#well at least the more simplified version of it

[thetopichot]

This is basically the entire romance lore between the Listeners & the Yuuriboys

[lexi-the-demon-69]

Have some Rewrite Dark Cacao

First drawing of 2025-

Wow, finally decided to draw something lol. I decided to draw more of my version of Awakened Dark Cacao, which, for now at least, will be called "Rewrite Dark Cacao" because this redesign is now canon to my rewrite! I wanted to draw my Dragon Lord Dark Cacao showing off his silly abilities, like distorting his face to look like his berserk form and summoning his berserk claws.

I have seen some critiques of my redesign and, while I personally still like it, understand where some of you guys are coming from. The main critique I've seen (that also came from a good friend) stated that the redesign simplified Dark Cacao's hanbok a wee bit too much. Which, I completely understand.

I originally wanted the outfit to look like a mix of hanbok and a samurai outfit (similar to the Vocaloid, Gakupo) but, it didn't turn out too well now that I'm looking at it more lol. So, I tweaked the design a little and added a half-hanbok with a design similar to the Canon design but less cluttered. Which, I think looks a lot better. Everything else looks the same as the original redesign lol.

Rip and tear.... until it is done.

[1000sunnygo]

The Rocky Port incident... (2)

was trending in Japan last night, so here's a post magazine release follow-up.

I was looking forward to hearing japanese readers' thoughts, but the source text itself is pretty vague which didn't help them either.

At least now the JP version is available, so I tried my hand on translating it as literally as possible.

Here's a simplified summary from Japanese user @manganouA (x) :

Just a clarification that "Hachinosu" and "Pirate Island", "Wang Zhi" and "Ochoku" are used interchangeably.

A common interpretational agreement is that Law definitely got onboard the wrong ship, and very likely the ship wasn't even going to Hachinosu. Artur's translation was incorrect, Law didn't board the smuggling ship. Pew's team updated their translation with Artur's version, even though their initial interpretation was right.

Law gained information that a smuggling ship heading to Hachinosu used a specific Kingdom's flag as their cover, and mistakenly hopped onboard a REAL ship belonging to that Kingdom- full of passengers and the King himself. The level of catastrophic clumsiness you'd expect from Luffy...

Man scratch that. it was clumsy even for Luffy's standard 😔

Another point to note, the term used to describe Law-Koby-BB combo was "共闘する形", so a combative pact is more appropriate than an alliance (同盟) - which was used for Law's pact with Luffy, and later Kidd (vs Big Mom). Nothing unexpected though.

My entire timeline is people cracking jokes about Law's blunder so I'm cherry picking a few of them.

Law: Crap, I blew it up... This is the wrong ship isn't it? (Cora ghost: Gee, Law... you're also the clumsy type aren't you?)

Zen (@GOKUJOUNOMAGURO) (x). (x)

Blackbeard arrives on luxurious Saber of Xebec, Koby arrives on a naval ship, and Trafalgar Law is somehow on a passenger's ship.

No matter how big of a mistake I make in future, I might be able to console myself thinking, "well, even Law kun got on a wrong ship."

Koby: Misunderstanding? What do you mean? No matter how you look at it, it's an act of terrorism against a Kingdom!

Law: How annoying... I'm in a state of confusion myself! I've no time to deal with the marines.

I got onboard a wrong ship!!!

Koby (after having Alvida flashback): I see. What a disaster, my heart goes out to you. Let's call it a temporary truce and defeat Ochoku first.

Law: You're convinced?!

.

My favorite has to be this low - effort comic summarizing their understanding:

"Rocky Port spinoff" was another buzzing keyword last night, I hope Shueisha is taking notes.

[apas-95]

I think there should be a social-deduction game like Among Us, Mafia, or Trouble in Terrorist Town, but where killing people is really hard.

In Mafia (or Werewolf etc) killing is extremely abstracted - the killer chooses someone to kill each round and that's that. Some variants will have doctors or other player roles that can intercede, but the actual act of killing is basically telepathic. Similarly, in Among Us, the impostors kill instantly with the press of a button, though they at least need to be in physical proximity with their quarry. In Trouble in Terrorist Town, innocent terrorists are also armed, and can fight back against traitors (replacing the usual vote-to-execute mechanic with a tense standoff), but killing any individual target is generally as simple as pointing a ahotgun at their chest and clicking the trigger.

Games simplify or complexify mechanics to change the gameplay environment. When you have regenerating HP, or instand healthpacks, damage is a lot cheaper than when you have simulated bleeding, tourniquets, and cardiac arrest. Social deduction's party game lineage strongly influenced its conventions, but in a genre centred around the act of killing, its simplification may be a hindrance. Generally, the only question on the killer player's mind is when to kill, not how - they are, generally, only stopped from immediately and indiscriminately killing by their own discretion. Making the act of killing a task in itself, making building up the capacity to kill arduous, could provide a more engaging experience, as well as inducing greater paranoia over a potential killer without any concrete evidence.

Even minor changes, like a version of TTT where ammunition or weapons were scarce, would significantly change the gameplay - and in a genre where a shifting balance of power is the point, could add some interesting dynamics.

[kiryoutann]

i wanted to rant about simon.

what do you think so far like what are your actual headcanons for the canon simon vs this simon from this series?

my feelings about the actual simon is quite vague. i've read far more fanfictions than bothering with the actual material so my picture of his is not really...constant? idk

but with this simon, he scares me. just to think about people that can engage in such romantic and sensual acts with little to no feeling involved.

or the mc's father. her dad makes me feel such an anger and injustice that i don't know how to express it and i know we probably won't get a satisfying update on him.

you don't like your wife fine i could understand the distance between them, but how can somebody forget their child no matter if they share the same blood or not, after all the time he raised her

leaving all that behind just to start a whole new life. how can that not eat somebody alive

OHH this is actually a good question. honestly for me, simon is probably one of the hardest character to write about because he doesn't give away too much. too calm. too know-it-all.

we're just gonna talk about the romance aspects!

but based on my head-canon of the canon simon, he has those younger years where he avoids romance, but not this actively and aggressively. it's more because he has too much on his plate (anger management issues, PTSD, depression) than because he think he's not good enough for some happiness (but he also doesn't expect/hope for it.)

canon younger (probably 6-7 years after he killed Roba) Simon lives his life without the need for things to turn out in certain ways. as he gets older (yes, the 2022/2023 ghost) and better mentally, he's become a little more open to the idea, though.

he's still not actively seeking romance, settling on one-nightstands and things that don't require any strings attached. however, he's not completely closed off to the idea too. if he has someone he likes AND TRUST (this is already a high wall to get over), he might act on it. but again, not really actively pursuing it and knows he doesn't need it.

and this might come as a surprise, but he's actually the biggest flirt out there—well, at least when it's only the two of you. when in front of his taskforce, he goes back to acting like he's the calm, collected, cool, stoic, scary lieutenant that everyone knows. can't have you ruin his reputation, right?

"it's private but not secret," with him. though it's not loud PDA, sometimes he lets his hands linger in places like your waist, your hips, shoulders. his love language is act of service, gift giving, physical touch—he makes sure to always appreciate you with compliments and love affirmations, but he's never really a man who's big on words.

WHILE THIS SIMON, hmmm.. he's a bit more complicated. and a mess. at some point, you can think of him as the younger version of canon simon we just talked about to simplify it, but even that's not really accurate considering the different ways they handle "all that sappy stuff" (as simon would say). this one actively and AGGRESIVELY avoids romance.

and while they both (my ver. of canon simon and this simon) sort to flings and one-nightstands, the canon simon is more careful and actually follows the boundaries he draws himself. while this simon outlines the boundaries, follows his rules until an interesting bird enters his orbit, violates them, and destroys them himself before he goes around saying "you read that wrong, darling."

NOW, ABOUT THE FATHER. . .

RIGHT! in my opinion, it's better for them to get a divorce actually and Dad still plays a role in MC's life rather than just leaving her. like, i know it'll still hurt the MC but, at least she can still have both of her parents even though in different houses! at least she doesn't have to feel neglected in her childhood.

okay, you hate someone you thought you would love forever, but abandoning your child? whose very existence was created because of you? talk about the Dad will come up in the sequel. hell, he'll even make an appearance with his two ballet loving new daughters. imagine how MC will feel.

sadly, this happens a lot in real life. fathers leaving and starting a new life without thinking about his "old" family. how people shame single mothers but never the absent fathers. people shame many women who have "daddy issues" or call them "fatherless" yet never call out men's incapability of being a real, PRESENT father.

[storytellerwhims]

Introduction:🗒️

Welcome to the Tragic Tales of Life Legacy Challenge. This legacy challenge is a realistic story and goal-oriented legacy challenge. That revolves around real life tragedies and drama that happen. This is a more simplified written and less heavy on goals legacy challenge. This legacy challenge was inspired by the Crybaby Whims Legacy Challenge and the Joy of Life Legacy Challenge! I hope you enjoy this tragically fun legacy challenge!

Before You Play:🔞

This legacy challenge is for players who are eighteen and older. This legacy challenge covers heavy topics. That could be triggering or uncomfortable for some people. This legacy challenge uses most of the packs. And also, is a modded legacy challenge so you can’t play it on console. But I have other legacies that are un-modded so if you want to check them out! I would really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the legacy challenge!

Each generation will specify if there are required mods or not! Here are some mods that I recommend to enhance your gameplay!

Recommended Mods:🖥️

MC Command Center/Mc Woohoo

https://deaderpool-mccc.com/

(18+) Wicked Whims/Wonderful Whims 

https://wickedwhimsmod.com/manual-mod-installation

Basemental Drugs (18+)

https://basementalcc.com/adult_mods/basemental-drugs/

Lumpinous Relationship and Pregnancy Mod

https://lumpinoumods.com/woohoo-wellness-and-pregnancy-overhaul/

Realistic Childbirth Mod by: Pandasama

https://www.pandasama.com/realistic-childbirth-mod/

Rules:🗡️

-Must play on Normal lifespan

-No cheating money etc. unless it’s at the beginning to start the legacy challenge.

-Must complete all the goals to move onto the next tragic tale.

-If you enjoy the legacy challenge please share and give proper credit! 

📲(Use the hashtags #sims4tragictaleslegacychallenge or #sims4ttollg) If you play this legacy challenge and share it on social media, I'd love to see your sims!🥰

___________________________________________

The Tragic Tales (The Generations)☠️

 Gen.1 Single Parent Who Has a Drinking Problem👩‍👦🍺

You're someone who hoped for a beautiful love life like the one you always saw on tv. But that wasn’t your reality. You fell in love with the wrong person and now you're stuck. Living alone with your child/children that reminds you of your tragic romance. You try to pick up the pieces and work a regular job as a teacher but that still was tiring. So after a long day of reprimanding kids you come home to your own child/children. As a person who didn’t want children it’s rough so when they're asleep. You start to sip on alcohol and it becomes a habit. After a while you start to realize you have a problem and try to fix it. To at least become a better version of yourself for you!

Gen.1 Requirements: 

Lifestage: Young Adult

Traits: Hates Children, Romantically Reserved and Bar Drinker 

Aspiration: City Native

Colors: Light Brown and Red

Career: Education

Required Mods:

Basemental Drugs (18+)

https://basementalcc.com/adult_mods/basemental-drugs/

Bar Drinker Trait by: KiaraSims Mods

https://kiarasims4mods.net/2020/05/08/bar-drinker-trait/

Starting Out:

-Start out living in an old apartment in San-Myshuno. Or in a one-star apartment building with the filthy lot trait. 

-Start out with Zero Simoleons

-Have the basic amenities in your apartment

Goals:

As a Young Adult-Elder

-Live in an old apartment or apartment building.

-Be in the Education Career and reach level five of the career.

-Max the Research and Debate and Mixology Skills. 

-Have a child with someone you fall in love with and become a single parent.

-Have a bad relationship with the other parent.

-Start drinking once you become a single parent. (with the basemental drugs mod.)

-Have a negative relationship with your child/children.

-Decide as an Adult to quit drinking for yourself.

___________________________________________

Gen.2 Neglected Child As an Adult Develops Anger Issues🚫😡

As a child you were neglected while your parent got buzzed. Through the pain of feeling unwanted you grew up bitter. At everyone and everything you started to have tantrums on people. That’s when you knew you needed to direct your anger into a career. So you become a Detective throwing criminals in the slammer. Which made all your rage fade away and you start to become a great cop, one that people admire. So much so you get asked out by someone who likes your uniform. You date and marry them, have kids. Life seems good till they realize what a hot head you are! They love you but you severely trouble them but you both stay together. You try to keep calm for them and your kids but your past precedes you.

Gen.2 Requirements:

Lifestage: Young Adult

Traits: Hot Headed, Nosy and Ambitious

Aspiration: World Class Detective

Colors: Dark Blue and Black

Career: Detective 

Required Mods:

World Class Detective Aspiration by: KiaraSims Mods

https://www.curseforge.com/sims4/mods/world-class-detective-aspiration

Goals:

As a Young Adult-Elder

-Move out of your parents house to any world you want.

-Join the Detective Career and reach level ten of the career.

-Max the Charisma and Photography Skills

-Have five enemies from throwing tantrums on people.

-Have a Bad Reputation

-Date, Marry and have kids with someone who you meet who likes you in your uniform.

-Have at least two children

-Gain the Workaholic lifestyle

-Have problems with your spouse but stay married.

___________________________________________

Gen.3 Art Student That Gets Into an Abusive Relationship🎨💔

You grew up in a home full of anger, but you refused to subdue that behavior. So when your parent got mad you shut down and kept quiet. To avoid having problems but as time went on that began to stress you out. So you focused your negative emotions into art. Which led you to graduate high school and get to go onto college. As an art student your world was filled with color and nude models. Whose bodies were art and you painted them beautifully. One day though you never knew could change everything in a terrible way. You meet someone who you think understands you. You date them after a while their true colors shine through and they're dark! You both argue day and night and to not start a fight. You let them seduce you till they get tired and pass out next to you. Your grades start to suffer so you start to avoid them to do what’s best for you. But all that gets thrown out the window when you find out you're going to be a parent! Your narcissist partner reels you back in because of the baby. So you stay but you fear for you and the baby/babies life! Once the baby arrives you make your escape with the baby/babies. Leaving your abusive ex behind you, move into a small home just right for you and your baby/babies. Then you go back to college and finish and become a freelance painter.

Gen.3 Requirements: 

Lifestage: Young Adult

Traits: Lovebug, Creative and D.V.S 

Aspiration: Academic

Colors: Soft Pink and Maroon

Career: Fine Arts Degree University Student/Freelance Artist

Required Mods: 

Trauma Bonding Mod by: Wicked Pixxel 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/trauma-bonding-106764079

D.V.S Trait by: Muva Simmer

https://www.patreon.com/posts/d-v-s-trigger-54622043

Goals:

As a Young Adult-Elder

-Move out of your angry parent's house to go to university.

-Be in the Fine Arts Degree at Foxbury or Britchester University

-Max the Painting and Romance Skills 

-Meet someone who’s toxic become their partner and date them.

-Argue and make up by woohooing with your terrible partner.

-Have a baby/babies with your narcissistic partner.

-Drop out of university to focus on your relationship and family.

-Move in with your abusive partner.

-Leave your awful partner after the baby/babies are born.

-Have a negative relationship with your toxic partner

-Move to a new world far away from your ex-partner.

-Go back to college as an Adult graduate and become a freelance painter.

-Have an art studio in your home where you find comfort.

___________________________________________

Gen.4 Geek Tries to Fit In and Becomes a Pill Popper👾💊

You're a true geek as they call you in high school. You learned from your parents horrible love life. To steer clear, not let raging hormones get the better of you! But yet after the popular kids called you out. You start to think differently you want to show them. You can be a true party animal! So you stop caring about school so much and hangout with the jocks! They show you how to be bad but still be adored! You all go to the nightclubs and sneak past the bouncers at bars. Get drunk and taking pills not prescribed  partying all night! One day they give you a makeover to make you look like one of them. You feel weird but excited taking it all in! Before you know it you're living the teenage dream! But it all ends when you find out that you/person you slept with. One wild night is pregnant! You never planned on your high school years turning out this chaotic! But now the popular teens left you spreading gossip about the pregnancy. So you're left on your own pregnant/going to be a teen parent. What happens now you stop being this pill popper and be yourself again. Starting a podcast about all the pill problems and teen parent struggles you went through. Now it’s up to you if you go and find someone but you have overcome so much at a young age!

Gen.4 Requirements:

Lifestage: Start as a Teen 

Traits: Geek and Party Animal 

Aspiration: Psychonaut

Colors: Purple and Yellow 

Career:  Podcast Host

Required Mods: 

Basemental Drugs (18+) 

MC Command Center/MC Woohoo (linked above)

Lumpinous Relationship and Pregnancy Mod (linked above)

Podcast Host Career By: KiaraSims4 Mods

https://legacy.curseforge.com/sims4/mods/podcast-host-career

Techie trait by KiaraSims4 Mods

https://legacy.curseforge.com/sims4/mods/techie-trait

Goals:

As a Teen

-Live with your parent still or move out on your own at an early age. 

-Have a B grade in high school before you try to fit in with the popular kids.

-Max the Gaming Skill

-Make friends with Popular Teens 

-Go to nightclubs and bars with your popular friends.

-Drink, Smoke and Do Pills at the nightclub/bars (Using the basemental drugs mod.) 

-Get a “cool” kid makeover with new clothes that look like ones the jocks would wear! 

-Get addicted to pills and keep doing them till you become a Young Adult.

-Have woohoo with one of your popular friends and end up pregnant/or get them pregnant! (Using Mc Command Center/Mc Woohoo Mod!) 

-Become a Teen Parent 

-Don’t do well in high school after you become a teen parent!

-Become enemies with your popular friends after you become a teen parent! 

As a Young Adult-Elder

-Decide to quit doing pills and go to rehab

- When you age up add the Techie trait by KiaraSims4 Mods

-Make money being a Podcast Host talking about your experience you had as a teen having a drug addiction, being a teen parent and being bullied.

-Reach level Five of the Podcast Host career

-Max the Charisma and Media Production Skills.

-You can decide if you want to date and get married when you're a Young Adult and older or not!

___________________________________________

Gen.5 Public Health Person Goes Crazy from a Disease Outbreak🥼🦠

(Inspired by Covid 19 pandemic.) 

You have always been a germaphobe but now you're making it through something terrible. You go into the medical field thinking it will be great you’ll help save lives. Well as a Public Health person the whole world's health rest’s on your shoulders. Now that there's a virus spreading you seek shelter in your home. Only going out with a mask you’re an philanthropist person this is not the way you hoped to spend. Your Young Adult life but now you're in charge of finding a way for this disease to be cured! Through all the testing in the lab and multiple reports coming in of deaths. It becomes too much for you to bear so you quit your job. Staying home becoming stir crazy from no social interaction. Suddenly you find that you made the worst mistake of your life. Quitting on all these people who can be saved from the outbreak. So you take care of yourself paint and do other hobbies. Then get back to the daily wear a mask save a life. After a couple years of research your the one that finds a cure! You're the hero and now everyone wants a picture with you! But you stay humble just happy you were able to help. You settle down after it’s all over with one of your fellow Public Health workers. You get married and have kids. But your job never ends by making sure you, your family and the public will be safe from future outbreaks!

Gen.5 Requirements: 

Lifestage: Young Adult

Traits: Erratic, Philanthropist and Researcher

Aspiration: Philanthropist 

Colors: Green and Blue

Career: Public Health 

Required Mods:

Researcher Trait, Philanthropist Trait and Aspiration By: KiaraSims4 Mods

https://legacy.curseforge.com/sims4/mods/researcher-trait

https://legacy.curseforge.com/sims4/mods/philanthropist-trait

https://www.curseforge.com/sims4/mods/philanthropist-aspiration

Public Health Career By: KiaraSims4 Mods

https://legacy.curseforge.com/sims4/mods/public-health-career

Mask for story purposes By: Daisy Pixels

https://www.patreon.com/posts/face-masks-for-37685044

Goals:

As a Young Adult-Elder

-Move to any world you want too into a house or apartment

-Join the Public Health career and reach level nine of the career. (You can have your sim go to University in the Biology Degree to jump ahead in the career.)

-Max the Writing and Logic Skills and Reach level five in any hobby skill such as painting. While your sim quits their job and goes stir crazy at home.

-Have your sim wear a mask whenever they go out. 

-Temporarily quit your job then regret it and join the career again.

-Become a Two Star Celebrity for curing the world of the disease.

-Meet, Date and Marry a fellow Public Health person.

-Have at least three kids (Have all of them wear masks to keep germs away.)

-Donate to Charity three times

-Volunteer at least five times in your lifetime.

-Teach your kids Good Manners have at least one of them gain the Good Manners character value.

___________________________________________

I'm still writing this legacy challenge so future gens will be added. And also, past gens may change a little bit if I need to edit them! Thank you for reading the legacy challenge!! 💜 @ts4challengehub

[disposable-semicolons]

I wanna take a moment to talk about a terrible board game.

(Image links to the English Wikipedia article about the game)

It's one of these mostly-luck-based board games people keep in their shelves because you shouldn't throw plastic pieces into a fireplace, or the "classic" kind of board game, as this comic would put it. For those familiar with the game "Sorry!" or any of the trillion variations world wide, yeah, that one. It's mostly luck based, but there are still some decisions you can make during normal play. So I ended up asking myself the question: Given optimal play, assuming red goes first and the game proceeds clockwise, what is the probability of red, black, yellow and green winning?

First of all, I don't know the answer. It would take a lot of work to figure that out, but I wanted to figure out just how difficult it is. So I wanted to start with simplifying the game. Skipping a lot of details, each player begins with 4 pegs of their color in the "B" fields, rolling a 6 sided die at the beginning of their turn. If it's a 6, they can move one peg to the "A" field and roll again. The goal is to make it all the way around, as the white circle just before the "A" field leads to the "home row" (fields a-d). The crux is you must roll exactly the right number to move into it, so if a peg comes to a halt in front of the home row, you need to roll exactly a 4 to get to d, etc. Of course, the combinatorics of this is utter hell. So let's simplify. The sheer amount of time to even get anywhere close to a win condition makes the game obnoxious to analyze. So, what if we skip the entire race (and sending other player's pieces back to B) mechanics and put A in front of the home row? That also removes what little strategic dimension the game had, so now there is no more decision making. The optimal play is the only play!

This is at least... in principle analyzable. However, even though the game is now even more brain dead to play than the original, I would like to take a moment to show you people the issue with even this "stupid" a game: how many "game states" are there? That is, how many ways are there for pieces to be arranged on the board at a given player's turn? I'm gonna go over the rules this dumbed down version would have in a bit (well not quite, I'll make it even simpler), but I can assure you, basically at any given turn the pegs of each color can be in any configuration. We can ignore the B fields, since they are for all practical purposes just storage spaces for pegs that haven't "entered" the game properly. Black pegs in this simple version can only be on black fields. All black pegs are identical, so the "state" of black's part of the board is a series of 5 yes or no questions: "Is a peg on field A?", "Is a peg on field a?", "...b?", "..c?" and "..d?". Now..

Each player has up to 4 pieces in the game at any moment, meaning at most 4 of these questions are yes.

if a-d are all occupied, then A is empty and that player has won, meaning the game is over. That means that only one color can have the home row full.

Any other configuration can be realized, no matter whose turn it is. Just.. take me word for it, for now.

That means there are 5 configurations with 4 black pegs (either A is empty = win, or one of a-d is empty), 10 configurations with 3 pegs, 10 configurations with 2 pegs, 5 configurations with 1 peg and 1 configuration with 0 pegs, 31 configurations in total (per player) , of which 1 is a "win configuration". (I won't bore you with how I came up with those numbers, you could either write them all out on paper and count, use binomial coefficient magic you may recall from high school, whatever.) If each player can be in any of these configurations but only one player can win that means there are 30×30×30×30=30⁴= 810000 configurations of the board where no player has won. And since it could be the turn of any player for any of those, there are 4 times as many game states, 3240000. You see why I didn't even bother writing down the rules yet? I really don't wanna try look at probabilities for a game with that many possible ways the pieces can be arranged. Screw this, let's make it a two player game.

Now we're down to 1800 non-win game states. This is something I could easily program in Python or something and afterwards very carefully verify by hand. However, I still cannot be bothered to. So, why is it still so many combinations? Because every field in the home row almost doubles the number of possible arrangements a single color's pegs can have. So.. let's make it dumber still. Let's make it minimal. What is the smallest possible game? Well.. let's knock it down a few pegs (geddit? And you thought the math part was the suffering here).

BEHOLD.

With one piece each, there are only 3 configurations per player (peg in B, in A, or in a = win), meaning there are 4 configurations of the board where no player has won, thus 8 non-win game states (since it's either the turn of red or black). Since we don't actually care about the configuration of pieces of the board once a player has won we can add to the above two additional states "red wins" and "black wins", giving us a total of 10. We don't have to worry about whose turn it is because the rules will be such that you can only win during your own turn. All that we need now is names for the 10 different states and the rules of the game. Then, at least, we can determine the odds for red and black for the world's stupidest two player board game.™

Let's denote the board like this: (<position of red's piece>,<position of black's piece>;<who's rolling the die next>). To make it hopefully a bit more readable I will call "0" the potion where the peg is not in the game, and "1" the one where it is on A. Then the game has the following 8 non-win game states plus the 2 win states which I will just name after the players.

(0,0;R) = no peg on the board, red's turn

(0,0;B) = no peg, black's turn

(1,0;R) = red's peg on A, no black peg, red's turn

(1,0;B) = same as above but black's turn

(0,1;R) = black's peg on A, red's turn

(0,1;B) = as above but black's turn

(1,1;R) = red's peg on A, black's peg on A, red's turn

(1,1;B) = as above but black's turn

R = red won

B = black won

As for the rules...

Red begins, the players take turns to roll a 6 sided die. The pegs begin on their respective "out" fields B.

If the player's peg is on B: On a 6, the player is allowed to move their peg from B to A and roll again (see rule 3). Otherwise, it's the next player's turn.

If the player's peg is on A: On a 1, the player can move the piece 1 field (to a), winning the game. On any other number, their turn ends.

That's the entire game! And it is only slightly worse than the original, amazing. Each turn can either increase the left or right number from 0 to 1, make the player who's turn it is win, or change who's turn it is without affecting the board. The likelihood of the game "progressing" is always 1/6 (either roll a 6 or a 1, depending on the context) while the likelihood of the game "stalling" is 5/6. So every possible game can be summarized as a graph of the 10 different game states, with arrows showing which states can lead to which and with what probability. You can tell when in the process I stopped giving a crap about aesthetic.

We can now ask, "what is the probability of red winning?" and get a definite answer with some math. But.. fucking hell it's midnight already? Okay, that has to be enough 'tism for one post. Look forward to a followup (or maybe I'll just edit this post). Stay tuned! FUCK IT WE BALL, I FINISHED THIS SHIT AT 2AM.

Alright so what's gonna be annoying are all those pesky cycles that could mean the game could go on hypothetically forever (just like the real one!), but we can deal with those by starting at the "bottom" of the graph and working our way up. It's pretty clear that the probability of a player winning should only depend on the game's state, so whether it is turn 5 or 105 the probability for red to win when the game is in state (1,1;R) should be the same. The probability of that is some number. We could simply simulate an arbitrary number of games in that state, and intuitively we would expect some fixed percentage of red wins (which we called R) to pop out of that simulation. I won't do much formal mathematics here. There is a 1/6 chance of red winning immediately, and a 5/6 chance of the game changing states. So in almost plain English we know:

[probability of R given (1,1;R)] = 1/6 + 5/6×[probability of R given (1,1;B)] .

In state (1,1;B), there is no chance for R to win in the turn itself, but a 5/6 chance of the state changing back!

[probability of R given (1,1;B)] = 5/6×[probability of R given (1,1;R)].

Putting them together and using that (5/6)² = 25/36 we get

[probability of R given (1,1;R)] = 1/6 + 25/36×[probability of R given (1,1;R)].

Now the same probability appears on both sides! We can simplify and find I'm getting tired of this verbosity, let's write the conventional way mathematicians do for this stuff. They don't write [probability of R given (1,1;R)], they write P(R|(1,1;R)).

11/36 × P(R|(1,1;R)) = 1/6

P(R|(1,1;R)) = 6/11 ≈ 54%.

With the above we can figure out all probabilities for the two game states, and they add up to 1 since a game taking forever is infinitely unlikely (don't worry about it, but it is a fun rabbit hole)

P(R|(1,1;R)) = 6/11 = P(B|(1,1;B)) and P(B|(1,1;R)) = 5/11 = P(R|(1,1;B)).

Moving up in the graph we can now replace the two "solved" game states with their win probabilities, taking into account that reaching these states has a probability of 1/6 itself).

Let's focus on the left half. R appears in both states there, but B only once. We already know that the chances of R and B will add up to one, so let's choose the path of least resistance and try P(B|(1,0;R)). Then we can use the same trick as above!

P(B|(1,0;R)) = 5/6 × P(B|(1,0;B)) = 5/6×( 1/11 + 5/6×P(B|(1,0;R)) )

P(B|(1,0;R)) = 30/121 ≈ 25%

P(R|(1,0;B)) = 91/121. The right side of the graph is much of the same. Multiplying these by 1/6 again means we can delete another entire row from the graph!

Almost done! Now all that is left is computing P(R|(0,0;R)), because this is the state the game actually starts at. As we have seen for P(R|(1,1;R)), if the board is in a state where both players are equally close to winning, the one whose turn it is is (intuitively) at a slight advantage. We expect the same to be true now... let's suffer through this once more.

P(R|(0,0;R)) = 91/726 + 5/6×P(R|(0,0;B)). Once more

P(R|(0,0;R)) = 91/726 + 5/6×( 5/121 + 5/6×P(R|(0,0;R)) )

11/36 P(R|(0,0;R)) = 91/726 + 25/726 = 58/363

P(R|(0,0;R)) = 696/1331 ≈ 52.29% and thus

P(B|(0,0;R)) = 635/1331 ≈ 47.71%.

And there you have it: The probability of red winning in this simplified version of the game is 696/1331 or about 52%. It would be cool to see how less dumbed down versions of the game compare to that, though this "0IQ version" of the game is actually contained in the real deal! I had real instances of the full game play out to the point where both players were just sitting there, waiting for the chance to roll a godforsaken 1 to end the game. And now you know: if you wanna flip a coin to decide who won instead of prolonging your suffering should you ever reach that point in the game, you are only shuffling around a strategic edge of like 2%.

You're welcome.

[octosan]

I've seen the take that Veilguard's lore handling is the way that it is because it was largely worked on by a team that isn't familiar with Dragon Age, and I... don't know about that.

Like it's kind of funny in retrospect, but

For all the mistakes the Vows and Vengeance podcast made, that show felt more to me like an example of a story trying to incorporate relevant Dragon Age lore, but being written by people who weren't well-versed in it.

They had Tevinter class divide and bureaucratic apathy as a major plot point that affected the main character's life. They had Solas employing middlemen and tricking characters to get some of his work done instead of doing everything himself. They had multiple references to the faiths of the setting, including Davrin referencing worship practices in Dalish culture (they even used the term The Beyond, the Dalish term for the Fade that even Inquisition kind of forgot was a thing even if it was not the Dalish character using it.) They had a cult other than the Venatori as an antagonist at one point. They had an instance of racially charged conflict between Bellara, an elven Veil Jumper, and a Tevinter templar, that originates from the templars looting elven artifacts (something that is implied to happen often.) They at least tried to depict an example of regular Qunari culture in the village in Par Vollen that the protagonists wind up in briefly. They had Lucanis, a Crow, actually carry out an assassination of a non-combatant character. They had multiple demons playing mind games with the characters trying to get their bodies as hosts, in addition to a demon that just rampaged, and even referenced despair demons being ice-coded. They depicted the Fade as a chaotic and emotionally-driven realm, with spirits and demons everywhere--and fittingly Arlathan, a forest with a lot of influence from the Fade, was itself a dangerously chaotic and shifting place. Bellara explains what Veil Jumping entails and actually veil-jumps (and it's accordingly treated like a big deal for the characters). They reference Genitivi and Varric as prominent authors in the world-building. They had grenades. They even brought back the idea of being "Fade touched" with Drayden. They had asfkdksadfgkb HAD A MABARI.

Also the podcast wasn't constantly reassuring you, patting you on the back, and repeating information to you every second so that's nice.

I thought most of the companions came off better here too, with the idea that this is just supposed to be a snapshot of them. I remember enjoying their inclusion the most and trying to speculate what traits and flaws were on display that might get expanded on in the game (for example Emmrich's attitude of trying to "parent" a demon failing spectacularly, or Davrin being depicted as actually taking his clan's faiths seriously despite not being among them anymore.) Taash not realizing they're nonbinary until long after meeting Drayden, who had their own personal issues with their family about their identity, feels like some kind of missed opportunity though (I mean realistically the podcast was just supposed to advertise the game so I know why this is, but still.)

idk if this is a hot take. like imo the podcast wasn't "good" good and again there were clear mistakes in the lore, a lot of the stuff set in Antiva for example, like it was messy. But I had more of a sense that these were people new to the setting but trying than I did with Veilguard.

Idk to me the problem was less that the writers in Veilguard didn't know anything about Dragon Age and more that it was an extremely sanitized and simplified version of the lore, one that couldn't even take into account the world-changing decisions you made in previous games. With a helping of things being shoved under the rug to avoid Discourse. Like it felt more intentional to me, for the most part. And then you have all the visual errors that come from just reusing assets which is an RPG staple at this point (someone pointed out that the Chantry symbols in Minrathous are wrong, for example.)

[p3aches-n-cream]

Recipe ♡ : You and Hobie are both spider people and have known each other for well over three years. You two are inseparable, you being the one to drag Hobie in when he gets too reckless, and him encouraging you to go all out. Unfortunately, your superiors begin to catch onto this, promoting you to distance yourself from your former best friend. Little do they know, there's more to your relationship than meets the eye.

Ingredients ♡ : Blk!fem! reader, smut with a little bit of background. Opposites attract. I headcanon Hobes to be 21+, fight with the wall. Word count: 3k. Making out. Missionary. Desk Sex. Minors please don't interact. Obviously, I can't control what you do, but i'd really appreciate if you don't. ( You will be blocked. )

Notes ♡ : Okay this took me a really long time because I finally realized what I wanted to do. Consider this a pilot piece for my hobiexreader series. This is a simplified version of the original, I had to scrap it cause it was past the word limit. But I might include a snippet of one of my favorite parts which will give more of a backstory!! I hope you enjoy!

It was just another day at Headquarters and you were fulfilling your duties as per usual. Your previous mentor, Jessica Drew had asked you to sort some files for an upcoming meeting and afterwards, you were expecting to go on a rescue mission to another dimension. A pretty slow one considering your circumstances.

You were a model employee in every sense of the word. Enlisted on recommendation, succeeding every mission with flying colors and an irrefutable loyalty to boot. Which is why it was so peculiar when you and Hobie Brown began to hang out.

Now Hobie was a real piece of work, everyone knows that. He had no respect for authority, ( which is ironic considering he's part of an organization ) openly defying orders and making waves. He’d never let anyone or anything stop him from being his true self. You were enthralled to say the least. His brash authenticity provided a stark contrast to your sheltered persona. Of course you were much too refined to admit that. Considering your background, comeuppance and the person that you are - you didn’t allow yourself to engage in reckless indulgence.

But for Hobie, you found yourself making exceptions. His presence fulfilled your exuberance, especially whenever he would hop through your window, ranting about a new adventure he was dying to try. And he’d need his lovely companion by his side.

As you pass familiar spiders, you raise your hand in a wave and flash an amicable smile. You were all set to drop off the sorted files on Jessica’s desk, making a left into the next hallway. As you checked your portal watch , the device buzzed with all sorts of different pop-ups. With a swipe, they disappear and you’re able to see the time. Only twenty minutes until the upcoming meeting. Smiling with glee, you continued on your way, relieved your perfect track record was still intact. Everything was going smoothly.

That is until a large palm wraps around your waist, pulling you into an undisturbed corner. The files drop to the floor, scattering across the marble flooring, and your hands fly out in an attempt to steady yourself. When they connect with the telltale leather, you figure there’s only one person who would pull a stunt like this.

“ Hobie! “ you recognized the tall stature, trademark piercings and dark brown eyes of your lover, his hands running soothingly up and down your sides. Just as always, his features left your knees feeling weak, inebriated from his beauty. His sunken cheeks accentuated his broad nose and full lips so well. His eyes, spaced perfectly far apart welcome your own, shining with a fondness agreed to only reserve for one another. You slap at his chest playfully, bringing forth a chuckle before cementing your palms across his tattered blue crop top.

“ What are you doing? Someone could've seen. “ Your tone is hushed, as not to echo through the building’s cavernous walls.

Your eyes follow his as they trail over your form, his thumb absentmindedly tracing across your glossy lips. “ You've been ignoring me lately, butterfly. “

Of course, Hobie being ever observant, would pick up on it sooner or later. That nickname was coined from the way you’d swing about during battles. You were always so poised and perfect, fluttering amongst the villains with a sense of grace. Every move took careful consideration - it was if you would shatter otherwise. Hobie, on the other hand, had a much different approach. Seeing him in battle before you met was awe-inspiring, albeit concerning. He was somewhat lackadaisical in his movements and yet every blow was calculated. He showed true experience in his fighting style, despite its aggressive and uncompromising qualities.

“ I haven't been ignoring you, Hobie.” Your hands drift along his chiseled jaw, admiring the lines that decorate his face. He quirks his eyebrows, the adjacent barbells glinting under the fluorescent lighting. “ I've just been busy. You know that. “

“ Oh yeah? “ His head lowers to burrow his face in your neck, inhaling the sugary smell of your lotion. Sweet cream, he thinks. “ Then how come everytime I call, you never answer? “

He’s referring to the time you two would call each other on the phone, whenever your schedules would allow it. No matter what, you’d always make an effort to finish your chores before you’d call, making it one of the few times he’d have your undivided attention. What with your classes, assignments and being Spider-Woman? Safe to say you had your hands full.

That wasn’t the reasoning behind you avoiding him though, if you could call it that. What really happened was Jess and Miguel cornering you after a meeting, confronting your relationship with him. Much like everyone else in HQ, they had caught on to your camaraderie, sensing he might turn you against them. Of course they didn’t phrase it that way.

However, it did make you apprehensive. It’s no secret that this environment didn’t value individuality. Wherever you went it felt like there were eyes watching your every move. Everyone was forced to fit the mold, and if you didn’t you were stamped out. One of the first things Hobie had taught you.

“ Doll? “ His fingers gently tip your head upwards, making your eyes level with his. The dark irises that bore into your own, paired with the soothing circles he’s rubbing into your shoulders, steadily loosen your wavering resolve. “ Talk to me. “

You ponder for a moment, wondering which words would be best. It was unlikely he’d favor the response anyway, so in an effort to placate, you lifted his hand to your face and leaned your cheek into his palm. “ Nothing, it’s just Jess and Miguel again. I’m sorry. I should've said something. “

Hobie let out a sigh, giving his head a shake. Even after how long he’s known you, you were still your contained self. Not like he was complaining. He just didn't want you taken advantage of. The desire to satiate enveloped you in its delicate petals, prompting you to offer the sweetest, most tender parts of yourself - to people who had no business receiving it. Probably why they cornered you, and not him.

“ How long we’ve been together, love? Two, maybe three months? “ His index and pointer finger toy with your bohemian braids, curling the strands of the hair betwixt them. The gold jewelry that adorns them shines brilliantly once they catch the light. “ Why’s it still bother you? “

You almost smack your lips out of exhaustion. You figured he wouldn’t understand. Another thing about Hobie, he very rarely considered the consequences of his actions.

“ I know, Bee. it just makes me nervous, okay? I wanna protect you, and it’s clear our relationship wouldn’t be welcome. “

Deep down, you knew Hobie wouldn’t mind defying orders, but you weren’t going to risk him or you getting kicked out because of your boss's pettiness.

Hobie lets your words marinate before responding, lip tucked between his teeth. That was just like you, putting someone else’s needs over your own. You were the epitome of self-sacrifice, thrusting yourself into battle if only it was meant to ensure someone else’s safety. Don’t get him wrong, it wasn’t that Hobie didn't respect your morals, he just couldn’t relate to them. This society wasn’t built for your type of mindset. It was enough of a struggle sticking up for what’s right, now you have people making your decisions for you. No room for creative expression.

“ You’re too good for this world, y’know that? They don’ deserve ya. “ His face nudges at your cheek, plump lips drifting alongside your neck. His hands begin to caress your sides, squeezing appreciatively at the flesh hidden beneath your suit. You preen under his touch, gaze darting cautiously to the hallway from which he had stolen you from.

“ You say that all the time…” and it was just as endearing as the last.

“ Wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true. “ Those pool-like irises draw you in, reflecting pure sincerity. His next words tug on your heartstrings, knowing he spoke the truth. “ You’re better than this, ⊱❀⊰.“

This wasn't the first time you two have had this conversation. It’s been brought up before, in the privacy of his houseboat and comfort of his sheets. You two would be cuddled up together, a swift breeze from the open window offsetting your shared warmth. His toned arms would circle around you protectively, thumb rubbing mindless patterns into your skin as your cheek lay where his heart beat. You’d fantasize about what it would be like if things were different. Like if the two of you had met in another life, where the harrowing pressure of being spider people was unknown and you were free to live your lives the way you deserved.

“ I really am sorry, Hobie. “ Your freshly manicured nails trace along Hobie’s collarbone, before he grabs ahold of them, kissing the tips of your fingers. “ I guess I just got caught up again. “

“ Oh swee’heart. “ The lines around his eyes crinkle in amusement, a broad smile spreading across his face. “ I’m just teasin'. I could neva' be mad at’cha. “ His lips meet your forehead in a chaste kiss, wrapping his arms around your midsection. Your head rests in between the lapels of his leather jacket, able to hear the thrum of his heart in your ear. He couldn’t exactly blame you, not after witnessing the stress you were experiencing first hand. He knew you too well to expect your next move, even if it wasn’t intentional.

“ Jus’ promise you’ll talk to me next time, okay?” His soft voice tickles your ear, as he drops kisses wherever he can reach. “ I missed you. “ The two of you rock side to side gently, and you melt utterly into his embrace, trusting him completely.

God, wasn’t he just perfect? You had the most understanding boyfriend in the world. You felt awful for him even having to confront you like this, but it just couldn’t be helped. It was your dynamic after all. You both revolved around this game of cat and mouse, waiting to see who would make the first move. Having to sneak around base would do that to you.

“ You’re such a doll." His face fits gently in your palms as you pull him closer, planting a tender kiss on his lips. They slot perfectly against yours, melding together as if this is where they were meant to be. “ But, I’m still worried. “

“ Darlin’, “ he murmurs, lips still flush against yours, “ You don’t haveta' worry ‘bout a thing when I'm with you. “

When Hobie’s tongue runs across your lips, it tells you everything you need to know. Despite the amount of times this has gone down, your heart still races with the promise of what's to come, evident by the way Hobie's hips push up against yours, large palms cupping your ass. That's when the heat of your legs begins to stir, enveloping your body in a prickly warmth. All of a sudden you're up against the wall, his strong hands guiding you towards it. It's feels like second nature as your legs wrap around his slim waist, and you part your lips with a moan as his tongue darts inside, exploring the inside of your mouth. Your tongues dance as you wrap your arms around his neck, heavy pants filling the hallway.

" Got anythin' y'need to do baby? " The low timbre of his voice sends a shudder down your spine, just before his lips overtake yours again, stealing the breath from your lungs.

" Files...on Jess's desk. " He doesn't need you to repeat yourself to understand what you meant, sparing a glance at the discarded papers on the floor.

He's sure you already knew how well he cared for this position, but you were never extended the same sentiment. You were your own person, free to make your own decisions, regardless of what he thought. So he shoots a web collecting the files, before snaking an arm around your waist, pressing you up to his side. His lip ring is heated from warmth as it bump the ridge of your ear, before the teasing drawl of his voice fills it.

" Think y'have some time to spare? " You couldn't care much for Hobie's laughter at your enthusiastic nod, not when he was insinuating what you've been yearning for for days.

Which is how you end up in one of HQ's many storage closets, just a few paces away. It’s surprisingly dim, light flickering periodically above with a table stationed in the middle. You place yourself on top of it, Hobie immediately capturing your lips with his, one hand cupping your chin, while the other is planted firmly on your left side, effectively trapping you against the table.

Now you two are truly able to consume each other in a heated show of passion, free from the prying eyes of the outsiders. All that pent up energy from before releases itself into this room, serving as a breeding ground for your rendezvous. You're ravenous as your lips find his, bringing him as close as physically possible. Your fingers tangle in his hair, caressing the coarse wicks that sprouts from his scalp. Hobie welcomes it with a groan, and you swallow it greedily, taking whatever he has to offer.

Your back falls against the table, arms wrapped around Hobie's broad shoulders as his form engulfs yours. You both pull at each other, ripping off pieces of each other's suit. They're tossed across the room, flying past the stack of files placed safely on the shelfs against the wall. Eventually Hobie's left clad in his pants and boots, while you're working on the bottom half of your suit. You reach down to pull them off, before his hands fly out.

" Wait, wait, love, lemme.." The heat of his breath cascades over you, his broads palms squeezing your plush thighs. As he lowers himself to his knees, his idea becomes clear and you lift your legs to make it easier for him. He takes his time with you, moving tantalizingly slow as he pulls the rest of your suit off, until the entirety of your supple skin is free to the frigid air. Hobie's heart palpitates as he lifts himself off the floor, gazing hungrily at your body in its purest form. You looked absolutely ethereal even in simplicity. More beautiful than anything that has ever occupied this earth, nay the universe.

“ Fuck, love." He sucks in a breath. " You look like heaven. “ 

A deep fondness fills the expanse of your face, as you press your hands to your chest in appreciation. How did he always know just what to say? Was he aware that his words always brought an insurmountable ache to your heart?

As you beckon him closer, you two find each other once more. Time slows down between you, getting lost in each other's warmth. It allows him to savor the taste of your lips. Sweet, like spun sugar but with a subtle hint of spice. There was always more than meets the eye when it came to you.

His hips start to grind into yours, creating the most delicious friction. You feed into it, rocking your hips against him as the table starts to creak from your ministrations. It was now when the tender ache between your legs began to blossom into something insatiable, and you're unable to ignore it any longer.

" I need you, right now. " You all but whisper. His lips trail down to your neck, wet kisses are placed delicately across your throat. The flutter of his eyelashes tickle your skin, as he continues to worship you.

" You already have me, luscious. " You would've rolled your eyes, if not for his tongue gliding across your neck. It sends a deep shudder down your spine, one that has you grasping at his naked back. " Don't worry. I got what'cha need. " His gruff voice leaves your ear, as he raises himself from your neck, shielding you from the shoddy light. His form fills your peripheral vision, making him all you can focus on as you regain your breath. You never noticed his fingers creeping towards your cunt, too focused on the brown of his eyes. They never leave yours, and you take it as a sign that Hobie would never leave you.

Your mouth falls open in a gasp as his deft fingers push past your opening, delving deep inside your walls. " Goddamn, love. You're soaked." He sounds genuinely breathless, marveling at the slick between them. Your essence slips through his slender digits, as he pumps them in and out, reveling in your sounds. The way moans flew from your chest reminded him of a songbird. You sung so sweetly. " You're so beautiful y'know that? " He watches your face contort in pleasure, captivated as you writhe beneath him. " Gorgeous, gorgeous girl. "

" God, just fuck me already. " you cry out, exasperated. Your fists are clenched in desperation, fighting the urge to dig them in his wrist. You're second-guessing your thoughtful consideration as his fingers graze a sensitive spot, only furthering your ache for him.

" Don't worry, I'm gettin' to tha'. " His chuckle only irritates you, possibly more than his next words. " Can't a man jus' enjoy the view? " Thankfully he's deemed this to be enough torment, slowly withdrawing his fingers from your wet pussy. He pops them into his mouth, making sure you're watching as his tongue swirls around them - absorbing your flavor. If there was more time he would have eaten you out, but alas his lady needed him, and he was more than willing to deliver.

" Open those pretty legs f'me sugar. " With a tap to your knees, your sopping heat is exposed to the air, sticking to your legs. The translucent sheen glistens under the lighting, making Hobie hold back a whistle. He'd knew you'd be embarrassed, but god, were you a sight to behold. With a skilled hand he unbuckles his belt, freeing himself from the confines of his pants. His tip pokes at your entrance, sliding back and forth between your slick. Of course, he can't help but throw one more final jab, throwing your legs over his shoulders.

" Y'sure you're ready f'me baby? "

" Ask me that again, and I walk out. " A moan punches from your throat as his dick pushes all the way inside you, filling you to the brim. He groans, adjusting to how your cunt wraps around him, before starting a steady rhythm.

" Sorry swee' heart, but y'know I gotta tease ya a bit first. " Hobie holds your ankles in his hands, and his hips slap against your pussy, echoing throughout the room. Heavy breaths and gasps pour from your lungs, with each thrust wracks your body. The table legs shake and rub harshly on the floor, and Hobie's feet plant themselves further apart to reach deeper inside of you. You were squealing, hands scrambling for any place to balance yourself.

Hobie grits his teeth, eyes scrunched tight in concentration. His only focus was stretching you out, wanting to satisfy his girl. " You enjoyin' yourself, lovely? " he goads, brows furrowed as he zeroes in on your fucked out expression. Your moans flood his ears, and his deep voice drawls on. " Mm, I bet. Always such a good girl f'me, yeah? "

The questioning tilt in his voice prompts you to answer, but you're afraid you can't offer much but a brainless nod. Especially when the force of his thrusts knock every syllable from your lips before they have the chance to leave. He hits deep and hard, making sure you're fed every inch of his cock. It reaches depths not even his fingers have crossed, filling you up so deep you can barely comprehend.

“ God, you drive me wild y’know that? Can’ get enough of this tight cunt. “ His lips mashed against yours as he continued to babble, officially drunk off your pussy. A throaty groan emits from his throat as you clench around him, biting his bottom lip. All of a sudden, his firm grip releases your legs to grip at your waist, setting a new pace that jolts your body forward.

Your mouth flies open as he delivers another harsh thrust, your hands rushing to grip at his arms. Was he trying to kill you? If so, it was definitely working. His cock battered your pussy, realigning your insides. Moans fly out of your mouth, piercing through the air, adding to the heated atmosphere.

" Fuck beautiful, you're gonna make me cum. " You squeeze at his words, drawing a smirk from his lips. " Yeah, you like that? Want me to fill you up? " Fuck yes. He could do whatever he wanted if only it didn't include stopping. You were on cloud nine, uncaring of anything else that was going on. You didn't even care if you were late for your meeting, with the way his dick caressed your walls.

Eventually, that ache from before coils within your stomach, tightening into a knot. You were so close to your release and when Hobie hits that spot, you simply crumble, back arching against the arctic metal.

“ Oh god, oh god, Hobie! “

“ I know dovey. Let it out, I’m right here. “ His pace doesn't falter as he reaches down to toy with your clit, stroking the sensitive bundle of nerves between his index and pointer finger. The coil in your stomach finally snaps, and you cry out, releasing your juices all over Hobie’s cock.

“ Thaat’s it, gorgeous. " his voice barely reaches you as you cream on him, fingernails digging into his arms. Your orgasm spurs on his own, just before thick ropes of cum spill inside your pussy.

As the aftershocks wrack through your body, he soothes you with soft kisses to your neck and collarbone, large palms massaging your flesh. Your chest heaves as you regain your breath, Hobie waiting patiently before he pulls out. In the heat of the moment, you've forgotten that Hobie didn't put on a condom. Which is why it shouldn't surprise you at all when he's leaning down to whisper in your ear, lanky arms wrapping enveloping you in his warmth.

“ Guess I'll be with ya at all times, huh love? “

[arceus-insanity]

Why Did Teen & Tween Girls Love Creepypastas so Much?

The creepypasta fandom was my first fandom, it introduced me to fandom when I was 13 and every once in a blue moon, I check in on it. But why was it so popular amongst young girls? Part of it is that the line between ‘canon’ and fandom was made of tissue paper with a ton of holes. It allowed a feeling of engagement and belonging as anyone could add to the lore, and there was a possibility of your story or character taking off.

But after seeing the endless anti-writing advice of WhY dOeS eVeRy ViLlIaN nEeD tO bE cOmPlEx! No Tragic villains! We only want evil for the sake of being evil! I’ve been thinking about how all the creepypastas have sympathetic backstories, more of the creepypasta characters have tragic backstories than murderers.

Now I’m all for evil characters who are just asshats like Jack Horner (Dreamworks Puss in Boots 2), or the classic Disney villains, but so many spout this ‘advice’ without getting into why evil for the sake of being evil villains are good, or the pitfalls of tragic or complex villains, hence why I’m calling it anti-writing advice.

So why did tragic creepypasta characters work so well?

For starters and addressing one of the most dissed aspects, is the story quality, while with anyone writing or adding to the fandom quality varied to extreme degrees, most of them including one of the most well-known (Jeff the Killer 2011) was shit. These stories weren’t popular because they were well written, they were popular because they were engaging. They are like campfire stories, their value wasn’t based on quality but on the ideas they had. 

Now Teen girls and tweens are shamed for everything (See all the criticism Turning Red got for being ‘cringey’), they are dealing with the lack of respect a child gets and the expectations of an adult (to simplify). It’s also a common age for us to be discovering the darker elements of the world, assuming we haven’t experienced them ourselves yet. Many are dealing with bullies, or dealing with being catcalled or worse (a lot of the girl creepypasta’s were sexually assaulted, or betrayed by their partners). But I think a huge part of it is these characters let us live out our rage through them (to an extreme) (I recommend watching this short video on what I’m talking about, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Ea8fwetA8). One of the criticisms I’ve seen for Encanto is how peacefully the movie has Mirabel treat Alma after everything. Part of that was to allow viewers to live out the idyllic ending that many people who relate to Mirabel in her mistreatment by her family and community where their (for lack of a better word) abusers realize they were wrong and change. The group levelling this criticism or writing and/ or reading many of the fics on ao3 want to enjoy the other confronting your abuser fantasy, the revenge route, whether that be violent or not.

Jeff the Killer; Woods (2011) Vs Hodek (2008)

Now him and Slenderman being the most famous creepypasta’s out there, Jeff’s story is known for how shit it is. The famous 2011 Woods version isn’t going to win any rewards for its writing, but it’s not the original, so why is it the famous one, especially as I heard the OG was better, or at least more realistic? Well, I read the original, watched the video, the wiki and the official DeviantArt summary for it, and wondered how the Hell is this better written or more realistic, maybe by a molecule. It was harder to follow along how Jeff Hodek became a killer. But more than that, he was boring and what could have made him a ‘relatable’ (read understandable or even interesting) character was only in the summary and didn’t have any focus on it.

Meanwhile Woods, in the main confrontations in his story, didn’t start them. First, it was some violent kids going after him and his brother and not being prepared for someone who could and would fight back, albeit very violently. This is followed by the adults (his parents and the police) only listening to one side of the story and refusing to do any further investigation, which Liu purposely takes the blame for getting taken to juvie. His mom forces him to attend some random little kid's birthday party so she can fit in even after the prior events, where those bullies then show up to attack him again. Jeff wins again but arrives at the hospital with his signature white skin. And when he gets home and ends up killing his parents, it's after his mom says “get the gun”, after finding him mutilating himself in the bathroom, not call the doctor, or authorities, kill him that's the call. The only time he starts an incident is at the end of the story, and the start which takes place after so he’s on the run in this, and how far the violence goes isn't shown in those instances. Is this some badly written power fantasy bullshit, yes, but it’s interesting, it’s engaging, and Jeff can be used as a way to vent rage with a needed amount of distance

Eyeless Jack: Everyone Gets Backstories

Eyeless Jack is a perfect example of how every popular creepypasta character had a tragic past because he did not come with one. In his original story, he’s just a scary monster who breaks into someone’s home, steals an organ and the next night kills someone in that house. There are some interesting aspects, such as his surgical knowledge and the evidence that Eyeless Jack eats people, but most he seems to be a cross between a slasher and a monster. Then someone else gave him a backstory. It had him as a medical student that a cult sacrificed to some god turning him into Eyeless Jack. And for the most part everyone accepted that as Jack’s backstory, to the point his wiki had to include it

Carrying This over to The League of Villains (My Hero Academia)

Now years after the fact and a couple of fandoms later, I finally give in and read My Hero Academia. Now the fan content that pushed me into the series were major Midoriya fans and of Class 1A. And the Fics I first sought out reflected this, but it did not stay that way. I ended up becoming a massive fan of the League of Villains, and my opinion of Deku, 1A, the Heroes, and their supporters soured more and more over time. I found that the LoV weren’t the system failing but working exactly as intended, as not only were we shown the humanity (& backstories) of the League, but the ‘heroes’ constantly making disturbing decisions and doubling down.

A huge part of why I got into the series was because the early arcs seemed to present themselves as not just being a hero story but a story that challenged the toxic elements of not just its society but others as well. But as it went on not only did the protagonists fail to live up to that, but so much of the later arcs reframe the beginning arcs for the worse. The League however delivered on what drew me to this series, there were other elements, like the smaller cast allowed there to be some actual focus & development on the characters in the short moments we got with them.

While we were constantly with the heroes, we were constantly being introduced to new characters, and focusing on the supposed ‘greatness’ of an abusive monster, and spoiled abusive brat. The solutions the hero side showed were painfully superficial, avoided dealing with any of the root issues caused by their ‘wonderful’ hero society, doubling down to hell & back and more often than not just plain stupid & ignorant.

Why I Can’t Like the ‘Good’ Victims

Part of what inspired this post was another post (It’s been months since I saw it so this isn’t an exact quote) saying that Dabi (Touya Todoroki and one of the main members of the League) was the rage of eldest daughter syndrome. Not Fuyumi, his younger sister by less than a year, and very blatantly parentified, Dabi.

Why? For starters, while Fuyumi’s intro page says she resents her abusive father, her actions paint a very different story. In practice, she’s the most eager to be a loving daughter, and constantly supports him, even against her younger brother Natsuo who doesn’t want to forgive him.

Rei is even worse for this, telling Fuyumi and Natsuo that she forgives the man who abused her to the point of a mental breakdown the first time we meet her, because he sent her a flower. And is seen at the end pushing his wheelchair around, so his caretaker.

Did I forget to mention that Touya was believed dead, at age 13, as the result of that thing’s ‘parenting’, read abuse and grooming

I want to like them, there are so many characters in this series that I want to like but I just can’t force myself to after reading this series. Because as a blatant of an example(s) the Todoroki family is, they aren’t unique.

This whole series demands that everyone be good victims, and shows that a good victim must not only be silent on their mistreatment, never act out in even the slightest way, but should support their abuser, the reward of which is going back to the same circumstances that enabled this to begin with.

[leviaana]

Miraculous Movie Review (Rating: 4/10)

I watched the preview of the Awakening movie yesterday and really want to share my honest review. There’s going to be several things that I’ll criticize. So be warned!

Also: Spoilers!! DON’T read it if you haven’t seen it yet. This is my personal opinion. So please stay excited for it!! 🐞🪄

First of all, my overall rating for this movie is a 4/10. Just yesterday I was ready to give it a 5/10, but quickly noticed it had much more things that upset me than I initially realized when walking out of the movie.

I know it’s a pretty low rating coming from such a huge fan like myself, but that’s probably the main issue. I’m a big fan of the show, so changes in lore and characterization will be more apparent to me. For better or for worse, in this case, mostly for worse.

On the first glimpse the movie seems like a retelling - a soft reboot, if you will - of show’s origin story. The plot goes much further than that however, as it also provides a conclusion in form of a final battle with Hawkmoth as well as an identity reveal of our two main heroes.

In order to ensure the entire premise fits into a 90 minute movie, a lot of things regarding the shows lore were simplified. I say that as a neutral statement seeing as a simplification can be either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your opinion of the source material.

Personally, it left me rather unsatisfied but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with the good things!

One of the things I really enjoyed was the animation! Seeing miraculous with such a high production value certainly felt like a cool summer breeze. While I do prefer the original character models style wise, it was still just nice to see them in this cutesie pretty style! The locals were gagging!

Ladybug and Cat Noir were especially gorgeous!

I also really enjoyed the singing. I watched the German dub and it was very neat!

Sad to say that was pretty much how long my enjoyment lasted. Everything apart from what I’ve mentioned above was… interestingly handled… to say the least. Let me elaborate.

1. The dialogue was awful!

Truly not the biggest fan of musicals but I couldn’t wait for them to start singing just in order for them to STOP TALKING 😩!

The dialogue was so awkward and stiff. All of the characters were interacting very weirdly with each other. At times it would sound like several lines of dialogue were cut from the final version, as the characters barely acknowledged each other verbally. They didn’t talk with each other, but past each other.

Moreover, every second phrase was a very cheesy one liner. “Believe in yourself.”, “Listen to your heart.”, “stronger together”. Super overdone.

The movie wanted to be inspirational so bad, it forgot to be genuine.

Some examples that I recall from memory:

“Mom, I don’t have any friends and I’m scared to go I school.”

“Just believe in yourself, Marinette.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Or.

“Tikki, I’m in love with Adrien.”

“Listen to your heart, Marinette.”

“My heart……Adrien.”

2. How did they manage to make Ladynoir banter … weird and uncomfortable to watch?

Don’t let these pretty movie shots fool you because Movie!ladynoir spent their time in a constant roasting competition that they were somehow both losing!

Not once did they manage to establish that flirty and charming atmosphere around them. No, they were draaaagging each other through filth. And maybe it could have been somewhat fun, god knows I love couples that can roast each other. If only the dialogue was better and didn’t reek of “we have no idea how young people interact”.

In a desperate attempt to make jokes, they let Chat call LB a sidekick or watermelon in every. single. scene. To say that it got annoying when the jokes didn’t land the first 10 times they were made is an understatement. No Milady, no Bugginette, no little wink or a kiss on the hand. Only watermelon and sidekick. Them talking in weird cut off phrases. With careless whisper playing in the background.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some beautiful moments. But their beauty can only ever do so much when met with weird pacing, dialogue and characterization. I’ll talk about that last part in a minute.

3. Everything was so on-the-nose.

The characters would constantly say how they feel and what they think aloud. Jeremy didn’t trust us with even an ounce of media literacy. Classic case of always telling, never showing. Not to mention the constant inspirational quoting in a desperate attempt to convey some deep message. Is this a movie script or my moms facebook page? I guess we‘ll never know.

4. Characterization: Marinette

Having Marinette be somewhat scatterbrained but overall still respected by her peers is not inspirational enough! Make her your average teenage outcast and a total loser. Dad, you’re embarrassing me in front of the cool kids!

If you enjoy that kind of characterization that’s okay! Personally, I thought it was very cliche. It just.. didn’t do anything for her as a character. Having her start off at a much „lower” point in life, with almost no support system, only makes her coming of age journey to eventually become a self accepting confident heroine take longer. Seeing as the movie is only 90 minutes, the moment we see her “shine” is when it’s all almost over.

5. Ladybug …?

Did I mention Ladybug doesn’t use her lucky charm? Not. once. No crazy plans to show that she’s smart and creative. Just a pretty girl swinging around.

6. Adrien

I have a bit more to criticize about the characterization of Movie!Adrien.

The longer I think about it, the more it becomes apparent that they really didn’t know how to write Adrien. His personality appears inconsistent, almost like they were trying to fit him in too many roles at once. He is either extremely closed off and mysterious (even towards his friends), a comic relief character, bathing in self pity or just outright cocky. Those hoping to see his politeness and selflessness will be disappointed. This character only is ever shown to be self centered. A perfect example is how he *didn’t do anything* to be called worthy of the Black Cat Miraculous. He was just one of the „chosen ones“. When the Adrien from the series sacrificed his own freedom to help Master Fu.

Another example is how this Adrien doesn’t really see anything in Marinette. He called her strange in their first interaction and never really lost a single thought on her throughout the rest of the series. No common praises, no support, just awkwardness and not the wholesome kind. In fact, I would argue Marinette and Adrien aren’t even friends in the movie, the only interaction to suggest otherwise was slammed as a 5 second scene in a 2 minute montage.

Even if you were to suggest their bond was formed off screen. We don’t really see it ever take root. He even turned down her gift and invitation to go to the ball with her. Yes, you guessed correctly. It was because he was busy bathing in self pity over being rejected by Ladybug. Yikes.

To sum it up, this Adrien really doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Ever. They massacred my boy.

7. Chat Noir

His charming smugness as Chat Noir crossed the fine line that turned to arrogance.

Considering how Adrien was characterized, that comes as no surprise.

As mentioned in my criticism towards the dialogue and the Ladynoir dynamic, this Cat is often seen discrediting LB with unfunny jokes. The moment you see him actually appreciate Ladybug, open up to her and Woo her, it’s all overshadowed by his entitlement to her affection.

Some may argue that we see traces of such attitude in the show as well. However, in a series, Chat Noir has many redeeming qualities as well as time to grow, change and move past these flaws. And boy, move past these flaws he did. In the movie, it’s all you get. Take it or leave it.

In one scene, he even lets her think he was hurt by an Akuma in order to catch her worrying about him. It was just a short scene and most people would look past it, but I think it’s these small details that really show how these movie characters tick in comparison to the series.

8. Akumas/Hawkmoth

Just a small detail that kind of ended up taking away the enjoyment of all action scenes is how the Akumas in the movie do not have a motive. There’s just some random people that you don’t care about before their akumatization and that you won’t care about after.

Hawkmoth doesn’t make a deal with them, ask for ladybug and chat noirs miraculous in exchange for his powers, none of that.

He just makes them evil and they do evil things for shits and giggles. The movies premise doesn’t even suggest he needs the miraculous. He just needs to get close enough to Ladybug and Chat Noir to steal Tikki and Plagg.

9. The Ending

I just wanted to dip into that ending real quick. In the movie, Gabriel is redeemed when he finds out about Chat Noir being Adrien. He apologizes to him and they make up. The scene surely will make people emotional, but from my perspective it was all rather predictable.

Whether or not Gabe was worthy of a redemption in the movie is a topic to discuss on its own. Personally, I was okay with it.

What I found more interesting however was…

10. The reveal

This is the moment most people have been waiting and yearning for. And I may sound a bit smug when I say that the movie served a good purpose to show us that a fast reveal would have never ever been satisfying!

It was super underwhelming because - of course it was!

Marinette and Adrien barely had a connection! For all we know they could have been total strangers and their reaction to each other’s identity wouldn’t have been any different than what we saw in the movie.

We never saw Marichat or Ladrien interact either. So that certainly lead to a less explored dynamics. Cue unsatisfying reveal.

They really tried to make it this big emotional final moment, but really? We just saw Ladybug and Chat Noir lean in for a kiss without their masks. Like in a new fit. Nothing really groundbreaking came out of it.

Any fake reveal in the show was better than that and I mean it with every fiber of my being.

And don’t even get me started on how Adrien only ever noticed Marinette when she revealed to be Ladybug. It’s just not it.

Final thoughts.

There’s sooo many more things that I could elaborate on but I think for now I’ve said enough to support my rather poor rating of the movie.

In my opinion, the movie relies too much on people enjoying the source material while trying to be its own thing. It risks leaving everyone unsatisfied.

Those who watch the movie as a stand-alone are met with weird dialogue as well as plot, characters and dynamics that aren’t at all fleshed out.

Meanwhile those who watch the movie because they like the show will be inevitably comparing the movie to its far superior source material.

[maryland-officially]

Ok I'm genuinely confused here so don't be mean please. All of this is /genq /nbr

I have a dissociation disorder and I'm questioning plurality (I would be considered traumagenic if I am 1). From my understanding of systems, they're formed through trauma that happens before the age of ten. The brain puts up amnesia barriers and the child's personality doesn't form correctly, so multiple alters are formed instead.

Endos confuse me. They're systems that say they somehow did this without trauma? How do they fit into this? Like, I want to be supportive but some of the rhetoric I've seen genuinely pushed me into a panic attack once (it was a post saying basically you can just make headmates whenever if you want and for fun, you don't need trauma or anything which I think made me upset cos... Why would someone want to be a system and how could they view it as a whole as fun?? & the idea you could just manifest it out of thin air confuses me deeply)

I'm sorry if you don't want asks like this but you're a relatively big blog and I've just seen you say you support endos so I figured you'd be a good person to ask.

Explanation below cut because it got long ^^

Ah, well. Most, if not like all endogenic systems, are non-disordered or use that term.

Endogenic systems can form in many different ways -- we're traumagenic, but we're pretty sure there are some endo alters, and we usually find them by talking into the void of the brain and getting a response that isn't from somebody established-- I'm sorry, this isn't very helpful, but think about it like:

Talking to yourself in your brain, and then suddenly you realize that you do not in fact control the person/alter replying, and that is not you. That's kind of what it's like.

Think of a cave:

At first, you think the echo is yourself. And it probably is, or it could be. And then the echo doesn't say what you say anymore -- it changes it and it isn't exactly 'you' speaking. Well the brain is the cave and the echo is a headmate forming.

This is the way that WE know about when alters form. It's a bit like this. We/a member thinks that we/they're thinking to our/themselves, and then bam. somebody different. not formed from stress or trauma

I'm sure there are other ways this could happen,, but none that we know of

so instead of uhm

I've seen this diagram/things like it to describe DID + plurality, so I'll explain with this.

This is an adult brain

This is a child's brain

This is the child's brain developing

With this model, DID (from what I've seen,,) looks like this.

The circles spread out, and might combine into large circles between themselves but not a full one as the brain develops

I'm not sure how accurate this model is, but I've seen people use it to describe DID. This is a sort of simplified version that makes more sense but is probably less detailed

Anyway let's say an endogenic systems starts as a large circle -- though,, this might not always be correct and is probably not majorly correct, since brains take a while to develop (im so sorry if this diagram is confusing. The circles are supposed to resemble child's thoughts/personality traits and how they assemble into a person. Or at least i think--)

Well anyway, an endogenic systems would look like this in my brain:

A part of the person kind of drifts off into its own thing

And then it might turn out like this

Sometimes there's a piece that there's no way to know where came from. They just kind of appear. They might have dropped from the brain, who knows? It can be hard to tell.

These can be fictives, or other alters.

Anyway this is my take/diagram on how endo systems form. It's probably inaccurate, but hopefully we got it mostly right ;;

[lucysarah-c]

Sometimes I get kinda sad going rereading the manga and remembering how much of Levi’s substance they cut from from the anime in favor of his “knight in shining armor” image. I feel like that’s where a lot of the discourse always comes from. People interpret his character from so many different perspectives and if you haven’t read the manga it’s actually so hard to get get a clear look at his character because the anime is just not complete.

Like, especially the scene where Levi tells Historia to become Queen. I will forever be mad they cut it. That was such an important point to his character because if Historia had outright refused, everything Levi had done in the name of humanity, all the people he’s killed, tortured and everyone he’s lost, it would have all been for nothing. I just don’t think he would have been able to live with that.

I love the gritty parts of him. It’s what makes him so well written and probably why he’s been one of my favorite characters for 10 years.

Hi, love!

Oh, you might be referring to my post about how it's hard for me to write Levi perfectly and how I might portray him too harshly, right?

Honestly, I agree with you. I always say I write "manga Levi" and not "anime Levi." Anime Levi is like a simplified version of him, I believe. In Spanish, we would say they took all his "spice," to be honest.

Manga Levi is far from perfect as a hero, but he's hilarious. He's a sassy little man, and I adore him. In the English official translation, they didn't capture this, but in the Spanish one (or at least the one I read back in the day), when he meets Eren in jail, he says (I'm translating), "you have amnesia and your daddy goes missing, so convenient."

The idea of Levi standing next to Erwin, meeting Eren, who is his long-time fan, and saying "daddy," is hilarious to me. It was so funny that I had that panel as my phone wallpaper almost my entire high school years. Manga Levi is funnier, has way more facial expressions than just stoic ones, and he has a more pronounced personality. There are a bunch of panels of him either having great sassy moments or literally having a facial expression that shows he's thinking, "this bitch…"

Regarding the scene with Historia, I understand why some people don't like it, but I actually did. Levi is not perfect—I love him, don't get me wrong. He saw almost every single person he loves die, Erwin is about to be executed, their lives are hanging by a thread, he's fighting the only person he considered family, he tortured a man, etc. They are informing this girl, who is very young, that she will be queen, and she's like, "hell no." After everything he did, after everything he sacrificed, the only thing Historia has to do in Levi's eyes is sit her ass on a throne and live a peaceful life full of privileges… I would have gotten mad too.

This is why I say that the canon time is not our society. I try to write Levi as I believe he would truly be in the society inside the walls. He has issues that he probably won't be able to fix because it's not modern society. It's completely alright if someone likes and prefers another interpretation of Levi's character. I simply enjoy writing him the most when he's flawed and lovely at the same time.

Ugh, sorry for the ramble, I just have a very hard time summarizing ideas.

Love ya <3

[firfirov]

{I should have posted this a day ago but I forgot.}

Almost a month has passed since that post, but my studies and business got in the way, forgive me.

To be honest, I can't really think of anything for most of the characters, so... Thank you for at least having something.

❗IMPORTANT. I didn't think through the design for some characters in different forms very well, so they may look weird. And it really was easier for me to simplify my task. + Initially everything was written in Russian, so it may look different in English (in the Russian version it will be in ALT).❗

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

Peppino. Quite nervous for his job as a Seraphim (I think he's Seraphim, I'm not sure). And despite this, he does his job well. His best friend is Gustavo (obviously). Confronts Pizzahead in Divine Tower to stop him from putting his plan into action. After the events of Divine Tower, he became a meeting, but still remained nervous. /In another form he is a human, he uses it often./

Gustavo. Unlike some, he has 2 eyes in the form of dots/ovals in true form. A cute and unusual looking Cherub (more like an angel with 4 wings, or something like that), and also short. Gets along well with everyone in the tower. His best friend is Peppino (obviously). Helps Peppino during his journey through Divine Tower. After the events of Divine Tower, nothing has changed. /In another form he is a gnome, he uses it depending on the situation./

Bruno. Another Seraphim (I think Seraphim...), it's not hard to guess who he's clearly related to. He was last seen "a week ago before the Divine Tower events." It is unknown where he is now, and whether he is alive at all. Maybe... You know? After the events of Divine Tower, he was also not found. /In another form he is a human being, he uses it when necessary./

Pepperman. Half-fallen angel. Artist with his own views on art (please don't be indignant). 1 boss in Divine Tower. No mouth, but can still talk. He gets along well with many people, except The Noise and Pizzahead. He can often be seen talking to The Vigilante, like best friends (or maybe even more...). After the events of Divine Tower, nothing has changed, he also continues to create art. /In another form, he is a human, he rarely uses it./

The Vigilante. Half-fallen angel. "Justice is his middle name." 2nd boss in Divine Tower. He is not blind, just the blindfold on his eyes symbolizes "impartiality/justice". Normal relationship with everyone except The Noise and Pizzahead. He can often be seen talking to Pepperman like best friends (maybe even more...). After the events of Divine Tower, nothing has changed, he still administers justice and balance, although in addition he is looking for Pizzahead. /In another form he is a human, he rarely uses it./

The Noise. Half-fallen angel. The one who will lead House the most. 3rd boss in Divine Tower. Keep your hands away, otherwise he might bite again. Apparently he's really annoying everyone with his antics. His best relationship is only with Noisette. After the events of Divine Tower, nothing has really changed for him. /In another form, he is a gremlin, which he uses often.

Noisette. Half-fallen angel. A pretty girl who works in her own cafe. I hope she learns to cook.''' Although she looks a bit creepy in her true form, she is actually kind and fluffy. She treats everyone positively, no matter who it is. Her best relationship is with The Noise. After the events of Divine Tower, she opened a new coffee shop because the old one was badly damaged. /In another form, she is a gremlin, which she uses often./

Fake. Literally a copy of Peppino, but with flaws and a texture like dough. Is there anything more to say about it?.. 4th boss in Divine Tower. Periodically behaves like a frog. Generally good, if not angered or provoked. After the events of Divine Tower, he often follows Peppino around like a little tail, or just watches him. /In another form, he is a "human", and uses the same as Peppino./

Pizzahead. A fallen Seraphim (I think he was Seraphim...) with severe delusions of grandeur and hypocrisy. If he had been a little better, this would not have happened to him at all. The final boss in Divine Tower. Despite his plan, he "successfully" failed it. Treat everyone, naturally, hypocritically. After the events of Divine Tower, he disappeared, but he will surely be found. /In another form is a person, used in extreme cases./

...

So... If anyone has a question about why I named these variations this way, then... I had no ideas, sorry.

And I hope in the future I will reach the rest!.. I'm not sure😕

But in any case, they can be drawn more or less, they can even be depicted together... uh... I have strange thoughts, I know. And for some reason I have a joke in my head about "pigtail cheese"...I wonder why?

Edit: I just now noticed some inaccuracies, damn.

Edit 2: I was supposed to post this at 9am but I must have accidentally left it in draft so I'm posting at 3:30pm.

[kayleigh-83]

I updated my resources page to include a few programs & utilities I use that I think everyone would benefit from! Veteran players probably know at least a couple of these very well, but hopefully some players can benefit from this! Sharing the information here too so it can be saved more easily if anyone wants to. But the Resources link in my pinned post also has this section now.

------------------------------------------------------------------

This isn’t a comprehensive list of all TS2 outside programs and utilities I use, as some are more infrequent and specialized, or tailored to CC makers or intermediate and advanced builders. These are ones I use regularly and would recommend for your average player. 

Hood Checker - checks your hood and cleans it up to prevent corruption. Thanks to April Black’s work we now know corruption is far less of a risk than once believed, but this tool is still totally worthwhile to use regularly to clean your hoods I think. As April mentions in her video, the main categories you should be worried about Hood Checker finding errors in are Family Ties and Sim Wants and Fears (I’ve never had it find errors there and my hood has currently been played for over 6 years).

Object Relocator - Easy to use tool so you can recategorize objects, re-price them, and move them easily between build and buy mode. All things you can do with SimPE but far less fussy and way faster.

Outfit Organizer - Another tool that simplifies an established SimPE capability, you can very quickly change which outfit categories clothing shows up in, which age groups (assuming body type compatibility, it will not magically morph an adult outfit to fit teens for example), which gender (again assuming body type compatibility, for example all ages up through child have identical body types for male and female) and even shoe sounds where applicable. Really great if you want that fancy dress to only show in formal and not everyday, or if you’ve got the Separates For All mod and you want to make that really casual t-shirt available in the pajamas and gym categories too.

Sims2Pack Clean Installer - Sims2Pack file types are used for lots and Sims. This tool lets you see any and all CC that got packaged with the Sim/lot and remove anything you don’t want to download with a simple tickbox. I especially like to use this when downloading Sims with CC if I prefer to have a CC free version of them (ie: only their facial structure) and layer in my own CC in game. Also useful for lots if you see that there is a bunch of CC included from a build set you already have, and you don’t want to download duplicate files, or you just aren’t interested in any of the custom wallpaper the builder put in the house and you’ll put your own in when you place in  your game.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Characters with Bothersome Traits

Debut: Tetris Blast

I am the kind of person who is delighted by, among other things, a certain pairing of words that many (sad) people may never think to consider in their lives. This pair of words is "Tetris Characters". I have already told you about some of those in the form of personified blocks, but there are even more, and this will certainly not be my last time mentioning the topic!

Tetris Blast is a Tetris spinoff, in particular, a version of the Bombliss game mode made for the Game Boy. It is like Tetris, but each Tetri- or Tri- or Domino has at least one Mino that is a bomb! The standard completed row does not automatically disappear, but if it contains a bomb, that bomb will detonate, destroying blocks around it. And this is what I was doing, playing the standard mode, when every five stages, I was greeted by a new little critter dancing on a stage! What a lovely surprise! But who were these creatures?

It turns out this game also has a Fight Mode! Where you Fight some guys! The manual refers to them as characters with bothersome traits, so that's as close to a band name for them as we'll get. Let's meet them all RIGHT NOW!

Cubit Cubit is a bit spunchlike, but if our favorite sponge was a grumpy nudist! It is the most basic of all these creatures, and just wanders around. I like its round armless hands. A very easy guy to obliterate.

Scraptor No offense to Cubit, but Scraptor is already way more interesting! It's a very geometric creature, a square "diamond" whose body is split into two halves. It is actually one big mouth, and the halves detach on a tiny hinge to open and eat bombs! This was the very first of these creatures I saw, because it is the first one that dances in the intermission scenes. What an incredible first impression!

Gloop Gloop is a little cutie! It is like a drop a dollop a squeezing. It also looks like an extremely simplified cartoon whale! You know how there is a whale emoji and also a cartoon whale emoji? Gloop could be the next stage of evolution. I also really love the way it laughs. It looks so innocent, but then laughs in a way that looks SO mocking, it feels like the cuteness is a facade!

Creepa Creepa is another little cutie, which there are bound to be many of when looking at little guys exclusive to a Game Boy game. I like that it is cylinder-shaped, like it came out of a can, or is a can! Though it looks cylindrical, its bothersome trait is to make extra blocks. And I also like its shoes. If it didn't have the shoes, it would be as basic as Cubit, probably. But basic isn't bad!

Squidly Squidly is my favorite of these guys! Look at it!!! It is like they distilled everything cute about Creepa into an even cuter form! Its smile is smaller, more gentle. Its eyes are bigger and bulge from the sides of its head, like its namesake, a squid! It has no arms to make it feel even more like a Video Game Creature, and yet still wears those excellent shoes. I guess the shape isn't necessarily an upgrade from Creepa, but this would be precious regardless of shape, and I am neutral about the change. Actually, it reminds me of a well-used eraser, and now that I thought of that, I like the shape even more! If this wasn't enough, Squidly has the ability to make entire rows of blocks, and after it does this, it dances happily, like it knows you can't get it now. This would typically be rude, but it's so cute that it can't be rude. I think it is truly just delighted!

Dug Grub Dug Grub probably has the best name in the game! Any name related to larvae is a winning name to me! If my name was Maggie I would always specify "like maggot" when telling it to people. Dug Grub is like a blob with a frog's head, and its eyes bulge SO much that they sometimes even appear to be floating! It has the bothersome trait of eating Mega Bombs, which is one of the most bothersome traits of all, because those things are precious resources. But if anything has to have an Eating Something Large Special Attack, it would be a Frog Blob.

Shadow Shadow is a cheeky little potato of a cyclops creature. Oh so cheeky, but also seems to be a bit of a sore loser! Get over it, am I right? It's just Bombs. It has Squidly's row creation ability in addition to probably the coolest ability in the game: it is able to enlarge its eye and envelop the playing field in darkness, which momentarily freezes the player's actions! I guess that is how it gets its name. I also must assume that the reason the screen goes dark is that its eye gets so big and effective that it is Seeing all that light before any of us gets a chance to. Save some for me! *Shadow's pupil burps*

B-Boy Finally we have B-Boy. Probably short for Ball-Boy. But there are so many possibilities... Buddy-Boy? Buckaroo-Boy? Boisterous-Boy? Maybe his real name is Baby-Boy and his parents dote on him so much, and he changed it out of embarrassment. He also adopted a new persona. Smug. Mischievous. Don't worry, he'll probably grow out of it after middle school. But for now, he is a real Bothersome-Boy! He ALSO has stolen Squidly's row creation ability! Squidly is such a trailblazer and I think would be justified in suing. Worst of all, though, B-Boy has a Bomb Attack that can actually regenerate his own health! Not an orb to be underestimated! Indeed, this is an orb to restart the level multiple times as a result of. A real Bad-Boy!