#we're re-releasing this blog's very first post
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curry-and-gunpowder · 3 months ago
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This blog's been around for a year now, time sure flies!
Anyway, once again, Happy Birthday Odasaku, the guy that you are ❤️❤️❤️
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Happy birthday to the most guy ever!
No better time to get this blog going I guess. I'm J, and I love Odasaku, nice to meet you.
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horrorvale · 15 days ago
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HorrorVale Development Blog: End of Year
Hello, citizens of HorrorVale!
As the year draws to a close, we (or more specifically me, Dustin) wanted to put together a little blog to talk about HorrorVale! How launch went, what our current and future plans are, and more!
(Note that this blog post does not receive audio, so if you respond I cannot hear it.)
Dream Colosseum
First, before I start talking about HorrorVale's Launch, I want to discuss an upcoming patch.
Currently, we're working on a massive patch for HorrorVale that will include the following:
Even MORE bug fixes
Brand new optional dialogue for every single party member in the game for main story cutscenes
More skill re-balancing
Other minor things and scenes I still wish to include
But most importantly... The DREAM COLOSSEUM!
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I originally didn't think many people would bother with the "Secret Bosses" in HorrorVale, but since so many of you enjoyed them and also desired to get more opportunities to mess with party combinations, I decided to punish you horribly!
The Dream Colosseum is a brand new feature that will allow you to fight Bosses you fought previously, now all scaled up to End game stats, with new moves and quirks, and all very difficult.
If you've fought the "Last Secret Boss", now you get to imagine what a Dream Colosseum version might be like.
It will require you to 100% the game to access, but won't give any unique rewards outside of a cosmetic change to Alice's bedroom so people don't feel compelled to torture themselves for completionists sake. Naturally, there won't be any new trophies either.
Right now we're working steadily on this update, and hope to have it out very early next year.
Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about how launch actually went for HorrorVale...
HorrorVale Launch
After 8 years in development and 5 years since announced, HorrorVale finally released on October 1st, 2024.
This reception has been tremendous.
Leading up to release, I was anxious but overall feeling pretty good about launch. There were minor things I wish I had included or changed, but knew that delaying what was otherwise a feature complete game would be extremely silly.
I actually intended on releasing these things as a patch in the first week of launch, in the hopes of catching most people before they get too deep in the game.
...What I did not expect however, was the unfortunate discovery of several bugs, some of which were game breaking.
What made these bugs especially frustrating is that most of them were NEW bugs, created from me adding things right before launch, or fixing other unrelated bugs.
Due to these bugs and the massive influx of new fans, comments, reviews, and more I found myself extremely overwhelmed, and it ended up being probably one of the most stressful 2 weeks of my life after launch.
In the end, everything worked out and I was quick to patch the game...
...Multiple times.
Still, despite these issues the reception was overwhelmingly positive. Certainly some critiques here and there, but the general response was that the game was so enjoyable that even the most egregious critiques could be brushed aside. All of the wonderful things I've read by people who had fun in the world I created... It truly means the world to me. The... Underworld you might say.
I'm sure some people are also interested in how the game actually DID. Good reviews and positive reception are one thing, but this is also a product being sold, so how did it DO!? Did it SMASH RECORDS and become bigger than UNDERTALE? Did it FLOP???
Well, to be honest I'm not entirely sure!
Which is a strange thing to say, but it's difficult to gauge "Success" when so many factors can change what that means. For a AAA game, success means something very different to a small indie game with a publisher, which also means something very different to a ragtag team of people with no real budget, no publisher, no marketing, and especially no notoriety whatsoever. Not to mention as first time developers we have little to compare it to...
But that being said...
As of right now, HorrorVale has sold...
1,000 COPIES!
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That's an INSANE amount of people. If all of you were in a big room crowded around me, I would be very scared.
That's 1,000 new citizens to HorrorVale that have entered its gates.
If we gauge success purely based off "did it make back what you invested in it?", then HorrorVale was absolutely a success!
However, unfortunately it did not necessarily meet the expectations we had.
Going into the launch of HorrorVale, I had 3 goals in mind.
To make back what I invested in it (out of pocket, not including Patreon earnings)
To pay Matt, the composer full royalties for the HorrorVale OST (since he created the entire 170 track monster soundtrack for FREE.)
To be able to devote myself full time to Game Development
Of these three... Only 1 has been achieved so far.
While I generally try to avoid discussing topics like these, I feel like it's important context for the next piece of discussion. The future of HorrorVale.
HorrorVale: Act M
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HorrorVale: Act M is a small side story featuring none other than Mothman himself! This spinoff game was greenlit thanks to HorrorVale fans reaching our Wishlist goal for the main game. This game will tell the story of HorrorVale from Mothman's perspective, giving you new insight into his side of the story, as well as elaborate on events leading up to and following that story.
I think there's something really special waiting for you in Act M, and I want to use it as an opportunity to experiment with the HorrorVale formula based off of feedback from the main game.
No matter what, this project will begin development and it will be in your hands....
...At some point.
Which is where the previous topic comes into play, because naturally how long Act M takes to make is dependent on the time I have free to work on it. HorrorVale sales could certainly pick up, and I might one day be able to devote myself fully to game dev, but for now Act M will have to follow the same development process as "HorrorVale", which means it's difficult to give an estimate of how long it'll take to make!
What I can say for sure, is that Act: M will be much, much shorter than HorrorVale. Don't expect a 50 hour experience! I'm aiming for something more like 8.
And yet, you might be asking yourself dear reader...
"How can we help?"
Indeed, you asked yourself that exact sentence and in the voice of the King from Zelda CD-I no doubt.
Which brings us to the next topic!
Patreon Revival
My original plan after HorrorVale launched was to completely retire the HorrorVale Patreon as it seemed unnecessary at that point, but since:
We did not reach our expectations of sales so far
Several fans expressed a desire to support the game in some way because of the Steam Early Access debacle
I thought it made sense to keep it up and give it a little makeover.
Now fully dedicated to "Act: M", you can expect Monthly Progress Reports here, just like the main game!
Not only that, but we've added a brand new "Cryptid" Tier, that will allow you... Yes YOU! The ability to design a Creepy, Scary, or Starry for Mothman to fight in Act: M! We don't want Mothman to just fight all the same enemies as Alice! He'd naturally encounter foes she never even knew existed. This is your opportunity to help the game out and get to be a part of it as well.
(Please note that in order to participate in this reward, you must be 18 years or older and willing to give all rights of your design to Batworks Software.)
(Also please note that Mothman will kill your beautiful creation with a crossbow and it will hurt very badly.)
Since as of now I can't "live" off of HorrorVale sales, instead my plan is to put it and Act: M Patreon earnings towards Act: M itself and Mystery Future Project. This will help ensure a smooth development cycle as possible. If you're interested in helping out the HorrorVale universe, now's your chance!
Of course, forking over your hard earned candy isn't the only way to help though!
Just enjoying the game and telling your friends about it is a MASSIVE help. Without a marketing team, word of mouth is a tremendous help to us, and it's thanks to that that we're here at all!
Closing
In closing, I just want to say thank you to all of the HorrorVale fans that have supported us over all these years. The love that HorrorVale has been shown has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. As long as I'm able to, I'd like to read every comment and message I can, but I fear that if the game does get bigger one day I won't be able to see them all. Just know that the love you've given Alice and her friends mean the world to me.
Wait Stop Right There What Do You MEAN "Mystery Future Project"???
That's all for now goodbye!!!!!!
*The device he was speaking from explodes spontaneously*
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gameo-archive · 4 months ago
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What we're doing here
Hello! After seeing @noctua-an-owl's awe-inspiring thread of First Round Gameos* on the bird app, I realized that I could do the same thing over here, since tumblr is better suited for storage. We managed to hunt down 176 of the 417 First Round Gameos released this August (plus three Jameos for enrichment!).
And now we get to look forward to ANOTHER WEEK OF GAMEODENS*?? AND GEORGE OPENED UP AGAIN THIS WEEK FOR AN UNANNOUNCED SEASON 3 AND A GAMEOSSIUS*???? Amazing!!
(* George + Cameo = Gameo; George + Jayden + Cameo = Gameoden; George + Cameo + Kassius = Gameossius)
What to expect
About 4 gameo(den)s a day during this second (and third) season, then we go to re-runs.
I will update posts with new information as I find it, especially when I can get a transcript for subtitles, and I'll delete duplicate posts to keep it tidy. <3
How can you help?
If you'd like to contribute to the wonderful @edmcmayonnaise created tracking sheet, it's here.
If you want to share anonymously, feel free to message me with links or questions.
If you'd like to create transcripts for any of the videos, feel free to message me with what you have. (shout out to @pipwasreal!)
If I've missed anything from either round, please please please send me links and tips to Gameo(den)s, yours or others that were publically posted.
Thanks to @deadboyagency for posting so many of these already, and the biggest hugs and gratitude to @noctua-an-owl who worked (and is still working) tirelessly on twitter to collect these gameos - my work very much builds on what they did so lovingly.
(Last, please don't be alarmed if a non-gameo post goes up; I'm still getting used to having 2 blogs and I'm making mistakes *constantly*. As soon as I catch it, I'll delete it. :) )
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meimi-haneoka · 1 year ago
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Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 78: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences
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Hello hello!! End of the month, just witnessed Harvest Moon high in the sky (the last Supermoon of 2023!), and we're back like clockwork with another chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!! I have to say the release of Clear Card chapters have often coincided with a Supermoon and I find that so funny, as well as fitting....the moon is such a big element in this arc!
And as we have seen in this arc, the moon is also a messenger of love, and there's so much of it in this chapter....feelings, conflicting emotions, but most importantly, talks of happiness. This chapter wrecked me with emotions even more than the previous one, as we finally got the Kaito/Akiho moment of "discussion" that we waited for so long....where the focal point of the entire arc is: how far can we push ourselves to make our loved ones happy? Is it right for us to arbitrarily decide for their happiness? Along the years, I've seen countless of complains for how the events of the story were unfolding, for how some characters did absolutely the hell they wanted and made decisions for others, but as I knew perfectly well, a story is something in constant development and the goal wasn't to show how helpless people are or how it was right for others to act in that way, quite the contrary. And we'll see with full force what that means in this chapter of the climax, which is surprisingly BIG (36 pages long).
I also have to (unfortunately) report a quite annoying translation mistake in the English version that can confuse people and trick them to believe that Sakura remembered about a certain someone. Along with the usual nuances and such.
BUT FIRST!!
Hehe, you know what's coming, right?
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Akiho went THIS close to go full Greta Thunberg on a certain someone!!! 😂 Let's find out WHO it is under the cut!!
The Color Page
Our Sakura this month takes the color spread with one of the most beautiful portrayal of our little magician: dressed in a very elegant layered white dress with jewels, head covered by a white veil, immersed by half in a pond, she looks halfway between a bride and a priestess! And yes, I can already hear you screaming "Tsubasa!!1!1!!!!" because she vaguely reminds of little Sakura-hime at the reservoir....😆 But I think what really makes the atmosphere of this color page "magical" is the presence of countless spheres of light, which seem to be emerging from crystal water lilies and converge in a huge sphere, which really looks like the moon....just to go back to the incipit of this blog post, right? 😂 After observing this color page, I couldn't help but being reminded of the spheres of light that were featured in the color pages of chapter 52 and 63 (with respectively, Kaito and SyaoSaku). Back in my post of chapter 63 I had made an analysis about what the common thread between those two color pages could be, and especially the significance of those spheres of light. If they really are representing the feelings of love for your dearest person, then I'd like to think that here Sakura is being represented as a "fairy" fostering and releasing that love in the open, to help and save the people dear to her. Which is totally the image I'm getting not only from this chapter, but ever since we started to see what happened in the "re-written world". Sakura is literally a messenger of love. And I love that for her. ❤️
The editorial text in the JP version is referencing what Sakura told Akiho back in chapter 49, right after her "sister" shared with her the recount of her night walk with Kaito: "To me, you’re someone I want to see happy forever. Because you're my friend, and someone really precious to me"
"Blink To Say Yes"
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The chapter starts with me making amends to Kaito for the nth time, asking for his forgiveness for doubting his intentions and emotional state way over what was due: as the dragon keeps flying away, Sakura grabs Akiho's hand and starts going after the creature, of course followed by Syaoran, Kero and Yue. Akiho (poor girl, still with a tear in her eye) notices with shock that the "portal" to the fake moon is completely disintegrating, revealing the real moon behind it. Flying side-by-side to the dragon, Sakura realizes that the creature got finally out of that place to avoid that Akiho would put herself in danger: in fact, with the portal disappearing like that, she might have been trapped inside that space forever! Sooo as usual, Kaito's actions are skillfully framed by CLAMP in a way that will make you misunderstand him and think he's being irrational or getting on everyone's nerves on purpose, but no, he was actually just putting Akiho's safety first, as usual. ❤️ I know there were some interpretations of him precisely doing this, but I thought it wasn't the case because Sakura broke the spell inside the fake moon, removing the pressure and all, so I couldn't see what danger he needed to protect her from: in fact, the looming danger was a different one, and it was well symbolized by those "bzzz" sounds and effects near the entrance when Akiho was getting in. I had noticed them but dismissed them as the instability of Touya's time magic. I should've known better! 😆 Sorry, Kaito. I know that the only one who can make you do anything at all is only Akiho! Therefore I'm still laughing at how Sakura tried to convince him to get out for half an hour, when all Akiho needed was to move an inch forward 😆😆😆 I also think that what she told him, the fact that she was sure to be in front of "her most important person", changed things for Kaito. His reaction was tangible, despite being hidden behind the eyes of a dragon. And therefore I'm still partially peeved and heartbroken at him, because before hearing that from her (and seeing her putting herself in danger), he was fully planning on staying inside that space forever. He was refusing to come out, knowing very well that the portal would've disappeared at any minute, eliminating any chance of saving him. How dare you.
Well. We were saying that Sakura realized the dragon's intentions right away, and we see her shouting, with a face halfway between shocked and fired-up, "This means she's important to you, too!" (good job ENG translation for not messing this up, I guess. I was worried). Damn right, Sakura. She must be so confused by this person dragon's behavior. It is all so crystal clear to her. It's not only in her head, all the signs keep confirming to her that he really does consider Akiho very important, even now, immutably. The time he spent in that cage didn't change anything for him (and that, if anything, makes everything even more heartbreaking because of how agonizing that must have been). Sakura just can't understand why this person is acting like this, since he truly does care about Akiho. Refusing to go back to her. None of the people around her behave in this way and for her it must be something very new to deal with - and this reminds me of what a blessing we had to get these new characters in this arc, so different from what she's used to, who sometimes pushed her beyond her comfort zone, hence expanding her experience and making her grow up.
Akiho seems encouraged by Sakura's firm statement, so she takes the matter in her hands and shouts to the dragon to please have a talk with her. She shuts her eyes tight, as if being desperate for him to listen to her.
And that's it. That's all it takes for Kaito to be ol' good Kaito and stop immediately at Akiho's request, looking intently at her. As if he's saying "I'm at your service". I've said it countless times in my blog posts, how Kaito is someone who really would do whatever he wants and listens to no reason, but when it comes to Akiho, he really cannot deny anything to her. Akiho sighs in relief at seeing him stopping, and she starts talking to him, so tiny in front of such a giant (is he supposed to look scary? To me he really isn't, he's quite cute) creature. Akiho is well aware, from the countless books she's read till now, that the ones who can have conversations with dragons are almost entirely people with marvelous capabilities (the ENG went for "strange powers" for this, I don't think it fits). She's got no magical powers, but she quickly comes up with a clever way of "communicating": blink your eyes to say 'yes', do nothing and stay like that to say 'no'. And so she immediately starts, because she needs to know, she needs to understand. It's her goddam*ed right to do so, and Kaito knows this very well, hence why he's not denying her the opportunity. Akiho fires the first question: "Are you the one who re-wrote the world?" Kaito blinks, admitting it. I can see a streak of sadness in his eyes as he opens them again. This doesn't make any good to Akiho, who looks pretty sad as well, at hearing that. It's like having one fear, and seeing it confirmed. But she goes on, explaining how the world she's living in right now is warm and caring, full of people who support her and dote on her as if she were one of their family. While she states this, we can see Tomoyo following the events from the tablet with a concerned face, and Touya looking more and more worn out by the time magic he's being keeping up, sustained by Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun.
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Akiho is very intuitive, so it's easy to guess where the question is leading: "Did you rewrite it because I never had this, before? And for that, were you the one who erased any trace of you from inside of me?" The ENG version here adds a "Did you do it to bring me happiness?" which is not incorrect, of course, but it doesn't exist in the JP text, and as usual it's used to spoon-feed the readers as if they couldn't get there on their own (and to probably fill a bubble with something).
Kaito cannot lie to the burning question, and he blinks his eyes. We see appearing a "crease" next to his eye, a clever way from Mokona to show us that he's growing more and more distressed. The pain of remembering how her clan abused her, how they got there because of something he said, the pain that resulted from the decision he made when he was just a kid. And the next question is even more burning.
"Did I wish for it?"
Kaito does nothing, confirming he now understands that in fact, Akiho never asked for this. Never. And the girl herself confirms: "I don't remember (you), but I know. I would never wish for a happiness that did not include you". Kaito listens intently to her. I just can't imagine how it must feel to not remember a single thing about someone, and yet feeling all that love pouring out of you. Simply out of instincts.
I Want My Most Important Person Back
Then, with a very (very) resolute face, Akiho turns to her dear Sakura, and affirms: (JP) "Sakura-san. I want to bring my most important person back". Here it is again, the famous term that we CCS fans all know well, the code for "the person I love", that keeps being changed in the ENG translation to a less recognizable "favorite person", which I'm still not sure conveys the same meaning. Sakura agrees with a pleased smile, she's totally ready to do anything to give her true happiness back to her "sister". Then, she turns to Dragon Kaito, and here we start with the "parallels" that will enrich this chapter of many many additional emotions.
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Yes❤️ it's a parallel with Lilie, from chapter 72. Same expression and all. Precisely from when she was telling her the words that Sakura is going to relay to Kaito now: "What is happiness, to you?".
And here I have to introduce probably the worst mess of a translation mistake of this chapter, that will surely confuse people and make them believe things that actually arent' true:
ENG: "Someone asked me that once, too. In a dream. But, try as I might...I couldn't remember who it was. Not until she crossed time and dreams to see me. I think she did that for this moment. And...I think that's why she left me this card in the end, too"
JP: "These are words I've heard in a dream. I can't really remember who said them, no matter how hard I try, but...that person crossed time and dreams in order to come to see me. It was surely for this moment. And...this last Card remained, too...was for this very moment, right?"
I sincerely have no idea how they could mess up and make Sakura say that she actually remembers about Lilie, after she came to see her. Lilie had been so clear about it, in chapter 72, that the Forbidden Magic would've made Sakura forget as soon as she exited the dream, and so it happened, indeed. Why making her basically say that she remembered, afterwards? This is against the script! Moreover, not happy with messing that up, they even made Sakura say that the last Clear Card remained was left by Lilie herself! That's nonsense, that's not what the JP text says! Momo told her that there were some Clear Cards that were protected by her with a spell and they were waiting for Sakura to call them up, that's HOW the Clear Card that we're going to see now is able to be here. Not because Lilie gave it to Sakura. And before anyone points out "yes, but the one who paid for that spell with her ring was Lilie", I have to remind you that Sakura is not supposed to know that. Momo never told her WHO paid that price. So basically this is a mess-up on all fronts. But let's go back to our story because the emotional moments are just escalating. Before Sakura mentions the Card, we can see for a moment Lilie's reflection in the Dragon's eyes. A clear sign that Kaito understood perfectly who Sakura was talking about! And I think it's so beautiful that Sakura, always listening to her intuition (remember how she wasn't very good at this, before? That she dismissed her intuition, and Syaoran told her that his mother taught him not to?), understands that THIS is the moment to get this question out, because here she basically posed this question to Kaito. And this will help him decide in a few pages.
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Proceeding forward, we can finally meet the big absentee ever since Sakura secured it back in chapter 33: the Rewind Card!!! One of the most beloved Cards, obviously for its appearance that was based on Syaoran and its cuteness! This card is the last one that still had to appear and that never showed up in Clockland, a sign that Kaito wasn't able to put his hands on it and "drag it" into the fictional world created with Momo's magic. It's the last Card that was waiting to be called by Sakura. And so she does! Syaoran is quite surprised and provides a "Spiderman meme" moment when he realizes that the Card looks just like him! 😂 Sakura explains to him that Record was able to record this Card as well, so that's how she knew of its existence (and not because Lilie gave it to her, once again!!!).
It's time. Sakura announces to the Dragon that she's going to bring him back to "himself". Our girl does so because she wants to implicitly give him the chance to have a say in this. She doesn't really "ask", but it's like she's implicitly doing it, because she wants to make sure that this is something he wants too.
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In fact, in a very emotional moment, he and Akiho exchange again a long stare. It's like a silent conversation is going on between them. The dragon is depicted with a painful expression, while Akiho is staring at him firmly and determined. He's still, to the very end, thinking he does not deserve to go back to his human real form and go back to her. But she's unwavering, and uncompromising. She wants him back, and she's going to have him back. Because, after all, under a pile of self-loathing and pain, this is what he wants too. This is his happiness. So, with a very suffering expression, he blinks his eyes one more time to say "go ahead". In his condition, this must have costed him a lot of effort. You know who they reminded me of, in this scene?
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Yeah, them. I've been saying it for long time, agreeing with other friends affirming the same in their own posts, how I could see a clear parallel between Clone SyaoSaku from TRC and YunaAki in Clear Card. They didn't exactly go through the same things, but their experiences often overlapped. And this in particular is overlapping really well. As I wrote already in my Twitter thread, he's given a chance to go back, but he's crushed by guilt. He doesn't think he deserves it. But she stares FIRMLY at him, pulling him towards life, a life with her. And he closes his eyes, and caves in. Because in the end, this is what he wants too. To be with her.
So Sakura proceeds. She says that she doesn't know who the Dragon is, but the pocket watch does. And as said pocket watch levitates in the air from Akiho's hands towards the Rewind Card, Sakura explains that it does know him because it used to "weave time" together with him. And so, combining the Card with the watch, Sakura activates Rewind on Kaito, exactly as I expected!
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And the moment is absolutely emotional, as we finally see again after 8 long chapters (and relative months), our dear Kaito's face!!! The way the Rewind Card "works" on him is also quite spectacular, from a visual POV, since the pocket watch seemingly "enters" the dragon and frees Kaito from within. The fact is, we don't see the pocket watch after he changed back, so now I'm wondering: did it stay inside of him???
But, whoops, something didn't quite go alright. The black wings of the dragon stick to Kaito's back. Kero observes him and wonders with Yue if he's been a creature like them this whole time, but fear not, Yue dissolves the doubt right away: he thinks he's a regular human magician (the kanji says 魔術師, magician, while the furigana reads ひと, person), it's just that the spell that was active on him (the "Seal of D", as we know) was probably so damn powerful that even borrowing the pocket watch's power (as said in the JP version) wasn't enough for Rewind to bring him completely back to his appearance. Well, you want my opinion? Those wings look FANTASTIC on him and I absolutely want him to keep them!!! (maybe with a little spell he can conceal them when it's not convenient?) 😂❤️ He looks like a dark angel and it's amazing.
Don't Decide My Happiness On My Behalf
But the real, heartwrenching emotional moment starts here. This is also the moment when I started emitting all kinds of inhuman sounds, so I'm grateful I'm not one of those people doing a live reaction on youtube or something because this would be the end of my reputation on the internet 😂😂😂😂
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Akiho and Kaito, finally in his original human form, exchange a long stare, again. His face is showing perfectly how he's absolutely heartbroken at what he realized he caused to her. It's guilt adding over guilt. And as she finally looks at the face of the person her heart knows is the one she loves, she can't stop the tears from forming again in her eyes, while she poses the only REAL question that she probably wanted to ask all along:
"Why?"
And as I always do with pivotal moments, I'm going to continue with the direct translation from the JP text, because the ENG added something ("why did you leave me?", which contributes to convey Akiho's feelings and possibly makes this even more romantic) that wasn't there in the original, and I have to be impartial.
Akiho, JP: "Why did you choose to disappear....from the rewritten world?"
I wanted to put the JP version here also because an important verb is missing from the ENG version: choose. Akiho is questioning Kaito about his choice. Because yes, this wasn't a result of a whim, Kaito chose to disappear from her life. And now he has to answer for that. Akiho's face is twisted in pain, as if she's trying to control the tears that now profusely fall from her eyes, and contain an immesurable grief in realizing that her most beloved person chose to remove himself quite definitively from her life.
His reply, though, proceeded to shatter my heart even further, cause it's exactly what I expected and have been saying this whole time.
Kaito, JP: "Because I thought I wasn't necessary to your happiness"
This is the only line we'll hear from Kaito in this chapter. For the rest of it, he'll listen in silence, giving space to Akiho and trying to elaborate. Besides, I want to point out that for the first time ever, he uses "ore" as a personal pronoun while talking to Akiho, and he's also seemingly dropped the use of keigo, the polite speech that he used with basically everyone before. Signifying that he's finally being honest and open, he's being his true self.
In his reply, there's all the self-loathing and hurt and pain he's been experiencing till now. Not recently, but ever since he was a baby. Remember that this boy grew up completely devoid of love in his life, completely abandoned to himself, exploited for his powers by a congregation of criminals. Kaito is, himself, a victim of abuse too, and I would want the CCS readers to acknowledge that more. Because if we have to wonder how we came to this situation, well, this is how. This is the damage that growing up in that kind of environment can cause to people. And we don't have to go that far because, if we remove the "magic" factor from the Association, we can find environments of that kind even in our daily real life. Growing up in that environment didn't stop Kaito from developing attachment to a person. From developing love for them. But, as he grew up not knowing what his self-worth was, being used as a commodity by other people, he's been convinced this whole time that he was nothing to her. That when he managed to accomplish his goal, he wouldn't need to be there because she didn't need him anymore. And I know, I can hear you, "How is it possible that he didn't notice how Akiho looked at him and how she loved him?" That's precisely because of his mental condition that prevented him from seeing or even believing what he was seeing. Kaito thought that he was born alone, and he'd die alone. That no one would ever be able to love him. That's why. And it's heartbreaking that someone would live their life like that.
With such a condition, Kaito's intentions were good but he went down a twisted path to make them true, completely missing the right way to go about it. Akiho doesn't know anything about this, but the heartwrenching scene that follows is something that's absolutely in her right to say. It is something I anticipated so so much.
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Akiho, JP (lit.): "Please don't decide my happiness for me! Even if it's you! Please don't tear up and throw away my most important person!!"
Sadness and anger are mixed with Akiho's tears while she pours out all of her pain. I wanted to feature the literal translation of the JP text because I think the verb used, 破り捨ててしまう, depicts a very heartwrenching scene in my head. It is a verb that it's akin to when you tear up a piece of paper and discard it in the trash.
This is literally what Kaito did with his existence, when he went through with his plan.
So Akiho here is not only scolding him because he dared depriving her life of her most important person (and she doesn't care if it's he himself, he's not allowed to do that), but also BECAUSE HE DISREGARDED HIS OWN LIFE IN DOING SO. He's treated himself as a disposable object. And Akiho can't stand that. She loves him so much, despite not remembering a single thing about him, that she can't stand the thought of him hating himself to that point. I think, the way the ENG translation portrayed it, focuses too much on Akiho scolding Kaito for not having the right to remove himself from her life, and completely misses the other, implied, darker part of her line.
Akiho is understandably wrecked and she would want to scold Kaito more, but as she says herself, she doesn't even know what name to call him with. He erased so much from her that she isn't even allowed the luxury to remember his name. But I think this scene here might actually be a foreshadowing for him to reveal his true name to her later, so I'm waiting in anticipation for this (I've been actually waiting ever since chapter 51!). In the meantime, to break a little the drama with a funny moment, I think she wanted to call him baka, but as she doesn't even know his name, she can't do that! 😂what do you think???
And as I always say, Eriol suddenly opens the communication with Sakura to bring bad news! 😂Kaho is exhausted and can't hold the time stopped much longer (furthermore, it seems even Eriol is participating to keep the spell up), so he informs Sakura of that and she thanks him with a worried face. Syaoran looks up and notices that a hole is appearing in the stopped environment, signifying that the time magic is wearing off. So Sakura turns to Akiho and asks her what she wants to do from now. Notice that "from now" well, cause it's very symbolic: it's as if Sakura is saying "other people chose for you till now, but now you're given the chance to finally decide by yourself". With a painful face, eyes drowned in tears, Akiho ponders for a moment and then says that she's been really, really happy to be part of Sakura's family, but if that's not real, then she wants to go back, no matter how much hardships and pain is awaiting ahead. Please register how difficult it must have been for Akiho to wish that. Because right now, she's got all she wanted, love, a warm family, friends and even her most important person is here with her. But the fact is, this arrangement was created by someone with magic, it's not real, it's not how things naturally came to be. Moreover, no matter how strong her love can be, she still doesn't remember anything about her most important person and all she experienced with him, and that is something that is eating her soul away, because she recognizes that she lost something invaluable. So she's willing to let go of all this comfort to go back to the life she had before, WELL KNOWING (because Kaito confirmed it to her earlier) that in her previous life there will also be a lot of pain awaiting her. Moreover, she adds that if there's anything she'll be able to change, then she wants to do that with her own strength (again, a detail that's missing from the ENG translation). And then, turning to Kaito with a very assertive face: "Together with my most important person".
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Kaito at this point can only stare in shock at her. Because I'm sure that he thought that after making her cry and suffer this much, she wouldn't have wanted anything to do with him anymore. But, as Kaito hopefully will have all the time to find out, this girl's feelings are no joke. It's no flimsy crush. This is the type of love that binds you to your soulmate forever, and gives you the strength to forgive them when they make you suffer, if you can recognize that their heart was in the right place. Akiho wants to grasp control of her life, wants to be the one to completely make decisions from now on, but she also wants Kaito with her, not only by her side but also participating to those life decisions. She doesn't want to cut him off.
Sakura, with the sweetest smile ever, tells her (JP)"If you two will be together....everything will surely be alright". And here I have to point out two things in the ENG translation: that single "together" that sounds a bit overcautious, not specifying who's together, when in the JP text it's clear she's referring to those two (because the context comes from the panel right before), and then the choice to translate Sakura's iconic invincible spell with "I'm sure it'll work out". That's not how the English speaking fandom knows Sakura's invincible spell as, and from what I've been told, it's not even how it's been translated previously! So this makes pretty difficult for the English speaking fans to recognize that she's uttering her invincible spell here!
Especially cause, look what a wonderful and touching parallel they have done...
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The one you can see above is coming from Volume 5 of the old manga, and it's the very first time Sakura uttered the invincible spell, releasing the Light and Dark Cards from inside herself. This parallel, where you can see that Mokona sensei strived to redraw the spread exactly as she did back then, really gives off a feeling of "coming full circle", especially cause when you put them one beside the other it's so easy to see how much Sakura grew since then. Back then, Sakura told those words to herself to comfort herself in a moment of panic. Now, Sakura is telling these same words to a beloved person in a critical situation, to encourage her that if she'll be with her most important person, everything is going to be alright, no matter what awaits ahead. It also reminded me of the comforting words that Yukito told Sakura back in volume 12 of the old manga, the night before Sakura ran to the bus stop to give Syaoran her teddy bear. Yukito told her that as long as both she and her most important person wished to see one another again, it would be fine. I can kinda sense that Sakura wanted to comfort Akiho in the same way, that as long as she and Kaito stay together, they can overcome anything ahead. And I found that absolutely wonderful.
Unfortunately, the awesome moment full of courage and love is interrupted because Syaoran notices the time magic has given up and the arrows start attacking them again, as expected. We see a very worrisome panel with Eriol crouching to the ground next to a passed out Kaho (poor Kaho!!!!), while he hold his staff and sends a remote protective spell to shield the kids from the oncoming attack.
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Without wasting time, Kaito grabs Akiho and holds her tight in a protective embrace, curling his beautiful black wings on her to shield her, while she's still shocked (and with tears in her eyes). I have no shame in admitting that THIS panel turned my screams in ultrasounds and it's become my favorite one of the chapter!! Especially cause here we have that magician who couldn't even bring himself to touch his beloved Akiho's head to comfort her, now finally not hesitating anymore and holding her in a very tight embrace to protect her (still giving all of himself for her, I guess it's just his way to love her). The situation is dire: Syaoran activates his Fuuka Shourai to fight the arrows off, while Kero and Yue shoot their own attacks, because the arrows just keep coming at them non-stop. Kero tells Sakura that they're going to take care of the attacks, and Yue says that she's the only one at this point who can change radically the situation. Then, Syaoran, our brave hero, says that he will absolutely protect what Sakura wants to protect (I didn't like the ENG phrasing, at all!! "Whatever it is that you want to protect" sounds so dismissing towards Akiho and Kaito?? Is it only me having a bias at this point?), so he urges her to focus on what she can do (to change this situation)!! I found this moment very exciting....everyone is placing their hope in Sakura and they're gonna do what they can to protect everyone, Akiho and Kaito included (and Kaito took personally care of protecting Akiho by himself).
Sakura is left wondering what to do. "To turn things back to normal, then I should use Rewind one more time" but she expresses doubt at it being enough to complete the task, so she wonders what else she needs to do, while the final page shows in her hands both the Time Card and the Rewind Card!
Aaaaaaand this is how the chapter ends, we finally reached the bottom oh my gosh!! 😂 This chapter was so long but also so full of emotions, I really wanted to touch all the important topics and parallels that have been portrayed in these 36 pages. I know the post became infinite, but I wouldn't feel right to know that I left something interesting out.
I am so damn proud of my Akiho girl. Her assertive discussion with Kaito, tinted with a touch of anger, was exactly what I wanted and expected from her. Because she's sweet, yes, but also got a strong personality. And once you get her fired-up, she's not going to stop. She's a bulldozer. I mean, haven't you seen what she did in chapter 52/53 and 58 with Kaito?? She's definitely not afraid to confront people thanks to her strong nature. This finally elevates her character development in this arc. I'm also grateful to Sakura and her empathy, once again, because it's so beautiful to witness what she's doing for these people. And she's so wonderful that even her loved ones are helping her in this quest, because they all trust her and recognize that this is a way to make her happy too. I'm absolutely thrilled to have Kaito back, finally. And my heart bled for him when he gave that single answer to Akiho.
Despite seeming like we're almost at the end of the run, there are still some important matters to fix and explain, especially in regard to the magical artifacts, and how things will be once Sakura effectively manages to "go back". Will they remember, first of all? And will the situation be exactly like before? Because then, Akiho will have the artifact inside herself once again and they'll have to do something about that too. Also, Kaito's lifespan was pretty bad by the start of the Alice in Clockland play, so of course one has to wonder what they'll do about that too. I also expect one more YunaAki moment because we haven't really heard Kaito's version of the facts, the origin of his quest to save Akiho and how that turned into a "I'm going to give her a happy life too", which absolutely seems beyond what he would need to do if what moved him was only guilt for what he caused to her. Of course it's not only that. And I also expect to hear his apologies to Akiho, of course! ❤️ But gradually, because he must be a confused, hurting mess right now. Whatever else CLAMP sensei will decide to give us regarding those two, I'll take it as a blessed present. We're slowly but inexorably going towards the finale. I really can't wait to read the next chapter, which is expected by Halloween on October 31st! And as a YunaAki fan I can't avoid remembering that even chapter 48, when Akiho confessed covertly to Kaito, came on the day of Halloween of 2020! Will we get a real, spelled out confession exactly 3 years later???
As usual, I await your comments here or in my inbox, see you at the end of this month!!
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greatqueenanna · 1 year ago
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7/16/23
Hello, hello! It's been a little while since my last update - but here we are, and let's get going. But first, I wanted to give a shout-out to all the new followers on my blog! thank you for your interest in my blog, and I hope you'll love what's coming up! We are currently at 467 - Can we make it to 500 by the end of the year? We'll see!
Updates on Analyses
So, last update I promised you guys two new analyses, one about Mattias and another for Ryder. However, I did not deliver on those. Why? Well, life got in the way (there's been quite a bit of hard times) and the motivation simply was not there. However, I still have them in my drafts, and I am still going to finish them. They do not, however, have a fixed date. I apologize for this, but at this time I can't promise a release date for anything new coming because things are very hectic right now and I just don't want to promise something I can't deliver on. I hope you guys understand!
Re-Writes...Re-Writes Everywhere!
I am also announcing some Analysis rewrites.
The first is a rewrite of What Came Before - Previous Versions of Frozen. I am re-writing this because I have found new info about Frozen's early development and wanted to update and/or correct old information. I also wanted to actually add sources for what I was saying - which was something I originally wanted to do but for some reason never got to it.
In addition to this, What Came Before will also get a part 2 - but this time, we're focusing on Frozen 2. There is so much misinformation that has spread about the film's development, and it's about time to call out false information.
Speaking of calling out false info - I am also re-writing A Grain of Salt - The Rumors Surrounding the Frozen Franchise. It will be a great companion piece to What Came Before Parts 1 and 2, and I will be adding more rumors to the list. Feel free to send me rumors that you've heard in the meantime, and I will go ahead and add them to my list.
A New Featured Tag
On my blog, if you go to the archive section, you will see under the tag section that I've added Frozen 3 news. In an attempt to actually catch false info right from the get-go, I will try my best to share with you all only accurate information about Frozen 3. This time, I'm catching false rumors and nipping them in the bud before they become a battleground.
Like with the first two films, feel free to send me rumors that you've heard about F3 so far so that I can address them and do proper research.
Upcoming Analyses
See the Sky - Talking About Ryder and His Importance
A New Path - Destin Mattias and Change
What Came Before - Previous Versions of Frozen (Rewrite)
What Came Before Part 2 - Previous Versions of Frozen 2
A Grain of Salt - The Rumors Surrounding the Frozen Franchise (Rewrite)
Poll
And Now, Poll time - because I'm still planning that vague, secret F3 post that I hinted at in the previous update.
If none of the answers match your thoughts, or if multiple answers represent you, please comment your answer in the post's comment section.
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fourseasonsfigs · 2 years ago
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Announcement: The Four Seasons Figthusiast Blog Branches Out!
Since I'm apparently incapable of not wanting to post about cute fandom merch, I've decided that my fig blog needs...a side hustle. So while this will absolutely remain a steady daily fig blog, I've decided to periodically add a few posts about other Word of Honor / Junzhe merch (primarily dolls) that are just too cute not to share. I'll try to post an extra one every weekend, but we'll see how time and my work schedule allows!
For the inaugural post in this new series, we're going back to where it all began - the First Encounter from Episode 1 of Word of Honor.
I find these series of fan produced dolls incredibly funny and absolutely delightful! I was first introduced to this sweetly smiling Hobo-Xu by a fan that posted a video holding him out a car window and his loose hair flying madly in the wind! I burst out loud laughing and have had an irrepressibly soft spot in my heart for him ever since.
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Turns out (naturally), he has a husband, but the Lao Wen that he was originally paired with ... was crying! You know I can't stand to see figs cry! Well, that goes for dolls too. So when the doll maker produced this smiling version, I obviously snapped him up right away. I love him.
I will note that these dolls came exactly this way. Lao Wen's blushies in certain strategic areas, and both of their hairstyles. I was so absolutely delighted by the idea of the doll maker lovingly putting pony tails in each doll's hair (can you imagine how long that took?!?) that I kept it exactly so.
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Ahahaha! Too funny! Have I mentioned how much I love this fandom?
These are 15cm dolls, which are my favorite. I love the 20cm dolls a lot, especially because the larger size gives them more real estate for their outfits, but they become a display space issue REAL fast. And you know I need that display space for figs.
The 15cm are much more compact and all the cuter for it, I think, while still having ample space for clothing detail. The 10cm dolls are in many ways even cuter because they are tinier, but then they start running into the problem of not having enough real estate for details on their outfits. So in my mind, 15cm is totally the sweet spot for dolls.
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Here's the matching outfits I bought. Oh, you can see right here what the original Lao Wen doll looked like. He's cute, just not my style, and lacks the sheer hilarity of one scrunchied ponytail off to the side!
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Here's a closeup of his fashion shoot card! The outfit did not come with his hat, sadly.
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All the pieces of his outfit. YES that is an adorable wooden drinking gourd!
The clothing got a little wrinkled on the transpacific journey. To be expected, and originally I thought a few wrinkles would be just fine on a hobo, but it ended up affecting the look and drape of the clothes, especially the sleeves. So out came the steamer.
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I was not at all sure what the white little thing was - I mean, obviously it's a dickey, but I didn't recall that Hobo-Xu was wearing a white underrobe. I mean, it makes sense, everyone in the jianghu must have at least 3-4 layers on at all time for propriety's sake, but I could not recall it on Zhou Xu at all. BUT I would never put money on my memory vs. a doll mama's exhaustive research. That's a sucker bet for sure - I am guaranteed to lose! So of course, I had to re-watch episode 1.
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Yep, he sure does have a white underrobe. Good thing I didn't take that bet against myself (did I also have to watch episode 2 while I was at it? I'll never tell!)
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Next layer is his blue wrap robe.
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It's a bit more oversized than I expected, but that's pretty true to the styling of this outfit on the show. Very figure covering. Amazing that Lao Wen could even see his butterfly bones, really.
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Note I really, really need all of these costume pictures released in a book that I can buy, I love them so much!
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Now the darker blue outer robe. Again, pretty drapey. It's quite large - you can see how it covers his little feet there.
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His belt barely fits. You can see it hanging on to the very end of the velcro there - I had to really cinch it tight. This laobinggui hasn't missed that many meals!
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Look at this cute little wooden gourd. I love it so much. All the little details on these sets are so wonderful!
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Ahh he's perfect. I felt totally fine putting his scarf to the side since it was too hot to wear in the show anyway!
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This doll outfit card makes me laugh! Also, I'm admiring how perfectly styled the doll outfit is here. Those are some crisp lines! Beautiful.
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I've mentioned before on this blog and on my Twitter how much I love Lao Wen's gorgeous episode 1 outfit. I love it so much that I bought the costume for myself. I was not disappointed by this rendition - it's wonderful! It too came a little wrinkly, but nothing too bad. The flying-shoulder outer robe here is actually silk, which is all kinds of amazing.
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This underrobe is really pretty. I really wouldn't mind dressing like this, except for how hot it all actually is.
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And the back.
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Lao Wen, you exhibitionist, do up your robes!
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There we go! This underrobe is actually fairly short, as in, we can see his little feet.
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So pretty. Look at the shoulders! The bamboo print. So beautiful!
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Here's the back. I see I'm going to run up against the 30-pic limit REAL fast for these posts.
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Looking good, Lao Wen!
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Can you believe his fan is metal!?! So nice. The official Rua figs only had a fabric and/or plastic fan. This is so much better.
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I tried putting his fan around his little sunshiney paw there, but it ended up being hidden by his sleeve.
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Unlike A-Xu, poor Lao Wen has been skipping some meals there in Ghost Valley...his belt snugs up just fine. A-Xu, your wallet please, let's feed this man up!
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Ta da! One perfect little philanthropist, coming right up!
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Here they are, looking ridiculously cute! I wish Lao Wen's outfit was a bit longer so it covered up his feet, but that just means I need to put 15cm "ancient shoes" on my purchase to-do list.
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And here they are on doll stands (and yep, that's 30 images right there). I do actually have my Word of Honor dolls fully/permanently dressed and on stands (unlike my Junzhe dolls with their different outfits), so this is how they are on my display shelves. Until I need to relocate them for fig expansion space, that is!
Well, what do you think? Like the doll posts? I had a blast, that was so much fun. A nice complement to my daily figs, I have to say. I'm already excited to post on the next set of dolls, so I guess this special series is going to stick around a while!
If you're here for the figs and want to see some more of that content, here it is:
[link to the Master Fig Index]
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bluerabbittarot · 1 year ago
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Black Moon in Lilith: Natal Chart Placement & Shadow Work
The position of this mathematical point on your birth chart is an indicator of what you may have to face in shadow work should you have the spiritual foundation & mental/emotional wherewithal to take on such a task. I decided an actual blog post was probably in order since I don't tend to share that way here. Black Moon in Lilith & shadow work in general deals with facing the pain, trauma, shame, etc. from the past. I don't recommend shadow work for everyone: sometimes the best thing you can do is not to "walk through a trauma." In fact, in order to heal, sometimes you just acknowledge it happened, & move on. There isn't any "integrating" or "feel it to heal it" in some situations. It can actually hurt people MORE deeply by forcing them to re-visit a traumatic experience/event. That's not healthy! As such, please only consider shadow work if that is a burden you are at a place in life to bear for yourself, & please know that there is nothing wrong with you if you aren't. It's not the best path for everyone! Healing is not linear & there is no one right way to heal. There are paths. Choose yours according to your best interests mentally/physically/emotionally/spiritually. Thank you.
That being said if you're still here, I deal with shadow work as the basis of my own healing journey so it will be referenced sometimes. Shadow work is a psychological practice that involves exploring & accepting the repressed/wounded parts of ourselves so that we stop acting subconsciously from them. It falls under the umbrella of self-reflection/introspection & involves looking at our pasts to understand our present consciously. The concept was first developed in western practice by the psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Shadow work can lead to greater authenticity, creativity, & emotional freedom as we can more clearly see ourselves, "warts & all." It can also help to heal trauma & resentment as we learn to see what we went through in terms of what it can teach us about others/ourselves. The more we understand why we are the way we are, the more we can choose to be authentically who we are. The more we understand why others are the way they are, the easier it is to move through the pain of what they did, or at the very least acknowledge that everyone acts according to their wounds first before they (if ever) do according to their healing.
I'm not a proponent of forgiveness…I've lived through unforgiveable things & I am an unforgiving soul by nature (Scorpio Stellium). But I do think that we can release people & things. We don't have to carry the weight of the experiences negatively if we learn to transmute the pain from open wound to scar. Everything can be a lesson if we choose to look at it like one. If we're able to come through the other side saying "This broke me, but I didn't stay broken. This hurt me, but I didn't stay hurt.", then we've done the work. Forgiveness isn't a necessary step for everyone: scars are evidence we survived. Shadow work is about more than survival though. It's about making evident our personal growth in tangible ways, even if we will always carry the scars: we don't have to carry the pain negatively. We can transmute it into our strength. Shadow work can be done using various tools, methods, & practices. I choose to do mine through tarot & the use of shamanic ritual. I don't claim to be a teacher of either; they've just been what I've found in my journey to be the most helpful in terms of processing my trauma & integrating the lessons I've lived as an Indigenous person along the way. I'm MIXED, btw, so don't come at me with the "You don't look Native." I'm sorry I came out like raw bannock, that's not my fault. I'm still brown enough to matter, & if I'm not then that's some work for you to do on your own time because I've already done it.
Since it's Halloween this week & we had a major lunar event (partial lunar eclipse), I wanted to touch a little on the Black Moon in Lilith placement on the natal chart since it deals primarily with the shadow self & how our unhealed wounds can show up in our lives. The eclipse closed out the past 2 years of things (going back to November 2021!) Black Moon Lilith translates to "Dark Side Of The Moon" essentially (not exactly), the untamed aspects of the feminine archetype. Untamed in this context means atypical, socially speaking "unacceptable." It doesn't necessarily mean "bad!" Just wild & raw.
As an example we'll look at my Black Moon in Lilith, which is in the sign of Aries in the 4th House. I was made to feel a lot of shame for displaying assertive traits, for taking the lead without asking, or for making "self"-centered choices. A.K.A: the not-ok feminine in a lot of religious people's eyes. I harbored fear because of that shame for a lot of years over taking the lead, asserting myself, or making executive decisions. And because of the fear I acted out in many ways with the raw & wild side of these traits: I was alternately either shy or domineering, wildly disorganized or perfectionistic. Learning to accept my fiery Aries traits & integrating them healthily required me to learn boundaries, conflict resolution, when/how to use my voice, & that it was ok to take up space, in order to turn what was always seen as something to reject into something that is empowering. I can still be hard headed & I'm not the greatest team player, but I have also become self-confident & lost the fear of speaking up. Still a little wild & still a little rough around the edges, but tempered by wisdom from experiences & consequences. I no longer feel the need to people please, or alternatively, to disrupt things unnecessarily. I have learned to discern the timing of my assertiveness & to be firm, but kind. How others interpret that is up to them. A lot of insecure people take assertiveness as aggression because they're reacting to you out of their own fear.
4th House in a natal chart is two fold: private (your subconscious/the you only known to your closest people) & the public: family & home. It describes where you come from in terms of your biological beginnings, generational baggage (especially maternal), the atmosphere you grew up in, the kind of parent you are, etc. It's a karmic house as well: not only dealing with beginnings, but endings. You have the opportunity to work through these root challenges & end things well in this house: didn't have a good childhood? Integrate the lessons & reap the rewards in old age/your last years on this planet. Personally I had a shit childhood & most of my young adulthood was as a consequence full of the fallout of unhealed crap. I'm on track to have a great senior citizenship because I am in the process of learning & have learned a lot about the wounds I carry here. Such as feeling rejected in my birth family, being the black sheep, having a chaotic relationship with my boundary challenged mother, etc.
4th House Lilith people often feel unsafe in the world with a lot of anxiety because of the rejection & chaos in their childhood, which often is a direct result of generational traumas/baggage being passed down to them. I chose to say it stops with me as much as possible. I have been no contact with my mother for 2 years, after 5 years of constantly trying to establish healthy boundaries & it not being respected. I can say it was the BEST decision I ever made for myself.
I don't recommend no contact for everyone, but it was the decision for the well-being of my family & my own healing that was best for us. You can't change how you were parented, but you can change the relationship you have with your parents if they're still around. I don't believe in the whole "They're still your family" bullshit, just like forgiveness. I can't choose my biological roots, but I can damn sure choose my future. And I choose to not be the same kind of person that hurt me, or to continue to be an unhealed person who hurts others because I can't see my own shit. Personal accountability in shadow work, when you're dealing with generational things, is huge. There's a lot of feelings that come up that need to be held & worked through; that I'm still working through. It's not a fast process or quick Band-Aid. It's a whole ass quest. We don't get the strength & steel here easily: we have to face the inner demons so to speak.
In light of the eclipse being one that closes out the past 2 years, moving through them discovering how to be in my strong-willed feminine without being passive aggressive or domineering, has been the second greatest learning curve in my own shadow work journey. I am so happy to be closing this out knowing that I'm a better parent, a better friend, a better partner, because of the choices I make to protect the peace in my soul & in my home.
So, what's your Black Moon Lilith placement? The sign will tell you the traits that will challenge you the most & the house will tell you where to focus those traits! At least, that's been my interpretation. As always, you're on your own path.
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10.31.23
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evan-bo-bevin · 1 year ago
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Hello!
It's been quite some time, and this account hasn't been very active lately, so I wanted to give you guys an update on what's going on:
My partner & I have been working on an outline for our debut comic, Bite Your Tongue, since last September. We've gotten a lot sorted out re: plot, characters, etc, but there's still more to do before we can really start production on it. You can follow @rainydayatelier for updates and release details!
In the meantime, we're working on a Legend of Zelda fancomic we're currently calling Departure. We have the first 5 pages inked, and up to chapter 3 written and ready to be drawn. Here's a little sneak peek of chapter 1:
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We're having a ton of fun with this little fan story, but it's also helping us get used to the new workflow & styles that my partner and I are testing out for Bite Your Tongue. There's gonna be some trial and error as we learn what works and what doesn't, what needs more detail and what can be simplified.
More information and comic pages will be posted on @loz-departure-comic, but I will also post an update notice on this blog, too.
I plan on streaming while I work on these comics (once I settle into a solid routine), so come by if you wanna watch me draw/ink comics! My partner and I will also occasionally stream games we might be playing here and there.
Streaming links are posted on @rainydayatelier, so come follow us if you wanna catch us online!
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onewhoturns · 1 year ago
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A-Z game debrief 1/25: Afterparty (2019)
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Developed & published by: Night School Studios
"In Afterparty, you are Milo and Lola, recently deceased best buds who suddenly find themselves staring down an eternity in Hell. But there's a loophole: outdrink Satan and he'll grant you re-entry to Earth." Steam tags: Indie, Supernatural, Narrative, Comedy, Adventure, Dark Comedy, Choices Matter, Story Rich, Singleplayer, Atmospheric, 2.5D
Estimated time to 100% (according to hltb): 14hrs How long steam logged me playing to 100%: 15.0 hrs How long I actually spent 100%ing (not just with the game running while I was at work or trying to record stuff): more like 12 hours?
# of achievements I started with: 0/23 # of achievements I ended with:
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Rarest achievement (according to steam):
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Toughest achievement (according to me):
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(That one took me both longer than I expected, and not as long as I expected once I had started. Overall I think it took me something like 10-12 tries, and sitting through the unskippable dialogue for every attempt got tiring, but it did work out in the end.)
Favorite thing about the game: That neon hell ✨aesthetic✨ baybee! And as always with Night School, the voice acting was great, the writing was quirky but delivered very naturally, and the music by SCNTFC was chill.
[all my blog posts about it]
Thoughts after the fact: I pre-ordered this game when it first came out in 2019, but it was released on the epic games store probably a year before dropping on steam, so I'd played parts of this game (there are a couple branching paths and I'd only played one playthrough) before, years ago. I got the game in a fanatical bundle more recently and wanted to do an achievement run eventually, so finally replayed on steam to get the full collection of cheevos.
There were scenes I never played before, and they were a delight! And scenes I remembered from before that were *still* a delight! It also has me tempted to mess with save files and see how all the endings go with different drinking teammates, since the main game I used to collect different endings had more boring teammates than what was possible.
It also made me want to see some poor youtuber make the cocktails from Afterparty, just cause they're so ridiculous.
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I feel like the absurdity of it did make the more 'truth in fiction' elements hit weaker than they could've; Milo and Lola both had some internal struggles that are pretty damn valid, but those issues didn't get much breathing room, since we're so busy running around doing Shenanigans™️
Personal rating: 7.5/10
The A game poll results:
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ktarsims · 2 years ago
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SO. I decided to reblog this, because I have a lot to say on this subject, so let's bring it all together. There's a few different types of answers to this question.
One type of answer is: "Well yes, you have to do this to get a lot of followers, sadly."
A second type of answer is: "Aesthetics are important to me personally, and that's what I enjoy about the game, is making things look pretty."
A third type of answer is: "Aesthetics don't matter that much, because if you just put out what you enjoy, people who like what you do will eventually find you regardless."
ALL three of these types of answers are true. None of them are wrong.
If you want more than say, 20 or so consistent followers, aesthetics are your first and foremost tool to attract those followers. (Unless of course you're releasing custom content.)
A secondary tool, much more difficult to use in gaining popularity, is storytelling. I know at least a few storytellers that I follow who don't put a ton of effort into altering their screenshots (though they might put a lot of effort into setting up scenes to screenshot), whom people follow for the story. (And I'm not saying all storytellers are in it for the popularity, but some of them ARE very popular.)
So if popularity or gaining influence in the community is your goal, aesthetics are likely going to be very important to you. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you don't enjoy doing the things that will bring you popularity, it may not be a good path for you.
(Popularity's also not all it's cracked up to be, on the internet y'all, since it's as likely to bring you hate as love and can sometimes make you a target. I kind of dread being popular, personally. Too much drama.)
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On the other hand, some people don't really care about popularity, but simply want their OWN game to look pretty when they play, or really enjoy mucking about in photo editing software to produce various effects and improve images.
To this group of people, aesthetics are also very important, for entirely different reasons. They do what they do for themselves. Popularity may follow, but it isn't the goal. I think this is fabulous. They're doing what they love, and the rest of us love what they do. (Except the ones who don't, and decide to be insulting about it. Block them swiftly.)
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Lastly, there's those of us for whom aesthetics aren't that important personally... we might use re-shade because we like colors to POP, or we might use a lighting mod because we like the mood, and then we just post unedited screenshots and call it a day. Or some of us don't use anything at all, and just post unedited screenshots.
We learn things about the game from seeing other people post about their gameplay. I discovered a new gnome yesterday I didn't know existed before and now I'm dead-set on getting one to spawn in my game...
We're not the 'popular' crowd. But we often have the same 20-30 followers who continue to comment and like our posts for years.
We joyously welcome newcomers, and we worry when someone falls silent for too long. Not because 'why aren't you posting new content for me??' More because we hope you're ok.
In my little corner of simblr, it's far less common for a lot of people to unfollow you just because life happened and the blog had no new posts for a couple of weeks, months, or sometimes even years.
We want community, and we create our own community to share things about the game we all love without burning ourselves out doing things we don't enjoy in an effort to please the masses.
There are, of course, simblrs of every walk and variety who fall somewhere in between or overlap with these three diverse pictures I've painted. (And some fall outside of it... creators are whole separate ball of wax, and sometimes they enjoy creating more than they enjoying playing the game.) But I think these three cover the majority.
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So are aesthetics important in the simblr community? That really depends on why you're here.
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As a parting thought, I was unhappy to read that in some corners of simblr there are people who try to tell other people, unsolicited, what they should do to make their game look better. Or who put insults and hate in people's inboxes because they don't like how someone's game looks.
That kind of mentality is toxic.
If you ever get such messages, I hope you swiftly block whoever sent them. Turn off anon asks if you have to. And if you make those messages public, do it to call out that toxic behavior and get some affirmation from the rest of the community that such people should STFU and GTFO. Because honestly, that is 100% ALWAYS the only response they deserve.
I know it’s a broad term, but for clarification, “aesthetic quality” for me can be summed up by use of third party shaders ( Reshade ), Photoshop, Blender, high quality graphics, pretty much anything that requires extra work for the aesthetic grind, but if you can think of anything else ( attractive sims, elaborate builds, drawn on details ) feel free to add it in the tags, along with an explanation for your answer, if you feel up for it of course.
This might be the opportunity you’re looking for to get some feelings around this very elephant in the room question off your chest.
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domeyashiro · 3 years ago
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Not to stir the pot or anything but I’ve been seeing so many posts on tumblr of some group that is posting “another translation” of Saezuru. These people keep talking about demanding that the publishers re-release a “perfect” translation. As a former JA>EN translator I have my own thoughts on this one but I was curious to know what you thought. (Also, I’d love to know more about what kind of translation work you do!)
Sigh. I don't even have to look up that blog to know who you're talking about. And I think "another translation" is a very fitting term for what they do. ;) From what I saw, they're a prime example of the Dunning-Kruger-Effect. If translation were as simple as exchanging words from the source language into their dictionary translation of the target language like a robot, there wouldn't be tons of books on translation theory out there. I feel a rant coming up, so please bear with me, because what I’m about to say will be nothing new to you.
First of all, there is no "perfect translation". Give the same source text to ten translators and you'll get ten different results. All of which can be perfectly valid. Ideally they all convey the same meaning, so it's not like you wouldn't notice that they were translated from the same source text. But the wording will differ. One person will find a better translation here, another person will find a better way to phrase things there. It's not like one translator gets everything right and better than everyone else, unless you have people with vastly different skill levels. Often it will be simply a matter of personal preference which translation you like best. 
The person who runs the blog you mention has a very literal approach to translation. They think sticking as closely as possible to the phrasing the author chose will achieve the "perfect result". But that's a typical beginner’s mistake. They're getting the facts right, I'll give them that. Being a native speaker does have advantages. But getting the facts right is the bare minimum we try to do as translators. (I say "try", because we're human and everyone makes mistakes here and there.) What's more important for a good translation is strong writing skills in your target language, which is why most professional translators translate into their native language, not from their mother tongue into their second or third language. Because it's incredibly hard to develop the same feel for what sounds good and natural in a language you didn't grow up with. It's not impossible, but very few people achieve this level of skill.
I'm also an ESL speaker, so I won't judge other people's English, but let me explain why I think that translating too literally is a beginner's mistake. First of all "literal translation" is a total myth, because where you draw the line between what is “literal” and what is not is always a deliberate decision made by the translator. Strictly speaking, if someone claims to be using only Sensei's own words, they would also have to drop subjects and pronouns where they're missing in the Japanese original, as they do all the time. I doubt anyone would go this far, but let's roll with this example to emphasize my point:
"iku?" (Go?) is a perfectly natural thing to say in Japanese. The info who is going and where they want to go is usually clear from the context and doesn’t need to be explicitly stated. So the Japanese reader gets a normal sentence, whereas the English reader gets an ungrammatical one. The sentence needs a subject at least: "We go?" Understandable English, but still not a grammtical sentence. "Should we go?" Now we get the same information the Japanese speaker got from just "iku?" in the context I pretend it was said in. I added two words that aren't there in the original, yet my sentence is a) easier to understand b) correct English and c) conveys the same meaning as the original, while the "literal translation" is lacking in all three aspects. Now please imagine a whole text written like: “Go?” “Yes, go!” Would you honestly think that the translator did a good job by giving you a text in broken English that's barely understandable when things get more complex than this? The Japanese audience gets a perfectly well-written story, while you’re barely even able to understand what’s going on. So your reading experience doesn't match at all, despite sticking religiously to the source text.
I’m exaggerating of course. No translator would go this far. But this example shows that even the most “literal translation” doesn’t get away with wording things exactly as in the source text.
And then we get into more complex territory: If I translate a joke, is it more important that I give you the exact words the author used, although you're missing the cultural context to find the joke funny, or is it more important that I make you laugh like the author intended? If there's a dialect, how do I go about it? Is it important enough to risk alienating my audience (because we're not really used to seeing written dialect)? If yes, which English dialect could work? There is never a perfect equivalent, because dialects are so tied to the region where they're spoken. So do I substitue a Japanese southern dialect with an English southern dialect? Or do I go by the image the dialect evokes in the Japanese reader’s head? Urban or rural? Or maybe I should create a fictional dialect? But then it doesn't evoke any image at all and might simply sound stupid. Or how do I "literally" translate all the different ways to say "I" and "you" in Japanese? There is simply no one and perfect way to translate something. Some ways are objectively better than others, but most of the time it's a case by case decision. What works well in one situation, might be the wrong approach in another one.
So if you try to approach everything with "literal is best", your result won't even be good. You’ll end up with awkward English: flat dialogues that don’t flow, clumsy idioms, unnatural word choices, characters who don't sound like native speakers, jokes that don't land, shifted nuances, weird sentence structure and so on. All this makes the text harder to read, harder to understand and almost impossible to enjoy. If you can’t create a text that reads as effortlessly and beautifully in English as it does in Japanese, all you’re doing is make the author look unskilled (and yourself too ofc).
Proper translation aims to recreate the unique features of each source text and the individual style of the author with the natural means of the target language. You’re allowed to be creative and find original ways to do so, but you're not supposed to cripple the target language by pressing it into the structure of the source language. Because the readers don’t see “the beauty of the Japanese language” in your supposedly faithful translation. They see clumsy or even wrong English. 
Coming back to the "another translation" blog. If we're talking about the same person, they like to label everything as "serious mistranslation". Yes, there are many actual mistakes in the scanlation, and probably in the official translation too (I haven’t read it tbh), but 90 % of the things I saw them point out aren't even minor mistakes. They're just "correcting" perfectly natural English into English that says exactly the same, just worse or longer. Speech balloons have limited space and sometimes a sentence simply doesn’t fit in if you don’t shorten it a little. That’s not a mistake! And if I have a Japanese sentence like "I'm doing this for the first time", it's not a mistranslation to turn it into "I've never done this before", because the meaning is exactly the same. I just chose a phrasing that might sound more natural in English in the given context. This is a made-up example, but this is the level of nitpickery we're talking about. Not to mention that it's incredibly rude to drag someone else's translation publicly like that, especially when your criticism is solely based on your own lack of knowlege.
(Regarding your last question: I translate manga professionally but that’s all I can really say on this blog.)
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13tinysocks · 3 years ago
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Hi! Ive recently come across your creepypasta stories on ao3 and let me just say, holy shit, I'm ENGROSSED in these books. I'm absolutely enthralled in your characterization of the boys (Tim, Brian, Toby) and I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks. Seriously, your books are so, so, so good once you start nose diving down the world you guys built, it's like a fucking- idk. ITS CRAZY!! I'm very happy ive come across both your stories SYG And YCYD.
Thank you, again, Im def re-reading them haha! (Sorry, me gushing about your books is probably alot but c'mon how can I NOT give two people praise!)
Also, I was wondering about the physical release of SYG? I went to your quotev and saw a post regarding the discussion and was interested if it was still going? I know the post is pretty old and im probably late 😔.
Either way, thank you! I hope you have a great day!
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Fanks we try and just really enjoy treating the boys like barbie dolls. I cut off their hair and set them on fire. It's a time investment to look at our big word piles so we appreciate it.
Just Gon update the physical release situation so no one else has to search the blog:
Spill your guts the 🦞physical edition🦞 is still on. However. Due to copyright law it can no longer be a fanfic. character names, appearances, backstories, and other misc things have to be changed so we don't get taken to court.
It is likely to be a self published work. I won't bore y'all with publishing talk but getting published is a long painful process. That of which will likely never happen for syg as it was previously a fanfic. If it were to be published I'd have to literally delete syg off the face of the earth-most likely. And we don't exactly want to do that.
Syg is currently halfway through it's first rewrite draft. By halfway I mean halfway through the first book witch is the prologue to roughly chapter 22. We're doing our best to keep the story the same though we've added a few curve balls that'll make it a (hopefully) funner read.
Once THIO wraps up I plan on moving it up in my list of writing priories.
I plan on dropping some designs and doodles sometime soon. YN LN has been changed to the aply named Ryan Ellen. Syg's title MAY change to slightly distance the works. Much is this is for people who enjoy our work we are aware other parties who otherwise wouldn't read syg due to it being a fanfic will pick it up. We'll see though.
Thank you again. Sorry about the words 🦞
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curatedbyhatto · 2 years ago
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About Mario Duarte
What's good? The time has come, we're heading into a full album again, from here, every Thursday and Sunday until September 4th you'll have songs from Mario Duarte's album 'Golpe de Ala'
As of now, I was able to find all songs but one, but that one is scheduled to be released in about 3 weeks, so I'll do my best to find the file on the Wayback Machine. If not, well, same thing that happened with 'Wonderview' by Otis, and we'll shift all the songs 1 day back. (UPDATE Jan 6, 2024: On July 28, 2023, Mario Duarte re-released 'Golpe de Ala' on multiple platforms, therefore we now have this song, and I'll be updating any post that mentions it)
Album here on spotify and youtube
SUPER IMPORTANTE - sección en español
Obviamente deseo hacer una sección en el idioma cada vez que sea posible, sean canciones o sean albumes completos.
Sin embargo, quiero combinar 2 formatos para esto, escrito en inglés y audio en español, por lo cual al inicio de cada post voy a agregar un pequeño audio básicamente con el mismo post, pero en español.
Sería extraño que no fuera así. Adicional a esto, las letras van a estar en español también, con subtítulos en inglés. No hago lo contrario cuando son canciones en inglés por que es el idioma principal de curated by hatto, pero si alguna vez desean que traduzca alguna letra, con mucho gusto puedo hacerlo <3. Sueno como un señor que escribe un blog de política y critica a los jóvenes, ew. Anyway,
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Who is Mario Duarte?
You may know Mario Duarte a lot better if you're from latin america, specifically for portraying Nicolás Mora, in the Colombian soap opera 'Yo soy Betty, la fea' (the original version of 'Ugly Betty'). However, his work is way wider than just that, so let's dive into it.
Mario Duarte De La Torre (De La Torre is his mother's last name, as in LatAm we have both of our parents' first last names) is a Colombian actor and musician from Baranquilla, most known for the character already mentioned, and for being the vocalist for the rock band 'La Derecha' (lit. 'The Right' or 'The Right One', as in 'right hand').
He was born on July 17th, 1965, to a couple from Santander (also in Colombia), who constantly traveled around the country until they settled in Bogotá when Mario was 10 years old (so around 1975)
In 1992 he formed 'La Derecha' alongside 6 other musicians, among them was Josué, Mario's younger brother. But, I'll stop with 'La Derecha' here, and move onto more Mario's info.
Some of Mario's acquaintances recommended him to attend TV and even movie castings, and in 1998 he got his first role on TV, as Camilo, a bully in the soap opera 'La Madre' (the mother).
Eventually, in 1999, he landed his most iconic role as Nicolás Mora in 'Yo soy Betty, la fea', and its sequel 'Ecomoda'. Also, in the year 2000 he landed his first movie role in 'Calibre 35' (Caliber 35 or 35 gauge).
After that, many other roles have come for Mario, both for tv and movies. Nowadays, Mario is working on new music, both in solitaire and with 'La Derecha', which came back from its hiatus in 2010. Also in the 2021 remake of the classic soap opera 'Café con Aroma de Mujer' (lit. 'Coffee with a Woman's Aroma')
So, without further delay, let's now head into 'Golpe de Ala', Mario Duarte's only album in solitaire (so far)
Not much can be said about the album, at least not using words, because the music speaks for himself. Its name in English would be an euphemism for 'Underarm smell', not a very elegant name, but a very Colombian expression, that's for sure.
Combining elements from latin rock and other latin tropical genres (like cumbia, salsa, merengue or vallenato) the album showcases both Mario's singing and spoken word.
Though, presented as a work in solitaire, other members can be seen in live performances, like the one that appears in an episode of 'Yo soy Betty, la fea', in where other musicians can be seen.
Head onto the next post in where we'll check the first track of the album, also titled 'Golpe de Ala'
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sources 'mario duarte' on wikipedia 'mario duarte - golpe de ala' on SwapCD 'golpe de ala' - on Discogs 'el rockero mario duarte' on telepolis.com / orange.es (archived)
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loonysama · 3 years ago
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I keep seeing stuff like this on Tumblr and I can't hold my thoughts in anymore. I have to agree with @true--north. Maybe there aren't as many Frozen fans active as before. And maybe there are some that have become more enamored of Encanto. But there are several of us still loving the Frozen-verse and creating new content on a daily basis. Just look at AO3. Every day there's at least 5 new stories, updates, and/or one-shots. And we've done AO3 challenges and people join in. For us, Frozen is still alive, and it's a big part of my life. It's a little insulting that people say the fandom is dead because it's not dead to me at all. It's not dead to us. We're right here!
Sometimes I think that just because the people that really established this fandom may have moved on to other fandoms or they're just not as active in this one anymore means it's the end of an era. But I see it as a renaissance filled with new perspectives, new ideas, and new zeal for a franchise that may or may not release any new licensed content. It doesn't really matter to me if they do because my enthusiasm is more for the endless possibilities of new stories and art that will come out of what's already been done. I've gotten so much inspiration from not just the franchise itself, but the works done by the people that started this fandom that have continued to build on it.
And whenever I look at new kristanna works on AO3, I see stuff written by new authors that haven't written for the fandom before, and it's so refreshing to get new blood pumping. We should be encouraging the new members of the fandom rather than telling them they don't count. Because we/they are the fandom now.
No offense to @bigfrozenfan because I totally respect you and love your work and seeing your posts and you're one of the ones keeping the fandom alive. And I sincerely hope you continue to do so because you make the fandom so much richer. This is more a response to several blogs I've seen recently about the fandom dying or being dead. I've held my tongue so far because I haven't been in the fandom for very long and didn't know if anyone really cared to hear from someone so new, but I just had to add my two cents this time.
I also think Tumblr is an outlet that favors the visual to the written, so new written content often gets overlooked for easy to look at and re-blog fan art. I sincerely wish I had a talent for drawing and could make fan art. If I did, I'd be making Frozen fan art like crazy. But I just don't, and I have so much respect for those that do and love seeing your stuff. But a lot of the written stuff just doesn't get as much attention. And yes, part of that is all the Encanto fan art that crosses my dash every day, most of the time way more than Frozen, but I still see Frozen.
And that's not even counting the fans that are hear to read and look at content and support it like crazy. They're doing their part to keep the fandom alive, as well!
I'm not actually on Twitter and never have been, so I can't speak to that. I can say that I posted a new chapter to one of my stories at AO3 yesterday and blogged the link. @hiptoff just posted the first chapter of a new and really, really great series called Cracking Bones yesterday, along with new original fan art she created for the series, and blogged it here, too. See? New content. So... not dead. Or even close to dying.
2022, the year the Frozen fandom on Tumblr and Twitter apparently died. RIP.
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topicprinter · 5 years ago
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Reddit family,I've been on reddit since December 18, 2011 (had to check my personal account cake day). I've learned so much on this sub and spend most of my time engaged with /r/mtb and /r/toyotatacoma, as well as our fledgling company subreddit, /r/livsndesigns. This post is intended to share our work with you so you can pull out what is helpful. I've only taken out last names to keep things semi-private. The rest of this message is word-for-word what I sent out to mentors, investors, and friends of the company yesterday as part of our weekly updates. Scroll to the bottom for images with data and charts.---------------------------------------We're in the 14th day of our Kickstarter campaign for V2 of our Flex Canvas Pants and are sitting a little over $82k - and we have officially surpassed the total funding of our last campaign! Tracking to this point in our last campaign, we are growing at a rate of 44%. Our plan for rest-of-campaign is to keep up cross-promotion and paid-ad activity to create steady daily pledges and to keep pressing PR, email list features, and Kickstarter-watch outlets for regular bumps. We are getting really solid organic pledges through Kickstarter, accounting for the majority of recent activity.This post is going to contain a lot of information. If you want to dive deep into how we're doing what we're doing, this'll be your day!Also, here is a link to an interview I really enjoyed doing: https://www.once.eco/blogs/interviews/interview-with-andrew-gibbs-dabney-livsn​OUR LAUNCH STRATEGY (or: how we pre-sold $27k in one day)Pre-launch content marketing:Several months ago, we identified our current audience as our most valuable asset: website customers (~400), kickstarter backers (~500), followers (~9k), and email list subscribers (~25k). Following this insight, we planned out a content-marketing strategy with the intention of taking someone from a distant follower into an eager customer, and a customer to a superfan.We started weekly Livsn Live video Q&A's on our Instagram, each with its own planned topic. We covered the people behind the brand, our values, our products, and more. These "Livsn Live" episodes were then re-packaged into youtube videos, email list features, and social media posts to be shared with our audience. Nearly every social post and email mentioned the upcoming Kickstarter and leaking specs of the new pants. Our ambassadors helped a lot in building hype.We sent primer emails to our press and industry contacts letting them know we'd be launching soon. This included a press release, details, and images. Video and campaign pageOnline shopping is built upon trust, and nothing creates trust like a professional page and video.As always, we teamed up with the incredibly talented Blk Elk Media for our video - ensuring we'd way outpunch our competition.Chris and I then spent several weeks iterating and refining our campaign page. We walked through top-grossing campaigns and took cues to how they laid out the page, digital assets, and the language used. We made sure our campaign wasn't lacking any vital piece of information. Then we iterated like crazy going through it like a fine toothed comb cleaning things up, adding missing information, and correcting awkward assets/copy.Early promotionEmail was our main tool at the start. I worked up seven segmented emails staggered from 9am-11am on launch day. In order of first to know: friends & family, Livsn insiders, brand ambassadors, previous backers, most-engaged email list, least-engaged email list. This allowed our most loyal fans to get the "Super Early Bird Pricing."After the emails went out, we announced loudly on our social accounts. We used our personal accounts and asked our friends and partners to share our posts. The important thing here is that we announce on Facebook, Instagram post, Instagram story, and Linkedin all at once. This "everywhere" effect is a good way to increase perception of importance.We wrote a press release, created a press-kit, and sent out the announcement news to local and national press. We got some good syndication from this. We always get something. I like press releases!We had a great list of cross-promotion partners lined up from the start. Special thanks to Kammok, Allied Cycle Works, Our Good Brands, and Once by Wildark for helping us promote on day 1 through social media, interviews, and more.We exhibited at Outside Experience on our opening weekend. The early success of the campaign was a great proof-point to visitors who were receptive to our message of "Own less, live more" and "Less stuff, better stuff." This event was incredible. Plus, we collected 230 very, very warm emails.Campaign promotionWe teamed up with Funded Today for live promotion. They are managing our ongoing paid-ad spend, national/international PR efforts, cross-promotions, and affiliate marketing - along with general campaign strategy. In the referrer data below, you'll see just how valuable their cross-promotion, affiliate network, and PR efforts are. We're continuing both owned and personal social media promotion, as well as email updates to our general and segmented email lists.We are currently sponsoring the ReddyYeti podcast (4 live episodes during the campaign), with ad spots at the beginning and end of the episodes. These get 5-10k downloads each and is a test project for us. ReddyYeti's audience has brought us dozens of customers, so we know it's highly relevant.Kickbooster is being utilized to drive affiliate links and virality. The main drivers of ongoing pledges, however, are press placements, cross-promotion, paid social ads, and organic Kickstarter.The spikes in pledges we are shooting for now come from "the grind." Consistent effort on press and partner outreach leads to consistent placements in front of new audiences. We scored another great email feature this morning from Garage Grown Gear (very niche and very good for us).We're continuing Livsn Live video Q&A's on Thursday nights at 8pm CST on Instagram Live. See the live campaign​I promised data didn't I? OVERVIEWThe campaign as of 7/22 (all data as of 7/22)[image](https://imgur.com/pyw2TyD)Before we get too far along, I think we should acknowledge that only 1.7% of kickstarter campaigns surpass $75k. We're now in good company ;).[image](https://imgur.com/LBsI0kA)Here's a look at where we may end up. Kicktraq (where this chart comes from) is usually pretty optimistic. However, this is reasonable and probably a good prediction.[image](https://imgur.com/JAlrt8O)GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHICSWorldwide traffic[image](https://imgur.com/8gP0hLj)Here is the country breakdown with traffic and revenue.[image](https://imgur.com/eoqGNtE)Where in the USA. [image](https://imgur.com/gwkcuIN)By the numbers. (The state of Virginia is basically a big server farm and distorts this data, unfortunately)[image](https://imgur.com/rjxdckj)Males 25-34.[image](https://imgur.com/09LAI69)TRAFFIC AND CONVERSION DATAWhere the traffic is coming from.[image](https://imgur.com/7ZUM6FX)Here is a breakdown of that "referral" traffic above. Our email list is at the top by revenue (emaile.fnd.to). 2bc.fnd.to is Funded Today's cross promotion efforts. I'm especially happy to see the blue results - those are due to Kickstarter's own algorithm putting in front of their audience (major reason we use KS). Note: anything with an "e" before .fnd.to is our own activity. The "e" stands for exclusion and it's a list I made to keep us from paying our marketing firm for activity we drive.[image](https://imgur.com/gC9tkMe)This one shows referral activity ranked by traffic. Paide.fnd.to is our own social media ads (not run by Funded Today). The 51msa and 51dsa are Funded Today ads. Thisiswhyimbroke.com, elevator, and newatlas are Funded Today PR placements.[image](https://imgur.com/y2sjcZD)Most popular pre-sale packages.[image](https://imgur.com/UAAO5Ab)THIS CAMPAIGN VS. OUR LAST ONEThe following are going to be two-image groups, with our last campaign on top of our current one. This is so you can see the growth of this effort vs. last time. [image](https://imgur.com/KIJtf9e)[image](https://imgur.com/vsAEuwY)LINE CHART DAILY SALESShowing growth of 44% over where we were at day 12 in the first campaign.[image](https://imgur.com/BOVHQ1D)[image](https://imgur.com/FbpLYt4)BAR CHART DAILY SALES[image](https://imgur.com/7MZBzwb)[image](https://imgur.com/uqRmP1Y)​Thank you for your time. I know how valuable it is.-Andrew
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