#because this could straight up just be a post game it was all a simulation au

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

More doodles from class- here's how I pictured the first conversation Kokichi has with Korekiyo just after waking up

[catboygretzky]

Exyblr Dashboard Simulator based on what I personally see on sportsblr:

1/?

👑 girlbossriko follow

how many bro jobs do you think it took before riko moriyama and kevin day realized that uh.....maybe this wasn't just a bro thing

👢exyinaphonebooth follow

how many times do they have to come out and say they're like brothers before you freakos stop shipping them

👑 girlbossriko follow

????? do i know u

#it's a tumblr post about two exy players that you'lll never meet in your life it really isn't that deep

558 notes

💃fox-me-up follow

ngl that newest fox is kinda 👀

#psu lb #exy lb

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👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻 talk-exy-to-me

The NARRATIVE that kevin day and neil josten have........son of exy! scouting the rookie-est of rookies from fuck knows arizona........no listen you dont GET IT winning is EVERYTHING TO KEVIN and he would risk it on the foxes? And NEIL? who has only played exy for a year! NEIL Gets his attention!!!!! And hes good and he's getting better every game and he keeps bitching about kevin's ex on live tv BUT WAIT!???? NOT QUITE WHAT YOU EXPECT! Bc then neil shows up with a number on his cheek BECAUSE WELL it turns out they've known each other since they were KIDS! how is everyone not insane w me THEY'RE LITERALLY PERFECT

#where r my fellow njkd truthers #how r u all not here with me this isnt even the start #kevneil #210 #psu #njkd

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☀️ usctrojanny

every smiley blonde striker (jeremy knox) needs a brunette wet cat emotional support backliner (jean moreau)

#jerejean #usc trojans #i'm just saying 🤷‍♀️

58 notes

👸🏻 kevindazed follow

did he just......

👸🏻 kevindazed follow

guys please tell me i'm not insane

👸🏻 kevindazed follow

HE'S NEVER BEEN????? SKIIING???? KEVIN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN ?????? KEVIN PLEASE

#i i'm going insane i will literally die if someone doesn't explain this to me HE'S NEVER BEEN SKIING?!!!!

407 notes

🧚 goalie-stan

oh....i'm feeling so weak......it'd sure be nice to have a big strong goalie (renee walker) hold me up (renee if you're free on tuesday i am also free on tuesday.........on tuesday this tuesday, any tuesday?)

#literally passing out just thinking about her holding me don't call don't text i'm busy

84 notes

🌄 softkevinday follow

do u think if u offered kevin day essential oils to heal his hand he'd beat you to death

#it'd be hard for him bc he only has one hand but he could probably do it #legally this is a joke don't do this

284 notes

🗣️ jeremyknoxes follow

feeling normal

215 notes

📜 realexyblog

actually exy rpf is fine, i asked kayleigh day herself and she told me it was fine

112 notes

🐋 sexyexy

'exy is a stupid name for a sport' have you considered that a) i don't care and b) it's named that solely so i can make sex jokes about it

11 notes

🏳️‍🌈 gay4stickball follow

is he, ya know *mimes jerking off* an ncaa exy player

#i don't believe that straight exy players exist

56 notes

🙈 ittybittyminny follow

Andrew Minyard!!!!!!! 🥰🥰 short king!!!!🤏🤏😋😋 Awwwwwwww the scrunkly!!!!! 🤗🤗🤗 My boinky boy!!!!!🥺🥺 Crinkly doo,,,,shronkle scrimblo......🥺🥺🥺 rb if you'd scrunkle!!!!!!! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

📖 sapphic-exy follow

he literally killed someone

🙈 ittybittyminny follow

And? God forbid women do anything

#also no proof he did that #yeah there's proof his twin bro killed someone but that's not the same bc theyre different people #almost killing someone doesnt count

807 notes

🐦‍⬛ edgarallenexy

got told i'm problematic for liking the ravens? THAT'S LITERALLY MY SCHOOL OH MY GOD

2 notes

🌸 softexy

Kevin Day - A Study

#kevin day #psu foxes #palmetto foxes #exy #web weave #poetry #psu foxes #palmetto #edgar allen

378 notes

[pearldog30]

The guys reacting to a period simulator

Ghost, Soap, Hesh, Rudy, Alejandro.

Time for another HC. I just want to apologize why I haven't been active the past few weeks A LOT has happened, so yeah.... But I'm back and hopefully I'll get into the groove of posting more. There's just a lot of personal stuff that has happen, because of it I haven't been in the mood to write but I'm trying for y'all. cuz I love y'all 🖤

Other works 👉 Master list

Warnings| period Related stuff obviously.

Ghost 👻

When you first tell him about it he gives you major side eye cuz he doesn't think it exists until you put it in his hand. He is eyeing it up and down like you put a bomb in his hand or something.

Now talking him into actually putting it on is a whole nother ball game, it took you at least 3 weeks to talk him into it. And when he finally agreed, he was eyeing that little mote control that came with it like his life depended on it.

1,000% is scarily quiet.

Definitely is probably the most calm throughout the entire thing. even when you ramp it up to 10 you might hear him grunt a little, but that's the most you're going to get out of this man. Takes it like a champ

Afterwards though... He won't tell you straight up, but he has so much more respect for you now after going through that hell. he'll never admit it, but he was crying screaming throwing up on the inside

He spoils you afterwards a LOT more/Gives into whatever you want during that time of the month. cuddles/snacks/chocolate etc whatever you want bb, he's there. He will also low-key fight anyone who says period cramps are nothing

Soap 🧼

Oh oh oh... My poor so soapy boy, when you first told him about it he got so fucking cocky probably went a little something like this. "Ha! and what is that little machine supposed to do, this will be a breeze! Ay!" he went back on his words after you were done.

Tries to play it cool and tough. but fails it miserably after you crank it up past 4. Guaranteed this mf is already complaining and whining. "What. No... It can't be 4 you're cheating" says something along those lines.

Anything past 5 he is screaming and whining like a child. (He almost ripped it off at that point, but you stopped him beforehand)

He demanded to hold your hand after that, and he had it in a death grip the entire time. like he was given birth or something he said it was for emotional support.(he almost broke your hand from how tight he was squeezing it)

He shed a few tears you pumped it up to 10 but try to play it off. He is regretting every word he said.

Afterwards though he probably said something like "so Bonnie where's my chocolate" or something like that, (expecting to get his own little period basket for "surviving" it as he calls it.😭)

Hesh🌴

(Hesh my bb he is the most underrated character ever. y'all are sleeping on him, and I hate all of you for it. he needs more attention because I said so!)

A lot like ghost, He never even heard it existed until you said something, He definitely was skeptical about it.

He was surprisingly open to trying it. And wasn't nervous about it. And too much to your surprise he was handling it really well. (With the occasional grunts, and groans, here and there. he tried to man it so hard, but failed in the end)

But when you got it past 5 that's when he started to violently sweat, and he kind of started to get quiet, Which made you a little worried.

He did however! took the controller away from you Midway through because he thought you were lying. and then when he realized, he nearly shit himself that it was only at 7. (Definitely gave you bombastic side eye)

But after it was all said and done, he could not stop asking you if that's what periods really felt like, and when you confirmed every single one of them. he went silent looking at you as if God himself was saying it. Moral of the story he gained a lot more respect for you and other women

He was also a lot more gentle with you during those times, not saying he was before. he just somehow took it a step further, and praised you a lot. Telling you how good you did during those times of the month. (Probably also asked Elias/a few of the guys on the team who had wives few of their own tricks on how they dealt with them when they had theirs)

Alejandro 🔥

When you first mentioned the idea to him he looked at you like you were talking in another language. In the back of his mind tho he thought this was all bullshit what could a little machine do. And boy was he wrong

He wasn't necessarily wasn't open to it at first glance but after a little "negotiating" he finally agreed. And boy were you excited you definitely secretly filmed it

You weren't even on to level 2 when he was asking what level you had it on. This man cannot for the life of him keep his mouth shut either, he was either complaining or talking the entire time. NO IN BETWEEN!

Anything past 3 tho... he's acting like he's giving birth. quite literally saying every cuss word in the book, didn't matter if it was English or Spanish you heard it. you were getting slightly concerned

But once you got it turned up to 7. that's when he said fuck this, and ripped it off violently almost breaking the machine, and smashing it. (He also somehow shocked his hand in the process)

But after (that hell experience he calls it) he picked up his game in doing house chores after going through that. he doesn't let you lift a finger during that time of the month.

Rudy🥺

Now Rudy's actually heard of this before from his sister, who's brought it up a couple of times. so when you jumped on the bandwagon too, he was scared for his own safety.

This poor man was probably a sweating nervous wreck. Since he has a mom and sister he knows how bad it was for them. so he's expecting the worst.

Although he was a nervous wreck, he was violently calm through the whole process. which Low key scared you

I feel like he has a high pain tolerance. So it actually didn't affect him that bad. but still it hurt ofc, and he hates seeing people he loves in pain. But when it got to 10 that's when he really started to feel it, and move around more. (You know those little period cramp moves we do yeah that was him 💀)

Although unlike most of the guys, he was more quiet and reserved about the pain. He knew you had to deal with this every month, so what gives him the right to scream and complain when he could turn it off at any moment, and you couldn't.

He also went to his mom and sister after that experience. asking them what more he could do to help you out.

And that's going to be the end for this, I know it wasn't long. but I just wanted to get something out there for you, I hope you enjoy. and I hope you are having a good day/night wherever You are. reblogs, and comments are always appreciated 🖤

Tags @macravishedbymactavish

[ghostofacrow]

Crow plays Gubat Banwa Pt 2: The first Violence

I'll have to write this one in two parts because I briefly want to go over my setup, but I don't have time for the battle itself today, especially because I'm sure it'll take longer since I still don't know what I'm doing.

So here it is! The moon is bright tonight, watching over the Kadungganan trying to escape the forest's demon infestation. Unfortunately, they have been cornered by a riverbend - the bridge leading back to the coast has been destroyed, so now the only way out is for these three strangers to beat back the demon hoard advancing on them.

I don't normally like using Tabletop Simulator for roleplaying games - the physics can be a bit wonky and it's really bad for sheet management, but it was the easiest way I could think of to make 3D terrain. The rulebook suggests using colors for terrain height, which is very good (and actually how I do it normally for other games) but having a map in actual 3D, even if it's digital, does look pretty nice.

It helps that I'm playing alone, so sharing sheets isn't nearly as important, and that we're still at legend 0, so there isn't that much information I even need to have at hand. I also realized at this point that all the discipline information you need for a legend 0 character is contained on one page, which is very handy. So I just had to import that single page per character and their prowesses.

I probably should have at least given the drawings a flat color tint so they're easier to tell apart but I didn't think of that until later. The balancing advice in the book suggests to use the number of Kadungganan + 2 as a base, which would be 5 in this case. I settled on six - I didn't know what enemies to use so I just picked the first one in each style and added the demon warrior from the demon's unique units. This also means they're pretty easy to color coordinate since the styles already have associated colors, except for the extra demon warrior

Behold, the meeple I stole from a different game gruesome visage of the terrifying demon warrior. Finally I looked through all of the status effects I was actually going to need and made little tokens for them, and added a bowl of go pieces to use for counting things. That's the setup done so far, I think. I probably missed something, but I'll see that when the time comes. There was one other reason I decided to use tabletop simulator for this, and it's that the design feels (and I mean this as a compliment) boardgamey. The abilities generally have straightforward effects, and status effects are a binary affair - either you are poisoned, or you're not, so they're easy to track with tokens, and most of the abilities have straight forward effects like "push the enemy 1 tile" or "if the enemy is aflame, deal 1d4 extra damage". These secondary effects have no saving throw-like mechanic either, unless the enemy evades the attack outright or is immune to the effect, it's going to happen, which should make most of the effects here very easy to track visually. Last last pregame observation - I notice while writing this that demons are immune to aflame and resistant to fire attacks and uuuhm

This makes the Baril Witch situation even worse then I was worried about initially because it makes half of their abilities and their thunderbolt gain condition either not work or very bad. It's not that big of a deal since I'm playing every character, but if this was a normal game with one character per person, I'd be a bit disappointed as Nasirakna's player. It happens, not everyone is good in every fight, but that does mean I'll have to vary up the enemy factions going forward.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm back a day later, time to actually start now! Everything below this is a play by play of the first resound of combat - the next post after this one will be the after action report, if you want to skip to my general observations (this part is might be annoying to read and hard to understand, I honestly can't tell). I already rolled the divination dice when I did the setup earlier and got 1, 5, 8, 7 - the odds outnumber the evens, so the enemies go first. I'll keep the victory and defeat conditions simple for this one, the Kadungganan win if they defeat all enemies and loose if all three of them get defeated.

For some reason, the figures clip into the tiles, but only on some of the tiles. I don't know why this happens other then tabletop simulators janky physics but I also don't care. Everything is set up now, the enemy sentinel moves first.

The enemy types have these tables to determine what they do on their turn if you play without a GM/Umalagad, here's the one from the Demon Guard, the enemy sentinel (the blue enemy on the map here):

This is the first time I've seen pseudo-AI like this in a tactics ttrpg and I'm honestly a bit skeptical of how well it's going to work, but the idea is so good that I really hope I'm wrong here and it functions well. One of the benefits of this being a tabletop game is that, if you roll something silly here, you can always just ignore it and do something that makes more sense or is more fun, and the rulebook is open about this too.

I got a 6 so Rush + Shield Charge + Inflict Violence and it turns out I am proven wrong immediately because this is a solid turn (I'll put the exact riff breakdowns in the alt text)

Yes the wide open token is a door, this is because I couldn't think of something less stupid looking yesterday.

Nasirakna gets to deal 1d4 (4) Damage to the Guard from her Overwatch Aura ("While you have Thunderbolts, you have an Overwatch Aura 3. Any enemy that moves into or leaves a tile in this aura you may deal d4 DMG against, once per enemy per Riff.")

Dranreb goes next and moves around the enemy like this, allowing him to flank and ram into them from the side using his "Shield Charge" Inflict Violence, pushing the enemy one tile away and moving after them.

I get to roll 2 violence dice and pick the highest one because of the flanking here, and I got a 1 and 2, which is a dogshit result, but very useful here for demonstration purposes. The damage of my attack here is 2 (from the die) + 3 (Dranreb's Ferocity) and this gets reduced by 5 (the Demon Guard's Parry). 2+3-5 is normally 0, but damage can't fall below 1, this means the secondary effect (pushing the enemy) still happens anyway. The secondary effects are only avoided if the enemy dodges the attack completely, which usually only happens if you roll a 1. For reasons that you can probably figure out by looking at the map here, the push is more important to me in this situation then the actual damage. I really appreciate the lack of a saving throw-like mechanic here, non-damaging effects like applying poison or moving the enemies around is what you need for combos or to set up cool plays by your friends, so just letting them happen avoids a lot of frustration. You also gain a thunderbolt if your attack gets evaded or deals minimum damage, so being one point off from snakeeyes was maybe ... good? actually?? in this specific situation.

Dranreb has 1 more Beat left, and originally I was going to use his Shield Bash Inflict Violence, which also pushes the target 1 tile (and would push the enemy into the river here) and would give Dranreb d6 Block. Unfortunately, its violence die is a d6 and because this would be my second attack in this riff, I'd have to make it at 2 demerit - roll 3d6 keep the lowest one. If I land a 1 on ANY of the 3d6 here, it means the attack fails, and that's a bigger risk then I'm willing to take. Thankfully, Shove (push an adjacent fighter 1 tile) is also a basic technique that everyone has access to and doesn't require to roll anything, so I can just push the enemy into the river anyway.

Goodbye. The Guard has jump 1, so he can only move one terrain height up at a time, which means they can't get back up here and has to walk all the way around. They also take 2d6 (4+4) damage from the fall. Really fun and cool move! In retrospect, it would have been smarter to move the enemy to the tile below Haraw to make pushing them off like this slightly harder, but I genuinely didn't think about that until I started planning Dranreb's turn. The decision to combine to hit and damage rolls into one removes a lot of the more annoying randomness in tabletop games (well, in D&D and its children specifically), but I don't know how I feel about attacks with lower damage potential also having a higher chance to miss completely, especially when the attack is already at demerit. It's only a difference of about 12% at 2 demerit between d6s and d8s, which isn't that much, but worth keeping in mind if you're attacking more then once. The demon Raider (a Lancer) is going to go next and I got Rush + Inflict Violence + Rush on the Gambit table. This is pretty straight forward so I'm not going to break it down in detail, they're just going to move in and attack Haraw, who is the closest to them, and then retreat back up the hill. Nothing too complicated except

Rolling the maximum value on a melee attack means it combos and gets rolled again and added together. They also gain an extra 1d6 bonus damage to their next attack after rushing their full speed, which puts us at a whopping 8+4+1+FER(7) = 20(!) damage. Haraw's PAR is 3 so that's 17. This early and she's already at 9/30 POS.

Haraw is also going to go next and she's still taunted by the Guard that fell into the river, which means all her attacks against enemies other then the Guard suffer demerit. Thankfully, she has other options!

Not an attack, so it doesn't count towards the number of attacks per Riff, and nothing to roll here. Dropping the raider enemy into the river is going to be less effective - their jump is 2, so they could get back up easily and wouldn't take fall damage. But the map does have a dangerous terrain spike growth, so I'm going to knock him in there instead. The description for dangerous terrain says that it deals 2 damage every time you enter it. I'm not sure if multiple connected tiles of the same type of dangerous terrain count as entering it once, or if it means every tile you enter, but I'm interpreting it as the latter because it works in my favor here it makes more sense to me that continuing to move through a spiky undergrowth would keep dealing damage repeatedly.

The Corpseflower Curse is the most interesting part - its violence die is a d4, which means the chance to miss is pretty high, especially since Haraw is still taunted by the Guard and has demerit from it. But sliding the enemy down into the bramble first means Haraw is at a higher elevation now, her ranged attacks gain merit against this demon. So at least I'm rolling the d4 normally, get a 3, and put down the field. Flower Balyans gain a thunderbolt from putting down one of the flower fields, which I immediately spend on

...and end her riff. Ending a riff cleanses Wide Open too, and I'm just noticing now that I didn't remove it from Dranreb after his riff. The annoying thing about writing this down as it's happening is that I'm immortalising all the small mistakes I normally wouldn't catch or quietly fix later. The enemy Witch goes next, rushes (through the dangerous terrain) and dazes Dranreb and Nasirakna. Daze gives all of your attacks demerit and all attacks against you merit, but this could have been worse.

Nasirakna is up next and uhm. She doesn't have a lot of options here due to the enemies all being resistant to Fire and immune to the Aflame status effect

They're weak to Soul at least but that still means the ideal strategy is to get into a high position and snipe repeatedly. He's going to spend 1 beat to climb up into the tree next to him, and then use Bala Osuwang on the Raider - the height advantage nullifies the demerit from dazed. Aaand I rolled a 1. The next attack would be at 2 demerit, but at least I can spend 1 thunderbolt on Joss Reloads (see above) so my chance to hit looks slightly less bad....aaaaand I got another 1. This does at least mean I get the thunderbolt back and can use Joss Reloads again to gain 1 Merit for their next riff. I was really hoping I might be able to finish the Raider off but it wasn't meant to be.

The enemy archer gets into a tree of their own and shoots at Dranreb twice (and unlike some fighters here, hits both times). The Warrior Demon rushes twice, taking 8 damage from the dangerous terrain, and attacks Haraw, which is enough to defeat her, and also inflicts bleeding. This doesn't mean she's out of the battle, she's just debuffed until she recovered, Kadungganan don't risk death until they get 5 wounds, and you get one every time you take damage while at 0 POS. Getting knocked out and having to sit on the sidelines for half the fight sucks ass, so I appreciate not making characters drop unconscious. They only get 2 beats so their action economy is still being taxed, but they still get to do stuff, which is the important part.

I might have bitten more off more then I can chew with the enemies here, but what I've played so far already looks really promising. The random enemy behavior works surprisingly well, and the player abilities are very fun, but if I want to finish this battle in a reasonable amount of time, I'll have to stop writing down every move. The next post is going to be a highlight reel and my overall thoughts on how this battle went. It's not looking good!

[imsobadatnicknames2]

i keep thinking about ur stardew valley + land ownership/colonialism post and while i was thinking that too ive also been trying to think about like is there a way to make a farming sim not predicated on those? since as a game genre there is a niche of Watching Things Grow but also i know farming has been around since we first left huntergathering behind and it wasn't always about land ownership. i suppose the first step would be leaving behind the american/european idea/aesthetic of farming and finding some gameplay way of disincentivizing max yields/max profits playstyles

Okay this is an interesting ask and one I don't have all the answers to, but...

I think a game that comes much closer to simulating the actual ideals of communal land ownership is Dwarf Fortress and the way its mechanics depict dwarven society as at least communist-adjacent*. Now of course DF isn't exactly the type of game you would think of when someone mentions cozy relaxing farm games (it's, after all, a pretty crunchy simulator that can get pretty violent and gruesome when things go wrong) but you generally do a lot of the same things in it (growing crops, gathering resources, watching things grow, etc). and there are a lot of principles in it that could probably be incorporated into a Wholesome™ game.

In Dwarf Fortress there is the sense that the land you have is communally owned and managed by the entire population of your fortress. You as a player designate a list of tasks that need to be done and then available dwarves divide those tasks among themselves based on their labor preferences. And generally they don't have an economy based on wages and buying and selling products. When a dwarf makes a piece of clothing it isn't made to be sold, instead it goes on one of the clothing stockpiles, and then when a dwarf needs a new shirt they go to the clothing stockpile and grab one. The meals that are made in the kitchen go to the food stockpile, and then when one of your dwarves is hungry they go to the food stockpile and grab something to eat. And they don't have to pay for any of it because it's assumed that they're also doing the labor they can to contribute to the fort. So it works a lot less like Petty-Bourgeois Landowner Business Simulator and more similar to something like a commune.

Of course, this isn't to say that its base ideological assumptions don't share a lot of pitfalls with other farming simulator/terraforming type games. After all, it still fundamentally stems from the premise of "this plot of untouched land is here for you to do whatever you want with it" and more generally it still has a lot of themes of Civilizing Untamed Wilderness that have a lot of ideological implications which... You know, play into a bit of a colonialist mindset, but it's something you could potentially write around if, for example, your hypothetical game revolved around a community already living there or something like that.

And of course it still implies a bit of an extractivist ideology because ultimately you're still trying to Extract Resources and Maximize Efficiency but I think at least it has some mechanics that play counter to this e.g. having too many animals grazing in the same area for a long time will cause it to lose vegetation so your animals will go hungry if you don't rotate them between different pastures, fortress wealth is used as a trigger for events such as hostile invasions and megabeast attacks, etc.

Anyway, I just think the way land management is depicted in dwarf fortress avoids some of the bourgeois ideological implications of some farming games and incorporating some of the things it does right could be considered a step in the right direction.

*I say communist-adjacent bc I don't wanna fall into the trap of projecting my own politics into the game when in some aspects it just doesn't share them. I've heard several ppl claim that DF is a straight-up communist game, and while the way you play in it does share some aspects of communism, the government system of dwarves is still clearly depicted as a monarchy, and while nobles DO contribute to labor just like everybody else, the game still expects you to give them luxurious quarters, private dining rooms and offices that stand above those of other dwarves. I've had a lot of people reply to this with something along the lines of "oh but you know, when I play I just arrange 'unfortunate accidents' for all of my nobles" and like...yeah but that's not really the way you're intended to play, so saying that the game is straight-up communist because you can do that is still very much projecting your own politics onto it.

[jakowskis]

💖💙💜 owen harper bisexuality masterpost 💖💙💜

i've had this in my drafts for a minute but i figured i'd finish it up and post it today for bisexual visibility day :D

it hasn't cropped up recently, but i've seen a lot of people who've questioned owen's bisexuality over the years and i thought i'd compile all the 'evidence' (although it completely baffles me that we got a show with five canonical bisexual characters and people want to write two of them off as straight / "heterflexible" ?? there shouldn't have to be 'proof' of owen being bi, RTD said torchwood is about five bisexuals fighting aliens in cardiff which means they're all bi, full stop. also, bisexuals should never have to 'prove' they're bi, and in regards to fictional characters, i'm sick of people nit-picking who 'deserves' to be counted as rep and refusing to 'claim' certain characters if they're morally grey or if the fandom simply doesn't Like them as much-)

but i digress.

so without further ado, here's everything i've found that supports owen's status as a bicon :-)

explicit canon instances

➤➤ obviously, we have to start with his gay kiss in the first episode of the show. there's a lot to be said about that kiss, i'm not gonna get into all that here, but i've seen a lot of people say it's not proof of owen being attracted to men, and i wholeheartedly disagree. you can literally catch him smiling very happily after the kiss (and one of owen's few genuine smiles of the series, too). i don't think a straight man (or even a "heteroflexible" man) would beam at another guy who's just informed him that he wants to fuck him. a fair amount of people have also said they interpreted owen calling the taxi as him intending to get away from the couple, but i don't understand how they're getting that impression, because that smile makes it seem very much apparent to me that running away is the last thing he wants to do.

it's also, notably, the first time we see bisexuality IN the bisexual show, which i don't think should be discounted. like, we see owen do something gay before jack does, for fuck's sake. is it a good first impression of how torchwood portrays bisexuality? no. is setting owen up as a more sex-driven, opportunistic bisexual nicely contrasted against ianto & tosh's more romance-oriented brand of demisexual bi/pansexuality? in my opinion, yes. i love that the torchwood bisexuals all practice their bisexuality in different ways. that's very special to me. 'cause it's realistic! real bisexuals all experience bisexuality differently! obviously it'd be a different story if he was the only bi rep, because lord knows we've seen enough of that already, but torchwood makes an effort to show us five different brands of bisexuality, and five different bi stories that largely only exist in the subtext, that aren't the focus of the show, and it's fantastic. it's all i could ever want out of bi rep, honestly, even if it is a bit dated now.

➤➤ the other explicit moment in the show: asking tosh and ianto for an end-of-the-world threesome in sleeper (s2ep2). i've actually never seen owen bi-deniers (fhdskjf it's a conspiracy) even mention this scene. owen literally asks ianto if they can have sex with each other to his face, and he's dead serious when he asks it. that's... i mean you can't mistake that as anything else. like fhdsjkf??

➤➤ next we jump to some of the, i suppose, extended universe content. whether the books are canon or not is debated, but the novel 'another life' features owen playing an online simulation game, and it makes a point to depict owen flirting with someone with a male avatar + wondering to himself if the guy would be down for cyber-sex. [someone posted part of that scene here. for context, owen's also got a VR headset on during that bit.]

➤➤ another instance is on the website, which some also don't regard as canon, but, i mean, i don't know who worked on the things we see on that site, but obviously they got their information from somewhere. they probably consulted with the writers on the show, or at the very least got notes on what things to touch on. anyway, there's a portion of the site where you can find a 'background check' on owen, and it's just a collection of messages from some ex-lovers of his. one of them is a man.

again, some people disregard the canon validity of the website, but the way i see it, the information on this site was released while the show was airing for fans to look at and to gain further insight on the characters. one of the things they felt a need to tell us about owen, important enough to be featured in his background (wayyy before the katie plot was developed), was that he wasn't just interested in women. personally, i regard that as canon. you can find this here. and even if you wanna say fragments jossed this background, it doesn't joss his, like... identity.

next we have things said by russell t. davies himself + by burn gorman (owen's actor)

➤➤ again, RTD (who's torchwood's creator, but i'm assuming everyone reading this knows that) explicitly described torchwood as "a bunch of bisexuals living under cardiff and fighting aliens". that's not ambiguous. [i don't have a direct source for this quote, it was apparently said on the dvd extras.]

burn's comments on owen's sexuality include...

➤➤ (when asked who owen fancies) "Owen's pretty cocky, he'll try it on with whoever comes along." [x] and yes, this is vague, but vagueness is often interpreted as proof of bisexuality. (for example, in the pacific rim dvd features, newt's bio stating he was interested in "whoever will take him" was widely interpreted by the fandom as him being bi.)

➤➤ (in regards to owen's "let's all have sex" line) "I don't think he [...] thinks about the implications, or whether it's with a man or a woman." [x]

(ok i have to admit, although i absolutely adore burn, i'm not super fond of the way his 2006-08 self would talk about how torchwood handled sexuality*. however! he kind of hit the nail on the head in saying that, even if it's in the context of owen wanting end-of-the-world sex, because my take on how owen sees his own sexuality has always essentially boiled down to thinking he'd be like, "well, why wouldn't men also be an option?" (well, with sexual attraction anyway; i think owen's relationship with romantic attraction is far more complex.) i think he resembles jack in that way; anyone's a prospective sexual partner, if they're attractive and interesting and he decides he wants them, and he's also impulsive as hell, so he doesn't think too hard about gender in the moment if he decides he's into someone. there's not really any hang-ups.)

➤➤ and ofc...

(out of context this could look like he's just jokingly calling owen an alien-fucker, although owen makes his thoughts on alien-fucking pretty clear in countrycide lol, but it was said in the context of owen/andy as a ship [x].)

*if you're wondering what i'm referring to, it's a comment here [x] about how the torchwood team's bisexuality is a result of being in a pressure cooker environment and having a 'wartime mentality', and they just kind of 'take what they can get'. the implication that bisexuality is out of desperation/accessibility rather than attraction is pretty damn icky, BUT i love him lots and he generally seems to be pretty woke these days (+ otherwise has always seemed to grasp why torchwood's rep was so unique and groundbreaking and important) so i'll go ahead and hope that was just, y'know, simple 'being a straight guy in 2008' ignorance. fifteen years is a long time and i have faith his opinions have evolved by now, esp considering he used the word 'pansexual' at a 2016 con [x]. (actually, ok, you caught me, that last bit wasn't super relevant and i didn't need to bring it up, but i just wanted to gush about him doing it because how often do you hear that word out of celebs, especially older and presumably straight ones. and in 2016, too. kinda slay of him, ngl)

aaand finally, some random, non-explicit little things that i think support him being a bisexy king (several of these are goofy and half-serious)

➤➤ in episode 2, they make a point to cut to owen smiling after jack's line about "you people and your quaint little labels". one might argue he's smiling at gwen & carys on the screen, but cutting to him immediately after jack says it very much implies he's reacting to jack's words, and i think it's particularly poignant after, again, we saw him kiss a man the episode prior. (which, another thing - owen's literal introduction features him kissing a man, like that's gotta count for something. if the literal third thing i ever see a male character do ever is kiss a guy, that means something.)

➤➤ and of course, in the same episode, we get "period military is not the dress code of a straight man" .... owen's the only one of them with working gaydar. also what a fruity thing to say

➤➤ speaking of fruity things to say, in s2e10 when they're all watching the old film, owen goes "look at the state of them 💅" and he says it SO cunty for no reason it always kills me fhsdkjfd

➤➤ combat.

➤➤ no, really.

➤➤ bonus: in the combat commentary, it's mentioned that when RTD saw the above scene between mark & owen, he said it was "the gayest thing he'd ever seen".

➤➤ in the three monkeys, a big finish audio featuring owen & andy, owen flirts with andy repeatedly. even if he just does it to be annoying, it's still pretty damn gay. also the pet names... (he calls him sweetheart, sunshine, and tiger. it's half-mocking, sure, especially because it's owen, but there's also a domesticity to it.)

➤➤ and then there's the hope's "you're alive again and you want crisps?!" "be glad that's all i'm asking for" (owen was like 'i will not use this as an excuse to try to sleep w andy i will not use this as an excuse to try to sleep w andy i will not use th') these are the only two audios i've heard with this duo, i'm sure there's more examples in the other two. i know gooseberry literally has owen sabotaging andy's relationship with his gf and that is... woohoohoo.... i'll update this once i get through those.

➤➤ …. this is my personal opinion but i lowkey think he kinda wants john hart a bit when they all first meet him in kkbb hdskjfds. gwen & tosh both seem very charmed by him and they're meant to, it's supposed to be like 'oh, look at jack's ex waltzing in and charming the pants off everyone (ha), and only ianto and jack see through him' - owen isn't given a flirty line of dialogue or even a close-up shot of him eyeing john like the girls get, but if you watch him closely he certainly looks… intrigued by him. i think owen's more of a bi disaster than he lets on.

➤➤ in episode 10, diane notes that owen has "beauty products" in his bathroom. obviously this shouldn't be indicative of sexuality, but how many Straight Men in 2006 were moisturizing lmao. hell, how many do nowadays 😭

➤➤ gwen & owen's dynamic settles into a lovely little friendship in s2 and owen lowkey gives gbf vibes <3 them making fun of the movie in s2e10 together + the cheek-kissing at the end of s2e9… bi besties!!

➤➤ the peace sign he throws up in meat when he meets rhys fdsjk i don't even believe in some of the silly internet jokes abt bi culture but c'mon

➤➤ have you seen his taste in women. diane is soo butch and gwen's a total tomboy in s1. that's bi culture babey!!!! i too like girls when they're boys

➤➤ i already talked about it but the aforementioned scene where he asks tosh and ianto for a threesome... he asks them, like, immediately after they team up and bully him for not comprehending that there's "no phones. phones all broken. anyone there? no, 'cause the phones aren't working." that was suuuch a disaster bi owen moment for me. i too would get a little revved up if tosh and ianto both bullied me at once <3

aaand finally... the biggest Evidence of all....

➤➤ he's a leather jacket bisexual. need i say more

and that's all! thanks for reading!

[credit for the dividers used in this. didn't tumblr used to have built-in dividers? i miss that.]

[kazieka]

Hi hello I see you hatoful boyfriend posting and would love to hear your favorite wild thing about that game (I have only ever seen people stream it and know very little and love hearing the wild bits)

oh jeez. ok. i hope you're ready for a wild ride. Hatoful Boyfriend spoilers under the cut, as well as some.... screenshots

im a depraved little freak so im a sucker for the True Ending. Prior to the True Ending, its a (fairly) normal dating sim But With Birds, including school festivals, class hikes, and Legumentine's Day (where you can buy seeds for the birdie of your affections). in the true ending, the player character is straight up killed halfway through the school year and the POV flips to the boyfriend birds trying to solve the murder in one of the wildest tonal shifts i have ever seen in video games.

while this is going on, the bird school goes into lockdown because the Player Character was the only human at bird school and the humans see her death as a threat (there's this whole thing about the bird/human war that only just ended) (the birds won). listen. listen. You, The Player Character, were Dismembered, and your body parts scattered through the school. In A Bird Dating Simulator. its such a wild left turn from the rest of the game which was fairly normal, as far as the game could be. the boyfriend birds are stalked through the locked down school by a bleeding scarecrow monster.

Apart from the True Ending, which takes about 4x as long to complete as any of the other routes, the other routes are... pretty wild in their own right. here's some screenshots from the normal routes.

and aside from THESE, just... the sheer amount of worldbuilding that went into Hatoful Boyfriend. On the surface it seems like a goofy dating sim (and to a degree, it is!! there are some genuinely cute moments!!) but just under the surface is a story about a bird flu vaccine gone wrong, birds gaining sapience, a war (that, again, the humans lost), tensions between the species, war crimes... its insane how much detail there is about a silly game about going to Bird School, Which Is For Birds.

there is also a lady birdie who rides a motorcycle. The motorcycle is not bird-sized. she also drives at 2 miles per hour because she takes road safety extremely seriously. im sorry if this is incoherent but thats just how this game is. it's 99 cents on Steam right now. im begging you all to purchase it and see what i mean

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

total takes island - character profiles

i made these up for fun if ur on here and want something changed pls tell me. i was gonna do a google forms thing but then i remembered over half of the mods arent even active anymore. anyway ill probably edit this later anyway too since i havent even read it over yet lolz

Name: Mod Ass

Likes: peace and quiet

Dislikes: people kissing engaged guys because they hate his fiancee

Known For: being a silent voice of reason in a world of chaos

Why TTI?: money

Ass is a quiet, thoughtful person who seems to attract drama to them like a magnet in a silverware store. Their life back home is full of soap opera level shenanigans, so they're pretty confident they'll survive here.

Name: Austin, baby!

Likes: women and having a groovy time yeah!

Dislikes: losing his mojo

Known For: his swingin' 60's sensibilities

Why TTI?: to meet more birds and make a little dough to pay off his harassment suits

Austin is a loud and proud, often hateable fella who came straight from the 60's to spread his word of free love and groovy fun times to the low-down pessimists on total drama

Name: Caesar

Likes: drama and slaying

Dislikes: being involved in said drama

Known For: being a great host

Why TTI?: caesar was invited by the producers to acknowledge their past legal feud is behind them

Caesar hosts their very own total drama hunger games, a very popular simulation-based cable TV show that's grown its own fanbase. a few months ago, the total drama syndicate attempted to take it down for copyright infringement, starting a tumultuous "total drama boycott" on reddit that caused over sixteen million dollars of lost revenue. since then, the producers have dropped the case and invited caesar on the show to let the fans know it's all in the past

Name: Courtney

Likes: their friends and piercings

Dislikes: mean people

Known For: their popular total drama takes blog

Why TTI?: to finally have the full td experience

Courtney (name inspired by the former contestant) is a laid-back, though hardworking moderator of a popular total drama centered blog. after an incident involving a past mutual and a widespread callout post that claimed courtney was slandering td contestants, courtney challenged the op to a bet: if courtney could survive the real total drama, the op would take down their callout and delete their blog. now, courtney has to prove they have what it takes to survive not only the fandom, but the show itself.

Name: FNAF Bonnie

Likes: bad opinions

Dislikes: actual bad opinions

Known For: inciting drama

Why TTI?: what better place to spread the most terrible takes known to man?

Bonnie is a #gamer who's origins began in the online reddit gaming community. not because they actually like using reddit, but simply because it's so easy to start arguments there. after having their IP permanently banned for making fake AITA posts on 18 different accounts over the course of two months, bonnie is taking their cause national!

Name: Fren

Likes: unknown

Dislikes: unknown

Known For: mysteriously modding a long-gone blog...

Why TTI?: money

Fren is a mysterious figure who probably won't stick around for long. they have their own life outside of total drama, after all.

Name: Frollo

Likes: catholocism and grapes

Dislikes: sinners

Known For: his awesomely passionate religious sermons about why lust is actually the devil inside your balls

Why TTI?: to spread the word of jaysus

Frollo is an experienced judge and catholic preacher (sometimes) who loves the french lord and hates sinners. he's a sassy, snappy gurl who's always ready to call out someone on their bible-bereaving behaviors

Name: Joner

Likes: their buddies mclovin and michael :)

Dislikes: death threats

Known For: just bein a dude

Why TTI?: to hang out with their besties

joner has been best friends with michael and mclovin (also contestants) for years now. the trio decided to join the show to better strengthen their bond and earn money to build the giant statue of hulk hogan joner wants in their backyard

Name: Julia

Likes: also drama and slaying

Dislikes: not being the center of attention

Known For: being a girlboss

Why TTI?: money

julia is a girlboss and an analytic mastermind who's here with a brand new glasses prescription to kick butt and win money. she's implied to be one smart cookie, as well as being girlypop

Name: Kelly

Likes: corn anon

Dislikes: milfphobia

Known For: being a great host a baddie

Why TTI?: money as well

kelly is actually an incredibly kind classy person we don't know why they signed up for this other than the cash involved. maybe they're here to spread some positivity and support their fellow mods and ex-anons

Name: Kitty

Likes: being incomprehensible

Dislikes: wells

Known For: inciting mass hysteria

Why TTI?: they're just a bit silly

kitty is a chaos icon, but not in the bad way. they're simply able to take a situation and add a little whimsy to it- a bit like izzy, but less crazy badass and more silly forest gnome

Name: Mal

Likes: YAOI!!!! >_< AWAAAA

Dislikes: women

Known For: blogging

Why TTI?: to prove a point

Mal is not only a fujoshi, not only a manipulative mastermind who's able to UwU herself out of any trouble, not only a girlblogger, but also the very same op of courtney's callout doc. she never actually expected courtney to take on the challenge, so she just had to jump in too to prevent courtney from winning. unfortunately, courtney is the only person who knows of mal's true intentions

Name: Max

Likes: reading probably lol nerd

Dislikes: not being taken seriously

Known For: his diplomacy and mildly short temper

Why TTI?: money as well

Max is a practical, usually-calm person with a tendency to make enemies and hold grudges. as someone with short guy energy, he has a hard time being taken seriously by his teammates and is judged fairly harshly. he takes the natural role of leader on his team, though.

Name: McLovin

Likes: having a swaggy time

Dislikes: dudes stomping on his vibe

Known For: being iconic

Why TTI?: joined with friends joner and michael

McLovin is a ladykiller, an annoying nerd, and the least-hateable contestant all at once. he's so non-offensive it's almost sad. still, it's his ability to make close and genuine bonds with the people around him the save him from the chopping block early on.

Name: Michael

Likes: people leaving them alone

Dislikes: total drama fans

Known For: being tired

Why TTI?: joined with friends joner and mclovin

as the only fem-presenting member of the trio, michael struggles with being seen beyond being "one of the guys". while they joined with their friends, they also hope to make some close female buddies, too, who can hopefully dissuade joner from using the 100 grand to build a hulk hogan statue in his backyard.

Name: O

Likes: computers

Dislikes: anxiety

Known For: being scared

Why TTI?: to overcome his fears

O has a small fear of geoff, one of the original contestants, after being harassed by a geoffnon online for months. in order to combat his fear, his therapist sent his application to tdi for some lengthy exposure therapy :)

Name: Patrick

Likes: himself and huey lewis and the news

Dislikes: women and stupid people

Known For: being mean

Why TTI?: money for his skincare routine

Patrick is a no funny business type guy, although everyone else thinks he's kind of a dork. he views himself as a gigachad sigma male who effortlessly maintains his composure to secure his winnings, intimidating and threatening the weaker contestants and attempting to make friends with the chaos harbingers all the same

Name: Peter

Likes: shenanigans

Dislikes: no shenanigans

Known For: his immaculate vibes

Why TTI?: it was the weekly family guy episode plot

Peter is really just a fun dude with a good heart, even though the circumstances he finds himself in can make that hard to see. he enjoys finding the bright side of things, though he can come off as a little clueless

Name: Scary

Likes: lying, being scary

Dislikes: people who take this too hardcore

Known For: being scary

Why TTI?: tomfoolery

inspired by the past events in the show and fandom, Scary decided to join to cause a little more mischief. They have gone on to threaten to murder the losing contestants, and seems to dislike those who take the game (and rules in general) too seriously.

Name: Scruffy

Likes: history

Dislikes: mean people

Known For: carrying on the td legacy

Why TTI?: to collect data for future reference

As a Total Drama historian, Scruffy takes their job very seriously. they don't have a practical purpose for collecting all the future information other than being able to cite it in the future, but they're here anyway. and don't get it twisted- Scruffy is no fan, they're an expert.

Name: Sha-Mod

Likes: haikus

Dislikes: haikus

Known For: being an icon

Why TTI?: legal obligation

Sha-Mod is an inventor of many things; corn anoning, marmaduke, and the many a hundred haikus he's collected. he's really a fun dude who's here to be a part of td history and hopefully avoid making TOO many enemies

Name: Staci

Likes: kinning

Dislikes: kin-shamers and irony

Known For: being an online queen

Why TTI?: to fulfill their kin memories

as their blog title would imply, staci is a cornerstone of the kinning community and is attempting to give their kin identity some grounding by joining tti. as a staci kin, they share all of her memories, so they also love to bring up fun facts about their extensive family and personal connections to every famous person ever. they're aware of the risks of being kin-shamed by the other contestants, but they simply don't care. they're hoping to get booted first to fulfill their destiny

[twilightknight17]

So opinions on P5x?

"But why, tho?"

I get it. I do. Money, obviously. But like, if you wanted to make money, you could have done a lot of other things. Even a lot of other mobile games.

But this thing... The implied scenario from the trailers contradicts so many things in the established canon. If they were going to do something non-canon just for fun, like the crossovers with other mobile games, they could have gone a better route. If they had offered up a game that was "create your character and go on Mementos missions with the Phantom Thieves", I would not be remotely as disgruntled with the concept.

But no, we've got a redheaded protag whose thief outfit looks like a Joker knockoff (which we already got with Sumi??), and a new animal mascot who can also turn into a vehicle?? Even though there's a specific cognitive reason why Mona can turn into a bus. There's no particular reason why the owl should be able to be a van, other than being the "Morgana" of the group. The other three kids... eh. I dunno. The two we don't have names for have nice thief gear, I guess. The other girl kinda just looks like Chie in Tomoe's outfit.

(And the owl's codename is "Cattle"? WHY?)

I like the persona designs, and god, I love the aquarium Velvet Room. But even the Velvet Room is fucking me up. Is that Igor, or is it Yald? Igor was locked in the isolation cell. It can't be him. This can't be post-canon, because Mementos is gone. Why would Yald give some other group of kids access to the nav? Why are the attendant's eyes the wrong color? Why is she named after one of the Pleiades (P2????) instead of a Frankenstein character?

(As Jade put it, did Nameless cheat on Belladonna? XDDD)

I guess I just don't understand why they did this thing, that seems like such a mess story-wise, rather than the multitude of other things they could have done that people would eat up.

Mobile game of Goro solving cases in the backstory?

Mobile game of the Shadow Ops hunting down Maruki to ask him how the hell he had an outer god in his head and didn't die?

Twitch simulator where you run Akane's livestream?

Royal sequel to parallel Scramble?

Just make Star Forneus or the Featherman video game???

Ports of P1 and P2? Put them all on Switch, do it do it do it do it.

Properly-translated version of Eternal Punishment?

Hell, straight-up remakes of the older games.

Or just like... work on P6.

Don't just give us P5 again but with a different group of kids that we don't care about. One of the bosses in the trailer just looks like Shadow Kamoshida, for fuck's sake. The same part-time jobs, the same minigames, it's just stupid. It's a waste of time, when they could be working on better things.

In conclusion, I don't want this. From what I've seen, most people don't want this. And apparently right now, there's no plans for it to even release outside of China, so we can just set it in the recycling bin and ignore it. And none of these people are showing up in Hours, so no one better ask. XDDDD

Well, maybe the aquarium. But the aquarium is cool. :'D

[teaandgames]

Top And Bottom of 2023

2023, we hardly knew ye. Everyone says the years go by fast but this one barely shook my hand before running off. Maybe it’s because I’m thirty now. Maybe as the decades pass, the years get faster. In which case, by the time I’m eighty I should be able to do a decade of games in one post. Now that’s efficiency.

Anyway, this list only contains games I’ve actually played, so you can blame time and money for the lack of games like Baldur’s Gate 3 on this list. Instead, it’s going to be a little bit of a strange list, so bear with me. I’ll be doing top and bottom five, just to get straight to the point really, and alternating them, to try and drum up some suspense.

That leads me to…

Fifth Bottom - Dead Island 2

From a purely functional standpoint, Dead Island 2 doesn’t really do anything wrong. Hitting the zombies is fun, strapping batteries to machetes is fun, walking along beaches is fun. But at the end of the day, functional is all it is. The fun I had with it is not unique to Dead Island 2 and is done better in pretty much every other big zombie release. Dead Island 2 is just a zombie game, with no other thought or creativity poured into it. Doomed to slide out of your brain the moment it’s done.

I’d say to play Dying Light 2 instead but, to be honest, I didn’t have time to play that one either.

Fifth Top - I’m On Observation Duty 6

This one is a bit of a cheat, as I’ve not actually played that much of number 6 itself. But I haven’t given the previous ones the props they deserve, so sod it, I’m doing it here. I’m on Observation Duty has a unique mechanic - a sort of horror spot-the-difference. You man security cameras, pointing out differences and looking out for intruders. It’s thoroughly unsettling, wonderfully engaging and yet so brutally simple.

It shows the value of a good idea that’s given a lot of room to breathe. You could probably make the case that 6 is little more than a rehash of the previous ones but I don’t care. Just give me more.

Fourth Bottom - Rogue Cards

I feel a little bad about this one, not least because the developer sent me a classy email after the review went up. Still, this was a year that was saturated in roguelikes. I’ve lost count of the amount of cards I’ve thrown at bad guys. It’s like if Vegas was taken over by goblins. Rogue Cards drew the short straw, unfortunately, by being a below average roguelike in a saturated year.

Its runs all feel a bit repetitive, it doesn’t look that great and the good ideas it has are dragged down by the rest of it. My fondest hope is that it becomes a learning experience and those lessons can be fed into another bloody genre.

Fourth Top - DREDGE

I only learned about DREDGE days before I reviewed it. I just liked the title. It turned out to be an absolutely wonderful game and one of the few titles this year that I played after I had finished reviewing it. It’s a lesson in how horror can build up at the pace of the player, as that first mutated fish you catch changes everything. There’s no going back after fishing a bloated, pus-filled mass out of your nets.

It also potentially shows that nearly anything can go together with a life simulator. Eldritch horror? Why not? I’ll be over here playing fish tetris when you need me.

Third Bottom - Nimbus INFINITY

Part of why I started reviewing games was to dip my toes into genres I’d never experienced before. You never know when you might find something new and exciting. Probably won’t be the Mecha genre though, going by Nimbus INFINITY, which was a lesson in crashes, awkward writing and awful voice acting. My only real memory from the game is the mispronunciation of ‘biplanes’, which really isn’t a good thing.

The combat did have its moments but really just boiled down to locking on and mashing the fire button. Final boss fight was a pain in the arse too.

Third Top - The Talos Principle 2

At one point in my life, I considered doing a philosophy degree. I’d quite enjoyed it in school. Decided against it though, which was a shame. It might have helped me appreciate what The Talos Principle 2 was banging on about. I joke - I did genuinely appreciate the philosophy in The Talos Principle 2. Its characters were deep and the central issue of growth vs. destruction gets more relevant by the day.

It also had some excellent laser puzzles, even if it can’t find many philosophical things to say about them.

Second Bottom - Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Might be a controversial one this, but Ubisoft has ten times the resources of others on this list and they still churned out something that’s fundamentally shallow. Frustrating, given the interesting setting. Basim is a suitable face for it, being as deep as a Disney prince, who spends his every second of screen time talking about how he wants a better future. Too busy for a personality, bless him. Then all the side-content followed suit by being as shallow as a teaspoon.

It was a brave return to the original formula and I applaud that. Assassin’s Creed desperately needs to get rid of its bloat. Still, this feels more like a chicken bone thrown to fans of the original rather than any real attempt to rekindle the fire.

Second Top - Blasphemous 2

A very valid criticism of Blasphemous 2 is that it’s little more than an extension of the original. My rebuttal is simple: I don’t care. If I had found a suitable replacement for Blasphemous in the meantime, it might have held water but I didn’t. Blasphemous’ world is idiosyncratic and I’ll take whatever I can get. It helps that Blasphemous 2 did a lot to make its gameplay a lot smoother and a lot less frustrating.

Granted, it did that by shaving down the ‘Vania’ part of Metroidvania. Maybe I’m just more of a Metroid Man?

The Bottom! - Anthology of Fear

Horror is one of my favourite genres - certainly my favourite film genre. So I’m always inclined to be a bit more critical towards it. That certainly didn’t do Anthology of Fear any favours but you don’t need to be a critic to see its flaws. Brutally short with barely any interaction on our part, it fails to either engage or scare. You’d get much the same experience by browsing the new releases on itch.io and at least they would be free.

Looked nice though.

The Top! - World of Horror

It’s rare to stumble across a game that could have been personally made for you. I’m a huge fan of Junji Ito-style body-horror and World of Horror serves that up in a unique style. It somehow preserves the unsettling, skin-crawling feeling that comes from reading body horror manga, which is no mean feat. I think it’s down to the stories contained within and the constant knowledge that death is never too far away.

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea and the graphics and general feel might turn some people off but I’ll be damned if it didn’t charm the hell out of me. Just as well, seeing as I’d been following it for about half a decade.

So that’s the year - even I wasn’t expecting to put a horror game as the first place on both lists but, hey, it’s been a scary year. Here’s to 2024. I hope you have fun with your 2024 games. I’ll be busy saving my pennies for all the 2023 releases I missed. If you come back next year, I might even be able to tell you how Like a Dragon: Gaiden is.

For fun, here's a quick list of others that didn't quite make it to my top list:

Like a Dragon: Ishin - was a lot of fun, but the updated faces ruined the plot a bit.

Dave the Diver - the best game that I keep forgetting about.

Riftbound - mistakenly got a code for it this year but released last year, so wasn't viable. Wonderful tower defence game. What Plants vs. Zombies 2 should have been.

Astrea: Six Sided Oracles - The best roguelite I played this (last?) year. Maybe because it didn't use cards.

TEVI - an adorable metroidvania with great movement, if flat combat

Hope 2024 brings good things!

[hunsa-jars]

Favorite animatronic and why??

Oh boy

(I know I promised that i'll post that character tier list, i didn't forget, i swear! It will hopefully be up around christmas if everything goes right)

Chief, honestly, there's no definite favorite

That title is tossed around between four people, them being Golden Freddy, the Puppet, Circus Baby and Ennard

Goldie was my very first favorite, i was so drawn in by their mysteriousness and unsettling presence throughout the first few games, i just wanted to know more. My fondness for them just grew stronger when the Golden Duo theory entered the fandom space, and UCN solidified it even to another level. Even if it's just Cassidy residing in them, their unwavering resolve to punish William for all eternity, never letting him go, having him experience a fraction of what he put them and the other kids through. While never finding peace themselves, because it will never be enough- hhhgh good. Very good. Also i know some people characterize them as selfish because they only cared about revenge, but it never felt like that to me. (Stares in Golden Eyes theory) They cared... i know they did..

(j-gems and MD-PTV's portrayals of them mean everything to me, i could rant about them too all day)

Oh Puppet, my dearly beloved. Not gonna lie, i was lowkey very disturbed by them when i was younger. Can i just start with their design? It's wonderful, peak character design. Gosh... i adore them so terribly. For everything they represent and how they never abandoned the MCI. God dammit, I love Charlie so much too! They're technically the same- Even after making the wrong decision of bringing all the kids back to life and failing (Stares in Candy Cadet five keys story), she stayed by them and still tried to help them however she could. Ghhhgghg the selflessness and protectiveness in this 6 foot + sock monkey, it's killing me- Okay but i'm also so crazy about the fact that Charlie just straight up doesn't resent and fear William anymore, she just wants him to not intervene with her plans, damn (Well... this is only true if UCN is not 100% Cassidy's making, another can of worms, anyways-)

I need her to come back so bad, Steel Wool, where is she-

Everyone is wrong about Baby, Jesus Christ on a boat. She's like.... one of the most crucial characters in the whole franchise! In some cases, miles better than any of the other antagonists. But MAN, did everyone, including the books did her dirty (I know, Silver Eyes is not directly connected to the games, but sadly most fans treated it as such and i think the aftermath really damaged her image for others, goddamn you SE-) Before i lose it let me mention, i love her voice so much, it's such a perfect balance between comforting and unnerving. Oh your honor, THE LAYERS! The layers nobody seems to care about, it's pissing me off. (Mostly) everyone misunderstood her intentions in Pizzeria Simulator and i haven't felt peace since then, no joke- like you would think AT LEAST ONE of the more popular theorists would just say "hey what if she was just pretending to be on William's side to gain his trust and get closer to him" BUT NO?? Because that doesn't make sense after what she did to Michael THINKING he was William, oh my goddd, I'm so sorry Lizzie, I'm sorry that no one gets it- Pizzaria Sim was a nice session of Bang! (the card game), we had our bandits (being Michael, Molten Freddy and Lefty), we had a sheriff (being William) then we had a renegade. The renegade earns the sheriff's trust by acting like they're the deputy, their objective is to be the last one standing, even if it gets the outlaws killed. But they're ultimately on the bandits' side, because their goal is also to kill the sheriff- IT'S LITERALLY HER, GHHHHH. She's so tragic and so wasted away, i feel bad for her but can't forgive her but at the same time understand why she does the things she does and and and

I am SO NORMAL about Ennard, your honor (lie). I would like to blame (thank) j-gems and MD-PTV for the absolute clownery you guys have to witness in the coming weeks or months, they turned the already existing strong fondness into... hm, mind worms. Like holy smokes, j-gems's Ennard, I love that guy, it's making me look stupid. (He makes me crazy i can't stress this enough, he's so fun but still freaking threatening at the same time, man-) With MD-PTV's version, while i prefer separate personality Ennard over the complete hive mind, I really adore the Funtimes' dynamic in there (and how tragic it is that they just want to find peace and rest...... if only it wasn't also Mrs Afton Ballora-) This pile of wires has no business looking as sick as he does, genuinely. Scott COOKED with this design, and I shall be forever grateful. The whole gaslighting body snatcher concept too, it was so good, they had to pass it over to Fazbear Frights AND the Mimic, it's kind of funny. My poor fella is unfortunately so underutilized, like, I love Molten Freddy, i don't want to replace him at this point, BUT GOD ENNARD SHOULD HAVE STAYED THEMSELVES I WILL FOREVER MOURN WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN (not that i don't appreciate the MCI and Charlie both "becoming" bears to oppose the rabbit thematic detail, i could ALMOST forgive them for that). Like seriously, imagine an alternative universe where they actually gave him a personality other than the small characterizations in Help Wanted, that isn't just Baby dominating the body basically, hell- Kellen could have voiced him too, IMAGINE!

(Also i just see so much potential in the separate personality of his character, always viewed him and Baby as the twisted parallels to Goldie and the Puppet, but i'm gonna save that rant for another post)

(Also also i'm a huge fan of fics where him and Michael live together or just put their differences aside to find Will- The beautiful contrast of the serial killer bozo becoming an actual murder machine while the machine learns to become human, we love to see it)

I'm sorry, i could go on but i'm getting real sleepy, hope this isn't too incomprehensible

[gemsgamegems]

couldn't do this yesterday because it was hella late and I was half terrified of what was gonna come out of my mind.

here to report that going to sleep and then work has done not a damn thing for my psyche so everyone pull up a chair, grab a snack, and get comfy.

I'm literally gonna descend into Straight Madness all over this post and call it a review. you're welcomed or I'm sorry or whatever 💩

(footage of my MC going to bully her beloved on his special chat app💀🖤)

there is surely crack or something very similar to it laced in chatsim games I swear to God??? I've played over a dozen different ones, and then the especially recent popular ones (i.e. Blooming Panic, Error 143) were living snugly in my remaining braincells. so like, I'm not stranger to the rabid insanity I feel when I play a really good chat sim.

also, I have a thing for being mean. let me rephrase: in romance gaming, I love when I as the player character can essentially bully the intended love interest(s) and possibly get rewarded for it 😇. a...bully-a-boyfriend simulator if you will.

Enter A Date With Death.

the game of my dreams.

featuring the victim Man of my dreams.

my fictional tastes in men are so very much not aligned that I never know who I'm gonna be in love with for the next 5 months. so I'm pleasantly surprised each time I get attached LOL!

yeah he's a grim reaper, yeah he's hella edgy, yeah he's got white hair, yeah he embodies what the kids call 'babygirl', etc etc etc. on anyone else, I probably wouldn't have cared. and on our dear Grimmy, at first I didn't. all those aspects of him that didn't register as a need or want for me suddenly became the spices that enhanced the flavor that is Grim/Casper's personality and his interactions with the player character. he is QUITE LITTERALLY the ONLY LOVE INTEREST at the moment WHO CAN GET AWAY WITH CALLING ME STUPID/AN IDIOT even if I very much am, either as my MC or irl lolz

homeboy is literally insulting my intelligence and I'm giggling and rolling my eyes like a textbook school girl 🤣 truly loved that for me.

my goodness the banter??? the RICHNESS of the back and forth and the teasing and the insults and the flirting and the presence of something building up to be intensly romance flavored was at too much and not enough (in a good way, I pinky promise!!)

I found myself playing with the other features (watering my plant, interacting with my bunny and bookshelf, etc) only to quickly rush back to click the laptop so I could interact with Grim/Casper again. I don't know who falls in love first, Grim or the player character, and maybe that's something that's supposed to be headcannoned??? but if that's so, I think that it's a gradual thing. because while Grim is literally commenting on how pretty/gorgeous/handsome we are, and then trying his damndest to take it back, me and my MC are sitting there like...damn....oh shit...we like this fool....shit we LOVE THIS FOOL WTF????

I'd like to take a moment in this random stream of thoughts to talk about the scene where Grim visits us to bring us flowers, reveals his highly classified name, and proceeds to woo and charm and fluster us until you have no choice but to be swept up by him... oh. wait. was this 3rd person or 1st person speak...

BUT ANYWAY I JUST WANNA LOSE MY SHIT ABOUT THE FLOWERS BECAUSE MY GOD WHY IS HE SO FUCKING CUTE?!!?!? (my favorite thing about this game was having the option to call him sexy and not in favor of calling him cute. because what you gonna do about it???? exactly 🤣)

at the time of this rambling, I still have only gotten to 1 ending, but I hope to knock out the others before the end of the month, time permitting lol.

annnnnnd speaking of Other Features and my absolute love and adoration of the Two and Half Studios team...

I bought the DLC so I had access to the additional dialogue, clothing, and physical customization options 🤭hiiighly recommend you grab the DLC if you haven't already or were on the fence about it!

the pet optionssssss. I mentioned this on my demo review, but I loved having my pet bunny. I love that we can interact with our pet. I love that it Casper understands that MC and Pet are a packaged deal. Damn right, that's our shared child now ya dork 🤭

music room was funnnn, the special features on the laptop (games, internet, drawing app, etc) were absolutely perfect and I tired out everything at least twice.

the bookshelf feature??? I clicked on it every day and I gotta say I adored the little diary entries from younger MC. alsoooo the fact that the book 'changed' each time you went to your shelf was SUCH a fun thing???? loved that shit

eavesdropping on the neighbors?!?!? i'm hella noisy in real life, oops, so there was a big thrill in listening in on the peeps on the other side and experiencing a different type of love story emerge. I am mad at myself because I think I missed a day of eavesdropping and by the end of my first playthrough that part of the game felt 'incomplete'. but nothing a second, third, and fourth replay can't solve LOL!!

watering our plant 💓 idk why that made me so happy but it just did. something about giving emotions to inanimate objects gets me ever fucking time

( a tangent within a tangent: there's nothing more attractive than someone with a plush, yes azreal, I'm talking about your owner zjjddgfs and Casper wonders why I called his ass cute. this is why!!!! this is exhibit A-Z my guy!!!!)

I'm sure there's a slew of other things I squealed and fangirled and cooed over in my playthrough, but this is a perfect stopping point, right?

thank you all for coming, see you next time when we discuss another game that's infected my brain and rendered me absolutely useless 👍🏽

[smok3inm1rrors]

I was tagged by @igotsnothing over two weeks ago whoops. I saw it went “I should do that” then completely forgot about it. But better late than never!

1. What’s your favourite sims death? Either death by satellite from TS2 or the skydiving one from TS1, entirely because of the “Whee!” at the end of it.

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? A mix of the two.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? I usually don’t even notice when they gain weight.

4. Do you use move objects? Yes.

5. Favorite mod?. Aside from MCC + UI Cheats it’s between Language Barriers by Frankk, RPO and Talents and Weaknesses by Lumpinou.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? Get To Work

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?  aLIVE

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

Kathleen “Kit” Jones (Her name inspired from that "Kitchenaid Whiskey Jones" tweet). She's been around in some form as an OC since 2016.

She is also the sim in my pfp.

I want to do some gameplay/story hybrid with her (and other sims of my own) but that would mean...playing the game and not just using it as a substitute for drawing...

9. Have you made a simself? Back in 2016/7. Probably never again.

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? TS3 traits because I like them better. Adventurous, Love the Outdoors, Brooding, Unlucky, and Artistic.

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? The color wheel. Dark Brown.

12. Favorite EA hair? This one from Get to Work.

13. Favorite life stage? YA. The only life stage.

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? I liked building in TS2/3 but could never get into it in 4. 

15. Are you a CC creator? I’ve done poses and recolors. I’m currently doing the “Fuck around, Find out” method of learning meshing. I should probably watch a tutorial.

I also know Python (Studied C.S in uni, which means fuck all really) and have confidence that I’ve used enough HTML to figure out XML, so destroying the game from the inside out is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I have ideas that range from adding “Wish for a baby with…” and “Wish for Pregnancy/Wish for Pregnancy with…” to the Wishing Well for all your magical conception needs and story plot purposes, to figuring out how to add a whole “Spirit of the Wishing Well” NPC for also story plot purposes, to straight up overhauling spellcaster's alchemy to be more like TS3 alchemy.

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? Nope. I’m not introverted, shy, or socially awkward (socially incompetent maybe), I’m just bad at using social media hah.

17. What’s your favorite game? Right now it’s Breath of the Wild. I like bullying the guardians for fun.

18. Do you have any sims merch? Nah.

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? Nope.

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I used to try and be more story focused when the game first came out. I’m one of those TS2 Wants/Fears dictate the game players and while you can do that in TS4, it’s not as satisfying. Now I play it as an unholy mix of "Soap Opera Simulator 2014" and "How far can I take min/maxing the sims" .

21. What’s your Origin ID? I don't have anything of interest on there.

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? 

sforzcc, Peacemaker, awingedllama, Sentate, Rusty, Johnnysims, simstrouble

It’s not cc but florwalsims and windbrook for their builds/saves as like many of you, I’m tired of playing in suburbia.

23. How long have you had a simblr? Not long, I lurked awhile before posting though..."awhile" being a year.

24. How do you edit your pictures? I use Clip Studio Paint. I’m too lazy to *ahem* photoshop and I have it for drawing purposes anyways. 

Usually it’s just using different blending modes (multiply, overlay, soft light, glow dodge my beloved) and special effect brushes.

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? 

Expansion: Get Together. I’ve used the club functionality in nearly every save I’ve played.

Game Pack: Vampires, Realm of Magic, Werewolves. Not because they’re particularly good but because I’m a sucker for occults.

Stuff Pack: Paranormal. Again occults, but this one also has an acceptable amount of gameplay in it. I’m surprised they didn’t try to pawn it off as a game pack. 

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? I'll get Growing Together when it's 50% off. However if before then EA gets too goofy with what remains of TS4, (TS5 is going to be ""free"" to play, it's already fucked.) I'll probably just you know what the rest of the game. EDIT: I wrote this last night. After seeing that job opening for the marketing position on Project Rene...haha yeah. Shit's depressing.

I tag: your mom

[gaecactae]

some info first// HELLO.

What do i even say, I replayed Danganronpa: Goodbye Despair and my brain went ballistic

Um 🧍🏽

this is going to be a VERY long post but I hope anyhow enjoyable for you. For context, I was into Danganronpa a lot, when I decided to actually post my art in the internet! It kinda. Launched me into having more followers. Then it sort of melted, the interest, so I stopped and suddenly it hit me again, two years later!!! So. I decided to do something bigger and wrote a prologue of a fanfic!! I don’t know about the frequency of posting it or anything, for now it is what it is.

It will be called “Taken good care of.” and will be komahina centred:) sorry, I know this ship is kinda overrated and over popular, cliché if you may, but I really like it :(

I won’t tell you too much for now, you’ll see how the prologue goes. What I absolutely have to say is that. English is not my first language and I think it shows real bad?? My grammar sucks and I do write poorly, when it comes to verbs n such. I hope it won’t make your eyes bleed, cause frankly, I just wanna share this!! I used to write a lot for myself usually, but I never actually shared those works anywhere. Not in English at least :)

Okay so having that said, I think I’m gonna jump straight into posting this! Gonna mention straight away and I’ll also put the tags about those warnings: post game spoilers, cancer, ed. If I find anything else or if I forgot anything, I’ll put all my efforts to fill it up immediately! So yeah, enjoy!! 🥰

oh yeah and I made little illustrations along the story! ☺️

{Prologue}Taken good care of.

Upon finding out about the state of the world we were stuck in, there was no other way for us, rather than go back to the island. Given what we have done, we’d rather contain each other, rather than it being done by anyone else. Maybe someday we will- no. Maybe someday the world will be ready to welcome us back again. For now, we could celebrate on our own. Because… After all, we had a reason to, right?

Without having motives and deadly… bear robots constantly giving us reasons to doubt each other, we were all less scared to live on the empty Jabberwock. Although we knew we had a lot of adjusting to do. Unlike the simulation, the islands had no bridges! That meant learning how to travel via motorboats, which Kazuichi managed to put together for us. Except a couple of times my motorboat whipped out (with me onboard), it was easy to learn and before realising it, we began to race each other at bay.

We already knew the power we held as a group. These people became my family quicker than I thought, even if I was never their classmate to begin with. About that…

It was weird to “make amends” with Izuru. It’s not like we fought for who gets to stay; it was more like… just being at peace with myself. Izuru became part of me, peacefully. It felt natural, but still… It was bizarre at some point. Suddenly I was Ultimate… everything! Though no one intended to call me this. Hell, neither did I. Ultimate Hope sounded powerful enough. But suddenly, I was able to help Kazuichi with those boats, when I have never handled a wrench properly before. I managed to guide him, Fuyuhiko, Akane and Sonia to help me wake the others. It would literally take YEARS and at least three ultimates to come up with the emergency plan and learn to execute it properly. Like- surely some Ultimate Neurologist? Analyst? Programmer? I couldn’t get used to the fact that I alone was able to do what these people would have to work over, for a very long time.

Well… I guess it’s the result that counts. When we successfully woke up TeruTeru and Byakuya, Kazuichi called me Ultimate Jesus… I didn’t know if I was more offended or amused by this silly nickname.

Anyhow, our new life on islands started after arriving at Jabberwock. We parked the yacht in the port and left it until it was safe to go back. If ever. For now, it was island time.

We had to do a little cleaning here and there. Improving the environment would surely improve our wellbeing! At least that’s what I thought. Within just a month, the paths on islands were clean again and flowers and trees were in bloom. Sky seemed… a little bluer. As some say, nature was healing. Next step was taking care of the buildings. Some of them looked like they’re rotting; that had to be fixed quickly. Of course a building can’t rot, but you get what I mean.

Sonia took good care of library restoration along with a few helpers and before we knew it, our islands gained a cozy hangout and chill area. It worked the same way with everything else.

‘Honestly, if you wanted, you could fix everything in like, two days dude!’ Kazuichi commented, when I walked him to the electric avenue. I smirked lightly, shaking his head.

‘And that’s exactly why I’m allowing you guys to do it.’

‘That’s some Usami-kinda-shit. You want us to cooperate to tighten our friendships or something?’ My friend continued to joke around, full of life.

‘You could say that! Besides, you were stuck in the capsules for a dangerous amount of time. It’s necessary to shake up your muscles and wake them up a little.’ I shrugged with a simple explanation. Though my words seemed to fly over Kazuichi’s head a little. He began to mumble that it’s weird how muscles have to be stimulated, how bodybuilders’ muscles don’t disappear once built…

‘Well- how do you spend the days anyway??? You were sleeping too!’ He blurted out suddenly, which made me jump a little. Afterwards, I smiled at him.

‘You can call me Ultimate Supervisor for the moment.’ I let out a soft giggle. Kazuichi let out a quiet screech, messing up his cap and hair with his hands as he ruffled himself.

‘I can’t with you man!! I will NEVER get used to this shit.’ He whined at me but quickly shook it off, seeing Mahiru waving to him from a distance; after waving back at her, he turned to me, fixing his attire.

‘Let me guess. That’s where we part ways.’

‘I was gonna say that! Goddamn you, Hajime… yes. That’s where we part ways. There’s a lot of electronics to clean and repair in those stores.’ Kazuichi hummed, glaring at the avenue.

‘I won’t be stopping you… just be careful with the wires.’ I said calmly, waving as my friend was skipping steps to Mahiru and shouting to me, that we will see each other at lunch.

I breathed in and out deeply, turning around and beginning my everyday morning walk. I had to make sure everyone’s efforts were fruitful. That’s how almost every day looked like, for me and.. it started to get very boring. Ever since we woke up, I noticed I’m easily bored. That probably connects to Izuru. I remember brief images from his perspective and his feelings accompanying them; sometimes they creep me in the night. Izuru was bored by everything, because he knew everything. I often wonder, if his brain worked to the fullest? If we’re told we only use 10% of ours…

‘HEY!! Watch it!!’ I heard as my ears perked up immediately, pulling my head up. There were moments when something unexpected happened and my brain could calmly feed on it. This was one of those moments. The noises and raised voices came from the hospital’s side!

I rushed there quickly, worried, what could’ve happened, seeing a scene unfold before my eyes. Akane was pulling up a whole table from Nagito who seemed to be stuck under it. Obviously, the bright smile never disappeared from his face.

‘You’re such a dumbass- I told you all to not touch those tables!’ Akane kept screaming, while Mikan gently pulled Nagito out.

‘My my, I became a burden once again..!’

‘All it took was leaving the biggest table to me, that’s what I was saying from the beginning!’

‘I wonder what biiig luck awaits me after this enormous table falling on me-‘

‘SHUT THE HELL UP!!’

I saw that Akane was ready to throw hands, so I decided to intervene before Nagito’s spine actually breaks.

‘What’s happening? Is everyone okay?’ I asked, interrupting. All three heads turned to me with mixed expressions and eventually, the whole trio smiled at me. Could it be, I also possess the skill of Ultimate Peacemaker? Or maybe… Ultimate Happiness?

…sometimes I feel like I’m going too far.

‘It is now! Nagito could use more hearing sometimes though.’ Akane explained, rubbing the back of her head. Mikan agreed with her, making a small and rather shy nod.

‘T-True.. we were cleaning up t-the on-call room. In-In case we’d need more rooms. Akane told us she will pick up the table that- blocked the majority of the room.’ She added, allowing Akane to continue.

‘And then we saw Nagito carrying it out purely on his own! It’s like 6 times heavier than him! When I pointed it out to him, he lost his balance and collapsed with the table falling right on him!!’

‘It-It’s a miracle his spine is- is whole!’ The girls talked over each other, while Nagito stood on the side calmly, swaying from side to side.

‘Uhm, I don’t recall that… at all. Oh well; it is what it is! I only blame myself, Akane, don’t worry.’ He let out a soft laugh, to which Akane reacted… much.

‘Uh- Duh!? I blame you too!!’ She bounced aggressively at him. I reached out my hands, trying to chill her down.

‘Okay, okay- let’s not fight. Nagito is in one piece, thankfully. Next time he’s going to listen to you more. Is that correct, Nagito?’ I asked, squinting at him. Mr. Happy-go-Lucky nodded a couple of times, rubbing his cheek awkwardly.

‘I will listen to you with every muscle in my ears.’ He promised, putting his hands together. The conflict seemed to have been solved. I was about to walk off, seeing how Akane and Nagito got back to cleaning, before someone stopped me.

‘H-Hajime!-‘ I turned around, only to face Mikan. As usual, she seemed awfully unnerved. Or paranoid.

‘Yes? Can I help you?’ I asked softly, to which the girl looked around, fidgeting with her hands.

‘I… I really would hate to bother you- and I don’t want to at all- so if you’re, by any chance, busy, I will refrain of course-‘

‘I’m completely free, please go on.’ I insisted very calmly. Mikan simply nodded with a nervous matter, swallowing quickly and glared around.

‘Um… is it okay if we… uhm… it’s… complicated…’ she whispered, getting all mixed up, seemingly. I looked at her calmly, before understanding. She wanted to talk in private with me.

‘Hmm.. if it’s this kind of matter, maybe we could go to the café on the second island? Does that sound good?’ I proposed, and Mikan agreed happily and relieved she didn’t have to ask that herself. We waved our goodbyes to Akane and Nagito before finally departing.

When in the empty café, I decided to put my talents in use again and started preparing us coffee, using a professional coffee machine. Calm music was playing from the speakers, while I got tickled by the steam clouds that left the machine, when I foamed up the milk, humming. Mikan watched me carefully; I thought to myself she enjoyed it a lot.

‘Not to flex, but it’s like, the first time I’m making coffee like that.’ I smirked, trying to engage Mikan to talk. The girl tilted her head and smiled awkwardly, eventually giggling quietly.

‘Gosh… it’s… unbelievable. That you have all those talents. It must be such a burden on your shoulders..’ she blurted out, still watching my hands.

‘Burden… I guess. It doesn’t feel that heavy, actually. I’m just bored a lot; my brain doesn’t have too much to chew on.’ I denied softly, placing the cups on their respective plates and carried the coffee to the table.

‘Did you know that 12 cups of coffee with- well- regular dose of caffeine- is most definitely a- a deadly dose?’ To my pleasant surprise, Mikan said something on her own, as she sat down at the table with me. It was a good feeling to see her self-esteem improve. I smiled at the coffee funfact she told me. I knew, obviously, but after all… I’m a well-mannered man.

‘Is that so? That's curious. I can’t imagine drinking this much coffee at once.’ I answered calmly, raising a cup to my lips to take a sip. Mikan did the same thing, letting out a bright hum.

‘I don’t… I don’t really drink coffee. I have a very- very fast b-blood pressure anyway.. though when you’re around, t-the whole world seems to slow down.’ She admitted happily. I took that as a compliment… My friends told me that often. Again, it probably had to do with one of the talents. ‘Nagito is right w-when he refers to y-you as.. as Ultimate Serenity. And.. speaking of Nagito.. I… I wanted to talk about him.’

My happy little sips stopped as soon as Mikan mentioned that Nagito is part of this matter. Hell, maybe even not only the part. Maybe he is the main subject. Or the cause…? I raised my eyes to look at Mikan’s face, setting down my coffee cup and blinking slowly.

‘…alright. Feel free to tell me everything I need to know.’ I spoke gently. I had to do absolutely everything for Mikan to feel comfortable enough to talk… who knows how serious the issue was.

Mikan meanwhile, took another small sip of coffee and put away the cup, setting her hands together, right on her lap, before speaking up.

‘I-I reckon… you- you were.. you seemed close to him…? A-Anyhow… I… I can’t help but- to feel… t-to be concerned about Nagito! H.. His health.’ Mikan explained roughly, gesturing a lot. I listened to what she had to say, tilting my head. At first, I thought Mikan was telling me that Nagito caught a cold or something… until I remembered what happened, when we were in a coma.

‘Right… I talked to Nagito in the simulation. He told me about being diagnosed with.. f.. frontotemporal dementia and lymphoma. But then he backed out and said it was just a lie. I’m not sure if these were lies or no, but that’s what I can tell you. It slipped my mind completely, but since you’re a nurse, you must’ve noticed something. Could you tell me more?’ I asked in a worried tone. Of course I was worried about Nagito… he used to say weird stuff after waking up, but since he was no longer planning any murders, he became more tolerable.

Mikan bit her lower lip, looking away.

‘O-Oh my… I… I had no idea… e-even though I suspected something- no healthy human… could produce white hair… n-not in his age at least! O-Of course old people- and- genetics mess it up sometimes b-but… his hair s-seems to have had a normal c-colour before.’

‘Yup, they’re sort of… light pink mixed with light brown on ends…’

‘B-Besides… that table situation. Um… F-Fuyuhiko… was able to lift that table up with ease, a few days prior. And- he is definitely weaker… than Nagito. L-lighter too… Nagito should be able to c-carry it out with ease.. m-meanwhile he.. was sweating profusely. As if he was… very laboured from lifting it.’

Hm.. that was new. I remembered Nagito having a lot of energy and strength. But… These memories were from the program again. Not only our avatars were our younger selves; it was all just a simulation and played in our minds and a fake environment.

‘H-Hajime…? I… I hate to bother you with this, b-but- if you could.. take a look at Nagito for me? I- I just- I need to confirm my worries!- O-Only if you- you don’t have to of course!-‘ Mikan got nervous again, stomping her feet against the floor. I coughed quietly, sitting up straight and smiled at Mikan calmly.

‘Calm down, please. Of course I will check him out. You did well, informing me about it, thank you.’ I answered her, making sure she was praised generously. Truthfully, her observations were absolutely crucial. I was so focused with all matters regarding islands and their restoration after The Tragedy, that I forgot about checking up on my friends. And if one of them was in danger… I had to ensure their safety.

When the Sun finally settled, I decided to go for a small, not at all suspicious walk on the beach. I was originally heading to my motorboat though. In our simulation, the second island contained some sort of ancient ruins, overgrown by plants and when we left, the building looked similar to the ruins - but modern. At the moment, we use it as our archive, not only collecting the past, but also preserving the current times. For the future.

The goal of my visit to the archive was obvious! I had to collect Nagito’s documents. Especially medical record, for Mikan to go through. I could read it too obviously, but truth be told… I wanted them all to still feel useful and needed, even in my presence. I thought it was the obvious reason why I allowed them all to work on their own and I hoped it was appreciated by them. At least a little.

I hopped on the motorboat and swam away from the main island. Eventually I looked behind to notice dim lights of the cottages in the hotel. Eventually, most of them went out, meaning everyone went to sleep. I couldn’t help but smile at that. That… had to be the peace we all dreamed of.

‘We’ve made it. I’m so sorry you can’t see it.’ I whispered, raising my head to stare at the night sky, filled with sparkling stars. Chiaki… I missed her deeply. Her death made everyone fall in complete despair and even Izuru himself cried over her body. And it hurt my heart that she couldn’t be there to experience the peace we all achieved. She would probably… chill on the beach or dig herself in the blankets Sonia put in the library to cozy it up. Hm… I can’t be right. She does see that all. I bet she’s sitting in the stars. She smiles at every act of kindness, laughs at every little argument… She's okay.

I shook my head gently, remembering my original task and pressed gas, starting to swim through the bay again. I couldn’t help those short episodes I had… When it’s so quiet at night, brain thinks more than usual.

Eventually I made it to the archive and picked up the documents. When I stood there in complete darkness, with one flashlight in my hand, I smiled to myself, continuing to think how much I actually changed.

‘See, thanks to you, I know it’s illogical for something to stand behind me in the darkness..’ I hummed to myself. Well, partly to myself, partly to Izuru. I used to be horribly paranoid in darkness, but now? Whenever I thought of something that scared me… my Ultimate Logic activates and fear goes away, like that! Unbelievable.

I guess I had to call it a day. That, I thought to myself when I was on my way back. Noticing all the lights went out in the hotel, I knew I had to be very quiet when going back to my cottage…

I peeked at Nagito’s documents, starting to wonder if that was even legal to do? I took the private records… no. Nagito might’ve been in danger and I couldn’t allow anything bad to happen to him. That’s what I promised to Chiaki. And myself, after we woke everyone up. That I will protect them with all my power..

I wondered if something such as Ultimate Leader existed on the list of talents I possess, because… I sure felt like one.

[taff-ebrum]

Old Fanfic Rambles #1

I’m unsure how many reading this are a fan of the Harvest Moon series. One of the very DS games I got was Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar. I have fond memories of staying up on Christmas Day playing it until the very early hours of the morning. It introduced me to the endless joy of farming simulators.

But how does that relate to Kirby? Or Taff, for that matter?

Growing up (and even now), I had a tendency to combine my interests into one. Whether or not the separate properties involved worked well together did not matter to me.

When I was writing Taff as a child, I had a hard time coming up with a proper personality for her. But, I wanted to write in some drama. “Angst”, if you will. So I began to think of how I could do that. A villain coming across as charming and witty, only to reveal himself as a monster sounded good to me at the time.

But who would this monster be?

My only frame of reference for charismatic at the time was James from Team Rocket… and a certain bachelor from Harvest Moon DS Cute.

Phantom Skye.

For those who have not played Harvest Moon before, Skye is meant to be the “bad boy” bachelor in the game. He has a reputation around the valley for stealing. The game’s manual even tells you outright that he’s going to try and “steal your heart”.

I thought Skye was everything as a child. Unfortunately, the conditions to get married in the earlier Harvest Moon games were VERY VERY high and I could never reach them. Mostly because I did not play the game as intended, but that’s beside the point.

I decided I would literally just steal Skye as my villain. I wrote him into the story and gave him his own monster form which I don’t remember. I think it was some kind of wolf due to my obsession with Wolfwrath.

The fanfiction has unfortunately been lost to time, but I think King Dedede ordered the monster specifically to mess with Taff. Keep in mind that I hadn’t established a reason yet for King Dedede to single Taff out yet. I wouldn’t come up with Taff foiling King Dedede’s plans directly for years until much later.

The monster, Skye, comes to Cappytown in a similar way Mr. Chip did in Episode 83. He just shows up and Taff instantly fell for him. I think even at the time younger me realized this didn’t make sense, so I played up his charismatic abilities. Like, he was forcing her to take an interest in him. Yikes!

The rest of the fanfiction is the two of them messing around UNTIL Meta Knight revealing that Skye was a monster the whole time! Taff is betrayed by this revelation, Skye, on the other hand, is not remorseful. There’s a fight scene where Taff actually literally murders him and then the fanfiction ends.

So how did people take it?

The reception was decent, surprisingly! I did, however, get ONE comment from someone who DIRECTLY called me out for straight up ripping Skye from Harvest Moon. I remember PMing them on fanfiction.net, don’t recall why, but we actually became friends. We roleplayed Harvest Moon and Kirby characters in PMs a few times. They were active on Tumblr at some point but I lost contact with them a long time ago…

Maybe they’ll see this post and we can reconnect! Fingers crossed!

Anyway, I regret not archiving my old work. This is a message to all artists to archive your work. Drawings, writing, keep it for yourself so you can look back on it years later.

[bodylanda]

Wanted to draw this but ended up tired today so ill just write it down and pray i dont forget it tmrw lol:

Sticks vs ffxiv

Keep in mind some charas may have multiple jobs!

TSC: I think they’d be a Warrior ! Its a bit of the poster job of xiv, and they have their giant hammer. Theres no hammer looking weapon in xiv but the warrior axe is close enough. (Plus inner release + equilibrium and all that). An omnicrafter who just likes to make stuff for their friends. Tl;dr: Warrior!

Red: Paladin! I really debated summoner for them, but I think seeing them in AvM 25 with a sword and shield convinced me. Plus their tendency to rush ahead + how tanking is about love (and a side of that “dont look at these other hoes look at me” post) just made me think this actually really fit them. They can still be summoner, but I think they’d also just be a minion collector haha. Tl;dr: Paladin and Summoner!

Yellow: I think they’ve started off as a Black Mage (cool explosive magic!! Planning out your positions!! Knowing the technicalities of the content!! Yay!) but eventually migrated to Scholar or Sage to be a better playmaker. Scholar definitely fits their personality and aesthetic > Astrologian (even tho that’d be cool). I kind of see Yellow as a more supportive playmaker, making opportunities for everyone else to do more y’know. Tl;dr: Scholar, Black Mage and Sage!

Blue: Machinist! I do think they started out as an archer but just ended up enjoying machinist more. I think they got to bard, saw all the crafting stuff and immediately focused on that. By the time they all had to do combat, they just picked the least complicated ranged DPS. I think they’d also be the other healer, I think white mage, closest thing to a druid in this game lol. They spend most of their time in the island sanctuary tho. Knows the second most about how free companies work compared to yellow. Tl;dr: Machinist, White Mage!

Green: Dancer! I think they started out as conjurer, basically swapped with blue and started playing bard until they could be a dancer. I debated red mage as their main job here, but i think dancer fits both the musicality that green would enjoy with the mobility that they display (iirc they use the fishing rod for mobility the most, even in combat). They do have bard tho, theyre a Limsa afk musician 😔 Tl;dr: Dancer, Red Mage and Bard!

In case it wasnt obvious i made everyone have a little to do with the 5 warriors of light in ARR (warrior, paladin, white mage, bard, black mage) ^^; but some of them dont rlly fit it.

Purple: Hello it is now later, and I think they’d be a Dragoon! The jumps kind of simulate what its like to be flying, no? I think they’d enjoy the story a lot and pays attention to the job quests. Probably has the most jobs unlocked just so they can listen in. Their favourite stories is probably Reaper and Ninja but they really only play Reaper and Dragoon. Tl;dr: Dragoon and Reaper!

King: probably didn’t initially want to play but ends up tagging along because purple wants to play. King isn’t very good at fighting a lot of the times it seems, especially at close range, so I don’t think they’d be a tank… I think they might be the actual Black Mage of this group lol. Though I can see them also picking up Astrologian so they can run around healing (read: queue popping) for Purple.

TCO: Samurai for sure lol. It lacks a lot of the like, actual powers or abilities TCO has, but all of their like. Coolness factor I think. Its also the stormblood poster job so I think it fits ahaha.

TDL: Monk! If almost purely bcs its the second poster job of stormblood. There’s also them beating TCO in a straight up brawl in AVA5 even if they were enhanced by some thing.

Victim: omnicrafter lol. Just like tsc/tsc is just like them