 8.5/10

Yu-Gi-Oh!: First adaptation of one of my favorite Shonen manga. Even for a late 90′s anime, the animation budget is cheap, yet there’s just enough charm, character, well structured storytelling and enjoyability for me to forgive it. It feels like what an anime version of a Disney Afternoon cartoon would be. 8/10

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monster: Second adaptation, and the one that made it’s way to the West to become a phenomenon and get me into the series. It’s first two seasons are overall faithful adaptations of the manga despite many notable divergences on the path of the same basic story to the same destination. From the Noah Kaiba filler arc and onward, things started to get more and more dumb and off from the manga. But it’s still a solid series and certainly an entertaining one. 7/10

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The first Yu-Gi-Oh! spinoff that at first acquitted it’s own existence by being a partial spoof of itself, but it got seriously bad and less fun in it’s latter half. 4.5/10 overall (S1 & S2: 5.5/10, S3 & S4: 3.5/10)

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: The second Yu-Gi-Oh! spinoff was even dumber than GX yet took itself super seriously. It’s first two seasons had it’s bright spots, but it’s third season was a needless dud. 4/10 overall (S1 & S2: 4.5/10, S3: 3.5/10)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V: The fourth Yu-Gi-Oh! spinoff (ZeXal was so bad, I skipped it over). Surprisingly good in it’s first season, still engaged me in it’s second despite some ideas just not working, but a flaming, exploding trainwreck in it’s third and final one, making it more clear than ever that Yu-Gi-Oh! spinoffs can’t ever do shit right all the way through or stick the landing. 4/10 overall (S1: 7/10, S2: 5.5/10. S3: 2.5/10)

Yu Yu Hakusho: Absolutely excellent action Shonen series with thrilling and creative fights, a wonderfully progressing narrative, great characters, and an anime that’s, for the most part, even better than it’s manga source material. It doesn’t get a perfect score only because of that Three Kings arc that came in between Chapter Black and the series finale. That was stupid and ultimately pointless as fuck. 9.5/10

Zatch Bell: A slightly more imaginative, quirkier and better version of Shaman King. Very easy anime to enjoy, but one that takes a while to get a big plot going and one that just kind of fizzled out in it’s last 50 episodes as it got cut off just before the manga’s climactic points and final arc. 7/10

What I’ve Already Watched

This is a list of anime I’ve watched prior to starting this blog. For shows I watched during it, check out my other, upcoming list!

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