#and is instead just. rehashing those same thoughts and feelings again

[reimeichan]

There's this really dumb part with having DID, which is what do you mean I haven't processed this shit yet? Because, surprise! Maybe you did process it, but was it you-you, or was it another you that did the processing, hm? Oh, sorry, looks like this current version of you never actually did go through that, so you're gonna have to process through these thoughts and feelings and memories allllll over again.

What do you mean I haven't actually worked through my issues yet I thought I was already through with this song and dance months ago *grumbles*

[theangelshavethephonebox]

I don't want to start discourse so I'm hoping people don't feel the need to add on here, but, my thoughts are basically: The New Doctor Who Episode Was Pretty Good, Actually, maybe y'all just don't like nuance.

Rant under the cut.

I feel exhausted seeing this argued again and again, like there's any kind of real debate to be had. Genocide is bad. Terrorism is bad. These are statements that can and do coexist - and nowhere do they coexist more strongly than in Juno Dawson's pretty damn neat story.

I have - and will write that bit up properly - commented in other places on the wonderfulness of the camp, the insanity of the reveal, the really quite in character emotional reaction from the Doctor and the really quite out of character writing for Belinda. Apparently, Juno didn't receive much information about Belinda before writing so, I don't hold that last bit against her. But anyway, I won't rehash all that here. What I want to talk about - shocker! - is the fandom's reaction to politics.

The politics in this episode were not "Israel bad, Palestine good" or vice versa; this was a complicated, nuanced, and emotionally driven dive into profiting off of colonialism, into the weapons industrial complex, into the anger of oppressed communities and the way that even what we celebrate and find joy in can be turned into a symbol of hatred. How people in the same community have diverging views on how to combat their oppression.

Say it with me now: nuance is not the enemy. We can handle some nuance.

Or at least, I thought we could before I saw the way people are talking about this episode. There are many different ways to interpret what meant what, but I think Juno's intent was for the Hellions to represent oppressed communities using aspects of Jewish and Palestinian oppression to draw those comparisons, and for the Corporation to act as the objectively evil colonialist complex that profits from causing harm, and yet has ties to something that is supposed to celebrate unity and people from all over coming together to make art with one another... Drawing on the real-world war profiteering, and on the Israeli companies profiting from sacked and stolen Palestinian land, to make us see that connection.

I think if people focused on the bigger picture of this allegory, they'd maybe be having a better time discussing this one. We could be having fun talking about the Rani and instead we're out here acting like Doctor Who supports Israel now, or hates Jews now, or any number of other ridiculous things I've seen people say about this episode. Look, a trans woman writing about the pain of something your community holds dear being supported by the very thing that threatens to destroy that community!!! Isn't it amazing that these stories are getting to be told? Take my hand. Keep an open mind. Think about other perspectives and interpretations of elements of this story. Nuance is not the enemy.

Anyway, enough politics - can we talk about how frickin cool it was that RTD got Graham Norton himself on an episode about Eurovision?? Because yeah. That rocked. Now, that is all - go back to your Rani discourse, if you so choose. The only discourse I care about is if the new Rani is hot or super hot. Doctor Who isn't too woke or not woke enough or failing to condemn genocide or failing to condemn terrorism. Not today, anyway. It's full of hot people and pretty colours and cool stories, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters.

[galedekarios]

so, let me get this straight...

laiostoudenn aka wizardblood/lathanderr/spellbooking/the james somerton of the bg3 fandom instead of actually apologising and taking accountability for his repeated actions, now:

block evades, keeping his old blog up as an "archive" and making a new one, while, of course, not deleting any of the other sets he blatantly stole from others, including myself

lies and tries to change the narrative of what actually happened once again, while also conveniently not going into any details at all of what little he does admit, lest those who still believe him for some unfathomable reason look deeper

calls his stealing and constant plagiarism that has been going on for months "fandom drama" that is being "rehashed" constantly due to no fault of his own

still lies about not knowing these gifsets (or "a" gifset as he puts it) that he stole existed, while also saying at the same time yet again how it's just "gifing the same scenes" and that there would be "nothing" left to do if that isn't allowed, despite this still not being the issue and us showing ample evidence of what he is actually doing, i.e. him taking word for word captions, frame by frame sets, entire concepts down to a t, and him literally contacting us to "remake" these sets and not taking no for an answer, no matter in which way it was said to him, privately or publicly

feels he is being "villainised".......................... for plagiarising

claims we never gave him a chance to "right his wrongs"... as if he isn't 100% free still to do just that by say, deleting everything that was stolen and actually apologising, acknowledging what he did was wrong instead of lying about it, instead of whatever the fuck this manipulative collection of lies sprinkled with a pity party is...

and let me be clear: he claims he took accountability, but he doesn't like what taking accountability actually would look like in his case because he's been in this for internet clout and notefarming since day 1 & that's the only reason why he doesn't "right his wrongs"

claims he is being isolated and made to feel unwelcome in the fandom space, which i can't help but wonder.... might that perhaps be because he is plagiarising ppl, has taken back his initial damage control apology from march, while continuing to vague about the creators for months (ranging from accusation of transphobia, bullying, clique behaviour, etc) and now feels backed into a corner after it has come to light that he is still doing this and has now been blocked by various people who have been affected over a long time? might that be it?

is now further trying to victimise himself by saying he received homophobic messages, which... even IF true (and it's a big if solely based on just how much he lies and that he accused the initial person who spoke out against him of being transphobic), it still doesn't make it right that he stole despite being told to stop it multiple times. two things can be very, very wrong at the same time.

claims he did actually take accountability... which again, i can't help but wonder: was that by gleefully delighting in the fact he sees himself as the "top hated bg3 blog baybee"? that he is now in his "reputation era"? is that what taking accountability looks like for him?

still pretends he is a small blog bullied by bigger creators when his stolen sets made as many, or at times, even more notes than the ones he stole did, and as if his blog didn't grow big on the backs of actual original creators

and, finally: "And fair warning: If you do not stick to the status quo in this fandom, you will be eaten alive." like,,,, be so for fucking real right now, this is legitimately embarrassing

i thought this was finally finally over and done with, but no.

[distant--shadow]

Yeah, it's 100% an issue of question curation, not an issue with questions being asked. There's literally no way that you could know that without specifically seeking out questions that were submitted but not answered, but I guess some people are expecting you to be clairvoyant...

It's a shame because it's probably the only fireside chat Laura'll do for at least a year. I think the quesitons that get the most repeat submissions are always going to be the memey ones, which is why they really need a dedicated person to pick out the most interesting questions during fireside chats, otherwise we're just gonna keep getting shallow questions.

Also, I was just thinking the other day about how girlfailure is kinda like the new bimbo and it bothers me. Like, yeah, it means ditzy and klutzy and we can say it affectionately all we like, we're still kinda trivialising feminity. It's also a really clunky word that sounds bad to say. If you wanna talk more about it, I'd like to hear it

I feel you here, but as I keep tryna say I don't think it's 100% an issue on curation, because those silly questions had to be submitted in the first place, and the person curating them has to have some sort of belief or knowledge that it is what the audience wants to hear. I can take an argument for lightheartedness, but as I said, it's within the context of all of the grievances people have had with this campaign, I guess paired maybe with underlying concerns I could have about them tryna appeal to a certain crowd, and how that could effect the main campaign format eventually. I don't know the current time line for recording, so there's all chance that the latest episode was filmed an amount of time before the fireside chat, so that added to wanting to steer from too current questions as it would maybe spoil. but then again I say, the show didn't have to be this week. and you're very right, it is so frustrating because we have a lot less of a look behind the curtain with this campaign than we did c2, and yes they're so busy, but it's frustrating because we (or at least I) don't want any of the bells and whistles in this extra content. I'm not looking to fulfil a social need watching them hang out, I want to get a grasp of what is going on, or at least not have it replaced by the goofing.

of course part of why I was posting initially with pretty heavy words is because I was feeling pissed off about it, you wait a long time for something to come round and it just feels like the same information rehashed to you, or yeah as I said in other posts, it feels like an obvious infiltration of fandom and like you're getting pandered to. and hey, maybe that's the fault of this campaign, maybe the majority feel it's so lacking they'd rather say fuck it, I'd rather AU to everyone's face.

I'll say a little bit on the girl failure thing, because I am almost certain people have written good and thought out essays and pieces on this stuff, but what I will say is what my gut says. firstly, there has been a huge up tick in the use of girl by women in general in recent years, and as a simple quick note on that: I don't like it. it shows a denial of aging, a wish to not be associated with what is woman, as well as literally the word for a child. yes, I understand the complexities of a society where getting houses and a lot of these other classic age associated milestones are really hard if not impossible, and that language evolves and definitions change, but what a denial of the experiences you do get to have instead. there's a lot of freedoms we have that prior generations haven't. to go through all of that and still call other women girls is just. it's not it. I can understand an argument for preference, but as I said, to use it for others is infantilising. showing my age here, I'm sure, but it's the way girl has become like an identity vs woman. why are you so scared of being a woman? what is it about if that you dislike? how does that play into-

girlfailure, and people using it so casually for everything and it becoming a meme.

language is important. and I shoudlnt be allowed to say that because I haven't proof read a post in my life and I've got a sieve brain from years of drug use. but the language you use plants seeds. when you make jokes and belittle yourself, do you know what kind of people see that and think, huh, well if they're saying it it's fine for me to say it too, and who goes on to repeat it the loudest? how, genuinely, I genuinely believe this, yknow, you watch those videos and read those pieces on how people basically become fascists without realising, from the wildest paths. that it's often a long chain of events. behaviour starts somewhere. and yeah, this is a huge dumbing down and simplification of that and I'm sure a lot of people will argue I'm being delusional and dramatique', but associating a negative trait with a gender or a sex or a race or ability, making it a meme, using that meme, even if it's initially only used by the people it applies to, it gets co-opted by those it doesn't, and in time is used as ammunition against them. do I think that every person saying girlfailure or girlmath is using it with vicious intent? no. but I'm old enough to have grown up with changing vocabulary and words that are derogatory and thought of as totally fine to use in every day language and were in reality dehumanising and or belittling the people they were used against. basically? girlfailure gives me the ick. sure, girlfail all over yourself if you have to. don't use it for other women. don't put it out there.

it's never made sense for me for Imogen. yeah, she's a goof at times, but her failures are literally dice rolls, why is no one else a girlfailure? she's been rediculously perceptive (lol not visually) so many fucking times. what do you mean all you've wanted is for Imogen to be a girlfailure? you want her to flunk everything she attempts? doesn't seem to line up with the Imogen I very much enjoy seeing and people claim is what they love to see.

finally, and this might be huge news to some people, I can think girlfailure is a shitty term and propagating misogyny, and that doesn't take away from how much of my concerns are focused in areas that need more attention, doesn't mean it's all I care about. as I'm always saying, change happens locally, within communities. change starts with small actions as well as big ones. language is important. if you don't see how small things play into the big things then I'm sorry, the world isn't that simple. dehumanising and the like starts at micro levels. and before u know it it's law.

[lukolabrainrot]

Would love to know if everyone else is constantly flip flopping between ok they will absolutely get together to if they haven't by now after a tour like that, they never will and they must have their reasons?! It's driving me insane, I don't know how people have coped since the days of Jade, I'm only a few months in and already need them to sort their shit out!

Like I was fully optimistic the other day thinking it was plausible that Nic was wearing Lukes "drink milk" shirt with the half turned up sleeve (what has my life become!) and she looked so happy and she was posting more again on sm, knowing everyone would over analyse everything so I thought maybe things were taking a turn for the positive!

Now I'm reading the X rumours he's been spotted in some other country and people speculating its Cyrpus with A visiting her family. Could be absolute nonsense but the fact DM rehashed her old podcast about them, it would follow that we will get bombarded with clues now of where they are together from A. If they are on a holiday just the 2 of them, that kind of throws a lot of my theories out the window where I thought he would want to be distancing himself from A now in order to make a go of things with Nic.

But then I remember there has to be something more than friends between N & L or else I think Nic would have come to Lukes defence in a much stronger way after the pap walk given the backlash he got after it. I think if it had been all PR playing into their natural chemistry, Nic wouldn't have let him take the heat on his own as there was two of them in it and it would have been their game plan from the start, even with A being on the scene. Nic is very SM savvy and with their PR teams I'm sure they could have figured something to minimise the impact even though they would both then of got it in the neck for gaslighting everyone, at least it would have been done and everyone would have moved on by now! Instead, they both disappeared from SM and ignored it all because they couldn't refute what everyone saw because they are in love and didn't want to lie!!

So then I'm back to their absolutely has to be more to their story and the cycle just continues everytime something with A or JD crops up and I'm like, what are they all doing!!!

Same anon, same.

It's been quite the 🎢 on this 🚢, BUT I've been feeling more optimistic in general about L/N lately, and I think this is what's been helping me stay positive and level-headed in the midst of all the noise:

I literally don't listen to ANY of the rumors until I have receipts/proof. If I don't have this, then I just consider the rumor to be BS. This has been helping me soooo much! Although, I still spiral every once in a while 😅

I think we had soooo much content of L/N for MONTHS, that I think we all are kind of going through "withdrawals" (for lack of a better word), especially for those of us that are new to the ship, and are therefore hyperanalyzing EVERYTHING related to L and N. I keep reminding myself that it is normal for L/N to not put out a lot of content of each other in the in-between periods of Bridgerton. I also remind myself we have NO idea 100% what's going on with them BTS until we get more public confirmation (which we may or may not get).

Lastly, like you mentioned anon, I feel like if NOTHING had been going on between L/N during the PR tour, they would have publicly shut down the rumors, ESPECIALLY if L was really in a serious relationship with A. However, other than that one story N posted right after Papgate calling L a great "friend", they didn't really solidly come out and clarify that what we saw wasn't more than just PR. Why?? Because it wasn't, and like you mentioned anon, they couldn't refute that. I think a lot of things about them came out publicly that they weren't exactly ready for the public to know, so they TRIED to hide behind their characters on the tour (they didn't do a super good job with that imo, but I think that's because this was a HUGE deal for them and they were HAPPY and having a hard time hiding it 😍). So they had to correct for that, which resulted in a lot of what we saw between L/N/A after the London premiere. I've talked about my thoughts on all this in my "timelines" posts, so please refer to those if you would like to know more of my thoughts on all that. HOWEVER, I think we have gotten QUITE A FEW Easter Eggs the last few days, from N especially, that hint that things are moving in a positive direction with these two 👀 I'll talk about my thoughts on that sometime tonight...

[dearweirdme]

I feel like Sisyphus but in this case replace the rock with Taenope discourse😅 It is such an obvious media play with both parties "benefitting" to a degree. J gets a boost to her profile just before her western acting debut and Tae gets his beard before military service (amount other freedoms).

The pap doesnt know who Tae is and had to work from a tip off? The kpop idol who shut down Paris months before for the Celine Show? That story was everywhere and its his job to know these people. I understand he was mainly a sports pap but then why bother taking this picture anyway!

French paps are notoriously aggressive yet this guy stood a respectful distance and didn't get in anyone's face?

He didn't sell the photos! It's his job, how he earns a living! We're to believe he made zero money off it, just IG engagement??

After Diana's death France introduced strong privacy laws with respect to paparazzi photos but this guy instead of selling the rights to the photos and letting the media publication take the rap for any possible litigation? Hmmm must have been very sure that these two idols who he knows nothing about were not going to sue.

The timeline does not add up either (I think these photos were taken in Nov 22) they are bundled up like it's cold when Paris at the end of May is balmy. Tae with his condition in all those layers? J wearing the exact.same.outfit she was snapped wearing in Paris in November 22 while shopping with her team? J not being able to be in Paris anyway because she was in Asia on her group tour.

He releases his exclusive photos days later when he knew others were taking photos too but they all had a hive mentality (pun intended) and released all pictures and videos on the same evening.

All these inaccuracies because it was never meant to be scrutinised to the nth degree. Its a classic papwalk at the most basic level to raise a profile and provide het dating cover. It has done its job effectively as people are still rehashing it. Time to pack it up though, lets all move on.

Hi @charjube!

Oh, absolutely same!! The many times I have thought I could retire my taennope tag only for it to become active again 🙈.

This is classic pr. Classic pap getting called to take pic/video. We might not be able to piece all of it together (how could we possibly), but there's honestly also not that much mystery surrounding it. This sort of thing happens all the time.. people are just not used to it being a BTS member.

But yes.. definitely tired of it 😂.

[lakesbian]

Very curious to hear you elaborate on your thoughts of dungeon meshi anime sucking! Most of the folks I’ve seen talk about it have been pretty positive, and while as a fan of the manga I dropped out of the anime partway through I can’t really articulate why I stopped watching

this is gonna be pretty unformed but maybe @haunting-hole could add more if she wants. to phrase it to the best of my ability (unfortunately sans picture examples because i don't have time to dig them up):

it looks bad. or, well, the issue is actually that it just looks okay. the lighting is extremely washed out and sterile feeling. the manga has 1. gorgeous art and 2. extremely strong usage of light and shadow to convey tone, and the anime drops the ball both on fully conveying the atmosphere of those environments via their color (because the lighting is sterile and ubiquitous) and on using color in more subtle ways to convey the tone that the manga was initially striking for certain plot beats, whether that be horror or humor or emotional closeness. good example of this is comparing the first fawin fight in the anime vs the manga--in the manga, there's really stark use of light and shadow that adds an immense sense of emotional gravity, and the anime Does Not Have That

i think it in general lacks the artistic nuances that make the manga good...like first fawin fight as an example again. when she rips her shirt off in the manga, she's extremely bloodsplattered with a horrifyingly slackjawed, unfocused, animalistic look--she looks like a predatory animal. in the anime, the expression is altered in a way that makes her appear significantly more in control of her faculties than she actually is. or directly compare delgal's birth in the manga to delgal's birth in the anime--the one in the manga feels extremely personal and intimate and human, and the one in the anime has absolutely none of that weight because of how the scene is designed and drawn

i understand that things have to get cut out oftentimes in adaptations but i cannot fathom why they decided to cut namari explaining how resurrection works because it's literally Critical context for understanding the plot event of why everyone is so horrified when they find falin's bones. the sense of dread is so much more significant in the manga...i remember seeing a big post having 2 explain why this was a big deal 4 anime-onlies bc they were just straight up missing the critical worldbuilding detail that Resurrection Doesn't Fucking Work So Good when someone is just Bones. like please. that's importance.

the manga does comedy, horror, horror-comedy, extremely convincing character-focused emotional intimacy, etc. the anime has like. i don't fully know how to articulate it, it tries to recreate panels one-to-one but it ends up coming off as awkward and jarring instead. toshiro and laios' fight is particularly dire for this. i haven't watched the most recent episode myself but my friend whom i trust to be so right about dungeon meshi reported that it completely shits the bed on giving senshi's backstory the same compelling gravity as the manga. and also they put one of those overly cheery shiny yellow backgrounds over a group hug scene that's incredibly cozy and intimate and not at all humorously played up or lighthearted in the manga.

like, i think it really just boils down to the fact that the manga is a solid 5/5 with broad appeal, and the anime is a 3/5 mediocre sort of situation you just kinda drop without really thinking about why. just starkly milquetoast compared to everything the manga does. the anime being this popular is like watching people flock 2 outback steakhouse when a michelin star restaurant is right next door handing out free meals. it's Fine, it's Perfectly Serviceable depending on how distinguishing your taste is, but it's distinctly worse in comparison to the manga, and i don't care about seeing the same story rehashed in a diminished quality

[dogstar9069]

SHOW OFF/てらてら - Wada Takeaki/KurageP

Translation credit melanchoeddie and Yoshi

Another rehash of those same overused words

I’m forging another’s original words

But if I sync them into this song

This path I craft will disappear, right?

I’m always shaken and made mistakes

Trippin’ n’stumbling out of line countless times

And I can’t rectify these steps so I freeze instead

‘Cuz their painful hate hurts too much, y’know?

When I finally took my fate back

I found the free world so lovely

Though I’d forgotten all the doubts inside of my head

Can you remember what they were like?

I’m gone! I’m gone! I’m gone!

And you won’t find me

There’s no one you’ll find here

High above in the sky, I’m aiming to reach, such a blurry dream—I can’t even see

Hey, what do ya’ think?

Another rehash of those same overused words

I’m forging another’s original words

But do ya’ really think some bullshit reviews should determine your dreams ahead?

Reciting those redundant things they say

I realize—I don’t need such grandiose things!

And if I sync them into this song

My heart would lose sight of it’s true goal

Aah!

“I’m tugged and strangled by this white line

And if I try and run, I’d meet the end roll

‘Cuz I’m going around in circles with a single shot

There’s no second chances in life? Oh no!”

Lackin’ common sense and no thought process

My mouth ran so recklessly

So much so that I had been bounded and tied down, Hey—

Identity’s collapsing!

I don’t! I don’t! I don’t! Wanna start hating it

Neither myself nor the world I love

While I wait for my hopes to rise again

So here in the now shall we just—let our sounds resonate?

And if we keep rehashing those overused words

Do you really think we can cross the stratosphere?

‘Cuz justice is ruled by nostalgia, a little suspicious don’t ya’ think?

I’m sure we’re just parodies laughed at by God

I realize—I don’t wanna be such grandiose things!

And if I can’t be my heart’s true self

I’ll settle for just being a washed-up nobody!

And to feel real love you gotta step out of line

(Whoa-oh whoa-oh-oh)

Let us find a place to sing out of their sights

(Whoa-oh whoa-oh-oh)

And let us tear apart the facade of this seemingly perfect and flawless world

So we can reach the summit in the sky

For our dreams to decorate it

Hey, what do ya’ think?

Another rehash of those same overused words

I’m forging another’s original words

But within this endless promised land, did I ever find anything at all?

Reciting those redundant things they say

I realize—I don’t need such grandiose things!

And if I sync them into this song

My heart would lose sight of it’s true goal

Aah!

[fayrinferno]

Shower Thoughts on AI Art

I think my aversion to AI art is not a secret and there's ton of posts that I agree with and I could not have put better. Still, I will try to collect a few thoughts of why it's so shitty and depressing for me. No, it's not even because I draw and write a little and I feel threatened by it and the art theft it entails (at my level I just don't). This is more of a consumer standpoint.

AI art for me is like watering down the same teabag 20 times, yeah, you got the ingredients correct and you got some result out of it. But is it still tea? Anyway, you don't care, you water it down the 21st time and the water doesn't even color, so what now? You figure out you just need to put some artificial colorant into hot water and you can call it a tea. Like they do it in the food adverts. Replacing actual food with delicious-looking chemicals. You can make so many cups of tea-looking liquid with just one tiny bit of colorant. You can skip the whole growing the plant, picking the leaves, drying them and whatnot, even something as minor as unpacking the teabag each time... and you get a nice looking cup of tea without all the effort! It's easier, quicker, cheaper. People will eventually get used to the new definition of tea. Except it's poison.

But before you even started slowly poisoning people with it, you devaluated what tea should be. You watered it down till all the taste disappeared and it became colored water that you could replace with... well, colored water.

You can pop these "works" out like microwave popcorn. You can post 20 of them online in an hour. You and everyone else. You are making trash out of a rare and precious good, to be sold at dumping price. In all human history, people who created masterpieces had honed their skills for months, years, and enjoyed the respect of people, sometimes good money (or at least some of them did; more deserved it). Even those who would create forgeries of their work had to train for years to be able to do that. You will just render that effort useless, stupid, laughable. So why should anyone bother and waste their time, train for years, and yet beggar themselves with a worthless trade? The pool of talent will get smaller and skills will deteriorate so I wonder what would the AI feed upon then? Upon itself? Or will it just rehash endlessly what was created before this cursed decade?

And so, we're quickly getting to the poison point. If something is not done to limit it, AI will stop making those dumb mistakes it does now. You will no longer be able to identify it, discern it from human-made art, from real photos, videos. You will be able to not only create flawless masterpieces; you will render your own reality. Manipulating the masses will become even easier than it is right now.

And this is happening to art, you know, the thing that always had our backs and souls in time of crisis. Like the one that is already here. Instead of helping with the crisis, helping us to better lives, AI targets one of the last pillars of hope. One that should inspire us to imagine a better world.

When I saw an amazing piece of art, I used to feel admiration and inspiration, imagining the mind, talent, skill, effort, training, time, energy, emotion that went to it. The artwork itself was just the tip of the iceberg. Now, I squint at it like, AI or not? I will never trust a newcomer artist again. Digital art makes many things easier already, that can't be denied. Combined with AI, it will just make creating great artwork laughably easy. Even if it IS an artist that has (and is willing to train and use) some skill, AI can make it so much easier for them. Soon, there will be no telling between a real artist and a total hack. I can look at the artwork and even like what I see, but guess I will never feel that genuine wonder, genuine emotion again. Maybe I'll only find those feelings in the galleries. I will only trust the artist of ye olde, before 2023, who I know could create those amazing things with their own skills. And same goes for writers, I assume. Luckily, there are tons of human-made writing I still haven't read, human-made art I haven't enjoyed. If I can't find something to entertain, I still can create something to entertain myself. I'll find and pick the herbs myself, dry them, make an infusion. But I know I won't have to resort to poison laced with theft.

tl;dr I'll never support something that ruins human motivation to create. Because that leaves us only the other human thing, which is the opposite.

[magicofrobin]

misc. headcanons

he's only dating dove for threeish months before his family figures out & confirms he's dating someone. it takes another month before they all figure out who. some of them figure out sooner and don't say anything.

one of his nostalgia meals is pretty basic, but also kind of gross depending on who you are. it's a bologna and american cheese sandwich on white bread (the CHEAPEST he can find) w a little bit of mayo, zapped in the microwave for like 45 seconds to get it melty. it was quick, tasty, and easier for him to make when he was younger and wanted a grilled cheese or smth before he was able to reach the stove / knew how to use the stove. the ingredients were also pretty affordable so they were staples in his house growing up. when he's living at the manor he's too embarrassed to ask for it because he's got access to so much expensive food & ingredients.

he is all about donating to food banks. during his robin years you best believe he was convincing bruce to let him pick stuff out that he knows kids like him would've wanted from the food bank n stuff that will actually get eaten so they drop it off. anonymously. he doesn't want the recognition for that. he just wants to help people n make sure people get what they need instead of stuff that people cleaned off their shelves bc they weren't gonna use it or stuff that just. isn't gonna get ate by a family with kids or a teenager on their own. he still does this as red hood, still does it anonymously.

he shaved his head one time in the early days of dating dove (he might have had a reason for it other than bc he could), and dove very gently cupped his face and leaned in and said, "please never shave your hair off ever again." bc they miss his curls :( until his hair grows back they're a little extra n tease him n act like they don't recognize him. they'll say stuff like, "my boyfriend is missing, maybe you've seen him? he's got the cutest curls and the prettiest smile and these thighs that are to die for and–" before jason is pulling them in for a kiss to get them to stop talking or he's pushing them away n rolling his eyes bc they're so ridiculous.

this might be a controversial thought but i don't think jason is built like a fridge or whatever people say about him. he's not built like dick, he's not as lithe n shit but he's also not got the same build as bruce. he's somewhere in between the two of them, where he's still visibly muscular while also not being super bulky n light enough that he's able to do a lot of the flips n tricks that he learned from dick bc he does those too! not as well or refined as dick mind you but still pretty good nonetheless.

he's not sure how he survived the batarang incident in utrh, the rest of that night and the next couple of days after are all a blur. he doesn't really remember much until about a week later when he goes to see babs. he shows up there looking ROUGH. provides 0 explanation for what had happened during his confrontation with bruce, he figures she already knows so why should he have to rehash it.

learned to play piano bc he was bored.

he was shocked as shit when he found out that dick could still pick him up. not bc he doubted how strong his brother is but bc he was not expecting it.

one time he accidentally took a sip of dove's drink and had the shakes the rest of the day, he thought his heart was going to stop AGAIN. dove felt so bad about it bc they know that no one else can handle the amount of caffeine they have to have to feel anything.

he picks up languages really easily so he's constantly finding new ones to learn. he's not fluent in every language he starts learning but he usually knows enough to get by.

one of the most embarrassing ways he's gotten hurt as an adult is falling down the stairs while messing around with his brothers at the manor. they never let him live this down. after he fell he laid on the ground for awhile and pretended to be dead bc he's dramatic.

he still has the batarang that slit his throat, he's got no idea how he held onto it but it's his now he's keeping it.

what he sees after being dosed with fear toxin changes a lot pre and post death. but both have one thing in common; he sees his family dead and destroyed. as robin it's because he couldn't save them. as red hood it's because he killed them.

[ad-astra-19]

Well said! At least in the case of TFA, I honestly think it was more ignorance than outright disrespect. Like I genuinely don’t think JJ Abrams and co. understood Luke, Han, and Leia’s character arcs or the underlying themes of the Original Trilogy. He broke them up and brought them down so they could rehash old story beats and have them act more or less the same way they did at the start of the OT (or even regressed), bc the movie was essentially just nostalgia bait and he thinks that people want to see Han as a cocky loner/smuggler again, and Han and Leia bickering instead of collaborating. I don't think they gave much thought to how those characters would or should progress given where they were at the end of RotJ. (Not that this is a good excuse) TLJ is another story, and more overtly disrespectful.

I see some people in the notes still insisting that it’s refreshing to see Star Wars take a more "realistic" approach and have the trio grow apart. And while I agree with OP’s stance that Star Wars is meant to be a modern fairy tale and therefore should not be held to standards of realism, I also think the friendships it depicts are one of the most realistic and grounded aspects of the movies and a huge part of what makes the fantasy feel real. Even if things don’t work out perfectly and the characters don’t necessarily “live happily ever after”, do people actually think that standing by and relying on those you love (whether friends or romantic partners) through hardship and suffering is unrealistic? That divorce, separation, and reclusion are the more likely outcomes?? Those things do happen on course, but there are countless real-world examples of people surviving war and atrocity through the bonds they shared with each other. That's how we make it through difficult times, and our very survival as a species has largely been a result of our communal nature. The space battles and lightsabers may be fantasy, but the love between friends is very real.

Here’s the thing about the new canon.

Essentially they want us to watch the Original Trilogy, completely invested in the fact that our heroes will triumph, and then they want us to watch The Force Awakens and just be totally OK with the fact that everything we were just presented with over the course of three films is out the window.

They want Star Wars fans to spend several hours watching Han and Leia’s love story, watching them fight for each other, overcome personal obstacles to be together, make incredible sacrifices for each other–they want us to spend ESB and ROTJ rooting for them, want us to watch Han hold her close as they both smile at the end of the trilogy, want us to be happy and hopeful and thrilled that their true love has made it through–and then they want us to watch TFA and see that their marriage failed, and they want us to accept it.

They want us to get invested in our heroes–in Han and Luke and Leia–and desperately hope that they all make it through. They want us to be invested in their personal allegiances to one another to the point that we KNOW that Han will come back at the battle of Yavin for Luke and Leia, we KNOW that he’ll go out into freezing conditions to rescue Luke, we KNOW that he’ll run into Echo Base to rescue Leia on Hoth, we KNOW that Luke will ignore his Jedi Masters and abandon his training to go rescue Leia and Han on Bespin, we KNOW that Leia will risk her safety to go back for Luke at Cloud City, we KNOW that Luke and Leia will leave the rebellion and put themselves at risk to rescue Han, WE KNOW WE KNOW WE KNOW. The new canon wants us to sit there KNOWING ALL THESE THINGS, knowing that they are the most important damn things in the galaxy to one another, knowing that they’re family and that they love each other. They want us to know it and be invested in it and root for it–root for the strength of that bond and that loyalty and root for them all to make it through together–for all of them to triumph together. And they do!

And then TFA wants us to COMPLETELY CHANGE OUR MINDS and accept that all of that is destroyed. That bond is broken. Luke has abandoned his friends for some reason. Han has left Leia. Leia is all alone. And not only has that crucial bond just been cast aside, but their triumphs have all been undone. Empire defeated?? Welcome to Empire 2.0!!! Death Stars destroyed??? Welcome to Death Star 3.0!!!! Vader redeemed???? Welcome to Vader 2.0, and even worse, he’s your own damn son/nephew AND he kills Han!!!!!! It just takes their victory and deconstructs every single piece of it, and the only possible way that that maybe could have been tolerable would have been if AT LEAST they were still together, still true to the loyalty we knew, unstoppable and united no matter what new dangers they face, and they’re NOT. The Original Trio, the most beloved and iconic characters of all time, are just completely leveled to NOTHING. Fractured and broken up and reduced to these miserable un-versions of themselves. And the new canon wants you, as a Star Wars fan to accept this, because “Don’t worry!! We have these three shiny NEW heroes for you!!!! They’ll get a happy ending for sure!!!!” But??? What??? I don’t give a shit about their ending, what about the ending we were already supposed to have had???? The one you made me hope for for three damn movies??? The one I was lead to believe was true???? What about that ending??????

No, they decided that they were going to go back thirty years after the fact and change it.

But wait, you say, how did this happen??? How could these people at Lucasfilm who were claiming to “protect” Star Wars destroy Luke and Leia and Han like that?? How could they write a Han Solo who abandons Leia to do all the fighting all alone when there’s a fascist regime routinely trying to kill her and their son is a part of it and her brother has vanished without a trace??? How could they write a Luke who’s evidently turned his back on the galaxy–on the FAMILY–that needs him??? How could they have DESTROYED LEIA’S WHOLE LIFE????? ALL of their lives???? And for seemingly no reason!!!! They could have easily written a movie to introduce the new characters and create conflict without dismantling every single thing about our beloved trio and their dynamic. But they didn’t. They slaughtered them.

And then you listen to these people speak. And they start saying things like Leia clearly could never have been an attentive mother because she was too preoccupied with politics and her career. Han could never have been happy settling down and committing to something–not even his family–so OBVIOUSLY he left and he’s smuggling again. Han and Leia were too incompatible and could never have worked. Luke is off in EXILE because AREN’T ALL JEDI MASTERS SUPPOSED TO BE IN EXILE???????????

And you’re just. You’re floored. You’re blown away. It’s like those people didn’t even fucking WATCH Star Wars. Did they completely miss the fact that Leia’s character arc is about learning to care about things that aren’t the rebellion, and learning to rely on people–not just herself???? Did they not see how much she’s already lost–LITERALLY HER ENTIRE WORLD–and how much she had to suffer before she finally got something that was hers again? Did they not see the hell she had to go through to get it???? Did they really think she would throw that away after all that–did they think that LEIA of all people couldn’t have balanced a career and a family????

Were they just twiddling their thumbs when HAN SOLO’S ENTIRE FREAKING STORY IS ABOUT REALIZING THAT HE’S NOT A SMUGGLER, NOT SELFISH, NOT THAT MAN ANYMORE–MAYBE NEVER REALLY WAS THAT MAN. LEARNING TO COMMIT–TO STAY WITH LEIA AND LUKE AND THE REBELS AND SACRIFICE HIMSELF IF NEED BE????? HIS ENTIRE GROWTH AS A CHARACTER WAS AWAY FROM SELFISHNESS AND FLIGHTINESS. HE BECAME A STEADFAST, BRAVE, DEPENDABLE MAN COMMITTED TO HIS FRIENDS AND HIS LOVE AND THE CAUSE. HOW DID THEY WATCH THOSE FILMS AND SAY “WELL HAN COULD NEVER SETTLE DOWN.”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did they not notice that Luke’s DEFINING characteristic throughout the original trilogy is his loyalty to his loved ones??? His utter refusal to let harm come to them–to give up on them?? His refusal to abandon them???? And then they want us to believe that he… abandoned them?????

So essentially the thing about the new canon is that people who don’t understand Star Wars are suddenly in charge of Star Wars, and they go back and ignore the characterization of three entire films and present us with material that is entirely contradictory of the original trilogy, and then they don’t understand why people have reacted negatively. 

And then of course you get fans screaming about how it’s REALISTIC this way.

When the fuck did you get the idea that Star Wars is supposed to be realistic??????? Star Wars is NOT about realism. It’s a Space Fairytale. An epic saga. It’s not supposed to be Game of Thrones grimdark jam in the tragedy. It was never like that for forty years. It was never presented that way. George Lucas was ADAMANT in making this point. And that’s why it resonated with so many people–that’s why it was such a success. Because it was uplifting. It was inspiring. It touched that part of our hearts where those fairytales live–where it’s possible for our heroes to go up against the forces of evil and WIN and have a happy ending. That’s why they gave Luke and Leia and Han the happy fucking ending!!!!

And the thing with the new canon is that they don’t care. They don’t care about “protecting Star Wars.” They don’t care about what Star Wars stands for. They don’t care about what George Lucas created. They care about money. They don’t want you to be invested in Han and Luke and Leia anymore. They want you to care about Finn and Rey and Poe, and apparently no one at Lucasfilm understood that they didn’t have to destroy the old characters to get people to like the new ones.

And for the record, just because the people delivering this truly appalling “new canon” horrorshow AU are Disney and Lucasfilm does NOT mean that I have to accept it all as true. They don’t understand Star Wars, they don’t care about it, they’re not its original creator, and I don’t have to accept a single thing they say.

That’s the thing about the new canon.

[detunehauas]

Thoughts On The Living Tombstone's Rust

the album 👇👇👇

Spoilers I guess?

My TLT Experience

Considering the fact I listened to The Living Tombstone (TLT) regularily before I properly got into music and have continued doing so likely means they're my most listened to band. Like any old 12 year old kid, I was hooked on the Five Nights at Freddy's (FNAF) songs, especially "Die in a Fire" and "I Can't Fix You". In fairness, I still like those songs today... though not too sure about the obsession over

"Pikachu's Lament (Red Version) [Instrumental] (Red Version (Instrumental))"

(why is it called that?)

I was very much used to TLT's wide range in genres from dubstep, ska to alt rock. Listening to zero_one in 2023(?) wasn't particularily jarring despite technically being a departure from their usual sound and considering that TLT now has a backing band, I was expecting to be prepared for rust...

i was not prepared for rust.

"Be Alone"

The funny thing about YouTube Music (and maybe spotify?) is that you can listen to TLT's songs before their premieres start. That's exactly what I did with "Be Alone" and on first listen I was struck by how compressed everything sounded. Not sure if it's also compression but the vocals also have a similar quality to them too. It took me a good while to figure out what zero_one was saying in the chorus.

In the grand scheme I wasn't too fussed because instrumentally the song is swell. The bass line was solid, akin to the ones in the verse of "Fly Home" and the pre-chorus of "Long Time Friends". The drops are very cool.

Lyrics are another story. Rust has good flow as always but the verses and choruses feel somewhat disconnected. With how angry the verse is, I expected that rage against the... corporation to continue into the chorus but it doesn't. Instead we have a hopeless plea over a dance beat, which is an interesting idea but I would of liked that plea to be answered in some way. Personally, I would fix this by having an acoustic version of the chorus play at the end of the song with zero_one's raw vocals. As a Korn fan, I think some crying would be nice too, though I get it if they don't wanna do that.

I also caught the premiere of "Be Alone" and I think it's a nice campy music video. It's very much understandable but I'm dissapointed that the tombsonas don't have grey skin but they make up for that with a fun music video with some good comedic bits with the governor becoming "Former Employee". It would be nice to have clearer shots of the band playing (especially Tesla beloved <3). Maybe even some fret board action but... well...

Guitar wise... uhhh... oh no. Where is it? zero_one was heavily guitar based and of course they have a backing band so it was suprising to hear a lack of guitar. Surely they wouldn't just abbandon the genre of their first album?

In conclusion, this song is good enough for me to put on loop but the lyrics can be embarrassing to listen in public.

"I Walk Ahead Of You"

...is what I was saying as I skipped the premiere. Jokes aside this song is dissapointing.

Guitar? Gone. Bass guitar? Gone. Clean vocals? Gone.

Inherentley, these aren't bad things to do. After all, you are talking to a fan of "Pikachu's La- I'm not typing that again. But this song doesn't really have much going for it.

Forgive me for being bad at genres but I think the song is a (pop?) house song, which I don't think TLT has done before, hence this song mostly not sounding like a TLT song. The one bit that does sound like TLT is the chromatisism during the bridge but that's incredibly insignificant.

TLT not sounding like TLT isn't the end of the world. After all zero_one was able to pull that off but this song lacks a catchy chorus and any memorable bits. The song is also way too short with the transition to the bridge feeling incredibly awkward since it feels way to early. The lyrics also rehash the same ideas of "Be Alone", that being the unfairness of society. A strange choice to make the chant be "I Walk Ahead Of You". Perhaps a line like "but they'll drop you as they call" (a great line I know /sarcasm) before the chorus specifying this line is spoken by a greedy person would make audiences more willing to join in.

To make this song stand out more than "Be Alone", I would lean into the lyrics of betrayal in the bridge and essentially make this song about the followers of populist leaders realising the lies they've been told and grappling with that. I'd imagine a house beat wouldn't fit that song though.

Ultimately, this song doesn't sound like TLT and is likely going to be a skip on the album.

"Malibu Pier"

I think I missed the premiere for this one which is a shame because I like this tune!

"Malibu Pier" actually features guitars! Review done.

Nah kidding.

This song covers a different but related topic to the previous two. The topic being, climate change. Unlike the other singles, "Malibu Pier" takes a less on the nose approach to the lyrics, invoking some powerful imagery showing the sheer power of nature, which is especially potent since previous tracks on the album have built up the rich as unstoppable.

Though I don't like how Rust's voice doesn't continue into the chorus. By that I don't mean staying for the entire chorus. It's more for smoothing out the transition.

Also (to steal an opinion from a random comment I saw) I'm not a big fan of the "Basics in Behavior [Blue Version] (feat. Or3o)" esque synth solo at the end of the song, because it's so ill fitting, especially considering the slow and cinematic ending of the piece. The older version (put a pin in that) instead repeats the chorus but without the lead vocal line which transitions better into the ending.

This song is in a more familiar style to TLT, that being synthwave but they still went with the more overly processed vocals. Like zero_one is already processed enough. Anyhow, especially considering the beach side nature of the song as well as the almost nostalgia for a place that's been destroyed, it felt quite fitting the genre choice, though the barbershop quartet teaser should have made it for the final song. The vocals during the chorus sound great regardless!

I feel mixed about the music video. Firstly, I'm not the biggest fan of the idea of the Tombettes because amatonormativity sucks. It's fairly cliche in it's pandering of the past but it's a dang fun watch with the band and the Tombettes getting up to anctics. It's also nice having the production fall apart at the end, mirroring the song by having what seems like a perfect world being brought to an abrupt end.

In my opinion, this song is strong lyrically and serviceable musically with a catchy chorus but would've benefited from a longer run time.

Bootlegs

It was at this point when I realised that there'd be bootlegs lying around on the web, so I started searching around. For now, I won't go into to too much detail of the bootlegs but I rather enjoyed "Somebody" and "Goliath" in particular. "Somebody", being a moody synthwave track and "Goliath" potentially being similar to "Long Time Friends" on zero_one respectively, so I was hoping they would stay in those forms rather than conforming to the released tracks. There was also a demo of a song called "Kill Us All" and I wasn't particularily interested in its trap beats but I did appricieate a more direct call to action in its lyrics.

There was also...

"Orphans"

I still find it funny that I went out of my way to listen to this at a dessert restaurant and boy was it worth it because it survived the Rustification. (it even has a guitar!)

Orphans is about the people who have been abandoned by society and their desire to make their voices heard. Lyrically this one's more in line with TLT's usual lyrics. No major hiccups besides "Nothing to lose because we lost it all before" which doesn't work because it's a bit pointless and features the repetition of "lose" words.

There isn't much to point out musically expect for the differences between it and the bootlegs. The main differences is in the vocals where there's some ethereal backing vocals an octave up in the verses, a doubling(?) of the final chorus an octave down and a slide down on the note "drown". All these are great additions to the song. Though the doubling of the final chorus feels a bit confusing. Interestingly enough the chorus reminds me of the closer "Chosen" from zero_one.

The music video is well made and everything but is just kinda boring really. That shot of the car driving towards the crowd is cool though. The unclear shots of the band less so. The transition and such to the album cover and release date was cool but I CANNOT take that album cover seriously. It's so "we live in a society" coded.

Anyways, I certainly did put this song on loop a good few times thanks to it's catchy chorus and chants.

The Leadup to Rust

The community really didn't take kindly to the reveal of the tracklist. Why? Because none of the songs were over 3 minutes long. I was suprised about this complaint but in fairness TLT songs usually last 3 mins long. All singles, expect for "I Walk Ahead Of You" (and agruebly Orphans but that feels too short to be a bridge) lack bridges and post-choruses.

Bridges have been the most iconic moments of TLT songs such as "No Mercy (feat. BlackGryph0n & LittleJayneyCakes)", "Drunk" and the post-chorus of "It's Been So Long" in itself is probably the 2nd most iconic melody TLT has made. Having a few songs that lack more complex structures, is fine in the context of singles. It's just the concern that there'll only be one or two more songs with these complexities. Despite liking the cinematic endings of "Malibu Pier" and "Goliath", I do wish that these structures were used part way through the song rather than just at the end. They almost feel like cheats to get those songs over a certain length.

Another thing the community was ticked off by was the ommision of "Shut The Hell Up" and "Under The Sun", which were teased by the band previously. Oddly enough "Shut The Hell Up" sounded more similar to "Sunburn", whilst "Under The Sun", the literal sequel to "Sunburn", sounded more like a zero_one B-side and a bit like Weezer but I'm not sure how exactly. The cut of a follow up of such an iconic track certainly struck a nerve with the fandom but the fact that they replaced them with a 1:36 song ("This Will Be Our Year") really rubbed salt in that wound... or nerve I guess?

It was an interesting choice them cutting those two more rocky songs huh... I'm sure that's not a sign of anything to come.

i love you too

A few days before the release of Rust, I was looking around TLT's YouTube posts and found that Yoav had released a solo EP called i love you too via his side project SugarVision. The EP seems to be mostly hyperpop with a tearout song in between, which I was quite suprised by since TLT's last dubstep song was probably in 2017. Lyrically, it's more in the spirit of zero_one with it's themes of loneliness, betrayal and depression. Added to the mix we've got some neurodivergence and childhood in the context of adulthood. It's a very different listen for me since I don't know much about hyperpop and have only just started listening to tearout but it was a pleasant suprise. My faves of the EP are "Don't lie to Me", "Believe me" and "Overload Overwhelmed", though the last one is a bit repetitive. I was a bit dissapointed that Yoav's probably gonna leave the tearout for his solo work but am glad that his dubstep phase wasn't just a phase.

"Kill Us All"

"TEAR OUT??!!! DUBSTEP?!?! I DUNNO BUT IT SOUNDS GOOD" is probably what was going on in my head when the tune started. They've got the St. Anger snare and everything! Although, I'd imagine the rest of the fandom isn't gonna be too happy.

Lyrics are better than most of the album with, as said before, calls to direct action against the state but they removed some lines from a bootleg, which made it feel more direct in its critisism of the inaction of the democrats in the US. Though we did get the line "They're preparing for a massacre. Last chance while the Panzer's still got gas in her", which I very much enjoy.

Some of the other lyrics are a bit on the nose like "the grand experiment is done, it got cancer" and the refrain "they wanna kill us all". I do like the delivery though which I initially thought was zero_one but was actually Rust. Rust just sounds so angry on this track and I feel the processing on the vocals actually helps in this case. It explains why all the other songs' vocals are overly processed.

The visualiser is kinda mid though.

In conclusion, this song is a far depature from TLT's usual sound but itches my dubstep loving ears. Lyrically it can be cheesey but backs it up with some clever wordplay and calls to action.

"Somebody"

This was a great track to choose to tease the release date, especially considering it's the closest stylistically to "Orphans" and that it's one of the better tracks.

Initially I liked the song mostly for its ending, but upon examining the lyrics I've grown to enjoy it more. On previous listens, I just took the song to be about somebody (ba doo chhh) who lived the life of a model citizen but in doing so they feel they lack a purpose. Upon further listens, the focus on masculinity, partiotism, violence and the imagery of "boys lining up" invokes the idea of serving in the military, which feels more interesting than my previous reading though both are valid of course.

Rust really can scream as shown in the outro but it's quite dissapointing that the Tom Morello type guitar work by Armstrong didn't make it into the leadup of the drop. Thankfully the vocal harmonies of the 2nd verse stayed intact. The music video of Rust running is also fun but it does take away from my military reading.

In summary, this tune sounds rather generic but backs it up with more interesting lyrical ideas and a memorable outro.

"Rust"

"Rust" from Rust is NOT sung by Rust.

Well okay. Rust does sing in the last pre-chorus but it does strike to me as odd. I do like hearing zero_one have a larger part though but I'm not a fan of the effects used here. It could be due to being dumb, but I'm dissapointed that the track doesn't really connect to the character of Rust that much and is rather an extended metaphor for justice and how exposing lies and corruption brings about justice. I apriceiate how they don't state justice to be inevitable because it isn't.

Musically, it's... Imagine Dragons? I dunno what genre it is exactly but I like the guitar arpeggios as well as those bass chugs, especially in verse two. The drop is cool and screams TLT, but some singing from Rust would've made sense for the climax of the piece.

The visualiser sucks.

This song invokes some interesting imagery but the vocal effects are hard to listen to and the Imagine Dragons stadium rock style instrumental puts me off. It's also very dissapointing how it only touches on the story of Rust.

"Boulder"

5/8. YES. I mean uh.. this song is about wanting to be free from a life of endless, repetitious, passionless employment that you cannot leave no matter how hard you try. It's fine lyrically. Not much interesting imagery though. There is the boulder but I'm pretty sure they just did that cause it was a meme back in the days haha.

Musically we've got another tear out (I think?) track which has sick drops but has otherwise uninteresting verses, especially considering verse two doesn't really add too much. Kinda wished the delivery in the chorus was more clearer. The 5/8 for this song actually makes sense cause it can get exhausting to count. It's a cool sound though, especially with the triplet figures in the chorus.

The visualiser is quite entertaining to watch but could've used different animations for Rust being sent back down.

"Boulder" has a catchy instrumental hook and stands out with its use of 5/8 but the vocals in the chorus fail to make the song memorable.

"Goliath"

Look how they massacared my boy... ok it's not that bad really. "Goliath" is about oppression under a regime. It honestly doesn't do too much interesting with the idea. The "I'm not a statistic" line could've been expanded upon more showing how media misrepresents oppression around the world but instead we just get alot of words just saying "this regime is cruel and powerful and I want to defeat them". For the longest song on the album, it is dissapointing that it doesn't contain that much actual lyrical substance.

The album makes mention to religion in "Somebody" and "Boulder" and having "God doesn't love me" as the main line in this song makes it dissapointing that they didn't go further with the topic. For context, I myself am religious but it's undeniable the harms that have been perpetuated by organised religion. The use of religion in "Goliath" and "Boulder" come off more than edgy than anything.

Despite being a bit cheap in places, I quite liked watching the music video. Didn't quite understand everything but it was a very striking art style with its mix of styles and use of monochrome. I especially liked the shot in the final chorus where they put down one of the deers with the calculated symmetry of the shot being thrown off by the corpse falling over. It would've been nice if the song itself followed the story told by the video.

Originally, I heard the live performance of "Goliath" and was expecting it to be in TLT's more usual style like "Be Alone" but was dissapointed to hear that it was sounding more so like "I Walk Ahead Of You". However, the song still sounds pretty good despite that. The main bass line of the song is very traditional TLT as well as those ska chords. I'm also a fan of how Rust delivers of those lower lines throughout the song. It's very graveley and lowkey attractive? (don't judge me, don't judge me, don't judge me) Also a fan of how Rust delivers "I want" in "I want the regime to fall".

Despite my problems with the lyrics, I do still rather like the song's more traditional TLT sound.

"This Will Be Our Year"

Dare I say this is a better closer than "Chosen"? Listening to this tune feels similar to Weezer's "Butterfly", which also covers a sophomore album that's significantly different in sound and themes than the debut. The two songs are also more slow paced, acoustic, bitter sweet tunes. The song also reminds me of TLT's Kingdom Hearts song "Memory", which I'm a big fan of... though I dunno much about Kingdom Hearts.

Musically, the chord progression of the song is nice, Rust's singing is on point and the whistling, which leads into the explosion, sounds very raw. Though I do struggle to decide whether ending the album with a couple being bombed is clever or unnecessarily cruel. Oddly enough, this song covers the topic of "Goliath" better than it could since it covers specific individuals in a conflict areas rather than more general groups experiencing oppression.

This song is a great tune to close an otherwise mixed album with a subdued ballad with a heart wrenching ending.

Summary

Sonically, Rust is a bold step from the band into a more modern electronic sound, which edges on pop at times. In doing so it abbandons the more rock band based tunes that they've established with their debut album and touring. Many of the songs have also lost the harmonic and ska elements that make TLT stand out making the album sound generic. The lyrics of the album are more unfocused and impersonal than zero_one but somewhat successful at not coming off as too edgy (the album cover doesn't help). This results in most songs feeling very one note expect for "Malibu Pier", "Somebody" and "This Will Be Our Year".

I strongly suspect this album won't be looked on as fondly as zero_one but since TLT has attracted an audience of outcasts, I don't expect the album to completely flop, cause it'll likely resonate with them. Personally, my favourites of the album are "Kill Us All", "Goliath" and "This Will Be Our Year" because of their catchy instrumentals. "I Walk Ahead Of You" is my only skip.

In conclusion, this doesn't sound like a TLT album but it is serviceable enough.

Hasn't stopped me from listening it 10+ times though...

Despite that I can't wait for Armstrong!!!

[lostplay]

Game 118: Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun Oct.2024 It's hard to really say where I stand on this series because if you ask me, the first battle network game is still the best one. 2 had interesting stuff to it, but felt a bit flat, and 3 I just straight up didn't like the changes with it. So 4 basically taking elements from all previous entries really gives me whiplash because, in theory, I should like this game the most. It has the interesting chip battling combat 1 has, the tournament setting of 2, and the customization of 3. It even has it to where you can experience the game differently multiple times, and a proper fast travel system that the previous entries desperately needed. And i stand here today, acknowledging that I do indeed like this game more than the third game, but I personally don't like this game because of all the needless padding it has.

Like, I thought 3 Blue had a lot of padding to it, but 4 Red Sun really took the cake for me. It's not even long padding, it's just a lot of it at various parts without really being clever about it. So many pre-tournament events have you set on a wild goose chase to do this or that while also making it a point that you visit the same area again and again and again. Like it rarely ever does anything different when it comes to new areas, and the new areas you do get, quickly get swarmed with the same type of fetch quests of visiting those areas before moving on. I know it's not exactly adding much new to it, but I really wish they would have used more individual jack ports rather than visiting the same net areas to give it a nice sort of hide and seek motif instead. What we get with Red Sun is a more formulaic version of the usual Battle Network story with hearing about a tournament, finding out how to get in, do an event related to the match, then finish it off with said match. Repeat this action 9 times, and that's the majority of the game. Even the stuff before the game really kicks off it's tournament centered story has a lot of needless padding as you have to do a lot of the usual exploring of the hub world, and the places connected to it, but like in a way where you can't do everything at once, but keep coming back to it. Like it be different if I could just get everything done in one go or it felt more like exploration to new areas, but a lot of it is just going back and forth as a knowledge check of areas you know about. MMBN4's editions really just set out to try to make the experiences of 4 new for each individual player, but really just ends up reusing far too much of it's assets to really feel like it's as big of a world as they try to make it out to be. I understand reusing assets is a way to save money, and time when it comes developing games, but too much of it makes a lot of the game feel like a rehash, and Mega Man Battle Network 4 threads that line too close for comfort for me.

All the negative out of the way, and I will be real, I like the concept of MMBN4's story. I am a super huge fan of tournament arcs, and making new characters, bosses, and designs for each takes a lot of time. I can excuse a bit of them using generic sprites and characters considering that a lot of the characterization and story tend to be there too. It's also really really cool that each tournament can go a number of ways with a bunch of different characters based on rng and the editions you are playing. All the dark chip stuff is super neat too, but I certainly wish it was a bit more prompt in the story. Even the tie in with the main plot and final arc of this game is kinda woven out of no where, but it at least gives the game a sense of urgency needed from the usual tournament stuff. The new elements and chips of the game are mostly interesting and useful to a degree. The new enemy designs are absolutely spot on, and feel right at home with the rest of them. Them adding fast travel is a long time coming to the series, and I really hope they continue that trend by also giving the series a map. Even the game uses almost entirely new areas for each segment to really help give a distinct feel for this version of the game compared to the past. In a lot of ways, Red Sun / Blue Moon feel like a bit of a soft reboot for the series, and in a way that's ambitious enough to warrant the notice.

Still, I just can't sign off this game. I really like facing the various different robot masters, and while 2 certainly delivers that, 4 either screw me with rng or just demands too much when it comes facing all the unique robot masters in the game. 1 and 2 both give you far more unique areas to explore both with individual items and as set pieces for the next dungeon area. 4 replaces all of these features I like with faceless generic enemies, constant fetch quests, and backtracking akin to Blue 3. Even the ending dungeon of this game has it's own annoying mechanic that makes solving it's puzzles adding on both a JRPG level and a mechanic level. And that's such a shame because there is a lot of highs here for the battle network series. It also has my favorite final boss so far, and genuinely felt like a fair battle system. I don't blame anyone for liking this game, but I'm hesitant to sing praises for Mega Man Battle Network 4 due the constant high and lows.

[galaxythixf]

Cont. || X || @ofcrossroads

What the hell was he doing? As much as he wanted to berate himself for blubbering and whining in front of her a bigger part of him knows he's supposed to suck it up and let it happen. They just went through what it meant to be a team, he didn't need to rehash the same fucking lecture just so his insecure inner dialogue got caught up to speed. Still, he understands that there's still parts of himself that haven't quite accepted what vulnerability meant in the face of someone else. After all this time he hasn't ever felt like he had a place to show it, not when his own expectations never made any room for it. He's never been great at keeping his tears from spilling over whenever it mattered and he shouldn't be surprised when they fall on her now. Just get the fuck over it already!

Katsuki can't find it within himself to respond to her while she tries to comfort him, aware that she's just trying to make him feel less alone by meeting him in the middle with her own struggles. It's working, but that doesn't make the embarrassment any easier to swallow. He can hardly believe he's letting this happen, let alone brave enough to bear it now. He shouldn't need this talk and yet he grits his teeth and listens anyway. If his muscles weren't so tense he'd let his anxious thoughts shake and disrupt his limbs but he refused to let any more of himself unravel, he's shown her enough, he didn't need to come completely undone. Though as mad as he was at himself for pathetically clinging to her every word he listens—damn it he listens. She could entertain him with the idea that they were one in the same all she wanted, but he envied this side of her. The side of her that adapted to situations like these so easily, as if it were as simple as breathing, while he struggled to breathe. With more confidence he may have been able to beat around the bush and learn a thing or two about her behavior, but he's not dumb enough to believe he could ever be anything close to this. Can't isn't a word that fits in Katsuki's vocabulary, so he'll refrain from thinking in definite doubts but why is it that he always feels like he's trying to catch up in places that he knows are too far to reach?

Despite the self-deprecating realization he can sniffle and pout all he wants while relenting to her soft embrace and gentle words. 'You make me want to be brave during those times.' It does more for him than she probably knows hearing something so disgustingly gentle that it damn near ruins his composed façade all over again. "You're so damn corny." His voice wavers, unable to sell it with his usual bravado when he was still choked up on insecurity and newly found compassion. " … You're brave enough already," he utters a piece of his mind sewing the patches of his confidence back together.

It's hard to imagine himself fulfilling whatever ideas she had in mind of what an ideal partner looked like. His thoughts always raced with what she could be thinking, what she thought of him, how he stacked up to her expectations but it was never that easy to tell. As easy as it was to read her like a fucking book with every other little thing, her relationship needs weren't that easy to read when neither of them knew shit. Still, everyone had fantasies, didn't they? Who's to say she was an exception to that? Now hearing her say he's been a good partner should be feeding his ego but instead he feels as if even that wasn't good enough. What kind of partner failed something this easy?

"But don't get comfortable," it takes a moment for his voice to grow steady again but he finally finds his footing after several beats of silence and clearing his throat of whatever knots threatened it after processing her cheesy little lines and effectively cute understanding personality. "Next time I'm gonna do it for real."

[slapegg]

Some Thoughts About... SteamWorld Heist 2

Heist 1 was a fantastic game and I’m pretty sure I’ve already talked about it on this site, so track that down if you’d like. But because of how good Heist 1 was, I was coming to 2 with high expectations. But I also thought Dig 1 was a fantastic game and was super disappointed by Dig 2. Can SteamWorld beat the curse of sequels?

Heist 2 makes a bad first impression. The main character is really unlikable and you can’t even use him in battle. Compared to 1 where Piper is immediately cool and has a great class/weapon from the get-go.

One of your partners is interesting because she has a wide-eyed interest in what’s going on, but she’s stuck as a class that has spend a turn to reload after every shot, so she’s useless every other round. The other starting partner and most of those you pick up are very dry or uninteresting, don’t really have have stories beyond some extremely basic “I started as personality X and now I’ve grown”, or are just less interesting rehashes of characters from Heist 1.

The new explorable world map offers nothing and searching around it for something to do is slow and tedious. It almost instantly made me miss the first game’s map that was just a glorified menu. Why overcomplicate things, especially when they worked fine before? I eventually just bookmarked a map from a walkthrough so I didn’t have to aimlessly sail around. Which just extra defeated the purpose of an already bad feature. And as the map kept getting larger and larger, I kept telling myself that surely now was when they would introduce the fast travel mechanic. But it never came. Just so much time wasted sailing through the same empty spaces that are far too large to be interesting.

You can only use a character in a single fight before you have to return to a pub and “rest” for the night. This is a bafflingly bad choice because it just forces you to sail back and forth to the rest stops. It’s just tedium. I’m sure somebody chose this to force you to use all the characters instead of sticking to one loadout, but if I like my one loadout, why are you punishing me? And just story-wise, why would a robot need to rest at an inn to recover? Your ship has furniture, why can’t they rest there? Or make it so characters automatically rest after one fight. That way, you can’t use the same characters in every battle, but you’re also not forced to keep trudging back to a pub and back again.

This leads to encouraging a really bad game loop. Salvage and enemy overworld units respawn every day and they’re a reliable source of currency. Since everything in the game is weirdly expensive, you’re encouraged to sail across the entire map every single day to collect all the currency you can. It’s extremely boring but it’s the only way to afford items early on when you have to buy so many items and accessories for multiple crew members and upgrade your ship. You’re not even allowed to swap equipment after using a character to cut down on having to buy items for multiple teams of multiple characters. Once you use a character that day, you’re not even allowed to add to or remove any of their items. By the end game where you’re sending in 4 or 5 crew per mission, it’s such a grind to max out the full roster that I just stuck to one team of five characters and would rest after every mission. So their whole rest system combined with bad balancing made this grand new feature utterly pointless.

There’s a bounty system in the game that ties into the rest feature, but it feels really forced. By fighting specific enemies on the map and completing missions, you earn bounty coins. You lose the coins when you rest so you have to spend all of them on rewards in a single day. It really only serves to punish you for not sailing around the entire map every day and for resting after each mission, so it really feels like the developers knew the new systems weren’t great but had to make a way to force you to engage with them because you wouldn’t want to naturally do that. It feels like the bounty coins would be a lot better and user-friendly if they were just rebalanced to be a one and done thing. You get coins for beating stages the first time and you get coins for beating the harder enemies on the map but they don’t respawn every day. That still encourages the player to beat every stage and fight every overworld enemy without forcing you to sail the whole map every day to suck up as many coins as you can.

The core gameplay of Heist is good, but they mucked it up with bad level design so you can’t appreciate it. So many stages have alarms and countdowns that trigger new enemies to spawn every turn. Strategy really goes out the window when an infinite number of enemies are only getting more upgrades over time. And the snipers become even more useless because they can’t move and shoot each turn due to needing to reload. So many missions just devolve into judging how much damage you can tank as you dash around the map, using up all your actions each turn only on movement to finish things faster. In one stage, you’re facing enemies that can spawn grunts on a map with multiple hazards that can each spawn grunts, racing against a timer that once it expires, will cause strong grunts to start spawning. It’s overkill, devalues assembling a diverse team, and isn’t fun to participate in or execute a successful run. Heist 1 felt like a tactical game where good strategy rewarded you by letting you get all the loot on the map. This one just feels like a bad smash and grab and really makes you question if the developers even understood what made the first game so good.

The music is... passable? The new Steampunk Giraffe songs are frequently slow or plaintive and the new theme is actually just kind of boring. Compare that to Heist 1 where just the music on the title screen got you jazzed up and excited. It was filled with bangers and I bought the album after beating the game. Here, I never stuck around the pubs to hear the band play and there isn’t a song I’d want to listen to outside of the game. It’s kind of sad but the highlight of the soundtrack is when you visit one pub and it just plays music from the first game instead.

They try to do moments like in Heist 1 where after beating a boss, a new song kicks in, but the song in this one isn’t good and it doesn’t really fit the boss, moment, or environment you’re in. In Heist 1, the song cheering the end of monarchy plays when you beat the Queen, and then it’s such a gut punch after beating the final boss to have that morose song kick in but it’s thematically perfect. And even divorced from the game moments, both those song are great on their own. Everything here in Heist 2 just feels forgettable.

Every character can be every class by equipping a different weapon, which sounds interesting in theory, but changing class requires you to redo your equipment and a good chunk of your selected upgrades every time. Also, all characters have personal skills mostly suited to a specific class. Also ALSO, you gain experience really slowly in this game. And bizarrely, later missions are barely worth any more experience than early ones so your leveling doesn’t speed up as you get deeper in the game (and since early missions are less risky, you’re incentivized to replay the early missions that are now brain dead easy for you). In the end, it pays to mostly just stick with the class the characters start as and once you hit max class level, bank all your experience until you have enough to max out another class, swap to a new class, fight an easy battle as the new class, and use your reserves to max it out. Then just repeat that over and over because the stat boosts and certain upgrades you unlock are pretty crucial to the end game. I think I spent about 50 in-game days just grinding out stages with my core team and even that wasn’t enough to max them out.

Not to harp on this, but the whole system is unnecessary because you can already customize your characters with the three equipment slots. One of the classes is vastly superior to others due to the constant respawning enemies, so most of your team is going to be made of Reapers. Their inherent skill is that if you kill an enemy, you get to take a second action, so unless your characters has a super class-specific personal skill, they’ll probably work as a Reaper and that lets you maximize your kills per turn when enemies are constantly spawning in. You want a sniper, equip your Reaper with extra scopes so that they get a full aim line and now you have a “sniper” that can fire every turn and can kill two people per turn. You want a brawler, equip your Reaper with melee boosts and now you have a “brawler” that’s strong up close and can still shoot while running away.

I do have to give the game credit for some good difficulty settings. You can individually influence enemy health and damage, but also things like their accuracy, enemy spawns in missions, and more. It helps get rid of some of the grind because you can lower the bounty costs to reduce how many missions you have to do every day and you can raise the number of enemies on the overworld but lower their attack to get more currency. I mean, I’d much rather the game not be grindy in the first place, but it’s something.

And finally for the story, Vectron isn’t the villain! That’s not even a spoiler, Vectron is only mentioned in passing and after the franchise has been driving it into the ground, Vectron finally just doesn’t show up. There’s a new faction, and while they have a lousy design and awful motivations, at least there’s a different villain!

There’s a short scene where you meet the main character’s mother, and man, in just those few minutes, I totally wanted the game to be about her! She has an amazing look and design and in just a few sentences, they give her a far more interesting backstory, some serious pathos about the nature of legacy, and her current adventures are exciting. Then you go back to playing as the loser character we get and she disappears...

For as disappointing as the game was, I was ready to do it again with a second loop, but there is no New Game Plus feature. Now that I’ve maxed out a team and done all the grinding and farmed all the bounties and upgraded my sub, it would be nice to actually put that stuff to use. I want to try things at a higher difficulty, experiment with a different team, try different items, and see how quickly I can get through the game. Your reward for getting the maximum rank on stages in last chapter is to double the characters’ experience gain... but that means you’ve basically already done everything in the game (or could easily go back and beat early stages since you’re strong enough to beat the last chapter) so what’s there to use that upgrade for. The item is all but useless because by the time you earn it, you don’t need it.

SteamWorld Dig 1 and Heist 1 are such great games but now it feels like all the talent has vanished from the studio. Dig 2 and Heist 2 are passable at best and I have almost no interest in Quest (the card game) or Build (the town builder) outside of them taking place in this world of games. What happened when the studios merged?! Seeing Image & Form’s name mentioned made me perk up before, but now that they’re the Thunderful Group, I think I’m done giving them chances.

[isaacapatow]

"Yeah," Ike said after a minute when Ember laid out her perspective, "point."

He'd have to get used to this. Whatever he thought or said being batted back at him the same way he'd do it, the same way Izzy'd do it, one of the reasons they'd worked so well (when they worked at all). Ike wanted to ask Ember about that, if she was having trouble adjusting to seeing herself in a different version, in her father, but the thought of it also made his guts wring themselves into knots.

Ember wouldn't even let him have his diversion about the whole loneliness jive, holding her end of the bedsheet as Ike ran it along its length and clothespinned his side, saying baldly that he was avoiding answering. "Sheesh," Ike said, a corner of the sheet catching the breeze and flapping against his face, where he batted it away. He was about to accuse Ember of not being able to let things go when she abruptly did exactly that. Ike was starting to feel some whiplash. God, but she moved fast. Not a speck of dust allowed to gather on her thoughts and reactions.

There were no more clothes to busy himself with -- Ember had even made sure of that, fuckin' clever little mink -- and Ike stood next to his sheet at the post end and looked down the line at his daughter, on the tree end. "You were my little girl once," he said, feeling a touch helpless. Off-kilter, though not in a bad way; like a carnival ride, where you just had to figure out how to enjoy it instead of being scared and uncomfortable. "And I don't wanna dwell on it, I don't think either of us do, like we said -- rehashing the past and why I did what I did isn't gonna get us anywhere. But I like thinking about that part of it, Ember." She looked smaller, from this distance. Ike squinted down the line at her.

"I am lonely."

For a minute it felt like getting hit in the chest and Ike was pretty certain he couldn't breathe, but then everything kicked in again. "I've been alone for so long it's hard to even see outside of that. But I don't -- it's not ... okay, part of it is due to circumstance. When I left home I had nobody and I had to cut all those ties clean and never go back for them. But after your mom, after losing your mom and you, that ... it broke my heart, kid." Ike smiled at her. He wasn't sure what else to do, when you said something like that to somebody who hardly knew you. "I think maybe for good and for ever."

Ember shook her head. "Just because I have more reasons I try to see it, it doesn't mean it's not there. And not to be that annoying, but I probably have just as much reason not to want to see it." She decided to ignore that for the most part. There was no point in holding onto that, it didn't lead to anything, especially not these days, so she just focused on trying to get to know him instead.

She didn't have a chance to say much before her father told her not to even say anything, not before the group conversation at least, that my Jemma in any other situation probably being more confusing than not, really, but he was just supportive and she couldn't help a small chuckle and kept quiet - he did say not to say anything just yet.

Ember moved to hold the bedsheet, helped him hang it up onto the line and after a few lines she said, "You know that's a lot of words - and I'm not even saying they're wrong, they're not -, but they're also not a reply to my question specifically."

No, it actually was. Him sidestepping it, him not just outright denying it, that casualness in his tone that felt different after a question like this - it was all really a confirmation that she hit the nail on the head.

She got the last shirt out of the basket and hung it up and then leaned against the tree the line was attached to. "It's okay, you don't have to answer. But... I know we don't know each other that much yet, but I could be another person who helps with the loneliness. And you could be that for me. If you're interested in that."