#kinda want to add wings to the robot on the right opinions?

[3v1l-0m3n-0f-d3ath]

Doodles of robots I want to make into oc’s

Name suggestions would be great

[commenter2]

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart trailer analysis

For those that haven’t heard yet, Insomniac Games has released a trailer for there new Ratchet & Clank game yesterday, called Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

I don’t think I need to say how excited I am for it but I’m going to anyway. IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS GAME ! For those that haven’t heard about it yet, here is a link to a video showing the trailer for the game as well as gameplay of it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsnG-3-r6-Q

The game looked so amazing that I did na analysis of the trailer last night and thought Id post it on my Tumblr page for anyone to read. HUGES spoilers ahead. Also I apologize or the spacing as for some reason I can't separate the paragraphs any longer then they are now.

First is the trailer

First off we get a shot of the amazing animation of the game till Ratchet & Clank drop in, literally, but did they just come out of a dimensional rift ? This has to mean the Dimensionator has to be involved in this somehow. We then see another amazing example of the games design and graphics of what looks like planet Sargasso (which would be cool to go to again) till Clank brings up how they need to get to something, the Dimensionator maybe ?, till he is distracted by an Antropod/Terratrope followed by another rift releasing robots shooting at them and though I’ve seen the trailer already, I quickly got a Dr. Nefarious vibe from them.

Then something unexpected happens as Ratchet RIDES the bug and uses it to take down the robots ! Now I haven’t played Spyro in years but that charging attack reminds me a bit of the charge attack Spyro uses in the games, did anyone else think that? If that was on purpose then its nice to see that Insomniac Games still remembers there roots which gives me comfort with them making awesome Spider Man games in the future without worrying about them ignoring there Ratchet & Clank fans.

After some animal handling gameplay, Ratchet and Clank are thrown into a rift and we see a series of shattered pink/purple glass images of places only for them to quickly grind and slide though two planets, maybe existing ones at the night one kinda looks like Veldin while the city one could be Metropolis or Meridian City, with Clank saying the dimensions are weakening which again backs up the idea of the Dimesinator being involved.  I do want to say that during the quick grind rail segment, the Grind Boots looked much better in design compared to there previous appearances, which were kinda lazy in my opinion. I hope this means they and the Gravity Boots will be different in appearance instead of in color. I should also say it shown that you can DOUBLE JUMP while grinding, which is a cool small change for the iconic mechanic.

We then see Ratchet ride another animal, this time with wings, on planet Torren IV which though I’m not 100% sure I think I saw a Hoverboot boost pad. Could the Hoverboots be in the game ? Before I continue I want to say the idea of Ratchet riding and controlling animals is a really awesome idea, not only would this be an interesting twist to combat in the game but it would also be another interesting way to travel throughout the levels, which Id be ok with doing IF the Hoverboots aren’t in Rift Apart.

Either way this ends quickly as Ratchet & Clank hop to another planet, a new one according to them but again teleport to planet Ardolis where Ratchet fights robot pirates (AWESOME) who are dealing with a creature. I wonder if Captain Slag and Rusty Pete will be in the game ? During a fight we see Ratchet uses a new weapons, specifically a new BLASTER like weapon that has a rapid-fire feature, which I am thankful for cause I couldn’t take another game with the Combuster.

The fight quickly ends as the explosive barrel explodes and Clank gets thrown through a dimensional rift and is separated from Ratchet, NO ! but also AWESOME cause it gives a A Crack In Time like vibe. The hype is then taken up a notch where its revealed that Clank is on a planet run by none other then DR. NEFARIOUS, Clank saying they are to late, meaning those robots at the beginning WERE his and he is somehow causing all of this, maybe.

Speaking of which Im not sure how I feel about Dr. Nefarious being the main antagonist of ANOTHER game. Don't get me wrong he's still an awesome character but it would also be nice to face a new villain for a change, plus it makes me nervous that this could mean Nefarious could be defeated once and for all which could ruin a big part of the story of the R&C trilogy finale I made some time ago.

HOWEVER I think we can all agree that the biggest thing about this trailer is that while Clank is calling for Ratchet a blue and gray/white colored female Lombax with a robotic arm appears wondering who Clank is talking about, which again gives off A Crack In Time like vibes and…..she’s carrying a hammer ? A bit odd since Lombaxes are affiliated with wrenches but its still an amazing idea. Then we get the name of the game which though I hate to say, the text makes it looks a bit bad as its looks poorly rendered especially at the "and" section and what’s that thing between the words Rift and Apart ? Is that a dimensional rift ?

Other then that the trailer is amazing.

Now for the gameplay

So Marcus Smith does confirm some things about Rift Apart like how this will be a full length game and how those things teleporting Ratchet & Clank were dimensional rifts that will allow them to teleport form planet to planet which though cool its goanna be a bit sad not being able to use Aphelion in the game, I wish she could have more speaking roles in games as she IS one of the last few things from the Lombaxes.

He also says that the new graphic allows them to put something called ray trace reflections on Clank, which along with some other people I’ve seen, I agree makes him look really odd. Hopefully before the game comes out they fix this by toning it down  and maybe add a bit of white in there like his older appearances. He then says that the planets are denser with new creatures and that Ratchet has a new arsenal, which sounds perfect to me. He then states that R&C is close to the company’s hearts and can’t wait to show more of it, which again gives comfort.

We get to the gameplay and immediately were introduced to a new mechanic where Ratchet uses a gadget called the Rift Tether to go through a yellow rift similar to that scene in Avenger: Infinity Wars where (spoilers) Thanos uses the stones to pull Dr. Strange closer to him, pulling the area around him towards him in the process. We then see Ratchet fight a Thug for Less enemy, which is cool but not surprising since there were many signs that this game would make references to there other games and this is confirmed seconds later where we see Ratchet fight some Sandsharks. We also get to see several new species of aliens here.

During the Sandshark section we do see a NEW comet strike as unlike in previous games the Omniwrench is thrown diagonally and it looks like it returns to your hand faster. I feel like this change was done for the new female Lombax as I feel like she can do the same thing but since her melee weapon is a a hammer, it wouldn’t really work (or make since) if thrown horizontally, and it would be confusing to have two character with two different ways of throwing there melee weapon. Though I’m not that big a fan of changes I don’t really mind it, heck maybe its a one time thing.

After some more chaos like a giant tentacle creature coming out of the portal, similar to the one in the trailer, and what looks like an Ultra-Mech Unlimited crashing through a walkway Ratchet and Clank were in we get some interesting content in the next cut. One is Ratchet saying something about “break reality” again telling reality is coming apart because of theses rifts, quickly followed by Clank saying Dr. Nefarious has come out of hiding after years of hiding to take over the universe again which means that this IS a post Into The Nexus game, as I’ve seen some people debate about if it is or not.

We get another new game mechanic during the fight with some thugs. It seems that Ratchet can now jump to his left or right in order to avoid incoming damage by using a thruster on his boots, could this mean the Hoverboots are really in the game but are damaged ? It would be cool if during the game Ratchet & Clank or Ratchet goes to Azimuths house on Torren IV to find something about the Dimensionator but also find a part needed to fix his hoverboots thus letting Ratchet use them to get around, especially if the part of the trailer of Ratchet and Clank getting separated IS true.

Were also introduced to new weapons here. One is called a Shatterbomb, the bomb glove weapon, The Enforcer a shotgun like weapon and the Burst Pistol which is the blaster shown in the trailer and would explain its rapid fire ability. The most interesting weapon shown so far is the Topiary Sprinkler, a weapon that when thrown forms into a sprinkler that can project plants around it and shoots out a stream of water that can stop enemies in there place, plus I bet the plants around it is a form of defense system to protect the sprinkler for a time.

The gameplay ends with Ratchet destroying some Robomutts and going though a hallway where a statue of Dr. Nefarious or a mech in his image can be seen but also there is a moment where a purple energy ways rushes through the surrounding areas, just like in another R&C game but that’s for another post, no spoilers now.

Wow that was a lot to write but that’s because there was SO MUCH going on in theses trailers and I’m pretty sure I missed some things. I’m already working on a theory on what’s going to happen in this game, which will most likely come out during the weekend so stay tuned for that.

What were your thoughts on the trailers ? What was your favorite moment in them, and did you noticed anything in them I didn’t talked about ?

[rueitae]

2018 Fic Roundup

I did this last year and it was nice to do some self reflection and make some goals for 2019. I encourage all my writer friends to do this! No tagging necessary, just tell each other to do it. <3

It’s long, so putting the rest of the fic and reflection questions under the cut.

Stats:

Fics Posted (Gen): 6

Space Birthday (9,595 words): Hunk can feel it in his bones; it’s his birthday. He wants to have a nice one... and does... after accidentally raiding a Galra outpost with Lance and Pidge.

Pilot (4,340): Shiro finds himself in a different reality post s2. Here, the mechs are called Gundams. (Shiro in the Gundam Wing universe/reality)

Code (7,321): Pidge and the others keep fond memories of Earth through oldies musical trivia. It comes in handy on a mission.

Self Insert (6,357): Lance reads a story to his niece and nephew on the eve he leaves for school at the Galaxy Garrison. The kids have Opinions on how it should go.(i totally still need to change their names to the canon ones)

Too Soon and Not Soon Enough (1,796): Keith is 13 and is supposed to go to the Galaxy Garrison next year at Shiro’s encouragement. Until the Galra invade and plans change.

Welcome to the Neighborhood (2,237): Allura gets used to being not dead and that includes meeting her cosmic neighbors.

Fics Posted (Plance): 17

Wrong Diamond (2,384): Gentlemen thief AU. “At midnight, I will steal the heart of Voltron,” the note says. Pidge has a thief to catch.

Diamond in the Rough (8,045): prequel to Wrong Diamond. How they meet!

Road Trip (4,710): Lance and Pidge are back on Earth. Zarkon has the others and the two are on the run from a bureaucratic Galaxy Garrison that doesn’t want the world to know about aliens yet. Oh, and Lotor is with them.

Exsanguination (16,255): Pidge is a vampire hunter captured by Haggar. She finds some unlikely help in the vampire’s similarly undead servant.

Power Up! (3,500): Pidge is on the cusp of finding out where Zarkon is holding her father using less than legal methods. She’s caught in the act by her lab partner (Lance, a superhero in training).

Plance on Ice (2,300): A figure skating AU! Pidge and Lance are former competitive partners having a date free time on the ice

Being Plance (3,900): Pidge and Lance pull a personality switch prank over on the rest of the team. Canon verse.

Keeping Cool (3,098): Mermaid AU! Pidge is in trouble with pirates and gets some unexpected help from the sea.

The Cake (839): Canon verse, Lance gets a cake for his birthday and assumes it’s from Hunk.

Frostbite (6,109): Pidge is a renowned super villain. Lance is a hero in training with something to prove. Lance over uses his powers one day and Pidge has some soul searching to do.

Crystal Clear (5,516): Another superhero AU. Lance is captured by his arch nemesis. They have a heart-to-heart, taunt, and flirt.

The Secrets of Beasts (2,007): AU canon verse. Years down the road, Green keeps Pidge from going on a mission with the others. It takes Kosmo to find out why.

See You Yesterday (8,132): Lance works nervously as a bartender for a 1920s mafia when all he wanted to do was leave the farming life. One night he gets a strange patron who changes his life - and his perspective of the world. Time travel AU

Shot Through the Heart (1,087): post canon AU. Lance and Pidge keep Nadia and Sylvio entertained.

Seasons of Magic (11,744): Pidge is a mage. Lance is her dragon familiar. Series of domestic-ish one shots. Not in sequential order.

Between Rocks and A Hard Place (8,144): Canon verse. Pidge and Lance are trapped due to a caved-in mine, with pirates waiting for them on the other side. And Pidge is hurt.

Cow-parent Trapped (1,099): s8 canon continuation. Pidge visits Lance at the farm and does not expect Kaltenecker to make them talk to each other.

Lotura 1

Birthday Prompt #5 (5,500): Oh gosh I never named it. Fantasy AU in which Lotor is essentially Rapunzel and Allura is Aurora with a better (depending on who you ask) birth-prophesy. Tiny hint of Shallura in this as well.

Collaborations: 3

First Encounters for the (Altean Plance AU): Pidge is an independent noblewoman and Lance is her bodyguard. Writing done with @hushman and @pidge-suggestions

To Sail, To Break, To Earn (Plance - 10,268): Lance is a pirate and Pidge is a mermaid. There’s also a curse involved. With @sp4c3-0ddity

It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like A Christmas Carol (Plance- 14,384): post s8 canon verse with @hailqiqi and @sp4c3-0ddity. Exactly as the title says. Lance is the subject of a ghostly intervention. Crack treated seriously.

Fey AU (Plance): with @vivalachocolate this was @sp4c3-0ddity ‘s prompt to Viva but I was nosy and added a chapter and I’m so glad she wasn’t mad at me for it. 😅

Ship/Character breakdown:

Ship breakdown:

I guess the 17 Plance fics speak for themselves. I did write one Lotura fic as a special birthday prompt because @ritsykitty is such a good friend.

Character breakdown:

I have a gen fic for each Paladin, but then the Plance fics outnumber those, so Lance and Pidge would be my go to.

Characters that had the main focus:

So for character POV, each Paladin has one, then within Plance, Pidge has 12 and Lance has 7. Interesting, I thought it was more even. Hunk had a POV in a Plance fic too briefly!

Specifics:

Best/worst title?

Best title: Urgh I liked a lot of them. Too Soon and Not Soon Enough probably. I like how it summarizes the story without telling you how, but by the end you know.

Worst title: Seasons of Magic aka I tried to come up with a clever title when I realized I wasn’t done with it. It’s so bland to me. I’m also basically trying to rebrand from mage/familiar AU. I don’t think it’s working 😅 (not that I care I’m trying to make it easier to reference but I’m too late)

Best/worst last line?

Best: “I love you too, Pidge,” he [Lance] says, nestling her head to his chest and not bothering to correct her. “You’re the best nemesis a hero could ask for.” - I love that line so much, from Crystal Clear. Enemies to lovers is such a good trope.

Worst: Pidge groans. At this rate her double life is definitely doomed to unravel. - for how much I love Frostbite, I really hate how lame it ends. Like I totally could have said that better or continued the scene a bit but I am LAZY.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I wrote waaaaaaay more than expected. I figured I’d write something every few months. Now I can write a 2k fic in a setting if I’m on game.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I was just doing gen fic last year, never would I have expected to be so taken by Plance that it became my main muse.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

Honestly? Probably Pilot. It was one of my earliest VLD fic ideas to do a Gundam Wing crossover and to actually finish a one shot early in the year (when I was still dipping my feet into fandom again) just made me so so happy. I still smile thinking about the continuation possibilities. One of my favorite parts of Shiro’s character is that he is the ace pilot. Because of Keith’s role that sometimes gets overshadowed. I was so pleased to get to highlight that.

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

On Ao3, that would be Exsanguination. No surprise there, it was my first posted Plance fic and I continued it.

On Tumblr it’s First Encounters, the first of the Altean Plance AU based on the art and headcanons. I was just struck with a clear opening image one afternoon and wrote it all right then and there. I had no idea it would be so well received.

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Space Birthday. It may have been a bit of a mess since it was my very first VLD fic, but it has everything I love. Hunk bonding with an ‘enemy’ over cooking, Team Punk, Plance in distress, Hunk saves the day thanks to mechanics. Also heartfelt stuff with Keith. And he’s the only Paladin besides Lance to get an actual birthday themed fic from me.

Story that could have been better?

I really hate to say Wrong Diamond, but I totally could have done much better with it. It feels skimpy. Probably why I am still writing in the AU.

Sexiest story?

Ha. That would be a tie between Crystal Clear and Exsanguination. The first I actually tried and the second completely by accident. I’m not sure it worked though.

Saddest story?

All my sad fics have a bit of crack to them. Pilot is pretty melancholy. Crystal Clear has a good Plance argument that gets heated. Road Trip in general though might take the cake. It’s full of angst amid some humor due to the premise.

Most fun?

Shot Through the Heart in terms of tone.

Story with single sweetest moment? Space Birthday

"Uh, Keith, hold up a tic."

Confused, Keith turned back around. "What?"

Hunk rubbed the back of his neck. "So uh, you know we're friends right? Like, I meant what I said we're like brothers. We're tight. I mean, we share a mind inside of a giant robot."

Keith blinked, clearly surprised. "Yeah, I kinda got that from the hug you gave me back then. It was nice," he said with a smile. "And we work well together."

"Yeah so - wait what? No, I'm supposed to be giving you the pep talk here."

"It's fine, Hunk. I'm doing important work and so are you. I already had this talk with Allura."

"Oh. Well, what I'm trying to say is that we're friends. I care a lot about you and your feelings. So if I say something that's weird or you don't like, you gotta tell me. I'm a terrible and nosy person and I'm sorry."

Keith stood silent, processing the words, and then smiling. "I've accepted the side of me that's Galra," he said simply. "It's still a little weird, but I've always had this feeling that something didn't add up." He smiled a bit. "I don't mind a question or two, but I'm still learning myself."

"Deal, no Galra questions for a while then. Just as long as you come visit more often, okay? We all miss you.

"...hug it out?"

Keith snorted and obliged into Hunk's waiting arms. "Always."

Hardest story to write?

I struggled with the ending to Exsanguination. It took forever to come to me.

Easiest/most fun story to write?

I wrote The Secrets of Beasts in one setting and I still can’t believe how easily it came out. I blame the Plance discord folks for putting everyone on a baby craze.

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

Not particularly? I write based on my existing understanding of the characters and nothing really surprised to that note.

Most overdue story?

Welcome to the Neighborhood. I wanted to write that Allura gen fic all year (as I wanted one for all the Paladins) and I hoped s8 would give me the motivation. It was not worth the cost.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

Collaborations! And participating in a zine! And signing up for events (exchanges and bangs)! I learned that it’s not that scary. People are chill and so easy to get along with. Also the task isn’t as daunting as I think of it’s an idea I love.

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

This is hard because I’m already doing above and beyond what I ever expected to be doing writing wise. I suppose it will be to finish my gen fic since I’ve been writing a lot of plance lately.

[mystech-master]

Okay this might just be a me thing

Whenever I think of BBTAG fanfictions or stories, I always like to think that there are two different time periods in which to grab the RWBY characters from, each with their own ups and downs.

Option 1: What we see in game, In between Volumes 2 and 3, before the Vytal Festival Tournament.

and Option 2: In between Volumes 5 and 6, which is the period in which BBTAG was released.

Now just to clarify my thought process a bit more: I imagine 2 ideas for these kinds of stories. Either it’s your usual crossover where characters from franchise A go to franchise B and/or vice versa (think the Jimmy Timmy Power Hour on Nickelodeon), or we do what BBTAG did and have everyone plopped into the Phantom Field.

Here are my opinions on what comes from each era and what it could bring:

Vol 2-3 Period

All the characters are together, happy, and alive. Thus we get the characters who passed away, Pyrrha, Penny, Ozpin (I know he becomes Oscar but Ozpin as himself can be considered differently.

Going off of that, we got Pyrrha who would be a nice addition to the group (maybe she helps give the Investigation Team actual combat training instead of just winging it), we got Penny to add to the group of robot girls to be BFFs with, and I personally feel like Ozpin as the Big Good might garner a bit more respect from the other characters than him in Oscar’s body (I know that these other worlds are a bit more used to immortal children but not all of them might think that way).

No true focus villain yet for the heroes to go against. The only “antagonists” at that point in the series that we knew of, were Adam Taurus (preparing for the Fall of Beacon), and Roman Torchwick (who was imprisoned on ironwood’s ship). Meanwhile Cinder, Emerald, mercury and Neo were all disguised as Haven students. So they can’t exactly run off and join the axis of evil w/o blowing their cover.

You got 3 members of the Oz-luminati to act as the Big Good council next to Kagura, Kokonoe, Rachel, and Mitsuru (not too sure on who’d lead team Under Night In-Birth).

This being before RWBY learns about the Maidens and Salem and the Gods and Ozma, means they may not be mentally equipped to handle the cosmic bullshit that is Blazblue or Persona (not to the same level of Blazblue but still pretty insane).

Other characters/teams being present: like team CFVY or team SSSN, or even some of the other Vytal Festival Teams (ABRN, BRNZ, NDGO, or FNKI)

Volume 5-6 Period

Obviously, more characters are dead, so while we got less characters to interact with, but at the same time, now characters have lost something/someone and are a bit stronger mentally, having steeled their resolve to take on the big bad and avenge their friends.

We got Qrow and Ozcar as members of the team now. Qrow can add a nice level of coolness (him hanging with Ragna or Kagura), then we got Ozcar, who many people compare to Linne (I do like to think that Linne would ask Oscar what he thinks of the whole situation, because unlike Ozma’s reincarnations she immediately takes over the host body and she may have wondered what the people she’s taken over think of her. I mean she’s partially suicidal and wants Hyde to kill her with the Insulator because of this so it must be something she’s thought of).

More villains, not only do we got Maiden-Cinder, with Emerald and Mercury, but we got Psychopath Tyrian, Calm Bruiser Hazel, and Mad Doctor Watts (someone for Relius to talk science with). Not too sure on Salem herself b/c unlike every other villain from the other series she is mostly biding her time and working through others and sitting in her castle. So I don’t feel right plucking her from there.

The characters are now aware of the more cosmic levels of bullshit and thus might be able to keep up with the craziness of Blazblue and Persona.

You got Yang losing the arm and thus giving her more of the comparisons to Ragna that everyone loves, because everyone who writes interactions between them just give Yang a weird feeling in her arm when she hears about it. RWBY characters aren’t psychic “I jut know” kind of characters, it isn’t an anime. Sidenote: People tend to also have RWBY characters just be able to “sense Aura” like the Force or some other anime bullshit, when there is no evidence of this in canon, besides ninja Ren in Volume 4 (and even then he’s the ninja of the team, and I honestly feel like RWBY is getting a bit more anime as of late and I’m not liking that).

Jaune has his weapon upgrade and his Semblance, so he’s slightly less useless. I mean the dude was already a sort of joke character who was way behind in his training (and doesn’t even have a gun function like everyone else, I feel like long range abilities should be essential) compared to everyone else, let’s not have him be another Wild Card best friend character where he is the butt of a lot of jokes and is supposed to be lame to make his BFF look cooler.

Everyone is kinda busy with the Salem war, so I don’t think you could just pull them from this point in the story to go on a Multi-Dimensional side quest. it’d be one thing if it was world hopping (option 1 up top), but since the concept of time does not exist within the Phantom Field, it’s a good way for no one to be in a rush. Think in Persona Q, no one was in too much of a rush and everyone was able to just chill out at the school festival and hang, think that.

Weiss has her summoning down pat, which would give her an interesting arsenal if she happened to kill a Void or Shadow.

Those are just some things I feel like would be considered if using either of these time periods. If I missed something (specifically a pro or con of using that time period), feel free to tell me.

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

I know tumblr will just auto-resize these to tiny quality, so if you want to see them in a little larger detail, my dA links are here (full collab) and here (my solo pic).

But anyhow, here are @metakit and my final collab art in it’s tumblr-compressed glory, along with my individual art for it!

The copy/pasta story of our collab goes like so: (rambling after the break, if you don’t need my wall of text)

We decided we'd run with a fancy cake theme. I had been browsing online, and after looking at all these elaborate designs, we thought it would be something really cool to try. We would be able to pay tribute to the main 1-10 Classic titles in a unique way. Initially, we broke it up as a MM1-3 set, a 4-6 set, a 7-10 set, and a Wily Castle cake. We decided on having one Robot Master represent each title on a cake, and wanted to try to at least have some ode to others in the games on our cakes. Well, despite our best intentions, and like many who participated, I think the 4 month window to work on this project left more opportunity to procrastinate, and to be honest, I really didn't get that motivation until the deadline was getting closer, and the excitement around the Megaman 11 reveal. So while I had the best intentions of drawing some grand, elaborate cakes, I fell behind. And then I kept adding little details to this 1-3 cake. And working on a giant 6000x8000 canvas probably didn't help, either. So in the end, I never quite made it to a 7-10 cake, and we just went with what we had before the deadline, with just Dr. Light and Dr. Wily, and their MM1-6 cakes, with Wily Castle. I wanted to not only add the Robot Masters, but also pay tribute to some of the minor enemies and memorable bosses, so I got creative with the Yellow Devil acting like a column to hold up a tier to represent MM1, along with some Blocky's from MM2. Had to have Mecha Dragon, more as a prop, than edible, to represent MM2. And went with Gamma's head and arm to represent MM3. Otherwise, I just tried to add a minor enemy from the Robot Master's stage to tie in with them. And utilized other memorable things to help with the design, from the ladders in Elec Man's Stage, to the iconic MM2 intro skyscraper, etc. Getting the 1-3 cakes, it was easy to also represent the game with the amount of tiers each cake had, too. I tried to somewhat represent each Robot Master's weapon attributes, kinda somewhat, with Elec having balloon static cling, Heat lighting candles, and the Gemini's working together to create a laser light show message. The patterns on the cakes aren't the greatest, but I tried to play off of the Robot Master's stage background tiles in some way for all 3. Instead of fruit on top the cakes, I went with lemon halves as decor in sets of 3, to represent the pew-pew-pewing. And of course, then there's Dr. Light. Felt like having some fun with the "salt bae" meme, and just thought that would be the perfectly hilarious flamboyant pose that expert pastry chef Dr. Light needed to have, as he finished off his creation with some powerup sprinkles and decor. XD

Even with the extension, we were pushing it to the last minute, and I didn't even really know how I was going to match Metakit's background until the very last hour before the deadline!  So I had to wing it and come up with something fast. Since we were creating elaborate cakes, I took cue from the cake competition show "Cake Wars" and spun it off of the only Megaman game with "wars" in the title: The Wily Wars. Since it was too late to really merge our images seamlessly into one scene, I just riffed off of that idea, and used elements from the Wily Wars' original cover to create "The Wily Cake Wars." Only one of these two doctors can be the winner. Who will go home with the grand prize?! Is it pulled off well, in my opinion? No. But this was right at the end, so I had to do whatever I could to make it work. But rushed or not, I felt it still made the most sense to showcase it this way. Overall, though, it was fun to work on art with someone again, and I had a great time working with Metakit! The deadline just caught up to us too fast. I loved Metakit's cute Robot Masters, from sexy pose Star, to screaming Planty. She did an awesome job tying in the Robot Master weapons and motifs in the cakes, while making all 3 cakes unique. I really love the 6 cake, with it's variety cheesecake slice-like portions to represent all 8 RMs! And it looks like one of the Doctor's creations decided to add some graffiti to the kitchen wall...

[roughstar]

New thing, gonna write thoughts on stuff down as a series

First series is called "what's wrong with America" this is part 1, 'Education'

The problems:

A lot of people agree that our education system is outdated. It was designed to spit out factory workers during the industrial age, and hasn't significantly changed since. Learning isn't really a goal for it, as much as retaining enough information to pass a test is. People are also expected to be independent (which plays into Individualism, part 2 of this series) so they don't develop good communication skills, which also results in public speaking being a huge problem, which inhibits natural leadership and further adds to the problem of, ironically, the inability to manage yourself. The education system creates that inability by forcing students to follow strict schedules and instructions, expecting very little deviation and unquestioned obedience. In other words, the system wants self-sufficient followers instead of free-thinking pioneers, kinda like having robots instead of programmers. This (along with individualism) create people that don't critically think. This leads to a lot of people in society that only regurgitate stuff they heard somewhere else. They aren't digesting it and drawing their own conclusions; conversations and debates all become an echo chamber.

Tldr; bad educational system leads to people that don't think for themselves.

When people who don't think debate, they will not change their opinions. They spout whatever they've heard on the topic before and dismiss any points made against it, and we get two polarized sides that refuse to comprimise or come to an agreement (something I will talk more of in part 4). This makes people (rightfully) sound like idiots, no matter how far they got in our broken educational system.

Basically, if you can't critically think, your degrees are completely meaningless in determining your intelligence.

But if you do have a degree, you're probably good at a skill (assuming you didn't just cheat/bullshit your way through college and actually tried to learn a skill) and that makes you valuable, right? WRONG. A bachelor's degree is (or rather, should be) just as valuable as 2 years at a trade school, but we stigmatize not going to a university and train our kids from early elementary school to jump right into one after they graduate high school. And you bet your ass banks and the government take advantage of this to the fullest, because capitalism (part 5).

Student loans are a long con you (and I) have fallen into by being trained for university our entire academic careers.

And better yet, people go to university when they're unsure of what they even want to do. They go because they feel they have to, when they just barely became adults and can hardly be trusted ro make their own important decisions, because that's when they are easiest to manipulate.

University is not for everyone, nor is it the only meaningful option.

So, in essence, what's wrong wit our education is:

Our school system is outdated

School trains people to be robots and discourages divergence

People don't learn critical thinking

It trains us for university which sets us up for debt

We're forced to make big decisions when we aren't very well equipped to which interferes with our future

So what do we do about it?

Well, reforming the education system to include community, harbor a genuine learning environment, and teach important life skills (including critical thinking) would help, but would require a lot of work and community activism. The details can be worked out when that ball eventually gets rolling, and we may certainly have to wait until our current administration moves aside for a more competent one.

In the meantime, you can learn to think critically and question everything you believe. Some good questions to think about:

Why do Ibelieve what I do? Is there hard, scientific (yes, Scientific because Science is studying why things are the way they are, and is the closest us humans can get to understanding Truth. The denial of science itself will be talked about further on) evidence to support what I believe? What do opponents of what I believe have to say? Why do they believe something that conflicts with what I do? Is one side (either my own or the opposing side) regurgitating arguments and consistently using logical fallacies? Typically there is some truth to both sides, so is there anything untrue with what I believe because of the truth on the other side? How much of my belief is influenced by emotions, being sympathy (do I feel so passionately because I believe it affects people's whole lives), fear (do I believe what I do because the alternative is frightening to think about), selfishness (do I have something to gain with my beliefs), or loyalty (we've always had this belief so why change now, what's the harm in keeping it)? What are some consequences of realizing my belief, both immediate and long-term?

Next, if you're still in high school, don't go to college unless you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you know EXACTLY what you want to do, have researched every way of achieving the skills required to get there, and have a reasonable way of paying that is NOT DEPENDENT on how well you do in college or involves borrowing money. And even if you do decide college is right for you, have a backup plan. Shit happens even with bombproof plans, so make sure you can accomodate if that happens. Plan your housing, income sources, and curriculum well in advance since those are usually what forces people to drop out the most. Keep relationships and partying to a minimum, you have many many years to do that after college. I don't know much about fraternities/sororities but I do know they are a HUGE time commitment so if you decide to join one, you have to be good at time management. College is NOT like high school in the amount of workload you get, you typically can't wing your homework the night before or in other classes before the one it's due in. Also, study for midterms and finals, winging them like in high school won't work. College is an investment, don't squander it. If that doesn't sound fun, please consider a trade school or internship somewhere, since college lacks work experience and the other options give you a leg up on that, which in most cases is more important anyway. Also, nothing is wrong with chilling for a few years after high school before jumping into college or commiting to another big decision; don't believe that you won't go back to school if you stop. If you want your degree bad enough, you will find a way to go back.

I don't want to tell you what to believe, all I ask is you think it over.