#I mean to be fair its special interest shit

[felassan]

A former BioWare Design Director has tweeted his take on the recent BioWare and SW:TOR news. tweet compilation, as it's interesting and illuminating insight:

"My take on the SWTOR/BioWare split For SWTOR: This is a Good Thing For BioWare: This is a Big Loss A thread:

My point of view is someone who worked for BioWare Austin on SWTOR from 2009 as an Assistant World Designer through 2022 as Design Director (with some Anthem, Shadow Realms, and <NDA> years sprinkled about).

BioWare Austin (BWA) was its own studio for many years, founded in order to make that game. MMO’s are expensive, y’all.

We didn’t really collaborate with BioWare Edmonton (BWE) on the dev side much, because there was no need to (with some exceptions – they had built the original on-rails space shooting component, for example).

As a business, in this model all revenue and expenses roll up into the greater whole (BioWare), which then roll into EA’s Group, and so on.

After many years, this model shifted and changed, for a large variety of reasons I won’t get into. BWA would no longer be a separate entity, but under the same core leadership as BWE – One BioWare (BW).

What this meant realistically was you had a boxed product business that had been tried and true for years, combined with a live service MMO business that wasn’t really understood by the boxed product folks. Arguably by EA either, to be fair.

You see, MMO’s can be fairly predictable if they run long enough. We knew the SWTOR business very well. We knew how to turn every dollar invested in the game into several more. SWTOR was (and continues to be) a very profitable business, with loads of heart behind it.

But an older game isn’t sexy. It’s not new. It doesn’t get marketing orgs excited or social media teams jazzed. It’s a ‘legacy game’, despite the mountains of income coming in that other franchises are built off of.

And you FELT it, as a member of the team. It’s a fantastic dev team, filled with incredible talent. How then, with such a close-knit team, did you always feel less-than?

Well, just take a look around. Look at BW’s social media posts and count the proportion of SWTOR game/fan/anything posts compared to ME or DA. Remember that BioWare 25th anniversary book? The beautiful 328 page recollection of BioWare’s history, and celebration of all franchises?

For a game like SWTOR that had been live already for 9 of those 25 years at the time of publication, how many pages, dear reader, do you think had any SWTOR imagery or content at all? Ten. Teams notice this. They feel it, and it feels like shit.

Does BW despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – they don’t understand it, and it was someone else’s game. Does EA despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – it’s a legacy live service, and again, was someone else’s game.

As a dev on SWTOR, you feel like your game is a burden to all of the layers above you, but you persist. You put so much heart and passion into the game, and you thrive on the fans and tremendous partnership with LucasFilm.

So to bring us back to current news, imagine a team excited about a game, with incredible plans, that have felt ‘less-than’ by their own studio and company for years, being unleashed.

Being part of an org that KNOWS the MMO business, and understands those player communities and the incredible stories and connections they form.

This feels like an exciting new chapter to me, and I’m optimistic about what this means for that team and the game. SWTOR is, to the best of my knowledge, the longest-running Star Wars anything, ever. It’s a special game and I’m so happy to see where the team takes it.

As far as BW, it would have certainly be in their best interest as a business to maximize exposure and support for SWTOR publicly over the years, since the SWTOR revenue has allowed for the…unusually long…dev cycles to continue for the last several games.

But now without SWTOR, there will be less places to hide heads, R&D, and time. You’ve got blockbuster single-player experiences hitting high Metacritic scores with…2-3 year dev cycles? And the BW pattern has been…double? Triple that?

I think it will be interesting to see how the EA/BW relationship continues to evolve in this new world. /end"

[source]

[drdemonprince]

Re: an anon from November 15th: do you have advice on how become more comfortable with negativity? Because the White Woman Socialization Brain is strong with this one and I've had a couple of friends say it gives me a tone-policing problem

I'm going to depart from my usual gradual tolerance-building exercise approach here (though all that stuff still applies) and give you a more targeted recommendation:

I think you need to find a friend who can be a bit of a shitty little outrageous bitch in how they speak and emote, but who is at their core a wonderful, reliable, and morally stand-up person, and make a special place for them in your life.

The type of person who is not afraid to be disagreeable, who says "terrible!" and launches into a whole long rant about why when you ask them how their day is going and who will show up to your house with groceries when you are sick and start cooking and cleaning all around even when you've (lyingly) said you do not need the help. The type of person who will teach your nervous system that negativity is not bad, that ruining the vibe is sometimes needed, and that we can be good people even while not worrying about making other people feel good.

You can often locate such people in hard-core activist spaces, as the people steadily Doing the Work for years on end are unlikely to be motivated by soft, tender feelings, because those emotions sure don't keep in that line of work. You can also find them in places like AA programs (or SMART Recovery meetings, etc), support groups, queer discussion groups, book clubs, marxist reading groups, church groups, food kitchens, and any other gathering of people that is motivated by a strong ideological commitment or interest in intellectual pursuits but which can be rather dry or unpleasant in its execution of their ideals. you can also just like, throw a stone in places like New York or Boston or Philly and hit three to five people like these. Even as far out as Pittsburgh or Cleveland there is a lot of them.

Now, if you have chronic white woman everybody must be happy all the time syndrome (which really just means i will *make* everybody pretend to be happy or else im going to lose my shit), it can be tempting to fall in with someone who *seems* like a person like this, but who in actuality is a manipulative undermining abuser taking advantage of your tendency to excuse and downplay their many slights and offenses.

You do not want that. You want someone who can accept criticism just as readily as they dish it out. The kind of person who will fire off at the mouth but then go "oh dammit, youre right, i hate it but youre right" the moment you point out a valid flaw in their logic. Someone brash, but with a heart. Someone who can teach you that conflict is inevitable, and needed, and that saying something weird or off-putting is not the end of the world, and that arguing and complaining can actually bring you closer to someone when it is done authentically and from a place of good faith.

to find this person, keep putting yourself in places that align with the type of person you'd like to be, filled with people who are doing things with their lives that you admire. notice your initial reactions to people. who is off putting? is that a fair judgement? who are you afraid of upsetting? who expresses themselves in a way you'd never, ever dare to? most kind of unpleasant people wont be the special Prickly Friend for You, they'll just be kind of annoying people you dont want to be around. but at some point you will notice, hey actually, this person is a little off and irascible, but i notice they always come through for people. they might not be the most elegant in how they express their views, but when i think about it, i think they tend to be right. over time a person like that will prove themselves through their behavior and track record, and as you get more acclimated to their way of communicating, you'll find your voice of disagreement too.

good luck!

[patamus-warmer]

Do you live in butte? It kinda seems like you’re treating my town like a poverty zoo for your art. Do you even know any of the people that frequent pissers palace? Why are you taking pictures of peoples homes like that? I get the maybe displaying capitalism decay in a town that was used and abused for its resources and then left for dead. But genuinely your photos feel a little cold to me. It just feels like we’re focusing more on the aesthetic of a decaying house (that btw people live in) and not like the humanity of the fact that people have to live there.

I’ve lived in uptown Butte for two years and no I don’t know any Pissers Palace regulars. Honestly, I don’t have a lot of friends here because I’m not the most socially adept person and Butte is the kind of town where it’s hard to make friends if you’re not from here. However, those facts don’t really matter considering the issues you raise, anon. I want to avoid addressing these valid concerns with some kind of PR-tailored bullshit statement and frankly there may not be much I can say that will satisfy you. So, I’ll try to do my best to answer as sincerely as I can.

I hope this ask isn't a troll because it was upsetting to read. Not due to my personal feelings, but because a member of the community feels like my photography is exploiting Butte by only seeing the decay caused by de-industrialization without seeing the broader community as it is, let alone the people. This is a fair criticism that I do think about with my work—probably not thoroughly enough—and one that’s at the heart of photography ethics (e.g. taking pictures of homeless people while doing nothing to change their material conditions). My interests and curiosity do gravitate towards darker aspects in society such as the consequences of de-industrialization and late capitalism on communities. I’m not the first (or last) photographer to explore these phenomena, especially in Butte, but it’s what I often photograph. At the same time, this type of photography doesn’t do much to break cycles of exploitation and can create a myopic perception of places inviting gentrification. It definitely makes me consider what I photograph and why, particularly if the work is perceived as “cold” poverty aesthetics. I think one of my intentions with the photography is to help see the deep rooted history in the landscape of Butte that is out of time and special, especially compared to all the gentrified shit holes a lot of cities are now.

However, there’s also the issue you raise which is there’s much more to Butte than that and it’s not just aesthetics. Point taken. My last b&w post doesn’t exactly express positivity while probably coming off as cliche and annoying to people from Butte. Nobody wants to see the place they live in reduced to mindless social media posts. I’ve had a similar, yet inverse reaction many times seeing influencers portraying Montana as a new bastion of freedom while everyone who grew up in the state often view them more as tax-dodging gentrifiers who don’t care about the people or the history. I think the other issue with the lack of humanity in the photography is the lack of portraits. It’s something I’m personally working on to be less shy and take portraits in a respectful manner—with the subject’s permission—without creating a dour perception. Also, I didn’t mean to disrespect the people living in any of the homes I took a picture of—I’d love to meet those people and talk with them.

The last thing I want to say is this: I have nothing but respect and admiration for Butte. And not to sound patronizing or condescending, I specifically admire the passion and dignity of this community that comes through in your ask, the town’s strong labor history and compassion for marginalized people. One event I attended last year was when after the public library gave into nazi demands to cancel a trans speaker, our local community radio station hosted her talk and the town came out in force to stand in solidarity with her. They did the same thing recently to make sure an ADA ramp wasn't defunded by the county commissioners.

I’ll never be from Butte, but I’m honored to live here and want to contribute to it respectfully. I see more beauty and the wonder of a place out of time in Butte than a decaying town to pity. You may see it differently in my photos and that’s fine.  If you want to discuss this further, please feel free to reach out: patrickwarnerphoto@gmail.com.

[moreclaypigeons]

Mountain Goats fans how are we feeling

Jenny 2... I will put all my analysis about what these things mean under the cut. I would also like to note that after i took these screenshots the 11th (pirate ship sunset) just... disappeared? The post was gone for a fair bit but then came back. may have been a glitch. or maybe a ghost ship.

Here's what I'm getting story-wise:

Someone rode away on their custom Kawasaki with a stinger on the back, leaving the speaker there at the curb so they had to take a bus. But they never saw them again, no one did. Flaky yellow paint of the Kawasaki.. staying up late thinking about how the relationship ended. Time passes and it's winter and they have search parties out for this person. The person crashed while on their bike. And then the speaker realizes it. And the person is dead the end

Now in terms of allusions to the song Jenny:

"You roared into the driveway of our southwestern ranch style house": the house in the first image reasonably fits that description. "Our house faced west": based on the shadows here, the house DOES face either east or west because of the direction that the sun rises.

"on a new Kawasaki, all yellow and black, fresh out of the showroom.": It's the same bike! But, based on the line in the third post, "flaky yellow paint," some time has passed.

"the big orange sun" we see in the 11th image, where the pirate ship sails into the sunset. the image also alludes to "you pointed your headlamp toward the horizon," and "the pirate's life for me!"

post 10 is interesting because it too draws from the pirate's life line, but the imagery is different, and definitely connects/foreshadows the graveyard image. Here is an excerpt from the wikipedia page for jolly rogers: When the pirates' intended victim was within range, the Jolly Roger would be raised, often simultaneously with a warning shot. The flag was probably intended as communication of the pirates' identity, which may have given target ships an opportunity to decide to surrender without a fight.

Miscellaneous:

image 7, with the grecian vase imagery is reminding me of spent gladiator.

i have no idea what the fuck the water tower means.

image 12 depicts a music staff with some notes on it. i know nothing about music but i do know the internet does so i am currently trying to reconstruct it with a program. update mmaybe will follor?

other songs:

According to what John Darnielle has said in hit podcast "i only listen to the mountain goats," Jenny has appeared in 2 or 3 other songs.

"She calls on the phone in Night Light" and "she calls on the phone in Straight Six" and was the sender of postcards in Source Decay. He says, "She is defined by an absence, she has yet to speak. She's in the song Jenny; the other two songs she's in, she's already gone. …She's not there when things are going well, and she's not remembered when things are going well. Jenny is an emblem of more difficult times for people, of wilder times. But also times that they're pretty clearly romanticizing, right, that they're also remembering as the time when they were on a motorcycle with no responsibilities, livin' the pirate's life."

Of course I'm going to listen to those three songs <3

Night light: "Jenny calls from Montana/ She's only passing through / Probably never see her again in this life I guess" oh but we WILL see her again... And then never again. "I was a red dot blinking on a screen up overhead / And then the room went dark" and "Plug a night light in / Leave the porch light on" remind me of the bedside clock and the gas station.

Holy shit Straight Six. I didn't realize this was on Jam Eater Blues until I went to its page on the wiki, but- this is significant cause on their linktree, "stream jam eater blues" is at the top and i was confused cause they also released a bunch of other shit. this is foreshadowing...

Anyways significant moments of Straight Six:

"Dull powder blue paint job / earl scheib special" this could either be the auto station (#2) or the fact that the speaker's car has an earl scheib special paint job (had to research this), which maybe he got from the same auto shop. This song talks a lot about a car. "Rabbit skull hanging from the rear-view" "And I glide down the streets of this city / All night, uptight" "There's a crack in the windshield eighteen inches long / Evaporating snow forming crystals on the chrome" it's hard to tell from the drawing of the van whether there is a crack on the windshield or whether it's just stylized, but..this does intrigue me. And when I heard them mention SNOW immediately after... when the caption to the van post says "searching in the snow".......

Source Decay also mentions driving and cars a lot. Couldn't find anything more significant than what the other songs have though.

If anyone has any other thoughts to share or disagrees or like I missed something- PLEase share i am so eager to hear/talk about this!

[heavens-sin]

By liking this post you are agreeing to the following:

I get full rights to bother you about our characters.

this is including, but not exclusive to: Moodboards, tagging you in things i think our characters would do, musings, random starters, playlists, etc.

My undying love and affection

A special spot on my carrd just for you ♡

me sending lots of stuff in your inboxes from meme/ask posts.

This is also the call for shipping. if this is something you are interested in. if you’ve not reached out already (Though if you want to further discuss things, my IMs are open! considering.. the fucker I'm portraying - pairings are gonna be heavily selective. and discussed thoroughly with muns. ) 

if youre already on my list you dont have to worry! this is just for new followers :> though please still like this so i can make sure youre still interested since ive been absent for a while. if not let me know! ill still bully you [affectionate]

Shipping with me can include, but is not limited to:

All them tropes.

Platonic love, antagonistic shit, etc.

this will also include the not so pleasant troped ones. of course this should be approached with extra caution. its not meant for everyone. and will be tagged and hidden under cuts.

thats including nsfw topics. all will be hidden under cuts.

Exclusive shipping rights which includes your own tags and ship verse. (I am still a multi-ship, but the exclusive ship partner does mean i will only ship with your version of a character)

Expanding ships we currently have.

Anything in between you’d like to scream about me with.

Fair warning: Shipping with me does include me becoming absolutely insufferable eventually about our characters. Also I'll only be accepting people as mains that I either already write with, OR we don't write atm but we are actively talking through IMs to plot or organise a thread or whatever.

(although i’m very willing to pop into your IMs anyway to discuss things if we havent written/talked but you are interested in being mains/exclusives).

[look-how-they-massacred-them]

Preliminary Poll

Jughead

Submission reason:

They put them in Riverdale. Ok but seriously they way they were portrayed in Riverdale was so against character, so edgy on comparison to the happy go lucky personality that is the staple of his character, and the fact that they entirely erased his asexual/aromantic identity.

They took away the fact that he was aromantic!! Im pissed because he was great rep!! Seriously, reading jughead 2015 was such a personal and relatable experience that i havent found often in media because aro people are overlooked all the time and the rep is ignored for shipping purposes and its even worse that it happened here!! Not only did they erase him being ace, which was STATED IN THE TEXT, but they also took away the way that he was intentionally written to be romance and relationship averse and its just infuriating because he did not deserve this!!! Aro people did not deserve this!!! Im still so annoyed!!!

I will be honest. I have not watched riverdale and I never will. But in the comics. ESPECIALLY THE JUGHEAD(2015) COMICS. HE IS CANONICALLY AROACE. ACTUAL DIALOGUE FROM THE COMIC, OF KEVIN KELLER SPEAKING TO JUGHEAD -> "my romantic options cant take that kind of hit! you just dont get it cause youre asexual..." ACTUAL DIALOGUE FROM JUGHEAD -> "I DONT GET CRUSHES. I just--found her interesting! Its a FRIENDSHIP crush, IF anything." "...And yet, IM the crazy one for not wanting to kiss people. RIGHT." AND NO IF YOURE WONDERING HE DOES NOT END UP TOGETHER WITH THE PERSON HES TALKING ABOUT THERE. HERES HIM TELLING HER -> "I dont GO on dates, Sabrina. I dont like people that way, you know? And when you asked me out, i didnt realize it WAS a date until too late. I shouldve explained the situation, but instead I went along with it, and just kept... you know, trying to escape. And that wasnt fair to you, and im sorry. My judgement was clouded by the fact that, on some primal and fundamental level, all I really want to do is hang out with a giant talking burger. I know that about myself now, and I accept it gladly." <- i will not be giving context for that last part go read the fucking Jughead(2015) comics right now i will GLADLY send ANYBODY who asks a link. Again. I havent seen riverdale. I HAVE however watched a VIDEO ESSAY on it by someone who never read the comics. And the only positive thing they had to say about that damn show was that they thought bughead was cute. Honestly you could put ANY character from riverdale in this bracket because the original comics ARE A FUCKING SITCOM!!!! well the special stories (like Jughead(2015)) arent as sitcommy and are no stranger to Things Getting Fucking Weird but they never had shit like DARK FUCKING BETTY! No. Instead they had MORE WHOLESOME storylines, like ARCHIE GETTING SHOT AND DYING. dude unrelated one of my comic books had an ad for that with the cover that had archie lying there drenched in a pretty minimal amount of blood actually and i was sooooo scared of it as a kid. i was flipping throuhg the book the first time and dropped it and RAN CRYING AWAY it was the most graphic thing i had seen in my entire 7 years of life. sorry these comics mean a lot to me. i have over 300 of them <3

Propaganda:

a vote for jughead is a vote for aroaces. like ME <3

Aro/Ace rights.

[calliemity]

HEY!!!!! this post is outdated!!!! check out this post here for an updated post on orin scrivello's head!

-

content warning: very very mild special effects gore(?) i have no idea if this could be upsetting to some, the stuff shown is 99% free of blood, not super high quality, and also very clearly fake. im putting this warning here just in case!

hi! so my full set of the little shop of horrors topps bubblegum cards just got here (long name i know). i bought them partially as an early birthday present for myself, but also because the cards include a very interesting piece of info/trivia that ive become completely obsessed with. take a look at this:

this is a picture of the card that i took! its the scene where seymour is feeding pieces of orin to twoey, but as you can see, he's holding his head. hes Holding Orin's Severed Head. hoooooly shit, right??? you can see his face is frozen with that goofy grin and everything, its so cool!!!!! im gonna go into more detail about it under the cut, its a big ol ramble so fair warning

so, if youve seen the movie you probably know that (unfortunately) there isn't any part where you see this head. thats because it was a prop that ended up being totally scrapped from the scene! im still actively gathering information, but from what i can piece together from older drafts of the script along with the workprint, the original plan was to show orin's head (big, stupid grin and all) being fed to audrey II

source

this concept was, at the very least, held onto long enough for a prop replica of steve martin's/orin scrivello's head and face to be fully created. however, as seen in the workprint of the movie, all footage of the head shows only the back of it, with zero glimpse of its face.

source

(Video description: a low quality, slightly green tinted video depicting a deleted scene from Little Shop of Horrors (1986) where Seymour is feeding the decapitated head of the dentist, Orin Scrivello, to the plant. The video starts with a man in glasses reaching into a garbage can and pulling out a black-haired decapitated head, holding it upside-down by the fabric on its neck. The head is faced away from the camera, so only the back of its hair is visible. There are vines flailing in the foreground of the shot. The video cuts to a shot of the plant puppet laughing silently. The video cuts again to a shot of the man slowly shuffling forward while holding the head in front and away from himself. The plant is seen on the left side, still laughing and flailing its vines. Throughout the video, there are brief flashes of light that resemble lightning. There is also a time counter in the bottom left corner of the video, which shows minutes-seconds-milliseconds. The counter starts at 06:10:09, and the video ends with it at 06:18:10. The video's audio only consists of thunder noises and an unidentifiable sound that resembles chewing noises.)

and as we know, in the final version of the movie there arent any severed head props to be seen, meaning it got entirely left on the cutting room floor. i havent been able to find any written info about it so far, so i cant tell you the exact reason why it ended up being scrapped. my personal guesses are that it was considered too scary or dark, test audiences reacted badly to it, and/or the head wasnt considered convincing enough to be included.

in a previous version of this post, i stated that i believed there was only 1 existing photo of the head's face, that being the one on the trading card. im happy to report that i was incorrect, as ive now found a Second Image!!!! this one is from a slightly different angle, and its much higher quality than the previous image, allowing us to see more detail on the prop itself!! here, take a look:

source

for one, i gotta express how EXCITED i was to find this!!!! this new photo allows us to see that the prop itself has quite a bit of detail to it! you can see the creases in its face, not just around the mouth but the eyes and forehead as well! the whole face is impressively realistic, i would say the eyes (or at least the eye thats visible) is a bit uncanny, but every else looks so so good!! there also appears to be some blood stains on the shirt collar and neck, and even more blood stains on the fabric that seymour is holding. something like this was definitely made with a lot of attention to detail and a lot of skill, which makes it even more gutwrenching that it got left completely cut out. im really happy that we have another photo of it, though!!

i'll update this post as needed, once/if i find anything else that relates to this (admittedly very very niche) topic. if youve read the whole thing, thank you!! i really really appreciate it, i hope you found all this as interesting as i did!!!

[minniethemoocherda]

Iridescent: Chapter 18

A/N: So sorry! I think this is the longest I have gone between updates for this fic! But I did post a bonus one-shot about Optimus and Bumblebee in this series if you're interested in checking that out! And from now on we should be back to our regularly scheduled updates! Xxxxxxx

Ao3

FF.net

"What are your opinions on Uraya?"

"That it was a shit hole even before the war." Jazz replied.

With the Decepticons now clearly aware of the locations of both the Ark and their MacCadam's base, Optimus had understandably decided that the Autobots needed to find a safer place to call home.

Which was why Jazz was currently sitting opposite Prowl in the Head Tactician's office, a holomap of Cybertron projected on the desk between them with most of the cities being covered with big red crosses.

They had been debating over locations for so long that Jazz had nearly finished his army of tiny replicas of high command out of scraps of metal.

Thankfully as long as Jazz stayed on topic and didn't wreck his office, then Prowl put up with it.

"Polyhex?" Prowl suggested.

Jazz snorted as he twisted the top of Scrap-Prowl's head into its signature chevron points.

"As much as my old home town will always hold a special space in my spark, it was a city state through and through. Even in ruins there ain't enough space to park the Ark."

Jazz may have been omitting certain details about why he personally didn't want to go back to the place he had once run away from, but that didn't mean that his words weren't true.

For similar reasons, he wasn't even going to entertain the idea of suggesting Praxus to the former Praxian enforcer.

"Whattdya think about Iacon?" Jazz asked, changing the topic.

"It is well fortified and has the most remaining structures of any city left on the planet. However, as the previous capital for the Autobots, I fear it would be too obvious a location."

"The Deceptions could think it's a double bluff?" Jazz suggested, putting his feet up on Prowl's desk.

Prowl promptly batted them away.

"I will not be risking the safety of our faction on a bluff."

"Fair enough." Jazz shrugged, adding his now completed Scrap-Prowl to the line of sculptures standing to attention on Prowl's desk. "What about Kalis? The Ark should fit inside the arena."

Polyhex might've been known for its music, but Kallis was the real entertainment centre of the planet, home to the largest stadium on Cybertron which held the World Cube Championship every year. One of the few wonders of the world left standing.

"It would provide some protection." Prowl considered. "Unfortunately the construction was designed with quantity of seats of quality of fortification in mind. It would not be a suitable long term base. However-"

Jazz watched as Prowl zoomed in on Kallis.

"- Kalis' docks would easily provide enough space to hoke the Ark, with the remains if the city providing cover to the East whilst the Rust Sea would provide natural protection from the West."

"Looks like we've got a winner." Jazz grinned, glad that they had finally found themselves some new digs.

As Prowl started arguing that he still needed to run a few thousand simulations before he could confirm that Kalis' Docks really were their best choice, Jazz checked the time on his wrist screen. It was late, most bots would be in recharge by now and Red Alert's shift had finally finished meaning that there was a next to zero chance of random room inspections.

Absent-mindedly nodding along to Prowl’s points, Jazz stood up out of the chair. He then slowly made his way around to Prowl’s side of the desk, trailing his hand under the rim as he did so, thankfully finding no listening devices.

Jazz folded his arms and leaned against the edge of the desk, careful not to jostle any of his sculptures To any observing eye he would appear the picture of casualties.

He looked down at Prowl's face, a chiselled picture of focus which he could never capture the beauty of in a piece of scrap. As someone with an often erratic attention span, even when he once hated the guy's spark, Jazz had always admired Prowl's ability to put his entire being into focusing to complete a task.

Jazz hated to ruin such a sight but he needed to get what he was about to say off his chest.

"Hey mech, I got something to tell ya." Jazz said, his tone as casual as if he was asking the weather.

"Then say it." Prowl said, those piercing blue eyes giving him his full attention.

Jazz took a deep breathe. There would be no taking this back once it was out in the open.

"I think we've got a spy."

Jazz watched in trepidation whilst Prowl considered the bombshell for a moment. Then in the next that familiar calculating blank look vanished as the bot nodded.

"Yes, my calculations have come to the same conclusion."

Jazz let out a vent he didn't realise he'd been holding. Although with a brain as big as Prowl's he should have known that the tactician would already have had similar thoughts.

"Have you told anyone else of your suspicions?" Prowl asked.

Jazz shook his head.

"I ain't got enough proof to go to Optimus or Red Alert yet."

"Then why are you telling me?" Prowl asked, once again those brilliant blue eyes giving him his full attention.

"Because I trust you."

Prowl blinked, his optics flickering as they ran yet another set of calculations. This time they didn't appear to have come to any conclusions. At least one that they didn't share with Jazz. And well Jazz was a spy after all so he wasn't going to hold keeping secrets against the tactician.

"Do you have any suspects?" Prowl said eventually.

Jazz shrugged.

"All I can tell is that they know the current location of the Ark, which so far narrows to down to everybody on base."

"What about the circumstances of apparent self destruction of Head of Communications at the MacCadam's base?"

"I don't know Elita's crew well enough the narrow down anyone specific. And most of them know our location too so that doesn't help much either."

At this late, or rather early hour, the darkness of the room pretty easily captured the downer mood.

However, even in the dim light of the projection, Jazz could see the dark purple undersides of Prowl's optics that marred his usually handsome face.

"Well, looks like its time to hit the sack." Jazz said with an exaggerated yawn.

"I'll just finish-"

"Oh no," Jazz protested. "We need your big brain firing on all cylinders tomorrow if we want to convince Optimus that Kalis is our best bet. Besides-"

Jazz leaned over the tactician, their helms so close that he could see the reflection of his grin in those bright blue eyes.

"Even if you worked all through the night, you would to need my persuasive pizzaz to win him over."

For a long time, Prowl refused to speak, which meant that he refused to admit that his calculations had shown Jazz to be correct.

"Fine." Prowl conceded through gritted denta. "As long as we can work on this first thing tomorrow."

Jazz gave him a cheeky salute. 

"Yessir!"

[voxofthevoid]

JJK 213 💀

If 212 stabbed me in the heart, 213 has ripped out my guts and poured acid on them. Mother of fuck.

I say this with a measure of glee because I do love a narrative that emotionally eviscerates me.

Spoilers and thoughts under the cut

It’s long and rambling because I’m basically sorting my thoughts out.

The chapter felt pretty short this time, but there sure were some mindblowing developments: Confirmation that Sukuna can use Megumi’s cursed technique (and dial it up to eleven WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT MOTHRA-NUE); Megumi’s ideal vessel status (rejoice, sukufushi shippers, it’s now canon that Sukuna always wanted to be inside Megumi! Too soon? Sorry.); the Angel’s cursed technique in its full glory (I cannot wait to see that animated...eventually); and my boy Yuuji being made into a slightly mashed donut (I joke, but I’ve been nail-biting worried about this since I read the chapter and this will continue till we see confirmation of his survival).

The vessel business

Megumi cannot catch a fucking break, can he? I’m not convinced he’s truly gone, especially because Gege did leave that breadcrump about Megumi having the potential to suppress Sukuna. But that brings me to my major issue with this recent development: if Megumi can suppress Sukuna, it implies sorcerers who can eat his fingers and not only survive but also prevent him from incarnating exist--because what are the chances it’s just Megumi and he just happened to get embroiled in all this? And despite calling him a potential cage, Sukuna doesn’t seem surprised that this is a thing Megumi can do, the way he was with how thoroughly Yuuji caged him. In fact, he seems to have settled on the formula to get into Megumi right after realizing this. All that’s fine, but it raises the question of what, exactly, makes Yuuji special.

I don’t mean it in a “why is Yuuji the MC kinda way” because (a) I love that dude to death and am following the story mostly for him and (b) Yuuji’s emotional arcs have always been a lot more compelling than his powers (or lack thereof), and I think having Sukuna out of him, possibly permanently, is an excellent development as far as his character arc is concerned (more on that later). My issue here has more to do with Kenjaku and the implied alternations they made to Yuuji in the womb: I’d say it’s a fair assumption that Yuuji’s superhuman physical capabilities and unusually powerful ability to constrain Sukuna aren’t natural, and as much as I love the “they just wanted some dick jokes,” I’m pretty sure Kenjaku didn’t conceive and deliver a kid for shits and giggles. Granted, it would kinda suit their personality; however, plot-wise, it’d be a waste.

At the moment, it looks like, while the degree of Yuuji’s ability to suppress Sukuna is unusual/unnatural, other sorcerers are capable of hosting and even caging him. So what exactly is Yuuji’s purpose, at the narrative level and in terms of Kenjaku’s plans? Did they account for Sukuna potentially breaking free, and if they did, what was the point of making a custom vessel for the guy? And is being Sukuna’s vessel all there is to Yuuji (not as a person or character but from Kenjaku’s perspective)? I have a feeling that’s not the case, but I’d need to go reread the manga to try and see why I’m so sure Kenjaku’s interested in Yuuji beyond his potential to contain Sukuna. Either way, I’m curious how the narrative will handle it. Which brings us to--

Yuuji’s survival and future arc

Gege, please.

I am fairly sure protagonist plot armor will kick in and Yuuji will survive (and honestly, him dying at this point would feel pretty damn pointless--I’m all for major character death, but if you’re killing the main lead, make it worth it, ya know?), but fucking how? He’s naturally a lot sturdier than most people, but dude’s got a fist-sized hole in his stomach and got punched through, what, three buildings? He’s got to be on his last legs there. Yuuta isn’t anywhere in the vicinity either. Lowkey hoping for Mumjaku to pop out, but that’s mostly because I have been dying for some interactions between these two since the big reveal about Yuuji’s parentage.

Assuming he survives (he better, GEGE), I’m honestly pretty excited to see how his story will progress from here. Yuuji’s whole thing since the start has been to save as many people as he can and die a good death as a martyr, and with every new trauma the narrative has piled on him, that desire has only increased to the point that it’s now a fixation. The guy seems actively suicidal after Shibuya, and the only thing keeping him from killing himself is the fact that he can’t allow himself to die meaninglessly after all the death Sukuna caused and all the people Yuuji himself failed to save. If the plot had progressed in the direction it had been taking before Sukuna used that binding vow to fuck everything to hell, Yuuji would happily have let the Angel erase him and Sukuna. And he could have called it a good, noble death because he was dying to save Gojou and eliminate a good 75% of Sukuna’s power.

And now he doesn’t have that. His death would no longer serve any greater purpose (...assuming Sukuna doesn’t somehow hop back into him, but that’s starting to look unlikely). To make a difference and help people like he so desperately wants, Yuuji will have to live. I am dying to find out how he’s going to reconcile that with his current mindsent.

Assuming he survives.

Hana and the Angel

I’ve been seeing a lot of hate for Hana after this chapter came out, regarding her decision to rush to Megumi, but honestly, it’s perfectly coherent characterization. It’s certainly a foolish decision, but it’s a completely emotion-driven, considerably panicked one that is in line with everything we’ve seen of Hana so far. She is in no way any more well adjusted than any of the main cast. Her childhood was Trauma Central: Eldritch Horror Edition, and she fixated hard on the boy who saved her despite their paths crossing for a grand total of five seconds. Megumi clearly registered her, since that’s the only way Sukuna would know to use that memory to manipulate her, but he doesn’t even acknowledge her. And there’s no indication they’ve ever interacted since; in fact, I’m rather confused on how Hana even recognized Megumi. Or whether/how she kept track of him all these years, given there’s no indication she was a sorcerer before getting Kenjaku-ed into a coma (presumably) and then hosting the Angel. Yet, she’s convinced she’s in love with him and they’re fated. Hardly a healthy coping mechanism, but it is what it is.

If Hana had a random crush on Megumi and ignored the Angel to fall for Sukuna’s trick (which seems pretty transparent to us readers, but Hana really doesn’t know the actual Megumi enough to tell that he wouldn’t be caught dead doing that pose, sweet fuck, my eyes), it would be some shit writing, but Hana isn’t acting out of infatuation or puppy love but a nearly lifelong fixation.

And it’s probably going to get her killed. I don’t see Hana getting out of that on her own; she hasn’t noticed Stretchy Headman there, and the Angel’s warnings clearly aren’t reaching her. The only way I see this moving forward without them both dying is for the Angel to take over completely--and we know she’s opposed to that, but would she make an exception with death imminent? I hope so. Because losing these characters, especially the Angel, at this juncture would just be a waste.

Now excuse me while I go scream into the void for the next two weeks.

[rontra]

So, given you are interested in DC, or at least aspects of it and RWBY I am curious what your thoughts were on the recent crossover? I assume positive given the art, which s amazing by the by. Also low key curious if you have any "born in DC" headcanon for superhero RWBY. No pressure though.

THE MOVIE YOU MEAN??? well first off thank you hahahah

& for #2 i don't really have any headcanons like that ... somehow i struggle with conceptualizing rwby crossovers w my other interests in general. (maybe it's because rwby's language is so specific to me i struggle to translate in or out of it????)

i do think however we should rank dc characters on how competently they could solve the salem situation /j*

the movies... i watched them back to back in the same night of course, so it was very funny to like, go directly from v7 to post-v9. they were like Guys you will not believe the shit that happened to us since last time we spoke

of course it's crossover spinoff material and not that important to me in the grand scheme of things. so my mode of interaction with it is mostly Enjoying A Light Snack. i can't say i have many capital t Thoughts that are worth posting about individually bc of that. but i DID enjoy the post-v9 aspect of movie2 bc like--altho obviously they can't dig into this shit in a crossover spinoff film--it still gives somewhat of an inclination towards what the writing room is thinking about. ruby especially i had a great time with. how's figuring out the summer rose shit going for you girl (BADLY) (LOL)

oh and omg invoking raven's name ... RAVEN MENTIONED... (to yang no less. heh)

a lot of salem namedrops in movie2 as well which i did chuckle about every time. speaking of, salem not going to vacuo Bolstered... hee hee hoo hoo... pleaaase give me evil gang meetup at beacon pleaaase

movie1 was a special treat for me because i loved all the "this doesn't make any sense this doesnt add up" Memory/Continuity/Spatial fuckery. i could've genuinely watched two full movies about rwby characters going "wait, that doesn't make any sense" at each other. i REALLY enjoyed that. very good show. pyrrha moment very fun also

i think zatanna shouldve showed up in movie2. for me.

i thought i was gonna miss bat ears brucie baby from the RWBYxJL comic more than i did. i think of him so fondly. but wings were kinda fun .... 🦇

movie1 had a little too much diana characterization disease for me to enjoy her. but that's so common its barely worth leveraging as Specific To This Movie. and i feel like she barely talked in movie2 so jury's still out on that. but of course there's a fair bit of wriggle room for the dc characters (in movie1 especially) as well given the "its a random ass crossover so the meta stakes have never been lower + they all got Genuine Teenager Brain for the whole first movie anyway"

movie2 had some pretty cool animation moments that i really noticed. movie1 wasnt like Awful but movie2 was the one where i perked up like "oh, that animation looked cool", you know? also i really liked the models they made for team rwby. the stylization felt nicely balanced to me?...if that makes sense. i hope we can see more models like them in the future just for me. idc who uses them but its my christmas wish RT please

final evaluation: better than DC/RWBY the comic. here is my favorite screenshot

so true girls<3

*wonder woman could fix everything i know this about her

[sadisthetic]

end of the year fic asks! give us a behind-the-scenes look at "for want (for nothing)"; why did you include a scene, when and where did you figure out that one tricky sentence, which part wrote itself, things like that!

thats a fucking thing? well lucky for YOU i LOVE talking about my own writing and that fic DEFINITELY has quite a few "bts" things i could talk about lmao

first thing to start off with is that i actually rewatched and studied that corruption scene in canon quite a bit while i wrote this. i needed the refresher and Man did i realize i forgotten a bunch of major plot points (most of which werent actually relevant to the fic) lol. but anyways the structure of my fic is pretty strongly based on its canon counterpart and theres a lot of little things i took inspiration from and just injected more flavor to it. like kai uses lightning a lot??? which make sense production wise bc thats like. probably easiest element to show off and make it look cool. so yay! excuse to use my jay bias and favor using his powers lol

in general that fic was a means for me to write a character study for kais character which i love a lot. he is my second fav blorbo. i have a huge weakness for older siblings in media. and kais shift in character is so interesting even if it was never done with conscious intention. ninjago Definitely uses every single one of their characters as pawns to advance the plot of whatever rather than you know. treating them like characters who are people. so theyre inconsistent with or contradicting themselves. characters are used however the writers seem fit with the situation at hand. i think the corruption scene is a fair example of it. kai was over it right? the whole green ninja thing? and yet. anyways my fic was an attempt at reframing and adding context and depth to kais character bc man did think about these fucking legos a lot for some goddamn reason when its a bad show!!! maybe some of yall will hate me for saying it. but man. ninjago sucks more often or not. not Entirely BUT A LOT OF IT IS NOT OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY.

and that sorta gives me an awkward segue into lloyd. haha. you know the line "A brat who had everything handed to him by destiny. It wasn’t because he deserved it. It was simply because he was born special."? well. it makes sense in the context of the fic that kai feels this way bc thats the natural conclusion the fic flowed into. But Also. i wont lie. that is my own genuine thoughts about lloyds development as a character. lloyds writing fucking BLOOOOOWSSS. and none of it is his fault. its the writers fault. but MAN its the LAZIEST DESTINED HERO/LEADERSHIP CHARACTER ARC I EVER SEEN. IT COULDVE BEEN INTERESTING. but no it was too simple too forced too Cheap. too shallow. its like they picked his little minifig and decided he Must be the prophesied hero no matter what :) and they forced his little lego feets into the studs of Destiny above everyone else and made it happen in the easiest way possible. by simply declaring it. forcing him into the role unnaturally. and because hes the Chosen One that means hes very very very important right? so NATURALLY hes the leader also! HELLO HES A FUCKING BABY??? NO SENIORITY?? any leadership skills he gained is because he was Forced to develop them, not because hes a natural leader. i could talk shit about his treatment all day but all in all i hate the flagrant favoritism the show gives lloyd when its meant to be a show with a team dynamic. i dont hate lloyd but i sure do hate the way his character "developed". this fucking baby was fed too many rare candies and some evolutionary stone on top of it. hes not the best he could be as a character because none of it naturally happened. no care put into developing his characters. i could accept lloyd being the green ninja or being a leader. if it were written well at least. ANYWAYS. kai is a subtle projection of me. or closer, a messenger. he was corrupted by me in way considering i was the writer lol. but it works because theres a bit of truth in there isnt there?

also that fic also happen bc i wanted to writer fun elemental power stuff along with fucked corruption. i love fantasy power things. and i LOVE rancid rotting feelings

[alternis]

the au where shiva is Tim's mother has taken over my brain to a worrying extent.

a lot of my dc comics knowledge is still very superficial but I like canonverse despite all its flaws. unfortunately, or fortunately, retcons means I have to make a lot of shit up anyway.

okay, so, au thoughts/summary:

she and Richard Dragon meet whilst training under O-sensei in her early years as Shiva, and have a torrid rivals-to-lovers thing. shiva doesn't realise she's pregnant again until after they've both gone their own ways

there's no dad to take in this one and she has no interest in raising a child herself. but she's curious if, without ever having reason to struggle, this child of two genius fighters would still develop a warriors spirit or inherit her abilities

she picks the Drakes bc they're rich, seem harmless, and also Drake has a similar meaning to Dragon which she finds funny.

She checks on the family occasionally, but its just a "not dead yet" check until Tim suddenly becomes interested in karate and other martial arts (after he realises who batman and robin are). she shows up in the audience of some of his karate competitions but he's definitely Nothing Special, so she peaces out again

until she meets Robin in Paris whilst trying to track down King Snake and recognises his body language. now he's got her attention!

she realises whilst training him that behind his restrained veneer is a future supervillain just waiting for an excuse to go Fucking Batshit. this pleases Lady Shiva and is why she becomes invested in trying to make him snap. he's wasting his potential and running away from what would make him most fulfilled, she is simply being a good mother and encouraging him to be his best self

when he refuses to kill king snake she says some cryptic shit about being like his "real father" which is the first hint Tim has that he's adopted.

but to be the Good Robin and not follow Jason's mistakes, he decides not to delve into that and potentially trigger Bruce into a meltdown. he confirms with Bruce that he was adopted (and Bruce knew about it) since his dad is still comatose, and swears that he isn't interested in his biological parents and won't look into them.

despite being tempted several times, he actually keeps to his word on that

until after his Bad Time where he: lost steph, his dad, and kon; Bart isn't dead yet but is aged up into adulthood; cass has vanished after confronting Shiva; his stepmother, fake uncle and home were all lost when bludhaven got destroyed

in the comics this is when Tim, Bruce and Dick go on a cruise retracing batmans original training journey which was supposed to help heal all their trauma and reset their character arcs (and then Tim comes back and starts trying to clone Kon in a secret basement under titans tower)

here, Tim decides to track down Shiva using the excuse of looking for Cass.

okay here is where my thoughts start splintering out of order so

tim absolutely is Not a genius prodigy martial artist. like he's good in a fight, but that's bc he does a lot of training and is willing to get inventive/creative. his parents being martial artists doesn't mean he inherits Punching Good. he's small and prefers to focus on other skills than fighting, so in a fair fight he'll never match up to people who focus on martial arts.

though on the flipside i can see Shiva viewing his detective's intuition/ability to read a scene for clues as an evolution of her ability to read and manipulate body language, but focused on the world around him rather than an opponent.

idk how to work it in but adoption would for sure complicate Tim and Jack's relationship. Tim can use it to divert suspicion from Robin activities by turning it around on his dad and revealing he figured out the adoption whilst his dad was in a coma, but that only works once.

tim and his dad don't actually sort out their feelings until after tim is forced to quit Robin, with Tim admitting he could have looked up his biological parents with his Robin training and contacts, but the same way his parents 'chose him' to adopt, he also chose to think of Janet and Jack, (and later Jack and Dana), as his Real Parents.

tim is the kind of hypocrite to say that people's parents don't define them whilst also absolutely judging people based on their parents/upbringing. discovering his birth father is some kind of wandering adventurer/vigilante/martial arts teacher? cool! discovering his birth mother is the villainous hitman who keeps trying to convince him to kill people, and wants to fight to the death for Glorious Combat? not cool!

he is Aware that he told kon that having luthors dna didn't define him, but now is worrying that shiva's dna Does change who he is fundamentally. this doesn't make him stop judging himself, it just makes him feel bad about doing so.

he's also aware that worrying about shiva's influence on his dna doesn't make sense bc it doesn't change his opinion on cass being Very Cool and morally upstanding. turns out being aware of your emotional baggage/distorted thinking doesnt fix your problems.

he's already met future evil batman Tim. realising he has a ~killer in his bloodline~ gives him another existential panic about whether he's destined to kill people regardless of how he feels right now.

he doesn't call Shiva his mom/mother. its first names only, although if relevant he'll call her his "biological mother" or "the woman who gave birth to me"

he also is absolutely the sort of person to distinguish between siblings and half-siblings, and after the reveal refers to cass as his half-sister rather than sister, which I can see her disliking and causing friction between them

I think if he does get to meet Richard Dragon it would be bc Dragon trained oracle on how to fight. he seeks out Dragon via Babs with the excuse of wanting to learn from him, whilst really assessing what Dragon is like as a person and whether he wants to admit their relationship (he doesn't realise that this is effectively an inverse of how he and Shiva first met, but I the author like the parallel here)

also this au gives me a perfect opportunity to avoid the evil cass storyline. I think it would be funny for Tim to end up temporarily leading the league of assassins instead of her, but try and make the league stop doing murders bc he isn't being drugged by deathstroke. I mean he already knew somebody who inherited a cult and tried to make them stop doing evil.

this is where I start getting too many contradictory ideas and have to stop typing. I want to read cass's batgirl run and every Shiva appearance in dc, and also eat a cesna light aircraft

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Aah interesting that Riwoo reminds you of Jimin. I've heard Riwoo has the most recognizable voice in the group,,, is that why you think he reminds you of Jimin? Curious truly.

***

Yeah his vocals are something special, but I meant more in their overall energy. It's really not fair to compare them this way, because they're both their own people, but speaking very crudely to explain what I mean (this is going to sound weird), Riwoo's energy to me seems like an almost identical replica of Jimin's but of much lower intensity. A bit like a very faint shadow of Jimin. I don't know how to explain what I mean, I can only show it.

So, to illustrate, recently I was watching a random vlog to get a better feel of the group (the way I do for most debuts), and saw Riwoo here reminded me of a very specific Jimin.

For Riwoo, it's their LA Vlog, see timestamp: 12:00 - 13:05

*

And for Jimin, it's in BTS's 2017 AMAs Vlog, timestamp: 3:20 - 4:25

See, Jimin just drips sass. He can't help it. I keep telling y'all who fret in my inbox about this or that... Jimin knows what he is. I suspect it overwhelms and maybe scares him sometimes, but Jimin ultimately knows what he's capable of and that smugness comes through. It's only natural. It shows up in his speech, eases its way into his mannerisms, he knows he's the shit. That feeling is something that I always get in distilled clarity every time I come across this clip of jikook at the AMAs.

I caught a whiff of that from Riwoo, and in general the way he speaks can be quite sardonic. Which I love. But like I said when I first talked about them, it's still early days. And just as I'm doing for NewJeans, just as I did for BTS, I'm only just watching at first. I don't know any of the members in any real sense, I'm just paying attention to what they put out for now, and reaching out to people in their fanbases to learn more.

[fujianvenator]

what are your scp recs? =o i've read some but not all that many overall

SORRY LATE REPLY COZ i had 2 get 2my pc HELP BUT !! Youhave unlocked the floodgates.

087 - the stairwell

an oldie but a goodie! absolute fucking classic, as evidenced by the whopping 3000 updoots. its really like. one of the Hallmarks of the strengths of early scp, aka a simple concept executed VERY EFFECTIVELY. its a staircase! its infinite! you can hear the sound of a crying child in it that always seems to be out of reach! its dark as shit! there is a disembodied floating humanoid face in it. the fourth expedition is fucking Gone despite being the one that ceased all entrance to the stairwell! i love the shit out of this stupid fucking staircase theres a reason it spawned so many games in Ye Olden Babys First Unity Project Days

3333 - tower

*thafnine voice* were time skipping now oh my! i feel this is like, an Inverse 087. instead of going down an infinite staircase u go up an infinite tower! fun! and remember that redacted expedition IV from 087? its not redacted here :) warning for body horror for this one

4975 - times up

despite being from series V this one has a very very old school vibe to it. simple concept executed effectively as opposed to the fucking novel length skips that litter the later series. fair warning for this one if u have issues with unreality MUTE THE TAB. TURN DOWN YOUR VOLUME. no jumpscares but its still a pretty mean trick 😭

lilys 001 proposal - the worlds gone beautiful

short, poignant, beautiful. ykno all those tumblr poetry posts talking abt how no matter how temporary our time is on this earth its still special? it means something? Yea . reading this as a 15 yr old made me understand that somehow

4182 - there is no site 5

whew. unlike a lot of earlier scps the blacked out data in this one Isnt overused in an annoying way. its a Puzzle. what happened to site 5? why are there so many revisions to the article? what is the foundation hiding under all those redactions? hehe.

5140 - EVEREST

another short n effective one ! im not phased by much unless it literally triggers my menthol ewwness but this ones . super fucking creepy to me honestly idk why LOL. hinges on making U ! da reader. quetion whether whats happening in those logs is real or if the explorers are just Losing Their Fucking Minds from oxygen deprivation. i do wonder !

2718 - what happens after

I. HATE. THIS . SCP. that means i love it LOL. i rank horror Goodness by how badly it makes me want to crawl out of my skin like a molting insect! forreal do not read this if u have unreality issues its so bad 😭😭😭😭😭 but i love it! its such a good concept. i hate it. its awful. its stuck in my mind forever. its so effective. If i liked this scp i dont because i did. No i didnt

5999 - this is where i died

YAAAY THIS ONES THE URL OF MY SCP SIDEBLOG!! i like it less now than i did when it first dropped (i was so up to date on this shit LOL i was there when nobody knew what it was abt and the forums was people trying to decode it) and the ending. is fuckin doodoo caca bullshit LOL its such a copout. dont even bother with the last chapter its literally nothing and it only serves to connect it to another scp when the preceeding stuff was already flavorful n interesting on its own 😭😭 warning for gore and body horror

4400 - this is not a place of honor

better enjoyed with the context of longterm nuclear waste warning messages! i actually have a unique experience with this post detailed Here due to my Shitfuck No Good Eyesight where i misread the title as "this is not a place of horror” which fundamentally changed my mindset going into it! i dont wanna spoil much but the last line of the last addendum is so fucking metal it rules LOL

[scrunkore]

Scunkore Media "Thread" 2023: Part 4

welcome back to the scrunko core

38) Miitopia (Switch, 2021)

Mii games are a dying breed, and honestly I'm not sure why they put this game on Switch when they did, but that's whatever really. It definitely has its fair share of improvements from the 3DS original, with a bit more content and an absolutely fantastic custom makeup tool that lets you make every Mii that much more unique, being put to great use by a whole bunch of creators. The game itself, though... it's still not anything special aside from that, and also its cute story bits and Mii interactions, but those get old well before you actually finish the game. And the game takes a while to get through, too, feeling very repetitive and grindy even while you constantly make progress. Basically, the game does some fun things, but it's not nearly enough to make the whole experience remain interesting throughout. It's just painfully average as an actual game, and I'd really rather have a new Tomodachi Life game, but that seems unlikely at this point. [2.5★]

39) The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Movie, 2023)

I'll never get over the reaction to the casting announcement for this movie, that was the funniest shit to come from that one Nintendo Direct presentation and unfortunately it might be more memorable than the actual movie itself. Chris Pratt Mario is the least of its issues (actually the voice acting is fine) - the plot and indeed most of the characters are pretty half-baked and it feels like they rushed the story through basic plot points between various action pieces, but at the very least that does mean it's never boring. Trouble is, that does mean I can't say the movie is good, despite the really nice-looking visuals and great soundtrack (when it's not using corporate-mandated licensed songs), both clearly made with a lot of love for the series. Sure, it was an entertaining movie, with some fun elements like Jack Black Bowser banging out the tunes, but realistically I think it's pretty average when I'm not giggling at the references - the critics were in fact correct, who knew. Still, does give me some hope for future Nintendo movies, because it was well-made. [3★]

40) The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch, 2023)

Breath of the Wild, one of the biggest and most popular games Nintendo has ever put out, finally got its sequel, and it somehow makes that game look like a demo. Everything new that they added results in Tears of the Kingdom blowing Breath of the Wild out of the water - the world map is about three times the size due to the added cave systems and whole new areas above and below Hyrule, the abilities Link gets to use are so much more complex and fun to use (especially the building mechanics), the enemies/bosses and side quests are more interesting, the list really does go on. It even has an excellent story that, while still unfortunately leaning back into "rescue the princess", delivers a really enjoyable narrative only marred by the fact that you can kind of ruin it by viewing it outside of the intended order, but I guess for an open-world game that's fine. I held off on writing this bit because I didn't really know what to say other than "game good", and now I don't want it to go on too long because I'll start rambling. The game is just really fucking good, man. Sometimes things in it are annoying, but I say that about every game, including Breath of the Wild - it may not be a particularly interesting opinion, but I think this game has just about perfected what it wants to be, and I have no idea what the Zelda team is going to do next. [5★]

41) Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast/PC, 1999/2011)

Next time someone tries to tell me that Sonic "had a rough transition to 3D" and it's clear they're talking about this game specifically, I think I might push them out of the nearest window, because that lie has gone on for far too long, though admittedly the ports of this thing have a couple unique issues and that's kinda why I modded the Steam port to be more in line with the Dreamcast version. But regardless, yes, this game is really good fun. It's a pretty unique 3D platformer with an excellent hub world and several different gameplay styles that each offer something fresh - from speeding through levels to fishing for a kind of annoying frog, I do rather like them all to varying degrees. The general vibes of the game as a whole (mainly down to the locales but also things like the incredible music) are pretty cool too, and the solidly enjoyable story - especially the parts with Gamma - is told in cutscenes that may look a bit awkward now but still have a lot of charm to them. Everything culminates in the classic final fight against Chaos, and that will always be really cool despite the actual gameplay of that fight being a bit of a pain. If you haven't played a "good" 3D Sonic game, open your heart up to this one - but do grab the mod loader if you're playing the Steam release. [4★]

42) Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast/PC, 2001/2012)

The sequel to Sonic Adventure is kind of a few steps forward and a few steps back, and production-wise we know it was a bit rushed, which does explain some issues, but thankfully the subsequent ports ended up having less issues than the prior game's. Adventure 2 takes a hit in not having a cool hub world to explore and instead opting for typical menus separating the two routes that include most of the different level types introduced in the first game, and one of those level types (the emerald hunts) is designed so much worse this time around for god knows what reason. In fact, the game can be a bit more annoying to play in a lot of areas, although plenty of the time it's just because it's deliberately more challenging and not actual bad design. But it makes up for anything that might be worse than in the first game by having even cooler presentation, with a stronger storyline featuring everyone's favourite grumpy hedgehog Shadow and better cutscenes, more banger music, and going right up into space for the supersonic finale. So generally it's both better and worse than the first game, but hey, you live and learn. [4★]

43) Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit (PC, 2022)

With the upcoming Sonic Superstars set to feature Fang for the first time since the original Triple Trouple, now's as good a time as any to check out the stellar fan remake that turns it into an awesome 16-bit style game mechanically rather similar to Sonic 3, like the more traditional Sonic 4 that we never got. It's a lovingly crafted game that perfectly re-imagines the zones from the original with much cleaner graphics and refreshed music accurate to the hardware it's trying to replicate, and more spectacular setpieces that give it a whole new burst of character, plus it's full of its own fun original gimmicks and surprises too. A full run of the game getting all Chaos Emeralds and defeating the incredibly cool true final boss won't take you very long, but if you're a fan of the classic games you're bound to enjoy the ride and want to replay it with the unlockable characters too. Definitely a really cool fangame that's worth checking out. [4.5★]

44) Pokémon Infinite Fusion V5.X (PC, 2022)

It's the Pokémon fangame that got all the content creators posting YouTube shorts of the funny things they made in it, and of course, it's easy to see why a game with a fusion gimmick would have so much mass appeal - it's a massive undertaking from the people working on the thousands of different sprites required, and the idea of fusing Pokémon together has been popular for over a decade at this point. And that's a gimmick that the game handles really well, every battle presents you with some new cute combination or hybrid abomination and you never know what's coming up next, plus you'll always be mixing and matching with your own stuff to see what happens and if you can make something completely overpowered (I recommend Shedinja + Absol for maximum cheese). Though, I'm not that big on the core adventure itself, because it's just Kanto again with some Johto and the Sevii Islands tacked onto it, along with more Pokémon of course, and the new story elements are just kind of whatever unfortunately. It's also an RPG Maker game, so there's some jank to be seen, but I'm used to that considering the other things I've played. So all in all, it's hard carried by the fusion mechanic, but at least it manages to nail that, and it's still being updated constantly with new sprites to check out. [3.5★]

45) Puzzle Bobble Everybubble! (Switch, 2023)

I don't feel much for this game, so I'll keep it short. I've only really dabbled in Puzzle Bobble once or twice, and so I figured I'd give this one a whirl, but it wasn't that good all things considered. Sure, it gets the core gameplay right, as it should, and the online multiplayer works pretty well, but what I found pretty annoying was the story mode - a lot of the levels are just stupid and a pain in the ass, at least for me, so maybe I'm not a hardcore Bobble-head after all. The characters are rather annoying too, but maybe that's just in this entry, who knows? If there are better iterations of this series then I'd be down to play those as well, I just didn't like this one that much outside of dicking around with non-story mode content, which was decent enough. [2.5★]

46) Nimona (Movie, 2023)

The once-cancelled Blue Sky adaptation of a comic from ND Stevenson, showrunner of that very queer She-Ra series, actually got rescued by Annapurna and actually came out this year, and boy am I glad it did, not least because of how poorly animation tends to get treated by so many of the large corporations. The movie is an incredibly fun and deeply heartfelt story of people society was all too keen to paint as monsters because of an authoritarian regime, and it's definitely pretty clear about its messages in a way that pretty much anyone can understand. It's also quite well-animated and put together really nicely, and although I have heard that it goes for a more family-friendly angle than the original comic did, it still manages to get everything across effectively and hit the right emotional beats, and it uses its runtime as well as one could expect from it. Also, I gotta say, this one's also very queer - the two most important male characters in the story are gay and get to kiss on-screen which is awesome, and I definitely get gender vibes from the titular Nimona, the awesome transforming girl who gets the most action in the movie. Maybe it's a good thing someone other than Disney released it, because I'm not sure how keen they are about gay people and anti-establishment messaging (this isn't even really a joke unfortunately). But anyway, this movie was awesome, and I hope we do see more projects like it. [4.5★]

47) Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Switch, 2023)

Ghost Trick has always been one of those really cool and unique DS puzzle games that people have been demanding everyone play for years, and in this case it's easy to see why that's all they were saying about it (in a good way). The story of this game is frankly too good to spoil, with some pretty great twists and turns that it takes, and I highly doubt anyone will be able to predict quite how it ends because that truly blindsided me and I loved it. The excellent cast of characters kind of helped with that too, especially the best boy of all time Missile; it's just very well-written as a whole. Now in terms of gameplay it's no slouch either, delivering some honestly genius puzzles revolving around setting up Rube Goldberg-esque series of movements with various objects that you, a ghost, can take control to prevent people from dying. Some of these puzzles are real head-scratchers, but I think anyone can get through them with enough trial and error, and it is immensely satisfying when you do, so it's a damn good puzzle game. Also worth mentioning, though it goes without saying if you've seen the game before, is that it has a really slick visual style with character designs that pop, and an excellent soundtrack that is very much welcome. Genuinely an incredible game, and I think they should let Shu Takumi do more original projects if this is what he can cook up. [5★]

48-49) Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack (Switch, 2017)

Had to check out some of Inti Creates' flagship titles when I saw they were doing a Love Live game in a similar style, and yeah, this is a fun type of game that feels inspired by certain Mega Man spinoffs. Both games in this pack have cool run-and-gun gameplay where you can "tag" enemies do deal more damage to them, and of course you kind of have to balance that with avoiding taking damage yourself. Not a problem in the levels themselves, but taking on bosses is where it can get super tricky, especially towards the end of the first game which is just way harder than the rest for some reason (so the first game does seem to require grinding for levels and equipment). So the core gamplay is something I quite like, but I'm not a fan of how it often presents the story as text boxes appearing during the action where you're not going to be paying attention to them because you're busy, and honestly I don't much care for the story and characters anyway (and honestly why are there so many little girls in these games, they even turn characters into them in the second one). I do also enjoy the little gimmick of having straight-up idol music playing at certain times when you're powered up, and the music is just kinda good in general, so there is that. Decently fun games overall, there's not that much left to say about them. [3.5★]

Finally, I'm done catching up on this, future entries will just have their own posts. Hope you enjoy these poorly-made stream-of-consciousness mini-reviews!

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Things I have learned to do and Not Do to live a happier life

I acknowledge that Life has challenges and ups and downs no matter what: Being positive doesn’t mean you think that bad things will happen in your life.  It means that you know that they will, you take steps to avoid them, when you do have them you know that they will pass and let yourself feel the feelings without wallowing for long periods of time.  Bad things happen.  You will be fired from a job, someone you love will die, you will over draft your bank account.  It happens. 

I don’t take on peoples struggles as my own: This is a hard one because a lot of times people see this as not caring. I do care. I care alot. Sometimes I have cared too much and got dragged into bad situations. I am there to support and help my friends but if they are having mental health problems, have suicidal thoughts or other dark thoughts, I am doing us both a disservice by not getting them the professional support that they need.  I am not a therapist and I am not qualified to help the people that I love in that way.  But I will help them find the resources that they need.  That is the kindest thing I can do for both of us. 

I Have physical Hobbies: Making things with your own two hands is so underrated.  I make physical things.  I write on physical paper.  There is a special part of your brain that triggers the effort-driven rewards center in humans.  This means we get chemical satisfaction from making. 

I am not close friends with people I work with: This is something that I meant the hard way.  It can create a lot of cliques at work which always seem to turn out wrong and create animosity when people move on.  I’m civil and kind and once in a while we will hang out but I do set boundaries with the people that I work with. 

I use my interests to build community: Community can be hard! I use my hobbies and craft fairs to meet other people and build a supportive community of people who have simpler passions- not even always the same.  The maker community is great for this because it tends to be people with not exactly the same exact interests but with an abundance of passion for what they do.  Even if it's not the same exact thing, we always find common ground and feel each other's enthusiastic energy. 

I don’t make myself “not have’ Social media- Instead, I curate it: Look, we can unring the bell.  Social media is out there and it is our job to make it work for us.  Even if you can personally if you have a business you need to know how to use social media. I follow things that make me happy and invigorate me- dogs, pottery, fashion, goofy ocean videos, books.  My social media ALWAYS makes me happy because I have designed it that way.   

I journal every day:  At the beginning of the day I make a list of five things, experiences, or feelings I’m grateful for.  This means even when shit it’s the fan or gets hard, I already have those five good things in the back of my mind so I’m not in an overwhelming state of ‘this sucks’. 

I keep a planner:  People who feel rushed or forget things are going on tend to have a really hard time- just something I’ve noticed.  I keep a planner because I like knowing exactly whats going on so I can fir in other things or plan them for latter.  No one feels good when they have forgotten something or feel rushed or late. 

I go out and do things that have nothing to do with work:  When we’re young, we have a built-in system for the most part, to try new things.  As an adult we have to go an look.  You’re job is not your hobby…you rely on it which means there is pressure.  Find things that don’t make you feel pressure.

I touch trees/ grass whatever:  We are part of nature.  We need to be outside whenever we can (And its safe.).

I set firm hard boundaries and accept when people don’t fit into my life: Not everyone is going to like you or your boundaries and honestly, some people think that you are there to take care of them.  Unless you birthed them…you aren’t.  I set boundaries with people, because I have been built by this behavior before and would constantly be trying.  I have NEVER had this go well.  If people repeatedly cross boundaries and you communicate to them, they typically don’t stop. 

I let friendships flow and ebb:  Not everything is meant to last forever and that doesn’t mean its bad or that its any less important in your life.  This applies to jobs, homes and yes even people.  It doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you or them. Some things last forever, some only last for a season and thats perfectly fine.

I don’t fight to feel younger or older:  I have stopped dying my grey hair.  I have stopped trying to fit into being ‘an adult’ and liking only adult things.  I will not let go of my weird obsession with bugs or anything else.  I embrace my aches and the fact that I will never run as fast as I did when I was 27.  That’s fine. 

I Prioritize eating and sleeping right:  I love eating right and getting my full 8 hours of sleep and am useless without it.  I make sure that this is one of my hard and fast boundaries not only because of my autoimmune disorder but my age and what I know I can handle.  I don’t fall into the insomnia camp unless I’ve already had a lovely long nap that day and I know it.  I make sure that I plan around this, go out to breakfast instead of dinner (Totally fun and totally cheaper) and make sure my friends know I want to be home by 9.   

I exercise every day- even if it's just going for a walk or doing 10 minutes of yoga:  I recently started doing yoga every day along with my normal workouts- just a nice ten-minute slow flow to reset.  It's really life-changing and makes me more aware of what my body needs and wants. 

I mind my manners: Even if I don't like a person, even if my boundaries have been repeatedly crossed, even if I'm attacked for no reason, I don't bite back. I am civil and nice and go my own way. It makes me feel so much better about situations that I don't have control over, which in adult life is a lot of them. You can't control how other people behave, but you can control how YOU behave, and in the end, that leaves you free.