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itswavelengths · 2 years ago

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How to Use Mastodon

I've been getting extremely into Mastodon, a social media platform that cleanly replicates (and in some cases improves upon) Twitter's take on microblogging. I've read, watched, and listened to a lot of explainers about the service, and for some reason most begin by claiming how difficult the platform is to use. The truth is that the hardest part of using Mastodon is creating your account — and even that is about as difficult as deciding where to set up an email address. In the end, using Mastodon is wildly similar to using Twitter.

With that in mind, here's everything you need to know about getting started!

If you feel comfortable poking around and figuring things out for yourself and just want the quickest quick-start guide of all time, feel free to skip the rest of this post and just follow these steps: 1. Head over to https://mas.to and sign up for an account 2. Have fun exploring a new social platform 3. Start posting, baybee!

For those who want a bit more, I got you.

What is Mastodon?

Mastodon is a social network for posting short bits of text or images, just like Twitter. Unlike Twitter, which is an entity that relies on investors and revenue to keep the lights on, Mastodon is an open source project. It has no algorithm and no ads.

It's pretty good!

Why is that better?

It means an Elon Musk style figure can never swoop in, buy the entire platform, fire most of its staff, remove content moderation policies and user safety precautions, ban journalists who disagree with him, etc. While you can only go to twitter.com to access and use Twitter, Mastodon can and does reside on many websites around the internet. Existing through multiple communities — sometimes called "instances" or "servers" — prevents it from being owned and operated by one individual or corporate entity. Anyone can create their own Mastodon server. Some servers have only one user, some have hundreds of thousands.

If there are so many servers, how do I know which to join? What if I pick the wrong one?

That's the beautiful thing, dear reader. Every server speaks to every other server. No matter which you join you'll be able to follow, be followed by, and interact with users on every other server. Because of this, you only need to make one account on one server to join Mastodon¹.

Even better: If you don't like the server you've joined for whatever reason, you can easily move your account to another.

You still didn't tell me which one to join, my guy.

True! To make things as easy as possible, the community I'd recommend right now is mas.to. I had an account there for a few months, and I initially picked it because I liked the name a lot! It's short and it's cute!

If you want to peruse some other options, you can head over to Join Mastodon and check out servers that are based around regions, professions, ideologies, or fandoms. Whichever server you end up picking, that url will be the one you visit whenever you want to use Mastodon. Just like going to twitter.com or facebook.com, that server url will be how you log in and post and do everything your heart desires. So if you do end up choosing mas.to as your server, using Mastodon will mean going to https://mas.to!

How do I make an account?

Head over to your server of choice and click the "Create Account" button (usually on right side of the screen). If you've signed up for any website ever, you'll know what to do here. You'll also notice that your username is presented like an email address — [email protected] — and exactly like an email address this is what you'll send to your friends when you want to follow each other.

For example: My server is located at theaether.space and my username on that server is bb, so my username for the wider world of Mastodon is [email protected]!

Once you've gone through the steps required to join (hey congrats, btw), go edit your profile! Add a profile picture and a header! Add a bio! The works! All of that stuff can be found on the Preferences page.

Note: If you want to send people a link to your profile, just rearrange the order of those elements to server.name/@username. So in my case, it would be theaether.space/@bb. Hey, give me a follow while you're at it!

How do I find people to follow?

Luckily there are some great services for this already, with more popping up constantly. To get started, you can use a tool like Movetodon or Debirdify to search for your Twitter friends and find their Mastodon usernames. To follow them, just copy their whole username (which, again, looks like an email address) and paste it into the search box. Once you've followed some people, you can use a tool like Followgraph to see who those people are following and add a few more people to your home feed.

Speaking from experience, one of the more exciting things about joining Mastodon is getting a clean slate. You don't realize how many people you didn't need to be following until you're building the list from zero again. So go out there and follow people who seem interesting. It's 2008 all over again!

Okay, I've followed a bunch of people. Now what?

Sounds like all that's left is to mess around with the site and start posting! As with most social networks, there are some nuances to learn but absolutely nothing is overwhelming. Posts can be up to 500 characters instead of 240, you can use privacy buttons to decide who can see and reply to your post, etc. You'll learn best by poking around and by doing, because what makes Mastodon different is what makes it interesting. For example, there are no "quote-tweets" on here. That means the best ways to interact with others are to reply to or boost (retweet) their posts. It takes some getting used to², but it's worth it!

Brendon, I don't always want to use Mastodon on my personal computer. Tell me about apps!

Luckily there are a bunch of apps to choose from, and it seems like more pop up on a weekly basis. First and foremost, there is an official Mastodon app you can grab for iOS and Android, and I think it's pretty good!

That said — and in the spirit of Mastodon — there are some great apps by independent developers putting their own spin on it. Just like the early days of Twitter apps, these developers are at the forefront of what Mastodon may one day become. If you're using an iPhone, the two I'd recommend at the moment are Ivory or Ice Cubes. If you're on Android, definitely check out Tusky.

All you'll need to do is provide your server url, then log in as you normally would.

A fun recent swerve: Developers are also starting to create alternate web interfaces for Mastodon that replicate the look and feel of things like Tweetdeck. Check out Elk or Mastodeck for a different flavor.

This is all well and good but if Twitter and other bigger social media platforms exist, why would I use Mastodon instead?

I think that point about Mastodon not truly having any overarching owner is the most important point of all. Servers individually have owners, but Mastodon being run on an open protocol instead of by one explicit company or person means there’s no way anyone could step in and destroy it. As long as there are people out there hosting Mastodon servers, Mastodon will continue to exist.

On a personal level, saying “I choose to invest my time in this space instead of those driven by profit” is a step towards a public good. It helps lay the foundation to make the internet a better place for yourself and for future generations, to take some control back. We've spent too much time building our online presence around and for companies who sell our information to advertisers and use algorithms to manipulate our lives and emotions.

Even if Mastodon has some quirks that make it a tiny bit harder to use than some of the larger alternatives, if there's even the slightest chance using it can help make a statement and build something better than what currently exists, isn't that at least worth trying?

¹ For the people who use and know a lot about Mastodon: Hello! I know I'm simplifying some concepts here, and I know not everyone will agree with my approach. At the end of the day, I think some of the more interesting things about Mastodon are lying just underneath the surface, and users who want to discover them absolutely will eventually. I feel getting people started and understanding why they should get started is more important in the long run.

² Hashtags are big on Mastodon, which I kind of can't believe. It feels weird to be using them again!

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Originally published 12/29/22 Updated 1/25/23:

Added a new section with some app recommendations. There are so many out there and I've probably used at least ten over the past month or so. Ivory is great and my favorite of the bunch, but I know the subscription fee can be a bit much for people which is why I threw Ice Cubes on the list as well. On the Android end, Tusky is so clearly the best. I'd recommend it over the official app any day of the week.

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princeresnikov · 2 years ago

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it's in my nature {Tangerine} // 1

one. the scorpion: better a fruit fly than a clementine.

Chapter Summary: The Scorpion (Clementine) and The Prince board a train that will change their lives forever, and The Scorpion, at least, is non the wiser. The Prince makes sure her well trained but disheartened bodyguard knows her place, and Clementine really hates this goddamn family.

{ Masterlist }

A/N: 2744 words. Lets GO baybee. I've been reading the novel and tried to stylise my writing more to match that because I find the Isaka's writing style really engaging to read. :) also this is kind of a slow burner, as much as a fic that follows the film can be i suppose. also i think The Prince's characterisation might lean a bit more towards her book counterpart, but there's also a reason she doesn't mask her intentions around clementine as often as others. this is mildly edited at best.

Warnings: Don't be surprised when the OC is a terrible person and is implied to have done terrible things along with the rest of them. Chapter specific warnings will be added when necessary so please heed them. There will be smut in the future chapters.

Taglist: @venusthepirate [ always open, just message or comment! ]

-----

When Clementine boards the Shinkansen behind The Prince, she does so with a reverential, bowed head, always shadowing her charge only two steps behind.

"You're thinking awfully hard there, fruit fly," the Prince's tone is almost sing-song, marching through the aisle of the seventh cart to their seat. Of course she was able to pick up on Clementine's masked distraction. Clementine herself grimaces, at the tone, at the name, at her focus breaking.

"Going through dossiers in my head," she says frankly, sitting when directed to, smoothing the pleats of her skirt out against her thighs, eyes still trained down, impractical attire for her line of work, but appearances had always mattered more to The Prince, and hopefully there wouldn't be any acrobatics required today.

The Prince's own outfit is similar to Clementine's, skirt, blouse, though she had a sweater vest where Clementine wore a full sweater. The Prince was in pink, looking all kinds of girlish and innocent, while Clementine was in rich browns and oranges, as if she were able to blend into the wooden detailing and gold lighting of the first class cabin, or into the background of any scene she was party too, far more deliberate than one might assume. Both outfits were far more unassuming that either individual wearing them, for that exact reason. The only truly unique and practical item in Clementine's outfit was her expensive leather gloves, which served to house the two highly advanced prosthetics she required on each hand as she was missing both ring and pinkie fingers.

"Your job is simple, fruit fly, father hired you to keep an eye on me, and that's all you need to do," the Prince crossed one leg over the other, leaning back in her chair before she chanced a glance over her shoulder. Clementine's brow furrowed once more at the nickname, but kept her mouth shut. It had been a long while since she's been properly active in the field, and she'd forgotten how grating it was to be under The Prince's thumb.

The Shinkansen doesn't rumble to life like most other trains, it's take off is glass smooth, and Clementine barely feels a jolt as they finally head out from Tokyo.

"Why are you going through dossiers anyways?"

"Didn't bring a book, ma'am," Clementine tells her, peering out from her seat to scan the aisle, cautious where the Prince's similar movement had been strangely anticipatory.

"I could lend you one," the Prince somehow even managed to sound condescending with a simple offer. Clementine politely declined, and for a few moments they share a calm silence. The kid reads too much True Crime, and Clementine had enough stories of her own to not bother with the sensationalized, publicised stuff. Her mind instead drifts once more, to Cape Town, to Barcelona, to Santiago, to the past year and a half that she'd spent intelligence gathering all over the world. Others like her, hitmen, assassins, trained killers from all walks of life, she had hunted them, practically stalked them at her client's request, spending months gathering every scrap of information she could about them while living in the periphery of their lives. She never had to pull the trigger, no her employer had grander things in mind, things that Clementine need not be privy to to do her job. So she did, never afraid of what lengths she would have to go to in getting everything she needed. In New York -

"I should call you Clementine too," The Prince mused blithely. Clementine's nose scrunched almost involuntarily, "not a fan?" The Prince has always liked watching her reactions; Clementine is a fun toy for the bored teen, if only you knew how to push her buttons, "its even on your necklace; it'd be rude not to." There's the beginnings of a cruel smile at the edge of The Prince's lips, but Clementine composed herself. The dainty necklace around her neck, complete with a tiny, glass clementine, however, feels distinctly heavy.

"Whatever would suit you, ma'am."

"You're so passive," The Prince practically sulks, arms crossed, expression sour as she looks pointedly at the head rest in front of her. The seats around them are far emptier than Clementine had expected, but she's grateful to have relative privacy for this conversation.

"I'd prefer fruit fly," Clementine says carefully, "or cockroach -"

"But Clementine's so pretty," The Prince is clearly teasing. Clementine sits a little straighter but doesn't look up from her hands in her lap, "and you're not even a cockroach anymore."

"I was never a fruit fly, and yet," Clementine finally casts a less than amused look at the Prince, mouth set in a thin line. The Prince seems to be taking this all as one big joke, if the mirth alight in her eyes is any indication.

"Clementine," the Prince tried to school her expression into something more serious, tried to hide her smile when their eyes met, but it's not particularly effective.

"Yes, ma'am?" Clementine tried to remain as neutral as she was able, though The Prince still seemed to see the resignation in her, and was thrilled by it. For all the time Clementine had known her, she'd always known The Prince took great pleasure in inflicting cruelty on others as some sort of bizarre experiment about the nature of humanity.

"You really are tragically formal."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And tragically dull."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Can you not call me that? You make me sound like my mother," and despite The Prince's casual tone, Clementine still frowns reflexively. They both know she said it to cause a reaction; the Prince prides herself on any power she can claim over others, even something as small as that.

Clementine hesitates for a long moment before she dips her head, if only to hide her eye roll.

"Your highness," she doesnt even fight her own rueful tone, but The Prince at least doesn't seem to mind.

"I know you're teasing, but I actually would prefer that," she offers. Clementine gives a non-committal hum, but does not see fit to respond further. At that, The Prince makes a face, propping her chin up on her hand and tapping her cheek with her index finger, as if analysing Clementine thoroughly. Clementine finally looks away from her charge and the malevolent gleam in her eyes, comfortable simply being observed in this moment.

"I can't believe he obsessed over you like he did," there's something cold in the Prince's voice. A muscle in Clementine's jaw twitched. "Was it something sexual?" The question startles the demure mercenary, though years of training mean the only outward display of this is the derisive way her lip curls.

"I don't think this is appropriate, ma'am," Clementine struggles to keep her tone passive. The Prince gives her no reprieve.

"Oh hardly," she laughs, "but I'm still asking. Don't be a prude, Clem," it almost sounds like they're friends, a stranger may mistake them as such. Glancing at The Prince shows the girl's body language to be open and easy, hands and shoulders relaxed, a trap to Clementine's expertly trained eye, who knew the teen far better than to trust her, "come on, I know how easy it is to manipulate someone when you know what they want, and sex is such a base desire," then, carefully, the Prince leans back in her seat, looking again to the empty headrest in front of her, "I've read your reports, I know how you operate." The Prince glances back over her shoulder, down the aisle, before settling further into her seat.

"I don't know why he was obsessed with me," Clementine answers slowly, "though, if I did have an idea about why, I still wouldn't share it with you, ma'am."

The Prince actually groans with frustration, head pushed back against her headrest as she squeezes her eyes shut tightly. Arms crossed over her chest, she looks markedly less relaxed than she had done moments ago. It's the little things in life that Clementine had had to find joy in, and now, the arrogant Prince's frustration is one she'd gladly enjoy. Clementine relaxes her own shoulders, lets the tension drop from her jaw as she smiles; it's a give and take of tension between them, and has been for as long as Clementine's known The Prince and her family, neither made happy from the others joy as much as their anguish.

"Dull," The Prince huffs petulantly, "can you go be dull elsewhere?"

"Is that an order?" Clementine was genuinely confused, which only seemed to irritate The Prince further. The young woman's face scrunches with some kind of put-upon frustration at the question. The Prince often lamented the predictability of the world around her, the way everyone always behaved as expected, but admitted that Clementine often caught her off guard in the most 'deeply uninspiring' way. Again, it was one of the small joys of the mercenary's life. Instead of beratting her bodyguard, however, The Prince sits up a little, but remains looking forward as she speaks.

"In a sense, yes; there's money on this train and I need you to find it for me," the teen says, voice dropping low so there was no chance of any of the few more remote passengers would hear her. Clementine outright scowled at this.

"Absolutely not," without hesitation, Clementine declined. This mission was humiliating and demeaning enough, posing as the tutor for 'The Prince', acting more like the girl's handmaiden, she was not going to encourage the girl's sense of entitlement any more than she could help.

"So quick to judge," The Prince admonished, shaking her head, "it's not like I'm going to keep it, I just want to make sure it's all there."

"Why don't I believe you?" Clementine narrowed her eyes at her charge.

"Because you're deeply paranoid, fruit fly, which is healthy in your line of work, I'll grant you that, but I promise for once I'm being genuine; that money will see its rightful owner," the Prince, for once, sounded mostly genuine, and Clementine sighed, "I think you should start looking in the third car." Considering how little Clementine wanted to remain in The Prince's presence, and The Prince's unfortunately well established, almost supernatural good luck, Clementine gracefully rises from her seat. The Prince smiled toothily at her, "at least you're predictably obedient, good for something I suppose."

"If I come back to any shenanigans -" Clementine hissed.

"Shenanigans? How old are you?" The Prince cut her off with disbelieving glee, which Clementine ignored.

"I'll knock your ass out myself so I can make sure you behave for the rest of the trip," the tick in Clementine's jaw is back at the sight of The Prince's smug little smile in the face of the threat.

"When you come back with the money you can make that judgement call," is all she said. Then holding up her own, little phone, The Prince's smile became wider, almost as if she were trying to convince Clementine of her innocence; it may have worked on someone less familiar with her, "I'll text if I need anything, I promise."

Clementine carefully smoothed her expression to something more neutral, and nodded, about to reply when her own phone starts ringing. The Prince cocks her head to the side, intrigued by the coincidence, and Clementine fishes the phone from her bag. It's The Prince's father, and she tells the teen as much.

"Tell him I'm having a wonderful time," she settles into her seat with a languid ease as Clementine rolls her eyes and takes off up the aisle while answering.

"Your daughter wanted me to pass on that she's having a wonderful time," Clementine tells him almost robotically, in lieu of a proper greeting.

"So you've both settled comfortably on the train?"

Away from The Prince, Clementine allowed herself to relax, tension in her shoulders easing, walking with a well earned confidence.

"It's well lit but not overbearing, everyone's suffocatingly helpful, the leather chairs are immaculate," Clementine rattles off with a detached kind of boredom now, "running an errand for The Prince now but we're in constant contact, not that there should be any problem."

"An errand?"

"A fetch quest for her royal highness; don't worry, she won't leave first class, that's why you've got me here," Clementine assures with a practiced warmth, gliding with ease down the aisles of the train, making sure to look over and catalogue as much detail as she could.

"Scorpion," he uses her code name with such malice, even as he'd bestowed it on her several years before. It's never gotten easier to hear from him, "if a single hair on her head so much as splits, you will no longer have your own, do I make myself clear."

Clementine bites her tongue as the irritation bubbles up venomously inside her.

"As crystal, sir," she mutters through her teeth, stopping at the baggage hold between the third and fourth cars. Peering through the window on the door, the economy seating is just as blue as the she'd just passed, and just as sparsely filled. It's a straight shot to the end of the car, to the baggage hold between cars two and three, and she'd rather start back there and work her way up. She thinks she sees someone catch a glimpse of her peering through the window, analysing the composition of the car, but she's trying desperately to not draw attention to herself, and so ducks back the little vanity area to finish her conversation.

"Nothing will happen," Clementine assures, drawing the curtain across and leaning against the wall, making sure not to catch sight of herself in the mirror. The blonde is new, it's been drawing attention all around Tokyo and it feels too ostentatious, but her boss insisted, and she really doesn't like to refuse him.

"Still, one must always plan for contingencies; unlucky that she insisted on such a public form of transport, lucky that you were available."

"Your wish is my command, sir," Clementine fiddled with her gloves, making sure they were secure, and the prosthetics they concealed were all at full capabilities.

"You have demonstrated your respect and loyalty these past few years, especially after rejecting my family's kind offer, and the incident that followed," as he speaks, Clementine stops fiddling; he often brings up the past in order to hold it over her head, this time felt distinctly different, "once you have safely escorted my daughter to her destination, your debt to me will be cleared," Clementine feels like her heart has stopped in her chest, "you will be free to take on freelance contracts wherever you wish, though you are more than welcome to work with myself and my family at your previous rate."

"You'll rescind the burn notice?" Oh, Clementine hopes he doesn't judge her for the hope in her voice. A pause follows, and a strangely amused chuckle.

"I'll rescind the burn notice," he agrees, "I will re-endorse you to my colleagues and contacts, and -" he pauses for effect, "while your direct payment will still be at your reduced rate, you will be able to secure the remaining amount that will meet your previous rate upon that very train."

In that instance, Clementine feels an almost sickening sense of joy and even fondness for The Prince several cars down. Foolish to think she wouldn't be in on this in some way; she's far too perceptive, even if her father hadn't clued her in she'd still have found out one way or another.

"There's money on this train?" Clementine murmurs, carefully peering out behind the curtain to make absolutely sure she was alone.

"Yes, in a briefcase, I believe my contact who has stored it on the train put a sticker on the handle of a train itself."

"Thank you, sir! I'll find it."

"Scorpion, do not forget the terms of this; this is your only chance." And he hangs up without even saying goodbye.

Clementine's barely containing her glee, she's overwhelming giddy in this moment of solitude, bouncing on her toes. It's the best conversation she's ever had with him, a far cry from the man who took four fingers from her as punishment years ago.

Perhaps she could have been kinder to The Prince, after all, without her help Clementine wouldn't have the first clue where to look for the cash. Finally, with the promise of freedom, she can go back to loving her work, to choosing it for herself, to reminding those in the circles she used to run in that she was still top of her game. There was a confidence now, one she hadn't felt in years.

Until she opens the third car's door.

#tangerine x oc #tangerine x reader #tangerine imagine #tangerine bullet train #tangerine #bullet train #bullet train imagine #bullet train oc #tangerine bullet train x oc #the prince #the prince bullet train #bullet train 2022 #bullet train x reader #bullet train movie #bullet train fanfic

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nowoyas · 2 years ago

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God what do you even do now. It has to rest. I have to make certain key edits before I officially move into the second draft. I have to find a print shop that doesn't take an hour's drive to get to. I have to get a physically copy printed. I have to do my nightly writing but how can I write anything when I Fuckin Did It Baybee. I have to physically strap my legs down to my bed because my legs won't stop kicking. I have to sleep. I absolutely cannot sleep.

#distant citrus sounds

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owenthetokencishet · 2 years ago

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Okay y'know what I'm reblogging this post a second time to point out the one REALLY BIG GLARING DIFFERENCE I SEE.

Jinx's costume in Arcane is weathered, LoL Jinx is not.

DIRT BAYBEE!!! PUT DIRT ON YOUR COSTUMES IT'S IMPORTANT.

I don't buy that original Jinx is some malnourished creature of a character because she's PERFECTLY CLEAN. No scrapes, tears, mud, blood, dust, rust, NOTHING. Add on to that the perfect supermodel face and... The design just does not fit the character.

Arcane's Jinx has TECKSTURE. The hair is messy, the leather is scratched, the pants (which she actually HAS now) are torn up and filthy! Her nails are chipped (because of COURSE they are! NO maker has perfect nails) her weapons are dented, and as the show progresses she just gets covered in more and more filth because she NEVER showers.

WEATHER YOUR COSTUMES PEOPLE IT MAKES SUCH A DIFFERENCE

EDIT: okay I wanted to come in and specifically mention one INCREDIBLE little weathering detail on Jinx

On her shirt(?) (Not sure what exactly it's supposed to be it looks like some sort of harness) there's this little bit of light scuffing near her left shoulder that's not on the other side. Now note where the shoulder strap for the machine gun rests... Neat, huh?

artists tasked w redesigning the league of legends characters for arcane like michelangelo being given a slab of marble

#arcane #the difference is weathering #dirt babey!

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thecrimsonjaguar · 4 years ago

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A Short List of Adventure Time AUs

So I got a google doc of adventure time aus I’ve made over the past two or three years. Here are some of my favorites (and also the ones I came back to and edited)

If you’ve got ideas for an au or ideas to add onto the preexisting ones I’ve got here, please tell me! I’m always up for some au discussion.

1.) Jermaine AU: Jermaine comes to live at the treehouse after his house blows up. This, unlike canon, happens rather early in season 3. The rest of the series mainly stays the same, except this time there's three brothers instead of two. He's a kinda anxious dude with demon hunting expertise and a painting hobby. He sometimes wonders if he made Dad disappointed by letting all his work explode. Finn and Jake help him out, and he helps them. Despite this, Jermaine is the only one with a brain, and Finn and Jake share exactly one (1) braincell that they trade every so often. Jermaine is tired. (Jermaine is the only one who tries to clean regularly, and he's also the one to keep Neptr, Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant, and a few others company. He's a bit of real wisdom the early series Finn and Jake needed.

2.) Melted Ice AU: Mid season two, IK is hit with something that de-ages him. He turns six. Maybe this mystery de-aging thing blows up the top of the ice mountain, who knows. Maybe he wakes up in the snow, with no memory of how he got there or why. No memory of the last one thousand years. Finn and Jake don't know about his backstory since that happens in season three. Simon is carried by a snowman out of the ice kingdom where he breaks down in the plains. Finn, of course, finds him and is ecstatic to meet another human. Completely missing the fact that this small child is, in fact, the Ice King, Finn declares to help this boy no matter what. That promise soon becomes difficult when people hear about the second human in Ooo, and whatever effect that's keeping him young starts to wear off. (Marceline comes to visit and has a heart attack)

3.) Adventure Falls AU: AT x GF baybee!! Seventeen year old Stanley Pines hops on the Stan O' War and sets sail when he's kicked out. Unfortunately, that boat is nowhere near sea worthy, and all it takes for him to go overboard is one sudden (magical) storm. But, miraculously, Stan doesn't die. He washes up on Ooo, the island of misfits. Where there's daddy issues galore and punching things and getting gold is a legitimate career. He's found on the shore by none other than Finn, who asks if he's okay and if a dungeon adventure would soothe his worries. Stan accepts, because that sounds awesome, and they maybe date. For the next ten years, Stanley is a professional hero. He travels with Finn, he lives in a tower with tons of gold, he's respected, adored, and has made a family for himself. Ooo has a habit of forcing traumatic therapy onto to people, so Stan gets (read: is forced) to work his issues out. And then, somehow, he gets a postcard from his brother.

4.) Young Pups AU: Jake's kids grow up fast- but not that fast. He stays with lady for a few episodes being Dad and when the Pups are old enough, go visit Finn and Jermaine. Also Jermaine is there when the pups are born that always bothered me in canon like what the fuck. This whole AU results in Jake the Dad being a better father than in canon, because he actually has time to make mistakes and learn from them. He sometimes shapeshifts into one of those baby carriers but suited for five kids instead of one. Finn and Jermaine fight for best uncle privileges. Finn is considerably more awesome but Jermaine's got magic junk and juicy stories about Jake. So far the votes are: FINN: Jake Jr, T.V. JERMAINE: Kim Kil Whan, Charlie. Viola remains undecided.

4.) Evilgreen AU: Evergreen was evil. His idea to make the crown to stop the comet was actually a cover story to take control of all the elements and freeze everything. Of course the same thing happens here as it did in canon, Gunther gets the crown and wishes to *be* evergreen. This is bad. Very bad, so bad in fact, that things get FUnKy. A couple eons later, Simon gets the crown as per canon, and then things start to slide downhill. Since the crown is significantly worse, Simon tries to get rid of it. No amount of magic pull is going to get him to put on the eldritch hat. It teleports back. When things go to shit, the crown tells him he's got two options: He can either live, or he can live unwillingly. This all coalesces in super angst and mild horror as Simon has to fight off evil urges and somehow keep both he and Marceline safe. Things start looking up, though, when he summons Hunson Abadeer.

5.) Nightmare Therapy AU: Simon, now himself post canon, has some funky nightmares. Problem is: he's due for a visit from the cosmic owl due to some mystical bureaucratic bs. If that were to happen, Simon's dreams of Golb and Orgalorg and the world ending and everyone dying and maze would come true, without the veil of metaphoric junk dreams are known for (also due to bureaucratic bs). So, Simon gets a dream therapist. An OC, probably, that would fight off his nightmares when they came and talk to him about his issues.

6.) High School AU: Except they're all still magic and crap. Finn's a jock that's part of the LDnD club(Literally Dungeons and Dragons), Jake's got a job at a pancake place and hosts the Card Wars clubs on Wednesdays, Jermaine's in college and their parents were still detectives/demon hunters. PB is preppy/nerdy girl with weird fucking family and is absolutely a mad scientist. Marceline is still a demon/vamp (vampire biker gang, they all died, deaths pending) and her uncle is Simon. Simon is a history teacher whose ex wife might be an eldritch abomination (the students wonder, but there are no answers)((simon says cryptic things every so often that are the subject of much ridicule, but he's a nice guy)). Ooo High has all of the AT characters in some shape or form. Tree trunks is the lunchlady, Mr Pig is a janitor. Lemongrab is just there. LSP(Q?) is a teacher because that's hilarious. Hunson is dead along with Marceline's mom because fuck hunson. Magic Man is a hobo that snuck onto campus and can't be chased off (his brother is the superintendent, Glob). there's a lot more but that's for a different word doc.

7.) Back to the Future AU: So PB fucks around with time travel, right? For science. She gets sent back in time a thousand years, before the war. Now, she's a pink lady who can shoot jelly beans from her hands, of course needs to lay low. And of course she needs to get home, but she's in a Futurama situation where she only has one type of time machine; the one that can go into the past. Not to mention her own time machine got busted on her way there, so she's double screwed. But, she remembers something. There is an individual (two, actually) that knows about time travel in this time period. She knows him, and he's likely to help her if she plays her card right. She needs to find Simon and get back to her own time, preferably without dooming herself in the process. (perhaps she tries to steal the notes Simon has, and Simon's completely oblivious, except Betty can smell trouble from a mile away and immediately notices some pink woman trying to steal books and she goes ham. Perhaps she goes ham in such a way that Simon doesn't notice. Perhaps this goes on for seven acts.)

8.) Bread and Butter AU: Bella Noche during the episode Betty creates a huge black cube that engulfs all of Wizard City. This box acts as a cage and prevents Wizards from escaping the magic purge. Simon is unable to bring Betty back from the past, and he's fading fast. In a desperate attempt to stop things from escalating, Simon chugs a bottle of anti-magic like a fucking god. He gets through the cube that surrounds Bella Noche and knocks their lights out. He passes out, and when he comes to, the anti-magic he consumed as merged with him. This is because of a simple rule: Magic sticks to magic, anti-magic sticks to anti-magic. And since humans have always had just a little bit of anti -magic present within them, humans and anti-magic go together like bread and butter (badumtish) ((I have actually written a fanfic about this, you can find it here))

9.) Swapped AU: Through various shenanigans Ice King's and Magic Man's powers gets swapped. These shenanigans somehow land them in space as well. This happens before Magic Man's trial. The swapping of their powers results in Simon getting his memory back. It also gives Magic Man the Ice Crown, unfortunately for him though, it seems to hate him. Simon's glad to back, but quickly realizes one issue: He's still crazy. So the pair try to make it back to Ooo. MM needs his powers to swap himself with some other shmuck so he doesn't croak when his trial comes, but Simon's made it clear he isn't giving his powers up without a fight. The pair starts off rocky, neither trusting the other, but space trouble forces them to work together. Simon's a nice enough guy he wouldn't leave someone to die and MM really needs Simon alive so it works out. A weird friendship forms, and they learn get along. Just a couple of crazy space wizards. Then the crown is destroyed. MM is freed from the crown's control, and he's freed from magic. He gets his sanity back, just in time for his trial.

that’s all I’ve got for now!

#at #adventure time #adventure time au #adventure time aus #Finn the Human #finn #jake the dog #jake #marceline #princess bubblegum #pb #simon petrikov #betty grof #ice king #magic man #au #aus

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burstbombbitch · 4 years ago

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one last post in my queue. i’ll probably not refill it. i might be back next year. i’m gonna send out one last batch of oc questions, but my grandma died on friday so this place is now very low priority, if not nonexistent.

that, coupled w just overall exhaustion, i’m good on socializing for the rest of the year. thanks y’all. see u hopefully in a lighter time baybee

edit: why did they make sending asks more annoying edit 2: for real what the fuck

and thank you all for your condolences, it means a lot. i’m taking time off school and keeping myself busy (as this is typically how i handle stress) but warm thoughts keep me going just as much!

#✧.° ⦙ ɴᴏᴛ ǫᴜɪᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴏɴ ʟᴀᴅʏ... — ❪ & ooc. ❫

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thydungeon · 4 years ago

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the year in review 2020, part 2: fast reviews: 2020 Q4

I wanted to close the loop on the Q1/Q2 & Q3 installments, but this is obviously duplicative with the rest of the year in review

halo 3: odst - we liked this one a lot. I also feel like this was the one where Russell and I played our best. Best balancing, interesting story (split in half), and the soundtrack was nice

a way out - now this is a fucking comedy game. I died laughing in the first 15 minutes doing the dips minigame. The devolution into a bad third person shooter in the game’s final act is a pretty big misplay, but overall it’s a good game and pretty good as far as co-op goes.

icewind dale - now this is a fucking comedy game. 2nd edition D&D makes me wonder how a human being could ever do this shit on paper. THAC0? Lower Armor Class is better? Cursed items? You need the arrows to also be +1, +2, etc.? Why does Turn Undead take what appears to be 20 seconds to refresh? It’s also so fucking buggy, oh my lord

halo 4 - not good, just kind of sleepwalking, unfortunately. Also, will a Pelican ever not be shot down? I think not.

the mirror and the light - this was honestly a tough read even though I adored the first two installments. The first half just takes too long because there are no more worlds to conquer while waiting for Jane Seymour to give birth. Second half moves much better.

ministry for the future - I didn’t like it

mole national park - friggin sweet, visit this place

best movie - PARASITE PARASITE PARASITE PARASITE PARASITE

best restaurant - La Chaumiere, a really nice French restaurant in Airport

best meal - at one point I made a 24-hour (ish) extra tangy sourdough. Other than that, probably my birthday dinner at La Chaumiere lol. Other than that, the second time I made a roast chicken for Thanksgiving.

best album - the Dijon EP, How Do You Feel About Getting Married?

best thing I watch on YouTube - Internet Shaquille, baybee

best video game - halo wars 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

best book - harry potter 6

worst pandemic - duh

best election outcome - duh

#the year in review #season 10 #fast reviews

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ayy-spec · 4 years ago

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Anything to Add?

The final question in this survey was a write-in section for people to leave any additional comments. 113 people responded.

Important/Particularly Interesting Comments

• I hope this goes well for you because you seem nice and if you have any advice for new to the community 15 year olds like me, don't be afraid to share because I'm trying to embrace my sexuality as much as possible but it can be hard when I don't know where to go or turn to to find what I'm supposed to do and where to ask questions and just fully embrass this part of me and it can be hard when I don't even know many if any aspecs so representation is great and it is helpful to hear your experiences and how you handle certain parts, so just keep doing what your doing because it is making a difference [note: 🥺🥺😭]

• i often consider myself more as just aroace rather than aro and ace seperately so i prefer seeing the blue and orange aroace flag over the individual aro and ace flags

• I don't really shorten my identity often with aroace, only when im feeling very romance repulsed and its been a while since I felt romantic attraction. I am a pan-demiromantic asexual. My pan label makes me feel more connected to the lgbt+ community bc it feels like my nonbinary and intersex status doesn't count either. I know I belong in the queer community, but the lgbt+ community is so sexual orientation focused.

• Thank you for having a wide variety of labels to choose from in the options!! I don't see the term aegoromantic very often on things, it feels nice to be known I guess haha

• Thank you for this, i recently started thinking about being in arospec and it was so relieving, all this time i thought something was wrong or maybe i was broken. I'm still trying to learn more about it, and I'm grateful for people willing to teach and help

• didn't realize I hadn't experienced sexual attraction until I finally did and was like "OH, no wonder all my other relationships felt like I was playing pretend"

• I dont often tell people I'm gray aroace. Not because of shame or it not being "as important" (I'm a gay trans dude) but I think because I just feel its a very intimate part of myself, as well as my romanticism and sexuality (in terms of like asexuality) feeling as though it doesn't always need a label. I'm fine just being myself most of the time, a lot of labels can be tricky for myself I think. I'm happy the label exists nonetheless though because Its nice to know I'm not the only one who feels like this.

• I'm queer! But if I'm getting down to the bones of it, I'm pan/ace. Still relearning how to be proud of that, after The Grand Clusterfuck years back.

• even though I would be considered to have an alloromantic orientation, alloace isn't really a term I feel any strong connection or attachment to

• i'd like to add that i do consider myself alloaro and use that label openly but i'd also not consider myself 100% allosexual. i'm questioning my sexuality but even if i do end up feeling more solidly ace-spec i'd still use the alloaro label

• Idk who else does this or if this is interesting enough to write down, but I thought I would! I use Aroace as a label. Other, smaller labels inside that would probably fit me better! Aroace feels too big, like it doesn't *really* define exactly who I am. But at the same time, I prefer using it because more people know what Aroace means (at least compared to myrromantic and myrsexual). I use Aroace so the public can define me. I don't typically use it around my close friends 'cause they already know my idiosyncrasies and where I really am. They already made their own definitions for me, so I don't have to make one for them!

• I'm still figuring myself out, so I leave myself at the blanket terms and hopefully everything'll work out in the end

The rest of the responses are below:

Comments Alerting Me About Typos (that I was then able to resolve)

• There's a typo in your "sexual orientation labels" question, because you have Aroflux listed and not Aceflux, but I didn't want to confuse things so I put Aceflux (which I do use) under Other. I also am polysexual (I flux between polysexual and asexual but I am always aegosexual) but didn't know if I should but it under Other anywhere since it's not an acespec label. I consider my polysexuality tied to me being aego/aceflux though, which is why I mention it here.

• the sexual orientations options are the same of the romantic ones ( for example, there's arovague and arospike in the sexual cathegory)

People Clarifying/Expounding Upon Their Own Identity/Experiences

· to clarify: i'm unsure whether or not i am demi or aceflux; so i use graysexual since both labels technically fall under that as an umbrella term.

• I’m still a confused gorl and I really only know that I don’t like sex it sexual acts but I do like romantic and sensual acts

• Sex/romance repulsed and I have aesthetic attraction

• I'm also animesexual and fictosexual (and romantic I guess but I don't like using the SAM for myself).

• I have never seen most of these labels, haha, I expect one of them is the one I always forget that's for being aro due to past trauma but people always assume it's romantic/sexual trauma so I don't use it and thus have forgotten it...but that's the essay I'm not usually up for writing: was biromantic but then had several awful life events on top of each other and had a complete breakdown and have been aro since. Unclear if it's permanent but it's been 14 years now. [note: I believe this person is thinking of caedromantic]

• I tend to use the word ace more than asexual because it's shorter, but I don't feel more favorably about one than the other.

• i can't tell the difference between platonic vs romantic attraction, and am unsure if people i have "liked" in the past was romantic, platonic, or a fake stemming from peer pressure.

• Also Gender-Neutral/Agender

• I’m gray-aro but identify more with being biromantic even though I know I’m aro-spec. As for sexual orientation, I’m just completely ace xD

• The fact I'm still trying to figure out my gender makes it harder to pinpoint exactly what my orientations are :( but I usually say I'm queer, and if it's safe: Bi Ace, and if I can get more specific: biromantic grey-asexual

• I also use a platonic label (biplatonic). I use it not in a friendship way, but more like in a QPR way.

• Thank you for doing this! My identity on the aro/ace spectrums has shifted a lot over the years and while I’ve just settled on aroace and queer for the most part, this community is so diverse and under appreciated. People who find joy in/identify with micro-identities are valid and deserve representation!

• I'm still figuring out my romantic orientation but it's looking less allo by the day lmao

• My romantic label is very fluid, but in terms of sexual labels, very sex repulsed Asexual

• Content with just Aspec cause it's difficult to pinpoint anything but cool with both asexual/ace and aromantic/aro

• I think of my romantic orientation as halfway between aromantic and homoromantic

• I'm a polyamorous ace, if there'd be a way to include that sometimes that'd be neat :)

• I am still questioning my identity

• I used to identify as 100% ace but now I have no idea other than that I seem to be pan-ace in some way shape or form so my identity is ???people???

• Sex/romance repulsed and I have aesthetic attraction

• to clarify: i'm unsure whether or not i am demi or aceflux; so i use graysexual since both labels technically fall under that as an umbrella term.

Queer Rights

• Trans rights, baybee 🤠🦂

• I just hope a-spec and aro-spec people will experience less negativity and hate this year <3

• Aspec rights!!

• aspec rights, baby

People Being Nice to Me (I appreciated this thank you everyone!!)

· :)

• Have a good day

• Uhhh, cool survey, nice to see a lot of labels.... good job! Nothing I have to add, it was great

• Have fun chief, thank you for your work

• Thank you for creating!

• thanks for the survey! I don't know too many aspec in person so I love participating in things like this about the ace/aro community!

• Thank you for what you’re doing

• just hi :)

• thanks!!

• I really love your blog! Reading your posts always makes me happy :) [note: thank you!]

• Good luck, have a nice day !

• I hope you're having a good day :)

• you're lived and valid af!! have a great day!!!

• Thank you for all your hard work i really appreciate it ☺️

• Drink some water Right Now OP

• Nope, :> hope the best for you.

• Cool survey, 10/10 would survey again.

• 💛

• Have a nice day uwu

• Nope! Have a nice day!

• Thank you for making pride flag edits! They're really nice! [note: thank you!!]

• nope, but this is really cool!!

• ❤️

• Have a good day.

• I think this survey idea is super cool! Definitely a great way to see what sort of aspec people are on tumblr :)

• You are doing the lords work

• Thank you for asking us.

• good luck!

• This is really cute idea :)

• I hope you're having a nice day!

• Good luck in your endevours!

• Thank you for making our community visible!

• Have a good day :3

• Have a good day!!

• Keep doing great stuff!

• Thank you for all the positivity I get from your blog! It's super helpful, keep it up :) [note: thank you!!]

• thanks for doing this. recognition is always nice

• Have fun <3

• Lots of love 💛

• This is a cool project, thanks for doing it and good luck! :)

People Saying They Love Me (and I love you, random a-specs)

· i love you OP!!!!!

• love you, hope you have a great day

An A-Spec Person Being Rude to Other A-Specs

• If you enjoy sex with your romantic partner then you are not asexual

A Person Who Is Not A-Spec Being Rude To A-Specs

• sweetie im sorry that you're so insecure that you feel like you have to make up new identities to feel better about yourself. if you are a lesbian or bisexual please know that you are welcome in the community, but other than that making thousands of microlabels like this makes a huge joke out of what was once an important and respected group. nobody takes us seriously anymore because of this shit. does labelling your identity like this really help you with anything? demisexual and fraysexual and all this are just fancy words for normal human feelings that everyone has. there is no need to microlabel it.

Other

· [variations of “no” (12)]

• not sure that helps lmao but still hope it does. all the best

• Axolotls (or as I like to call them, asexulotls) are amazing and I love them [Note: the man in question]

• Sorry, I can't remember the names of any blogs that do edits

• Ok random but the colors of the aro/ace flag? The blue and orange one? They’re gorgeous.

• I'm not so sure if I should use the aroace flag, I feel comfortable using both aro and ace flags, but I don't like the colors for the aroace flag :c [note: these are in chronological order, it’s a total coincidence that these comments are together]

• Curious to see where the survey goes

• It would be cool if you could also do some aplatonic-spectrum edits!

• there were fully half of the terms on that list that i had never even seen before. like, everything below litho down to no label was entirely new to me. at some point i will look into those! (but not right now, my brain is full enough at the moment)

• actually had to look up the majority of these orientations. Thank you for the opportunity to learn!

• Gonna reblog and follow and hopefully learn a bit more, about others and myself

Note: The only comment that is not listed in order is the first comment, which I put at the top because I found it the most important. It’s so important that kids and teens have space to explore their identity and learn about themselves. The reason I made this blog in the first place was because I was 19 and working on figuring out my gender and sexuality. Now that I’m a bit older and understand things better, I’m so glad that I’m able to help people in this way.

I make it a point to be very openly queer in my life and at work because I need LGBTQ+ people, especially youths, to know that we’re here. I’m lucky that I live somewhere that I can be visibly queer and speak about it openly. We are everywhere, and there’s more of us than you think!

Something that I really like about the comments at the top is that they show how diverse we are, and how people use words differently. Some people feel like they’re more aroace than aromantic and asexual separately, and others consider their romantic and sexual orientations to be completely different things.

I definitely relate to the person who identifies are myrromantic and myrsexual with their friends but just says aroace when speaking with people they don’t know as well. I believe a lot of people use different words depending on who they’re speaking with.

#survey results #aphobia cw

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tomoawards · 6 years ago

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The Tomo Awards 2018

Hi, welcome to The Tomo Awards 2018, baybee. Before I even get started, I just want to say that we are currently in a musical rennaissance, like an absolute golden age, and there are so many albums I wanted to put here but it was just too hard to pick because the current top 18 is just too solid and hard to pick through.

The header title of each album next to their respective number ranking on this list is a hyperlink to the album of Spotify. There will also be some links occasionally throughout the rest of this post for reference’s sake.

This is a link to the official Tomo Awards Spotify playlist of my favorite songs of 2018, in a general favorite to least favorite order. Over 10 hours of music.

Now let's talk about the albums, can we talk about the albums, please guys I've been dying to talk about the albums with you all year:

#18. Denzel Curry - TA13OO

I initially turned my eye to Denzel Curry, not because of his ties to a certain other artist who is finally dead and I won't mention by name, but because he seemed to have been another boring SoundCloud rapper from the outside. The fact of the matter however, is that that label couldn't be further from wrong. Denzel Curry's third and best album to date, TA13OO, is at its core, a commentary of SoundCloud rap culture and all of the vices it carries with it, as well as of life as a black person in America, on top of being a loose concept album, split into three acts: Light, Gray, and Dark, each of which has its own incredible and similar album cover, with the Dark cover often being used as the main one. And while the three sides of the album don't always correlate with the feel of the music itself, it does add a great way to break this already short enough album up into smaller and easier to chew pieces.

While having come up from SoundCloud himself, as well as being a XXL Freshman in 2016, Denzel's sound here is completely different than the scene he came out of, and there isn't a stuttering 808 hihat to be heard until the very last song of the Light side, Sumo, which could easily be a Lil Pump song; and that kind of juxtaposition is exactly the point - it's a caricature of SoundCloud rap, a critical analysis of it, while still finding a way to respect and understand it.

While only sitting at an easy 43 minutes, it's still a three-sided album, so I think it's only fair to give a highlight from each side. The first song and title track TABOO is easily the most essential track on the Light side of the album, while SIRENS featuring JID (who also dropped an incredible album this year) is a huge highlight of the Gray side. VENGEANCE is the biggest highlight of the Dark side, capturing the mood that the Dark concept shows on the album cover perfectly, featuring violently shouted and screamed verses from JPEGMAFIA and ZillaKami, before fading out into a soft and contrasting outro.

Finish 'em, 'Zel.

#17. Behemoth - I Loved You At Your Darkest

Very few bands have a career as enigmatic of a career as Behemoth; the closest comparison I can even think of is The Beach Boys, because it took them both over ten albums to make their magnum opus. When Behemoth released their most acclaimed work in 2014, their tenth album The Satanist, many had declared it to be one of if not the greatest black metal album ever made. The expectations for a true proper followup was almost impossible to hide, and they had even thrown around the idea that they'd never make another album again. So when they finally announced that a follow-up would be coming this year, the pressure was on.

I still don't think it will be possible for them to top The Satanist, but they closest they could do is at the very least match it, and that's just what they've done with I Loved You At Your Darkest. If anything, this album is just as solid as The Satanist was, and if this came first and The Satanist came second, I think the scores would flip, and this one would be the one with all the acclaim; it's hard to truly meet expectations and wow for a second time in a row, but Behemoth really did the absolute most they possibly could to fulfill those expectations. I Loved You At Your Darkest is truly the dark album its title suggest it would be, featuring the same minor guitar riffs that morph into complex harmonic structures with children's choirs and horn sections to back it all up at its highest peaks. This is another album for the history books.

The biggest points of interest on the standard edition of the album itself is the three-song stretch towards the beginning, starting with God=Dog into Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica, and pouring out into Bartzabel. It is, however, an unfortunate fact that the best song on the entire album, O Pentagram Ignis, was left off the full album and instead made a bonus track on the Japanese CD edition of the album.

#16. Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Hometown

Every single time Weezer drops a new album, fans complain, even if it's just by placebo. But whenever a Weezer fan complains, I'm always the first one to point out that Asian Kung-Fu Generation have been making the albums that Weezer fans want for the better part of the last 15 odd years.

Not only have Asian Kung-Fu Generation done that again with Hometown and the accompanying Can't Sleep EP that came out the same day, the album actually features co-writing credits from Rivers Cuomo himself, and it shines through as obvious as ever in songs like Circus and Dancing Girl, both of which respectively sound like the Blue Album and Pinkerton cuts.

Fuck your language barrier. Asian Kung-Fu Generation have made what people wanted The Green Album and every follow-up to be nine times already, and y'all still haven't noticed. All I know is if I hear even one of you jackasses complain when Weezer drops the Black Album early next year, I'm gonna fucking slap you in the face nine times over again with a physical vinyl pressing of every AKFG album from 2003's Kimi Tsunagi 5 M all the way up to this year's Hometown.

The biggest points of interest here are the cuts UCLA which sounds almost like a spiritual followup to the song "E" from their first album, as well as Dancing Girl, which again sounds like it would fit right into Weezer's Pinkerton save for the language difference.

#15. Wednesday Campanella - Galapagos

In the time since My Bloody Valentine, a completely unrelated band outside of this time comparison, have taken to follow-up their 2013 album MBV with even one EP that they've promised to drop the last two years in a row, Wednesday Campanella have had their entire and absolutely colossal career laid out.

Being one of the most artsy, eclectic, and just hard to pin bands in recent music from anywhere in the entire world, it's hard to even figure out what their thought processes is when defining their releases. Their two debut EPs both vary greatly in size - Norway No Mori is a mere 3 songs long, while Crawl To Sakaagari is 9 songs. Comparatively, last year's SUPERMAN, which was labeled an album, was 10 songs long. This year's Galapagos was 8, 9 if you include the cut single Gala as a bonus track like I did, but it's also still technically considered an EP. Meanwhile their 7 song "UMA" project is considered a mini-album. So fuck it, Galapagos counts as an album for this year.

On to it now, Galapagos was a hard record to stomach at first, if not solely by comparison to their previous...I don't know how many records, actually. Every record by them has always been different, sharing only one similarity - the eccentric artsiness that's so well associated with lead singer KOM_I at this point. What differentiates Galapagos the most however, is just how chill it is compared to their previous work, which is what made this a hard listen compared to last year's ball of high electric energy, SUPERMAN.

But what they delivered this year is no less worthy than any of their previous works, still utilizing the best production in the game right now, still being every bit as innovative as Yasutaka Nakata probably still wishes he could be.

The album opener, The Bamboo Princess, is the perfect starter, beginning with a slow and exotic opening melody, exploding into this huge orchestral and electronic hybrid drop. Melos is the other huge high point here, featuring a tight looping drum beat before building up with a watery, hypnotic pre-chorus, and exploding into the biggest hook on the album.

#14. Perfume - Future Pop

Before anything else, I'd like to pose this question: Yasutaka Nakata, what the fuck are you doing? It's a blessing every time we get a new Perfume album, but it's also a blessing that this album even grew on me enough to make it on my list, because it was a very rough first listen and an even rougher rollout - this is a 12 song, 42 minute album, however the amount of actual new music on here equals four songs and roughly 14 minutes. That's actually 2/3s of the album that we have already heard before it even came out. This is of course, not counting the joke of an "intro" song "Start-Up", which, as an instrumental 50 second intro, isn't really a song. But despite being Perfume’s worst album to date, Future Pop is still worth your time and adoration, as Perfume as a band still stands as one of the most incredible achievements in modern music.

So what did Future Pop do right? Well, it’s best to start with some context: the genre of future bass was born and died in 2014; nothing new has been done with it in 2018 that wasn't already done in 2014, not even what Perfume did here with Future Pop. The reason this happened is solely because the genre of future bass has found some mainstream (as far as “mainstream” goes for electronic sub-genres) success in Japan only just this year; despite not having anything new done with it, the genre that’s partially inspired by Japan, has only just found its way into the country itself. Funny how it do be like that sometimes.

But as far as future bass as a genre goes, we've heard it all before. So what makes Future Pop endearing enough to creep onto this list after such an initially awful first impression?

At it's core, it is still very much Perfume. Yasutaka Nakata, although lacking more self-awareness than ever, is still behind the wheel, and his production is still sparkly, hopeful, and clean as anything you've ever heard. Despite the genre changes, his chord choices and a good amount of his songwriting are still reminiscent of even Perfume's best material, aside from the unfortunate few songs which only have instrumental future bass choruses with ad-libs serving as the only vocal parts; what a great hook, am I right fellas?. Future Pop admittedly could fortunately have been so much worse, however. It also could have been much, much better. If anything, Future Pop has officially made JPN no longer considered the band's worst album.

Songs like Chorairin, Tenku, and Tiny Baby hark back to the heyday of classic Yasutaka Nakata production, whereas songs like Let Me Know and Everyday feel just short of being generic, and the presence of FUSION is elusive to my last two brain cells that remain after the rest of them died trying to figure out why the fuck this song even exists on the album in the first place.

Tokyo Girl and Houseki No Ame, the first single and its respective B-side, both already show their age and lack of place in the album’s main genre styling of “future pop”, sounding more like Cosmic Explorer leftovers than future bass bangers. Mugen Mirai and If You Wanna, however, happen to be the two greatest future bass songs ever recorded, with the latter feeling much too short and leaving listeners wanting more, a theme present through the album’s literal 13 minutes of new music in its 44 minute running time. Did I mention that yet? I’m sure I did, but there’s no amount of times I could repeat that to real drive home the fact that Yasutaka Nakata actually thought it was okay to release 13 minutes of new music and have the nerve to call it a “new” album.

The biggest highlights here are Mugen Mirai (無限未来) which despite the future bass goes so unbelievably hard and also Tiny Baby which happens to be one of my favorite songs in their entire catalogue now and I wish every song on this album sounded like it. The titular Future Pop being their second dive into DnB music is a pretty good one at that, with the first DnB song in their catalogue being Point from their 2013 album Level3.

At the end of the day however, this is new Perfume music, and I will always find a way to love new Perfume music no matter what.

“I feel so happy.”

#13. Rosalía - El Mal Querer

Where do I even start with this? Rosalía did something fucking magic here. Combining elements of both flamenco pop as well as a very slight trap influence, Rosalia and co-producer El Guincho are completely next level in every way. Straight out of Spain, Rosalía picked up traction last year with her debut album Los Angeles, and is already back this year following it up with the absolutely brilliant concept album El Mal Querer.

Opening with the moody #1 hit Malamente, brilliantly and minimally produced, the album's tone is set almost immediately. It's both sassy and modest, both maximalist and minimalist. If you're not familiar with the melodic work of Spanish music, the harmonic structure of this album might be jarring and almost entirely new to you. But if you know what you're going to get yourself into, this is going to be one of the most incredible musical experiences you'll hear all year.

The opening track Malamente is of course a huge highlight, but Pienso En Tu Mira is the most standout track here, combining a huge presence of modern R&B-trap in its production and melody with the flamenco stylings of Rosalía’s native Spain.

#12. SOPHIE - Oil Of Every Pearl's Uninsides

Despite losing a lot of its underground steam as well as its cult status in favor of transparency and visibility (which is in no way a bad thing), the PC Music label and associated genre have finally reached their promised potential they showed in the earl 2010s, with records like UMRU's Search Result, last year's POP 2 by Charli XCX, and SOPHIE's "proper" debut album this year. And with Hannah Diamond's debut album Reflections finally releasing early next year, it seems like PC Music's time to truly shine has finally arrived.

Oil Of Every Pearl's Uninsides, which I'll just call "Oil" from here on out, is equal parts breathtaking, uncomfortable, and mysterious. Oil features the kind of absurdist, abstract production SOPHIE came up on, but with a level of polish and palatability that she's never had before. While her original "compilation album”, PRODUCT (which I’m only just now finding out has been relabeled as a “compilation” [Edit: it’s not even officially an album on Spotify, it’s there as an official playlist of the singles that made the album up]), may have sounded like what abstract art looks like, Oil sounds like what a beautiful, colorful, absurdist painting looks like. It’s like Banksy vs. da Vinci, there’s just no comparing.

This is the kind of music that could come to life as a monster. On my first listen, I wouldn't have even flinched if I saw the cones of my stereo bulging as some kind of monster was trying to burst its way out like some kind of scene straight from Stranger Things. This music sounds like that, like something is going to physically break its way out of your speakers. This is the kind of music that I want people who don't believe in the power and capability of electronic music to hear, because it proves something important: those "lifeless" computers, synthesizers, and drum machines can create an absolute hellscape that most guitar players simply aren't capable of or creative enough to make with just a guitar.

The biggest highlights here are Ponyboy, which sounds like the music itself is trying to actually murder you by pounding you against a concrete floor at a rave, and Is It Cold In The Water, which sounds like somebody is trying to murder you by drowning you in a cave.

#11. Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want

What the fuck even is this album. I heard someone say that singer Alexis Marshall sounds like Elvis being forced to sing while being tortured. Musically, Daughters could almost be likened to Nine Inch Nails, but far more raw and more conventional. I really didn't know what to expect when I saw this pop up on Kingdom Leaks weeks before its release, but the artwork looked immediately iconic and it didn't have a pretentious genre tag, so I decided to just give it a go with no expectations.

And that's the best way to go into this. Just know that it's dark, and it might make you feel uncomfortable to the point of anxiety. I'm not even going to say anything else about it. Just go and listen to this, because it is a perfect, beautiful, dark, twisted masterpiece of an album.

Satan In The Wait is the highlight here, for me. It just captures the entire mood of the album. Go get on that.

#10. Band-Maid - WORLD DOMINATION

I'd like to start this off by wholeheartedly apologizing to Band-Maid for how much I've made fun of them and their fans in the past. I'd like to ammend this by saying I do not apologize to their Asian-fetishizing white people fanbase - you're all still creepy, cringey, disgusting little neckbeards.

This really came to me as a surprise. I have ruthlessly made fun of Band-Maid in the past. Like a lot. Despite still enjoying Maid In Japan a lot, which you will get roasted on their subreddit for even saying anything positive about even though it is their second best album next to this one, this one really caught me off guard. And while their first album has a lot of pop centric songwriting, they traded that off on the three records that followed by going super hard and edgy, almost to comedic effect as a way of trying to win over neckbeards who heard a Babymetal and think that you "have to play your own music to be good".

But World Domination does an unbelievable job at combining that hard edge with incredibly catchy pop songwriting, creating a really enjoyable heavy guitar pop experience that I haven't really heard out of Japan since the first BiSH album. Seiko Oomori tried to do similar this year but completely failed at making it stand out to an album like this in the same year, as well as her own past crowning achievements like last year's masterpiece kitixxxgaia.

Anyways, Domination is one of the best songs of the year with a chorus that makes me want to like punch of a fucking window or something, and Anemone is this super emotional pseudo-acoustic banger that will probably make you cry from its chord progression alone.

Band-Maid: I apologize. Band-Maid fans: fuck you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#9. Kero Kero Bonito - Time n Place

Not unlike Band-Maid at all...how the fuck did Kero Kero Bonito of all bands manage to make an album this good after years of embarrassment? Now I've been into KKB for years, since the original Intro Bonito mixtape dropped. Sarah was a part of the same online weeb community I used to be a part of. Everybody pretended to like KKB because they were about the only other weeb music group besides Slime Girls that showed some potential to break through into the actual music world.

But trading in those sick beats for conventional instruments, while not something I'd ever really endorse because guitars don't automatically make music good, dad, happened to be the best thing they could have done. KKB is a real band here now, and their experimental punk, tweed-pop, noise, J-pop, whatever, songwriting on this album makes it an absolute pleasure to listen to. It also doesn't help that Sarah doesn't sing even a word in her awful native Japanese.

Jolly good show, KKB. The second and third songs Time Today and Only Acting are an immediate attention-holder for the rest of the album and absolute show-stoppers.

#8. cacophony - Harmony

Completely out of left field, and off the suggestion of a friend of mine, who I know for a fact that when he speaks highly of something, it's worth that hype. I initially put this suggestion on the backburner until he came back to tell me that this album is on the level of Ringo Sheena's masterpiece Kalk Zamen Kuri No Hana, which still stands in my opinion as one of the top five greatest albums of all time. That's when I cleared my plate and sat down with this.

Cacophony is an artist from South Korea who is still criminally unheard of, especially after an album as personal and breathtaking as this. While I don't think this will ever be the legendary masterpiece that the Ringo Sheena album is, it truly does share a very similar, dark, and personal vibe. Inspired by the unfortunate passing of her mother, Harmony (known as Hwa in Korean) is a dark introspection into Cacophony's grief, and that feeling alone is presented in its gritty but relaxed production as well as her violently powerful vocal delivery.

You don't need to know a word she's saying here; I for sure don't speak Korean or even the occasional French that these songs are in, but the emotions conveyed here transcend any language. It's a dark album, and you genuinely may walk away from this in a bad mood, but it's an album any music lover simply can't miss, so maybe bring your serotonin along with you.

The biggest highlights here are In The End, a strong track with the most emotionally vulnerable and powerful vocal performance of the entire year, and Sick Boy a violent and brooding song that almost feels like it's dragging its own coffin behind it.

#7. Lucie,Too - LUCKY

Lucie,Too shouldn't be as good as they are. By every rule of music theory, absolutely nothing about this should be as fun and investing as it is. Lucie,Too makes the kind of music that every American band like Cayetana and Soccer Mommy wishes they were making. They're making some pretty decent waves, for a relatively tiny band from a town like Utsunomiya, even in the western world.

Lucie,Too is to the point if anything else. Their songs are short and get right to the good stuff. LUCKY, their most-watched song on YouTube, sits at only a minute and a half long; but don't think this is a punk band anything. The song sits at a really easy 93 beats per minute at double-time and just breezes along at its own pace. Most of their songs follow this mellow, flowing tempo, and feature really honest and genuine production - nothing too raw, but not over-polished either. Nothing about Lucie,Too should be as good as it is, but there's just a simplicity and raw honesty to their music that I haven't really heard from much other guitar music recently.

They also dropped a new EP called "exlover" in November that features one of my top three songs of the year, Saigo No Hi, which means The Last Day.

Anyways, the biggest highlight here is probably Siesta and the title track LUCKY, but honestly, the whole thing is short enough to be one highlight in its own right.

#6. KIDS SEE GHOSTS - KIDS SEE GHOSTS

Yeah, Kanye lost his mind, but that's all over the news so you can hear about that somewhere else some other time. Right here and now though, we're here to talk about how mans Kanye still makes some of the most fire music in the game, and this is the worthy successor to every album he's made in the past that Ye just wasn't, despite the fact that I still like Ye a lot more than everyone else seems to, but let's not digress and just get right into it.

Welcome To Heartbreak is my favorite song on 808s, Gorgeous is my favorite song on Dark Fantasy, and Father Stretch My Hands Part 1 is my favorite song on Pablo. So why wasn't I one of the people who was excited for this destined Kanye x Kid Cudi collab album for years and years like everyone else? I guess I just never made the connection, because this is genuinely the exact perfect step forward that Kanye's perfect discography deserves. It's just unbelievable that at such a shaky and tender time for him, he's still capable of making something brilliant.

I admittedly didn't care for this one on my first listen at all. Then I listened a second time and it clicked immediately; this album is as colorful as the Takashi Murakami artwork on the cover, it's as haunting as the ghosts painted on it, it's as psychedelic and moody as you'd expect anything Cudi doing, and it's as brilliantly produced as you'd expect anything Kanye doing.

At only 7 songs and short of 24 minutes, this album is digestible enough to listen to in one quick sitting and easy enough to be one big highlight. But as far as individual songs here, Freeee (Ghost Town Part 2) (best paired with Ghost Town Part 1 from Kanye's 'Ye' album that came out the week prior) is phenomenal, but the biggest highlight to me is Cudi Montage, which features a guitar riff that's immediately obvious as being played by the late Kurt Cobain himself, and eventually evolves into this huge harmonizing climax that's completely unmatched to anything else in the five album Wyoming Sessions that Kanye did this year.

#5. Vince Staples - FM!

Vince Staples is the best rapper alive. There is a tie for first place, but just know he is the one tying for it and the other best rapper alive will be further down this list.

Just right down to it, FM! is hard, and it's short. Continuing along with The Year Of The Short Album, FM! stands at only 26 minutes long, 11 tracks long, 3 of which are small skits; Vince himself actually laughed at the fact that the industry even bothered to call it an album, seeing as the album is just a minute short of being as long as 2016's Prima Donna EP.

There's nothing here as innovative and forward as Big Fish Theory, but that doesn't even matter here. What's special about FM! is that Vince almost seems to be having fun here, at least on the surface. Dive a little deeper into the lyrics, and you'll see that Vince is just as nihilistic and political as ever.

Thematically, the album is presented as a sort of short radio program, featuring DJ skits between songs and previews for other artists like Tyga and Earl Sweatshirt's new music. The beats are hard and pretty standard, but capture the exact amount of discomfort Vince's debut Summertime '06 delivered.

Outside and FUN! are the bangers here to really keep your ears on.

#4. Noname - Room 25

Noname is also the best rapper alive. Y'all have been ignoring her for too long. There, I said it. There is a tie between her and Vince Staples for best rapper alive title. Following up her brilliant 2016 mixtape Telefone, Room 25 is a much darker and more nihilistic approach to the familiar Chicago sound that her and the rest of her hometown borrowed from the old Kanye.

In an industry where Nicki and Cardi B are at the top despite how problematic and lackluster they've proven themselves to be both musically and lyrically, Noname immediately addresses the game's attitude towards women summed up with the simple one liner:

"And y'all still thought a bitch couldn't rap huh?"

Tackling issues like the sexism not only faced by women in the real world, but also within the industry she is a part of, as well as the black experience in America, Noname really comes through on the honest front here delivering bars that artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole probably wish their labels would let them say.

Prayer Song and Self are the real winners here. Just...please go listen.

[ALBUM COVER REDACTED because Noname said she would be having a new album cover created after sexual abuse allegations came after the artist of the original album cover.]

#3. Haru Nemuri - Haru To Shura

I have to live the rest of my life knowing that I am part of the catalyst to Haru Nemuri's western success. It was I who told Anthony Fantano about her. She is now one of the most streamed Japanese artists (IIRC, don’t quote me on that) on Spotify because of his review. If only that melonheaded fuck understood just the level of influence his platform has to give incredible foreign artists the attention they deserve. Ash, my friend and J-music plug, from Arama, shared her with me much earlier this year, and after Haru To Shura came out, I slipped that and LOONA yyxy to Fantano. But enough about melons.

Haru To Shura is a masterpiece. There's no possible way for someone to describe this album to someone who only listens to western music, and that description alone should interest you. To those who have heard music outside of the western hemisphere, this album almost sounds like what Shinsei Kamattechan would sound like if Seiko Oomori were singing instead of Noko. Which is a great comparison, because both Seiko and Noko have been known to collaborate with Haru recently.

This album is raw and abrasive, but it's also strangely beautiful and avant-garde. Haru likes to call herself a "poetry rapper", who raps, hastily monologues to herself, sings, and screams over disgusting and dreamy shoegazey punk music. I like to think of Haru Nemuri as the next in the lineage of out-of-step women in J-pop, the line of which starts with Jun Togawa and follows Ringo Sheena and Seiko Oomori all the way up to Haru.

Sekai wo Torikaeshite Okure is the song that really made me pay attention, and I'd like to hope it'll be that for you too, so go peep that one first if you're remotely interested. And if you're not - have fun living your whole life without this perfect gamechanger of an album

It’s also worth noting she dropped a fucking amazing EP this year called Kick In The World, featuring its title track, an acoustic version, with four asbolutely batshit remixes of the title song sandwiched in-between them. This song was a leftover from the album that she said would have bloated down the tracklist. Finally an artist who has the self-awareness to cut music in favor of the listening experience. Can’t say the same about Drake.

#2. YESEO - Damn Rules

I don't really know where to even start with this one. I've always considered Neon Bunny, Aseul, and YESEO to be the holy trinity of Korean indie electronic music, and while Neon Bunny's Stay Gold might still be one of my favorite albums ever made, Damn Rules proves that the Korea might have a new underground queen.

YESEO came out of nowhere only two odd years ago, and to say she hasn't had a prolific career in that short time would be insulting; in 2016 and 2017 alone she dropped two mini-albums, an EP, a ton of assorted singles, covers, a feature on I.M (of Monsta X fame)'s mixtape, songs for K-drama soundtracks, and a single with SM Entertainment. But all of that was smooth trap and EDM-infused R&B.

What sets Damn Rules apart from not just the competition, but her own past self, is that it's hard; like really fucking hard, and it's dystopian futuristic sounding. Like, this is what the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack should sound like, not some 2000s white people-ass Jack White-ass blues rock bullshit.

The lead single Bitches Rule still stands as one of if not my favorite song of the year. It's gritty, horny, and sounds like a deep cut from the musical landscape of 3018, and that's a theme that continues throughout every song on the album. Even the instrumental track Mess, despite its future bass-driven hook still manages to impress in a way that future bass hasn't since its peak in 2014.

The fact that Damn Rules doesn't have the streaming numbers that last year's Million Things does should honestly be an intergalactic war crime.

This is gonna be one of those albums that people are gonna look back at years from now and go "yeah, that was really something else", regardless of what she does next.

The biggest highlights here are of course the lead single Bitches Rule, the hypnotic electro-trap song Cigarette Light, and the club banger Honey Don't Kill My Vibe, which sounds nothing like the Kendrick song it gets its name from.

#1. Travis Scott - ASTROWORLD

2019 kids will never know what it was like to bombard Travis Scott with memes that say something along the lines of "drop Astroworld right now" every time he tweeted. Let me preface all of this by saying I waited for Astroworld longer than you did. I have been listening to La Flame since the Days Before Rodeo days. I pushed Rodeo on all of my friends who liked hip-hop since the day it came out and all y'all ignored me until Astroworld. Y'all still think Birds is bad. Birds is good; it's better than Owl Pharaoh. It's better than Huncho Jack. Granted, anything is. But Astroworld is as good as Rodeo.

Astroworld is the sequel the real ragers have been waiting for. I'll admit, I was worried after Butterfly Effect, Huncho Jack, Watch, and all of his other recent features save for a few quality ones; I was worried that that generic Butterfly Effect flow would predominate Astroworld. But save for a few small hiccups which honestly don't matter in the grand scheme of things, Astroworld completely delivers on all fronts and defies the expectations he set on himself. It is not just a rollercoaster ride, it is a front to back day out at an interstellar theme park.

Sicko Mode actually sounds like you're on a rollercoaster, with the stuttering snare drops before the beat switch taking the place of a rickety chain pulling you up the hill before Drake pushes you off downhill into four loops or something. Astrothunder actually sounds like you're floating through space under a meteor shower. Coffee Bean actually sounds like you're walking back through the park at the end of the day. Thematically, Astroworld is a masterpiece. Musically, it's two levels above anybody and everybody else in the game.

Astroworld is one of the truly rare cases where something so mainstream with such a large mass appeal normally wouldn't be, and that alone makes it so worth the hype. Very rarely do you see an album so innovative and musically brilliant manage to break the top 10, let alone come out as the number one album of the year. Just like when Frank Ocean's Blonde was snubbed for its Grammy despite overwhelming success and critical acclaim, Astroworld too has been snubbed for its well-deserved Grammy over Drake's piss-poor, lukewarmly received Scorpion.

Songs like Skeletons, Astrothunder, and Can't Say shouldn't even be considered rap songs, because hip-hop is only a surface element here. A song like Sicko Mode, with three beat switch-ups, the first of which happens right as the song starts to take off before cutting itself short, with nothing resembling a hook or any traditional pop song structure, shouldn't even be the #1 radio hit that it is, but it just is. This is the rare example of something that in no way should be mainstream but is and 100% deserves to be. It's the kind of genius that can be appreciated on both the surfacelevel as a casual listener, but also for people have a finer knowledge of music to dive deeper in with.

In a world where each of the Migos, Lil Yachty, Drake, Tory Lanez, and RaeSremmurd are dropping 20+ song albums with almost all filler and little to no killer, it's a breath of fresh air to see an album as long as Astroworld filled with nothing but highlights.

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