#i love the format of screenshots with the dialogue pasted over it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

webscene-remade · 3 years

Note

Do you have a link to the What Pumpkin statement? I need the details.

i'll just paste the text because theres too much for me to get in 10 screenshots, it was in an email to hiveswap backers

For backers only

Over the years, a lot of misinformation as well as deliberate disinformation has spread around about the history of Hiveswap. The purpose of this post is to clarify these matters for backers who've been wondering what the truth is.

The Kickstarter was planned by the What Pumpkin business development team in mid 2012. One member of the team was a crowdfunding specialist who led the planning process and managed the contracts with the developer. Prior to the Kickstarter opening for pledges, What Pumpkin worked out a plan for a flexible game concept that could be refined according to how much the campaign ultimately brought in. As Hussie was still working on Homestuck full time at this point, the plan was to hand over his game concept and story outline to a development company that could deliver the project.

The crowdfunding campaign finished out at a gross total of $2,485,506, as well as a gross total of $207,930 from PayPal pledges. But because of platform fees, as well as the costs of producing and shipping merchandise to backers of the campaign, the effective budget was significantly lower than the gross pledged total:

The above deductions from the gross total do not include taxes.

After determining the final budget for the game, What Pumpkin signed an agreement with the contracted game company (hereafter “GC”) to develop Hussie’s game concept. WP and GC entered into a development contract on November 30, 2012, shortly after the conclusion of the Homestuck Kickstarter. WP paid $788,000 to GC in late 2012 for development.

Because there was an understanding that delivering the complete game development documents would take some time, during which it would be difficult for GC to make meaningful progress on the Hiveswap game build, GC inquired about getting involved with other Homestuck-adjacent projects to do immediate work. WP let GC know about the Act 7 animation plans. With an assurance that this work could be done in parallel with a flexible timeline and would not impact the development cycle of Hiveswap itself, Hussie and What Pumpkin saw this as a good opportunity to establish a working relationship with this organization prior to the start of development and agreed to contract GC to do animation work for the Act 7 project. WP and GC agreed that this project would have a separate budget from the Hiveswap Kickstarter money, paid for from WP’s regular operating funds. As the existence of this animation itself would not be revealed until its release in 2016, this was not publicly announced at the time. GC and the lead animator on the project specifically requested not to be credited upon release of the animation.

Hussie initiated the “Megapause” on April 14, 2013 in order to devote his full attention to finalizing the Hiveswap development documents. What Pumpkin soon provided its story documents so that GC could formally begin core systems development. In July of 2013 WP and GC mutually agreed to push back GC’s deliverable dates without penalty. Hussie would share an update in 2013 detailing the state of predevelopment: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/708686

In 2013 following receipt of WP’s deliverables, GC enthusiastically assured WP that it was positioned to begin development. GC would deliver its first prototype in early 2014.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qSXwWKD5Km1yL-3Cj_W5IevW-IA978zJ/view?usp=sharing

This prototype, linked above, was sent to WP on 2/18/14. At this point, it was becoming a significant concern among backers that WP had yet to show proof that the game was being made, so WP was looking for any sort of tangible progress update from GC that was suitable to share with the public. But Hussie and WP found the quality of the prototype somewhat alarming, and decided that sharing any shots from the game would only cause embarrassment for GC. Nevertheless, WP was still willing to assume that this was a very early draft of something that would develop into a more promising product soon, and gave GC some more time to improve on it.

But the improvements didn’t come. No other advancements on the prototype were ever made. After waiting weeks with no update other than assurances that progress was carrying on smoothly, Hussie initiated the “Gigapause” both to take care of personal matters and later to get directly involved in the development of the game himself. He decided to move to southern California from the east coast in hopes that working directly with the GC could help them overcome whatever obstacles they were facing with Hiveswap’s development. GC responded positively to the prospect of Hussie’s involvement, but when he made the move and tried to coordinate a time to visit the GC offices and meet, GC insisted it was a bad time due to office renovations and a busy schedule. Here is a timeline with quotes from emails exchanged between Hussie and GC:

May 12, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“Just letting you know I actually moved to the west coast recently. I'm only an hour or so away from LA now.

I could drive down and check out the office, see how things are going with the game and animation in person some time soon. Is there a time that would work for you guys? In a week or two maybe?”

May 15, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“That's awesome about being on the west coast. It'd be great to have you come to the studio.

Dev has slowed a bit on our end, as we wanted to take a step back and really evaluate what was needed and the best way to achieve the features that have been coming online in the docs. We're continuing to break that all down so we can build and plan most effectively moving forward. We also wanted to find some simple formats for input from your writing team for dialogue content and are getting that squared away.

The best time to come by would actually be right after E3. Things are a bit nuts until then.”

May 18, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“[Name redacted], sounds good. I'll set aside some time after E3 to make the drive down. As we approach the date, just let me know what works for you.”

E3 was June 10-12, 2014. GC did not invite Hussie to visit at this time.

Hussie and WP representatives were in LA over July 4th weekend, 2014. When they inquired about visiting the offices again they were still not welcome. A GC representative insisted that they meet at a restaurant instead. Yet GC continued to telegraph that they were receptive to the idea of inviting Hussie to the office well into the summer:

Aug 18, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“We'd love to set up a new time for Andrew to come to the studio as well as a skype chat to meet the other team members.”

Despite apparent enthusiasm about meeting with Andrew in their email correspondence, GC continued the pattern of refusing to meet at the office or supply any signs of progress on the prototype.

Over that summer, GC delivered several pieces of concept art that WP had been requesting since January. Hussie did his best to present this publicly as a positive development as WP felt it would be counterproductive to the project and harmful to GC to publicly detail the development troubles at the time.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/883860

There was no indication from GC that the Act 7 animation project was in any way in conflict with Hiveswap development. GC was enthusiastic about taking on this project, and bidded against other animators for the contract. They saw it as a useful tie-in to concept art work on Hiveswap, as GC leadership conveyed in an email to WP in early 2013:

WP also does not have any reason to believe that the Act 7 project in practice created a conflict that was not disclosed by GC to WP. Act 7 was a 2D animation project, and Hiveswap at the time was a 3D game, so it did not pull GC’s programmers or 3D artists away from work on Hiveswap. GC never mentioned the development needs of a separate project at all to WP, or cited any such reason as distracting from work on Hiveswap; GC instead repeatedly provided WP with various assurances that everything was still fine with Hiveswap.

Had GC communicated that they had scheduling conflicts or some other impediment preventing them from developing Hiveswap, WP would have terminated the contract even sooner.

WP moved to terminate the agreement with GC late summer of 2014, and Hussie pivoted towards establishing a new independent game studio while consulting with a designer who had stepped up into a leadership position during the GC development period. That individual lived in NYC, which is why that location was chosen to establish the new studio rapidly. They helped build the studio through a local network of professional contacts. While this “What Pumpkin NYC” studio shared a name with What Pumpkin, it’s important to note that all of WP NYC’s studio staff save for the aforementioned individual were hired without any prior affiliation with WP and thus had no association with the GC contract. WP documented this development on Kickstarter on October 30th, 2014. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/1035099

At this point, negotiations were very amicable; both parties agreed the project simply wasn’t turning out to be a good fit for GC, and were both ready to move on. There were no signs given at all that WP was about to have trouble recovering the remaining funds.

WP is legally permitted to discuss details of the resolution of the dispute only under very specific circumstances. WP may make additional disclosures outside of this post to individual backers in accordance with legal obligations.

Following resolution of the GC contract, in Spring 2015 the WP NYC studio was running at full capacity on Hiveswap. The main problem was the fact that WP management was blindsided by the revelation that much less money would be coming back than expected. The WP NYC project manager had designed the schedule based on the good faith presumption that most of the development funds would be recouped. When it was finally revealed the return was far short of what was expected, and the repayment plan could in no way keep up with the schedule as currently drafted, it threw the project into a period of chaos as plans were quickly redrawn. The length of Act 1 was slashed, and other modifications were made to try to fit the rest of Act 1 into the newly shortened runway. But in the end, the revisions still weren't enough to save the game as it existed, and the studio needed to be closed in order to reserve what funds remained to finish the project in some form.

This may have come across as a sudden or spontaneous decision. Part of this is because the WP NYC senior staff and WP ownership were doing everything in their power to save the project, including injecting WP regular operating funds into the project, until it was determined that going any further would be disastrous for the future of Hiveswap. Another is that WP was legally unable to give any detailed disclosures about the financial troubles, even to many of the WP NYC staff.

It should also be noted that originally the NYC studio was not going to be permanently closed, but only frozen for a reassessment of the project. But during this freeze period, there were some dramatic events. One staff member behaved in a destructive and threatening manner. For the protection of those involved, details shouldn't be disclosed. But these events made navigating the post-freeze issues impossible. Communication between ownership, management and staff broke down because of these events, and the freeze turned into full closure. This version of the project was then abandoned for many reasons, including these events.

Some misinformation claims that at the time the WP NYC studio was shuttered, its iterations of Act 1 and 2 were complete. This is wrong. Act 1 was very far from a shippable state and absolutely no work on Act 2 had been completed besides some concept and 3D art. Here you can see a video documenting one of many major bugs with critical path progression in the final build produced by WP NYC, where it becomes impossible to re-focus on the Simon Says toy if Joey fails and then exits out of the puzzle:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M2mmkMx8Wkwp1VU_5IpMKDvngmUFS0IG/view?usp=sharing

At the point the WP NYC studio was frozen it was still difficult to finish a full run of the critical path without the debug tool, and the UI was far from complete. With that build, Act 1 ended the moment Joey passed through the portal on Earth. The current version of Act 1, where Joey makes it to Alternia and meets Xefros, is more indicative of the original length of the NYC version of Act 1. Not only did it need to be slashed from what the original script proposed, the NYC version of Act 1 still wasn't that close to resembling a shippable product after those changes were made.

Because of the amount of time and resources already devoted to this project, WP was initially very reluctant to lay anyone off or scrap the work being done. It was for this reason that the studio stayed open for months after the contract with GC was resolved; WP made every effort to deliver a game with that team, but at the time WP NYC was shuttered, the funds just weren't there to keep the studio running at its current burn rate and schedule slips. The game was never going to reach delivery with the funds available. The studio urgently needed to be frozen for a full reassessment, and then it was closed after the freeze due to the reasons stated above. This was the only course of action that could have saved the project.

To WP's knowledge every artist whose work was used in the final release of Act 1 was included in the credits. The final version of Act 1 was in large part built off concept art and storyboards drawn during the WP NYC era, and many of the artists who made them continued to work on the team that produced the final version of Act 1; the roadmap for the completion of Act 1 was specifically planned because WP had determined that the existing 2D concepts could easily be refined into a final product that would both be visually appealing and more economic to produce. Unfortunately due to the transition to 2D WP no longer had a place for the 3D artists or the original 3D engine, and all of those assets were dropped. They were not used as a basis for the finished assets in Act 1, and visual similarities to WP NYC 3D assets are due to the fact that final Act 1 assets are in large part refinements of the original concept art. Any artist whose work was used incidentally was included in Additional Contributions.

Both the GC and NYC phases of Hiveswap were setbacks to the overall fulfillment of the project, but not insurmountable. WP reorganized the budget to establish a new version of the studio, and Act 1 was released two years after the closure of NYC.

As an addendum, WP has identified the primary source of a disclosure to a well-circulated document of the Hiveswap development process. WP has been aware of a pattern of false claims this former employee has made since the end of their employment at the beginning of 2014. As this individual was not present during the end of the development contract with GC, nor the WP NYC development period, all of the information they have shared is based on speculation and conjecture.

At this time, WP does not wish to invite more controversy into the lives of anyone previously involved with this project, and considers these matters to have been resolved long ago. The goal for years has been to turn the page on flawed attempts by earlier studios, and simply move forward and bring Hiveswap to completion without sparking the chaos, disruption, and threats to personal safety that would have resulted from disclosing many of the details stated above. Doing so would only make it more difficult for the staff to rebuild the project during these periods immediately following the termination of the GC agreement and closure of the NYC studio. Since preservation of the project was the primary responsibility to the backers, making destructive disclosures that put the project at risk along the way would have been at odds with that responsibility. This policy also served to protect individuals from personal or professional harm, including those who were responsible for serious setbacks with the project. Please respect the privacy of any persons affiliated with GC and WP NYC.

#homestuck #replies #anonymous #hiveswap

561 notes · View notes

deadlymodern · 3 years

Text

Thank you for tagging me, @herpixels! 🌼

I'm not going to tag anyone specific because I literally wanna see everyone's take on this. So, please, if you want to, do it!

I went a bit overboard, sorry 😗If you actually read it all, I will love you forever.

YOUR WRITING PROCESS

Show us a part of your script or explain how you write your scenes. Do you write in screenplay format or novel format? Etc, etc.

I love writing in novel format but, for sims storytelling, I feel the need to write a screenplay.

I start by writing all the dialogue along with the action cues and setting descriptions. This helps me visualize how much space I will need for the characters, which and how many props will be necessary etc.

From the simple screenplay, I make a shooting script and a checklist.

The shooting script is super helpful because it allows me to break my screenplay down into shots so I go in game already knowing exactly what I want from it.

This will all sound like I think I'm some big shit but honestly... I just get brain farts WAY too often. So having everything kind of ready helps me remember little things like ADDING THE DAMN POSES INTO THE S4S for examples lmao.

SCENE BUILDING

Show us you in the middle of scene building through pictures, gifs, or a video. Explain what is the best thing about scene building and what is the worst!

Scene/world building is 100% my favourite part of the whole process!

I use a lot of references from the real world. The small coastal village of Brindleton is based on many places in England, mostly villages/towns in Cornwall and Devon.

I enjoy looking for inspiration pictures on Pinterest and going on Google Earth tours, really LMAO.

Of course, there is only so much I can do with Sims to make it look realistic, but if you squint your eyes and shift your head, maybe? fjhgdfhjkg

I do the same for my residential lots and interiors. But interiors are a bit more fun for me because, besides not needing to worry about background extras, I can personalize the environment to my characters.

CC/POSE MAKING

Do you make your own cc/poses for your scene? If so, what is your process like to create? Do you just go off the top of your head? Do you use reference photos?

Nowadays, I make 98% of my poses. The remaining 2% is just me making some adjustments on pre-existing ones. I can't help it. I absolutely love seeing my visions come to life like this.

I also enjoy making poses because I like giving my characters some distinguished body language.

For example, Beth is the only character who slightly puckers her lips to the left. Usually, when she's thinking or when she's upset. It's basically the main part of her face - other than her eyebrows - that will give her true feelings away.

And Mary, on the other hand, is way less emotionally repressed. Any minor inconvenience will make her upper lips twitch upwards. She also pouts a lot more and has more eyebrow movements.

Yes, I am a loser for paying attention to these things shhhhhhh.

Usually, I don't need anything other than an accessory or two. But lately, I've been LOVING to make recolours and convert objects into pose accessories. Whenever I have my script ready, I take note of what I will need for the scene in my checklist.

You probably don't even notice or care as much as I do, but still! They add much to the narrative imo and I feel like I'm giving depth to the characters by tailoring their accessories and the world around them. It's really fun for me!

GETTING IN THE ZONE

What do you do to get in the zone to work on a scene? Examples include: show us your playlist you use when working on a scene, what’s your go-to scene snack/drink, etc.

I have playlists on my Spotify for the main characters as well as one for the story. Beth and Mary's individual playlists are the ones I listen to the most and they are called Countryside Teacup and European Train Ride respectively because these are the vibes I get from the songs in there dslkfjsklfsd.

I also LOVE listening to instrumental playlists on youtube like this Cottagecore and this Royaltycore ✨massive points to you if you can find my comment on the royalty core video 🌚

I don't really snack while working on my story posts but I drink mate tea like CRAZY or, sometimes, I'll just have a beer to get my creative juices flowing ehe.

SCREENSHOTS FOLDER

Give us a look into your screenshot folder to show us just how much goes into ONE scene for your story. (Scrapped pictures encouraged!!!)

I never take too many screenshots with different angles because of my pre-planning!

However, I do have, like, 10 to 15 repeated shots because I take some with DOF, some without, some with shadows, some without etc. And I'm always terrified of the screenshot not working, so I press the my hot keys like 5x jddjlkgd.

Here are some scrapped pictures from previous story posts:

CAPTIONS

Are you a caption on the picture kind of storyteller or captions in text box type of storyteller? Why? Do you do both?

I love doing the graphic novel format, with "speech bubbles" sort of. I personally find it immersive. But I also love and crave for the novel format, so I'll write a little "after scene" sometimes in the text box for extra depth ☺️

EDITING

Explain and show us your process editing a scene through a video, gif, or picture. A Before and after will suffice if you aren’t in the middle of editing a scene as you answer this.

Since I've done a few posts telling a bit about my editing - and, truthfully, not much goes into it - here is a before and after!

THROWBACK

Show us an ANCIENT story scene you done in the past and explain how you would do the scene differently today!

Okay, ANYTHING from my early simblr days is cringe worthy. The dialogue isn't good, the lighting is extremely yellow - due to my crappy laptop -, the outfits and the settings are all over the place, I--

I chose this one image because it was one of the first times I was doing a story post instead of just a gameplay update. I don't even have much else to add, just look at it jkljdfklgjdf.

But I'm going to have plenty of scenes set in the past where I will get the chance to remake the school and dress my teen girls properly and I'm so excited. Like, making slate pose accessory excited fjdigjfido oh, boy.

#long text tw #story process tag #herpixels #game; tag #alcohol mention tw

166 notes · View notes

shadlad24 · 3 years

Text

Tumblr Master Post

(Third Mensiversary)

Hey, guys! So, instead of the usual monthly post, I decided to consolidate everything. From now on, I will update the following list and reblog it every 22nd. Enjoy!

Please note that Tumblr either cannot or will not preserve my formatting. So, I have used Google Docs as well. Please click on this link if you’d prefer that. It’s open to all. Thanks!

My posts are almost XWP-related and can be categorized into eight main categories (The pic below is merely for record-keeping and visualization purposes; scroll down for the actual links):

Questions

Curious— Why does everyone think Gabrielle/Renée O’Connor has green eyes?

A Favor to the God of War?— What in the world was the favor Ares wanted from Gabrielle during “Sacrifice”?

Smoking Gun?— Why did Hope knowing Solan’s name give her away as his killer?

Good Luck, Kid!— Why was security so bad in “Maternal Instincts”?

The Love of Your Love— Wasn’t the second verse of this song frustrating and hurtful to Gabrielle?

The (Many) Problem(s) with Ares— Why does so little about Ares’s character make sense?

Hard Ask— Can I PLEASE get a willing, able, AND reliable beta-reader for my Xena fanfic???

The (Many) Problem(s) with Ares [Reblog]— Three more questions about the god of war

No Way�� Is the titular image of “Xena: Warrior Princess” what it seems?

Episode Reflections

Random Thoughts While Watching XWP— funny moments from “A Family Affair,” “Them Bones, Them Bones,” “Married with Fishsticks,” and “Coming Home”

Observations from “Sins of the Past”— fifteen things I noticed while watching the episode for the second time (first after completing the series)

Running Commentary on “A Family Affair”— just what it sounds like XD

Concluding Thoughts on “A Family Affair”— a defense of Hope and Gabrielle

Echoes Across the Years— how Solan’s last conversation with his mother echoed Gabrielle’s first with the warrior princess

Redeeming “Fishsticks,” Part 1— how the adults and themes in Gabrielle’s dreamworld held great significance

Redeeming “Fishsticks,” Part 2— how Crustacea’s monstrous children were re-imaginations of Hope and The Destroyer

Fault— my thoughts on the series finale

Good Luck, Kid! [Reblog]— a fun little extension of the original post showing the impression Gabrielle made on Hope

Original Fanfic Excerpts

The Mother of Hope, a collection of one-shots exploring Gabrielle’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences with/about her daughter

Disparity— Hope’s and Gabrielle’s conversation during the final commercial break of “A Family Affair”

Somewhere— Gabrielle searching Tartarus for Hope while Ares was harassing Xena and Solan in “God Fearing Child”

Super Challenge— the entire Rift Arc summed up in a single conversation, the lines of dialogue coming from each of the twelve Rift episodes of season three

Aperture— Gabrielle’s thoughts the night of her wedding

The Daughter of Duality, Hope’s life story from her perspective

My Great Hope— Seraphin prepares her goddess for childbirth

Hope Rising— Baby Hope makes a terrible mistake

“Tears of a Goddess: Blood Rain,” a one-shot exploring “Motherhood” from the goddess of love’s perspective

Useless— Aphrodite agonizes over what to do when alone with Gabrielle and Eve

Tears of a Goddess, a story in which Aphrodite comes clean about the large part she played in Gabrielle’s life behind the scenes

Gabrielle Rages against Xena— the bard finds herself at Aphrodite’s temple, heartbroken and lost after the series finale

Aphrodite Ribs Gabrielle— Aphrodite complains about Gabrielle’s mishaps throughout the show

Rapprochement, a story about Xena and Gabrielle hashing out The Rift Arc before finally coming together as a couple

The Answer— Xena reminds Gabrielle of who she is

Divine Intervention— Aphrodite blesses Xena and Gabrielle’s union

Adventures in Moving Forward, a chronicle of Aphrodite’s and Gabrielle’s adventures together post-AFIN and all my other XWP stories

Stranger— Aphrodite protects Gabrielle from a mob in Brittania

The Betrayer, Gabrielle's untold experience during “The Deliverer.”

Disturbance— Xena makes an unexpected suggestion on how to stop Gabrielle’s recurring nightmare

Deception— Khrafstar fills multiple voids in Gabrielle’s heart

Defilement— Reality slips away from Gabrielle with the loss of her blood innocence

Desecration— Gabrielle becomes one with darkness

Dissolution— The return of Gabrielle’s hero brings about only more tragedy

Fan Theories

Soul Orbits and Psychic Echoes— how Xena and Gabrielle got their children through equal and opposite people and circumstances

Shazam!— how Xena might be able to come back after the series finale

Man-Killer— what really happened to Toris

An Unsung Hero— Aphrodite being Gabrielle’s guardian angel throughout the Rift Arc

Infamous, Infuriated— why Xena engaged in the GabDrag (and BardBraining)

Solving Some Problems with Ares— answering two of my own questions about the god of war

Odd, Sort of Beautiful Symmetry— how we ended up with Annie and Harry

Soul Orbits and Psychic Echoes [Reblog]— an extension of the original theory that focuses more on Solan and Hope themselves

Solving More Problems with Ares— answering my next questions about the god of war

Episode Cracksubs

The Comedy of Amphipolis— “The Haunting of Amphipolis”

What in the Gurkhan?— “Who’s Gurkhan?”

Them Bones and Boneheads— “Them Bones, Them Bones”

TL;DRs— cliff-notes version of longer posts

TL;DR #1: Soul Orbits and Psychic Echoes

TL;DR #2: Infamous, Infuriated

TL;DR #3: The (Many) Problem(s) with Ares

Funny Little Moments— (Five:) a series highlighting overlooked silly things from each episode, illustrated in pictures and cracksubs / (More:) summation posts showcasing additional funny moments from each episode, in half-season chunks

Five Funny Little Moments #1: “Sins of the Past”

Five Funny Little Moments #2: Chariots of War

Five Funny Little Moments #3: Dreamworker

Five Funny Little Moments #4: Cradle of Hope

Five Funny Little Moments #5: The Path Not Taken

Five Funny Little Moments #6: The Reckoning

Five Funny Little Moments #7: The Titans

Five Funny Little Moments #8: Prometheus

Five Funny Little Moments #9: Death in Chains

Five Funny Little Moments #10: Hooves and Harlots

Five Funny Little Moments #11: The Black Wolf

Five Funny Little Moments #12: Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

Miscellaneous

Golden Ticket— Renee O’Connor’s initial responses to me on Instagram

Bath Time— a fun self-challenge involving making a story from recently downloaded/screenshot images in just a few minutes

Mensiversary— review of my first month on Tumblr

Confirmation/Affirmation— Steven L. Sears’s essay of support for my Furies theory

K.O.— Renée O’Connor liking my comment about ^

Hooray!— The Mother of Hope is finished (kinda)

Aww…— a quick picture post to try something new while I was bummed about the deadly tech bug that obliterated my posts for weeks

Second Mensiversary— review of my second month on Tumblr

NOOO!— a lamentation related to The Mother of Hope

The (Many) Problem(s) with Ares [Reblog/Response]— answering a reader

More Funny Little Moments #1: Season 1, Episodes 1-12

*Other

Black Hole— a poem about depression

It’s Nothing— a poem on invalidation

What the?— the beginning of the bug :(

#xwp #xena warrior princess #xena #xena and gabrielle #gabrielle #link post #fan theory #fanfic #fanfiction #xena fanfiction #gabrielle fanfiction #cracksubs

61 notes · View notes

kumoriyami-xiuzhen · 3 years

Text

Hakuoki Kyoka-Roku Harada Character CG Perspective

This is my last post of the month, so I’ll end by asking you to please support me if you can through my ko-fi, and paypal or patreon which provides access to my hakuoki blog translations and early access to my postings. Also, please let me know if you have any hakuoki drama cds that you’d be willing to share that are on my Lookout List since i either do not have audio for those cds or do not have audio that I can share.... and if you are able to remove watermarks from a video, please contact me.

well... this is the very last char cg perspective perspective that i have translations for. if someone wants to translate the ones for heisuke, i’ll go complete his route then capture the unedited video for his version of this (the dialogue tend to repeat a lot when there are multiple lines for the same clicked area).

anyway, this has same format as all of my other char perspectives, and the screenshots used in this post are not mine.

Hakuoki Kyoka-Roku Harada Character CG Perspective

Translation by KumoriYami

Face: Don't keep staring at me. If you stare at me, I can't help but feel a bit shy.

Face: Sorry, can you stay out of this right now?

Face: I'll love you after this, now just stay with me.

Spear: It is a man's duty to protect women. Though that's not to say that anyone will be protected by me. I want to protect you, and only you.

Shiranui: When I fought with the one called Shiranui, I didn't expect that, someday, we would fight alongside each other as comrades. Now that I think about it, if it weren't for these oni appearing/if it weren't for these oni, I probably wouldn't have met you. Destiny is a really strange thing.

Head: You're scared. Sorry, I wasn't able to save you in time. But, you believing me, that really made me happy.

Chest: It's okay. As you can see, I'm not hurt. Thank you for your concern.

Chest: Well... this is because I'm always exercising.

Chest: Oi oi, you don't need to stare. I'm going to be embarrassed.

Chizuru’s head: The reason for why I pat your head wasn't to treat you like a child. Although this is usually done to children, it was for a different reason then. Because I wanted to touch you, that's why I reached out towards you.

Face: Because I was so conflicted about these boring issues that have upset you then, I find it shameful when I think about it now. People shouldn't live in the past, and from now on, I will never make you cry again.

Chest: Oops, using too much strength caused my clothes to open up more.

Chest: What is it? Are you interested in my chest [tl is pectoral muscles]

Chest: If you're interested, you can slowly and carefully look over this later.

Right Hand: I obviously kissed you, but you didn't realize that I was in love with you then. Was that because I said something misleading? I'm sorry, I'm not good at speaking. So, in order to be even clearer to you in the future, I will tell you many times that I love you.

Face: Looking at you like this, I feel very happy.

Face: Looking at your face like this, I can't but feel my expression soften.

Face: Don't look at me like that again. I'll feel embarrassed. Hey, is it okay to touch you right now?

Shinpachi: You're asking how that guy, Shinpachi, is doing now? He'll be okay. I've known him for a long time, so I know that his life will be good. Regardless of wherever he goes, he will definitely have a fulfilling life.

Chizuru: It looks that from the bottom of my heart, I fell in[/was?] love with you [then?]. In the future, I will always choose you. No matter what happens, this will never change.

Face: To amuse a child, I need to think of some funny faces to make...

Face: Alright! Then, how does this look?.....Uh, oi oi, don’t cry! Please don’t cry!

Face: The only people on earth that I can show this embarrassed face to, are you and this guy.

Baby: Really... he started crying as soon as I held him. I never knew that raising a child was so hard. But, it’s a type of happiness to be able to worry about this child.

Chizuru: "Having a wife, a child and a warm bed [idiom. can alternatively mean: "the simple and good life"]." I'm so happy to have this. All of this happiness is owed to you. Thanks to you, I've achieved my dream.

Face: Even if this little guy inherits the blood of an oni, I will raise him to be a warrior with an indomitable spirit. Because this is your child and mine. You don't need to worry about anything.

Chest: I've already held you so many times, so I should obviously remember how to be gentle...

Clothes: Sure enough, I feel more relaxed while wearing a kimono

Clothes: Do you think kimonos best suit me?

Chizuru: We've experienced all sorts of hardships together, and while there might be all sorts of difficulties waiting for us in the future, as long as you are at my side, even if that happens, I feel that I will always be happy.

#hakuoki #hakuouki #hakuoki game translation #Hakuoki Kyoka-Roku #harada sanosuke

22 notes · View notes

danjaley · 3 years

Text

Story Process Challenge

Tagged by @nocturnalazure in the text, but I hope this counts :)

1. Your writing process - show us a part of your script or explain how you write your scenes. Do you write in screenplay format or novel format? Etc, etc.

Sims-stories I write in digital format almost exclusively and usually in dialogue form. Here’s the first page of “Wild Hunt”. It all started out with Lavinia’s character description and stayed there a very long time. Then it also has a stock of Gothic names, which is copied from another document, hence the German headline. Being me, I sometimes leave some silliness, like the extra-characters. (The thing about the blacksmith was that when these ‘barbarians’ caught an artisan, they sometimes crippled them so they couldn’t run away, but had to work for them. Unfortunately I couldn’t fit such a character into the story. He’s still there from brainstorming days)

This is the market scene from Chevalry, along with a lot of cut scenes. I always quote this as an example why some of the best scenes aren’t even there in my writing. The text is green because I used this to mark it as the story-in-the-story. (The expression ‘shock-blanket’ is a reference to an episode of Sherlock. Some expressions (”slain” “daughter to”) are also borrowed from Shakespeare-plays)

2. Scene building - show us you in the middle of scene building through pictures, gifs, or a video. Explain what is the best thing about scene building and what is the worst!

I rarely take pictures of half-built sets. Wherever possible, I prefer using places built by experienced builders. I have zero sense of architecture. A square small place is the most I can be trusted to do myself. Generally I prefer to work with decor and plants. This travelling cart was a different kind of challenge. I built it on a 10x10 lot and it had to be placed first, before I constructed a new set around it. On the second picture you also see the cleverly camouflaged mailbox :)

3. CC/Pose Making - do you make your own cc/poses for your scene? If so, what is your process like to create? Do you just go off the top of your head? Do you use reference photos?

I think it’s safe to say that I’m a pose-maker. Although I make a lot less poses than I used to. Partly because of time, partly because I don’t like the washed-out Blender under Windows 10 :/ In the heyday of Chevalry, I would quit the game and pose the scene myself, if I wasn’t 100% satisfied. Though the only scene I ever posed start-to finish was the haircutting-kiss. Nowadays, I rather try to work with existing poses. Back when I took requests, I sometimes worked with reference pictures, and they do give the scene some extra depth. The scene modelled after a still from “Anastasia” really taught me how much detail the artists had put into their characters’ expressions, and this translated back to the resulting poses.

4. Getting in the zone - What do you do to get in the zone to work on a scene? Examples include: show us your playlist you use when working on a scene, what’s your go-to scene snack/drink, etc.

I kinda miss living on my own, when I could dedicate a whole day to shooting a battle-scene for Chevalry. But in fact I decided to tell this story then and there because I knew it was the perfect time of my life for doing so. I’m super shy with music, and I have a limited music-library (by modern standards), which I listen to over and over again. Many of these songs have influenced characters, but can’t even bring myself to hunt them up on the internet.

5. Screenshot folder - give us a look into your screenshot folder to show us just how much goes into ONE scene for your story. (Scrapped pictures encouraged!!!)

Here is Of Chevalry, end of Chapter 6. The green ones are reference shots for depth of field blur (I don’t use Reshade). The ones with Sarmanna in a bath-suit are for editing her hands back into the picture, when they clipped through the dress.

MCarric Scenes, most recent: You’ll notice there’s a lot less greenscreen blur nowadays. I usually draw it with the blur-tool now. I still need to find a good occasion for this lovely rainbow I captured...

6. Captions - are you a caption on the picture kind of storyteller or captions in text box type of storyteller? Why? Do you do both?

Although I am more of a visual storyteller, I very much prefer the text in the post. I’m very given to typos and spelling errors and I’d hate having them baked into my pictures. Also I find the text easier to read in the post.

7. Editing!!!!! - explain and show us your process editing a scene through a video, gif, or picture. A Before and after will suffice if you aren’t in the middle of editing a scene as you answer this.

I like editing my pictures in a way that makes them look like they had been like this in game all along. Here’s Sarmanna in a bath-suit again. In cases like this one, you can even bring out the feeling a bit more. I could have dug her left arm out of the skirt. But as she’s feeling very shy and vulnerable in the scene, I made it look like her arm was close to her body. I also have a photoshop action which gives this slightly desaturated old-painting look to the images.

8. Throwback- show us an ANCIENT story scene you did in the past and explain how you would do the scene differently today!

In 2014 I tried to tell the backstory of Anja Tilney, a Maplethorpe Island inhabitant. It was the first time I tried messing around with poses, and I remember I included this shot because Simmagmeg had just released these poses which meant much to her. This scene I still think turned out cute, but on the whole I wasn’t feeling the story any more, after a while. It was rather simply constructed, but still I felt I couldn’t do it justice with my skills back then.

I just reread it for the first time since (here...), and it isn’t quite as bad as I remembered, but back then I scrapped the project and decided to stay well away from Sims storytelling in the future...

tagging @arielovessims, @thethingshesaidthesims3, @windermeresimblr, @unsimspirational

#tagged

16 notes · View notes

carewyncromwell · 4 years

Text

Hi, everybody! So the Adventures in Curse-breaking side quest was...absolutely wonderful. The prize is fantastic -- the animation of the dragons is awesome -- the new preserve location and the interior of the tent have the most wonderful ambient music -- and it features love for Charlie and Bill, who as most of you know are two of my favorites! I might’ve switched out Penny with Liz (given that, like Barnaby, she’s so into magical creatures and we could use more material for her in the game), but even with that nitpick, I think this quest may be one of my favorites so far, right up there with Chiara and Talbott’s friendship quests.

It is, however, a very dialogue-heavy quest with a good chunk of filler in between the awesome stuff, and writing full roleplaying posts for the entire thing would take up a LOT of time. So just like with my Meet the Malfoys quest post, I’ll be writing this in a more condensed, fic-like format. Because there’s so much more material to work with compared to the Malfoy quest, however, this post will be broken up into four parts all tagged “Adventures in Curse-Breaking”, complete with screenshots and gifs from the game, as we follow my MC Carewyn Cromwell, her honorary brothers Bill and Charlie, Barnaby, Merula, and Penny to the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary!

Hope you enjoy! xoxo

Bill’s second meet-up with the sixth years ended up being more of a question-and-answer session about Cursebreaking and Defense Against the Dark Arts in general rather than a set lesson. Charlie had half-jokingly whispered in Carewyn’s ear that it was likely Bill was still in the process of drawing up lesson plans, and although Carewyn thought there was a good chance of it, she didn’t think Bill opening the floor for questions was a bad idea. After all, Merula had expressed interest in being a Cursebreaker, and any anti-Dark Arts information would be helpful to a future Auror like Tonks. (Carewyn once again thought of trying to coax Talbott to join Bill’s sessions too. She knew he preferred to “fly solo,” but she wanted him to become an Auror just as much as he himself wanted it!)

It was only toward the end of their session that Bill -- mostly to poke at Charlie for getting distracted whispering to Carewyn -- brought up his next mission, which his boss Griphook had said would involve dragons.

Of course Charlie’s ears had perked up like a puppy’s at the mention of dragons, and he immediately was interested in accompanying Bill on his mission. The eldest Weasley son, however, turned Charlie down, clearly regretting that he’d brought it up at all. He quickly dismissed the sixth years and excused himself from the classroom, but Charlie wasn’t having it. Agreeing that Bill could use some help if he had to deal with a bunch of dragons, Carewyn quickly changed clothes and accompanied her unofficial twin to Diagon Alley.

Carewyn hadn’t ever been to Gringotts without her mother before. The wizarding bank had always felt so massive to her, not just for its mile-high, vaulted ceilings, but in how the voices of the goblin tellers and witches and wizards in front of the counters echoed seemingly endlessly up toward the ceiling. Despite the ethereal light emanating off the lanterns on every desk and the sparkling diamond chandeliers overheard, the chamber still never felt completely lit. Shadows clung to every pillar and window frame, and the light of the lanterns pooled off the dark, patterned marble pillars, making them resemble rippling, murky green water as you walked past them.

Bill was very surprised to see the two gingers there. He’d tried to reproach them for ambushing him at work, which made Carewyn feel a bit guilty -- Charlie, however, felt no shame at all.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have run off in the middle of a conversation like that,” he’d said dryly. “Then we wouldn’t have had to chase after you.”

Carewyn offered Bill a kinder look. “I know you’re working, Bill -- but if your next assignment involves dragons, you know we can help.”

Bill’s boss, Griphook, took in the exchange with dry interest. Keeping a beady eye on both Carewyn and Charlie, he explained the mission more clearly to Bill. The goal was to recover a golden egg created by the goblin Urguff the Unwary and stolen by a dragon that mistook it for one of her own and was now suspected to have settled in the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. The goblin then encouraged Bill that if “these two humans” could assist him in researching dragons, then it might be wise to accept their offer of help. Bill agreed, and the three gingers met at the Hog’s Head to research the various breeds of dragons one might encounter at the Romanian Sanctuary. Bill was stubborn, however, in keeping their meeting focused solely on research.

“I appreciate you helping me study up on dragons,” he’d said firmly, “but I’m sorry, I’m not taking you on my mission.”

Carewyn would’ve respected Bill’s feelings on the matter, given that this was his job and he deserved to do it his own way...but she knew how much Charlie wanted to go with him, and admittedly she was worried for Bill’s safety, going to a preserve full of dragons all by himself. Charlie himself was just as bullheaded as Bill was, but in the opposite direction.

“If you’re going to that sanctuary, then I’m going with you -- no arguments,” he’d shot back.

Seeing the impasse the two brothers were at, Carewyn immediately moved into “compromise” mode. Bill had already said that he’d have to cancel one of his sessions at Hogwarts in order to complete this mission, and facing so many dragons alone would be way too dangerous, even for a full-grown wizard...so why not kill two birds with one stone by having Charlie, her, and a few other sixth-year students come with Bill to help him find the egg? That way, if Bill needed to stun a dragon at any point, there would be at least two other people shooting Stunning Spells with him.

“Dragons can only be taken down with multiple Stunning spells,” Carewyn reminded him. “You wouldn’t be able to take one down on your own, if you got cornered. I only got lucky with the one in the Vault -- that one was already in bad shape before I faced it. These dragons...they’re in a preserve. They’ll have been treated well. And because they’re protected by Wizarding Law, you probably wouldn’t be allowed to use any spells that could really hurt them, like the Conjunctivitis Curse. Half the reason the dragon in the Vault didn’t kill me was because it couldn’t see me.”

Bill clearly hated how much sense Carewyn was making. His protective big brother instincts fought with his interest in completing his mission, but at long last, he relented.

Carewyn and Charlie got Barnaby, Penny, and Merula on board, and the group visited Hagrid to borrow his camping tent and get some general camping advice and Kettleburn to get some instruction on dragon safety. That Friday, the five sixth-years gathered at the Training Grounds to meet Bill.

It had been so eerie to meet Bill, Charlie, and Merula at the Training Grounds so they could leave Hogwarts via Portkey. For a second, Carewyn felt her shoulders tensing up and her blood freezing as if she was going back into the Portrait Vault. It was only seeing Barnaby and Penny’s faces instead of Rakepick and Ben’s that made her feel the least bit grounded again, even as she took hold of the Portkey and the six of them were flung off their feet and spun around faster and faster and faster --

When they arrived at their destination, Carewyn felt her breath still in her throat.

There were massive trees as far as the eye could see -- dramatic cliffs and mountains dotted the horizon -- the air was so fresh and light, dusted with the scent of pine and burnt oak -- and then overhead, soaring with their wings wide right over them, were dozens of massive, majestic dragons.

It was beautiful.

Carewyn grinned from ear to ear seeing how happy Charlie was. She’d always thought dragons were cool, but her admiration of the creatures had nothing on what her fellow Fireball thought of them. Carewyn had always loved listening to her friends talk about their greatest passions, and Charlie was no exception.

It was quickly decided that it would be best to set up camp and start searching for the golden egg the next morning. As safe as Carewyn thought they’d be with the defensive magical wards she’d put up, she and Bill both thought that searching a dragon preserve at night was still riskier than it was probably worth. Soon the group had set up camp and -- on Barnaby’s suggestion -- started roasting marshmallows over a roaring campfire.

Barnaby immediately proposed sharing scary stories. Penny was reluctant; Carewyn herself didn’t love being scared herself and she didn’t want to upset Penny, but she reassured the blond Hufflepuff all the same.

“Sometimes it’s fun to be a little scared -- especially when you know those things aren’t real and can’t hurt you,” Carewyn had told her. “I mean, you’re with your friends. You know we wouldn’t let anything hurt you.”

Merula gave a sharp bark of a laugh.

Her voice was noticeably softer than normal, which startled Carewyn. The Slytherin Prefect hadn’t really included Merula in her mind when she’d said that, but...the look on Merula’s face made Carewyn feel almost guilty that she hadn’t. She was very glad that Barnaby started right into his scary story about the Bloody Broom.

Carewyn was actually getting really into Barnaby’s story before the roar of a dragon flying a mere four feet over their heads made the entire group duck, even as the defensive wards around the camp effectively kept the dragon’s tail or claws from touching them.

“Let’s go inside,” Carewyn said quickly, trying to will down her own heart rate as she looked over her companions’ identical white faces.

To Be Continued...

#adventures in cursebreaking #carewyn cromwell #jacob's sibling #hphm #hogwarts mystery #charlie weasley #bill weasley #merula snyde #barnaby lee #penny haywood #griphook #dragons #gifs #gameplay #roleplaying #my writing

12 notes · View notes

pollyestergivens · 4 years

Text

Miss Clue: Formula for Danger

A Mostly Decent Game

This is the first Miss Clue game, and while the others have improved in many ways over time, I was surprised to find that this one is still a fun and nostalgic mystery. If you’re a classic ND game fan like me and are longing for a taste of the past, I think Formula for Danger is worthy of your time.

Mostly Lovely Graphics

Along with the interface design and game engine being nearly identical to HER’s early style, the graphics in Formula for Danger make it feel like some long-shelved ND game that never got released. There’s good attention to detail in most of the rooms and the majority of the locations feel fairly believable (while being questionably decorated). However, the graphics really shine in the wooded scenes. The forest is dense and varied, making it feel like you’re truly in a secluded place.

The one glaring exception is most of the wall art, which appear to be literal screenshots of VFK locations or just straight up ugly photos. In classic HER style, the Miss Clue devs even slapped the VFK logo on in-game objects too. While I do find something charming about little oddities like that, I was happy that their future games didn’t have so much of this immersion-breaking stuff.

Of course, the character animation is nothing to write home about either, but if you can enjoy the robotic suspects in Message in a Haunted Mansion, you can certainly enjoy the ones in this game too.

Mostly Fun Mystery

Very early on, you stumble upon the mystery of the missing formula, giving you a fairly clear goal to chase. Along the way, you meet suspicious characters, solve puzzles of varying difficulty, and explore some interesting and unexpected locations. The game even managed to pull off some creepy and suspenseful moments too! All of this makes for an enjoyable mystery-solving experience, but a few unfortunate flaws keep this game from being totally solid.

For example, Formula for Danger--like most of the Miss Clue games that came after it--was originally released in chapter-sized chunks. Even though I played the full PC version, I think the original format caused some game play issues that probably would not be there otherwise.

One especially annoying example is being forced to make godforsaken donuts over and over and over. Similarly, there were many times when the player is supposed to trek alllllll the way across the game world to have one brief conversation, then trek allllll the way back to have another brief conversation with someone else, AND THEN trek alllllllll the way back AGAIN for another short task/conversation. No jump map, just lots of clicking.

This may have been bearable if it had been obvious that there was nothing else to do at each location, but unfortunately (for me, at least) it was not. This led to aimless wandering and a few visits to the Miss Clue forums for help.

If I had been playing the game in chapters and had to wait a week or more for the next part to come out, I probably wouldn’t mind making donuts again or traveling across the map one more time. But when you’re playing these chapters all stitched together, it’s a bit much to ask the player to run around so often for so little reward--and with so little guidance.

There were also a few features in the game (like an alarm clock) and a few places (like the trails) that are never used or visited, even though Jane makes comments suggesting you will eventually. It was a minor annoyance, but it gave the game a somewhat unpolished feel.

Mostly Coherent Puzzles

This game features Ye Olde Amazing Inventor trope, but the contraptions are not quite as egregious as some of our favorite ND inventors. The result is some fun and challenging puzzles that revolve around codes, chemicals, and various machines. You’ll have to pay close attention as Jane will rarely give more than a “Hmm” to point you in the right direction. When it comes to the “real” puzzles, there’s no in-game hint system either (you can call your Aunt for help with other things).

I found many of the puzzles quite clever, but some trial and error (and patience) is necessary at times. There was also a lack of feedback for a few tasks, which had me thinking I did it wrong for a little while. Again, not a deal-breaker, but it made the game feel not-so-polished.

All that being said, there were lots of puzzles and tasks to keep you busy, so the game length was quite comparable to an ND title. I felt I got my money’s worth, and it felt like a trip down memory lane. Are parts of the plot and dialogue cheesy as hell? Absolutely. Are some of the graphics dated and robotic? Of course. But many of my favorite ND games share those “flaws,” yet they keep me coming back for more.

I know these games are usually seen as shameless ripoffs of ND, but I choose to see them through the old saying: “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” I love the old ND games, and I want more of them! But they simply aren’t made anymore. So, while Miss Clue is no Ms. Drew, I’ll take what I can get these days.

#miss clue #formula for danger #not quite ND #cluecrew #game reviews #nancy drew fans

4 notes · View notes

underpuffau · 6 years

Photo

Underpuff 200 Follower Retrospective

Well, we’ve done it Underpuff now has 200 followers. How many of them actively follow the AU is impossible to know, but one thing is for sure. That 200 people saw my AU, and enjoyed it enough to hit follow. This means so much you can’t even imagine. No matter how you look at it, 200 people is a fuckton of people, and I couldn’t be more happy you all decided to follow this little ol’ Kirby AU. Sadly though, unlike last time, I really don’t have a way to celebrate this via a sneak peak of the next part. There also isn’t anything I particularly wanna show off either as far as roles or plot goes. So clearly the most logical thing to do is talk about my old work and laugh at it. That’s right, to celebrate this step forward, let’s take some steps backwards, and look at the hilarious atrocity that was the Underpuff Preboot.

Let’s start from the beginning. Starting from the middle was considered but I thought it was too post modern. Back in ye olden days of Sprite AUs, crossovers were just becoming a thing, the leaders of this format being Undertoad, and the now dead Smashtale.I oved the idea of crossing over Undertale with other series, and the number one AU I wanted to see happen, was of course, a Kirby AU. Every day I prayed for some kind of music track or comic part to be made for one, rather than all the vague concepts I saw thrown around from time to time. I waited an waited, but a Kirby AU never came. One day, on a Meta Knight as Mettaton shitpost on r/Undertale, I talked about this want for a Kirby AU in the comments, and some vague ideas I had for one.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Undertale/comments/4h335y/metta_knight/d2nb7p7/

As you can see things, really didn’t pan out like this, but one step at a time. After posting this comment, and reading responses to it, I came up with more and more ideas, and I even drew concept art of all the roles!

Adecryforhelp

Keel me

Kirb stomp me into the ground

LololOH GOD

JOLY SHIT

eta knig.

eta knig period.

Whispy (why) Wood(you do this to me)s

Here take this for your eyes, I bet you need it right now

But yeah, my art and design skills weren’t up to snuff at the time. I’ve obviously gotten much better, but at the time I was a full blown amateur and was blissfully unaware. Gotta love that Dunning Kruger effect huh?

But all these “ideas” and art were for nothing, as I had a shit laptop at home that couldn’t do jack shit without coming close to fucking combustion. Like, it was so bad, I used my Wii U for everything Internet related. The Internet Browser on the Wii U was a better alternative than my actual computer. Let that sink in. However, spending so much time on the Wii U would lead you to discover new games and apps when they popped up, and for me, one of those was the software called Pixel Maker. And this is where Underpuff would get it’s start.

Pixel Maker was a pretty good software. I did exactly as was advertised, allow you to make pixel art on your Wii U. I saw this as my opportunity to finally make my ideas a reality, and when I had enough money, I bought it without delay. I got started making the first stages of Underpuff. I had no way to pull straight from Undertale. I had to eyball the maps and recreate them to the best of my ability, with the Great Cave reskin aesthetic of course. When I went to make text, I tried to recreate the UT font myself, but was unable to do it. With all the pre made fonts in PM not being to my liking, and the software lacking text sizes at the time, I decided to make my own font.

This was a mistake.

It was poorly made and ugly to look at, but I used it throughout all 7 preboot parts. And since this was my own font made in PM, I couldn’t use the text tool to apply it. I had to meticulously copy paste EVERY SINGLE LETTER. It was annoying, and resulted in me despising text. But hey, it’s just the font, so long as the spritework looks good, who cares?

Anymore of that bleach leftover? It’s for me.

But yes, Underpuff, in all awfully sprited and JPGed goodness, was murder on your eyes. (And probably soul too)

Why is the file type blurry ass JPG o all things you ask? Well my fan, allow me to tell you about my process for getting Underpuff to imgur.

Step 1: Create Panel

Step 2: Go to miiverse

Step 3: Save screenshot of the panel into screenshot album

Repeat till part is complete

Step 4: Access album from browser

Step 5: Copy image url

Step 6: Paste this url into imgurs uploader

Repeat until part is uploaded

But what does this have to do with JPG? Well, the answer is that Miiverse’s screenshots save in, you guessed it, JPG! So my images were blurry not of my own volition!

But, even if the visuals are completely, 100% awful, the dialogue must at least make uop for it. Surely I didn’t stoop so low as to just slightly modify Undertale dialogue right? RIGHT?

...

God dammit.

Underpuff was a reskin to the highest degree. Character relationships, dialogue, areas, all just Undertale with a Kirby paint. That’s all it was. And I was sitting here, wondering why the hell I couldn’t break 10 upvotes on reddit. This was why, cause I was a terrible writer, artist, and typographist. But it added up to something in the end, because one day I realized this, and rebooted Underpuff into it’s current state right now. A fully fleshed out, new story, with logical relationships, and a huge focus on lore and characterization. You know why I put those on such high pedestals, because of this. Because of preboot. I don’t want anything like Preboot to ever exist again, and it’s why I want to make Underpuff as sound in the Kirby universe as I can, while still having plenty of characters to work with..

And now, I have an actual computer, that I can actually make panels with. I still go back to PM from time to time, usually for battlesprites, since I like doing those by hand, but most of my work is done on here now. The parts may come out slower these days, but that’s because actual effort is being put forth now. Everyday I think of how to improve Underpuff’s story, fix plot holes or mistakes, all so I can make what I’ve been told is the only good Kirby AU the best it can possibly be.I take my time and not try to rush parts out per month like I did, all so I can achieve the quality I want. (The Reboot battle system wouldn’t exist if I didn’t take so long on Part 2.)

While I may not get the amount of asks, fanart, or music as I would like, one thing remains true. 200 of you appreciate the new Underpuff, and the work I put in. You appreciate the fact it’s not a shitty JPG reskin. You appreciate the fact I try to be lore and characterization friendly. And I appreciate all of you, my friends and fans who support me and what I do. If it weren’t for all of you, I may have given up, but all eyes are on me, and I’m not gonna disappoint. I may be a little sappy right now, but hey, I’m a Kirby AU, gotta be somewhat wholesome right? But to all of you, whether you have been here since the preboot, or jumped on for the reboot, I just gotta say...

-Thank you, Pika

#undertale #kirby #undertale au #undertaleau #undertale_au #nintendo #hal

23 notes · View notes

jungblue · 7 years

Text

→ writing & other tips!

Hello! This entire post is essentially stemming from the fact that I get messages often about the subject of writing / running a writing blog, and what advice I have in the area. In all honesty I’m not sure how new this information will be to anyone looking at it, but it’s more so to serve as something I can have linked in my FAQ, for anyone interested in my opinion on the matter. This post will be updated as I think of more things to include, but the basics that will be covered is writing advice, writing-blog advice, and just my overall opinion on certain aspects of writing in general on a public platform.

↠ Running a Writing Blog

My initial advice for this is just going to be technical / formatting aspects of posting your writing. Nothing all that earth shattering, just creating masterlists, links in your bio, dealing with demands kind of stuff.

Formatting

When it comes to formatting, choose one that really displays what your fic is about. For example, my usual format is: Pairing, Genre, Word Count, Description, Gif / Banner. I find this important just because I think some people might underestimate the importance of a good format. Because if I’m being honest I usually won’t even click on a fic if there’s no word count. Not to say it’s necessary, because I’m not here to tell people specifically the 100% way to run a writing blog, but this is just my experience / personal preference.

Tagging

Now once you’ve got your fic written and post formatted, next you have to put some tags. I tend to use very broad general tags such as, bts fanfic, bts scenarios, bts smut, bts angst, ect. Once you get into specifics there are tags such as seokjin fanfic, yoongi scenarios, hoseok smut, ect. This simply allows for people to find your fics when searching.

Creating a Masterlist / Linking

Once your first scenario is posted you might want to make a masterlist to post in your bio. This probably isn’t new information for some, but I get an ask about links every couple of weeks, so I figured we might as well cover all of the bases. In order to create a masterlist, simply open up a new text post, type in the title of your fic (or however you’re wanting to organize it), get the url to your fic and copy it, highlight the title you’ve written on the text post, a series of buttons should appear above, choose the one that is the fourth from the left (it looks like an infinity sign), paste the url into the box that appears, and you have yourself the start of a masterlist. Once you have that done you might want to link your masterlist in your bio. In order to do so you simply:

1. Go to edit theme

2. Paste this code into your bio <a href=“url of masterlist”>masterlist</a>

3. Replace the things I’ve put in bold with your actual masterlist url, or whatever you want the link to be called, so masterlist, writing, mlist, ect

Dealing with Demands

It’s unfortunate, but more than likely you’ll get a demanding ask at least once in your tumblr lifetime. Sometimes it’s asking for updates, requesting repeatedly, or someone just being plain rude. To combat against the update asks, make an FAQ. It’ll cut down on some of the demands, but of course not all. As for the straight up rude anons / users, just block them. Don’t give them the satisfaction of allowing them to stay on your blog. If you really want to respond, screenshot it and answer it that way, but still block them. This is your blog. No one has the right to be demanding of you, and to make it a place that you come to detest.

↠ The Actual Writing Part

I would say the first piece of advice I have about writing in general is to make sure that you’re writing for the right reasons. This is only because I’ve seen a common trend of people saying how stressed writing makes them, to the point of them actually hating it. I think this is because before people start posting on tumblr, they sometimes don’t get what comes along with it, or some aren’t necessarily doing it for the right reasons (of course regardless of anyone’s reasons, it’s your hobby, so really do what you want! this is simply an opinion).

For instance if you’re doing it strictly for notes, you might be highly disappointed when the pwp smut that took your three hours to write gets a 1,000 notes, whereas that fic that took you three weeks to plan out, and six weeks to write gets 300. It’s going to really stunt your creativity if you’re doing it strictly for that particular reason, because unfortunately the previously mentioned scenario is quite common. Or there are some who start writing because they want to have a ‘popular’ blog of sorts with lots of followers who will message them… But unfortunately even with a lot of followers, people just tend to not send messages for the most part. You might really love a fic that you posted, but get maybe six or seven comments on it. So again, if that’s your specific underlying reasoning behind wanting to post your writing, it might not turn out how you expected.

I just wanted to say the above points because I see it time and time again, and I don’t want people to get discouraged if it’s not what they were expecting it to be. Don’t get me wrong, as a writer on this site, I appreciate so, so much the notes / comments / ect that people give to my fics, but if that is what’s specifically tethering you to the craft, then you might not enjoy your time posting on tumblr. But again, this is your choice, so if you want to write simply for notes or for whatever reason, then obviously that’s completely fine! I’m mostly just saying the above because writing can become tiresome after a while if it doesn’t bring the outcome you’re expecting and it’s not something you truly enjoyed in the first place.

Okay, so now that I’ve gotten this disclaimer out of the way, I’ll try to give tips on writing, sorry if they’re generic. Honestly, my writing process is really simple, so I’m not sure how helpful this will be, but I’m going to try my best.

Forming an Idea / Plot

This is probably the simplest part. Just the general idea that you want to write about. Not the details, just the main focus. Sometimes it can stem from just knowing what au you want to tackle, so college au, expecting parents au, werewolf au, ect. Or perhaps you don’t know the setting yet, but you know the conflict or emotions you want the characters to elicit. Maybe you just know in your head that you really want to write a Jimin fluff. With that you can sit back and mull over what the best template for displaying that would be. So maybe a first date, anniversary, cute frat boy takes you to the greek formal, it can literally be anything. So really play around with things. Write that vampire hanahaki au or fic that’s so cheesy you cringe (I’ve written many of those lol). Just explore the wonderful world of genres or aus, because in the end you should write what you want to write.

Planning

This section is quite flexible. I mean all of these points are flexible, but this one most certainly. If there’s one thing that varies to a great degree between each and every writer it’s planning a fic out. There’s hundreds of methods, and you really just need to find the one that works for you! I personally have a very simple approach to writing. I’ll use Loving Him, Loving Her as an example.

1. Simply think of an idea: Unrequited love + best friend AU

2. Make mental bullet points of plot: flash-forward scene, the oc and Taehyung meeting, time-skip, party at Taehyung’s lake house, sex scene —

3. Write it out with this loose template

4. Once the writing process is over, go back through, re-read for misspellings, grammar issues, spaces where a bit of added narrative is needed

5. Post

It’s honestly a very simple process, but it’s what works best for me, and everyone is of course different! Personally, planning a fic out down to the very scenes, just doesn’t work for me. Because then when I’m writing I feel very constricted. I much prefer just having a vague idea of what I want the plot to be, and tackling it that way. However, again this is my approach, and it’s obviously okay if it doesn’t work for everyone. Lots of people love to outline, and that’s a totally viable option. Plan out each scene, one by one, jot down the emotions, dialogue, actions, ect that you want to happen within the scenes. That way once you go to write your fic, everything is planned and you just have to follow the template you’ve set for yourself.

These are just two methods of the many that there are. Eventually, after writing a lot, you’ll find a specific process that personally works for you!

Process

Writing can honestly be really stressful. Even if the constant asks for updates or demanding messages don’t bother you. Sometimes it’s just stressful because you want to write, but it just isn’t coming as easily as you would like. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in front of my laptop, wanting to write, but then I just blank. It’s incredibly frustrating to have a plot locked in your head, and knowing exactly what you want to happen, but then not being able to find the words to formulate it. So just understand that it’s okay to take breaks, to throw away a wip, to take a seven month hiatus on a series. It doesn’t mean that you should give up on writing, it just means that you need a break, a change in direction, or just something. People get burnt out on things they love all the time. Sports, drawing, writing, whatever it is, you just have to understand that it’s all a part of a process.

Know when to take breaks. Put your health at the forefront of everything, because finishing a fic isn’t worth jeopardizing that. Understand that the fic will be there tomorrow, the next day, and the next day, so take your time!

Again, I know all if this is stuff that you’ve all probably heard, but sometimes people ask for my writing advice, and this post pretty much encompasses my opinion on writing and the process of writing / posting on a public format such as tumblr. I hope it was somewhat helpful. Just remember that this is supposed to be fun. Don’t let the stress destroy your love for writing if it’s really something that you honestly enjoy!

#fanfiction #bts fanfic #writing tips

318 notes · View notes

felipaynst717-blog · 4 years

Text

Wie erhalte ich kostenlose spiele von rtl und zahle nicht The Outer Worlds

Review The Outer Worlds

A year ago, Obsidian published The Outer Worlds on the say of dangerous complaint of Outcome 76. Today, when Bethesda no longer presents the quilt of the bad RPG release, things happen so attractive anymore.

From the beginning, a muted voice behind the skull warned us hostile to The Outer Worlds. That undertaken to convert myself that this game is not exactly what I became expecting – that it will not necessarily exist a new magnum opus from Obsidian Entertainment, value any volume of funds with any amount of times of your kick. The silent voice was not very well... but it became completely wrong either. The Outer Worlds walked away only a good game.

But that project took every risk in the planet to be a great success. After all, Feargus Urquhart's group used the same framework as with the past games, with Pillars of Eternity at the forefront. They catch on the origin in the RPG genre – however, the beginnings of the Fight series – and gone work the same dish, according to the same recipe, maybe adding some more modern flavors, such as original imagination and using more modern hardware. The controls was conquered from the best people imaginable – Timothy Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, without to whom, the Tomb Boy would never get happened conceived.

Obsidian dropped the isometric perspective (their latest experiments proved that the growth for games with like perspective had stopped) and moved to a 3-dimensional environment. And that wasn't the first time he'd accomplished this – Fallout: New Vegas is still widely acknowledged with the followers of the RPG genre, most of which believe that the best part of the entire series. What might spread so wrong regarding The Outer Worlds? Unfortunately, lots of things – actually within the districts to should not present a problem to equally experienced developers.

Waiter! There's Borerlands in my Fallout!

You'd think, perhaps, to my analysis of The Outer Worlds would turn largely around the game's archaic technology. That's right, and I have a lot to say about it, but I'll choose a less noticeable, and simultaneously much more valuable element of the game. I'll focus on the deciding.

Don't get me wrong – Obsidian created a unique and gaining universe. The fierce border in the space, ironically titled the Arcadia, dictated next to a unpredictable, retrofuturistic company, is surely an interesting place on an adventure. Especially because creators allowed the head go natural and hurled in the lot of crazy ideas, finishing it happy with a little absurd humor.

Unfortunately, someone decided that this frivolous planet will have a very important story, with serious ethical dilemmas. Sounds somewhat like Fallout? Sure, it was unquestionably the plan of the developers – but they've seemingly needed this much; we'd ordered black tea, then understand Regent's Punch rather. The mixture causes a serious cognitive dissonance.

The world of Results was uniquely heavy, gloomy, and no sum of black humor from the game can difference to – absolutely the opposing, actually – that generally expanded the cold fact in the post-apocalyptic USA. The general format of the mark of The Outer Worlds – the struggle for survival of a colony faced with starvation – echoes some personal themes. The problem is the game is undoubtedly overloaded with jokes, as for such an important story.

Humor almost pours through the screen. The power of the company is absurd. By every turn, we are confronted with preposterous regulations and procedures, and the pioneers, every single one, are lots of helpless administrators and complete idiots, that lay their banal issues for the protagonist. Want examples? Just take a look at the screenshots within the text. Maybe it's amusing – but then how is the person supposed to heal the gossip really? And Obsidian ultimately care for their production to get selected seriously, since this carousel of enjoyment sometimes unexpectedly freezes, and we're facing a perfectly serious choice, such as whether to lose human energy in the designation of growth.

Participating in The Outer Worlds feels like looking at The Hitchhiker's Lead for the Universe, yet with quotes from Dune, The Foundation, or Solaris popping up every couple of leaves. Or, working a gaming analogy, it is like playing Borderlands, and then unexpectedly jumping to the many intense themes of Majority Effect, or maybe possibly the horror of Deadly Place every occasionally. The disagreement is hella strong.

New Vegas 1.1

Let's observe The Outer Worlds plays. In terms of gameplay, Obsidian Entertainment's latest development bares the dagger. It's a pure-blood RPG with a gameplay model in which inspirations of Fight are revealed much more clearly than from the setting. The character progress is mysterious and development, there's great liberty with participating in the task you want, the quests remain open and imaginative, as is the history itself – those are the bases in the game, and they prepare deliver a great exchange of entertaining.

The end of these be the most impression on us in The Outer Worlds. The voyage begins the moment the idol developed by the person, a element of the thousands-strong team of the lost colonization ship Dream, is got up from hibernation by the "mad scientist," Phineas Wells. He shows a rather bleak state to the character – the Meeting, a group governing the institution, is steer the Arcadia to their decline, having broken the promising grip of mankind into the undernourished hell plagued with red tape.

The only way to salvation, explains Welles, is to develop the best concentration of Anticipation, and bring down the Congress with their help. Now, you might reflect that the structure with the history gets lately become created, with the great with negative characters introduced. But the game quickly recommend a subversive thought: why not team up with the company, and allow them the fugitive scientist? Of course, the Congress is probably also aware of how serious things try the colony, and it needs a solution to that. Also the reason not solely ignore the entire affair and try to work with your own thinking to stuff with your own pockets? Or just drown the Arcadia with body, killing anyone at your way?

youtube

The game isn't a straight sandbox, but the history of The Outer Worlds experience nearly quite bright sandbox (or rather: nonlinear) features. And even though we only have two simple endings (achieved through a progression of quests which occur essentially the same vision), the participants could accomplish much different effects depending in they way they choose to finish the objective, treat certain makeup, with manage different factions. The persons that enjoy changing the account with news may love it.

Do everything you have to do

Thus, we visit the back strongest aspect of the game, that is. the independence of solving problems. Obsidian doesn't also try to cover the foundation of the mechanics in The Outer Worlds – and especially the character development – is gained straight through Fallout's SPECIAL. On the middle are six capabilities that will govern over a dozen abilities, plus the abilities further revise the stats (they're an equivalent in the famous perks, but while there are only certain aptitudes, the organism isn't that making).

Yet, that provides player a huge liberty in answering problems during the quests. In addition to formulaic combat talents – melee weapons, fire, or blocking – you can spend statements in stopping, hacking, pressure, or sciences. And, what's much more interesting, we constantly come across the possibility of blending and applying these abilities. That's because there's almost invariably more than one way leading to any position, and earlier fighting hostile NPCs, the player's are always able to go and crack the dangerous condition with diplomacy. Do this to say that the campaign with the final boss (and the entire combat sequence preceding it) might be prevented through the use of combined logical and rhetorical abilities.

The independence to act a spirit regarding the mechanics goes hand in hand with the way conversations work. It is another aspect that will get waves of Fallout feel at home. Talks with NPCs are lushly turn out, present the participant a broad variety of possible actions. Just as you can eliminate any NPC, you can also just insult anyone you're talking to, be cruel fun of these, and appropriate their final money. In the word – acting like a complete asshole. And a new interesting fact here – having a character with really small intelligence opens a special, "children's" style in the dialogue. Not a very practical business, but this a nice addition.

The paradox in the next dimension

Up to this point, The Outer Worlds seems able to continue their ground being a very capable RPG, in which the greatest issue is the gimmicky world. Unfortunately, Obsidian do another strategic problem when designing the game – they gamble in three-dimensional graphics.

Despite numerous conflict avoidance decisions for nerds and representatives, TOW still puts a lot of emphasis on deal with. This becomes apparent just seconds after you dump the shelter with the location walls. The query of the not-so-big portions in the forests – even if done all along the chief routes – is regularly "diversified" in chance meets with units of enemies, whose sole purpose of existence is waiting for a chance to kill somebody. And that wouldn't be something in particular bad if the combat became as ordinary.

Eight days have crossed since launch of Outcome: New Vegas, and also the beat mechanics of The Outer Worlds seem like the experience was generated only a year later on. The clumsy animations, dumb AI-controlled opponents, and primitive weapon mechanics, which don't let you feel any influence with the weapon, make the entire experience largely similar to FNV, and seldom offer any satisfaction. And if you think melee weapons offer something greater, think again – it’s actually worse here. You can evaluate and choose designed for a quiet methodology with escape combat altogether (here, Obsidian tried to offer something up-to-date also begun hiding in tall grass), but it is not really cool either... Besides, sparing enemies doesn't yield XP, so there's no reward here.

Technical level – Obsidian

The retrograde technical layer is plain just from the start. Take area and shops, for instance – in many cases, these positions are filled separately, but they're not even substantial in mass. Details are remarkably base in the cities, disturbed with empty seat and miserable imitations of a living atmosphere in formula of tiny companies if motionless dummies (character activities is an additional concern – equally depressing). There's not enough background noise to supply the impact of being in the actual city. The previously mentioned wild areas and seem archaic – they're trying to discover being straight window without actually being really start.

If the above picture in the "technological wonders" presented in The Outer Worlds wasn't quality entertainment for you, let me talk about optimization for a while. Sorry – "optimization." I participated in on the decent computer with a Central i5-4570 (3.2 GHz), 16GB of THRUST, also a GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB) at very high situations in 1080p motion, plus a constant 60 frames per minute was not anything I could enjoy frequently. The framerate often dropped to about 40fps for no apparent reason. As if that remained enough – even on an SSD – I frequently felt short freezes created by pile of data, then following getting to a new, larger field, the surfaces and purposes would pop-up right or my senses for a few seconds. It was grotesque.

On the other hand – in at least 30 hours of comedy, rarely encountered any major problem. The game of course incorporates a light total of glitches (like as bodies flying about), but a serious mistake occurred just the moment: At one feature, the game concluded that one of our buddy had expired – several seconds later talking to him, during a completely safe spaceship flight. But that was possibly a difficulty of bad luck. After all, we're referring to a game by Obsidian Entertainment.

Perhaps this completely doesn't matter?

"If Fallout: New Vegas survived a sensation despite many it is technical shortcomings, why must that vary with The Outer Worlds?" There are two things in play here. First, FNV isn't remembered as an outdated glitchfest simply because it allowed us a fantastic narrative. TOW doesn't get the same worth from the story – and the idea not just about the bitter-sweet, incoherent setting.

The game certainly has it's share of interesting journey and inventive jobs, but ultimately, it might get been there a lot better. The best way to illustrate this is with the staff. That a bunch of nice personalities, whose dialogues were produced with plenty of skill as to produce them think alive. Hier finden Sie weitere Informationen One would, still, require more charm from them – particularly by their own private threads, often quite brief, seeming rather forced. Same goes for many quests, even the main ones – plenty of them feels purposeless.

Another big difficulty of The Outer Worlds is that many has gone on in the RPG genre since the announcement of Consequences: New Vegas. We've witnessed a major convergence of the Act with RPG genres; self-identifying as role-play is no longer a free for crude combat mechanics. If we think about FPP games, there's not exactly the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, yet yet the poor Fallout 4, falling short of most real shooters, is miles ahead TOW in terms of gunplay.

All that contributes to the unhappy conclusion to Obsidian Entertainment just did not have enough money to generate The Outer Worlds the kind of game they'd meant. I believe the lion's bit on the budget went to recording dialogues (with a moderately successful answer) with the job of the designers who had to go Arcadia a unique think (that, used for a switch, gone away reasonably clearly). Aiding the Fantastic Engine was likely a dance aimed at but some money – this, theoretically, ensured nice graphics for a little price – further reduced with the deal with Epic Games Store.

However, the developers didn't have the means to enhance the mechanics, be the world a little bigger, and, above all, allow more head with explaining to the chronicle – making it longer, with more cut-scenes and poses. Do this to say that the ending from the primary plan can properly be range into moral 15 hours (side quests should produce another 15).

So, why the make? That's because The Outer Worlds should be regarded primarily as a traditional RPG – and really, if we assess that from this area, we have to admit that some really good craftsmanship. If you miss the good other evening of "rolplays," in which nameless heroes willingly hurried to help collect (or eliminate) the world for no actual purpose, and spent their own time about any trifle mission in the character of acquiring experience points along the way – The Outer Worlds can contract a grab of nostalgia from your eyes. Unfortunately, for everyone also, those will be mainly tears of trouble with grief – of the wasted potential.

#The Outer Worlds #PC Review

0 notes

theashemarie · 7 years

Text

A Concerned Citizen

A Few Concerns:

I’m in the middle of Hurricane Harvey recovery (30 inches of rain in three days—whoo boy), so I’m going to try to keep this as succinct and brief as I can. (Also, I recently fell and knocked myself on the head so I apologize if this isn’t worded particularly well but I’m trying. I’m a very concerned citizen about this.)

I need to preface this by saying that I in no way support @encaged-au. In fact, it makes me incredibly uncomfortable, and I’ve written about this before, and I think that we absolutely need to work to make the fandom a safe place for minors. But, I also have major concerns about this @sonicsafetysquad blog.

I have never been a fan of fandom’s (and tumblr’s) penchant for callout posts and blogs. It is incredibly easy to cherry pick examples to defame someone or something, and the witch hunts that result are ugly because many people don’t and won’t think critically about things. The fact that a person (or group of people) can simply decide to make a callout blog/post, thereby declaring themselves the moral authority in a fandom/cause/issue, is downright worrying, to say the least. The holy righteousness that comes out of these people is terrifying, and they quickly accrue blind followers who want to be on the “right side” of the issue.

I’m here to tell you that there’s always an ugly side and a nice side to every storm, but it’s still just that—a storm. Those of us in the center of it are often caught up by it, but this time I have the peace of mind to see the problems as they unfold.

So yes, Encaged needs to be addressed, but the way that this callout blog went about it is absolutely the worst possible way. First of all, and most troubling, they went into a private Discord server, basically in raid formation, stirred up trouble, took screenshots without permission from the server owner, the mods, or the members, did not make any effort to conceal the identities of the minors that they claim to want to protect, and used them in their callout post. That right there immediately makes me suspicious. (They also claim to not have raided/invaded the server, but it says plain as day here that they got an invite from a concerned person, not a mod or admin (thereby the server was closed to the public), and went in and immediately started harassing the people in there.)

Once again, I’m going to emphasize, I am deliberately saying, that I do not support Encaged and my group of friends and I have been very concerned about the AU for a while. But, I am also a human being capable of critical thinking and I can immediately see that this holy crusade can only go downhill fast. My criticism of sonicsafetysquad in no way means that I support Encaged. (Gotta put this here because some people are black and white thinkers.)

Yes, by the way, I’ve seen this post, which paints a pretty ugly picture of the scenario. In their post, the sonicsafetysquad clearly cherry picked their examples, but the whole conversation is... Yeah. They raided Green Chill Zone, where Encaged was housed for a while, and their interactions were hostile from the beginning. You cannot, under any circumstances, go into someone else’s house, knock over their things, insult their family, make them uncomfortable, and then demand answers for some problematic behavior and expect them to give you what you want. That’s not how human behavior works, so the fact that they did just that and then accuse the Encaged creative team of not answering their questions? Yeah, it stinks in here. Of course they didn’t tell you their plot when you started insulting them, calling them awful things, and making their friends uncomfortable with what you called “harmless jokes.” I don’t care what holy mission from god you’re on; your behavior and handling of the situation is and was atrocious and I can’t trust any callout posts you make because of this terrible behavior. The ends do not justify these means.

Also to note, they raided the server early in the morning, when most of the mods, the owner, and the people they wanted to talk to were asleep. I don’t know if this was intentional, but by god with everything else going on, I wouldn’t be surprised.

(A sidenote: That post where they got an invite from a concerned person? And the callout post itself? (Which I didn’t want to link to but this is turning into a dumpster fire so here’s all the facts.) They seem to be claiming that this type of thing should not happen in a private server, but in this post (screenshot 16), Somberhog (mod president over on the callout blog) clearly says that they should keep it to the server. So, which is it? Should all adults who come into contact with children be policing their self-expression in a private server, or should adults only step in when things get public? When a concerned person who is in the server finds problem with it? It gets very messy very quickly, and if you want to be the police of the fandom, you sure as heck better be ready with a strong idea of what you want. Right now, they don’t have that.)

(Another sidenote: Posting PMs without permission to make a point? Really mcfreakin scummy my dudes. The micron of trust I had that they would handle this well is going going gone.) (And hand to god, everyone who knows me know that I’m not super fond of Shadzter. I can’t believe I have to defend him. Yes, he is not handling this situation well, btw, but neither is the sonicsafetysquad.)

Second, they neglected to mention that @kimmyko has received criticism for her response to concerns about Encaged, and she has handled it with grace and an open mind. (I would know, because I sent that anon in.) And the odds of them missing that ask are slim because it was posted a few hours after the first. The reason I bring this is up is that if they truly wanted to have a dialogue with kimmyko to air their grievances, they very well could have, but instead chose to put her on blast for the whole fandom to see. Once again, I’m hard pressed to trust these people to “protect” anyone if this is how they act.

Another thing to note here: the sonicsafetysquad has repeated a few times over in the past 24 hours that they have different mods with different opinions who will write different things, so accusing the whole blog of something isn’t valid and to keep this in mind. But, kids, I gotta tell you, when you start a group project like this, you are acting as a unit. If one of your members says something that gets you into trouble, you all are responsible. You should be checking each other’s work, their answers to asks, their tone, and the way they go about getting information. This is how group projects work in the real world. The whole company/project/nonprofit looks bad if one person screws up, and you can’t just point fingers like “mod so and so are entitled to their opinion!” You need to own up to the fact that one of your members threw around the word “pedophile” and it rightfully made a few people upset. That’s not an accusation you can level at someone lightly, and since you have placed yourselves in this position of power, you can’t be doing this. (They’re also playing semantics, which is the pettiest thing I’ve ever seen, but I’m not going to get into this.)

I know that this blog has good intentions, but their tone, the way they’re handling everything, and their blatant disregard for basic decency is mind-boggling to me. If you want to put yourself on the moral high ground, you can’t do this. We’re not talking about punching nazis here; this a fandom—a fandom for kids, as this blog keeps pointing out. If you’re so gung ho about protecting kids, you also need to set a good example for how to approach and handle these situations civilly, or else we’re just going to keep doing this and not getting anywhere. What are you teaching children by raiding a Discord server, pointing fingers, calling someone a pedophile, answering asks in a condescending manner, not opening yourself up to dialogue, and being so righteous that the ultimatum is that you either agree with the callout or you’re an abusive-loving stan? Every issue is on a gradient of grays. Stop acting like this is black and white.

In conclusion: this post is basically my stance on this whole thing. I can’t believe you made me do this, Sonic fandom. Now, I’m gonna go back to bailing water because there are actual emergencies going on in the world.

#ashe talks #sonic the hedgehog #sonicsafetysquad #encaged au #i can't believe i wrote this 1500 word essay jfc #also sonicsafetysquad don't be messaging me about this #y'all have a terrible track record of screenshotting private convos and posting them on the internet #no thanks chums

22 notes · View notes

siirensung · 7 years

Note

Hello :) My name is Dani and first of all let me tell you that I LOVE your writing. I literally sit and read how you interact with others for HOURS and seeing you and a couple of the people you write with gave me the inspiration to create an indie blog for my bb Reyes. That being said, I've never had an indie rp before but I've figured the basics with the rules, verses, etc. Could you please give me some suggestions on how to approach people or get this thing started? I'd thank you forever

asldkfh that’s so sweet of you omg what the fuck

HELL YEAH OKIE DOKIE first thing first: the best way to learn how to indie rp is just to follow a bunch of people and sort of pick and choose the different techniques you like to resemble. that what i did. i came from a long experience of closed group rping with no formatting, and just sort of floated with the indie trends that came and out, and kept the ones i like. i’m gonna tell you how I consider indie rping, which isn’t law or bible or anything, but this is what i look for when i’m looking to follow people!

first, the technical shit

RULES. i’m gonna go over things you say you already know, because there are some. hidden things that people sort of silently expect. in your rules, you must have your name/alias, your pronouns, your age (the terms ‘minor’ or ‘18+’ are sufficient, you don’t need to give your exact age but you NEED to tell people if you’re a minor or not), and your triggers (again, no detail necessary, just tell us what we should tag for you). these are the necessities and the rest is up to you. make your rules clear and concise, and on the short side. it helps to bold important things so people can skim and find them easily. personally, i like seeing people’s shipping policies. bc i’m a shipping slut. are you single ship? multiship? do you prefer not to ship? are you exclusive?

SELECTIVITY. on that note. let people know about your selectivity. do you want to play with anyone who follows you? do you only want to play with mutual followers (people you follow who follow you back)? i, as well as (almost) everyone i follow, are mutuals only. don’t feel guilty if you want to follow this route, and don’t let people talk you into playing with people you don’t want to play with. this blog is yours and your time is yours. spend it how you choose.

EXCLUSIVITY. along the same vein, let people know about your policy on exclusivity – which basically means that there are certain blogs of characters and theirs is the only blog of that character with whom you will play. this is entirely up to you. personally, i don’t do it and i never will. but be sure to let people know if you do! make sure to be honest. make sure you’re comfortable with your rules.

then, the aesthetic shit

REPRESENTATION. the first glance. the first eye contact. generally, this is the mobile preview. have a cool looking mobile banner! it attracts the eye! you don’t need to be a photoshop god for this, either. minimalism is in. a dark screenshot of your character that blends in with the color of your mobile background is hella neat. make sure the color is eye-friendly. black, white, cream, soft tones. if a mobile preview is lime green or shocking blue, i won’t give it a second look. My Eyes, They Bleed. then make sure you have SOMEWHERE on your mobile preview the bare minimum of your blog’s explanation. it doesn’t need to be long. in fact, i tend to like short ones. minimalism, man. for example, mine: ‘multimuse rp blog: dragon age and mass effect canon and ocs’. i’m saying what this blog is: an rp blog. i’m saying what KIND of rp blog: a multimuse. what fandoms i cater to: dragon age and mass effect. what characters you expect to find here: canon and ocs. sometimes people will put their name, too. (also, warn people if you have an autoplay. just write ‘ap’ or ‘autoplay’. people know.)

REPRESENTATION PART 2. piggybacking on all that: promos. gotta have a promo. this is how people find you, and how you can spread the word about your cool new blog. (tag it with the audiences you want to attract. such as: mass effect rp, mass effect roleplay, bioware rp, bioware roleplay, star wars rp, etc etc. the mass effect fandom isn’t all that huge. consider expanding with crossovers to other space fandoms, such as star wars and star trek. we’re buddies.) it can be as simple as the icon promo trend, where you have a horizontal line of icons of your character followed by ‘like/reblog if you’re interested in playing with (character name)! written by (your name).’ it can be that chill. sometimes it can be dramatic. just make sure it’s tasteful. try to avoid gaudy. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS (this is my pet peeve) INCLUDE YOUR CHARACTER’S NAME AND THE FANDOM NAME. i die inside every time i have no idea who this promo is for.

THEME. the second glance. your blog’s handshake. first – and sometimes last – impression. same rules as the preview and the promo, make it tasteful or make it minimalist. make it easy to follow. if you’re not confident in your aesthetic or ps skills, the white blogs with a simple pic of your character in the sidebar is in right now. leave it open to interpretation. theme-hunter is where i get all my themes, for the most part. if you want some cool theme suggestions, let me know! you may end up interested in html through theme aesthetic and wANTING IT TO BE PERFECT. like me. hehe. anywho – you’ll see a lot of Hyper Aesthetic Themes. try not to get worried about them. the most important thing is that your links to your rules, verses, dossier (if you have one), and ask are clear. the writing is easy to read.

also, the replying shit

FORMATTING. okay so formatting is a Minefield right now. personally, i really enjoy formatting! my formatting trick is: twenty spaces before each paragraph to simulate tabs, bolding quotation marks and putting a space between the marks and the dialogue, ( doing this to parentheses and quite frankly using Way too many parentheses ), BOLDING AND CAPSING emotive words or phrases, italicizing things for emphasis, using small font (and sometimes tiny font). but DON’T overdo it. still, the point is legibility. it’s your choice to use formatting at all. i like it a lot, it helps me Feel the writing and reply. it’s also your choice to use small or tiny font, but… i’ma be honest. i really really do prefer when people use small or tiny font. people are pushing back against tiny font bc it can be really hard to read, so i tend to just use small font (unless my partner uses tiny font). to small font (on pc): select all the text, ctrl shift minus sign. to use tiny font: use small font, then ctrl comma.

ICONNING. again, another minefield. as we speak, rp icons are getting smaller and smaller. my icons at 80x80 with a 2px border, and i often times use a psd. if you get your icons from somewhere, credit that place. i frequently make my own, but not always. as a personal favor, don’t go smaller than 75px… the icons… they’re shrinking…

SPEED. go at your own speed! i cannot stress the importance of this. i’m currently suffering from depression and some Shit, so i may be on the dash a lot, but my reply speed is frequently outstripped by passing snails. don’t write if you’re not feeling it. don’t feel pressured to do it. personally, the majority of the fun of rping is plotting with your partner and obsessing over your character. people love to see people enthusiastic about their kid. that’s why they followed you. bc they love your kid, too. if you have a thread you’re not feeling, be honest! TALK TO YOUR PARTNER.

COMMUNICATION. on that note! get to know your rp partners. love them. cherish them. tell them they’re wonderful. tell them when you’re not feeling a thread. don’t suffer in silence. drop threads. treat yoself. also, follow ALL THE PEOPLE. they may not follow you back. don’t tug at them if they don’t. follow people and make sure you have examples of your writing on your page, even if it’s just a long headcanon or drabble. like a cover letter.

WRITING. third person. i think i can be pretty confident about this: only third person. i use present tense for the most part, but present or past tense. sometimes there are oneliners (replies that are usually just dialogue, maybe with a lil but of narrative for actions, usually spur of the moment and dropped after the moment is gone). there are short paras (generally 1-3 paragraphs of varying sizes). there are long paras (4-6 paras, usually for plotting). there are Novella (6+ for the Intense Future Tolkiens i can’t do this i’m a dr seuss).

TAGGING. can be pretty simple. as a multi, i have too many characters to have thorough tagging systems. a lot of people have different tags for like. aesthetic, musing, visage, headcanons, etc. mine is simple. each character has an in character thread tag: * ｡✧ ━ ⦅ character: scott. ⦆. also, a musing tag: * ｡✧ ━ ⦅ musing: scott. ⦆. a headcanon tag: * ｡✧ ━ ⦅ headcanon: scott. ⦆. sometimes a ship tag: * ｡✧ ━ ⦅ scott & liam: just frame the halves and call them brothers. ⦆. and you MUST have an out of character tag, where it’s just you talking, and you must tag every post of just you talking with it: * ｡✧ ━ ⦅ out of character. ⦆. it must be clear. you can make them fancy and pretty like this. i like them. it’s not necessary. also: tag any triggers. important. search your partners’ rules for their triggers. if someone asks you to tag a trigger, do it without a second thought.

lastly, the important shit

HAVE FUN! we’re all here for the same reason. we love mass effect. WE LOVE SPACE. there will always be aggression and elitism and hurt feelings in the indie rp community. always. try not to let it bring you down. play nice. kindergarten rules. enjoy!

let me know if you have more questions/want more detail!

don’t reblog this

#long post cw #I'M SURE I FORGOT THINGS #OR I TOOK THIS THE WRONG WAY AND WENT MORE INTO LIKE #THE FUNCTION OF INDIE??#idk Let Me Know i'm fine with explaining more #Again this is just my take on indie rping #everyone is different #rxysvidal #let me know if you want this rebloggable i can post it elsewhere #let me know if you want me to make a suggestions list #also check out my recommendations tag in my nav #for some Hella Cool Kids

4 notes · View notes

esonetwork · 5 years

Text

A long time ago in comic shop far, far away…

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/a-long-time-ago-in-comic-shop-far-far-away/

A long time ago in comic shop far, far away…

Earlier this month, I achieved a new geek milestone: I went to a comic book store and purchased comics for the very first time!

To be fair, I’ve read a few comics/graphic novels in the past, but I wasn’t sure where to start in terms of really diving into the fandom. Should I go back and read some classic superhero comics, or should I just start with new stuff?

What finally pulled me into comics was, predictably, Star Wars. I’m currently dying for any scrap of content related to Star Wars: Episode IX, and I started seeing screenshots on social media of Marvel Comics’ new series Age of Resistance, which focuses on the sequel trilogy era.

I went to my local comic book shop and got two from the series, and I loved them so much that I quickly went back to buy more. I’ve also pre-ordered even more Star Wars comics that are coming out later this year.

I like how a comic is sort of like a cross between a movie and a book; the story is told both visually and through written dialogue. It took me a while to adjust to the format, but now I really like it. There’s some great art in these comics, and I especially loved all the covers. I might end up framing some of them later on.

Here are my thoughts on my very first comics series, ranking the issues in order of my favorites. I think Age of Resistance worked really well as a starter series for me, because they’re one-shot standalone stories about individual characters, and you don’t have to worry about catching up on previous storylines.

Also, I really enjoyed all of these comics, so even the ones at the bottom of my ranking still get a “thumbs up” from me.

8. Rey

I hate putting Rey at the bottom of this list, because she’s one of my top three favorite Star Wars characters. I even have two different Rey cosplays and am currently working on a third (don’t judge me). However, while this comic was a fun little adventure taking place between “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi,” I felt like it didn’t really reveal anything new about her character.

7. Poe Dameron

Kinda similar to the Rey comic, the Poe Dameron issue doesn’t reveal a lot of new info, but we do get to see him head off on a special mission for the New Republic and get rescued by a key player in the Resistance (no spoilers!). I’m really curious to see how Poe evolves from a hotshot pilot to a respected leader in Episode IX.

6. Captain Phasma

Although Phasma is, unfortunately, somewhat underused in the sequel trilogy, her character is awesome (there’s also a great stand-alone novel about her by Delilah S. Dawson, called “Phasma”). This is one of the more action-heavy comics in this series, and features Phasma’s character through the eyes of one of her subordinates. I enjoy Phasma even more as a character now that I’ve seen the actress who plays her, Gwendoline Christie, in Game of Thrones.

5. Rose Tico

This comic was an emotional flashback to Rose’s past, before the events of “The Last Jedi.” It shows what a close relationship Rose had to her sister Paige, who is killed in the opening scenes of “The Last Jedi.” A lot of fans have been really unkind to the actress who plays Rose, which I think is terribly unfortunate. I love that Rose is not a Jedi or a soldier; she’s a mechanic who uses her skills to help the Resistance. There’s also a really moving scene in this comic with General Leia. It makes me sad all over again that Carrie Fisher didn’t get a chance to fully play the character in one more film.

4. Finn

Finn is another one of my favorite Star Wars characters, and I loved this story because it demonstrates what a compassionate heart Finn has, even back when he was forced to serve the First Order. There’s also some fun little character moments in this one too.

3. Kylo Ren

I always say that Darth Vader is my favorite Star Wars character, but I feel like it might actually be Kylo Ren (depending on what happens in Episode IX, of course). This story is all about Kylo living in Vader’s shadow, trying to live up to (and surpass) who Vader was. Of course, even though outwardly Vader looks like a villain, he struggles against the pull to the light — just as Kylo himself does.

2. Supreme Leader Snoke

This comic is arguably the most important when it comes to predicting what themes Episode IX may address. In this story, Snoke trains a young Kylo Ren, and we witness just how cruel and abusive Snoke is. I already found Kylo Ren to be a sympathetic character; I feel the movies do a good job showing how conflicted he is and how Snoke has tortured him. But this comic really drives home the point that there is still good inside Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. I believe Kylo will find redemption in Episode IX.

1. General Hux

While reading the Snoke comic was a more emotionally powerful experience, I enjoyed the Hux comic the most simply because it has some wonderfully snarky dialogue from the always-petty General Hux and an entertainingly sassy Kylo Ren. In fact, the screenshot I saw of this panel on Twitter was what immediately convinced me to buy this comic:

#Age of Resistance #Comics #Kylo Ren #sequel trilogy #Star Wars

0 notes

justanothercinemaniac · 7 years

Text

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #154 - The Jungle Book (2016)

Spoilers below.

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes. #419.

Format: Blu-ray

1) The respect for the original 1967 film is established IMMEDIATELY, both by the use of a hand drawn opening logo and by the fact that the opening score for this film is the opening score from the original movie. Right away director Jon Favreu and the rest of the filmmakers let the audience know that they’re aware of just exactly what this film is and the expectations it needs to meet.

2) Neel Sethi as Mowgli.

When you have a kid as your lead character, it is important that you establish them as an honest character and not just a trope/stereotype. Through the film’s writing and Neel Sethi’s wonderful performance, we get just that. Paired together they make Mowgli smart, funny, crafty, but still someone who has a lot to learn. He is simultaneously someone you should not underestimate and someone who should learn humility. Sethi portrays these things wonderfully, as well as Mowgli’s issue of identity. He’s not a wolf, he’s not really a man cub, he wants to stay in the jungle but he doesn’t know where he belongs yet. Or who he belongs with. This is an interesting conflict which will carry us through until the end of the film.

3) One of the ways this film improves on its predecessor is that it puts more stock into relationships other than Mowgli/Baloo. Bagheera takes more of an active role in Mowgli’s upbringing, meaning it’s harder for him to take him back. Mowgli’s wolf mother - Raksha - is seen as a more important influence in his life. He has wolf brothers, and even his later relationship with Baloo comes about more organically. It’s wonderful way to build off of the original while staying respectful of it.

4) Grey - Mowgli’s younger wolf brother - is a surprise scene stealer for the film.

(Screenshot grabbed from GIF set posted by @daredvils)

Another instance of a refreshingly honest kid who just warms your heart.

5) This was Garry Shandling’s final film performance as Ikki the porcupine (who’s picture I cannot find), after having worked with director Favreau on Iron Man 2.

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

Unfortunately Shandling would not live to see the release of this film. But as a final performance it is a nice summation of his humor and heart.

6) This film does a fine job of incorporating elements from the source material which were not in the 1967, which is able to not only make the tone a little darker but also give us a better sense of just how the order of things works. This is most notable with the Law of the Jungle, Peace Rock, and the Water Truce.

7) Idris Elba as Shere Khan.

Through the writing and his performance, Elba is able to take an already great villain from the original movie and make him even better. From the very first moment this tiger steps on screen you feel the danger he carries with him. His presence is bone chilling, heart stopping, and makes your stomach turn. Most of the original 1967 film went without Khan being seen, with his presence being felt throughout. This film makes it very clear why we should be frightened by this tiger and damn it if they don’t make him scary as hell. He’s a stand out character in a film filled with amazing characters, and I think Elba deserves a lot of the credit for that. His voice is just SO menacing it’s amazing.

8) I see a lot of movies. I’ve almost seen 500 in theaters in the past 8.75 years. I can usually tell when something is a special effect. I can usually see the seams. Yet with The Jungle Book - while I KNOW I’m looking at CG through and through - I don’t see that. I see no seams in this; I can’t tell where real life ends and the studio begins, even after I’ve seen the behind the scenes video. These are honestly some of the most impressive CGI effects I have ever seen and THAT is saying something. It is what helps make the film so effective. It doesn’t feel like a computer generated world. It feels like the jungle.

9) I think it is a smart choice having Mowgli decide to leave the pack. In the original film he can be a little passive. He just is taken from one situation to the other and rolls with it. In the 2016 version, however, he determines his own fate. He decides to leave the pack, he decides to go back and face Shere Khan, he is not as passive and that makes him more interesting.

10) Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha and is another example of the stronger relationships this film features. She also breaks my heart with what are meant to be her final words to Mowgli:

Raksha: “Never forget this: you’re mine. Mine to me. No matter where you may go or what they may call you...”

11) Ben Kingsley as Bagheera.

I discussed earlier how Bagheera's relationship with Mowgli comes off in this film than it did in the original, and Kingsley is able to portray that. Each line of dialogue is permeated with a constant care for Mowgli, expressed trhough a soft yet moving sorrow, the actions he takes for this boy, and at times angry concern. The Academy Award winner shines in the part and I don’t know that anyone else could portray Bagheera quite as well as he does.

12) If you’re not scared of Shere Khan yet, you will be. He is at his most threatening not when he comes barging in, growling and clawing at you. It’s when he’s calm. Collected. When he just sits at the top of the rock with Akeela and talks to him in a calm collected manner without ever actually looking at him. And then...

youtube

13) Scarlet Johansson as Kaa.

While only a brief appearance, Johansson is able to create a character who is chilling, frightening, and slick. It is a memorable character, switching out the humor from the original character to make one that is much more of a threat. The once peaceful “Trust in Me” is now turned into a dark and heart-pounding score as Kaa introduces some very useful exposition about Mowgli’s parentage and why exactly Shere Khan wants him dead. Again, a short scene, but a memorable one.

14) Bill Murray as Baloo.

As with the original, the life and humor in Baloo’s character are immediate. There is no topping the performance given by Phil Harris in the original, so Murray does the smart thing and doesn’t even try. Instead, he creates a much craftier Baloo than before. One who is defined by Murray’s signature sass and snark to create some incredibly funny moments. But there’s more to him than that. He is the first person to really accept Mowgli for who he is. For while Bagheera has seen it, Baloo is the first one to encourage him to be different. Mowgli has always felt bad about his “tricks” and not fitting in, and here comes Baloo who tells Mowgli he is amazing as is. It is from that solid bedrock that they are able to craft a relationship as strong as the one in the original film, one of respect and love and caring. Murray is able to play both sides of this: the con man and the loving friend. And the film is better for it.

15) This was the hardest I laughed when I saw this film.

Baloo [after three different small critters come up and comment on Mowgli constantly]: “You have never been a more endangered species than you are in this moment.”

16) Jon Favreu and Sam Raimi both cameo in this film as some of the critters which bother Baloo. Raimi is the squirrel and Favreu is the hog:

17) The inclusion of “The Bare Necessities” in this film is nice, I feel. The movie is not a musical, so Mowgli and Baloo aren’t supposed to be singing like they’re doing a big number. They’re just two friends rocking out to a song they like. Musical purists may find it painful to listen to because it’s clear they’re not classically trained, but I appreciate the honesty to it.

18) Baloo and Bagheera have a fun conflict which is established quickly in a nice banter. It’s fun then to see this conflict change to a friendship bonded over their shared concern over Mowgli.

youtube

19) I think the scene where Mowgli saves the young elephant is maybe the most important to understanding his character. He approaches a herd of elephants huddled around a pit - elephants being established as the most respected and dangerous creatures in the jungle - and after showing their respect he uses his “tricks” to save the child. It shows off Mowgli’s kindness, his ingenuity, and his bravery. And then he just says, “Hey guys,” when he sees that Baloo and Bagheera were watching like it was no big deal. Because to him it wasn’t. Someone was in trouble and he had to help. That’s who Mowgli is.

20) The scene where Baloo pushes Mowgli away breaks my heart. Because he KNOWS Mowgli needs to get away from Shere Khan to be safe, and the only reason Mowgli is sticking around (or at least the key reason) is because he wants to stay with Baloo. So what does Baloo do?

Baloo: “No, we were never friends.”

Baloo: “I don’t want you around anymore.”

And then after Mowgli runs away, he turns to Bagheera.

Baloo; “Well I did it. And that’s about the hardest thing I’ll ever do.”

Bagheera: “I know.”

21) Did I mention Baloo has some of the funniest moments in the film?

Baloo [while climbing a cliff side to get to Mowgli, after seeing a bird, laughing to himself]: “A bird! That can’t be a good sign!”

But the cliffside scene is also nice because Bagheera supports Baloo. He takes the time to let Baloo know he’s doing fine and that there’s not much more left. I love that.

22) Let’s take a second to appreciate this (keeping in mind King Louie is played by Christopher Walken): Mowgli finds a cowbell in Louie’s treasure hoard...

And then he shakes the cowbell...

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

Only for Christopher Walken to appear.

O_O

23) Christopher Walken as King Louie.

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

According to IMDb:

In The Jungle Book (1967), King Louie (who was created by Walt Disney_ and his people and not by Rudyard Kipling.) was an orangutan. In this film, he's a Gigantopithecus, an ancestor of the orangutan whose range is believed to have included parts of India. This change in species was made to make the film more fantastic, since it would be a good way to represent him as King of the Monkeys and to show that orangutans are not native to India.

Like Kaa, Louie’s comedy is swapped out to make him more villainous. And it works amazingly. He is more frightening and foreboding, with Walken able to make the villain truly scary. His greed (found in the original film) and desire for power is amplified even greater, and he participates in one of the greatest action set pieces the film has to offer when he chases Mowgli through the ruins (inducing even a jump scare at one point). The one issue I have is that the presence of “I Wan’na Be Like You” always felt off to me. It is one of the most iconic songs from the original, but this is not a musical. Mowgli and Baloo were singing before just as friends do, but Louie pretty much breaks into song. I appreciate it’s presence in the movie but it just feels strange to me HOW it’s included.

24) Mowgli claiming the red flower (fire) is a great way to start off the climax of this film.

It gives him a choice: he either becomes a “real” man - the kind that lives in the man village and strikes fear into the jungle’s inhabitants - or he choses to belong in the jungle and fight Shere Khan a different way. It ties directly into Mowgli’s conflict of identity and he choses the latter of the two options, throwing the fire into the water.

Shere Khan: “That was the stupidest thing you could have done.”

But it wasn’t, Shere Khan! Because what happens next? Baloo stands up to defend Mowgli first - reciting the Law of the Jungle - and everyone follows suit.

25) This line.

(Screenshot taken of a GIF originally posted by @anjelia3)

THIS is Mowgli’s conflict of identity resolved. He’s not a wolf, he’s not a panther, he’s not a bear, he’s not a monkey, he’s not a tiger, and the jungle has rejected man. But Mowgli has learned how to be a man that can live in peace with the jungle and be the best version of himself he can be.

26) The final fight between Mowgli and Shere Khan on the dead tree is a great climax. It is wildly claustrophobic and intense and shows off how Mowgli can beat Shere Khan in a battle of the minds more than a battle of strength.

27) I mentioned in my analysis of the original film I didn’t know how I felt about the ending, that Mowgli fought so hard to stay in the jungle but also had a conflict of identity and it played into the latter not the former. On the contrary, the way this film ends - with Mowgli finding his place in the jungle as a man - is a great way to resolve BOTH of those things. I personally prefer the ending of this film to the 1967 movie because of that.

The Jungle Book was one of my favorite films last year. I thought it was truly great. I think the effects knock it out of the park, Neel Sethi is incredible as our only human in the film, the voice cast kills it, and the story is just amazing. I love this film and recommend it to everyone, ESPECIALLY fans of Disney and the original book or film. I just love this movie.

#The Jungle Book #Neel Sethi #Bill Murray #Ben Kingsley #Idris Elba #Jon Favreau #Lupita Nyong'o #Scarlett Johansson #Christopher Walken #Garry Shandling #Epic Movie (Re)Watch #Movie #Film #GIF

155 notes · View notes