#been thinking about The Character for a solid 6 months+ and let me tell you. expldoeing soon

[koobiie]

shoutout to everyone who wants to infodump but cant string together coherent thoughts to form sentences and instead just look at you like this

#and by 'everyone' i mean me. im just hoping other people relate lmao #someone asks me about a thing i like and im just like h.................. #been thinking about The Character for a solid 6 months+ and let me tell you. expldoeing soon #this is about ffxv btw . how am i supposed to say how much it lives in my brain . i cant think #text #1k #5k #10k #15k #20k #great googly moogly #30k #40k #50k #60k #boooy what da heeel #70k #80k

[fluffyartbl0g]

Redraw of the panels that SHATTERED MY HEART o(；△；)o!!! OG panels + Opinions on the Luffy separation arc under read more

Okay let me just go on a tangent about my feelings about the post-series Luffy separation arc, cause I think it gets way too much hate when it’s such a heartbreaking and well executed deviation from oda’s standard formula!!! I know that we all love monkey d. luffy and he’s LITERALLY the main character of the series, but it was also really nice to get more time to focus on the rest of the crew. But here’s the thing, even when Luffy wasn’t here, he was still here. And I’m not talking about the so called ‘blessings’ or whatever that kept SUSPICIOUSLY popping up around the crew when Luffy disappeared, I’m talking about the consequences that arised from him disappearing. We truly got to see how grand the effect luffy has had on the world around him, and how many lives he was able to touch ; - ; So even though luffy physically wasn’t present (I mean KIND OF but you know what I mean), this was still VERY MUCH a luffy arc imo. 

Oh man but I think Oda wrote luffy’s disappearance so well,,, I was sobbing for like 80 percent of this arc. Like just gradually seeing the crew’s deterioration as time passes by,,, but everyone has such unwavering faith in their captain, he HAS to come back cause Luffy always comes back. But here’s the thing, Luffy didn’t know what was happening to him when he started disappearing. But what he DID know is that he wasn’t sure if he was gonna be able to come back or not. And Luffy hates breaking promises- he’d never make a promise if he didn’t plan to keep it, and he’s not an idiot either, so when he just felt himself disappearing and saw zoro nearby... Instead of saying something like “I’ll be back!” and potentially making his crewmates wait for him forever, he tells zoro to “take care of the crew”... SOBBING AND CRYING T - T. So YES. the crew has unwavering faith in their captain. But. Luffy didnt say that he’d be coming back or anything. So what are they supposed to do really.

And it’s really hard to read at some parts, like it never loses the goofy tone that has been there throughout all of one piece and it’s really sweet to see everyone rely on each other to keep one another afloat, but the slight tension that keeps building up over the months while they keep looking for clues and answers... And how each lead keeps becoming a dead end... When it builds up and Usopp finally voices the thing that’s on everyone’s mind.

Oh man. I started crying so hard. It took 6 month for any one of them to say something. Like this is One piece. Of course Luffy is gonna come back eventually, it would be waay too dark otherwise... But Idk man, even I started to doubt that :((( But luckily. THIS IS ONE PIECE. So right after everyone started,,, well not exactly losing hope or anything (maybe a bit)? but going BATSHIT INSANE FROM THE REALITY THAT THEIR CAPTAIN MIGHT BE GONE FOR GOOD, they finally got a solid actual clue of what might’ve happened to luffy!!! And I’m SO GLADDDD!!!!

Omg and when they tracked down the pray-pray no mi user and finally got some answers out of him. OMG WAIT A MOMENT I REALLY LIKED IS WHEN PRIEST GUY IS LIKE “urerheg without luffy up there as a god the entire world may very well be destroyed cause the sun has been super unstable for centuries blah blah” and then Nami freaking PUMMELED THE GUY AND SHOVED HIM DOWN WITH HER STAFF AND

SOBBING CRYING SOBBING. THEY WOULD POTENTIALLY BLOW UP THE ENTIRE WORLD IF IT MEANT THAT THEIR CAPTAIN WOULDNT HAVE TO BE LONELY ; - ; KILL ME.

URGH I was really hoping that Luffy would return right once they beat him up cause I really really missed my boy, but honestly I think the final method of getting Luffy to return was super clever and absolutely worth the extra 3 weeks of waiting!!! I know that it was foreshadowed across the whole West Blue Saga and everything but I honestly had no clue it would end like that, DONT MAKE FUN OF ME :(((

When the crew finally got their captain back after 8 months of waiting... I mean they’ve been separated before for even longer periods of time, but they always knew that they’d be back together. This time they didn’t know. BUT AREHAHRGE ALL THE PAIN AND SUFFERING WAS SO WORTHIT WHEN THEY ALL FINALLY REUNITED T - T!!!!!! UWAHHWHAHWUAAGGHA!!! AND SEEING ALL THEIR ALLIES AND FRIENDS THEYVE MADE JUST CHEER AND CRY WHEN THEY HEAR THE NEWS!!!! I WOULD CHUCK ALL THE PANELS HERE IF I COULD BUT ID JUS T REACH THE IMAGE LIMIT BECAUSE ALL OF THEM MADE ME CRY ; - ;!!! Literally just read those 5 chapters in the arc finale cause,,,, man so good T - T

Anyways TLDR: The post-series luffy seperation arc is NOT BAD and you guys are JUST COWARDS AND LIARS!!!!

#tw unreality #post-series #one piece #op fanart #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #zolu #nami #usopp #straw hat pirates #gear 5 luffy #op spoilers #one piece spoilers #wano spoilers #please dni if ur a post-series one piece hater >:( #this is a post-series POSITIVE post only!!! Feel free to gush about other post-series arcs that you like on this post :D!!! #(for that person i scared: i put tw unreality higher just 4 u :3)

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (Yes, all of it) - December 1952

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

Dec 6, 1952

Heh.

Dec 8, 1952

Honestly it's not a bad look.

Dec 9, 1952

Did that just make him cry?

Dec 11, 1952

Gah! Please never do that again!

Dec 19, 1952

No no no! If you just outright lie then of course he will brush you off without a second thought. You've got to start with something somewhat true and then slowly work in the bullshit over time. Maybe throw in a death threat and a passive aggressive snipe at his sexuality to twist the knife a little.

God, it's like you four year olds from 1952 have never even been on social media.

Dec 21, 1952

I mean, it's more than I've gotten this year.

Dec 23, 1952

One of many things that I think sets Peanuts apart from other strips is how well Schulz depicts depression (probably because he almost certainly suffered from it). You might think depression is just a sad feeling similar to grief but it's actually more of an irrational pessimism coupled with a persistent sense dread. Your brain doesn't exactly lie to you but instead tells you the most negative version of the truth possible which can lead you to some very irrational conclusions. You feel fine, it's the ~world~ that's broken (and keeps giving you these useless pennies).

Er, not that I know anything about all that.

Anyways, Schulz perfectly captures this in a way that's honest and sincere but also entertaining and kid-friendly. Which is pretty damn impressive when you think about it.

Thoughts:

End of the year character design recap time!

Again, not doing every character every year for my own sanity since the cast will be getting very large. CB and Snoopy will be constants but the rest will get rotated in/out:

Charlie Brown

October 1950

December 1950

December 1951

December 1952

Snoopy

October 1950

December 1950

December 1951

December 1952

Lucy

March 1952

December 1952

(why can't I make this one picture smaller? Am I doing something wrong?)

Linus

September 1952

December 1952

Schroeder

May 1951

December 1951

December 1952

The main thing I'm noticing is that everybody looks twice as old as they did last year while the expression work is getting a bit more complex and nuanced. Charlie Brown's head is literally half the size it was in 1950, Schroeder has aged up into an actual character and has shed a lot of his UPA stylization, Snoopy's face is becoming a bit more blocky and angular, and Lucy's eyes no longer make her look like some kind of cursed doll. Big improvements all around I think.

Linus... got a shirt. Look it's only been 3 months what do you want from me?

There's also a lot more detail in the backgrounds now which is creating a wonderful sense of these characters existing in an actual environment. Schulz is also surprisingly good at drawing plants and nature which adds a nice organic softness to his world. It's all actually making me kind of annoyed at the animated adaptations because they always go for something loose and minimalistic for their backgrounds and I think they would have really benefited form the contrast something more solid and detailed would have provided.

Finally his paneling and compositions are god tier. I mean, god damn.

Anyways that's it for 1952, I hope you all enjoyed it. Next up: 1953!

#peanuts #charlie brown #comics #charles schulz #comic strips #peanuts comics #lets read #patty #snoopy #shermy #schroeder #violet #lucy #linus #depression #1952 #1950s

[newwwwusername]

Heartbreak High (Netflix Reboot) - Quinni & Quinni's Dads, Dusty & Dusty's Dad, Harper & Amerie, Sasha & Everyone, Darren & Darren's Parents, Spider & Spider's Parents, Ant/Spider, Jai & Malakai, Harper & Harper's Dad, Ca$h and Nan - Pride Month Prompt 6 : Coming Out

Warnings : References to underage sex, implied homophobia-centered child abuse, mentions of misgendering, I don't think it was SA but the threesome between Dusty/Malakai/Harper is talked about and I know some people read that as SA so might as well put that warning here as well Prompt : Write a fic in which an LGBT+ character (you get to pick the sexuality, romantic orientation, and/or gender identity) comes out to a friend. Whether or not the friend is also LGBT+ is up to you! Background relationships : Sasha/Quinni (but way before they actually dated and it's not super focused on, don't worry), Ant/Darren (past hookup), Harper/Dusty/Malakai (past hookup), Harper/Amerie (possibly one-sided), Ca$h/Darren Headcanons : Demigirl!Sasha (that was on her Wiki page but idk if it's confirmed or not, so I'm gonna put it here as a headcanon just in case), Bisexual!Amerie, Bisexual!Spider, Bisexual!Harper, Autistic!Ca$h (if you squint) Author's note : They're sort of in order of when I think they would've come out, not character importance. Also, no I did not forget Missy, I just didn't get a solid enough idea of her character to accurately write how that would go so I just didn't. She's great, I just don't know how to write her really

Quinni was rather young when she realized she was a lesbian.

Maybe it was because she was unapologetically Autistic and therefore didn't have as much care for social norms. Maybe it was because she had two dads who were sure to try and keep their daughter informed. Maybe it was just because girls were really hot and she couldn't ignore that.

Regardless, one day she came home from school and excitedly told her dads about this pretty girl who had just moved to her school named Sasha and how she was so cool and smart even though they were all in 4th grade.

Her dads just exchanged a knowing smile before asking for all the details about their kid's first crush.

----------

Dustin was in 6th grade when he fully had the thought of oh, I am NOT straight.

He figured it was puberty making his attraction to others harder to ignore because, in hindsight, he'd always found boys and girls equally as attractive.

"Hey, dad" he said one day after he came home from school.

"Hey, kid" his father replied. He seemed a little distracted, but Dustin didn't care. He was too excited about his realization to care. "How was school?"

"I like boys"

"Oh" his dad said. A tense moment passed and then he smiled. "Thanks for letting me know"

"Girls too" Dustin amended. "But yeah. I like boys"

"That's nice... How was school?"

"Boring"

"Right..."

----------

The first person Amerie came out to was Harper.

They were in 7th grade. It wasn't a situation where Amerie just suddenly realized then that she was bi- She'd always known she found boys and girls attractive- But that was when she first spoke it into existence.

"I'm bi" she said bluntly one night while Harper was staying over because her house was 'haunted' again. The platinum blonde looked over and smiled at her.

"That's sort of random"

"I just realized I hadn't told anyone that yet" Amerie shrugged. "Like, out loud. So why not tell you first?"

"I'm honored"

"Okay, smart ass" Amerie playfully shoved her and the two broke down into a fit of giggles.

----------

After Amerie became more open about being bi in 7th grade, that gave Sasha the confidence to start being loud and proud about who she was.

She put "she/they" in the bios of all her social media accounts, much to her family's confusion. They sent their family a few articles about what nonbinary was and they weren't the most receptive but she didn't care. She was gonna be herself whether everyone accepted it or not.

They also became the school lesbian- Sure, Quinni had been out for a while but Quinni was weird and didn't have any friends aside from Darren and her dads. Sasha, on the other hand, was sort of popular.

She quickly went all the way into environmental and queer rights activism, much to some of the boys' amusement.

They were out, and they would never try to hide it again.

----------

Darren had to come out to their parents twice.

The first time was rather uneventful. After Quinni had come out to her parents in 4th grade, Darren was inspired to tell their parents that they were gay.

Both of their parents took it... Fine. They weren't over the moon by any means but they weren't surprised, and they still loved them at the end of the day.

It was the summer before 11th grade, the year where the Incest Map would be discovered and change everything, when they decided to tell their parents that they were nonbinary.

This... Didn't go quite as well.

They figured it could've gone worse, for sure. They could've been kicked out or beaten or blatantly told that they just weren't, but they weren't given a pool of acceptance either.

Their mom was just annoyed because it was just another thing that would make her kid ostracized. "Wouldn't it be easier if you just kept being a gay boy?" she asked. Darren rolled their eyes. "I mean aren't gay boys respected now"

"But I'm not a boy, mom" they insisted.

Their dad's reaction was slightly better, but they could tell he didn't fully get it either. Neither of their parents got it, and tensions only rised from there, especially since their parents kept misgendering them and didn't seem super invested in trying, especially their mom.

Whatever, they thought. At least I have Quinni

----------

Anthony wasn't given a choice when it came to coming out because the Incest Map was found and suddenly everyone knew that Darren- Who most people still just read as an effeminate boy- Had given him a handjob.

When his family got the call from the school, it was so bad that he wound up sneaking out of his window after the noise stopped and booked it to Spencer's.

Spencer's own parents didn't really care when they found out their kid wasn't straight- Then again, it probably sounded better since it came from him in response to the Incest Map rather than the map itself. There were no boys or Darrens linked to him on the Incest Map.

His parents were pretty absent in his life, so it literally didn't affect them, which he supposed was better than what happened to Anthony, who showed up at his doorstep at one in the morning, sobbing.

"Come in" Spencer said earnestly. "My parents went out for some sort of trip, so you won't have to worry about them" he continued. He barely had time to even tell his parents Hey, you probably heard about the sex map. Just so you know, it's not on the map, but I've definitely fucked around with boys before. Yes, including Ant. Please don't stop him from coming around we've never done it in this house, I promise before they left.

"My parents are really upset"

"About the Map?"

"About me getting a wristy from... Darren"

"Ah" Spencer nodded. Anthony's family had always been super religious. He should've seen this coming. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really"

"Okay" Spencer replied. He'd never been great at comforting people but he always found himself caring a little more when it came to Anthony. "Anything else I can do to help?"

"...Cuddles?"

"Alright, mate"

----------

It was while Malakai was out camping with Jai that he opened up about what had happened with Harper and Dustin.

"After the thing with the cop, Dusty and Harper found me and we went back to... I think Dusty's house" he explained. "And we were all high and we ended up... Having a threesome"

"Alright" Jai nodded. "How do you feel about that?"

"A little gross" he admitted. "I mean, I'm not really into either of them and I think if I were sober or even just less upset I wouldn't have done it" he continued. "I don't blame either of them for that- Again, we were all sort of fucked up- But I didn't love it after the fact"

"Well, that's unfortunate"

"It's also made me... Question some things"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I've never paid much attention to guys before, but it didn't feel completely wrong, doing all that with Dusty" he admitted, adamantly avoiding looking at the older man. "And now I keep thinking of the other boys in my grade in this different light... I don't know" he sighed. "I think I'm confused"

"It's okay to be confused" Jai assured him. "Thanks for trusting me with this"

"Yeah, of course, man"

----------

Harper's dad was stable and medicated for the first time in her life and she finally knew she would be safe enough to open up to him about the little crush she'd been developing over the years.

"I think I have a crush on Amerie" she said halfheartedly from the other side of the living room, focusing her line of sight on her lighter, which she flicked on and off repeatedly. Justin chuckled.

"That makes sense"

"What?"

"I mean, you've never shut up about how cool she is" he teased. She went slightly red. "I'd have been surprised if there weren't some other feelings there" he continued. "She's a nice girl"

"I don't know if she likes me back the same way" Harper told him. "I mean, I don't know either way, but I think our friendship is more important, y'know?" she asked, looking over at him. He nodded. "Just thought I'd tell you"

"I'm glad you can talk to me about this stuff now, ducky"

"Yeah" Harper smiled slightly. "Me too"

----------

It was a week or so after Ca$h got out of jail when he came out to his Nan.

He'd done some research as soon as he was out, determined to find a label to fit what was wrong with him, and he did find one. Asexual.

He was asexual and there were a lot of asexual people and he wasn't alone.

"Hey, Nan" he said as he exited his room. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course, dear" she smiled up at him, glad he was opening up for once. He was always so tense. "What is it?"

"Well, I found a label that... Fits my sexuality" he explained. "I mean, you know I like Darren and Darren isn't a girl, right?" he asked. She nodded. "But, um, I've never wanted... Sex, with them or with anyone else, um..." he cleared his throat. "I was looking it up to try and figure out why that was and apparently it's called asexual. So, I guess I'm... Asexual"

"Okay" Nan smiled. "Well, I'm glad you've figured that out. It was sort of excruciating to sit by and watch you struggle"

"Also, me and Darren are dating now"

"I would expect nothing less" she chuckled. "You're a catch, Dougie"

"No, they're the catch"

"Same difference"

Do not repost on other sites! If you want to participate in this month's challenge, there are 30 LGBT-centered prompts that you can find here

#heartbreak high #quinni gallagher jones #dusty reid #amerie wadia #sasha so #darren rivers #ant vaughn #spider white #spider x ant #malakai mitchell #harper mclean #ca$h piggott #ca$h x darren #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic challenge #fanfic prompts #prompts #pride #pride month #lgbt #lgbtqiia+ #lgbtq #bisexual #lesbian #demigirl #nonbinary #queer #bicurious #asexual

[absurditii]

What I Would Do With FNAF: Security Breach

SPOILER WARNING but it's been out for 6+ months so no duh

DISCLAIMER: This isn't an attack on SteelWool, Scott, or anyone who worked on the game. It also certainly isn't meant to be taken as a professional critique on the current game, but simply my opinions and how I think it could be improved to be one of the best names in the franchise than how low it ended up being rated.

DISCLAIMER 2: I don't hate the game at all! In fact, I enjoyed it when it first came out and praised it to hell and back. Then... reality hit me and I couldn't blindly adore it anymore, especially since I became infatuated with horror games as a whole and have a better understanding on the experience they're supposed to give.

Originally, I was going to make my own comic basically rewriting the game and have it fit with the dark and disturbing nature the franchise was born from, then I realised that as passionate as I was about it, I wouldn't nearly have enough time or the right art style to convey what it should. Thankfully, someone else I found on Twitter has decided to do the same thing, so I would recommend keeping up to date with them if you're a fan of the true horror and creepiness of the games.

THE PREDECESSOR

VR: Help Wanted had set my expectations super high for Security Breach, and considering how it was made by such a relatively small studio and how well it turned out, it was only natural for me to have those thoughts.

Help Wanted captured the FNAF experience almost perfectly, with the tension and stress of wanting to conserve power in the first four recreated games, the feeling of vulnerability of seeing these massive mascots slowly approach your office with not so much as a door or a mask to protect you, of helplessness as a dying child tries to overcome the nightmares of the once lovable characters he took comfort in torment his final moments in his dreams.

Not to mention the extra mini-games we were given (the vent repairs being a personal favourite. seriously they're bloody terrifying).

But what they managed to do so well as the studio that would continue the franchise is how seamlessly they managed to work with the lore and trend of making the lore just vague enough to make sense and build solid theories on, all while sticking with the story that was told beforehand to create a new chapter in the same universe.

Sure, is Afton "coming back" overdone by this point? I think most of us can agree that it is. But on the other hand, knowing that such a sinister force will never truly disappear is something that only this franchise can really keep, as the despair that none of the involved children, adults, and anyone else can truly move on from an incident that snowballed several decades into the future, without any sign of stopping.

So when Vanny was introduced, even if she was influenced by the Afton virus and was technically somewhat under his control, it at least works with the theme that he "always comes back". He may not physically be back, but the destruction surrounding him will always find a way to torment any of the lives that are unfortunate enough to cross him.

With all this considered, and how Security Breach's new DLC basically confirms that the "Afton Ending" is supposed the true ending, is blood-boiling to no end.

But THAT point in particular will be brought up later. For now, let's take the rest of this slow.

THE TRAILERS

Another thing I think the fandom can agree on is that Security Breach clearly was supposed to be completely different to what we got, but ended up being rushed and ended up as it is.'

From the trailers, we can tell how Vanny was supposed to be a much more prominent threat, and that Vanessa and possibly even Gregory's personalities were going to be much more different.

Watching and listening to the trailers before the release, I was convinced I was going to have an experience intended to be what FNAF 4 was on steroids. Instead of nightmares, you would have to be running from a very real threat that wanted me dead and found the hunt to be as fun as a game of tag, only with knives.

Now, I know that not everything seen in trailers makes it into the final product, but cutting out who was supposed to be the primary antagonist is not something any game should do.

To compare a villain with not so much direct screen-time, let's look at Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2. While he was hardly ever on screen, he still had plenty of time for his character to shine as a villain through all of his voice lines and the consequences of his actions that we would see on screen, even though he wasn't directly there. Vanny was robbed even of voice lines, many uncut lines being giggles that could have worked wonders for the atmosphere alone, but also add to her disturbing nature.

I'll discuss more of her character in a separate section too, before this part gets too off-track.

HOW I WOULD DO IT:

Now, this isn't going to be me talking about how I would remake the trailer by any means. This is more of a change of genre to link with the whole story.

Security Breach should have been a survival horror game, similar to Outlast 2 as just an example off the top of my head.

Gregory is portrayed in the trailer to be out of breath, scared, needing to hide with the help of Freddy as often as needed. Gregory is in a massive mall essentially, and as a growing boy, he's going to struggle to not only stay awake for so long (assuming he was awake for the entire day prior), he's going to get hungry. As Freddy said, Gregory has to keep moving to avoid getting caught.

Security Breach should not have ended up as the extended fetch quest we got. We should have been finding scraps of food to keep Gregory full of enough energy to run if he needs to, to find relatively safe places to rest (and even pass time ever so quicker) before needing to find his feet again to escape Vanny or the other Glamrocks' clutches.

Freddy should know as much as Gregory when it comes to knowing where specific items he might have that aren't merchandise from the establishment are located.

THE ATMOSPHERE

Even when I was praising the game and believing it could do no wrong (until I got soft-locked, lost so much progress, and encountered several bugs), one thing about the game I never particularly liked was the atmosphere.

If the establishment is closing up, why are the lights still on? Why does Vanessa need to carry a flashlight with her when every room is full of neon lights? All in all, for a business that is supposed to be closed (and as even said by Freddy, have power given solely to charging stations at the end of each hour), why is most of the power still on? What purpose does it serve other than to the player themselves? Even if it was for the players' sake, we were given lighting settings in the menu to help adjust for our needs.

Hell, as someone who can hardly see anything in dim lighting in games, it was a saviour. But to still have the light coming from the environment itself? It's a bit unnecessary.

The only area I can understand the power being on for is the SuperStar Daycare, because it would at least make sense from a narrative stand-point, especially considering the amount of lore that surrounds the Daycare Attendant.

HOW I WOULD DO IT:

In the beginning of the game, I can understand the lights still being on. It's the final call for visitors to leave the Pizzaplex before closing up at 12AM, and everyone needs to be escorted out as soon as possible.

Once the announcement over the intercom says "intiating nighttime protocols", watching the doors close right before Gregory's eyes along with the lights in the main lobby shut off one-by-one, with the neon sign at the front being the final to flicker off would truly make the atmosphere turn from the "kid-friendly establishment" to a massive maze that needs to be traversed and scavenged for the next 6 hours of survival with nothing but a flashlight you would find at the Daycare's security desk.

Sound design: give Vanny back her cut giggles once she's introduced, make the player feel the need to look behind them even when they aren't sandwiched between security bots. Make gregory hear the laughs of children, make him question his own sanity by asking Freddy "did you hear that?" only for the answer to be "hear what?" Make the Princess Quest arcade games emit glitch-like noises, something to beckon the player to them instead of just hoping that it's recognisable to those that dug into the mobile version of Help Wanted. Have the scrapped staff bots in the sewers cry and groan distortedly. Instead of spawning Moon in front of Gregory when the power in the daycare goes out, have the jingles of the bells surround Gregory for a certain amount of time before his model comes into view.

Those are only a couple of ideas I had off the top of my head, but there are so many areas that need more sound design to make the atmosphere truly more unsettling after-hours.

THE GAME MECHANICS

I briefly mentioned the flashlight just before, but there are more important game mechanics that I believe just got overlooked, so I'll go over them in points.

Faz Watch

The first item we are given in the game, and undoubtedly the most used. From messages, to maps, to cameras, and missions, it just feels easily forgotten until you start the game from the beginning again and have to collect it.

HOW I WOULD DO IT:

Firstly, the messages system is dumb, and I'll gladly cover the extra parts of it in my point about the collectibles. You only ever get ONE actual message, and that's from Freddy at the very beginning. When it was set up, I was expecting it to function almost as a form of comfort for Gregory, where Freddy and even Vanessa could send messages to Gregory in a subtle manner, even as a unique hint system? Say if you were stuck on a mission, the player could ask Freddy for help, and he would provide hints that would be realistic for his character to say without holding our hand the entire way because, like us, he's also as clueless on a lot of what's going on, and can only make educated guesses.

The only other gripe I have with the Fazwatch is the camera system. What could be incredibly useful in the pizzaplex would be if there was a luring system, similar to FNAF 3, where Gregory could play a sound that could temporarily distract the animatronics, granted for a shorter time than physical distractions. For extra points for only using it wisely and sparingly, with such advanced AI the animatronics have in this game, they could catch onto what Gregory is doing, and will have a line that signals that audio lures won't work on them anymore; "very funny, kid. Now, come on out!", "No more playing around", etc.

There could be another tab on the Fazwatch titled "notes", where Gregory can write his own thoughts on anything important he's come across as well, which could also allow for him to hint at his own background/character.

Collectibles

Every collectible item, regardless of importance or usefulness, is in the same wind-up music box. Does it fit the theme of a children-friendly establishment? Absolutely, but I think there should have been other methods to obtaining certain items throughout the game.

HOW I WOULD DO IT:

I don't think it's a totally bad idea, but I would keep the wind-ups solely for merchandise and extra collectibles, including the gold plushies for the fire escape ending. That includes merch shirts, posters, figurines, and anything else that isn't deemed an upgrade or tool.

For important items, having their own models be rendered and glowing (like bandages and batteries from Outlast 2) would work better to tell the player of their significance. I remember acquiring a hoodie for the first time and thinking "this should be for stealth, right?" but not really knowing for sure, just making an assumption. Similarly, the fizzy fazz items could come from certain vending machines scattered throughout the pizzaplex, and would need to be interacted with to get the stamina increase.

Which, actually, should be a little extra thing added. Those important items should have keys pop up and say "stamina has increased" or "you can now run faster" or "your stealth has increased by 30%, animatronics will take slightly longer to notice you" or something.

Duffle bags

Like I said before, the messaging system is dumb. But what's even dumber is how you obtain the messages in the first place (seriously what the hell are digital items doing in a physical bag???). They attempt to give hints to certain missions, some elude to some lore, and others are just... useless.

HOW I WOULD DO IT:

Like I said with the Faz Watch messages, I think it would be better to have the hints given by Freddy (maybe Vanessa too but not so much).

I made a post on this a while ago, but I proposed the idea of Gregory being gifted with a sixth sense of some kind. There could be an item that he's drawn to (where any bags containing lore were located), still having that glow beneath them, and the game enters some kind of mini-cutscene where the incident in question plays out, and Gregory instead makes notes on his fazwatch on what he just saw.

Another idea for how to implement the lore of the game outside of these key memory-items could be notes that Gregory comes across in staff-only rooms that talk about the history, other employees, Vanessa, etc. He would also make note of these, and like with the vent in Fazer Blast, Gregory could have a verbal cue by saying "what? Missing kids...?" and other things as the game progresses.

Elevator

It's just a disguised loading screen, which we all know, but apparently there were supposed to be conversations between Freddy and Gregory during these parts.

Linked to how I would change the duffle bags, it would be interesting to see Gregory bring up what he's found to Freddy, and they both discuss it and try to piece the puzzle together.

Flashlight

I hate how there are so many charging stations for the flashlight. It doesn't feel like an important tool, because you have so much power over how often and how much it gets charged everywhere. I feel like I can forget to turn off the flashlight without any consequences because "it's alright, there's a charging station just over there". There aren't any stakes or worries about the battery running low, because you always have a safe place to replenish it. Horror shouldn't feel safe, or at least not have every place feel safe.

HOW I WOULD DO IT:

For a survival horror game, batteries should be a resource scattered throughout the pizzaplex, something that's limited and precious. Just like in Outlast 2 (so many comparisons i know shush), batteries should have their own models with a glow that lets the players know of its location.

If the charging stations were to be kept, then there should be a limit of 2 per area at most, and an rechargeable battery should be one of, if not the most difficult item to obtain in the game, and can only be achieved after a sequence of events (idk what i'm just throwing the ideas here).

Fazer Blaster + Faz Cam

Honestly, these are probably the only items that I don't have an issue with. They have a fair recharge time, can only be used a certain amount of times, and their effects are fairly made. No complaints or changes I would make for these (except have the Faz Cam be its own collectible model like the Fazer Blaster tbh)

Hiding Places

Now I can only speak for myself here, but I've only ever had Chica check hiding spots and catch me in them. Roxy has checked photobooths, but has never caught me in them, and that's only in the West Arcade.

HOW I WOULD DO IT:

Now the amount of hiding spots I think are alright, they make sense for the size of the pizzaplex, and their placements also make a reasonable amount of sense. I would just have the AI check hiding places more often

Distractions

Again. I think there's a reasonable amount of distractions, and sensible locations for where they are for the most part, my only complaint is how they're single-use.

HOW I WOULD DO IT:

If the Daycare Attendant first focussed on cleaning up any distractions that were made and could be seen doing just that before coming to eat Gregory's toes it would just be kinda neat idk. Or maybe just like- a sign around the distractions like glitter glue on the floor or something. Ofc it's just a small detail but I just think it would be cool and make a lot of sense, y'know

THE STORY

Whatever story that the game was supposed to show us ended up being completely cut. Just like the trailers, there was clearly some big plans for the game, especially with the DLC that's being worked on now, so it's not like SteelWool didn't care about telling a story, they just failed to portray it as well as it could have.

Genuinely, I can't really think of anything to put that could describe the story except "Gregory is trapped after hours and has to survive". Like... There's nothing.

HOW I WOULD DO IT:

First and foremost, there wouldn't be any censoring. It will actually be as dark as the rest of the franchise.

The beginning of the game would remain the same, with the same sequence of events up until the end of the Daycare boss fight. Only, during the early tutorial section, if Gregory decides to go through the janitor closet, he will encounter his first clue as to the events that Fazbear Entertainment is trying to keep under wraps from the public (bc they're known for sweeping things under the rug). This sparks Gregory to start thinking "wait, what does this mean?" and throws him into wanting to uncover more of the secrets of the Pizzaplex, with Vanny's first appearance being his third piece of the puzzle.

When Gregory first talks about his findings to Freddy, Freddy is shocked to hear about the disappearances, and feels ashamed of being the mascot of the brand.

The same sequence of events to achieve the next necessary security pass will happen up until Gregory is caught by Vanessa.

Instead of being immediately transported to the lost and found, Vanessa (her character being much more like how she was portrayed in the trailer) would be relieved to have finally found him and would give him a frustrated lecture on why he shouldn't be here, that it isn't safe to be here. Gregory calls out Vanessa on how she is noticeably anxious and so blurts out something along the lines of "there's someone that will come to get me, isn't there?!"

Vanessa hesitates, but decides the admit that if he isn't careful, that someone might, and that was why she was trying to find him in the first place. She links up her own Fazwatch to his and tells him to send her a message if there's anything wrong, and that she would make sure to alert him for any reason and to just do what she says, then brings him to the Lost and Found, telling him that she's going to try and call his parents or the police to come and get him in the meantime.

After this encounter, Gregory no longer believes Vanessa to be a threat and actually starts to trust her. Once he's locked in the Lost and Found, Freddy starts to message Gregory and ask about his whereabouts. Gregory explains the situation, and the player is encouraged to look and collect anything of use in the room until he receives a series of texts from Vanessa telling him that he needs to get out of the L&F and find somewhere to hide.

A timer, or the Vanny Meter, will start, with Vanny soon appearing on the TV screens and voice over the intercom.

Gregory will of course manage to escape in time and head to the main stage and eventually find Freddy, who looks more beat up and is acting weird, a lot more robotic than before. He assures Gregory that he's okay, but that he needs to taken to the Parts and Service to get himself fixed up.

Once Gregory gets out of the hallway that is infested with Security Bots, he's forced into another game of hide and seek with Vanny, who bursts into the room and taunts him knowing that he's there. Gregory will have to listen out for Vanny's location in the dark, use the cameras sparingly, and move around as to avoid Vanny checking hiding spots and catching him. This segment will have a timer (similar to Roxy and Monty investigating the security office between the prize corner and arcade), and will end with Vanny getting impatient and decide that Gregory must have already escaped to somewhere else. This section will also recquire Gregory to hold his breath in hiding places when Vanny gets too close.

One thing to sum up is that Vanny will be the primary antagonist and will greatly affect the choices the player will have to make to survive

Honestly, there's so much more I can add to this, but I'll stop this section here for now. I'll add the extra details later on, because this is the most important thing I was thinking about:

Once Gregory learns Freddy can be upgraded with the parts from the other Glamrocks, it is now presented as a choice. As the player, you can decide whether or not you shatter the animatronics. If you still choose to dismantle them, Freddy will become suspicious of Gregory's motives and slowly begin to lose trust in him. It will take more prompting the more upgrades you get for him to hide in his chest hatch. In this path, he also becomes more and more corrupted by the Afton virus, and eventually he becomes another obstacle out to catch Gregory.

If the player chooses to not dismantle the characters, Gregory can play the Princess Quest games to sever the connection that cause the Afton virus to have its affect on the animatronics. An optional save in this route is The Daycare Attendant, where you have to complete the Balloon Boy's World game until you encounter the Eclipse glitch.

In this route, playing the Princess Quest games each save one of the animatronics, but progressively cause Vanny to become even more unhinged and dangerous of a threat.

Okay, this is all I really have the energy to write. If anyone wants to know more details, I'll probably add onto this post as a thread at some point. I'm just glad to finally get these things off my chest tbh lmfao

Remember to not take this as a critique, this is just how I personally would have done the game if I could

#absurditii rambles #absurditii writes stuff #security breach #fnaf security breach #fnaf sb #fnaf #fnaf daycare attendant #the daycare attendant #five nights at freddy's #five nights at freddys #five nights at freddy's: security breach #fnaf security breach spoilers

[commonpigeon]

lan zhan 🐇

LAN WANGJIIII my specialest of boys...

first impression

ok my first impression was already skewed because i had been told "he was just like spock" and him and wei wuxian "are just like geralt and jaskier in many ways when i think about it..." so i already had my eye on him. but i thought he was insanely beautiful and also kind of mean but with a hidden depth and i loved it

impression now

genuinely one of my fav characters of all time because he IS like spock and he IS like geralt in many ways. i think he feels very deeply and he has a pretty solid moral compass that pulls him between his family and his soulmate. there is so much i could say about how tragic he is but it would be spoilers... but my point is he feels deeply but comes off as repressed to the vast majority of people and i think thats sooo fun

favourite moment

i literally cannot say its a spoiler. but it involves being very tragic and sad and widowed

was trying to think of any other but theyre all spoilers. he only gets better with age. OH WAIT when he fucking ruins all the magic nets during the night hunt that jin ling and jiang cheng put out and him and jiang cheng go toe to toe. theyre sooo funny

idea for a story

umm let me rewrite the fucking ending of the show its so silly he would not fucking want that

i would love for him to get a little holiday. Musical retreat spa day

unpopular opinion

umm not sure. i like him so much more than wei wuxian i am shocked when people like wei wuxian more

favourite relationship

well. it has to be with wei wuxian lol they are fucking soulmates. enemies to lovers. highschool sweethearts. theyve got it all. no but seriously lan wangji loves him soooo much he would destroy himself a million times over if it meant wei wuxian's happiness and prosperity

but i also love his relationship w lan xichen... lan xichen is one of the only people who can read lwj at all and they deeply love one another and lan xichen feels so responsible for him because they are orphans

but also LMFAO him and jiang cheng are so funny they spent like 6 months together trying to find wei wuxian and did not once bond over their shared love of wei wuxian. How is that even possible

favourite headcanon

i love to make him and jiang cheng to have tragic fucked up proxy sex while wei wuxian is dead despite that fact that they hate each other. Like i think they start angry fucking while arguing about wwx and jiang cheng's "hatred" of him and then it devolves into this weird soft thing where they both cry but dont talk about it. And then wei wuxian comes back from the dead and its sooo awkward. how do you tell your soulmate that you fucked his sort-of-brother

#loving doing these thank u floraidh

[samatedeansbroccoli]

So I watched MWII… A Review

Welcome back to the fandom, Broccoli! It’s been a little under 18 months since I last paid attention to COD and having just watched Modern Warfare 2022, I thought I’d do a classic Broccoli review. That intentionally rhymed.

I had many strong feelings about this campaign, and though I did enjoy it, I also struggled with it. And I want to talk about it. For those of you who don’t want to be spoiled but want to know a general numbers gauge of my thoughts, or for those of you who are short on time, I give this campaign a 6/10.

Now that we got the angry people out for me giving it a 6/10, let’s move on to the full review of why I came to that conclusion. A reminder that this is just my opinion, and there’s a good chance you didn’t feel the same way. And that’s totally fine. This review also has lots SPOILERS so if you don’t want to be spoiled, in the good words of The Critical Drinker, “Go away now!”

We’re Back, Baby! The Likes

I wish I could play this game because it looks really solid. The maps are beautifully designed and the variety of gameplay options offered the player different ways to adapt to the style of the story. It was fun seeing map layouts that referenced previous MW missions, and a couple other games from the other COD series. The graphics are outstanding, even if they look a little less refined when compared to MW19, but that’s hardly a concern. There’s a lot of variety of action, from CQC combat to sniping from a distance with Price spotting and a fighter plane overlook mission. They also alternate between linear missions and more open choice. I absolutely adore the soundtrack, with the classic MW theme mixing with Piccadilly Circus from MW19 as the main theme.

My personal favorite level was the oil rig one, specifically just the ship. I don’t think we’ve had a moving level before (I know some of the MP maps have moving objects). Working through the containers really helped build up what the first half of this campaign did very well: holding tension. Often, the player character would get shot if you overstepped too much or didn’t come up with a smart way to avoid the enemies. This was kinda the same idea used during the Amsterdam swimming part of the mission. The tougher AI gave the player room to adapt to the situation and improvise to beat it.

Gaz is the best character here. His growth from a naïve yet eager newcomer in MW19 to a strong and sure soldier really is at its best here. I love how his relationship with Price has so clearly grown to the point where they can banter, and it even extends to his relationship with Laswell. And yet he still deeply respects both, never overstepping his boundaries and listening to them when it’s crucial to.

I also found Vargas and Rodolfo really held up their end of the story. From an interview posted on the COD YouTube, they were made out of care for the franchise. It’s rewarding to have new characters in the story that work well for their roles without overstepping previously established characters. Additionally, I love Makarov’s gun build at the end, which made his new plane hijacking suddenly way more intimate.

However, that’s all I have to summarize for the good stuff. And now, on to…

I Guess That Happened…? Moments of Apathy

MW in general isn’t my favorite series, and I never really cared for the characters, which affects how I perceive the campaign. That being said, MW19 is one of my favorite games. Which is why I was disappointed every time a trailer came out. Already, I could tell MW19’s story was going to be ignored, and I was right. So many things happened in this game between new factions, new names, new locations, and much much more that the campaign felt like it was trying to do too much and make a brand new series. A great disappointment to the continuity of the previous game. Not only was Victor Zakhaev never mentioned after being teased in the first game, but we never get the chance to explore Farah and how she’s changed after 20 years of fighting with the Russians. There’s no conclusion to Alex’s story, what happened to Hadir, or how Barkov’s position in the Russian army may have affect the world. This game would have held up well as a stand-alone. But it’s disappointing it lacked acknowledgment towards MW19 outside of Farah, Laswell, Price, and Gaz existing in both stories.

I know I said I like the variety of the missions earlier, but that didn’t quite work for the mission lengths. The long missions were L o n g and the short missions too short. The very first mission takes 5 minutes tops to execute. The next one is more standard 20-40 minutes. And then it goes into missions that can last practically an hour if you’re struggling with it all because you’re required to do certain tasks in certain orders. This sounds more negative than positive, but when the missions were tight, the game flowed, and the ones that dragged to extend the campaign killed any tension.

On a smaller note, I found the climax to be disappointing. The Soap Lost mission worked well with the crafting, even if that mission dragged on too long. But putting crafting in the climax to defeat a couple headshot AI then killing Hassan in just one shot really left the ending forgettable. There were a lot of things you could have done with the crafting in the climax, like pick up a wireless nail gun and slowly craft it to act more like a one shot pistol. Or craft supplies to build mines and protect your teammates from swarming enemies while they disarm the bomb. Hassan’s death also lacked impact, especially following the boss fight with Graves (who I keep forgetting is in this campaign). I think Hassan deserved the Graves boss fight, and Graves deserves the Hassan boss fight. This could have been improved simply with a Mic’d Up Soap so Ghost could hear everything Hassan said before sniping Hassan/Soap or Soap falls out the window.

Like Graves, I keep forgetting Shepherd was in this campaign too.

Lastly, I was apathetic to the dialogue choices. By no means was this a bad thing. For the most part I liked it. It’s nice that the devs listened to the community (for once) when the BOCW said they would have liked Bell/Alex’s dialogue lines voiced. The interrogation scene with Valeria is among one of my favorite. That being said, I did find the Price/Gaz/Laswell and the Soap/Ghost dialogue exchanges annoying sometimes. More on some of this later, but the primary reason is that it felt like the conversations didn’t flow very smoothly.

Hit By a Truck: The Dislikes

My older followers know this: I really don’t like OG Ghost. I’ve never found him appealing, and Soap going “Ghost shut the fuck up” was the best part of MW2 for me. That said, I still read his comics. When MW22 started out with a Ghost who embodied the type of experienced warrior he is, I quickly became a Ghost fan. The game recognized that Ghost was a founding member of 141 and established his knowledge and experience was much greater than Soap and Gaz’s, and I couldn’t wait for the game to explore that…

And then he started talking…

And talking…

And talking…

And suddenly I didn’t like him anymore. Much of his character relied on Soap, who suffered from feeling like he was too new to the job even though he’s been in 141 for at minimum 3 years given how surely Price spoke of him to Laswell in MW19. I didn’t mind their bantering too much, though it wasn’t my favorite parts, but the part I really hated was Ghost saying “Speak English” (which happened bout 4-5 times in the story) to Soap. To me, it was not funny. It was not cute. It was a way of bringing attention to Soap’s accent and speaking pattern even though Soap was speaking English (Scottish English, but still a variation of English). To me, it made Ghost feel like a dumbass, incapable of discerning information through its context. I wouldn’t have minded as much if Ghost said “what are you saying?” or something more along the lines of his scenes asking what Vargas and Rodolfo said.

I also didn’t like how they’ve rewritten history to say Ghost gave the order to bomb Soleimani (Ghorbrani in the game (Please stop rewriting history COD)).

By the end of the campaign, I was right back to where I started with Ghost: disliking him.

Price too was heavily nerfed from his badass with pained experience behind his eyes we saw in MW19. Even his OG/19 self’s sassy and borderline rude yet endearing type had reduced in favor of sounding like he was written by someone who wanted so badly to ship him with Laswell but couldn’t. Price has always been caring for his teammates, yet Laswell’s capture felt more like Price’s personal rescue mission rather than “Laswell has valuable information and we need to get her back.” It took away a lot of the charm Price had from MW19 for me.

Lastly, I really. Really. Really. Hated the mission with Farah. And it’s massively disappointing because Farah is my favorite MW character and she has been ever since I got into COD. The most obvious reason is that she never more than two lines of personality in and the rest was generic soldier commands NPCs do. The mission is among one of the more disliked ones from the community for its tedious gameplay. It started off strong but then quickly became a pile of empty payoff.

However what bothered me most are the implications behind it. They’re in Urzikstan—a Muslim dominated country—trying to get Laswell back when she got captured by Al Qatala (AQ). The fight takes place on a highway with AQ’s convoys leading and Price, Gaz, and Farah’s army pursuing, dodging around innocents who are also driving on the highway. One of the AQ NPCs starts dropping mines to make a mine field, which causes the innocent cars to blow up and become “fun little burning obstacles for Gaz to avoid! :D”

You can probably see where this is going.

Really? A 6/10?: Conclusion

Yep, a 6/10. But it’s not that bad! It knocked BO2 out of the penultimate low of my COD campaign favorites, and that’s been sitting there for over a year!

I would have loved to see a tighter campaign. Something that was only 4-5 hours long and much tighter. For a game that had so much going on, there was a lot of bloat and mission filler to try and make the campaign longer. Lengthening the story only made what started off as a tight game slowly crumple until it croaked out the final word (minus the part about Makarov. That went pretty hard).

That all said, I did enjoy the game. Especially the first half up until Laswell got captured. It was nice to see the likes of Cliffhanger, All Ghillied up, Clean House, and more return as gameplay layouts. I think the campaign has a lot of strong points, and I expect it’ll be well received among the COD community overall.

Now, I shall disappear into my hole and resurface in 2024 when the next COD comes out. Goodbye!

#call of duty #modern warfare II #MWII

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Sygna Suit Lana

Lele is probably my favorite of the Tapu.  Lana is one of my least favorite characters period.  Her outfit is the only female outfit this month I like.  She’s an awkward supportive unit but her support is damage.  If you can’t tell, I am wildly conflicted about this sync pair.

General Overview Okay, the last three Tapu have all had two field effects, so while Lana gets Psychic Terrain, what's her other?  ...no?  It's just Psychic Terrain?   Huh...

Lana and Lele are a Psychic Striker, and their focus is infinite terrain.  Extension 5 with summonable Terrain and MPR means infinite.  Additionally, she gives stacks of moves up next (just to herself) under terrain as well, so this is...really good for offense. Moonblast is good DPS for Fairy Zone if supported, while her Buddy move is sure hit/crit, AoE without penalty, and costs 2 less gauge under terrain.  Her trainer move is just +6 to both offenses, and SEUN.  While her base stats let her down a bit, having permanent access to her own field multiplier makes this a bit of an Archie situation.  Though given the conditions of her Buddy move, the better comparison is SST Red, whose damage she almost matches.  However, when the sides are down, her damage does not compress, and she’s left in a very awkward position where the lack of supportive effects (among like everything else) make her far worse for Gauntlet than God-King Red.

The thing is, Lana’s support is just damage, which is my least favorite way to do support, because it has such a high potential to overshadow the allies she’s trying to help.  It just strikes me as a problem when your support pair is blasting for more than your low-tier striker.  So on those grounds, I’m willing to call her the worst of the four this month.  But also, truth be told?  Mina’s really awkward with very little niche to fill, and Lana does admittedly synergize a lot better with her type.  Being a solid damage dealer that shreds the sides while consuming basically nothing in gauge is really good.  I’m not sure if I’d put her over Hau, though.  I’m not entirely sold, given how well Hau supports Electric-types.

Move Level and EX? Move Level at 1/5 is fine if you want her to just support someone with terrain. Her Buddy move is the main source of damage, after all.  3/5 doesn't actually make her sync better than her DPS support, but it does offer gauge recharge per attack, 50% chance for stacks of moves up next, MPR on Terrain, and Propulsion on trainer move.  5/5 is actively hilarious, because it’s just another sync multiplier that doesn’t even push her above Caitlin.  Do not bother.  Sync is not her calling.  Because of that, EX is actively discouraged, but the 20/20 stats are, as always, very nice for low offense strikers.

Team 1: SS Lana, SS Lusamine, Kiawe Lusamine finally receives her full power.  With Propulsion on trainer move, Lana permits Lusamine to hit sync a turn early, while sustaining infinite gauge.  Weird Might improves Lana's DPS, while Weird Charge recoups one gauge every action under Terrain.  Just lean into maximum DPS.  Kiawe is chosen because Lusamine needs one (1) point of crit to reach max potential, and this composition is all Alolan, for the full 50% bonus to move damage that she's been waiting for with Alolan Spirit.  The speed boosts shouldn't be necessary, but they're nice.

Team 2: SS Lana, Oak, SS Brendan I’m gonna talk a bit about Oak, who I’ve literally never once even considered.  Lana works well with options like Oak, where everything is single-target, because her Buddy move trucks sides.  SS Brendan is selected to debuff  special defense for Oak, and because I legitimately couldn’t think of anyone more effective for what we’re going for.  The idea is Brendan will need to take first sync to cap crit, and you’ll want a denial on the left to salvage a turn if you don’t pack Adrenaline.  The goal is for Oak’s sync to finish center.  I will admit.  Oak’s conditions are a bit wonky for sync.  Boosted speed and evasion are...weirdly specific, and I can’t think of anything that buffs those as a support, while also helping special attack and crit.  It just doesn’t exist.  So, Brendan will have to do.  And he does do well!  Terrain and Team Weird Vibes 2 does really improve the power of Psychic.

Team 3: SS Lana, C!Bede, Tate This is about as close as the kid’s gonna get to everything he wants.  SS Lana provides the infinite Terrain, and ability to just truck the sides.  C!Bede provides confuse effect and a billion points in boosts, which is ideal for Tate, who can get pretty respectable DPS too.  I do think Lana’s just gonna shred, but he’s trying.

Team 4: SS Lana, SS Acerola, SS Hau Now.  Their passives obviously kick off with entry.  And they’ll cycle through each.  Which means, logically, that you get three activations.  Lana gets a boost to both moves up next for each, Acerola gives physical for each, and Hau gives special for each.  +6 to both types of moves up next.  Now, I can’t tell which field effect happens last.  I’d like to believe it’s by placement in Tactics.  So you could set up Lana to not be last, then have Mina and Hau set a condition each, Lana acting last to max her effects.  Then, B Protect, Hau effect, Lana effect.  +10 to both moves, you are protected against damage, Lana is about to swing with Terrain, +20% damage from passive, +30% damage from grid, and +10 stacks of physical moves up next, hitting AoE without penalty, and guaranteeing a crit and a hit.

G.  G.

Final Thoughts There just...isn't much to say about Lana.  Because she's a striker with no real supportive effects, there's not much she contributes that’s unique.  You just pair her with a Psychic type damage dealer with decent sync, and go to town.  There’s just...nothing special.  I guess that’s kinda the Psychic Specialty.  They’re all pretty straight-forward.  I mean except Lucian.

#unit teambuilding #sygna suit lana

[faultychips]

Unique AND Emotional; Game Soup For Your Gamer Soul

What do you mean it’s been over a month since last time!! Well anyway. I’ve been able to rack up three games (plus an honorable mention at the end) to talk about this time! They’re all pretty different in style and content, but I really enjoyed all of them, and I especially enjoyed the different ways they did their story-telling, so I'm gonna talk a lot about each of 'em!

First of all. Beacon Pines. Holy cow did I like this game more than I thought I would. I looove love love the artstyle and loved it from the get-go, but was wondering how much I would actually like the choose-your-own-adventure format. Turns out I loved that too!

I was uncertain about the narration at first, but I soon got comfy and accustomed to it, and I think the genuinely really good voice-acting really sells the performance. It also stands out nicely from the noise-speak of the characters (y’know, the Animal Crossing/Banjo Kazooie thing) and the difference in voices is a fun way to separate the layers of meta there. In general I really love the music, sound effects, and overall sound work of the game too. Together with the narration, the sound alone makes this one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever heard. And it’s a whole game on top of that!

It should be noted that while this game’s artstyle can be described as charming and cute, and it has immaculate storybook aesthetics, it isn’t necessarily a game for kids (or trying to disguise itself as such). I know gamers everywhere are already getting nauseous over the mere mention of the “cute thing is actually messed up” genre that’s risen to popularity as of late, but I don't think Beacon Pines sets out to pull that trick at all, and it’s more just an assumption one might make because of the art. Still, I don’t think any kid older than ten will have any issues playing this one, just something I thought was worth mentioning.

I also want to talk a little bit about the game’s central mechanic, which is basically a choose-your-own-adventure type system where you can choose different words (based on various phrases or ideas you pick up on during the course of your playthrough) to use to affect the branching path of the story. I really like how when you have an opportunity to affect the story in this way, the game only shows you the options that will actually do something in the situation you're in, and then lets you choose from that selection. It seems like a no-brainer design choice, but from other games I’ve played I can easily imagine a scenario where instead at these parts they would just make you plug in any and all of your charms at random to see what actually works. Sometimes it's good to figure things out by yourself, but these situations in specific can easily get aggravating and feel like a waste of time. Beacon Pines never once had me frustrated or confused on what to do next. I consider a smooth experience like that a rare and wonderful thing!

Overall, while it threatened to end a liiiittle anticlimactically, in the end I think Beacon Pines delivers on being a fulfilling and well-rounded story. It has plenty of interesting turns and twists while maintaining a thought-out solid plot structure, especially for something that branches off into multiple paths and timelines like it does. At a solid 6-ish hours, this game is the perfect length to be finished in one sitting on a free day or a nice long evening. That's what I went with, and still I think it’s the best option, but it can certainly be played in a few short sessions too. I was tearing up as the game rolled to credits, and that's a significant recommendation in itself, so go check it out if it sounds up your alley!

Next I played a game that I expected to be relatively simple but actually surprised me: Unpacking. To be fair a lot of this game is exactly what it seems to be; the gameplay is about unpacking a bunch of different boxes and filling a living space with all your various things. The game is gorgeous, just a glorious motherlode of colorful pixel-art, and it is indeed very nice, satisfying and relaxing to put things away in their proper place (until that last minute when you can’t figure out where some odd object goes, but you figure it out. Eventually). That’s really all I expected and all Unpacking really needed to be to be appealing; a cute little relaxing feel-good game is a demographic goldmine, and you don’t need to go beyond that to be successful, so some games just don’t. I was delighted to realize over the course of my playing that I wasn’t unpacking the belongings of random people in random situations, but was actually unpacking each chronological new move in this one character’s life. 

I can see getting a little disappointed that there isn’t as much variety as there might be in my first assumed scenario, but I’m really happy they took this approach, because it let me really focus on this one character and how they change over time. It made me introspect on how much of our lives are defined by the stuff we surround ourselves with, the clothes we wear, the cooking utensils we use, and to that extent, how much we can infer about other peoples’ lives just by looking at what they own. It also made me think about what exactly you do to a living space that makes it a home; what exactly makes it our home. (Something I've had multiple film class teachers enthuse about is the importance of a character's house, and more specifically, their bedroom, which is the space most likely to have things they chose and like in it. This game made me think about that tidbit a lot.)

Unpacking also invokes a crazy amount of… what I can only describe as nostalgia and longing, at the same time. It probably helps that the main character grows up in a timeframe that’s not exactly the same as my own but close enough that many of the things they own are familiar to me, and are things that I own/owned myself. The later sections, the ones where they get farther into adulthood than I have, are also similarly evocative, but these obviously invoke more longing and excitement than nostalgia. I try not to spoil too much, since half the joy is slowly uncovering this person’s life as they grow up, but there’s a level where the main character moves in with their assumed romantic partner, and that was something that really scratched a particular itch in my brain. I daydream about these sorts of simple domestic pleasures from time to time, but the idea of putting your shirts and socks next to those of the person you love and sharing a space in this way kind of made my brain explode (in a good way!). On that note, there came a point in the story where I forgot which characters' items were which (specifically clothing items). I worried momentarily about mingling the wrong clothes together, just throwing everyone’s shirts and underwear together. But in a little revelation, I realized that might be the point; the game never tells you it's wrong to put those clothes together, even when you do it intentionally (and believe me, it’s not too shy about telling you where stuff should go). I was struck with the impression of a relationship where it doesn't matter if I mix the shirts and socks together by accident, and they were close enough that things like those could be shared easily. It's enough to SHATTER A MAN!! I really liked it. <3

…Though, as you move from place to place, from apartment to a big ol’ house, I will admit a small pang of envy sets in near the end. How many of those who play this game and live a similar life, like me, will ever reach such a grandiose stage of housing in the future, and will share it with the people we love in the present? It's a sweet taste of wish fulfillment, but with a little bittersweetness to it. But I earnestly think it’s a wonderful dream to step into, one way or the other. No matter where I end up unpacking my things in the future, it will be home as long as I get to put my socks next to a pair belonging to someone I love, and that’s what I got out of Unpacking (especially the ending). I didn’t expect to feel or think about anything like this from such an unassuming game, but I’m really glad it put in the work to deliver that experience.

Speaking of unassuming, the last game I finished recently was The Eternal Cylinder! Just one glance at this will probably make you think of Spore, and yes, this game is very Spore-like in many ways, particularly in central mechanics and general style. You control a bunch of little aliens called Trebhum, and while you can’t throw them into a character creator and mold their bones like Play-Dough, you can obtain consumables that change their appearances and give them unique abilities. Also notably similar to Spore is the distinctly “alien-looking” world the Trebhum live in, which is strange and colorful and covered in delightfully weird creatures (I think you could also compare its similarity to No Man’s Sky, though admittedly I haven’t played much of that one myself). What’s unique about this game is, well, The Eternal Cylinder, which is the main antagonist of the game, and also is a literal giant metal cylinder that steamrolls the land for miles across as your Trebhum do their best to outrun it whenever it starts rolling again. As silly as this sounds (and to be fair this is all very silly and great for its silliness) there is actually a very heartwarming story at the core of it all. The game stresses the importance of family (not necessarily of blood but of friends and allies), and of surviving and keeping yourself and culture alive. 

Similar to Beacon Pines, there is a narrator here as well, and similarly I was worried that the voice-over would become annoying after a while. I’m very pleased to say that it, too, only enhanced my playing experience. Beacon Pines leans much more heavily into the storybook theme than The Eternal Cylinder does, but the narration here uses a very nice touch of those cozy dramatics to tie the strange wonders of the game with the more plot driven and touching narrative. I see mainly two common complaints when hearing about the game, and one of them is about the narrator; people tend to argue that the game tells too much when it should be showing, and the Narrator explains too much. While I sort of understand where this is coming from, I never really felt like this was a problem while I was playing? I felt like occasionally the game nudges you a little in the right direction when it could probably be fine leaving you to your own devices, but I actually felt that sometimes the game doesn’t explain enough to you, particularly when it comes to a couple puzzles and boss fights, though honestly I think these were pretty minor cases and I could figure everything out on my own pretty easily. The narrator explains a good bit of “lore” to you, for certain, but I could not fathom how they would communicate this level of knowledge to the player without outright saying it, so I never really felt upset that I did so, especially because it let me understand the circumstances of the story as it unfolded and helped me connect and feel for the characters of the story (including my little Trebhums). The second usual complaint is a little more grounded in my eyes, and that is the sort of janky difficulty that the game struggles with at times. I had my fair few moments of frustration with the game, and most of it came from struggling to deal with the various creatures that hunt you even when you think you can rest safely. I’ve also seen people get frustrated that certain enemies take your consumable abilities away, worrying that it will prevent them from proceeding in the game. While these elements can be, from my own experience, annoying, I found that a lot of this annoyance is very easily circumvented. The truth is that the game has a function to save and load almost wherever and whenever you want (except in certain areas, presumably to prevent softlocking), making it incredibly easy to retry over and over if you found yourself in a situation you don’t want to be in, or if you want a different outcome than what you got. This is both a blessing and a curse, since players tend to reload saves over and over to keep all their Trebhums alive when the game is best experienced by just going with the flow, even if you lose a few friends along the way (which you can actually resurrect at multiple opportunities later in the game anyway). The abilities, while being important to solving puzzles, will always be available when you need them, whether by being unlocked permanently without the need for a consumable item, or just because every time the game needs you to use one of these abilities to solve something, there will always be plenty of the consumable nearby, so you never really have to stress about losing them. I feel like understanding this can help you relax and really enjoy your time with The Eternal Cylinder, instead of stressing too hard about it. 

The only few things I really have to note personally on the negative side of things is that the jankiness and repetitiveness the game will display at times, in a sort of way that reminded me of my personal frustrations with trying to make functional 3D games with premade assets in Unity (imagine my surprise when I saw it was made in Unreal Engine 4! I’ve never used it though, it could be an extremely similar engine for all I know). I could tell there’s a bit of bugginess that, while not ruining the experience by any means, you may notice while playing when a Trebhum gets too close to the motionless Cylinder and randomly dies or something. Again, those easy loads and saves are really helpful. The repetitiveness isn't egregious but I did note that general areas and building structures in particular are kind of copy-pasted, and after 20 hours of seeing the same small interior or cave structure it just gets a bit boring. I noticed from the dev logs that they are continuing to update this game over time, mostly with a few new creatures here and there, so I would love it if they increased the variety in upgrade shrines and caves to help keep the game feeling fresh for all of its long runtime. Overall though, The Eternal Cylinder is a delightful and surprisingly sweet tale of perseverance against all odds, and I think it’s definitely worth experiencing. I say at least pop a nice no-commentary playthrough on in the background sometime if you get the chance, it’s worth your while.

And finally, my wrap-up…except surprise!! There's a random extra game I want to talk about, which is MOONPONG: Tales of Epic Lunacy! This one only gets a mini paragraph here because admittedly I haven’t beaten it completely, and I probably won’t be doing so, since while there are more difficulties besides the one I’ve beaten (normal mode) it seems like it’s all the same content but with less HP/more damage taken/etcetera. BUT I want to mention it here anyway because the game just looks and sounds fantastic. The gameplay is fun too, but with only about 7 short levels to beat (though technically 4? Because the first 3 levels are randomly picked before the boss level, which is the same each time) it’s not a lot to dig into personally. I just wanted to throw it out there because for like a week this game’s music was all I could think about before I fell asleep at night. “Ear candy” is one of the weirder turns of phrase out there but if anything deserves it (in a good way) it’s MOONPONG’s soundtrack. While I enjoy MOONPONG for the fun little game that it is, I’m admittedly a little sad the game is fairly short. I would have loved some more of what it had to offer, but from looking at the publisher page it seems like they publish a new game every month, so I guess I can’t be surprised that it’s not as fleshed out and realized as it could have been. Ah well! I only hope that game-devs who set themselves to such fast-paced schedules give themselves time to breathe in the midst of it all. <:-]

AT LONG LAST, THE GAMES:

Beacon Pines is available for $19.99 on: Itchio, Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox

Unpacking is available for $19.99 on: Steam, HumbleBundle, GOG (and just about every currently relevant game console under the sun)

The Eternal Cylinder is available for $24.99 on: Steam, Epic Games , Playstation 4/5, Xbox

and MOONPONG: Tales of Epic Lunacy is available for $6.00 on: Itchio, Steam !

#game review #faultychipsgamereviews #ahh games so good so nice...good year so far for gamers (me) #also if you're balking at these collective pricetags believe me I am too. thank you discounts and steam library sharing LOL

[queenofbaws]

Okay if this one doesn't cause too much psychic damage (or even if you can answer it lol): top 5 horror movies and/or books that you went in thinking you were gonna love and would be right up your alley only to end up sorely disappointed or just hated in general.

oh god, i can answer this. i can answer this. so easily. there is so much fuckin disappointing horror out there i stg askdjfklasjfksdjfkldjf UGH LET’S DO THIS.

we’re all going to the world’s fair (2021; movie). found footage is notoriously hard to do right, but man i had high hopes for this one. let me tell you, iiiiii’m not sure i can even tell you what happened in this confused mess. a girl does an internet challenge that MAYBE triggers some kind of psychological break in her? perhaps? and then another person on the internet takes it upon himself to inject himself into her life via her youtube uploads? well let me tell you the #1 reason WHY this movie got a solid two thumbs down from ya gurl: uh the flashing/strobing lights in this wereeeeee so constant and so intense that even though i am NOT epileptic, i had to go to bed for the rest of the day after watching it. left me with a bad taste in my mouth lmfao. i’m sure it’s SOMEONE’S thing.

the empty man (2020; movie). the first like 20 min of this movie are so solid. if they ended this thing right after the prologue? good little horror short. it’d be wonderful. great, even. fantastic. but they didn’t, they turned it into a whole movie and it shouldn’t have been a whole movie. this is another one where the plot - to me - felt so muddled i’m not even sure i can explain it clearly, but there’s a spirit out there, and it wants to empty you out until you’re a husk. if you want a good, spooky little watch, turn this one on, but man alive, you turn it off the second you see the “6 months later” or what the fuck ever. trust me on this one.

the requin (2022; movie). i am a simple woman. a simple woman who enjoys a good, schlocky, “oh no, that giant shark is going to eat us!!!” movie. mostly because i have CRAZY intense thalassophobia and as my friends irl will attest, i’m so scared of any fish bigger than a koi that if you take me to an aquarium, my knees literally might give out. this one was just confused. and there wasn’t actually a whole lot of shark. at no point did i feel...anything for the characters. if the selling point of your movie is GIANT SHARK HUNTS PEOPLE, i want to see your gianT SHARK HUNTING PEOPLE AHHHHH.

the ritual by adam nevill (book). okay, this one is definitely just a matter of personal taste, but...i LOVED the movie the ritual, so i thought i’d get the book. the writing itself is great! the story, however, is very different than what you get in the movie, and actually focuses a lot on like...a kidnapping. with a bunch of heavy metal obsessed teenagers. it wasn’t what i was expecting, and it wasn’t what i was hoping for, so it left me feeling pretty deflated. still a great story, just...not the story i was looking for.

sharp objects by gillian flynn (book). i love a story about a fucked up family. i love a story about a serial killer. i love protagonists who are deeply, deeply troubled. this was...hmm. hmmmmmmmm. i’ve read this book like three times, each time hoping maybe my feelings on it will change, but they just don’t. this book feels like suffering for the sake of suffering, and there’s no catharsis, imo, nothing that feels RESOLVED. reading this book felt a whole lot like the written version of “life sucks and then you die,” like it just stretched on and on and everyone was MISERABLE and everyone HATED EACH OTHER and in the end everything just gets WORSE, and idk man. again, i’m sure it’s someone’s thing - it got turned into a tv series on one of the streaming platforms so clearly SOMEONE out there likes it, but boy oh boy, this one just wasn’t for me, folks.

ask me my top 5 anything!

#love-fireflysong #asks #legit im still mad about we're all going to the world's fair lmfao #i thought it was going to be so spooky and good and all it did was make me very very sick #OH WELL #my bookshelves are lined with disappointing horror books but lord help me idk how many of them deserve PUBLICITY

[pony-central]

Reviewing Every FunkinBoys Voice Dub Video Ever Part 4 - The Sickest Date Full Series Review

Let's go! This is the last instalment of Reviewing Every FunkinBoys Voice Dub Video Ever! So, get ready, cuz this will be pretty long.

Part 1 (Partnering Start) - January 21st, 2023. Pretty solid start to a series that was six months in the making. So glad that this series came out, and it was a great one, too. Boyfriend was too busy to tend to Girlfriend's needs. So, she decided to take Sick Boyfriend instead, much to the surprise of the fans. DrugFriend was very supportive of this and let Sick Boyfriend have fun. And then, Girlfriend kissed Sick Boyfriend, which was cute.

Part 2 (Feeling Connect) - January 28th, 2023. They're both at Disney World now, and they both have so much fun. Then, Girlfriend kisses Sick Boyfriend again, and they both share a third one. This part was more heartwarming than the previous kiss. And, surprise surprise! Boyfriend eventually found out about this.

Part 3 (Appetising Day) - February 19th, 2023. I think that this was another case of "Who stole Boyfriend's Donut Stash?". It was quite funny how DrugFriend said "Lead the way, Chibi Boy!"

Part 4 (Stroking Sadness) - March 18th, 2023. Probably the most emotional part of the whole series. It's about Girlfriend telling Sick Boyfriend how much Boyfriend was bullied at school for being different. Which caused Sick Boyfriend to start crying, sharing his own experiences of being constantly bullied by his school bully. Pretty much one big tearjerker, but a really heartwarming moment when Girlfriend comforts him.

Part 5 (Searching Boys) - April 4th, 2023. I liked this part. It was one do the more shorter parts of the whole series, and it was good. It was nice of Girlfriend to carry Sick Boyfriend into the sky. And Boyfriend's crying voice is adorable!

Part 6 (Catching Truth) - April 20th, 2023. This is my favourite part of the whole series. Sick Boyfriend and Girlfriend are at KFC, and Sick BF gives Girlfriend Boyfriend's credit card, asking her to spend it on whatever she wanted. Then we get to the part where my OC makes an appearance, YAY! It was nice of Benjamin to offer me the role of my own original character. I do admit, it was a bit cringe to listen to, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Anyway, best part of the whole series!

Part 7 (Loving Trouble) - May 11th, 2023. This was also another part I really enjoyed. It was pretty funny when Girlfriend smacks her dad in the face with a photo of Sick Boyfriend.

Part 8 (Shipping Quartet) - June 16th, 2023. Half of it was in my style, and half in Cobalt Bee's style. Again, I really loved this part, too. The ending was unexpected to say the least. But I enjoyed it. And the fact that I had to wait about 36 days for this part was definitely worth it! 😁

What do I think of this whole series? I think it's one of the best series ever seen on Benjamin's channel

@funkinboys - Thank you so much for letting me be part of your team. It's been a pleasure doing business with you and the others, and I can't wait to see what you and the team do next, in the distant future.

[swynlake-spill]

I posted 384 times in 2022

310 posts created (81%)

74 posts reblogged (19%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@aquata-the-champ

@oh-phineas

@marie-a-bonfamille

@kouros-herc

@alana-the-brilliant

I tagged 383 of my posts in 2022

#daily spill - 236 posts

#hot ass tea - 57 posts

#phineas flynn - 41 posts

#boba meme - 26 posts

#isabela madrigal - 23 posts

#insta spill - 21 posts

#annie tremaine - 20 posts

#isaac morey - 20 posts

#hercules kouros - 20 posts

#gem morey - 20 posts

Longest Tag: 102 characters

#sorry i use all my power to stop pip from commenting and i succeed like 50 percent of the time however

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Why are the Moreys all so hot 🥵 and yet their family is pure disaster. The deals we make with the devil

as a gay person let me tell u this is just how hotness works we enter into a contract at birth and are granted immeasurable power sometimes a few eggs get broken on our quest for greatness but is the sacrifice worth it?

u

tell

See the full post

2 notes - Posted March 27, 2022

#4

I RATE NEW YEAR’S KISSES

based on my own arbitrary standards! That’s right, cozies, it’s the new year and I’ve been gathering THE hottest gossip to fire up our January. And you know who else was in the business of melting hearts? These sexy singles...soon to be... not singles??? 

I will be judging these kisses based on 1. if i saw it coming 2. if this couple has a future and 3. if it’s movie-material!!! 

1. DOT AND MIM. 

SCREAMMMMMMMMMM I love baby gays!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta say, we all thought Mim had a thing for Ferb, right? So this was big GASP, though on Dot’s side, it had to be a long time coming. That’s like, the only person she talks to in school! For potential slow burn points, plus EEK secondary cuteness, I’m giving this kiss an 8/10. I hope I see dates to Chippamunka’s in your future! 

2. NICK AND VIXEY

This is a total what the fuck moment. 

For one thing, I have no idea who this Nick person is, just that he has a seriel killer van I do not trust! Where was Tiana? Where was Jun? Where was Al? Why did they not stop this from happening? Look, he’s hot, but good enough for Vixey? I highly doubt that, and consideirng he basically PEACED right after? You do not ding dong ditch my precious Chakraborty! Be gone, foul Wilde! 

2/10

3. PHINEAS AND LAURETTE

Yawn. Should I go on? I mean, it does give me some Netflix series original potential, very nerd guy meets popular girl trope, but I also called this a while ago. He’s been flirting with Laurette for months on Tinder. At least he finally made a move? And ofc Laurette can do better, and she will, when she dumps Phineas in three months time, max. 

5/10 

4. ISAAC AND SEAMUS 

............................ 

Really did not know what to do with this one. Fear the DILF anon will soon strike. Had no idea where this one came from. It was pretty tame all things considered, so maybe it was like kissing your grandpa? 

I regret saying that. ANYWAY you know! The Moreys deserve nice things! So normally I wouldn’t hate this but unfortunately... Isaac was not the only person Seamus kissed that night?! So um, this is a 1/10 for me. I’m uncomfortable. 

5. NICK AND SEAMUS

Meanwhile to piggy back on my NICK WILDE SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED campaign-- what is this????????? 

Now this was NOT a friendly greet your grandpa kiss, this was a solid. Kiss, kiss. I got sooooo many tips about this kiss and how that type of heat implies there’s CHEMISTRY and HISTORY. Maybe Nick knows Seamus? Maybe Nick came to Swynlake FOR Seamus? I’m intrigued, and the drama is real, so the points are def higher-- but I still don’t like you Nick. 

6/10

5. MEI AND EDRIC

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! Now this makes TOTAL sense! They’ve been flirting for a little bit and I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled. After all, I think we all agree that Mei deserves a little love, and Edric-- a bit of a bad boy, bit of a player-- is certainly her type. I don’t necessarily ship this to the ends of the earth, but some fun dating times is certainly in the cards for these two! 7/10

6. MARTIN AND REN.

YASSSSS ending on a real high note with this one!!!! Martin, my darling, I knew you had it in you, you sexy scholar sorcerer! Ren and Martin have been dancing around each other for a while, so this was bound to happen. I’m glad Martin got over his lil case of shyness and took the dive! This will not be the last we see of these two, mark my words. Do I smell otp...? 

9/10

2 notes - Posted January 8, 2022

#3

Can Herc and Phil take ME on a date

instantly a big fan of this concept and so, using the survey, i will now present herc and phil with some awesome threesome options ;)

Aurora. She's already friends with Phil, so why not get friendly in the bedroom?

Dipper. Herc is Terence Squared. And Phil can probably teach him a few things ;)

Jessica. OOOO Now this one just oozes sex appeal! Not sure anyone would survive that trio ;)

3 notes - Posted January 27, 2022

#2

AND THE RESULTS ARE IN...

I’ve tallied the results from the Swynlake Date Compatibility Survey, and I want to give all y’all LOVEBIRDS time to connect before the big V-Day next month! After all, it can be soooo stressful to have a first date on Valentine’s! So why not get a head start? Do with this info w/e u want, though I hope you reach out and see if sparks fly beyond the data! 

EILONWY AND TANYA

ASHLEE AND ASHLEY

MIM AND ARIEL

AMITY AND RILEY

IAN AND DALE

GEM AND MARY

ELLI AND ISABELA

MERIDA AND TIGG

CHIP AND HOLLEY

DIPPER AND MIRABEL

AURORA AND SEBASTIAN

LO AND JESS

HERCULES AND PHIL KNIGHTLEY

NICK AND TING TING

ELENA AND SNOW

JUN AND ANNIE

AL AND VIXEY

THISTLE AND BRUCE

ur welcome~! 

EDIT: Tony and Laurette has been removed from this post by request :)

4 notes - Posted January 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Who needs the Kardashian sisters when we have the Morey brothers. Next public family feud…the Madrigals?

HA lol. I mean would I like to see it? Yes. Do I think its likely?

Let's take stock. We have girl-next-door Dolores Madrigal who JUST started teaching at the secondary and has already made a name for herself as a beloved teacher.

We have Isa Madrigal, one of Swynlake's IT girls... in the making? Depends who you ask. She might not be here as long as Marie Bonfamille or have the Swynlake native roots as Alana, but those Insta numbers don't lie honey! She's giving untouchable!

Plus fun-loving flamboyant Pepa? Sure she COULD start a scene, but it would be deserved!

Camilo, light of my life, is playful but never malicious! Antonio is 12! (JK, but the point is Baby, he is Baby.)

Luisa?????? You want to come for Luisa??????

Yeah I just don't see this happening

EDIT: lmfao i forgot mirabel!!!!!! its bc she is simply too boring to do anything gossip-worthy ever!

6 notes - Posted January 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #once again pip's big fat crush is showing he's horrified by it he's like i have to change

[annathesillyfriend]

Anna's August Fic Recs

Welcome to my August fic recommendations masterpost!! This has been quite a busy month for me but I'm holding onto last weeks of freedom. I am trying to read as much before uni starts and I had a pleasure of reading some brilliant fics this month. I am so excited to share them with you all! I hope your summer is going amazing and to those, who have just started classes - good luck!

To all the writers - I love you and I appreciate you so much!

To all the readers - please, share the fics you read and love. The reblog really makes the change! It’s the least we can do to show our gratitude.

HOLLAND & Co.

✨ Tom Holland

revenges is sweet by @t-lostinworlds

series, social media au, college!au, football player!tom, fake dating, idiots to lovers, all of our fave tropes, i am invested in this series more than i am in my own life, it's just that good

sunkissed by @duskholland

one-shot, 18+, surfer!tom x lifeguard!tom, exes to lovers, h's great mind at its finest 👏

souvenirs of the heart by @veryholland

one-shot, brought me to tears no joke, such a beutiful story, mila did such an amazing job!!

heartbreak girl by @lauras-collection

one-shot, 18+, lead singer!tom, based on 5SOS song, this is so goooood 😫😫 this story lives in my heart rent free right nextdoor to laura!!

act 1: scene 5 and 6 by @youandtom

one-shot, best friends to lovers, helping tom with learning lines, i loved this very much!

happier than ever by @vendettaparker

one-shot, tom being the great lad he is comes to save an awful date and we stan

the trial of the eldest holland by @reawritesthings

one-shot, ex!tom, welcome to the angst town! this is so deeply heartbreaking but so beautifully written!

lucky to be in love by @hollandsvogue

one-shot, rose is going staright for my silly little heart :')

slide in by @uglypastels

one-shot, frat!tom, i fall in love with this story time and time again

white winged dove by @muhollands

one-shot, 18+, conuntry!tom, insert country boy i love you vine here (also, i'd like to take this moment to kindly invite you all to go through d's whole masterlist cause it's brilliant. this mj blurb has sent me straight to hell but it's so worth it)

abide by @hazofmyheart

one-shot, 18+, mob!au, tom x reader x harrison, this made me feel some type of way 👁👄👁

getting ahead of ourselves by @/hazofmyheart

one-shot, 18+, college! lacrosse player!tom holland x tutor!reader, this is soft, this is cute, this is hot, this is everything! 12/10 would recommend

✨ Harrison Osterfield

little lune by @dovenymph

one-shot, celebrating your birthday with haz, made me want a refund for my birthday cause it's so lovely 🥺🥺

it will come back by @greenorangevioletgrass

one-shot, part of the rich kid!au series, 18+, richkid!haz x richkid!reader x actor!tom, there are no words in any language that would let me express how much i love ava and this au

✨ Harry Holland

wild side by @softholand

one-shot, 18+, best friends to lovers, that trope was made to be written about mister harry holland, i swear

lost in your light by @spider-barnes

one-shot, 18+, best friends to lovers, bloody lovely 💛

falling in love at a coffee shop by @/spider-barnes

one-shot, college!au, oh to fall in love with harry holland at a coffee shop 😫

hope is frightening thing by @peterplanet

one-shot, writer!reader x first da!harry, her book gets a film adaptation and harry is being is wonderful self 🥰

my forever by @unsaidholland

blurb, talking about your future with him, it's just 🥰🥰

circles by @farfromharry

one-shot, rich kid!au, enemies to lovers, so wonderful!

MARVEL

🎂 Suz's birthday fics

this total babe @samwilsons-pillowpecs gave us four beautiful gift on her birthday! we adore you, lovely 🥰 these stories are all wonderful anddeserve their own category 💛

you're the glitter in the dark

one-shot, 18+, mob!bucky

if i could touch you...

one-shot, 18+, boxer!steve

love you in a thousand ways

one-shot, 18+, ceo!sam

miss your kiss

one-shot, 18+, biker!thor

🎂@rodrikstark ’s 1.5k follower celebration!

collecion of headcanons with our favourite marvel boys as well as some other characters, i bloody love them all but my numer one has got to be joaquin teaching you spanish 😌

✨ Sam Wilson

book smart by @indyluckycharlie

one-shot, librarian!sam x PhD student!reader, such a warm and comfy little story by my dearest cate who i love very much 😌

he we go again by @/xbuchananbarnes

one-shot, idiots in love 🥰🥰

adventures in babysitting captain america and winter solider by @princessmisery666

one-shot, reader takes the boys to disneyland and it's just so amazing!

stay awhile by @lacapucharoja

one-shot, black!reader, a saturday morning with sam 😌😌

slow motion by @ambrosiase

one-shot, 18+, sam in baggy grey sweatpants and no underwear, need i say more?

✨ Steve Rogers

bullies, bullied by @anika-ann

one-shot, my main babe is blessing us with protective steve and i love her 🥰

there's a peace in dreaming by @babycap

one-shot, i don't have the words to tell you how stunning this story is, please go read it

✨ Bucky Barnes

timer by @xbuchananbarnes

series, soulmate!au based on the movie TiMER (2009). i could go on and on about how incredible that series is but with dani it's a given, sooo 🤷‍♀️

the kids will be alright by @imaginationintowords

series, social media au, lawyer!bucky x interior designer!reader, single dad!bucky, single mom!reader raising their kid together as friends, also reader x clark kent. honestly this is one of my fave social media aus of all time. and it's got a sequel is coming!!

quick fix by @ocean-bucky

one-shot, tfatws!bucky x ofc, vidra is the queen of ofc's, you simply can't not love her characters!

grant (part 2) by @coffeecatsandsarcasm

two-shot, bucky's in a relationship with a single mom with a little boy, it's so soft, i love this little family!

before sunset, i fell by @buckysbiota

one-shot, modern!au, when i get drunk i get myself cake, when reader got drunk, she got herself a husband. a very fine husband 😏

alcohol you later by @/xbuchananbarnes

one-shot, is it the 4th of dani's fics on this list? yes, she's just that powerful

three flags up by @starbuckie

one-shot, 18+, campcounselor!bucky x campcounselor!reader, best friends to lovers, buck being a cute little puppy in love and i adore him very much

and he kissed me right there by @sunmoonandbucky

one-shot, veteran!bucky, age gap, this is so full of feelings and it's gonna steal your heart!

lost and found by @sunshinebuckybarnes

two-shot, neighbour!bucky, alpine being the matchmaker of the year and we love that for her

hazy dreams and good mornings by @angrythingstarlight

one-shot, 18+, firefighter!bucky, i think that's enough encouragement to read this gem 😏

✨ Joaquin Torres

red by @remmysbounty

one-shot, a truly exceptional story!!

hold my words, keep us together by @/xbuchananbarnes

one-shot, soulmate!au, just simply stunning!

✨Peter Parker

love lies by @rosyparkers

series, social media au, y/n is silk but peter doesn't know it, peter is spiderman but y/n doesn't know it, sarah is the brightest star in the universe and everyone knows it

sunset lovers by @duskholland

one-shot, college! au, soulmate!au where what your soulmate writes on their skin, appears on yours. i don't think i have to tell you that eveything written by h, my beloved is pure gold. the softest thing!

always waiting (for you to come home) by @peterbenjiparker

one-shot, reader comes to peter cause she needs him to patch her up after patrol, it's so funny and sweet and i just love it so much, m is the bestest!!

perfectly a little late by @/t-lostinworlds

one-shot, college!au, reader forgets about peter's birthday. or does she 👀 please, give a round of applause for this wonderful writer who's been feeding us so well this month 👏👏

this fic by @peeterparkr

one-shot, last kiss with peter :') nancy knows all the most beautiful ways to break someone's heart

the plan by @spideyyeet

series, aveneger!reader, reader likes peter, peter likes mj, mysterio shows up, lots of angsty things happen. it's so bloody good, my mates, go read it!!

burning red by @spideyspeaches

one-shot, avenger!reader who who describes people's personalities as colors, it's just a stunning story with wonderful writing and i love it!!

this fic by @mcumendes

blurb, peter brings y/n flowers and is very very adorable!!

kiss me more by @celestialholland

one-shot, first make out with peter and i'm just 😫😫 in love

the reveal by @cloudybarnes

one-shot, best friends!reader where she finds out about him being spiderman, so lovely!!

always by @ptersmj

one-shot, an absolutely adorable best friends to lovers moment

red-handed by @/vendettaparker

one-shot, stark!reader, morgan interrupts y/n and peter's alone time 😏😂

OTHERS

✨ Spencer Reid

as told by flowers by @reidingmelodies

one-shot, story about the progress of the relationship with spencer told by flowers (duh 😂), it's just wonderful!!

✨ Frank Adler

thnks fr th mmrs by @wiypt-writes

one-shot, 18+, reader goes to frank the night before his wedding, i love this with everything i have

will you hold on my love by @writerwrites

one-shot, don't come anywhere near this piece without tissues!!

✨ Ransom Drysdale

undercover boss by @chase-your-dreams-away

series, reader's working at drysdales' company and hooks up with ransom not knowing who he is. this series is so bloody good! i love the reader in here so much!!

a/n: if you catch some kind of mistake or if you see that i miscredited someone - please let me know so i can change that!

#anna's fic recs #august fic recs #fic recs #marvel fic recs #tom holland x reader #harrison osterfield x reader #harry holland x reader #sam wilson x reader #bucky barnes x reader #steve rogers x reader

[mandareeboo]

SU Music Rankings

Bc I can and I wanna start some Disk Horse rip. These are all in order of preference, with explanations, etc. It’s a long bitch. That said, I’m not counting little short jingles or small joke songs like Little Butler. This is the meat and potatoes of SU music- just under 30 songs. I might do the rest if people like my takes lol.

I scored it mostly on three bases- how dear it was to my heart, how much/often I relisten to it, and also what it means to the plot. That said, little fun songs don’t automatically go farther down than big, plot-heavy songs either! It’s a strange little balance.

Special Note: I don’t dislike any of this music! I love SU and that includes its bumps and glitches. I just pick favorite children lol.

1.) Change

Was there ever a more Steven moment than when he wiped the blood off his face and kissed it into sparkles? I think not. 

If “Be Wherever You Are” is an ode to young Steven, then this is teen Steven’s. Talking about change, and how much and how little it can do. How he holds his arms up for Spinel to hug him, so trusting. How he seems able to just. Break into soft tears at will, and not to be manipulative- it’s just his kind nature. The warmth in his voice. Fuck yesssss.

2.) Change Your Mind

This song is only fifty five seconds and it’s EVERYTHING to me. It really felt like someone was speaking the words I’d always held deep inside of me, unsure of how to say. It feels like a goodbye to someone who never really loved me. 

As much as I enjoyed Future, if this was the finale of SU, I would’ve been perfectly okay with that.

3.) Drift Away

This song gave me legitimate shivers the first time I heard it, and it still haunts me to this day. Spinel stayed, and waited, and all she got was a transmission thousands of years later. Fuck.

4.) Here We Are In The Future

THE MOVIE IS SU AS ITS BEST AND I WON’T BE SWAYED ON IT. Steven being a teen who loves his weird family but is growing just a bit sarcastic to their drama. The adorable love he and Connie share. His slow realization that he will always be working, always have things to do, is both somber and real. The Crystal Gems won’t be safe with one epic battle. They’ll be safe with years of hard work and love. HIS LITTLE HANDSHAKE WITH AMETHYST.

This is a helluva bop and a great way to summarize the main character’s backstories.

5.) Let’s Only Think About Love

Did ya’ll know that Zach Callison killed his throat with that last note? He gave his all for this performance in a vocal range he no longer comfortably do and by god did it SHINE. The FLAIR. The FORESHADOWING. All of the Gems all being awkward about Rose and Steven trying to bring them to the present. Peridot having a mini-existential crisis in a cute yellow dress. I love Zach Callison’s normal singing voice but man is that a fucking bop. Nothing will ever beat it.

6.) Here Comes A Thought

This bad boy helped me out a LOT with some mental issues I was dealing with in high school. I was unmedicated, unsupervised, and full of anxiety. I’d have break downs when I tried to speak about certain things. I couldn’t function. This song inspired me. It helped me feel okay with my intrusive thoughts.

And the episode! -chef’s kiss-. Once again bringing up the morally gray area of training child soldiers. Connie expanding her social group. Steven’s trauma hauling ass in that second half. The ANIMATION. Stevonnie’s gorgeous singing voice. GOD yes.

7.) It’s Over Isn’t It?

Just barely squeaking above Stronger Than You, this ballad is everything gorgeous. The whole episode is. I think Mr. Greg stands in the top five of my episodes for the entire show. It even got nominated!

There’s just so much about this song that I love. The gentle melancholy of Pearl’s voice. How the crew had to redo the shots for this bit bc Deedee went so fucking hard. The hard cuts between Pearl, remembering the love of her life, and Steven, who has begun to feel like he took her away. I’d recommend this song to anyone, regardless of what they do or don’t know about SU, simply bc it tugs so many heartstrings of love, loss, and responsibility.

8.) Stronger Than You

Did you realize this episode aired SEVEN years ago? This bitch was what got me into SU! Hearing about Ruby and Sapphire made my little gay heart so happy inside, and then getting a whole song confirming that they were a couple, that their love powered the strongest Gem on the team? Aaaaaaaaa

To this DAY I get excited when I hear Estelle start singing. This song is timeless. This song will live in media history. God I fucking love this song.

9.) Other Friends

I’m not the biggest musical person, so I hadn’t heard of Sarah Stiles before her casting as Spinel, but JESUS CHRIST the lady went hard. She went SO fucking hard. Sarah Stiles started on 100 and somehow just kept CLIMBING. You can just hear the sheer manic energy building in her voice, the anger and resentment. 10/10 Sarah Stiles is a queen.

10.) Independent Together

This made the list entirely bc the crew was like “you’re gonna get a himbo ass Steven-Greg fusion singing with Opal while Garnet flies across the moon on Lion while floating” and I am forever thankful to them for it

11.) Who We Are

Bismuth deserved more songs. ‘Nuff said.

12.) Peace and Love (On the Planet Earth)

It Could’ve been Great is EASILY one of my favorite s2 episodes. I love the entire concept of this song. Of Steven making music to reflect how much Earth means to him and his family. Of him teaching Peridot some self-care. Also Peridot’s singing voice is really cute and squeaky. 

I know it’s silly, but I would’ve really enjoyed a flip around of this in Future! Like Peridot reminding Steven how much he loves music, that he needs to take time to relax for himself, maybe with a new verse or just a remix of the original song!

13.) Something Entirely New

I watched this episode as it aired, and I legitimately almost cried. I love Charlyne Yi’s voice so much ya’ll- her raspy, not perfect singing voice against Sapphire’s deep soothing lull is great.

And to have Ruby and Sapphire’s meeting be the way it was- for Ruby to bemoan Sapphire losing Homeworld, to being stuck with a single Ruby, while Sapphire is a noble who has always been taught everyone in her “caste” is vitally important (and has, in her own mind, taken that to mean every Gem, as she should) and how they come together and make each other happy. Good shit good shit.

14.) I’m Just a Comet

The fact that Greg’s music career never really blasted off pisses me off to this day bc Tom Scharpling’s voice is fucking BUTTER. Also the song really feels like a jab at his parents now that we know the kind of dynamic he had growing up. “This life in the stars if all I’ve ever known” is definitely him wiping away their existence after reminding them (and himself) the things they used to say about him.

15.) Do It For Her

This episode. This fucking episode. This episode got me permanently hooked on SU. I’d just binged season 1 and was kinda meh about it overall after the bop of Stronger Than You. “Oh,” I thought to myself, foolishly, “I’ll probably just casually watch this from time to time.”

Like three days later Sworn to the Sword aired and that was it. I was hooked! Pearl’s gentle training song turning darker and darker, Connie’s accompaniment from nervous to determined to fully into such a toxic mindset. The fact that SU had the BALLS to discuss the repercussions of training child soldiers, now and later. This episode was everything to me, STILL is everything to me.

Six years and well over 100 fanfics written later, I think it’s safe to say this show swallowed me whole and never let go.

16.) System/Boot.pearl_final(3)

I debated putting this on the list because it’s not anything crazy important, just a way to show things are Wrong, but I had to do it entirely bc Pearl is so damn SALTY.

Like telling us about the Gems makes sense, she felt like she was given a duty, but she went so damn petty. WHY is that Ruby alone. Gross. This Amethyst is a trash dump. Wtf are you people.

17.) Full Disclosure

This episode really feels like a turning point for SU. Before, the show had its dark moments- but now we’re in the thick of it, and it’s not going away. Full Disclosure felt like an rebuff to the idea of returning to any normal we’d established in season 1. Gems are actually a giant species now. Gems tried to kill us now. There’s this Yellow Diamond bitch who got namedropped. Something about a Cluster. 

The song itself is BALLER, with its ingenious use of Steven’s ringtone and photos as he tries to decide whether to clue in Connie on all this nonsense. Meanwhile we, the audience, already know damn well Connie about to yeet some common sense into him.

18.) What’s the Use of Feeling Blue?

I’mma admit it- I’m a Yellow Diamond stan. I’ve always loved her- her anger, her poise, her hardworking nature. I actively argued against the “Yellow Shattered Pink” theories back in the day. But, man, when this arc leaked? I got so overexcited I was too jittery to watch it for like two days. It’s easily my favorite arc of the series. The sheer alien nature of the zoo, the Famethyst, and absolutely Patti Lupone’s beautiful ballad. Goddamn. Yellow singing to Blue to try and help her regain her old status, the warble in her voice as she reminds Blue she misses Pink too, the movement of the bubbles as she talks about attack. It gives me shivers to this day. FUCK.

19.) Tower of Mistakes

This is, fun fact, that only SU song I have completely memorized. The story itself is kinda funny! See, we lost internet at my house for a solid 5 to 6 months when these episodes aired, so I only got a very brief window to view them all. But this was the first Amethyst song in a long while, and I didn’t want to forget it! So I keep replaying it in my head for ages. And that’s still definitely a thing.

Anyway will never not be sad that this entire song was about making it up to Garnet for Amethyst’s perceived slights with Sugilite (which was a two-way road), only for Garnet to pressure her into fusion later when pissed and never discuss it again bc Garnet probably never thought twice about it and Amethyst has the emotional openness of a clam that’s just been told its ugly. Helluva way to make someone feel like shit, G. Helluva way to bottle that shit, Ames.

20.) On the Run

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Amethyst! Needed! More! Songs! 

The dichotomy between Steven’s play and Amethyst’s honest desire to run away from home is so well-done, especially when you consider a lot of Steven and Amethyst’s actions are playing together. The song is also near and dear to me simply bc it’s my favorite Amethyst episode to exist (well, maybe second to What’s Your Problem, but not by much). Moments like these are all the proof I need that they were right to fuse first.

21.) Be Wherever You Are

This tune really just feels like an ode to who Steven was as a kid. Trapped on an island with no way home, and he’s just happy to be with his friends. The stars are beautiful and not oppressive. Also that one animatic with Lars and the Off Colors playing in the Homeworld Kindergarten to this music was iconic and made this song get stuck in my head for a solid month.

22.) Familiar

I ADORE how the crew use bright neon colors to show how alien Homeworld can be. And Steven recognizing that the Diamonds treat him how the CGs used to, and how prepared he is to “fix” a broken family. It’s a soft, gentle tune about melancholy. Also the Pebbles are beautiful.

23.) Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart

Such a cute little love ballad, but every time I listen to it now I just imagine the heart attack Rose must’ve had at the line “And if we look out of place/Well, baby, that's okay/I'll drive us into outer space.” like there’s a Vietnam war flashback if I ever heard one

24.) What Can I Do?

I’m kind of neutral on this one? Rose and Greg both have great voices, but the song itself lacks many lyrics. I think it was definitely a good way to show Rose’s flaws in thinking.

Also, I’m shocked they managed cram that much vaguely sexual innuendo into two minutes, followed by how Not Hetereo that dance between Rose and Pearl was, and not get their asses chewed by it. You go guys.

25.) Cookie Cat

I love a lot of the vibes this song has. The lyrics are so damn prophetic, but they also sound like the kind of weird 90s commercials I grew up on. It’s been like two decades since I saw the Shirley Temple commercial but I’ll be damned if I don’t remember “Animals crackers in my soup! Monkey and rabbits loop-de-loop.”

26.) Giant Woman

I am. NOT the biggest fan of Steven’s original singing voice. I feel bad saying that, since it was just Zach Callison as a kid, but he never jived well with me for some reason. So I wouldn’t listen to this on the fly. 

The song itself is still really good though, with all sorts of fun animation of Amethyst and Pearl being bitchy to each other. It’s a bit sad in hindsight to see tiny Steven trying to get his moms to get along. Ahh, season 1.

27.) Strong in the Real Way

This song has SUCH a strong start. Pearl reflecting on Sugilite’s problems, but the show making sure to show us that Pearl’s lack of enthusiasm towards her also lends itself to jealousy as well as just general malaise. How much she cares about Steven, and wants him to grow up strong. 

And then Steven just kinda. Ruins it? I appreciate his enthusiasm for tryna bulk up but to take what was starting as such a rich, personal song and broadcasting it to random strangers just makes me a bit sad. Almost a bit angry on her behalf?

28.) That Distant Shore

I KNOW this is gonna create some discourse, but I’m just not the biggest Lapis stan. I love her voice. I love the visuals of the song. And I get why she felt afraid and needed to flee.

But Lapis never got to take responsibility for her own actions. And, in the end, the song feels hollow to me- because we all know she’ll never talk to anyone about it, know she’ll burst back in and destroy the barn, and no one will ever question it. I like Lapis a lot, but I feel like her arc never was fully finished. She never got help. She never learned to feel safe.

29.) Dear Old Dad

I’ve yet to meet a single human being who likes this episode tbh. There’s some great discussion about what kind of parent Greg is from it, and what kind of dynamic he has with the Gems that he felt he had to fake an injury to hang out with his son. Honestly the first half was fine and dandy. It’s just that then they Greg just went out of his way to drag Steven away from missions and such. It never jived well with his character before or after.

Also, is it just me, or does Zach himself sound like he hates the song as he sings it? There’s no passion or heart in his voice. It sounds like they told him to read off cue cards and he did. Tom Scharpling’s best attempts didn’t save this one for being a skipper. But the episode, unfortunately, isn’t, so it gets a spot on here.

#Steven Universe #Steven Universe Future #SU Analysis #(I guess????) #Music #Steven Quartz Universe #Amethyst #Garnet #Pearl #Yellow Diamond #Blue Diamond #Blue Pearl #Yellow Pearl #Greg Universe #Bismuth #Spinel #Lapis Lazuli #Steg #Opal #Rose Quartz #Lars Barriga #Sadie Miller #Sapphire #Ruby #Stevonnie #Falc talks

[choicesenthusiast]

Representation at Pixelberry: The Follow-Up

One year ago, on June 15, 2020, Pixelberry released a statement regarding representation at the company. Here is the LINK to the original blog post, and here was MY RESPONSE. Oh, how naïve and optimistic I was. It contained a list of goals and promises they hoped to accomplish within a year. Well, a year has passed, and here is my attempt to hold PB accountable. I'll be going over the five main points of their representation plan and if they achieved what they promised. All criticisms are about content released after June 15th. Long post beware, but I'm not putting it under a read more because I feel like it's important for all to see.

1. Commitment to diversity of Love Interests - FAIL

We’ve already been moving towards having Love Interests have customizable skin tones. We will continue to do this with some stories, while also having some characters with clear ethnic identities. At the same time when we have multiple love interests of different ethnicities, we are aiming for those Love Interests to have equal game time.

"LIs with customizable skin tones" mean they come in three flavours: white, black, and ambiguously Asian/Latinx interchangeably. So far I have rarely seen an LI as connected to their culture/ethnicity as Rafael Aveiro, and he just talked about his Vovo's food if he ever were on screen. They had many chances with the other OH LIs as well. Even Ayna Seth and Tatum Mendoza were confirmed to be Indian and Filipino, respectively, though FA gets a little leeway, as it was set in a fictional west-European continent.

As for equal game time? I'm sure the biggest example we can all think of was the mess that was Open Heart 3, which was written during the hiatus (which only existed because they were going to straight up kill Rafael in Book 2). Game time was not equal among LIs, and the white male LI was heavily favoured. PB also continues to pay female LIs dirt by giving them no screen time. In addition to that, LGBT+ players, who are consistently underrepresented, receive one (1) unprepared pride month survey, prpbably only because someone asked them about it on Twitter.

This is the meat and potatoes of everything because it's what they're outputting to their audience. It's what the people see. Given that things haven't been going so well lately in this department, consider this promise a big fat fail.

2. More authentic and diverse hairstyles for people of color - QUESTIONABLE

Our team will focus on providing more authentic and representative hairstyles. We are prioritizing these hairstyles outside of our normal book processes and will introduce them in new books as they are ready.

While, yes, they have added two new hairstyles in WEH, they also just took Jade Bonet's hair and recycled it for LoA F!MC. PB recycles all their hair more often than not.

3. More diverse book covers - QUESTIONABLE

This is an initiative we started in January of this year. As a result the number of Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, mixed, and other characters on new book covers increased from 35% of characters in 2019 to 60% characters in the first half of 2020. However, the number of black characters is still not high enough this year. More are already scheduled for books later this year. We will make sure that Black characters are well represented on our covers in the future.

"Diverse" does not just mean by race, but also gender, sexual orientation, etc. FA has the only recent MLM cover. And don't tell me that the FA and LoA covers are any different from each other. The only black characters on covers are Zoey Wade (QB), and Black!Gabe Ricci (LoA) and Bastien (WB), which aren't even their canon races unless you choose them to be. This is the case for many single-LI books, such as Cassian Keane (W:ABR, which technically premiered on Mar. 16, but the sentiment is the same), Sam Dalton (TNA), and Dakota Winchester (WEH). Not to mention the customizable/multi LI books like DS, RT, BaBu2, MTFL, etc. Majority of these covers are just cishet couples delicately cradling each other's bodies or whatever. And we're not even gonna get into how PB literally put the Open Heart LIs in order of their favouritism on Book 3's cover.

4. Writers/Staff - QUESTIONABLE

We will be engaging in professional training on historical and current racism for our writers to ensure more of them have a better understanding and more context for views of diverse characters in Choices. We will also create a program that gives more authority to people of color in the studio to advise writers and artists on more authentic portrayals in both writing and art of black, brown, and minority characters.

A story with a Black-led cast is something I have asked for in the past, but failed to follow-up on. We will very likely start this with a Black-led cast story led by Chelsa, one of Pixelberry's Black writers.

We will increase the number of diverse writers we source for new stories, starting with hiring more Black and Latinx writers to lead the charge.

For all teams at Pixelberry we will actively work to bring in more Black and Latinx candidates with the goal to increase the number of Black and Latinx employees at Pixelberry. Although Pixelberry is over 50% female, on teams where females are not at 50% we will actively work to source more female candidates.

This promise seemed like a copout from the start because we have no way of knowing who works on what at PB unless we very meticulously stalk their LinkedIn or Twitter or whatever. We have no solid statistics except for what they feed us. I do know, however, that they recently let the Ms. Match writers go and were hiring for external writers, but there really is no way of knowing what's going on behind-the-scenes with their 112+ employees, and of course there would be NDAs involved. We are yet to see a book with an all-Black cast, and receive rare development updates with new books. Actually, I think a really good way to promote diversity is to do staff showcases on their social media. Just a way to show the public who's responsible for what. Writers, game devs, the art team, etc. Don't think it'll happen, but it's always a good idea.

5. Donations - QUESTIONABLE

Pixelberry will also be making $100,000 in donations to Black Girls Code, the Black Writers Collective, and the Latinx Writers Collective at Techqueria. Rather than as a lump sum, we will be making these donations over the course of a year to remind us that we are not making short term changes, but are committed to long term sustainable actions. We’ll also be donating up to an additional $100k from profits for this week, 6/15-6/21.

There has been no proof, no receipts, no evidence from PB that they have donated anything to anyone, and as far as we're concerned, their word doesn't mean anything. No news or updates news about it. I would love to believe that they did something, but as you can see, I've become quite the pessimist. BWC still uses PB's old logo (like, pre-Choices) on their sponsors page, and the last interaction they've had with BGC was in 2013. They don't even follow each other on Instagram. In fact, BGC received a huge donation from MacKenzie Scott, formerly Bezos last July. Yes, that billionaire Bezos, and that got coverage from them. Obviously donations don't need to be for publicity, but in this case I think it's important there should be proof. Again, it's really hard to tell with these behind-the-scenes things, but given how PB loves to gloat and hates to keep promises, we can assume that none of this happened.

~~~

So, what's the takeaway? That PB's fallen down the drainhole of shitty content and empty promises and has no intention of climbing out as long as they still make that bank? Seems counterproductive, because good representation gets good feedback and income. They pump out bad books with barebones "representation" if you can call it that, then drop their precious merch and pretend all is fine and dandy. But just as I suspected one year ago, none of this matters, because people forget things, and people move on, and shit gets swept under rugs. Yet, here I am, yelling at a company in a post I for sure doubt they'll see. Because if not me, then who?

@playchoices Your move. It's been your move for a year now. When will you actually make it?

#playchoices #choices stories you play

[samdeancass]

Friends with Benefits

Requested on Wattpad

Pairing: Scott x OC, Derek x OC, Isaac x OC (brief)

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Smut

Characters: Scott, Stiles, Derek, Isaac (briefly), Erica (briefly), Allison (mentioned), Kate (mentioned), Braeden (mentioned), Liam (mentioned), Kira (mentioned), Max (OC)

Words: 2,742

A/N: Max (OC) is Stiles' twin sister.

Description: After being unlucky in love with Derek and Isaac, Max falls into the arms of Scott.

Being Stiles’ twin sister was hard work. Max had to live with his incessant need to be annoying all day, every day, and to be honest he was beginning to drive her up the wall. Stiles always felt the need to be nitpick at everything that she did, which he knew annoyed her to no end. Sometimes, your dad, the Sherriff, had to pull you off Stiles because of how much he had angered her.

“Seriously Stiles, can you not go one day without annoying me?! You’re like one of those tiny bugs that you can’t see but is buzzing around everybody.”

Stiles pressed his hand to his chest mockingly. “Max, you cut so deep. How could you say that to me? I’m your brother!” A smile played on his lips when their father stopped Max from pouncing on him.

Although, if it wasn’t for Stiles, Max would never have met Scott. The three of them have been inseparable ever since they met. Scott had been there through everything Max and Stiles went through, especially the passing of their mother. After that, a solid friendship was cemented between the three of them. That’s why Scott trusted Max wholly with the fact that he was a werewolf. At first, she was a little hesitant but after some coaxing from both Scott and Stiles, Max grew more comfortable with it which made her trust in Scott grow stronger.

However, when Max met the mysterious new friend of Scott’s, her whole world changed.

“Err, Scott. Who’s that?” Scott and Stiles both turned in the direction you were looking. “That’s Derek. Derek Hale. He’s a werewolf, like me.”

Max couldn’t take her eyes off  Derek ,who was leaning against his Camaro. There was something about him that drew her towards him. Before she knew what was happening, Max’s feet began to carry her towards Derek, a fire in her chest.

When Derek seen Max making her way towards him, he stood up straight and kept his eyes on her, as if he was entranced. “Hey, I’m Max. Stiles’ twin sister.” He took your outstretched hand and gave Max a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry about that.” “HEY! I’m right here!”Both of them erupted into giggles at Stiles’ reaction and stared at each other for a while before Derek broke the silence. “So, do you know about everything that happens in Beacon Hills?”

Max nodded. “I’ve known for a while. I’m not gonna lie, it scares the shit out of me, but there is no way I’m going to let my town come under attack.” Derek nodded appreciatively before opening the passenger door of his Camaro. “Want to go somewhere else and get to know each other?”

Max turned back and looked at the two boys who were flirting, very badly, with girls two years older than them. A wide smile crossed her face before nodding. “Hell yeah!” Derek laughed at her enthusiasm before closing her door and making his way around to the drivers side.

Max’s feelings for Derek blossomed over the next few months but she wanted to keep them secret, so their friendship wouldn’t be ruined. However, during a fight with Derek, this secret was let slip.

“You need to stop fighting with Scott, Derek. Please. All he’s trying to do is keep this town safe!” Derek slammed his fists down on the table and turned to Max, his red eyes shining bright. “And what the hell do you think i’m trying to do, eh?” Anger was beginning to bubble in the pit of Max’s stomach.

“You really think that killing people is helping this town? Because it’s not! By doing this, you are pushing everybody away, including me. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to lose you!”

Derek’s eyes shone brighter as he walked over to Max and grabbed her shoulders. “I’m only killing the bad people, Max! Why can’t you understand that?! I’m doing this town a favour!” 

A tear was threatening to slip down Max’s cheek as his words sunk in. “How can you think that killing people is the right thing to do? I thought you were better than that, Derek! I need you to be better, I need you to change!” 

“Why? Why do you need me to change?! I’m perfectly fine the way I am!” The anger was beginning to bubble more; to the point that Max blurted out the one thing that she wanted to keep secret.

“Because I love you!” Max slammed her hands over her mouth as the last word was said. Loud cackling came from behind and Max turned around to see Erica walking towards them. She turned back around to Derek, who was staring at her in shock, before running out of the Hale House and into the forest. 

For the next week, Max avoided anything to do with Derek. That was, until he decided to break into her house one night. 

Max’s eyes shot open when she heard the sound of her bedroom window being opened. Carefully, she grabbed her lamp off her bedside table and hid at the side of the window, ready to attack the intruder. As soon as she seen two feet on the floor, Max swung the lamp towards the person.

“Ow! What the hell was that for!” Max walked closer and seen that the intruder was indeed, Derek Hale. “Derek?! What the hell are you doing sneaking into my room at 1o’clock in the morning?!”

“Well, I was hoping to talk to you about something, if you wouldn’t mind.” Derek nursed the back of his head whilst he took a seat at the bottom of Max’s bed. “What makes it so important that it couldn’t wait until morning?” Max took a seat next to Derek and examined the back of his head. 

“I wanted to tell you before I lost my nerve.” Max quirked an eyebrow at him, clearly interested in what has made Derek so nervous. He took a deep breath and turned to Max. 

“I know I should have told you this straight away, and I’m sorry that I didn’t. I just wanted to make sure that what I am feeling for you is genuine because.... I care about you too much to hurt you. I guess, what I’m trying to say is that I love you to. But we have to wait until you’ve graduated. It won’t look very good if a grown man is dating a high school student.”

Max stared at Derek with watery eyes and a large, beaming smile. She placed both of her hands on his cheeks and leaned in to plant a passionate kiss on his lips. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” 

A playful glint was evident in the corners of Derek’s eyes. “Yes, yes I do.”

Around a month after confessing her feelings to Derek, Max started to date Isaac. It was going so well at first. Max was beginning to develop feelings for Isaac as well as Derek. She loved being in Isaacs presence and he made her feel safe. However, all of that fell apart when Max found out that Isaac had cheated on her with Allison on their 6 month anniversary. After, Max had a fling with Aiden. This relationship wasn’t serious and it quickly ended when Aiden was killed by the Oni.

Max has been single ever since and she only had a year and a half left until she could graduate high school and finally be with the one man that she has always wanted. However, she didn’t know that the plans that she and Derek made all those nights ago was going to come crashing down around her.

Max had heard through the grapevine that Derek was dating Braeden, which she was absolutely fine with, until he left with Braeden after the pack had saved Scott from Kate and the Berserkers. 

She was left heartbroken and through herself into her school work and the pack to keep her mind off Derek. Max became more focused on helping Liam hone his new werewolf abilities as well as helping him study for school. Stiles was, well Stiles. Scott was determined more than ever to keep the rest of the pack in Beacon Hills which is why he was broken when Kira left to gain control of her kitsune powers.

One night, Max and Scott were ‘studying’ for a huge maths final that was coming up. Laughing and giddiness filled the room as the two of them messed around on Scott’s bed. “This is the most fun I’ve had in a while. Thanks, Scott, I really needed this.” 

Scott turned to Max with a beaming smile. “Anything for my best friend.” Max cocked an eyebrow at him. “I thought my brother was your best friend.” Scott placed a a finger to his lips. “Shh, it can be our little secret.”

They both lay down on the pillows and stared at the ceiling, content with each others company. “I’ve missed being with somebody like this, just having fun.” Scott turned to Max, his head resting on his arm and a warm smile on his face.

“I forgot to ask, how have you been since Derek left with Braeden? I know how much you cared for him.” At this question, Max’s whole demeanour changed and she stiffened up, still bitter about everything that had happened to her. 

Scott sensed this change and immediately sat upright, concern written all over his features. “I’m sorry, Max. If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s Ok.” Max shook her head and sat up. “It’ll do me some good talking about it. I’ve kept it bottled up for so long, I’ve grown to resent what me and Derek had.”

Scott scooted closer and wrapped a comforting arm around Max’s shoulders as she began to talk about how the events had affected her. “I just feel as though I’m not good enough for anybody. First, Isaac cheats on me and then Derek leaves me when he promised that we’d be together when I graduated, which isn’t to long away now.” 

Her head hung low at the thought of graduation. What once was a happy thing to look forward to was now something that she resented as it would remind her of something that was never going to happen. “I’m never going to be good enough for anybody. I’m better off away from everybody, where nobody can get bored of me. I’m just something that people can have before they find something better.” 

A low growl left Scott’s mouth as the last few words came out of Max’s mouth. Out of the blue, Scott grabbed Max’s face with both of his hands and kissed her. Max immediately melted into the kiss, running her fingers through his chestnut brown locks. Tongues began fighting for dominance as the kiss became more heated. Scott placed his hands on Max’s waist and heaved her onto his lap so she was straddling him. Max’s hands left Scott’s hair and travelled down the back of his neck and around to his chest. 

She began to tug at the bottom of his shirt, indicating that it needed to come off. Taking the hint, Scott broke away and took his shirt off, throwing it onto the floor. One by one, more clothes came off as the kiss developed further. A pile of them were at the foot of Scott’s bed, and both him and Max were naked in front of each other.

Max lay down on the bed as Scott manoeuvred himself on top of her, his eyes travelling the whole of her body. “So beautiful.” He leaned down and placed a loving kiss on her lips. One of his hands began to massage one of Max’s breasts, which made her groan into the kiss. Scott chuckled at her response and began to kiss down her body, leaving small hickeys in places that nobody could see, all while his fingers were flicking her ever growing nipple.  

He stopped kissing just before her pussy which caused Max to whine. “Please, Scott. Don’t stop now.” He flashed her a devilish smile before disappearing inside her, his tongue lapping circles on her clit. Max felt the familiar sensation brewing in the pit of her stomach and she was desperate to get her release. “Scott...more....please.”

As if her knew, Scott ceased his actions and wagged his finger at Max. “Did you really think it was going to be that easy?” Max gulped as his eyes flashed a deep red. He chuckled at her silence and he slid two fingers into her, her juices acting as lube. Max’s face was in bliss as Scott’s fingers moved faster and faster inside her. He slid in a third and a fourth finger and a smile crossed his face as he felt her walls beginning to pulsate around his fingers. 

Scott slid his fingers out and crawled onto her once again, sliding his long length inside of her. Max’s walls stretched to the maximum as she adjusted to his size. He was the biggest that she had ever taken and she was looking forward to the fun they were going to have. 

Max gave Scott a nod before he began moving inside her. His movements were slow at first, careful not to hurt you, but soon after his alpha side took over. Scott fucked her into the bed, screams of delight and pleasure leaving his lips. His hands wrapped around her hips so tight that he was sure it was going to leave bruises. 

Max could feel herself coming close to her release, so she grabbed Scott’s shoulders and squeezed as her walls clenched around Scott’s length. He released after a few more pumps and came, loud profanities leaving his lips. 

Scott pulled out and lay down next to Max, pulling her into him. A thick sheen of sweat covered both of their bodies as they both lay there, heavily breathing. A loud vibration sounded from the nightstand and Max reached over to answer it. She talked for a while before hanging up and gathering her stuff to leave. Stiles was on his way home and he had offered to pick her up from Scott’s as she had left her car at home. 

“I’ll see you later, Scott. Stiles is coming to pick me up.” Max left the room without looking at Scott and walked down the stairs, out of the front door. Stiles was already waiting for her by the time she had got out. Max opened the passenger door to the jeep and threw her stuff in the back before hopping inside.

“How did it go?” Max shrugged. “You know, same old boring school work. Nothing new.” Stiles nodded in agreement before starting up the jeep and driving the journey home.

The next day, Max was stood at her locker at school when Scott approached her. She kept focused on the stuff in her locker and kept packing her bag, completely ignoring him. Scott let out a small sigh. “Please talk to me.” 

Max took a deep breath and closed her locker before turning to him. She tried her best to keep a straight face but the puppy dog look Scott was currently wearing was too much to handle and Max smiled at how adorable he looked. This made Scott smile, small dimples revealing themselves in his cheeks. However, that smile soon faded and concern grew on Max’s face.

“What’s wrong?” Her head cocked to the side as Scott shuffled his feet. “Do- do you regret what happened between us?” Max blushed at the question and shook her head. “Nope, do you?” He also shook his head. “Of course not, but I am a little scared that Stiles will hit me with his bat when he finds out.”

Max laughed. “Do you really think that I’m going to tell my overprotective twin brother that I had sex with out best friend?” Scott then laughed and shook his head. “I guess not.” 

Scott and Max carried on their conversation and came to a realisation that, since they are such good friends and they don’t want to ruin that relationship, they should be friends with benefits. 

Both of them were extremely happy with this arrangement. They kept it a secret from the pack and Stiles, of course, but when Max was alone she had lots of fun with the Alpha.

Tags: @stellastyless​

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