#june x blackwall

[artsybeccaartblog]

Been working on this for most of the day! Every one of my current DA pairings being lovey cuties. Happy Valentine’s Day!

From left to right:

Natalie x Leliana

Aeryn x Zevran

June x Blackwall

Aurora x Cullen

Avarielle x Alistair

Adrianna x Sera

Leah x Fenris

[artsybecca]

Been working on this for most of the day! Every one of my current DA pairings being lovey cuties. Happy Valentine’s Day!

From left to right:

Natalie x Leliana

Aeryn x Zevran

June x Blackwall

Aurora x Cullen

Avarielle x Alistair

Adrianna x Sera

Leah x Fenris

[monstersandmaw]

Tell us more about your inquisitor!! I would love to hear about him(?) and Dorian

Ok, here's the second of the two asks I got about Ciúin thank you thank you thank you (His name is pronounced like 'queue-inn'). I've talked about him a fair bit before, but I'll do a new post now for the sheer, self-indulgent fun of it! Thank you.

He, like Lein, means a huge amount to me for all sorts of reasons not really related to the game itself, and he's one of the few characters of mine who really does live rent free in my head all the time. His story has had a few versions over the years, but here's my latest 'canon' version, as of 2021.

(I've also written for him before, and if you want a sfw angst-fluff-fest story with him and Dorian, you can read that here on my AO3) Also the immeasurably talented @hanatsuki89 drew him for me and you can find that here Alright, here he is. For tonight's other post with more photos, see this one.

And a close up (please ignore the horrible Skyhold pyjamas):

Ciúin is quiet, reserved, and a bit gruff, but he has an affectionate heart and will laugh freely around people he feels close to. Outside of the limitations of the game's hair options, he has very long, black hair that falls almost to his waist, and no side-shave.

He's actually a quarter Tevinter, with his grandfather being a low-ranking (now-disgraced) Tevinter magister, who fell in love with an elven slave and risked everything to free her instead of selling her when he fell on hard times in the Magisterium, and had to sell almost everything. She was taken in by Clan Lavellan, and her son was born a few months later. Ciúin tends to keep his heritage quiet on the whole, given the distrust in the South of Tevinter in general.

His half-elven father died when Ciúin was quite young, and he was sort of raised by everybody and nobody in the clan after that. He helped out where it was needed most, and slept alone near the halla most nights. He’s a spectacularly good rider and loved caring for the halla. His Red Hart mount with the Inquisition is called Conker.

He was an apprentice with the Clan's blacksmith (hence choosing June’s vallaslin, the Dalish god of craftsmen) before his magic developed quite late at the age of 14, at which point he reluctantly began to train with the Keeper in his spare time so that he didn’t lose control of his magic and hurt someone. He found he had to become her First when he was 19, since they had no other mage and he was pretty talented.

As is the case for many Dalish clans, his clan was attacked a fair bit by opportunistic humans, which made him wary of them, but they continued to trade and interact anyway. Unless his life depends on it, he rarely uses his magic (unlike Dorian, who will happily use it for everything), preferring to do things by hand. Vivienne finds this provincial and endearing, and Dorian is somewhat confused, but they can both see that Ciúin’s not going to change his ways…

He's panromantic and demisexual, and before he unwittingly falls for Dorian, he's only ever had one relationship.

More miscellaneous facts include:

His vallaslin (tattoos) go all the way down the centre of his chest, branching out towards his shoulders, and down over his hip bones as well. He also has a similar design to the one at the centre of his forehead going right up his spine, from the small of his back into his hairline. He will freely admit that the most painful bit to have done was his lip and throat.

Prefers savoury to sweet, and doesn't like fish

Hates ale and beer but enjoys liquors like brandy, elven fruit spirits, whisky, etc. He's a truly miserable drunk though, so it's best if he sticks to his limits.

Gets on really well with Bull and the Chargers, and ships Scout Harding and Professor Kenric really hard.

He's very, very unapologetically Elven about a lot of things, especially about his beliefs/religion, though respects people with different beliefs. For example, he admires that Dorian considers himself Andrastian while simultaneously loathing the hypocrisy of the Chantry and all it stands for.

Ciúin's 28 at the start of Inquisition

He's surprisingly nervous of mabari (who adore him, especially the one Cullen acquires in Trespasser), but he kind of wants to adopt one anyway

At Skyhold, he helps Blackwall with his carpentry projects - making June puzzles for the children of Skyhold - when he gets (or needs) a moment to himself. He can also be found in the forge quite a bit, making new weapons and armour for his friends in the Inquisition.

Can't cook. Don't ask him to. You'll get charred sludge.

Any more questions, please feel free to ask. I will literally talk about him (and Lein) until I keel over.

I'm also probably going to do some writing based on my gameplay, so if that's of interest (it'll be a 'Lavellan x Dorian' story with lots of plot and ambient description because it's me), please also feel free to let me know. If not, thank you for tolerating this long post about my Dalish elf.

^him scowl.

Also boop the halla snoot for good luck if you made it to the end of this post :)

[skgway]

1820 Nov., Mon. 27

10

12 3/4

Kiss of Tib last night after leaving V [Miss Vallance]. Having just had so good a one of her, was not much in a humour for Tib, who is generally as dry as a bone and as stiff and un-elastic as a lo[a]f. Worked away for what seemed a long time. Tib said she had a kiss certainly. I had not much of it.

Mr. Pykes came while we were at breakfast (between 11 and 12)  and soon afterwards the Reverend Mr. Harrison of Ferby; a very gentle man, and both staid till one – After this most of the time till dinner alone with V [Miss Vallance], who was very low and hysterica yet not liking me to leave her. 

I hoped I had not done her harm last night. At last it came out that she herself had not had a very good kiss, that she was perhaps not strong enough to bear me and the exertion might have brought on the spasms. 

Chancing to ask what she thought of a man’s keeping a mistress. She looked significantly, said I looked conscious and she could apply it. It came out that she had fancied I might perhaps consider her in that light, which I of course denied and pretended to be grave and low at her having such an idea and doing me such injustice – 

Tib and I both with her after she was in bed. Talked about Eliza Raine and 𝝅 [Mariana] and somehow mentioned Miss Bagnold – 

Twenty minutes alone with V [Miss Vallance] after Tib was in bed. V [Miss Vallance] asked more of Miss B [Bagnold]. I said she died nine years ago of a consumption and I had not behaved well to her – V [Miss Vallance] began to surmise, but I said no more – 

In the evening read from 128 to 164 volume 1 Blackwall – Latin with Charlotte. Would not go upstairs till 11 – Very fine mild day –

[More on Harriet Bagnold] 

She was appointed Halifax postmistress on June 7 1810 after her father resigned, and died aged 24 in 1812 "of a consumption." [x]

“Harriet Bagnold had been baptised at Halifax Parish Church on 19th June 1788, and that she died on 1st October 1812, aged only 24 years. She was of the same generation as Anne Lister, and knew her socially; her name appears occasionally in Anne’s early diaries. Having succeeded to the office at the age of 22, it appears Harriet had already given up the post to her mother by March 1812, because on the 9th of that month, John Edwards of Northowram Hall recorded in his Cash Book that he paid “Mrs Bagnold 4s. 10d for a letter to Lisbon” on that day. So it seems that Tabitha, William’s widow had taken over as Postmistress some while before their daughter Harriet’s death. In those days it was Post Office policy that married women were not appointed as postmasters; so it seemed likely that Harriet was put in as a stop-gap until the death of her father, when her mother might succeed him. After October 1810, Mrs Bagnold had no bar on her holding office, as she was a widow for the rest of her long life. However, when I discovered that William and Tabitha’s youngest child John was not baptised until 17th January 1811, and that his birth was posthumous; I realised that Tabitha would have been in no fit state to take over as Postmistress, having been pregnant when her husband resigned, and then later giving birth in her early widowhood. It would seem that she took over from Harriet as soon as she could manage to cope with the responsibility. Harriet herself died in 1812, aged 24.”

[kagetsukai]

My 2018 Tumblr Top 10

1). 1,900 notes - 23 January 2018

How to get good at writing

2). 379 notes - 10 August 2018

Writing advice

3). 222 notes - 18 February 2018

Trying to keep this artwork to myself has been single most difficult thing I had to do as of late. It’s so gorgeous! And it’s...

4). 203 notes - 11 March 2018

Leena Lavellan

5). 138 notes - 09 January 2018

A Black Tie Affair - [Cullen Rutherford x Ela Lavellan] NSFW

6). 131 notes - 04 September 2018

Smutty Short Stories Masterpost

7). 102 notes - 27 March 2018

Sleepytime [Cullen x f!Cadash] - NSFW

8). 101 notes - 25 August 2018

I have no excuse for this. Please enjoy >_>

When Blackwall wants to fuck, it's always all or nothing. There are no...

9). 97 notes - 22 April 2018

A long time ago @skyholdherbalist sent me a whole lot of ko-fis for which I promised that I would write a story. However many...

10). 94 notes - 10 June 2018

Yet another writer getting aggressive anon hate. I just don’t get it. I don’t. I’ve never sent anybody anon hate, because that...

Created by TumblrTop10

So... last year was all about writing advice and writing smut. Sounds right :P

[non-toxicdragonageconfessions]

Songday Sunday Collection (SSC) for May

So we’ve had our first two Songday Sundays last month and it’s safe to say it was a success! Looking at the amount of songs you’ve all sent in and are still waiting in our inbox for this month’s edition (10th and 24th of June) you can be certain we’ll continue this. :D

Underneath you can find every song once more for easy finding. And I made some banners for each character we’ve had so far to break the wall of text and links, so, long post ahead!

-Mod Kirra

Anders Ever Dream - Nightwish God help the outcasts (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) - Heidi Mollenhauer (singing voice of Esmeralda)

x Hawke No Way - Fifth Harmony Irresistible - Fall Out Boy (rivalmance)

Aveline x Ser Wesley Vallen Sweet Memories - Maiden Rose OST

Blackwall x Inquisitor Can you feel the love tonight (Disney)

Cole Not Too Late - Lemaitre Gasoline - Halsey

Cullen Fix you - Coldplay  May It Be - Enya The Draw - Bastille Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons Rear View - ZAYN Soldier - Ingrid Michaelson Hollow - Tori Kelly

x Inquisitor Rain - SID Can you feel the love tonight (Disney)

x Trevelyan  SPOTIFY LINK Ahead of Myself - Jamie Lawson Can’t See Straight - Jamie Lawson The Words - Christina Perri Hearts Don’t Break Around Here - Ed Sheeran Next to Me - Emeli Sandé Beneath Your Beautiful - Labyrinth ft. Emeli Sandé Be Still - The Fray I Touch Myself - Divinyls I Love You Will Still Sound The Same - Oh Honey Kiss Like Your Kiss - Lucinda Williams Bonfire Heart - James Blunt I Found You - Kina Grannis Forever Starts Today - Tim Halperin I Get To Love You - Ruelle Until You Came Along - JJ Heller Best Friend - Jason Mraz

Dorian There For You - Flyleaf (friendship with Inquisitor)

x Inquisitor Death Of A Bachelor - Panic! At The Disco

x Iron Bull Love Love Love - Of Monsters And Men  Circles - KIRA Be As One - W-inds Can You Feel The Love Tonight - Elton John

Fenris x f!Hawke Tale As Old As Time Intertwined - Dodie

Hero of Ferelden f!Cousland Akatsuki no Hana (Yona of the Dawn OP)

x Ser Gilmore (also for f!Warden/Alistair) Sweet Memories - Maiden Rose OST

f!Warden x Leliana Tonight And The Rest Of My life - Nina Gordon 

Hawke Human - Christina Perri Brother My Brother - Blessid Union of Souls

Inquisition 10th Man Down - Nightwish Legends Are Made - Sam Tinnesz

Iron Bull Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma - Melanie Safka

x Lavellan Sacrifices - Tinashe Honeymoon - Lana Del Rey Make You Feel - Alina Baraz Can I - Alina Baraz

Josephine x f!Inquisitor Tonight And The Rest Of My life - Nina Gordon 

Krem  Reflection - Christina Aguilera

Leliana Burning Cold - Eurielle  Utsukushiki zankou na sekai (Attack on Titan ED) - Yoko Hikasa

Merrill Field of Innocence - Evanescence Mary - Oingo Boingo Ingenue - Death Cab For Cutie

x f!Hawke Tonight And The Rest Of My life - Nina Gordon

Morrigan Walking With Strangers -The Birthday Massacre 

x Warden Far Away - Nickelback  She Lit A Fire - Lord Huron

Sera Royals - Lorde

x f!Inquisitor Tonight And The Rest Of My life - Nina Gordon

Solas Fade Away - Matthias  Dancin’ In The Ruins - Blue Öyster Cult Different Frequencies - Skyhill

x Lavellan Nature Boy - AURORA I Went Too Far - AURORA Running with Wolves - AURORA Only Love Hurts Like This - Paloma Faith

Varric Cry - James Blunt

x Cassandra My Kind Of Love - Emeli Sandé

x Hawke Immortals - Fall Out Boy 

Vivienne Walking With Strangers -The Birthday Massacre 

[0therainbowmind0]

My Inquisitors

#DragonAgeInquisitor #DragonAge #CharacterBio

I would like to list down my Inquisitors that I am planning to write for my Fanfic. It would include the headcanon in that ‘world’, and side pairing too.

Male Inquisitor Justin Trevelyan x Cassandra Pentaghast

Justin is a 28 years old turning to 29 (soon in June) Rogue. The fourth children in the house. He has 2 older brothers, 1 older sister, and 1 younger sister.

He is also known as June Treyan, his pen name.

He is gentle for most of the time, but he can be quite a childish boy sometimes.

He is dating Cassandra.

He is so going to charm Cassandra and every way and simply involve the sexy activity with her as much as possible. Yes, Cassandra is so charming mature woman for him. And HE LOVES HER SO MUCH.

Some side Pairing in this ‘world/story’:

   Dorian Pavus x Timothy Trevelyan

   Cullen Rutherford x Annabeth Trevelyan

   The Iron Bull x Daria Lavellan

   Blackwall x Josephine Montilyet

There will be some story created individually for these side pairing too.

Dorian Pavus x Male Inquisitor Julian Lavellan

Julian is a young 20, 21-year-old youth. He is an orphan, raised by Grandmother Palma. He is a mage. He has a secret, about his body, which causes him lack of confident and self-conscious with himself being too close to others for most of the time. As he is a boy but he has female organ too. Palma told him he was a boy, and he is one...right? But... And Palma told him to be careful with other people, don’t expose himself too freely, at least not with some random people. Be careful of people take advantage. But also be confident with himself... Everything all so contradicts. But surely, he does not have the habit of showing off his body or simply showing off.

Yet, everything seems just not right anymore, with the explosion, anchor, inquisition, and... A man named Dorian Pavus, a Tevinter, a...man he felt to be the sexiest man in Thedas. A...guy that he secretly in love with and...

What? Dorian likes him? Really? Dating? Kissing? But, wait, no, can’t go further. Yes, if they never do that thing, the activity that starting from s, or two words, m and l; then he will be safe and will not be dislike...right?

Errrm.....

Some side Pairing in this ‘world/story’:

  Cullen Rutherford x Cassandra Pentaghast

These pairing may be mentioned throughout the story.

The Iron Bull x Female Inquisitor Aliana Trevelyan

Aliana is the youngest girl in House Trevelyan, a small build, loli, a little childish and bossy, yet people can fall for her so easily. She can be deadly if she wants, don’t mess with her, or her bodyguard will crash you down.

She likes Iron Bull, the like started from curious. She met Qunari before, but no one is like the Bull. He is very interesting, and she just can’t help but bossy him around her (especially he likes to call her ‘boss’), and playing cute, be a spoiled kid. She likes the sit or stands on Bull’s shoulder, as that was the best view she can get, better than standing on the ground on her own. Soon, she finds herself relying on him more and more, she likes his protectiveness, and it is nice to get carried around on his arm. One day, Bull is in her quarter and...things just happen naturally...

The Iron Bull knows he is a big hulk, and a Qunari never does sex for love, but for the sake of just sex. He loves to let woman bounce on him, phrase their tits. But something just so different about this little girl. Is she even an adult? She looks so underage, but surely, she has big boobs, nice butt, even he never see her naked completely, he can tell she has a hot figure hiding behide those clothes. Ah, shit, just thinking of it he is on fire already. Too bad, those girls in the kitchen can’t really satisfied him anymore. He just...Shit, he has to make a move, hey, he is the Iron Fucking Bull, no go is alright, just her bodyguard and carry her and treasure the sensual of that ass sitting on his arm. But fuck, he knew she likes him! Fucking Inqusitor, he will throw her on to the bed and fuck her in and out. What? Shit, there will be no other woman as long as he is doing this with her. Oh fuck, he is real Fucking Bull now. Fuck, he wants her.

This story will have more rude words, used mainly when Iron bull is talking or thinking. And yeah, the Iron Bull is doom. Fall all over for the Boss. He will continue to deny the L word, but oh well, his heart and action will never lie anyway.

Some side Pairing in this ‘world/story’:

  Cullen Rutherford x Dorian Pavus

  Blackwall x Cassandra Pentagahst

These pairing may be mentioned throughout the story.

So far these are some ides in my mind.

[gamingtipsandtrickshacks]

Video game romance is broken • Eurogamer.net

Florence, a short mobile game by the developer Mountains, covers more ground on the topic of romantic love in under an hour than most games have for decades. It does so by focusing on a few small watershed moments of being in love, from developing an interest in someone to the pleasures and hurdles of domestic co-existence to letting go of a relationship that no longer works.

When thinking about romance in games, towering examples like Dragon Age and Mass Effect come to mind, games that made dating a major part of their appeal. Many other games, such as the Final Fantasy series, frequently include romantic subplots in their narrative. In visual romance novels like Clannad and Dream Daddy, dating is the main point of the exercise. Other games focus on tragic love and its aftermath, like Last Of June.

Generally romance in video games can be subdivided into the act of falling in love and love as a catalyst for certain stories and plot points. These are undoubtedly important and exciting aspects of love and romance, but aspects only. Florence's designer Ken Wong calls them milestones - situations everyone who has been in a relationship can identify with, small moments that stay with us even years later due to the sheer impact they had on us at the time.

Many games confuse being impactful with being dramatic, which is understandable when you look at popular love stories like Romeo and Juliet or Orpheus and Eurydice that stood the test of time. Stories like these paint romance as something passionate and consuming, making it a fitting addition to action-packed and exciting plotlines. Their protagonists take control of the situation that prevents them from achieving happiness together: in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet takes a sleeping potion in a bid to avoid marrying someone else, in Orpheus and Eurydice Orpheus refuses to accept the death of his wife.

Discussing relationships in To the Moon.

Control is what makes the power fantasies of so many games work. Most games still loathe wresting control away from their players, even though a lack of control is in many ways an important component to navigating a relationship - after all, it takes two to tango. The most egregious example of giving players total control over a romance is Dragon Age: Inquisition. The Inquisitor gathers people around them who are impressed with their accomplishments and who keep affirming their status as someone special. Solas, for example, says he "felt the whole world change" within moments of meeting the Inquisitor, Blackwall remarks on the importance of the Inquisitor so fervently you can start flirting with him immediately after recruiting him. Other characters, such as Cullen, react to your direct approach with discomfort that always takes the form of adorable shyness rather than rejection.

Until you decide to commit to a relationship, you are free to flirt with everyone without repercussions, and if you want to end the relationship at any point, you can do so. It's entirely in your power. There is exactly one time a partner comes close to ending it with you, and you are given the option to prevent it.

Games like Dragon Age or visual romance novels are all about saying the right thing to get someone to like you. An alternative of this mechanic which basically does the same sort of thing is gift-giving. Granted, in Stardew Valley for example it's not necessarily the rarest gift that ends up the most appreciated, but the overall message is that saying what someone would like to hear and giving them what they want is the way to success.

Since Florence is set in the modern world, it portrays milestones from later stages of a relationship that are deliberately mundane. It's important to note that it just presents them and doesn't allow players to change events. This way it avoids bias and makes it clear that some things just happen, both good and bad.

In Dragon Age I have all the power.

Games like to shy away from the difficult aspects of relationships in their endeavour to let us win. In addition to that, wanting to handle these aspects with the necessary respect often means a reliance on narrative over gameplay. Compare To The Moon and Last Of June, which both deal with old men reliving their memories of their relationships and lives as a whole. Last of June clearly relies on happy memories in order to make players want to reverse what happened and thus completely negate the grieving process. To The Moon, on the other hand, puts you in the role of two bystanders with no personal stake in the relationship, which results in a more passive experience.

One game that achieved a good balance between actively dealing with your memories and letting the stones fall as they may is a bit of a surprise: right until its end Hellblade made it seem like you were following the Orpheus and Eurydice plot of resurrecting a lover, only to realise that the true strength lies in letting go.

There is still a lot of fun to be had with the mundane aspects of love and everyday life together. If Octodad managed to make household chores chaotic fun, the same is possible for romantic gestures. If David Cage thinks brushing your teeth is a gameplay element worth including, then so is racing (or, er, crawling) through inner-city traffic to get your partner to their doctor's appointment on time.

When it comes to the portrayal of physical acts, many experimental games with a focus on sex currently lead the way. The physical signs of falling in love and touching should be part of what makes a good romance - hugging and holding hands are platonic actions that are great to express mechanically, and great things in general.

Even regarding the popular mechanics that exist, like the aforementioned dialogue options, there's more that can be done. Dialogue options still look too much like morality options that feature an added option to flirt, which is always clearly made out as such. If you want someone to like you, you have to flirt and pick the option to be nice. How about less clear-cut options instead? After all, it's often especially difficult to know what the right thing to say is when you would like to get to know someone better or want to impress them.

That's perhaps not the compliment you think it is.

If that leads to an argument, even better - disagreements and compromise are vital parts to any relationship, romantic or not. No one agrees all the time, and you should be able to experience that through play. Disagreement doesn't have to mean frosty silence, even though it is a good measure to show players they don't control everything. Mass Effect Andromeda takes steps in the right direction with crew members openly disapproving with your actions to the point of not speaking to you at all. However, this has no lasting consequences, particularly not once you have entered into a relationship with one of them.

There needs to be more commitment to romance that is nothing but. Alone With You bills itself as a sci-fi romance adventure, but its romantic portions are sidequests, easily used as means to an end in order to obtain information. In other games, romancing a companion means always having someone who carries your stuff and helps you in battle.

In comparison, Final Fantasy IX and X develop the relationship between their protagonists slowly from initial attraction into something based on shared experiences. That way love develops through shared experiences, and not at the player's insistence, and there is no direct boon to gameplay.

If a game places importance on romance, romance should extend past the act of starting a relationship to reflect the effort that it takes to maintain one. That could also mean moving away from "relationship pick and mix", where the only thing that matters is who you want to date, and you can drop partners to immediately replace them with another. While technically complicated, games could invest in compatibility the way online dating simulators do. It's by no means a fool-proof system, but it's an example to illustrate how difficulty in finding the right person to spend your days with should surpass the difficulty of buying a pint of milk, even in a game.

Sometimes you just want to bonk a weirdly good-looking alien in a game, and that's okay. Among the many complex subjects games cover in-depth, subjects that are equally important to the human experience, a thorough exploration feels overdue. After all, love is a many-splendored thing after all, and it's rewarding to treat it as such.

[itsworn]

We Turned a United Pacific 1932 Ford Truck into our 2018 Road Tour Cruiser

This is the 23rd year of the STREET RODDER Road Tour. For 22 of those years, the diverse collection of purpose-built street rods that Road Tour leader Jerry Dixey has driven all over America has included Fords and Chevys in about a 3-to-1 ratio. We have built ’20s, ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s cars. We’ve built roadsters, coupes, sedans, phaetons, and convertibles. Ever single one of them has been innovative, eye-catchng, roadworthy, and cool. Not one of them has been a closed cab commercial truck.

That changed in 2018.

From a historical standpoint, our timing was perfect. The year 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the introduction of Ford Motor Company’s Model TT, the first Ford specifically built as a truck. Previous Ford trucks had essentially been converted cars with their rear sheetmetal removed and replaced by wooden wagon beds or aftermarket beds.

Last year also marked the introduction of United Pacific Industries’ steel ’32 Ford truck body, unveiled at the SEMA Show. UP had introduced its steel 1932 five-window coupe at SEMA in 2014. The coupe has validated the company’s place in the street rod market, and we had confidence that the truck would carry the same quality.

The new ’32 truck body is officially licensed by Ford. David Odegard of UP said that the company spent three years reverse-engineering the body to ensure that it conforms precisely to the originals and that UP parts (available separately) are compatible with factory parts. One difference is that the UP 18-gauge exterior panels are heavier than the 19-gauge steel used 86 years ago. The inner structure uses 14- and 16-gauge, the same as Ford did.

Choosing the new ’32 Ford pickup to lead the 2018 United Pacific/STREET RODDER Road Tour Presented by Ford Performance Parts was the easiest part of the project. For the build, STREET RODDER turned again to Hot Rods By Dean in Phoenix. STREET RODDER has worked with Dean Livermore at HRBD on three earlier Road Tour vehicles (’38 Ford coupe, ’59 Chevy Impala, and ’66 Ford Fairlane). He knows what we like and we like what he builds. We wanted the truck to reflect classic ’60s hot rod style and we needed it to withstand five months of virtually nonstop cross-country cruising. Designer Eric Black created some concept illustrations to get the style just right, and Livermore and the HRBD builders turned it into the real thing.

Like many of the recent Road Tour vehicles, the truck rides on chassis built at Roadster Shop in Mundelein, Illinois. Neal, Phil, and Jeremy Gerber started with a fully boxed repro Deuce frame, reinforced with a Model A–style front crossmember and X-member. Pete and Jakes is a great source for traditional suspension parts and supplied what we needed for our truck. The period frontend includes a drilled, dropped Super Bell I-beam axle, ’37-’41 style spindles, hairpins, tubular shocks, and a monoleaf spring reversed-eye spring—all chromed to shine like jewels. Flaming River provided the entire steering system from the Vega box and Pitman arm all the way up to the tilt column and Vette steering wheel. Roadster Shop added their Panhard bar to the Pete and Jakes rearend, featuring a polished Winters quick-change, heavy-duty four-bars, and a pair of AFCO adjustable coilover shocks. The whole chassis is a combination of traditional coolness and reliable performance.

UP provided the truck body, doors, fenders, hood, grille, cowl top, and sides with windshield pillars, fenders, firewall, floor, bumpers, LED turn-indicator spreader bar, handles, mirrors, and even the headlights and taillights. Two cowl tops are available with or without a vent; we chose a vent. Dan Fink Metalworks shipped one of their ’32 Ford grille inserts to complete the exterior. The fasteners for this project were provided by Automotive Racing Products (ARP).

All of the UP components are offered individually in their catalog. For the most part, HRBD left the sheetmetal just as Ford designed it and UP recreated it. One notable custom modification to the ’32 specs was with the bed. Dean and his fabricators shortened it 12 inches to even up the dimensions in front of and behind the rear wheels. There is still plenty of room for all of Jerry Dixey’s luggage plus the stainless fuel tank, custom built for the pickup by Rock Valley and equipped with a Holley in-take fuel pump. The inside of the bed is protected with bedliner coating from 3M.

One disadvantage of choosing a pickup truck as the Road Tour vehicle is that an open bed doesn’t provide any security or protection from the weather. The easy solution is a bed cover and we had many to choose from. We really like the retractable tonneau cover from Retrax. We needed our cover modified for the shortened bed and we wanted it to fit over the bedrails. Retrax was able to accommodate us in both cases and is now incorporating that design into their product line.

When choosing a paint color for an early Ford, it’s hard to beat Washington Blue, or any color in that neighborhood. The PPG Nantucket Blue used by HRBD on the Road Tour truck is a couple of shades lighter and is perfect for the early Ford look we were going for. Also in keeping with retro paint styling the fenders were sprayed black. Someday, when the truck slows down for a few days, some lowkey black pinstriping will be added to the beltline. There isn’t a lot of brightwork on the truck, but the parts and pieces that needed to be chromed were sent to Sherm’s Custom Plating in Sacramento. Perfect chrome is the finishing touch to a project, and we have used Sherm’s for many years.

As with paint choice, wheel and tire selection can be a make-it-or-break-it decision. In this case they had to be traditional. We knew just where to look: Coker Tire and Wheel Vintiques. Our Firestone Deluxe Champion bias-ply blackwall tires, now manufactured by Coker from Firestones molds, measure 5.60-15 in front and 7.00-16 in the rear. The 15×5 and 16×6 steel wheels are ’40-’48 Ford reproductions from Wheel Vintiques’ Gennie series, powdercoated black and dressed up with trim rings and ’41 Ford–style caps. The retro-style wheels and tires are paired with up-to-date front and rear disc brakes and master cylinder from Wilwood.

STREET RODDER has always promoted the idea of Ford in a Ford and have used the Road Tour cars to drive home the point—filling the engine compartments with a variety of Ford engines from Flatheads to 427 small-blocks, an EcoBoost, and Coyote modular engines. Ford Performance has been a valuable partner, signing on as a presenting sponsor and providing us with engines. The UP 1932 truck is our 13th Ford-powered Ford since we started doing the Road Tour in 1996. This time, the engine is a Ford Performance 347-inch small-block, which required some modification to the UP firewall to fit.

The 360-horse crate engine is built upon a Boss 302 block, bored 0.030-over, with Ford’s X-Head aluminum cylinder heads. The cylinders are loaded with Mahle forged pistons with I-beam rods connecting them to the Scat forged crank. HRBD topped the Edelbrock Performer RPM Air-Gap intake with a Holley Terminator Stealth throttle body EFI system and aluminum air cleaner—modern electronic injection with the appearance of a traditional carburetor. The MSD ignition system includes a billet distributor and MSD6 EFI ignition control, with Ford Performance plug wires. Patriot Tri-Y headers draw out the exhaust gases. The serpentine drive system is a Vintage Air Front Runner, which includes the water pump, A/C compressor, and Powermaster alternator. Keeping things cool is not a problem with a U.S. Radiator, shroud, and electric pull fan.

The 4L60E transmission from Hughes Performance was delivered with a Ford small-block compatible bell housing for easy installation and is controlled by a US Shift Quick 4 transmission electronic controller from Baumann Electronic Controls. The custom Dynotech steel driveshaft connects the trans to the Winters Performance rearend. AMSOIL INC. has been a faithful Road Tour sponsor, providing engine oil, transmission fluid, gear oil, brake fluid, coolant, and chassis grease.

HRBD has used Hot Rod Interiors by Glenn on many projects, including previous Road Tour cars. The first step in completing the cab was a complete lining of Dynamat and Dynaliner to insulate against heat, noise, and vibration. Dakota Digital built an elliptical analog instrument cluster, mounted in the UP dash. The subdash was fabricated by HRBD for the Vintage Air vents and HBRD billet V-8 column drop. Power door glass and the windshield wipers from Specialty Power Windows are updated components. The leather-wrapped Classic Lowback seats from Procar by Scat suit the ’60s hot rod style we wanted for the truck. Dark gray German weave carpet surrounds the console, fabricated at Dean’s to house the head unit for the Custom Autosound stereo, Vintage Air A/C controls, power ports, and the Lokar shifter and boot. Lokar also contributed pedals and throttle linkage. Wiring the truck was easy with a Painless Performance Products kit.

The newly finished United Pacific/STREET RODDER Road Tour truck Presented by Ford Performance Parts was delivered to the 2018 Back To The 50’s car show in June, hit the road immediately, and won’t slow down until the end of October. By all measures, HRBD’s version of UP’s ’32 hauler is a huge success and a fitting way to celebrate 100 years of Ford trucks. Incidentally, 2017 was also the 100th anniversary of the Henry Ford & Son Company Fordson tractor. We could’ve decided to build our first Road Tour tractor—but we didn’t. Jerry Dixey, consider yourself lucky.

2018 Road Tour Sponsors

•AMSOIL INC. Lubricants & Filtration Presenting Sponsor (715) 392-7101 amsoil.com/cars

•Automotive Racing Products Fasteners (805) 339-2200 arp-bolts.com

•Coker Tire Tires (800) 251-6336 coker.com

•Covercraft Industries Car Cover (800) 274-7006 covercraft.com

•Custom Autosound Audio Equipment (800) 888-8637 customautosound.com

•Dakota Digital Instrumentation (888) 852-3228 dakotadigital.com

•Dynamat Sound & heat Control (513) 860-5094 dynamat.com

•Dynotech Engineering Driveshaft (800) 633-5559 dynotecheng.com

•ET Motorgear Merchandise (865) 671-3000 etmotorgear.com

•Flaming River Steering Components (866) 815-3669 flamingriver.com

•Ford Engine Presenting Sponsor performance.ford.com

•Holley Manifold, Fuel Injection, Distributor (866) 464-6553 Holley.com

•Hot Rods By Dean Builder (623) 581-1932 hotrodsbydean.com

•Hughes Performance Transmission (602) 257-9591 hughesperformance.com

•Lokar Shifter & Accessories (877) 469-7440 lokar.com

•Miller Electric Manufacturing co. Welding & Cutting Products (800) 4264553 millerwelds.com

•Painless Performance Products Wiring (817) 244-6212 painlessperformance.com

•Pete & Jakes Suspension (800) 334-7240 peteandjakes.com

•Powermaster Performance Alternator & Starter (630) 957-4019 powermasterperformance.com

•PPG Paint & Coatings (800) 647-6050 ppgrefinish.com

•Procar by Scat Seats (310) 370-5501 procarbyscat.com

•Roadster Shop Chassis (847) 949-7637 roadstershop.com

•Sherm’s Custom Plating Chrome Plating & Polishing (916) 646-0160 shermsplating.com

•Specialty Power Windows Power Windows & Wipers (866) 951-7543 spwkits.com

•United Pacific Truck Cab, lighting Title Sponsor (800) 7906988 uapac.com

•United Routes transport (786) 377-5785 unitedroutes.com

•U.S. Radiator Cooling system, Radiator (323) 826-0965 usradiator.com

•Vintage Air Climate Control System (800) 862-6658 vintageair.com

•Wheel Vintiques Wheels (800) 959-2100 wheelvintiques.com

•Wilwood Brake kits & Components (605) 388-1188 wilwood.com

•Winters Performance Rear End (717) 764-9394 wintersperformance.com

The post We Turned a United Pacific 1932 Ford Truck into our 2018 Road Tour Cruiser appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network https://www.hotrod.com/articles/turned-united-pacific-1932-ford-truck-2018-road-tour-cruiser/ via IFTTT

[artsybeccaartblog]

After the Wardens, Adament, the Judgment....these two need a little happiness.

[artsybecca]

After the Wardens, Adamant, the Judgment...these two need a little happiness.

[artsybecca]

The moment I fell in love with you.

[artsybecca]

Been really loving these two~

[artsybecca]

Let's rub salt in June's survivor guilt wounds by her big bear of a boyfriend leaving her RIGHT after Adamant! :D

[gamingtipsandtrickshacks]

Video game romance is broken • Eurogamer.net

Florence, a short mobile game by the developer Mountains, covers more ground on the topic of romantic love in under an hour than most games have for decades. It does so by focusing on a few small watershed moments of being in love, from developing an interest in someone to the pleasures and hurdles of domestic co-existence to letting go of a relationship that no longer works.

When thinking about romance in games, towering examples like Dragon Age and Mass Effect come to mind, games that made dating a major part of their appeal. Many other games, such as the Final Fantasy series, frequently include romantic subplots in their narrative. In visual romance novels like Clannad and Dream Daddy, dating is the main point of the exercise. Other games focus on tragic love and its aftermath, like Last Of June.

Generally romance in video games can be subdivided into the act of falling in love and love as a catalyst for certain stories and plot points. These are undoubtedly important and exciting aspects of love and romance, but aspects only. Florence's designer Ken Wong calls them milestones - situations everyone who has been in a relationship can identify with, small moments that stay with us even years later due to the sheer impact they had on us at the time.

Many games confuse being impactful with being dramatic, which is understandable when you look at popular love stories like Romeo and Juliet or Orpheus and Eurydice that stood the test of time. Stories like these paint romance as something passionate and consuming, making it a fitting addition to action-packed and exciting plotlines. Their protagonists take control of the situation that prevents them from achieving happiness together: in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet takes a sleeping potion in a bid to avoid marrying someone else, in Orpheus and Eurydice Orpheus refuses to accept the death of his wife.

Discussing relationships in To the Moon.

Control is what makes the power fantasies of so many games work. Most games still loathe wresting control away from their players, even though a lack of control is in many ways an important component to navigating a relationship - after all, it takes two to tango. The most egregious example of giving players total control over a romance is Dragon Age: Inquisition. The Inquisitor gathers people around them who are impressed with their accomplishments and who keep affirming their status as someone special. Solas, for example, says he "felt the whole world change" within moments of meeting the Inquisitor, Blackwall remarks on the importance of the Inquisitor so fervently you can start flirting with him immediately after recruiting him. Other characters, such as Cullen, react to your direct approach with discomfort that always takes the form of adorable shyness rather than rejection.

Until you decide to commit to a relationship, you are free to flirt with everyone without repercussions, and if you want to end the relationship at any point, you can do so. It's entirely in your power. There is exactly one time a partner comes close to ending it with you, and you are given the option to prevent it.

Games like Dragon Age or visual romance novels are all about saying the right thing to get someone to like you. An alternative of this mechanic which basically does the same sort of thing is gift-giving. Granted, in Stardew Valley for example it's not necessarily the rarest gift that ends up the most appreciated, but the overall message is that saying what someone would like to hear and giving them what they want is the way to success.

Since Florence is set in the modern world, it portrays milestones from later stages of a relationship that are deliberately mundane. It's important to note that it just presents them and doesn't allow players to change events. This way it avoids bias and makes it clear that some things just happen, both good and bad.

In Dragon Age I have all the power.

Games like to shy away from the difficult aspects of relationships in their endeavour to let us win. In addition to that, wanting to handle these aspects with the necessary respect often means a reliance on narrative over gameplay. Compare To The Moon and Last Of June, which both deal with old men reliving their memories of their relationships and lives as a whole. Last of June clearly relies on happy memories in order to make players want to reverse what happened and thus completely negate the grieving process. To The Moon, on the other hand, puts you in the role of two bystanders with no personal stake in the relationship, which results in a more passive experience.

One game that achieved a good balance between actively dealing with your memories and letting the stones fall as they may is a bit of a surprise: right until its end Hellblade made it seem like you were following the Orpheus and Eurydice plot of resurrecting a lover, only to realise that the true strength lies in letting go.

There is still a lot of fun to be had with the mundane aspects of love and everyday life together. If Octodad managed to make household chores chaotic fun, the same is possible for romantic gestures. If David Cage thinks brushing your teeth is a gameplay element worth including, then so is racing (or, er, crawling) through inner-city traffic to get your partner to their doctor's appointment on time.

When it comes to the portrayal of physical acts, many experimental games with a focus on sex currently lead the way. The physical signs of falling in love and touching should be part of what makes a good romance - hugging and holding hands are platonic actions that are great to express mechanically, and great things in general.

Even regarding the popular mechanics that exist, like the aforementioned dialogue options, there's more that can be done. Dialogue options still look too much like morality options that feature an added option to flirt, which is always clearly made out as such. If you want someone to like you, you have to flirt and pick the option to be nice. How about less clear-cut options instead? After all, it's often especially difficult to know what the right thing to say is when you would like to get to know someone better or want to impress them.

That's perhaps not the compliment you think it is.

If that leads to an argument, even better - disagreements and compromise are vital parts to any relationship, romantic or not. No one agrees all the time, and you should be able to experience that through play. Disagreement doesn't have to mean frosty silence, even though it is a good measure to show players they don't control everything. Mass Effect Andromeda takes steps in the right direction with crew members openly disapproving with your actions to the point of not speaking to you at all. However, this has no lasting consequences, particularly not once you have entered into a relationship with one of them.

There needs to be more commitment to romance that is nothing but. Alone With You bills itself as a sci-fi romance adventure, but its romantic portions are sidequests, easily used as means to an end in order to obtain information. In other games, romancing a companion means always having someone who carries your stuff and helps you in battle.

In comparison, Final Fantasy IX and X develop the relationship between their protagonists slowly from initial attraction into something based on shared experiences. That way love develops through shared experiences, and not at the player's insistence, and there is no direct boon to gameplay.

If a game places importance on romance, romance should extend past the act of starting a relationship to reflect the effort that it takes to maintain one. That could also mean moving away from "relationship pick and mix", where the only thing that matters is who you want to date, and you can drop partners to immediately replace them with another. While technically complicated, games could invest in compatibility the way online dating simulators do. It's by no means a fool-proof system, but it's an example to illustrate how difficulty in finding the right person to spend your days with should surpass the difficulty of buying a pint of milk, even in a game.

Sometimes you just want to bonk a weirdly good-looking alien in a game, and that's okay. Among the many complex subjects games cover in-depth, subjects that are equally important to the human experience, a thorough exploration feels overdue. After all, love is a many-splendored thing after all, and it's rewarding to treat it as such.