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[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

2025 Megaman Summer Fanart Contest - Rules Thread

Sorry for the slight delay, but it is once again time for a new Megaman Summer Fanart Contest!

Two categories, in which you are allowed to submit one entry for each category, if you would like. If you place higher in one category, you will be automatically disqualified from winning in the other, for reasons of fairness, and to give other people a chance to win a prize.

This year, on top of the usual cash prizes, physical participation prizes are back once again! Everyone who submits a pic will be entered into the raffle for a chance at one of three awesome items! If you submit an entry into both categories, you can double your odds for one specific item of your choice.

This year is not being separated into Talent and Humor categories, so do your best at drawing to fit the theme of each category and showing off your creativity. All rules and info will follow, after the break:

CATEGORY 1: Ariga Amalgamix

The first category this year won't necessarily be summer-themed, although you can try if you feel like it. But I wanted to have one category with a little bit of Ariga flavor to it, so we are going to turn this into a sort of Ariga tribute category of sorts. For this category, I would like you to try to create a tribute to Hitoshi Ariga's style and manga influence, but in sort of a unique mixture.

While he has done art for practically all the Mega Man series in some capacity, the majority of his manga and projects have focused on the Classic series, with a little bit of X. Aside from some cameos, like EXE characters in Gigamix, for example. So, while showing tribute to the characters and manga stories he is best known for, I would like you to also mix in characters from other series who have not been a part of Ariga's manga universe, while trying to best represent them in his style. How you pull that off is up to your imagination.

For example: Skull Man digging for dino bones with Volnutt and other diggers. Star Force Mega Man fighting off the Stardroids. Battle and Chase franchise crossover, but with reporters Neige, Midorikawa Kero and Gyroman.EXE taking the place of Plum, Chest and Ripot. A 4-Koma of Maverick Soccer, using Bubble Crab as a soccer ball. Dr. Auto Number 008 Sexy Man judging the Megasexy Man/Woman contest. Or Ariga-styled versions of the Mega Man 11 Robot Masters interacting with the Hourly Part-Timer Pay Squad. Take something, be it a character/story/format you love about Ariga's works, and mix in something he has not drawn before, with it.

Content Requirements: *Tribute art to manga artist Hitoshi Ariga, drawing Mega Man characters replicating his unique style and design *A mixup of something familiar from his manga and something new featuring characters that he has never included in them *Must contain a minimum of at least one character from a game/series that Ariga has already drawn in his manga before AND one character drawn in an Ariga-style that he has NOT drawn in his manga (excluding minor cameos)

CATEGORY 2: Mega Mannequins

In most years the summer contest focuses on enjoying the warm weather at, or in, the water, this year we're going to focus on purchasing that summer fashion and modeling it for prospective buyers.

In some shape or form, most Mega Man games have often had some type of shop where you can purchase goods and upgrades. From Big Eddie's or Higsby's to Dressmaker Hip Bone or Macy's-parody Nacy's, there are a bunch of unique shops to choose from. In the case of this category, you are going to take some type of Mega Man shop and turn them into a typical fashion retail store, if they aren't already one. This store has set up a window display to show off it's new summer fashion line, be it summer tanks and shorts, dresses, swimwear, or watermelon-painted reploid armor.

What is unique about this store display, is they have decided to use real live models (or sort-of-living robot ones) to show off their fashion line. You know, like, "it's your mom, in a swimsuit on an igloo in the store window...It doesn't fit."

So, it is up to you to draw your favorite Mega Man characters acting as Mega Mannequins, in their summer fashion, modeling in this retail window display. Be creative with your displays with fun and flashy design and additional background details that scream summer. For some small help at actual summer retail window display inspiration, check out this link.

Ask if you aren't sure about a store choice, but this can include/is not limited to the actual store design or creating your own storefront based off of actual in-game shops:

Big Eddie's, Light Lab, Reggae's, Saffron/Cumin/Jasmine's, Junk Shop, Dressmaker Hip Bone, Tailor Chinos, The EXE anime shady Chinatown salesman's shop, Higsby's, Net Navi/Bugfrag Shop, Nacy's, Big Wave, Cerveau's, RiCO's, etc.

Content Requirements: *Mega Man character(s) of your choice modeling summer fashion in a retail store window display *Must use a shop name/logo from the vast Mega Man shopping universe somewhere in the pic

*6/18 EDIT*

CATEGORY 3: *WILD CARD*

OK, after a few people have asked and brought it up, I will give you all one final additional chance to draw something else and get your name entered for a bonus chance at one of the prizes of your choice. Especially since this signed Ariga drawing is such a rare, limited opportunity. However, for this wildcard category, there is no prize money, and nothing is being judged. It is just for those who either want to draw a second or third picture, or aren't interested in creating for one of the two main categories. Or, you don't want the pressure of entering into a category period, but just want a single chance to win one of the 3 participation prizes. But once again, only one entry max allowed for this category. If you want your name entered 2 or 3 times into the prize raffle, you have to draw an entry for the other categories as well. This is just one last extra bonus chance. For the wild card, you can draw any Mega Man-themed summer picture from any previous Summer Contest category theme. Maybe you didn't get a chance to before, but have an idea you wish you had drawn. Wide range, so I won't give detail to each one. But this can include: Swimsuit Magazine Cover Sand Sculptures Summer Camp Character Ice Cream/Popsicles Waterparks Summer Vacation Postcards/Photos Mermaids Concert Boy Band/Girl Band Summer Blockbuster Movie Posters Onsens Surfboards Rainy Days/Umbrellas Amusement Parks Water Inflatables Lifeguards Beach Volleyball Pirates and of course, any blatant Akane Bribery...

*/EDIT*

PRIZES:

The winners for each category will receive the following:

1st Place: $125 USD

2nd Place: $75 USD

3rd Place: $50 USD

Participation Raffle Prizes:

Over the past year, I swiped a couple rare things that perhaps many of you never got a chance to be there for or purchase. And I thought they might be nice little sweeteners to get people to want to participate this year, especially with how quiet the fandom and franchise is right now. Those who place for the cash prizes are also still eligible for participation prizes.

If you enter into either category, you will be eligible for a chance at all 3 participation raffle prizes. If you enter into both categories, you can get your name entered a second time for one specific item of your choice. I will draw for prize #1 first, and whoever wins that will then be ineligible for the other two, and so on down.

Your participation prizes are the following:

Prize #3 - UDON Mega Man Robot Masters Limited Edition Metal Card Set from the 2024 SDCC (featuring Fire Man, Elec Man, Ice Man and Bomb Man)

Prize #2 - UDON Mega Man Bass and Treble Limited Edition Gold Metal Card, from the 2024 SDCC, signed on the back of the card by Hitoshi Ariga

Prize #1 - A shikishi board artwork of Mega Man drawn and signed by Hitoshi Ariga from the 2024 SDCC, verified through the CGC Signature Series

(yes, I'm still keeping my bought version with the "To: Jaz" personalization on it, and giving away this cleaner piece to a lucky one of you! ;p)

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

When you submit, I would prefer if you could include the following information in this format, along with your entry:

(Your name/preferred alias) As much as I usually know who you are, there's always someone new or somebody who has a different preference from what their email name says.

(Category this entry is for) You can either say 1/2 (or 3) or the category title (wild card)

(Participation raffle) Let me know if you are in for all of the prizes, or if you want to decline from being entered for a specific prize. If you enter into both categories, let me know the one prize you want your extra chance to go towards.

Only submit your own work, as usual. AI artwork is not allowed. Any character, major or minor, from any series is allowed. OCs are allowed, as long as your art contains at least one canon Megaman character.

As always, participants are allowed to submit from all over the world. As long as the US Postal Service/FedEx will send to your country, and the state of the world doesn't get worse, I hope to be able to send the participation prizes to anyone around the globe. But if your country does not accept mail from the US, there will sadly be nothing I can do.

Paypal is still the preferred method for cash prize payouts. Please have a valid account to receive your winnings.

Kids, get your parents permission before entering.

Entries do not need to be colored, but it is preferred. The more effort put into things as always, the better chance you have!

Entries can either be e-mailed to me at rock2125[at]hotmail[dot]com, or you can just PM/note me a link to your pic.

DO NOT post your pics publicly here, in other galleries, social media, etc. until the contest is over. This is the fairest way for competitive reasons. I prefer to keep them all secret until the deadline has passed.

I'll edit a confirmed entry list in this thread when I receive them. So you won't be in the dark about whether or not I've received your entry.

DEADLINE:

The deadline for this contest will be Tuesday, August 26th, 2025 by 11:59PM, global end of day. This gives you well over 2 months to finish your entry!

MISCELLANEOUS INFO:

As usual, If you don't plan to enter, but would like to help me judge, please let me know through DM, or mention so here. Never hurts to have extra opinions on all the entries.

Bug me with questions if you have any. Everyone is welcome to join in and good luck to everyone who enters!

CONFIRMED ENTRIES:

Cat. 1: @digitallyfanged, Cat. 2: ??? Cat. 3: Axl,

[smoke-and-silver]

The Ghouls + Rut Season

Headcanons of the Ghouls in rut, as requested! This is for the current + recent ghouls. Happy to do previous eras upon request.

General / All characters:

Ghouls get a shiny horn upgrade just before rut: the outer layers shed as the horns grow bigger . You'll see them rubbing against things and polishing their horns a lot during this time as the outer layers flake off to reveal new horn underneath.

The ghouls are feverish and hot their entire cycle as the rut raises their body temperature.

There's a lot of tussling as their hormones have them clacking horns and sparring like deer. Some brawls can look or sound scary to humans, but it's all in good fun to them. They're just roughhousing to show off.

That's just within the pack, though. If someone outside of the ministry makes a move on their desired mate, it can get pretty gnarly.

Ghouls under the cut. Obviously NSFW.

Aether

The most subtle. A bit flushed and clammy but otherwise you wouldn't guess anything had changed.

It's very easy for him to get distracted, though. You give him a quick hug at breakfast and his cereal bowl is abandoned as he follows after you with his tail flicking.

Quintessence ghouls have a hazy scent during rut, like dark amber. Aether is the most fond of scenting. He does it every time you're canoodling in some secluded corner of the cathedral. He's not possessive, but he likes knowing that the other ghouls smell him on you.

He does get more protective. He's territorial of the ministry, marking the outside pillars with his horns to warn other demons away. Some unfamiliar men visit on business, and he chokes back an instinctual growl that starts to rise from his throat when he sees them shaking hands with you.

He doesn't spar much. One, because he's not generally aggressive, and two, because he's very large, and the other ghouls hesitate to challenge him.

It's an evening in the main hall when he finally flexes a bit. The heat in his veins is getting to him as he watches you from across the room, and a petty spat between two other ghouls is getting loud and irritating.

The demons bump your chair roughly in their scuffle and Aether has had enough. He buts in with his horns and growls at them to "knock it off". His voice is about two octaves deeper than usual. The surprised ghouls stumble back, and then slink away sheepishly.

Well, naturally you want to show your gratitude after that very attractive display, and the room is empty now...

Aurora

The MOST likely to brawl. Her claws are already rated E for Everyone and during rut it's amped up to 11. She'll tussle with anyone. Sometimes she'll sneak up to another ghoul and nip at them just to instigate it.

Remember that it's mostly just play to them. Nothing to worry about. She does LOVE to show off for you though, and is usually the one victorious.

If she were seriously fighting someone you would know, as real threats or serious challengers are quickly cowed by one of her deafening lion-like roars.

She's like a furnace during rut. You can feel the warmth coming off her. Her cheeks are constantly ruddy like she's just ran a mile.

Utterly insatiable. Most every night she's at your door tapping and scratching at it with her claws until you let her in. If she's feeling extra romantic she'll come in through the window instead.

[gore/bloody] Girl will straight up present her defeated opponents to you. The ministry has many enemies and she has much less restraint during rut. She has absolutely presented you with a severed head like a cat leaving a dead bird at its owner's feet.

You can't even help with congregation without seeing her in the pews, waiting to pounce the moment the sermon is over. She waves at you cheekily when you meet her eyes.

Don't think she's not tender! She's incredibly sweet with you every time you make love--and she insists on calling it that, "making love".

When you're not getting hot and heavy she's still locking lips with you. You've both been caught and scolded multiple times for making out when you're supposed to be working. She just needs to feel your hands on her during rut and, you're not opposed to all the extra attention.

Cirrus

Not interested in sparring or wrestling with anyone. Brawling doesn't interest her and if someone threatens you or the ministry she's just going for the throat. There's not much "challenge" to it.

Although... if you seem interested when the other ghouls spar, if she feels like it'll impress you or make you happy... well, she'll do it just to see you get all excited and aroused.

She kind of "takes care of" herself at first, not wanting to burden you with her heightened libido. When you assure her that you can handle it though, all bets are off. She pauses for a moment and starts stepping towards you, backing you against the wall right then and there...

She likes to mark you the most out of everyone. You are absolutely littered with hickeys and lovebites. She thinks it's so pretty to see you laid out naked in front of her with all of her marks on you. It's an added bonus if someone else gets to see it peeking out from your clothes, too.

She likes a little more ceremony to her 'mating' than most ghouls in their delirious lusty ruts, often bringing something to present you with before she drags you off for some privacy, even if it's something as simple as a rose.

But some nights, some nights it all reaches a boil--the hormones, the heat, your scent still clinging to her sheets--and she simply goes feral. She crawls into your bed and takes you wildly, no words even forming on her lips, just deep growls and broken, guttural infernal speech.

Cumulus

She doesn't typically initiate brawls but she's quite excited to participate in them and loves it when someone challenges her. They had better be prepared though because she is the most muscular ghoulette and knows how to use it.

She's especially excited to brawl when you're around and it gives her a chance to impress you. She'll stop mid-fight while she has her opponent pinned and gleefully wave to you, hoping that you're enjoying the show.

Yes, she flexes for you. Everything in her system right now is telling her to impress you and she takes any chance to start removing her shirt to show you the guns.

Oh man, this stage equipment is heavy and she's getting sooo hot moving it around!

Oh no, the windows needed a wash and her shirt is sooo wet! She can't possibly leave it on now.

Not very territorial or anything like some of the others, but very eager to scent you. Her smell is like a spring breeze, like clover, and she loves to rub it on you whenever she can.

She's on you constantly. Doesn't care if you're in the middle of cooking or prayer, she's pulling you flush against her and purring raunchy things in your ear, giggling and nipping at your neck until she's convinced you to have some fun.

She's not private about it. Unless you would prefer otherwise, she likes to show you off right in front of the other ghouls, placing you on the counter right there so she can please you with her strong fingers.

Dewdrop

The poor man is downright feverish the entire cycle. He's flushed and breathing heavily and his hormones and sparring instincts make him snippy with the other males.

Oh, but he's so good for you. He melts into your touch when you hold his face in your hands as if it soothes all the fire in him.

As if he isn't lewd enough on a normal day, he's downright filthy during his rut. He has the most impure ideas for every piece of furniture in the cathedral and he relays them to you in detail.

You two are forcibly excused from mass when he starts feeling you up right in the middle of it. He'd let you have him right there in the aisle if you weren't opposed to it, onlookers be damned.

When you catch him jacking himself off he doesn't stop, he slows down a little to give you a show. He loves to do it while you're watching. You can give him a hand or just sit and watch, either way he's begging you to go further afterwards. He needs you inside of him or needs to be inside of you.

Not super territorial, but he does love sparring. Wrestling with a friend is a good way to blow off steam and he doesn't mind if he looks cool kicking someone's ass and manages to impress you.

It's really hard for him to focus on much else but you when he's flooded with hormones like this. He can't help it. All that's on his mind day and night is feeling you against him and burying himself inside of you.

But when he eats you out or sucks you off, that's when he really loses his mind. He's already so painfully horny and the scent of your sex totally overtakes him and makes his mind hazy. You're not leaving for the night.

Don't hold it against him if he's a little sappier than usual, or if his kisses are a little longer. It's not just about mating; rut makes him needy for comfort and attention too. It takes a lot of energy out of these ghouls, and often leaves them sore, so the extra comfort means a lot to him right now.

Mountain

Obviously the earth ghouls rut the most. The elk of the forest are where the term comes from. He sheds velvet from his horns during the season and the look of blackened demon blood dripping from horns is pretty sick.

His rack is hands down the most impressive and lets him stand up to even Aether in a duel. He is giddy if you compliment the horns, tail flicking around happily knowing his appearance pleases you.

The most territorial, the most willing to brawl, the most protective. Earth ghouls have the strongest rut instinct. It's hard for him to even see you talking to another ghoul without daydreaming about taking you right in front of them. The daydream gets him hard and flustered and he sheepishly approaches you to ask for some "help".

An incident occurs when a visiting diplomat kisses your hand and a hormone-fueled Mountain has him backed up to the wall in seconds, gnarly horns at the man's throat and growls rumbling from deep in the demon's chest.

You manage to soothe him by petting his chest and asking him to stand down. After a few moments he reluctantly releases the man, who scurries off.

His head clears and Mountain quickly apologizes, but honestly, it was the hottest thing ever, and you're pulling him in to make out. By the time the diplomat tattles about being "attacked by a demon" you've already backed Mountain into the nearest chair to ride him.

It's part of his mating display to show that he can provide. He'll lead you out into the woods where he's set up a spot to sit together and brought more food than you can eat, but he's eager to watch you eat it, fill up on it. He hopes if you're satisfied that you'll accept him and let him pleasure you.

Phantom

Poor, poor sweet boy. It hits him the hardest. He is absolutely the most sensitive. Even feeling up his arm or kissing his cheek a few times gets him worked up. Smile at him across the room long enough and he'll get hard, honestly.

He's embarrassed to approach you about it at first, so you'll have to encourage him. He's quite enthusiastic once you reassure him that you don't mind, though.

He finds it fun to engage in some of the sparring matches, but honestly he's kind of inexperienced in fighting and gets thrown around easily. He's such a good sport about it though and he's laughing most of the time, so it puts everyone in a good mood.

His scent is very subtle and his horns pretty simple and small, so he tries to groom himself really nicely, hoping you'll still enjoy his appearance. Maybe puts a little soft perfume or cologne on hoping it will help entice you.

Your scent makes him crazy. It distracts him instantly when you step into the room. He can track you down anywhere in the ministry, every instinct in his body driving him blindly towards the sweet smell. You don't really hear him come in and so you jump a little when his arms slip around you and he buries his face in your neck to breathe you in.

Please let him have you. His voice is low and breathy as he begs you to let him breed you, or to breed him. You feel so warm against him it makes his head swim. His hands are shyly nudging under your shirt as he tells you how badly he needs it.

His libido is highest at night, when the ministry falls quiet. He feels terrible keeping you awake but you're so pretty laid out on your bed with the silver moonlight from your window illuminating your soft body, and he's so painfully hard.

[kink/somno warning] He'd never think of the idea himself, but if you offered to let him relieve his urges while you sleep, he's so grateful. He worships your body with kisses, always cleans you up perfectly, and always showers you with praise and thanks the next morning.

Rain

Pretty flushed and sensitive during his rut, though not so much as Phantom. He's very pliant when you approach him, willing to let you pull him away somewhere or climb up on his lap any time you want.

Beware that he has the most endurance and he will overstimulate and breed the fuck out of you. He's sweet and passionate but there's an unavoidable mess after your long sessions. You both need a bath afterwards and he ends up taking you in there too.

He makes a good little love nest in his room and honestly just keeps you there the whole cycle if you'll allow it. You don't have to do a thing. He'll keep you fed and groom you and all you have to do is lay there and be his good baby and let him pleasure you.

Not much for the sparring like other ghouls but he likes to egg the others on mischievously. Sometimes he'll nip at someone while they're not looking and pin it on another ghoul. Then he'll use the ensuing brawl as a distraction to drag you off somewhere.

--and, sometimes that is literal. When his hormones are really raging he'll just throw you over his shoulder, or bind your hands with the nearest thing he can find and quite literally drag you away, while telling you everything he's about to do once you're secluded.

Your excited giggles and little squeals make his heart flutter.

He is just as excited when you take him just as roughly. You can tie his hands to the headboard and he's already squirming with an eager, breathy "yes, yes!" escaping his lips before you've even climbed atop him.

He is so vocal when you do sink down on his cock and ride him. You're so warm and he's so sensitive right now. He does not care who in the ministry hears his absolutely whorish moans.

Swiss

As if he wasn't already unhinged.

The way he writhes and ruts against the floor on stage? Imagine him flooded with demonic hormones and out of his mind horny.

Wait, that's still how he normally is. Imagine that doubled. Mans will literally grind against your leg like a dog.

He's dying to pleasure you, honestly. It's a common sight to see him on his knees in front of you, panting with his tongue out as he waits for you to ride his face. He wants to drown in the scent of your sex, squished between your thighs.

He is constantly hard, his cock straining against his pants almost 24/7. He'll start to calm down and then he catches your scent on the air and he's stiff again. He tries to wear looser clothes during rut.

Of course, he loves to spar. He's already rowdy on a daily basis, he loooooves when rut rolls around and he gets to roughhouse with the other ghouls. It's a very nice bonus that he gets to show off for you, naturally!

Which brings us to territorial instincts. Swiss is the farthest from aggressive usually, but his rut is strong enough that you get to see more of the truly ghoulish side of him. He's very growly with strangers coming near you. You've never seen that toothy grin twist into a snarl before, but you see it now when you're out in public and some man presses too close to you for Swiss' liking.

You don't think you've ever heard such a noise from him, such a deep and guttural growl, but it... really does something for you. You hurry him home, both for the public's safety and because you need to ride him. He is overjoyed to fulfill your request.

Cumming inside of you is already his favorite thing in the world, if and when you allow him. He will literally beg for it now, his face flushed, sweaty hair clinging to his skin, his voice hoarse. Please let him breed you.

[daydreamer-in-training]

✨OP Advent Calendar 2024 Masterlist✨

Door 11 – Luxury and Riches

Doflamingo x Reader

Word Count: 1.500+

Themes: Assasin!Reader (but its not important); fluff; christmas; a bit of hurt and comfort if you squint; Doffy is slightly touch starved; He tries to be romantic; no gendered terms used but reader wears a dress and highheels, no use of Y/N

Notes: Cute little Drabble of Doffy and his favorite assasin (reader)! Maybe a bit AU-isch? I dunno man i‘m tired. Its kinda a companion piece to Door 1. ALSO its my first time writing for Doffy and I am still very new to liking him… i blame @physics-of-one-piece . Have a wonderful day everyone. Likes and comments are always appreciated! 🫶🏻

Please note that Englisch is not my first language and i am very tired when uploaing this! Enjoy! ✨

Advent Calendar Taglist: @jintaka-hane @chibinasuu @stuckinmymind22 @eustasscapitankid @armiliadawn @pandora-writes-one-piece

You grabbed a glass of champagne from the waiter's tray as Doflamingo courted you through the ballroom towards the exit. He had chosen you as his escort for the evening and had taken you to a Christmas gala attended by the high society of the underworld.

When you entered your room after lunch today, you found the most beautiful dress on your bed, paired with an elaborate set of jewellery. Doffy has granted you a very large room, with a huge bed and an en suit bathroom, not long after you entered his live. That was an upgrade you where very much able to live with! ‘You're coming to the gala with me tonight,’ you read on a note that was next to the dress. You've been here for almost half a year now, you've been given a job as an assassin by Doflamingo. A job is all you wanted at that time, and you where good at it. You knew about his reputation when you accepted the job and you went in with the knowledge that as long as you didn't allow yourself a misstep, you were safe. But over time, you grew fond of the children, as annoying and bratty as they could be sometimes.

And supprisingly, you grew to understand Doffy more and more, by now you've been able to look behind the facade better.

Now that the evening at the gala was drawing to a close, you realised your feet were aching from the high heels and the expensive dress should be replaced by pyjamas. As lovely as the evening was, you longed for the cosiness of the villa, which was currently so festively decorated. Christmas with the Donxiqote pirates was surprisingly cosy, contrary to all your expectations.

Doflamingo hadn't spoken to you much during the evening, and even now in the limousine, he looked out of the window in silence. You looked at his hulking figure in front of you as you elegantly crossed your legs and sipped your champagne. You wondered what was going on behind his red glasses. It was the first time he'd taken you to something like this without a mission for you. Not that he hadn't shown his gratitude before, but only in the form of your generous rewards. But today he was somehow different. He hadn't let you leave his side for a moment at the party.

‘Thank you... for the lovely evening Doflamingo...’ you didn't dare to say more than a whisper because the silence was so tense. Slowly and silently, he turned to you without changing countenance. But you couldn't suppress a smile. ‘I... felt like a princess tonight...’, your cheeks turned a loveley shade of pink.

Your words made him sit up and take notice. He knew you came from a poor background, a world away from where he came from. ‘Good...’ the limousine stopped in front of his villa ‘The evening isn't quite over yet either,‘ he said and got out of the car.

After a surprised moment where you didn't move, you followed him out of the car. When you looked up, you saw that he was holding out his hand to you. ‘Come with me... I have a surprise for you’. As you took it, he strode through the front door, your aching feet making it difficult for you to keep up with the tall man. It was 3 am and everyone was asleep, what could he possibly mean?

‘Doflamingo, where are we going?’ you ask, your voice trembleing. As he led you up the stairs to the bedchambers, a stone sinking into your stomach. Did he want to end the night by getting into bed with you? Had that been his intention for the evening from the start? You didn't know him like this at all.

He didn't answer at first, as you were already at your destination, outside your room. ‘I am taking you to your room... you're getting tired,’ he explained, his gaze fixed on the door handle, which he was now pressing down. His other hand was still holding yours.

Silently, you let him lead you into your room, not quite knowing what to make of his behaviour. But your furrowed eyebrows shot up in surprise when you realised that your room has been redecorated in your absence. Next to the window stood a large Christmas tree that reached up to the ceiling and was hung with luxurious decorations. Beneath it were piles of presents adorned with silk ribbons and glittering pendants. ‘For you… As a thank you for you're good job here.‘

Doflamingo watched your reaction very closely. He loved the way your eyes widened in astonishment and your eyebrows met in the centre of your forehead in disbelief. ‘What does that mean...?’ you asked, confused. This couldn't possibly be all for you. ‘It's too much... I... I can't accept it.’

He heard your words, he new you wanted to add ‚i don‘t deserve this.‘, that what you always said, what you belived about yourself. But his upbringing as a chelestial dragon told him otherwise. You deserved everything in this room and so much more. He just wanted you to see it too. How much you are worth to him. Why can‘t you see it?!

He scoffed at your reaction. ‘Be a bit more greatful at least. And accept it as payment or something…‘. He swallowed a lump in his troad as you looked up at him with misty eyes, letting go of his hand, that you held onto until that point.

‘I'm grateful to you! It's just... I'm not used to it...’ you looked down at the floor to hide your face from him. ‘And I don't have anything for you either...’. He grunted in dismay, his gaze falling briefly to your empty hand that he had been holding until earlier. ‘There's nothing you could give me. Sleep now.’. He had disappeared out of the door so quickly that when you looked up, all you could see was his pink feather coat disappearing.

You rubbed your face tiredly, the evening was just chaotic and you were tired and had had one too many champagnes. You quickly changed out of your dress and got ready for bed. Tomorrow, when you were well rested and sober, you would talk to him about it again.

Sleep took hold of you as soon as you fell into the soft sheets of your bed. But it didn't last long. Your instincts woke you up immediately when someone opened your door and walked into your room. You sat up straight and automatically reached for your dagger, which you always kept on your bedside table. But then you paused. From his body movements, you recognised that it was Doflamingo.

Your thoughts from earlier came back to you. Did he want to sleep with you after all? ‘Do-Doffy?’ your eyes followed him as he walked around your bed. The moonlight shining through your room gave you a hint that he was wearing nothing but his pyjamapants. Little did you know, he didn‘t sleep at all, the thoughts of you keeping him awake till he couldn‘t resist anymore.

‘I did think of something that you can do for me.’ His deep voice was raspy and tired. You could feel how the matrass dipped under his weight. Your hand moved to the dagger now after all, even though the situation didn't really feel dangerous to you. You prepared yourself to counter him if he tried anything at all. He laughed softly when he saw this and leaned over you, easily taking your weapon from you. ‘Not...what you think,’ his eyes looked into yours.

Because of your tiredness, you were slow to realise that it wasn't his sunglasses you were looking at, but his eyes... His real eyes which were bright pink, even in the pale moonlight.

‘Doffy...?’ you wispered, mesmerised by this rare sight. He took advantage of your shock to lie down next to you and pull you into his arms. He felt your whole body stiffen ‘Its just this, nothing more. Just tonight... please...?’ he whispered into your hair as he wrapped his long arms around your back.

Your face was nesstled comfortably into the crook of his neck and His Bodyheat was soothing, his large arms where like a weighted blanket. He gave you a moment to adjust and give him an answer. As he heared your shy „okay, but only tonight.“, a smile graced his face. Tired and lost in this moment with you, he let his large fingers play with your hair and trailing your spine Up and down.

This Put your racing mind at ease. You would talk to him tomorrow.

As sleep finaly took both of you, you didn‘t yet know, this would become Doflamingos usual procedure to help with his insomnia.

.

[callmearcturus]

@vmprsm replied to your post “Raw MKV rip of Mission Impossible: Fallout:...”:

Theoretically, if one wanted their own copies of the MI movies safely on a hard drive....where would one go?

​I mean, there is a site where you can acquire a lot of movies via torrent. I tend to use (rot13) 1337k.gb and I got a heavily discounted Windscribe VPN subscription that I use on almost all of my devices.

But my thing is that... I want commentary reels and special features, and sometimes you'll download a movie but the fucking subtitles are either bad or they become desynced over time and I haaaaate it.

So I've been gathering bits and pieces over the past year to get a Plex system going in my house and it works like a fucking DREAM. But it requires some investment. If you just want to have a few local copies of your favorite movies, this is way overkill. But me, I am canceling all of my family's streaming services and pivoting to our Plex.

So what I have for actually getting the files:

I don't have this model but it's similar to this, a Pioneer External Blu-ray Reader. It sits on a little shelf and is connected to my PC by a USB cable. (I think I got mine for around 68 bucks so you can wait for a sale.)

I use MakeMKV which will rip the big honking raw files from a Blu-ray and leave them as matroshka (.mkv) files.

Because these raw files are ENORMOUS, I compress them in Handbrake. Handbrake is wildly powerful, can convert file formats and make them super small. I have my Handbrake set up special to dump all the non-English language subtitles and audio tracks to save space.

(SUPER BONUS TIP FOR HANDBRAKE: If you have a dedicated GPU, you can give Handbrake permission to use it, and it'll compress shit literally 10x faster, love it.)

At the moment, I am using a Western Digital portable 5TB external harddrive because it was one sale and I couldn't beat the price. Eventually, I want to upgrade to two 10TB HDDs so I can keep a full backup of everything I'm ripping. Because this is a bit of a time and energy commitment and I don't wanna lose all my progress here!

At first I was running Plex off my desktop PC and that worked totally fine, but my family hates having to touch my desktop to wake it up every time, so I very recently grabbed one of these guys:

This is a Beelink Mini PC S12 Pro. It is small enough to fit in my hand but it is a speedy little demon that runs Windows 11. (And eventually I am gonna use it to firewall out ads from our entire home network, I'm pumped for that project but ANYWAY.)

The upside of these mini boys is that instead of being a hefty workhorse like my main computer, this is small and has a low-power draw.

So I moved my Plex Media Server to the mini PC, plugged in my 5TB drive of movies, and now everyone in the house can easily stream anything I have added to the library.

This is what it looks like, if you're curious. Any device in the house that runs Plex and is signed in can select any movie or TV show I have and just watch it like it was Netflix or something.

A month ago, I has like.... 65 movies? Now I'm ripping a few and we're gonna break 100 soon.

"But Arc, where do you get so many blurays!"

My local library.

When I lived in Broward County, FL, I had an extravagantly wonderful library system. Tax dollars at fucking WORK, y'all. Now I live in Georgia and the library system is not nearly as good, but I have still gotten my hands on a frankly ridiculous amount of blurays. Every week I'm picking up 3 to 10 movies or shows, taking them home, making good copies, and returning them.

All of this is an investment and it is work. But as someone who built my computer, built my keyboard, cracked my 3DS and PS Vita-- this is fun to me! This is what I love to do. And through doing it, I've seen more movies in the past year than the last ten years put together.

So yeah, I can't recommend this to everyone, but if you wanna get out of your subscriptions and to just have high quality shit on demand, this is what I'm doing.

Cannot stress this enough tho, if this seems interesting to you: wait for sales. All the components here go on steep sale if you wait patiently. Take your time assembling the parts and keep in mind that shit is modular, you can upgrade parts later.

[andrevasims]

Are most people (who use a Windows OS) using 11?

I'm not surprised if it's the case that an OS update would cause issues with something that's basically only relevant as a legacy thing (and companies sure do love maintaining support for legacy features haaaaaaa).

But also I'm using 10 lol. Not for any good reason - I stopped using Win7 in May 2023 and only then because Steam was going to stop supporting 7.

Plus I kept seeing posts like "Your computer is going to explode and all your money and every person you love will be stolen by hackers if you don't stop using Windows 7 RIGHT NOW" so I was like... fineeeeeeeee. I guess I care about those things. lol

I wouldn't be surprised at all to know there were similar upgrade struggles with the update cycle of Windows 10 earlier in its lifespan that caused similar issues.

That's the hard part of only playing 20 year old games, there's no reason to upgrade (beyond security I guess like I said), and more often than not the upgrade will make things that used to work stop working.

Hopefully it's temporary though? Like whatever the update broke will be corrected with another update? Although by that time they'll probably be pushing for another OS change :\

ETA: Oh what I literally didn't even know that 2 weeks ago Microsoft found a security issue that made them say you need to upgrade to 11 immediately. I never got that memo lol

Even that article says "This is why you need to upgrade the second the company changes your OS even though the new update causes Blue Screens of Death for no reason" - Like come on. Can I use my computer in peace for a goddamn minute? lol

[nhaneh]

so the other week my secondary PC had yet another one of those full screen "We're ending support for Windows 10 soon you need to upgrade to a more modern PC to support Windows 11" ads show up and feeling particularly annoyed with that kind of bullshit at the time I decided to have a peek into task manager to see if I could find out what particular executable was behind this bullshit and whether I could do something about it, and well...

It turns out this is all run by one of the four executables that Windows update has sneakily decided to install under /Program Files/RUXIM/, notably either RUXIMICS.exe or RUXIMH.exe

Okay so what does this RUXIM stuff actually do? That's... good question - according to their file properties metadata, and Microsoft, and just about every place on the web i could find, they are part of the Reusable UX Interaction Manager, and are used by Windows Update and is supposedly used to collect data to "keep Windows up to date and performing properly."

There's apparently a number of people who are very insistent on that being the full, entire, and absolute truth of it and anyone questioning why it is there, what it does, or wanting to be rid of it is a complete fool. And also that your Windows PC will quickly and hopelessly degrade in performance, become unstable and break down if you're dumb enough to delete it. Apparently.

But like... why exactly should we be taking Microsoft at their word about any of this, again? You know, the same company who have been actively lying about the hardware requirements of Windows 11 seeing how they allow some of their larger customers to entirely circumvent it? The same company who came up with Windows Recall and still intends to roll out some version of it basically as soon as they can get away with it?

Do these people also genuinely believe it whenever a website shows a popup to tell you how much they care about your privacy even as they ask you to please click that big shiny button to allow them and their affiliates to track your browsing to the maximal extent possible?

Companies lie to you. Silicon valley lies to you. Even your favourites lie to you.

Anyway I decided to forcibly replace all four executables in the RUXIM folder with a tiny little program I built that basically just writes an entry to a log text file listing what date and time it was loaded and what arguments was passed to it and Windows Update is still working so far ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[daemonhxckergrrl]

chat, am I futureshock ?

occasionally I get people say stuff like this, and I'm glad they like my blog, I'm glad they enjoy the surface-level vibes. nonbinary matrix header, soft retro-vibe colourscheme, posts appearing as shell commands, etc.

but I'm not an aesthetic blog

I'm what happens when an autistic tranny who is A Bit Too Much Computer witnesses the realtime enshittification of everything.

first up, i wanna be clear that i'm not trying to shit on the person who sent me this or discourage people who enjoy these aesthetics (or what they perceive as my personal brand) for enjoying them, or from diving deeper. in fact, i would encourage it - please !! go look into things !! discover !! fuck things up !! fix them !!!

now i wanna talk about aesthetics. i love the design language of a lotta late 80s hardware, vehicles, physical interfaces. i love the design language of a lot that in the 90s, as well as software, early GUI stuff etc. and tbh a lot of that right up until the mid 00s. if we wanna play deeply unserious but whimsical visual signifiers for fun and silly reasons, sure then i'm webcore, i'm hackercore, i'm retrofuture and cyber, i'm cassette futurist, i'm cyberpunk or whatever. i'm cute glittery gifs of windows 95 slate dialog boxes and big standing racks full of das blinkenlights. i'm the cave shadow of a CD Walkman i'm that big chonky 80s red 7-segment alarm clock.

but i'm not just aesthetics. i'm not doing all this purely for the bit. up until a couple years ago i was sacrificing a ton of convenience for my principles. now i'm sacrificing certain specific conveniences and a buncha anti-consumer nonsense for my principles and a shit ton of other, better, conveniences.

this wasn't meant to be a long post, and may well end up influencing some of my cyberpriestess posting when i get my website going, as there's a lotta good jumping-off points here.

let me show y'all how i live. at least some of it.

daily driver ? 11-year-old gaming pc w/ some recent era-appropriate upgrades (well, the gpu is pushing it but like is reasonable someone would've done that upgrade).

this is what i mean. this is pluug2, my daily driver. and she still runs games. and yes i'm using arch rn bc i did a reinstall and for whatever reason the version of the void installer i had was corrupted and arch was the only other diy distro i had laying around. she'll end up running something infinitely more cursed in the future once i get s6 stuff figured out.

i spent like half an hour configuring fastfetch (the backend i'm using for hyfetch) bc the default kinda sucked. that's how this works.

i do dumb shit, i have fun, i live by my principles as much as possible...fuck idk

oh right, my thinkpad is a t61 from 2008. her graphics suck enough she literally can't load games. not anything made past idk DX9 ?? however her discord experience is about on part w/ my envy 360 from over 10 years later. she's kinda sick tho. idk. will probably turn her into a media pc or some kinda server since she's got a 2600U w/ 8 threads.

i don't get youtube ads. i don't get tempted by the comments section, i don't have my watch history profiled. i have a local database of playlists (the video tab on a channel counts as a playlist btw) that i can sync and fuzzy search in the terminal and it'll play via the video player on my system. however, i don't get stuff recommended which makes finding stuff entirely active.

i gotta test and tweak games i wanna play bc old hardware and also usually running via compatibility layer (proton my beloved) on account of..well no linux-native version. or the native version has issues.

discord and screenshare don't pay niceys all the time. this is partly a discord enshittification issue but also the discord devs don't care about linux as a platform. they "support" it bc hey electron works there. because it's the fuckign chrome browser. audio support in screenshare is an unofficial feature added by volunteer devs and that's a breach of TOS bc that's the world we live in now.

my brain is full of init system trivia, audio services and routing frameworks, a ton of incomprehensible nonsense that marks the difference between nostalgia-bait and Actually Being Like This.

come on in, by all means ! let's learn the semantics behind vim's actions/keybinds, let's discover old parts of the net, build up an environment from its component pieces. let's suffer together as the separation of accounts forces the use of several different email addresses, a TOTP app, and renewed access tokens to play one (1) game online w/ friends.

i'm not futureshock cybercore cassette retropunk, i'm stubborn and refuse to engage in as much of the bullshit forced on us these days as i physically can.

[jenroses]

When i built my first PC, I'd done a few upgrades, but Youtube did not exist yet so there were not endless videos of "This is how you build a PC". It was fiddly and fussy and i barked my knuckles and I did something temporarily terrifying but it worked out okay and I built my PC. Then prices on bare bones dropped precipitously so for a while I was just buying barebones and upgrading them. It was cheaper that way.

Last year, a couple of games came out that I really wanted to play but my 8 year old laptop, which was making a yeomanlike effort with most games, was just flat out not in spec anymore. So I started to research. Looked at Linus Tech Tips, then JaysTwoCents, then Gamer's Nexus, Paul's hardware, Hardware unboxed... LTT had a great "this is how you do it and this is what each part is supposed to sound like going in, yes the crunching noise here is okay, no your board won't die if you get a little regular thermal paste on it, very reassuring. I watched a lot of build videos, and finally, after a couple of months, I ordered parts.

Infodump under the cut

Now, picking parts is COMPLEX and HARD and FINICKY and it changes all the time. You can be an expert builder, take a couple years off and ignore buiding for a while, and come back and like, all the parts are different! Which parts are good deals has changed! But the fundamentals haven't really changed all THAT much, even since my first build. It's still motherboard, processor, cooler, RAM, storage, power supply, internet device, basically... but gone are IDE and even SATA is now pretty archaic. In 2024, your RAM will look pretty similar but the hard drive is a dinosaur and your storage is now basically a high tech stick of gum. Prices are wild, too. You can build a passable computer which can play most games for about $600 with new parts, or you can spent $4000 to get get the absolute tippy toppy "best" parts, and the parts being actively used and recommend and sold right now cover about FOUR YEARS of product development. This is NUTS. Most of the systems I've built fall in the cheap-to-middling range.

They're all competent at most games, though my mother is annoyed that she's having trouble getting Civ2 up and running on Windows 11 in 2024. I do fine with Alpha Centuari from GOG, but no, that's not good enough. (I like Alpha Centauri about 1000% better than Civ2, but when you've got a game, you've got a game, I guess.)

So where to start?

Look at the Youtubes of the folks I mentioned up top, and look for their "Top X of ___" videos. Most of them will ALSO include still-on-the-market for previous year stuff! This is great!

Think about what you need and what you're doing on your system. Unless you are doing competitive gaming and are made of money, you do not need the top of the line anything. It's not necessary and most people can't make use of it unless they're doing high powered stuff for money. In which case you probably know what you need already. Most people will be fine gaming at 1440p (2k monitor) or 1080p. Unless you have a giant fancy monitor already, the pricing sweet spot is probably expecting to spend about $140-150 for a 2k, 27 inch monitor. If your monitor is at normal monitor distance from your face, larger than that is not going to be easy to adapt to. You can get 1080p monitors for cheaper, but any larger than 24-27 inches, 1080p starts to look weird, so really 1440 is kind of ideal for the kind of computer you plan on using for the next 5-10 years. I don't go for refresh rates lower than 120hz at this point, but higher than 180 is not going to be noticeable for MOST people. The monitor i recently bought for $140-ish was a 180hz refresh rate 2k curved monitor (1440p.)

Once you know what kind of monitor you're aiming for, you can get a sense from those review videos of which cards will get you to the frame rate you want. Look for the games you want to play, and people comparing them at high/ultra settings, and look at the FPS that various cards offer. Keep in mind that there's a huge amount of technology aimed at boosting fps, and the upsampling is pretty good now. Nvidea cards are stupid expensive and have the majority of market share. I don't bother with them. The cards I've bought in the past 2 years include (all AMD): (Upgrading a very old system, AMD RX 6400, 4gb graphics card.) AMD RX 6650XT for two people on very tight budgets. AMD RX 6750XT for a mid-range system. RX6800 for two pretty good systems last year. RX7600XT for a casual gamer on a newer system. RX 7800XT for the fanciest system for the most avid gamer in the family. In 2024, I strongly advise going for a card which is at least 12 gb but preferably 16gb of VRAM. More than that is not yet really necessary for most systems at 1440p. The video card is the single most expensive component in most systems. I tend to build to the graphics card, but it is reasonable to set a budget, get the most reasonable parts you can afford for the rest of the computer and spend as much as you have left on the video card. 8gb cards are not likely to give optimal results long term, and since I build computers for people who hate changing computers, the only reason I would go with a smaller-than 12gb card is for someone who just doesn't game much and is unlikely to start playing the kinds of games that need it.

Then there's the processor side of things. Until Intel screwed the pooch this year, most of what we were putting together, parts-list-wise in my family were systems which had intel processors and AMD graphics cards, because that was the sweet spot for us price-to-performance wise. But if you have an Intel 13th or 14th gen processor, you need to update your bios, and we're still not 100% confident in them, as a community. There were a LOT of bad processors the past two years. Also, AMD came out with a bunch of reasonably priced kickass gaming processors, and those will be best for people whose primary purpose is gaming. The processors we've leaned on the most heavily include: Intel 12400 and 12600 processors and Intel 13600 processors. But recently, knowing I was about to build a FAST gaming PC, I knew I needed to get an AMD X3d processor, and my purchasing timing happened to correlate with the 9800X3d dropping, and I managed to order one... but the ship date was in JANUARY. And it's a Christmas present. And Trump is talking about tariffs, which WILL send prices through the roof. So I decided to build another computer, and ordered parts for it. So in order to get onto the platform that 9800x3d processor will need, I picked another processor which uses the same motherboard and got that, too. And then ordered inexpensive versions of that motherboard and other parts, and whatdyaknow, I'm building two computers. But the principal is pretty sound: If you need to build cost effectively, get a lower end processor for the motherboard of the processor you ultimately want, and upgrade later when prices drop. So all those Intel 12600 systems could, later, upgrade to a 14900k and get a huge performance boost if needed. On AMD, they tend to stick with a given motherboard ecosystem for a VERY long time, so people who bought AMD years ago can now upgrade to a perfectly capable 5800x3d and be fine, but AMD is now in the 9000s, and getting a 7000 series processor is on the same board as a 9000 series, so most of the time that's the best deal, EXCEPT for a 7800x3d which is almost as expensive as the 9800x3d for reasons.

Other parts are simpler. RAM: 32 gb is the sweet spot, DDR5 prices have come down okay. Most games can't and won't use more than 20 or so gb, but many will use over the 16gb that used to be the standard rec. You can, however, get 16gb and upgrade RAM in a few years.

Storage: Optimum for gaming is probably your operating system on a 500 gb C drive ssd, your games on a 1, 2 or 4 terabyte SSD. New builds will use a M.2 2280 ssd, and they fluctuate somewhat in price, but the performance boost of ANY NVME drive is going to be worth it over SATA or a hard disk. If you are just wanting to upgrade, upgrading to a SSD and increasing your ram will give a new lease on life to old computers and make them feel a whole lot more functional. If you have an open PCIE slot, you can get an adaptor board to allow you to install an M.2 drive even on an older system.

pcpartpicker.com will let you make build lists and tell you if there are incompatibilities but it isn't perfect at sourcing RAM for the correct processor family. It will also help you find best current pricing, but isn't always accurate.

newegg has a pc builder function which is helpful but only if you buy all your stuff there. If you live close to a microcenter, you'll want to go there and shop their combo deals.

All the builder tools will give you a rough estimate of how much power you'll need. I go a bit over, but unless you're doing a stupid expensive build, you will be unlikely to need more than 850w for a gaming system and 600w for a "regular" system for someone who doesn't do much gaming. That allows a fair amount of headroom for upgrades, since power supplies often last the longest.

Cases are very subjective, but I've done a lot of building in Fractal G Focus cases, which are cheap, big enough for most parts and not the most convenient to build in. I dearly love the Lian Li Lancool 216 which I just built in for the first time, but it's big. REALLY nice cable routing though. Worth it just for the complete lack of barked knuckles, and the fact that you don't need to install like any extra fans beyond whatever your cooling solution is, and it's under $100. Which case you get might depend a lot on aesthetics or space considerations. Like, I paid extra NOT to have a glass side because I don't want extra lights around me, at all. My kid's has a lot of rainbow RBG. Hubby's has a glass side but minimal to no lighting.

Cooling solutions... for any higher end systems for heavy duty users (i.e. gaming a LOT with newer games, doing a lot of computationally heavy 3d modeling or whatever) I like using an aio watercooler. These can be easier to install even than air coolers now, as long as you do a little homework, and the ones I've bought were all under $100. Most users will do fine air cooling, and Gamer's Nexus has some dandy charts on gamersnexus.net that will help you figure out which coolers to use. (Hint, most of them are pretty good!) And for case fans, if you need extra, Arctic has 3-5 packs for super cheap.

But ultimately, if your computer is functioning okay for you, or just needs some upgrades and maintenance, you probably don't need to upgrade. Laptops are a whole 'nother ballgame completely. And you know how I built this system to play a couple of new games?

I ended up mostly playing my old favorites with better graphic settings. LOL.

No regrets, the system is SUPER functional and will last me years and if anything breaks I can fix it. And since then, I've helped two people buy parts, upgraded two computers and built systems for four other people and helped others put together parts list or figure out which laptop would be right for them. And the old computers? Are not ewaste yet, because the build process will allow a lot of moving around of parts to improve the old systems which can then be handed down to other family members. Even my old laptop went on to find use with another family member.

[phoenix]

Wanna help cheer up a disabled trans woman in these dark days?

I am gonna need a new computer by next October. It looks like I can pull off my usual bills and such over the winter, but this one thing is just so far out of my reach by that time.

I'm asking for 1500 dollars and if you can help out here's the link to my Kofi page. And I know that's a lot, so let me explain...

One can argue how much of a "need" a new computer is, and I get it. But as I said, I'm disabled, and my computer is literally my lifeline. I spend genuinely 75% of my waking hours on it. It is where I do my work, it is how I connect to people, it is how I get groceries, it's how I unwind and entertain myself. To me, a computer is an essential part of my life. Some of that can be done from a tablet, sure, but let's just say that is far from an optimal method.

So why do I need a new one? Well...Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 next October, and while my computer is actually in good shape, it's NOT capable of upgrading to Windows 11. And once support ends, running a Win10 computer on the open internet becomes increasingly risky without security patches. And all the upgrades needed at this point, it really does reach the "might as well get a new one".

Why don't I switch to Linux? Well, quite frankly, I (mostly) like Windows, despite their flaws, and yes I am aware with the issues with 11. A lot of the stuff I do still requires Windows, in at least a way I am comfortable doing. I don't really want to learn a whole new operating system, and the hurdles one encounters with running Linux.

And yes, there ARE ways to loophole around upgrading to Windows 11, but that has it's own series of challenges, and could mess up my computer, so it's not exactly an option I want to risk.

Also, I know, whoa, that sure is a lotta money, can't you get a basic computer for much less? Yes, but again, this is where I do almost everything from. While a lot of that is just web surfing and writing, that's not the end of it. I need a computer that can handle more intense usage, for the few times I use editing software. Also, I do occasionally game on it, so having something that can handle that a well, is needed. With the amount of time I spend on it, I want it to be as solid and comfortable to use as possible.

This is also why I'm not looking for a secondhand computer either. I don't want to "inherit someone else's problems" as they say, and since my issues are in using an older computer that runs perfectly fine otherwise, getting an older used computer seems like not the solution I need.

This is also an investment. If I get a good modern computer, it will literally keep me going for 10 or so years, just like the one I am using right now, and the one before it.

I know the sort of computer I'm looking for, I know about the range it costs, and they tend to run around 1300. I'm asking for a bit more just to cover any fees Kofi might take, and any shipping charges and whatnot I run into.

If you can give, great, it is appreciated, but if all you can do is spread the word, that's also great. I've got a year, so a slow trickle of support won't be a bad thing, and can spread things around to a lot of people over a lot of time. Even just getting to 1000, I might be able to fill the gap, but am asking for the whole goal just in case things go wrong.

Without a computer, it will become increasingly difficult for me to do much of anything or even be online. It is literally my connection to the world.

[moonearthangel]

Words guidance or thoughts! Starting this one at 11:10/11:11 :) 👼 -

Sometimes feeling a little off or distant or different is a part of the process to what you were hoping for, just the process, something better, or a solution to something you might want or need. Sometimes a mood is just fleeting or feeling is fleeting and you can let them come and go. Do notice which feelings come back, though! Now more than ever if you’re feeling astrology energy stuff and new and fresh or something rejuvenating or potentially different. Or if you need those things ! Maybe ride the burst of whatever mood you feel into an entirely new phase or chapter, or something you feel you need or have missed out on in the past times.

If you need to heal and health healing, there’s a window where it’s the perfect time to do things or it really might happen, diets may change or you may need or to want to, revisit lifestyle and lifestyle ways, medicine/supplements, vitamins; doing hobbies or brushing up on skills and things. Just kind of hanging out and knowing despite it all, life goes on so to truly just hang out and have a good day. And sometimes and days or weeks more than others.

Sometimes just wanting to see think or feel or experience or live something special and going for it. Having the motivation to believe in magical stuff or wishes happening enough to just be calm and feel it enough peace to just do things or that one or two things.

A good time for a new color palette!

Bringing in new energy vibes or feels lol

Lightening or brightening in some way

Something refreshing or refreshed

Enjoying and really absorbing and feeling and teaming up with the people who feel like you and experiencing life more with like minds and those who admire you and who you love and admire

Not letting people take advantage of you, especially if you’re useful or pure or innocent in some way , self serving people

Being or feeling light and fun and airy

Letting people or yourself change in general apart, change together, or moving past or upgrading something or taking an oath to let something fizzle where it serves you or them both

Running away from people, as much as understanding people could run from you or maybe just putting people aside right now or changing relationship dynamics in some way for better or for worse temporarily or without a goal in mind

Sometimes it’s okay to put goals and any goal on the back burner, too

Just have a good time! Enjoy your people and yourself and take some comfortable or comforting moves or risks :) Don’t let anyone put pressure on your shoulders or make you feel that way, and protect your own energy from morons or protecting and keeping yours centered when you or someone else is acting like one lol.

Enjoy the lighter side of things in whichever way you can or want to or would take that 🩷

Have nice days! Bring in the energy and colors and feelings you notice and like or feel drawn to now especially :) notice signs or signals! Be inspired and refreshed or anew/renewed! :)

Be loving! Accept nothing else unless love is the center of all with someone or something out there

A great time to feel inspiration! For something, anything, all, whatever !

[king-k-ripple]

Kirby Games Ranked From Easiest to Hardest

If you haven’t played a Kirby game and don’t know where to start, hopefully this can help you decide based on what you want from Kirby. If you’re looking for a game to simply relax with and have a good time, games ranked 13-9 will suffice. If you’re looking for a challenge, every Kirby game ranked 5-1 will be up your alley despite the popular belief in all Kirby games being cakewalks. Finally, games 6-8 are what I consider to be an average difficulty by Kirby standards. Keep in mind that the difficulty of these games will be based on simply finishing them, not necessarily 100%ing them, though some games require 100% completion to be finished regardless and I will take that into consideration in games where it will be applicable. If you have played these games, I’d love to see where my rankings agree and/or disagree with the rest of the fandom. Without further ado (oh look a Kirby pun), here are my rankings:

13: Kirby’s Epic Yarn

It is literally impossible to die and no collecting is required. Very little to no effort is needed to finish this game. I wish I could say more, but there isn’t anything else to talk about.

12: Kirby Star Allies

The reason why this ranks so low is because a good amount of the game plays itself with the helpers both in puzzle solving and combat. Bosses, often the hardest parts of Kirby games, go down in mere seconds. The reason why it’s not at the very bottom is because it’s at least possible to die in this game, and there are more one-hit kills in this game than any other game in the series. Yes, there are difficult stages like Heroes in Another Dimension and the return of the infamous Shiver Star factory level, but both of these are completely optional and therefore not make the base game any harder.

11: Kirby Super Star Ultra

The combination of being able to take like 10-12 hits and the sheer power+versatility of the copy abilities makes you almost unstoppable (except for auto scrollers). Not even the extra modes like Revenge of the King are all that hard, and Meta Knightmare Ultra is far easier than the main story because you can heal yourself up to 5 times by collecting 10 blue orbs from killing enemies per use, and seeing as enemies are everywhere, your ability to heal recovers and stacks fast.

10: Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland

Not a lot stopping you except for the eratic enemy behavior, but your 6-point health bar makes it only 1/6th as bad as instant death, and seeing as every door is a checkpoint with about 2-5 doors per stage, and the fact that this game showers you with lives, this game isn’t much of a challenge either. Although this game’s Meta Knightmare is an actual hard mode with only three HP and a lack of blue orbs, it has the same issue as Star Allies’ hardest levels in that it’s optional and doesn’t make simply finishing the game any harder.

9: Kirby Squeak Squad

This is the first game on the list with something that can genuinely halt one’s progress, that being the star seals. The player will not be able to progress to World 7 if they missed at least one star seal. With that being said, the required star seals only barely raise the challenge since there are only five of them, three of which are easy to obtain. Mecha Kracko, Dark Daroach, and the Star seals in 4-2 and 5-1 are the only somewhat hard parts of the game. Aside from that, it’s basically Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland 2 but even more forgiving with combat because of the ability scrolls and health upgrades.

8: Kirby’s Dreamland 1

Both the levels and bosses are pushovers. It doesn’t help that this is the shortest Kirby game by a long shot, so there isn’t much challenge the game can throw at you. So why is this in the middle of the list? It’s because of King Dedede, who is easily the hardest Dedede fight in the series. It’s all thanks to the claustrophobic arena you fight him in, making the window for evasion of Dedede’s attacks far smaller than the fights in the rest of the series. I legit “game overed” to this fight many times when I played Dreamland 1 for the fist time. Even to this day, Dedede knocks me out a few times before I get the hang of his move set. Regardless, one very difficult boss fight in an otherwise easy and short game can only get Dreamland 1 so high up on the list.

7: Kirby Return to Dreamland

Now we get to the games that consistently require effort to finish, and not just limited to one or a few instances. Return to Dreamland is basically Kirby Star Allies but with less automation in that you have to perform a lot more tasks yourself, from problem solving to obstacle dodging to combat. Although the number of one-hit kills isn’t quite as high as in Star Allies, it’s up there, especially in Egg Engines.

6: Kirby 64 the Crystal Shards

This entry would be a solid contender for the hardest game in the series if it weren’t for its cheat code, because Kirby 64 has the highest number of mandatory 100% completion tasks, but because the code exists, Kirby 64 is middle of the road when it comes to difficulty, and it plays a lot like Return to Dreamland, being a straightforward action platformer where the meat of the game is overcoming tricky to fight+dodge enemies+obstacles, with a fair amount of obstacles being 1-hit kills. The reason why 64 is above Return to Dreamland is because Kirby is nowhere near as agile in 64. Not only can he run out of flight, but he walks and runs slowly, making avoiding obstacles harder to avoid than Return to Dreamland.

5: Kirby’s Dreamland 2

If you’re like me and prefer easy games over hard ones, this is where the franchise transitions from a lot of fun to kind of frustrating. This game has a 100% completion requirement in the form of rainbow drops, though there are only seven to collect. While that sounds easy, getting the rainbow drops in 4-4, 5-5, and 6-2 are some of the hardest things to do in a Kirby game. 4-4 and 5-5 are fast-moving auto scrollers that can easily one-shot you and take away the power you need for the Rainbow drops. 6-2 has an insane amount to steps to get its rainbow drop, and all must be performed in a row flawlessly. Another thing that puts this game high on the list is the lack of time to react to pretty much anything and everything. Ever played Marble Garden Zone from Sonic 3? The zone where you move far too fast and the hazards move far too fast for you to react? Imagine if every stage was like that, it was on a 10-9 aspect ratio, and the sprites were large relative to the screen. That is basically the level design of Kirby’s Dreamland 2. With no time to react to and prepare for any enemies or hazards, a player is likely to take hits and die quite often, many of which feel more like the game’s fault than a lack of the player’s skill.

4: Kirby Planet Robobot

3: Kirby Triple Deluxe

2: Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Triple Deluxe, Planet Robobot, and Forgotten Land all share the same reasons for their high placements on this list. The first reason is not allowing non-completionists to finish any world if they haven’t obtained enough collectibles, many of which become inaccessible if the player fails to collect them after one attempt. The second reason is because unlike the rest of the series, completing the boss rushes are required to finish the games because the final bosses can’t simply be fought in the main stories and instead are locked behind the tail ends of the boss rushes, and unlike the regular stages, there are no checkpoints or continues in the boss rushes, so the margin for error is insanely small. The reasons why the Kirby games are in this order are because Triple Deluxe on average demands more sun stones than Robobot does for code cubes and the absence of the stone ability in Forgotten Land makes the boss rush at least ten times harder than it was in Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot.

1: Kirby’s Dreamland 3

Imagine taking the difficulty of Dreamland 2’s 4-4, 5-5, and 6-2’s rainbow drops and putting it in every single stage of the game. That is basically what you get for Dreamland 3. There is not one heart star that isn’t a pain in the butt to get, and the worst part is that they are all mandatory. Because there is absolutely zero margin for error, I have no choice but to put this game above all the others when it comes to difficulty.

This truly was an interesting way to analyze the Kirby series, and if you have a difference in opinion, I’d love to hear what Kirby games gave you the easiest and hardest time.

[perseyhandmaiden]

11:45am Reached Programming Level 7 Now Nova can make mobile phone apps.

Nova has unlocked the techy lifestyle from living a life immersed in technology! She prefers to use technology over non-electronic objects; she will have an increase in programming and rocket science skills. Nova can apply the Overclocked Upgrade to computers and then Enthuse about Processing Power with other sims Nova has improved success when repairing and upgrading electronics and an increased work performance in tech related careers. Nova will become tense when on a lot without power or after going without technology for too long.

12:26pm Boost +2 Content Indoors from Indoorsy lifestyle Who even needs fresh air? That's what windows are for!

12:49pm Very Energized +11 (4H) Inspired boost wore off Focused +1 from enabling emotional aura on decor.

Nova's concentration is broken only briefly by a phone call from Yumi. RING RING It's good to hear your voice Nova! I wanted to ask you if I should get to know Mila Munch a little better as a friend? They seem like good company.

"I think you should go for it! I hear she's a good cook… Maybe you can swap recipes."

2:26pm Nova successfully hacked to her work performance. Working smart is better than working hard. Nova hacking her work performance is better than both!

That's 2 goals completed before dinner. It's only time for one more!

[kaiba-cave]

Aaaah I finally did it and ordered all the parts for a gaming PC. 😳 I couldn't stop thinking about it (literally couldn't sleep lmao) and I searched all over for pre-built ones that I liked but being able to choose my own colour was a big part of building my own, lmao. I NEEDED it to be white, and all the pre-built white ones I found were too expensive. I used PC Part Picker to find all the parts so here's hoping they're all properly compatible and everything, and that I don't have any major issues putting it together. If I do, I'll have to just figure it out! Ended up being sliiiiightly cheaper than I thought it would be, which is good. I'll need to get a better keyboard and mouse eventually but for now the crappy ones I have will be good enough for testing it and stuff. And only got a 24" monitor because I feel like 27" would be a bit too big for my desk, pfft. My iMac screen is 24" and it's perfect.

White case, white coolers, and white monitor, but everything else black because it's cheaper and easier to find plain black parts. Someday when I have even more money I'll maybe update and try to get more white components but for now I'm happy that the case is white, mainly so it doesn't look dusty so often. 😂

I'm surprised my bank didn't flag my account or something though because I had to make multiple purchases on multiple different websites worth a few hundred bucks each which I never do, pfft. It seems like it all went through fine, though.

I'm so nervous and excited at the same time. Like, I don't think I've ever even owned a computer with more than 16gb of ram in it before, pfft. Never mind an actual separate GPU and not just whatever integrated one it came with. As long as I can put it together properly it'll probably blow me away compared to every past computer I've had, lmao.

Please don't tell me any of this is crappy or I could've done better because that would stress me out and I did tons of research so I think/hope it's all okay for what I need for now. It's obviously not the best ever because I can't afford a $5k machine, lmao.

But the main stuff is:

Intel Core i5 14600KF Thermalight Frozen Notte ARGB Liquid Cooler (only chose liquid for the aesthetics tbh, everything I read said liquid and air coolers could do the same job) GeForce RTX 4060 32GB DDR5 RAM 1TB SSD (will definitely add another one eventually) and Windows 11 Home USB

I wanted to get a better CPU but everywhere I looked said the i5 would do fine and for the price I had to go with i5. Plus I have to remember that I can upgrade this eventually if I want to.

[cleoselene]

I got my new laptop today after almost a month without. My old one broke and was protected under the protection plan but holy shit did it take FOREVER to get that process going. I was using this really crappy little 11 inch tablet with keyboard thing that belongs to my mom's friend these last weeks and it has been MISERABLE. She left it in Florida when she went north for the summer because she dropped it and the screen is cracked, it's all fucked

the good news is, I decided to upgrade and get a nicer machine this time around, because I've gone cheap my last couple of laptops, too cheap, and it's been meh. Anyway, I got a nicer machine (and another protection plan because even though it took a while it was better than paying all over again) and this one is just... man what an upgrade. And none of the bullshit they put in new computers that I DON'T want: no fucking touchscreen, no fucking Windows 11. A decent sized hard drive. A dedicated graphics card. I can play World of Warcraft again!! I haven't played it in 7 years lol but I played it 10 years before that and in some ways I feel like my brain has never let the WoW leave it to make room for new games, so I gotta go back.

[fat-fuck-hairy-belly]

Linux users, I'm sending an SOS. I've been using Windows 7 ever since all the games and programs stopped working on XP, and now the same is happening to 7. The problem is I can't upgrade my Lenovo Ideapad to 10/11. 11 says my laptop doesn't meet minimal requirements and for the love of all that is good I just can't make 10 work. I've spent the whole day dealing with a bunch of errors trying to install it, and now that I've finally installed it, the system just crashes into frowny face blue screen every time I log in.

I am about to just give up on trying to make windows 10 work and try my luck with Linux instead. The only problem is that I have absolutely zero experience with Linux or coding, I can be called computer illiterate even when it comes to windows. Can somebody please recommend me the easiest to use Linux version for someone who primarily uses computers to play videogames and browse internet? And some resources to learn how to use that version?

[pixelplayground]

Hi pxl! I apologize if this has been previously asked, but what are your PC peripherals? I’d appreciate your two-cents before I blow my savings on a good setup :’)

Hello, I have but it was a really long time ago and I have since changed configurations so I don't mind answering again. I need to preface and stress that you absolutely do not need the set up that I have just for gaming or the sims. I'm running on a professional grade workstation for other reasons. (I also use Apple, and play on Bootcamp with a Windows 11 partition):

Mac Pro (2019)

8-Core Intel Xeon W-3223 3.50 GHz

Radeon Pro W6800X 32GB DDR6 VRAM

128GB DDR5 RAM

16TB SSD Internal Storage Across 3 PCI Slots

My advice for building or selecting a gaming PC is to invest as much as you can in graphics power (graphics card), and RAM and adequate cooling. These parts of your hardware will be more beneficial to a better gaming experience than getting a 12 core processor, for example. Do not waste money on a system that you cannot upgrade the parts of in the future! — I would always, always go for a Desktop tower over a laptop 10000% of the time if you're looking for the best gaming experience. Also remember that you can always switch out your SSD drive with a bigger one, or add more as you go along, so don't worry too much about wasting $$$ on storage either. Here is a list of systems in various price ranges for 2024 (assuming you are in the US/UK).

Hopefully, that helps, but also understand it's probably not the exact answer you were looking for because I'm a weird case user lol.