#when this is from a game or a show its probably the soundtrack doing the heavy lifting on making the line land correctly

[stellaspectral]

I just recently found your blog and to say I absolutely love your writing is definitely an understatement.

I really love your post about Dating rise Donnie headcanons, and was wondering if you could do a version of it for rise Leo? Of course, if this has already been requested or you can’t or don’t want to write it for any reason, no hard feelings!

Remember to take breaks and drink water!

A/N: Wow, thank you so much for the kind words! It truly means a lot! 😊 I can totally do a version of dating headcanons for Rise Leo! I haven’t had that specific request until now, so here they are 💖

(And I appreciate the reminder about breaks and hydration; I need to remember more often!)

Dating Rise Leo (SFW)

💙 ROTTMNT Leonardo/Gender Neutral Reader 💙

CWs: None. All characters are aged-up.

Leo is always trying to look cool to impress you. Expect unnecessary flips to grab something, leaning against walls/doorframes, etc. This is almost always accompanied by a smirk that’s trying its absolute hardest to be charming, and probably a wink or two.

He’ll find excuses to sling an arm over your shoulder, playfully nudge you, or ‘accidentally’ brush hands when reaching for the same thing. It’s his way of breaking the touch barrier under the guise of casual confidence.

Leo frames asking you out as a challenge: “Bet you can’t beat me at [video game/contest here]. If I win, you gotta go on a date with me. If you win …” He’ll pause and smirk. “… you still gotta go out on a date with me. ‘Cause winning is awesome and you should celebrate with someone equally as awesome—like me.” Then he’ll wink, hoping the bravado masks the nervousness.

Get ready for a barrage of cheesy pickup lines, usually delivered with finger guns and a hopeful smirk. “Are you a portal? ‘Cause I feel like I could just fall right into you.” or “Did it hurt? When you fell from … that moderately high ledge I just portaled you away from?” He thinks they’re hilarious and peak romance.

Playful teasing is Leo’s primary love language. He’ll gently poke fun at your quirks, engage in witty banter (or what he considers witty), and try to get a rise out of you. If you can dish it back, he’s absolutely thrilled. It becomes a friendly verbal sparring match he finds incredibly engaging.

He bestows upon you a series of increasingly ridiculous (and often pun-based) nicknames. He uses them frequently, testing them out to see which ones make you laugh, groan, or blush. It’s his way of creating an intimate inside joke between you two.

Leo will turn almost anything into a playful challenge, enjoying the lighthearted competition with you. He’s genuinely happy even if you win, though he’ll demand a rematch.

He’s not shy about showing affection. He’ll sling an arm around your shoulder, casually grab your hand, maybe even attempt a dramatic dip-kiss when the mood strikes. He wants everyone to know you’re his awesome partner.

Forget your jacket? Want snacks from the place across town? He’ll use his portal powers for you (and he definitely also uses them to make dramatic entrances when portalling to meet up with you.)

For dates, there will be rooftop picnics with breathtaking city views, some urban exploration, maybe a visit to the Coney Island Boardwalk. Back at the lair, prepare for extensive viewings of the Jupiter Jim franchise, complete with his commentary.

His gifts are … eclectic. Expect things like:

1. A t-shirt with a terrible pun: I Fell For You (Through a Portal) or You’ve Stolen a Pizza My Heart. 2. A coupon book for redeemable ‘Leo Services’: One free portal ride (destination may vary), One epic training montage soundtrack, or One distraction from boring chores. 3. Occasionally, he’ll nail it with something surprisingly thoughtful he overheard you mentioning weeks ago.

Got a big test, presentation, or event? Leo becomes your hype-man. He might leave encouraging (and pun-filled) notes via portal or send ridiculous motivational voice messages. He believes you’re amazing and wants you to succeed, even if his methods are extra.

While he loves being the center of attention, he also loves seeing you shine. If you achieve something cool or demonstrate a skill, he’s your loudest cheerleader. He’ll brag about you to his brothers and anyone else who’ll listen.

He thinks you’re the coolest person ever (besides himself, naturally) and he’ll hype up your interests, even if he doesn’t fully understand them. If you’re passionate about something, he’ll ask questions and encourage you enthusiastically.

If you’re upset or stressed, Leo’s go-to move is distraction. Feeling down? Suddenly, you’re sharing a pizza on top of the Chrysler Building and he’s cracking jokes to help you feel better. He might not always know the right words, but he excels at trying to make you laugh your worries away, even if just for a little while.

He also quickly learns your go-to comfort foods. He might not know exactly what to say, but he’ll appear with your favorite takeout, a specific type of candy, etc. Whatever you like. It’s his tangible way of trying to make things better.

The smirk drops fast if you’re in danger. One second he’s cracking a joke, the next his katanas are out, and he’s placing himself squarely between you and whatever threat dares approach. He might play it cool afterwards, but the fierce protectiveness in his eyes is unmistakable.

He’s not immune to jealousy. If someone else is clearly hitting on you, he won’t make a big scene. Instead, he subtly reasserts his presence with louder jokes, an arm over your shoulder, or suggesting you two leave for some place ‘way cooler.’

He picks up on your specific slang, your favorite obscure references, the particular way you phrase things. He’ll weave them into his own banter, just to see you smile or playfully roll your eyes. It’s his way of showing he listens and wants to connect on your level.

Just as you learn to read his moods beneath the jokes, he becomes surprisingly adept at reading yours. He notices the slight shift in your tone, the way you hold your shoulders when stressed, or the specific sigh that means you’re overwhelmed. He might not always react perfectly, but he sees it, and his attempts to cheer you up become more targeted.

While he projects effortless cool, you catch glimpses of the weight he feels as leader. He might get contemplative after a mission that didn’t go perfectly or seek your opinion on a tactical decision he’s mulling over. He values your perspective, even if he doesn’t always admit it directly.

Beneath the bravado, there are moments when the façade drops. Maybe after a tough mission or when he’s messed something up. He’ll get quieter, rest his head on your shoulder, and implicitly seek reassurance. He might not say he’s feeling insecure or scared, but you learn to read the signs, and being there for him in those moments deepens your connection immensely.

Leo’s gratitude often comes in quieter moments: a sincere “Thanks for putting up with me,” a hand squeeze after you’ve helped him through a moment of insecurity, or just a soft, genuine smile directed only at you. These subtle moments mean more from him than all the jokes and puns.

[3liza]

the twisted metal show is just getting progressively goofier and funnier and I can't emphasize enough how refreshing that is, even though it's missing a lot of the same stuff I was complaining about missing with fallout. a good attitude can excuse a litany of sins tbh!!! it's correctly on tone with the source material (which is dumb as hell) and not stuck up its own ass and not trying to adopt any more elevated message than "Orange County is full of psychopaths" which is something we can all get behind tbh

they are clearly aiming for a thunderdome or escape from LA tone and getting, generously, almost as close as they can without thunderdome production budget. once again the wardrobe is really lacking, which always bugs me when wardrobe is so easy to do on no budget if you just hire the right creatives. i don't want to watch serious or irony poisoned post apocalyptic shit anymore, I'm fed up. whanging that horseshoe as close as you can get to "mad max" and falling short is preferable to whatever smug tech conference bullshit was going on in fallout.

I'm not saying it's good but it is fun. I'm especially enjoying how the stupid action movie dialog is getting progressively more self aware, but not in an annoyingly ironic way. they are getting comfortable with letting their writers and actors softshoe a little bit and we're starting to get Simpsons-style crowd bits like the protagonists encountering some poor bastard strung up by one of the wasteland gangs and remarking that "maybe he deserved it" and the extra groans and raspily retorts "I didn't!", which got a genuine laugh out of me because they didn't linger on it and let it get stale.

i wish they had pushed this a lot father in terms of making it more late 90s grimdark gargoyle shit like the games, but that stuff is expensive and I think they spent all their money on actual vehicles (which I respect) and didn't have a lot left over for costumes and set dressing

what's most surprising about this entire production is how laser targeted it is at people born between 1980 and 1988, which cannot be a significant television viewership in the larger picture. there is almost zero effort to make this relatable to anyone outside 40 year old Oregon Trail millennials. the soundtrack is so fucking funny

special mention to casting a bunch of actual 40 year old women and letting them look haggard and dirty and wrinkled for once

really Sweet Tooth is the biggest disappointment. i understand he's the franchise figurehead but they fumbled it imo. i don't think will arnett is the right casting. idk if sweet tooth should even talk or be human tbh, I kind of always saw him more as a sort of ogre or avatar than just a normal human psycho killer, and having him onscreen so much from the beginning was probably network mandated but really spoiled the biggest narrative tension for franchise fans they could have saved up to cash in on a good reveal later. oh well. alternately I think leaning into it being JUST will arnett in a clown mask would have been funnier than trying to split the difference with dubbing arnett over a more physically powerful Joe Samoa playing the body

[wingzie]

Jikook and the Importance of Photos

Photographs are special. They map out our lives through precious memories. They leave a footprint in time that can forever be part of our history. These glimpses of our past, make us who we are and show what or who is important to us. They are full of so much love and emotions, even more so when they are shared with those most trusted to us. This goes for every photo shared by the members.

 I personally think it’s amazing that we can tell when a photo of Jimin is taken by Jungkook, there’s a certain style to it and it comes across even at a glance. One of my favourite photos of Jimin by Jungkook is this one:

This photo was taken from the behinds of Life Goes On. Each MV was beautifully directed by Jungkook, and it’s hard to miss the references made from within their old dorm. I know Jungkook isn’t keen on photos but, just like during GCFT, Jimin is looking at Jungkook and not the camera here with that smile. With that one look, that we are so familiar with, we can trace every single moment within their history which has that same shining expression. It tells a story over time, but also that one photo itself is so telling in the way that it was captured. One of my favourite photos of Jungkook by Jimin is this one:

There’s something raw and delicate in this photo.You can see it in Jungkook’s eyes. Each item in the photo tells its own little story, from the Birthday cake to the polaroid photos on the table that we never saw. This photo is all we saw from the night of Jungkook’s Birthday in 2019 and sometimes I am reminded that with these glimpses into their lives, there are still so many moments of theirs that we are unaware of. For example, Jungkook had a hickey on his neck during MOTS:Online and none of us had any idea until the DVD Behinds came out. 

For every selca or video that Jikook has shared with us, it shows a part of them that we are so lucky to witness. To be able to watch their growth over the years is magical and something I will always cherish. Why am I going on about photos and memories though?  Because they give so much of themselves to us and I will never take it for granted, nor expect them to give more to us than they want to. Some of their memories are for them only, but we can still hold dear what we know already…

Some of you know this already, but I have been caring for my Mother lately. Over the last few months, her memory has worsened. In an attempt to help, we play memory games and repeat simple tasks together. However, her memory is something that cannot be simply fixed with such methods. I had the idea to get out family photos, until I realised that we had stopped taking them when my parents divorced. It’s made me more proactive in archiving things that I do each day. Every little thing I see or hear, I note it down or save the song. In a way, it’s also how I associate with BTS or Jikook. When the BTS World soundtrack came out, I was having a really bad day and it gave me a lot of comfort. I smile whenever I hear Pied Piper because it’s one of my friends favourite songs. Any time I hear “Jungkookie” or “Jimin-ssi”, a barrage of memories come to the front of my mind and I grasp onto all of them whilst I still can. 

I'm sure it's not just me who does this either, Jimin and Jungkook probably do this themselves. You could see that when Jungkook was watching Jimin’s compilation with us. He was recollecting the same memories as us, but he also has access to an entirely different set of memories that we don’t know of. We also saw that with the way Jimin and Jungkook both explained the Rainy Day Fight. During the Festa video, Jungkook mentioned “rainy day” and expected Jimin to understand what he meant. Later on, Jimin and Jungkook gave their own versions of what happened in their separate lives. They both more or less experienced the same thing, but blamed themselves for their actions and not the other. 

They love adding to their own collections of memories. Every single time that Jimin watched Jungkook rehearse and the other way around, enough so that they could probably be a backup dancer. All the clips they have but haven’t shared. The moments we don’t find out until later, the inside jokes they have without context. We don’t understand, but that doesn’t matter. Only they have to and we just watch and smile. Their memories are a huge part of them, it’s what makes their bond so special.  

[bbagelbitch]

Assorted Nekoma headcanons: (just for funzies)

(they've been sitting in my archives for YEARS)

First years:

Lev actually managed to get a girlfriend at one point about halfway through first year, she asked him out because she thought he was cute, broke up with him a week and a half later after realizing he’s a dumbass and a bit of a weirdo

Shibuyama is one of those people who you’d think he’s just listening to Taylor swift or something but he unplugs his earbuds and its like- little darkie or some screamo heavy metal LMAO

Shibuyama has a helicopter mom which feeds his anxiety to the point that he carries pepper spray with him sometimes

Tamahiko has a pet tarantula

Inuoka is the kind of person who’d wear shorts when its snowing out

Inuoka and lev will both unironically do Fortnite dances during practice

Shibayama totally has a bunch of allergies and is a picky eater

Inuoka and lev are basically just human garbage disposals (will eat ANYTHING)

Lev can’t swim

Biblically accurate lev Haiba (gets the worlds WORST sunburns every time he goes outside)

Lev has low blood pressure and will randomly faint when standing up too fast (Kenma has the same problem but refuses to admit it)

Inuoka is one of those people who types in all caps the majority of the time. Every literature and language teacher he’s ever had has told him off for using way too many exclamation points. (He can’t help it he’s just a happy little dude)

Lev texts constant updates about what he’s doing t the team group chat to the point where he’s been kicked off of it more times than he can count. (Usually for talking about taking a shit) (see Charles Boyle from B-99 for reference)

Second years:

Fukunaga and Kenma rarely have actual text conversations but they’re constantly sending memes back and forth to each other

Tora actually has fairly curly hair and it was a borderline afro when he was in elementary school (he’s part latino in my mind argue with the wall)

Kenma listens to almost exclusively video game soundtracks (skyward sword is his favourite)

Tora totally listens to girypop rap (he is 100% a Flo milli Stan sorry)

Tora has asked kai for advice on how to talk to girls SEVERAL times and the information that you should just talk to them like they’re normal people blows his mind every time (how does kai do it? Is he a witch? A demon?

Fukunaga owns at least 3 cats and they all have weird names (inspired by my friend who’s cat’s name is Fax Machine)

Kenma is the world’s driest texter (canon actually)

Also fukunaga uses :3 constantly

Fukunaga and kenma constantly bully Tora about his obsession with looksmaxing and say shit like “he can’t talk he’s too busy mewing” LMFAO (you either drip or you drown taketora)

Tora knows how to braid hair cause he’d help akane with her hair when they were younger

All of the second years used to bite people when they were kids

Third years:

The third years have done group costumes for halloween since their first year

Kai is basically the team’s dedicated tutor (Kuroo is too snarky and yaku is too impatient)

Kuroo listens to western (English) music cause he thinks it makes him seem cool and he developed a superiority complex about it. “Oh you haven’t heard of Radiohead?”

Also kuroo and yaks have pretty similar music taste (a lot of modern rock) but the key difference is Kuroo likes arctic monkeys and yaku likes the strokes (they argue about which band is better constantly (yaku is right, its the strokes))(cause they always have to be arguing about something smh)

Kai also totally has a longtime girlfriend in high school bro is possibly the only person on the team who’s done ANYTHING with a girl (probably one of the only people on the whole damn SHOW)

Kai defo knows martial arts I would not want to face him in a fight

Kuroo still uses emoticons instead of emojis :3 ;D and whenever he does, yaku makes fun of him and tells him to “get with the times”

Yaku 100% repeats what Kuroo says in a mocking tone whenever the opportunity arises

Kai is the type of person to say “personality” when asked if he prefers tits or ass

Miscellaneous:

Nekoma is the most neurodivergent team in the whole show bruh like come on 

(autistic: Lev, Kenma, fukunaga.)(kenma totally also has ARFID)

(ADHD: Inuoka, Yamamoto, (both textbook cases of ADHD in guys) Kuroo, fukunaga) (Fukunaga my AuDHD king)

(OCD: Tamahiko, shibuyama (I just get vibes ok leave me alone) 

(Yaku isn’t neurodivergent he just has anger issues lmao) 

Kai is the only sane one on the entire team

Kuroo is also 100% one of those kids who got diagnosed with adhd really young so he appears mostly normal thanks to being medicated from the age of like- 6

Every single person on the team is oblivious as to when someone is flirting with them (kai is the exception)(girls pull out the wow your hands are so big and you’re so tall all the time and NOBODY reads into it)

Kai exclusively smells like a mix of vanilla and sandalwood and on the other side of that spectrum, Yamamoto reeks of axe body spray and b.o. No matter how many times Kenma tells him that axe actually drives girls away, Tora never listens.

Akane becomes manager of the boys volleyball team once she reaches high school (the first years will be third years by then)

The team all protective as HELL over akane (canon tbh)

[forthegothicheroine]

Henchwomen Through the Ages

The "ages" of comics are not hard and fast things, and even comic book historians argue where they begin and end. They're more like moods than time periods, and your standard game of Henchwoman RPG will probably be set in a vague time period that could be anywhere from the thirties to today with an overall Silver Age mood. Still, let's take a look at how the roll of the Henchwoman has evolved, shall we?

Goldie is a gun-toting, cigar-chomping bank robber in victory rolls and a bullet bra. She's not called a henchwoman- she's called "Look out, that broad has a grenade!" She's loyal to the boss despite his dumb penny gimmick, but if he ever finked on her in court, he wouldn't live to see the sunrise. There's no Henchwomen's Union for her to join yet, but she's provided muscle for plenty of mob-backed unions. Goldie can't afford to be soft on heroes since they'd be just as happy to throw her off a roof as to arrest her, but she might be wooed by an appeal to patriotism- she ain't no Nazi rat! Her hobbies include matinee shows, swing dancing, and blasting coppers.

Sylvia is a competitive surfer and was a cocktail waitress until they fired her for slapping too many customers. Thanks to the newly formed Henchwomen's Union, she's treated much better by her current job, which usually involves crashing parties to steal themed jewelry. She and the heroes she fights have an understanding- they'll never be rough with her, and she won't check up on them after putting them in a death trap to see if they've died. On her off hours, she can go dancing in the same outfit she worked in- a silver jumpsuit, gogo boots and a purely decorative motorcycle helmet.

Brawny is a member of the Sisterhood of Wicked Witches, and she fights for a cause- or rather, several causes. These range from the reasonable (Save the whales!) to the less reasonable (A free ray gun for every child!) The Henchwomen's Union is strong enough to get her good pay, so many of her problems are philosophical- is she a good guy or a bad guy, and what do good and bad even mean? Brawny has to be a bit more careful than she would have been ten years ago, since death may well stick- but that also means she might really kill a hero, at least for a while, and that's what matters!

Tenebra prefers to be called a Dark Muse, a member of a vampire circle dedicated to bringing art to life, painted in colors of blood. Her eyeliner is swirly and her gowns are velvet, and she wears them onstage in her sideline darkwave band. Tenebra arranges her crimes in accordance with pre-raphaelite imagery, with victims displayed in heartbreakingly beautiful and mythologically-influenced poses. Her boss may technically be the Queen of the Vampires, and she may have a card with the Henchwomen's Union, but her true loyalty is to art itself.

Ferra is a mercenary with a separate pouch for each type of bullet, and she has a lot of types of bullet. Her stilettos are tall but her hair is taller, and she can strike intimidating poses that would break a normal person's back. The Henchwomen's Union had its own back broken by the bosses, and is now more of informal underground thing, but it still hooks her up with real deal bad guys. She'll kill without a second thought for her boss, but she's only one bad day away from turning her gun on him. It might even happen accidentally, since he and the heroes dress exactly the same. Ferra somehow has a heavy metal soundtrack even when there's no music playing.

Ally got a degree in psychology but until she can afford grad school, she gigs as a henchwoman. Her bosses are sillicon valley dickheads, but the first one to offer her real benefits will have her loyalty for life. Thanks to the resurgence of the Henchwomen's Union, Ally gets to wear big stompy boots instead of high heels, but she still has to wear a big day-glo logo on her leather jacket that might as well be a target sign. Her hobbies include pop culture conventions, smoking weed and credit card fraud.

[slashfic-daydreams]

Slashfic Headcanons (Part 2)

Fandom(s): Dorian Slashfic

Character(s): Ghost, Leather, Jay, Mike

Pairing(s): None

Writing Style: Headcanons

Genre(s): Cracks, Mild Angst

Warning(s):

Note: Another set of headcanons for the Slashies! I really enjoyed writing these after a bit of rest from the situation I'm in. I am still quite exhausted, but I'll be alright. Anyway, may you enjoy the read! :DDD

Among the Slashers, Ghost is the only one who is tone-deaf. He is also a horrible singer.

He is surprisingly an excellent actor in theatres.

Ghost loves listening to all of the soundtracks of spooky movies, especially if it's from the scene where the killer chases his victims.

He loves to sharpen his knife before and after his kills. One of his pet peeves are blunt-edged blades.

No matter the dance trend, Ghost will always do it anyway. Regardless if it's original or cringe, simple or complex, Ghost will just dance to it.

Ghost also loves watching true crime documentaries. It's a bonus for him if the criminal loves to play games during the investigations.

Leather is always finding a way to fit in regardless of the event because he didn't want to be different.

He is the "butcher" in his family during their "cooking sessions". This is why he is skilled with identifying body parts and its qualities.

Leather is rather skilled with baking and whittling. He doesn't say it, but these are some of his favorite hobbies.

He believes the lucky coin his father gave him will help him learn how to live a 'normal life'. His father also added that the coin will give him a sign of what to do next.

Despite fully knowing that the other Slashers are capable of defending themselves with their blades, Leather will still protect them from harm's way by instinct.

Leather not only values bravery in a person, but as well as sincerity and kindness. He is always moved when somebody chooses to protect him.

Jay receives little to no comfort from Carol whenever he comes home after being bullied. All she does is call him gullible and takes care of the issue herself.

He is very good with children and he loves them dearly, but his thoughts towards teenagers depends on their behavior.

After knowing that gingers are rare amongst people, Jay is very enthusiastic if he gets to meet someone like him one day. He sometimes wishes to have blue eyes like most gingers.

Because of Carol's helicopter parenting, Jay has never learned to do simple things on his own like tying his shoelaces. He asks the other Slashers to help him, which they do not seem to mind at all. (Ghost tends to tease him a lot about this.)

Jay has a childlike personality, hence he loves to watch cartoons a lot. He probably likes some Anime, too. His favorites are Steven Universe, My Little Pony, and Ponyo.

Due of the possibility that Jay was disallowed to go outside during the daylight, he grew to be very prone to sunburn.

Mike has made drawings of "anxiety" numerous times back when he was in the mental asylum.

He has developed selective mutism after the murder of his older sister when he was six years old.

Mike was diagnosed with OCD by the doctors when he was at the age of twelve. This is because they noticed that he liked to put a lot of thought into what he does, and sometimes it goes overboard.

Despite not showing it, he craves for a genuine companion. But due to the darkness within him, he dodges the opportunity in fear the person will hurt him first.

Mike also suffers through maladaptive daydreaming. He tries not to show it, but he always seems to be talking to himself.

Mike secretly loves pastries, and his top favorite is cookies.

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[relleytrots]

Hiya! I'm looking to be Storyteller for the first time, and am trying to psych myself up.

Do you have any playlist/album recs to get myself in the right headspace?

All right. In my experience, this goes as deep as you're willing to let it.

V5 may be leaning into "gothic not goth" (and to be honest, leaning away from gothic on the face of things), but it's still Vampire: the Masquerade: a game that has at least one of its roots in the goth scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. This first playlist isn't even mine, but it does a neat slice through that whole moment.

When V5 came out, I made a conscious effort to update my vibe, get away from the goth night floor-fillers that I was into when I started Vampiring, about 25 years ago, but keep a connection to that original sound. This one has a couple of covers, a couple of big names, a timely "the past is dead" opener, and some very on-the-nose lyrical choices, but nothing that's actually in the Revised edition recommended listens list. Some of these regularly pop up on my individual chronicle playlists 'cause I think they resonate that well with being a vampire.

However! Vampire ain't just about the vibe in the book. You bring something to your chronicle: choices that reshape and filter what's going on. It helps to locate your chronicle, decide where and when your story is happening, and then pull some era-appropriate tunes that tie to moments/vibes you want to curate.

This is one I did for a chronicle that started in 1954, moved to 1969, and was planned to roll on until the start of Vampire's original moment-in-time. There's a mix here of "banger, y'all know this" and "the algorithm threw this up, it fitted, the date was about right" and something I always like to throw in: the mildly anachronistic title track.

This is probably the best one I've done. I put a lot of thought into the soundtrack for my first V5 game, because I was overthinking everything at the time, coming back to the seat of power after a few years away and not really knowing the new system yet. I knew these characters were all going to be Toreador Anarchs; I knew they were sharing a house near their art school, which had recently burned down; and I had an idea of who the major players in the city were going to be, I'd put together their names and clans and agendas.

I'm gonna break this one down in detail, actually, and hopefully that'll show what I think peak performance looks like. I started out with the first eight tracks and added the rest either as the coterie met particular characters, or in response to the coterie's choices. Listening to this before a session was an emotional recap, and emotional continuity is very important to me, more so than exact factual adherence to what may or may not have happened four weeks ago. In track order:

Vibe for the first session - our Kindred have technically graduated, but they've also been Embraced, and they're staying in their student house in the weeks after the ceremony they couldn't show up for, and summer isn't a great time to be a vampire anyway.

This is the political vibe the characters are starting out with: they want things to be better, but they're not super riled up about it yet.

This is the threat: the aggressive, unseen, unknown agenda behind the destruction of the art college and the sudden intrusion of Alistair Fucking Dunsirn into their world.

This is the player characters activated: twenty-first century spin on a classic of young outrage.

This is player character Callum's song, suggested by @stained-glass-sphinx.

This is player character Cali's song, suggested by @pathogenic.

This is player character Frankie's song, and I don't recall if I suggested it or @mxviatrix did.

There was one other Kindred active on the coterie's patch: Jamie, the Tremere who ran the Third Eye arthouse nearby. Jamie existed because I wanted to give them an early rival or ally, and have access to someone with an Intelligence + Investigation pool that existed and could succeed at things. He had a crush on Frankie, everyone else thought he was a pillock. This is his song.

Baroness Kilkennie! Malkavian, anachronism, gunrunner, ran the north side of town. Ally? Threat? Loose cannon? This track was perfect for her, and also set up the idea that she'd killed the previous Prince.

The split between run-down East and gentrified, collegial West Ends was part of the theming in this game. As well as being the theme song for Prince-in-name-only Alexandra, this song riffs off that tension and gives some late twentieth century energy reminiscent of prior conflicts.

Another Nineties banger, suggesting that prior hostilities are about to bubble over again, and this whole art school thing is both a continuation and only the beginning. By this time the coterie were lining up the Nosferatu primogen Barry Ross as the guilty party, and he was starting to flex in their direction too.

Enter @sorchamidnite! I needed a couple of weeks' vamping to prepare the finale of the first act, so Sorcha came along with a guest player and a theme tune. This was the start of the obsessive "new playlist for Sorcha" tendency that haunts me to this day - this one is just a clubland riff on her terrible pun username that sort of conveys her drug dealer/pays for everything energy. She's got you covered, babe.

Frankie hooked up with the detective constable who'd been investigating the coterie. DC Flynn, under the influence of Lingering Kiss, would turn out to be a real slow burn of a threat, and also a slightly pathetic figure who was passed from Kindred to Kindred, fed on and controlled, before the end. Under Your Spell indeed.

Cali stole a revolver belonging to Baroness Kilkennie, which he was going to hand over to the Camarilla to set her up as the BBEG, trying to create a power vacuum into which the coterie had decided to propel Alistair Fucking Dunsirn - and Cali was going to ride that old man's coattails to the top. All about personal responsibility, personal responsibility, that riff just going and going.

Frankie and Jamie hooked up for dinner. She brought him a police detective, he brought her a beautiful drugged-out-of-her-wits girl, there was a warehouse apartment, it was very tentatively sweet and schemey. I'd end up using this song as a leitmotif for this couple.

The first act ended with the coterie hosting an open-air rant in their domain. Everyone who was everyone in the Anarch Movement showed up with their bro up. This was the moment of articulacy - why were the Roses doing what they did? Because it's artful. Because they're beautiful. Because they owe it to themselves.

Title track. I just looked up "Wild Roses" once we'd named the coterie that, and the lyrics here - in the month of May, I think I wrote my own pain - fit really well, while the tune itself is a palate cleanser for the end of each session.

I hope all that provides... some sort of insight into how I use music in and around my chronicles? You don't have to go this hard, straight out of the gate, but I can say it was really rewarding to do in the first place, and to revisit now. Even if my notes make next to no sense five years down the line.

[fuutaprotectionsquad]

What scenes the Milgram instrumentals would be for if they were video game soundtracks.

Except I make an entire game layout with it, including three mini boss fights and a final boss. They're in order of when they appear in the game, and color coded based on the area.

This took so long why did i do this-

[If you want me to design these bosses based on like. mvs and the character designs. i will.]

Parasite - The music at the starting area, before you've began your expedition. Like the home village. Possibly shows up at the epilogue too, when you return to the village, if you enter certain buildings.

Tear Drop - The salon that acts as an equipment shop. Except the shop keep has intense lore. Is maybe evil. We dont know. It pops up all through the game, or theres a way to get back to it and its in a neutral area.

Delusion Tax - You begin your journey into the first area! It looks very rocky and lava filled, with the stone buildings melded with the rocky mountains.

I Love You - Investigation scene. For what, I have no idea. Probably something related to your mission. The beginning of ILY is like. you find something very shocking and kinda scary, but then the rest is like. you + ur group(?) using it as a cataylst to keep looking and journeying. (its giving danganronpa udg honestly)

[Possibly more Delusion Tax after]

Backdraft - The 1st mini boss fight. A very overconfident, fiery kind of boss, despite being the weakest. This is the first part of the fight, where you're chasing them while they effortlessly hop through/set off many traps you have to dodge.

Salamander - Second part of the 1st boss fight where the boss actually stops to fight you. They fight with fire (...wow who would have guessed)

Purge March - When you get to the second area, and you're. continuing with your journey. Or something idk. I'm thinking this area is circus themed. Many animals.

Vampire - You first meet the boss. You think they're just a friendly child. They're so cheery and happy and childish and innocent. And then 1:19 in Vampire, you realize they're a little fucked up. But thats okay, because they're just a kid and they could never hurt anyone-

INMF - Now they're trying to murder you, so you're running away as they chase you and throw shit at you. Like uh. A million gruesome ways to die from billie bust up.

[More Purge March]

Animal - The second boss fight, filled with many circus props used as weapons. The softer parts of the song are when you're fighting different animals this boss sends after you, like lions and other circus animals.

Android Girl - Adventuring theme for the 3rd area. This area has a glitchy, techy hallucination theme. Like the boss is hacking the area to make illusions. Everything looks very glitchy, and has a kinda cyberpunk city look.

MKDR (DSCF) - Some part of the journey through the 3rd area where you've been completely absorbed into a hallucination, likely before you know that there are hallucinations here. When this happens it becomes a lot less glitchy looking and more real.

[Android Girl part 2]

Reversible Campaign - Phase one of the 3rd mini boss fight. They have a very techy theme. Like ig spamton.

Double - Phase two of the 3rd mini boss. You've pissed them off now, and theyve switched forms. The parts of the song that are softer (when mikoto's singing) are when you're deep in a hallucination. Then when you break free, it goes back to the glitchy harsh vibe.

Neo-Neon - You've defeated the three mini bosses and are filled with a newfound sense of determination. Now you go through the final area (likely a castle?) to get to the final boss. This area is a lot shorter.

Deep Cover - The final boss fight begins ! This is the first phase, which is very long distance and not quite near the boss yet. I imagine this one has a very celestial, crystal / star theme.

Streaming Heart - You weaken the boss via long distance, and they become more enraged. They haven't given up though, and fight with even more determination. This is where you can finally get face to face with them and have an all out battle.

AKAA - This is where their tough exterior cracks. You have a brief conversation, in an attempt to persuade them to stand down. But they put the broken pieces of their form together, for one last stand.

Cat - You've defeated the boss!! Roll end credits. Yeah thats it cat's just end credits. I. could not think of anything else </3

Triage - Epilogue after the boss fight when you're talking with everyone. Everything is happy and good, but there's also those very sentimental convo scenes.

[Some Parasite sprinkled in]

[cellarspider]

28/30 Katamari Damacy

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

We return to NA NAAA NANANA NA NANA NA KATAMARI DAMACYYYY

[Video description: It's the We Love Katamari soundtrack, specifically Katamari On The Swing.]

You wanna see the dumbest thing you’ve seen all movie? Of course you do. I’ll try to figure out a way it could have worked. Content warning for character death, and a monster attack that I’m mostly not showing because I’m squeamish and y’all are going to have to deal with that. Yes, I, a person who used Pink Flamingos as a cinematic comparison earlier in this series, am squeamish about a scene in Prometheus. Sometimes stuff just hits you different for no discernible reason. 

Vickers and her lifeboat quarters ejected separately from the Prometheus, so she's wandering around on the surface not that far from Shaw. Both of them are therefore in The Danger Zone when the Engineer ship crashes, intact and rolling along its circumference. Spare a thought for how seasick the Engineer is probably feeling right now, and for David's still-conscious head, rattling around like a coin in a washing machine.

But we only see Shaw and Vickers, as they realize what's coming, and start up run away. …Down the path of the gigantic ship.

I want to emphasize, both of them do this. Do panicked people make dumb decisions? Yes. Are movie audiences predisposed to being charitable about that? No they are not, the audience expects rationality. The audience needs to be brought down to the perspective of the characters, so that irrational decisions make emotional sense. 

You need to make people feel the disorientation of encountering something so much larger than you that your sense of space is completely thrown off. It can be done. There's an animal fear in there, where self preservation kicks in and can steer you right or wrong. Something’s too large, or moving too fast to grapple with, or both. Jacob Geller has an excellent video essay covering this topic in video games, for instance.

For movies that do that? The one that comes to mind first is Edge of Tomorrow (2014). The beach landing scene in particular gets you into the perspective of a guy who is not supposed to be there and is completely disoriented, while remaining visually readable. It sticks close to him and his panic. The danger around him is all-encompassing, and he cannot keep track of it all. This overwhelming speed returns at points throughout the movie, leading to points in the theater where I physically leaned away from the screen, like I was in the original audience for The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat. (1895)

And somehow this manages to be tense despite the fact that the man we’re following is Tom Cruise.

[Video description: A clip of the aforementioned scene. I highly recommend Edge of Tomorrow to anyone for whom Tom Cruise isn’t a dealbreaker. In fact, you get to watch Tom Cruise die! In this very clip! It’s a tense, engaging science fiction action movie, with good bits of humor, Bill Paxton as the most unhinged Master Sergeant you’ve ever seen, and Emily Blunt plays a goddamn space marine, power armor and all. As that description may imply, I especially recommend the movie to any 40k enjoyers–it hits a similar tone. You may also find the movie listed under the title Live Die Repeat.]

But no. In Prometheus, we the audience are shown the whole thing. The entire context. And what we see is a couple of morons that seem to believe they can outrun a wheel the size of a small town.

Neither of them actually think to run left or right. Shaw just trips, and then rolls to the side. The average human does not roll that fast, so it really drives home how unbelievably bad they are at this. Vickers also trips, and gets squished.

[A clip from The Naked Gun (1988), in which a stand-off between police Lt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) and Vincent Ludwig (Khan Noonien Singh himself, Ricardo Montalbán) ends with Ludwig falling off the side of a stadium before being run over by a bus, a steam roller, and the USC marching band.]

This scene, obviously, does not work. I am, however, stubborn enough to try and workshop how it could have worked.

Vickers needs to be broken beneath the wheel, and to do so in a way that the audience won’t jeer at. We’ve already discussed the issues of having too wide a view of the action, so let’s table that. How could you keep that perspective, while flattening Vickers?

You do have options. Maybe have Vickers do the smart thing and run off at an angle toward the sun, so she wouldn’t get any looming shadow to tell her when the ship begins falling over until it’s too late. Have her injured in the crash and unable to process what’s going on. Have her escape pod door fail to open, trapping her in the path of the ship. She was part of the corporate machinery, having petty power over others but ultimately trapped by circumstance. Make that all literal. 

And for fuck’s sake, don’t have the entire ship fall over on Shaw a few seconds later, letting her come out okay because she was huddled near the world’s strongest rock.

When the narrative blatantly plays favorites, my instinctive reaction is to resent the recipient of the movie’s favor. It feels like they're cheating.

Y'know what would’ve helped here, weirdly? Shaw thanking God for this. It would’ve theoretically been in character! The whole movie runs on christian logic anyway, so why not leave people wondering if there’s a supernatural power at work in the unbelievably fucked up universe of Alien. You’d swing back around to making people wonder what kind of loving god would allow chestbursters to happen.

But no. There is no god. Only the rock. You’re welcome.

Shaw has a hole in her suit or somesuch, and thus is propelled onward toward the lifeboat, which we know contains her newly-birthed squiddo, trapped in the med-pod room.

It’s not dead. Of course it isn’t. But what makes no goddamn sense is that it’s gotten massive. Yes, I know, Alien didn’t give an explanation for the embiggening of the chestburster either, but I am willing to give Alien the benefit of the doubt, and Prometheus just showed me a woman get killed by a donut.

David, possibly cognizant that Shaw is his only chance to not have to drag himself around by the lips, calls her to warn that the Engineer’s on their way to finish her off.

I waffle on whether this is dumb behavior from the Engineer. I know the movie’s reason for doing this is just to have one last action beat, and an unsatisfying payoff at the end of the film. 

The Engineer spared Shaw before. Maybe that was a tiny amount of sympathy for how she was getting kicked around. She’d die alone on this alien moon, sure, but it wouldn’t be their doing. But the humans got their act together enough to crash the ship. Maybe sparing her was a mistake. Even one of them might be too dangerous to let live, especially when we find out soon that there’s more ships quite close by.

There was a cut bit here–I’d previously avoided showing these, but why not. The Engineer stopped and looked at the books strewn on the floor. Watched a little of Vickers’ weird screensaver wall, as it played one of the videos included in the transmission David had sent toward the moon during the journey, while everyone slept.

Ironically, most of the human material culture the Engineer gets to see is due to Vicker's disinterest in the mission, which completely failed to consider the fact that it's polite to bring gifts when you visit somebody. Her material comforts becoming the single point of cultural contact. A strange little coincidence, and a little more silent characterization for the Engineer, until David’s voice over Shaw’s radio sets everyone to murderin’.

But because this movie is allergic to characterization, so we can’t have that. Instead, we are only using their reappearance to hit another horror movie cliché: the bad thing that's gotten back up again. Here, have a clip from Scream (1996), which deliberately did a send-up of the trope.

Originally there was going to be a whole fight scene here, which they took out because they felt it lessened the Engineer. But as it is, they’re still reduced to a big ol’ monster with a scary face that lumbers in and tries to kill the heroine.

Want to know what’s weird? Both Alien and Aliens solve their final alien problem by opening a door. This is literally the same thing. This is their one weird trick.

And frankly, I can’t look at it, because what happens squicks me out. So good job I guess, the non-consentacles got me squirming in my seat. When I’ve subjected other people to this movie, I’ve shamelessly muted and walked away for a minute. Maybe at some point I’ll figure out what limit it’s hitting there for me and Litany Against Fear it to pieces, but not right now! Facehuggers are a manageable sort of unsettling, but I do not like the bodyhugger.

The screenshot hunt for this was not fun, lemme tell you.

So, yes, the last of the Engineers on this planet laid low by their own creation(s), they’re mortal after all, ironic circle of rebirth, yadda yadda, moving on.

You know what, I’m actually with Shaw right now. Lying face-down and having a cry is a very understandable, human reaction to all this. Good job, movie, you got me vibing with her for about thirty seconds.

Want to see how they screw it up?

⛬

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

Citations for alt-text rambles:

https://youtu.be/y-pE9j98jP0 da baaa, da ba da ba da ba da doodoodoo dabada daba da–

https://www.deviantart.com/pretty--kittie/art/Prometheus-Engineer-407316141 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ6JK1mPT-A&list=PLZbXA4lyCtqpMbPbUtqdnpx72tgxjSjo8&t=82 

https://www.deviantart.com/pretty--kittie/art/Prometheus-Engineer-407316059 

https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/MU/TH/UR_6000 

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

[exhausted-archivist]

Get to Know Me Tag Game

Keeping me on my toes, got tagged by @shivunin!

Last song: Blood In The Cut by K.Flay, surprisingly a break from my greek tragedy musical and game soundtrack obsession. (I'm working on writing a greek horror epic campaign/one-shot)

Favourite colour: Phthalo Green or Phthalo Blue or a deep, dark purple violet (I've never found a purple name that describes it consistently)

Last book: The Art And Science Of Foodpairing 10, 000 Flavour Matches by Peter Coucquyt, Bernard Lahousse, and Johan Langenbick (The science of this book is amazing and it is very technical heavy but an absolute delight. You can read it on the Internet Archive)

Honestly most of my reading now days is just cookbooks, instruction books, and Dragon Age stuff (as always).

Last movie: I don't actually remember. I've mostly been doing shows.

Last TV show: Godless. @whoisnotmyname put me on this show and I am going to call out the fact that it now is like living in my brain.

Sweet, savoury or spicy: uhhhh probably savory, because it has the salty and is usually protein heavy. Hits a lot of regular cravings.

Relationship status: I'm three frogs in a trench coat. An enigma.

Last google search:

I periodically go back and check some of the discussions and papers for any updates on undefined food... I was working on something bronto inspired and they're roughly rhino inspired so....

Looking forward to: The game South of Midnight. It looks really good, it has a lot of nostalgia fueled stuff for me from when I was growing up, and I love stylized things right now. Other then that, its my dnd campaign and current projects.

Blank template for those who want to do this, because I am tagging you 🫵.

Last song:

Favourite colour:

Last book:

Last movie:

Last TV show:

Sweet, savoury or spicy:

Relationship status:

Last google search:

Looking forward to:

[neos-schlond-poofa]

rl donna beneviento hcs

because @scuba-gragas (your acc is NOT linking for some reason) freaked out over one of my edit captions and im like. why not share more sad stuff about donna! and also silly stuff in here too.

AND NO IM NOT PUTTING "ATTEMPTED BEFORE" IN HERE THIS IS NOT SOME SAD SOME RANDOM

repeating this from the edit but due to her tendency to remember numerous timelines, donna has even more of a SEVERE fear of being abandoned by mc and lacks a lot of self confidence in the relationship. she remembers mc being happy with the others, what if they did a better job than her? what if mc goes to them? or perhaps, what if the loop occurs and mc goes to someone else, and donna sees them just act happier? was she easily replacable?

however, sometimes donna DOES express her relationship anxieties and mc always does help out; its not all torment for donna, dont worry. as time goes on she always tries to be more open with mc about her feelings

okay back to sad. i imagine this happens to everyone but in their own way, but donna is a sleep hugger. so when she wakes up the day after the loop, shes hugging a pillow instead of mc and she just sits there for a bit. sometimes, she doesnt really get it, other times, she instantly knows what happened. she hates the feeling of waking up that morning and thinking she has someone in her arms, only to have an empty spot in her bed.

really good at claw machines. when angie was younger, she loved going to the arcade, and so donna mastered the art of claw machines to get angie a bunch of prizes (and sometimes herself).

invested in noise cancelling headphones / earbuds once she got with mc. she wears them a lot everywhere and even went to her first concert with them, it helps her not be overstimulated.

she hates herself for this, but part of her prays that mc stays with miranda after she has to wipe belas memories. she cant stand the thought of hurting her niece again in another loop.

would probably get a sims addiction, but specifically making sims.

plays relaxing video game soundtracks in the store (dani, angie, and mc often update the playlists)

she sells those fake flowers on april fools that shoot water at peoples faces.

loves to watch operas and ballets.

im struggling with wording this but like. when donna realizes the loop has occured she always just takes a bunch of time to prepare herself for whatever is going to happen, but ESPECIALLY knowing she has to murder someone for angie again. shes basically doomed to do this forever until mc gets with miranda; and i KNOW angie sometimes isnt a doll but. lets forget about that!! i just imagine shes always a doll anyways, it makes more sense that way, and either way, a loop where angie is fully human is just a temporary break for one of donna's many problems.

ethel cain stan

hates hospital shows for MANY reasons. she doesnt like seeing the hospitals first of all, she doesnt like seeing when the people die, and she hates the medical inconsistencies.

in loops where bela and mc have a family (sigh), she can't help but literally try to keep her distance. they won't have their family for long, and she cant bear to tell them that (although bela is most definitely aware) or even get attached to their baby, she doesn't want to lose someone close again (although bela does not catch onto this; she tries to get donna involved as opposed to alcina)

owns a typewriter

constantly has a tab of solitaire open on her laptop.

theres a picture of markiplier hidden in her room and she doesnt know it. angie hid it there and has been waiting for donna to find it. thing is? she hid it before the loop started. so it is permanently there for every loop.

always has really cutesy and simplistic halloween costumes she wears in her flower shop for the holiday. her favorite costume is a bee.

loves build-a-bear. it obviously takes her some time to get ready to go there (she often plans out their least busy times), but she loves to make her own plushes for her collection and buy them new clothes. eventually takes mc there for a date and they adopt a bear together.

but outside of that? she really hates getting new ones there during the loops. she gets really attached to them and she hates knowing they're only there for a short time.

kanoodle master.

hates the smell of nail polish

great hugger, even if she doesn't give them out that often.

owns a bunch of retro game consoles and likes to collect them, although she doesn't get much time to play them.

hates the bee movie; angie loves it

while mc obviously does open her eyes, donna still struggles with the concept of even trying to get better because she knows its all just going to loop. yes, she will work on things and they will improve, but certain things will revert back to normal after the loop anyways.

once tried to dance in the rain for fun and ended up getting a cold instead.

alright i think thats it... i might share more in the future but i tried to balance this with silly and sad.

[turian]

beloved gamer mutual & comrade @rhubarbspring tagged me to do a video game about me ( tysm for tagging !! truly loved reading all ur game thoughts. <3 ) explanations behind my choices under the cut.

(also, i had to cheat a little bit in the "you love, everyone hates" category, because i don't think people on tumblr hate da2, but one of my best friends despises it because of reused assets and combat designed more for consoles than pcs. and i can't remember any other controversial beloved games right now. the best i can do is games i love that i'm not sure anyone remembers? imagine ubisoft ballet? which, like. do people hate that. i don't think so).

tagging @cowsquirrel @malcriada @sakraya @ansburg @anoramactir + literally anyone i might have missed who wants to do this

favourite game of all time: so, look, i hate her as much as i love her. i always go back to new vegas even though i have a lot of criticisms of it - i had a realization recently after the release of the fallout show that while maybe i was projecting intergenerational trauma onto the game and using it to process some things, there is a lot in the game that is extremely imperialistic, even as it dabbles in anti imperialism. i can't get into all that here - better essays than i'm capable of have already been written on new vegas - but i also have to admit that new vegas taught me to see game writing differently, and helped me a great deal in improving my own writing. it's also just really entertaining playing later games by obsidian and picking out the new vegas elements. i think that new vegas gets praised too readily for being progressive when in reality it's only the most progressive game in the fallout franchise, and i think every time i return to it i'm noticing one more thing that'll kind of be making my eye twitch. but, yeah, i think it would also be dishonest to not include it here, regardless of my mixed feelings, because i keep going back, and because there are so many angles to it, and because i keep catching myself comparing other games to it.

i think a lot about like........... how so many themes i can relate to exist within the narrative of new vegas, but that doesn't feel entirely intentional. like, benny is so real to me because ! he was forced to assimilate into this culture that was not his to survive. and ulysses as well. and like!!!! yeah idk. going insane. i feel very similarly about dragon age elves tbh i'm like okay i feel seen but also this game is racist! kms :') will be projecting hard and taking so much psychic damage

many such cases tho </3 baldur's gate 3 and their treatment of the gur is always going to be a mix of relatable and uncomfortable to me

favourite series: soulsborne! i like how bleak it is, love the theme of death and rebirth, love how thankless the games can be, and i also love how the combat reminds me of muay thai. had a coach explain something to me using dark souls combat as an example once. i didn't really get these games at first, until i saw my best friend playing - she is ridiculously good at them - and then i sort of realized that they're just combat puzzles, and that like... they're kind of about honing patience, i guess? and after that they really became my favourite.

best soundtrack: honorary mentions: mass effect and dark souls both have some individual tracks i revisit on the daily, and skyrim's secunda is beautiful. but hollow knight doesn't miss, and i love how every track matches its environment.

favourite protagonist: i grew up in a really dysfunctional somewhat criminal family so like... lol. i feel seen when i look at arthur morgan <3 him and charles are both close to my heart. john can stay too ig

favourite villain: SO okay, maybe this is cheating a little, but. the reapers from mass effect. went into that game with zero spoilers, and finding out that they were in fact cosmic horror games was so <3

this would probably have gone to new vegas except benny (and also ulysses + i think he's more narrative foil than antagonist, as is benny) literally did nothing wrong in my eyes and after that point it's like... who is the main antagonist? the ncr and legion both? like yeah they're interesting but...

best story: i haven't actually finished pathologic on my own yet. kind of obsessed, though. just feels responsible to put it here. honorary mentions to new vegas, some fromsoft titles, twd, imagine ubisoft ballet........ (i love her and i miss her).

i feel like a lot of story games i've played actually have garbage stories with good characters, which is why they're not here. baldur's gate 3 and ME, for example. or like... ME has a great story at first but they fuck up the ending so badly that a popular theory i've heard passed around essentially boils down to "it was all a dream!"

have not played but want to: i was actually supposed to apply for a job with the team that made these games !! i didn't because it would have required relocation to the US, but. idk i feel like they keep showing up, always highly recommended, and i think i own one? so yeah, i should really get around to that.

you love, everyone hates: again, i cheated on this one. i don't think people on here hate dragon age 2.

you hate, everyone loves: skyrim, detroit: become human, stardew valley (because it's a weird little cottagecore colonialism game but also because i don't really vibe with the art style and i get stressed as fuck in it because nothing is happening... it is simply not for me), and fallout 3 and 4 (because they're masquerading as games with choices but they fully aren't, they suffer from bethesda writing, and they are super unapologetically racist and imperialist). i mean like... not mad at any of my friends who like these games i just cannot play them. i don't really think any of the games on my list are unimpeachable, tbf.

favourite art style: disco elysium !! it's so <3 like, i also love it for other reasons!! but every time i play it i end up wanting to draw.

favourite ending: new vegas has four endings. i feel differently about them all, but the independent ending is very much shaped by the infrastructure the player assembles during a playthrough, and while it is maybe imperfect and very open ended in some ways i like how it doesn't really reassure the player. also, i really like certain elden ring endings and the dark souls 1 ending. and pathologic.

favourite boss fight: hollow knight has a lot i've really enjoyed (particularly hornet's). for elden ring, malenia is the fave, tho <3 when i defeat her i tend to feel really disappointed. like, get up. let's go again. parrying her is extremely satisfying.

childhood game: we like... found out we had some cousins which is wild because this has been a tiny family since Certain Incidents A Long Time Ago and they also had nintendo ds access and they were not into this game. and like... look, i'm not saying it's great, but it had dark souls ish combat? like, you could lock on? you could roll? and i ended up replaying it as an adult and being like. huh. not that bad.

+ imagine ubisoft ballet ily

relaxing games: distance, injustice 2 (i main red hood & black canary but i like playing robin too. it's super imbalanced and they still haven't nerfed starfire !! and it's incredibly funny like good for her), dark souls 1, and elden ring.

stressful games: again stardew valley because i would play with friends and it was like oh god i need to leave. i do not know what to do, i am useless, i am understimulated

+ red dead online is not a good game to play without substantial backup . so glad i had horse insurance because if i hadn't my only friend in that world would be dead. that said, i did like to hunt in that game + play the fps levels with groups

games you always come back to: new vegas but maybe she'll release me someday. idk. also unfortunately i didn't include it earlier but i keep going back to the sims 4 and baldur's gate 3. and fromsoft titles because i sometimes just crave that combat.

guilty pleasure: new vegas again!!! i guess i kind of talked about my extremely complicated feelings when i first spoke about it, but yeah. there's just so much to unpack and i'm never going to forgive it for a lot of things. the horrors and the joys are both numerous but the joys will never not be tainted by the horrors

tons of hours played: elden ring + bg3 + new vegas + mass effect. i don't have the hours of new vegas and mass effect available tho as they are confined to a now dead xbox 360

[suddenly-stickmin]

I saw you answered my ask, and I totally will reblog it (planning a little something), but I just want to ask, I’ve been listening to the Creaks OST, and I love it! Do you have any more video game OST recommendations?

RARRRGHHGGHHG IM SO HAPPY TO HEAR YOURE LOVIN THE CREAKS OST!!!!! Seriously I think it's one of my top favorite OSTs to listen to whenever I need some music while I draw/write, or if I need inspiration for a very specific tone. It's just oogoughughugh soooo phenomenal. As for other recommendations!! I'll suggest some that immediately popped into my head when I first read this question! Night In The Woods - This game has a wonderful soundtrack, it's also another game where I'll put on the complete OST as background sound. But my two favorite songs out of them all have to be: Astral Alley & Astral Coal , specifically these two versions [which I've provided through the links!] where the creator mixed and matched different instrument tracks to see how they'd sound & what emotions they'd evoke. Honestly I think they accomplished their mission perfectly, I swear this is the only version of these songs I listen to and there's certain segments throughout them that just go insanely hard.

Super Paper Mario - Another fantastic game with an equally fantastic soundtrack. Honestly I need to give it another listen cause it's been a little while, but some of my favorites that came into my mind instantly were: The Ultimate Show, The Woah Zone [especially 1:30 and beyond, something about that repetitive 'falling' sound is just so perfect to me], and Memory [a very very beautiful mashup of multiple songs throughout the game]. THIS VERY SPECIFIC SONIC SONG --> Solaris Phase 2 ITS LITERALLY SO PERFECT FOR IMAGINING AN INTENSE FAST FIGHT SCENE BETWEEN TWO OR MORE CHARACTERSSSS RAAARRGHHGH NIGHTS JOURNEY OF DREAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!! PROBABLY ONE OF MY OTHER FAVORITE OST TO LISTEN TOOOOOOOOOO ESPECIALLY THE BOSS MUSIC Some of my personal favorites: Drifting Donbalon [something about those voices that come n go throughout this song is just sooooooo fantastic], Queen Bella's Ball [SUCH A BANGER SUCH A BANGER I could listen to this one for eons], and NiGHTS and Reala [Specifically from 1:25 to the very end, it brings such an ecstatic and freeing feeling it's just rhaogughurhgsdjgjfddg melts its so awesome]

Definitely recommend giving any of these bad boys a listen! Thanks so much for askin!!!

[flaming-cactus]

For the "original ask game":

(except for the coloring one I don't really understand what that one means. Also obviously just do whichever ones you feel like doing, I just couldn't resist using that gif lol)

❤️ your top 3 albums right now? Arcane s2 soundtrack, 12 notes [16 notes] - alec benjamin, little vice -cavetown

✨ favorite colors? Greens, purples, black, other random colors depending on my moods

💕 current vibes? ✨the chronic pain is hurting me✨ also im hungry

👀 any projects? Rn im working on crocheting a messenger bag that i still need to order webbing for (cuz i really dont feel like crocheting a long ass strap) also crocheting a big turtle for my little cousin that i have to get done by the 20th (ive been procrastinating since december)

⭐️favorite tv show? Heartstopper or arcane, cant decide

🫧 favorite movie? Probably when harry met sally, or possibly a tom holland spider man movie just cuz

😎favorite oc you’ve ever created? I dont really create ocs so i dunno

🌈 top 4 songs that make you happy? One of the boys by mad tsai, mister hyde by wade waters, we used to be friends by the dandy warhols, i want to be with you by chloe moriondo (no particular order and these are just my current ones)

🦋 favorite animal/animals? CATS. Also little snakes, frogs, and bears

😚 if you got to be a shapeshifter for a day what would you do? Uhh probably just mess with my friends ngl, or just make the titties begone and chill in my house being comfy

Same questions for u, as always welcome to pick and choose

also totally valid reason to use the gif lol (its annie from community, right?)

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2024-07-15

I've been trying to be more thorough in putting down my thoughts about things in here because increasingly I don't do it anywhere else. Sure picked a week though because I went on a completionist streak for some reason.

Listening: Courtesy of making some muffins, Wet Leg by Wet Leg, who you probably know from their hit Chaise Longue.

it's a good album, very much dreamy alt-indie voice. At its best produces some sounds that are more fun to listen to than the lyrics suggest, good command of phonemes.

Also, a late rec off IRC by proxy from @amiscellany with Literary Mind, a new single from SPRINTS. Big fuzzy guitar on a retro rock soundtrack about being in lesbians with a girl.

I haven't gone through the rest of their music but I will be checking it out.

Watching: Finished Scavenger's Reign which was on the Canmom Animation Night last weekend, I only caught the front end because we started late. Really gorgeous show, if you want carefully considered realistic spec bio this is not for you but if you love That Moebius Shit then it's ideal.

I then rewatched the back half with Animation Night last night! Love to talk to my friends about beans.

The main selling point is that it's beautiful but there is also some very fun body horror and good amount of character. Azi and Levi probably have the most interesting relationship, with Azi being genuinely quite normal and polite with her little robot who is suddenly becoming a person. The very long sweeping views and extended scenes of things just happening occasionally breaking out into bloody messes keeps you alert, you can't get too comfortable assuming some part of the world is safe for the visitors.

There's space catholics? What's up with the space catholics.

Oh yeah, here's the original short that started the show, which was fun to see at Animation Night

Also finally got through the last three episodes of The Mandalorian, which. I really like quite a lot of The Mandalorian. I like it when Star Wars explores its backwaters and odd corners. They keep putting the skywalkers in it. I feel like this might be a way to get us to empathize with the residents of the Star Wars universe, who presumable also groan and roll their eyes any time a Skywalker shows up on the holonet.

The pitch for Book of Boba Fett at the end of the show is great. They killed my guy Bib Fortuna! He didn't do anything to anyone, except for the hundreds of murders! I love this weird power couple of Shang and Fett.

Reading: Finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant and picked up Monster. I am a tragedy lover and so this is great. Baru is in a race to kill the monster she's been digested by and unfortunately she's losing.

I like a fucked up secret political cadre. It's probably the least realistic part of the series but I also wouldn't be surprised to find out that it's also a trap. I mean it kind of is! Explicitly it's a trap for the most powerful people in the Masquerade, finding unusually talented people and binding them up with secrets in service of the Empire.

Playing: Beat Indika which is interesting but could probably mostly have been an arthouse film. I like the styling! It is very Arthouse Film, the weird framing, the somewhat stilted dialogue, you can even see it in the camera work, both in game and in cutscenes. The camera goes on an angle if you look the wrong way, which is very intenional, and there's lots of really beautifully framed cutscene moments like the watermill in the factory.

Is Indika good? I'm not sure. I think if you highly value your money it might annoy you. It's doing some fun things with the interactive medium in a very different way from something like, say, What Remains of a Edith Finch. It's doing movie shit. I forgot that video games could push my GPU that hard though.

Started the Dark Souls NG+, currently just beat the Moolight Butterfly. I would really like to build a dex fighter to try out rapiers, maybe Ricards Rapier, but you really need to have the upgrades to make it put out enough damage to stand up to the increased NG+ HP pools.

Making: Helping a friend put together some furniture, but little else. Fiddled with some music stuff to make new ringtones for my new phone, not that I ever hear those, but I like to know that I have them there.

Tools and Equipment: It's central hot water maintenance week so I don't have piped hot water at home. Reviving the great tradition of the washbasin shows you that you can actually get pretty clean pretty easily with like two liters of warm water and some soap, the hard part is really just long hair, which was also hard for people to manage in the 16th century.

[moonsidesong]

just caught up with Your Turn To Die and absolutely adored it the whole way through. it goes unbelievably hard. calling it Danganronpa But Good feels like an insult. but like... yeah what if danganronpa was good? or rather. game that makes me wish danganronpa was good.

it really keeps you on your toes the Entire time, which is why i ended up saving like......... every five to ten minutes, most times. i would say the only slower part is the minigames during chapter 2? but, i thought those were fun, and they were still broken up by plot important stuff, so i really didnt mind.

ive heard the game had a soundtrack release on CD a few years ago, but i cant seem to find much information about it? much less any resell listings. how sad... i love cd...

i wanna talk more in depth from here on out so spoilers under the cut! warning thoughts very disjointed. and i havent seen absolutely Everything the game has to offer yet (havent done any of the side stories, we'll do them soon probably) so if my takes are disproven by anything ive yet to see please do not tell me htank you

first off OHHH MY GODDDD THIS GAME IS SO MUCH LESS CREEPY ABOUT THE MINORS AND ITS SUCH A BREATH OF FRESH AIR COMPARED TO DANGANRONPA. its not perfect, of course, i do not entirely love the jokes(???) about keiji (known grown adult man) going on dates with sara (known teenage girl), but like, this game does not make me feel gross all the time? thank u nankidai for not making your teacher character with a close relationship with one of his former students a groomer! the bare minimum! im gonna hit kodaka with a stick this should not be a point in the game's favor.

anyway! ended chapter 2 with Reko and Sou (shin) alive, ended chapter 3 having lost Reko .. . :( shes my favorite... i was so sad... ranmaru we're not friends anymore/.... you suck... you killed my best girl... we um, did make a grand total of 175 save files though, so at some point me and the friend i played with are gonna go back and scrub through anything and everything that we missed. maybe after we do the side stories though, not sure yet. reko yabusame i swear to god i will crawl into the screen and kill ranmaru myself for you. i will save you. i love you so much mwah

for years ive only known midori as The Guy That Kids On Danganronpa Discourse Instagram Put Overdramatic Yet Also Somehow Extremely Haphazard Trigger Warnings on every post that included him, so i was really excited to meet him. and boy he did not disappoint this guys NUTS!!! HES CRAZAY!!!!!!!! he has such a perfectly striking look about him. i love how he almost never stops looking straight at you, and how his suit is stark black so it obscures a lot of his shape when he's in the dark, its so cool. they absolutely nailed the atmosphere whenever you're around this guy.

but the first jumpscare when he like reaches out at you from the coffin just kinda made me laugh. me when i get you

also, if you're this far in to care about my opinions on games you probably know that i am Known Danganronpa V3 Hater. i think in particular Kokichi Ouma is way too good of a character for how dogwater the game's actual plot is, and Shin Tsukimi, while not being the same, obviously, scratches that itch of a guy trapped in a death game that spends all his time lying and living under a persona because he's afraid of dying perfectly While Being In A Game That Doesnt Make Me Feel Like Eating Sheet Metal . i love this dude and his ugly several clashing colors outfit. he wants my ass like mega dead right now but thats not important surely

also, i think its sweet that joe and sara are just best friends and they rarely ever even entertain the idea that they had romantic feelings for each other. i think its extra sweet and tragic that joe was able to tell sara he loved her in the end, meaning it as his best friend. and the way the game completely ceases showing you flashbacks of him after that point and just lets the image of the hallucinations replace his actual memory overtime is so good and haunting. this doubled down by the way her memory of him is completely locked up as soon as she starts trying to actually remember the way he really was, its so good.

i think thats all i have to say for now, but umm!!! really really good im excited to go back and fill in the gaps i missed. especially regarding kanna becasue i have a lot of theories about her that i hope im on the right track about #lol. but even if i dont i want to see her i miss her. yaay!!! i love when video games are good. i love you video games.

ill probably make more posts down the line with more thoughts after i let them marinade in my brain for a while... mostly when i have thoughts ive been sending them to the friend im playing with so we can discuss theories together LOL