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ja-khajay · 4 years

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2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

I haven’t posted about animation in a while that I remember, and I know a lot of my followers are into it as much as me so I decided to make a list of the animated movies and series I watched on the past year or so, coupled with my short, spoilerless take on them. Enjoy!

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

Under a cut for the sake of your dashboards! PS: I have not added any images yet. If you are interested in knowing more about the visuals of these movies, I might make an old fashion ask-prompted imageset list.

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

9/10, a delightful little movie with amazing visuals. It feels like an animated picture book.

One of those “plot is in the title” media! I had never heard of this before but was heavily recommended it by my family members, who all loved it! It’s a sweet story, nothing groundbreaking but the unique colorful visual style alone makes it worth it.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

10/10. Reminded me of all the books i loved reading as a child

I assume its because it’s so old and the art style and themes are so different that it gets little to no love compared to other Ghibli movies, which is a shame! It’s fun with an endearing cast and as always, great animation and music

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

10/10 three episodes in I knew it was going to be my favorite series ever

One of the few things I’ve seen I’ll describe as life-changing. It’s absolutely lovely but never toots its own horn about it. Humble, calming, emotional and surprisingly mature. It’s pretty impossible to binge due to how intense the experience is. I just want to walk in the forest now...

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

I read the manga for this when I was in middle school and remembered loving it. The animated version does an ok job of presenting the characters and worldbuilding and has some nice action scenes but overall looks really damn cheap and just. Not very good. Seeing I already knew most of the plot I did not have the element of discovery that made me marvel so much reading the original. It’s still a nice series but I really recommend reading it instead.

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

This show sucks ass if I hadn’t been watching this with my bestie I would have dropped it two episodes in. The art style is ugly the stories are always the same and the first season has a (later removed thank fucking god) LITERAL “erase any consequences” button as a plot device in every episode. If you watch it for one thing let it be the nostalgia factor of early 00s Vidya Game Plot

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

I finally watched this, peer pressured by the load of gifsets on my dashboard! It’s a sweet movie with really impressive animation, sometimes a bit too flashy for my taste (the action sequences go so ham they become not very readable...) but the story was just ok? The setting is barely explained and you are instead bombarded with vague epicspeech about powers and stuff that made me fondly remember Kingdom Hearts lol but that asides it’s a really good time! I need to watch more Chinese movies the few I know are just delightfully off the shits in how they approach action and I love that

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

I first got introduced to the series via the 2011 one. Comparatively, the 99 series focuses way less on action and way more on the characters, which I love because that fits my personal preferences! Despite mediocre filler episodes and some weird slight pointless plot changes, what it changes from the original manga doesn’t have much of an impact on the characters. The animation quality isn’t always consistent including a huge art style change for an arc (???) but it’s overall pretty nice. The series really shines in the last arc it adapts.

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

This series is completly obscure despite having been created by people famous for their other series (Cowboy Bebop, Code Lyoko that i can name) and it’s a crime! It’s a kids show but without being stupid about it who tells the story of an inter-planetary race. If you liked that one scene in the star wars prequels you know what I mean. It’s got surprisingly nice animation for a TV series, and some truly great character design. The art style is a bit unique in a not for everyone sense, but I didn’t mind it much. It’s also THE most offensively 2000s series i’ve seen in terms of visuals. y2k kids assemble

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

Watched this for the art style because I know it inspired Samurai Jack, and it delievered! I dont’ have much to say about this one, it’s a very simply film but it’s sweet. For my pirates out there if you want to find it in good quality with english subtitles it’s VERY hard to find. If you just want to see the looks of it, it’s on Youtube with portugese subs.

We now enter the Gobelins Shorts Zone....!

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

Pure delight...great animation writing everything. A little short about death and friendship but not in the way you imagine!

Colza

9/10

Visual treat...homely and nice :) not far from a 10 but a 9 because nothing about it is that groundbreaking

Sundown

9/10

If you’ve ever been ten minutes from failing a group project because of a single dude you will REALLY enjoy this. Loved the colors and personality

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

It’s SUCH a sweet little short I loved that one so much

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

Surprisingly well written dialog. Visuals are great but the humanity of the characters carries this to another level

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

Amazing visuals and the most tense/creepy of Gobelin shorts i’ve ever seen. Chilling

La bestia

8/10

I had some issues with the pacing. Interesting story and visuals choices but I was not fond of the art style

Goodbye Robin

5/10

Confusing but predictable. Both at once??? Yes!

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

Watched this fully blind for the first time in an animated festival and rewatched it with friends. It’s a crime I never see anyone talking about it given the amount of whining I see about the lack of both adult animation and 2D movies? This film is a unique love letter to art in the form of a weird mix of charming crime story and psychological horror with amazing visuals. I recommend watching it blind and also buying it to show appreciation for how nice it is!!! WATCH THIS MOVIE...

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

10/10 Visual/storytelling masterpiece in the weird shit departement

If you can stomach intense stuff watch this. The visuals are incredibly unique and beautiful and under the jewel tones and art direction high takes it’s a really cool horror series. My only obstacle to enjoying it the first time I saw it was how dense it is - simply put, it’s so...culturally Japanese it’s not very accessible to me who doesn’t know anything about the culture? Watching it for the second time helped understanding the stories more!

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

9/10 but really close to ten. A great adaptation!

I’m a huge fan of the original comic so I entered this a biiiittttt suspicious it would suck but it was a really pleasant surprise! It has all the wonder and charm of the original and the animation was surprisingly good for the little budget. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a sort of geopolitical action/adventure movie but with it’s own really poetic vibe to it. It’s almost impossible to find online but happens to be fully on YouTube so go ham I guess?

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

Every review of this movie i’ve seen gives it five stars and starts by talking about how immensly stupid it is. I’m no different. It’s a masterpiece of escalating energy with the depth of a puddle and it fucking rules. It’s free on YouTube too so there really is no excuse to not watch it. Watched it for the first time on a huge cinema screen and despite this my second rewatch on my small laptop was as/even more enjoyable. If you watch this stoned with friends you might travel to another dimension

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

I watched this a single time as a kid and had little memory of it! I mean it’s Ghibli you know it’s going to be good as hell but this one rly shines in how colorful and detailed it is and in it’s world! It made me remember I had a huge crush on the dragonboy as a kid. I’m gay now

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

Honestly my favorite franchise of the whole disney/dreamworks/pixar hydra. It’s fun as hell, doesn’t skip a single beat and has amazing animation and character designs. If something is a good time I will not care if it’s deep or not and boy I fucking love these movies

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

I tend to hate american cinema and this includes that era of animation I have no nostalgia for. Sinbad is in a weird place because I love adventure stories and the visuals of the movie absolutely deliver but it’s very predictable and TANKED by the addition of the female character, pushed in your face as “look we have woman!!!” despite her writing being misogynistic as hell lol. The evil goddess rules tho. This movie would have been a solid 9 if instead of the girl the two dudes had kissed

#j #animation #if you want links to these ill provide but not for the indie ones that arent free #i have no remorse p*rating disney or a movie thats over 50 but if its recent and underrated just legally get it!!!

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rorybergstrom · 4 years

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𝑫𝑰𝑫 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑩𝑶𝑫𝒀 𝑶𝑹𝑫𝑬𝑹 𝑨 𝑩𝑰𝑺𝑬𝑿𝑼𝑨𝑳 𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑳𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑲𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑺𝒀𝑵𝑻𝑯 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫 ???

hello, it’s nora again…. hitting u with another child. a south london-born softboi who deserves tenderness. has a burner phone and doesn’t use social media. does techno dj sets. plays the synth loudly through the night if u live in gorham his room always sounds like a space ship just landed. deals weed around campus on his rollerskates. hates that he can’t get new light up wheels because ana coto made rollerskating cool again. as is tradition, here’s the pinterest board. this intro is recycled?? so if theres mistakes, sue me??? and be sure to like and subscribe for more unboxing content x

application.

『 FIONN WHITEHEAD ❙ DEMI-MALE』 ⟿ looks like RORY BERGSTRÖM is here for HIS JUNIOR year as a MUSIC TECHNOLOGY student. HE is 23 years old & known to be ECCENTRIC, FANATICAL, NITPICKY & DOGMATIC. They’re living in GORHAM, so if you’re there, watch out for them. ⬳ ooc name. age. tz. pronouns.

aesthetics.

bed hair from a permanent state of slumber, calloused fingertips from strumming bass into the early hours and djing into the blacklit night, self-help books thumbed once and thrown beneath your bed, battered copies of choose your own adventure books, spliffs passed half-arsed across rooftops while light pollution obscures low-hanging stars, marxist literature in stacks against your bedroom walls, a burner phone twice-shattered and a stash of replacement sim cards.

tw ocd, anxiety, drugs

half-swedish, half-british. the swedish is on his mother’s side. he’s bilingual but thinks in english. only really speaks swedish around his mother. only child, and kinda put a lot of pressure on himself to be the perfect kid when he was young, but his parents are honestly, quite decent? and just want him to have a nice life, they don’t care if he isn’t successful or rich or anything, they’re honestly rather solid. (wow imagine having nice parents, a first for all my characters, im literally this meme)

grew up in peckham, a suburb of london. growing up, his mum was a model / actress / waitress who later retrained as a speech therapist and his dad worked in her majesty’s service at buckingham palace. his dad wasn’t allowed to tell his family what his job entailed but rory suspects it’s probably very boring and just involves a lot of…. logistics n security.

was bullied a lot at school. [cole sprouse voice] he didn’t fit in and he didn’t want to fit in. unironically wore a trenchcoat to school every day of his life. spent most of his lunchtimes in the library because it was his safe space. as a result he knows…. loads of useless information because 30% of his school years were spent reading anthologies on space and the vikings etc. would be good on a game show. obsessively recorded every episode of university challenge as a child.

middle-class and lowkey quite wealthy but rarely talks about money, one of those well-off people who still wears really old shitty shoes and only spends money if they absolutely have to

virgin who can’t drive

into star wars, not into the big bang theory. feminist. can’t watch horror movies

favourite film is where the wild things are. also loves the florida project. thinks kids are the sweetest thing and can’t wait to be a dad to some. right now is dad to one cat, whose name changes on a daily basis (identity is constantly shifting, duuuuude), but they were originally named ‘wheezer’

rory has been musical for as long as they can remember. first picked up guitar because he thought it would make this girl esther who he was in love with like him, but he just ended up falling in love with music instead.

formulated several different bands as a kid but ultimately had to give it up cos he was quite controlling and got fixated on making a certain sound so it wasn’t really fun for the others. got into electronic music because it was something he could do basically on his own and keep tweaking until he got it perfect

always drumming their fingers or strumming invisible guitar strings. tends to avoid parties bc he has quite has specific tastes when it comes to music and doesn’t like listening to r&b for eight hours while people throw up into plastic cups.

a techno connoisseur. has been making electronic music since he was about twelve.

after his parents divorce, when he was fourteen, rory & his mother moved to run-down suburban neighbourhood, pittsfield, massachussets.

big into photography. he mostly uses a canon 35mm camera, but occasionally uses disposable ones when he wants that more rustic feel.

moving to the states, their photography became more focused on suburban neighborhoods and are often quite dark and cinematic (think gregory crewsden). here are some shots of pittsfield i really like which rory has on his wall [1] [2] [3]

falls in love 12 times a day. never had a girlfriend or boyfriend. gets sweaty when someone cute looks at him. flirting?? what?? would prefer to idealise them from a distance

gender??? hm. doesn’t really know where he fits yet, sometimes he feels like a guy and sometimes they dont feel like anything at all. isn’t really bothered, cos they think it’s a social construct anyway. uses he/they pronouns interchangeably, but feels like ‘he’ is more fitting. won’t necessarily pull anyone up on it cos he knows having an identity that’s constantly…. in flux.. can be annoying for others … and doesn’t want to be a burden even tho it isn’t at all?? rory internalises guilt

everything is socially constructed. mirrors let you move through time. the whole thing’s a metaphor. he thinks he’s got free will but really he’s trapped in a maze. in a system. all he can do is consume. people think it’s a happy game. it’s not a happy game — it’s a fucking nightmare world, and the worst thing is, it’s real and we live in it

has ocd. tries to let it affect his life as little as possible, but obviously it’s incredibly hard to control a compulsive disorder. was teased for it at school when other kids started to notice. he was obsessed with the number five, would wash his hands five times, count stairs i groups of five, he could only use the corridors in one direction and always had to keep his hands busy. it manifests itself in hyper-fixations (trains when he was a child – specifically steam engines – then later he became obsessed with space and the patterns of constellations, and now he’s obsessed with synthesizers) and repetitive behaviours like counting stairs. doesn’t really affect his social life at all, he can jst get a bit locked-on n hyper-focused sometimes.

has insomnia. barely ever sleeps. finds it hard to switch off from work / writing / gaming / whatever’s preoccupying him in that moment. he’s always awake at 5am and quite often sleeps in through classes but still gets really good grades because he’s very good at his course. rarely attends classes. prefers to work independently. doesn’t really trust his tutors are intelligent enough to be teaching him, and is particularly suspicious of the lockwood tutors. a music snob tbh

secretly a small-scale drug dealer, only does weed n some party pills. rollerskates around campus dealing cos they dnt have a car

likes: techno, the webpage cats on synthesizers in space, allen ginsberg, vintage gramophones, floating points, lcd soundsystem, marijuana, soft dogs that let you pet them, late-night strolls talking about the universe, independent films, cigarettes, herbal tea, gallows humour, long showers, brown eyes, tchaikovsky, dr. seuss, constellations, photography, late night jazz, vintage game boys and girls who could rip his still-beating heart out of his chest and use it as an ashtray. dislikes: weddings, funerals, formality, button-up shirts that people actually button-up, bananas, hot coffee, social media, people who watch and play sports, rap music – especially of the misogynistic variety, indie wankers in wire-framed glasses that play ed sheeran songs at open mic nights.

plot ! with ! me ! i’d say all the usual “exes fwb hookups spiel” but rory… is very tender and tame… i feel like a deer in the headlights of love……. so give me

study buddies,

people who are also into techno and are music snobs about it,

people who love all kinds of music,

people who are in bands that maybe rory’s recorded and produced stuff for,

people he actually jams with (he plays bass and synth),

unrequited crushes!!

someone they met at a knitting club in freshman year and have remained friends with despite no longer going to it

people rory knows from open mic nights and gigs

library girlfriends / boyfriends that he stares at longingly while paging through leatherbound volumes

gamers !!! social recluses !!! hermits !!

people he deals weed to on his rollerskates (why r all my characters obsessed with rollerskates)

skaters. rory is really shit at skateboarding. like really shit. help the smol

hm now that rory has !Evolved! ig we can do hook up plots if u want but he’s not tht good at divorcing sex from emotion?? like he hooked up w teddy once n felt hopelessly inlove so..... if u want soft plots b prepared for crippling sadness.......

stay groovy XD XD

#radintro #plot with me cowards #said in a very soft and tender way. whispered. im but a small bug in a gutter.

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gotatext · 5 years

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hello, it’s swamp witch nora again…. i couldn’t stay away.... hitting u with a tiny baby boy who is also terrible (sometimes). musical softboi who loves karl marx and hates children dying in cobalt mines to make smart phones. as is tradition, here’s the pinterest board, have a peruse. fyi sorry for those of u who have read this intro a thousand times i literally.... can never b bothred to change it n i think thats really sexy of me x

CHARLIE PLUMMER / DEMI-BOY — don’t look now, but is that rory bergström i see? the 23 year old music student is in their junior year and he is a rochester alum. i hear they can be whimsical, impassioned, self-indulgent and nitpicky, so maybe keep that in mind. i bet he / they will make a name for themselves living in griffin street. ( nora. 24. gmt. she/her. )

aesthetics.

tw ocd, anxiety, drugs

middle-class and lowkey quite wealthy but rarely talks about money, one of those well-off people who still wears really old shitty shoes and only spends money if they absolutely have to

virgin who can’t drive

into star wars, not into the big bang theory. feminist. can’t watch horror movies

favourite film is where the wild things are. also loves the florida project. thinks kids are the sweetest thing and can’t wait to be a dad to some

has been musical for as long as they can remember. first picked up guitar because he thought it would make this girl esther who he was in love with like him, but he just ended up falling in love with music instead.

a techno connoisseur. has been making electronic music since he was about twelve.

after his parents divorce, when he was fourteen, rory & his mother moved to run-down suburban neighbourhood, pittsfield, massachussets.

big into photography. he mostly uses a canon 35mm camera, but occasionally uses disposable ones when he wants that more rustic feel.

falls in love 12 times a day. never had a girlfriend or boyfriend. gets sweaty when someone cute looks at him. flirting?? what?? would prefer to idealise them from a distance

gender??? hm. rory don’t really know where they fit yet, sometimes he feels like a guy and sometimes they dont feel like anything at all!! slippin out of his physical form into the spirit realm! isn’t really bothered, cos they think it’s a social construct anyway. uses he/they pronouns interchangeably, but currently feels like ‘he’ is more fitting. won’t necessarily pull anyone up on it cos he knows having an identity that’s constantly…. in flux.. can be annoying for others … and doesn’t want to be a burden even tho it isn’t at all?? rory internalises guilt

occasionally deals weed n pills when strapped for cash, but only 2 ppl he knows, and on a very small scale grass-roots level!! (so its ok???) rollerskates around campus dealing cos they dnt have a car. we love to see it

aesthetics: bed hair from a permanent state of slumber, calloused fingertips from strumming bass into the early hours and drumming into blacklit night, self-help books thumbed once and thrown beneath your bed, watching vine compilations until your eyes turn square, battered copies of choose your own adventure books, spliffs passed half-arsed across rooftops while light pollution obscures low-hanging stars

plot ! with ! me ! i’d say all the usual “exes fwb hookups spiel” but rory… has never hooked up with anyone… i feel like a deer in the headlights of love……. so give me

study buddies,

people who are also into techno and are music snobs about it,

people who love all kinds of music,

people who are in bands that maybe rory’s recorded and produced stuff for,

people he actually jams with (he plays bass and synth),

unrequited crushes!!

actually i think rory had sex w delilah in the last version of this rp so if u want a hook up plot its possible just unlikely. they’d hav 2 be the driving force i reckon cos rory doesn’t really act on impulses like desire or anythin.... jst bottles that shit up !!! but yea we could do a spicy hook up plot maybs, depending on the person

someone they met at a knitting club in freshman year and have remained friends with despite no longer going to it

people rory knows from open mic nights and gigs

library girlfriends / boyfriends that he stares at longingly while paging through leatherbound volumes

gamers !!! social recluses !!! hermits !!

people he deals weed to on his rollerskates (why r all my characters obsessed with rollerskates)

skaters. rory is really shit at skateboarding. like really shit. help the smol

#tw drugs #tw ocd #tw anxiety #HUNTINGTONINTRO

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chimcharstar · 5 years

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1 THROUGH 55 AND 1 THROUGH 30 GO GO GO

LETS FUCKIN GO

tumblr please actually make this a keep reading

55 interesting questions you should drop in someone’s inbox

1. If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?

I ALREADY WATCH NETFLIX AND AGONIZE OVER MY STORY

2. What’s your favorite piece of clothing you’ve own/owned?

MY JACKETS. ANY CHEST OBSCURING, BROAD SHOULDERED, COZY JACKET

3. What hobbies would you get into if time and money wasn’t an issue?

DANCING, ID NEED TO GO TO CLASSES OR SOMETHING

4. What would your perfect room look like?

IM ACTUALLY PRETTY HAPPY WITH MY ROOM BUT IVE ALWAYS WANTED A LAVA LAMP, AND 1800 MORE PLANTS COULDNT HURT

5. Do you play sports?

6. What fiction place would you love to go to?

SINNOH REGION

7. What Job would you be terrible at?

DEBT COLLECTION. I WOULD BE GIVING SHIT TO PEOPLE FOR FREE. I COULDNT BEAR BEING ENCOURAGED TO FORCE PEOPLE WHO CANT PAY FOR SOMETHING TO PAY MORE

8. If you could turn any activity into an Olympic sport, what would it be?

SERVING. HOW MANY PLATES CAN YOU CARRY AT ONCE

9. What’s the most annoy habit other people have?

WALKING IN MY SPACE BUBBLE WHEN MY SENSES ARE OVERLOADED

10. What skill would you like to master?

A SECOND LANGUAGE

11. What would be the most amazing adventure to go on?

THE ONE FROM MY DREAM WHERE I KISSED A GIRL DYED MY HAIR BLUE AND WE ELOPED TO BRAZIL TO RAISE SHEEP

12. What’s your favorite drink ?

THAT CHRISTMAS SHIT. PEPPERMINT MOCHA AT STARBUCKS. A FRIEND GOT IT FOR ME ONCE. NOW I ORDER IT A BILLION TIMES.

13. What state or country would you never like to go back to?

I HAVE NOT TRAVELLED MUCH EVER

14. What songs do you have completely memorized?

I DONT REMEMBER LYRICS SO MUCH, BUT I COULD PROBABLY REMEMBER HOW MANY SONGS GO COMPLETELY

15. Are you usually early or late?

LATE. IM GETTING BETTER THOUGH

16. What takes up too much of your time?

GETTING OUT OF BED

17. What do you wish you knew more about?

SWORDS

18. What are some small things that make your day better?

COFFEE. SOMEONE SAYING SOMETHING NICE TO ME.

19. What TV channel doesn’t exist but really should?

QUEER EYE BUT BY TRANS PEOPLE FOR TRANS PEOPLE

20. Who has impressed you the most with what they’ve accomplished?

YOU. AND ME. ITS GROWTH

21. What age do you wish you can permanently be?

21, SO I HAVE TIME TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE FUCKS GOING ON

22. What TV show or movie do you refuse to watch?

13 REASONS, THE BOOK WAS TRIGGERING SO I WONT RISK IT

23. What would be your ideal way to spend you weekend?

TAKING A WALK, HAVING COFFEE, WATERING PLANTS… IM HAPPY

24. What’s something in your life that’s considered a luxury?

I HAVE PERFUME...

25. Is there anything you’re too young/old for?

TO YOUNG TO NEVER DRINK. TOO OLD FOR POKEMON

26. What’s your favorite genre book or movie?

I DONT HAVE THE ATTENTION SPAN FOR EITHER BUT I SEEM TO LIKE URBAN FANTASY A LOT

27. How often do you people watch?

I THINK IM SO POLITE BUT HONESTLY, I QUIETLY SCRUTINIZE SO MANY PEOPLE ON THE TRAIN EVERY DAY AND GUESS AT THEIR PERSONAL HABITS AND SELF IMAGE.

28. What’s the best single day on the calendar?

MY BIRTHDAY, SAGITTARIUS SEASON RULES BABY

29. What are you interested in that most people haven’t heard of?

I DONT KNOW ABOUT ANYTHING PPL HAVENT HEARD OF BUT IM INTERESTED IN BLACK HOLES

30. Do you relax after a hard day?

FOOD. NETFLIX. DECOMPOSING ON TUMBLR

31. What’s the best book or series you’ve ever read?

I HAVENT READ A BOOK I REALLY LOVE IN AGES. HARRY POTTER AND ARTEMIS FOWL WERE MY FAVOURITES GROWING UP, BUT CORNELIA FUNKES BOOKS SLAPPED AND HIS DARK MATERIALS WAS GORGEOUS

32. Where’s the farthest you’ve ever been from home?

IDAHO?

33. What’s the most heart warming thing you’ve ever seen?

LUCIFER WAS LIKE YOU DESERVE SOMEONE WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR BORING MIDDLE NAME JANE AND KNOWS THAT EVERY MURDER BREAKS YOUR HEART AND YOU SIMPLY DESERVE BETTER SO NO MORE MOMENTS WHILE THEYRE HAVING A MOMENT AND CHLOE IS WATCHING THIS FUCKING IDIOT AND IVE WATCHED THIS BEFORE SO I KNOW SHES GONNA KISS HIM AND THEN THEY KISS

34. What’s the most annoying question that people ask you?

ANY SMALL TALK QUESTIONS

35. Would you give a 40 minute presentation with no preparation?

YES. ID MAKE THAT SHIT RIGHT UP. SKILLS

36. What’s something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?

GIVE ME A HUG AND SOME CHOCOLATE

37. Would you rather go Hand Gliding or Whitewater rafting?

HANG GLIDING

38. Dream car?

SOMETHING I DONT HAVE TO WORRY WILL FALL INTO PIECES AT ANY MOMENT

39. What’s something so many people are obsessed with and you just don’t understand why?

STRAIGHT LOVE SONGS

40. What are you most looking forward to in 10 years from now?

HAVING A CAT

41. What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but haven’t gotten to it?

DECORATING THE DOLLHOUSE I RESCUED FROM THE BATHROOM

42. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you all week?

IM NOT VERY FAR THROUGH THE WEEK AND I HAVENT ENJOYED MOST OF IT BUT PEOPLE SAYING ADORABLE THINGS

43. How different was your life one year ago?

NOT A LOT DIFFERENT, IM JUST LONELY IN THE CITY NOW, MINUS A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, ONE YEAR ON T

44. What/who would you rate 10/10?

MY CACTUS JAKEN. I DROPPED HIM SO MANY TIMES AN ENTIRE HALF OF HIS SPIKES ARE FLAT SCARS. AND LOOK AT HIM. THRIVING

45. What kind of art do you enjoy the most?

GENUINELY MADE ART

46. What do you hope never changes?

MY T PRESCRIPTION

47. What movie title best describes your life?

I LOOKED THROUGH NETFLIX AND I PICK TWILIGHT

48. What website do you visit most often?

TUMBLR

49. What’s something you’re looking forward to this year?

MY BIRTHDAY

50. What’s something you’d like to unlearn?

FINDING A REASON TO CANCEL EVERY SINGLE LITTLE THING

51. Where would you spend all your time if you could?

WALKING BY SOME RUNNING WATER

52. What age would you like to live to?

80. THATS MY MENTAL HEALTH ANSWER

53. What’s something you’re most likely to become famous for?

SOMETHING CREATIVE WOULD BE AWESOME

54. What’s something you’re most likely to be arrested for?

CRIMES

55. What’s something you really want but can’t afford?

A CAT

Lgbt+ ask game

What do you identify as and what are your pronouns?

I’m even a little shaken by a questioning state right now but for a while I’ve felt the best fit is the androgynous label -- I read a description of it being the purple on a pink to blue scale, both at once but not specifically either one, and something else by itself. I’m also happy with a cryptic masculine grey area. My pronouns are he/him.

How did you discover your sexuality, tell your story?

During the Puberty 1.0 nightmare, I was basically living someone else’s life, and any attraction I felt wasn’t in relation to myself. I felt disconnected from my body and gender and everything too, and I felt a lot of social pressure to experience a certain type of attraction, fit into a certain role, et cetera, and none of these feelings existed in me at all, so I used to identify as ace. When I realized I was trans, I was too caught up in the, transition safely, my life is a lie, stopping dysphoria drama to focus on this, but I had an idea I might be a gay guy judging from my gay creative writing until I caught feelings for a girl and realized this wasn’t the first time that had happened. Some bi positivity and nonbinary rage later, I am reminded that gender is a joke.

Have you experienced being misgendered? What happened and how did you overcome it?

Yes of course A LOT. Starting with my parents, who do it aggressively and maliciously. And plenty from strangers and customers, mostly after hearing my voice pre-transition. It used to hurt terribly because I was dealing with so much other stuff at the time, and one little thing could be the last straw, so I used to react strongly and harshly, to people you express yourself to anyway. On T, I’ve been so much more chill and confident, and it’s less painful to accept that some people just don’t know any better, although that doesn’t change its effect.

Who was the first person you told, how did they react?

I don’t remember, I think it was a high school friend. I vaguely remember texting someone in a bathroom during a crying session at work. My high school friends were all warm and supportive.

Describe what it was like coming out, what did you feel?

It was scary as hell. I’m sure coming out (with your gender specifically) is scary by nature because it’s a huge truth to be telling that can really change how the people you love perceive you, for better or for worse, but for me, I’m also thinking with the dread and certainty that my family would be too conservative and potentially dangerous. Coming out to my family was one of the worst, most painful things I’ve ever been through -- being kicked out and laughed at, a lot of drama, confrontations, Bible readings and being ganged up on at odd hours, trying to comfort my mom who took it as her personal failure -- I was shaking with adrenaline 24/7. I think of the “I’ll suffer through anything as long as it has meaning” comment that was about angsty fanfics, but knowing the truth about myself was a source of unshakable strength and it felt refreshing and even triumphant to say, like I was giving myself permission to exist for the first time. I came out a bunch of times, though...

If you’re out, how did your parents/guardians/friends react?

My family reacted mostly badly, my sister is a little confused but has the spirit, and my friends have been wonderful.

What is one question you hate people asking about your sexuality?

It’s more of a gender thing, but I hate it when people imply that I shouldn’t be on T or are subtly trying to talk me out of it with their questions. After all the disrespectful as fuck bullshit I heard from my parents, I’m tired of this.

Describe the style of clothing that you most often wear.

Zombie apocalypse denim? Gay Layers

Who are your favourite lgbt+ ships?

I’m not really emotionally invested in these “ships” you cool kids are talking about. I like canon, age-appropriate ones.

What does makeup mean to you? Do you wear any?

I’ve never really worn makeup. I brazenly never bothered to growing up, and if it had an effect on me socially, I was too tuned out to care. My sister always wanted to do my hair and makeup, but I wasn’t interested and wouldn’t let her, much to her frustration. I wore some for a musical once though, and I had no idea what I was doing and it was extremely uncomfortable. I felt what I know now is dysphoria and ended up using the lipstick to draw. Another aspect to this is my family forbade it (or my dad made the decision for everyone), not that it made my sister feel less pressured to wear it, so maybe it was some female presentation I could easily get out of. For that reason, I don’t have super strong feelings about it. Not understanding it probably resulted in me feeling left out a lot among my peers.

Do you experience dysphoria? If so, how does that affect you?

Yes. Before my realization, it was a numb horror I wasn’t consciously aware of, ruining nice things growing up to the point where I feel like I missed out on being a teenager. I remember it as feeling nauseous while sitting in a corner, feeling like none of my clothes ever fit for some mysterious reason. Living with my family in the closet, it defined my life, and I was obsessed with my presentation. These days, it does not bother me on that level at all, except a minor freakout now and then if I get really wild and wear feminine clothes. Or I still feel it in more subtle ways, when I default to customer service voice, or when guys my age are twice my height and I look aaaall the way up at them and wonder what gender they see me as.

What is the stupidest thing you’ve heard said about the lgbt+ community?

Trust me, I have heard truck loads of dumb shit and the winner is the Gay Agenda is R****a’s propaganda to weaken the integrity of North America. Considering what is happening over there, it was enragingly stupid.

What’s your favourite thing about the lgbt+ community?

I feel like I can be myself around lgbt+ people. I don’t feel like I have to hide stuff or put on a show, and I’m not afraid because it’s familiar territory.

What’s your least favourite thing about the lgbt+ community?

Aside from obvious problems like TERFs, ace discourse. Ace people are part of the community if they want to be and that’s enough on that, my skin is already breaking out.

Have you ever been to your cities pride event? Why or why not?

I finally went to a Pride event this year! I was surprised it was the first one I’d been to, then remembered my parents discouraged me from going anywhere, never mind to a gay where.

Who is your favourite lgbt+ Icon/Advocate/Celebrity?

I can’t think of many people right now, but Leslie Feinberg seems awesome, and some quotes from Stone Butch Blues are very validating.

Have you been in a relationship and how did you meet?

No. Technically I have been in one, but it was shitty and ridiculous, and basically platonic, and I don’t want it to count.

What is your favourite lgbt+ book?

I barely read… I read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe in high school and it was honestly so precious.

Have you ever faced discrimination? What happened?

Yes. I got kicked out (but then kicked back in again), had my stuff stolen and damaged, was verbally harassed… and I was indirectly fired by an employer, but We Will Never Know Why...

Your Favorite lgbt+ movie or show?

Queer Eye! I don’t know of many though, and some important ones, I just haven’t watched.

Who are some of your favourite lgbt+ bloggers?

My mutuals :D

Which lgbt+ slur do you want to reclaim?

I’m okay calling myself queer.

Have you ever gone to a gay bar, or a drag show, how was it?

No, but I did see some drag performances at the one (1) Pride event I went to, and they were jaw-dropping.

How do you self-identify your gender, and what does that mean to you?

I’m not sure what this question means, but I decide what fits right by what makes me feel the most alive and emotionally real and in the moment. What makes me feel the most attractive to be honest. There’s a post about dysphoria I saw going around, the things on it are basically what I use to figure things out.

Are you interested in having children? Why or why not?

I am actually! Not anytime soon, but I’m the responsible type for sure, and judging by the way I love growing plants and being around animals, I’m probably a nurturing person. I actually like kids too, lol, they’re just so high-energy.

What identity advice would you give your younger self?

You’re a boy. Go!

What do you think of gender roles in relationships?

I think people are going to have different ways of expressing themselves that make them happy, but… I don’t think they should infringe on basic human decency. When I hear “role” I think of acting a certain way because someone told you to, something I want to disagree with on the spot.

Anything else you want to share about your experience with gender?

People move out of my way on the sidewalk and take me seriously now. Privilege or self-confidence… I never want to forget what it used to be like, or get too entitled.

What is something you wish people know about being lgbt+?

That it’s simply living one’s reality. I think that trips up a lot of straight people -- that some people just come like this, and they don’t have to make it fit into their personal identity.

Why are proud to be lgbt+?

Because I worked hard to be alive and happy right now. I’m proud of choosing to get through those rough patches, take care of myself, heal, take walks, cook breakfast, learn healthy coping mechanisms, that was out of love for myself and a defiant conviction that I have a place in this world.

#chatty tag

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ageofdragon · 6 years

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DA4 Cameos and Companions

I wanted to address this, since I really liked this post by @quizzy-tielle but there are a few more notes that can be added. tdlr at the bottom, under the read more.

Origins

Alistair: Alistair will probably only have a Cameo since he has two different paths (Warden or King), but I could see him being plot relevant. Maybe only a Warden like in DA2, even if it is possible for him to “die” in DA:I. This is because DA:I leaves that open if they want to “retcon” it. The words used in the choice implies you might be leaving Alistair to his death, there is an open end there. Especially since we don’t see his dead body only what looks like him going down. On the other hand, it has been a while since his Joining and unless he is like his mother (or the dragon’s blood theory is true), then he is almost due for his Calling. So if Al is there in DA4, expect him in Grey Warden regalia.

Morrigan: I don’t think Morrigan will ever be a Companion player again, but she will be a major npc no matter where the game takes place. Not only is she headed where we are supposed to be, but she is now carrying some of the last remnants of Mythal whether in her head (depending on who drank the Well) or in her blood.

Leliana: If our game does actually take place in Tevinter, I think she might get a mention at best. Either by reminiscent characters or in the grand scheme of things. I don’t see her playing to much part unless some of the game returns to Orlais, in which case as a Divine she could very well pop up. As well as still being interested/running the Inquisition’s spies against Solas (I believe even as the Divine), so again a peripheral character. That said I’d really be interested to see if Lyrium Ghost Leliana pops up anywhere!

Wynne: Wynne has actually died by Asunder; leaving not a character no one cares about, but one that even if people wanted her she is unable to return. Unless as a spirit of course. That said it is not out of the question to meet her son Rhys and perhaps recruit him as a companion, along with his Templar sweetheart Evangeline.

Oghren: I could have seen Oghren returning when the team consisted of mostly the old writers. But with Weekes in charge and a few new writers around, I agree he is probably too lowbrow and overlooked (even among the writers) to pop up again. At the very most, if at all, it’ll be a quick mention somewhere.

Zevran: I agree that Zevran possibly being dead makes it hard, but honestly if I don’t get to see Zev once in this new engine. I will move to Canada just to stand outside Bioware studios and scream continuously at them till the day I perish. Zevran deserves more and if Leliana can resurrect, why not our favorite elven assassin.

Sten: Sten is actually a pretty popular character, only he doesn’t go by Sten anymore. Well at least not for most people. Which is where the conflict comes in. For anyone who earned Sten’s loyalty, he is Arishok now. Which big Qunari plot means definite appearance by the Arishok. However, I don’t see him being a companion, at best he would be a NPC ally. On the other hand, those who didn’t help Sten left him without the Qun...unless he went back and became Arishok later (after the Warden) which is a very easy work around.

Shale: I could actually see Shale being a companion. I mean they can reuse at least one (even in DA2, Nathaniel was going to be a return companion but they scraped it). Shale was a character a lot of people liked, but being a DLC character was underexplored. She was last seen heading to Tevinter to discover how to be a dwarf again. So golem, dwarven, or a mix of the two, Shale is a huge possibility.

Hero of Ferelden: Bioware has pretty much confirmed the Warden won’t be back in full capacity ever. Mostly because creating a unvoiced major character is very hard, when they once spoke (unable to make canonically mute) and finding a voice is no solution (they wouldn’t be able to appease enough people, no matter the actor). Which pretty much seals it as, if the Warden shows up, it is in a written or spoken about capacity and nothing more.

Dragon Age 2

Carver/Bethany: It would be such a guilt pleasure if they did show up, but I highly doubt they would and certainly not as a companion. They have too many outcomes and possible paths, it’ll probably be like in DA:I where they get a special mention. OR if Bioware was really clever, they’d make an obscure Warden in the background look like them but obscure enough they can handwave it as “no, but maybe”. Either way, might show up in the Weisshaupt storyline as a special mention, but not much more.

Fenris: I agree with the other post, that Fenris is the one person who would be the one most likely to pop up. I still don’t think as a companion, because he can die. But I do think he could be an ally NPC. Fenris either gets sent back to Danarius or has spent the past years hunting down slavers, so he is bound to be in or near Tevinter. I have almost no doubt we’ll see him, physically, at least once. Though I wouldn’t rule out him being a Weisshaupt too, if he romance Hawke and Hawke wasn’t left in the Fade.

Isabela: Isabela has been in every game so far and if they don’t continue this in DA4 I will be upset. Seriously, it’s like an expectation now. Every DA game is like sex, it’s fun, there is depth, and Isabela is there. Maybe as a companion, maybe as an NPC, or a extra to the cause. Don’t care, she just has to be there now. It’s a signature. Which...if we can get her in her sick Captain’s outfit again, more kudos to them.

Merrill: Hmmm, I don’t know about Merrill. She is such a good and well liked character, and I really need her to interact with Solas. BUT she had far more reason to be in DA:I, in a game that most likely will take place in Tevinter and surrounding area...I’m not sure where she’d fit. Not as a companion I don’t think. Maybe a cameo in Weisshaupt or when dealing with Solas stuff, but even then, her investment in those things seems a bit weak. The most likely place for me, would be dealing with the Eluvians or maybe even helping run an elven slave underground...kind of. But it would really depend where the game chooses to focus (on Tevinter, Solas, Weisshaupt, all 3 equally by some miracle).

Anders: I think at this point, everyone who loves Anders wants Anders back and safe, but also doesn’t want him to be touch by Bioware anymore. And anyone who hates Anders has either killed him or hoped that he was dead...so... Mixed feelings and mixed ideas. I don’t think he’ll ever be a companion again, Bioware learned their lesson (kind of considering Sera). But also being the entire world’s [of Thedas’s] scapegoat for the Mage War/Mage Split, I’m 99.9% sure we haven’t heard the last of some saying something bias, pretty much untrue, and absolutely scathing about him.

Aveline: She is helping run Kirkwall, which is where she belongs. If the game reaches out to the Free Marches, a glimpse or mention of her is sure to be heard. After all, she is the biggest badass there at the moment. Her days on the screen are probably over though, she was a good character but not one interesting enough to last past a single game of screen time. That said, I’d love to see her side-story with the Du Lacs actually revisited at some point, give us a deep Investigative story with her.

Varric: I mean I have to agree with quiz tielle, it pains me but his days as a companion are probably over. That said, I absolutely believe he’ll still have a large role to play. For starters, he is still our storyteller. Thedas’ storyteller and I highly doubt he’ll miss a chance to write out all of Thedas’ major historical events into eye-catching adventure novels till the day he dies. He may be a played out companion (can’t relate) but he isn’t dead and he is still an adventurer at heart, no matter how much he complains about the outdoors. All that aside, he is cousin to probably the most important, incredibly attractive magister in Tevinter right now, Maevaris Tilani (Tethras). I can definitely believe he’ll pop in to say hello and maybe scoop up a story or two, during DA4.

Sebastian: I’m not sure, I forget how his War Table mission plays out...but also not to offend any diehard Seb fans or anything...but he is shit and if he returns I’ll want to punch him. I mean he tried to overtake Kirkwall, for no reason than his own pride and probably a political move to strength his own country. It’s a Free Marcher thing, sure. But still, Sebastian Vael can get stuffed. That so awfully said, if he does come back I’ll still have a good time. Which serious for a moment, I don’t know why he would. Unless like I said we return to the Free Marches for whatever reason.

Tallis?: I have no idea if we have seen the last of her or not. I mean according to DA2 we haven’t and she was a War Table in Inquisitiion. So I suppose if there is a Qunari plot in DA4, you’d expect see her there. But I don’t know how there she’ll be...she could even be a companion. It’s a possibility, but I don’t expect it as a strong one.

Hawke: Hawke is definitely coming back, I don’t know when and I don’t know where but they will. I don’t say this as someone who loved their Hawke tho. I say this because Weisshaupt’s storyline seems to weigh on Hawke’s presence (if they escaped, they said that is where they are headed) and again, like I said in Alistair the decision to leave them behind in the Fade wasn’t final. Hell I wouldn’t be surprised in if in the obligatory Fade mission we ran into a Hawke that got left behind, half dead but still trucking along with that Purple Hawke smirk on their face. “You look like wyvern shit, Hawke.” “You would know.”

Dragon Age Inquisition

Josephine: I think if the Inquisition is there, Josephine is definitely going to be there in some regard. Even if it is a few letters lying around. She’ll be less relevant that she was in Inquisition though, well unless you romanced her. She still has a family to take care of, plus all that new trade and a few diplomatic graces. A lot for her to take on, plus a maybe slave rebellion?

Cullen: Cullen time has come, I don’t think Cullen wants a thing to do with Tevinter cause mages and honestly I’m glad. I mean yeah, he was the white boy version of Isabela’s cameo, but far less entertaining with his anti-mage, but they’re sorta of okay rhetoric. A little salty, yeah. Cause Bioware had 3 chances to get him to a better place (aka make him a great character with growth), but never got there. So as much as I’d love to see them try and fail to make him a better person one more time, it’s time to let him rest. With his slightly changed notions, his lyrium detox facility, and his dog. That rant over, he could be there in the same capacity as Josephine. A few letters and a little something extra for romancers.

Blackwall: A hard one...in theory Blackwall could make a comeback during the Grey Warden plot, Bioware hyped up. He could even be a true Grey Warden companion this time. However, he has a lot of variables and that makes it hard to bring him back as a return character. He could have died, he could have been saved and hidden, or he could have been saved and made a Grey Warden. Not to mention adding romances and whether he got the Grey Warden epilogue or the “prison counselor” epilogue.

Cassandra: I think Cassandra will have the same role/handling as Leliana honestly. She won’t be a companion, but we will see her interacting with the Inquisitor. Divine or not, she is still helping them with Solas. Though we might not actually interact with her, unless Orlais. Again like Leli.

Iron Bull: Another difficult one. On one hand, he could be dead and that is the end of. On the other he could be with Dorian, who I’ll get to in a minute. I think it’ll be a bit easier though, because they can use him like they did Stroud. If he is alive and helping Dorian (or the Inquisitor) then he can show up, be his usual self. Make references to the past game and his Chargers. If he is dead, then he has a blank stand-in that we kind of get to know during the rest of the game, but never to the extent that we know/knew Bull. That said, he is definitely not becoming a companion. Only two characters with a possible death have ever became companions again after said moment, and I think the fact it happens in the same game leaves Carver and Bethany in a completely different category.

Dorian: Alright, if we were ever going to have a returning companion it will probably be Dorian. I have to agree with the assumption. Because Dorian is Tevinter. He’s the good, the bad. The parts that need change, but also the parts that should be praised. He was singled out for this in Inquisition. It was focused on heavily about him being the new Tevinter ambassador. Of him and Mae taking Tevinter by storm. Their reformation of the Magisterium. They even gave him a plot item, that seemed unnecessary and yet provided a link. Which I’m talking about his sending crystal/magic cellphone. It was endearing and also telling. Why need a crystal when letters work too? And I highly doubt it was just to introduce the idea for fun...I’m getting carried away on my favorite boy. What I mean to say, is Dorian, if not a companion, will be a huge player in the next game. Assuming they are still sending us to Tevinter as planned. Not just because he was so loved, which he way. Or because he is an utterly striking, handsome character, which he is. But because Dorian is a major player in Tevinter as is, trying to change his country and you don’t just go to a country and not meet the most influential of them all.

Solas: Oh boy, I have so much to say about this. First off, I don’t agree with the other post. I don’t think Solas will be the biggest villain this game, this time around. Unless Weekes is really enamored with getting that story out of the way, which he might be. I think he’ll be a smaller big bad in the grand scheme of things, whereas he was the big bad in Inquisition (literally all that happened because of him). I think it’d be interesting to see him as a return companion though. Like yes, we all know who he is. But to our new character? Maybe he is just a revolutionist, maybe he was the one who freed them (if they go the slave plot for the PC). Another chance for him to play the PC and we have to watch it happen. But also, we have to figure out why he’d help us with this rebellion (again relies on the slave plot being used) when he has no horses in the race. I don’t know, it is a possibility and a frustrating, but interesting one.

Vivienne: If she is Divine, I don’t see her doing anymore that Cassandra or Leliana in the position. And again, very dependent on if we go to Orlais. Maybe more so, since she wasn’t a founding agent of the Inquisition like Leliana and Cassandra. However, if the Mage College/Circles of Magi issue is more prominent than I think it will be in DA4, then she might show up a bit more than usual. Still don’t think she’ll be a big role or ally to the main character though.

Cole: I don’t agree with Cole not fighting people, but I do agree that he has other things to worry about that the PC in DA4. That said, when it comes to Solas I feel like Cole will be back instantly. Solas and Cole were incredibly close (for a few reasons I can theorize, coughelves=spiritscough), and he was one of the few who actually wanted to save Solas. So if he is there, he is there for his friends and Solas only. Which means no companionship from him.

Sera: I can’t see Sera giving it a try in Tevinter, for so many reasons. Unless the Inky asks her of course. Every thing from the elves, many who just accept their lives. To the magic, to the lack of friends due to brainwashing and fear. It’s just not an environment Sera would enjoy or even want to be it. But if Orlais is still playing a big part in the next game, I’m sure we’ll turn up the Val Royeaux Jenny eventually. Or like I said, if Inky needs her. I doubt she’ll have much to do with the main character though.

Inquisitor: They’ll be there. In some shape or form they’ll show up, that I have no doubt of. How or when will be a mystery. It might be in the form of speaking to Dorian through the sending crystal (removes the need for a CC) or it might be as a Major Ally (i.e. Hawke in Inquisition). I don’t think the story will center around them as much as we think or would like though. Since this isn’t another Inquisitor story, but our new PC’s story.

Tldr:

As far as I believe, there could be a ton of cameos from almost anybody. Seriously, there are maybe 3 who won’t come back and none of them are the Wardens or Hawkes left in the Fade.

The only one from DAO I could see being a companion is Shale, but Sten/Arishok deserves a mention if the Qunari War Plot is going to be as important as we’ve been led to think.

From DA2, I can only see Tallis as a companion, again due to the supposed Qunari War plot. But I’m sure we’ll see Fenris, Varric, Hawke, and Isabela again somewhere in DA4.

Inquisition provides the most likely return companion, Dorian. I could see Solas or Blackwall returning as a companion, but I don’t think they truly beat out Dorian in the amount of importance and content we could get from a returning character by our side. Since Inquisition is the newest game, I especially see most if not all of the characters making some form of cameo.

Some Special Mentions I want to throw out there too. I imagine Calpernia will still be relevant in some way to the story. As she is also someone who wants to redeem Tevinter (in her own way) and could not be killed by the Inquisitor, even being a villain in their game.

Marius, Tessa, and Charter all seem to relevant, recurring characters in the extended media. I wouldn’t be surprised if they roles in the next game. Especially given Marius’s ties to Tevinter and Calpernia

If we don’t have Maevaris Tilani as a companion, after all of this, I will be shocked and scandalized. She has been another character that has both importance in Tevinter and seems to hold importance to the writers (though how this will go now that her main writer, David Gaider has left I don’t know. Weekes still has access to them and he should use it).

We haven’t yet seen the end of Valta...and perhaps Renn. I’m not sure Bioware will approach more dwarven concepts in DA4, but one can hope. Even more so, since I want to see what happened to Valta and just what is happening with the Titans.

#long post #is long #DA4 Speculation #DA4 #Dragon Age #dragonage

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groundramon · 6 years

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Homph I finished tri and I wrote down my thoughts as I was watching because I had too many funny shitposts and nobody to share them with bc charlie hasn’t watched tri yet

PS i wont be reblogging tri spoilers (besides MINOR stuff like, digivolutions of already confirmed digivolution lines or non-spoilery shitposts, but I’ll try to tag shitposts as #tri spoilers anyways [digivolutions specific to tri ill tag as well but not ones that were already basically confirmed]) for a while so ur safe here! I’m just gonna like everything/most things because then I can rb em to hisyaryumon lmao (also u should check out hisyaryumon....its me n charlie’s digimon blog)

EP 1:

- ok. alright. ok. good. they’re dealing with kari’s emotions now instead of just. nothing. ok. alright. cool. Still dont like how obscure/”artsy” they’re being with it, this is digimon not kagerou project, but ok.

- Also. I stand by tk and kari being one of the few good straight ships in digimon. just saying.

- kari: this is my fault... me: god damn it shut up you little brat also me: god relatable ALSO me: ill take whatever display of emotions i can get

- I love how nobody believes tai is dead like. They’re upset and worried but they’re also like “nah. he cant be. that fucking asshole just left us in our time of need” (actually only matt is the last one)

- Gabumon i would die for you also im crying and I think that’s the first time tri managed to make me fucking CRY

EP 2:

- I had thoughts but then the 02 kids happened and I entered another plane of reality. I don’t feel real right now

- the only one I can remember is evil!gennai being a dumbass and being like “SUFFER AND SQUIRM YOU PATHETIC HUMANS AS YOU FIGHT OVER THE LAST SEAT” 1. humans are KNOWN for their ability to care for others you dumb obvious fuck and 2. is. is the entire tube going? because that tube can fit too people if they squish. This isn’t a joke I’m serious it can.

- oh yeah also when i saw whomstever the fuck his name is (adult guy who i love but fuck names) and he was all bloodied i was like “its a cold day in hell when i see blood in digimon” (I think there was blood in an earlier ep but shh idc)

EP 3:

- didn’t nishijima start off as a fucking life coach to these kids. What the fuck he was supposed to help them find a career not emotionally scar them by bloodily dying in front of one of them

- im realizing that the reason hackmon was always in his cloak, in the shadows, standing still is that they cannot animate him in any normal position for the life of him. I drew him with better anatomy when i was 14 and didn’t have a tablet. No seriously, look:

I didn’t say it wasn’t bad, you guys are just underestimating how bad the anatomy on this poor creature is. Why cant ppl draw dracomon or hackmon correctly imma cry

- ordinemon has the best reaction faces

the best part about these two screenshots is that they literally cut one to the other, first the first one to the second one and then it cuts back to the first one. They were really proud of these stupid ass expressions.

- I started overcoming my dissociation shock from the second episode and my hypercritical mind was analyzing the shit out of everything that happened (it is Not happy) but then evil!gennai called kari and evil goddess and idk if he’s exaggerating to make her feel bad or if she’s literally a fucking god of chaos and destruction and either way im like

she did kinda like. Watch wizardmon die, watch tai die, watch gatomon get absorbed. The dark ocean is just a metaphor for depression and honestly if 02 wasn’t all over the fucking place I think Kari would’ve had some pretty decent development in it. Actually you know what, I’m using that as an angle to approach Tri at now, wish me luck bc i might actually give it more leeway now

EP 4:

- I’m not dissociating but I forgot to say anything again and I already forgot what happened

- Cant believe mei is fucking dead

EP 5:

- I like to imagine that Tai got there like a few minutes ago, but he was like “well damn guess yall figured it out without me. alright ill just. see if I need to do anything” and then meicoomon was Still Bad so he waited for when she struck just to make the most badass entrance possible. Fucking extra ass bitch

- I forgot to write anything again but uhhh I wasn’t satisfied so anyways lets just get into the Juicy Details

Originally I was actually planning to be kinder to Tri than I expected. Was very invested during it. ‘Round the end of the last ep I realized hmmm no this isn’t working out. Where are the 02 kids. You should’ve brought them in to save the day. That would’ve been SO cool and SO fun. Fucking cowards.

god I’m kinda tired so I’m going to address a couple things I still had problems with, note that this isn’t everything it’s just everything I felt comfortable yelling about without rewatching past eps. Like I forgot nishijima was all bloodied and presumably died in the last part until they brought it up and I was like “????” ALSO DID THE LADY WHO WAS HIS PARTNER OR W/E KILL HERSELF WITH THE GUN SHE FOUND, I JUST REALIZED LITERALLY AS I WAS TYPING THIS THAT SHE FOUND A GUN AND THEN I THINK IT CUT TO BLACK AND I’M

DID SHE FUCKING KILL HERSELF WHAT THE FUCK

anyways my problems:

1. They did joe. really dirty. I’ll write a more proper rant on this sometime later (mostly bc charlie is MUCH better at talking about joe than I am) but basically I can tell you that his character development in the movies squandered his OG character development. He’s basically an entirely different person. Like Tri joe isn’t bad, besides being largely neglected (yes he has a whole half a movie to himself, no that doesn’t make up for it all), its just...not OG joe. He’s a fine character just not the same character, and its NOT fine when you put the two together.

2. THEY DID THE 02 KIDS EVEN DIRTIER IM SO BITTER sorry you nostalgia-blind, money-hungry fucks at bandai, but the 02 cast is PART OF THE ADVENTURES UNIVERSE. The only people who hate 02 are ones who like the characters but hate the mess of the storyline at the end, or are completely irrational and elitist about their love of the digimon series and would greatly re-evaluate their opinions if they watched the original series and 02 back to back. They couldn’t even show them in some kind of group montage at the end??? Standing in the background when they call Mei??? Why couldn’t they call mei from a home phone also, but that’s a less important problem idc that much. It was a cute scene besides the lack of 02 characters. Whatever. AND THE PROBLEM IS LIKE kari and tk? This entire time??? Were like “oh they disappeared. oops” instead of being frantically searching for their lost friends??? Like i get tk and kari probably have fucking ptsd and can’t express any emotions because they watched important people die in front of their eyes at an incredibly young age but also 1. they didn’t address the ramifications of ptsd, so fuck that theory/excuse and 2. THAT??? WOULD ONLY MAKE THEM LOOK HARDER??? and put on a brave face as they look, but inside they’re so scared and so worried. Not just “oh sweet, they were found/saved, theyre in the hospital but that’s fine” like WHAT theyre fucking assholes if that’s what they’d canonically do lmao. God I am SO bitter over the ENTIRE thing with the 02 kids, it would’ve been BETTER if they were deleted from the fucking canon entirely. Would I have still been bitter? Yes. But at least I wouldn’t be madder at TK and Kari too.

3. I stand 100% by the notion that Digimon is not and will never be cut out to be an adults’ franchise. It wasn’t designed for adults, and it can’t be skewered towards adults. These particular characters were designed for kids to relate to and find entertaining. They do not work when placed into an adult setting. Like, can you imagine a character like Ed from FMA going to the Digimon world? I guess in a way that’s just Marcus but like. Just imagine the FMA cast in Digimon Adventure. It doesn’t work. Digimon Tri is basically that except real. Also Data Squad was darker than Adventure so my joke doesn’t even work.

I guess my primary point is that Tri isn’t mature enough of a setup for an adult audience. It puts a focus on being “complex” and “philosophical” instead of working within Digimon’s constraints and making something good and adult out of that. Like! Digimon is a fucking TOY COMMERCIAL. Don’t give me messages about the futility of human life. I want bad puns and emotional characters. That’s what Digimon has ALWAYS been, and ideally always will be. Tri could’ve made itself more mature by dealing with the ramifications of the Digital World’s events, how it affected the kids psychologically and dealing with healing old scars. It would’ve been a more mature take on a story we loved and would use things we loved about the story already - the fact that it took so much time exploring characters’ emotions and was surprisingly mature for the time - to make itself better. You need to take the aspects that drew adults to the show and amplify them, not just slap on a complex story and unfunny dialogue and be like “oh this is fine, right?”

It’s not that Digimon can’t exist as an adult property, its just that if it repeats what Tri did, it’s got no merit and in my eyes the franchise is dead. If it survives I guess I’ll be happy that people can still enjoy it but I find it unsustainable and unsatisfying to fans of the older series. Tri is just a fuckfest of highly specific nostalgia that tries too hard to appeal to old fans without capturing what made the original series so magical, and in part thats because the original series WASN’T FOR ADULTS. I don’t know about the Digimon Story games, bc they’re T-rated so perhaps they’re a better take on an adult Digimon story than Tri? But you either need to make your own characters and lore specifically for an adult-oriented Digimon season, or perish. Also, please make it a series and not a group of movies. Getting four eps every 6-9 months was hell.

I stand by saying Appmon is a more faithful Digimon season than Tri to Digimon’s original spirit. I believe it holds more potential for success than Tri and better embodies the spirit of the older Digimon seasons. It’s dumb, its corny, it has horrible puns, but I LOVE it because it also has a deep dark story and emotional moments. If you dislike Tri and you agree with things I said that make it unlikeable, I highly recommend giving Appmon a chance - if you watch a few episodes and think “oh yeah, I guess this is decent” you’re going to like it. It’s everything Digimon has always been and hopefully always will be, just with a different concept. And hopefully the end of the series doesn’t leave a sour taste in my mouth and I have to redact this statement haha since I’m not done with it yet, but I’ve heard good things about it so I’m hoping not so.

Overall, if you watch Tri, don’t get your hopes up. It resolves everything okay-ish but it’s a pretty forgettable anime on its own and simply doesn’t work as part of the Digimon franchise.

I am, however, pretty interested in what evil!gennai said at the end about Diaboromon and Daemon. It raises interesting questions about the timeline too. We know Daemon is in the dark ocean, so perhaps that’s a hint at a future project? (They did confirm a future project btw, in conjunction with tri being over) But what about Diaboromon? I dont believe that Our War Game (I think thats what its called?) took place after Tri, based on the outfits and ages and stuff, but I also don’t remember the movies that well. Could Diaboromon still be out there too? It’s interesting.

However, because of the lackluster performance of Tri, I don’t have my hopes up and I really hope that this “next project” goes in a different direction. Although I guess if they include the 02 kids, I’ll be somewhat less salty...

Side note, did they ever explain why the gennais went evil? Like ? That’s a pretty important thing. The gennais helped SAVE the human world in 02. And I get that apparently Tri is ignoring 02′s ending but still. It’s shitty, because Gennai was still a good guy in the original too (and also they cant just keep is younger look and act like 02 never happened) MAYBE its something I missed but I dont think so. God there’s just. So much wrong with Tri. I’m very displeased and very bitter and I wanna get back to Appmon asap.

It’s got good moments, its got bad moments, I dont know, I don’t care. There’s nothing wrong with you if you like it, there’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t, and there’s nothing wrong with you if you flip flop and are split like me. I just wish Tri fulfilled its potential instead of becoming a boring mess.

#stormy speaks #digimon

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jelloapocalypse · 7 years

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Could a StiB Homestar Runner ever be a possibility?

I mean I could do that but I think it’d be a really weird video since HR is so surrealist.

So people keep asking what So This is Basically videos are on the table for the future. There’s a certain criteria list that I follow when I pick video candidates.

I need to like the series at least a little. If I don’t the video turns mean-spirited very quickly and then it’s not as fun. People always go “why do you hate Pokemon/Zelda/Steven Universe/Gravity Falls???” in the comments. I don’t, that’s why I’m able to watch and parody them effectively. You want a show I didn’t like? Adventure Time. Crunchyroll asked me to take that one on and I was like “haha okay” and I think it’s pretty obvious how little I enjoy it.

The ideal candidate for a StiB is a series that I enjoy that has significant flaws that keep it from being great. Steven Universe, Star, Ladybug, and RWBY would be great examples of this. Those shows have a lot of really enjoyable elements but if I was a creative consultant I’d have a LOT of shit that I would want to rework. This kind of series gives me a lot to talk about and makes it easy to write.

Live action doesn’t work well for a StiB. The visuals for these videos are supposed to be childlike recreations of the actual series, so the more character and background references I can find online, the better. This is especially easy for cartoons and games since I can just look up the assets in screenshots and on google images. Even 3D shows are hard though. Drawing a background for something like Danny Phantom is actually 100 times easier than drawing one for Overwatch or Miraculous. If I have to spend time converting live action sets and actors into a cartoon format, that’s a lot of time I’m wasting that could be better spent just drawing.

The series needs to have enough content to make a 2-4 minute nitpick parody possible. Sometimes people suggest things like a single movie or a game like 5 Nights at Freddy’s and that stuff just does NOT have enough meat in it for a parody series tackling story structure and character growth.

On the other hand I’d prefer the series not be too long. Some people suggest stuff like Doctor Who. I try to watch/play at least the majority of a topic before commenting on it (otherwise I don’t think it’s really fair to voice criticisms) and I simply don’t have the time to burn through 1000 episodes of a show I’ve never seen before.

The series needs to be relevant. While I do like making StiB videos, they are also my livelihood. I need to make sure they’ll be able to do well. People need to know what the thing I’m parodying is. So 80% of the time when people suggest an obscure anime I have to throw that suggestion on the chopping block immediately (anime stuff never does well on my channel anyways). This is also my reasoning for not doing things that had huge booms of popularity in the past like Homestuck, Undertale, or My Little Pony. I feel like those things had their time and they had their ten thousand parody videos and I don’t need to dig up their graves, even if other people still are. As much as I love Homestar Runner and I still follow all their stuff, I’d be hard-pressed to call it relevant nowadays.

Most Importantly: I just need to want to make a StiB on that topic. There are just some franchises that are easier to write for than others. For example this month I’m making a My Hero Academia video. I watched all the anime, I read all the manga, and honestly it’s just a good show! It was REALLY hard to write a parody for! Took me about twice as long as normal to get the good lines rolling.While drawing the storyboards for StiB MHA I was rewatching The Legend of Korra because it’s one of the possible frontrunners alongside JoJo for the December/January video. That show is a TRAINWRECK. It has a ton of good ideas but executes almost none of them well, which makes it rife for StiB writing. I jotted down about 50 gag ideas in a notepad doc before I even hit the end of Season 3. Some other series I really want to tackle are Fire Emblem, Ace Attorney, and Resident Evil. They’re SO stupid, I love them.

So yeah, tl;dr it’s hard to express exactly what makes a solid StiB candidate but I know it when I hear it and if I like it then I’ll throw it on my patreon poll.

If you guys are interested in picking the next StiB video that I cover, you can always CAST YOUR VOTE HERE on my Patreon!

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houseofneri · 7 years

Text

Tagged by: @algandarsplaguepositive

Tagging: Anyone can do this

5 things you can find on my blog:

Awesome fanart

Pretty graphics

Hilarious videos

Shit that I would love to own

Obscure video games

5 things you can find in my room

Boxes full of comics (mostly Archie Sonic).

Drawing shit; pens, pencils and notebooks/sketchbooks.

Like 20 posters, most of which I don’t even have on my walls because there’s no room.

A bunch of figures on my desk, also too much to have room for.

A PS2 hooked up to a small TV that I don’t use enough.

5 things I always wanted to do

Be able to sing

Make some kind of Shining Force-inspired game

Learn French, sign language and also possibly Japanese so I can read some stuff that I own

Meet a bunch of voice actors that I love (I met Arryn Zech earlier this year and am going to meet a bunch more this weekend so I’m making progress on that)

I guess voice-acting myself could be cool

5 things that make me happy

Finding the perfect gift for someone

Having the house to myself

Having a good time with close friends that makes me appreciate life; the kind of moments that you know you’re gonna remember down the road

Getting a Nat 20 in DnD for anything

Spaghetti for supper

5 things on my to do list

Do some of the stuff from the “always wanted to do” list.

Beat all my games... or as many as I can, I guess. More immediately, I own all the Golden Sun games now, as well as both Bravely Default games, so those are probably next on my games to play.

My aunt commissioned me to draw portraits of her cat and holy shit do I need to get on that.

Finish the scrapbook I’m making for the high school doodles I saved.

Organize the screenshots folder from Overwatch because I have a problem.

5 things you don’t didn’t know about me

This is gonna be something because I’m gonna have to think of stuff that (a) hasn’t been in an ask meme and (b) is something I’m actually willing to share online uhhhh

As it stands, I have no idea what to do with my art blog anymore. Sometimes I think about deleting it, but I don’t like deleting accounts because as a hoarder I want to preserve shit. Sometimes I think about leaving it there and just uploading art to this blog, but I never post art anymore as it is. I’m not even sure if I want to. I don’t know why. I know the stuff about art theft is kind of worrying, but I don’t think that’s entirely the reason. I had/have this same problem with my dA account that I haven’t logged into in ages.

I started doing puns after watching the Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures in college because I wanted to take after Barbara Dunkelman.

My dreams are usually pretty random but Overwatch has been a pretty consistent setting given how much I play before going to bed.

I started Critical Role this week and it’s pretty awesome. I’ve only watched the first two episodes so far but I’m excited for more. I tried to get into The Adventure Zone as well but I didn’t find it as engaging. I’ll probably give it another chance at a later time though.

I cried before I even got in line to meet Arryn Zech while at a con without expecting to at all so when I meet Barbara Dunkelman I will absolutely 100% break down lmao

#spontaneous text posts #Thanks Henry!#Sorry this took like a week to post

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meiizumi · 5 years

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Castle of Shikigami: An informal rant nobody asked for about my most obscure obsession to date

STOP i spent like 2 days writing this post and im only posting it on tumblr because it’s the one website i’m a member of that can hold the most text. i wanted to infodump somewhere...... read this to learn something i guess (´･ω･`)

Bad voice acting is the Peak of comedy to me, and while I was looking for something to laugh at one day, I found this game called Castle Shikigami 2 for the PS2. The US version of the game's dialogue is rife with machine translated text that makes no sense, and awkward voice acting to boot. They even have voice actors saying the wrong lines, voice actors speaking implied commands, and a few voice lines are left in Japanese. Apparently, Roger Craig Smith (Sonic the Hedgehog's current voice actor) was in this game but I don't think he's even credited?! I think I know which character he voiced but I’m not exactly sure.

The history behind this game’s localization is REALLY weird. Castle of Shikigami/Shikigami no Shiro was originally an arcade bullet hell shoot em up game. The series was created by Alfa System and it was one of Alfa System’s main IPs. There are three main shmup installments and a text adventure game for the PS2, Nanayozuki Gensoukyoku. Nanayozuki was practically fanservice for whatever number of CoS fans there were back then. Each main game in the series was originally an arcade cabinet, but they were all ported to PC and home consoles. In CoS 2′s case, it came out on the PS2, Gamecube, and Dreamcast, but only the PS2 version got localized. The western publisher, XS Games specializes in publishing quality budget titles such as “Bass Pro Shops: The Strike” for the Wii. I theorize they didn’t care too much about the actual content of CoS 2 and were more focused on selling a game quickly for a low price, so they just machine translated it and adjusted a few things. If you’re wondering if Castle of Shikigami 1 was also translated this badly, the answer is No. XS Games instead removed all the dialogue from the western release of CoS 1, and released it with the title “Mobile Light Force 2″.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘Mobile Light Force TWO’ if Castle of Shikigami 1 is the first game in the series?” If you want to know what Mobile Light Force 1 was, it’s GUNBIRD; another shmup game, but by a completely different developer than Castle of Shikigami. I don’t know why they did that. What really kills me though is that both MLF 1 and 2 use the same boxart, which is COMPLETELY unrelated to the actual contents of either game. AFJQHJFOKLJFDS look at this

There’s more hilarity behind Mobile Light Force that isn’t hard to find so you can search that up if you’re interested. But thankfully, Castle of Shikigami 3's Wii edition got more of a proper localization by Aksys Games.

Now I would bluntly say something like “stan castle of shikigami” but:

1. This series’ lore is insanely convoluted. It’s an essential part of this expansive fictional universe referred to as “Mumei Sekaikan” (I don’t know what this translates to in English) where there’s like, 7 different parallel worlds. There’s more obscure ass games and manga that are tied to this universe, and I think there’s even a tabletop RPG made based off it. Have you heard of “Gunparade March”? Most likely you haven’t; it’s an obscure video game made by Alfa System that also got adapted into an anime, and I feel it can be described as Mechas x Persona. One of the characters in CoS 2 is just one of the GPM characters going undercover to find her senpai who traveled to the CoS world. Or something like that. The 7-world universe isn’t explicitly talked about in the game but they make so many references to it without defining anything that it’s like you Must know about it. There is NO documentation in English about the Mumei Sekaikan I could find on the internet, although there is a wiki in Japanese where I got a ton of knowledge from (GOOGLE TRANSLATE IS MY TRUSTED FRIEND) I feel like I might be THE person in the United States who has the most knowledge on the Mumei Sekaikan, and I could go on another tangent talking about what I know so far (and who this one specific dude Shibamura Yuuri is) but I won’t.

2. The writing isn’t excellent and can be pretty Unwoke ™; the first game came out in 2001 and the third game came out in 2005 if that gives you a sense on what era these writers were in. As far as the games dialogue goes, the characters appear kind of flat. CoS 1 and 2 Kotaro (i refuse to use the official “Kohtaro”) is stupid and driven by JUSTICE to a point where it’s annoying. I can’t tell if Hyuga is trying to be a Ladies Man in CoS 2 and 3. Kim, a religious tae kwon do instructor, spends CoS 2 thinking about how he should atone for his sins, then he turns himself into jail at the end. Sayo’s backstory is that she was a shrine maiden raised as a “human weapon” to have no emotions and her only goal in life was to kill god and then die, something like that. However, after CoS 1, she gets a crush on Kotaro because he actually treats her like a human and Of course that’s what you’d expect from the main teen girl and boy in the series. In CoS 3, Sayo's character is mostly played out to be a major tsundere for Kotaro even though surprisingly HIS character in this game changed a ton compared to 1 and 2 (he had to kill an illusion of his older brother, who he learned actually died earlier, and now he has to kill an illusion of his childhood sweetheart... damb that shit sucks :/). He’s still stupid though

There’s a gag in CoS 2 that I can’t clearly remember where it’s like, Niigi makes Sayo and Fumiko, who are both romantically interested in Kotaro, think that he’s only into little girls? Meanwhile, Fumiko’s magic goes wrong and her appearance turns to that of a child though in response she’s like “hee hee maybe Kotaro will like this”. basically more On-Brand early 2000′s anime unwokeness than average. Speaking of Fumiko, she’s a 400+ year old militaristic witch who constantly teases Kotaro (who’s like 16 or 17) and she wants to marry him for his magical potential since he’s like one of the candidates for becoming God??? From the official CoS 3 character descriptions, “Her hobby is to steal the men from other women. Her second hobby is trampling upon people.” She canonically stole her stepmother’s husband from her stepmother (the 3rd boss of CoS 3). I don’t get how that shit would have worked

3. The game itself is HARD af but to be fair I’m a scrub gamer. I can’t get past stage 3 on easy difficulty without continuing. Yes i bought CoS 1 on Steam, Yes it has a port on steam i feel like i should have mentioned this earlier

4. Besides CoS 1 having a port on Steam, CoS 2 and 3 might be hard to obtain legally. The poorly translated CoS 2 was apparently super cheap back then, but since it’s an old game, its value might’ve increased. When I tried looking up prices for English CoS 3, all the listings were like at least $40 and being broke I wouldn’t want to spend more than $29 for a Wii game in 2019... honestly I just emulated CoS 2. shout out to PCSX2

Last month I was desperate, bored enough, and deep enough in the Shikigami rabbit hole that I tried to find the manga based off of it online. The CoS manga only tells the events of the first two games so I still don’t really get anything about CoS 3, like who Mihee, Batu, and Emilio are supposed to be. However, the plot events also differ. For example, Roger Sasuke exists as a character in CoS 3 but in the manga he literally Dies. There’s 11 total volumes of this; 3 volumes dedicated to CoS 1 and the latter 8 (the “Twisted Castle arc”) dedicated to CoS 2. Only the very first 3 chapters were scanlated to English all the way in 2011. Fortunately, I did find the entire manga uploaded though............... in CHINESE. So you know what I did? I “read” the entire thing using my phone’s Google Translate OCR app to take pictures of each page and comprehend the translations. Of course I still don’t understand CRAP because of the Mumei Sekaikan jargon + machine translation but I understood enough to get emotionally attached to some of the characters. I wish I hadn’t. At least through the manga I learned that the characters DO have some depth and pre-established relationships. For instance, the reason why Roger Sasuke became a ninja is because when he first landed in Japan as a kid, he was getting bullied or something and he didn’t know Japanese then Kotaro saw this and told the bullies to stop. Then after Roy /sorry i mean Roger learned that he was set to home-stay with the Kugas in the first place, he decided to dedicate his life to Japan in order to protect Kotaro back. I think. DO U SEE HOW ABSURD THIS SHIT IS Anyway Nanayozuki takes place between the second and third games and sets things up for CoS 3. There’s a full playthrough of it uploaded to YouTube and I think it contains a lot of juicy lore, but it’s just too much to go over with Shitty Google Translate OCR. There’s also Shikigami no Shiro novels which apparently contain the most backstory, but I have a 0% chance of finding these online for free. Not to mention that these would ALSO be too much effort to Google Translate.

in conclusion: You don’t HAVE to play Castle of Shikigami. Like, I’m not gonna recommend it for the content, but if you love shmups and are looking for a shmup game you haven’t heard of then I will recommend it for the gameplay (old touhou mutuals assemble theres a POWER-UP-BY-GRAZE MECHANIC). I’ve counted like 4 total fans outside of Japan that like this series for the story, and I don’t think that number is going to increase because I doubt CoS 2 will ever get retranslated and ported. I just want you to know that this series exists and that there’s a ton of wacky shit behind it besides the bad Castle Shikigami 2 dub. also if someone knows enough japanese or chinese and has an INKLING of interest in this series umm talk to me and help me decipher stuff

I‘m kinda sad that the series is pretty much Dead though. This is the most recent piece of official Castle of Shikigami art I could find, and this was for the 2018 New Year. The next most recent piece of official CoS art I found was also drawn by the character designer Sonoda Miku all the way in January 2008, commemorating the end of the CoS manga serialization. Alfa System released a spiritual sequel to Castle of Shikigami on the Japanese Switch eShop called Sisters Royale, with character designs I think are still by Sonoda. By “spiritual sequel” I mean that it has some of the EXACT same shot types as CoS and the same mechanic where grazing bullets increases your power and score. This is the closest we’ll get to a Shikigami no Shiro 4. I wonder what the business decision behind that game was but it actually looks like fun and I want to play it so OK Go off i guess

#bees are good #castle of shikigami #shikigami no shiro #video games #i feel: DISEASED

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aparoxysm · 7 years

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☼☼☼☼ i don't even know how many i pasted but GIMME

this is literally going to be so long i talk so much YOURE GONNA REGRET THIS

☼ KYLE & DEANNA ☼

who would be the one to randomly adopt a puppy without consultation

WELL, i think this would be kyle tbh. like no okay, he’s usually a responsible guy but hes SOOO easily manipulated and pressured into things ok??? the puppy would just have to look @ him and he’d just be like “no buddy im sorry i can’t………………… alright fine jump in the backpack ill be your obi wan we’re outta here”

who would force the other to take aesthetic pictures of them

deanna 10000000%

who would do stuff they think is stupid just to make the other one happy

i actually feel like both? i feel like kyle is usually the instigator but since being around him all the time, deanna’s really going to get to embrace a dorkier side of herself. he likes making people laugh and she likes him making her laugh so basically he is gonna make her come to the dork side sooner or later~

who picks out the horror movies to watch just so the other will cling to them

HAHA probably kyle.

who is constantly studying and who is constantly trying to distract them

SO i have finally decided that kyle is really interested in history and archeology. i think hes gonna really commit to college this time around soon and deannas gonna be pouty when he cant shower her in attention lolololol. so definitely her distracting and succeeding.

who initiates the facetime calls whenever they’re separated

both!!

who is more likely to storm out after a fight and who is more likely to cry when they do

i don’t know if deanna really has a temper but given that she’s got italian blood in her, i’d say genetics prove that she’d be the one to walk out. kyle would 10/10 be upset if she did.

who stays up way too late binge-watching their favorite shows

kyle. netflix nerd.

who bites the other’s ear when they’re feeling frisky

deanna.

who sprays the other with water when they’re washing the car

both. 10/10.

who has more fun decorating the house during holidays

kyle LOL hes such a dweeb. there’s him in an ugly christmas sweater and antlers.

who is more likely to give the silent treatment when they’re mad at the other

…..deanna? maybe? im not really sure, again, i dont know what her temper is like. i don’t know if shes a need space person or not yet, but kyle wouldn’t be able to stand ignoring her.

who plays with the others’ hair more

i definitely see deanna playing with kyles hair on the reg.

who is more likely to climb all over the other one when they’re bored

i think deanna’s already proved this one LOLOLOLL and i love it so much, its such a normal organic thing in relationships to hang off each other and i definitely see that being her thing.

who tries to kiss the other as often as they can

deanna. i think kyle’s more of a hugger, he always likes to just have an arm around her somehow. shes the kisser.

who pouts when the other one tells them to shut the fuck up

WELL kyle would never @ her like that but LOLOLOL i bet once the novelty of his blabbing has worn off and theyre an old married couple deanna might sometimes just be like stooooop

who initiates the sex and who walks away when the other is riled up

deanna is for sure the instigator, as if that isnt 100% obvious by now hahahha and god yes sometimes kyle will be like NO OMG MY MOM IS IN THE OTHER ROOM or I HAv E TO GO TO cLASS so yep he gonna have to walk away and its gonna kill him 100 times over probably.

who always forgets the umbrella and who holds it when they actually have one

kyle forgets it but also has to hold it because hes such a tall freak, hed be like good ol’ hunchback notre dame with deanna holding it LOL. but he’d also just like, get wet if it meant keeping her dry and warm cause hes a ~gentleman

who demands showering first in the mornings

hmmmmmmmmmmmm i feel like deanna. unless shes a night shower-er. in which case, shes a freak and kyle owns the morning.

who sneaks into the shower with the other one in the mornings

well this has deanna written all over it so.

who prefers riding the roller coasters and who prefers playing the games

kyle’s a wimp, he’ll win her a goldfish and not throw up (y)

who will text the other one thirty times in a row until they respond

deanna. kyle probably fell asleep LOL

who always forgets to charge their phone overnight

hmhmhmhmhmhmhmh deanna??? maybe??? i mean maybe not always but i just see her being more connected to her phone than kyle, like surfing social media etc. and like i bet hes an iPad guy. so like maybe he steals the wall socket a lot and shes like k remind me to steal ur charger before we go to bed and hes like k *forgets immediately*

who comes up behind the other and slide their hands into their back pockets

both? but i feel like mostly deanna. always givin’ him the heckin spooks because hes dumb .

who tries to get hugs from the other as often as they can

both.

who is louder and who constantly has the tell the other to be quiet

deanna feels more rambunctious tbh.

☼ EMILY & MILES ☼

who would be the one to randomly adopt a puppy without consultation

WELL IF THERE’S ANYTHING MORE SOLID ABOUT EMILY AS A CHARACTER ITS THAT SHE HAS A N UNHEALTHY OBSESSION WITH DOGS. she is every dog lover tumblr post ever. barney, her UNNECESSARILY HUMONGOUS bernese mountain dog is her pride and son.

who would force the other to take aesthetic pictures of them

maybe miles but like more as a joke because like emily adores photography, she used to do a lot of it when she was a teenager for school because her dad was really interested in vintage cameras (see also: her box brownie collection she considered selling) and so thats a nice part of im to hold onto for her. he gave her a polaroid camera which she broke in one of her first big mental break downs. then some years later, a boyfriend at the time bought her a new one which she used a lot for a while. then they broke up and she hasn’t really touched photography since. anyway basically i think miles would probably know most of this (all her polaroids are probably still packed up in a box) so he’d pick up her camra sometimes like “photograph me like one of ur french women~” and shed be like omg stop ur being a silly goose ily.

who would do stuff they think is stupid just to make the other one happy

miles @ emily. sometimes shes such a sad rain cloud and so i think he would resort to any small stupid thing just to make her smile.

who picks out the horror movies to watch just so the other will cling to them

emily would rather die than watch a horror movie i think LOL. 2 spooky.

who is constantly studying and who is constantly trying to distract them

i think miles respects emily too much to bother her when shes working, knowing she takes it all very seriously. but likeeeee, at the same time, maybe if he noticed she was already distracted he would try to egg it on cause maybe he’d think like why miss the opportunity to do something together instead if shes not gonna be busy??? idk. thats a real stab in the dark, i hope all my assuming isnt way off LOL

who initiates the facetime calls whenever they’re separated

emily. worried mama bear.

who is more likely to storm out after a fight and who is more likely to cry when they do

miles is the stormer, emily is the cryer. 100%

who stays up way too late binge-watching their favorite shows

emily. she doesn’t sleep very well anyway so she’ll read or watch obscure film/tv.

who bites the other’s ear when they’re feeling frisky

miles?????????????? probably??? emily is such a shy little squirt when it comes to sex, i think shes very happy to recieve whatever he’s willing to give her but as for her own actions shes too scared to be very adventurous.

who sprays the other with water when they’re washing the car

miles. if only they could afford a car… /sheds tear/

who has more fun decorating the house during holidays

emily !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! shes the person people hate at christmas time. but see also australia has like no game when it comes to inter/national holidays. our chrismas is in the summer so like reindeers and snow and hot cocoa and fireplaces and shit doesnt make sense. its an entirely different culture. same with halloween, its in the spring, there’s no fall colours, orange pumpkins, etc. having these holidays to REALLY celebrate into overkill in the states is probably her favourite thing about living there.

who is more likely to give the silent treatment when they’re mad at the other

miles feels like the angry silent type. emily is the non-confrontational silent type. so both, depending what the argument was about.

who plays with the others’ hair more

i kind of see miles, like if theyre on the couch watching tv or whatever, his arm slung round her and distractedly playing with a lock.

who is more likely to climb all over the other one when they’re bored

hmmm, neither.

who tries to kiss the other as often as they can

when emily is a happy clam, shes very loving. her mood really changes her physical interactions. when shes sad or distracted or stressed or focused, she is very recluse and really just likes to be left alone. but when shes feeling inspired and happy, she’s all for hugs and kisses and touching.

who pouts when the other one tells them to shut the fuck up

miles? LOLOL if emily would EVER tell him to be quiet. a highly unlikely scenario though.

who initiates the sex and who walks away when the other is riled up

i think that miles is mostly the one to always start it, but never with an expectation that she’ll want to? because he knows how much of an awko taco she is about it? its kind of like a very hesitant, curious sus of the situation~ and if shes down then cool if shes not well then theres always next week maybe LOL. but real talk, i think its really special when emily initiates. its very like Big Moment™ and a real surprise and relief to miles’ stress levels cause otherwise he’s always feeling pushed out ja feel? so i think that the simple answer is miles and hes used to her shutting it down if shes not in the mood. but like everything about them its complicated LOL.

who always forgets the umbrella and who holds it when they actually have one

miles forgets and emily brings like 5. i feel like shes the cutie who holds it and he keeps an arm/jacket around her to keep her from freezing to death bc old married couple :’)

who demands showering first in the mornings

i mean emily likes routine but i feel like miles is the early riser for work and is always gne by the time she gets up probably.

who sneaks into the shower with the other one in the mornings

either or neither, depending on the night before :P

who prefers riding the roller coasters and who prefers playing the games

emily is also a wimp and i dont imagine she likes heights very much. miles strikes me as the “big panda winner” type.

who will text the other one thirty times in a row until they respond

emily if shes either a) worried or b) unsure and keeps tacking on after thoughts.

who always forgets to charge their phone overnight

ehhhhh, neither? i expect they both rely heavily on them for work so no point with a dead phone.

who comes up behind the other and slide their hands into their back pockets

miles.

who tries to get hugs from the other as often as they can

emily.

who is louder and who constantly has the tell the other to be quiet

neither? i mean emily is basically a mouse but yeah. neither.

☼ ADAM & JULIE ☼

who would be the one to randomly adopt a puppy without consultation

adam. 200%. he has no impulse control.

who would force the other to take aesthetic pictures of them

adam AHAHAHA, i bet he would take photos of himself on her phone a lot. as if he’s doing her some public service. change his name to “hot adam” in her phone and take a snapchat filter photo of him with some dumb sunglasses on or something. use one of those dumb filters that put your face on the body of some dancing thing and set it as her wallpaper. basically he is so vain.

who would do stuff they think is stupid just to make the other one happy

adam. he doesnt get embarrassed easily and one day hes gonna like julie a lot and notice theres a dark raincloud in there somewhere he needs to chase away. so might as well do that with laughter.

who picks out the horror movies to watch just so the other will cling to them

adam but he’d want her to cling to him so it would be this whole elaborate plan. like “here let me set up the situation this is how its gonna go its gonna be great” and julie is gonna be like omfg stop and then hes gonna finish the movie wanting to vomit like “well that was not fun at all why did you talk me into this ur a bad friend”

who is constantly studying and who is constantly trying to distract them

julie strikes me as the hardworking type. adam is 100% the literal child wanting her attention.

who initiates the facetime calls whenever they’re separated

adam ofc. but then it could be cute, like julie could start seeing dumb shit and text him like “i saw a guy who got thrown out of walmart today bc he tried to steal a the simpsons on dvd” and he’ll immediately laugh and call her like “WAS IT THE BEST THING? TELL ME EVERYTHING” bc his job is a lot of boring sitting around most of the time. he’ll learn when her lunch breaks are and call her to annoy her but also bc lonely.

who is more likely to storm out after a fight and who is more likely to cry when they do

adam would storm. idk if julie would cry?

who stays up way too late binge-watching their favorite shows

hmmmmmmmmm, maybe julie? if its something shes really into or is anxious and cant sleep? bc adam is 100% that guy whos like “pf what no ill be up for HOURS” zonks out @ 9pm

who bites the other’s ear when they’re feeling frisky

adam, hes a kinky shit. but HEY maybe she is 2. we might never kno ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

who sprays the other with water when they’re washing the car

adam. literal child.

who has more fun decorating the house during holidays

i feel like julie has WICKED eye for interior? maybe she doesn’t, but her pinterest board lead me to believe shes stylish af. so i feel like she’d have a good time decorating. unless shes got deep family / body issues rooted to holidays which i could also see being a thing. people stareotypically eat a lot at christmas and thanksgiving omfg, so maybe she hates holidays. IDK. IDK THE ANSWER TO THIS ONE but im also pretty sure adam would dress as a sexy santa like u wouldnt even have to ask he’d be so down. i mean this is probably his favourite christmas related thing tbh (NSFW). im also aware that still doesnt answer the question.

who is more likely to give the silent treatment when they’re mad at the other

adam. bye falicia~

who plays with the others’ hair more

adam but in an annoying way LOL

who is more likely to climb all over the other one when they’re bored

the image of adam climbing all over julie is weird af LOL. so like. maybe neither, idk?

who tries to kiss the other as often as they can

adam. hes so convinced he’ll get her to give in one day. ONE DAYYY.

who pouts when the other one tells them to shut the fuck up

adam.

who initiates the sex and who walks away when the other is riled up

adam sTILL. hes so annoying hahaha.

who always forgets the umbrella and who holds it when they actually have one

adam forgets, julie holds. mostly cause he probably gets them all wet cause hes an adhd kid half the time.

who demands showering first in the mornings

hmmmm, maybe julie? adams probably a freak and showers at night.

who sneaks into the shower with the other one in the mornings

adam 200%

who prefers riding the roller coasters and who prefers playing the games

adam would LOVE rollercoasters. i dont know about julie?

who will text the other one thirty times in a row until they respond

have you met adam “pay attention to me” kane ???

who always forgets to charge their phone overnight

hmmm, if it had to be one of them, probably adam.

who comes up behind the other and slide their hands into their back pockets

adam. anything for the ass grab.

who tries to get hugs from the other as often as they can

i dont know this one tbh.

who is louder and who constantly has the tell the other to be quiet

adam. obnoxious piece of work.

#otp; you're the person i want #emily & miles #ch: kyle #op: deanna #ch: emily #op: miles #ch: adam #op: julie

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rorybergstrom · 5 years

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hello, it’s swamp witch nora again…. hitting u with a tiny baby boy who is also terrible (sometimes). musical softboi who loves karl marx and hates children dying in cobalt mines to make smart phones. as is tradition, here’s the pinterest board, have a peruse x

「 timothee chalamet. cismale. 」have you seen rory bergström around yet? i hear he’s decided to be in AUDAX for their JUNIOR year as a MUSIC TECHNOLOGY major. the 23 year old SHEEP is known to be fanatical, eccentric, nitpicky and dogmatic. ➨ the muse is written by nora, she/her, 23, gmt.

aesthetics.

tw ocd, anxiety, drugs

half-swedish, half-british. the swedish is on his mother’s side. he’s bilingual but thinks in english. only really speaks swedish around his mother. only child, and kinda put a lot of pressure on himself to be the Perfect Kid when he was young, but his parents are honestly, quite decent? and just want him to have a nice life, they don’t care if he isn’t successful or rich or anything, they’re honestly rather solid. (wow imagine having Nice Parents, a first for all my characters, im literally this meme)

was bullied a lot at school. [cole sprouse voice] he didn’t fIT iN AND HE DIDN’T wANT TO fIT iN. unironically wore a trenchcoat to school every day of his life. spent most of his lunchtimes in the library because it was his Safe Space. as a result he knows…. loads of useless information because 30% of his school years were spent reading anthologies on space and the vikings etc. would be good on a game show. obsessively recorded every episode of university challenge as a child.

middle-class and lowkey quite wealthy but rarely talks about money, one of those well-off people who still wears really old shitty shoes and only spends money if they absolutely have to

virgin who can’t drive

into star wars, not into the big bang theory. feminist. can’t watch horror movies

favourite film is where the wild things are. also loves the florida project. thinks kids are the sweetest thing and can’t wait to be a dad to some

a techno connoisseur. has been making electronic music since he was about twelve.

after his parents divorce, when he was fourteen, rory & his mother moved to run-down suburban neighbourhood, pittsfield, massachussets.

big into photography. he mostly uses a canon 35mm camera, but occasionally uses disposable ones when he wants that more rustic feel.

falls in love 12 times a day. never had a girlfriend or boyfriend. gets sweaty when someone cute looks at him. flirting?? what?? would prefer to idealise them from a distance

gender??? hm. doesn’t really know where he fits yet, sometimes he feels like a guy and sometimes they dont feel like anything at all. isn’t really bothered, cos they think it’s a social construct anyway. uses he/they pronouns interchangeably, but feels like ‘he’ is more fitting. won’t necessarily pull anyone up on it cos he knows having an identity that’s constantly…. in flux.. can be annoying for others … and doesn’t want to be a burden EVEN THO it isn’t at all?? rory internalises guilt

secretly a small-scale drug dealer, only does weed n some party pills. rollerskates around campus dealing cos they dnt have a car

long haired, aesthetic is like… timmy in lady bird n beautiful boy

plot ! with ! me ! i’d say all the usual “exes fwb hookups spiel” but rory… has never hooked up with anyone… i feel like a deer in the headlights of love……. so give me

study buddies,

people who are also into techno and are music snobs about it,

people who love all kinds of music,

people who are in bands that maybe rory’s recorded and produced stuff for,

people he actually jams with (he plays bass and synth),

unrequited crushes!!

someone they met at a knitting club in freshman year and have remained friends with despite no longer going to it

people rory knows from open mic nights and gigs

library girlfriends / boyfriends that he stares at longingly while paging through leatherbound volumes

gamers !!! social recluses !!! hermits !!

people he deals weed to on his rollerskates (why r all my characters obsessed with rollerskates)

skaters. rory is really shit at skateboarding. like really shit. help the smol

#message me u cowards x #wshedintro #i feel like som of this..... will hav changed since i wrote this intro..... but..... i walk on the wild side

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zaggitz · 6 years

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My Top Ten Video Games of 2018

Well, here were are again, my friends. After the non stop roller coaster thrillride of VIDEO GAMES 2017, can 2018 live up to the hype??? I’m gonna go ahead and say no right off the bat, but while every single week wasn’t filled with a new incredible genre defining experience like last year, we still had some genuine certified bangers in the mix, many of which I think will remain important to me as the years go by. It should be noted this is the first year since 2014 where a Trails game hasn’t hit the market, so for the first time ever since I started writing these lists, a Trails game will not reign victorious at the end. Scandalous! Impossible!! Shit year tbh, but we’ll get by.

Outside of games this year is maybe the best year of my entire life?? I got out of a years long slump, started an actual genuine career path, and then somehow managed to fenegle falling in love into the whole mix. These lists have always come from some greater sense of yearning to reach out and communicating how I feel about things I love to anyone who will listen, but right now all I can think of is about how happy and lucky I am for my life to have taken the turns it did this year. 2019 is gonna have to try real hard to break my stride.

If you’d like to read my previous rambly lists, here they are:

2015

2016

2017

Anyway without further ado, here’s ten games that aren’t Trails of Cold Steel 3(WHEN??):

10. Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales

This one is only at the bottom of the list because I didn’t have time to finish it. I loved getting to jump into the world of the witcher again. The world is dark and gritty and the choice are morally grey and the writing is impeccable and gwent is even more fun to play as a main mechanic than it was in the Witcher 3 as a minigame. I can’t wait to dive back into this one come the new year.

9. Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology

One of the most well written and executed time-travel-based JRPGs I’ve ever played. It’s a story about trying to fix mistakes, about different perspectives trying to understand each other instead of fighting over differences.

It’s got an overall theme of realizing how important you can be to the world around you despite seeming insignificant that really resonated with me, an amazing cast of characters and it also just happens?? To be really fun to play??

8. The House in Fata Morgana: A Requiem for Innocence

That I didn’t play the first game the year it came out is a damn crime, this series of gothic tragedies has such special, meaningful and important themes of redemption and sacrifice and finding the people who will survive the world with you no matter what. It tackles mental illness, lgbt topics with an immense amount of respect and tells some of the most heart wrenchingly real and gutting stories, but it all culminates in the most viscerally satisfying way.

This sequel delves into one of the most unspoken parts of the original while also offering promising and hopeful glimpses into the future. It’s absolutely a must play if you in anyway liked the original.

7. Wandersong

Now here’s one that came absolutely out of nowhere. This game just oozes joy out of every pore. You play as a dandy bard who can only interact with the world via music trying to save it from being destroyed. Heavy themes of pacifism and the internal struggle of doing your best when you know for a fact your best won’t be good enough cover this thing like sprinkles on the most delicious and colorful donut.

Another thing I love is how every single chapter of this game plays differently, one will be a pirate adventure where you steer a ship with pirate shanties, the other will be a Majora's Mask still town sim, it goes on like this, and it never once gets boring. This game will make you smile the biggest smile from start to finish.

6. God of War

Remember Kratos?? He’s back, in open world action-RPG form. I sort of grew up with the original GoW trilogy and am of the opinion that they aged about as well as I did(which is fuckin not gracefully, teenager me was a fuckin mess). God of War is out of its edgy teenager phase now, and just barely squeaking out of its holier than thou college student phase into a game that actually has a few things to say, fun characters, an amazing world, and a paternal relationship that is kind of actually a joy to watch unfold despite everyone making fun of the game for it.

This game is like twice, maybe three times as long as the original trilogy which hilariously kind of makes those games feel like a prologue to this one. I suppose the real ironic thing is they kind of are?? They were shallow angry games with nothing to say but their existence created a character that, under the right light, under THIS light, could actually be extremely compelling and fun to watch grow alongside his boy. This series went from one I was glad to see gone to one I can’t wait to get more of.

5. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life/Yakuza Kiwami 2

It’s absolutely insane that Yakuza is popular now. I got into this series 10 years ago and at the time every single new yakuza release was a blessing and a curse; blessed because holy shit they actually put out a new Yakuza game and cursed because oh god it sold like shit and they probably won’t localize the next one why did they localize the zombie spin-off it almost killed the series nooooo don’t localize that give us the samurai games instead.

So anyway, this year I finally finished my journey playing through all 7 mainline Yakuza games. The journey of Kiryu Kazuma has come to an end and I have seen every step he’s taken. Yakuza 6 itself had kind of a really rough new engine that Kiwami 2 ended up refining, and from a gameplay perspective these games are basically the same, for the most part(Kiwami 2 is just better). Neither of these games come close to touching the masterful highs of Yakuza 0 but from a story perspective I think the respect and love this series has for its protagonist is unmatched, and while I was sad to see him go, I will never forget that big good crime boy and his whacky antics.

Ganbare, Kiryu-san...sayonara!!!!

4. The Messenger

This game fucking rules, I really don’t know how to do it justice, I played it on a whim and fell in love with it for the time it took me to beat it in a way that I haven’t done with a game in a long time. The gameplay is fluid and fun, the writing is charming and legit hilarious at times and the soundtrack, oh baby the soundtrack, if this wasn’t a year where Celeste came out this game would win every single award for OST of the year, I would fight anyone who disagreed.

The main gimmick of this game once you reach the halfway point is being able to shift between the 8 bit past and the 16 bit future, and every time you do the music will warp to fit those aesthetics and the game does this so freaking seamlessly, it’s amazing. The final level in particular meshed the music so well with the narrative that I was like fist pumping the whole way through the final sequence of the game.

It rules extremely hard, play it. Yes, you, you reading this right now, play this game so these people will make more for me. Please?

3. La-Mulana 2: The 0th Body, The 9th Spirit

Chalk this one up for game of 2018 I most can’t wait to replay and do a bunch of quick runs of. The original La Mulana is one of my favorite games of all time and this sequel delivers more of all the stuff I love while streamlining a lot of the more obscure and obtuse solutions. The music, the bosses, the world, all of the best things about the first game were all just as on point in this one.

The game evokes a sense of mystery you can only really achieve in a sequel to a game like the original La Mulana by constantly making you question the lore you already knew from the original. This all culminates in a sidequest that for a game as inscrutable as opaque as LM2, I still ended up getting really really emotionally invested in.

I don’t think there will ever be a La Mulana 3, and if that’s the case I’ll be able to leave this series happy, these two games complete each other in such a huge way, and will remain some of my favorites for years to come.

2. Celeste

I swear to god, this game was my Game of the Year for 9 whole months. I have never in my life played a game with this much precision perfect game design. This is maybe the tightest most consistent feeling platformer of all time. It’s like basically perfect on a gameplay level. That it meshes it’s gameplay with it’s themes so well is what truly makes it stand out and transforms it into not only a viscerally satisfying, tough but fair game, but an emotionally resonant masterpiece that will stick with me for years to come.

Celeste is a game about climbing a mountain. Celeste is a game about overcoming depression and anxiety and learning to cope and better yourself. These things are not interchangeable, the challenges you face as a player in this game all tie in perfectly to the main character, Madeline’s struggle to just fight through her self doubt and self loathing. It’s an extremely real tale, despite how fantastical the visuals are. It’s a game about fighting and screaming and clawing at that fucking Mountain to give you a way to have your heart again, and it’s absolutely wonderful.

The game is difficult, but every personal triumph accompanies one in game, and it lets you truly feel the feelings the game is trying to evoke alongside it. This is the kind of game that only comes once or twice a decade. I’d be extremely surprised to see anything hit this level any time soon.

1. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

This is the gold standard for all JRPGs now as far as I'm concerned. There are series that go deeper, that go harder, that go all the way in with their music but no game out there exists that is so confidently just the classic all encompassing idea of a JRPG like this one. This game is pure comfort food, it knows exactly what it is and what it is is a fun heartwarming and charming classic JRPG “chosen one gets the cool sword and fights the dark lord” tale and damn it if it hasn’t been a while since we had just a good one of those.

Haha, just kidding.

A third of the way through, this game takes a dramatic shift and flips everything on its head in a way that hasn’t been really seen or executed this well since FF6. Suddenly the comfortable is taken away, the world is scary, bleak, and the themes you missed, that were simmering in the background since the start of the game start to boil over to the surface. The world is darker but the people in it are warmer, they hold themselves together until the day comes, and the game will find ways to make you cry you would never expect from a series this traditional. These themes all culminate in a super satisfying finale that, while not entirely happy, at least leaves the world in a better place than it was before, with it’s people that much closer.

Now what if I just didn’t write any of that and told you why I really love the game.

Credits roll, and the post game, that is to say, the final third of the game, begins. What if the shift never came, how would the world be different? How would these characters acrs resolved? Who would live? Who would die instead? What does this happening mean to the world? What does this new future hold?

In one simple moment, you answer all of those questions, and Dragon Quest XI becomes a prequel to Dragon Quest III (which was a prequel to DQ1 but that’s less important).

All of a sudden this entire series has lore, everything is connected in a way it had never been for 30 years, and it fits so seamlessly and perfectly that it could only have happened in a series like Dragon Quest, which has had the same writer across all 11 games. As a fan who had played all the available english games this was such an insane rewarding moment. I struggle to really compare it to anything else outside of maybe like…

Oh shit.

OH SHIT.

Outside of goddamn Trails.

Ya’ll know what that means right?

That’s right, Trails wins game of the year once again. STILL THE KING BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

#game of the year

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sarahburness · 6 years

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5 Reasons Why You Need to Stop Taking Life Seriously

Pretentious title, but far from a call to adopt a stance of apathy within this wondrous and dynamic reality we exist together in.

Well, no. It’s quite the opposite.

The insight I’d like to share with you today is the equivalent of an open-handed, movie-cliche slap to the face, regretfully but lovingly administered to pull a panicked comrade back from the brink of a full-blown meltdown catalyzed by a collapse of rational, critical thinking.

This short read is nothing special. Basically, it’s a reminder of the same thing you’ve always known, but for some reason decided to stuff far too deep into your travel pack. And of course, the bug sprays and painkillers at the top of the pile provide less incentive to dump the bag to re-evaluate priorities of survival.

My motivation this day is to encourage within you a willingness to consider the game you’re immersed in from a different hilltop. It’s one with a joy-horizon not obscured by the clouds of stress or grief.

Brevity is always the best way to get a message across, so let’s sink our teeth into the meat of this feast. Let’s skip the greens for a time when protocol dictates we munch on a smaller fare to prolong social interaction.

Enough ramble, let’s dive in.

Here are practical considerations to stop taking our lives so seriously:

Reason #1: You’re Gonna Die

This is definitely the most obvious and important point I need to share.

If your attention wanders to YouTube videos of dogs wearing hats before you read this essay’s completion, at least commit yourself to finishing this first segment’s diatribe. That way, you’ll still walk away with a much-needed reminder to stop giving such a serious fuck to whatever drama encompasses your life.

I can’t speak for Jesus. I can’t speak for yogis, mystics or other tight-lipped people about prolonging a physical body eternally. However, I can suggest to you that there’s a high degree of probability the animal vessel you occupy will slowly break down. It’ll become enfeebled, endure a six-foot covering of dirt or an unceremonious barbecue behind closed doors, severing your tangible connection to this physical world.

So, let’s look at death from both sides of the coin.

If you believe in a mechanistic, uncaring, fluke of a Universe that big-banged you from dumb luck and random chance, every second of your existence here should be valued as the only shot you’ll ever have to experience happiness or contentment.

So, why would you spend one second engaged in something you don’t want to do? Why would you fill your days ingesting toxic food? Why would you consume tainted water? And why would you believe the ridiculous ideas corporate entities endlessly serve to keep you in perpetual fear of living out your most heartfelt desires?

If you believe in the continuity of spirit, eternal life or any form of reality after the Earth-plane, the same basic questions apply — why would you spend a single second in fear of tackling head on each and every beckoning to revel in the experience of a unique, fleeting world? What could an eternal spirit possible have to worry about?

Don’t think about your fear. The time to jump into the deep end is now.

Whatever your beliefs, the most important thing you need to realize is the only time you’ll ever have at your disposal is this very moment.

If your job is boring, quit it. If your woman sucks the life out of you, ditch her. Or if you tap the snooze alarm ritually, it’s probably the time to consider making fundamental changes to the way you navigate your reality.

You can start climbing any moment you choose.

See Also: 7 Easy Ways to Remove Negative Energy and Unnecessary Stress

Reason #2: Your Telepathic Skills are Most Likely Not Great

I’ve met some bonafide empaths and psychics over the years. For the most part, humans are unable to step into the minds of their fellow creatures and accurately read the thoughts/emotions/intentions of the entity standing 2-feet from their face.

When we inject our personal spin on the motives of another, our egoic speculations are almost always a cause for grief. Judgment and faulty perception lead to obsessive and tormenting conjecture, such as…

“That person must hate me. Why else would she have said that? Look at her hair. What was she thinking? I wonder if my ass looks fat in these jeans. Oh, I forgot to check my Facebook updates, I’m sure someone liked my recent post by now. I’m gonna order nachos, I think they’re gluten-free. Oh yeah, forgot about that nasty person.”

And on and on…

The point here is simple and quick:

Stop judging other people’s journeys when you’ve never sampled their footwear. Stop caring about what people might think of you.

You wanna impress someone? Impress yourself and forget the tortuous speculations of how fellow explorers might perceive you.

Adopt an empathetic approach to life, applying it both to yourself and others. Keep in mind that your travel comrades have been just as duped as you to believe iPhones and designer clothing have any bearing on self-worth. The contributions necessary to healing this broken world will never come with a “Made in China” stamp.

Reason #3: You’ve Been Lied To

I’m doing my best to keep these points as concise and simplified as possible. However, there would be nothing more fulfilling to me right now than to break into a 97-part series about all the things we’ve accepted over the years as “truth.”

From politics to health to relationships to government to history to the very nature of the cosmos, everything our “protectors” have weaned us upon is manipulated, twisted, and skewed. They are so far from authenticity that “facts” are more accurately perceived by assuming the exact opposite of whatever vomit the media spews out.

Ironically, I can probably sum up this segment faster than any of the others with a simple statement. It comes not from a paranoid, untrusting person who rebels for the sake of rebelling, but from one who has experienced the buffet of media and culture first hand.

“Do not accept the sustenance proffered without sampling the fare. It makes no sense to fill your belly with fodder that causes indigestion, bloating or queasiness just because it’s familiar, convenient or steadily dined upon by the rest of the tribe. If the menu is unpalatable, learn to cook for yourself.”

Reason #4: Other Realities Exist

It’s tough to broach this topic in the mainstream without coming across as a foil-hatted nut job. I have a sneaking suspicion that within a decade or two, this next topic might just become the motivation for humans to rediscover the adventurous, limitless nature that lies at the core of our essence.

The subject here is lucid dreaming.

I will forego elaboration for the sake of a concise post. However, I would urge you to do a bit of research into this fascinating practice. Let me share with you the key insight I’ve learned from conscious awareness while in the “dream” world.

Earth is not the only game in town. No matter how much the gods of science and media love to dismiss the things they can’t measure, there’s far more happening under our very noses than the Facebook updates and Netflix subscriptions we’ve come to accept as the comforting norm.

There are other realities beyond the JunkieSphere we inhabit. I’ve visited, I’ve played ball. If a man of science wants to tell me there’s nothing more to my astral experiences than a delusion of synapses firing in my brain, I could easily make the argument Earthland conforms to the exact same parameters.

They’re equally both real or both fake — no further elaboration needed.

If you want to explore beyond your job at the office and renew your zest for life, I’ll give you a dozen links to start your journey of lucid dream exploration. Or just call me, I love shooting the shit with weirdos. Track me down through the bio.

Reason #5: Egos Are Fictional

Perhaps another obvious one, but worthy of a last loving slap to the face.

You can shift your ideals and views of the world you live in with a single thought. Your ego is a fiction you’ve created to provide a frame of reference to experience the world. It doesn’t have to control you any more than Instagram does.

An ego is capricious. It’s fickle, fluctuating, and endlessly malleable. The wider you open your doors of perception, the less controlled you’ll be by it. The less you define it, the grander your nature will become. The less often you feed it the spiritual Cheetos it joneses for, the wider the panorama of clarity will stretch, facilitating an ever-deepening understanding of cause and effect.

Maybe the person you hate at work isn’t a vindictive monster because she never gives you the days off you request. Maybe she’s just feeling impotent to change her own world, unconsciously projecting her shortcomings on the people around her. Or maybe life here on Earth isn’t the stress-filled, grab-as-many-prizes-before-the-circus-ends kind of carnival we’ve been led to believe it was. Perhaps, it’s just a unique opportunity to discover the very nature of who we are, what we are, and why we’ve chosen to pay the extra five bucks to enter the freak-show tent.

I’m not an expert on evolution, creationism or pretty much anything else for that matter. I can’t say for certain why humans wander this planet, but I’ve committed my days to digging as deeply as possible into the existential questions that haunt us all.

It’s up to us to choose when and where we ride

Perhaps, candy-floss isn’t the healthiest thing to walk away with as the carnies shut down the midway for the night, but I’m in no position to judge what might satisfy the longings of a wayward soul. We’re all doing our best to understand the endless stream of data thrown at us. The only way to do so is to experience the roller-coaster with arms up in the air as it peaks each crest. Sometimes, the attraction sucks and other times, we feel compelled to buy another ticket. Either way, it’s up to us.

Life is an amusement park that should be enjoyed, not wandered through in fear of every megaphone-announced call to action. The snake-oil tonics and rigged bottle-toss games will always be part of the show, but we can pass them by just as easily as convincing ourselves happiness couldn’t possibly exist without partaking in whatever the rest of the crowd is doing.

When you pass a long line of humans standing patiently, waiting to give the flavor-of-the-month a lick, don’t feel compelled to take a position among them. There’s a good chance the raspberry/crack cocaine swirl wasn’t engineered with your best interests at heart. Sample if you must, but also consider walking past the bright and colorful kiosk.

In Conclusion

Eventually, we’ll get to where we want to go, but only after donning our hiking shoes and accepting the eventuality our feet will get muddied.

And that’s why so few people stand on Mt. Happiness. If the path leading to it was already well-worn, equipped with safety lines and neon signs, we’d all be up there.

You’ll likely need a machete to find the hill you seek. Snakes and spiders will definitely await the trek. But once you’ve filled your soul with the stunning view after an exhausting journey, the pitiful knolls you’ve been continually encouraged to frequent will never satisfy again.

See Also: 9 Baby Steps To Happiness For The Naturally Gloomy

The really fun things are still out there. The adventure only awaits your willingness to embrace it with fascination and wonder, knowing limitation is merely a concept defined by Fox News and the fiction writers of science who profess their wisdom as absolute.

Grab your hat and walking stick, and find out for yourself.

The post 5 Reasons Why You Need to Stop Taking Life Seriously appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

from Dumb Little Man https://www.dumblittleman.com/dont-take-life-seriously/

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obspogon · 7 years

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Tldr; I listen to way too many podcasts. Skip to the very bottom of this long-ass post to see my top recommendations. Titles are links (this subreddit's css, doesn't make that obvious)I have loved podcasts for about 10 years, but for the last 3, due to my job, I have become a 40+ hour a week, power-listener. In that time my lists and recommendations have been very well-received on this sub, and since I'm leaving that job next month, I decided it was time to come up with a master list of my top recommendations across all categories.First of all: These are just my opinions. If your favorite show didn't make this list, don't get mad at me, just go ahead and shout it out in the comments. I put a lot of thought into the ranking, but if you ask me next week I'll probably have changed my mind on a lot of it.I have no qualifications to review podcasts except for the fact that I listen to way too many of them. Actually, the real reason I wanted to make this list was because I think the lists I've seen written by qualified reviewers are usually really bad, imo. I always feel like the reviewer has listened to like 60 podcasts, and is listing their top 50. I have no idea how many podcasts I've listened to but it's got to be in the thousands, and there are soooo many great shows out there, so I thought it's my duty to share.100 shows is actually only a subset of the shows I like. At first this list grew to over 200 and I was still thinking of more. So I decided to cut it at my favorite 100 and I added three criteria to help cull it down:It must be active: Some day I'll make a list of my favorite dead podcasts, but none are on this list.It must have at least 10 episodes: I think 10 episodes in is a decent trial period. If I've listened to less than that I don't feel comfortable recommending it. Also there's a trend right now of shows putting out one 8-10 episode season, and then just never renewing to a second season. So, if it has more than 10 episodes, I feel like it has staying power.It must be interesting for general audiences: Podcasts tend to be topical. That makes it a little tough to recommend them if I don't know you, because you might not be into the topic of the show. So I have only included shows that I think you don't need too much specific knowledge to enjoy (either because the topic is general, or because it's fun even for the non-initiated.)I'm sure at some point I screwed up on those rules, but they were the guidelines I was working from.Honorable Mentions: First here are some smaller podcasts that didn't quite make it into my top 100 but I still think you should check out:This is why you're single, Doughboys, Do By Friday, Hopefully We Don't Break-Up, Roundtable of Gentlemen, Mental Illness Happy Hour, Sleepycast, James O'Brien's Mystery Hour, Nocturne Podcast, Quirks and Quarks, Put Your Hands Together, Book Shambles, Sex & Other Human Activities, Singing Bones, A Taste of the Past, We Fact Up, The Bridge, Step By Stapp, Return Home, Movie Sign with the Mads, Save it for the Show, The F Plus, Next Picture Show, Be Here For a While, Code Breaker, GoosebudsOk, with no further ado . . .The List: In reverse order100. I Tell My Husband the News, A news-reporter reads current headlines to her husband, who is a comedian. Not exactly cutting edge satire, but I love this show for the hosts' chemistry. They are super in love and incredibly cute together. They just make me happy. And their banter is usually legitimately funny.99. You Must Remember This, True stories from old hollywood narrated over lush, old-fashioned movie music. The stories are great and give you a window into the crazy world of movies in the black and white era.98. 8-Bit Book Club, Three funny nerds read through old novelizations of video games. The books are ridiculous and the hosts make fun of them mercilessly. Great host chemistry. Tons of fun.97. Lore, Solo podcast exploring the stories and legends all around us. A tightly written and moodily produced show focused on the tall tales woven into our history.96. Longform, Long conversations with writers of non-fiction. Good host and really interesting conversations. A bit slow compared to most of my other podcasts, but satisfying.95. Superego, Very strange, slightly off-putting, free-association improv comedy. When it's bad it's just weird, when it's good it's magical.94. Our Fake History, Single host show exploring misconceptions and pseudo-history. Like a Hardcore History for things that didn't actually happen. Host is great and topics are usually very interesting.93. I Was There Too, Interviews with non-famous people who in some way worked on iconic scenes in famous movies. Fascinating if, like me, you have a love for pop-culture arcana.92. Shut Up and Sit Down, Four British comedians talk about and occasionally play board games. Lot of fun, and a lot of goofballery. I don't play a lot of boardgames, but I've bought several because these guys made them sound fun.91. I Saw That Years Ago, Two witty guys talk about movies they don't quite remember. The concept doesn't actually do much, this show is all about the chemistry between the hosts which is fantastic.90. Duncan Trussel Family Hour, Comedian Duncan Trussel invites guests on for long rambling conversations. Stands out for Duncan's odd choice of guests and the unique, weird nature of the conversations he engages them in.89. The Adventure Zone, Goofy brothers play Dungeons & Dragons. Took me several tries to get into this show (beginning's a little rough and I don't play D&D.) But I kept giving it chances because of some strong recommendations, and it does blossom into some really unique storytelling.88. Planet Money, Very NPR show about money and our world and the interplay between economics and our daily life. Fun and listenable in spite of the dreary subject matter. Has some really great education about dollars and cents that we really should all be listening to.87. Giant Bombcast, The crew of a gaming magazine get together and shoot the shit about games, life and everything in a long and rambling discussion.86. Burnt Toast, Conversations and researched features on food, food culture, and it's relationship to daily life. Lovingly produced and charmingly performed. An absoulte delight.85. Fireside Mystery Theatre, Storytelling and variety show done in front of a live audience. The stories are usually a lot of fun, and the theatre atmosphere adds a fun unique quality to it.84. Opening Arguments, A lawyer and a comedian chat about the law. Sort of like Star Talk, but for legal questions. The hosts perfectly hit the balance of informative and engaging. Law affects all our daily lives and it's something that most people know bupkis about, and I love that this show does a great job of making it accessible.83. Comedy Bang! Bang!, One of the old staples of podcasting. Loose format comedy show usually involving interviews followed by some light improv. Still a great show after all these years.82. The Black Tapes, Ghost stories, but in the form of a "non-fiction" journalistic podcast. Really well-told with a dark and brooding tone. A weaker second season has dropped it in my esteem but still great.81. Never Not Funny, Comedian plus celbrity guest ramble on about nothing in particular. Jimmy Pardo is a great host and has a wonderfully cutting sense of humor. One of the longest running big podcasts. Very rarely not funny.80. Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, Comedian Richard Herring does one-on-one interviews with comedians in which he asks them stupid and ridiculous questions. Throws out the formal interview format and just has fun. Having a big live audience elevates it.79. Rocket, A few tech journalists run a show about general geek topics, with an emphasis on tech. Perfect balance of smart informational chat and good host chemistry.78. We're Alive, Audiodrama about a Zombie infestation. Very good writing and acting and probably the best-produced serial scripted story podcast. Great use of tension throughout.77. Greg Proops Film Club, I've always loved Greg Proops' wacky smart-guy comedy, but his main podcast doesn't work for me as well as this one, where the theme of chatting about movies and geekery keeps him more on task. And through all the joking, he has a lot more interesting stuff to say than most of the serious movie podcasts.76. Harmontown, Comedy writer Dan Harmon plus friends talk nonsense and generally have fun. Mostly funny with occasional seriousness. Harmon is a great lovable asshole and the podcast format is perfect for him. Does fun and interesting things with the basic talk-show format.75. Smash Cut, Storytelling via dialogue collage. Wonderfully unique show that ranges from gripping to tragic to avant-guard. May be too weird for some, but hits a sweetspot for me.74. Desert Island Discs, Celebrities are interviewed with the same question: If you were stuck on a desert island, what five albums would you want to have with you. Mostly a conversation about music, but it expands into a bigger conversation about the guest's life and influences.73. No Such Thing As a Fish, The writers of a British trivia show go into depth on the obscure knowledge they've been researching and ramble on about arcane knowledge. Smart people chatting casually about smart things. Usually very interesting to listen to.72. Blank Check, Movie discussion pod that perfectly hits the balance between smart discussion and levity. The premise is talking about director's who get license to do whatever they want (the titular blank check), but it's really a pretty freewheeling conversation. Phenomenal chemistry between the hosts.71. The Future of Everything, Wall Street Journal's interesting impecabbly researched radio-style features on technologies and ideas that are pushing our world into an uncertain future.70. The Memory Palace, Bite sized stories from 18th - 20th century history, told with interest and pathos. Focusing on the human story behind the story of our recent past.69. The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air, Silly absurdist storytelling about a radio show that records in the Eiffel Tower. This show is not for everyone, but if it hooks you it is delightful and charming and always a joy to listen to.68. Imaginary Worlds, Serious discussions exploring the quirky little details of the worlds of popular fantasy and sci-fi franchises. Done as a host monologue, interspersed with interviews of experts and fans. I love the way he parses out interesting aspects of those worlds and tries to envision how they would really work.67. Hello From the Magic Tavern, Improv comedy set in a fantasy world with a diverse cast of funny improvisers playing far-out fantastical characters. Solidly funny and always fun to disappear into their goofy mythical world.66. The Joe Rogan Experience, Interview show with all types of guests. One of the most succesful podcasts in the world. It's a bit love-it-or-hate-it, and while I mostly love it, it can get on my nerves at times. Very hard for me to rank this one for that reason. But I must say Joe Rogan is a great interviewer and everyone should give it a try for themselves and find out which side they fall on.65. In Our Time, Big, heavy intellectual discussions of very serious topics in history, art and culture. This one might be a bit too smart for me, tbh, but I try and when I can hook into a topic it's immensely satisfying.64. Hello Internet, Two internet smart guys chat casually about smart and obscure subjects. There's actually not that much to this show, but the hosts are great and they have a very unique chemistry.63. The Infinite Monkey Cage, British-style panel show where a couple comedians and a couple scientists get together an tackle a difficult science topic and try to find answer. Unlike a lot of science shows, they don't shy away from talking actual science, but the chemistry of the hosts keeps the show always entertaining.62. Wolf 359, Narrative sci-fi podcast. Intriguing space travel story with a quirky sense of humor and good sound design to create a solid sense of atmosphere. Starts simple and blossoms into an awesome story.61. The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Comedians do a parody of an old-fashioned radio play in front of a live audience. So much fun. Best moments are when it breaks down. Was dead for a long time but there have been recent occasional releases so I'm considering it alive and putting it on this list.60. Doug Loves Movies, Comedian Doug Benson has several celebrity guests on each episode to talk movies and play games. The quintessential podcast for me. Slightly too lose and quirky to ever have worked as a radio show. Usually funny and always fun.59. a16z, Science and Tech podcast with interviews of actual scientists doing cutting edge work. Can be a bit dry, but I love how in depth it is, and that it doesn't dumb it down to a grade school level like a lot of similar shows.58. The Football Ramble, Four dudes with amazing chemistry talking bullshit and football (soccer) and just generally mocking each other and having a blast while doing it. I listen to a lot of sports podcasts but few are so good (and general-audience friendly enough) that I would recommend them to all podcast listeners. But this one is just tons of fun.57. Theory of Everything, Loose think-pieceish conversations about life and technology and the connections between things. Really interesting and well thought-out.56. The Truth, Short non-serial audio dramas. Stories range from serious to silly, often strange and off-kilter. Very well produced and performed, but the best part is the writing, which is awesomely creative and interesting.55. Reply All, One of many thinkpiece shows on this list. This one sets itself apart by focusing on internet-related stories. There's a whimsical nature to the hosts which gives the show a unique sort of charm.54. Spontaneanation, Paul F Tompkins has an interview with a famous person and then leads a long-form improv scene. Usually very funny simply because Tompkins is so funny.53. Candidate Confessionals, Interviews with losing candidates (or people who worked on losing campaigns) done as sort-of autobiographies telling the story of how a campaign fails. Fascinating deconstruction of politics from a new angle. Refreshingly honest at times.52. Mouth Time!, Absurdist show that parodies the vapid beauty mag culture but taken to the extreme. Part way between absurdism, improv comedy, and an actual pop cultuer podcast.51. The Black List Table Read, Audio performances of industry movie scripts that haven't gotten made. The concept is fabulous and the actors do a great job. Unique storytelling podcast with wonderful production. Some of the scripts are really great. Held back a bit by the fact that movie scripts aren't always written to be read out loud.50. 2 Dope Queens, Two sassy ladies host a comedy podcast with guests that chat with them or do their stand-up acts. Love the energy of the hosts. Generally great when the guests are good.49. Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Two divinity professors use their techniques of scholarly bibilcal analysis on the Harry Potter books. Silly concept but they take it completely seriously. The result is part deep textual dive into the Potter-verse, and part reflection/conversation on life in general. Wonderfully introspective. Somehow both heavy and light at the same time.48. Monday Morning Podcast, Weekly show of the ramblings of comedian Bill Burr. Zero production or planning, just unfiltered Bill, who delivers the entire show in his trademark angry monologue. Usually funny, but that's not the reason it made this list: What makes this show stand out for me is its personal and honest nature. If you can get past Burr's abrassiveness, definitely worth a listen.47. The Adam Buxton Podcast, Comedian interviews celebrities. It's hard to stand out in this crowded genre, but this show does due to the host's magnetism and energy, and the quirkiness of the show's production, with little songs throughout (including the ads), and lots of silly digressions. And at it's heart, Adam is an excelent interviewer who gets a lot out of his guest.46. Anxious Machine, Introspective think-pieces about the human mind and how it works in human society. Usually done through interview intersperced with host commentary. The stories sit in a sweetspot between the personal and the general in a unique way.45. The Flop House, Three guys watch a bad movie and talk about it. The real joy, though, is in the constant flights of fancy when they say something dumb or misspeak that cascade into jokes that they follow to their logical conclusion. At its best it’s a top 10 podcast, but I feel like its lost some of its fastball lately, so its fallen on my list.44. Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, I think Gottfried is one of the funniest guys in show business. This is his interview show, where he talks mostly to comedians, mostly about comedy. If you can handle his voice, it's a really wonderful show.43. Laser Time, Friends shooting the shit is probably the most common podcast genre, and one that I listen to a lot of, but not a lot of those made this list because while they may be listenable, they are rarely notable. Laser Time is a major exception in that the chemisty of the hosts and the odd specificity of the pop culture arcana they talk about makes the show consistently fun and fascinating.42. How did this get Made?, Three comedians and a guest review bad films. This show might be lost among the sea of decent/good comedy podcasts if not for the work of Jason Mantzoukas, who is imo the funniest man in podcasting.41. This Feels Terrible, Comedienne interviews other comedians about dating and love and relationships. Host has a lovely easy style that is good for getting people talking about really personal stuff. Has great chemistry with most guests.40. Beef and Dairy Network Podcast, Comedy podcast pretending (with a completely straight face) to be an actual beef and dairy specialty pod. The result is very high-quality absurdist comedy.39. Here's The Thing, Alec Baldwin interviews celebrities. The tone is very NPR but Baldwin keeps it a bit tighter than your average radio show. TBH, most of the time when a famous person decides they want a podcast the show ends up sucking hard, but Baldwin is a charming and natural host and consitently gets great guests. I know some people hate this show but I find it consistently great.38. My Favorite Murder, Two entertaining women talk through and dissect the details of a real-life grisly murder and generally try and figure out whodunit. Keep it pretty light considering how serious the subject matter is but it works because of how fun and interesting the hosts are. (Though it is guilty of my biggest podcast pet-peeve: Taking forever to start the show.)37. The Bugle, News and Politics satire with an absurdist twist. Three years ago this was a top-5 podcast for me and then they went on a long hiatus and lost John Oliver. Still great and slowly working its way back up the ranks.36. Guys We Fucked, Filthy comedy show that's secretly a positive look at serious issues relating to sexuality. The hosts have a good time and keep it light. Their chemistry makes the show great.35. Common Sense, Very heady current events discussion from an outside-the-box perspective. The host is a provocateur who tries to challenge your preconceptions about government and society. I don't always agree with him but he always opens my eyes at the gaps in my own thinking.34. Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell's odd little examinations of historical events from a new perspective are fantastic. The first season was very well-thought out, although still finding it's voice. I was very glad that it returned in time to have enough episodes to make itself elligible for this list.33. Love + Radio, Interesting people tell their stories in extended, tightly edited interviews. The people are usually non-famous people who have done remarkable things in their lives. Good production and good stories.32. 99% Invisible, Little think pieces about design and it's role in our everyday life. Impecably researched and always interesting, with a wonderfully charming delivery from its host.31. The Hilarious World of Depression, Comedian interviews comedians about depression and how it shapes their lives. Genius concept that perfectly hits the sweetspot of using humor to enlighten dark subjects. Fairly new and still finding its feet, but already one of my favorite shows.30. Radiolab, Reporters explore fascinating and mysterious stories usually in the realm of science and nature and wind their way to answers in a series of tightly cut together interviews. Really tightly produced (sometimes too much so) and very well researched, this show is one of the most iconic podcasts in the medium.29. Death, Sex & Money, Very personal stories about the big decisions in everyday people's lives, done in interviews in a journalistic style. Very heavy sometimes, but really great. Really digs into the real stuff in people's lives.28. You Made it Weird, Very long in-depth celebrity interviews with comedian Pete Holmes as host. A mirror-universe version of WTF, with a young-happy host rather than an angry older one. This doesn't have the same bite as WTF, but it replaces it with a wonderful sense of joy. Both hosts have mastered the art of the long interview.27. Reveal, Serious journalism, but with a slightly more of a conversational tone and more production to make it a more entertaining version of a news show. Nevertheless, the subject matter is heavy, and often deadly serious.26. Overdue, A couple funny dudes talk through great classic novels while riffing and making jokes. Spot-on chemistry and a perfect combination of high-brow art and low-brow comedy.25. Relic Radio, I love that podcasts are bringing back the audiodrama, an artform basically dead for forty years. But few of the new ones can match the originals, back when there was a big industry of daily and weekly shows and hundreds of professional actors and writers churning them out. Relic Radio lovingly curates from over 30 years of successful but forgotten shows to present them to a modern audience. The stories, while old-fashioned, are amazing, well-performed and fully produced with original music.24. Savage Lovecast, Call-in advice show about love, sex and life. Whet sets it apart is the kind and charismatic host, who has a gift for cutting to the heart of complex questions. Advice shows are a bit overdone, but he manages to elevate the format with his frankness and his ability to connect the problems we have in our loves, to larger questions we have about our selves.23. Crimetown, In depth audio documentary on organized crime in a big city (season 1 was on Providence.) Really well told story that feels tight and informative, while staying entertaining, mostly because the stories themselves are so engaging.22. Modern Love, Essays and stories about love in the modern world, read by famous actors. The pieces themselves are incredible, both joyful and heart-wrending. They often interview the author after, which sometimes makes me wish they would just have the author read it (due to the personal nature of the stories.)21. Wooden Overcoats, Scripted comedic audiodrama about competing funeral homes on a small British island. Very witty. Wonderfully funny and charming. Has probably the best character voice acting in scripted podcasts.20. Invisibilia, This podcast describes itself somewhat grandly as exploring the invisible things that shape everyday life. What it is, is a damn good radio-style interview think-piece show, with an emphasis on the patterns of human behavior. I love the light touch that the hosts give to the show. With a penchant for giving more questions than answers (in a good way).19. The Best Show with Tom Scharpling, Cult show that started in radio over a decade ago and slowly got weirder as it went. It's an ironic impersonation of a radio call-in show. This is definitely not for everyone; many of you will hate this show. But if you like it you will likely end up loving it. The host is a mad genius of twisting the radio format without ever totally breaking it. Best known for insulting and abusing his call-in listeners.18. WTF, An angry old comedian interviews famous people in great depth. Marc Maron's gift is in getting people speaking from the heart, and in breaching personal subjects that don't usually get talked about in interviews. WTF is often funny, usually fascinating and occasionally heartbreaking.17. Alice Isn't Dead, Weird, creepy, wonderfully produced and performed fictional story about a woman on a journey to find someone she lost. Uniquely moody and moving. Poetic to the point that it might be considered self-indulgent, so it might not be for everyone. But if you dive in, it's an incredible journey.16. The Moth, Personal stories told by a wide set of writers in front of a live audience. Usually funny and often touching in a smart-NewYorker-piece sort of way. Curated from a larger set of stories, and it shows: The stories are more consistently good than most of these types of shows.15. The Church of What's Happening Now, Comedian Joey Coco Diaz plus guest (usually comedians) trade life-stories. Diaz is really funny, as are most of his guests, but what stands out is Diaz's unique comedic voice and how he can talk about the really heavy stuff in his life in a funny way. And he is just overflowing with stories. He has had a crazy life.14. Strangers, Tough, beautiful personal stories examined in interviews with leather-voiced Lea Thau (I mean that in a good way: love her voice, it's like a smoked Nina Simone). It's like little audio documentaries about everyday people who have been through extraordinary personal turmoil. Beautiful stories, beautifully told.13. The Mortified Podcast, Grown-ups read their childhood journals to a live audience along with embarassing stories and memories about being kids. On one level it's really funny to hear their skewed childhood perceptions but also there's something amazingly cathartic about sharing in the embarassment. At least for me, being able to laugh at it makes me feel better about my own messed up childhood, and realize that all the stuff I was trying to hide, is the exact same stuff that everyone else was feeling as well.12. Snap Judgment, Great true-stories told by the people who lived through them, over some sick beats and tight riffs, all pulled together by my favorite host in podcasting.11. Here Be Monsters, Wonderful stories about suffering and hate and love and all the crazy things that are going on in the human soul. Told mostly through solo interviews with lightly intersperced music and production. The show is very heavy, but very listenable and very real.10. The Film Reroll, Rotating crew of actors and comedians pick a famous movie and improvise a new version of it with license that anything can happen. Hilarity ensues. The new movies are sublime and ridiculous and often better than the original. They use a dice system to run their stories like a game so they can't decide in advance what will happen. Brilliant concept, perfectly executed. Probably the most pure fun in podcasting.9. This American Life, Pastiche of stories about the American experience, told in a jounalistic style through interviews. Sometimes sad, sometimes joyful, always interesting. Many smarter things have been said about this show than I can say. Many of the podcasts on this list are in response to or immitation of This American Life, but the original continues to be one of the best examples of the format.8. Risk!, Similar to the Moth, people come on to tell their personal stories. I go back and forth between the two of them as to which I like more. Where the Moth has stories that are more cleverly written, this show feels more real and visceral. The storytellers are less likely to be writers, so we get less polished stories. But this show ultimately gets the nod for me with going to dark places of profound personal drama. Varies greatly in tone from episode to episode, but has been consistently great for a long time now.7. My Dad Wrote a Porno, A host and his two friends go chapter-by-chapter through his dad's erotic novel, constantly disecting and laughing about the bizarre and terrible writing. This might honestly be the funniest show in podcasting right now. And while it's mostly light-hearted humor, there's something very compelling about the bizarre view into a man's relationship with his father that comes out from the show's premise.6. Beautiful/Anonymous, Long phone conversations with anonymous callers who tell personal stories about their lives. The host is a comedian, but he doesn't try to be funny most of the time, keeping a balance between respecting the story and injecting levity when needed. Brilliantly simple yet unique concept and executed perfectly.5. Welcome to Nightvale, Bizarre, absurdist poeetry, delivered hypnotically in the form of a local radio bulletin, mixed with wonderful music for ambience and as breaks in the main show. Welcome to Nightvale is honestly pretty hard to describe. It's funny and dark and compelling and weird all at once. It's completely unique, and it's definitely not for everyone, but if it's for you, it's can be transformative.4. Song Exploder, Musicians break down the making of their songs, pulling out and explaining individual tracks and showing you how the song works piece by piece and ultimately how they work. Lovely and unique podcast for music lovers and noobies alike.3. PRI's the World, You could argue this is the best show in podcasting and it's basically a news show, but not your typical cable news fare. Reporters go around the globe and go in depth with local topics and how they affect the world and what they mean to all of us. These are all human stories, with all the pathos and weight of great fiction, but done in interview with real people. Heavy show but very listenable in spite of the seriousness.2. Criminal, Stories at the extremes of the human experience, told through interviews in a semi-journalistic style. Perfect blend of story-telling and introspection. Captures these wonderfully twisted stories with a matter-of-fact style that succeeds in putting you in the shoes of the people in the stories, and make you reconsider your preconceptions about the topic. Love the pacing and music on this show as well. Perfectly produced.1. Hardcore History, Powerful stories from the past, told passionately and intelligently. Dan Carlin has a gift for the dramatic, keeping the narrative human and personal while still showing you the great sweep of history. At its heart it's just great epic storytelling, you could easily forget that it's technically learning. But then he'll make some point that makes you realize these were real people with real feelings, and these stories created the world as we live in it. This show awakened in me a totally new understanding of our world. In spite of how many podcasts I listen to, it was pretty easy to choose which one I feel is the best. Warning: very long episodes.EDIT: Formatting via /r/podcasts

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