#universe l1

[paradise-in-k4]

The Gap in the Evening, Entry 8: “The Definition of Trust”

What is trust? Is it a promise? A (potentially) magical contract you make with someone or something else? A lesser form of love? Trust is everywhere in a society, regardless of the era you’re researching. It forms civilizations and great nations. It brings likeminded people together to achieve a common goal. It empowers leaders to shepherd their followers without the fear of separation or worse. Would that not make it the defining trait of a higher entity such as a god? That is the premise which Suwako Moriya has set since her storied reign over an ancient land that outdates the common region of Japan as early as 300 BCE or further. But how did we find ourselves face-to-face with a god anyway? We took Nitori’s advice and went up to the shrine atop the mountain via the ropeway to ask Sanae Kochiya, the shrine maiden who normally lives and works there. Unfortunately, she was absent from the area, and our further investigations soon led us to the inner chambers of the native god. The introductions were short since she’d somehow been watching over us since we landed here, gathering her own knowledge of the incident.

When we asked her what she thought about the incident in that alternate universe, she said that what was happening to Yukari and Reimu was almost akin to what would happen if a god were to be denied their faith. They would lose their ability to administer divine miracles, a fate which would soon lead to something seen as the equivalent of death to a deity. Currently, they are in the first phase of deterioration: loss of control over their abilities. She also remarked on how it was a miracle that the Marisa of that parallel world could still control gaps using Yukari’s parasol, possibly because it was an item that belonged to Yukari for time unmeasurable. As for Reimu, her ability to float has seemed to amplify within the scarlet gap, which seemed to explain why the land was detached from the earth. But considering that she is simply just a shrine maiden and not a demigod, this amplification could be her unwilling first step either towards deterioration or deification. Suwako thinks it’s more likely the latter, and to potentially expect to return to her- as a last resort- assuming the form of a great dragon to ensure her survival in the future if this incident should go further.

We then discussed how she seemed to exist despite being forgotten by almost all of the world. She and Kanako had first existed in the outside world, but they, their shrine maiden, and their shrine overall was spirited away here after being forgotten. Perhaps that’s what everyone meant when they said this is the place where forgotten things go and reality meets fantasy. Her existence here is fueled merely and wholly by the faith of Gensokyo’s denizens alone, obscurity elsewhere be damned. But going back to how abilities in the scarlet gap were going out of control, she kept us from leaving because she had one more thing to tell us. In the event that a hostile encounter were to take place during our travels, we would need to prepare for an airborne duel full of danmaku, something that this universe’s Marisa brought up once. She trusted us enough to tell us this in our investigation into this incident. Simple man-made firearms such as revolvers would do nothing here. In order to emerge victorious in a battle here or elsewhere in any Gensokyo, we would need to develop our own Spell Cards.

-Maribel Hearn

——————————

Muse Notes: Suwako Moriya

Title(s): Pinnacle of Native Gods, The Highest of Indigenous Gods

Universe of Origin: L1

Size (headcanon): Medium, 4’5”

Species: Native God of Mountains (but not native to Gensokyo), Specifically one of the Yaoyorozu no Kami (Eight Million Gods) of Shintoism composed entirely of faith

Age: Older than the invasion of Kanako Yasaka and the Yamato in the Great Suwa War (about 2,300 years ago), exact age otherwise unknown besides being at least 2,300

Personality: Suwako is the more laid-back and mischievous of the two gods of her shrine, although just as capable of scheming despite her feigned ignorance. She enjoys competition, and when she loses, she loses with grace. Her intentions can be hard to read at times because she barely leaves the shrine.

Occupation: Goddess of Moriya Shrine (relegated to the background)

Home Region(s): Moriya Shrine, Youkai Mountain, Underground Geyser Center, originated from the outside world

Ability: Capable of creating earthliness

Kun: One of the eight trigrams in Taoist philosophy that means creating Earth, and the pinnacle of the native god. Associated with acceptance, devotion, subtlety, flexibility, and reacting to others instead of acting first. This all refers to Suwako’s ability as an opposite to Kanako’s ability and trigram of Qian.

Nature: Physically, she can “swim” underground and manifest all kinds of natural phenomena such as summoning and/or manipulating magma, geysers, rocks and minerals, bending rivers, and instantly growing plants. The bounds of this ability are still unclear.

Mishaguji: Curse gods tamed by Suwako during her tenure as the ruler of a small kingdom. They have amassed plenty of faith due to how they can curse births, militaries, and harvests, although they can just as easily bring plentiful harvests as well. Suwako is the only one who can control them in her attacks, and her control over the gods was the only reason that she was retained in the background of Moriya Shrine following Kanako’s successful invasion of her kingdom: because the shrine’s followers would withhold their faith from Kanako if she didn’t keep Suwako around to keep the curse gods in check.

Skills: Capable problem-solver and long-term planner/strategist

Possessions:

Purple Dress: Heian-style purple dresses with varying frog patterns on them. They have white sleeves and a collar stitched onto them, giving them the illusion of an undershirt despite being one piece.

Wide-Brimmed Hat: A light brown hat with a wide brim and big spring-loaded froggy eyes. The eyes change expressions as Suwako does, sometimes reflecting her inner thoughts or doubling as a voice of reason.

White Kneehigh Socks: Tall white socks that up to- or go way past- her knees.

Black Shoes: Traditional black shoes. As she gets new pairs due to older ones wearing out and breaking down, the materials that they’re made with tend to change with time.

Iron Rings: Weapons that Suwako uses in various attacks. Possibly due to her status as a god of mountains, she could have forged them herself. Due to the way she throws them, they aren’t the Japanese chakram-like kanawas. They’re also very sharp. Suwako sometimes tells others that the rings she uses are hula hoops.

Muse-Specific Headcanons:

Despite her waning faith from the outside world, she is aware that one outside world magical girl named Haruka Tsukikaze (a non-Touhou-specific OC of mine) still uses a nearly-identical variant of her iron rings- sharp-edged metal and all- in plenty of her attacks. It is unknown whether Suwako played a role in granting this equipment or even customizing her alternate outfit. Sumireko is the only other person who knows about this replication from both sides of the barrier, and therefore the only one who could present a solid answer. Both Suwako and the mun can talk about her freely until her interactions become available.

Suwako is often mistaken as a god of frogs or as a symbol of frogs in general, which often led to several unfortunate run-ins and flash-freezes from Cirno. Arguments could still be made for this due to the association with curses that both of them share.

Reimu has summoned Suwako several times while trying to hone her god-summoning abilities. Most of them were accidents, but at least one instance was intentional. The two are aware of each other’s presences, and the relationship is mildly positive due to Reimu’s maintenance of a branch shrine for Moriya Shrine. As a result, Suwako sometimes attempts to train Reimu herself to limited efficiency.

Her leering stare is on par with the menacing squinting stare of Angel Cookie. If you don’t know who that is or why the comparison is being made, look it up.

Blog-Specific Lore Notes:

While trying to find Sanae at the shrine under Nitori’s suggestion, Renko and Maribel find Suwako in the shrine instead, where she gives the duo her insights on how she views the incident. She also gives them tactical advice on how to present Gensokyo to the outside world, and what they should do in the event of a danmaku battle in another dimension.

Spell Cards:

*Close-quarters combat Spell Card

**Spell Card for close-quarters combat and long-ranged danmaku duels

Party Start “Two Bows, Two Claps, and One Bow”**

Divine Tool “Moriya’s Iron Ring”**

Spring Sign “Jade of the Horrid River”**

Spring Sign “Suwa Clear Water”*

Frog Hunt “The Snake Eats the Croaking Frog”**

Native God “Lord Long-Arm and Lord Long-Leg”**

Native God “Seven Stones and Seven Trees”

Native God “Froggy Braves the Wind and Rain”**

Native God “Red Frogs of Houei 4”**

Native God “Moriya God”*

Native God “Mishaguji-sama”

Scourge God “Mishaguchi-sama”*

Scourge Sign “Mishaguji-sama”

“Suwa War ~ Native Myth vs Central Myth”

Frog Nap “Can Always Hibernate”*

Clap “Daidarabotchi’s Worship”*

“Hellish Heat Geyser”*

“Magma Amphibian”*

Divine Sakura “Full Sakura Blizzard”

Hime River “Princess Jade Green”

Iron Ring “Mythical Ring”

Combination Spell Cards:

Wind God Sign “Mishabashira” (Kanako Yasaka)

Wind Flower Sign “Mishaguji-sama’s Right and Wrong” (Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu)

Ghostly Wind Sign “Native Butterfly Storm” (Yuyuko Saigyouji)

Last Words and Impossible Spell Cards:

“Divine Battle Above Gensokyo”*

God of Stone or Wood (Lost Word)

Mishakuja Faith (Lost Word, A10)

Bog Iron to Wrought Iron (Lost Word, W2)

Green Stone “Jade Break” (Impossible Spell Card)

Frog Sign “Bloody Mound of Red Frogs” (Impossible Spell Card)

[9rytna]

Cours et Résumé d’Institutions de l'Union européenne et Conseil de l'Europe L1

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Why is this Canadian university scared of you seeing its Privacy Impact Assessment?

I'm coming to DEFCON! On Aug 9, I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On Aug 10, I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

Barbra Streisand is famous for many things: her exciting performances on the big screen, the small screen, and the stage; her Grammy-winning career as a musician (she's a certified EGOT!); and for all the times she's had to correct people who've added an extra vowel to the spelling of her first name (I can relate!).

But a thousand years from now, her legacy is likely to be linguistic, rather than artistic. The "Streisand Effect" – coined by Mike Masnick – describes what happens when someone tries to suppress a piece of information, only to have that act of attempted suppression backfire by inciting vastly more interest in the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

The term dates to 2003, when Streisand sued the website Pictopia and its proprietors for $50m for reproducing an image from the publicly available California Coastal Records Project (which produces a timeseries of photos of the California coastline in order to track coastal erosion). The image ("Image 3850") incidentally captured the roofs of Streisand's rather amazing coastal compound, which upset Streisand.

But here's the thing: before Streisand's lawsuit, Image 3850 had only been viewed six times. After she filed the case, another 420,000 people downloaded that image. Not only did Streisand lose her suit (disastrously so – she was ordered to pay the defendants' lawyers $177,000 in fees), but she catastrophically failed in her goal of keeping this boring, obscure photo from being seen:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

Streisand has since called the suit "a mistake." On the one hand, that is very obviously true, but on the other hand, it's still admirable, given how many other failed litigants went to their graves insisting that their foolish and expensive legal gambit was, in fact, very smart and we are all very stupid for failing to understand that.

Which brings me to Ian Linkletter and the Canadian Privacy Library. Linkletter is the librarian and founder of the nonprofit Canadian Privacy Library, a newish online library that collects and organizes privacy-related documents from Canadian public institutions. Linkletter kicked off the project with the goal of collecting the Privacy Impact Assessments from every public university in Canada, starting in his home province of BC.

These PIAs are a legal requirement whenever a public university procures a piece of software, and they're no joke. Ed-tech vendors are pretty goddamned cavalier when it comes to student privacy, as Linkletter knows well. Back in 2020, Linkletter was an ed-tech specialist for the University of British Columbia, where he was called upon to assess Proctorio, a "remote invigilation" tool that monitored remote students while they sat exams.

This is a nightmare category of software, a mix of high-tech phrenology (vendors claim that they can tell when students are cheating by using "AI" to analyze their faces); arrogant techno-sadism (vendors requires students – including those sharing one-room apartments with "essential worker" parents on night shifts who sleep during the day – to pan their cameras around to prove that they are alone); digital racism (products are so bad at recognizing Black faces that some students have had to sit exams with multiple task-lights shining directly onto their faces); and bullshit (vendors routinely lie about their tools' capabilities and efficacy).

Worst: remote invigilation is grounded in the pedagogically bankrupt idea that learning is best (or even plausibly) assessed through high-stakes testing. The kind of person who wants to use these tools generally has no idea how learning works and thinks of students as presumptively guilty cheats. They monitor test-taking students in realtime, and have been known to jiggle test-takers' cursors impatiently when students think too long about their answers. Remote invigilation also captures the eye-movements of test-takers, flagging people who look away from the screen while thinking for potential cheating. No wonder that many students who sit exams under these conditions find themselves so anxious that they vomit or experience diarrhea, carefully staring directly into the camera as they shit themselves or vomit down their shirts, lest they be penalized for looking away or visiting the toilet.

Linkletter quickly realized that Proctorio is a worst-in-class example of a dreadful category. The public-facing materials the company provided about its products were flatly contradicted by the materials they provided to educators, where all the really nasty stuff was buried. The company – whose business exploded during the covid lockdowns – is helmed by CEO Mike Olsen, a nasty piece of work who once doxed a child who criticized him in an online forum:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/01/bossware/#moral-exemplar

Proctorio's products are shrouded in secrecy. In 2020, for reasons never explained, all the (terrible, outraged) reviews of its browser plugin disappeared from the Chrome store:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/09/04/hypervigilance/#radical-transparency

Linkletter tweeted his alarming findings, publishing links to the unlisted, but publicly available Youtube videos where Proctorio explained how its products really worked. Proctorio then sued Linkletter, for copyright infringement.

Proctorio's argument is that by linking to materials that they published on Youtube with permissions that let anyone with the link see them, Linkletter infringed upon their copyright. When Linkletter discovered that these videos already had publicly available links, indexed by Google, in the documentation produced by other Proctorio customers for students and teachers, Proctorio doubled down and argued that by collecting these publicly available links to publicly available videos, Linkletter had still somehow infringed on their copyright.

Luckily for Linkletter, BC has an anti-SLAPP law that is supposed to protect whistleblowers facing legal retaliation for publishing protected speech related to matters of public interest (like whether BC's flagship university has bought a defective and harmful product that its students will be forced to use). Unluckily for Linkletter, the law is brand new, lacks jurisprudence, and the courts have decided that he can't use a SLAPP defense and his case must go to trial:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/20/links-arent-performances/#free-ian-linkletter

Linkletter could have let that experience frighten him away from the kind of principled advocacy that riles up deep-pocketed, thin-skinned bullies. Instead, he doubled down, founding the Canadian Privacy Library, with the goal of using Freedom of Information requests to catalog all of Canada's post-secondary institutions' privacy assessments. Given how many bodies he found buried in Proctorio's back yard, this feels like the kind of thing that should be made more visible to Canadians.

There are 25 public universities in BC, and Linkletter FOI'ed them all. Eleven provided their PIAs. Eight sent him an estimate of what it would cost them (and thus what they would charge) to assemble these docs for him. Six requested extensions.

One of them threatened to sue.

Langara College is a 19,000-student spinout of Vancouver Community College whose motto is Eruditio Libertas Est ("Knowledge is Freedom"). Linkletter got their 2019 PIA for Microsoft's Office 365 when he FOI'ed the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (universities often recycle one another's privacy impact assessments, which is fine).

That's where the trouble started. In June, Langara sent Linkletter a letter demanding that he remove their Office 365 PIA; the letter CC'ed two partners in a law firm, and accused Linkletter of copyright infringement. But that's not how copyright – or public records – work. As Linkletter writes, the PIA is "a public record lawfully obtained through an FOI request" – it is neither exempted from disclosure, nor is it confidential:

https://www.privacylibrary.ca/legal-threat/

Langara claims that in making their mandatory Privacy Impact Assessment for Office 365 available, Linkletter has exposed them to "heightened risks of data breaches and privacy incidents," they provided no evidence to support this assertion.

I think they're full of shit, but you don't have to take my word for it. After initially removing the PIA, Linkletter restored it, and you can read it for yourself:

https://www.privacylibrary.ca/langara-college-privacy-impact-assessments/

I read it. It is pretty goddamned anodyne – about as exciting as looking at the roof of Barbra Streisand's mansion.

Sometimes, where there's smoke, there's only Streisand – a person who has foolishly decided to use the law to bully a weaker stranger out of disclosing some innocuous and publicly available fact about themselves. But sometimes, where there's smoke, there's fire. A lot of people who read my work are much more familiar with ed-tech, privacy, and pedagogy than I am. If that's you, maybe you want to peruse the Langara PIA to see if they are hiding something because they're exposing their students to privacy risks and don't want that fact to get out.

There are plenty of potential privacy risks in Office 365! The cloud version of Microsoft Office contains a "bossware" mode that allows bosses to monitor their workers' keystrokes for spelling, content, and accuracy, and produce neat charts of which employees are least "productive." The joke's on the boss, though: Office 365 also has a tool that lets you compare your department's usage of Office 365 to your competitors, which is another way of saying that Microsoft is gathering your trade secrets and handing it out to your direct competitors:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/24/gwb-rumsfeld-monsters/#bossware

So, yeah, there are lots of "features" in Office 365 that could give rise to privacy threats when it is used at a university. One hopes that Langara correctly assessed these risks and accounted for them in its PIA, which would mean that they are bullying Linkletter out of reflex, rather than to cover up wrongdoing. But there's only one way to find out: go through the doc that Linkletter has restored to public view.

Linkletter has excellent pro bono representation from Norton Rose Fulbright, a large and powerful law-firm that is handling his Proctorio case. Linkletter writes, "they have put this public college on notice that any proceeding is liable to be dismissed pursuant to the Protection of Public Participation Act, BC’s anti-SLAPP legislation."

Langara has now found themselves at the bottom of a hole, and if they're smart, they'll stop digging.

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/01/eruditio-libertas-est/#streisand-v-linkletter

Image: Copyright (C) 2002 Kenneth & Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project, www.californiacoastline.org (modified) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Streisand_Estate.jpgbr>

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

--

Langara College (modified) https://langara.ca/

Fair use (parody) https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104

Fair dealing (parody) https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1468015

[baeddel]

long post abt accessability in games, DMC3, DS1, and control schemes

games like God of War or Devil May Cry can be inaccessible because they have inputs which require button mashing, which is difficult for someone with arhritis or other problems that affect their hands and wrists. but these inputs are generally not required to beat the game; you have a lot of options, so you can just avoid using any move that's too difficult. the main issue is that these games become more demanding the further into the game you want to go; keeping a combo going in DMC requires a very high apm and use of the entire controller, so a person with a motor disability will hit a wall eventually.

this is a design problem which i think is difficult to analyze. DMC starts from a very unique design—it has a huge number of moves, almost all of which are accessible out of neutral rather than hidden at the end of an attack string—which it has to pay for by using a large number of unique inputs (forward + attack, back + attack, forward then back + attack, hold shoot to charge, hold devil trigger to charge [charges can be buffered]). it introduces a lot of complexity, but it's actually less complexity right away than other action games; instead of having to memorize a long list of complicated strings (cf. Bayonetta's Punch, Punch, Kick, Kick, pause, Kick, which is different from Punch, Punch, Punch, Kick, Kick, pause, Punch [click]—have fun with those!), you can learn attack, shoot, devil trigger, then forward attack, hold shoot... etc., one at a time, and mix them into your play and find out when they're good. its combo system is not just complex but also discoverable; players can try out how its different pieces fit together without opening the movelist.

but once a player already knows all the moves, the game starts to ask more and more out of them. not only do you want to use all of the inputs one after the other very fast (try jump cancelling Beowulf's Killer Bee into another Killer Bee for the first time—pretty tough, right? and all you're pressing there is X and △! the inputs get harder!), but since your charge moves can be buffered, you also want to hold O and L1 to charge your shot and devil trigger for when you might need them, and you might also want to lock-on by holding R1. when watching a really good player playing with an input viewer it's not uncommon to see every single button on the controller light up at the same time. doing that stuff is really fucking hard.

so far we don't have any problems; it's a picture perfect picture of a system that's 'easy to use, hard to master,' right? but because the thing thats hard to do in this case is input a lot of buttons at once on a physical controller, we've just frozen out any players with hand/wrist problems or motor issues from high level play, at least without adapting the game somehow. this is a problem that's difficult to predict, difficult to foresee, and difficult to design around; i don't see how you could fix it without making DMC a completely different game than what it is.

so if you started from the premise of designing a game that was accesisble to people with hand/wrist and motor issues (including suckers like me who played a bunch of high apm games like DMC and Runescape and fucked up their wrist), you'd have to come up with something pretty different at a very fundamental level.

this is why Dark Souls is, in a lot of ways, a VERY ACCESSABLE action game. what do i mean? its control scheme is extremely simple. once you press every button on the controller you've learned everything you're going to learn about it (apart from one very non-obvious hard-coded universal cancel, but don't worry about it). all you have to do is dodge or block the other's guys attack and then hit him with yours.

there's a lot of ways that DeS/DS1 approached the action genre differnetly to other games, but right now i'm only going to highlight one: the kind of 'questions' DS is asking its player. if you think about DMC, what is DMC trying to get the player to do? while you can beat the game with one or two simple combos, the system is obviously made in a way that encourages freedom and flexibility, and the game has systems to reward long, varied combos (the 'style' rating). and that's all it wants you to do (apart from in a couple of levels where they want you to do platforming—ugh!). to accomplish this, they lock you in a room with some enemies and only let you out when you beat them all.

in Demon's Souls the main thing they want you to do is navigate complicated dungeons that are full of traps; some levels have mazes in them, and lots of traps kill you instantly. it's similar to Kings Field, which its a spiritual successor to, but it's also similar to other early 3d RPGs: Deathtrap Dungeon, Die by the Sword, Dungeon Lords... (in one interview Miyazaki said part of his job was to play a bunch of 'open world RPGs' for research, and i imagine that included some of these old, weird games; the first dungeon in Dungeon Lords has a rafter-walking section with projectile-shooting enemies, chain-pulley mechanical elevators and highly damage-resistant slimes). they also want you to kill enemies. but the game never forces you to kill these enemies; you're never locked in a room until you kill all the enemies, and enemies never have items that are necessary to progress in the level. enemies are just one obstacle among others. consequently, enemy encounters are designed in a certain way that makes avoiding them difficult and approaching them complex. an enemy that throws firebombs will stand at the top of a long, narrow staircase, forcing you to dodge them on the way up; two enemies will stand behind a doorway and, if you run in blindly, will both attack you from behind. things like that. it was hard to avoid enemy encounters in Demon's Souls because the levels involved suffocatingly narrow corridors and the enemies followed you forever. but it was possible and sometimes desirable. in DS1 running by enemies is often preferable and, with foreknowledge of the level, always possible. it's also a lot easier as enemies don't follow you very far anymore (this change was patched into the game after release).

running and jumping both consume stamina, as do dodging, blocking, and attacking. getting hit costs hitpoints, and falling off a ledge costs all your hitpoints. both aspects of the game (navigation and combat) use all of the same resources, and engaging in combat is generally one of a few options the player has to navigate an area. it is, a lot of the time, by far the easiest option, but most players will find a few areas that they hate enough to always run through. one of the messages players can leave to each other is 'try dashing through.' the game rewards you for killing enemies by giving you souls and loot drops, but it also punishes you for making mistakes by leaving you down on resources—less health, fewer estus, and fewer spellcasts—so the best thing to do at any given time is difficult to analyze.

the questions DS is asking its players, therefore, is to familiarize themselves with the level, come up with a plan, conserve their own resources and make it out with the loot. at lower levels of play the game is mostly about succeeding at lots of combats and navigating lots of traps over a long distance without making too many small mistakes. then, at high levels of play, the gameplay is mostly about movement, exploiting the game's verticality and taking advantage of holes in the enemy placement. but the change from low to high levels of play mostly takes place in the mind of the player, not their hands; they understand the levels better, they are better able to respond to things which were previously unpredictable to them, and they have more confidence in their ability to do what is needed of them.

so our game not only starts off very accessible to players with hand/wrist or motor problems, but it finishes there too. although, i've gone a little too far: the player's hands will change a bit as they improve at the game. like Monster Hunter, the best way to play Dark Souls is to have a claw grip in both hands; the thumbs should operate the analogue sticks, the index finger should operate the d-pad (for toggle escales, the universal cancel i mentioned, as well as changing spells) and the face buttons (for rolling, using items, interacting with doors and items), and the remaining digits manipulating the shoulders/triggers (for attacks, blocks and parries). while running, you want to hold L1 (block) so you can roll (circle) out of a run without jumping. this might be hard for you depending on your condition, but i don't think it's that much worse than holding a controller the regular way.

anyway, the point is this: you might want to think about making your game accessible not just to the general player with disabilities, but to the 'hardcore' player with disabilities. do you want disabled people to not only beat your game, but be really good at it? how would you design systems to accomodate that? i've talked about hand/wrist and motor issues here because it's what i was thinking about (and some games, like Runescape, aren't really accessible to me anymore thanks to my wrists, at least in the way i used to play them), but there are other disabilities you could probably design around. imagine a player who has CFS or ADHD in a way that keeps them from practicing consistently; could you make a game that is rewarding for such a player to try and get really good at nonetheless? Runescape (conceived of competitively, ie. racing to the leaderboard &c) was good for players with certain kinds of disabilities and neurotypes since it required a huge amount of time and dedication, it really rewarded being unemployed, LOL. but what if there was a game that somehow rewarded inconsistency? who knows...

anyway, i'm saying how i tend to think about it as a rebuttal to the way i see most people talk about accessibility in games, which is merely playing games. thus Dark Souls can be criticized for being difficult for a new player to complete, for example. but this always struck me as a bewildering way to talk about games. plenty of disabled people don't just want to complete games, they want to be good at them. and disabled people can and do become good at games and compete and win at them. so the question for me is not so much 'how do i make a game someone with this disability could play?' but 'how do i make a game someone with this disability would want to master?'—a game which doesn't create headaches for them, which works with rather than against them, and which they actually enjoy at all levels of play.

[lurkingteapot]

code switching and emotions in step by step

During ep … 8? 9?, I noticed that Jeng tends to switch to English with Pat when talking about emotional things. He didn't for the big damn confession in the club, but for a lot of things, he'll drop into English from Thai, and Pat does it right back.

We don't know what their respective strongest languages (L1) are, though I'd assume it's Thai for both of them, though they've both, per the narrative presented to us, lived abroad and speak English fluently, so we don't know for sure (in the sense that it's never stated). Pat uses it with his parents occasionally, Jeng uses it with Jaab on an occasion or two.

And the thing is … unlike many many MANY examples of codeswitching in fiction, I feel like these sort of make narrative sense. Linguistic research suggests there's a lessened emotional impact, particularly of negative statements, when hearing or speaking a second language compared to the strongest language. There are a lot of theories as to why this is, and I've been out of academia for way too long to be confident I could accurately represent any of them, but iirc the effect has been tracked fairly reliably across several studies in the past 10-15 years.

And this isn't something consciously acted upon normally! Just something that happens with the way our brains organise our languages, but it has consequences in how we use language. Bilinguals, when speaking to someone else who shares their languages at sufficient levels of proficiency, might find themselves naturally switching into one or the other because it "feels easier" to express things in one language or another. (Also, as anyone whose L1 ISN'T their main fic reading language can attest to, porn in own L1? cringe as fuck almost universally, and there's a containment-breaking tumblr post to that effect out there somewhere to prove it.)

In the case of Jeng and Pat, my hunch is that it's a) an emotional thing – some things feel safer, easier to say or hear with some emotional distance, whether it's soul-bearing honesty ("It makes sense to me") or suggestive little lines to drop to your FINALLY BOYFRIEND ("I'd rather have you [than the cake]"), and b) as a sort of equaliser – Thai has a few features that express hierarchy/seniority that can't easily be dropped from the language that aren't present in English, and Jeng in particular might feel that using English with Pat brings them onto a more equal level.

Of course, there's also the possibility that it's just there for flavour, or for getting shit past the radar, or even for the actor's sake – all been done before. But I like to think that this is something the creators actually intended for the characters, for all the reasons outlined here.

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing 26 October 2023 - 13 January 2024

Here’s the roundup for October 26th, 2023 - January 13th, 2024!

Remember to give your content creators some love! Be sure to join in on the events at the bottom! And remember to send in any new works you see or make this next week!

~Mod Hel

(Look, we’re just going to ignore the fact that I keep reminding myself to do this and then forgetting about it 10 minutes later.)

Fanfiction/Ideas/Snippets:

@lifeaftermeteor

The Pageant (a LAM sidefic) https://archiveofourown.org/works/52557262

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Kid Fic, Post-Canon, Christmas Fluff, Post-Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Author Is Not Religious, Christmas, Not Beta Read

Christmas was always a big deal—even in the colonies—perhaps all the more so following the Eve Wars. This year’s holiday was especially important for their little family, however: Sousuke was going to be an angel.

@noirangetrois

A Not So Tropical Vacation https://archiveofourown.org/works/51336205

M/M, Chang Wufei/Heero Yuy

Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, Alcohol, Broken Bones, Major Character Injury, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Heero being sweeter than Wufei deserves, Post-Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

When an injury prevents Heero and Wufei from going on their long-awaited vacation, Heero tries to bring the vacation to Wufei.

@vegalume

Vendredi https://archiveofourown.org/works/51237895

Gen, Duo Maxwell & Heero Yuy

Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy, Sally Po, Zechs Merquise, Quatre Raberba Winner, Trowa Barton

Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, Supernatural Elements, Possibly Pre-Slash, Angst, no happy ending, Ambiguous/Open Ending, mentions of other characters from the series, only tagged those who appear 'on screen', little OOC-ness, Horror-ish, multiple uses of the 'F' word

Duo's friends are vanishing, and no one else notices or even remembers. Only Heero believes him and together they try to discover what is happening.

@zaganthi @tzigane

How L2 Learned to Cope with Werewolves https://archiveofourown.org/works/52676311

F/M, M/M, Multi, Chang Wufei/Treize Khushrenada, Chang Wufei/Long Meilan, Chang Wufei/Treize Khushrenada/Long Meilan

Chang Wufei, Treize Khushrenada, Long Meilan, Lady Une, Chilias Catalonia, Vingt Khushrenada

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Failed Arranged Marriages, Biological Weapons, Psychological Warfare, Werewolves in Space, Cameos

It was remarkable how many people assumed that being from L5 made him deaf. Possibly it was the security badge that gave them that impression, or maybe they just thought that allowing Treize to nail him meant he was on their side.

Overall, it was pretty stupid. No one paid attention to him lingering with a cup of coffee, they just went about their day and spoke where they normally would. He wondered if being able to fade into the background might be some form of magical camouflage. He supposed that was a realistic option, and there was no reason for them to expect otherwise. Not really. They didn't know him. So he was free to wander and listen and just exist for a while before he went up to the secured swipe card room to try to get a little rest and personal time.

Pleased to Meet You, Hope You Guess My Name https://archiveofourown.org/works/52675717

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Meet-Cute, Assassination Attempt(s), The combination meet-cute and assassination attempt, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

A third shot rang out, and then footsteps, and he wasn't trying to get away, no, not at all. He was coming closer.

Hell yes. It was a shame the guy was working for L1 or whoever had hired him because he would've been amazing back home. "Hey, hey! Don't fucking shoot! I wanna talk!"

That felt like a purely audible pause, followed by a nasal voice that was more a statement than a question. "About what." Like they had the time to have a discussion here. Somebody would have heard the shots by now.

Arts/Crafts/Photo Manips:

@artnijna

https://www.tumblr.com/artnijna/737927884519489536/rewatching-gundam-wing-and-thinking-about-the-2x5

WuFei/Duo, fanart

https://www.tumblr.com/artnijna/738980133321523200/baby-ive-been-to-spacebut-at-the-end-of-the-day

WuFei/Duo, fanart

https://www.tumblr.com/artnijna/738194483104153600/wufei-regrets-his-crush-some-what

Duo/WuFei, fanart

@duomaxwellandducks

https://www.tumblr.com/duomaxwellandducks/732635364086497280/both-gundam-wing-intros-are-iconic-and-anyone-who

Iconic intros, comic

@enelo

https://www.tumblr.com/enelo/739422142192631808

Relena Darlian-Peacecraft, fanart

@ghost-proof

https://www.tumblr.com/ghost-proof/730963271303233536/love-a-good-meme-thought-it-was-perfect-for-these

Heero/Duo, fanart

@idrawprettyboys

https://www.tumblr.com/idrawprettyboys/734925341882286080/i-drew-this-gorgeous-boy-on-a-cheap-supermarket

Duo Maxwell, fanart

@imperviousmelodrama

https://www.tumblr.com/imperviousmelodrama/736263532669190144/did-someone-say-pigtail-duo-pretty-certain-i

Duo/Heero, fanart

@incaseofart

https://www.tumblr.com/incaseofart/733362202305822720/treize-khushrenada-but-casual-clothes-perhaps

Treize Khushrenada, fanart

@lila-oh

https://www.tumblr.com/lila-oh/732714555363459072/happy-halloween-yes-my-participation-is

WuFei/Heero, kissing, comic

Mashiro Andy

https://www.tumblr.com/cruelangel94/733193774949384192/artist-by-mashiro-andy

Relena Darlian-Peacecraft, fanart

@nullphysics

https://www.tumblr.com/nullphysics/735275196278325248

Trowa/Heero, fanart

@sweet-rabbit

https://www.tumblr.com/sweet-rabbit/738637581503315968/i-came-up-with-this-randomly-today-like-15-minutes

Quatre/Heero, comic

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@tinyozlion

https://www.tumblr.com/tinyozlion/733873353488744448/i-love-when-people-put-together-frame-stitches

Clowns, frame stitching

@vegalume

https://www.tumblr.com/vegalume/735006366851334144/tis-the-season

Christmas tree decor

Fandom Discourse:

@lifeaftermeteor

https://www.tumblr.com/lifeaftermeteor/735089951081955328/i-would-swear-there-was-a-gundam-tumblr-floating

LAMs Lost and Found - find great info/world building here

https://www.tumblr.com/lifeaftermeteor/735699559547879424/with-the-power-of-friendship

@prettyboysdontlookatexplosions WuFei being ‘normal’.

https://www.tumblr.com/lifeaftermeteor/736341502701256704/lifeaftermeteors-holiday-card-exchange

Obviously late for this one, but know that LAM does this pretty much every year if they get people who want them. ^_^

@prettyboysdontlookatexplosions

https://www.tumblr.com/prettyboysdontlookatexplosions/734934388226326528/its-also-very-funny-that-we-get-an-episode-called

episode naming things

https://www.tumblr.com/prettyboysdontlookatexplosions/735022245112643584/watching-gundam-wing-as-an-adult-opens-you-up-to

how age affects how you view GW

https://www.tumblr.com/prettyboysdontlookatexplosions/735373187192422400/i-dont-like-ship-it-in-that-i-dont-care-about

Trieze & Zechs

@tinyozlion

https://www.tumblr.com/tinyozlion/736669800741421056/my-beloved-redsixwing-has-found-and-resurrected-a

A GW Archive should people need it.

gwpromptmeme

GW Prompt Meme event

Rules: https://gwpromptmeme.dreamwidth.org/408.html

Main Page: https://gwpromptmeme.dreamwidth.org/

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/733281547591024640/on-libra-howard-theres-a-spy-leaking-all-of

Howare, Quatre, & WuFei

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/734821642313793537/incorrectgundamwingquotes-heero-dont-even

Heero & Trowa

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/734912407622844416/cathy-are-you-busy-trowa-no-cathy-wanna-do

Cathy & Trowa

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/733372201867362304/trowa-the-power-came-back-on-when-i-was-asleep

Trowa

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/733734724284088320/wufei-maxwell-just-pissed-me-off-heero-why-what

WuFei & Heero

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/736089974256058368/at-preventers-hq-heero-were-doing-secret-santa

Heero, Trowa, & WuFei

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/735908793762922496/wufei-reading-book-duo-wufei-duo-wufei

WuFei & Duo

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/736271216205283328/wufei-visibly-annoyed-duo-whats-the

WuFei & Duo

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/736724242945671168/dorothy-recording-on-her-phone-so-im-building-a

Dorothy, Relena, & Sally

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/736633591231037440/in-the-groupchat-quatre-good-morning-we

Quatre, Heero, WuFei, Trowa, & Duo

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/737901948172402688/circus-owner-whats-this-gap-in-your-employment

Circus Owner & Trowa

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/736814824240152576/texting-heero-what-should-i-get-at-ihop-duo

Heero, Duo, Trowa, & WuFei

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/736905574207422464/relena-are-you-going-to-be-part-of-the-problem-or

Relena, Heero, & Duo

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/737358389752070144/incorrectgundamwingquotes-wufei-trowa-can

WuFei, Trowa, & Quatre

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/737539619983376384/incorrectgundamwingquotes-heero-duo-duo-yes

Heero, Duo, & Quatre

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/735818328096047104/duo-and-wufei-arguing-wufei-makes-an

Duo & WuFei

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/738083194163822592/incorrectgundamwingquotes-zechs-you-know-who-i

Zechs, Duo, & Trowa

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/737992573856169984/heero-some-days-all-i-care-about-is-the-mission

Heero & Duo

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/738173868991217664/on-a-mission-oz-soldiers-come-out-duo-im

OZ Soldiers, Duo, & Trowa

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/738445694732484609/sharing-a-safehouse-duo-whats-for

Duo & Trowa

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/739351620230512640/duo-maybe-hes-born-with-it-or-maybe-its

Duo, WuFei, & Trowa

Calendar Events:

@gwcocktailfriday

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompts for Friday, January 19th! https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/post/739456744765505536/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday-january

In need of prompts!

@gwlemonyshenanigans

There’s nothing for it posted yet... but sign-ups are open. >_> Though the events calendar says they’ll be open next month... so I dunno. I just know I’m signed up already. *flails*

@thisweekingundamevents

Events Calendar https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/730188053636841472/updated-events-calendar

If you are hosting an event currently, or are planning on one, hit us up with links and dates! We’ll add them to the Calendar and reblog your notices to get the word out!

GW Holiday Gift Exchange 2023

Gift Roundup is here: https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/739404313112297472/alright-wingers-here-is-the-gw-holiday-gift

GW Valentine’s Event 2024 goes live the 18th! Be on the lookout for it!

???

GW Gift Exchange

There is another exchange being done now... I *think* it’s on dreamwidth, but I can’t find the convo with the person running it to save my life, but it’s on the events calendar with all the info I had...

Jan 15th - 21st is Nominations

Jan 16th - 28th is Sign-ups

Posting and whatnot will be in April.

Not sure if something will be posted anywhere on tumblr or not, but hoping I can get y’all the info for where and how when it goes.

[paradise-in-k4]

The Gap in the Evening, Entry 6: “What is a Spell Card?”

The whole time we were here, people were talking about these things called “spell cards” and their prominence in daily practice. Out of an abundance of curiosity, we decided to seek out that person we talked to before we jumped in here: Marisa Kirisame. Not only would we get an answer to that question, but we would also get her input on our incident investigation. It wouldn’t be long until we got there either. Perhaps, quite the opposite. Nothing more than a short walk.

Upon arrival, she seemed like a nice person like the one we met in the parallel universe. And then we saw the inside of her house. Words cannot express how messy it was, but would we say that to her when we’re the house guests? Absolutely not. After getting over that little detail, we introduced ourselves and asked her about spell cards. Here are the details we gleaned off of that conversation.

Spell cards were drafted after the Vampire Incident to make fights as equal as possible between parties which may differ extremely in power, first enacted during the Scarlet Mist Incident.

Spell cards are unique special attacks that increase the user’s offense and defense, sometimes granting invincibility and/or intangibility depending on the specific details. However, they can only use that attack until the spell card expires.

“The most beautiful one wins” specifically refers to the absence of dirty tricks. Basically no cheating.

You must name it before you can even use it, and it must have meaning behind such a name to generate power/magic. Likewise, you must declare how many spell cards you will use over the course of the duel.

Abilities noted on a spell card suggest special attacks when used up close in fisticuffs, or generate a pattern of magic bullets from long range that the other party needs to dodge.

Sometimes, such an attack can destroy their opponent’s bullets en masse, earning them the nickname of “bombs” by their users.

Rules enforced vary by individual cards, which stipulate specifics during each attack such as time limits, equipment used, and win/loss conditions/restrictions mainly seen in the dodging role.

Capture or break a spell card by breaking the user’s defensive stance, making them flinch momentarily or collapse unconscious immediately.

Time out a spell card by dodging the attacks that come with it until the card’s time limit expires. In cards where the user is invincible or intangible, dodging is your only real option.

While it’s tradition to rule out the reuse of a spell card until the duel ends, some people may declare it again as a bomb in between standard shots and punches.

The loser must concede if they use all their cards and are unable to redeclare one for any reason, even if they have physical stamina remaining. However, this doesn’t rule out the possibility of a premature knockout before then, similar to accounting for unconsciousness in a boxing match.

These are not fights to the death, and the winner is not permitted to kill the loser under these rules for any reason, especially if they’re a human.

//How you would go about spell card duels in RP is usually up to you, but it’s standard for duelists to declare their attacks first. Consider this an unofficial draft of some helpful IC and OOC guidelines for such a duel, or if you want to use a spell card as a bomb against an incoming attack.

In the wake of that lecture, Marisa talked a bit about the Parallel Satellite Incident and how she had noticed that some things were a bit… off around her. She said that she’d help us in any way she could, but there were some things that she simply couldn’t do without help from others. But that wouldn’t stop her from “shooting a massive laser into the surface of the gap” if anything got in her way.

-Renko Usami

——————————

Muse Notes: Marisa Kirisame

//Help me I went too far writing this one, but isn’t that Marisa’s whole deal to begin with?

Title: Ordinary Human Magician

Universe of Origin: L1

Size (headcanon): Fairly short, 4’1”

Species: Human

Pronouns: She/Her

Age (headcanon): Young adult, exact age unknown

Personality: Marisa is outwardly outgoing and informal, noted by Akyuu to have a condescending personality with an interesting sophisticated side that lets her socialize with just about anyone she meets. Her curiosity makes her quick to act, sometimes putting her in dangerous situations to satisfy her interests. Her speaking style is rather informal and tomboyish, often using “Ze” at the end of her sentences, regardless of whether it’s to express her will to act or if it’s just to say it even if it sounds phony. Marisa’s often been known to be a habitual liar and compulsive collector of valuable/magic items, the latter often considered as kleptomania. Secretly, she’s rather hardworking and goes to great lengths to better herself and become known as a great magician, often taking pride in her capabilities as Gensokyo’s 2nd best in youkai extermination and incident resolution.

Occupations: Magician, Owner of the Kirisame Magic Shop, Youkai Specialist, Burglar Author

Kirisame Magic Shop: A shop for anything as an attachment to her own house. Although her main occupation, she’s usually absent and the inside is disorganized. Her services are otherwise honest and she won’t take payment for jobs she fails, which attracts some customers like the Three Fairies of Light despite not getting many clients due to its inconvenient location in the Forest of Magic and ambiguity of her services (“will do anything”).

Youkai Specialist: Marisa specializes in jobs to deal with youkai, often taking away Reimu’s work. She also manages preventative measures and aftercare services for youkai attacks in a manner differing from how Reimu does it.

Burglary: Marisa often brazenly (and loudly) breaks in through the front to steal items in plain sight of any spectators. While she usually steals books and not money, nothing is ruled out if it has a magical or monetary value. She claims that the stuff she steals is being borrowed and that the previous owners can retrieve them after she dies. After being lectured by Eiki about physically losing her tongue for her compulsive lying, she’s called herself a thief at least twice.

Author: Marisa has written a book called “The Grimoire of Marisa” which details spell cards of various people she’s met between the Scarlet Mist Incident and Underground Geyser Incident. She still intends to publish and sell it despite the time that passed since she finalized her first volume. It’s unknown if this volume was the inspiration for Sumireko’s “Grimoire of Usami” to any extent, as said tome has similar contents within it.

Home Region: Forest of Magic

Ability: Capable of using magic

Magic as a Human: Without any innate powers or abilities, Marisa has trained herself in light and heat magic with noticeable star motifs. This is her calling as an eastern magician with a western approach to magic, the exact opposite of Patchouli Knowledge. This magic has extremely high power and few weaknesses, although very few non-destructive uses. Most of her spells are mainly for flashy youkai extermination and danmaku shows named after stars and astronomical phenomena. All of this comes from rigorous self-imposed training and preparations that she tries to hide from others. The source of this magic mainly comes from magic experiments with mushrooms in the surrounding Forest of Magic, turning them into things such as components, chemicals, medicines, and potions through trial and error. Whether it succeeds and she finds the right pattern which creates magical materials or fails completely, she records the details everything she does with those experiments.

Flight: She uses her magic broom to fly around Gensokyo, sometimes using it in some of her close-quarter attacks like Witch Leyline and Stardust Reverie. Other early experiences with flight include her use of things such as a magic vine, illusionary wings, and- in one specific instance outside of Gensokyo- angel wings. (*//See Shuusou Gyoku for more details on that last detail because that’s a first for me)

Speed: Marisa’s speed is one of her pride points, making her the fastest amongst Gensokyo’s humans. Aya still bests her overall. She once used a Double Spark against Watatsuki no Yorihime, moving quickly away from the first laser so she could shoot a second laser before the first one even reached its intended target.

Imitation: Several of Marisa’s attacks and spell cards were supposedly copied or stolen from others, including Patchouli’s Love Sign “Non-directional Laser”- which was confirmed to be copied- and even her signature Love Sign “Master Spark” was supposedly copied from Yuuka or Gengetsu. Other potential suspects include “Orreries Sun” from Mima’s own orreries and “Cold Inferno” from Remilia’s familiars during the Endless Night Incident, but none of them are confirmed to be copied. It’s unknown if she’s talented at imitating others’ moves, if she does so through sheer effort, or if she’s just building her skills through observation. Notably unable to imitate Kaguya’s spell cards because of the uniqueness of the tools used which Marisa can’t reference due to not owning anything like them.

Skills:

Strength: Magicians are typically physically weak. Marisa is an exception, as she is still a human. She could physically climb up Youkai Mountain and down Genbu Ravine instead of flying like everyone else. She was also seen successfully managing to lift Urumi’s stone baby, which Urumi makes notoriously heavy with her ability to attempt to encumber or drown people.

Academics & Dedication: Marisa’s magic abilities come from her will to better herself, her tireless experiments on mushrooms, self-imposed training, and significant magic research on her path to being a successful magician.

Possessions:

Magic Broom: A bamboo broom that completes Marisa’s magician appearance and allows her to fly. It seems to be sprouting leaves from exposure to magic despite the bamboo being dead. Doubles as a means for shooting danmaku and to swing at stuff as a melee weapon.

Mini-Hakkero: An eight-trigram miniature magic furnace originally made of common metals that were then replaced by hihi'irokane metal, given to her by Rinnosuke after she excommunicated from her family and moved away. Capable of generating heat and magical energy of various levels. Output levels range from being a small stove burner to that of a flamethrower, as well as an extremely powerful magicannon. It can also generate cool breezes from one of its corners. The later hihi'irokane model even gleans negative ions from the air. This tiny magical item is the main source of power that generates Marisa’s Master Spark.

Explosive Magic Items: Countless magic items made from mushroom magic that Marisa created during her continuous research, which she then stuffs under her hat or within pockets of her skirt. They’re usually throwable and explode shortly after being thrown.

Sword of Kusanagi: One of three legendary Imperial Regalia of Japan. Essentially a sacred treasure made of the same metal as the mini-hakkero, it was a weapon used by the god Susanoo to slay the eight-headed/tailed serpent Orochi, which also had the capability to control the wind. Possession of these items was seen as proof of the Emperor’s divinity and his right to the Japanese throne. Marisa found it in a junk pile one day and traded it with Rinnosuke for him to repair her mini-hakkero, thinking the sword was just scrap metal. Not one of her brightest moments, but Rinnosuke thinks the rain that followed after the trade was a divine sign that the heavens approved of his possession of the sword.

Lunar Capital Occult Ball: The cause of the Urban Legend Incident, created by Sagume Kishin with the intent of moving the Lunar Capital to Gensokyo by creating the urban legend that NASA is hiding the truth of what they found on the moon. Being near it could cause false rumors like urban legends to materialize, and it could change the world by using people’s words alone. Sagume gave it to Marisa some time after she, Reimu, Sanae, and Reisen defeated Junko without taking the Ultramarine Orb Elixir, explaining the specifics of how this power stone worked to her.

Magician’s Hat: A pointy black and white witch’s hat, accented by a (usually) white ribbon or bow sitting above the brim, although said ribbon can be seen in different colors depending on the day. After all, “magician” is sometimes just another way to say “witch” without actually saying it. She has a second identical hat, except it’s dark blue. Usually complimented by one hair braid with a bow on the end of it.

Black Vest/Skirt: She thinks that’s what magicians should wear… and also so you can’t tell when the clothes are dirty. The vests she wears sometimes have differing patterns of buttons. She has an identical wardrobe of vests and skirts in dark blue.

Apron: Usually white. She has one brown one with an “M” on it which she wore while investigating the Palanquin Ship.

White Undershirt: A shirt worn underneath her vest. Most of them are white, but not all of them.

Lots of Shoes: It’s almost as if she’s worn a completely different pair every time a new incident’s come up. Did she buy them, make them, find them, or “find” them? Who knows!

Magic Wands: She had a few during her apprenticeship under Mima, which she keeps somewhere in her house. Most likely her bedroom. When investigating the Palanquin Ship, she brought another wand. She could use them if she wanted to, and she has the skills needed to cast magic with them, but she usually doesn’t.

Purple Magician’s Robes/Hat: A wardrobe combo she wore while studying under Mima when she was much younger. She doesn’t like to openly talk about it. Was it because she was a redhead the first time she fought Reimu?

Muse-Specific Headcanons:

Marisa left home to pursue magic during her teens.

She sees Reimu as her best friend and a friendly rival in youkai extermination, although their relationship has since grown due to how many incidents they resolved together.

Her relationship with Sagume is seen as friendly after the Lunar Incident was resolved, although they barely talk due to pure distance.

Patchouli is friendly enough with Marisa to help her resolve select incidents despite being the main target of her thefts. Other times, Patchouli will sometimes actively try to get her out of the house.

Marisa’s romantic stance is complicated at times, which is often hard for her to explain until she remembers how many hearts she’s stolen.

Marisa’s presence in the first 5 games (PC-98 era) are remembered by Marisa as part of a perceived magician’s apprenticeship under Mima sometime after leaving home. Whether this happened at all is unclear, as she sees it as either a hazy memory and possibly just a dream that Doremy keeps bugging her with.

At least one person by the name of Lux Crownguard has read one of Marisa’s published reports on magic, and Marisa is aware of her “Final Spark” attack.

Blog-Specific Lore Notes:

Marisa was asked by Renko and Maribel about the nature of spell cards, which she explained to them before they discussed the Parallel Satellite Incident. She shows interest in the investigation due to how the parallel Gensokyo is floating in an outer space-like gap.

After an accident during a Lunar New Year festival of 2024 that started a series of events known as the Resolvers Incident, she along with Reimu, Patchouli, Koakuma, Youmu, Shinmyoumaru, and Alice got involved with the Frost Miko Incidents and Beasts’ Menagerie Incident after being gapped across time into multiple different realms beyond Gensokyo. This RP blog takes place after the Frost Miko Incidents were resolved, but she along with the others are willing to answer questions about it. No, the Beasts’ Menagerie Incident hasn’t been resolved yet. Yes, she still wants to “borrow” some of their things.

Marisa is planning on creating a second volume of her “Grimoire of Marisa” which focuses on more spell cards and special abilities from anywhere and everywhere. For the latter classification, she’ll offer to turn it into a danmaku regulation-legal spell card for free by giving it a name and time limit, just like she did with Reimu’s “Fantasy Nature” spell card. Whether this will be on this blog or another one is TBD, but you can submit your own requests through the ask box on this blog for the time being.

Marisa is currently leading in the investigation of the West Mountain with Reimu

Marisa helped Koakuma make a healing potion to heal another Koakuma and taught her some of her own magic

Spell Cards:

*intended specifically for close combat

**used both in close combat and long range danmaku battles

***has secondary use besides combat

Magic Sign “Stardust Reverie”**

Magic Sign “Milky Way”

Magic Sign “Stardust”

Magic Sign “Illusion Star”

Magic Sign “Ultimate Shortwave”

Magic Sign “Magical R360”*

Magic Sign “Blaze Away”*

Magic Space “Asteroid Belt”

Magic Spell “I’ll Take That!”*** (MI - penalty)

Black Magic “Event Horizon”

Magic Waste “Deep Ecological Bomb”*

Magic Bullet “Test Slave”

Magic Cross “Grand Cross”

Magic Absorber

Unsealed Magic “Open Universe”

Love Sign “Master Spark”**

Love Sign “Non-Directional Laser”**

Love Sign “Master Spark-like Flashlight”

Love Sign “Master Spark Frozen”

Love Storm “Starlight Typhoon”

Loving Heart “Double Spark”

Perverse Love “Easily-Fruitful Master Spark”*

Bewitched Weapon “Dark Spark”

Comet “Blazing Star”**

Astrological Sign “Orrery’s Sun”*

Celestial Apparatus “Orrery’s Solar System”**

Celestial Apparatus “Orrery’s Universe”*

Star Sign “Dragon Meteor”*

Star Sign “Escape Velocity”*

Star Sign “Meteonic Shower”*

Star Sign “Polaris Unique”*

Star Sign “Gravity Beat”*

Star Sign “Eccentric Asteroid”*

Star Sign “Oort Cloud”

Star Sign “Satellite Illusion”*

Star Sign “Millisecond Pulsar”*

Star Sign “Occultation” (Occult)*

Star Sign “Asteroid Belt Nightmare”*

Shooting Star “Super Perseid”*** (secondary in MI - reward)

Sign I “Stardust Reverie”*

Sign II “Asteroid Belt”*

Sign III “Master Spark”*

Light Sign “Earthlight Ray”

Light Sign “Luminous Strike”*

Light Sign “Mysterious Beam”

Light Blast “Shoot the Moon”

Light Blast “Shoot the Little Moon”

Light Flow “Shooting Echo”*

Closure Sign “Big Crunch”

“Blazing Star-like Tag”

“Earthlight Ray”

*Cursed Portraits of Past Principals* (Occult)*

*Nighttime School Horror Story Pilgrimage* (Occult)*

Forest Sign “Violent Tricholoma”

Fire Sign “Violent Cornu-Damae”

Last Words & Impossible Spell Cards:

Magicannon “Final Spark” (Last Word)**

Magicannon “Final Master Spark” (Last Word)

“Blazing Star” (Last Word)

“Fairy Destruction Ray” (Last Word)

“Sungrazer” (Last Word)*

Love Sign “Wide Master” (Impossible Spell Card)

Love Sign “Machine Gun Spark” (Impossible Spell Card)

*Lovely! Ms. Hanako of the Toilet!* (Occult Last Word)*

Shared Spell Cards:

“Remote Sacrifice” (Alice Margatroid’s shared Spell Card Bomb)

“Five Seasons” (Patchouli Knowledge’s shared Spell Card Bomb)

“Optical Camouflage” (Nitori Kawashiro’s shared Spell Card Bomb)

Star Love Sign “Sprinkle Star & Heart” (Koishi Komeiji)*

Fist Star Sign “Nyuudou Murakumo Slave Spark” (Ichirin Kumoi)*

Star Spirit Sign “Sprinkle Star Seal” (Reimu Hakurei)*

Needle Star Sign “Needle Spark to Seal the Lunar Nobles” (Reimu)*

“Sneak-Photographer’s Exorcism Master Spark” (Reimu)

“Shoot the Danmaku Barrier!” (Yukari Yakumo)

“Coward’s Master Spark” (Okina Matara)

Celestial Sublimation “Magallanica Orrery’s Solar Impact” (Koakuma)

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Work is underway on NASA's next-generation asteroid hunter

The mirrors for NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope are being installed and aligned, and work on other spacecraft components is accelerating.

NASA's new asteroid-hunting spacecraft is taking shape at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Called NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor), this cutting-edge infrared space telescope will seek out the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets that might pose a hazard to our planet. In fact, it is the agency's first space telescope designed specifically for planetary defense.

Targeting launch in late 2027, the spacecraft will travel a million miles to a region of gravitational stability—called the L1 Lagrange point—between Earth and the sun. From there, its large sunshade will block the glare and heat of sunlight, allowing the mission to discover and track near-Earth objects as they approach Earth from the direction of the sun, which is difficult for other observatories to do. The space telescope also may reveal asteroids called Earth Trojans, which lead and trail our planet's orbit and are difficult to see from the ground or from Earth orbit.

NEO Surveyor relies on cutting-edge detectors that observe two bands of infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. Near-Earth objects, no matter how dark, glow brightly in infrared as the sun heats them. Because of this, the telescope will be able to find dark asteroids and comets, which don't reflect much visible light. It also will measure those objects, a challenging task for visible-light telescopes that have a hard time distinguishing between small, highly reflective objects and large, dark ones.

"NEO Surveyor is optimized to help us to do one specific thing: enable humanity to find the most hazardous asteroids and comets far enough in advance so we can do something about them," said Amy Mainzer, survey director for NEO Surveyor and a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. "We aim to build a spacecraft that can find, track, and characterize the objects with the greatest chance of hitting Earth. In the process, we will learn a lot about their origins and evolution."

Coming into focus

The spacecraft's only instrument is its telescope. About the size of a washer-and-dryer set, the telescope's blocky aluminum body, called the optical bench, was built in a JPL clean room. Known as a three-mirror anastigmat telescope, it will rely on curved mirrors to focus light onto its infrared detectors in such a way that minimizes optical aberrations.

"We have been carefully managing the fabrication of the spacecraft's telescope mirrors, all of which were received in the JPL clean room by July," said Brian Monacelli, principal optical engineer at JPL. "Its mirrors were shaped and polished from solid aluminum using a diamond-turning machine. Each exceeds the mission's performance requirements."

Monacelli inspected the mirror surfaces for debris and damage, then JPL's team of optomechanical technicians and engineers attached the mirrors to the telescope's optical bench in August. Next, they will measure the telescope's performance and align its mirrors.

Complementing the mirror assembly are the telescope's mercury-cadmium-telluride detectors, which are similar to the detectors used by NASA's recently retired NEOWISE (short for Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission.

An advantage of these detectors is that they don't necessarily require cryogenic coolers or cryogens to lower their operational temperatures in order to detect infrared wavelengths. Cryocoolers and cryogens can limit the lifespan of a spacecraft.

NEO Surveyor will instead keep its cool by using its large sunshade to block sunlight from heating the telescope and by occupying an orbit beyond that of the moon, minimizing heating from Earth.

The telescope will eventually be installed inside the spacecraft's instrument enclosure, which is being assembled in JPL's historic High Bay 1 clean room where NASA missions such as Voyager, Cassini, and Perseverance were constructed. Fabricated from dark composite material that allows heat to escape, the enclosure will help keep the telescope cool and prevent its own heat from obscuring observations.

Once it is completed in coming weeks, the enclosure will be tested to make sure it can withstand the rigors of space exploration. Then it will be mounted on the back of the sunshade and atop the electronic systems that will power and control the spacecraft.

"The entire team has been working hard for a long time to get to this point, and we are excited to see the hardware coming together with contributions from our institutional and industrial collaborators from across the country," said Tom Hoffman, NEO Surveyor's project manager at JPL.

"From the panels and cables for the instrument enclosure to the detectors and mirrors for the telescope—as well as components to build the spacecraft—hardware is being fabricated, delivered, and assembled to build this incredible observatory."

IMAGE: This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s NEO Surveyor in deep space. The black-paneled angular structure in the belly of the spacecraft is the instrument enclosure that is being built at JPL. The mission’s infrared telescope will be installed inside the enclosure. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

[9rytna]

Qcm Relations Internationales L1 avec corrigé (QUIZ)

[d8tl55c]

hi! 🎊\o_🎉 looking for something? 🦞

'/_'|-_ |'['-,= _|_'|L'|-',=•-|[,-,= [,-'/L'-_

L' /_'|-•|-',= "/,|-•_| +｡⁠. ﾟ✧ ✨

update 3.03 - 11/17/2024

gender: she/they/it is fine thx

util: colorsss, community posts list (doc)

fan of (bold==frequent post): AvA/M and other Alan Becker works, AUs, Rain World, The Murderbot Diaries, Sky CotL, Kitten Burst, ULTRAKILL, Portal, Pony Town, Minecraft, Interstellar, D:BH, Undertale, Hollow Knight, Lackadaisy, 17776, Murder Drones, Dungeon Meshi, Doctor Who, The Isle, WolfQuest, Warrior Cats, wildlife, bugs, space, robots, software development, adding programming knowledge into my writing and headcanons, modding, whump;blood;violence;fluff;serious and silly, fanfic of all of the above, humans, math, animation, ascii art, old internet.

(^ will update over time)

my ava/m au is called EXECUTABLE. it spans the entire known timeline of AvA and AvM in a Different POV and Drabble format (img), focusing on StickFigures, software, and eldritch dieties.

^ and mostly these two.

(i plan to make an index post once there's enough material to lay out a timeline >:3 )

/// personal tag collection ///

#executable!au == my AvA/M AU!! _o/

#--/ art == visual art made by me!

#--/ story == writing made by me! +art = a comic

#--/ animation == animation made by me!

#subpixels == discussion about media

#read later == you can probably guess this one

#important == you can probably guess this one

#wiki == knowledge base

#ancient lore == cool old stuff

#tumblr stories == stories i found on tumblr

#writing advice == i want to save this for writing

#saving this == this wasn't made by me.

#awoo to this == this is SO interesting i want to emit a noise

#kitceil == one of my OCs (scug)

#L1_CAT == one of my OCs (laptopcat)

#L24_CAT == one of my OCs (laptopcat)

#datelyssyc == one of my OCs (protogen) (NEVER posted ;v;;;)

(^ all these are in the tags of this post too)

/// posted works ///

✨tco_safety+feathers.pdf (done - png and short story - EXECUTABLE AU BREACHES CONTAINMENT yayaya) (related: third safety doc page)

✨they are ready to spar (done - short story - c!alan & TCO executable!au)

if you were Orpheus... (done - short story - ??? mythological chodark)

error load (done - short story - TDL and yellow? how did we get- dw about it)

tco_physeng_breakdown.png (done - png and short story - Universe AA2B+ TCO)

orange has a question (done - story - Universe B chodark)

fly away (done - story - TCO post-Showdown)

orange with a diamond sword (done - story - green influencer arc)

some things are extremophiles (done - comic - TCO)

this is not a prophetic vision (done - theory - TCO in AvA 7)

Minecraft bed (done - comic - TDL and some TCO)

programmer021 (done - short story - AU copy of TCO)

in the right (done - theory/story - victim in upcoming AvA 11)

Character Limit (done - Ao3 LINK - TCO whump pre-AvA III)

Box Lunch (done - Ao3 LINK - TCO in the Box)

Call Your Last Witness (done - Ao3 LINK - tmbd prologue)

missed a spot (done - story extension - yellow and TSC)

(^ latest at the top (✨ sparkles == newly added))

/// some --/ art i like ///

thinking about names (orange vs. the second coming)

different strokes (TSC portrait collab)

WING/K (signature animation)

inspiration in 4k (word count) (L1 and being attacked by fic ideas)

they are dancing (TCO and TDL. one of my first asciis)

i have the solution (throw him into lava) (TCO headcanon diagram)

8-petal design (another ascii. this one flopped lol but i like)

2 many crabbies (Animal Restaurant meme)

approx. pi using e (Animation vs Math meme)

ways of seeing them (playing with new TCO and TDL faces)

TCO cosplays (Pony Town)

tco_physeng_breakdown.png (TCO headcanon diagram v2!!!)

d8's wolf armor(y) (minecraft build ;P )

tco_safety+feathers.pdf (TCO care and safety)

(^ latest at the bottom)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I'm coming to DEFCON! On Aug 9, I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On Aug 10, I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

#20yrsago MSFT buys spam company, sues the competition, silences political activists https://web.archive.org/web/20040803201355/http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/001774.php

#20yrsago Genome of human zit sequenced https://web.archive.org/web/20040803105000/http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996222

#15yrsago Annie Lennox gives her masters to mashup artist DJ Earworm https://web.archive.org/web/20090717083944/http://djearworm.com/annie-lennox-backwards-forwards.htm

#15yrsago High school student suing Amazon over book-deletions which rendered his study-notes useless

#15yrsago Six String Nation, the chronicle of Voyageur, a remarkable, unifying, synthesizing Canadian guitar https://memex.craphound.com/2009/07/30/six-string-nation-the-chronicle-of-voyageur-a-remarkable-unifying-synthesizing-canadian-guitar/

#15yrsago HOWTO make a prison soldering iron https://web.archive.org/web/20090803185647/http://prisonproxy.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-its-made-soldering-irons.html

#15yrsago Canadians vow mass-mooning of US spy-blimp https://web.archive.org/web/20090805142350/http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1680060

#15yrsago Rich NY town tries to shut down children’s library because poor kids might use it https://research.checkpoint.com/2019/cryptographic-attacks-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/

#5yrsago Cop says Amazon told him they had “partnered” with 200 US police forces to sell and tap into Ring surveillance doorbells https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5wyjy/amazon-told-police-it-has-partnered-with-200-law-enforcement-agencies

#5yrsago Affluent parents surrender custody of their kids to “scam” their way into needs-based college scholarships https://www.propublica.org/article/university-of-illinois-financial-aid-fafsa-parents-guardianship-children-students

#5yrsago The darkest SEO: forging judges’ signatures on fake court orders to scrub negative Google results https://web.archive.org/web/20190726010633/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/online-reputation-management-cbs-news-investigation-finds-fraudulent-court-orders-used-to-change-google-search/

#5yrsago Zero Sum Game: action-packed sf thriller about a ninja hero whose superpower is her incredible math ability https://memex.craphound.com/2019/07/30/zero-sum-game-action-packed-sf-thriller-about-a-ninja-hero-whose-superpower-is-her-incredible-math-ability/

#1yrago When the app turns you into a robo-scab https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

[spacenutspod]

A surprise appearance of a new comet made the April 8th total solar eclipse all the more memorable. Any dedicated ‘umbraphile’ will tell you: no two eclipses are exactly the same. Weather, solar activity, and the just plain expeditionary nature of reaching and standing in the shadow of the Moon for those brief moments during totality assures a unique experience, every time out. The same can be said for catching a brief glimpse of what’s going on near the Sun, from prominences and the pearly white corona to the configuration of bright planets… and just maybe, a new comet. The Discovery While many planned to try and spy periodic Comet 12P Pons-Brooks during totality, astronomer Karl Battams at the U.S. Naval Observatory alerted us to another possibility. A new sungrazing comet, spotted just hours prior. The Kreutz family comet was seen by Worachate Boonplod in the field of view of the joint NASA/ESA Solar Heliospheric Observatory’s (SOHO) LASCO C3 and C2 imagers. These are equipped with Sun-covering coronagraphs that allow it to see the near solar environment. The mission was launched over a quarter of a century ago in 1995. SOHO was deployed to the sunward L1 Earth-Sun Lagrange point nearly a million miles distant. SOHO has since proven itself to be a crucial workhorse in solar heliophysics. Doomed SOHO-5008 (lower left). Credit: NASA/ESA/SOHO The comet soon received the formal designation of SOHO-5008. That’s right: SOHO has led to the discovery of over 5,000 comets in its career. Most of these discoveries were thanks to the efforts of dedicated online sleuths, scouring recent LASCO images. At the time, the doom’d comet was a faint object, located only a few degrees from the Sun. The icy interloper was a tough target to nab during the fleeting minutes of totality, but at least two dedicated astrophotographers managed to catch it. Lin Zixuan saw it imaging from northern New Hampshire. Petr Horálek from the Institute of Physics in Opava Czechia (Czech Republic) was imaging from Mexico as he caught the object. Like so many other sungrazers, the comet met its demise shortly after discovery (less than 12 hours, in fact), like a sundiving spaceship at a Disaster Area concert right out of Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A Brief History of Sungrazers This sort of SOHO versus comet, versus eclipse discovery has only occurred twice: once in 2008 and again in 2020). SOHO wasn’t designed per se to find comets, but its prolific nature as a comet hunter has become an essential part of the legacy of the mission. SOHO has defined whole new families of Kreutz, Marsden and Kracht sungrazing comets. And to think, prior to the mission, only sixteen sungrazing comets were even known of. One similar case was the Great Comet of 1948, which was also discovered by stunned observers during a total solar eclipse. Another was C/1965 Ikeya-Seki, which went on to become one of the truly great comets of the 20th century. More recently, C/2011 W3 Lovejoy surprised everyone by surviving its perihelion passage 140,000 kilometers from the surface of the Sun. Just one year later, however, 2012 S1 ISON didn’t. It was a thrilling celestial spectacle, with an added treat. The post There Was a Doomed Comet Near the Sun During the Eclipse appeared first on Universe Today.

[evilisk]

I forgot I didn't post about it on here, but I finally finished this big project. It's all the playable L1 Touhou LostWord characters that were available in 2023.

("L1" basically means "classic non-alternate universe versions of the main cast". No AU versions, they're meant to be the originals.)

This is everyone from Touhou 6 to Touhou 18, including the spinoffs. Most of the print work characters are here too, but some notable absences include Rinnosuke (NPC only), Miyoi (they did "beach AU Miyoi" but classic Miyoi is NPC only), Tokiko (NPC only, treated more like a special enemy than an actual character) and Mizuchi (not in the game at all).

I didn't include Maribel/Mima and Renko/Shinki, mostly because they're treated as alternate universe versions, but also because I don't have both units.

I recommend using the timestamps in the description (blame YouTube for not turning my timestamps into proper chapters)

[darthkvznblogs]

I actually am looking for more PS5 games to buy. A more detailed review/recommendation of Spider-Man 2 would be appreciated if you have the time.

Alright, I'm gonna try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible!

THE PROS:

-Story's great! Perhaps not as emotionally resonant as the first game (they really did knock it out of the park with the Otto-Li-Osborn story), but still very impactful, and I loooved everyone's characterization. The setpieces were freakin' wild, so much more intense than almost anything in the previous entries, but the smaller, quieter moments were also very well done. Dialogues are great, can range from corny to eye-roll worthy, but in such a way that it matches Spider-Man's vibe very well.

-Traversal is the best in the series, with multiple new options that feel seamlessly integrated and a boost to swinging speed that can genuinely get you across the city in just a couple minutes, if that.

-Combat has been streamlined in some ways, deepened in others. YMMV on some on the missing gadgets from previous games, but I found the new ones and the new abilities (and the much simpler activation mechanic, ditching the slow "weapon wheel" style for an L1/R1 + assigned button method) an overall positive change. You kinda need it, because this game has a much steeper difficulty curve than the previous two.

-Aside from some facial oddities (I do find it a bit annoying that they keep changing how Peter looks, and even though it's the same MJ face model she looks super different from the 1st game to me, too, while the characters from Miles' side of the story look better but still perfectly recognizable), game looks incredible. Visual design, costumes, special effects, just all around a gorgeous game, and incredibly well animated, too.

-Practically zero loading times or any sort of performance issue (I did play on the 60 fps performance mode, tho)

THE CONS:

-Some real narrative Choices(TM) are made that could definitely be divisive if you're expecting more of a traditional Spider-Man story. I personally wasn't bothered by most of these (especially as this is its own universe), but I could understand some ruffled feathers.

-The expanded map can get a bit same-y, outside the obvious landmarks, especially with the added speed which blurs things together a bit more.

-Like I said, some facial models/animations kinda dip into uncanny valley territory, at least for me. It's not game breaking, but it could potentially take you out of a scene if you're more bothered by it.

-Less activities/sidequests than the first game (but what's there is very good!)

-This is mildly spoilery, but my biggest complaint with this game is that they got rid of minor but valuable worldbuilding elements like the Twitter-esque social feed or the in-universe character bios. I get that that's a lot of writing that a lot of people are gonna skim or skip, but you want to see people's reactions to the crazy stuff that happens in this game, trust me. Also, if you miss the podcasts or they get cut off when you're swinging around, there's no way to replay them this time around, for some reason? Maybe I just didn't find them?

So, yeah! I think it's an easy 8.5 or 9 out of 10 for me! I had a blast, and even if I don't agree with some of their choices, I respect the hell out of them for making them. Insomniac!Spidey remains my favorite of all the Peters in the Multiverse <3

[primarycolorcharactersbrackets]

MATCHUPS AND BRACKET!

Matchups were made at random with a wheel.

First round of polls are planned to start Sunday 26th at 5pm EST

Below is a written version of the fandoms AND characters that will be participating.

LEFT SIDE

L1. Pikimin- Red, Blue, Yellow Pikimin VS Ace Attorney- Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice, Athena Cykes

L2. Sesame Street- Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster VS Pride Flags- Pansexual

L3. Clue- Mrs.Peacock, Miss Scarlet, Colonel Mustard VS Pokémon- Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon

L4. Ib- Ib, Mary, Garry VS Vocaloid- Kasane Teto, Hatsune Miku, Akita Neru

L5. DC- Wonder Woman VS Sailor Moon- Sailor Moon

L6. Fire Emblem Three Houses- Claude von Riegan, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Edelgard von Hresvleg VS Kuroko no Basuke- Tetsuya Kuroko, Tiaga Kagami, Ryota Kise

L7. M&Ms- Red, Yellow, Blue VS Puella Magi Madoka Magica- Kyoko, Mami, Sayaka

L8. Steven Universe- Steven Universe VS Disney- Snowwhite

RIGHT SIDE

R1. Assassination Classroom- Nagisa, Karma, Korosensei VS Rice Krispies- Crackle

R2. Superman- Superman VS Cuphead- Cuphead, Mugman, Ms. Chalice

R3. Animator vs Animation- Red, Yellow, Blue VS Power Rangers- Red, Yellow, Blue

R4. Bubble- Uta VS Sanders Sides- Roman, Logan, Janus Sanders

R5. Real life (flags)- Colombia VS Voltron- Keith, Hunk, Lance

R6. Splatoon- Deepcut VS Spongebob- Spongebob, Squidward, Patrick

R7. Sonic the Hedgehog- Sonic, Tails, Knuckles VS Earthbound- Ness

R8. Bocchi the Rock!- Nijika, Ryo, Ikuyo VS Super Mario- Mario