#CENTIPEDE CAMEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[echosian]

i forgot to post my cool diagram

basically explaining how my iterator are able to sense electromagnetic waves. you can zoom in on this picture

[archive-professional-jaywalker]

Paradox of perspectives

An essay about a variety of my arthropod experiences, and how I go about linking / provoking temporary cameo shifts.

I do not talk about my arthropod experiences much. I am arthropod-hearted, that much is very blatant about me from what I study to how I spend my time and what I love to read about.

I do not consider myself a spider. I could have. A lot of my experiences line up with the average therian; I feel shifts, I've felt phantom limbs, once or twice, similarly few to how my bird phantom present themselves when I don't coax them out, I've had a similar "rightness" to some kinds of spiders (and a few other arthropods) that roadrunners, and things that look like roadrunners, elicit in me. However, I am not a spider. I'm a few feet to the left of being a spider, and if I squint and tilt my head, perhaps I could have been one, or perhaps have been and that's a bit of leftover from that time past, if souls exist, but I am not one, not in the way I am a bird. And while I would choose to have feathers if I could, I am fine with now observing spiders as a separate entity to myself, more than a reflection of what I should be.

However, I still know what it feels like, to be a spider. In fact, it is from this experience that I started to amuse myself to see if I could also provoke shifts from other arthropods I enjoyed learning about, a stepping stone into shapeshifting as an amateur hobby. I'm not sure in what box to display that spider. Not a kintype. Not a linktype, as it is the only one of my arthropod experiences that was not voluntary. A little bit more than what's typically expected of a heart-type. If I got fancy, I could call it an antea-type, a past life still leaving a mark, but I am not very spiritual, so that feels shallow as well. I suppose it will stay "the spider".

There are few arthropods around. Not none, I've talked to a few, most notably a cockroach, a few moths, a few wasps, at least one centipede, and a variety of chimeric insectoid monsters. A few spiders, as well, I think, but never enough to compare my experiences to. I've found it unsatisfying, to try and seek out arthropod experiences, as a lot of it tends to simply stay in the clear water of the experience : rudimentary "I looked at that picture, and it felt right", or "I felt wings, and it was similar to a moth". Not that it's a bad, incorrect way to experience it, but it doesn't tend to leave my curiosity sated. So here are all the notes I've had about being a variety of arthropods, from my spider, to the ones I shed into at my leisure, to others like me who like unnecessarily long descriptions of Being.

First of all, title drop. Why a paradox of perspective? To me, the red line between all earthen arthropods (and affiliate) I've been is that alien feeling. Yet the world very much is not! It is all things I can still interact with, still find if I try. Noemata of being a spider involve a complex, labyrinthine world of crossing shadows and movement. Noemata of being an endoparasite involve warmth and pulsating rhythm. The centipede was mostly touch and speed and grasp in lush-moist hidden places. When I try to depict them, to a human scale, I easily end up with fantastical worlds. The rotten vale of Monster Hunter, for the filarial worms that migrate through the body. More decayed, but I feel in it that pulsating warm rhythm, although perhaps there are better analogues. Pandora and it's web of vegetation are a human-sized version of any small woods, when you're a half a centimeter long predatory beetle. Being something so small does feel alien, when I am now part of the megafauna. Every snapshot I get, when applied to human size, becomes gargantuan and unfathomable to see on earth.

Maybe that's one reason why they're so rare. How do you realize you were something so small, when it feels so grandiose. It's hard to drop to your knees, angle your eyes, and realize your Yggdrasil was never even the biggest of its kind. It is why I love becoming insects, though. It has a way of making you treasure the small.

When it comes to being a spider, I can only approximate. I have not chosen, so I must piece back what I was given. It was also shared with a long gone person who shared my mind, so I can only keep what belonged only to me. Some pieces were rather vague. I could not explain why I know I should have venom. I just knew it was how something like I was, killed. Perhaps I would not even, at the time, have known that's what it was, really. Simply a part of life. The sun lifts in the sky. Water is wet. My chelicerae pierce and liquefy. It wasn't really even the most important part of the hunt for what I was, just the finale. My hunt was not making something delicate and vicious that would ensnare for me, nor was it a brutal rushdown. I was mechanical. A biological bear-trap. Becoming More Spider meant patience to an inhuman degree (although inhuman is to be expected), it meant reactive more than proactive. I only had bribes, but it was almost meditative, to be a spider, and I quite liked it. In symbiosis with that other-mind, I could feel his phantom book lungs (like gills upon my ribs), and the phantom pattern of his eyes upon my face (not that much vision. shades mostly, clear and dark. movements.). Long, grasping limbs to each side, set apart like a jaw (strong, sensitive, like a gun-trigger). Able to fold itself flat, to become the wall it stands on (pneumatics of inner workings, fluids in and out). Whatever it was, it liked shade and coolness and moisture. It disliked movement above it, but did not exactly flee it, it simply hid better and waited. It could be fast, when it was time, but for the most part, it was simply silent.

It's a bit hard, to make a whole from bits, especially something I'm not all the time. With being a bird, I can simply reflect on myself anytime, and that is simply what I am. With the spider, I kind of had to vivisect bits and pieces when and where they happened, and that was kinda all, unless I provoked more of it, which is what I ended up doing. I played dress up with a variety of creatures that felt similar enough, to see what felt right. I tried tailless whip scorpions, but while the grasping of the forearms were right, and Feeling more than any other sense was too, the long thin whips were not quite something I'd felt before, and it lacked that inherent Venom that my brain informed me I should have. Huntsman and wolf spiders were fun. So fun that I kind of hoped that would be it, for a long time. They were something very interactive to be, perhaps not as much as a jumping spider, I've never tried that, but a lot more of a rush than mystery spider. But that feeling of being something fast wasn't right, and the feeling of grasper, while more right with Heteropoda, did not fit wolf spiders at all. I actually realized the most likely culprit pretty recently, while watching the woods near my house. There is in fact all matters of little lethal biological bear traps littered all over the flowers, like decadently dressed death angels for bees and flies alike : Flower crab spiders. I adore them, now that I know where to look for them. I've lived near these woods all my life, yet I'd never spotted them. Thomisus onustus, Synema globosum, Runcinia grammica, Heriaeus hirtus and probably more I've not met yet. I don't quite think my mystery spider is one of them, but almost. If I had to guess, it was some sort of Xysticus, or something analogous. A ground crab spider. I might be wrong, this not an exact science, it's hard to interpret what could very well be figments of my mind. But I am quite satisfied with that answer, at the moment.

So that's arthropod number 1 I've been, the one I've been the most and the one who taught me how to shapeshift. 

It takes me some time to manage to decent attempt at something I've never even slightly been. It's easy to have parts. I can feel a wasp's ocelli, a dragonfly larva's mandible or a pair of earwig wings just fine, as long as I have references for it. It's just a matter of visualization, really. I draw as a hobby. I see provoking a shift in myself just like drawing, just with sensations. Take a mantis's raptorial limb. Pull up an anatomy drawing. My upper arm becomes a coxa. The elbow, the trochanter, then the forearm, the femur. My hand fuses, and becomes the tibia. I cannot fold it right, but I can feel the weight of the spines along the ridges, I can feel where it should fold and lock together like well oiled machinery. Then the tarsus, which currently feels like it should erupt from my middle finger, feeling strangely appropriate to type with. Too short, in a human body, but similarly bendy, lacking the two hooks at the end. It's a vague one, and as I am writing this, I can simply shake it out and come back to a more neutral state of human-bird confusion, a more comfortable mix when it comes to operating a keyboard.

It tends to become tricky when it comes to adding everything up. I can have a mantis's arm, but then I must maintain it, and add it's head, with its complex set of mandibles, of antennas, of eyes-made-of-eyes. One limb needs to become six, and my body starts to glitch. A bird, a tetrapod, is already somewhat complex, my human arms are both wings and bird feet analogue. What's an analogue to that third pair of limbs, where do they go? I tend to prefer to lie down when I figure out how to optimally place and draw those feelings, eyes closed, so my human feelings do not overlap too much. Even better in the dark. Once it's set, I can then usually trigger it again later, and it'll put itself in place naturally.

It was easier with something as simple as the Filaria worm, although highly dependent on me doing... not much. I did not really need to focus on phantoms then, just on the mind. The mind is not something you can easily find reference from, and to be honest, I would say whatever I feel is most likely a simulacrum of what it's like, after all I do not stop having human neurons during the experiment. But that's not really the point, is it, the point is just that it's fun. The Filaria, amusingly enough, I provoked out of loneliness. I wondered what it must feel like, to be something that is never lonely, because it lives inside something else, constantly surrounded by both it's peers and the thing that nourishes it. It was mostly sensations, what I felt, strangely easy to slip into, perhaps because I have experience with writing parasites for myself.

Back when I was not medicated, I would see the world breathe, sometimes, pulse and writhe, walls tensing and releasing, floor moving beneath my feet. The nematode felt something similar, in my mind. Warmth all around, each heart-beat a pulse, world around you contracting flowing writhing singing. Many-many others around you. Forward, without reason. Not much with reason, simply following the song. It is honestly one of the most pleasant shifts I've ever had. No fear. Nothing to flee. Death is simply a possibility of the world that also nourishes you. You cannot escape it, as there is no other world to escape too, and you are simply here, and you must go forward, and that is all. So no fear. It changes nothing. Blissfully nihilistic. The only glimpses I get are of the stage inside the body, perhaps another would be a different tune, but I'm satisfied with what I saw.

I'd say the mind will be easier to reach for writers than for visual artists. You can cross-reference, after all, since I do consider I am channeling a soul, I do not find it particularly less interesting to build that mind through readings of scientific papers that, too, try to imagine what it is like to be something else. To go back to the mantis, I suppose I chose an easy one for me to be. It is once again something that stays in wait. However, it is a lot more active, a lot more visual, than my spider. How would that feel? What colors would I see? Where are my sensors to the world in that body? What would I fear? What would I seek? That's when having the body down gets handy, to me. I simply provoke it, sometimes I do little rituals, to tie it to certain accessories or knick-knack, as I find it helps me focus. Shapeshifted, feeling the foreign limbs and foreign sensations, I find it easier to slip into a foreign mind. Everything becomes new. The woods near my house are discovered for a thousandth time with new eyes. The spider sought out moisture and shade, and silence. The centipede sought warmth, long coiled body spanning meters, then a hunt, but everything was too small, so it waited, touch-tasted, inquisitive. Perhaps the mantis would seek an elevated zone, with luxurious foliage to hide itself, and would observe. I should try it sometimes.

Perhaps my experiments with arthropods will help some new people attempt more impermanent forms of linking, quite frankly i do not think it is the time spent that makes the serious of an identity, but it is hard even for me to separate the two sometimes, with how tied they were in old forum culture (not even touching on the idea of, gasp, voluntary identity and experiences being worthy). Honestly, I recommend trying it because it is fun. So a little challenge to readers : I would love for you to pick something, become it, and come back to tell me about it. Bonus points if it's some flavor of arthropod-like. Good luck!

[mukadediaries]

It's interesting that I initially talked about getting little to no arthropod mental or phantom shifts.. the last few days I've been rememering many moments throughout my childhood and even adulthood where I may have in fact been getting insect phantom shifts and mental shifts.

As a centipede I still don't seem to truly get anything big. But I keep feeling an extra set of arms, which isnt new, but i never associated it to insects.

It feels pretty mantis like, which is interesting enough to me! I'm not claiming it to be anything special. Im arthropod and insect-hearted. Cameos and shifts are common. 🪲

[fandom-trash-xl]

EPISODE 6: LIGHTNING

In which I feel things about Glorio

We start the show with no major losses or harm from the ship crash and, in typical Toriyama gag manga fashion, the companion piece to the fart joke, a poop joke. And not just any poop joke, a poop joke that helps the plot by conveniently keeping Goku out of sight when the Gendarmerie stops by.

We do have confirmation about the collars being third Demon World exclusive and Panzy having one past her scarf. The Gendarmerie doesn't seem to bat an eye at this being the princess, but they at least don't charge her any taxes.

Goku's hair is "too resilient" to be pulled back out of its normal shape- there goes the ponytail Goku dream.

Back on the road (well, sky), we get some casual lore talk. We're still keeping the Kais/Glinds being born from trees- which Goku takes as Shin being basically a plant and that's why he only seems to drink and not eat.

Arinsu, Shin, and Degesu (in that order) are all from the same tree and therefore siblings- and they free pick their gender! Love to see it!

Shin is the only of the trio to not stay in the Demon World due to differing ambitions. Considering his name feels like an odd one out, he might have changed it after leaving.

The gang camps in a "safe" cave for the night and Panzy has a cozy looking centipede sleeping bag. After a nice campfire dinner of millipede pate and Glorio continuing to be dodgy as hell when it comes to answering simple questions, our cool emo boy steps out to take a call...

AND HE'S WORKING FOR ARINSU

Like, I knew he was suspicious day 1 but wow. Why does my assassin theory sound more and more likely?

However, there's no time for rest! Turns out a very hungry cow- I mean, minotaur is lurking in the cave. Glorio takes charge, but Goku seems a little skeptic that he's up for the task and becomes curious about just how strong Glorio is...

Dang it, Goku, I thought you were making a recovery in Fight-holics Anonymous. He's even doing half a Frieza deal by offering to fight with only one hand.

Glorio's pulling off some fancy magic spells- the one-finger beam, what I thought was almost going to be a Death Ball, you can't keep doing this to me, man. Some electric energy styles too

My squishing on unusual Dragon Ball characters has found a new target, officially.

Meanwhile, the minotaur is feeling like chopped liver and we get a full glimpse of Super Saiyan- with how long he was yelling, I could've sworn he was about to go for Super Saiyan 3, which would've been absolutely gutsy considering he doesn't even know how 1 fully works in his small state.

Apparently, there's something suspicious about Glorio's magic and strength that Shin's not telling us... Oooh....

Now, we get a quick cut back to Team B! Bulma's work is done on the ship- and just in time, Vegeta's getting antsy.

However, I knew something was up when A) they were so sure this was how they were getting there after the show made a whole point about Hybis and B) Bulma didn't seem to be coming along, even though she's in the opening and ending. It seems that going to the Demon Realm wasn't in her initial plan, so she's likely getting roped along when they do make the journey.

And sure enough, the spaceship hits an unexpected snag! Don't worry guys, a silly little guy is on his way to help!

Looking at the next episode preview, we don't get many clues, but it seems we might be getting more lore on the collars!

EPISODES WITHOUT KNOWING HANVI'S WHEREABOUTS: 6

Honestly, I'm just keeping this counter for the bit and this feeling that I'm going to be sorry for removing it if we get a random cameo for no reason out of the blue.

[darthkvznblogs]

Loved the new chapter! Can we expect that the Agents of SHIELD cast will feature or cameo more frequently in the kverse stories?

Thank you, I’m really glad!

And yes, that’s the idea. Think of it like Coulson is juuust about to finish putting the team together. Some meetings will have to take longer - don’t expect the Avengers to find out Coulson lives for a while, for example, that’ll have to be a big event down the line - but his team is supposed to be investigating the Centipede conspiracy, so there’ll be some room for other neat interactions here and there!

[weaselbeaselpants]

The different shots/alt dialogue from the James and the Giant Peach script

Because this kind of stuff is interesting and YEAH I'M SHARING ALL OF IT!! Find the full script here.

James has a bit longer dialogue with Miss Spider.

Glorious Sponge hatesink goodness.

Alternative to the final film, where James doesn't realize he's been stop-motionized until in the actual peach in the original script he did in fact notice he was changing. More importantly, his initial literal fall-in on the bugs and being scared at them because they're in the dark and clearly inhuman was always one of my favorite in the movie. It worked because it actively plays with how scary giant talking insects would realistically be and how uncanny their designs can especially feel in silhouette, just like my beloved pin-collection.

Also, there's alternate dialogue from Earthworm and Centipede about escaping the hill and Spiker and Sponge. The disc of each other bugs, while accurate, is so hilarious to read typed out.

Centipede was going to threaten to beat James up. Good times.

Centipede is both more and less direct on his hitting on Spider. Besides that this extended bit offers moar Grasshopper and Earthworm twittering, though no "LET'S GET OUTTA HERE" from Centipede or "Marvelous Pigs in Satin" from Glowworm.

Earthworm was GOING TO talk-sing more?! YOU MONSTERS!

Also, someone on the script clearly wanted Centipede to mention how he wants to get plastered all night.

Spiker and Sponge rn.

Earthworm being sarcastic is such a mood. Literally my muse.

Even though it can be reasonably assumed given his accent (which is why it was probably cut) Centipede straight up calls New York his hometown. I'm not a New Yorker myself so I don't know for sure but I thought different Manhattan-ites say they're from different cities/towns rather than treat Manhattan like a single town. Y'know?

Grasshopper meanwhile is a killjoy intellectual all the time through the shark scene

Lol Centipede speakin truths.

Cut the line in Eating the Peach from Centipede specifically and changed Glowworm's line.

Spider hitting in some different zingers at Centipede than in the final film.

James's nightmare is completely different than in the final film as is James exact waking up and realizing they're in the North Pole. Though the squabble between Centipede and the other bugs is the same, mostly, the resolution of Centipede happily deciding to get a compass from the ships is different. Appreciate the change. Good bit of back-and-forth visual storytelling.

In a bit that's rather OUT of character, none of the bugs protest James jumping in freezing water after Centipede. In fact, because Spider says 'get on my back' first it kinda makes it sound like she made James come with her rather than offer to help as another adult offering to look after a child who's putting themselves in danger.

Also, even though the outcome is the same, it looks like the entire skeleton pirate scene was different and Centipede didn't talk during any of it and was a jackass about his stealing which is very out of character for him and led to the skeletons come alive. I like tho that at no point in time does the script say "Jack Skellington-faced"-pirate which is good on them and proof that it really was a cute cameo/reuse of puppetry and I'm still not over Jack getting top billing over the main characters in this movie's merch.

No Spiderpede kiss on the cheek, sadly. Her exclaiming her happiness is such a different vibe than her cute like "I don't know whether to kill you or kiss you" schpeal. This was the 90s after all--although, even though it is like this in the final movie anyway, the image of Spider pulling him up onto the peach all domestic-hero like while he says she saved him? That's cute. I liek me some malewife (it's appropriate in this case, shut up) Centipede.

The failing-to apologize dialogue between Grasshopper and Centipede was better in the final film. The characters have such a different way of talking to each other and it's much brisker and nicer and shows his newfound respect for Centipede that Grasshopper immediately just trusts Centipede with navigating again.

Dialogue's a little bit different as the peach-goers see New York for the first time.

Most importantly, the climax with the Rhino is different. No "I'm not afraid of You", James protecting the Bugs by telling them to get into the threads, which more directly separates them.

The dialogue of the New Yorkers thinking the Peach is a bomb or aliens is a nice reference to the original book, where that's exactly what happened there.

Alt. headlines for the ending newsreel stories. I'm gonna be honest I like Earthworm's gig in the subway a bit more than in the final film where he becomes a skincare tycoon. The idea that he just loves the subway in all it's dirtiness is adorable.

It is, however, very cute to see Centipede and Spider took up dancing together and became as popular a duo as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers.

And finally, we have a kind of disturbing note to go out on with Spiker and Sponge going crazy and treated as zoo animals. I think their punishment is enough as is and has enough disturbing conotations no less. No need of the mental breakdown.

[djmossback]

Spacebar Thrd Spc Sat 16 Sept 2023

THE SETLIST

Let The Music Play, Shannon (lp cut)

Bad Life, PiL (12" 45 RPM)

Give Me Some Slack, Cars (lp cut)

Every 1’s A Winner, Hot Chocolate (lp cut)

Ms. Fat Booty, Mos Def (12" explicit)

Jive Talkin’, Bee Gees (7" 45)

Oh Sheila, Ready For The World (7" 45)

Rock The Casbah, The Clash (7" 45)

Back & Forth, Cameo (12" 33 1/3 )

Roxanne, Police (7" 45)

I Thank You, ZZ Top (lp cut)

Ex’s & Oh’s, Elle King (lp cut)

Walk This Way, RUN D.M.C. (12" 33 1/3 )

2200 hrs

Metal Gods, Judas Priest (lp cut)

You Dropped A Bomb On Me, Gap Band (lp cut)

Sex Shooter, Apollonia 6 (12" 45 RPM)

Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man, Bob Seger System (lp cut)

Let’s Dance, David Bowie (12" 33 1/3 )

Pick Up The Pieces, Average White Band (lp cut)

Got To Be Real, Cheryl Lynn (7" 45)

Couldn’t Get It Right, Climax Blues Band (7" 45)

Love Action, Human League (lp cut)

Love Plus One, Haircut One Hundred (7" 45)

Knock On Wood, Amii Stewart (12" 33 1/3 )

Boogie Oogie Oogie, Taste Of Honey (lp cut)

No Scrubs, TLC (12" 33 1/3 )

Declaration Of Rights, Abyssinians (lp cut)

2300 hrs

Clint Eastwood, Gorillaz (12" 33 1/3 )

She’s Crafty, Beastie Boys (lp cut)

Boys Are Back In Town, Thin Lizzy (lp cut)

The Futures So Bright, Timbuk 3 (lp cut)

Do The Du, A Certain Ratio (12" 45 RPM)

Black Sap Scriptures, Plague Vendor (lp cut)

Hair Of The Dog, Nazareth (lp cut)

Dirty Rat, Orbital (lp cut)

Pressure, Ari Lennox (lp cut)

Keep On Movin, Soul II Soul (12" 33 1/3 )

YAH, Kendrick Lamar (lp cut)

Joan Of Arc, OMD (12" 45 RPM)

West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys (12" 33 1/3 )

Mama Used To Say, Junior (12" 33 1/3 )

Nothing Left To Lose, Everything But The Girl (lp cut)

Midnight

Original Sin, INXS (lp cut, Dance Music comp)(Pictured!)

Rock With You, Michael Jackson (7" 45)

Maneater, Hall & Oates (12" 33 1/3 )

Rise, Herb Alpert (12" 33 1/3 )

Money (Dollar Bill Y’all), Jimmy Spicer (lp cut, hits comp)(Pictured!)

Funk You Up, The Sequence (12" 33 1/3 )

Chameleon, Herbie Hancock (lp cut)

Open The Iron Gate, Max Romeo (lp cut)

Who Do You Love, Bo Diddley (lp cut, mono, hits comp)

Seven Nights To Rock, Moon Mullican (lp cut)

blue bones (deathwish), Billy Nomates (lp cut)

Remembering Me, Cate le Bon (lp cut)

The Meaning Of Love, Depeche Mode (12" 45 RPM)

Little Fluffy Clouds, The Orb (12" 45 RPM Drum & Bass mix by Youth)

Love my Spacebar people.

TASTING NOTES

I was kind of prepared. Lots of new records. New old records, too: a wealth of vintage mid-70s funk and disco 12” records came into my possession. But, none of those made it into the crate; I had plenty of other acquisitions to integrate into the flow. I am constantly on the search for the familiar unexpected, and the unfamiliar unexpected, without falling prey to the obvious. And I did what I set out to do. Some of the best segues I have ever done happened tonight... often followed up with the most ham-handed and poor transitions in the history of Third Space Saturday. I’m just happy DJ IGA was not there to witness it, and scowl at my transgressions!

It probably didn’t sound like anything in the house, but your audience or listeners aren’t concerned with the details or technicalities. They want to play Centipede, or get nice with someone.

Cyberjewel gave herself the night off, which probably lent itself to me getting stuck in the elevator, and getting to the booth at 2058, for a start time of 2100 hrs. I wanted to get there early to set up, because there was a live event the night before. Luckily, except for the house sound, things were largely in order. I struggled with volume in the house, problems that weren’t solved until Jules showed up unexpectedly halfway through. Within 5 minutes, the PA was set properly, and I had an Athletic NA in a glass. 

Will was in the house, stationed at the print shop bar. It was great to play for the man who is piloting the spaceship. “She’s Crafty” was played for him. He was excited to get to “hear a Mossback set.” He set up my backgrounds on the TVs you can see on the video and busied himself breaking down the stage setup in the performance area. He works hard. I’m so happy I get to contribute to this thing he made happen. And I will stay as long as they want me. 

The crowds, as usual, were several waves of different people rolling through. At first there were normals. And that’s when the two “request” inquiries happened. Lately I’ve been engaging with people to help read the room, without actually playing what they request. Tonight, I was just trying to get situated. So, I politely declined. But the third person that came up asked about the Shannon track that I opened with, so I was pumped for that! I loved seeing the early 20s kids dancing around to “Maneater” by Hall & Oates, too. The kids are alright. The ones that come through the bar during my sets are game for anything. Well, not the guy who came up and asked for Drake. No bueno. 

I worry that my approach to things is too laid back, like part of the atmosphere. Perhaps my lack of self promotion, and my “let the music be the program” attitude, doesn’t lend itself to making Mossback sets an “event.” Maybe I need to get on the mike and relentlessly exhort people to wave their hands in the air, and relentlessly name check “MOSSSSS-BAAAAAACK!” ad nauseum. I am going to get some coasters made, maybe that will help.

There were some slack periods, unusual for a Saturday night. It made set construction challenging. The energy from the people in the bar contributes to your set in subtle ways, and it was challenging to play without it. But I found my footing, and learned to play without it. I made choices I might not have made with a crowd there. 

The Shannon track I started with was from an LP, but it was a 12” dance mix. It’s a “dance”-oriented compilation from Atlantic Records that also has INXS (which I played) and Phil Collins (which I didn’t play but may in the future). “Sususudio” kicks! The comp is set up in a good way, three songs per side. It almost feels like cheating, but there is a lot of useful stuff on there and it doesn’t take up a ton of space in the crate. And the three-songs-per-side format sounds good, lots of low end. For what I’m doing, it works out fine. 

Compilations can be too loaded with material to be useful in this setting, too many songs crammed onto a side, bad remastering, no thump or presence. So I’m sparing in my use of them. But I carry several around with me just for fun, like Soul Jazz comps and the Trojan Records Toots and the Maytals collection.

Will loved the Jimmy Spicer track I played from the Ace Records subsidiary BGP collection chronicling the first decade of hip-hop called “Dollar Bill Y’All.” It consists of records released by the Spring label, which was run by an industry lifer Bill Curtis, who was also a member of the band Fatback. Dude heard the potential in the hip-hop sound early, and the Spring offshoot Posse had early work from Ice-T, Afrika Islam, Marley Marl and artists promoted by Russell Simmons, like Jimmy Spicer. I followed that up with a Sugar Hill Records group, The Sequence. I like the old hip-hop sound. It still sounds good in the club. Will also dug the Herb Alpert “Rise” mix I have. It was so much fun to see him and the crew dancing around to it. 

I ended right at 0100 hours. Funny how that worked out. I just didn’t feel like going any longer. Maybe I got too much rest that day. I usually like to go until close, just because I like it there, but tonight it wasn’t right, so I bugged out and got home at a decent hour.

Next Third Space is 21 October, 2023. 9PM to 1AM, unless I get inspired to stay.

[c-40]

A-T-4 160 5 More Sleeps

Okay I got my sleep count wrong, it's fixed now. Anyhowl! It's the Saturday before halloween so lets sprinkle some disco/funk/synth pop over our brew

Necropolis of Love - Dance (Dance Mix) lets begin with some gothy disco

Tony Cook & The Party People - On The Floor (Rock-It) "Special DJ Master Mix" mix by proto-house sorcerers Boyd Jarvis and Timmy Regisford. One for the witching hour

Wicked Witch - Vera’s Back 'unhinged' progressive jazz-funk from the Wicked Witch's Curse EP. Wicked Witch was a solo studio project from Washington DC's Richard Simms. It's potent stuff, use sparingly!

Rebbie Jackson - Centipede (12" Mix) I'm not sure if this was intended as a horror record but I think it's creepy. Written and produced by Michael Jackson for his older sister

Cameo - She's Strange Cameo's pop track about a strange woman

Mick Smiley - Magic I'm going to do a post of film soundtrack tracks but I thought this fit quite nicely here. The bit used in Ghostbusters begins halfway through. It's a great sequence from a great film

Ruins - Crime now we're comfortably in synth pop territory. Ruins were a new wave band from Italy. Crime can be found on the b-side of the single "Fire"

Karl Biscuit - La Morte I'm assuming Karl Biscuit is from Belgium. His debut album Regrets Eternels for Crammed Discs is magnificently macabre

Eddie Kendricks ‎– Surprise Attack late synth pop track from the legend that is Eddie Kendricks. "Surprise Attack" is spooky in the Rhythm Is Going To Get You sense

[post-punk-revival]

Hi!! Also gonna put it under a cut but I'll tag some mutuals first, @ciarashoggoth @ochremutt @wynterwulf7 @theros but also @paracosmic-gt I'm curious to know you more!

1/ "Which category of alterhumanity do you belong to?" I don't think there's really an answer for this question because I personally think of alterhumanity as something that can't be broken down into very neat boxes and squares, even if you allow room for overlap and unlabeled folks. I could sit here for a while naming labels I identify with and sub-labels of those labels but at what point does a Category™ become a (ˢᵘᵇᶜᵃᵗᵉᵍᵒʳʸ), y'know? If therian is a category, is cladotherian, or nonhuman? TL;DR I'm too autistic for open-ended questions like this

2/ "What/who is/are your type(s)? (if you have any)" Uuh. I have a lot, some I'm still questioning, some I'm not sure of the full nature of, some I don't have words or names for, etc. I'm a conceptual darkness cryptid / birdbugbeastfishthing glowy alien computer with heartedtypes, hearthomes, fictotypes, and somewhere between 1 and 100 archetypes. Hopefully that satisfies.

3/ "Do you experience shifts? If so, can you tell us your most common shifts and your strangest cameo shift (if you've ever had a cameo shift)?" Most common shifts would be mental and phantom like most therians but I also experience a lot of different types of shift, some of which I named myself because I never saw anybody talking about them but happened to me with enough frequency to be worth personally naming. Strangest cameo shift? Ketran which is an alien from Animorphs and that should suffice as an explanation. But I've had all kinds of weird cameo shifts, I think my brain is way too open to experiencing incompatible biology lmao. Snake, tyrannosaur, theow (which is a mythical creature that's like a wolf with hooves and a mane), seal. Thing is I'm already a centipede and a fish-reptile so few physiologies are as "weird" as my normal

4/ "How do you experience your alterhumanity in everyday life?" I don't know I just… do? How do people with blue eyes experience blue eyes in everyday life? It just is a fact of life.

5/ "What do you think of the community?" Depends on when and where. But I think I'd be fine without it. I barely consider myself part of it to begin with but that's just because I'm kinda schizoid and I'll exist on the fringes of any community I'm ever part of and just be OK with that Checking in like are ya winning son and the room is on fire like usual

6/ "What are the things that make you most comfortable and euphoric in your alterhumanity?" I'm a simple critter and i love to be called or even just compared to my species and fictotypes. I still remember the one time in freshman year of college when I said something I don't even remember and my roommate jokingly called me a computer in response. One of our other roommates who was also autistic immediately reacted by admonishing her because "you can't say that to an autistic person!" while meanwhile I was just like Me? 💻🥺 you really mean it?

7/ "Are you experiencing species dysphoria?" Like at this very moment? Or

8/ "What advice would you like to say to a young alterhuman who has just awakened?" Nothing. Is. Permanent. I know that's easy for me to say because my archetype is change, but it's not just true for me, it's true for everybody. Even if your philosophy is that you have One True Kintype, you can still be wrong, and everybody is at one point or another in their journeys. Absolutely everybody. So really, take it as slow or as fast as you want, as long as you take it easy. Be forgiving and patient with yourself.

9/ "Do you have/want to have gears?" I used to have a fox tail, real too, from back when I was a fox and when I thought having gear was the win condition for the point game that is alterhumanity, right alongside coming out to people and having Tumblr followers. In essence I was 19. But it was still such a cool get and I'm still upset by losing it. One of my favorite moments was walking outside with it for the first time, on a trail in the woods, and I passed a woman who I caught looking over her shoulder at me and grinning ear to ear, an earnest, non-mocking grin like it was the first time she'd ever considered people wearing tails lmao it was so cute

10/ "Do you know/have any theories about the origin of your alterhumanity? If so, tell us! (all beliefs are legitimate)"

If you are a alterhuman, reblog and answer these questions!

(don't be afraid to write a lot, do what you want ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

1/ Which category of alterhumanity do you belong to?

2/ What/who is/are your type(s)? (if you have any)

3/ Do you experience shifts? If so, can you tell us your most common shifts and your strangest cameo shift (if you've ever had a cameo shift)?

4/ How do you experience your alterhumanity in everyday life?

5/ What do you think of the community?

6/ What are the things that make you most comfortable and euphoric in your alterhumanity?

7/ Are you experiencing species dysphoria?

8/ What advice would you like to say to a young alterhuman who has just awakened?

9/ Do you have/want to have gears?

10/ Do you know/have any theories about the origin of your alterhumanity? If so, tell us! (all beliefs are legitimate)

11/ Tag someone/a creature to answer these questions!ㅤᵕ̈

[pixelgrotto]

Cool Cold War Ninja

Capcom's Strider series holds the distinction of starring one of the coolest ninjas in video games. Hiryu feels like he was designed to look as rad as possible, from the blue suit to the red scarf to the tonfa-esque cypher blade, and his appearance was partially influenced by Spawn (another hero engineered to radiate style) because Capcom character designer Harumaru saw some Todd McFarlane books one day. Even Hiryu's name (飛竜, "flying dragon") is cool, mostly because it taught me that 竜 is the Japanese simplified form of the Chinese 龍, a character in my own name.

But despite his coolness, Hiryu is better recognized for cameos in the Marvel vs. Capcom series instead of his own franchise. This is most unfortunate, especially considering that Strider's one of the earliest video game examples of a cross-media property. Way back in 1988, Capcom greenlit a Strider comic with the help of the Moto Kikaku mangaka group while also assigning two internal divisions to helm an arcade game and an NES title. The intent was to make Hiryu into a hero who would span multiple mediums and be recognized everywhere, from the printed page to the pixelated screen. And that sorta worked, but not as well as Capcom hoped.

The first and most famous Strider - the 1989 arcade release - begins with Hiryu gliding onto the towers of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in a truly iconic bit of spritework. Within three seconds, you're hit with an array of action as Hiryu strides forward, explodes enemies in half with his cypher, and does a signature flip where all of his limbs flail outwards in a mid-air cartwheel. The action and setpieces never let up, and over the span of the game's five levels, Hiryu fights a council of politicians who morph into a multi-limbed robotic centipede, runs from mountain avalanches, explores dinosaur-filled Amazon jungles, hitchhikes a ride on an airship, and battles robotic anti-gravity cores in the fringes of outer space.

Strider is a blend of a hundred different things that the developers considered cool. But beyond all of the set pieces, the factor that sticks out to me the most is the Cold War futurism that drips from every level, feeling original but somehow dated at the same time. What other games start with your character infiltrating the "Kazakh Federation" and end with them fighting the sorcerous Grand Master Meio, a dude who seems like a thinly-veiled stereotype of a communist dictator gone wild? What other games commit to their "born in a geopolitical era of tension" vibe by featuring speech samples in multiple languages, including Russian, Japanese and Mandarin? Strider came out right before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and you can feel it. On that note, I don't think Kazakhstan has appeared in any other franchise as much as Strider. Honestly, the world would probably be a better place if more people associated Kazakhstan with Hiryu's adventures instead of Borat.

Strider didn't receive a decent conversion for home consoles until the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1990, and the NES "port" that came out around the same time wasn't a port at all. Instead, NES Strider is an early Metroidvania, and one that I actually enjoy a fair bit. This opinion goes against the norm, since while I can recall NES Strider getting lots of promo in Nintendo Power when I was growing up, popular internet consensus these days tells you that it's a broken game with controls that feel like they're stuck in a beta phase.

I can't refute that - NES Strider's controls stink, especially when you're forced to pull off a wall jump that's impossible to do unless you have perfect timing. (Thankfully it's only a mandatory move at two points.) The game's also got a weird glitchiness about it, with enemies respawning at an utterly aggressive pace and the edges of the screen flickering way too much every time Strider moves an inch. The bugginess of NES Strider supposedly kept its impending Famicom port from ever being released, making it a rare example of a Japanese game that sold in North America but not in its native country.

And yet, the ambition to NES Strider is admirable. The trend of backtracking through levels and using items to unlock previously inaccessible areas might be commonplace now, but it wasn't in 1989. The plot, while burdened by a messy English translation, also features far more of a story than any other game in this franchise thanks to its heavy basis in the Strider manga. (Which is pretty cool, by the way, and partially readable in English thanks to a fan scanlation of its first three chapters.) Instead of simply facing Grand Master Meio, Hiryu's got to dig out corruption from the ranks of his organization, and it's nice to actually get some insight into his companions, from a fellow Strider named Kain to a guy named Ryuzaki who left his Attack-Boots in China.

Strider never blossomed into one of Capcom's sequel-studded franchises of the '90s. The NES game was a bold but flawed experiment that didn't get much traction, and while the arcade game performed okay, many of its key developers left the company soon after its release. In the European market, though, arcade Strider received dozens of ports for home computer systems that really couldn't handle it, like the ZX Spectrum. Tiertex, a local developer behind a handful of these ports, got the rights from Capcom and made Strider II, a sequel with shockingly bad level design which also goes under the name Journey from Darkness: Strider Returns. Capcom effectively retconned Tiertex's work with an in-house Strider 2 in 1999, riding off of the wave that Hiryu received from his inclusion in Marvel vs. Capcom.

Released for the arcade and Playstation, Strider 2 seems to take place two thousand years after its predecessor, with the Hiryu the player controls a clone of the original. It's never entirely clear, as the plot was clearly just an excuse to have Hiryu fight a reincarnated Meio. Forgettable story aside, the game spans as many environments as the first Strider, and the opening level sees Hiryu fighting terrorists in Neo Hong Kong to the beat of some darn good music which sounds suspiciously like the Ozzy Osbourne song Shot in the Dark. There's also a rival Strider named Hein who wears an all-white uniform in a nod to Hinjo, the main character from Tiertex's Strider II, which is a polite ode to a game that Capcom has all but disowned nowadays.

My biggest issue with Strider 2 is that each level is divided into small chunks, with the player forced to sit through loading screens while the next segment loads. Most PS1 games released during this era suffered from long loadtimes, but it's annoying to deal with the same thing in an arcade game. Maybe the load screens are meant to give players a breather before the next spree of button mashing, but I feel like the game's pace suffers tremendously. It's hard to fall into the same "blaze through, slice 'em with the cypher, do a billion flips along the way" rhythm that the first Strider inculcated when you've got to wait five seconds after every major encounter.

Strider 2 released during a period when action platformers were nearly nonexistent in the arcades, and a 30-minute experience - which is about how long it takes to beat the game once you know what you're doing - wasn't going to really cut it on the PS1. And so the series went back into dormancy until 2014, when Capcom once again enlisted the services of a third party. Double Helix Games' Strider is yet another retread of Hiryu versus Meio, but there's a surprising ton of DNA from NES Strider present. These go from the music, which features an awesome remix of the NES game's level 1 Kazakh theme, to the decision to make Hiryu's journey into a full-fledged Metroidvania.

Double Helix clearly poured a lot of love into their work, and I give 'em props for that NES inspiration. But there's something missing from the experience, which is probably why you don't often see 2014 Strider on lists of the best recent Metroidvanias. Unlike the world-spanning levels of the other Striders, this one takes place solely in Kazakh, which is large but very samey. As a result, the game feels padded despite not being terribly long, and the in-game map is far too confusing due to different planes that Hiryu can jump across. While Metroidvanias are one of the few genres that tend to activate my completionist tendencies, I never felt the need to explore every nook and cranny or snag every ability. It's a shame, because Double Helix was almost there in melding Strider's disparate gameplay styles and finally bringing Hiryu back to mainstream stardom. But they didn't stick the landing, and Amazon Game Studios bought Double Helix right after Strider released, ensuring that the devs probably won't ever get the chance to improve on their formula.

It's been almost a decade since Hiryu got his own game. He most recently showed up in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, and Capcom threw Strider fans a bone with the character Zeku in Street Fighter V, who has a Hiryu-style skin and is said to be the dude who founded the entire Strider order. All of this is neat, but it's baffling that Hiryu - despite being one of the coolest ninjas in gaming - has never had a solo title truly take off since his debut. Some of this might be due to the fact that Capcom has to credit (and presumably pay) Moto Kikaku whenever Hiryu appears, and one could argue that the original arcade game's balls-to-the-wall action and high difficulty don't have a place in Capcom's catalog any longer, or at least aren't as money-printing as new Monster Hunters and Resident Evils. But I think you could easily make something like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice starring Strider Hiryu, and I wish someone would. After all, we're talking about one cool ass Cold War ninja here, and he deserves to shine once more.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Pixels (2015)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

Based on the 2010 short of the same name by Patrick Jean, Pixels has some neat visuals… and nothing else to offer. Even video game and arcade enthusiasts won't like it, as the film is more concerned with giving Adam Sandler’s posse pay checks and indulging in nostalgia than utilizing the tools at its disposal to full effect.

As a child, Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler) became a champion of arcade games until he was defeated by his rival Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklage) in the world championship’s final round. Years later, Sam has a chance to make a name for himself when aliens misinterpret old video game footage as a declaration of war and attack our planet with arcade-inspired creations.

Kevin James as the President of the United States. Pixels is a sci-fi comedy but even so, our suspension of disbelief only goes so far! The man just doesn’t fit the role. For the most part, however, everyone else who appears in the film - Adam Sandler as himself, Josh Gad as the conspiracy-theory obsessed nerd who lives in his basement, Michelle Monaghan as a weapons developer who will inevitably fall for Sandler’s character even though they hate each other upon first sight - do fine with their parts. It’s the material they’ve been handed that spells "game over".

There are many unkind words we could use to describe Pixels. “Self-indulgent”, “unfunny”… but I’m going to choose is “lazy”. It’s a movie about arcade games which gets basic things about the games it’s showcasing wrong. Cheat codes for arcade games? Why would those exist when the machines were designed to eat quarters? A Smurfs arcade game? I couldn’t find evidence that one ever existed. Apparently the barrels and fireballs in Donkey Kong move without pattern… even though they do in real life. And that’s just scratching the surface. This film operates without any semblance of logic. In one battle between mankind and the aliens, the players must operate under rules which emulate the game - Pac Man being a good example. In other scenes, like when the heroes play a jumbo-sized version of Centipede, our “team” is allowed hundreds of players. When we get to the final challenge (Donkey Kong), anyone can do whatever they want regardless of whether it’s possible in the game they’re supposedly playing.

This is a significant disappointment from director Chris Columbus, whose career has had its ups and downs but doesn’t typically churn out this type of Happy Maddison slop. Every fifteen minutes, the film seems to be think that someone screaming is the pinnacle of hilarity. Over and over, a lame sex joke gets snuck in there and we get a speech from someone about how the good old days were awesome and how today, well things just aren’t the same. Many aspects of Pixels feel like they’ve been pulled from a time long gone that we'd rather forget. Most notably, the romantic sub plots, who are so awful you’re tempted to give the actresses standing ovations for playing their parts without cringing.

If you’ve seen the 2010 Pixels short, there’s no reason to see this full-length film. Adam Sandler’s usual comedic antics add nothing to the cool voxel look and the visual gags in its 2-minute running time isn't improved by cameos by Serena Williams or Nick Swardson. I suppose Happy Madison fans may find some of it enjoyable but that's just a theory. (May 10, 2019)

[dojoliveblogs]

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 Movie Thoughts and Update

Heyo, sorry for the absence as of late, several major things have occurred, nothing dire, just some things one after another (the car I drove coming to its end, needing to find a new one, my mom getting injured, etc) as well as being in a bit of a mental funk. Anyway, I am starting to feel up for posting again, though I think I ought to pick specific days of the week to do them on, a vague schedule is easier to keep me on track, I notice. Two side notes, first that I have a couple asks, don't worry, I'll answer them when I decide to do more chapters, the second is that I see Tumblr's link formats for tags on blogs have changed a bit while I was gone (Going from - to %20 between words for some reason), so some of my liveblog links are a bit wonky, I'll fix that later, because, man, that's a lot. Tumblr kind of sucks, lmao.

Though, getting to the actual topic, I watched the JJK movie today! I'll discuss spoilers so the rest of this post is under the cut. I'll also briefly allude to The Hidden Inventory arc as that is relevant to this movie.

To start us off, it's just a visually gorgeous movie, I'm not really one for discussing technical aspects, so I'll leave that to others, only noticeable bit I thought didn't stack up was the CG centipede curses Geto had in the last battle (the ones Yuji destroys with Inumaki's power in the form of a microphone), they blend in with the style and are done great, just slightly noticeable.

Adaptation wise, this one's really rock solid, as I figured most of the expansion occurred in the big Night of 1000 Spirits fight near the end where we got to see cameos and fights from other characters like Nanami, the Kyoto kids and Mei Mei (though, now that I'm looking at the 0 chapters, Mei Mei does make a few minor appearances in the manga with a different looking axe)

Surprisingly, the biggest addition is a post credits scene with Miguel and Yuta in, what the scene leads me to believe is, Kenya, or at least somewhere in Africa. They're having a bit of a chit chat at the cafe when Gojo pops up! Well, that's an extra cliffhanger for me to ponder, I'm still wondering how Miguel goes from working with racist Geto to palling around with Yuta, now I also gotta wonder how Gojo's mixed in. I also wonder if this is a scene from after the arc I'm currently in.

Speaking of that arc, they added a little conversation from it during Geto and Gojo's end talk, I think it's one I've already seen, but not sure. I haven't fully completed the arc, but man, knowing their past even just a bit really does change up how you view some of the conversations and talks happening in 0, which is pretty cool.

That's really everything major I wanted to talk about, it was a fun movie to see and it came with some worthwhile additions. Anyway, see y'all later!

[waffliesinyoface]

update: there was like one scene with good animation but other than that oof. that was bad. villain is a puppet guy without even the slightest hint of erotic body horror. i audibly groaned when i realized that his name was mukade because he's supposed to be an omukade (centipede)

theres hardly even any minato fanservice because he's wearing a stupid anbu head sock thing for 90% of the movie and doesnt even get to kill anyone. baby kakashi is on the cover and yet exists for like a single scene.

rating: 2/10, the random surprise cameo from baby shizune was cute

next on my journey of watching dumb naruto filler out of order, i am now watching... that one shippuden movie where naruto and co. travel back into the past and team up with minato, for fanservice reasons

it opens with sakura doing copious punching. i approve

fake edit: literally seconds after i typed this, i realize that sakura does not get to time travel. how could you. why would you deprive me of this

[year2000electronics]

PIXELS: Earth but the Video Game Aliens are Self-Aware

In the year 1982, a video game tournament is held. The reason? The victors will have their footage included in a series of tapes being sent to space. The winners and losers of this tournament is where our story begins!

Gordon Freeman, who came second place in his final match (Donkey Kong), is now your average run-of-the-mill geek squad guy. He works to provide for his son, Joshua, who’s a fan of modern video games (”you pretend you’re the guy and you don’t wanna die!”) 

Gordon goes to Dr. Darnold Pepper’s house to install a new TV. The two of them hit it off (they do because the original movie hates women and I do not.), but Darnold thinks Gordon’s following him when they both head to the White House.

He’s still friends with his childhood best friend, Tommy Coolatta, who’s now the President. (Bear with me here.) Tommy calls Gordon to the White House because their base in Guam was attacked last night, with alien formations that look remarkably similar to Galaga! 

Gordon gets excused from the meeting about Guam thanks to general tomfoolery. As he’s heading home, he realizes there’s a new guest in his van.

Forzen, nicknamed “The Wonder Kid” when arcade gaming was in its prime, was a boy genius whose skills rivalled Gordon’s. Unfortunately, he’s an even bigger loser nerd than Gordon and enjoys taping Baywatch reruns and Irate Gamer videos. Also, he hid in Gordon’s van because he’s quirky like that.

He shows Gordon a prerecorded video that interrupted his channel surfing.

Apparently, a race of aliens have received the tapes, and they wrongly believe that the footage of video games are footage of real warriors, and therefore a declaration of war. They communicate exclusively using old 80s VHS tapes, the only unifying element between them being a threat of war and a few cameos with a strange-looking man in them.

With another attack being launched on the Taj Mahal, Gordon and Forzen realize what’s going on. The aliens have given them 3 ‘lives’- and they’ve already wasted two. 

Since the games are the specific 1982 versions, Gordon and Forzen are the only ones who know the patterns well enough to teach the Navy. (..Ignoring the obvious power fantasy here).

Darnold shows off to Tommy, Gordon and Forzen the new light cannons he invented, which can dissolve the light cubes the game warriors are made of. 

The fight is taken to Hyde Park, where the Navy tries and fails to fight Centipede. Gordon and Forzen take the front lines, successfully winning and getting the humans a trophy of their victory. (...It’s Duck Hunt, and some random old man gets it.)

Now that Tommy’s realized the loser nerd gamers are the only ones who can possibly stand against this alien menace, they give them cool jumpsuits and call them Arcaders. Also, they need to talk to the man who beat Gordon at Donkey Kong all those years ago.

Bubby is an old man. Gordon is a normal man. An adult bragged about beating a teen in video games.

This says a lot about the type of person Bubby is.

He calls himself “the Fireblaster”, and says he’s still the best, calling Gordon “second place” all the time.

The three of them (along with Darnold because the original setup was the creator of Pac-Man was there too but I think Darnold should have fun.) head to New York City, where a giant Pac-Man is destroying the city. To defeat Pac-Man, you need ghosts, so the four of them used modified Mini Coopers.

Gordon gets his arm bitten off by Pac-Man because he tried to reason with it like an idiot, which leaves him hiding in an alley for most of the chase. Forzen gets taken out when they realize Pac-Man has access to power pellets, as does Darnold, but with Bubby’s lightning-fast driving skills, he manages to beat Pac-Man. Unfortunately, he drives into the river, leaving only Gordon. Gordon fakes Pac-Man out by driving up a parking garage and waiting for Pac-Man’s 10-second power pellet to run out.

They won! As a gift, the aliens bestow a fighter from Punch-Out!! (Dr. Coomer. He’s not really in punch out but work with me here) upon them as their second trophy. 

The president throws a celebratory gala! Forzen gets to sing his heart out, Gordon and Darnold hang out, Tommy decides Coomer is the most powerful old man...

But then the aliens come on screen, enraged. Apparently, they ‘broke the rules of warfare’, therefore forfeiting, and they say they’ll come to destroy Earth.

Everyone is confused, and we learn thanks to Joshua, Bubby wrote cheat codes on his sunglasses and he’s a big fat cheater.

...Unfortunately the aliens also take Joshua as a Trophy.

Bubby skips town, and the world has gone to shit. 

Everything looks shitty, until Tommy saves Gordon from a Creature with his crane game skills of old. He’s suited up to become an Arcader himself!

Forzen volunteers to fight the aliens on the ground, as does Bubby, when he comes back, but Darnold, Tommy, Gordon and Coomer go to face the mothership. In there, they learn that the aliens have a boss who’s taken a human form and calls himself Benrey (he mostly takes the form to mock the humans, though, also he’s been appearing in the little 80′s clip shows the aliens use to communicate). He challenges Gordon to a final match- Donkey Kong. The irony.

Gordon manages to beat Donkey Kong, saving the world and also getting his son back! Cool. 

Tommy makes a peace treaty with the aliens, who agree to leave, but Benrey and Coomer decide to stay on Earth, because it’s cool and funny. 

Cue 80s ending track.

[picturejasper20]

Nephrite Character analysis

Nephrite (also known as Centipeetle) is a secondary character that was first introduced in first episode of the series (Gem Glow) as a gem monster. Her form resembled a giant centipede with the ability of making copies of herself and spiting very acidic venom from her mouth. She was like the ¨mother¨ of the centipedes since they all were born from her.

Like many gem monsters, Nephrite in her true monster form was extremely agressive. In the episode itself it was not explained in detail why she attacked the Crystal gems, though it is easy to assume she just was trying to defend her ¨kids¨ or was confused as many gem monsters would be in that type of situation.

When the Crystal gems were hiding from the acidic spit of Nephrite, Steven threw a refrigerator to her, electrocuting her. The Crystal gems took advantage of the situation to finish Centipeetle and bubbled her gem.

(Nephrite trying to reform to her original gem form but she's unable to since she is corrupted)

In the episode ¨Monster Buddies¨ Steven accidentally released Nephrite from her gem bubble. She tried reforming to her original gem form but noticing she was unable to she took a very small form which looked very much alike the small  centipedes from ¨Gem Glow¨. 

Instead of hurting Steven, she remained in her spot shaking in fear. This is very likely due to being released in a new enviroment that she had not recollection of. Seeing that she wasn’t trying to attack him unlike the last time and that was actually very scared, Steven asked her to approach him, showing he didn´t mean to do any harm.

(The images show that when she calmed down, she pulled her mane hair down much like a feline would)

He tried explaining to the gems that Nephrite was different from the other monsters since she acted friendly around Steven and seemed to use her powers only when she saw a weapon or something tried hurting Steven.

¨No! It didn't do anything! Garnet, don't hurt it! I accidentally let it out of its bubble, but it didn't even try to hurt me. It's not like the other monsters, it's just scared and confused. Please Garnet. I'm begging you.¨  

In her small monster form, she was capable of understanding other characters when they talked to her. She could also followed orders, like when Steven asked her to use her spit to melt the rocks that prevented them from accomplishing their mission.

Her behaviour was a mix between gem and animal behaviour. She could understand when Steven spoke to her and she reacted when he reminded her that she wasn't a monster anymore by near the end of the episode. On the other hand, she behaved like a dog when Steven fed her with chaaaaps and learned how to do tricks.

She also had her own "trigger" in this form: When a gem summoned her weapon she would act by pure instinct and start spitting acid. This was when even the gem in question didn't want to hurt her, just by seeing a gem weapon was enough for her to make her panick.

(Example: Garnet summons her gaunglets to grab the shooting star and when Nephrite notices this, she gets visually very stressed).

Unfortunalety, later in the episode when they found the shooting star and Garnet tried grabbing it with her gaulglets, Nephrite became extremely frightened and threw her acidic venom all over the cave ceiling making the cave start to collapse.

Before she hurted the Crystal gems, Steven intervened by reminding her of their friendship. He told her about the moments they bonded together and how she didn’t have to fight.

¨Stop! You don't need to fight! This isn't you! You're not a monster anymore! You're more than that. We have so many memories now! Remember the chip times? And how you saved me from that vicious seagull? And how we became best friends? You have to remember! This all happened today!¨  

This made her calm down, knowing that Steven wasn’t his enemy and was trying to help her. 

Suddenly, she saw how a stalagmite was about to crash the two of them. Quickly,she pushed him out of the way and sacrificed herself to protect Steven.This showed that she could be healed and was a well meaning gem that cared about others.

Steven promised her that he would find a way to heal her and the rest of the corrupted gems. He bubbled her and the bag of chaaaaps as a remider of the time they bond.

¨It's alright Steven. Remember, she's not cracked, she's corrupted, and that's something different, something nearly... impossible to describe.¨

¨It's sort of like if MC Bear-Bear didn't tear the fabric of his arm, but the fabric of his mind.¨  

In ¨Monster Reunion¨ Steven regained his healing powers and asked the gems to try healing Nephrite. The gems were skeptical at first but after insisting in a few times they allowed to him to unbubbled her.

When Steven used his healing spit on her, Centipeetle’s gem form turned more human like: She was standing on two legs and had two arms. Her head, however, was still pretty much like his corrupted form. She could only growl and squawk. This became an issue when Steven tried communicating with her.

In this state, Nephrite was more conscious of her sorroundings and didn’t attempt to attack the Crystal Gems. She was able to write on her own gem language and remember what her life was like before she became corrupted. Her only problem was not being able to speak properly.

Her friendly personality remained intact as well as her memories when she befriended Steven back in ¨Monster Buddies¨. She still remembered when she ate chaaaaps and the song that Steven sang to her. She showed to be intelligent since she quickly understood what Steven asked her to do.

After being asked to tell him about her origins, Nephrite used some crayons to draw what happened to her when she first arrived on Earth: She used to be the captain of her Nephrites crew. She was sent to Earth to help with building the Gem colony. When the gem war started she joined the fight along with her crew.

After the shattering of Pink Diamond, all the homeworld gems were asked to leave the planet as quickly as possible. When her commander give her the order to return to her ship it was too late, Nephrite was separated from her team and corrupted by the Diamond light.

Talking about her memories made her start crying and losing control of her form.It’s likely that this being remined of her past and the Diamond corruption light caused her great turmoil. While trying to get to her ship, she kept changing between her humanoid form and her corrupted form.

When she and Steven arrived to the ship it was revealed that Nephrite was just trying to meet with her friends who had waited for her and became corrupted as result.

¨You brought the Centipeetle back to her ship. You brought her back to her crew. They've been waiting here for her. They didn't want to leave her behind.¨ 

Nephrite made a brief cameo in the episode ¨Legs From Here to Homeworld¨: Steven, Blue and Yellow tried healing her from her corruption. For a few moments she returned to her original form before she was corrupted and apologized to the Diamonds for failing her superior’s orders.

¨Nephrite! Facet-413 Cabochon-12! I’m sorry for my failure to heed my Hessonite's evacuation orders... My team and I tried our best to make it out before the attack, but... You're here and it must've worked! You finally avenged Pink Diamond! You destroyed Rose Quartz!¨  

She was finally cured along with the rest of the corrupted gems in ¨Change your mind¨ and met with her cured crew members. It’s implied that she now lives on Little Homeworld and assists Little Homeschool to learn how to live on Earth.

Gifs and images source: Steven unieverse wikia.

[rivahisu107]

The Unresolved Baby Subplot Chapter 4: Two Ackermans & Two Plotholes

With Levi and Hange out of the way, the island of Paradis is descending further into unrest: the Jaegerists are gaining control, the wine plan has been exposed, and Marley is on its way for retribution. Would any of this had happened if the Queen were not having a child under the strangest of circumstances? 

Meanwhile, Eren’s friends have been hurt by his apparent betrayal, but Mikasa has taken the worst of it. Eren claims that as an Ackerman, she latched onto him as a host due to her genetics and claims that he has always hated her. And now they are being held in prison as Yelena provides her side of the story. But what does this have to do with the baby? And what else can we learn about the Ackermans?

Hold on, we’re in for a wild ride and a callback to an overlooked but vital clue from Clash of the Titans in the latest install of this (conspiracy) theory for the unresolved baby subplot! Because let me tell you, there is a key piece of evidence here that almost certainly proves the paternity of the child.

Yelena is coolly explaining the logistics of Zeke and Eren’s secret plan to the Corps. With sterilization, the Jaeger brothers will save the world from the curse of the Subjects of Ymir by taking out their reproductive abilities. Unfortunately, this is met with complete disgust- and mockery on Armin’s part- from the Corps. But how exactly will this plan protect Paradis from invasion until the last of the people die out? Let’s let Yelena explain with a cameo from Historia:

To compare to the fifty year plan:

Both involve using a partial Rumbling as a deterrent force.

Both involve maintaining the Founder.

Both need the royal family. 

The problem is... on repeat readings, Yelena is not making much sense here, and the euthanasia plan has a huge plot hole. Why? Let’s do a breakdown. 

“Both the Founder and the royal family must be maintained.” 

Problem one. Assuming euthanasia succeeds, there will be no more possibility of Historia having more royal blood children, but she will have one child- and from the reader’s perspective, this is her child who is assumed to be born of her and of the normal, humble farmer. Sounds good so far, right? But what is Yelena saying here? The Founder can only be used as a deterrent if possessed by either 1. a person of royal blood or 2. a non-royal blood user of the Founder and a royal blood Titan. And Yelena is saying that these must be maintained separately. Huh? And what happened to Historia inheriting the Beast Titan? It could still be part of the plan, but that leads to problem two. 

“So long as a few Subjects of Ymir inherit the Founding Titan until that child passes from the world.”

See? Nothing about the two remaining members of the royal family inheriting the Titan Shifters. Only a few non-royal Subjects of Ymir are going to be getting the Founder. Even assuming the Beast Titan would be inherited by Historia and then her child, their life spans would only be totaled twenty-six years. This is not enough time to wait for all the Subjects of Ymir to die off. Besides, Yelena only mentions the child. It seems that the royal family would have been spared turning into Titan Shifters. 

The problem is: How is a child of royal blood, who is not going to be given a Titan Shifter to inherit, going to protect the island for at least fifty or so years until the population dies off by working together with the non-royal Founder users?

I’m sorry, dear readers, but I will just say here. If you still think that this child is supposed to be the child of a nameless, faceless farmer at this point, then you are fools. Yes, Historia doesn’t have to love somebody who has special abilities that could be passed on to her children, but with a plot hole like this, there has to be something bigger going on. You do not have to be special to be born into the world, but clearly there is something special about this child that could be easily exploited by Yelena and the like. 

...

Alright, time to travel back to Clash of the Titans arc! Wait, what? Why here? It features a huge moment with the main couple of the manga. Remember, Eren thinks back to this time during the time skip when he realizes just how he activated the Coordinate for the first time. 

As he and Mikasa were about to die and he promised to always wrap that scarf around her, Eren, unknowingly possessing the Founder along with the Attack Titan, got the strength to punch back the Titan who later turned out to be Dina Fritz, the royal blooded mother of Zeke, and activated the Coordinate to control the Titans and get revenge for Hannes’ death. We all know that now, correct?

The Corps is making its getaway, but then they have Reiner and Bertholdt to deal with as well. Reiner correctly predicts to us readers that Eren is the most dangerous person to possess the Founder. And then Eren uses its power again. 

What’s going on here? Eren activated the Coordinate again without being in contact with a Titan of royal blood! The only person he is in physical contact with is Mikasa Ackerman.

Ackerman. 

We all know Eren lied about the Ackerman slave thing, but he mixed in some lies with the truth about Ackermans. This is what else he had to say based on his conversations with Zeke, who has all these memories of Tom Ksaver’s work with the Titan Research Society with all kinds of info about Titans and the Ackerman clan.

“A bloodline that could partly manifest the strength of a Titan while in human form.”

Oh! So that explains why Mikasa and Levi are so strong and heal faster than normal Eldians and why they are also immune to memory wipes. Okay, they’re Titans in human form, so how could Mikasa activate the Coordinate at least partially?

Well. In Chapter 107, the same chapter that Historia is revealed to be pregnant under unusual circumstances, we have a flashback and visit from Hizuru, the land of some of Mikasa’s lineage on her mother’s side. And what do we learn from Kiyomi? Mikasa is the descendent of the shogun- the royal family- who was left behind and lost on Paradis for at least a century! A lost princess! 

Dear readers, Mikasa has been the key this whole time. She, a person of Ackerman, normal Eldian, and royal blood of Hizuru, managed to activate the Coordinate by being in contact with Eren, even if it was only a partial activation. 

This here is the answer to the euthanasia plothole. This is also almost absolute proof that this child was intended to be Levi and Historia’s child. An Ackerman with Eldian royal blood would have the ability to manifest the strength and powers of a Titan without having to turn into a Titan. And when in contact with the Founder, they would be able to use the Coordinate to defend the island. And the child would be able to live out a full life, so no worries about Titan shifting. 

But unfortunately, this would mean using the child as a tool, used for causing mass destruction no matter if one is pro-euthanasia or pro-Rumbling. The parents of the child would likely be opposed to this, and Eren himself has qualms with using children. It’s no wonder that Yelena and Floch were more than happy to get their number one threat, Levi, out of the way, and Hange as well.

Oh. Oh oh oh. And if you want to see some classic Isayama trolling, check out this Q & A from the August 2018 magazine- you know, the magazine with Chapter 107, the pregnancy plot reveal. 

Um, yeah, so it seems that this was what Isayama was going for all along with the pregnancy subplot. 

Unfortunately, it never amounted to anything really, not even symbolically. We still don’t have all our answers for it explicitly made. It’s rather too bad, because there is potentially further proof I found- and a plothole- that connects to this, also about Ackermans.

...

Chapter 126 opens with Hange killing off several Jaegerists while protecting a comatose Levi. She tends to his wounds and delivers some exposition about Ackermans which fits with the previous chapter about euthanasia and the child. 

What is the problem here? In story, we never find out the reason how Hange even knows this. In Chapter 108, the Corps was discussing inheriting the Founder, and Jean mentioned that at the time about a year before the Rumbling, they didn’t even understand what the Ackerman clan was. 

So, how does Hange know this, and why is it so important to know that Ackermans can’t turn into Titans? Sure, the two known members of the clan were the only two people who were left to kill Eren because they were immune to the centipede which just vanished for unknown reasons after Eren died, but I am asking how Hange knew this in the first place. Why?

“Everyone was turned into Titans, but only you survived.”

Hange hadn’t seen Levi in at least a month. There is no way that Hange could have asked him if he drank the tainted wine or seen him drink it and then go on to conclude that Ackermans can’t turn into Titans without affirming the former was done while he was unconscious. 

One thing about Hange post time skip is that the focus is on her being commander without much for the Titan science aspect. There is one obscure moment from Chapter 109 that got me thinking. While she is having a moment of frustration, she suddenly collects herself and states:

What does she need to study? Is she trying to find more solutions to the problem at hand? I don’t know if books will really help them in the situation of, “What to do when the Queen is pregnant and can’t become a Titan Shifter to guarantee the island’s safety while trying to prepare for a global strike because Eren was an idiot and acted alone”, but I do have to wonder here. Could Hange have been trying to study something about the Ackerman clan, something about a potential child with mixed genes? 

The above is more of a guess from me than anything, but it’s the only thing I could find that would explain how Hange would make such a bold statement without seeing the evidence- that would make her a bad scientist. 

Funny enough, as readers, believe it or not, we might have proof that at some point, even if not in the forest, that Levi did drink tainted wine. It’s blink and you miss it. 

A few chapters back, I speculated about the banquet and Levi being counted as top brass, the only section of the military permitted to drink the wine. Again, without seeing the banquet ever, this point is hard to prove, but it’s not impossible to think that it would happen. It’s in Chapter 112 when Zeke’s plan goes into action that we can see something happen to Levi’s body.

There is a twitch effect surrounding his body going through his hair and clothes. The brass from many miles away felt a reaction go through their bodies too akin to a shock or a twitch. And to see what the anime staff did, check out this blink and you miss it GIF.

Furthermore, check out this dialogue.

“When’d he start tainting it?” 

Oh dear. He really screwed up in many ways this arc. But he is one of the lucky ones indeed. If he weren’t an Ackerman, he’d be long dead in the story. 

...

That was a lot of ground to cover in this chapter, but perhaps we have struck through the surface of the mystery of the Ackerman clan in the most unexpected ways. 

The next chapter will feature bits and pieces of odd evidence that could be key to the unresolved baby plot. After Chapter 123, it seems that the whole thing is almost forgotten, so I do question if there really was a retcon or a change to a more open ending with it all. Even if what is said in the following chapters has nothing to do with the baby, the buildup theorized about here may unlock a few of the creative decisions made.