#all i know for sure is when switch 2 is out and daddy nintendo is paying less attention to switch 1 i'm going to look at modding

[madeimpact]

If Final Smashes still worked the way they did in Brawl/3DS/WiiU you know Sora's would've been a drive / formchange

[softest-cinnamon-roll]

Au prompt for reddie #2 please ❤️❤️

Prompt taken from this list that I created! 

2. Road Trip AU

Also written for day 7 of the @itfandomprompts - Domestic AU 

AO3

warning: mentions of abuse and child neglect. 

* * * * * 

“Alright everyone! Get in the car or we’ll leave you behind!” Richie called through his megaphone as two eight year olds rushed out the house, backpacks in tow. They were grinning from ear to ear as they came to a stop next to Richie before climbing into the car.

Ollie was always first, as he was the oldest and often claimed that he had priority over everything. Grace, the youngest by one and a half minutes, didn’t mind too much about her brothers insistence to be first, as she much preferred to lag behind and enjoy things at a slower pace.

Richie loved his kids no matter what though, and this was one way to show it. They had never been on a family vacation before, at least not out of the state of California, as the kids were too young to remember anything. Now they were older though, and were able to retain memories, so after a long conversation, a road trip across the country to New York was planned.

“Ollie did you remember your spare inhaler?” Eddie asked as he walked out of the house last, locking the door to their three bedroom semi-detached home behind him. At first, when Ollie was diagnosed with asthma, Eddie had been scared, after all he had been told his whole life that he had asthma when he, in fact, didn’t.

Richie leaned in the car to see if his son had caught Eddie’s question to find him rummaging in his backpack and pulling out the two spare inhalers. “Yes, papa!” He called back and Richie gave Eddie the thumbs up before closing the car door.

When Eddie reached him, he wrapped his arms around Richie’s neck and pecked him on the lips, laughing as the sounds of ‘ewww’ echoed from the back seat of their car. “We’re really doing this huh?” Eddie asked and Richie nodded his head.

“Come on, Eds. It’ll be fun. Where’s your sense of adventure?” Richie teased, flicking his nose and pulling back, making his way around to the drivers side. “Anyway, the kids are desperate to see their Grandpa Went and Grandma Maggie, as well as all their aunts and uncles.”

Eddie sighed, a smile still on his face as he checked over everything for the upteenth time before sliding into the passenger side. They had decided that they would take turns driving, six hours each until they reached their final destination. Which was Derry, Maine.

They hadn’t been back to their childhood hometown since they graduated High School. The day after graduation, Eddie had packed a bag and jumped into Richie’s old truck and they were out of there, heading straight for California. On their way, they stopped at Vegas and in a very cliche manner, had gotten married in a gunshot wedding.

Now twelve years later they were still going strong, still as much in love with each other and with two eight year old twins that they adored with everything they had. Their life was pretty perfect.

Of course, Maggie and Went flew out to visit their family every year, but flight prices were increasing and Richie’s parents were getting older. Therefore this year the two of them decided that they would take the plunge and visit them in Derry, as well as stopping by to visit Stan and Mike, Ben and Bev and Bill and Audra in New York on their way home.

It was a whole month planned vacation, as they wanted to take their time on the way, to stop by at some landmarks and spend some quality family time with their children. Of course they were sure Maggie and Went had a whole itinerary planned for them when they arrived in Derry but it was rare that they got to do things just the four of them.

“Daddy?” Grace asked about twenty minutes into the car ride and Richie looked into his rear-view mirror at his daughter, who was colouring in her Disney Princess book Uncle Bill had bought her for her birthday. It was her most prized possession and she couldn’t wait to show him all the pictures she had completed.

“Yes, princess?” Richie asked, smiling at her as she sat her pencil down. He glanced over to Ollie, who was tapping away on his Nintendo Switch, happily quiet.

Grace bit her lip and looked at both her parents. Her silence also made Eddie turn around to see if she was okay, giving her his warmest smile. “What is it, Gracie?” Eddie asked.

“You know how we’re going to see Grandpa Went and Grandma Maggie?” She asked and both Eddie and Richie nodded. “Well…those are Daddy’s parents and I was talking to Lizzie at school and she said she had two sets of grandparents. Her mommy’s and her daddy’s and I was wondering if we were going to meet papa’s parents too?”

This made Eddie freeze up in his seat and Richie tensed, gripping firmer on the steering wheel. Eddie hadn’t spoken to his mother since the night before he left Derry, when he wished her goodnight. He had gone total radio silent, cutting her out of his life completely. She had tried to initiate contact many times, through letters and even through Maggie and Went, but Eddie had refused to give in.

It wasn’t as though the thought hadn’t crossed his mind now that they were heading back to Derry. It was a small town after all and news travels fast. It probably wouldn’t take long for Sonia to find out about Eddie’s return to Derry from someone at her Bingo group. However, Eddie didn’t want his babies to be exposed to her toxic ways and had decided that he would not be introducing her to them.

“Well, Gracie…” Eddie started, swallowing thickly. “My mommy…she’s not very well.” He closed his eyes and tried to find the right words to explain the situation. “She wasn’t very kind to papa when I was your age and because of that, I don’t think it would be a very good idea to meet her. Do you understand?”

By this point, Ollie was now listening in and staring at Eddie with wide eyes. “Was your mommy like Alfie’s mommy?” He asked and Eddie winced. Alfie was one of Ollie’s closest friends, and less than four months ago his mother was arrested for child abuse and he was put into sole custody of his father.

“Something like that buddy,” Richie piped up, smiling in the mirror at the kids. “It’s complicated and papa and I will tell you all the details when you are old enough to understand. For now though, just focus on this amazing holiday we’re going on, and think of all the late birthday presents Grandpa Went and Grandma Mags have waiting for you.”

At the mention of presents, both Ollie and Grace jumped into conversation with each other, happily forgetting all about the intense conversation that had just taken place, just like children do. Eddie let out an exhale and Richie reached over, taking his hand and pressing a kiss to his knuckles, all whilst focusing on the road ahead.

“You okay, love?” He asked and Eddie nodded his head, squeezing Richie’s hand back.

Eddie really was fine. He had his husband beside him, his babies in the car behind him and his family waiting for him in Maine. His real family. He didn’t need his mother, or anyone else to make him happy. He had his family.

“Honestly, Rich?” Eddie smiled. “I’ve never been better.”

* * * * *

@richietoaster @tozier-boy @eds-kas @eds-trashmouth @strange-reddie-loser @jem-carstairs-is-perfection @tinyarmedtrex @liliemm @inthebreadbinwrites @lo-v-ers @studpuffin @aizeninlefox @reddie-for-anything @richietoizer @girasol-eddie @bi-bi-richie @honeybeehanlon @hawkinsbabe @mrs-vh

[trashyswitch]

Father Sons’ Time Turns Creative

Chase takes both his kids to the park for some rare father-sons’ time, as he calls it. Since he has two sons, Chase has declared the ‘son’ part to be plural!

Anyway, the bonding moment turns creative and silly, when markers and laughter is involved...

Shawn had left the comfort of his room, to get a snack. He normally doesn’t do this, believe it or not. He normally grabs breakfast, coffee and a few snacks to get him through the work day. But today, he had grabbed a popcorn bag that needed to be microwaved and unfortunately, he doesn’t have a microwave in his room.

So here he was, standing beside the microwave, waiting for his popcorn to finish popping. He was surprised to know no one was in the kitchen or the living room. Everyone must’ve been hanging out in their rooms. Fine by Shawn. He liked the peace and quiet. It was relaxing. Yet...he felt kind of lonely. He wanted someone to talk to him a little bit. But, considering he rarely talked to them, he assumed they would return the favor. It was only fair. Fortunately for Shawn, someone was about to break the silence.

It was Chase.

“Oh, hey! Didn’t expect to find you here. How are you doing?” Chase asked cheerfully.

“I’m doing alright. How about you?” Shawn asked.

“I’m good. Making some popcorn?” Chase asked, curiously.

“Yup. You doing anything today?” Shawn replied.

“Ya, I am. I’m gonna take my kids to the park in a few minutes.” Chase explained.

“Sounds fun.” Shawn said. Chase smiled as he grabbed a protein bar out of the pantry.

“Aren’t those Jackie’s?” Shawn asked, raising his eyebrow.

Chase took a bite of the protein bar. “Not anymore.” Chase replied, smirking as he chewed the chocolaty protein bar.

“You’re lucky I can keep a secret.” Shawn said with a smirk.

“Yes. Yes I am. Thank you.” Chase replied.

“No problem. Have fun!” Shawn said.

“Thanks.” Chase said, before heading out the door.

After picking up the kids, Chase drove them to the big park nearby.

“What do you wanna do first?” Chase asked.

“Swings, swings, swings!” Grayson replied excitedly.

“Okay. Let’s go!” Chase cheered, running towards the swings. The kids followed suit, and each jumped onto a swing.

“Daddy! Push me! Please?!” Grayson begged.

“Alright!” Chase said, jogging behind the swing to push him. He pushed at Grayson’s back, and made him go higher. He pushed a few more times, and managed to get Grayson fairly high.

“Hey Grayson! Have you ever heard of an under doggie?” Chase asked.

“Oh! You’re gonna love this!” Trey reassured eagerly.

“I haven’t heard of that. What is it?” Grayson asked.

“I’ll show you!” Chase said, before slowing the swing down a little bit. “Ready?” Chase asked, holding onto both sides of the swing.

“I think so.” Grayson replied.

Chase smiled as he did a quick jog forward while gripping the swing. “One...” Chase said, before running backwards.

He ran forwards again, gripping the swing. This time, he went a little higher. “Two...” Chase said, running backwards to repeat the action.

He ran forwards once again, gripping the swing tighter as he brought the swing up higher. “Three...” Chase said eagerly, running backwards for the big climax.

Chase put all of his energy into running forward one last time. “UNDER DOGGIE!” He shouted, lifting the swing high above him, before letting go of it.

“WHOOO HOOOOO!” Chase heard behind him. He turned around, and saw a huge, energetic smile on his son’s face. He was swinging really high, which gave Grayson lots of excitement and joy. Chase wished he could photograph that wide smile, so he could look at it forever.

“Could you try me next?” Trey asked.

“Sure! I’ll try.” Chase agreed, walking up behind the swing and gripping the swing handles. He readied himself for the extra weight, and walked a few steps backwards. He took off sprinting and swung once, swung twice, swung thrice...”UNDER DOGGIE!” Chase yelled, before lifting it as high as he could over his head, and letting it swing behind him.

He looked behind him, and noticed Trey’s big smile. It wasn’t as big as it used to be, and the under doggie wasn’t as high as it used to be, but it was definitely worth the extra energy.

After a few more minutes on the swings, Chase and Grayson followed Trey to the monkey bars. There were two separate monkey bar play sets: one for little kids (like Grayson), and one for bigger kids (like Trey). Chase helped Grayson onto the first monkey bar, before going to watch Trey swing. The monkey bars were one handed, and meant for swinging every which way. Trey showed off his monkey bar skills, before going back on them.

“Check this out Dad!” Trey said, getting each hand onto a swinging bar. Once his grip was tight, he started swinging his legs. His entire body had started spinning in circles, similarity to a helicopter.

Chase laughed. “Hey Grayson! Look! Trey’s a helicopter!” Chase laughed. Grayson looked over, and laughed as well. Trey smiled before letting go and landing on his feet.

“Daddy? What’s this?” Grayson asked, pointing at a spinning pole with 2 handles on the side.

“Uh...I don’t know what it’s called, but I know what it does. It spins in circles. If you spin it, and pull your arms in, you’ll go even faster.” Chase explained.

“I’ll show you!” Trey offered. Grayson smiled and joined his brother. “Okay. Stand on it, and I’ll push for us.” Trey instructed, before using a push from his foot to make it spin. As soon as his foot was back on the spinner, it was spinning in quick circles.

“WHOOOOOoooooOOOooOOOOoooOOO!” Grayson reacted, watching the world spin round and round.

“Pull your body in!” Trey instructed, doing so himself. When Grayson pulled himself in, the very thing Trey had predicted, happened: They started spinning even faster!

“WHEEEEEEEEEEE! YOU NEED TO TRY THIS!” Grayson shouted, growing hyper from the spinning alone.

“Maybe I will.” Chase said, taking a mental note to try it out in the future.

After playing on the equipment for a bit, the family stopped for lunch. Chase pulled the bag and blanket out of the car, while the kids grabbed their backpacks of entertainment. Chase laid the blanket down, and organized the napkins, sandwiches, juice boxes and extra snacks.

“Now, I may have mixed up the sandwiches, cause I didn’t remember who liked mustard and who didn’t.” Chase admitted. Grayson and Trey smiled.

“That’s okay. We’ll figure it out.” Trey replied, grabbing the sandwich and checking the top. No mustard.

“This is yours.” Trey said, giving Grayson the sandwich.

“Thanks!” Grayson replied, taking the sandwich and biting into it. As soon as he swirled the sandwich around his mouth, he tasted something sour and disgusting in his mouth. His face immediately puckered, before he let out a few coughs.

“You okay?” Chase asked, chuckling at the funny reaction.

“There’s mustard...I think it’s on the bottom.” Grayson replied, trying to shake the pucker face off his face.

“Oops!” Trey reacted, switching the sandwiches back to the way they were before. Trey took a bite right beside his brother’s bite, and tasted the beautiful mix of ham and mustard on his tongue.

Grayson smiled and took a bite of his own. Grayson was more of a fan of just meat, and bread. He wasn’t a fan of butter, but he’d eat the sandwich either way. It would’ve been rude to discard the sandwich, especially a sandwich his Dad made. He and Trey rarely get to visit his Dad often. This was a special treat.

After finishing their sandwiches, Grayson opened his bag.

“Hey Dad! I brought my markers and my hot wheels colouring book! Wanna see my colouring?” Grayson asked.

“Sure!” Chase replied, watching as Grayson pulled out his colouring book and laid it onto the blanket. The book was filled to the brim with race cars of different styles, and Monster Trucks with gigantic wheels! There were also hot wheels stickers that came with the book! Grayson showed all of the colouring he’s done, and even got to colour a page with his Dad.

Then, Trey came up with a fun idea. His lips grew a mischievous grin, as he reached out and took a marker from the pencil case.

“Hey Dad? Could I draw a race track on your arm?” Trey asked. Chase’s eyebrows shot up from surprise, but brought them down and let a smile grow onto his lips.

“Uh- Sure!” Chase replied, taking off his sweater and throwing it aside.

Grayson gasped. “Can I too?! Pleeeeeeaaase?” Grayson asked.

Chase chuckled and felt his grin grow wider. “Go nuts.” Chase replied, showing him his other arm.

“Yay!” Grayson cheered, before grabbing a marker and starting his drawing right away. Before he knew it, both his kids were using him as a canvas for their drawings. He watched both his kids as one of them drew a swirly racetrack, and the other attempted to draw a race car.

Soon, the kids were done their drawings and started moved up the arm. Grayson continued drawing different types of cars, while Tray tried drawing different thing he was interested in: like nerf guns, basketballs, and was that a goose? Why a goose?

“What’s the goose for?” Chase asked.

“There’s a game on the Nintendo Switch, called Untitled Goose Game. You play a goose, causing mischief all around the town. I’d think you like it.” Trey explained.

Chase laughed at that. “So, that’s your way of being mischievous nowadays?” Chase teased.

Trey let a smirk show up on his lips. “...maybe...” Trey replied with a laugh. Chase laughed as well, and shook his head.

“I played it too! My favourite part is when you can pick up a man’s harmonica and play it as your running through the pub.” Grayson said, laughing.

Chase lifted an eyebrow. “A goose...running around the pub...playing a harmonica...” Chase slowly clarified for himself.

“You’ll get it when we show you.” Trey reassured. Chase shook off the questionable game, and watched as the kids went back to drawing.

“Hey Dad! Who made this tattoo?” Trey asked, looking at the black tattoo on his right arm.

“A tattoo parlor did. It’s from a video game called Bloodborne. You’ll be able to play it when you’re older, so I don’t wanna spoil any of it.” Chase replied.

“Okay. I’ll use the other side of your arm then.” Trey said, flipping his arm over to draw on the more hairy side of his arm.

After finishing a couple more drawings on his arm, Grayson looked up and noticed his Dad’s bare neck.

“Ooh! Could I draw a tattoo on your neck?” Grayson asked.

Chase’s eyes widened. “Oh! Ya, sure!” Chase replied, completely unaware of what he just signed himself up for.

“Yesss!” Grayson cheered, before grabbing a couple new markers and scooting closer to Chase’s neck. As soon as Chase felt the first few strokes on his neck, he immediately realized the mistake he had made.

“AAH!” Chase yelped, his free arm shooting up to cover his mouth.

“You okay?” Trey asked. Grayson lifted the marker off the skin and looked at his father as well.

Chase slowly uncovered his mouth. “I Uh...may have forgotten how sensitive my neck is...” Chase explained, feeling his cheeks turn red as he giggled from embarrassment.

Grayson’s eyebrows lifted, as a mischievous smirk grew onto his lips.

“Well, looks like you’re stuck here now.” Grayson declared as he used his left hand to steady his father’s head, and continued to draw on his father’s neck.

Chase yelped as giggles spilt out of his mouth. He tried to stop the giggles with his hand, but that proved to be pointless as the giggles came out muffled. He did everything in his power to stop his instincts from controlling his head, and tensed his occupied arm a few times to cope with the feeling.

“If your neck was so ticklish, why did you agree to that?” Trey asked, teasily.

“I-I fehehehergohohohot!” Chase replied through his giggles.

“Looks like you’ve put this upon yourself, Dad.” Trey teased.

Chase continued to giggle as he listened to his own son, making fun of him! How dare he! Well...he obviously dared, but could say literally anything except for tease? That would be helpful, thank you.

“Yohohohou’re nohohot hehehehehelping!” Chase exclaimed, before his giggling grew louder.

“Oh! Was I supposed to help you?” Trey asked in a sassy tone.

“Ihihit would behehehe nihihice of yohohohou...” Chase replied, struggled to keep his giggles under control as the marker went down his neck and towards his collarbone.

“Oh! Okay. I’ll help you then.” Trey replied, standing up and walking towards his shoes.

Meanwhile, Grayson had just finished drawing the car on his neck, and looked towards Trey, who was undoing his shoes.

“What are you doing?” Chase asked, weary of what Trey was planning.

“Hey Grayson! Do you wanna come over and help? I’ll explain the plan to you in a minute.” Trey asked, before grabbing a few markers and sitting on Chase’s legs.

Grayson grabbed a few markers of his own, and walked over to Trey.

After a couple seconds of whispering, Trey sat onto his father’s lower legs, and Grayson sat onto the other side of his feet.

“Hey Dad?” Grayson asked.

“Uh...yaaaa?” Chase replied, nervously.

“How would you feel about tattoos on your feet?” Grayson asked. Chase’s face went pale, as he started letting out begs and excuses to stop them. He felt the need to remove his legs, but stopped himself as to not hurt the kids.

“Grayson, please! Can we think about this?!” Chase asked frantically.

“I already have! And I wanna do it!” Grayson replied happily, before taking a lid off one of the markers and pushing back his dad’s feet a bit.

“No, please! Please don’t! Please- AAAAAAHahahahahaha!” Chase yelled, throwing back his head as the belly laughter left his mouth immediately. His whole body would’ve fallen over, if it weren’t for his one arm that was keeping his upper body balanced. He tried to kick his feet as much as he could, but there was only so much you could do when a 12 year old is laying on your legs. Grayson’s smile grew wide, as he pulled a lid off another marker, abandoned the marker he had been using, and switched it out for the new marker. He continued colouring his Dad’s feet, and slowly moved the marker tip onto the inner arch.

“NO! NO, NOHOHOHOHOhahahahaha!” Chase reacted. His upper body went crashing down to the blanketed ground, as both hands and arms tensed against his chest. His squirming consisted of moving his upper body back and forth, and half kicks coming from his legs.

“Wow! That’s quite a reaction! What are you drawing, Grayson?” Trey asked.

Grayson looked at his brother, holding a red marker in his hand.

“I’m drawing dots!” Grayson replied happily.

Trey bursted out laughing. “Really?! Why dots of all things?!” Trey asked, semi-making fun of his little brother.

“Because I want Dad’s feet to wear polka dots!” Grayson replied as he finished a polka dot and added a new one onto Chase’s heel.

Chase’s laughter turned to giggles, as the marker tip drew circle after circle on his heel. He never knew that a marker could tickle so much, and it was starting to drive him nuts.

“Ooh! What colour do you want your toes?” Grayson asked.

“Wahahahait! Not the toes! Nohohohot the tohohohohoes!” Chase begged as he squirmed frantically.

“But...then my drawing would be incomplete! And my teacher always says: Never hand in your work, unless it’s ALLLL finished!” Grayson replied.

Chase couldn’t really answer at this point. He had no clue what colours he had been using beforehand, so he couldn’t find out what colours go with what!

“Go with green! Dad LOVES green!” Trey offered for him, as he pulled out his phone and took a few pictures. He also made sure to include a picture of Grayson drawing all over his Dad’s feet. This would be the perfect thing to blackmail his Dad with!

Meanwhile, Grayson had lifted his Dad’s toes up a little bit, and started drawing under the toes!

Chase’s laughter grew silent for a moment, before a big snort had hit the poor man! Oh no!

Grayson stopped the marker, to laugh and point at the funny noise his Dad had made.

“You made a pig noise! Daddy is a piggy! 🎶Daddy’s a piggy! Daddy’s a piggy!🎶” Grayson exclaimed, taunting his father with the classic ‘na na na boo boo’ tune.

Trey would’ve replied to the taunt, but he was too busy hysterically laughing himself!

“I-I dihihidn’t know you snohohohorted! Ohoho my gosh! Hold on, I wanna try this out!” Trey said through his laughter, before jumping off, lifting his toes and scribbling a finger under them.

“*snort* NOHOHOHOHOHOHOOOO! *Snort* NOHOHOHOHO MOHOHOHOHORE! *Snort* PLEHEHEHEASE!” Chase pleaded through his snorts and fits of laughter.

Trey finally decided to get up off of him, and give him a break. “Alright. Let’s stop. We don’t wanna kill him.” Trey warned, tapping his little brother on the shoulder. Grayson nodded as he removed the markers from his Dad’s feet, and placed the lid back on. Chase pulled his knees towards his chest. He took the time to breath in deeply, and let out the air, along with some of the leftover giggles that were still trapped in his lungs.

He was tired, but happy.

“Heheheh...I...I haven’t...laughed like that...hahaha...in years...” Chase said through bouts of giggles.

“I never knew you could snort like that!” Trey reacted.

“I did...for a while...” Chase commented.

“I can’t wait to tell Mom about this!” Grayson said excitedly. Chase let out some extra laughs at that remark. Stacy already knew about this fact, and had taken advantage of it for years. She would get a good laugh out of this story.

“I can tell her right now!” Trey said, pulling out his phone and opening up the messaging app. He went onto his mother’s messages, and sent her the picture of Chase laughing, and the picture of Grayson drawing on his feet. Stacy replied to her son.

‘Lol! Love it! Good spot! If you scratch under the toes, you’ll get a few snorts as well! Better look out for the tickle monster, though!’

Trey’s eyebrows slightly raised at the last sentence. But before he could say anything, a heap of laughter had rang throughout the park, which sounded like his brother’s laughter! He looked up, and smiled at the sight:

Chase had picked up Grayson, sat him onto his lap, and was tickling his side and tummy. Grayson was squirming with a big smile on his face, as gleeful laughter fell out of his mouth.

“You thought you could tickle the tickle monster without any punishment? Well, you’ve never been more wrong, my boy!” Chase said in a silly, growly voice.

“DAHAHAHAHADDY! IHIHIHI’M SAHAHAHAHARRY!” Grayson yelled through his laughter.

“You’re sorry, eh? Well luckily, this tickle monster has just captured a delicious meal! Perhaps a delicious snack will make me feel better!” Chase growled evilly, as he placed Grayson onto the blanket. Suddenly, Chase dipped his face into the child’s tummy and started moving his face around, making nom nom nomming noises.

The child lost all control of his laughter and let it all out. Not without a few begs, or course...

“TREHEHEHEHEHEHEY! HEHEHEHEHELP MEHEHEHEHE!” Grayson cried in the middle of his laughter. This got Trey’s attention! He’d better try and save his little brother from the tickle monster before it’s too late!

At first, Trey didn’t really know what to do. Should he pull Grayson out? Or should he distract his Dad?

Then, his phone vibrated one more time.

‘Have you tried out his right side yet? It’s his worst spot!’ Trey read on his phone. That was the best answer he could’ve ever received! So, he put his phone aside and jogged up to his brother.

“I’ll save you!” Trey yelled as he reached the tickle scene in front of him. He bent down and grabbed his brother’s foot, as if to betray his brother and tickle him instead. But Trey was clever. He had chosen to come to the right side of his Dad.

“Gonna help me?” Chase asked his son.

“Nope!” Trey replied eagerly, before skittering his fingers onto his father’s right side.

“AAAAH! YOU TRAHAHAITER! TRAHAHAHAHAHAITER!” Chase shouted before dissolving into a puddle of uncontrollable laughter.

“Huh! Mom was right! Your right side IS your worst spot!” Trey commented, as he continued his tickle attack. Grayson calmed down and looked at the scene beside him. Realizing Trey had the upper hand, Grayson got up, ran over to his father’s feet, and tickled them with his wiggly fingernails.

Chase shouted once again, and fell into hysterical laughter and snorts. Both kids had ganged up on their father again, except both kids were tickling him at once! And boy, were they good at it! What in the world was Stacy teaching them?! He remembered that Stacy was good at tickling him, but she managed to teach the kids to be even better at it! How was that possible?!

“MEHEHERCY! MEHEHEHEHEHERCY! PLEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHA!” Chase fried, unable to finish the last word due to his laughter taking over.

“Okay.” Grayson replied, bringing his fingers to a halt and stepping back. However, Trey was still tickling him! Apparently, Trey had become determined to expose his worst spot.

So, Grayson did the one thing he knew how to do: He ganged up on his brother and tickled him.

“HEHEHEHEY! Wait! WAHAHAHAHAHAIT!” Trey freaked out, squirming frantically and pushing at Grayson’s hands to stop them. Grayson moved his hands from his sides, to his armpits.

Once the hands met his armpits, all hell broke loose. Trey bursted out in fits of cackles as he struggled to keep himself upright. Afraid that Grayson was gonna get smooshed by Trey’d upper body, Grayson removed his hands and moved out of the way to let Trey’s back softly crash against the blanketed grass. Once Trey was on the ground, he attacked Trey’s stomach with skitters and scratches.

“NAHAHahahahaha! Grahahahahaysohohon!” Trey reacted as he squirmed and swatted at his hands.

“What?” Grayson asked.

“Ihihihit tihihihihickles!” Trey replied.

“Yay! That means it’s working!” Grayson exclaimed happily. Chase laughed at the comment as he took pictures of the moment with his phone. He was definitely gonna show Shawn these when he gets home...

15 minutes later:

Shawn was placing his empty popcorn bag in the garbage, when he heard the door open. Knowing who it might’ve been, he looked up.

“Hi Chase.” Shawn said to the man as he closed the garbage door.

“Hi.” Chase replied, closing the door behind him.

“How was the park?” Shawn asked.

“Pretty fun. I got to push Grayson on the swing for a bit, and Trey seems to love the monkey bars.” Chase replied.

“That’s awesome!...what’s on your arm?” Shawn asked, pointing at the child’s drawing of a red car on his arm.

“Oh! That, it’s a new tattoo made by Grayson.” Chase replied, chuckling. “The kids decided to cover my arms and neck in marker. My arms were fine, but the drawing on my neck tickled quite a bit.” Chase explained with an embarrassed giggle.

“Ya, I’m sure it would!” Shawn replied.

“And then things got even more hectic once my feet were touched.” Chase explained.

Shawn’s eyebrows lifted as his jaw dropped.

“They drew on your feet? Really?” Shawn reacted, placing his water glass down as he walked over to Chase, who was removing his socks to show him.

Shawn lifted up his foot to see. Sure enough, there were polka dots and lines drawn on his feet! “Haha! You have polka dotted feet!” Shawn exclaimed. “1, 2, 3–” Shawn said, counting the polka dots by poking them with his finger.

Chase yelped and covered his mouth as short spouts of giggles left his mouth. He curled his toes to lesson the sensation, but this proved to be pointless as Shawn’s fingers managed to get underneath them anyway.

“Oooh! Quite the ticklish feet we’ve got here...and ticklish toes! Even better! No wonder they drew on you so much!” Shawn teased, tempted to tickle them more while they were in his grip.

“Plehehease dohohon’t...I’ve dehehehealt with ehehenough for one dahahahay!” Chase asked as politely as he could, through a pile of giggles.

“But come on! It’s just a little tickling, right?” Shawn pestered evilly.

And alas, Chase never did escape the desperate fingers of Shawn, the most teasy tickler of them all, believe it or not! Now only that: When evening fell, Chase was left in a bashful mess on his bed, when Trey sent all the photos he had taken of the tickle fight they had together. Sure, the boys wrecked him. And sure, they now knew his worst spots. And worst of all, now Shawn had figured out all of his worst spots!

But it was all in good fun, that would turn into a silly memory for him to remember forever...even if it is a little embarrassing...

[lady-olive-oil]

Dog Days: Prologue

A/N: What’s up y’all! So today I give you the beginning, or third part, of the series Dog Days. Hitting y’all 2 times with the feels in one day, with this and chapter 7 of Work Out. If you want to be included let me know, I’ll make a permanent tag soon.

Warnings: slight angst from a past thought

Word Count: 1,629😁

Tag Squad: @sunlightandkisses • @honeychicana • @crushed-pink-petals • @themyscxiras • @dc41896 • @maddiestundentwritergaines • @champagnesugamama • @sdcyumyum • @badassbaker • @titty-teetee • @fumbling-fanfics

________________

“Damnit. The traffic in an airport in Atlanta, is worse than LA traffic. Move people, come on!”

“Mom. It’ll be ok? Don’t worry.” My 10 year old son, Javier, didn’t even look up from his Nintendo Switch, as we moved on the conveyor belt. We maneuvered through the crowds quickly, and precisely, but folks like to be slow.

“Javier, my sweet, sweet boy. Your mama needs to sleep. This plane ride will help me out greatly.”

Traveling from state to state, to make sure my magazine thrived for location shoots, you’d think I’d be used to this by now. Not at this hour however, still not a morning person even though I’m fully awake.

“How did the interview go with Normani? She’s really pretty.” The way his eyes lit up when I mentioned I had an interview with an up and coming singer, was like a kid going to Disney World.all wide eyed and bushy tailed.

“It went great. She has new music coming out soon and I love her drive; her commitment and style. It was fun. Does my little man have a crush? Ooh Javier imma tell my mama.” I enjoyed teasing him every now and then.

“Mom! Come on.” The cheesy grin on his face was so precious. He tried to hide behind his knees in his seat, as we waited for our group number to be called. We were a few hours early anyway.

I bet you're wondering when did I have time to have a kid? I started to remember how I got my little angel.

Almost 14 years ago, I had Javier with my late fiancé Vincenzo Giovani. He was the love of my life when we first met and I thought we’d last. I was wrong, way wrong. He was in an intense line of work and I didn’t like any of it. By the time I had Javier, Vinny was in too deep with the Italian mafia. Under his father's ruling, and apparently my father’s jurisdiction, it was meant to be.

It was more of a business move for him, and I didn’t want to be in any part of it. I was still in my 20’s, very young and in college for my second degree: I was so emotional by the end of it all and it had gotten worse after I had Javier. The further into our relationship, the sweet nature I thought Vinny had was just a facade. The fights got worse: the emotional abuse was horrific and my physical being proved that I was a victim. I hated that my son grew up around that environment, seeing his mother be hurt like that.

So I decided to have Javier go live with my mother, for the time being, till I got matters sorted out. It was late one night, on a Wednesday and raining, I got into a fight with Vinny. It was a great deal of arguing; items being thrown and broken, and one moment that pushed us both over the edge.

I had mentioned how he was a bad father, and a horrible baby daddy on top of it all. He pushed me against the wall and got in my face. Telling me over and over how I wasn’t anything to him: I was a waste of space, just one of his many baby mamas he has laying around. I wasn’t anything to him, I felt enraged all over again.

Before he could hit me again, like he’d used to do countless times, he choked me. I clawed at his arm as much as I could, gasping for air. My vision treading to go black, until I grabbed his gun. He barely let me go and I shoved it against his torso. He looked me dead in my eyes and said ‘you wouldn’t dare. You don’t have the guts to shoot me.’ I thought over all the times I’ve been hurt; the nights I cried and felt alone. He squeezed my throat harder and then a bang rang through the house.

I shot him in cold blood, about 4 times. All those years of feeling inadequate I finally felt at peace. Crying in being released from my physical prison. I was thankful that my son wasn’t there during all of that. I still carry that burden till this day. Wishing I had raised Javier in a better environment.

The nightmares of him trying to kill me, kept coming back every now and then. A year later, the day I met Henry through Roxie changed all of that. He made the nightmares vanish, with his caring love and good nature. He even taught me self defense and he restored my faith in falling in love.

Javier was young, but knew of Henry growing up. The only father figure he’s ever known over the course of five and a half years that we dated. It hurt him for us to break up, it hurt him tremendously. The reason we broke up, was because of my father Julian. He was going to blackmail me, for killing Vinny, if I didn’t break up with Henry.

He would say that I wasn’t good for Henry’s image, and I didn’t need to be in his spotlight. I didn’t want to break up with him, he was my light, and it hurt us both. My father, who I don’t even claim as my dad anymore, is a bitter old man who doesn’t want anyone else to be happy but him. No wonder my mother divorced him because he ain’t shit. He cheated on a good woman, who birthed all four of his kids, with a woman who was like family, and had the audacity to get mad when my mom gave him divorce papers.

Someday I was hoping, Henry and I would get back together, and it looks like we just might. I took the initiative to talk to him at the beginning of 2018, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made.

“Mom, it’s our turn to board. Warm cookies here I come!” The tug on my arm from my active little boy, took me out of my trance, focusing back on the task at hand of getting back home.

Wiping away my tears, I caught up with him. “I’m coming Jay, wait for me please.”

“Sorry. I just want the window seat this time around, you know? Slightly more leg room and- dad?” Javier stopped in front of me, causing a slight jam, luckily no one was hurt.

He hasn’t said that phrase in god knows how long. Why would he be saying that though? I glanced up to see what all the commotion was and froze. He did mention he had business in Atlanta, but didn’t say what time he’d be going back to California.

“Javier? Oh my god look at you, you’ve gotten so big.” The way he hugged him, was like a reunion you’d see in those Lifetime movies. Just full of love and a few happy tears were shared.

“Your mom didn’t tell me you’d be going to Atlanta with her.”

“She also didn’t say she talks to you too. I'm glad you both are talking and I hope it’s long term?” The hopeful turn in his voice was sweet and caring. Just like any kid that’s wishing for a miracle to happen.

We both looked at each other for a split second, then back at Javier. “It’s possible.” We say simultaneously.

“Yes! Oh this better than Christmas, mom we’re in the same area as dad. You two over there, I’ll be here across from y’all.” Gathering all his belongings, he made it his mission to get comfy on the way back home.

Sitting next to Henry, after placing my stuff in the overhead bin, I couldn’t help but feel like a giddy schoolgirl around him all over again.

“Nice to see you again, Miss Leon.” His smooth voice, mixed with his infamous smirk, overtook my thought process.

Biting my bottom lip, I couldn’t suppress my giggle. “You as well, Mr. Cavill.”

“Are you guys free tomorrow? I’d like to spend the day with you, if that’s ok with him Javier?” Henry asked cautiously.

The classic kid in a candy store look. This kid, without a shadow of a doubt, knew how to work somebody. “It’s totally fine with me! Mom?”

“I don’t see why not. Sounds like a plan.” Henry slyly laced our fingers together, kissing the back of my hand gingerly. Javier was smiling like a kid in a candy store, before going back to his game.

Henry leaned over next to me, whispering in my ear. “Ever since we saw each other that day at the art festival, you’ve been glowing. What’s your secret?”

“Getting my light back to shine in my life.” The way I whispered back to him, as I started scratching his chin, I could swear his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

“Boy you are so sprung over me.” I smiled happily.

He kissed my nose, making me melt at his words. “That’s because my love for you never truly died. It rose from the ashes when you kissed me again.”

“Damn you’re good.”

“I’ve been told. I’ve missed you Yaya.” His genuine smirk was unmistakable. Resting my head on his shoulder, it felt like we never broke up to begin with.

“I’ve missed you too Dally, so very much.” Placing s kiss on his cheek, I noticed how read he had gotten by it. Javier chuckled at us both with glee, happy to be in the presence of his parents reunion.

This was going to be a pleasant reunion, cause God bless the friendly skies, Javier was definitely getting his wish after all.

[nervydamned]

i don’t usually cry anymore. the medication and the crushing numbness that comes with 31 years of hard living and dead ends has created in me a cold grey stone, typically invulnerable to all but tragic movies and commercials that were obviously designed with surgical precision to ensure that at least a small portion of viewers will immediately log onto the website and purchase, like, boat insurance while crying so hard they can’t do the capcha on the first try. i used to be a dramatic cryer, responding to almost any intense emotion with deep and gusty sobs. then 2016 happened. i lost my father. my spiral into alcoholism intensified my incredible appetite for self destruction. the shame that ensued formed that grey stone like a grit of sand forms in an oyster-- slowly, slowly-- until the day i told my sister that i wasn’t sure i would ever laugh again.

so i sought treatment. fresh from admitting to my husband that i had 1) secretly relapsed and 2) repeatedly been unfaithful with some of the worst people, i put my phone number into a “need rehab?” webform. i received a call about three minutes later. scared out of my mind, i would have agreed to do basically anything to clear the dark menacing cloud of divorce. they said they had a pool! i wanted to go swimming! i wanted to be instantly forgiven for my transgressions, and rehab seemed the best way to me to demonstrate that by god, i was SERIOUS about this recovery thing! he said the only rehab i qualified for was in south bend, indiana. they would buy the ticket. could i leave tomorrow? i guess i could.

i showed up to a building that looked like a 90s middle school with a smoking porch. terrified out of my mind and drunk on the four pints of heineken i’d slammed at chili’s with a sympathetic bartender at 7am across from my boarding gate, and disoriented from the klonopin that i took almost subconsciously at any sign of emotional turmoil, i was a rag doll with button eyes. i entered, stripped, spread, and coughed. i vomited in the toilet while a girl with perfect cat-eye liner did her best to discreetly look away. i was there-- it was happening-- but WHAT was happening? all i knew was that rehab was like a shiny gold star on my behavior chart. if i did it, nobody could say i hadn’t. 

rehab is the best place in the world for a vulnerable drunk. i mean it! you’ve never had more shoulders to cry on. i remember hysterically sobbing until my heaving shoulders locked up and the only sound i could make was tiny clicks from my frozen throat. i’ve never had my shoulders patted so authentically. it never occurred to me at the time that this display of raw, scream-it-to-the-heavens emotion was such a part of their daily lives as intake detox counselors that they probably could have done it in their sleep. but somehow they remained authentic.

the funniest part about the rehab was that it turned out to be run and staffed by die-hard scientologists! i guess we can get into that later. 

rehab also brought out my “daddy please be proud of me” personality in full force. i joined the “peer counsel” which was essentially just in charge of taking nightly attendance and clapping for sobriety milestones. i befriended everybody, impressing them with my uniquely pretentious affectation of sarcastic intellectualism that only fools people less smart than i am. i was the queen of rehab! life was good! everyone there had forgiven me. the next step was me forgiving myself. the final step was my husband forgiving me. at the time, i still thought that was a completely realistic goal. all i can say to that, ineloquently enough, is: HAHAHAHAHAHA.

my husband came to visit me, once, on the sunday after easter. having practiced healthy communication and effective use of boundaries six hours a day for the last three weeks, i promised him that we could talk about anything he wanted in the two hours he spent with me on the grounds. he got there and shrugged his shoulders over and over again. determined to make his long drive worth the time, i enthusiastically dragged him around to meet all of my rehab friends, proudly introducing him as my husband to anyone who would listen. that day, i believed we had a chance. that night, i found out he spent half the drive home texting my phone, which was locked in a drawer in the rehab office, accusing me of ignoring him in favor of my friends and strongly implying that i was sleeping with at least one of them. this delusion continued for months after and may still fester in his brain. i just wanted him to meet the people who were helping shape my recovery. he could never see the point of that. he didn’t understand that to me, connection is such a fundamental part of who i am that i HAD to make friends there. all he saw was the potential for pain.

i nakedly vied for the approval of everyone around me to the point that my rehab friends petitioned for me to win “patient of the week” at my graduation. when i realized what they had done i was simultaneously flattered to my core and mortified. how obvious it must have been that i set this artificial award ceremony in motion?

my husband was late. he missed the whole thing. in the car ride home, i chain smoked cigarettes and listened to his music. i talked about finding my rehab friend jacob on facebook so that we could attend meetings together since he was the only one who lived close by, and he accused me of having an extramarital relationship with him. his evidence was that “i brought him up all the time!” jacob came out as gay six months after we graduated from the program. we never got a chance to be friends.

my whole family was waiting at my sister’s house to welcome me home; they were babysitting my son while my husband drove to pick me up. they were so proud! again, i felt raw and abashed. just more confirmation that everyone knew--everyone knew--everyone knew everything. my husband had made my infidelity no secret with his family, and of course i had told my mother and my sister. 

being the family fuckup is like being naked under a microscope. like living your life in the invasive, creepy bodyscanner at the airport. well-wishes come with a tinge of pity; there is a frantic and all-too-apparent urge to avoid any conversation that might bring up my past transgressions. i’m used to it because i’ve been a drug addict since 2008. but coming back from rehab was the worst. there’s nothing like seeing what the future could be like-- bright, beautiful, beatific. the feeling of stepping out of a confessional booth and feeling the light on your face, reflected through the stained-glass window of the Virgin Mary and her son. but the comedown happens when you realize that the forgiveness you’ve given yourself stops with you. the crushing realization that your husband is either incapable of or unwilling to extend you the trust and forgiveness and freedom from shame that you’ve finally decided to give yourself makes you question everything. 

i just don’t understand why he can’t admit that he doesn’t love me anymore. i’m glad i went to rehab. but now i know it wasn’t for him. i could give him anything in the world and i’d still be the adultress, the sly sociopath, the woman that enjoys torturing him with emotion and conflict. our relationship can’t ever work again and he won’t admit it because he’s scared to be alone. honestly, i’m starting to feel sorry for him. i know i could find some normie guy, one with an unkempt beard who makes that face-- you know that face! the nintendo switch face!-- in his twitter avi. he can quote every line from the office and he loves bar trivia, but makes sure to go to the bar and grab me a sparkling water before the beers arrive. he’s a bit boring, maybe not as smart as i am (or pretend to be), but he’s authentic, and he laughs at my jokes, and he always wants to know how my day went. he makes sure to find something thoughtful for christmas, and he sometimes goes out and gets my car detailed on the weekend because he knows how messy i am and how frantic it makes me when i have to face those messes. he has a group of friends who all like the same things he does and they hang out after work most tuesdays, but not when we have something to do at home.

but i know who i am and i know i am not fundamentally healed and i know i’d get bored and break his heart. and my husband would still be alone.

who even knows anymore? the status quo definitely has something going for it. i don’t have to apply for WIC or share a one bedroom apartment with my son or drive for Grubhub on the weekend to make sure i can afford peanut butter because that shit is expensive. we can sit, and sit, and then drift off to sleep and wake up in the same place that we were the day before. maybe i’m adapting to my husband’s sense that it’s better to just endure and stay quiet. i know that pattern because it’s how my family handled every bit of turmoil since i was a child. it’s never worked, but i guess it might someday!

this is my first blog post in 15 years. hopefully it won’t be my last.

[eggoreviews]

Playstation All Stars 2 - Dream Roster! (PART 1)

I love Smash a lot. And I really wish that PS All Stars was a bit, you know, better. A few mechanical tweaks and the addition of some sorely missed character could turn All Stars into a genuinely awesome fighter, so here’s my dream roster for if Sony did ever attempt to clean up the slight mess they made the first time.

Note: I’ve cut a few from the first game. I’m keeping it to one character per franchise. There’s 42 altogether (because I don’t know when to stop) so here’s the first 21!

Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn)

Here’s a fairly obvious pick, with Horizon being one of the Playstation’s most recent flagship RPGs. The star of Sony’s answer to Breath of the Wild but with added machine animals, Aloy’s tale of discovering her place in her beautiful, post-apocalyptic world is certainly a heartfelt one and it’s easy to get attached to. Plus, she has her bow, spear, traps and focus chip, so the moveset just sort of makes itself.

Astro Bot (Astro Bot: Rescue Mission)

The arguable mascot of Playstation VR, I think Astro Bot would be an unusual fighter, yet a perfect fit into an All Stars sequel. I’m sure they can think of a cool moveset from Rescue Mission and his brief cameos in the VR Playroom! I mean, if Nintendo can weaponise the Wii Fit Trainer, Sony have it easy with Astro Bot.

Big Daddy (Bioshock series)

The first character I’m carrying over from the first game, I think Big Daddy is just such a surprising character that I didn’t have the heart to cut him out. He’s a cool looking robot and I really liked Bioshock Infinite. So Daddio stays.

Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)

In an act I can only describe as ‘big oof’, Nintendo managed to swipe up Cloud to appear in a certain other fighting series, despite the fact that Cloud is most heavily associated with Playstation. And his home game is the most iconic game on the PS1. Hey, I’m not saying I don’t want him in Smash (he’s my main I love my big sword twink), but can’t they share? He’s gotta be here too, come on.

Colonel Radec (Killzone series)

Being 100% honest right now, I know basically nothing about Killzone. But what I do know is this guy has a cool helmet and probably uses a lot of guns. So he can stick around I guess. Plus, I’ve been meaning to try Killzone out for a while.

Crash Bandicoot

As the previous mascot for the PS1, Crash was one of the most glaring omissions from the first game. He’s got enough different ways of jumping around and riding motorbikes to make for a cool moveset, so if they’re doing another one, Crash really does need to be onboard.

Dante (Devil May Cry series)

Dante is heckin cool and his moveset potential is awesome and that’s kind of all there is to it, so I think he kind of needs to come back. In terms of design, it doesn’t matter too much, but it would be REALLY cool if they either went back to the original PS2 design or to his new DMC5 model. Either way, Dante would be one people would miss.

Deacon St. John (Days Gone)

The protagonist in Sony’s upcoming zombie thing Days Gone seems like he’d pretty cool in a crossover fighter, that is if they can make him unique. I doubt having him run everyone over on his bike would quite cut it, but it seems like Days Gone is gonna be pretty good, hopefully good enough to justify his place here. Bring on the bike dad.

Delsin Rowe (InFAMOUS: Second Son)

I’ve replaced Cole MacGrath with the series’ most recent protagonist, Delsin Rowe. I feel like this chaotic rebel with big ol superpowers would fit just as well as Cole, but seems a little more recognisable due to him being a little more recent.

Doom Slayer (Doom)

A lot of people have been speculating that we could be seeing Doomguy in Smash, but I think there’d be much less need for censorship if we saw him in a PS All Stars. They wouldn’t even need to tone him down at all, he can just go full out gun. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be fun.

Ellie (The Last of Us)

I mean yeah, there’s Joel, but I think Ellie would be the much cooler pick, especially now she’s all grown up in Part 2. Not the most obvious choice for an over the top crossover fighter, but The Last of Us is Playstation royalty, and by extension, Ellie. And hey, she has enough usage of cool weapons to keep her place on the roster so I would be more than down for this.

Emily Kaldwin (Dishonored series)

I think Emily is pretty much my most wanted character. I love Dishonored and I toyed around with Corvo in my head for a while, but ultimately settled on Emily because I think her powers are a bit cooler. Such an obvious fit if you think about it, with her cool shadow reach thing and all her weapons. Basically, she needs to be here.

Fat Princess

Who is Fat Princess? Does anyone actually know? Because I don’t. The pure enigma around her keeps her on the roster.

Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher series)

Monster hunter by trade. Wields two swords and a crossbow. Has access to several magic signs that allow to create magic traps or set things on fire. Plus, he’s the protagonist of one of the best RPGs of this console generation. Put him in pls.

Heihachi Mishima (Tekken series)

Another veteran I’m keeping, as I think the sequel would still need its representation from an actual fighting game. I mean, Nintendo got Street Fighter so it’s only fair Playstation get to keep Tekken. And no one’s gonna be mad, he’s from a fighting game so of course his moves would be cool.

The Hunter (Bloodborne)

It was either this guy or Solaire of Astora, so I thought I’d stick with the one that’s the PS exclusive. I imagine the Hunter as a fast-paced fighter who’s a bit jumpy, which would be a good contrast to some of the other heavier fighters. He’s got plenty going for him and he’s from a great game, so he seems an obvious choice.

Isaac Clarke (Dead Space)

Everyone’s favourite janitor who’s in way out of his depth, Isaac Clarke, is here to stay. Access to fun weapons and would probably be a nice break for him to fight Fat Princess rather than the necrofuckery he normally has to deal with. Oh, but don’t make him DLC this time.

Jak and Daxter

The poster boys of some of the best platforming on the PS2, these guys were clear picks for the first game and it’d be a little sad if you cut them from the sequel.

Joker (Persona 5)

I am BEYOND excited for my best boi to get into Smash, but it also makes a little too much sense he join in for an All Stars sequel. After all, P5 started life as and still is a PS4 exclusive, though I suppose that’s likely to change soon. Still, let him and Cloud join the fun too!

Kat and Dusty (Gravity Rush)

I have never played Gravity Rush, but I’ve heard that it’s pretty much amazing, so I thought I’d leave a spot for these two and carry them over. Plus, their designs are cool so I’m here for it.

Knack

Yeah, yeah, I know. Knack was kind of rubbish and Knack 2 was more rubbish. But how cool would Knack be in a fighting game? He could be a really technical fighter, switching between two separate movesets for his bigger and smaller forms, a bit like Pokemon Trainer in Smash. And he’s owned by Sony so he’d be easy to slot in. Sure the games weren’t great, but as a character concept, yes please.

So there’s the first half! Curious as to my other 21 picks? Drop in next week to see who they are! If you’ve got characters you’d like to see, let me know down below and we can all talk about a game that will probably never happen. Have a gr8 day.

[dq108]

you’ve got a daddy to find

HELLO. I’m back. Over the holidays I went back to my proverbial womb of [Hometown], Indiana. No, I wasn’t born there, but when people ask me where I’m from, I usually say “[Hometown], Indiana,” and when they passive-aggressively ask where I’m really from, I tell them, “[Hometown], Indiana,” because that is where I spent all of junior high and high school, which is where you are your most obnoxious teenage self and thus is basically where you are from. 

I went back to the first post on this Tumblr and was pleasantly surprised to find that I did not lie about my prior gaming experience. Sometimes I tell people that I have never played a video game which is not true! Instead this time I just did a little literary quibble by saying the Nintendo Switch is my first gaming console (other than a PC). “What is a literary quibble?” you might ask. It’s like when Macduff is able to kill Macbeth because his mom had a C-section.

So, yes, I have played video games, a sampling of which is pictured above. I guess in junior high my mom signed us/me up for a software of the month club, through which I got a smattering of educational software, gaming software, and educational gaming software, like this one ‘game’ where you traverse down the Amazon River and learn about frogs (not pictured). It turns out that when you don’t own a gaming console, your “first” video games are kind of bad and weird, actually? (Besides Rockett. Rockett remains amazing, and I still love the ending song of Rockett’s Tricky Decision. Purple Moon never got the love it deserved.) Turns out that Shogo: Mobile Armor Division was, despite its name, not made by a Japanese company but instead a studio called Monolith Productions, which was known for a few games that I personally have never heard of before it was bought up by Warner Bros. I don’t remember most of the gameplay because 1) I died multiple times in the very first mission which is supposed to be a hands-on tutorial and 2) my dad had the computer contrast and brightness turned down so low that I was never able to discern where I was going in the next level, so I just wandered around aimlessly like a chump until I got killed again. I watched some gameplay videos on YouTube to write this blurb and in my infinite wisdom now it’s obvious the things it was trying to copy from, like, Metal Gear Solid, but worse. Much worse. It does still have a bitching soundtrack for 1998 though. 

My point is, if I had played maybe a classic platformer or a Zelda game when I was younger, I may have learned that it’s normal for beginners to die multiple times when they try out a new game, especially if they don’t really play games. (I mean, maybe not in the first reconnaissance mission part of Shogo. That’s definitely a newbie move.) But because I never learned that lesson, I just quit. Which is dumb, because it turns out that Shogo had a weird critical hit system and was hard even for people who actually played games to play without dying!

Anyway, when I say I am bad at video games, I don’t mean it like when a pretty girl at a bar tells you they’re bad at ping pong but then you play her and she beats you 11-2. Most people are bad at one video game or they are not as good at video games as other people who are really really good at video games. I am bad at video games in ways that you are not supposed to be bad at video games. 

Like, take one point in the Downtown Heliodor level. You meet a man who tells you to climb to the building roof, the idea being that you can use a rope strung between certain buildings to sneak into the Royal Square. The thing is, there are two ropes. And I only got the first one, and I spent probably 15 minutes running up buildings and jumping off rooftops before I finally LOOKED DOWN and saw the second one almost at my feet. 

Suffice to say it was this experience that made me want to blog about playing Dragon Quest XI.

Movement is a tricky thing in video games when you are bad at video games. Sometimes, it is not my fault. Like my (very bad video game) horse, that I haven’t named yet. Look at this. Horses are not supposed to stand like this. My god, why is it standing like that? What are its front hooves even standing on? Look at Haruhi gaze upon it in horror. Me too, Haruhi. Me too. 

After we get Erik’s glowy orb thing back from two gryphon siblings who are guarding a vault, we head off to Hotto. I kind of forget why and I’m sure it’s not really that important. Hotto is a hot springs resort town, and the first thing that happens when you get to Hotto is that someone implies my boyfriend Erik is stinky (rude!!) and he is whisked off to take a bath. Obviously my first instinct is to make Haruhi follow after him, but this is a video game and more specifically it is Dragon Quest so instead I first do a lot of wandering. 

Very, very bad wandering. Physically inept wandering. 

I don’t know what to say about this. I fall off that ledge like, three separate times. In trying a tricky move where I just swing the camera around to make sure there’s nothing at the end of the porch I need to break, I forget my bearings and fall off. At one point I lose control of which button I am supposed to be hitting so I just jump around like a drunk grasshopper and Haruhi even makes an exhalation like he’s disgusted at me. At the end, Haruhi just gives up and stands with his back towards me because he doesn’t even want to talk to me. Okay, I get it. I’m sorry.

 Eventually I am sure I have gathered all the loot and broken pots I’m supposed to and I make it to the baths.

<img src=“https://imgur.com/kcJLwJB”>

Erik has literally been waiting in (real time) hours for me to join in him. In the bath. I really appreciate this dedication but, like, HOURS. That cannot be good for his skin. Also I have been in Japanese baths like this before and I’m pretty sure we’re both supposed to be naked. But I’m extremely touched and I savor the cut scene that allows me to just chill here, entirely clothed, with my bud. In between this post and the last post I read some wiki entries and I guess Erik is supposed to have a mid-Atlantic accent? For those of you who haven’t watched the Wired dialect coach videos obsessively, that’s the kind of accent that Katharine Hepburn used in old movies. I guess that’s sexy?? But a strange acting choice all the same.

Anyway Erik literally flirts with me through this scene which I did not film because I thought I was hallucinating how extremely, like, flirtatious this scene was?? I tell Erik I’ve been scoping out the town and when I refuse to tell him what I saw he teases me, “I can see by your face there’s something you want to tell me.” IS THERE? IS THERE?? IS THERE SOMETHING HARUHI WANTS TO TELL HIM?? 

But then it turns out Haruhi is just talking about how we met Veronica looking for her sister outside of a bar. Erik makes some ominous comments about kid sisters before our extremely tender moment is interrupted by a GIRL’S VOICE LOOKING FOR HER DAD. It’s not Veronica, thankfully, just some RANDOM LITTLE GIRL IN THE MALE SIDE OF THE BATH. So that’s why we’re not allowed to be naked for this scene.

Erik and Haruhi are much nicer to this kid than I would be, and decide that she must be the kid sister Veronica is looking for and that we should return her to Veronica. There is a really bizarre sequence where one of the villagers offers you a taste of the sensual pleasure of a “puff-puff” which I think is just marijuana but literally who knows. Afterwards you can barge into the women’s side of the bath and if you do that you get an achievement.

This game is messed up.

I forgot to mention two things which is that everyone in Hotto speaks in haiku syllables and also you do most of your wandering in the bathhouse itself alone. You’re not rejoined by Erik until you actually leave the bathhouse, and then meet up with Veronica, who is exTREMELy English and tells you that 1) Connie is NOT her sister and 2) “You’ve got a daddy to find!”

Connie’s dad is boozing in a bar, and I really don’t think we should have returned her to him, but whatever. Meanwhile we agree to help Veronica find her sister Serena, who is for [mumble] reasons at [mumble] some place westward. Do you know Veronica gives you an option to say no to finding Serena? I’m kind of curious what would happen to the game if you told her no. Can I just stay here forever with Erik raising Connie? 

Guess we’ll never find out. 

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of May 2017

Hi guys! It’s that time of the month again, time for me to write a ‘lil bit about all of the various media I’ve stuffed into my gaping eye and ear-holes over the past 30 days. I would have included mouth-holes there too, but Nintendo deliberately made Switch cartridges taste horrible so unfortunately I haven’t been able to eat one. Oh well.

This month includes the return of some Sitcom favourites, more of me slowly, ever-so-slowly playing Zelda, a Booker Prize winner and a nice heap of Marvel Cinematic Universe fun.

Let’s do it!

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Movies

Once again there’s only 2 movies this month, and whilst they are both very different, both provide quite a bit to think and talk about. Up first is Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson 2015). This may be surprising given the types of films I normally like, but before watching Anomalisa I have to admit to not liking Charlie Kaufman as a writer. I’ve seen Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and none of them resonated with me like they do for so many others. I just find him a bit… pretentious? Like he tries too hard to do different things and in the end it just obscures what he’s actually trying to say? I dunno. But much to my surprise and pleasure, I really enjoyed Anomalisa, which is different from Kaufman’s other work in that it’s animated. This stop-motion story follows a man (voiced by David Thewlis) who is on a business trip to Cincinnati. This man, Michael, sees everyone else in the world, including his wife, a former girlfriend, as the same person. They have the same face, and the same voice (Tom Noonan). That is until he stumbles across one other person who looks different, Lisa, (Jennifer Jason Leigh). It’s a complicated, dare I say, pretentious set-up, but for me it works. The animation is fantastic, incredibly detailed, and it’s used to go to places other animated films wouldn’t. This is a truly adult film, so if after Team America you wanted to see more puppet nudity and sex… I’ve got you covered. The way the technique of having everyone except Michael and Lisa be the same person works is incredibly effective and disorientating. It took about 10 minutes for me to twig it, the unease sort of snuck up on me. I said earlier that I think Kaufman’s gimmickry gets in the way of what he is actually trying to say, but that is not the case here, I think I pretty much got what the film was saying about solipsism, and how so many other films feature a ‘manic pixie dream girl’ who shakes a depressed male protagonist out of their funk. Anomalisa flips your expectations here. Lisa is not Michael’s soulmate, she’s just a blip in his mental illness. If it even is that, he might just be an asshole. That’s not to say that Lisa isn’t a well-drawn character, because she is, and Leigh’s voice acting makes her come to life. Then again, maybe this isn’t what Kaufman and Johnson are saying at all and I’m an idiot. Either way, Anomalisa is a fascinating film that has been rotating in my head since I watched it. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen lately, and has me reconsidering my position on Charlie Kaufman. I certainly plan on watching the other film he directed, rather than just wrote, Synecdoche New York, and maybe I’ll go back to those other, older films.

Up next, I took a step away from the esoteric puppet show towards the mainstream blockbuster and into the cinema, as I went to see Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn 2017) which is of course (of course) the third film in the third phase of the monolithic Marvel Cinematic Universe. As is par for the course when writing about these films (and some, most, of the TV projects) I feel like I have to fully lay out a bit of bias. I love these films and just seeing these characters on screen and being done justice like this takes away a lot of my critical faculties. Problems I have with other, similar movies, I can brush aside because, hey, it’s the MCU, I trust these people. But that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Guardians 2, and whilst I don’t think it’s quite as good as the first one, I really appreciate it’s weirdness and how much crazy Marvel Universe lore it puts out there, if only just to hint at. The film of course sees all of our favourites from the first film, Star-Lord, Gamara, Drax, Rocket and Groot return for another adventure, but this time, the stakes are far more personal, as Star-Lord meets his father, Ego, who is brilliantly portrayed by Kurt Russell. Firstly, it was just awesome to be back with these characters again, they are just so much fun. The Guardians are perhaps the MCU versions that are the most different from the originals (of course, the comics have in turn, begun to reflect the movies far more) and as such I have a different emotional attachment to them. I’m not constantly comparing Gamora to the 500 Gamora comics I’ve read in my life, I’m just invested in her relationship with Nebula, and with Star-Lord. As I mentioned, the main plot here is Peter and his father, but the script makes sure that every Guardian (except maybe Baby Groot, but he’s adorable enough that you don’t mind) has their own story. Drax forms a bond with the newcomer Mantis (who is great!), Gamora fights her sister again, but even more personally, and Rocket deals with his anger driving people away. I found myself invested in all of these storylines, and it mean that, whilst the overall plot did sag a bit in the middle of the film, I didn’t mind. I will say that I am a bit sick of people dismissing Star-Lord’s story as ‘just more daddy issues’ or something like that. I think that’s reductive, and to me, the real plotline is how much Peter Quill still cares about his mother. His love for her is what snaps him out of cosmic brainwashing, and let’s not forget that, as awesome as the classic soundtracks are, they do serve an emotional purpose, as they are his only link to Earth, and to his mum. Maybe it’s just because my mother died of cancer as well (although hers wasn’t put there by an evil Celestial, at least I don’t think it was), but if anything, this is far more of a ‘mommy issues’ movie than a daddy issues one. I mentioned the soundtrack earlier, and I will say that this particular ‘awesome mix’ was a bit of step down, with the songs either being too mainstream (Fleetwood Mac, ELO) or way too obscure. Maybe I’m asking too much, but the first movie’s track selection was just perfect, hard for lightning to strike twice I suppose. The other character I want to specially highlight is Michael Rooker as Yondu, who is just amazing here. He has real pathos behind him and makes a character I never really knew into an absolute favourite. His storyline also sees the film do something I really didn’t expect and bring in more of the ‘original’ Guardians, the ones who, in the comics, were in the future. This movie has Sylvester Goddamn Stallone in it as Starhawk and I went in without knowing! I love that Gunn hasn’t forgotten the likes of Charlie-27 and Martinex, and that a major movie can feature characters as weird as them. That’s what sets this film apart from me, it’s not afraid to get a bit odd, and to use weird elements from the source material to their full potential. A few years ago, Ego The Living Planet would be considered way too goofy for a film, but not here, here he’s Kurt Russell! Some of this is pure fan-service, but as mentioned, when it comes to these films, I don’t mind that at all. The Stan Lee cameo was amazing, the teaser in the credits for Adam Warlock blew my mind (it took me an embarrassingly long time to connect Ayesha and her golden skin to that classic cosmic character). This film’s links to the wider universe are like that, more hints. I did expect some big Thanos developments, but ultimately, I don’t mind spending 2 hours just inside these goofball’s messed-up heads. I can’t wait for Vol.3, and I hope that, when the Guardians appear in Avengers: Infinity War, they don’t lose what makes them special. This film was just a blast, it delivers more of what you want, as well as surprising you with where it goes, the best kind of sequel.

Television

There’s one new TV show for me to talk about this time out, in the form of American Gods (Starz), the long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel. This is an interesting series for me adaptation-wise because, whilst I have read the book, it was a long time ago and I don’t really remember a lot of what happened. Just the basic gist really. This isn’t like Game Of Thrones or The Expanse where the source material is fresh as a daisy in my mind and I’m constantly comparing the show to what I already know. Here, I’m kind of hazy on the details and it’s a lot of fun being surprised both by what I didn’t know, and what I forgot I knew! The basic plot has barely begun, but basically, Gods are real, they live in America, they are at war, and a man named Shadow Moon (as far as I can call this dumb-ass name does have a good explanation) is drawn into their world after the death of his wife and his release from prison (on the same day). Not only is that, to me, a great intriguing premise, but it’s really elevated by some fantastic performances and amazing visual flair. One of the show’s main producers is Bryan Fuller, from Hannibal, and the opening 2 episodes where directed by David Slade, who directed a fair few episodes of that show too, so you can really tell that there’s a link in how the series looks and feels. The dream sequences and trippier moments are straight out of Hannibal, they are brilliant. There’s a sex montage in Episode 2 with Bilquis that is just insane. The performances so far have been great as well, Ian Fucking McShane is of course stealing the show as Mr Wednesday, but Ricky Whittle is really doing well as Shadow, which must be a hard role to play as he’s kind of intentionally inscrutable and a bit blank. And, if you watch nothing else, watch Orlando Jones’ monologue as Anansi that opens Episode 2. It is one of the best single scene performances I’ve ever seen, it knocked me for a loop. It’s only been 2 episodes, but this is already a fantastic, ambitious series that’s unlike anything else on TV. I can’t wait to see where it goes, and what else I can remember.

This month also saw the return of 2 of my favourite US Comedies. Silicon Valley (HBO) is back for a 4th season of tech-based misadventures. So far this season has managed to somehow feel like more of the same, but also change things up in a lot of interesting ways, as the characters move about into new situations. At the end of Season 3 it felt like we were right back to the beginning, but that wasn’t the case, as we’ve seen multiple characters leave companies, join new ones, sell companies, and all sorts of other manoeuvring. The prospect of Richard actually working with Gavin Belson is very exciting. In amongst all of these shake-ups, the characters have continued to be as funny as ever. I love how Big Head continues to fail upwards, he’s now a Professor at Stanford! And seeing Dinesh get a girlfriend is something we haven’t seen before. I’m also enjoying the increased role for Jian-Yang. Jimmy O. Yang has always been very funny in his brief scenes, but now he’s getting actual stories, which is cool. And man, Zach Woods is still killing it as Jared. He had one moment of madness in Episode 4 that had me wetting itself. At times it does feel like Silicon Valley is in a groove, but it’s such an enjoyable groove!

One series that hasn’t been afraid to get out of it’s groove is Veep (HBO), which is now in Season 6, and is a very different show this season. Of course it changed when Armando Iannucci left, but now that Selina Meyer is out of office, it’s even more different. With the character scattered all over the place, I did feel like the first one or two episodes were a bit lacking, but after that, it’s really found it’s feet and become just as funny and scathing as ever. In the wake of Trump it was going to be difficult for Veep to be the same show as it was before, so wisely it’s pivoted, it still has a lot to say about America and politics, but really, it’s become more about seeing who these characters are in new situations. I’m particularly enjoying Dan working as a TV News Anchor and Jonah as a Congressman has just been brutally brilliant, especially with Mary Holland joining the cast as his new ‘girlfriend’. It’s also interesting that the series has started to delve deeper into Selina as a character, and her backstory. She may be a bit ridiculous, but in the world of the show, she is the first ever female Vice President and the President, she is interesting. So yes, Veep has changed, but it’s still intelligent and funny and well worth watching. When real politics is as scary as it is these days, we need this magnificent bastards to laugh at.

Now for quick hits! We’ll start with comedies. LOL! LOL indeed.

The final episode ever of Girls (HBO) was a bit of an odd one, it jumped ahead to the birth of Hannah’s baby (the horrifically named Grover, and that’s a ‘Niam’ saying that) and only featured Hannah and Marnie from the main cast, out in the middle of nowhere. In a lot of ways, it was a typical Girls way for the series to end, Lena Dunham has never really done the conventional thing. I enjoyed it, particularly Becky Ann Baker’s performance. She’s always been excellent and underrated as Hannah’s mother. I will miss Girls, it was funny, different and always provoked debate, and I can’t wait to see what projects Dunham does next. As infuriating as she can be, she is very talented. How about a Dunham/Max Landis collaboration? That could destroy the internet.

I reached the end of BoJack Horseman (Netflix) Season 3, and holy shit, that was brutal. What happened to Sarah-Lynn just fucked me up. And then it’s followed up by the sublime ridiculousness of Mr. Peanutbutter’s spaghetti strainers actually being useful! That sums up BoJack for me, it can be gloriously silly and funny, but at it’s core it’s a dark series about depression and the sadness at the core of humanity (or animality, whatever). It’s one of my favourite shows ever at this point, and I am very excited for Season 4, and just where BoJack is going to go now. It’ll be bad… but also so, so good.

The Last Man On Earth (FOX) also wrapped up its 3rd season very well. Jasper has been a fun addition to the cast, and the 2-part finale in particular was a great, as the series once again upended it’s cast. Erica gave birth to her baby, but then Nuclear Reactors started going off and they had to flee. This series continues to be brilliant at balancing comedy and real dark drama, as the consequences of a post-apocalyptic world are actually thought out. The very last moment also brought Kristen Wiig in contact with the main cast, and what a way to do it.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) has continued to be very funny and strong, and one episode in particular really surprised me, as ‘Moo Moo’ became a serious examination of racial profiling in the Police Force. It’s rare that Brooklyn Nine-Nine addresses real issues, but it did it very well here, I think it should actually do more, especially in this era where the Police, in America especially, are not so popular. I don’t want it to become propaganda for the cops, but it can certainly shine a light on some real issues. As well as being dumb and funny with great actors of course.

The ‘Dreamland’ arc of Archer (FXX) is still going strong. It’s just a lot of fun to see these characters in this setting, and the storyline by itself has actually been rather arresting, with a lot of fun twists and turns. I’ve particularly liked Eugene Mirman’s performance as Cheryl’s brother. He’s delightfully creepy. Also, is Pam just a man in dreamland? Her character isn’t meant to be a woman in drag, here, she’s just a man? I kind of love that.

Oh, and I watched one more episode of Inside No. 9 (BBC Two), ‘Tom & Gerri’. It was very good, and actually managed to surprised me with the twist at the end. It was fun to see Lord Varys himself, Conleth Hill play an actually nice person, and Gemma Arterton was good too. That’s the strength of an anthology show, they can bring in really big names for just one episode.

Bridging the gap from comedy to drama is Better Call Saul (AMC) which is having an excellent third season, as it gets closer and closer to Breaking Bad territory. Not only has Gus finally appeared (with Giancarlo Esposito just as good as ever) but the whole tone of those scenes is straight out of the parent show. Episode 4, ‘Sabrosito’ barely seemed to feature Odenkirk at all. But that doesn’t mean that the series has just become Breaking Bad-lite, as the following episode ‘Chicanery’ was all courtroom stuff, and really did a fascinating job at delving into the central Jimmy/Chuck relationship. It really needs to be said again, but both Odenkirk and Michael McKean are amazing in this show, tour-de-force performances. This stretch of episodes has been a great microcosm of what makes Better Call Saul so good and basically the perfect prequel. It has plenty of links to what came before, including themes and cameos (Huell!) and camera work, but it’s also very capable of being it’s own, separate thing. So good.

The Season 2 finale of The Expanse (Sy Fy) was another strong episode in an exceptionally strong season. It was an incredibly tense episode that brought a lot of things to a head. The central plot of the Protomolecule monster being on the Rocinante tied everything together and, perhaps most importantly, brought the central crew of characters onto the same page. It’s interesting that the show isn’t precisely following a ‘1 season = 1 book’ model, and I like that, it’s allowing for things to unfold at a different pace.

The Americans (FX) is having an… interesting season. It’s still very good and all of the performances and episodes have been good, but, maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t seem as focused as it used to, which is odd, because the writers know they only have this and next year to wrap things up. Maybe that’s actually the reason, they know they have a guaranteed 26 episodes, so can pace things differently? Either way, there doesn’t seem to be any particular driving plot, missions and side characters come and go, and whilst each individual hour has been strong, it’s not a satisfying whole. Yet. I think maybe something big is going to happen (Pacha’s suicide? Something with Pastor Tim?) that will lead to a major event in the finale. Or at least I hope so. This is a fantastic series so maybe I just have too high expectations.

Now it’s time for everybody’s favourite corner… superhero corner!

So far in iZombie (The CW) Season 3, the biggest pleasure for me has been the classic thing, seeing Rose McIver play Liv on various different types of brain. Hippie Yoga Liv, gossipy bitch Liv, Dominatrix Liv and Hot Mess Liv have all been hilarious. I really think McIver is underrated by how she manages to play so many different shades of the same person. Some of the individual cases of the week have been a bit weak, but her performance, along with the new development of Clive knowing she’s a Zombie have made it work. As for the over-arching plots, I liked the way the show revealed that Blaine had been faking his memory loss, and what that means for Major and Liv going forward. The Fillmore Graves plot has been on the back burner a bit, but you just know it’s going to explode later.

Gotham (FOX) has returned with some really great episodes and has become a show that really embraces it’s ridiculousness, and is all the better for it. Corey Michael Smith in full on Riddler mode, green suit and all, is so much fun, as is Penguin and Poison Ivy gathering an ‘Army Of Freaks’ and a goddamn clone of Bruce Wayne. I’m also really enjoying this take on the Court Of Owls, I’ve said this before, but I get an extra kick out of seeing more recent concepts like this used in other media, and so it’s awesome to see something Scott Snyder invented on TV. Gotham is dumb, but it’s the good dumb.

The Flash (The CW) revealed who Savitar was, and it was… actually satisfying. The fact that Barry (or at least a Time Remnant of him) becomes his own worst enemy is interesting, and it’s a perfect expression of the consequences of too much time-travel meddling. What I found cool was that the show followed this big, tragic reveal with a somewhat broad comedy episode where Barry lost his memories. Not only was this funny, but it showed why the show needs a bit more levity. When Barry gets too Emo, things get bad (as shown by the trip to the future, where Barry literally was Emo). I’m also really enjoying Anne Dudek’s guest role as Tracy Brand. Her chemistry with Tom Cavanaugh is a lot of fun. 2 episodes left, and I hope they continue to get the balance between drama and fun right. The Flash is one of those characters who needs to stay optimistic.

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.LD. (ABC) has continued it’s hot-streak with more really fantastic episodes. This Hydra alternate reality arc really has been excellent. It’s allowed us to learn more about the characters, had a real impact, and also allowed the show to comment somewhat on real world political elements. It was cheap, but referring to Hydra’s ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’ was great. The performances have also gone up a gear, Henry Simmons choosing to stay in the Framework was a great, although I do think that somehow they’ll use that machine to bring his daughter into the ‘real world’. Although they might be saving that for Face Turn Grant Ward. I also want to praise Iain De Caestecker, who has taken Fitz from somewhat of a comic relief character into probably the most complex person on the show. He played the ‘evil’ Fitz so well I almost feared he would still be bad once he was back. Mallory Jansen has also been very good, whether as Aida, Agnes or now Ophelia, she has played the same person in 3 very interesting ways. I can’t wait to see how this finale ends things, and to see what Season 4 brings. It feels weird to say this after the slow start, but Agents Of SHIELD is one of the better adventure shows on the air.

And finally, I finished watching Marvel’s Iron Fist (Netflix), and whilst it does have it’s share of problems and is probably the least of the ‘Defenders’ shows, I still very much enjoyed it and am excited to see more of this version of Danny Rand, particularly alongside Luke Cage. Heroes For Hire! I’m not going to re-tread the race conversation as we discussed that last time, so instead I’ll say that, as is customary, some of the episodes did drag a bit in the middle before an exciting ending, and I do think the show’s budget was a bit too low. I think that really hurt things as we never go to actually see K’un Lun or the Dragon Shou-Lou. I wanted a goddamn dragon getting it’s heart ripped out of it, is that too much to ask? I don’t think so. I also think it took way too long for Danny to realise that Howard Meachum was a bad dude, but that naïveté is intentional, and a great character bit. The performances only improved as it went on. Finn Jones is actually very convincing, and both Jessica Henwick and Tom Pelphrey were brilliant. I actually think Pelphrey’s Ward Meachum might be one of the best performances in the MCU, as he manages to make some pretty dumb plot developments work just through his performance. I did like how, by the end, things had been twisted and it was Ward who was working alongside Danny, and Joy who had become his enemy. That was unexpected and fun. Her working alongside Gao and Davos should be interesting in a second season. I did like Davos’ role later on too, Sacha Dhawan was very good, although why does someone from K’un Lun sound so Mancunian? I admit it, I am an MCU mark, but Iron Fist really isn’t that bad, if you give it a chance, it is well worth it, and can only improve. Look, it took Agents Of SHIELD 3 years to get good, I think sometimes we need to appreciate that.

Music

There’s only one album this time out, but it’s kind of a big deal, as Gorillaz are back with their first album in 7 years, Humanz (Parlophone/Warner Bros. 2017). Now the Gorillaz are pretty significant band for me, their eponymous debut was one of the first CDs I bought from myself and I must have played that and Demon Days hundreds of times. Plastic Beach had less of an impact, and I don’t think I’ve actually listened to The Fall. So I’m kind of a lapsed fan, however this particular hype train, and the idea that this was some kind of politically vital and contemporary record brought me back in, and I bought the album, hell, I got the deluxe edition! After listening to it a few times, it’s pretty good, but a lot of that hype is way over-blown. There’s nothing here that’s particularly timely, it’s just the usual Gorillaz mix of interesting backing beats, fantastic guest contributors and Damon Albarn getting to experiment. That’s not a bad thing, but I think I went into it expecting something truly game-changing. That’s probably more on me than Gorillaz though. As I said, the guest stars on here are fantastic, I particularly like Vince Staples on ‘Ascension’, Grace Jones on ‘Charger’ and Benjamin Clementine on ‘Hallelujah Money’, those are great tracks. It’s also a lot of fun to try and spot Noel Gallagher on ‘We Got The Power’. How crazy is it that Albarn and Gallagher are on the same song? Britpop Hell has frozen over. So yeah, this album is decent, but as is probably par for the course with Gorillaz, the ideas and concepts around it are more interesting. The idea of all of these artists reacting to Trump (or not Trump, an un-specified huge event) is great, but the end result isn’t that amazing. I say par for the course, because what’s always appealed most about Gorillaz isn’t just the music, but the whole package, the artwork from Jamie Hewlett, which is fantastic. I think I like the artwork in the leaflet more than the album! Gorillaz are a unique project, and I’ll always appreciate them, but I think I want more than just cool artwork and weird samples from my music at this stage.

Books

2 books this month. I think my reading pace has slowed down a bit, not sure why. Hmm, anyway, I started the month with the last 100 pages or so of Jonathan Wilson’s Angels With Dirty Faces (2016). The history of Argentinian Football got pretty much up to date, as Wilson gets up to the current era of Messi, Aguero, Tevez, Higuain etc. It was pretty much I thought it would be, as the Argentinian domestic game has been basically ruined by all of the best players moving to Europe. What I didn’t know was the state of hooliganism and fan violence in Argentina, which was surprising, and also the continued political links in the game. The fact that the Argentinian government owns the broadcasting rights to league football and uses it for propaganda purposes is very unique, and I would have liked more exploration of that. Imagine if Theresa May was on Match Of The Day or something, At least we know Corbyn is an Arsenal fan. Overall, the end of the book lived up to the rest of it, this was a very readable, informative history of a fascinating subject and culture. Argentina’s national identity is inextricably linked with it’s football, and now, I feel like i understand that country so much more.

After this, I got my fancy literature on, as I read the winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize, The Sellout (2015) by Paul Beatty. Only this isn’t the kind of novel you’d really expect to win such a lofty, some would say wanky, prize. It’s an incredibly dark satire of American Race relations, and it’s actually very funny. The plot sees an unnamed African-American man (he’s only referred to as ‘Me’, which I think is his surname (So his name is like ‘Dave Me’ or ‘Tom Me’ or something) who somewhat accidentally brings back both segregation and slavery to the LA suburb he lives in. It’s an insane premise, but it works, and Beatty’s witty writing carries it through even the largest logic leaps. Much like with last month and ‘Get Out’, I don’t feel like I can fully parse a lot of the more caustic racial elements, being a white non-American, but it was shocking at times, and certainly made me look at certain things differently. I would be interested in reading some of Beatty’s other books, he has a unique sense of humour. I will say that I didn’t really laugh out loud at reading this, like many of the blurbs did, but then I’m struggling to think of many books that did make me LOL. I just don’t do it, even with comics. I think seeing something written down elicits a different reaction in me. More of a wry smile, or an ‘oh, that’s funny, I get that’ than actually laughing. The Sellout comes close though! Maybe literary prizes aren’t so bad…

Games

As mentioned in the intro, I’m still making my way rather slowly through The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Nintendo Switch 2017). I need to carve more time out to play it, but video games, even ones as good as this, are still bottom of my entertainment list. I only really play it when  I have nothing else to watch, read or listen to. As of now, I’ve finally got off the Great Plateau and am in the wider world of Hyrule, and man, it is intimidatingly big. That sense of freedom to do what you want can be both very freeing, but also kind of freezing. I can’t decide where to go, so in the end I don’t really go anywhere. Does that make sense? I’ve just been wandering around and not really advancing the plot. But still, this is an incredibly good game, the look of it is so beautiful, and it’s even more so after the Plateau. I think that is what’s holding me back from playing more, because it looks so good on the big TV, I’m not putting the Switch’s handheld mode to use to play when someone else is using it. The controls are just that level of intuitive that, for me, only Nintendo can reach. The Joycons on the Switch are bit flimsy, but after while, I’m used to it. I’m of two minds on what to do next video-game wise. I really want to pick up Mario Kart 8, especially because my girlfriend wants to do multiplayer,  but can I justify it when I’ve barely scratched the surface of Zelda?

—

That’s it! Just an addendum for you, after writing that last bit about the Switch and whether I should by Mario Kart… I went and ordered it on Amazon. So expect something about that next week. I also bought La La Land, so you’ll get to read my lukewarm take on that film on or near June 15th. I’ll probably be lame and quite like it, that’s the kind of person I am, I can never bring myself to truly hate things like the rest of the internet. Anyway, I’ll see you then! Hopefully we’ll be living under a Labour Government by then.

[ellieashcroft80-blog]

Res Streaming Company For Pono.

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The Mobile Application Trends Set is assisted by Sourcebits, a leading designer of functions and ready all significant mobile phone systems. A lot of game manufacturers and also executives do not participate in, know, or perhaps like activities.

[beautifulpeachtriumph-blog]

Worldwide Tablet Shipments Have actually Dropped 8.5% Over Recent Year, Q1 Is The Tenth Straight.

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Totem Group Gold is an unusual mix of updated models of all (yet one) of the degrees of the previous Symbol People video game and also ten completely brand new degrees. therapie-blognaturelle.info that might have occurred to a number of my pals growing, back then, where separation was actually not so prevalent, was actually to never ever need to stay in a home from both mama and daddy! A lot of our team have been actually following this ready awhile right now, yet in case you've been actually posted in the arctic circle for the final few months Check out Dogs," is an open-world video game that happens in the near future. I have actually certainly never definitely been a. petrolhead - though I carry out understand that red ones go much faster - so I can't talk about exactly how really good an activity Assetto Corsa is actually. You likely need to recognize where this broke because that can make a difference and you do not want to manage making traits much worse. Being actually boisterous regarding size is something developers need to beware in doing, as plenty of video games have actually offered huge lands to look into, but normally wind up clean and sterile, lifeless as well as loaded with NPCs that do not have any type of noteworthy features, in other words, that's a boring, meat-filled planet with nothing to accomplish. The Witcher 3 takes care of to mainly remove this concern along with its setting from the Northern Kingdoms through uniting polished features that result in a lively open globe. Thankfully, with the improvement in period happens brand new fruit and vegetables to select off, so you'll have loads of new alternatives to think about when you are actually prepping one of the most vital meal from the time. 2 even more various video games you could not envision, yet all together succeed to exhibit the several elements from the console. The puzzles are actually logical but pleasing; the visuals are actually stunning; as well as the video game amusingly supplies every one of its story in verse, which is actually nicely curious as well as perfectly different. The 3rd gunslinger will possibly kill the bear first, yet the bear will certainly get the very first 2 gunslingers. Parable Legends may be numb, together with the studio that was meant to become carrying that to life, however the Tale label lives on. This does so via this upcoming collectible memory card game on Heavy steam, Parable Luck, which is being initiated through former Lionhead Studios developers Craig Prophecy, Mike West and also Marcus Lynn. The Pokemon Business and also Game Fanatic had actually previously pointed out that they were waiting to view exactly how the Nintendo Switch over done and regardless if this would team up with the Pokemon collection just before dedicating a core activity to the console. If the attention from nutrient in channel is elevated (along with the steady dilution rate), the tissue quality are going to improve and development rate are going to remain the same.

[mrgameandwrite]

E3 2017 Summary

By the time you’re reading this, E3 will have come and gone. The drought of game releases of the summer will have given way to the hope of games that are on the holiday horizon. And goddamn if it isn’t a beautiful horizon that we, as gamers, are flying towards. This year’s E3 did not disappoint as there were a myriad of big announcements, huge surprises, and oh so many games. In case you missed it, here are all the highlights of E3 2017.

EA

EA kicked things off with a relatively tame conference, but the crowd reactions did not help. Granted, there were few things that I’m actually excited about from this conference, so I can’t chastise the crowd too hard. Still, E3 has begun!

Announcements

New IP from Bioware called Anthem, a gorgeous sci-fi shooter with power suits.

A co-op prison break game called A Way Out

Need for Speed: Payback, because cars deserve revenge, too.

Battlefield DLC that adds night time maps and Russian expansion.

Madden 18 has a story mode, which I will only play if you can ruin your career through idiotic antics at the club.

Fifa 18 has Ronaldo all over it. Because it’s “fueled by Ronaldo”. Every drop of his sweat makes the game better.

NBA Live 18 will try to be relevant.

Star Wars Battlefront II will look to improve on Star Wars Battlefront, you know, like the OG Star Wars Battlefront II.

Biggest Highlight: Star Wars Battlefront II

Featuring new campaign, multiplayer from all eras with more customization, vehicles, and various improvements to gunplay. Still skeptical as the first one left a bad taste in my mouth, but it’s hard not to be excited about being part of Star Wars battles.

Biggest Surprise: A Way Out

Made by the same people who made Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Interesting idea that the game MUST be played co-op, either through split screen or online. Could be hit or miss, depending on how matchmaking would work. 

Microsoft

Microsoft started by addressing the elephant in the room: Project Scorpio. Now dubbed Xbox One X, this mid-generation upgrade is advertised as the most powerful console ever made that will play games the best. The price tag at $499, which gives players cost-effective options based on preference. Since specs were already released, Microsoft could address what it’s called, what it costs, when it will be out (November 7), then dive into games. They announced that the OG Xbox games will soon be backwards compatible on Xbox One, while some Xbox One games can be enhanced with the X’s new tech. After that, they dove into a shit ton of game trailers, so it would just be easier to borrow this list from Kotaku, which also notes their exclusivity:

Anthem (Non-exclusive)

The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti (Console launch exclusive)

Ashen (Console launch exclusive)

Assassin’s Creed: Origins (Non-exclusive)

Black Desert (Console launch exclusive)

Code Vein (Non-exclusive)

Crackdown 3 (Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive)

Cuphead (Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive)

The Darwin Experiment (Console launch exclusive)

Deep Rock Galactic (Console launch exclusive)

Dragon Ball Fighter Z (Non-exclusive)

Forza Motorsport 7 (Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive)

The Last Night (Console launch exclusive)

Life Is Strange (Non-exclusive)

Metro Exodus (Non-exclusive)

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (Non-exclusive)

Minecraft (Non-exclusive)

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive)

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (Console launch exclusive)

Sea of Thieves (Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive)

State of Decay 2 (Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive)

Super Lucky’s Tale (Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive)

Tacoma (Console exclusive)

Biggest Highlight: Xbox One X

Despite a really bad name (especially considering another console in the Xbox family is called S, surely leading to some upset children come Christmas time), Xbox’s top-of-the-line console came in with a reasonable price point considering all the tech that’s going into it. They got the important info out of the way and turned their focus to the games, which will no doubt benefit from the beefed-up console.

Biggest Surprise: Sea of Thieves

Out of all the games on that expansive list, Sea of Thieves seems like the most promising to me. This open-world pirate game from Rare looks like it’ll require a lot of cooperation in order to do effectively, but will be fun even when everything goes horribly wrong. Hunting for treasure on the seven seas hasn’t looked this fun in a long time.

Bethesda

Welcome to BethesdaLand! If not for that odd theme park ode to themselves, Bethesda’s event probably would take home the award for most predictable conference. That’s not always a bad thing though, as some big things got announced.

Announcements

Fallout 4 will be getting the virtual reality treatment this fall, with Doom to follow sometime down the line.

Creation Club brings paid mods to Bethesda games. Boooo

Amiibos will allow you to dress as Link in the Nintendo Switch version of Skyrim, at least until you find some more powerful armor

Dishonored 2 is getting a standalone DLC called Death of the Outsider.

The Evil Within 2 is coming out on Friday, October 13th. Creepy things on creepy days.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus completely ignores the ending of its predecessor, The New Order, looks amazing enough that no one seems to care

Biggest Highlight: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Who doesn’t love killing Nazis in a future where their power reigns supreme? Especially when it looks that gorgeous and the combat looks so fluid and brutal. Admittedly, I haven’t actually tried the Wolfenstein franchise, but this looks good enough to quickly change my mind. Because again, Nazi-killin’ and alternative timelines.

Biggest Surprise: Fallout 4 VR might actually make Fallout 4 interesting to dive back into.

It still may be a weak story, but if they can bring it’s gunplay to a VR setting, I’m sold.

Ubisoft

BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL 2 IS REAL, GUYS! I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING!

Announcements

BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL 2 IS A REAL THING MADE BY REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL FEELS

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a goofy combo to have such a strategy-based focused, but I’m intrigued. Despite all the leaks about this game before E3, no one saw that coming.

The Crew 2, aka, The Crew 2: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Transference is a cryptic, creepy VR experience that I will never, ever play, no matter how excited Elijah Wood is about it.

Skull & Bones is a game based on the naval combat of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, except without assassins, or creeds (though I assume there will still be black flags a-plenty).

South Park gets double treatment, in the forms of a new mobile game called South Park Phone Destroyer and a new trailer for the RPG South Park: The Fractured But Whole

Starlink: Battle of Atlas looks like No Man’s Sky meets Skylanders, just in the sense that it’s a space game with real-life toys to scan in.

Far Cry 5 showcased Boomer, aka, Fang for Hire, WHO HAD BETTER NOT FUCKING DIE, I SWEAR.

Biggest Highlight: Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

Ok, so since I won’t allow myself to put Beyond Good and Evil 2 in both this and the biggest surprise section, Mario gets the treatment here for a few reasons. First, the game actually looks really good, even with those silly Rabbids. It’s a game a-la XCOM with turn-based, strategic combat and exploration. Plus, it gave beloved Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto a chance to perform for the live crowd since Nintendo switched to pre-recorded showings at E3.

Biggest Surprise: Beyond Good and Evil 2

Arguably the biggest surprise of the whole damn show, Beyond Good and Evil has been rumored to be in development over the last 15 years. After the cyberpunk cinematic spectacle that was the trailer, designer Michel Ancel came out with a tear in his eye to a standing ovation as he got to show the fruit of over a decade’s labor. Who knows when this game will actually come out, but amongst all the suited presenters, it was fantastic to see some real emotion from someone who has poured almsot two decades into his passion.

Sony

Unlike Microsoft, Sony didn’t have a new console to unveil, so the focus of their conference was on the games. And goddamn, Sony had a lot of games to announce. Let’s dive right in.

Announcements

Uncharted: Lost Legacy looks like an Uncharted game alright. There’s plenty of guns pointed at people menacingly and people falling over cliffs and/or collapsing buildings. Still, I’m pretty excited to explore India with Claudia and Nadine.

Horizon: Zero Dawn is getting an expansion, which I’m sure I’ll be very into once I actually start playing Horizon: Zero Dawn (I’m holding out for a PS4 Pro and 4K TV to get the best experience possible, cause I’ve heard it’s pretty good).

Days Gone may be coming in towards the end of the zombie craze, but at least it’s doing some interesting things mechanically that should shake things up with that tired genre.

Monster Hunter World is the first time the franchise is coming to non-Nintendo consoles, which could be neat. Maybe through a more proven online infrastructure, more of my friends will actually join in.

Call of Duty: World War II is, well, Call of Duty. It’s cool that they’re going back to World War II, but that’s about it.

Shadow of the Colossus isn’t just getting an HD facelift, but the whole remake treatment. We already know it’s a fantastic game, but now it’s gonna have the looks to match. Let’s just hope the camera isn’t like The Last Guardian...

Quite a few VR games coming to PSVR, including Skyrim (holy shit!), a shooter called Bravo Team, a pretty game called Star Child, a thriller I won’t play called The Inpatient, a Final Fantasy XV fishing game called Monster of the Deep (da fuck?), and an actual interesting game called Moss, which puts you in control of a little mouse with a sword. If I ever get into PSVR, it’ll be for Skyrim and Moss.

God of War will attempt to tackle all of your daddy issues as Kratos and son are on some kind of quest through Norse mythology. It’s interesting to see a character like Kratos slow down from all the over-the-top bloodletting and take on the role of a concerned parent. I’m super excited for the shift in tone.

The people who made Until Dawn are making a mobile game called Hidden Agenda, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Undertale, one of the biggest indie darlings of 2015, is coming to PS4 and Vita, which I’m super stoked about.

Marvel vs Capcom Infinite was one of the few games to do the whole “you can play some of it right now!” treatment with a story demo. Looks a little odd, to be honest. I’m into the whole multiverse idea in general, but it usually makes for a weak way to connect fighting game characters.

Destiny 2 is continuing the trend of timed exclusive content for PS4, which continues to conflict me about which system to buy it on, even though I’ll probably eventually buy both PS4 and Xbox versions like I did before because I have a Destiny problem.

Spider-Man closed down Sony’s conference with a bang. Sure, there are a lot of quick-time events, but Spider-Man looks poised to become the new Batman. I’m hoping that what was shown was just that linear because it was a mission and that the game will have more of an open world, but even if not, this game looks very fun.

Biggest Highlight: Spider-Man

Man, this game looked good. Kingpin is a good choice for a villain, but I’m excited to see how these seemingly unknown characters are utilized. Also, nice little Miles Morales cameo at the end just when everyone thought it was wrapped up. It may not come out until 2018, but this has potential to usurp the Batman series as best superhero game.

Biggest Surprise: Shadow of the Colossus

Probably at third place for biggest surprise of E3, I don’t think anyone predicted that Shadow of the Colossus was going to get the remake treatment so soon, especially after the recent release of The Last Guardian. Not complaining, though.

Nintendo

Nintendo always goes to the beat of their own drum when it comes to E3 conferences. This year, the pre-recorded presentation lasted around half an hour.  However, they went for quality over quantity, and they may have already won E3 2018 with a couple huge announcements.

Announcements:

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was one of the few JRPG’s shown at E3 this year, complete with cheesy dialogue. I always want to break into this series, but whenever I hear this kind of dialogue, I cringe.

Kirby is making his first appearance to a home console in a very long time in 2018. Hope it doesn’t....SUCK. I couldn’t help myself.

For the first time ever, the core series of Pokemon games is making its way to a home console with the Switch. We don’t know if it’ll be a brand new series or if it’ll be the long-rumored Pokemon Stars, but I scared the shit out of my girlfriend when this announcement hit. I’m still scaring her.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT, METROID PRIME 4 IS IN DEVELOPMENT. That’s all I needed to know. Nintendo is giving the people what they want. What is this world we live in? There’s also a side-scroller Metroid coming out called Metroid: Samus Returns for 3DS, BUT METROID PRIME 4, Y’ALL!

Yoshi looks wooly again and is getting a Switch game in 2018.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild outlined two pieces of DLC. The first, which is coming out on June 30th, is called The Master of Trials, which looks like a complex gauntlet of endurance and strategy. The second DLC, slated for holiday release, is called The Champions Ballad, and is coming with its own set of Amiibo, which I will probably have to get, goddamn it.

Rocket League is coming to Switch with Mario-themed extras and, most importantly, will feature cross network play. Maybe seeing how Nintendo handles it will convince Sony to try it, and then we’ll get to the beginning of the end of the console wars.

Fire Emblem Warriors is going to be a Dynasty Warriors clone with Fire Emblem paint, if you’re into that kinda thing.

And for the grand finale, Nintendo showed off a lot more of Super Mario Odyssey, including the fact that Mario, with his magic hat Cappy, has the ability to possess and become enemies, NPCs, and fucking dinosaurs. It looks quirky and cute and could be the runner-up for GOTY (Breath of the Wild has that on lock). It also is coming out October 27th.

Biggest Highlight: Super Mario Odyssey

For a short conference, Nintendo focused the back half of it on Mario, and for good reason. Post Breath of the Wild, my Switch has been itching for this game and it’s charming mechanics. On top of possessing enemies, Mario’s hat can also possess things like electric wires to travel from building to building. It’s the centerpiece for this game’s mechanics and I couldn’t be more excited to throw my hat at every fucking thing.

Biggest Surprise: Metroid Prime 4

Now, if this category were giddiest reaction by me, it would be Pokemon on Switch, but with all the leaked info on Game Freak’s specific job posting, the biggest surprise is Metroid Prime 4 actually being worked on. We’ve been clamoring for a new Metroid game and it seems like Nintendo believes the Switch is the system that’s ready to handle it. We probably won’t see anything more concrete on it for another year or so, but knowing that it’s in development should have people salivating until then.

Best Game of Show: Super Mario Odyssey

Despite some exciting trailers for long lost sequels and excellent gameplay demos, Nintendo takes the cake in 2017 with Super Mario Odyssey. After only seeing a small teaser when the Nintendo Switch was first announced, Nintendo delivered what eager fans have been waiting for with the Switch’s newest blockbuster. Nintendo focused in on Mario’s magic cap through most of the E3 presentation, making fans salivate at all the goofy ways to explore and solve New Donk City and beyond. Complete with a release date of October 27th (originally slated as Holiday 2017), fans won’t have to wait nearly as long as most of the exciting things that were revealed in this E3.