#these two were a bit tough since my blue and yellow designs are so simple

[the-owl-tree]

Hiiiiiiii I request bluestar and yellowfang hypokits please :) give those old ladies more kids

on it boss!

[haleviyah]

A Hispanic/ Latino Perspective: Border Clarification

This is one of the rare times I’m going to get somewhat political here, but these comments spread by the media are hitting to way close to home for me, so here I go.

Before you pounce on me, let me explain this: I am a moderate. I favor no sides, I don’t treat people by their titles but rather I prefer to judge by character even though I am not the best at it, admittedly. I favour and respect those who keep their word and own their mistakes. In short, if you do what you promise to do, you have my approval whereas if not, you will bear the brunt of my blunt rebukes and sarcastic remarks.

I am also from South Texas, specifically the Rio Grande Valley, and am a descendent of two humble Mexican families who since the Mexican Border War have made Texas their great escape and home.

Bit of a geographical reference, if you don’t know here where the Rio Grande Valley is. Look at the state of Texas, there is a bulge of state going in each direction that makes it look like a fat, lower-case ���t” : El Paso is the most West of the state, the Panhandle (Amarillo) the Northmost, Texarkana the most Eastward followed by Houston, and WAAAAAAY at the bottom is Brownsville and the Southernmost tip of Texas.

And for those of you too lazy to Google or "DuckDuckGo" the map yourself I've attached it:

The four counties: Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy county make up the Rio Grande Valley. This is the region I grew up, the place where I experienced the best of a community and the worst of politics and failed promises.

For a bit of background: I have a parent working on the Border and they have been for many years (since I was a kid). Pretty much worked from a security officer to trooper within the span of a decade which is quite impressive and rare considering they never took bribes or anything to get where they were currently. They have told me off and on what their job is like. It’s crazy and boring some days, but also they have admitted somethings that may be fascinating. One of which is, yes, they do own horses and the reason why is so the Troopers can maneuver around tough terrain vehicles cannot go through (such as high water or narrow foot paths in brush). HOWEVER, they DO NOT OWN WHIPS. They don’t even own lassos, according to my Border Agent parent.

The only weapons agents on horse back have is a Glock, ammo, a taser, cuffs, and sometimes shot guns (but they prefer to carry light for the horses and themselves to be more flexible). They mainly carry items that would slow a person down or prevent them from hurting other people, officer or civilian; not for killing. So a whip is absolutely redundant or even absurd to have.

Those long ropes the Troopers are holding are called reins, and they are designed for steering a horse (horses cannot move opposite of the direction of their head; where their head is pointed they move in that direction). They are not made for whipping people, but rather made to get the horse’s attention. That’s it.

I took the liberty of highlighting the reins in red for you all as well as their arms and legs in blue and yellow in contrast to the reins and saddle.

It's clear from a Texan's or horse-riders perspective this Trooper almost fell off catching the other fellow and was holding onto the left rein for dear life hence why the horse looked distressed and its cheek was pulled back.

I'm not joking, you fucking try it if you're so damn horse-smart.

Now, let's look at a more relaxed position.

In short, if you haven't ridden a horse, I advise to keep your comments to yourself on this part. I have and it's way harder than it looks (horses can get cocky).

Second thing, the migrants.

Personally, I don’t know why they were so squirrelly that day. Perhaps they were spooked because they’ve never expected horse back riders to show up, maybe they had some bad experiences back home.

I don’t know!

But it’s clear there appears to be a lack of communication. Perhaps it’s the language barrier given that these guys came from Haiti, African countries and Brazil. English they probably know, but they probably don’t speak a lick of Spanish (Which both languages are mandatory for the Border Patrol).

(Again, I don't know...)

So the reasons why they started running circles around the Troopers’ horses is not for me to speculate, it’s not for YOU to defend blindly, nor is it up for the media to interpret and evangelize.

That should be left to the people to explain. No one else.

(Update: September 29th. I received a tip from a source that the Haitian immigrants (mainly) are not running from anything, they aren’t seeking asylum nor were in poverty as the media claims. They have admitted upon interview they were what we consider middle-low class and had no issues finding jobs before they decided to migrate northward. They’re just coming because they were told to come by “you-know-who”��� that’s all. I know, I’m taken aback and scratching my head, too… but anyway. I digress, but do take note.)

Now, another bit of feedback I want to share: When it comes to dealing with Troopers (again, must I remind you this is a Border Patrol agent’s kid speaking), big rule:

DO NOT RUN nor MAKE THREATENING MOVEMENTS. Be calm.

It’s a simple rule, if you’re cool with the Troopers they’ll be cool with you. That’s it. Please respectfully keep in mind, these guys are trained to be safe rather than sorry. So patience and understanding with them is a must. Trust me, I’ve met my parent’s co-workers, they may look stoic and scary or condescending, but they can not let personal emotions interfere their work otherwise they risk safety.

They’re not “paranoid” or “harsh” they just have a job they cannot afford to fuck up otherwise the whole region is FUCKED. They’re the front line of defense, and do keep that in mind.

(Another footnote: I have seen Border Patrol offices, and without giving away how they function it’s not like CIA or Langley level of clean or fancy, so don’t think their offices are high tech and have marble floors with comfy lounges that cost a lot of money. Upon first glance you won’t expect the building to be an office. Border Patrol work with what they have available which isn’t a lot thanks to the ’00, ’04, ’08, ’12 and current administrations. That’s all I can give out.)

I’m going to come clean here and say the citizens in the Rio Grande Valley and the rest of Texas DO NOT FEEL SAFE with a border this wide open and no regulation is applied. Especially the Hispanic/Latino communities. So the pressure is on - and I mean REALLY on! Despite these guys working the Border are overwhelmed, they keep those emotions and opinions on lockdown when on the field. Like I said: If they fuck up, the region is fucked.

Bit of a history lesson: the Border issues on the Rio Grande are not new. Matter of factly, this problem has been happening for decades (The popular peak was during the 80s when cocaine was being distributed), but it was more than just cocaine and pot: Kids were going missing, people getting killed, women were used as mules and sold for sex, etc.

If you watched “Narcos” or “Sicario” you have a brief, dramatized taste of how the cartels function and what life is like for us Latinos. However, coming from someone who grew up there, the parts of watching your back, the abductions and even the gruesome murders are legit. To this day I remember seeing local news coverage (not CNN or MSNBC, our own stations down in the McAllen/Brownsville area) of beheadings, child murders and bodies being found in pieces… It’s something I hope my children won’t have to grow up hearing almost weekly like I did. Now it’s daily… and no one cares. And that hurts.

In the grand scheme of things, at least know this: South Texas has been part of the Cartel battle grounds and it’s obvious we’ve seen shit. Constantly being ignored is the payment we get for being front lines in the Drug War. So don’t blame us for being jumpy, or skeptical, nor even try convince us that the current surplus of immigrants is a good thing.

You can’t argue with our own experiences and history. The way things work down here is simple: You fight along side us, we fight along side you.

It’s called building trust, practicing faith. But we’ve been forgotten and lied to too many times by celebrities and politicians and social movements alike. And those who actually were going to help us are either shut down or unfortunately killed.

We just can’t trust anyone anymore. We are resorting to fending for ourselves basically, speaking up for ourselves… and so far it’s making progress in the mean time.

This level of “doing things on your own” bleeds into why our Troopers are trained they way they are trained - to expect the worst case scenario. To prepare themselves for the corpses, when a criminal pounces, the drugs being hid, for when they find a child with an adult they don’t know, or even a woman who was violated. They just genuinely don’t want to take chances and you just read why. Even my in-laws up in the Northern Midwest are disturbed.

So, considering the case of what happened a few days ago in Del Rio, Texas (as of writing this on September 25th 2021): If you run from a Trooper the first thing they are going to think is either two things:

You did something bad upon coming in to the country or

You don’t want your former government to find you because you did crimes in your home country or the country you were hiding in.

This is protocol, not biased opinions.

If, however, a Trooper commits any form of irresponsibility (such as abusing their power, unreasonable search and seizures etc.) it’s “kiss your badge good-bye” and DEMOTED or FIRED. The stakes of keeping your job in the Border Patrol are HIGH, so they are trained not to act out of line. Even a minor slip up in paper work from being fatigued gets you in SEVERE trouble with the Higher Ups and the County (Yes, that does happen and has happened). But you have to KNOW Border Patrol standards before you accuse them of anything.

With that being said, what’s floating around is not a constructive argument; it’s a distraction. How the public is demanding the trooper in the photo to be fired, tells us Latinos loud and clear that - once again - no one cares about our livelihood; no one is willing to brave enough to face the real hell going on. We are ignored or low-key demonized for simply defending ourselves.

(Now, you guys are seeing why I relate to my Jewish husband and the Israeli’ citizens - Arab and Jew - more; we’re pretty much in the same boat in the case of being ignored. But I digress.)

Before I come to a conclusion, here are other demographic facts to keep in mind that way it’ll help draw conclusions:

86.6% of the Border Patrol is HISPANIC/LATINO in the State of Texas alone.

A majority of children stolen from their families or molested are HISPANIC/LATINO.

A majority of the women violated immigrants on the border are mainly HISPANIC/LATINO.

Latin America collectively (Mexico down to Colombia and Venezuela) has the highest rates of femicide in the world.

So for you or anyone to get angry at Border Patrol agents in an unjust manner, not only are you getting mad at Hispanics and Latinos in UNIFORM for fighting to keep their communities safe, but you are actively contributing to the hell our families go through every day.

When you protest in demand for our cops or even troopers to be defunded, and fired for petty things, YOU are actively contributing to the problem of human trafficking, rape, kidnappings and murder that happens on the border. You are contributing to the Hispanic and Latino communities being dismantled and disintegrated by people who potentially want to kill us or hate us for money’s sake.

Take all of that into consideration before you get angry at anyone here.

In short:

I’ll only consider the accusations if you yourselves have been there and know the burdens we bear.

I’ll only consider your judgement if you genuinely are in law enforcement and know how to ride a horse and try to stop someone from running while riding the beast.

I’ll only consider your feedback if you don’t rely heavily on news like CNN, Telemundo and Tumblr for your information.

Until you grab a gun and fight the cartel yourself, and figure out a way to end this war on human trafficking, don’t come to us Latinos and express that you care and appreciate us.

Because frankly if you GENUINELY did, you’d bring to light what I just said and be slamming the desks at D.C. and DEMANDING the Border to be CLOSED by now.

Regardless of your political and personal beliefs, this is what is REALLY going on, and we’re going to keep fighting. Like the Israeli’s we don’t give a fuck if you hate us. We’re not radicals, we’re not blood-thirsty heathens, we’re not white supremacists (80+% of our population is of Latino Mexican descent) we’re just fed up with running away and being taken advantage of or taken for granted by people who value money over the lives of our neighbors.

If this were California, fine! Rail all you want, cuss us out as much as you want; hold us to those to California standards you keep yourself. But we’re not California.

We’re not D.C., nor Chicago, nor L.A., or New York, Florida, Canada, Mexico or whatever. We are SOUTH TEXAS so treat us as SOUTH TEXAS.

Honor us for who we are and hold us to the standards of what is SOUTH TEXAS, what is The United States Constitution, and the Texas Constitution; nothing more and nothing less. Don’t tear us down for what we’re not nor hold us accountable to an opinion or law we never agreed to nor knew existed.

That’s all I ask: If you’re not willing to honour our community and help us while holding us to our standards on a cultural, State or Federal level, back the fuck off. Generations we’ve dealt with the pressure from both the cartel and corrupt government from both the U.S. and Mexico, and the last thing we need is pampered kids living in the high rises or going to university on loans from school or your parents' paychecks, telling us how to deal with our issues.

You are FAR from a place to tell us how to function and resolve our war.

I’m not trying nor want to start a fight or otherwise, but I’m simply, humbly asking: when did we ever genuinely ask you “social justice advocates” to be our hero?

When did we ever ask you to fight for us or talk about what you think is wrong with us? Because last I checked we don’t want to drag anyone into our battles.

Also, we only know one messiah, but we never asked you to be him nor for him to act like you.

Did you start throwing punches because you wanted to find something to excuse your anger and outbursts, or is your good intentions married with ignorance?

Either case… it’s extremely unhealthy of you, and please just stop before another person gets hurt. We don’t want that. This is no different from the Crusades our ancestors took part in, and it will only end in more carnage than already sown.

So, just please, stop and take a step back for a moment. We don’t need anymore vehement evangelical-like people who just think with their ideals and not take a moment to have a healthy discussion with the One who created us, or let alone divorce their lust for a fight for ten seconds.

To close this off, even though I haven’t been home in a while, I know the spirit and the struggles the Rio Grande Valley goes through. I have met people on the run from the cartel first hand, and I have met people who may have ties with the cartel. I have seen some creepy shit, I have grown frustrated over the Protestant Baptist church doing nothing, and I have even been feeling the pressure my parent goes through with these apathetic riots threatening their job as a Border Patrol agent.

But aside from the pain, I am tremendously blessed that people and my family are still very optimistic despite the craziness and how bleak things are.

The family-oriented culture of the Rio Grande Valley is what is keeping it together… not trends, not clout and neither these guys in D.C. or Hollywood who are playing G-d.

It's the family-oriented connection. Our faith, that's keeping us going.

And even though I may not be the best voice of that region to speak up, I am blessed to have been there and I do plan on coming back soon.

I am planning on giving a more fun journal featuring the culture of the Rio Grande Valley in the future to finish this month off, but for the sake of this “Hispanic Heritage Month” I wanted to share our REAL issues we deal with rather than the made up ones that media likes to mainstream for money and clout.

In a way, I hope this offers clarity and a level of empathy. Again, I’m not sharing this to start fights or get sympathy - we don’t want it. We just want to know if our fights are not ignored, we just want to know we are heard.

That’s all.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Pokemon Generation I & II

Pokemon is one of the biggest media franchises on the planet since 1996, and while it’s never exactly hit the same highs as it did back in the 90s, the franchise has been going strong for over two decades regardless. So, in honor of the latest entries in the franchise, I decided to take a look back at the old generations and look at what worked and what didn’t about them, though obviously in my own style. And what better place to start than the original two generations, Generations I and II?

Let’s start with Generation I, which includes the three games that started it all – Red, Blue, and Yellow, though back in the franchise’s homeland of Japan they had Green instead of Blue (hence why we got FireRed and LeafGreen, but no WaterBlue). These are the games that launched the franchise into the stratosphere of popularity, and for a long time they were held up as the gold standard of Pokemon games, attracting a die-hard base of “fans” known as Genwunners, who would bash anything outside of the first 151 Pokemon. Lately that sort of opinion has declined, though you still get the odd person here and there whining about how newer Pokemon designs look like Digimon, which indicates that the person saying that is unfamiliar with either franchise.

But what of the games themselves? What are they like? I have long expressed distaste for the Gen I games, mostly because of my hatred of Genwunners, but ultimately my opinions on the games are a lot more mixed. I do believe that Yellow is a genuinely good game and probably how the first generation should be experienced if you really want to go back to the old games, but my opinions on Red and Blue are a bit more mixed – but, shockingly, mostly positive.

You see, here’s the thing with Pokemon games – even at their worst, they’re still fun, and Red and Blue prove that. These are impressive games for their time that had the misfortune of aging far worse than a lot of their contemporaries, mostly due to the nature of the games themselves – any sort of franchise based on collecting and battling among groups of friends is going to need a lot of polish between releases, which will inevitably leave older games in the dust, especially when each generation after would add more and more Pokemon with each new generation. But even if they haven’t aged all too well, there’s still plenty of fun to be had here, though a lot of it is not in ways the creators intended.

Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first – the balance in this game is absolutely atrocious. There are some types that are just objectively better than others, some types are so scarce as to be utterly useless, some moves don’t work like they’re supposed to, some of the computers use moves they shouldn’t know… the game is a hot mess, to put it lightly. At points the games feel frustratingly unplayable, especially when you come up against Sabrina, the gym leader wielding the all-powerful type of Gen I, Psychic.

The more mixed parts of the game are the story and the beloved, exploitable glitches. The story here… well, there isn’t one. There’s sort of an excuse plot in place - you have to beat all the gyms, challenge the Elite Four, and battle your rival (who you can name whatever, but I’ll be referring to him by his canon name, Blue). Other than that, though? There’s not really any sort of overarching plot. You kind of just wander into situation after situation on your way to the next gym. Even the whole Team Rocket plot here is mostly just you beating them up because they prove to slightly inconvenience you at every turn. Unlike in later entries, where the player is roped into saving the world from destruction at the hands of all-powerful PokeGods. Here the plot is basically ���Young boy accidentally foils the Mafia while on a walk with their pet.” It’s so hilariously simple it’s hard to totally hate it, and to be perfectly fair a lot of early RPGs had rather simplistic plots, and this was one of the first handheld RPGs, so I cut them a bit of slack here, especially seeing as we at least got Giovanni out of this.

The glitches are infamous and iconic, but even them I’m a bit mixed on. Like, I love Missingno as much as everyone else, but I think tat if you need to break a game this hard to have fun, it kind of ruins things. I feel the same way about the glitches as I do the Crissaegrim in Symphony of the Night sure, they’re cool, flashy, and powerful, but they make the game so pathetically easy from that point onwards it just isn’t that entertaining anymore.

Still, this game does excel in one area: character. There are a lot of great characters in this game, human and Pokemon. A lot of the gym leaders are absolutely iconic, and the Elite Four is mostly interesting, though I will say that they lack a lot of character compared to later Elite Fours (though he Gen III remakes ameliorated this problem). It’s pretty impressive how so much character was able to be crammed into these characters even though they are ostensibly just roadblocks on your way to the next gym.

Then there are the Pokemon. The designs in this generation are pretty simple, occasionally to a fault, but there is a reason for this: a lot of Pokemon are based on yokai or tsukumogami, both of which are pretty essential in Japanese folklore. Tsukumogami in particular are something the franchise seems to absolutely love, with the Voltorb and Magnemite lines being notable examples from this generation. Other Japanese folklore represented in this Generation include kitsune, which the Vulpix line is explicitly based on, kappas, which Golduck is inspired by, baku, which the Drowzee line represents, and so in. In fact, the entire concept of Pokemon is so entrenched in the concepts of yokai and Japanese spirits that it is endlessly amusing to see Westerners nitpicking the designs, ignoring the cultural meaning behind them. Pokemon have a variety of inspirations obviously, but the weirder you think a design is the more likely it is to have been based off of some sort of yokai.

I think the definitive Gen I experience is Yellow, which is inspired by the anime. You start off with Pikachu who follows behind you at all times, you can acquire all of the starters, the game overall feels more polished (but not overly so), and you get to fight Jessie and James. It’s a lot of fun, and it doesn’t heavily alter the story, instead adding a few neat little additions, something that would become common with third versions in the franchise. The Kanto games are a solid start to a franchise, but they definitely could have used a bit more work…

That’s where Generation II comes in.

Generation II honestly feels like what Generation I should have been like, leaving Red and Blue as the unpolished alpha, Yellow as the beta, and Gold and Silver as the full release. In fact, it kind of leaves the  second gen feeling a lot more like an expansion pack than anything else, but not in an obnoxious or bad way like a certain other game (COUGHOverwatch 2COUGH). These games are so much better in just about every conceivable way, it’s not even funny.

A lot of important series mainstays made their debut here. The biggest and best is probably the introduction of the Dark and Steel types, the latter of which really feels like it should have been in Generation 1 to begin with. Steel quickly established itself as a very defensive type, and Pokemon of that type are just naturally tough due to Steel resisting nearly every other type in the game, with it only being nerfed slightly once the games jumped to 3D. Dark on the other hand was extremely cool in concept, but a lot of the Pokemon of the type were not able to properly utilize their impressive movepools due to Dark being classified as a Special type and a lot of early Dark-types running with high physical stats.

Let me clarify real quick: prior to Generation IV, the type of the move determined whether it ran off of Physical or Special Attack, no matter how ludicrous it seemed. That means Dark moves like Bite and Fire moves like Blaze Kick ran off of the Special Attack stat despite almost always appearing on Pokemon that had much higher Physical Attack, leaving a lot of Dark-types in the dust until the Sinnoh games rolled along and balanced things. Still, this bump in usability did not stop Dark-types from being popular and beloved, with Pokemon like Umbreon, Sneasel, and Houndoom all debuting here in the land of Johto.

Speaking of new Pokemon, fewer were added this time around, only about 100, sort of fitting in with this game feeling like an expansion pack. A lot of the new Pokemon are odd and gimmicky, with strange creatures like Unown, Delibird, and Shuckle making their debut here, as well as the almighty Dunsparce. While time would be kind to some of these (Dunsparce and Shuckle in particular have gained niche uses and cult fandoms), other gimmicky Pokemon got left in the dust. Still, I do think having weird, gimmicky Pokemon adds some flavor to the world. If there’s one thing I am upset about, it’s some of the Pokemon that were cut from the game, revealed to the world in the prototype version of Gold and Silver that leaked online. We almst got a new Shellder evo that looked like Slowbro’s tail, as well as Pokemon like Lickilicky debuting two generations earlier (and with a far better design). Still, what we got is pretty impressive, and though I find Johto a tad bit vanilla, there are a lot of Pokemon I love in this generation.

Another great addition to the franchise is lore behind the Legendary Pokemon. Gen I did have a bit of lore in regards to Mew and Mewtwo if you chose to read all of the journals in Cinnabar Mansion, but the bird trio got nothing and sort of just felt like random bonus bosses than Pokemon really deserving the title of legends. In this game, every legend introduced feels legendary. Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Ho-Oh, and Lugia all have fascinating lore behind them, and while they don’t play a major part in the story or factor in to Team Rocket’s plans (save for Suicune in Crystal, who has its own subplot), it showed that even this early on they were working on making the legendaries feel bigger and more impressive to the point they deserved their title as legends.

Then of course there are the new additions to gameplay and collecting that helped really make the franchise shine. The introduction of held items is one of the most significant; now there were even more ways to improve your standing in a battle! Give your mon a berry, they’ll eat it when their health gets low! This feature would be expanded on in later games, but its start here introduced a whole new world of possibilities. There was also the splitting of the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense a choice that helped balance the games and not completely overpower the Psychic type. And speaking of, Type distribution was quite a bit better in these games, though the new types Steel and Dark as well as Ghost and Dragon were still fairly underutilized and rare.

 Then there is the introduction of gender and breeding, which allowed players to get new Pokemon by leaving two Pokemon in the same egg group in a day care together. This not only allowed for the introduction of new baby Pokemon (which are largely useless and Pokedex filler if I’m being honest), but it gave the transforming blob of jello Ditto a new lease on life, as it could breed with absolutely ANYTHING, even some genderless Pokemon. Finally, we have the introduction of shiny Pokemon, Pokemon that had a different coloration than normal Pokemon and that almost surely existed to show off the power of the Game Boy Color. Back in Generation II, shinies were guaranteed to have perfect IVs of some sort or another to make their rarity more worthwhile, but this was scrapped after this gen. Still, there is nothing cooler than having that fabulous Pokemon with its incredible sparkle pop up while you’re roaming the wild, and nothing sadder than realizing you don’t have any balls to catch it.

The story here is also improved, which is a plus. A rarity for Pokemon games going forward, these games were true sequels to the originals, taking place a few years after the events of the Gen I games, and so the plot concerns the player getting roped in to not only stopping the remnants of Team Rocket trying to rise to power yet again, but also fighting off a mysterious rival named Silver, all while trying to complete the gym challenge. The stakes are a bit higher this time, but not overly so, and the plot definitely feels bigger and more important, with their being a sense of “I have to stop Team Rocket or something bad could happen” rather than “Ugh, these guys are blocking the way to the next gym, guess I better get rid of them.” And if that’s not enough, this has one of the more impressive post-games for the series… for its time. Much has been made of the late, great Satoru Iwata’s impressive cramming of the entirety of Kanto into the game, and you won’t hear me say that for the time these games came out what he did was impressive. 

The thing is, this accomplishment has aged about as well as the games the Kanto region debuted in. Gen II’s version of Kanto has a very poor level curve, meaning you can basically steamroll through most of the gyms, and a lot of areas are blocked off, gone, or cut down. While it is cool to see all these places two years after the original games, it’s not nearly as fun when you’re crushing underleveled Pokemon and you can’t access Cerulean Cave or the legendary birds. When you finally acquire all the badges though, you get to head to Mt. Silver and make your way up to one of the definitive bonus bosses of the franchise – Red, the player character of the original games. He’s a pretty tough opponent, and the game seems to lean towards making Yellow the true canon game as Red has all three starters plus Pikachu,

There’s not much else to say, as there isn’t too much negative to say about the Johto region or the games. The definitive version is, of course, Crystal, as it has a bit of extra story and polish to it and even let you play as a girl for the first time, and though there are aspects that the remakes of these games would improve on, the Generation II games are actually extremely solid and a lot of fun to play to this day, even if they haven’t yet achieved optimal balance for Pokemon. At the very least, they’re a lot more fun and playable than the Gen I games.

It’s pretty undeniable that the first two generations put Pokemon on a pretty solid path of progression and started the franchise off with a bang. There was really nowhere to go from here but up, and boy oh boy did they ever go up from here.

[thetakenpokemon]

Act 2 - ‘Gas’ Station

[PoV: Bladesong]

Back before I was a cyborg, I used to be able to walk for a little while before needing to rest. Sure everyone can walk quite a distance, but eventually your feet will start aching to the point where you really need to sit down.

Now a few miles? I admit that my feet weren’t really tough enough for something that far, especially since it takes about an hour to walk that. Now that I’m a cyborg though, walking that is laughable since I can travel several miles at a full sprint and not feel an ounce of exhaustion - the travel time being far less than an hour I might also add.

Chimera’s the same way in this regard, due to his Deoxys genes he experiences exhaustion on a level different from us. So trekking several miles is simple to us two. Velvett however? Not quite as simple. We had to make a brief stop for her to rest her feet, but it didn’t take very long since she was ready to continue after around ten minutes.

For the walk itself? It wasn’t until we were getting close to our destination I began to see traces of Progrian life - the most noticeable being the roads.

I’ve seen asphalt roads before, since some cities and places in Evolutia have cars. But these roads? They’re different. It’s white with glistening yellow lines on it, the road being so smooth that it only seems like metal. Lining it are countless metal lamps, their similarly white bodies strangely not reflecting any sunlight.

Not a single car though.

“The station is over there~” Velvett says, pointing towards a small building in the distance. “Once we get into my car, I’ll take us straight to my place in New Falkhom City.”

“Sounds good.” Chimera responds neutrally.

His mood still hasn’t improved much since the name fiasco, sadly.

The rest of the walk was in relative silence, although not quite as uncomfortable - from what I can tell at least. I spent a lot of my time observing the road mostly, the whole shininess of it making it incredibly tempting to just walk up and touch it. I didn’t do this though, since Chimera gave me several rundowns on Progrian laws involving traffic and what-not.

‘Unless during an emergency or if there’s no assigned walkways, pedestrians aren’t allowed to walk on the roads where vehicles drive.’

Well, honestly that sounds less like an actual law and more of a personal rule of his. I didn’t argue though, and I won’t do that now - especially since there’s a sidewalk beside the road for us.

Once we arrive at this gas station, I notice that the place really is...rather tiny. It’s just a small convenience mart, and it only has enough fuel dispensers to house up to two cars.

Sheesh, I guess this area doesn’t get much traffic.

As I’m checking the place out, the second thing I notice is that the fuel dispensers look...very different. Back in Evolutia I’m used to seeing the standard gasoline pumps - with the nozzle and all, but these? They look akin to that of generators, and their ‘nozzles’ share a strong resemblance to plugs.

Then I saw the sign.

"Zach’s Charge Shack?” I say aloud, reading the prices for how much it costs to charge vehicles. “Wasn’t this supposed to be a gas station?”

Velvett shrugs. “That’s what the people in Progria still call them, although they’ve long since switched from gasoline to electricity for their cars.” She taps her lip with a finger. “They’ve massively increased the efficiency of electrical cars from what I remember. That and combining the fact that they’ve found far superior methods of producing power? Fossil fuels are practically nonexistent in Progria now.”

Chimera nods his head. “Various corporations realized how profitable it was to sell electrical power instead of gasoline, so the switch was relatively fast.” He crosses his arms, his expression becoming thoughtful. “This was also due to the fact that vast amounts of technology being made also depended on electricity, and with nuclear fusion now being a staple for power plants? It’s-”

“Wait wait wait wait!” I interrupt him. “Nuclear fusion?! They’ve succeeded in creating fusion reactors?!”

He looks at me with confusion. The look didn’t last though since he realized that I’m not well-versed in Progria - besides the essential stuff he told me. “I don’t remember the exact date, but I do know that it was around twenty years ago that fusion reactors were being produced wide-spread for commercial use within Progria.” He cups his chin with a hand. “I often forget that us Progrians tend to guard our knowledge on technology, not only from Pokemon of Evolutia but also from the rest of the outside world.”

“Us Progrians?” Velvett repeats, stopping and turning to him with her own confused look. “Are you saying that you’re a Progrian?”

Both Chimera and I blink.

Hold on, she doesn’t know that he was originally a Human? I kinda thought that the GoT might’ve informed her about this, since...well...that’s kinda important since we’re right in the middle of a country consisting ENTIRELY of Humans.

Chimera looks at her for a long while before shaking his head. “Forget it.” He mutters. “We need to keep going, we’ve hung around long enough.”

Velvett didn’t look very happy with this response, but she wisely chose not to press the issue. Instead she turns and walks towards one of the corners of the lot in the ‘gas’ station, in which I see a black car.

Now, I’ve seen a few cars when I’ve went to the more advanced towns and cities of Evolutia. They looked pretty cool and all, ranging from ‘SUVs’ to ‘trucks’.

But this car? Damn.

It has a very smooth and sleek design, reminding me that of the rare Sports Car in Evolutia. However this thing looks much bigger than those - since said Sports Cars tend to be rather cramped for size. But besides that, I have a strong feeling that this car would easily beat any regular Sports Car in a race tenfold.

Velvett reaches behind her back and pulls a set of keys seemingly out of thin-air. The only explanation I could give would be that they were hidden in her extremely long hair - which is currently disguised to be very short from her illusion. With the keys in hand she presses a button on it, and the car immediately lights up with several flashes from its headlights.

“Alright, time to load up!” She says, pressing another button that causes the trunk to open.

The trunk was surprisingly spacious, being big enough for us to fit the numerous stuff we brought with us. Once everything was packed away we all climbed into the car - carefully in my case due to my extremely heavy weight. Much to my surprise though the car didn’t even budge when I got in - nor is it even slightly leaning towards the side I’m sitting in. All this can tell me is that this thing is built to carry heavy loads - whether this is a specialized trait though I’m not sure.

Also...damn... The inside looks just as nice as the outside too.

The seats are very soft and comfortable, being made of a black fabric that I don’t recognize. There’s lots of buttons and knobs around the place as well, allowing the people inside to adjust the interior to make themselves more comfortable.

Currently I’m sitting in the right-rear side of the vehicle while the suit-case holding Trojan is on the left, Chimera is currently in the passenger seat while Velvett is obviously in the driver’s.

“Buckle your seatbelts!” She says, tapping the keys against a glowing blue light on the side of her steering wheel. Upon contact the car starts up, unlike the normally loud rumbles that a gasoline engine makes, the sound coming from this car is instead soft hum.

It took me a little bit to figure out how to put on a seat belt - to my embarrassment, but I managed to wrestle the thing into the slot.

With all of us secured in our seats, Velvett shifts the vehicle in drive...

...and then we were off.

[unlimitedblogworks]

Tsukihime - Completed Archuied route <SPOILERS>

I finally went ahead and decided to dip my toes into the Type Moon verse! And what else is a better choice then their very first release Tsukihime~

Tsukihime is a very interesting piece, It has an incredibly soothing atmosphere that brings ones mind to peace, this is in great effect with its background art which is often duotone but through that in combination with the music is able to evoke certain moods and emotions, The melancholic oranges, the clear blue skies, Those yellow faded memories, The purple freakishness of when Shiki takes off his glasses. Vile reds of murder, Its simple color usage but it works very well to leave an impression. The amount of Orginal soundtrack and art is quite limited yet it is still able to achieve quite a bit with those elements. The sprite art itself is adorable. Their expressive to the point where I can nearly hear the voices of the characters evoked by those expressions, Ciel especially comes to mind with expressiveness. All the little gestures in the character sprites really fits well within the entire mood of the game. Its blissfull and fun. The art is really simple but damn does it suit its purpose well in conveying the scenes and the emotions of the characters.

Hisui.

I adore hisui, Hisui is without a doubt in my mind my favourite in Tsukihime so far. This is because of her very reserved nature and the way she has trouble with expressing her own emotions. That is a character idea I’v always really enjoyed and it fits really well with how hisui fits into the story as a maid to. She’s reserved and often seems to have trouble to express herself towards others and when she does has to really try her best to express her thoughts, there are even scenes where Hisui completely zones out just to think about whats being conveyed to her and how she should respond to that. I honestly cannot wait until her route or to see even more content of her. Her expressions and small amounts of dialogue towards shiki are honestly lovely.

Archuied

I like Archuied quite a bit I think she is also an adorable girl and her mannerisms are very loveable. Her design is great and I think the way her character is written is quite well done to. I really like the way her vampireisms were taken into account with her characterization and character writing as well as her dynamic shiki. Arc is somebody who doesn’t know the world or somebody who only has grasp on it through theoritical means and only having read about it. She has never truly experienced life at hand and was only able to learn through the things she read of the current times but never to fully and truly indulge. This is also what I like with her and Shiki’s dynamic. Shiki Gives Arc a chance to indulge but also learns her important lessons such as the simplicities of life and that not even the things that may deemed “pointless” have their own values. Not everything should have purpose. In a way just living is good enough. Just being able to walk across fields and enjoy yourself, to have existance is enough. I really loved those scenes with shiki and Arc as there was an appreciation of life itself. And the way of showing these different froms of living the to had was very soothing and nice to view. “The dusk classroom, bathed in the red sun, a vulnerable looking girl.” The red sun that she is being bathed in is in reality Shiki’s warmth and love for her and him showing her a different way to look at things while also hearing her time and patience. I liked those final scenes of the true ending a lot as well. That final conversation with Shiki and Arc is something I’d like to reread as well since it felt quite poetic. Fading into the orange sky. And a crimson sky being painted over by a dark blue, a part of shiki’s life ending in that sense. A beautiful memory is all that is left. I especially wonder how I feel about the last lines of the moon. WIll think about it more.

I like Shiki as a conceptual character a lot, his outview towards life is something I can definantly get behind. I think its really interesting how sweet he is yet these vile strong and grim emotions effect him. Compressed and shoved away sometimes those negative emotions come up in the worst ways and at the worst times. He also feeds into other characters quite good to.

Also I felt so bad for Akiha throughout the entire route, after 8 years of not seeing her brother there is still such a disconnect between the two of them which makes sense given the circumstances, but im sure that Akiha feels really lonely and also very worried about her brother. Going out at night, returning home wounded. And they never talk deeply about these issues either. I can only imagine the emotional stress that must bring her to.

Arihiko is fucking funny, the perfect homie for somebody who comes across as soft.

Kohaku is okay, she is funny and I like that about her character. Though I kind of expected to like her more, then again im not even in her route yet lol. Nothing really to say about her. I like her sprites.

Sacchin got shafted, fuck you nasu. I will never forgive you for this. She was so cute, her ponytails will be forever in my mind.

This brings me to the two antagonists, Chaos and Roa I found both of these to be quite uninteresting. I liked both of these on a conceptual level but besides that I think if I dont think to much about them I will forget them quite quickly. Though I might be a bit harsh but I genuinely dont find a lot of connectivity into the rest especially Chaos feels the most mild of them all. Atleast Roa has an interesting connection to shiki. ( I wonder if pondering more about the nature of both of their powers will reveal more to me in the future) but for now im really mild on both of them.

I want to reread the prologue to now of tsuki and the senpai bits.

Also I want to say that I found the mythical elements to be absolutely boring at times. The dialogue is structured in a way that makes it very boring to sit through and it makes it unappealing to listen to all of the lore. I dont mind vampire and demon and mythical lore, however the way the lore is talked about is damn boring. It seriously needs some kind of different wording to show it off in a better way. I do think some of the lore is really interesting. Especially if we think of arc lore shown in tidbits, the cg with her and the long hair in the garden. Always locked to that garden. The fallen ancestors, getting sealed away. That was really interesting. Though the stuff about the church and more general stuff like just general vampire concepts was really tough to read through and is already becoming vague and more vague.

Eitherway uuuuuuuuuuuh thanks for reading. more thoughts in the future?! As usual have no clue how to end on this note. I liked it! It was a nice first route even if I had my problems with it. Very comfy. I also liked the H-scenes? even if some of the wording was funny it still got me.....

[ericsonclan]

Walking Through Time and Flowers

Summary: Prisha and Ruby spend time walking in the flower gardens when some words bring up old fears.

Word Count: 1724

Read on AO3:

“Why these have to be the fanciest clothes I’ve ever worn,” Ruby did a small spin to show off her red Victorian recreation dress. The red and golden tassels swayed this way and that with the dryad’s movements. Prisha smiled over at her friend who seemed absolutely thrilled to be all dressed up for their walk in the flower gardens. Ruby returned the smile.

“Your dress looks divine, Prish. To think you were able to salvage that from the Victorian era itself.” The dryad’s words made the vampire look down at her light teal dress that had a simple yet beautiful design down the sides of the dress and around her wrists.

“Why thank you, Ruby. You’re far too kind,” Prisha took out her parasol and opened it, gently laying the handle against her shoulder. “Shall we?”

Ruby followed suit, opening up her parasol and shading her face. “Let’s go see all the flowers and plants. Oh, this will be just grand,” Ruby had a peaceful look on her face as she glanced over the vampire’s way. Prisha gazed forward at the nearly empty pathway. It really was the ideal situation to have as few humans around them as possible. While Prisha could pass more so as a human than Ruby could, that didn’t stop the odd glances and fearful looks when she showed her fangs.

Luckily Ericson High had a staff meeting day which meant no classes were in session and the monsters were free to do as they pleased. Ruby and Prisha had been planning for a walk through the flower gardens for a few weeks now. Life always seemed to go against them whenever they got close to the day they had planned for though. Prisha had a bad case of bat fever or Ruby had to celebrate a certain dryad holiday that forbade her from being more than ten feet away from her tree. But today, today they were finally doing it.

“Thank you for joining me today. Violet would join me for the walk but to dress up in these fancy dresses and such is a bit out of her comfort zone.” Prisha’s voice drew over Ruby’s attention. The dryad had a gentle, warm smile on her face as she looked over at the vampire.

“Aww, Sug. No, thank you. Aasim could never join me on a walk like this. He’d adore dressing up and all but with how pricey it would be to get fireproof Victorian style clothes along with the fact he’d burn the flowers if he got too close... it would be more of a disaster than a delight,” The dryad looked sad for a moment but quickly shook off her negative emotions and  focused on the present. “Did you ever go on walks like this back in the day?”

Ruby’s question made Prisha’s gaze shift from the scenery around to the dryad. “I did, it was customary to do so and I always enjoyed it. The talks I had with friends, the scenery we took in,” Prisha’s eyes flickered with sorrow at the thought that all those of that era were now dead and gone. All except her. Quickly the vampire snapped back to a happier topic. “It was quite a pain to figure out how to still enjoy the walks without being sunburned. Vampires have many perks but our tolerance to the sun isn’t one of them. Since the special sun lotion I use nowadays wasn't invented yet, I had to scour for the most shaded spots for walks.”

“That must've been rough,” Ruby gave a sympathetic look but Prisha simply shook her head.

“No, luckily it was rather easy. The other effects of vampirism were more frustrating to deal with.”

Ruby nodded in understanding before she gave an excited gasp when they had reached a patch of bright, vibrant tulips. Red, orange, yellow and pink tulips surrounded them. The flowers stood strong and proud as if showing off to the visitors that came to see them.

“They are beautiful,” Prisha lowered herself to get a closer look at the pretty flowers. Ruby took a spot beside the vampire, her eyes sparkling at the sight of all the wonderful buds of nature.

“Aww, that one is just a small sprout,” Ruby pointed at an orange tulip, a slightly smaller height than those around it.

“Really? Can you tell a flower’s age?” Prisha’s eyes widened when she saw Ruby nod.

“That’s right, flowers aren’t my strongest specialty for nature age estimates. But heck have I gotten better these last few years. That little orange fella is three days old.”

“Three days old. That is young,” Prisha examined the flower with curiosity.

“Well, tulips tend to last for only a week or two,” Ruby stated simply. The two monsters looked at the tulips for a few minutes. Prisha asked what ages different buds were before the dryad rose up to her normal height and suggested they keep moving along. Prisha agreed and so they continued forward, stopping next at an area surrounded by roses of all colors and sprouts of baby’s breath scattered amongst the roses.

“Now, roses tend to last only a week while this here baby’s breath lasts up to several weeks.” Ruby informed her friend as she lightly touched a pink rose. The small buds on her wrist swayed with her movement. “I feel a bit bad for these fellas - they’re surrounded by flowers that won't live with them for long. Then they’ll just be left all by their lonesome.” The dryad stared at the rose for a moment longer before realizing who she had just said that to. “Oh horsefeathers! I’m sorry, Prisha. That was real rude of me to say.”

“Think nothing of it,” Prisha put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder and gave a reassuring smile, her little fangs poking out.

“Okay, well how about we head over to the next patch of flowers?” Ruby pointed over to a patch of daisies. The dryad’s green veins shone lightly in the sunlight before she guided her friend to the next spot. Prisha listened to Ruby talk about this and that: how important nature was and that she was thankful for every single activist fighting the good fight to save every bit of nature they could. The dryad then went into a long monologue on the family history of her dryad family and how they saved a forest with all the local wildlife in it.

Prisha tried her best to pay attention but the words Ruby had said were still bouncing in the back of her mind. A flower that would outlive the rest. She had been so happy at Ericson High that she had completely forgotten the overwhelming loneliness she once knew all too well. To think that one day that could return made her heart fill with an overwhelming sadness. Her friends would all go before she would - every single one of them. Even Violet. That thought froze Prisha to her spot.

“...And that’s when she discovered a new species of mushrooms-” Ruby paused for a second when she noticed that Prisha hadn’t followed her. “Prish?” The dryad turned around, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw tears streaming down the vampire’s face. An unrelenting, copious amount of tears. “Sug, what's wrong?” Ruby didn’t have to wait for an answer; she already knew what this was about. Silently she took Prisha’s hand and guided her to the shade of a large oak tree. The dryad rummaged around in her pocket and handed her handkerchief to Prisha who took it and tried to wipe away her tears.

“M-My… my apologies, I just-” Prisha’s voice disappeared when another fit of tears choked her up. Ruby sat beside her and gently rubbed her back.

“It's alright, Prisha. You just need to give the tears a moment to get all out,” The dryad waited patiently with her friend who continued to cry before regaining her voice.

“It is foolish of me to be crying like this,” The vampire looked down at the grass and began to play with it.

“There’s nothing stupid about showing your emotions. It just shows how big your heart is!” Ruby’s fiery eyes looked up at Prisha who gave a small chuckle.

“I suppose you’re right,” Prisha placed the damp handkerchief in her lap. Her eyes grew somber and she began to fidget with the handkerchief.

“I’m really sorry about what I said. It was unkind of me,” Ruby noticed Prisha try to say otherwise but she held up her hand. “Let me finish. I don’t know what it’s like to be a vampire but I know it must be tough, living forever and all. But here’s the thing: you can’t let that fact cripple ya. You need to look life in the face and realize something.” Ruby took both of her friend’s hands. “That we have years together. Years that will be filled with joy, laughter and more memories than you think your heart can hold but it will. So you have to live in the moment. Never let a moment go to waste!”

The dryad’s words caused the vampire’s eyes to grow large. Her friend had spoken words that seemed to touch her deeply. Ruby smiled warmly. “So, here’s what we’re gonna do. You and I are going back to my place and we’re going to continue our fancy friendship date with a tea party. My ma and pa have the best darn tea supply that you could find in all of Richmond. Okay?” Ruby’s blue eyes looked into Prisha’s.

The vampire gave a shaky nod and smiled at her friend, her fangs poking out just a teeny bit. “Alright,” Prisha rose up to her feet and helped her friend. The two walked in silence for a few moments before the vampire spoke up. “Ruby?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you. Truly. I’m lucky to have a friend like you.” Prisha’s words made the dryad practically beam with joy.

“Aww, you’re the sweetest. I’m lucky to have you as a friend too, Prish. You really are one of a kind.” Those words made a warm, calm smile appear on Prisha’s lips. Her fears and worries slowly melted away towards the back of her mind and she decided to enjoy the moment with her friend. Today she would live in the moment.

[rate-my-kalon]

The Pirate’s Artist Entries

guess who fell asleep in the middle of writing whoops sorry about that 

for @endlessinfiniteredundancy I hope this helps a bit!

The edits are well done, and flow very well with the regular kalon lines. You did a great job with getting the items to look natural on the base lines, it can be tough to get the shading to match well. I’m not a big fan of the color palette you used though, there are so many colors and they are all quite muddy looking. Muddy colors can be good, don’t get me wrong I definitely prefer them to neon, but because you are using the whole rainbow pretty much it makes it look grimy, but that may just be me. I think if the yellow was changed, I might enjoy it a bit more, since I think my main issue with the colors is the muddy yellow right next to the blue. I really love the shine, while I have seen anchors before the chain wrapping around makes it unique and fits well with the theme of this design.

I really like this one! Nice and simple, while still displaying a lot of personality. I don’t usually go for simplistic designs, but the variations of brown and the tick marks makes it a cool design. I adore the shine, it’s nice and interesting without feeling out of place. My only suggestion would be on the front left leg, you can clearly see the line between the darker brown on either side of the light brown, an it feels a bit inconsistent with the rest of the blended coloration. Just a little blending of the two colors to erase the line/s (even just on the back side I think would help) would polish it up a little. Great job on this one!

I love the eye edit you did on this one! I usually don’t like when people edit the eyes, since they often end up a bit creepy looking from being too small or too big, but these fit really well. The colors are fun, I’m not usually a fan of bright colors but with the geometric design they feel like they fit. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on with the lines, but they look quite thin and shakey all over, and need to be thickened up a bit (I’m not sure if you redrew the lines or if they were like that already, but entries before this one still had the thicker lines so I am assuming you redrew them). Having the lines be thicker will also take care of your problem of the color slipping outside of them. The line color is also very inconsistent, with some places being black on the outside and some being a much too light cream to be on the outside. The best way to do it (which you figured out later) Is to have everything that is on the outside be straight up black, and only color the lines on the inside. If you look at the chest and the space where the right back leg meets the stomach, the line color is much too light to be next to the red, the line color should be a darker red color. always color the line a bit darker than the darkest color it is touching. If you want to gradient it out where it doesn’t touch the red to a lighter color, that works. 

I hope this helped a bit! You are a very good artist, and if you decide to not take these suggestions your designs will still be stellar. Best of luck with getting hired onto the staff my friend! 

-mod blue

[darbiebot]

Shopping at the Seer’s

((This is an unmodivied chat rp with the wonderful @lilthessa was fun to finally have our characters meet!))

It had been awhile since Darlain had taken the time to enjoy the luxuries of the magical city, she mostly had been involving herself in the war effort. However, the supplies for the safehouse in ironforge were running low, and with portals bringing in goods from all over Azeroth, it was the best place to do some shopping without risking the Legion disrupting the supply line. As such, Dalaran was becoming quite the bustling trade city, with new shops and stalls appearing all the time. As she left the bank with a hefty supply of gold to spend, one of the first shops literally caught her eye, a bit of dazzling light from the sun reflecting off the gemstones of some rather fine looking jewelry. This wasn't the sort of thing she'd been sent out to procure but... well, a little indulgance wouldn't hurt. The young dwarf wandered her way over to the stall, smiling as she clambered up the stepstool available for the shorter races, and smiled at the shopkeeper. "Evenin' lass, 'ope ya dinnae mind if I browze yer wares?".

Zimarra - Today at 12:25 PM

The sindorei looked up from her stall and smiled, speaking in broken yet understandable common. "Hi there! Of course.. Please have a look. Any Color you wish..even mroe if you need em. Only a small bit."  She was working on a delicate looking silver etching over a yellow stone. "Anything you looking for in exact?" She frowned, and tried again. "Anything in particular you are looking for?" The woman smiled. "I do apologize it's been some time that I spoke Alliance languages." The small shop on a cart was organized by colors, reds, greens, blues, and also various socket gems to put into other items like rings and necklaces.

Darlain - Today at 12:35 PM

Darlain smiles "My apologies, i speak Quel'dorei passably if you'd prefer. Wild'ammers did more trade with y'all than 'umans before the war so my pa taught me."

Zimarra - Today at 12:43 PM

She nodded. "That may work.. I should brush up on the other languages though, especially if I'm going to be here for a long duration..." She switched into Quel'dorei and spoke a bit more confidently. "How may I help you, I am Lilthessa Shadowfire, and these are just a few of my sample works. I can also make something custom for you, if you wish, miss."

Darlain - Today at 12:46 PM

Her Quel'dorei was good, but the accent would likely sound a bit comical to a native speaker. "Pleasure to meet you, Im Darlain, of the Truthhammer clan. And i suppose i could use some advice. Ive never really purchased much jewelry, and i fear my previous attempts may have been a bit gaudy."

Zimarra - Today at 12:51 PM

Lil nodded, ears twitching as she listened . "Are you purchasing for yourself or for a friend? It is a different matter. What is your favorite color and style really?" She set down her current project carefully and prepared to get up from her chair to help Dar pick out something from the display.

Darlain - Today at 12:58 PM

"Oh, its fer me, my friends are a little better accessorizing than i am. And i suppose a nice dark green might go with my 'air, maybe?" Her hazel colored hair was braided long down her back. "And i 'spose i could use some style advice, im thinking a necklace rather than a ring... maybe a bracelet..."

Zimarra - Today at 1:01 PM

Lil tilted her head. "Mm. The green stones that come from Legion's lands might be too bright but perhaps a nice wild jade could be pretty." She went over to the small green section she had set up. Various earrings, socket gems in a chest and bracelets and neckacles were placed there. The woman looked up Darlain for a moment and then produced a few designs. The first one was very simple, yet elegant, with gold inlay and fastenings between the jade spheres. https://cdn0.rubylane.com/shops/742303/2209.0L.jpg?36

 She also pulled out something a tiny bit more fancy, this time in silver with  between and emerlds betweent he polished jade. https://cdn0.rubylane.com/shops/dodiesdeals/dw05223.1L.jpg?3

 Darlain - Today at 1:06 PM

"Oh my, these are beautiful..." she smiles as she holds them up against her wrist. "You source these from Pandaria, by chance?"

Zimarra - "Yes, the Wild Jade here is from the Jade Forest, ironically enough. I actually mine them myself from the Ghost Iron Ore. I then polish them and then place them within the settings you see. They are classy. but not too overmuch, I feel."

Lil then brought out a small black box and opened it up. "I also have in stock, this necklace, since you said you were looking for one, in gold and jade . http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/d4/6d/7a/d46d7a9a64ed4ee87b4efb26f45ac7b0.jpg

 Darlain -

Darlain gasps, "Light, its so fancy... you 'ave a mirror? Id like tae see 'ow it looks on me."

Zimarra - Today at 1:11 PM

Lil nodded and smiled. "Yet, not too gaudy either. Just enough to show off your style and grace." She produced a small hand mirror for Darbie and handed that over to her as well. "I think it suits well,  but its your choice of course."

Darlain - Today at 1:13 PM

She smiles at herself as she holds the necklace against her neck. "Sold, ill take all three." She has a giddy look on her face that is charmingly adolescent, despite clearly being quite older than that.

Zimarra - Today at 1:18 PM

Lil smiled. "Wonderful. Though that is all the stock I have on me at the moment." She then placed the necklace back in the box and put the other two also in boxes. "Do you want a bag or are you good?" She asked softly. "That will be about..20 gold for the first one.. 30 for the second. and 50 for the necklace so 100 gold for all three. Having a discount day today. "

Darlain - Today at 1:21 PM

She doesnt even flinch at the price tag, offering up 110 gold pieces "fer being a dear'eart and being so 'elpful, lass. Ill be sure tae direct my friends your way."

Zimarra - Today at 1:23 PM

Lil smiled. "You are most welcome. " She blinked at the tip. "And thankyou for the tip, it will be most helpful. Extra money goes for my little one's education. " She slipped in a little card as well into one of the bracelet boxes. Lilthessa Shadowfire, Fine Jewelry and Fortunes, and it gave the Silvermoon City address. "These are old cards, they have my silvermoon address on them which is the main store. But it should do."

Darlain - Today at 1:29 PM

Dar's interest is piqued when Lith mentions her daughter, and she takes her card and nods, and then digs out another fifty gold. "Tough times to be a mother, lass, and I 'ave coin tae spare, especially fer wee 'uns. You take care, and if my eldest's threats tae get 'er ears pierced play out, I may be back in short order." she says with a chuckle, stepping off the stepladder. "You 'ave a lovely day!"

Zimarra - Today at 1:30 PM

Lil blinked, though no words came out as she opened her mouth and promptly closed it again.  She managed to whisper out a thankyou and then bowed her head otwards her. "Thankyou, miss Darlain. I will remember you.  Travel safe now." She then took out her little ledger and marked the items sold, making a note to journey back into Pandaria to get more Wild Jade.

[automaticpostinfluencer]

Best iPhone 11 and 11 Pro cases to buy for 2020

There are a multitude of cases that protect the new iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Max, which Apple released in September. This list of my favorite cases focus on those that offer easy charging, are relatively slim and provide strong drop protection for your brand new iPhone. A few budget cases are included, but since this is more of a best-of-the-best list, most of my picks tend to be a bit spendier than the typical generic case you’ll find on Amazon for $20 or less. Also, since the iPhone 11 comes in a variety of colors that people may want to show off, I’ve included a number of cases that are translucent. 

I’ll be updating this best roundup with new picks for the best iPhone 11 cases as they continue to arrive.

Sarah Tew/CNET

If you’re looking for the best iPhone 11 cases that are clear for your new smartphone, you can’t go wrong with Speck’s Stay Clear case, which resists discoloration (yes, cheap clear cases can turn yellow). It has a durable polycarbonate outer shell, provides 13-foot drop protection and includes Microban antimicrobial product protection. The case also allows for easy wireless charging. The clear, wireless charging case is available in versions for the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Otterbox is making its superprotective Otterbox Defender series case for all the brand-new iPhone 11 models, but most people want something slimmer. The Symmetry series is slim with beveled edges, making it a good mix of sleek and protective. A raised bumper helps act as a screen protector. Multiple color options are available, including Symmetry Clear as well as the Symmetry Plus Pop case, which integrates a PopSockets PopGrip. Prices range from $50 to $60 (AU$59, £29), and they should go down over time. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Zagg recently bought top British casemaker Gear4 and is seeking to further build out its brand in the US. In terms of style and protection, Gear4’s cases are right there with Otterbox and Speck, all of them lined with the company’s D3O shock-absorbing material and featuring beveled edges to protect your phone. My favorites include the translucent Picadilly (also available for Samsung Galaxy) and Crystal Palace cases, as well as the Battersea. They range in price from $35 to more-expensive iPhone case options around $50.

Sarah Tew/CNET

If you’re looking for a cheap clear case for your new iPhone 11, Spigen’s Ultra Hybrid is a good value at around $11-$15, depending on which version of iPhone 11 you have. No drop rating is listed for the case, but it feels like Spigen cases offer reasonable protection (if you want even stronger protection, consider shelling out $35 more for the Spigen Tough Armor case), and it should appeal to folks who want a case that’s neither too thin nor too thick (Speck’s clear case is a bit thicker and does seem more protective). Unlike the Tough Armor, a lot of these cheaper clear cases have a habit of turning yellow over time (and becoming less translucent), but they’re cheap enough that you probably won’t mind shelling out for a replacement if that happens. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Speck’s Presidio Pro comes in a variety of colors and has a soft-to-the-touch finish that’s equipped with Microban antimicrobial technology. It’s drop-tested to 13 feet (about 4 meters) and is one of the best all-around cases for the iPhone 11. The case is highly protective, with a polycarbonate outer shell, but it’s not too bulky. Its thin design makes wireless charging easy. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Mous makes several cases that have eye-catching designs, including models finished in leather and wood. They’re all lined with the company’s AiroShock material that, according to the company, delivers excellent protection in a slim design. They do seem durable and all include a lifetime warranty.

I liked the speckled leather Contour case (pictured above, left), but Mous’ Limitless 3.0 line — the bamboo case on the right — is compatible with the company’s Limitless 3.0 accessories, which include a wallet that magnetically adheres to the back of the case and a couple of mounts, one of which is an air-vent mount for your car. 

It’s also worth noting that these Mous cases are the only ones I’ve seen that have a SIM card storage slot on the inside of the case for international travelers in the habit of swapping SIM cards.

Cases start at $45.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Lifeproof, now owned by Otterbox, isn’t in the business of making waterproof cases anymore (it has only one case that’s waterproof: the Fre). But it still makes very nice cases to protect your iPhone, including the Next and Slam, as well as the new Flip Series, which adds a slip-out wallet element that turns into a kickstand. I personally like the Slam best. It costs $46 and comes in a variety of colors and designs. Pair it with its Rewind wall charger for speedy charging.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Moshi has always made attractive cases for iPhones, and its Overture (folio), iGlaze, Vitros and Altra (lanyard included) cases are available for the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max. The Overture is actually a two-in-one case that’s a great screen protector. You fit your iPhone into a slim shell case that then magnetically adheres to the cover, which has slots for storing credit cards and cash. You can buy one in the $25-to-$50 price range. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Truth be told, I wasn’t a fan of earlier Pelican cases, which were very protective but just a little too bulky (and ugly). But its latest batch includes two that I like: the Traveler (pictured, left) and Rogue (at right), which has a soft rubber bubbled pattern. The “clear” version of the Rogue glows in the dark. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Speck’s Presidio Grip Series comes to the iPhone 11. It’s one of the more popular phone cases and still one of the best, although the ribs of the case can wear down over time. Available in multiple color options for $40.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Casetify’s cases are known for their eye-catching designs (that are stuck onto the back of a clear case). They’re relatively slim, sleek-looking cases that offer decent protection and come in a variety of design patterns, with some definite appeal to teenagers. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

iFace cases are hugely popular in Japan but aren’t so well known in the US. With their oversized rounded edges and plenty of fun colors to choose from, they certainly stand out from the crowd and are quite protective. The First Class (pictured above in red and green) is available in a variety of colors and costs $25.

One of the newer models — the Reflection ($30) — has a transparent back that’s made of tempered glass. It’s available with several different trim color options.

On Amazon, iFace cases are currently being discounted by 10% with a clickable coupon.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Skech’s new Vortex case has a soft-to-the-touch finish and an integrated flip-out metal ring kickstand, and it adheres to the included magnetic car-vent mount. It comes in several color options (blue and black pictured) for all iPhone 11 models. It’s a little pricey at $50, but it does have some nifty extras (like a built-in ring holder and responsive buttons) and a nice design with 10-foot drop protection. You can still charge your phone on a wireless charging pad with the case on.

I also like Skech’s clear case, the Echo Air, which costs less ($30).

Sarah Tew/CNET

Nomad makes a line of nice leather cases, including leather wallet folio cases that come in brown or black. I personally like its new Rugged case, which features water-resistant leather. It’s rated for 6-foot (2 meter) drop protection. The leather case runs around $50, while the folio version, which has a flap that covers the screen, costs $70.

David Carnoy/CNET

Adidas-branded cases come in a variety of flavors that offer eye-catching designs that match some of the company’s iconic sneakers. They’re all pretty slim and provide decent though not great protection. Prices are anywhere from $12 to $50, depending on the style.

Sarah Tew/CNET

BodyGuardz was initially known for its screen protectors, but in recent years it’s put out some interesting iPhone cases. I personally like the $45 Momentum (pictured left), which has a padded textured back, and the $60 Accent Wallet (pictured right), a leather case that has a slot on the back for storing a couple of credit cards. Both those cases include a lanyard that you can choose to attach to the case or not.

The translucent Ace Pro (pictured middle) is the company’s most affordable case. It lists for $35.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Case-Mate makes a variety of color cases, some of which have glittery, snowglobe effects (my favorite is the new Waterfall Confetti case pictured on the right). Despite their fun, eye-catching designs, they’re also well built and will protect your device. Prices range from $30 to $40.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Silk brings its line of affordable, simple, slim cases and wallet cases to the iPhone 11 under the new brand name of Smartish. The Smartish Walletslayer case is one of the best iPhone 11 cases for those on a budget. It sells for $15 and holds three credit cards plus cash.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Razer, which makes laptops and gaming accessories (among other products), brings its line of “gaming” cases to the iPhone 11, and they’re pretty nice. The cases have something called Thermaphene-Based Heat Dissipation that “redirects trapped heat through a thermally conductive lining adjacent to vented airflow channels to significantly improve cooling compared to traditional cases.” It’s a bit of a gimmick, but it seems to help a little when you’re playing graphically intensive games for long periods. The cases start around $20 and come in Pro and Slim versions. I preferred the more protective Pro, which is currently on sale for $20.

Sarah Tew/CNET

X-Doria’s Defense series cases come in a wide variety of styles and cost a little less than competing premium cases from Gear4, Speck and Otterbox. I personally like the Defense Clear Series (pictured, second from right), which is a good match for the standard iPhone 11. It’s $25 and is available with a black or white trim. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

I’ve always been a fan of Tech21’s Evo Check ($40) cases for previous iPhones and they’re available for the new iPhone 11 in a few different translucent color options (they’re the pink and smokey black cases in the photo above). Tech21 is also offering the slightly thinner but more colorful Studio series cases, which costs $10 less. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Tech21’s Evo Wallet is a well-designed folio case that features a screen protector cover with a magnetic latch and a slot on the inside for storing a couple of credit cards and a little bit of cash. It also converts into a stand for watching videos and is drop-tested to 12 feet (3.6 meters), so it’s pretty tough. It’s $49 on Amazon, though it’s currently only available for the 11 Pro.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Like Lifeproof, Catalyst made a name for itself with waterproof cases, but it now focuses on selling its Impact Protection Case, which is drop-tested to 9.9 feet and has a see-through back and slim design. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Griffin’s Survivor Series used to be one of the more popular tough cases. It’s slimmed down over the years but is still a pretty tough protector and comes in versions with a clear back. Price: $30.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Incipio has a bunch of new cases for the iPhone 11 line. I like the new Areolite Extreme, which comes in clear, sea blue and black and has the company’s FortiCore ribbing and raised edges to help with drop protection. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Otterbox’s swanky folio case, the Strada, returns for the iPhone 11 line. It’s available in brown and black for around $50 and does a nice job of fully protecting your phone. The only small strike against it is that it doesn’t convert into a viewing stand for watching videos. It’s probably best suited to the iPhone 11 Pro Max, but it’s good for anyone who wants additional screen protection for any iPhone 11 model.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Portland-based Grovemade produces some beautifully crafted wooden cases. Its $60 wood bumper cases are the most affordable, but naturally I’m a fan of its Walnut and Leather Wallet case, which retails for a mere $130 (as a new customer you do get 10 percent off). It’s one of the lighter, more refined looking wallet cases you’ll find, and also comes in a lighter maple color. 

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Originally published last year. Regularly updated with new cases as we test them.

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[martin9395]

Way of life Blog site - The Perfect Fashion Trend Influencer

Not very long ago I was with one of my service partners looking for a suit for him. These suits were his size yet they only appeared simple outdated created so I inquired the salesperson if he possessed one thing even more strict and also contemporary! My aspect being, some people are actually being deceived through sales people that assume they have knowledge when they do not know the distinction between a boxy baggy fit and a strict effectively adjusted meet, reviewed finest men's way of life blog. Men's Lifestyle Influencer

 When it arrives to suits by greatest guys's lifestyle influencer you want to start with a suit that already has good fitment that method you have area for all your correction and also modifications. I will certainly upload two images below one being what you do not want your satisfy to look like and also the other being what you do prefer your suit to look like.

 Equipped matches are actually certainly not tough to locate. The concern most famous names that sell a vast variety of suits perform certainly not provide correctly suited ones. My pointer would certainly be to keep away from these big locations as well as most likely to the tiny specialty meet store in your community. They will definitely manage to make a satisfy exclusively to your measurements and generate the professional, effectively crafted search for you. I was in a Moore's recently as well as saw they have actually begun to lug additional fitted suits. They appear to be actually advertising it a great deal on TELEVISION commercials which, is why I went in to examine. Ideally for them they are going to find the fads and remain to fill more.

 o, certainly not an incredibly model, but a male fashion good example, an ambassador of the catwalk that can encourage you and your type. Consider somebody you would like to appear like, someone that various other individuals find out about and somebody that gowns effectively. Head to Google and also carry out an image search for them, exist any type of themes or persisting fad that they such as to utilize? Make an effort going round a couple of higher road outlets appearing for identical products once you've seen a couple of points that you like. The greatest feature of this method is actually that you don't need to presume too difficult as you can try to your fashion trend image for creativity. One phrase of caution, nevertheless, as their styles may be a little bit of too excitable or couture therefore beware you don't go as well crazy.

 One fantastic source of blue heavens creativity is actually enjoying popular music video recordings. On a regular basis you'll find tons of trendy looking individuals suited up well (yet certainly not also officially) which you can pull some motivation from. Make an effort to get items that appear awesome in the video and also will also look great on you. Again, beware along with a number of the outfits as they may be a little bit dance oriented which may certainly not be proper for you.

 If you're seeking insight on particular items of clothes, such as fits or footwear, at that point there is actually load of details around prepared to become located. There are actually an option of males's customizing magazines that give a lot of excellent advice, thus why not flick with and look. There is actually also some actually excellent design and style blog posts that discuss all the most up to date trends that are around, and also some scorching picks of up as well as coming types.

 There's absolutely nothing far better for determining what's amazing at the moment than going to a collection of high street stores and also viewing if there are any certain items that they're all pressing. Bear in mind of traits you believe are actually trendy however do not purchase till you've looked sphere all over. Think of what existing garments you have and what type of ensemble you can easily bring in up with any one of the clothing you intend to acquire. Establishments are going to regularly try and also press particular things, thus do not receive sucked in to the buzz, take your time and actually deal with your acquisitions when shopping.

 Gentlemens limited jeans are actually very classy at the moment. Do you assume fellas as well as ladies should be using the strict skinny pants? They look the very same on, yet the jeans are actually brought in specifically for males. The hip jump as well as skater crowd are creating these pants popular. Should you use what is in style or even certainly not? Perform these jeans merely feel more pleasant than baggy jeans? Read through on to discover if you need to get a pair of individual tight jeans.

 What form of man should use males truly cramping jeans? I am actually referring to the super tight right down the lower leg jeans. Merely men with a slim body kind must wear them when it happens to guys wearing pants that are actually really cramping. These denims simply appear much better on that type. The skin layer limited jeans are also well-known along with the teenage guys immediately. Perhaps you should attempt on the straight lower leg denims instead if you possess a physical body style that is not slim and you really want to use the skin limited pants. They create some limited ones also, however they are only a little loser in the lower leg. These denims can easily make you body system appear better, because they still match the body system and also display the buttocks as well as leg muscles, yet they perform certainly not reveal off too much.

 Are females definitely brought in to men using strict jeans? It truly depends upon the female, certainly. Appeal resides in the eye of the observer, as the outdated pointing out goes. What a person uses with his really limited pants matters a lot. Therefore ensure anonymous to spruce up or clothe down the pants. Have a look at the manner magazines or some fashion blogging sites prior to you start using the pants. The denims appear better on modification or skater kind of people. These jeans likewise work much better for individuals that just like to roller skate, considering that they can easily relocate a lot better.

 Acquire the strict males pants if you actually wish all of them. Produce certain you believe confident no concern what you select to put on. Make sure you feel comfortable in the denims as well, do certainly not only use them since they are fashionable.

 If you desire to wear jeans that are actually tight, therefore use them. Be delighted and wear what you yearn for to put on. If you make a decision to get males limited pants, after that use them with design and also a smile.

 One of the duties that many guys find hard to accomplish is search for the very best outfits that will definitely make them look attractive in the course of a time. The method this entails is actually absolutely nothing various from what girls experience to plan for such scenario. Ladies look gorgeous in the course of times since they prep for it if you are actually keen to note. Why do not you the exact same and also start through understanding what men must wear when meeting someone for possible romantic connection. This write-up can easily offer you some suggestions on that particular. Continue reading if you may.

 Some different colors can produce your skin radiance while some can easily create you look drab. Orange t-shirts as well as yellow pants produce a not desirable but intense different colors mixture. You may likewise inquire a friend to in all honesty review just how your outfits look like on you.

 Fella's outfits vary in cuts. They charm distinct body. This is actually the reason that gown t-shirts with layout do certainly not look good on plump men. Placed on the possibility outfits you ought to wear on your time as well as find how it accommodates you if you do not know what your body style is actually. Perform they flatter the most effective attributes of your physical body? Do they make you appear tall and also slim like what you wish? Next off, maintain an eye on the match. They should certainly not be also loosened or even also tight. You are going to recognize whether your garments possess the correct match when they are actually just about embracing your physical body; nothing at all additional absolutely nothing less.

 Fabric additionally matters when looking approximately when males must wear on days. These are actually quite comfortable to wear as they are going to permit your skin layer to breathe as you sweat. Outfit footwear would be awkward to use in the course of golf time?

 Besides understanding what men need to use on such a big day, you need to likewise understand exactly how to appear neat and clean. Take a shower just before getting dressed up. Cut and also repair your hair. Place on an aroma that is certainly not also powerful. After brushing your pearly whites, spray some breath freshener. Lastly, bear in mind your body scent. If you sweat that a lot, use a deo-cologne prior to leaving your home.

[kayawagner]

Fallout Wasteland Warfare Q&A with Designer James Sheahan

Stargazer’s World is first and foremost a roleplaying games blog, but that doesn’t mean we can’t cover board or tabletop miniature games from time to time. One game I am very excited about is Modiphius’ Fallout Wasteland Warfare. It’s an exciting Fallout miniature game which can be played cooperatively, competitively and even solo. Since I am a huge fan of the Fallout franchise, I reached out to Modiphius and asked if James Sheahan, designer of the game, was willing to answer a few questions for us. Luckily he agreed. Before delving right into the interview I want to thank James for taking his time to answer my questions!

Stargazer: Thanks again for taking your time and answer our questions. Before we talk about Fallout Wasteland Warfare, let’s talk about you. Who is James Sheahan?

James: My pleasure, Michael.  I worked in video games for 10 years and then as a consultant/freelancer game designer for the last 12 years working for games companies, global ad agencies, Google and others.  Like most of us, I have played board games, RPGs, wargames and video games since I was young, and I love film and fiction too.  I actually didn’t start out in games as a designer, but I worked my work across into design as that was my main passion.  I have been very fortunate to have had a very varied experience – some of it, even I can’t quite believe.

Stargazer: Can you tell us a bit about how the idea for a Fallout miniatures game was formed? What problems arose during development? Feel free to share any interesting anecdotes – we love those!

James: The idea for a Fallout miniatures game was Chris Birch’s – owner and Director of Modiphius Entertainment – who knew a wargame with great models would fit perfectly with Fallout.  Fallout has such a broad fan-base that it needed a game that could appeal to all types of players and this was one of the key challenges: To create a game that could appeal to both lighter/general gamers (who may not have played a wargame before) who want to experience story-rich adventures in the Fallout Wasteland, as well as appeal to experienced wargamers who want pure wargaming, like organised play, plus all types of player inbetween.  It needed simplicity which could also deliver detail, plus could handle lots of variety to bring the myriad of creatures, weapons, items in the Fallout games to life.  It’s interesting to look back and the hand-drawn unit and weapons cards I made are very similar to how they are in the final game – so the fundamental systems were created at the very start.  The tough part was then how to enable players to choose which optional elements they wanted so they could tailor the gameplay and experience to what they wanted.

Stargazer: For many people Fallout is first and foremost a roleplaying game franchise. Does Fallout Wasteland Warfare have some roleplaying aspects in it?  Is there a progression system for the various units? 

James: Fallout: Wasteland Warfare matches the video games closely with plenty of combat, but also you can lockpick, hack computers, search for items, etc.  Also, you can scour the wasteland for helpful items although they may be booby-trapped, locked or near a hostile creature.  You may encounter strangers who need a favour, or can assist you.  The skill rolls tell the story of what happens too.  So, whilst it’s not role-playing game, there’s a great amount of story, variety and actions – one of the main things I hear when giving game demos is how it really feels like Fallout.

Progression is an interesting one.  I wanted to create a system where you were not at a disadvantage if you played against someone with a more experienced force.  Also, playing a series of games against a friend with on-going forces can quickly become unbalanced as one force replaces lost forces whilst the other upgrades surviving ones – it was something I didn’t enjoy in some games in the 90’s.  I still wanted a player’s force to progress over time but the battles would be even – plus, you and I can play even if you are using progression and I am not.  (I do like to set myself a challenge…)  As a result, the progression is built into the (optional) Settlement system which happens between battles, instead of your force itself.  The Settlement system lets you buy buildings for your settlement which determine what sort of weapons and equipment you gather from the wasteland to use in next battle.  It also lets you go exploring inbetween battles which are like single-card, micro role-playing encounters.

Stargazer: Most tabletop miniatures games focus on competitive gameplay, but from what I’ve read you can play Fallout Wasteland Warfare cooperatively and even solo. Can you please elaborate?

James: From the start, Chris wanted the game to be playable solo and co-operatively as well as player-versus-player.  To deliver this, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare comes with an AI system so a player, or players, can play against the game too (or even add an AI element to their versus games).  The AI is one of the areas of which I am most proud of as each unit in the game has its own personality, can attempt almost any objective (not just attack), whilst remaining simple to use when playing.  It can defend a moving convoy, hack computers, find hidden objects, walk patrol routes, and more.  Funny thing is, it actually plays better than I do!

Each model-type comes with a single AI card that dictates its behaviour using a small matrix.  This matrix determines the actions it will take based on its current situation – how much health it has remaining, if there are friendlies nearby, etc..  The AI’s matrix also flavours their responses such as whether they will be reckless or careful, or remain engaged in combat or not, etc.  Super Mutants get more reckless as they get more damaged, whilst the Enslaved Tech won’t take risks unless there are friendlies nearby.  The Alien Zetan makes me laugh as it runs away when there are too many enemies around, will usually attack lone enemies, and will only try to achieve the objective if no-one is nearby.  The two-player starter set comes with 5 scenarios specifically for play against the AI, but the AI can be used with pretty much any scenario.  Also, we’ve just released a free AI handbook to assist players in using the AI for their own scenarios, plus 3 scenarios that really showcase the AI’s capability.

Stargazer: What can you tell us about Narrative Mode? Could this be the mode most exciting to us roleplaying game fans?

James: If you want lots of Fallout story and setting in your game, then narrative (default) mode is the one for you.  The game contains the items Fallout fans will be familiar with such as power armour (which can degrade), chems (which you can get addicted to), mods, stealth boys, junk – the list goes on.  Some items you find may be booby-trapped, or need lockpicking skill to open them.  As I mentioned, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare lets you do more than just combat so you can lockpick, hack, search, climb, etc.  You can give your models Perks and your Leader can pick some special skills.  You can meet strangers or encounter creatures in the Wasteland, and you can even go on personal Quests (some of which have multiple parts) which are independent of the scenario being played.  And that’s just some of it!  Fallout: Wasteland Warfare can really deliver lots of the Fallout experience.  The scenarios add lots of story to the game too so I think those will really interest you.  Most are focussed on achieving objectives in short timescales, like blowing the support columns of an old overpass to destroy a gang’s camp, hacking computers to find technical data, defending a farm from attempts to burn their crops, and many more.  My advice: Remember your objectives.

Stargazer: Can you tell us a bit about the mechanics driving the game? What sets FWW apart from other miniature games?

James: I wanted a game with modern systems to make play simple and visual.  The mechanics driving the game are the colour-coded measuring sticks (which make ranges simple for weapons and skills and have with markers to help colour-blind players) and the skill rolls.  The skill dice is the main dice for making a test by rolling equal to or under the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attribute next to the relevant skill icon.  Not every model’s skills are derived from the same attribute; for example, Sole Survivor’s Health is based on their Endurance but Dogmeat can last in combat due to their Agility.  The skill dice has multiple 1s so low-valued skills are still useful.  When you roll the skill dice, you often roll coloured effect dice too – weapon cards show which ones to use depending on the range.  Black dice mostly add damage, yellow mostly reduce armour, green mostly lower the number rolled on the skill dice, and blue give icons that can trigger special effects.  Just by looking at the dice colours, you know what sort of effect a weapon has.  These dice really tell the story of each test too as you can see what aspects helped it succeed or fail – you can see if a Super Mutant was killed because the shot penetrated its armour or just did lots of extra damage that over-powered it; you can see if a scope made the difference between a hit or a miss.  There are many other mechanics that are a bit different to other games too which each impart more of the Fallout feel.  Overall, it was great how naturally most aspects of the video games could be melded into game mechanics such as action points, using criticals, V.A.T.S., radiation damage, power armour, and so on.  As a result, I believe the game feels different to most miniature games out there, and I think that’s a good thing.

Stargazer: I faintly remember reading about some game mode in which player’s can actually build their own bases in FWW. How does this work?

James: That’s the (optional) Settlement mode I mentioned when talking about progression.  When you use your Settlement (recorded on the Settlement Sheet), it simulates your inhabitants creating items, growing food, or scavenging and exploring out in the Wasteland.  The structures you build determine what and how much you draw; for example, having a cooking station lets you draw one food/drink card for each crop field you have and you then keep one of those drawn cards.  When you go into your next battle, your models can always equip their standard equipment (usually just a weapon) so the cards you draw give you more to choose from.  The structures also determine how much of what you find you can equip, as well as letting you keep cards from one battle to the next.  As I mentioned, it also lets you draw Explore cards too which include some of my personal favourites.  The Settlement only restricts what equipment you can use, not your units; therefore, players using the Settlement system can still play equally versus players who are not as both start with the same caps (points) total.

Stargazer: Aside from miniatures based on characters and places from Fallout 4, Modiphius also announced a Frank Horrigan (which was the Enclave president’s bodyguard in Fallout 2) miniature. Does this mean,we’re going to see more scenarios, miniatures and scenery inspired by the older games in the series in the future?

James: Definitely.  We’ll be releasing models from other Fallout games like the Enclave and many others.  We plan to release new models and other expansions for Fallout: Wasteland Warfare for a long time to come.  The Fallout world is so rich that the hard part is working out which to do first, but it’s a nice problem to have.

Stargazer: What are your plans regarding FWW for the immediate future and in the long run?

James: We’re currently shipping wave 1 of products and it’ll be in stores too.  After that, we plan to release smaller waves of products so they can be released more frequently.  New waves include new cards that expand all areas of the game so your Fallout world expands too.  We’re planning on releasing some campaign sets too which I am very excited by as they should deliver story like no other wargame.

Stargazer: Modiphius is mainly known for their roleplaying games, so will we ever see a Fallout tabletop roleplaying game by you folks or is this totally off the table?

James: There’s not been a Fallout RPG before so it’s definitely something we would love to do.

Stargazer: Is there anything else you want to talk about but which I forgot to ask? Here’s your chance!

James: I’ve talked a lot about the gameplay, but it’s important to recognise the fantastic work the modelling team have done sculpting the models – they look amazing and truly bring the world to life.  Also, the wargames team and our Vault Dweller volunteers have worked really hard too.

Overall, I hope people have fun immersing themselves in the Fallout world in the way and depth they want to, whether playing against each other, co-operatively or solo.

Related posts:

Fallout: Indianapolis

Fallout Fudged

Fallout: Indianapolis – From SPECIAL to Atomic Highway

Fallout Wasteland Warfare Q&A with Designer James Sheahan published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[shiningrye]

Baker’s Dozen -1 2016

Please lady, my tinnitus.

It may be a few months into 2017 but it’s not too late to review the year that was. It can be worthwhile to reflect on the past, to celebrate successes and learn from shortcomings, to track your progress and see how you’ve grown, and to dwell and ruminate on missed opportunities while you lie awake in your bed at two in the morning trapped in a nihilistic prison of your own mind.

I set out every year to challenge myself to do twelve projects. These can be paid gigs or just personal projects that I complete, but I try to get one finished a month. I feel it’s a great motivator and a good way to improve my skills and at the very least it’s a good productive outlet. I generally only count projects or goals that relate to filmmaking or digital media to keep me more focused.

Here’s how I did (in order of release/completion):

1. Four Feet Companion Foundation - Pucks for Paws

The first project of the year I finished was a volunteer gig for Four Feet Companion Foundation, this is a great little volunteer-run organization that provides financial and volunteer support to local animal charities. Being part animal myself, I was excited to take on this project and contribute to this cause. I believe this is played annually now at every Pucks for Paws event which is their big fundraising event that takes place at the Saddledome. Overall this was a pretty straightforward shoot and I was decently happy with how it turned out.

Some challenges were the logistics of scheduling and traveling to the different locations, as well as setting up the shoots alone without scouting the location first. A lot of these challenges were caused by a truncated timeline.

What I learned: Thinking back and rewatching the video, it’s obvious that in one interview the colour was way off. It ain’t purdy.

There were a few issues that I faced.

Mixed colour temperature. I was dealing with three different temperatures (daylight from the window, overhead fluorescents and a tungsten keylight) and without proper gels I really didn’t know the best course of action to take.

I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have suitable gels or flags and I flew blind into the location.

I dun goofed. Lastly, I made a mistake in setting the white balance.

Mixed colour temperature is a beast that can only be slain one way: Unifying all light sources to one temperature. As Alex Buono (SNL and Documentary Now! DP) says, there’s no tricks around it, you just have to get all light to be the same temperature the old fashioned way. It seems obvious and is relatively straightforward to do, if albeit time consuming. A quick flick of the switch killed the overhead fluorescents, which left the two mixed sources shining. Altering light sources isn’t so bad in a small room, if you have the tools.

But I didn’t have the tools.

Logistically this was the only room we could shoot in. There were no blinds on the window and no rod or frame to clip a blanket too, even if I did have clips. You think a guy without clips is going to have a flag (fabric designed to cut light that can be easily positioned)? Hell no. I also didn’t have large enough gels to cover the window (known as CTO or colour temperature orange, alters daylight to tungsten) or the keylight (CTB or colour temperature blue, which alters tungsten light to daylight). I just wasn’t prepared.

Lastly I made an M. A mmmm-m-m-m... A mistake. Yes. A big fat one. Juicy and all tender-like.

I didn’t change the white balance on the cameras to tungsten (3200K) from daylight (5500/5600K) prior to shooting. To add insult to amateruish injury, the walls were painted in what I swear to be Tungsten Yellow, which just compounded the problem.

You’d think someone who worked for a company as a corporate videographer with a few years under their belt wouldn’t make mistakes like this. But it happens. Or at least it happened to me. The trick is to learn from your mistakes and try not to retread the same territory again.

So how did I learn from my mistakes?

The colour temperature issue may have been avoided if I was able to scout the location beforehand. Short timelines can be hard to avoid, but one thing I would’ve insisted on for this interview would’ve been requesting some pictures

of potential shooting locations. Now they may not be able to accommodate the request in time, but you have nothing to lose by asking. I assumed, falsely, that shooting in houses are all relatively the same which wasn’t the case.

Furthermore, since this shoot, my kit has grown in size to hopefully avoid a similar issue in the future.

The white balance gaffe spurred me to make a consistent mental checklist and run through it prior to every shoot since. The checklist I will share in a future post! A simple flash of my Gray Card or using a Colour Passport also would’ve saved me a headache. Over the past year I’ve learned a lot more about colour correcting and grading.

(Top) Last year I was trying to counter the yellow and orange and then glazed it with magenta maybe as a feeble attempt to make it a bit stylized? I couldn’t tell ya. With knowing what I know now, I could salvage it somewhat (Bottom) but it’s best to not make those mistakes in the first place.

That’s also not the worst of it. To add to the stress of the shoot, embarrassingly I may or may not have forgot to bring the quick release plate for the B cam, rendering its tripod useless...

                                      1/4"-20 on a lightstand is there for this reason, right?

I’m not proud.

Yeah I could’ve balanced it on the tripod head. But I did have the sense to know that gravity wins every time.

Tip: Always check your kit before you leave. Another tip: I didn’t get bogged down and give up with the amateur-hour move, I looked at what I had and used it to jerry-rig a solution. If it’s stupid but it works, it ain’t stupid. Even if it still looks stupid.

2. PONOS Apparel

Had a good time shooting this one: a web commercial for a local athletic apparel company. Shot it in a day and overall it went smoothly. Had a quick and dirty shot list that was flexible so it was fun improvising sequences and putting it together in the edit. Loved working with the director, who made shooting it a breeze.

I believe a student who attends at a local highschool created the music.

Challenges were some of the shots such as running nearly full tilt with a Glidecam but I think they worked for what it is. This is where a gimbal or Steadicam or even a vest and arm attachment would’ve made light work of it.

What I learned: I would’ve made some different editing choices now. The part that really sticks out to me now is in the deadlift scene I’d remove the ‘jump cut + crash zooms’ on the kick beat. They’re unnecessary! Sometimes I get an idea in my head and I want to run with it, but it’s easy to trap yourself in a tunnel. So ideally I should’ve taken a step back and let the edit breathe a bit before committing. Also I need to watch my exposure and ratios. The final shot (which is also the thumbnail above) the highlights are too hot and it’ll bug me forever.

3. John’s Tongue is Not Long

I had a strong urge to shoot a short so I whipped up a poem and a video idea about one of my roommates at the time, John, and his short tongue. After shooting it, I thought that the poem idea lent itself better to a song. So I enlisted the help of Chris Koehler to help put this song idea in motion. I was hoping he would take one look at the lyrics and jump at the chance to sing such glory. But alas he encouraged me to. I love singing. Alone in my car. The sing-songy genes of my ancestors were weeded out long ago. Perhaps it’s the reason why they emigrated? But I had fun and I think Chris did too. I’m stoked with how the song turned out, he killed it.

Challenges were I didn’t storyboard this or even really shot list this, just kind of went through the lyrics and shot what I thought fit. This made for a bit of problem solving in the edit but it actually wasn’t bad at all and I enjoyed making it fit.

What I learned: The idea was to shoot the first half before John went in for surgery (his wee tongue was causing him discomfort) and finish it off once he has a glorious normal length tongue. I realize now however that this doesn’t come across in the lyrics or the video. My talented director and animator buddy, Jarett Sitter provided some indispensable feedback with just one constructive comment, “I wish he had a ridiculous over-the-top tongue in the last scene.” As soon as he said it I knew I dun goofed.

One of my screenwriting profs said the ending has to be worth the price of admission. (paraphrased, he actually said the ending has to be the best part of the story to make it worth it. i.e. shit ending = shit story). Rewatching my own work is tough but it’s the best way to learn, and when I watch this I realize there’s no click at the end, no spice that holds the rest of it together. Adding in something over-the-top like that would’ve made it a lot more effective as a whole and would’ve fit with the style of the video no problem. So the lesson here, no matter how silly your project you set out to make, consult with friends and revise the script a few times before setting it in stone, you’ll get a better product at the end.

4. GRIT

GRIT is a non-prof that educates kindergarten-age children with disabilities. They requested a slideshow be created so it could be played at their annual gala. Me not settling for just an average slideshow decided to give it a little flair.

Challenges were the flair. I used a fairly common plugin for After Effects (AE) called SureTarget, and needless to say I ran into some problems. I love Video Copilot. They’re a fantastic resource and their plugins are great. So I’m not going to complain about a free, 7 year old plugin. But I will tell you of my tribulations. I’ve used the plugin with success a few times before, but it was used on older versions of AE. It was also used with fewer pictures. This video required about 80 photos/clips to be used, which was also another challenge to try and fit that within the allotted time. I believe the combination of debatable-compatibility with the newer version of AE and the sheer amount of assets proved a nightmare. I don’t even want to look back at how many hours I spent trying to fix the weirdest issues both in animating and rendering. It was too many for what should’ve been a relatively straightforward project.

What I learned: Sometimes you just learn in the middle of production that something just doesn’t work. Due to my stubbornness I refused to demote the slideshow to a generic (worse) program to deliver something. I problem solved and problem solved to find a solution that worked. However, I have put the plugin to rest for good now. It was a good sendoff as I was tired of using it anyway.

5. Phantasmagoria

I got the chance to work with Tia Halliday, a local artist, in capturing video of her project, Phantasmagoria. The idea behind it was to explore the relationship of the body to sculpture and painting. The scope of the project was impressive: using dancers from Alberta Ballet to contort their bodies and hold positions inside fabric sacks to be photographed digitally and with a medium format film camera, both in studio and on location outside.

Challenges were I haven’t done much in the way of abstract video or at least capturing abstract art. So getting myself well-versed and acquainted with the project was the first step. The rest fell into place in the weeks leading up and on the day.

What I learned: this was a combination of behind the scenes videography and capturing the imagery first-hand so it was good experience being able to shoot both.

6. Cancer Crusher Flash Mob

This was a short social-media-focused piece. It was relatively straightforward, and fun since I didn’t know exactly what to expect until it was happening.

Challenges the lens I used is not my favourite but it’s versatile for fast-paced shoots like this, it’s just a pain in the ass to pull focus on, and my hope is to invest in a better zoom eventually. During this shoot I felt like a hummingbird with all the people and action going on, that for a couple shots I cursed at myself in the edit because I didn’t hold frame long enough and missed context because of it.

What I learned: For fast fly-by-seat-of-pants shoots, just need to remember to breathe a beat or two longer on shots.

7. Cancer Crusher 2016 Main Event Recap

This was the main event for Cancer Crusher where you could win prizes, eat, drink, listen to music, and smash fruit! This was a blast to shoot and I had a great time putting it together.

Challenges were not much different from other event videography gigs. Smaller venues can be a little more challenging to get the shot but there was time to get everything I felt I needed to. As always music is a challenge to find. I think I found something that captured the fun spirit with it hopefully not being too stock music-y.

What I learned: it’s always great to stretch the videography muscles so just getting more experience is always welcome.

8. Sally Shapiro - If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind

Directed by the aforementioned Jarett Sitter, this music video was fun and a very rewarding challenge to work on. It combined 3D assets - both still and animated, and 2D illustration and animation. My job was editing the video and combining those two sources to make them come alive.

Challenges were obvious. It was a fairly large-scale project in terms of scope (3D animation combined with illustration) and size (it’s a long song). 3D animation is a very time intensive process on the back-end especially, so if there are any changes, you have to prepare for hours (days) of rendering time. Due to the size of the project, the 3D guru, Evan, Jarett and I had to work simultaneously (picture us sprinting across a canyon, where one person is laying down slats and the other two are tying rope, trying to build the bridge as we go). So while consultations were frequent, the nature of it was generally only the big picture could really get nailed down. Figuring out an efficient workflow was key to the success of this project.

What I learned: I love compositing so getting a chance to get some more experience doing it was great. It was very rewarding coming up with solutions to the challenges some parts offered.

9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Lost Twentysomething Series

Last year I finished shooting five shorts that have been an absolutely labour of love. These have consumed my headspace for the past year, but it has been such an invaluable experience both personally and educationally. I’m pumped to see them coming together. Braden Paes along with my friends and family have helped me immensely in getting them produced. There have been challenges and tons of learning opportunities and in the coming weeks/months I’ll post more about them. In the meantime, I am steadily chipping away at them in post, hoping to have something to show in the early summer.

BONUS 14, 15, 16. Escape, Trillium, and Shasta Keychains

My dad’s little business, Camping Treasures is growing in inventory every month! The past year he needed me to draw out the dieline for three different trailers, the Escape, Trillium, and Shasta, so they could be made into 2-sided keychains.The designs have even been shrunk for wine glass charms and earrings. Take a look!

Conclusion

I haven’t written something this long since graduating university, but aside from shaking the rust off, my motivation for writing these is mainly self-serving. Overall I think I’m a patient guy but I often catch myself feeling like I’m in a rush, that I’m not progressing as much or as fast as I’d like, so I like looking back to reassure myself that I have been staying on track, learning, and applying what I’ve learned previously.

If you managed to get through it all, I sincerely hope that it maybe helped you do that thing you want to do or allowed you time to reflect on your own progress over the past year. What are you proud of? What challenges have you overcome and what have you learned from those challenges? Post in the comments or keep them in mind as you crush 2017!

I have started a new career this year which leaves me with less free time (except for right now), so instead of looking at quantity of projects finished, I’m going to be celebrating and looking at the smaller victories over the year.