monotonecomplainyguy

[monotonecomplainyguy]

i want devices that are functional and hardy and i want them to last and fuck the rest of the shit i dont need. my ds and 3ds can lie in sleep mode for months if not years and i can pop them open and they've still got two or three bars left. my old phones in high school could go days without a charge. if i leave my nintendo switch on the floor for a few days doing absolutely fuck all nothing i will turn it on and it will cry to me mother i am dying. i am dying mother. and i tell him he'll never be half the man his brother was and he can't hear me because he's dead

[monotonecomplainyguy]

billions of dollars and untold environmental damage for this groundbreaking technology

[monotonecomplainyguy]

So, the other day, when I was discussing AO3's policy on solicitation, a tumblr user came at me saying that AO3's "no monetization/solicitation" rules were "bullshit" because nexus mods allows fan created mods to get paid.

Look at me.

Look at me right now.

AO3 protects you.

AO3 protects you and your works. 

It protects your works from copyright strikes and DCMA takedowns.

It protects your work from advertisers.

It protects your work from overzealous legal challenges.

It protects your right to post adult content.

AO3 is non-profit and AO3 will never try to use you or your work to make a profit for themselves and AO3 will go to bat for you if someone tries to legally challenge you or your works.

Please respect AO3 and its mission.

[monotonecomplainyguy]

"you can use ai to improve spelling and grammar"

[monotonecomplainyguy]

this website’s easy watch. *dangles a bunch of greek gods like keys*

[monotonecomplainyguy]

i think it's important to acknowledge that the reason why mastercard/visa has such a stranglehold on american society is because cash is not the main form of payment in the usa. the predominance of card has effectively privatized currency

in japan, one of the reasons why dlsite and other similar websites are able to just remove visa as a payment option instead of changing any of their merchandise (aside from the fact that visa doesn't have a monopoly here) is because cash payments for online transactions remain an option. even if you don't have a jcb credit card or paypay or whatever, you can still pay for your online purchases using cash by taking your barcode to a convenience store, and you can do this for essentially every online vendor, meaning credit card companies can't just impose their moral judgments on your purchases with much repercussion

[monotonecomplainyguy]

Okay, so, most of my followers should know that I'm a fungal hivemind possessing multiple host bodies, right? Well, it turns out the part of me possessing one of my host bodies recently met a yeast wizard and an alga wizard, and the three of them decided to combine into a lichen wizard.

I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.

[monotonecomplainyguy]

*scrolling tumblr* hmmm. i agree with the sentiment of this post, but the phrasing feels off to me. it doesn’t really have that Reblog factor, you know? *scrolls* oh good, a post that just says “i jerk off till my penis scrweam” . i better reblog this

[monotonecomplainyguy]

Exactly, say it again louder for the people in the back

[monotonecomplainyguy]

affirmations for writers: i know how to write. i have seen sentences before, and i know how to make one. i can identify up to several words and their meanings. i am not afraid of semicolons.

[monotonecomplainyguy]

"you should be at the club" incorrect "you should be at pirate weekend at the renn fair" well this we cannot refute.

[monotonecomplainyguy]

Harold Arknights is so funny. He left Victorian military service after almost starting a war that almost no one involved wanted in the first place because one of his relatives is a dick. Joined Rhodes Island as a vet. Took his job extremely seriously, to the point of writing multiple papers. Immediately requested access to the burdenbeasts. Introduces the burdenbeasts to people more enthusiastically than he introduces himself. Teaches impromptu classes on pet/livestock care. Asked for a volunteer to help demonstrate how to milk a burdenbeast properly. Got one. Recognized the volunteer as Siege, aka Vina Victoria, aka the fucking rightful queen of Victoria and Speaker of its Parliament (who regularly fucks off to Rhodes Island to avoid doing her work). Had a minor meltdown over this fact.

His family told Rhodes Island not to let him drink too much. He ignored them. He collects rare Kjerag burdenbeast gachapon. Degenbrecher chased him through a train. He ran away because he thought she was trying to kill him. She just wanted him to help with burdenbeast postnatal care. She didn't bother telling him this until she caught him. She stopped to play tour guide during all this.

He plays tabletop war games with Myrtle. He teaches the Doctor how to care for a burdenbeast giving birth. He cons people into letting him drink too much. His daughter thinks he's a jackass. I love him.

[monotonecomplainyguy]

cure of ra

[monotonecomplainyguy]

the clones are dnd-style warlocks with Jedi as their patrons

their armor starts out unpainted and white until they make a pact with a Jedi, joining that Jedi's battalion

those who deepen their bond with their patron have that closer relationship reflected in more detailed patterns in their armor paint, and a higher degree of specialization and skill

[monotonecomplainyguy]

Bilbo: wait I get it now. The dragon is a metaphor for greed and power. We need to ‘defeat’ it by being humble when we get the treasure.

Thorin: Bilbo, for the last time, it’s a real dragon and it has my gold

[monotonecomplainyguy]

Harold and War Casters in Arknights

I really really like Harold Craigavon as a character and how he fits into the world, because he's doing a lot of stuff for the story, even on a ludonarrative level of his bossfight. While he shows off that casters can be overwhelmingly powerful, though that was already known, it establishes that they can be so nigh-unstoppable that forming an entire squad around and to just support them is a practical and effective approach.

Suffice to say, the Victorian Dukes are nothing if not ruthless and practical, so the Duke of Caster would not entertain Harold if he didn't deliver results. Soldiers only get old by surviving and winning, after all.

This isn't the first time we've seen this either. In the main story Faust and Frostnova are both leaders of squads that directly work with and utilize their leader's arts to great effect. Faust isn't possible to pin down or find cover from, because any one of his Phantom Crossbownmen could be him. Frostnova's storms leave foes vulnerable, or can work with her Yetis to freeze opponents more easily.

Similar to Harold in multiple ways, Frostnova dominates the battlefield in such a complete fashion that her squadmates invest in protecting themselves from the residual effects of her arts so that they can operate normally:

While only one of Frostnova's units benefit directly from the cold, the icecleavers that deal 250%/300% damage to frozen units, the Victorian general's army, thrive in Harold's snowstorms. With a Duke behind him and taking care of all of his equipment and expenditures, they get stronger in the cold. They were trained in it, and dominate it, and likely represent what Frostnova could have become if she had a few more years to sharpen her craft and squad cohesion.

To make a bit of a jump, recall how I described casters as being unstoppably powerful; now I want to bring your attention to the mighty Wendigo; the most powerful entities that existed on Terra. Regularly described as such.

Now lets look at one of my favorite scenes in the game, Kal'tsit's stand off with the Emperor's Blade at the end of A Walk in the Dust: (WD-8 Before:)

Kal'tsit directly compares the strength of Wendigos to veteran war Casters. They were deployed together to fight off Collapsals. Sami employed Snowpriests, also Casters of incredible strength. The only one we directly know of, Santalla, was fighting a one-woman guerilla war against the expansionist country of Ursus itself, depicted in The Black Forest Wills a Dream.

They can't find her, they can't stop her; they think that she's a spirit, not a caster, not a person. Because how could a person summon blizzards at will, who could roam and stalk in such hostile environments? They can't push the border anymore because of her alone. (In the Biting Cold:)

So when we come all the way back around to Harold; as a veteran caster with a proper catalyst and no oripathy (r.i.p. Frostnova), he has no physical reasons to hold back. His squad is designed around him, and can safely be in just the vicinity of his arts. His opponents are stuck desperately keeping their heat sources on, just so they can fight, just so they can hold their blades, only for Harold to precision strike them. If you manage to harm or hinder him, he can switch tactics and begins repeatedly nuking the entire battlefield. He, will be fine. His men, will be fine.

But you will not.

Harold's bossfight is one of my favorites, not just because it's engaging and tense, delightful and frantic: it flexes so much of the world and lore. The music pairs so well, the almost whimsical tones of the snow and ice giving way to the unrelenting wrath of a blizzard with malicious intent, the deep bass aligning with the truck sized icicles descending from the sky and crashing down. It shows off how the battlefield and militaries in the setting warp around casters.

What must it have looked like to have seen multiple Harolds, multiple veteran war casters all closer to their prime, working together to fight back extradimensionals? Each with no reason to limit themselves, no worry in harming the Wendigo frontline.

- - -

As a parting note, you know what else is cool? Patriot, who presumably fought on one of those frontlines, then met Frostnova and Faust. When they showed an aptitude for arts, he tutored them to fight in the same way, as part of a purpose-built squad. They and their arts are powerful indeed, but he has seen firsthand how they are best leveraged.

[monotonecomplainyguy]

Revisiting having completed the Polyvision Museum: since the games themselves are in fact the game of arknights itself, where each map represents an actual battlefield, suggests worrying things.

Firstly, the gamers; Closure, Kirara and Mizuki, by having high scores, could represent their proficiency in commanding a battlefield. Which means all three could be excellent tactical commanders. And if you check Kirara's physical exam:

This further means two things: - Rhodes Island may or may not use videogames to determine an operator's tactical acumen - Operators who do have excellent (or better) tactical acumen are likely people who reside high on Rhodes Island's leaderboard

Some of the funnier options as to operators who, following this thought process, would be good at videogames: O for outstanding and E for excellent - Catherine - E - Civilight Eterna - O - Degenbrecher - E - Executor - E - Harold - E - Ho'olheyak - E - Horn - E - Muelsyse - E - Saria - E - Texas - E - Thorns - E - Tin Man - E - Ulpianus - E - Underflow - E - Valarqvin - E - W - O - Warfarin - E

Even just some of these operators in the same room, as part of a gaming tournament, in a finale, would be incredibly funny. Ho'olheyak has to face Tin Man. Underflow smashes Ulpianus. Saria and Executor, both stone faced and silent as they control their characters. And then W schools them all at the end.

Imagine the teams that could form. Catherine and Harold work together and school all the kids. Exusiai and Texas. Most of Rhine Lab.

Lastly:

Kal'tsit, who I can only assume was also banned from Rhodes Island's leaderboard, same as the Doctor.