#they could have easily brought in old characters as like event collab characters

[xbuster]

So apparently the Vtuber who sang Erica’s Ohayou Bonjour song is such a big Sakura Wars fan that she became an official spokesperson for Sakura Kakumei (the Sakura Wars mobile game that only lasted a couple months before it was considered such a colossal failure on a level never seen before)

[prismartist]

Ponk’s discoveries and what they mean

Y’all haven’t been paying attention to Ponk and it shows. /lh

He has made many discoveries in his recent streams that are just begging to be talked about, and I, as the resident maker of farfetched theories, will take up the job of compiling and connecting them to the current lore.

For those who don’t know, Ponk recently built up the lore of Not A Very Good Town Town, aka the village that went mad, through a book he found in the basement of Jack’s (the potato farmer, not Manifold) Ye Old Farmhouse, written by Jack himself. And it reveals some interesting information.

There’s going to be a few sections for this post: first, breaking down what is in the journal, then theories as to what exactly happened to the village, and how these discoveries can tie into the current storyline.

The journal

For one, Jack seems to have interacted an entity that’s eerily similar to Foolish. In the first page there’s an entry that reads:

“Day 790 The strange man is back, his body made of straw but eyes of emrald.”

On the second page as well, it mentions:

“Day 800 A NEW LAND! A land that uses sand as stone! Gold.... GOLD EVERYWHERE!”

Which, of course, probably pertains to Foolish’s desert home, which also has a significant amount of gold due to the Egyptian theme.

But why would we get Foolish lore from Ponk of all people, instead of the totem god himself? Well, Ponk was the first person Foolish interacted with on the server aside from Dream, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they talked more after that and collabed for lore.

But anyways, now we move on to the more interesting section:

“Day 840 The Strange man has returned his name still unknown... BUT! he has brought a caravan of good! he talks about ancient magic and gifts 21 statues transported in make shift boats.”

Jack then goes on to describe that the statues are “calming” for him, before the next entry, written ten days later, show a disturbing shift in attitude.

“Day 855 CATS I HEAR CATS, CATS IN THE WALLS IN THE WALLS”

And another one five days later:

“DAY 900 murder... the cats murder ,,, the people I showed Shrimpy my satues he seems too intrested BUT THEY ARE MY SATUES”

Now those who saw the episode know that Jack and Bob (Shrimpy) turned out to be the murderers of the “canon round”. Seeing as those two people were the only ones exposed to the statues as we know, it’s logical to assume that the statues were the reason they went mad.

And this is backed up by the next entry:

“Day 905 SUDDEN URGE TO MURDER, THAT HELGA WOMEN IS TEMPTING BUT DAMN HER HUSBAND NEEDS TO GO BY ANY MEANS NESS…..”

Then there are two blank pages before the journal concludes

“Day 1040 Just me and Shrimpy and the cool statues life is good go od goo d g ood go odgood g oodg ood go odg good goo dgood goo dgood g ood good good good goodgoo d go od g ood go od dgo od g oo go od go o d - JACK”

It’s creepy as shit. But moving on.

There’s a lot of questions to be asked here. Why did Foolish–if it is Foolish–visit the Town? Why exactly did he gift a bunch of statues that drove Jack and Shrimpy to madness and murder? Why are there cats in the walls?

(Well, cats are very significant to Egyptian culture, even to a cult-like status, but that’s for another post.)

There are a few possibilities.

What exactly were the effects that Foolish had on the Town?

(Here’s the farfetched theories part lmao)

The simplest (and let’s be honest, the most likely) theory is that the statues probably had way too much power that caused people to become overprotective over them. Foolish just didn’t realize and wanted to give some nice gifts, but the statues drove Jack and Bob to insanity after being exposed to them for way too long. So they killed everyone.

However, considering certain factors, there is another possibility, specifically surrounding:

The “non-canon” round.

Did Karl say that it was a practice round and thus not canon? Yes. Am I suggesting it’s canon anyway for the sake of this theory that probably won’t be true? Also yes.

Besides, Karl probably also didn’t plan for TVTWM to be influential to the storyline, but because of it his character’s now a time traveler and Ponk is pulling out more lore so.

I think Foolish came by and gifted the statues, the first round did happen, and he brought them back to life after the first game. But the resurrection affected Jack and Bob, driving them to madness à la gothic horror lit character that just saw something they weren’t supposed to. Perhaps their attitude became cult-like, praising Foolish, thus the overprotectiveness over the statues as they were connected to the god, or they were of the opinion that “Hey no, everyone’s supposed to be dead,” and then sought to make that true once again.

“But then what about the first round, where everyone also died?” You may scoff at the ridiculous theory, poking my chest accusingly. “Why were the killers different?”

Well, I have a simple answer for that.

Egg.

“What, the egg again-“ I know, I know, it may seem tiring tying everything back to the egg, but hear me out.

In another one of Ponk’s streams, “Dreams of potatos?”, at 58:15 (correct me if wrong) Ponk had a dream where Mayor Jimmy was saying disjointed sentences to Jack, scolding him, telling him to stay away from Helga, and also something about burning Miles Memeington being burned at the stake for being a witch (????). At the end of it, Jimmy turned to the camera.

And his eyes were red.

Which, of course, is a telltale sign of being infected by the egg.

The egg being the main plot right now, seeing as it can easily be connected to the “Red-Eyed Village Wars”, and the fact that it is known to control people to murder, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to point to it as being the cause.

It also helps that Jimmy was only a character from the first round; in the “canon” round, Bad had changed his character to some sort of constable or something.

So the egg may have controlled Jimmy and Cornelius, the murderers in the first round, to kill everyone, Foolish then came along, resurrected everyone murdered in the first round, gotten rid of the egg’s influence, and then left. Then whatever effects the statues had on Jack and Bob took affect.

Alternatively, the statues may have been the ones to resurrect the dead, or have been given as protection from any threats, but became haywire for one reason or another. They influenced Jack and Bob to protect the statues at any cost, and they took it too far. Which may seem a little hypocritical as the egg literally does the same thing, but fire fights fire and all that.

And, just like with Karl, if Foolish has had to deal with the egg before, it makes sense why he’s so averse to it now.

Current lore

Now, how does this tie into the current storyline?


Aside from the egg, if resurrection and items do affect one’s psyche, then maybe that’s the same reason why Schlatt and even Dream–the only other two who know how to resurrect–acted the way they did, becoming apathetic to the wellbeing of other people.

Also, it is worth noting that in the basement where Ponk found the journal, there were 21 villagers in boats, the same amount as the statues. Thus Ponk concluded that they are the statues. And Foolish does have an affinity for villagers, if King Toad is any indication. This implies that Foolish can not only bring dead people back to life, but can also grant life to objects that never lived in the first place. Or, they were once living, but had their life taken away from them before getting it back for one reason or another. If Foolish really has this much power, it could be foreshadowing for future events where those powers will be utilized.

About the bloodvines, if Foolish has defeated them before, there’s a chance he may do it again. Unless something goes wrong and he accidentally drives a few people to madness.

(or maybe they were predisposed to madness, who knows-)

TL;DR

Foolish may have interacted with Not A Very Good Town Town before to save them from the egg and resurrect the dead, driving Jack and Bob to insanity as a consequence. Thus he could have a lot of power and will be the one to potentially defeat the egg once again.

[shlee-e]

Holy shit. I’ve officially watched every single @therealjacksepticeye video on his channel. I can’t believe I’m finally completely caught up.

Story time, I got into jack when a friend in college showed me one of his videos. We watched an episode from an Outlast series on silent while the teacher was lecturing. By all rights I shouldn’t have liked it, far too spooky and too “vulgar” humour for my taste (at the time). But this boy intrigued my interest and I did what any sane person does when they find a creator they like, I went back and started watching from his very first upload. And I spiralled from there, watching his videos in chronological order. Tbh his early videos weren’t that great, but it sure was nice to have the Survival Hunter keeping me company while I hid away from my six unknown roommates in my first year of school. There were some early series that I truly fell in love with, Don’t Starve, Ib, Little Inferno. Along with the games that made me laugh super hard like GTA5, Skate 3, and Turbo Dismount.

Then I hit the “booper dooper” stage where I enjoyed watching Jack collab with other youtubers and rant over conventions. Channel milestones seemed like there were every third video and his content just kept getting better and better. This was also around the time I watched some of the big series like Undertale and Papers Please. I wasn’t even there during the max hype for these games but boy was I hyped none the less. Eventually I couldn’t hold myself back from keeping up with relevant games, so I started binging new series along with the old ones. I got to invest in Dream Daddy and Doki Doki Literature Club in real time. I remember being in my new and improved apartment while watching some of my favourite games like God of Boy, Detroit become Conner, and the new Spider-Man! I also kept up to date with watching live streams, especially the charity events. It’s absolutely incredible all the money this channel has raised! I’ve managed to hold up my end for each charity and have gotten myself that shiny pin collection.

Jack had become such a part of my life that when he went traveling for his How Did We Get Here Live Show Comedy World Tour, do you have 90 minutes?, I just had to go. The show itself was such a fantastic experience!! I hadn’t been more giddy for something in so long I was literally vibrating! I got to see the late showing in Toronto and I truly didn’t want to see it end, so as a send off I actually got the crowd to start chanting PMA! Who knew it could be so fun to wield the power of 1000+ people?! I stuck around after the show and chatted with a few other fans who stayed late as well. I was over the top excited when Jack himself came outside and said hello to every single one of us who was still at the theatre. I’m sure he was exhausted from doing two shows that day but I very much appreciated him still giving us some time. I happened to be the first one he talked to as I was on the end of our little circle and since I didn’t want to take up to much time I quickly said hi, got a hug and let him move on. I can confirm that he gives fantastic hugs. But when everyone else started telling pieces of their stories and getting pictures I felt like I missed out. I was grateful that once he had spoken to everyone, he agreed to also getting a pic and a signature with me. That night became such a treasured memory.

And then the Jacksepticeye Variety Channel easily became some of my favourite content. Funniest Home Videos and Meme Time are still some of my favourite things to watch. I got so antsy to catch up, the months drew closer and closer to the most recent uploads while I watched that newer content. Resident Evil 2, Minecraft, Death Stranding we’re so much fun! I hooked it all up to my new tv in my third and current apartment. Until finally today, watching the most recent episode to date video, which was a beloved meme time.

What a fucking incredible journey this was. Over the past four years I got to watch Jack grow and experience so many different things along the way. I may have loved the green haired version of Jack, but I love the Gaelic Gladiator more. It’s amazing to see what he’s done for himself and what he’s been able to accomplish throughout his career. From voice acting in games, to interviewing some of his favourite celebrities, to making quality narrative cinematics with his ego characters. And I myself have grown to! I’ve gone though three years of school, graduated and gotten my second degree. (Big Brain cus I’ve also gone to college, twice) And now Ive got my first job working as an animator in the gaming industry! I cannot express enough how much joy Jack has brought me over the years, he truly does feel like a long distance friend. I cannot wait to see what he’ll get up to next and I’m excited to come along for the ride! But what the fuck and I going to binge watch now?

Ps: This so happened to coincide with Jacks 30th birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!! Hope you have a good one!

[gracemyhearto]

I was tagged by @missemperor to do this com-myu-nity ask :D

1. What is your hobby?

History! I was fascinated of past times very early. When I was a child, middleages and stuff pretty much scared me but through that fear grew a deep interest and out of this interest grew an even deeper passion and here I am now studying it :D On my 2nd tumblr @renaissance-prinzessin I spam post a lot of history content :D Oh and I write. xD

 2. What is your special skill?

Special skill? Ehm maybe the way I understand animals? I am a very sensitive person. J

 3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Like I said, I am very good at working and interacting with animals. I also think that I am pretty good in academic writing.

 Weaknesses: as if I’d share that xP

 4. What is your favorite color?

Green!  

 5. What is your favorite animal?

Omg that is hard?  I love them all! But if I have to pick one.. horses! But ALL animals are precious babys!

 6. Which food are you into lately?

My mum’s risotto and I had really GREAT herb Schupfnudeln when I was on holidays in Bavaria this month <3

 7. What is the thing you never lose to from anyone?

My own goals.

 8. What is your most treasured item?

I can’t really think of an item, of course I love my books and my merch but there is no item or thing that matters to me as much as for example my horse Poly or my dog Pauli do :D

 9. What is your cooking specialty?

Recently I brought perfection to my beloved avocado-tomato soup xD I really do enjoy cooking (veggy of course!) and tried some vegan recipes recently too!

10. What is the thing you want the most at the moment?

Oh, I wished my bachelor’s thesis would be done already ahahaha.

 11. What is the thing you are most scared of?

Nothing I’d share in the internet but I have to admit that, beside the fact that I love all animals, ostrichs somehow really scare me xDD

 12. What is the thing you were happy about this year?

I think it’s getting back to my old university after switching to another last year. It feels home again but I am still glad that I was able to collect so many new experiences at the other uni.

 13. What is the thing you were sad about this year?

The retirement of Mirio and Miyacchi! I mean on the other hand they are/will be free to be themselves now without hiding behind the Otokoyaku mask but it’s still sad because I really adored both of them

 14. What is the thing you regretted this year?

 Regret? Actually there is nothing that I really do regret atm

 15. What is the thing you were angry about this year?

Unistuff, yep yep yep

 16. What is the job that gave you a sense of fulfillment this year?

Does my studies count? xD

 17. What has changed about you since you entered com-myu-nity?

 Mostly that I don’t care anymore if other people dislike me or my opinion

 18. Which character would you play in Sera myu?

 Aw! I would want to be Venus! Venus! Venus! But I think as for playing I’d be predestined for a bitchy badass Neptune or Mars xD

 19. If you were to form a collab now, who would it be with?

 Do ya mean a song collab like the stuff we do like everyday in the com-my-nity? Actually I am doing a lot of stuff with @missemperor and it’s always a pleasure! But I also want to do something again with my first besties @sailorzakuro and @MyuToni sooooo I am open to do collabs with everyone xD

 20. What do you love about Sera Myu nowadays?

That it made me be part of something and feel welcome among my friends <3

 21. Which cast member catches your attention the most at the moment?

Hmm, at the moment it might be Kana Nakada because I really liked her performance in NogiMyu. But tbh I am more into the BaniMyu actors/actresses.

 22. Which cast member would you want as your significant other?

EDO HIDEMASA <33333

 23. If you were to marry a cast member, who would it be?

EDO HIDEMASA <333333333

 24. If you would go to a deserted island, which cast member would you like to go with you?

Probably Yuuko Hosaka? She is such a mum, I’m sure she would get us back to civilisation easily xD

 25. If you would be born again, which cast member would you want to be?

Ehm… Nao Inada? I could play Venus in two very good productions then xD

 26. Which Sera Myu production would you want to be a part of?

The Dracul Arc!

 27. If you would create your own kingdom, what kind of country would you want it to be?

Don’t expect a pinky, plushy kingdom with worldpeace and same rights for everyone :P. Probably something like Middle-earth. I think there can’t be light without darkness.

 28. What is an interesting book or manga you read recently?

Thanks to @vampiruchan I am totally into the Black Dagger Brotherhood books atm xD

 29. What is an interesting movie you watched recently?

I rewatched The Hobbit and I realized again how much I love Bilbo and how much of an Elve I am xD

 30. What is your favorite Sera Myu song at the moment?

Always and forever FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! *starts dancing*

 31. What is your favorite Sera Myu song choreography at the moment?

Probably Fumi’s LINK from 1999?

 32. What is your favorite Sera Myu costume at the moment?

LOL totally Lamia’s breast pad I mean sexy cape outfit xD

 33. What is your favorite Myu at the moment?

Always and forever.. Kessen or Last Dracul. Can’t decide, it really depends on my mood. As for this moment it’s LD

 34. What is your favorite Myu cast?

I go with Last Dracul, I still love KSDK too and I really wished Yuuko was part of Myu in LD already

 35. Is there something you say a lot recently?

At least I use „!s” way too often xD That’s a typical german thing I guess

 36. What would you do if you could plan a Fan Kansha?

I wouldn’t change anything from the Bandai era. Just record it, PUT IT ON DVD and and add  official subs xD

 37. What do you hope to see Sera Myu doing in the future?

Not to relate too much on the manga…

 38. What kind of person do you want to be in 5 years?

I want to be done with studying and gain ground in working life

 39. What has been a memorable concert or event this year?

I saw the ballet “Swan Lake” by the russian nationalballet and omg it was awesome!

 40. What do you want to do in your private life this year?

Private life? Does that even exist? lol

 41. What kind of job would you like to do in the future?

I want to gain ground in historical research

 42. Do you have a hairstyle you would like to try in the future?

Let’s see: Last year I dyed my hair tips blue (it stayed like 3 weeks) that was fun. And recently I managed to get my hair back into it’s original colour (medium blonde) and I am really happy with that. Wished it would still be a bit more even but hey xD

 43. What Sera Myu merchandise would you love to have?

The Death Vulcan VHS as well everything available of Miyuki-Moon!

44. Where would you want Sera Myu to come to?

It would be nice if the other country’s themselves would organize Myus. Like, Germany was one of the countrys in which Sailor Moon was just so fkn popular that we even had an own Sailor Moon band, okay? xD So Myus based on the Bandai era here in Germany would be nice (even though I had no chance I’d so apply there xDDD)

 45. If you could have a holiday with any cast member, what do you want to do?

Probably talk about their life at Sera My and ask them things especially about backstage things.

 46. Please say something to your favourite cast member.

Well, Miyuki is in heaven but I’ll still dedicate this to her: You were wonderful. You didn’t made Sailor Moon just come to life, you put love in every single performance and transmitted all feelings to the audience with such a warm energy that it is always a pleasure and honour to watch your performances. I get never tired of watching them again and again. I hope you are happy where you are now but let me tell you that you can be really proud of what you did. You were not only an enrichment for the whole Sailor Moon franchise but also for my life and I just can not thank you enough for that.

[kpop--fics]

The bar - Park Jinwoo fluff

[You’re using me as a fake significant other to get rid of the creep who won’t stop hitting on you at the bar]

Collab with @astrotextscenarios, she’ll post one with MJ~

Word count: 1.734

---

God, your week couldn’t get any worse than this. At least, that was what you thought in the beginning.

You had been hoping on a promotion from work, but just as you were about to receive it, your boss gave it to your colleague.

Being in a shitty mood, you decided to skip the bus ride home and just walk, to let your frustration out a bit. Unfortunately for you, the weather had decided to would be a good idea for rain that moment. Great.

Having no umbrella whatsoever, you looked around. You were in the middle of the city, surrounded by all sorts of buildings. You could easily find shelter from the rain in one of them, so you walked around a bit, not really sure what you were looking for. That’s when you passed a bar. “It seems I still have a little bit of luck left, thank god.” You chuckled and entered the bar.

Inside, the bar was filled with people from all ages. It was pretty packed, but it would do for now.

“Well, I’m already here anyways, why not grab a drink?” You muttered and left off in search for something. Taking a seat on a chair located in the bar, you waited until the bartender noticed you.

“Miss, what may it be for you?” He asked. “What do you recommend? I’ve had a pretty shitty day.” You stated, hoping he would have something to cheer you up. “Oh, I’m sorry. Here, it’s on the house!” He shoved you a drink that had a bit of a pink colour.

“Take a sip! It’s not bad, I swear!” He giggled and walked off to help other people. Eyeing the drink suspiciously, you took the glass in your hand and brought it to your mouth. After drinking a bit of it, you immediately felt a bit better. “Hmmm, this isn’t so bad.” You smiled and continued to sip on your drink quietly, waiting for the rain to pass by.

You sat on the same chair for an entire hour now, but there still was no sign of the rain getting less. At this point, you were seriously considering asking around for an umbrella, or just walking through the rain, you didn’t care anymore.

At that moment, an older guy took a seat next to you. “Two shots of whiskey!” He yelled to the bartender and turned his seat towards you. “Hey girl, doing good?” He slurred on his words a bit.

Well, it was obvious this guy had been drinking too much. He almost fell off of his chair just now.

The shots arrived and he slid one to you. “Here baby, it’s on me.” He whispered in your ear. Gross, he totally reeked of alcohol.

He abandoned the chair he was on and walked over to you. In your mind, you were praying to god himself he skipped you and would walk ahead, but to your great displeasure he stopped right in front of your seat. “Do you have something to do on this evening?”

Without taking notice, it was already dark by now. “Yes, I have… a date.” You improvised and looked away from his ugly face. “Well why don’t you change your plans for the evening?” He continued.

Man, this dude was really good at getting on your damn nerves. “Listen, I really won’t.” You attempted to shake him off. “That’s okay too. But, I mean, that date won’t last forever, will it? I’m sure you will be free sometimes…” He slurred again and leaned closer to you. Great, you could smell his breath again.

“Uhmm, I really have to go now.” You said while standing up with haste. “Hey babe, where are you going this suddenly? I can tag along, right?” He exclaimed and followed you through the bar.

You mentally cursed at yourself for not being able to shake this man off. Turning around, you looked for another option to get rid of this man. Leaving the bar won’t help anymore, he would just follow you.

“So you’ve changed your mind? That makes me really happy…” He was still rambling all sorts of sentences that weren’t really your priority right now. After all, you had stopped listening to this old dude ages ago.

“Babe, stop looking around the bar. All you will ever need is right here, in front of your eyes.” Could this man get any more irritating?

Frantically, you looked around if someone might be able to help you fix this situation. Your eyes landed on a guy who seemed around your age, so you walked over to him slowly. It seemed he was here with a few other guys, so maybe they could help you wave this creep off.

When you were almost close enough to have a conversation, he seemed to notice you from across the bar. After locking your eyes, his gaze went to the man next to you, and back to you. Turning his head to the side as if he was thinking, a frown appeared on his face. With the best pleading face you had, you walked over to him and took a hold of his arm.

“Babe, please get rid of this man. He keeps hitting on me, I don’t like it.” You told him, and at that moment his eyes went wide. A switch seemed to flip inside his head, and he took a step forward, shielding you from the creep with his posture. “Dude, I would like it if you left my girlfriend alone.”

At those words, all of his friends were looking at him like he had lost his mind. While he was talking with the creep, one of his friends walked over to you. “Say, are you really his girlfriend? Because he never talked to us about having one…” He said in a suspicious tone. “No! I mean, he isn’t… I was just followed by this creep and it scared me, so I needed some help. I’m Y/n, by the way.” You said, and held out your hand to him.

“Eunwoo. Well, you can call me Dongmin.” The guy introduced himself, and after that he told you all the names of the other friends and that they were in a band. “Cool! I’d love to hear your music sometime!” You smiled, happy you kind of made friends despite the events that happened just now.

Meanwhile, the guy that acted as your significant other came walking back to the group. “He’s gone now, you can relax.” He stated while petting your head. “Oh yeah, and that’s Jinwoo, our leader.” Dongmin introduced him to you.

“Nice to meet you… I think? I’m Y/n, and thank you so much. I really owe you.” You rambled on, tears almost threatening to escape your eyes. “Hey, no need to cry, it’s alright now…” He shushed you while wrapping his arms around your small figure and rocking you around a bit.

When you calmed down, he wiped your fallen tears away with his sleeve. “Are you okay, babe?” He said, and immediately put his hands in front of his mouth. “Oh god.” He muttered and turned a shade of red immediately. “I guess you’re still in your role.” You chuckled, and soon you two were laughing out loud.

“Do you want another drink? It’s on me.” Jinwoo leaned in and asked  you, trying to talk over the loud music that was now playing. You had decided to stick around with this little group, you fitted in quite well and you didn’t need to go home yet anyways.

“I’d love that!” You almost screamed back and he left to get a few drinks. A smaller figure you recognized as MJ walked over to you. “Having fun?” He asked while smiling. You had known this guy for less than two hours, but he never seemed to stop smiling and being happy. Chuckling at his mood, you yelled a reply. “Of course! You’re all really nice!”

Suddenly, there was a grin evident on his face, which was kind of out of character for him. “What’s wrong? Why are you grinning like that?” You questioned, but never got an answer. MJ, or Myungjun, which was his real name you finally remembered, walked over to the youngest and mumbled something about Jinwoo. You couldn’t quite catch it, but you were interested.

Wait. Why were you interested in what Myungjun had to say about him?

Shortly after, Jinwoo returned from the bar with two drinks in his hands. “Here you go!” He yelled and gave you a wink after, only to turn around immediately. You blushed, and quickly took a sip of the drink to calm yourself down.

Later in the evening, you were all walking home. Apparently, they lived just a few streets away from your house. “I didn’t know!” You exclaimed, giggling. “Well, you can visit sometimes? You know, as friends?” Jinwoo proposed, and you directly nodded your head. “I’d love that!” You said happily. You were sure Minhyuk was muttering something in the back, because all the guys except for Jinwoo suddenly got a laughing fit.

“What was that?” Jinwoo said, and walked over to Minhyuk, seemingly pissed. “What? What did he say?” You asked, a bit lost. Minhyuk didn’t spoke up again, afraid for Jinwoo that was now glaring at him from a distance. Instead, Sanha came skipping over to you and whispered something in your ear.

“I’ll tell you. Of course not as friends, but more than that. Can you make it more obvious?”

At his words, it was your turn to get pissed. “Yah! Sanha, come back here!” But the youngest had already taken a little sprint. You were never catching up to him in these heels.

Soon after, you all arrived in front of your house. “Well, see you around!” Minhyuk said, and left off in search for Sanha. The rest all said their goodbyes and left one after another, Jinwoo last.

Suddenly, he turned around and walked back to you. “Listen… I really didn’t mind being your fake boyfriend today, but I’d love it more if it wasn’t fake. Here’s my number.” He quickly rambled and gave you an impromptu hug, and ran after his friends, not looking back, probably too embarrassed.

Chuckling, you saved his number in your phone. Deciding to send him a message first, you typed in something.

“I’d love that too.”

[attract-mode-collective]

Finally, The ET Video Game That You’ve Been Waiting For

Since there was no proper game culture wrap-up last week (again, sorry about that), along with how I’m filing this at the end of the week instead of the beginning (there’s… stuff happening, so consider this one of the more minor examples), there’s a lot to cover this time around. Including a bunch of happenings from the word of art.

So kicking things off is the latest from Amanda Visel X Michelle Valigura. Much like their Star Wars, Beetlejuice, and Heathers cabinets, here we their ideas of what arcade games based upon ET and Aliens could and should look like. And yeah, playing as Gertie is an approach that could salvage its reputation in the video game sphere, plus I totally want an Alien/Aliens video game starring Newt.

Actually, hasn’t something similar already happened? Sorry, haven’t kept up with the video adaptations; last one I played was for the Jaguar. Anyhow, and unfortunately, both pieces are sold out online. Though… and I’m not 100% certain, but… they’re both at the Thailand Toy Expo, so maybe they brought a few extras with them?

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan to be exact, are not just one but two other notable shows, and both focused on electronic entertainment. First is something you’re probably familiar with, the My Famicase Exhibition, and not just because it’s been around for 13 years. As of this writing, the entire assortment has yet to be shared officially, so you’ll have to turn to Twitter to see the participants boasting their own handiwork.

[UPDATE: 5/7/17] Actually, all the pieces are finally viewable on the Famicase homepage proper. Here are my faves…

… I particularly love Saturdays’s flavor text: “The gateway opens once a week. Tomorrow I’m going in.”

… You kinda need to see the actual cart in the wild to understand; here’s a pic courtesy of @mandimappy…

And finally...

… It’s maybe pointing out that the artist responsible for the concept above also did a piece for last year’s event as well, which ended up becoming something that’s actually playable! Hope history repeats itself cuz I really want a game about an all cat band with gross lyrics.

Now, the other show is something you may know nothing about, cuz a. the 16 Bit Models Exhibition has only been around for two years and b, was only open for just one day, hence why it’s fallen under many radars.

Admittedly, I found last year’s assortment a bit more up my alley, most due to my affinity for the obscure. Yet I can still appreciate this very realistic take on the Super Mario Bros (btw, am also sorry that I don’t know who’s responsible for what)…

Along with this realistic take on Pauline and Donkey Kong…

Yet the exhibition was a reminder that not every Nintendo game out there has been paid tribute to death, specifically Urban Champion…

The dioramas are easily the best parts of the 16 Bit Models Exhibition. Here’s an equally impressive one, featuring Castlevania…

Though once again, the obscurer the better, so this tribute to Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa gets a thumbs up from me…

Which is the lesser known game: Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa or City Connection? The latter at least was released on the NES at the time. Then again…

Moving onto fashion, UNIQLO recently unveiled an upcoming line based upon Mario and company. As one might expect from UNIQLO, they look quite nice! Here’s the campaign movie from Japan…

The best part is that UNIQLO’s entire line is headed towards the US! Was not expecting that. Alas, certain designs are not available to everyone, and I know more than a few adults who wouldn’t mind that Kirby tee. So here comes YUMMY MART to the rescue…

Somewhat along the same lines is Namco enlisting the talents of PAYNUS, who represents some of the esoteric offerings in the Pac-Store…

The constant reference to pizza is something that’s present in both the PAYNUS designs and Namco’s own in-house efforts…

Meanwhile, back at METEOR, in addition to the latest Famicase exhibit, they’ve also been busy with a collab with THUNDERBOX (which I highlighted just a few weeks ago). And from the looks of miki800.com’s post, MOUNTAIN GRAPHICS is also involved? Talk about a holy trinity…

Whereas the previous combination makes sense, the following is… unexpected. Recently discovered that R23X has teamed up with the The Yetee of all folks to produce a line of shirts showcasing glitched VHS stills. Including one that’s game related (technically two; there’s also a crop top version as well)…

Looks neat and all, but I’m less of a Final Fantasy 7 fan and more of a Wave Race 64 aficionado, and would therefore love to see this on a tee…

I’d also love to get my hands on one of these 100 yen pins that @rgb_club posted a couple weeks back, though no word on when it might be available…

Here’s another thing that’s not for sale, mostly cuz there was only one, which is of this baseball player made to look like a Street Fighter…

Which had the better Spinning Bird Kick; Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li…

Or City Hunter (yup, that’s Jackie Chan; via tenshokyaku)…

Sticking with leggy video game stars, thanks to thevideogameartarchive, we finally have an answer as to whether Link is boxers or briefs…

And sticking with Link for just a bit more, I particularly dig nozovis’s summary of the fun times him and Zelda have in Breath of the Wild…

Along those same lines is a zine that @WPR_haru made that’s filled with all the photos he took, one that I’d love to have a copy of…

Which fan art featuring a character from behind do you prefer; this Breath of the Wild piece by James Kochalka…

Or this Overwatch piece by some unknown artist (if anyone knows, plz let me know)…

Here we have @RAStyle85’s Astro City with a lots of buttons, for playing whatever game that requires that many inputs…

And here we have former Taito graphic designer Atsushi Iwata’s custom-built device, for producing pixel graphics!

Such things were used in other places, like SNK. Here we have a quote from someone who worked there, courtesy of videogamesdensetsu…

“The sprite editor used by artists for a number of SNK fighting games (Art Box) was written for the Neo-Geo, and uses the Neo-Geo as the interface. As in, you would use the joystick and the buttons to draw the sprite. He didn’t believe this when he started there, until one of the higher ups showed him by firing up one of the machines and drawing a kickass sprite of Robert Garcia in like 10 minutes”.

Does the Art Box sound familiar? Well, it should be.

The latest from The Gaming Historian, on the creation of the d-pad, answers the one question I’ve had for ages: if Nintendo was able to patent the control input, how were Sega and others able to get away with something seemingly similar?

Remember the 8bit Harmonica from last week? Well here’s another project involving the Famicom by Ugoita that’s a bit more… random?

This post has gone on for far too long without any Sega. Time to fix that with some gifs of Sonic from Sega Saturn de Hakken!! Tamagotchi Park, which as you may have guessed is a Tamagotchi title in which you can raise Sonic (and sorry, chilli dogs was Sonic’s fave food in the US, though I believe Sonic Generations would later recon that; via pr0jectneedlemouse)…

Though you can also raise other Sega personalities, like Opa Opa and Alex Kidd, plus even a Mega Drive cart (via grooveonfight)?

Super obscure Sega humor doesn’t get more obscure than this folks (note to self: on the next car trip, bring along the soundtrack to Super Hang-On cuz repeated plays of OutRun and Daytona USA tunes can get old after a while; via dnopls)…

I know the following has been shared liked crazy (hell, even NPR posted the damn thing), and for good reason. All I can say is, Pikachu #14, get your sh*t together…

Speaking of Pikachu and his pals, The Pokemon Center released a line of Ditto Gachapon figures that are supa kawaii (via retrogamerblog)…

Though the one piece of plastic I want the most is the also recently unveiled Samus from Metroid Prime figure by Good Smile Company, which looks hella cooler than the previously released Other M Figma…

Am embarrassed to admit that I have no idea where this following screenshot is from, nor the tune that accompanies it, both courtesy of radicalhelmet. If anyone would be kind enough to clue me in, would be supremely appreciated…

I wonder what the cover girl of this issue of Spoon is playing (via sixteen-bit)…

And this week’s recommended reading comes courtesy of mah boi Don Miller, and is actually something that Oliver at Minus World also picked up on, which is a book produced by the creator of LSD: Dream Emulator, among other things, and someone I’ve mentioned quite a few times around these parts. It’s called The Art of Computer Designing: A Black and White Approach and is available via archive.org…

As someone who has always planned on transforming an old iMac into a fish tank, thanks to Phazed, I know have other ideas…

And finally, and I also know that I’ve been saying the same thing over and over again, but Super Attractive Club members will be receiving another round up game culture snapshots, hopefully very soon! Until then, please enjoy this still life courtesy of peazy86…

BTW, peazy86 also does music, plus music videos…

Don’t forget: Attract Mode is now on Medium! There you can subscribe to keep up to date, as well as enjoy some “best of” content you might have missed the first time around, plus be spared of the technical issues that’s starting to overtake Tumblr.

[coin-river-blog]

Interview

What is a proud college dropout, world traveler, Ayn Rand devotee, and son of an international arms dealer doing artfully, doggedly defending bitcoin as a form of cash? Not even out of his 20s, Derek Magill is many times wiser than his chronological age lets on. In fact, he’s arguably the most important apologist around when it comes to bitcoin cash (BCH). Through rational arguments, funny retorts, solid philosophical foundations, he’s developed quite a following. He’s even started his own think tank, The Nakamoto Studies Institute, to document BCH’s importance in monetary history. News.Bitcoin.com caught up with the troll slayer for an exclusive interview.

Also read: UK Financial Game Show Uses Comedy & Bitcoin to Entertain, Inform

Derek Magill is the Troll Slayer

News.Bitcoin.com (BC): You waded into litecoin for a while, hoping to find a crypto sans excessive fees and mempool nonsense, right? I remember you posting a schematic or something, explaining how it worked to your grandfather. Derek Magill (DM): That’s correct. I gave up on the cryptocurrency community not long after I got my first bitcoin in 2013. I bought bitcoin here and there over the years, but I never liked what I saw as indefinite utopianism in the space — that kept me away from participating. The events leading up to Mike Hearn’s famous exit piece made me glad I’d stayed out of it at the time. But I started getting excited again in early 2017.

I liked the fact that, at the time at least, the Litecoin community was committed to litecoin being usable for real-world commerce. There were problems with litecoin’s value proposition from the start that I was aware of (mostly in the fact that the ‘silver to bitcoin’s gold’ analogy sounds nice but is nonsensical), but I hoped it would be able to come out from bitcoin core’s [BTC] shadow as the developers and the community took BTC down a road that seemed increasingly irrational. And in a way, I think I was vindicated for a time. Litecoin grew in price and volume incredibly in mid-to-late 2017, I think in large part because people needed a more reliable way to transfer value than BTC. But when it became clear to me that the Litecoin roadmap was little more than testing ground for BTC’s roadmap, right around the time BCH got off the ground I traded my Litecoin for BCH, which I now think has the only serious chance of challenging BTC’s roadmap. Frankly, Litecoin is still one of my best investments though, funny enough.

Argumentum ad Rogerum

BC: Your favoritism of bitcoin cash has turned toward advocacy. Is it important BCH proponents be versed in apologetics? DM: Long term, no. You should be able to be philosophically illiterate but still be able to transact with BCH and get value from it. In the short term, I have been totally surprised by the effectiveness of the Core madness, and I suspect the more reasoned arguments we can deliver on the BCH side to counter that will be valuable. That’s why I’ve spent so much time writing. I do think in general BCH/BTC need more communicators, philosophers, writers, salespeople, marketers, and creatives. Developer-only culture is the reason we got into this mess to begin with.

Actual footage of the troll slayer in action.

BC: One of the first viral essays you wrote about BCH was to separate its more charismatic advocates from the cryptocurrency itself, Argumentum ad Rogerum. Why is that important?   DM: That really had two goals. On the one hand, I think Roger Ver is a hero for the work he’s done, and what is being done to his reputation by idiotic internet losers and a handful of genuinely mean people is disgraceful. I wanted to counter that.

On the other hand, and related directly to your question, I think it’s a very bad sign for investors if the success of Bitcoin is said to rest on a tiny handful of good or bad actors. The simple fact is that Roger could be a total scammer charlatan and it wouldn’t change my evaluation of Bitcoin Cash. I wanted to point out the stupidity and hypocrisy of making everything about Roger and show how it is not an argument at all. Core’s obsession with the personal character of Roger and others as arguments against Bitcoin Cash is frankly more revealing about their own warped views of Bitcoin than BCH or Ver.

Nakamoto Studies Institute 

BC: The Staggering Lies and Scams of Bitcoin Core is a definitive polemic of its subject matter. What drove you to write it? DM: That was a fun one to write. I suppose it was directly inspired by a rather unlettered rant Saifedean Ammous left me on Twitter about how BCH is a scam run by sociopaths and criminals, the same old nonsense you hear all the time.

More broadly though, it was just this question of “scam” in general. You hear it all the time that BCH is a scam but very little evidence is ever given besides the fact that Roger Ver sold some firecrackers on Ebay once and Jihan Wu is from China. Meanwhile, there’s a good deal of evidence that a lot of bad things have been done by people in the BTC community that might be relevant to potential investors.

I wanted to make a roundup of the ones I considered most egregious — the puffed up lawsuits against Bitcoin.com by people who claim to be anarchists, the false advertising on Bitcoin dot org that went on for months and months, and the imaginary victims, they claim are ‘deceived by BCH,’ but whom they can never point to, are just a few. These are evil, evil acts and they should be brought to light, especially when their perpetrators are constantly pretending they have some kind of moral high ground. Maybe more importantly, as Roger himself as said, the propaganda and censorship was effective. BTC became a cult, and if we want to prevent that from happening in BCH, speaking out fast and effectively will be one step to doing so. BC: Your advocacy has bloomed to starting an online Institute. It’s attracted at least one of the founders of the original idea. In fact, he’s left (or was booted), and has said he intends to collab with you. You’ve described it as a fork. What are your hopes for the Nakamoto Studies Institute? DM: A lot of the lies in the Bitcoin world today can be addressed by returning to Satoshi’s writings. I want to create the world’s best archive of his writings so that you can easily search them by keyword.

Mr. Magill in Serbia.

For example, if you want to find Satoshi discussing Moore’s Law (he does) or ‘micropayments’ (he does that too), you’ll be able to click a link and find all the times he mentioned those terms. I think that’s powerful intellectual ammo for people who want to defend themselves against Core propaganda and who want to push the development of Bitcoin in the right direction.

Satoshi is not God, of course, but nor are the Core developers (they seem to have forgotten that). Satoshi’s writings are a good reminder to the world of that fact. It’s a good check against the 1984-style rewriting of Bitcoin’s history they’ve been attempting recently.

Are game shows and entertainment important to crypto adoption? Let us know in the comments. 

Images via the Pixabay, Dominic Frisby’s Financial Game Show.

Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com.