#and shittons of heartbreaking stories from vets

[yellowocaballero]

Writing to say that I love the new chapter and also wife guy Jake is a+ characterization! Also I love that literally no one in the moon knight system can do A Social Interaction Good they can all just mask confidence to various degrees of success. Love that for them! (つ≧▽≦)つ💜

They absolutely cannot, canonically. They all actually care about this to varying degrees.

I was so happy when Oscar Isaac said that he played the system as autistic. That was completely how I read them, and now I get to go hog. I've decided that Steven's more comfortable being more "visibly" autistic, but Marc shows it more through blunted affect and emotional expression - which must have been pretty easy to mask in the military and probably nobody called him out on it in a way that he cared about. Ergo Steven deals with social interactions by doing his best very badly, and Marc deals with it by barely engaging. Jake, who almost never socially interacts with people who are not his friend group, has no idea what to actually do about it. He has no game plan. He's just vibe based.

And yeah, the massive joke for me personally is that the entire story Jake is being a BIT supervillain (on the outside - it's kinda closer to his usual 'bratty teenager throwing a tantrum' real self) and is making a big show about how he's in complete control over the situation and how he always knows what's going on when nobody else does. And that lasts up until one (1) interaction with his Real Life Wife. And you see even clearer that he's all hot air lol. Sir Please Stop Building Your Entire Personality Off Marc's Internalized Ableism.

I think Marc's entire life before Khonshu was based on frantically trying to present as a socially acceptable person. Very relatedly, I base a lot of my characterization of him from the majority of his life being spent in the military/military adjacent. Now that his life is adventurer bullshit he doesn't have to worry too much about that, but the repression and lies remained.

Thank you for all your great comments!!!! I love reading them.

[sparkylurkdragon]

So, I’m still not yet any closer to being someplace with good enough Internet to get back to streaming, but, hypothetically, if I held a fundraiser or two to get me the heck out of student loan and medical debt once I am with the theme of “buy me playing terrible videogames”, what games would everyone like to see?

It’d be a light-hearted (if, on my end, probably moderately to severely salty) sideshow to the headliner games: something like, one or two hours of a reward game either right before or right after the headliner, until all reward games are beaten. Maybe something like, a new reward game leads the night, and subsequent sessions we could vote on which one leads, it or the headliner?

I will put ideas under the fold, starting with my own, and will reblog this post a few times. No guarantees that anything will make the hypothetical cut except for one.

Somari (NES, unlicensed) Pros: A hilarious little bootleg port of Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) to the NES, starring Somari the Adventurer, who is definitely not Mario. I've beaten it before and actually had a lot of fun with it. It has some really pretty good NES remixes of Sonic 1 music, too. Cons: I've streamed it before, but then again, that was a long time ago. Other than that, it's kind of hard, but that's what savestates are for. Other: I’d probably play this if I got any donations at all. It’s not a very good game by any means, but it’s built on a solid base.

Shadow the Hedgehog (Gamecube): Pros: I've beaten it before and don't remember having that difficult a time of it. I also think it's more funny bad than bad bad - it just tries so hard and takes itself so seriously that I find it kind of cute. Plus the music is fantastic and I unironically love “I Am (All of Me)” and “All Hail Shadow”, fight me. Cons: Might have some offensive subject matter? I can't really remember. It is pretty violent for an E10 game, mostly in an over-the-top nonsensical way but occasionally in an actually disturbing or heartbreaking way. There is also some cussing. (It's adorable.) 

Pet Pals: Animal Doctor (NDS) Pros: Another one that, like Somari, I don’t think is particularly bad, just not especially good, either. It’s a weird obscure thing where you’re a vet tech. Includes things like “Symptom: Hit by car” and Smitty the incredibly cheesed-off itty-bitty kitty. Cons: Somewhat graphic? But like at a level that’s workable for older kids. Lots of animals in distress, of course, but it’s your job to make them all better, so it balances out. Other: Another early-tier reward, since I’ve beaten it before and it isn’t that terrible.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) (PS3): Pros: An incredibly infamous and incredibly glitchy game. Every series has that one entry that We Do Not Talk About, and for Sonic fans, this is... one of them and probably the worst. Cons: I've never actually played it and some of the gameplay I've seen terrifies me. This would be for a later reward. Other: I do own it, and would gleefully tell the story of how I came to when playing it. This would be a later-tier reward, anyway.

Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm (Dreamcast) Pros: Holy FUCK is it cheesy fantasy nonsense. Also, both the late, great Tony Jay and the venerable George Takei have parts in it. Cons: Some of the cheesy nonsense shades into gross stereotypes for some of the monster characters. Also, it is pretty hard at points and the final level/boss especially are complete garbage, so I'd be save scumming a lot. Other: It's pretty obscure, as a Dreamcast game that didn't sell well. It's got a hard T rating, too: I honestly think the opening sequence should've pushed into an M, personally.

Limbo of the Lost (PC) Pros: This is an extremely infamous indie point-and-click adventure that took most (all?) of its background elements, a lot of audio, and a shitton of its items and probably some character models from other, better games. It really has to be seen to be believed, especially the incredibly bizarre ending. Cons: It is, uh, very gross both in the visceral sense and in the racism, homophobia, etc. sense. I've also never played it myself and would be using a guide: I know the rough beats well enough that noooo thank you, not playing it on my own. Other: I'd have to find it, but that shouldn't be terribly hard, I think. Definitely a later tier reward.

Grand finale: Metroid Other M (Wii) I would only play this when the last payment on my student loan and medical bill were paid. ...Which means that yes I would eventually play it if I go through with this.

Pros: Vorash and Anthony Higgs are in it. Also, I have beaten it before, and as far as gameplay goes it's not terribly difficult, especially if you know the solutions to the pixel hunts. (The pixel hunts would have audience participation, I think, for anyone who hasn’t played the game.) Cons: Where do I start Other: I absolutely hate this game with every fiber of my being! :'D Truly a fitting reward for freeing me of debt would be to watch me suffer through it. I'd have to get it again, but this shouldn't be at all difficult with how badly the price for it has crashed.

Any other ideas/challenges/thoughts?