#OK. ANYWAYS. THE TRIAL

[thepoisonroom]

that post that's like "learning social skills helps with social anxiety" applies to dating also btw

#i guess they have a circular relationship because also going on lots of first dates was really trial by fire for me in learning lots lf #new social skills #meeting new people was never my strong suit and i was very afraid of it and would avoid it but like! #when i first tried going on first dates i learned a lot about how to meet people and met types of queer people i'd never met before #and actually it was good for me even though it was often weird and stressful #and it was a lower-stakes way to practice social skills that i otherwise would've just avoided using until they atrophied #anyway whenever i see a dating profile that's like 'i'm afraid of talking to women lol' i'm like ok relatable but what's your plan to learn #i think also just like it doesn't have to be through dating but it is good for you to meet other gay and trans people offline if possible #when i moved to wisconsin i only knew my coworkers who were mostly also twentysomethings who'd been hired straight from college #and it was good for me to meet and make friends with other local gay and trans people who were involved in different stuff #idk i just don't know how many more 'i'm obsessed with romance but scoff at the idea that i should do anything about that' posts i can read #like if i said i wanted to run a marathon but i never practiced running people would fairly be like okay that's prob not gonna happen #idk i know it's no skin off my nose i'm just like. if you never take any steps towards expressing your desires #how do you think they're going to just happen to you #personal nonsense

[danganronpa96]

chapter 4:

I hate this. I hate how we all know what this means. I hate how this was already an existing thing. I hate how I didn’t realise it myself.

Excuse me while I go lie down and re-evaluate my choices.

#/j this is genuinely so funny #I mean c’mon guys when I killed off Peter I already gave you a massive hint #on who was going to die in ch4 of a fanfic I hadn’t even conceived the idea of at the time #the clue was this one hyper specific gag I mean how could you overlook it #ok anyway it’s very fitting this is getting posted the day of the trial drop lmao

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Small Tears of the Kingdom changes that could have done a lot

(at least according to me, the one singular flawed person writing this post)

In my desperate attempt to close off the Tears of the Kingdom season on my side of the internet (failing so far), I wanted to join the proposals of a couple of small restructurations/rewrites I've seen on my dashboard. These wouldn't change much of the game, but enough to boisten some of the themes and make the experience both more open and more streamlined. They try to ignore a lot of my own biases towards what I would have loved to see explored within the game and focus on what already exists (I said try). These changes are not only story-driven but also focus on quest design and narrative reward logic, which puzzled me even more than the story itself.

It's obviously not the end all be all of everything, there's a ton of small things that aren't fully adressed, etc.

Here are the 3 main tenants of this proposal:

We know about Fake Zelda by the end of the tutorial section. We see glimpses of her all the way, even though Rauru doesn't seem to be aware she's here, and most of our obstacles come from us trying to reach and save her. Then, by the end, she tries to kill us in the Temple of Time, and we realize she's fake and a lure (it could be a small mini boss, nothing too severe; just something to prove we understand combat). It could also be an earlier occasion to have Ganondorf shit-talk us using his creepy voice through her body, that could build up a better sense of rivalry going forward and make the betrayal of him using her body sting much more than it does in the current version.

Ganondorf, using Fake Zelda, tries to antagonizes each region of Hyrule towards their princess --and, the very important part, it works. The kingdom is splintering apart as he plans his return and his invasion. The goal in each region is not to vaguely solve the weird local problem, but, using the regional hero that knows and trusts Link, to prove that whatever is happening isn't Zelda's fault. This allows to build some sense of tension and stakes, makes us deeply empathize with an overwhelmed Zelda trying to step up as a leader in the aftermath of the Calamity and isn't here to defend herself (and then when we learn where she is and what she did it hurts so much more). The camp where Purah is could also double-down as the beating heart of Hyrule trying to reconnect with the suspicious regions suffering the turmoil isolated from each other.

The Dragon's Tears questline is overhauled, and that can happen in two simultaneous ways. Some of these memories remain Zelda's, but now only some of them, perhaps those who are connected to Zelda's decision to become a dragon without ever spilling it out (and could even focus more on her insecurities as a young ruler and her relationship to her ancestors), remain sprinkled into the land to reward those who want to understand more about her motivations. But now, each of the secret stones collected along the way also function as tears, and instead of being treated to another delicious serving or The Imprisoning War? The Demon King??? we get to discover a little bit more of the mystery. The way it could work is quite simple: the Sage introduces us briefly to their own perspective into the war outside of a voiced cutscene to give the writing more flexibility regarding what the player already did to avoid repetition ( :) :) ), and then plays a pre-determined cutscene in a linear fashion, which is one of Rauru's memories embedded within the secret stone and tells the story of the fall of his kingdom to Ganondorf. (also bonus: now Zelda's tears don't embody the entire kingdom anymore, which was very strange and never sat right with me)

So what we did is to separate the different stories while intertwining them: Zelda's struggles and sacrifice on one hand, Rauru's regrets and bitterness on the other (lololol sorry), and Ganondorf's attempt to break the kingdom apart --which would feed into both Zelda's anxieties and Rauru's long winded defeat. The bonus to this approach would also be to question Hyrule's legitimacy: the various races would then need to decide, after having actively questioned the young princess, that they actually still believe in Hyrule and a future they all get to live in together.

This would also give a little bit more teeth to Ganondorf's motivation, his deep envy for the power of Hyrule and the fact that his own people chose it over him, let alone everyone else. As for the Link's motivation, trying to have everyone see that Zelda is worth it and stop that evil force from shattering her image while also acknowledging the faults of the past could make the player invested in wanting to bring Zelda back down after everything she went through and all the sacrifices she made to prove herself a worthy ruler (Rauru's forcefulness in assimilating the realm under his banner even though he meant well being his actual character flaw that Mineru could eventually acknowledge, to give her something to do instead of... feeling bad for no clear reason!! Also just *give emotional weight* to that time she holds Rauru's hand again when she swears fealty to Link, this was so simple and obvious how was it not given the time it needed for us to care about what was lost!!! aaa)

Yes, it's still about the power of love and sacrifice over ruthless domination, but now characters have a little bit more agency and we feel a little less like they have a zonai knife under their throats the entire time forcing them to always be happy and enthusiastic about swearing fealty to the immortal kingdom. They find out about the past but get to redefine their future instead of falling over themselves in worship; literally using pieces and bits of the past in the form of zonai tech to rebuild their own kingdom and their future dreams. Together they are stronger; but because they all chose to believe in that mantra instead of having it being imposed by long dead kings and faceless ancestors expecting them to die for a war that shouldn't concern them.

(Also, obviously, the gerudo region has to reckon with the Demon King being particularly angry at them for betraying him, and them deciding to reject his rule a second time and embrace their own path, because in the original TotK Ganondorf being gerudo could be removed entirely without any consequence, which is pretty sad since it's basically an enormous part of what makes him compelling as a villain for a lot of people and keeps him from being a completely generic Nintendo stock villain!!)

And honestly? Beyond a couple of dialogue changes and slightly different setups and reasonings for Link to do certain things, especially in the various regional quests? Most of everything else could stay roughly the same. The bones are here! They're just arranged in a really weird way.

(except for Ganondorf surviving as a big bad dragon in the end through the sacrifice of his mind to immortality because that's just much more interesting than turning him into a supernova --but that's really a bonus honestly)

#totk #totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom #thoughts #zelda #rauru #ganondorf #because we can access information from different angles doesn't mean we should access it whenever imo #not if it fucks up the pacing and our understanding of plot characters and story #also to pace the story from between challenges instead of shoving it all down in your mouth if you do all the memories at once #is just better user experience imo #especially for a zelda game that attempts to pace itself like a legend #so trial and tribulation -> new development #not new development because you tried to paraglide into a pond missed but like you have 1 heart left but you ate 28 apples ok let's go #and then you do that 10 more times in a row #anyway!!! #just thoughts

[quackle]

i really have to wait until 2023 2024 for the second book of the sunbearer trials and see if my theories are correct

#it's so good i read it in three days and inhaled the fanart #the sunbearer trials #aiden thomas did it again. they truly did #update: september 2024................... 💔 it's ok i can wait #remember when the hear said 2023. good times. anyways this book is gonna eat

[s0urfangs]

pink sure is a great colour right guys yeah righ-

First artfight attack, Link for @commanderfloppy :>

#changed the colours a lil since i uploaded to artfight . just a SMIDGE. #also i gotta admit. i spent. SO LONG TRYING TO MAKE SURE HE DIDNT LOOK LIKE FEDSY AND I STILL FEEL LIKE IVE FAILED LMAO #i never realised how similar some of their features are until i started drawing in my style its so funny im so sorry floppy #i was LITERALLY LIKE moving this guys cheekbone. jawbone. everything #i had done most of the colours then was like hm ok maybe if i just (FREE DEFORM TOOLS HIS ARMS TO BE THINNER) get twinked #ah. the trials of Artist. #if i drew those two next to each other i think itd be the funniest shit. that picture of those houses next to each other. one is bright pink #the other is pure black. #ANYWAY #silvsart #artfight #Link #gw2 #sylvari

[permanentreverie]

.

#ok so mini rant session #i am doing a bit better today - little less distraught over getting fired from a job i thought i was doing pretty good at and i was trying #really hard and genuinely enjoying #and just more baffled because truly i had no warning and i was completely blindsided #i was in the middle of a 3 month trial and i would have a review at the end in which i would be offered a permanent position if it went well #and i thought i was making my way towards that! granted i was still making mistakes but genuinely not of such a great scale i thought it #called for my immediate dismissal #that being said i was still VERY MUCH IN TRAINING. i had only been there A MONTH AND A HALF learning COMPLETELY NEW SYSTEMS #and i was told that i had been there a few weeks already and that i wasn’t catching on quick enough. that there were some areas i was #understanding and others i just simply wasn’t #and i asked what areas specifically so that i could learn more and try harder #and they didn’t give me a specific answer. #ok and so. so. i have this insecurity. #that at first impression people will like me. that they may think i’m pretty or kind or funny or whatever #but then they spend time with me or get to know me and realize that that’s all bullshit. #that i’m actually not pretty and im mean and loud and selfish and lazy and rude and etc etc etc #MASSIVE fucking insecurity in that like that’s why i genuinely don’t have friends or a significant other #and that genuinely i’m just a Bad Person #and when i was fired? i was told ‘a persons true colours show after a few weeks’ #so that’s MAJORLY fucking me up. #when i was hired i was boasted to about my boss’s hiring process and how she’s ’only been fooled twice’ #and the morning before i was fired in a meeting my supervisor told everyone that i was doing quite well. #so yeah i truly had no fucking warning. at fucking all. #hurt and confused and angry and baffled and did i mention hurt #anyways if you’re still here i’m sorry i know this is not a good look for me

[vanibear]

skitters around like a beast. Hii ❤️ok im going 2 go ramble in the tags now👍

#are there any cane user jou enjoyers around !! #getting struck by lightning and then almost burned alive by a god all in One tournaments finals is kindof a lot .so I think itd be nice for #him 2 have one ^-^ #ok more artists notes .standard poking fun at kaiba .he hates when his hair is too long (sensory issue) but he hates the hairdressers even #more (worlds most sensitive scalp. And touch issues with strangers. aka now im just talking abt me here) #solution: mokuba cuts his hair. this has taken many Many years of trial and error (see: the green hair era) #and lastly bakura ! he makes me want to gnaw on wood. i actually really liked how this doodle turned out tho I might turn it into a full #piece hmmm #also I thought it was so funny how they censored his move spelling out death by changing it to final .girl that sucks 💀 #go play wordle find a better 5 letter word .not that I can think of a better one off the top of my head tho…… #i mean he is already using a whole ouija board at this point is it even worth trying to censor #BUT YEA anyways. I need to draw more gx and 5ds stuff #honestly. I would not mind at all if ppl sent in requests so I could practice drawing diff characters #no promise ill actually get to them tho T-T sorry .my willpower is very fickle #vani art :] #kat post #jounouchi katsuya #joey wheeler #seto kaiba #bakura #ryou bakura #yami bakura #ygo #yugioh #yugioh fanart

[youssefguedira]

oppenheimer really wants to present oppenheimer himself as a complex person responsible for bad things but really doesn't. make much reference at all to said bad things. the impact of the bombings is reduced to a single montage (that isn't even showing what happened: it's showing oppenheimer imagining it happening to a room full of americans) and a moment where they mention the number of people dead + the effects. when the images of the aftermath are shown the camera instead focuses on oppenheimer looking away, which i understand, but the audience doesn't see any tangible impact either. the effects of the test on the surrounding area aren't mentioned at all. like i understand that some things won't be shown in a film but if you're trying to present someone as responsible for bad things then i think it weakens what you're going for if you don't really show said things. anyway

#i said a lot of this on letterboxd but its actually really not easy to discuss things on there #technically i think it's stunning but i can't actually give it a rating because i am so deeply conflicted on how it deals with its central #issue. so #neon has thoughts #i mean you're free to disagree but i was uncomfortable going in and i was still uncomfortable after watching #and i understand depiction =/= glorification but i do feel more care should have been given to what actually happened to people #if they wanted to present the full complexity of what happened. also the movie does end up as a hero/villain kind of thing anyway in the #trial section like ave pointed out on letterboxd #like. i think if you're making a movie about the creation of the atom bomb. you can't really shy away from any aspect of it. and it feels to #me like oppenheimer does #ok ill stop now. but yeah

[acesammy]

I’m getting mad at spn podcasts again lmao

#‘[sam] needs to pay penance for the bullshit he’s done’ #my dude WHAT????? #(this is about the trials) #the ONLY thing that you can POSSIBLY argue that Sam still needs to pay penance for at this point is leaving dean in purgatory #and leaving Kevin #which like???????? Come ON #WHAT? #are you talking about the apocalypse then???? #in which case: what the fuck was the 180 years in hell??????? #anyways I just got through an entire episode like ‘yeah man this is ok. Very few anti-Sam comments. A couple pro-Sam comments’ #only for that line to SLAP me in the face #bro #lea speaks

[urzfanclub]

i know its bioware not giving a fuck about frat regs 2 begin with but ignoring that.... i always think it has to be the circumstances of the galaxy facing a grisly and immediate end that everyone was like well its probably a bad choice to sleep with the fucking shuttle pilot but we wont fault anyone involved as we’ll all probably die by reaper and none of this will matter in the end. because i keep thinking how in any other circumstance a guy who was last seen allied with a damn.. extremist org.. & walked off being grounded and maybe on trial for it like.. a day ago.. getting the big idea to go for the recently widowed pilot who drops them into combat zones would be terrible decisions 101 on paper

#I was thinking about how you leave being on trial or being grounded or whatever and immediately are like ok anyway time to ignore frat regs #if you’re romancing any of the human characters in 3. #when the me2 ones are cameos and never show up on the ship

[yonemurishiroku]

There’re five blonds throughout the series (no Apollo I’m counting the demigods here).

Two are antagonists, two are love interests of a fandom’s favourite character/ most powerful, one is antagonist-coded and on the most powerful tier. Two of them have been to the deepest of Hell. The other three are just dead.

Huh. Interesting.

#jason could be a well-built antagonist but rick was a coward #ok ofc he's not but i mean jason could be a good antagonist i dont make the rules. #not sure if i miss any blond but anyway #luke castellan #jason grace #octavian (pjo) #annabeth chase #will solace #the blonds #three of them are dead i'm crying. #mentioned dark jason #yone rambling #pjo #hoo #toa #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo #riordanverse #tsats #the sun and the star #the sun and the star: a nico di angelo adventure #nico di angelo #percy jackson

[hydrodragons]

once i get wriothesley on his rerun it's over for y'all

#not this being the same team as the one i use for neuvillette LMAO it's fun ok #the build they gave him in the trial is similar to the build i currently have as a placeholder #granted there are buffs in this domain so his numbers are better here #but i won't lose hope i will get a better build before his rerun comes TRUST #also idk if i even did the correct rotations for him in this team i just winged it and hoped for the best LOL #anyway let me put in some stats to the dmg calculator and see which weapon i wanna use for him #i wanna use my skyward atlas which is just sitting there collecting dust but idk if it's better than widsith or solar pearl #lou.txt #showcase.mp4

[desperatecheesecubes]

How did me wanting to read more green lantern result in me writing down an issue by issue Superman reading guide?

#I mean I DO know how #but it’s insane #and it’s because someone went oh read 90s GL #but I’m up to the underworld unleashed tie in with that run #and I want to read the event in order #but the problem is that the UU event goes into a different SUPERMAN event-The Trial of Superman #which I also want to read in order #and you’re like ok that’s silly but just go read that #YOU FOOL #EVERY FUCKING SUPERMAN ISSUE GOES ONE after ANOTHER #ALL OF THWM #and I’ve read up through bizarros World #so anyway I’m off to figure out this fuckton of comics #pray for me #mine #not me going off in the tags

[fanfic-gremlin-ft-trauma]

OOO HALLO HALLO!! Here because of that post about you being bored—not really an unpopular opinion, just want to know your opinion on him in general—thoughts on Will Solace?

ooooh okay well I haven’t actually seen enough of his character canonically (I love fanfic but idk if it’s characterised as consistently as it could be for me to make a judgement 😭) but so far I think he’s just a cutie. like, do I (and this is where I get in trouble lol) think he is the best love interest for Nico? From where I am right now… like, kinda? Idk he’s cute and I think his attitude definitely fits nicos self deprecating vibe but idk if he’d be my first choice. as a character by himself though I think he’s super cool. (also. I’d literally love to have Apollo as my godly parent so I can’t help but feel a teeeensy bit jealous of him)

#pjo #will solace #asks #unpopular op game #thank you for the asskkkkk these are fun lol #honestly I get pretty shook when I see people VIOLENTLY disliking will and calling him a dry and arc-less character like #ok from where I am he doesn’t have much depth but holy SHIT??? 😭😭 #anyway I’m super intrigued to read tsats so I can learn more about him :) (and the trials of Apollo which I literally started today ahhh)

[welcometoteyvat]

rewatching fontaine quest and like our first impression really is "wow these people are all theater weirdos" huh

#i forgot that paimon was wearing her goofy ass glasses during the trial FMDKSLJGWIEJFHDSJ #like ok >meet furina. tries to judge us for breaking the law. >meet neuvi. man with very bad convo skills who seems tired of archon. >meet #navia. forcefully becomes her assistant and observes her starting to bake macarons on a moments notice #L + L + frem were only saved bc the sibling dynamic balanced out the first impression i think but they are mostly normal. besides the fatui #thing god bless #*for neuvi also like terrible convo skills. done with archon despite being her coworker. idk what else . #ramblings! #also notable: clorinde has stuck by furina's side from the very beginning huh it's sweet then that she was also the one to invite furina po #post archon q out to her first normal human outing :') #and furina's pretty good at law despite everything like if she can pull out random laws that actually exist to make an accusation #it reads so different though knowing the actual truth like :') in the first meeting she says 'perhaps the welcome ceremony wasnt enough? #what else should i say?' like waughuhwhgujhhhhhh her act.... the traveler coming probably just posed a new challenge for her #or smth... as an outsider whos seen other gods and knows how real archons would act we'd be the most likely person to see through her #gripped with the implications 5 patches too late; anyways this quest. woahg #also rewatching it just gives me the gutpunch of seeing melus and silver still alive. cries

[pepperpixel]

This fucking adventure time shit is so bizarre I haven’t gotten this engrossed in a fandom since like fucking high school. I have other shit I’m supposed to be doing!!!!! Other than just drawing and thinking about adventure time all day long for several days straight!!! I have goals!!!!! I’m supposed to do….!! But I need to fucking draw adventure time I can’t STOP. What am I gonna tell my therapist when I meet him later this month and I’ve done nothing.? “Sorry dude… I couldn’t progress in being a functional adult this month cuz, fucking adventure time… I had to devote my every waking moment to adventure time… I had to. I could not let 2023 summer of adventure time obsession pass me by man!! I had to embrace it..!” Like!!!! Guh….. gah!!!

#like on hand it is very fucking cool and exciting and fun to be this inspired and motivated to create for something… #especially something other ppl are also excited about! like that’s fucking awesome! #but on the other hand my… obsession / rest of life balance is GONE. #im gonna try!!! since I got done drawing earlier than usually today. to get some real life shit done today… #actually I’m not gonna try I’m gonna do!!!! yeah fucking positive affirmation I got this shit #still it’s just funny lol #AND I DONT EVEN HAVE HBO MAX #HOW THE FUCK AM I EVEN GONNA WATCH FIONNA AND CAKE WHEN IT COMES OUT?? #(i know what I am going to do… I will cave and buy it. or at least use a free trial or something ghgh) #cuz…. I’m… gonna need to watch it when it comes out #ok anyway bye!!!!! I’m gonna go get shit done!!!!! wish me luck w ur minds ghghg!! #pepper words