#the designs are neato though

[utsuboarchive]

GOD i wish i could play hsr and genshin w/o getting bored after 20 min

maybe ill read a bunch of lore so i can write w/ some of my mutuals again

#tbd. / 🌊🌊🌊 #ive tried to play both #its just not my thing #the designs are neato though #and hsr in particular has some really neat aesthetics

[dayfalwastaken]

Notable Slenderman designs from over the years

Something Awful: As the users of the original Create Paranormal Images thread took to calling him, "Poo Poo", the first Slendy on this list is sort of a composite variant of his first depictions. After Victor Surge had made "the Slender Man" people started creating their own photos and a couple even drew him. Designs varied, but many featured arms that turned into tentacles or tree branches, and blank faces with either few or very pronounced facial features. These first drawings gave me the impression that Slendy was a creature that attempted to blend in and look human, but if examined its nonhuman aspects would become apparent almost immediately, empty face notwithstanding. As such, while his suit gives the impression of a well-dressed man, if one looks at it from a small distance they'll note the lack of buttons, pockets and other such accessories, so in a way the suit is like a second skin as opposed to actual clothes. Merely a disguise.

Marble Hornets: The Operator! Version that got many people into the Slenderman mythos, the Marble Hornets rendition streamlined the many variations of the Something Awful forum into a simple yet iconic design. This guy is very tall, and makes it clear that he's the furthest thing from human. Proportion-wise, his torso is not even half of his total height, while his arms almost reach the ground. Weirdly enough, his hands don't seem to have fingers? And look to be morphed into the suit, though they could be wearing fingerless gloves. He has a straight upper body and shoulders, and in most entries has barely if any shadows on his face to enunciate human features. As in, most of the time his face is completely blank, although there are entries where you can spot the outlines of a nose, mouth and eye sockets.

TribeTwelve: To me, the Administrator is a more grounded (heh) Slenderman. If you ignore the times he's shown to tower over humans, this guy, while tall, isn't abnormally long. He even has human-looking skin and visible eye sockets! With regular proportions for a Slenderman depiction, he's pretty tame in appearance when he doesn't have his tentacles or spider legs out. So really, he's just a regular man in black with no face, which makes him a bit more believable but still creepy as all hell.

DarkHarvest00: Gorr'rylaehotep! This dude's like a streamlined version of the Marble Hornets Operator, which was himself a streamlined Slendy. He's like an expected evolution of a live action Slenderman, where his body isn't elongated so much as it's scaled up for him to appear larger. That said, he's in no way thick, being quite thin for a big guy in a business suit. Luckily, that doesn't take away from his scare factor, as he's remains an imposing figure throughout the series... In the shots where he doesn't move too much, that is… Having fewer overall appearances in DarkHarvest00, he's also the most consistent Slendy on this list to keep a totally blank face with no features. Neato!

Slender: the Arrival: This guy isn't slender. Like, at all. He's well-built for a Slenderman and, dare I say, kind of muscular-looking. If you shorten his arms, he's just a big human, but I think that strengthens the unease you have when you see him. The others, aside from the TribeTwelve design, don't really hide their uncannyness. Once you’ve spotted them, you know there's something wrong when you look at them. The Arrival Slenderman takes it a step further. He gets all up in your face, not even stalking you all that much. He almost refuses to blend into the background, opting to terrorize you up close. He doesn't obscure the fact that he's an otherworldy entity that shouldn't exist, and I think that's great. His ragged skin and ears melted into his skull offer him an incredibly distinct look, and given how well the game uses him, he's super scary to play against. He's also among the first Slendermen to feature a red tie, which will go on to be a very popular design choice when depicting this character.

The ways people chose to draw/show/model Slendy have always intrigued me, so I made this lil thing to show off the differences in a few designs over the past decade! I hope you've enjoyed reading through this, and I'll see you next time when I'll draw and analyse five more. Have a good day!

#Slenderman #slenderverse #the operator #marble hornets #marble hornets operator #slender man #something awful #create paranormal images #tribetwelve #the administrator #tribetwelve administrator #darkharvest00 #gorr'rylaehotep #darkharvest00 gorr'rylaehotep #slender the arrival #slenderman fanart #slenderman art #my art #digital art #marble hornets fanart #tribetwelve fanart #darkharvest00 fanart #slender the arrival fanart #dayfal

[weirdunclegamer]

Somehow managing to keep the momentum going!

Time for another one of my 30MM bots, and also this time I uploaded the pictures infinitely better! It only took... gog knows how many years before I started doing this better.

Anyway we finally have a TRANSFORMING bot in the crew! It took me a long damn time to get this one going though. I had a pretty similar idea early on but newer parts being released once again helped bring a design to "conclusion". Particularly happy with the big gun and how it came together.

While I'm totally fine with partsforming (I even prefer it in most cases), this bot only has to plug the gun into the crotch plate using a separate connector, otherwise, it all changes without unattaching anything! Which is pretty neato.

#gunpla #plamo #mecha #30 minutes missions #30mm #the espossitos transformation isnt too far off a wing gundam lazy style jet mode but it is enough to feel more cooler

[lullabyes22-blog]

What do the Forward but Never Forget characters think of sex toys and what are their favorites?

nsfw

Silco: By all means. If it gets the job done - or spices up the play - the more the merrier. His favorite is the finger vibrator. It requires some precision and delicacy to use, and isn't quite as (literally) in-your-face as other toys on the list. Also, he doesn't even think of paddles, restraints, pinwheels or clamps as toys. That's just part of the natural landscape, my dear. The night would wax dull without them.

Sevika: She enjoys the use of sex toys, but actually finds vibrators overrated. It feels nice at first, but then you just go numb, and the constant buzz interferes with her focus. She'd prefer to be hearing her partners panting and groaning, and knows plenty of ways to make it happen without gadgets and gizmos. Her go-to is the strap-on dildo. Reliable, no fuss, and gets the job done.

Vi: She's not that into toys, as she prefers her focus on more tactile aspects like taste, sound, scent, touch. Once in a while, restraints and a nice sturdy dildo do the trick. But on the whole, she's more about the slide of skin on skin and the burn of friction than anything extra.

Mel: Some sex toys put her off in terms of sheer aesthetic - or lack thereof. Who designed these items, and why must they look so outlandish? Others, particularly sleek and subtle toys, are great for enhancing the mood without draining the focus. Cock-rings, ben wa balls and lipstick vibrators are her go-to if she's in a friskier mood. Sometimes restraints if she feels like teasing her partners and hearing them beg<3

Jinx: You expected her not to be on the list? This girl is an engineering whiz - of course she's fascinated by the inner-workings of sex toys, and the sheer range and variety of designs. She's even invented a few of her own - though getting a patent when you're a terroristic bomber is tricky. Her favorite is a neato little bullet vibrator. Keeps her happily buzzing (literally) while she's going over her doodles/designs, and can be hidden anywhere on one's person.

I should note there's a scene in FnF where Vi is rummging through Jinx's things, finds her 'magic bullet,' realizes what it is, and shoves it back in the drawers while inwardly asking Janna why she's put her on this world to make her suffer...

#asks #arcane #arcane league of legends #arcane silco #silco #arcane vi #vi #arcane mel #mel medarda #arcane sevika #sevika #arcane jinx #jinx #forward but never forget/xoxo #forward (never forget)/xoxo

[hana-akari]

Working on my carrd for my multimuse and man, I kinda want to add some nex gen kids. At least Chocho and Inojin because I love them but Boruto is such an unpopular series (Which is fair) that I doubt they'll get any attention.

The Boruto series sucks ass but the kids are cute, and some of the other characters are kinda cool. I think the androids are neato even though the very concept of them doesn't make sense at all but the designs are cool.

#tiredpunk: ooc

[autoplaysdigimon]

Another game I've been playing on and off recently is a fangame called Pokemon Insurgence.

There are two big draws for this game. One is that it has a "dark" storyline, though later updates added an option to tone back the edginess. And that's fair enough, whether you're put off by Pokemon games having murder, violence and sacrificial cults in them, or whether it feels 2edgy4me. Seriously, there's multiple things before you even get your starter that feel very "look at how DARK and GRITTY this game is!! This ain't your pappy's Nintendos!!!!" and it really reminds me of the stuff I wrote in high school when I thought that I was so adult for subverting the cutesy Pokemon image. YMMV, though.

The other big draw is a feature from the official card game. In it, there used to be cards of Pokemon that were Delta Species, which had a different type than usual. For example, Psychic Cyndaquil or Dark Meowth.

...because that's not a feature that would ever come up in the official games, surely.

Yeah, this game came out in Gen 6, juuuust before regional variants became a real thing in the series. Whoops! Still, it's neat to see their take on them. Delta Pokemon in Insurgence are treated like their own different thing, and they can't even breed with regular Pokemon, only Delta Ditto. (Which I think is near the end of the game, which kinda sucks, but hey.)

The starters are Delta versions of Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle, or you can pick a regular Eevee. There are no additional Eeveelutions or anything, but there is a Mega evolution for Eevee itself, so if you keep it unevolved for the entire game, you can mega evolve an Eevee! How awesome! I picked Bulbasaur because fuck that.

Look at her, she's so cute. She's Fairy/Psychic! I think Bulbasaur might be the only Delta Pokemon with gender differences.

It's kinda neat, but female cuter :3

Charmander is a Ghost/Dragon, and it looks fucking sick as hell. Squirtle is a Dark/Fighting and it looks like a ninja turtle, which is pretty rad.

For being all about the Delta Pokemon, there have been very few so far. There's the starter, and the rival's if you pick one of the Delta ones. Then you don't see any others until, potentially, just before the first gym. Which doesn't sound like much, but it's actually quite a way there. To get there, you have to go through three seperate caves.

Three. Seperate. Caves.

THREE CAVES.

That's not counting the ruins you go into to stop some villain action, or the optional one that leads to a small hidden area, or the one that you have to go through right after the gym.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CAVES.

Anyway here's the other Delta Pokemon I've encountered. Sandy sandy boy.

What I'm finding is that the wild Pokemon are very high level, to the point where it's pretty hard to grind. I'm watching some others play this game (albiet an earlier beta version) and they're doing a Nuzlocke and it looks roouuuuuugh. Grinding is both incredibly necessary and ridiculously tedious.

But! This is a fun game, and the designs are pretty fuckin neato. From other times I've played this (and quit bc attention span is no) I know there's a Delta Aipom coming up soonish, and I'm excited to catch the lil guy :)

You can download the game here :)

#pokemon insurgence #auto plays pokemon insurgence

[hanayanaa]

something neato is the signatures are actually decipherable inkling gliphs and not just random scribbles (they say hotaru and aori respectively aka marie and callies jp names)

Marie's signature is weird though its like stacked??? If you read it froam left to right it'd be like oHtaru but it makes sense in context

letter chart for ref

im imagining like theres just different types of glyphs for inkling similar to hiragana katakana kanji etc but goddamn they need to standardize this language lmfao

bold script can be presumed to be the most common for handwriting? square script seems only to be used in printed shit/graphic design

the other scripts are......... just bonus

#chatssi #splatoon #inkling language #ALSO FUCKING MARIE BULLYING CALLIE FOR HER HANDWRITING BDUCBDBFNSNFNF

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

I feel this…I want to redesign my sona because girl needs an upgrade but I have like, multiple ideas and idk if I should just go with one or both- lol. I really like Simons design though but curious to see what other sona idea you come up with either way.

Yeah!!!! I'll keep Simon for sure, cause he's still pretty funky, but I think an alternate sona to choose from would be pretty neato-

#asks are neat #Also. I wanna be creatura. I just want that- /LH

[notallwonder]

Okeydoke. CM 16x09 "Memento Mori". What delights and disappointments do you have in store for me...

Spoilers etc etc etc under the cut.

I've been rewatching season 3. It feels like such a different show. I think the impact of the shake up of producers and cast that happened in season 5/6 cannot be overestimated. And of course with this new season they've actively tried to make it a different iteration. But yeah...the creative vision or whatever shifted a lot over its original run.

Anyway.....back to the matter at hand...

oh no...Rossi flashback. :/ oh buddy. ngl hearing Rossi break up like that makes me very sad.

(Emily you look fabulous in your funeral dress)

I do appreciate the time they've given to Rossi & Emily's relationship

also it just makes me uncomfy that Rossi's doing his canvassing all alone. Even the Mormons don't do that.

OH SHIT is going down!

Emily is your blazer sparkly? no no it's like some kinda tufted wool pattern. (Cute)

JJ your hair looks great

Tara you must be right, "it's hard to be a new dad and a psychopath at the same time" (also you look great bb)

OH SNAP he walked right in??!! with a lil smirk??!!

Okay okay okay TARA / REBECCA FLASHBACK. Aw, Tara that look on your gorgeous face. 🥰 I am not intimately familiar with Al-Anon but I can see how Rebecca's history might influence her tendency to go scorched earth/go to extremes in her reactions.

I wish the flashbacks were in color though. The black & white photography is pretty I suppose, but I wanna see their beautiful faces in full color.

Urgency!! Rebecca coming thru!! (in her fire burgundy suit btw)

this Sacramento offer is all she's got?? I know she's under review, whatever that entails, and presumably thus no longer in line for an associate atty general job (is that actually a thing??) but she's... still actively working in the DOJ in Washington DC hence why she's even plausibly (lol) in this room. Why would this Sacramento job be the only option left to her? This does not make sense.

Tara looks so beautiful, GOD. but also too sad.

Ugh back to this bitch (Elias)

This little tete-a-tete w/ Rossi is...intruiging. Ooh twist that knife sir.

LOL the very subtle sound cue/background music they put on Rossi's grin after he says "Almost." God that was perfect. Like the cartoon sparkle on a smile. Like the Schitt's Creek chime.

Wow this guy has plans on plans on cojones. I like him. He's bad news.

Side note: it annoys me that they keep calling Sicarius the "most prolific" killer they've ever seen. Didn't they estimate Frank's body count in the 80s or 90s?

Oh....our favorite asshole Tyler Green. Oh and our other favorite ah Will - here in an official non-husband capacity. Neato.

The question remains....is Tyler Green a bad guy? He's clearly taking PG for a ride, but what that fully means I don't know.

OOooooh big drama betw Tyler & Luke. That stare down!

Does PG see it now? She might.

F U C K. Suspicions (Apparently!) confirmed ! !

Rossi you in danger girl.

this could still be a vigilante type situation...but they're leaning hard on making Green seem sus and at the very least he's an uncontrolled quantity. He's gonna get in the way.

ok another flashback. this one im categorizing as dumb bc it's about Tyler. Honestly I'd rather have an Emily flashback. Even if it's just her like...loading her dishwasher. God, what I wouldn't give.

cute baby tho. Tyler has baby-related ptsd

This angst filled grocery shopping RULES!!!!! Rolling Stones babey!!!

Rossi, stalking people while they are grocery shopping is not nice. I get it, you have a job to do blah blah. But coming up on ladies in the cereal aisle is just annoying as hell.

OH MY GAWD. Rossi talking serial killer with the wife in the CEREAL AISLE?!?!?!!!!! only god above and people I'll never speak to know if this was by design but I am LOSING it over this stupid visual pun.

Sydney! You left your toilet paper! Don't you remember how hard it was to get toilet paper just a few short years ago?!

LMAO Rossi you got played buddy.

It does feel odd given recent episodes that Bailey isn't in the middle of this fray, but I'm so not mad he's not there.

Emily's "yes ma'am" reminds me of her very flat "ma'am" to Strauss in "100". Very different (this one contains no venom), but I just have not been able to get Strauss out of my head while watching Prentiss this season.

ZOMG LUKE & PENELOPE. Pen, why are you oversharing with him???!!!! Oh honey. You really think he's just your friend. Can't talk to Prentiss bc you already fucked that up, can't talk to JJ bc JJ will call you out on your shit, can't talk to Tara bc she's in her own world of hurt... you friend zoned Luke and are about to find Out!

Oh GOd PG! Like... I know you sometimes lack a filter but c'mon. 😬

FUCK Rossi WHAT are you DOING. This man who has been marinating in grief for years is about to lose it all

The only one who we know knows where he is is Tyler Green (awful sentence so sorry)

I'm getting tense

The Two Devolvers

AAAGH I just LOVE when an intense moment goes straight to psoriasis drug commercials!!! Fuck!

Is the Dan & Sheila thing a reference to a real podcast of some sort? Who are Dan and Sheila.

I do like when the show seems to acknowledge the shortcomings of profiling as an endeavor

Rossi rounding out the Brown Jacket Brigade

Oh. Emily.

Oh. GARCIA. Chickens....roosting....etc

i am just dying, Dying for Emily to completely Lose Her Shit. i doubt she will get the opportunity. But I want it.

JJ getting the lay of the land watching Emily's reaction. Tara getting the lay of the land watching Penelope.

I want Rossi to pee in the car, and then say "it's just a rental".

A favor from DC Metro? For when they are in the field in SEATTLE? I know this is just to get Will into the mix but it's annoying.

Garcia! Um, the implication that you think avoidant-attachment style folks are like...better at or predisposed to lying? Fucked up. I think you have not been getting an A+ in therapy (thing that's normal to want, etc...). All this "Penelope has thrived during the pando / been getting so great at self care etc" seems to be revealing itself as a front of sorts. Kinda feels like a third, smaller, devolution.

The Will stans of the world will rejoice - he's on the jet

For the record, I think Emily made a calculated risk/decision to send PG into the field with the rest. Perhaps thinking she would be uniquely situated to convince/keep Tyler out of the way. Meta-wise, it was necessary to then place JJ/Will and Luke/Garcia in the same frame on the jet. I'm sure that was no accident.

Ugh. Do we think Rossi's out? Is he gonna be dead when this is all said and done? I hope not. He's still got lots of grandparenting to do. But he really should fucken retire.

OOOOHHHHH. THE GARVEZ DATE. Again...I wish they gave us these flashbacks in color.

Oh, handholding!!!!!!!!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 it's not the specific handholding I wished for, but it's the handholding I absolutely needed!!!!!!

Luke, my man. I love ya. I feel for ya. God. I'm sorry things went this way. Honestly, PG, if you have trouble conversing in a non-dunking way with someone you consider a friend...like maybe I'm being judgmental here but that sounds like a you problem that you might want to figure out babe.

Thinking about Luke compared with Derek. Derek would have pushed back on a statement like that from PG. Luke, bless him, does not push back because he's got more at stake emotionally / is wounded by it. But a statement like that from PG needs pushback, especially if you're trying to redefine the relationship.

I feel so bad for Emily. She has to keep it together but you know she's furious and deeply worried about her kidnapped work wife

Now we've come back around to Rossi's flashback pain. He didn't want to watch his wife be closed up underground. I see.

Zomg. I wonder if they are gonna cliffhanger the season with Rossi still trapped underground.

AAAAAAAAAAAH

I quite enjoyed this episode. I liked the directing, though I would have preferred the flashbacks in color. There were some really nice shots in there. A lot of backstory snippets. I wanna know more about Tara. What prompted her to go to Al-Anon, years after her marriage broke up? Does that have anything to do with the toning down/disappearance of her swagger? As for Garvez - I don't feel the same level of upset over how this has played out, but I think we're headed toward a reveal of Luke's deeper feelings and some kind of reckoning. And while it's not necessarily *fun* to watch Garcia make these choices, I am not convinced this was a completely bad decision storytelling-wise. I know, I'm in the minority there. Let her fuck up! Let her be unlikable, selfish, blind. I guess what would disappoint me the most is if there's no turn in this story, no real consequences or accountability. We'll see.

Favorite scene hands down was the angsty grocery shopping. What can I say, it gave me life.

#cm spoilers #cme spoilers #criminal minds spoilers #criminal minds evolution spoilers #criminal minds #criminal minds evolution

[spicytownhall]

I enjoy making stickers

I've been following, liking, sharing, supporting charities and doing what I feel called to when it comes to LGBT issues. I also designed some pride stickers that I wanted to give away on the charity stream but I didn't finish the designs. I love the process of making stickers and even though I'm into a so many creative processes, I think stickers are just super neato. If you like them, you can get them on ko-fi. Thanks for your support.

#pride #stickers #are #cute #thanks

[dndeed]

Crit Role Miniature Rollout: C3E30 Reunion & Revelation

With Andrew Harshman

An archive and analysis of the minis used on CR.

It’s a regular badlands rumble! Exciting times. We are getting some really unique encounters in this stretch of the campaign. It’s fun to see player characters take the piss out of villains. But sometimes it goes too far and takes the seriousness out of an encounter. Not the case here. The tone of this scene was just right for me.

Well that’s one way to open up negotiations, it’s time for Crit Role Miniature Rollout Campaign 3 Episode 30!

The List

Mats by Mars: Parched Earth Tabletop Wargaming Play Mat

Chest and Trove 5E Condition Rings

Monster Fight Club Barren Hills

Monster Fight Club Tree

Monster Fight Club Fallen Tree Trunk

Wizkids Minis: Deep Cuts Wave 4- 2-Wheel Cart

Campaign 3 Party Minis Wizkids Sculpts

Large Crawler sculpted by Wild Mesh

Night Below #27 Assassin

Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica - Companion Starter Set 1 Human Rogue

Maze of Death #07 Pitborn Fighter

Storm King’s Thunder #015 Bandit

Critical Role Miniatures Satyr

Monster Menagerie 3 #06 Goblin

D&D Premium Painted Figure: W4 Human Druid Male

D&D Premium Painted Figure: W5 Halfling Fighter Female

Critical Role Miniatures Rivermaw Stormborn

Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage #15 Thug Leader

Unknown tree with snake or vine

Assorted scatter terrain

The Nonplayer Characters

Hondir Monster Menagerie 3 #06 Goblin Mini images sourced from minisgallery.com

Lovin’ the outfit on this here goblin. And a little translucent plastic torch fire effect is always welcome in my mini gerblin collection. Great pick for this NPC. Not to victim blame, but maybe if he hadn’t been waving around that road flare looking torch he wouldn’t have been such an obvious gun target.

The Villains

Crawler Gang Fighter D&D Premium Painted Figure: W5 Halfling Fighter Female

So on the one hand, it’s cool to see a high strength halfling miniature, especially one wielding such a haphazard and gritty weapon. But on the other hand, this miniature is pretty lousy. Arguably one of the worst looking Premium Painted models from a casting quality and paint precision perspective. Take a look at the original digital sculpt:

CG render image sourced from nobleknight.com

The finalized miniature looks more like a dwarf than a halfling imo. I thought the neck armor was a beard initially. This sculpt really needed far higher resolution cast fidelity. 

Maricris Critical Role Miniatures Rivermaw Stormborn

Ah yes, Riverjaw Strongborn, classic Critical Role character. No wait, that’s not this fella’s name, apparently a Stormborn is a goliath clan designation of some sort. Neato. As someone who has not watched all of Campaign 1, I was not familiar. 

So this is an impressive looking goliath model and all, but what does it really add to the prepainted goliath mini-scape? Not much. It looks basically like every other goliath prepaint out there. Furthermore, the pose is not super exciting. But dang does it look epic atop that massive crawler!

Large Crawler Sculpted by Wild Mesh and painted by Iron Tusk Painting Crawler image sourced from Iron Tusk Painting’s Twitter

-though I suppose most miniatures would look epic atop an epic vehicle such as this! Righteous stuff. Digitally sculpted by Wild Mesh, a team of 3D artists responsible for many of the Campaign 3 party and Critical Role miniature sculpts. 

Crawler Gang Druid D&D Premium Painted Figure: W4 Human Druid Male

Check out all them stripes! Doesn’t feel very druidy. I kinda thought druids were opposed to angular patterns on principle. Too artificial, too civilized. And that red and white sash? What’s he doin’, runnin’ a barbershop?? Anyway- this mini has a dope billowing cloak and a good paint job. Fine figure.

Crawler Gang Crossbower Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage #15 Thug Leader

Getting serious anime villain vibes of this dude. Just look at his proportions. And the skull cap he’s wearing looks like bright silver hair! 90s anime goon for sure. Not an amazing model, but it has a certain charm I enjoy. Plus I have a soft spot for crossbowperson miniatures.

Returning Minis

Crawler Gang Dual Wielder Night Below #27 Assassin

Why we haven’t seen the likes of this DDM mini since the Iron Shepherd hideout assault (though it could have possibly been used in a one shot potentially, not 100% sure [I seem to have a vague memory of this mini showing up somewhere, idk]).

Another good billowing cloak. And a good mini to be sure, but that dagger does indeed look like a putty knife or a spoon. I don’t wanna tell an assassin how to do their job, but maybe he should be careful how he’s holdin’ that dagger. The crawler is bound to hit some bumps and you definitely don’t want a knife pointed at your head when the road gets rocky.

Final Thoughts

Sweet combat. Started with a bang and stayed exciting throughout.

See ya next sesh!

#critroleminiaturerollout

#critroleminiaturerollout #criticalroleminiaturerollout #critrole #critical role #criticalrole #crspoilers #wizkids

[less-than-three-3]

played metroid prime just like everyone else on the planet, apparently

it was ok (for a metroid game) (that means it is still pretty damn good)

But I can’t lie, given the reputation this game has, I was somewhat disappointed. For transparency, I did play it m+kb on my microsoft wii, though if I had shelled out the price for the remaster I doubt my experience would have been much different lol. Explanation below, with spoilers?

I’ll start with what it does well though, and that’s being Super Metroid but in 3d. In terms of exploration, how the world is presented, how you progress, etc. was translated to 3d pretty perfectly. Having pretty much no guidance and a full map, but still having one or maybe two actual correct ways that, if you just keep going forward or think about what you’ve seen before, you can find really easily. Honestly, in many ways, it just kinda feels like a really really big zelda dungeon. Or maybe zelda is a mini metroidvania. You decide! You can really see the bones of this game in so many modern metroidvanias. There’s not even really things you need to shoot a million times because of scan visor! 

And yeah, the scan visor is really cool. Being able to just scan to find out how to approach enemies, or how (or when) to get past obstacles, or learn stuff about the world is pretty neato. The other visors, though, were... ok, I guess. They aren’t interesting to use or anything, just *necessary to see certain enemies*, which I guess is fine just not nearly as interesting as scan visor. (They are also sort of an eyesore, and I imagine the remaster does improve on that)

Speaking of needing a thing to beat certain enemies, I just really hate the space pirates and drones and metroids that have a certain element that they can be hit by. This might just be some bias but I feel like they just take way too long to kill compared to their 2d counterparts, and being forced to use, say, ice beam (which shoots slow as hell) is just a slog. It kinda leads into my first major gripe, being that the combat feels like it takes a little too much of a spotlight for how... admittedly boring it can be. And this is with m+kb controls making aiming a lot better. I don’t really know if it’s actually just later enemies having too much health but the shooting doesn’t feel *that* fun or fluid, like in the 2d games, or out of the way, like in ori 1. Like if it was just a minor thing you just don’t have to think about I wouldn’t complain, but since fights take so long I can’t help but just be a little underwhelmed. 

It is definitely exacerbated by my second gripe, which is just that enemies, and especially bosses, are not that interesting? Like they have 1 or 2 attack patterns that you can recognize and dodge, and then you have your turn and you shoot them in the weak spot or with the weak element, rinse and repeat for however long. I think I can give it a little bit of a pass for how old the game is, but I just didn’t really feel that engaged by the bosses. Maybe that’s just a boss design thing and not the combat? I don’t know. Something in there just felt underwhelming.

One last thing to complain about, I promise, but I felt pretty much the entire last “act” was kind of... eh? I didn’t really care for the artifact hunt, it felt a little annoying (especially having to go through the space pirate research base again...). And then the back to back to back of Meta Ridley, Metroid Prime, then Metroid Prime again just really made a point of showing me the totally awesome boss fight design. Especially the final Metroid Prime form which I thought would be like Dark Beast Ganon like oh cool I super zap it to deal a ton of damage.... and then it dealt like maybe 1/10 of its health bar. And then it started summoning more metroids, some of which were the annoying ones. So it was just a really really... fun.... “I have my turn (for a full minute) and then you have yours (for 10 seconds)”. And to then top it all off, I don’t even get an evacuation sequence?? :/

This one’s a more minor, personal issue, and that’s just that I really don’t care to read so much lore. Environmental storytelling and worldbuilding, and ambient mood setting are things that I think Super Metroid perfected and nothing has really met, and that’s something I still believe even having played Prime. If you want to deliver story beats/developments/realizations in a game like this, you show don’t tell. I’m not delivering like a crazy revelation here, any writer knows this lol. But like, for example, to show that, say, the space pirates experimentations of phazon with metroids, instead of a bunch of space pirate data logs to read, there could have been like, idk, some metroid encounters or you see a metroid escape that looks unstable and oozing with phazon. And the chozo artifacts could definitely have been better tied to the phazon stuff too. It’s why I’ve always really enjoyed Fusion and Dread, even if they are departures from the way things are presented in Super, because they actually commit to narrative telling. Maybe I’m off base here, idk, but I just really wish there were less lore tablets and more intuitive things or like even straight up character interactions to show me what’s going on. I hope Silksong improves on that, but I doubt it. Wait what game are we talking about again?

Ok but enough negativity, I really enjoyed everything up to then. Like I said the actual metroidvania parts of it were really excellent. As good as Super Metroid? Not quite, but I do consider that pretty much peak metroidvania performance, so that’s a very high bar. It emulates it super well, and I was definitely really enjoying the full loop of unlocking and going further into the planet. The music too, was really good -- but again Super Metroid’s soundtrack is simply a masterpiece that I think even the 3DS and Switch’s adaptations/remasters of the same tracks don’t hit the same. 

All in all I think that’s pretty much a really good way to put it. It adapts Super Metroid’s strengths very well, but not quite to the extent of it, and some things do just get lost in the transition to 2D and 3D, I guess. It’s different from Fusion and Dread because those games are unabashedly more straightforward experiences, while still maintaining pretty much all the Metroid backbone and blood. It’s trying the same thing, but in a different form. I can respect it, but it’s definitely not my favorite. Which is a high bar! For reference I still end up rating this game pretty much a 9/10 - which may seem odd given all I’ve said, but I think for the most part this really hits the mark, and Metroid has just a really super good backbone, there’s just some.. growing pains? idk. I’ll definitely play the rest of the trilogy. I did see Dark Samus escape from metroid prime so... I think the next 2 games will definitely up the ante. Or maybe they won’t. We’ll see.

#metroid #metroid prime

[bigdickevans]

i watched smile and wrote down my live reaction if anyone cares lol. long story short it was better than i thought it would be, the death/spooky effects were fun but it was kinda heavy handed with the mental health commentary

i went into this thinking it would be funny bad but. goddammit. ok i liked the opening.

the fucking back and forth shots of the main lady and the college girl’s faces, it set me up!!

then when it showed college girl had gotten up. idk man something about how empty and sterile the office is wigged me out even more.

and her cutting her neck was neato

at the title card now and alright goddamn it didn’t have to flash like that yeesh

oh also it sounds like this is just gonna be it follows but with suicide instead of sex

lord they’re trying to do mental health commentary. great.

ugh if i end up liking this movie i’m gonna be embarrassed

that cat’s dead. and nooo i don’t know that because i checked doesthedogdie.com

i was hoping the cat would smile lmao

WAIT THE BOYFRIEND

WHO IS HE

SLKJFLKSDF IT’S A-TRAIN

i’ve decided this takes place in The Boys universe

sorry i got so distracted by a-train that i forgot to say that main lady seeing the dead girl in the dimly lit kitchen did freak me out.

we’re back to the mental health commentary.

why does the cat have such a big fucking bowl

Young cop(?) dude gives me the creeps.

Haha sassy black coworker!! very funny and cool el oh el

ooooo i liked her passing the rooms and having to backtrack

bro is vibing stop snapping

im so sorry but this carl actor has a really silly voice

i feel like this boss also looks familiar

oh he was in designated survivor ok

actually i’ve been kinda constipated so maybe if i watch this on the toilet i’ll shit myself and finally be free

jesus this lady just can’t stop breaking glasses

none of this would’ve happened if you just KEPT YOUR HOUSE WELL LIT

WAIT STOP EVERYTHING

YOUNG COP CREEP IS THE EMO GUY FROM JENNIFER’S BODY

wow what a cast

i sorta missed the whole bit where she listened to the recording and heard stuff, i was unclogging my toilet

main lady and blonde bitch are sisters?? wow that went straight over my head until now. i knew they had to be related in some way? but i kinda thought the husband and the main lady were siblings

dead cat moment

love that they felt the need to clarify it was her cat lmao

when the boy picked it up it looked like really bad cgi

DAMN

TABLE SLAM KO

yeah babe sometimes you just gotta yell it out

SLKDFJLS THE PAIN ASSESSMENT CHART

im sorry… mental health preachy message aside, are you telling me the fiance had to look up the fact that mental illness can be hereditary??

for some reason i feel like the main character’s spiral happened way too fast

but to be fair i guess she does have that trauma with her mom, so maybe even though she works in healthcare she’d still be more susceptible to this line of thinking?

the number of times they say “crazy” in this movie is getting ridiculous

love a good smashed in head, i appreciate they didn’t add a loud noise with it considering the amount of jumpscares in this fucking thing

thank god horrible events always happen to artists so we can have ooky spooky drawings

these “coincidences” are so obviously connected it’s ludicrous that literally nobody noticed until now

I mean cops being inept is nothing new i guess

main character is being? unbelievably unreasonable here?? yes, calling a mental health professional is what you’re SUPPOSED to do when someone around you starts acting like this

i thought one of the whole points of this smile demon thing was that it could look like anyone? they haven’t really been utilizing that as much as i assumed they would which is a bummer

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

loved that moment with the sister at the car

it is kinda neat that the death has to be super dramatic so it inflicts as much trauma as possible

but also couldn’t you just do something traumatic that doesn’t involve murder or suicide?

like pretend you murdered someone or killed yourself in a crazy violent way in front of someone so they believe it happened, orchestrate a big practical joke

the demon voice is goofy

putting a knife that big up your sleeve seems like an atrocious idea

LMAO AWESOME DREAM

it’s like in chainsaw man. the whole door thing with denji. i’m not elaborating bc i don’t wanna spoil anyone.

the mom is kinda hot

lol i like how slowly rose closed the door

ooooooo!!!! suddenly tall mom!!!

i’m a tad disappointed with the monster design :/

HELL YEAH you thought a house fire could kill a demon?? lmaoooo

I TAKE IT BACK THE MONSTER DESIGN LOOKS RAD

rose the throat goat

hell yeah love a good person burning

#gail babbles about dumb shit

[retrogamechampion]

Today's screenshots courtesy of a prototype Sega CD fighter with gorgeous graphics called "Burning Fists: Force Striker."

I really dig Empusa's design and just have to note the winning screens as magazine covers, which has never been done before. That's just neato.

Seriously, Empusa needs to be a new She-Hulk villain.

I'm noticing something a bit strange about the stage select screen, though...

#unreleased games #burning fists #force striker #sega cd #mega cd #retro games #retro gaming #retro #empusa #shi san mei #screen shots #screenshot #i don't remember hong kong being in the u.k. but i wasn't exactly a model student #100% sega tasted

[splatoon-but-real]

so about your coworker, ishy... are they cool?

she's neato. a good coworker. she's really shy though and doesn't like to talk much unless it's about weapons and TRUST me she'll talk your ear off abt those. i listened to her rant for an entire HOUR about the design flaws of clash blasters in general and to be honest i barely remember jack but i'm honestly impressed with just... everything behind what she says.

so yeah. really cool.

#splatoon

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Making your self-insert a messy doof laying around playing Dragon Quest, legend. He is playing #5 by the way, that's the early town of Whealbrook. I've been rewatching HxH for the umpteenth time. Glad people are catching on to Greed Island being actually pretty dope finally. It has Bisky. Bisky is a polished, diamond-tier blorbo. You kick so much ass you leave your Nen ability up to looking cute and that's a mood. I'd either want that or Neon Nostrade's Lovely Ghostwriter. Those are neato abilities. Neon and dear sweet Kacho are my random favs. Alluka is baby, Kurapika is the Kurama of the main cast so he's the best and Shiapouf is like a bishie Boa Hancock so of course I love him. Also Morel for smoking hella weed and weaponizing it through a total pothead ability.

Anyways yeah, Greed Island. It's fun and fun things are fun. The final fight with the Bombers is amazing and really one of the best Togashi's ever written. It's punchy, frenetic, and isn't afraid to get suddenly violent. Bisky's beatdown is a great swerve, Killua gets to look legitimately clever in something more reminiscent of early YuYu Hakusho brawls, and Gon being a little psycho taking a beating before the great trap with gasoline is amazing.

That after having the right amount of fun with the "stuck in a game" premise and a training arc with girly Genkai give you a nice breather between Yorknew & Chimera Ant darkness. In hindsight works better as Ging setting up somewhat of a Dark Continent simulator and some of the hurdles really make sense with Ging's personality. The card collecting aspect hits well for me too. It makes it almost like it's taking two tropes that get tired easily and letting them support each other. Looking at a list it's really hard to pick out which three I'd actually take if I won the game.

Just because I talk about it some too...never really saw much of Dragon Quest specifically in Greed Island which is kinda weird. Maze Castle in YYH and Trick Tower in the Hunter Exam are where I see that the most if anywhere. Obviously they're more mainline RPGs and the MMO tenth installment wouldn't have been out then. 7 would be the most recent. It's very much Togashi's own thing, like how Earthbound is so quirky because a satirist played such a huge role in the design. It honestly feels a little more like N64-era collect-a-thons. Banjo-Kazooie on steroids which I guess was just Banjo-Tooie. BK's soundtrack is nonstop bangers so they get to be the standard bear-er. I would seriously bet money Togashi was one of those crazy souls who 100%ed Donkey Kong 64. I'll stop, I'm rambling again.

These are usually deeper, but that's all I'm feeling tonight. Finally tried out the 99 Greed Island anime for a change and liked certain aspects of it a lot. People have warmed up to it in more recent years and they're right. Though the arc has a reverse Yorknew vibe where the 2011 anime style suits it better. Think I have another Late Night Togashiposting a brewing, a classic style one, but that'll be another time. I do have a new Dragon Quest game to play around with.

#yoshihiro togashi #hunter x hunter #late night togashiposting #draconic musings