#ESPECIALLY if I'd try to rank them in any kind of order

[thursdayinspace]

Do people actually have lists of favorite xf episodes? Because I'm trying to think of my top ten and it's impossible.

[thecoffeelorian]

OC Sunday--Commander Miles!

(brief note: I kinda set this up like a Fandom.Com article, so please pardon me if it mimics the pages for canon Clone Troopers at certain points.)

FAST FACTS

Rank: Commander

Serial Number: CT-2589

Planet Of Service: Chandrila

Name History: CT-2589 once "borrowed" a training ship in order to see if there was anything on Kamino besides rain and metallic fortresses. Unfortunately for his longnecked minders, he made it exactly three miles away from Tipoca City before security caught up with him...and yet. Once the boys in the barracks got wind of his little joyride, that's when he found his name.

"You almost made it, Miles."

OC SPECIFICS

What would their favorite book be?

“ ‘Sunrise Over Saleucami’. It’s a sappy romance, I know…but a great distraction from the battlefield, regardless.”

What’s your favorite trait about them? Yes, just one. ;) 

“I’m always down for jumping into the thick of things! Er…maybe a little too much!”

What’s a weakness of theirs that they might not be aware of?

“You’ve been talkin’ to Sergeant Walters, haven’t you?! All right…ya got me. It’s rock collecting! In other words, I see a shiny piece of quartz, it’s MINE!”

What would they say is the most important thing in the world?

“Being there for your brothers, especially when they need you the most.”

What’s a hobby of theirs?

“Well…there’s the rock collecting, but sometimes I also stick little googly eyes on ‘em and leave them around the barracks for someone else to find. Don’t tell Ninety-Nine it was me.”

What would they order at Starbucks?

“Heh…I heard they don’t exactly approve of unionizing, so excuse me if I’ll take my Sergeant’s Insta-Brew instead. That one won’t cost me a single credit.”

Any scars/tattoos?

"I got Queen Apailana's face tattooed onto m' right shoulder, plus a kinda long scar across my nose from slamming my helmet on too quick. Think I'll let you all guess as to which one I'd remove if I had a choice." ;)

PANCAKE - what is their comfort breakfast? Since this is probably the SW equivalent of an Egg McMuffin, Commander Miles would totally go to Dex's Diner for some hot caf and a "Hungry Hutt" breakfast sandwich. Not only would it fill him up on the go, it's also supposed to be rather tasty, according to Dex himself.

DONUT - favourite sweet treat? Though wartime doesn't exactly give him time to enjoy a lot of new things, Commander Miles would probably enjoy hand pies such as the Corellian Ryshcate. Ya know, because it's warm, spiced, and delicious.

SLEEPING - do they fall asleep easily? what helps them sleep? Hoo boy, here's a tough one...ok! Given that he's in charge of at least one other Trooper (Sergeant Walters), I think he'd be a first watch kind of guy, meaning that he would stay awake during the first few hours that other soldiers would generally be asleep. Once that rotation was over, however, he would most likely be out in a matter of minutes, if my thoughts make any sense.

SPECIAL NOTES

G.A.R. Goth Night History:

Commander Miles came in expecting to try a few galactic liquors, learn some new dances, and maybe get a compliment or two on his outfit...what he got, however, was this:

Random Tie To The Bad Batch:

Miles might have witnessed a certain little blond girl crawling through the vents late one night...but then again, he might have just imagined her.

Romance On Deck(?):

I may/may not have received a little too much inspiration from Taika Waititi, buuuut I had once imagined Miles falling hard and fast for a male Twi'lek bartender on Coruscant. As I'm in the middle of other projects, there's a chance that this story might never be written...however, my vacation weeks are coming up, so we'll see how things go later on.

NPT:

@ladykagewaki @aurathebardwife @ordo-core @nocturius8015ficore @gun-roswell

@orangez3st @the-osborn-way @crosshairs-dumb-pimp-gf and anybody else interested in Original Clone Content!

[adoresoperecs]

all mine (smut) @cherigu

in which you come home tipsy and jk is upset (angst,fluff) @onlyswan

kiss it better (angst,fluff) @sour-ggrapess

milf (smut) @lustfuldevils

in which jungkook only wants two things from you: for you to rest and your attention. (F) @goddessjichu

late for work (smut) @berryhobii

Flower girl (fluff) @nochukoo97

Summary: you’re in charge of mentoring jungkook, a convict who’s currently doing community service. as time goes by, you grow closer and closer to the man, finding out more about him and his past. jungkook makes you crazy with his small gestures, he makes your cheeks turn the same shade as carnations, he makes you dizzy. most of all, he makes you his flower girl

lovesick emergency (fluff) @pt2change

boyfriend drabbles pt 9 (fluff) @nochukoo97

Summary: request sent- "you were so drunk last night, you asked your girlfriend if she was single and started to cry when she said no."

jealousy (smut) @jkeuphoriadreamland

Summary: All of this over a fucking perilla leaf!?

slideshow (smut) @lolabangtan

Summary: You’re a successful cam girl in need of a hot guy with a big cock, and you think you’ve found your match.

are you my soulmate? (fluff) @csanflower

Summary: You offered to do some part time work for a Calvin Klein shoot to earn some quick cash. The job was simple. Do whatever the higher ranked people told you to do. You expected a simple job like making coffee or ordering lunch for the staff. You definitely did not expect the biggest star in the world following you around like a puppy, thinking you’re his soulmate just because a bell rang when you crossed paths with him…

monitoring duty (fluff) @back2bluesidex

Summary: You are tasked with monitoring Jungkook's weverse live tonight, which starts with you trying to shove ramyeon down your throat and ends with Jungkook confessing that he likes you too.

suck them (smut) @jaykaysthicthighs

Summary : It was just supposed to be the usual great sex, but they looked so inviting

what he wants he gets (fluff) YANDERE JK @wildestdreamsblog

i will never not think about you (fluff) @nochukoo97

Summary: req: “May I request something, please? I'd like it to be a JK x reader enemies to lovers fic, when he hears you defending him when someone badmouths about him” alsoo JK PLAYS THE GUITAR HERE for reader 🥺🥺

r u mine? (angst,fluff) @nochukoo97

Summary: It hurts so bad seeing your best friend, who you have been madly in love with, with another girl. You secretly wish he would have never met his current girlfriend. It pained you to watch them interact right in front of your eyes. But what if things took a turn? What if you actually had a chance with him?

champagne confetti (smut) @busanboykoo

Summary: “you won't regret me, champagne confetti” or maybe just jungkook wants you to tell him what you want him to do to you.

what you need (fluff,smut) @2hightocare

Summary: Jungkook and you try getting into the Christmas spirit, but you end up getting fucked up against the kitchen counter.

rainy day (fluff) @bts-trash-blog

Summary: You had a bad habit that you just couldn’t break and it only happened on rainy days like this.

my little saesang (fluff) @candywife333

Summary: Y/N had been a super fan for a while. Some would say bordering on saesang or creep level. She didn't think she was one, till she experienced an incident that made her stop being a fan. She had never thought that Jungkook or any of BTS ever noticed her, as she was part of the masses of obsessive fans. But they had. Especially, one doe eyed idol in particular. He never thought he would miss his fan, or shall we say saesang. Yet, he couldn't help but notice her absence. He took her comforting presence, her kind eyes, hair disheveled in excitement, and wide smile for granted. And he didn't know when her presence started to matter to him so much. When exactly did she become such a constant in his life?

in a world full of boys he’s a gentlemen (fluff) @2hightocare

Summary: in which jungkook makes you realize a perfect man may exist…

best friends (smut) JK is a gaslighter lol @trivia-yandere

overseas freedom (smut) @jeoncopi

Summary: Feeling carefree each time he traveled shouldn't be different for Jungkook. As much as he wishes to feel like this back home, he can't help but restrict himself at all times. One thing about you working abroad and his scedules matching your timezones (better when it hits same destination), he could only wish and live for the best. "cause thats exactly what he'll get.

handle with care (smut) @borathae

Summary: "He asked for two things. Your strap and to be treated with care. You can't say no to him. Not when he looks so adorable with his pretty, sparkly doe eyes gazing at you and his dainty, little waist fitting perfectly between your fingers."

you’ll let me (smut) @honeytae

beside you (smut) @nochukoo97

Summary: you miss your boyfriend after not seeing him for a long time, so who could blame you if you couldn’t resist him once you saw him?

can’t deny (fluff) @jungkookstatts

Summary: Jungkook has been pining after you for ages. You find denying him fun, in a way. But when he proposes the truth as to why he wants you so bad, you begin to see yourself fold.

birthday boy (smut) @jeonfics

Jungkook Eating Your Pussy / Audio Smut

another smut audio

princess treatment (fluff) @2hightocare

Summary: Jungkook simply does everything to make you happy..

the silent “i love you” (fluff) @euphoricfilter

Summary: sometimes you don’t need words

new beginnings (fluff) @pt2change

Summary: typical ‘let’s kiss at midnight on new years’ au, except they’re complete strangers, fluff, i think that pretty much sums it up

just roommates (fluff) @hiddndaydreams

Summary: Jungkook and Reader are roommates and friends. When reader goes out on a date, Jungkook can't help but be annoyed by her plans.

like crazy (smut) @thvhoe

Summary: Just your boyfriend fingering you so good and u give the sloppiest head ever

brothers best friend (smut) @lavishedinjimin

Summary: In which Y/n owns a smut blog dedicated to her crush and brother’s best friend, jungkook. it was all fun and games until he finds out about it and acts it out with you.

slipping through my fingers (fluff) @thvhoe

Summary: Jungkook is frustrated, and you're the only one who can calm him down

domestic daydreams (fluff) @euphoricfilter

Summary: jungkook worries his life online bleeds too much into your relationship, but you can’t be more than happy to show everyone how much he loves you

m (smut,fluff) @bangytell

Summary: Your brother's best friend has been your ultimate crush since forever, and soon you'll find out that he has been too.

Love (fluff) @yok00k

Summary: you wanted to try the “pink coquette core” on your boyfriend and your poor sleepy dog

My time (smut) @maisanshine

Summary: Jungkook fears anything you do, but your warm hands on his body cancels it out

cyber boy (fluff,smut) @httpjungkookcom

Summary :Jimin, as much as you love him, is a major pain in your ass. After dragging you to his store against your will (literally) you end up with; the newly manufactured, eerily human Jungkook android model. He's so human, you begin to have questions.

cutie in the kitchen (fluff) @borathae

Summary: Jungkook loves having a break from work because it means that he can make you breakfast in the morning and welcome you home with dinner.

swipe right (fluff,smut) @ppersonna

Summary: After a horrible breakup, you sign back up for tinder and ironically match with your best friend, jungkook. a date for fun is harmless, right?

in motion (smut) @back2bluesidex

Summary: You are finally letting Jungkook set everything in motion. And he is more than happy to show you what he has to offer.

mentally, physically weak(smut) @arainbowofchaos

Summary: Jungkook is waiting for you outside your workplace, a cigarette in his mouth, and you can hardly believe your luck. Above all, you're acutely aware of how weak you are for him, and you want to savor this moment as if it were the last.

lovers (yandere) @aajjks

Summary: you love him so much. You’ll die if he ever leaves you.

please please PLEASE (fluff?) @aajjks

Summary: He’s a determined man, and he knows a magical word, please.

good girl,gone bad (smut) @blublublujk

Summary:“I can’t believe anyone actually likes those stupid fucks. I mean, the hickeys, it’s like he wants everyone to know he actually fucks.” You stay staring just a tad longer at the buff (sexy) jock, short enough so that Karina won’t notice. This time the boy proudly parading the trail of hickeys down his neck smiles at you and parts with a quick wave, some blonde hair boy from the group laughs at him and shakes his arm teasingly. You can’t help but to smile too, it’s barely there, but he’ll know. You decide to turn around and follow her steps. “Yeah totally, me either.” What your best friend doesn’t know won’t kill her… right?

pretty when you cry (smut) @kooksberrie

Summary: You will never get tire of being the reason for jungkook's sweet whimpers, the tears he shed because of the pleasure and how ruined he looked every time you made him cum hard.

confessions (smut) @cherigu

strawberry bunny (smut) @driftsuki

seven days a week (smut) @yoongsisbae

jungkook loves your breasts (smut) @driftsuki

Friendly strangers (smut) @oatsmeall

Hoodie w/ Jungkook @beenbaanbuun

Threesome (S) @badbtssmut

Oppa (fluff) @keen-li

Irresistible (fluff) @parkmuse

Summary: “Say that again you little shit, and see what happens…” + “You think I can’t resist you? Because I can…” + Best friends

Fall back in love (fluff,smut) @bukguhope

Summary: jungkook somehow grew a reputation of sleeping around on campus, leaving him lonely and inexperienced with relationships. so when you, his old childhood best friend moves onto campus, he discovers what a relationship can feel like as he finds himself falling in love with you

Numb to the feeling (smut) @c0llisiion

Practice (S,F) @hoseoksluna

Summary: you make jungkook proud by practicing what he taught you.

seonbaenim! (S) @trivia-yandere

Summary: Your group decides they want to shed the “good girl” image for your next comeback & you confide in your seonbae, Jungkook, in helping you do so.

Fixation (S) @trivia-yandere

Summary: A look into where it all began with jungkook and how much he loves having his lips on you…

Cherry flavor (fluff,smut) @jungkookstatts

Summary: Your biker boyfriend takes you on a joyride.

Lips (smut) @willows-escape

Summary: reader with her head hanging off the bed and jungkook fucking her throat in a 69 position. the end.

Champagne confetti (S) @margotw10bis

Summary: Your boyfriend loves watching you on live but his whole mood changes when he reads one specific comment from one of your fans

Friendly marriage (S,F,A) @margotw10bis

Summary: No one can really understand your relationship with your best friend. You are not in love but you did get married and you did have a son. It was just a friendly marriage, wasn't it?

ribbons & affection ♡ (fluff,smut) @kissforyouu

the violence of the dog days (smut,fluff) @youarewhatyoulove-blog

Summary: In the midst of summertime, after a week of neglect, your boyfriend has a way of making you feel even more heated.

9:20 (S) @jj-one

Summary: Jungkook (your boyfriend) knew exactly how to make you feel good, only he knew how to please your body.

the curious lifespan of migrating monarchs (S,F) @alphabetboyluvr

Close to you (F) @muniimyg

it should've been easier than this, right? in which oc and jungkook sleep together and he can't get over it

[greenerteacups]

If you had to rank the core 7 canon books how would you order them?

Goblet of Fire my beloved <3 (tournament arc my beloved. yule ball my beloved dragons and mermaids and riddles my beloved viktor krum fleur delacour cedric diggory my beloveds QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP my beloved. real costs of war my beloved. the start of the actual story of harry potter and that's a hill I will dig my grave in.)

Prisoner of Azkaban (murder mystery + marauders lore + last real self-contained adventure novel in the series, also introduces the patronus mechanic, sirius black, remus lupin, etc. fun fact when i was growing up POA was the one book in the series I didn't own so I've read it the fewest times of any book and it STILL clears.)

Order of the Phoenix (what if your friend group were all members of a secret underground martial arts association with the goal of Sticking It To The Man? would that not be the coolest? and legions of us answered powerfully: Yea, it would be The Fucking Coolest. has the most convoluted plot of any of the books and it drags like hell at some points but it's also a really cool dive into character psychology and it's the first time it actually feels like our heroes can lose.)

Half-Blood Prince (by far the darkest book in the story, includes the much-awaited Tom Riddle backstory and finally sets up the lynchpin of the climax via the horcrux mechanic; Draco finally gets something approximating an arc, or like, basic three-dimensionality; the Slug Club is a delicious POV into what Slytherin could be/can be/actually is, culturally speaking; but I'm not a huge fan of Harry's plot with Dumbledore, and it means most of the D.A. from Book 5 are left with not a whole lot to do besides sit around and talk to Harry like videogame NPCs— including, most egregiously, Ron and Hermione, neither of whom seem all that enthused about the author's decision that they ought to kiss.)

Deathly Hallows: I just wouldn't make most of the decisions this book makes with respect to about how to end the series, and I've had a long time to come to peace with that. It's a fun, well-written Quest story, but it's not about the things I'd like it to be about.

Philosopher's Stone: this is a children's book. That's not the book's fault, it's perfectly clear about what it is, but I'm not going to enjoy it as much as books written with older readers in mind. It's also pretty woozy about the magic system, which bugs me, especially when the book breaks established rules from later in the series.

Chamber of Secrets: I don't not enjoy Chamber of Secrets, but in addition to being a children's book, the tone problem kind of drives me up the wall. It's a horror premise (serial killer on the loose in a Gothic castle, girl being possessed by a demon, self-abusing slave chasing Harry around trying to break his bones) and it's written like children's fantasy (i.e. the tone's very flippant and arch and British humor about everything). If the plot of this book and Half-Blood Prince switched places, both would rank much higher.

[navree]

I'd love to hear about your thoughts on Tywin x Joanna!

So like I said, someone once compared Tywin and Joanna to two historical figures who were married that I like a lot (Philippe le Bel and Jeanne of Navarre my absolute beloveds, no one was doing it like you do, Hollywood needs to scrap all their bullshit MQOS treatments and let me do something about Jeanne cuz she did it first and did it better) so I was already predisposed to like them. But they just tickle me.

As a Tywin enjoyer, the fact that she's one of those select few that got through his layers of Asshole, as well as being the only one who wasn't immediate family (since the only others Tywin shows genuine affection and love for are his siblings) bears merit. Especially when you add in Tywin's misogyny and his general disdain for people who aren't him, Joanna, a woman who is bound to him through marriage and a lesser blood relation, worming past the walls that have been in place for so long is fascinating. I think it speaks to a definite intelligence and shrewdness on her part, since I don't think Tywin can really interact with people who aren't on his intellectual level. He doesn't have time for people he considers lesser in any respect, so Joanna was obviously able to keep up, likely in administration based on her role as the Lady of Casterly Rock. I think that's also what helped her push past his defenses, because Tywin's defenses exist for a very specific reason. Some of it is just who he is as a person, yes, but Tywin was very intimately shaped by what he viewed as his father's failings, and developed a lot of his traits in order to be a stark opposite to Tytos, which doesn't breed someone who is going to open his heart to anyone at all, least of all a wife. But they managed to forge a partnership, and a genuine connection, in spite of Tywin's myriad issues.

The love between them was real, and it was true, and considering who Tywin is, that's fascinating. There was an actual and genuine affection between them, a love that we might expect to see from a much softer and more openly affectionate character that eminates from Tywin fucking Lannister. And the fact that he did consider Joanna as much an equal as he could, within the confines of Westerosi gender roles and his own sexism, that she held such an influence over him and his home (a home he fought so hard to restore to glory after Tytos and clearly valued more than almost any actual person) does hold a significant amount of weight. It's kind of like a dark mirror to Ned and Catelyn, in a way. Ned clearly values Catelyn as not just a lover and romantic interest, but also as a partner with equal value and stake in the marriage and in his life, which appears to be how Tywin felt about Joanna, and with that we can assume that Catelyn's devotion to Ned could be mirrored with Joanna having a similar devotion to Tywin. But whereas Ned clearly pulled rank on Catelyn a few times (especially where Jon was concerned) it doesn't seem like Tywin ever did it with Joanna, though I think that was also part of Joanna shrewdness in that she intrinsically knew to keep to "her role" and not necessarily try to counsel Tywin on things regarding, like, statecraft unless he specifically asked. It's kind of like that post about how a villain's love is always gonna be more intense and all encompassing because villainy operates in extremes in a way heroism cannot, Tywin being the kind of person that he is offers a far more encompassing and devoted love as well, provided he considers you worthy of it, which Joanna was (and is part of why he reacted so strongly when she died).

This is all very disjointed because I don't actively think of these two a lot, but their relationship says a lot about who they were as people, both for Tywin and for Joanna (tho it is a shame we have to rely so much on her husband to know about her, George stop killing mothers challenge). It was clearly mutual and very loving, and clearly as close to a relationship between equals as could happen in Westeros,a dn certainly to someone like Tywin. And I love them. Hate that both Joanna and Jeanne had to predecease their icy husbands by so many years, it's tragic.

[batsplat]

you don’t need to answer top2 if you wish but how do you think the championship standings will look like next year? besides the obvious stuff, i’m v excited to see what diggia has in store + bezz going up against martin + acosta (and ktm as a whole really) + the rookies!!

now see usually i'm a coward with this stuff and wait until pre-season's done to do predictions for the season, both championship order and rider market. this approach is a good idea because you're like 5% less likely to end up with egg on your face, just a bit more data to go off for both individual riders and - more importantly - broader manufacturer trends. i also usually don't post these predictions on the internet, which helps with the egg on face situation. i'm not sure predictions this far out are particularly useful because like. how would i know what aprilia's doing this winter. this is basically complete guesswork. but also it's funny being publicly wrong about things, so i'm not going to overthink this and just give you a championship order based on nothing but vibes, hope, and a dream

marc

pecco

pedro

jorge

diggia

binder

vinales

a. marquez

morbs

fabio

bastianini

bez

aldeguer

zarco

rinsy

oliveira

r. fern

mir

ogura

marini

miller

chantra

i did this in two minutes and i don't like it!! the main one that i don't feel GREAT about is bez, i thought the vibes were pretty good from his first test and it feels like i've stranded one aprilia in a completely different bit of the field to all the others. idk i think it's just that i see everything after the top two as quite congested and there were a bunch of people where i wasn't quite sure i could justify ranking them lower in my head - and admittedly some insane hopium where yamaha is concerned (listen, they can't be THIS shit forever, they just can't). (and hey, there's always a chance i'm actually being too pessimistic, and that midfield being kinda mid will get yamaha back in the mix!!) so that's how bez ended up slipping down quite far. the other problem is the ktm situation... the moment i commit to pedro at pee three i am apparently predicting that ktm has a remotely workable bike for this year despite *gestures*, which then means that i suddenly have three highly rated riders i can't be putting miles and miles away. and for that matter, bastianini having a mildly meh catalunya test (i automatically wrote valencia test lol) isn't really justification to put him four places behind vinales. but we move. 8-9 is a concession to the idea that the gp25 doesn't seem to be as radical a transformation as gp23 -> gp24 and year old bike this time will suit the michelin rear better - at which point a. marquez being a reasonably reliable performer and morbidelli being used to the machinery do come into play. i am actually an aldeguer hopeful (still, barely) but also idk man, i think if that bit of the ranking is congested then he could easily drop down quite a few places and i also think he could struggle quite badly especially early on. nothing ogura has done this season justifies me putting him fifteen places behind the lead aprilia, and yet idk who i'd bump for him. i think fourth for jorge is kind of pushing it and i could also foresee a season where... well, he's got his title now, he's not going to be fighting for the title this season, so he can go back to his high risk high reward ways of just trying to go for the win whenever possible even when the bike isn't QUITE there and as a result regularly binning it. but also idk who i'd want to bump ahead of him!! i think jorge has shown this season he CAN be an extremely reliable points scorer and he also ultimately i reckon he has more raw pace *even on limited machinery* than some of these other names so. idk. i think diggia will have a good season but fifth in the championship is already A Big Step for him and with that kind of injury, also no guarantee he'll be 100%. ultimately the problem is that i'm kinda not really particularly high on the stonks of any non-ducati manufacturer, but also the ducati rider field is SO depleted that i kinda feel like surely some riders can sneak through to take some spots in the chasm of ability that comes after marc/pecco. you can tell i rate zarco and do not rate fernandez and also think honda will just like... never get better ig? anyway i didn't actually switch a single position from when i quickly did this in two minutes and now i'm just over-justifying unknowable predictions so let's leave it at that, happy holidays lads

[finnhc]

Sakura Valley Review~

So since I'm always trying to find new Minecraft servers to play and there's far too many to pick from so! I have decided to start making proper reviews for different servers. Now these reviews will look at multiple things such as their webstore for in-game things, ranks, unique features, builds, community etc.!

Now onto the review for Sakura Valley!

So upon spawning into Sakura Valley you are greeted to a rather large and gorgeous temple like building! The building itself i very colorful and welcoming!

Along with that is a lot of NPC's and text. Now there is nothing wrong with having a lot of NPC's or text to guide a player with all of it being so close together it can be a bit overwhelming to look at when you first join. A better option would be to make specific rooms or buildings for things like the leader boards and some of the NPC's to increase the desire to explore spawn while also not cluttering it with to many entities which can get laggy with some lower end computers.

Now one of the more unique ways they handle AFKing is by having an AFK pit where you can "Earn 5 coins every 15 minutes" So for those who might need to step away for a bit and forget to close their games and warp here and earn coins! which is honestly a great way to handle AFKing without the usual "Kicked for AFKing for to long"

Another great feature Sakura Valley has is custom items! They have unique and cute swords and objects that you can collect, some of which will yield some special effects like night vision!

They are all very colorful and bright, which helps make them eye catching and attract people to collect them, with that being said they are also very flat which can lose a bit of appeal since people want more 3D textured collectables or custom items since then they feel more "Minecrafty" I'd highly recommend switching from PNG to 3D using Blockbench along with using Optifines CIT (NBT data) feature so you can actually have custom items that you can place and sometimes if coded right you can interact with them!.

Now along with custom items it's important to have a way for players to trade with one another whether that be with an auction house /AH or with a physical shopping district! and luckily this server has both!

Which allows for a variety of trading options among players! Now although they aren't as active as on another servers they have really good infrastructure in place for when they do have more traffic. But is important to keep an eye on these markets in order to stop inflation! Once numbers start hitting 10k it can be very hard for servers to lower that to regular and fair rates!

Another thing this server does right is adding tool tips into the chat that rotate! This is a fantastic way to help introduce both new and old players to features! It especially helps when there is a lot of commands or features on servers that some get forgotten.

But now we need to talk about one of the most important elements of any server. Monetization it's something all servers must do in order to keep running, unlike what some may think. Running a server isn't free, you have to pay for the server host, plugins, devs, builders, artists all kinds of things in order to make a good running server.

So monetization is very important, but what is more important is how the monetization is implemented! If it's implemented wrong those who have the money to buy a rank or in game currency it can ruin the economy, fun and fairness of a server.

With that being said how does this server implement Monetization? Well it is average.

The Ranks which have around 5 different ones. Starting at a price point of 6.99$ USD and goes up to 65.99 USD. Which have your typical features like ./fly, backpacks, a custom kit, and more set home slots. Which is all fine they don't give any one player to huge of a disadvantage.

But that is just when you buy the ranks out right! But if buy lets say the first rank V.I.P at 6.99$ you can buy rank upgrades which are cheaper then buying them outright. The pricing for that starts at 6$ USD and ends at 25$ USD.

Next thing they sell after ranks are Coins which are priced at 5.50$ USD which isn't outrageous but selling any type of currency is a recipe for disaster, since that can easily kill a servers economy and make things feel rather unfair in game.

Along with that thought they also sell a Crate Key priced at 3$ USD which gives you 3! Ranks are a fine thing to sell but similarly with coins selling Crate Keys can also make the game feel unfair. It also promotes gambling like its a slot machine, it's one thing to have crate keys collectable in game or via voting but selling them is not favorable. It can cause quite a bit of toxicity with players and have them fighting with staff with accusations of rigging the Crates in order to make them buy more keys. So in conclusion it's best to just not sell them in the first place!

So in conclusion! Sakura Valley while still in its infantsy, it has a lot of room to grow and become a great Survival Server! It has a lot of positive things going for it and I think in the next year it'll grow into a rather great and strong community! But don't take my word for it! go play the server and see how you like it.

at Java Server Ip: 158.69.156.131:25565

Just know these reviews aren't personal or anything and don't take anything I have to say for law, its just my silly opinion! So with that being said don't send any hate towards the Owner, Staff or the server of any that I review! Lastly if there is a server you wish for me to review feel free to drop me an ask and I will try to review it as in depth as I can! Thank you for reading!~<3

[ultfreakme]

Do you agree if said that Megumi and Tsumiki are "toxic doom siblings" (like wei wuxian, jiang yanli and jiang cheng from MDZS)?

Also, I'm surprised your fav MXTX is SVSSS (I thought it will be MDZS). I always think that most people love to dismiss SVSSS and said that it's not as serious or deep as MDZS & TGCF (but I still love SVSSS the most). So happy when I find other people who also love SVSSS.....

For me

Best MXTX protagonist : Wei Wuxian

Best MXTX male lead : Luo Binghe

Best MXTX couple : Hua Cheng/ Xie Lian

Overall story and best comfort read : SVSSS

How about you, Riki? (Sorry if I'm wrong in calling you, I did not mean to be rude, it's just in the end if every 'ask' you wrote : Riki ask)

Also sorry for this long ask....

Hi Anon! I'm answering this in reverse order a bit hehe. I go by Riki it's not rude at all dw dw! No need to apologize for asks, long or short, I'm grateful someone wants to interact with me and talk about shared interests <3

Megumi and Tsumiki being toxic siblings...hmm....idk if toxic is the word I'd use to describe them but there definitely were a lot of issues. Primarily because I think their ideals on life clashed. Tsumiki is someone who wanted to be nice to everyone, but Megumi can't afford that, he's a lot more practical about what kindness and helping people means because of his reality as a sorcerer. Megumi's convinced that she's faking her kindness or is trying too hard.

I don't think Tsumiki is totally faking it, I think she is a genuinely nice person but like every teenager, likes messing around and isn't perfect. Potentially, she's trying to live up to what she preaches and is having a hard time.

I think a lot of the conflict is teenage angst and him being a little brother. She's the only constant in his life, he may have took that a little for granted and when she got cursed it brought into sharp relief the differences in their reality of being a sorcerer and non-sorcerer. No he's the one who has to protect her and he's been left alone. It's easier to probably harbor resentment for her doing something as 'stupid' as getting cursed than confront that their relationship wasn't on the best terms when she fell into a coma and there's no way for him to fix it anymore.

It had a lot of potential to have gotten better if Tsumiki remained, or if she came back any time that wasn't the Culling Games and they got to grow up together. But alas....It's less toxic and more "bad timing".

Also SVSSS fav???? They're so rare to find right? Omg yes!!!

I've only read SVSSS and MDZS, I haven't gotten around to TGCF but my irl friend and everyone online says it's the best one. I'm just intimidated by how long it is. I might get around to to it someday but who knows.

SVSSS is definitely less deeper than the other two but it's got its own charms. I know in terms of everything it's lesser but idk, the potential and the meta story is really intriguing. The extra chapters changed my entire perspective on so many characters (Shen Jiu my guy you had so much potential I am sorry).

Also hmmmm I haven't really thought about them in terms of like, best protagonist, best couple, best male lead.....If I really had to rank then:

Best Protagonist: Wei Wuxian, novel version especially. He's a lot more flawed and genuinely devious in a lot of place in there. I love his arrogance and his confidence.

Best Male Lead: Luo Binghe. Pathetic man, horribly evil. I love you king.

Best Couple: Mobei-jun/Shang Qinghua tied with Yue Qingyuan/Shen Jiu

I like side couples and rarepairs that have no content I hate my life why do I do this to myself? MoShang;s dynamic when it focuses on SQH being MBJ's creator and in many ways, equally powerful or more powerful than him is fun. YQY and SJ are so tragic like, love toxic doomed yaoi.

[ladala99]

If I Were In Charge of Overhauling the Altador Cup

Well, I spent six hours of this beautiful August Saturday playing fake sports on my computer and fighting a Captcha bot detection program that really doesn't think a human should be sending hundreds of scores a day. And I kind of agree with it on that.

But I'm still in the having-fun stage. We'll see how long that lasts.

This event has serious problems that just are inherent to its format. If TNT just magically gave me the mantle and said "hey random user, fix this," this is what I'd suggest.

Considerations

No change will make everyone happy. There is always going to be a foundational disagreement between players who feel the grind is the point and players who have limited time/disabilities and still want top prizes. Every year, the requirements for All-Star and the plays-per-day limits have shrunk, and I feel that it is because TNT are trying to find a good medium.

I don't think there is a good medium in this format. I am going to choose, and I am going to choose the non-grindy approach. At least, for personal achievements. More on that later.

TNT do not have the resources to make new and better games. Most everyone agrees that they don't like the games. The more fun ones are not mobile-friendly and it's just repetitive. For this exercise, though, I am going to assume that while I have the full force of TNT's programmers for any format changes, I don't have any access to artists and thus cannot overhaul the games.

Problems to Fix

It's Not Meaningfully Competitive. The big draw of the Altador Cup over other events on the site is joining your favorite team and helping them win. But unless you're part of an organized effort, you're probably not actually doing much. And in fact, if you're spending your time efficiently grinding personal points, you're sending minimal scores that are bringing your team's average down, especially in games like Slushie Slinger and Make Some Noise.

Top Trophy =/= Top Prizes. This is probably the easiest thing to fix, honestly, but it's something that has bothered me since they started making personal effort trophies. Like: these should match up. I recall getting All-Star and being unable to afford the Yooyu. That's not right! All-Star should guarantee your pick of the shop at least. This is also a problem with this year's - All-Star will get you a little over the cost of the most expensive stamp, but you'll need to get a little under four times that in order to afford exactly one pair of Yooyu Eyes.

The Current Format Encourages Overgrinding. Between the scores-sent caps that are reachable enough to feel like a goal and the aforementioned needing an excessive number of points to afford the top prizes, people are really overexerting themselves for this event, even to the point of injury. While part of this is on the individual, there is a constant sense of FOMO about this event that implicitly encourages this behavior.

Bots. There are always going to be groups that try to rig the cup, some through legitimate means and others through illegitimate. TNT has been fighting the latter for years. I don't know if my ideas would exactly stop them, but I'd be going at it from a different angle than the Captcha stuff that hurts legitimate players.

My Plan - Signups

My first change would be that you are no longer guaranteed a spot on your team of choice. This might alienate a lot of players but I feel this is necessary to make the games competitive.

Signups would include ranking the teams. You can rank as many or as few as you want, but if you don't make the teams you gave numbers to, you'll be placed on whatever team you didn't rank that needs you the most.

Once signups close, an algorithm would go through the list assigning people teams. Its goal would be to take the average of the high scores on each game for each player and try to evenly balance each team's score while also putting players in a team as high on their personal list as possible. It would do this by finding the total scores earned by the playerbase who signed up and dividing it by the number of teams. The algorithm would stop assigning players to a particular team once the point threshold has been reached or exceeded.

Players whose top choice is the team they played on the previous year have first priority for that team, and if there's a ton of really good players on one team then number of Altador Cups on that team serves as a tiebreaker, followed by RNG if still tied.

Next pass would consider Neofriends that have the same team up top to try to keep them together.

Then it would be everyone else who has played the Altador Cup before.

Finally, the players for whom this is their first Altador Cup would be distributed evenly throughout the teams.

The Goal: Each team would ultimately end up with similar skill levels. Bot groups would be unable to reliably get all their accounts on the same team.

My Plan - Personal Scores

First, there would be a point-per-day total that covers all four games, instead of it being assigned on a per-game basis. That way mobile players and players who cannot physically play certain games are not at a big disadvantage.

Second, this point-per-day total for prize points and trophy rank would be very low. Like, 100 at most. Still a little grindy, but not multiple hours.

All-Star would really be All-Star as well - in order to reach it you would have to max nearly every day. I'll give a two-day leeway just to be generous.

Personal points would also be obtainable on bye days.

But that's not all the point opportunities.

My Plan - Team Scores

Your contribution to the team is only one score per game per day, but it is the highest score you achieve that day. So players can grind out to get the best score possible from motivation to help the team.

This is why players are sorted based on their personal high scores in each game and not by trophy tier or point total. During this season, the average score for each player will be recorded by the site so that the sorting algorithm can use that instead of the highest score next year.

My Plan - Bonus Points

Players may also earn bonus points throughout the cup by two methods:

By their team winning in a match-up in a game, or

Being in the top X% (let's say 10%) of scores on their team in a match their team didn't win.

For example, say a player is on Faerieland. Faerieland manages a win in Slushie Slinger, so all Faerieland players get +5 or whatever points. The team lost the other three games, but the player rocked at Make Some Noise and got in Faerieland's top 10%, so they get an additional +5 points. They didn't make the top percentage in the other two games, but if they had, they could have had up to another +10 points.

This rewards good teams and good players stuck on bad teams, encouraging everyone to send as high of a score as possible.

I know a lot of the top percent slots would probably be bots, but it'd also boost each team's score evenly enough the real players should be able to make a difference in who wins, making everyone on that team win.

My Plan - Prize Shop

Any player that barely reached All-Star would have enough points to buy two of the most expensive prize. Everything else would be priced accordingly as it basically is now.

Conclusion

I know this plan wouldn't satisfy everyone and would probably cause complaining on the boards, but what wouldn't? It's all wishful thinking, anyway. (But TNT you are absolutely allowed to steal all or part of this without credit.)

I feel like this would be an Altador Cup I could fully participate in and feel good no matter what I did. And it would hopefully restore some of the competition for regular players.

[bawbio]

Ok so heads up i'm gonna be slightly changing up how i'm doing my media thread stuff, mainly i'm gonna be tagging stuff for the year i did it in for any games i did in 2023 or later with #beeb's 2023 media stuff and incrementing that up as the years go on. Then anything being ported over from my twitter thread from before 2023 will be ported with the #beeb's 2021 media stuff and #beeb's 2022 media stuff respectively.

Anyways so here's the first entirely new entry and not a port from my twitter media thead, master detective archives raincode. Kodaka the danganronpa guy's most recent game, raincode is another mystery series (big shocker) from the man himself and it follows the story of an amnesiac detective named yuma kokohead and his spectral companion shinigami solving mysteries together. So ultimately at its core raincode kinda gives off danganronpa like vibes considering the iconic danganronpa art style and the gameplay in the mystery labyrinths in some cases basically being reskinned danganronpa trilogy trial minigames like the final thing is literally just the closing argument stuff from danganronpa, and the reasoning deathmatches are very trial adjacent but regardless they're still pretty fun, even if they're honestly pretty easy imo considering yuma's titanic health pool and them giving not so subtle jabs towards the right answer if you try and slash through the wrong statement or use the wrong key so odds are you're probably not gonna have too much trouble with the mystery labyrinths unless you're like me and you're fucking terrible at hangman style things such as the shinigami puzzles, which were the only things i game overed to the entire time i was playing the game.

The characters in raincode can vary wildly in quality, from bangers in my humble opinion like yakou, halara, fubuki, and vivia to abominations against all that is good like desuhiko and especially shinigami, like i fucking HATE shinigami. Shinigami is extremely annoying, she never shuts up and isn't really funny at all like basically any time she's talking i'd rather she just shuts the fuck up, or at least that's how i was at the start of the game, over the course of the game i think i ended up getting stockholm syndromed intro tolerating both of them but like even if i've grown numb to their bullshit they're still annoying as fuck. Otherwise most of the other characters are mostly pretty ok. Although in another parallel to danganronpa fubuki feels very similar to sonia nevermind from danganronpa 2 except probably even dumber.

Raincode's mysteries are overally really really nice, certain annoying characters withstanding. Like even with all the weird shit that kodaka does i at least gotta hand it to him, he knows how to write a good mystery. Uh i suppose if i were to give raincode a chapter ranking i'd say they're in this order, top being best bottom being worst 4 5 (Honestly 4 and 5 are really close i could probably swap them around depending on my mood) 0 1 Gap 2 (Desuhiko and Shinigami are to blame for fucking over chapter 2, i actually really like the mystery this chapter if it weren't for them being fucking awful i'd rate this higher) 3 (3's probably the only one where the mystery kind of felt like it fell apart for me, the mystery labyrinth is also plagued by having fubuki and shinigami constantly fucking fighting) So my final thoughts on if you should play raincode or not are a resounding... Maybe - It's a kodaka game i've gotta give it that maybe just like all the danganronpa games. Honestly i don't think i regret playing raincode and i overall had a lot of fun with it, just like be mindful of all the kodaka classics and hopefully you'll have fun with the game

[mythicamagic]

Love your yanglili stories! Also out of curiosity how would your piofiore LI ranking look like?

Hi! 💛 Thank you so much, I'm really happy you like them 😭

Welp 😂 this won't be a popular take.

Best to worst:

Yang

Gilbert

Orlok

Nicola

Dante

Henri

I'll put my reasoning below the cut. Warning, spoilers:

Yang - best guy because he's an extremely unique love interest. His route was what I personally wanted from a 'mafia' game, and Yang was kind of darkly fascinating and sexy. Problematic to the max but oh so entertaining. His VOICE too oof 👌

♥ ♥ ♥

Gilbert - he's OK, he's a guy I'd grab a drink with. Not especially interesting but he's nice to Lili and makes her feel welcome, plus his blasé, amiable personality is hilarious when they have to interact with the Lao Shu during his route. Loses points because he's strangely OOC feeling in Orloks route and becomes so friggin unreasonable. I don't mind him doing shady stuff but it has to align with the Gilbert we see in his own route or it just feels like a completely different guy, which it does 😂

Like where was this guy during his route??? Plz I wanna see him be ruthless in his own route or he feels disingenuous 😭

Orlok - not much to say, as I don't personally vibe with religious stuff and this is the deeply religious route so *shrug* he's the cinnamon roll so he's instantly a bit boring to me (sorry) but he's sweet. I don't think they handled his upbringing very well. Why the heck wasn't his father held more accountable for Orloks messed up upbringing? It's kind of swept under the rug. Lili is also extremely self-righteous and annoying in this route.

Nicola - friggin boring route. Lili becomes so strangely attached to him and hangs off any scrap of attention he throws her way, it's just an awful route. Very painful to have to sit through. Getting coffee isn't what I came here to do 😭

Dante - ah. Friggin. Dante. Where to start. Well you spend a good chunk of chapters during his route under house arrest. Get friggin used to Lili's room at the Falzone manor, you're gonna be seeing a lot of it!!! Leo is more like your love interest here. Dante is absent and when he does show up, he's lying Lili about sister Sophias death (but waa it's to protect her waaa) and ordering her not to go outside. I usually love Kuuderes but Dante is just... No. He's a whiny baby who shouldn't be a mafia boss (yes the game acknowledges this, no it doesn't make it ok. I personally wanted a mafia boss when playing a MAFIA game, not a guy trying to be one so BAD he can't take sugar with his coffee because its not manly. Grow up.) He makes weak decisions and falls apart from stress so friggin easily I'm surprised he can stand his backbone is so weak. I don't see Orloks routes Dante as ooc at all actually, though I'm sure people would disagree. Him falling apart and becoming an entitled monster is in line with what I've seen from him in his own route imo, it's just been twisted. Anyhow, wasn't a fan 😂

Henri - Henri is somehow worse to me than Dante for the sheer fact that his route wasted my time. 2 chapters pretty much is dedicated to this guy, and for what??? Lili just up and leaves her home and family for a guy SHE'S HAD A FEW TALKS WITH. because she feels sorry for him. They're not even romantically involved. They buy a house in France and adopt kids, only for Henri to say 'eh I don't really like kids' (THEN WHY DID YOU ADOPT THEM) and then proceed to say later on that Lili is too young for him. Waste of damn time. Whenever he shows up during the Finale, all he does is judge Lili for her choices. That's literally all he does. Lili shouldn't even give him the time of day but nooo she 'just can't leave him alone.' bad. Not good. 😂

Ahem, sorry for the rant.

[gravedice]

okay, some quick sonic frontiers thoughts

If you like Sonic, you'll like this game. If you you're not already a fan of Sonic, I don't think you'll enjoy it.

The story is fun, it's not particularly well written or executed, which is kind of par for the course in a Sonic game, but what I think is important is that I wish it was written better or executed better? It has a lot of potential, which most Sonic games can't say. Usually the story is very one dimensional, but it tried super hard to be multidimensional.

The game play is your normal glitchy weird physics Sonic gameplay. Which I'm not complaining about, but they really over engineered this game. There's like, 7 different collectibles all used for different things, when they didn't need that to be the case. They could have easily only used like, 3 or 4 things. Like, there's four stats of Sonic's you can upgrade, there's 3 collectibles you can use to upgrade them, and there's two different guys you give these collectibles to in order to upgrade these stats. It really should have only been one guy, especially because one will let you reallocate the stat levels that the other guy gives you, they should have just been the same guy.

My biggest point of contention with this game is the collectibles. You're given an expansive world to explore. Normally with this set up you'd have X number of items to collect that are scattered around, which finding these items would reward you for exploring. But any items you can get from exploring, you can also get by not exploring. There was a point near the end of my run where I actually had to do some hunting for some items, and it's cuz I got a little lazy and was ignoring things, but otherwise you don't need to explore the game at all, you can just go from mission objective to mission objective.

A lot of these collectibles are marked on the map too, which at first I was trying to check all of them off on the map, and trying to 100% things, but eventually realized that my efforts were useless, and that the game didn't care if I checked this off the map or not, and that the optimum way to play the game was just doing the mission objectives.

Which, once I stopped trying to explore and stopped trying to collect everything, and just followed the mission objectives, the game got way more enjoyable for me. I still tried to fill the map in, because that unlocks fast travel, and I still tried to S rank all the cyberspace tracks cuz they were fun traditional Sonic gameplay, but the main point they tried to make for this game was it's open world, and the open world was unnecessary.

And there's also like, a blood moon type event where the enemies respawn, but they added in falling star chunks you can pick up that activate a slot machine that takes up an important chunk of the screen so you can't comfortably do anything else when this is happening. There's a lot in this game that is begging for your attention, and too many things that forcefully stop the game and say LOOK AT ME, and this is the worst example cuz you can't just walk away from it.

Final thoughts, the game is just majorly over engineered. Like they kept trying to expand the scope of it and got lost in the sauce. It's got a lot of charm, and it was nice seeing them attempt to take flat Sonic characters and give them depth and drive. They seemed to indicate in the story that we might get spin offs with Amy, Tails and Knuckles, but that could have just been them giving them the feel of depth and not actually hinting at anything.

I'd be tempted to replay it at this point, tbh.

[fridge-reviews]

Boyfriend Dungeon

Developer: Kitfox Games Publisher: Kitfox Games Rrp: £15.49 (Steam) $19.99 (Itch.io) Released: 11th August 2021 Available on: Steam and Itch.io Played Using: An Xbox One Control Pad Approximate game length: 8 Hours

I have to say I wish the real world worked like it does in this game, whatever fears and insecurities you have just manifest in a dungeon in your local area and you can just go there and beat the tar out of them to get over it. That'd be great, especially since the monsters strictly stick to the dungeon and never ever leave. Not sure how I'd feel about people turning into weapons though that has all sorts of moral and social questions that I wouldn't want to think on for too long.

Before I start into the review proper I feel I need to make it known that I was one of the backers for this game on Kickstarter.

Y'know its been difficult trying to explain Boyfriend Dungeon to my friends. I mean, it sounds like some kind of BDSM themed hentai game which incidentally I do have one of those to review at some point but that's a while off. What Boyfriend Dungeon actually is is a dating simulator/visual novel combined with a isometric dungeon delver. It should be noted that even though this game is called 'Boyfriend' Dungeon you don't actually have to have a boyfriend, you could have a girlfriend or even a non-binary person... hell there's even the option of a cat eventually if you don't want to have a romantic relationship at all.

When you start the game you get to name and design your player character which includes an option to pick which pronouns you prefer (the default being they/them). Regardless of what pronouns you choose it doesn't place any limitations on who you can date. And if you later decide you want different pronouns, a new look or a new name you can change it all simply within your apartment.

The game is set in the town of Verona Beach (which I assume is the one in New York state). Your player character has come to visit for the summer and luckily has an apartment to live in rent free for the duration thanks to your very kind cousin. In short order your character discovers that apparently some people can turn into weapons and those that chose to make use of them (with consent) are given the title of wielder. Of course, just because the rent is free doesn't mean everything is paid for, you still need to eat after all (not that that's something you have to actually manage in the game). In yet another stroke of luck you can get make money by dungeon delving. It seems that dungeons filled with monsters have been appearing and they drop money when you kill them. They call this past time “dunj-ing”... a term I thoroughly disapprove of.

As you date and flirt with the weapon-people you increase their 'love rank'. Doing this unlocks new skills that each weapon has. Dependant on which weapon you take with you into the dungeon your combat style will change for example; the glaive is slower but more powerful while the daggers are quick but relatively weak on their individual strikes. As the weapons gain more skills and effect your tactics will change.

The monsters of the dungeon are manifestations of your fears and insecurities. In the player characters case they mainly seem to be old rotary telephones, flip phones and CRT televisions. The game will eventually tell you what the fear in question is if you defeat the dungeons final boss. If you happen to run out of health while in a dungeon (which is the only place you can lose health) you fall unconscious and are retrieved by paramedics. There isn't really a downside to this as all items and money found in the dungeon are kept. As you would expect with a dungeon delver as you fight you gain experience and eventually increase in wielder level. Since all the moves come from the weapons this increase doesn't change anything other increase your health pool and attack power.

While on dates (and in certain places within the dungeon) you can give gifts to your potential paramours, each one has their own likes and dislikes that you can work out through conversation and by just paying attention to what they like and don't like (similar to real life). What I found interesting is that unlike most dating sims I've come across its not you doing all the giving, sometimes your love interest will have a gift or two to give you as well.

You can find materials and blueprints in the dungeon to craft gifts and cosmetic items. That's right this game has crafting! Like every other game in existence it seems (sorry I'm just over inserting crafting into every game). It's perfectly functional and I like that quite a few of the cosmetic items you make are references to other games by Kitfox. I'm also slightly bemused by some of the items used in the crafting, I made a pizza using some wire and sugar, I'm pretty sure that's not what pizza is made out of, but what do I know?

Typically visual novels tend to be... verbose. That's not the case in this game, while it's all very well written its clear the developers wanted to keep things succinct and stuck to the most important and impactful parts. I do urge that if you play this game not to simply skip past all of this as there are some very heartfelt scenes and interesting aspects to the characters that are shown in these sections.

It must be mentioned that this games main plot (for it is not all about romancing the weapon-people) revolves around stalking, there are some warnings about this when you start a new game but they are vague and I know that on certain platforms you wouldn't be able to get a refund based on these. Personally I have no issue with the use of that theme but I know that some could find it problematic. I know that the game has been updated since the time of writing to be more specific in its content warnings but I honestly can't remember how the warnings looked previously to compare.

Is it worth your time? That's down to you. However, I had fun with the game enjoying every moment. I also know I'll be returning to it later once the developers release some of the other characters that were slated to be added in.

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

Analogue: A Hate Story Huniepop

[lesbiancarat]

Yay for the wrists feeling better!! Take all the time you need, thank you for doing any sort of updates at all!

Yes, yes I saw ruby is indeed apart of the TTT series, FINALLY xD I was getting a tad bit worried svt and pledis lowkey forgot about it lolol. I am curious on who can be next, interesting if seungcheol. I wonder what he will do (because woozi and ruby surprised me SO much like not in a bad way, because as he said in the weverse interview. He did the most not woozi thing but it was still a woozi thing and that suns up ruby I think!) Like they can legit probably make a song in Russian and it can be apart of TTT xD

Ot13!!! Ahh i screamed in happiness watching the livestream for the performances like I liked them all, can we talk about cowboy svt though xD this still makes me giggle like out of all the outfits, stylist said "yehaw carats" but most important of all *slams hands on tables* WE GOT PANG STAGE PERFORMANCE!! my fav song of svt ever and it was performed with hao and jun being back, i wanna cry.

And svt confirmed for rythym hive!! And ngl I feel a bit...meh? Now don't get me wrong, I am happy after 3,000 years we finally got the boys in a music game again but I am not that much of fan of the recent updates to the game. So the game plays similar to the superstar games, imo It is still tricky of a game because they have an extra hard mode and introduced how you want to see the notes appear (aka they dissappear at the end so you have to go by memory in tapping or similar to superstar where it kinda appears faded at the beginning) but many game features is just confusing to me? Like the big thing the game sells is you play against others in real time and not true. Its bots, same way as the Mario kart game on your phone. Takes actual usernames but has bots. So you might be thinking is there a ranking system? Like in superstar where you go up the levels. Yes and no. At first they didn't have that but they added one yet it is pointless to me? So you have a ranking and can see the top 100 players and you can get rewards but there is no ranking to say go up (i.e gold 2 to gold 3) like it just resets. There isn't like a reason for me to really play, I liked the superstar ranking system because you get this excitement for moving up especially when you upgrade cards or get better with songs. And th card system, oh my God it is confusing. Now it functions the same but their last big update switched things around a bit. Cards are done in order like in superstar for your group but you legit cannot view them by newest so good luck trying to find the new cards you got. But to upgrade these rare voice cards, you are supposed to collect these mics and even If you get the materials, no guarantee you get that special rare card. Then there is this card collector progress system that Is confusing because despite I get new cards for said collection it doesn't go up so I am confused. The biggest con for me is they separated artist. Instead of keeping all of them like in superstar, to view others you have to go into settings and change your fav artist and I do like svt plus other hybe artist so I have to take more time to collect stuff for that artist one by one. It makes sense in theory if someone plays for one artist like svt but not so much for multifans. Now not all is bad. Superstar improved say getting icons. All you need is diamonds and viola, got a cool icon you like. Getting cards seems easier, upgrading seems easier. The gameplay is similar, some Beatmaps are identical to the bts one I played. They do get time to get used to but easy to hop on. The svt update brings in a new addition of a diary (?) So things may change.

I went off with this, im sorry BUT I hope the new year is kind to you and everyone!!

of course! I'd miss this blog if I weren't updating 🥺

yeah it will be really interesting to see what they do with the rest of the TTT series!

yes!! the cowboy outfits were so fun it kind of made me want them to do a full concept like that... cowboy svt... And I'm literally OBSESSED with pang live performance, I'm so glad they kept the little scientist aesthetic, and they used some of seungkwan's freestyle choreo for it too... just absolute perfection that stage ought to go down in history dkjfhgdk

ooh I appreciate your breakdown, I've been curious how rhythm hive stacks up to superstar, since I've only seen some bits and pieces of people talking about it. and I didn't really want to download the app until svt is actually added. i feel like difficulty is somewhat subjective so I feel like I'll just have to see myself if i like that aspect of it, but that's so dumb about the bots and the ranking :/ tbh if it's like that i'd almost rather not have a ranking system. i also really liked superstar's ranking, because it motivated me when i was playing it a lot. the only thing i didn't like about superstar's ranking system is if you didn't play it put you down a rank. I kind of wish superstar's system was more like duolingo's where if you log on and play but don't rank high enough, then you go down, but if you don't log on for that week then you just stay at the same rank. but i digress kdjfg

oh god, I was originally really confused about the cards in superstar when I first played it, if rhythm hive is even more confusing idk what I'll do 🤣

that's really interesting that they separated the artists like that. with any rhythm game there's going to be people playing it who are mostly interested in one artist and those who are interested in multiple. so from the developer's perspective you'd think they'd find a way to balance that, but it seems like they're just catering to people interested in one artist. superstar's setup seemed like more of a balance, I mean it definitely encouraged you to play the other artists with the missions, but if you were only there for one artist there was nothing stopping you from just playing that one artist. you'd also think rhythm hive being set up like that is to hybe's disadvantage. i feel like rhythm games are a great way for people to discover new music and artists under the same label, it's good for marketing if used right. like ssp was how i ended up listening to a lot of nu'est, after school, and orange caramel songs for the first time, and i started listening to their discographies a lot more after that. personally, i'm pretty much only interested in seventeen on rhythm hive for the time being, i might have played some txt songs too if they were more accessible, but it's not a huge turnoff for me. but it's definitely interesting to me that they did that bc it doesn't feel like they're catering to their full userbase that way

the update bringing a new feature is another good point, rhythm hive opened up what, last year? it's still a pretty new app and there may be updates in the future that fix some of the complaints. it's just annoying because... a lot of it is stuff that we already had with superstar. we had to wait a whole year almost after ssp shut down for svt to even be added and on top of that we have to wait and see if some of the features on the new app will be updated/improved. not to mention we don't know if/when other pledis artists will be added. anyway... i've said all this before, i don't need to keep running it to the ground dfjfg

happy new year! it's almost the end of january, i hope the first month of the year went well for you!

[misscinico]

Indigenous Representation in Animated Movies

You know me, always making articles about people of color and their representation in media, specifically animated media for children. So I decided to focus on indigenous representation and which characters are good and bad representation in fairly well-known movies. This isn't in any particular order either.

For this list, I chose heroines that have heritage from a country that is predominantly industrialized because of the conquest of a foreign culture. Mainly tribes where they no longer speak their original language and there race is no longer the majority even though they are the natives of that land. The typical assumption of "indigenous peoples" mostly involving the Americas and American territories.

Side Note: If you don't like political correctness or really just the sensitivities of people of color, you probably won't like reading this article. Also this is just my personal opinion I really don't mind If you think differently.

Nita - Nita is a heroine that is often overlooked despite being from a largely successful and well-know company, Disney. I personally think she is probably the best indigenous representation of this list, even if she isn't necessarily my favorite, she is one of them. Nita is kind, brave, funny and an overall interesting a human character to watch that is a great Inuit role-model. She drives a plot, she makes her own decisions and her culture is taken seriously and not presented as a novelty. She also is presented as a daughter of the chief which is the princess-esque position of power that is extremely common in cartoons. The movie doesn't really showcase that too much, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing since Nita really is her own character despite the trope she fits into. She gets a perfect score 10/10. It's only a shame that she isn't more well known.

Pocahontas - This representation is probably the most polarizing. Pocahontas is based off of a real American legend the chief's daughter Matoaka most commonly known as Pocahontas (meaning Little Mischief). Since this is a greatly romanization of history it's seen as poor representation. I'm under the person belief that so long as the movie isn't presented a fact that it's a harmless fictional rendering of the story. Pocahontas is actually one of my favorite Disney Princesses if not my favorite. Even though I think her character is great, being a strong independent woman with a recognizable position, I can't deny that her representation is brought down by the sheer insensitivity of the real historical figure. While there's nothing wrong with her character in particular the the fact there wasn't much consideration for the Powhatan people's historical figures demotes Pocahontas to about 7/10 ranking. Not bad, but could be improved solely based on context.

Nani - She's a wonderful character taking care of Lilo and trying her best to be a hard worker for her sister's sake. Someone actually being portrayed as a human trying to make ends meet. She's a fine character even if she doesn't do anything particularly extraordinary. The only problem I really have with her portrayal is that it seem like she will lose Lilo in the end if it weren't for others. She's seen as poor and unfortunate and the situation doesn't really care about her heritage. This isn't a bad thing, because it's true, in Hawai'i a lot of Natives struggled with poverty and being taken care of by the government. It's important to showcase this and it's great that it was done like this, but role-model wise is kind of paints a negative image more so than a uplifting one. Nani still gets a 9/10 ranking, because she was excellently done, but she's not a perfect score because of her being seen as kind of the downtrodden.

Moana - Her representation is a lot like Nita's except she's also the main character. Similar to Pocahontas, but not insensitive toward the real event of colonization. The culture represented in this movie is extremely well-done in this movie, probably the best of any Disney or animated movie in general. Being Polynesian myself it's one of my favorites and one of the movies I have the least amount of problems with. Moana gets a 10/10 ranking. Disney did great work with this one.

Tiger Lily - This representation is egregious. Honestly the whole "red man" bit is stereotypical and, depending on how you look at it, racist. Tiger Lily herself is rather cute and is portrayed as a noble character who also is also kind of an adventure piece. It fits the narrative of "the noble savage" and the save the girl and get rewarded for it. It's almost worse because she's a child and yet she's treated like the native "sex piece" trope. Seeing native girls as trophies more so than characters or people. Tiger Lily isn't completely unjustifiable though. Like I said she has noble moments (even if they can be seen as stereotypical) and she does have fun and dance like a child. Still her representation is extremely poor. Her ranking is 4.5/10 and I think that's being generous.

Chel - Chel can often be written off as a sex piece character too. After all she clearly partakes in it and users her sexuality quite often. The only difference as she's not presented as a trophy. She is her own character, she actually does drive the plot, and she has her own plans. Her use of her sexuality is entirely her own decision. Does this empower her or is it still poor representation because the authors are taking away any modesty she could have simply for the purpose of making her eye candy. Nothing wrong with some sexy character design, but she's also a side character and a thief. It's not a very positive light and definitely not a good role-model. All of the main characters are thieves, so can that be overlooked as well? I don't know, because she's definitely her own character that in a sense goes for what she wants and is portrayed as human with flaws. She even voiced by a Latina as well (like most of the characters on this list, she's voiced by her own ethnicity). I'd say that her representation needs to be improved, but it's not bad. It isn't anything worth getting upset over for sure. It's a fair portrayal regardless of what her race happens to be. Her ranking is 6/10.

Marama - She is from the Chilean animated movie Ogu and Mampato in Rapa Nui She's a kid that's a side character that's kind of along for the adventure. Overall there's only good things to say about her character. She's smart, funny, a go getter, and she helps progress the film. She isn't overtly mentioned as the chief's daughter, but it is heavily implied. So she has a nice position. She a fine role-model for kids, and the only real thing I could complain about would be her design. She's given blue eyes and light skin. As a Polynesian this isn't the worst though because we can have light eyes and skin, it's just that blue eyes tend to be more of a Melanesian/European trait than Polynesian so it can be seen as white-washing. Overall it's good representation especially from a kids movie that was in a country far removed from Rapa Nui. She gets a 8/10 ranking.

Nakoma - I almost didn't include her, but she is a well-known character in animated media, but there isn't much to say. She's much like Pocahontas, given being in the same movie, she isn't given any real depth or recognizable position, but she's a good character. Representation wise probably better than Pocahontas because she isn't meant to represent a real person in history. Obviously I love Pocahontas much more, but as far as good portrayal Nakoma beats Pocahontas by a fair amount of points. Her ranking is 9/10. She could be a perfect score if she was a main character, but she still has really good role-model traits that I think are often under appreciated.

To read my article in all it’s glory on my original fanpop post click here

[anheliotrope]

I'd like to note that my intended point wasn't so much about XCOM 94 being a better game. I do like it a lot more, but I'm not interested in discussing that much, it's still a very flawed game and the times are sufficiently different that a direct comparison can be difficult.

What I'm trying to say is that in 2012 they changed certain things such as number of units under your control and action granularity without sufficiently adjusting other things and this is a leading reason as to why 2012 is memed about as being one of the most infuriating games to play. (I also think some of the memeing is outright unfair to the game.) That is the frame under which I wanted to discuss this, but don't let me stop you from discussing it however you feel like.

(I don't know if it's sane for me to pre-empt this but: I would really prefer to not spend time discussing whether this is shifting the goalposts or not, I'm just honestly telling you what I think about this game and clarifying what I meant to say.)

I find most of your arguments about TUs except for the one about cognitive load to be circumstantial to 94's particular choices about UI/UX. There are definitely ways to solve the trouble with predicting what you can do in a turn.

I'm not sure if this was the case in the original, but in OpenXCOM, your movement markers turn yellow when you queue a move, when those squares beyond the last green marker would leave you with fewer TUs than you need in order to fire. This kind of UI aid can be expanded to help you figure out how much you can move and still shoot twice for example.

I might like the 2-move system more if 2012 and XCOM 2 weren't so incredibly obnoxiously slow in everything (largely an animation issue, which I did my best to tweak to some level of tolerability for myself). Ultimately, I can't judge the one about cognitive load because doing a turn in OpenXCOM doesn't feel like it has any noteworthy cognitive load for me, and I'm not some maniac that's played it a lot. I just never perceived it, at least not as a negative thing.

TU costs are usually set to consume 30-50% of your TUs per shot so you’re not doing more interesting things that advance the game state you’re just getting fiddlier math on how many times you can do it and the ability to screw it up

I disagree with the idea that this doesn't let you do more stuff. Maybe it doesn't in vanilla 94 for most items, but the system enables a lot of things. The fact that TUs are granular and objects actually exist on the ground can be quite fun in particular, especially in XPiratez. I love having one unit prime C4, drop it for another unit and have them (optionally kamikaze) sprint to a tank. I love that I can pick up a weapon from the enemy and use it on the spot. I like being able to pick up a rocket launcher from a recently deceased ally in order to take down that tank that's going to rip through my squad.

One of the most satisfying things I ever did in XPiratez was park my ship next to a landed Mercenary ship, which completely outclassed me. I had no ability whatsoever to win. But I had the ability of throwing enough people at the closest mercenary, clobbering him into unconsciousness, picking up his body, running back to the ship, leaving and researching him for sweet sweet tech tree progress. I love having my highest ranked gal hold a laslock pistol in one hand and a laslock shotgun in one hand, having her shoot the closest alien with the shotgun and a farther away alien with the pistol twice.

The potential of these mechanics isn't as obvious in 94 as they are in XPiratez, so obviously half of this is not in defense of 94 in particular, but in defense of how this mechanic can be leveraged for great effect with some imagination.

I also don't think anyone mentioned the most pivotal thing TUs enable -- the ability to shoot and easily seek full cover. I'm actually agnostic about whether this is good or bad, it's just A Thing. But it fundamentally changes how the game works compared to a two-move system.

just rekindled my burning hatred for xcom (2012) lads