#anyways yes highly recommend

[chiropteracupola]

'The Polar bear at Blair Atholl,' 2024.

[whiskeyswifty]

Midnights - Taylor Swift (Matchbook Redesign)

A matchbook for each song, as imagined locations that could have inspired the songs themselves. From the hushed corners of a West Village tavern to the glittering main stage of a Vegas show. You never know where you'll find yourself when the clock strikes twelve.

poster and shirts and stickers in my etsy store

[totalspiffage]

I started Fields of Mistria (awesome game btw) and I was just a little disappointed (but like I get it) that I had to choose one pronoun I use (most games I pick he or she and again it's fine I get it) or 'any' but that any made me think hey maybe they could do other variations. Anyway they added two variations? Of my pronouns (he/she and she/he)? Last week??? So I did cry about that IMMEDIATELY upon reading the patch notes.

[thrumbolt]

GUYS, LOOK! My gf @copypastus printed my favorite ACOTAR fanfic for our anniversary! A Court of Lies and Resurrection by @ashintheairlikesnow! It's made to look like the original paperbacks in style and appearance, same font and everything. They didn't have the embossing or quite the same format at the printing place, but the cover text is shiny and other than that it's fitting in perfectly. It's freaking AMAZING (like the fanfic deserves, it's seriously so good you guys).

[perelka-l]

Jumping on maid Kieran trend (with two modes of operation as well ww)

[hopeinthebox]

tagged by the gorgeous and fabulous @cordiallyfuturedwight and @aprylynn for february's roundup:

tagging the usual music favs: @jiminsproof @thvinyl @jimin-gaon @visionsofgideontheninth @spicyclematis @kimchokejin @jihopesjoint @monismochi plus @kimtaegis for the amy macdonald of it all 💜 and also you, dear reader. MWAH

[angeltannis]

Every time the MLP Movie comes up in any context I turn into that Guy At A Party meme “They don’t know DHX walked away from Sony Pictures’ big-money distribution offer so they could preserve the integrity of the series and keep not only the showrunner writing the script but also keep all of the show voice actors on and Daniel Ingram writing the songs, in addition to fighting for the film to remain 2D animated. This cost them an almost-guaranteed comfortable box office success making the Smurfs Movie clone that Sony demanded, instead producing a flawed but beautiful animated movie made by people who cared”

[spopsalt]

Kyle is probably my favorite character and I despise how he is treated in both Canon and in the Fandom

People think it's fun to bully him because he's white. But it's not funny.

(Also when I first watched the show and had no idea of any of the lore in the reboot or og show I thought that Kyle would end up as a male version of She-Ra like Adora because I thought that the 2 were twins or something. I know now that it's impossible but boy did it make me love Kyle even more.)

Anywho, sorry for bothering you. Have a good day!

Hey dw it's not bothering me! I love getting asks! But yeah, I don't know why they chose to bully this poor boy, he just wants a friend and everyone is just a complete jerk to him, if it was just the villains I guess I could get it? But even Adora does it, she's supposed to be the hero! Come on Adora, you're better than that. I just feel bad for the poor guy. You can do a pathetic wet cat man well, for example Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School Host Club I've been wanting to get an excuse to talk about Ouran for so long. Now while he is made fun of, all of this is lighthearted and all of the host club members have shown time and time again that they really do care about him. (I won't spoil anything but if you ever want to watch Ouran I HIGHLY recommend it it is VERY good!) But with Kyle the poor boy is always made fun of, and the other horde members have never been shown to care about him, I just want the poor boy to get some rest and some good friends

[faaun]

ok let's catch up quickly

[weaponizedmoth]

Been meaning to do another one of these for a second, but didn't have any cool outfit pics--until I remembered these blurry pics I had from 2021 that I could never do much with. Libbyframe is the inspo for these as usual,✨️

[bluestone-dragon]

Okay I'm watching White Collar on Netflix and I quite like it, but [season 3 or 4 spoilers; I don't remember which season I'm on] what the actual fudge was that decision to have El tell Neal to back off Peter after the Pratt car accident? It makes zero sense and feels like it was thrown in to make the plot more complicated, regardless of how loyal it is to El's previously-established character. (Disclaimer that I haven't yet watched the whole show; I just finished the episode this takes place in.)

El knows how hard Neal has worked to earn Peter's trust, she knows how hard Peter's worked to trust Neal, and she's seen how much anguish they BOTH go through each time they're dishonest with each other. Furthermore, not involving Peter in the key investigation doesn't do anything: Pratt already knows Peter's investigating him and is already making Peter's life difficult without knowing about the key (see: the car "accident" that started this whole thing in the first place). If anything, Peter following the key investigation only helps Peter, because if he and Neal pool their resources, they're more likely the find the evidence box faster, which can help them take down Pratt. El telling Neal to cut Peter out of the key investigation is utterly nonsensical (at least to me).

[crescentfool]

recently, i’ve been thinking about what a 100% social link/confidant run is like from the perspective of the persona protagonists, rather than the player. i’ve always been a sucker for thinking about the type of narrative created by a person’s gameplay choices (it can be so fun and deep) so!! i wrote this analysis / musing.

some notes before we start: this was written with the lens of persona 3 being the most recent game i played- but the concepts are applicable to the p4/p5 protagonists as well! no spoilers for any of the games are mentioned; this is moreso a general discussion of ludonarrative dissonance with the game mechanics and narrative and how it makes for fun angst (ft. personal interpretation).

(more under the cut!)

the framework: game mechanics

in all of the games, the social link system’s existence coincides with the social stats mechanic. certain social links require a specific set of stats in order to initiate it, or surpass a certain rank. each game has around 20 of these- each of which represent the major arcana (+ some bonuses, e.g. aeon / jester / faith / councilor).

for any players going for a 100% social link run, this basically requires each social stat to be maxed out. anyone who’s followed a guide for a 100% run would know that the beginning of the game tends to be very “strict” with how time can be used, most of which involves getting the stats raised  as soon as possible.

outside of characterization and worldbuilding, completing social links are incentivized for a variety of gameplay reasons. so how could this completionist play style affect the protagonists?

prioritizing social stats over everything else: a general view

regardless of which protagonist you want to put under a petri dish, with a 100% run, you’re essentially asking the protagonist to form amicable bonds with 20 or so people, give or take. granted, not everyone becomes adjoined to the hip to the protagonist.

personally, i feel that forming 20 different bonds over the course of a year would be rather strenuous. during these 100% runs, the protagonists may feel that they’re spreading themselves thin trying to dedicate their resources to multiple different people as well as raising their “social stats.” i find the implications that this has on said bonds is so, utterly fascinating.

while this isn’t reflected in the game and would be better represented within a fic, i find it difficult to believe that this type of behavior doesn’t have any ramifications on the quality of the protagonist’s closer relationships (or their self-image, for that matter).

just… imagine calling one of your close friends but then they consistently give responses along the lines of “lmao sorry i’m busy doing other things,” and they rarely make the time of day for you. how would you feel? gameplay-wise, this deterioration of the relationship is best represented in persona 3 with social links reversing if you haven’t spent time with them in awhile.

part of my fascination with this concept is influenced by my own experiences. trying to maintain so many relationships can be difficult to keep up with and it quickly gets overwhelming (see dunbar’s number for more information). jumping between so many people also makes it difficult to focus on a few relationships meaningfully- meaning that relationships may be limited to being simple pleasantries. even then, ‘successfully’ keeping every relationship satisfying comes at the cost of being unable to pursue your own development and interests.

overall, i think that trying to do so many things ends up lowering the quality of the relationship(s) involved, especially when you also consider the fatigue from going to school as well as fighting shadows.

playing the therapist friend / listening role: a general view

another aspect of the 100% run that i think about is how the protagonists rarely open up to other people. a good chunk of SLs follow a storyline of the protagonist acting as a therapist friend/helping the other person through one central issue. some SLs are an exception to this and have a more casual “we’re just hanging out vibe.”

basically, SLs tend to be weighted toward the other character’s growth, moreso than the protagonist’s (which is handled by the main story). that said, the idea of mostly playing a listening role across most of your relationships and not having many that you feel comfortable to speak freely about your own stuff… feels really unbalanced and unhealthy?

i do think that part of the lack of “input” can be attributed to the silent-protagonist approach taken in the games (which is a whole ‘nother topic). but!! i find that each protagonist’s options, while limited, are fun to think about! some of the traits and interpretations i’ve seen for the differing protags, to name a few, include:

being afraid to open up / get attached and keeping people at arm’s distance as a result

needing to be around other people, even if it’s just listening them, to distract from their own struggles / pretend nothing’s wrong with them

enjoying helping others, being a good and careful listener who can provide an appropriate and helpful response

the willingness to prioritize others over themselves; a lack of self-preservation

compulsive people pleasing

at its worst, the lack of “protagonist talking” or equal reciprocation in response could be misinterpreted by the other person as disinterest (like they’re talking to a wall). alternatively- the lack of “personal tidbits” could be taken as, “you don’t trust me enough to be able to open up, huh.” and i just think that seeing this in a fic would be the biggest shitshow ever (and i would read that).

concluding thoughts:

overall, i feel that the protagonists taking a predominantly listening approach to several relationships at once can lead to compassion fatigue and general burnout. the protagonists are rarely at the receiving end of being listened to and/or having their issues worked through… and that’s kind of sad?

while the 100% social link run can provide great power to any persona fusions (and other cool battle abilities + hijinks)... i ultimately think that there’d be a lot of mental strain that would make achieving this much more difficult when you take a narrative-emphasized approach.

i do realize that it is possible to see the general vibe of this post as “100% social link is bad,” but like… there’s something i find really appealing about the messiness of attempting to manage so many relations at once- only to fall short in several of them and attempting to salvage the last bits of their sanity. when you think about the complications of the 100% SL run from the shoes of the protagonist… yeah!! that’s the good shit!

anyways! if anyone knows of any fics with this kinda vibe for the p3/4/5 protags… feel free to drop it in my askbox… i like them all VERY much :3c… and if this raised any food for thought- i’d be equally honored! let the protags go through shit i wanna see their emotions and coping mechanisms damn it! 👏

[songofwizardry]

ok SO I have recently become incredibly obsessed with the game Gubbins (if you have not tried it you SHOULD it’s fun) and I keep making my little postcards (you can make little pictures with the words you make that day) and I think they’re incredibly funny, SO: here you go, my favourites, with titles.

1 this one is called “my friend is a Druid”

2 this one is called “wearing a crop top” (my partner made this one I can’t take credit)

3 this one is called “archive of our own dot org”

4 this one is called “I don’t have daddy issues”

5 this one is called “good sex”

6 and finally, this one is called “a life motto”

[lemondoddle]

love wearing my Jay merrick hat bc I've gotten quite a few compliments on it and on the outside I'm like "thanks :D" but inside I'm just

[cheadarchesse]

So my some friends and I have a birthday coming up this month and we decided to throw a crow-themed party. Attendees were required to wear black and bring a shiny silver trinket. We did our best to come up with crow (or bird) themed foods.

It was a blast and this was my outfit. I never get to actually Dress Up, so I was pretty excited

[urmomsstuntdouble]

not to be political but I've seen a lot of people saying that those who call Israel an apartheid don't know what they're talking about and um. As someone who has studied South African apartheid as well as grown up in a Jewish community. This claim has more merit than you think