#this is completely out of context but I think it’s still a banger of a sentence

[rippeanuts1950-2000]

ugh, favorite sentence i’ve written so far

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

For @orange-artist ‘s ASL god AU DTIYS! (congrats on the milestone!)

This was really fun, I absolutely love drawing ethereal designs

Additional notes 👇

So i adjusted the original designs ... a bit... To draw in my style means that i have to make everything extra, sorry.

Ace:

I like the base design for Ace a lot! i looked at other posts to get more context to these outfits and i say this draping billowy pants design that i liked a lot more, so I used that instead of the ones he has in the picture.

I love his cute little star crown, i think it looks dope as hell. I wanted to bring it to other parts of him too, so I gave him an arm cuff with it, too! If i had drawn the front of him, you would also see that crown design around his waist as a belt, too.

i originally had him in a pose similar to the one he has in the original, but after i sketched out the other two poses i found he looked a little two flat, so i brought his hand out to the foreground.

I like the choice for his hair to gradient out to look like a comet! I had a lot of trouble trying to make it look Just Right, but i think I nailed it

Luffy:

I didn't change much about his design, I really just made him a little more yellow than he was before. Its hard to improve an already banger design. He's my ethereal silly guy...

I really love the idea of Luffy's scars looking like gold, that's really cool.

I wish I could've added that cold crown he has around his head, but i didn't know how to without it looking sloppy so i had to leave it out.

Sabo:

I changed so much about Sabo's design, i would like to send out a formal apology for it, I admit I went a little too ham. I had already completed the picture before i went back to look at the original post and saw the comments about how Sabo was supposed to look... discreet...... I... Did Not Make Him Discreet. In The Slightest. :DDD ehe

I needed help for Sabo's pose because i was having so much trouble with the hand, i called upon my good website friend JustSketchMe to get it right. I had this idea for the pose because i wanted the claw to look like a crescent moon, I think it looks pretty good.

I would've given him normal snakebite piercings too but i felt that the ring piercings looked more Crescent-like, so i went with that.

Moon belt. i want that moon belt. I have no outfits it would go with. but i still want it.

I love Sabo's whispies that he has in the original design, but when I put them in the art i had, it cluttered up the piece too much and I had to get rid of them. A moment of silence for the fallen whispies...

Noticing now I forgot Sabo's Cane..... oops.

General:

I shaded Luffy to be lighted by the sun, Sabo the moon, but i made Ace be the light for himself. There's some deep meaning to that, but I cant think of one right now.

I had a lot of fun drawing this, i hope i was failthful enough to the original designs even though i changed everything a lot :)

Drinking game: take a shot everytime I used the word "I", take a double shot each time i forgot to capitalize it, too. You will be Dead by the end of the post, though.

[zettaireido-emotion]

Camus character analysis: games VS anime

If you finished the Uta no Prince-sama anime and your opinion of this man is "wow, he's kinda terrible," I don't blame you. in fact I've seen a lot of people say this

In this post, I want to talk about his characterization in the games and give my two cents on what the anime was trying to do with him, especially in his single focus episode Saintly Territory (S3E6).

Disclaimer: I wrote this on a whim because I'm sick and stuck at home so if anyone reads this, sorry I might go all over the place

Spoilers for all of the games!

The "be my slave" thing

Starting with Anime Camus's most egregious crime: treating Haruka like a servant/slave (however you want to translate it)

Basically in his focus episode, Haruka is tasked with writing a song for Camus. She wants to learn more about him in order to write it, but Camus will only let her follow him if she acts as his servant. She accepts without complaining, Cecil is rightfully angry, Haruka continues anyway and the song gets completed.

Now, am I about to say that Game Camus would never do this? No because he literally does lmao.

The anime doesn't pull this "servant" plotline out of nowhere, here's the context in his route:

Haruka accidentally overhears Camus talking about a plot to assassinate Saotome on the phone. When he notices that she heard everything, he basically tells her that he has to kill her now. But if she served him, he'd be able to keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't leak anything, so she could escape death.

Okay uh "work under me or DIE" isn't exactly better, nor is it a good start to a love story, but I'm not finished!!

(A side note: I have to add that the anime made him look like an even bigger asshole and borderline dumb when it came to the things he made her do. Like he expected her to know that snapping your fingers means you want coffee without prior explanation. bro

^This might have been for comedic effect but I promise he can be actually funny and endearing.)

What the anime couldn't cover

The Camus episode wraps up with Haruka pulling through and writing a song that makes Camus "sincere," he says it's cool at the very end and that's the episode. I think the problem is that we technically didn't see him being sincere or what that even means to him, besides when he was singing (banger song btw)

It's a shame because in a 20-minute episode you really can't show the game experience of slowly piecing together what this man's problem is.

First of all, in Debut and AS you'll be quick to notice that he always has homeland and duty on the mind, constantly reminding himself that he's in Shining Agency/Japan for a reason, and it's NOT to have fun or make friends

The truth is, he slowly starts to appreciate the banter with his colleagues, music, and working there in general.

But because of his initial mindset, he has to rationalize & justify every connection he forms, like "it's just for work" or worse: "actually it was ALL A LIE and I NEVER ENJOYED A SECOND OF THE TIME WE SPENT TOGETHER, I'm such a great actor haha"

He uses that to fool himself and to push the other person away so it doesn't happen again. This scene is probably the best example:

(I'll be using google lens because it's faster but I checked that the tls were okay)

He also does this in the Non-Fiction drama, which may or may not have actually happened, but I think it's still a pretty good reflection of what could happen in reality because he tells Ranmaru their bond was a lie, then mopes around in his guilt thinking about the good times and wondering why he's sad, and THEN later doubles down on the "it was a lie, I don't care about you" because he just can't let himself get attached to anything.

Basically, he's terrified at the thought of forming actual bonds because he genuinely thinks he's nothing if he stops being a cold weapon:

At one point he does admit he sucks (as a love interest)-

-which is pretty huge by utapri standards. I love these games, but the amount of times where a male lead does something icky, and everyone, including Haruka, acts like it's normal or like it's Haruka's fault is ehhh but I digress

Upbringing

Of course he's very proud of his homeland and status, but sometimes it's to the point of thinking he can't be anything other than his title. So why is he like this?

We got to hear about his childhood from Camus himself a few times, and it often ended with Haruka thinking "wait? that's kinda messed up?" and Camus insisting it's nothing/it's normal so yeah that's something...

His parents were in an unhappy arranged marriage, and his mother was forced to birth an heir which traumatized her so much that she can't see Camus without falling ill. Overall it's a pretty tragic situation since what happened to her was horrible, though not Camus's fault either. Even now she refuses to see him, and I wouldn't say that makes him sad because he never really met her, but simply knowing of her sacrifice probably adds a lot of pressure. As in, he only exists for this one purpose (inheriting his father's title and serving the country), so if he doesn't play his part correctly, it would have all been for nothing.

He was raised by his father not as a child or son but as the heir, always treated and judged as an adult (even during physical training apparently, make of that what you will)

When Haruka asks about childhood memories he has a very hard time finding something that doesn't have to do with his duties or the nation. And then admits he didn't truly have a "childhood" since he was never treated like a child

As for the queen, I think his love for her is sincere: she taught him a lot of things growing up, and according to him, she's also a victim trapped by her duties so he wants to ease the burden.

So hypothetically, if he found things or people that made him happy in Japan, he would feel obligated to lock them away because that happiness is incompatible with his life: he'll have to leave when his mission ends, he shouldn't be spending time on things that aren't "useful" as he doesn't have the free will to pursue them

In his mind he's completely tied down by the fact that he was born and raised for a single reason, and the fact that he does want to serve the queen.

(This is Saotome describing him btw)

Also it might sound ridiculous to bring his self-worth into question because of how pretentious he is, but I've counted a few situations where he seemed to have complete disregard for his own life, only worrying about Haruka and Cecil's safety in scenes when they were present. And he thinks wanting to be loved unconditionally is a childish thought he shouldn't have.

"Double Face" was a lie. There's like at least 10 layers

On the surface he does have two personas, his perfect polite butler act for the media, and his cold bitchy attitude off camera. But honestly, even when he's not acting as a butler, he's often putting up a front to hide any form of vulnerability (from himself as well)

His main struggle is finding who he is outside of what he's being told to do. Before, he never actually stopped to think about what he WANTS because it just never occurs to him, or if it does he ignores it.

That's why realizing that he has his own desires is essential to his character development, and him staying with Quartet Night (and Haruka in his routes) is so important. It's why Reiji feels the need to reach out and when he does, Camus either freezes up or tears up;

This all makes him the opposite of Ranmaru (being true to yourself and sincere), and similar to Ai (gradually learning to view the world in a less cold and logical way), but I kind of want to save that for another post lmao

He is especially hard on Cecil because Cecil says & does whatever he wants, and everything still works out for him, which is a way of life that Camus can't imagine for himself at all (despite maybe wanting it?)

That he can realize this and eventually admit out loud, despite all his pride, is also one of my favorite things about him

Season 2 does hint at something, so that's pretty cool!

Side note, I really love that his theme in the new Oracle series is "Change," the melting of ice.

So what was the anime supposed to do??

Of course there's no way to show all this in a single episode or even during the runtime of the anime, and I never expected them to because the story is very surface-level (that goes for all characters).

It's just unfortunate since the anime is the most accessible and well-known utapri media in the western fandom, and the character's main episode is bound to leave the biggest impression.

I understand the choice of being laser-focused on the servant plotline, it's supposed to be funny (?) and waters him down to a trope that's easy to understand at first glance (the step-on-me guy I guess)

Still, I can't help but compare it to Ranmaru's episode, who was also hard to work with in the games but was chill in S3E7 and got to pet cats. Anime onlys will never know how much Camus loves to dote on his dog smh.....

[two-dolla-bills]

Top 10 mechanisms songs that you can get away with playing at a retailers without too many side eyes

I got a job in retail and I felt inspired lol

Disclaimer: this is not a list of the best mechanisms songs/the ones I think deserve to go "mainstream", they're just the ones that would blend in the best

1. Sirens

This song is probably the mechanisms' least "centered" song. It doesn't mention any characters, it has no narration, and out of context it just sounds like A Song that you might hear on the radio. Sirens is to the mechanisms as you're the one that I want is to grease, you know?

2. Trial by song

THIS one. It's in the same category to me as Sirens; you can listen to it by itself and not suspect much. Unlike Sirens which can be completely separated and still make sense, this one is more like a whole new world from Aladdin. There are parts that make it obvious that it's from a larger whole, but if you just so happen to catch the "safe" parts you won't suspect much.

Points were deducted due to Mr. Soldier's unique vocals. (Unique as in not very common in mainstream music)

3. Empty trail

This is no offense to Dr. La Cognizzi, but sometimes when she sings it's hard to make out what she's saying, which works in her favor in these circumstances. It sounds country/rock, which help it blend in with some dad rock songs. If I remember correctly, the melody was actually taken from a Led Zeppelin song, so if you aren't paying attention to what's ACTUALLY being said you can get away with claiming it's a cover.

4. Ties that bind

Although this one does mention many plot points, many fans have stated that they had no idea what the fuck was being said until the have looked for the lyrics (myself included) this, combined with it's jazzy rythm, make it able to blend in with other songs, similarly to empty trail

5. Odin

The most "normal" song out of the entirety of The Bifrost Incident. This song made it to the top five because it has similarities with Roam by the B-52's, but had points deducted due to it clearly being about an awesome space train

6. Lost in the cosmos

This might just be personal opinion, but it sounds like a church song. You can pull off the effect of it being about earth Jesus and not space robot Jesus if you have particularly bad quality speakers and a busy store w/lots of noise. Again, the lyrics kinda give it away as to not being entirely main stream

7. Stranger

Look it's a banger, ok? Many of the lyrics could be taken as just being metaphors, but I feel like you have to squint to "see" it. Pay too much attention and shit gets a little weird. Also, points deducted because it's two men singing together and not a man and a woman, which throws a wrench into the works. At kohl's it might raise some eyebrows but in like hot topic it'll blend in a little better

8. Redeath

You would think a song about a sphoenix (space phoenix) would be lower on the list but you'd be wrong. It's a really pretty song with a good original melody, and it's something that can be drowned out by a particularly rowdy crowd. Like Stranger, it would blend in better at a hot topic than at kohl's, but only slightly.

9. Elysian Fields

The melody in Elysian Fields is taken directly from the song wayfaring stranger, which has been coverd by Jonny Cash, Ed Sheeran, Poor Man's Poison, and The Longest Johns, AS WELL HAS having been featured in the movie 1917 and in the video game The Last of Us II, which make it very recognizable. Because of this recognizability, people who know the original song may be caught off guard by hearing it in a Walmart with completely different lyrics. It was originally in 7th place, but the popularity of the original takes off many points

10. Once and future king

It's a banger, don't get me wrong, but it also very heavily and clearly mentions plot points from the album, which itself is heavily base on Aurtharian mythology; something very well known in the western world (also the names are not common at all and most haven't been in fashion in centuries). In a crowded, busy space with not very good quality speakers it could potentially blend in, but one or two names might sneak out. The only reason it's on the list is because of the instrumental outro, which sounds normal enough

[averagecontentenjoyer121]

Ships I’ve seen on my FYP since I’ve started posting about Epic the Musical, also I’ve learned how to color text after 8 months of having Tumblr.

Canon:

Odysseus x Penlope

Eurylochus x ctimene

Telemachus x Nausicaa: I think that’s it

Calypso x Odysseus: put this because, kinda, and I don’t remember the context for the post just remember seeing

Circe X Odysseus

Ares X Aphrodite

Perimedes X Elpenor

Crack ships:

Odysseus x Poseidon x Zeus: this is completely my fault one of my friends told me about @anniflamma’s "manwhore au" and I though, "There's no way this is real," only now to be living the akira meme whenever pops up on my FYP

Antinious x Calypso: first saw this on @irunaki’s blog, but the supports do make a good argument for it. Quote, “they match each other’s freak.” Can’t argue with that

Diomedes x Odysseus: Idk how this started or who first subjected me to this, but I know why I’ve seen it. I made ONE, say it again ONE post with Diomedes and Odysseus hanging out as friends and the algorithm said, “you wanna see them kiss don’t you.” Either way pop off I guess and have fun DioXOdy fans out there.

Polites X Odysseus: once again kinda makes sense, or atleast I can see how this started, because the song cut song Your Light 100% gives of gay vibes

Hermes X Odysseus: I think I’ve see like one post regarding this, but still.

Artemis X Aeolus: Once again Don’t know who started this one but I remember first seeing this on @irunaki’s blog. Also, one of my favorite pieces of art comes from @sloanslone because it’s so cute.

Aeolus X Hermes: Don’t remember if this is an actual ship or not but it does have a ship name. Coming from another banger piece art by @sloanslone there relationship is called Cinnamon I believe

I feel like I’ve seen some with Apollo X someone, but don’t remember.

Siren X Athena: this Banger comes from @coquexari and I absolutely love this one. It’s just been presented in such a cute way that I love it. And the art she’s made for it is also really cute.

Circe X Calypso: Once again first saw this one on @irunaki’s blog, but I will say I haven’t seen it since the wisdom saga came out.

Eurylochus x Ares: by @thequeenofthedisneyverse

Eurylochus x Zeus

Eurylochus x random guy that gets eaten by Scylla: by @calciumyum

Aeolus X Apollo

Telemachus x antinious: It does exist, but I don’t remember where I’ve seen it

Diomedes x Odysseus x Penelope: Hi @wolfythewitch

Also I’ve seen Femboy Telemachus

Gotten Hades (game) ship art

Etc etc.

[zomtart]

At Least Out Loud (Karen Page x Fem!Reader)

Here's my day 2 of Tuna-Tober! Finally wrote something for the love of my life Karen Page

Sorry it ends on a sort of cliffhanger, I am trying to keep these as short as I can manage so I can get through more! Maybe I'll write a part two🤭 Also title is a reference to the absolute BANGER of a song I Won't Say I'm In Love, which hits so much harder in a sapphic context if you ask me <3

Tuna-Tober Day 2: “I’m in love with you, and that scares me.” + A Hug That Lasts A Little Too Long

Pairing: Karen Page x Fem!Reader

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, sapphic yearning, platonic matt and reader

Word Count: 1.1k

Karen slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to refrain from spitting out her drink at Foggy’s joke. You had failed that challenge, but managed to get it back in your cup as the entire table erupted into laughter. It was a much needed break for all of you, the end of a long week and long work hours. Foggy and Matt at their firm, you and Karen at the Bulletin. You hadn’t been able to spend time together with all four of you in so long. It felt so right, like coming home, and you never wanted it to end. Foggy’s jokes, Matt’s smile, and…Karen. Everything about Karen.

The low lighting of Josie’s gave you courage, or maybe just the ability to hide from the truth. No matter what, at the end of the night in the run-down dive bar, you always were left with that feeling in your stomach. A feeling that felt suspiciously like butterflies.

“Okay, okay, I need to…” Karen let out a few more giggles before running a hand through her stupid, perfect hair. “Need to go. Got a meeting tomorrow morning.”

There was a unisonous groan across the table.

“Tomorrow’s Saturday!” Foggy protested.

“Yes, Foggy, I know. I’m not looking forward to getting up early on a weekend either, but this is when Julia Dayton can meet for an interview.” she explained as she shrugged her bag onto her shoulder.

“Let me know how it goes,” you smile up at her. “That’s gonna be one hell of an article.”

“All thanks to you,” she laughs a little bit. “You helped me finish up my editorial in time.”

You waved a hand in dismissal as she hugged Matt and Foggy goodbye. You stood up too, grabbing your bag. “Walk you home?”

She shook her head. “I called an Uber.” 

“Oh. You sure you’re good going by yourself?”

She smiled knowingly. “I’ll text you when I’m back safe. Okay?” she pulled you into a hug, the faint scent of roses and shitty tequila washing over you as you gently gripped her shoulders. 

“Okay.” you responded, your voice far too small. You briefly wondered how long you should make the hug…were you hugging for too long? Were you making it weird? 

You tried to pull back, but then she held on, and you just about melted in her arms. You weren’t sure if it was the alcohol, or the way her thumb was ever so slightly moving back and forth on your arm, but you felt entranced. If this was where you stayed for the rest of your life, you’d be completely fine with that.

When the hug finally broke you forced your expression into what you hoped was nonchalant, giving her a small smile. Then she was gone, leaving you to watch her walk out the bar door.

A beat of silence passed before you heard a snort from behind you. You turned around to see Matt and Foggy, trying to hold in smirks.

“What?” you were immediately on the defensive, practically stomping back to your seat. 

“Nothing, nothing. Sorry.”

~

You tried your best to enjoy the rest of the night, but the feeling in your stomach wouldn’t go away. A note of roses still lingered in the air, clouding over every other thought in your head. 

You tell yourself it’s the alcohol.

“Alright, guys. I gotta call it a night.” Foggy sighed, standing up with a slight wobble. 

Matt laughed at the slur in his friend’s voice and his lack of balance. “Yeah, I think that’s for the best, buddy.” 

Foggy shooed him away, huffing as he mumbled something about the King of England being his uber driver.

“It says George the third…” you heard him tell Matt as he walked him out to the car. You laughed to yourself, finishing off the rest of your glass. You weren’t sure how many drinks that had added up to, but for the sake of your sanity you didn’t look at the bill before giving Josie your card. By the time you paid, Matt was back at the table, pulling his jacket around his shoulders.

“Ready to go?” He wasn't nearly as drunk as Foggy, and you couldn’t blame him. After learning about his heightened senses, you could understand how being drunk could be unpleasant for him.

You nodded, starting to force a smile before deciding not to bother. He would tell you’d be faking it, anyway. It almost seemed that he noticed you starting to fake it. You felt him focusing on you as you took his elbow and walked out of the bar.

After a block of heavy silence you pursed your lips and turned to look at him. “Do you have something to say? Or are you just going to keep counting my heart rate or whatever you’re doing?” 

He laughed a little at your remark. “I don’t need enhanced senses to realize you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset.” you said immediately, but there wasn’t any conviction to it. You were too tired, too drunk. He just sighed, because he knew you were lying, and you knew he knew you were lying.

He murmured your name gently, before saying, very quietly, “You can’t keep running from it.” 

The words hit you like a freight train. He was right. That’s what you were doing. You were running from this. That’s what you always did. The tightness expanded in your chest, moving past your ribcage, making your whole body feel like it was under ice water. Tears pricked at your eyes and you furiously wiped at them, turning away from him.

“She’s my best friend, Matt. I…I don’t want to lose her.”

“Do you really think you’d lose her?” he stopped you walking with a gentle hand on your shoulder. “Honestly. Do you think if she somehow doesn’t feel the same, that she would treat you any differently?”

You rolled your eyes, shaking your head. “N-no, no, of course not but it’s…I can’t just…” you struggled to find the words. “It’s not that easy, Matt, I’m…I’m terrified. I’m in love with her and that--that scares me. I don’t like feeling like this. Like I could just give her everything and she could just…say no. Or worse--she says yes. And then I…then I have to find some way to be enough for this beautiful, ambitious, amazing woman.”

Matt frowned. “That’s not how love works. It’s not a business exchange. If she loves you, which I--” he sighed. “Which I really think she does…then you’re already enough for her. It’s why she loves you." He gently placed a hand on your shoulder. “I’m not saying you have to tell her if you’re not ready. I’m just saying that…” he trailed off, searching for the words. “If anyone is going to be gentle with your heart, it’s Karen.”

@tunatober

[loverofstufflof]

Airing out my LMK trailer/S5 thoughts cause u gotta do this somehow

Most glaring, animation. It’s not bad, by any means. I’d certainly be proud of myself if I were able to come up with it.

However, I think it’s important to consider the context of the show’s style, and how it’s been improving significantly over instalments. Also, it’s Flying Bark. Flying Bark is just gonna make banger animation.

Am I a bit disappointed when comparing it to Emperor’s Wrath? Yeah. Especially when we’ve been waiting a full year for this—twice as long as usual.

But I’m not saying I won’t be watching the show because of it. I still love this story. Fuck, my favourite series is Epithet Erased. The show that’s best described as JPEGs wiggling around your screen for 2 hours. I can handle less than expected animation if it’s made up for by good writing.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people attacking invisible fans that claim they’re going to boycott the show because of this. Respectfully, source? The most aggressive criticism I’ve seen is “man that’s disappointing ig, still excited tho”. Who are you guys even fighting lmao. (Unless this is something happening on other platforms and you’re just venting on here which, valid)

Nevertheless, as I’ve said before, it’s not bad animation, just not up to the standard we’re used to. People are allowed to be disappointed. Let them be. This show isn’t flawless.

It’s looking to be real, all things considered. We’ve never gotten a fan leak this elaborate before, and it contains a lot of elements that were just recently revealed. Unless they’ve been getting announcements much earlier than we have (considering this fanbase’s sleuth skills, I’d doubt it) then there’s no other explanation other than it being official.

Official, however, doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to look that way the whole time. The animation is being done by another studio, yes, but only partially. Flying Bark is still here for the fun. This other studio also isn’t incompetent, they’re behind things like Carmen Sandiego. They know what they’re doing.

They’re also primarily handling additional material, means promotions, meaning trailers. Listen, it’s a bit of a stretch considering the fact that all trailers so far have been taken directly from the show, but also it’s industry standard to make a trailer before you’re even done, meaning you gotta cut some corners for the scenes you’re showing until you polish them up in post.

We know LEGO has a habit of keeping LMK things in their vault until they need to, this may be something they had lying around from early prod and released to maintain hype.

Any which way, this development is very much temporary, only applying because the team is currently working on a movie and need to momentarily lessen their workload. Even if the odds are against us and S5 looks like a PowerPoint presentation, it’ll likely go back to normal later.

Biiig animation rant aside, I am a tad bit sad about the direction the story is going in (namely the abandonment of Red Son) and the fan service is a bit much, but honestly what else are we expecting from JTTW fanfic.

I’m stoked to see more Macaque though—he’s looking to be becoming a proper protagonist, which is great for angst! Yippee!

One thing I haven’t seen anyone talk about is the complete lack of Nüwa. You know, the character they’ve been teasing this whole time? Where is she? Not in the trailer. Not in the posters.

Makes me wondering if this is a part of the new season, teasing the next one, the one Nüwa’s in, later.

[lonelyroommp3]

Can we get some brat remix thoughts?

absolutely love it. i love how, for the most part, it avoids what you might typically expect from a remix album (ie. redone production and/or a guest verse, although the songs that do that - such as my bff guess featuring billie eilish - are still incredibly strong in their own right) in favour of basically putting out a set of completely new songs that exist in conversation with the originals. like i'll say, hand on heart, i originally did not Get a couple of the remixes (namely, talk talk & the a.g cook/addison rae von dutch) when they were released as singles because they were so different to the originals in ways that really challenged what i thought a remix entailed. but now i completely get it and i think it's just insane how charli & her collaborators have managed to put out a load of songs that are all bangers in their own right but also elevate & are elevated by the context of the originals.

after my first listen i immediately put together a playlist that alternates the original songs with their remix album counterparts and genuinely, i think that's how it SHOULD be listened to because it not only heightens the emotional impact of the songs that are in direct conversation with each other (e.g. the melancholy tone of the original "so i" compared with charli choosing to look back on her good memories with sophie in the remix, building from the original's understated tone to the remix's euphoric climax) but also helps you connect the dots between the remixes that seem really disconnected from the original (e.g. talk talk).

speaking of that disconnect, i love the fact that "remix" in the context of brat and it's completely different... applies not just to the production in some cases but also taking aspects of the lyrics and completely recontextualising them in the same way you might isolate and play with a particular musical fragment in a more conventional remix. like thematically the "b2b" and "mean girls" remixes have almost nothing to do with their original versions but they use kernels of the original and give them new meaning in a really interesting way. and i think it's so cool to have all these different kinds of remixes explored in the same album, from the complete recontextualisation to the conversation pieces to songs that feel like an extended outro of sorts (e.g. "rewind", "sympathy is a knife") to the songs that are more straightforward remixes ("360", "365", "club classics")... just completely blowing the definition of remix wide open and having fun with it the whole time

with that said there are some songs i think are not completely perfect. i'm not convinced yet that ariana is a natural fit for the "sympathy is a knife" remix - i adore what her adlibs provide sonically in the later choruses but i'm just not sure her verse gels as it should. also while i fucking love the "club classics" and "365" remixes i DESPERATELY need proper extended versions like, yesterday because 2 minutes is just not enough time to properly get into and make the most of tracks that filthy. we need proper 7 minute club mixes. with at least 3 more shygirl verses btw.

anyway. standout remixes to me (excluding girl so confusing and guess bc i've talked enough about how i love both of those already) - i might say something stupid, talk talk, everything is romantic, so i, i think about it all the time

[wyrmmaster]

I decided to watch a bit of the new Bleach anime as a "might as well" type deal. I got like 10 minutes in before I closed it and was like "I am not getting back into Bleach".

So then I reread Bleach over the past few days.

It holds up pretty well. I was a bit surprised at how just being able to hit "next chapter" on a cliffhanger really takes the edge off a lot of the more meandering and frustrating parts. The first half was still pretty great. The more iconic fights are still absolutely bangers (Grimmjow and Ulquiorra in particular), a lot of the plot is less ass-pull than "huh, actually, that kinda makes sense if you think about it" because you just read the ~context like an hour ago as opposed to a year. The emotional beats are still decently impactful. Also, watching Kubo's art improve over a 15 year period in a couple days was fascinating. I enjoyed myself.

The main takeaway though, what I actually got from the whole thing:

This one?

Still Best Girl. It's not close. Teenage me was right and I still Absolutely Would The Antelope.

Adult Nel has like 100 panels total screentime but it doesn't matter, bro. Someone mentions Bleach and I think of Ichigo first but .0002 seconds later it's the 3 on Nel's back. I got to the point in the Hollow World arc where her kid form shows up with her dumbass servants and was just kind of vibrating waiting for The Thing

to happen. This is AFTER Ulquiorra nearly kills Ichigo (effortlessly) and sends him into complete despair by showing he's only #4, and being pushed to his absolute limit by #6 who was actually playing fair and being amicable. It was obvious she was a bit more important than just Random Child simply because she was an arrancar but #3? Even after the (ostensible) power increase of the 10 from her time it was a wild jump

The past visions of her being arrogant and superior to the weak ass misogynistic loser Nnotria (along with that arrogance being her downfall because she refused to take him seriously on principle - him working with Szayelaporro was Entirely out of her scope of what he was willing or able to do). The instant mood swings from cold and in control to Ichigo Must Be Tackle Hugged. Her absolutely dunking on present-day Nnoitra is still legendary despite the outcome because she was weakened from the get-go and if she'd been slightly more ruthless to what she still saw as a weakling she'd have ended it before her time ran out

Then 380 chapters later she finally reappears and is just her usual goofy affectionate self with a side of casually Asserting Dominance on Grimmjow for telling her what to do. Queen shit. Deserved so much more spotlight.

The funny part is Kubo seems to agree. Apparently he's spent the post manga years simping for her, making her co-ruler of the hollows with Harribel despite the latter being the top dog previously (and implicitly stating if Grimmjow fucked around he'd find out), making her super important to the politics of the setting by being the one the shinigami want to use to make a peace deal with the hollows, and even giving an alt of her a second stage of her Resurrección (that fucks)

Buddy even retroactively declared her the curviest woman in the series over Rangiku and says his swimsuit alts of her in Brave Soul are the greatest swimsuit art to exist.

... He might not even have been using marketing hyperbole.

[batsplat]

reading your post about vale and marc mind games bc it came up on my dash and thinking about your point about how athletes like vale must convince themselves of certain things but also know the truth. and i guess with vale’s insistence that marc was never a fan of his, that he tricked him, that everything was a lie, when there are videos from marc at age seven naming vale as his hero, videos from him at age nineteen talking about collecting vale’s bikes, etc, things that would appear as “proof” i wonder if there’s some difference between what vale has convinced himself of and the (apparent) reality/truth that exists. obviously there is no way of knowing and it’s imo harder to figure out the “truth” of an emotional and personal situation that both parties were deeply hurt by than a sporting one. but it’s interesting because in 2015 the personal and sport elements were intertwined too

(x) hm yeah, I love the subjectivity of the whole thing, how it's all founded so much around these 'emotional' truths... there's this kind of fun tension where in late 2015/early 2016 both 'sides' are attempting to prove they're right with data, hrc is promising press conferences to present conclusive evidence, everyone's waving around sheets of paper with telemetry and obsessing around helicopter shots... but you won't actually be able to prove anything one way or the other, because this isn't something that can actually be 'proven'. this is about minds and it's about hearts - you can't find conclusive evidence for what's in either of them. that doesn't mean studying the events is pointless... but it can only ever tell you so much. valentino's initial allegation was couched in the language of facts, he wanted his audience to believe that you could read marc's intentions in a few numbers. but even if marc had wanted to sabotage him, you never would have found that in those numbers... and at the end of the day, valentino was using those numbers to tell a much bigger story

this is the difference to, say, qatar 2004, right? because if you're concerning yourself with what 'really' happened at qatar, then you can find a 'truth' of sorts - it should be possible in theory to know whether sete gibernau was involved in valentino's penalty or not. how that penalty came to exist is knowable. you can still do with this information what you want, argue about what sete was attempting to achieve with his actions, argue about what valentino knew or did not know and what he chose to do with that information - but the central 'conspiracy' is one that is based on real events. what marc wanted of valentino that year, the full spectrum of possibilities from completely innocuous to ragingly malicious, is not knowable in a similar way. even marc and valentino themselves won't completely understand their own intentions that year... nobody is knowable even to themselves, right? they've narrativised this to death and back in their own heads, including what happened in the races themselves... marc and valentino both going over the events again and again, in argentina, in assen, in phillip island, in sepang, in valencia... thinking about what they did, what the other did - the level of reflection that can obscure as much as it reveals. even isolated racing events that should be relatively straightforward are still essentially ambiguous, and continue to be enthusiastically debated to this day. the protagonists hold diametrically opposed views, and even there we can only guess at what they really believe

I'll include the autobiography bit again because it really is a bit of a banger

obviously, the context itself is a different one (and if you want to read more about 2003-05 then. well here you go). but it's such a good description... especially this bit

But then again, we riders always say all sorts of things. Sometimes we believe what we say, even when it sounds crazy, other times we’re just being hopeful and, still at other times, it’s all an exercise in self-delusion. We try to convince ourselves of something, because ultimately, every time you step on the track, words don’t matter, and it’s just you, the bike and your opponents.

"at other times, it's all an exercise in self-delusion". you don't say! "we try to convince ourselves of something"... valentino does have a reasonable understanding of his own working process, I think. it's very true what you say about the intertwining of the personal and the sporting processes, and this post contains some speculation about how valentino may have also changed in how he approached interpersonal relationships to his rivals over time. if you buy into this theory, you have a shift to the purely 'professional' rivalries with casey and jorge, where he was fairly conscious and deliberate in manipulating both that dynamic and how he felt within that dynamic. giving himself a target was all well and good, but it's all part of the game, all about attempting to get a competitive edge over his new challengers... it took a bit of a perfect storm for that friendship with marc to even be possible in the first place. maybe marc and valentino would have always ended up enemies - but not in every universe do they start out as friends

of course, the main story valentino ended up telling himself was that marc was out to destroy him. now, this is very much the topic for another post, but it is broadly reasonable to argue that marc approached his rivalry with valentino differently than he did any of his others. it's also not stretching things too far to suggest that marc was perhaps a little more focused on valentino than was competitively reasonable, that he seemed to take defeats to valentino particularly poorly... further into grey areas, was marc deliberately messing with valentino specifically? did he want to beat valentino at all costs, knowing he was pushing things, knowing it might cost valentino the title? where we get into even murkier territory is the question of what marc's preferred outcome for the title that year was, and whether he was really as disinterested as he said he was. it is just around up until this area where you can still more or less get to in a reasonable way, without too much delusion required - where the theory jumps off the cliff edge is by proposing that marc was deliberately orchestrating the phillip island race in order to hand jorge the title. that bit does not work. in a way, though, it's just the conspiratorial scaffolding for an emotional truth. this 'truth' that valentino felt very strongly is that marc had it out for him. once he was convinced of that, he basically just... arranged the facts to suit this narrative, but really the phillip island thing was a lot about having something a bit more 'solid' to grasp onto. it is where he makes the leap from 'malice' to 'conspiracy'. then, he blows shit up at sepang, and obviously from then on you do have marc essentially strengthening this narrative within valentino's mind. that's where we make the step to self-delusion, right...

that being said - the childhood hero thing. "is it true that he’s been my fan? is it true that he had a poster with me in his bedroom? I would like to check." now, in all honesty, I do think valentino knows marc was a fan. this is just my personal read, but to me that line was meant to twist the knife in, rather than being completely literal. the contentious bit, right, isn't that marc at one stage was a valentino fan, it's what this means. what valentino is asserting here is that this stance of marc's, where marc still claims a particular fondness for valentino as a result of how he's always been a fan of valentino, is fundamentally dishonest. valentino knows for a fact that just having a poster of someone in their room isn't enough to stop a rivalry from eventually going sour. let's bring in another autobiography excerpt:

The funny thing is that a few years earlier, when I was fourteen I had had a poster of Biaggi in my room. It was one of many posters on my bedroom wall and it showed Biaggi on the Honda 250. Nothing strange in that: he was Italian and I supported all the Italian riders. Besides, he was an aggressive rider and I always had a lot of respect for those riders who went on the attack. But, back then, I did not know him personally. It was only when I started to listen to his interviews and read what he said in the papers that my opinion changed. With Biaggi, no matter what happened, it never seemed to be his fault, there was always something wrong with the bike or the tyres. I thought he said a lot of things that I believed simply couldn't be true.

the thing is, almost all of these riders are going to have someone on their bedroom wall - and if you're marc's age, there's a pretty good chance that someone is going to be valentino rossi. it's not even valentino's first experience with a feud starting up with someone who had once been his fan... look at casey, who repeatedly said he was a fan of his, had admired him - yes, obviously, completely different degree to marc, but the point is he still publicly said it before that rivalry turned ugly. and jorge who was both a valentino anti-fan and a fan and was kinda actively weird about the whole thing. valentino made reference to this himself in 2010 when those two and him started sniping at each other when he was out with the leg break, saying that at least they were being honest now. like... in blunt terms, if you're valentino rossi, you do kinda expect most people to be a fan of you. so many of these younger riders have some childhood photo of themselves with valentino floating around. marc wasn't particularly special in that regard. the fact that he was a valentino fan isn't why valentino felt so warmly towards him. it wouldn't have been enough in itself for valentino to treat him in any way differently from his other rivals. valentino's been in this game for too long to get sentimental over that - at the end of the day, you need to ensure you're thinking about your rivals in whatever way you need to in order to give yourself the best possible chance to win. the posters weren't the reason why valentino lowered his guard around marc. so, keeping all that in mind, would it really be thar=t hard for valentino to believe that marc was at one stage a fan of his? seriously?

there's also this from uccio in that infamous 2016 interview:

if even uccio implicitly acknowledges the poster bit isn't fake, is valentino really not going to believe that marc had a poster of him at some stage?

now, this isn't the same thing as arguing that valentino had an accurate understanding of how marc felt towards him. it's entirely plausible to say that, yes, he wasn't being entirely literal about the childhood bedroom stuff... but he also didn't get what that hero worship actually meant to marc. you can be a fan of someone and you can be A Fan, and marc was A Fan. this wasn't just a reference point for marc... this was someone he deeply admired. someone he very much idolised. it's not just 'a poster', right - showing valentino marc's childhood bedroom probably doesn't achieve that much. it's something that valentino just interprets differently... to him, this doesn't mean anything in and of itself. which he's broadly right about - except he wasn't entirely aware of what level of fandom marc was actually operating on

so, why does he say it if he's not literally doubting the existence of any posters? first of all, he's just trying to be cruel here. he knows why it stings, right - he's calling the very foundation of their relationship a lie. marc had this pretence up the whole time, and now valentino is finally forcing him to drop it. marc's being dishonest - and how better to argue his case than by saying not even the posters were real? the second reason is that it's an act of erasure. I talk in the sete post about how he does this with that rivalry... most noticeably by excluding sete almost entirely from his autobiography. here, valentino takes a slightly different approach over the years, but as the other feud with deep interpersonal repercussions it's broadly coming from the same playbook. this is the most radical way you can cut ties, right... you can argue the bond never existed in the first place. if it was all just a lie, then the relationship isn't just over - it was never really there. it's the most brutal and complete way you can burn your bridges. marc isn't just denied valentino's friendship... valentino isn't allowing him to be his fan. he's attempting to erase the continuity between them entirely, how marc isn't just his successor in literal terms of his results but also in the more abstract sense of how he modelled himself after valentino. it's this bit that indicates the finality in valentino's decision perhaps better than anything else. this is the end, in all the ways that matter most

[exoticalmonde]

Part I. Hortus de Escapismo Dr. Evealia's Reaction

Ah, finally.

Hortus de Escapismo

Garden of Escapism

Full experience includes waiting for 19837364 endless hours for the servers to open, rewatching the PV (English Version)

The animated PV

And listening to the biggest banger of a boss music without knowing any context. Including to whatever this splash art is meant to be about why does he look so... sad?

The following contains only the aftermath of the gacha and me being real chatty about the way characters look + expectations, so if you're looking for commentary of the story, please refer to Part II!

Hortus de Escapismo is on the horizon and Dr. Lundi is a radiant and unavoidable ball of excitement during the pulls. How could she NOT be??? Six months of saving, an ungodly ammount of pulls and a surprising eagerness of Executor to arrive home later (i.e. the fact out of eight 6*, only two were strangers).

Speaking of strangers, an obscure horse wandered into the pulls to remind her that he's still her number one husband and Executor comes second. Most likely because to summon Federico she changed Mlynar on her homescreen to Executor normal version and he got a little worried, the old man.

Among the 4 Doctors there's always 7 pots of each Elite, so it's no wonder the other one went to Dr. Pinkie before pity, which pretty much concluded our pulls. I don't know what happened to Dr. Kryo, but I personally didn't pull because Hoederererer is on the horizon four months from now and I am BEHIND because of Silverash Kernels.

Fastest character build ever in the world. I think maxing out characters ASMRs have to exist. It's so nice to see it happen so fast. Aesthetically pleasing, complete and right.

But since I'm giving statements that are already unrequested, I just want to say that Executor is not my type. I don't like stiffly blunt and I am also on the side of Sarkaz, so just Sanktas in general are a little... off for me. Except Enforcer, Enforcer is my baby and I would kill for him.

Go on, TRY and convince me this isn't one of the coolest arts ever. I need old 6* characters to get a revamp on their E2 art, because compared to this few can truly compare. God is behind him, holding the scythe, the statue is half a robot for whatever reason???? And it's so cool???

Not to mention that he looks exactly the same face-wise versus his E0 art, which cannot be said about, I don't know, SilverAsh, who looks like he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone in an alley.

His token is also so so so so cute, I don't know what the overall experience with listening to him talking into your ear feels like, but just-- just read this:

'A wireless earpiece. The latest of the Lateran Curia's tech products, and the same model that Executor himself currently uses. Is he giving this to you so you can stay in contact with him at any time, perhaps?'

??????????????????????????????

Cutie patootie.

Base skill not all that impressive. For some reason while looking into it Dr. Pinkie expressed surprise, because she couldn't find any other operator who gives productivity for EXP cards, but by complete accident I saw FEater is another one.

Insider's splash looks great, he's the embodyment of that one weirdo who always gets in trouble for some reason. Might be the spiky hair. Might be the army of pigeons following him.

Their voice actors are amazing so far as I heard, so we wait and see what he's like personality wise.

HIS POTENTIAL IS ABUBUBUBU

'A handwritten dessert recipe. With proportions finetuned to Insider's own personal tastes, the sugar content ABSOLUTELY exceeds recommended guidelines! This one's a pick-me-up!'

Ma'amn...

Not me. Not with that look.

Jail.

'A user manual for precision machinery. Though the only thing inside is a special phone number, since she thinks telling you what to do directly is easier. (But sometimes she'll teach you wrong on purpose–depends on her mood.)'

JAIL FOR YOU

[lil-tachyon]

For the last couple years I've been keeping a handwritten list of good horror stories I've read. I guess the most recommendable ones are The Music of Erich Zann by Lovecraft, The Stolen Body by Wells, Mimic by Wollheim, The Thing in the Weeds by Hodgson, Cyclops by Leiber, The Screaming Man by Beaumont, and The Open Window by Saki. I might type up and post the whole list on my blog after I've done some more reading (my list of things I still need to read grows much faster than the other list).

Including your other suggestions so I can tackle them all in one post.

I wasn't sure I was going to get to all these but I ended up being kinda knocked out by a nasty cold this week and had time to lay up in bed reading through all of them. Which was an absolute pleasure! Thank you for putting this list together. For fun I thought I'd do a mini-review of each story.

For context, I'm the kind of guy that's read probably every H. P. Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith story ever published. I had devoured most of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells by the time I was 14. What I'm trying to say is that I'm already a nerd pre-disposed to loving any Weird Fiction or early sci-fi/horror. If that kind of stuff isn't your speed, then adjust your expectations accordingly.

Also SPOILERS AHEAD for 50-100+ year old short stories.

"The Music of Erich Zann" - H. P. Lovecraft - 1921: This was always going to get a recommendation from me, I just enjoy Lovecraft too much. I'm glad I re-read it though, it had been a while and I think this might be one of my favorite of his stories now. The thing that stood out to me this time around was the exploration of the relationship between Zann and the anonymous protagonist. Feels uncharacteristic of a Lovecraft story to focus so much on the interactions between two human characters and it's done with a fair bit of depth. Bonus: no Lovecraftian racism in this story! Also check out this thrash/prog banger from the Mekong Delta album named after this story.

"The Stolen Body" - H. G. Wells - 1898: So when I opened up my copy of A Dream of Armageddon: The Complete Supernatural Tales (a misnomer it turns out, because it didn't contain the other Wells story on this list) I was surprised to find a bookmark exactly halfway through "The Stolen Body" from where I must've stopped the last time I tried reading this anthology over a decade ago. And I can understand why I would've stopped there because this story is kind of a slog. The premise is fine- a man severs his consciousness from his physical body in the course of an experiment in astral projection and is alarmed to find that when he attempts to return to corporeality another spirit has already taken possession of his frame. The problem is that this story is recounted twice- first from the perspective of a friend where, in spite of their incomplete information, it's pretty obvious what has transpired, and then a second time from the astral-projecting protagonist himself. In the protagonist's telling there's an interesting account of his journey through a kind of vapid hell where body-less spirits wander through eternity suffering of boredom and only able to interact with the physical world via mediums but the concept isn't explored in any depth and is recounted in a painfully "tell, don't show" manner. Can't say I recommend, but it's an interesting artifact of a time when late 19th century occultic beliefs showed up in sci-fi. Kind of like how a lot of 50s-70s sci-fi features psychics.

"Mimic" - Donald A Wollheim - 1942: My favorite story from the list. It's weird, compelling, and extremely brief. I won't summarize it because I think you should just read it. Surprised I hadn't heard of it before, especially since there's apparently a Guillermo Del Toro film adaptation of it? Also surprisingly difficult to track down the text. There are a few incomplete versions of it floating around but if you want the full story, I found it as part of this anthology on archive.org.

"The Thing in the Weeds" - William Hope Hodgson - 1913: - Before this, my only exposure to Hodgson had been "The House on the Borderland" (great story by the way), and reading the "The Thing in the Weeds" has me thinking I should dig a bit deeper into his bibliography. Conveys a sense of claustrophobia and anxiety that feels like classic "Weird Tales" fare while dealing with much lower stakes than unnameable cosmic beings. Maybe more horror stories should be set on the open sea...

"Cyclops" - Fritz Leiber - 1965: This is not a story, this is Leiber's idea for a cool vacuum-dwelling space creature dressed up as a story. Dialogue feels totally unnatural, characters are blank slates, tension is set at zero. But the creature is pretty darn cool and the story is very short. So if you want to just read about a neat alien, go ahead!

"The Howling Man" - Charles Beaumont - 1959: I had already seen the Twilight Zone adaptation of this story a while back so I knew the outline of the plot already, but that in no way diminished my joy in reading this. Beaumont's prose is highly engaging and contains a surprising amount of humor that I don't remember being present in the television version. The only real weak point is the ending. I think a bit more ambiguity over whether and to what the extent the Howling Man and the Abbott were lying to the protagonist would've demanded more introspection from the reader. The idea that releasing the Howling Man / Satan is the direct cause of WWII feels a little too simplistic and also depends on this weird assertion that the early Weimar Republic was experiencing an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity that I'm pretty sure doesn't hold up to historical scrutiny. Still highly recommend, a very fun read!

"The Open Window" - Saki / H. H. Munro - 1914: Less a horror story and more a... silly story? I don't know how to describe it other than it feels like the kind of thing you would have to read and analyze for a single high-school English period. Didn't really do anything for me but it's like a 5-minute read so check it out if you want. Does make me wish I could go on one of those "retreats to the countryside for my nerves" that turn-of-the-century English gentleman and ladies are always going on.

"In the Abyss" - H.G. Wells - 1896: A much better Wells story! And I was lucky enough to find this in the other print Wells anthology I own. (I have an addiction to bringing home old paperbacks I don't need but it's a cheap addiction and I don't have the heart to break it. Plus they're all on shelves and alphabetized so my wife can't get mad at me. Anyway, it's the shelves and shelf space that gets expensive...) It can be a little bit "gadget fiction-y" in its description of the submersible but overall it's well-paced with some good tension and a truly weird exploration of an underwater world. Recommend if you're looking for something outright odd or you like specifically underwater sci-fi. Don't recommend if you don't like thinking about the ways you might die in a submersible.

"The Stone Ship" - William Hope Hodgson - 1914: An interesting and definitely weird story, again about strange happenings on the open sea. Stretches the premise a bit too much, both in the actual length of the story and in my willingness to suspend my disbelief of the "scientific" explanation given at the end. I enjoyed it, but for a spookier and shorter take on a similar premise I'd recommend Lovecraft's "Dagon."

Anyway, thank you again @siryl for your recommendations, I had a blast reading through them!

[rawliverandcigarettes]

One thing that becomes clearer and clearer every time I dare to dip back into The Empire of Preys, is that it's a story for... almost nobody.

(beware: I express a ton of feelings regarding the series under the cut, not all of them positive --and I talk a little bit about my current relationship to the Mass Effect fandom)

Don't get me wrong: I adore it, I am still extremely puzzled at how my brain even began to conceive a story like that, and the first chapter is a complete banger in my honest opinion, and the characters are uncomfortable in a very interesting way, and the worldbuilding is extremely dense with things I hope are meaningful, but.

It's also... pretty hostile to readership? By that I mean: I don't think it can be read passively. A big part of reading TEoP is, first, to understand how systems function normally; and then, understand how these systems interact altogether, how they can be abused, how they are actually abused, and what chain of events these systems will lead to. I am really proud of this interconnectivity --at the same time, it is incredibly dense and demand work. For all the fun and games I can try to inject in there, there are basic principles that can't skip being understood well for the plot to make sense; it's a politically driven story in the dryest possible way --with disaster bisexuals and fashionistas sprinkled on top to lush it up a little, but at heart it is a story about systems interconnecting from the bottom to the top, and it's a tangled mess in there.

So it's... If I'm being honest, and in spite of my genuine love of it, I have to admit it is a little hard to dedicate myself to pushing it further to the degree of polish that it needs. Not to say I won't do it --I will-- but it's impossible not to notice how *barren* the Mass Effect community has gotten in the last couple of years, this year being particularly bad. The readership was barely there anymore when Halfway Home got out, and I'm like... who's even left in there to read 200k worth of words of salarian/turian/asari politics in excruciating detail? Who's even interested in peeling up that toxic system of governance and how soft imperialism manifests in that universe? I still am, because I am invested in that version of Mass Effect and the characters I have put together in that context. But who else?

Of course, there's always this thing of "don't write for an audience, write for yourself", and I'm an absolute follower of that mentality. However.

However.

(oops here comes a condensed version of that Halfway Home post-mortem I promised six months agoooo)

Halfway Home was *hard work*. It's work I decided to go through on my own, and I knew from the start it wouldn't reach that large of an audience --on virtue of being stupid long, about an OC (and a salarian at that, who cares), and having a trigger warning list longer than most people would find reasonable. I am happy that I did the work, and that I chewed the text over until I was absolutely sick of it --but it was basically the best version of what 7 years worth of change and growth and experimentations could get to before absolute burnout. And I am even happy about the readership! I had wonderful comments and I am truly honored that some people invested in that story to the degree they did, and I am fully aware that stories that take much more work get even less attention on the daily. But I would lie to say that I kind of felt... drained, when I saw that I had, indeed, taken too much time to complete it, and the fandom was basically dried up when I finally released it. Watching seven years of my life disappear down the Ao3 drain felt... Well, I won't lie. It felt kind of bad. It felt kind of like grief.

At the end of the day, it is true that nobody ever cares more about your story than yourself --and again, I am neither fishing for attention nor am I really complaining, even. It is a difficult story to sell and to read through, and I always knew the readership would be extraordinarily slim (and it did find it, and I am beyond uwwuuuuwuwu about it, truly ;;). I knew all of that going in. But I also won't lie that fandom timing was... horrendous --and it is even worse today. The fact that I have *barely* seen a hint of speculation on my dash from the latest N7 trailer does kind of say something as well. Sometimes, things come and go. And I suppose that's okay.

But what of The Empire of Preys? What of my deep care for the characters? What of my (I think, understandable) reluctance about jumping in to the next installments, knowing *for sure* that I'll be lucky if I graze 500 hits on Ao3? And that's me being beyond generous, honestly? I wish I didn't care about that, but I guess I do, a little. I also think it's understandable, wanting to work on things and see an impact from whatever you do --even if it comes from love and care. I'm glad I got to do it once, but do I want my literal masterpiece (I know the wording is strong, but I genuinely think TEoP is the best thing I ever did, counting my professional work that will be experienced by a *much* larger audience, and I have zero ideas how I could top it off conceptually given it felt like everything was being served to me in a trance-like state) being sandwiched between futanari porn and a story about a... certain main pairing being plastered absolutely everywhere and tending to suck all the oxygen in the room. No hate to either concept in particular, I actually like the coexistence of everything, it's part of what's cool about fanfiction! But, also. Also.

I suppose it is the curse of having a brain that works best creatively in the context of fandom --and daring to believe in the importance and necessity of creativity for its own sake, without monetary gain. But also, the very human entitlement thing of... not wanting to pour all of its life energy into a black hole.

It's complicated. I do not have a good answer as of now, at least regarding TEoP. I will keep on working passively on it as of now, once in a while, rediscovering it's genuinely really good from time to time and then moving away from it somewhat, until next time. I'm still doing Zelda stuff as of now, which... has been way more rewarding creatively, not gonna lie. It's a fandom full of lifeblood, with ideas bouncing around, people wanting to meet up, boundless creativity. I have written a micro-trilogy this year (it's here if that interests you), and, while in the same ballpark of attention than Halfway Home, it was undeniably more rewarding. I think I also needed to change mediums --I am currently experimenting with animatics, visual storytelling and extremely humble 2D animations, and I'm having a blast.

So... Yeah. I am fairly certain I will complete The Empire of Preys, because I love it deeply and I want to complete it, for its own sake if anything. But in regards to a timeframe... I'm not promising anything. It will happen. Not sure when! I'm following where creativity feels the more urgent at the moment.

But one day, this is a story that will exist, at the very least, and I think I'll love it deeply as well no matter how it's received. But I think I need a little bit of a positive feedback loop right about now, and so to work on projects that like... will be read. Or watched. Or played. Or experienced. And I'm not positive The Empire of Preys will be that for me, at least right now.

[theforesteldritch]

I tried picking up honkai star rail again and fuck I miss the belobog arc and belobog, I genuinely feel like the way the game is structured rn is ruining the chances of a similarly great world and questline in the future. Nothing in the game since has made me feel like I did playing through belobog, I feel like it was the best the game's offered so far and idk if they'll do anything on its level again. I love the quest, the pacing is decent, though the story can be somewhat predictable it's still solid and really well executed and makes you feel, the worldbuilding is great, the characters are all complete and fleshed out and their motivations and personalities seem complete and well thought out, the areas in it are gorgeous and so well done and exactly hit the right vibe and the music is amazing, and the boss fight (and its music, Wildfire is a banger especially given context) was great because you were invested in it and the outcome and future of Belobog. The story makes sense and feels like a complete arc rather than a disjointed series of quests. Most importantly it was both engaging and fun.

Penacony and the Luofu just haven't delivered the same way and aren't nearly as compelling. The game's fallen into a cycle of monthly small updates and pumping out new shiny gacha characters as fast as they can without putting in the effort to give them what made the Belobog arc characters so good. And the worst part is you can't really go back and get that feeling again in Belobog because once you've cleared the content there's nothing to do in the area. No interactivity, no reason or incentive to revisit your favourite areas because there's nothing to do but run around and that gets stale.

The game's lost what made it charming and have heart to it in my opinion. I guess I should expect it at this point with shitty gacha games but I genuinely thought that the game was trying to be a game beyond that and continue with the beautifully high bar set by the Belobog arc and that just hasn't happened at all. It's dissapointing tbh, especially given how much I loved and still do love belobog and the astral express, but unless this gets better and the devs remember what made it so good at the start I don't think I can bring myself to keep playing.

[neeeeet2]

I love Hazbin Hotel! finished all episodes and rewatched it again. Animation is good but some of the story are quite rushed. Whats your thoughts? do you think it’s too fast paced? they should really make it 11 episodes for one season lol

Yeah!! I’ve rewatched quite a few times with different friends lol

I agree, I find the plot itself is a bit rushed and would’ve done better with more buildup for the arcs and such- and the songs, while absolute bangers, don’t exactly line up with what we’ve been shown.

“Out of Love” for example is an amazing song that I’d listen to over and over, but put in the context of the show it doesn’t quite fit- it’s meant to be Camila guiding Vaggie to a different way of thinking to defeat angels, and it does that well, but the problem is that Vaggie’s thinking doesn’t match what Camila initially thinks it is.

She says that Vaggie is “out for vengeance”, when really she’s not- not at all were we led to believe Vaggie was fighting for anything other than Charlie in the first place because we’ve never seen her as a vengeful character. Based on the show itself, it would make more sense that Vaggie is already fighting for love because the whole reason she’s even talking to Camila is for Charlie and the hotel, yet the song would assume otherwise.

As another example; the Vee’s part in the finale doesn’t quite make sense, even under the pretence of them not knowing Alastor is still alive.

They speak of a power vacuum, which would be a completely fair assumption if Lucifer wasn’t also on the hotel’s side. Plus, Alastor was already gone for seven years, why wasn’t there a power vacuum then if there’s one now?

Hazbin Hotel would’ve likely been better paced if they didn’t reveal Adam’s true intentions to the audience so soon, have the idea of “is it possible to redeem a sinner at all?” brewing as the main focus for a little bit more, as it would allow for more character focused episodes.

As a side note: it probably would’ve been really cool if Adam was revealed to be genocidal near the end of season one, and possibly make a gateway into the main plot of season two being defense against the excorists.

I honestly wouldn’t mind if there were a few filler episodes as well, in the sense of them attempting to or actually improving as the series went on since it lets us, the viewer, get more attached to the characters at a slower pace and truly get to know them. They don’t necessarily need to do practice exercises every episode, but every now and then would be nice (again, under the pretext of Hazbin season one ranging much more than 8 episodes).

A few filler episodes might’ve also allowed us to witness more world building at a slower pace if the hotel group went to different areas within the Pride Ring as a sort of field trip.

Another issue is that without the pilot we have no idea where these characters came from, why they’re in the hotel, or even why they “agreed” to help at all- and considering the pilot isn’t considered entirely canon anymore that’s quite a big problem.

It feels like as if we’ve missed an entire episode if you watch the series without the pilot- and yes starting shows like this is possible and it works, but considering what we had in the pilot already explained to us where they came from and their initial intentions, they probably should have incorporated at least some of it into episode one. Many people who find Hazbin for the first time will not know there’s a pilot on youtube if they only scroll on Amazon. Because of this, they would be missing key factors of the characters and their initial introduction for the rest of the show.

Overall, I think Hazbin Hotel was great song-wise and absolutely amazing animation-wise, but the writing should’ve been more character focused. As one of my friends said to me: Vivzie’s strength is in character writing and allowing the characters to move the plot, not the plot moving the characters.

But we also have to keep in mind that creating a new show on a streaming platform no doubt has quite a few restraints, and many of these problems could’ve come from that- and if this is true, then hopefully now that Hazbin has done so well they’ll be able to better stretch out future episodes and make seasons longer. This is also under the assumption that Hazbin Hotel will be much longer than two seasons, though.

[crusherthedoctor]

top 5 favorite sonic soundtracks?

This list and order will probably change in about three days, because Sonic music is never easy to list and rank lol.

5. Sonic '06 - '06 has many problems (controversial opinion, I know... that's not even a joke these days), but the music ain't one of them. As someone who finds orchestral soundtracks to be something of an overused gimmick, with many of them sounding samey, flaccid, and lacking identity, Sonic's ones manage to be some of the exceptions, and '06 is arguably the crowning example. The actual gameplay-related tracks are full of bangers of course (Aquatic Base and Solaris Phase 1 <3), but don't forget the cutscene music too. Even Mephiles has some good themes associated with him, so well done to them for putting in that much composition effort for a character who didn't deserve it.

4. Sonic CD - How many games do you know where the boss theme tells you to work that sucker to death (c'mon now)? The raw energy present across the JP soundtrack is infectious, the more relaxed tracks are beautiful, and the differences for each level between each period of time enhances the memorability. My favourite overall is probably Quartz Quadrant, cause it makes me think of @greenyvertekins :> And while I do prefer the JP soundtrack overall, the US one does still have some great tracks of its own here and there.

3. Sonic Mania - Half of it may be remixes, but they're top tier remixes. Acts 2 of Chemical Plant, Oil Ocean, and Lava Reef are my favourite renditions of those themes in the series, and Act 1 of Stardust Speedway is jazzy as hell. As for the new themes? I can't even pick a favourite because they're all too good. D: Although I do have a particular spot for Press Garden...

2. Sonic Advance trilogy - Going back to the orchestral talk, it must be stressed that I don't praise or elevate a soundtrack just because it's orchestral. I don't care how primitive the resources used for my blue hedgehog ditties are. What I care about is that they're memorable, and that they bop. That's it. That's all that's required. So with that in mind, the Advance trilogy may be working with GBA compression, but I don't think it audibly sacrifices the level of raw passion and heart that went into them. Some of that might be the nostalgia talking since Advance 1 and 2 were the first Sonic games I saw and played respectively, but you don't need nostalgia to appreciate Ice Mountain, Egg Rocket, Music Plant, Chaos Angel, Nonaggression...

1. Sonic Adventure 1 - Despite doing this list, I don't think I can ever hand-on-heart pin down what my favourite soundtrack of all time is, because of how consistently excellent the music has usually been across three decades. I can, on the other hand, point out the ingredients that I think completes the highest of the highs, and for that reason, SA1 finds itself here. It's got the bangin', it's got the leitmotifs, it's got the impactful cutscene music, and above all else, it's got variety. Some otherwise good soundtracks can get carried away with throwing the same kind of rock here, there and everywhere; SA1 certainly has its rock, but it has plenty of other genres too, and the rock that is used actually compliments the environment and context perfectly.

My favourite track in the game? Tricky Maze for Lost World, but only barely, because if you haven't guessed, the other competing tracks are right by the door. Like Station Square, Windy and Ripply, Windy Hill, Mechanical Resonance, Crazy Robo, Unbound, Gamma's theme in general, Red Mountain in general...