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#its genuinely some of the most fun ive had in a video game ever and creating content for it and talking about it has made me very happy
verflares · 28 days
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this all being said about the light dragon and how it is definitely the biggest highlight of totk (for me at least), i Do think a lot of the reaction to it Is dependent on botw and zelda's characterisation from that game... a lot of which is kind of lacking in totk because of her more passive role (e.g. you are told about her + see her actions after they have already happened)
like. if you didn't already really like zelda and were sold on her relationship with link (and not even just from a shipping zelink perspective, like. just UNDERSTANDING they have a strong bond from everything they've gone through together) then i'm not sure if any of that stuff in totk would've hit as hard as it did. the game does very little to build on what we already know about them, which i think is both a letdown to new players (which. i am not sure why they are playing the sequel before botw, but that is how totk acts most of the time lmao) and returning ones, and as time goes on it's become harder for me to blame people for not caring for it as much.
what a truly odd game
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xtcz · 1 month
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hi, new ish xtc fan here .. was wondering if you know thr best places to find like the most niche info about them? if that makes sense LOL theyve just been scratching the brain so good and ive read song stories but i want More .. hope its not weird to ask you this :[
it’s never weird to learn about xtc…….
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erm for some photos and song notes and interview transcripts chalkhills.org is my best best friend. they’re an old style fansite with tons of archived stuff, they also have tons of xtc guitar tabs 😁😁 optimismsflames.com is another old fansite i look for stuff on, they’re a little harder to navigate but still have a boatload of stuff up. those are places i go when i have a specific thing in mind mainly; a specific image i’m searching for or someone’s thoughts on a particular song. but they’re good to just browse too i’ve spent many an hour that way
they only have one traditional biography, chalkhills and children, written by chris twomey. it’s kind of surface level but also a really fun read for weird little stories & quotes. this book is a really good example of how xtc were not the average rock band in terms of drinking sex drugs etc but what they had going on was Considerably More Insane for other reasons mainly they are collectively 5 of the little fucked up freaks of all time
complicated game is another song book which you may not get much out of if you’ve already read song stories, but i think it’s a little more complete. i’ve heard a couple fans say that out of all the xtc books, complicated game is the best & has great insight into the music, specifically for musicians but for anyone 😁
gonna also link some documentaries and specials i loveee all free on youtube:
this is pop— documentary that came out in 2017. the only documentary ever made about xtc. corny and very low budget but soo lovingly made and genuinely so good if you love them. fits the tone of the band well. i’ve seen it so many times
xtc at the manor— tv special filmed while xtc were at the manor studios for single work for black sea, following the recording and mixing of an alternate for the generals and majors single. they all talk about their instruments and how they chose music as a pursuit, also day to day footage in and around the studio. this one is my utter beloved
xtc play at home— (in three parts, 1 2 3) a special from 1984, xtc talk about their music as well as their hobbies. there are also some very low budget and hard to find music videos for some of the songs off mummer. dave talks about his guitars. andy talks about his board games. colin talks about Fishing. i love this one
recording nonsuch at chipping norton studios— this is a 50 minute home movie type special following the rehearsal and recording of nonsuch. i’ve seen this one through less times than the other two i linked because nonsuch is erm. my least favourite of their discs sorryyyy but it’s still a really good watch and i know a lot of folks love nonsuch
dm me if you want interview links too or anything, i tried to keep this list to longer video stuff but they have so many good interviews too
ultimately i don’t know if any of this stuff is niche. it’s all out there free online. the path you take with your poking around and research is yours :^) but i do think there’s great stuff in everything here and hopefully you’ll find something that suits your fancy
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raisinchallah · 4 months
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you know working a 7 hour early close shift on christmas eve recently really made me so insane because its like wow the realization i think id genuinely enjoy and be able to survive food service long term if i was working shorter shifts because these 10 hours make me feel like barely a person at the end and like 7 hours my feet and back didnt even hurt the way they do after my regular shifts idk its this constant push and pull i find the actual work of the job a million times more satisfying and easy than working as a cashier at a sleepy store despite it being hard physical work on an insane time crunch where its actually funny ive loved like weird intense time pressure time management video games often themed around food making for a long time and i guess ive fully realized i actually enjoy it in reality as well but its like so many parts of the industry are just designed to chew you up and spit you out like in some ways working an understaffed 2 man line on a holiday lunch was kind of exhilarating that i managed to do it so well but like i made one fuck up at the end when all my energy was gone and the general manager who was waiting tables had to yell at me despite you knwo i did a really fucking good job the rest of the time and the chef defended me and said i did a good job but its like u do all that and u get nothing in return simply a return to normal you know no more money for doing something that insane one fuck up and its like none of it happened the fact its always so intentionally lightly staffed that people call out sick and ur utterly fucked and its abnormal for people to take breaks is just like this literally does not have to be like this.... but tbh with my insane sleep problems keeping me from early morning work and difficulty with social situations and that i simply come off as weird and off putting in a way that inhibits me getting a lot of jobs restaurant back of house jobs really do meet a lot of those criteria so idk maybe this really is how its gonna be for a long time.... tho of course other problem is the insane misogyny of kitchens lol coworker said this was the least misogynistic kitchen they'd ever worked at and yeah most of my coworkers are really good and respectful and thank god the management and my chef do not hate women lol but a lot of the random other cooks straight up do not even speak to me or make fun of random shit i do or dont listen to women who are literally their bosses lol and so i dont really know how id deal with that in a more serious way if i worked somewhere worse than this
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disasterdrvid · 7 months
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What are your top 10 video games?
Thank u @shift-shaping for the tag!
I'm tagging @localfruit @star--nymph @wardenrainwall @full---ofstarlight @perfectblve @sneklesbian @magic-space-games @notebooks-and-laptops and anyone else who wants/I may have forgot to tag <3
These aren't in any particular order tbh
Dragon Age: Origins
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Genuinely this game has some of the best writing in the series and really wants players invested in their characters as character origins intersect with the main plot. Inquisition was my first DA game but Origins rewired my brain chemistry.
2. Pokemon Soul Silver
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Not my first Pokemon game nor my most recent but it was the one that came at a pivotal moment in my life. Many weeks of coming home from middle school and ignoring my homework to run around in the game.
3. Stardew Valley
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Absolute classic and one I consistently go back to. Sometimes I need to turn off my brain and yearn for the mines.
4. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
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I was never a Zelda person growing up, but I picked up BotW this year in time to play TotK. Oh my god, this game made me cry multiple times with it's lovingly-crafted story. I love the act of exploration in this game and it's encouragement to find multiple solutions to the same problem. Truly one of the best games of the last decade.
5. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
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This game is such a mess and I love her dearly for it. It's character creation and leveling system is one of my favorite in any game and I'm very glad traces of it exist in Starfield (I'm not playing but my brother is and there's a lot of Oblivion love in it).
6. Cult of the Lamb
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A very fun gameplay loop and roguelike combat make this super fun to replay. I don't come here for in-depth story (I've compared it to Happy Tree Friends in that regard), but I love the cult creation and maintenance.
7. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
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Underrated game of all time. It shows it age and there's elements of the story that don't work great but dear god I love it and I'm forever sad no one plays it. Lots of Irish folk inspiration, which I think would draw more people if they knew that was there.
8. Baldur's Gate 3
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For context, I haven't actually been able to play but I've been consuming a lot of content for it so I know its up my alley. (My PC would explode bc I don't have the specs and it's not coming to Xbox for a bit 😭) But I love the characters and the DnD aspect so much.
9. Mass Effect
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I'm not huge on shooters but the first Mass Effect really drew me in with its story. Not a perfect game by any stretch. However, it still feels fresh and new even now.
10. Tetris
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Finally, original Tetris. Love me some shapes. First game I ever played because my mom had an old school Gameboy from before I was born that she handed down to me as a kid. Sadly can't play it on the original hardware (I still have it and it still runs!) because the screen is dogshit and I can't see, but luckily there's more places to play it now.
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fun asks for boredom: do you read books? have you been to the LIBRARY lately now that it’s open again? do you want book recs? (bc im full of them PLS) - if not books, what are you doing with your free time? tv video games movies? what’s occupying your thoughts, what are you obsessed with right now? wanna infodump on anything? or vent? i want to listen :D
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ive been a few times! i love the work area at my local library bc its always quiet and its got really nice views, so i visit it a lot. but im not a big reader tbh. im dyslexic and a lot of books are just too hard to get through unless theyre digital and i can change the font to something thats easier to parse which not all books/apps/websites let you do. and anybody who says the built in tts systems that these apps have are good enough, are lying to themselves. so most of the time when i buy/burrow a book its usually just a reference book of some kind.
and on that note, this is a Big reason i dont read a lot of comics, that crowded faux handwritten font a lot of them use is hellish for me to try and parse.
and its a bit of a joke amongst my friends that if im not actively making something im probably yakking on deaths doormat, lmao. right now im mostly into writting and doing digital paintings, but spinning and crochet are old favorites
and like, right now my biggest obsession is dnd, i love dming and the more role play focused sand box campaigns. and before anyone points out that theres better systems for role play focused games, i know, i actually like how janky dnd is on this front because it gives both sides of the table way more freedom to do what feels right.
like This is my rant, letting the players Genuinely argue through their character to try and get something done is Way more interesting than just making them role 1 die and do some math.
like, theres this one moment in the first campaign i ran for my best friend that i keep coming back too.
she had accidentally (on her part, this was my plan all along) traded away a mcguffin to the absolute last person she would want to have that.
when Summer(the npc) came to collect the mcguffin from Shiana(the pc) i Could have had zen(my bff) role 1 d20 and add shiana's persuasion modifier to it. and just on a role of the dice i could have decided where this litteraly game ending mcguffin would land.
if Summer gets it an eternal summer would ravenge the world. but her brother in law would be given more time with his family and a chance at survival.
if he didn't Shiana's brother in law and close friend was more likely to... not die, but also not exist anymore. but her holding onto it gave her time to maybe save both him and the world.
by not basing this on a dice role shiana got to Argue with this fairy to try and get her way out of this deal. zen got the experience of him arguing right back and trying just as hard as she was to get the damn thing.
and because she couldn't just role to persuade him they ended up having one of the most intense fights while she was Running For Her Life because she, Zen and shiana, not a trick of luck, royally pissed off the embodiment of Summer. she got to call on the power of both gods she had a connection to and nearly died from overwhelming herself with their power in a desperate bid to buy herself some time.
because we weren't using any strict rules for this, or really Any rules, we were able to tell a story that was much more engaging than one dice roll ever could be.
like, tldr, dnd Is good for role play because its Very easy to just ignore the clunky/underdeveloped rp rules when needed.
also dnd has tieflings. i like tieflings. think theyre Real Neat.
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arealcrow · 2 years
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i was tagged by @sickburnsides
1. Why did you choose your url?
well. i am a crow. :>
2. Any side blogs?
i have an oc sideblog that needs some work still lol, ive been lazy
3. How long have you been on tumblr?
september marked a decade of me being on this site 💀
4. Do you have a queue tag?
uh i think its just #queue ? i havent used it much lately since im always online lately
5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?
i think people i was rping with on forums were moving here? my original blog started as an rp blog
6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp?
i like space and nasa has cool pics <3 i have my twitch layout mostly based off of nasa pics as well
7. Why did you choose your header?
same answer! its another nasa pic
8. What’s your post with the most notes?
on my old blog i think it was an rvb edit, on this one i think its? probably a selfie or post abt video games
9. How many mutuals do you have?
my dash is.. mostly mutuals..
10. How many followers do you have?
152
11. How many people do you follow?
146.. i genuinely need to follow more people my dash is a little dead
12. Have you ever made a shitpost?
not intentionally but like. whats a text post on this website if not a shitpost
13. How often do you use Tumblr each day?
too much 😒
14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?
ive been on this website for a decade of Course ive had a fight with someone on here
15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?
bye! absolutely not!
16. Do you like tag games?
its good clean internet fun
17. Do you like ask games?
yes but i have executive dysfunction so rip my ability to complete them
18. Which of your mutuals do you think is Tumblr famous?
genuinely a good few of them, i think its really funny. i have a tag for when my mutuals' posts come across my dash
19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?
wouldnt you like to know, weather boy
(yes lol for going on almost two years now <3)
hmm lets see im gonna tag @bjorktrampstamp , @chrismcshell , @mutedtrumpeterswan , @november-narwhal , and @4413 :3
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onyxoverride · 3 years
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Im still sitting here, thinking about Twitch Streamer! Zeke. He gets really, really hypercompetitive even if it’s one of those really complex first person shooter games or a challenge with a wholesome game. Its pretty self explanatory when it comes to ranked games but for wholesome games... maybe maximizing profits in a farming game like Stardew Valley or a speed run of who can make the most aesthetically pleasing island in Animal Crossing between him and his twitch friends in a set amount of time. They’d stream for a set amount of time so their audiences get to see their progress (twitch streamer!Pieck wins every time and he’s always salty about it. Swears that they should have blind judging. They do and Pieck still wins).
I can see him also doing a lot of strategy and skill games that require a lot of skill honing. He’s ridiculously good at shooting games from years of COD and the like. I can see him doing Pokemon nuzlockes and gets super attached to his team. He computes his chances and researches everything so they all survive, cocky and a bit too confident. He even shows off the spread sheets he’s made and he’s way too proud of them. He gets so mad when he gets KO’d by some attack that was less likely to happen. One time, he had to take a long break and end his stream early after his starter died. He’s known for his contained rage and rants about how things were supposed to go HIS way, not some numbers programmed into this machine box. (It goesnt help that he throws back his head and groans with that deep voice of his 😳)
But he’s chill too. He plays Animal Crossing noncompetitively and just chats with his, um, chat. He even tries out some games his chat tells him to. I don’t think he’ll play very story heavy games but his chat loves his blunt and dry comments about the plot and the in-game logic. His chat once convinced him to play Hatoful Boyfriend and you can see him visibly TORTURED by the plot and its nonsensicalness but his audience LOVES it (“how does a bird be a waiter? Hm? First of all, he had no hands to do labor such as handle and send out orders, second, isNT THAT A HEALTH VIOLATION?! Like it or not, birds can carry pathogens harmful to humans- I would never go to this cafe.”). But another bird related game he actually enjoyed was Untitled Goose Game. He loved the chaos he brought the townsfolk while his little goose had a little cute bow on. He never extends his stream but does it JUST for Untitled Goose game.
He does give in and goes for games like What Remains of Edith Finch and while his audience knows him to be this cynical, realistic, blunt man, he showed that he had a sensitive side to him as well. He’s not a dick when it comes to sensitive material and acts serious and does a little PSA of what he knows and encourages everyone to do more reseach on sensitive topcs. His audience can at least rest easy that he’s not one of those assholes.
He shows off this more soft, sensitive side when his s/o drops by. They know when he gets kind of worked up from a game while in stream so they just bring him coffee or a lil snack to brighten his spirits. Chat goes ‘huh’ when they see Zeke smile genuinely for once, saying “Thanks for the coffee, sweetheart. Just what I needed.” in a really sweet tone thats a far cry from his usual demeanor. He immediately recovers and does another round of whatever it was he was playing. He gets boastful when you bring him up a slice of his favorite cake, telling the chat “if you guys would hate on me, hate on me for scoring the jackpot in romance. I have the best damn s/o in exsistence, it should be illegal. Illegal.”
He gets carried away once, wanting a kiss after you’d bring him his coffee for the stream. For a split second, you show up in frame and the chat goes nuts, asking if they could finally meet you. Zeke has fun with this, teasing his chat with stuff like, “oh? Please, you wouldn’t be able to handle how gorgeous they are.” and “you’d all combust in front of your screens from how hot they are.”. It’s really more on if you’re comfortable showing your face to his stream and he respects your decision. He’ll happily tease his chat about it going, “wow, a lot of you are s*mps for my s/o and you’ve literally only seen their hands and maybe their hair- you guys got it bad.” But does address it seriously if it gets out of hand.
When you do agree and show yourself, Zeke has you sit on his lap, a hand on your thigh and another one on your waist. It was like he was boasting some sort of trophy while you wave shyly to chat and how enthusiastic they are to finally meet you. You appear in some other streams, playing with him in competitive games sitting next to each other. Chat expects him to snap at you or something but he takes any defeat with grace, a slight frown on his face but will smile widely as you taunt him jokingly. There’s this one playstation co-op game i cant remember the name of where you have to use the same controller to win. It’s just a light hearted stream of the two of you egging on the other for not reacting fast enough or complaining about how bad the other is. Chat gladly becomes third wheel as enjoy yourselves. Truly one of twitch’s solid couples.
Scrolling up and seeing the amout ive written is disgusting (bc i sent this in as an ask) feel free to delete im just here to share with with u 👉👈🥺
Pls never be disgusted with how much you send, I love getting asks like these because it's obvious you're enjoying yourself and I love that!!
I can imagine you bringing him coffee and he stands up to hide your face a bit and kiss you but he kisses you a bit to long and too heated so you say "Dont do that, you'll get me riled up" and he goes red because "babe that mic can still hear us..."
Even though it's a bit embarrassing you laugh, "Well now they know you're good at other things besides video games," you leave him with a kiss.
When he goes back to streaming he's red as hell and scratching his ear a bit, completely flustered as he tries to continue nonchalantly and ignore the chat for a second.
He does fawn over you on stream. Chat asks about you and he's immediately looking a little softer, more in love. Teases them, "I don't know, maybe i want to keep them for myself, my little secret."
If they ever get go meet you it's a whole event, Zeke teasingly hypes you up and the chat goes crazy because wow, you're beautiful. He's like "This is my beautiful wonderful secret now not-so-secret significant other!"
Then you start playing together or him coaching you through. Which gets frustrating because he tries to be in control and you just got to say "Zekey I know you love to be in control but if you try to backseat game me like that I will hurt you," and he backs off and says sorry.
Chat teases him for being called "Zekey" and even his Streamer friends tease him but he's like "only they can call me that."
If he ever meets pushy fangirls that are bound to go "Zekey!" Even though he's made it clear only you can call him that he immediately is eyebrow raised, "who are you talking to? And don't flirt with me." Very blunt about it.
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johannesviii · 3 years
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Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2020
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You know, when I finished my latest list and realised every decade had the same pattern and that we were slowly going towards a series of great years for pop, I didn’t realise how good that year would be.
What’s at the top? Am I boringly predictable because I already said I loved that song all the way back in January 2020? Let’s find out.
Disclaimers:
Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.
Of course there will probably be stuff in French somewhere on this post. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.
My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.
I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.
So. Uh. How was your 2020?
Mine was actually surprisingly good, considering. I’m lucky enough to have a job that I can partially do from home, and I was extremely paranoid from the get-go and nobody got sick under this roof so far. Turns out I’m even better at my job from home and I got permission to work from home one day per week even after the health crisis is over! My first name was also finally officially approved and I can’t tell you how happy I feel about that. I almost feel bad to have had such a good year considering the circumstances. I feel like an asshole just because I’m happy, haha.
The only frustrating part was that I was supposed to see Hatari in concert in Paris in early April which, as you can guess, was cancelled. I’m not too mad about it though, since their tour was called “Europe will crumble” and the message saying the tour was cancelled started with “since Europe is actually crumbling due to Covid-19″ and that’s hysterical.
Good or interesting albums that came out in 2020 now, let’s see.
Nightwish released Human/Nature, which was a huge letdown compared to their previous album, but I will relisten to it at some point to make sure I wasn’t just in a bad mood that day.
The Birthday Massacre released Diamonds, which might be their weakest album since their debut, but contained some real gems (I listened to The Last Goodbye on a loop, it floored me. Flashback and Enter are also very good).
The 1975 released Notes On A Conditional Form, and let’s be real, it’s a f█cking mess. You could cut half the tracks and end up with an excellent album, but as it is it’s like, yes, a collection of notes ; however there’s some truely excellent shit on it (see unelligible songs).
Thanks to a friend on a discord server I was exposed to Dorian Electra’s music and I haven’t been quite the same ever since. I’m so happy to be alive to see other enbies making such great music with an insanely good aesthetic surrounding it and asking so many interesting questions about gender. Also the arc the ‘gentleman’ character goes through over the course of the entire tracklist of the 2020 My Agenda album is absolutely hilarious, don’t @ me.
I also discovered 100 Gecs this year. Why are most of you guys saying it’s unlistenable garbage. It’s just as abrasive and over the top as industrial music is, but with none of the edginess or drama. I love it. What the hell. But yeah Tree of Clues was released this year. Good.
Speaking of industrial, in March 2020 Nine Inch Nails were like “hey remember when we released Ghosts I-IV a decade ago entirely for free and how amazing that was? Well we’re all in lockdown and bored as hell so here’s Ghosts V-VI and it’s also free. Enjoy” and I f█cking died instantly. And it’s even better than I-IV. What the hell was that year
Jonsi released Shiver. It’s strange and highly experimental. I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing I was into hyperpop this year, otherwise going from his previous material straight to this album would have been brutal.
Yadda yadda yadda After Hours by the Weeknd good yadda yadda.
I’ve joked about that already but if you had told me in 2019 that 2020 would have fires, a pandemic, riots, monoliths appearing and disappearing, and also a super good Machine Gun Kelly album, guess which part I would have found the most ridiculous. But yeah uh. Tickets to my Downfall good
So uh this year I tried to listen to some hyperpop and liked it a lot, and I also dipped my toes timidly into screamo and listened to Svalbard, who released When I Die this year, and the entire album was a very beautiful, very intricately decorated punch to the face. It sounds like God Is An Astronaut except with a shit ton of yelling. I love it. Open Wound is my favorite track on it.
But no, despite all of this, my album of the year was from a band I had never even heard about before that year, called Spanish Love Songs. The album is titled Brave Faces Everyone and it’s line after line after line of extremely relatable generational angst but yelled with complete sincerity and it’s so propulsive and energetic you can’t help but feel both exhausted and ready to fight the entire universe. I don’t know how it works, but it’s incredible. The entire album is wonderfully brutal, so it’s kind of difficult to pick my favorite songs on it, but Beachfront Property and the title track stand out.
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Unelligible songs, now, and there’s, uh, quite a few of them too so I’m also gonna use bullet points. Good lord this post is gonna be long.
First, let me say I have literally no idea why Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus wasn’t a bigger hit. It’s not on the year-end US top 100 and it feels extremely wrong. Would have made it to #4 on this list otherwise.
I still entertain the vague hope that stuff from Machine Gun Kelly will chart higher in 2021 but I doubt it will happen so I might as well tackle it now and say that Bloody Valentine and especially Forget Me Too are both excellent and that it’s a shame radios aren’t playing them more often.
Heaven by the late Avicii featuring Coldplay should have charted in 2019 and still didn’t chart in 2020 and that’s a real shame.
If the world was a bit less unfair, Lovesick Girls by Blackpink would have been a hit rather than the awful Ice Cream.
One day I will stop complaining about my bafflement concerning the lack of mainstream pop charts success of The 1975. Today is not that day. I just love how they keep making songs about extremely awkward relationships full of weird details, and I haven’t grown tired of that yet. So yeah If You’re Too Shy is about a guy who’s crush is asking him to get naked on Skype in his hotel room and he’s, uh, not too sure about that idea.
And Me & You Together is about a guy who never finds the right moment to tell his best friend he’s in love with her, and he manages to do so at the end and it’s cute as hell. My fave part is “I'm sorry that I'm kinda queer / It's not as weird as it appears / It's 'cause my body doesn't stop me (Stop me) / Oh, it's okay, lots of people think I'm gay / But we're friends, so it's cool, why would it not be?”. Relatable as f█ck.
And now for an international hit that should have been bigger in the US and/or in my country but wasn’t: Head & Heart by Joel Corry and MNEK.
I’ve heard Nos Célébrations by Indochine extremely often on French radio for months now so I was very surprised to see that it didn’t crack the local year-end list. What happened.
I can finally hear the appeal of Bring Me The Horizon. It took me ages. And also Death Stranding. The song Ludens isn’t in the game per say, but it’s among the ones you can pick to broadcast briefly when people drive by your constructions, and long story short it's been living rent-free in my head for months now.
Phew.
It’s time for a round of Honorable Mentions for elligible songs, containing a couple of guilty pleasures, which is saying something considering the kind of shit I put on some of my previous lists.
Ne Reviens Pas (Gradur et Heuss l’Enfoiré) - Heuss is a French artist that kept baffling me while making my lists for the previous years, and I was like “??? ok, that’s it then, I guess I’m getting too old to get what teenagers find funny”. This one worked for me, though. And the music video doesn’t hurt. Really dumb and really fun.
Adore You (Harry Styles) - Perfectly good little pop song, very pleasant to listen to, never outstayed its welcome for me.
Mood (24kGoldn) - This doesn’t sound like a very good relationship, my dude, but that’s still a super pleasant song.
WAP (Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion) - This song is absolutely hilarious and I will hear no argument from any of you.
Control (Zoe Wees) - Was clearly a hit here. Should have been even bigger though. What a powerful but comfy voice. If I had better taste it would be on the list.
Hot Girl Bummer (Blackbear) - I. Uh. Listen. I keep saying I have bad taste and nobody believes me. Do you believe me now. But yeah. “F█ck you, and you, and you~, I hate your friends and they hate me too” is gonna pop in my head every single time someone is being a jerk anywhere near me now. It’s been happening all year already. Someone trashed my documents at work? Someone isn’t wearing a mask in public? That guy has filled his car with rolls of toilet paper? Brain goes “F█ck you, and you, and you~”. Every. Single. Time.
Come & Go (Juice WRLD & Marshmello ) - Damn, that’s a pretty good little song. I’ve seen plenty of people saying it’s ruined by the drop, but may I remind you I’m the person who loves Blue by Eiffel 65 with all my heart. If the song was ramping up consistently until the end instead of ending like that, it would have made the list, definitely.
And now, the actual list. This one actually feels pretty solid, I genuinely like everything on it, there’s no filler here for once.
10 - The Box (Roddy Rich)
US: #3 / FR: #23
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Now this is a weird case, because for the longest time I couldn’t figure out why this song was so popular and I was completely neutral about it. Then, one morning in September, my mental jukebox (which always, always puts a song on a loop in my head when I wake up) decided to play it. And I was like oh wow?? I never noticed the atmosphere in that song before? It’s so great. And that hook too. Let’s listen to it.
So yeah, I don’t know what happened. It just clicked one day and everything fell into place, I guess.
9 - Alane (Wes & Robin Shulz)
US: Not on the list / FR: #93
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Come on. You can’t do a remake of one of my previous #1 songs and let it chart in 2020. That’s cheating. Even with this subpar drop, I have to put it on the list, now.
I’ve already said my piece about the original, so I’m just going to send you back to my 1997 list.
8 - Kings and Queens (Ava Max)
US: Not on the list / FR: #76
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[BBC documentary voice] After Lady Gaga decided to make piano balads and left her musical niche vacant, Ava Max quickly took her place as the top predator pop diva. Even after Lady Gaga was re-introduced to her natural habitat in 2020, she still hasn’t fully recovered in Europe, where Ava Max still reigns supreme on the charts -
(tldr I think it’s hilarious that this isn’t on the US Billboard while Lady Gaga isn’t on the French year-end top 100)
7 - Roses (Saint Jhn & Imanbek)
US: #19 / FR: #3
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What an earworm. It doesn’t even bother trying to have an intro or an outro, so it loops almost perfectly. It’s like entering a party that started long before you arrived, and it will go on long after you leave it to go back home. Kind of hypnotic in a way.
And yes, my mental jukebox was very fond of using it to wake me up this year, so this is another song that’s here almost solely because of that.
6 - Physical (Dua Lipa)
US: Not on the list / FR: #69 (hehehe)
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“Hey I’m not that old” says the guy who’s definitely a sucker for this kind of retro throwback that was so popular this year. Oh well.
I don’t have anything interesting to say about this one, though. Apart from the fact that everyone seems to have a different fave song on that album. Guess that’s quality for you.
5 - Rain on Me (Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande)
US: #48 / FR: Not on the list
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That is far from being Lady Gaga’s best song, but it was a joy to listen to everytime it was on the radio anyway. Also Ariana Grande has surprisingly good chemistry with Gaga! This year was full of strange duets mostly made for commercial reasons, and this one isn’t an exception, but unlike a lot of them, it really, really works.
4 - Dynamite (BTS)
US: #38 / FR: Not on the list
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I’m still not 100% sold on k-pop even if a ton of it sounds super good, but come on. Even if some bits of this song (especially the beginning of the second chorus) sound a bit like they were made on autopilot, it still sounds just as happy and fun several months after I first heard it and I never got tired of it. That’s quality. You hear it and you can’t help but tap your feet and smile.
Actually, I’m sure there’s people somewhere that don’t smile when they hear this song. And they must be avoided at all costs.
3 - Godzilla (Eminem ft Juice WRLD)
US: #62 / FR: Not on the list
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What are you doing so high on this list, old man. Why are you still here in the year 2020. I thought we left you in the previous decade. Who gave you the right.
I’m gonna tell you who did, and it’s actually Juice WRLD. Because that chorus is incredible, and like a lot of people I’m pissed off because the guy died super young and this shit shouldn’t happen to anybody. No, his early material wasn’t great, but I’m sorry I’m gonna say it again: have you heard this damn chorus? It’s suspenseful and dark, it’s got this lowkey menacing quality, it’s an earworm and a half, and it’s more convincing in like six lines than Eminem’s own flexing is in the entire song.
The beat is extremely good as well, and the flow, obviously, impressive. The weakest link is Eminem’s writing, which is as usual full of puns and weird wordplay, except here a lot of it isn’t great, and that last ultra fast part at the end is technically impressive but it also drives the song up a cliff and stops it dead in its tracks once it’s over. But frankly the lines fly by so fast it’s difficult to be too annoyed by them.
Can I sincerely put this extremely flawed song so high on my list? A better question would be “did I spend hours trying to learn how to sing this shit without choking on my own spit?”. The answer is yes. To both.
2 - Heartless (The Weeknd)
US: #28 / FR: Not on the list
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I’ve said it on my 2015 and 2016 lists already, but just for the record I’ll say it again: it took me ages to like The Weeknd, mostly because I found most of his songs fairly boring, or disliked the lyrics, or both. Also I never really liked the general vibe of his “sexy” songs like The Hills, they felt dark but in an unpleasant creepy way. Felt like miserable hedonism, if that makes sense.
So, because I’m a person with extremely consistent and logical tastes, here’s the exact same shit he was making before, except that this time I absolutely adore it.
What is he doing differently that makes the whole After Hours album click for me whereas almost all of his previous material failed to do so? Is it the energy? Is it the reverb? Is it the fact that the narrator sounds properly unhinged and, frankly, scared to be spiralling out of control? Why are the colors so beautiful yet full of anxiety? Why is that bridge so fantastic? How can you make your voice look like a glowstick in the dark?
I give up. I have no clue. At least I’m done talking about-
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Oh.
1 - Blinding Lights (The Weeknd)
US: #1 / FR: #1 (listen sometimes something’s just that good, ok)
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Surprise. Or not.
Wow, look at that, Johannes has put this year’s number one pop song at number one on their personal playlist. The audacity. The edge. What a hot take.
I discovered that song when it first came out at the end of 2019 and I adored it instantly. And I was so scared it wouldn’t be a hit. Which means I’m a f█cking dumbass considering it ended up breaking all sorts of records in 2020. But what can I say, overplay can be a blessing when you love a song that much.
Like every single song I put at number one on one of my lists, I will draw this one at some point and you will understand how incredibly satisfying it is to listen to a song called Blinding Lights, talking about city lights looking blurry when you’re driving at night, while looking itself like a bunch of blurry city lights passing by super fast. Perfect in every way.
Also it sounds exactly like A-ha, and that never hurts.
See you next year! Pretty sure it will be even better music-wise.
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fizzysquish · 4 years
Note
I'd really like to hear about your opinion on the ahit fandom if youre ok with sharing? love your writing by the way!!
Oh wow I actually didn't expect anyone to wanna know yifhfkhck
And thank you!
Alright this is.. Gonna be long and most likely have some spelling errors every now and then but bear with me.
Tw- talk of pedophilia, swear words
Tldr at the very bottom
The ahit fandom..
...sucks
But also doesnt? Its kind of hard to explain. In general, if you just glance at the fandom it will either come across as pure or as a shit show. This fandom has some serious problems.
This fandom has a lot of drama happy people in it. Im not going to name names or anything, cause there's no point, but it does. A single scroll through the tags will tell you that much. And this isnt me saying 'people can't have opinions' or what have you. What im saying is that there are people in this fandom who live just to stir up drama and make others angry.
Or, in a lot of cases, instead of just saying a persons opinion, they'll swear up a storm and say they hate certain people or call certain types of fans 'the problem with the fandom' and like.. That just makes you sound like an asshole honestly. And it hurts people, too.
(And nobody can tell me it doesn't. Ive had to reassure too many venting and upset friends because of it. It hurts people.)
Also, because you know I have to mention this and it fits perfectly after this first paragraph- subcon. Snatcher.
I legitimately do not understand why some people hate snatcher so much. And I also cannot understand why some people will specifically target snatcher fans at times.
Snatcher is a big comfort character for a lot of people. Wether its for personal reasons (ex- mine is because of my own past dealing with abuse and trauma), or if its just because they make someone happy.
Snatcher is a comfort character, and the whole story surrounding subcon is so so interesting and fun to explore? And so what if people enjoy it? I can understand that it can get frustrating seeing so much of it, especially if you like something else, but that is no reason to target snatcher fans (or.. Any fans in general) and/or make people feel bad for having fun.
Fuck, thats how you make people leave the fandom entirely. I understand it can get frustrating, but just.. Try to be nicer? Try not to make people feel bad for having fun? Please?
And before anyone tells me "it's not about that!", i want to point out that I often see posts like "don't let the snatcher fans see this-" and other things along that.
If you want me to believe its not about that, prove it. Cause as far as i can tell, it certainly is.
(Also as a note- who cares is someones thirsty??? Like
Just block them and avoid if it bugs you so much?? It's not that hard dude)
-THIS PARAGRAPH MENTIONS PEDOPHILLIA, SKIP IF NEEDED-
Another serious thing to mention is the pedophilia in this fandom. Feel free to skip this part  if it makes you uncomfortable, but its something i need to talk about.
There are pedophiles in this fandom. Ive seen the art and the fics (no matter how many times i scrub my eyes, because its disgusting and horrible and just- eugh-). There are pedophiles here and its easy to come across them because they just.. Aren't afraid to post in main tags. People follow them. People support them. Granted, not everyone, and generally most people know to avoid em, but they're still there. They havent been kicked out or ostracized. And it disgusts me.
I know this whole paragraph could be argued that "that doesn't represent the fandom!" Or whatever but.. This is a younger audiences welcome game guys. Its advertised as 'the cutest 3d platformer!'. Kids can and do play this game.
There is pedophilia in this fandom, and i feel its important to mention.
-END OF PARAGRAPH-
Also, some people in this fandom just.. Suck. Plain and simple. Some people in this fandom are just genuine assholes. And said asshole just like harassing others and causing problems. There's a literal shit ton of drama and problems with this fandom, and honestly it's.. So dumb??
This is literally just a video game and people are just having fun. If there's a problem, treat it like a grown up and either ask the causes to stop and why, or block and move on. Simple.
Now lets move onto the good parts of this fandom, yeah?
First of all- there are some serious sweethearts and amazing people in this fandom. While there are some that suck, there are more that are actually just here for a good time and to make good content.
Ive met some of the nicest people ivs ever known thanks go this fandom. Ive created friends who I seriously consider family. And most people ive talked with or even just ran across have been pretty cool.
This fandom is also generally very welcoming to new people (minus the assholes), ive noticed. Some people get into it really easily just because eveyones generally friendly and supportive. Which is always great!
Also, the fanworks people in this fandom create. Can i just talk about how fucking talented people are??? Its pretty amazing to see how people create things for this fandom.
People will take the story that gears for breakfast showed and they'll run with it, and create these amazing au’s and stories and 'what ifs' from it. Its just.. So amazing to watch people use what we've been given just weaved it into something.
(And this isnt even going over the mods and the stories those create, which always amaze me.)
So with all that laid out, do i think the fandom good or bad?
...i think its both.
The fandom itself has some serious problems in it. It gets unnecessary drama nearly every other month or so for no reason. There are some truly disgusting people and some absolute assholes, but the majority of people are actually pleasant, fun to be around, and welcoming. As long as you be careful of who you follow and use critical thinking skills, its not so bad.
Im not going to lie to someone and say it's all honkey dory. In this fandom, you will inevitably interact with either a creep, an asshole, or both at some point. There is a likely chance that you will have your feelings hurt in some way in this fandom. Ive see it, ive heard about it, ive experienced it.
All that being said, if you curate your viewing, follow people that seem/are cool, and use the block feature (don't. Debate it, if youre unsure about someone just block em)... Its a very fun fandom filled with both heartfelt creations and memes, and has plenty of potential new friends.
So its both good and bad, yeah.
Tldr-
Fandom has lotsa issues but overall is fun, just make sure curate your experience for yourself and dont let what drama pops up or what assholes say get to you.
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bmpmp3 · 3 years
Text
watch out it’s time for a review nobody asked for for whatever game i just beat but this time it’s the time travel edition, this post is a period piece: I beat FFXV!!! I bought a used copy with my PS4 all the way back in like 2017, the royal upgrade wouldn’t be out for a long while, the prompto dlc was out and I think the gladiolus dlc was on the horizon, thats the time in which i began playing this video game and thats the time i had been suspended in for the past three years, so i need you to understand thats the context of which I beat this game 20 minutes ago and thats why everything im about to say is probably gonna sound like rehashed criticisms from when it launched so im gonna need you to pretend its 2017 for me please dbkjasdfhbjsKDFJKDSANa ANYWAY spoilers for ffxv under the cut
it was alright lol
when i first got it i really adored it and it was so much fun and i played for Many Many Hours dsjhsfdjs I think the thing that drew me in, of all things, was the warp mechanic? I liked the combat even tho magic sucks so bad and while the summons are funny how they work (damn bro u suck so bad at this game the gods themselves needs to come help you out.....) its a shame the whole combat system feels a little shallow, like maybe if there were more skills or links or summons or hell more button combos,.... i dunno, i still adore the warp mechanic so much its so good i wish more games had things like it, it might also be one of the first modern open world games ive ever played?? wait holy shit......ffxv is the first modern open world game ive ever played................
anyway i knew going in the plot was one of the more criticized aspects and like yeah.....its borderline incomprehensible, too much important and relevant stuff happens in dlc i dont own and never played (i’ll probably check out some walkthroughs of em later tho), THE PACING oh baby the pacing
so like when i played it i played many hours and then i got to the endgame section where it gets really linear (i hear they changed stuff in the royal upgrade so its less so tho) i just stopped playing for three entire years until like a month ago hjkdsjfskfdsa its not that i dislike linearity!!! i actually love linearity, honestly i prefer it, like, the entire reason i stopped playing this game for three whole ass years was cause i burnt myself out on open world nonsense kdsjkfansjd modern open world games are mildly dangerous for me.. especially recently where the standout games ive played this year for me have been drakengard which was an evil video game yes but it was also very arcade-y and stage based design wise and genuinely i think thats underappreciated and has a lot of potential, and also flower sun and rain which is a chapter based point and click adventure game with sidequests but primarily linear, i dunno im always a slut for linearity
i dont remember what i was typing and unfortunately i dont know how to read so reading what i just wrote is out of the question but anyway i just kinda stopped at the part where shit goes down Very Suddenly and like all the plot is crammed in those last few chapters until like this month when i picked it back up again hrjfekdska and man i remember people telling me some of those later chapters suck ass and like......yeah......................OKAY IT WASNT THAT BAD.... i didnt mind most of it!!! but chapter 13 (noctis route, havent played the other one).... there was so many cool ideas being brought up and i liked the tone shift into a straight up psychological horror game BUT first of all this game needs to stop trying to get me to do stealth im not gonna do stealth if i wanted to do stealth id play a game with mechanics that lend itself well to that style of play and not ffxv
ffxv stop trying to make stealth happen its not going to happen
and SECOND of all they TOOK....AWAY....MY WARP......................MY WARP........................................................................................
some crimes can never be forgiven
jdlkfdsafs genuinely tho like it made me realize the warp is truly what makes this game fun for me, which is why im hesitant to play the dlc chapters myself and am probably gonna opt for a walkthrough instead, if i cant warp whats the point!!! let me zoom across the map bitch!!!!! what do you mean i have to run towards these enemies instead of slapping triangle at them... bicth im gonna kill you
there were lots of cool ideas and interesting story beats that maybe could have been good if they had been paced out better and not locked away behind unreleased dlc idfjkjlsjfks man and some of the late game environments are so COOL whadda hell....i do love the industrial fantasy vibe, maybe someday i should finally play ff7, yakuza like a dragon reminded me that maybe i do like turn based combat sometimes so i’ll try it out~
wait i got sidetracked anyway poor lunafreya, man...... like i love noctis and the boys so much but girl you can do better than him............girl he only has eyes for fishing trips with the boys... get u a man thats on ur level..... although i think this is a problem with a lot of stories where a love interest is absent for most of the story (and in lunafreyas case, dies two thirds of the way in jwhdksafsmnfdkms) all while the main character is hanging out with their pals, we end up spending all this time seeing the chemistry with the pals up close and personal all while noctis’s and luna’s relationship is told to us through prerendered flashbacks and also occasionally a notebook....give us a gf that can hang out with us video games....video games we need to hang out with out gfs
oh mild spoilers for a different jrpg Radiant historia, but i think the sorta romance between raynie and stock works really well just cause like shes with us!!! shes hanging out with us!!!!!!!! let us hang out with out gfs......
when i was younger and i first started playing it i was hoping the story would focus more on how fucked up it is that like gladiolus and ignis were like raised to be retainers............like imagine ur 2 and theyre like yo this baby? ur gonna advise him.....imagine ur like 3 and theyre like you gotta protect this baby with ur life..........................i dunno i think there coulda been some interesting interpersonal conflict over how theyre all still friends who love eachother but like the situation theyve all been raised in is NUTS.... i dunno they probably explained it away in the game lore somewhere i dunno i cant read fdssdfssfadsdsafsd i guess one of the biggest problems with the writing is honestly how messy all the themes get, like the game ur playing at the beginning is low key an entirely different story and it shows qwq i could not tell you what the thematic takeaway was by the end gomenasai
it does suck how fragmented and convoluted getting the story of this video game is, and this is coming from a fan of kingdom hearts.... like theres the game and the movie and also one chapter of the game with two routes and also all these dlc episodes and theres like that pixel game about nocts dad and there was the story in the demo and theres probably more i dont know about and like its one thing to have a multimedia project with lots of supplemental material but each thing needs to be fairly standalone yknow? like love live doesnt make you play the mobile game to understand the mangas jkfdsjdsfdasdf i dunno it was just too much and too fragmented in far too complex of a way for me (again, a kingdom hearts fan) to follow qwq
oh heres another compliment for the game tho, the photo mechanic? fantastic like more games should have auto photos that you get to look through, its so cute and fun, plus even tho the plot and pacing was a bit of a mess and some of the character development was incomprehensible i still cried at the end when noctis picks one of promptos photos to keep with him, and then in the credits when it shows you a bunch of photos you saved in order....i knew it was coming but it was so cute and good.....
oh also like.....two credits....two after credits scenes.......maybe more....imagine
oh man also it was getting a little rough after prompto disappeared so to kinda keep my spirits up and continue through the game without getting bored i played the rest of the game in the dorky chocobo festival outfit and lemme tell ya.....it adds a lot, 10/10, would recommend wearing it to the endgame, since the costumes show up in the cutscenes after the timeskip i was still wearing it and the shot of seeing grizzly 30 year old noctis with that stupid little hat.......i laughed so hard my dad came to check on me sfhkjdajfsldvfds i wasnt ready for it.....................
all in all ffxv as it stands without the royal upgrade or any dlcs is a decent, good but not fantastic game with some writing problems and some hit or miss gameplay mechanics but is still very fun (until they take your warp ability away) and has a lot of cool ideas and i liked it~
oh shit i just remembered a friend told me back in highschool (when i started the game) that the car gets flying abilities at one point......i never saw it fly.....ive been CONNED...IVE BEEN SWINDLEDwait i just googled it it was a side thing i never did lol i was hoping it would just randomly happen and i could fly my car to go kill ardyn tho........
edit: WAIT sorry i just remembered i had more things to say but also i need to sleep so they might be incomprehensible
- the fishing minigame slapped but only if you had the dlc that makes you never lose your tackle
- i know promptos like a clone or something but because of one of the early dungeons, the icy one, where that creature keeps stealing prompto cause she thinks hes her baby i thought it was leading up to a reveal that prompto was literally the kidnapped child of the boss of this dungeon hfskjdlfddsfdds
-i love most of the timeskip designs but prompto needs to shave that little beard off right this moment
- the timeskip was so fucked up imagine ur 20 and u wake up and ur 30 and then you die.......
-oddly enough i was weirdly fine with the fantasy audi and the fantasy vivian westwood and the fantasy cup noodles but the thing that did kinda throw me for a loop was at one point when i think ignis references the shining like all work and no play makes me a dull boy...... i cant stop thinking about fantasy steven king and fantasy kubrick
- playing as 30 year old noct tho, it did remind me of how nice yakuza 7 was with playing as 40 year olds....more jrpgs should let me be a grown man i like being a grown man it just feels nice
edit again: just woke up here’s some more things i wanna say
- i think another reason the last section of the game is a little meh is cause its all set at night or in dark areas and man.,....this game is Bad with dark areas lkfdsjds like i put the brightness as high as i can put it, i even adjust my tvs brightness and i STILL cant see SHIT!!!! bro turn the lights on.... basically never played at night unless the game made me cause it was so bad jfjskds plus there were so many cool environments like i mentioned before, but i cant see them qAq
- are rewrites a thing outside of warrior cats? like yknow when people write fanfic that are just like rewrites of the original property but like fixed lol i havent read one since i was like 10 and reading drawn to life rewrites (im sorry but the plot twist is bad) but i also havent really looked, i think ffxv could do well with some fan rewrites
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dbssh · 4 years
Note
*PLEASE* tell me more about Daniel...
OH MAN i dont know a lot about what to say im just!!!! thinking about him so much. i said that i wouldnt go too in-depth with him because hes supposed to be just for funsies but im stupid so! ive been sketching out something of a plot for him & fifteen nd them Bonding and Escaping The Evil Laboratory Together and ive just been thinking about them like. living together after its all over n trying to live a normal life even when theyre all like. fucked up. idk but!!! because im rambling im gonna go into a list of random facts so i can try to stay a lil organized.
for a bit, Daniel just has the big mouth on his face and he can't really speak with it for a lot of reasons, so Fifteen teaches him sign! at first he just learns fingerspelling and spells out every word, and thats fine for a bit! but once theyre out daniel prefers to use sign in public because he tries to cover his face and neck as much as possible, and speech just doesnt... feel all that natural or comfortable with the second mouth anyways, so they both end up learning a lot more!
after they get out, daniel very impulsively rips off his number, which is a peice of cloth (or something? idk) the doctor actually like, sewed onto his skin, so that was probably not a smart move on his part. but later he gets a tattoo around the scar. i havent decided what of yet, but yeah.
fifteen actually leaves hers on! shes okay with her name being a number because like, shes never had any other name and she doesnt really like. give a shit what people call her. so for her its just a fun little name tag!
before everything happened, Daniel used to play guitar! he gets back into it after they get out as a sort of stress relief/distraction. he's not great but thats not really what matters.
he gets back into fishing, too! he doesnt hunt anymore, and he never keeps the fish he catches, he just finds it calming. sometimes he just doesnt put any bait on the hook and he'll just sit there for like. hours. just chillin. being by the water is nice, too.
they tried living in an apartment in the city for a bit but the noise and all the people around was just. so overwhelming for daniel. he spent most of his time inside and didnt ever go anywhere or do anything unless he absolutely had to. so as soon as they had the money to they got a place further into the countryside, near a smaller town. i still havent really decided like, where the fuck they are but dont worry about it. maybe like the midwest or the south or something. idk
fifteen gets into puzzles and video games! she finds an old console and absolutely slams through all the games she can get her hands on. she loves turn-based strategy games and also minecraft :D. she also eventually learns about online shooter games like overwatch and tf2 and. she is so fucking good at them. gamer gf.
fifteen is also super hyped to learn about fashion!!! she didnt wear clothes in the facility because she didnt have any and didnt see the need for any because she doesnt have like, boobs or anything. but when she learns that clothes can just be worn because theyre colourful and fun? she goes ham. she loves big long skirts and colourful t-shirts and anything brightly coloured. never shoes tho, she doesnt like them.
that said her fashion isnt like. good persay. yknow that post about how femmes all dress like miss frizzle? she does that but with slightly less coordination.
daniel doesnt have good fashion sense either sjdbdhdh hes a redneck butch at heart. genuinely owns at least one pair of camo cowboy boots, 90% of his wardrobe is denim.
their house is very sparsely decorated but at the same time very odd. like the few things they have are all things that they really, really liked and since neither of them have Normal or Good taste, they have some very uh. questionable decorations. basically just scroll thru shiftythrifting for a while and u will understand the vibe.
neither of them have cell phones. not for any real reason just. they dont have anyone to call. they dont need or want social media. if they really need something they can use the computer or the landline.
fifteen is very monotone with a pretty non-expressive face and she mostly just looks kinda o_o all the time.
daniel on the other hand is expressive to the point where he's embarrased about it, even when its harder to tell with his weird face. he's usually just like. in a state of mild crankiness but when its just him and fives he actually like. idk shes very calming for him in a way that is unfamiliar, but not unwelcome.
their home is usually very quiet! daniel doesnt speak a ton and fifteen is okay with that, and neither of them are really that big on music, preferring just to let it be quiet. its especially nice once they live near the river.
daniel has a lot of issues with chronic pain from his teeth, which just kind of. keep growing, all the time. once they get to the point where its like, he cant close his mouth anymore, then it becomes a problem that they actually have to like, Do Something about. (the doctors solution was to just rip out all his teeth every few years. obviously he's not too keen on that.) they end up just filing them down which still sucks and is difficult and annoying but. u gotta do what u gotta do yknow
i still dont know how but they do figure out a way to kiss that is good and comfortable for both of them. theyre not like, super outwardly fluffy and affectionate all the time but. they do still have their moments of softness
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freckliephil · 5 years
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is it ok to not be able to get rid of a small fear of dnp revealing they’re single/dating other people soon. like i /want/ to be positive but i’ve been rooting for them for so long that i’ll probably just be a little heartbroken if they’re not together anymore. i know people don’t like breakup discourse and i don’t want to fuel that, just want to talk about the one fear i can’t get rid of even though i’m trying not to be too emotionally invested.
i get the fear, i really do. its kinda like how dan mentioned in his video: people get invested in the story of their lives, but at the end of the day they're real people. they could metaphorically pull the rug from under us any day, and then this whole thing falls apart and we're left with a miserable toxic fandom and a bad taste in our mouth. ive been there. when 1d split, when glee started turning into a shitshow, when supernatural got renewed for an 8th season, ect ect. it sucks, its a bad feeling to lose something you really had stake in, especially when it comes as a shock.
the thing is, fear is one thing. fear will be there any time you're in fandom bc it's something you can't control and its a community a lot of people count on, so the thought that that could dissapear is scary. but this fear can't be the lens you observe from, and especially with dan and phil, because they haven't given us any reason to be afraid of them.
i was talking about this with @freckliedan -- a couple months ago, den and i were talking about how the way they've been acting for the past year has been leading up to something big (go back and watch the christmas liveshow that came right before hiatus, they gave us SO many hints). and now think about how toxic fandom got between these last few months, and how everyone was losing trust for no reason (dan kept saying he was coming back, they NEVER implied the gaming channel was done, they've repeatedly said that they love working together and nothing was changing in a bad way. they've been preparing us for this coming out for a whole year). people got mad, sad, afraid, and ripped each other apart for even dreaming a positive outcome such as the one they just gave us. i remember bc i was one of the people saying "hey occam's razor- maybe they're coming out?" and people genuinely ran me off tumblr for even saying that.
they came out together, two weeks apart. dan called phil his soulmate. the part in basically i'm gay where he talks about phil is genuinely one of the most romantic and soft things i've ever heard. they're going to pride and vidcon and vegas together, they've both been so supportive over the other's work, and they've taken every single step together in this process. do yourself a favor and go back and watch any video from 2018 and tell me it doesn't watch the same as, say, a jenna and julien vid, or any other youtube couple. they're together, they're happy, and they don't need to kiss on screen or explicitly tell us every detail of their relationship for us to trust them. the most obvious answer is that they're both gay and have been together the whole time. dan basically told us that with his words (if you don't overanalyze everything out of fear), and they've been telling us with their actions for years. they always choose each other. they're together in everything. they're partners.
and to just give u some comfort, think about the dan and phil we just met in "basically im gay" and "coming out to you", and think about the dan and phil we've known for years. when have they ever, ever, ever pulled the rug out from under us in a bad way? dan and phil going separate ways or saying they're not together, after literally all this, would be the biggest shock in the world to me, which is why i know its probably not going to happen. they love us, like, a lot, and this isn't a drama tv show where breakups and stuff like that are just fun little character development opportunities. they know we care about them and look up to their relationship, and if that wasn't something they were going to highlight in their content anymore, they wouldn't be sneaky about it. they wouldn't make promises like bringing back the gaming channel or yearly mukbangs or continuing baking vids if they didn't plan to. they've always been so very good to us, and i highly doubt that they both went through all the work of coming out to millions of people on the internet just so that they can stop doing that.
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sage-nebula · 4 years
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I finished both the main story and the postgame story of Pokémon Sword, so I figure I’ll type up a little informal review on it, if for nothing else than to have my thoughts on record.
Overall: I liked it, and think despite Game Freak’s failings, it was an improvement over both the Kalos and the Alola games.
First, just from a gameplay standpoint: While I’m still upset about the National Dex being axed, as well as upset over Mega Evolution being axed, and mad about Mimikyu being nerfed even though I knew last gen it would happen, overall gameplay improved VASTLY in this game when compared to the Alola games especially. True, your outfit is still ugly when you’re on your bike, but the music doesn’t change to something hideous, and you can use the bike to maneuver over both land and water. The curry minigame in Camp might be a bit finicky, and the play options are limited (+ I miss being able to pet my pokémon), but Camp lets all of your pokémon out at once, and they can interact with each other, and I think that’s really great. Additionally, I like the immersion of being on a journey and being able to set up camp and cook. It’s nice. Customization is far better in this game than in previous games (even if I found the perfect outfit right at the start and never changed it---though hell, that’s a bonus), I like controlling everything with the buttons rather than using a touch screen, the wild area is a lot of fun to run around in, I like having pokémon visible on the overworld . . . overall, I just find it to be an improvement over the Alola games in terms of gameplay in virtually every way. At least for me, the Alola games were not very much fun to play. I loathed the Ride music and the fact that I was using someone else’s pokémon instead of my own (and as a result had to walk everywhere since they didn’t give me a goddamn bike), the customization options were really lacking, the level balance was horrible and so grinding was an absolute chore, Refresh was annoying because your pokémon were dirty after basically every single goddamn battle and you could only tidy one of them up at a time, and so on and so forth. The Galar games aren’t perfect, but in terms of gameplay they’re a huge improvement over Gen VII and that makes me breathe a sigh of relief at least, because the most important thing about video games is that they have to be fun to play. If you’re not having fun because the mechanics are bad, there’s a problem.
As far as the story goes, it definitely had its issues, most notably in the fact that Chairman Rose’s goals were never properly explained, the cover legendaries didn’t really factor in much until the postgame, and the fact that Chairman Rose and Oleana were evil at all felt more like a “well we have to have some evil organization in here huh” than anything else---like Game Freak was trying to adhere to tradition rather than writing a villain-based story because they genuinely wanted to write one. The whole situation surrounding Macro Cosmos (a company that I keep forgetting the name of because it wasn’t mentioned until the end) makes a bit more sense to me now than when I originally finished due to reading someone else’s explanation of how Rose was a PokéVillain who had already won by the time the story starts, given that he owns and controls everything in Galar (literally, he controls the very energy they need to keep the lights on and their houses warm), and so what he does is more about maintaining that (thousands of years into the future?) than anything else. Which I get, but . . . it still makes his actual actions and motivations feel weak and poorly explained.
But despite that, as well as a few other flaws (the annoying enemy characters in the postgame, the fact that Marnie was TRAGICALLY underused), I actually did enjoy it. Despite my disdain for organized sports in real life, I liked that the Gym Challenge was set up as a tournament in which your rivals participated (and that there were many other participants, too) because finally it felt like there was a reason to go after the badges, versus doing it just because the Gyms were there and you wanted to become Champion for no reason. The fact that more and more NPCs started to take notice of you as you progressed as well is another thing I liked. Although I hated that we couldn’t customize the Gym uniform (it’s so ugly!!), I did like having a personal number (mine is 494---Victini’s National Dex number), as well as the fact that it was yet another way for the fans in the game to identify you. Not only that, but having your rivals be fellow competitors in the Gym Challenge was also a nice touch. Sure, Hop was yet another hometown friend, but the others were just fellow competitors that took notice of you, and I really enjoyed that.
Speaking of Hop and the other rivals, the characters were, I felt, by and large another improvement over Kalos and Alola games. Aside from the antagonists in the postgame (who were poorly designed and also terribly annoying), as well as Gym Leader Gordie, there aren’t any characters that I really disliked, and in fact, I found the development for most of the major ones (in particular Sonia, Bede, and even Hop) to be pretty good.
A bit more detail on that: 
Sonia: Honestly, Sonia is probably my favorite character from these games (although Marnie is a close second). I am absolutely surprised by her and how much I came to love her considering I wasn’t too interested in her before the game was actually in my hands. Sonia is set up as being a twenty-something-year-old who fancies herself her grandmother’s assistant, but honestly is just kind of languishing at the beginning of the game and doesn’t really have a clear goal---to the point where her grandmother boots her out and makes her travel the region exploring the history to learn more about the Dynamax phenomenon. (And yes, Sonia is definitely in her twenties; both she and Leon refer to themselves as adults, and these games were created in Japan, where the age of adulthood is 20. So while we don’t know their exact age, we know they’re at least over 20.) Sonia is a little miffed about this at first, but as the story goes on she becomes more and more interested in and passionate about her studies, which culminates in Professor Magnolia passing the lab coat over to her. And it was at that point I realized: Although Professor Magnolia is the official professor at the start of the game, the fact that she has absolutely no impact on the game whatsoever (or at least very minimal impact) is because the real professor of the game is Sonia. We interact with her regularly, she helps compile information about what’s going on with regards to the game’s main plot, she guides and influences both the player character and Hop, and ultimately she comes to realize her own goal and dreams. The fact that an adult character in these games got to have an arc like this---one where she wasn’t sure what to do with herself at first, but came to find her own dream and take over the lab---was absolutely wonderful to me, an adult player. Sonia was definitely a refreshing character for the series and I was so, so proud of her when she finally got her lab coat, found her goal, and started living her best life. Sonia’s brilliant and I’m a huge fan.
Hop: On a personal, personality-level, I find Hop to be kind of annoying. He’s the type of person who would wear me out quickly in real life, and I honestly would have preferred if the primary rival was Marnie instead of him (since I feel him eating up so much screentime is part of why Marnie got shafted---but more on that later). But that said, I feel like Hop was Hau done right, that his character arc was well-written, and I love that we see him finally step out of the shadows and find his own path at the end of the postgame story. Hop, like Hau, has a famous relative that he looks up to and wants to surpass one day. But Hop, unlike Hau, also takes his training seriously from the start, struggles and shifts through various strategies as he tries to figure out what it is that he should do rather than just sticking to the same thing and hoping that it produces a different result, and ultimately concludes that he can do something different with his life, that he can change fields and make a name for himself his own way, without having to live up to expectations of what others think of him, or what his brother has done. While Hop resembles past rivals in the series in various ways (e.g. Barry’s impatience, Hau’s famous relative), he also sets himself apart by having a clear and defined character growth arc, culminating in his capture of the other mascot legendary and his newly appointed position as Sonia’s research assistant. I’m not personally a big fan of Hop’s, but as a character I think he was well done and I don’t dislike him either. At the very least, he easily tramples all of Kalos’ rivals (not that that’s hard, since the Kalos Friend Group is the most annoying set of rivals the series has ever seen), and I like him more than Hau as well. (The fact that Hop doesn’t delegitimize child abuse the way Hau does in USUM is a big point in his favor.)
Bede: On the other hand, I love everything about this little shithead. I love that we finally, FINALLY have a jerkass rival for the first time since Gen IV. I love that even after his character development (which he gets!) he doesn’t stop being a jerkass, he just becomes slightly less of one. (Very slightly.) While it was touched upon only a little, I like that the reason why he’s such a little asshole is because of how Rose and Oleana were using him (Oleana is the one that gets blamed, but it was Rose who gave Bede his first pokémon and endorsed him, and then later in Hulbury acted like he didn’t even know who Bede was, thereby implying that Bede feels that he has to work extra hard to gain Rose’s approval and attention), and that once he was taken in by a good guardian (Opal), he improved not only as a trainer, but as a person. It was so great to see Bede finally happy near the end of the game, once Opal took him in, and also great that even though he was a little shit to everyone around him, he also treated his pokémon well (and thus wasn’t a “he’s an asshole so he uses his pokémon as tools!” type). Bede’s great. I love Bede.
Marnie: I also love Marnie, though as I’ve said numerous times, she was critically underused. Despite the fact that her older brother is a Gym Leader, Marnie has pretty much no impact on the plot, barely shows up at all, doesn’t appear in the postgame story at all (even though she’s a Gym Leader now!), and overall feels like she’s just sort of . . . there. This frustrates me not only because I love what little we do see of her (the fact that she has a south London accent is already a huge plus in her favor, along with her design, battle music, and overall character), but because I feel this happens all-too often with female rivals in Pokémon games. Granted, it’s not like we have a surplus; aside from the opposite-gender player rivals, the only dedicated female rivals we have in the entire series apart from Marnie are Bianca and Shauna (because given that Lillie doesn’t battle for the majority of the story, she does not count as a rival). Shauna, like all the rivals in XY, has an ineffective, weak team and doesn’t really accomplish anything at any point. And while Bianca’s team is fantastic and she does end up becoming Professor Juniper’s assistant in the second game, in the first game she’s sidelined after her Munna gets stolen and spends the rest of the game with her spirit broken as a result of it (which, IMO, is the one being flaw in BW’s otherwise excellent storytelling). So to get another dedicated female rival, only to have her barely be involved in the plot at all and not really go through any meaningful development is incredibly disappointing. If there is a follow-up game to the Galar games, I hope Marnie gets more to do. (And as a side note, Team Yell is in a similar situation to Macro Cosmos; it honestly feels like they only exist because Game Freak feels they have to have an “evil team” at this point, much like Skull in the last gen.)
This is long, and also it’s almost 3am and I’m tired, so rather than typing up blurbs for all the other characters, I’ll just give short lists:
Other characters I loved: Nessa, Kabu, Bea, Opal, Raihan
Characters that were OK but had certain things about them that were off-putting to me: Leon, Chairman Rose, Oleana
Characters I’m completely ambivalent about: Professor Magnolia, Milo
Characters I hated: Gordie, the Sword and Shield brothers I’m not even going to bother to remember their names because they were that fucking stupid
And that’s it, I’m going to go see if I can sleep now.
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darkarfs · 4 years
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This is gonna make so many horrible people unhappy. EVERY Takeover has had at least one match-of-the-year candidate on it. Some of the most emotional moments in that brand have come from cards that even aren't quite as good. I even considered not doing this list, because, by all accounts, NXT Takeover: Tampa isn't even going ahead. But then I thought, fuck it, let's celebrate, taken all together, for my taste, the best wrestling product in the history of mankind. It's not just moves; it's emotional investment, sharply-focused, character-based storytelling, intricately-performed spectactle from the greatest physical specimens ever to lace their boots. It FINALLY legitimized Western women's wrestling in the mainstream (Michelle McCool, Trish, Molly, Mickie, Jazz, Victoria, you all were stunning performers in your own right, but you and your kind were, until NXT, only given 3 minutes: the longest women's match IN HISTORY, until 'Mania 32, was Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James at Wrestlemania 22, and it got 9 minutes.), it's got some of the greatest tag wrestling ever seen on ANY brand, it's created the longest-drawn storytelling ever, it's the best of the indies, the best of the WWE, wrapped up in a sequence of shows that were epic without being FIVE FUCKING HOURS LONG.
Where do I even start...?
Honorable mention: Takeover: R Evolution (I have to, because I've only got 10) Sami Zayn spends over a year, clawing and sweating and tearing walls down, just to get to the top of the mountain in NXT. He has the opportunity to cheat, but does it his OWN way, as beautiful, unique babyface Sami Zayn...before being no-scoped by his best friend, who debuted THAT NIGHT. The undercard isn't as strong, so I can't officially include it, but this payoff, this triumph, and this tragedy represents everything the first era of NXT was, and kickstarted it, truly, onto its first golden era. So, properly, then...
10. Takeover: Rival If you leave this list feeling like the title reigns, and thus, ERAS, of Zayn/Owens are a little under-represented by it, I completely understand. After all, so much good came from that time. American Alpha soldifying themselves as the dominant tag team, the Iron-Woman match between Sasha and Bayley, Becky Lynch putting all the pieces together, Enzo and Cass actually being GOOD...it was, still, at its heart, a developmental brand at that time. It had indie megastars, yes, but it also had the likes of Bull Dempsey. And that's not a dig at Bull Dempsey, it's just that those early Takeovers were an eclectic mix of skill levels, which is what NXT was at that time. It was a place to showcase these people. That said, some of these cards were truly *fantastic.* Case in point: Takeover: Rival. Not only was the undercard completely stacked (Hideo Itami vs. Tyler Breeze over-delivered; we had the first and still SOMEHOW ONLY Fatal 4-Way match between the Four Horsewomen; and Finn Balor vs. Neville was a solid match of the year candidate), but the main event was the first step in one of the most storied rivalries in the history of wrestling: Zayn vs. Owens. The video package is one of the best NXT ever did, and the match...was a masterpiece of simple-but unexpected booking. Zayn mistimes a leap to the outside, hits his head, and Owens responds by powerbombing him over...and over...and over again, until the ref stops the match. Zayn loses nothing, because he was never pinned, Owens is made to look even MORE the loathsome monster, and Zayn's title reign ends after just a month, without the champion nor the championship devalued in any way. It showed that NXT knew, even then, how to reward fans for their emotional investment.
9. Takeover: Portland Right now, NXT feels like it's approaching the very end of a special time in its life. Like it's on the verge of hitting critical mass. One of either Gargano or Ciampa probably leaving the company after the next Takeover, and the reign of the Undisputed Era seems to be crumbling, too. In yesteryear, this would indicate a raft of very important call-ups, neccessitating a shift in the roster and a period of calm centered around more patient character-building. NXT's existence now as a third brand throws that formula into uncertainty, but it definitely feels like they're ramping up to a finale, because goddamn, this is NXT almost at a point of self-parody. Every match is so. MUCH. Lee/Dijakovic is the pinnacle of HOT wrestling (and Lee, will you marry me?) Bianca Belair breaks out as an actual superstar...just as Charlotte decides to visit and to ruin everything, which is just dreadful timing. Gargano/Balor being everything we need it to be, and also Balor pinning Gargano with his fucking dick. And the Broserweights being VERY DUMB...but also VERY, VERY GOOD. The only thing that lets this card down...and this is obviously subjective...is that NXT has almost come TOO FAR, now, in its delivery on its main events, in that every kickout starts to beggar belief. On the level of Triple H/Undertaker at Wrestlemania 28, in that I still love it, but...hoo, it can be exhausting. Depends on how much Ring of Honor you like in your gumbo, I guess, but it feels like everyone on the roster is racing toward Tampa to explode, like a wrestling Crisis on Infinite Earths, and then MAYBE...things can calm down. Just a hair. Y'know, if Tampa even...still happens.
8. Takeover: Philadelphia If there's one man that's become synonymous with NXT, it's Johnny fucking Wrestling. You know, what would happen if a meerkat put on muscle mass and became the best set-piece wrestler this side of Daniel Bryan. We knew since he started his tag team with Tommaso Ciampa that he was an exceptional wrestler, but it wasn't until Philadelphia, and his INSANE match with Andrade "Cien" Almas, that we saw him as truly the industry's next star. It was the first Takeover match to go over 30 minutes (Sasha/Bayley at Respect went EXACTLY 30, don't @ me), it was the first NXT match to get 5 stars from Dave Meltzer (if that matters to you), and it set a new bar for Takeover main events. And while the undercard doesn't live up to it, it's still loaded with excellent matches. A.O.P. vs. the Undisputed Era is something special. Shayna Baszler makes her Takeover debut, and while she's nowhere near her prime, it cemented her immediately. Velveteen Dream and Kassius Ohno have a very fun match, and Aleister Black and Adam Cole have a ludcriously stupid no-holds-barred match, featuring two men doing with chairs what no one ought to do with chairs. But as good as all of that is, it's really a one match show, but what a match, and Ciampa ending it by being an utter bastard yet again.
7. Takeover: Brooklyn I Does the first Brooklyn Takeover feature Canadian Destroyers, 18 kick-outs and "fight forever" chants? It does not. Does it create moments of wrestling happiness that are rarely, if ever, replicated? It sure does. Firstly, Blue Pants appears and helps the Vaudevillains defeat Blake and Murphy. Seems quaint to look back on it, but it made everyone SO goddamn HAPPY that night. If you're forgetting, Leva Bates (that wrestling librarian in AEW right now) was once a comedy jobber in NXT, who wore Blue Pants. Adorable. Ignore what happened on the main roster (which is something you'll probably have to do with a lot of these shows, I imagine), but the Vaudevillains were once incredibly over (I promise!), and their win was one of several beam-inducing moments from this stellar night. Samoa Joe destroyed Baron Corbin at the height of his game, Apollo Crews debuted brilliantly (again, ignore what happens next!) and Balor and Owens' ladder match was also fantastic. Also, what's Jushin Thunder Liger doing here?? Wrestling like he's in his early 30s, that's goddamn what!! But of course, the reason we're all here is Sasha Banks vs. Bayley, and...there's still something in my eye. Anytime people want to rag on NXT for being "predictable," remind them that giving the people a moment they've genuinely prayed for...is a good thing. Bayley besting Sasha Banks at her prime just made us all...so happy. All of us. Everyone. When that curtain call took place, it was so earned. The narrative of women's wrestling dominated most of 2015, and this moment, this match, was the apex of that narrative.
6. Takeover: Chicago I And speaking of feelings...hello, Ciampa, you godless fuck. And so begins maybe the actual greatest rivalry in all of NXT. It is truly an odyessy, with twists, turns, injuries, betrayals, wounds torn open, and this is the nexus point. Well, the seeds had already sort of been planted, because Triple H knows what he's doing. Ciampa almost ALMOST turns on Gargano after their terrific match in the Cruiserweight Classic, only for the team to die another day...and what a death it was. After a great ladder match, the two stand atop the ramp, and you think "will it happen?" And the absolute bastards show you the copyright logo, just to make you think the show ends there, because it always does, seconds after that happens. You unclench, you breathe out, relax...Ciampa whispers "this is MY moment" and then...It is a perfectly engineered bait-and-switch, and exactly as vicious as it needs to be. Pats on the back, all 'round. This moment alone makes this a worthwhile Takeover, but there's also a hell of an undercard. The women's triple-threat (Ruby Riott vs. Asuka vs. Nikki Cross) is stellar, Bobby Roode and Hideo Itami have their respective best Takeover matches ever, and then there was Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne. An absolute show-stealer of a match, a star-making performance for both men (especially Dunne), it cemented the career of several men, and was a fully-formed GREAT show, as opposed to a good show in service to a storyline.
5. Takeover: Brooklyn IV Gargano and Ciampa's battle of brotherhood, betrayal and brainwashing was supposed to blow off at Takeover: New York, but because God hates necks, Tomato Champion was out of action, making this the final singles encounter to date, until Tampa (again, IF it even happens). This is the weakest of their 3 excellent encounters (which still makes it better than any match over SummerSlam weekend), but it also features Johnny Stupid running into a speaker, because his dumb ass can't seem to quit Ciampa. It's one of the greatest long-form feuds for a reason, mirroring Bret and Owen from 1993 into 1994, with all the repeated imagery, the callbacks, the nuances, the psychological cruelty. The street fight at Chicago II is MAYBE better, but this undercard, for me, is a lot stronger. It featured the Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain, aka the Brothers Shithead vs. the Proud Circus Bear and His Beautiful Son. Velveteen Dream vs. EC3 was the closest NXT got to WWE-style storytelling and was still brilliant (remember when EC3 wrestled?), and HEY, wouldn't you know it, Kairi Sane was once a character with dimensions, as evidenced by an amazing match with Shayna Bazsler. But what makes this undercard truly stellar is Adam Cole vs. Ricochet. It is so nice to see Ricochet used well, etc., but I will still never stop pissing myself at Cole nailing him square in the jaw with a superkick WHILE HE'S MID-MOONSAULT UPSIDE-DOWN SWEET JESUS. Sometimes...sometimes...things fall exactly into place.
4. Takeover: WarGames (2018) The WarGames Takeovers are just so silly. It's a silly shoebox, filled with huge, silly men who only barely know why they're killing each other. It's as close as we ever get to WWE's now-terminal problem of "set aside whatever feuds you have right now, because it's Stipulation Month!" (see: Hell In a Cell, most Money In the Bank shows, though Elimination Chamber largely sidesteps this). The other Shoebox Takeovers are really good, no doubt, but this one stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. But there is not a bad match on this card. Kassius Ohno rides Matt Riddle's knee all the way to heaven; NXT shows why 2-out-of-3-falls is fast becoming its signature stipulation with the excellent blowoff between Sane/Baszler; Sexy Mindgames Prince had a star-making match against Tommaso Ciampa, showing why he may be the best overall character in NXT right now, and sweet lord, Aleister Black vs. Johnny Wrestling. It somehow showed that Gargano was JUST AS, if NOT MORE engaging as a dirtbag than as a good guy. And those Black Masses are presents just for me, a guy who tends to like more community theater in his wrestling than flips ("I ABSOLVE YOU...OF ALL YOUR SINS!"). And then we get to the Shoebox, and gosh it's silly! The Viking Experience, Ricochet and Pete Dunne take on the Undisputed Era, and...its a fucking LOT. 45 minutes of spots and smashing, with just a sprinkling of story, with Fish locking Dunne in his cage so he can't participate in the match. Since this seems to be what this match is designed for...let's rattle off some spots! Ricochet, jumping from one ring to the other! That amazing face-off that recreates the Captain America: Civil War poster! Perhaps the beefiest Tower of Doom in all of wrestling! And then Ricochet proving just how amazing he is...with the double moonsault off the top of the cage. What a stupid thing to do in an amazing, amazing show.
3. Takeover: Dallas I get it; a lot of people might not rank this Takeover quite so high. But it might be my actual personal favorite...? Overall...? More than any other Takeover, this show feels the most like it's filled with living, breathing superheroes. Many NXT stars are seen as just indie guys whose only gimmick is "I'm a very good wrestler," making them almost anti-WWE at the core. But NXT doesn't get enough credit for being, at its core, the best aspects of WWE. The showmanship, the things that elevate mere wrestlers to things like monsters, gods, and demons. I will always like my NXT WWE-style: the best wrestling cut with the most theater, the most camp. And Dallas is that concept, writ large. Baron Corbin coming out with lil' skulls on his shoulders. American Alpha finally becoming Super Saiyan Nerds. Asuka killing our hero, because Bayley is a person, and Asuka is a goddess who can perform brain surgery with her feet. Finn Balor coming out and going actual Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Samoa Joe. It's excellent wrestling, near-mythic visuals...and then we get to Nakamura/Zayn. The most special moment of a very special night. It is, from nearly every perspective, perfect. The hype of the crowd, salivating with anticipation. That moment when Nakamura appears in silhouette, and that violin note slides like a knife across steel, to reveal the man who set New Japan aflame. Sami Zayn getting the best possible swan song in a promotion built almost entirely on HIS back. The end of his era. That bit where they just KEEP PUNCHING ONE ANOTHER. I know it's not a perfect show (Balor/Joe stops for 3 minutes to address a cut on Joe's forehead, stalling its momentum; that Corbin/Ares match isn't as good as it could be) but that all means nothing. It's a sentimental choice, and I'd make it #1 if I could.
2. Takeover: New Orleans I went around and around in my head, and this one and #1 kept jockeying for position in my brain. But these top two Takeovers are literally note-perfect, from ship to shore, soup to nuts, top to tails. So if this is YOUR favorite? (Honestly, maybe 1 person I know who loves wrestling as much as I do will even see this mess). I'm here for you, and I understand. But this show has TWO 5-star matches from the Wrestling Observer, and I don't ever agree with that. In this case, I agree with BOTH, in the North American Championship ladder match, and the first (and so far, BEST) match in the Gargano/Ciampa feud. Everything. Is. Amazing. Shayna Bazsler became Women's Champion after BEAST-MODING her SHOULDER back INTO IT'S SOCKET to show that, YES, she gets pro-wrestling. Roderick Strong shocked the world (and the System) by joining the Undisputed Era and becoming the final Chaos Emerald needed to make that stable Super Sonic. Aleister Black took the championship from Andrade "Cien" Almas and SMILED, I fucking SAW IT! And it all depends on what you want from your wrestling, but Gargs/Tamps might actually be the best main event in Takeover history, at least from a storytelling standpoint. The crutch, the neckbrace. Each man going back to their DIY roots (the tag team - they didn't build another ring when that one broke), and then sitting side-by-side, like they did at the Cruiserweight Classic. Brothers. Completely spent. Destroyed. No one but each other. And then Ciampa shits any chance at redemption up the goddamn wall, cementing his own destruction. Every. Bit. Counts.
and #1...
Takeover: New York For a whole bunch of other wrestling fans, this has the greatest main event in Takeover history. But first, let's take a minute to appreciate how lucky we are, or were, that NXT exists. It justfies the existence of WWE, artistically, almost by itself. If this one's only slightly worse than New Orleans, it is argued, it's that the North American title ladder match was TOO good, and hurt every other match on the card. It has been argued. Not by me, but this one is somehow the most perfectly paced, perfectly sized wrestling card, on its own, ever. Every match, through alchemy or magic, manages to enthrall the crowd equally, and completely. The Viking Raiders vs. Grumpy Smaller Undertaker and the Human Pinball was off the hook incredible, and that warm "thank you" feeling has translated, currently to a man trapped in a room and a man trapped in Vince McMahon's scorn for smaller wrestlers, respectively. Matt Riddle and Velveteen Dream put on an absolute fantasy match, pitting the best of MMA vs. the best of WWE-style theatricality, and adds to the complete, demented character-world of this brand, and the fact that Dream WINS against one of the hottest new prospects is so deserved, and shows that he can, and will, shine forever brighter. Then AAAAGH WALTER vs. Pete Dunne! WALTER LAYS into poor Dunne, his chops alone having you believe that after the match, he's going to run into the arena's parking lot to FIGHT THE CARS. Then Shirai vs. Baszler vs. Sane vs. Belair and goddammit how do I even expound on that without crashing thesarus.com? And then Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole wrestled for. 40. MINUTES. With Gargano as the defacto heel because it was allegedly Cole's time. And by the match's end, he had the crowd more behind him than maybe they ever had been before. Is it a bit much? Yes. Too many kickouts? Probably. But it stands as the apex of Johnny Wrestling's journey. After everything had been taken from him: DIY, his health, his sanity, even his chance at revenge...the only thing he has left is the NXT Championship. And in that moment, he is invincible, he is more than enough.
What a show. What a host of shows.
Thanks for reading, everyone.
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scige-archive · 4 years
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welcome 2 my twisted mind ex dee ?
PREFERRED NAME — james uwu
PRONOUNS — she/they
AGE — 20
TIMEZONE — est
HOW OFTEN ARE YOU ONLINE? — everyday all day usually hjfdnkmg
HOW DID YOU HEAR OF WATERSHED? — i actually first found lockwood while going through the recommended blogs on mobile when you search up things via it (i think it was ‘new rp’ tht i searched) n then the next i checked they’d gone ovr to watershed n then there were Other Things bt i didnt end up joining until a few weeks or like a month later impulsively n now its been many months n im still here BJDNSKFMG love u guys
DISCORD — sniff #3644 where im also always online
OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE — musing @svrgcnts​ n my pinterest is ‘big tid’ or offbrandsodapop uuuhh i dont think theres anything else!
MYER-BRIGGS — infp turned istp we call tht character growth
HP HOUSE — i honestly dont know anymore ive gotten all of the houses before bt ive just taken a test n i got slytherin so like :///
ZODIAC — aquarius!
DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY? — not to the point where it dictates who i like / dislike
DO YOU ENJOY ASTROLOGY? — ya im a slut for when things tell me what im supposed to be like bc i dont have a sense of identity
HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU STARTED RPING ON TUMBLR — uh like 19 bt ive been rping since i was 10
WHAT YEAR WAS IT? — early 2018 so actually i might’ve been 18 for a lil bit DJNKFLG
NAME A RANDOM ROLEPLAY THAT STICKS OUT IN YOUR MEMORY — listen i’ve had many, many good experiences bt for some reason what came to mind first was a weird owner/slave smut rp tht i stumbled across (never joined bc im ... not like that) n i was just rly baffled by the concept even tho ik its a Thing bc i thought smut rps died out like in 2017 BJDNFKMG
WHAT WEIRD ANIMAL WOULD YOU HAVE AS A PET IF IT WAS REALISTIC — i want a fucking capybara
WHAT PET DO YOU GENUINELY CONSIDER GETTING SOMEDAY? — i want a cat even though im rly allergic to them
NAME THE FIRST SONG ON YOUR DISCOVER WEEKLY ON SPOTIFY OR THE FIRST SONG THAT COMES ON APPLE MUSIC / ITUNES SHUFFLE — the apocalypse made me brave by girlfriends
NAME A BOOK THAT YOU READ IN SCHOOL THAT YOU SURPRISINGLY LIKED — um probably like ,,, the crucible ,,,
NAME A BOOK YOU HATED THAT MOST PEOPLE LIKED — god i dont know i’m not hard to please bt i wont lie i also like ... didn’t finish half the books i was supposed to read in high school. of mice & men maybe ... i hated books that didn’t do much n just wrote a whole bunch of nothing even tho i like those books now ... i think bc they were for school ... outside of school i hated the hazelwood n i think that the grisha trilogy is a bit. weak. bt i love six of crows. n also the um. theres this one YA series tht i never read bt i can tell i dont like NJKSMDFFDG
WHAT TV SHOW DID YOU RECENTLY BINGE? WOULD YOU RECOMMEND IT? — schitt’s creek DSJKNFDGF um i’ve also been watching gossip girl a lot & also asoue & also also i just started watching um end of the f***ing world n its very good so ?? i watched the first episode of his dark materials n i liked it n i havent finished looking for alaska bt its also very good
WHAT FILM DID YOU LAST WATCH? DID YOU LIKE IT? — uuuhh i think it was scream tbh ??? and ya it was p swell
FAVOURITE QUOTE — im a slut for anne carson bt i cant name any quotes directly rn i have rocks for brains
LINK TO A VINE / TIK TOK / VIDEO THAT EXUDES YOUR ‘ENERGY’ — this immediately came to mind
DO YOU WRITE OUTSIDE OF RP? WHAT DO YOU WRITE? — i used to write outside of rp bt i havent in ages bt when i do its usually like modern magic / urban fantasy / whatevr those kinda elements n abt faeries bc i like faeries
THREE YOUTUBERS YOU STILL LOVE & TRUST — jenna marbles, micarah tewers, and uh ,,, claire frm bon apetit
A CELEBRITY CRUSH THAT JUST WON’T QUIT — cary elwes ... andrew scott ... anne hathaway ... first three tht came to mind
EVER MEET A CELEBRITY? SHARE YOUR STORY — no bt david dobrik was in miami and i was NOT and im UPSET bc i want his MONEY
WHAT’S YOUR PICTURE-PERFECT NIGHT? — i am not in pain. thats it thats all
A CONSPIRACY THEORY YOU KINDA BELIEVE IN — jeffrey epstein was murdered haha jk thats not a conspiracy theory thats FACTS
ARE ALIENS REAL? — ya sure why not
PLAY ANY PHONE GAMES? WHICH ONES? — lily’s garden please play im level 1241
PLAY ANY OTHER GAMES? WHICH ONES? — i played all the bioshock games n rly enjoyed them ... deponia the entire series which is still my favorite video game 2 this day
WHAT’S A FILM YOU LOVED WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG AND RECENTLY WATCHED, ONLY TO FIND OUT YOU DON’T ANYMORE — i never finished my rewatch of the golden compass bt thats just bc i didnt feel like finishing it uuuh ... i dont know i enjoy things too easily
DO YOU COLLECT ANYTHING? — buttons n seashells and rocks and flowers until theyre dead and then i collect dead flowers and then empty glass bottles that look kinda cool and jewelry boxes or tin containers and i used to kiss an index card every time i wore lipstick and kept it, i had over 100 filed away for no reason at all bt i lost them & then i also collect condoms :/
WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BUT YOU’RE TOO LAZY? — i wna learn how 2 make jewelry n like ,,, embroidery bt i know how to embroider i just wanna get back into it n i wna learn like. knowledge. academic stuff too bt im also too lazy and im just a dumb old horse so :/
THREE LANGUAGES YOU DON’T SPEAK, BUT WISH YOU COULD — italian n french n ig spanish too
MOVIE YOU’VE WATCHED MORE THAN 5 TIMES — shrek ? austin powers ? princess diaries / elle enchanted ?? halloweentown n all the sequels ??
NAME A FICTIONAL CHARACTER FROM TV/FILM/MOVIE/GAME/BOOK THAT YOU FIND YOURSELF PROJECTING ON / YOU RELATE TO — shawn spencer frm psych, veronica mars, penelope garcia frm criminal minds, mike myers’ cat in the hat, dr. evil frm austin powers bt also his son scott evil, scooby doo probably, daria ??? i relate to my dog bodhi :/ puddles the clown
IS THERE ANY MEDIA (BOOK/MOVIE/GAME/TV SHOW) YOU FEEL CHANGED YOU IN SOME WAY? — six of crows / fleabag / deponia theyve all made me cry before bt like. continuously cry.
DO YOU FOLLOW ANY SPORTS? WHO DO YOU ROOT FOR? — no.
HOBBIES BESIDES WASTING AWAY HERE? — um. redacted
PLUG A TV SHOW / MOVIE / BOOK / VIDEO GAME / ETC… YOU WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD CHECK OUT — big fish directed by tim burton go stare at danny devito’s bare ass do it do it do it i never even finished the movie i dont think BJNSKDMLFG
TEAM EDWARD OR JACOB? (IF NOT APPLICABLE, WHO DO YOU LIKE MOST IN THE TWILIGHT SERIES) — edward
LAST MOVIE SEEN IN THEATRE — um thts rly hard bc i dont know bt i have a ticket so let me just check ,,, the joker i went n saw the joker
DO YOU STILL READ FOR FUN? — occasionally bt i dont have motivation so
IF SO, WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? — n/a BDKFJ
ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW MUCH DID YOU HATE FILLING THIS OUT? – 5 bt thats just bc im not feeling gr8 today
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thewritewolf · 5 years
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Marinette March Day 30 - Breaking Point
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Adrien sees Ladybug and feels that something is wrong. 
@marinettemarch
Enjoy!
Read on Ao3
Adrien wasn’t sure why he looked outside his window at that moment. The bed was calling his name after such a long day and he wanted nothing more than to take a shower to wash out all the product they used during the hours long photoshoot. Then maybe change into some pajamas and answer the siren call of his bed. But that’s not what happened - he set his bag on the floor and looked outside, where the gleam of the full moon illuminated a familiar figure standing on a rooftop across the street from his window.
His heartbeat picked up like it always did when he saw her and before he knew it, he’d opened his window and was leaning out of it, openly gawking at her with a dopey grin on his face. Maybe it was the intensity of his stare that got her attention, or maybe it was the sound of his window opening, but regardless he could feel her piercing blue eyes on him, even if the shadows hide them from him.
The elation he felt at seeing her was dampened by gnawing doubt in the back of his head. Something didn’t feel right. Why would Ladybug be out tonight? This was one of the few days in the week where neither of them patrolled. Despite Adrien’s fervent hopes, there hadn’t been an akuma attack to save him from the photoshoot. His gut twisted in dread as his imagination ran wild. He waved, beckoning her to his window. He didn’t know what he could do as Adrien, but something told him that she needed someone right now.
“Hey, did you need something?” Her voice lacked its usual energy and confidence and that was far from the only thing he noticed. There were bags under her eyes, eyes which lacked their usual spark. The entire way she carried herself, even as she effortlessly stood on the thin edge of his windowsill, spoke of exhaustion, both physical and emotional.
“I…” He struggled to find the right words without coming off as weird or intrusive. After all, Chat Noir knew Ladybug as a close personal friend, but she didn’t know Adrien at all. “You just looked like you could use a friend is all.”
A flicker of a smile passed over her face. “You’re sweet, but I really should-”
“Would you like to come in?” He hated to interrupt her, but he knew that if he let her talk, she’d be gone before he knew it. The last thing he wanted was for her to be left alone to stew in whatever emotions were swirling around her head.
“I… don’t know.” Her eyes held hope, even if her words didn’t agree. “I don’t want to impose…”
He gave a shallow bow and gestured to his room. “Please! It would be my pleasure!”
Hesitantly, she swung past him and walked to the middle of the room. A faint smile barely tugged at the corner of her lips. “A nice place you’ve got here.”
“Thanks.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He hadn’t planned this far ahead and his eyes roved around the room just as she slowly spun in place to take it all in. She was facing opposite the computer when he noticed his screensaver showing - a different picture of Ladybug for every monitor. This, more than anything, galvanized him and he rushed forward to put his hands on her shoulders. He gently guided her towards the couch. “Hey, do you like video games?” He asked, despite knowing full well the answer. “I’ve got the newest Mecha Strike, if you want to play.”
A genuine excited smile graced her features and Adrien felt the worry of a moment ago vanish like fog before the sun. “No way! Mecha Strike IV?! I thought it wasn’t out for another week!”
“For most people, yes. But I managed to get my hands on an advanced copy. There’s this girl in my class that I’ve been trying to get an edge over, you see…” He trailed off. It felt weird to be talking about other girls in front of his crush - especially if that other girl was Marinette.
Ladybug got a knowing look in her eye. “Oh really? Well I’d be happy to help you train then. From what I hear, she’s pretty good.”
“You know Marinette?” He racked his brain trying to think of a single instance where the two would’ve met, coming up with nothing.
“Duh! She won that tournament a little while back, didn’t she?”
It seems Marinette’s amazingness precedes her. Adrien smiled at the memory of playing at the Dupain-Cheng bakery. “Yeah, that she did.” He booted up the game on his console and went to the door. “I’m going to get some ice cream. You have a preference for flavor?”
“Strawberry,” she said to his complete lack of surprise. She was already choosing a character and entering into a match against the AI.
When he returned with a big bowl and two spoons, she was soundly beating her robotic enemy with hardly any health lost. His confidence was shaken, but then again, this is Ladybug. Of course she’d be awesome at it the moment she set her mind to it. He could only hope that his training had paid off…
-------------------------
After his sixth consecutive defeat, Adrien leaned back and groaned at the ceiling while Ladybug did a little victory dance on the couch. The ice cream and the apparently easy victories had made her feel better and although it came at the cost of his pride, he felt it was a worthy trade. While she was still reveling in her latest win, he bit his lower lip. Now or never…
“So, Ladybug?” She looked back at him with a mischievous sparkle in her eye and a cocky grin on her face. “How are you feeling? When I saw you out there, you seemed… sad, almost.”
Her grin faded away and Adrien felt like an absolute villain for doing that. “It wasn’t any one thing. I… I can’t really talk about it since, you know, secret identities and all, but… everything just hit all at once and I… I needed some air, I needed to get away from it all.” She looked down, her hands between her knees, looking as uncertain and vulnerable as he had ever seen her. Not since Stoneheart, at least.
He put an arm around her shoulder, surprising her. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want. Even if you can’t tell me what’s bothering you, maybe I can help you forget about it for just a little bit.” Her smile returned and she took up her controller again.
“I’d like that.”
Adrien lost track of how long they were at it - they’d gotten bored with Mecha Strike at some point. After all, there are only so many times you can thrash someone and still have fun doing it. Another game passed by, but left no memories because for the entire time Adrien was too focused on the fact that despite the size of the couch, Ladybug was so close they were touching. At some point, she’d glanced at the clock and squeaked in shock when she noticed how late it was.
“Oh no! I really need to get home.” Adrien followed her to the window, where she stopped partway through stepping out of it. She narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment before turning back around. She rolled forward on her toes to reach him. “I had a really great time, Adrien. Thank you!”
And then she was gone and he mechanically went through the motions of getting ready for bed. His last thought before being swallowed by sleep was the feeling of her kiss on his cheek.
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