#let's talk about

[fillingthescrapbook]

Let's Talk About: Mentopolis and Case Closed

This is arguably the best Dimension 20 finale of 2023… so far. Sure, Dungeons and Drag Queens gave us one heck of an emotional ending that was elevated by Jujubee's personal stakes in the story. The Ravening War was a fun romp through time that delivered cinematic-quality twists, plot developments, and tension-filled moments in the finale. And Neverafter's finale was more scary serious and needed a lot of processing.

Mentopolis though… With the mix of catharsis and a table of players that really focused their talents on the fun of role-playing… This finale was just so enjoyable. It gave me everything I didn't even know I wanted.

And the whole episode was truly bonkers. The fight, the player decisions… Danielle/Anastasia Tension glugging down some room-temperature vodka after a wild chase, Hank/The Fix setting the mood with some genre-appropriate steam, and Freddie/Dan Fucks making the ultimate in-character choice of distracting the enemy with his diamond-hard balls.

Trapp rolled the most cursed Nat 1 from Dimension 20 history--and still survived! Siobhan found the best coda for the whole adventure.

And Alex… Alex has done something no other Dimension 20 player has ever done for me: they made me cry for four episodes straight. Maybe five. I'll have to go back to what I said in previous talk-abouts. But Alex was very masterful with how they delivered their emotional gut-punches. As well as the physical ones Conrad delivered.

Hank didn't want to get left behind either. His final scene with the reunion? Magnificent. And the "did you know" speech in the fight that wasn't meant to be menacing but still managed to scare the shit out of everyone (including myself who is watching months and months after they finished wrapping)? Inspiring.

I need to see Alex, Hank, and Freddie in future Dimension 20 seasons. I would love for them to be together, but I would love it even more if we see them interact with other Dimension 20 cast members and/or newcomers. I want Hank to come back in a season with Murph and Emily. I want Alex on a season with Aabria as the game master, and maybe with Oscar Montoya as a fellow player. And Freddie… Freddie, I feel, could fit in with any table composition. I want to see his chaos with Zac and Lou's though. Or Zac and Ally's.

And I want Danielle partnering with Siobhan again. Maybe in another Good Society-run season by Aabria. Maybe in a different system run by Jasmine Bhullar. I feel like we only got the tip of the possible shenanigans we could've gotten from the two… Thinking about it now, what if Murph guest DMs a side quest season with Danielle, Siobhan, and Emily?! The possible combinations are endless.

While I fantasize about possible casts for future seasons of Dimension 20, I leave you with a few gems I will treasure from the finale of Mentopolis:

"The greatest pleasure is punching your boss."

"Mr. Fix? Duck!"

And "57. My favorite number."

See y'all next time. In the stars. In the soup. In the dome.

[luxshine]

I loved RRR.

Have I mentioned that I loved RRR?

Because I loved RRR.

And here's a reminder of that video I made talking about the amazing subtleties in the narrative in the movie, using language and language barriers to tell the story (besides, you know, everything else that was also used to tell the story)

Seriously, if you haven't watched RRR, WATCH RRR now! Your life will be changed.

[digikate813]

You learn a lot about Manfred von Karma during that final trial in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, but not quite everything. So I'd like to present my case on what might have lead Von Karma to commit the acts he did in Turnabout Goodbyes. Enjoy!

[headspacedad]

The S-Classes That I Raised

Spoilers for Chapter 35 and beyond

I want to preface this by saying I have not read the books so I’m only going by the manwha on my speculation (I’m still debating if I want to spoil myself by reading the books or not).  I could be totally wrong or proven wrong by the book or later issues of the comic but - I enjoy meta and interpersonal relationship studies so that’s what Imma do.

Currently, I am hung up on Yoohyun and Yerim’s interaction during Yoojin’s kidnapping. 

Let’s start with Yoohyun.  Yoohyun comes across as self-focused (aside from his attention to his older brother) and often makes snap decisions on his own without asking for input, expecting everyone to follow his lead.  There’s indication that he was a pretty single minded child even before then, setting his eyes on a goal and relentless when it came to going for it.  I think a lot of that is because he’s been on his own, having to make the hard calls and meeting a lot of resistance to him being in leadership for long enough that its kind of baked the traits into him by this point.  I think, for the most part, the people around him expect him to make those calls and lead without their input.

But - I just cannot get over the way he treats Yerim when Yoojin’s been taken.

Obviously, Yoojin being taken is something that’s beyond upsetting to him.  It’s a fear he’s held wrapped around his heart for years now, probably since he realized he could lose someone he loved when his parents died, that his brother will get hurt and he won’t be able to stop it from happening.  It’s a driving force in his life in fact.  And now it’s happened, in a place that he was supposed to have made safe enough for his brother that it would never happen.  He’s got to be terrified and he’s got to be furious.  On top of that he has to know that the clock is ticking and he could either lose his brother - or find his brother dead - for every second he lets slip past that he hasn’t saved him.  He’s been through the fire since he Awakened - but he’s still only barely 20 and Yoojin is his only family and probably his only emotional attachment in this world (and always has been that for him).  He has a perfect storm going on inside him emotionally without a doubt.

And then Yerim storms in, because he called for her, but because she’s found out what’s happened and who else would she go to about this but him?  She’s just as scared as he is, just as angry, just as helpless feeling and she takes it all out on him.

She’s only 15 and she lays into him with an emotional tsunami, even going so far as to physically grab him, accusing him of not doing enough to protect the person they’re both so emotionally attached to.

There are so many ways he could have reacted to this.

He could have used her as an emotional outlet and yelled right back at her.  They’re not close at this point.  She’s a team member and subordinate to him.  He could have blown her off, telling her she was overstepping.  He could have just ordered her to do what he needed done and expected her to swallow down her anger and do it.  Any of these would have been viable responses and would have fed extra drama into the story.

Instead, he takes it all in and lets her yell at him without deflecting or fighting back and, when she’s done, he answers her questions.  Calm, unaccusing, in detail, making sure she understands how it happened completely.  He never once tries to get her to let go of his shirt (which she hold the entire time he’s talking) and he never tells her her emotions are too loud or that its ‘not the time for them’ or that ‘she wouldn’t understand’ or that they don’t have time.  He takes responsibility and he doesn’t just snap an order and expect her to follow it. 

Then, when he’s done, he touches her wrist with his fingertips.  He doesn’t grab it, he doesn’t step away and take the initiative away from her by forcing her to respond.  He touches her in a way that puts no force on her at all, just a non-verbal request and he uses her full title.

And when he tells her what he needs her to do, he doesn’t soften it or talk down to her like she’s a child.  He just says what needs to be done and he trusts her to be able to handle it (he does this twice with that power in fact).  He says ‘please’ twice.

He also doesn’t try to hid that he’s the reason she has to use her power because that’s the only option he left.

He’s five years her senior  He’s been doing this for years now and she’s just started.  She’s a teenager and he’s an adult.  And he treats her as if they’re on the exact same wavelength (which they are).

Look.  Yoohyun has a lot of issues.  A LOT.  He’s absolutely not a people person.  He’s had at least two huge blows to his social development before he even got to adulthood and its indicated that even before that he had a hard time connecting with people. 

But this?

This is exceptional leadership.  And yes, Yoojin draws people to him in a much more obvious and outwardly warm and approachable way.  Its his power but its his personality too.  There is no doubt that his found family (and born family) are loyal to him to the point of going feral. 

But I totally get why Yoohyun has so many people willing to follow, and back, him, as Guild Leader and how he managed to collect them when he was a nobody kid without a single backer. 

I think a great deal of the way he treats Yerim the way he does is because he knows exactly what it feels like to be that young and in that position.  They’ve both had to be on their own against the world as kids.  I don’t know if the story will develop it but I would love to see their interaction and partnership grow.  Fire and ice (and the fact they both have the other’s ‘traits’ for personality) is a great team up and I think they get each other on a level most others won’t.  I’ve love to see more team-ups between them where their abilities and personalities boost the other one.

also - kudos to the comic team for not spelling everything out for us and trusting us to be intelligent enough to pick up on exactly what this

and then this

meant in regards to Yoohyun’s methods.

[picturebookshelf]

Help Me Be Good: Snooping (1988)

Story: Joy Berry -- Art: Jennifer Wiezel, Gail Miller, Bartholomew & Barbara Baird

[fan-fangirl-world]

We really need to talk about this awesome moment in horror game history.

Resident Evil 4 (2005) presented a whole new world to survival horror games, it inspired a lot of developers but one of the most iconic and scary spiritual sucessors from RE4 is Dead Space (2008).

After Dead Space created its own saga with three games, at some point horror fans thought that was the end for the game but recently after RE2 remake was released, it inspired a team to create Dead Space remake. In a way Resident Evil again caught the eye of Dead Space.

But after that remake was announced, The Callisto protocol was presented as a spiritual succesor of Dead Space (also having some of the developers from DS working on Callisto), this game focused on the idea of trying to follow space horror legacy and be as scary or even more than Dead Space.

So to have these three awesome titles together almost releasing at the same time is something very epic for horror games. And kinda poetic because from all the dates they could choose, they found each other.

Could only describe it as the spiderverse of survival horror.

The Callisto protocol date is December 2022

Dead Space remake date is January 2023

RE4 remake date is March 2023

[juno2002]

Let's talk about: Slimes! (P.1)

I feel like slimes in fantasy are very underrated, misused, and even relegated to the role of "noob mob" by everyone.

Obviously there are exceptions, but it is a fact that slimes are treated in a similar way to goblins or kobolds, which both are too very underestimated creatures.

The main problem is not that people use slimes as starting mobs for low level PCs, but it's that they're used ONLY for that!

D&D tried giving a bit more danger to them by exploring oozes, but it is still not enough, and other extreme depictions of slimes, like Rimuru, aren't good for their image either, as they set opposite standards to the current ones.

What they lack is variety, adaptability, potential of growth, and maybe a precise biology of their own. (I will write about that in my Patreon page, which is free to all people to access)

So... How could be slimes be "improved"?

(I hate to say "improve" because people reading that word will make the assumption that the base concept is flawed, or I'm arrogantly saying I can do better...)

Well, first of all, I think that slimes should be divided in categories that determine what you can expect from a type of slime.

Such categories could be:

Single Cell Organism: think of something like an ameba or an egg. These slimes would be quite weak and susceptible to damage, as they would rely on their "cell wall" to remain hydrated and, well... Alive.

Colony Of Single Cell Organisms: Personally I don't like this type so much because it takes away the individuality from slimes, but it also adds some cool features, like being able to have organs dedicated for specific purposes or a cool dynamic to interactions with other slimes. (See Hydrozoans to learn some cool stuff ~)

Multicellular Organism: being a multicellular organism gives A LOT of advantages, but also some limitations and drawbacks. When you think of a slime, you would usually think as a blob of slime with no distinct characteristics, and while the previous types are certainly capable of fitting that description, from a biological point of view, a creature of the size or larger than a classic fantasy slime must be something that allows to maintain that size without problems. You must also consider that, usually, slimes aren't just masses of cells transported by the water, but they move, feel, make decisions, and even make somewhat elaborate plans in certain cases; and those characteristics would best fit a multicellular organisms that has either a centralised nervous system (a core), or one spread out in their bodies, similar to sea stars or octopuses.

What do you think? Did I miss something? And do you have any questions or requests that I could be able to translate in posts like this?

[lazylittledragon]

can't believe we're all adults being forced into the club penguin level of censorship in 2024

[hack-saw2004]

platforming palestinian joy is just as important as sharing the suffering they're enduring during this genocide. despite continued displacement and bombardment, you cannot steal their joy and spirit. happy birthday to this sweet baby 🖤🇵🇸 may they grow up to see a free palestine

edit: @saffronlesbian made a video description for this post!!

[vd: a screen recording of a tweet from the 20th of April 2024 with 2.5 million views, from Ruhi @/ruhi_hi. the caption reads, "This video of this little Palestinian angel celebrating his bday in a refugee camp" followed by three emoji of a smiling face with teary eyes. the video clip is 11 seconds long and shows a one-year-old baby seated on the sandy ground, smiling hugely and clapping his hands while people sing to him from offscreen and a large cake is placed in front of him. stuck into the top of the cake is a decoration that reads "happy birthday" in english. the video has the tiktok handle @/ibrahim.jamal99 visible in it. /end vd.]

[captainjonnitkessler]

You know I used to think "tumblr's absolute refusal to actually engage with the Trolley Problem in favor of insisting that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is just a short-sighted idiot is really fucking annoying, but I guess it's not actually doing any harm".

Anyway that was before we asked tumblr at large to decide between "guy aiding a genocide but making progress elsewhere" and "guy who would actively and enthusiastically participate in a genocide and would also make everything else much, much worse for everyone elsewhere" and the response was that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and that anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is a short-sighted idiot.

[fillingthescrapbook]

Let's Talk About: Fantasy High Junior Year and The Last Stand

Well, gang… That was one wild episode. And the stress levels? Woo!

First things first: if I lived in the world of Spyre and I had to take the Last Standard Exam? I will definitely not pass. A 300-word essay in five minutes while fighting monsters? What the hell, man?

(First aside: also, when Fabian was writing on the Mimic table… It did not look like Fabian was writing on the Mimic. He looked like he was giving the Mimic a different pen…)

I'm just so glad the Bad Kids had two auto-pass chances. And they used them on the right questions. Because, brother--the math question? With the time limit? Unbelievable.

And let's talk about the monsters. Because Wave 1 was already nuts--but Wave 2 monsters were large and in charge. And the wave that followed that?

Let's just say the Intrepid Heroes lucked out with the spells they prepped. Brennan, much as he cheers his players for besting him, seemed really put out that some of his nastier monsters didn't even get to do much play because of area effects he didn't foresee.

(Second aside: The Crab-Man saying "crab-man!" was extremely funny to me.)

(Third aside: Siobhan going full Axford by reading the books and preparing her own little Operation: Slippery Puppet with her Dry Guys? Amazing.)

Going back to seeing things in advance--who would have thought that the last standard exam would have smooch attempt checks as it wound down?

And while we were all prepped and ready for Kettlechips Cauldroncorn to do some heinous shit this late in the game--I truly did not expect for her to change course and do something much MUCH worse. Like, what in the absolute hell? Holy shit. HOLY SHIT.

Next episode is gonna be explosive, I feel.

Until then, let's go through some of this episode's hits:

"Butter up the proctor!"

"Cook that shrimp!"

"It's gonna be about docking."

"He's (h)armless!"

"It's all love now."

"Butter gummies!"

And light's up for Zac "Crit King" Oyama.

[luxshine]

A month ago, I published this video about Temper, which today is 9 years old! (the movie, not my video) so here we are again!

Let's Talk about Daya, his redemption arc, and why it is sometimes harder to let the characters live than to let them die in a ball of glory and fire.

[digikate813]

Another year, another amazing amount of entertainment to watch and appreciate. These are my Top 12 Favorite Pieces of Entertainment from 2023. Enjoy!

[inkskinned]

because sometimes there are invisible tests and invisible rules and you're just supposed to ... know the rule. someone you thought of as a friend asks you for book recommendations, so you give her a list of like 30 books, each with a brief blurb and why you like it. later, you find out she screenshotted the list and send it out to a group chat with the note: what an absolute freak can you believe this. you saw the responses: emojis where people are rolling over laughing. too much and obsessive and actually kind of creepy in the comments. you thought you'd been doing the right thing. she'd asked, right? an invisible rule: this is what happens when you get too excited.

you aren't supposed to laugh at your own jokes, so you don't, but then you're too serious. you're not supposed to be too loud, but then people say you're too quiet. you aren't supposed to get passionate about things, but then you're shy, boring. you aren't supposed to talk too much, but then people are mad when you're not good at replying.

you fold yourself into a prettier paper crane. since you never know what is "selfish" and what is "charity," you give yourself over, fully. you'd rather be empty and over-generous - you'd rather eat your own boundaries than have even one person believe that you're mean. since you don't know what the thing is that will make them hate you, you simply scrub yourself clean of any form of roughness. if you are perfect and smiling and funny, they can love you. if you are always there for them and never admit what's happening and never mention your past and never make them uncomfortable - you can make up for it. you can earn it.

don't fuck up. they're all testing you, always. they're tolerating you. whatever secret club happened, over a summer somewhere - during some activity you didn't get to attend - everyone else just... figured it out. like they got some kind of award or examination that allowed them to know how-to-be-normal. how to fit. and for the rest of your life, you've been playing catch-up. you've been trying to prove that - haha! you get it! that the joke they're telling, the people they are, the manual they got- yeah, you've totally read it.

if you can just divide yourself in two - the lovable one, and the one that is you - you can do this. you can walk the line. they can laugh and accept you. if you are always-balanced, never burdensome, a delight to have in class, champagne and glittering and never gawky or florescent or god-forbid cringe: you can get away with it.

you stare at your therapist, whom you can make jokes with, and who laughs at your jokes, because you are so fucking good at people-pleasing. you smile at her, and she asks you how you're doing, and you automatically say i'm good, thanks, how are you? while the answer swims somewhere in your little lizard brain:

how long have you been doing this now? mastering the art of your body and mind like you're piloting a puppet. has it worked? what do you mean that all you feel is... just exhausted. pick yourself up, the tightrope has no net. after all, you're cheating, somehow, but nobody seems to know you actually flunked the test. it's working!

aren't you happy yet?

[picturebookshelf]

Help Me Be Good: Overdoing It (1988)

Story: Joy Berry -- Art: Jennifer Wiezel, Gail Miller, Bartholomew, Micah Schwaberow, Linda Hanney & Berenice Happé Iriks

[fan-fangirl-world]

Remake Leon has been places. He looks a little more tired than RE4 Leon.

Also he doesn’t give that cheerful charming vibe, it’s more like a serious one.