#and so on and so forth; there are tons of examples in this series

[jasper-the-menace]

No one who's well-adjusted signs a demon contract.

[owenbroadcast]

Hey Tumblr. I'm just a guy, not a company. I released a book (of comics) last weekend. I would like to tell you about it.

It's called 'Babyology'. It's mostly about my dog and baby:

I'm there also, with my wife.

It's part anthology: the first two years of this series about us having a kid and starting a family, and all the weird stuff I'm into.

It's also longer comics I've kept behind the scenes until now.

The other main theme in the book is 'weird American religion'. Sometimes we go into atypical Christian history stuff, or just interesting ideas I come across - for example, what Mormon philosophy has to say about why evil exists:

Or... why the Virgin Mary apparently mostly appears to kids:

The world of ‘weird spiritual and religious ideas’ is just something I'm really into, and that stuff dovetails in an interesting way with having a kid. Actually, my wife and I don't really fit into any "group". Some of the comics are about that:

It's not pushing any particular religious conclusion. It goes back and forth between, "here's this weird idea", and then:

People seem to like it so far:

That's it really. If you have any friends who just had a kid, this would be a killer Christmas gift for them, but I'm running this ad because I think it makes a great gift for almost anyone. It's a real certified weird item from the internet that I put a ton of myself into. It's 360 pages, printed black and white newspaper style (so it's only $28) - comics all the way through. Weird enough for your freak friends, but normal enough for your mom. Thanks for reading this, here's the link if you're into it: http://amazon.com/dp/B0CPC9T741

[afunyarinpa]

Behind Closed Doors is a single, very lengthy city-exploration style mission that AngelLoader says I've put exactly 7 hours into trying to beat, lol. I haven't played many FMs, so I'm not sure how unique it is, but it's pretty immediately appealing with its time of day being right at dusk, having abundance of warm colors. Coupled with its own textures, sounds & a lot of new models. Which goes well with half of its traversal being done through navigating balconies, giving you a pretty nice view of a lot of its beautiful city. All of that's ironically juxtaposed with an unraveling interconnected murder plot, slowly tying all of the characters together. Great example of nonlinear environmental storytelling. Also, kind of funny how Garrett can never avoid being thrown into these things.

Hurt a bit by extensive backtracking (I think you have to go back and forth a minimum of two times, at least on expert). Plus the usual Thief problems, mantling goofs are pretty exacerbated. Kind of needs a ton of quicksaving, and while I usually avoid abusing the blackjack, it saves a lot of time on the returns.

[romance-of-three-memes]

In Dynasty Warriors 5, there's a system in place where you can only save during the current stage you're playing a certain amount of time, and the higher the difficulty the fewer saves you get. Unsurprisingly, this system was removed and at least as far as I know, has never been in any other releases. It's a part of why I haven't played a ton of dw5 even though a lot of people who grew up with the ps2 games like me act like it's objectively the best in the whole series and you're wrong if you think otherwise. I want to play on higher difficulties because I'm more likely to find them engaging, but I don't want to deal with the stress of having only one chance to save during a battle.

This was implemented in an attempt to discourage 'save scumming', which is when you reload a previous save file to undo an unfavorable development you've encountered, like your character dying. In most Dynasty Warriors games save scumming is easy. In older games if you save you get booted out of the battle to the main menu screen and you had to reload the save, so that made it a bit tedious but nowhere near enough to be much of a deterrent. In later games they stopped forcing you back to the main menu and just let you stay on the current stage, so it was even easier. It seems as though the devs admitted defeat.

I used to wonder if there was a better way to discourage players from save scumming, not because I cared if anyone did, more just contemplating it because this was clearly something the devs had been concerned about at some point. Ultimately I didn't need to think anything up myself, because a better system can be found in the Samurai Warriors Chronicles games. When you meet the failure conditions of a stage (usually because either the character you're playing or an important npc lost all their hp) you get to keep all the money, items, and weapons you got in that stage, which wasn't the case at least in most previous Samurai or Dynasty Warriors games (there are dozens upon dozens of them including all the spin-offs and I'm not playing them all just to be 100% sure this isn't the first time that system was introduced). You're then asked if you want to save. You can refuse, and if you want to reload your old interm save, you have to reboot the game. So save scumming is more tedious and unattractive but this doesn't make it it feel like you're being slapped on the wrist like with the dw5 limited save system.

This is a fairly small change but in my opinion it's extremely clever and a big 'quality of life' improvement, because rewarding people for desirable behavior is often far more effective than punishing them for undesirable behavior. I barely ever save scummed while playing Chronicles, and usually I'm not shy about save scumming in Warriors games. I haven't played as many Samurai Warriors titles so I don't know how widely implemented this system was there, but I do think the Dynasty Warriors devs could've achieved their goal by following the example set forth at least in the Chronicles games.

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Possibly very hot take?

I will preface that this is just my opinion as a writer/reader, and I’m not inherently judging or hating on anyone.

I see a lot of posts about “don’t expect anything from me because I don’t have to finish this if I don’t want to” and that’s completely true. But it’s sad to see how hostile some people are about this.

And I hate seeing people with a few hundred notes and people showing genuine interest in their story, saying they want more interest and more interaction in order to keep writing.

Because just like you are not obligated to write, people are not obligated to read and interact. And the more you act like an entitled person who demands reblogs and comments, the less people will want to give you what you want.

I’ve seen people mention that they don’t want to write unless they get more interaction, more reblogs, and more comments when they have tons of people already doing that. The problem with them saying this? They say it to the people who are already interacting. And it sends the message to those people that their interaction isn’t enough, so why bother?

Here’s the thing: if you write for the interaction alone, you’re doing it for the wrong reason. You have to write for you, not others. Because others won’t always be there. Life happens, people get busy, they lose interest.

And that’s okay.

As an AuDHD person, I struggle with staying consistent. Keeping up with projects is hard because my interests shift so drastically. I get really into a hobby for a little while and then six months later it’s like it never existed.

Writing is the only thing that I’ve enjoyed for as long as I can remember. Or rather, telling stories. I’ve always loved telling stories. I’ve always had an overactive imagination. I was the kid with my head in the clouds, daydreaming about my ideal life or building my own worlds. I had notebook upon notebook filled with stories and I still have those damn things somewhere in storage.

That being said, I get it. I probably have a thousand drafts of stories I never finished. And I used to be someone who wrote and posted for the likes and interaction. And I love the interaction, but not just because of the praise. I love the conversations that arise from when people send asks.

I love this little corner of wonderful people who care about Rinko as much as I do.

Before I Love You is a great example of conversations we’ve had. People had so many thoughts and I had a blast going back and forth and hearing from people. I loved learning about how people’s lives effected how they read and reacted to the story.

Another Level is likely going to be my best accomplishment in terms of completing a series/story. And the reason for that is because the base story, my base motivation for starting it, was because I wanted it. I wanted to write it and I wanted to finish it. The kudos and comments and asks helped push me along, but in the end, I wanted to see it through to the end. Physical Paradox is definitely one I feel the same way about. I love that story so much.

People who want interaction don’t bother replying to comments. They don’t bother interacting back because they feel like the writing itself is enough.

Even when I’m not posting, I’m still writing for me. I post because there’s interest. But I’m writing the story because I want to reach the end. I want to know the end.

I think Yoshihiro Togashi (Hunter x Hunter's Mangaka) is a great example of an author who cares so much about his series and his readers because he knows there’s a chance he won’t get to finish what he’s started and wants to provide some closure in case that happens.

SO.

That's my rant.

Hopefully I didn't piss too many people off if anyone read this at all 😅😬

[sarahcmarie]

I’m gonna say something that not everyone will agree with

LET FANS BE WHATEVER KIND OF FAN THEY LIKE WHENEVER THEY LIKE

To clarify what I mean I am talking about a very specific group of fans not all of fandom is toxic I refuse to believe that but their are a subset of fans who are being fucking annoying for example

People who say that you can’t be a fan if you got into fandom though specific pieces of media

I became a x-men fan from x-men 97 before I watched x-men 97 I didn’t really know much about them so I went back watched the original cartoons watched YouTube essays on the characters my library (where I get all my comics) doesn’t have x-men comics so I haven’t read them but I completely fell in love with the x-men series

I legitimately heard someone say in full seriousness that they were annoyed cyclops was getting popular cause half the reason it was cool to be a cyclops fan was cause nobody liked him

To be very clear if you don’t want to talk to new fans or hear their opinions (even if I think that’s dumb) just don’t instead of yelling at them for being fake fans

Fans who say your only a fan if you’ve read comics

That is simply untrue I believe fandom can be more fun if you read comics but they are not required to be a fan

comic book movie fans are just as valid as comic book fans and to say otherwise is just stupid I personally enjoyed the fandom long before I enjoyed the comics now I do have comics and I do read them, but before I was really just a movie/TV show fan and you know what I still enjoyed the fandom just as much and learned just as much about the characters even if there are differences in movies and TV shows

Movie and TV shows fans and comic book fans I will admit have a very different experience, but that doesn’t make one experience better or worse. I personally enjoy comics more, but I still love the movies.

And Another thing ( I know surprise surprise but I am on a role so you shall hear my rant… or scroll)

Fans can like whatever the fuck they like I personally love Batman the animated series but if you didn’t enjoy it or just have not watched it that does not make you any less of a fan

Teen titans go is a perfect example of this I loath this show I do not enjoy it I feel like it mischaracterizes a lot of thing/characters and the humor is not my cup of tea BUT there is a fan base and that fan base is not “stupid” or “dumb” or “only 7 yr olds who don’t understand” that show has its place even if I don’t personally understand why people enjoy it does not mean it’s unenjoyable

This goes for a lot of things in fandom

The Cw arrowverse was far from comic accurate there was a ton of stupid love triangles but that doesn’t make it less enjoyable even if you dont find it entertaining or fun AND THATS OK

(Can you tell I feel very strongly on this? lol)

It is indeed ok to bounce back In forth while enjoying media I came to tumblr a diehard marvel fan and a professional Batman hater (it embarrassing to admit but yea I hated Batman without knowing anything about him) now I am a Batman enthusiast I know shocking when you look at my blog and I stepped away from marvel I am now to the point where I equally enjoy both AND THATS OK if you decide one day you love green lantern and so you don’t consume as much Spider-Man content or any at all and you come back to Spider-Man later that’s fine and does not make you less of a fan

The beauty of fandom is not that we all agree but that we disagree we all have our own opinions and get to share them and that is why fandom is wonderful you get to see so many points of view whether you agree or disagree you get to see someone’s inner thoughts somebody’s favorite ship their least favorite character trope it is what makes fandom so great the community NOT getting to be right or wrong about something 

If you disagree with me PLEASE message me or send something to my asks I do not think this post is iron clad it probably has some things that could be worded better or maybe one of my opinions were completely wrong but I am curious of your thoughts and opinions

[pikatrainer99]

My strange over-connection to fiction...

Pokémon is the one game series I'll name my character my real name because the protags are self-inserts for the player and when I play Pokémon I take that "self-insert" concept as literally as you can get, as I throw myself into that world completely, to the point where it's like reality doesn't exist while I'm playing Pokémon because I'm so immersed in the game. For just ONE example, I remember getting banished from Jubilife Village in PLA and feeling like it was actually ME who was wrongly accused and punished for falling to Hisui from the rift. That scene where I walked out of the village with all the townspeople whispering about me, my character wasn't saying anything but I sure was. I was saying things like, "It's not my fault! I didn't do anything! I wanna go home..." "Home" in this case referring to my CHARACTER'S home in his original timeline, not MY home, because I was in my house, in my room when playing through that scene. I was already home, and had been home that whole time, but I was completely numb to my surroundings and feeling like my character, not my real self.

Games are weird like that sometimes, when you just get so sucked into the world of the game that reality doesn't exist for the duration of the time you're playing. It's only when you turn OFF the console that you become aware of the real world again, and it feels weird every time. I dunno, maybe that's just me and my tendency for my good ol' autistic hyperfocus to take over on whatever game I'm playing for hours on end that makes me so disconnected from the world around me, but it's still a weird feeling switching back and forth from being so engrossed in the world of the game, and then coming back to reality. I've done it tons of times now and it never gets any easier nor does it ever feel less weird.

Seriously, YOU try getting a game on launch day that you'd been excited for since its reveal, and booting up the console to play it, thinking that you'd just play for a couple hours, only to end up SO immersed that you end up playing for 48 HOURS STRAIGHT WITHOUT STOPPING AT ALL...yeah, that was ACTUALLY what happened when I first got my copy of Pokémon Violet. It was so bad I got my Switch taken away for a few days because I didn't eat or sleep or anything during that time. It was just me and the game, I wasn't aware of anything else. That was definitely an episode where my hyperfocus just couldn't be broken, but luckily I haven't had one THAT bad since. I HAVE had some 24 hour-long ones though, but not 48. Not since Scarlet and Violet came out.

Though honestly, reality just...sucks sometimes...like now, for example. To cope with life's hardships, I've ALWAYS used fiction as an escape, whether that be through video games, or through anime and cartoons, or through throwing myself into my OWN creative world for hours on end. I feel much, MUCH more connected to the fictional stuff I consume and create than I do reality. It helps a lot when I'm in a mental spiral like I am right now (anxiety and PTSD go brrrrr to the point of actually affecting my heart rate, elevating it by a lot for a couple weeks now because I'm always on the verge of panic), and I just know things would be a lot worse without the various fictional worlds I love so much, whether I create or consume said fictional worlds. Fiction is my comfort zone, it's always there for me when I need it. And sometimes when you've gone through a lot in life like I have, immersing yourself in fictional worlds just feels like a warm blanket cocoon or a protective shield. I know it does for me, at least, and I hope I'm not the only one.

[bracketsoffear]

Bolo (Keith Laumer et. al.) ""Bolos might fail. They might die and be destroyed. But they did not surrender, and they never — ever — quit."

A series of stories, originally by Keith Laumer, that were later expanded into a Shared Universe by other authors. They detail the exploits of the Bolo, autonomous AI tanks that are supposed to have evolved from the standard main battle tank of the 20th century.

These aren't your normal tanks. For one, their designers decided that bigger was better, and since the only thing that could really take down a Bolo was another Bolo, they just kept building the Bolos bigger and bigger, to the point where even the stealth tanks mass 1,500 tons. Or in some novels the Mark XXXIII weighs 32,000 tons.

There are plenty of examples of why this is Slaughter, but the aptly-named Final War, culminating in a mutual campaign of total extermination between humans and Melconians that turned a whole spiral arm of the Milky Way into a lifeless waste of dead or hopelessly contaminated planets, takes the cake. It is notable that plans of Operation Ragnarok, the human half of the equation of genocide, were based on a scenario initially created to illustrate utter madness of such campaign. Even the eponymous sapient supertanks start cracking under the weight of their orders by the end, succumbing to bloodlust. When one of the very few surviving Bolos, Shiva, reawakens, he is horrified by the atrocities that he himself had not been above committing under the pretense of following orders."

The Iliad (Homer) "(Unless otherwise noted, translations are by Peter Green.)

"Goddess, sing of the cataclysmic wrath of great Achilles, son of Peleus, which caused the Greeks immeasurable pain and sent so many noble souls of heroes to Hades…" (translation by Emily Wilson)

The Iliad is the archetypical war story. It traces the destructive path of the demigod Achilles, who sets in motion a devastating series of events when he refuses to fight the Trojans in a pique of pride. The infamous catalogue of ships in Book 2 gives a sense of the mind-numbing scale of a war fought over something as intangible as the pride of men and gods. The lavish descriptions of battle and the accounts of individual deaths and wounds give a sense of the utter devastation of war and the grief it leaves behind:

"Not in vain from [Diomēdēs's] hand did the missile fly, but struck Phēgeus full in mid-breast, threw him clear of his horses. Then from the fine-crafted chariot Idaios sprang down, but dared not make a stand over his slain brother, nor would he himself have escaped the black death spirit without the aid of Hēphaistos, who saved him, hid him in darkness, to ensure that aged Darēs [father of Phēgeus and Idaios] was not wholly undone by grief."

Without the help of Achilles, the Trojans begin to gain ground on the Greeks. Torn between his pride and his concern for his comrades, Achilles agrees to let his beloved Patroclus disguise himself in Achilles' armor to hearten the Greeks and scare the Trojans:

"All at once [the Greeks] came charging out like a swarm of wasps by the roadside that boys have a way of provoking to fury, constantly teasing them in their nests along the highway, as children will, creating a widespread nuisance, so that if some traveler passing by should happen to annoy them by accident, they with aggressive spirit all come buzzing out in defense of their offspring-- like them in heart and spirit the Myrmidons now streamed forth from the ships, and an endless clamor arose…"

Hector, prince of Troy kills Patroclus and unleashes the unbridled wrath of Achilles, who becomes so enraged he slaughters every Trojan in his path so gruesomely he enrages the River itself:

"Achilles, scion of Zeus, now left his spear on the bank, leaning against a tamarisk, and charged in like a demon, armed only with his sword, horrific deeds in mind. He turned and struck at random, and ghastly cries went up from those caught by his sword: the water ran red with blood…"

"My lovely streams are currently all awash with corpses; I can't get to discharge my waters into the bright sea, I'm so choked with the dead, while you ruthlessly keep on killing!"

When the River almost drowns Achilles, he's terrified--not of death, but of being robbed the glory of his promised death at the hands of the Trojans: "If only Hektōr had killed me, the best-bred warrior here, / then noble had been the slayer, noble the man he slew…"

In The Iliad, war is destruction and grief but simultaneously honor and glory, and Achilles is only one of the many characters who move through its battlefields like the incarnation of Slaughter itself."

[wiihtigo]

How do I get into DC and batman and shit without reading a trillion comics

the animated shows are a great way if you dont want to read comics, batman especially has a ton of cartoons since you named him specifically (btas, brave and the bold, the handful of justice league cartoons, batman 04, so on and so forth) (brave and the bold especially is great cuz it has a bunch of dedicated episodes to C tier jobbers no one gives a fack about..its how i found out about characters like plastic man and blue beetle :) not that theyre c tier jobbers though..)

if you meant more that youre overwhelmed by the sheer amount of comics a character like batman has....yeah there is a lot

my advice is to grab onto some specific character or plot youve seen floating around online and latch onto it like a leech and just start from there....ermm for example.. i was enchanted by a friend of mines batjokes art so i went to go read the storylines they were drawing fanart from (they were contained in batman 2011- its a run i really enjoyed! funnily its the only new 52 comic i enjoyed. batman why do you get it all)

and from there, there were a few characters i remembered being interested in seeing out of the corner of my eye, like barbara gordon and cassandra cain, so i read batgirl 2000 and birds of prey 1999 (both bat affiliated books) ....its not the way everyone would do it but i dont see a problem with working your way backwards through comics! i read a little of nightwing and robins comics that were running alongside bop and batgirl but mostly i just focused on what grabbed me and let the love in my heart guide me.

theres also a buncha stupidhero movies. and games! none ive played personally but i heard the arkham games are preddy good.

hmm as for newer comics though i think the current ongoing worlds finest (superman & batman series) is good, its written by one of my favorite writers mark waid. and drawn by dan mora so it looks pretty too. and itd be shorter than some of these older comics....but older comics are so good...give them a chance...

[knightotoc]

The only Jedi who's ever gone to the Outer Rim and caused more good than harm is Kerra Holt. In chronological order:

- Tom Veitch foretold the trend (as he foretold everything) when he had City Boy On His First Mission Ulic Qel-Droma try to rescue the princess on Onderon (not technically Outer Rim in current canon but whatever), only to completely misinterpret the situation since the princess was getting kidnapped on purpose to marry her love. Ever since then every Core World Jedi going to the Outer Rim has also misinterpreted the situation and/or not assessed the needs of the people they are trying to help, leading to some dreadful cosmic tragedy. In Ulic's case, this small mistake was soon resolved, but in the back-and-forth of wars that resulted from this mission Ulic fell to the Sith and killed a ton of people, ending with a weak ass redemption of mansplaining forgiveness to a catgirl

- Nomi Sunrider stopped the Sith by... burning down a rainforest

- Revan (or as I like to call them, knock off Ulic Qel-Droma) did stop the Mandalorian takeover out there, but only after falling to the Dark Side themself. And what's worse, they took Malak with them. Half the time they clean up their mess, the other half they make it worse, and either way they go further into the galaxy -- bad idea!

- the Jedi Exile blowed up a planet out there. At least they felt sorry about it

- idk SWTOR 😅

- GOAT Kerra Holt goes to the Outer Rim for a specific purpose (free the people from the Sith governments) and works her butt off to accomplish this, even putting a stop to corrupt drug running from the unhelpful Republic. I have a theory that the only reason future Jedi don't learn from her is (not bc she got written just before the Disney merger but) bc she was never able to return home to Coruscant and teach the others :(

- reading The High Republic rn, and this seems to be the main theme of the series, or at least my main takeaway. In the main storyline, the Republic (+ Jedi) build Starlight Beacon for no specific purpose and do not set up any kind of infrastructure to allow the local people to actually reap its benefits. My man Tia Toon calls them out and nobody listens to him except me. Unconvincing post-9/11 villains the Nihil destroy the Beacon, which falls into a local planet and kills a ton of people. Of course the Jedi had good intentions, but so did Ulic, Revan, and the Exile

- in the side storyline, Cohmac Vitus tries to cleanse some evil artifacts and ends up unleashing the Drengir (aka, sanitized Yuuzhan Vong)! This is what inspired me to write this post bc I just read this, and wtf man! It's such a clear example of "don't mess with the dark side if you refuse to study it." This situation really was fine until the Jedi tried to help! He does feel sorry about it too, I wonder of he's gonna turn evil from guilt

- most famously Qui Gon went into the Outer Rim incidentally to his political mission, saved Anakin while he was there with an elaborate Ben Hur reference, but did not save his mom or consider the affects on the community not to mention the boy, which ultimately lead to Darth Vader

- anakin sand ppl

- you'd think Luke and Leia going to Tatooine and killing Jabba would make things better, but according to the Mando TV show everything is still pretty fucked over there

- I guess Rey caused more good than harm by going to Exegol and killing poor old palpatine; it is sad that Kylo had to die, but she forgot him so ig we should too lol

[theawakenedstate]

If there’s one thing that has always been important for my spiritual awakening, it’s consistent spiritual practice. Do you want to know what are the top benefits of Daily Spiritual practice? Let’s talk about why it’s important to have a spiritual practice in 2024 and beyond! Welcome to Season 3 of the Podcast: Awaken and Manifest your Best Life!

Let’s Start with our Foundation. What I want to talk to you about is going back to the true foundation of spirituality and spiritual awakening. The Heart of what is Spirituality itself that brings us back home to our own consciousness’s true wisdom and power. This is learning about mindfulness.

Mindfulness is one of the best meditative practices you can do for your spiritual journey. Why is this so important for you? Mindfulness is the root of all awareness because conscious awareness comes from our self-observation. When we enter the point of self-observation, we enter the place of non-judgment of self. This teaches us to be more present and embodied in our daily life. This foundation of Mindfulness is what makes up the starting thread of all Spiritual practices. Mindfulness is a big component of a spiritual practice. You’re developing mindfulness as a core goal of your spiritual practice.

Most Importantly a daily Spiritual practice is best done through what is known as a ritual.

What Is a Ritual?

Sometimes people see rituals as more like witchcraft but they are more simple than that. A ritual is a series of actions that you do on repeat that eventually form a habit. A Ritual allows us to take something that was an idea in our mind and make it into a habit.

So you already have rituals in your daily life. However, these behaviors are probably more simple like your morning coffee, brushing your teeth, or how you do your bathing routine in the shower. When we begin applying Rituals to our Spiritual practice, a different goal forms. We are now using our ritual to actively increase our mindfulness and Self-awareness on a consistent basis. This enhances our spiritual growth journey and often leads to a stronger intuition. Plus many other mental and emotional benefits!

Why Mindfulness is Important to Spiritual Practice

We have rituals already, but we might not have a for our spiritual practice. This is where It’s important to emphasize why it’s important to have a spiritual practice and why it’s so crucial to developing your own personal mindfulness and conscious awareness in your own daily life.

We have to go back to how the brain works. For example, when it comes to understanding mindfulness, being mindful means being in the present moment. When we are in the present moment, we are more connected to our intuition, our spiritual alignment and we are less in a place of reactive habit. We’re less in a place of autopilot mode (fight/flight mode) We are more in tune with our body and who we are. This makes it easier to manifest because we are more present and tuned into our intuition. We’re more aware of what we need to Heal or Let go because we’re aware of our surroundings more than normal. It also makes it easier to make decisions because we release over-thinking.

It’s sometimes easy to fall off track.

It can be easy to let life run away with you when it comes to forgetting your spiritual practice. When we find ourselves disconnected from our spiritual self, we’re not as present as we could be. This means we’re more likely to get stuck in our negative mind chatter or even anxiety. We’re less likely to take action on our goals. We could be over-thinking, over-doing, over-analyzing when it’s not remotely necessary, and so forth. Likewise, we might be giving ourselves a ton of excuses or complaints as to why we can’t do something. All of this is coming from simply being misaligned or disconnected from your spiritual self.

So Let’s Dive into the Top Benefits of Spiritual Practice and Why it is important to have a Spiritual practice.

Top Benefits of Spiritual Practice:

WATCH ON YOUTUBE

LISTEN ON THE PODCAST

Whether you meditate, do yoga or journal, having a solid consistent spiritual practice is going to make your Mental and Emotional Health so much easier in 2024. 

Here is a quick breakdown of what you need to know:

Developing Conscious Awareness We’re either in a reactive state that’s built up from our past programming over time, or we’re in a consciously aware state where we’re making present choices with our conscious mind. When you are more aware, you are more likely to reach a point where you will change gradually versus hitting that point where you hit, rock bottom and have to change. What awareness does, is it allows you to get out of the monkey mind and enable yourself to go into that place of flow and intuition. Most of all, you make better choices and better decisions because you’re more tuned on to your intuition and you’re less in survival brain.

Establishing a Solid Relationship with Your Higher Self When we have a spiritual practice, we’re kind of bridging the gap between our spiritual self and our physical self. What you’ll find is It doesn’t even matter necessarily what you call it, call it whatever you want. You can call it God, higher intelligence, higher self, angels, whatever you work with, but that awareness is what you’re building a solid relationship with. The reason why you want to be consistent with your spiritual practice is you’re strengthening your Connection to higher Perspectives of Awareness. In other words, you’re developing a relationship with a higher consciousness. This helps evolve your growth and problem solve easier!

Developing your Consistency to Mindfulness When you develop rituals, and I like to call this in our membership, the Soul Aligned Life Academy, we’re calling this: Mindful Rituals. When you start to develop mindful rituals in your life, you will have a consistent practice to rely on to connect to higher consciousness. Now, what I learned 10 years ago this is not only crucial to developing my relationship to my higher self, but it allows me to have a sacred space to come back to when I fall off track. For example, when you’re more Negative or moody, when you need to heal something or even when you are looking to manifest something. It allows you to come back home to something that is so much deeper than just surface level reality and connect deeper to higher truth. higher truth is higher perceptions of reality that perhaps we’re not realizing from our limited past programming. Higher truth guides you to look at various possibilities and different solutions that you weren’t seeing before because you were only seeing from one perspective – not higher truth. Having a consistent practice to develop your Mindfulness gifts you a new ability to shift your perspective faster and see differently to problem solve.

Are you ready to dive into all the benefits of Spiritual Practice for your spiritual growth this year? Catch the full Episode on the Youtube or the Podcast episode.

Do you have a Spiritual Practice for 2024? Have you been using a spiritual practice since you awakened? Let’s hear it in the comments.

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https://www.theawakenedstate.net/what-are-the-benefits-of-daily-spiritual-practice/

What are the Benefits of Daily Spiritual Practice?

If there’s one thing that has always been important for my spiritual awakening, it’s consistent spiritual practice. Do you want to know what are the top benefits of Daily Spiritual practice? Let’s talk about why it’s important to have a spiritual practice in 2024 and beyond! Welcome to Season 3 of the Podcast: Awaken and […]

[the-musings-of-a-manga-reader]

Majo Taisen

Majo Taisen - The War Of Greedy Witches

Do you want to watch women from history fight each other in skimpy outfits? Are you a fan of Record of Ragnarok?  Well, do I have the series for you! Majo Taisen aka The War of Greedy Witches

It’s like Record of Ragnarok but worse. 

I’m sorry that’s a bit too harsh. It honestly isn’t a terrible series and I quite enjoyed reading it even tho it has quite a few flaws.

In this series, 32 women from history are brought forth to fight each other in what is known as “Walpurgis”. These women are now witches with magic related to their desire, their greed. The winner of the tournament gets their desire, a wish, fulfilled.

Unlike Record of Ragnarok, the humans are pitted against each other and only one can win. However, like RoR, each time an opponent loses their soul is destroyed aka a permanent death. 

Now what I think is the fatal flaw of the series is the main character Jeanne D’arc or better known as Joan of Arc. It’s not so much her character that I find a fault with, I actually quite like her. The problem lies in her being both the protagonist and one of the fighters. With her being the protagonist it can be assumed that she’s not going to lose, meaning the women going against her certainly will. She has a ton of plot armor and I don’t think this is a series where the protag would be killed off. In my opinion, because of this, the story loses some of its excitement.

I have two other smaller critiques:

1. The Outfits; while I get the skimpy outfits are “hot”, they’re not the most functional for a battle. Nothing is being protected. And honestly with some outfits I have no clue how they aren’t flashing everyone

2.  The length of the battles. The battles are very short and so are each character's back stories. I do like that the battles aren’t quite as long as Record of Ragnarok, which can feel drawn on sometimes. But in this case, they almost feel too short. Same with the backstories, they only last 4 pages at the most. And I think because of that I don’t grow an attachment to most of the characters or get super invested in the fights.

Now onto some positives! What I do like is that the fighters are all women. Personally as a woman myself, it’s nice to see a tournament with all these women fighting and being strong and confident on their own not relying on any men. I also like the characters, I think they’re all interesting and have very differing personalities. It’s fun to see how the characteristics in this series were inspired by the actions and personalities of the real-life people. As of right now, my favorite is Tomoe Gozen cause she’s so cute! Hehe

One last pro is that there are multiple rounds. Record of Ragnarok has everyone only fight once, but with Majo Taisen, there will be a total of 5 rounds I believe. I’m curious to see how these future rounds will go since everyone has seen each other's magic. Meaning that they can prepare themselves for the fight rather than being thrust into a fight not knowing what the opponent can do.  

This next part contains spoilers for both RoR and Majo Taisen as I’m going to talk about similarities. 

Majo Taisen definitely seems to be inspired by Ragnarok. First, the cover designs are set up in a similar way. Both feature two of the fightsers on opposite sides of the covers. The name of the series between them in a rectangle shape

(Majo Taisen on the Right; Record of Ragnarok on the Left)

Parts of the stories share similarities as well. For example, the whole bringing dead people from history to fight in a tournament where if they lose their souls will be destroyed and they will no longer exist. The next similarity, that I saw was in Fight 3 of Majo Taisen. The winner of the fight wins by constantly lying and using fake outs, exactly like the winner of fight 4 in Ragnarok. Another noticeable similarity is in Fight 6, where one of the women’s magic focuses on probability and the one scene reminds me of one from RoR’s Fight 3 where Kojiro is able to predict Poseidon’s move.  It’s not the exact same but it definitely was noticeably similar to me.

(Right is Majo Taisen; Left is Record of Ragnarok)

Now I actually do like that Record of Ragnarok has clearly inspired other mangaka to create series similar. I very much enjoy this genre. I'm hoping that with future chapters Majo Taisen improves itself and really tries to break away from under RoR's shadow. Caused of right now it truly does feel like a worse version of Ragnarok.

I do recommend checking it out, as long as you don't take things too seriously. It's available in English on the manga hot app

(I took the images from fan scans so shout out to the people who worked on them)

[eri-blogs-life]

The Souls Are Always Darkest

So since I have been on a FromSoft kick again (my gf and I started playing the Bloodborne board game, and that made me go back and finish Elden Ring), I decided I’d go back and replay some FromSoft games and write down some of my thoughts on them.

So, here’s my thoughts from this playthrough of Dark Souls

Obviously, generally speaking, the game’s a god-damn masterpiece. Amazing combat systems, tons of exploration and discovery, beautiful fantasy world to explore, and... there’s some kind of story there too. Something about killing Gwyn so you can become the new king or something? I don’t know. Story’s never been what I focus on in the Souls games

One of the first notes I have in my little notebook is “Poise. So nice. Also broken. Easy mode?” Which like... seems like a reasonable place to start. DS1 definitely makes the difference in light and heavy armor feel like it matters. I don’t know that I ever felt as much like it mattered in later games, but in DS1 wow what a difference light and heavy armor makes. Not just better armor reduction, but the ability to continue your own attacks or estus drinks while an enemy hits you if your poise is high enough. But you absolutely CAN’T dodge. It does actually make it feel like your choice in loadout matters.

Now, for what it’s worth, a person’s build is definitely going to impact their experience in a FromSoft game to some degree. I went with a “quality” build this time - close to evenly leveling vitality, endurance, resistance, strength, and dexterity. But the strength didn’t end up mattering a ton, cause the weapon I ended up maining was the Uchigatana. I got it early on and used it almost exclusively for most of the game. One hand was the Uchigatana, the other was a caestus I used for parrying, and it was excellent.

So, comparing the combat of DS1 to my recent experiences with, for example, Elden Ring, the combat feels so slow and deliberate. Like, in Elden Ring I felt like I was scrambling to dodge or attack or block or whatever. In Dark Souls I felt a lot more like I was in control. Attacks were slower for both sides, but that gives a little more time to process. At least, it feels that way to me. I’m not really sure if that’s actually true. That’s part of why I’m doing this series of FromSoft replays, so I can see if there really IS such a difference.

But also I might feel that difference because of what I was doing during my playthrough. Like I said, build might make a difference. In my Elden Ring playthrough I was a Faith-based character, casting a lot of spells and not being able to take many hits. But in Dark Souls, with my quality build, I was mostly parrying enemy attacks. Parries provide a nice opportunity to hit with a high-damage riposte and/or heal back up. It definitely gave me more of a sense that I was in control of each fight I was able to parry the enemies. Including the final boss. I got Gwyn in a parry-loop and killed him SO quickly and easily. Wow what a difference being good at parrying makes.

(not the best pic, but me just tanking one of Artorias’s hits while I hit him at the same time)

Let’s see. The world. Dark Souls certainly has a really cool world. The environments spread throughout are beautiful, from the dark forests to the huge castles to the towns to the lava ruins to the dark abysses where there’s nothing to see. However, the huge world also kind of sucks. Walking back and forth everywhere for everything feels bad. Sometimes.

The big interconnected world takes a long and annoying time to walk back and forth through every time you have to do that. But, finding shortcuts did make me feel very clever, which was much appreciated. I don’t know if that was worth the trade-off of the annoyingly long travel times for everything else all the time, but it did provide quite a nice feeling.

The bonfire placements, though... Dang, they suck. Like, they could certainly be worse, sure. But there are so many bosses that don’t have nearby bonfires so you have to walk all the way through a big long gauntlet of enemies, which slowly drain your resources before you even reach the boss. However, with bosses balanced around that being the case, it kind of works. Plus, it makes finding shortcuts or alternate paths even more enticing, as you might find a path that takes less of your estus in the run-up to each boss.

(these guys in lost izalith are such a cool weird lovecraftian monsters that don’t feel like they fit in but also they fit in so well with everything else in the world of Dark Souls)

And my final note: Bed of Chaos FUCKING SUCKS as a boss fight still. I hate it

------------------

Dark Souls is still one of the best games of all time. I don’t really even know what else to say. Unfortunately, it’ll be a bit before I can play through DS2 and write up my thoughts on it, but I will like to do that at some point. I always love returning to Dark Souls 2. It is, after all, one of my favorite games of all time.

[hrodvitnon]

Since @geminavaju shared I figured I may as well add to that conversation.

I've not actually written a lot of smut. The vast majority has actually been through submissions here- and one of the reasons I have submitted a lot here is just literally cuz I need to practice.

Recently I tried to write an adult scene for my big main writing project that I've invested a lot of time into. It was supposed to be a big payoff moment in that story- but the key word is 'tried' here. I kinda just figured writing smut would just be like writing anything else and it'd be easy for me to hop right into with a little bit of extra vocabulary. I got like 3 lines into it before I legitimately asked myself: "What the fuck am I writing this is awful".

So yeah: turns out writing smut is really awkward at first, especially between characters you had not considered sexual beings previously. Who'da thought? Could be I'm just not used it, could be some weird internalized guilt, could be my inability to not project onto fictional beings, but yeah that shit doesn't come easy to me and still doesn't. I assume it's like a muscle thing where you gotta work it to strengthen it, that how most creative ventures seem to be (like I can't write smut or draw anything for shit but I'm much better at writing action sequences because I've written tons of those). So- I'm getting there I think.

What's helped me the most probably is actually to think of it in terms of characters, similar to what Gem said. This is how I think through basically everything else in writing is to just go back to your characters and ask "What the hell would they do here?". To use Godzilla as an example: if I stuck the head honcho lizard into a situation where he really likes someone else and wants to express that physically- how does he do that? What I really like about this approach is that A. It always gives you something no matter who occupies that second spot and B. The answer is entirely dependent on the author. You can slot anyone- literally anyone- into that second spot and the characters will give you something, even if it doesn't end in le sex. Mothra, Rodan, Ghidorah, Kong, fucking Cloud Strife- put anyone in that spot, let the characters guide you, and just see where it goes. Something will happen every time without fail (this reason alone is why i am also a chronic multishipper- the amount of permeations and alternate relationship paths to explore and facets of a single character to write drives my ass forward). Additionally- the answer to the question "What the hell would they do here?" is 1000% author dependent. Going back to Godzilla; you, me, Gemini, basically everyone on this damn website would answer that question at least a little differently because we've all got a different interpretation of the big pink dinosaur in our heads. It's only exacerbated by Godzilla's personality not being super concrete and able to be interpreted many different ways- but it does stay true for other characters as well.

So yeah, return to the root of the story (the characters) and things start going better.

Yeah, it's very much a back-and-forth between character and writer; in my case it's actually gotten challenging to write Shamhat because it involves beings who've been around for millennia and they know a lot about doing the deed, on top of there a large cast of characters; meanwhile when my SIGNALIS series Liebchen, Komm Zu Mir took a smutty turn it was easier to write because not only was it new and different, both characters are comparatively more relatable (one human and one Replika, which are based on humans). Both are canonical lovers who've known each other for almost a decade if not longer, and it was fun to imagine how an android with no reproductive organs or erogenous zones, who is built for combat and engineering and nothing else, can conceivably experience arousal and an orgasm equivalent. (Answer: a bit of phantom limb syndrome and a heat ventilation system inspired by a fan comic of Ariane wondering What Does This Button Do?)

[skaruresonic]

The whole deal with "But Sonic is inconsistent so who cares?" is kinda funny to me because, technically, it's true! The games have tons of inconsistencies big and small! From retcons to plot holes to inconsistent portrayals. God knows it's led to me barely giving a rat's ass to Sonic canon anymore!

Now find me even a single 30+ year old game franchise that doesn't have similar issues

Mega Man has similar issues.

Castlevania had to restructure its timeline in a somewhat arbitrary way to clear up some early fuck ups within canon

Zelda had to turn its timeline into a goddamn tree and even then they barely care

Metroid is pretty consistent as far as videogame canons go and even there you have the occasional "Eehh no this thing actually happened like this, ignore what the character said last game"

If a series is inconsistent wouldn't you want to, I dunno, make it MORE consistent instead of adding to the overall mess?

Maybe by "inconsistent" they mean "there are so many different adaptations out there that it's difficult to keep track," but even then, that wouldn't be the games' fault.

In terms of narrative, continuity, and core characterization, the series isn't all that inconsistent, honestly. Flanderization by its nature isn't part of core characterization but an exaggeration/bastardization of various traits (in other words, bad writing). And most retcons, such as Eggman having a grandfather and cousin in SA2 but not SA1, occur after the fact, revealing new information as it becomes relevant. It's not so much contradictory as it is just that what we didn't know then, we know now. (However, I would argue that of the entire cast, Knuckles is really the only one who qualifies as inconsistent. But that's for another time.) Each game is mostly standalone yet builds upon previous ones in subtle ways. SA1 references the Classic games; SA2 builds upon SA1; Heroes references SA2 and SA1; Battle references SA1, SA2, Heroes, and ShTH; Advance 3 builds upon Battle; SatBK hearkens back to SA2 with a memory Sonic relays about the Biolizard; Generations references all the games and includes a line that implies SatSR is canon; etc. Sure, certain stories aren't as tightly-written as they could be - one issue I have with Unleashed is that Eggman basically doesn't factor in in the middle of the story when he arguably should - but those metacontextual issues don't factor into whether the series as a whole is inconsistent. More and more I'm starting to feel like those who espouse this viewpoint don't pay terribly close attention to the games, because the games eventually explain themselves for the most part, anyhow. Or else you're operating based on misinterpretations of the source material. For example: "The moon blew up in SA2 so why do we see it in full in ShTH?" becomes a nonissue when you play Advance 3 and Riders and realize Sonic's world has two moons. "Money doesn't exist" is simply not true, because "financial communities" are said to be "impacted" by the Eclipse Cannon demonstration in SA2, Vector's motive is money in multiple games, and you can buy things with rings in Unleashed. "Why don't they say 'oh my Chaos'?" Because Chaos is the God of Destruction, not the world's creator? Also, Amy blasphemes "oh my God" and Sonic games have referenced hell before. So on and so forth. As for a lack of timeline... I honestly don't see it. There may be some weirdness with how Battle fits in, though that can easily be explained as it releasing concurrently with Heroes. Also, I thought it was fairly obvious that Mania/Forces represents a split in the timeline where Eggman obtains the Phantom Ruby at different points. But other than that, I really don't see how the series' timeline is inconsistent. Based on how each game builds upon the previous, there's really no reason not to believe that the games don't occur in chronological order for the most part.

[fifty-ten]

(for the ocverse asks (if i'm allowed to do multiple) answer for whichever ocverse you wish)

3, 17, 24

multiple is more than fine! the more questions the merrier!

3 - "any recurring images/elements?"

let's see... for Maroon Z in particular, hearts are a very prominent form of imagery! (Ideally, I want the audience's stomach to drop a little when heart iconography shows up by the end of the story...?! but we'll see ←has been rewriting the back end of the story a ton). They act as an emblem that represents the concept of a magical girl. This also includes both the cartoony "❤️" kind of heart, but also the more literal kind of heart.

To speak way more broadly, I think that hand-holding imagery is really prominent in just about any story of mine ... it's a way to share power, it's a way to show simple affection, and so forth! it's very versatile imagery! and, it's just nice to make characters hold hands. (as an aside, you might read below and think, "oh, did they pick this up from pretty cure?", but this repeated imagery actually stems from tag battle-related pokéani headcanons from when i was a kid.)

17 - "describe the "required reading" to understand your vision. be as pretentious as possible."

to speak more broadly again, pokéani is probably kind of required to understand just about anything I write (lmao?).. it kind of forms a "backbone" in how i interact with making my own stories. at the same time, there's also stuff I watched a little as a young kid that left a big impact on me even if I don't remember a lot about it, like Ojamajo Doremi, or the 4kids show Chaotic, or random manga i picked up from libraries over the years... (though, I guess the question asks for specifics and not broad things...)

When it comes to Maroon Z, Futari wa Pretty Cure is definitely required (and... maybe RGU depending on how much my brain chemistry is altered by the time I finish watching it). In general, I think having an understanding of Pretty Cure is pretty necessary for understanding any of my magical girl OCs, since it's been really influential for me.

For my OCs that are of the "mons genre" ... well, again, pokéani (specifically DP) informs a lot. i think the digimon series adventure 02, tamers, and appmon are also kind of necessary to understanding how I approach the genre? (kinda bakugan too). To give a more specific example, I think that to understand what I'm going for with something like Imagination Defenders (i still wish i had a better title for that...), I think Tamers, Bakugan Battle Planet, and Xros Wars Hunters (←also a Digimon series & it honestly executes exactly the kind of setting I'd been imagining for ImaD...). Video games are an important influence, too! For example, it's easiest to understand Avi Battler if you're familiar with both Appmon and Smash Bros (specifically custom fighters/amiibo fighters in smash 4).

Well, I don't know of all of that is necessarily required reading, but I like talking about the kinds of things that influence the stories I make.

24 - "best scene youve written?"

hm... this one kind of depends on how you define "written". I'm good at coming up with stuff, but not nearly as good at remembering to actually write it down...

When it comes to "published" things, I still like the ending of the Maroon Z pilot comic.

When it comes to unpublished things (and also still not written down things...), I'm actually really excited about how the rewrites for parts of Maroon Z as a whole are going & how they tie things together. Lately, I've also been having fun writing things up for MonRev and Avi Battler (especially the latter, since it's about video games).