#tl:dr i love this update but not because its good

[nancy-plays-dutp]

The Problem With DUTP Updates

On March 6 2023, the app Time Princess received a major update. It added major new game features, and was even delayed from the initial release date from March 5 and received a hotfix a few days later. This update had new clothes and a new story, but more significantly introduced new game mechanics and a new type of gameplay into the app: the Story Kingdom. And I can think of no better feature to use as a perfect example of the strange and fascinating development of this little app, from the perspective of a player who may have a slightly large number of thoughts about this sort of thing.

Why do people play video games? Not in general, but the specific games that they choose to put their time and effort (and money) into. To put it broadly, video games have two ways to motivate you: extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is the game giving you a reward: experience points, in game coins, achievements, and unlocking new areas and skills. The game gives you something to signal that you have, in some way, made progress. Intrinsic motivation has more to do with the player becoming better at the game. This varies a lot according to the game's mechanics, but basically its you becoming "skilled" at playing the game, and are playing it not to change the game but to change how you engage with it. For example, if you've got a sudoku game you're probably playing it so that you get better at solving those puzzles, and not because each puzzle solved will bring you closer to unlocking a new colour of game board.

Games that use one or the other kind of motivation are not inherently better; it depends on the intended experience and player expectations. (I've learned a lot about this from SuperEyepatchWolf's video on Shenmue 3, which I will link in the comments .)

The basic pitch of DUTP involves both types of motivation: players obtain clothing and use stamina to play through stories. The collecting clothing and receiving awards for scoring highly on stages is extrinsic motivation: the game is giving you something for performing a task. Intrinsic gameplay is more subtle: while there is some skill involved in styling an outfit, usually that goes out the window when you're playing stages because of the tag scoring system. Instead the intrinsic motivation comes in the form of the choices the player makes through the story as they work to find all of the different endings, and the satisfaction that comes from finishing a story. In game features like crafting clothes and playing minigames similarly have both motivations: you might craft an outfit to unlock a new level or get a higher score (an extrinsic motivation), but may also use this outfit piece when styling a look that you find more visually appealing (intrinsic motivation). Minigames likewise give rewards that are used in other portions of the game, but also involve some degree of skill and can allow players to improve.

There are also some incredibly unbalanced areas of DUTP gameplay, and these things I often personally find frustrating and limiting. For example, the lantern gives mainly extrinsic rewards: you unlock new levels, you get gift boxes and diamonds, and you unlock achievements. The only intrinsic motivation lantern companions provide are their voice interactions, which are pretty limited, and the three letters you unlock pretty quickly when levelling them up. I suppose you might also enjoy spinning their model around, but these are pretty low rewards for the very high cost of crafting more gifts and continuing to level the characters up, especially since most of these intrinsic benefits are unlocked right from the start. Anybody levelling their lantern companions past certain levels is almost assuredly doing it not because they enjoy it, but because they want the reward the game will give them for doing so. There is also no skill involved, beyond rudimentary resource management, so it becomes something to grind through to get the extrinsic rewards rather than a feature that people enjoy for its own sake.

So what is the Story Kingdom? Upon opening it after the update I was quite fascinated and confused as to what this was meant to be. I knew this was going to be a continuation of the Mirage Forest storyline, which explains the framing device of the magical book we use to travel in different stories. The gameplay loop of Mirage Forest very closely resembles a game like Animal Crossing, where you have a map that you run around in to complete quests and unlock collectables. By using energy you can harvest these collectables, which are flowers and berries and crystals, which you can spend on unlocking new areas with new collectables and the occasional story stage.

It's easy to spot the extrinsic motivation in this gameplay: you are collecting resources, which unlock more resources. Eventually you'll get enough resources to purchase clothing items, or unlock new resources to gather, and there's even achievements for each type of resource that you can collect. Yet a lot of these resources are already oddly disconnected from the rest of the game: there's a new kind of energy, and the rewards you gain in Story Kingdom can only be used in that specific map, or in the specific shop where you can redeem a few clothing items or crafting items. These items appear to be limited to the ones used to level up relics and fashion academy: these are score modifiers that make it easier to pass levels and get high scores, which is not a matter of skill.

As for intrinsic motivation, Story Kingdom is severely lacking. The gameplay is more tedious than fun, as it is made of waiting through timers to get another resource. There is no skill, no nuance, and no way for the player to engage in any deeper level of gameplay. The story is an attempt at intrinsic motivation, but it's quite shallow and has an incredibly loose narrative, mainly consisting of scenes where you "purify" a shadow demon with relics.

There are very few customization options for your stylized avatar, and there are no choices in this story. You appear to be investigating why there are shadow monsters, but the story takes quite a while to work through on account of all the timers, and you don't really form a deep understanding of the world or characters. The shadow monsters also appear to be caused by bad feelings. I honestly was expecting this kind of quality from this story, but the problem is that this remains the most intrinsic motivation the Story Kingdom offers. While you can style your characters with the clothes you earn through this story, they are incredibly expensive and may take months or years to unlock, creating a system with low rewards and a lot of effort.

And now let's discuss the fishing. There is a fishing minigame that must be played to earn fish, which function like any other collectible in completing Story Kingdom quests. The main difference is that it costs double the energy for a single fish, and upon completion of the minigame you get a random fish. As far as I can tell there is no way to raise your chances of getting a required fish, so you're often left spending quite a bit of energy to amass the required fish to progress past this roadblock.

Mechanically, this fishing game is a reflex game. The fishing bobber slides back and forth on its scale, and you must tap the "reel in" button when it's in the dark blue "target" range. This is a personal concern, but I find this game incredibly frustrating. I have uncontrollable hand tremors, which leads me to avoid games that require fast reflexes. The other minigames that require reflexes are optional games, but this fishing game locks Story Kingdom progress. There is no other way to obtain fish aside from playing this.

There are three kinds of bait that you can use to fish, one of which is 10 energy, one of which can be purchased with diamonds (you can get a free one every day through quests), and finally you can buy bait with money. The target gets larger with each type of bait, but it's still possible to miss. And if you miss? You get absolutely nothing.

There was a hotfix update released very quickly after the original update, which changed this minigame so that losing did not consume energy. But the difficulty of the minigame remains the same, and the random aspect of fishing is still quite frustrating. Not to mention that it can be possible to "win" but fish up a completely useless item, like a soggy boot or seaweed, which as of right now has no current use in the game.

So why is this bad? Overall the Story Kingdom weighs down the rest of the game. It adds new materials and incredibly shallow and repetitive gameplay, which requires grinding for long periods of time at games of luck to get what few rewards there are. It's also disappointing considering the state of many other neglected features of the game, such as the custom contour mechanics that allow players to dye and pattern certain clothes (with extremely limited options), or the limited range of player character appearances.

I'm not saying they had to work on improving these aspects of the game, but I do think it's strange that so much effort, time, and money was presumably put towards developing Story Kingdom, which fails to build off any previously established elements and offers nothing compelling in its own right. It even makes aspects of the game more difficult: players have long complained about the lag and hefty memory and storage requirements for this game, and Story Kingdom only makes these problems worse.

How could we fix this? There's plenty of opportunities to make Story Kingdom better, and it honestly baffles me seeing how so little effort was made to integrate this feature with the rest of the game. It wouldn't be too difficult to add Story Kingdom energy to the minigame rewards, or add better rewards to the Story Kingdom shop.

The fishing is the most frustrating aspect of the Story Kingdom, and it really doesn't need to be. For starters, many games with this kind of fishing game will have more than one "target" range, with increasing probability at getting a reward, and a lower chance of failure. Additionally it would be nice to see some kind of trading mechanic, where you could swap certain types of fish for ones you need, or even a "fish market" where you could buy or trade fish with other players. Perhaps there could be different types of bait with a greater chance at attracting certain types of fish, and they could all be bought with energy, or crafted from those garbage items that are currently doing nothing in my inventory.

Finally, I see a huge missed opportunity in Story Kingdom. To me, a lot of DUTP's appeal lies in the customization options. It would be nice to expand those through Story Kingdom, such as unlocking new dyes or stamps or patterns for outfits. (The story even takes the character through a dye shop...) The items you gather could perhaps be used as ingredients to craft dye that you could then use to alter clothing items.

I honestly don't think we even needed the Story Kingdom map, as it seems like that took a lot of time and effort to create and animate, but is ultimately wasted space. I'd recommend instead focusing on the current in game map: the bedroom from which the player accesses stories, minigames, crafting, and so forth. The bedroom we have is part of the game's meta narrative about us journeying through stories, and often will have new accessories or lighting based on seasonal events, but players have no options for customizing this space. If we could get a new bedspread, or choose which items are displayed on our shelf, or buy different hanging lights, I think that simple aesthetic change could really enhance the game experience. Such options are intrinsically motivated, since we're doing it for our own enjoyment of aesthetics rather than an external game reward. It could also be a feature that could be fleshed out, with event specific bedroom items, and perhaps new bedroom themed backgrounds for taking selfies, and options for displaying achievement trophies in the room to further a sense of accomplishment.

There is one thing that can change in the static Story Kingdom, namely the player character's appearance. Because it's a new art style and new character model, I do understand why the options are so sparse. But more than the "Default Look" options, I find the "Set Look" category to be quite interesting.

If you choose "Set Look", your character will take on the appearance of the chosen companion. You can unlock more companions through levelling them up in the lantern. I find this somewhat hilarious and quite sad, because it must have taken a good deal of effort and time to create these models, and I simply cannot see the purpose of them. There is no official way to take photos of these avatars, so you are limited to screenshots if you want to display them, but the customization options are so few that it holds very little appeal.

It's easy to dismiss these choices as "fanservice," but I think that's too simplistic. It's fanservice that fails to understand what fans of the game enjoy, and its at best superfluous features that will not be used by most players. Unlocking the companion set looks is extrinsic, but doesn't have much to offer for intrinsic motivation. And I think it would be relatively simple to add intrinsic motivation; if the static map of the Story Kingdom could be populated by companions from stories, then it would be much more engaging. Perhaps you could unlock a certain number of slots to place companions, and companions according to which stories you've played and your relationship levels. Perhaps each unlocked companion, once placed in the world, could have a couple of voice lines when you interact with them, and maybe they'd even have a chance to give you some resource or more energy. This would create actual rewards for progressing in the Story Kingdom narrative, and allow the map to be customized. It would also theoretically be easier to create, since you'd only need to model each character as a static character, or perhaps with one idle animation, instead of needing to give them all walk cycles and the ability to turn around, face new directions, and play a fishing game. Players would also be able to show off which companions were populating their Story Kingdom.

I only play games, and I don't create them. I don't know how difficult it would be to implement these changes, nor do I know the reasons for the choices DUTP has made with this update. But from my perspective, it seems like the developing team has put a lot of effort into the wrong features. They've created many new assets but failed to provide sufficient reasons for players to want to use them. Games don't need to have compelling narratives or engaging mechanics, but they still need some intrinsic motivation to encourage players. This update is indicative of poor management and design choices, and I have to wonder if the DUTP team believes "new" is automatically better. Players often ask for improvements on existing features, but each update appears to deliver new stories and event clothing without building on what was established previously. I can only hope that DUTP shifts its development and begins to look critically at the current game features and work towards improving them, rather than tacking on new half finished features.

#dutp #dutp update #dutp story kingdom #honestly this update baffles me #did they put any thought into it at all #dutp stop spending your budget on assets and think about gameplay please #tl:dr i love this update but not because its good #rather because it shows that dutp is struggling to understand the appeal of their own game

[identifying-cars-in-posts]

A long overdue update:

Hi everyone. Long time no see. I literally have not opened Tumblr since the last time I posted here. Hope everyone is doing ok. Figured I owed y’all an apology and explanation for kinda just vanishing.

First, I did in fact get a car! It’s a 2015 Nissan Versa Note. I don’t particularly like it but a friend gave me a deal on it that I couldn’t turn down. Once my life stabilizes I’m probably going to sell it and buy an old truck, maybe a 70s Ford. I’d love a little sports car or a land yacht but rear wheel drive is a bit impractical for brutal New England winters, and the Jeep really put me in Old American Truck Mode. But yes I have a car now!

Second, unfortunately this is an official notice of hiatus. When I last posted saying I was taking some time off it was because I had just had an incredibly stressful move and did not have the energy to keep this blog up. I figured I’d take some time to get settled in, relax, and then pick this back up after a week or two, but the last month has been really rough - the short version is one of the people I was living with turned out to be a pretty horrendous human being who managed to get everybody living in the house essentially kicked out via sheer drama. Within a month and a half. It’s a long story but tl:dr if you quite literally slander a property manager with heavy unfounded accusations of horrible crimes, they’ll probably bail from the whole situation. And since they’re gone the landlord has to hand ownership of everything over to a company that’s forcing everyone still here to vacate. I’m now fighting to not have to live in aforementioned Nissan Versa through the aforementioned brutal New England winter. On top of that, I’m a retail manager so we’re going into our busiest most stressful season, so that’s been an extra level of exhaustion.

So what does that mean for this blog? Well, as I said, I’m officially going on indefinite hiatus, as are the projects I was working on in relation, including the reference website. I’m really sorry, I’m just way too stressed and dealing with way too much. If I could, I would just hand off administrative power to someone else, but this is a sideblog so I can’t hand off login credentials without also giving access to my main/personal account. It’s my biggest regret of this account, but when I started it I never expected it to blow up the way it did back in September - I had no reason to expect to need it to be its own entirely separate blog. I love what I was doing here and I thought that it might even be a nice distraction from everything going on, but the upkeep required with this blog is just more than I can deal with right now. I hope that things settle down soon and that I can genuinely come back here and enjoy what I was doing, but I just need literally anything to level out in my real life and to not be in 100% survival mode, because at the moment I literally do not have the energy to pour into this.

Anyway. Sorry for the long post, I’m not good at not being overly verbose. I’m really sorry for kind of abandoning this project, and I hope I can get back to it relatively soon, it just might be a while.

In the mean time, I hope those of y’all who I turned onto cars as a potential hobby find some other good outlets! I highly recommend Donut Media’s series “Up to Speed” on YouTube, as well as the channels Regular Car Reviews, Doug DeMuro, Garbage Time, and Aging Wheels. All great YouTube channels that are both informative and very approachable and fun.

Godspeed and much love. Hope to see y’all soon

- Identifying Cars in Posts admin ❤️

#not a car id

[khttrpg]

Update for the Future

TL:DR; You're not going to see any active changes to the Re:Roll documents, but I'll be working on it in private the next half year! Please look forward to regular updates on its progress here, instead of regular releases.

So my game design course wrapped up last week! This is exciting for a lot of reasons, and the course itself taught me a lot about the process of making a game. In the last month or two, based on this information and the direction I want to take Re:Roll, I've been thinking pretty hard about how I want to go forward making this game.

The primary reason for releasing this publicly, even when it was so very far from complete, was to receive feedback. I have tried to push for this over the time the game has been published, but I have gotten very little active playtesting feedback (that is, feedback from people who have played the game instead of just reading the rules). And there's a lot of reasons for that, including a lot of issues with the game and the process from my side! But now that I know better, I'd like to really put my all into making this game as good as possible.

As such, while I'm going to take up this game again on a more active capacity, it's going to be done privately. There are sections that I essentially need to restart from scratch, and a few things about the game as a whole that I need to make serious decisions about. And because of the lack of feedback, it doesn't really make sense to publish things piecemeal; its just put a lot of pressure on me! In order to keep myself from unnecessary stress, the better solution is to just wait until a new version is completely ready.

In essence: this game was made into a public beta too quickly! I'll leave the forms that are already up, but I'll be pulling it back into a private beta until a new version is fully ready. Based on the amount of time I have and how long my work on this project takes, I expect to have another public version available by the end of June 2024. And I'll be much more transparent going forward!

It's been a really rough year for me - multiple deaths of close friends and family have kept me in a near-constant state of stress and grief all year. I've apologized for that before, but I want to again reiterate how much I appreciate everyone's patience throughout it, and how hopeful I am that, with a less stressful new year, I'll be able to keep you all more closely updated with how the game will progress!

If you want to be involved in the testing process before the game goes public, you're also welcome to support me on Patreon! This money is the only reason I've been able to relax from the stress of my coursework more than once this past half year, and I'm so so grateful to everyone who supports me. This game is and will always be free to play, but by necessity of needing a small pool (and as a reward for supporting me!), it'll be patrons who I'll ask to test with me first - followed by members of the Discord!

Thank you all so much for your patience with me. I love this project and I'm so, so hopeful that I'll be able to deliver something that you'll all really love, in a fully completed form. <3

#update #im so excited to come back to work on this project!

[manysmallhands]

Top 10 Albums of 2023!

This was all supposed to work out differently. As i recall from the now long distant past, my original plan was to do a countdown where i put up one post a day throughout December. However, I got Covid on December 1st and that plan immediately became lame and useless. After that, my assumption was basically that i wouldn't be able to do any of this, but i got better more quickly than i'd anticipated and found myself working on these reviews in bits as the month has gone on. So, having rushed through all the the song blurbs that i wanted to do, here i am on New Year's Eve with a more or less finished Top 10 albums to put up.

The only problem is that there are ten quite lengthy reviews here and the vibe is already pretty tl:dr. But tbh that's fine: there really is only my girlfriend who ever reads everything (and i believe her, trust is what love is all about after all) so for anyone looking at this and thinking blimey, that's a lot of text, my advice is: you don't have to read any of it. Just look at the albums, scan thru to see if it sounds like something you might like and give one or two of them a listen if that looks like the case. The words are really just to keep me occupied but i'd like to hope that someone likes some of the records.

I said yesterday that i would reveal what the best one is and so I am now delivering on that important promise. The best one is Scarlet by Doja Cat. Anyone who follows me on whatever platform already knows that the best one is Scarlet by Doja Cat. Don't make me say it again.

Barbie - The Album

Few people have seemed much interested in the Barbie soundtrack, other than the punters who kept it atop the compilations chart for four months. I, as ever, channel the spirit of the populous. The sound is basically 80s synth pop updated for a modern audience  - the likes of Haim and Ava Max slot in predictably well - but its the extra dimensions created by how the artists interact with the film that provide some of its more interesting aspects. Sam Smith’s Man I Am reflects a surprisingly LGBTQ Ken despite protestations (certainly its "I'm not gay bro, but..." T-shirt is prompting a lot of questions already answered by the shirt), while Billie Eilish dwelling on life as a manufactured product makes for interesting and uncomfortable parallels in What Was I Made For. Mark Ronson’s plasticky production suits its subject to a tee, further cementing the conceptual unity of the project.

Star turns abound throughout the album as A-listers like Dua Lipa and Lizzo bring their best games alongside some terrific and unlikely downcard cameos. What Was I Made For? and Dance The Night were both deserved #1s, but the pacey pop punk of GAYLE’s Butterflies and Dominic Fike’s breezy, hook laden Hey Blondie are as much highlights as any of the bigger names here. Special mention should be made for Ryan Gosling’s I’m Just Ken, a blockbuster 70s rock number that, whilst puncturing the wider stylistic template, is batshit and hilarious enough to more than justify its place as well as netting him a surprise hit too. The quality lapses once or twice (Tame Impala in particular are bloody awful) but by the time Ava fires the final laser I’m generally happy to go back and start all over again. With banger after banger here, my verdict is in: the Barbie soundtrack is *Charli voice* HOT!

Claire Rosinkranz - Just Because

While this has been a year that I’ve gotten more fully into pop, it took a while for me to find many new albums that I’ve been interested in. This may partly be to do with me clinging to an idea that LPs ought to be substantial beyond having good hooks and charm. In truth, all I needed to do was revert to my indiepop training, where bands have never knowingly been fussed about having any great weightiness. But even so, it took Just Because to make it clear to me that no, you really don’t need any grand vision at all: a high number of great if frothy pop songs will do just fine. It’s a record which bounces from banger to banger in an endearingly sunny style, with each tune so catchy that their lightness becomes a strength rather than a weakness.

Rosinkranz’s voice seems to mark her out as one of the many Billie clones who populate the current pop scene but her musical ambitions are both simpler and more instantly engaging. Not yet 20, her songs have an element of schoolyard whispers which add a welcome silliness here and there, but she also plays with the intensity of youthful emotions to make them a little heartrending even as she goofs off. Highlights include Dreamer, a break up song where the vocal makes it clear that she’s far from as done as she says she is, and Wes Anderson, which offers some sombre advice but packages it in a song so sweet that you’d never know. But in spite of all this it makes no end of year lists (well, maybe just the one), being merely a lovable set of songs that are very hard to forget. Need it be more? I don't believe so.

Doja Cat - Scarlet

Mired in discourse throughout the year, Doja Cat still found time to make a chart topping single (Paint The Town Red) that took the world by storm and a cracking album which, sadly, did not. Scarlet was in my opinion the better of the two: largely ditching the afrobeat pop of Planet Her, Doja staked her claim as an old skool rapper and brought it off pretty well, mixing hard rhyming with her more scattershot pop delivery and sounding entirely comfortable wherever she landed. While flitting musically between modern RnB and neo-soul grooves, her subject matter was largely taken up by how much she hated her fans, a bold strategy that found her shedding support even as blistering tracks like Fuck The Girls shaped up as some of my favourites of the year.

Whilst I’ve found myself uncomfortable with both the company that she keeps and the views which she may or may not subscribe to (i feel safe in saying that she's a right wing edgelord but i suspect that’s the least of it), Scarlet is such a good album that I’ve found myself, if not making excuses for her, then at least deftly navigating around my distaste in order to keep listening to it. While Agora Hills often reminded me how serious she is about her scumbag of a boyfriend, it’s still a song that can submerge me in its beauty entirely; while some of the complaints from her online audience are less easily dismissed than others, it’s more comfortable just to think about the morons calling her a devil worshiper, especially when she mocks them so wickedly on the elegant Skull And Bones. Am I the problem? Maybe I am: it’s a place I often find myself in with hip hop, where faves are frequently problematic and exceptions beg to be made. As such, I can not wholeheartedly recommend this record to people who might want to take a principled stand against some of her bullshit. I can only say that, as a musical talent, there was no one better all year.

Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard?

After 2021’s fairly middling brace of albums, Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd always felt like it was going to be a return to form and this time the faithful were not disappointed. It was another epic and sprawling record which unfolded like a cross between The Bible and a 50s musical. While changeable in style, ranging from hammy country ballads to trap beats and beyond, the thing that springs to mind most often is the Great American Songbook, as Lana takes the melodramatic grandeur of those standards and soaks them in her own messy and complicated worldview. This draws in family, romance, the future, her relationship with religion and how it all scrappily fits together, ranging widely and wildly across 75 extraordinary minutes.

Much of the album feels like it’s being broadcast from a kind of dreamworld, although one that overlays with reality neatly enough. Lana’s dismissive “if you want some basic bitch go to the Beverly Centre and find her” line undercuts the mood on the otherwise lush and evocative Sweet but the impact is hilarious rather than jarring, a perfect marriage of the strange and mundane. In contrast, the brooding A&W initially brings that realism to a far more uncomfortable level, before goofing off wonderfully in the second half in a way that only Lana ever really dares to do. Much of the record feels like it's creating its own language, as key phrases (“let the light in”, “when you know, you know”) are repeated and musical themes come back around in strange modulations. All in all, while perhaps less satisfying as a pop record than Norman Fucking Rockwell, Did You Know… feels like her most complete statement on a personal level yet, whilst still working well within the broader world that she’s spent over a decade constructing.

Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We

Despite liking the odd song or two, I have until now been largely immune to Mitski over the full length of an album. But The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We has a much more organic sound than I’m used to hearing from her, well adrift from the polished guitar rock of her big 10s records. Instead, it takes many of its cues from classic folk and country, occasionally lush and expansive, often determinedly sombre but always at a distance from the areas where she’s generally been at home. Opener Bug Like An Angel is a brooding scene setter, where Mitski unveils the terse and grumpy presence we will grow familiar with over the next half hour. The main elements of the album are already in place - the spare instrumentation; Mitski’s extraordinary voice, hard and intransigent but still full of yearning; the occasional, overwhelming interjections from the wings. It all creates a distinctive atmosphere, extremely intense but intimate too: we’re allowed into Mitski’s world but there’s a lot to take in.

Lyrically, the songs are both heavily allusive and extremely personal, like hearing ancient parables told by the characters from the story. Surprise hit My Love Mine All Mine seems to sit apart as a relatively standard love song but a closer listen reveals deeper layers; the placing of her love as something independent from its object makes it feel more of a piece with the album’s other enigmas. At a time where Mitski seemed to be cooling on being a rock star, The Land Is Inhospitable adds a new twist to her long musical journey, seemingly presenting a more intimate portrait while in fact retaining most of her essential mystery. As an album, it really is quite something: what that is I’m less certain of but I like it regardless.

Olivia Rodrigo - Guts

Tho I wouldn't have called myself a hater (I don’t think I would have been bothered enough), I don't really like Olivia’s all conquering debut Sour, which I thought a bit too one-note and overpopulated with slushy ballads. But by the time Guts came around I was open to listening again, drawn in by its excellent singles and primed for a different experience. Vampire, the best of them and more or less of this year, was a fantastic example of taking something that Olivia is clearly very accomplished at (the grand piano lament) and then, rather than running that into the ground, instead using it as a springboard for an entirely different idea. Get Him Back and Bad Idea Right hark back to earlier guitar based tracks like Brutal, but on Guts they form a much more substantive part of the album, cementing its brand of addictive pop grunge and working up a much goofier version of her messy teen persona.

Elsewhere, the ballads did in fact return. Some have speculated that this may have been a bad idea (right?) but for me they’ve been growers, particularly the likes of Lacy and The Grudge, where Olivia explores the bitterness of youth and uses it to tear holes in the people who’ve wronged her. But if I’m honest, it’s the rockers that I’m usually waiting for: whether the new wave pastiche of Love Is Embarrassing or autumnal Cure homage Pretty Isn’t Pretty, each one feels like a mini-revelation and it’s the style that I hope she leans on most in the future.

Palehound - Eye On The Bat 

Palehound have been around for a while now and every so often I’ve given their records a try and haven't really managed to connect with them properly. Eye on the Bat has been the first exception, though whether that's because it’s any better than the others or I just made more of an effort with it I don’t know. Its template is certainly well worn in the indie world - country rock with varying degrees of aggression or melodic sweetness - but there’s still a lot here that grabs my attention, especially in the charming indie pop of the title track and the heart-rending melancholy of Route 22.

But the thing that caught my ear the most was Ellen Kempner’s disarming honesty, with much of the album spent documenting what sounds like a deeply messy break up. Whether she’s bitterly picking through the fall out on Independence Day or remembering some hilariously embarrassing bedroom scene on opener Good Sex, Eye On The Bat's almost diaristic view is mesmerising throughout, making you warm to Kempner even as she works thru some of her own worst traits. And aside from anything else, her understanding of relationships underlines her strengths as a lyricist, as she dissects their complexities with wit, sympathy and occasional anger to capture all the stuff that transcends whatever we were hoping for in the first place.

Poppy - Zig

After the wild ride that commenced with 2020’s extraordinary pop/metal mash up I Disagree, Poppy has journeyed thru indie rock, goth and punk to wind up back where she started, only not quite. Zig may represent a return to pop - indeed it’s produced by Weeknd affiliate Ali Payami - but it’s one that’s filtered thru all of the places she stopped off along the way.

The crepuscular grind of Church Outfit and Knockoff sound like more danceable versions of the I Disagree sound, while the crunching title track suggests that she can still go as hard as ever. But there are nods to a lighter side here as well, particularly in the strong trio that wind up the album: The Attic recasts her sound in a euphoric drum n bass clatter whilst closer Prove It kicks up a remarkable blend of manic hyperpop and gentle electro-balladry, whilst still working in the rich emotional palette that she’s developed in recent years.

In one sense this is a huge departure from the frenetic punk of last year’s Stagger EP but the vibes here stake out territory that you’d still find oddly familiar. Some of the gothy ballads are less immediate than other songs but nothing on Zig is boring, just varying refinements on her ever evolving musical journey. The critics were split, occasionally rattled and sometimes just plain baffled, but that’s only to be expected by now. Poppy follows her own plan and rarely sticks to the same tune: in truth it’s a privilege just to be a witness to the chaos.

Sweeping Promises - Good Living Is Coming For You

One thing that I find missing in a lot of modern guitar based music is snappy songs with good catchy hooks. While Sweeping Promises appear to place their focus elsewhere - their high concept sound is best understood as someone broadcasting direct from 1979 through a wristwatch speaker - their second album still finds time to deliver fully on the tunes. Good Living Is Coming To You is steeped in bubblegum melodies and memorable choruses, with songs that become earworms before you’ve even registered how catchy they are. 

More than anything, it's dominated by Lira Mondal’s imperious vocals: whether it’s in the cascading harmonies of Throw Of The Dice, the fierce yells and hisses that close out the title track or her sweet voiced switch-outs on Ideal No, her character springs out of every song in a way that few singers ever really manage to impose. While you might think that the post punk era has been mined to death by now, Sweeping Promises drag new life into it by going back further: their sound may be heavily rooted in a specific moment but the elements of songcraft often have more in common with 60s girl group classics than gnarled art rockers. Ten bangers and no filler: Good Living Is Coming For You is everything I wanted from it and more.

Wednesday - Rat Saw God

While the queasy vibes of 2021’s Twin Plagues are still high in the mix here, it was the welcome injection of melody on Wednesday's third album that managed to alert the media. That lightness was more apparent in Karly Hartzman's lyrics than you might notice on a passing listen too: though often praised for her grimly amusing takes on middle American backwaters, the key to them was her deceptively soft touch, casting a sympathetic eye over grisly scenes even as she retained their gnarlier undertones.

Single Chosen To Deserve, with its crunching chorus and heartwarming romantic turnaround, feels like the designated big moment from the record but in reality Rat Saw God has an embarrassment of riches. Quarry in particular, with its Waterloo Sunset-esque signature and matter-of-fact dissection of grim local gossip, is an almost pop version of the most haunting aspects of Hartzman's craft, while the washed out bounce of closer TV in the Gas Pump pitches a lonelier scene in a similarly gorgeous manner.

This is not to forget that Wedneday can still rock extremely hard when they want to, especially on the brutal 8 minute Bull Believer, an ambitious multipart epic that ends with Hartzman screaming “FINISH HIM!!!” repeatedly over the chaotic finale. But while Rat Saw God brought this kind of sawtoothed sound back to widespread acclaim, its real trick was how it sugared the pill just enough to get it past even the most determinedly sweet tooth.

#Barbie Soundtrack #Barbie #Claire Rosinkranz #Doja Cat #Lana Del Rey #Olivia Rodrigo #Mitski #Palehound #Poppy #Sweeping Promises #Wednesday band #Pop #Rock #Indie Rock #Rap #Hip Hop #Best Albums of 2023 #Albums Of 2023 #Best Of 2023 #Best Music of 2023

[gildedstarbaker]

couple notes from that new trailer

THE ANIMATIONS!!! they have so much life and character to them i love that they’ve made them really unique and fit in with the subclass identity

warlock looks incredibly potent considering they have what looks to be a grenade absorption ability which causes crit kills to do a strand bind AoE, they also get a 3 (or more) charge melee ability which is wild AND the super has the initial strand swarm impact that then turns into a bunch of those little threadlings. warlocks also get a rift ability that sends out more of those threadlings. warlock mains are eating super good this expansion

strand grenades are a thing by the looks of it at least which i’m surprised by because we already know that the grapple is going to use our grenade slot and charge so i’m wondering it it’ll be similar to the new dodge that arc titans got with arc 3.0 where you can choose between the grapple or grenades. the grenades also seem pretty varied with one of them being a more regular swarm or skip grenade style and the other one which i think is in fact a grenade being a weird rope and ball type thing that explodes into a big strand bind effect.

it looks like the titan melee might also have multiple charges because in the titan focused clip we see them slash at 3 enemies and only after that do we see the super activation animation. if its not multiple charges it could be an ability that get refreshed right away if it gets a kill OR it could be a super activation related attack similar to arc titan.

finally get to see the hunter melee properly in action and its fine imo? im not the most excited about it being similar to the stasis melee where it flies around hitting multiple enemies BUT what i can say is that it at least seems much stickier with its tracking AND IT RETURNS TO USER!!!! which most likely means that its similar to solar titan hammer where you get the charge back immediately which could make the melee incredibly good at AoE clearing. the super also looks very flashy and explosive which is great for a hunter super and a roaming super.

and again we get to see how you can by the looks of it grapple literally anything because we see a hunter grapple onto one of those explosive strand orbs that gets thrown by a titan.

tl:dr strand looks very very fun and flashy with lots of potential to be strong with all three classes. i’m personally incredibly excited to get my hands on it in a couple of weeks

UPDATE:

ok so bungie released a post on bungie.net that confirmed a couple things

1. its confirmed that both titans and warlocks have a triple charge melee

2. the hunter melee does in fact replenish melee energy when it comes back but its tied to how many enemies it hits AND a timing based mechanic of pressing the melee button again depending on timing gives you melee energy back.

3. the grapple is still in the grenade slot and you can choose between 2 different grenades or replacing them with the grapple.

https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/article/inside-strand here is said post if you wish to read through it yourself! it also goes over the aspects for each class as well a couple of the fragments.

#destiny 2 #destiny game #destiny lightfall

[mdhwrites]

Go Watch A Old Man Called Otto

TL:DR: This is the best movie I’m going to see this year because movies this good, and a like this, don’t get made often enough. It is a genuinely, heartfelt story about, life, loss, grieving, the impact we have on others, etc. like that. Frankly, I would like this to be the modern “It’s a Wonderful Life” because while that movie is great, this one is a perfect update to its themes and topics. Seriously. Go watch this movie. Also CW: Attempted Suicide, Self Harm Topics and those that go with those. This was a movie I watched because my dad really loved it but I’d be lying if the one line synopsis didn’t worry me. “A grouchy old man who’s planning his demise is stopped short by a cheerful family moving in.”

It is explicitly a movie about suicide. About a man who wants to end his life. And it’s not just talked about. Every scene where Otto is alone evokes the question of “Okay, is this scene safe or how is this leading to an attempt on his life.” Even innocuous things can suddenly turn outright horrifying. And then fucking hilarious. I will be avoiding spoilers for the most part but this movie manages an absolutely INSANE feat where it is both a dark comedy while being absurdly respectful of the subject matter. It does not trivialize suicide for its jokes. Instead, it plays some of them straight and some of them get a laugh or can be enhanced by an internal joke. Hell, its FIRST scene is of Otto going to a hardware store and buying five feet of rope. Rope at that store is 99 cents per yard. They charge him for two yards of rope. Six feet. He is buying five feet of rope. GUESS WHY I REMEMBER THIS STATISTICS VIVIDLY!? And this is actually why I wanted to really shout out this movie because my experience with suicidal behavior and thoughts is driven by despair and clinical depression. It is deeply illogical which is why I fear a lack of thoughts far more than the painful ones. The ones that tell me my future is pointless and that contribute nothing can be argued with with reminders of those who love me. Who care about me. The work I’ve done. They don’t help entirely. I’ve literally attacked myself to try to get the thoughts to stop. But I fear a void of thoughts more. Because there’s no reminder of the good, there’s only the pain and me then. This has led to the closest I’ve ever come to killing myself, a night I’m still not comfortable talking in specifics about in public. It’s led to me smashing my skull against a telephone poll so hard I was seeing white flashes but not stopping because I didn’t care about the pain. It’s sudden, it’s violent and my writing of suicide and self harm is painted by those experiences. This movie showed me both how a man can get to a point where calling his electric company to get the power cut off isn’t enough time to get rid of those thoughts. Where the void IS your existence so even if you can act like yourself, there isn’t anything keeping you there. Where your perception of others and your life need to get to in order to get to that place where you can make every preparation required so as not to damage your house even if you need to GO.

And part of that is that I really, truly respect the movie for not doing a suicide note. I have talked to others about the romanticism of a suicide note. How it gives closure to those around them. An explanation. But if you’re so dark that you need it all to end, worrying about others enough to want to give them those answers is enough to reach out and get some help. Because suicide is one of the hardest things for a human being to do. ANY lifeline will be taken just by instinct. If there is someone who you can think of in the moment as not wanting you dead... You’re almost certainly not going to do it. Does that mean suicide notes don’t exist? No. Of course they do. I’ve admitted that I’ve written a story that was effectively a suicide note. I spent HOURS talking to a friend who wrote a story that was their suicide note and because of that they changed the ending of the story to one where someone was able to help and stop them. To give them a little bit of light back in their world. My mom had written one when she was a teenager. She told me when I talked to her about this subject months ago. You might also notice all these people are still alive. So there is some personal life experience to back this sentiment up. And with Otto, the point is that he is a grouchy old man. The movie definitely plays with themes of tradition versus present, what is lost, what is gained (admittedly it leans on what is lost as being better but mostly for the right reasons. The only scene in the movie that rubbed me the wrong way is redeemed by how it ends and how it comes back around but I can’t go into specifics without spoilers) and the contrast of that. It even has LGBTQIA+ representation though I won’t spoil how that I think is done well. It has PoC representation that is done well, with even one person being paralleled to Otto and Otto looking like the asshole but for all the right reasons and it doesn’t diminish who Otto is. But... When you’re a grouchy old man living alone, having just retired and seeing the whole world change around you... Who would you even have a note to write to? Why would you bother with one amongst all the rest of your preparations when a soul to connect is probably the thing you’re looking for the most?

And on a personal level... It does make me wonder where my dad would be without his wife and family. He feels like he’s growing more frustrated with things every year. Not because of them damn liberals, neither is Otto, but because retirement hasn’t been what he wanted. His kids haven’t turned out the way he wanted and people seem to just be becoming idiots more and more, including his kids in some ways. It took years for my dad to finally just stop bringing up the topic of work with me and I know he is almost certainly still frustrated with my disability, even as he tries his best to show understanding towards it. Admittedly, it’s FAR more reasonable after my brother abused my parents’ kindness and understanding for half a year while he faked disability so... *sigh* I won’t say that my opinion of A Man Called Otto is unbiased. It hits a lot of topics I care about with an archtype I love and I am a slice of life person to my core and so much of this is able to somehow keep a lighter tone than the subject matter would make you expect, at least to be respectful to it, while also just being a very real look into life and the importance of those people who, even if they’re grouchy, you can always rely on being there when you need them. And the kindness that breeds in return. So please: Go watch A Man Called Otto. One of my favorite movies of all time now. Edit: I forgot to mention this but the main character is played by Tom Hanks and yet the female lead in the movie is just about on par with him. She is INCREDIBLE. Honestly, just in general the cinematography, pacing, writing etc.and especially the acting is top fucking notch. It’s just a damn good movie.

#A Man Called Otto #Otto #Depression #Suicide

[darthkvznblogs]

Glad to see you update again. How are the other active KVerse stories going ATM, BTW? Good luck with them!

Thank you! I'm doing fairly well on the writing front - currently limited because my PC monitor died, so I have to wait until a new one gets here (did you know unforeseen expenses really suck, y'all?), but I've gotten some progress done at work (:P I promise I do my work first) and mapped out the specifics for the next few chapters of every fic. There's a good chunk of progress done for the next chapter of the BH6 and 3Below fic, and I plan to focus on the Supergirl fic afterwards.

I don't wanna make any promises because I'm notoriously bad at keeping them, but I'm hoping to have one more update for Nerds, Royal We, the Supergirl fic, and Another Day at the Office. At the very least, I should be able to deliver two of those, but here's hoping the holidays give me time for all four plus Eternity in Promise hahaha.

Not much to report on the personal side of things! I'm still reading the Revenge of the Sith novelization, I've been playing a bit of Pokémon Scarlet (loving it so far, despite its issues) and a handful of Overwatch 2 matches, and I've finished reading trade volumes 4 and 5 of Kamala Khan's original run (I only have Runaways and Miss Marvel comics xD, courtesy of Half-Price Books!). I've also been listening to the Knowledge Fight podcast while I do pretty much all these things, which is dedicated to breaking down Alex Jones and InfoWars' terrible behaviors and content. It helped inspire the priest character in the latest TRATBT chapter!

Anyway, TL:DR - writing's going well, I might be a bit delayed because my dang monitor broke down, but I should have a new update ready to go within the next week, week-and-a-half. Thank you for reading!

#ask box #anon ask #kryptonverse #housekeeping

[shijiujun]

i feel kinda bad for shl cos all the fans of hyx and spl are blaming shl since their dramas are being delayed :(

LMAO I really don’t get that altho i can see that the timing might be a little back to back, and i’m not a SHL-only stan by any measure but:

For HYX especially,

Firstly it was already having problems since the end of last year with censorship and review. This is mostly due to the reason that 2ha is a pretty big fandom and is the cult fave in the danmei industry - what this means is that there are three types of fans basically right, (1) Normal fans who love the novel + show (2) Those who fanatically love the novel in some extreme ways haha (3) Those who hate it and/or are HYX-onlys - so you get it all in a bag. 

The first type of fans is definitely the easier ones to deal with, but unfortunately in big fandoms you get a lot of (2) and (3). It’s not something that’s exclusive only to 2ha/HYX but because it’s a cult fave, and a controversial one at that, problems definitely arise.

(2) are the ones who head down to the filming scenes, take photos and footage despite crew telling ppl not to do it, not to sneak around filming sites and definitely not to leak photos or footage. They do it anyway. Yeah sure of course it’s a couple of photos every few weeks or a tiny video every few weeks but word gets out. They’re inevitably hurting the show and the fandom with their actions, because shit trends on Weibo really fast, and the censorship committee (not just for the film industry or shows) is always lurking on the site to catch any sign of you know, hate speech for the country etc. and more. Not related, but the point is that social media is watched very closely. It’s not a myth or an exaggeration, you really just got to be careful, and HYX is a show that, despite not having been broadcasted, has consistently trended on Weibo over the last few months. Not always because of leaks, but yeah, HYX is in everyone’s faces. Fans themselves put a fucking huge spotlight on the show BEFORE we even have any content at all, and of course this isn’t enough to like create huge trouble for the show but then we have-

(3), which I believe creates the most trouble - the thing is 2ha and meatbun who wrote the book, has a long line of haters and antis, way before HYX came into the picture. I shall not go into details of how I’ve seen some big accounts on Tumblr here spit vitriol at the book without even reading it just based on the content/trigger warnings and playing the morality card (and I think most ppl who’ve followed me for a while know just what I think about that). Like this was way before any footage or leaks or even HYX being a thing came about - as a cult fave it has its share of haters, and this share is a huge. There are those who get off on their moral high grounds XD and I think especially these ones are the most troublesome, all they have to do is report that HYX is immoral, bad for culture etc. etc. hahaha and yeah the censorship team is always ready to step in on reports, especially on BL stuff.

And of course the larger part is the change in censorship processes - honestly even way before SHL came out in end Feb, HYX was no closer to getting passed by the review committee than it is now. Maybe yes, SHL scenes may be now used as reference for comparison but seriously? People are deluding themselves if they thought pre-SHL HYX was going through the review process smoothly and only hit roadblocks after. I mean, we’ve all seen the leaks, some of them are truly like god-tier scenes that may be hard to explain away. It’s not like they can repackage the script especially because they have to submit everything to the review committee.

I mentioned this in a post yesterday but how SHL passed reviews is due to the fact that they didn’t have to submit a full script. They only had to submit a partial script, and that makes a world of difference. Basically a team, under these requirements, can repackage the script to include the more het looking parts even I feel, and of course some heavy misdirection by the team, it could work. Now that you have to put an entire script up for scrutiny.. I mean, it’s hard. This is just a game of probability.

And the last reason I think is still Tencent. Honestly, I’ve never seen a huge ass MNC like this handle a show this terribly.

1. No control over leaks - This is honestly the dumbest shit to do

2. Terrible crisis management response time - When fans leak footage, it’s standard and practical business sense to control it IMMEDIATELY. They shouldn’t just leave it up to the crew to put up notices and as the company that owns the rights to the show, it’s up to them to possibly threaten legal action as well. Basically a sterner stance would have helped a lot, but Tencent is a motherfucker of a company who only cares about free marketing and publicity without any considerations over impact to the show itself 

3. Terrible at communicating with fans - Seriously, I’ve never seen a company or team that’s been this bad at confirming delays etc. and providing updates about a show. I understand that it’s mostly due to them not wanting to affect the review process or create more chaos within the fandom but lmao Tencent allowed the hype to build so much and then goes absolutely silent at crazy rumours. I mean we had to find out about a delay from Cai Bao, their cat mascot, like??? In a really veiled and poetic message that didn’t outright say the word ‘delay’ like damn these ppl have a lot of time

As for SPL,

Lol we don’t know anything about this show. We don’t know if they took out or left in the Yifu part that would supposedly make it less gay or whatever, we don’t know anything about how gay it should have been or could have, so this one might be a tad more ridiculous. I mean none of us have seen any good leaks, and we haven’t seen any of the script, we got ZERO idea about this. Maybe they really went hard on the bromance, how would any of us know hahaha so all the more it’s like people have zero basis to go on, to say that it’s because of SHL. Seriously, everyone’s shooting in the dark.

Technically if laws didn’t change last Feb, I think SPL/WIK should have been passed in the same way as SHL did, but it’s just inopportune time for them.

===

- So tl:dr HYX already had tons of problems, that I doubt were going to go away just because SHL didn’t air, honestly. For SPL, it’s really hard to tell what failed the review, because none of us know what’s going on in the script.

No one cared about SHL, even I only realized the show was airing on the day itself and then made a rec post after I watched the first 4 eps. And if it truly was anything to do with SHL, I’m telling you that the first thing the censorship committee will do is basically shut SHL down, get Youku to take it off sites etc. until it’s reviewed again etc. etc. That hasn’t happened yet, at least not before HYX and SPL were stalled.

===

ALSO!! Don’t have to feel sorry for SHl fans hahaha I’m telling ya a lot of us definitely weren’t OG SHL or TYK fans, seriously! All the bigger accounts I see on Twitter are a combination of CQL/SHL or MXTX/SHL, SPL/SHL and I am personally 2HA/HYX/SHL. The fight is all out on Twitter HAHAHAHA but it’s not that bad, we’ve all got practice. Seriously WHO ACTUALLY is an SHL only stan I’ve honestly not seen much?! HAHAHA the point is we’re all yelling on behalf of SHL as a cross fandom fan, easier for us to do so as well. We’re talking about 2ha/HYX/SPL/Priest dedicated accounts that delved deep into SHL championing for no-nonsense in the space hahaha

#asks #shl #hyx #spl #and while i've never worked for the chinese film industry #i was in film and production #so i half know what i'm talking about #and i did ask a friend who works in a chinese film company #and yep ;/ #if you need to know how disastrous big companies are #tencent is a prime example

[blackkatmagic]

I adore Cody and Fox in the waking/rising update. They're such good supports for each other, and it's awesome when you have characters that will absolutely call each other on their shit. And the absolute trust that they have in each other, Wonderful!

And Fox is such a BAMF in this fic, omg. With killing Vader, surviving escaping from an exploding shuttle, catching Ferus... I'm swooning.

Lol it feels like Fox has run out of fucks to give and has just let himself go completely feral.

It's also really interesting that everyone is assuming that Cody has to be Force Sensitive. It makes sense, but its gonna make the eventual identity reveal that much more shocking and satisfying. Like, Ferus is thinking that Fox and Cody are the most dangerous beings in the galaxy, and he's right, but not because of any special powers.

Anyway, tl:dr, wonderful update!

Fox has absolutely let himself go feral, and it’s a liberation for him and a complete terror for everyone else around him. 

xD As is probably apparent at this point, I love the idea that willpower and determination can overcome any fancy powers and beat even the worst enemy, and Cody and the clones have that in spades. But with the rest of the galaxy not having any idea about what was done to them, the vast majority of people are going to default to the idea that Palpatine just got ganked by a more powerful Force-user. Which is going to so fun when the reveal happens. 

#realityhoudini #kat answers

[raquellplanningwell]

THIS ARCANA PROLOGUE UPDATE WHOOO 🙌✨

TL:DR I loved it, it made the game even better, s/o to the creators for going back to it because I really think it makes SUCH a difference & develops the characters so beautifully, especially the three newer love interests, so many pleasant surprises throughout this play-through.  Longer Verison (If you’re up to it, please enjoy!)

Okay so when I say I’ve been aching for the creators to fix up the prologue I really mean it & this was beyond satisfying, like better than I could imagine.

There’s so many effective changes & they didn’t just fix one or two things here, they went INNN. The format has changed, things that were consistent in the story before are now in line & are much stronger with this new prologue.

Listen, I’ve tried to get multiple friends to play the Arcana & more than one have stopped at the prologue because it didn’t grasp them, this, this is a huge improvement & I got so hyped playing it.

Starting off even how Asra’s introduced feels so much smoother, not just a story thrown on you. The lost memories are mentioned & Asra delicately treats the apprentice, you see how he worries & care about them. Plus with this fun option, there’s a new chance to give your character some more personality, I love it. The Trouble option was worth it 👌🏻

Truth be told I haven’t played the prologue in a while, so perhaps some details I’m re-appreciating from the previous version but I love that they went back & changed it, like that to me, shows how much they still care, & that the creators genuinely want to improve & nurture their game

Okay changes to Nadia introduction, ALSO GREAT, @ devs thank you for not just having the apprentice follow her blindly !! Like she explains the situation & lets the apprentice know exactly why she’s calling on their services right off the bat. Another detail I liked, is Nadia showing some vulnerability in this time, there’s a description of her sleepless eyes as well & I really like that! Like she’s not just the countess, she’s a person coming to you for help.

Portia’s intro is in there!! Bless!!! My girl finally being put out as a main & I JUST CAME TO THE REALIZATION THAT MEANS SHE’S STAYING YAAAAAAAYY, VERY EXCITING STUFF 🎊🍾

This is gonna a long post, if you’re still reading, thank you as well. So next is Julian’s entrance, I appreciate the options that from my knowledge stayed the same in how you react & I choose ‘negotiate’ as my own apprentice would & the details were great lol like this breakdown from the apprentice 👇 yup that sounds like the dumbass doctor alright

Another nice detail, they exchange names earlier! The apprentice states their name when they first meet & Julian is even surprised when the apprentice doesn’t know his. And!! These warnings that come from the love interests in the beginning, that’re new characters at first, they’re not so ominous! Isn’t that awesome, like they make so much more sense with the story & who the characters are & what they know.

Like this ^ right here ^^ that is phenomenal. The wording makes sense, what he’s talking about makes more sense as you get to play the game, like it’s how it’s meant to be. Before I believe his warning was about how the “witch” cares about the MC but that they shouldn’t trust him & more than anything that made me feel confused about who to choose & what was true, even in a prologue so this change is very welcomed.

The portion with the voice in the dream & being able to pick whether to follow it or not, super glad about that like those feel like meaningful choices & even the dream scene being added, so cool! I’m assuming as of now the voice was Lucio & I think it was really well played

Muriel’s CG, I really yelled. when I say it’s incredible, like CRAZY GOOD, I mean it. The lighting, the mood, even the angle because yes he will likely be towering over the apprentice & that’s a lovely thing to consider, also his expression is so good & yes! No strange warning that sounds out of character to his route, it starts off with “...” as it should, the most Muriel line.

Even the way it’s described matches up so well lol like yes you can see you’re definitely engulfed in his shadow, he looks huge. Plus “and I look up… and up.. and up” is very funny. Again the fact that his first lines are “…” that’s perfect. I feel like the Grinch when he’s auditioning Max for Rudolph, he says nothing & throws off the nose & the Grinch goes “BRILLIANT”, that’s me. Like even Muriel stumbling back & having trouble saying anything is great. It’s how he is throughout the story, & especially in his own route, he has trouble talking to the apprentice. I’m uwuing at the stuttering too, baby, just a glimpse into what he’s gonna be like in his route & that’s a good intro in its own! 👏 This is like world’s improvement. Also if you’re still with me bless, thank you for being here & congratulations. I’m thinking of breaking this down in parts as I didn’t expect it to go so long but here we are & enjoying each minute of it.

*taps microphone* The use of the word, “bamboozled” thank you for your time.

I can’t believe this is now in the prologue, I am giddy

OKAY! Into the market we go, & Portia is introduced! She introduces herself! We don’t just accidentally bump into her! & she’s with the baker! Very cool! OKAYYYYY, lol mind you I’m typing my reaction as I play, & Portia already showing her interest in the MC being a magician like she does throughout her route, noice. She’s so cute, & you get to ask about herself right off the bat, really enjoying these changes, they add so much to the characters. It might just be me but there’s more sound effects too? The cards shuffling, the gate opening. I also really like that the charm is mentioned again. Like feels more tangible than how it was before, I wasn’t even sure we had hung onto it before & now it feels like a personal item that can actually protect the apprentice & connect them to something more.

Next Chapter, really liking how clear things are right off the bat. In the old prologue, I remember being unsure about Nadia’s relationship to Lucio, but here it seems quite apparent they don’t share the same tastes, & the apprentice gets a moment to take it all in. THE VOICEEEE, Oh that’s an awesome addition. Also @ devs thank you for mentioning some compensation for the apprentice as well. Playing the game, it’s clear Nadia takes good care of them but yeah in the beginning it was very much like, ‘why am I doing this again other than you being Countess and asking me personally’, I appreciate it. And Devorak isn’t just described as the dude who confesses, he’s introduced as the apprentice’s first lead in this investigating, awesome!! I don’t recall this from the previous prologue but we’re actually discussing more of the murder mystery of this, I definitely think this is one of the Arcana’s strong points & I’m glad they’ve added to it. The story & world building potential for this game extends infinitely. The way that the dinner with Nadia has been built upon & improved, it feels meaningful. It makes me like her even more as character, like she’s not just a political power, she’s a person trying to figure this all out, do what’s best for her people & bring them together, as well she makes the goals in this investigation very clear.

Portiaaaaa, I like that you get the chance to ask her more & she shows you more, the CG is so nice & suits her so well!! & the situation is a perfect intro to what to expect while in the palace, because that happens a lot, secret passages in just about every route, Lucio even mentions it himself in his own route how there’s so many about the palace grounds. But Portia telling you a ghost story in the Count’s wing is right on brand & I think it prepares you well for the first chapter of her route. I know I wasn’t expecting going straight for ghost hunting when I started her route.

There’s a ‘snoop around’, option now. I choose it & wow it’s a great time, tea & snacks with Nadia & Portia, bless. The scene is so fun & almost feels like a tale, like it feels special & you get to enjoy more of the love interests personalities. The mention of pepi is sweet. + the use of puns, 10/10 I love my girlfriend ✨

Nadia’s note, a lovely touch.

IV The Emeperor

The nightmares, woah!!!! Okay this !! this is super effective. When I first played the game I remember bring confused who the blond guy was, why his eyes were red, why he was even an option if he was the count that passed away but the nightmares & how they introduce him really feels full circle. It’s so cool getting the choice to interact in the dream as well, I keep finding myself impressed & amazed with these new additions. Hdbshsk he really said “What’s the matter? Goat got your tongue”. A legend, dedicated to his aesthetic 🙌

Asra’s talk in the fountain, mentioning Julian, much better. I remember last time it was him not speaking kindly of the doctor behind his back & now its more, ‘it is what it is, please be careful’ like ‘yes, thank you for the trust’. It looks better on their character when they’re a little more open & honest about the other, than to vaguely bad mouth each other. Perhaps I don’t remember it correctly but I think Asra used to call him Ilya right away & I know that caused some confusion for me in the beginning, so introducing like this is 👍 👍 👍

MALAK POPPING IN, LOOK AT THIS GOLD, & more notes!! Yes!!! Very cool, MC is just going out seeking the truth too, as they ought to be. Also Julian’s trust in Malak is astounding lmfao. 

I will say it’s very strange to take out the letter desk option but it seems like it’s good overall. The fcking Fylnn Rider moment, they’re not subtle! “They just can’t get my nose right!” 😂 something about this new dialogue feels more intimate or real, like lol yes Julian makes such a good point the apprentice could’ve just called the guards in there, that’d make sense for them to do so but they give Julian a chance & trust him, because they want to go after the truth. I gotta say I’m surprised the CG works so well even with the new content, like they got the mood just spot on.

I’m just speeding through Julian’s convo at this point getting really into it & wow soon Portia’s there then Muriel, ‘what the fuck is going on’, I said aloud at this point. I gotta say, as much as I’m loving hearing all these details right in the beginning, it got me thinking they’re things that’re revealed later. When Julian “breaks up” with the apprentice in his route, he explains the plague, like it really has got me wondering if they’re gonna adjust the rest of the story, to not avoid repetition. THE MURIEL INTERACTION HERE IS SO GOOD, I LIVE. There’s also another paid option with Muriel, this is GREAT & for some reason they’ve been already unlocked to me. (I’m guessing it’s because I had a prologue scene with Julian & a few books acquired) but either way I’m very grateful. Muriel is the best baby & honestly this is really introducing his character so nicely, him walking you, him questioning that you didn’t run away knowing about the ghosts, works well with his route’s path, all while maintaining the “Go away!” “B-but not too close!” tsundere preciousness, GOOD SHT. lastly I love that instead of saying “don’t trust the witch” they show you that Asra hasn’t told you certain events throughout the prologue, with Muriel & Julian being surprised that he wouldn’t mention these things to you.

Pure

Okay so all done! Thoughts, I love that they went back to it, I’m curious to see if they’ll do anything else with it but the changes are very welcomed, I think they’ve improved it greatly. I will say it’d be nice to be able to maneuver through the prologue’s chapters but honestly that update was so remarkable, I’m very grateful.

#the arcana #the arcana update #this was way longer than expected #i just wanted to write down my reactions & here we are #GREAT CONTENT #thank you for all your hard work Arcana creators! #julian devorak #nadia satrinava #count lucio #montag morgasson #portia devorak #the arcana muriel #asra alnazar #the arcana prologue #the arcana julian #ilya devorak #asra arcana #the arcana asra #the arcana portia #the arcana nadia #the arcana lucio #muriel arcana #the arcana game #saveportia #save portia #SUPER SATISFIED WITH THE NEW PROLOGUE #thank you for reading

[hey-hamlet]

BNHA AU Ideas : Quirkless Erasure

Also on AO3!

TL;DR: 

In some worlds, Midoriya Izuku is the first quirkless hero. But not in this one, not by far.

Because his homeroom teacher is the hero he's always looked up to: UA's first quirkless Pro Hero.

----

Izuku isn't the only quirkless one, and Aizawa gets into the hero course via emotional devastation against his opponents.

anyway so: quirkless aizawa bc i need that

everyone thinks he has a quirk like emotional manipulation of something but no he's just fucking savage, he gets into the hero course bc he blasted the absolute shit out of mic

everything’s on youtube it’s one of the most viewed videos of all time

this aizawa's eyes are permanently gold bc i headcanon it's his quirk that makes his eyes black, not the colour they flash

"you yell because you have a constant fear no one is really listening to you. you play the class clown and don't try too hard so when you look back you think "i failed because i didn't try" not "i failed because i wasn't good enough""

"bro,,, bro what the fuck did i do to you"

aizawa isn’t even salty he’s quirkless tbh

"you're pushing this on me because it hurts, right? your loud, flashy but damaging quirk means the only thing people think you're useful for is heroics. did you want to do this, or is this the only way society will let you feel comfortable in the role it presses in on you"

"well being quirkless is rough but at least i cn be whatever i want to be"

mics just shell shocked mics not even using his quirk and everyone’s just uwu he’s erasing mics quirk

all aizawa does is walk is close and mutter "society thinks im worthless, which is rough. but you have to put your life on the line or you're nothing better than a villain to the people"

and just, lightly pushes him out of bounds

pls mics just in Love this guy tore him to fucking pieces but Damn

aizawa  helps him up off the floor

"so im probably not wrong but im a little sorry for saying it on live tv"

mic "youre amazing"

aizawa just goes bright red and starts sputtering

aizawa: the emotional devastation hero weakness: genuine compliments

consider 1A teacher aizawa just still made of emotional devastation, nezu made him promise not to use his powers of destruction on his children unless he was expelling them 

this is a quirkless izuku au too, mirio got ofa, allmight encouraged izuku to be a hero after the fight but had no quirk to give him and he manages to make his own way into the hero course

so izuku is a little analyst, gets mostly hero points but uses sharp rebar and poles to smash in the sensors of some robots, getting him a few non-rescue points either. Aizawa is watching like "oh interesting a non-combat quirk" and beside him allmight is vibrating with excitement

"he might actually do it!"

"who might do what"

allmight turns sheepishly to aizawa

"young midoriya on camera 6, he might just be the first quirkless student to pass the enterance exam to heroics straight up"

and aizawa can hardly watch anyone else for the rest of the exam, he adopts this kid on the fucking Spot

hes on the edge of his fucking seat, when nezu sends out the zero pointer. "this kid only needs 10 more points, just ten more" and izuku turns around to look at the 0 pointer and aizawa is like "fuck kid i hope you know what youre doing"

he manages to shove a piece of rebar into the treads, stoping it in its place. it tries to swat him like a bug but he just dives out of the way, picks up ochako and sprints and aizawa is like "holy shit holy shit these bastards better give this kid hero points for that"

like they are assigning final hero points and aizawa has to awkwardly put his hand up "i,,, should probably be excluded from giving midoriya hero points because i went from 0 to bias very very quickly"

allmight just nods sagely

"young midoriya be like that sometimes"

pls aizawa tries to act extra tough bc he can’t let anyone know he’s Adopted this child

for all izuku's brain hes useless w social stuff and thinks aizawa hates him but everyone else k n o w s

also izuku is the only person in 1A who knows ab aizawa's "quirk" and hes like, constantly vibrating w glee around the guy

aizawa walks in the first day, hears bakugo asking how this "quirkless bastard" got in, grabs bakugo w his scarf and yeets him into vlad’s room

"ok students, looks like we are a class of 19. any other comments before we start?"

and like everyone is so lost no one questions it

bakugo is screaming bloody murder until vlad "kindly" tells him ua has a strict no discrimination policy and aizawa would have been well within his rights to expel him

please nezu is like "uwu take one of 1B to make the classes even" and vlad is like "no ive already bonded tough cookies" vlad just adopts bakugo instantly

monoma and bakugou become bros, the baku-squad is 50% a thing, but its mostly 1B students but with pinning kiri. kendo and bakugo both keep monoma in line, monoma and kendo keep bakugo in line

during the sports festival shinsou is like "you must have a blessed quirk to get into the hero course"

and izuku just has this "really. this si what we're doing now" look on his face. hes just gesturing to shinso in exasperation, trying to make eye contact w aizawa hidden up in the commentary box

all you can hear from the box is aizawa quiet snickering as mic tries not to give the game away. he yeets shinso out of bonds and just hauls him back to his feet

"im quirkless you nonce"

"oh,,,"

"yeah, oh. what, gonna be embarrassed a quirkless kid kicked your ass?"

"nah i just feel bad for being a dick"

"ok you are the only valid person ive ever met, come meet my not-dad"

"wait what"

izuku fireman carries shinso into the announcers booth and just presents him to aizawa

you can just vaguely hear "no not kid" "but he'll be perfect" "kid this is live ask me after the festival" "but! hed be perfect! and you could train him to carry on your legacy of soul-crushing burns" "... hmmm"

"do i get a say in this?" "no" "nope"

mic just loudly saying "SO BEFORE WE WITNESS A CHILD CRY LIVE ON AIR AGAIN, AS ALWAYS HAPPENS IN THIS FESTIVAL, LETS START THE NEXT ROUND!"

there’s a counter “days since someone last cried: 0”

please its like "times cried durring all sports festivals" "average cry events" "number of times cried this festival"

aizawa being even more of a dad than canon, like hes a mess he sees on sad kid and he's like "wow that's my kid now"

he makes them soup when they get sick and leaves it outside their doors, refuses to admit its him doing it

soup cryptid

please mic is like 100% in love with him and had been for years but aizawa still has internal bias against the quirkless and thinks he's not good enough for mic so he cant make himself see the flirting for what it really is

“haha he’s just being friendlyL

“aizawa i literally want to marry u”

“awww ur so nice u mean as friends tho right?”

in this au ive decided that quirkless heroes are a thing, but pretty rare, in japan they are all underground bc villains go after them a l o t. there are some public ones in america but they tend to,,, die,,, pretty quickly

and bc there are some quirkless heroes everyone acts like discrimination isn't a thing anymore and quirkless people should shut up while quirkless people are still getting killed and committing suicide at like 500% the rate of people with quirks

also the suicide rate is,,,,, significantly higher in japan but no one ever talks abt it bc japan the “ideal place for people with quirks” so that surely means nothing could ever go wrong

izuku does the "its your power" speech in like 3 parts, before, during and after the sports festival bc he needs he bones w no quirk

stain asks izuku what his quirk is and izuku does the "wouldn't you like to know, weather boy"

",,, where are your parents"

"one abandoned me straight up and the other is giving it a red hot go right now, try me coward"

izuku but everytime he roasts a villain he does it in vine quotes

tl;dr in the au inko is like,, not ok w izuku being a hero and she's trying to do the "leave the school or you can't live here any more" ultimatum and it's not working for her

bc izuku said "ok bye then" and now lives out of his backpack. no one knows. he just like,, sleeps on the train

and iida is like "owo could i come over to your house" and izuku is like

"aaaaa its on fire. yep. made of arsenic and always in flames, why dont we go to the park"

everyone in 1a is like betting on what his house is like. they harass katsuki in 1b but he refuses to talk

hes like "hell no i got thrown into another class for talking ab that nerd eat my left tit"

they only fucking work it out when aizawa and allmight go to izukus house to talk ab dorms and there is literally no one there

aizawa asks izuku ab it like "kid you need to update your forms with your current address" and hes like "oh worm, she moved? wack."

“u,,,,didn’t know,,,,”

“nah lmao i sleep on the bench in a park near here”

“my boy,,,,,l

"what, ochako lives alone!"

"yeah, in a fucking house, kid"

aizawas just: this is literal child abuse i’m ur guardian now

allmight "hes my kid too dont be greedy"

"fuck off all might you already have mirio" "and you already have shinsou!" nighteye, from around the corner "ill take him!" aizawa and allmight "NO"                                  

mic adopts him nezu just sitting in the distance "well, its my school. i get the kid" one whole school full of adult heroes "NO ITS MY SON,,," izukus like crying "wait,,, you guys aren't sick of me? wild" while sobbing

afo out of nowhere: i’ll take the child :))) everyone collectively: N O

for self-indulgence, izuku is the youngest in the class for this au so they all call him their little brother

consider: quirkless aizawa is very similar to normal aizawa but he does practise self-care, he just tries to make it look like he doesnt because hes like that

if i dont take care of myself ill never be able to stand up to the heroes w quirks but also do i deserve normal good human things

tl:dr: he can cook well and is trying to teach izuku that 2-minute noodles and apples arent hero fuel

inko is like: "uwu i wont change what i cook for you so you'll just have to make do owo" in like, a pathetic attempt to get him to stop training so izuku runs off protein bars, electrolyte drinks and raw vegetables

just like, his bento at school. its only raw mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes and 2 full carrots

the only time he gets like a kinda valid balanced meal for a hero in training is when he pops by bakugous place and mitsuki forces him to stay for lunch

izuku is like "oh hi bakugo i have ur book-" "HI ITS LUNCH GET IN PIPSQUEAK"

hes just thrown into a chair, bakugo isnt even confused. izuku is like ",,,, so vlad gave me your book bc your house is near mums." "fair enough. hope you like miso salmon"

izuku just looks stary eyed

"f i s h ??? warm food bakugo id kill for you"

"deku wtf"

"i had nothing but 3 scoops of protein powder and 2 tomatoes today"

“dEKU WHAT THE FUCK”

"i had to eat the protein podwer with plain water kacchan. protein sludge followed by two raw tomatoes. i would commit real actual murder for you"

mitsuki always packs an extra bento after that

so like when it’s dorm time izuku gets rly stressed out bc he doesn’t know how to cook for himself??? bakugous in the 1b dorms and even if he wasn’t he definitely wouldn’t cook for him

1a goes on a fucking shopping trip, chaperoned, obviously

and they’re lining up and aizawa sees that izukus cart is only filled with like??? instant noodles and like two (2) fruits and he’s losing his mind bc yes okay he’s a child but he’s also a young hero and he’s going to get a heart attack by 20 if he doesn’t fix his diet

aizawa is like "izuku, you cant eat that" and izuku just goes "oh ok" puts the noodles back and comes back with a tub of protein powder and like 11 vegetables and a bag of kale

okay this is an improvement kinda, how do u cook it

,,,,,c

cook?

izuku just has a totally blank face

"i was just gonna like,,, eat it"

"raw."

"uh, yeah, is that not how u eat vegetables?”

"thats a potato. and some leeks. thats a fucking onion"

"it wont kill me though"

"thats,,, that not how you pick food kid."

“but vegetable??? good????”

"kid do you even fucking like any of this"

"wait, im supposed to like?? my food???"

yagi in the fucking health food isle hearing this is 50% laughing but 50% crying

aizawa: “izuku ur supposed to eat a well balanced and tasty meal”

izuku: *surprized pikachu face*

please even todoroki is like ",,, at least fuyumi could c o o k"

oh god imagine having a worse diet than shouto todoroki from 1a who eats nothing but cold soba and drinks juice

also please aizawa is like "kid i thought you just happened to be thin but now im seeing thats not the case"

bakugo in the distance "like inko ever fed him enough anyway lmao"

aizawa "WAIT WHAT"

whys bakugou shopping with 1a? its actually all 40 of the first years just descending on this poor little store. it’s this little mom and pop grocery store and a billion hungry hero hopefuls just burst through the door like 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒔

izuku is like "oh its too expensive" and aizawa is just holding a bag of rice, aizawa is like "its cheaper than the protein powder you have"

and izuku is like "yeah i mean its empty calories and im not paying that much for empty calories"

",,,"

"thats what you taught us sensei!"

"EMPTY CALORIES ARE ONLY A PROBLEM IF UR EATING TOO MUCH"

"and?"

"YOU HAVE 3 POTAOES FOR THE NEXT 2 WEEKS"

"i can put some back if you want?"

"THATS EXACTLY WHAT I DONT WANT"

#bnha au #bnha #aizawa shouta #aizawa #eraserhead #midoriya izuku #Izuku #Midoriya #erasermic #present mic #bakugou katsuki #all might #yagi toshinori #shinsou hitoshi #quirkless erasure au

[pulaasul]

Digimon Adventure Tri – Daisuke and the others? Who are they?

A Digimon Adventure Tri review.

----------

This review may be a bit late, but I didn’t watch the fifth movie because I was spoiled by a certain plotpoint and tropes and I really detest tropes of that plotpoint. Considering that I opted not to watch the fifth movie, I didn’t watch the sixth movie as well, I may get confused at the chronology of the events.

I had watched Last Evolution Kizuna, the review of which is linked here, thankfully the producers of Kizuna opted to have an original story as opposed to continuing from the plot threads that Tri left hanging over the course of six movies.

With the reason for this review’s lateness out of the way, let’s continue on with the Tri’s review.

------------

Despite the lateness, I am reviewing  [デジモンアドベンチャーtri - Dejimon Adobenchā] Digimon Adventure Tri

As with some of the movies I had reviewed on my blog, I have an alternative title for Digimon Adventure Tri as a whole.

 デジモンアドベンチャーtri 大輔たちわだれだ？or Dejimon Adobenchā Daisuke-tachi wa dare da?

Digimon Adventure Tri – Daisuke and the others? Who are they?

TL:DR

Tri was an enjoyable watch. If you want more characterization of the OG chosen 8 and their respective Digimon, it’s a definite watch.

If you’re a big fan of the 02 kids, they do acknowledge them, but better not to expect anything on that front to avoid disappointment.

For me, Digimon Adventure Tri as a whole is a 6.8/10 for me.

I love the many things they did here, but both my bias for the 02 kids and the many things happening just left a bad taste in my mouth.

If that doesn’t hint my love for the 02 kids, this is your confirmation XD.

-----------

I’ll start with the movie series’ art style. I still maintain my stance that I do not like the art style they chose for Tri. I will, however, expand on my reasons from the other review.

Tri’s art style is better suited for still images rather than animated. The best suited comparison I can make, and I’m sure a lot of people will protest, but it’s like the Pokemon’s Sun and Moon anime art style.

From what I heard, the new Pokemon art style focuses more on animation detail and flow. Tri’s animation and art style, while a major improvement from the fights seen in Adventure and 02, still come short seeing the ‘derpy faces’ and awkward poses found in the movie.

(Yamato has bulging pecs and it looked like both Taichi and Yamato skipped leg day)

The new art style does make the ENTIRE CAST absurdly attractive from Taichi to Himekawa even down to the background characters who have something unique in their designs despite just being one off characters.

The new art style does lessens the “cartoonish” vibes we got from the first two Adventure seasons of Digimon, so no extra-large heads, hands and/or feet. You could definitely feel that this was an updated version of the previous art style, although taken to extremes.

Although… Jiggle physics are seen on the Digimon.

------------

PLOTWISE...

Having watched the entire movie series, I can definitely understand why the 02 kids were given that treatment. However, there were plenty of instances to incorporate them into the plot organically than what we were shown.  

The overall plot was heart wrenching, it delves into the themes of sacrifice and unchecked grief.

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT! BE WARNED!!!

We’ll backtrack a bit, I stated above about how the 02 cast could’ve been incorporated into the plot organically than what we were shown.

There were many instances where they could’ve been mentioned by anyone of the cast: the appearance of the Digimon Emperor, Hikari and Takeru checking up on Ken after the Emperor’s appearance, even the instances where they welcome Meiko into the group by encouraging her in times of distress; among other things.

A simple muttering of “where are they?” or “how are they doing?” from anyone, especially from Hikari and Takeru who were a part of the 02 team, would’ve made their exclusion from the main events a bit bearable and understandable.

Them not acknowledging their absence is a very out of character: for Takeru and Hikari, as they were teammates; from Taichi and Yamato as they mentored Daisuke, the former passing the goggle-torch unto him; Mimi and Sora for Miyako; Joe and Koushiro who has commented how reliable Iori was and how his thirst for knowledge was an admirable trait.

all my cons bullet points are my salt towards the 02 kids’ absence lol

In other matters, another thing worthy of criticism, this is for the franchise as a whole, is the fact that there’s a Leomon death inserted in every iteration of Digimon. (01&02 have the original Leomon, Tamers had Juri’s Leomon, Frontier both had Ice Leomon and KaiserLeomon in Kouichi Kimura, Savers had BanchoLeomon.)

Leomon’s death this time around fails to have an impact considering it has become a meme nowadays. Anyone vaguely aware of the franchise would even joke about the Leomon’s screentime before he dies, which was the case in the Tri movies.

There are two events in the Tri movies that didn’t really needed to be there, which really hampered my score for the movie series. First one is how the Mysterious Person, using Young Gennai’s form, to lick Sora’s face.

Another event that didn’t need to happen was how the same Mysterious Person choked Meiko to the point of her losing consciousness, those events IN THE SAME MOVIE really put me in an uncomfortable state, as did a lot of people.

This may be my bias speaking, but I really don’t like how Daigo died in the movie series. I am sure his death potentially served to raise the stakes of the plot, but not really.

The stakes of the plot was already at an all-time high with showing the “deaths” of the 02 kids in the first few minutes of the first movie. It’d raise the stakes even higher HAD THE OG 8 CHOSEN CHILDREN ACKNOWLEDGED THE ABSENCE OF THE 02 KIDS.

Daigo’s death was unnecessary for the stakes were already planted, but they failed to sow those particular seeds hence his death was needed. That and I really love Daigo Nishijima.

Tri could’ve been a rescue movie on top of stopping the apocalypse movie, Meicoomon shenanigans included.

I will admit that learning of Taichi’s supposed death in the tri movies, turned me off from watching the movie series to its completion, back when this was first released. Learning that Daigo, my favorite character, dies in the next one really turned me off from the franchise. Watching it now, I still maintain my stance that he didn’t need to die.

Devimon’s appearance really felt tacked on, he would’ve been a great plot point for Takeru to overcome in the movie, instead we got a few seconds of appearance then nothing. Not even delving into Takeru’s psyche about Devimon’s appearance.

The entire last movie was needlessly dark and that’s says a lot.

-------------

Considering this is a review, no review is complete until you state all the positive things you can say about the movie.

As with the debut season of the franchise, Character interactions are at the forefront of the movie series. In here we learned things about them, including Hikari’s teasing remarks towards Takeru or how Yamato is actually scared of ghost stories.

We also learned that the Teenaged Wolves broke up, due to musical differences as Yamato claimed and formed two new bands. “Knife of Day” and “World of the Knife”. The fact that the characters saying the band names have a Might Guy teeth shine effect on them was incredibly hilarious.

Koushiro being a blushing mess when it comes to Mimi was also great.

The viewers can really see the entire group’s dynamic with each other.

The digimon themselves aren’t just one-note characters. They may act as a foil to their human partners, it doesn’t change the fact that they weren’t one-note compared to what we’ve seen in both Adventure and 02.

Interactions aside, each human character having breakdowns and developing in the movie series was another thing I liked about Tri, tying them to digivolving to ultimate/mega level was a pretty neat idea.

It means that Taichi and Yamato aren’t the sole stars of the Adventure saga now.

Speaking of characters, the new characters in this movie-series [Daigo Nishijima, Maki Himekawa, Meiko Mochizuki] were introduced organically and were pretty great in their roles. The twist that the former two were Chosen Children before Taichi and the others was neat as well.

The three of them performed their roles pretty well: Daigo being a shady mentor, who’s loyalty is divided between his student and his work; Meiko being the new kid on the block really helped establish how out of place she really is, it does help that Mimi was incredibly welcoming towards her; Maki’s unchecked grief led her to taking drastic steps just to be reunited with her partner digimon, kickstarting the whole plot of Tri.

[I have a theory that Daisuke and the others were reporting to Maki, once she learned that they were aware of Yggdrasil’s plans, she led them to a trap that was when they were one-shotted by Alphamon.]

We go back to Leomon. It was nice to see a familiar face. Even his scenes were hilarious and awesome. Him being able to stave off the infection from various points in the movie he was in was also great. It makes sense in character as he does have incredible will power, going back to the Adventure days when he was possessed by Devimon’s black gears.

I also appreciate that the boys and girls had equal opportunities at being the eye candy. The boys were the eye candies during their time in the hot springs, while Mimi and Meiko had their chance as eye candies during the school festival.

Last and certainly not the least, were the new arrangements of the Original Sound Track of the Digimon Adventure themes from Butter-fly to Brave Heart’s orchestral version. They’re simply that good to listen in a loop.

-------------

As for suggestions, I have a few. This is constructive criticism after all.

Acknowledge the absence of the 02 cast.

Explain why they were absent in the first place, or at least what the characters think why they were absent.

From vacation abroad

On Yacht

Even visiting people out of Tokyo would also work

Both Leomon and Daigo didn’t need to die. Mortally wounded characters are fine, makes us think they’re dead for a few minutes to delve into character development, as was the case for Taichi and Hikari.

Make the 02 kids’ lives as stakes in the plot.

Cut back on the flashback images.

Exposition is also good, even Taichi voicing out his hesitance would’ve made for a great character moment, instead of just glaring at the enemy.

D.R Gennai shouldn’t have licked Sora. That event really didn’t need to happen.

D.R Gennai should’ve just let Meiko bleed to the point of unconsciousness instead of choking her as he taunts Meicoomon to fear and give in to her infections.

Devimon should’ve been an earlier opponent that was later reused in the ending movie to show how much Takeru has grown add in digivolving to Seraphimon.

A video file of Daisuke’s and the others’ defeat at the hands of Alphamon should’ve been viewed after the reboot happened, that would’ve raised the stakes higher.

Daisuke and the others should’ve joined the last fight in the last movie. Escaping from the hospital through their Digimon before collapsing at the very end.

I have no problem with Daigo’s partner becoming Baihumon. I think it’d been better had it been Azulongmon, considering he was the goggle head during his time and thus the leader of his group.

We know that Azulongmon is the leader of the Four Digimon Soverigns.

I think it’d come full circle had Daigo been partnered with Azulongmon.

I think the movie would then end with everyone visiting Daisuke and the others, Meiko included, introducing her to them.

Overall, I give the movie series a 6.8 out of 10 rating. It was a good watch, but the plot fell once they delved into darker themes and darker events for the sake of being dark and without substance. There were a couple of events that didn’t need to happen but happened for the sake of being dark.

Daigo’s death was certainly one of those events. The stakes could’ve been raised higher had the 02 kids were integrated into the plot and not just relegated into glorified silhouette cameos.

These suggestions would still run the course of the plot we got in Tri, but it would’ve flowed the plot organically and didn’t go dark for the sake of being dark.

I wanted to be generous with my rating, but it just won’t do. Even my bullet points review had more Cons than Pros. Factor in my bias for the 02 kids, and you get a 6.8 rating.

#digimon adventure tri #taichi yagami #daisuke motomiya #takeru takaishi #hikari yagami #yamato ishida #mimi tachikawa #joe kido #koushirou izumi #meiko mochizuki #daigo nishijima #maki himekawa #sora takenouchi #hackmon #alphamon #ordinemon #review

[averykedavra]

I was wondering, how do you usually start your writing sprints? Like, I’ve noticed you add songs to the updates and I was wondering if you have a specific playlist you listen to, or you just shuffle a bunch of songs. I probably don’t make sense 😅 but I’m kinda curious/want to start one. And I know if I want to start one I should just do it but I’m a procrastinator what can I say?

Hey! Thanks for asking! I wish I had a writing process or some overarching rule for my writing sessions. I’m still working on finding what works best for me. It helps for me to clear distractions and find a set time to work on things. As for music, there are four main things I tend to do.

1. No music at all. I get varying results with this. If I’m really invested in what I’m writing, it can help completely clear my mind of distractions. But it also leaves me feeling kind of unmoored. If I’m less into what I’m writing, the brainspace usually reserved for listening to the music now has space to think about other things. Thus, I get distracted easily. Like I said, this isn’t a problem if I’m focused entirely on my writing. But I’m not very focused most of the time! So this usually happens when music just isn’t available at the time.

2. Regular music. I’m not the kind of person to have several organized playlists for stuff. I have one giant playlist with...let me check...907 songs on it! Some have lyrics, some don’t, some are alt-rock and some are mainstream pop and some are edm and some are gregorian chant versions of Green Day. My music taste runs wild. Sometimes when I’m writing, I put this on in the background (right now, for instance! Nothing Stopping Me by Vicetone, if you’re interested.) It can help me get pumped up and it makes a fun background noise. But it’s better for less-serious writing and nonfiction stuff, like blog posts, since it can make it hard to think up scenarios and dialogue in my head when the lyrics are also being processed. (I do also have a specific playlist with less “rowdy” music that is called Calm Down. It’s mostly meant for a rough day when I want to relax, but the softer style of music is also good for writing!”

3. The step up from that is one of my specific playlists. I don’t always use this, but I do like to make little playlists for fics I’m working on. (Becs knows that I agonize over whether the vibes are right for hours on end.) Sometimes this works its way into the story in the form of chapter titles, but most of the time, it just sets the mood and gets my creative juices flowing. I have 6 playlists right now, and they’re all made to convey the storyline and tone of whatever I’m writing. And sometimes it’s just one song or one album that makes me think of this fic. This is very good for brainstorming sessions when I want to get pumped up. But it also has the same problems as normal music, basically that it can be hard to focus with lyrics in my head.

4. This brings me to what I usually do when I have a writing stretch where I want to buckle down and finish. I listen to music without lyrics. Recently I found this lo-fi hiphop stream on YouTube (though I’m pretty sure I’m the last one to the party) and it really, really helps me focus. Other background music includes my two writing playlists: Writing and Writing 2, Electric Boogaloo. One of them consists mainly of classical music and movie soundtrack (Nothing like the Avengers theme song to get my blood pumping) and one is entirely electronic music. Waterflame, TheFatRat, Alan Walker, Magic Sword, and embarrassingly, most of the Geometry Dash soundtrack. Music without lyrics has the same little cloud of buzz and helps drive extra thoughts out of my head, but has less risk of getting distracted by the lyrics. I’ve had some really productive writing sessions with the lo-fi music, especially. Since it’s pretty much made for studying and focusing, it’s like a little bubble for me! I pop my earbuds in, open my word doc, and focus.

Basically, what I’m saying, it depends on what I’m writing and how I’m feeling. Sometimes I’ll switch from one to the other during the session. For the sprint you’re referring to, I did listen to my regular playlists. For a lot of others, I don’t. It can be tough to be in tune with yourself and your level of focus, but there’s really no harm in trial-and-error! Experiment. See what works for you. I’m sure you’ll find what you’re comfortable with! And this is only my experience and ideas: I’m sure other people have their own routines, music, and ways of focusing. (Feel free to reblog with your own methods if you feel like it!)

And as for song recs? Well, if you’re writing fantasy, I always get pumped up by Final Battle by Waterflame, Battlefield by Magic Sword, and Intro by Alan Walker. Something sad? Regina Spektor, Svrcina, MARINA, and Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. A love story? Would You Be So Kind by dodie, like half the stuff by Alan Walker, and Rewrite the Stars because I’m a musical kid at heart. Pumped up action? All Time Low, Tommee Proffit, and Victorious by Panic! at the Disco. Again, these are just my songs, but feel free to use these as a jumping-off point. Keep in mind what kind of story you’re writing, your focus levels, and if you have the attention span to make a playlist for each story like I do.

Anyway, tl:dr? It’s different for everyone. Experiment, try things, fail, find something that helps you focus and gets you excited about your story. The fact that you’re exploring and asking questions about this is awesome! I wish you the best of luck in your writing endeavors. And if you (or anyone else) has any other questions, feel free to ask! I’m no authority on anything, but I’ve been writing for a while now, and I definitely have a lot to say.

Good luck again, anon, and have a great day!

#writing advice #music #playlists #writing #asks and answers #anon

[soulofgenocide]

Main Verse

Alright, so, for those of you that aren’t aware as you’re here for Richard’s AUs.. he does have a main verse. I just haven’t done jack diddlyshit with it in a long time, there are a lot of reasons why and I’ll explain most of them, but the TL:DR before I get to that is this.

I’m gonna reset his main verse storywise, and it won’t affect any ships in said verse, whether we RP public or private in main verse nothing will really change. Certain topics I just won’t bring up anymore, and neither will he, and considering everything was just kinda.. forgettable, it won’t have any impact at all on the main verse. So just proceed like normal, the only thing you might notice is just more main verse activity, literally nothing will change considering I haven’t done anything in his main verse in so long. Things will just honestly get LESS confusing if anything.

Ok so full reasoning under read more.

Right, so, believe it or not the main verse used to be super busy, I had quite a few threads going normally and I had a main plot going for Richard that pretty much grew over a year or two. This was different than just his default plot which exists on the blog, it was actual progression using content from the book he’s from (my book), but things got messy pretty quickly. I had started writing content from the book that I hadn’t written yet, so everything not only didn’t have all the details properly set out, but also it started to blur the lines really hard. See, around this time I was also really pounding out the chapters for Genocides book for NaNoWriMo, and I was making really good progress, but then I hit a point where the stuff I made up only for tumblr started to mesh with the book and suddenly the book was a mess.

Think of it like this, if Tumblr Genocide is a T.V. show then the book was supposed to be a movie, and trying to cram like 3 seasons of shit into one movie made it just become bloated. It ended up killing all momentum I had for writing the book because I just couldn’t separate the two easily, I tried doing it in several documents and storyboards, but ultimately at the end of it all I just lost the thread. It was really depressing honestly, because I love the ‘Book of Genocide’ as its called, he’s my favorite to write and losing that muse really dragged me down. What I write when I’m writing a book is about 200% the quality of what ends up on here, probably more if I’m really in the zone, so it took a LOT of work to get where I had been, but the bridge had already collapsed and I wasn’t getting back across. I ended up ending NaNoWriMo with an unfinished book, only making it about fourteen chapters in, and since then I’ve pretty much torn apart every single chapter, disappointed in it all because I simply don’t have the same muse I did when I wrote it.

That wasn’t all though, because losing my muse for the book version of Genocide meant tumblr got hit even harder, after all this was supposed to be my for fun area, so if it’s not fun then why was I doing it? I wrote up arcs for the tumblr Genocide that were complete dogshit, rushed out pieces because I knew I wouldn’t ever post them if I didn’t, and ultimately I was just jamming the embers of my muse into the fire trying to keep it going. Didn’t work. The main verse as it is now, as many of you probably don’t even know it, is a complete nightmare, and honestly its beyond my repairing. So that’s why I’m resetting it, just a story reset there won’t be any ships or friends or whatever affected by it, I’ve literally been moving away from the main verse just for this reason.

I’ll be updating his character pages, removing pages, and doing a lot of work in the coming few days, hopefully, so just chill with me and maybe when he’s patched up we can do some neat OC rping in his main verse.

#OOC #writers block #depression

[spell406]

So, a friend of mine basically forced me to watch at least one episode of Netflix Castlevania.

(Disc - I am new to tumblr and had a little problems with posting this thing correctly. Sorry for spam)

So I watched one. And then another. And another… When I finished it was 3 a.m., my eyes were burned out, my brain fried, and my soul forever forfeited, but whatever, who need it anyway.

I am new to the universe, and I know that I am something like 10 months late to the review party, so instead I decided to just share a bunch of thoughts of mine. [UPDATE – Because I am extremely heavy procrastinator and it took me almost two weeks to write this thing I am already at 50% of SoTN right now I’ve finished SoTN by now]

First of all – Castlevania looks like anime, but shares almost nothing common with it. It was a relief, to be honest, as I was a little afraid of show being just another shounen with specific set of clichés and similarities that might quite not bad (or even enjoyable), but I’ve seen them too many times before – better or worse executed – to watch without a mild nausea another Bleach/Naruto in a darker scenario.

I would never demand a fantasy world to be realistic. Like, who would do, fantasy world is supposed to be… fantasy, right? I am fine with lack of realism but I can’t say the same about lack of common sense, and there is a matter of logic that I personally find quite funny. When you are about to fight in close quarters with someone, with both of you lives on stake you’ll want to use every possible advantage. In general there are two kinds of battle armors – first one is focused on providing maximum protection (like typical medieval plate armor) and second one designed to grant freedom of movement especially critical in usually legwork-heavy duels. And here are our “battle” priests in gowns. Gowns, that manage to provide neither aforementioned advantage and downsides of both. Heh. It just bothers me too much, honestly.

I really love the flow of narration; the way that every character including antagonists has its own set of motives and reasons, even Carmilla has her own background that is convicting to justify her bitchery (Well, she has seen it before, right? And Dracula wasn’t even trying to hide his apathy, so why would she like to watch as dead man wages his hollow war)(Is it only me or Dracula shows typical signs of severe depression? Apathy, lack of strength to take any decision, not taking care of himself, loss of interest – even in his own war – well, to be honest he has a good reason to do so).

Animations. Ah, that one is unquestionably excellent, although you Powerhouse Animation guys could have make use of an additional 4-5 fps – from time to time I had a feeling that there is a cat sitting on my keyboard’s space bar, pausing and starting show over and over - it happened something like two or three times. If it comes to favorite scenes – for me, it would be first meeting and fight between Trevor and Alucard. The dialogue and music is so good at reflecting rising pressure and tension between those two – let put oneself in Trevor’s boots – just day before he was rather concerned about getting some food/drink and move on and now he is standing against something that he now considers to be last boss of his life, or perhaps not, he doesn’t even know how does Dracula looks like and he doesn’t seem to be openly aggressive, or perhaps yes, he is obviously vampire and he seems to doesn’t like Belmont name, on the other hand even lesser vampire might be not so easy foe and he is kinda out of practice, and Sypha doesn’t feel like helping out, at least for now… It is all just perfect, and the sound track alone is stuff of legends. (Season 2 OST on Spotify WHEN??”)

Second best would be first phase of Dracula fight – the way which they are team working fluently to not let eachother get killed pleases my inner maniac in best possible way, although the 1 vs 1 part is kinda downgrade - but still ok.

But there is one thing that really stands out in best possible way from things I’ve seen before and that’s utilization of facial expression and body language. Like seriously, this combined with really outstanding voice acting bring interactions between characters to another damned level. (Unfortunately, national translation and voice acting is so awful that I couldn’t bear myself to finish even first season). There are few thing I consider more important in creating credible character than combining overall expressiveness and voice acting, the ability to tell words without actually using any (Finding Ciri cinematic in Witcher 3 is perhaps best known to me example) - and Castlevania does it just soooo good.

Dracula generals. When they were shown for the first time I was like “oh boy he has summoned generals, (Generals! Master tactician, the artists of war!) the oldest, most cunning and powerful beasts from entire world, now things are going to get rough.” And how did it turned out? I can understand that Dracula tasked his forge masters with overseeing the war (Although his reasoning was kind of ok, good job Dracula for nominating for executives two people, that knew least about proceeding war) Did they were incompetent so much? Then how did they managed to get their titles, if they were just a bunch of endlessly whining mischief-makers? They were supposed to know how war looks like, and how to do one, but instead they did literally nothing for war effort! If you ask me, that is at least one risen eyebrow. Excluding Godbrand, the only member of council that did anything more than grate his teeth in silent anger, killed some civilians and got taken care of quite effortlessly. Also, Godbrand wasn’t made to be the sharpest knife in a closet, but he still was bright enough to ask himself “What will we do when we’ll win a war?” Also, he managed to notice that there were no real plan to follow... That is +1 to you Godbrand, I’ll miss you my vikingy boi. In the end, if they were meant to be just a background, they did get a little too much of screen time, and if they were not, they got faaaaaar from enough of it.

By the way – not sure if it’s only me but I personally think that Trevor might be keenest (or – at least – not dumbest) of protagonist trio. He might lack classic education, but he is careful watcher (he noticed fresh oil in torch and overall state of Alucard’s hideout), he correctly chosen and quite successfully executed strategy at Gresit square (isolate, divide and destroy) and quite steadfastly shrugged  off Alucard bickering (well, most of times). Also, his plan for battle with vampire generals was quite logical – avoid close quarter cause humans are in general more fragile than vampires, and Alucard as frontline. My inner maniac was most pleased.

As I said before, I really enjoy Castlevania’s overall character design but with an exception of bishop of Gresit. There is no reason for his work, I know that he is insane and reasoning usually does not apply to those like him but I feel like there is no reason in villainy (this entire talking about making a God’s own country – well, I don’t buy it), aside of being genuinely baaaaad, which kinda stands out in negative way in comparison to the rest of characters.

To highlight the issue, lets do some roleplaying here:

The night creatures are ravaging the land that you had sworn to protect in unholy war against humanity, killing women, men even your subordinates alike. The citizens are growing restless, and demand taking an action. How do you proceed?

a) Find the last descendant of family known for their prowess in fighting those beasts; but be wary – he doesn’t seem to like you very much after you branded him as heretic, exterminated his entire family and burned down his home (probably with some of aforementioned family still inside it). However, if you nicely ask for help, reverse the curse, apology for making mistake and return the estate it actually might work. (to be honest that could be quite interesting moral choice for Trevor, to help people of Wallachia and let bishop take all glory or decline the bishop proposition and screw people over in the process)

b) You can fight them, you are the Holy Church after all. You have access to unlimited supply of holy water, relics, you have enough money and authority to arm and train people’s militia properly. Your knowledge of those beasts might be as wide as Belmont family, but at least should be sufficient to minimalize the damage. Killing the Dracula, however, might be impossible for you.

c) You spent most of your time on biting, trashing, or looking for anyone to cast entire blame upon; it doesn’t matter who is that poor bastard as long as it is not you. In addition, you…

AAAAARGH I CAN’T CONTAIN MYSELF ANY LONGER! BROTHER, I DON’T FEEL LIKE I AM   WICKED ENOUGH! I REQUIRE TO SEE SOME SUFFERING OF INNOCENT TO FEAST UPON! WHAT DO YOU SAY, BROTHER? I CANT HEAR YOU OVER RAGE BOILING IN MY VEINS! WHAT, SPEAKERS? OF COURSE THEY WILL DO RAAAAAARRGARGAJGIOGJIHKBYIUOL

Oh well.

Well, looks like I am done here. By the way, sorry for my English, I am not a native speaker (If I’ve commited any spectacular crime against vocabulary/grammar let me know on priv).

Now I’m going back to rewatching show and torturing SoTN

No TL:DR, just read it if you want, it is not an entire book, you know.

#castlevania #trevor belmont #sypha belnades #alucard

[reigningrockets]

life update: TL:DR My jaw hurts like hell, and I need MORE PETS!!!! And Hunter X Hunter is good

SO I’m currently experiencing chronic jaw pain and it literally came out of nowhere. I went to the dentist a few days ago and don’t have any cavities and i don’t think my teeth are causing this. But every time i try to close my mouth, my whole left side clenches up and becomes really painful. I don’t know if its TMJ, an ear ache, from grinding or clenching my teeth... i have no clue. So i’m going to have to make a doctor’s appointment which I really don’t want to do cause I’ve only seen my doctor for my annual physical. Going to the doctor costs money and if this is something that will go away on its own, I don’t want to spend money and go. My dentist just told me to put an ice pack on it which hasn’t been very helpful advice in the long run. Painkillers are also ineffective. My mouth hurts and chewing sucks and singing is painful.

 I’m also frustrated because everytime something happens and I have a minor medical problem, my Mom decided to immediately blame my antidepressants which is bull shit. I’ve been taking these drugs for five years and i have had no problems. She also wanted to blame them for the nosebleeds I was getting a few weeks ago that I knew were cause by the cold outside and the dry air in my room. Basically she’s trying to be helpful bet she’s not being very helpful.

But in other less painful news, I’m setting up a new fish tank to house a betta. It’s been cycling for about two weeks and my adhd is really killing me and yelling at the tank every day to finish cycling so I can get my fish. His name shall be Prince Hans (no i did not consciously name him after the disney character.) and I’ll be getting him a loyal snervant (snail servant) named Sneddward (Snail Eddward). Also I redid my hamster cage for valentines day and it looks adorable!! Squire Chadleigh has been in my care for about a month and I love him so much I would did for him. Also I’ve been thinking about how neat it’d be to have a mini pig. basically I’m going pet crazy and no one can stop me!!! Except for my current living and financial situations which would keep me from providing adequate care to an animal.... which means I probably won’t be getting a mini pig for a long time haha but its on my list next to ferrets and a snake!! but ya for now my small room can handle a big bin cage for a hamster and a 5.2 gallon fish tank for a betta and snervant, and posible one other thing that I can put in my spare 10 gallon tank that is being unused in my basement. Don’t know what I’d put in the 10 gallon but I have it when I figure it out. 

I’ve also started watching Hunter X Hunter and if anything happens to Killua I will kill everyone and then myself...but I think he’ll be fine cause he’s and asassin ya know... Also everytime that Joker guy licks his lips I think “that hot” and I hate myself.

Also one of my friends is a pimp now so thats cool. 

#life update #if anyone has jaw pain let me know how you cope cause im really uncomfortable #I also just want my fish damnit! #and 1 (one) snail