#favorite PowerPoint features

[pitchworx]

Top PowerPoint Features We can’t Get Enough Of..!

PowerPoint has long been a staple tool for creating visually appealing presentations. With its array of features and functionalities, it offers endless possibilities to captivate the audience and leave a strong impression. As a presentation design company that has designed over 100,000+ slides, we can safely say that we know the ins and outs of PowerPoint.

And having worked with it for a little over a decade, we have clearly gotten some favorite features that help make our job easier. In this blog, we’ll explore our favorite PowerPoint features that have proven to be invaluable in our presentation journeys. These features help make our design process more efficient so we can deliver impactful and memorable presentations to our clients.

[fist-of-vengeance]

last night for my birthday i forced my friends to listen to an hour and a half long powerpoint explaining the entire lost timeline in chronological order. i know lost is a pretty zany show but nothing makes you realize this more than trying to verbally explain time travel and the sideways universe to three people who've never seen it

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

So I'm putting together an In Defence of Cassie PowerPoint for a PowerPoint night with friends. Do you have any arguments for or against her? I trust your opinion and am curious.

Let's see.

"She's too powerful, too unique, too far-seeing, and not good enough for Jake! What a Mary Sue!"

Counterpoint: May I introduce you to the reigning champion fan favorite, Sad White Boy Tobias?

Only nothlit ever to regain the ability to morph

Only known human-andalite hybrid ever to exist

Regarded as savior by entire hork-bajir species

Entire existence is a time paradox the war hinges upon

Pulls the canonically "most beautiful girl in our grade", who turns down 6 or 7 other offers in favor of Bird Boy

Correctly predicted planetary ecology 65 million years in advance

Believed to be immune to 2-hour limit

In conclusion: y'all wouldn't be crying "Mary Sue" if Cassie was a sad white boy, and I can prove it.

"She's too weak and hand-wringing, and she never helps the war effort!"

Counterpoint: First of all, the fact that the same people say this in the same breath as "she's too powerful" is... telling. Secondly:

She saved the entire team's lives in #24, in #29, in #44, and in MM1, among others.

Specifically calling out #44 — that ending shows she is willing and able to be ruthless when her friends are in need. She doesn't like slaughtering human-controllers, but if the alternative is everyone she loves dying, then she'll fucking well do it.

Much like Jake (see: Sad White Boy), she's more willing to risk herself than her friends, hence the end of MM1

Her medical knowledge saves Marco from rabies, Ax from brain!appendicitis, and Tobias from bird flu.

Her survivalist knowledge saves everyone in #25 (the Arctic), MM2 (Cretaceous Era), #11 (rainforest), and #14 (desert).

In conclusion: Cassie's only idealistic-looking by the standards of this extremely morally gray team.

"She's so unfair to Jake!"

Counterpoint: Jake? The Jake who refused to speak with her for weeks? Jake who proposes marriage while they're still broken up? Jake who announces he'll never trust Cassie again because she [checks notes] saved his brother's life? That Jake?

Also:

She gives him tons of emotional support in #16, #21, #47, and other times he's feeling low.

They have a healthy argument where they air differences and come to an understanding in #9.

Did I mention he doesn't just dump her but ghosts her in the middle of the war's endgame?

They're teenagers. Their relationship isn't perfect, but it is built on open communication and mutual respect which is more than Rachel and Tobias can say

She's fighting a war, and PTSD for that matter. No, she doesn't have infinite emotional bandwidth.

In conclusion: Their relationship is fine, their breakup is mutual, and her behavior only looks bad if, once again, you're holding Cassie to a different standard than you are Jake.

"She shouldn't have trusted Aftran!"

Counterpoint: friendly reminder that the alternative was killing a 6-year-old for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If that's what you think Cassie should've done, that tells us more about you than about her.

"She spends too much time moralizing!"

Counterpoint: this is a book series about war, not a friggin' video game. If you want moral pornography, go play Call of Duty. If you want sci fi realism, then you're going to have to accept that a majority of humans prefer not to kill their fellow humans if at all possible.

"She's a ripoff of [insert character here]!"

Counterpoint: literally every single one of these says more about the commenter than about the source work. "Every dystopia is set in the U.S." is the kind of thing only people who only read books by American authors would think. "All epic fantasy is Eurocentric" => tell me you only read books by white people without telling me. I'm glad you think Cassie is too similar to Willow Rosenberg, but there are at least 6 other stories in the known world, and I hear some of them even feature sweet/dorky/caring characters who are secretly ultra-powerful.

In conclusion: You don't have to like Cassie as a (fictional) person, but 85% of criticisms directed at her are bad-faith attacks on one of the 1990s' only fat Black female gnc ultra-powerful superheroes.

[oddygaul]

the REDLINE manifesto

In honor of my second DIY screening of Redline, here is, at long last, a prettied-up version of my most popular reddit post, an unabashed love letter to my favorite movie. Most of this is probably less groundbreaking than it was when I first posted it a decade(!) ago, but whatever, the internet needs more Redline content anyway.

REDLINE Trivia

–JP stands for Joshua Punkhead, and in the very first draft he had 26 children and raced to pay off his child support. Also, the catchy moniker ‘Sweet JP’? English-only… the original Japanese gets the mouthful ���very sweet weaponless prince’.

–You'd be hard-pressed to tell without looking into the lore a bit, but Miki & Todoroki are damn near the only actual humans in the movie; everyone else is some species of alien. Some are obvious, like Shinkai (Oceanic/Chikulun hybrid) and Trava (Anista tribe), but even the most human-like characters are some other race. Sonoshee, for example, is listed as being half human, half Oceanic tribe (海洋族). 

The most curious case, though, is JP. While it'd be easy to assume he's human, there's a lot of details that don't add up: his unique elf ears, his super-lanky-even-for-a-Koike-character-design physique, the fact that his race is conspicuously redacted on his bail sheet… and his seeming immunity to death. Seriously, bro crashes every single thing he drives in the whole movie, then emerges unscathed with just a fiery flash of the eyes – that ain’t normal. If I had to wildly speculate, and I do, I’d put money that he’s somehow linked to Mikuru and the Giant species, as seen in Trava: Fist Planet. The physique matches, the Giants have displayed some preternatural healing abilities, and Trava lays the groundwork for a few other threads in Redline (namely, the existence of bioweapons and Shinkai & Trava’s past military experience), so there’s precedence. Maybe one day we’ll find out for sure…

–We all know and love Funky Boy thanks to the Roboworld president’s endless tirades. But the giant data-motivated crocodile monster Volton fuses with to engage Funky Boy in thrilling combat? She is a lady, and her name is Wire Girl.

–All of Redline’s vehicle and mechanical designs are nuts – they’re insanely complicated and filled with organic curves and details. Despite the immense difficulty of keeping such complex designs consistent, every mechanical shot is hand-drawn, without the aid of any CG. To help the animators stay on-target while drawing, the team made some sweet-ass production models for them to reference. What I wouldn’t give to own one of these…

–Before deciding on Redline being a film, writer Katsuhito Ishii and director Takeshi Koike considered making a TV series. Initial writers’ meetings saw the team fleshing out a comprehensive story bible about the setting: it included not only a wide-scope view of the universe and its history, but also detailed backstories for each racer. Even after deciding to make a feature film, Redline’s initial script gave each racer as much time and focus as the final cut gives to JP & Sonoshee; all of this was, unfortunately, cut for time. According to Ishii, though, much of this ancillary information made it into the novelization…

one day my Japanese will be good enough to read you ;_;

–Confused about why the movie ends with that sparkly, PowerPoint-ass ~LOVE~? Well, you shouldn’t be – Redline is ‘unabashedly dumb’, after all, per Ishii – but there is a little context. Over the course of the movie’s 7-year production, Koike and Yukiko (a producer on the film) fell in love, tying the knot in Switzerland just before Redline’s world premiere. If that doesn’t justify the ending for you, I don’t know what could.

–This isn't trivia but idk where else to put this stupid-ass Lynchman meme I made

Subtext you may have missed on first watch

–Machine Head is Sonoshee's estranged father?!

Crazy, I know, but hear me out. 

First of all, Redline unambiguously shows the viewer that Sonoshee and Machine Head have some sort of pre-existing relationship, the nature of which isn’t explicitly clarified. 

At the Oasis restaurant, Sonoshee tells JP she's waiting for someone; it may sound like she's simply brushing him off, but the moment Machine Head enters the scene, Sonoshee perks up and waves to him. When the Crab Sonoshee is flipped by missile fire during the Redline race, we get exactly two (2) Dramatic Anime Freezeframes: JP and Machine Head, implying those two, out of everyone, care the most about Sonoshee. During the final stretch of the race, as Machine Head prepares to pop his steamlight, he is not only aware that Sonoshee also has one, he taunts her about it:

“I see you still have your steamlight – got the guts to use it this time?”

JP even draws attention to the fact that Sonoshee’s looks identical to Tetsujin’s. Finally, though this is certainly ancillary, it is interesting to note that the exact moment Godwing loses its structural stability is right after JP declares he’s going to win because he, not Machine Head, has Sonoshee at his side.

So let’s line this up with what backstory we definitively know. As stated above, Sonoshee is a human / Oceanic hybrid; Machine Head, though his body has been modified beyond recognition, is referred to the same way. While talking to JP about the steamlight, Sonoshee says her father is the one that gave it to her, then describes him as a skilled racer who ran a junk joint. In that same conversation, when JP suggests she’s too focused on racing at the expense of personal relationships, she bristles and tries to end the conversation. During the flashback of young Sonoshee racing, her reaction to crashing is intense: she’s clearly holding herself to a higher standard, and is already dead set on racing in the Redline someday.

Now, there’s other plausible explanations for all this; maybe there’s just a romantic entanglement between Sonoshee and Machine Head, with JP barging in as the third vertex of a love triangle. But is that the most likely scenario for two people constantly characterized as putting racing before any personal matters?

No, I think Machine Head is Sonoshee’s father. 

Picture it: Machine Head raised Sonoshee at his junk joint, so she grew up around racing and car modification. After seeing success on the circuits, Machine Head stopped being content with mere victory, and started spending all his time and energy modifying his body, pushing himself farther and farther. Sonoshee, feeling neglected and cast aside, turned to racing, seeing it as the only way to get her father’s attention. This lead to her perfectionism complex; if she’s not the very best, why would the King of Kings ever look her way?

Anyway, while it’s not confirmed in the text, I think there’s so many hints it might as well be. It makes JP and Sonoshee’s romance a lot more interesting, too. Their arc isn’t just two people falling in love, it’s about Sonoshee moving past the trauma of her father’s emotional abandonment and opening up to someone new. After JP explains his match fixing history in the climax, Sonoshee isn’t placated because he told the truth, she’s fired up seeing the strength of JP and Frisbee’s friendship: she sees the folly of chasing approval from her absent father, and that she could instead be forming bonds with friends who support her unconditionally. She can race for herself.

Koike and Ishii said Redline is about adult friendships, after all!

pictured: the most romantic kiss in cinema history

–The Redline race is, in fact, underhanded political maneuvering

Now, this one is sorta just The Plot Of The Movie, but I feel like there’s so much going on in Redline people often don’t connect these dots. 

We all laugh at the Roboworld president’s hammy word salad:

“I wonder if this might be some kind of ploy by our enemies to infiltrate our borders. If that’s true, do you realize Roboworld’s military secrets could be at risk here? We’d be exposed!!”

…but he’s… kinda right, though?

At the time of the movie, the M3 Nebula has just emerged from two devastating interplanetary wars. The galaxy’s superpowers are under a tenuous peace agreement – one of the most important stipulations of which is a ban on the use and development of “bioweapons”, which in the Redline universe are less ‘weaponized bacterial strains’ and more ‘gargantuan synthetic monsters that can be deployed to wreak unthinkable destruction’. Despite this ban, the government of Roboworld has been continuing with bioweapon development unabated… and not only does Planet Supergrass seem to be aware of these violations, it really seems like they’re leveraging all their soft power to expose them.

Now, we know Supergrass is generally involved with the Redline final. As a member of the Redline Committee, they have a reason to be involved; they’re helping out with nuts & bolts logistical stuff, like transporting the racers to the course and prepping the finish line. But when you consider the significant, tangible political blows dealt to Roboworld by the race – Funky Boy and Wire Girl’s presumed destruction, Roboworld’s violation of the bioweapon treaty being broadly exposed to the public, the decimation of Roboworld’s military – the long string of coincidences that got us to that point start to seem a little suspicious.

Who pushed for the Redline final to be held on such a hostile planet? Who knew about Roboworld’s experimental orbital laser cannon – a project so tightly under wraps even their president only learns about it during the race – and hired contractors to sabotage it? Who organized a group of malcontents to attack both Roboworld’s power relay station and Funky Boy’s containment creche, right when such disruptions would be the most impactful? And who decided the race’s crucial middle stretch should go right over the restricted military zone housing said creche?

Supergrass has the motive and the means – plus, the race is already illegal, so what can Roboworld do, sue them about it? No sir, that Princess is on some subterfuge shit, and Secretary Titan, that shady fuck, is her inside man. And you can take that to the bank.

Craving more REDLINE?

Unfortunately, due to the movie’s commercial failure, there’s not much else in the franchise. The Redline production pilot is fucking sick, though, and there’s Trava: Fist Planet, an OVA by Koike & Ishii that predates Redline and focuses on Trava and Shinkai’s misadventures. While Trava never got the continuation it deserved, they did make a trailer for season 2... ahh, what could have been.

If you’re just after more of Takeshi Koike’s mind-blowing animation, there’s only a scant few projects in his trademark black-filled style. His most well-known work is probably the Samurai Champloo OP, or maybe World Record from The Animatrix (can’t find a link for that one, but y’know, do your thing). Koike also contributed animation to two other Ishii films: an extended intro for Party 7, and this aggressively horny dance sequence for Funky Forest. Back at Madhouse, it seems the studio liked to use Koike as a bait-and-switch, letting him direct lavish production pilots to secure adaptation rights then switching the staff up for the full production. Feels kind of scummy, but we got the immense Afro Samurai Pilot and Iron Man Pilot out of it. Finally, he made the series of Love shorts for SMAPxSMAP, the SMAP variety show, which are as dope as they are low-res.

I really wanna know if Koike was the one ballin out to CYNE and Gang Starr for this

—

And finally, as I threatened in my last post about Redline: let’s talk thematic depth.

~Thematic Depth~

In conversations online, Redline is often given this caveat of just being ‘eye candy’, or hit with the classic ‘style over substance’ cliche. Now, the phrase ‘style over substance’ has always bothered me, generally – it feels like it comes from folks who have never tried to make art before, who make light of the painstaking work and dedication that goes into creating anything – but it particularly frustrates me in animation. The process of animation is such an absurd, masochistic timesink that it’s a wonder anything ever gets finished at all; something this ambitious being finished, with this level of consistency and polish, is nothing short of a miracle, and to simply call that ‘style’ massively undervalues the whole endeavor. 

Because, make no mistake, Redline is ambitious as hell from a visual standpoint. The consistent focus on kinetic motion and speed, buoyed by Koike’s masterful use of exaggerated perspective, spatial distortion, and dynamic camera work; lots of moving, hand-drawn backgrounds instead of matte pans; lively crowd animation in most scenes; remarkably expressive, constant character animation that imbues personality to every character and never settles for industry standard lip flap dialogue… and all of this using incredibly complex character & mechanical designs, many of which feature distinct alien physiology, and a rendering style with bold, detailed shadows that would be more at home in illustration than animation. It is truly a singular work.

And the thing is, that wild ambition and unfailing dedication to the craft is the message.

The very first moments of Redline, before we see a single car or alien, are a brief series of title cards. I think most first-time viewers, and even many repeat viewers, immediately forget these words seconds after reading them due to the famously high-octane opening act. They read:

“In the far distant future, when cars are giving up their wheels in the changeover to air-cars, there still exist stubborn fools who carry on a vanishing spirit of racing…”

It’s easy to pass over this narration because, well, Redline simply isn’t about this conflict. We don’t see a single air-car racer, and there is no on-screen depiction of this purported old-school / new-school racing divide. So why is it here?

Because it’s the thesis of the whole damn project. Redline is about a group of old-school animation industry vets coming to terms with a changed industry that doesn’t support the type of art they want to create anymore, and their determination to pour their hearts into one last, stupid, beautiful swan song.

Madhouse was founded in 1972 by a group of ex-Mushi Pro staff, including Masao Maruyama and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. A response to Mushi Pro’s shoestring budgets and spartan timelines, the goal of studio Madhouse was to create production schedules where animators could flourish, rather than choosing the cheaper route; as Maruyama puts it, their mission statement was to ‘create animation other people aren’t interested in creating’. And, well, for decades, that’s what they did – Madhouse consistently gave a platform to idiosyncratic creators and produced incredible results. Their film canon includes pivotal productions like Kawajiri’s Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, Rintaro’s Metropolis, every single Satoshi Kon production from Perfect Blue to Paprika, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the film that launched Mamoru Hosoda into stardom. While their TV output might be seen as more workmanlike, they were still dedicated to creating original stories. For example, despite his proven track record, Masaaki Yuasa was unable to secure funding and creative freedom anywhere else but Madhouse, with whom he produced Kemonozume, Kaiba, and The Tatami Galaxy prior to the establishment of Science Saru.

Takeshi Koike’s formative years as an animator were during this golden era of Madhouse. Poached directly out of high school by Yoshiaki Kawajiri himself, Koike was taken under his wing – his first job as a professional animator was inbetweening for Wicked City, and he’d moved up to key animation roles just one year later. I think Kawajiri’s intent was for Koike to be his protege; in this boom era of animation, with high-budget feature films and OVAs as the de facto standard, creative vision and a unique style is what you’d look for in an up-and-coming director, and Koike had both of these in spades. For a time, this pathway seemed almost assured; Koike’s big-league directing debut on The Animatrix produced one of its most well-received shorts, even amidst an anthology stacked with superstar creative talent.

Unfortunately, the turn of the millennium brought a lot of change for Madhouse and the industry at large. Budgets shrank, and production schedules started trending towards today’s unsustainable nightmare grind. CGI became ubiquitous not for the unique shots and compositions it allows for, but as a corner-cutting method for complicated actors like vehicles or mechas. A certain homogeneity and tendency toward ‘safe’, appealing designs and premises took hold; what good is your off-the-wall, creative worldbuilding idea when the anime industry revolves around merch sales, and generic moe waifus are outselling your original IP ten-to-one? All these industry vets could see the writing on the wall: animation would survive, but things were changing, and the ideals they’d founded their studio around were becoming untenable.

So I genuinely believe Redline is a parting shot from the old guard, a celebration of the era of the industry they cut their teeth on, one last lush, extravagant farewell before they passed the torch to the next generation. Maybe not from the start, sure, but after years of troubled development, progressing slowly due to the team’s meticulous vision, I think they rallied around the cause, dead set on making a masterwork, no matter what. Just look at the talent they attracted, the staff list reads like a best-of: Shinya Ohira, Hiroyuki Imaishi, Sushio, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Sayo Yamamoto, Katsuya Yamada, Takafumi Hori. 

And that’s where we come back to that opening message, about those stubborn fools. Suddenly, that movie chock-full of characters putting everything on the line for their passions feels a lot more personal. Koike is JP, the traditional [animation / racing ] purist who’s become an anachronism and just wants to be able to do things his way; Kawajiri as the God of Racing, who JP’s looked up to since he was younger, giving him one last thumbs as he achieves his goals; and Maruyama as Frisbee, putting his livelihood in danger to buy his team the time and money they need for one last gig, who wants to see his friend finish the damn thing on his own terms, just this once. 

In a way, it makes it heartbreaking that Redline performed financially as poorly as it did; Japan’s frosty reception to the movie is at such odds with the fervor of its creators. But you know what? Redline exists, and it exists without compromises. They did what they set out to do. They made it across that finish line.

—

[milkoomi]

hi angel! mindy here!

i wanted to ask you, what are your personal study methods you use?

tysm! and happy new years, love! <3

omg hi hii love! happy new year! 💓 i’d be so happy to answer your question!! ( and tysm for asking hehe <3 )

₊˚⊹ ᰔ my personal study methods ᝰ.ᐟ

just to preface: i was honestly never taught how to study, so most of what i do are super basic methods, but it wasn’t until this past fall semester that i started incorporating study methods i’ve found through tiktok! i have been super successful with how i’ve been studying, and i believe doing what works best personally for you is what will help you succeed! even with just the basics, i’ve been able to maintain a 4.0 gpa all throughout high school and even now in my college years!

let’s begin !!

ᝰ.ᐟ rewriting my notes

i know a lot of people find this to be really useful, and i’m one of them! however, as of this recent past semester, i’ve stopped taking notes during lectures. i have ADD & i realized that it was so much harder for me to stay focused and concentrate if i tried taking notes during lecture. to me, my mind struggled to balance my thoughts of writing down what i needed to remember and trying to keep up with what my professors were saying, so i stopped taking notes during lectures entirely!

luckily, my professors give out study guides and will give us extra bits of information that we should also know for any quiz or exam that’s coming up, so with that information i’ll go back into the lecture powerpoints and even to our textbooks to go over the material i need to know!

i also take a lot of online courses as well, so while there is an instructor there for me that i can reach out to with any additional questions, most of my learning is on my own! i prefer online classes honestly because i can go at my own pace, but even when i do take notes of my own, i’ll still go back and rewrite all of my notes while still looking back at the chapters/course modules!

rewriting notes, for me at least, allows me to rewrite the information i learned/read into my own words! it helps me in determining whether or not i fully grasp the material especially if i can write the information all in my own way!

ᝰ.ᐟ utilizing quizlet

i LOVE flashcards, but i’ve been trying to keep everything digital for myself especially now that i have an ipad! quizlet is one of the easiest ways for me to create flashcards, and since i’m in a medical field program, there’s a whole lot of medical terms & abbreviations i need to know.

i also love that quizlet not only has a flashcard feature, but other ways of studying the information i need to know like through practice tests!

ᝰ.ᐟ teaching to loved ones

oh. my. god. this is my all time favorite way of studying! for every quiz and exam that came up, i asked my parents, my fiancé, and my friends if i could sit them down and teach them the material i learned.

just like rewriting my notes, this “teaching others” method allows to me to decide which parts of the material i fully comprehend and which other parts i still need to go over! it’s also really nice too because anyone that i’m teaching will ask questions and even that helps me get a better grasp on what i’m learning! getting those questions asked encourages me to dive deeper into the material!

ᝰ.ᐟ active recall

i saw this method be talked about a lot on tiktok (and i even reblogged one of your posts that touched on it too, mindy!!) but this method has been extremely helpful during my study sessions!

while i rewrite my notes, i write possible quiz/test questions for each section of a chapter(s) i’m learning and i go back to those questions and ask myself them to see if i can answer them correctly without reading through my notes! i usually make a separate page for these questions!

active recall and teaching others have definitely been the most effective study methods for me so far!

ᝰ.ᐟ rereading chapters

this one’s a bit boring, but it does help me! especially if i’m going back to rewriting my notes, rereading sections of different chapters helps me comprehend what i’m reading better. i’m not too sure how exactly, but it’s just something i’ve always done and, hey, if it works why would i stop doing it ya know?

𝜗𝜚 final notes 𝜗𝜚

again, these are the top methods that have helped me personally! i also seriously appreciate you, mindy, for being my first ask here on my new blog! yay!! so thank you again for asking <3

if you guys have your own favorite methods or ones that you’ve been wanting to try out for yourself, feel free to comment them or send them my way through my ask box!! i’d love to hear what works for everyone else, and maybe i could implement any new ones to my own little routine!

live and love, babes.

sincerely, juno ⭑.ᐟ

[hotcoldboyssummer]

Hot Cold Boys Summer Fest Info!

Here's some basic info about what's going on with this thing. More in-depth FAQ to come + will be releasing prompts in the following days leading up to June! Really excited to have you all with us!

What is this?

A two month, SFW Terror fandom fest! Nine weeks from June to July featuring a weekly theme with little mini prompts and mini activities in between. Prompts will be summer related and a mix of Victorian-applicable and stuff for AUs (Modern AU specifically) + a week for pride!!!!! Mini activities will include such fun stuff as filling out ship charts, putting stickers on your favorite guy, throwing a powerpoint together on why you really like this specific thing in the show, maybe even irl arts and crafts, etc.

What about the zine?

At the end of this 9 week period, a form will go out where you can submit one or two of your pieces you created for the fest. This INCLUDES anything that isn't a fic or an artwork. Some restrictions may apply (more info on this to come. restrictions will involve word count, maybe artwork size, maybe number of pages you can submit, etc.). ANY PIECE SUBMITTED THROUGH THE FORM WILL BE ACCEPTED! (with rules ofc like it must be sfw) After the submissions close, a digital zine will be put together and hosted for FREE DOWNLOAD on itch.io.

How do I participate?

Give us a follow! We'll be posting the prompts for the event at the beginning and then re-posting each week's theme and prompts every Friday! Then all you need to do is create whatever you desire fitting that prompt (or not! do whatever you want forever) and post it with the tag #hotcoldboyssummer25 + maybe the theme's specific hashtag (for example #hcbs25 week 1 or something of the sorts. this is just coz i think it would be fun to be able to look at each week separately). We'll try to reblog it here! You can also post fics and art to our Ao3 collection which I will have set up and linked when the main FAQ / Rules come out.

Are there any restrictions? Can I do [insert AU here]? Can I do [insert ship here]? Etc?

Absolutely no restrictions except for the following: must be SFW! Should be summery (because that's the zine's theme after all), and for this event we prefer sillies and fluff over angst but you can do whatever you want forever (the appeal of angst is massive and i am guilty of this sin (not writing fluff)). You don't even have to post anything anywhere! You don't have to follow prompts! You can do prompts out of order. You can only do one prompt. You can do no prompts. You can just pick one theme and do that the entire time. No limits!!!! Just make sure you're SFW!

You can also do any ships you want, crossovers with other media (though we ask that at least one Terror is involved), any AU you want, etc!

But I really want to do NSFW!!!

Keep an eye out, we're gonna' try and figure out how to offer an 18+ only after dark version as well!! (TWO ZINES WITH UNLIMITTED SUBMISSIONS YOU MUST BE CRAZY - well you see. you see. this is an act of hubris i may not survive (saying that jokingly)).

When will this be released?

Hopefully by the end of September, even better if earlier / sometime in August!

Other Things to Note:

I—main mod Aubrey—do NOT know what my schedule for the summer looks like! I'm still looking for a job which may end up being full time which I will HAVE to do because I have to pay for school. On the topic of school, I'll be starting the fall semester sometime in late August! I also do not know what that schedule will look like at all. Furthermore, July is artfight month, and I love to participate every year! I'd love love love to get this zine running and really provide a good experience for ya'll (the fandom as a whole), but note that my summer may be absolutely packed. Finally, I'm on Pacific Standard Time and I currently have a terrible sleep schedule. Posts may not be made at times when you're online, so I'd suggest checking in every now and then.

Final note, if you could please reblog for reach, that would be awesome; I'd love to have as many people in the fandom as possible!

That's all! Glad to have you all join us!

[gizkasparadise]

Oh great one please give me a list of recs I love high coustume Chinese drama , currently obsessing over The Double , whilst waiting for all the episodes to drop I have binged The Scent of Time ,

I almost didn’t watch either because me and Wang Xingyue had a long standing beef after One and Only , I loved your PowerPoint post for The Double

you got it!! here's my favorites! these are all ones with either light or no fantasy. hmu if you want ones with fantasy elements!

MY GOLD TIER (TOP FAVORITES!)

a journey to love. a roadtrip to rescue a flop emperor full of the freakiest lil guys (affectionate): a spymaster who wants to retire, the deadliest woman in the world, a boyband of trained killers, and a scrappy princess disguised as a dude. LOVE this one. powerpoint!

monarch industry/the rebel princess. a spoiled, sheltered princess is married to a low-born general to help her father's would-be political machinations. fabulous production value, great character growth + relationship development, just a ton of fun palace intrigue! powerpoint!!

goodbye, my princess. only watch if you're in the mood for a Capital T Tragedy. a deconstruction of the runaway princess trope featuring genocide, enemy lovers, and one of the most beautiful productions ever

the sound of the desert. a woman raised by wolves (no really), a traditional love triangle in the best way, and a rare lead by the second male lead! love this one, even though production is a little dated at this point

MY SILVER TIER (REALLY LIKED THESE!)

story of kunning palace. i think this one's going to be a hit with you if you like the double because there's a lot of recurring themes and actors! the ML is way more of a mess though, but i kind of live for it. powerpoint!!

love like the galaxy. the first 5-6 eps might be a little off, but once it hits its stride it's so, so good. unfavored daughter tries to make her way in the world while dodging suitors left and right. an emperor who lives for drama and shipping. a male lead who's a lil unhinged

familiar stranger. if you loved the campy elements of the double, you'll probably really enjoy this one as well! FACE SWAP.

MY BRONZE TIER (THEY GOT SOME PROBLEMS, BUT I LOVE THEM)

twisted fate of love. it gives me the tropes i love: machiavellian murderbastard x a time traveling lady general who cant be killed. chef's kiss. clearly on the lower end of the production scale but i find it pretty underrated. powerpoint!

the wolf. if you're into hot mess express, this is it for you. powerpoint!

[thatndginger]

I made a powerpoint presentation for The Runaway. I tried to make it comic sans, I swear, but Temperance refused to cooperate. Anyway, I realized I haven't talked about this Shapeshifter project nearly as much, so a formal introduction is in order.

@sunset-a-story @touloserlautrec @ceph-the-ghost-writer @illyriashade56 I hope you guys don't mind that I borrowed your tags and comments, but they made me happy cry to read💙💙

Transcription for each slide under the cut.

A powerpoint presentation comprised of ten slides. Each slide has a faint background image of a watercolor painting depicting a foggy pine forest.

[SLIDE ONE]

thatndginger presents:

The Runaway A Shapeshifter story

also known as: the story that got me anon hate from a jaded ex-friend who co-wrote the original version, then got mad that I kept writing after she cut me out of her life with no explanation :D

[SLIDE TWO]

THE PREMISE

Temperance Maddox does a runner

ok but seriously, the title of the story is the plot: a shifter [Temperance] runs away from certain traumatic events and ends up stranded in middle-of-nowhere Wyoming

where he’s rescued by a quiet, kind single dad [Dean] with a ~mysterious past~, an adorably rude six year old [Kate], an empty room, and seemingly infinite patience for Temperance’s terrible attitude

Temperance is a totally mature and reasonable adult who absolutely does not argue with the six year old and engage in petty name calling with her

Temperance will also never fall for the man who rescued him. It’s not like he’s going to stick around long enough to even consider it. Right?

everyone involved questions why Dean bothered taking this guy in when he’s a

capital-P Problem - even to himself. Dean is not taking questions at this time

[SLIDE THREE]

alright let’s break this down tier-style

Tier One - The POV Characters: Dean Matthews & Temperance Maddox

dueling POVs are always fun in a romance-centric story, right?

ok neither of these two would shut up so they both get POVs so I can get some sleep

Tier Two - The Important Side Characters: Kate Matthews & Talia Salwood

one is dependent on their father and the other is just plain nosy, so they’re almost always around in one way or another

Tier Three - The Supporting Cast: the residents of Kilnora Falls

there’s a nonbinary mechanic, the mechanic’s Australian vampire partner, a witch that runs a coffee shop, forest rangers, well-meaning grandmas, and distrustful neighbors

imagine one of those small-town romcom background casts and you’re probably close. except most of these background characters are witches, vampires, or shifters

[SLIDE FOUR]

Image ID: in the top right corner of the slide is a digital drawing of Temperance Maddox in a side profile view. He has short black hair, pale skin, and sharp features. His expression could be called confident, contemptuous, or amused. There is a simple sketched outline of a fox just behind and in front of his face.

Temperance Maddox he/him - 22 - fox shifter

the most pathetic drowned rat of a man you’ll ever meet

can and will cuss you out in multiple languages (he only knows the swear words)

if you can get him to stop saying ‘fuck’ every other word he’s surprisingly well-spoken

a city boy born and raised in Moressau, Washington

he’s got worse manners and emotional intelligence than the literal six year old

desperately in need of a long nap, a strong hug, and a lot of therapy. and maybe some kisses

would rather gouge his eyes out than admit any of the above

somehow a fan favorite among readers? I don’t understand that at all but I’m glad y’all love my terrible son?

[SLIDE FIVE]

Image ID: in the top right corner of the slide is a digital drawing of Dean Matthews in a side profile view. He has long-ish brown hair, tan skin, and is missing the tip of his left ear. His expression is neutral but has the slightest hint of a smile. There is a simple sketched outline of a coyote just behind and in front of his face.

Dean Matthews he/him - 32 - coyote shifter

heavy on the Romance Protagonist vibes (the good kind, not the weird heteronormative kind)

has lots of feelings but cannot for the life of him figure out how to show them on his face

tries to be a good dad, kind of a pushover and would bend over backwards to keep his daughter happy

is a carpenter by trade, and always willing to help out around town when things need fixing

the kind of tragic backstory character that sneaks up on you, because how can such a decent guy have a tragic past?

would very much like to have a quiet, simple life in his quiet, far-from-simple mountain town but things just keep happening to him

did I mention he has a bit of a southern drawl? and can play the guitar?

[SLIDE SIX]

Image ID: in the top right corner of the slide is a digital drawing of Kate Matthews in a front-facing view. She has long and curly red hair, darkly tanned skin, and yellow eyes with slit pupils. There are freckles on her face that are grouped in stripe-like patterns. Around her neck is a necklace with green and white crystals. She is looking off to one side with a solemn but curious expression.

Kate Matthews she/her - 6 - half-fae

unreasonably cute for a being who’s part uncanny-valley-made-of-magic creature

not blood related to Dean, but try telling her that

too young for anyone to tell if she’ll end up more fae-like or more human, but who cares? she’s adorable

has to wear a special necklace when she’s not at home to keep her innate magic in check. no one wants the little kid to have a tantrum and set the mercantile on fire

thinks her dad is the coolest thing in the world, especially when he turns into a coyote

thinks Temperance smells funny and is a rude meanie

personal space is not a concept she understands around those she likes. will bite anyone she doesn’t like who tries to touch her. watch out, her teeth are sharper than they look

thinks fairy tales are stupid, because real fae are scary and mean

[SLIDE SEVEN]

The Setting

middle of nowhere town in the western mountains of Wyoming

the town is called Kilnora Falls and there are exactly 521 people living there

more than half the population is some kind of supernatural, the majority being shifters and witches

everyone knows that faeries are real, that they’re incredibly dangerous, and that no one’s seen a true fae in almost a decade since the old faerie door beneath the waterfall collapsed

there is a very strong distrust of strangers among the residents of the Falls. They don’t see many strangers, and not many people who grew up there choose to leave

this setting started as an inside joke between me and my partner because he grew up in that part of Wyoming and I think it’s hilarious to tease him about it. Now it’s its own thing with regional holidays and a whole map and everything

[SLIDE EIGHT]

Image ID: on the left side of the slide is a digital drawing of a map depicting Kilnora Falls. It is in a simple style, with the buildings depicted as simple white shapes. The town sits on a small river and is surrounded on all sides by thick forests and tall mountains. 'Kilnora Falls' is written in the bottom left corner, while a scale and compass are depicted in the top left corner.

look! a map! imagine steep mountains all around, because would rather cut my foot off than draw contour lines

average weather conditions lean towards ‘cold’ - summer highs hang around the 70's. winter lows can get down nearly to -40. bring your coats, kids!

the entire town is less than one square mile in size

all the businesses in town are open 24 hours a day so that the nocturnal residents can still use their services. which means the bar is open 24 hours a day.... oh boy

the nearest ‘city’ is almost two hours away (Wyoming’s biggest town only has 65,000 people guys, the quotation marks are justified)

most people who are born here don’t leave, or if they do for school or work or whatever, they come back

[SLIDE NINE]

TROPES, MEMES, AND THEMES

y’all know I can’t resist a good meme sesh, so without further ado, here’s a mish-mash of tumblr-approved silliness for The Runaway

grumpy x sunshine pairings

domestication arcs

pathetic little meow meows

hot handymen

cute romance moments

tragic backstories

Image ID: a meme variation of the "Gru's Plan" meme. In it, Gru is labeled as 'Dean'. The first section reads "see someone stranded on the side of the road. The second section reads "stop to help. The third and fourth sections read "be verbally assaulted by an angry twink".

Image ID: a meme variation of the "Flex Tape" meme. The man slapping the tape is labeled as 'Temperance'. The tank spewing water is labeled as "trauma induced nightmares. The flex tape is labeled as "don't sleep ever".

Image ID: a meme variation of the "Schoolbus Hit By Train" meme. The schoolbus is labeled as "a wall around your emotions you've spent most of your life building". The train is labeled as "Dean Matthews".

Image ID: a meme variation of the "Bernie Sanders Asking" meme. Bernie is labeled as 'Kate'. The subtitled text reads "I am once again asking why the stranger dad found smell weird. And acts like a big mean pinecone." The line "and never says 'please' or 'thank you' is partially cut off at the bottom of the image.

[SLIDE TEN]

some comments from my lovely friends who have read The Runaway, because they make me happy and if published books get to put endorsement quotes on their covers, why can’t I do the same with my little powerpoint?

"#highly recommend you follow for the absolute bangers of stories you'll find here"

"#askjkdhd look at Temperance's sweet dumb little face #Dean looks like the type of guy who'd pick up a rude stranger #on the side of the road"

"Oh I can already tell Temperance is gonna be my favorite poor little meow meow I adore him."

"#good on you for writing on company time #me [handshake emoji] Dean #<- not being fooled by Temperance's tough guy act one bit #I want to wrap him in a blanket like the feral kitten he is #or maybe talk to him like Sam from Vampire Therapist #'Woah there fella. Easy now. Ain't no one gonna hurt ya. That's right...nice protagonist...'"

"#efojweojfoe love this whole shapeshifter thing giving tem a heart attack #also the way this playing scene is described? idk it flows so neatly and pleasant to read"

"#i can't wait #Dean is dreamy"

[handmedownpocketpussy]

Incredible new guy just dropped... and we have an update as well:

Image ID three screenshots from two separate posts on Reddit from the same user, the first, dated two days ago reads:

So, this happened a few days ago, and I’m still trying to process it. For context, I (28F) have been with my BF (30M) for about 2 years. We live together, and I’ve always done most of the cooking because I genuinely enjoy it, and he claims he can’t “even boil water” without setting off the smoke alarm.

The other night, I made one of our favorite meals, and while we were eating, he got a weird smirk on his face. He then says, “You know, I’ve been taking notes.” I laughed, thinking he was joking, but then he said, “No, really. I made a presentation.”

I still thought it was a joke until he got up, connected his laptop to the TV, and opened a PowerPoint titled “Improving Our Home Dining Experience.” I was in disbelief as he went slide by slide critiquing my dishes: “Slide 1: Too Much Garlic,” “Slide 2: Pasta Consistency,” “Slide 3: More Salt, Less Sass.”

The kicker was Slide 8, which was just a photo of Gordon Ramsay facepalming with the caption, “What he’d think.”

I was stunned. I told him if he had such detailed opinions, he should cook himself. He tried to backtrack, saying it was “all in good fun” and that he was “just trying to help.” But I wasn’t laughing. I haven’t cooked since, and now he’s been living off cereal and takeout. He’s sulking, saying I’m overreacting and “ruining the joke.”

So, Reddit, AITA for refusing to cook after my BF presented me with a PowerPoint critique of my cooking?

Edit: Thanks for all of your comments and support, I just posted an update!! End first post. The second post, dated today reads:

Hey, Reddit! So, it’s been a wild ride since I posted my original story about my (now ex) boyfriend’s infamous PowerPoint presentation critiquing my cooking. I can’t thank you enough for all the support, laughs, and even the outrage on my behalf. Buckle up, because here’s the follow-up you didn’t know you needed.

After reading your comments and taking some time to process what happened, I decided that our relationship needed a serious talk. I sat him down to discuss how his presentation came across as not just unfunny, but pretty disrespectful. You know, typical mature relationship stuff.

Well, what does he do? He smirks and goes, “Oh, I was prepared for this!” He actually grabs his laptop, connects it to the TV again, and presents me with another PowerPoint titled “How to Take a Joke: A Comprehensive Guide.”

Yes, folks, he made a whole slideshow explaining why I needed to learn how to “chill out” and “appreciate humor.” Slide 1 featured a meme of a clown putting on makeup with my name plastered over it. Slide 2? A bullet point list titled, “Why Your Overreaction is Hilarious.” Slide 3 was titled, “How I’m Clearly the Comedian in this Relationship.”

At this point, I was too stunned to speak. But then he pulled out Slide 6: “Things You Can Do While Not Cooking (Because You’re Mad).” The audacity, right? It was as if he really thought he’d win me over with this next-level presentation. Spoiler alert: he did not.

So, I did what any rational, PowerPoint-loving person would do. I made my own. I stayed up all night crafting a presentation called “Why It’s Time to Move On: A Farewell Guide.” It had everything: flowcharts mapping his incompetence in the kitchen, pie charts illustrating my happiness before and after “The Great Presentation Debacle,” and my personal favorite—Slide 9, a GIF of Gordon Ramsay yelling: „GET OUT!”

This morning, I sat him down and went through my PowerPoint with the same energy he had given me. His reaction was priceless. He started with that same smirk but lost it somewhere around Slide 4: “Top Ten Reasons You’re Moving Out Today.” By the time I got to the “Resources for Finding Your Own Apartment” slide, he was packing a bag.

Now, before anyone worries, yes, he did actually leave. And no, I didn’t even have to threaten him with Slide 12, which was just a photo of me blocking the Wi-Fi router.

So, yeah, we broke up, and I’m single, happy, and cooking meals for myself without any critique except my cat’s judgmental stare. And to those who said I should make a “breakup PowerPoint,” just know your wish has been fulfilled…

I still can’t believe how all of this went down over the course of one single weekend. But I now feel pretty good about myself. Thanks for all of your comments and support!

PS: Oh, and fun fact, some of you were right: he actually is a business consultant, so making PowerPoint presentations is quite literally his day job. I guess he took “bringing work home” to a whole new, unwelcome level.. End ID.

[saltydkdan]

Hello Salt man! You seem like an unhinged enough weeb for this question:

I’m going to be the president of the anime club in my highschool this year and have no fucking idea what I should do for activities and shit.

Any ideas? If not, that’s perfectly fine too!

(Also thank you for reblogging my Peppy drawing it made my day ^^)

No problem! I loved the art

I think it’s pretty obvious for an Anime club to watch Anime, however that shit is basic, and I have some unhinged ideas.

Trivia (the least unhinged)

—Make a trivia game on PowerPoint, or on Kahoot that feature questions based on various popular anime. Get specific and weird for the harder questions.

Anime Debate Club

—(be careful with this one because depending on the group it may get heated lol)

—At the end of a meeting, choose to random anime characters

—Tell members that they can pick sides on which of the two would win in a fight, then between meetings, bring together their arguments for why, they have to have actual citation and examples of the character’s powers, or reference specific canon material

—Bonus points if one of the debate teams puts together a PowerPoint slideshow on a character’s power set, or the other characters weaknesses

—Have a judge award points for valid arguments, but have them be cracked out of their minds about it (For example, awarding points to “Comedy” characters, like if an Osumatsu-San character surviving a Ki blast could be funny? That’s a point towards them. LMAO)

NOTES: Obviously the characters chosen cannot be Goku, Vegeta, Saitama, or in general overpowered characacters. Also, having completely fucking insane match ups, or wildly specific match ups is recommended. Like Bobobo VS Dio Brando from Jojo. Or General Tao from Dragon Ball VS Gojo.

If the fight is extremely one sided, just make a list of all the ways that one side would fucking dominate because that shit is fucking funny LOL.

Weekly Book Club but for anime

—This isn’t really “unhinged” but I recently did a manga book club with friends weekly and it was super cool to meet up and discuss the chapters of a particular series and such

—You can do this for anime and assign a set number of episodes, OR do manga and provide a way to read it online

—Rotate out series every so often so people don’t feel like they’re focusing all their attention to a single series the entirety of the year

—This could be a fun thing to do casually between meetings and to talk about a little at the start

Pitch your favorite

—Have people make a short presentation on PowerPoint to pitch their favorite series that’s 3-5 minutes each, or whatever depending on how many people you have

—If you wanna make it funny make it so they HAVE to include both Pros, AND Cons about it. (Like for One Piece: PRO would be the amazing worldbuilding, and a CON would be that Oda cannot draw women)

Make an Epic OC

—Force people to design OCs for a specific series for that week. If they can draw and want to, they can draw them. If they can’t draw? Make it a stick figure, or a shitty drawing a child would make. And have them make a small write up about the character and their powers.

—This can easily be taken seriously, or just have them make an overpowered self insert, all of it is fine

Anyway that’s all my ideas! Hope this helps or inspires some of your own unhinged ideas

[yan-lorkai]

hii:3

I've been reading some of your posts and i absolutely love it!!!

Anyway this ask might be a little similar to the one where the mc loves biting the obey me brothers

Can you do one with the obey me bros where the mc has very sharp teeth like a shark? Also it doesn't have to be everyone but i especially want leviathan and satan<3

(I have a feeling i made this too long..😭)

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ A/N: Mc with sharp teeths, my beloved. I actually remembered Kirishima from Bnha when reading this lol, he was such a sweetheart and his little teeth were so cute 😭🥺. Also don't worry darling, it's not that long and even if it was, I don't care! I hope you like this!

Satan

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Your shark-like teeth were always a point of fascination among the demons of Devildom, they used to love looking at your mouth and got a vision of your precious teeths. It wasn't an everyday occurrence that a human had sharp teeths like yours, a trait shared with so many demons. However, it was Satan who found himself inexplicably drawn to this unique feature of yours.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Satan couldn't help but delve deeper into understanding the biology and significance behind them, he likes looking at it and he always wondered how would feel if he kissed you. Would the sharpness be enough to hurt his tongue? Do the sharpness hurt your mouth by the way? He got to know everything that is to know, though he do thinks you are so cute with sharp teeths.

⠀

Levi

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ While Satan's attention is gradually caught up with you, Levi's is the opposite. The moment you open your mouth to say anything, even if it's not even him you're talking to, he notices your teeth and he's enchanted. Your teeth, as sharp as a shark's, remind him of his many favorite characters from animes and games and he automatically associates you with them, it's love at first sight.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ As your friendship blossomed into something deeper, Levi came to cherish your unique trait as just another endearing aspect of who you are. Your teeth it's not the only thing he likes about it, in fact he could make a 30 pages powerpoint of things he love about you, he could rank 100 different things. He loves you a lot. And he also may or may not want you to bite him with those beautiful teeths of yours.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Despite the acceptance you found with Satan and Levi, sometimes you wished you had normal teeth. People used to make fun of you because of it, either because they were jealous or because was too different from the normal they were used to. Though Satan and Levi helped you overcome these doubts when they found out about it.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Saying again but Levi would really make a long and convincing powerpoint about it and Satan would fight your enemies. And then they both would do things you like to make you feel happy and loved, and if you want to spend time only with one of them, that's ok too.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Levi's gonna show you his favorite characters who inspire him to be better and do better, and tell you how beautiful and cool you are. You may or may not cuddle as well as he tries to rebuild your self esteem and tries to make you smile and laugh more.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Satan by the way relies more on his words to convince you that what he's saying is the absolutely truth, he has no reason to lie after all - even if he had a reason, he wouldn't. He genuinely like you and it's quite rare for him to truly like someone. Though he also praises you more everytime you smile and laugh in his presence, enough to make you flustered and giddy.

[its-dean]

I’ve been posting on other online platforms about Fossil Fighters for a long time now, and most who are familiar with what I share know that a lot of my content has a heavy focus on original vivosaur ideas. With these vivosaurs I come up with, as well as the stats I create to go with them, I notice that there are often people questioning whether what I come up with would be balanced or not from a gameplay standpoint.

As I’ve gone on with developing this unique vision for my vivosaurs, I’ve also slowly refined my idea of Fossil Battles entirely. All of us are aware that both the original Fossil Fighters and Fossil Fighters Champions don’t have the best balancing in the world. There are certain cast members and even a few core game mechanics that allow so many otherwise memorable characters to fall to the wayside, and with the stats I was coming up with I was only further encouraging that type of hostile environment. The more I worried about whether something I was coming up with would feel realistic or balanced the more I considered the fact that the formula itself may have been broken in the first place.

There have been others in the community that have projected their own ideas of how to change things up regarding gameplay, things like adding new elements or even having customizable skills. Because the series felt like it had ended so suddenly there's become so much to dream for in a potential sequel. These are the people that inspired me to attempt something similar myself back when I was making my vivosaur last year. It inspired me to take a step back with my thinking and ultimately led to me creating a total re-imagining of the classic battle system we all know and love. 

That's the thing, the games may not be perfectly balanced, but I always find how these games work to be something that's just inherently fun in a very unique way. Above everything else, with this project I wanted the new system I was creating to still have the "feel" of having a good old-fashioned Fossil Battle. These games have incredible potential for an interesting competitive landscape, just if only some of those unbalanced mechanics were to be adjusted. This is what I strive to achieve the most with my ideas: an environment where every vivosaur has something practical to them, a format where you CAN win using your favorite vivosaurs. The only thing that should stop you is how well thought-out and unique of a strategy you can come up with.

Fossil Fighters Odyssey is a personal project of mine that I've technically been working on for over half a decade now. Still, I think it's most important to stress the fact that everything I come up with and will be talking about in this post is for fun. This shouldn't explicitly be seen as a vehicle for a potential fan game, I make these things for my own enjoyment and have no plans or obligations to turn any of these ideas into tangible content in the future. We all can pretty unanimously agree that it’s fun to dream about a theoretical continuation of this franchise, especially because of how it felt like it came to such an abrupt halt in a way none of us were really ready for. This project is simply meant to represent the changes I'd most want to see if that were to ever somehow happen, and that vision of mine simply might not appeal to your individual preferences.

But now moving to the fun stuff itself. I strive to be as in-depth as possible when taking into account how I would rework the gameplay, taking a comprehensive look at the entire series. To keep things feeling familiar while also feeling like an "evolution" of sorts, I found it most compelling to try and utilize standout mechanics from all three of the previous games. Yes, that includes Frontier because, while I can't defend its battle system as a whole, I do think there are some features it introduced that can really enhance potential team building and strategy (mainly referring to the boost system it uses).

Since there are far too many changes to cover in a text post, I created a PowerPoint to explain everything in a more presentable and organized way. The link to it can be found directly below this paragraph, with the presentation being separated in order of different areas of discussion, from how vivosaurs have changed to the differences in the battle system to new and altered abilities and so much more! Plus, attached to this post are the stat sheets for every single vivosaur, #1-300. My own vivosaurs as well as the 10 unique vivosaurs from Frontier are included in the lineup, and all the vivosaurs you're already familiar with have received numerous changes and enhancements to their skill sets so that they can thrive in this new Fossil Battling format.

Link to the PowerPoint (in case the picture quality is too poor to be able to read on this website)

FFO Mechanics.pptx

Link to all 300 vivosaurs and their stat sheets:

FFO All Vivosaurs.pptx

(Disclaimer: not all of the vivosaurs have artwork to correspond with their dino medals, but those will be hopefully trickling out down the line in the future.)

To round things out, I definitely want to thank the people that have already been supporting me and the things I create these past few years elsewhere. Without the level of the recognition and approval I see from the people who always respond to what I make, I definitely never would've come this far with developing my ideas. You guys are the ones who've been enjoying these things, from vivosaurs to characters to the overarching story I hope to one day be able to share with you all. I owe it to you for allowing myself to become as invested in my favorite series as I now am. And hey, depending on how people react to what I have here I may make another post outlining the more creative story and character elements I have in mind… 

Thank you to everyone who's been there for all this time, as well as anyone willing to read through everything I've been able to put together here, this project never could've been completed without you all for me to share it with.

[en-abime-updates]

June 15th

Morning

Mal posts the player-made zine on FreeDF. You can find it by adding the URL slug /dans-des-circonstances-eternelles to en-abime.com. She has decided to visit Tati, although it is unknown where she is right now.

Since the zine mentions a twin by name, they visit it and share a PowerPoint of all the information they had about Thomas (accessible through clicking the glitch on the page.) (It is unknown where the twin is right now.) A letter in a different font (the “T” on “The Incident”) links to w-h-a-t-h-a-p-p-e-n-e-d.

Summary: This PowerPoint includes a photo of Thomas and the details around his disappearance: He was a freshman exchange student at Princeton University in New Jersey whose parents had died 2 years before of the flu. He went missing in October of 1915 – he checked into a carrel in the library and never checked out. (The footnotes note these carrels are now in Firestone Library.) He was “kind of an introvert” but an “excellent student,” so no one noticed he was missing until months later. The Works Cited page of the PPT only lists en-abime.com as well as the page for requesting visitor access to Firestone Library. Players speculate this may be the site of a geocache.

The zine page also links to Mal’s Favorite Gigs in NYC. This page begins as a blank page and populates with pop-ups addressing the reader as you scroll down, before showing a list of Mal’s bands and performance venues – potentially another geocache lead? It also features a voice that speaks in blackout poetry, similar to the blackout poetry sections of the CYOA.

Summary: The pop-ups ask the reader to record information about themselves (to presumably join the abime) – “Log on now!” “Share abundantly your photographs, experiences, and stories with your friends.” It then presents Mal’s list of gigs as “a gift.” The list of gigs lists the band and location of each performance, as well as a short description of Mal’s experience performing with them. Mal’s handwritten note at the top reads “if you haven’t got an I.D., even a fake one, FORGET ABOUT IT, DUDETTE!” Below the gig list, the pop-ups ask the reader to “Match them with the right keys to the kingdom” for an “instantaneous cure,” “but hurry, a machine for living won’t be hanging around for long.” Below this, the blackout poetry voice begins, imploring the reader to “stop feeding us.” Their requests and cries for help are similar in tone to the ones in the CYOA.

Mal’s Favorite Gigs page leads to HELP, what looks like a customer service page with a set of Q&As and a form. The page is written by (and the Q&As are answered) by the same voices from the Mal’s Gigs page (Ad pop-ups and blackout poetry). The header at the top of the page toggles between “archive” and “appetite” on hover, and “appetite” is “all” while “ARCHIVE” is “NOTHING.” The form is “for Urgent Retrieval Concerns” and asks the reader to “DESCRIBE: WHAT YOU SEE. WHERE YOU ARE. WHERE YOU HAVE SOUGHT. WHERE YOU HAVE NOT YET SOUGHT.”

Summary: The two voices describe themselves as brothers, and have very different personalities. The popup voice describes itself as our “friend,” and encourages the questioner to find “these things” and “make them happy.” The question text eventually goes off the rails: (“Why is my skin so heavy? Why are my eyeballs so dry? Why are my bones so wet?”) to which the popup text voice answers, “You aren’t there yet, friend, but you’re doing well!” In contrast, the blackout poetry voice describes itself as our “bastard creation” and says that if we are “here” it has “failed.” It begs us to “please don’t go looking for this [...] please instead forget all about this. About them. About me.” On the left side of the page are a list of what seems to be various manifestations of HEAVEN, a series of tips that seem to be for geocaching, and there is a form at the bottom that asks for location, time, name of who they are looking for, and a description of their location.

Afternoon/Evening

Players submit form responses to HELP, most of which receive unhelpful answers via email. 

Players submitting questions to the form received a response from the email en-abime-dot-com@gmail.com from a username THE ARCHIVE THE APPETITE. Most contained a screenshot of their question and a popup image reading “USE TOOLS FOR THEIR INTENDED PURPOSE.” Some emails contained an additional image reading “HA!HA!HA!” 

At 2:41 PM EST, player sylvan receives a reply to his email “bonjour” with the additional image “I DON’T SPEAK FRENCH” and the subject line “19/20” A minute earlier at 2:40, another player Vincent received a similar email with the subject line “20/20.” Later, Vincent receives another, this time with the subject line “18/20.” Players decide not to send more emails until figuring out more about the “INTENDED PURPOSE” so the countdown stops. 

At around midnight, player charles entertainment cheese sends a question: “We have looked everywhere. We are Thomas stretched across En Abime. I want to know where he entered from - Princeton? New Jersey? The Library? We have looked across as many pages as we have. We have found him in PDFs and websites where his past self is recorded and archived.” This receives a different response, without a countdown number, hinting that these questions are closer to the “INTENDED PURPOSE” and “for greater knowledge on more subjects, use your library often!”

Overall Theories

Players think these pop-ups and blackout text are two new characters, the Archive and the Appetite, which may be made up of the Abime itself. They seem more powerful than the other characters and may have placed the flyers around the different locations. They seem to want us to find whatever information they don’t yet know, and are interested in physical geocaches. 

Next steps from this update:

Follow these geocache leads

Crack w-h-a-t-h-a-p-p-e-n-e-d

Figure out the purpose of the HELP form

[woodchipp]

I'm gonna be honest - along with OMORI pressuring the player into choosing the good ending lest Sunny kills himself, the whole DUET cutscene doesn't strike me as anything but very blatant emotional manipulation either. Every mention of it I saw was followed by fans talking at length about how thoroughly devastated they were left by that moment, but if you look past the Feels and focus on the Reals, what is there to be devastated about, really?

The (supposed) purpose of the cutscene is to show Sunny placating his depression by recalling the good times he had with Mari and his friends... except that is exactly what he's been doing via Basil's photo album throughout the entire game. That's what Memory Lane, which you have to go through right before the final boss, was there for. And just like the aforementioned two, the good times showcased in DUET are glurgy, meaningless fluff. They don't tell you anything new about the characters and they don't show them helping each other through thick and thin as people you could call "real" friends are supposed to. The fact that the cutscene itself looks like a PowerPoint slideshow or something you could theoretically cook up in Windows Movie Maker doesn't help, especially if you remove the music track altogether.

I think one of my "favorite" moments is Sunny and Mari meeting Kel and Hero, which is represented by the latter two literally popping out of thin air

You'd think that as a story with the power of friendship as one of its central themes, the game would show how the characters became friends in the first place and what makes them gel together, but no. This is all you get.

It's the same thing with Aubrey and Basil. The gang meets Aubrey for the first time while she's crying on the sidewalk before the game cuts to her introducing Basil to them. Was them comforting Aubrey over her lost shoe enough for her to befriend them? How exactly did she and Basil meet? I dunno, you tell me! Think about the plot so the writer won't have to!

So emotional. So peak. Two hundred thousand dollars was spent on this.

Speaking of Sunny and Mari, the cutscene's Peakest™ moment is the smash cut from a bright shot of Mari embracing a younger Sunny to a gloomier shot of the older Sunny sitting there all alone and morose, which delivers the message with all the subtlety of a nuclear bomb explosion

she passed on The Emo to him. truely devastating. also why do they both look malnourished. what the hell is this artstyle

Yes, game. I get it. The grass was greener when Mari was alive. That's roughly her gravestone's epitaph. What is the point of this? What am I supposed to cry about?

That brings me to what I believe is the main problem with DUET, and a problem with the game itself as well - the story doesn't put in any real effort to flesh out the characters you're supposed to feel bad for, yet expects you to feel bad for them anyway. Even after playing the entire 25 hours of this game, I don't know anything about Sunny, nor can I recall anything noteworthy about him except from him calling lemons "oragnes". I don't know anything about who Mari really was except that she's treated by the narrative as if she was Jesus in the flesh. They're not characters - they're effectively cardboard cutouts, and I have no idea why the game's imploring me to shed tears over two cardboard cutouts.

The cherry on top is Omori straight-up vanishing after the cutscene ends. One could argue that Sunny's victory was temporary, but that's not indicated - Omori seems to actually vanish once and for all after the game's events, and the main menu even features Sunny himself as opposed to Omori to mark the change. Because we all know that severe depression can be treated by thinking happy thoughts, right? tfw the powerpoint slideshow was so cringe that even the depression decided to peace out

Maybe I wouldn't have been as harsh if the story had Mari kill herself instead of it being a cover-up for manslaughter. Maybe then I'd have been able to see the tragedy. But given the context of the plot twist, all I can see is a coward and a liar soothing his well-earned guilt over committing a serious crime and lying about it in the most laughably melodramatic fashion possible.

[thebowerypresents]

Magdalena Bay Blast Terminal 5 into Space

Magdalena Bay – Terminal 5 – April 23, 2025

Magdalena Bay, at least for their latest tour, have built themselves within a unique aesthetic world, think World Wide Web 1.0, one of GeoCities and GeoPets. This all harkens back to a time when the Internet was more fantastical and fun, a little less fascist, a place to escape to and not one from which to escape. Magdalena Bay’s other reoccurring themes of their set on Wednesday night at Terminal 5 included fire, mirrors, time, eyeballs, CD-ROMs and an antique chair that Mica Tenenbaum would return to between songs in moments of feigned exhaustion.

“Welcome to Magdalena Bay and the Imaginal Mystery Tour,” said Tenenbaum, heartily introducing her band and the night. As our funky forefathers have foretold, it’s best to lock everyone into a groove before blasting them into space, something this band has mastered. The Terminal 5 crowd boarded for space before they knew it, with the song “Killing Time” putting some rhythm bone-deep before hitting with g-force. The song eventually morphed in tandem with the visuals into something a little more haunting, with the vibe shifting to The Wizard of Oz at its most terrifying moments. 

“Image” rides a similar dynamic, an incredibly hooky bass and rhythm meeting Tenenbaum’s vocals. She takes a similar approach to her onstage presence, floating about in a flowing jumpsuit like a space ballerina, fluttering her way to the top of a platform above the crowd, then back down and spinning amidst the band. 

Magdalena Bay are such an interesting grab bag of influences — beyond pop — that has won them some broad-based acclaim since the release of 2024’s Imaginal Disk. “That’s My Floor” harkens back to a time when female-fronted pop songs felt rock and roll by default to match the larger zeitgeist of the times. “Top Dog” pulled out some visuals from a similar period, complete with doggy-inspired clip art you might toss into a PowerPoint presentation in the year 2000. 

“Cry for Me” might be the band’s ultimate flex, and it was easily one of their most moving songs of the night. It features a groove worth putting up against the best of them, think all those songs you aren’t surprised to hear the late Quincy Jones had a hand in producing. There was also the crowd favorite and TikTok hit “Killshot,” which dipped into a slowed-down version that’s revived the 2019 song into a modern-day hit. This is a band with a knack for bending time, as much as it feels like their best times are still ahead of them. The show ended with the catchy and self-referential “The Ballad of Matt & Mica” before returning for an encore performance of “The Beginning.” Time may be a flat circle but it's certainly fun when it goes around and around. —Dan Rickershauser | @D4nRicks

(Magdalena Bay Terminal 5 again tomorrow night.)

(Magdalena Bay play Franklin Music Hall on Saturday night.)

(Magdalena Bay and Remi Wolf play FDR Park in Philadelphia on 7/27.)

(Magdalena Bay play The NorVa in Norfolk, Va., on 10/22.)

Photos courtesy of Hillary Safadi | @hillasafadi

[amalthiaph]

Random ask time!!

How did you develop your art style?

Who is your favorite to draw?

Hello! TYSM for the Ask!

Q1. How did you develop your art style?

It was a three-year journey of self-discovery, art envy, hard work, and fixation to a single OC.

And this is fun to answer because I came prepared and I have a Powerpoint Presentation for this one (I created this for a talk about digital art that I gave to one university earlier this year).

I started with something really close to realism. I did this maybe because I wanted to learn how to draw features like eyes, nose, hair, etc.

A few months into it, I started to develop my own way of drawing these features. One of my moots said that my signature was the nose, that I had this distinct way of drawing nose that once they see it, they'd say "Amalthia drew this."

Once I established my 'own way of drawing things' I started to play with brushes and textures.

I continued on to straying far from realism that little by little, my art becomes more and more 'geometric'. Then I got fucking sick of it. My little sister was watching the Tangled series and it was that moment that I pointed to the screen and said, "that's what I want to do".

However, that was still not the end for me. I went on too saying 'too geometric' and then, 'ugh now it's nearer to realism and I don't like that anymore'.

And that's how I arrived to my July 2023 art style; flat but not too flat, geometric but not too geometric, semi-realistic but not too much.

So, to answer the question: draw till you hate drawing it. Because that is when you try things. You hate how that looks like? Change it. You think the hair's too ugly? Try a new technique.

Q2: Who is your favorite to draw?

Okay, at this point, it's obvious that I love drawing THAT original character. Her name is Shelby. I love drawing her because she's mine, and she was the first ever character to be mine. On the art side of things, I draw her a lot because I had memorized her face so much that I can easily play with her appeareance.

Now, for Star Wars, I love drawing Hunter, Tech, Bo-Katan, Riyo Chuchi, and Hera Syndulla.

I like drawing Hunter because of his hair. Hair is always my favorite part to draw. I always love adding little strays, I like to think that it adds beauty to the artwork, and with Hunter I can just do that (except for that one time I drew him with wet hair).

I like drawing Tech because I think his face screams geometry. It doesn't make sense, I know but that's how I see him. With his design, I can easily play with shapes. So it's really good practice for me.

For Bo-Katan, it was also the hair for me. There's a certain way I draw short straight hair and I think I did it best with Bo-Katan.

Riyo, for me, is one of the best designed characters in Star Wars and that is why I love drawing her. I've drawn her three times by now. I love her hairstyle. And as much as I can't add little strays to it, its texture or having to add texture to it makes drawing her really fun for me.

I love drawing Hera because I LOVE TWI'LEKS.

Last one, I like drawing characters played by Ming-Na Wen. It all started with my Mulan art (which I've been planning to redraw) and then I drew Fennec.

Man, I hope this makes sense.