#can you try? a little bit? to produce Content that looks like it was created by an adult professional?

[rulesforthedance]

VALUVABLE ADVERNT□OMING

(ON MUILETMIDUDIA SOCIAL PLOFYORMS)

#impressed with ai's ability to make dumb spammy ads even dumber which I didn't think was possible #also. the pettiest reason to have a problem with the recent ubiquitous proliferation of ai-generated images but: #the way people use them is so lazy and sloppy and it irritates me! #so many articles written by human people even that are illustrated with some ai picture featuring #fucked up pseudo-text or unintended surrealism that distracts from the content with its weirdness #like. you have the thing make you a picture and then just slap it on your article or post with zero regard for whether it is Freaky #can you try? a little bit? to produce Content that looks like it was created by an adult professional? #not that I expect that from tumblr ads but this shit is everywhere rn lol

[toa-archive]

Troll Dads Design Path - Part 1

This thread is long overdue and has hit further problems in being posted delaying it further, apologises for that. Anyway we're here now and finally it's time to look at some troll dads.

This has been pieced together from what has been found online and acknowledges that there is further content in the artbook or somewhere online that has yet to be found. The timeline will also be as accurate as can be guessed

Might as well start with the original Trollhunters book where a much wiggly Blinky of the Lizzgump clan and the fetching lady Johannah Mmmm ARRRGH!!! looked very different to their tv designs. E. M. Gist produced the below artwork that was to be the cover though was replaced by Sean Murray's Amulet artwork fairly last minute. It often blows around the internet in bad quality and never credit so it's a pleasure to finally be able to do that.

Source

Sean Murray has two illustrations with his own take on the duo! If Blinky was more visible you'd see a skirt made out of medals he's wearing. These were part of a set of interior illustrations.

Source includes other illustrations he made for the novel

Understandably for the original Trollhunters film their designs had to be changed to be both more animation and child friendly. Rodrigo Blaas produced this version in 2010 showing Jack Sturges, Handsome Blinky and AAARRRGGHH carrying a hunk of Gunmar around, something that sticks around in the artwork for a long while.

Handsome Blinky can kindly stay away.

Source

On his website John Bell has this artwork from 2012, clearly still in the film phase, of his take on the duo. You can certainly see some themes still sticking around from the earlier days.

Source

Blinky went all sorts of directions as can be seen in this artwork by Francisco Ruiz Velasco. His four arms didn't seem to show up until he took on a more familiar shape and surprisingly he had a tail at one point!

Source

Headless Studios were also trying out different Blinky designs including a tall variant until his more rectangle shape we're more used to started to crop up more and more. There are even more of these in the artbook.

Source

As they deserve a special place being so unique these fuzzy Blinky's are by Francisco Ruiz Velasco and show a rather familiar outfit starting to appear. He still has a little tail though his feet are more feathered than solid but it only adds to his adorable charm.

Source

This one wasn't posted in the original thread, figured it'd be a nice treat for the long wait. Simon Rogers did concept art for the original film and if you look at the bottom middle and left a bit there is a squat Blinky, A tall standing but short legged AAARRRGGHH with a chunk of Gunmar and likely Jim in Trollmarket.

This seemed a good transition piece between the dads too.

Source

AAARRRGGHH seemed to hit his stride much sooner than Blinky did with most changes focusing on how much fluff, facial shape and his tattoos. These images are by Francisco Ruiz Velasco and include shorts prior to that loincloth number he'll be sporting soon. With his build heading the right direction too he's already looks like a good boy.

Source

Meanwhile at Headless Studios, AAARRRGGHH design started to cement into something more familiar to us by keeping that scruff n fluff and extending it. This is the first appearance of his arm stripes which will stick around for quite a while along with leg wraps. His tail is pure fuzz when it appears.

Source

Shown in the artbook along with an art version by Headless Studios (A version of is below too), this small statue was used in the original pitch and was created by Chris Ryniak! Poor Toby.

Source

Blinky in the meanwhile was still being fairly fast and funky though now his shape seemed to stick and it was more the specifics that were in flux. His number of eyes kept changing, glasses, fabulous eyeliner and even a camp counselor look going on.

Bar minor adjustments though he too would hit his stride. All the below are by Headless Studios.

Source

The colours remained in flux for a while though and a number plate temporarily appears on his shoulder. He does look rather fetching in pink though? The chunk of Gunmar is back and AAARRRGGHH remains stable for the time being other than being red. Both are Headless Studios again.

Source

Sergio Casas did a colour pass making the trolls makeup game the best it'll be. AAARRGGHH's arm stripes are starting to dwindle though the earring is sticking as it will until the final. This is also the last appearance of Blinky's number plate.

Source

More Headless Studios! His arm warmers make their last stand here and the more obvious loin cloth putting an appearance. The bottom middle one is likely what Betsy Bauer based the phone artwork in Wizards on. Look at that smile.

Source

Two more by Francisco Ruiz Velasco, while the top image does have vague hints of fuzzy Blinky AAARRRGGHH lacks his arm warmers for clear rune marks instead. The second image showing "Gunmar" at Killahead Bridge comes much later and AAARRGGHH having a sharper design than the softer rounded one he did previously.

Source 1 / Source 2

Jonatan Catalan Navarrete portfolio includes a poster for when it was still very much the film version and a slightly terrifying Blinky model (A textureless version is in the artbook) and the final appearance of the hunk of Gunmar.

Source

There is actually two versions of the below image by Alfonso Blaas though this is the lesser known one with gorgeous lighting, the other being an earlier blue concept used to announce the Trollhunters tv project. AAARRGGHH has his loincloth still but very much looking like who we know and love now.

Source

Due to hitting the image cap the thread has been split into two! You can find the second part here.

#Trollhunters #Tales of Arcadia #Vis Dev: E. M. Gist #Vis Dev: Sean Murray #Vis Dev: Rodrigo Blaas #Vis Dev: John Bell #Vis Dev: Francisco Ruiz Velasco #Vis Dev: Simon Rogers #Vis Dev: Headless Studios #Vis Dev: Chris Ryniak #Vis Dev: Sergio Casas #Vis Dev: Jonatan Catalan Navarrete #Vis Dev: Alfonso Blaas

[arcanarubinaito]

Headcanon Post (1)

“Leech Barometer”

Okay so we all know about the Leech Barometer right? No? Okay well if you don’t, it’s a contraption that utilizes leeches to create a storm warning system. You heard me right: leeches.

The Leech Barometer—originally named the “Tempest Prognosticator”—used natural leech behavior as a warning system for incoming storms. When atmospheric pressure falls and the oxygen content in the water drops, the leeches instinctively try to move to the surface. It’s a neat little trick to predict bad weather, so George Merryweather (talk about names reflecting one’s job lmao) created a device that took advantage of that fun little fact. The Leech Barometer essentially consists of twelve bottles in a circle under a bell. Small hammers would strike the bell once the leech climbed high enough. I’ll link the Wikipedia article below, it goes into more detail about the mechanics.

The leeches used were presumably medicinal leeches since that’s what Merryweather refers to when talking about their sensitivity to weather conditions, and the device was more or less inspired by poetry. (“The leech, disturbed, is newly risen, / Quite to the summit of his prison.” Edward Jenner, Signs of Rain) It was fairly accurate but couldn’t actually tell you when the potential storm would hit. The more rings from the bell, however, the more likely it was for a storm to show up.

I have such a strong mental image of Julian kicking down Nadia’s door one evening, as a storm is brewing on the horizon, and aggressively pointing at a jar he’s holding. It takes Nadia a minute or so to realize what Julian is saying, but once she does he has her full attention. The leeches climb when a storm is approaching? What a fascinating concept.

The two of them immediately start discussing how they could create a storm warning system with the leeches. One could always look at the jar, but when you’re as prone to getting lost in one’s work or thoughts like Julian and Nadia are? They’d completely forget.

Julian is the one to suggest bells. The actual logistics on how to get the leeches to ring said bells, however, was Nadia’s idea. They spend an entire night working on a prototype, but by the time it’s finished the storm had passed and the leeches had settled. It isn’t until the next storm rolls along—they don’t have to wait long, it is a costal city after all—that they get the chance to test it out.

By the Gods, it worked! Only… well now there are pieces of whalebone floating in the water, and it is difficult to set back up again. Far more of a hassle than it needs to be. Once they fish out the whalebone and realign everything, Julian makes sure to tie the whalebone up with a string so that they can easily place it again after the next storm.

For areas like Nopal, it would make a great signal for when rain water would come. And Vesuvians in areas prone to flooding could use it as a signal to prepare. It was a brilliant invention!

Just, ah… perhaps not very streamlined. It takes up quite a bit of space and producing the prototype alone wasn’t cheap. They have the device moved into the new research laboratory Nadia had commissioned a while back, and now the question they both share was why the leeches behave this way.

(Asra and Portia frequently stop by to make sure they’re both eating, drinking, and taking breaks whenever they have the time to go on a research binge.)

Links & Inspiration

Wikipedia - Tempest Prognosticator

Australian Museum - Leeches

Atlas Obscura - The Rise and Fall of the Leeches Who Could Predict the Weather

Here’s the inspiration for this post. I couldn’t find the original, so here’s the crappy cropped version from Reddit. If you can find the original, please send me the link!

#the arcana #the arcana game #arcanarubinaito #rubin’s writing #headcanon #the arcana headcanons #the arcana julian #julian devorak #ilya devorak #the arcana nadia #nadia satrinava #countess nadia #leeches #leech barometer

[not-goldy]

Right now there are a lot of ex tkk out there who left after Paris. Some of who wrote little to late apologies to Jimin for believing he was the devil/villain, when now they realize that title belongs to the big TK accounts who hand fed them lies. The ones who helped brain wash them & half this fandom & harass everyone. They swallowed that pill & accepted their ship is not real and Paris actually happened. Now they're just sitting around alone cause the people they thought were their friends turned their back on them for seeing the light. These people could do the funniest thing right now, the right thing. Those TK GC's and twitter spaces they were a part of and saved. Full of Tkk & big Tk accounts slandering Jimin & plans to sabotage him and vile lies they made up to spread and openly hated on Jk cause they were mad at him, spearheaded by those active TK accounts. They could email them to bighit. DM the screenshots they held onto, to Jimin and Jikook report accounts. Get these big TK and anti accounts taken down. They were on the inside and know first hand things said in private in those space. How manipulated they were and seeing how its continuing.

Their own leader, told them models called Tae Monsieur Gayhyung in Paris, only for the models to say it was disgusting lies. Instead of admitting he lied on purpose cause he didn't think these people would release statements, he let you all take the blame and look like deranged fools for spreading it and deactivated and came back a few weeks later like nothing happened and you let him. The person creates lies every day and You help spread them. Then the person deactivates cause they can't take the heat and you take the fall and he gains new braindead followers when they come back.

I know It'll never happen tho cause they aren't brave. I on the other hand would be a raging bitch, the whistleblower and expose the fuck out of every damn one of them MF's who helped gaslit me.

I HAVE THREE LARGE BREASTS AND A TAIL.

I'm alway prepared to recieve new Jikook believers into my large bossom and feed them with content 😌

They can start with @nightswithkookmin

And if they want to interact they'll find me here.

I'm open to receiving their confessions about Jikook in my ask box. Shit if it's good I'll even share it so everyone can read it.

If it's triggering and full of doubt I'll send them straight to purgatory.

Tuktukkers are indeed very much manipulated and gaslit into believing things they shouldn't believe if they had a little bit of brain cells in their skulls.

Like it's that simple, you don't even need analysis you just need to use your head, if you believe no two relationships are equal then you'd rightfully assume there must be something unique and special about every ship. Start by individualizing every ship. Start there and if you don't that's how the madness begin.

And if you believe TKk and JKK are two Unique ships- what sets them apart? You don't find this out if you succumb to the prevalent cognitive roadblocks prevalent in TKK land. To find that out what makes them each truly Unique, desist from minimizing, trivializing, overlooking, going against your instincts and going against common sense. One plus one is two. If it she's a duck it's a duck. You don't need to bend and twist and squeeze your brain out.

The common truth and fact of the matter is, however "close" TKK were in the past,however they try to be close now, Jikook are closer. That ship has sailed. However jikook try to normalize that closeness, neutralize it, do damage control- it really doesn't change the fact that out of all BTS pairs they have the most chemistry, are and do come across as the most intimate because you simply can't hide intimacy if it's there between two people.

It shows in everything they do and say.

It's like whatever Vmin have. You can't minimize it. You can't sweep it under the rag. No matter how long they go without producing Content- when they do that content will always light up warmth in our hearts.

You can't take vmin soul mates away from them no matter how much analysis you make, no matter how much you think they hate eachother underneath. They would still be Vmin.

Jikook is jikook no matter what anyone says.

And ooh for TKK, once you clock what their dynamic really is- you may not think of them as Jikook but you'd definitely appreciate them same.

I know a thing or two bout whistle-blower laws and I'm very good in street fights- if you do decide to be a raging bitch, I got your back🤭

[marvelsuperfangirl]

Peaceful Havok

Alex Summers x Reader

At this hour , the view was even more stunning than usual. The seeable patch of sea ressembled a river of diamonds due to the rays of the sun relecting on its urface. The said rays were plunging the world in an orangey light, bringing a certain peace to the atmosphere ; while a faint breeze pushedthe heat away, offering a well deserved moment of freshhness.

In the sky, colorful clouds were dancing with each other, creating a rainbow full of pink, purple, blue, orange and such. It felt heavenly to stand there , with the view spreading in front of you, for your pleasure.

Your hair were flying at the rythm of the wind and ou let-out a sigh of content.

Looking away from the dreamy landscape, you spotted the hammock, nearby, in the corner of the terrace and the idea sprang into your mind : that’s exactly what you missed to make it perfect.

You strudded happily toward the hammock and slowly lowered yourself down, careful not to make it swing and end up falling on the hard floor . When your safety was assured , you sprawled yourself like a starfish and enjoyed the feeling of being on a vacation. With a subtle movement of your trunk, the hammockpicked on the rythm and swayed from left to right, gently. Now you could admire the colorful sky even better.

The sky had clearly darken when the sound of flip flopped footsteps reached your ear. You slightly turned your head toward its source and saw Alex Casually walking toward you, wearing a basic shirt and shorts, his sunglasses pushed back on top of his head. His mid-neck length sandy hair had gloden reflects ;a wonderful view and a cute boy ; nothing could beat that.

The souynds stopped and Alex was now standing right beside the hammock, looking down at you.

« You look relaxed »

« You have no idea » you sighed

« Do you mind if I join you ? »

Behind your sunglasses, your eyes widen at his demand , that behaviour, coming from him was rather new.

« Ugh…yeah sure »

That was definitely what you wanted . Laying beside Alex on a hammock with a dreamy scenery around the two of you.

He flashed you a big smile and took his shoes off, before coming closer to the hammock.

« Can you move over a little bit, please »

After obeying to his request, he settled next to you carefully , trying to keep the hammock steady.

Now, he was right beside you, both o fyour sides pressed against each other.

You didn’t dare to move, overwhelmed by your feeling at the moment. Alex and you nver got that close before, so that was definitely new. Weither you like dit or not, the situation stressed you.

« Are you comfortable ? »

His voice came from just above your head  and without even lifting your head to meet his eyes , you blurted your answer.

« I’m okay »

« Hum… Are you sure, ‘cause I think we can find a better position for both of us »

Why did he have to say that ? Isn’t he aware of how you were feeling with him being so close ? He seemed to be completely dense to your own feelings, and started to move from his original position.

« If I just… »

Alex lifted his arm, that was previously against you, then he moved even closer , his side was now right against you.

« If you roll on your side, you can put your head right there » he said, patting his pectorals. « And we’ll both be more comfortable »

With his arm still up he gave you and angelic smile.

And it’s with a furious blush that youd id as he said. Rolling on your side and let your head fall on Alex, careful to stay very still after your movements.

A chuckled came from him and he let his arm lower down right around you, his hand settling on your side. The heat didn’t waste any second to rise to your cheeks and you clenched yourself even more, careful not to touch him in more ways than you already were, keeping your arms and hands against your front.

Apparently please with the new found position, Alew let his leg dangle from the hammock and pushed gently, to make the two of you swing.

The feeling of the air produced by the hammock’s movements felt nice on your skin.

As slowly as possible, you moved your head toward Alex’s face, with the idea of taking a glimpse at his face.

Except that you found him already looking down at you and immediately looked away. « Shit » you thought, feeling your face heat up from embarrassement.

He seemed to have no idea of what he was doig to you, your brain transform into a battlefield where the need of being close to him and the shyness fought against each other. How could he listlessly lay next to you like itw as nothing while your heart threatened to burst.

« I’m sorry to impose myself like that. I just wanted to spend some time with you in the quiet »

Another blow to your fragile heart !

« You’re not bothering me, don’t worry »

The less you said, the less the chance to embarrass yourself

With a chuckle, he lowered his head and his lips brushed against your hair and stayed there for a moment on a tender gesture but not that explicit.

#marvel #xmen #alex summers imagine #alex summers x reader #alex summers

[sburbian-sage]

I'm a Seer of Stage and I'm trying to maximize my predictive capabilities. Having a bit of trouble though.

At the start of the session, I looked for info on what the best predictive equipment is. You know, tarot cards, magic 8 balls, futomani kits, and so on.

Stage likes constants, stability, and rules. But, most divination methods rely on randomness. I can't be drawing cards from a randomized deck and expect that to play well with Stage. Like, yes, Stage CAN put up with a little randomness, so long as it adheres to rules and patterns, but it's *better* if I find a method that's low-randomness to begin with.

Enter: numerology. It's perfect. I love it, Stage I think loves it as well, match made in heaven. Numbers have specific meanings, and you can learn shit by analyzing them. Great premise, 10/10!

So I alchemized a numerology handbook. And I've had some success with it. But it was a little clunky to use, so I started working on upgrading it.

Some stuff was simple enough. I've &&'d it with a computer and some other stuff, and now I don't need to manually flip through the pages anymore because I can just say a number and it'll bring it up, I can easily cross-reference numbers with other numbers because it just pulls up relevant ones automatically, etc.

But upgrading it for ease of use is one thing. I'm not sure how to upgrade it in ways that actually make it more *accurate* or *powerful*, without it doing things like, you know, CHANGING WHAT IT SAYS THE NUMBERS DO. Which is basically the polar opposite of what Stage wants.

Of course all this shit is arbitrary, numerology isn't real, it's my Stage powers making it work. But Stage doesn't care if it's bullshit, so long as it's *consistent* bullshit. But every time I try and mix in a magic wand or other divination tool or whatever, it just changes the entire nature of the thing, and makes very little attempt at keeping the book's contents consistent. It doesn't just re-write each number's entry to be more specific or whatever, it'll make it say totally different stuff.

I'm wondering if I should just... apply a bit of my aspect to the alchemizations? I know fucking with the alchimiter is usually a BAD idea, but is it really so dangerous to force something like raw consistency and stability into it?

...Well, I checked with my numerology book, and according to various relevant numbers (number of lines in the symbol on the alchimiter, total alchemization performed so far, etc.) it says yes, it would be dangerous.

So... any other ideas? Cuz I'm fresh out.

Mixing Aspects and Alchemy isn't inherently bad. We say that an item produced through Alchemy that was infused with an Aspect has an "Aspect Charge" (as in Aspect Charge is the unit of measurement), and indeed it's quite useful at all stages of the game. You only need to worry about the following when it comes to Aspect Charges in Alchemy.

The item will of course take on characteristics associated with the Aspect, so don't make a Doom-Charged Medkit or something stupid.

Mind Charges provide infinite energy for an item, with the downside that it might "surge" and fry your computer. Or cause it to explode, depending on the size and whether or not it is in fact a computer, because computers tend to do that in this game. I've always had good luck when it comes to this though.

Blood Charges create a living item. It's usually best for the Blood player to handle that kind of thing, especially if you're the type to get philosophical about it.

Void Charges just erase the item, and all the Grist that went into it.

Never eat Aspect-Charged food. You WILL die, the question is in what way, how painfully, and how long it takes. This is true of Life and Blood too. You shouldn't even be eating Alchemized food in the first place because it all tastes like shit and basically provides no nutrition, either use the Crystalanths, start a garden, or get your hands on a Cookalizer and Alimentator like a civilized person.

And this isn't about Charges but don't ever use Blood to make your Alchemiter, or any Alchemy-related items come to life. What happens next is The Sorcerer's Apprentice meets Videodrome. You're also likely to get a Saccharine Doppleganger situation, in which case add Carebears and Invasion of the Body Snatchers to the list.

If your numerology says not to modify your Alchemiter, or Stage-Charge it, then by all means, don't. But also... Do you have to upgrade your book? You need to alchemize stuff like weapons or armor for the stat boosts, but I don't think there's any meaningful "stat boosts" differentiating an early-game grapple launcher from a late-game one, if you know what I mean. If the numbers mean what they mean, then it seems like "the computer tells me what the numbers mean" is the height of efficiency and you necessarily can't improve from there.

There are three possibilities. Option #1 is accepting that you've peaked in this regard. Option #2 is seeing if those "upgrades" do provide any unique benefits, and if so, if it's possible to create an upgrade that beats out any inconsistency penalties. Option #3, it seems like anytime you alchemized something "magical", it randomized the numbers, but a computer kept it consistent. So maybe focus more on the tech-side of things, becoming a technomancer divination wizard, or turning your Numerology Book-puter into a supercomputer. If the superbookputer grows too big to carry around, you could turn a room in your spire into a Seer's Den. In addition to looking very cool, that's heavily resonant with your Class and will provide a bountiful RP boost.

#sburb #replay value au #seer class #stage aspect #seer of stage #alchemy issues

[jcmarchi]

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Preview - Revving Up An Old Engine - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/fatal-fury-city-of-the-wolves-preview-revving-up-an-old-engine-game-informer/

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Preview - Revving Up An Old Engine - Game Informer

An entire generation of fighting game fans have been born, hit puberty, graduated college, found a career, and possibly started a family in the time between the last Fatal Fury game and the upcoming City of the Wolves. The most recent entry, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, was released in 1999 for arcades (and 2001 for Dreamcast in the West), meaning the series has been dormant for over 25 years. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves sees the series make its long-awaited return, and it already feels ready to stand alongside the big boys of the genre.

I had a chance to play over an hour of City of the Wolves at the SNK World Championship Finals last weekend, where I also spoke with producer Yasuyuki Oda. Fatal Fury has been an arcade mainstay since 1991 but hasn’t quite created the mainstream footprint of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. With this new entry, Oda says he believes the series’ penchant for more technical fighting, along with modern revisions to fan-favorite systems, will help it stand out in the now crowded space. Additionally, he also hopes these tenants help the game appeal to unfamiliar younger fighting game enthusiasts who may only know Fatal Fury by name.  

[embedded content]

You eat with your eyes first, and City of the Wolves looks sharp thanks to a stylized art direction, with bold, heavy shadows that give the game a vibrant comic-book-like look reminiscent of Marvel vs Capcom 3. The returning fighters available in my demo were Rock Howard, Terry Bogard, Hotaru Futaba, and Tizoc. I also got to try a new character named Preecha. This bespectacled, bubble-gum-haired young woman is a quirky but brilliant scientist. Interestingly, she’s less interested in proving her fighting superiority and more interested in finding scientific explanations for how her rivals can perform seemingly impossible feats like shooting fire or energy out of their fists. 

“She’s coming at it at a little bit of a strange point,” says Oda. “It’s almost like [how] a scientist would try to bring a little bit of reality into this world of special moves and telekinesis and all that stuff. So she wants to know exactly why is this possible, how is it possible, and how I can use this.”

Preecha is also a Muay Thai master and star pupil of series comic relief Joe Higashi. She devastates foes with furious, wind-powered kicks, including lobbing small cyclones as projectiles. I enjoyed using her the most out of the available roster, but each character offered a good time, whether I was German suplexing foes as the masked wrestler Tizoc or firing uppercut blasts as Rock. In addition to looking cool, the roster speaks to a broader audience, quite literally, thanks to a new English localization. 

The REV system serves as City of the Wolves’ big new addition, giving players enhanced attacks to bolster their offense. REV Blows are powerful, near-unblockable supercharged attacks; REV Guard serves as an enhanced block; REV Arts are flashy cinematic combo attacks; and REV Accel is a speedy assault of sorts. Using these moves gradually fills the constantly draining REV meter, which replenishes when you land attacks. However, filling the meter sends the fighter into an overheated state, rendering REV moves unavailable until they “cool off” and the meter empties. Managing this meter creates an interesting pendulum swing that kept me from relying on REV moves too often, lest I lose them entirely and give my opponent a window to unleash their own REV-based assaults. Thankfully, the REV meter also doesn’t feel restrictive or like it discourages REV use overall due to how rapidly the meter drains.

The T.O.P system from Mark of the Wolves returns in expanded form as the S.P.G. (Selective Potential Gear) bar. At the start of each fight, players choose to place this bar at the front, middle, or end of the health meter. When your HP falls within the S.P.G. section, you gain benefits such as increased attack power, the ability to unleash Rev Blows, and health regen. Thus, the placement of the S.G.P. matters. Are you an aggressive player from the jump? Place the S.G.B bar at the front so you begin the match at your strongest. You could place it at the end to act as a powerful last stand. I enjoy the strategy the S.G.B. bar brings, both for myself and for knowing when to turn up the heat when my opponent’s vitality approaches theirs. 

These systems complement a fighting system that already feels very fine-tuned. Playing matches against A.I. and other journalists was a challenging blast. I loved unleashing combination attacks while leveraging my REV meter. You can also execute Feints, special fake-out moves to trick your opponent into rushing in or backing off. Braking allows you to cancel out of combos in progress. Using returning mechanics, like Just Defend, in which you block at the last second for a quicker recovery, adds to the game’s enjoyable technical-based combat. 

In a nod to recent fighting game trends, City of the Wolves features an optional, streamlined control scheme called Smart Style. This option simplifies the execution of dazzling special attacks by mapping them to a single button plus a directional input. For veterans, Arcade Style offers the default, more technical control setup, and it’s nice to see Fatal Fury continue the positive trend of inviting players of all skill levels to its world. 

I’ve never been the most enthusiastic Fatal Fury fan in the world, but I’m very impressed with how thrilling City of the Wolves is, especially this far from release. SNK has a promising start, and while Oda wasn’t ready to divulge details on other modes and features, the core one-on-one fighting is in a strong place. Fighting game fans have feasted well the last few years, and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves looks to offer another delicious serving in early 2025.

#Art #Arts #book #Born #career #college #cyclones #details #Developer #direction #energy #engine #English #eyes #Features #Fight #form #game #Gear #Giving #Health #Heat #how #hp #it #LESS #mechanics #One #Other #placement

[granatkoroleva]

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞

Trailer Park Prince - Fic Preview Below The Cut

Fandom ⊳ Marvel, Captain America

Rating ⊳ M

Pairing ⊳ Farmer!Nomad!Steve Rogers x Trailer Park Slut!Bucky Barnes

Summary ⊳ Steve had offered Henry and Cheryl a farewell and a thank you for everything they had done for him over the years as he took over the farm from his folks.

But now that left Steve without his main supplier and labor source since their grandsons only came during the summer to visit.

It was something Steve was used to, adapting.

Warnings ⊳ Farmer AU, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Farmers Markets, Meet Cute, Innocence, Innuendos, Slutty Bucky Barnes, Determination, Moodboard, Not Beta Read, WIP, Ratings Will Change, Explicit Content Coming, Misunderstandings, Humor

Square + Prompt ⊳

@buckybarnesevents | ALTERNATE JUNE-IVERSE! | Prompt Filled: C - 4 Farmer | C4014 (2)

Also, created for the @slashmultiverse Pride Prompts - Day 21: Determination

Preview ⊳

Steve notices a man approaching his stall with a sly grin on his face. "Well, well, well," he says, eyeing Steve up and down. "What do we have here?”

Steve feels his face flush as he looks up at the stranger. He scans the bustling market, realizing he hasn't seen this man before. His striking features are something Steve would never forget.

"Hi," Steve says, trying to keep his voice steady. "Can I help you?"

The man leans in closer, his hand splayed over the now empty table. "I was hoping you could help me with something," he says, his voice low and husky.

Steve's heart races as he watches the man's fingers trace invisible shapes on the table. He's never been this close to someone so handsome before, and he couldn't deny feeling flustered at the proximity.

"What can I do for you?" Steve asks, trying to keep his voice level.

The man leans in even closer, leaving only a few inches between them. "I was hoping you could help me find something," he whispers. "Something...satisfying."

Steve feels his breath hitch, but he blinks and reminds himself to be professional; this is a customer. He's never been this attracted to someone before, and he's not sure how to handle it.

"I, uh, I have some fresh produce," Steve stammers, gesturing to the now dwindling crate of fruits and vegetables behind his table. "It's all locally grown."

He smirks, his eyes flicking down, and Steve shames himself for feeling like a pervert when he mistakes the man's gaze for landing on Steve's crotch. "I was thinking something a little more...meaty," he says, his voice dripping with something warm.

Steve's face flushed even hotter as the innocent words ring a little dirty in his mind.

"I, uh, I don't think I have anything like that," Steve says, trying to keep his voice steady. "But I think down the way, there's a food truck. If you hurry now, I'm sure you can catch them before they leave."

The man's dark brows furrow and then smooth out again as he smiles. "Not exactly hungry. Looking for something a bit more fulfilling and could really get me workin' up a sweat."

"Oh. Oh! Of course. Are you interested in the position?" Steve smiles as he asks the newcomer. Sparkling blue eyes that remind him of the lake on the edge of his property look him over from head to toe.

The man smirks and cocks his hip out, making Steve's eyes drop and widen at all the golden skin on display. "Oh, I am very interested."

"Great! Let me get you some more info. If you want to meet me at my truck, it's the blue one on the edge of the field. I'll be right over as soon as I close my stand." He smiles, reaching out to shake the man's hand, but the touch makes him shiver.

Author's Note ⊳ Masterlist | I would also like to note that @rookthorne was a wonderfully terrible influence on me to write this fic, and it's for that reason, amongst others that this has become one of my favorites close to my heart ❤️

#stucky #bucky barnes #steve rogers #smutconnoisseur #alternate juneiverse 2023 #steve x bucky #stevebucky #fic moodboard #into the juneiverse #slashmultiverse #pride prompts #bucky barnes events

[here2bbtstrash]

Hey, sweetie! Hope u had a good time this last few months!

Been wanting to ask how are your feelings about “look down on me like that” lately, I just think is such a beautiful work and it pains me to think That other people mean comments could be the reason for you having bad feelings about your art! (Not asking for updates, just a question as one of the LDOMLT fans 💚)

hello my love! i appreciate you asking this and particularly wording it so kindly. it's definitely a loaded question 😅 but ultimately, LDOMLT will always be a story that is very important to me and means a lot in terms of my growth as both a human and a writer! i know there were things i got wrong, and i'm sure there's more i could go back in and change or improve, but if i'm honest - i had no idea what i was doing, lmao. and when i was outlining and plotting the thing i didn't think anyone else would ever read it, i figured it would just sit out there in AO3 obscurity. in some ways, that made it a weirdly safe space for me to just mess around and try stuff, in a way i never had before.

when i think about it, i'm very proud of myself for working as hard as i did to plot and outline and write what's there. producing "long" content is very intimidating for me and is so far outside my comfort zone, but this series was entirely a passion project, me just trying something for funsies, and honestly to see if i could do it. and it brought me so many of you!! i will always always be grateful for that.

i understand now that my writing (and also like, myself as a person, lmao) is not for everyone. it's never my intention to harm other people with what i write, and if that happens, i want to do everything in my power to address my mistakes and learn from them. but ultimately, like you said, it is art, and i feel very strongly about the fact that people should be allowed to try things and fuck up as a part of the creative process. in many ways that is the creative process, and it's been very important to me to continuing nurturing my artistry and taking care of myself offline, because i don't want what happened to have me living in fear of ever making anything again. i think a balance can be struck between being open to accountability and call-ins while still being unafraid to create and try things, and ideally, that's where i want to find myself. but, you know. none of that is easy!

this was a bit of a ramble lmao but i hope you enjoyed a little insight into where my head has been at this year! and i really appreciate such a thoughtful question 🤍 thank you so much for being here with me!

#anonymous #mbox 📮

[commandtower-solring-go]

Re: your tags on a recent reblog. not finding porn arousing is not necessarily grounds to see a doctor, because it doesn't indicate anything is wrong with you. porn is a numbers game for most producers, so they're just trying to create the highest volume with the lowest common denominator—they know they can't make universally-appealing content and they're not trying to. they're just trying to make a quick buck like any other industry.

if what you're looking for is porn that turns you on, you might just need to explore more niche content. there's a fetish community for everything, you just have to be prepared to see a lot of stuff you're going to pass on. if you have an idea what turns you on, start by looking for that on forums or reddit.

if the impersonal feeling of most porn is a turnoff, you can find adult performers and content creators on other socials and get to know them a little bit—it may be easier to get into a scene that on the surface isn't really your thing if you know that after the scene those actors are gonna be on their phones laughing at relatable memes, same as you or me. personally it helps me if i remember that they're doing this as job, but your mileage may vary.

if your concern is that you don't find anything arousing, that may be grounds to speak with a therapist. there's any number of reasons this could be the case: you could be asexual, or it could be depression, or it could just be a matter of finding the right stimulation, and on and on. but I'm in no way qualified to make that determination, so that's something a professional might be able to help you with.

best of luck ❤️

hey look i'm super grateful and i want to acknowledge this. this is a subject i would very much like to talk about, but not like this.

idk who you are and i've recently just shared this blog as part of a social marketing package so its probably not a topic i will talk about moving forward outside of jokes.

[samg-png]

Creative Block Is The Worst Type of Headache

Being a graphic design student is all fun and pretty fonts until creative block creeps up on me. Unfortunately, this block is likely to be a part of my process throughout my career, which is why it is critical to address how to overcome it, since I don’t think it is spoken about enough. However, after lots of research I found some things that helped me feel at peace when I get creative blocks. 

I found it exciting and relieving to discover that I am not unqualified in what I do just because I feel stuck. It is through creative blocks that you gain a different perspective of who you are and tend to overthink if you are truly the creative individual you sought out to be. My paper aims to explain to the audience that having blocks of creativity and feeling stuck is perfectly normal, and that there are ways to overcome it. The intended audience for this is creatives looking for inspiration and those who just want to feel inspired but don't know where to begin. This topic appeals to me because I am a graphic design student who is constantly trying to generate creative ideas. At times I feel stuck, and I know I'm not the only one feeling this way, and I want to help solve that problem for myself and others as well. As I work on this topic, I understand I will face some constraints. One main constraint that came to mind was feeling so unmotivated and uncreative that you can’t even try to overcome it. There have been plenty of times in my life where I feel stuck and just want to give up, however if we utilize the strategies to overcome this block we may find that the creativity was right in front of us all along, we were just trying too hard to find it. 

Imposter syndrome, which I believe goes hand in hand with the creativity block, is one of the ideas I've considered exploring. It's so exciting when we finally put in our best effort and create something truly unique that we are proud of... until the next day when you walk into class and see Chelsea with her amazing work that looks so much better than yours. This can be especially difficult when we believe we aren't good enough and begin comparing ourselves to others. This occurs frequently among creatives, and I believe it would be interesting to discuss it further in my research. Another idea I thought would be interesting to discuss is how to feel inspired, because sometimes no matter how much content we consume, we just can't seem to feel encouraged enough. Knowing what makes us feel inspired will definitely help us when we get into weird funks with our work. Finally, I'd like to dive deep into why breaks are necessary. I have a difficult time taking breaks from my work and can become obsessed with doing it perfectly, which can be quite toxic at times. We need to encourage ourselves to take a seat and unwind for a while. We are human, and we must care for ourselves. Knowing when to take breaks is essential, because we have to enjoy life a little and maybe it will have us coming back to our work feeling refreshed again.

This Ted Talk by Kandarp Mehta is a good example of how important my topic is. Kandarp discusses several ways to break through creative blockages and cultivate a sense of humility during the idea generation process in order to unlock creative potential. The majority of what Kandarp said was extremely helpful to me, which is why I think my research should include it. There were also a few online articles I discovered that were particularly interesting. The first one being, “Feeling Like a Fraud?” by the American Psychological Association. This article talks about how imposter syndrome occurs among high achievers who are unable to internalize and accept their success. I thought this was interesting to find out because it made me feel a little bit better about myself and I hope it finds my audience well too. Feeling this way shows we care about what we produce and the passion we have for our work. With that being said, I think it says a lot about who we are as people. Another finding I came across was, “9 professional designers’ tips for overcoming creative block,” by Anna Lundberg. Anna mentions her creative process and explains ways that help her overcome it. Which I thought would be good to include in my research because it is nice to know that even professionals feel this way.

Overall, for my research project my objective is to express to my audience that while a creative block is difficult to work with there are strategies you can use to open up new perspectives on an idea. Just because we feel stuck doesn’t mean we can’t do it.

The Creative Edge, a Design Blog by 99designs. https://99designs.com/blog/. 

“A Designer's Guide to Battling Imposter Syndrome.” Shillington Design Blog, 16 Oct. 2018, https://blog.shillingtoneducation.com/battling-imposter-syndrome/. 

“Feel like a Fraud?” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, https://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2013/11/fraud. 

Mehta, Kandarp. “How to Overcome Blocks to Creativity.” Kandarp Mehta: How to Overcome Blocks to Creativity | TED Talk, https://www.ted.com/talks/kandarp_mehta_how_to_overcome_blocks_to_creativity. 

#creative block #graphicdesigner #getinspired

[bushinto]

A Shrimp Really DID Fry This Rice

It’s your turn on cooking duty, and you know exactly what you want to make: delicious pizzas! The kitchens are well stocked today; *too* well-stocked, in fact, because there are way too many choices for toppings, with everything you can imagine from meat to veggies to more unorthodox choices like chocolate or mapo tofu. Will you and your cooking partner come up with a brilliant new recipe, or spend the entire time arguing over whether or not that pineapple belongs on the pizza? [Grants Authority +1]

Cooking, of course! What better way to create harmony between two people than to share a meal together? But, as with any meal, the one meant for Ryoma, Corrin, and any of Nohr or Hoshido who wish to join them must be prepared. And thus, the responsibility falls onto them. The two who happened to stumble into the kitchen during a large surplus, where the ovens are hot with all sorts of pies being made for every occasion. Ryoma happened to catch one on the way out, and after but a single glance, he knew it would be the perfect dish. Pizzas are large and ideal for sharing, and their versatility means there can exist a little something from everyone. This ensures that all who enjoy it have their own preferred taste, but more importantly, allows differences to come together. Unity is what pizza creates.

“Why don’t we try our hand at what that man just walked out with?” Ryoma asks, now that they’ve gotten there. The countertops and varied shelves are mostly in order, but a few key ingredients--like opened jars of sauce and half-cut sausages--lay out in the open. The prince is highly perceptive, sure, but even Corrin would be able to infer some of the recipe from their surroundings. “It appeared simple enough. Some kind of bread with cheese, and then topped with various meats and vegetables. I’ll admit this will be my first time with such a dish, but attempting new things is how we learn and grow.” 

And besides, even if they manage to fail miserably at the task, they can laugh their mistakes away and enjoy the unique experience they had. Ryoma has since come to grips with the fact that he is in a foreign land, and though he shall forever hold onto the values and the customs of Hoshido--for they are home to him--there must also be room in his heart for the outside world. By the time he leaves the academy, he will be a diplomat. He will have to not only interact with, but come to intimately know leaders from strange places. He will have to shake their hands, read their books, and above all, eat their pizzas. So why not get a little experience in at the academy? He’s here to teach, but nothing tells him he cannot also learn. This is how he will grow, how he will hone more than just his blade, so that he may be someone Hoshido can look to not only in times of war, but in peace as well.

Figuring Corrin would have no reason to disagree, he begins preparations right away. Sleeves roll to reveal a set of broad forearms, and he takes great care to thoroughly wash his hands before touching any food. First is the dough, he figures. That much he has made before, and can replicate with ease. Into a bowl goes some warm water, flour, oil, yeast, and a bit of salt and sugar. Ryoma, in spite of being a high prince, has no qualms with eating simple foods. He has eaten doughy delights a thousand times, and will a thousand times more. So the motions for how to produce them are, by now, muscle memory to him. He kneads and grinds, folds and massages, until the product slowly starts to take shape. It’ll be a while before they have anything they can really work with though, so his head turns to Corrin--watching for what she decides to busy herself with.

At this early stage in their dish, she has a free range of options available to her. Making the perfect sauce, mixing their desired selection of cheeses, prepping toppings of whatever kind she’d like--the possibilities are nearly limitless with pizza. And so Ryoma would be content to simply observe. To watch for what she decides to take up, which would maybe tell him something about her character. Is she quick to prioritize the foundational steps and work on the sauce? or maybe she has a vision for the finished product, and wants to pick out what will go on last? 

Either way, he’s probably reading too far into it. Force of habit, on account of, y’know, having her removed from his family a handful of times.

@ofdusk

#IC #THREAD NO. 1 CORRIN (A SHRIMP REALLY DID FRY THIS RICE) #OFDUSK

[pellucid-constellations]

hiya! i just want to say that your writing is literally amazing and oh my god i love you so much!!! also you are so fucking talented i wish i was like you 🥺🥺 i had some questions about writing that i have always really wanted to ask you (coming from an amateur writer). you totally don’t have to answer these by the way!!

- when did you start writing?

- how long did it take to get the following you have now?

- how long does it usually take to create a fic?

- how do you stay motivated with writing?

- what app do you use to write?

- if you wrote while in school, how did you juggle that (because im STRUGGLING!!)

- how do you create your ideas?

- when did your write your first smut?

- do you focus on a specific word count goal?

- how do you navigate the SPACING ON THIS APP BECAUSE I FIND IT SO ANNOYING!!

- do you have any advice for a small writer like me?

anywho, i hope this isn’t too invasive or too much to ask! you’re just one of my favourite writers and i really want to produce better writing like you 🥺 i love you so much and i hope you have the most amazing today and even better tomorrows!!! xoxo -🐞

Hi! I would be more than happy to answer your questions :)) I'll make a little list under the cut! ♡ If anyone has anything else to add, feel free!

I wrote my first ever fic last year in June. I'd never written anything before that! (Other than this tiny, 800 word spn thing back in 2012 that I never posted anywhere haha)

It took me a year to get where I am right now. My one-year anniversary for posting content on this blog is tomorrow, actually! :)

It depends on the fic. Oneshots usually take me a few hours, but series take me weeks! I don't usually keep oneshots as WIPs unless I'm really struggling with it/don't like it too much

Staying motivated can be really tough for me sometimes. I like to ask others for inspo or encouragement if I need it (so it's good to make friends!!), or make playlists to get me going!! If you don't feel motivated though, don't force it! Motivation comes and goes and that's normal!

I use google docs for writing fics. When I transfer onto Tumblr though, I paste the fic into my notes app first to keep formatting and then copy from there (thanks @wkemeup for that tip!!)

I did write in school, and I'll continue to when I start graduate school! I'm going to be honest, juggling the two isn't always the easiest. I tried to think of writing as a hobby that I got to do once I finished whatever I had in my planner, and that helped a bit! (but I def wrote at times I really shouldn't have though lol)

Ideas come to me at weird times!! While I'm driving a lot. Most of the time, my fics come from one specific scene I have in my head, and then I make a story around that. I make an outline for series, but for oneshots I sorta just start writing it and let it come to me lol. I find that's the best way for me to work :)

I've only written smut twice, and I don't get too in-depth (I use it more as a plot device). But my first was back in October for my baseball!bucky series.

For series, I try to have a word count goal for each chapter, but I'm trying not to place such an emphasis on that. During my last series, I was insistent on making my chapters each at least 5k, and it burned me OUT 😅 I've learned that you don't always need a ton of words :)

Hmm what do you mean by spacing?? If you mean like post formatting, I could help with that!

Advice!! I think having a good group of mutuals/friends makes the experience here on Tumblr so much better, especially for writers. It's always nice to have those people to bounce ideas off of or ask if something looks/sounds okay when you are starting off. Writing is lots more fun that way!! On another note, I know this is always so much easier in theory, but don't get discouraged! I'm always doubting myself and looking at notes as much as the next person, and that can just add unnecessary pressure. Write what makes you happy! Write when you feel like there's nothing else you'd want to do. It shouldn't feel like a chore or a competition :)

#asks #me writing too much again #🐞 anon

[metacrtic]

Paste Magazine - Through Time, For Forever

Lorde

Through Time, For Forever

94/100

At the unquestionable height of powers, there were a number of directions that Lorde could’ve gone with her tenth studio album. But in true Lorde fashion, the direction she ultimately took was an unexpected one. 

Celebrating her discography in its entirety on the road this year, it makes sense that the reigning queen of the industry was itching to extend that powerful discography into territory it had never gone before. Even in the midst of re-recording her back catalogue, it’s as if this desire completely overcame Lorde and produced her newest body of work, Through Time, For Forever. The album is immediately striking with its chaotic, overstimulating artwork drawing you in on the promise of something unlike you’ve experienced before with a Lorde record. It’s an evocative look, as are the variations of the cover made available across different platforms of sale. 

This look is a perfect reflection of the content within. This album is chaotic, running to and fro toward different musical benchmarks that all seem to occupy a different space and time. We snap between tones and sounds, oscillate between bits of humor and explorations of real darkness, bounce between various highs and various lows. But it’s all part of the miraculous plan. This chaos is not the result of an artist that control has managed to evade, but rather the result of an artist choosing to let go of the tight control she’s known to keep over her records. 

In this choice to let go, Lorde is completely unencumbered by traditional conventions such as genre and cohesive soundscapes. She can tell her story in any way she wants, with any style she wants, and it creates a listening experience that you cannot turn away from. 

The album is framed around a single night where we track the beginning of a party to the end, with all of the excitement, decadence, sadness, and danger that comes in between. We have songs that discuss euphoria (in more than one form) and songs that get incredibly blunt about what it feels like to hit the bottom of a downward spiral. It’s overwhelming at times, but it becomes so easy to get addicted to the excess. 

And make no mistake, this album is excessive. It’s excessive in its soundscape, it’s excessive in its ideas, but it's most vitaly excessive in its emotion. This is perhaps the most purely emotive Lorde album ever made, and as a result perhaps also the most human. There is nothing glamorous here. This is in fact quite a dingy, dirty, grimy record once you really get down into it. But that complete lack of cleanliness is where we get to see the humanity shine in. It would be true to say that Lorde’s last few studio efforts have been immaculate near (or total) masterpieces. But it would also be true to say that they carried with them a sense of importance and circumstance that, while not off putting, gave them a sort of weight and heaviness that kept them from feeling too human. Lorde built up her status as a pop goddess, but she almost seems hellbent on completely tearing that monument down here. 

Lorde weaves various tales together in such an intricate, creative fashion, but she never makes it sound like life she’s trying too hard. Once she gets going, she’s running. At times it almost plays like a stream of consciousness put to music. There’s little spoken ad libs, flourishes in her delivery that are almost Broadway in nature, little asides that almost sound like audio clapped from interruptions in the studio that just happened to feed into the record’s identity. Gone are those pushes for complete and total spotlessness, and in its place a sense of adventure and willingness to be weird and unconventional. This is a record that’s going to be off putting to some, but it doesn’t really matter all the same. The album is confrontational like that in some ways. It’s a journey you’re not forced to take, you can get off at any time, but Lorde dares you to keep going. And that’s really all in her lyricism. That’s to say nothing of the daring production work that accents this style which is perhaps the most beguiling but satisfying sounds Lorde’s ever put her rubber stamp on. 

The magic here is really in that roughness, in that abrasiveness. That’s magic because it’s within this that we get to see something that’s unapologetically real life. This is a deeply human record by an artist who it has grown easy to stop seeing as deeply and uniquely human. It’s a feat that many, myself included, doubted Lorde would ever be able to accomplish. This is a deconstruction in many ways, but it doesn’t put her back at square one. It’s as if she shed her skin to open up a whole new world for herself. Everything is on the table now. 

It may be easy to assume that this isn’t a good time to call something messy and chaotic and rough. But you’d be wrong. That’s a preconceived notion of those words that this album is directly challenging. She’s showing you all of these things and letting you see for yourself that those things are just part of the story, and if we’re gonna get to that mythical happy ending we all want, we’ve gotta trudge through the storm that life is constantly kicking up. 

This album makes you feel alive, not by gracing your ears with something transcendent, but by keeping your feet so flat on the ground that you’ve got no choice but to look at the world around you. These songs inhabit a real place in real space and time. They’re stories of that girl you went to high school with, or that person you saw at the club who had a little too much to drink and was making a fool of themselves on the dance floor. They’re stories about people, real people, experiencing real things, and riding that real roller coaster of life that we’re all perpetually stuck on. 

This isn’t going to be everyone’s favorite Lorde album. By no means is it as easy to love as Scarlet or Speed of Light. But for those who’re brave enough to take the ride it sets you on, you will find that it may just be her most rewarding album. You walk away from this with a much clearer understanding of the mind of its maker. It crosses that little invisible barrier that so many artists stay behind and puts you right in the middle of the fray, even as uncomfortable as it may be. 

You have everything you need here really. You have the amazing songs, the mind blowing production. That ought to be enough to pull you in. But what you’re going to leave with is that little piece you get to take with you. That little reminder that Lorde--effortless, beautiful, visionary Lorde--is just as messily, painfully, awkwardly human as the rest of us. 

And that is perhaps the most impressive lasting impression that Lorde’s ever delivered.

[bored-trans-lesbian]

About Guild Grumps

Yeah yeah, an 8 year old project at this point. But I still remember how strongly I felt about it in the moment and I have a Tumblr *now* not then. I recently was reminded of it, checked out the first episode, and it' even *rougher* than I remember. So fuck it, I wanna talk about it a little.

For anyone reading without any context, Guild Grumps was from what I can tell the first attempt on the part of the Game Grumps company, to produce an actual show, not just making youtube videos of gaming. Several people from this youtube channel got together to play World of Warcraft, as part of a one-week challenge, to fund charity. Sounds great, right? Except it's so badly framed from the start. Of this group, only the host Ross has any experience or history with this game, and the contestant players Arin, Barry, Danny, and Suzie have not only no *interest* in playing but all seem to have negative impressions of the game going in. The whole thing is framed from the lens of a 'challenge', like making them *endure* this MMO, for charity, but the host despite coming up with this premise, is seeking to get the players to enjoy this game that he likes. it's a bit of a clash; instead of the usual playful antagonism he and the others have established on the channel, he's trying to get his friends to *enjoy* a game and quickly getting frustrated when they aren't having fun. Or rather... he's getting frustrated because they aren't following his unwritten script. See, he's not dropping them into the character creator and letting them experience the game from level 1, he pre-made thier characters (even making Arin's character something he knows he hates, for comedy) he bought the boost to make them all level *90* in a game format that just... doesn't work for this kind of experience. You are meant to go from low to high levels in a game like this, learning about your character options organically as you level up. These players were poisoned on WoW from the jump, shown a massive array of buttons, nothing was explained, and just expected to follow Ross and do what he wants without any of the game's actual language explained. This show is *So* hard to watch especially today, for just this reason. MMOs can be a lot of fun and while this show did eventually have a kind of happy ending, it was entirely a result of Ross letting go of the while premise he had planned. It wasn't about high level play, obeying him, or the challenge. It was about a day of fun, letting the players go where they want and experience the content they enjoyed, followed by meeting a community of in-game fans and messing around with them. This show was such a huge waste of time and money, and killed any potential that frankly, could have been there. A show about getting people into an MMO in a comedic but high quality fashion could have been really good, but instead all we got was about 4 episodes of cringe, an opportunity for Jessie Cox to once again waste time and make himself look good, and creating a strain on the group's friendship, and the audience's appeal for these people.

#game grumps #world of warcraft #Guild Grumps

[letmebieber]

Six Pointers For Making Natural Tea

Organic tea is actually certainly not only a comforting refreshment; it's also a delightful way to delight in the health perks of a variety of plants and also herbs. Whether you're an experienced darjeeling black tea enthusiast or just beginning to explore this globe of tastes and also wellness, these 6 ideas are going to aid you make the most out of your herbal tea expertise.

6 Suggestions For Creating Natural Tea

Choose High-Quality Contents

The vital to brewing a tasty mug of organic tea begins with choosing top quality components. Try to find all natural cannabis and botanicals whenever possible, as they are devoid of pesticides as well as various other hazardous chemicals. Clean natural herbs from your backyard or even neighborhood market are ideal, yet dried natural herbs are actually likewise hassle-free and widely readily available. When acquiring dried out weeds, choose those that are actually fragrant and have vivid different colors, as this suggests quality.

Properly Establishment Your Natural Herbs

Suitable storage is actually vital for protecting the flavor and also efficacy of your moringa powder elements. Establishment dried cannabis in impermeable compartments off of direct sunshine, heat energy, and also wetness. Glass jars along with tight-fitting covers are exceptional for saving cannabis, as they aid preserve freshness and also prevent direct exposure to illumination as well as sky. If you're using new weeds, keep all of them in the fridge wrapped in a moist newspaper towel or even positioned in a container with water, comparable to just how you will keep fresh florals.

Use Filtered Water

The premium of water you use can dramatically affect the taste of your herbal tea. Choose for filteringed system or cleansed water to make certain a clean and neutral bottom for brewing your tea. Faucet water frequently consists of bleach as well as various other chemicals that can easily affect the taste of your tea. Furthermore, using cold water as opposed to very hot water from the faucet may assist preserve the fragile flavors of the herbs.

Explore Blends

Some of the happiness of oolong tea is actually the endless opportunities for mixturing various weeds as well as flavors. Do not hesitate to practice along with a variety of mixes to produce one-of-a-kind and also mouth watering blends. You can easily start by blending complementary herbs like lavender and jasmine for a calming going to bed tea or incorporating mint as well as lemon balm for a stimulating and also uplifting mixture. Acquire imaginative as well as adapt your blends to fit your taste inclinations and also wellness targets.

Steep along with Treatment

Correct steeping is essential for removing the total flavor as well as perks of your organic tea. Various natural herbs require various steeping times, so make certain to comply with the recommended standards for every substance. As an overall rule, considerate cannabis like lavender as well as mint ought to be immersed for 5-7 mins in water that is actually just listed below boiling temperature (around 190 ° F or even 87 ° C). Stronger weeds like ginger root or even lemongrass may need longer saturating opportunities of 10-15 mins. Avoid oversteeping your tea, as this may lead in an unsweetened taste and lessen the herbal properties.

Make sweet Normally

While herbal teas are often delighted in without incorporated sweeteners, you may prefer a touch of sweet taste to boost the taste. As an alternative of refined sweets, look at sweetening your tea along with all-natural substitutes like honey, syrup, or even stevia. These options certainly not just include sweetness but also add additional flavor and also dietary benefits. Practice with various sweeteners to find the ideal balance for your taste, always remembering that a little bit of goes a very long way.

To conclude, creating natural tea is a simple however, fulfilling procedure that allows you to savour an assortment of flavors while profiting of all-natural elements. By selecting premium natural herbs, holding all of them properly, utilizing filtered water, try out blends, saturating with treatment, as well as sugaring naturally, you can easily steep the excellent mug of herbal tea every single time. Whether you are actually finding relaxation, rejuvenation, or merely a mouth watering beverage to enjoy, natural tea offers one thing for everyone to savor and cherish.

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