#creative on the mainline

[edwards-exploit]

It's... it's...! Or, the big main line engines show their displeasure.

[edwards-exploit]

this was so good i had to make fanart for this

Prompt:

Donald and Douglas before they came to Sodor.

Also, congratulations on gaining 150 followers! 🎉

Thank you so much!! 💖 I appreciate it~ And I am more than happy to do more backstory with the Scottish engines!! Let's see what Donald and Douglas got up to, back before they ever came to Sodor's shores...

(Some crew OCs and story ideas borrowed [w/ permission] from @edwards-exploit!!)

(The month, and the prompts deadline, is coming to a close! Get your prompt idea in by the 31st, and I'll write it! Details are here!)

Kirk Darrow couldn't have been more pleased as he left the stationmaster's office, having been told that management was seriously considering him for a position as a driver. The winter cold bit at him like mad, but his entire body felt warm and light, like he'd just enjoyed a hot toddy. He'd served as a fireman for a number of years, and had the honor of crewing BR No. 57646 alongside his brother, Dirk. The two of them had, just as they'd arrived in the world together, signed up to join the railway together many moons ago when there weren't any better prospects to speak of back home.

While Dirk had been certified as a driver for a few years now, Kirk had always known that he could have taken the exams, but truthfully, he hadn't felt terribly motivated to do so. After all, he got to work alongside his twin and their engine all day, so why would he ever want to drive some other engine? It was only through the urging of his brother and No. 57646 that Kirk even bothered to consider it, though, mostly because, in Dirk's words, "if som'thin' 'appens n' I get laid up in th' hospital, ye'd better be able t' take care o' 'im!"

Unfortunately for Kirk, Dirk was known to make snap judgements and rash decisions, some of which had landed him in the hospital before, so it was that rather sound argument that had led to him studying for (and thankfully scoring high on) his exams.

As Kirk rounded the bend and approached the yard, trying to figure out how best to share the good news—should he play the fool? Offer to buy beers? Make it out to be a Christmas miracle?—what he saw instead made his good cheer evaporate in a flash.

No. 57647, an engine that their own held close to his heart, snarled throatily at one of the new diesel railbuses that had so recently entered service, this one having transferred here only a few short days ago. This particular diesel was 79959, and from the very start, he had made a rather strong impression on the rest of the yard. Kirk didn't much care for him himself, but at least he knew how to keep his damn distance. Unfortunately, from the way the two engines were facing off against each other, anger bleeding off of them both, one of them—or perhaps both of them—had decided to pick a fight.

"Ye'd best take that back, ye oil-huffin' ninny!"

The diesel only sniffed imperiously at 57647's words, clearly unimpressed. "Oh, look. Th' hothead's barbaric brother is here t' play noo! Ohhhh, Ah'm so scared!"

Condescension dripped from every word, and the diesel's eyes slowly turned back to 57646, a cocksure grin stretching across his face. "Ye 'eard what ah said, but ah'll say it again! All ye steamies are jus' washed up, no-good, hunks o' rust, an' you, ye dumb engine, are th' worst of all. Always givin' me orders, always thinkin' ah'm not as strong or as important as ye. WELL! Ah can do whatever you can, an' so much more! Ah can't wait 'til yer in the scrapyard, beggin' fer yer life, only ta—"

BAM! There was a clash, metal scraping against metal, and 57647 was suddenly right in front of the diesel, the two buffer to buffer as, with a great heave of effort, the steam engine pushed the railbus right off the rails, causing him to tip over and land with a great clatter against the cold, hard ground.

"HAAH! HAAH!" the railbus hyperventilated, panic setting in as his eyes looked every which way, focusing on nothing. A great hush fell over the yard, everyone watching in collective bewilderment as they tried to comprehend what had happened, before realization finally set in and a cacophany of noise erupted. Some of the men immediately set to righting the toppled bus, who was now screaming obscenities at the twin engines, while others hurried to ascertain the state of the line. 57647, for his part, was soundly being told off by his crew, two more folks that Kirk couldn't confidently say that he liked until he'd gotten enough beers in him.

"What were ye thinkin', ye ridiculous engine?!" the steam engine's driver shouted, looking like he was a hair's breadth away from popping a vein. "Ye coulda hurt someone! Yer lucky that damn railbus' crew was on break! Yer so... GAH! No wonder th' top brass wants t'—"

At that moment, however, the driver suddenly clammed up, the fireman also shuffling his feet and looking anywhere else. 57646's brows furrowed, suspicion all over his face, and it was clear that he was about to press on the matter, when a particular sound gave them all pause.

The depot manager's heavy steps were unmistakable, and Mr. MacCullough, the dark-eyed manager, approached the two steam engines with ire in his eyes and his jaw firm.

"Unbelievable. Once again, ye've caused me some REAL trouble, 57647! That railbus was t' take passengers this afternoon, an' noo, I've gotta organize a replacement! AGAIN!"

"But sir, I—"

"Can it, ye lousy engine! Ye couldn't keep yer temper in check, n' ye started a fight. Don't even pretend; I've already heard enough testimony from everyone here!"

The depot manager took a deep breath, eyes moving back and forth between the twins. "You listen t' me," he growled, his volume low but the intensity of his voice palpable. "Ah've had it wit' ye. Yer a bleedin' idiot who can't keep 'is temper, an' ah don't need that on ma railway. Yer done. Ah'm arrangin' for ye t' be sent t' th' scrapyard at th' end o' th' week."

A sudden hush fell over the twin engines and 57646's crew as Kirk came over to join his brother and their engine, his good news seeming so monumentally insignificant in the face of this terrible announcement. "Wha... what d'ya mean, sir?" 57647 trembled, and beside him, Dirk also trembled, but certainly not with trepidation.

"Ah mean what ah said," the manager sneered. "Yer no longer useful, an' yer gettin' scrapped. As fer 57646 here, congratulations. Ye've been sold; yer goin' t' Sodor."

"SODOR?!" exploded 57646, horror, anger, and rebelliousness all coming to the forefront as the manager's words sunk in.

"Tha's right," the steely eyed Mr. MacCullough continued, seeming quite unpreturbed even though a giant steam locomotive easily more than thrice his size looked like he was currently contemplating murder. "Yer goin' t' Sodor, an' ah'll be seein' ye off in a few days so yer crew can decide whether they wanna go wit' ya. That's all."

With that, like he hadn't just delivered the equivalent of executioner's orders, Mr. MacCullough turned on his heel and headed straight back for his office, his stride not slowing in the least despite the agony he'd left behind.

"No... NO!" 57647 cried, shaking like mad as tears threatened to fall. Beside him, Dirk and Kirk slowly reached up to pat at his frames; even though 57647 wasn't their engine, 57646 loved him enough to call him brother, and thus, he was just as special to the crew.

The reactions from 57647's own crew, however, left something to be desired, especially as Dirk turned to face them with a fire in his eyes.

"What was that, Rory?!" he demanded, practically getting into the driver's face. "Ye didn't stand up for yer engine at all! Yer jus' gonna... jus' gonna let him DIE?!"

With that, Dirk grabbed at his fellow driver's shirt and practically lifted him to his tiptoes, with Kirk making no move to stop him. However, instead of remorse, Rory simply let out a harsh sigh, his expression a mess of anxiety, reluctance, and resignation.

"Th' Controller let me know this mornin'. Mick n' I... we're bein' transferred t'a new engine. There's nothin' we can do. We can't work wit' him anymore, and ah'd rather be drivin' one o' them nice new diesels, anyway."

"Them nice new diesels..." Dirk scoffed, before spitting off to the side and releasing his grip, causing Rory to scramble backwards, breathing heavily, eyes wide with fright. "Get outta me sight. I dun wanna see ye again fer th' rest o' th' time ah'm here. GO!"

Rory and Mick didn't need persuading. The two scrambled off in a flurry of limbs, their movements so comical that were the situation anything but what it was, it might have been funny.

"Ah... ah cannae believe it," 57647 whimpered, eyes wide and staring at nothing. "Ma crew... they dun care 'bout me. Ah'm... ah'm gonna be scrapped..."

"Nae," 57646 whispered fiercely, trying to keep his voice low even though all assembled could hear the emotions raging just beneath the surface. "Yer not dyin' anytime soon, y'hear me? Ah... Ah'll figure sometin' out."

"Ye mean we," Dirk corrected, causing Kirk to look over at him in surprise. "We aren't about to let ye go at this alone." The conviction in his voice brought warm smiles to the faces of the two Caledonians, and it would have been a perfect moment if not for Kirk grabbing at his brother's arm.

"Ah, 'scuse us, you two."

Kirk managed to wrangle Dirk off to the side for a moment, before staring at his twin with disbelief. "Dirk! Ye cannae make promises ye can't keep!"

Dirk folded his arms, scowling at his brother as though he'd said something ridiculous. "What're ye on about, Kirk? Our engines need our help!"

"Our engines?!" Kirk hissed, absolutely incredulous by his brother's audacity. "Dirk, we have one engine, an' tha's moore than enough! 'Sides, his brother's bound fer th' scrapyard! How d'ye propose we—"

"Kirk," his brother interrupted softly, his tone solemn, "if I were starin' down th' executioner's axe, wuld ye do whatcha had t' do ta save me?"

"O' course!" Kirk blurted, not even needing a second to think. "Yer me bràthair, an'—"

"Tha's how our engine feels 'bout his own," his twin interjected, his tone now pleading, almost begging Kirk to understand. "Kirk, we've gotta do sometin'. Ah already know we're goin' wit' him t' Sodor; we've got no more family here, an' he may be metal, but he may as well be kin. And kin comes through fer kin."

There was a long, long silence. Kirk stared steadily at Dirk, then at the two engines, who were quietly conversing with each other, then upon noticing that he was looking at them, gave tiny, hopeful smiles that would have melted any good man's heart.

At that, a long sigh escaped the fireman's lips as he turned to regard his brother, who was already smiling at the sound of his twin's surrender. "Alright. We'll save his bràthair. N' he's real lucky, 'cause ah know our cousins, Bryce n' Blair, were also thinkin' a leavin' th' railway an' skippin' town. They'll be happy t' come wit' us, 'specially if there's steamies that need savin'."

"YES!" Dirk started to cheer, but then quickly stopped himself as the noise drew the attention of the other railwaymen around the yard. "Alright. Last thing we need's another driver, then..."

At this, Kirk couldn't help but roll his eyes. Looked like his earlier conundrum had solved itself. "Guess yer in luck once again. Ah passed th' exams; ah'm a certified driver noo."

"Really?!" Dirk's eyes widened to an almost comical degree, and a huge smile split his face. "Ah shoulda known that's why ye were lookin' so proud earlier! Between you an' me drivin' an' the Mitchells' shovelin', we'll have no problems gettin' t' Sodor! Let's tell them the good news, then!"

With that, the good news was shared and plans were laid, and despite the worries and the fear of what the future might hold, one engine and his driver, along with another engine and his soon-to-be-driver, found themselves smiling brightly. After all, nobody knew better than they did how far they'd go for family.

[futuristichedge]

I think it is healthy for every sonic fan to get attached to a character that they will never have hope of seeing in any of the games, media, or official art ever again.

[wordsandrobots]

Reserving judgement on Gundam GQuuuuuuX (G-Quacks? I'm going with G-Quacks for my own sanity) until we find out for sure whether it's another UC extension and until I find out if me and the CGI animation are going to be friends (initial impression: no, which is a shame given the rest of the art style is pretty fun).

But, man, now I have to stick a disclaimer on the WoSH sequel to say I plotted it out long before this was announced.

Seriously, I'm ripping off Mobile Fight G Gundam, not the latest thing! I have standards!

[blazingstaro]

Hey gang! DotS:MMM update!

I will preface: the comic is still live and shall continue at an irregular schedule until I can pull myself together and get back into the flow

Frankly I have not felt up to drawing and forcing myself into a grind. I need to pace myself and not feel like this is an obligation. I started feeling like I had to make pages to keep up the pace and not disappoint, but that started to really ebb at my enjoyment of making this comic

This is my hobby, and not my job. Nobody pays me to make these. I make this because I like it and want to tell a story. Something I have to constantly remind myself, despite the pressure of disappointing my readers with my inconsistency. These days I draw in bursts and end up losing my stamina because I become emotionally overwhelmed

My energy is still fickle. I'm bombarded with overwhelming negativity at home from various sources, including personal stress and depression caused by my current life situation. What I make to decompress shouldn't be a stresser either

I'll continue to chip away at finishing these pages for DotS:MMM Part One, but it will be at my own pace. I'll post again once I feel ready and satisfied enough with how many pages I have in hand. Deadlines stress me out and kill my motivation to draw. Again it makes me feel obligated to do this stuff, to make it instead of just being something I enjoy and have fun with

Also Orpheus decided to worm his way in, so now I have to rewrite some scripts to as well fix a tremendous continuity error that Orpheus has come in to correct. This man makes me rewrite everything, I swear omg

You'll see what I mean in later parts of DotS:MMM

Thank you guys as always for your patience! 💖

Additionally for you all, my Tumblr lovelies, I'll continue to answer asks! Might be able to squeeze in a sketch or two as I go, but goodness I have to constantly train myself to draw for fun and not treat it like work. Tumblr has been helping with that a lot

My previous following several years ago on dA used to pressure me into keeping up with my own content and would punish me with hateful comments if I didn't post art of their fave OC of mine often enough (yes my OWN oc, not a fan character), and UGHGHGH MAN. HEAVEN FORBID I posted a new design without some sort of specific ritual first, just up and dropped a new character like "hi hello this is bleebo blorbie my new baby blorbo kthx bye". They'd throw a fit over that too. Not everyone of course, but it was a lot of people

I was bullied by fans of my own original content 😭 you see why I do fan stuff these days

It wasn't even remotely done, didn't even have a comic or story; people lusted over my own designs. I felt like I had to finish a story that never wanted to be told just to make ends meet, to appease the unappeasable, and burnt myself out entirely on the series to where I had to scrap the whole thing.

Thankfully that's not the case anymore, with my current following being great and sweet, but on rare occasions a rare impatient reader will show themselves on dA specifically

I appreciate you guys being so chill and kind to me throughout this year 😭 Tumblr gang I've always loved y'all. I haven't felt at home on a site in so long

[driftingballoons]

Wow, your first pokemon ever was explorers? That's fascinating. It must have really colored your initial view of the franchise, pmd is so different to the main games

Yeah! For some reason I never felt drawn to pokemon before (I always assumed it was just a boy thing aksjhajskdka), but when I saw it in the store it called to me. To this day, explorers of sky is still my number 1 favorite pokemon game :) And it might be partly why I tend to prefer the spin-offs to the mainline games 😅 Don’t get me wrong, the mainlines are good, but after heart gold, and then BW, I realized there was a main “formula” behind them, and it started feeling a little samey (she says, despite playing every mainline game from then to ultra sun/moon). 

[edgepunk]

I'm not even that pressed that the main ASM run sucks ass, almost every SM spin-off comic is v enjoyable and doing Peter’s characted justice

[tubapun]

UPDATED MASTERPOST HERE PLEASE CLICK

In 2004 Warner Bros launched a new Scooby-Doo merch/style line called "Scooby-Doo A Girl's Best Friend". This was a line that was supposed to make Scooby-Doo more appealing to young girls, with heart motifs, plenty of pink, and an emphasis on Fun, Creativity, and Friendship. I recently aquired an official style guide for this line; a book that was sent to potential licensed contractor companies detailing the general style, tone, artwork, and rules for making merchandise in this line. The book came with a cd-rom full of vectorized images for use in merchandise and the like!! And I've exported them for you!!

This is the character art for Scooby himself, the only mainline character to be featured in this line. You can see his collar is now a bright pink, and his shoulder spot has been made firmly into a heart. He's got a lineless style with and emphasis on curves and angles that form hearts. It almost makes me think of UPA cartoons, but that may just be me. Note: I exported all of these at the scale they were originally at, so theyre all around 200*300 pixels. If you'd like any in a larger size lmk and I can export it as such, theyre vectorized after all!!

(check the reblogs for more art from this line)

[meanstepdad]

it's finally here! in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the sims series, i present my big, dumb labor of love.

"i really love the sims" is a 64-page love letter to the sims franchise, spanning all 4 mainline titles as well as a collection of my favorite sims spin-off games.

topics covered in the zine include:

the wild history of developing the sims 1 and how a rumored unscripted lesbian kiss saved the game from obscurity

the importance of a free and accessible modding scene for sims games and the necessity of archiving old sims content

how the sims games have always served as a tool for exploring gender and sexuality

a measured response to the sims 4

a celebration of my favorite sims handheld and console games

a bibliography with further reading, listening, and viewing recommendations

and much more!

the digital version of this zine is free/pwyw! part of what makes the sims series so special is the massive amount of work made available for free by passionate modders and custom content creators. from new hairstyles and clothing to entire gameplay expansions and custom software, their generosity has been foundational in fostering the creative community that surrounds these games and it's what has inspired me to release the full zine online for free. i spent dozens of hours writing, editing, and designing this zine, but it's nothing compared to the thousands of hours i've spent downloading custom content for the sims.

physical copies of the zine are also available for purchase! they've been gorgeously printed in black-and-white by a local printer and make a lovely, tangible token of affection for the series. the physical version of the zine is $10 and ships to anywhere in the united states (because i don't know how to ship/price for outside the US and i'm scared)

you can download the digital version here

or buy a physical copy here

and check out my other zines here

thank you so much for all your support and thank you to the amazing sims community online. the games wouldn't be the same without all your love and support ❤️

[sunlitlemonade]

my liege may we hear your thoughts on the jason helena comic blease 🙏 i need to form an opinion

babe. i believe in you. you CAN form an independent thought. cheering you on. sjedhskb i say this with love. regardless!

my thoughts: -> more helena content? fuck YES -> more jason content? fuck YES

-> they're not in gotham.... hm... ok fine -> the cop thing….. AUTHOR CONFIRMED COMIC IS NOT PRO-COP!!! we'll see how much dc editorial lets them stick to that.

my thoughts on fandom reaction: -> everyone needs to get a life -> 'helena is being passed around batboys like a blunt' god forbid a grown woman fucks whoever she wants to? these ppl really will see a adult woman have relationships in a franchise notorious for having a limited dating pool & immediately act as if the only good thing she can do is..... not be with men? because that decides her worth? wheres the sexual liberation NOW huh. also just because she was 'with' dick once doesnt mean thats her only personality trait. grow up. so what if she's dick's ex? she's not allowed to be with other ppl anymore? nice! cool! got it! -> 'this will RUIN helena & she will treated sooo bad' wow. are we forgetting when dick kicked her for bruce when she made a MISTAKE? shes been the punching bag for the bats for veryyy long. also new52 did more damage to her than a comic with jason might. -> 'new writer on the block lets all shit on the comic that hasn't even been released yet!' good job everyone! very proud of the mob mentality & the sheer disrepect we have towards creatives trying to build a career, especially with baseless complaints because theres nothing to even complain abt yet. like. women [especially trans women in this case] will always always always have to prove themselves & grovel & beg to be heard. this is a NEW FUCKING ARTIST PLEASE GET YOUR SCREWS BACK IN PLACE GUYS IM REQUESTING YOU ALL TO FUCKING BEHAVE

god forbid anyone brings new ideas & dynamics to the table. really. thats so boring. characters should only ever interact with the characters they first interacted with!! i understand the want for a further building of those previous dynamics & what not but sometimes new flavour is needed especially with characters that have been a bit stagnant

-> also someone started talking abt how helena should finish the jokers work for him by killing jason because he shot at dami [ok so we're regarding the comic where a teen who was murdered attack a child? like that makes sense for jasons character right? & is surely the characterisation to be used?] & because of how he 'threw mias past at her face'…. by saying theyre the same? he literally said theyre the same. implying to have a similar past. like. its clear as day for anyone with reading comprehension skills. so. youre just shitting on a csa victim. because of what? the fact that hes a man? is that is what is being said here? that men can't be csa victims? ok..... thats surely a good & humane take to have! [sarcasm in case yall couldnt tell]

-> 'author has written beast world & will hence make this a bad jason comic'..... she isnt lobdell or zdarsky or daniels or morrison who have consistently written him badly. be fr rn. she has written him in one comic [not even even mainline] & theres scope for lot of improvement. complain when the comic is out & if it turns out bad. ppl will whine & bitch & moan & scream themselves hoarse over anything. generational run of being miserable! great job.

i mean i understand the wariness. a few mutuals have said as much to me. i understand. but lets wait till we have something to complain abt before we decide its going to be the worst thing everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

-> that one post that goes 'helena fans we didn't want her here either' or something..... like SEKFEKRFN as if associating a character with jason will automatically KILL THEM LMAO. i for one am very intrigued! like with all of this said, this could be bad but lets stop acting as if helena & jason interactions can't be interesting. two amazing characters coming together is the very formula for something that makes you want to look. why exactly would jason fans not want her there? i like her & i like jason & seeing them together would be really cool, if handled well. so maybe stop speaking so confidently on behalf of all jason fans. not even every jason fan agrees with you. idk what youre on abt lmfao

[edwards-exploit]

The North Western Railway with their newest engine, circa 1922

[felassan]

New today on DA:TV from Game Informer:

"A Deep Dive Into Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Expansive Character Creator by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 27, 2024 at 02:00 PM As BioWare prepared to show me the character creator for Dragon Age: The Veilguard in its Edmonton, Canada, offices, I expected something robust – it's 2024, character creators have come a long way, and Bioware has a rich history of good customization. Despite my expectations, I was not prepared for how robust it actually is in Veilguard. Robust enough, even, that BioWare used it to create most of the NPCs in the game, save for mainline characters like companions. Setting hyperbole aside, it is a staggeringly rich creation system, and I look forward to seeing player-created near-replicas of celebrities and monstrous creations that'd be more at home in a horror game.  But I'm also looking forward to the community's reaction to the Dragon Age series' best character creator yet. At the heart of it is inclusivity, Veilguard game director Corinne Busche tells me before letting me guide her through creating my own character."

"As is usual, there are four races to choose from: Elves, Qunari, Humans, and Dwarves. After selecting Qunari, Busche pages through various presets, explaining the game allows for more detailed looks at each and the ability to choose pronouns with she/her, he/him, and they/them separately from gender, select different body types, and more. You can view your character, referred to as Rook in-game, in four different lighting scenes at any time, including The Veilguard's keynote purple hue, a bright and sunny tropical day, and a gothic night.  I joke with the team that after spending upwards of an hour creating my Dragon Age: Inquisition character in 2014, I immediately restarted the game after seeing him in the first cutscene; the in-game lighting made my hair color look terrible amongst other issues I had with my Inquisitor. Veilguard creative director John Epler says the team is aware of countless stories like that with Inquisition and its green-hued character creator, adding BioWare worked hard to squash that concern in Veilguard.  Head and body presets can be selected individually and customized to your liking with 40 different complexions that include smooth, rugged, youthful, and freckled skin tones, skin hues ranging from cool to neutral to warm, undertones to those skin tones, and even a melanin slider. Busche tells me BioWare relied on consultation to represent all people authentically. There's a Vitiligo slider (where you can adjust the intensity and amount of it) and sliders for your forehead, brow, cheeks, jaw, chin, larynx, and scalp. You can select your undergarments, with nudity as well because "this is a mature RPG," Busche adds, and use the "Body Morpher" to select three presets for each corner of a triangle and then move a cursor within it to morph your body or head into a mix of these presets. It's an impressive technology I'd like to see adopted in other games. [link to embedded DA:TV gameplay reveal video]"

"I can keep going: You can adjust height, shoulder width, chest size, glute and bulge size, hip width, how bloodshot your eyes are, how visible cataracts are, the sclera color, how crooked your nose is, how big its bridge is, the size of nostrils and the nose tip, and there are as many sliders, if not more, for things like Rook's mouth and ears. On ears alone, I see you can adjust asymmetry, depth, rotation, earlobe size, and even add cauliflower ear to your Rook. Busche says makeup blends modern stylings with the fantasy of Dragon Age with more than 30 options, including eyeliner intensity, color, glitter, eye shadow, lips, and blush. Tattoos are just as customizable alongside options for scars and paint. Tattoos, scars, and paint are very culturally relevant to some lineages, BioWare tells me, with unique tattoos for elves, for example. You can add tattoos to Rook's face, body, arms, and legs, and you can adjust things like intensity, too.  Im most impressed, however, by the hair options on display; there are a ton, and as someone with long hair, I'm especially excited about the fun selections I can make. You can finally dye your hair with non-traditional colors, and it's gorgeous. EA's Frostbite engine uses the Strand system to render each style fully with physics. "The technology has finally caught up to our ambition," Dragon Age series art director Matt Rhodes says. After customizing all of that and selecting our Qunari's horn type and material (of which there are more than 40 options to choose from), it's time to pick a class out of the Rogue, Mage, and Warrior – read more about Veilguard's classes here. Since we built a Qunari, we went with Warrior. For the penultimate step of the character creator, at least during the demo BioWare shows me, we select a faction. Out of the six options, we select the pirate-themed Lords of Fortune."

"Rook ascends because of competency, not because of a magical McGuffin," BioWare core lead and Mass Effect executive producer Michael Gamble tells me in contrast to Inquisition's destiny-has-chosen-you-characterization. "Rook is here because they choose to be and that speaks to the kind of character that we've built," Busche adds. "Someone needs to stop this, and Rook says, 'I guess that’s me.'" Ready to begin our Rook's journey, we select a first and last name and one of four voices out of English masculine, English feminine, American masculine, or American feminine options. There's a pitch shifter for each voice, too, allowing you to tweak it to your liking further. Don't stress too much about locking in your character creations before beginning the game – the Mirror of Transformation, which is found in Veilguard's main hub, The Lighthouse, allows you to change your physical appearance at any time. However, class, lineage, and identity are locked in and cannot be changed after you select them in the game's character creator.  From here, we're off to Minrathous, and you can read more about that famed city in our cover story, which is available here. For more about the game, including exclusive details, interviews, video features, and more, click the Dragon Age: The Veilguard hub button below."

[source]

[lillified]

Your Megastar is the only Megastar I can tolerate, and the sole reason is because your art tastes so good (also your characterization of the characters is so deep and cool)

my secret is that there is, IMO, a truth of tenderness that exists in the characters’ thematic cores that typically gets written out and around for a much more simplistic narrative—personally, I believe that if you want to look at the characters with any degree of humanizing depth, you have to acknowledge that they are deeply important to eachother, and there is a much more dynamic interpretation that exists beyond the need for them to affirm eachother’s’ viciousness.

it’s why shattered glass pretty much always has a very “romantic” outlook on them, despite the fact that you can say many aspects of their personalities are unchanged (see: one of my biggest creative inspirations)

my belief about the matter is that if you approached the characters and their relationship with this level of humanity in mainline canon (obviously instead of the shallow, indulgently cruelty we get), you would get a more interesting, dynamic, and altogether more complete interpretation of the characters as a whole—and you would also get something that is probably even MORE romantic than Shattered Glass, because there IS something tender at the core, there.

at the purest we see them they’re two incredibly guilty people with an isolatingly cynical perspective who ultimately keep coming back for eachother because nobody else is going to. there’s something sweet and sad to me about two people creating a special hell to share not because of inflicted violence or trauma, but because, ironically, the first time they’ve ever learned to care about someone else in a selfless way was when they finally outran shame and accepted that you can be tainted and evil, but be loved

but the joy of something so inherently incomplete and messy in its unifying philosophy like transformers is that you can find something interesting and meaningful in just about any angle and interpretation, and if nobody is giving you what you want to see you might as well make it yourself! I have a lot more thoughts on these characters and their thematic importance to eachother but I’ll keep it unsaid

[otomehonyaku]

a reader's guide to otomehonyaku ☽ translation masterpost & request guidelines (updated 4 Feb. '25)

you can call me Ottie (she/her)! 20s, DiaLovers translator & writer

— — currently on indefinite hiatus — —

ASK & DM OPEN ☽ REQUESTS CLOSED ☽ COMMISSIONS NEGOTIABLE THROUGH DM

Please DO NOT REUSE OR REPOST ANY OF MY TRANSLATIONS OR WRITING ELSEWHERE, in any form whatsoever, or RETRANSLATE MY WORK INTO OTHER LANGUAGES WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT PERMISSION. If you have any questions regarding retranslating or reposting, please DM me!

Working on...

Diabolik Lovers More,Blood Stellaworth Complete Tokuten Short Stories ☽ All 10 characters (Next up are Shuu and Reiji!)

Upcoming translations

Diabolik Lovers More,Blood Character Popularity Poll Short Story ☽ Subaru ver.

Diabolik Lovers Chaos Lineage Drama CDs ☽ Vol. 3 (Orange, 4 tracks)

Diabolik Lovers Grand Edition Special Booklet ☽ Year-End Pandemonium (Sakamaki short story)

Diabolik Lovers Vandead Carnival Special Voice CD

Surprise long-form story from one of the tokuten booklets

Diabolik Lovers Chaos Lineage Special Booklet ☽ Short Story (Scarlet ver.)

Diabolik Lovers Chaos Lineage Special Booklet ☽ Short Story (Violet ver.)

Diabolik Lovers Official Anime Novelization ☽ Chapter 4

Note: Please be aware that list is subject to change. If something exciting pops up, I might alternate this list with other translations─in this case, please refer to the 'currently translating' section above to see what I'm working on!

Mainline Diabolik Lovers instalments

☽  DIABOLIK LOVERS: GRAND EDITION ☽ INCLUDING HAUNTED DARK BRIDAL & MORE,BLOOD

☽  DIABOLIK LOVERS: VANDEAD CARNIVAL ☽

☽  DIABOLIK LOVERS: LOST EDEN ☽

☽  DIABOLIK LOVERS: CHAOS LINEAGE ☽

Mainline drama CD series

☽  CLICK HERE FOR MY MAINLINE DRAMA CD MASTERPOST ☽

Books & other written materials

☽  CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS & OTHER WRITTEN MATERIALS ☽

My writing & miscellaneous translations

☽ CLICK HERE FOR MY WRITING & MY MISCELLANEOUS (NON-DIALOVERS) TRANSLATIONS ☽

Guidelines for requests & commissions

As a rule of thumb, Diabolik Lovers-related translations are always my priority and I sometimes write for fun. I do not take requests for writing (short stories, headcanons, reacts, scenarios and the like), though paid commissions are negotiable! Creative writing is quite a personal and subjective thing for me, so I tend to be selective as I want to ensure that I have enough inspiration and fun while writing in order to deliver a quality product. Please reach out through DM if you’d like to discuss a paid commission! Thank you for your understanding ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

When requesting/commissioning a translation, please be aware of the following: ☽ Please provide the source materials which you would like to have translated. I do not have the financial means nor the time to personally buy all of the drama CDs or tokuten for all 13 characters, for example, so if you want something translated: please include a link to the source materials. These could be links to audio files on SoundCloud and BiliBili, or links to Tumblr posts with scans of short stories or interviews and the like. ☽ In all cases, it is your own responsibility to ensure that the source materials—particularly fan-made artwork and scans—have been acquired with full permission from the original poster. If the original poster has NOT given you permission to repost or reuse/translate the materials in question, I will NOT translate them. ☽ This probably goes without saying, but I do these translations for fun—I enjoy doing them, but I am also busy in my daily life. I will try my best to finish and post the translation as soon as possible after your request, but I give no guarantees on how long they will take. I do work relatively quickly given my current language skills in Japanese, but the time I can spend on translating varies per week. ☽ If you would like me to translate Japanese-language materials from other otome franchises or pop culture related things, please consult with me and I’ll see what I can do! ☽ DO NOT REPOST ANY OF MY TRANSLATIONS ELSEWHERE, IN ANY FORM WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING VIDEO), OR TRANSLATE MY WORK TO OTHER LANGUAGES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

[kirbyoctournament]

After a gruelling six months, we're pleased to finally announce to you this year's winners of the 2024 Kirby OC Tournament!

We'll start with the results from the Second Chance Brackets. This event was hosted to allow those who were voted out within the first three rounds of the mainline tournament to participate for a little longer, and featured high-speed 3VS match-ups.

The grand final of the Second Chance Brackets pitted Noir Fontaine (of @desultory-novice), the long-suffering swordsman, against Rope MF (of @mint-termsandconditions), that one guy who really really likes ropes. Both contestants produced an incredible, ongoing series of finale propagandas bouncing off the strengths of both characters, combining both lore and comedy, comics, and even animations!

Their poll, ✦ THERE ARE NO STRINGS ON ME ✦ concluded with one singular vote of difference. This polled in favour of:

⭒THERE ARE NO STRINGS ON ME⭒ ✦ FINAL RESULTS ✦

WINNER: Rope MF with 50.3% of votes!

Congratulations to Rope MF!! This was an incredibly tight race until the very end, with Noir claiming a lead for multiple updates right up until the last moment, with a surprise victory for Rope MF!

Moving on to the Mainline Tournament. After six months of intense 1 on 1 competition, our grand finalists emerged as Valfrey (of @gethoce), the butterfly samurai who created suns at the beginning of the universe, and starstruck dee (of @starflungwaddledee), a palmful of waddle dee who is definitely very normal.

Despite their differences of vibe, both characters are beloved by the community, within the tournament and out, and their creators have told consistent tales throughout the course of the event. Valfrey in particular has spent her time doing everyone a great service by handling one specific menace, a story that carried through into her propaganda until the very end, while starstruck found herself rather lost en route.

None the less, as we don't technically require contestants to be on the tournament grounds to compete, their poll ✦ FOR THE SUN ✦ ran as normal! The results are:

⭒FOR THE SUN⭒ ✦ FINAL RESULTS ✦

WINNER: starstruck dee with 54% of votes!

For this poll in particular, we have an additional graph to show the full week of movement!

Despite a slow start, starstruck dee pulled into a tie, and then into a lead that she maintained up until voting closed. Congratulations starstruck dee!! Propaganda and campaigning made an incredibly noticeable impact on this poll, with every post from each competitor and their supporters resulting in an instant uptick of attention for their character on the poll!

Congratulations to the winners, and also to their opponents. To be among the final four of a roster that was just shy of 150 characters is an incredible achievement!

Our final wrap-up for the tournament and this blog will be posted within the next week or so.

Once again, congratulations to our competitors, and thank you to all-- contestants and spectators alike-- for participating this year! This tournament could not exist without your love of OCs, and we are thrilled to have been able to host you, your characters, and all the creativity and passion that has come with them!

[ponett]

Bobby's 2023 Media Wrap-Up

So! Like I said before, this past year I kept a running list of everything I watched, every game I finished, every new album I listened to, etc., and wrote one-paragraph blurbs with my thoughts on every single one. Please enjoy this journey through everything I liked, or didn't like, in 2023, with my favorites of the year listed at the bottom.

(Yes! This is long!!)

Some notes:

I mainly only included things I finished. Exceptions are marked with an asterisk.

I included some YouTube stuff as "TV shows" - mostly particularly long, high effort video essays and documentaries.

I was a bit less adventurous than I'd like to have been this year. Part of this was just that I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up with Big Releases I felt obligated to check out, and part of this was just executive dysfunction from burnout. Wait until you see how long it took me to beat Mario Wonder lmao

Yes, I need to read more books. I don't read a lot of books these days. I need to get back to Discworld.

COLOR KEY

Video Games • TV / Web Video  •  Movies  •  Comics  •  Music

January

1/15: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (MSQ) - Very slow at times, the Primal shit is generally extremely lame to me outside of the boss fights themselves, but god if the quality of life improvements over WoW, the JRPG energy, and the fact that it Actually Has A Story carry it pretty hard.

1/18: Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island miniseries - One of the most creative and compelling uses of the Sonic IP… ever? Fantastic little self-contained arc about the struggles of Eggman’s abandoned creations that gracefully weaves between heartfelt optimism and moody horror with some of the best art ever seen in a Sonic comic.

1/18: Mega Man X4 - Glad I finally actually beat this after never even beating any of the Mavericks as a kid! I can see why it’s a lot of peoples’ favorites. The gameplay has very little of that X series bloat and is just fun, especially after getting X’s armor upgrades. (But the story really is a long series of missed opportunities.)

February

2/2: Donks - Felix Colgrave continues to be an exceptional artist. The sound design on this is fantastic and really sells this short as something unique. Had to go back and watch his older stuff again after this.

2/4: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (3.0 - 3.3 MSQ) - I get it now. I get why people say this is just a proper mainline Final Fantasy game built into the framework of an MMO. That shit ruled. Not even walking back the drama in Ul’Dah from the end of ARR can sour me on it because the main storyline was so strong.

2/8: Disneyland's Forgotten Sci-Fi Rock Band - Live From the Space Stage - A nice and honest tribute to a group of artists who could have easily been forgotten. In hindsight this feels like a precursor to Kevin’s Disney Channel jingle video, a tribute to the unsung artists pouring their hearts into “lesser” art for a megacorporation, art that was designed to be transient but sticks with people nonetheless.

2/9: Metroid Prime Remastered* - Not gonna finish because I just played through the Wii version in 2021, but still. Very, very pretty remaster.

2/16: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - It’s more Theatrhythm. What more could I want

2/17: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (anime) - Probably the best part of the anime so far (assuming they continue on to SBR). A near perfect mix of the more structured plot of part 5 with the goofiness of parts 3 and 4 that crescendos into a fantastic, bombastic, emotional, bittersweet ending. The use of footage from the original opening and the new ending set to Roundabout in the finale were perfect, and made me intensely nostalgic for the early days of my JoJo fandom between seasons 1 and 2 of the anime.

2/22: Aggretsuko Season 5 - I don’t really know what to make of this one. Once you get past the agonizing initial arc all about Haida where Retsuko has to be his overbearing mommy GF who flips out and starts spying on him when she’s left on read and chides him when he misbehaves, it feels like an improvement over the previous seasons. But I don’t know how much of that is due to the extremely low bar set by season 4. And then the ending is extremely rushed and anticlimactic. They got legally married and the only acknowledgement was a shot of them signing the paperwork in a montage partway through the final episode?????????

2/24: Double Fine PsychOdyssey - God, what a journey the making of this game was. I already loved 2 Player’s past efforts at documenting Double Fine’s process, but this takes it to a whole new level. This feels culturally significant. The depth and honesty with which they depict not just the nitty gritty of making a game, but also the inherent struggles of working on a collaborative creative work for years at a time, is astounding. Not to mention that they were there to capture the shift from office life to remote work as COVID hit. So much of this would have been nightmarishly stressful to watch if I didn’t already know how successful the game was, but that’s just because they really didn’t sugarcoat it. And yet even after all that, it leaves me feeling optimistic about video games as an art form in a way that the constant headlines about cynical live service games don’t. There are still people out there pouring their hearts into making real art, and this is their story. Everyone who plays video games should watch this.

2/25: Cracker Island (Gorillaz) - New Gorillaz albums feel like less of an event these days, but after Humanz it feels like they’re just more chill with the project and their ambitions with it. Every couple years we get some more laid back jams from Damon along with some fun new collabs. Hard to complain. Favorite track: New Gold

2/25: Pool Kids (Pool Kids) - I discovered this band because Derek knows them and was excited when they got a song added to Fortnite through the Bandcamp collab. Always down to find more cool indie rock bands I can vibe with. The mix of dreamy vocals and energetic riffs on some of the tracks here almost fill the Crying-shaped hole in my heart. Almost… Favorite track: Conscious Uncoupling

2/25: Insane in the Rain (insaneintherainmusic) - I thought it was really funny timing when Carlos announced that his first original project would be a jazz fusion album inspired by acts like T-Square and Casiopea right as I was getting into those two specific bands. The final product does not disappoint. Favorite track: Insane in the Rain

2/26: Get Up Sequences Part Two (The Go! Team) - I’ve never been one to believe that a band’s sound has to remain exactly the same forever, but it really does hit you hard that the first two tracks here sound like classic The Go! Team. Their more recent cleaner sound is still here too, though, for a nice mix of old and new. Favorite track: Divebomb

2/28: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (Season 1) - Oh my god. Oh my god. I got distracted around the time I was finishing SLARPG, but finally catching up now, wow. My assumption that the seemingly lighter tone of the series compared to the prologue was there to lull us into a false sense of security before twisting the knife when war finally breaks out was spot on. This is peak Gundam.

March

3/4: Pizza Tower - One of the best platformers I’ve played in a long time. It transcends its blatant Wario Land inspirations with the sheer speed at which Peppino can move and the way things like the level design, his wall running, and even the hidden ability to do a second lap around the level reward getting into a flow state where you’re just constantly moving. This is the type of game that wants to turn you into a speedrunner. My only real complaint is a few iffy enemy designs that I wish would get patched.

3/6: Bloons TD 6 * - I bought this before bed one night on a nostalgic whim and then the next morning woke up and saw the Steam receipt email on my phone in one of the most “what did I do last night” moments of my life. I like when the monkeys pop the balloons.

3/7: The Book of Boba Fett - I put off finishing this show for a very long time but finally caved upon the release of The Mandalorian season 3. This show spends four episodes failing to make me give a shit about Boba Fett trying to be “the daimyo” and drive the drug trade off of Tatooine, then just gives up and becomes season 2.5 of Mando, which in turn feels like it undercuts the main series. It fails as both its own story and as a spinoff. I know that finishing this after Andor did it no favors, but WHOOF.

3/12: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Some interesting ideas in the first half hinting at a more introspective show, but it’s mostly swept aside in the back half so it can become a generic Star Wars adventure remixing things from A New Hope and Rebels (and apparently Jedi: Fallen Order). Action scenes have zero stakes because you know nothing can happen to any of the returning characters and none of the new ones are particularly interesting. Why there’s a second climax hinging on a Luke Skywalker death fakeout eludes me. Obi-Wan throwing the rocks at Vader is one of the funniest things in Star Wars history. But it was still better than Book of Boba Fett, I guess.

3/19: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar - Wow, cool robot indeed… GaoGaiGar isn’t going to blow anyone away with its writing, but sometimes you just need a really fun monster of the week mecha show with great action and lovably goofy characters. This is a show where like 20% of every episode consists of recycled transformation, combination, and signature attack sequences and I ate it up every time because they look fucking cool as hell. I don’t care. I’d watch Final Fusion another 49 times.

3/21: The Last of Us (HBO) * - Watched the first two episodes out of curiosity, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue because I don’t give a shit about The Last of Us. It’s definitely a well done adaptation, though, even if I know it’s inevitably going to devolve into miserable torture porn with questionable politics if they adapt Part II faithfully. The ending of episode 2 also lines up perfectly with where I stopped in the game in 2013 lmao

3/27: The Future is a Dead Mall - Decentraland and the Metaverse (Folding Ideas) - Another banger from Dan Olson. This time the premise inherently gives him more time to just show off a bunch of stupid ugly bullshit made by crypto guys, which is fun. My main complaint was that I wished he would’ve brought up Second Life more as a point of comparison (a thing I basically always want out of discussion of “the metaverse”), but he at least did touch on it in the last section.

3/31: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - I can’t believe after years of begging for the supporting cast to get more and better material in a Sonic game I got my wish in the form of a freeware murder mystery VN released for April Fools. This kicked ass.

April

4/7: Berserk - Completed Miura’s run and caught up on the chapters that have been released posthumously. It’s hard to say anything that hasn’t been said about Berserk, universally agreed upon as one of the greats of manga and fantasy fiction as a whole. What begins in its first few volumes as a nihilistic and edgy action comic built to facilitate as much sex and gore as possible quickly evolves into something deeply human and vulnerable and beautiful, both figuratively and in terms of its lavish art. The world sucks and is immeasurably cruel, and you will see that cruelty illustrated in graphic, sickening detail repeatedly throughout the series. (Perhaps a little too often throughout the Golden Age, where it feels like Miura never misses an opportunity to threaten Casca with sexual assault mid-battle.) But the point isn’t to wallow in that misery. It’s the story of a victim of horrific abuse learning to slowly open up to others, having those people he cares about torn away from him in the worst night of his life, hardening himself into a cold killing machine, and then slowly learning to open back up again, even if it means leaving himself vulnerable to more hurt. Anyone who says that the series peaked with the eclipse and went downhill in the “Guts’ JRPG Party” era is missing the point. Guts needed to find new people in his life to care about, to begin to find happiness again. Because no matter what unspeakable things Guts has gone through, it’s still possible for him to heal and to be loved. It takes time, but eventually you stop and realize that life has moved on.

4/8: Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe - Skipped it upon release because I didn’t particularly care for the minigame in Triple Deluxe, and I didn’t miss much. It’s fine as a little distraction, but not as a standalone rhythm game with only seven songs. If you don’t bother with the hard modes or chase after high scores this game is 15 minutes long. Oh how I yearn for Kirby to get the Theatrhythm treatment.

4/10: The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar FINAL - Eh… It was okay. Lots of cool robot fights, but said fights are stitched together with a mediocre plot that tries too hard to be more “mature” than its unabashedly schlocky kids’ show predecessor. Not crazy about the ending, either, which tries to be a bittersweet farewell closing off the series once and for all while also teasing that maybe there’ll be ANOTHER sequel after the OVA series they literally called “FINAL.” Ah well.

4/11: The Owl House - Sad to see this one go, but it’s hard to imagine them doing a better finale than this, even if they had gotten the six seasons they deserved. I’m not as obsessed with The Owl House as I probably would’ve been had it come out when I was, like, 20, but it’s a really fantastic show for all the reasons people always say. Great characters, great world, great story. I love that this starry-eyed fantasy story about a teenager finding love and a place where she belongs is also set on the rotting corpse of a titan with Hieronymous Bosch-inspired scenery and freaky monsters everywhere. What a great mix. If anything, I just wish I would’ve watched the first season as it aired so I could’ve had more time with it.

4/29: Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version - FINALLY beat this via the new collection, 20 years after playing it as my first Mega Man game. (Technically my first was White, not Blue, but whatever.) There are more annoyances than I remember - lots of really really bad forced backtracking sections where you have to revisit every previous part of the internet, low chip drop rates, some really aggravating bosses like BubbleMan and KingMan, etc. But it’s still a great time overall. It’s Battle Network. In the back half the story gets surprisingly emotional, too. I was always under the assumption that the Hub stuff never came back up much in the story after 1, so I was pleasantly surprised with how relevant it was to the emotional arc of 3.

4/30: Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun * - Yeah I’m not playing through the whole thing lmao. I just wanted to play the first couple hours for nostalgia’s sake, and as a baseline for how much better the rest are. Even before getting deep in the game and having to deal with all the shit gated between doing two new game+ playthroughs, it’s immediately obvious how much of a downgrade this one is. Tons of glaring errors and typos all over the script, blander music, a way more boring aesthetic for the internet, and a premise that mostly just recycles the tournament idea from 3.

May

5/14: The Venture Bros. - Glad I finally sat down and watched all of this with Anthony after having seen one (1) episode as a teenager and a bunch of random clips in the years since. Great show. Some jokes in the early seasons haven’t aged gracefully, but what the show grows into over time... man. Hank and Dean go from being the butt of the joke to being characters you actually sympathize with - while still also being funny little goofballs. And the journey Henchman 21 goes on throughout the show. Man. Amazing that a comedy like this could run for 20 years and maintain its level of quality. Can’t wait for the movie.

5/18: Future Me Hates Me (The Beths) - Okay yeah I’m now just discovering bands through Fortnite lmao. I can’t complain really, they pick some really great indie artists for the in-game radio stations. Anyway: It’s very easy to win me over with a combination of energetic power pop, catchy guitar riffs, and earnest lyrics like this. One of those albums where three or four tracks in I know I have to buy it. Favorite track: Not Running

5/18: Jump Rope Gazers (The Beths) - Ditto. Favorite track: Dying to Believe

5/18: Expert In A Dying Field (The Beths) - Another good album. (I’m listening to these in release order.) I’ve been a bit slower to warm up to this one, initially thinking it was a little too mellow overall, but it might be my favorite after a few listens. Some real high highs. Interestingly, the lead singer’s New Zealand accent is also coming out more in her singing? Favorite track: Your Side (or maybe Head in the Clouds)

5/19: The Super Mario Bros. Movie - As a Mario fan, I think I enjoyed it? As a movie, less so? It was decent, in spite of feeling like they came up with a list of fun action setpieces first and then wrote the absolute bare minimum possible for the story scenes tying it all together. Full thoughts here. (This is the first movie I’ve seen this year, huh? I really don’t watch a lot of movies.)

5/23: Don't Know What You're In Until You're Out (Gladie) - I feel like I don’t like Gladie as much as I should. Their style of noisy indie rock is very much in my wheelhouse, and I do enjoy listening to them, but I dunno. Maybe it’s that the particular style of vocals makes it more monotonous to me. A good album nonetheless, if not 100% my thing. Favorite track: Nothing

5/24: City Slicker (Ginger Root) - Yes I am still making my way through Bandcamp artists I heard on Fortnite don’t @ me. Any excuse to get me to listen to some cool city pop-inspired funk like this is a good excuse. Favorite track: Loretta

5/24: Rikki (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: Why Try

5/25: Spotlight People (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: The Classic

5/29: Succession - A good dramedy series that increasingly focuses more on the drama than the comedy as it progresses, but it’s hard to complain about that since the drama is so compellingly produced. I enjoyed it. That being said, I kind of rankle at the claims that it’s The Greatest TV Show Of All Time. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. Amazing performances all around. But the show LOVES to spin its wheels, to repeat itself, and to let most of its interesting dramatic developments fizzle out before anything really comes of them, almost as if the show is constantly getting bored with its own ideas. To some extent this is intentional - Logan Roy is the untouchable billionaire, his kids fail at everything (but will nonetheless remain billionaires), and in the long run none of them really give a shit about anything other than their own status. But it’s not like things tend to visibly impact anyone else, either, be they supporting characters or the world at large. Even the Big Scary Election, where the Roy siblings are directly responsible for plunging the nation into chaos, ultimately has zero impact on the finale a mere two episodes later. Certain Other Things do have an impact in the last season, though, allowing things to meaningfully change for the cast and for the show to sit with the ensuing drama, which has stopped me from souring on Succession more. There was finally a payoff for something. But it does still kind of feel like a show that goes in circles until it’s ready to call it quits, even if those circles did contain a lot of great acting and music along the way.

5/29: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - I’d watched the first 12 episodes when they originally released, but I guess the Netflix binge release and the fact that all three “seasons” came out in one year led to me waiting until it finished… and then I just never got around to finishing it. Glad I fixed that! Really fun and stylish cartoon with an art style reminiscent of Teen Titans, a hip hop-filled soundtrack, dynamic fight scenes, and a colorful post-apocalyptic world filled with mutant (mostly anthropomorphic) animals. I’ll admit that at times I do kinda roll my eyes at Kipo’s unshakeable belief that everyone can be friends in a way that I don’t necessarily with similar shows like Steven Universe, and not every joke lands, but I dunno. It’s a kids’ show. That’s to be expected. It doesn’t detract from the overall package for me.

June

6/1: Craig of the Creek (Season 4) - It’s been years and I’m still processing the fact that kids can turn on Cartoon Network and hear Jeff Rosenstock. Anyway! Craig continues to be one of the best cartoons on TV, consistently funny and creative and way more engaging than a show about a bunch of kids LARPing in the woods has any right to be. This season turned into One Piece with the gang effectively hunting down the Poneglyphs in search of a legendary treasure. The kids think it’ll be magic. It isn't. An increasing number of cartoon logic gags aside, this show is firmly set in the real world. Does that make it any less interesting? Hell no. Season 3 turned a game of capture the flag into an all-out five episode war between the heroes and villains, filled with dramatic turnabouts and a climactic guest appearance from Del the Funky Homosapien. I’m sure however they wrap things up in the (sadly shortened) final season, it’ll be great. (Also? I would watch a whole show based on that “what if” episode that jumped forward to everyone’s 20s.)

6/6: Barry - Holy shit, what a show. I ended up binging it in less than a week in a cycle of “okay, just one more episode.” The way this show is able to swing between tones and genres while still feeling like a cohesive whole is truly masterful. It’s a layered character drama, a tragic crime thriller, a farcical comedy, an understated action series, a surrealist morality play, and a scathing satire of Hollywood, all in one. Even within the criminal underworld subplots the show ranges in tone from Breaking Bad to Paddington 2. And it works! While the show naturally gets bleaker over time as it confronts the repercussions of Barry’s murders, it never completely loses sight of its comedic roots. My favorite episode was easily season 2’s “ronny/lily,” a mostly self-contained episode that somehow manages to keep throwing the perfect curveballs to escalate its dark comedy.

6/12: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) - Y’all heard of this movie? Pretty good, it turns out. (I’d seen the theatrical cut before, but this was my first time watching the extended edition. I’ve also only seen parts of the other two movies, so it’s time I finally watch all the extended cuts. The Gollum game pushed me to this.)

6/13: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) - give it to us RAW and WRIGGLING

6/17: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Extended Edition) - I’m not crying YOU’RE crying

6/22: Clone High (Season 2) - While the first episode being about “cancel culture” (or, more accurately, a teenager from 2003 being transported to 2023 and putting his foot in his mouth a lot) put a lot of people off, I ended up enjoying the new season of Clone High. The new clones grew on me as the season went on and their roles in the web of teen romance melodrama crystalized, and it made me laugh a lot, and Cleo/Frida is galaxy brained. Also they played one of my favorite Antarctigo Vespucci songs like a minute into the first episode. I don’t think I could really ask for much more.

6/28: The Mandalorian (Season 3) - I'd been watching this weekly but put off the last episode for no real reason. Responses to this season have been all over the place, but my blistering hot take is… it was fine. Is it as good as the first season? Probably not. But Mando no longer needs to carry the whole franchise on its shoulders and set the bar for how good the live action Disney Star Wars shows can be, because Andor exists, and it’s never gonna top Andor. The Mandalorian is free to just be a pulpy space adventure show where Giancarlo Esposito plays a scenery-chewing cartoon villain and a little puppet does wire stunts. These are things Andor cannot and should not do, but that’s Star Wars, baby. It’s delightful. I could watch Grogu get underhand tossed like a sack of flour all day.

July

7/2: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (Season 2) - LOVE WINS. (More nuanced take from way later: It definitely feels like a lot of the more messy political conflicts in this show got swept aside by the big final battle where some more easily resolved family conflicts take center stage. I’m not sure the ending is the most satisfying. But also this show only got half the episode count that damn near every other Gundam show ever made got, so that might be a factor here. Idk. Still one of my favorite Gundams.)

7/4: Final Fantasy XVI (watched Anthony play) - I had to write my longest Medium article ever about this one because I was so frustrated

7/10: Home Movies - “Things I like that I’ve never seen in full” has certainly been a recurring theme this year. Home Movies remains an all-time classic of animated comedy that went out on a high note before things got stale or the characters became parodies of themselves. While it’s mostly known for its funny improvised banter, throughout the last season you can really see the arc where Brendon no longer enjoys making movies, yet he feels obligated to keep using them to escape from the real world. In that light, the ending where the nature of their dysfunctional makeshift family is cemented, Brendon’s camera suddenly breaks, and life moves on really does feel like the perfect note to end on. Truly one of the best to ever do it.

7/15: The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom - Wow. Just… wow. I had serious doubts about TotK in the months leading up to release due to how close Nintendo was playing their cards to their chest. I didn’t want this to be a Saints Row IV, where the game is fun enough but the recycled map makes it feel like a rehash. Instead, I found a game that made me look at BotW’s map in a whole new light, brimming with so many more things to do and people to meet. Add on a better, more versatile set of tools, more varied dungeons and bosses, and a story that I felt was told somewhat better and we’ve got a real contender for my new favorite Zelda game. It was hard to tear myself away, but as this list shows, it’s been basically the only game I’ve played since it came out.

7/16: Sonic Prime (Season 2) - I liked the parts with Shadow and Chaos Sonic, but I’ve come to the sad conclusion that most of this show is just mediocre. More thoughts here.

7/18: We ♥ Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie - “I’m a dog, but I love Katamari Damacy.” Truer words have never been spoken.

7/19: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Pretty good! It didn’t blow me away, but after how bad the Bay movies got I’m just thankful to have a decently cohesive Transformers movie where the human story is okay and I like the bots (although half of them needed more screen time), even if it is just another Hollywood blockbuster about two sides fighting over a macguffin that devolves into a big CGI battle against an army of nameless monsters in the third act. This is basically a mid-tier MCU movie but with Transformers, which won’t do much for most people, but again: the bar was underground.

7/22: The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart - God DAMN. A phenomenal ending for the series. While I would have loved to see a full final season to get some more one-off episodes in there, this doesn’t feel creatively compromised in any way–either due to the time constraints, or due to a desire to make it more marketable as a movie. It really does feel like they just took their outlines for the canceled final season and gently massaged them into the shape of an 84-minute movie, and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s completely on par with the previous seasons. A hilarious and fitting sendoff for one of the greats of adult animation.

7/23: Beautiful Katamari - This was one of my first Xbox 360 games, but a frustrating temperature-based level made me put it down for 16 years. “Maybe it won’t be as bad now that I’ve beaten the first two games and am better at Katamari,” I thought. Nope! Still an absolutely dogshit level. But also, turns out the whole game is only like two hours long lmao. It’s still Katamari, so it’s still fun - the final level in particular, which seamlessly takes you from ground level all the way to space, feels like a logical endpoint for the series - but beyond that it just doesn't have the same soul without Keita Takahashi's input.

August

8/4: Doom Singer (Chris Farren) - I’ve been waiting so long for Chris and Jeff to do another Antarctigo Vespucci album, but god damn. This is the best of Chris’s solo work, and a contender for his best record, period. Every track’s a banger, with more energy than some of his previous solo work but also a good deal of variety. Favorite tracks: First Place, Cosmic Leash

8/4: Transformers Earthspark (Season 1) - This show had a bit of an uneven start, unsure if it wanted to have the emotional maturity of a more serious action cartoon or a preschool cartoon where the characters have little kid mood swings and outbursts and learn basic lessons. It also felt like it was speedrunning its Wholesome Found Family Dynamic with characters who just met, which didn’t feel earned. While these problems never completely go away (see: the cheap and corny way the otherwise very dark season finale suddenly resolves), the show improves quickly, and the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s so great to have a Transformers cartoon that feels fresh, giving us a post-war setting with a bunch of new characters and new dynamics between the Cybertronians and the humans. The returning characters are also uniformly great as the old veterans overseeing the new generation. (Reformed Megatron! Danny Pudi as Bumblebee! Steve Blum returning as Starscream! Keith David as Grimlock!!!) And those super dynamic action scenes! I can nitpick, but Earthspark’s a ton of fun, and easily the best new Transformers cartoon since Prime and Animated.

8/5: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (remaster) - Everyone who told me this game was a masterpiece was right. I had played the first chapter when it dropped as the demo for the iOS version years ago, but never went further than that until now. What a game. Absolutely incredible through and through. Great story, great twists, great characters, great puzzles, great art direction. Everything comes together so perfectly to form a totally unique, unforgettable package, a top tier video game murder mystery. Everyone should play this, preferably going in as blind as possible.

8/15: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 16) - Wow! Recent seasons of Sunny have been kind of up and down, with some interesting experiments (Mac Finds His Pride, the Ireland arc, etc.) paired with some comedic duds. Most of this latest season is standard fare for the series with fewer big creative swings, but it’s just hit after hit in terms of comedy. Not a single dud, whether we’re seeing Mac and Dennis try to start a rental business for inflatable furniture or watching the gang meet Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, believing the entire time that the latter is Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle. Even the attempts at topical comedy landed better. Easily the funniest season in years.

8/16: One Piece Film Gold - It’s easy to see why this one has kind of been forgotten in the wake of Stampede and Film Red, which revolve around established fan favorite characters, but this was still pretty fun. Perhaps a little too long, but it’s fun to see the Straw Hats fool around in a giant casino and do a heist. They definitely cranked the fanservice up even more than usual in this one, though, as I probably should have expected for a movie made alongside the anime’s adaptation of Dressrosa.

8/17: One Piece: Stampede - This one goes for a different kind of fanservice. While most One Piece movies are isolated from the ongoing plot and its expanded cast of characters, Stampede instead asks “What if we just put damn near every active character on the same island and had them fight?” The answer: a fun time! It would get old if all of the movies were like this, but after a bunch of movies that are just like “the Straw Hats are gonna land on another new island and fight some more weird guys” it’s fun to see characters like Law and Buggy and Smoker get in on the fun. It’s also nice to get a movie with the Wano era art style, and Usopp surprisingly gets some really good character moments in here.

8/18: One Piece Film Red - This really is the best of the One Piece movies, huh? (Baron Omatsuri is a close second.) It really feels like a change of pace after the last four with the most interesting and emotionally engaging story out of any of them. And even if the events of these movies are never canon, it still feels significant in my understanding of Shanks as a character as we move into the final phase of the manga.

8/21: Pikmin 4 - The opening hour of the game made me really question if they’d changed too much, with all the focus on your new dog unit over your Pikmin and the extremely dull, drawn out dialogue scenes with your new companions back at the base. But once I got into the swing of things I had a blast. This is probably my new favorite Pikmin game. There’s a great mix of activities here to keep things fresh. I also really ended up liking Oatchi’s role as basically your second captain who can also serve as your tank or a rideable mount. The Dandori stuff and nighttime missions in particular show off how useful Oatchi is for your multitasking without necessarily overshadowing the Pikmin.

8/22: Never Get Tired: The Bomb the Music Industry! Story - I literally backed this on Kickstarter eight years ago (my name is in the credits!) and then never got around to watching it for no reason. It’s on YouTube now, and Jeff’s got a new album out next week, so now feels like the perfect time to watch it. And man… what a great documentary. Obviously I’m just a fan of the band, but this also really spoke to me as an artist. Jeff wanting to stick to his principles and give out his music for free and play cheap all ages shows, his discomfort over the idea of selling merch, and the struggles that come with not playing the game like that… It's hard. They readily admit that Jeff is an idealist, that people fight him on this stuff, that he’s missed out on some big opportunities because of these stances, and that he’s had to compromise a bit on some of these things over time. But that incredible climax with their final show, including a full opening performance of the slowly building “Campaign for a Better Next Weekend” and the closing performance of “Future 86” where the whole audience is singing along as the members of the band are hugging and crying… it’s beautiful. This may have been a band where the members had to go back to their shitty day jobs after every tour because they weren’t selling out arenas, but their art meant something to people, and that makes it all worth it.

8/25: Nimona - I haven’t read the original comic (yet), so I can’t compare them too much, but it’s nonetheless pretty apparent that some things were softened and easy kids’ movie jokes were added by the studio to squeeze this graphic novel for teens into a PG animated movie. Regardless, the emotional throughline hits REALLY hard, particularly the very blatant trans allegory and the climax. (It’s no wonder Disney was afraid of this movie seeing the light of day lmao.) The animation is also very squishy and fun to watch throughout. Great movie.

8/26: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Spider-Verse really has done so much for animation, huh? This one was as good as everyone said. Beautiful use of stylized color and lighting throughout, and every time this movie very conspicuously shifted to different framerates for a flashy fight scene it owned. Very cute and heartwarming story, too, which thankfully gave its second act plenty of time to explore the cast and let them go on their journey, unlike a certain plumber movie that came out a few months later. Also I would let Death [redacted]

8/28: Holocure: Save the Fans! - This isn't really something I can beat, but I've been addicted to Holocure lately. I don't even watch VTubers aside from maybe seeing a funny Korone animation every now and then, this is just a really, really good freeware Vampire Survivors clone with a huge roster of varied characters to pick from.

8/31: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock) - A new album from Jeff is always a major event for me. If there were any worries that he was starting to go soft at 40 (because one of the three singles off this album was a gentle acoustic piece), the frantic opening of this album put those worries to rest. The first two tracks are Jeff screaming out for help as he’s pulled in a million directions by the chaotic state of the world, a theme that becomes the thesis of the album. I’d say it lags slightly in the middle, but overall this is another extremely well-rounded record full of bangers that’s unapologetically Jeff, with possibly my favorite closing track he’s ever done. Favorite tracks: I WANNA BE WRONG, 3 SUMMERS

September

9/3: One Piece (live action, Season 1) - They did it. I can’t believe it, but they did it. While I have my nitpicks (Usopp and Sanji don’t get enough big moments to shine), this is an extremely solid and faithful adaptation of the first few arcs of One Piece with a great cast. For the most part the changes feel smart and logical, and the big emotional beats of the story are all there and executed very well. I doubted it a little in episodes 2-4, where the Orange Town and Syrup Village arcs saw some major changes to shift the action indoors, and the increased focus on the drama in favor of repeating every gag and battle from the manga 1:1 took a bit of getting used to, but by the end I was having a blast. It’s a different take on One Piece, but it still feels like One Piece. Genuinely very excited for season 2.

9/4: Pseudoregalia - A great little N64-style 3D Metroidvania focused on platforming and very satisfying movement. I always love entries in the genre that are less prescriptive in what order you have to tackle areas in, a la Symphony of the Night or Hollow Knight, and this one’s great in that regard. While there are a number of new moves to find, most of the map is open to you very early in the game, and smart use of your moveset can allow you to “sequence break” without even realizing it. (You would not believe how long I went without getting the wall run.) I do wish it had a map, but that’s already being patched in.

9/6: Bomb Rush Cyberfunk * - Not a bad game at all, but I quickly remembered how bad I am at skating games, so like… eh? Not sure I have much desire to play past chapter 2. Also the soundtrack is sadly kinda hit or miss for me outside of the obvious Naganuma tunes.

9/9: The History of the Minnesota Vikings (Dorktown) - Jon Bois never misses. Even as someone who doesn’t actively follow sports, Jon Bois is a master storyteller, using graphs and statistics and funny anecdotes to explore these deeply human stories. He can convey why people care so much about these teams, these people, and sports in general, and how our popular sports reflect on American culture. He could tell the story of just about any team or player in any sport and I just know I’ll come out the other side a misty-eyed fan. And what a fascinating cast of characters we have this time, with origin stories for everything from the Hail Mary pass to a Minnesota state supreme court judge to the Griddy. Nine hours well spent.

9/10: Timespinner - A fun and highly polished Metroidvania that maybe doesn’t quite have enough of its own identity in its quest to replicate Symphony of the Night…but also, like, this was pitched as a Symphony throwback on KickStarter in a pre-Bloodstained, pre-Hollow Knight world, so I can’t really blame ‘em! Stopping time to avoid boss attacks is fun, the pixel art is gorgeous, and I liked the dark science fantasy story about warring empires and meddling with time a lot more than I thought I would - lore journal text dumps and all.

9/14: The Decay of Sam & Cat (Quinton Reviews) - All the stuff at the end with Matt Bennett (the actor who played Robbie on Victorious and Sam & Cat) in this was really good and sweet. It’s that kind of thing that makes these videos feel like they’re still worthwhile on some level. But the padding and the things Quinton chooses to spend the colossal runtime on does drive me more and more insane with each passing Nick sitcom video. I don’t know how much longer he can keep this schtick up. I hope he’s able to move on to other things before too terribly long instead of continuing to extend this “miniseries.”

9/19: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales - AKA Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 1.5. It’s fun for the same reasons Peter’s first game was fun. I had a good time swinging around New York again in preparation for the sequel, and there’s a lot of cute stuff with Miles becoming Harlem’s neighborhood hero, but WOW did the Underground v. Roxxon conflict fall flat for me.

9/20: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson - I understand so many posts now.

9/25: Spider-Man (2002) (rewatch) - It’s you who’s out, Gobby! OUT OF YOUR MIND!

9/25: Futurama (Season 8) - I was ready to be a hater, recalling the fact that Futurama has already had three “perfect endings” with the show getting a little weaker with every revival. Then I watched the first new episode on a whim and thought it wasn’t bad, so I was like, eh, sure, I’ll watch the rest. Overall Hulurama is hit or miss. There are chuckles to be had, and it sure as hell beats modern Simpsons, but almost every episode is either a belated take on an overplayed Topical Issue (the pandemic, Amazon, cancel culture, etc.) or a direct sequel to an old episode people liked. Or both! It’s also really noticeable that certain voice actors sound way older - Billy West is struggling with the Fry voice in particular, and it hurts his comedic timing. But just when all hope seemed lost after the nigh-incomprehensible toy-themed anthology episode, possibly the worst episode of the entire series… the last episode, where the Planet Express crew explores whether or not the universe could be a simulation, was really, really solid. Great note to end on to make me not regret my time with this season as a whole.

9/26: Spider-Man 2 (2004) (rewatch) - Once the GOAT, always the GOAT.

9/27: Spider-Man 3 (rewatch) - Revisiting this movie for the first time since I saw it in theaters�� it’s not bad. It’s fine! It continues to have the heart and sincerity that make the first two movies work. It’s just not as concise with three villains vying for the spotlight, but I also wouldn’t cut any of them, necessarily. I guess Eddie/Venom would be the easiest, but Peter getting the black suit and giving in to his resentment feels too central to cut. (Yes, even with Emo Peter becoming a meme.)

9/28: Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake - I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, especially since I was never really a fan of the genderbend episodes in the original show. (At the time they mostly just felt like an excuse to crank up the teen romance stuff to 11.) But MAN. This was a fantastic coda to the original series. It made me care about Fionna and Cake and their friends as their own characters separate from their original counterparts, it gave the Simon/Betty arc a much more satisfying (if no less bittersweet) resolution than the original finale had time to do, and it even managed to be a multiverse story that didn’t make me roll my eyes in 2023. A+ all around. Makes me wanna rewatch the original show again. [spoiler: I did]

9/29: Meanwhile (aivi & surasshu) - It’s been a whole decade–they were busy with, you know, all the music in Steven Universe, among other things–but we finally have a new aivi & surasshu album! Their chiptune/piano fusion style is familiar, but they’ve definitely grown as composers in subtle ways. Favorite track: Time Travel

October

10/1: This is Financial Advice (Folding Ideas) - A lot of the nitty gritty finance law stuff turned into white noise for me, but still, great video. I had no idea that the GameStop stock craze devolved into this bizarre cult that thinks they’re going to crash the global economy and rise from the ashes as the new kings with the value of their GME stocks. Glad this video exists to try and balance out the narrative.

10/5: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon DLC - Good ideas, absurdly frustrating and tedious execution. Full thoughts here.

10/10: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (rewatch) - I didn’t plan this, but very fitting that I would end up rewatching this on 10/10.

10/12: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - ha he! (Seriously though, that finale was a fucking masterpiece. The RTVS crew has an incredible knack for using the framing device of video game livestreams to blur the lines between comedy and horror, or ironic anti-humor and complete sincerity. I’ve never seen anything else like this.)

10/15: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Not sure how much I can say that hasn’t already been said. The most visually creative movie I’ve ever seen, grounded by some really excellent storytelling about Miles (and now Gwen) that’s probably better than his actual comics. But it also does feel like it’s about to end and then the movie just keeps going like ten times over lmao. Can’t wait to watch this a second time on a better TV.

10/20: Sonic Superstars - A mostly really solid and fun 2D Sonic game that’s unfortunately dragged down by an extremely hodgepodge soundtrack and some overly drawn out boss fights. I spent HOURS trying to beat the final boss of the bonus scenario (which is required for the true ending in this one) before giving up. Really a shame that that’s the note I’m leaving the game on, because I otherwise enjoyed it, but ah well. More thoughts here.

10/27: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Another good Spider-Man game from Insomniac. Liked the story more than the one in Miles Morales, but maybe not as much as the first game. Extensive thoughts here.

10/28: Venom - Was in the mood for more Venom after the game. As expected this was not a very good movie, but the dynamic between Eddie and Venom made it a fun watch. Tom Hardy is constantly about to shit his pants in this movie. It’s great.

10/28: Venom: Let There Be Carnage - I had a way better time with this one. Is this a good movie? No. But it cranks the insanity of the first movie up to 11. Goofy as fuck in an extremely watchable way.

November

11/5: Pluto - An absolutely masterful series that anyone interested in sci-fi needs to watch. The anime adaptation was great, and I immediately understand why people who’ve read the manga speak so highly of it. Really makes me want to get into Astro Boy more, and also read some of Urasawa’s other works.

11/18: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - Wow, just wow. When news of a Scott Pilgrim anime broke I was cautiously curious to see if we’d get a more direct adaptation of the comics, and instead it veered off in the exact opposite direction in the best way possible. This is almost entirely a different story, one that’s in conversation with the previous versions (sometimes in very meta ways), and I think it’s really valuable to see O’Malley revisiting these characters with new things to say about them. The major story divergence gives us a chance to examine the characters from a new angle - particularly Ramona, who’s the real protagonist of this version, and the evil exes, who completely steal the show. This was a great reminder of why I fell in love with this series as a teenager. I now genuinely hope we get more Scott Pilgrim.

11/22: Void Rivals (Issues #1 - #6) - The first arc of the new Robert Kirkman series that kicked off Skybound’s new “Energon Universe” is now complete, and I’m left thinking Void Rivals is… okay? I thought the first issue was a decent (if not particularly original) sci-fi comic with an appealing art style, which just so happens to also briefly have a Transformer in it so there can be a Big Surprise. And the series still hasn’t quite shaken that feeling to me. It’s an okay sci-fi series that arbitrarily dedicates a couple of pages of every issue to something from Transformers, but I’m not really sure what the shared universe stuff adds to Void Rivals, or what Void Rivals adds to Transformers and GI Joe. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

11/22: Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History (Defunctland) - Yeah, gotta be honest, I only got halfway through this one. It seems like Kevin just 1) really wanted to push himself creatively and 2) make a love letter to Epcot, and while I respect that, I think it suffers as a historical documentary. It’s Fantasia but for the creation of Epcot. That might be very impressive on a technical level, but it feels more like a piece of Disney propaganda than prior Defunctland videos due to a lack of context and nuance. 

11/24: Aperture Desk Job - A short, sweet, and funny little tech demo for my new Steam Deck set in the Portal universe. More effort was definitely put into this than was strictly necessary.

11/26: ESCHATOS - I am not good at bullet hell games, but I enjoy them from time to time and I really love this one’s FM synth soundtrack, so I picked it up on a whim in the Steam sale. I only beat it on Easy, but still, I had a lot of fun with it! It’s straightforward but very flashy, with the camera dynamically zooming around from set piece to set piece at ridiculous speeds and each level segueing directly into the next. The lack of a powerup system on the main mode in favor of just needing to know when to use your different shot types makes it feel very approachable.

11/27: Lunistice - A great little 3D platformer with a good soundtrack that I had fun hunting down all the secrets in. This is an easy recommendation for fans of games like Kirby or Klonoa - whimsical games set in colorful dream worlds where the underlying story can get a bit more somber. (Although the story in this one is mostly told through mildly cryptic lore dumps, so your mileage there may vary.)

11/28: Spark the Electric Jester 2 - The leap from 2D to 3D here is impressive, but this is very clearly a rough draft for Spark 3. Very, very fun Sonic-style 3D platforming, but the combat is lacking and the storytelling is just kinda bad. More extensive thoughts on this and the above two games here.

December

12/2: Fortnite (Chapter 4) - This was my first full chapter of Fortnite, after having been roped into the game by the siren songs of Zero Build mode and Goku during Chapter 3. This means it’s harder for me to compare this chapter to previous ones, but still, Fortnite remains a genuinely very well made Battle Royale shooter that’s a blast with friends. If I have any complaint about this Chapter, it’s that they would regularly introduce zany ideas and then slowly reel them back in, whether it was the Augment system or the increasingly mundane movement items. It also felt like it was a little too easy to get the perfect loadout in every match, meaning the final showdown would almost always be against players with Slurp Juice and gold shotguns. And I missed the smaller mid-season map updates of Chapter 3. But overall I still had a really good time, and look forward to playing more for the foreseeable future.

12/4: Plagiarism and You(Tube) (HBomberguy) - This will get written off by many as “YouTuber drama,” but this really is an excellent video essay that feels like the kick in the pants that YouTube needs. If video essayists are gonna be a major source of information for so many, then they gotta have standards. I also think it does a good job of highlighting the people that have been plagiarized and trying to drive more attention their way in an attempt to right those wrongs.

12/6: Transformers (Skybound comic) - We only got the first three issues of this in 2023, but I just HAVE to say something about how incredible this series is here. Daniel Warren Johnson is knocking it out of the park. This is the new bar for Transformers. The hand-inked art is extremely dynamic and full of character, and the story is using the familiar beats of G1 Transformers but doing very new things with them. You can tell this from the very first page, but the emotional scene of Optimus accidentally crushing a deer in the forest and realizing how fragile life is on Earth sealed the deal for me. And yet in the very same comics Optimus can do suplexes and clotheslines and lord knows how many other wrestling moves on Decepticons, and it doesn’t feel like tonal whiplash? These comics just fucking rule, and anyone with even the slightest interest in Transformers should be reading them.

12/8: What We Do in the Shadows (Season 5) - [spoilers] WWDITS has very much settled into being a status quo show. Every season has its own little arc where one or two things change to keep things interesting, but then everything returns to normal by the end. Guillermo finally becoming a vampire, only to become a human again in the end, might just be the most egregious example of this yet. But also… the show’s still really funny? And I continue to be happy that Kristen Schaal has stuck around as a series regular as the Guide. So it’s hard to complain. I could see the show running out of steam over the next few seasons, but it’s still hitting for me right now.

12/12: Pony Island - Finally got around to this since the trailer for the sequel dropped. I feel like playing this years later in a post-Inscryption world where Pony Island is a known quantity kind of lessens its impact, but still, it’s a fun and funny puzzle game where you try to hack your way out of a possessed arcade machine. I’m not sure I found it particularly scary, but I’m not sure it’s supposed to be? The way the game messes with you during the Asmodeus “boss fight” was probably the highlight for me. I also like being able to say things like “The part where you have to not kill Jesus was so hard. I kept getting terrible butterfly patterns.”

12/16: Breaking Bad VR but the AI is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - As always, Wayne and co.’s commitment to the bit is unrivaled. This kind of got interpreted as just a way to troll HLVRAI fans, but so many moments in this genuinely made me laugh out loud.

12/18: Soul of Sovereignty Prelude - As someone who would list Cucumber Quest as a big creative influence, I was naturally very excited for this first chapter of GGDG’s new visual novel. Their mentality of both scaling things back in terms of labor while also going more shamelessly self-indulgent in terms of storytelling after burning out on making webcomics has really spoken to me, and WOW, the end result of that new process of theirs is shaping up to be something really special. The art and music are sparse but extremely evocative, giving you the rough sketch of the world and letting your mind fill in the rest. The story blends literary high fantasy vibes with the style of fantasy seen in ‘90s JRPGs (you can definitely tell this came from an idea for an RPG), but rather than constantly winking at the audience and making self-aware video game references it plays these storytelling ideas extremely sincerely, giving them real dramatic weight while still indulging in fun tropes to their fullest extent. While it’s a far cry from their most famous work with much more mature content, GGDG always excels at creating characters and worlds that immediately grab me. I can’t wait for the rest.

12/18: Barbie - I’m only… what, five months late for the whole Barbenheimer thing? Perfect timing. Anyway! On the one hand, I get the critiques saying that this movie is just a major corporation funding a self-aware feminist critique of their own product as a marketing ploy. And I kinda agree with that. And the movie is a little too long, and I don’t really know what to think of the way the Barbie/Ken conflict plays out. Anthony asked me to summarize what the story ended up being about, and I had no idea what to even say. But also… I did still like the movie? We don’t get a lot of cartoonish, absurdist, fourth wall breaking comedies like this anymore, and this is a good one of those. Also the whole cast is great, the set design is kind of stunning, and the cinematography is consistently appealing. I wouldn’t say it’s a revolutionary work of feminist filmmaking by any stretch, but it’s a good comedy movie.

12/21: Dr. Stone: New World - Man, Dr. Stone is great. I’ve said this many times, but I just love that this series uses all the trappings of shounen that would normally be used to hype up the protagonist learning a new move to instead hype up things like the protagonist building a loom or a hot air balloon. It’s shounen Bill Nye. I didn’t completely love everything about the Treasure Island arc this season, but it all built towards a really fun climax with a lot of satisfying turnabouts where the heroes use their ingenuity to just barely win.

12/23: The History of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out World Records (Summoning Salt) - Truly one of my favorite Summoning Salt videos ever, even with how repetitive Punch-Out can get to watch. It’s just so hard to beat “and that runner… was me.”

12/24: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - What more can be said that hasn’t already been said? It’s the best and most creative 2D Mario game since the ‘90s. The only real flaws are that it’s a little easy, the Search Party stages are annoying in singleplayer, and I wish that every boss prior to the final boss wasn’t just some form of Bowser Jr. fight. But those aren’t nearly enough to drag the whole experience down. It was a blast.

12/24: Do a Powerbomb! - Got this from Anthony as a birthday present. This is the previous series by the creative team currently doing the new Transformers comics I was gushing about a few entries ago. Even with the high bar set by those comics, Do a Powerbomb! exceeded my expectations. Holy shit. An absolutely entrancing fantasy wrestling miniseries full of dynamic, energetic action and tons of heart. These comics where a guy wrestles a giant talking orangutan almost made me cry. Twice. An instant favorite.

12/25: Adventure Time (rewatch) - We ended up finishing our rewatch of Adventure Time (the main series, anyway) on my 30th birthday, which feels appropriate. I already kinda knew this, but this rewatch has truly confirmed that Adventure Time is my favorite TV series of all time. The entire show is even better on a full series rewatch. In hindsight, even parts that annoyed me when they aired end up being important parts of the beautiful tapestry that is this series. The many low points of Finn’s adolescent love life are important stepping stones in his growth as a person, which leaves him in an extremely satisfying place by the end. Jake having kids didn’t get to be a huge status quo change because they grew up instantly, but then they did a bunch of fun episodes about Jake’s relationships with his adult children that deepened him as a character. And most of the big lore questions they kept teasing over the years (“Where’d the humans go?” “Who are Finn’s parents?” “When’s Finn gonna get a robot arm?” etc.) ended up getting satisfying and creative answers, because the show left itself the room to figure those things out later. This is a truly special, one-of-a-kind series, one that lasted nearly 300 episodes and yet still seems like it was over too soon. And yes, I did in fact cry during the final montage, like I knew I would. I will always cherish this show with all of my heart.

12/25: Olive the Other Reindeer (rewatch) - Haven’t seen this one since I was a kid! It was a favorite of mine back then, and while it might not be quite as funny as I remember it’s still very cute, with a 2D/3D hybrid art style that remains very unique and appealing. As an adult I can also appreciate the cast they got for this, with like half the cast of Futurama bolstered by guests like Michael Stipe from REM and The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano.

12/26: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio - Anthony and I capped off our Christmas with the most jolly and festive stop motion movie of all! Jokes aside, man, what a beautiful movie. The animation is immaculate, and we really just don’t get children’s animated films like this anymore. Ones that overtly feature real world politics and religion and so many other dark themes in a way that doesn’t talk down to kids or sugarcoat things. This one hits hard. We need more movies like this.

12/31: Oppenheimer - This was an interesting one. Despite being three hours, the way that first hour jumps around in time makes it feel like Oppenheimer is constantly being propelled forward through life at a breakneck pace, swept up by the rising tide of nationalism in spite of his personal left wing politics, never really reflecting on what he’s doing until it’s too late. Then when he’s no longer useful to the empire, he’s chewed up and spat out, only to eventually be honored as a national hero as a symbolic gesture. It’s a compelling story. However, I’m a little torn on how certain aspects of history were framed. Does the abstraction of the bombings detract from the true weight of those events, in favor of sympathizing with the man who built the bomb? Or is it clever a way to show how the realities of the war were compartmentalized away by people who were complicit in its most heinous acts of violence? One minute a bunch of physicists are talking theory, thousands of miles away from the theaters of war, and the next they’ve killed 200,000 people. So which is it? Eh, probably somewhere in the middle, I guess. But I liked it overall.

12/31: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe - I’ve been really surprised by how good this rerelease is. It kind of flew under the radar for me. I liked the original game, but at the time it also almost felt like the New Super Mario Bros. of Kirby. It was a straightforward throwback game where you went through a grass world, then a desert world, then a water world, etc., and also they added four player co-op. But returning to this one after the kinda mid Star Allies has made me appreciate just how solid RtDL is as a Kirby game. I really like the updated graphics, too - yes, even the new cel shaded outlines around the characters - even though I didn’t think it looked that great in screenshots. Also the two new copy abilities (Sand and Mecha) are fun, the minigame collection is shockingly fleshed out to the point that they could’ve sold it as a standalone eShop game, the collectible character masks are fun, and the new epilogue mode where you play as Magolor is one of the coolest bonus modes they’ve ever done. This is a top tier Kirby remake any fan of the series should check out.

Ongoing things I followed in 2023 that don't have a blurb:

Halo Infinite multiplayer

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog (main series + specials)

One Piece

Chainsaw Man

My Hero Academia (not caught up)

The JOJOlands (not caught up)

Things I started in 2023 that I still need to finish:

Freedom Planet 2

Hi-Fi Rush

Live A Live

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Picross 3D Round 2

Rhythm Heaven MegaMix

Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Spark the Electric Jester 3

Sonic Dream Team

One Piece (Wano arc, anime)

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 (I’ve already read the Shibuya arc already in the manga, though)

Astro Boy (2003 anime)

Futurama (original run rewatch)

One Piece (manga reread)

The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee/Ditko era)

Scott Pilgrim series (reread)

And finally... my favorites of 2023!!!

Overall favorite game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Favorite indie game: Pseudoregalia

Games remastered in 2023 that are now among my all-time faves: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, We Love Katamari

Most pleasant surprise in gaming: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

Favorite film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Favorite live action show: Barry

Favorite anime: Pluto

Favorite anime written by a Canadian guy and an American guy based on the Canadian guy's old graphic novel series: Scott PIlgrim Takes Off

Favorite live action adaptation of an anime that I still can't believe they didn't fuck up: One Piece

Favorite Western cartoon: Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake

Favorite older cartoon I only got around to watching in its entirety this year: The Venture Bros.

Favorite documentary: Double Fine PsychOdyssey

Favorite semi-improvised semi-scripted absurdist comedy/horror/tragedy Twitch livestream performance art thing: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware finale (wayneradiotv)

Favorite manga: Chainsaw Man

Favorite older manga that I only read this year: Berserk

Favorite Western comic book: Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers

Favorite album: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock)

And that's a wrap!!!!! Happy new year, everyone! Here's to me maybe actually reading a goddamn book this year