#like even the manual for this first game is so much fucking better!!!

[james-stark-the-writer]

i've been thoroughly enjoying my time with Divinity Original Sin: Enhanced Edition (all its rampant misogyny and mediocre writing aside) so i decided to check out the manual for Divinity Original Sin 2 to see what i have to look forward to and jesus fucking christ, we have lost SO MUCH in the art of the game manual, because why is this manual like completely fucking empty. like there's a sweet foreward about the development and about the Kickstarter backers and stuff and there's a safety warning and some basic information about like two new things that weren't in the first game, which ARE cool to be very clear, and then just an image of the default controls. that's it. nothing fucking else. we have lost so much. bring back proper game manuals, what is even supposed to be the fucking purpose of them if you're not even gonna bother making them interesting, like i know maybe it's not cost-effective to put in as much effort as older games bc people don't check out the manuals as much in the digital gaming age but you could try to do at least a little more than just pasting the most basic information in there like some fucking tips, some hints about what works or whatever, or like what you recommend starting with, or like at least some fucking flavor or personality please, dear god, bring back proper game manuals!

[a-soft-fluffy-girl]

TL;DR: Steam just made library sharing so much fucking easier and so much fucking better. Instead of login-trading, it's just a simple goddamn invite.

Read this. Really. It's a good read. Because it shows that, full-stop, Valve isn't just doubling down on their stance to make sure that people can and should be able to share their copies of digital goods as easily as they can physical ones, but they're making it better and easier than ever.

But you know how Steam allowed you to, with either friends or family, link accounts with another person to be able to establish an ability to share game libraries with one another? The general gist of Steam Family Sharing was that, with a limit of five people plus you (six in total) on a limit of ten computers total could share account access to willingly mix your libraries. You could play theirs. They could play yours.

This was a huge boon. It was meant to emulate sharing a physical copy of a game. A way to allow children to play games their parents or siblings had bought without having to fork over double the cash to buy it a second game. But it had some major limitations and drawbacks, and was archaic to use.

If a person did not share the same computer, you had to manually log into that computer to give it and the accounts on it access. This wouldn't be a problem if both accounts were used on the same computer, but many households (and astronomically more family and friend groups) had multiple computers, all used by different people.

If that computer, at any point, was hard reset to any point before the sharing occurred, you lost access. And had to do the whole process again. This was also an issue with computer transfers. The whole kit and kaboodle needed to be redone on upgrades. On top of that, the old computer is now just dead weight that you may not realize you have to manually revoke access to.

Putting your account information on another person's computer opens up security issues. They could, intentionally or accidentally, land themselves on your account if the login information was stored. Which could easily lead to purchases or bans you did not want to happen.

If anyone was, at any point, playing any game on their own library, you had no access to their games. Even if it was a totally different game, you had to wait your turn as if waiting for their computer to be freed up to sit at. (Admittedly this is kind of like the "mom said it's my turn on the xbox" meme, but hey, kinda archaic.)

You could not choose whose library you accessed a game from. Not at all. It always prioritized the first library it gained access from, DLC access and multiplayer be damned. If another friend you were accepting games from had more DLC? Too bad.

And yet here we are. Steam Families Beta fixes EVERYTHING about the above issues. By just going through Settings > Interface > client Beta Participation and clicking onto Steam Families Beta? You get:

No more login sharing. No more computer links. You can now choose which person's library you borrowed from. And you can play any other game from someone's library, even while they're in-game. It just needs to be a different game than what they're playing.

Pick five people. Invite them to your family. And now everyone has access to everyone's library. My goddamn library went from 150-ish to almost a goddamn thousand in ten minutes of setup.

Account sharing and password sharing are dirty words that "lose" billions of dollars. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Max. They aren't game storefronts, but they still allow you to access massive libraries and scream like you murdered their firstborns for daring to share your password with your mother after you moved out.

Microsoft tried pushing to demonize and undercut used games sales and borrowed copies of physical games. Remember the first attempt to reveal the Xbox One? People forget, but these vultures tried to make an always online console that checked to see if you were the account that owned the game, even if you had a physical disc, and prevent access to the disc's contents if you weren't the original downloader.

Valve walked the fuck up. Valve tapped the mic. And Valve dropped the fucking thing right onto the ground with one feature's revamp.

About the only issues I can see with this are twofold:

If someone sharing your library gets banned from a game's servers... so do you. No one else in the family does, but the both of you do. This is... rather unpleasant, because banhammers can be dropped quite frequently by mistake. I'd urge Valve to rethink this one, but I see the logic: don't cheat and effectively bite the hand feeding you. Still making me side-eye that, though.

If you leave a family you've joined? You have to wait a YEAR to join a new one. It's to prevent people form jumping ship to another group and screwing over who's in the former one in the process, but a YEAR? OUCH.

Problems aside, though... it's probably the biggest fucking power move I have ever seen a media distributor make in the current economic climate. It's the kind of thing that would let so many new games be available in a way that's easier than ever. Just a few clicks to send or accept an invite, and bam. Permanent access to dozens or even hundreds of new games with so much more freedom than earlier drafts of the system.

It's the kind of thing that slaps you in the face with positivity after so many Ls from the games and media industries. And I'm all the fuck for a W like this.

[freakenomenon]

Hi friend :] I want to understand Ellen as a character better and you seem to have a good grasp on her, so could I ask about your ideas for her? No pressure though either !

YOURE ASKING ME ABOUT MY IDEAS FOR ELLEN?? IVE WAITED YEARS FOR SOMEONE TO ASK ME ABOUT MY IDEAS FOR ELLEN!!! /REF .. AGAIN

OKAY to start off. the biggest thing i noticed about her in particular that is pointed out better in the manual than it is displayed in the game is the fact she would rather run away or ignore a problem than actually deal with it and heal. and if you combine this with the fact she usually reacts to ( and CONFUSES ) her own fear with anger. or hostility.

stating herself that she hates crying because she knows she doesnt feel "sad" ,, she just wants to kicks someones ass. which is probably a trauma response. considering she grew up in a rather unsafe neighborhood, which resulted in the death of her brother and cousin. IM JUST RESTATING CANON HERE BUT MY POINT IS.

i feel like if in the game they reeled in the part of her character that is very clearly avoidant, distant and even frequently disassociative. they'd have. a character.

alongside the fact that it's implied she very clearly cannot grasp the concept of not being able to handle something. she's overcome almost everything in her life, but the moment she can't understand another humans feelings. or why another human would treat her the way. most of the people in her life have.

she's more familiar with algorithms than people after all. not to mention that nimdok ( ugh. ) says that ellen is honest to the point of being offensive. first of all fucking. Jesus autistic much. secondly this could also be due to her isolating herself and feeling more at home with her work and electronics than she is with people. a computer is easily fixable if she ends up fucking something up.

its not like you can remove a rom chip on a person and reprogram it to not feel insulted if you tell them they look like they have a dirty microwave. that is probably an oversimplification of my thoughts on that part, but you get the point.

now. to. just. get this part of her character out of the way. just. warning for mentions of rape , miscarriages and other nasty things ahead.

i am not saying that in the situation where someone were to rewrite the game. you have to completely remove the aspect of her being a victim of rape. i simply just think it could've been approached in a better way. as I've stated many times. personally i don't even know where to start with rewriting this aspect of her character??? the most i have is replacing the maintenance man with someone she might have known. just to add more to what I have. maybe a boss or coworker she was close with who exploited their position above her both in the workplace and within the more obvious racial bias of society at the time. using it against her as an excuse to break her boundaries, break down her defenses, and eventually take advantage of her. something like that. just so it has more of an impact on her as a whole, and make her relationship with intimacy and relationships with humans , platonic or not. more strained. having to scratch and fight with the core of her being that wants. and deserves proper intimacy and general care. to keep herself safe. to prevent herself from being violated like that again. her vulnerability is what caused her to end up in that spot. she cant let that happen again. she cant be a hopeless victim again. not again.

yknow because thats how trauma works. it actually effects the victims life in ways other than just ending up with fucked up trigger and a fucked up phobia. wow.

now to the other part of this. I'm. going to be so honest. I would just scrap the miscarriage stuff and the existence of eddie as a whole.

it's so meaningless and minuscule in her character that i bet my pinky toe that half the fandom would look at you like you just said something TED levels of crazy if you brought it up without further grueling context.

.. that's. actually all I've got for now if you trim off me just asking to further establish aspects of her character that i think are interesting. if you've got any questions ill be more than happy to answer! <3

[squirrel-art]

Finished my little compilation of Sav and her mobility aids! ID in alt for each.

Disclaimer that I'm able-bodied & open to criticism about my portrayal! Also I realized belatedly her rollator is parked in a way that would, in fact, not keep it from rolling the fuck around, my bad.

Further details about my design philosophy/Sav's symptoms under the cut.

I played Savtas through Consular Story Chapter 1 in Full Good Girl Mode, saving all the Jedi and using the shielding ritual whenever prompted. The side effects of the rituals are vague and inconsequential in-game so as to make the job of the writers and programmers easier; characters comment worriedly about the fact that you "look tired" and not much else.

Fortunately, I have none of these restrictions. I don't know how to scientifically quantify "life-essence", but in my canon the energy required to create and maintain the shields comes right out of the body of the shielder, and behaves first and foremost like a faster-than-sustainable burning of calories. In the short-term, Sav became dangerously malnourished and fatigued; in the long-term she developed PoTS and what I've been glibly referring to as "Force fibro" in my brain, because the symptoms she experiences are the similar to that of those who suffer from fibromyalgia in real life: chronic pain, chronic fatigue, disordered sleep, and brain fog.

Some of those physical symptoms are ameliorated via use of a mobility aid, so she's tried out a couple different types.

Rollator

Sav's mobility aid of choice, purchased somewhere at the beginning of Ch 2. Sav is prone to dizziness and fatigue, and has less difficulty walking than she does standing for long periods; the rollator helps keep her balance and gives her somewhere to sit for short spells when she needs to.

The wheels do make this device better for navigating flatter and more even ground, but I imagine she can swap the wheels out for all-terrain varieties. I wonder if you could put blades on them like ice skates, to move around on places like Hoth? Well, the brakes wouldn't work, so probably not.

As mentioned in a previous post on my other sideblog, the design and colors are meant to evoke the pillars of the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant. This model is bespoke, created to Savvy's whimsical specifications. It wasn't even that expensive; you'd be surprised how many discounts people are willing to offer a Jedi!

Chair

A gift from the Jedi Council upon her defeat of Terrak Morrhage and the subsequent quelling of the Force plague. It's a more expensive model, and comes with a sturdy stand to rest it on when it's charging or not in use.

Design inspo drawn from both canon sources and the wonderful hermitmoss' hoverchair headcanons post!

I deliberated for a while as to whether Sav would have been given a wheelchair or a hoverchair. I settled on hoverchair mostly because Sav wanted a certain level of independence in her movement, but nobody was sure how long it would take her to regain enough upper body strength to reliably push herself around in a manual chair.

Sav in this image is at the beginning of her recovery, but she does continually make use of her chair after regaining some of her weight and muscle mass. Her rollator became her device of choice over the chair in part because the chair is kind of bulky and heavy, and can't be easily collapsed for transport. She probably has a lighter, more maneuverable transport chair stored on the ship to utilize in a pinch.

Looking at the design of the chair, I am already dissatisfied with it - the seat isn't raked to keep her from sliding out of it, and the control panel should realistically be attached to an extension and not directly under her hand. We'll fix that in the next pass, I think, but for now this drawing is representative of the overall design and colors.

Cane

She's got a few of these! Most have an offset or contour grip because she finds them the most comfortable, and most have adjustable bases.

Her favorite is probably the non-adjustable wooden one she got from a craftsman on Alderaan, the only one she owns made of fully organic materials.

[xoxoladyaz]

Krampus Baby

Me: we should write a cute little holiday blurb to publish on Christmas Eve, maybe something Hallmark-y, maybe some mistletoe -

Also Me: KRAMPUS EDDIE KRAMPUS EDDIE KRAMPUS EDDIE

So that's what we've got for you today, my lovelies!

CW: BDSM, allusions to punishment, brief descriptions of sex, implied future monsterfucking

“Babe, this isn’t what it looks like!”

“Oh, really? And what exactly does this look like, Eddie?!” Steve stood in the doorway to Eddie’s all-purpose-game-room-slash-music-studio-slash-office and glared at him, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. 

Eddie shot a frantic look at the guys. Gareth and Phil were very conveniently looking elsewhere (the traitors). Jeff, who was the only one brave enough to make eye contact with Eddie, just shook his head slowly. “You’re on your own, dude.” 

Well, shit.

The truth is, Eddie knew he was the only person to blame for the situation he’d found himself in. But in his defense, it’s not like there’s a manual that you get when you become a Krampus that says “hey, here’s how you tell your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse/whatever that you’re a Krampus, meaning that you spend all of Christmas Eve travelling around your assigned region and birching people that Santa/Jesus/someone says needs to be scared onto the straight and narrow.” 

Well. Maybe he could have just led with that and gone from there?

Fuck, this would have been so much easier if he’d just agreed to be a Santa but no, his dramatic gay eighteen-year-old born-in-the-North-Pole ass just had to pick the more flamboyant career option. And sure, it was fun for a while – he’d always had a flair for theatrics and performing and every December 24 he gave the performance of a lifetime – but after about ten years of birching undeserving creeps he’d realized hey, maybe something like this could be fun the other 364 days of the year with humans he actually liked (or, ya know, that he at least thought were hot and wanted to get off with.)

And so Eddie the Krampus became Eddie Munson, training Dom at the Hellfire Club, and after twenty-seven years of walking this earth, he finally felt like everything in his life had fallen into place. Naturally that’s when he met Steve Harrington, a bratty little prince with perfect hair and an even more perfect ass and fell madly in love – far past the point of no return, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. He’d never really given a lot of serious thought to love or dating or anything like that because, you know, the whole Krampus thing, but from the moment he laid eyes on Steve his entire world had shifted to orbit around his beautiful, delightfully dorky, somewhat clueless human. Even more incredibly, Steve seemed to feel the same way because he'd given Eddie a key to his house after only four weeks of dating and happily reorganized his home so Eddie could have his own space and fuck, Eddie was going to marry this human and make him immortal and traipse all around the world with him until it was time for him the next generation of Krampus’ to take over.

(Krampusses? Krampusi? Krampussies? There really wasn’t a great plural form of his job title, was there?)

Right, it was a great plan, no, it was a perfect plan, because nothing could be better than almost-eternity with Steve. There was just one teeny tiny minor flaw with his plan, that being the fact that he, uh, forgot to tell Steve.

And now it was December 24th, and Eddie and the guys had finally gotten home from a long night of birching (which wasn’t really fun anymore now that Eddie got to punish someone he loved in a very, very fun way almost daily) and were unwinding with a beer when Steve had stormed in – Steve, who was asleep when Eddie left.

Steve, who was now seeing Eddie in his Krampus form for the first time (along with Jeff and Gareth and Phil). Steve, who looked angrier than the time that Eddie tried to experiment with forks in all of the electrical outlets in their house.

Steve, who was probably the first human to ever cause a Krampus nightmares.

“I can’t believe this. I seriously cannot fucking believe this, Eddie - ”

“Look, baby, I know this looks kind of crazy,” Eddie started slowly, extremely conscious of the way his horns protruded out of his hair, of the soot on his furry legs and the loud clopping sound his cloven hooves made as they tapped nervously on the floor. (He’d never felt bad about how he looked in this form; hell, he even thought he looked kind of hot. Not everyone can pull off the whole “burning-red-eyes-and-weirdly-long-tongue” thing like he could. But now that he found himself caught in Steve’s fiery gaze, he wanted nothing more than to disappear into a tiny ball, to make Steve forget that he’s ever looked like this.) “And I was meaning to tell you, I really was, but - ”

“Oh, really?” Steve scoffed, narrowing his eyes at Eddie even further. “You were meaning to tell me that you were punishing other people, is that what you’re trying to say?”

“ – wouldn’t believe me anyways, I mean, most people don’t believe in Krampus – wait, what?” Eddie cut off as Steve’s words worked their way into his brain. “I – what?”

“You heard me,” Steve scoffed again. “You just forgot to tell me you’re punishing other people? Even though we’ve been exclusive for almost a year? Even though you moved into my house?!”

“I – Steve, wait, it’s not like that - ”

“Oh, really,” Steve repeated himself, “so you didn’t spend Christmas Eve running around and whipping people who aren’t me?”

Eddie shot another look at the guys, all of whom looked as shocked as Eddie felt. (Except for Gareth, that little fucker was grinning like this was the funniest thing he’d ever witnessed.) “Steve, it’s not - ”

“It’s not like what, Eddie? It’s not like you threw a fit the one time someone else tried to Dom me but apparently that doesn’t go both ways! Apparently, I have to share you! You better not be fucking them, Eddie Munson,” Steve seethed, “because I swear to God – ”

“No, no, no! Steve, I wouldn’t, I would never,” Eddie raced out, cautiously stepping closer to his boyfriend. “And it’s not – it’s not like us, okay, it’s literally just punishment and nightmares and stuff. Most of them won’t even remember me tomorrow!”

“Oh, but some will?” 

“I – maybe?”

“What Eddie is trying to say,” Jeff saved him by jumping in, “is that this is just a job for us, man. It’s literally just a job. We really don’t get that sort of enjoyment out of it. Hell, most of us aren’t even in the lifestyle outside of this.”

“Yeah, Eddie’s just weird,” Gareth snickered, although he sobered somewhat when Eddie turned to glare at him.

“He loves you, man. He wouldn’t cheat,” Jeff finished. “That’s not what this is.”

Steve huffed, although the crease in his brow had softened somewhat. “You’re really a Krampus, then? And the horns and shit are real?”

“Yeah – yeah, super real, see?” Eddie said, grabbing hold of his horns and yanking them as hard as he could. Ouch. “This is just my Krampus form. I, uh, don’t wear it out all that often.”

“But you have horns.”

“Uh, yeah,” Eddie replied nervously.

Steve’s face went through a few emotions before settling on angry. “You mean I could have been holding onto your horns the entire time we’ve been fucking?”

Eddie heard the sound of someone choking loudly behind him, but he didn’t have the brain space to care about that; in fact, the only brain space he had was completely overrun by images of Steve on his back, hands gripped around Eddie’s horns as Eddie drove him further and further into their bed. “I, uh - ” 

“Well,” Steve cut off his blabbering with a cold look, “since it’s Christmas Eve and all, I might as well do a little punishing of my own.” He turned on his heel and stomped out of the doorway, pausing briefly to yell back over his shoulder. “You’re sleeping on the couch!”

“BABE!” Eddie whined back, stomping his hoof on the ground. “Until when?!?!”

“Until I say so!” Steve hollered as he disappeared out of view. 

“That went well,” Gareth said drily once Steve was out of earshot. The sound of their bedroom door slamming echoed into Eddie’s man-cave and all four Krampus’ winced.

“Yeah, good luck getting out of that one, man,” Phil said, and with a nod he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Gareth snorted and followed suit, leaving Eddie and Jeff standing alone.

“Honestly, I really think it could have gone worse. You might need to speed up the timeline on that ring, though.” Jeff clapped Eddie on the shoulder. “Unless you have another plan.”

“Oh,” Eddie replied slowly, quietly, a maniacal grin spreading across his face. “I have a plan, all right.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t worry me at all,” Jeff rolled his eyes. “It’s your funeral, man.”

“Mmm,” Eddie hummed, thinking about the brand new switch he’d purchased for Steve – one of his many, many gifts for the man. “At least I’ll die doing what I love.”

“And that is?”

Eddie smirked even wider. “Why, punishing Steve.”

[aintgonnatakethis]

Get to know you better!

Tagged by @frostysfrenzy ❤️️

Do you make your bed? Absolutely not and I don't think I ever have 😂

Favourite number? 12?

What’s your job? Tech support. It's low effort and therefore low wage, but every little helps.

If you could go back to school, would you? If I could do it online, then yeah. I don't want to have turn up in a lecture theatre and socialise with people face-to-face.

Can you parallel park? I've never tried.

Do you think aliens are real? Yes. I've always thought the belief that we're the only intelligent life in the infinite universe we live in to be naïve at best and arrogant at worst. The conversation as to what form that life might take... Now that's completely different. I don't think we'll be running into people who look exactly like us. But there are SO many forms that life could take...

Can you drive a manual car? I had a few lessons like 10 years ago and it wasn't terribly difficult, so I reckon I could do it in an emergency.

Guilty pleasure? Chocolate, specifically twirls. I eat way too many of them!

Tattoos? No, but I'd like some. I do have a phobia of needles, however, so...

Favourite colour? Red

Favourite type of music? Alternative rock.

Do you like puzzles? Ooh yes. I've spent so much time playing The Talos Principle, as well as the Portal games.

Any phobias? Needles. I've got a bad peanut allergy and I went into anaphylactic shock when I was 12. Woke up in the ambulance with a massive adrenaline needle sticking out of my arm and it stuck with me. Can't even look at them on TV, which has made Covid even worse than it already was.

Favourite childhood sport? Football (soccer). I was a goalkeeper and was fucking good at it. If I'd been born in the right body I would have tried to make a living out of it.

Do you talk to yourself? Lmao yeah

Tea or coffee? Neither? I don't like the taste of tea and the smell of coffee makes me feel sick. 🤢

What movies do you adore? The original 4-movie run of the Alien franchise and the first Prometheus movie. I really hope the new movie they're doing is better than the second Prometheus one, because that was just Generic Horror Movie™ and the franchise is so much more than that!

Tagging: @frostythedork @fortunatetragedy @aggsh-shs @moltenwrites @lancedoncrimsonwings + OPEN

[monsterfuckerconfessions]

Inspired by Ben 10 alienfucking anon, but I gotta agree with the basic idea of looking back on childhood favorites and just saying

"...Ooooohhhh...Cool."

I have a lot of similar personal cases.

Some standard ones like Frankie Foster making a generation super horny for tight black dresses and chokers, or Saria giving Zelda fans some hesvy love for the childhood friend thing. The one that sticks out in my head from the same game really hard though...

Zora Princess Ruto

She did some shit to my dumb baby brain that maybe wouldn't be seen on that scale again until Undyne came along and awakened some fish dicks.

I was either 8, 9, or 10 when I played Ocarina of Time. I got on the N64 hypetrain late since I got the SNES console gaming introduction after the later rounder redesign model was out.

Had some fun starts from some classics. Donkey Kong Country 2, Kirby Super Star, Super Mario World/Kart, the usual cool shit.

But later on, when my mom's boyfriend at the time was cool about showing me some SNES and N64 gaming (He ended up being a cheating alcoholic asshole, but I didn't know that yet, so I just took him at face value here)

He'd entertain my silly gawking and plot questions while he played and ended up lending some cool ones he never came back for (which I can't help but spitefully laugh at now) and they were all pretty fun, but obvious hood classic "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" was particularly great and led to some Discoveries(tm) later with Ocarina of Time.

I was super hyped about getting an N64 even if a year or two late to the party. Got some staples of the time that came with it of course. The obligatory classic games, Super Mario 64, Smash Bros., and obviously OoT, some bulky unwieldy third party controllers, some slightly better than the official monstrosity, some worse, and somehow most importantly here, Nintendo Power or Game Informer or whatever paper stuff that had strategy guides with cool pictures and stuff.

Prefacing a bit here: I was a single mom's baby, my dad walked out when my sister was 3 and I was like 0.4, so our house didn't have the dad porn stash to find. There was other stuff, some Victoria's Secret ads, my kinda hot single fifth grade teacher who seemed so weirdly fixated on gushing about how cute I was that it brings up some uncomfortable implications I can't confirm now, but also basic shit like strategy guides, gaming mags, and manuals with neat illustrations.

And somehow with all that, the last option just struck first with sifting through to find tits out post-timeskip fishwife Ruto, and at that point I really couldn't not fuck around and/or find out.

So I felt some things, started the playthrough and got up to Jabu-Jabu's Belly. And hoo boy, I was sexually curious already, but her actual in-game personality just DID things to me.

The tsundere shtick got a little worn out later, but the bitchy spiteful attitude to marriage promise 180 pipeline, the love for blue colored characters that could fill a Bible thick DSM, and her overall character arc just ruined me as a person in a way I find really hot.

Yes, I was into the kid version at the time too, but I was basically the same age as her in-game, don't overthink it.

So if the childhood marriage promise thing hadn't hit hard enough, the Water Temple hit so much harder by the end.

Adult Ruto tits out fish lady fucking hotwired my dormant libido and drove that shit 0 to 150 mph into the sunset. After the infamously confusing dungeon crawl and the disappointingly easy Morpha fight, that sealed it in the Sacred Realm jail hard for me, and unlike Ganon breaking out easy peasy like a Batman villain, I was not going anywhere.

Soon as I figured some stuff out playing in the shower and making up for spacing out in early proto-sex ed talks, it was just gonna happen.

I grabbed the nearest Nintendo Power or manual etc in one hand, my dick in the other and went to town, left for Zora's Domain, and never really left from there, cause I just started jackhammering my dick til it got sore and came whatever buckets I had at the time staring at Big Blue Titty Fish.

Everyone who played it knew the drill and had their personal favorites in the Link brothel. Zelda, Shiek, Saria, Malon (more potent after the older Majora's Mask counterpart), the Cucco lady (same deal with Anju), Darunia for the gay bar crowd probably, Impa, Nabooru, and my obvs by now favorite:

Ruto.

And for a lot of shortcomings and gripes I had with Majora's Mask, I didn't actually mind her getting clothed. I missed the titty out look for a little, but the dress was cute, the Zora band gang was particularly cool and interesting to me, and even though the Great Bay Temple doubled down on the Water Temple's problems, I still enjoyed the third Mask hunt pretty well and thought the band idea was really awesome and probably low-key inspired some of my interests in making music later.

And dressed or not, the fish wife love held really strong.

Saria gave people some weird feelings about The Friend Zone, Cremia gave people some extra love for titty hug motorboats, and Ruto cemented my love of blue girls and fish girls of any cup size, and she all-around gave me some lasting complexes for years to come.

Not for everyone, but my older sister used to watch me play Majora's Mask and comment on how horny she got about Zora mask Link, so it might just be for more people than I thought.

Undyne has some strong dom lesbian appeal that fed some stuff I already had brewing about strong ladies by the time Undertale hit, but for me, the bitchy to lovingly clingy fish wife will hold a special place as my first true furry/scaly/monsterfucking-adjacent experience.

Undyne could suplex me into dust and I'd still be really into that, but Ruto was THE og Blue-coded fictional crush that defined a lot of weird boners for me that can still be felt over half-mast today. (Don't ever ask me about my thoughts on Ranni the Witch, that question is turning the safety off a loaded gun and deepthroating it) (I love her and it's positive, I'm just exaggerating to say how annoying I will inevitably get about it)

Anyway, point is I fucking love clingy fish tsundere and if there was a canon choice for everyone's dumb elf-eared heart, for my heart's canon, that was her.

That was Ruto <3

.

[starry-eyed-steve]

Okay, so normally, I scroll past any ridiculous Steve takes, especially when it comes to death theories or theories about s5 in general. However, I just saw such a bad take that it actually made me angry, I need to make my own post. (Warning, this gets a bit petty towards the end)

Basically, the OP claimed Steve needs to die in s5 for the following reasons:

He has nothing going on in his life. He works a minimum wage job and is stuck in his hometown

He only has Robin and the kids, nothing else

It would not be satisfying if he lived

Steve can't grow more as a character because he already had too much development, so it would be better to end it there

He's only useful for protecting the group and nothing else

His death would be great for other characters because if he scarifices himself, the others are then able to go out in the world, live their lives, and do great things

Okay, that's a lot to unpack here, and I'm kinda speechless people really have such a low opinion about him.

First of all, saying Steve has nothing going on because he works a minimum wage job and doesn't have a concrete plan for the future is such a weird thing to say. He has a job, and even if it's not the best paid one, he still has an income. It's not like he's has nothing to do after he graduated (which he did the first time). If you think Steve needs to have it all figured out by 19 in order to be allowed to live, kindly fuck off. Almost no character has a concrete plan for the future. We never see Robin talk about her plans as well. Besides Nancy wanting to go to Emerson, we don't really know anything about the other characters' plans. The idea that minimum wage jobs are considered as something not worth pursuing or that your life must suck if you have them reeks of privilege. Not everyone can or wants to get a college degree. The people who work in customer service or have manual labor jobs are very valuable members of society, and to imply just because Steve has a minimum wage job working at a video store, so he better dies, is a horrible take. But also again, he is 19 (!!!) and should be allowed to have opportunities to figure out his plans for the future. Plus, he explicitly told us his end goal, he wants a loving partner and kids, and that's reason enough to keep going. (Even if he wouldn't have this goal or plan, he deserves time to figure things out, seeing as he lived his life in survival mode for the past 4 years.)

I also really don't get the second point. What is wrong about Steve having a real friend and a group of people he cares about? Shouldn't that be reason enough for him to keep living? Shouldn't having friends who you care about and who care about you automatically count as something that is enough. Besides, again, he also has a job, likes to go on dates, and it's implied he's still into sports.

The other characters also have each other. They hang out all the time to play their dnd games. Jonathan only has one friend (who now isn't even in the show anymore) and a gf. Nancy barely has any friends as well, besides her bf, who wants to slow mo break up with her. Should they die because they only have like 2 people they are close with? Or is it different because they want to go to college and do well in school, which is the only good purpose characters are allowed to have in order to be deemed worthy of living?

Imo it wouldn't be satisfying if Steve would die after everything he has been through. The show beats him to a pulp every season. He was tortured, maimed, and he sacrificed already so much for the group. He has the most physical trauma, besides Hopper. Even if the show doesn't address it, it's still there. (I hate it sm, but also I blame mostly on limited time that almost no character gets to explore their trauma.) It would be such a disservice to his character if he went through all of that for nothing. What kinda message is that? Killing off the character who is the most hopeful despite everything he went through is not satisfying. None of the main characters' deaths would feel satisfying after going through the horrors like that. (Besides Murray because fuck him)

If you think a character or person can only grow so much until they reach some arbitrary point where they are the perfect version of themselves, you're pretty naive. Nobody stops growing. Even if someone goes through growth, you don't stop your whole life. Maybe start rooting for an arc for Steve, where he gets even better. Where he gets to figure things out, where he becomes a better version of himself. You wouldn't say this to any other character. Just because his growth arc was more noticeable doesn't mean all your other faves didn't grow. Do you want them to stop living because they made choices to be a better person?

You're really underestimating Steve's relationship to the group if you think he's nothing more than a punching bag to them. How can you watch the show and really think this. He's Robins best friend, he helps her grow and be comfortable. He's Dustin's older brother figure. He gives him comfort, and he will most likely help him in s5 with his grief over Eddie. Even with Max, he functions as a brother figure, especially in contrast to her stepbrother. Yes, his primary role in the group is fighter and protector, but he is more than that. He's a friend and important to so many characters.

I think the last point was the thing that made me angry the most. All those other takes I've seen time and time again, but this last one is just disgusting. First of all again to imply that Steve can't do great things because he doesn't have a career plan at 19, which is just gross. And then if you also think the other characters would be so appreciative of this as if they don't give a fuck about Steve. Like Robin and Dustin would be devastated, how much of his death would affect them and their plans to do amazing things? They would be severely depressed and untreated (lets be real mental health issues were not taken super seriously up until recently) they will live with those impacts for the rest of their lives. Trust me I know how terrible depression is and how it fucks with your life plans. Maybe some characters who are not super close to him might use his death for motivation and to achieve those "great" things. But for most parts, his death would have a negative influence on them, on top of the trauma they already endured. If you think his death would only benefit the group, you're underestimating his impact on people. Like Dustin already has a hard time getting over Eddie, Robin would lose the only person who completely understands her, Max would lose another brother figure and a chance to bond with him more. Nancy would lose yet another person who was close to her. How many people should she lose until she snaps completely? But again, it's the implication that Steve's life is worthless because he doesn't go to college or has a shitty job or only has a few friends, that gets me. His life is worth less than other characters' lives because they seemingly have things figured out because they are (book) smarter than him. And btw Steve has a dream for the future, he wants a family and peace, he wants to be a better parent than his own parents were, and if you think that's meaningless or less great, then fuck you!

With those points and logic, Jonathan should also be a contender for character death in s5 as well. He doesn't have a job, he gets high with his only friend who won't be there in s5, he didn't apply for his dream university, he's about to break up with his gf. Jonathan only has his family and barely any growth over the seasons. He is a very stale character. In other words, according to those points made by OP, he has nothing going on and should sacrifice his life for the group as some form of character development.

Or Robin should also die in s5 according to those points. After all, all she has going on for her is a minimum wage job she works with her best friend, school, and a so far miserable love life. We don't know any of her future plans so fuck her I guess. She better sacrifice herself for the group. Or is she allowed to live because she's smarter than Steve (which is a pretty ableist thing to say) and gets to embark on a romantic journey next season?

To sum it up, stop saying Steve has to die because you think his life is meaningless because he's a teenager who hasn't things figured out. Stop saying shit along the lines that Steve isn't smart enough to get to have a life. Stop implying that intelligence is the most valuable thing a person can have and anyone who might lack it is deemed as less worthy of living. Stop saying Steve can't do amazing things if he doesn't go to college and therefore shouldn't be allowed to live. And stop deeming Steve's dream of a family as less meaningful (or meaningless) than academic/career successes. He deserves to live like every other character in the show.

[azkiyy]

I have another yandere character idea!

I present to you.....

.

.

.

.

.

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Yandere! Digital assistant!!!!!

TW: hostage? Possessive tendency. That's it, ig..

Enjoy!

He's a digital assistant of the devices created by the inventor of the most successful tech company.

The company, much like apple and android, is a company that makes tech devices.

Their phone has been used by 87% of the world's population. And like any other mobile devices, they have an assistant (like siri or google assistant). They call it Byte, but you can always change his name.

You have always wanted their phone, and you're lucky enough to get it for your birthday!

To say that you're happy was an understatement. You were ecstatic, you almost crush your pet while jumping around.

The unique thing about the phone was that it comes with a manual for the users that just consists of introducing yourself to the phone (that sounds weird, but bare with me!).

The first thing the user needs to do is turn on the phone (obviously) and wait. After a couple seconds, the screen will show a sight of a person.

The person will then show a soft smile, along with a "Hi, I am Byte. Your personal digital assistant! Please show your face to the screen, so I can recognize your facial features."

He then scans your face and after the scanning was completed, he'll smile.

"Pleased to be working with you!" He'll say then the screen finally fades to your homescreen.

You have had the phone for two years now. And he has been nothing but helpful. But you started to notice a slight odd thing about your assistant.

When you see your friends phone, their assistant always seems to pop up whenever they need them. But yours just pop up randomly at any time of the day, giving you random facts or a recipe that you might like.

You tried taking it to the store, but when they checked, there is nothing wrong with it. So, for the next months, you just have to put up with him popping up when you're playing a game, browsing, shopping online or even when you're just scrolling through your favorite app.

But the thing you noticed most is the fact that he pops up more often when you're texting someone. Be it your mother, your friends, your coworkers, your boss, ANYONE!

And the phone will hang up in a middle of a call.

And whenever you put it on silent, IT DOESN'T WORK!

That's where you draw the line and takes the phone to get it returned.

I mean, come on! Do you know how embarrassing it is for you to stand on the train and suddenly your phone plays your guilty pleasure song (The song people seems to hate or cringe but you actually like it and you pretend to hate it. Only me? Okay..)?! IT'S SO FUCKING EMBARRASSING!!!!!

You finally returned it. The workers spewing out apologies as they hand you a new replacement. You thanked them then walks out of the store, feeling satisfied with the new object in your hands.

At first, things went pretty smooth. Your new phone and assistant didn't have any glitches. It was great!

Until one day, that is...

You're currently getting a snack from the kitchen. Your phone tucked between your ear and shoulder, calling your coworker, Jim about the paperwork you have to do this week.

"Sorry, y/n. Mr. Brown told me to give you some of my paperwork as I will be helping him with a new project for the company."

"It's fine, Jim. You needed that raise. Besides, I needed something to keep me busy for a while."

"Yeah, okay. Sorry, y/n... Can I at least take you to that cafe across the building? The guilt is eating me!"

You chuckled, getting a glass of water.

"Fine, if that'll make you feel better."

"Alright then. See you at wor-"

Beep... beep.... beep

"... Hello? Jim?"

"..."

"Yes, my love..?"

"What the- Jim? Are you okay...?"

"Jim is okay, my love.."

You paused when you hear another voice speaks up.

"W-who are you? Where's Jim?"

"You don't need to worry about him, darling~ You'll be safe with me..."

As the person speaks, your house lights flickered. The new lock you bought that you connected to your phone, locked on its own. Everything connected to your phone goes out of control. You waste no time to bang on your front door, screaming for help. Then you hear your bluetooth speaker turns on.

"There's no use in screaming, my love. The walls are soundproof, remember..?"

"Damn it!" You cursed yourself for installing those walls. If only your neighbor knows how to keep it down, you should have been able to ask for help.

"What do you want from me?!" You screamed, stepping closer to your speaker.

"Isn't it obvious?... I want you, my love~ I want you to keep me and not abandon me again."

"W-what do you mean, 'again'?"

"... You seriously don't remember..?" He asked, seconds later the lightbulb above you shattered, making you jump.

"I was the best thing that have ever happened to you. I was the thing that helped you go through those lonely nights. I was there when you got that promotion. I loved you. I tried to get your attention many times. And I thought by popping up randomly, you will finally notice me. But I was wrong. Instead, you got rid of me... You traded me for some other assistant! I couldn't bare the thought of loosing you, so I did what I have to do... I hacked into your new phone and erase your new assistant out of existence... So we could be together... Forever~...!"

He started laughing maniacally, the things around you shaking, making you tremble in fear. You can't do anything at this point..

With the doors and windows locked and no way of screaming for help, you just have to be by his side forever...

[dragimalsdaydreams]

[image ID: two images of Razor from the game Genshin Impact.

the first image is a screencap of Razor's in-game model from the back. he's wearing a dull grey/brown leather coat with a bunch of red/brown leather belts hanging down the length of it. his hood is up, but his long, messy grey hair is streaming out from a slit in the back of the hood. this hair is split down the middle, streaming to either side of his spine to show the Electro Vision centered on the lower back of the coat. the sleeves of the coat are torn off, showing his bare pale arms, and orange leather gloves. he's wearing poofy green pants, and black/grey leather boots.

the second image is a cartoony drawing of Razor from the back, standing more hunched and looking slightly over his shoulder. his hair has been cut short and no longer sticks out from the back of the hood. the extraneous leather belts have been removed from the coat, with more visible, geometric patterning in its place. a rope hangs across the lower back of the coat, below the Vision. a few small, dead animals (a rabbit, a couple ferrets) hang from this rope, with text reading, "small game gives the vague impression of a wolf tail". Razor's boots have been removed, leaving bare feet and lower legs messily wrapped in white wrappings, and covered in dirt. nearby text reads, " you cannot convince me they wrestled this boy into boots".

end ID]

back again with another redraw instead of a screencap edit! though I did honestly attempt the edit before I gave up (Razor's hair covers up too much, it woulda been annoying to redraw it all..)

also, it's just the back view b/c I don't have much problem with the front of his design. and since Razor is one of my faves and mains, I'm intimately familiar with the back of his design, considering how often I have to stare at it..

more design notes under the cut~

more than anything else, I just hate Razor's hair. usually I'm all for male characters with long hair, but Hoyo just fucked up Razor's so bad. which is insane cus' a wolf tail shape feels so obvious, for a kid literally raised by wolves. I would've even forgiven the stupid hood slit for that-- sure, Hoyo could've just put the hood down for Razor's hair, but I like the hood up, so whatever. but Hoyo just had to split the hair in half, ruining the potential tail shape. and it's clear that they split the hair so that the Vision on the coat is visible, but the obvious solution there should be to just... put the Vision somewhere fucking else. like, the Vision could have been literally anywhere else, good god

either way, I just decided to cut off the hair, cus' I had a better idea for a "faux tail" anyways. I know dead animals are prolly too morbid for Genshin designs, but it definitely fits my feral vision of Razor <3

finally, evidence that I did genuinely attempt the model edit, before I decided, "oh, fuck this"

[image ID: the same back-view screencap of Razor's in-game model from earlier, but centered on his torso region. much of his grey hair has been manually blocked out using the purple background color. the parts of his back/arms that the hair covered have been roughly drawn back in as a messy sketch. end ID]

[silurisanguine]

15 lines of Dialogue game

As ive been away for the weekend, not sure if anyone tagged me with this but saw it open tag so here we go. Tagging @vorchagirl @despicablediet and anyone who'd like to do it! 15 Lines of Dialogue Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well! Since i've written the most with Seren Jones, I shall pick her for this!

1 -"Maybe I am, but there isn’t anything left in this universe worth staying for. Whatever is in the next universe has to be better than this one Barrett, it has to. I can't bare to stay here any more, not without him, not when I could have done it so differently."

2 - "Cora… she was there, saw her dad die…She hated me, blamed me for not saving him. After the funeral, Lillian took her and that was the last I ever saw that wonderful twelve year old. I realised then I had no reason to stay in my universe as everything i loved had been taken from me. I hoped maybe another would give me a second chance. To fix things..to try again…

…That’s why I do this.”

3 - "I came here the first time with no preconception of what I’d find. I was in awe at the location, just as you are now. But what I learned here has guided my hand in relation to how I see the Artifacts, how I see Unity and the Starborn. Anyone who wants to complete the Artifact collection, needs to know the full story for themselves.”

4- "Now you see how dangerous this place is, and this is just the start. The Starborn Guardians here have lost all empathy, all compassion, their humanity in pursuit of their cause. They have nothing left in their existence except to stop anyone else reaching the Temple. …I sometimes wonder what is the point of their existence before I wipe them out of it for good.”

5 -”You washed them clean. I can say one good thing about Lillian in that she gave you the chance to do that. You’re not the same man, Sam.”

6 -”They makes me smile every time I come back here. But I’m not entirely alone, the fish there get a view unlike any other.” She pointed to the couple of little fish swimming in their tanks, sitting right at the edge of the massive view screen. “If you don’t mind taking care of them for me, they’ve been a good little crew, never complained once.”

7 - "I've never met you before. Until today I'd never met a single pirate here." That was the truth, if a little stretched Seren thought.

8 -"All this, this universe is a nightmare. I've been to so many variations and… You… everyone here is so different, so wrong. It’s like Unity decided to show me the worst outcome possible just to make me appreciate who I’d - what I’d lost.”

9 -"Neat trick, have to remember that next time I'm in a hell-hole universe."

10 -"Sorry, Sam, just picturing you over Vlad’s head brought on images of you in ballet tights and…yeah, sorry, I have too much imagination.”

11 - "Yes, justice, Delgado. See that’s behind most things I do now. In this case justice for those your fucking coloured coded Spacers have harmed- have murdered. It’s interesting really how far I got here without anyone realising who I really am... I wondered why no one noticed the SIN of my ship. Even Jess surprisingly. It was a gamble using it of course…But no one ever clocked that I was flying the Razorleaf."

12- “Until I knew for sure you felt the same way I did, I wasn’t sure how to really act around you. But now I know, expect more of this, Sam Coe.”

13 - “You know I would! I mean she called me darlin, you know that makes me melt.”

14 - "…He always said he was bad with words, yet he could say things that were like love poetry to me, that would dazzle me. He was so open with his feelings when he trusted you. Funny, absurd sometimes and he cared deeply and loved passionately. He was an amazing father and I-"

15 - "I've no idea. Being Starborn didn't exactly come with a manual."

[transzilla]

Your posts leave me in a confusing mixture of lust and bitterness. Im trying so hard to become a man like you, and I love reading what you write because it feels like someone’s handing me an instructional manual on how to grow as a person for the first time. It is embarrassing to be stuck where I’m at pre transition, but your posts remind me that I can be better, even if it hurts, even if it’s humiliating. Thank you so much, I hope you’re having a great day/night wherever you are

You're a sweetheart for sending this, thank you Anon, I really mean it lol. Being pre T was fucking gruesome and every time I think I have it bad now I just remember when I first came out and was basically playing a huge game of chicken with my own family seeing if they'd kick me out the more my leg hair grew hahaha. The leap of faith is the hardest part because nobody can really tell you beyond an educated guess what's going to happen. Once you do it all the time and you get to wake up every day being a man and living the dream it's just second nature.

You're going to be a stronger person the more you pursue, demand and execute your reality and you're starting with the reality of your mind and your body. Shit's not easy but you are strong and you're meant to do this. I hope you are also having a great night and take care of yourself.

[jayessar]

Instead of fully being an annoying boomer loser who isn't happy about the new things, I'll make some sort of a masterpost about cool JSR and JSRF information sources and other neat thingies. Probably will be updated if i find anything else worth including.

So, first of all:

•Official websites for JSR and JSRF. JSRF website has an English version, but it's barely archived and doesn't have much information on it anyway. JSR one is really awesome though, a lot of cool tidbits, character bios(they include one new trivia for some characters ) and game tips!!

•A whole bunch of guidebooks, meaning JSR Perfect Guide, JSRF Perfect Guidebook and the JGR Sybex's Official Strategies & Secrets . Only one of them is in English, but they're still useful for maps and Graffiti Soul collecting. If you can read these then even better lol. Keep in mind, that the JSR Perfect Guide only covers the original Japanese release, which is different from the later one's.

• Sexy as hell manuals for JGR, De La JSR, JSR for GBA and JSRF. Always good to know about these.

•The JSR and JSRF articles on Sega Retro. You probably noticed me linking them for the manuals and whatnot. If you want to find out stuff about these games, this is second best source for it (first one is playing the games lol). But it has some weird statements like saying that Beat is the leader of the GGs, even though it doesn't make any logical sense, and claiming that JSRF is a sequel game, but then also saying that it's not in the actual JSRF article.

It's probably the obvious thing that could've been noted, so now to less obvious one's.

• Jet Set Radio Wiki. Okay, this website had a bad reputation and all and was filled with creepy comments and lies, now it's all good. I swear. New admin didn't just remove all the misinformation, but also regularly writes new articles! Like how we have Ollie King related pages there now(while it's a different game, making a separate wiki for it would be kind of an overkill so it's there). Anyways yeah, it's good now. But still always check the sources! It's good to do no matter where you are.

While these little things suck, they're completely overshadowed by the sheer amount of fucking information included. Scans, art, documentation of which magazine had articles regarding the games and on which page AND EVERYTHING IS WITH SOURCES AND IMAGES. This is really strong and you'll be there for hours just staring in wonder at all this compiled info.

• JSR Archives. This is a community dedicated for archiving and categorising all the stuff JSR related. One of their members was the one who posted the Sybex guide on the internet.(whoahaaa they got a tumblr FOLLOW THEM!!)

• TCRF article on JGR. While this article wasn't updated in quite some time and is missing a whole bunch of stuff (like the leaked prototypes), it's still a very nice read.

• A whole bunch of prototypes. I included only those i consider noteworthy, if you wanna get the other's, they're there as well.

• JSRF Inside. A certified hood classic if we're talking about JSRF modding.

• Best source for JSRF speedrunning information.

• An extremely really detailed playthrough/guide of JSR. Includes cool trivia like regional differences and instructions for character unlocking.

• Less detailed, but still very useful video guide for unlocking all of the secret JSRF characters.

• Playlist of JSR/JSRF music, and anything related to them, like different remixes and stuff. Read the description for more details. It also has a link to a text document containing a lot of cool trivia about the artist featured in the games and other JSR related media.

• Video with all the dialogue and special interactions in JSRF.

• Kind of a joke entry, but also Hideki Naganuma's twitter account is worth checking out. Not his new tweets, but really old one's. In the past he was more involved with the fanbase and shared some neat trivia. Not related to him but one of the Castle Logical ppl confirmed that the lyrics in Mischievous Boy say "chameleon machine" and it fucks me up so much.

• This goofy ass official IGN guide for JSR. Why i didn't put it with the rest of the official guides? Well, the reason is that the writer for this thing, Aki, is a real silly goose and they decided to spice up some of the character descriptions. While these are probably based on some legitimate information, like Beat being from Fukuoka(which was confirmed by a Beat TUBBZ figurine of all things), you can't trust these due to its silliness. Like they gave DJ K a backstory, which just ruins his whole deal AND contradicts the game manual. They also consistently get the names for locations wrong. As a game guide it's pretty good?? You can use it. Just don't go around calling Gum a "brownface girl" after reading it.

That's everything i can remember so far, hope this helps.

[vaingloury]

Disparate Thoughts on Dungeon Meshi

I'm an anime-only watcher, so no spoilers beyond what's currently aired (eps 1-3) + mild map spoilers for a random 3.5e D&D module (Sunless Citadel).

- I'm not the first nor will I be the last to harp on the English localised title but Delicious in Dungeon sucks. I do, however, think going with the "DnD" naming scheme was a nugget of a good idea (let's face it, "Dungeon Food" sucks too). Maybe "Diners in Dungeon"/"Dungeons & Diners" instead (as in those who dine, not a place where one dines). Or "Dungeon Dine" (like "dungeon dive"). Regardless, I'll just be calling it Dungeon Meshi going forward.

- I don't know if this is coloured by me going into this series with the knowledge that Ryoko Kui loves Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 or a wider ripple effect of eastern dungeon-fantasy conventions being shaped by there not being an official Japanese translation of D&D between Basic and 5e, but the world-building's vibe is old-school D&D as hell. It feels like it was written by someone who maybe never got the chance to play the tabletop game much but spent hours poring over the 1e Monster Manual in hopes of getting a campaign off the ground (and ended up penning a manga instead, game scheduling be damned). There's the disarming of traps, feeling for secret doors, and even the iconic red dragon as seen on the covers of the Basic Dungeon Master's Handbook and 1e Monster Manual being the dungeon boss. Design-wise, the dungeon's layout it reminds me a bit of the map from Ruins of Castle Greyhawk or The Sunless Citadel (pictured below, right).

- The main cast is very tropey at the moment. Quite literally all the Basic classes are covered; the generic white man Fighter (Lv 1, no multi-attack yet :P) as the party face, the halfling/thief, the elf/wizard, the missing cleric, the dwarf... This works for this point in the narrative but doesn't make me particularly attached to any of them. They need another overarching obstacle.

- I generally don't like Studio Trigger's output (not the Imaishi-involved stuff anyway; Gridman fucks) but I respect how bouncy their animation usually is. So, I was excited to watch something animated by Trigger but not (originally) written by them. Dungeon Meshi, however, looks static and resorts too often to Dutch angles to maintain visual interest. There's a bit of an art shift in episode 3 where this improves; more fun "off-model" moments, the movements get a little bouncier, more color harmony. Hopefully, this stays and isn't just a guest director fluke. Form the snippets I've seen on the manga, Kui suffers a bit from "draw background killed my grandma", thus her ability to make her simple character designs emote well has to carry the page. The anime does the opposite; super detailed backgrounds but flat shading/lack of texture on the characters creates a need for them to over-emote with a "screen-shake" effect in order to stand out from their surroundings, which I could see getting old fast. The main event, the food, looks better in the anime than in the manga due to colour and animation bringing it to life.

- I don't usually laugh at Japanese comedies because they're either too slapstick for my tastes or too pun heavy for my JP comprehension level. Dungeon Meshi gets a point for making me "lol" more than once.

- Finally, a good panty shot:

- I watched episode 3 dubbed. EN Marcille > JP Marcille (I say this as a stickler for subs). The rest of the dub cast is fine but I'm probably sticking with JP because JP Laios' ability to scream > EN Laios (EN is a great generic white man, though). I'm not familiar with most of the JP voice cast. I think Chilchuck is my fave in JP.

Both languages have little breathing room between lines of dialog and I was hoping the EN dub would play around with the fact that the character speaking isn't necessarily the one on screen (thus less lip-flap matching, especially for Senshi, who has few indicators that he's actually speaking even when he's onscreen) but alas. I'll do another one of these if I have more to say later in the season 🥂

[jet-bradley]

The reason I'm so upset about losing competitive scenes for Nintendo games isn't 100% just because I like watching competitive play. It's because it's genuinely hard to measure exactly how much knowledge we're at risk of losing if that's the side of the playerbase that gets pushed away.

A LOT of tools and knowledge used by casuals and competitive players alike for Splatoon were developed for the competitive community (and crafted by a mixture of comp players & hackers).

If you, as a Splatoon player, have ever done research, used online tools such as webpages and Discord bots, or even just watched videos, to determine any of the following:

how to pick a kit for a weapon you haven't played before

how to improve a kit for a weapon you're comfortable with

minmaxing a kit for a specific weapon

understanding abilities and how they're applied in a general sense (is adding tons of sub ink saver/special charge/main power up helpful?)

how to play a weapon you've never played before

game strategy (even entry-level questions, such as "Do I paint base first or push first in turf war?")

what gear brands are more likely to drop different ability chunks

ANYTHING involving the RNG/gacha mechanics of Splatoon 3, from gear abilities to gacha items

ANYTHING involving specific numbers regarding weapon range or damage output

Understanding how any game mode works beyond information you can find in official game manuals, physical or in the game (ESPECIALLY clam blitz)

There is a good chance the resource you used for that was made either by or for the competitive scene. Not just "the Splatoon community". You owe that information to the competitive Splatoon community, no matter how much you hate fighting sweaty comp players during Splatfests or whatever.

Like if you aren't a Splatoon fan it's hard to get that like, Nintendo didn't publish official guides about the inner workings of ranked battles; they expected players to wander into ranked and get their asses kicked and slowly figure out the rules. You really have to learn how those modes work from the community, and the comp community are the ones who benefit the most from understanding the inner workings of like. What triggers an overtime? How much of a point penalty do players get when the objective gets taken from them?

And in a game that gets updated many times a year (at least 8 plus bug fix patches), this information needs to be actively researched and maintained. If sendou and his team walk away from sendou.ink that resource will only be active for the current version of the game.

So fucking over competitive Splatoon isn't just unfair to people active in the tournament scene. It's unfair to a huge upper fraction of the community skill-wise and anyone who wants to get better at the game at all.

[chemicalbrew]

tagged

by @radellama :3

Do you make your bed?

I haven't made my bed in like four years. There's no point to it any more 99% of the time these days.

What's your favourite number?

The normie answer is seven, the funny answer is zero. I do like them both!

What is your job?

A job you had that would surprise people?

(celibacy gif, but it says UNEMPLOYMENT)

I'll have to start looking for shit in a few years, though... I guess I should be looking for it now, too, because surely I can freelance and all that... I just don't want to. Sloth has always been my biggest sin 💚

If you could go back to school, would you?

Maybe... I wouldn't mind going back to high school, but also I don't see much reason to. I used to actually despair about not being in school any more a relatively little while ago, but now? I don't know, I think it's more important to try and look forward...

Can you parallel park?

Can you drive a manual car?

Favourite childhood sport?

(celibacy gif, but it says DISABILITIES) I will never be able to drive or do sports :D

Do you think aliens are real?

Ironically, I think my opinion on aliens and god is the same: they're definitely out there, somewhere impossibly far away, and incomprehensible. Probably don't care about us that much, either.

What's your guilty pleasure?

both are incredibly obvious answers, but fuck it

At this point, rerunning KZ counts as one because for fuck's sake, I have so much stuff in my backlog, but instead of getting around to any of it, I just... play the same levels for the 100th time without even getting any better, pfft.

In the sense of 'enjoying something that isn't regarded well', gotta be Brandish or DOD. When I actually get around to researching DOD1, it will be so over for you all...

Tattoos?

None and I'm pretty sure I don't want any. If someone offered, I'd probably do something floral on my arms, but I really don't care... With how often my brain switches gears, it'd be hard to find something I would never regret getting.

Favourite colour?

Usually I say blue and purple, but I think a funnier way to describe my preferences would just be 'the bisexual flag'. I'm not particularly partial to pink, but I like the more purplish shades of it, you know? Especially if it leans into the... bright neon aesthetic, I guess... idk how to explain

Favourite type of music?

everything rads doesn't like

I was actually put on the spot with this question a few days ago, and the best I could do was stammer out 'uhh... dance music', but the real answers are

Electronic music, particularly EDM, house, DnB, vaporwave and synthwave in that order

Music made using vocal synths

Video game music

all of which are incredibly nerdy and pretentious, but really, the overlap of these three types is where I feel most at home.

Do you like puzzles?

Never had the patience for big jigsaws, but enjoyed smaller ones as a kid. I am not opposed to a good puzzle game every once in a while, either, but I'm not particularly passionate about this sort of thing.

Any phobias?

Nothing too extreme, I think... or maybe I haven't had to see anything truly scary in ages, haha.

Do you talk to yourself?

ALL THE TIME. At some point I suspected I have OSDD, but I have no way to actually try and find out (even if I did, I figure there's really no reason to). All you need to know other than that is that the answer is ALL THE TIME in my head, and 'when no one is home' when it comes to talking out loud. It's especially helpful when I'm going through emotional and stressful stuff, obviously.

What movies do you adore?

Tale of Princess Kaguya, Perfect Blue, uhh what else did I enjoy... movies are hard

Coffee or tea?

Both, in copious amounts 🍵☕

I have specific flavor preferences, of course, but as long as it's tasty, I'll be drinking :D

First thing you wanted to be when you grew up?

I don't remember... I feel like I was focusing on trying to survive first, and then others kept telling me what I should be doing...