#Robot Roundup

[cryptic-forge]

a robot girl roundup, just for fun. features my original sculpts, monster high customs, and kitbashes. also features the fact i don't really own any props that go with robots, so it is Ring Lights Or Nothing. might have to invest in some scifi props, because i'm definitely going to keep making robots.

[adventure-showdown]

Series 15 Roundup:

Episode Rankings:

By original score:

The Story and the Engine

The Well

Lux

The Interstellar Song Contest

The Robot Revolution

Wish World

Lucky Day

The Reality War

By week on score:

The Story and the Engine

The Well

Lux

The Robot Revolution

Lucky Day

The Interstellar Song Contest

Wish World

The Reality War

Overall Maximums, Minimums and Averages

highest original rating: The Story and the Engine, 8.34

highest week on rating: The Story and the Engine, 8.4

lowest original rating: The Reality War, 3.47

lowest week on rating: The Reality War, 2.96

average original rating: 6.91 (7.48 excluding the final two episodes)

average week on score: 6.46 (7.19 excluding the final two episodes)

series rating: 5.86

How does this stack up with the rest of the era?

[yikes, does that make things look bad]

Episode Rankings:

By original score:

The Star Beast

Wild Blue Yonder

Rogue

The Story and the Engine

Boom

The Well

The Legend of Ruby Sunday

Lux

73 Yards

Dot and Bubble

The Giggle

The Devil's Chord

The Church on Ruby Road

The Interstellar Song Contest

The Robot Revolution

Wish World

Empire of Death

Joy to the World

Space Babies

Lucky Day

The Reality War

By week on score (note, the christmas specials were not polled):

Wild Blue Yonder

The Story and the Engine

Rogue

Boom

73 Yards

The Well

Dot and Bubble

The Star Beast

Lux

The Giggle

The Legend of Ruby Sunday

The Devil's Chord

The Robot Revolution

Lucky Day

The Interstellar Song Contest

Empire of Death

Space Babies

Wish World

The Reality War

Averages:

60th Specials: Original - 8.44, Week on - 8.07

Series 14: Original - 7.61, Week on - 7.34, Overall - 6.98

Series 15: Original - 6.91, Week on - 6.46, Overall - 5.86

My thoughts:

Series 15 is clearly by far the weakest, however it is safe to assume these results are skewed by the abysmal finale, excluding the polls for the final two episodes the results are much closer to, though still below those of series 14

I would like to specifically point out the results of The Reality War, no other story, across the whole era, recieved a score of less than 6 the first go around, and only two (Wish World and Space Babies, and even then just barely) scored less than a 6 the second time around, The Reality War managed half of that. Additionally, the lowest previous mode of 6 belonged to Space Babies on only its follow up poll, The Reality War has a mode of 1, and the second highest levels of agreement across any previously conducted. Aside from Wild Blue Yonder, the most popular options on any given poll fall between 20 and 35%, The Reality War was scored a 1 by around 40% of people. The dislike for the episode cannot be understated

Episode Breakdown

The Robot Revolution (Original) mean: 6.93, mode: 7 (31%)

The Robot Revolution (Week on) mean: 6.75, mode: 7 (30.5%)

Lux (Original) mean: 7.88, mode: 8 (31.9%)

Lux (Week on) mean: 7.48, mode: 8 (30.6%)

The Well (Original) mean: 8.26, mode: 9 (30.6%)

The Well (Week on) mean: 7.90, mode: 8 (33.6%)

Lucky Day (Original) mean: 6.43, mode: 7 (23%)

Lucky Day (Week on) mean: 6.30, mode: 7 (33.7%)

The Story and the Engine (Original) mean: 8.34, mode: 9 (27.3%)

The Story and the Engine (Week on) mean: 8.40, mode: 8 (28.1%)

The Interstellar Song Contest (Original) mean: 7.00, mode: 8 (22.2%)

The Interstellar Song Contest (Week on) mean: 6.28, mode: 8 (20.7%)

Wish World (Original) mean: 6.93, mode: 9 (19.8%)

Wish World (Week on) mean: 5.62, mode: 7 (22.1%)

The Reality War (Original) mean: 3.47, mode: 1 (39.4%)

The Reality War (Week on) mean: 2.96, mode: 1 (39.8%)

series as a whole mean: 5.86, mode: 7 (26.8%)

[archivaltrigger]

Luigi Mangione: Gilman yearbooks 2010-2016

Part 2: 2013-2014 — Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4

2013 - Ninth Grade

Main yearbook photo

Roundup of the Ninth Grade's favorites

Gilman House Cup competitions

Athletics: Soccer - Wrestling - Track

Water balloon fight

2014 - 10th Grade

Main yearbook photo

Clubs: Robotics

Athletics: Track

Upper School Awards: The William S. Thomas Prize (for the Valedictorian)

Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4

[methbayprisonblues]

Dndads Omegaverse Poll Roundup #5

we have our Gutteral Screams pack!

our alphas

Kelsey Grammar and Trudy Trout

our betas

Francis Farnsworth and Blake Lively

and our omega

Tony Collette

Kelsey had next to no competition, she is truly the alpha

Trudy had lots of fun complexities to consider, pre and post robot, tuckers influence, if she would even have a dynamic anymore

Francis wavered between beta and omega

Blake wavered between alpha and beta

and catboy Tony never stood a chance at not being an omega

[betterbemeta]

I am kind of getting a sense of dread even halfway through season 1 of Transformers Earthspark (regarded to be the best season). It's definitely an improved take on trying to involve Children in a show about toys for Children than usual. but,

I know after this season we're not following up on the US Government hunting down and incarcerating undocumented individuals and Optimus Prime agreeing this is fine as some kind of war reparation/peace agreement (which implies that the US Government is applying force, and we're never going to address this)

I appreciate the Maltos, especially the parents, but going from Two Kids to Many Kids really quickly is... I know it's to sell toys I KNOW IT'S TO SELL TOYS but,,,,

On the topic of the Malto parents, the story kind of dismisses that they are isolated as much as their kids are by the move to Witwicky. I understand that because it's a cartoon for kids (non-robot) adults will not be a primary focus, but adults do not cease to need lives once they have kids and/or a job. We don't see Megatron enough at first to believe he satisfies Dot's need for socialization and Alex hasn't had much opportunity to talk to other adults at all (?) except for Bumblebee, which is played as a joke. need for gym buddy or bowling team: CRITICAL

The education the Maltobots initially receive, um, the pedagogy. Oh boy. I understand that the transformers TOYS are sold as Fightin' Robots but it feels bad to give the 'becoming a stable person' lessons to the human family and then switch right over to 'stalking the enemy and capturing objectives' EVEN IF kids will interpret this as a Fun Game.

Bumblebee should not have been assigned to be a teacher i dont care how fanservice he is. Optimus do not force unsocialized children to resocialize bumblebee, I'm calling a social worker

Do autobots have any life other than hunting down other robots? Was there any plan for peaceful participation in society or is the USG's plan (not just 'GHOST', but, a responsible state's) just to give them Robot Roundup jobs and once everyone is rounded up, um, contain them? Is anyone going to talk about this? That seems bad to me.

Maybe characters should listen to Megatron more and not just consider his heel face turn useful against an 'enemy.' I could make a whole post on this by itself its rubbing me the wrong way.

I don't know how I feel about the robot empathy gloves. If caring about others' feelings is so important, there sure is a lot of plot about dismissing those feelings or shortcutting past those feelings. Dragon Rider Empathy is a common trope for YA media but that's an entire person who deserves independence you're connected to.

I am extremely sick of shows that are about teaching children how to behave, that feature serious issues that actually should NOT be approached with Behaving and being a Good Compliant Kid. I am sure that GHOST (and, 'the USG?') would like all of The Transformers to Be Good and Behave and their method is to throw the ones they cannot enslave-- I doubt Optimus Prime is getting 'paid' for assisting Robot ICE, and it's heavily implied his participation is coerced-- into a prison situation that would qualify as a war crime.

Now like. Don't take this for me saying that the show itself is bad or that it 'should' be a different show. These are just things I notice in the show that are at odds with its obvious intended tone, and not in a "that's the conflict!" way. Many of these things ARE 'the conflict' but elements of them the audience (kids!) is expected to uncritically accept are... um... not playing nice with the parts that are obviously intended to be "the problem."

[being-of-rain]

Real quick before the next Dr Who episode drops! I haven't written up thoughts on the last few eps on my blog, partly because I just didn't have a lot to say. So here's a speedy thought-roundup.

Joy to the World was okay. I didn't have many strong feelings about it. Its choice to go on a ten-minute tangent about the Doctor living on Earth for a year just when the story was getting going was really interesting. Trev was great, but I did kinda laugh at how intensely they went on his melodramatic death when he'd been a comic relief character for ten minutes 😂 For this reason when I was watching Lux, I was reminded of him by the fans. I also rolled my eyes when I realised what the ending of the last scene was going to be. Maybe that was Moffat's way of atoning for going so hard against religion in some of his other episodes. Oh, and when I saw a clickbait headline about Joy to the World having a stealth James Bond crossover, I thought there's no way that's true. But it was, to more of an extent than I realised; look it up if you didn't know. I have to assume that was Moffat dealing with the fact he probably won't ever writer a James Bond movie.

The Robot Revolution was fun. I agree with other people that maybe it could've used a bit more polishing, but overall I enjoyed it. I'm already hooked by Belinda in ways I never was by Ruby, I love that she's more wary of the Doctor and just wants to go home (I've seen lots of references to Tegan and a few to Ian and Barbara, but since I'm reading through the EDAs my first comparison was with Anji.) I think it's interesting to introduce a second pseudo-companion in two episodes who spent months with the Doctor mostly off-screen, but this time to kill her off immediately as a way of shaping the actual new companion's thoughts about the whole thing. I'm also interested by the Doctor having met Belinda already, probably something that we'll see at the end of the season. The paradox time warp sequence was easily one of my favourite parts, it looked sooo good. And afterwards Gatwa acts like he's on a sugar rush. His moving and groving this season has been really funny to watch, and it feels like he's coming into his own as the Doctor. Great aesthetics this episode too, from the retrofuturism-looking alien city to the Doctor and Belinda in browns and beiges in the makeshift rebel shelter. And finally, I guess this is the first major New Who companion introduction to mostly take place away from Earth (not counting Martha on Earth's moon). New Who would rather do anything other than give us a major companion not from contemporary England.

Lux was fantastic! I mean, I still don't think RTD really grasps how to write a god with a solid theme (Lux spent more time acting like the god of cinema than light) or an airtight ending (maybe I need to rewatch, but the idea that if the sun ever shines on Lux he'll stop being a problem really feels like it takes away a lot of his threat). And it's ironic that the Doctor becomes a more a three-dimensional character by trotting out the same angst line that he's been using for literally twenty years. But goshdarnit did I have fun anyway. It's easy to compare this ep to The Devil's Chord from last year, and in that comparison I think Lux handily comes out on top. I was laughing in delight at all the goofy bits like the cartoon characters and fourth wall-breaking, and Mr Ring-a-Ding himself! His animation was so so good, and when he started becoming 3D I was very amused (and then horrified). The Doctor Who fans also made me laugh, even though they were cheesy and couldn't help but touch on the old negative stereotypes that fans of RTD's generation will seemingly never be able to let go of. I've seen people complain, but the Blink joke really landed with me. Belinda getting used to the Doctor continues to be great, and I hope they still chafe a fair amount after this ep. You know I love a companion/Doctor relationship that's even slightly antagonistic. Also... Verada Sethu's arms in her 1952 dress 😳

Like other fans, I assume RTD will bring back another Classic Who villain or concept for the finale, since that's been a pattern the last two years. And I assume I won't find the finale very good, since that's also been a pattern the last two years. I can't say Mrs Flood and speculating about her holds much interest to me either, since it feels likely to me that the answer won't be particularly satisfying. But! Despite all that, I'm really enjoying the current season so far. Gatwa's being goofy, Belinda's being beguiling, and I'm curious to see where their relationship goes. If memory serves, RTD has said I'll want to avoid spoilers for episode 3, so I'm looking forward to the next ep!

[kamil-a]

YEAR OF THE ROBOT ROUNDUP!!

happy new year!!! here's my summary of all that robot media ive been looking at this year!!!

[jariten]

November-December 2024 roundup!!

Happy New Year to everyone reading this! Wow!! What a year. But my personal year end roundup is still WIP so let's catch up on the months I missed instead.

I never shared my thoughts on the Who's Afraid of Kanako Inuki collection Kodansha USA published a few years back. I loved getting introduced to her but the selection itself I found a little bit weak overall but I got some more tastes this year with the Horror Anthology Comic Shikaku collection and found her stories to be among the best so I am totally open to checking out more. But what I liked the most about 'Who's Afraid' was her writings about her favorite manga and the artists who inspired her the most. Which pointed me to Ushiro no Hyakutaro by Jirou Tsunoda. Note that I didn't read the complete series but an anniversary compilation of some of the "best" stories from the series. First thing that struck me was wow, this is like Mob Psycho played completely straight. Some scenes were like the Reigen fraudster scenes but like there is no fraud because our hero's father does not fuck around when it comes to the supernatural, its serious business. And the second is how truly instructional and educational it is. It teaches the reader how they can train their latent supernatural powers, there's even a scene responding to a readers question on how to talk back to your teacher when they claim that the supernatural is not real, and presents genuinely thorough research on the super- and paranormal. In between these things is an exciting manga about ghosts, possessions, humans who use ESP for evil, and even a journey to the realm of the dead. And a sassy (telepathic) talking dog sidekick. I don't know if I will ever go out of my way for the full series but I'm happy I got a taste of what it had to offer.

When 2024 didn't turn out as yuriful as 2023 I made some last ditch efforts to read the yuri and lesbian offerings I have yet to read and Catch These Hands! by murata was an obvious pick. The series follow the instant inductees into my personal failwoman hall of fame. I love adult yuri, I love when both parts of a romance are equally socially incompetent but in different ways, and I found the conclusion to be really wonderful. Merry Yurimas to ME!

Ohayou! Spank by Shizue Takanashi and Shunichi Yukimuro is one of those like obvious Kodansha multimedia efforts that successfully sold Spank toys and related merchandise. But it's always nice though when the manga attached to these projects is pretty good and funny. I liked that Spank is more of a charming sidekick who moves the story along and sometimes gets to be the main character. It's not hugely remarkable beyond Spank's presence (and an abrupt protagonist switch around the halfway point??) but I am a humble enjoyer of tween manga like this that explores familial relations, first loves, and friendships. I just really enjoyed myself.

Price-wise I can't really win with Kazuo Umezz (Rest in peace, another great loss in 2024...) since his works go for premium prices both in the english and japanese market. A lot factors have made My Name Is Shingo one of the most expensive for me to collect in english but my godddd I'm too hooked. This is such a like not quite sci-fi not quite pure fantasy take on the sentient robot story that feels so unpredictable and is deeply suspenseful. Not in small thanks to Umezz's trademark art style. There's something extremely hypnotic about how Umezz constructs the flow of action. Had it been anyone else watching a character spend 1-2 pages just walking from A to B would be so excessive. The only word I can think of is hypnotic and suspenseful. And the spreads that visually represents Monroe's computer mind let's talk about those spreads. I haven't seen anything else like them personally and I can barely wrap my head around how they were drawn analogue and much less with a deadline. I'm very excited for the rest but will be shedding tears whenever I see the price at the register.

[baronvonriktenstein]

lately i got into transformers and wowiee it's literal toxic ship heaven! these robots are out here being million year old alien war criminals and I've never been happier. it was weird at first because the fandom is very horny and I've never been into mecha but the creativity the fans get with them was amazing! it even got me to write some fics after I abandoned writing for almost a year. obsessed with megatron/optimus rn these two are divorcing in every continuity.

can you get more on your own ships? would love to hear about them!!

Ooo that sounds fun!! Alien war criminal love is peak!! >:3c I don't know much about transformers but I gotta gather that it's fandom is something special with it being ongoing for so long. (Side note, I was looking up my OC's name "Juniper Strand" on DuckDuckGo just to see if it was used already and found a Transformers fanfic from 2006 a few months ago which was very jarring but I remembered that detail!!) I'm so glad it got your writing juices flowing again!! ;w; Love the divorced enemies vibes <3 <3 Are they engaged in battle for eternity? Is that the thing??? <3 <3 <3

Ohhh I have plenty of ships that are problematic or toxic in their own way but I guess I'll do a quick roundup of the ones in the tags for that post hmmmmm

Yami Bakura x Ryou Bakura (Yugioh) since it's my current thing. I mean Y. Bakura is an evil spirit possessing Ryou's body and does canonically take over his body, injure it for his own gains, and torment his friends for... his own means. It's just kind of inherently toxic and manipulative and abusive and I still love exploring fanfics for it (both canon compliant and cute haha)

Kazutaka Muraki x Yutaka Watari (Yami no Matsuei): Ok so like a lot of ships in that series are probably toxic ESPECIALLY in regards to Muraki. He and Watari do not really interact much in canon at all. It's more the uhhh possibilities. Muraki is the antagonist to Watari's crew, has raped and murdered one of his friends (who was a child btw), and is constantly seeking out and harming another friend. I think if they got together there'd be a lot of bullshit and ALSO I don't know Muraki WOULD use Watari and also there'd be violence. :3 Watari's also known to drug his friends for experiments for funsies (but since they're all dead it's like nbd right lol) Anyway they have a lot of potential for extremely manipulative "cat and also cat" bullshit.

Seishiro Sakurazuka x Subaru Sumeragi (Tokyo Babylon & X/1999) ok. They are canonically fucked up. Subaru was 16 and Seishiro was about 25 when they started palling around which is honestly the least shit regarding their relationship tbh. Seishiro lied to him for like that whole year and then ultimately attempted to murder him (and this is all after a bet set up years prior when they were younger) haha and THEN Seishiro killed Subaru's sister (she asked him to, it's complicated) . And even after all of it Subaru still loves him and wants to be killed by him? It's soooooooooooo There is not a single universe where they're good for each other but also not a universe where they're not meant to be lol. There's another universe regarding them that CLAMP wrote but even then one is chasing the other. It's wild

John Harrison (Khan Noonien Singh) x Pavel Chekov (Star Trek Beyond ((This means specifically the movie universe by JJ Abrams lol)): Actually it's been a long time since I've thought about them since I left Star Trek behind for emotional reasons haha. Idk they're brought up because when I was really into those movies, I shipped Chekov with everybody including John Harrison (I don't really prefer to refer to the Benedict Cumberbatch character as Khan for reasons) because I just did that. So age gap aside (since that was a thing for... every ship. l.... let's be real) I mean John Harrison is the antagonist and it just.... it feels bad. it's low on this list because I can't remember what it was about John Harrison specifically other than he killed people for uhhh mostly pretty understandable reasons so I guess they don't belong on this list unless I rewatch those movies again haha

apologies i've just kinda let my mind run away with this

[sybaritick]

and speaking of year-end roundups, one of the things ik i am associated with on here is the kink concept posts. here are 10 from 2024! you can now vote on your favorite! (which i would like to expand into a little original-work oneshot!)

building better catboys / our pretentious designer breed Anyway I totally shouldn't talk about this here but some catfolk protection NGO sent us one of those lawyer threat form letters because of the non-domestic feline intermixture and some unapproved genemods the shop did for us for some neuro and behavioral stuff. I chucked the first one assuming they weren't serious and they sent another that seems a little more concerning but I doubt they'll really do anything. Anything the shop did is gonna get approved in another 5 years I'm sure and if they don't it's because of the hybrid personhood lobby as usual. They sent a letter here addressed to her too, which is hilarious, but obviously I just kept it. I mean she'd understand it if she read it but I don't think she would really get the extent to which it's pure propaganda. They wanna recruit these hybrids as easily-led sympathetic mouthpieces to parrot their own viewpoint-- you know how it is. She deserves better than being used as somebody's pawn.

we really ought to sexualize transition more and that he's horny all the time from the testosterone ofc. horny/hungry/sweaty/face down rutting his sensitive little tdick against a pillow feeling the increasing pudginess of his belly squished up against the mattress

solarpunk girlfriend parts 1/2/3 accepting the Most Boringly Het-Brained Man On Tumblr award for the first example of something sexy I can think of being "woman wearing a sundress," then immediately having to forfeit the award due to subsequent explanation that I find the deficiencies and elisions in her politics sexually attractive because they are exploitable

updates on your cyborg girlfriend tbh if you have a robot or sufficiently-cyborg girlfriend and you're not regularly trying to get in there to get finer-tuned control I think you're doing her a disservice. if it is at all possible for someone to mind-control her they eventually will. take on this responsibility yourself and get there first.

mothboy colonialism the jewel of the collection is the mothboy mounted to the back wall, shackled behind the plexiglass with their hands above their head to better display the musculature of the specimen. a short heavy chain hangs between the leg irons, almost touching the polished wood beneath; the diaphanous wings are spread wide and pinned back with two dozen long t-pins, arranged precisely as not to obscure the view of them.

Click here to disobey. do you see how it erodes the capacity for genuine dissent? do you see how reinforcing the lesson that you can Choose Disobedience, Click Here is a wonderful way of capturing more and more of the energy and organization that could otherwise be used to do things that might actually loosen your grip? to narrow their perception of viable methods of escape to a tactic that will leave them marked and isolated and digestible? does it turn you on?

cal's take on the "drug that makes you fat" feedism trope anyway 'ts like catnip to her. who would not daydream about declawing him and keeping him as a trophy. he's soooo paranoid about accidentally taking a good few doses of this little concoction in his food. it's not like it'll make you forget about this little crusade! at worst you'll put on a few pounds and find yourself with a bit more of a french fry habit. what's the harm, hm? is it really worth being such a conspiracist? sorry, with a schedule like hers the only time she's available to talk this week is for a lunch meeting, but she knows a good place...

rabbitgirl considers collaborating with the occupiers She was raised with the standards that rabbits should be slender and quiet and quick, none of which she has ever met, even in childhood. But by the weasels that remain to keep order she is constantly singled out for jealousy-inducing special treatment; she luxuriates in being the one who is always afforded extra food or leniency or the clothes and jewelry of the invaders that fancy themselves their new masters, the vole-pelt cloak and the heavy wool skirt with its gleaming brass buttons and promises to keep her warm through the coming winter.

forcefem admin friendly good-cop admin at the forcefem reeducation facility who has a lighter touch censoring your letters home and lets you sneak in your silly masculine action movies and nods along when you insist you'll never submit but does record it all in your file just so i can let medical know which of you needs a little extra pharmaceutical attention

"deradicalization" i really have to eventually write some horror-adjacent ""deradicalization"" fic because I have thought about it a few too many times. i would have to put a bit of thought into what sort of political angle i want to come at it from, because while the obvious choice is overt fascism i think this could be a lot more interesting if it's not all that different from a modern liberal democracy. you do not need to look very hard to find some insane things the FBI has done infiltrating leftist organizations/COINTELPRO/etc. following some sort of major domestic unrest i think throwing a bunch of only tangentially involved blue-haired college students and disaffected youths at some sort of pseudo-mandatory (ie: not literally mandatory because that brings a court case upon you, but something like your driver's license or returning to college for the college kids is gated behind it) """therapy""" intended to remove them from the "cult" they have gotten themselves into.

[azspot]

Observers were quick to point out it sounded like the Optimus robots were simply voiced and controlled by humans hidden somewhere nearby. Tesla fans responded to those comments defiantly, but they were true. Robert Scoble, best known for his photo wearing Google Glass in the shower, posted to Twitter/X that he had it confirmed that the voices were those of Tesla employees, who were also remotely controlling the actions of the robots as they worked the bar. Tesla has even showed off how the robots can be controlled by humans wearing haptic suits in the past. Elon Musk is trying to convince investors and his cult that humanoid robots capable of doing virtually anything you ask are right around the corner. As usual, he’s trying to deceive everyone with a vision that won’t arrive for many years, if it’s ever realized at all.

Roundup: Elon Musk’s dream of robot slaves isn’t coming soon

[setokaibapetty]

5 + 1 Fic Friday Roundup: Pet Parents

Some fics that feature a character with a small creature(s) to care for/dote on.

Tookas Adopt the Coruscant Guard (AO3) - "How Cucumber Salad and his siblings saved the Guard and ended the war."

Her Majesty, Alor of Torrent, First of Her Name and Scourge of Mousedriods (AO3) - "Jesse finds a tooka on a covert scout mission. She insists on following him back to the ship. The Alor has spoken."

Whisker Me Away (AO3) - "Or, Adding new cats to his cat cafe clowder never failed to be a unique experience. What Keigo hadn't expected was the convoluted back story his newest cat possessed, or that the former owner wanted his cat back." Set to Private

Paws for Thought (AO3) - "In which Dorian, despite his best efforts, acquires a cat."

One and Done (AO3) - "As an orphan on Earth, Brigid Shepard was doing fine on her own - until the universe bestowed upon her a friend in need. Years later, during sleepless nights watching the FTL distortion across the blast shield of the Normandy, she tells the best pilot in the Alliance all about Hunter and the metaphor takes on a life of its own. It takes a while before either of them realizes they're not really talking about the cat."

Bonus: We Are Robot (AO3) - "A Roomba does not exactly meet the standard definition of a pet, but if Legion is satisfied with the way things are going, then so is Shepard. She's just got to do her part to make sure no one else accidentally steps on the thing. Pure, unadulterated fluff, featuring Legion, a Roomba, and the crew of the Normandy."

[pokimoko]

Poki's Top 10s for 2024

Just like I did last year, here's a roundup of all the new pieces of media (as in, media I started and/or finished for the first time within this year) I enjoyed the most in 2024, if only to keep a record for my future self (and also, y'know, recommend some stuff in the process).

Top 10 TV Shows:

Ghosts (UK)

Around the World in 80 Days

Interview with the Vampire

Dungeon Meshi

A Gentleman in Moscow

This is Going to Hurt

Amphibia

Kaos

The Outlaws

Agatha All Along

(Honourable mentions of shows I didn't watch for the first time this year but enjoyed immensely in 2024 go to: 'Gravity Falls', 'Arcane' and 'Heartstopper')

Top 10 Movies:

Bottoms

Wonka

The Imaginary

Robot Dreams

The Shape of Water

The Wild Robot

My Old Ass

Wicked

A Knight's Tale

Flow

Top 10 Video Games

Baldur's Gate 3

In Stars and Time

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical

Hades

Dredge

Disco Elysium

South of the Circle

Slay the Princess

Neva

Life is Strange: Double Exposure

Top 10 Books/Graphic Novels

'Peter Darling' by Austin Chant

'The Greatest Thing' by Sarah Winifred Searle

'Legends & Lattes' by Travis Baldree

'Under the Whispering Door' by T.J. Klune

'Circe' by Madeline Miller

'The Book Eaters' by Sunyi Dean

'Convenience Store Woman' by Sayaka Murata

'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewski

'Gravity Falls: Lost Legends' by Alex Hirsch et al.

'The Quiet and the Loud' by Helena Fox

Top 10 Podcasts/Audio Dramas

Altheya: The Dragon Empire (High Rollers DnD)

The Magnus Protocol

Inn Between

Doctor Who: The 10th Doctor Adventures, Volume 1

Monstrous Agonies

Wooden Overcoats

Camp Here and There

Fawx and Stallion

Booty: High Seas, Low Expectations (Hat Films D&D)

Nights of Eveningstar (Dungeons & Dragons)

That's it for 2024. Here's to many more wonderful stories in 2025!

[ancientphantom]

It's time for another roundup and, weirdly, it's another tiny one!

Angel's Fall by Jessica Mason is the final novel in Mason's period Erik & Christine romantic trilogy, and promises plenty of romantic drama.

And lest we forget our audiobookers, two new options for them!

Steel Phantom by James J. Caterino has shown up here before as a screenplay, but this is the novel form, and it also has an audiobook option. I'm not sure how much I can recommend it - it looks like it might be auto-generated from text-to-speech technology, which is usually pretty robotic - but it's out there!

Finally, Audible has a new audiobook reading of Leroux's original novel narrated by Simen Esther, so if you're one of those folks that loves to compare and contrast, go for it!

And that's genuinely it for February. The romances must be stuck in the processing queue somewhere.

[shimakaze-revivalism]

this year i've been doing a lot of stuff that i didn't mean to do, and not doing a lot of stuff that i did mean to do. i got involved with the kink scene, i deepened my familiarity with carbonated beverages, i ate a lot of fried chicken sandwiches, i started reading again, and i played a lot of gacha.

and speaking of gacha, the only one that stuck with me from the decent-sized crop that i sampled this year was mihoyo's zenless zone zero! what to say about it . . . it's a Real Game, for one. it manages to shed the unsheddable "rubbishy" feel that is almost universal to gacha. its premise is like if andy and leyley were normal and worked as shadowrun hackers in jet set radio tokyo, in a semi-apocalyptic world where the only people around are orphans, anthros, or both. there are also sentient automatons that have cool outfits, and chubby baby bunny robots, but unfortunately neither of them have rights. it's got a really cool soundtrack, a charming spiderversesque look, and characters i found surprisingly compelling.

new music! well, new to me at least. you know ben and jerry's cherry garcia (possibly the most prominent contemporary cherry-focused ice cream flavor)? well jerry garcia was a guy who had this band that old men loved called the grateful dead. and well, i don't really care for what i've heard of their records to be honest. but it must be said that they were a jam band, and the 16 minute terrapin station gives one a taste of what i assume was the sensory height of a real-life hippy's experience, and i can imagine listening to it for decades to come.

indeed, if one wants a meal in the proggy realm rather than a bite, it's best to look to the guys that do that stuff all the time across the pond. Morgan put me on to electric wizard and their impeccable self-titled album has been in heavy rotation since. jackie put me on to yes' album relayer, and the first track provides the rarefied pleasure of hearing the singer of the irrepressibly lighthearted and goofy jojo anime ED "roundabout" trill about bathing in the blood of one's enemies.

in more occasional listening i have to rep my oshi 星街彗星 (hoshimachi suisei). her consistently strong body of work ranges from saccharine, to heartfelt, to sort of diva-core. listen, it's increasingly popular to reference hatsune miku, and it's often done with a sort of surface-level appreciation of miku, riding off of the long history miku has in overseas otaku culture. i myself have participated in this. but step outside the bit with me here. miku is a synth, an instrument. miku has all the humanity of the DX7. in fact that's what her color scheme is based on (because yamaha made both miku and the DX7)! hoshimachi suisei . . . listen, maybe people aren't ready. but she really is a virtual pop star. she's iconic. she's got a sigma grindset. she has a favorite food and a sister and friends and it's not lore it's reality. she's not a prop owned by a company, but an autonomous performer! miku is a virtual girl. suisei has a virtual face, but she's a real woman with a real dream! won't you believe in it?

staying with japanese affairs for a moment, anime has been good too! gushing over magical girls, perfect show, hannibal for anime girls, delightful and heartfelt. i also watched the vexations of a shut-in vampire princess, which was frenetic, lightning fast and kind of stupid, but i eagerly await another season. both extremely lesbian.

looking ahead, i'm extremely excited for the release of the alters, a game whose demo caught me completely off-guard, and i'm also excited to try the early access release of marmoreal, a sort of isometric completely touhoucore game with so much charm and sincerity.

that's my little roundup! have a great september!

[tyrantisterror]

At Sea Without a Map Week 5 Roundup

Read the Chapter 1: Deadset on Getting Fishy roundup here!

Read the Chapter 2: Tree Storks roundup here!

Read the Chapter 3: The Seaship Graveyard roundup here!

Read the Chapter 4: Tiger Boat roundup here!

Well gang, we're five weeks in and halfway through At Sea Without a Map! And it was a rather eventful week, too - we finally met another human (albeit one who turned himself into a brain in a jar piloting a robot body) and learned a lot about the nature of the Sea of Monsters, even if some of it went over our poor Sailor's head. We were also saved from getting a body-ectomy from the mad scientist when Calibani had a stress-induced evolution to save us from harm, sort of like that Digimon episode where Agumon forces himself to turn into SkullGreymon and goes berserk. You know Digimon, right ? No? Jesus, get some culture.

It was pretty stressful, but it got Sailor and Calibani to talk about some of the human/monster tension in their friendship that they'd both been dancing around till now, and in many ways it seems like the two have only gotten closer. Which brings up a question Sailor may not be ready to ask: do they even want to go home?

Oh well, we've got five more weeks IRL to figure that out! For now, catch up on this week, hencforth known as Chapter 5: The Madman and the Monster, with the links below! And of course there will be some concept art after the cut!

Part 27

Part 28

Part 29

Part 30

Part 31

Part 32

Part 33

As one of you guessed, Dr. Neptune's lower body is in fact designed to look like an anchor. I wanted him to kind of feel like a nautical scarecrow in addition to being a classic mad scientist.