#also I know some of those are variants or just more specific versions of previous flags

[rubyscarbuncle]

Honestly at this rate with all the communities I'm a part of I feel like I'm collecting flags like a pirate stealing Jolly Rogers with each conquest. Like this is my spread. What the fuck. God really said "yeahh put all the neurodivergent fagginess in that girlthing" and I am here now like this as a result. Not a complaint! I love being an incredibly sapphic queer girlthing who does stimmy and would frankly pass on sex but just wow like people like me exist so cishet neurotypicals can exist too I guess. I had to hog it for myself :3

[moralleets]

[morallee] MASSIVE UPDATE (new thumbnails, fixes, new cc, etc.)

I worked on this update for straight up months, because of the amount of cc I made so far (it's more than a 100 cc pieces in one year!) and I really hope that the waiting time was worth it!

⚠️ IMPORTANT ⚠️

please I BEG YOU delete all of the old files of mine! like, every single one of them. if you have both the new and the old versions 1. your cas will look AWFUL like a freaking mess, all thumbnail being different and stuff 2. it might will cause issues with how some things show up and work.

and when I say DELETE I actually mean DELETE, do not just replace the files (they won't actually replace anyway btw)

LIST OF FIXES AND CHANGES:

all of the files are renamed. every single one of them. that's the reason you won't actually be able to just "replace" the old files :P

all of my cc is now compatible with @sejianismodding's CAS Filters Mod! you can just tick my nickname in the search bar in CAS in filters and only my cc will show up! it works in every CAS category where there's a filter bar. all my new cc will also be compatible with this mod.

new thumbnails for all past supported cc and new from now on! I will also try to come up with new preview design ideas — to match the thumbnails. also, it's worth noting that some thumbnails presented in this post in the previews are not the ones that I actually kept (might've changed the titles, pics etc)

all of the files were updated, either textures improved, maps/tags/LODs fixed or swatches added; no more inappropriate/missing categories for my cc! yay. also — fixed all of the items that should've been disabled for random but weren't. most hairstyles were fixed and are no more inappropriately morphing, missing hat chops/LODs added! the only hairstyle that still does not have hat chops at all it's Ozzie's.

if you want some specific examples of the work I've done, here you go:

Angel Dust Suit — I added the little heart-shaped button on the back that I only noticed on his suit after I initially released his CC.

Lucifer Hair (all variants) — they were all deforming weirdly in the ear area — I fixed that. I also changed the hat chops for the hat-specific variants to work with future stuff that I'll release. The textures were HQ, but also not really, so I compressed them back to 1024x2048 and their files weight half of what they were before.

Vaggie Pilot Dress — the weights and uv_1 were really AWFUL on this one and it had a lot of gaps in between some parts of the mesh, which I fixed.

Vox TV Head, Pointy Demon Feet, Cherri Bomb Hair and probably some other items — all of those did not have other LODs, so if you ever experienced cc suddenly changing when scrolling out OR if you're playing on low graphics and in the gameplay these items were not showing up correctly IT'S PURELY MY FAULT and they will show up normally now!

okay I probably can go back to listing less specific changes I made!

some scars/body details are now available in more than one category (tattoos, body skin details, body scars etc.)

tattoos fixed and now work with the new business and hobbies categories system and work with the tattoo layers!

new versions of some old cc pieces! Lucifer Coat and Lucifer Vest got new versions with better bow ties, Alastor Coat now also comes in two versions< the second one being with torn a overcoat Blitzo's Coat got an Asmodean Crystal Version! Charlie Suit now comes as a full-body piece too!

all default eye colours are now close to each other in the swatch tab, and not randomly thrown somewhere in between other swatches as it was before due to me not understanding how DisplayIndex works for eye swatches

some meshes edited to have less polygons/cleaner uv_1 (morph) maps or to fix weight issues. all cc from now on also won't have any of those issues because now I know how it can be fixed easily!

A LOT of the previous hairstyles RETEXTURED with several options and are now compatible with @raccoonium's splits, racoon tails, ombres and roots!

those hairstyles being:

Charlie Hair, Lucifer Hair and Lilith Hair – two new options each, Split and Strands. Strands gives the same look as the Original versions do, but yeah, they're overlay-compatible!

Millie Hair – Split version

Angel Dust Hair – Strands version

NEW HAIRSTYLE Verosika Hair – has 4 options/versions, the Original one, the Original + Extra Strands, the Bangs and the Split.

some hairstyles now have indicators on their thumbnails, if they're the "extra strands" version of a hairstyle (the little XST box) or if they're not compatible with hats (the crossed baseball hat)

modified DisplayIndex numbers! now in CAS all of the items I make will be automatically sorted by fandoms AND by characters. it's probably not that noticeable right now, but as time goes and I'll make more outfits for all of the characters it'll become more clear and useful!

you can find the whole list of DisplayIndex numbers here:

LINK TO GOOGLE DOCS FILE: DISPLAYINDEX NUMBERS SHEET (FOR REFERENCE PURPOSES ONLY)

DOWNLOAD

INDIVIDUALLY (SFS)

Hazbin Hotel CC

Helluva Boss CC

Miscellaneous CC

ALL FILES AT ONCE (files by character)

(PATREON, PATRONS ONLY)

CLICK HERE

a little disclaimer (yes, after the actual deed)

I do feel a bit weird/bad/guilty about paywalling merged files, but I do put a lot of time and effort into making this stuff... so it's kind of fair if you spend time/effort downloading it too or donate? I really hope you get my point of view and don't think I'm a greedy bastard... (⁠；⁠^⁠ω⁠^⁠）

I also created a first-month-discount for all new patrons in honor of this update so yeahhhh c:

I'm really grateful for any kind of your support tho, financial or just... just being here? I really, really appreciate that. I'm glad to be part of this community and have such wonderful people following me and waiting patiently for new thing I make.

! ! NEW CC ! !

(yes, these are available on SFS and Patreon both as separate files and merged for patrons as always!!)

• [morallee] Verosika Hair

ORIGINAL POST — DOWNLOAD

• [morallee] Angel Dust High Heel Boots

ORIGINAL POST — DOWNLOAD

• [morallee] Husker Wings

ORIGINAL POST — DOWNLOAD

• [morallee] Husker 3D Fully Animated Eyebrows

ORIGINAL POST — DOWNLOAD

• [morallee] Vox Gills + Trans Masc Version Swatches

tumblr please don't content label this post these are male boobs okay there's nothing sexual or suggestive about this post tumblr please 😭

ORIGINAL POST — DOWNLOAD

• [morallee] Blitzø Harvest Moon Festival Outfit REMADE

ORIGINAL POST — DOWNLOAD

AND NOW WE NEED TO TALK

under the cut ofc

I started creating CC for a few reasons — first off, I wanted to see my favorite characters in my favorite game. Naturally, that led to me messing around and figuring out how to actually make that happen. Second, I wanted to express my creativity through 3D modeling, texture painting, and character creation, especially since I felt like my general art skills weren’t quite enough to fully bring my ideas to life.

It’s been over a year now since I started this blog, and I’ve made more than 100 pieces of CC — clothes, hairstyles, accessories, and a bunch more. Every single time I see people mention me in CC creators spreadsheets or literally just tagged I feel so damn good. I feel seen, I feel helpful, I feel important. I’m genuinely so proud of everything I’ve done and I’m incredibly thankful to everyone who stuck around and supported me through it all, even when I took breaks or didn’t always meet everyone’s expectations.

I’M NOT SAYING I’M QUITTING

— if that’s what you’re worried about.

But honestly? Holy fuck, I’m exhausted. Like, really tired. I took on way too much responsibility and didn’t even realize it until recently. I pushed so hard for so long that I kinda burned myself out without noticing.

Maybe it’s the fatigue after this whole update thing that's talking. Maybe it’s something else. I’m not sure.

What I am sure about is how much progress I’ve made in my art journey. Making Sims 4 CC has helped me grow SO much — working in both 2D and 3D gave me a crazy boost in skill and confidence. For the first time in years, I feel good about my art. I’m making stuff I actually love. I’m even selling my fan merch — that’s a dream come true for me!

Creating Sims 4 CC became such a big part of my life. There were days where it was all I could think about — turning on my computer and diving into it. It’s fun, it’s exhausting, and I still love it. Right now... I just need some time. To explore more aspects of what I can/want to do, perhaps.

I’ll still be making CC, but I don’t want to make promises or commit to anything 100%. I want this to stay fun. I hate that my hobby became something so stressful that it’s hard to even go back to it. I want to make CC because I feel inspired, not because I said I would. And I also want to just... y’know, work on other fandoms too, shitpost with my sims, share random screenshots, play dynasties — be a regular simblr, too.

Thanks so much for reading this. I hope it makes sense. I’m not great with words when I need to be sincere (honestly, I'm just not great with words at all), but I really needed to get this off my chest. I’m so grateful to everyone who’s been supporting me, and to anyone who still chooses to stick around even if I can’t promise anything right now. I really hope I’m not letting anyone down by slowing things down or taking other paths, but if I am — I’m truly sorry ):

If you’re interested in my other projects, feel free to check out my linktree — I do art and write and sell stuff, it's fun.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart, lovies. xoxo

[glassprism]

Hi! I was wondering if you know the history of the Broadway Star Princess dress and why it’s so different to London’s version? I saw your post saying it was originally from Vegas, but didn’t Sarah Brightman also wear the Broadway version at one point?

So first, I think you might be a bit confused about the wording in my last post. I never said the Star Princess costume itself was from Vegas. I said that the specific photo of the specific Star Princess that I linked was from Vegas. That specific costume was created there and then later sent to Broadway, one of many, many other Star Princess costumes among their stock. The Vegas production opened in 2006, years after the Broadway production opened in 1988, so they certainly did not design and come up with that costume. Rather the Vegas production created their own specific variant of it (albeit one still very close to the Broadway design), and when the Vegas production closed, that costume was sent to the still-running Broadway production to be used there. I hope that clarifies!

On to the history, which might also answer the second part of your question. The first thing to note is that the Star Princess was not the original dress Christine wore in 'Masquerade'. That dress was the fondly nicknamed "Hershey's kiss" dress, which looked like this:

Supposedly the dress was not very popular with the Christine actresses, so when the show went to Broadway, it was redesigned into the Star Princess dress we know today. That's also why you see Sarah Brightman wearing both - she wore the "Hershey's kiss" dress on the West End and the Star Princess on Broadway.

After a few months, the West End production also adopted the Star Princess costume, and has used it to this day. Now, you did ask why the West End and Broadway versions differ. Well, in fact, in the early days the Star Princess did not differ that much at all between the two flagship productions, as you can see below - West End on the left, Broadway on the right. There's differences, sure, but they're nowhere near as striking as it is now - you have the dark blue ruffles along the chest that continue into the sleeves, rows of beading along those ruffs, light shades, nice transition from darker pink to light, very similar shape and styling of the bodice, and so on.

So why did it change? Well, same reason every costume in every production worldwide has slight changes from each other: different costume makers, different materials, different interpretation of the design. Especially when Maria Bjornson died, I feel like the West End production started getting more experimental. Meanwhile, Broadway was more traditional, so their costumes adhered closer to the original style as the West End struck out for new avenues. So it's actually kind of funny that you ask about the history of the Broadway Star Princess, like that's the one that chose to be different, when the reality is the opposite - you should look at the history of the West End Star Princess and see what happened there.

To demonstrate, I made a little transition photoset below. The top row is West End, bottom row is Broadway, and the photos go chronologically from left to right, starting from the early 90s and ending with the West End revival and Broadway re-opening in the 2020s.

Hopefully you can (squint and) see what I mean there. Looking at the bottom row, you can see that the Broadway production certainly makes some changes here and there, but the overall design has remained largely the same from when it began in 1988: dark blue ruffles that continue from chest to arms, silvery beading, soft shades of pink, a bell-like skirt shape.

Meanwhile in the top row, the West End production has undergone a lot of changes, but hopefully you can also see that it's not exactly a jarring shift from one to the next. Rather, it seems like they're taking each previous iteration and just making it more extreme. The previous dress was a little brighter in color? Well now we're going to make them even bolder. Arm ruffles the size of pool floaties? Well now we're going to make them the size of your head. Simplifying the bodice beading? Well now we're going to take away entire rows of them. And so on.

And hopefully what that teaches you is how changes gather and snowball over time, how a little shift can lead to another shift, and another, and another, until you look back and realize that what seemed like a minor change at the time has been magnified over the years to become a much larger one.

(Also thank you to @operafantomet and her wonderful blog of photos, many of which I took for this post.)

[dragonmarquise]

I was reading through some of your tags for the post and some of them caught my eye, specifically when you were talking Abt the ref and Felix thing. Why do you get angry Abt it????/gen I'm not trying to be rude, I'm generally all around New to the fandom and I wanna know why-

Okay so!! Honestly this is a fair question to ask, because anyone particularly new to the fandom or even the game in general isn’t going to know the whole context about this situation.

Short(ish) summary (also spoilers of course!): In the postgame, Red still appears at cypher spots, even though going by the story Red and Felix are the same person, and the red cyberhead was destroyed by the end of the game. Taking it at face value, some people interpret it as Red somehow coming back as a separate person from Felix. Which is a cool AU idea imo!

Unfortunately, a decent amount of people have a heavy preference towards Red over Felix, usually either because they’re too used to Red from playing as him for most of the game, or even because they see Felix as ugly/unattractive in comparison.

So then those people tend to use that AU as a way to replace Felix, basically (in my mind at least) throwing out Felix’s character development from the game in favor of Red. When from the canon story’s perspective, they’re the same damn person anyways. And like, I just find that really rude towards him, and I say this as a person who enjoys that AU too, though evidently in a different way from what other people are doing. D:

Longer rant with more details/complaints under the cut:

There are a few different variants of this AU, just to list a few scenarios:

Red is actually a somehow revived Faux, basically using the red cyberhead to hide his identity. Why he does this can vary: him wanting to actual repent for what happened and trying to start doing so by hiding his real identity, or even just hiding himself as he plots to get revenge on Felix and the rest of BRC.

Red is a copy (either complete or partial) of Felix’s mind during the time he spent stuck in the red cyberhead. Basically that converting the red cyberhead to preserve Felix’s head didn’t remove all of the systems/internals related to a normal cyberhead’s functions. The idea being maybe the Flesh Prince had to do a rush job due to needing to keep Felix’s head preserved as quickly as possible to prevent too much rotting/memory loss. Thus some systems are still there, reading Felix’s mind and later result in Red once the red cyberhead is put back together. I will admit I did talk about this scenario in a previous post of mine!

A fun one from a friend of mine: Red still existing turns out to be because a player of the actual BRC game managed to get isekai’d into the world, with them somehow getting put into a newly revived Red as his new "AI" mind. Then having to navigate the world and maybe even befriend BRC, trying to also convince them that he’s not suspicious (especially given his knowledge of the events of the game). Also dealing with how actually moving around and doing things as a writer firsthand is WAY different from just doing it in a video game, lol

Another one from a different friend: Red is “revived” by the Flesh Prince as a new lacky. Though it’s not “Red” from the game, he just found Faux’s old body and then put a completely new cyberhead on it with a basic AI, declaring it his new minion. Shenanigans ensue, probably. :P

But the one that a decent amount of people seem to prefer: Red being the one to experience most if not all of the game, connecting with the rest of BRC and becoming friends. Felix recovering his memories is still a thing here, and him basically taking the reigns once the endgame starts to defeat Faux for good. But then after that it’s revealed Felix still doesn’t have much of a friendship with the others, because it turned out that was all Red, as a separate mind/AI/etc. from Felix. So then in this version of the AU, Red is part of BRC because of the connections he made, while Felix leaves and goes back to being a solo writer because his only connection to BRC was them helping him recover his memories. It’s using Red as a complete replacement for Felix, even though canonically they’re the same person anyways.

And like… ultimately people will do whatever they want with AUs and stuff like this, I can’t force people to stop what they’re doing or agree with the criticisms I have here. And I will admit, I used to like the last point in a “WHOA that’d be a pretty cool twist!!” way, but then later thinking on it more, and realizing… no, actually, this feels like a shitty thing to do to the narrative, especially to poor Felix.

His whole thing is like!! He was friends but also rivals with DJ Cyber and Faux, until eventually going solo for All City, and even admitting he prefers to work alone. We don’t get details on why he feels that way, but we can imagine a ton of ideas for it: he has more of an ego than he lets on? He didn’t want DJ Cyber or Faux to get hurt during the path to All City, so he decides to just go for it by himself? He still genuinely thinks of them as his friends, but overall he’s generally a more aloof loner kind of person and that’s why he went solo? There’s a bunch of options!

Regardless of his reasons, he went solo for All City. He had a one night graffiti session with Faux afterwards, maybe to just check on him and catch up. But otherwise to me it implies there weren’t going to be too many more sessions like these in the future, be it with Faux or anyone else.

And then, Faux kills him. Faux’s own motivations for that are also another fascinating potential for cool fics/AUs/etc. But that’s maybe for another post. :P

Anyways! Felix is dead, but manages to get preserved and eventually revived as Red. Early on in the game, I believe right at the beginning of Chapter 2, Red decides to go up against DJ Cyber in order to find out about his own forgotten roots. And he actually starts to go off by himself, until Tryce stops him! Then Tryce tells him they’re doing this together as a crew, and the way I see it, Red is probably going, “Wait, you… want to still help me? Even if it means fighting against a guy like DJ Cyber? Really??”

Because! Again, my own interpretation, Red doesn’t have all his memories back, but I think Felix’s personality is still there, just subconsciously, y’know? “I gotta do this on my own, can’t rely on anyone else, don’t want others to get hurt because of me” etc. So this is imo one of the first big steps in Felix’s character development that I feel is going on throughout the game: learning that it’s okay to have your friends help you, and to help them out in return, sticking together until the very end and even beyond that!

I mean, just saying, Tryce and Bel join in with Vinyl and DJ Cyber to keep Mech!Faux open for a final attack during his boss fight. That’s some serious friendship right there, willing to put yourself on the line for a friend!!

So then, to basically say, “No, most/all of that was actually just Red, and Red and Felix are separate people so Felix doesn’t need to stick around with BRC anymore” is like…

Okay, pardon my language here, but it’s effectively throwing out Felix’s whole character arc, and frankly it’s fucking insulting towards him!! Guy has the power of badass friendship and hella illegal graffiti on his side, and some people wanna rip that away from him?! Come the fuck on!!

And to emphasize, I used to like this idea as like, an amazing didn’t-see-it-coming twist. But then thinking on it more, it just really isn’t fair to Felix! At all! Especially since I really do think he has an interesting character arc, going from insisting on doing things solo, to gaining new friends and going All City a second time with, in his words, “a whole crew of the best homies around”.

Literally, he says that at the hideout in the postgame! I’m kinda paraphrasing based on memories, but that’s actually what he says more or less.

Also, a lot of people in the fandom seem to really enjoy this AU specifically as a way to replace Felix with Red in their minds/headcanons/stories. Some of them just ended up very attached to Red because of playing as him for most of the game anyways. Which, y’know, that’s reasonable at least! But then for others, they latch onto this AU because of having a genuine dislike (and in some cases, outright hatred) towards Felix.

From my observations and experiences, if it’s not because they got too attached to Red, it’s mostly rooted in people not finding Felix “attractive”. That’s it, possibly the most selfish fucking reason a person could have for wanting to forcefully throw out a character’s development, like what the hell man.

imo it also reeks of a problem that some other fandoms tend to have: dissing more masculine men in the cast, in favor of the more feminine/twink men. Some people may debate on whether Red/Faux would count as a twink, especially with how the term has been watered down recently (fun fact, it was meant to be mainly used in an LGBT+ context, so specifically for LGBT+ men who fit the appearance!!). But, I hope people reading this get the idea of what I’m trying to point out here. :/

Another thing about how people are trying to use Red to replace Felix: they treat this AU like it’s canon, or that they think it should be canon. Even though it’s not, that’s the point of calling it an AU!! Like I mentioned way earlier, I’m not going to stop anyone from going into this sort of AU, even if I personally have criticism for it if it’s handled in a certain way. But what I’m not going to let slide is people trying to force an AU to be considered canon and the way it should be.

The point of an AU is to have fun with possibilities, not try to reject and replace the original canon completely!! D:

Anyways, this is uh. Pretty long as is. So I want to wrap up with at least what I personally like about the potential for a “Red comes back as a separate person” AU. Which is evidently very different from what most people enjoy about that kind of AU.

I mentioned this in my old post I linked to earlier in this post, but basically: Red is not used as a replacement for Felix, but he exists alongside him and the rest of BRC. They could even become like brothers to one another. Red being the “younger” brother who is (quite literally) new to life and wants to go out there and explore and experience all the good stuff, even in a chaotic way. And then Felix being the “older” brother, still being chill like he was before, yet also more responsible and cautious because of what he went through, thus wanting to make sure Red is safe and sort of be his mentor through these things. Felix maybe even feels like he's the main reason Red is here at all, so then he feels responsible with guiding Red and making sure he turns out alright, y'know?

… At least, that’s more or less what I would want to aim for. Them coexisting and even getting more character development for the both of them! I would take more about the specifics of how this would all work. But I do have fan fics and other stuff I want to do someday to share those ideas more. Thus I will stop here for today, hopefully I will be able to get around to those fan fics and stuff in the future! Maybe.

So yeah, that about wraps up my thoughts on this topic? I probably came off as too hostile at some points, sorry about that. It’s just, I think this particular version of the AU is especially frustrating when it’s coming from people who are clearly only using it to replace the “ugly” Felix with the more “attractive” Red. Sometimes it’s subtle, other times it’s more obvious, but either way it’s just damn annoying for me at this point. :(

[darkfictionjude]

Etymology nonnie here!

I have come back. And well, I almost regret writing what I did about the names in a previous ask. This is because most of the names that begin with "Luc-" are names that I do not like that much, or that often got replaced by an English variant by Italian Americans (during the 1950s, since that's when Luce was born, if my calculation was correct they were born in 1952, but the data I found wasn't so specific).

Worse, I ended up with a selection of three names. None of which had nothing to do with Luce. In any case, I believe the nickname has more to do with personality or how the character is seen by others. Or it may be related to the incident. Who knows? Not me, but you do, dear Jude.

Those names are:

1) Angelo: While it was often replaced by an English name (like Andy or Andrew), it was used enough at the time for me to consider it. I enjoy the contrast with the story and setting. And I always have liked the name. More so than the Spanish version (I do like Ángel, but I prefer the Italian 'g' sound most of the time). Also, I think it fits with the idea I have of Luce so far. Yet I may be wrong, so I may give it some thought before picking this one.

2) Michele: In most circumstances it would be readily replaced by Michael (which I'm also technically considering, but I want to consider Michele the main choice instead of Michael). But I like the Italian version better.

*I did consider the combination of Michelangelo, but I think too much of the artist, and I don't feel worthy. Lol.

3) Ernesto: I like Earnest better, probably. And I find funny both Italian and Spanish have the same spelling and pronunciation. Similar to Angelo, I enjoy the contrast between the meaning and the story and setting. And the meaning seems to make sense with the Luce I'm imagining in my mind given what little we know of them.

Now, I'm not making you choose (although any commentary about your preference is welcome). Rather, I'm curious about something more open and that can help other players figuring the name they want for their Luce.

See, it was common for Italian Americans to use a translation or a similar English sounding name of an Italian name. Although, there were still some who used the proper Italian name. What I'm wondering is what Luce's parents would prefer? Would they go for the original Italian name, or would they prefer an English one because of how convenient it can be for Luce in their daily life?

Now I'm also remembering that Luce is probably customizable, which means their ethnicity is not necessarily just Italian American. In that case, would Luce's parents consider a name that resembled the other ethnic/country origin (of the mother, I would believe)? Or an Italian one? Or an English name both out of convenience for Luce and as a compromise between the two heritages?

Also, maybe unrelated, but feel free to ignore it if that's the case: Do you have a name for the MC you play when you are playtesting? Does it change based on IF? Do you go with a gender neutral name for all those MCs (since I assume some interactions based on gender require a different MC while testing), or with a specific name for male MCs and female MCs?

So yeah Luce doesn’t have to be Italian American, they can be mixed. Their father is Italian, he’s pure Italian but Maria can be from any background. As I’ve said the Italian heritage is strong in the family and it is traditionally patriarchal and so the children’s names are Italian names, not English variants. Antonio chose his children’s names.

I actually don’t have a specific name, I choose the first name available for each gender just to see how gender influenced flavour text is looking. So by that measure it does change for each IF since the suggested names are all different. For WWC, it’s normal yet old names, for EC it’s traditional Italian names, for OYHS it’s names that real Hollywood actors had. From what I’ve seen most players don’t think that much about their character’s name, really. Many people use the same name across many IFs

[marsmarvel02]

Brothership posting: Offandon Island, sidequests, islets, and the Return Of Ice And Fire

- I know I probably misread their names, but I'd still rather believe that those totem-pole enemies are named Miltons.

- Speaking of, did I ever mention how, when I was a little kid, I wouldn't know the names of video game enemies and would make up names on my own- and for some reason, while playing Super Mario Galaxy 2, I decided that the Lakitus looked like "Melvin"s. Specifically, "Cloud Melvins".

- For some reason, in this part I just had problems first-striking enemies with a Ball Blitz- like, I'd hit them, and the battle would start, but it wouldn't count as a first strike. Does anyone know why this would happen?

- Also, it is my dream to first-strike a Koopa with a Ball Blitz.

- As someone who knows about the previous Mario & Luigi games from Chuggaaconroy's let's plays, I appreciate the counter for one of the koopas' attacks being the old version of the Green Shell attack.

- As for the sidequests... my god, I hate the ones that make you fish, because it always requires some specific kind of fish, and I always spend ages and ages (and coins and coins) catching Mushrooms, Refreshing Herbs, Bullionfish, and Coinfish. And nothing else.

- Right now, the fishing sidequests have been tame, but I shudder to think of the day when they'll make me go after some fish that only appears in a certain sea... probably without telling me it only appears in one sea.

- Fighting enemies for materials to give to Maykit is also annoying, but nowhere near as much.

- OH MY GOD Spinies are annoying as bleep to fight. That one attack where they turn into a spinning arm just goes on FOREVER, and I hate the one where they march in a line and you have to jump over them one by one- because after I land from the first jump it doesn't let me jump again in time, and I just keep getting hit and hit and hit.

- Off to Heatfreeze Island, and I'm actually disappointed I didn't get to see Burnadette's BurnBlast.

- Which gets me thinking- what would it be like to fight a Concordian? Like, if they got turned into enemies by some weird variant of Glohm, what would their attacks be?

-- Actually, that sounds like a really fun idea- though I shudder to think of a boss fight against Glohm Wilma.

- Man, these Bowser's Army enemies attacking in such large numbers has got me actually using my Bros. Attacks against regular enemies regularly. Fortunately, I have like forty syrup jars.

- Another thing- if you're good at this game, you'll never need to buy a single item; everything you need and more can be found in question mark blocks.

- I LOVE the joke with the guardians asking us to bring peace to the two villages, not realizing that's already happened- and the Mario Bros. not giving them the flowers back when they find out.

- Speaking of- EXCELLENT Bros. Ability. Very unexpected, and a nice callback to Mario's fire powers in Superstar Saga.

[kaialone]

Kirby Planet Robobot Translation Comparison: Pause Screens (Part 1)

This will be a comparison of the original Japanese version and the US English localized version.

Specifically, this will cover the pause screen descriptions of all bosses faced during the main story of the game.

While I’m mainly comparing the US English version to the Japanese one, I’ll bring up differences in the EU English version that I find notable, too.

For the comparisons, the usual points apply:

Bolded is the original Japanese text, for the reference.

Bolded and italicized is my translation.

Italicized is the official NOA translation.

A (number) indicates that I have a specific comment to make on that part in the translation notes.

As you read this, please keep in mind that with translations like these, it’s important not to focus on the exact literal wordings, since there is no single “correct answer” when it comes to translations.

Rather than that, consider the actual information that is being conveyed, in which way, and why.

--

To start off, I will use a slightly different format for the pause screen descriptions than the one I used for the cutscenes.

I’m going through each description individually, listing the respective translation notes, notable differences, as well as some of my own thoughts.

Naturally, some of the pause screens will end up having far longer notes from me than others, though.

This also seems like a good opportunity to talk about names that have been changed between versions, whenever those come up.

Some general changes you will typically see with these pause screen descriptions include the text being rewritten to be shorter, omitting some information that isn’t quite necessary. The kind of details that can provide some neat flavor, but you can also afford cutting if needed.

And such text cuts have to be made with the pause descriptions in this game because the space on the screen is quite limited, I’m sure.

If you take a look at the pause screens in-game, you will find that even with the shortened text, the English ones are close to filling out the entire text space that’s available.

With that, onto the descriptions themselves.

--

鉄巨兵ギガヴォルト

ナゾの しんりゃく者たちが 作りあげた 巨大なロボット兵器。その巨大さから、 かれらのテクノロジーの すごさを うかがう ことができる。はたしてこの 巨大ロボに 弱点など あるのだろうか?

Iron Giant Soldier Gigavolt

A giant robot weapon, created by the mysterious invaders. Its huge size gives an idea of their technology's might. One really has to wonder if this gigantic robot has any weak point at all.

Gigavolt

An impressive machine built by the mysterious invaders. It's chock full of advanced technology. It is unknown if this giant robot has any weak spots.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

Gigavolt retains its name in the English version, but its title “Iron Giant Soldier” is omitted, most likely due to limited screen space.

The actual description is mostly the same.

--

ウィスピーボーグ

この星に 住む、ウィスピーウッズ とよばれる 植物が 改ぞうされた すがた。 ドリルの足により自由に 走り回ることが できる他、巨大なネジを かどう させる とてつもないパワーも 手に入れた。

Whispy Borg

The remodeled form of a plant called Whispy Woods, which resides on this planet. Aside from its drills functioning as legs, enabling it to move about freely, it has also obtained tremendous power, allowing it to operate gigantic screws.

Clanky Woods

Whispy Woods has been mechanized and modified to run around freely using drills as legs. It's also been outfitted with a giant, powerful screw.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

“Whispy Borg” is renamed to “Clanky Woods”, maybe to avoid potential copyright issues with Star Trek?

But it could easily just be that they thought it sounded better.

In the English localizations of Kirby games, the Whispy Woods variants are usually named “(something) Woods”, whereas in Japanese, both “(something) Woods” and “Whispy (something)” are used at times.

-

Clanky Woods’ description itself has been rewritten to be slightly shorter, like omitting the mention that Whispy Woods is a plant who lives on Pop Star, for example.

That detail adds some atmosphere to the narration style, and can help first-time players understand who Whispy is, but it’s expendable compared to other information here.

-

It seems like a small error slipped in when the description was rewritten.

In the original Japanese version, it’s said that Clanky Woods is now powerful enough to operate gigantic screws, while the English version mistakenly says that he has been outfitted with an actual giant screw.

When you see his boss battle, it’s clear Clanky Woods doesn’t have a screw directly on him, but as usual it’s likely the localizers had to work with just the text itself, no additional context.

--

ンギュア基地

巨大な歯車で こうせいされた、 このルートを 防衛する 砲台基地。 歯車の動きにあわせて 砲台が動き、 ターゲットを ねらう。この基地を はかい しないかぎり、ここから先には進めない。

N'Gyuar Base

An armed base comprised of huge gears, which defends this route. The batteries turn alongside the movements of the gears, aiming for targets. Unless this base is destroyed, there is no way to proceed.

C.O.G.S.

A geared-up base made of gigantic cogs defends this route. Batteries turn along with the gear movement to aim at targets. Unless this base is destroyed, there is no way forward.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

The “N'Gyuar Base“ has been renamed to “C.O.G.S.”

This is a clever bit of localization, I think, because “N’Gyuar” appears to be an intentionally strange-sounding corruption of the word “gear”.

So, the English name follows a similar idea, while probably sounding a bit better to an English-speaking audience.

The actual description is essentially the same.

--

ホログラフ防衛システムズ

しんにゅう者から このエリアを 防衛する 戦とう型 セキュリティマシン。 かつて くり広げられてきた 戦いの データを ぶんせきし、ホログラフの セキュリティシステムを 次つぎと 生み出す。

Holographic Defense Systems

A combat-type security machine, which defends this area from intruders. It analyzes data of battles that have transpired previously, and creates one holographic security system after another.

Holo Defense API

The holographic security system that defends this area from intruders. It analyzes past battle data and produces one holographic security guard after another.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

The “Holographic Defense Systems“ have been renamed to “Holo Defense API”.

This was probably done for space again, and to sound a bit more natural.

But, I don’t know enough about programming to be able to tell if “API” is an accurate term to use for this boss.

The actual description only features some slight rephrasing.

-

In the Japanese version, there is a different distinction between the actual machine and the holograms it creates, making it more clear that the machine itself is not holographic.

--

ホロ・クラッコ

この星の空に 古くから住むという、 雲のモンスターの データを ぶんせきし、 作り出された ホログラフ。 大気の エネルギーを 味方につけ、 電力を 活かした こうげきを とくいとする。

Holo-Kracko

A hologram created by analyzing the data of a cloud monster that is said to have inhabited the sky of this planet since ancient times. With energy from the atmosphere at its disposal, it excels at attacks that make use of electricity.

Holo-Kracko

This hologram was created by analyzing data of the cloud monster who is believed to have inhabited the sky of this planet since ancient times. It excels at electrical attacks charged by the atmosphere.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

This description is essentially the same.

--

ホロ・ローパーズ

エナジースフィアという 球体が 好物な、 異空間に すくう モンスターの ホログラフ。 もとは、赤色と青色の こたい であった もよう。 このモンスター自体よりも、スフィアの持つ 異しつな テクノロジーの方が ナゾが多い。

Holo-Lopers

Holograms of monsters that are nested in another dimension, (1) and love to consume orbs called Energy Spheres. It appears that originally, there were both red and blue specimens. Far more mysterious than the monsters themselves is the alien (2) technology that the spheres possess.

Holo-Doomers

A hologram of monsters nested in another dimension. The original Doomers were red and blue. They love to eat energy spheres, which contain an ancient technology.

Translation Notes:

What I translated as “another dimension” here is the same 異空間/Ikūkan term I mentioned in the previous part.

Note that the word I translated as “alien” here doesn’t specifically mean “alien” in the sense of “extraterrestrial”, but rather in the sense of “different”, “foreign”, and the like.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

The “Holo-Lopers” are renamed to “Holo-Doomers” in English.

Of course, this is because the actual “Sphere Doomers” from Return to Dream Land were originally called “Sphere Lopers” in Japanese.

Keep in mind though that the etymology of their Japanese name isn’t clear, so romanizations may vary.

-

As mentioned in the translation notes above, this pause screen brings up the 異空間/Ikūkan term, which I’ve gone over a bit in the previous part.

Because of the reasons I mentioned there, I chose to translate it as “another dimension”.

But, I left it uncapitalized here, because the Japanese text uses the Japanese reading for it in this case, rather than the English reading like in Star Allies.

Interestingly, while the US English version translated this term in the same way, the EU English version actually translated it as “an extra dimension” instead.

This is similar to how the English versions adapted “Another Dimension Road” as “Extra-dimensional road” in Meta Knightmare Returns.

Just like that time, I believe this was also an attempt to have a reference to Return to Dream Land in some form, since the original Japanese term was first used in the Japanese version of that game.

By now “another dimension” seems to be the term the English versions have settled on as well, so these “extra dimension” phrasings feel like early localization oddities in hindsight.

-

Also, it’s a small detail, but the technology of the spheres is called “alien” in Japanese, but that’s changed to “ancient” in English.

--

ホロ・アイスドラゴン

ドラゴンと よばれる、まぼろしの 生き物の ホログラフ。いく年月もの 時間を生きてきた 古代の生命体。炎を はくタイプも 存在する ようだが、この青いドラゴンは 体内で氷を せいせいし、こうげきする タイプのようだ。

Holo-Ice Dragon

A hologram of a fantasy creature called a dragon. It is an ancient organic life form, which has lived for countless years. Apparently, there also exist types that breathe fire, but this blue dragon appears to be a type that produces ice within its body, with which it attacks.

Holo-Ice Dragon

A hologram of a spectral dragon -- an ancient life-form that has lived through a number of ages. Most dragons breathe fire, but this blue dragon attacks with ice that it produces internally.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

In the English version, Ice Dragon is described as a “spectral dragon”, but the Japanese phrasing would translate closer to something like “fantasy creature” in this context.

Because, of course, dragons are generally considered mythical creatures from fantasy stories.

-

The English version’s phrasing also implies that fire-breathing dragons are the most common ones, as you might expect, but the Japanese version only mentions that those also happen to exist.

Ironically, so far there are no fire-type variants of the Ice Dragon enemy in the series.

--

ホロ・ガラーガ

天空の国に まつられていた、ぐうぞうの ホログラフ。頭のデータに 弱点を かくにん。 強いエネルギーを そそがれた ことで 動き出した、ヘビの人形に すぎないが、 神として あがめられていた もよう。

Holo-Garāga

A hologram of an idol that was enshrined in a land of the sky. A weak point within the data of its head has been confirmed. While it is only a snake puppet that started to move by being infused with powerful energy, it was apparently worshipped as a god.

Holo-Coily Rattler

The hologram of the icon enshrined by the People of the Sky. Its weak spot is the data on its head. It was only a snake puppet filled with powerful energy, but it used to be worshipped as a deity.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

“Holo-Garāga“ is renamed to “Holo-Coily Rattler“ in English.

Naturally, they’re both named after the actual “Coily Rattler” from Triple Deluxe, which was called “Togu Ro Garāga” in Japanese.

For some reason, the English version includes the full name of the real thing, when they could have easily shortened it to “Holo-Rattler”?

Speaking of its name, in Japanese, the “Holo-” part goes well with the original name’s “Togu Ro” part, so I wonder if maybe Coily Rattler was picked as a holo-boss in order to make that pun?

That would be funny.

-

In the Japanese version, the description says that the Coily Rattler was enshrined in a “land of the sky”, which refers to Floralia, but without actually naming it.

The English version is more specific, clarifying that it was enshrined by the People of the Sky.

That’s technically true, so no real problem with that - but I do think the Japanese version was being intentionally vague here, since the pause screen “narrator” doesn’t seem to be an omniscient narrator.

--

秘書スージー

宇宙企業「ハルトマンワークスカンパニー」の 社長秘書。秘書でありながらも、今回の しんりゃくプロジェクトの しきを とるエリート。 幹部せん用インベードアーマー、 「リレインバー」を あやつり、戦う。

Secretary Susie

Secretary to the president of the "Haltmann Works Company", an interstellar enterprise. (1) While she is a secretary, she is also an elite-worker in command of the current invasion project. She fights while operating the "Rereinver", an Invader Armor reserved for executives. (2)

Susie

Executive assistant to the president of the Haltmann Works Company. While her job title is "secretary," she is the stakeholder of the ongoing invasion project.

Translation Notes:

The term I adapted as “interstellar enterprise” would more literally translate to “universe enterprise”. But since this is supposed to mean “an enterprise active across the universe”, I adapted it the way I did.

The etymology of the “Rereinver” isn’t clear, so this romanization is just my guess.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

Just like for the dialogue boxes, “Secretary Susie” is shortened to just “Susie” in English.

-

In Japanese, Susie’s full job title is 社長秘書/shachōhisho which can be translated as “secretary to the president” as I did, or “executive assistant” as the English version usually does.

But, in this pause screen they kinda double it up and call her “executive assistant to the president”.

The part “while her job title is secretary” also ends up making slightly less sense in English, since she hasn’t actually been called a “secretary” in English here.

-

In the Japanese version, Susie is said to be in command of the current invasion project, which the US English version changed to calling her a “stakeholder” of it, which is something different.

This is something the EU English version fixed, saying “she leads the ongoing invasion project”.

-

The English version omits the description of Susie’s mech.

Just for the reference, while it doesn’t come up here, the “Rereinver” was renamed to “Business Suit” in English.

Because they removed the mention of its name here, the English name was actually only first revealed in the second Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon on Miiverse, as far as I can tell.

The details about her mech are arguably expendable in the description here, but this specific machine is occasionally described as being adored by Susie, and has gone on to accompany her in future titles as well.

So, the fact that it continues to be somewhat important makes me feel it would have been nice if the English version had included its formal introduction and name in the game itself.

-

Regarding the name change of Susie’s mech, like I mentioned above, the etymology of “Rereinver” isn’t clear, but I’ve seen different speculations that it might be derived from words like “screwdriver”, “remember”, and the like.

In any case, it’s definitely a name that “sounds” English in Japanese, so that goes along with the Western vibe that the Haltmann Works Company is supposed to have.

The name “Business Suit” might be adapting this idea in some form, by giving it a stronger connection to the company’s M.O. of treating their horrific invasion like mundane business ventures.

In that sense, I think it’s pretty neat, but it might be a bit too generic for what is also Susie’s own personal battle mech that she still uses today.

--

コア・カブーラー

おどろきの 飛行砲台が あらわれた。 この 研究しせつの 動力コア として 組みこまれて いたのは、なんとあの カブーラーであった。空飛ぶセキュリティ マシンとの 空中戦が はじまる。

Core-Kabula

A startling flying fortress has appeared. To think that, of all things, Kabula had been built into this research facility to act as its power core. Now begins an aerial battle with the flying security machine.

Core Kabula

The flying internal weapon has been revealed. Who would've thought that the Kabula was acting as the power core for the research facility? Take out this flying security machine!

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

This description is mostly the same.

-

The English version’s phrasing of “the Kabula” seems a bit strange.

The Japanese version uses the phrasing あの カブーラー/ano Kabula, which can roughly translate to “that Kabula” - but it seems more like that one was used since Kabula hadn’t had an appearance in years at that point.

The general feeling of that whole line is supposed to be expressing surprise that Kabula has shown up, after all.

Perhaps the English version’s phrasing would work better if you were to emphasize it as “THE Kabula” instead?

--

メタナイトボーグ

たんしん、ハルトマンワークスカンパニーに 戦いを いどんだ ポップスターの剣士。 だが、もろくも やぶれ、かめんにナゾの そうちを 取りつけられた サイボーグ兵士と なって、むじひに カービィにおそいかかる。

Meta Knight Borg

A sword fighter from Popstar who challenged the Haltmann Works Company all by himself. However, he was defeated with little difficulty, and mysterious devices were attached to his mask. Having been turned into a cyborg soldier, he now attacks Kirby without mercy.

Mecha Knight

The sword fighter from Popstar who single-handedly took on the army of Haltmann Works Co. He was defeated and turned into a cyborg soldier who's been programmed to attack Kirby.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

Meta Knight Borg is renamed to Mecha Knight, probably for the same reason as Whispy Borg.

“Mecha Knight” also just ends up sounding more sleek in English.

-

The actual description is mostly the same, but the Japanese version is more direct about how futile Meta Knight’s attempt at taking on the company was.

--

クローンデデデ

この星で かなり強い 生命体として、あの デデデ大王の さいぼうを スージーが ひそかに さいしゅ。そこから生まれた クローンモンスター。 声も すがたも、そして強さも まるで本人… いや、強さはそれいじょう かもしれない。

Clone Dedede

Susie has secretly collected cells from none other than King Dedede the Great, an especially powerful organic lifeform of this planet. From those cells, a clone monster was created. Its voice, appearance, and strength are just like the original... No, its strength might be even greater.

Dedede Clone

Susie somehow managed to acquire DNA from King Dedede, one of the strongest life-forms on the planet, in order to create this clone. It has the voice and look of the original Dedede...and it may be even more powerful.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

This description is mostly the same, just rephrased to be a bit shorter.

The switch from “Clone Dedede” to “Dedede Clone” is probably just to sound a bit more natural in English.

--

クローンデデデ&D3砲

このクローンに 足りなかったもの…それは 最強のウェポン。そう考えたスージーは、 3体の クローンデデデで そうじゅうする 立体砲台 D3砲を あたえた。カービィへの 強い とうそう心を むき出しに、発進する。

Clone Dedede & D3 Cannon

The most powerful weapon... that is what the Clone Dedede was missing. With that thought in mind, Susie has brought in the D3 Cannon, a three-dimensional artillery controlled by three Clone Dededes. As they start it up, their powerful desire to battle with Kirby is blatantly obvious.

Dedede Clones & D3

Something was missing from Dedede's clone -- a weapon of immense power. When Susie realized this, she introduced the D3 Cannon, a tridimensional cannon controlled by three Dedede Clones.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

This description is mostly the same, just rephrased to be shorter.

-

The English version doesn’t mention the Dedede Clones’ desire to battle with Kirby, but the fact that these clones have seemingly inherited those feelings from Dedede was already established in the cutscene before the battle.

So that’s not a huge omission.

--

鉄巨兵ギガヴォルト2

ハルトマンワークスカンパニーが、キカイ化 しんりゃくプロジェクトの 第2段階で 地上へ 送り出す しんりゃくロボット。じゃまする 存在を いっそう すべく 開発された おそろしい兵器。 価格は ギガヴォルトの2倍の 86億ハルトマニー。

Iron Giant Soldier Gigavolt 2

An invasion robot that the Haltmann Works company dispatches to the ground during the 2nd phase of their Mechanization Invasion Project. A terrifying weapon, developed for the purpose of wiping out any obstacles. At 8.6 billion Haltmoney, its price is twice as that of a Gigavolt.

Gigavolt II

The second edition of the Gigavolt was developed for the express purpose of eradicating all obstacles. Priced at 8,600 million Haltmanns, it's twice the cost of a first-generation Gigavolt.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

Like with the original Gigavolt, the subtitle “Iron Giant Soldier” was likely removed for space.

-

The Japanese version goes into more detail about the Gigavolt II, explaining that it’s specifically used for the 2nd phases of invasions, which is a nice story tidbit, and also adds some urgency, since it implies that said 2nd phase has now been reached.

It’s a bit of a shame that this isn’t in the English version, but it was probably too hard to make it fit the screen.

-

The company’s own currency is called “Haltmoney” in Japanese, which was renamed to “Haltmanns” in English.

Personally, I love the sound of “Haltmoney” and I wish they would have kept it, but maybe it was considered too goofy?

-

In case you don’t know, “8,6 billion” is actually the same amount as “8,600 million”, so the price wasn’t changed between versions.

I don’t know if there are any rules over which you should use for prices, I just thought “billion” sounded nicer?

--

メタナイトボーグ改

スクラップと 化した メタナイトボーグに、 カンパニーの えいちが そそがれ、大がた アップデートされた 最新のサイボーグ兵士。 もはや、かれを 正気にもどす 手��ては 残されていないの だろうか…?

Meta Knight Borg Mark II

After the Meta Knight Borg had been turned to scrap, the company focused its vast intelligence on providing him with a major upgrade, turning him into a cutting-edge cyborg soldier. Is there no way to make him come back to his senses at this point...?

Mecha Knight+

After being turned into scrap metal, Mecha Knight has received a major upgrade. Is there any way to restore him to his former glory?

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

I already went over it in a previous part, but in Japanese, the improved Mecha Knight Borg has the suffix 改/kai added to its name. I chose to adapt it as “Mark II”, but using “+” like the official localization did works just as well.

So I don’t really consider that “+” detail a name change per se.

“Meta Knight Borg” is again changed to “Mecha Knight”, of course.

-

The actual description is shortened more than usual, but most of the omitted details were not all too important, either.

The cutscene before the battle covered a great deal of them, after all.

-

The Japanese version ends with the question of whether there is any way left to make Meta Knight “come back to his senses”, which seems to foreshadow that Kirby breaking his mask ends up doing the trick.

The US English version adapts this as “restore him to his former glory” for some reason, either by mistake or to sound nicer, I presume.

In any case, the EU English version went and changed it to “restore him to his old self”, which is closer to the Japanese.

--

プレジデント・ハルトマン

―「銀河に名立たるハルトマン」― おお いだいな ハルトマン 永遠に 果てなく 栄えよ おお われらが ハルトマン 銀河に 名立たる 王者よ 星々を 手おり たばねて 全て ささげてしまえば みなを 約束の地へと みちびく 銀河の父よ

President Haltmann

- Haltmann, Famed Across the Galaxy - Oh, great Haltmann, may you prosper, unending, for all eternity Oh, our Haltmann, the sovereign, famed across the galaxy Once we twine the stars, and offer it all Lead everyone of us to the promised land, o galactic Father

Pres. Haltmann

- The Noble Haltmann - Noble Haltmann, we adore him. Kingly lord of time and space! Every day we wish him glory, Gazing on his noble face!

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

Just like for the dialogue boxes, “President Haltmann” is shortened to “Pres. Haltmann” in English.

-

This pause description features lyrics from the company’s theme song, and like I mentioned in a previous part, there are some issues with the English version here.

In the Japanese version of the game, Susie sings the first verse of the song during her second appearance, and then the next verse during her third appearance.

Now, this pause screen shows us the complete first strophe for the first time.

And finally, the music video one unlocks by getting 100% completion shows the full first strophe - as well as a previously unseen second strophe.

So, one ends up gradually uncovering more parts of the song over the course of the game.

In the English version, the lyrics shown in this pause screen do match up with the lyrics used in the music video, but it’s not the complete first strophe, only the first half. Probably due to space.

The problem is, these lyrics don’t exactly match the lyrics Susie sings during the story cutscenes.

To make things worse, the lyrics Susie sings during the story cutscenes seem to go with the melody better than the alternate lyrics from this pause screen and the eventual music video.

So the whole song and it’s slow unveiling end up being potentially confusing and less focused in English.

-

There are also some differences between the contents of the lyrics themselves in each version, even when you consider that lyrics can’t be translated directly in the first place.

In the context of just this pause description, one detail that sticks out to me is the line “o galactic Father” from the Japanese version.

The whole song is basically worshipping Haltmann, so that line is probably symbolic rather than literal, but it’s also likely meant as foreshadowing for the upcoming story revelations.

Thus the English version ends up lacking that clue.

--

星の夢 (First Phase)

ハルトマンの せいしんと ゆうごうし、 宇宙最高のコンピューターが じが を持つ。 永遠なる はん栄という、かつての あるじの ねがいのために、自ら下した はんだん… それは、全ての生命体を ほろぼすことだった!

Star Dream (First Phase)

Fused with Haltmann's spirit, the greatest computer in the universe possesses a self. For the sake of eternal prosperity, the wish of its former master, it has personally decided... All organic life forms must be destroyed!

Star Dream (First Phase)

Fusing together with Haltmann, the most advanced computer in the galaxy has become self-aware. To realize its old master's wish of eternal prosperity... it's decided to eradicate all life-forms in existence!

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

This description is fairly close, but I think the small changes are still worth mentioning.

-

In the Japanese version, it’s specifically mentioned that Star Dream has fused with Haltmann’s “spirit”.

This is a minor detail right now, but will come up again in the next phase.

-

The idea of Star Dream now having a sense of self comes up in both versions, but the Japanese version reinforces this point again by saying that it has “personally” made a decision.

The implication is still there in English, but I like the extra emphasis in Japanese, to kinda let the weight of it settle.

-

Lastly, just a small thing, but the Japanese version calls Star Dream the “greatest computer in the universe”, while the English version calls it the “most advanced computer in the galaxy”.

Both are probably hyperbole either way, but the Japanese one is consistent with how Haltmann referred to Star Dream just earlier in the game, whereas the English one is not.

--

星の夢 (Second & Third Phase)

ハルトマンの せいしんは、いまや 消えつつある。 超巨大母艦「アクシス アークス」とマージし、 星の夢は、じが を持つ 新たな星 そのものとなる。 あるじを うしない、もくてきを 見うしなった 悲しきキカイを…止めるんだ、星のカービィ!

Star Dream (Second & Third Phase)

Haltmann's spirit is now gradually fading away. Merging with the Supersized Mothership "Acciss Arcs", Star Dream becomes an actual new star that possesses a self. This pitiful machine that has lost its master, and lost sight of its purpose... Put a stop to it, Kirby of the Stars!

Star Dream (Second & Third Phase)

Haltmann's mind is being absorbed by Star Dream. Merging with the giant ship Access Ark, Star Dream has turned into a sentient planet. The machine has lost its master and purpose. It must be stopped!

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

First of all, the “Access Ark” is called “Acciss Arcs” in Japanese, as you can see.

This name was probably just altered to work better in English.

-

Similar to the previous one, the description itself is fairly close.

But there’s a difference I find pretty notable, even if it’s small.

-

In the Japanese version, it’s stated that “Haltmann’s spirit is now gradually fading away”, which is a follow-up to the previous phase mentioning that Star Dream had fused with his spirit.

The line still leaves room for interpretation, but the wording of “fading away”, in combination with saying that Star Dream is a “pitiful machine that has lost its master” makes me think that this is not referring to Haltmann’s spirit being drawn in further by Star Dream, but rather that his spirit is slipping away from Star Dream.

I think this would also go along with the title of the track that plays during this phase, which is “Intermezzo Without a Leader”.

But that’s just the impression I get - the main line in question is still vague enough that you could read it either way, of course.

In the English version, it’s stated that “Haltmann’s mind is being absorbed by Star Dream”, which leaves no room for interpretation other than, well, Haltmann’s mind being absorbed by Star Dream.

In this version, this line also comes without any prior set-up in the previous phase.

-

More of a minor detail, but while the Japanese version calls Star Dream “pitiful”, the English version does not.

The Japanese version also features another dramatic drop of Kirby’s full “Kirby of the Stars” title, which the English version lacks, as usual.

That’s a detail they can’t really get around in English, nothing to be done about that.

-

It’s a bit hard for me to describe, but looking at both this and the previous phase, I think the English version has less of a flow between the phases of this boss battle.

In Japanese, it’s kinda like the boss battle itself is a series of more story developments, with the situation escalating further as it goes on.

Haltmann essentially being out of the picture completely by the time of the second phase, regardless of the specifics, has more of an impact in Japanese because of the details surrounding it, like the set-up from the first phase.

And the final line of the second pause screen expressing pity for Star Dream in Japanese just adds a little bit more to it, in my opinion.

--

星の夢 (Final Phase)

ワタシガ 作リ出シタ、戦トウ能力 シエンマシン インベードアーマー��� セイ能ヲ ハルかに コエる エネルギーヲ カクニン。コノ生命体ガ 持ツ、ムゲンの パワーは キョウイニ アタイ。…ワタシが コノ…キョウイ ヲ…ハイジョ…デ…キル…カクリツ…は……?

Star Dream (Final Phase)

CONFIRMING ENERGY THAT by FAR EXCEEDS THE abilities of THE INVADER ARMOR, the comBAT power SUPPORT MACHINES THAT I HAVE created. The INFINITE POWER that THIS organic life form possESSES POSES A THREAT. ...THE PROBABILITY of ME... BEING... AB... LE TO... ELIMINATE... THIS THREAT... is...?

Star Dream (Final Phase)

Its energy signature far exceeds that of the Invader Armor, our combat mech. The nearly infinite power within this life-form is astounding. Calculating probability of survival... It doesn't look good.

-

Comparisons & Thoughts:

This last description has some minor alterations, plus one possible error, but is close otherwise.

-

In both versions, this description is narrated in-character by Star Dream itself, which is a nice detail.

In the Japanese version, Star Dream’s speaking style is unmistakable, so it’s more obvious right away, but the English version manages to make it clear that it’s Star Dream speaking, too.

I’ve gone over Star Dream’s manner of speaking before, and what I said there still applies here, for the most part.

Star Dream’s speaking style in English ends up being a bit less distinct sounding once it drops the robot noises, but what can you do.

-

In the Japanese version, Star Dream specifically says “THAT I HAVE created“ in regards to the Invader Armor.

First, the usage of “I” here also clarifies that the Invader Armor was in fact designed by Star Dream alone, it seems - if that’s a detail you’re interested in.

Also, Star Dream referring to itself in first person there once again emphasizes the fact that it has a sense of self.

Notably, it refers to itself in first person one more time during its final line.

Both of those instances are phrased differently in English to not be first person.

You can see it as a small thing, but considering Star Dream’s whole thing is being a self-aware machine, I think it’s not unimportant.

Plus, you may recall that the Star Dream from the events of Meta Knightmare Returns never referred to itself in first person like that, so there’s some contrast between the different stories.

-

In the English version, Star Dream calls Kirby’s power “astounding”, which might be a translation error, because in Japanese, Star Dream calls it “a threat”.

The exact wording in Japanese is キョウイ/kyōi, which could be interpreted as both 驚異/kyōi (”marvel”) or 脅威/kyōi (”threat”).

The English version seems to have gone for the former, but Star Dream’s final line makes it clear it’s supposed to be the latter.

Also, the English version has Star Dream call Kirby’s power “nigh” infinite, whereas in Japanese it just flat out calls it infinite.

-

And lastly, in the Japanese version, Star Dream does not finish its final line, seemingly showing some hesitation, confusion, or perhaps even fear as it calculates the probability.

The English version goes for a different approach, with Star Dream vaguely concluding: “It doesn’t look good“.

It’s a bit dry, but in a way where you can still imagine for yourself how Star Dream may or may not be feeling.

Either approach works with how Star Dream has both machine-like and person-like aspects, I think.

--

And that’s it for the main story pause screen descriptions!

Of course, I plan to cover the bosses exclusively fought in Meta Knightmare Returns and The True Arena as well, so feel free to check those out in the next part!

--

< Previous Part | Start | Next Part >

--

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Pawn

Debut: Senet

Welcome to another gameriffic post showcasing some of the most iconic characters in all of gaming! I can’t believe it took us, a blog about games, this long to get to PAWN, though. Everyone knows Pawn, and everyone’s played as Pawn! Even people who wouldn’t consider themselves gamers, and even people who would have sworn they’ve never gamed before!

But what is a Pawn? I, personally, would define it at any basic game piece that’s an ambiguous representation of the player, often vaguely conical in shape, and often lacking in abilities compared to other pieces, if others are present. Chess was far from the first game to feature pawns, and was far from the last to do it!

Pawn has its origins in Senet, the very first board game known to ever exist! Senet was created and played in Egypt some time before 2620 BCE. Sadly, the rules of Senet are unknown, and even in the past, it seems the rules varied, so we may never know for sure. But we DO know that Pawn is here, and this is likely the first Pawn that ever existed!

Chaturanga, played in India around 600 AD, is without a doubt one of the most influential board games to exist, likely to have inspired various games around the world, including Xiangqi, Shogi, Sittuyin, Makruk, and Chess! The Pawn equivalent here had a few names, all referring to its representation of a foot soldier, and had the same abilities as a Chess Pawn, though was unable to move two spaces as its first move...

I don’t need to bother explaining Chess Pawn! We all know Chess Pawn. As we can see with Chaturanga before, the specific Pawn Shape has proven very reliable throughout history. And I’m glad it has. It’s a nice shape, like a little guy. It has a little head and a little body, and some sort of frilly collar, perhaps. Is this even much of a representation of a warrior at this point? Pawn looks like it’s all gussied up for the occasion. In terms of gameplay, Pawn received some buffs in Chess! It can now move two spaces as its first move, and become any piece it wants upon reaching the other side of the board, rather than just taking the form of the piece that originally occupied that space, as in Chaturanga.

At some point, I’m not sure when, Pawn Fever struck the world. People couldn’t get enough Pawns! In a game with battle-ready religious figures, flying horses, and sentient castles, it was the humble Pawn that captured our hearts. Pawn has so much potential. It can be anything. And it’s cute! It’s not just me, right? Pawn is cute. Even cuter when it becomes further abstracted, like the very first image in this post, where it no longer even resembles a humanoid in ANY way. More like, a blob with an eyestalk. That’s how I interpret those ones.

My SECOND most common experience with Pawns is in Sorry!, where they’re the more abstracted form I like, but... hey! That’s not how I imagine the faces! Is this necessary? Is this... canon? I’m Sorry!, but I don’t like them having human faces!

That may be a bit hypocritical of me, though, because I DO love THIS!  On this non-anthropomorphized pawn, we can clearly see that it does have a spine and ribcage. This would contradict the previous face placement, wouldn’t it? Or the other way around, but I think I will accept this one. I’m Sorry! for breaking canon, but look at this! A pawn with bones! It’s a real vertebrate creature just like you and me. That can still be an eyestalk, though. It can have bones and eyestalks! Like a dragonfish larva.

But that’s not all! The Sorry! franchise has further developed the abilities of Pawn with the Slider variant, now outfitted with an Orb in order to slide across the board! They should do this to Chess Pawns. It would be fun.

Also, sometimes Sorry! has Fire and Ice Power-Ups. I don’t know how exactly these work, but... is it possible for a Pawn to grow TOO powerful? As long as it’s responsible, I suppose! 

The shape of the Sorry! Sliders board is not very original... because it is quite a lot like the board of ancient Indian board game, Pachisi, which Sorry! is heavily based on in the first place! Sorry!, Sorry! Your secret is out! At least you’re not as shameful a gentrification as “Parcheesi”, though, at least. 

Clue(do), is a rather notable pawn-based game, by virtue of having each player play as an established human character! More recent versions have pieces that actually resemble the characters, but of course, I prefer the pawns. It’s like a reverse humanization! What if that happened more often? What if they rebooted Seinfeld but all the characters were plastic pawns? Wow!

Also, I just need to say it. If you’re playing a game with pawns, I feel like you GOTTA move the pawn my making it hop from space to space, making that nice tapping sound. I think it’s just how pawns are meant to be.

I don’t want to end the post before mentioning one of the most iconic fictional board games of all time, though! Eels and Escalators is a clear parody of Snakes and Ladders, a game that uses pawns as players, though here the players are represented by simple fish person-like pieces. So, no pawns. Why am I mentioning it, then?

Because in the episode SpongeBob’s Place, where the board game makes a cameo appearance, there ARE pawns! Wowee! I definitely prefer the fish-like pieces here, but I still love pawns. I am happy that I can associate Eels and Escalators with pawns!

[miserablesme]

The Les Miserables Changelog Part 7: 1987-1997 American variations

Hello, everyone! This is the latest edition in my attempt to chronicle all of the musical and lyrical changes which the show Les Miserables has undergone over the years. This time, we're going through the production-specific differences between the official 1987-1997 libretto and the US tour and Broadway productions of the era.

Compared to the West End production, American ones took far fewer liberties relative to what was in the libretto. For the most part, they stuck with what they were told to do. This makes the variations that did crop up all the more fascinating, and I think they are absolutely worthy of a post. Without further ado, let's get started!

Second National Tour

1988-1991

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first US production to feature any variation from the 1987 libretto. The only one I'm aware of: the original "Got a number on his chest" becomes "Got a brand upon his chest" prior to "The Attack of Rue Plumet". This would later be applied to other productions after the costumes were slightly tweaked so that Valjean now has a generic bar on his chest instead of the number "24601". Similarly, it seems as though this production may not have had the normal number for some reason?

Broadway and Third National Tour

Everything from this point downwards refers to these two productions, which seem to have been very much connected as they tended to make the same changes around the same times.

Circa 1988-1989 version

During the "On Parole" segment of the prologue, as Valjean takes his flight a voice can be heard shouting "Stop that man!" I suppose it makes sense that someone would send an alert about his presence, though it sort of distracts from Valjean's high note.

Much like the West End production at the time, these production changed the order of lines in "At the End of the Day". Usually the lines go as follows:

What is this fighting all about?

Will someone tear these two apart?

These productions instead put them in the following order during this timeframe:

Will someone tear these two apart?

What is this fighting all about?

I honestly have no clue what exactly is the purpose of swapping those two lines; nothing seems changed at all in spirit or meaning.

After "Red and Black", Gavroche now whistles prior to announcing General Lamarque's death.

That's literally it... everything else sticks to the libretto.

Circa 1989-1991 version

This is almost identical to the preceding version. One difference: a little joke has been added to the "Waltz of Treachery". Instead of just singing "Let's not haggle for darling Cosette", Thenardier pauses for quite some time, singing: "Let's not haggle for darling... Cosette".

Circa 1991-1994 version

"At the End of the Day" is now in its official format. However, the "Stop that man" line, Gavroche's whistle, and Thenardier's forgetfulness are all still present.

Circa 1993-1994

This variant was only used on Broadway, seemingly not the US tour. It is very close to the 1991-1994 version, with a few differences.

The first difference, which draws on the 1992 UK tour and then-current West End variations, can be heard in "The Runaway Cart". Officially these were the lyrics spoken by townspeople:

Look at that

Look at that

It's Monsieur Fauchelevent

Don't approach

Don't go near

At the risk of your life

He is caught by the wheel

Oh the pitiful man

Stay away

Turn away

There is nothing to do

There is nothing to do

This was the UK tour variant:

Look at that

Stay away

You'll be crushed by the cart

Don't approach

Don't go near

It'll fall on you too

Oh my god, who is that?

It's Monsieur Fauchelevent

He is caught by the wheel

Oh the pitiful man

There is nothing to do

The US productions at this point almost used those lyrics:

Look at that

Stay away

You'll be crushed by the cart

Don't approach

Don't go near

At the risk of your life

Oh my god, who is that?

It's Monsieur Fauchelevent

He is caught by the wheel

Oh the pitiful man

There is nothing to do

Interestingly, the lyrics are identical to their revised form except that the original "At the risk of your life" is maintained instead of "It'll fall on you too". Perhaps the producers thought the scene was more suspenseful without a rhyme scheme?

Regardless, the remainder of the number plays out as was in the libretto, not using the UK tour and West End variants.

Now, prior to "Red and Black" the little sting introduced in the UK tour (and soon added to foreign language productions) is also audible in the Broadway show. To quote myself from Part 5 of this blog:

"If I’m not mistaken, this musical addition was placed in to account for a change in staging. Originally the number began with the barricade set sliding off-stage, revealing the ABC cafe set behind it. However, around the time of this tour the blocking was adjusted. Now, the turntable instead revolved at the beginning of this number, revealing the ABC cafe set on the other end of the turntable and allowing the barricade set to double as the walls of the cafe. I believe the opening sting was added to allow time for this slightly more elaborate staging."

Gavroche no longer whistles before announcing General Lamarque's death.

Circa 1994-1997 version

Used in both the tour and on Broadway, this version is the first time the US tour production actually diverges from the libretto to a significant extent. It uses the changes added in Broadway in 1993, along with some others.

The "Stop that man" line is still present in the prologue.

The 1993-1994 version of "The Runaway Cart" is still used.

Thenardier continues to forget Cosette's name during the "Waltz of Treachery".

The sting before "Red and Black" continues to play.

Calling on the UK tour and West End production, after "Night of Anguish" the instrumental "Drink with Me" tune has been removed. In its place, instrumentals of "A Little Fall of Rain" have been put in, as they already had been in the UK tour and the West End production.

Everything goes as expected right up until the epilogue. The official "And lead me to salvation" was replaced with "I'll lead you to salvation", which had already been used in the Australian and UK tours.

Circa 1997 version

This version (which was seemingly only used for a few months, if even that long) is almost identical to the previous one, with one significant difference. Drawing on the UK tour and the West End production, a sequence in "Lovely Ladies" was totally redone. Instead of the official libretto scene between sailors and prostitutes:

(SAILORS - simultaneously with prostitutes' lines)

Lovely lady, fastest on the street

Wasn't there three minutes

She was back up on her feet

Lovely lady, what you waiting for

Doesn't take a lot of savvy just to be a whore

Come on lady, what's a lady for?

(PROSTITUTES - simultaneously with sailors' lines)

Lovely ladies, lovely little girls

Lovely ladies, lovely little ladies

Lovely girlies, lovely little girls

We are lovely, lovely girls

Lovely ladies, what's a lady for?

There's this exchange between a prostitute and a pimp:

(PROSTITUTE)

God I'm weary, sick enough to drop

Belly burns like fire

Will the bleeding ever stop?

(PIMP)

Cheer up dearie, show a happy face

Plenty more like you here

If you can't keep up the pace

(PROSTITUTE)

Only joking, dearie knows her place

Side note: I only have evidence of this variant being used on the Broadway show, from January 1997. I have no idea if it was ever used in the US tour; the latest audio of the tour pre-official libretto change that I have is from December 1996, and it still uses the original lyrics.

And... that's it. See what I mean when I say the American productions didn't diverge that much from the libretto?

That just about sums this part up! If I missed anything feel free to let me know, as my goal is to create a changelog as thorough and complete as possible. I plan on making more parts in the near future covering all the changes that have been made in the show up until this day (discounting concerts). Any feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

As a side note, both for this project and my own enjoyment, I want as complete a collection of Les Miserables audios as possible. I already have most of what’s commonly circulated, but if you have any audios or videos you know are rare, I’d love it if you DMed me!

Until the turntable puts me at the forefront again, good-bye…

[ayamari-no-goshi]

DP and types of ghosts - animal spirits

If you're wondering, I'm still dealing with some things offline, so posts will continue to be sporadic. Onto the folklore!

There are actually not a lot data on this type of ghost. Dogs do seem to be the most commonly reported.

The majority of tales I know are of owners reporting being visited by the spirit of one their previous furry friends. Most of those tales are very positive, and the former pet just seems to be checking in.

However, there are several stories of the ghosts of hunting dogs and even horses appearing around some castles in the UK. Carew Castle in Wales is said to have the ghost of a Barbary ape which was formerly the pet of one of its owners. It is not considered to be a pleasant ghost.

China has a few subsets. One is called the maogui, which are the ghosts of cats raised from the dead by a person, and their task is to destroy a target. Hu Gui / Hu Xian are spirits of animals, usually foxes, that inhabit domestic objects like plates. They are considered benign and helpful. There are also several mythical animals that appear in Chinese folklore. There are too many to list here.

In Japan, there are the famous Inugami. These are spirits of dog who were ritually killed, and they're famously known to possess people. There are also several youkai which derive from animals or are animal-like.

Moscow, Russia has several tales of spectral cats, who appear to be benign. However, there is a tale of a spectral black cat called the black cat of Tverskaya Street which has various tales, but no known reports of attacks.

In the Caribbean, there are malevolent spirits called Duppy, which often appear in various animal forms.

In the US, the most common tales are again of ghostly dogs, some good and some bad, throughout the country. Then there is the tale of the black cat that haunts the tunnels of Capital Hill in DC which is only said to appear when something bad is about to occur.

Specific subsets:

Black dogs - I will make a separate post going more in depth later.

The most famous variant are the spectral black dogs that haunt the mores of the British Isles. They are either considered an ill omen or actively dangerous depending on location and have a variety of names. There are several other accounts of them around the world, and the majority also have negative connotations.

Church grims - another subset I will make a more in depth post about.

Most commonly, they are described as black dogs that haunt and protect graveyards, and the most well known legends are from England. The Scandinavian version can appear as other animals. While they are not evil, seeing one is usually an omen of an upcoming death.

[ectonurites]

Conner Kent in Suicide Squad/the Infinite Frontier era: wtf is going on

Alright lads hello I just need to type out some theories/thoughts about what’s going on with my boy Kon right now. This is more for myself than anything else (just trying to organize my thoughts) but since some of y’all like to hear me talk about comics (and some of this discussion has already been happenin in my inbox) I figured i’d format it and put it on here too! its like 4k words and written over the last few days mostly at 3am. sorry <3 

this is basically just me going like

Also fair warning that like, I can be wrong and misinterpret things just as much as anyone else can, like I use panels to support why I think what I do but a lot of this stuff is subjective/complicated to understand so like... in general somethings should be taken with a grain of salt, especially because exactly what changes to the universe were made by Death Metal/Infinite Frontier haven’t been super super clearly defined yet. Also sometimes comic writers make the most random nonsensical shit happen, so I as a fan am also allowed to theorize about random nonsensical shit.

But to start: let’s backtrack!

Many months ago when Infinite Frontier was first announced they dropped some promotional art, and I remember being a little confused because. Well:

(Variant Cover spread for Justice League (2018) #59)

(Variant Cover spread for Superman (2018) #29)

Notice how Conner is back to his Teen Titans 2003 look up top, but in his YJ 2019 look at the bottom? This seemed weird to me! But then they announced that Conner would be part of the Suicide Squad ongoing title, in the T-shirt look, so I wrote this discrepancy off in my brain as ‘oh I guess that cover was just the last hurrah for punk Kon’ and moved on with life.

In Suicide Squad right away we learn he’s very much so there against his will:

(Suicide Squad (2021) #1)

Which corroborates more or less what we were also shown in Future State: Suicide Squad, although admittedly it tells... a slightly different version of the events. When I first saw both of these together I just chalked it up to being a bit inaccurate as it’s shown as a memory in Future State:

(Future State: Suicide Squad #2)

Issue 2 we saw him in action with the Squad, trying to do his best to still be a hero despite the team, but things get a little more interesting in the following issue. It starts off with an account of his history

(Suicide Squad (2021) #3)

This page gave me a few immediate red flags, mostly minor things that had to do with coloring, so more irl problems than things to take seriously in-universe (Kon’s pants are the wrong color in the first Superboy shot, and Bart’s Impulse costume is in Kid Flash colors instead of the correct Impulse ones) but then also it just bugged me the phrasing “he joined Young Justice” when he was a founder of the team, he didn’t join it he made it with Tim and Bart.

But again, chalked that stuff up to just.... writers/artists being inconsistent/unaware of things that they should be aware of, or even Nocturna just not being specific with details. But it did still strike me as a little odd considering the very accurate use of villains in those same shots, Scavenger who was a reoccurring bad guy from Kon’s solo days and showed up basically nowhere else (even holding the Spear of Lono and everything!) and Billy/Harm (Greta’s brother) from Young Justice.

But then a few pages later we got this:

(Suicide Squad (2021) #3)

Which is interesting. My first instinct was to think he’s being drugged w kryptonite or something thats leaving him hazy/out of it, but my thoughts on that have kinda changed, we’ll get there in a bit. But in general the context of ‘something’s wrong’ made the slight discrepancies on some details of his own history make more sense.

I also want to then bring up the next part to this story, the crossover issue in Teen Titans Academy.

(Teen Titans Academy #3)

So a few things. Does it feel weird to anyone else that Conner Kent, a known previous Titan who literally has a framed picture of himself in a case there, would set off alarm sensors like that? Wouldn’t he be... recognized as a Titan not an intruder by their sensors? Interesting! Anyways.

He looks really pained looking at that picture, and sad, and almost frustrated, which ya know makes sense and hurts my heart because he misses them! He misses his friends and being happy. 

But, importantly for a criticism I wanna make thats less theory related and more just me bein annoyed at Tim Sheridan, that’s a picture of Conner. Right there. That’s Superboy, on display at Teen Titans Academy, so the people who frequent this building would know who he is and what he looks like and be able to recognize him, he’s even in the same outfit and everything. Alinta recognized him at the end of Suicide Squad #3. 

So why does only one person during this big fight then comment on his presence?? Why doesn’t it get a bigger reaction???

(Teen Titans Academy #3)

And after the fight we don’t see any on panel moment of Wallace going up to the staff Titans (who weren’t present for the fight) and saying like “HEY NIGHTWING UHHH SUPERBOY WAS WITH THE SUICIDE SQUAD?” we just see him talking with his friends upset about Crush leaving. We see Alinta talking to them but we don’t see the exact dialogue. So I do just wanna take the writer by the shoulders and shake him a little bit and ask WHY because that just feels like... something you’d wanna address on panel! This is like the first time since joining the squad that Kon’s at all in contact with people from his life before Waller got involved, I feel like not addressing those people’s reactions to it/not discussing it at least a little bit on panel (especially when Conner CAME UP in the previous TTA issue, Dick brought him up and everything!!!) is a really odd choice. Maybe it’ll happen next issue and i’m just impatient, but who knows. Anyways, gripes with Sheridan aside, lets move on.

I wanna bring up how Conner... doesn’t really respond to Wallace’s question? At all? Except to just fight him off, not even an attempt at a ‘Sorry’ or anything? (the ‘Ha! That all you got?!’ seems to be coming from Culebra not Conner, although the placement of the bubble is vague enough it could be that it was supposed to be Conner? but it seems more like what she’d say, especially as she’s grabbing Emiko like that) That just feels weird. It feels off. In general he speaks so little in Suicide Squad #3 and this issue. Tbh it almost feels like he doesn’t really recognize Wallace which I mean I suppose they never exactly met (they would have theoretically during Death Metal, basically all past/present Titans were together for a while during that), but Kon’s been back in existing long enough he’d have a sense of who current heroes are anyways.

But right, so, lots of little things that feel weird... that gets us caught up to the most recently released comics... but in this household we look at solicits as they drop. Which gives us some info on what’s coming up a few months ahead of time, albeit without full context obviously. Issues #4 and #5 don’t mention Conner in their descriptions or show him on the covers at all, because there’s just other plot things going on, so ya know seems things will be quiet for him for a bit.

But then we got the August solicitations and oh BOY it’s a doozey for him! And some things start to kinda connect perhaps!

I want to just take a moment to look at that specific wording. “The teen calling himself Conner Kent” I’m probably reading too much into it but that feels deliberate, like why wouldn’t you just say ‘Conner Kent’? Usually these kinds of descriptions are trying to keep a low word count, not add in extra words that don’t need to be there. It makes it feel like that’s a name he’s using that... doesn’t actually belong to him.

So the theory I want to propose (that has been floating around already) is that based on these covers and the description, and how the Conner we’ve been seeing in Suicide Squad apparently talks about his own personal history like he’s ‘reading a wikipedia entry’ and had little response to people he should be aware of like Wallace and apparently isn’t recognized as a Titan through a bio-scan and also bearing in mind those initial promo arts with two separate looks at the same time for him... I think we're looking at a situation where the Conner in Suicide Squad so far has actually been a clone of original Conner (like... like he’s Match 2.0 or somethin) the whole time, that’s just not aware he’s not the original. 

Now that’s the base theory I wanna work with and build off of, but there’s MANY different directions that could go in/ways that could work.

For example, one idea is that the Conner we saw in #1 who was chained up is the original Conner, and he’s been being cloned and held captive, so everything else with Conner in Suicide Squad so far has been this Match 2.0 

Another idea could be the original Conner in #1 is also the Conner in #2 who Waller had then commented wasn’t ready during the mission in Arkham and had zapped with a lil Kryptonite, and after that moment she took him off the field because his spirit hadn’t been broken enough to be obedient (as he was a lot quieter in Issue #3 & the TTA crossover compared to #2, and #3 is when the Nocturna thing with the history happened)

Or it could even be original Conner in #1, then in #2 was one clone that wasn’t ‘ready’ that after that point she stopped using him, and switched to a diff clone for #3, because like that first cover did show a LOT of clones. That could be more just ‘artistic interpretation’ or something, covers sometimes do exaggerate/mislead, but it also could indicate we’re looking at a lot of clones.

(Suicide Squad (2021) #2)

With all of those in mind I also wanna bring up this little bit from Future State Suicide Squad:

(Future State: Suicide Squad #2)

Again Future State is a ‘possible future’ so stuff from it isn’t set in stone, but the idea of ‘she still has his YJ 2019 outfit somewhere’ makes me think it could be something along the lines of like, Clone!Conner finds original Conner and frees him and he gets back his YJ outfit, which could lead to like the imagery on that variant cover/the idea from my very first part of this post where I was talking about Kon being shown in both outfits in different places.

Alternatively entirely from all that, another option is that she maybe got ahold of what was needed to clone Kon, but doesn’t even have the original Kon in her possession. (again with the Future State thing, she could be lying since elsewhere in Future State we did also see a copy of YJ 2019 Kon’s costume in one of the Jon-focused Future State comics in a display case 🤷‍♂️) Which could also lead to that confrontation on the variant cover & the promo art thing... and could also explain why we have seen nothing about anyone looking for him, because in that sort of scenario he wouldn’t have even been missing in the first place.

There’s a lot of possibilities! It’s still too early to solidly know anything, but I feel pretty confident we’re entering another cloning related plot with our Clone Boy so it’s... ya know. Clone time. On the one hand it’s annoying because god we have done clone/multiple Kons plots before. We’ve done them so much.

BUT on the other hand, I think it could be interesting to use this situation to tie into some older stuff from pre-reboot that I can see some connections to, because due to Infinite Frontier altering the world and people’s memories it’s all technically fair game storytelling-wise again (and like, the use of Scavenger specifically in that flashback way above, who’s not a super well known villain in general, makes me think maaaaybe the writer did do some of their Kon homework)

Something also just dawned on me that i’m not quite sure what it means but still is worth mentioning: The Conner here in Suicide Squad is back in his Teen Titans Vol. 3 outfit, and his history as he tells it stops during Teen Titans Vol. 3. And doesn’t... mention when he died? It feels like it... stopped before that, because like I feel if he was telling his life history (even the wiki version LMAO) the part where he died and came back would be pretty important to bring up?? And Nocturna specifically says that he didn’t explain how that stuff from TT Vol. 3 then led to him in his current situation. That’s a pretty big gap (like uhhh everything from resurrection until he got lost on Gemworld + all the rest of the Young Justice 2019 stuff?) So like.. there could be something funky going on here that has to do with that. 

Similarly when he flashes back in Future State: Suicide Squad to his past it also goes right from Teen Titans Vol. 3 to the current Suicide Squad run? Like I get it’s one page so they can’t show that much, but the fact that there’s now two places that flash back to that same specific time period and nothing past it until the Suicide Squad feels just... noticeable! Not concretely indicative of something, but noteworthy.

(Future State: Suicide Squad #2)

Like...this almost has me thinking maybe it could be something where like, they tampered with his dead body and cloned from that? BECAUSE, for those of you who may not be familiar with how Kon’s resurrection (during Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds) worked, when he came back there was time travel involved! He was brought back to life in the future (like. Legion of Superheroes era) because it was a process that took that thousand or so years to work/heal him (essentially because of his hybrid dna the process that healed Clark when he had died back in Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen in the 90s just took a lot longer, but its the same Kryptonian healing chamber thing) meaning when he came back to the present alive again, his dead body was still also in the present just in it’s process of healing. Meaning especially if we’re bringing back stuff from before the reboot, Kon likely has his dead body just vibing out there while he’s goin around living life 🤷‍♂️

SO them doing something related to that could explain the choice to put him back in the T-shirt (since thats what he wore in the era his brain would be caught up to if we’re relating this to when he died) and why he’d recognize himself in a group photo with Bart, Cassie and Tim but maybe not someone like Wallace who didn’t exist back then. I don’t know, this branch of thought is still half baked. Will maybe come back and elaborate on this later. But I’m now really thinking there might be a connection to the early Teen Titans Vol. 3 era specifically because of it being referenced twice in stuff with this Suicide Squad.

ANYWAYS moving on, this is probably a shot in the dark and I only thought of it because I just was reading 90′s Superboy, but right away when thinking about ‘Amanda Waller’ and ‘Cloning Kon’ I was reminded of some stuff about the circumstances around the first clone that was made of Conner: Match.

(Superboy (1994) #35)

Match was created by an organization called ‘The Agenda’, that was after a while primarily under the control of The Contessa, Lex Luthor’s ex-wife, aided by Amanda Spence who had a personal grudge against Kon bc her dad was Paul Westfield the guy Kon was originally cloned from (before the Lex/Clark retcon). They were the big bad guys of an arc called The Evil Factory in Superboy (where Cadmus personnel got replaced with clones) which also then tied into the Sins of Youth event over in Young Justice (Remember how Match was posing as Superboy for a while there? yeah). After those plot lines finished the Agenda was pretty defeated (Amanda Spence was still out there and came back later but still) and... who got their hands on the remaining Agenda tech?

(Superboy (1994) #87)

Why none other than Amanda Waller herself!

If they re-canonized pieces of this (which also tied into Young Justice which ya know, YJ 2019 was all about re-establishing stuff from YJ even before Death Metal happened soooo) it would totally make sense for Waller to have complete access to the exact technology used to clone Conner before. 

Now, a thing to consider here though is what happened to Kon after he’d been cloned that first time, where his DNA got all destabilized by the process (and he needed to go through a procedure with Roxy as a genetic template to keep him together, which was how he got stuck at age 16 for a while). This was something where he was fine for a period of time before the side effects began to kick in. Now, I think it’s worth mentioning that was also back in the days where he was not yet Lex & Clark’s clone, but still Paul Westfield’s. So there could easily be a ‘now that certain Kryptonian genes have kicked in as he got his newer powers it doesn’t destabilize him the same way’ reasoning or something along those lines to avoid this problem. Alternatively, it could be an interesting thing to embrace rather than retcon away, especially if we’ve been seeing Clone Conner in action and Original Conner hasn’t been in our focus, things could be wrong with him that we just don’t know about.

Another branch of thinking that I think is even MORE a shot in the dark but could be interesting (or again even related to what I just said, could be a combo of things) is if this somehow ended up related to those clones that were reverse engineered from the remains of Match from the very end of Teen Titans Vol. 3

(Teen Titans (2003) #99)

All of them were then taken down with Kryptonite and killed in battle (by Rose & Damian) 

(Teen Titans (2003) #100)

But like... idk man if Waller got her hands on those corpses or even just the data from Dr. Caligan that he extracted from Match to make them... that could also be a potential way to make some new Conner clones, and that could be why the bio-scan thing at Titans Tower wouldn’t work properly because of the thing he says above about it not being a “complete match’

One thing I don’t think is the case, but has been brought up to me, is stuff with New 52 Kon. I’ve talked extensively about New 52 Kon in recent weeks because I read through all his stuff, but the thing that makes me shy away from him being part of this situation is the fact that... he’s not interchangeable with Kon the way I think some people think he is. He wouldn’t visually be recognized as Original Kon because he is literally on a genetic level a separate person. They’d prob look related, sure, like they’d pass for brothers because they both have Clark’s DNA, but New 52 Kon has Lois’ DNA and Original Kon has Lex’s. New 52 Kon would likely look more like Jon, rather than Kon. Lois specifically commented in an Action Comics issue that Kon had some resemblance to Lex, even. So like, things like Wallace recognizing him or him looking at his own matching reflection alongside the group picture at the Tower... those wouldn’t happen the same way if this was New 52 Kon.

Now I think it coooould theoretically be possible for Waller to have gotten her hands on that future N.O.W.H.E.R.E. cloning tech that had been used to make New 52 Kon, like I wouldn’t rule that out. Because she knows where the remains of their bases are as shown in Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) #16-17, and like, Harvest is dead so she could easily just send teams out there to gather shit if she wanted. 

Onto some other things I don’t think are actually related but that I was reminded of/wanted to address:

I feel i’d be a bad timkon fan if during all of this discussion of past stories with cloning Kon I didn’t even bring up Tim’s cloning attempt stuff, but I think it would ultimately be unrelated. His tech was stolen from Luthor, and his attempts didn’t succeed because he was trying to build from scratch without Cadmus’ the data about how they altered the DNA from the original process. 

(Teen Titans Vol. 3 #34)

Then that initial cover for the annual really reminded me of part of the Hollow Men story from Superboy Vol. 5 just with like... Kon in a room full of copies of himself. I don’t think this story would be related either because it was more magic Tannarak stuff rather than regular cloning, but ya know. It’s the imagery.

(Superboy Vol. 5 #9)

It also really reminded me of the stuff from Hyper-Tension which was hypertime stuff not cloning but again just... visually.

(Superboy Vol. 4 #62)

In general I don’t think we’re EVER gonna see Black Zero or any of these multiverse Superboys again LMAO.

To try to sum up all of this in a way that might make sense here’s kinda a... flowchart of some of my main ideas for what the cloning situation could be/how the logic could work. Again this is borrowing stuff from across continuities because Infinite Frontier means theoretically anything’s fair game. (Also I don’t think I mentioned this earlier but I do mention it in the chart, but I think it’s also reasonable that Waller could get her hands on Cadmus tech if Cadmus is like properly made canon again. She just has funky government connections!)

Also I just now thought of this now several hours after I already made the chart and I don’t wanna remake it so sorry not incorporating it there but I remembered there was also that bit during House of Kent where Clark took Kon to the Hall of Justice and they were running some tests on him, so I’m thinking it’s also possible Waller got ahold of that data/that might be how she found out about Kon in the first place for this timeline. And they indicated that there was something wrong with him there, where he might eventually lose his powers or something, so maybe she tried to do cloning stuff to be able to have a copy of Superboy in his prime or something??? before that started kicking in. I don’t know, just more things to consider:

(Action Comics (2016) #1028)

ANYWAYS in conclusion: there is clone fuckery of some sort happening, I’m curious where it’s gonna go, and I just want Kon to be okay.

If you actually read this uhm. props to you bc this probably makes no sense to anyone but me its just word vomit <3 

[puppyluver256]

[Image Description: A man with dark brown skin, brown eyes, and brown hair in a ponytail of locks. He is wearing a blue and yellow basketball jersey with the name "BULKATS" on the front and a large yellow "21", a maroon pendant with a white fist design, blue and yellow wristbands, blue and white basketball shorts, and blue and white sneakers with white socks. He has a hand on his hip as the other hand spins a red and white basketball on a single finger. To his left is a regional variant of the Pokemon Passimian, a buff lemur covered in black and white hair, green leaves stuck to its shoulders, two long green leaves attached to its blue head, blue eyes with yellow sclera, blue fur around its pelvis and upper legs, and blue cape-like fur growing from its back in a manner that resembles wings. It is bouncing a large green fruit like a basketball. The background is the goal end of a basketball court, with a blue wall that blue bleachers sit behind. End ID.]

-----

"Hey, good to have you here! Where'd you say you were from? Clarkwin, huh...you've come a long way, then! Welcome to Lexville, home of the Wild Bulkats, and our Gym! The name's Stewart, and I've got a fighting spirit that makes itself known in both ball games and Pokemon battles! So what do you say--think you can slam and jam with me and my team?"

Here's Pokemon Circuit's fifth Gym Leader! Big cities still call for big battles, and to match with the baseball the other Gym Leader is a basketball player! The basketball inspiration comes from the University of Kentucky, and while they play a lot of college sports I think they're mostly known for the basketball team. That's what I hear about their sports teams for, at least.

In Circuit Version's Lexville Gym, you'll face off against the fighting-type specialist Stweart. He's a star player of the Lexville Wild Bulkats, one of a few beloved sports teams of Cantessy. His Gym is also the Bulkats' home court, where you'll have to make some b-ball shots of your own into special hoops that open doors to reach his specific location. Fun fact, until recently the Lexville Gym was located at a nearby planetarium and was a psychic-type Gym instead. Its leader, however, was recently promoted to the Elite Four, and Stewart has been made a Gym Leader to take the empty spot. He's more than capable, of course, and as he greatly respected the previous Gym Leader he is honored to be given this role in his stead.

You should have access to a good team by this point to deal with nearly anything, so I believe you can handle Stewart's fighting team. He'll have a Brawleon at level 36, a Bulkat at level 37, a Cantessian Machoke at level 38, and a Cantessian Passimian at level 39. You've found enough Pokemon of varying types to counter those, right? But don't get cocky, of course--Stewart has plenty of trick shots up his sleeve, especially when he enters into Union Battle with his Passimian. After you become the Champion, Stewart will have a Brawleon, a Cantessian Machamp, a Gallade, a Bulkat, a Jabittern, and a Cantessian Passimian. ...Wait, "-eon" again...another Eeveelution? Yes! Unfortunately you won't get to see this one for a while, but there are some other Eeveelutions to come soon, hehe :3c

(and yes, I know the fighting-type is represented with a dojo in Pokemon Go and I've been basing my Gym Leader backgrounds on the PoGo type backgrounds, but a dojo would look weird for a basketball player so I just did a ball court instead)

💖🐶 Check out my pinned post for ways to support my artwork, among other things! 🐶💖

~If you like, please reblog to show your friends! Likes are appreciated, but reblogs let more people see my content! If you have something to say, feel free to give feedback in tags/comments/replies as well!~

Passimian (original Alolan variant) and other Pokemon concepts © Nintendo/GameFreak Stewart Hooper, Cantessian Passimian, the Cantessy region, and artwork © PuppyLuver Studios

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Still a few weeks out from issue 4 of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and DC’s solicit schedule is exceedingly wonky so WHO KNOWS when those will drop...THUS. A tiny bit of art appreciation, to tide us (read: me) over. XD

Potentially (?) spoiler-y art tease below!

FIRST UP, issue 4 variant by Rose Besch! The September solicits had a bunch of variant covers listed without previews, so I think this only started showing up in the last few weeks? Regardless, check it ouuuuuttttt:

First of all: So sparkly. :D

Second, MMMMM, look at that CMY(sans K) color palette! I also think the artist’s style of coloring is just very neat--like, refracted light through a prism, if that makes sense? Very geometric. And of course, always dig a cool, shojo manga-esque look for Supergirl. I think, of the variants released thus far, this one and the Amy Reeder cover are my favorite. 

The other little bit of art comes courtesy of Evely, who is back to posting in-progress snippets. As always, I recommend following her and colorist Mat Lopes on their various social media sites because 1.) they are both INCREDIBLY TALENTED and post that Good Good art and 2.) you get to see stuff LIKE THIS:

HNNNNNNGGGGG.

I will go through my usual happy art shouting: HAIR! FACE! BODY LANGUAGE!!!!!!

This is the potentially spoiler-y bit, though without text/additional panels for context, there’s not much it’s actually spoiling? Still. Just want to be extra careful.

I continue to be so completely, utterly thrilled to have eight--EIGHT--issues of Evely’s Supergirl. I mean. Just look at that. Beautiful.

Can’t wait to see the whole page, and Lopes’ colors. Aaaah. S’gonna be GOOD.

Another quick social media account recommendation: Evely’s represented by Felix Comic Art. Even if you aren’t an original art collector, the site usually has decent scans of the original black and white pages. (Watermarked, natch.) But it’s so neat getting to see the original art vs. the colored pages.

And, okay, on that subject of inks vs. colors, I had not originally planned on including this but HERE WE GO, MORE ART, BECAUSE I CAN ALWAYS RAMBLE ABOUT ART.

This time, from Lopes’ twitter; he shared the colors for this page from issue 3, and then later posted Evely’s initial inks: 

It’s maybe a little hard to tell, scrolling, but when you check these out on Lopes’ twitter, and toggle back and forth, you can actually see that the colors ever so slightly soften Kara’s expression. 

Which I find FASCINATING, because it really illustrates the wild game of telephone that is comics creation.

You’ve got the writer and the editor, who work sort of in tandem to figure out how best to tell the story that the writer has in mind. That then goes to the penciller, who puts their own spin on the script, then it goes to the inker who has to interpret the penciller’s lines and choose what lines to keep and how best to highlight them (though, in this case, Evely is inking her own stuff so there’s less chance for any drastic changes between these phases) and then FINALLY (at least on the art side of things) it goes to the colorist who adds a whole NEW layer (literally and figuratively) to the art by selecting palettes and color holds and so on and so forth.

In fact, I was just reading the coda in the most recent Fire Power issue, (a comic by Robert Kirkman--of The Walking Dead fame--Chris Samnee, and Matt Wilson) and Samnee said he’d imagined a particular scene taking place at night, but got the colors back from Wilson, who had set the action early in the morning. Samnee drew the pages for a night palette, but Wilson totally made the morning lighting work, and Samnee felt the storytelling was better that way, as it made the time-skip more apparent. (The previous scene also took place at night, which would’ve been confusing for readers, had they both been set at night.)

ALL OF THIS TO SAY! You have multiple storytellers working on any given book, and here, specifically, I think it’s very cool that Lopes choices enhanced the acting that Evely already put on the page. 

(Though, disclaimer: it occurs to me that this is entirely subjective, and some folks might feel that there WASN’T any discernable change between inks and colors. *Shrug* ARRRTTT!!!!)

Caught a Felix Comic Art stream a few weeks back when he unboxed the art for these issues, and someone in the chat mentioned wanting an Artist Edition for Evely.

And may I just say: Yes.

Like. I don’t think it’ll happen, but I really wish this book would get the usual King trade treatment--a special edition hardcover with a bunch of backmatter, so that we can just DRINK IN THE ARTWORK.

(Would also love to see the script for any of the issues! They did that with Strange Adventures and much like seeing inks vs. colors, it’s always cool to see script to pencils.)

Actually, what I’d really love is an unlettered version of an issue, to highlight Lopes’ colors in particular. 

Don’t get me wrong, I think Clayton Cowles is doing a great job on letters, but this is a very wordy book! And sometimes you just wanna push those caption boxes and word balloons aside and see the entire panel, free of text. XD

Sadly, as I said, this probably won’t get too many bells and whistles in the trade release. Maybe a little bit of Evely’s design work? Hopefully?

She actually posted her initial sketches of Kara, a while back! I think they should be on her IG somewhere? 

Anyways. I would kill for a large format of ANYTHING by Evely. Seriously, just. Do it DC! Take my money! (Or, IDW? Who handles the oversized editions for DC? ...I think it’s IDW. Either way! Do it! Come on! XD)

(Again, someone in that same art unboxing chat mentioned they don’t really do large format editions for contemporary artists, BUT. They totally released a Samnee Daredevil book! That’s pretty contemporary! Or, it was. At the time of release.)

Okay, I will stop now. For real.  

That’s it, I think, in terms of art teases and updates! Until solicits and/or preview art, I guess!

[cosmoscourge-a]

just revised the blog-specific rules of this blog!

Be advised that this blog is EXTREMELY lore-heavy. I have a 15-page long lore document for the fanregion alone, my character bios all exceed 1,000 words and I’m not even done with all 20+ of them, and I have dozens of metas and drabbles on top of that. You don’t need to know al of my lore in order to RP with me, because I literally have a novella’s worth of information on both my characters and my setting. I do ask, though, that you at least read the abridged version of my fanregion lore and have one muse on my muse list that seems interesting to you from their little blurb on my muse list. As for the rest, a longer (but still abridged) reading path I'd suggest would be:

My abridged fanregion lore.

The first section of my Draconid lore document.

The complete bio of one muse whose little muse blurb on my list appeals to you, if available.

Also be advised that Uniman characters particularly League characters are EXTREMELY OP, to the point that most muses--even some canon muses--wouldn't be able to defeat them. This is due to one of the previous tyrants of Unima pulling some fucky wucky with the region's Pokémon to make them all military-grade variants rather than just your standard breeds. This means they have moves, abilities and stats that are suitable more for military purposes rather than civilian Trainers; the canon Pokémon that exist here have also been altered thus. What we call a pseudo-legendary in the outside world is just your average Joe in Unima.

I will be very upfront about this. If you can honestly say that your muse as a battler is in the top, top crust of battlers in the regular Pokémon world, they've got a shot at defeating a Uniman who's at the top of their game. If not, they're shit out of luck. Granted, not all of my Uniman muses are this powerful, so whether or not your muse will win heavily depends on what character they challenge. However, there are a few muses on this blog for whom I'll say that if your character isn't at the level of a protag, Champion or Team Leader, they have zero chance of winning if those muses of mine choose to go all-out. And if this is something you are not comfortable with, please do not follow.

[transformersaesthetics]

Top Ten Expensive Transformers

The hiatus is over! Thanks for your patience with last week folks. Something a bit different today Tumblr! Not the long awaited project, but a fun little aside. A while ago, I was scrolling around on Google, and I saw a clickbait article that alleged to discuss ‘the top ten most difficult to obtain Transformers’. I was curious, and, perhaps foolishly, I clicked on it. To my disappointment, the article was merely a list of expensive MISB G1 figures, which is… Well, boring. So, today, I hope to correct that grave injustice with an article about, in a loose order, 10 Transformers that are difficult to obtain, even if you’re willing to lay out a lot of money. 

A couple of rules before we jump in; First, these aren’t the most expensive Transformers or the rarest transformers, because those questions don’t really make sense. How much a figure costs varies from seller to seller, so it’s impossible to establish a list of the absolute most expensive. Also, many figures that are famously expensive are not expensive in absolute terms, but for their price point.  Similarly, with an exception we’ll discuss in a moment, actual rarity can be quite hard to establish. As far as contents of the list go,  Takara Tomy will occasionally create special ‘lucky draw’ figures for contests in magazines and things. How many they produce varies from figure to figure, but it generally is between 50 and 10. These will be excluded from the list, because if they weren’t, the whole list would be lucky draw figures. (Although they’re cool as shit and you should go take a look http://www.luckydrawtransformers.com/)  Similarly, there are a ton of figures like Victory Leokaiser that command a lot of money on the secondary market just because they were japanese exclusive. These would also take up a ton of room on the list, so I’m going to avoid them unless there’s a really good reason to have them on here. Same for convention exclusives. Without further ado, let’s get started! 

10: Action Master Thundercracker 

Normally, when a toy is exclusive to somewhere, it’s Japan. However, as we’ll discuss later, in G1, Europe and other parts of the world saw some strange distribution. (NexusShard17) Towards the end of G1, “the European Hasbro branches continued releasing new toys which the USA would never get.”(NexusShard17) Perhaps the most notorious of these is Action Master Thundercracker, which has one of the most magnificent color schemes ever seen on a transformer. Where Thundercracker is traditionally blue, Action Master Thundercracker is neon pink, lime green, and a bunch of metallic copper paint and baby blue thrown in for good measure. (Geewunling) Because of the exclusivity of the figure, and it’s desirable, awful color scheme, it tends to command quite a bit on the secondary market. 

How do I get one? 

You can reliably find him on ebay in varying states of completeness, which of course impacts the price. For the figure itself with a few accessories, he goes for around 70-80 dollars, ranging to 150 and up for MISB. 

9: Dark of the Moon Wheeljack/Que: 

Who? 

Wheeljack/Que had a bit part in Dark of the Moon. He was mostly kind of around until he got shot towards the end of the film, for emotions or something. (SFH) He had a toy fully produced, but, when the DOTM line was prematurely axed, Wheeljack’s toy was left in limbo. Takara was eventually able to release Wheeljack in their markets, but he never saw an official US release. (SFH)  

How do I get one? 

Because the toy did actually see an official release somewhere on the planet, it’s not particularly rare, just expensive for a deluxe. You can generally buy one for around $100 on eBay. 

Notes: 

This fate is actually fairly common for toys. Most of the final wave of DOTM was eventually released by Takara. Similarly, although much of the tail end of Transformers: Animated was genuinely axed, figures such as Blackout did see release in Japan.(Abates) (And are also quite expensive.) I mostly picked Wheeljack because he’s the one I always think of. 

8: Masterforce Browning

Who? 

Browning was exclusive to the Japanese G1 line, Super God Masterforce. However, what really makes him difficult to come by is his alternate mode; Browning turns into a Browning M1910 pistol. (TVsGrady) Not only does he turn into a real model of gun, it’s a pretty convincing alt-mode from a distance; no orange safety cap, just sweet sweet chrome the whole figure over. Obviously, this would not fly in today’s toy market, and that makes a reissue of Browning extremely unlikely.

How do I get one? 

Between the reissue problem, the fact that his alt-mode is honestly really cool and novel, and his limited, Japanese release, it’s tough to even find an original Browning for sale on Ebay. Even when he is available, he tends to command a clean couple hundred. Your best bet would be dedicated trading forums. 

7: Hasbro DOTM Leadfoot 

Who? 

Much like Wheeljack, Leadfoot had a bit part in DOTM. He showed up for a few scenes with the Wreckers and built a spaceship and made Nascar jokes. Also like Wheeljack, Leadfoot was planned to receive a deluxe class figure, but with the untimely demise of DOTM, it was not to be. Takara did release a version of Leadfoot, and, like Wheeljack, this is expensive, but not unobtainable. What is excruciatingly hard to come by is one of the unreleased Hasbro two-packs of the character, which contained Leadfoot in a different deco from Takara’s, and a deluxe Topspin. Packaged samples are known to exist, but never officially saw release in any market. 

How do I get one? 

Takara’s Leadfoot generally commands $80-150 on eBay, and you can generally find one or two floating around. If you want the Hasbro deco, well… Good luck. The transformers wiki confirms that there was once one listed on eBay.(MSipher) Now, nine years after DOTM, your best bet would be to know someone, to know someone who knows someone, or to have an in at a place where things like this are discussed and trafficked. 

6: Rally Rhinox 

Who? 

Many of you are likely familiar with the Beast Wars character Rhinox. Many of you are probably not familiar with the promotional toy that character received at local American chain Rally’s. (S.H.I.E.L.D Agent 47) It looks nothing like Rhinox, or even really like a rhino.(S.H.I.E.L.D Agent 47) However, “Most people didn't realize the promotion even existed until after it was over, and the restaurant chain is fairly small and somewhat regional.” (S.H.I.E.L.D Agent 47) Because collectors are how they are, it tends to be quite expensive. 

How do I get one? 

The cursory ebay search I did recently didn’t turn anything up. However, a little more digging found some previous listings on old transformers forums. It appears to have gone for about 100 dollars, which is quite a bit, considering it’s a worse happy meal toy. 

5:Latin American G1 product 

What? 

G1’s international distribution was a bit of a mess. Hasbro handled the US, but “The earliest toys released in continental Europe (minus Italy) were distributed by Milton Bradley, which was in the process of being taken over by Hasbro at that point.”(NexusShard17, The Transformers) In Latin America, the situation was even more complex. No fewer than five licensees were producing G1 figures, often in unique and striking color schemes. (Whalermouse) With the passage of time, the exact scope of what was produced has become unclear; for example, “There are supposedly upwards of three dozen different mold/color combinations altogether, many of them unique to the Peruvian line, but the ravages of time have made samples stunningly rare and reliable information scarce.” (Whalermouse) The actual rarity of the figures depends on what specific piece you’re after, but all of them command outrageous sums. 

How do I get one? 

Many of these pieces are available to purchase on ebay. However, even the mini-vehicles tend to command on the order of 300-400 dollars. However, as you can imagine from the fact that it is uncertain what all exists, some individual colors and figures might prove exquisitely difficult to find. 

4: W Cassettebots 

What? 

Wouldn’t it be cool if Soundwave had some cassettes that turned into dinosaurs? What if they combined? Well if you lived in Japan in the 80’s, and preferred Blaster, you didn’t have to dream. There were two teams of cassettes that turned into dinosaurs, and that combined, albeit somewhat awkwardly. (M Sipher, W Cassettebot) At the end of the Headmasters, “there were a number of toys exclusive to Japan, most of which today command large sums on the secondary market due to rarity (or at least perceived rarity) in the West.” The W Cassettebots were solidly in that category. However, unlike other such exclusives, the W Cassettebots didn’t see a reissue until 2018-2019. (Interrobang; S.H.I.E.L.D Agent 47) For decades these figures could command 2000-3000 dollars for the pair. Even knock offs would go for several hundred dollars. Although these are expensive simply because of their exclusivity, their notoriety earns them a place on the list. 

How do I get one? 

If you’re a reasonable human being, you buy the reissue. It’s two orders of magnitude cheaper and you can actually play with it.  If you’re actually interested in the real deal, an accepted path is to buy some KOs to familiarize yourself with what those look like, and then… find the boys themselves somewhere? Likely by reaching out to an individual seller; I’ve never even seen a real pair on ebay. 

3: G2 Bomber Megatron 

A toy that essentially anyone can buy, but with a packaging variant that is next to unobtainable? Oh baybee, welcome to this version of G2 Megatron. “A planned-but-more-or-less-canceled redeco of Generation 2 Dreadwing, this two-pack of Megatron and Starscream was only released to test markets in Ohio in very limited quanities, and never saw a wide release… the toy was instead made available, with just a few small deco changes, in the Beast Wars II toyline as BB and Starscream.”(ItsWalky) Why do we care about how difficult this is to obtain? My god, because it’s there. Because it’s there. 

How do I get one? 

I’mma say you don’t. I’d guess less than 500 samples of any sort of this are around, and new in sealed box which is the only thing you’d care about? You’re at the mercy of Ohioese children of the 80s not playing with the cool toy they were bought. Good luck finding one. When you do, be prepared to break your wallet in half. 

2: G2 Defensor and Menasor 

These guys really should be number one on the list (but they’re not quite for a good reason). The place they occupy in transformers culture is legendary. It’s a newsworthy event when a set of these figures even becomes available to buy. Even Hasbro has lampshaded the rarity of these figures in the bio of one Shortround, a Cybertron toy. (KilMichaelMcC; Bronzewolf) Much as the first entry on our list, Action Master Thundercracker, had a phenomenally garish color scheme, Menasor and Defensor were going to be released that way in G2. However, between one thing and another, they were canceled. In spite of that, several samples are known to exist. Imagine it. A G1 combiner, unreleased, with this magnificent, gaudy color scheme, all those delightful little bits and pieces to lose or misplace over the years, a bare handful of extant ones in any event… The stuff of legends, to be sure. 

How do I get one? 

Know someone who knows someone. These tend to go for in the neighborhood of 20000 dollars. If you have the 20k to drop on one of these guys, you probably know someone who can put you in contact with one. They are also, rarely, listed on ebay. 

1: Chrome Optimus Prime

Okay, I know I said no Lucky Draw figures, but this one is special. There aren’t ten, or fifteen, or fifty of these. There are exactly two, as part of a single display. (MasterX224) “Won by TFW2005.com member James Zahn, this one-of-a-kind (well, two-of-a-kind) piece is an almost fully vacuum-metallized Leader-class Optimus Prime in red, silver and blue (based heavily upon Generation 1 Optimus Prime), presented with a custom display base with an embossed silver Autobot insignia and a perspex display case.” (MasterX224) The fact that there are two of this figure catapults it to the absolute stratosphere of rarity. It’s difficult to imagine what figure that actually exists could be rarer than this. Maybe a one-off thing for a valued Takara employee? Maybe the very first prototype of Optimus Prime? Even things like Menasor and Defensor have a handful of samples. What has just two? Well… this Chrome Optimus Prime. 

How do I get one? 

Well it helps to be James Zhan. And… yeah I think that’s really all. He’s certainly not going to give it up any time soon. Maybe if you meet him he’ll let you take a look at it some day? 

I hope you all enjoyed this loose list of some of the rarest/most expensive for what they are Transformers. There’s a ton of other super notorious lads, (cough G1 Raiden cough) that really do deserve to be on here. These are just a few of the ones I thought were interesting and, candidly, know about. I’m not in the circles of those folks who are collecting the rarest of the rare. If there’s anything you know about or would even like to spread rumors about, mention it! I’d love to hear about them. Also, if this caught your fancy, make sure to check out the lucky draw website. They have all sorts of interesting stories up there.

TVsGrady et al. “Browning” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Browning Accessed 11/1/2020

SFH et al. “Wheeljack (Movie)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Que Accessed 11/27/2020

Abates et al. “Blackout (Animated)” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Blackout_(Animated) Accessed 11/27/2020

NexusShard17 et al/ “Transformers: Dark of the Moon (toyline)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Dark_of_the_Moon_(toyline) Accessed 11/27/2020

MSipher et al. “Leadfoot (DOTM)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Leadfoot_(DOTM) Accessed 11/27/2020

S.H.I.E.L.D Agent 47 “Rhinox (BW)/toys” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rhinox_(BW)/toys#Beast_Wars Accessed 11/27/2020

NexusShard17 et al. “ The Transformers (European toyline)” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_(European_toyline)#1985 Accessed 11/27/2020

Whalermouse et al. “The Transformers (Toyline)” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_(toyline)#Mexican_.26_South_American_Transformers Accessed 11/27/2020

MSipher et al. “W Cassettebot” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/W_Cassettebot Accessed 11/27/2020

M Sipher et al. “Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers! (toyline)” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_The_Headmasters_(toyline)#1987_.28The_Headmasters.29 Accessed 11/27/2020

Interrobang et al. “Graphy” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Graphy#Vintage_G1 Accessed 11/27/2020

S.H.I.E.L.D Agent 47 et al. “Dairu” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Dairu#Toys Accessed 11/27/2020

Geewunling et al. “Thundercracker (G1)/toys” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Thundercracker_(G1)/toys#ActionMaster Accessed 11/27/2020

ItsWalky et al. “Megatron (G1)/toys” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Megatron_(G1)/toys#Generation_2 Accessed 11/27/2020

Bronzewolf, “Unreleased G2 Menasor Prototype listed on Ebay again” Siebertron

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/unreleased-g2-menasor-prototype-listed-on-ebay-again/36662/ Accessed 11/27/2020

KilMichaelMcC et al. “Generation 2 Defensor and Menasor” TFwiki.

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Generation_2_Defensor_and_Menasor Accessed 11/27/2020

MasterX224 et al. “Optimus Prime (Movie)/toys” TFwiki. 

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Optimus_Prime_(Movie)/toys#Leader_Class_toys Accessed 11/27/2020

[my-thoughts-my-views]

Macbook Air M1 | Best Suitable Accessories for Macbook Air M1 | Laptop Accessories

Macbook Air M1

 Let’s talk about best suitable accessories for you MacBook Air M1. So you might have recently picked up an M1 MacBook Air or Pro. or perhaps you have an Intel model Or even one of the larger 15 or 16 inch MacBook Pros. Here’s a list of accessories that are tried and tested by me over the years and really help enhance the capabilities and increase you productivity with these machines. You can purchase these accessories from Amazon or other other e-commerce website to get best gadgets for you likewww.gadgetworldusa.com.

 I will divide it in two sections:

 -         The first talking of accessories you can get for your MacBook when using it in laptop form, these are meant to be portable and in general can be applied to any laptop.

 -         In the second half, I will look at accessories when using your MacBook in desktop mode. What accessories you can get to make a seamless shift from laptop to desktop mode and carry on working for those longer, more demanding work sessions.

 So let us get started with accessories to get when using your MacBook as a laptop.

USB Port:

  Apple USB Type C to Type A adapter

 The first thing I picked up when I got my first USB type C port only MacBook Pro, was this. The Apple USB Type C to Type A adapter. Well, with only USB Type C ports on all MacBook’s nowadays and a lot of peripherals still using a USB Type A port, you need the ability to access type A devices from the word go, so this is an excellent adapter to have in your bag, that will give you USB 3.1 Gen 1 speeds from any device that is also compliant with at least this standard.

  Lenovo USB type C hub

 Now, you may be thinking about why you should get an adapter that just provides a USB type A connection, when you can get a Lenovo USB type C hub with many other connections. Well, if that’s your Amazon is full of listing for these and there’s a lot of badge engineering happening here. So, a single supplier maybe manufacturing the same product for a number of retailers. Now both of these are well reviewed hubs, but I’ve had better luck with this Lenovo Hub. It is a couple of years old and no longer available in this exact version.

 This other one offers additionally a 3.5mm jack, but in actual performance, it tends to heat up and loose the display completely till it gets cool. Also, you’re unable to adjust the volume using the MacBook’s software slider when you connect external speakers via this hub.

 One thing these unpowered docks will not give you, is transfer speeds via SD cards. You really need a dedicated SD card reader if you work with large photo or video files. This here is an excellent choice, the SanDisk Imagemate Pro and it allows you to exploit the full potential of your SD cards read and write speeds.

 SanDisk Imagemate Pro

   Cable:

  USB Type C to Micro B Amazon Basic Cable

  Let’s talk cables for a bit. Now although you can use one of the aforementioned adapters or hubs to connect to USB type A cable devices, but if you’re not going to be moving between older computers and your new MacBook too much, you may want consider a USB Type C to Micro B cable such as these.

They are from different brands, but for the sake of uniformity wherever you may be located, I will recommend the USB Type C to Micro B Amazon Basic Cable. This will allow you to connect a sinning USB 3.1 hard drive directly to your MacBook via USB C and achieve USB 3.1 Gen 1 speeds.

  Griffin Breaksafe cable

 If you’ve had MacBook in the past and really loved the idea of MagSafe, this could be just the cable you were looking for. This is the Griffin Breaksafe cable that snaps in half if you yank or pull at it and prevents your computer from falling off a desk or other surface.

  You have to be careful here, because there are tons of such options online. One example is this Baseus MagSafe connector, I really liked the idea of it. Convert your existing cable to MagSafe and have a very small connector permanently plugged in to the MacBook. And the connector itself was right angled to enable a more compact profile when charging. But in practise, this is not recommended at all. 99% of times it worked as advertised but that one time, when I connected it, remember this has live electricity running through it, it fried the logic board on one of my previous MacBook.

 So, the only safe product I have come across is the Griffin Breaksafe cable. It’s bulkier and only charges up to 60 watts, so not as suited for bigger MacBook, but it’s safe and long enough to charge MacBook Airs and 13 inch Pros or even iPad Pros.

 Cable Protectors

 And also on the topic of cables, you can pick these little cable protectors on Amazon for next to nothing, they go on to your original Apple cables like so and offer great protection from bends in the one are Apple’s cables are most vulnerable at and if left unprotected, the cables tend to get frayed in this region. I used them on my iPad Pro and MacBook Pro 15 inch original USB Type C cables and they are as pristine as they were on day one, some two years later.

Mouse:

  Logitech MX Master 3 mouse

 Now when it comes to mouse, you do have the excellent trackpad on the MacBook Air itself, but if you want that classic mouse experience and want that scroll wheel, I cannot say. Enough good things about theLogitech MX Master 3 mouse. It’s not the most compact of mice but trust me when I say this, once you’ve used one of these, you will never want to go back to anything else. Really you have to experience it to know how great it is, it’s simply the best mouse in the world. In certain regions you can get in a Mac specific variant, but from what I’ve read there isn’t that much value addition in that one, so I would rather stick to the general variant and retain compatibility across devices.

  Sandstorm mouse

 You can connect up to three devices and switch between them using a toggle button on the bottom of the mouse. But if you want something more compact, I have used this Sandstorm mouse for the past three years now and this is from a UK based manufacturer. It is quite excellent, but its limited availability and recent issues I’ve had in terms of lagging with my older 15 inch MacBook Pro, means I would rather point you in the direction of the Logitech pebble mouse, which is really compact and performs well.

 Logitech pebble mouse

  Protection:

  MOCA hard shell case

  Now let’s talk protection. For many people MacBook is an expensive purchase and they will rightfully have think about protecting their new investment. The first thing that comes to mind is a hard shell case such as this. This is the MOCA hard shell case for the new M1 MacBook Air, but also fits other2020 MacBook Airs. The idea is sound, but since 2016, when the USB Type C MacBook came out, their displays are razor thin and the top lid has very little strength to it. So whenever I’ve tried to use such a case, be it on this MacBook Air or my older 15 inch MacBook Pro, it adds too much weight to the lid, and I can see this having an adverse effect over the years on the hinges.

 Now that you’ve chosen a hard shell case for your MacBook, you may be thinking of sleeves. Well, if you want a basic sleeve, you will be well served by any of the generic ones available on Amazon. I used a handcrafted one that I picked up in the UK on my original13 Inch Retina MacBook Pro for a good few years. But recently I’ve moved to “Thule cases and bags”. On one of my flights with my older 13 inch MacBook, a generic laptop bag didn’t offer the protection from pressure damage that was needed and I had a damaged MacBook screen. Since then, I surveyed the market and chose this product, the Thule Gauntlet sleeve for both 13 inch and 15 inch MacBook Pros.

 Thule Gauntlet sleeve

  I actually the used the 13 inch version for my iPad Pro 12.9 inch. It offers rugged protection and although bulkier than a cloth or fabric sleeve, I’ve had peace of mind when travelling with this item. It’s quite no frills though and beyond a protective shield for your device, it doesn’t offer any storage space for accessories.

   Thule Attaché case

  If you’d rather have a bag, then Thule has you covered once more. Because of my really nice experience with their sleeves, I tried out the Thule Attaché case for the 15 inch MacBook Pro. This is a really nice bag and offers the same protection as the Gauntlet sleeve but additionally has plenty of space for accessories and chargers and keeps the laptop separate from these. You also have the option of working from the bag itself, quite useful in situations at airports and such locations, where you don’t want too much clutter when working for quick few minutes.

 Storage:

 Now let’s talk about storage. If you want fast and lightweight storage for you MacBook, you can’t go wrong with the excellent Samsung external SSDs, the T5 and its newer T7 cousin. I’ve used T5 1TB variant for a couple of years now and really enjoy the 540MB/Speeds it consistently delivers and do all of my video editing off this drive. The newer T7 offers double these speeds, but at some additional cost. Both are excellent and deserve a space in your laptop bag. And being solid state drives, they are not only very compact, but also extremely rugged when compared to a spinning hard drive.

    Samsung external SSD T5

 So this was all about accessories for on the go computing with your MacBook. Now let’s look at accessories that make your life easier when working at a desk. With these accessories you can seamlessly transform your MacBook into a proper workstation.

 Display:

   32 inch 4K Benq display

 Well, the most obvious one on this desk is the main event, the 32 inch 4K Benq display. This is the Benq EW3280U 4K display. Don’t confuse it with the EW3270U, which is a VA panel display whilst this is the real deal, an IPS display, which you really need with such big displays for good viewing angles.

 Also anything smaller than this, and you will not be effectively able to run this at native4K resolution. Everything becomes too small for reading comfortably and even this one, I use it a pixel doubled 2560x1440 resolution that provides retina-like sharpness and still plenty of screen real estate. As a bonus, this comes with the best speakers on a monitor and a subwoofer, meaning I’ve thrown away my external speakers now.

 It’s not perfect though, and the new M1 MacBook do have number of issues with it. Also, even though it comes with a remote, I’ve found this Tobe very unresponsive. I still recommend this display simply because it is one of the few good IPS displays in 32 inch size and 4K resolution at this price point, at least in India and USA.

 Stand:

  Laptop stand from TARKAN

 The other item here is a laptop stand from TARKAN. It is a 360 degree rotating stand that elevates you MacBook to a comfortable height and allows you to have the screen open of closed as per your choices. I wanted access to the Touch ID sensor, so didn’t want to use the MacBook in clamshell mode and this was really perfect for the purpose.

 If you get the same design by a different manufacturer, by all means go for the best deal available, as most of these are made by the same supplier and then sold with different brand names.

 Powerhouse:

  Caldigit TS3 Plus dock

 You can use the Caldigit TS3 Plus dock peeking for your MacBook, this is the powerhouse that has enabled me to have such a clean desk setup. The first distinction between this and the USB Type C hubs we spoke of earlier is that this is a Thunderbolt hub and is actively powered by its own big power brick. That means, not only does it not draw power from your MacBook, but it can charge the MacBook at up to a full 87 watts and power all number of other devices and have just a single, neat thunderbolt 3 cable running to your MacBook. Unfortunately in my case, my Benq Monitor doesn’t run at 60 hz refresh rate when connected via display port cable that this hub offers or even its own USB type C cable.

  Belkin USB Type C to HDMI adapter

 So I’ve had to add another accessory to the back of this hub, and that is Belkin USB Type C to HDMI adapter. This is a great accessory that allows running4K monitors at up to 60hz resolution and offers pass-through charging for a MacBook as well. It actually comes in two variants, but make sure you choose new one, and not the older one that doesn’t provide pass-through charging.

 Thunderbolt dock:

     Caldigit TS3 Plus thunderbolt dock

 The Caldigit TS3 Plus thunderbolt dock has really replaced a number of devices form and offers the single cable convenience that I was looking for. The only thing going against it is the cost, it’s really expensive and its availability outside of the US and Canada is not great. But if money’s not an object, and you want the best hub for your MacBook, this is it.

 Mechanical Keyboard:

  TVS Gold Keyboard

 Now this is a mechanical keyboard, the TVS Gold Keyboard, which is only available in India and is based on Cherry MX keys. If you’ve typed on a mechanical keyboard you will know how great they are for typing. The downside with this keyboard is its Windows layout keys. And also, if you’re used to typing on the excellent Magic Keyboards of the latest MacBook or even the iPad Pro, there is a lack of consistency when you switch to this keyboard, as the keys are differently sized and take some getting used to. For this reason, I recommend both this style of mechanical keyboard and Apple’s own Magic Keyboard. It will boil down to personal preference on this one.

 Mouse:

   Logitech MX Master 3 mouse

 Once again, you see the excellent Logitech MX Master 3 mouse and it is right at home on this large Scarters mouse mat. It measures90x45 cms and offers a great base to work on and is spill proof and easily cleaned and also reversible and comes in different colours on both sides. It’s recently had a price cut and really great value at reduced prices.

   Scarters mouse mat

 Monitor Arm:

 The other item you see here, is the excellent Amazon Basics monitor arm, which allows a range of movement for your monitor whilst keeping your desk clean. It also offers cable management for a clean look. I’m not using it currently as I like the look of my new Monitor’s base stand, but I do use it add an additional screen from time to time. I’ve done an in-depth review on this, so do check that out.

  Amazon Basics monitor arm

  External HDD:

  Seagate Backup plus Portable 5TB external HDD

 Now when you’re at a desk, portability is less important and when it comes to hard drives, space and capacity take precedent. Here are two excellent choices, one is the Seagate Backup plus Portable 5TB external HDD and second is the WD My Passport 4TB portable external hard drive. Both are USB 3.0 and have spinning drives inside them. They are both available for great prices around the world and availability is excellent on any local Amazon site. It’s a great way to dump large files and use for backing up your MacBook. And USB 3.0 speeds mean that they are not painfully slow when it comes to file transfers.

  WD My Passport 4TB portable external hard drive

  Extension Cable:

   USB type C extension cable by Stouchi

 USB type C extension cable by Stouchi that are tricky to find, also they are uni-directional, so you can plug them in the wrong way. They only work when connected in one orientation, so make sure you try both sides when you use them. But what it does offer is the ability to hide USB Type C hubs away for a clean desk setup. If you don’t want an expensive Thunderbolt hub, this maybe a good way to achieve port expansion whilst keeping your desk clean.

 Cable Management Tray:

  IKEA Signum cable management tray

 Finally, this is the IKEA Signum cable management tray, plenty long and strong and adjustable. Also easy to install as will ensure your desk looks pristinely clean and cable clutter free.

   Since it’s from a well-known brand, availability and quality is generally great around the world. Thanks for sticking by till the end and hopefully you will find something useful from these accessories for your own use case scenario. There are many other e-commerce website to get best gadgets for you like www.gadgetworldusa.com. Let me know in the comments section, which ones of these you have or are planning to get or if you have an alternative to any of them.

  Thank you very much for reading this Article.