#honeycombs pals

[honeycombdolls]

My beloved Jackie!

She is my Creole baby from Louisiana. All my dolls get a small piece of me in their lore and Jackie gets the tiny piece I left somewhere in the Bayou when I moved out. She speaks French and ASL (and some English after she went to college)

Jackie is a customized 26 with a light faceup (freckles and blush) and a discontinued zazoudolls wig. the necklaces are all from @/allldolledup on Instagram (middle 2 were custom made for Jackie!). the belt is a necklace from the 80s. all the clothes are handmade but I got them secondhand so I do not know the artist. :( shoes are the original Kit meet shoes.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Scott and the other teenagers (maybe some of the adults) notice that the reader looks very tired and that he hasn't slept and has very deep dark circles under his eyes and sometimes the reader ends up falling asleep and some of them think that the reader is having a problem at home or some personal problem,

but in fact the reader stays up all night watching a series or (reading a very good blog called Honeycomb Thoughts)

Hahaha! Fourth wall break, folks!

(Reader goes wide eyed, backs up, and says they don't want to talk about it. Ever. The yans wonder what could be so dastardly or traumatizing that Reader won't talk to them about what's bothering them. Reader doesn't want to spill they've been reading a blog about yanderes, and that they're aware there's another being pulling the strings...)

(Hello, Reader! Tis I, your pal and personal assistant to evade yanderes, Honey or Hive! Whichever you prefer~! And may I say, you need to r u n, N O W -)

(That is lovely art, @manulodo ! Shocked Scott is delightful, Xavier gives off knows-too-much yandad/yangrandpapa vibes, amd Reader? They're a peach! Bless their heart and their backpack's too, they're gonna need some help outsmarted the yans! But never fear, Honey is here to be their voice of common sense and the vibe check. And the vibes of these guys? Well, let's just say they're a bit too off for our liking! So run, Reader, run, Reader, run, run, run, don't give the yanderes their fun, fun, fun~!)

[1moreff-creator]

Happy Birthday Eden Tobisa!

Turns out our favorite clock girly has her birthday on New Year's Eve! What a nice date for such a nice girl! Let's do a character analysis, fun facts, and songs!

-We know relatively little about Eden's backstory. The most notable thing we know about her life before the killing game, apart from her fascination with clocks, is what is revealed in her chapter 2 secret: "Ever since you kissed her, you were afraid your sexuality would ruin your friendships." Which is pretty straightforward; she's canonically a lesbian and is worried it would negatively affect her friendships.

-Literally the only other thing we know about her backstory is that she lived in Japan for a small period of time when she was younger, before moving back to the US. This was revealed in a Q&A.

(... You know, I made a deranged theory in my Mai post that maybe the girl that Eden kissed was actually Mai. It wasn't very serious, since it was just a silly way to try to explain what the hell Eden's quote in the Mai page could mean. But... we know Teruko was in Japan for a while when she was younger, and it's theorized she knew Mai before being separated from her at some point. Combined with Mai's name being seemingly Japanese, it could imply Mai also lived in Japan at some point. And if that's the case, it's possible she met Eden there? To be clear, that's still an insane possibility, but I do find it a funny possibility, which is why I'm sharing it)

-Apart from that, Eden's defining trait is her optimism and her trust in others. She sticks to Teruko's side even after she starts pushing everyone away in CH 1, and confesses to her that she believes "not caring about others is the worst way to live." She's importantly not naive, she does know their situation is horrible, but still she constantly searches for an exit and tries to build good friendships with the others.

-This includes baking with Min, Rose and Teruko in CH1, inviting Teruko and Arei to make clocks on CH2, etc. Basically, she's awesome and nice and mature.

-Also she loves clocks. Regular Ultimate stuff, she can apparently spend hours and hours working and losing track of time.

-Although for such an optimistic character, her secret quote is quite ominous. "You can't go back, no matter how hard you try." We have zero clue what this means at the moment, but at least it does fit the symbolism of time always moving forward.

-Meanwhile, her quote in the Mai page is "She kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up." This is even more incomprehensible! Eden, what in the world are you talking about?

-Alright, David MV. She doesn't have a color in Color Theory, but her numeral is XII (twelve). Go to 1:48:28 in this video for an explanation. God it's so convenient to have that lol.

Alright fun facts!

-As stated, her birthday (December 31st) lands on New Year's Eve. Maybe representing new beginnings or change, which certainly goes well with her character. How nice!

-Like most of the cast, she's American and right-handed.

-She's one of the only characters with dyed hair. Her hair was originally just brown.

-Her favorite color is daffodil yellow, because it's happy, and her least favorite color is blue, because it's "kind of a downer color." Areden shippers in shambles.

-Her favorite ice cream flavor is honeycomb. I didn't even know that existed but go off queen.

-She enjoys cute fashion, but also enjoys wearing androgynous style clothing.

-She likes food which is fun to make or prepare. How nice!

-She's biracial; her mother is black and her father is Japanese. This is why she spent a bit of time in Japan when she was younger.

-Her name in kanji is 飛佐【と��� ・ さ】楽【いーでん】. Gonna leave any actual meaning as homework, but it's worth noting her name was anglicized. I think that would translate to "Iden", but her mother liked the name "Eden", so they went with that instead.

Finally, songs that remind me of her!

-Positive Parade by DECO*27

-Gone Fishing by Ghost & Pals (friendship!)

-Aura by Ghost & Pals

-In Iolite by Ghost & Pals

-Magnet by minato

-Those Who Carried On by Ghost & Pals

-I'm Glad You're Evil Too by PinocchioP

And Happy Birthday! And a happy new year! Well wishes to all you Tumblr peeps. Take care!

[genericpuff]

Ok IDK if I'm noticing anything that might be weird or an oversight or SOMETHING but like...

Everyone continuously feeds Persephone sweets. No joke. Eros gives her the honeycomb (with no bread) and some sort of pastry with honey. Hades gets her tiny cupcakes and donuts. The only time she's eating something genuinely like a meal is when either she orders it herself (see the Chinese food she has with Hades and the salad she orders when she talks with Eros and Daphne) or is given to her by someone who at least kind of respects her (see Hera and the "I forgot you were a vegetarian" shut where the poor girl only got a scrap of lettuce and some stuff I can't spell). Its a legitimate THEME. Hell! Even ARES just gives her a VANILLA protein bar!!

All of the food Persephone is given by the men in her life are SMALL and SWEET. All of the food Persephone orders for HERSELF are NORMAL PORTION SIZES.

Idk what this is supposed to say in the series or if it means something, but it sounds like

Infantilization.

Yeppp we were talking about this in the ULO Discord briefly, and I realized myself that it falls into Rachel's weird infatuation with the whole "lolita" thing, beyond just the aesthetic of being cute and eating sweets (which is like, completely innocent and a big part of the fashion aesthetic), but treads into the territory of infantilization which Rachel has definitely been guilty of in the past.

I hadn't come to the conclusion of that pattern yet though, and that's definitely pretty telling. Considering Rachel's history of drawing girls who "radiate innocence and deviance", I wouldn't be surprised if it was solely for the purpose of making Persephone seem more like a delicate little child.

APPARENTLY (according to a ULO pal) there IS something out there that states, canonically, Persephone is "like a hummingbird" and needs to eat a lot of sugar, and while I VAGUELY remember reading something like that, I don't remember where that was sourced from so it could have been something from the now defunct Patreon or a wayback post somewhere. If anyone finds this, PLEASE hook me up, because that's wild and it seems like it was done purely to further infantilize her as a tiny fragile thing that needs to only eat sweets. It also contradicts that in the plot anyways when, as you pointed out, a lot of the time when she makes food for herself, it's not sweets. So it comes across more as the guys just giving her sweets because "awww she's so cute! have a cupcake!"

[eyedruple]

YAYYY yay!!!! you're literally soooooo cool and funnyz.... (U>ω<U)ﾉ I wanted to ask again bcz u told me awhile back but it totally slipped my mind Σ⁠(。⁠□⁠°；⁠) whatz ur fave kind of sea life?? do u fw jellyfish more orrr some kind of eel .... or maybe even.... teh GIANT SQUID????? く⁠コ⁠:⁠彡 do they rlly get that big??? ⊙⁠.⁠☉ I'd luvvv to hear abt it from an expurrrt like U !! ^^

ur best pal

goob U⁠^⁠ｪ⁠^U

p.s. i heard that some shrimp can like, see colors we can't? (⁠⊙⁠_⁠◎⁠) do u think shrimpo is like.. tripping all teh time?? that would be so pawggers ......

GOOBY HIHIHIHI YES UH I CAN ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS ANYFIN FOR YOU!! my favorite sealife is actually eels.. morray eels!!

these guys!! this one is actually a honeycomb morray eel but they’re coolcore anyway..

giant squid do get that big!!! there are even colossal squid which get even BIGGER !!!!

also yeah shrimps sea extra extra colors.. so thatd probably explain his bad mood all the time lolz

LOVE YOU GOOBYYYY

[speadrunner]

Frost Walker paused, the frozen he was petting immediately darting off. “Witches be damned… What?!” They yelled, practically annoyed. Their… hood was down, showing a push-pop like hair. It was confirmed, ice typed. They looked practically pissed off, their red eyes scanning your face before they huffed, “Oh… you. What is it?”

Jellybean shuffled, practically showing a sign of adjustment due to the cart now facing downwards a bit.

“Heh, it’s uh-quite a funny story. Or well, no-it’s not…really, I’m kinda sad and feel a little guilty about it-uum, anyway!! I wanted to see you because I desperately need your help!”

I stood up and went towards Jellybean Cookie, gently rubbing his back while pointing at him.

“This is my friend, Jellybean Cookie. And…he became a frozen a few hours ago. He’s harmless, trust me! All he really does is sleep, and I think he remembers me…? There’s another in the back of the cart-I’ve named them Honeycomb Cookie since they have these bee-like features. They’re hostile, but also pretty harmless since they lost a leg and their wings are damaged.”

I briefly stopped speaking as I tried to make sure I wasn’t rambling on, and I wanted to be sure Frost Walker was catching everything I was saying.

“Erm…*ahem*, I wanted your help on taming or controlling these guys, however you do it with your frozen pal. Jellybean means so much to me, and I feel so terrible for letting this happen to him. As for Honeycomb……they’ve been a big pain in my tail, but I want to help them too, in anyway I can. So uh, can you help a…friend out?”

[catgrassplantdad]

New Year's Ask Game for Fic Writers 🤍

I was tagged by a couple of pals to do this a few days ago, and i'm finally getting to it! thank you @ardent-fox @suzy-queued @energievie 🖤

To close out 2023…

1) What fic did you have the most fun writing this year and why? Or, if you can’t decide, what was most fun about writing this year for you?

the most fun i had was while writing honeycomb, because julissa @heymrspatel and i got to play with our horny psychic link again and it was the BEST.

2) What’s a scene/story that you finished and felt “wow, I really accomplished that, that actually went so well”?

let them see. writing ian and mickey fucking with an audience and making it believable was HARD. i'm still not sure how well i accomplished that, but i'm proud of it.

3) What helped provide the most inspiration for stories, if anything? Was it poetry? A song on repeat? A gorgeous gifset? A walk outside? A book you read that made you want to change everything? Whatever it was! Tell all.

i listened to infinite granite by deafheaven on repeat. i just think it's beautiful, and it's good music for zoning out and imagining. lyrics from that album sometimes serve as working titles for my fics before they get real titles, and in fact i did name a fic after lyrics from that album. waiting in the light

4) What is something you want to share about what you’ve written this year? A particular line, a comment that made you feel really good, a scene that was difficult to write — you get to choose! What do you wish someone would ask you about when it comes to what you’ve written?

i just wanna talk about feels like a dream. setting the atmosphere for that was so fun. i wrote it so quickly, i could see it all so clearly in my head. i wanna talk about ian sucking on mickey's tongue. i wanna talk about the moment ian puts the collar on mickey and how he gets him to tell him why he wants it. i wanna talk about how ian talks to him and takes care of him and makes him feel owned. i wanna talk about how mickey sucks ian's dick like he needs it to live. i wanna talk about how important the atmosphere is in that moment, how even they felt like they didn't want to move too quickly and disturb what they had built up that night. i wanna talk about how mickey's so sleepy while ian's fucking him that he wonders if his orgasm is going to jerk him awake or make him even more sleepy and blissed out. oh god, and mickey calling ian daddy throughout. i just think it's sexy. i wrote it in september but i posted it at the very end of kinktober when people were likely just burnt out on it, but it's there and it's dreamy and it's kinky and i like it.

And to start off 2024…

1) Do you have any writing/creation goals for the year? What are they?

yes! i just want to post more fics. i still want to participate in kinktober and i want to format it differently this year. i want to write a multichapter au as well.

2) Is there a fic or idea that you’re really excited to be able to continue to work on in the new year (shout out to my fellow fic writing folks who take forever to finish wips, sometimes it’s nice to be able to continue working on something even if you wish you’d gotten it done! Now you get even MORE time with it!)

yeah, that multichapter au idea! i had written quite a bit for it and i HATED the direction it was going in and it made me want to scrap the whole thing. i had a helpful conversation about it with bee a few weeks ago and i've got new ideas for it, so really i want to tackle that. it just feels daunting because i've written thousands of words that i feel like i need to get rid of. i basically need to start over to make it work. but it'll happen!

3) What’s something new in your writing you want to try/are going to try? A different writing style? Different fandom? Darker works? Fluffier? Longer or shorter?

baby's first au! also i think i mentioned this before but i wanna try writing destiel smut. like deeply emotional, feral, inhuman, otherworldly reunion fucking. we'll see if i ever get to it though.

4) What’s something you love about your own writing that you will continue to appreciate in the new year?

i think i'm good at writing physical sensation. i find smut really fun and i think i'm pretty good at it. not just because i'm good at describing physical sensation, but for all kinds of reasons. i think i'm reasonably good at keeping ian and mickey in character while they're doing all kinds of things, and i like that. i think i'm good at setting a tone and atmosphere. i don't know man i just like it to be a sensory experience, and i think it often is.

i'm late but i'll tag a few people anyway! @whatwouldmickeydo @whatthebodygraspsnot @gallawitchxx @sisitrip @thisdivorce if you guys are interested in playing/haven't done this yet 💚

[robo-drake09]

Brawl Stars ☆ BeaRosa Short Fic ☆ Monster Academy AU

「 ✦ 1244 Words ✦ 」

Pining sillies who are just gals being pals (not romance quite yet, but just a charming little story of the two of them interacting in this AU!)

Bea is a Biology Major, while Rosa is only pursuing Botany on the side (for now. She later decided to study it fully after some thought.)

˚ʚ☆ɞ˚

"Hey, honeycomb."

Bea jolted awake, her wings suddenly fluttering fast enough to take off. If she hadn't been sitting down, she definitely would’ve gone straight through the ceiling. Instead, her knee hit the bottom of the desk, earning her a yelp, and quite possibly a bruise later. She looked up to see the cheer captain herself, holding two cups from the campus cafe. Rosa looked down at her with that warm smile she liked so much, gesturing to the cups.

"Fancy a cuppa?"

"Oh! Thank you...." Bea nodded, smiling up at her. She looked around, remembering her current setting. One of the many hidden little study areas for the students of the academy. There were just a few around here, but that was just how she liked it.

"And, good afternoon Rosa. I didn't know you had class today," the biology major greeted.

To be woken up by Rosa without any notice… she may as well have just flown off and out the window. It was embarrassing, really, she wasn't prepared at all! Now that she finally saw the cheer captain properly, it was curious that she was wearing the school’s gym uniforms. She didn’t recall her having a fitness class on this day. She had her bag over her shoulder as well, filled to the brim with what she could only assume was equipment.

Rosa stared at her, before laughing softly and setting down the cups carefully on the side.

"Afternoon? It's half past six, mate. It's evening by now."

"What?!" Her antenna stuck straight up, before she clasped her hands over her mouth, remembering they were in the quiet study area. Some murmurs from students around her, followed by slight glances to the two women, before focusing back on their work. "What do you mean six?” Surely it was just a joke on Rosa's part, right? “It was just two when I..."

Rosa hushed another light laugh, taking a seat next to Bea, crossing one leg over the other. "You might've missed ya alarms then... no wonder you didn't pick up when I called ya phone," she picked up her cup, taking a sip.

"It seems so."

"Good thing you didn't have classes this afternoon. Woulda been late if I hadn't gone looking."

Bea nodded, sighing as she looked at the desk she had fallen asleep at. Her books were still open, thankfully no vandalism or thefts as far as she could tell. She put a lavender bookmark in between the pages of the larger textbook, closing it carefully before she put it away in her bag.

"Been up studyin’ again?" Rosa asked, earning an answer with a tiny buzz of confirmation. It wasn’t a new thing where Bea would fall asleep while studying, especially during weeks like this where all nighters were more common.

"You gotta be careful though, remember what happened that one time you fell asleep in the library."

Bea shuddered at the thought, shaking her hand to dismiss the unwelcome memories, "please, don't remind me. I'm actively trying to forget that whole event."

She picked up the cup, taking a sip of the lovely drink her dear friend had brought her. Rosa always knew her order, honeydrop earl grey tea, four added sugarcubes, a swirl of vanilla syrup, and topped with just that perfect squeeze of lemon. It was just amazing that Rosa knew her order down to a T, and on top of that, the fact that she found her here of all places. Speaking of...

"How did you know I was here?" Bea asked, setting down the cup. Rosa set down hers next to her, leaning back in the chair.

"Called you a few times to see if we were still meeting up today, but you didn't answer."

Rosa tapped her cup with her finger, looking at her. Bea blinked in confusion, taking out her phone to see it had been entirely set to silent. On top of that, sixteen missed calls from the cheerleader. Her face reddened, finally realizing.

"Oh."

She missed that many calls from Rosa.

"...oh."

The Rosa.

The same Rosa she had promised to go out with this very same day. The same day she'd foolishly fallen asleep at some desk in the middle of the school.

"We were meeting at the cafe today! I'm so sorry, the time passed me by! You were there for ho—" Rosa ruffled her hair, making the shorter lady stop talking.

"Oi, let me finish! I'm not blaming you or anything."

Rosa's hand remained in Bea’s hair. She had leaned closer to do so, just hovering above her head. Now she could see, very closely she might add, that her hair was a lovely orange, kinda goldish colour, like honey itself. A golden crown atop her head. The curls bounced back as she gave her each pat. Bea had closed her eyes with the pats too.

Rosa pulled back her hand quickly after, fixing her glasses as she fixed herself in her chair.

"It's alright mate, I called so much since I was running late too..." She admitted, scratching the horn on her forehead with one of her nails, a habit she’s picked up when she felt embarrassed. Bea would never comment on it though. How could she, since she did the same in some situations. In all honesty, it was hard to tell which one did it first before the other copied it.

"I figured you got busy somewhere, since the last thing you sent was that you were studying somewhere on campus. So, I went around checking the usual spots you study at. Couldn’t let the drinks get cold, right? Lucky you were in the first few places I checked, or I woulda been here all night."

Bea couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Rosa jogging about the school trying to find her. Mind you, the place is buzzingly big! It was a miracle she'd found her. She'd rather her out of anyone to be the one to wake her up though, and with tea as well? What a lovely, very good friend she was.

"Bea?" The question snapping her back to the moment at hand.

"Oh, yes. Thank you, again, for bringing the drink. It was very sweet of you," Bea said, her warm smile beaming like golden treasure.

Rosa met her eyes for just a moment, before brushing it off with a wave. The cheerleader smiled widely, only growing at Bea's words. The boundless glow of her cheery voice always felt different. Comfortable, one could say.

"Don't worry about it, honeycomb. Now, hm...can you tell me about what you were studyin? You know it helps to see how much you even remember, can’t let all that time go to waste." She suggested, turning in the chair to face her.

Bea's face lit up, the flow of thoughts rushing in as she started to carefully explain everything. Her wings occasionally flapped with each new subject, a very gentle breeze blowing by each time. For Bea, Rosa was just the perfect listener, giving questions after each fact and piece of information that allowed Bea to email all the necessary details of the topic. Rosa leaned closer in her seat, making sure she truly took in all the information as well.

In Rosa’s honest opinion, Bea did a wonderful job of explaining a topic, you know. Perhaps a bit too much to some, but it was all welcome for Rosa. Always would be.

˚ʚ☆ɞ˚

Made it all this way? Thank you for reading! Here's a doodle of my own Bea design for this au:

I hope I find it in me to write a follow-up with some scene of them confessing 😭😭 they're literally so oblivious it's so silly. Mutual pining is my passion. ❤️

It's been a while since I did any writing, so I'm very happy I was able to gain some inspiration for this piece!

[alln64games]

Banjo-Kazooie

NA release: 29th June 1998

PAL release: 17th July 1998

JP release: 6th December 1998

Developer: Rare

Publisher: Nintendo

N64 Magazine Score: 90%

Banjo-Kazooie is possibly my favourite game, something I utterly love. I play it around Christmas every year and never get tired of it. But why is this? What makes Banjo-Kazooie such a lovable game to play?

For starters, Banjo-Kazooie has a lot of character, from Banjo-Kazooie themselves to the worlds, settings and music. Even characters like Colliwobble (a giant cauliflower with googly eyes) has a magical style and charm to it. I think it’s Rare’s love for googly eyes, so much stuff has it, including boulders, blocks of ice and boxes of TNT. The world of Banjo-Kazooie is just alive in a joyful way.

Then you have the heroes Banjo and Kazooie. Banjo is a fairly straight character. For the most part he’s kind and gentle and wants to do good. If he was completely on his own, he may be a bit bland, but luckily his trust friend Kazooie lives in his backpack. Kazooie is rude, sassy and will mock anything. Together, it makes for great banter between them and other characters. And all dialogue is text with grunts, which helps make their world remain unique. I really hope any (if there are any) future games keep this as I’m not sure how I’d feel about proper voice acting.

Banjo-Kazooie is a 3D collect-a-thon platformer, which doesn’t go overboard on its collectibles. Banjo and Kazooie have a lot of moves crammed onto a controller, but they all work really well. There are some slight niggles, like trying to change the camera while aiming an egg can activate your golden feathers, but the platforming itself feels extremely precise, with any missed jumps never feeling like the game’s fault. The camera also functions fine for the most part, but there’s a couple of areas with some forced angles that don’t work, such as the path to Mad Monster Mansion which is a narrow walkway that can be difficult to see.

There are 9 worlds in Banjo-Kazooie. These each have 10 jiggies to collect, 100 notes, two honeycomb pieces (which increase your health). One jiggy in every level will be finding all five Jinjos hidden in each level. The levels will be considered small by today’s standards, but I think that they are ideal. It’s a size where you can search for everything without tedium or growing tired of it. Each world has its own charm.

Mumbo’s Mountain is a great introductory world. It’s a great introduction to how jiggies are hidden. Some are out in the open, some given to you by characters, some by activating switches and some by smashing things or just trying to shoot eggs into any hole you find. It sets you up for handling the later levels. It also introduces the important Talon Trot move, which allows you to use Kazooie’s legs to traverse steep slopes, and the layout of the level encourages heavy use.

Also here is the first Mumbo Skull. Enter here and you’ll find the crazy shaman Mumbo Jumbo. If you’ve found enough Mumbo tokens, he’ll cast a spell on you and you’ll turn into a termite. These transformations are another wonderful thing about Banjo-Kazooie. They’re not in every level so aren’t overused, but they turn you into different animals (or objects), which is required for certain jiggies. They’re all wonderful to use and are simply a joyous thing to have in the game.

After Mumbo’s Mountain, we get Treasure Trove Cove, a beach level filled with crabs. Mambo’s Mountain also introduces you to a pound attack (using Kazooie’s beak), which is used here for enemies and tasks. Flying is also introduced, as Kazooie can use red feathers to fly around the map. Treasure Trove Cove is quite open, with a jiggy that encourages flying around it. There’s also a very scary shark in the water. It’s a really wonderful level.

Next up is the weakest part of Banjo-Kazooie: Clanker’s Cavern. It’s a murky underwater level, and looks fairly dull. I do like Clanker – a big whale that has been turned into a horrifying trash disposal monster, but is actually a nice but depressed individual, but there’s a lot of swimming in this level, including a very deep dive that terrified me as a kid. That said, I grow more and more fond of the level each time I play the game.

Bubblegloop Swamp swiftly returns to form, especially because of adorable crocodile Banjo. This level is split up into segments, and then croc Banjo can traverse new areas, including a fairly difficult minigame with Mr Vile, sneaky crocodile (although a move from a later level can make this easier if you wish).

Then the wonderful wintery world of Freezeezy Peak, a level revolving around a giant snowman. One slight niggle for me with this is that you can’t finish the level initially, so I’d recommend a quick trip into the next level to grab the speed trainers, but it’s only a minor hassle. In Freezeezy Peak you get to climb the giant snowman’s scarf, have aerial fights with aggressive smaller snowmen, turn into a Walrus and take part in races – WAHEEEY!

From the snow straight to the sand of Gobi’s Valley. This is one of the more challenging levels, with pyramids, temples and sphinxes holding challenges you need to complete. One of these requires a perfect run with the speed boots, and still takes me multiple attempts each playthrough. That said, there is still a load of fun and charm.

Up next is for some halloween fun in Mad Monster Mansion, a haunted house and grounds. Initially, I found this level to be incredibly daunting, but traversal isn’t as difficult as initially seems, and getting around the level is quite fun. There’s lots of rooms to explore and even a toilet to explore. Brilliantly, the toilet itself is also a character called Loggo. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that Banjo-Kazooie loves puns. Some people may pretend to groan at puns, but everyone loves them.

Rusty Bucket Bay is the penultimate level, with some very tough challenges. The water in this level drains your air much faster than previous levels, so even though there’s a lot of water, you only spend small stints in it. There’s lots of hidden rooms to find, with some fun and cute details hidden in them. The transformation in this level is also super adorable.

And last is the seasonal Click Clock Wood. This is split into four “sections” that you open up over time, each is the whole world in a different season, and some jiggies require doing parts in each season, although if you fully explore each season before moving on, you don’t have to go back and forth. It’s lovely to see all the changes throughout the seasons.

Connecting these together is Grunty’s tower. Grunty is an evil witch who wants to make herself beautiful (by stealing the beauty from Banjo’s sister, Tooty, who became a staple of all future Banjo games…either that or she was relegated to a missing person’s poster and forgotten about). You explore the tower, finding jigsaws to fill in with the jiggy pieces you collect to open the main worlds. There are also 10 jiggies hidden here, which require you to hit a switch in each level to reveal (except for one, which is given to you at the start of the game).

And once you get past all the levels and go to defeat Gunty, it doesn’t go straight into a boss battle (that comes later), instead you have to complete Grunty’s Furnace Fun, a trivia board game where you have to answer questions about the game (or complete some mini games from previous levels). These questions could be about Grunty herself, pictures of places in levels to identify, trivia about characters or identifying sound and music.

Music. That’s a very important part of what makes Banjo-Kazooie work. Composer Grant Kirkhope did an absolutely phenomenal job of creating some tunes that you will be humming for the rest of your lives. They also work with the levels extremely well, adding to the magical experience. The music will also vary slightly based on different locations of each level or going underwater, all with perfectly smooth transitions between them. The music to Banjo-Kazooie is simply heaven for your ears, and will put a smile on your face for the entirety of your playthrough. Even other people in your house will start humming the tunes.

Replaying Banjo-Kazooie takes between 6 and 10 hours, although this will be a lot longer the first time. It’s a great length for annual revisits and is an extremely well-contained piece of media. You can follow it by its sequel, Banjo-Tooie (as I do every few years), but it works extremely well on its own. The entirety of the game is just full of joy, accompanied by very happy tunes and a sense that everyone working on the game was enjoying themselves.

There are two versions of this game, the original on N64 and a remaster version on Xbox. I highly recommend the Xbox version, as the better controller design helps a lot, and the widescreen HD image is much nicer to see. The main other difference between the two is that the Xbox version is easier, as it saves what notes you have collected. In the original, you need to collect all 100 in one go, which I believe was mainly due to memory limits on the N64 and not the original intention.

Banjo-Kazooie is my perfect game.

And stop playing you won’t. You can always tell when you’ve got a great game on your hands: when it starts to warp time. 16 straight hours of Banjo, leaving only for calls of nature – we had food and drink brought in.

- James Ashton, N64 Magazine #18

Remake or remaster?

The Xbox remaster is pretty great, although releasing on more platforms and a few fixes and refinements would be great.

Official ways to get the game.

Banjo-Kazooie is available on Xbox One/Series and is included in Rare Replay. You can also rent it on Switch via Nintendo Switch Online

Re-releases

2008: Xbox Live Arcade

2015: Rare Replay

2023: Nintendo Switch Online (Subscription Only)

[rjalker]

Public domain species and setting from the Tarzan series, Book 8, "Tarzan the Terrible". (He's done absolutely nothing terrible or awe-inspiring yet in this book)

___

Night had fallen upon unchartered Pal-ul-don. A slender moon, low in the west, bathed the white faces of the chalk cliffs presented to her, in a mellow, unearthly glow. Black were the shadows in Kor-ul-JA, Gorge-of-lions, where dwelt the tribe of the same name under Es-sat, their chief.

From an aperture near the summit of the lofty escarpment a hairy figure emerged—the head and shoulders first—and fierce eyes scanned the cliff side in every direction.

It was Es-sat, the chief. To right and left and below he looked as though to assure himself that he was unobserved, but no other figure moved upon the cliff face, nor did another hairy body protrude from any of the numerous cave mouths from the high-flung abode of the chief to the habitations of the more lowly members of the tribe nearer the cliff's base. Then he moved outward upon the sheer face of the white chalk wall.

In the half-light of the baby moon it appeared that the heavy, shaggy black figure moved across the face of the perpendicular wall in some miraculous manner, but closer examination would have revealed stout pegs, as large around as a man's wrist protruding from holes in the cliff into which they were driven.

Es-sat's four handlike members and his long, sinuous tail permitted him to move with consummate ease whither he chose—a gigantic rat upon a mighty wall. As he progressed upon his way he avoided the cave mouths, passing either above or below those that lay in his path.

The outward appearance of these caves was similar. An opening from eight to as much as twenty feet long by eight high and four to six feet deep was cut into the chalklike rock of the cliff, in the back of this large opening, which formed what might be described as the front veranda of the home, was an opening about three feet wide and six feet high, evidently forming the doorway to the interior apartment or apartments.

On either side of this doorway were smaller openings which it were easy to assume were windows through which light and air might find their way to the inhabitants. Similar windows were also dotted over the cliff face between the entrance porches, suggesting that the entire face of the cliff was honeycombed with apartments.

From many of these smaller apertures small streams of water trickled down the escarpment, and the walls above others was blackened as by smoke.

Where the water ran the wall was eroded to a depth of from a few inches to as much as a foot, suggesting that some of the tiny streams had been trickling downward to the green carpet of vegetation below for ages.

In this primeval setting the great pithecanthropus aroused no jarring discord for he was as much a part of it as the trees that grew upon the summit of the cliff or those that hid their feet among the dank ferns in the bottom of the gorge.

[honeycombdolls]

realized I never posted my Amada on here!!!

Amada is from Tenerife and meets Jackie (custom 26) when they do a student exchange year. She speaks Spanish and Jackie speaks French Creole, and neither of them have mastered English yet, so they fumble through their friendship until they figure out they both know ASL (Amada because one of her online US mutuals is HOH and learned so they could video call and Jackie bc their sibling is HOH) and Klingon (nerds!!!!!!!). They communicate in those two for ages while they take English together and then still use them to be able to talk without anyone else butting in.

Jackie and Amada joined the lacrosse team together, at first as a joke, but then as a sort of language between them. The sport was just aggression and skill and reading your teammates mid step and Amada and Jackie became a force to be reckoned with. Both of them were already very good at communicating with each other with very little actual language, so their court communicating was swift and flawless. The opposing teams hated them and their coach made sure then never played alternating subs.

Amada is silver where Jackie is gold, ripped tights and cool grunge to Jackie's polished shoes and deep earthy tones. They're heads to each other's tails and even though they usually live half a world apart these days, they're still a matching set and anyone who knows one, knows the other because they can't shut the fuck up about each other.

Amada took her lacrosse pro, getting calls the second she graduated. The coaches thought Jackie would come as a package set and made sure to include space for her on the line ups, but Jackie wound up dropping the sport and now only plays casually whenever Amada is back in town.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Here's a honeycomb thought: Imagine the platonic yanderes of Marvel with a Tall!bby!

This bby can be anywhere from 5'5" (five foot and five inches) to somewhere close to 6' (six foot tall), maybe even near 7' (seven foot tall)! They are this tall bby who is somehow taller than, or the same height as, their platonic yan/s.

This doesn't mean they are loved any less, and you can bet good money on the platonic yans not caring how tall their bby is; that is still their bby, and a few inches or feet don't matter to them. They may use their bby's height to their advantage though; and some will be a little sad if they used to be taller than their bby, but now can't hold them as well as they used to. But they will still hug their bby, pick them up, and give their bby their nickname/s same as usual. Nothing will stop the platonic yan/s from loving their child/sibling/friend, nothing!

And if anyone ever dare hurt or upset their bby, the platonic yan/s will certainly give them a "friendly" reminder why they don't mess with their kid/friend/sibling. Sure, their bby may be tall, possibly taller than them, but darn it, that's still their kid, their little pal, and if someone has a problem with that, well, the platonic yan/s can certainly straighten them out...

[jezabatlovesbats]

Creative Squad Blurbs

Until I can get actual bios out for them. I'll start updating my MC:SM OCs pretty soon.

Ramona is a sweet and optimistic girl who loves to dream big, come up with plans, and make wishes on the stars at night. She always looks on the bright side of things. Despite having trouble with socializing from time to time, she’s patient, polite, and kind to everybody. She’s also the most creative out of the six, always brainstorming new ideas. Ramona has trouble remembering things, but she’s still brainy, kind, and willing to stand up for herself and her pals. She also allows herself to cry when she needs to. At home, she has a pet rabbit named Paisley. She is a second-year at Beacontown’s recently built local school, the Honeycomb School, which is a place where people can come learn how to live safely and securely in this big Minecraft world. She is autistic. Since she’s such a ray of sunshine, she’s the Unikitty of the group.

Jezabat is a curious person who likes learning about the world. Being knowledgeable about different things is very important to her. She’d like to go out exploring someday, but she’d rather just take it easy for now. She also wants to be prepared for anything. She enjoys brewing potions, as well as acting and dancing. Sometimes, she doesn’t think things through all the way. She tends to take things rather seriously, and she doesn’t have much of a sense of humor. She’s also quite bossy and prefers to do things her own way. Nonetheless, she’s loyal to her friends. Jez knows that she's still got a lot to learn and a lot to unlearn. She has about sixteen pet bats at home, and every day, a few of them follow her wherever she goes; her most recurring bat pal is named Gideon. She is also a second-year at the school, and she is also autistic. Since she’s level-headed and dry-humored, but she wouldn’t let her friends down, she could be the Richard of the group. 

Lena is an inventive and collected friend of Jez's who is in the theater club with her. Her friends find her fun to converse with because she's a fantastic listener and is fun to talk to as well. She’s very smart, and she also likes to come up with plans. She takes a more logical look into situations, analyzing everything before she dives into something. She’s a smart and studious person who is open to pursuing knowledge. She also likes making music, learning about piglins and the Nether, acting, and reading. She's an avid superfan of the Twilight Forest book series (which references the mod). She has trouble watching her tone, but she makes an effort to make up for it. Lena is severely allergic to cats, pollen, some flowers and certain fabrics, so she often carries around elixirs to help manage them. She has a pet axolotl named Cedric. She is a third-year. Because of her inventiveness and smarts, she’s the Dr. Fox of the group.

Tanoshii, or Tano, is closed off most of the time, but their goofy, fun, and outgoing side is shown when they're with the gang. They don’t like to be disturbed. They don't sleep very often, so most of the time, they're half-awake, worn-out and running on any sustenance they can find (mostly carrots). They have strong abilities in music and illustration, and they're in the same music class as Lena. They're also good at crafting, combat and demolitions. They're quite anti-social and brash, and they’re very, very rough. Their hands are often pretty beat up. They still love to talk, and they have a great sense of humor. They struggle with depression. They have a pet parrot at home named Fuki, and they don’t attend the school. They are autistic like Ramona and Jezabat. They’re the Hawkodile of the gang; like him, they’re adventurous, daring, and athletic as well. 

Tristan is a pretty shy kid. While he does have basic redstone knowledge, he's having an identity problem at the moment. He's been around for a while, but he still doesn't know what his calling is. He's a pretty big fan of the New Order, and he’s often seen hanging out with the Creative Squad. He's interested in going out and having an adventure because he hopes it will help him find himself. His crisis affects his ability to make decisions, but he is supportive, helpful, playful and plucky. He's also thoughtful, too, since he cares for his friends and his pet frog, Bart. Tristan’s crisis has affected his self-esteem quite negatively, since he sometimes thinks that his life probably has no purpose. He also can’t eat certain things like porkchops or fish because they give him very bad stomach aches and make him swell up. He's a first-year. He’s a well-intentioned follower who’s still finding his place in the world, so he’s the gang’s Puppycorn.

Deepa is a charming and peppy girl who's pretty well-known by her schoolmates. She almost always says whatever comes to her mind, and she speaks out if something unfair is going on. She’s adventurous, merciful and calm, but she gets overwhelmed if there are too many things happening at once. She’s also very clumsy when it comes to combat; the best she can do is fire arrows. Deepa is very interested in the arts. She’s a fan of reading and writing, and she also has an eye for style. Even though she's not 100% coordinated, she's encouraging to her friends and herself. At home, she has two pet dogs named Tara and Mira. She is a fourth-year, meaning it's her last year at Honeycomb before she’s done. She is the Swanna of the group because she’s adventurous, fashionable, and doesn’t officially join the gang until later in the story. She used to be a Unikitty OC before she became an MC:SM OC.

[speadrunner]

As you returned from getting the gems and coins, it was clear from the buzzing that something happened. Honeycomb hung from the edge of the cart, wings rapid and food in its mouth. It was most likely trying to escape, to fly the coop and escape.

Jellybean, however, was being good, sleeping and resting against the pillow. Ice slowly seemed to consume and eat at the pillow and himself, freezing him to the cart.

(I think we’re back in business baby-)

Sigh….Honeycomb, you’re gonna be my biggest pain in the ass.

I walked to put the coins and crystals in the back of the cart, making sure the bags were tightly sealed. I then slowly walked in front of Honeycomb and put my hands on my hips, clicking my tongue at the frozen’s situation.

“You wanna be difficult, huh? Well guess what, I can be difficult too pal! Now you are gonna stay in this cart and we are gonna go find Frost Walker or someone else, and I will rip off your wings if I need to keep you grounded here!”

That last bit was kind of a bluff…kind off. I might just rip off their wings if they aggravate me again, but I didn’t want to. They’re hurt enough, so even if they did try to escape, they wouldn’t get far and I could just put em back in the cart. I pushed Honeycomb back in the cart by its dangling leg, and pushed the heavier food items on top of them so that they were pinned down. Heading to the front of the cart, I saw Jellybean’s state and sighed in relief.

“At least you’re not an issue, thanks buddy. ….i might need to flip your pillow frequently though, just to make sure you don’t get stuck to the cart.”

I tried flipping the pillow…to no avail. It was already frozen stuck.

“ …shit. Ok, it’s fine, it’s fine. I can bring some heat up to the pillow and try to separate them. But right now, I need to focus on heading out before any more trouble happens.”

I grabbed the front of the cart and started to walk forward with it. It was very heavy, but I forced myself to fight through and walk away from the house. Somewhere, someone had to have a camp. I can do this, I repeated in my head. I have to do this…I have to do this…

[gaveyouigaveyoui]

For this round, please put your music on shuffle and recommend a song as well as a blog that reminds you of that song, and it can be for any reason! Feel free to shuffle just Taylor Swift songs or do any music you like, but try to do ten songs if you can! Special thanks to Kaity (username youbelongwith) for this idea 🩷 

OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY I LOVE HOW FUN let's do... general playlist like my huge 44 hour one for total chaos

Look At Us Now (Honeycomb) - Daisy Jones And The Six: @taylorswifff of course

What About Now - Daughtry : @notesonartistry

Yellow Flicker Beat - Lorde : @youreonyourownkid

Guns for Hands - Twenty One Pilots: @calmfolklore fellow top lover <3

The Lighthouse - Halsey : @dessners

Hold Me Like a Grudge - Fall Out Boy : @youbelongwith FOB pal forever

Dress - Taylor Swift : @dress and @aslowmotionlovepotion no one else

COMPLETE MESS - 5SOS : @ilostyou omg the edit i made you

Bad Omens - 5SOS : @hozierswift and @mrcasuallycruel bc they appreciate it as much as i do

Delicate - Taylor Swift : @delicatetaylorsversion of course!

[deltarune-au-domain]

so Honeycomb Ralsei plays the role (between Core Frisk and Ink Sans) and Fresh Ralsei plays the role of fresh, then who will be in the role of Error Sans

Well, somewhat. Though- I don't think it's fair to compare the current Deltarune AU sphere with the mid-late Undertale AU sphere. (This ask seems more Underverse vibes)

Honeycomb dose idolize Core!Frisk so that's a good comparison. Though, their opinion of Ink Sans us meh, preferring Ink Ralsei instead.

Fressie is just kinda here to relax. They don't take up the same role as Fresh Sans. Though, I don't particularly know what Fresh's role really is so let's just go with helper and pal to Ink. SugarCube Sweet or Ello Kris would be far more fitting in that regard. Though, Ello is more of a body guard.

As for an Error comparison, I do have an Error Tasque Manager but she's gonna be used for something different. I don't particularly think any of my current characters could take up the Error Sans role.

The only thing I feel comes close isn't even my AU. I feel like Aftergrave people are closer. All be more brutal and with a different set motives for the characters. (Brutality and gore my beloved ^∇^)

But, in the end, I feel we should...try to stay away from completely comparing old Undertale AUs to the new Deltarune AUs. Yes, they take inspiration and some are just UT AU with a coat of DR paint but this us a new age!

We have the power to make a new and interesting AUs with a new set of dynamics in the multiverse! We can diversify and take advantage of the Deltarune lore. There's so much more potential now!