#you think i'm kidding? play the saga games. you will understand

[sukimas]

i do feel in a lot of ways engage will be the anti-Three Houses. both gameplaywise and plotwise. which is a big question mark for marketing, but not something i'm altogether too unhappy with.

(explanation: weapon level locks per class with no weapon level training at all, aptitude perks to weapon levels, really strong terrain, debuffs, player phase focus, a lot of overpowered weird shit but seems primarily also usable by the enemy, rather than enemies being strong in a very different way from you.)

(storywise should be obvious: one route, defeat evil dragon, you pick up friends along the way rather than knowing everyone from the start, much more active rather than passive role for the main character, no s-supports.)

i don't know about the tone or map design overall of the game yet, but it certainly does seem like we are playing Shadow Dragon And The Blade Of Light, Again but with thracia-level weird mechanics in there. exciting to me personally!

[pinkrangermemes]

EPIC: THE MUSICAL, WISDOM SAGA

feel free to change pronouns and such when needed.

"It's just me, myself, and I."

"I'm stuck with your stories, but no clue who you are."

"If I fight those monsters, is it you I'll find?"

"I know life and fate are scary, but I wanna be legendary."

"I'll fight the harpies and chimeras!"

"There are strangers in our halls."

"They keep taking space and it's not much longer we can stall."

"They're getting impatient. Dangerous, too."

"I would fight them if I was half as strong as you."

"Somebody help me, come and give me the strength."

"Can I do whatever it takes to keep ____ safe?"

"It's been twenty years and we still have no king."

"Give me a chance, a single opportunity."

"When's your tramp of a mother gonna choose a new husband?"

"Don't you dare call my mother a tramp!"

"What'cha gonna do about it, champ?"

"Fight, little wolf, fight."

"Wanna entertain me?"

"Wanna be a man then fight, little wolf, fight."

"You've made your worst mistake here."

"You'll have run out of bones to break when you and I are through."

"I'll teach you all the lessons your daddy never could."

"This cruel world doesn't give out presents just for being good."

"Need some help?"

"Is your plan to stand around?"

"'Cause I suggest you fight back."

"Uppercut him. Now."

"Alright now, let's try this again."

"I've no respect for bullies, those who impose their will."

"I've seen plenty enough to truly understand this kind of filth."

"Let's teach this dog a lesson."

"One young wolf has a larger heart than all these men combined."

"Show them that you've got some bite, ____!"

"Take advantage now and strike, ____-!"

"Don't go down without a fight, ____!"

"Oh, maybe I pushed you a bit too hard."

"I had a friend before, and he was a lot like you."

"I helped him fight through war, but he had his demons, too."

"Then we grew apart."

"Then his light went dark."

"I don't know who your friend is, I don't know what he's like, but my time with you has been splendid."

"'Cause I got in a fight, and I didn't die!"

"I've never felt strong before."

"You're my friend, I couldn't ask for more."

"Maybe to fall is to learn one way."

"Maybe it's all gonna turn out great."

"I know we'll be fine."

"I know it's light you'll find."

"You're a good kid."

"Old friend, it's been ten years since I last saw you."

"____, where did you go?"

"Morning, sleepy head, you've been resting for a while."

"I swore that you were dead when you washed up on my isle."

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

"Tell me, though, who's ____?"

"I'm not your man."

"I'm what you want here."

"I'm what you need here."

"From here on out, you're mine, all mine."

"Hell no!"

"I could kill you where you stand!"

"I'm not pet, I'm a married man!"

"Last I checked, goddesses can't die."

"You're adorable."

"Bow down to the might ____, here to entertain, but fear not, I bring no pain."

"Under my spell, we're stuck in paradise."

"No one can come or go."

"I don't belong here!"

"There's something wrong here!"

"I wont' be drawn to live in paradise."

"Time can take a heavy toll."

"All I hear are screams..."

"____, get away from the ledge."

"You don't know what I've gone through!"

"You don't know what I've sacrificed!"

"Every comrade I long knew, every friend, I saw them die."

"It will be fine, dear."

"Come back inside, dear."

"Let me close my eyes."

"I know your life's been hard."

"I'll stay inside your heart."

"I love you, my dear."

"I love our time here."

"Life would be so much worse if you had died."

"Just let me close my eyes."

"Please stay away from harm."

"Stay in my open arms."

"He needs my help."

"Father, ____, rarely do I ask for favors."

"You are playing with thunder for a man full of shame."

"If he's worth the risk of going under, why not make it a game?"

"You all know I'm a fan of catchy songs."

"I think ____'s in the wrong."

"They were trying to do him worse!"

"Now they'll tread with caution first."

"Trust is not given, it's forged."

"Why should I give him my support?"

"He sacrificed his own cohort."

"Did you forget they failed to listen?"

"He was betrayed and then imprisoned."

"He was busy fighting!"

"More like busy spiting."

"Let him feel the pain that his ____ felt and rot."

"Please reconsider this."

"Really, ____? These old tricks?"

"What kind of sick coward holds back his power while he friends get devoured?"

"He didn't even fight ____!"

"Pathetic and weak like his ____!"

"Hold your tongue now!"

"His ____'s my friend!"

"Tell your lover that a broken heart can mend."

"You want more bloodshed?"

"He's got the mind of a genius."

"Try harder."

"He's pretty skilled with words."

"Can do better than that."

"He's kinda funny?"

"Never once has he cheated on his wife."

"I played your game and won!"

"You dare to defy me?"

"No one beats me, no one wins my game!"

"Is she dead?"

"Let him go, please."

[alexjcrowley]

So, I watched Casino Royale (2006), in my quest to rewatch all of the Daniel Craig's James Bond movies and answer the question: "Do I really hate James Bond movies? Or was I just a kid when some of them came out and I didn't care for spy movies?"

I'll start by saying that I liked Casino Royale much, much more than I had expected. It's 2 hours and a half long, which today is the standard running time for any blockbuster, but lately I had managed to convince myself that, during my childhood, blockbusters were shorter and didn't kidnap an audience in a movie theatre for almost 3 hours. I was wrong.

(Now, SPOILERS ahead)

Starting with what I liked.

First thing first: James Bond. I was never fond of Bond's character, I have always thought him boring instead of serious, slimy instead of charming, and generally very annoying with the whole "I'm the man" demeneanor. I was also wrong. I really liked Daniel Craig in this first movie. We see Bond at the very start of his career, he has just been promoted 00 status and he has a lot to learn. He takes almost as many punches as he gives, he is too instinctive and his ego often gets his own way. He is far from perfect and many people give him shit for that, especially women. Casino Royale holds his main character accountable for most of the bullshit he does and that was a welcome surprise.

The plot. I am proud to say I think I understood the entire plot of the movie. I know it might not seem much a of a brag and I swear I can usually understand the plot of a movie- but James Bond's ones are often too convoluted for me. I feel like Casino Royale, partly thanks to chunk of explaination given by M, was fairly easy to follow. There were also many predictable twists- not necesserily a bad thing though, because they did make sense. I really liked how Mads Mikkelsen- brilliant as always in the role of the main villain Le Chiffre- was being hunted both by Bond and by far more dangerous people he owed money to. I think the movie lost itself a little bit in a the last part, but I'll discuss that later.

Vesper Lynd. I have no idea what the press conferences around Casino Royale were like, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them focused on a better treatment of female characters in the Bond's franchise. I was expecting to be bored to death by the umpeteenth only apparently hard-to-get woman falling for Bond's charms, and I am happy to say it was nothing like that. First of all, and I mean it as a compliment, the Bond and Vesper banter is ao3-tier. The chemistry is there, there's equal teasing on both sides, which makes it looks they just work very well as a couple. But the scene I liked the most is right after James Bond loses a really important game of poker. He goes out on the balcony, Vesper follows him and James asks her to give him more money, because he thinks he can win the next game. Vesper says no. James insists, in what you could call the classical "all or nothing" scene of a movie. The one in which the protagonist is like "you have to believe in me, I can do this, look into my eyes, trust me one more time and I'll prove it to you", sprinkled with a little more "If you don't do this, all that money" that he lost "will be in the villain's hands" and grasping Vesper's arm very tightly. And Vesper's response is not "Okay, I will give you the money to save the world, but don't let me regret this, James". The first thing Vesper tells him is get his hand off of her. The second is that she is not going to give him more money, because he lost that game due to his ego (a motif that had already been introduced at the beginning of the movie) and if he keeps playing now, he is going to keep losing. And then she leaves. This, and the dialogue in which she basically asks if she has to worry about Bond's breaking into her room and trying to force himself on her with Bond reassuring her he won't, were moments I really appreciated. The James Bond saga is not exactly well known to be fair to female characters and, especially, James Bond's love interests are often poorly written. They could have gone the easy route, they could have had Vesper trusting James blindly because he is the main character, but, instead, she stood up to him. I really, really like this decision. As James Bond has been cemented as an icon of masculinity, it is shown that not only even he can be wrong, but also that this is rightly pointed out by a woman. In this occasion, he's being emotional and illogical, while she is being the reasonable one. And I feel this is as relevant today as it was in 2006.

Favourite scene: the torture. I am not really crazy about torture scenes usually, but I really loved the one between James Bond and Le Chiffre. It's not just that the acting- especially on Daniel Craig's part- is phenomenal, it's what that scene means. According to my interpretation, based purely on how Craig played the character, that seems to be the first time James Bond has ever been tortured and you can see he's fucking terrified. And you see him going from terrified back to that mask of neutrality, even though it is now dented. There are moments in which pain slowly morphs into an exasperated laughter and James is turning to crude humour to deal with the situation because he has already made his decision- he won't give up the code, so he's gonna die there, if he is lucky. If he's not, many hours, if not days, of torture await him. It's a momumental test of an actor for Craig.

So, yeah, lots to love. Let's now move to what I didn't like.

The action. Not all the action in Casino Royale is bad, on the contrary, but a couple of things were simply goofy. Like the first bomber being a parkour God, especially compared to James Bond's clusmy ass? Top-tier comedy, maybe intentionally, maybe not. I know for a fact the dramatic zooms were not intentionally comedic, but alas. And I gotta ask, other than being the easiest way to kill off Vesper, what was the point of that last Venice action sequence? To me, that was really overdrawn and forgetful.

The wife of the first villain. Her dialogue about liking bad guys is very cringe and I don't know who directed Daniel Craig in the scene in which reacts to her death, but holy shit that's one of the worst sequence of the movie. At first he seems indifferent to her being tortured and killed, then M goes on her whole tirade about Le Chiffre, and then, suddenly, when she asks if James Bond can handle the mission, Daniel Craig is looking at dead body of the villain's wife doing the most exaggrated heavy breathing since the stuff you could find of Looney Tunes. And then says "no" in a completely neutral, and accidentally comedic, tone. Jesus Christ. What a shit show.

James Bond's character arc, a.k.a. the romcom act. Yeah, I know, I said I liked James Bond before. But I have beef with the way the character evolved. I would say I pretty much like what we see in 2/3 of the movie. The problem for me arrives post torture, when we are made believe we have finally reached a happy ending. Vesper and Bond declare their love to each other, great, it was to be expected. But the fact that a few days after that- at least it looks like a few days- James Bond is like "Yeah, no, I'm in love with you, I wanna quit my job and spend the rest of my life with you" feels very rushed to me. Sure, near death experiences really bond people together, but let's recap the events of this movie. At the beginning of the movie, James Bond has just become 007. If I am not wrong, Casino Royale is James Bond's first mission as a 00 agent. We don't know how much time he has spent hunting down the parkour-bomber of the beginning of the movie, but we know that something like 2 days later he is sent to the Bahamas, then goes to Miami, all in the span of 2 days, and then he gets sent to Montenegro for something like 3 or 4 days. At the end of the Montenegro section, there's the torture scene, so all we know is that he ends up in a hospital and stays there for an unspecified while (which he spends mostly unconscious) and it's at that point, after declaring his love to Vesper, that he goes "Yeah I don't want to be a spy anymore". Bitch, you have been a spy for less than a month and you have known this woman for 2 weeks at best, and I am counting the time you were unconscious. Am I the only one who feels this is rushed? Especially because, during a game of deduction he and Vesper played, Vesper seemed to rightly deduce James wanted to be a spy because he had a chip on his shoulder about proving is worth- did that just go away? Wow, James, you gotta teach me how to solve self-worth related issues that fast. And the canonical reason why James wants to leave the job is because it's "eating his soul away" or some shit like that, and he wants to leave with that little bit of soul he still got. Once again, bitch, please. You have not been on the job for one month, what the fuck are you talking about. Maybe it's because you're not used to have a job, Mr Bond, but every single job eats your soul away and you live with that, because otherwise you won't be able to pay the bills. Just to be clear, I'm not mad at the idea that James Bond wants to leave his job. I think it feels rushed and I think it's a little bit too obvious something will happen to Vesper at this point because there's no way James Bond is quitting the job in his first movie, but I would have accepted this change of heart from Bond if I had been given a good reason for it. For example, the fact that he has been tortured. To me, it would have made much more sense if James Bond would have been like "You know what? Being tortured is fucking terrifying, much more than I thought during my spy training, I don't think I can handle that again", I would have believed that. But instead, we got some bullshit on the soul. James Bond screenwriters, being afraid of torture doesn't make you any less of a man, I swear. All in all, James Bond deciding to change his entire life goals just because he fell in love seems the kind of shit writing the female lead would get in a shitty romance movie, not the one of the main (male) character of a spy movie. Maybe it's poetic justice, but I think James Bond somehow found himself a victim of what is usually regarded as misogynistic writing. He then regresses to the emotional maturity of a teenage boy who spends too much time on reddit when he feels betrayed by Vesper, while M has to explain as you would to a 5-year-old that Vesper, if anything, tried to save Bond. A very undignified main character arc, if you ask me.

Vesper's death. Why did Vesper basically kill herself? I genuinely thought her death was a Jack and Rose situation- they both could fit on the door! I think James would have been able to save Vesper if she only didn't lock herself in the elevator. The only explaination that I can give myself to that decision is that Vesper didn't want to live with the guilt of condemning her past lover to death in saving James.

I am not good at giving grades to movies, instead I will say this: it's definitely worth a watch if you're into spy movies and the bisexual panic induced by Eva Green and Daniel Craig will not leave you for a good while. If you're willing to be forgiving of a few sequences, it's a very enjoyable action flick.

Onto the last part: my quest to prove James Bond is aro and/or ace.

Why do I want to prove that? I guess if there were more aromantic characters I could just turn to them for representation, but I have to do everything by myself around here.

My reasons to believe James Bond is aro: as someone who, for the moment, identifies as aroallo, I really sympathise with characters that indulge in a lot of sex, but keep romance at an arm's lenght. I don't think they're shallow, I think maybe romance is simply not their thing, just like it's not mine.

My reasons to believe James Bond is ace: I think James Bond may have a pretty fucked up relationship with sex because of his job. His entire body basically belongs to the governemnt: it's a weapon to kill, a disposable dummy to be tortured and, in some occasions, an object of desire, used to seduce, possess and be possessed. You could pretty much say that a fraction of his job is similar to that of a sex worker. Far from implying that being a sex worker automatically fucks up your relationship with sex, I think being forced to have sex with people who you sometimes despise and who might want to hurt you or even kill you is not, like, the best thing ever. And also, while a sex worker can theoretically pick their clients, James can't. He has to seduce who is useful to seduce for the mission, regardless of how he feels about them. And, to top it all off, I like the idea of James Bond being ace because I am tired of the whole "James Bond is so cool because he fucks a lot and which man wouldn't want to fuck a lot". Maybe James Bond doesn't want to fuck a lot, or maybe he doesn't derive as much pleasure from it as people believe he does.

Okay, so. Starting with aro spectrum, even though James falls for Vesper, I think we still have good chances of him being aro, either fully aro or something like greyromantic. After all, aromantics can still, even if rarely, fall in love and I think, for the way the character of James Bond has been presented, him falling for Vesper was quite an unexpected/out of character thing for him. Him deciding ti quit his entire past life to be with Vesper...is truly just bad writing for me, but even accepting it, I don't think it makes him any less aro, because as I explained he could have had much better reasons to want to quite his job and, personally, if I fell in love with somebody after years of that just not happening for me, I wouldn't know how I would react. Maybe I would also call it a miracle and just roll with it.

About the ace spectrum, we see him seducing a villain's wife at some point, but I will be honest. That shit don't count. There is this moment in which the woman is like "I always fall for bad men😏" and James Bond immediately gets out of the sexy mood and goes "So would you say your husband is a bad man? Why? Because of his job?". He does a 180 and goes from wet dream to interrogator in less than a second. Plus, he seems to leave her without having sex with her to go chase her villain husband. Very professional of him, but also makes me think he was never that much into her as he made her believe. The whole thing felt too calculated on his part, I would definitely say he was faking the whole time. James does have very enthusiatic sex with Vesper, though. If I want to stick to what the movie implies, without going off the tracks with something like "he pretended to be enthusiatic during the whole thing but he was faking for Vesper's happiness", I may still go with the fact that he is for sure sex positive and maybe demi-sexual.

Well, if you have read until this point, I am genuinely surprised. You don't have that much to do, I guess, good for you.

Onto Quantum of Solace next, and I am already shaking: I know that movie is bad. I know about the writers strike. God help me.

[starclast]

INAZUMA ELEVEN: LETS PLAY FOOTBALL!!! ⚽🔥

Well, well, well...it feels a little weird to do this 😅 But anyway, lets start from the beginning.

Waaaaay back between 2013-2014, a new season of the Inazuma Eleven anime was airing. It was the now *well-known* Inazuma Eleven go galaxy season. Back then I kinda had heard the name *Inazuma Eleven* but didn't actually know or have seen anything about it (except from a parody/reference in another anime I saw before, but I didn't notice it until many, many years after 😮).

I wasn't really interested in a sports anime (because I'm not really interested in sports in general but oh well 🙄), but for whatever reason, I decided to give it a chance. I watched an episode, it was one pretty far already into the series (like 30 or something I think 🤔) so of course: I didn't have context at all of why were kids playin football against some bird aliens and showing off powers like if this was the Power Rangers 😶 But still, the bright colors and charismatic characters made me...actually kind of enjoy it!!? 😲

In any case, I decided to watch a few more episodes. Since I was pretty late into the season, I didn't have the backstory of the different team members and the reason why we where here in the first place, but overall, still enjoyed every episode 🤗 Sadly, at some points the episodes stopped comin to me so I couldn't see any more of the story 😢

Years passed and I pretty much forgot about the series (it was during this time that I actually learned about the existence of the original series and its characters tough ☝) ...until recently. You see, since last year I've been following a youtuber called: Rangugamer. It was actually tanks to him that I could finally watch the whole game of No Strait Roads (NSR) so I started to watch some of his other series too, then I noticed that Inazuma Eleven was one of them. At first I wasn't really interested in watching it but since I was pretty bored that time I decided to give it a chance.

The start was a bit rough because the story was pretty slow and the characters at hand didn't have that much of a charm but, as episodes went on and more jokes started to land better because of a better understanding of the characters and...out of hand dark humor 😅 ...I kind of started to like it! Similarly to what happened to me with Asagao Academy, since I barely knew anything about these characters, I could enjoy the weird out of character jokes and such that Rangu made every time and before I could notice it, I finished all his gameplays from the original saga!!! 🤗

And so, now that I had finished it, I decided to draw and show some of my favorites from here! 😄 (P.S: I drew most of them out of memory so some mistakes here and there may be found 😅)

First, lets start with no other than the captain itself: MARK! The prime reason why the gameplay series became so popular and more enjoyable overtime. Even if the *real* Mark is a lot more innocent and kind, its funny how Ran!Mark stills feels in the realm of canon whenever it comes to his adoration to football...Now I cannot her the word *FOOTBALL!!!* any other way 🤣

Jude is one of the few that I recognized before actually starting the series (what can I say? he is just so recognizable 😐). Since the very first time I saw him, I thought he looked silly with those goggles and cape...and to my surprise, he became my absolute favorite 😳 Poor guy had just suffered so much 🤧 ...both in canon and Rangu's version 😅 Sadly, this first try to draw him doesn't do him justice at all so, I'll try again and again until I feel satisfied with it 😤

Tooooriiiii!! 😆 I like her simple yet charming style and her endless cheerfulness. Definitely I would get along with her in real life 🤗

Shawn is a cutie. his backstory is sad (and it feels even sadder in the anime from what I heard 😢), but still he managed to move forward. Its a little sad he lost relevance in the third part of the story, but its okay, he already gave us a lot in the time he had 😊

Erik was...sadly not even present for most part of the story, so I missed a lot of his original backstory 😅 Still, his little problems with Sue during the second game and his *Oliver and Benji* moment in the third one where pretty enjoyable so, I wouldn't mind knowing more about him 😄

And finally, Shadow. The poor guy isn't even relevant to the main cast itself, but I simply love his design too much to let it just slide 😉 Besides, his *Kevin x Shadow* moment in the first game and the double Shadows situation in the second one made me laugh like crazy the first time I saw them 🤣

I'm currently still watching the go series so I may do more like these soon enough!! 🤗

[s-creations]

Hi! I saw your reblog on how you wanted to write paragraphs about this movie version of Bowser. I was wondering if you actually like to do it?

OMG ABSOLUTELY! Who's ready for an unhinged look into my perspective of Bowser!? And I mean unhinged. Getting my mind clearly written out can be a heck of a thing. So hang on kids.

For anyone curious, this is the post in question that's prompting this rant.

So, let's get the first thing out of the way: Game!Bowser and Movie!Bowser are different identities. (I already hearing you say 'well no duh Sydney!' Be patient, I'm getting there.)

For Game!Bowser, I can understand where people in the audience/players get the idea of why he might be given a pass to be some what of a 'good person'. Sure, he's captured Princess Peach countless times and put her kingdom in danger. Sure, he's taken some powerful tools and weapons for his own benefit to try and rule the world/galaxy/whatever. Sure, he's narcissistic and mean to his own minions.

But something that the games have provided are two rather big things that help:

One, a pretty obvious idea is the fact that Bowser CAN be a hero. If anything, doing so when he's pushed to that moment where he has to help or there's no way for a happy ending.

If more than anything, he joins because he hates the idea of losing whatever to another baddie. But Bowser still become a hero when the moment arises. Doing what he can to help the situation.

Superstar Saga

Super Paper Mario

Mario & Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

Those are the games that I can think of off the top of my head that has Bowser joining the heroes side to help defend and protect. (PS: I'm not including the spinoff games for this discussion, sorry.) You can easily make the argument that he's only doing so because he doesn't want to lose. Which I will agree with you 100%. But doesn't change the fact that he's still willing to do so.

Two, and this is more for the story telling portion and what I think a lot of people flock to, is the fact that Bowser is pretty 'openly written' as a character.

Now, what the heck to I mean by that?

When it comes to video games, story telling is not quite equal to the time given to make the game playable. I've heard/watched a few interviews with game developers that state getting a balance between understanding the character and playing the game is a hard thing to maintain. As a story teller, you have so much you want to offer and not that much time to do so.

You're not reading a book, you're playing a game! You have to interpret a lot from what you're seeing and what's happening in that moment to sort of figure out what that character is thinking. More often that not, we're not going to have moments when characters can sit down and have both an external conversation with someone and an internal monologue going into further details as to what the characters are thinking.

The Last of Us The Walking Dead Becoming Human: Detroit

Those are games where, in my opinion, it comes closest to really giving the player as much insight as possible to really understand the characters. But even then, most of the time, we're only giving these characters personalities because of the actions we give them or with what's been scripted out. We can kind of extrapolate meaning, relating their actions to the spotted information provided about their past or their beliefs. But that's really it sometimes.

Games can't give the time to allow characters to be full human. Why? Cuz you're playing a game! If you wanted a full 20 minutes break down of someone's life, you'd read a book! (This is also why fanfiction is so powerful, you're allowed to give time to perspective and ideas from these same characters. But I'm also a little bias in that area of fandom work. XD) TV shows are probably the next best form of media to allow exploration of a person. Because you'll be given the time to have an episode be focused on a character. Even then, there's still a lot of information being held back.

But video games?

And because characters can be so openly written with just the basic understanding of how they think/act, that invites us (the audience/players) to add further details to their personalities. We put personal ideas/beliefs/points of views into characters because we want to see our favorite people reflected on how we see them.

(UNDERTALE anyone?)

Bringing this back to Game!Bowser, even with all that he know about him, with the basic idea is he's a villain. Who can also become a hero. We as players/viewers can make him to be so much more because there's still that given freedom.

I'll be honest, trying to write away his sins for almost destroying a lot of things is hard to get past. But we're allowed to give him moments of clarity that shows Bowser's understanding that maybe he's not as correct in his actions as he thought he was. In writing, comics, art, we can offer that different perspective to Bowser that the games will never show.

Sure, he's grumpy and rough around the edges. But do you really think a full on villain at any time would want to work with the heroes? NO! A truly terrible person would never help. If anything, they'd try getting to the problem first to defeat and gain control over whatever was happening so they could come out on top than actually help. Or if anything, just sit back and see how 'powerful' these heroes actual are and figure out a braking point.

But Bowser does help, even if he's stomping his feet in annoyance sometimes. So that gives us a different way to see him. Grumpy, yes. Rude, oh yeah. A villain, absolutely. But we're still able to see the good sides and say, 'You know what, there's hope for you yet.'

Now, with all of this being said, I think this is where the issue lies with Movie!Bowser. We are never made, not ONCE made, to sympathy with Game!Bowser. NEVER! We're never really shown a soft side, unless it's with Junior. And even then, he's not sparkly eyed, looking heartbroken, kind of Koopa. We just interject our sympathy onto him because of how openly written he is as a character.

We can give him softer moments. We're allowed to give him those moments. We're giving more to Bowser than what's actually happening in the games when it comes to him being 'good'.

Movie!Bowser is a straight, up evil person.

Granted, we've only seen him in one movie (there had better be more coming or I swear to everything holy and decent) and Game!Bowser definitely seems to be the one I should be calling out like this given his list of crimes. But there's one major, MAJOR difference between the two of them that allows me to side with Game!Bowser possibly being redeemed.

Movie!Bowser has more range for a personality provided to us on screen. Meaning we're not adding anything to him, Movie!Bowser is on full display for what his character is.

He's not written as a person who tells more than shows. Sure, we get lines for Game!Bowser, we get something of a personality there, but nothing like this. Nothing like the physical movements and facial features that the movie provides.

Movie!Bowser is manipulative. We've seen him smiling/happy. We've seen him triumphant. We've seen him interrogate/torture. We've seen him cocky. We've seen him upset.

We've seen him angry.

I can say that I can't remember seeing Game!Bowser look this angry. Games (focusing specifically on the Mario games right now) only offer so much when it comes to emotions. That's why I love the Luigi Mansion series (and not just because Luigi if my favorite character), mainly 2 and 3, because it really felt like the first time that cut scenes could play out and we got to see emotions. Luigi feels more human in those games than any other. Because they allowed him to have a range, not just a standard standing there and bounce while someone feeds me plot.

And that's the big thing with Movie!Bowser is he's emoting far more than his game counterpart ever could. Which makes him that much more terrifying.

Because if anyone is going to look at these images and say 'Oh, but Bowser's a sweetheart'.

Then you're being fooled. This is manipulation at it's best. This is Bowser playing a role that his minions, probably mainly Kamek, has told him to play because it'll let him take what he wants.

More over, do you notice when he's playing his wide eye, hurt pup look? When his focus is on Peach.

He talks about marrying Peach and all the things he likes about her.

He practices what he's going to say when he'd going to ask Peach to marry him.

He looks crushed that the fantasy that he's built up in his head isn't reality.

The only person I could say that Bowser would be semi decent around would be Peach. But even that's not true! Because what's his idea of a wedding gift to her?

Sacrificing people to lava on during the vows.

What does he do when she puts her foot down on the wedding day?

Bombs her kingdom.

Movie!Bowser has no idea or doesn't even care to worry about what anyone else wants. It's always been about him. Even to the person he's suppose to love the most, it's not love. At least, not a healthy version of love. It's another notch in his belt that says he's gotten a victory.

Heck, if you want a full display on how he really thinks, go back to when he's first confronting Peach. When she says no, what does Bowser do? Pout and turn away and say 'Well, shoot, that didn't work'. Nope. He has Kamek hurt Toad to force Peach to agree. To fall in line with what Bowser's made up fantasy is.

The moment someone doesn't agree with him, it's violence until they agree.

Game!Bowser doesn't sugar coat for anyone his personality. He's in your face, aggressive, and isn't sorry for it. And I like that about him.

Movie!Bowser thinks he can play a part and will get what he wants. And if he doesn't, he can just destroy whatever he wants in a tantrum rage. Movie!Bowser is terrifying, because I can't see that moment where I could possibly offer redemption.

Think about it really, besides Peach, who else did Bowser hurt in this movie?

Tortured Luigi in order to give up any information about his brother. With the threatened promise of being killed in front of Mario as a 'warning'.

Tortured Toad when Peach said 'no'.

Captured Cranky Kong and the Kong Army, holding them and numerous others over a pit of lava.

Heck, Bowser and Mario don't even properly meet until the end of the movie. Yet Bowser is so obsessed with Peach being his bride that any whiff of someone possibly being a rival, of shattering his fantasy, is enemy number one in Bowser's book. Mario just wants to get Luigi back! Yet Bowser's in the mindset that Mario's trying to take everything away from him.

I bet you anything, if we could actually act Bowser why Peach said no to the wedding, he would say it was Mario's fault. That Mario came in and ruined Peach's idea of Bowser for her and that's what caused her to say no. Not that Peach had no interest what so ever, but because Mario beat him to the punch.

"What about the minion saying 'doesn't she hate you?' at the beginning of the movie?"

Bowser's whole plan was to impress Peach with the Power Star. He swore that was going to be the ticket to getting on her good side. This whole plane was built around that idea. He thought she was going to be so impressed!

But who beat him to the punch of impressing Peach?

"Mario has defeated Donkey Kong and won the favor of the Kong Army." "So was Peach, like, super impressed?" "Yes, it appears so."

Bowser lost his ticket to winning Peach over before even arriving to the Mushroom Kingdom. At least, in his mind. So what does he do? Kills Mario. Because with him out of the way, Peach would have to be impressed with Bowser, right?

Movie!Bowser's not sad because Peach broke his heart. Movie!Bowser is sad because his reality isn't what it was supposed to be for him. And he hates it when he doesn't get his way. It's either live under his rule and want, or see everything you love destroyed and burned to the ground.

With all this being said, I'm going to focus a little on the fandom for a moment. Because there are a lot of people out there who will defend Bowser until they're blue in the face.

And to that I say good.

People who love Bowser for all the right reasons know he's evil and mean and manipulative and whatever other negative word I used during this rant. But that's what we like about this large Koopa and it's great to see!

The worry I have is for the people who say Peach was 'being mean for rejecting Movie!Bowser'. Really? You'd want to marry someone who's threatened, harmed, and tortured so many people in some twisted idea of love? Um, no thank you.

(PS: If you want me to do another rant for shipping, I will, but I'm just focusing on Bowser for the moment)

Bowser is an amazing villain, one of my favorites. But I will always prefer Game!Bowser over Movie!Bowser for being a 'changed villain'.

Because Game!Bowser is a silly Koopa who can be both terrifying and funny at the same time. He can have moments where I just laugh at how ridiculous he is.

Movie!Bowser terrifies me because I've known people like him. People who will play victim when the other person's done nothing wrong.

Game!Bowser fully owns up to his actions. I believe that Movie!Bowser thinks everything he does is for the betterment of everyone. Almost as if he's some twisted hero.

And I'm worried about the people who support him and don't see an issue with it. If you like him because he's an amazing villain, super! If you can separate reality from fiction and know that what he's doing is not normal, even better.

But if you're going to stand there and say "Boo Peach, yay Bowser!" then you may need to rethink some of your life choices.

[bunnimew]

We were tagged by @9haharharley1 and @overmooneleven who could not have foreseen what a production this was going to turn into 😂 Thank you!!

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

*Gets out the record player* There's required listening while scrolling this list...

Now that the mood has been appropriately set, here we go!

Warm Bodies 10 Edit9It'sYourBoyJackFrostAightSo High Seas Hijinks pt 2 Android Pitch Neon Ideas Von Kaiser Mix Tape If you don't dance, no romance Jack Frost and the Quest for the Stanley Cup Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide YA Novel Merman/Nature Elf Baby It's Cold Inside Everything but the fresher sink Halloween bodyswap Saiyuki Fantasy AU Coffee and Fruit Snacks Untitled Document Blackice ABOlive Garden Concerned Neighbor AU Obsolete Force Monsters Donut Saga 2022 RotG Bingo RotG Bingo 2021 Free Day Light Magic Soulmate AU Sleight of Hand Android AU Wing fic space vampire arranged marriage fake ppl scifi book pogo kylux AU Hope Week 2022 Let's Play AU Clydeland Ghost roommate Omega hux Techwear AU Original magic apocalypse Holiday kylux Pink hair hux Goose steals the staff Quarantine Kylux twitfic college au ST/Kylux Omega hux sequel cyborg hux Fuck this I'm outtie hux Loud AF kylux Loud AF blackice Every floor is Loud AF Loud AF Zag and Than Angel/Demon AU Gymnast hux Parkour hux 5 times hux blows kylo A/B/O Hades Kylux A/B/Olive Garden Disney Princess Hux Hutt slave Mitaka Femlux Afterlife Bloom Halloween2020 sen aid + sen kid kylux Trivia and Other Flirtations Gertrude Pink hair Jack + Hux Teacher/Teacher Merge ST and EU frank/strange Bingo Fancy Dinner Matchmaker Cape Selection AU Senate Takeover Manny Moonbear's Pizzaria Guardians in Black Party fancy pitch Jasper/Lapis Suzalulu week 2016 horror ideas Untitled Terminator Game Terminator Ideas Frank/Strange coffee shop au Ideas for erotic stabbing Suzalulu week 2017 Zell birthday Gratuitous sleepytime Lulu the professional hand model au Peter has two dads au RotG Coffee shop AU Veelamate AU Sorceress Jack Guardian of the D Blanket Scenario i think Saiyuki bang 10k Clover AU Wizards unite AU X/1999/RotG [Redacted] Pitch's New Groove PoGo AU spacerace magic repo RotGRepo! Colormate AU Overqualified Merlin Caffeine and High Fructose Corn Syrup O2: Teammates Spideypool Bingo 2019 B1: Personal Trainer Spideypool Bingo 2019 Spideypool fairy AU Tie fix Soulmate tattoo AU 3 5 10 AU idea Silent Hill AU O1: Met at the Dog Park Spideypool Bingo 2019 ff8 werewolf au Buffate 2 Kink series Dance All Night Let Me and Your Body Talk Pounded in the Butt by the Physical Manifestation of the Fear That I Will Never be Good Enough While He Tells me I am Good Enough Also He's British  Silent Hill AU Bathtime Evening Horror Husbands Fic art 1 Morning cuddle Fic art 2 Spinel Jack Cover art Croptops Spiderman kiss Gargoyles

We literally do not know as many people as we have WIPs. I'd have to pull out the yearbook and start tagging people from high school and we're not going to do that. But we do have to tag @seekerseekingsomething for reasons they will understand and @askmyname @quillienvii @pheasantmadness for Other Unsaid Reasons ❤

[cloverlink]

/chin on hands I would like to hear about Jak X and why it's your favorite! If you're up for it/don't mind.

OMG YES *OPENS PANDORA'S BOX*

sO I played this game when I was like 8-9-10 y/o. I met the saga through The Lost Frontier lmao but my English was very bad so I couldn't play much of the game and sent my dad to change it. iirc, the game he came back with was Jak X, if not then I got it another time I went to the store and said "surprise me".

since I had tried googling about TLF to help me pass the game, I got familiarized with the rest of the games as well. I had a (very) vague idea of the story through amvs and fanmade content. so then I got to play the game, the story was much shorter cuz it was only one game, and the playing mechanics were basically Mario kart (which I had played a lot previously) so I had a way easier time understanding things. I guess that made me closer to this game in particular. Also I asked the store for the main trilogy but they could never get them.

Plus I actually replayed it a dozen times cause of the fucking save file corruption bug, it was years of frustration cause I could never reach the end of the game without losing my progress. I eventually got a second memory card and tried again, this time with a strategy of cloning the save on each card. But by that time I had already watched the cutscenes on YouTube cause I genuinely thought I could never do it on my own. Still, getting to finish the game was like a life goal being achieved

Tldr years long frustration + learning to like bad guys lmao

NOW since I was a small kid I haTED Mizo's crew with a passion cause they were evil bad guys and that was all I could see. I had a special hate spot for Razer and UR-86. And the fact that I couldn't beat the game felt like they were winning against me and I was failing to save Jak's team from the poison. But then puberty hit and I admitted to myself that I had a crush on Razer LMAO and I became Mizo's crew #1 fanboy. Before I realized I was thinking of backstories, headcanons, ships, self inserting myself on the team or as their rival who ends up warming up to them

I got to play the other games when I was 15 (it was around this time that I got to beat Jak x too) and that made me appreciate X even more because they really didn't need to go THAT HARD yet they did!!! and I'm so glad!!!! It gave us more time with Jak + a different side to him, a lot of depth in world building, character development for Keira (I had very protective parents so I feel her) AND THEY FINALLY KISSED OMG TOOK YOU BOTH DUMMIES LONG ENOUGH + that plot wist with GT and then the Rayn one at the very end holy shit

IT'S JUST SUCH A MASTERPIECE SORRY THIS IS SO LONG

now a lil on my love for the baddies: we get literally zero stuff from them except for Mizo's daddy issues and Razer's sassyness so this part is mostly me going full delulu. Most of my attention at first was on Razer obviously and I always love/hated him, I feel like I wouldn't stand him but God he's so cool. Then one day I randomly started adoring Shiv?? I just thought he'd be such a chill guy and started picturing us as besties??? Edge I feel would be Shiv's kinda close friend, we see them together most of the time they have in X after all. And then Cutter's the most reserved one, I picture him being actually really sweet but you Have To Get There.

Now I need to draw my self insert so bad omgggg

Also I can recite the Spanish version of the opening scene by heart

OK THAT GOT LONG ENOUGH thank you so much for asking I loved writing all this and would love to hear your thoughts on the game (⁠ʃ⁠ƪ⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠）

[soundofseclusion]

Sound's Games of the Year for 2023

I know we're almost into the third month of 2024, but please bear with me for a bit as I talk about my favorite games I played in 2023. I always mean to do one of these posts but never end up doing one because I take too long. Well, I may have taken too long this time, but I'm doing it anyway. This post will explain my top five 2023 games which released in 2023 and WHICH I PLAYED. Ok here we go.

Top Games of 2023

#5. Super Mario Bros. Wonder SMBW is a phenomenal game. It pushes 2D Mario beyond the staleness of the NSMB games (all of which were really good, just kind of uninteresting): something the series has been sorely needing. I believe that Mario as a franchise really needs weirdness to thrive, and for a while, they've been playing it pretty safe (with 2D Mario at least). Wonder allows for the developers to do weird and wacky stuff, all without compromising the immaculate level design the series is known for.

#4. Jusant When I was a kid, my dad used to take me mountain climbing a lot. I always really liked it, but it was pretty scary. Jusant fundamentally understands that what is engaging about climbing is that each movement feels like a small puzzle. It also understands that climbing is a connection between the self and the environment. It also understands a lot of other things in the realm of beauty, connection, design, etcetera. It also allows for all these things without the anxiety that comes with climbing, which is both a good and bad thing. Ultimately, they knew what they were going for, which was a vibes-based puzzle-exploration game, not a high-stakes action climbing game. I'd say it's better for that.

#3. Small Saga Okay so technically I beat Small Saga in 2024, but I'm still putting it on the list because it was one of the best games of 2023. It's a fantastic approach to an RPG where the battles are well-balanced without requiring any grinding (grinding isn't even possible, it's designed that way). The story is awesome and engaging and the world is fully realized and compelling. Combat is fun and the side content is fun and the writing is fun and. The game is very very fucking good.

#2. Pikmin 4 Despite never including Pikmin 4 in my 2023 media thread, I did technically beat it. I just know it features an extensive post-game which I intended to full clear, so I never posted about it and decided to wait until that eventual full clear (a line of thinking that has changed for media threads going forward). Of course, life got in the way, and distractions happened, and I put my return to the game on hiatus, but that won't stop me from saying Pikmin 4 is the second best game of 2023. I don't think I could really add much to the existing discussion about why this game is great, but I'll attempt to do so whenever I do fully complete it.

#1. Chants of Sennaar Sometimes a game comes along that manages to accomplish something so beautiful in a way I would have never considered. This is one of those games. With a wholly unique gameplay concept that it fully fucking nails, Chants of Sennaar deserves to be played and completed. It's one of those games I wish I could experience for the first time again.

Bonus! These are the best games I played to completion for the first time in 2023 from a different release year.

#5. Trek to Yomi (2022) A very cinematic game with satisfying combat, a really cool setting/story, and a good flow overall. I felt very engrossed during my time with the game, and constantly found myself impressed by the visual spectacle and atmosphere. I feel like maybe it doesn't quite live up to its potential, but it was still one of my favorite games I played in 2023.

#4. Co-Open (2021) A delightful and short experience where you are given the option to interact with as much or as little of the world as you like. The game can be beaten in like 5 minutes, but my playtime was about 2 hours. Whether or not you'll enjoy this game depends on whether you can allow yourself to view the mundane as exciting through the lens of a young person. Personally, I quite enjoyed doing that.

#3. Eastward (2021) As time has passed, I've grown more and more fond of Eastward. Its world and story are so compelling, and it's a game that you can obviously see an immense amount of compassion was put into. When I completed it, I stated that it was marred by a lot of minor issues that made the final experience less than satisfactory. And at this point, I don't think I care about the gripes so much, because I can only think of this game's world with total adoration.

#2. Red Dead Redemption (2010) I wrote a pretty lengthy thing about Red Dead last year, but the gist of it is that this game does a lot of things very right.

#1 MetaWare High School (Demo) (2020) One of the most interesting games I've ever played and which I refuse to speak on further.

[firedragon1321]

Big rant about my Capsule Zaurus stuff below. Mostly about fanworks, copyright, concept art, and how I use copyrighted material in my stuff.

Before I start the rant- I want to mention that I put a lot of links in here. A few go to my artwork. But most provide extra info and clarification. Some of it is because Capsule Zaurus is a pretty overlooked prototype to Digimon, so not all Digi-fans know what it is. Some of it is because I have been in fandom a long time and I lost track of when people stopped using squick and I don't know what the kids use these days. Feel free to click a link if you're confused about anything.

I want to return to my Capsule Zaurus project because Tomoya (the character in the header) is doing that "character wants attention and occupies your thoughts" thing. I really don't want to focus on fanfic right now (mostly because I'm drowning in WIPs). But I don't know if the project counts as original fic, or to what extent.

For the uninitiated, here is a brief timeline of Capsule Zaurus from conception to today.

Bandai draws concept art for a virtual pet game for boys in 1997

Doesn't use it because it's too similar to Pokemon

Puts it in a drawer

Does NOTHING until 2013

Puts it in an artbook

NEVER mentions it again

Fandom posts translations and then sleeps (you can read all the info in the first two links)

I learn about it almost a year ago at an anime con and get inspired

I draw all this stuff- including some redesigns, but also original Zaurus and human characters

I come up with this batshit insane plot and world to go with the concept art

I find myself in a tangle of mostly original ideas, with vestigial but clear connections to Bandai's work

I'm not sure if it should just go to Ao3 or if I should rework my elements and characters into something else

Bandai's Capsule Zaurus isn't a finalized work. It is concept art. I'm a raccoon digging through the trash and taking things Bandai doesn't even want. But chances are they still hold the copyright for it. Not to mention the name likely comes from Pocket Zaurus, which is published and certainly copyrighted.

Putting the work on Ao3 would be extremely tricky, too. It would have to be tagged as Capsule Zaurus- which is not a fandom at the moment- plus Digimon, plus Original Work. This obtuse collection of fandom tags would likely be confusing, and I doubt anyone would read it.

It doesn't help that the story is T at mildest and M at highest. I don't write E-rated content. But that's what people want over there. I've noticed some authors who write both get a lot more hits on their sexy stuff over their tame or gen work, and good gen writers often go ignored.

So if I don't want my story to rot on Ao3, I'd probably have to remove the Zaurus characters entirely and make it original. This seems counterproductive. But it's the more likely route I'd go to preserve my original stuff. I don't want to do that, since I love Digimon and I like the "what could have been" nature of the concept art. But I really hate filing the serial numbers off of shit without acknowledging it as parody/mentioning the creators which...this isn't.

Below are two examples of me acknowledging parody and playing with copyright. Keep in mind I cut my teeth on 2007-era fanfiction, so people were constantly writing "I do not own this" on their shit.

For my Toon-iverse Saga, I have a Character Who's a Lot Like Tai (Soren, actually- it's more obvious in his backstory). But the back of the book credits Bandai/Toei/everyone I can possibly think of. The books are made of characters like this, and calls back to the source material while doing something unique. You don't need to know the original material to understand the plot, though doing so helps if you're looking for Easter Eggs.

Then, there's Zunru, which is a love letter to and critique of Pokemon. You don't need an in-depth knowledge of Pokemon to understand it (though as with the Toon-iverse Saga, it helps with Easter Egg hunting). The first few chapters even seem like "we live in harmony with these wonderful creatures!". But then the charade falls away, and the story reveals itself to be its own animal. At the end of each of these books, there is a credit to "Satoshi Tajiri, GameFreak, and Associated Parties", indicating that this is parody, I acknowledge the original but this is my own thing, etc., etc. Which is more than Temtem/Palworld did, but that's another story.

These are both instance of fair use, with possibly too much butt-covering spurred on by my fanfiction dot net heritage. They aren't like, say, writing a Twilight fanfiction, changing only the names, publishing it, and deleting the evidence. Which I feel trying to publish Capsule Zaurus as it is right now is pretty close to.

I just don't know what to do for Capsule Zaurus. I don't want to focus on fanfiction right now. But Tomoya is screaming against my skull and banging pots and pans. I'm sure I'll find the solution. It might be as simple as changing a few designs a bit more to make them more unique and not using the word "Zaurus". But that's still filing off the serial numbers.

Dammit, Tomoya.

[cloudcountry]

Aaaaa glad to see the inbox is open again! >w< How are you feeling?

I think you’ll be happy to know that I turned in my 4000 essay draft 😩🤧 I’m not too entirely confident about the second half, but the first half? 👌 Kind of a banger, if I do say so myself-

But!! While I’m here, I had the most wack dream and I need to tell you about it—

For some reason, I dreamed about Azul and Loop!Reader in Minecraft?? [My brain rot is so intense I'm having dreams about them,, 🧍‍♂️ What have I become /j] To emphasize, they weren’t playing Minecraft, they were in Minecraft. They were straight up part of the world. I was also there, but at the same time, I wasn’t? I was watching things like I was in Spectator Mode- Azul was trying to handle redstone as Loop!Reader manhandled a Spider while screaming- But the two of them were mostly just farmers that lived off their land!

I remember Azul talking about onions for some reason?? Onions don’t exist in Minecraft?? It was honestly a little funny watching them go around getting used to the world- He was also haggling with a Villager as the two were shopping—

Azul: How much for this cabbage? [Cabbages don’t exist in Minecraft either,, Idk where he keeps getting these vegetables from—]

Villager: Hmm

Azul: Two emeralds for this? Sir, with all due respect, this is already rotting. *one end of the cabbage head has like,, just a little bit of black rot* *a pinch, perhaps* *it's really not that much*

Villager: Hmm

Azul: Well, there’s no need for that kind of language.

Loop!Reader in the back: 🧍

Me, watching this transaction: 🧍‍♂️

And I kid you not, literally the second half of the dream, they were both now in Stardew Valley 🧍‍♂️ They both got isekai’d twice in my dream- One second, I was starting to accept the weird things I was seeing and the next, they were in a different game entirely. One that I’ve never even played 🚶‍♂️

The second half was a bit more wholesome in my opinion?? Like in Minecraft, the two of them were farmers living together, and they had a sort of system. Loop!Reader did the physical work while Azul handled finances and trade of their crops. All of the animals on their farm have names Loop!Reader gave them-

Loop!Reader: :D I’m gonna name her Goose!

Azul: You’re… naming the cow ‘Goose?’

Loop!Reader: >:D Yeah.

Azul: 🧍 …Okay.

At the end of the dream, Azul and Loop!Reader were looking off into the ocean at the top of a breezy, grassy hill. It was actually pretty nice to see! The two of them were relaxing a little after so much hard work… And then my alarm clock woke me up 🥲���

I honestly don’t know why my dream brain decided to make Azul and Loop!Reader have a farmer saga? But I’m not complaining- If I have another dream like this, it better be about Ace, Deuce, Grim and Loop!Reader being ghost hunters /j /lh

Jackdaw Anon 🐦

im doing well, thank you!!! ^^ im glad you finished up your work!!!! thats very imrpoatnt!!!! and im sure you did fine <3

AZUL HAGGLING IS SO REAL HE WOULD??? very business of him. get the most efficient price ^^ and ofc azulw oudl do redstone.,., as far as im concerned redstone IS magic and hes a genius SO YK HES GOT IT

AJSHDGFHASFD THEVILLAGER CONVERSATION IS SO FUNNY WHY CAN HE UNDERSTAND THE HRMS AND LOOP READER CANT???? YOUR DREAM IS SO SILLY

HAGSDFHA I LOVE STARDEW,..,,.,.,. me nd azul would be TERRIBLE together because i immediately try to grind for money and he'd be the same way,..,., but yk maybe tahts a goodd way to bond because i could give him all the money secrets and he could fall in love with my monetary rizz

THE RAMSHACKLE GANG BEING GHOST HUNTERS WOULD BE SO FUNNY AJSDFHAGSFDHAS

[monoukotori]

I am having so much fun with this au guys

More info under the cut (beware unorganized notes and half baked ideas)

First of all, I decided to make it so the events of Saint Seiya canon start when the Hikago kids are 15 (a bit after Sai disappears) so the OG manga is no longer set in the 80s. The Hades arc will start right after the Hokuto cup (which I will not touch since I haven't read the manga yet, it's just so you understand the timeline)

I ended up giving Akira the Horologium (clock ) cloth.

I like the design, it's not used in the OG series and It's a water/ice cloth in Omega so I think it fits him well. I didn't pick the peacock cloth because I decided Mayura should be his sensei. She's badass and she's located in Japan. As for why is a silver saint training another silver saint, Akira wasn't supposed to be one but he and Mayura are built different

Talking about Akira, since I spent so much time trying to find a way to keep him a Go player while shoving saint training in his childhood , he ended up as the protagonist. Hikaru would appear when canon starts, when Akira is 11-12, but the story would start when he's 6 and starting his training.

Hikaru is the same as always, but since Akira can sense Sai AND he's not going to Kaio, their story will change significantly. Now Akira has a secret to be criptic about too lol.

As for how Akira ended up a Saint, he had a great potential since he was a baby and was "discovered" by an important person from sanctuary when Akira was little (who I don't know yet)

Now the tricky part. Akira has parents (and also we don't know how saint recluitmet works when the Graad foundation is not involved so I'm improvising) so I basically made him a male Saintia lol. Saga was in one of his good moods so Akira received an invitation to go to a prestigious boarding school. At first they were sceptical but Akira insisted on going since he "felt" it was his destiny to go. He made such a fuss that his parents accepted.

Akira was sent to train under Mayura as a test for her loyalty, since he's already suspecting her for treason.

Akira is still a fucking genius so he learns very quickly and is ready to become a saint at 9 years old, which Mayura doesn't want because she knows Saga will manipulate Akira into spying on her if he gets his claws on him. So (and because Akira is still obsessed with Go) she sends him back with his parents so he can focus on the Go, and he'll be called to go back and take a cloth when the real Athena returns. Meanwhile they'll pretend like he's still under training, so he can be safe from sanctuary.

This is so he's more or less at the same level when he meets Hikaru, and to not damage his relationship with his parents too much.

Yada yada, time passes, Akira gets a tutor instead of going to school, Hikaru appears in the go salon and Akira almost decks him in the face because this rude brat has the Cosmo of an adult silver (Sai) and it's freaky. Akira is a lot less friendly in this first meeting, and accepts the game while planning to interrogate Hikaru when he wins.

So, Sai wins and Akira is now double freaked out. He's convinced Hikaru is a spy of some sort and follows Hikaru when he attempts to leave. Akira shoves him into an alleyway and start asking unhinged shit so now Hikaru is the one who is freaked out, he attempts to fight him back but Akira easily overpowers him. That's when Akira goes ⁉️ and asks why he's not using his Cosmo. Hikaru calls him crazy and Akira realizes he fucked up

This is up to a great start ✨ Akira will have to work on making Hikaru even want to be around him, let alone play Go with him. Good luck 👍

This ended up much longer than anticipated but I'm not done yet, I'll continue later

I finally found a way to make a Hikago x Saint Seiya crossover (because that brainrot will never disappear)

Rambling under cut cuz this is extremely niche :v

At first I struggled to find a cloth for Hikaru: the Virgo cloth doesn't fit him AT ALL (my man is too feisty he should have been a Leo rip) and I don't think he should be that powerful (at least yet) so I was looking into bronze and silver cloths, but I didn't like any of them.

Then I had an epiphany: Hikaru shouldn't be a Saint. He should be a Specter.

Specifically the Necromancer Specter:

This way I don't have to figure out when or how to send him training (the evil star will take care of that) and the powers are plot relevant. Also him interacting with the rest of the emo band that are the Hades army would be hilarious 😂 ( his personality would be too powerful to be overwhelmed by the evil star so he's still Hikaru. A more murder inclined Hikaru but Hikaru nonetheless)

Also now he can enter the Underworld whenever he wants so he could easily reunite with Sai 🥺

Then I wanted to figure out where to put Sai, but he's not fit for fighting 🤔 at the end I decided he should stay a civilian. Just a Heian ghost that likes Go, and ended up possessing Hikaru cuz he was subconsciously drawn by his latent necromancer powers.

Then I wondered if Akira should stay a civilian too, but the mental image of these two squabbling like brats in the battlefield was too funny to let it go. So he HAS to be a saint

Akira is a Sagittarius, probably the most loaded cloth in existence, so that's an automatic no. Also he and Hikaru should be on the same level, and the goldies are way too powerful

I am still trying to figure it out but I decided he should be a Silver. Sagitta is the most likely cloth I'll give him, tho I'm also considering Peacock (peacock is not a girl cloth that guy from the anime used it too)

If anyone ever reads this, I am open to suggestions :v

Akira's presence is vital so that Hikaru doesn't get himself killed in the holy war, I have an entire plot planned already, because this is how I roll, but I won't write it here yet. I have to tweak it a bit before, but I will, I'm extremely invested 👍

[ratherembarrassing]

OK now I really want to know your thoughts on the whole Djokovic court saga

i started yesterday enjoying my days-long hearty chuckle at an anxivax fool who regularly ruins my enjoyment of a sport i love being subjected to the lightest touch of a ratbastard system that is an immoral plague on my country... and i ended it watching a livestream of kids getting pepper sprayed by cops on the street outside my office.

because australia.

this is almost irrelevant to the whole thing except for the fact that it was the ultimate reason he was released, but one of the things that i keep coming back to with this is also something that i have returned to repeatedly since trump's first impeachment, which is that the fastest way to fall foul of the law is to disregard the administrative process. nothing offends those in the business of the law more than failure to follow the processes of the law - far more than the legitimate passing of law or application of policy that is morally offensive in substance.

i don't have a good sense of what is likely to happen next. from what i understand about the counterindication for vaccination, i don't think it applies to someone fit and healthy enough to play in a grand slam tennis tournament. on that basis, he shouldn't qualify for a medical exemption. i think what is giving me the irrits about the whole thing is that he's benefiting from blatantly not engaging in the social contract. if he had simply not been vaccinated, he wouldn't have been allowed in. but the likelihood that he got covid because he was not vaccinated is statistically obvious, so you get into a game of causation and the icky area where contracting a disease is seen as the natural consequences of immoral action. that's a lot to unpack, and in the context of australia's numbers this week, i'll say what i said last week: i'm tired.

[madeofcc]

9 thru 14!

Thanks a lot for these @tartiish (also for sharing the post ^^)

9/ Age you started gaming?

I was super young so I don't really remember so let's say around 5/6. I played with my old brother and my father with the Super Nintendo. We didn't have a lot of games but we had a lot of fun. At 6 or 7 though I got the Playstation that I play with a loooot of years. (special secret : I even had the Spice Girls game who was hilarious)

10/ Hardest video game you’ve played?

Lots of them when I was a kid because I was too young to understand it : Resident Evil, Tomb Raider. I've played almost all of them (not TB though, I played them all) but it was a nightmare when I was around 7/8 ><

Now I don't even look at FPS. I never managed to feel comfortable playing them. The only one I did though was RE7 and I didn't like it (though it's one of the only RE who really scared me). Oh ! Horizon Zero Dawn ! I looooove it but I still have to try the normal mode ^^" I struggled on easy sometimes XD

Ah ! I just remember ! Forbidden Siren :o I bought the ps2 remake on ps4, I was so happy to finally play more than a demo of it (I used to play it when I was a teenager). But damn ... This game is super scary and ultra hard. I'm stuck at level 2 since 2 years now ...

11/ Video game you’ve spent the most time on?

Definatly The Sims 4 (sadly) ... But if we combine all the time I've spent on Kingdom Hearts / Tomb Raider / Resident Evil saga it should be them ...

12/ Most embarrassing gaming moment?

Probably when I had to restart KH Birth by Sleep at the very beginning because I didn't understand how to play it ><

13/ Scariest video game you’ve played?

I love horror so I've played a lot of horror games but most of them didn't scared me at all. My favourites (and recommended) are : The Last of Us (part 2 scared me at some part, especially with my headphones on), Obscure (a french ps2 game inspired by The Faculty, it was a huge suprise!), RE4 (ps2) RE2 (remake, 3 should have been a dlc), Until Dawn (great surprise!), Silent Hill (all of them), Siren, Evil Within (2 is cool).

The ones that scared the hell out of me are Slender Man on PC and Project Zero 1 on ps2 ^^

14/ Most memorable gaming moment?

When I got rid off Sephiroth in KH2 I think, or when after 13 try, I finally managed to get rid off Demyx ...

Also, the final battle of The Last of Us 2 ... I think it's the only final battle that made me cry all along XD My boyfriend and I were like "Nooooo ! Don't do it !!!!!" ! It was an emotional roller-coaster

[caeloservare]

🍵

Send me some tea to spill heh

// I don't think there's like anyone here who would fully understand, but...

Netfl.ix's Witc.her series is so DAMN BAD. Holy. Fucking. Shit.

I'm so glad I've watched only fragments of second season, because the first at least tried to follow the books plot. There were many, many issues there, I've literally pushed Cah.ir from my memory at all, because whom the fuck is that? BUT second season doesn't even pretend to try!

There were upsides and it was pleasant to see eg. Renfri's story involved. Or Jaskier is a lovely puppy, very unlike the book original, but he's lovely, even if I can't imagine him working as a spy at any point. Toss a coin of course. Henry <3 He played Geralt so well. So did Yennefer's actress (I forgot her name), she did awesome, not her fault her plot doesn't make sense anymore.

First season messed up some important plot points, so Yennefer's whole motivation made 0 sense. I can sum it up as: mages: "It's awesome, but it will cost you. You sure want this?" Yen: "Yes, I want this! [*bit later*] It costed! I've been robbed!". Cahir is... I don't even know what he is anymore. Nothing is left of whom he was supposed to be. Not a single thing. Not to mention ugly af Nilgaardian armour that apparently are ment to catch all the arrows instead of letting them slide off the plates. Logic doesn't exist in this production and then it only gets worse. Why didn't Triss lose her hair?! That's the whole point of her being one of the fallen on the Sodden hill! That one could recognize her and it was very unclear if she died or not and what the truth was! Hell, she had amazing rant (in witchers faces btw) about Sodden addressing her trauma. Where is all of that?! She just sat sadly at the gate and that was all in the series! Why mages are some kings' and queens' puppets? They were so only sort of in Nilfgaard, the rest of it was a very dangerous political games of them being literal power and at some point plotting an independent alliance for the good of the magic. Why are the witchers so weak and pathetic? They're apparently very easy to kill, despite being commonly feared, unnaturally fast mutants with sense sharper than razors. Brokilon dryads just letting some kids wander in? When they murdered anyone who so much as looked too curiously on their forest to the point even their 'friends' couldn't know if they won't get shot on sight?

Obviously no such bullshit in the books. The books might not be perfect masterpieces, but they became huge part of culture and basis of like 95% (if not more) Polish fantasy fandom for a reason. They're good. They're fun. They're easy read that is really good fantasy and solid bunch of stories before it grows into the saga. (Even if you'll miss out on language details that are seems to be lost in translation. The Witcher uses specific mix archaisms and slang and even repurposed some words.)

Read the books. Seriously. Or play the games, they're pretty awesome too. Or watch the movie fans made for fans (there are subs available!) that, despite the tiniest of budgets, is a production keeping the mood and the heart of what The Witcher universe is better than this huge mistake Net.flix made that could have been good but isn't.

You know what should be in the Witcher? Unicorns. You know what shouldn't? Tree-Eskel.

I shit you not.

Fun fact: I keep calling drug from the Arcane Fisstech instead of Shimmer by mistake 😂