#I think it’s intersting to explore ALL possible dynamics

[smokelesseyes]

Me with my CanonxOC pairings at 20: What if I genderbend them?

Me with my CanonxOC pairings at 30: What if I T4T them?

I hope this is growth 😅

[ambiguousfan]

I love the ship. Well one of them >///< i have more!!!!!

Better Place AU or What If....(I havent come up with a name, if you have any idea commend down below)

Warning

Mention of Grief, Ruins, Recklessness, Family, John Dory centric, Loss

Au Idea (Warning Messy)

Yodeler went to Lonesome Flat for a Better Life.

Hickory move with his brother who become the sherif of the town, taking care of few things and there

Dickory usually do more work than what needed like checklisting merchant traders; Bounty Hunter Like issue; Missing Pets; so one and so forth.

He then met a particular Jazz newbie Bounty Hunter (he failes his first hunt) save him, all in the days work. Eventually they warm up with one another.

Hickory on the other hand become the town bartender and hat maker.

Delta Dawn known Delta as long as he move to Lonesome Flat.

John went off after went to the mountain only to return months to the troll tree. Seeing it condition and no sight of his family. He wanted to take his mind off by coping finding more adventure elsewhere.

He take a reckless route venture of somewhere unknown when he found Delta and Hickory; more like they found him

wanting to explore more found tribe of troll hut stumble upon them

They did everyday life shenanigan; kind of slice of life adventure. John more than the rest, Having Hickory and Delta getting him out of a sticky situation. He try not to be too reckless of his wellbeing

I imagine chapter of Delta slowly become a mayor-to-be of the country troll town; Hickory continues his business; John taking job here and there around the small town. Eventuallly at break they would go on tour outside, 'way to make out brain exploded for how huge he world it' John like to say.

They go to every tribe learning exchanging culture and making few trade when John heard about the possible rumors of his brother being alive.

I wanted them fall in love with one another, their dynamic be intersting. Hickory more calm and collect, Delta more bossy and confident (way of leadership), John Dory more resourceful and bit emotionally unstable.

He went off better, less reckless after processing his grief of the loss of his family.

Movie 2

(I have not thought of it yet)

Maybe somehow John start to hear about pop troll saving the world and find branch

he wanted to find him but got kidnapped

or they met, branch angry while John just relieve of his safety eventually they grow on mending ties as Delta and Hickory there to support him .

Take place in movie 3

I wanted to imagine that John was one diamond instead of Floyd after singing in Mount Rageous resturant. Or maybe other way around

If Floyd kidnapped, the change event would be having Hickory and Delta onboard. More emotional support and trying become mediator. Delta more blunt and defensive on John behalf. Hickory try to stop any argument become it become too far.

Depend on the role Hickory and Branch got along more for survivalist tips

If John was kidnapped, also Hickory and Delta come, more determine and a bit tense and more defensive. Hickory would leave few snark here and there but trying understand situation. Delta a bit more hurry more.

I wanted to think Delta and Brandy would get along, talk about being in a family. And consideration of kids (i can think of an OC on this hehe, thy be so cute!!!).

Anyway I can't think any more idea that all i have.

[ahoneesan]

well now that ive caught up heres my idw sonic thoughts. please know all of these are informed by binging the entire mainline series (incl mini series/annuals/oneshots/etc) in about 30 hours

its good! big overall takeaway its good. i feel like theyve hit a good stride with a fun assortment of heroes who all feel distinct and villains who fill a lot of different roles and they bounce off each other in interesting ways. a solid ass hero/adventure comic.

the art is largely good, with a few notable dips up and down here and there. the big standout for me is adam bryce thomas, whose climactic action scenes are impeccable but whos talky scenes rely really heavily on what i think is a 3d-render-to-lineart pipeline that (while not as bad as you might imagine that could be) results in every character feeling way too stiff and perfectly geometric. this happens in like every issue he does, and even when its dressed up with cartoony expressions and fx its so, so distracting. there are a few other artists (especially early in the series) who seem to be stuck to the official sega model sheets but those issues get cleaned up. this doesn't. such a bummer.

the new characters are good! on the hero side: tangle and whisper are a fun duo, jewel is nice enough but feels largely like an excuse to untether amy from the resistance, belle is a very comic-booky way to keep the underused "mr. tinker" persona alive in the reader's minds and a new avenue to explore the robot plotlines, which i always like. finally, recent addition lanolin is a nice shake up to the largely friendly resistance cast, im intersted to see where she goes after the sweepstakes arc.

for villains: clutch is quite fun (it was nice to see him take the spotlight in the last few issues), as is mimic (his short in the 2024 annual provided some needed backstory), and even the deadly six (while not new, and definitively not happening. they arent. theyre simply never gonna happen) serve the book well as a team of bad guys who are just Out There. rough and tumble are a great recurring duo of dumbasses, and of course, the top of the list is dr. starline, an absolute treat. his place as a genuine fan of the old guard but becoming disillusioned and obsessed with becoming Better than them as a sort of dark reflection of flynn himself is so, so fun. and i couldn't possibly say enough about his final creations, surge and kit, as you can probably tell. i simply love everything about their fucked up dynamic, and the recent annual is only promising that things will get worse. couldnt ask for more.

to me it feels like the next thing the book needs is a true successor to the metal virus arc. the book definitely needed time to breathe after launching directly into that from its somewhat lackluster opening arc, and the time since has been well spent introducing a larger cast of characters and giving them all a little plate to keep spinning. i dont know that book is ready for it Right Now, given that we've just completed another major arc, but i think we need a little more of that sort of truly World Ending catastrophe for sonic to super his way through.

but i wonder if thats being hamstrung by the attachment to Real Canon that came with idw picking up the license. i do genuinely prefer there being one real actual timeline instead of, for instance, whatever in the world transformers has goin on, but it does feel like the creative team cant quite stretch their legs in the way they might be able to if the were writing fanfiction disconnected but always in service to the main timeline like back in the archie days. which is where flynn and his fannish style of bringing back established characters/concepts as a dramatic plot turn works so well (thinking particularly of the reincorporation of the speed/flight/power cores from heroes here)! i do think that just making all of this, to be reductive, actually matter by tying it to One True Sonic Canon is better for me, but when sega themselves can seemingly never get their act together, it may end up becoming a storm the albatross around the comic team's necks.

to wit: where the hell is shadow? isnt this his year? it feels notable to me that the Canon Comics are left out of the shadow festivities. i could be generous and say its because flynn is collaborating on shadow generations, so go get your fix there. but for the comic to have nothing? not even a like one shot movie tie in like they did with movie 2? it makes ya wonder. even outside of The Year of Shadow, he's not used very much in the series. even silver gets more screentime than him! im not even the biggest shadow fan, but he near total absence from the core drama of the series feels... purposeful at best (held off to make him more mysterious and meanging ful when he does show up) and a missed opportunity at worst (sega said Dont Touch Him were playing with him right now). maybe with shadow sentiment surging among the kids we'll see him come back in a big way.

again, overall: very good! keeps the core fun of sonic stories alive and introduces just enough shounen melodrama to make the highs even higher. im hopeful for the future of the series, i just hope it being permanently stuck in sega subservience mode doesnt hamper them from the thing i always found interesting about the sonic comic project: telling fun, exciting stories that play with the building blocks sega leaves them in novel ways.

[meksims]

the “without fail” writing tag by @gilded-ghosts.

@koisser and @honeyviesims tagged me in this challenge, and i've been itching to do it! finally found the time to write this down. :') thank you for the tag! 

Rules: List five things that you, WITHOUT FAIL, weave into or explore in your stories, whether it be specific themes or tropes, character archetypes, allusions to other literary works, what have you! It really can be anything that you consistently include in your narratives for whatever reason. Then invite others to share theirs by tagging them! 

while i haven't shared much of my writing with the simblr community, i've actually been writing since i was in first or third grade! it was mostly fanfiction until i reached high school, and i slowly branched out and started own original stories. after all those years of writing, i'd like to think that i've got some "without fails" up my sleeve. 

i’ll be keeping the rest of the post under a ‘read more’ so as to not clog your dashboards. feel free to read if interested! it’s a long one, and i think i end up going off-tangent from time to time. 😅💛

color theory.

when coming up with a new oc, i always try to get the essentials down: name, appearance, birthday, gender identity, sexual orientation, overall purpose/role, etc. i like taking it one step further and assigning them a color.

i’ve been interested in color theory / color psychology for the longest time. for one, it helps me distinguish each character from each other. it acts as a ‘starter’ or ‘base’ for developing their personality. it’s also fun when i get to build a scene and the opportunity to use color ends up presenting itself. 

if you wanna know how serious i am about it, i’ve got a tracker. like the google sheets kind. here’s the 2020 edition, which i need to update...

when it comes to translating that into the sims, i usually try and reflect their chosen color through their clothing. you’ll notice that in my coa x main nine introduction post; i think all of them (except for jian and matteo) wore their color in their clothes.  

found family.

i love this trope. i love this trope to death and i will never not include it in my writing. it can be a group of misfits coming together, it can be a squad or team going through certain trials and tribulations with one another, it can be anything of the sort and i will absolutely eat it up. it’s heart-warming, it makes me cry, and as a queer woman it has a special place in my heart.  

an example of found family in my writing includes squad a from coalesce (aether, peters, mack, and seonghui). they met primarily through their canon occupations and ended up with a synergy that’s as strong as it can be. 

found family’s also great for exploring insecurities, vulnerabilities, and getting to play with how one member or person interacts with the others. i’m a sucker for that. and i’m also a sucker for a good group hug!

the city and its secrets.

some personal context: my hometown isn’t exactly the most metropolitan. the same sentiment applies to the town where i spent elementary and high school. it was only around college that i got to experience being somewhere that felt more alive.

i love cities. there’s something about it that just draws me in—i mean, my undergraduate thesis was related to the city, and i just ordered a book about cities from my university bookstore. i love the potential there is for it, endless possibility, the different walks of life that intersect on a daily basis, so on and so forth. 

but i’m also interested in what’s kept tightly-shut; secrets, mystery, who approaches who if there’s a problem, a noisy club with a private back room, some sort of inner darkness that’s close to overflowing. 

this should also explain why i love playing in san myshuno!

road to recovery.

so you've reached rock bottom. how do you claw your way back up?

my friend rainy knows this well, but one of the things i want to do with coalesce—especially with characters like seonghui—is to show that recovery isn’t linear, as cheesy as it sounds. it’s difficult. it gets nasty. you feel like you’re thrown further back from where you started. but do you pick yourself back up and try again, or do you let yourself be consumed by the hurt of it all?

admittedly, i’ve also been intersted in looking into charcters who fall into the latter option. i think that’s something i want to do with another fic (that i’ve nicknamed shadow); but no promises on the progress of that one! 😅

disappearing acts.

an important thing to know about me: meks loves a good, good mystery.

back in high school, a lot of my stories were centered on someone who disappeared. the plot was always focused on bringing them back, but before they even did, something i also liked exploring was absence. how does it feel when someone familiar isn’t there? how do the dynamics change? is there something off-balance?

i still use the trope in current stories, but the disappearances aren’t as awful, i promise! or at least, i hope they aren’t…

but yeah, bringing it back to the second part of this explanation, i just like fiddling with absences and gaps and exploring character dynamics.

those are the top five! i’ve got way more, but i can save those for another post. 

again, thank you to koisser and vie for tagging me! i’ve got no idea who to tag because i think everyone’s done it at this point. but if you wanna do it and need someone to tag you, just say that i did. it’s okay. 💛

[ciangiuffusvaniaorwhatever-blog]

Guess who’s back! I’m a slowpoke, still playing Dark Souls for the first time!

Well, actually, just one of many, not here to be liked or to do something useful, Just wanted to blog about videogames and  i’m happy i’ve resumed, it’s a good stress reliever. Been very busy getting my University degree (which i had!) and looking for a job, but i missed doing this! I’ll drop the italian blog (for now), don’t have enough brain power for both (still for now) Little disclaimer: i’m not a pro, this isn’t a review, just the opinions, rants and thoughts of one of the many. And my main language is not english, so just skip the monster mistakes there will be around. Time for my usual(?) pre-emptive TL, DR: New computer, Dark Souls is actually cool altought i have some doubts that become bigger looking at the full saga. Ok first things first. I’m finally on a brand new computer, little graduation present. Won’t waste time with bragging about the stats, it works and it’s pretty powerful. With it i could finally defeat one of the monsters that kept me from playing Dark Souls, the first: BLIGHTTOWN. Who knows the game (or the memes) knows that in that zone the player will experience an unhealthy amount of FPS drops. My old notebook had an Intel Graphics HD, you can already imagine. I struggled to the whole level, it was all completely dark, darker than my brightness settings should allow, plus i had 7-20 fps, dropping down the more models there were on the screen. It was so dark and clunky i lost my way in the swamps! I remember asking this to a friend years ago: “What do i have to find in the swamp? I know the boss is Quelaag but where do i find the entrance?”. He looked me a bit funny and said “Come on, how is it possible you don’t find it, it’s there, looks like a spiky mountain with a hole, it’s just there” he said simply. I didn’t understand what he meant and kept rolling through the swamp with poison eating my unliving flesh, i couldn’t find anythingand kept running around in circles until i grew annoyed due to the low fps i had and uninstalled everything. That was my experience in dark souls, Now, with my brand new machine I was determined (Picture Undertale’s game over in your mind) and give it another try. With 0 issues i sped trough the first part of the game, i reached the accursed Blighttown (actually from behind this time, the circular map is one of DS’s most awesome features), dropped in the swamp and...it was THERE. at my right, a huge mound with a hole. It was IMPOSSIBLE to miss. I made the most Apulean (it means from Puglia, the Italian region i grew and live in) reaction i can think of, i kept staring at the screen with raised eyebrows, pressed lips, and pointed the screen with my extended hand. This gesture means “Are you serious? Really? Is this a joke?” etc etc. It was just there. That boss fight was awesome tho, really well designed. Well after playing some hours (I’m currently in Anor Londo, close to killing the dynamic duo, for who knows the game) I can finally understand a bit of what Dark Souls is and why is so compelling. I’ve seen lots of love around for this Game. I can understand it now, since i like the game too. I personally liked silent narratives in games where you explore, i’m a Symphony of the night fan after all. Playing dark souls remembers me those goods time, going around, searching for items and secrets, really loved that kind of games. Plus it adds majestic level design, an interesting dark fantasy setting, a bit depressed maybe but pretty cool.  Ok we can criticize From Software’s policy of NOT SAYING ANYTHING, but well it’s a kind of approach to the game i (and many others it seems) do not dislike. It gave the players a thrill of discovery, differently from other games where you  watch the story and setting unfold via a massive amount of cutscenes like Metal Gear Solid for an instance. DS tells you almost everything via item description, a sort of “Serious” version of Castlevania’s item description, saying a good amount of things about the setting. About the story, well, there’s not much story, that is true, most characters are just there waiting for your arrival, sometimes it feels a bit static but well, it works. Dark souls is very well done and has some very very intersting ideas but i do not want to do a full review of it, so i’ll go on to the issue i found aout the setting. This issue becomes bigger and BIGGER looking on DSII and DSIII (I didn’t play them but i watched nearly everything on youtube, an Italian guy named Sabaku. Or Sbabaku. Long story. Pretty cool channel) We are presented with a world that it’s about to end, we know nothing of its beginnings. That’s the issue. we know NOTHING on how it began. “They came”: that’s it, we don’t know how humans began to actually be, where are the non-undeads, how is the world outside Lordran made, we know nothing. And in ds2-3 we still do not know nothing! How does the cycle begin after the end of the previous? Why only some people remain “alive” after the cycle resets? What happened before our arrival? I think this kind of fuzzy setting works for a standalone games, but in a Saga? I don’t know, i think after 3 games you should start clearing some doubts instead of adding them to the pile.  Well, i’m already (???) done, hope you found this even slightly interesting, I’ll try to keep this thing updated with my experiences and my thoughts about what i love, videogames. If you liked it feel free to follow or send me messages, i like some good ol’ chit-chat.  The normal guy who loves videogames retreats coolly. Alla prossima!

[hencoplumbingservices]

Press Talk: Is light rail the way?

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I wandered into a presentation a few weeks ago called “Journey to the Future” put on by Punta Gorda, a small southwest Florida city. More than 700 attended. I happen to hang my hat in Punta Gorda during the winter now, reacquainting myself with warm weather and the sun. But I’ve always got Vancouver on my mind. So I attended — in part — to see if I could pick up any ideas for my Pacific Northwest home.

One of the sessions I attended was called “Great Cities and Towns” and it was very enlightening. Who knew how important it was to design street surroundings to create a sense of community?

The speaker was Victor Dover of Dover, Kohl & Partners. He serves as principal-in-charge for many of the firm’s design and planning projects. So he knows about transportation and how it impacts communities. His presentation didn’t contain any information about light rail, but he knows all about it.

Light rail. It’s the lightning rod for Vancouver, how it connects to Vancouver’s future and — more specifically — how it connects to any possible replacement of the antiquated Interstate 5 bridge.

So I grabbed Dover as soon as his presentation was over. What about it? This light rail thing?

•••

Dover easily listed the pros and cons of light rail and its most logical alternative, Bus Rapid Transit. Light rail is fixed and gives business owners assurance that they will be near transit. Many riders prefer light rail over buses. Bus service, which isn’t tied to a track, can shift based on community desires. It’s also significantly less expensive.

Within the definition of BRT there are several options, such as dedicating a traffic lane exclusively to buses. In the end, BRT means getting you quickly from point A to point B on a bus.

When pressed, Dover was unwilling to say which service is best, because, as he notes, it’s all about a thorough, rigorous local analysis. Everyplace is different.

•••

Here’s a little extra history on Vancouver’s light rail dynamic. When Washington and Vancouver tried to get a replacement bridge project funded five years ago, the prospect of light rail and tolling ultimately doomed it. Because the bridge connects Washington and Oregon, those guys just to the south of us have a say. And they say any new bridge needs to have light rail because they already have light rail and they’d like to extend it to us.

Now some on this side of the river have been lukewarm to light rail for lots of reasons. And as we begin to revive discussions about an I-5 replacement bridge, light rail is rearing its head again. But the central question for us is simple: Is light rail right for Vancouver? The answer is not so easy.

•••

I’ve always been a light rail guy.

When I was a young lad in high school — growing up in Oak Lawn, just outside of Chicago — I remember taking a field trip to see a movie in downtown Chi-Town. A few of us quickly became bored so we sneaked out to explore the big city. One thing lead to another, we lost track of time and we missed the school bus back home.

Stranded! Or were we? Nah. We simply hopped onto the El (Chicago’s light rail system) and before you knew it, we were home.

Years later I went to D.C. on a temporary work assignment for eight months. I used its light rail — the Metro — for everything. There really was no need to have a car.

But (isn’t there almost always a “but” nowadays) I’ve begun to question my own views on this topic. And when Dover said these kinds of momentous transportation decisions always should be made locally, I sought a local expert.

•••

Enter Chuck Green.

Green has been in the transportation business for 37 years. Today he’s a senior project manager at Otak, an urban design, planning and engineering firm specializing in transport and infrastructure. He’s also been a project manager at C-Tran. He travels the world working on transportation projects but still lives in Clark County.

Now — full disclosure — Green is a Democrat. Why is that important? Well, for the most part, Democrats are more willing to accept light rail here than Republicans.

So what about it, Mr. Green? Locally, are you a light rail guy or a BRT guy? Apparently his Democrat DNA did not overly influence him.

“I don’t believe Clark County is ready for light rail (yet). They don’t have the critical mass or economics to financially support light rail. Maybe in the long-term future. So, go BRT!” he said.

•••

I also tried to drill a little deeper to create some context. What’s been trending out there — light rail or BRT — with cities making recent decisions?

Dover first: “Both have their base of strident fans. But yes, some communities, like Indianapolis and Cleveland, have done the math and concluded BRT was the better choice, for now, in their case.” But Dover again cautioned that local communities have to do their own math.

With Green I first asked this: Is it fair to say, for a variety of reasons, light rail is falling out of favor because of costs and fixed routes so you’ll see very few cities that don’t already have light rail choosing light rail?

Green’s response: “I think that’s a fair conclusion.”

•••

Personally, I struggle with this. I’m still a light rail guy. I’m one of those people who feel more comfortable on light rail than on a bus. But that doesn’t feel like it’s enough to spend the money on fixed light rail. Regardless, my hope is that Vancouver and Clark County makes its decision based on what is best for us. Not what’s best for Portland. I’m uncomfortable with Portland pushing us around to get what they want if we don’t want it.

So let’s do a thorough, rigorous analysis and then move forward to continue Vancouver’s path to greatness.

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