#catch me caring about the most random npcs like it's my job!!!!!!

[quilfish-swan]

anyone else a big fan of the gendou ringo quest in genshin impact.

[image id: colored digital sketch of two genshin impact npcs standing back to back. the first is lyudochka snezhevna with a wide-eyed expression, in her fatui uniform and holding a knife behind her back. the second is momoyo in her shrine maiden outfit with her hands in her sleeves, looking sideways at lyudochka. the coloring is mostly red, with grayish brown shadows. /end id.]

[tigerdrop]

Cringe is dead, talk to me about the funny half-life men and their relationship

okay here is my essay. it is titled These Guys Actually Like Each Other, and Gordon Freeman Is Just Kind Of A Dick*

(disclaimer: these are just my 2 cents. dont take me too seriously! im just some guy online who has watched this shit too many times.)

first things first. these guys actually like each other. this is a key aspect of their relationship. benrey, obviously and textually, digs gordon freeman - you dont flirt that heavily with guys you arent into, and so much of what he says and does is geared around making gordon crack up. thats pretty gay.

but the counterpart to this is that gordon freemans pretty fucking gay for benrey, too. you may say, “oh, but word of god says its not requited!” and to you i will say: bull shit. gordon is uniquely obsessed with benrey compared to all the other characters. if gordon didnt like the fucking guy, he wouldnt giggle with him and share in-jokes with him and bring him up every 5 seconds when benreys not around. thats concern, bro. thats worry. thats real shit

but i cant blame people for thinking that gordon freeman genuinely doesnt like benrey. benreys partially responsible for some of the worst things that have happened to him, the Arm Thing among them. and gordons very insistent afterward that he doesnt like benrey. he even goes so far as to try to kill benrey a couple times. to this, i must argue that gordon freeman is just kind of a dick.

lets talk facts here. canon. Lore. from the moment we hop into gordons shoes, we can see that he is a jerk to every npc on his way into black mesa. this is his default: a dude who just runs his mouth and says rude shit. he calls tommy a freak within 5 minutes of meeting him. he infantilizes the guy and barely considers him a real scientist. he doubts that bubby is a real name for like no fuckin reason. in “real life”, this is because its funny, and wayne is trying to make a funny half-life stream. in a textual sense, this is because gordon “hlvrai” freeman is a dick. this is the way he acts, consistently, throughout the series.

(brief aside: this is why the whole “gordon is a nice guy and a great dad” characterization baffles me. the way he actually acts in canon is, in short, bitchy and lacking in self-awareness. and i love that for him, i really do. it makes the moments where he just tries to be a nice guy stand out. but thats the thing: his intermittent moments of decency and kindness are not the whole of his personality! this dude kind of sucks most of the time!)

the way that gordons general asshole attitude extends to benrey is complicated. in fairness, benrey makes it his job to annoy the shit out of gordon as much as possible, and that warrants a negative attitude, but gordons pretty paranoid and ends up blaming benrey for nearly everything that happens to him, regardless of if its warranted. this is a pattern he exhibits both before and after the Arm Thing. its a little bit of a dick move! especially considering that, prior to the whole “betrayal” subplot (which was not exactly planned very far in advance), benrey is no more malicious or annoying than anybody else gordons having to travel with.

(okay, this is kind of a subjective evaluation, but still. my point stands that benrey is not any more of a hindrance to his progress than anybody else in the science crew, and neither is he particularly more violent or murderous. hell, gordon freeman has probably killed more guys than benrey. benrey just tends to get.......special treatment.)

all that said, i am still convinced that gordon really fucking likes benrey. please consider with me the following: it would be remarkably easy for gordon to just ignore him and do what he has to do, but he doesnt. he could stop engaging. he could stop thinking about benrey. he could stop bringing benrey up to the rest of the crew every time benrey leaves to do his own thing for awhile. but he doesnt. and, again, yeah, the extra-textual reason for this is “two guys are doing an improv comedy thing and bouncing off of scorpy is kind of the point”, but within the text it reads to me as gordon not being about to get the dude off his mind.

and this is in addition to all the times we see gordon being genuinely nice and receptive toward benrey! its in the little things: laughing the hardest and longest at benreys jokes. only ever reciprocating that stupid underwater “BBBBB” thing with benrey. trying to catch benrey when he falls, despite his insistence moments earlier that benrey should hop in the wack ass crystal generator and get hypermurdered. fondly remarking that benreys sweet voice sounds beautiful. his sort of flustered responses to most of benreys overt flirting. none of this is the way normal people react to a guy they hate. this is all fuckin gay to me, man.

its this combination of the outward insistence that gordon hates benrey with his inner eagerness to be around him and think about him and engage with him that gives off strong “repression” vibes, to me. for whatever reason - pride, embarrassment, resentment - gordon maintains a front of hating the guy and wanting to kill him for a lot of the series, but it doesnt gel with the way he fucking giggles and plays along half the time that benrey starts fucking with him. its a game, and that game is one of the only ways gordon knows to manifest affection for him.

(remember “oh my god, hes got a knife!”? that was the gayest shit i ever seen in my life. tittering like a schoolgirl while benrey chases him around like “im gonna get you haha”. insanity.)

the cool thing about repression is that you can have it manifest in a lot of ways! and this is where things like “headcanons” and “my own personal affection for repressed bisexual men” come in. a lot of how i characterize their relationship is an extrapolation of a lot of things like gordons canonical insecurity issues/anxiety, gordons whole anti-bootboy thing screaming “internet wokeboy who means well but probably has a lot of repressed baggage” to me, etc.

how do you get massive amounts of sexual repression out of what you see in canon, you might ask? well. if wayne would stop having gordon talking about being jerked off by the suit, or talking about chugging a 40-gal drum of potion and having to hold his piss, or worrying about being eaten by benrey the moment he sees benrey at setscale 10, maybe i would have a higher opinion of gordon “hlvrai” freeman and whatever latent psychosexual issues hes got going on. but here we are

i havent even touched yet upon how benrey feels about gordon. this one is helpfully made a little more plain by the fact that benrey very much wants to suck his dick in canon. (i dont even have to go into details. we all know.) but IMO the best part about this ship isnt just that they dig each other, but how. benrey gets overtly flirtatious in the second half of the series, but IMO his preferred method of flirting is just fucking with gordon: chasing him with knives, shoving him around in a bathroom, trying to get scans of his feet. but all in like a slapstick, giggly, fun-and-games sense, you know? at least when it works.

a lot of the time, though, it doesnt work out that way. he clearly just likes doing it whether or not gordon responds positively. which is, you know, Weird. not very nice. but also in line with the way everybody else treats gordon freeman. gordons kind of the universes chew toy in any given universe, and the same holds true here. hes kind of helpless......subjected to 4 demons attempting to make his life as difficult as possible. in a way its cathartic.

sorry. i got sidetracked. anyway, benrey very much likes to mess with him and unnerve him and demean him and i will be perfectly frank with you: that is hot. i have problems and illnesses and one of them is that i am a masochist who goes crazy for that kind of thing. calling gordon a “dirty lil boy” and telling him to “look at the mess [he] made” is some straight up kink scene shit.

i like to imagine that a lot of this behavior isnt caused just by the guy who played him wanting to be funny and antagonistic, but by benrey as a character not really understanding what constitutes “pushing a joke too far”. hes not human, and whatever he is doesnt have a very normative way of understanding the world around him, full of people who actually get hurt for real and die for real. benrey expresses what seems to be genuine surprise and distress after the Arm Thing, as if he didnt know that his actions would have serious consequences. and it doesnt seem to fully sink in afterward, either.

it reads a lot to me like hes used to video game rules and treating people around him like NPCs. if they get hurt, its no big deal, because its not real. he likes jamming random buttons on gordons interface and seeing what comes out. its probably a lot of fun for him, the same way that seeing a streamer or a youtuber suffer for our amusement is fun. its like, you know, in my opinion, gordons very cute when hes frazzled. hes also cute when hes laughing. pushing gordons buttons has a 50/50 chance of either of these things. and this is how he ultimately flirts with gordon: by pulling his pigtails.

but at the same time, benrey does legit care about gordon and knows some boundaries. benreys the one most often shooting at enemies to protect gordon, and he spent most of the last act trying to convince gordon to turn around and not fight him because they were friends (best friends, to be specific). he just lacks a lot of the emotional intelligence it would take to express the feeling of “he digs gordon and likes seeing his face get all red and sweaty regardless of the cause”. and gordon lacks the emotional intelligence it would take to express the fact that he doesnt know if he likes or hates benrey and hes scared as hell that its the former

because, lets be real. unironic benrey-liking is a sign of problems disorder. just look at all these words ive written about it.

can you imagine? this bizarrely powerful, non-human entity that can shrug off gunfire and grow to the size of a building has decided that youre his new plaything. benreys the bored guy booting up skyrim and fucking around in the console, and gordons the hapless favorite follower that hes taken a liking to. its a really fun dynamic IMO

after all this, its safe to say my title is a little misleading. the asterisk stands for * and So Is Benrey, Actually. they are both kind of awful dudes who thrive off of teasing each other and they deserve each other. and i am crazy about it. thank u for coming to my TED talk

[lemystical-puffle]

A3! Isekai AU Character roles

okay okay last post on this I swear (I don’t swear)

with help from the lovely @a3shitposter, We now have the main cast.

The Au consists of mainly Autumn troupe + Izumi, with some NPC’s. This may change in the future

keep in mind the characters general personalities are still the same, this is just AU background

Izumi Tachibana: The protagonist. Was just a patron at a restaurant in Vuledo Way before dying in an armed robbery. Was reborn as the Queen of the kingdom (insert some random kingdom name here) of mother of the story’s main love interest. In the original story, the parents die when the child turns 5 which becomes a big turning point in his life and helps him become the edgy protagonist all self inserts love. Currently has all memories of her past life and believes the best way for her to live is to stay without child

Sakyo Furuichi: Another protagonist, he was just going to watch a stage play where he ran into his former childhood best friend and first crush Izumi, and the two went to dinner to catch up and died trying to protect her during the previously mentioned armed robbery. Was reincarnated as Izumi’s husband, King of unnamed kingdom, and the future father of the protagonist. However, after his reincarnation he lost all memories of his previous life, and had them replaced with newly formed memories to fit his new surroundings. As far as he is concerned, he and Izumi have been married for 4 years now, and man does he want a child *See my Sakyo finds domesticity sexy* post*. 

Banri Settsu: Head knight, earned the title completely on accident and now flaunts it whenever he has the chance. Like everyone else, he had been reincarnated during the robbery. He had actually been right outside the building trying to pick a fight with Juza who just wanted something to eat, and ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. He usually abuses his power by using his title as an excuse to eavesdrop on whatever drama is going on with Juza, and makes a lot of comedic commentary. Doesn’t have memories.

Juza Hyodo: Juza is the straight man to the Juban comedy duo, he being another knight who usually sticks with Banri to keep him out of trouble. He blackmails Banri a lot, threatening to tell their employer, or just spill to Sakyo, what Banri has been doing but stays quiet in exchange for Banri making snack runs for him. He’s overall just done with everyones crap. Doesn’t have memories but can faintly remember the idea of having a younger brother, and will flinch whenever he hears someone call him “big brother.” Oh also Banri x Juza is heavily implied

Omi Fushimi: Omi had been working part time at the restaurant to raise money for a new camera when he ended up in the same situation as everyone else. He works as a chef in the castle and spends his time off with Taichi, just chatting and getting that hot gossip *tm* until it’s time to get working again. He is still a total mom though, after many times comforting a distressed Izumi and caring for Taichi. Just like everyone else, he has no memories of his past life.

Taichi Nanao: Taichi Nanao was, just like the others, at the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up dying and reincarnated as a butler in training. Why was he a butler? Cause he become a butler? Because of the faint memory of high school girls simping over stoic edgy dark haired butler characters (it’s me, I’m girls). That said, he isn’t very good at his job. He always barges in during awkward of emotional moments on accident and is overall just a comedic wreck, but we still love him. He loves hanging around Banri and Juza and seeing them banter, or avoiding work by hiding in the kitchen and talking to Omi.

Azami Izumida: Azami enters the story halfway through, dying in a way unrelated to everyone else. But what is he revived as? The prince that Izumi and Sakyo were meant to give birth too. Azami had first been reincarnated as just some poor homeless child, but still has all of his memories of his past life (making him and Izumi the only ones with memories). Sakyo finds Azami and seeing him sparks something in his mind and he feels compelled to take Azami in and raise him. Azami only goes with because he’s in this strange world and Sakyo is the only person he somewhat recognizes. Izumi flips out because all the work she had put in not not dying seemed to have gone down the drain, and she and Azami team up to work together and keep anyone from dying and get home (keep in mind she didn’t know Azami prior. He introduced himself to her). Azami and Sakyo’s relationship mirrors the one they currently have. He really doesn’t want to be some edgy love interest, so he spends most of his time arguing with Sakyo about he doesn’t want to be hecking adopted, while Sakyo is just “You’re going to let me hecking love you or so help me I will murder someone.”

-Thats all!!! Thank you for reading! I really really love this AU and I am so happy that you all seem to love it too! I may hold off on posting about it though because I won’t want to overkill it and have people lose interest or only expect this content from me, but we’ll just see what happens! :), again, if you have anything to add, this is a completely open AU and I absolutely love anything anyone contributes to it!-

[thewolfisawake]

The Tales series if you haven't gotten it already

Favorite character:

Undeniably goes to Yuri and Velvet. What can I say? I’m into the dark-haired protagonists that ‘aren’t like the others.’ I can get onboard with why they come to the conclusions they do even if I don’t think it’s write. With Yuri, I admire the ability to do when others cannot. And can’t deny, he made me laugh the most with his sense of sarcasm and panache. Plus that voice...Troy Baker, they did you dirty. Meanwhile with Velvet I was like ‘yes, let’s be married in this quaint little town together’ in the beginning. She was just cute. Then it became attraction of ‘I don’t give a damn what happens to this world so long as I get what I want’ and ferocity. 

Least Favorite character:

Emeraude. Like what the fuck is your problem lady? You’re getting jealous of a child. Your feelings towards someone should be directed towards that person, not abusing some third-party that doesn’t even understand what you two have going on. 

Cumore. Fuck him too. For a side character that you don’t even really fight, he’s a real ass that his death was catharsis. Pure catharsis. There was no a single moment that he showed any redemption. He was a cruel bastard that held no regard for human life. He was willing to make excuses for anyone under him to get in trouble. He lied to people to enslave them and work them to death. He dragged people into the desert to look for an impossible item and left them without resources to die. Fuck him so much. He might’ve been cartoonishly evil compared to some not nice guys but those actions translate to atrocities. 

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

Selfish Coexistence (Basically the Berseria Party) - Their relationships seem so hard to define to me as they all use each other for various reasons. They also seem to develop care through their selfishness and all of the either are like *shrug* guess we’re doing this now or ‘what is this I’m feeling?’ ‘emotions?’ ‘disgusting.’ There’s an understood protection amongst all of them and then a fierce rationalization for their action rather than saying ‘because I like you okay!’ They’re very smart yet they’re all dumbasses and I love them all.

Ludju - You know what’s better than one adorkable dumbass? Two adorkable dumbasses. I like Ludger and Jude’s relation better than any I have unlocked during the story. Jude by nature is very caring but it just is different with Ludger? Main thing I can note is that Jude touches Ludger a lot. Like a firm, ‘I’m right here’ shoulder touch. A nudge in the arm. Catching when about to faint. And I just don’t see Jude do the same with anyone in his party in either game.  I just find their interactions from the extra scenes are really cute.

 Velvet/Niko - “If you were a boy, I think I’d be in love.” Gurl she don’t have to be a boy to kiss fall in love. Shipping a Main Character with an NPC? Is it madness? Absolutely. But I had feelings about that from the very beginning. Like this could’ve been so fucking sweet. Could’ve had it all. And then the Advent happened. 

Alvin/Presa - Oh man. Ooooh man. This was just a curiosity on the way of Tale’s of Xillia’s path. Like it was a lady that lent to Alvin’s skeevy or ladykiller vibe he gave off. And it was like was she just a jilted one-time or something else? And the answer seemed like ‘something else’ but didn’t know what. It was a little ‘wonder how that went...’ Then you do Tales of Xillia 2 and I thought I was wrecked. Because it reframes so much of their interaction to a really sad relationship that fell apart because Alvin was a coward. 

Flynn/Yuri/Judith - Haha! Didn’t expect the end part of this one did you? I think everyone knew I liked Fluri. Like their dynamics are so interesting. But I really do enjoy Judy being involved. I’m really sad that Judy and Flynn don’t get much interaction even in the PS3 version but I don’t find it hard for them to get along. But I do usually see that more times it’s Flynn and Judy dating Yuri and their relationship changes over time.  They can scrap together, they can travel together, and not needing as much talking to get what anyone means. I find it hard to describe this one but I feel it. 

Character I find most attractive:

Yuri and Velvet are like the reflexive thoughts. But I actually really also like Jude and Judy. I mean look at this cute little nerd, he’s adorable! And then there’s hot elf lady that she could kick me in the face and I’d thank her. In general you can probably guess my type from those four.

Character I would marry:

Probably Yuri. I’m sorry that this is my answer to so many but he is like my type to a T and it’s just ruined so many standards for me. Like a funny guy that is good at cooking (and has a sweet tooth!) and can go venturing with? What else is there? I mean yeah there’s the hair and voice but that’s like given. But yeah, I’m a basic bitch with that.

Character I would be best friends with:

Eizen, if that’s a bit surprising. Sure he’s a bit of an edgelord but I feel like I’ve never left it so he’s already doing better than I. But I like the idea of sailing on the ship with him there, probably not gonna be able to let me struggle for that long. He’s funny with a dry sense of humor to me and also he’s a low-key nerd that knows a lot of things and likes finding new and interesting things. So yeah. 

And as much as I give shit about him, I actually think I would be friends with Sorey. He’s the kind of excitable that makes others excited and that’s kind of what I do. So we’d kind of excite each other. And so long as it’s not spelunking, I’m down for going exploring. 

a random thought:

What defenses occur with the end of blastia? Barriers were what repelled monsters from most of the inhabited areas in Terca Lumireis. Dahngrest and Zaphias look to have fortresses that can hold back most land beasts. But there are other places. What stops the monsters now? Will they go towards more mana based works? 

Also, someone also mentioned, does ANYONE know how to do medical work? Like actually patching up injuries? How to care for someone in sickness? Healing artes were what were used! They can’t use blastia anymore! What happens now?

Can there be a history of how things changed from Berseria to Zestiria? Mainly the shifting of how malevolence works from turning people to reflect their sinister nature to straight up monsters with no sense? How the Shepherd thing went to include the malak as much as it does. The change from malak to seraphim. Just...how did we geeeetttttt heeeerrreeeeee.

An unpopular opinion:

I fucking hate that I had to be told from other friends that actually could find the material or read the fucking wiki to understand the dynamics of the Kresnik family. Ludger has a LOT of fucking baggage that we don’t even get to hear anything about! Partially because he’s silent and partially because ‘oh he was young so he conveniently forgot?’ And a lot of it was important to the last half of the story! That’s bullshit! And even further bullshit is that there was no reason they couldn’t have found time to put it in the game but they chose not to. 

Tales can’t make a fun last level to save their lives. I haven’t enjoyed a single final level in any of the games I’ve played. I don’t mind doing puzzles for it but straight up spiraling branches full of dead ends is frustrating. ESPECIALLY FUCK XILLIA 2′s! Randomly generated based off those in the party and then you can’t even see when a path is not truly there so you can follow the path and then all of suddenly blank ground, meaning dead end you have back up and retrace another path. And then like Berseria’s made me feel nauseous from the ‘ethereal’ look it was going for. And just made it hard as fuck to see. And more of this awful tower climbing. I just...mmmmmmm, I will probably always enjoy the game until the final level exists. I swear.

My Canon OTP:

Uuuuuuhhhhhh I don’t think I have one. 

My Non-canon OTP:

Most protags x happiness?

Most Badass Character:

Don Whitehorse. He was like definition of like ‘stubborn old man’ but man was he cool. He was staunch in the honor of the guilds under his control and was proud of what he and other had built up with their own hands. Also you don’t often see a man willing to sacrifice his life to right a wrong done by his own. 

Most Epic Villain:

Gaius. Like me and my friend were like ‘what the fuck’ when we were co-oping Xillia together. Like this was a king that meant business! Mhm. .

Pairing I am not a fan of:

Most of the pairings are fine to me. 

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

Sorey. I’m sure I’ve gone on this so many times but I really hated that they kept alluding to him having to make hard decisions but whenever one was brought to him, someone else took it for him. Like if his job is that important and it’s expected to make these choices, THEN LET HIM MAKE THEM. I was so angry over that. I spent the entire game waiting for when they’d do a major point where Sorey had no choice but to step up. 

Favourite Friendship:

Alvin & Elize - I really like how much they have both grown from each other. And how when Alvin broke her trust that he had to live with her mistrust and work to earn it back. Their friendship had uneasiness that seemed hopeful at the end of the first game and turned to just banter and teasing by the second. Growth baby, it’s wonderful.

Character I most identify with:

Mmmmm, probably Ludger. Look at all that debt. Can’t do nothing but cry over it.

Character I wish I could be:

Yeah, no. JRPG rules means everyone has some fucked up shit in their past or coming for them. I’m fine over here.

[thesims4blogger]

The Sims 4 on Xbox & PlayStation 4: New Game Patch (July 16th, 2019)

There’s a Sims 4 update available for players on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Update: 07/16/2019 – v1.16

It seems like only yesterday when we added Mouse & Keyboard support to The Sims 4 but that hasn’t stopped us from making improvements based on your feedback while preparing for Island Living. The team has also been hard at work on new features and have addressed some long standing issues so let’s dig in, starting with the new stuff.

New Console Features

Mouse & Keyboard can now be used to bypass the “Press START” screen rather than requiring a controller to get to the Main Menu. That means you can start and finish your Simming session using the control scheme you prefer. Now, where’s the any key?

I’m on a boat… Oh I’m not?!?! Seems that going into First Person view didn’t agree with all Simmers and left some feeling a little ill. Worry not, head to Options > Game Camera and Disable First Person Head Bob for that more on rails feel while you are inside your Sims’ heads.

When entering cheats, Sims would continue their day as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Using a controller, adding cheats could take most of a Sim day if you were unlucky. Now, when entering cheats, the game will pause letting you add all the cheats you want without missing a second of Sim life.

Randomize Traits Button

We all get creative block sometimes, other times we just look for a challenge. Whatever your approach you can now hit the Randomize Traits button in CAS to get a set of traits you might not usually pick for your Sim. Will your Sim be a Jealous, Lazy Goofball or a Genius, Slob who Hates Children? Let the dice decide.

Lounge Chair

Everyone (even you) gets a FREE LOUNGE CHAIR! That’s right, we’ve added a delightfully Portable Lounge Chair, so you can now lounge by the pool they way you’ve always wanted and you don’t even need to wake at the crack of dawn to put your towel down.

Pride Content

Created in partnership with the It Gets Better Project you can show your pride with some fantastically colorful new clothing. From the rainbow leggings to the body suit and new t-shirts your Sim can show their Pride. In addition, we’ve also included a selection of decorative Pride flags for hanging on your Sims’ walls. Finally, we’ve updated our bathroom door sets in-game so that every bathroom door also includes a gender-neutral version for builders, and includes a full suite of color swatches for mixing and matching to your heart’s content. Happy Pride Month everyone, even if we did get here a little late!

Stilt Foundations

Or as we like to call them, High Heels for your House. Or House Heels. These things don’t need to be limited to just the tropics. Stilts are a great partner in crime to terrain manipulated and flat lots, in any biosphere. You can find them in Build Mode alongside all the other regular Foundation types. Now go get your stilt on.

Further Eaves Extension

Now you can pull your Eaves… further.

Freelancer Career

Freelancer is a brand-new type of career. Sims can choose to be a Freelance Artist, Programmer, or Writer, and will work through an agency that will connect them with a variety of gigs. Unlike other careers, there’s no defined work schedule to worry yourself over. Need some extra Simoleons? Smash through a few gigs in a single day and get paid! Need some time off? No problem – plenty of gigs will be waiting for you when you’re ready to get back to work. Your office is wherever you want it to be. Perhaps a quiet corner in the local library, or maybe you’d prefer a home office decked out in the new set of office furniture? You’re your own boss, so the choice is yours! Completion of gigs across the different agencies will lead to a variety of rewards, and ever-increasing pay.

New Objects

This free set of home office furniture and decor is ideal for your burgeoning Freelancer Sims!

Bookcase: Edgier LadderCase

Desk: Anglette Desk

Desk Chair: The Professional

End Table: A Cute Anglette

Decor: Not So Simple Pen Holder

Decor: Hand Reference Model

Decor: Robo, The Friendly Circuitry Kit

Decor: The Note Book

Laptop: FreeRoam Portable Computing Device

Wall Decor: Better As A Pair Of Paintings

Wall Decor: Supreme Freelancer Award

Doors of many Colors

Knock knock! Who’s there? Color! Color who? 350 new color swatches spread across all of the doors. Yeah, maybe the future as a stand up comedian isn’t in my future after all.

New Lot Traits

Clothing Optional: This new venue-only lot trait will inspire your Sims to — you guessed it — get nude.

Off-The-Grid: Now you can live out your nomadic fantasy on any lot. Applying this lot trait will remove your Sim’s use of power and running water, but on the upside it keeps your bills down. Keep a lookout for existing objects with the “Works Off-The-Grid” note in the Buy Catalog.

New Clothing

Freelancers tend to want comfy, but professional outfits. We’ve got them covered with the following new pieces of clothing.

Women

Men

A cable knit cardigan outfit

A sweater and skirt outfit

A layered sweater

A pair of flats

A collared sweater

A button up shirt

A crewneck sweater

A pair of drawstring pants

Immaculate White Shelf

According to SimGuruGraham, Simmers really REALLY wanted a plain white version of “The Immaculate” shelf available in Buy Mode. Who are we to argue with what SimGuruGraham tells us?

More Toddler Diaper Colors

We added some L’il Swimmies Splashy Diapers! You don’t necessarily have to use them for splashing in the water, but that’s where our brains were at when we made them. We made these not only in anticipation for Island Living, but we also thought you’d appreciate more swimming options for your toddlers to use in the Seasons Kiddie Pool.

Back Float

A new Back Float interaction is available for Sims swimming in the pool. Select the water. Try it out. Take a load off.

Fishing Additions

Brace yourself, we’re about to cast you into a deep dive…

We added several new interactions to allow players to fish in different ways and interact with other Sims around fishing activities.

Sims can perform a few new Fishing-based socials to gain useful info (via UI TNS/Notebook) and push NPCs to Fish.

Fishing is now joinable.

Improved fishing interaction tuning and autonomy to make the interaction more efficient and fun.

Upper skill levels now provide more meaningful rewards, with new Interactions added to Fishing skill levels

New high skill cast interaction “Angle for Big Catch” increases chance of getting rarer fish.

New high-skill VFX visuals on Rare fishing spots.

Ability to now “Mentor Sims in Fishing.”

Fishing UI has improved information, including Notebook info with Bait information.

Tuning for fish that can be caught is unique per world & more fishing spots added to some of our previously shipped worlds.

New bait preference system applied to most existing fish that modify catch chances.

Ceiling Fan Updates

Ceiling Fans will now cool a room if you have Seasons and the fan is on. Oh yeah, speaking of which, we also added the ability to turn them On and Off. And while we were at it, we figured we’d make them dry off damp Sims too.

Ceiling Objects Build Sort

We also added a new Ceiling Objects Build sort category to make things like Fans easier to find.

Swimming Things

There is now a chance for interesting things to happen to your Sims while swimming, like getting a cramp or losing their suit (eek!). Swimming also now gives your Sims a boost in Fitness skill gain.

Part-Time Jobs Update

And last but not least (you still with me?) all existing Part-Time Jobs are no longer just for Teens. That’s right, now elders could work as Fast Food Employees. Young Adults could be Babysitters if they want. Why not? The Part-Time world is your oyster. Oh oh oh — and one last thing on that note: You can now have two Part-Time Jobs at once and pick between shifts. Wowee.

The green pulsing of the snap cursor would previously appear every 20-30 seconds for some players even if you were using a Mouse & Keyboard. That pulse is under control now, unless you are using snap cursor in which case you should expect to see it.

Rooms can now be resized with the Mouse & Keyboard control scheme.

Talking of Mouse & Keyboard, if you use them you can live drag objects now.

Simmers using a Mouse & Keyboard can now make use of edge scrolling. We had the option before but it didn’t work as you might have thought.

The Virtual Cursor may be virtual but it doesn’t mean it was meant to disappear after you came out of build mode.

Sims will travel to the correct venue when invited out to an event by a NPC Sim.

Fixed an issue where the UI would occasionally indicate that a Sim was at work, when they were actually at home, which would block access to the Sim’s inventory.

Sims will no longer receive random phone calls from other Sims between the hours of 8pm and 10am, allowing them to enjoy a full – and speedy – night’s sleep.

Fixed an issue where multiple music tracks could end up looping and playing simultaneously.

Expecting parents will once again be able to “Take Family Leave” via their phone to take time off from work.

Fixed an issue where a Sim who had cheated with another Sim romantically, were then unable to successfully propose to that Sim and get married.

Fixed an issue where Sims in the eSport Gamer branch of the Tech Guru career were not earning money when programming video games.

The Pick Up Serving Together interaction will no longer cause one of the Sims involved to fail to route to the food.

Fixed an issue where interactions on the Digitalistic Sketchpad object would disappear if a Sim’s actions were canceled while they were picking up the Digitalistic Sketchpad.

Updated the Digitalistic Sketchpad object so that creating paintings on it will satisfy Aspiration goals and work tasks that involve painting.

Fixed an issue with the Lin-Z Smart Speaker, where the interaction to hire a Gardener would remain unselectable, even when the home had a garden that needed tending.

Sims will now look at the Lin-Z Smart Speaker when speaking to it.

The “Pre-Owned Painter’s Easel”, that’s unlocked via the Painter career, will now provide an Inspirational emotional aura, instead of a Focused emotional aura.

Fixed an issue where staircases were not rendering properly while held by a mouse cursor.

Adjusted icons of Lunar New Year recipes to better display what food you’re looking at within an inventory.

The children’s Yin & Yang Necklace will no longer clip into their neck when wearing a shirt that’s tucked in.

The “CleanRoom” wall pattern, which was previously missing a name for its 5th color variant, has now had that specific color variant named “Like Sand”.

A new content alert icon has been added to individual careers within the Select a Career panel, to help players find new careers that have been added to their game.

“Shift clicking” with the controller (X and Circle (PlayStation 4) or A and B (Xbox One)) at the same time on the Age Up menu will no longer cause menus to overlap.

Note: If a save file created prior to this update contains a Sim that’s already in this bad state, simply traveling to another lot with that Sim will permanently fix this issue.

As far as I’m aware, this is the only instance in the game where a color variant has been given a unique name. Huh… neat!

Scientists will once again wear an appropriate outfit when going to work even if StrangerVille is not installed.

The “Chemical Analyzer” object can now be purchased from Build Mode without having to use a cheat.

Made updates to the list of valid objects that can be selected as the outcome of the SimRay’s “Transform Object” interaction.

Fixed an issue where objects from multiple festivals were appearing on top of each other in the neighborhood simultaneously.

Apartment landlords will now leave the apartment immediately after addressing a tenant’s complaint.

Added the ability for Sims with the Vegetarian trait to hire a Vegetarian Caterer by clicking on Stoves or Refrigerators.

Vegetarian Sims will no longer enjoy eating Mud Carp.

Fixed an issue where hungry pets would not eat from food bowls autonomously.

The pet toy box will no longer have its position rotated in a random direction when a Sim returns home from an active career.

Fixed an issue where the “Litter-Matic Scoop-Free” litterbox wasn’t looking clean after cat poop had been removed.

Fixed an issue with the Pet Adoption Agency, where they would occasionally show up at a Sim’s home without any pets to adopt, and would simply stand at the home’s front door and not do anything.

The Hide/Show filter now does as you’d expect while using the Simstagram pet interaction.

Fishing in Brindleton Bay shouldn’t have your Sim facing the wrong direction. No more fishing the land and wondering why the fish aren’t biting.

Updated the Gardening career so that Sims will earn more than 10 Simoleons per completed work shift.

Fixed an issue where on days where no holiday was set to occur, a Sim’s work schedule would update to falsely indicate that the day was a Holiday just prior to going to work, causing the Sim to stay home for the day.

Fixed an issue where NPC Sims were not autonomously using the skating rinks that appear in certain neighborhoods.

Toddlers will no longer attempt to queue up behavior to “Run Inside” during bad weather conditions if they’re already inside.

Fixed an issue where Sims voices could not be heard when Singing Together around a Holiday Tree if City Living was not installed.

You’ll now be able to cancel the Compel to Drink interaction after choosing to feed on a Scarecrow.

The Acting career task to “Get Into Hair and Makeup” can be successfully completed once again.

Fixed an issue where celebrity Sims who had been set to use their normal walkstyle were switching back to using the celebrity walkstyle after traveling to certain types of venues.

Three star celebrity Sims will no longer use the celebrity walkstyle.

Your Sims can now pester… er… visit, any campers of their choosing in Granite Falls.

Fixed an error where Sims would get stuck in the Forest Hideaway lot in Granite Falls.

Simmers who have City Living installed can now put the Siopao and Ensaymada dishes on their restaurant’s menu.

Bat!

Grand Master Vampires know all, or so they thought. Now they can continue to earn points. Does that make them a Grand Grand Master?

Vampire NPCs shouldn’t get appear at a venue and prevent you from saving.

Vampire NPCs shouldn’t have their Vampire Energy drained after a load which allows them to continue with their expected autonomous behavior.

Sim Form!

The following environment objects, which were created for StrangerVille, have been added to the Build Mode debug catalog to allow placement on lots. Players must enter the bb.showhiddenobjects cheat before they can be seen in the catalog.

Added proper images to the Officer and Covert Operator branches of the Military career.

Removed the “Question about Spores in Lab” interaction for Sims who have already acquired the Modified Hazmat Suit.

Removed the “Heart of the Pack” styled look from Create a Sim, as it was authored using clothing that’s only available to Sims that have joined the Military career.

Updated the pack information panel on the main menu to not display world objects under the Build Mode Items.

10 different cacti

3 different Joshua trees

3 different RVs

2 clusters of rocks

2 junked cars

A group of desert flowers

A military truck

A tire

A parking stop

Holiday Celebration Pack

The Crown Roast platter will now show a partially eaten state when half of its servings have been taken.

PlayStation 4

Some makes of keyboard are extremely fancy with lots of features, one of those features appears to have been the ability to prevent the mouse from being used. We’ve made improvements in this area.

As usual, we have new creations which were created and shared by members of the Sims Community. You can find them in My Library.

There we are, a lot of changes to take us further into 2019. Now I’m off to get my Sims some sun, sea and fun in The Sims 4 Island Living.

SimGuruLegacy

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon SoulSilver Randomized Nuzlocke [Part 2]

Standard Nuzlocke rules apply

Non-standard rule of only being allowed to catch something if it has a Type in common with the most recent thing you caught applies

Randomizer only touches wild pokemon; everything NPCs have remains the same.

So far, we have the first badge, and just caught our first official teammate for our starter. He is Fludd the Whiscash, to accompany Chance the Dewgong. Next pokemon has to be Water or Ground.

May I have the good fortune of finding one.

Fludd is Gentle and alert to sounds. He doesn’t have much in the ways of experience or moves yet, but we will soon see to changing that.

Route 33 has Shuckle! Adorable!

Fludd’s only offensive move being Mud-Slap is proving a trial of patience.

Wild Bastiodon appears. This is the route of tanks.

We’ve talked to Kurt, kicking off the Rocket plot of this section, and I think once Fludd is 10 or 11 we’ll continue down the Slowpoke Well. Where there will be non-Slowpoke things waiting for us.

I really just want Fludd to know something better than Mud-Slap.

..Water Gun is not terrible. Helps that the route I have chosen for training is beset by constant rain. Every single Shuckle having Berry Juice is not on the list of things that help anything except Shuckle delaying the inevitable.

I lied. Fludd is 13 before we start thinking about other things.

My current other thing is going to be Ilex Forest instead of the Rocket plot.

For reasons of pretty.

We find a Charizard!

That is very much not Water or Ground.

Cyndaquil is not Water or Ground either.

Hey, Fludd learned Mud Bomb. Yay.

Okay, fine. I guess we can save the Slowpokes if we really have to.

I love how as technology advances, video games get to be prettier. It makes me happy in my feelings places.

I also love how Kurt really doesn’t do anything. He tries. Then he falls and can’t get up. Then we go in and do the job he wanted to do.

Mawile is down here. Nothing I can do there.

The Grunts go down like Grunts, and then it’s Proton time!

Proton!

That guy!

He’s got... aquamarine hair! That’s like a personality!

Fludd beats him down, too. Party as it stands is Fludd at 16, Chance at 20, and Sleet and Cloud at 5. With only Fludd and Chance really counting as full party members. That will change slightly when I need something to Cut stuff.

Which will be right after we deal with this Gym.

-many weeks later-

-cough-

Anyway, Gym!

This will mostly be Fludd’s show, since he could use the levels. If anything happens to know Absorb, we’re bailing, but he should mostly be okay.

Upgraded Gym aesthetics are always good.

Almost as good as playing a Pokemon game without feeling compelled to give every single fight full play-by-play detail. Assume if I magically teleport through the plot that I did everything perfectly and expertly. All a result of my personal talent, not overleveling my precious pokemon in hopes of keeping them from dying from my stupidity.

Oh heck, whoops. One of the pre-Leader battles is a double.

Sleet is in the second slot.

Let’s not.

Good news! Sleet is still level 5. She still appears to be a casual passerby of this party, not an official member. This matters.

Bugsy looks so happy. Good for him.

(Unlike some Johto Gym Leaders.)

This will be more entertaining later in the game, but I think Pikasprey has brought up how this region’s Gym Leaders really are the most irresponsible about their job title.

Ultimately, Chance will take out Bugsy’s Scyther. Because it’s level 17. Like Fludd. And U-turn apparently really, really hurts.

No, Chance, you may not learn Rest. You’re a starting party member. That means you have nothing but attacks, and we compensate for our lack of strategy with levels.

Badge get!

But suddenly....!

-zooms through the battle at the speed of sound-

Good job, team!

Now we get to do a Farfetch’d puzzle that I am absolutely not terrible at.

Glory to Cut. Which we will be unceremoniously dumping on Cloud. Hi Cloud. This is your team. This is your role in it. Thank you for your contribution.

Oh.

Huh.

You’re part Water, aren’t you?

tfw I can actually catch something in Ilex Forest. Maybe I even will.

CAUGHT!

New member of the team, your name is now Downpour! Downpour is Quirky and highly curious, and we already love him. Even with the inevitable switch training about to go down.

We’re all just so happy that this place has been given level 6 Charizard to mine.

The truly nice part about being such a disaster in playing this part consistently is that Kurt gives me free balls. What, you forgot to play for a month? Your reward is not knowing what’s going on! Also free catching tools! You Win!

I also think that me being aware of EVs is the worst thing that ever happened to my enjoyment of pokemon playthroughs. I’m just left looking at wild level 6 Charizards with Sp. Atk signs in my eyes. What do those look like? The world may never know, but they are now part of my balanced breakfast.

Also, Nature Power becomes Rock Slide in Ilex Forest.

Downpour is going to be the most overhyped Special Attacker of its kind.

Assuming I ever find a Water Stone.

This is one of those changes from the originals that I’ve never fully understood or cared for. Except at the end of the day, I am a complete sucker for people you’ve helped along your journey all reuniting and recalling what you’ve done for them.

I just really miss the Eeveelution coolness of their dance hall.

And I don’t know why this one needed any help at all. Is that a lore thing? Are all your interactions with them just secret character tests?

Downpour is 19, which feels like good enough for venturing into Goldenrod. I really shouldn’t be living the life of mindlessly murdering wild Charizard for EVs for hours on end. Let’s just try to put a cap on it.

Forbidden Day-Care lore.

Lyra’s grandmother ships us. Awk.

I’m accepting everyone’s number in this. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that before, but unlike in the originals, I don’t think there’s a limit on numbers on your phone, so might as well hoard them up.

Geez I feel old.

Vote now on which NPC pokemon person gets to stay in your phonebook. Maybe if you’re lucky you won’t abandon the one who hands out random evolution stones. :)

Oh, hello. I can catch you.

Do I want to? I’d be back to Water/Ice, and right now I have the option of picking up a Grass thing somewhere along the way... hm.

On the other hand.

Cloyster is cool.

POKE BALL, GO!

Damn it, poke ball.

Heavy Ball?

Damn it, Heavy Ball.

And now I am out of Great Balls.

Poke Ball. How do you feel about a redemption arc.

The Poke Ball declines. I have one Fast Ball, and one Heavy Ball. The odds of me getting a new friend out of this are dwindling. The route’s death appears to be at hand.

One Fast Ball.

Yeah, it breaks out.

Okay, Downpour. Kill the non-friend.

With Chance’s help, because the non-friend knew Supersonic.

Bye, Route 34. You’re dead now, and I need to buy catching tools before I forget and meeting my next friend turns awkward.

Whatever. I have a bike now.

Failing basic trivia is my favorite part of each Pokemon game.

PSYCH I WON.

My prize is a Radio Card, but the real prize is getting Whitney back inside her Gym. Where I can now battle her if I so choose. If I want to progress in the game. Her Miltank is waiting.

So we’re just going to do literally everything else we can, except not literally; these games have too many things, and I’m not getting distracted by Voltorb Flip.

...What does Nature Power actually do? Because Downpour has been spotted using Rock Slide, Earthquake, and now Tri Attack through it. It’s becoming a staple of his kit. I don’t think I’ve ever bothered using it before. I was under the impression is was always Swift?

Or is that Nature’s Gift? That’s a thing, right?

Bleh. Fighting first, looking up vitally helpful information later.

The grass has Hitmontop. Not Grass or Water, so it must die.

Wait what the heck. I was out innocently Headbutting trees, why are you here?

This is intensely awkward. My usual mode with these things is that something only fits the requirement of my Nuzlocke team if it’s been Randomized, and for whatever reason, the randomness doesn’t touch Headbutt encounters. Exeggcute is part Grass, but it is not Randomized. Sleet and Cloud are more proper team candidates.

I’m just going to say that Headbutting doesn’t count for a route’s encounter. This run isn’t intended to be overly difficult (this is not the grindlocke); the aim is fun, and I have more fun not using the standard encounters for the game.

What I’m saying is the Exeggcute dies.

(I’m just never going to be able to get a Psychic Type in this.)

My thing at the moment is beating up pokemon in the wild because I’m not sure how to deal with Whitney. Stress-grinding. Chance can’t fight the Miltank. Rollout against Ice sounds like a nightmare. But Chance is also the only female on the team, and my teams have terrible luck in love, which Whitney like exploiting.

Fludd doesn’t really have moves. Water Pulse is nice, but Mud Slap is his only other attack. Downpour is theoretically a cool option, but I don’t know what Nature Power does in the Gym. These kiddos do not have movesets that play well together. Tickle spam would be ideal, but Fludd doesn’t have a physical attack. Only Chance does, and there we have the Rollout problem.

This team could have some nice synergy (for once I almost think I might want to have someone with Rain Dance), but right now they just don’t know enough, and I do not like heading into Whitney this way.

So let us continue to explore the countryside in hopes that a solution is found.

Yanmega is not Grass or Water. Neither is Pikachu.

RIOLU.

You’re not, either.

Neither is the Zubat in the next route. Bonsly looks like it should be, and yet. Volbeat is a nope.

You, on the other hand.

Okay okay okay. Downpour. Do not ruin this for us. I know you want to kill it. We can feel it in your heart. However, we could use a friend. We could use another link in our chain.

...Actually, Fludd, how about you lend a hand with this.

SHARPEDO GET!

I dub thee Hurricane. Hurricane is Modest (dang it) and alert to sounds.

To use, or not to use. That is the question. Physical attacker? Good. Yet another pokemon with a generic shrug at the difference between physical and special? Hm.

I think Hurricane is a reserve. If we’re leveling you, little guy, it’ll be a bit later. We’re happy to have you, but you don’t fix anything well enough that I think I want to train you up just yet.

On to the park. Where the Dunsparce lurk. More Smoochum. Zubat.

I found a Dig TM. That might go to Fludd. ..Or is Fludd going to learn Dig naturally? Fludd will learn Magnitude in a few. I can wait. I don’t remember if this gen allows multiple uses of TMs or not. I could look that up, but effort.

Er. On that subject, though... internet, where can has Water Stone?

“ Johto: National Park (Come 1st in Bug Catching Contest), Route 42 (PokéGear Phonecall) “

Uh.

Oh no?

Wait!

“ Johto: Pokeathlon Dome“

Hope.

Yikes. I wanted to avoid that, having no touch screen, but Downpour, I’m not abandoning you so easily. We’re a team, man. A team. We’ll get you your usefulness.

Welp, I’ve defeated all the trainers I can.

I guess.

It’s time.

Downpour is level 24, Chance is 25, and Fludd is 23. Fludd’s going to be taking the early parts in the interest of balance. For Whitney herself... I really don’t know. I’ll play it by feel. I do want to make sure Downpour uses Nature Power before that fight, though. I don’t want to go in without knowing what it does.

It does Tri Attack in here.

...Yeah, I’m looking it up. What the heck does Nature Power actually do? Besides use moves that are strongly connected with things occurring in nature?

Finding the gen four version is too much trouble. Let’s just proceed knowing limited amounts. Yay for Tri Attack.

-makes an unhappy face best represented by toddlers-

One Clefairy and one Miltank.

This is not a scary thing.

See? Fludd already massacred the Clefairy.

This is fine. It will be fine.

Fludd stop flinching.

Aaaaaand there’s the Attract. The Miltank’s been using Stomp only, so it should be safe for Chance to go in and get a few hits. Fludd used Tickle a few times to counteract the Stomp being annoying.

Chance. Sweetie.

Stop. fucking. flinching.

FUCK YOU AND YOUR SUPER POTIONS, WHITNEY.

YES. IT’S DEAD.

YOU ARE NOT THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE CRYING HERE. MY SOUL IS IN DESPAIR, WHITNEY. YOU AND YOUR STUPID MILTANK. EVEN WHEN IT ISN’T USING ROLLOUT.

I sort of ship the flunky that tells you not to worry, Whitney will give you your badge after she stops crying--with Whitney. Just because. I spend a great deal of time in my Pokemon playing shipping random NPCs.

Pokeathlon opened, time to. grind for the Water Stone.

If my memory of this is correct, before you beat the Elite Four, there’s a different evolution stone available for purchase each day. Today’s is a Moon Stone.

Oh, this is going to be hell!

tfw you remember the Jump course being the kindest so pick it but none of your team is actually good at jumping so you’ve got to bring in the reserves.

Hurricane, Cloud, Sleet? Your time is now.

...

..

.

These games are not meant to be played on a touchpad.

Yikes.

Oh my fucking gosh this is hell do not want.

Well.

I lost.

Yay for 325 points.

LET’S KEEP GOING, SHALL WE????

Where’s my mouse...

Let’s try Power on for size. Chance, Downpour, Fludd, go for it.

Oh look I lost.

Downpour, you better appreciate how much I love you.

LOOK WE WON THE STAMINA ONE.

I’m not documenting this further. Know that I am miserable, and this is not meant, in any way, to be played with a mouse. The levels of unfortunate are everlasting and I am sad.

-the next day-

I have to wait another day for a Water Stone, but I have enough for it, so now we can move on to fun things. Like the game. The game. Which is fun.

tfw Jirachi is secretly an odd tree.

Route 37, have ye any Water or Dark?

Chimchar, you are found lacking.

Ah crud.

Totodile is not lacking, but I really don’t think catching it is a good idea. Pure Water locks me into Water. We might end up there anyway, but I’m not in such a hurry to commit just yet. I can kill a route to keep some variety alive.

Sorry, Totodile. :(

Ecruteak means Bill, which means I could go back to Goldenrod and find out what his Eevee has become. Let’s do that before we think about anything fancy like plot progression.

Sleet, into the box with you. Maybe you’ll come back if I don’t like whatever Bill’s offering.

Carnivine. Interesting. Uh. How about... Drizzle? Drizzle. Cool. And. Uh. Sleet. You’re staying in the box. Sorry, but level 5 things that are filling out party count are really just going to end up as very sad sacrifices. We’re avoiding that for now.

-another day passes-

(without me getting balls from Kurt, whoops)

WE DID IT.

Now to find out that Downpour’s spending another twenty levels not needing it because moves matter more than stats. To the internet.

...Oh.

Oh, Downpour.

Oh, no.

You, uh.

Kiddo, you’re going to be needing some help as we move forward.

But the good news is that means we’re evolving you now! Yay! Power boost! You go, you funky little duck frog thing.

Maximum cuteness achieved.

That’s a good stopping point for this round, I think.

[some-flyleaves]

So! This is Flynn Smith, aka an oc of mine who 1) isn’t directly based on an established canon character (nameless NPCs don’t count), 2) isn’t being “officially” used anymore, and 3) has a decent amount of story that, thanks to point #2, I’m just gonna casually write out to the best of my memory. Buckle up, kiddos, it’s time for DUMP! THAT! INFO!

pre-TFE

The earliest version of Flynn was “unnamed grunt C” and... I kinda forget what his original purpose was, actually. But he was supposed to be a stereotypical charmer, voted most likely to fanboy over Team Flare to the end of his days. At some point he picked up the placeholder name Casey, then Adrian/Adrien (never managed to get the a/e consistent), and the surname Smith. Surname was also supposed to be a placeholder but it was so perfectly generic it stuck.

I’d need to revisit <2016 versions of the storyline to know for certain what he did, but he was a one-scene wonder. More on that below.

If you have no idea what TFE is, the short version is that it’s a Pokemon XY-based “nuzlocke” comic that ran strongly 2016-2017, petered out, and has been sorta-kinda canceled. I don’t intend to pick it back up in its current state, but I would like to publicize as much as I had planned as possible. Someday. Eventually. Because why not.

Said plans weren’t 100% solid start to finish, hence the uncertain status of various developments.

The Firebird Effect

This constitutes of a majority of Flynn’s development, including his current name--and I’d be lying if I said he didn’t get a significant amount of character development courtesy oc chats with @phyllored. At first he was still a one-scene wonder, and then he took over roles that grunts A or B would’ve filled. As of the “final” version of the plot he had 2 scenes set in stone and a few ideas that may or may not have made it onscreen.

His first appearance might have been during a “filler” scene around Route 8/Cyllage City. As the main characters move out, focus swings over to him, as he ignores his girl of the week in favor of an “emergency” text from the head of Team Flare*. The text informs recruits that a recent incident at Glittering Cave was unplanned, and anyone with information is encouraged to divulge ASAP. Furthermore, in an effort to repair public impression of the Team, an awareness memorial--

*For what it’s worth, Team Flare got a major overhaul in TFE, and later got renamed entirely as the Fleur Foundation. It warrants an infodump of its own, probably, but for clarity’s sake I’ll use “Team Flare” exclusively here.

The girl interrupts to declare she’s done. Close curtain on the redhead begging for her back.

-

Flynn’s first major appearance (and originally his only scene), still as an unnamed Flare recruit, is on Route 10. Unlike the previous scene, he’s in full uniform now, and is one of several grunts standing among the ancient stones. Most are paying tribute to the monuments in some way, with a few trying to get the attention of passerby; Flynn is easily the most enthusiastic of the latter.

Serena enters the scene shortly after strife with her pokemon encourages her to double down on not battling, which has led to deeper investigation into Flare’s true motives. She approaches Flynn at random and barely has time to get her “research project” story out--he’s thrilled to have an audience. (See first image, middle right doodle.) He explains that Flare and only Flare remembers that these rocks aren’t just mysterious tourist attractions, among other factoids from the mission briefing, all the while getting much too close for comfort.

When Serena finally tries to excuse herself, Flynn recognizes her from reports on the Glittering Cave incident and buckles down on keeping her around. The encounter is intercepted by a figure in a trenchcoat, who grills Flynn and pulls Serena aside. He insists he was only informing a curious youth, ma’am, no issue! The scene changes with Flynn moving to the next hapless tourist.

-

Less a scene and more a canon occurrence that may or may not have been onscreen: at a Lumiose cafe (not named Lysandre but sponsored by him, as indicated by background details), Flynn discusses Team Flare’s recent mishaps with his roommate and (on Flynn’s end) close friend Ren. (This got drawn ages ago, albeit with meme dialogue.) He’s pissed that the Team he considers family has started going to shit, between the Glittering Cave incident leading to several arrests and other rumors of a secret group within the group. Furthermore, no one seems to actually care about this; the rumor mill churns and the oldies roll their eyes, but no one’s willing to do a damn thing about it. But fear not! He has a lead, and he’s gonna check it out first chance he gets.

Ren, who’s working behind the counter, is silent throughout. Flynn pays no mind to their lack of response.

-

Within the week, half of Lumiose City goes black, including the area with Ren's apartment. Flynn is gone, but he left a note saying he’s gonna check it out. Ren turns on the radio and is caught up to speed: At the Power Plant in Lumiose Badlands, uniformed members of Team Flare have taken workers hostage and are refusing authorities entry. They claim they’ll surrender without resistance as soon as the lights go on.

Serena is one of several forming a crowd around the Power Plant when she receives an anonymous note: “Meet me [nearby, setting pending] or your secret will be MINE alone no longer ;)”

Surprise, it’s Flynn, and though he’s grinning he is infuriated. He ignores questions and dumps his backstory: once upon a time he was an everyday office worker, and then his boss was murdered and he got framed because he got mad at her the day before, the bitch. But rather than waste away in prison, he found his saving light in Team Flare. No, they’re not a cult--the Team takes in those who society has rejected and transforms them into someone beautiful. And despite recent mishaps, they are certainly not criminals--not that Serena can judge.

Serena’s not the only one who can do research. Flynn knows she was not only present the night of the mine collapse, right below Vaniville, but caused its downfall.

Major plot hole alert: I never figured out exactly how Flynn learned this. The cafe scene might have provided some insight, but eventually this was sorta-remedied (among other unrelated issues) by merging Flynn and Ren’s characters. Again, another tangent for another time. Point is, he knows the Dark Secret, and Serena is not happy.

Neither is Flynn, of course. His smile drops as he says someone very close to him died in that little “incident,” and he would be very happy to see Serena dead. Throughout the scene he has her cornered both verbally and physically, and at this point her back’s against a wall/cliff/[other relevant setting detail]. (See top image, 2017 doodle.)

However! Flynn is a forgiving person. Even though she actually killed people, he’s associated with worse. That’s the beauty of Team Flare--they don’t care who you are, just who you can become. And you, Serena Johnson, would fit right in. Flynn bemoans the current state of the Team, then reveals he called Serena here not to attack but ally with her. Between the mine and other disasters she’s participated in, surely she knows something he doesn’t.

Serena, to put it nicely, fucking hates this proposal. She sics her team on Flynn, though they hesitate upon realizing Flynn has no pokemon of his own; he can’t put up a fight. Serena flees for the Power Plant, and the team follows; Flynn is left shaken, maybe incapacitated, but still alive.

-

Flynn probably should’ve had a scene or at least mention between that and the following sequence, but nothing was developed. Jumping forward a few days, Flynn is next seen back in the cafe, specifically above it--the cafe is the bottom floor of a nameless skyscraper. He and Ren are patrolling the building as night security guards--not their usual jobs by a long shot, but the Team is having issues and someone’s gotta do it.

As the doodle sequence above may indicate, this... does not end well. Flynn loses track of Ren at some point, and by the time he catches up, he finds the space doused in gasoline. When he opens the door, he’s greeted to a wave of flame as the building is set ablaze.

R.I.P. Flynn Smith 199x-2013.

current status

As mentioned above, Flynn and Ren’s characters were eventually combined, but they’re distinct enough to not get scrapped entirely--or at least Flynn is. Other characters have picked up many of Ren’s traits by now, but Flynn still has his niche as token straight white dudebro with a flair for the dramatic.

Which brings us to the present day, where Flynn is... dubiously involved in that one side story I keep posting about that still needs a got dang name. I say “dubiously” because a LOT of this story is under heavy construction, and while I’ve definitely been entertaining the idea of his involvement, it’s not super likely he’ll be central--if he stays in at all. But who knows, stuff’s changing.

For all intents and purposes:

He meets Nico (ponytail dude, see last doodle) and they’re, like, not gay at all, man. Flynn is screaming #NOHOMO the whole time.

Actually, Flynn is interested in Nico primarily for Nico’s girlfriend. Flynn does not get to see Nico’s girlfriend often and that makes Flynn sad, but at least Nico’s fun to hang around. (Nico’s girlfriend seems to hate Flynn’s guts, actually. She seems to hate everyone’s guts. Flynn is not dissuaded.)

The Flynn/Nico introduction may or may not take place 1) at a gay bar, 2) courtesy mutual friend Ava (ringlets gal), and 3) with Flynn not having lost a trace of his TFE-era “hello stranger, let me tell you about my life and problems!” chattiness. Nico could not give less of a shit but at least someone’s filling the silence.

miscellaneous factoids

Flynn’s hairstyle is modeled after the Team Flare logo, right down to the weird split sideburns. It also happens to realistically look like fucking Cr1TiKaL. This was a recent realization, again courtesy phyllored, and I’m still not over it.

Yes, it’s dyed that orange. This... may or may not stay; no Flare, no reason to pick that hue. It feels so Iconic(TM) but I should probably get used to his natural brown.

His original height was 6′00″ (to parallel Serena, who’s 5′00″) but nowadays it’s ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I never did develop that close friend of Flynn’s who died in the mine. Flynn and Ren’s relationship, however, has gotten significant development. Which is a bit of a shame because Ren is kinda more of a beta [merged guy] than their own character at this point, but no one aid I can’t recycle dynamics, too.

His voiceclaim is Ivan Alexander from the game Bully. There used to be a video of all Ivan voiceclips on YouTube but it seems to have been deleted and this makes me sad. Thankfully I have a copy of the audio saved; part of it can be heard in this old animation.

For all his shittalk, Flynn could never actually kill someone. If he could be summed up in one word it would be “fake.”

[wistfulwatcher]

i've been puzzled by Critical Role for such a long time like i know it's a bunch of people playing D&D but how does it WORK??? and how can you binge it?? i checked an episode at random and it wAS 4 HOURS LONG HOW ???

Oh man, I honestly had these same exact questions/concerns before I started watching. It literally took me 8 months to finally decide to give the show a try and I just cannot express how glad I am I did. It seems so massive and overwhelming, but I’m gonna legit answer these questions and only hijack your ask to gush about the show a little to tempt you in. 

how does it WORK???I knew veryyyy little about the mechanics of D&D going in. I’d never played any tabletop RPG (though I’d been interested in trying one for a long time), and pretty much my understanding was the really general ‘it’s whatever you can imagine/you do whatever you want to do and you roll dice to see if you’re successful’ etc., and the Community episodes where they play D&D. I was not quite sure how this was going to logistically be something you watch long term (as a non-participant) nor if I was going to be interested in/connect with characters that I can’t really see—I’m a pretty visual person. The idea of D&D made sense to me logically before I watched Critical Role, but I didn’t really get it until I started watching. So, tbh the best way to understand how it works is to give it a shot. (If you’re like me you won’t understand everything immediately—you pick it up as you go, and what you don’t understand of the mechanics really doesn’t matter because you can still understand the story they’re telling.)

Logistically speaking, everyone is visible on screen at the same time: 7-8 players on one half of the screen, and the Dungeon Master (DM), Matt, on the other side. Matt basically describes where the characters are (physically and narratively), and presents them with a catalyst (e.g., a character asking them for help, a villain attacking, etc.) that starts the action and the players decide how to respond. Really, the three core aspects in my opinion are 1) collaborative storytelling, 2) improvisational theatre, and 3) logic puzzles.

and how can you binge it?? Oh man. I mean this literally: I was watching/listening to Critical Role every single chance I got. I devoured it. Minimum of three episodes a day, and forcing myself to go to sleep and leave it. There are a lot of reasons I could binge it:

The storytelling. It’s so damn good. One of the most narratively rewarding stories I’ve watched or read in years. The world-building is fantastic and has no loose ends (while feeling MASSIVE and open and real). The plot is interesting, well-planned, and character-driven; everything feels meaningful in one way or another. The NPCs Matt introduces are all rich and compelling and unique. And—something I value immensely in story that I rarely get—there are consequences. Honest-to-god consequences for everything, and it always feels appropriate for the action, and well-timed (things don’t always bite you immediately! But also sometimes they do!). 

The players. They make such ridiculous, amazing choices that keep the story unpredictable but realistic. All of them have stellar comedic timing, but can also make me cry at the drop of a hat. They care so deeply about the characters and invest everything into the game/their interactions, and it just feels rewarding to invest my time in them and their world. Not a single issue connecting to the characters—they sell them 100%, but they do feel separate from the actors in a good way. 

Found family. The chemistry of this group is amazing—it’s a group of real life best friends and it feels like it, constantly—and it comes through in both the players’ relationships and the characters’. It’s just fun, and warm, and comforting to see people (real and fictional) who care as much about each other as these guys do. It’s just a good time. I see my friends in them, and I see friends I would like to have. 

You can have it on in the background. Logistically speaking, this is how you can binge it. While it can be something you sit and watch—trust me—it’s also essentially a filmed podcast, so you have have it in the background, or listen to it without video like I did while I was doing my dumb data entry job. (Bless my boss for letting me listen to stuff.) And, as much as the completist in me hates to say this, it’s likely you’ll tune out occasionally; the long fights can become number-crunching heavy/repetitive, and they do have some circuitous conversations when they’re planning what to do. 

You’ll wanna go into the tag. If you don’t care about spoilers this won’t mean as much to you, but I was dying to dip into tumblr to find fanart and headcanons and gifs and stuff, but I didn’t want to spoil myself. So there was that kind of urgent push for me to catch up AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE!!! so I could go looking. Plus, because there is a new episode every single week, there’s none of that pesky urge to put off watching something until a hiatus, you know?

i checked an episode at random and it wAS 4 HOURS LONG HOW ???And sometimes more than that! They do SO MUCH STUFF each week (plot and character development and fighting and relationship progression and they don’t rush ANYTHING), they have to make so many decisions, and they just burn through those 3+ hours. (And they usually end up stepping in it somehow and having to make a detour to clean up their own mess, lbr.) Honestly, these episodes look fucking long, and they are, really. But the time stamps are a bit off at a quick glance; about the first half of the series has inflated run times—fans started sending in gifts they would open at the end, they did Q&As, they had subscriber milestone awards, etc.—so some of that is skip-able. It’s fun, but definitely stuff you can go back and watch once you’re caught up and out of content. There are also a few one-shot episodes here and there that you can also skip until you catch up. (Definitely worth watching though, later!)

So, it is a little less than it looks like. But truthfully, it just goes by really fast. You get sucked in. The action goes fast. You’re dying to see what happens next. The biggest issue I had with this series was starting it, so honestly for anyone interested in this series I recommend just watching the first episode. Don’t worry about reading up on what happened before they started streaming the show, don’t worry about knowing who the characters are, or what it’s going to look like. It won’t make full sense until you just dive in. (That being said, if you want a reference theargentumlupine’s primer is fantastic and was very comforting to have going in.) It seems unthinkable when you’re looking at 2384975987295 hours of canon, but as early as episode ~40 I started worrying about being out of episodes ❤

[iztarshi]

Day of Story and Song -- Episode 69

The last episode! I'm not sure the transcript is actually finished yet, but people are working hard on it. So, if I run out of episode I'll just have to stop and catch up later.

I'm actually on the edge of my seat going IS THIS GOING TO WORK? Or will this not work and they'll be pushed to figure out the "cut the bonds" bit?

Whoo! Davenport's a GREAT pilot. Maybe that's why he forgot so much? Time spent learning to pilot spaceships was probably also erased.

Taako, is this REALLY the time to confess to shoe theft? Not the most urgent issue right now.

….they're trying to get Merle angry. Which. I think is a losing proposition, honestly. He doesn't go much beyond surly. Or possibly they're confessing because they might be about to die. Who even knows.

I am completely not sure whether Clint cheated there because I can't remember the rules governing the Living Grimoire as applied to spell levels.

Yeah, I mean, Magnus can't use magic, but on the plus side he has a sword so overpowered it was never meant to be IN THE GAME.

…I'm missing kind of nine minutes of fight, but I don't WANNA stop and wait for it. It was probably just dice rolling?

(I came back to this nine minutes. I can't believe i missed Magnus using his grappling hook to swing into TWO overlapping zones of deadly magic.)

I was just going to comment on John going One Winged Angel when Griffin called him Sephi-john.

Oh no, Merle's nearly dead! Except, y'know, right now I'd expect Kravitz to give some leeway on that whole thing until the planes aren't in imminent danger of destruction, so I'm not TOO worried.

*laughing* I'm just really entertained that Taako's never been OFFICIALLY frightened before.

XD Taako's… well, that was a bit long for a one liner. But I liked it.

Oh, yeah, Magnus lost the Raging Flaming Poisoning Sword of Doom defeating the first John form. Which I don't blame Griffin for doing, because MAN that was overpowered.

Aww, Merle had the most Bond. Which makes sense, since he spent a lot of that being steady and wise and generally trying to give people hope.

Oooooh, the bond engine talks! Or maybe the Light talks through it?

…oh… it lets him summon a person through bond, that's really cool. Anyone he needs.

I have caught up there, so I'm taking a break. And wondering who the other two would call. Pan's the obvious one for Merle, since who else do you call on in times of trouble? For the others, most of the people they have are a bit more… people-y. As in, only mortal and possibly in some serious shit themselves. Taako could call Lup, but she's saving the world right now. Taako could call Kravitz, that would be pretty cool!

Oh! Maybe Magnus will call Julia?

Aaaw, he summoned Troth! And I'm finding that adorable mostly because I know she's from another game, so I kind of appreciate the crossover. Although, isn't she also inside the Hunger?

Caught up again. I should stop being so impatient and wait until they've actually had a chance to transcribe it.

Justin nearly rejects a bond attack on the grounds he doesn't have much bond and I know it's not Taako, it's his player, but it is easy to imagine Taako going, "Yeah, don't think I really connected that much and people probably don't care about me, so I'll pass."

YES! He summoned Joaquin! That's awesome, even if he didn't roll very high!

I went and slept in there, but now I'm back.

He rolled a whole lot higher on Joaquin's actual attack :D And also got a hug, I like these two.

"Travis: Uh, Griffin, if we wanna do...and you can cut this out - but when we wanna do Bond attacks, does that just count as an attack?"

Ha, no, you can't bond attack and then ALSO hit it with Railsplitter three times.

*laughing* Merle uses the bones that let him ask the DM a question to ask if Griffin's had fun. That's so cute, and kind of amazing to imagine in character tbh. Merle wants to know God's enjoying himself.

Garfield the Deals Warlock is really stretching the bounds of "people who care about you" but I guess ANY relationship is a bond?

It occurs to me that when they do the graphic novel they're going to actually have to figure out what Garfield looks like.

Roswell! This bond thing is the BEST.

Justin's app for rolling large numbers of dice is very useful.

I'm laughing at Taako's speech. But, hey, he really IS pretty damn powerful on his own.

Clint's use of the ball of whatever that lets him go back nine seconds. Interesting. I do wonder if Griffin had a plot intention for that?

Voidfish summon!

Ha, yes, they can't EAT the orbs, orbs are not information. But they can do some damage, because they are huge amorphous magical jellyfish and that's pretty badass.

Ee, Magnus summons the Power Bear. This is all so cool!

I think the transcribers didn't quite get a paragraph here fixed up yet, because things kind of don't make sense in the middle of Griffin's description. I'm still impressed they've transcribed it this fast at all!

Oh, noooo, Lucretia telling them to run. But does she really think Magnus would leave her? Probably none of them would, but Magnus most of all.

Aww. Taako's leaving because he has to get to Lup. That makes sense -- he's not abandoning them so much as going to someone else.

*cracks up* Taako checked everyone was doing okay and when they were he came back. That's both hilarious and really cute. It's… TAAKO being torn like this? Caring about two groups of people and wanting to be wherever the danger's worst because that will be who needs him?

I'm not sure Griffin should be narrating this bit? Like, I am down with the last episodes being more story-like because he has to wrap things up, but isn't it up to Justin whether Taako summons Garyl? Let alone whether he rides him at the Hunger?

Never underestimate the ability of these guys to respond to a Mysterious All Powerful Being by getting hung up on what to call it.

Ohhh, they're counting making the shield as cutting the bonds. I guess it did cut the Hunger off from, uh, everything. Maybe including itself.

"Jeffandrew: By any measure, Merle, you won."

You saved all the things! That counts as winning.

And I guess this guy will take the Light back now it's… Now that things are in a plane he can reach, probably including the Light since it was there when the Hunger fell apart. And the Light can go back to being wanted and used by people who actually know what to do with it.

Aww, Angus.

Wow, the world is really, uh. Really good post-near-apocalypse. And Angus goes to school and makes friends, which is great!

Davenport becoming a sailor makes sense -- he can't be a pilot anymore, but he's still a traveller and explorer by nature, and even ONE world has a whole lot to explore!

*laughing* Somehow I didn't see Kravitz HIRING Barry and Lup coming, but sure. They're actually really well suited to that.

I did NOT see Barry acquiring DNA from Lup's note coming. Yay for Lup in her own body again! I mean, I figured the body would happen somehow, but not that it would happen like that.

I like that Griffin's narration stops at the NPCs this time. I want the PCs to be able to pick their own happy endings.

Oh, Taako :D He's still Taako, and because he's still Taako, he's portraying the world-wide love for him into a brand. I love that he hired Ren. Good taste in assistants.

WTF with the random duelling at Taako's school? I think you're kinda messing up Griffin's happy ending where everyone came together in peace, but I kinda like it? Everyone's still PEOPLE and even the people who brought about this peaceful ending through love are still the people who murdered someone to save a spell slot on healing once. They're better people, but Taako's still self-centred and callous sometimes, and thoughtless fairly often.

Sazed surrendered himself! It's good to know that people know that Taako wasn't responsible for that. I mean, Taako himself didn't seem inclined to, uh, clear his name or anything, which might be because he still thought of the incident as "half his fault".

*laughing* Taako just checking that Ren is okay with him dating Death before he hires her.

Ren and Taako having a business relationship/friendship is SO CUTE.

Afterlife vacation. I wonder what you do on one of those? Also, I'm reminded of Korra and Asami going to the spirit world. It's the new thing, gay people going on interplanar vacays!

Taaaaaakoooooo, read Angus's letters you jerk.

*pfft* I like that Angus has grown into less of a pushover? Like, he still loves Taako, obviously, but he's also not taking him too seriously when he's being ridiculous.

I had to stop to crack up at Angus knowing about the silverware because, yeah, Taako did a very bad job of ever hiding that.

Merle's in vestments and my first thought was "is someone getting married?"

Merle's adventurer summer camp! That's remarkably cute. As is this focus on the next generation, actually. Even if Taako's school is sometimes questionable, they've all got experience to pass on.

"Travis: I just want to say, canon, I would imagine that Taako and Magnus actually try to call Merle all the time, but like he forgot to turn his Stone of Farspeech off of silence. And so like--

Griffin: That is so fucking true to life and I love it."

XD

Merle's conditions for accepting leadership of somewhere are Terrible Puns.

Aww. I do love that he's living with his kids? I didn't say that when the adventure thing first came up, but he's really returned to take care of his kids. I do wonder what their mother thinks? But it's great.

Mavis is such a sweetheart.

It IS a wedding.

Aww, Killian and Carey's wedding! What a great place to end it.

Magnus also has a school! Everyone was really feeling they had stuff they needed to pass on to the next generation here. Although, since it's Magnus, he also has a school for DOGS.

As an aside, I wonder where Fisher and Junior are? I hope they're okay, you know. I hope everything being untangled and put back in its place means that they're home, with the other voidfish, being fed artworks and sharing those they love.

AWWWW. Magnus, along the way to looking for something worth dying for, finding something worth living for instead!!!

Aw, Kravitz, bending the rules one last time for his friend.

*snff* Magnus and Julia's reunion.

Fisher!

Ooh, so that's where they ended up. Between the planes, able to go anywhere, looking for stories.

…I wonder if they're going to get a cameo in the NEXT Adventure Zone, because Griffin's basically made them perfect crossover fodder.

"Justin: Thus ends the Adventure Zone: Balance, the story of four idiots that played D&D so hard they made themselves cry."

They played D&D so hard they made EVERYONE cry.