#example of the flavor of their setup

[embraceyourdestiny]

its crazy how espresso by sabrina carpenter is THE emmajacob song

[edgy-ella]

SONIC 3 WAS SO GOOD!!!

Extended thoughts below:

The action scenes are by far the best they’ve ever been in the whole series. They’ve really improved how they visually represent Sonic’s speed. The only exception is the gravity scene at GUN HQ, which I think dragged on a little too long and overall wasn’t as impactful as, say, fighting a GUN mech with those same gravity abilities would’ve been.

Keanu is ok as Shadow. If you’ve seen the trailers, that’s about the level he keeps it at for the whole movie. I think I would’ve been more sold on him if he gave a bigger “MARIA!!” when she died.

In the first act, I felt like the movie was kind of on autopilot. Things just kind of happened without a ton of buildup, and the script kind of lacked flavor for the expository scenes. For example: when Sonic asks Olive Garden Guy™ about Shadow, he just starts expositing Shadow’s lore without anything like “this information is top secret, tell no one else about this” or “it’s painful to think about…I wish I could just act like it never happened” or even Sonic questioning how/why Shadow came from a meteorite. Just lore exposition without flavor from the rest of the cast. Throughout the movie, the dialogue felt very on the nose. I wish it was a little more subtle, but it’s a kids movie I get it.

On that note, the movie feels like it just has a checklist of SA2 iconography they had to tick off rather than more naturally integrating that kind of stuff into the plot. For the larger story it works well, like with Shadow and Maria, but stuff like the Chao Garden and “talk about a low budget flight!” just kind of felt…tacked on. In the moment it’s fine because I’m too busy aggressively pointing at the screen, but for someone not as invested in the series as I am, it feels a little random and clunky.

The movie really kicks up when Shadow starts having Maria flashbacks. The little montage they have with them together was so good. The cold cut to the record player stopping was so well done.

In retrospect, when just looking at this movie and not the rest of the franchise, I think Maria and Gerald’s relationship could’ve had some more focus. They never mention anything about Maria being sick in the movie, so it’s not clear why she’s there at the research station to begin with. That being said, Gerald telling Ivo “you’re no Maria” towards the end was gut wrenching. My theater audibly ooh’d.

@allshaftsfall and I were betting that the reason Gerald is still alive would’ve been through time travel shenanigans (which would set up the next movie), but, bizarrely enough, it just seems like Gerald is genuinely that old. He mentions he’s 110. But…how? Did he just survive that long? Did he use Shadow’s quill to expand his lifespan? It’s never explained.

I’m glad they had Knuckles and Tails continue to be proactive and do things instead of just being relegated to cheerleaders and/or comic relief. Knuckles in particular wound up hard carrying Sonic and Tails through most of the action setpieces.

There’s a scene where Tails talks to Agent Stone about being Sonic’s friend and not his assistant like Stone thinks he is, and Tails asks Stone “aren’t you and Eggman best friends too?” Stone replies verily sorrowfully “yeah…friends. Totally friends.” I know it’s meant to read as Stone wishing Eggman treated him better but I could not see it as anything other than Stone thinking “he’s my lover!” but thinking he can’t say that to Tails bc he thinks Tails is homophobic.

YET ANOTHER GOD DAMN CASPER REFERENCE. I cannot believe that both this and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, my two most hyped movies of the year, both had Casper references in them. I’m losing my mind.

I am so mad they didn’t actually kill off Tom. The setup was right there. They even parallel Sonic grieving him to Shadow grieving over Maria! But noooo he survives. When will we be free of human cop dad.

DUDE. The Super Sonic/Super Shadow fight was SO FUCKING GOOD. Worth the price of admission alone.

I kinda figured Live and Learn was gonna be in the movie going in from how much everyone’s been #KnowingSmile posting about it, but honestly? I was more hyped hearing Eggman’s theme from Unleashed start playing. It was way more of a “oh my god, it’s the thing!” moment. That being said HOLY SHIT LIVE AND LEARN PEAK!!!!!! The movie’s OST had a lot more of a rock influence and I couldn’t be happier.

I have some miscellaneous “I liked this better in SA2” stuff (pissing on the moon, Shadow’s heel-face turn, etc.), but all of them I understand why the filmmakers did what they did so they’re just nitpicks.

The end credits scene is kind of insane because it’s super long. It just feels like a scene from the next movie. Metal looks a little rough, but I’m sure they’ll polish him up for the next movie. They’re probably going to lean into Amy being a magic fortune teller girl given how she shows up in a dark cloak and floats in the air. I hope she’s gonna keep the fangirl energy, but I doubt it. Very interesting choice to do multiple Metal Sonics, though, especially since Sega only likes using the one Metal Sonic rather than having different copies running around. My prediction for the next movie is that Neo Metal Sonic will be the main villain and he’s controlling all the other Metal Sonics from afar.

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard | High-Level Combat Parts 1-4 writeup

This post also contains transcriptions of the text that was in the video.

This was a four-part video series which has also been edited into a single standalone video for convenience. The video features an elven Warrior Rook from the Grey Warden background and who has taken the Champion spec.

Story/plot, flavor stuff, and other cool stuff

The footage in the new gameplay video was edited to avoid major spoilers, but there is still new story information in there.

Weisshaupt Fortress, the headquarters of the Grey Warden order located in the Anderfels, is under attack and under siege from the Blighted elven god Ghilan'nain, her Archdemon, and darkspawn. The darkspawn are following Ghilan'nain's orders. Rook and the Veilguard must stop her. They set off to find their allies in Weisshaupt and soon meet resistance from the darkspawn. Lots of sacs of Blight corruption are growing on the buildings that make up the fortress. Blight sacs (or something that looks like them. the lil parachute things) fall on the fortress too like missiles. Ghil's face watches the siege from the stormy sky.

This quest is called "The Siege of Weisshaupt". The fact that Weisshaupt would come under attack from the weird darkspawn and a dragon in DA:TV actually first emerged as a detail during a leak a few years ago. Stages and objectives in this questline include "Get to the War Room (Move along the wall)", "Find the dragon trap (Move along the wall)", "Find the dragon trap (Defeat the darkspawn)" and "Get to the Library (Defeat the darkspawn)". I'd guess that said dragon trap in this instance is for Ghil's Archdemon, though it makes sense why the Wardens would even have such a thing as a dragon trap seeing as the Archdemons, when they rise, are in dragon form. Could it be anything like the setup that had confined Ataashi in Trespasser? Also, lore says that Weisshaupt is home to an extensive library.

As this is high-level combat gameplay, the implication could potentially be that this storybeat occurs during the mid-to-late game?

It seems that at times certain companions are required to be taken along on certain quests (iirc this was previously reported in an article somewhere too). For example, Davrin is required during The Siege of Weisshaupt, as it is a Grey Warden quest and he is the Grey Warden companion.

I think Warden Rook's surname is Thorne (Grey Warden symbol in the image). The Rook in the video has the first name "Esha".

Solas' Lyrium dagger isn't only a story thing/magic maguffin artifact that can tear the Veil. When Rook gets it, it appears to have a function/use in gameplay as well. Rook can attach 3 runes to it in different slots. These runes have various functions and effects e.g. Scorch.

The companions are described like this:

Bellara - "Veil Jumper"

Davrin - "Grey Warden"

Emmrich - "Mourn Watcher"

Harding - "Inquisition Agent" (Agent of the remnants?)

Lucanis - "Antivan Crow"

Neve - "Shadow Dragon"

Taash - "Lord of Fortune"

We see additional descriptions for some of them:

Davrin - "Sword-and-board monster hunter commands a griffon"

Lucanis - "Swift and precise assassin with a demonic aura"

Emmrich - "Nevarran professor of death summons spirits"

Harding - "Potion-slinging scout's arrows shock and shred"

(I love these lil descriptions btw, the way they're written is like poetry)

Along with his demonic aura, Lucanis (called "The Demon" per TN) has an ability called Abominate. Implications.. intriguing :D

Lucanis' abilities tend towards crowd control. Davrin can call Assan to attack in battle. He flies down like a meteor or comet and it's so cool. :)

The video includes a bit of flavor text for Grey Wardens from an ability description and a specialization description:

Ultimate Ability [of Grey Warden Rook, presumably] – Warden’s Fire Unleash a barrage of strikes with the burning strength that resides within every Grey Warden. [this does fire damage] Specialization – Champion The pinnacle of Grey Warden combat prowess. The Champion is a born leader who rallies their allies, turns their fervor into flame, and wields a shield as a deadly weapon.

(^ The fire damage and fire motif contained in the above makes sense as darkspawn are vulnerable to elemental fire damage. also, I think when Rook uses Warden's Fire, they blow a horn 'Gondor calls for aid' style, which is super cool.)

The video includes new lore in the form of item descriptions for various gear pieces. Each item appears to be associated with one of the factions, as it has that faction's sigil on its info box.

These guys are darkspawn ghouls. One type is called a Greater Ghoul. (Does that imply the existence of "Lesser Ghouls" or just "Ghouls"?) These are melee mobs. Another darkspawn enemy type is Greater Hurlock Spiker. Those are ranged mobs that throw the spikes from their backs. There are also regular Greater Hurlocks (I think those are these guys) and Greater Hurlock Blighters. The Blighters seem to have sacs of red Blight corruption on their backs, and you can see them throwing globs of this around, thereby spreading the Blight like their name suggests. it seems like these globs explode after impact like grenades or bombs. of course, all darkspawn spread Blight, but that's like an evolution of spreading.

The video features new music.

Enemies can be Sparta-kicked off ledges. Throw your shield like Captain America! (or at least its energy-shadow thing) This Rook has an ability called Titan Stomp.

Lucanis sometimes leaps around in a dramatic burst of crow feathers, kinda flying (it feels like) down from above like a bird of prey.

Thoughts, speculation

Gameplay looks super cool and fun oh shit!

If the plotbeats described above (Ghil, Archdemon, Weisshaupt siege etc) aren't considered by BioWare to be "major spoilers", it makes me wonder about the plotbeats and twists they aren't revealing that would be. yknow?

If Ghilan'nain has an Archdemon, might Elgar'nan also? We've seen different concept art pieces and scenes with two dragons in them, and we have long speculated about a 'Double Blight' of some kind. Two Elven Gods have risen; handily, prior to DA:TV beginning, two Old Gods/Archdemons remained (Razikale and Lusacan). In DA:TV teaser murals and art pieces, the concentric circles motif still had the two 'lit' hemispheres around the outside. If they both have one, which Old God is paired with which Evanuris? BUT. Saying that. alternate theory. how do we even know that her Archdemon is a real Archdemon? Corypheus in DA:I used red lyrium to transform a High dragon into an imitation of an archdemon, his red lyrium dragon. Thedosians initially presumed that this was a real Archdemon. if Cory can do it, why not Ghil and Elgar'nan? Ghil at least has clearly been messing with red lyrium given the red lyrium darkspawn.

I hope we get to visit Weisshaupt at some point before the siege takes place, I'd like to see it as it was and explore it a bit before that happens. 🥺 Weisshaupt in the game looks so like previous concept arts we saw of it (one, two), it's so cool to see all the art pieces come to game-life as assets in-game. also I love all the lil griffon assets around Weisshaupt, like the sleepy statue. and could this scene be the Weisshaupt War Room?

On Ghil's face in the storm: on DA Day 2023 BioWare said:

"To the far west, three Grey Wardens patrol the Anderfels. Tremors have been causing disturbances of late. Their cause is unknown. Upon the distant horizon, a storm of ominous intent brews and darkens the skies."

they were being literal ig about the storm of ominous intent darkening the skies! and then I guess the storm in this concept art of Weisshaupt is the Ghilstorm.

Why would Ghil attack Weisshaupt with darkspawn? I'm sure there's more to it underneath the surface, but from what we know so far, the elven gods are "corrupt"/"Blighted" and are "hellbent on Blighting the world". and if you want to spread a Blight, it makes sense that you would target.. the HQ of the world's main and only defense against the Blight. it's also not a surprise that she is doing so (I don't mean this in a disparaging way. I just mean 'stories put out clues and foreshadowing for the next plotbeats, and if you were following the clues as intended' etc) - we knew that the Anderfels had been experiencing unknown tremors lately and that a storm of ominous intent was brewing there. also, the new darkspawn are mutated and in TN the Wardens discovered in Hormak that Ghil had/has twelve (now eleven) secret underground monster pools in the Deep Roads that mutate darkspawn. lyrium was also involved in that instance, albeit yellow-green.

Ghil's attack on Weisshaupt also explains why in the Thedas Calls teaser trailer, it sounded like Weisshaupt was under attack and under imminent threat. (Ctrl+F "Weisshaupt" in this post for more on that). For example, the line "Grey Wardens don’t hide in our castle. I won’t ask good soldiers to turn tail and run." - this sounds like a dialogue line spoken by a senior Warden specifically during the Seige of Weisshaupt.

It also explains why in this Thedas Calls shot of Weisshaupt, Weisshaupt looks afflicted by red lyrium, there's a dark ominous storm vibe, and things look ruined/threatened. and it explains screenshots and scenes like this and why in the character reveal trailer Davrin was fighting red lyrium darkspawn in a Blighted dark area with griffon assets. (read the "Davrin" section here for more)

"They set off to find their allies in Weisshaupt and soon meet resistance from the darkspawn" - could this be Evka and Antoine? :)

I don't think we see any or many Wardens around in the sections of this quest that we see in this video. I definitely saw at least one dead one. what has befallen them? I hope some of them are surviving somewhere inside the fortress ;-; and where is the First Warden in all this? also, this must be awful for Davrin to see :< A Grey Warden witnessing the attack of your order's heart.

Fighting a darkspawn siege on the walls and roof of a famous fortress is giving me Battle of Denerim, Fort Drakon-DA:O-style vibes and memories. it's perfect :)

With Lucanis' demonic aura and Abominate ability, it's probably time to revisit the idea that there's something inchresting/spirit-demonny going on there. I'm curious to see the take on it this time around and how it differs to e.g. Wynne, Anders.

I love the way hair and capes flip around and move in battle!

^ Ghil's Archdemon, or "Archdemon"? At this point it also looks like.. sacs of Blighted corruption (or something) are falling from the sky down onto Weisshaupt/being launched at Weisshaupt by the darkspawn/Ghil as part of the seige!! jesus!!

Some random other posts of things like stuff I noticed: Davrin and Lucanis height comparison (who knows if it's to scale on that screen though), Summon Baby Button, Davrin and Lucanis icons, Lucanis' smirk, Davrin picture compilation, Emmrich and Harding on the party screen, darkspawn advance, useable trebuchet/dead Warden/giant ominous tube, aeries?/griffon lamp/+2 Heartwood

Item description lore

Each item appears to be associated with a faction, as it has that faction's sigil on its info box. For example, the Golden Casque helm is a Lord of Fortune item.

GEAR WIELDED BY ROOK "Golden Casque – rare heavy helm – [Lords of Fortune] Tall and plumed, this fine helmet is the color of gold – but much harder to dent. The Iron Cast – rare heavy armor – [Mourn Watch] This armor’s vividly sculpted musculature is a testament to Nevarra’s unrivalled knowledge of anatomy. Necropolis Defender – rare targe [a targe is a type of shield historically used by Scottish Highlanders] – [Mourn Watch] The elite guards who stand watch at the gates of the Grand Necropolis use these shields to guard against both the living and the dead. Spellbound Longsword – rare longsword – [Shadow Dragons] This enchanted longsword is bound with burning magic. Andraste’s Will – unique ring – [Shadow Dragons] Andraste was tied to a stake and burned while her earthly husband turned his armies aside and did nothing, for his heart had been devoured. Amaranthine Loop – uncommon ring – [Antivan Crows] Favored by Crows, the uniform rows of stones add balance and precision to every blow. Also some elegance. Heart of Andraste – uncommon amulet – [Lords of Fortune] A charm given to newly anointed Fathers of the Imperial Chantry, the cracked stone serves as a reminder of Andraste’s mortal heart." Rook was also wielding a big hammer and wearing a belt, the icon did not pass over their infoboxes during the video. GEAR WIELDED BY DAVRIN "Blight Killer – rare longsword – [Grey Wardens] An intimidating, one-of-a-kind sword cut from solid obsidian. It is perfectly balanced. Reforged Bulwark – uncommon heater (shield) – [Grey Wardens] Reclaimed from the ruins of an old Warden stronghold, this shield honors the sacrifices of Wardens past while defending their future." Davrin was also wielding his iconic/default armor and what looked like a dagger or shortsword. The icon did not pass over their infoboxes during the video.

Part 1

Text notes in this part:

"Combat Part 1: Prepare For Battle This is an introduction to high-level combat. Footage has been edited for brevity and to avoid major spoilers. Weisshaupt Fortress is under attack from Ghilan’nain and her Archdemon. Rook and the Veilguard must stop her. Let’s get your warrior ready for battle. Abilities & Runes -  Assign abilities and an ultimate attack before jumping into battle. - Equip runes to enhance your power set and access unique abilities when activated. - Choose runes that boost a Warrior’s damage and help with crowd control. Skill Tree - Each combat class has an array of specializations to choose from. - Your Rook has chosen the Champion branch, which favors strong defensive skills. - Utilizing passive abilities like Heavy Armor Mastery will help boost defense if you are equipped with all heavy armor. - You’re going to be battling darkspawn, who are vulnerable to fire. Fiery Resolve will grant us “Flaming Weapons” for a duration when we parry an enemy attack. - We’ll be doing a deep dive on progression systems in the future. Inventory - For this build, you’ll want a full set of heavy armor to activate our Heavy Armor Mastery passive. - Rook is primarily using a Sword & Shield since it allows you to be more defensive. - If you prefer a more aggressive playstyle, two-handed weapons deal more damage, but have fewer defensive options. - The Spellbound Longsword deals high Stagger and can trigger powerful takedowns. - We’ll cover Stagger in Part of this series. - Rook has a fire-based, darkspawn-killer build. - This ring grants a bonus to the max number of burning stacks, which results in more damage over time. - This is just one type of build. Other examples include customizing to emphasize your Shield Toss or Takedowns. - Personalize yours to fit your preferred playstyle. - Selected companions can aid Rook by equipping complementary gear and passives. - This is a Grey Warden mission, so you should bring Davrin into battle with you. [Character selection screen] - In addition to Davrin, you decide to take Lucanis into battle based on his crowd control abilities."

This is what the character screen looks like. There are 'pages' for Map, Character, Companions, Skills and Library. (Library is for the codexes basically).

Gear-wise Rook can equip two different weapons (in this case they have a sword+shield and also a hammer in the 2h slot), helmet, an armor, and what looks like 1 belt/accessory, 1 necklace/accessory and 2 rings. Helmet has a 'hide helmet' toggle. Additionally, the Lyrium dagger has slots for 3 runes. There are also slots at the bottom for 3 abilities and 1 Ultimate Attack (I think). I think the Ultimate ability is based on Rook's background.

There looks like there's 3 different types of things we gather, plus another submenu if you press triangle to see the resources (heartwood etc). The one on the right looks like gold/coin. I wonder what the other two are?

This is what the equivalent pane for Davrin looks like in the Companions menu. Companions have less customizable gear slots than Rook.

This looks like the relationship meter. In this save, Davrin seems to be at relationship level 4 with Rook, a stage which is called "Comrade in Arms".

This is what the 'choose your team'/'gather your party' screen looks like. The companions' cards are these art pieces. At this point in this save, Neve is the only one with the Veilguard sigil above her card. Michael Gamble tweeted that this means "she is a hero of the Veilguard." [source] Maybe this means that her 'loyalty mission', or this game's equivalent thereof, has been completed so that Neve has been able to fully commit to the Veilguard?

Part 2

Text notes in this part:

“Combat Part 2: The Basics Now that Rook, Davrin & Lucanis have the right gear and skills, the team sets off to find their allies. Soon, they are met with resistance by the darkspawn, blighted creatures following Ghilan’nain’s orders. Assess The Battlefield - First, learn the enemy types to strategically exploit their weaknesses. Darkspawn are vulnerable to fire. - You will also see that they are resistant to Necrosis. - Enemies have a multitude of damage vulnerabilities and resistances. - Abilities which exploit weaknesses have a green outline. - Rook encounters a swarm of darkspawn ghouls who favor overwhelming melee. - The ghouls are joined by Hurlock spikers, ranged combatants who are also vulnerable to fire. - Time a Shield Block to parry an incoming attack, which provides an opportunity for a high-damage counterattack. - With this successful parry, the Fiery Resolve passive skill activates Flaming Weapons. Melee attacks will now do fire damage instead of physical. - Use the Kick ability to deal massive damage and knock enemies off ledges. - Shield Throw is an effective ranged attack that can destroy obstacles and quickly close the gap between you and an enemy. - Health pots are available throughout the world. Grab them to prepare for what’s ahead. - Use the Ability Wheel to pause the action, cast abilities, and direct your companions. - Some enemies have tougher additional protection that needs to be removed. A yellow bar indicates Armor Barrier. - Armor is resistant to most attacks. Heavy attacks are the most effective against it. - Here, the darkspawn horde begins to overwhelm. - You can cast Spectral Bulwark, which damages enemies who land melee hits. - This allows you to fearlessly get into the thick of battle. - Enemies have a lavender stagger bar that builds when you land hits. - While an enemy is Staggered, they take bonus damage, and you can deliver a powerful takedown."

Part 3

Text notes in this part:

“Combat Part 3: Buffs, Debuffs, & Crowd Control You’ve mastered your core abilities. Now it’s time to face down a variety of enemies, all at once. Spacing Strategy - This Rook is a Warrior, specializing in the Champion branch, which favors a defensive style of fighting. - Warriors are front-line fighters capable of devastating, up-close attacks. - Rook and their companions can also deploy different tools, such as area-of-effect attacks to uniquely manage various enemies. Buffs & Debuffs - Additionally, activate companion buffs and debuffs to apply status effects. - One example of a buff is Lucanis’ Adrenaline Rush ability which enhances Rook’s damage stats. - Davrin has Heroic Strike, which applies the overwhelmed debuff. This causes the target to take additional Stagger. Crowd Control - This build activates the Shield Volley Passive, which ricochets your shield 3 times if you hit it with a heavy attack. - Rook is getting attacked on all sides, so you command Lucanis to use Abominate to knock enemies down. Fighting At A Distance - Use abilities, like Davrin’s Death From Above, to deal damage from afar. - Or use your Grappling Spear to pull them close.”

Part 4

Text notes in this part:

“Combat Part 4: Primers, Detonators, & Ultimates As your fight progresses, use primers, detonators, and ultimates with strategic timing to turn the tide of battle. Primers & Detonators - Rook can create incredibly damaging combo detonations with the help of their companions. - Assess the situation, and determine which primers and detonators work best against each enemy type. - Command Davrin to Taunt to gather nearby enemies. - Activate the Crystallize rune to freeze the gathered group in place. - Lucanis can use Eviscerate to detonate the combo and strike the whole group. Ultimate Attacks - As the battle progresses, Rook can unleash a destructive ultimate attack. - Now that you’ve mastered these combat strategies and tactics, let’s see them all in action."

Abilities, passives etc

For these I focused mostly on the move’s name + its description. In some cases there's sort of two as there's the one from the Ability Wheel and the one from the Skill Tree.

ROOK Driving Kick – Focus all your strength and determination into one mighty kick. / Deals a very high amount of Stagger. Grappling Spear – Harpoon your targets with a strong throw and drag them in for a closer encounter. / Pulls your target towards you. Press [button] or [button] to perform a follow-up attack Spectral Bulwark – Hone your guard and protect yourself from enemies foolish enough to attack. Enemies who hit you with a melee attack take damage and very high […]. / While active, enemies who hit you with a melee attack take damage and very high Stagger. [Ultimate] Warden’s Fire – Unleash a barrage of strikes with the burning strength that resides within every Grey Warden. Applies Burning to enemies [Specialization] Champion – The pinnacle of Grey Warden combat prowess. The Champion is a born leader who rallies their allies, turns their fervor into flame, and wields a shield as a deadly weapon. [Greater Passive] Heavy Armor Mastery - +Defense while wearing a heavy helm and armor. You are now less likely to be disrupted when getting hit. [Greater Passive] Fiery Resolve – Gain Flaming Weapons on Perfect Defense. Flaming Weapons lasts 50% longer. Titan Stomp – Deals very high Stagger to nearby enemies. LUCANIS Adrenaline Rush – Grants enhanced damage Abominate – Deals high Barrier damage and applies Knocked down to enemies in the area Eviscerate – At half health of less, this deals bonus damage, increasing in effectiveness the closer the target is to death DAVRIN Death From Above – Deals high Stagger [summons Assan to attack] Heroic Strike – Deals high Stagger Battle Cry – Applies Taunted to enemies in the area

There were also names and info popups of different runes, e.g. Mend.

[source]

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What are your opinions on the S3 finale (Heart Hunter & Miracle Queen).

This is a tricky question because season four went on to completely drop the ball on everything the season three finale setup. That makes it hard to look at the season three ending positively even though it seemed to be a great setup for shaking things up. There are a ton of fantastic fanfics that take the events of the season three final and use them to tell a great story.

Canon, on the other hand, just wastes our time. The season three finale leads into a season of nonsense conflict that ends in a final that is a total rehash of everything the season three final did: Marinette makes a mistake and Gabriel gets all the miraculous. Only, this time, he gets to keep them because there's no deus ex machina to magically steal them back. You can skip from season three to season five and all you'll miss is Su Han's intro and Alya knowing Marinette's identity. Heck, season five even repeats season four's romance padding! They just do it with Marichat instead of Lukanette and Adrigami. It's extremely paint-by-numbers.

If we ignore all of that and pretend that season three just finished, then I'd probably give the final four out of five stars? It's got some decent elements!

Gabriel's plan to manipulate Chloe is a genuinely good one even though I'm not sure why he needed Chloe specifically. Anyone could have wielded the bee and there's no reason he needed the bee to grant an akumatized person Miracle Queen's powers. Still, they did a good job creating a situation where Chloe would be scared and mad enough to side with the bad guy. It's genuinely solid writing that felt properly setup, which is not something I can say for any other final.

Outing all of the temp heroes was a strong, bold move! It should have led to interesting things. Some examples: Gabriel tracking down Ladybug, Ladybug having to pick a new set of temp heroes, and/or Marinette having to distance herself from her civilian friends who were the former temp heroes. Any and all of these would have been a blast! Instead, the reveals are treated as a total nothing burger. Alya even gets a full-time miraculous and access to Ladybug's identity, all of which should be a hard no once her identity is out there.

Removing Fu was another strong move, though somewhat weakened by the fact that Fu never felt all that important to the story. If we pretend that he was written like a real mentor, then this is another exciting status quo change. Who will Ladybug turn to now that her mentor is gone and Alya's hero ties have been outed? It's not surprising that many viewers expected season four to be the season of Ladynoir. And it was! Just not the flavor anyone wanted...

The Kagami conflict was a decent one. I like the idea of Marinette making the wrong choice for a temp hero to call in based on her feelings for Adrien. It's a much better version of this issue than the rehash we get in the season four final where the only reason Marinette's choice is wrong is because of an evil twin. However, it's once again weakened up the setup.

With both Kagami and Chloe having previously been outed, it's hard to view either choice as the right one. For this to really work, Chloe should not have been publicly outed. Gabriel should have learned her identity by accident and she should have been benched because she's a mean girl who has done nothing to earn a miraculous. The story didn't need a stronger justification for Ladybug to never call on Queen Bee again.

In fact, this episode actually really needed better justification for why it was wrong to pick Kagami over Chloe. Chloe was officially benched and there wasn't anything special about her that made her desperately needed for this fight. The only reason people feel like Chloe should have been picked in the season three finale is because it was her parents who were in danger, but in-universe, there's no rule that says temp heroes need to be the ones to help when their families are in danger. That's actually a pretty crappy rule. Pick whoever is best for the job. Similarly, the only reason it was a bad call was because of things Marinette didn't know (which would also be repeated in season four's final).

Still, the episode plays these events in an engaging way where Marinette does initially want to go for Chloe and the show did establish the "you get to help when you're family is in danger" rule, so I'm willing to give these flaws a pass in a way I'm not willing to forgive the flaws in the season four rehash. I can actually criticize Marinette's actions in season three. In season four she does nothing wrong.

One thing I will straight up criticize is having the episode end with Adrigami and Lukanette being together. That was an extremely cheap cliffhanger that got immediately undone in season four. It was also totally unnecessary. The temp heroes identities being outed, Fu losing his memories, and Chloe's betrayal are much stronger elements to focus on. You don't need the teen romance! Then again, none of the serious elements went on to meaningful impact the story, so maybe that's why season three ends on that weird note where it doesn't feel as serious as it should?

As you can see, my praise for this episode is pretty tepid. In a better show, it would be a fantastic season finale. In Miraculous? It fails to hit properly because of poor setup and then fumbles the landing for the things it sets up, making it hard to give it any real praise. At the time, I was genuinely curious where it would go, but I lost interest pretty quickly. It was clear that they had no plans to give proper weight to the events of the season three finale just like we didn't get proper weight for the season four finale and will probably not get proper weight for the season five finale.

[yuurei20]

Hi Yuurei!!

Same anon asking about stipends -

We're going down a whole rabbit hole with this one!

My friend asked if there's anything about Crowley Actually being stingy in game, or if that's actually something the fans came up with.

We could only think about chapter 2 Crowley saying he didnt promise to pay for living expenses, but that was to get MC and Grim to do what he wanted.

Otherwise, while not as generous as he humorously claims, I can't really think of much where he's genuinely "nickle and diming" things

Do you know of anything?

Hello hello!! I am so sorry for the delay, I can finally answer this question! (for the curious, anon's initial questions about stipends is here!)

There have been multiple examples of Crowley taking advantage of opportunities for financial gain, but there may be more going on than it seems!

Crowley allows Azul to run Mostro Lounge on school properly in exchange for Azul returning the powers he stole from students in his first year, and for contributing 10% of the lounge's proceeds to NRC. (Jack: "Wait, so you're gettin' something from it?!")

In Book 4, Crowley himself insinuates that he allowed Kalim to be appointed Housewarden of Scarabia in exchange for generous support from Kalim's family that help with the costs of providing education. In Book 5 Jamil says that he suspects the opportunity to get "generous Asim family donations" is the only reason that Kalim was sent a letter of acceptance at all.

In Book 6, Crowley explains how he could not refuse the Shroud family's request that Ortho be formally enrolled as a student after they paid to repair the buildings destroyed by STYX, as well as making "substantial contributions toward expanding the school's facilities."

When the Firelit Sky team leaves for the fireworks event in Jamil and Kalim's hometown, Crowley says that he will graciously accept whatever souvenirs Kalim brings back. Trey comments, "I knew there was no way he'd let us do this for free."

When the students leave for the Glorious Masquerade event Crowley sees them off with, "Don't worry about getting any gifts for me. As a side note, I prefer treats with subtler flavors rather than overpowering ones."

During Halloween we learn that the souvenirs provided to campus visitors are "just little bags of candy that cost less than a thaumark each in total" and Crowley insists, "it's all about the sentiment!"

But for all these examples of Crowley seemingly being very interested in money, there are just as many where he is not as stingy as he could be: visitors to school during Halloween tour the campus free of charge, and Crowley gives away multiple VDC tickets so that the members of NRC Tribe can invite friends and family, despite how they are "hot commodities" that he could presumably sell.

He also buys Sam's entire stock of goods for seducing Eliza during the Phantom Bride event (including tuxedos for the remaining suitors), fairy dust for the Fairy Gala event and club equipment for the winning teams of Vargas Camp.

Costs pertaining to expenses such as setup and food supplies are all charged to the school during Port Fest, with half of profits donated to the restoration of Craneport.

Upon Azul's recommendation Crowley voluntarily decides to give the rest of the profits to the students themselves, even encouraging them to host a post-festival celebration with whatever money is leftover rather than trying to keep any for himself.

As mentioned in the response to your initial question, Crowley also gives the prefect and Grim funds that are mentioned during Glorious Masquerade! (And they also buy things during other events so this was, presumably, not a one-time exception.)

In short, I think you are right and it is possible that Crowley has become infamous for a level of stinginess that might not be entirely accurate! It is also interesting how he never seems to mention taking money for himself, directly: it is always in the form of donations to the school, repairs to campus facilities, etc., with the exceptions of the snacks he overtly requests from Fleur City, and the souvenirs he encourages Kalim to bring back for him.

As you say he does mention money as a way to pressure Grim and the prefect into helping him in the main story, but also as you say these are only two of many examples of the various ways he gets Grim to cooperate, such as promising him a role in the Spelldrive tournament (Book 2), renovating Ramshackle's plumbing (Book 5), and tempting him with attention and food (Glorious Masquerade).

Overall, while Crowley certainly has a reputation for being stingy both inside and outside of the game, he may not be as cheap as he seems--or as he wants people to think he is? 👀

[shai-manahan]

Hollowed Minds Progress Update 1/21/2024

Hi! It's probably odd to start this with a question, but how do you all feel about the way content/trigger warnings are implemented in IFs? I'm asking this because I'm doing bits of additional coding for accessibility. In the next update, for example, you'll get to choose if you want lore-related text to be displayed on the stats page or for it to simply display stat changes + relationship trackers.

Would you want the content warnings to have the same treatment (i.e. having the choice to have it displayed before every chapter)? Or is there something else you prefer? And do you find it better if warnings for the unreleased content are also displayed? I didn't make a poll because I'd like to get actual responses for this that's more than just numbers.

While I won't be writing anything that's too explicitly violent, HM can still get very heavy and I wish to take into account the thoughts of everyone who would read the entire thing. So do feel free to send an ask :)

Anyway, fixing game-breaking bugs was mostly what I did the last few weeks lmfao. I did write a few thousand words but nothing I can share yet, except maybe for a fact that MC's personality traits (depending on your config -- though the current setup isn't applied in the current demo yet) have a lot more flavor texts involved, and characters will be showing more reactions related to them. And I don't know if I've already mentioned this yet, but I made it so you could refer to Wesley using their surname 👀 (I probably mentioned that already but eh.)

Meanwhile on Ch 2's Part 2: Alonzo's driving skills vs MC's level of patience :'))))

See you next weekend!

[iantimony]

hoo baby! hello first Tuesday of 2025!

listening: Usseewa (Ado) Aishite Aishite Aishite (Ado) bangers. girl can SING. and of course the anonymity is very sexy.

Middle Eastern Grooves (Selected by DJ Kobayashi): was tempted by the cool cover art, stayed for the funky jams. this led me to:

Kokoro (Sababa 5 & Yurika): vibey. citypop if it was in MENA.

reading: so I am in the middle of a two week visit home in which I am staying in my childhood bedroom. and I went. man. there sure is a lot of stuff in here that I simply have not thought about or missed since moving out. so I reread Marie Kondo's "Tidying Up" book and went to town. it's been really nice to do! found a few things that I forgot I had and actually am excited to keep and use! mostly got rid of things! her goofy little "thank inanimate objects" thing is unfortunately the exact flavor of personification of objects that my sentimental ass needs, so. yippee. her book has some . interesting. comments on people's weight and etc things which is very weird but also probably of its time and her specific cultural background baggage. I did some poking about her and found this article ("Marie Kondo’s life is messier now — and she’s fine with it" by Jura Koncius, web archive version linked to bypass paywall) which definitely tracks. I can't imagine having kids and following her [gestures] Whole Thing to a tee.

I also rented and started reading "The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering", which opens with a bible quote so I am already a little wary. anyways.

I haven't followed the prescribed konmari order exactly - I left books til towards the end because they are already pretty contained, for example - so I have a few loose ends to finish up with that but we're basically there. sorry Stephen King but I really don't care to hang on to your work Just Because, except for maybe "on writing" because I could see myself rereading that. I have a shitload of old scifi paperbacks that likely do Not spark joy necessarily so if anyone wants a random paperback mailed to them just let me know :b

related to that: I'm reading "Earthlight" by Arthur C. Clark. it's good! slim volume so I'm hoping to finish it before next Tuesdaypost/when I leave town. the setup feels very common - Earth people vs federation of solar system settlers politicking - but there's some fun tidbits that have made me go HUH??? like the moon having an atmosphere (technically true, I guess, but definitely not in the way it's described here), for some reason the sun sets in the east on the moon (???), and MOON PLANTS???? cool moon cacti that are specially adapted to absorb as many gas/water molecules as possible? they have a little window in them??? and at first I was like damn is this meant to be an alternate universe? when I realized that this was written in 1955. so. maybe he did sincerely think there could be moon cacti. some really delicious descriptions in here that I'm enjoying:

"They were moving along a ridge that the sun had already left, but the track of the monorail, scarcely a meter above it, still caught the last rays. It seemed as if they were rushing along an unsupported ribbon of light, a filament of flame built by sorcery rather than human engineering."

caught up on Witch Hat Atelier! it's good! I'm very excited for the next volume to come out next week!

watching: a handful of Leah's Fieldnotes videos as background while I did some cleaning, re-stuffing a pillow, etc. we're the same age which is interesting to me. I have thoughts on her style of content and general vibes that are still cooking in my brain so maybe next time I will elaborate. more Caroline Winkler. some Sorry Girls (there is a theme here clearly). some Kurtis Connor/Danny Gonzalez/Drew Gooden-verse. nothing super notable. oh LegalEagle suing honey! that whips ass definitely. I'm going to avoid linking specific videos each week unless I have Something to say about them.

playing: mostly fallow BUT I am leaving this section in this year out of optimism! my boyfriend commented, and I agreed, that I am definitely missing out on some rich Media Experiences by neglecting the Gamez. this year I really want to play Nier: Automata (which he got me as a gift a while ago), Disco Elysium, and Hades 2. I own the first two already so that's def where I'll start. I'd also like to read umineko but that can go 50/50 as to playing or reading lol

however I DID look at Do you PASS MUSTER?, a solo rpg by @spikekat! it's a vibe!

making: finished One of my mom's fingerless gloves! onto the second! I'm trying to decide if I want to block it or not…probably, just because I did the cabling with a needle half a size too small by accident so there are a few gaps, although maybe using a smaller needle minimized gaps? who knows.

eating: some good New York staples while I'm home but I haven't done much cooking.

moving: new section!! it is mostly empty this week beyond walking the dogs with my mom every day. I am hoping to populate this section with general notes on what worked/didn't work for me each week in the gym, outdoors activities, and so on.

misc: decluttering feels good but I also feel the albatross of the Dead Dad Bins in the basement looming over me. I'm thinking that's a summer activity where I can take breaks to be outside, lol. the goal is basically to have everything such that when I move after my PhD to wherever I'm going next, I can take what's left in my childhood room (books, some of the quality furniture that we scavenged from my dad's apartment, etc) without it being a big deal or strain. I'm definitely approaching that point with my own belongings! I have a few things that should be sold rather than donated but overall I've really pared it down pretty well so I'm pretty pleased about that. I'll probably do a pass over my apartment when I get back too - definitely some clothes come to mind that can be let go without any regret, and I definitely want to pare down some of my craft supplies that are getting a little out of hand. yayyy fresh start to a new year :)

[opbackgrounds]

What exactly had Oda 'not known to self-edit'? Cause I someone who DID drop the series during Punk Hazard, but binged is right before the you-know-what-reveal - it reads great at onces, though I can see why weekly readers suffer. I can't think of a single thing that's doesn't look like setup for later - so I'm curious, what's so unnecessary for you?

There are too many characters, mostly. There didn't need to be 9 samurai. There didn't need to be 7 Vegapunks. There didn't need to be 11 Supernovas. For every character Oda introduces, he must find a place for them, and this is both One Piece's blessing and its curse. It makes the world feel full and lived in, where no matter where you look there are other characters who could be the protagonists of their own story, but is also how you get Raizo spending 25 chapters fighting the long earlobe guy in what's ultimately a meaningless fight no one cares about. Oda himself acknowledged this when he (semi) lightheartedly said he wished he'd made fewer warlords, because then he wouldn't have to write stories for 7 different characters. It's a compounding problem that gets worse as the series gets longer, and Oda is forced to juggle more and more balls with varying success.

And even if that were not the case, there's a lot more fluff than the old days. I pointed this out during Water 7, but if you want an example of a tight arc look there. The gags and little character moments that are essential to the series are all there, but they're purposeful to the plot. There's not an ounce of fat in the whole arc, and it's largely regarded as one of the best in the series.

Compare that to Wano when you have entire chapters dedicated to the little fox spirit or Franky running around the city looking for blueprints to the mansion. They're fine in isolation, heart warming and funny respectively, but it's a lot of wasted pages for not a lot of purpose. A few such scenes sprinkled in sparingly can add flavor to the story, but too many grind the feeling of progress to a halt, and take away time from things that are more important to the plot and/or themes. Like, did you know Tama was a Kozuki? Putting that information in the manga itself would have done a lot to clear up the thematic confusion caused by Hiyori's speech at the end of the arc. But there was too much fluff and too many unimportant characters getting page time that that bit of info is regulated to an SBS where many fans will never see it.

[grumfy]

Continuing on the Men Vs Women romance conversation, I’ve seen a lot of people on Xitter giving examples like A Silent Voice and Toradora, thoughts?

People are going to hate me for saying this but I strongly believe A Silent Voice is a manic pixie dream girl movie at its core and has the same appeal to a certain type of guy that ecchi does. Structurally it's no different than Garden State or Elizabethtown. Her role in the story is to, quoting the official definition, "provide emotional support to the protagonist, or to teach him important life lessons, while receiving nothing in return". He bullied her, then he's bullied so feels bad, then she teaches him how to be optimistic "despite her disability" which is a common framing for this trope. I don't view it as a romance either because she ultimately asks nothing of him in return, her existence teaches him, and she feels so bad when she finds out about his past ideations that she tries to drown herself..it's ridiculous when you remove the layer of sentimentality from it. The kindness he shows her is also that same "bare minimum pet flavoring" because she's shy and deaf so he "rescues her". I hold a lot of contempt for this movie and the way it's perceived.

Toradora on the other hand, despite being the quintessential tsundere story, I actually think is a really good example of a well done "guy romance". They're both outwardly scary/unpalatable people who help each other grow, Taiga has interiority before meeting Ryuji (she has a crush on another guy and they mutually work together to get and help change peoples' perceptions of them as "scary people". She’s a hot mess/is bad at cleaning, he helps her out…their grown and development is mutual, and so are their internal arcs. IMO the basis of “we’ll help each other get our crushes” is enough of a ding in its favor to me, this is a very common romcom setup in romcoms written for women but a lot of guys have literally said they feel insecure about female characters having been interested in other people before, so it’s not a super common occurrence in ones for dudes.

TL;DR Toradora majorly clears Silent Voice in my opinion

[beardedhandstoadshark]

7th Dragon iii is SUCH a mixed bag of a game tbh

On one hand, combat system my beloved: it‘s so cool to have your unused teammates still play an important role in your party, and that every class not only has 2 main skill "paths“ to take in a sense (your healer class also being a fist punch fighter for example) but that they‘re all feasible to acquire, as well as unique on their own. I love the classes in this game so much yall don’t understand.

On the other hand, it takes like half the game until you can properly utilize it and 25% to even know the back-row team thing exists at all.

The story is cool in itself, and I love how they actually Went There in the end (including letting you loot the dead bodies for keepsakes, oof) but WOW does it seem to hinge on nostalgia-bait for previous titles. Or at least that’s my assumption, as I’ve never played any of the others.

But there’s just a lot of details where - even as someone who only knows this game- it’s very obvious they only exist for fans to point and go "YOOOOOO”. The unlockable quest portraits, being Unit 13, superhero guys’ side plot, multiple areas in this game…not to mention the red guild lady and her spooky sis. They’re the biggest offenders. Iirc those two are like, major staple characters in the other games. Not only is there 0 setup to attachment for new players to them since they expect you to already have it from the other games, but if I knew and liked those characters only to barely see them when they exist in ONE chapter before getting offed like that? Dude.

I mean it was a sick bossfight and my favorite one in the entire game presentation-wise, but it also just…feels so unearned. Idk.

The "nostalgia bait” areas too. They didn’t have to be the way they are. The old Unit 13 hangout place is actually rather decent imo, because it succeeds in being its own unique place outside the nostalgia, even if just a little. One of my fave games, Zelda twilight princess, has a lot of "callback” areas like this too! But unlike this game, its areas still function like unique places inside the world if you don’t have that callback.

TP right, you don’t need to know the abandoned Hidden Village was the prev games’ series staple Kakariko for it to still be "that one place where the game goes full wild west shooter with sick music to rescue a lone old lady and play hide n seek with the army of cats living there”. I sure didn’t!

Same way you don’t need to know said old Unit 13 place was (most likely, I’m guessing here) a previous games’ main hub or what happened here in other games for it to still be "that place that used to be important for the people whose shoes you’re filling, that now lays abandoned and broken at your feet as you try to finish the mission they started (and also has teleporting patheays)”. That’s some good stuff right there.

And then Vermillion Tower and 7th Encount are both Just There and you’re supposed to care.

Combine that with most of Eden basically being a rehash of a single area in Atlantis, and both of these are just "go in a circle for multiple levels’ with different flavors of fantasy medieval, there’s really not much of substance here, is there?

Which is a shame since the core concept of traveling through time consistently to the point it’s casually used by the people to save to connect across eras, is SO COOL. Any time npcs from two eras, going "isn’t it cool how we’re so far away yet meeting here?” I went YES IT IS SO COOL.

Those 2 kids from the past going "our parents are stupid about class rules so we’re gonna run away to the future where they don’t exist” and you running around to exchange the gifts they made for their present-time Tokyo friends they made while staying in this time?

Or, Eden Fox Lady being starstruck by Ms Atlantis Queen? Her seeing her people are still around and prospering despite their home country being gone? Them kinda planning to visit their new country someday? yes yes yes more of all of that please

The non-callback characters in general, good stuff. How the Atlantis ones (especially our general elf buddy) keep asking and calling back to the sea and whether you can hear it because it was so important to their culture. That one quest with a present-time Fox person spooking around, and at the end he just asks "does your place have a sea?”, for it to be followed by silence and a "No. It’s surrounded by mountains. Gotta hide from others”, and he says nothing but you KNOW what he thinks because of that.

Or how you can sus out Mio’s dad is, well, her dad way before it’s revealed since he says stuff along the lines of "abandoning others is a shitty more. …Not that I have any right to say that” because, turns out he went to get milk and never returned. And that Mio figured it out too and you just see her happy. The rivalry you can have with Yuma, trying to make him understand his life has worth on its own but it’s ultimately no use. Mio’s dad adopting him in his head because he knows he fucked up but also that Yuma's getting fucked up by his circumstances. And despite everything, it all wasn't enough.

There's so many good points that just get thrown out the window half way through. The ending in particular, oof. Of course too high stakes wouldn't stick, but the fact that despite establishing a post-game world, we don't even get to play in it, but get sent back to Ch5 again.

Also I can somewhat excuse the dragons going poof, but cmon. Yuma wasn't a dragon, he's a human with high stats. My man was the equivalent of someone breeding pokemon for tournaments and slapping bonbons at their faces so they evolve faster.

We were literally god for a few sec, why not just make him and Mio actual siblings. Or the twins not-swords. What does our protag have against them specifically.

Also.

Why are we able to fuck a minor.

Even ignoring Yuma and his reverse "anime girl is actually 1000y old dragon” type shit going on, just...Mio. I do NOT care how anyone chooses to personally interpret her scene or your characters’ age- the game portrays you as an adult at all times, her dating scene is just like the others which are VERY obvious about getting spicy behind the fade to black, and Mio’s dialogue during said scene is straight up smth along the lines of "Can you…make me an adult like this?”

That girl is 14. The intention of the devs is very clear. Also you have to do this if you wanna get a strong item; how great. (sarcasm)

Speaking of which; tone it down with the casual sexual harassment in general? Sure That One Scene with Allie could be read as hidden forshadowing (her checking that you’re not pulling a Yuma rn) but cmon. "Hope I wont get sued for sexual harassment ✨”. Oof. And until that one I thought Julietta was the walking stereotype, but no he’s the more normal one of them. She’s like "the Mother", i know, so that’s what it’s probably supposed to come across as, overbearingly caring, but nah. Someone at Sega just heard "mommy” instead and the rest of the world has to suffer for it.

Anyways I do like how pretty much every single npc in this game is casually bi AND that one random guard is explicitly gay. AND they didn’t censor Julietta’s name/name him John or smth, frankly shocked they didn’t do that. Good for all of them. (Still the flamboyant harrassing queer stereotype but half the npcs need to be on some list so it’s whatever. He's very chill for the setting he's in. The non-callback characters in general are pretty good in how they're fleshed out, too.)

Genuinely though, for a game that explicitly gender locks voice actors and portraits, or any game ever while we're at it, the casualness of this was. Surprising in a good way. Could've just been the result of the way the game handles character/team composition in cutscenes and the devs being too lazy to change it, but other games would've gone out their way to gender lock this too.

Anyways, the game has a cat cafe that lets you hang out with them to get skill points and one class learns their Super Strong Skill of Mass Destruction from it. 10/10 no complains best feature ever.

TLDR a very 6/10 game and it lost all those points in the actively malicious presentation. Don't use callbacks to previous games as the entire basis for the plot, especially if those games were on other console lines/Japan exclusive, respectively. Oof. Love the cat cafe though. More games should have them.

[inventors-fair]

Second Spellings: Runners-Up ~

Our runners-up this week are @bergdg, @helloijustreadyourpost, and @hypexion!

@bergdg — The Great Conjuration

I don't really know where blue and green became the shapeshifteryest of shapeshifter colors (or rather, I get the gist because blue = mutability and green = nature). When you have these together, though, you get a card like this which is really damn sweet. This card obviously puts a massive target on your back, but if you go fast enough, you can ensure that the power behind your creatures can swing fully and completely. Or rather, that you have at least one explosive turn. Having all the cards be exiled can be a feel-bad, but there are great ways to exploit this and even better ways that this card is just plain fun.

For example: naming Eldrazi allows you to cast Emrakul off a Blisterpod. Honestly, do I need to name any other examples after that? I think that the only major revision I would make would be for the last ability to say "You may cast any number of cards exiled with ~ this turn without paying their mana costs." I'm not sure where you got the "one or more" wording from, but hey, that's a small issue for such a fun card. It's extremely narrow and more often than not feels like it would be a glass cannon—so yeah, perfectly reasonable for what the conjuration is implying, right? Side note: amazing art skills there. The mood conveys the gist conveys the extremity.

@helloijustreadyourpost — Sky Dancer

I like the Shakespeare reference in the flavor text, and I think it speaks to some kind of faerie perspective that's not quite translatable to human thought—or at least that feels like the intention, the way that the fae see the world. That is to say, I like both the simplicity and the ambiguity. It's actually tied with the effect for the card, which is a potentially quite powerful effect at common! I can't think of any specific effects with which it's broken, at least not at the moment.

So what you have is the ability to swing in with your fliers and then be on the defense, plus if you have any flash synergy you can utilize that to make combat harder for your opponents. All checks out. Cast triggers at common aren't the easiest to grok, but at the same time, this effect doesn't use too much complex space because of no inherent tap ability; I'm thinking of how my students sometimes get juked out with weird Thermo-Alchemist triggers, y'know. By itself, it's a card that does just what Faeries want to do at common, and I think that the only possible change I'd make would be to make it a 1/2, and even that's negligible. Solid common design!

@hypexion — Distortion Skitterer

As an uncommon? You're treading hazardous ground... But, it's a seven-mana 4/4 so that's honestly not so bad. Making additional 4/4s with trample is pretty nasty and you do get one on cast, but holy crap, that's still really fun to play, and fairly limiting all things considered. The amount of times that this would've come up in OGW limited would be pretty little, which is reasonable, but getting two of them or getting just one trigger off would be pretty nasty. Considering that MH3 is going to have even more? Wow. I think that the double-C is quite reasonable for the setup.

Honestly this card speaks for itself—the power level is comparable to the more powerful uncommons of its era, it's an Eldrazi that makes more Eldrazi, and you've got a pretty reasonable wording to show how nuts it can be. FYI, the cast trigger for other spells would actually be its own thing, e.g. "When you cast this spell and whenever you cast a spell with {C} in its mana cost..." I believe you don't have to specify "on the battlefield" because, like Cityscape Leveler, it implies the zone with the wording on the trigger. That said, it's fairly complex, so I understand if things got finicky. Flavor text is a solid B+, too! Just remember to put the period inside the quotation marks. I guess a runner-up flavor would've been Zurdi saying that they missed the scute bugs.

Commentary soon! @abelzumi

[void-botanist]

Hi sapling

It's storyday! Have you written any AUs of your wips? If so, tell me about them, if not, would you? What would they look like?

Hi Sleepy!

This is a funny question because have I written anything in an AU for my wips? No. Have I written about AUs for my wips? Definitely. I've got a bunch of Nicea AUs that exist for the purposes of containing goofy shenanigans and being smutty. Some examples:

Jockey AU, in which the only constant is that Spinder is an average racehorse jockey. Sometimes Michael is his manager, sometimes Isabel is a down-on-her-luck gambler and sometimes she's a fancy lady who decides to whip him into shape My Fair Lady style (except she wants him to be a better jockey), sometimes Celia is extremely suspicious of Isabel's motives and becomes a comedic detective about it, sometimes in order to get money to keep racing Spinder has to seduce rich boy Fabian.

City AU, a vaguely mafia-flavored AU in which there are three factions: the two rich ones headed by Spinder and Celia/Vic respectively, and the thieves, headed by Tatya. The plot is vague but the main thrust is that they're all trying to take control of the city by getting dirt on each other but let's be honest this is just an elaborate setup for midnight trysts. My favorite thing about this AU aside from masquerade balls and Isabel doing cat burglary is that Fabian is Spinder's extremely capable and straight-laced butler.

Pirate AU, in which Isabel is captain, Tatya is first mate, Spinder is the stowaway on their ship of women, and when their partying and shenanigans leave them in too much debt they stage a bait and switch where Spinder distracts Fabian while Isabel's crew steals all the goods off of Fabian's merchant ship. Fabian is too enamored to care.

Liege AU, in which I basically shuffle around Isabel, Spinder, Tatya, and Fabian into whatever configuration of liege, advisor, maid, and fool I desire. This one actually led to a development in canon: I think Fabian and Tatya do actually have their own tryst in the background of Nicea 2 after meeting at Spinder and Isabel's wedding.

In terms of actually writing, I have considered writing an AU horror short with the TFA folks. There's a lot of potential in the concept of computer vision being incapable of seeing the real world accurately but being the only window into Weird and Unsettling occurrences, and I think that concept would work really well with Anni and Dez.

Nicea taglist: @kahvilahuhut @kk7-rbs @outpost51 @writernopal @athenswrites

[animehouse-moe]

Dandadan Volume 4: Have You Ever Seen A Cattle Mutiliation?

It's really so easy to lose sight of the vibe of a series when you've got 3 or more months between volumes. Despite that, Dandadan volume 4 hardly misses a beat as it caps off the Nessie/Serpoian fight of volume 3 and begins to set up for our next close encounter of the 3rd kind. Thanks to that, there's not a huge world of things to talk about specific to this volume, but I feel like that break gives us the perfect opportunity to dive further into Yukinobu Tatsu as a mangaka.

I'll just say it to get it over and done with: Tatsu, with the right story, would make for a great slice of life/comedy mangaka. The humor, the posing, the interactions, the sheer oddity of their appeal. It's the perfect recipe for a story you can't put down that doesn't need action or drama or anything like that to keep it going.

This doesn't mean they shouldn't create action stories like Dandadan, but it does mean I think Tatsu has room to grow in regards to action series, so I'll start there.

The combat itself is interesting and innovative, but hinges on large movements and actions that are preceded by careful planning and struggling against a far superior enemy. This in itself isn't a bad thing, but requires effort and ability to pull off the pieces in between planning/struggling, and execution. And I feel like Tatsu is just on the cusp of grasping it. The big moments are big and impactful, but the in between can feel lacking, and out of sync with those bigger moments.

Take this page as the prime example. The two action shots of Aira are very good. The top is a very unique angle on the situation, while the bottom plays into a more typical style in aggressive fashion. The middle that separates them though, I'd say it's very far from being needed or contributing to the flow of the moment.

I think even further, a piece that Tatsu is so close to grabbing, is the level of detail for events. Not so much how much work is put into the art for it, but how much is shown for the respective moments. Pieces that you'd want to see more of you get very little for, and then other pieces that seem somewhat inconsequential you get plenty for.

Of course, this isn't the case for everything, as Tatsu provides an incredible sequence for Momo to finish off our Serpoian Nessie here.

The storyboarding, the degree of detail in it, and just the sheer quality. It's an incredible moment that shows Tatsu at their very sharpest in this volume, at the peak of their ability to deliver action and energy through this story.

But anyways, the next piece. Tatsu's Always Timely Humor ™️. Tatsu just gets humor. They get the kind of humor that they enjoy, and they get the kind of humor that works perfectly with their absurdist approach. And whaddya know? They're one in the same.

So, what's the secret to conveying this humor that Tatsu's so good at? Sincere characters paired with an absurdist reality and posing. The comedy is such a genuine piece of the characters that the ridiculous poses and insanely odd setups meld perfectly with the overall story.

And just one last bit of good humor that brings us perfectly into the next topic. The Mantis Shrimp alien became an outlaw for the sake of his son who has an illness that causes him to lose blood daily. As our group of misfits finds out, the blood that runs in that Mantis Shrimp-like alien's blood is nothing else than milk. Thanks to that we get a classic cow abduction scene with some added flavor.

Yeah, that second image? That's 100% an homage to the Millenium Falcon (with a few tweaks to avoid copyright). And that's where the next piece of praise comes from for Tatsu (and why they'd be great with a slice of life/comedy story). The references are on point and creative, and stay true to where the material comes from. Disparate to his one-time senpai Fujimoto, Tatsu's references are very forthcoming, and play a core role in the comedy and reception of the story. They don't carry the story or its humor, like parody series tend to lean on, but it adds a very nice complement that provides variety and breadth.

And truthfully, I think that summarizes a lot of my thoughts on the volume. An old "friend" of Momo's returns with promises of a haunted houses and further teasing of the Serpoians being involved, and this time a reverse triangle appears as Okarun and Momo's "friend" Jiji vie for attention from her. It's well done, and it provides a nice break that allows for the house to be explored in full with the next volume.

I don't think it's a surprise to any that Yukinobu Tatsu and Dandadan are good, but I think it's pretty clear the improvements that appear the longer that Tatsu gets with this story, and the further they grow as a well rounded mangaka similar to their tutor(s), such as Fujimoto. So yeah, Dandadan good. You should read.

[fractoluminescence]

There's one thing I'd disagree with - if you have a rival in the scene, you can make them just as sympathetic as your other character. Just know that the reader will feel conflicted - but that may be the emotion you're trying to achieve. Ultimately it's a matter of what you're trying to do with the scene, and whether you want your reader to easily side with your character and root for their success, or if you want them to feel conflicted and/or hesitant towards the goal.

(Below: some ideas on how to show how grief affecting a character on the long term)

If you're going for grief in particular (since you mentioned it in the ask), one way to do it is to focus on the character who is gone (this is more for knce the person has been gone for a while, for the actual death scene itself the advice on "heavy scenes" is probably better). Let's say your main character is a hero and their best friend just got killed by a villain - make the best friend as sympathetic as possible. Show who they are when they are alive and the good things they do, as well as the things they want from life that they won't get to do once they are gone. The main character won't necessarily be thinking about this stuff, but if your reader doesn't know the character who has been lost enough, they may not care about the death as much. Then you can have the main character feel their absence: have them think about the things they won't be able to do with the person because they're no longer here, miss them in moments when they would have needed them, and regret moments when they might have messed up with their best friend.

Be as specific as you can. Specificity helps readers relate. Instead of simply saying they could've spent so much more time together, and now they can't, say the main character wished they could go eat ice cream together again, for instance. Have them remember how the person acted in that context: how they ever only picked a combination of strawberry and another flavor - a different one every time (this is an example of specificity, replace this with an anecdote that fits the characters).

And if they actively miss the person, the person may be on their mind a lot, so you can have them come up more often in their thoughts to show the lasting effect of the loss. Or they can also miss them in specific situations, like if they see the ice cream shop and have them think they wished the other person was here, which links the setting with the grief.

For grief, imo there's a lot you have to do with set up. It's hard to make the reader care about the loss of someone they don't know - so I recommend that if it's a death you want the reader to experience along with the main character, and the two characters were close, that you make sure to make the reader grow attached to that character first and/or show that the other character cares and/or relies on them. It's even better if you can make them part of the plot, to keep them relevant (imo this is why one piece of advice people give sometimes is to have as few characters in your story as you can - that way anytime you need someone to do something in a scene, you're more likely to use a character the reader already knows, that way you already have scenes with those characters in them and more opportunities to make the reader grlw attached to them. I'd watch out though, the main pitfall to this is having important characters in scenes where they don't particularly belong, and in the end it can feel like they're always showing up and not doing anything substantive).

Here's an example of that setup with a payoff for instance: say you have a character who is scared of heights, but usually when they were scared their friend would hold their hand and they would feel okay. You demonstrate this within the story before the friend's death (setup). Now let's say the friend passes away - now, when they are scared of heights, all they can think about is how their friend would usually be here to hold their hand (payoff).

"Sadness", on the other hand, is a bit too vague to really give pointers. Grief can already have tons of different forms - some people will initially feel angry or nothing or be in denial or go through different emotions (there's a theory called the different stages of grief you can read about online). But one technique that really helps is to find stories in which has the specific emotion you're going for and try to look for what made you experience as a reader that so that you can replicate it. I'd sit down and actually try to break down the scene. Then, it's a matter of mixing and matching the specifics of the emotion with things that actually fit your character - again, try to be specific, it does wonders to make the character feel more real.

If you have a really hard time yourself feeling for the character, and would like to enhance that to help you write, I would apply specificity to how you think about the characters and their role in each other's lives (that's what I do anyway). Like, instead of thinking "that's the main character's best friend", think about them as "the person who the main character comes to for help anytime they can't figure out a problem, because the friend is clever and reliable", or as "the friend the main character can't rely on when they need help to figure out problems, but go to when they are sad, because the friend always finds a way fo cheering them up". Specificity in your dynamics may help you bring specificity to the memories they form together as the story goes on, and what's great is you can base it on the flaws you already picked for the characters (or inversely, use it to pick put their flaws).

(That's my take on it anyway. Wishing you all the best for your writing!)

Hi! Do you have any tips on making the scene emotional, I want to be able to move and touch my readers with my writing but it's really hard when I don't understand emotions and feeling and I'm usually a thinker but I really want to make my my reader feel sadness and grief with my character. So any tips for that? Or do I have to keep practicing? Hope you have a nice day! Thank you! Your blog helps me alot!

Hi :)

I’m a very empathetic person. I can get kinda cold if the emotions involve myself, but if it’s about other people or fictional characters, I soak those emotions up like a sponge. I can get really into all the emotional aspects of writing, so I’m not sure how to do it if you don’t understand the emotions that well, because it comes so natural to me. I will try to give a general overview of how to write emotional scenes, but if someone else can give some other advice, it’s greatly appreciated!

How to write emotional scenes

Focus on showing, not telling:

don’t just say the character is afraid or panicking

write the actions that would let an onlooker know

hands trembling, pulse and breathing picking up, frantic eye movement,...

if you describe it well enough, the reader will feel those things too

Dialogue:

of course, dialogue is still important

but I would keep it shorter than in other scenes

don’t make it too emotional or it can appear sappy

exception: motivational speeches

think about the difference between showing and telling

are the characters trying to conceal how they really fell by saying something else?

Make the reader relate:

relating to a character makes the reader much more empathetic to them and it creates emotions in them

so try to get the reader to sympathize with your character by showing their journey and their goals

but if you want to have a rival in that scene, do the exact opposite

make the reader unsympathetic to that character to make them feel anger towards them or satisfaction if they get defeated

Heavy scenes:

there is a difference between an emotional scene and a truly traumatic experience

you don’t want the reader to feel the full range of human trauma

if the reader is getting too emotional, it could keep them wanting to continue reading

so in extremely emotional scenes try to show the overall picture

don’t go into specific feelings, but try to show how this affects your character as a whole

you can even try to make the scene feel more distant, almost numb and devoid of deep emotions if the reader already knows how traumatic this would be for the character

sometimes this could affect them even better than showing all the emotions because they can create their own emotions

always remember: you want to pull at your reader’s heartstrings - not break anything

Hope you have a nice day as well and good luck with your writing!

- Jana

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I know you like reverse crush adrienette and ladynoir. But what about reverse crush ladrien and marichat. I wasn't completely sold on it till I read chivalrous amours series. Have your read it as well. https://archiveofourown.org/series/3573034

I have not read that series, but I glanced through the fic summaries and it looks like it plays with a lot of the things I mentioned in my post explaining why I love a reverse crush setup. That means that I'd probably enjoy the fics, so I may check this out later and I'm happy to share it with my followers!

Re shipping preferences, I must admit that I don't view or write the square the way a lot of people seem to go about it. I've seen a lot of fics and discussions that make it clear that some fans limit themselves to content about a specific side because that's their preferred "ship". While there's nothing wrong with that, that's not what drew me to the square. I'm not here for a specific side because, for me, the square isn't four different ships. It's four different dynamics for the same ship. That means that my preferences have nothing to do with which ship is better because it's the same ship! My preferences are all about the kind of stories you can tell with a given dynamic. That means that every side of the square is fine by me so long as the story is good!

The only side I rarely touch in my own writing is Marichat and that's just because they're the hardest side to push into situations that feel organic due to the lack of crushes. Most of the time, it makes way more sense to use another side of the square for the kinds of stories I like to tell. (This post has more info on that, though do note that it may read as pretty critical of Marichat since I was explaining why that ship sees the least story diversity. It's not meant to be salt, but it may read that way if you're Marichat-or-die.)

I've said that Ladrien is my favorite side, but if you were to read one of my Ladrien fics, then you'd find that - in terms of character interactions - it's about 50/50 Ladrien and Ladynoir with a splash of Adrienette thrown in for flavor. That's because my goal is not to show off the square dating on the Ladrien side. My goal is to have fun with identity shenanigans, leading into a gloriously ridiculous reveal because, at the end of the day, post reveal is my favorite dynamic for a long term relationship. I never want to drag the pre-reveal stuff out too long. I only use the pre-reveal dynamics so that I can keep some romantic tension while still getting the couple together or while allowing for confessions without getting the couple together.

That means that my reverse crush preference isn't about the specific sides. It's more about the way that it changes the entire crush dynamic. I'll once again link my post explaining why I love the reverse crush for more details on that, but the short version is that a reverse crush allows you to keep a lot of the things canon did while also reframing those things as more reasonable and healthy behavior. It's a lovely way to stay accurate to canon while breathing some new life into the story!

For example, Marinette clearly feels comfortable telling her civilian friends about her crushes and if Adrien is "just a friend," then he can be fully aware that Marinette loves him, making his persistence more comedic than concerning. It's not that he can't take a no, it's that he's desperately trying to figure out how to get her to see him as equal to Chat Noir without revealing his identity. Of course, he thinks that Marinette is in love with Chat Noir's public persona, not his actual self, so Marinette is totally oblivious to the fact that Adrien is acting like Chat Noir because he's not acting like her Chat Noir. She also feels horribly guilty for the fact that Adrien sometimes reminds her of Chat Noir and refuses to consider dating him no matter what Tikki says. Adrien deserves someone who wants to date him for him and that's not her! She's only interested because he reminds her of her True Love which is not fair to either of them! (Plagg finds this hilarious when Tikki complains to him.)

In summary, I'm here for any dynamic so long as it lets me tell a good story, so reverse Ladrien and Marichat are fine by me! My main draw to stories is the plot potential and the love square is brimming with squandered potential on every side. That's why there are so many fanfics out there.

[willpaul229]

Repurposing Commercial Brewery Equipment for Home Brewing

Home brewing has become a popular hobby among beer lovers who want to create their unique flavors. One interesting trend in this community is the repurposing of commercial brewery equipment for home use. This practice brings many benefits and has caught the attention of passionate home brewers who are looking for better ways to produce quality beer in larger quantities.

Benefits of Commercial Equipment in Home Brewing

Commercial brewery equipment is built for large-scale production, offering durability and professional finishes. Used brewery equipment for sale provides an affordable option, allowing brewers to enhance their processes with high-quality, long-lasting tools at a reduced cost.

Brewing Larger Batches with Ease

Another advantage of using repurposed equipment is the ability to brew more beer at one time. Most home brewing setups are smaller and limit the volume one can produce. By using equipment designed for commercial use, home brewers can create larger batches, saving time and effort in the long run. This is especially useful for those who like to share their beer with friends and family or even explore selling it at local events.

Sustainability and Environmental Impact

Repurposing also supports sustainability. Instead of letting commercial equipment go to waste, home brewers give it a second life. Recycling these machines helps reduce environmental impact and promotes a more responsible use of resources. It’s a great example of how creativity and care for the environment can go hand in hand in the brewing world.

Enhancing the Brewing Experience

In addition, working with commercial equipment can enhance the overall brewing experience. The feel of using professional-grade tools adds a sense of excitement and pride to the process. Many home brewers enjoy the challenge of learning how to operate larger and more complex systems. It turns the brewing process into a more hands-on and engaging activity.

Customization and Creativity

It's also worth noting that these machines can often be customized or modified to better suit home use. Whether it’s resizing tanks or adjusting parts for easier handling, many brewers enjoy the process of personalizing their equipment. This adds a fun and creative element to the hobby, making it even more rewarding.

Space Considerations for Larger Equipment

While commercial equipment may take up more space than standard home kits, many find it worth the trade-off. With proper planning, even a small home brewery can be set up to accommodate larger systems. The result is a more efficient and enjoyable brewing space.

Conclusion

In conclusion, repurposing commercial brewery equipment for home brewing is a growing trend with many positive outcomes. From improved quality and larger batches to environmental benefits and personal satisfaction, it offers a new way for home brewers to elevate their craft. With passion and creativity, it’s possible to transform used commercial tools into a powerful part of the home brewing journey.