daria-trubnikova

[ak-the-valkyrie]

I'm making a timeline for Modern Warfare II for a fic I'm writing and I discovered something with Kill or Capture, Wetwork and Tradecraft's timelines.

Kill or Capture starts on 28th October 01:30, according to the game

Wetwork starts on 28th October 06:00

That is a 4 hour and 30 minute difference. However, at the beginning of Wetwork, Laswell says she'll be in Amsterdam in "less than an hour". But a flight from Washington DC (where I'm 99% sure Laswell was during Kill or Capture) to Amsterdam takes almost 8 hours (7 hours, 40 minutes).

Even if Laswell left DC the second Kill or Capture started, she wouldn't be in Amsterdam until at least 09:10.

So Wetwork should take place on 29th October at 06:00, right? But it doesn't.

At the end of Wetwork, the message on the phone says there is a meeting at Café Gracht at 08:00 and according to Gaz's watch it is 07:00 when Wetwork ends. So it is supposedly an hour between Wetwork and Tradecraft.

However, if you go to Tradecraft the timestamp says 29th October 08:00.

So 25 hours after Wetwork is supposed to take place, Tradecraft takes place. Even though it is only supposed to be an hour's difference.

WTF is going on?

Edit: I forgot about time zones, but even with that adjustment, it doesn't fit

[foone]

AAA games? Pfft. Indie games? Double pfft.

I only play games from the alternate history where Hillary Clinton was elected in 2008 and banned all video games. You can only imagine how weird their underground gaming scene is. People like to call unlicensed games "bootlegs" but they've got actual bootlegged games! I've played games about helping your grandmother in hospice care realize she's a lesbian by reading Sappho to her, at 2am in a speakeasy in Baltimore. The cops raided it the next night, hundreds of Gamers were arrested. They posted pictures all over Friendster of the Baltimore PD destroying the arcades with axes.

I nearly got busted once because I was imaging old disks from a 386 and someone tipped off the gaming cops that there was a copy of Commander Keen in there. I had to prove that I didn't know it, I was imaging the disks blind and then indexing them later, and I would of course turn over any contraband to the proper authorities.

I was already on a watch list because I'd been known to have some gamedev-related activities pre-ban. They can't arrest me for making games back in 2007 when it was still legal, but they do want to keep an eye on me since I have the skills to break the law.

Anyway that universe's bootlegs are mainly PC games. Can't really have console games if there hasn't been a console release since the Wii/PS3/360 era. At one point Nintendo threatened to release the Wii SDK so game devs in the US could make unlicensed games, but that didn't happen as there were quickly no functional Wiis left in the US, except for very rare holdouts that never move. PC games are easy to distribute samizdat and hide on a USB stick or CD-R labeled "nickelback".

Japan's games industry is still going, so the later Nintendo and Sony consoles still exist, but Microsoft got out of the business of course. They sold the franchise to Sega who were hoping to release the 360 successor (the Xbox One in our universe) as the Sega Phoenix but it never materialized, either through their own financial incompetence or because of pressure from the US. There's a lot of international treaties that the US has pushed "and this aid only goes through if you ban games" clauses into. That would have been an official UN resolution if the USSR hadn't vetoed it. For once, thank God for the security council, eh?

I mainly get my gaming news through Japanese gaming sites (through a set of VPNs, since they're blocked at the border firewall), and some tor onion site run by a weird guy in Minnesota who is obsessed with documenting all the underground US games.

There's a lot being worked on, but it's always a tricky trade off. Too much attention and the police might be able to track down the creators, and it's basically impossible to fund underground games, as the VISA/PayPal etc funds get seized immediately. There's a whole task force for that.

Anyway one of the weirdest differences between our two time lines is that they've gone back and edited out gaming from a bunch of movies. Those that they can, of course. War games was just banned because they couldn't remove the tic tac toe ending. The Net just removed the scene at the beginning where she's playing Wolfenstein 3D, by recording some new screen footage and a new voice over. She's fixing a spreadsheet in the new edition.

(Yes, I've seen The Net from this alternate timeline. On Laserdisc, of course. I'm just that kind of person!)

They even edited Star Wars. You know that scene where R2-D2 is playing holochess with Chewie? They edited it to be a board game instead of holograms, because that made it too "video gamey".

Technically it's not illegal to show gaming in a movie, but it needs to be an 18+ film and you have to show the deleterious effects of gaming and/or the gamesters coming to a bad end.

This has affected films less than you'd think, to be honest. They were never great about showing video games even before they banned them.

Anyway, go have fun playing your AAA games with hundred-million-dollar budgets. I only play indie games made by people under a constant threat of arrest for their art.

[when-life-gives-you-lemons-if]

I enjoyed writing book 1, I love those characters and I know I will enjoy writing book 2 as well. This book was my first self-published game and I take pride in that even though it didn't do too well financially in comparison to the games I publish with Hosted Games. 😅

Could you talk a bit about your experience and the difference between publishing with Hosted Games vs self-publishing? Like the pros and cons? I feel like you're one of the few writers on here who has experience of both, knows the numbers behind the scenes, etc.

Oh, this is going to be a long one, but I’ll do pros and cons to make it easy. Please keep in mind that this is my personal experience, and it might not be the same for every author.

Pros of self-publishing.

You get the full cut of your sales: as some of you may know Hosted games takes 75% of the sales of your game, and you get 25% (this amount is after the platforms takes their cuts, Apple cuts is 30%, Steam cut is 30% and Goggle cut is 30% however, if you are a small indie Dev, Apple and Google cut go down to only 15% which is great.

No content revisions, no content restrictions: Hosted games sometimes will ask you to change the title of your game or change some content, when you self-publish you only have to follow the platform rules, and make sure to answer the appropriate questions for the platforms to properly rate your games. Depending on content, Steam will block your game for certain country, also Adult-only content gets less views since people need to sign in to see them. So, keep that in mind.

No queues: Hosted games once you submit the game to them, they put you in a queue and they decide when the game will be published, with self-publishing as soon as the platforms give you the green light, you’re ready to publish and sell your game.

You can do Steam-key giveaway: You have access to the game dashboard so you can request keys from Steams and do giveaway.

Cons of self-publishing.

Less reach. If you’re a small author like me, your game will not sell much because you’re doing your own advertising. Small authors = small following and fewer eyes on your game for people to buy it.

You need to pay for the platform fees: Google is $25 one-time payment. Steam is $100 for each game you put on their platform. And Apple is a $99 yearly subscription, so if you don’t keep paying that $99 your game will be removed from the platform, which is a pity because the release month is the only major sale you get, after that, your revenue falls to $100-60 every month which is the case for me.

You’re doing all the leg work yourself: There’s going to be a lot of watching YouTube videos to find out how to upload your games to Steam, and Google. Apple uses something called X-code and I had to buy a MacBook to recode the game in X-code in order to publish with them. Being a small indie Dev, your game might be rejected for the silliest reason such as you forgot to click yes or no on a questionnaire somewhere. Testing, bug reports, and complaints, they all go to you because you are the dev. Unless you have a team helping you, get reading to make time to fix every little issue because the platform will not fix them for you.

Remaining anonymous might be an issue: Apples need your real name in order to publish with them unless you have an LLC, your anonymity is out the door. Google requires your country and home address.

Pros of publishing with Hosted games.

More reach, more views, more sales: They are the go-to for those types of games and they have an established clientele so your game will reach more people.

They do the work for you: You don’t have to deal with the platform fees, rejections, uploading, bug reports, they do it all.

You can be fully anonymous: Although, you’ll have to disclose your legal name to them for tax purpose and money transfer.

Cons of publishing with Hosted games. (Those cons won’t apply for everyone)

I think the biggest cons is that 75% 🤣 but hey, what are you gonna do?

Changing content and name of your game.

Long queue.

No direct access to your game info, if you need anything you need to ask.

Other: People will pirate you game whether is you doing it alone or you publish with Hosted Games. Get ready to cry in a corner like I did.

Take away, I’m still planning on self-publishing and publishing with Hosted games.  At the end of the day, do what you think is best for you.

Number comparison: To give you an idea of the numbers:

Self-publish numbers Sold overall on all 3 platforms Goggle, Apple Steam.

Around 1,500 copies

Hosted Games copies Sold overall on all 3 platforms Goggle, Apple Steam.

Around 6,500 copies.

I’m working on a how-to self-publish guide, for all 3 platforms so I’ll post that when ready. 💕

[physicsfox7]

So, I have to brag just a bit. As previously mentioned, I haven't ever been great at fighting games. Moreover, I was a notorious button masher.

But with the release of my beloved Elphelt on Strive, I am here to stay. I've been playing since about mid-December, and I am a slow learner as it is.

In the beginning, with my friends patented school, I learned a lot in a short amount of time. Then I practiced on my own, ran the arcade mode, and worked on tower. I of course grabbed fights with friends when I could. But about 5 weeks ago, I hit what felt like a plateau. Admittedly, getting my ass handed to me constantly was very disheartening as well. And I still wasn't very good.

I stepped away from it for a couple of weeks, proceeded to lose whatever edge I had developed, and lost interest. I bought Bridget in an attempt to reawaken the fighting spirit, and spent a very lovely afternoon fighting her computer on very hard. Then I stopped and didn't pick it up.

When they dropped A.B.A on Tuesday, I was very excited. I thought a new character to try out would help, and everyone else would be trying her as well, so I might have a chance to win a little bit while they learn the new controls.

With the new patch, suddenly I couldn't boot the game. I spent over a day trying to figure it out. I tried everything from verifying files to reinstalling to getting third party software. Nothing worked, I just couldn't get on the network. I missed out on pre practice, I missed out on hours of playing with friends. Finally, working with everyone, we figured out the problem. One stupid, simple fix (disabling my antivirus software, yes I know I'm an idiot) and it booted first try.

By the time I joined the lobby, I was shaking from being hungry and angry and frustrated. Everyone else was warmed up, and I was cold for three weeks. I sorta kinda held my own, got my ass kicked again and again, but it didnt feel oppressive. Instead, it was invigorating. Some of the techniques and combos I had practiced worked, and I even got complimented.

Then tonight, we had another Strive lobby night. And something clicked. I was playing. I didn't win every match, but I didn't lose every match either. I stood my ground against players far better than me. I won multiple rounds in a row, and most importantly learned a few new techniques and ideas. I implemented on the fly. Tonight felt good.

We had a random come into the lobby, who is high level with all characters, and coaches. They run tourneys, and was top 100 with a couple of their mains. I warned them before our match that I wouldn't stand a chance, but like everyone in this community, they were more interested in playing and helping than beating me down. I managed to take them down below half health in a couple matches.

After stream, I went back and watched some older videos of my gameplay, then some from last night and tonight and the level of improvement I've made is astounding.

I react faster, my combos are cleaner, there's less wasted space/time/movement, and I'm starting to feel which move is the right defense, allowing me to be proactive in defense and getting out of neutral. And I can see when to be aggreasive and when to wait more easily.

I was at a precipice, and I honestly felt stuck. The combination of time away, solo practice, and a more relaxed and patient attitude the last couple of nights has broken through. I feel positive about future sessions, and I'm looking forward to playing rather than dreading it.

I'm very pleased with myself, and I feel positive. Playing games with such skilled people is kind of dampening for both my confidence and my pride, so this was pretty great. Okay, no more bragging. K thx byeeeeeeee

[blazehedgehog]

Recently I’ve been playing, and loving, Penny’s Big Breakaway and it’s made me realize how stiff official Sonic games have felt since Sonic Heroes. It feels fantastic to chain moves together as Penny. While I don’t want a Sonic game to play exactly like Penny’s Big Breakaway I do want to enter a similar flow state while playing. Sonic Team seems allergic to making any gameplay/movement options that allows for flow… do you have any idea why?

That's the 65-million-dollar question, isn't it.

Several times over the years I've pushed back on the idea when people say Sonic "can't work in 3D." Of course Sonic could work in 3D, it just takes the right team to build it. The concepts and principals of a Sonic game are not exclusive to 2D. You can build a game on those ideals in 3D and it will work just fine.

If you go back and watch my "How Do We Fix Sonic?" video, I also put forth the idea that a lot of 3D Sonic games are the way they are because Sonic Team does not trust the player. To some degree, rightfully so: there's a growing pile of one-level fangame demos where some college kid tries to do 3D Sonic "right" and while a lot of them are okay, I think it makes for an easy case to see why official Sonic games have so much scripting in them.

When you're going that fast, and you're that acrobatic, it becomes very easy to make some incredibly dumb mistakes. It's not that nobody can play that game, it's that a game like that might struggle to achieve mass market appeal. Sonic is, first and foremost, a pick-up-and-play game. I've been thinking of that term a lot lately since the release of Ring Racers, and it basically means a game you don't have to learn. A game where you turn it on and know everything about it instinctively.

The entire pitch for Sonic was a game you could play with just one button. Easy to start playing, difficult to master over the long term. It's a tough balancing act. Especially when you're aiming for a game that a 10 year old can play.

When I was 10 years old, I couldn't even stay on the road in Super Mario Kart. That's what we're working with here.

So they make Sonic into this guided experience with heavy scripting where they can insulate the player from making dangerous mistakes. Lots of spectacle and minimal friction.

Now you add in the pressure of deadlines and budgets. A fangame like Sonic GT can spend five years as an alpha still figuring out its level design, tweaking its mechanics, before finally releasing a four or five level "game." Whereas an official Sonic game probably has to make a pitch, get to alpha, nail all of its controls and mechanics down relatively early. Probably within the first year of development at least, if not within a period of months.

Then they have to build a game for those mechanics. And, with being so scripted and directed, they can't deviate much. Once they're locked in, they don't have a lot of wiggle room to redefine what the game plays like.

That even goes for researching better ways to do things. I don't think these guys were given much of a chance to stop and think. Sonic Adventure 1 came out in October 1998 in Japan, that team moved to America to work on the September 1999 United States release, Sonic Adventure 2 was announced probably not even six months later, it came out within 18 months of its announcement just in time for that team to crank on the super rushed Gamecube port, which segued into an equally rushed port of the original Sonic Adventure, then their first multiplatform release on a third-party engine just a year or two later, followed by a sequel less than two years later, and another sequel less than two years after that...

Running and running and running and never stopping... and, well, I guess this is just what Sonic in 3D plays like now, right? That's the precedent. Sales are relying on not alienating people who are used to the way these games play.

Plus, it also depends on who within Sega is involved. I tend to agree that we shouldn't pin decisions all on one guy anymore for how many developers are actually involved in a game (200+ for Sonic Frontiers), but it's hard to deny that in the Morio Kishimoto era of 3D Sonic games, they've made a dedicated to effort to lock Sonic down and script his movements more than ever. Starting in Sonic Colors all the way up to the most recent Sega of Japan games, player movement is more restricted and automatically controlled than any other Sonic games to come before it.

Even Sonic Frontiers, for all of its open zone gameplay, once you touch a rail or one of those floating platforms, it tries to restrict and control you as much as humanly possible. Helicopter parent game design. "Do it my way exactly, or stop playing the game."

And I think all of this just collides with itself and makes a big ugly mess. I think it's telling Sonic Unleashed is such a cult favorite given its the closest thing we've had to a decent reboot of mechanics, even though it's still trapped in a lot of that scripted spectacle design.

[echoesofwisdomcountup]

89 Days Until Tears of the Kingdom Release. The Trailer Breakdown is here. Sorry Tumblr killed the image quality. This is Part Three, Part One is HERE and Part Two is HERE.

Same Warning Applies: This will be obscenely long. I have spent hours of my life on this and I even went around Hyrule in BOTW to double check things. I have also watched only one reaction/analysis video (Limcube) whose ideas I reference a few times but the rest is all me. Now, I know many of the oddities and differences could easily be explained by saying we time travel into the past but I’m going to approach this for the most part as if we are not time traveling because it's more fun this way. Also, the colors refer to the corresponding arrows/circles on the image above it.

Blue: This falling green glowing block inspires many questions (like literally everything else in this dang trailer.) Why is it falling? Is it related to the odd rocks that are everywhere now? Is it similar to an elevator that could bring you down from an island or maybe up to one?  Pink: A green swirly thing!! Haven’t seen one of these in a bit. If these really are the things that send you up into the sky, I’m gonna shout “Beam me up!” before I use them.

Green: Yup, that’s right. It’s a little hard to see but that is a yellow Korok flower. Ya ha ha, I found you.

Pink: Ganondorf’s attack reminds me of Princess Mononoke (Studio Ghibli Movie) and that stuff that was wriggling out of the boar god. Fitting considering it curses the main character's arm.  Green: The Master Sword is already covered in malice and Link’s arm is messed up even before Ganondorf does his attack. Now this could be the second attack, Link having partially fought off the first one and sustaining damage, or it could be something else. I think there might be malice coming out from the Master Sword itself. Since it’s the sword that seals the darkness, the past darkness might be escaping as Fi is no longer strong enough to contain it.

General thoughts: Poor Link looks to be in a lot of pain (understandable because that malice corruption went really far up his arm.) Again I really like the focus on his expressions.

General thoughts: The simple act of dropping the Master Sword (sorry Fi) says so much about Link’s worry for Zelda. I think we are in for an emotional ride in terms of the TOTK story. Red: This area on his thigh makes me wonder just how far the malice corruption spread down his right side.

General thoughts: I can’t believe the Champion’s Tunic gets destroyed to such a degree. I mean it’s obvious that someone fixes it later since Link wears it during the rest of this trailer but still. Stupid malice ruining the tunic Zelda made for Link. I’m attached to the damn tunic. Pink: It’s interesting that other parts of Link’s gear appear burned/corroded. I really wonder what watching the full cutscene in game will be like.

General thoughts: I mean what can I say about this shot other than I’m worried about everyone in it. I’m worried for Zelda’s safety, I’m worried about Link’s injuries, and I’m worried about poor Fi who is also falling and damaged pretty badly. Plus, Link really reached out for Zelda with his injured hand, willing to suffer more pain if he could avoid being separated from her. I love their bond but I’m also expecting Nintendo to make us suffer emotional distress. Words: “Please, lend him your power.” This is what Zelda says in the English dub. When I first heard it I wondered if Zelda was praying to the goddess Hylia. It certainly is an odd choice to play that voice clip right before showing a situation where Zelda seems to be in far more need of power. However, Limcube mentioned that the German dub says something along the lines of “You have to save him” and the “you” in that sentence addresses either a group of people (possibly the Zonai) or someone of extreme importance (could be Hylia.) I also think Zelda could be talking to the spirit hand thing.

General thoughts: And last but not least, the entire reason I started this account. Soon, my friends. Soon we will be able to play TOTK and get answers to all of our burning questions.

Finally, I congratulate you for making it to the end of my Tears of the Kingdom trailer breakdown. As you can plainly see, I am perfectly sane about this game. Thank you and have a good day. THE END.

First | Prev

[gamesception]

So here's the new toy that's been distracting me the last couple days. My decade+ old oversized ASUS gaming laptop finally pooped out several months ago, leaving me daily driving my Steam Deck of all things as my main home computer. And don't get me wrong, the Deck has performed remarkably well in that regard, but I've been meaning to get something a bit fancier for a while. Something that could handle 1440p gameplay at a decent framerate while streaming or recording, can manage image and video editing well, and in particular can run some VR games. I've been interested in VR gaming ever since Lobac posted about some of that a while back, especially with the Meta Quest 2 being a solid headset at a really aggressive cost. With the Zuck giving up on the metaverse, the Quest is likely never going to be cheaper than it is now.

I'd waffled for a while about building a PC, but in the end I psyched myself out and decided to go with a pre-built instead. Yes, that means willfully overpaying for the end product by a few hundred bucks to pay someone else to do the assembly and initial set up for me, but in exchange I only had to research one product instead of half a dozen separate components, plus there's a single warranty where if anything doesn't work it's somebody else's problem to fix it, and I'd only have to deal with a delay.

After watching and reading a bunch of reviews, Skytech seemed to be a decent choice for system integrator, with solid to positive reviews for various prebuilt models they offer, including Gamer's Nexus who tend to be pretty harsh on pre-builts. But it was this review from JustIN Tech that sold me on this Azure 2 model. "Performance equivalent to last gens best, but at half the price" is the exact tag line I was looking for, and after a recent price discount it was just within my $2k range.

In retrospect though, I should have done some more research on the specific components. I'm quite happy with the intel 13600 cpu, and while the included cooling setup is overkill for that chip, that just means I've got some free thermal space to overclock or upgrade in the future. Plus, it's pretty, and I'm shallow. On the other hand it turns out the nvidia 4070ti is not well thought of - generally considered badly overpriced, plus has the extra negetive association of being just a rebranding of the failed '4080 12gb' that was so roundly panned that its release had to be canned altogether. And the PNY model that came bundled in my unit isn't even as nice as the Gigabyte one in the JustIN Tech review. One of the reasons why Gamer's Nexus is the better channel for these sorts of reviews is that they do secret shopper and get the same stuff regular folks get, where as brands know what they're sending to channels like JustIN Tech and can take pains to make the best possible impression by including better components and taking extra care in assembly and packaging.

So what should I have purchased instead? I don't know. Maybe the 'blue' model of the same Azure 2 line, which is three hundred dollars cheaper to swap out the 4070ti for an intel Arc a770, which would probably have been more than enough for my intended use cases. Heck, with 4 extra gb of vram it might have even been better than the 4070ti for me in the long term, and if not then I could use the money saved towards swapping out to a better AMD card next gen. But the blue model comes in a blue version of the case, which wouldn't have made the swirly rainbow rbgs pop as much.

Anyway, while I might have made a different choice if I had done more research, that doesn't mean I'm at all unhappy with what I got! The Azure 2 arrived promptly. The build quality of the system is very nice. No damage, no loose or cross-threaded screws. Everything worked right out of the box when plugged in - including all the various external ports. Skytech certainly did a good job putting it all together. While the 4070ti might not be the most reasonably priced card for its performance level, now that it's here and paid for regardless, it seems like it should be able to do everything I want it to, at least for now. And if I end up replacing the gpu sooner then I would have liked, eh, we live and learn.

And while it doesn't matter at all compared to cost and performance, the swirly rainbow rgb lighting makes me feel like a Real Gamer (tm).

Desk is getting a bit cluttered tho.

As for performance, It's quiet and runs cool while playing my current games at top settings - though my particular game selection (mostly just Elden Ring on max settings with Ray Tracing), and my 1080p, 75hz monitor aren't exactly putting it through its paces yet. A new monitor is one of several upgrades & accessories I plan to get to go with this thing in coming months. New monitor, VR headset, an extra ssd on which to install linux - I figure I'll keep the windows install on the side, on the off chance there are games or utilities I can't get running in Linux down the line.

But anyway yeah, that's what I've been so busy with lately, delaying liveblog posts.

[callgespenst]

Best of 2022 Media Post

I read/watched a whole lot last year! Here’s the summary of what I enjoyed the most.

Sing a Bit of Harmony: The best new anime movie I saw last year. Usually I try and watch everything I can subbed, but I caught the dub showing for this and it was really well done. Very lived-in and real-feeling near future setting, some wonderful stuff about AI, and just a really good coming of age story. A year later it’s apparently finally getting a US BD release so I’m excited to finally watch it subbed.

Dress-Up Darling: Found this show oddly relatable (or at least, the parts about making the costumes). Wholesome in a roundabout way, and has a very true to life portrayal of how horny teenagers can be, without being weird or gross about it.

Everything Everywhere All At Once: I haven’t been hooked by a trailer for a movie like that in a very long while. Just seeing the preview I knew I was in for a great time, and it delivered. A lot of other people’s favorite movie of 2022 as well, but it’s just that good.

Creamy Mami: One of the earliest magical girl shows, and yet, goes in directions completely untouched by any of its successors. Excellent funny little mascot characters, bopping tunes, and some of the funniest episodes of anything I’ve ever seen. An absolute must watch. Still have some OVAs to go through at some point.

Thrilling Bloody Sword: the summary said “a martial arts movie based on Snow White” and while that’s technically true, it’s so, so much more from that. When the opening credits played and the movie’s main theme turned out to -literally- just be a stolen reindition of the Space Battleship Yamato opening, I knew I was in for a good time. Bonkers battles, a completely unpredictable plot, and special effects that weren’t even good at the time combine into a flawless package. Also, the male main antagonist is weirdly hot and also an incredible actor. When the special effects are that bad, you gotta really give it your all to sell them.

Glass Onion: Another popular pick, but it’s damn good. Needs every second of its two and a half hour runtime. Has a great core message, a superb female lead, and the best use of celebrity cameos in any media I’ve seen in a good long while. Hope there’s many more Benoit Blanc mysteries to come.

Spy X Family: The first anime adaptation in a hot minute that got me to read the source material. A perfect mix of comedy, action, and good old fashioned spy thrills. My only complaint is that there’s not nearly enough Yor getting to do what she does best, but I think the next part of the manga I have to read will fix that.

Dragon Ball Super Hero: Went to go see this twice! Wasn’t sure how the 3DCG would go over, but it was really well done. Got me to finally re-read Dragon Ball all the way through like I’ve wanted to for ages, so that was good too. The action’s great, but it’s really the good ol’ Toriyama humor in full force.

Symphony of the Night: Not sure what I can say about one of the most acclaimed video games of all time, but it was a lot of fun! I could feel myself getting better as I went along, especially when I got into the Reverse Castle. Had to start using my entire toolkit to get by. Think I’ll definitely play another Castlevania game for Halloween this year.

Flying Phantom Ship: Like Creamy Mami, a massive inspiration for a lot of series that have come since, and yet, I saw almost nothing that happened in this movie coming. Only an hour, but with at least three hours worth of twists and turns. Nothing I say about this film can really do it justice.

Phantom of the Paradise: Tremendously well put together movie. Great music by the legendary Paul Williams with a story you probably already know, but put together in a captivating and engrossing way. Knows it’s a story and who the main characters are, and has them interact in ways that really show off all their strengths and flaws. That said, my favorite character might actually be the man only known as Beef, I think about him a lot.

That’s everything for 2022! I have no particular goals on the media front for 2023, but I’m excited to see what it brings.

[kodocha4ever]

long post about how i'm enjoying pokemon scarlet :D

warning for some spoilers for the game. not story spoilers. just spoilers on some mechanics and moments that could be enjoyable as a surprise!

so a little of my background with the franchise before i go into my thoughts (so you can see how closely my own opinions align with your own, and therefore know how much my opinion on the game does or does not mirror yours).

I grew up with the spinoff games, Stadium & Snap for the N64 were some of the first video games I ever played (and played constantly all the time growing up). And when I was around 7/8/9 I got really into the Pokemon Ranger series (my favorite of the time being Shadows of Almia) and I played Battle Revolution a lot as well (I used to rent it all the time from the library). This is of course, in addition to watching the anime.

I tried other pokemon games, including the main series, but they didn't resonate with me at that phase in my life.

so anyways, when Pokemon Black & White came out, I was suddenly interested in the main series. if i had to guess -- i think it was because people i knew on deviantart at the time were into it lol.

so that came out, i played through it. enjoyed it enough! black & white 2 came out, i played through it and enjoyed it enough.

then X&Y were announced, and it was the first era i was actively watching nintendo directs all the time, and just keeping up w gaming news. so i was stoked! i got it on release day, and played through it very quickly, and tried matsuda method shiny hunting when i was done lol (i never got the shiny tho. i quit after like 600 eggs)

meanwhile in contrast, when sun and moon came out. i was keeping up with things, but idk? i have to assume it was the stage in my life i was in (i was 17 and it was my era of dropping out of every extracurricular activity i was in because i couldn't be fucked to do or care about anything that wasn't drawing). i bought the game, but legit only played the first few hours and stopped playing. it's always been funny to me, because i really loved the way the 3DS era style had been plused up. i liked the new pokemon, i was interested in the story... but it just didn't keep me engaged at that time.

so when sword and shield came out and it was soooo blasted. i didn't know how i'd feel about the game, but still bought it release day. and uh. i loved it? i loved it so much. its the most fun i've ever had with a mainline game.

so now going into scarlet & violet, there's a lot of options on the table for how i'd feel about it lol. i wanna add: i'm not done yet. i've beaten 4 gym leaders, gotten one titan, and my pokemon are level 35-40.

I didn't like the start of the game very much. There was no easy answer for how to handle it, like they needed to give a lot of info out the gate, and it's hard to do that in a way that isn't overwhelming. I like Nemona a lot though, and I like how the legendaries of these games are just with you the whole time (the way legendaries are handled typically is not for me) also i LOVE the customization out the gate (hair & face & stuff) i love how my character looks.

so anyways, felt negative for the opening. and then when i started with my adventure, i was soooo bugged by the camera angle you have in most battles. like i'm a slut for a fixed camera angle. the way the camera moves in past pokemon games did not need to be changed lol. the new free camera just has no optimal view. i feel so far removed from the action, like im watching ants.

when i complained abt this to a friend, he brought up it might have to do with the way terrain works in this game. and like... that could be true? but also i don't think the terrain being the way it is is a good enough mechanic to warrant removing the fixed camera. i wish they figured something out.

so the thing that made me start feeling positive was sort of a funny thing lol. i was feeling bummed abt the things all above, and i was also feeling weird abt the nonlinearity. like it means there cant be as many unique interactions since they dont know where in the game u are. and in sword & shield, i really got attached to the gym leaders (for the first time) and i wasn't feeling that same spark here.

i sorta felt like, lol. well. the nonlinearity is here, i might as well take advantage of it and just go across the whole map to get a pokemon i like early (in this case my goals were to get: zorua & gothita).

so i started on my way, and i was passing through one of the dessert/mountainous terrains and i bumped into that giant klawf (the stony cliff titan). and was trying to avoid him bc i didn't know what was going on and didn't want him to wreck my pokemon. but i accidentally got in a battle with him. and panicked a bit because i thought i sequence broke and wasn't supposed to be there yet or something, only to get him in one hit because i was actually over leveled LMFAO.

stumbling on major events randomly like that are my favorite part of nonlinear sandbox games. and it just gave me this perspective change of like, okay. this isn't sword and shield. it's not meant to be sword and shield! this is it's own game, and i should enjoy it for what it is and not dwell on what it isn't... and i'm having so much fun now lol.

i got an outfit i like, my team is bringing me a lot of joy, i'm gonna ask if my bestie (who happened to get violet) could send me a misdreavus because thats my only fav [who's in the game] that i don't have yet... and its because they're not in my version of the game lol.

here's my party right now :D

other good experiences i've had: u can see my beloved babygirl Gus in both of these. azumarill and the line has never been a fav of mine, but i was charmed by a wild azurill near the start of the game, and decided to catch it. i was talking w my mom while i was playing, and asked if she wanted to name her, and she said "Gus" SOO fast. like even before i finished asking her. thank u mom, i love gus so much.

i ADORE how when tandemaus evolves into maushold, the game doesn't tell u. like, i thought i'd encountered my first glitch (that people love to talk abt so much).. but no its just the cutest mechanic.

[sociallyawkwardsailor]

As an Elder Millennial, I watched this happen in real time. The Internet, especially, was the wild west and I may or may not have tactically acquired music that was otherwise inaccessible *cough*Rammstein*cough*.

The basic takeaway I get from this is the shift happened when companies realized they could monetize the Internet. All the sites we use are geared to appeal to companies, so that they can ad revenue, not to us anymore. "You can't say/post/discuss that because then advertisers won't want to partner with us."

The intro segment about how Hollywood has ran franchises into the ground really resonated with me and I think this largely may be why I, a long-time enjoyer of superheroes and such, feel more inclined to skip the latest movie and watch it "sometime" when it's available for streaming. The excitement I had for Captain America: The First Avenger was unparalleled, and I still enjoy that one to this day. But I have missed out on all the newer Marvel movies because, well, I can't keep up with it; it's exhausting for me to try to. So yeah, they feel more like a quick money maker than quality entertainment. This can apply to video games as well. EA cares more about making money of Ultimate Team and yearly releases than fixing longtime issues or making a genuinely fun, enjoyable game (though College Football 25 seems to be exactly that but we'll see how long it takes for EA to also ruin that franchise). This, ultimately, might be why I can't get into fandom anymore, and lean more towards casual enjoyment on my own schedule...especially since my life is largely dictated by what the Navy needs me to be doing.

[zandra-lang-cave]

Horror is the genere I dislike the most. I literally returned 2 horror video games that i wanted to play mainly cause of the lore and fandbase, but i couldn't even complete the tutorial in one or pass level 1 in the other. I dont hate it. One of my favorite comics is horror, but most of the time It's just not my thing.

That being said, I found this hilarious tiktok.

And has funny has it is. It gives me an idea. But since I'm the worst person to write horror, I chose to let it go here and let anyone else use it. Just please tag me cause I'm genuinely curious what someone who actually likes horror can do with it.

(Warning for demon, demon posesion, killing, blood, cults. Nothing too graphic or specific, but you been warned)

So, this would be your stereotypical supernatural setting. But with a small twist to set the world. The main characters are a couple that works in "supernatural research," which is basically just scam superstitious people into thinking they can repell whatever spirit/demon that is tormenting them. Until it isn't.

They met someone that I call character C that has a very "off" vibe base in character B opinion, but character A brush it off since this costumers was so distraught for what they feel is chasing them that they would pay extra for their services if they are willing to stay in his house and fix his problem.

They buy a few super natural books to help pretend the illusion that they are there to actually help. Including a very different type of book that B picks that draws their attention.

They go the mansion, do the whole magic mumbo jumbo, and they talk to character C. C tells them the whole story of the house, it use to be a metting place for a cult of demon worshipers that end up doing a mass suicide in the house and ever since then paranormal things has happened in there. At this point, we see that in their whole interactions, character A is being more dismissive and mean towards character B, a very stereotypical bad partner that is not abusive but just kind of dick.

After their ritual/investigation character B goes on their own to explore the house, they take the special book with them and reads it while they see different rooms until they get to the room where the mass suicide happen.

*scene change for dramatic effect and suspens building*

Character A and C were investigating other part of the house just talking, A eventually asked C why they bought this house knowing it's history. Here, they discover that C is a descentdant of the cult leader. They were basically the result of a one-night Stan the cult leader had with a close non-cult friend has a last wish before the suicide. Their mother was left and inherited for the place, so he lived in that house until recently when Their mother died for an unknown reason. They didn't come back to the house until this day cause of fear of what actually might have been living in there with them.

Before they can keep talking, they hear a loud scream from B and run to them.

A demon, a freaky demon, was graving B by the waist and keeping them in the air. Long nails dripping with blood while B tries and fail to get the demon to let them go.

A froze, for half a minute before running out of the room to the car. B watch in disbelief while screaming for A to come back. C was released from their shock and gave a nearby fake decoration sphere and scare but firm Screams for the demon to let B go.

The demon does, that surprise all 3 of them. The demon move their attention to C. They crawl all the way until they are face to face with C. They hold eyesight for what it feels like hours, black empty eyes loking into C soul. the demon lets out a guttural scream in C face before they start to dissolve in a pool of blood that Leaves by the cracks in the floor, disappearing without leaving a clue that what they presence was real if not for the wounds in B body.

C still scared out of his mind, helps B up. They take them by the side and guide them to the living room so C can start bandaging B wounds. B says, "I didn't though they would leave me behind," and stays quiet the rest of the walk.

A was on their car, trying to find their Keys so they could get the hell out of the house.

"Looking for this?" B says outside of the car with the Keys in their hand. New bandaging obvious in their body.

Now here is where my ideas kind of lack because i can't think of anything besides the gang scooby doo the mystery, but I got some pointers for lore and reson but no details.

C could command the demon cause he is a descentdant of the cult that worship it and they make a blood contrat that state "He who can not be name, shall listen to the blood of its followers for has long has they worship it and take care of every need of their lord"

"Every need" is basically the demon tricking the cult into blood sacrifices. Mostly from animals. But when he needed a human sacrifice, the cult refused, causing the mass suicide that was actually the demon taking them has sacrifices. Giving him power to last the many years he was without followers.

His power started to lack. Thus, he started to kill again. Starting with C mom.

He tried to get B has a sacrifices but was stopped mid way by A and C.

This leaves her bulnerable to the demon. a sort of semi-posesion. Not fully poses but not free from the demon. It give them some sort of hallucinations and can hear the demon in their head.

All of this info is in the special book that B found, and it's basically the diary/bible/guide of the cult. In the book, there is also a way for them to get them all a protection from the demon.

So they collect all the materials and set up the ritual.

A goes first on the ritual. But they die.

Why?

That wasn't a protection ritual. That doesn't exist. That was a sacrifices ritual.

The sacrifices ritual the previous followers didn't want to perform.

It was a posesion ritual to take the demon to the human real. But why?

Demons are bound by the law of their deals. If they break them, they die.

But if they poses a human body, they basically turn into a mortal with all the power of their demon form, but none of the laws to follow.

But how did they confuse the spells.

Well A and C never actually read the book.

They just follow all that B says.

But why B set them up for failure?

Was the book curse?

Were they brainwashed by the demon when they got hurt?

Or was it willingly that they follow this monster? And if so, why?

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

I actually do have a definitive choice for B actions. But I'm not planning on writing this anymore, so I just let someone else use it. But if someone wants to know, I might write what my thoughts were. Spoiler alert: It probably doesn't fit the horror genre, but i feel the genre needs to expand beyond its frankly, very predictable tropes.

Also, I didn't specify genders for the main crew cause I find it interesting if they were not 2 guys and a girl. Maybe all of them were guys, or dare, I hope all of them were girls. I wish more horror movies did that. I would watch it even if it kills me of fear.

[so-litudinal]

Pai took a rest in my hand for a while and now my palm is all warm and smells like her. by the time I finish writing this — if I do — my palm'll be cool again and the smell will be gone. that's a little sad. can't help but make you think about "the last time it'll ever happen." she's starting to moult again, it hasn't even been that long since last time. poor thing, it's going to be uncomfortable for her. she's barely even started to lose feathers but she's been acting restless for a while already. I hope this one doesn't last too long.

I love her, I love her a lot, my little bird. developing a bond with a bird's somewhat different from any other pet I've had so far, cats and dogs (and my chickens but that's also not the same). and I get anxious thinking things like "does she know I love her?" and then I realise just how silly and human that sounds. I think she's at least in some way aware that she's taken care of (though I could do an even better at that, it'll come), and that, you know, I'm a distinct presence in her eyes. that's enough.

the other day when I went inside the garage to put the chickens' feeder away for the night, my mother's scooter looked like it had been moved (possible that I was just imagining things). she hasn't used it in a long time, personally not mad about it since I never got over the fear of something happening to her on the road (I mean, that thing makes you ridiculously vulnerable). but yeah, since then I've been daydreaming of using it myself. not likely to happen, and I think I'm mostly just fixated on the fact that it'd made me look cool lol.

mh yeah, whatever, I'd first have to get my eyesight checked and fixed anyway.

also probably because of ykk.

I mean, of course I'd wanna be more like Alpha.

speaking of which, I really, really love Kokone, for several reasons. she's my favourite ykk character, probably one of my favourite characters altogether. it's very much a case of "she's so like me" + "I wanna be more like her" + "I wanna be with her" hah... ///

I wanna start playing ocarina of time again. it would be my third or fourth time starting over, am I ever gonna complete it who knows (this is a theme) (or as losers might call it, a pattern of behaviour). I've been watching playthroughs by this youtuber I like but I'm spoiling the story for myself.

same thing with his series of breath of the wild videos, that I stopped watching for now because I wanna play it myself first but after all these years, the game still costs 70 euros, even now that totk has been released, like wtf nintendo.....

ah, I just accidentally almost quit the page without saving. that's the real tumblr experience right there.

but I'm still way too attached to my own words to let that happen (unreasonable)

[zaptap]

oh yeah pokemon tomorrow

i think sv dlc announcement (and home compatibility) is pretty obvious. who knows what form it would take though. hoping it’s kalos related because kalos is like. right there (also all the kalos starters are in the game already... though it’s not like we went to alola in ss dlc so that’s not an indicator of anything on its own)

the dlc could also fix 2 of my biggest problems with the game, which are the following

missing pokemon (probably not getting fixed since this is the 5th game in a row with this issue) (subset of this is missing national dex, which hasn’t been seen since oras and is therefore more unlikely to return)

specifically missing zubat line (crown tundra fixed this for ss, they could do it again) (i always have a crobat on my team you can’t do this to me).

you always have to wear the stupid school uniform. if we go to kalos we can get stuff from their boutiques and (maybe because we beat the game) they let us change out of that shit (if not then they aren’t doing kalos right)

other pokemon stuff i’d like to see (or might be there)

new detective pikachu game (WHERE is the evil blue pikachu they teased in 2013 that didn’t show up in the game or the movie i need it to be there it’s been almost a decade since we first heard about it

it would be nice if they finally released soundtracks for the past 4 games but after skipping so many i think maybe they’re done. shame

id like pokemon sleep to come out so joe serebii can get some. maybe me too idk

now that i think about it it’s been 3 years since the pmd remake came out? what the fuck? i feel like i just started playing it the other day. im not even that far. what the hell? how??? anyway that means i guess maybe it’s not too early for them to be working on a pmd2 one. im so overwhelmed though. they seriously need to stop making video games for like 10 years so i can just catch up. except splatoon that can stay

idk if im watching this live because i didn’t get much sleep last night and it’s absolutely going to screw up my sleep for the night if i do that. depends on when i go to sleep i guess, idk (my sleep schedule has been so fucked up that staying up until it starts would be easier but then i have to get up for work 3 hours after it ends)

come to think of it i didnt watch last year’s live either. hard to get  as excited about new pokemon stuff as i used to and im also sick of these 6am presentations. if it was splatoon id do it though.

[lilysdaydreams]

Praise Bingus (No fucking way)

→  I do not claim to know corpse- therefore please don't think that this is what he would actually act like, or that any details about his life are actually true. this is fiction.

→ Pairing: Corpse Husband X Fem!Reader

→ Genre: Angst and fluff. (FLUFF IS COMING I SWEAR)

→ Words: 3.9k

→ In a world where everyone is born with a mark on their wrist, two souls come together over the power of bingus.

→ (this isnt crack lol)

→ Warnings: Lots of swearing, um self-depreciation? rejection (kinda) and negative thoughts overall. Sorry im new to warnings.

→ Authors Note: this is the first time im doing like angst so please tell me if I did well? Um also, I’ve already started on the part 2 so keep your eyes out for that. If you wanna be tagged for part two please comment and lemme know. Also check out my other fics if you want!

→ Buy me a coffee

Part two  →    

~~~

Soulmates were a phenomenon. They'd been there for ages, drawn into the Egyptian tomb paintings, seen in the cave paintings from millions of years ago, talked about in stories passed down from generation to generation. They could be matching drawings, first words, names; all black before the soulmates met and turning gold the moment they talked to each other. There wasn't a scientist in the world who could explain the phenomenon.

You'd received your mark at birth just like everyone else, a sentence running around your wrist,

"No fucking way."

Your parents weren't that happy when you asked at the age of 4 what "fucking" meant but it wasn't that bad. You were happy that you had something unique, something other than the "Hi," or "Excuse me," that was on every other arm.

When you were 13, a little girl on the train pointed to your wrist and asked her mom what it meant. Ever since then, you'd taken to wearing bracelets over it. This had turned out to be a good idea because a few years later you started making Youtube videos. At the age of 16, you started a Youtube channel where you focused on a variety of things; makeup, fashion, games, art, skits and a whole lot more.

At the age of 20, you had a steady following of a little more than a million subscribers, and you had moved to LA to be closer to all your Youtube friends. You hadn't just grown on Youtube, you'd also started a lot of side projects. You were known for the art that you did on the side, along with the makeup palette you'd come out with a year ago. Soon you were planning to release a merch collection, one that you had been working on for a whole year now.

You hadn't met your soulmate at this point but honestly, you didn't really mind. Balancing Youtube and study (along with all your other side projects) was hard. There was no need to add the struggle of love into it... Or that's what you told yourself anyways.

There were days though, days where you wished you had someone to hug, someone to cuddle in bed with, someone to go on long walks with. You didn't let yourself wallow on it that long though. Crying about it was gonna do absolutely nothing.

It started on a rainy day. The story of you and him. You were editing your soon to be uploaded video, an e-girl outfits lookbook, which had been requested by your followers. Your personal style was all over the place and your previous soft girl and cottage care look books had done well, so you decided to continue the series.

You eyes blurred as you looked at the same point of the video, and you sighed, removing your glasses and rubbing your eyes. Your editor was sick and had let you know that they wouldn't be able to edit it by the deadline so here you were, editing it yourself. You stretched in your chair letting out a yawn. You were contemplating on whether to make coffee or not when your phone pinged.

"Nooooo" you whined when you noticed it was on the coffee table that was just a little out of your reach. Stretching your foot out, you tried to grab it between your toes and then sighed when the phone fell.

"I have zero luck, I swear" you muttered to yourself, bending to pick up the phone.

The text was from Rae, asking you to join a game of Among Us. You and Rae had been friends for a bit now, which all started when she came across your art and decided to order something from you. You had chatted and clicked immediately, immediately becoming fast friends. Ever since the lockdown started, she often asked you to join in on Among us games and your friendship had really grown over these past few months.

You sent a quick "sure!" and then went to your table, waiting for the PC to turn on. Quickly tweeting out that you were streaming, you opened up Youtube and turned on the stream, saying a quick hello and letting them know what you'd be doing.

"Rae just invited me guys, I don't really know who's there," you mumbled, replying to a comment asking you who you were playing with.

You squinted your eyes, joining the voice chat and then opening your phone camera to quickly check that you didn't look horrible. Sure you didn't really care about how you looked but it was always good to check that you didn't have anything stuck between your teeth before you turned on the camera.

There was already a conversation going on, between who you thought was Corpse and Sykkuno, judging by their voices.

"Yeah I could totally do that. Get a cat and name it Bingus. I wonder if th-"

You gasped when you heard what they were talking about and unmuted yourself immediately yelling "PRAISE LORD BINGUS" and effectively shocking everyone in the chat.

A moment of silence and then Rae yelled: "OH MY FUCKING GOD Y/N, YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME."

You giggled as everyone groaned and whined, saying hi as they realised who it was. You had played with Sykkuno and the others a few times before but you'd never met Corpse before. You'd heard his voice though, as he was trending on twitter constantly over the past few weeks. Once they all quietened down, you realised Corpse hadn't said anything. Since you knew everyone else in the lobby, you introduced yourself, wondering if you'd scared him a bit too hard.

"Hey Corpse, I'm Y/N from Y/C/N, its so nice to finally meet you," you said gritting your teeth at you awkward introduction. For a second there was no response and then three words were said that made your jaw drop to the floor.

"No fucking way"

He had whispered it, obviously still in shock, and your eyes widened in surprise as a tingle spread all over your body. So this was what everyone meant by "you'll just know," when you asked them about how you would recognize your soulmate.

"Holy shit" you thought frozen in your seat.

Never had you been more glad that you hadn't turned the camera on yet.

"Uhhhh-" you started, but stopped now knowing what to say.

What the fuck were you supposed to do now.

"Wha- Whats wrong?" Rae asked after a moment passed.

Corpse cleared his throat and started "Its um, shes my -" and you cut him off, heart beating in your chest.

"Nothing. Its nothing." you said talking over him. "Who else are we waiting for Rae?" you asked joining the lobby quickly and choosing red as your colour.

"Uh one more person," she said slowly, still a bit confused.

"Oh awesome!" you said fake enthusiasm prevalent in your voice. "So Sykkuno," you started, wanting to keep the conversation going. "How's Bimbus doing?"

Sykkuno launched into a story of Bimbus and you blew out a sigh of relief, mind still numb over the revelation.

Corpse was your soulmate.

The guy who had literally went viral the past few weeks was your soulmate.

You'd finally found him.

You heard Rae cut Sykkuno off, telling everyone she was starting the game and muttered a "Thank god" when the words "CREWMATE" appeared on your screen. You would not have been able to play imposter at the moment, your mind pretty much stuck on the fact that Corpse was your fucking soulmate.

Heading down to admin, you realised you hadn't said anything yet to the stream so you quickly turned on your cam, saying a quick sorry to the viewers.

"Sorry guys, I forgot to put the camera on," you smiled focusing on card swipe.

"I hope everyone's been okay, I know this was quite sudden, but Rae invited me and I was like why not you know," you said rambling as you moved to comms and did the task there.

Lights were called and you moved to electrical, arriving there just as Leslie fixed them. You moved into the back of electrical doing the three tasks you had there when Sykkuno suddenly came in and went straight to standing on top of the vent.

You giggled already knowing his trick.

"Okay guys," you mumbled watching Sykkuno wiggle on the vent. "do we trust Sykkuno or not?"

"You know what," you said making a split second decision. "Its the first game, we might as well."

Joining him on the vent, you stilled for a second and then breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't automatically kill you.

"See, what did I tell you guys huh?" you question smiling straight at the camera. "I knew Sykkuno could be trusted."

You decided to follow Sykkuno going into reactor with him and starting 'Simon says' and just as you were on the last part, a body was found making you let a whine out.

"Guysss," you whined to the camera as Rae started talking about how she had found Daves body in admin.

"Um, I havent been in admin since the start of the game," you said, "also I can clear Sykkuno, for the last part of the round, he's been with me since lights went out."

Sykkuno confirmed it, "Yup that's right, also I can hard clear Y/N cuz guess what? She stood on the vent with me and none of us died."

Everyone chuckled as he said "Thats good enough for me."

"Uh, I was in navigation mostly." said Lily.

"Poki, can I just ask what you were doing?" said Sean, an undercurrent of mirth present.

"Me?" asked Poki speaking for the first time. "What was I doing?"

"You weren't doing any tasks, you were literally just walking from one side of medbay to the other when I peeked in."

Poki started laughing, trying to get her words out at the same time.

"Okay so-" a giggle. "okay okay- I was just, I was trying to um do the beep test," she said finally breaking down and making everyone else laugh as well.

"What the fuck?" you said, laughing at the image in your mind.

"My chat told me to do it last game so I decided to do it now, I was literally just playing around," she said finally, adding "I swear I'm not imposter" at the end.

"Hmmm," you hummed, bringing a hand up to stroke your chin. "Are you sure it was last game Poki... hm...."

Giggling at Poki indignant "YES it was last game", you quickly skipped voting like everyone else as the timer went into the last ten seconds.

Humming a tune under your breath, you went back to reactor, taking a minute to carefully do Simon says and then moved to the other task counting out one two three as you pressed on the numbers. Humming, you moved out of reactor, only to come face to face with Corpse. You paused for a second, and then moved ahead, refusing to show anything on camera. For some reason he followed you as you went to storage, looking at you while you did the trash.

"Why is he just staring?" you mumbled, biting your lip. God, you really didn't wanna think of him right now. You started walking to shields, him still walking with you when lights were called and not a second later a body was reported.

Suddenly there was screaming your ears as Toast and Rae both started accusing each other.

"Wait- Wait WAIT" yelled Poki trying to get them to stop. "What happened?"

"I'll explain" declared Rae, not letting toast get a word in. "We were in navigation okay, me, Toast and Leslie. Lights went out, and suddenly a report buttons there. It's either Toast or someone came in just as lights went out and killed but that doesn't seem likely because I didn't see anyone anywhere near us at all. Anyways I'm fucking telling the truth guys, its Toast, he's the one who did it."

"Toast, do you have anything to say for yourself?" asked Corpse, his voice making your insides shiver.

"Holy shit, this is my soulmate", you thought for the fiftieth time.

"Uh yeah," replied toast. "I didn't do it."

Everyone laughed as he continued.

"Like seriously, I wouldn't do anything like this because it'd be a stupid move from my own part, and I think Raes smart enough to not do this as well. I think someone else came in just as lights went down and killed immediately, which to be honest, was pretty smart of them."

"Okay so I can clear Corpse," you cut in noticing the timer was close. "he was with me in weapons when it happened, he wouldn't have had time to go all the way up, or even vent there because we were literally walking in."

"Yup that's right," confirmed corpse.

"I'm in cafeteria" said Poki.

"Yeah, I saw her on my way to weapons," said Sykkuno, "and I'm in weapons right now,"

"I'm in lower engine" said Sean, and Lily said she was in reactor.

"I think it's Toast," you mumbled and then rose your voice to talk over everyone. "Look okay fine, maybe he said it was a stupid move and he wouldn't do it but maybe he did it for that exact reason. He thought he could get away with it because no one would expect him to do something like that."

As the timer started going down by 10, you voted for Toast and it turned out 3 had skipped the vote while five had voted for him.

damn.

"Guys you actually voted for him?" you said in a high voice, re-enacting one of Sykkunos most said lines.

You heard a "oh for gods sake" from Rae before everyone went silent and you giggled as you moved back down to weapons to do your tasks.

You finished all your tasks and decided to go to security to check where everyone is. Humming as you moved through the electrical hallway, you narrowed your eyes as Corpse came out of electrical and went towards storage. Quickly ducking in you didn't see a body so you headed back out, going into cams and gasping as you saw the body. Reporting immediately you were shocked to see the four kills that had happened. Now only you, Corpse, Sean and Rae were left.

"Oh my god," you mumbled confused. Either there were still two imposters, and Toast wasn't the imposter or the imposter literally killed and did nothing else. Now either that could mean that its definitely Rae if Toast wasn't the imposter, or that it was Corpse as the only imposter left. That was a bit weird though becuase he could have totally killed you at the start of the game. You didn't suspect Sean at all.

"What the fuck?" mumbled Corpse, and Rae made her animal noises expressing her shock.

"Okay," you said taking charge and relaying the kill and your theory to everyone. "So either it was Toast and there's only one other imposter, who is Corpse. Or Toast wasn't an imposter and there's two of them left. I-" you took a deep breath in at the end, very confused. " I don't know anymore,"

"I think its Corpse as well,"

Corpse who hadn't said anything up till this moment suddenly started stammering out "hey-hey uh let-lets not gang up on me okay. It's not-"

"No, wait, its because Y/N said you came out of electrical right, and I saw you in upper engine literally a bit ago and you went down. I went towards cafeteria so I don't know exactly where you went but its totally possible that you killed."

You voted form him after that, convinced it was Corpse, and the other followed quickly.

"Guys what the fuck, at least give me a chance to explain my self" he whined when his body was thrown off the ship seconds later. You cheered when the "VICTORY" sign was displayed across the screen, bringing up your chat and laughing at Toast as he pretended to be angry at me.

"That was a great round, good work Y/N"

"Thankyou" you mumbled staring at your chat. You were confused when you saw the absolute influx of messages on there, and you were barely able to read them because they were going so fast. You scrolled up, and read through the few of the messages;

"You've made corpse sad."

"Corpse has literally been so quite since you came in, can you leave."

"Omg stop with the hate messages, its not her fault if corpse isn't talking to you"

"are you his ex or something? What was that reaction at the start?"

"what did you do? Corpse literally hasn't said a word since you came in."

"Um..."

Corpse POV

Corpses heart stopped for a minute, his breath catching. The words on his wrist glowed gold, and he stared at the little red character standing there.

This person was the reason that he had "PRAISE BINGUS" stretched across his wrist.

They were the only reason that he had searched "Bingus" on google for all of his life. The only reason Corpse knew about the meme before anyone else was because he was constantly monitoring the word online. Ever since March, he had been waiting with bated breath, anxious that he could meet his soulmate at any moment. and here you were.

For some reason, he had never expected that he would meet you in among us, or while he was on stream. He always thought it'd be someone outside. It was a bit stupid in hindsight as all he did nowadays was play among us.

He heard you introduce yourself to him but the only thing that came out of his mouth was “No fucking way”.

Immediately after he wanted to slap himself.

“Idiot” he thought to himself. “At least try to make a good impression.”

When Rae asked what was wrong, heat sprung to his cheeks as he started revealing that they were soulmates, but Y/N cut him off, saying that it was nothing.

Corpse’s heart sank a little then.

'Maybe she’s just a private person,' he reasoned with himself.

'I shouldn’t have tried to say it on stream either. God, I’m a fucking idiot, if I said it, literally everyone would know and not only would I have hated the attention, she probabaly would have as well.'

Convincing himself that she was right, he reassured himself that it wasn’t because of him. She wasn’t revealing it because she probably didn't want all the attention.

For some reason though, his heart sank even more when Y/N didnt talk to him, instead talking to sykkuno about his dog. Like sure he could understand not wanting to reveal they were soulmates but shouldn’t she at least wanna talk to him? At this point he wouldn’t even mind if she talked about his voice like everyone else.

He groaned when the word "Imposter" came across his screen, his and Toasts character standing together. He was not in the right mindset right now to be able to be a good imposter. Breathing in deeply he continued in the game, with the first round passing by quick. The second round, he saw Y/N and stood with her for a bit wondering if he should kill her. Her red character moved to weapons and he sighed moving the mouse over the kill button. Just as he was thinking of clicking a body was found. Corpse swore as Toast flew off the ship. Deciding he needed to speed it up he killed four people in the round, hissing when the meeting was called. The moment Y/N accused him, he knew it was over. He didn't even bother defending himself much, just hoping the game would end soon.

When they were in the lobby, he quickly told everyone that he was going to leave because his internet was acting up. Turning off the stream after saying a quick thank you to everyone, he leaned back in his seat breathing through his nose.

What the fuck was his life.

Even his soulmate didnt want him. Honestly, he should have expected this. Abandoned at 12 with no one around him, why did his expect his soulmate to even give a fuck about him. Tears pricked his eyes and he blinked trying to get rid of them. He breathed in deeply, grabbing the water on the table and taking a big gulp. He had never hated himself more than he did right now. Why couldnt he have an easier life.

“Why cant I just fucking be NORMAL” he yelled throwing the empty bottle of water at the wall.

Throwing himself into bed, he scrunched up his eyes, hoping that sleep would come today, not noticing as his phone lit up with a single message.

Your POV

You stayed for another game and then ducked out apologizing and making an excuse up.

"Sorry it was such a short stream, everyone," you said pouting at the camera. "It was fun though so hopefully I get to do it again." Waving goodbye, you turned off the camera and leaned your head back staring at the ceiling.

What the actual fuck.

Grabbing your phone, you stared at it for a bit. Everything that you had pushed to the back of your mind in the game, was suddenly in the forefront.

The only thing you knew about Corpse was that he had a really deep voice, he narrated horror movies, and he maybe did music?

'Rae mentioned that once right?' you thought to yourself.

You unlocked the phone and then locked it again, too scared to actually do anything.

Unlocked.

Locked.

Unlocked.

Locked.

"Oh get a grip," you muttered to yourself, opening the phone and sending a text to Rae.

‘Hey Rae, do you have corpses number? Do you mind sending it to me, I need to tell him something.’

A reply came in a minute,

‘umm, why. he's pretty private so idk i don't rlly wanna give his number if he doesn't want someone to have it’

You sighed, and decided you might as well tell her. You knew Rae wouldn't betray your trust.

‘He's my soulmate’

Immediately a ‘AHDJHAKJKAGDAK’ came as a reply and you giggled at the string of emojis after it.

‘Don't tell anyone,’ you sent quickly, trying to calm her down.

‘Okay okay, its XXX - XXX - XXXX, ASHAGDH IM DYING OMG. GO TALK TO HIM.’

Biting your lip you added Corpse into your contacts hesitating before putting a small black heart next to his name.

"Already simping," you mumbled under your breath, hands hovering over the keyboard as you struggled to think of what to write.

You finally decided on 'Hey, its Y/N, can I call?' thinking that something short would be the best way to go. Hand hovering over the send button, you sucked in a breath and pressed it, waiting with bated breath.

A minute passed.

And then five.

And then, without you even you realising, it'd been half an hour of you just looking at your phone.

An hour later, you were slumped on your desk, eyes closed and snoring lightly, the phone still open, the message you sent lighting up the screen.

tbc.

[blueeyedgeorgie]

Cancelled-Dream Was Taken

A/N: Surprise bitch. Weren’t we expecting for me to release mcyt fanfics soon? If I didn’t tag my usual @‘s it’s because idk if you’d like to be tagged for mcyt content.

Pronouns: she/her

Word Count: 2.3k+

_________________

"You're so harsh on him!" Her hands sat on the keyboard, staring at the green human that stood on Y/n's computer screen.

She needed to be careful. While this was a heated moment, she couldn't let herself get too loud for multiple reasons. If she got too loud, Dream's stream viewers would be able to tell she was in the next room or they would just receive noise complaints from their neighbors.

"No Y/n! You're too soft on him! He needs to learn that he can't get away with everything. You're setting him up for failure." As the h/c girl listened to her roommate speak, she had to remind herself over and over again; 'This wasn't real.' Dream was mad, not Clay.

This had all been arranged as roleplay. Y/n would be leaving in a few days to go visit some of her family for a reunion, so Wilbur had been the one to think up the brilliant idea of what was playing out now; an argument between Y/n and Dream. The plan was to have Y/n get so upset she didn't log onto the SMP for the next few days, only to come back with a master plan to backstab Dream.

At first, Clay wasn't really on board with the thought of him getting angry at Y/n. They had been together for a little over a year, there wasn't a single moment they had gotten upset with one another. But surprisingly, Y/n had been the one to convince Clay it was a good idea.

The fans knew Dream and Y/n had a close friendship, Dream had always been so protective of her. But when this was going down, they didn't know how to act.

Every time Y/n would glance at her chat, she'd see thousands of comments rising up as new ones appeared. Comment after comment, it looked like the fans were shocked by the way this stream was turning out.

"I'm not setting him up for anything! He's a kid, Dream!" Y/n glanced from the chat,  back at the screen showing her PC game. Standing on her screen was Dream and Tommyinnit, she had accompanied Dream to visit Tommy.

"You're just babying him! 'He's a kid!' Well, he needs to learn to grow up eventually," his voice had been filled with such spite. It felt weird to hear Clay speaking to her like this in such a tone.

For a moment, she stared at the green man before a short scoff escaped her lips. "I can't believe you." With that, Y/n had pressed a few keys, turning her character towards the nether portal a couple of yards away. Before Dream had gotten the chance to speak again, Y/n began to move away.

"Y/n! Come back here!"

She flicked a few buttons, taking a moment to look behind her character to see Dream following. Good, everything was going according to plan. Within the next few minutes, she'd be able to log off and she'd be on vacation for the next few days.

The h/c girl ignored the green man as she stepped through the portal, taking her to Minecraft's version of hell. Almost done, she just needed to find a good spot to stop as she listened to Dream continue to speak.

"You can't keep ignoring me! You know I'm right in this. You know you can't keep defending Tommy. You know Tommy is driving a wedge between us-"

Perfect. Y/n had stopped just on the edge of a bridge, molten lava sat feet below them. If she fell, she'd surely die. "No."

"No?" Dream was a bit surprised to hear Y/n cut him off, but he stayed silent as he was prepared to listen to what she had to say.

"No. No more. I don't wanna hear you blame Tommy for us breaking apart. I want you to listen to me. You've been acting like much more of a dick than usual and I hate it. I despise it. You've changed for the worst because you think you can step on everyone. At this point, everyone fears to tell you the truth-except me. I'll be a hundred percent honest with you, you've been so egotistical, it's really pissed me off. This is your fault, Dream. Not Tommy's. You exiled a child for pulling a prank on a vacation house! Not even George's real house!"

"But-"

"Shut the fuck up. I'm done, but I don't wanna hear you bullshit me. So shut the fuck up."

A moment of silence passed between them as Y/n stared at her screen. Just a few more steps.

And within seconds, Dream had pulled out his netherite sword. With one hit, she was falling back into lava. Y/n glanced at her chat, a look of shock on her face as she read over what a few comments said. A moment of silent tension had passed before Y/n had finally spoken up, removing her from the voice chat she was in.

"Alright guys, I guess that's enough for the day. I'll see you all... later." With that, she had clicked a few buttons, raiding Dream's live-stream as she ended hers.

For the next 20 to 30 minutes, Y/n knew Clay would be busy streaming. So she had decided to take a bit of time to wind down and think to herself.

Get a glass of water.

'Are the fans harassing him in his twitch chat?'

Sit down on the living room couch.

'The SMP fans were always so protective of me.'

Pet Patches.

'Was I too much when I snapped at him?'

It didn't seem like 30 minutes had passed when Clay had walked out of his streaming room, only to find Y/n on the couch with Patches in her lap. "Hey, N/n." "Oh, your stream is already over?" Y/n smiled, pulling herself out of her thoughts as she scoot over, giving Clay room to take a seat right by her.

"Yeah, did you lose track of time or something?"

"I must've. How did the chat react after I 'died'?" She smiled up at her boyfriend as he wrapped an arm over her shoulders, pulling her closer into his embrace.

"Everyone was filled with joy that you died."-Y/n playfully swatted at him. "Okay, okay! I got a few chat messages of people bashing me for it, but it's fine."

"Well, it's a good thing the chat wasn't completely littered with hate. How was it after my raid?"

"Honestly, not that bad as you expect. Like I said, just a few comments. Nothing bad, I just ignored it." Clay placed a hand on Patches's head, gently scratching her, followed by the animal beginning to purr.

"Good to hear, anyways... I'm not ready to pack. Do you think we can procrastinate?" The h/c girl let out a huff leaning against her boyfriend. "How?"

"I was thinking a bit of movie binging, cuddling, and ordering dinner?" A cheeky smile spread on her face as she spoke.

"It's like you read my mind."

The couple had made it through three movies, by now it was later at night. The sun had set and they had already door dashed some food. By now they were in the middle of watching 'The Empire Strikes Back.'

'I love you.' 'I know.'

The iconic moment between Hans and Leia had been interrupted by the sound of Clay's phone buzzing. "Why is George calling?"

"What?" Y/n was a bit curious herself. Considering the timezones, George should be asleep right now. Pausing the TV, she turned her attention to her boyfriend's phone.

"Hey Clay."

"What's up, George? Isn't it like early in the morning for you?" Clay raised a brow, moving his phone so Y/n would be able to see George as well.

"Yeah, I had to stay up to fix a YouTube video I need to get out today. I was about to go to bed and I checked Twitter-"

"Oh no." Clay made a short joke, only to be cut off by his friend.

"I don't know if it's trending for you in America, but you might as well look."

"What's going on?" He swiped up, taking him to his home screen so he could click on the little blue bird app. Y/n had grabbed her phone from the coffee table, opening up the app as well. "#Cancel Dream... #Y/n... #Dream SMP"

"Is... is Clay getting canceled for killing me in Minecraft?" Y/n scrolled through the tweets involving the hashtag 'Y/n.' She could see plenty of people defending her, but making it much bigger of a problem than it actually was.

"Oh, hey Y/n. But yeah, he is." George chuckled awkwardly, scrolling through his Twitter app as well.

"This is so fucking stupid."

"It really is. So we might as well get this cleared up with the fans as soon as possible. Do you want me to tweet something, or do you want to?" Y/n looked up at her boyfriend, it looked like he was thinking.

"Yeah, I'll tweet it. Don't worry about this, Y/n."

"Alright, whatever you say," she replied, pulling a blanket over her as she waited for Clay to finish typing his response.

"Here's what I'm gonna say: 'I can't believe you guys actually think me and @(y/n) are in an actual fight in real life. We have been good friends since forever, the fight was only roleplay. I love that you guys are so protective of Y/n, but no one's actually upset.' How's that sound?"

"I think that's good," George hummed softly.

"Yeah, I doubt you'll stay 'canceled' once you've explained to them it was all part of the SMP lore." The h/c girl smiled up at her boyfriend with a small nod.

"Alright, I'm gonna post it. George, I think you should go to bed because you're half asleep already."

Y/n turned, looking at her boyfriend's iPhone. "Go to sleep, Gogy!"

"Alright, alright... I'll talk to you guys later." The call had ended with Clay and Y/n saying goodbye to their friend while George simply yawned to them as a response.

As soon as the call was over, Clay looked at the response to his tweet. It didn't seem to be going too well. There had been a few fans who understood what was going on and responded with a paragraph as an apology for the misunderstanding. But most replies had been telling Clay he was bullshitting the fans or that he wasn't being honest.

"I'm sorry, Clay," his girlfriend had huffed as she read through the responses to his tweet.

"Honestly I'm just a bit pissed off. Literally, any time someone tries to 'cancel' me, it's over something stupid. I'm not a bad guy, it just feels like some people just don't want to see me succeed." Clay had excused himself to grab a glass of water from the kitchen.

It hurt Y/n to hear how upset her boyfriend was. He never got too upset over things, but seemed to take a small toll on him. "Hold on. Let me say something." The h/c girl couldn't be asked to post multiple tweets of her response to hate sent towards Clay over the internet. So what was better than a short video that could be posted to the blue bird app?

"Um, hey guys. I'd just like to make this quick. Stop sending hate towards Dream. The fight was roleplay and nothing more. I'm gonna be busy for the next couple of days so Wilbur thought of a good idea to help build SMP lore with me and Dream and we both agreed to the argument. Now stop sending the green man hate, or I'll commit war crimes or something-"

Y/n had been interrupted by the sound of Clay letting out a small giggle. "What? What did I say?"

"Nothing, just keep going with your video."

"Whatever, I'm cool. No matter what Dream says. Anyways, I'll speak to you all later." Y/n had hit the red button again, ending her video. Within seconds, the video had been uploaded to her Twitter account.

Placing her phone back down on the table, Y/n approached her boyfriend, wrapping her arms around his torso. "I'm really sorry about the hate, Clay. I love you."

"Don't apologize for something you can't control. I love you more." The brunette held his partner close, accepting her hug. Y/n always loved his hugs, she always felt so safe in his embrace.

The rest of the night had been spent with more cuddling and more Star Wars movies. Hours had passed before Y/n had even thought about the Twitter situation again. But for some reason, she had decided to look at the app again tonight.

It was 2 in the morning by now, Clay was half asleep. His head laid in the h/c girl's lap as she brushed a hand through his hair, her free hand opening up her Twitter app once again.

It had been a bit of a surprise to see a couple of trending hashtags had changed so quickly. What was trending now was #Dream, #Y/n,#(ship name), and #Dream's Laugh. This had to be about Y/n's short clip she posted. And by the looks of it, people had stopped acting so harsh towards Clay. But instead, they had decided to focus on the fact Dream and Y/n were hanging out together. Not to mention the fact Dream and let out a stupid little giggle because of Y/n. People had been apologizing to him through Twitter for being so hard on him.

"Babe."

"Hm?" Clay mumbled, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Pretty much everyone is apologizing to you over Twitter for being hardasses."

"Hm, that's good to hear."

"You're really tired, huh?" Y/n paused her scrolling to look down at her boyfriend.

"Yeah," He continued to mumble, followed by a short yawn.

"Alright, time for bed, babe." Y/n smiled to herself, beginning to carefully move away from Clay. "I can pack tomorrow and we can laugh over the stupid bird app tomorrow after you've gotten a good amount of sleep."

"I still can't believe Twitter tried canceling me over roleplay."

"I can't believe you got uncancelled by shippers."

Taglist: @notphilosopherstudentblog

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

I wonder how long any further stay I have in this fandom will be.  On one hand, this is the blog on tumblr I post to the most among my blogs.  I have four of them.  One is a Junk Drawer, one is This She-Ra blog, one is a Zelda blog, and one, for anyone interested, is an original stories writeblr.  I’m fixing for the Zelda one to be frequently posted to next month since the Linktober art challenge is a thing and I want to do it - hope I don’t run out of steam doing a drawing a day.  I’ve done Linktober before.  Quite fun, quite challenging.   And I plan to post stuff for a challenge in the She-Ra fandom next month, a series of fanfics that I already have done.   And that’s when I realize I partly did the fanfic challenge out of spite.  I know that the person who issued the challenge, and who handles other challenges for my main ship / sphere in the fandom has me blocked / dislikes me / probably thinks I’d be better off to the world dead.  Meh.  They probably don’t really care about me *that* much, but they’re someone whom I don’t ever recall ever having any personal issues with, but are apparently in a group of people who have put me on the outs and that’s just the way it is.  And I’ve decided if that’s the way it is, I’m gonna stick around the fandom like ants in the kitchen.  Just doing my own thing, too bad your challenge-prompts are reblogged by lots of people and are viewable on the whole of tumblr / don’t take a master hacker to see.  Don’t know if they even care about me doing their prompt fics, but if they are put out by it, it’ll just be frosting on the cake.  They *probably* don’t have a problem with any particular person doing prompt-fills / just don’t care and just don’t want to have any personal contact with me, which is fine, but imagining that they might be mildly annoyed by me doing the prompts and generally being around and feeling petty gives me life.  Spite has gotten me through more shit in life than you can imagine.   And... feeling spiteful is kind of what’s kept me in this fandom.  I do genuinely enjoy the characters, certain ones especially.  I enjoy viewing and collecting fanart, reading fics, especially new voices who weren’t there for some of the great fandom wars.  However, I don’t actually go back to re-watch the show very often and I feel myself pulled into other interests (including that nagging voice in the back of my head whenever I feel I’m fandoming too much of “shouldn’t you work on something you fully own? Even if you’re just putting it out for free on the writeblr?”)   It’s like, I’m fiddling around with a retro video game right now, Zelda fandom is going NUTS because of a new game release date announcement. One of my old favorite animes, which was a major fandom for me for a long time is getting a remaster next year.   And at the end of the day, I feel like I’ve seen every flavor of Entrapdak done five ways to Sunday, I like Catradora and Glimmadora, etc. but they were never my main-enthusiasm ships (you know... lacking that mad science energy I vibed with).  I almost feel like there’s nothing new left that I or anyone else can give to this ship - just a lot if similar plots cycling over and over again with a few standouts of Really Good Fic and Really Good Art mostly from the fresh voices.  Clone fandom, too... okay, let’s level. It’s always been weird.  Weird on top of weird on top of weird.  I’m not even talking about my own contributions.  The inside jokes are odd, sometimes unsettling, a lot of the drama people write and draw is unsettling (which is to be expected, actually, when you explore their predicament more than the show did).  A lot of it was always sexualized in a way I always felt odd about (not all the fans, but...quite a lot).  And Prime-simps outright scare me.  (I don’t think it’s wrong or bad in any way, I just... personal vibes for me).   Writing from prompts has shown me that, yeah, it’s fun, but also restraining.  My favorite of my latest batch of stories involves a plot that is blatantly out of character for the nature of the canon, but I needed to do it to make the plot idea I had work.  And I feel almost as if I’ve just made my favorite characters more “my own” than what is canonical - basically Fandom Syndrome.  I am having fun discussions in this fandom, and I do have a weird crossover I’ve been mulling over, but I feel like some of my spite is waning and the original interest I had is waning, too.  I’ve been in this fandom a long time - not nearly as long as others (I’ve been a Zelda-nerd for over a literal decade), but this fandom isn’t really... ongoing, nothing fresh and only so many ways to play with what’s there before you’re tired of eating the same food all the time. I was a fan of Spop from the first season, lured in by being a nostalgia-fan of the original who wanted to see what the new show was going to do to my childhood.  And then I stayed for Entrapta. Was impressed with Hordak’s upgrae from the get-go, got into him later into the series. I was *here* and doing *fanart* and writing *fanfic* before a lot of the Big Name fans showed up.  I was shipping Entrapdak as a lark / crackship since Season 2.   I’ve been...here... for a while.  And, in part, I feel like “that old, lame, smelly dog everyone wants to put down.”  *Shrug.*    I definitely will not leave the fandom on anything less than my own terms.  With fandoms I am no longer in I’ve never just quit them.  I’ve always kind of petered out and faded off as my interests changed, with it happening gradually.   I feel like I’m sticking around in this one out of spite, but I ‘m watching the light of day change.