#but like i want to like use these actions because my sims are on ultra rn and they sTILL look like shit :))))

[pixelbark]

I'm aware it's the end of February, I had this written about 3 weeks ago but family issues have gotten in the way of well, pretty much everything and my free time has evaporated.

That said...

Hello, lovelies!

First of all, Happy New Year! I hope everything is going well for you all so far. I have news, read on for the news! And a thank you gift!

Did you know that the development of My Littlest Skeleton is still ongoing? I know!

So, the funny thing about this little Halloween game that was only going to take 2 months, it's been 4. You could say things have... escalated since then.

I've been having a blast working on it and it's gone and the feature creeped itself out of microgame territory, so here's the deal...

The Pixelbark Newsletter!

Let's start with the big announcement, I have started the Pixelbark Newsletter!

This will be a consistently posted newsletter about all things Pixelbark. For the next few months, it will be focused on the development of My Littlest Skeleton and another project that I have going on which will also be released this year. But moving forward it will also contain tidbits about development and general things that I find cool and exciting. It will be posted monthly.

If you're interested please sign up!

As a thank you; those that do will receive a free Steam Key for my game NEON Ultra which is yours to do with as you, please! Claim it as your own, give it to a cutie pie, sell it on a grey market dodgy website, it's up to you!

Those that are signed up will also get a discount code for My Littlest Skeleton when it releases!

Click here to Sign up for the Newsletter!

January Progress

Anyway, here's what I've been working on this month, it's been a development-heavy month so not much in the way of visuals I'm afraid!

The Big Interaction System Rewrite

This is where the majority of the effort has gone this month, the old interaction system was this mess of custom code, animation triggers and Unity Timeline hackery using Signal Emitters, I won't explain in detail how it works because nobody needs that in their life. It was an absolute headache to work in and adding one new object took several days to do including building the art and animations.

The big challenge I was really facing with this is knowing when an animation starts, and when it ends, so that I can swap out the animated Skeleton with the Ragdoll Skeleton accordingly. Along with having triggers so I know when to play sound effects, update the motives, and so on and so on.

Another huge requirement is the ease of use, which means I've gone ahead and built some editor tools too so I can now quickly put together interactable prefabs. I'm hoping this will speed me up a lot!

This is all still very much a work in progress, since it's the major key element of gameplay I really want to take the time to get this right.

Here it is in action!

There are still some things that need ironing out yet, but chief among them is the Skeleton snapping into place when he interacts with things. I have a solution in my brain to goop already for that, I'll get there as I go down the list of priorities!

Behaviour Trees are exciting until you overuse them

Behaviour Trees are cool, when I built my first one for My Littlest Skeleton I was super excited to use it, and it shows, because I've used it for everything.

So some of the work this month has been taking things that don't belong in the behaviour tree out and replacing them with more custom scripts. The first one of these is the code that tells a motive (like hunger) to update. Long term I just want the Skeleton-specific actions to go in the behaviour tree. I think it will help the game scale more organically as I get bogged down in even more feature creep...

Debugging Tools

Last, on the list this month is Debugging Tools! Those are things I should have built at the start...

Quite heavily inspired by The Sims I've made a method of opening a console and typing commands like rosebud in for increasing the currency, or set_motive hunger 50 to set his hunger motive to a value of 50%.

Nothing amazing or groundbreaking, but it's going to speed testing up that's for sure.

A lesson to be learned here, do this first and keep it updated as you add more stuff. It will save you so much time and energy down the line!

Oh, and No Clip mode! So I can make videos more easily now.

I'm considering just keeping these in because cheat codes and cool and need to come back. What do you think?

And that is everything my commit history is telling me I did this month!

Marketing Push

I will be beginning the marketing push for My Littlest Skeleton as we go into February! It's early days yet but rest assured I'll have a lot to say soon!

Commissioned an Artist

I have commissioned an artist to help make the key art for the marketing, it's someone whose work I've admired for a long time so I'm super excited to start working with him!

Newsletter

As mentioned above there's now a newsletter that you can sign up for and get yourself a free game and a discount code in the future. And also keep up to date with everything that's going on!

For frequent updates and to chat with me directly; I'm dotted around on the internet and always available!

Twitter ~ Mastodon ~ Newsletter ~ Discord

See you next thing!

❤️ Amy

My Littlest What Now?

Never heard of My Littlest Skeleton? Not to worry! Allow me to explain:

My Littlest Skeleton is a cosy and relaxing simulator where you care for your very own little Skeleton chum! Pull your unique Skeleton back from the depths of the Nether Region. Then help them fulfil their needs and keep their furnishings in top shape as they will degrade over time! The happier your Skeleton becomes, the greater the rewards! So make sure you take good care of them, because, after all, there is a Skeleton in all of us!

[eatyergreans]

TOWNIE MAKEOVER - THE PANCAKES

i don’t have much to say abt them except tht i am trying to use cas actions in ps and... well, it went okay-ish

[thefoxburyinstitute]

Hi, I've looked in your ask tag and I'm pretty sure the answer isn't there. I'm trying to sort out my mountain of CC and want to get rid of anything that is too high polycount. I've looked online but can't find an actual guide as to what constitutes "too high". Do you have a number that you consider to be too high for various things eg hair, tops, furniture, clutter etc. I'm sorry if that doesn't make much sense haha. Thank you!

there's no set number for all games because all games are different. take a look at the game assets in blender or whatever program you use, look at the poly sizes there and try to stick within that range. ea makes assets that are optimised for their game. it's just easier to just...stick within those guidelines .

for THIS game - it really depends on your computer specs, how you clutter, and how you play. most EA assets are mostly under 30K so i stick to that number and don't go above 35K (deco can stay under 15K and hair/clothes can be 20-35K but disabled for random).

i personally don't think anything in this potato of a game needs to be above that because HP =/= high quality bc i've seen mobile games have nicer looking assets at like 2-5K vs some of the bloated shit i've seen here and in second life lol.

this is long so more under the cut. i just woke up so sorry if this sounds jumbled lol

if you are known to clutter like crazy, i'd keep objects over 20K+ out of my mod folder and remove swatches. tiny objects don't need 2048x2048 textures. you . i'd be a b-word and name creators to avoid but just pm me on this. i have a decent computer but every time i put their stuff in lots, i get tuning errors, last exceptions or they just...imported a 90K donut into s4s and let it rock.

if you just go into CAS to take a picture, you can have HP clothing/hair because you're not doing much in this game outside of taking a picture. CAS will load slow as hell for you so if that happens, start taking crap out of your mod folder.

if you have a crappy computer (older, can't run your game on ultra, loading takes forever, black lines appearing when you go in game, screen flickers, the bottom of the laptop feels like lava, fans kick in constantly), i wouldn't keep anything over 25K in my mod folder. in fact, it's either time to get a new comp or start going vanilla or pure MM.

if you have a decent spec computer, you definitely can go wild but if lots take forever to load and you get a lot of errors, take some of that shit out of your mod folder.

so in sum, listen and see how your computer reacts lol. i'm sorry i don't have a better answer on this bc what's HP for some isn't for others. it's just important to just...know what you're putting into your computer (which is why creators put poly limits when they release...well some of them do)

some guidelines i use when i make cc

for clothing and deco, i keep it under 20K. small objects can always be pushed well under that and still keep quality.

if it's a small deco object, i use 512x512 or 1024x1024. if i need more detail i just use a bump or spec map. on cas stuff, i'll do 2048x4096 but that's me. you do you.

use EA stuff as a base. for clothing, you can use the ea nude mesh and go from there. lots of MM stuff is created that way.

remember to remove doubles

png vs dds - i use pngs for textures and dds for normal spec but it doesn't matter. the game converts pngs to dds anyways. dds tends to look crappier going in but like, i've never gotten a decent consensus on the sims 4 forums about this. go with what you think looks best.

pngs in general - when you save in png, try to save a version you can work from and a version that's will go in your game. IE, there is no need to put a 10MB png in a s4s package. if you see items like wallpapers and floors come up to an insane size like 100mb per file and it's not merged? just export all of those out, run a batch action to reduce the file size and re-import them in. use save as web PNG24 in photoshop instead file save as png. you cut bloat and it works fine in game. this potato of a game is not great at rendering objects in exquisite detail unless you do some modding to the graphic rules file. you can get 4k textures but honestly if i wanted insane quality, i'd just play a different game. people here play unmodded games and still get great photos out of it.

if you see your textures stretching and distorting, it's not the texture. 90% of the time it's how you uvmapped it. watch this and sort that out. remember to use that numbered uv grid too to preview how your texture will look on your object.

if you want to reduce high poly stuff in your mod folder (and the creator literally won't do it themselves bc they're too arrogant to say they don't know how or just don't care)

-you can use checker deselect in blender to remove edges, use a retopology program like quad remesher or zbrush's zremesh, or instant meshes. i've run many a hp object through these and it's been a godsend lol.

-manual retopology (it's not hard just...extremely time consuming) you can do this by just...creating a plane and extrude extrude extrude over the object. you can use the shrinkwrap modifier to get it close to the object or don't. your choice.

hope this helped

[empiredesimparte]

Foreword: After a few weeks I finally took the time to reach your request dear Anon, I hope it will be useful to you. I advise you to read (or come back to) the tutorial of our famous De Villiers which is quite complete! Here are my personal priorities, what goes through my head when I take / prepare a screenshot.

My computer equipment is : - Intel® Core™ i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz - RAM : 32 Go (16 at the beginning, I added some more) - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti This allows me to play in "Ultra" graphics + some reshades... which helps for the quality of the rendering.

- My tips for screenshots -

> "WRITING LIKE A FILM"

When I go into camera mode, I project myself into the shoes of a cameraman on a film set. Or a photographer in terms of portraits, etc.

It's all about intention, and the choice of your angle of view is the means to achieve your intention.

Here (Image A), it's a point of view with its back to the characters. It is an intention:

From the camera's perspective ("zoom out", image B), we can see that the first screen (A) was from the point of view of the approaching curious princess.

Notes :

There is a play of depth in the shot (a little badly done I admit) : the over-framing of the door, the princess, the sofa where we are talking and finally the background (4).

Ideally, you should have at least 3 levels of depth to give a realistic impression. More if you want to show the grandeur of a setting like a castle.

In my opinion, we must strive to find intentions in the screens. You have to see it as a kind of writing of the image.

Sometimes I don't necessarily have a clear idea when I shoot a scene, so I take the scene from absolutely every angle. Then comes a big sorting moment lasting several dozen minutes, where I observe the screens meticulously.

Don't hesitate to multiply the angles of view with different poses. This will give you more storytelling possibilities! Bring your camera closer to yours characters, for example, by positioning yourself over his/her shoulder.

> THE SETTING

The thing that takes me the longest to prepare for a shot is the placement of the objects/architecture. This is what creates the depth of field. I would advise you to take references to furnish your rooms, and take the time to test the screenshots during construction if you have TwistedMexi's Buildmod Freecam.

In the Tuileries Palace (Image C), I'm trying to create a more or less parallel setting with my Sims in the centre to give it a "French style" in reference to our dear Louis XIV.

For a nature holiday, nature and scenery invade the Sims, with a slight asymmetry (Image D).

Notes :

Present the screenshots from the most general shot, which sets the scene (e.g. a building), to the most specific (e.g. with a close-up on your sims). Or vice versa! This sets the mood for your scene.

I try to use as much natural light from outside as possible, even through the windows. But some people do completely artificial lighting :)

Avoid showing the white ceilings of the base game and unworked scenery... This disturbs the immersion, especially during a BTS. In movies or IRL, especially during a conversation, it is rare to see the ceiling or the floor.

Sometimes "show" is enough to describe a mood, a relationship or an action. In this case, the setting or close-ups can be very important without the characters speaking. For example, in image D, this screenshot can sum up the atmosphere of a whole weekend's holiday, without adding to it.

> YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN AND POST-PROCESSING

For Tumblr, consider the size of your computer screen when decorating. Because your screenshots will take the shape of your screen. As you can see, I have two computer screens: one more square (Images A & B) and one very horizontal (Images C & D).

My sims are naturally more discreet in my horizontal format, which is a landscape format. Whereas the square screen displays the sims better as it is closer to the portrait / small screen format.

You can adjust the format of your screens by cropping your shots with a software (some use Photoshop... I only use the Windows image gallery for my part, or the Pixelr site which is free).

For my last portrait (Image E), I had to crop to portrait size (Image F below). Otherwise my emperor is too much crushed by the background.

Further down, I took a closer screen, zoomed in (Image G). Result: considerable gain in sharpness. Cropping can cause a loss of sharpness, you have to be careful not to abuse it.

> CURIOSITY IS WELCOME EVEN FOR SCREENSHOTS

My main advice is to look with interest at the work of simblr that you like, but also at official films or portraits etc. Understand the intentions and the means used to achieve them. Informed work always makes a difference in terms of quality of rendering. When I like a post, I always take several readings and re-readings of the means used. There is a lot of creativity! There's no shame in taking inspiration from other creators (in Tumblr or outside Tumblr), it's the best way to forge your own style.

Mind you, I'm not talking about comparing yourself to others. Inspiration is an element of curiosity, not comparison, it shouldn't make you feel bad. Nor should it lead you to plagiarize.

> COLOURS IN THE SCREENSHOT

When I set up a set and dress my sims, I pay attention to the colours given to each of them. The colours are also a way to emphasize an intention (colour symbolism), or/and to bring balance to your screenshot.

It's a soft and bright family picture with green/blue/beige colours (Image H). A bright colour would have brought a certain imbalance, either on the sims or the decor.

Bad editing to illustrate! (Image I) It seems a bit obvious when we talk about it here like this, but colour harmony is subtle and sometimes a bit forgotten. Breaking the harmony can be an intention of course, but it's still a dosage!

[hauerr77-and-a-dream]

Can you give us more M!Bell x Sims?

Like, what happened after Sims saved Bell? Where did they go? what are they doing? They got kids? A dog? I NEED TO KNOW! Please!

Yes!! I’m glad you liked the first post! We need more Bell rare pairs 👉👈

My first HC post of Sims x M!Bell can be found here!

Continuation of Sims x M!Bell

Warnings: None!

After Sims saved Bell from the fate Adler had planned, the two were left not really knowing what to do. Sims would ensure that they found a safe place for the night, also trying to check in on what had happened after he took of with Bell.

It is only here however that he learns that not only did Adler report back to the CIA saying he had killed Bell like instructed, but apparently, Sims was reported KIA as well.

Sims tells this to Bell and the two of them laugh, like really laugh, because for once, they had actually caught a break.

Bell is pretty shaken after the whole thing, after all, everything he thought he knew was a lie, his whole world was crashing down around him. But somehow, somehow, he still had Sims.

Now that Adler is no longer manipulating him, Bell is slowly starting to get memories back, usually in the form of nightmares, but it’s not uncommon for him to have migraine attacks and hallucinations (similar to how Mason was after he was brainwashed) But thankfully, Sims never leaves Bell’s side when this happens

There’s times when Bell feels like he is nothing but a burden to Sims, always waking him up from nightmares and the fact that it was because of him Sims couldn’t go back to his old life.

Sims is quick to squash these worries, assuring Bell that there is nothing he would rather be doing than having him by his side, no matter what

“But what if I remember who I was before? What if that me was completely different? I worked for Perseus! Why would you want to be with someone-“

“We all have our pasts,” Sims would reassure him, brushing the tears off of Bells cheeks. “What matters is who we are now, what we want for the future. And my future is full of you.”

They end up settling somewhere in Europe, after all, it would raise some eyebrows if Sims were to show up back in America. They find a place outside of the big cities, somewhere quiet, where no one will raise an eye at two men living together

Sims winds up getting a job at a small auto-mechanics shop, where he happily can tinker with gadgets all day long. Bell probably doesn’t get a job for a while, not until the the side effects of MK-Ultra ease, but on good days, you can find him volunteering at places around town, the animal shelter, a soup kitchen, that kind of thing; anything that can make him feel like he is helping

One day a dog was brought into the shelter that was in rough shape and wouldn’t let anyone get near her, at least, until Bell got there. Sims comes home that day to find Bell asleep on the floor of the kitchen, the scary looking Pitbull asleep on his lap.

Spoiler alert: they end up keeping the dog. She takes a little to warm up to Sims, but soon they find themselves needing to buy a bigger bed for their room so that the dog can lay on it with them. They name her Daisy.

They talk sometimes about kids, but times make that idea pretty hard to action. The solution? More dogs.

And shall their old lives ever come knocking on their door? Wether that be Bells life from Russia or Sims from the CIA, they’re prepared to take it on together because as long as they have each other, they can handle anything the world throws at them.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #482

Top Ten Sega Games

So I read somewhere on the internet that in June it’s the thirtieth birthday of Sonic the Hedgehog (making him only a couple of months younger than my brother, which is weird). This is due to his debut game, the appropriately-titled Sonic the Hedgehog, being first released on June 23rd. As such – and because I do love a good Tenuous Link – I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s list to Sega (also there was that Sonic livestream and announcement of new games, so I remain shockingly relevant).

I’ve got a funny relationship with Sega, largely because I’ve got a funny relationship with last century’s consoles in general. As I’ve said before, I never had a console growing up, and never really felt the need for one; I came from a computing background, playing on other people’s Spectrums and Commodores before getting my own Amiga and, later, a PC. And I stuck with it, and that was fine. But it does mean that, generally speaking, I have next to zero nostalgia for any game that came out on a Nintendo or Sega console (or Sony, for that matter). I could chew your ear off about Dizzy, or point-and-click adventure games, or Team 17, or Sensible Software, or RTS games, or FPS games, or whatever; but all these weird-looking Japanese platform games, or strange, unfamiliar RPGs? No idea. In fact, I remember learning what “Metroidvania” meant about five years ago, and literally saying out loud, “oh, so it’s like Flashback, then,” because I’d never played a (2D) Metroid or Castlevania game. Turns out they meant games that were, using the old Amiga Action terminology, “Arcade Adventures”. Now it makes sense.

Despite all this, I did actually play a fair few Sega games, as my cousins had a Mega Drive. So I’d get to have a bash at a fair few of them after school or whatever. This meant that, for a while, I was actually more of a Sega fan than a Nintendo one, a situation that’s broadly flipped since Sega stopped making hardware and Nintendo continued its gaming dominance. What all of this means, when strung together, is that I have a good deal of affection for some of the classics of Sega’s 16-bit heyday, but I don’t have the breadth or depth of knowledge you’d see from someone who, well, actually owned a console before the original Xbox. Yeah, sure, there are lots of games I liked back then; and probably quite a few that I still have warm nostalgic feelings for, even if they’re maybe not actually very good (Altered Beast, for instance, which I’m reliably informed was – to coin a very early-nineties phrase – “pants”, despite my being fond of it at the time). Therefore this list is probably going to be quite eccentric when compared to other “Best of Sega” lists. Especially because in the last couple of decades Sega has become a publisher for a number of development studios all around the world, giving support and distribution to the makers of diverse (and historically non-console) franchises as Total War and Football Manager. These might not be the fast-moving blue sky games one associates with Sega, but as far as I’m concerned they’re a vital part of the company’s history as it moved away from its hardware failures (and the increasingly lacklustre Sonic franchise) and into new waters. And just as important, of course, are their arcade releases, back in the days when people actually went to arcades (you know, I have multi-format games magazines at my parents’ house that are so old they actually review arcade games. Yes, I know!).

So, happy birthday, Sonic, you big blue bugger, you. Sorry your company pooed itself on the home console front. Sorry a lot of your games over the past twenty years have been a bit disappointing. But in a funny way you helped define the nineties, something that I personally don’t feel Mario quite did. And your film is better than his, too.

Crazy Taxi (Arcade, 1999): a simple concept – drive customers to their destination in the time limit – combined with a beautiful, sunny, blue skied rendition of San Francisco, giving you a gorgeous cityscape (back when driving round an open city was a new thrill), filled with hills to bounce over and traffic to dodge. A real looker twenty years ago, but its stylised, simple graphics haven’t really dated, feeling fittingly retro rather than old-fashioned or clunky. One of those games that’s fiendishly difficult to master, but its central hook is so compelling you keep coming back for more.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive, 1992): games have rarely felt faster, and even if the original Sonic’s opening stages are more iconic, overall I prefer the sequel. Sonic himself was one of those very-nineties characters who focused on a gentle, child-friendly form of “attitude”, and it bursts off the screen, his frown and impatient foot-tapping really selling it. the gameplay is sublime, the graphics still really pop, and the more complex stages contrast nicely with the pastoral opening. Plus it gave us Tails, the game industry’s own Jar Jar Binks, who I’ll always love because my cousin made me play as him all the time.

Medieval II: Total War (PC, 2006): I’ll be honest with you, this game is really the number one, I just feel weird listing “Best Sega Games” and then putting a fifteen-year-old PC strategy game at the top of the pile. But what can I say? I like turn-based PC strategy games, especially ones that let you go deep on genealogy and inter-familial relationships in medieval Europe. everyone knows the real-time 3D battles are cool – they made a whole TV show about them – but for me it’s the slow conquering of Europe that’s the highlight. Marrying off princesses, assassinating rivals, even going on ethically-dubious religious crusades… I just love it. I’ve not played many of the subsequent games in the franchise, but to be honest I like this setting so much I really just want them to make a third Medieval game.

Sega Rally Championship (Arcade, 1994): what, four games in and we’re back to racing? Well, Sega make good racing games I guess. And Sega Rally is just a really good racing game. Another one of those that was a graphical marvel on its release, it has a loose and freewheeling sense of fun and accessibility. Plus it was one of those games that revelled in its open blue skies, from an era when racing games in the arcades loved to dazzle you with spectacle – like when a helicopter swoops low over the tracks. I had a demo of this on PC, too, and I used to race that one course over and over again.

After Burner (Arcade, 1987): there are a lot of arcade games in this list, but when they’re as cool as After Burner, what can you do? This was a technological masterpiece back in the day: a huge cockpit that enveloped you as you sat in the pilot’s seat, joystick in hand. The whole rig moved as you flew the plane, and the graphics (gorgeous for their time) wowed you with their speed and the way the horizon shifted. I was, of course, utterly crap at it, and I seem to remember it was more expensive than most games, so my dad hated me going on it. But it was the kind of thrilling experience that seems harder to replicate nowadays.

Virtua Cop (Arcade, 1994): I used to love lightgun games in the nineties. This despite being utterly, ridiculously crap at them. I can’t aim; ask anyone. But they felt really cool and futuristic, and also you could wave a big gun around like you were RoboCop or something. Virtua Cop added to the fun with its cool 3D graphics. Whilst I’d argue Time Crisis was better, with a little paddle that let you take cover, Cop again leveraged those bright Sega colours to give us a beautiful primary-coloured depiction of excessive ultra-violence and mass death.

Two Point Hospital (PC, 2018): back once again to the point-and-clickers, with another PC game only nominally Sega. But I can’t ignore it. Taking what was best about Theme Hospital and updating it for the 21st Century, TPH is a darkly funny but enjoyably deep management sim, with cute chunky graphics and an easy-to-use interface (Daughter #1 is very fond of it). The console adaptations are good, too. I’d love to see where Two Point go next. Maybe to a theme park…?

Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox, 2002): I never had a Dreamcast. But I remember seeing the original Jet Set Radio – maybe on TV, maybe running on a demo pod in Toys ‘R’ Us or something – and being blown away. It was the first time I’d ever seen cel shading, and it was a revelation; just a beautiful technique that I didn’t think was possible, that made the game look like a living cartoon. Finally being able to play the sequel on my new Xbox was terrific, because the gameplay was excellent too: a fast-paced game of chaining together jumps and glides, in a city that was popping with colour and bursting with energy. Felt like playing a game made entirely of Skittles and Red Bull.

The Typing of the Dead (PC, 2000): The House of the Dead games were descendants of Virtua Cop’s lightgun blasting, but with zombies. Yeah, cool; I liked playing them at the arcades down at Teesside Park, in the Hollywood Bowl or the Showcase cinema. But playing this PC adaptation of the quirky typing-based spin-off was something else. A game where you defeat zombies by correctly typing “cow” or “bottle” or whatever as quickly as possible? A game that was simultaneously an educational typing instructor and also a zombie murder simulator? The fact that the characters are wearing Ghostbusters-style backpacks made of Dreamcast consoles and keyboards is just a seriously crazy detail, and the way the typing was integrated into the gameplay – harder enemies had longer words, for instance – was very well done. A bonkers mini-masterpiece.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Switch, 2019): the very fact that erstwhile cultural enemies Mario and Sonic would ever share a game at all is the stuff of addled mid-nineties fever dreams; like Downey’s Tony Stark sharing the screen with Bale’s Batman (or Affleck’s Batman, who the hell cares at this point). The main thing is, it’s still crazy to think about it, even if it’s just entirely ordinary for my kids, sitting their unaware of the Great Console Wars of the 1990s. Anyway, divorced of all that pan-universal gladhanding, the games are good fun, adapting the various Olympic sports with charm, making them easy-to-understand party games, often with motion control for the benefit of the youngs and the olds. I don’t remember playing earlier games extensively, but the soft-RPG trappings of the latest iteration are enjoyable, especially the retro-themed events and graphics. Earns a spot in my Top Ten for its historic nature, but it’s also thoroughly enjoyable in its own right.

Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if all those crazy internet rumours were actually true, and Microsoft did announce it was buying Sega this E3? This really would feel like a very timely and in some ways prescient list.

[khittyhawk]

Proposal:

Y’know what I want? I want a Fallout: New Vegas DLC-quel that’s a political sim where you broker a deal with the NCR after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam to hold a referendum on New Vegas joining the NCR.

When Yes Man gives you the choice to divert the power from the Dam or blow it up, you have a third option to tell him to get stuffed and that you intend to convince the NCR to leave peacefully (to Yes Man’s skepticism). Then when Gen. Oliver confronts you at the Dam, you get him to promise to maintain the NCR’s standing agreement with Mr House for a little longer while you both lick your wounds and that you’ll hold a vote on membership.

Given it’s a DLC and that it’s kind of dickish to pay for a DLC and get locked out of doing it thanks to your earlier choices, if you choose this route you can get the agreement no matter what speech checks you fail, but passing them AND choosing different arguments changes how much latitude the NCR gives you and how much time you have. Like, when Gen Oliver insists that the NCR’s arrangement is with House and House is dead, you can pass a speech check to say something like “<Bluff> Was he ever alive? I’m the only person to have see him since the bombs fell, and all you have now is my word. I said I’m here as an envoy of Mr House to talk about our agreement.” Do you tell him what you want explicitly, or do you subtly hint so he comes to idea on his own? I suppose you can still throw him off of the dam, but I guess that’ll lead to ultra mega hard mode as the NCR hates you (perhaps they fall back a bit to regroup, and Yes Man projects how much time you might have until they attack. Or it might just lead to a nonstandard Game Over with a joke ending. Or perhaps kicks you back to the normal ending...)

All your interactions and actions from earlier in the game carry over. Obviously, things are easier if you have high reputation with the respective factions, but there are still decisions that can complicate that - do you tear down the walls separating the Strip from outer Vegas, or do you keep the ghettos walled off from the wealthy sections? I’d imagine if you topple the walls early on, New Vegas suffers from a large amount of instability and violence and you gain Infamy with the Strip (and probably Freeside and Westside after a delay). Do you try to diversify the casino ownership, so the Strip isn’t a sort of oligarchy, or even hand one of the casinos over to the Followers or the Westside Co-op? That’ll lose fame with the casino bosses and might make some try to oust you and take control of Yes Man and the securitrons for themselves. Speaking of, how much do you use the securitrons’ offensive power? (This might be an instance where blowing up the securitrons at The Fort gives you an advantage, because with fewer securitrons around, it is less likely that whoever takes you place with have enough firepower to manage a totalitarian dictatorship.) If you have high Fame with some of the more science-y factions or NPC’s, you can get the securitrons modified to increase their nonviolence means of pacification and re-employ them as builders.

And if you did Cass’s quest, then you also have the Van Graffs and the Crimson Caravan to deal with. Can you broker a deal with the Van Graffs (perhaps barging in with your securitrons and promising them amnesty if they cut it out), or will you wipe them out? And if then, what do you do with the high-quality weaponry you’ve confiscated? Do you hoard it in your presidential suite while raiders and wildlife pick off Vegas citizens? Do you sell it to the Gun Runners, creating a weapons monopoly? Do you think the Kings need a little more firepower to keep Freeside safe?

And it gets even more complicated with the Crimson Caravan. The Van Graffs have their network of spies and immediately go aggro on you, but what about the Crimson Caravan? Hurting them hurts your reputation with the NCR, the amount of caps coming in to Vegas, and the safety of your trading routes. Do you assassinate Lafferty? Or, if you think Vegas might go independent, do you broker a deal for amnesty with them (to Cass’s ire)? Kick them out? Attempt to dissolve them into smaller caravans, or perhaps generate competition for them by offering incentives for Vegas dwellers to start their own caravans?

And that’s not even getting into how you might set up the elections. Do you use paper ballots (how common is literacy in the wasteland anyway?)? Tokens with the emblems of New Vegas or the NCR (and who do you get to manufacture them, anyway? Is it someone you trust?)? Do you program a securitron to interrogate the citizens about their preference and report the results (Do the citizens of New Vegas trust you enough not the manipulate the numbers if you do this method?)? Let the NCR handle the elections, given they have experience running one?

And whose vote counts anyway? Do you let the families of the strip have their way when they insist their votes should carry more weight? Do squatters count as New Vegas residents? Do they have to have lived in New Vegas for a set period of time? (Do you believe the rumors that the NCR is sending some of their citizens to Vegas to stack the vote?) Crimson Caravan traders? Scorpions and Fiends? What do you do with citizens who might find it important to remain politically neutral, or who doubt how much use a vote could be, or think there’s not enough difference in leadership between either side? And what about the opposite situation, like if you completed How Little We Know by siding with the Omerta bosses, they decide to make their case for Vegas remaining independent... with a couple heavily-armed guys behind them making a big show of cleaning their guns and eyeing the listeners to ensure the implication comes across?

I’ll stop there, ‘cause I could keep going. (If you convinced Heck Gunderson to continue to trade with the Strip, that increases the political control the brahmin barons have over Vegas if they vote to join the NCR... If you flood all your caps into Vegas without paying attention to available resources, you might trigger inflation and end up with a more destitute Freeside... If you disconnected House but didn’t kill him, you can ask the Followers to see if they can save his life (perhaps there’s an option where Vegas goes third party and wants House back, or maybe you take pity on him and allow him to control one (1) securitron and he might fuck with you out of spite...)) I’d imagine the final vote will be a complicated dice roll that’s influenced (but not determined) by your actions, and your actions really determine the ending’s tone. Like, you can set them up to join the NCR, but Vegas goes independent and maybe they’re stuck over-relying on the NCR and end up a de facto protectorate. Or you don’t pay much attention to the Strip’s families and they take over and rule as a triumvirate oligarchy that eventually collapses. Or despite the courier’s machinations, Vegas votes the courier into being President for Life. Or...

Oh, and you have the option to declare public holidays.

[aharris00britney]

ASKS 16

haha remember in July when I said I was gonna answer stuff every month... yeah me neither 🙈🙈 anyways lots of stuff under the cut

Anonymous said: You should get along with other Simblrs and start a new cc group now that PTS is disbanded, your hairs and clothes are always amazing! :D

Firstly thank you! Most of the clothing in AxA is 99% ayoshi with me going in after and cleaning/adding some stuff. So I give him props for the clothes :P As far as a ‘new PTS’ style group idk, there are a lot of amazing creators on simblr but I think the reason PTS was such a special thing is because the bond they all had. I feel that when working on collabs with some of my really close friends (such as the one coming out this month with @dogsill​ and @ayoshi​) because we have known each other for over 2 years now. A group of friends built only for collabing purposes would be more of a hassle than an enjoyment imo. <3

Anonymous said: HELLLOOOO! just curious bc why not but what is your favorite creation that you have made??

It varies every month to be honest lmao. If you asked me to pick a favorite hair from each month? Easy, always the last release of the month. But favorite hair ever? Awwww shucks 🤠 lmao I would say my Madison Hair is one of my favorite hair releases, I am planning to revamp it soon to work with my Mia ombre accessories and tidy the mesh up some. 

Anonymous said: hello, when will this collection be free for public download please? /post/186706149526/patreon-08-19

That came out in August luv, go to my downloads page and click AxA 2019

Anonymous said: Hi! Idk if you do wcif!!!! But if you do, wcif the freckles on the girl with the short hair on the BOP AHOOB collab?? If you know! Thank you much in advance!!!!!

Hey! You’ll need to send Bowl-Of-Plumbobs a message for that WCIF, that was his Sim otherwise I would link you. Sorry hun

@lumalinrose-sims​ said: Not a question, but you are like so cool I can't even--

thank you lmao I appreciate it, your profile pic it pretty cool :P

@ang3lba3 said: sarah is so pretty!!! is there a way to download how she looks in its entirety, or no? (sorry if this is a silly question im pretty new to the sims) 

not silly don’t worry :P the Sarah hair is for download on the post, the sim can be downloaded here but she is a bit outdated as I have changed her somewhat since then. 

Anonymous said: Hihi just stopping by to tell you how much I love your hairs!!

thank you so much! I appreciate the love<3

Anonymous said: hi! i just wanted to say that i love your cc so much i and always look forward to your posts! you make the cutest cc ever and honestly you're probably my favorite cc maker. you also seem like such a chill and genuine person we truly stan.

fgvhbjn thank you lmao I am literally TOO CHILL irl lmao I let people run over me so much but it’s whatever. Thank you again for the super sweet message. Have a great day if you’re reading this :)

Anonymous said: Heeeey we have the same name

Austin club :P great name til you’re trying to sign something and it looks awful (at least for me I can’t do my signature for shit)

Anonymous said: the collab with bop is so boring and dull it’s drier than a cracker it’s a no from me

well not everything is going to be someones cup of tea lmao I’m sure there is someone that enjoys it which counters you’re negative view <3

Anonymous said: Hi I love your cc! I have almost all of it in my game and I love your tropical punch palette so much I was wondering if you would ever consider releasing the palette.

If I ever make an ombre accessory tutorial video I will release a set of actions for the palette. If you wanna use the palette feel free to grab the hex codes from S4S.

Anonymous said: How did you become a ea game changer? Was it through Tumblr or youtube?

About a year ago SimGuruKate was the community manager and had applications for Tumblr Game Changers, I applied and got accepted. Follow SimGuruFrost on Twitter to stay up to date on when new applications are open.

Anonymous said: Are you going to upload the hair you made on your livestream? I literally love your work and am a Patreon subscriber!!!

Hey! The hair will be in my October voting (I think) and if it wins, release will be November. If it doesn’t win I will put it in November voting and so forth til it wins. Also thank you for watching the stream and supporting me on Patreon 

Anonymous said: hello!! i just wanted to see if knew is there’s anyway i can save my cc and save files somehow where i can download them again if my computer breaks so i don’t have to download it all again.?

zip your Sims 4 folder and upload it to Google Drive/SimsFileShare/OneDrive. Then when you install Sims 4 again you just replace the folder made in Electronic Arts in your Documents.

Anonymous said: what face do you make when your in love with a bee?

this is an old anon so I doubt they’re gonna check for this, and I can’t find the joke on Google so.... anybody know it?

Anonymous said: i love these collab sets they are honestly gifts from above

mhmm gifts from above for every collab except those in October... those are from below  👹 😳

Anonymous said: the pack is sooooo cute i love everything omg!!!! The male stuff is so adorable i can’t wait to download   

Anonymous said: you guys are the only ones i go to for packs i would love to see build buy items in the future we don’t get a lot mm stuff like that

Anonymous said:i just want to say thank you for putting in so much time and hard work and dedication to creating cc for us. i hope there's never a moment when you feel unappreciated, and i want you to know we all love you!

@primadonnaliferiseandfall​ said: all hail you and ayoshi for the cc pack its so pretty omg!!!!

Anonymous said: omg the kings have delivered!!

Anonymous said: since we got axa 2019 and 2018 will there be an axa 2020? 👀

Anonymous said: Great job on the pack! Everyone's items look gorgeous! Thank you for making this, you talented human being.

Anonymous said: ilysm! that’s all 💓💫

Anonymous said: just wanted to let you know that your content is absolutely amazing and i love it all :) sending love from the uk👍

Anonymous said: would you and ayoshi consider sharing the psds for some of the stuff in your collab? please?

thank you guys so much! Me and Ayoshi were super super happy with the AxA 2019 release and we are so happy with how many people have liked it. AxA 2020 will be a thing, yes. Also I have been working on PSDs that are super easy to navigate. I will get those up soon hopefully.

@graphicpickles​ said: Hey um, I dont know if you were aware of this but your discord link is broken ^^"

hey! this is super late sorry, discord link should be working now. If not: https://discord.gg/CtQR9tb

Anonymous said: Why would you include a cc hair in a preview for a cas review

because I liked the hair and wanted to use it 😗

@goddesssimmerina​ said: I just stopped by to tell you how much I LOVE your content. *_* I just went through and downloaded soooo much! xD I actually just switched to using MM hair and i'm so glad I did because I'm finding so many of you amazing creators and I thank you all sm! :*

awe thank you!! I appreciate it. Welcome to MM hair world :P

@moonbrightsims said: whats ur origin id?

AHarris00Britney

Anonymous said: how are your photos/screenshots so high quality? seriously, do you use a mod for it or idk editing? or maybe your settings?

Ultra Settings, and I use SRWE for HQ pics. 

Anonymous said: if you don’t answer this ask you’re straight

It has been answered. I am no longer straight. Was a hard two months not answering this 😔😔😔

Anonymous said: Hi, would you mind teaching us how you make the LoDs of your hairs? I opened one of them in S4S and found out your LoDs are great looking. I use decimate tool in blender and they look really bad.

I edge split everything before I decimate in Blender, I also delete the hairline and extrude the mesh inside the head before decimating as well. Really confusing to explain in words sorry. Might make a tutorial.

Anonymous said: omg ur cc finds blog has apink namjoo as icon and header. i'm.. sCREAMING. austin knows royalty

yes ma’am now where is the comeback

- it was at this point I realized I have caught up with my last asks post and have answered 4 things over again from Asks 15. Well... I guess that’s it folks

see yall in asks 17 in 2 months.... maybe the end of October idk

[codenamesazanka]

I know this is a really vague thing to ask, but do you have any tips for writing Shigaraki? I know Echodrops made a whole meta about fanon Shigaraki vs canon Shigaraki but do you personally have anything in particular you'd want to mention yourself about the portrayal of Shigaraki in fanfics?

(Here’s the link to @echodrops‘s post! It’s really, really good, and helped me figure out Shigaraki a lot in the first place. thank you!)

oooh! Not at all a vague thing, this is a great question. I started all this meta because I wanted to figure out how to write Shigaraki as well. A word of caution tho, because this would be my personal interpretation of Shigaraki, though I’ll try to use as much manga examples as I can. As always, super long post. 

Note: images are edited to fit exact quotes to relevant and reasonable sized images, instead of a whole manga page

Here’s some hand man characteristics/traits that I think are overlooked:

Shigaraki Tomura, in his beliefs/values, has a tendency for all-or-nothing thinking, to be extreme in his actions. In all three of his incarnations - the oneshot Tenko, the draft Sazanka, and this current one - a core of the character is 1) finding something flawed/bad/had hurt him somehow 2) completely loathing it 3) vowing to destroy it. 

Tenko despised samurai and their warring, and wishes to rid the world of swords. Sazanka is on a quest to kill quirk-users with quirks he deems too dangerous for society. And Shigaraki has decided that the Heroes and justice system is a farce, and is out to destroy it. 

Kinda fitting for a guy with his quirk - he either doesn’t destroy something, or destroys it completely. The moment he makes his decision, it’s fast and permanent. 

For Shigaraki, murder is murder, destruction is destruction, violence is violence, no matter how you dress it up. That’s why he couldn’t see the difference between him and Stain. That’s why he can’t see that Bakugou, as aggressive and vicious as he is, still wants to be a good guy. 

Now this is my take, but I think his mindset is: Because All Might can’t save everyone, he’s a fake, he’s trash; because everyone will say they condemn murder yet go about their lives carefree even though they know logically someone is out there getting killed, morality and justice is an illusion; because justice is so fragile and flimsy, I will expose it and destroy it. 

Not in any goodwill or for a better society, mind you. He just hates it. 

He also has no illusions about himself or his actions, he knows he’s evil.

Shigaraki is a lot more sarcastic and sardonic than usually portrayed in fanon. He’s very rude and can be foul mouthed, but the real insult comes from his tone and behavior. He condescendingly calls Eraserhead cool. He calls Stain the ‘Great Senpai of scoundrels’. He points out to Overhaul how a wakagashira/underboss like him should be more polite. Just about half of everything he says is dripping with mockery, and he’s very breezy and irreverent. So a bit less ‘I hate you, fuck off’, and more cheek.

Adding to that, if I’m reading my Japanese right, Shigaraki can change how he addresses people depending on the person and situation. His default speech is rude, but he’ll talk somewhat (barely) politely-ish if needed; it’s just it’s very obvious he’s not taking it seriously. 

Related, I feel like Shigaraki says a lot of things he doesn’t really believe. He tries out concepts, half-heartedly, on a whim. There’s that infamous speech at USJ about Heroes and Villains both using violence - which does seem to have some semblance to the actual ‘two sides of the same coin’ that even Best Jeanist talks about. 

And here’s him considering Stain’s effects on heroes, with gusto, before ditching it.

I know it’s Smash!, but here’s him reciting some sort of pseudo education philosophy he picked up somewhere??? to Kurogiri to get out of exercise. 

He’s a total smartass 

Of course, this brings up the question, is he genuine in his speech to Bakugou, or to Toga and Twice? 

 Like Echodrop notes, he can be in a good mood. He can be (seem?) happy, he can smile, he will acknowledge when someone does a good job of something. 

Sure, it’s got a manic edge to it, it’s probably not coming from a place of good, fluffy, innocent feelings, but he can laugh, enjoy the moment, be psyched about something. 

I really like this scene because he actually giggles a bit. He squeezes Midoriya, and he really does seem excited for a chat. 

He’s quick to go back to being default cranky tho. Quick to enjoy, quick to get irked.  

Shigaraki is a weirdo and I love him.

 My boy is smart. Really, Shigaraki is smarter than he looks. In the Ultra Archive, his profile lists his intelligence as ‘A’, ranking him above most characters, including Midoriya. I get that Deku’s whole thing is being the strategizing main character, but Shigaraki’s just as analytical. Even the Smash! Comic points this out. 

His room is filled with books, so either he reads a lot or he hoards them to look smart. I think it’s the former. Well, it’s not mutually exclusive, I should know.

He thinks and reflects and questions. He was super pissed about Stain, but he realized Stain was right and tried to figure out why. He went on a walk to calm down and just ruminate. He sought out Midoriya just to get second opinion. Afterwards, he quickly sees the bigger picture and realizes the issue is systemic and he’s gotta attack the structure. Of course, kinda shaky on the specific details and it’s not endgame long term, but still impressive. 

There’s a lot of Villain!Deku fanfics - and I like them a lot! - that turns Deku into the criminal mastermind or makes him the brains behind Shigaraki’s operations. Which is fair, Deku could totally be one! And also a lot of fics where Shigaraki is dismissed, with everything he does being AFO’s machinations. Again, fair. But Canon Shigaraki is AFO’s successor and leads the League for a reason.

This also means, I think, that Shigaraki isn’t as clueless to the fact that All For One is manipulating him. This point is entirely debatable, though. All I have to back this is how Shigaraki wondered if he was lied to in the USJ.

Even tho he’s facepalm crusty boi neet, Shigaraki is still a very dangerous S-ranked villain. I feel like sometimes people forget this. 

 He’s not that childish. He can be immature, he’s still learning the ropes of being a supervillain, he’s got an irritable and sullen disposition, but he’s not a five-year-old. He’s also not completely unhinged. 

When things don’t go his way, his first response usually isn’t to shriek or whine or immediately snap. He’s got a clear head and a good sense of what he can and can’t do. Kurogiri is down, All Might escaped their grasp, but Nomu’s still active? Cool, we got this. It’s only when Nomu gets team-rocket-ed that he panics. Stain stabs him? Doesn’t start a fight right there and then, asks Master for some Nomu, is patient enough to wait until he decides he really can’t stand Stain, then finally gives the go ahead for a rampage. 

Shigaraki knew from the start he can’t handle All Might. That’s Nomu’s job. As much as he hates All Might, he doesn’t jump at the chance to kill the hero personally. He’s not ruled by impulse or easy distractions, not really. And he will back down if Kurogiri reasons with him - see accepting Stain as a party member, see letting Toga and Dabi live. And after he got his motivation, he’s been very restraint since. 

He doesn’t immediately destroy his things in anger - we only see him destroy only few items pre-mall talk. He decays binoculars, a photo of Deku, maybe a newspaper, all quiet and deliberate. Kurogiri’s bar is intact and clean, despite being the long-time hang out spot of the destructive Shigaraki Tomura. Would he decay a controller after losing a game? Maybe, but also just as likely maybe not. 

Shigaraki will complain and bitch and sulk and hold a grudge, tho, yeah. He will lose it after a series of stressors/things gone wrong. He can be moody, cruel and sadistic, bloodthirsty and mayhem-loving. But he’s got himself under control more often than not. 

Finally, video games: My biggest pet peeve about portrayal of Shigaraki in fanfics: He’s super obsessed with video games, to the point that he plays them all day long, and he can’t stop using video game slang for everything - or so a lot of the fandom believes. 

I’ve pointed out before that we’re more likely to see him reading the newspaper and we’ve never actually seen him use a console ever in manga or anime. True, he likens scenarios to games frequently, but not all the time - the USJ fight was when he did that the most, then in his other appearances only once or twice during the whole scene (Doesn’t want Stain as a ‘party member’, none at all when meeting Dabi or Toga and then at the mall, camp arc has him seeing himself playing a Sim instead of an RPG, calls All Might ‘last boss’ during the raid, then nothing for his next appearances). At least not out loud. As fun as it is to imagine him as a geeky gamer, and he is, but he does more than just that. 

I think Shigaraki uses video games and media to create mental scripts for himself to understand/interact with the world, but it serves as a skeleton. He fleshes it out, always adding to that mental model to create a more complex one. He calls his change of strategy as playing a Sim game, but it’s a good analogy that works for him, and we see how layered his plan is - dealing a blow to UA that works whether the Vanguard succeed or not, kidnapping Bakugou and Ragdoll, in order to bring about the media and public criticism of UA/heroes, and had it not been for the raid, something would’ve happen to Bakugou that would’ve demoralized everyone. 

He def is grounded in reality enough to know what he’s doing is more than just a game. 

And that’s all I got for now! There might be a part two. idk, but I hope this was helpful! 

[metalchickaf19]

The Bowers Gang: Ship #15 - Henry Bowers

Request: hello i would like to request a ship, if you don't mind +_+ i'm not really tall,average build, really long dark hair. i'm fond of formal office wear and in general prefer dark colors and non-revealing clothes, if that makes sense. as a person i try my best to be a good friend though at some times i'm a bit too caring and at others times i care less than i should bc i'm sick or busy af(i easily get sick.). i tend to be anxious and even a bit paranoid bc of some kind of ocd i dunno ( i get all those unnecessary thoughts like "i should leave the bus immediately bc i've got a bad feeling about this dude" and then i should look 10 times to the left and 10 to the right to calm myself somehow ._.) my hobbies is reading (mostly scandinavian detectives), watching films and playing tabletop role-playing games. also i secretly like date sims. in society i try my best to be polite and patient(i'm this person who takes all the shit goin my way to stop conflict from happening), but with my friends i can be more open and even impulsive. that's it. i hope it's not too much and my english is okay.

First and foremost, it’s kind of astonishing that you were even able to befriend The Bowers Gang at all - let alone start hooking up with their leader

Their reputation (+ Hockstetter’s hardcore creeper vibe) kept your paranoia on high alert for a long time - so much so that it was all you could do not to drop the few classes you had with specific members of the group

... And it was that insane, animal fear that would eventually cause the guys to target you later on

Hey - you were walking down the hall one day, saw the guys standing around Belch’s locker, and instantly turned on your heel to avoid them

I can’t help the fact that Patrick saw you do that

And I can’t help the fact that that gave he and the guys reason enough to start messing with you

Wound up resulting in a super adorable relationship with Bowers though, so yay (and genuine yay this time - not yay with a question mark attached to it)

Joins in whenever the guys make fun of your “office wear” proclivity (and they make fun of it often)...

... but secretly kind of likes the fact that you prefer non-revealing clothing

Mostly because he’s a misogynistic bastard who doesn’t want the girls he dates “on display” for everyone else, but still - Bowers is down with the corporate causal aesthetic

Sometimes lets you read to him, which is one of the most endearing thing I’ve ever heard  

Was originally something you only did when Henry got sick (he was in a fever-coma once, and you figured some quality Scandinavian literature couldn’t hurt), but now it happens basically every time he wants to get his mind off of something

... And Bowers wants to get his mind off of something a lot

So it’s not uncommon for people to catch you reading to him while he carves into things with his knife, puts his head in his arms and “sleeps,” etc.

Generally tries to look like he’s not paying attention to the story, even though it’s obvious he’s invested (i.e. glances over at the book for a second when something surprising happens, tends to open his eyes during intense parts when he’s had them closed for a while ...)

Aka: One of the most dangerous people in the city of Derry is becoming a hardcore reading buff, and that’s 100% because of you - congratulations

Makes all the guys check up on you whenever you get sick

... Seriously, it’s so cute - you’ll just be sitting at home, all stuffed up and gross, when suddenly you’ll get a random knock at the door

... at which point you’ll open it to find either Belch, Victor, or Patrick standing there with the rest of the guys waiting in the car behind them

Just let that imagery sink in...

Have you fully appreciated how adorable it is?

Okay, then.

Sometimes you get a Victor Criss care-package complete with aspirin, tissues, and suckers to keep you going (hence why you tend to hope it’s Victor when you hear that knock on your door), but it usually has something Hockstetter-esque added to it in the few instances when Patrick gets to bring it to you

... He once switched out a little book of poems Criss gave you with a pocket-sized copy of the Kama Sutra

Just had that on him for some reason - pocket-sized copy of the Kama Sutra

Regardless though, Henry never comes to the door (even though the guys always show up on his orders) because he’s too macho to show he’s concerned about your well-being even though it’s painfully clear he’s concerned about your well-being

Have fun with that even mix of ice and passionate care

*Somewhat triggering, but kind of lighthearted side-note*

Patrick is the single worst thing that has ever happened for your anxiety issues, and he loves every second of it

Sometimes physically interferes with your compulsions, because he doesn’t want you to be able to calm yourself (holds your face still when you try to turn your head back and forth a certain number of times, will block your exit if you start to feel overwhelmed in a specific setting, etc.)

Also actively triggers a lot of your intrusive thoughts (”You really feel safe right now, princess?” *Ultra-specific Hockstetter smirk created to make you doubt yourself* “Really?”)

Also sits behind you in one of the classes you share together, and constantly does things to fuck with your hair

It’s not really important, I’m just letting you know

Sometimes keeps a lighter under the ends just long enough to create that “singed” smell, twists a few locks around his fingers, etc.

Basically just wants to remind you that he’s there (right behind you) as often as he can, and has always liked your long dark hair, so that’s the route he takes

I’m so sorry for the paranoia in you; truly

*Somewhat triggering, yet kind of lighthearted side-note over*

You, Belch, and Victor are arguably the most tight-knit friends in the gang, and it’s kind of amazing on every level

Ya’ll share 3/6 classes together (without Patrick or Henry), so you really got used to being your authentic selves around one another over time

Nerdy inside jokes, deep talks, genuine “this is me” moments - you guys have it all (and, to be honest, you’d all be super down to arrange a hangout without the other guys if any one of you had the balls to suggest it)

Low-key very similar to The Losers’ Club when it’s just the three of you, but we’ll pretend I never said that

Victor came to one of your table-top gaming sessions once

Only attended the one time (because cold-blooded reputation/genuine lack of skill), but he befriended some of your nice table-top gaming compatriots, so good job being a positive influence

... Alright... now get ready for some pretty legit unpleasantness  

Henry unloads on you often because he knows you’re willing to take it, and sometimes the kid just can’t help himself

You know that scene from the movie where he yelled at Belch to shut up (when he was cutting Ben)?

Yeah - that type of rage-filled Bowers energy has been directed at you in the past

Low-key one of the most unhealthy aspects of your relationship, but you tend to default to radio-silence at the first sign of Henry starting to lose it on you (what with your dislike of conflict and such), so it typically never escalates past one hardcore outburst (like Belch’s “shut up!”)

Never outright apologizes to you for it, but tends to try to get physically close to you after he calms down as an indirect way of saying he’s sorry

I.e. Will sit down next to you without saying anything, will come into a room you’re in and awkwardly walk around without acknowledging you, etc.

Basically just tries to let you know he was wrong with his actions rather than with his words

... And if you want a future with Bowers, you’re gonna’ have to get used to accepting apologies you never got like that

Sorry - it’s just the way his broken brain works

Overall though, a great relationship, and one that works well with the rest of the guys

They all love you, dude - you’ve been accepted. Just feel that

[myfestivalsale-blog]

Moto G8 Plus Unboxing & Overview The Confused Camera Phone

It just says that it has a 48 megapixel camera quad pixel. That means pixel burning, it's doing and a twenty five megapixel front-facing camera and also has that ultra wide camera - and this is interesting, stereo speakers - that's why Dolby and it just gives an image - and this is already available in India - it's sold in India, Flipkart.

430. 1990. That'S almost about 14,000 I'll leave. The link, if you guys want yeah, is the device itself, and I just supposed to have a six point. Three inch screen and just gives us the same information over here, and it says it has a four thousand milliamp hour battery with Turbo Power. So that's a cases pre-applied. This is the new thing that I'm noticing on Motorola devices. The case is actually pre applied, as you can see.

So, let's just remove this case. It'S a very tight fit and I think they're doing this because the back is now a polycarbonate back. They are that they're using itself a fingerprint magnet can get easily scratched. That'S why I think so they are pre applying that this https://onesiti.com/, I think, that's how they want us to use and if you notice, at the back, it looks like a quad camera setup, but guys is not a quad camera.

It'S a triple camera setup and the extra eye lens is just for laser autofocus, same system, small guide, sim ejector tool that we have. Let me keep that to the side, and this should be Type C, so indeed a Type C cable that you're having - and this will be the power brick - and this is supposed to be a 15 watt, a charger that we are getting in the box. So let me keep these things to the side. Let'S look at the handset itself and this has a six point.

Three inch IPS LCD screen and the big thing is that this is supposed to have stereo speakers. That'S would all be so. That is something that we don't find in this price range, but anyways. Let'S look at it here. We have a secondary noise cancellation, microphone, 3.5 mm headphone jack volume, rockers up and down and again this is also made of of polycarbonate plastic guys. Even the buttons feel like that power button here bottom end for the one of the speakers I think of the year pieces also speak of a stereo type C port main microphone, and this would be your sentry.

It comes with 4 gigabytes of RAM and 64gb of storage. So, let's see how much do we have a dedicated slot, no sad to say no dedicated the micro SD card slot they should have given that I frankly feel that's what we get and back that triple camera setup. So let me do one thing: let me just power it on and it's booting and by the time it actually boots up, and I set it up. Let me give you a configuration overview.

This moto G 8 plus, is having a 6.3 inch IPS LCD screen at smart with the Snapdragon 6:65 SOC. It has four gigabytes of RAM and 64gb of internal storage moving to the rear facing camera. It'S a triple camera setup, the main camera, it's a 48 megapixel. Then we also have a 16 megapixel. That'S ultra wide. You also have a 5 megapixel, that's what Deb and I'm moving to the front facing camera up to twenty five megapixel.

It also has stereo speakers and a four thousand milliamp hour battery and Gaga finished. Setting up this device and as you can see, this is typical, Motorola anyways. You even hear that sound and again the good thing is that we don't have a lot of bloatware as you can see, so I'm not stock Android, except for some moto actions that I'll use full apps. For example, if you click here the moto actions and stuff, you can customize what you want: the moto actions and all the things quick capture, fast, flashlight flip for DnB, and all those things pick up to silence.

These are some of the good things that are specific to Motorola phones. We have that on this one also and almost stock Android of left, you have the Android or what do you say? Google pane anyways over here it is just finishing up to setup and, as you can see, we have Dolby. So that's interesting. Let'S open also curious to see stereo speakers on this one. Let'S just go to our own YouTube blog. I think so.

It'S updating! That'S why it's slow? Yes, it generally updates all the apps when it's neon you installing some library, I'm just going to say no for now update, let's just search. I think this is Ranjit and in this article let's do the compass so definitely loud, and I think that started that update of YouTube. That'S right. Well, but again the sound, as you heard guys was very loud. This is something that we generally don't find in this mid-range segment.

That is something that is lacking. So do you get that stereo speakers and it's actually pretty loud? So that's actually a good thing, but again in terms of processor. It'S having the Snapdragon 665 SOC, which is not bad but again, sort of out there to go, and many of the other smartphone vendors are giving that processor in phones costing about ten thousand rupees, and they should have gone with the seven series like a seven ten Or seven twelve, it's a decent processor, but I would say, if you're sort of a heavy game app, I would not recommend but yeah anyways.

That'S what we get and if you go over here, it's just still doing the updates. If I go here to system and about as you can see my android 9, obviously they should get Android ten later on, but again, Motorola is a little bit slow these days in terms of updates secondary update as of September that we are getting. Hopefully we get even the latest one again, as you can see, we have some gestures on this on this and we also have a again typical stock.

Android experience are, as I have mentioned again, so we have almost dot digital well being is also there on this one. So that's actually nice and let's check the fingerprint scanner. This is actually the fingerprint scanner and it's actually fast, not bad, so it takes half a second but again responsive. One thing I am noticing is that at this power, on/off button is slightly on the top hand side, so I have to stretch my finger to press it.

It should have been over here, I would say, mark yeah, that's something I don't notice now, as you can see, the fingerprint scanner is actually responder and you also get this moto display. Your notifications and stuff will be displayed and if you double tap, you get that and fingerprint, as you can see, not an issue. So that's what you are getting again and that plastic build quality and I think so you've got to use it with the keys.

Otherwise, as you can see, it gets that fingerprint. But let's look at the camera because I feel that's the new USP of this one, even in their marketing. They were touting this as a camera, centric smartphone that 48 megapixel, but let's see how what Motorola did with the same and I'm just going to hit a laugh and say swipe right to open the modes and again these are the photo modes,

[elcorhamletlive]

fandom: MCU (post-CW, post-IW) ship: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark tags: Fluff and Humor, Crack Treated Seriously, Human Disaster Tony Stark

As most of Tony’s mistakes, it starts out when he’s drunk.

He’s drunk because of Steve. Because Steve is back now, apparently for good. He and his merry band of fugitives have been pardoned, the Accords are under revision, and he and Tony have made up. Truly, honestly made up. Few things put pointless fights in perspective like a Mad Titan knocking on your planet’s door.

So Tony and Steve are not mad at each other anymore. They’re speaking normally. All things considered, they’re fine.

That’s why Tony’s drunk. He’s drunk because Steve is back, and they’re fine, and that’s apparently all they’ll ever be. He’s drunk because Steve hasn’t moved back to the compound, instead settling into some shitty apartment in Brooklyn, and whenever he comes around for training or to work on Avengers business, he and Tony greet each other and make small talk about the weather and that’s it.

He’s drunk because he’s an idiot. Because he was hoping that, once he and Steve have made up, things between them could… be different, maybe. He was hoping they’d understand each other better. He was hoping he’d be able to look into Steve’s eyes and say something that wasn’t a snarky comment—hell, he was hoping he’d be able to ask Steve out for lunch or something, in between U.N. meetings. He was hoping they’d see each other more, and spend more time together, and…

It would be easier.

He and Steve are fine, but fine is not enough.

Therefore: alcohol.

Truth be told, the problem doesn’t really start because he’s drunk. It starts because he’s alone in his workshop, navigating through panels and archives aimlessly, and he runs into Vision’s latest The Sims file.

Vision has been into The Sims for years now. At first Tony thought it was hilarious, but Vision defended it earnestly, arguing it gives him good insight into human interactions. Tony had exchanged a meaningful look with Rhodey at the thought that Vision viewed The Sims as an accurate portrayal of human interactions, they shrugged, and now Vision is just into the game. Vision makes a lot of mods and shares them on the internet, and it’s a bit of a hit. Tony is pretty sure there are downloadable copies of the Avengers compound online, ready to be built in game.

Tony, on the other hand, hasn’t played The Sims for even a minute. He’s never been huge with simulation games—he either gets out of control with getting everything perfect or burns everything down in flames, no in between.

But The Sims 2 is, after all, a classic.

When the game starts loading, a corner of his brain (the same corner that constantly gives him great advice like buy Pepper a giant bunny or a suit of armor around the world, yeah, that’s going to work) wonders if Vision made models of them. Them, as in, the Avengers.

Then the same corner of his brain jumps to wondering if there are models of them, as in, Tony and Steve.

That’s where it gets messy.

As it turns out, Vision did make models of the two of them, but Tony chooses not to use them, because a) Viz gave Steve a beard, and Tony hates that fucking beard, he nearly started dancing in the middle of a conference room when Steve walked into the U.N. clean-shaved; and b) those pants he gave Tony to wear? Really, Viz? No way.

So he makes his own models. Or, fine, let’s just call it what it is, his own family. He makes himself and he makes Steve, and then he thinks making just the two of them is too creepy so he makes a dog, which, coming to think of it, doesn’t really help the newly-weds vibe, but okay.

He gives himself Knowledge aspiration, and after much thought he gives Family to Steve, because Justice For All is not an aspiration and he needs to pick something. He makes himself want to be a mechanic, and he gets Steve into law enforcement, because the lifetime goal Become Captain Hero is too appropriate to resist.

He names the dog Friday, which makes actual Friday lock up the liquor cabinet, saying I think you’ve had enough for tonight, Boss.

He does not start out the game with him and Steve in a relationship, but when he begins playing, all the immediate wishes of Sim Tony are about Steve. Talking to Steve, playing games with Steve, telling Steve a joke. Typical.

Then he clicks on Steve’s wishes, and there it is: Talking to Tony, playing games with Tony, laughing at Tony’s joke.

He clicks on Sim Steve, then clicks on Sim Tony, and sets Sim Steve to “Talk to Tony”.

And so they talk.

If only it were this easy, Tony thinks, clinging to his glass.

The next day, when Steve drops by to train Peter, Tony almost chokes on his coffee out of guilt.

Steve lays one strong, warm hand on his back, looking at him with worried blue eyes. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Tony coughs, managing to swallow another sip. He doesn’t meet Steve’s eyes. “Just, uh, didn’t sleep much last night. Might’ve drifted off while drinking. Hardly the first time that ever happened.”

“Oh,” Steve says, scrutinizing Tony with his gaze. Tony tries his best to not let I made simulated versions of you and me in my computer and I think they’re falling in love show in his expression. “You can’t keep doing this, Tony. It’s not healthy.” And Tony can hear the scowl in his voice, the disapproval. “What if we had a mission?”

The judgment on his face sparks annoyance in Tony’s chest, and he immediately slips away from Steve's touch. “None of your business, Cap.”

Steve’s face shows a glimpse of hurt before closing in an annoyed expression, and Tony turns away and leaves.

When Tony gets back to his lab, he wants to let that anger out. Because who is Steve to touch Tony’s back with that gentle warm hand and stare at him with those blue eyes as he judges Tony’s sleeping habits? No one, that’s who. They’re barely even friends and there Steve is, trying to give him orders, acting like he cares when it's only a moral obligation that makes him worry about whether Tony was sleeping enough or not.

Tony turns on the game. His plan is to build a pool, make Sim Steve go swim, remove the stairs, and then watch as he drowns.

The plan fails, though. Firstly because he gets too distracted building the pool (building stuff is the best aspect of the game, in Tony’s opinion – he, Steve and Friday have the best house of the entire neighborhood), and secondly because, when Sim Steve starts to want to get out of the pool and there are no stairs, Tony can’t help but feel like shit. He can’t do it. Even a bunch of pixels with Steve’s name is enough to make him weak.

So, when Death comes to pick Sim Steve up, Tony sends Sim Tony to bargain with her. He wins, of course, but he was prepared to hack the entire game if he didn’t.

Then Sim Steve comes to thank Sim Tony, and they start talking again, and – okay, it’s a mechanic of the game that sims of the same group will have wishes about each other, Tony gets it, but it still tugs his heartstrings when he sees the line up of Sim Steve’s wishes. It goes: thank Tony, hug Tony, shake Tony’s hand, learn how to make pancakes.

The last one has the positive effect of reminding Tony that this is still a fucking video game, and he’s making starry eyes because a version of Steve he made up likes him.

There’s pathetic, and there’s the level he’s at right now, which Tony suspects is an entirely new category of depressing.

Still, he clicks on Sim Tony, and the wishes are pretty much the same (including the one about pancakes, which reminds Tony he hasn’t taught either of them to cook anything yet, so they’ve been living off cereal and juice boxes). There’s just one difference: In the place where Sim Steve had Thank Tony as a wish, Sim Tony has kiss Steve.

Tony very determinedly breaks the Sims apart and sends them both to read culinary books. He will not go there.

But… It keeps happening. He puts the game on ultra speed and every time he leaves Sim Tony without a command, he wants to do something with Sim Steve; and vice-versa. Sim Steve goes to sleep and a balloon thought with Sim Tony’s face pops up over his head. Tony gets distracted for a moment and they just start dancing together in the living room, to the sound of Bonito.

Tony considers breaking them apart again, but… they look so happy.

And besides, there’s nothing wrong with fulfilling the Sims’ wishes, right? That’s just the goal of the game, after all.

So Tony lets them dance. And when they finish, he makes them talk. And they talk and tell each other jokes and hug each other over and over again until the romantic options show up, and then both of their wishes bars are filled with each other.

Tony makes them flirt – Sim Tony gives Sim Steve a rose, Sim Steve writes a serenade for Sim Tony, and Sim Tony tells Sim Steve a dirty joke. Tony makes them repeat that ad nauseum, even after the “have first kiss with Steve” action appears, because he’s not risking getting rejected in a video game, thank you very much. He makes sure they’re at 100/100 on the relationship bar, and then makes them kiss.

There’s cheesy music, silly animation and little hearts floating everywhere. They kiss some more, and then Sim Steve gets the wish to “Have a serious relationship”, which Tony locks for later (because holy shit, Sim Steve, take it easy, buddy). Then Sim Tony gets the same wish, and that’s when Tony decides that’s enough gaming for the night. He makes the happy couple watch TV and cuddle together, pointedly ignores the balloon thought with the “Woo-hoo” symbol that appears over Sim Tony’s head, and goes to sleep.

read the rest on ao3!

[pigeonplays]

How do you make your cute sims so high def and 3d? Mine look like they been in the dirt or have rash marks. :(

hey anon! this is like the biggest compliment because i really strive for that high def “3d” look!! so the fact you think i achieve that is so nice ;-;

so first of all, I should mention that i have all my graphics are set to ultra (*but with edge smoothing off for reshade purposes) 

Then something that really really helps is my reshade preset. I use this one by @midpoosimmer . I like that one because it gives the textures in my game a matte 3D look.

but if you dont like that reshade, no worries! in my experience it is all about having the right depth of field and mxao settings. I wish i could give advice on that, but I actually understand nothing about reshade so I couldn’t help you out with it. What i would suggest is finding a reshade that has a DOF & mxao that you really love and applying those settings to a reshade that has colors and lighting you really like! (also sidenote here is a preset by @whiisker that has REALLY nice dof & mxao settings!!)

Then I edit!! I use this action set by @sammyshuno​ I use the lighten, camera raw, and adjustments actions. 

Then i like to adjust the curves a little bit to brighten it up since the reshade preset i use is really dark

and then i turn the saturation down by -20

Last, I mess around with Topaz clean to get everything nice and smooth. I kind of mess around with topaz everytime but here are the settings I went with for this photo:

In terms of cropping, I just crop it to the ratio I want. I dont really change the size of the image’s pixels or anything!! 

A couple other tips!! 

I always use the “Ground Traffic Control” lights from city living for my cc preview pics!! i place one on either side of my sim and set one to a warmer color and the other to a cooler color i think it helps create nice mxao shading personally!! 

I also sometimes will maually enhance the highlights on the face as well as darken up under sim’s jawlines, along the edges of hair, etc. which also really helps give that 3d mxao effect I really like. heres a final before and after for yout viewing pleasure:

I know that this was really long!!! I hope is was helpful AT ALL. I know that I just walked through my entire editing process but,, its hard to answer specifically just what helps give a high def 3d look.. becuase i feel like every step i do helps with that? anyways, i hope i helped!!!

[hopeymchope]

Wow! I honestly forgot about Zanki Zero and it’s coming out next month!.!.!.! Honestly I am very tempted to get this game because of my love Danganronpa, besides a random Monokuma, maybe there will be references to the Danganronpa series...but who know unless I play it. Makes me wonder if we’ll ever get another Danganronpa game that is a JRPG or a tournament fighter. You know bring back all our fav characters for more fun. either way I’m gonna look more into Zanki Zero to see if I should get it.

There are definitely some DR-related posters in the environments of the Japanese version, too, but I don’t know if there’s any references in the dialogue; we really only have a full record of visual connections for now.

Granted, ZZ is definitely NOT a Danganronpa game, and some fans of DR might hate this. Even fans of dungeon crawlers might not like the real-time action-y combat here, and survival sims where you have to manage hunger and thirst are annoying to some people. So it’s not gonna be for every fan, but as someone who was made into an intense fan by the qualities of Kodaka’s unique characters above all and, to a slightly lesser degree, his elaborate plotting… I’m anxious to follow him to whatever he writes next. I’m not sure how much being the “Scenario Writer” put his mark on this game, but I’m ready to find out.

I’m still holding out hope for a Danganronpa fighting game, myself, or at least something that comes out of that infamous job posting where Spike Chunsoft was looking for a 3D modeler for a Danganronpa game of some kind.

That posting came along at the very end of 2017, after the Cyber Danganronpa VR demo was already hitting Japan, and that was the most recent thing to use 3D models in a DR product, so… what was it for? Ultra Despair Girls 2? The fighting game? A fully rebuilt VR remake of DR1? Or what?

It’s possible that whatever it was referring to is now dead in the wake of Kodaka’s departure, of course. Maybe they’ll keep the brand retired a bit of time out of respect for him, since he wants to move to other things and is still open to returning to the series in the future… but I don’t know any game company that’d leave a profitable franchise alone for too long. So I don’t particularly subscribe to the theory that DR is just gonna sit there, untouched.

[anthrotographer]

Gamer (2009)

Dir. Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor

If Gamer were a mix of three different movies I think they would be The Purge, Gladiator, and Requiem for a Dream. It has Purge’s exploration of human depravity, Gladiator’s hero that rises out of the exploitative death sport, and Requiem’s deep magnification into the ugliness of our faults. This action movie has cool concepts, the performances are pretty good, and there are inventive aspects to the cinematography and editing. So why doesn’t it work?

Gamer is set in a semi-futuristic world where a new technology has allowed this rich developer Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) to override a humans mind so that their bodies can be controlled by others. He uses this tech first in a game named ‘Society’, where you can control a person like if they were your character in The Sims 3. His next game ‘Slayers’ allows the player to override a death row inmate’s body in a first person shooter, kill or be killed scenario. The public outside of the game is going crazy for this game and it has become a worldwide phenomenon. The uber capitalist Castle is making a fortune off this exploitation. The movie is ultra violent and sexually explicit, to a point of uncomfortably. It’s purposefully ugly to highlight the plight of people like the ‘slayer’ Kable (Gerard Butler) or his wife Angie (Amber Valletta) who has to work in ‘Society’. There are many shaky cam scenes in the battle zone and harsh closeups on characters’ body parts (faces, asses, belly rolls, everything), all to be overbearing to the viewer. It’s an exploitative world and the cinematography reflects that, but there are too many inconsistencies or plain mediocre parts in the movie for all the interesting ideas to work together in a cohesive story.

Gamer suffers from a few too many things that make it feel like it lacked a clear vision. Over explanation is one of them. The characters do a lot of telling, not enough showing. There are parts where we are shown the world, instead of told about it, and these are the best in the whole movie. That’s why Ken Castle, as an example, is so unsettling. Not because he’s written as a weirdo, but because he’s a walking talking cliche. Michael C. Hall is a good actor even in this, but he’s just basically written as Dexter (his most famous role) if Dexter were free to act on his murderous urges and his inner monologues were spoken out loud. Kable and Angie are more subtle characters and so come off as more compelling. This movie wants to point out the ugliness/seriousness of a degrading society, but at the same time has moments of parody and hyperbolic personalities (Ludacris, Simon, Castle, Gina Parker) that undercut the point. For example, we are supposed to be convinced that the reporter, Gina Parker, wants to uncover the dirty truth about Castle’s games. Yet, on her show she plays clips of the unethical games while hyping them up. Her demeanor comes off as someone who is having fun in this world, when her actions show that she’s trying to tear it down. These disparities are prevelant throughout. You ask to many times; Why would he do that? Or Why would that happen?

I like to think that the film was extrapolating what can happen to our world if/when automation creates an employment crisis, and if we allow predatory capitalism to dominate our society. In Gamer’s not so distant future, 2010, the people who volunteer to work in the ‘Society’ game are the people who are the most desperate to pay the bills. Banking on the fact that there are not going to be good jobs for a lot of people, the company is able to use people as toys in a sadistic game. It’s an intriguing idea that can be seen as a danger of where we can be heading or an exaggeration of pieces of our existing culture where we exploit people and violence for monetized entertainment, e.g; Footballplayers who get untreated and unacknowledged brain damage, violent media, etc. Also, the film has an underlying theme about the disassociation that virtual reality can cause. There can be a point when we get numb enough to it all that some people find pleasure in the exploitation of others, because of the disconnect between the simulated & real worlds. The images evoke these certain thoughts, but unfortunately the story is too disjointed to feel like it knows what it’s trying to say.

P.S. I recognize The Purge series started after Gamer came out, I was just referring to the certain theme that both films explore.

P.S. (2) The movie is simply worth seeing for the random scene of Michael C. Hall doing a dance number to Sammy Davis Jr.’s song ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’.

[knotty-hottie]

@alycat919 So, we haven’t talked before, but your post in the Ouran High School Host Club tag reminded me of my final paper for my Gender/Women Studies and I thought I’d share it. I promise I’m not tagging for drama, but just because I wanted to thank you for reminding me. It was a lot of fun to write a research paper about my first anime, and, despite the negativity I talk about in the paper, it’s still a personal fave of mine. You’re free to scroll past this if you aren’t interested, or to engage if you are. I just want to share the work I’ve done with the fandom I’ve explored. 😁

Ouran High School Host Club: Rich in Benevolent Sexism and Rape Culture

He pinned her against the bed, looming above her like a wild beast. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide, her nightgown bunched, her breath caught in her chest. The two stared at each other, like predator and prey, for a split second that felt like an eternity. He opened his mouth, and spoke, surely, calmly.

“You should fix that, ‘being a guy or girl doesn’t matter’ naivety of yours. It’s your fault for being too defenceless.”

It may sound like something from a badly written smut piece, or the rape fantasy of a young person, but in Ouran High School Host Club, this is the reality of our heroine, Haruhi Fujioka. She is a ‘commoner’ (lower middle class) student at a school for Japan’s most elite, having gotten in on a scholarship. After an incident involving her stumbling into an occupied music room in search of a study place, a vase worth ¥8,000,000 (equal to approximately $73,000 in today’s United States dollars), and some classic anime tropes, she ends up as a member of the school’s host club. The series itself describes the host club as “[The place] where the school’s handsomest boys with too much time on their hands entertain young ladies who also have way too much time on their hands. Just think of it as Ouran’s elegant playground for the super rich and beautiful.” The series is one of the most famous of all time in the anime community, coming in at spot 20 out of the top 50 most popular anime of all time on the Anime News Network. On SBS, Ouran came in at spot 40 on a fan-voted poll for best anime of all time. On Funimation (the anime’s publisher site) and Crunchyroll (one of the most popular anime streaming sites of today’s day and age) Ouran comes in at 5 stars. It’s a well known, well liked piece of media, that has earned itself an anime adaptation from its manga origin, a dating simulator from its anime adaptation, and a live action reboot based on all three of the previous iterations. Yet, somehow, underneath all of the things to like, there’s a dark underbelly that many willfully ignore or are just plain unaware of. The series perpetuates gender roles, rape culture, and some not-so-subtle homophobia. The way that it gets away with these things is by portraying them through the lens of benevolent sexism, which catches readers, watchers, and players alike off-guard.

Benevolent sexism falls under the larger umbrella of ambivalent sexism, which is divided into two main categories. The first category is hostile sexism, which is what most people think of when they try and imagine sexism. It is described by Dictionary.com as, “[sexism] reflecting negative views of women who challenge traditional gender roles.” It is the toxic, hypermasculinized form of sexism that many are taught to look for. It is the comments of, “You aren’t a real woman if your hair is short like that,” and, “Women are dumber than men.” On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the idea of benevolent sexism. Rather than comments of, “Women are weaker than men, making them inferior,” we hear the benevolent sexist say, “Men should protect women, as it’s the right thing to do.” It’s those moments where women are told they look better when they smile, or are in dresses, or have children in arm. The words are complementary and polite, but they hold the same message as those negative comments of the hostile sexist. Ouran works carefully to craft its message so that it doesn’t insult its main fan base (young women), while still getting its message across. For example, there’s the character of Renge Houshakuji.

Renge first appears in the manga in ‘Episode 3’ and in episode 4 of the anime adaptation. She is what is known as an otaku, which, in modern culture, refers to someone obsessed with some aspect of pop culture (whether that be video games, anime, movies, etc.) to the point that their social life suffers. In Japan, the word has become a word similar to our ‘nerd’ or ‘geek’. In American culture, the word is considered derogatory, and usually falls in line with words like ‘weeaboo’ and ‘wapanese’. Renge wholeheartedly accepts her otaku status, locking herself in her room to do what she enjoys most; playing dating sims. After a turn of events, she ends up at the Host Club, believing that she is in love with Kyouya Ootori, a host who looks identical to one of her favorite characters. After she reveals that this is why she likes Kyouya, she is bashed for her hobbies and considered crazy. The moment her hobbies come to light, they are painted as wrong and she is vilified, even though her male counterparts are considered just and right in there own hobbies. When Hani, one of the hosts, is depicted as morally correct for acknowledging that he is allowed to like the color pink and cute things rather than martial arts. Renge is one of the few female characters in the show that is depicted as having personality traits outside of, “infatuated with handsome boys” and “ultra feminine”, yet she is considered “crazy” for expressing those outside traits. It isn’t that she isn’t traditionally feminine, but that she has more to her character than that, much to the dismay of her male counterparts. She has her own hobbies and ideas. She knows exactly what she wants and goes for it. Even if her methods are questionable and a bit on the stereotypically crazy side, she still goes after her aspirations.

When Tamaki, one of the main characters of the show, greets and flirtily welcomes Renge to the club, she flinches away at his nonconsensual touch. She seems shell-shocked, blushing in what seems like embarrassment. After she comes to terms with him touching her face without permission, she slaps him, calling him a phony (among other insults), and leaving him emotionally beaten before going to Kyouya, the one she really wants. She decides to reinvent the Host Club’s characters in order to help Kyouya make more money, which should, she believes, make him fall in love with her the way she loves him. She is shown to get her ‘comeuppance,’ in a sense, when everything she goes for backfires. Kyouya reveals that he does not like her, she nearly ends up hurt, and she is told that she must take her time and learn about others in order to have a good relationship of any kind. When you come into relationships expecting someone to act a certain way, you are harming your chances of a healthy relationship. The message is good, but Renge’s fate is not quite as nice. She becomes a frequent background character, used for exposition, cheap plot device, and/or the voice of the fawning fan girls. The closest we get to her personal hobbies is the fact that she sometimes cosplays and, if we’re lucky, hear her talk about them for five or so seconds.

Another example of women in the show comes in the form of Benio Amakusa and the rest of the Zuka Club. In the third book of the series, specifically in ‘Episode 10’, we are introduced to Benio. She is dressed in the men’s uniform, has short hair, and is openly flirtatious with Haruhi, acknowledging Haruhi’s sex publicly to the Host Club’s dismay. Once Benio and company reveal to the hosts that they are, in fact, women, Tamaki labels them all as lesbians. All three do end up showing attraction of some sort to women, but the fact that he labels them all as such simply because one is shown to enjoy dressing in the men’s uniform and having short hair is a disturbing thought in and of itself. Tamaki sees that one is a lesbian, and begins making assumptions about their collective character based on that assumption. He goes so far as to pass out in shock at the presence of lesbians, and, once he awakens, says the following to the three Lobelia Woman’s Academy members; “You girls are all wrong!! What can come from a woman loving a woman!? Why did God create Adam and Eve, if not--!” He’s cut off before he can finish the thought, much to the LGBT+ community’s pleasure. Much to the community’s displeasure, however, is the imagery used in the anime to depict lesbians as nazis, having them do the nazi salute to a flag labeled “women”. Back to the plot, once he believes that he might lose Haruhi to this all-girl’s academy, he has some of his fellow hosts dress in exaggerated womanly clothing and wigs so that she can have ‘the best of both worlds,’ so to speak. The hosts think that, if they act ‘womanly’ enough, they will be a satisfactory replacement. Haruhi proceeds to explain that she had never even considered going with the girls, as her home was with the hosts. The Lobelia girls promise their revenge in a seemingly silly and typical manner.

In the only other episode that the Lobelia girls show themselves in, we get to see them kidnap Haruhi and, under the guise of needing Haruhi to perform, trick her into a situation that would lead to a non-consensual kiss in front of a large crowd, if not do more to her. When you watch the show, there doesn’t seem to be much going on aside from a silly and ridiculous plan that some rich lesbians are pulling to get revenge on the ‘noble and correct’ Host Club. When you really think about what’s happening though, it’s scary. They kidnap someone. They nearly sexually assault someone. What does it say that there only true gay representation resorts to these tactics when they are previously thwarted? The girls are basically degraded to recurring villains with silly beliefs, antics, and existences. Why is that?

In volume 5 of the manga, ‘Episode 17,’ we get exposed to Ayame Jonouchi, who is entirely skipped over in the anime. She makes a return in the live action series, however, holding her own arc in the third episode of the series. She’s incredibly intelligent, notably attractive, and, according to the hosts, a monotone speaker. They even go so far as to call her, “Miss Morse” and “Morse Code Lady” at one point. She is described as scholarly looking and strait-laced, and holds a major grades complex. The last of those points explains why she has always been in the top two of her classes grading system, holding the second place position hostage directly under the Host Club’s Kyouya Ootori. Once Tamaki transfers to Ouran, however, she gets knocked down to third, much to her displeasure. She becomes a foil for Tamaki in a sense, showing that her struggle and constant practice to gain knowledge will never be enough to beat the natural tendencies of her male counterparts. After checking the traditional genders of all of the names listed on the sheet for her class, I discovered that there was only one other girl on the page. Her position? Seventh place.

Ayame’s tale’s conclusion is a little bit painful to watch, as it is near a cliche at this point. It turns out that she actually loved Tamaki for a certain comment he made about her straight hair during their first meeting. Her hair is naturally wavy, leading to her having self-image issues in the face of her crush that lead her grades to drop just enough for Tamaki to take her spot. Her wavy hair being exposed by the rain, a breakdown of frustration, and a few compliments from Tamaki later, she discovers that she is beautiful no matter how she looks on the outside, and becomes a regular customer of Tamaki’s. She is petite, cisgender, heterosexual, and pale. The only reason we know that she continues attending the Host Club is because it is literally written into the final panels of the chapter. We never actually see her again in either rendition of the story.

The most famous ‘woman’ in all renditions of Ouran High School Host Club is Haruhi Fujioka. She is a first semester high school student. She is of the lower middle class. She lives with her father that, in every rendition of the story, is called a ‘tranny’ who works at the local ‘tranny bar’ (rather than addressing him as a drag queen at a drag bar). Her mother was a lawyer before her passing. She is attending Ouran Academy on a scholarship. Her hair is short, she needs glasses, and she can’t afford a uniform. She wears her father’s hand-me-down clothes and her grandfather’s hand-me-down glasses to save money. She’s blunt, book smart, and open minded. She’s a lot of things, but, somehow, she gets some of the worst treatment of the series. She is the reader’s insight into the author’s world; the character being exposed for expositional purposes, so to speak. For the sake of brevity, let’s walk through some key episodes of the anime (which is the story’s most well-known adaptation) and talk about what goes wrong in each one.

In the first episode of the series, “Starting Today, You Are a Host!”, we are introduced to Haruhi Fujioka, the protagonist of the story, who is simply looking for a quiet place to study, and, by mistake, stumbles across a club room in use by Ouran Academy’s Host Club. The members (specifically Tamaki, the series’ largest offender) proceed to insult Haruhi on monetary grounds, insert themselves into her personal space, and assume her gender identity and sexuality. After Haruhi drops an 8 million yen vase, the hosts (again, primarily Tamaki) begin to call Haruhi a dog and basically use her as a servant/errand runner. At one point, Tamaki calls Haruhi a ‘piglet’ in reference to her poor ‘servant’ status putting her beneath him. Later in the episode, Haruhi is revealed to be conventionally attractive, her wants are ignored as the hosts makeover her. Her hair is cut, a uniform is bought, and contacts are put in to make her fit the traditionally beauty standards of manhood (as, for the moment, some of the hosts are under the ruse that she is, in fact, biologically male and cisgender). Once this happens, all who attend the host club seem to treat Haruhi better. She is talked to by girls (which, many argue, is understandable, as she is now a host. My counter-argument is that the girls had to request Haruhi in the first place, something they likely would not have done before Haruhi’s involuntary makeover) and the hosts begin paying her real attention. Tamaki begins claiming Haruhi as ‘his own’ to other people, signalling that, to him, attractiveness is the primary trait that is needed to be on the same level as him, personality be damned. He also proceeds to invade her personal space without consent, which leads to her calling on Mori (another host) for assistance.

Once we hit the final moments of the episode, we find that Haruhi has gone to a changing room as her uniform has been soaked in the events of the episode’s climax. Tamaki, yet again invading personal space without consent, walks in with little to no warning on Haruhi changing, discovering her sex is female. He is shocked and embarrassed, reacting in a seemingly cute way to the discovery. Kyouya eventually comments on the predicament, laying out on the table the true message of the episode. “Could this possibly be the beginnings of love?” he asks the viewer, turning to the camera. He wipes over all of the harassment Tamaki has done to Haruhi, ignores what she really wants in the moment, and waters her character down to ‘love interest’. She is the pretty, feminine foil to Tamaki’s handsome, ‘persistent’ (read as; incessant harassment) personality. They are clearly ‘meant to be together,’ and the show makes it clear in that moment that they will be together whether she wants to be or not as the men in her life see it that way.

In the eighth episode, “The Sun, The Sea, and The Host Club!”, we find the most controversial scene of the series. Before we can get to that, however, we need to walk through the circumstances that lead us to it. The Host Club is on a trip to the beach (after all the men in Haruhi’s life argue about which swimsuit she should wear, of course), and the male hosts decide to figure out what Haruhi is afraid of via a game. The game is that whoever finds out what Haruhi is most afraid of gets pictures (taken and supplied by Haruhi’s father) of Haruhi in middle school (the more I rewatch these episodes, the more creepy things I realize are in them). After a long day with no results, Haruhi gets called up upon an overlook by some of the Host Club’s guests. As she makes her way up to spend time with them, some drunk men beat her there and begin harassing the guests. They grab the girls, asking them if it’s dull without any boys around and ignoring the girls’ pleas to stop. Haruhi, arriving upon the scene, throws a bucket of shells at one of the offenders, calmly asking them to go away. She stands her ground when one of them attacks back, allowing for one of the girls they were harassing to get away at her own expense. After some verbal abuse, Haruhi is thrown off the overlook into the water below, where Tamaki immediately goes in after her. The other hosts handle the assaulters, and, once Haruhi is proven to be safe, the berating begins. “Are you one of those?” asks Tamaki. “Actually a martial arts master, like Honey-senpai?” He grabs her, and goes on. “How could you think that you, a girl, by yourself, could do anything about those boys?!” After Haruhi explains that her actions were a split second decision and she didn’t have time to think, he yells at her, “Well, think about it, you idiot! You are a girl!”

Tamaki and the rest of the male hosts seem to be on the same page, insisting that Haruhi needs to apologize for her actions. Haruhi, on the other hand, does not see any wrong in what she did, which leads to some friction between herself and Tamaki. The two refuse to speak to each other until one apologizes to the other. At dinner, to avoid talking, Haruhi overeats to the point of making herself sick, which she notices only after being chastised again by the hosts sans Tamaki and Kyouya for her actions. After they request an apology from her, she finds that she needs to empty her stomach’s contents and runs to the nearest bedroom. She finds out that the room is, in fact, Kyouya’s, and that the two of them are now alone, prompting the series’s most controversial scene. Fans sometimes call it, “The Scene in the Dark.”

Haruhi apologizes to Kyouya on multiple grounds as he takes the time to lay out all the hassle she has caused him. When Haruhi offers to pay him back, he points out that he has far more money than her and that she is already in debt. He turns down the lights as he lays out her dilemma and brings up a new solution as he leers at her; why doesn’t she pay him back using her body? While she stands there, attempting to process what he’s said, Kyouya takes action. He grabs her arm. He throws her upon the bed. He straddles her, pins her to the bed, and tells her, bluntly, “You should rethink your own gullibility, that things have nothing to do with a person being a guy or a girl. You’ve made a mistake in leaving yourself so open.” He looks her in the eye and, in simple terms, lays out that he could take her. He has more money, more power, and, most prominently, a penis. Haruhi says that he is bluffing, and, luckily, he was. He gets off of her, and she comments that he is “nicer than she thought” for the experience he’s provided. Bisco Hatori, the creator of Ouran, drives home her message bluntly. Women are weak and should be protected by the men in their lives. They should be passive and, if they fail to be such, should immediately apologize. If a man decides to not sexually assault or rape you, he is nice. You should be thankful that he has the courtesy to not sexually abuse you. It’s legitimately terrifying that this is the message that is being sent out.

As salt in the wound, the very next scene is with Tamaki and Haruhi, with the latter cast as a scared little girl in the damsel in distress trope. She hides herself in the closet, curled in a ball, as the audience and Tamaki discover that Haruhi is scared of thunderstorms! She explains that she has always had to rely on herself as her mother is dead and her dad is constantly working. In response, Tamaki promises to take care of her from now on, she seems to come to a silent agreement to lean on the men in her life more, and the two have an emotional make up moment. Haruhi gets love and support from her friends again once she begins to lean on the men in her life and accept the help. I’ve seen other people argue that the message of the episode is that everyone needs to rely on others sometimes, which is a fair argument, but I can’t bring myself to agree the more I look at it. If it’s just about relying on others, why is there the scared little girl imagery? Why do they even emphasize Haruhi’s sex at all in this scenario if it’s not about that? Hatori knew what she was writing, and the message she sent out. She had a plethora of other ways to explore this theme, and she wouldn’t have written it this way unless she meant for it to be taken in a gender-biased manner.

I could go on, but I feel that I’ve explained my stance on the matter. Ouran High School Host Club is a classic anime in the anime community. A lot of people I know and that I’ve heard from in my life grew up with the show, and some still seek a romantic partner like one of the hosts. In all of the series’s adaptations, we find that certain themes remain prevalent. Women are meant to be pretty, submissive things that are interested in their male counterparts at all times. If you have your own interests, you are obsessive and crazy. If you like the same sex, you are against men. If you take a leadership position, you’re a nag. If you stand for what you think is right, you are a bother to the men around you. It’s scarily similar to what I’ve seen on social media. If you talk about sex too much, you’re a slut. If you talk about sex too little, you’re a prude. If you are too skinny, you’re on drugs, too fat, you have no impulse control. It seems that there is no ‘right’ woman to possibly be, in the fantasy that is Ouran or in the reality we face daily. We can only hope that, someday in the future, we can look back at Ouran and unanimously see it for what it is; a romanticized sexist daydream disguised as a teenage anime romantic comedy.

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