#main part of pokemon video is done!!!!!

[lesbianpikachu]

.

[jadeazora]

Joe Merrick got to play some of the upcoming DLC for the Indigo Disk! Here's his impressions video!

But some points from the article:

You start of by entering the Terarium in the Blueberry Academy with Lacey and Cyrano, and she explains what the Terarium projects the passage of time and the sky, and they have a mysterious globe at the top which allows for Terastalisation, but Cyrano can't seem to remember what it is made out of.

Lacey says the Terarium has four different habitats: the Polar, Savannah, Coastal, and Canyon quadrants. They house a variety of Pokémon, different in each area. In the Coastal one you'd find a lot of water Pokémon, and ones like Alolan Exeggutor on the beach, Polar is filled with Ice-types like Alolan Sandshrew & Beartic, the Savannah had ones like Kantonian Tauros, Doduo, and Canyon had ones like Alolan Geodude, Tyrogue and others. He notes that he saw both forms of Exeggutor too.

Area is larger than Kitakami, tho not quite as large as Paldea

There are some rest stops with some students hanging around but the big central one has all the amenities like the Pokemon Center station and TM Machine and all that.

Tera Raid Battle Crystals are found thru-out the area, large amounts of Pokémon and items everywhere. Tera Shards can be found in large batches. He says he picked up about 18 all in one batch. (Something I'm quite happy about, it was a pain grinding for shards.)

Trainers here seem to favor Double Battles. It's mentioned there are some Trainers that are pretty high-levelled like the Kitakami Ogre Clan, packing Lv70 teams carrying items, and using different strategies.

The trial they did in the trailers with your Dragon wasn't too tough, but BB League is another story. Amarys' battle was compared to later levels of the Battle Tower rather than a main-story battle, every Pokémon on her team had a means to counter any possible weakness.

Even if you have a Lv100 team, you may have the advantage, but it does mean less than it did in Pt1. The BB League can be done in any order, and he's curious how later parts of the story will go.

New TMs that are being added in The Indigo Disk include a mix of returning moves such as Expanding Force, Triple Axel, Skitter Smack, Meteor Beam, Breaking Swipe, Scorching Sands, Curse, Coaching, Electro Web and more, previously revealed new moves Upper Hand and Psychic Noise, and previously unknown moves like Supercharged Cell and Hard Press, a Steel-type move which does more damage the higher the target's Hit Points.

Music is very reminiscent of Unova's, with the wild battle theme being a remix of the old wild theme. There's inspiration from other regions too, but he says he can't disclose it right now.

Performance is mentioned as a weaker point, but I think we've come to expect that from SV at this point.

[an-aura-about-you]

wait. why are you sexy gengar

Oh, so this is some kinda story! And I guess now y'all are gonna hear it.

The truth is I've been holding out on most of you because back on my birthday @zerozeroren gifted me with an incredible piece of art that is going to require a bit of explanation.

So here we go.

Being a lover of So Bad It's Good Media and a watcher of Booktube videos, it was inevitable that I would hear about the supposedly spicy, supposedly deadly fantasy trainwreck that is Lightlark by Alex Aster. For anyone who might not have seen the liveblogging I did of that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book for a bunch of reasons Aster never intended and had to pause listening to the audiobook several times because I had to stop and laugh at the ridiculously poorly thought out shit going on. For anyone who's the sort to indulge in So Bad It's Good media, it gets my recommendation. (The sequel Nightbane does not; that was both utterly stupid AND horrifying in its unintentional implications. But I digress.)

Anyway, this piece of art came about from talking to Ren about some of the characters, particularly our main character Isla Crown and her love interest Oro.

There's been a lot of confusion on how to say Isla's given name. Before I listened to the audiobook, I would have assumed it would have had a pronunciation similar to island with a silent s. But no, according to the audiobook narration, her name is pronounced Ice-la. Upon hearing this, Ren declared that a "Pokemon-ass sounding name." And that's when I realized that Isla is implied to be humanoid but it's never actually specified. The people of Lightlark are divided into six different types of beings, and Isla is a Wildling. But the only actual descriptions we get of her are that she's got brown hair and she looks like her mother. So in defiance of the obvious setup to picture her looking like an ice-type Pokemon, I chose to picture her looking like my favorite purple ghosty boy Gengar.

But that's only the part of the picture I've been using for my icon. I haven't shown most of you the other part of the picture that has Oro. Oro is a Sunling. (I swear these names are killing me.) The big conflict of Lightlark is that all of these fantasy races have been cursed and they're trying to complete a ritual according to a prophecy in order to undo them. Sunlings in particular are cursed by being harmed by the sun, the very thing that would normally give them power. Oro is also something called an Origin, meaning he has powers from the other fantasy races, though the primary one we see him use besides his own power is the Skyling ability to fly. Between being harmed by sunlight, the implied nocturnal existence that comes with that, and his ability to fly, Ren and I decided he was basically a vampire. And I was like, "We need to pick a dorky vampire to represent him. I know! He should look like Alucard! Not sexy new Castlevania animation Alucard but like what Alucard looks like in Captain N: The Game Master!" (For the record, they are technically the same character. Alucard in Captain N is the same Alucard from the Castlevania series. But the character designs in Captain N: The Game Master are...questionable.)

And that led to this:

Take it in. It is a thing of cracktastic beauty. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present. What else can I say but Ren has done it again.

[n1ghtm4r3-p01s0n]

What Video Games I think Jigsaw and the Apprentices would play

Adam - Grand Theft Auto series. He regularly plays GTA Online with Amanda (he is better skilled at driving and Amanda is more skilled at shooting). Sometimes he convinces Lawrence to join. Adam switches between Michael and Franklin when in story mode the most. Adam likes using mods, ReShade and taking far too many screenshots.

Lawrence - Animal Crossing: New Horizons. After a tough day at work and knowing what John does, I doubt Lawrence is big into violent video games. Even then, video games aren't his thing. He only picked up AC:NH cause he likes the cozy vibes. Sometimes, when Diana misses him, he visits her island and they hang out together.

Amanda - DOOM Eternal and the Hitman series. This is the reason she's a sharp shooter in GTA. She loves DOOM and Hitman cause you get to shoot up bad guys to awesome music while bettering the world. Also, she loves doing wacky challenges with the Hitman games (kill everyone while wearing a clown suit also her only weapon is a giant tuna fish).

Lynn - Nintendogs and Cats for the 3DS. She got it originally for Corbette but became infatuated with it herself. It's part of the reason she really wants to get a pet. She got Amanda a 3DS and forced her to make a Mii so that when Lynn takes her virtual pet for a walk she sometimes stumbles into Amanda.

Peter - Hitman series, Metal Gear series and Detective Grimoire series. Peter has always loved media about detectives and stealth and shit. Where Amanda is silly with Hitman, Peter is dead serious. Metal Gear was the series he played as a kid, and Detective Grimoire was just a random flash game he found one day and became shocked to learn it had its own series of video games.

Mark - Party Hard, Dead by Daylight, GTA 5 and Outlast. Mark likes games where he plays as a killer, much to everyone else's concern. He plays mainly as Trevor in GTA 5. He mains Leatherface in Dead by Daylight. He mains them both cause they are both "berserk psychos with crazy weapons".

John - Pokemon, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and The Sims. John doesn't like violent video games. Period. In Pokemon, he usually sticks to Pokemon that look like cats and dogs. His favourite AC villager is Sprinkles, and he cries whenever one of his Sims dies.

Jill - Like Lawrence, she's not a big video game person. However, Corbette and Diana have both convinced her to play games with them. As their adoptive grandma, she obliges. She prefers stuff like Wii Sports, Wii Fit and Wii Sports Resort. Just cause it's nice, chill and casual.

BONUS: THE KIDS

Diana - Love Nikki, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Untitled Goose Game. She likes being creative and causing chaos. Her favourite AC villager is Sable. She loves dressing Nikki up into fantasy princesses (but has also done like rockstar criminals). She likes Untitled Goose Game cause "look at the silly goose".

Corbette - Star Stable, Littlest Pet Shop (DS), Zoo Tycoon, Planet Zoo, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Pokemon etc. She really loves animals. Ever since her brother's death, she collects plushies and it was what spawned her love of animals and creatures. She has also played Nintendogs and Cats (3DS) and Breath of the Wild.

[silent-partner-412]

ok i need to vent about a trope in video games (mostly rpgs and visual novels) that i really don’t like, and want to talk about why a lot of games fail at it and give a few examples of how it succeeds. however to do so im going to spoil a shitton of games. so if you plan on playing any of the social sim persona games, the xenoblade trilogy, sea of stars, 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors, pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky, chrono trigger, the great ace attorney, or danganronpa 2 and 3 (the anime not the game), do not read this post. i will be spoiling all of them.

so what’s up with characters dying But Not Actually so much?? it’s gotten to the point where whenever a main character dies, i’m almost certain that there’s going to be some funny business to justify bringing them back. it kind of drives me nuts, and i wanna talk about why this plot point fails in so many games (and also a few where it works in my opinion because it CAN work).

to start, the xenoblade games, specifically 1 and 3. i think fiora’s death in xenoblade 1 was my first exposure to this trope and honestly i think it’s done alright. there’s a LOT of foreshadowing about the nature of the face units in the early game, and having her be turned into one makes complete sense. also she’s not the only character who’s presumed dead that ends up in a face unit, so the concept feels more complete than just an excuse to bring back a main character. the main problem with fiora is more that her character pre-death is so much better than post-death, but that’s less to do with the resurrection and more just me disagreeing with the direction they take her character. overall this game gets a pass from me, not a bad use of the trope.

xenoblade 3 however i will not be so kind to. mio’s fakeout death fucking sucks and it ruined one of my favorite characters up to that point. they build up the fact that mio is dying all game, it’s a huge part of her character. the existentialism of it all was so compelling to me, i was excited to see where it was going to go. but the body swap with m during the prison sequence was so underwhelming it hurts. it is mildly foreshadowed in the fight against m, but it still felt like they sidestepped the conflict entirely because they didn’t have the guts to actually follow through on what they had set up. which, to be fair, this would be fine if they actually explored how she felt about living when she was supposed to die, but they don’t. this is pretty much the last major character moment for mio all game, and it was so disappointing to me. not a good use of the trope at all.

persona 3 (portable) and 4 use this trope too and it’s also pretty rough. shinjiro’s death is a big moment in persona 3, and saving him in portable feels super underdeveloped and feels like it was just used for fanservice at the end of the day. nanako’s death in persona 4 is almost insultingly underdeveloped too, it feels like it only happens because they needed to add extra tension during the climax of the game, when it would’ve worked perfectly fine if she was just severely injured in my opinion. having her die and come back just feels cheap and unearned.

persona 5 does it much better with akechi in my opinion but that’s also because him coming back is pretty much a mirage. the only reason he comes back in the third semester is because maruki thought him being back would be part of joker’s ideal reality, and once maruki is defeated akechi goes away too. it’s all pretty fantastic, and the way they explore akechi’s feelings about the whole situation is great too. of course, there is the moment at the ending where you seem him through the window but that’s left purposefully ambiguous and i choose to believe it’s just joker’s imagination lol.

chrono trigger is probably one of the oldest examples of this trope and it didn’t really bother me, but that’s mostly because i wasn’t super attached to crono in the first place cuz he doesn’t have much going for him in terms of characterization lol. i also think that because there are multiple endings including one where he doesn’t come back (and you really have to go out of your way to bring him back) makes it feel a bit less cheap? i don’t know, i don’t really have a strong opinion one way or the other for this case.

now sea of stars i’ve gone on record saying i adore, but i still don’t love how they handle garl’s resurrection. it feels almost identical to crono’s, and feels a bit too fanservicey for my liking especially since i thought garl’s death was so extremely well done. it’s cute, and i do love garl, but i prefer the regular ending where he doesn’t come back.

so… remember how all the characters in danganronpa 2 didn’t actually die? cuz they were in a simulation the whole time and it wasn’t a “you die in the game you die in real life” situation like they implied in the game? yeah that was weird. i don’t remember this bugging me a ton back in my danganronpa phase but like… the deaths in that game in particular were really well done for the series (let’s forget about chapter 3 for now) and having none of them matter in the end kind of sucks. it also doesn’t feel like that was the original vision since this reveal only happens in the danganronpa 3 anime and not in dr2, so it feels like it was probably done for fanservice more than anything.

these next two are ones i don’t think were too bad and that’s because they both happen and you kinda just know they’re not gone for good. kazuma from great ace attorney and snake from zero escape (999) both die so early and so suddenly after being set up to be seemingly important that you sort of just know they’re not gone for good, and if they were you’d probably be disappointed. also they both slap when they come back and their characters would probably feel incomplete without their reveal that they didn’t actually die. if you’re going to kill characters and bring them back, this is one of the better ways to do it in my opinion.

finally, this isn’t really a death but it still really bothered me. i really don’t like the ending of pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky’s final special episode. for years i thought that once grovyle and dusknoir returned to the future and you and your partner save the world, they’re gone. that’s how the game sets it up. i’ve thought that’s how it was for years since i didn’t play sky until last year. learning that no, they save the world and all the pokemon from the future are fine actually was so… it just felt wrong. i feel like they didn’t want a sequence that grim to end the episode in a game made for children, but i was like 9 when i beat explorers of time/darkness the first time and i understood the implications of what happened. learning that wasn’t actually the case now that i’m an adult bothered me and i wish they had stuck to their guns.

so what’s the common thread here? well, the times where it doesn’t work are usually because it feels like fanservice or like the story didn’t justify it well enough. it feels like you’re being coddled almost, like don’t worry your blorbo is fine!! they’re still alive!!! and i hate that so much. stick to your guns!!! if you don’t have a damn good reason to bring back characters after they supposedly die, don’t bring them back. it usually feels wrong and hollow. look, in real life, people die (i know big shocker), and there’s nothing you can do about it. i’ve had people very close to me die, and while i would do anything to bring them back, that’s just not how it works. i know games are supposed to be escapism where you suspend your disbelief, but i don’t usually feel happy when characters i love die and come back. it just feels like mildly condescending wish fulfillment. i just wish authors would be more thoughtful about this kind of thing.

[lil-tachyon]

Who are some of your biggest influences in your art?

I’ve answered this question or something like it a couple times (1 2 3 4 + archive of interviews I’ve done with people)  so I’ll hit the main points and then talk about some different stuff I’ve been into recently. 

Favorite artists who have influenced me the most in no particular order:

Wayne Barlowe

Moebius

Mark Schultz

Simon Roy

Cosimo Galluzi

CM Kosemen

John Howe

James Gurney

Katsuya Terada

Hayao Miyazaki

I could name more, but those are the main people that I come back to, year after year.

Picture above by John Howe

General art movements/styles that have influenced me

19th century academic art, especially Orientalist painters (to be clear, I don’t endorse any of the harmful racial attitudes behind many of them, it’s just stuff that I saw as a kid that I thought looked cool and different and mysterious)

Ukiyo-e, Shin Hanga, Japanese woodcuts generally

Late 80s to 90s anime

Most comic art

Online spec bio art communities

Video game character/creature designs: Sonic, Pokemon, Legend of Zelda, Shining Force, etc

Art Nouveau

Fuck it, basically all Gilded Age, Fin de siècle, Belle Époque, late 19th/early 20th century European art movements that were more or less representational or illustrative

Picture above by Ludwig Deutsch. I had a bookmark of this painting for many years and I would often get distracted while reading and just stare at it.

I think I’ve talked about all that stuff before but if you want more details or specifics just ask!

For the last couple years, my really big influences have all been other artists I’ve met online. I mean I made a whole book with @ordheist and @bagb0ss. There’s a sort of loose cloud of (mostly) SFF artists that I’ve been really lucky to work and speak with and we all kinda know or know of each other or end up in the same Discord servers, or working on the same RPGs, etc. I’m not gonna link everybody but if you go through the interviews I’ve conducted for my newsletter or check out my side blog you’ll start to figure out who I mean (seriously a lot of these people are coming to tumblr now from twitter and I’ve been reblogging the hell out of them.) Seeing all the stuff my peers are putting out and talking with them is the source of like 90% of the ideas for my personal illustrations these days. It’s cool to be part of a community. I wish there were more opportunities to meet in person, but it’s still cool.

The other stuff that’s really been in my head lately is art that’s less illustrative, more abstract and graphical. Not pure abstraction mind you, but I’ve really been digging stuff that’s more about communicating a concept, feeling, piece of information, or idea than a narrative. More about design and composition than rendering. I recently read Philip Meggs’ History of Graphic Design and that’s turned me on to so new many artists and styles. In particular I’ve fallen in love with all the Vienna Secession guys, the Glasgow Style artists, and all the graphic and bookmaking ideas that came out of the Arts and Crafts movement. I don’t know how I want to work these ideas into my drawings yet and I haven’t had a lot of time to experiment lately but they're definitely bouncing around in my head.

Above from top to bottom: two pieces by Koloman Moser, two posters by Frances Macdonald, and two pages from The Glittering Plain, written and designed by William Morris.

There’s a whole lot of art that I really love but it rarely gets reflected in my drawings- American Regionalist paintings, gig posters, childrens’ storybooks, Eastern European Mosaics, Native American art, outsider art, colonial Americana …. One day I’ll find a way to synthesize it all.

Anyway, hope this is interesting/fun/informative and if you have any follow up questions don’t hesitate to ask!

-Logan

[curedeity]

If you’ve got any, 17 for the fanfic ask?

17. Do you have any other writers or works that inspire you (i think that was the question i didnt copy paste)

Yes always and inspo is one of my favorite things to talk about!

One of my first writing inspirations was the Percy Jackson books, and that phase of my life still kind of influences the genres im interested in writing and the like. I read a lot more novels when i was younger so i remember having more distinct favorites back then. As for novels right now, Id say Kelly Barnhill is one of the bedt authors ive recently read. Her narrative style is quite captivating, her chapters are short, and there is always a slightly different progression than i imagine there being. Ive only finished "the girl who drank the moon" but i started both "iron-heart(ed?) violet" and "when women were dragons". I wish i still used goodreads so i could go theough a list of what books id read recently, but i wanna quickly mention ve schwab. Her books are hit or miss and not always the best but damn sometimes she puts out a banger, and when she tries she can have an impeccable narrative style that leaves me breathless. Sometimes i also like reading neil gaiman works. They both intrigue and inspire me somewhat but i dont think to the same extent other authors have

Now that was JUST novel inspos!

A lot of my main writing inspiration actually comes from podcasts. Welcome to Night Vale was a huge early writing inspiration for me, introducing me to a surreal style of writing that i love getting to develop. Wtnv and other productions by its team are often so stylish that it is impossible to not be inspored listening to them. I think wtnv and within the wires are my faborites on a writing level.

Cant forget the magnus archives, the narration is very slick and the interconnected plot growth so well done, along with really good and intriguing inpersonal dynamics that never failed to offer something intriguing. I never finished season 5 but i remember listening to just some of the first episodes and being awestruck at how stylish the writing was.

Then there is unwell podcast! One of my favorite pidcasts to discuss on a writing level, it has so many ups and downs, but one thing i will give it is having great character voices! There is not a single character that doesnt speak distinctly and the dialogue flows so well, being one of the best parts of the show. Id love to be able to write character voices as well as they do.

For tv shows now!

Madoka Magica has squickly become a huge writing inspiration for me. Honestly, more like the crown jewel of great writing. I cannot praise madoka magicas writing enough. Its thematic unravelling is so layered, its character writing gripping, its way of writing narrative parallels and foils impeccable, and just. God. Incredible. I cannot explain how much i want to be able to write on madoka magicas level. But madoka magica is the only show ill mention bc the other stuff i watch is often shit.

Uhhhhhhh for video games... i havent played that many yet sorry. While i love pokemon, it isnt a writing inspiration, and most games i play dont speqk to me like that.

And then comes the format thet is probably most applicable... fanfic...

Ill admit i read a lot of fanfic, but i dont actually think that many inspire me writing wise, so ill take a second and just focus on beyblade to say Val was my biggest inspiration to write beyblade fanfic in my fandom early days. I was inspired by some of the stuff she did, and especially some character dynamics (madoka and yuki) but realized i wanted to do incredibly different things. So i think her inspiration wasnt so much of "oh god i love this idea and characyers and synamic and plot" but just like, more of a realization of what i might be able to do with the characters as a whole?

Also wanna drop that Sadie has an impeccable writing style omg im literally eating it up i need it. Sadies art is also a huge inspiration for me to the surprise of no one who has seen Hikarus Adoption Agenda.

[battle-subway-ghost]

Intro.

Never been good at introducing myself. But, here we go.

I'm Paris. Or Ghost. Either one works. Ghost is a nickname, and has been an alias for a while now. I don't really care which one you want to call me. Anyways, I'm 24, and my pronouns are he/him.

I used to fight in the Battle Subway a lot. So if you remember a guy named "Ghost" from there, that's probably me. That's all over now though, I've been living in Galar for a while now. Still connected to my Unovan roots though. Imagine some braviary sound effects here, I don't fucking know.

If you think you recognize me, firstly no you don't. I keep my face private for a reason. Secondly, don't come up to me if you aren't looking to have a battle. Not gonna force you but I don't like talking to strangers outside of that.

So my horse accidentally posted a video of me getting attacked by my rival's Froslass. So my face is kinda out there now. Don't fucking harass me or shit like that, don't be a weirdo. (and no, this doesnt mean ill be posting more pictures of myself. Don't ask.)

Anyways. Enough about me, here's my team.

I've also got a battler in-training, and 3 rattata that I keep as pets. I might as well give 'em all a graphic here.

FAQ because people in real life keep asking me this:

Q: Cheri looks very pink. Is that normal? A: Yes, he does. It probably is.

Q: Is that a shiny alolan rattata? A: No. Bean is albino.

Q: What's wrong with Grungle? A: Nothing. He's a weird subspecies or hybrid, not sure which yet. Either way, he's turning blue. This is safe.

Dunno what else to say here. My main interests are battling, so if you have any questions about that, feel free to ask me. I'm not an actual EXPERT on it or anything, but it's whatever.

Hello! This is the OOC part of the introduction! I follow from @act11as, and ooc posts will be tagged as such, and will usually have the color green. I don't always do this, as it can be grating to look at after a while.

Muse is an adult, mod is a minor. Don't be weird, or I'll screenshot your ask and make fun of you with my friends. Into the hall of shame with you.

(Weird: NSFW/Suggestive asks, fetish mining, etc. Do not fucking do these.)

ALL TRIGGER WARNINGS WILL BE TAGGED AS "[word] tw"! This is to make it easier to blacklist things! if I ever miss something or you need me to tag something in specific, shoot me an ask or a dm! I'll try to remember.

Guidelines/Rules I guess?

ANY kind of Pokemon Irl blog can interact! Eeby deebies, sapient pokemon, evil teams, whatever! I cannot guarantee that Paris will be nice to you, (ESPECIALLY an evil team) or believe you.

IN CHARACTER anon hate is perfectly fine! Be an asshole to Paris! I'm fine with (again, in character) homophobia, whatever. Keep in mind that I won't always respond to these however, especially if they go too far in my eyes.

PARIS CAN AND WILL BE AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR! He doesn't know all the details, he can be wrong, he can flat out lie. Just something to keep in mind!

Extra:

Pelipper Mail, un-mail, and Malice are always open! Feel free to torment this guy whenever you so please. (links go to the source posts for all 3 lol)

Musharna mail, (sending dreams) andMusharna malice (sending nightmares) are always on! Once again feel free to torment this guy.

Magic anons are usually off, unless I specifically specify otherwise!

Organizational tags:

#[nickname] the [pokemon] - Most posts about Paris' pokemon should be tagged like this.

#rival tag - Tag for posts mentioning/about Paris' rival. (rival?)

#mylah tag - Tag used for @/tinkatinktrain- who was formerly anonymous.

#bluebird anon/bluebird tag - Tag used for @/blu3b1rdsss, similar situation to the above.

Previous arcs/Lore:

#A Frosty Reception / #A Frosty Reception 2.0 - Takeovers of one of Paris' childhood friends. done twice because I kept getting sick :(

#Gone Fishing Arc - Paris fucked off into the woods and almost never returned! Good look into his character.

#Kicked to Kanto - Smaller thing, what it says on the tin.

#Team Fauna - Inconsistently tagged, but should have the vital bits in the general area? (Check "Cult tw" if otherwise). Paris goes undercover in a cult. He's very smart.

#Unraveling arc - Post Team Fauna- Something strange is going on with Paris' reality...

#Greyed Walls Event - ((ONGOING)) The aftermath of Unraveling. Our Paris is missing, and a curious foxlike entity has gotten involved... (Askblog-style event- this is an AU of Paris, set in a post-apocalyptic world!)

--

And finally, for music enjoyers- Here's his playlist! Only on Spotify as of right now, I am working to fix that, because fuck spotify.

[sweetdreamscafe]

The part where I talk about missingno a bunch

ive been waiting to be able to do this hah!!!

first up, its voice in the video: the voice is from THIS TTS, overlaid with my voice whispering. The original idea in my head for its voice was 'Oracle' from an Analog Horror whose name I can't remember, or for the voice to sound like the IMB704; That's the computer that sung Daisy Bell, which is part of why that song plays in the background of the video!! The important thing is I wanted its voice to be robotic, and the best way to do that was with a TTS. I believe the one i used was a proper TTS and not an 'Ai copy of someone's voice done without consent' thing, which was also important for me not to do. Both because of, y'know, ethics, and because those voices try to sound as un-robotic as possible.

Next up!! the design!!!

This is a breakdown of which parts came from where. many people have also aptly pointed out the gaster inspo, which, yeah. true. I would've changed Moderator to look less like gaster but I liked it looking humanoid; helped it feel bizarrely out of place imo. So its main form stayed gaster-like. It will likely receive alternate, less gaster-like forms in the future.

The monochrome Pokemon forms are based on the (supposed) XY glitch of, well, exactly that. The Pikachu has a black tipped tail as reference to that one mandela effect, and the reason for there being a Magnemite form is to reference a different Red/Blue glitch Pokemon (there's a few glitch 'mons that appear as Magnemite, actually.) The Jirachi form's notes are shaped like little Missingnos.

Next!! something a little special relating to the puzzle! if you don't want puzzle spoilers, don't worry too much.

What would naturally be the second or third page you find has text that has changed! this text currently references the new year, but previously, it referred to winter. It doesn't provide any kind of hints or anything now, so nothing new, but I've put up an archive page of that version of the text just for a little bit of character building for Moderator :)

This next bit is a bit of spoilers for that puzzle;

the tag 'm essage failed to send' was hinting at two of the pages names! the first page, which you can also find linked somewhere else on the blog is 'messagefailedtosend'. the second one, which links off of the messagefailedtosend page is 'm', short for Moderator.

and last little funfact!! moderator!! was not supposed to be an important character!! it was supposed to be a one off! and then i realized it filled in some gaps nicely so i had it replace a role that was going to be played by another pokemon!! which is. part of the reason it looked like gaster. Didn't matter when I designed it because it wasn't an important character. but then it became one and Aw Heck Im attached to this design now. unfortunate!

[satoshi-mochida]

Some thoughts and details on my last Gamefly rental, Detective Pikachu Returns.

Taking place two years after the first game, Tim Goodman, now in college, and Pikachu are continuing their detective work and still searching for Tim's missing father, Harry.

While at an event to start Pokemon Friendship Week in Ryme City, a Corviknight suddenly shows up to cause trouble. Initially thought to be under the influence of the chemical 'R' that drove Pokemon into a rage from two years ago, Pikachu notes it doesn't seem to be acting the same way those affected by it were.

It soon becomes clear after the first case that something else in going on behind the scenes and making the city's Pokemon act up.

Like in the first game, the main gameplay is having Tim talk to other people, having Pikachu talk to Pokemon, inspecting the areas for clues, and putting everything together to discover what really happened during each section of the game. If anyone has something new to say, they'll have a yellow speech bubble with an '!' above their head, otherwise, it'll be '...' .

There's a few parts where you'll need to press or mash A while Pikachu is doing something, like mashing A to climb up an Aloan Exeggutor's neck. These were in the first game, too.

New to this is Pikachu teaming up with some Pokemon to help investigations, such as having Luxray use it's x-ray vision to see through walls. These are fun changes to gameplay, though I wish there was more of it.

Also new is side cases called 'Local Concerns' not related to the main story that you can do. Characters who give side cases will have a blue speech bubble with an '!' instead of a yellow one. Some early ones are given automatically, but most have to be found by talking to people or Pokemon, depending on whether you're playing as Tim or Pikachu. After each chapter, Tim will get a newspaper delivered which will have more entries in it depending on the Local Concerns finished, showing some follow-up to them(and I think extra images are added to the credits, as well). Here's the full list of them to make sure you don't miss any.

At any time, you can press Left or Right on the D-Pad to have Pikachu give hints or give various comments, some being related to the current case(and some not, just being stuff like 'Detective Tips' and the like, which can be amusing). The latter can also be done when playing as just Pikachu at certain points, usually talking with whatever Pokemon is helping the investigation. If you like listening to these, check them often, as there'll be new ones based on the location, point in the story, etc.

There's a cute little reference to the Detective Pikachu movie early on, about how movies sometimes do their own thing, that was nice to see.

Since the first game released, we've had two new Pokemon generations, so new Pokemon appear in this game that weren't in the first game, though only up to Galar/Sword and Shield and previous generations.

There's a Story Jump option that appears in the main menu that'll let you jump to any point in the story. I played it all the way through without stopping, so I don't know if it appears before finishing the game or not.

The game is pretty easy, you still can't actually get any kind of Game Over, and is probably meant for younger players(maybe a bit too much at times, gameplay-wise), though I still enjoyed it. It's still charming to me, and I'm invested in the story and characters, and wanted to see where things continued from the previous game.

I wasn't going to get to this until later on, but after a really awful looking and titled video about it popped up on my feed, I decided to check the game out myself earlier, and it's nothing like the video's title suggested in my opinion. I'll admit there's some areas it could have been improved or ironed out, like some writing and investigation parts, but overall, it felt like a satisfying conclusion to the two games' story to me, with a possible small hint of more to come.

I think that if you enjoyed the previous game's story and gameplay, you'll probably like this one, as well. Maybe get it on a sale if the price is a bit too high right now(Black Friday is coming up, so maybe then?).

Next game being sent is: OPUS Collection. I may not get to it right away; I want to try and clear the backlog a bit.

[popcultureoverdosed]

Remembering what was Lost: My Dragalia Lost Experience

My time with Dragalia Lost wasn't as long as I wished it could be. I knew about the game since its launch, but my low quality phone at the time made it almost impossible to play. It felt like a tragedy since the concept of forging bonds with dragons pulled me in like everyone else. It wasn't until the fall of last year I played the game consistently after upgrading my phone. For a while, it seemed like I found my daily routine. I'd login every day for daily challenges, linger on the main menu to hear my units chat it up, fall in love with adventurer stories, and bob my head to epic boss music. All was going well until news of the end of service struck the community.

To say we were all shocked is a huge understatement. An important part of our lives was about to join the graveyard of forever lost video games. With news of Dl's impending doom, I was forced to reflect on my experience with the title and came to a surprising conclusion: Dragalia Lost is easily one of my favourite games of all time.

I don't usually talk about video games on this blog, but Dragalia Lost holds a special place in my heart for being the most fun I've had with a mobile game. It hit all of that boxes that other gacha games struggle to keep up with.

It's impossible to talk about DL Without mentioning Daoko. Whether players are chilling on the home screen, slaying a deadly boss or summoning beloved units, Daoko's pop vocals are bound to be heard. Even some of the instrumental tracks are remixes of her other songs. Her songs fit the game perfectly as they invoke the feeling of a light-hearted and fun-filled adventure. The pop score helps DL stand out from other games which usually use European orchestral music. It gives the game an oddly fitting contemporary atmosphere. Ryusei Toshi and CRASHER remain iconic tunes that gets players into the thrill of a good ol' boss battle.

While on the topic of the sound department, the English voice acting deserves special mention. Ocean Productions was in charge of the voices and that makes DL an incredibly rare case of a Canadian dubbed anime game. Each voice was a breath of fresh air that fit the characters like a glove. Special mention goes to Brian Drummond as Zhu Baije, Tabitha St Germain as Althemia, Richard Ian cox as Ranzal, and Mark Oliver as Hawk.

My only complaint is that the English audio lacks fully voiced dialogue. That could've gone a long way to making the game more immersive.

Pokemon TCG artist Naoki Saito brought his A game with the art design. Most of the characters have highly rememberable designs done in a vibrant pop art style. Character portraits were always a delight to look at due to how much they popped out on the screen. Each adventurer has a unique appearance highly distinct from each other and full of personality. The fun expressive style really added to the Saturday morning cartoon feel of the game. The user interface also has a nice sleek look to it that made navigating menus anything but a chore. While the chibi graphics can seem overly minimalistic at first, that simplicity prevents the game from feeling dated and instead gave it everlasting appeal.

It may seem disingenuous to review a game without mentioning gameplay but there's not much I can say in that department. DL's isometric action RPG style made it stand out from other games on the market even with its very limited attack system. It wasn't the most immersive combat system I've experienced, but it always kept me back for more and never left me bored.

The implementation of skip tickets and auto-loop was a godsend for grinding and made it overall stress-free. I didn't have to waste hours of time just to upgrade a single character. Just hit the auto button and step away from the phone for a while. Seriously, more games need to follow this method instead of making maxing out units so tiresome. The Co-op raid battles also deserve special mention since it was so fun seeing strangers come together to beat a particularly arduous boss. There were several times I relied on Co-op to clear stages because the difficulty is no joke at times. This was especially true for the MARVELOUS final boss Xenos which can easily last half an hour. Now that's how you go out with a bang.

Last but certainly not least is the story. It starts off simple enough with Euden performing his princely duty of forming a dragonpact; the main draw of the game. Then the game added layers of complexity with Zethia's dark doppelganger and the King's sudden evil disposition. The carefree prince now has to save his kingdom from his treacherous family with an even greater threat looming in the background. The beginning of rbe story was a bit slow at first, but there were enough plot twists and burning questions to keep me fully invested. I so was not prepared for the time travel shenanigans and social commentary on classism/privilege the mid-game story brought.

And that's only what the main campaign brings to the table. Dragalia has several event stories that heavily build on the robust lore and characterization players love so much. Certain events like Faith Forsaken, Fractured Futures and Advent of the Origin even serve as epilogues to plot points made in the main story. I will admit that there were FAR too many beach themed events for my liking. This game had great slice-of-life moments but it'll be too soon if I ever see another beach adventure in a mobile game.

Finally, it would be irremissible of me not to mention the vocabularian localization provided by 8-4. Character dialogue is stuffed to the gills with personality and colloquialisms you wouldn't expect from this game at first glance. It's guaranteed you learned a few new vocab words after playing the game. Seriously, some of these characters talk like they eat thesaurus' for breakfast. That's when they're too busy spouting meme worthy dialogue at least.

Dragalia may be lost, but I'll never forget the incredible memories I made along the way.

[sillyshrimps]

Hey, this is 💀anon (not anon anymore. I have done it. I made my fic headcanons. I'll link it down incase you wanna read it

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/44163325"><strong>My Professor Turo Official Headcanons</strong></a> (2339 words) by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waffless4Life"><strong>Waffless4Life</strong></a><br />Chapters: 1/1<br />Fandom: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Pocket%20Monsters%20%7C%20Pokemon%20(Main%20Video%20Game%20Series)">Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)</a><br />Rating: Mature<br />Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings<br />Characters: AI Futu-hakase | Professor Turo<br />

Hi again!

I'm glad you enjoyed my fic, although I have to say the first half of what you wrote is very similar to it. Same passages, same dialogues, sometimes same words even.

Can I kindly ask you either to change that or to mention the title of my fic at the start of your story? Something like I was inspired by the fic "Countless", by shillyshrimps to write the first half.

I understand that this is very important for you, and I'm glad I was of inspiration, so if you could please just add that line or change the parts that look too similar to my story it would be great!

[splashinkling]

I posted 1,774 times in 2022

That's 1,142 more posts than 2021!

99 posts created (6%)

1,675 posts reblogged (94%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@talesfromaurea

@ettawritesnstudies

@somanywords

@zmwrites

@pixelw0rds

I tagged 965 of my posts in 2022

Only 46% of my posts had no tags

#other's art - 334 posts

#others' art - 117 posts

#dice - 89 posts

#kirby - 56 posts

#tag game - 43 posts

#wip: mwtw - 41 posts

#ink writes - 40 posts

#ink rambles - 38 posts

#pokemon - 30 posts

#other's writing - 28 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#omg the last line killing you means it's gonna be so so good- doesn't matter if the killing is in a good or bad way it'll still be 👌👌

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Get to Know tag

another one of these! thanks for tagging @ettawritesnstudies!^^

Rules: Tag 9 people you want to get to know better or catch up with

favourite colour: blues and red! silver is a close second and purples are also up there

last song: Henry and LeeHi's cover of Like I'm Gonna Lose You

currently reading: nothing! my books are weeping on my shelf. you know what. reading Disco Elysium text should count, right??

last movie: I was half paying attention to Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island last night with my friends

sweet, savoury or spicy: always sweet! then savoury then spicy. currently having a not-bitter coffee right now haha

currently working on: another game jam idea! this time for one of interact-if's game jams

open tag!^^ but also tagging if you want uhhh... @latenight-stories, @dandelion-tea, and @ashen-crest (not sure if you've done this yet) and also @sleepy-night-child, @drippingmoon, and @talesfromaurea (again if y'all want)

13 notes - Posted January 6, 2022

#4

hey y'all! exciting news! my friend started pre-orders on their book, Wayfinders! it's a collection of four short stories about finding the way home!

both of us would really appreciate it if you could check it out (and maybe even order a copy while you're there 👀). thanks again!

15 notes - Posted March 7, 2022

#3

OC Couple Picrews

thanks @mschvs for the tag

ok funny thing.

I saw a post of this picrew a while ago and thought it was cute so I used to it to make reference pics for the Witch characters lmao. guess I'll get to share them

I also found the other picrew by sheer willpower

Here's 1. Summer Eryn and Lyzandir and 2. Lucille and Marina (but in not their usual clothes and Marina's not as purple as she should be and Lucille's hair is not as golden either and I'm screeing but I had to make it work)

See the full post

17 notes - Posted May 31, 2022

#2

thanks for the tag @aalinaaaaaa!

let's tag @notwritinganyflufftoday, @drippingmoon, @sleepy-night-child, and @pixelw0rds, +an open tag for anyone who sees this

If your WIP was a video game, what type of game would it be?

as a certified Game Enthusiast™️ (according to my friends), I won't allow myself the benefit of going typical RPGs for both Den and Witch because I love talking about games and I'd like to think I'm well-versed enough to think of cool game ideas and RPG is an incredibly broad term that can mean Animal Crossing or Digimon Cyber Sleuth or Lego Batman 3.

Demons in the Den |

a top-down hack'n'slash game akin to Unsighted and Hades. I'd say more like Unsighted since this wouldn't be a roguelike. there would definitely be Metroidvania elements because exploration and attaining character abilities is awesome. plus having bosses you can challenge out of order or straight up ignore is always fun. I'd also say that you'd play the game as a pair (Mara and Aliah) and you can switch which of them you'd like to play as but also there's also parts where you're locked into one.

Memories with the Witch |

likely a life management sim with RPG elements. think Stardew Valley and Rune Factory type games. newer examples include the Atelier series and Moonlighter (but it's also a roguelike). the main game loop would be like Stardew or Moonlighter where you do daily business things and use the rest of the time for other things you wanna do. roguelike/roguelite features might be cool since Lyzandir can fulfill that role, but it's iffy if I want it to be more like a life sim. it's also kind of hard to incorporate all the characters because so much time passes, so I'd need to focus either on Lyzandir's time (more life sim) or Lucille's time (more action RPG)

21 notes - Posted May 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

WIP Intro: Memories with the Witch

"Family... I'm not sure. I know I have one, but it's fuzzy. I don't know if they're even still alive."

Title (Tentative): Memories with the Witch

Genres/Themes: fantasy, slice of life, kinda-romance?, short chapters, D&D-inspired, found family

Status: Ongoing!

Synopsis:

Lyzandir has dealt with his poor memory for as long as he can remember. Just today, his best friend gifted him a journal to keep track of things, like how he stumbled upon a witch in the forest. The two set off to recollect his lost memories. Despite finally doing so, nothing changes.

And so Lyzandir continues his days alongside the witch.

Chapters (in posted order):

will be here when I get around to posting them somewhere

See the full post

45 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet trailer thoughts.

I’m late to the party, but after a couple of busy days, I’ve finally had time to wrap my head around what I think of the trailer so can share it. Just a heads up that while I won’t be going too in depth, I will be discussing/mentioning the leaks so if you’re avoiding them, this is not the post for you.

Story:

- I love the idea that there’s 3 main stories. The treasure hunt intrigues me and battling has always my least favourite part of Pokemon. I just hope that 1. the (assumed) racing story isn’t just like time trial stuff and 2. that the treasure hunt and racing/whatever the third story get as much love as the gym challenge and it’s not some “yes technically there’s 3 stories but 90% of the overall gameplay time is the gym challenge” situation. .

- Having multiple stories also makes me question how they’re going to handle the villain. Like if it is one of the professors or the headmaster as people are speculating, does each story account for that? Like for example, if you do the gym challenge story first and that’s where you find out who’s evil, and just say it’s the headmaster who is very clearly intertwined with the treasure hunt story, does the game make some kind of mention that he’s being watched/that we should be wary because we know what he did? Or is there a technical “correct” way to play it where we don’t find out they’re the villain until the end and if we don’t play in that order, we have to pretend like we never got the reveal for it to make sense? Perhaps this is a sign that the villain will only be in one of the plots/not as involved as I’m thinking. Hell, we may not even get a villain lmao. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

- Also on the note of the gym challenge, I know the leaks say that gym levels don’t scale, but like that’s not the end of the world if done right. Like think back to gen 1 where Sabrina and Koga had very similar levels. So long as they do them in groups of 2 (maaaybe 3) like that, I think it will still be fine. But like honestly, hopefully for most people’s sake they don’t keep the current levelling system because realistically, unless you’re trying to fill the dex like me/are using that as experience to evolve Pokemon or doing challenge videos for youtube, who is realistically gonna wanna go fight level 50s just to come back and fight a level 15? Like idk, as I said, there’s a way to do it, I just hope that it’s done right.

- I also see a lot of speculation about 1. the crater in the middle of the map and 2. the clouded off area in the north east corner. Call me a pessimist but I don’t think there’s going to be as much to this as people are making it out to be. Like I don’t think we’re getting Kalos DLC and honestly? The misted area in the middle of the map just looks like where the legendaries were initially revealed to me. Like yeah, the climax of one of the stories (probably evil team related) probably happens there and there may be some indication of this being why Hisui Pokemon are in this region, but I don’t think it’s going to be crazier than any other game. I don’t think we’re time travelling, especially with the indication that both Scarlet and Violet happen at the same time. If they really wanted to troll us, that could just be where the champion tests/battles happen lmao. I’ll be glad if I’m wrong, but I feel like this is yet another time of fans having cooler ideas than what ends up happening lmao.

New Pokemon/Characters/The Leaks:

- Ultimately we can definitely say that the leaks were definitely right and while critical thinking is still needed because trust with this stuff can definitely be abused, we can probably assume most of what they’ve said that hasn’t been revealed is right. If that’s the case, somewhat regretting wanting to pick Sprigatito because I wasn’t a fan of the picture of it’s final evolution we got (not just because it’s 2 legged, I just thought it was a meh design and honestly was hoping for a grass/steel, water/fighting and fire/fairy trio).

- I know it’s just cutscenes/not final gameplay, but god did I love the look of the opening scene with the Arcanine. Also loving that it seems as if a lot of Pokemon that haven’t gotten into recent games are back. Like I am still annoyed that we’re probably never getting a full dex again, but it’s slightly easier to swallow when it doesn’t feel like it’s just the same fan favourites constantly getting in.

- The character designs for the other characters feel like a step up too. Not a big fan that character customisation seems to be limited given you have to wear your uniform (even if you can make some changes to it) tbh though.

- The two new Pokemon are okay. Fidough feels too close vibe wise to Yamper to me atm, but supposedly gets an evolution and Cetitan isn’t my thing but I see the appeal for others, so they both have time to grow on me.

Gimmicks:

- Paldean wooper my beloved. I say this every new game, but regional variants are one of my favourite things Pokemon has introduced and I’m so happy they have returned. In saying that, I have decided that if the leaks about regional fakes is real, I don’t think I like them at this point. Like it just seems like a lazy way to increase the number of Pokemon in the Pokedex without actually adding anything of substance? Especially when regional forms are already a thing so like the idea is already being utilised.

- The terastallized Pokemon gimmick really feels like it’s predominately for competitive battling tbh. And like yeah, there’s an argument to be made that the same can be said about mega evolutions and gigantamaxing, but they at least had the appeal of having different forms and types which I liked. terastallizing honestly just feels like stab hidden power with goofy hats. It also once again makes the whole regional fakes thing even less appealing to me because like we now have 3 different ways to have Pokemon of different types than they usually do. 

- In saying that, I do like that raids are back. Like I know I criticised them heavily when the SWSH trailers came out, but once I actually played them in game, I enjoyed them. My only concerns with the real time/not turn based system that they’re using is that 1. Pokemon doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to reducing lag in areas with several modules and 2. It sounds like it’s going to benefit/favour people in countries with better internet, which, as someone who does not live in one of those countries, I really hope that that doesn’t impact the enjoyability of it for me.

- The legendaries being bikes made me laugh and think of the youtuber Astroid Videos tbh because he called that months ago and his friends literally gave him shit for the guess at the time. It does make me wonder how they’re going to play off you having a legendary so early in the game without it battling with you though. Like is it going to be an anime Charizard/Pikachu situation where they come along but don’t trust you until you prove yourself? Perhaps it’s a somewhat Zygarde situation where they’ve lost their power/parts of them so you can use them but not at their fill strength. Who knows?

Overall I am in the “cautiously optimistic” boat when it comes to this game. Like so long as the story is done well (something I felt lacking in SWSH), I will likely be happy with it, but with how hyped I was for SWSH just for it not to be as good as I hoped, I definitely have my hopes in check here lmao. But yeah for now, I guess I’ll just have to wait the 3 months and see.

[themovieblogonline]

Babylon: The Over The Top Movie by Damien Chazelle

“Babylon” is Damien Chazelle’s salute to the movies, following on the heels of Sam Mendes’  similar homage to the film in “Empire of Light.” I’ve never met Sam Mendes, although I admire his work. But I met Damian Chazelle, when he came to Chicago for the premiere of “La La Land” at the 52nd Chicago International Film Festival on October 13, 2016. Damien Chazelle is a genuine, personable, interesting young man. Once again he has partnered with longtime collaborator Justin Hurwitz (who also did the music for “La La Land” and “Whiplash”). The "Babylon" score was very reminiscent of the music from “La La Land.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5muQK7CuFtY Babylon attempts to depict what Hollywood might have been like back when the silent movie era was giving way to talkies. It is both an homage to those chaotic times, beginning in 1926, and a criticism of the excesses of Hollywood. In fact, the opening 20 minutes, depicts an elephant being transported to an orgy hosted by someone seemingly based on Fatty Arbuckle. The golden shower scene, gross as it is, goes a long way toward illustrating those Hollywood excesses. It’s way over the top. You could say that about the entire film. One of the things that amazes me about this $80 million-dollar stroll down memory lane, is the cast. In addition to Brad Pitt as the male lead and Margot Robbie as the female lead, it seems like there are bit parts for a myriad of actors, both known and unknown. Who were these masked men (and women)? Flea has a part. Eric Roberts---who I interviewed on my WeeklyWilson podcast during the pandemic—plays Margot Robbie’s father. Lukas Haas who played the small boy in “Witness” when he was 9 in the seventies, plays George, Brad Pitt’s best friend.  Tobey Maguire, listed as an executive producer, has a truly hero-destroying role as a gangster. Spike Jonze plays Otto. Michael Dukakis has an uncredited part as a soldier. Anna Chazelle has an uncredited part as Bobbie Hart. Kaia Gerber, the look-alike daughter of Cindy Crawford, has a bit part at some point.  Jovan Adepo plays jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer. Jean Smart (“Hacks”) plays a composite character based on columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, Elinor O’Toole. Max Minghella (“The Handmaid’s Tale's Nick Blaine) plays Irving Thalberg. Comedian/actor Jeff Garlin (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) plays Don Wallach, and Ethan Suplee  (“Remember the Titans” 2000) plays Wilson and spends most of his time onscreen spitting grossly. Manny Liotta plays a P.A. (Production Assistant). This is a very partial list of the surprisingly elaborate cast list. (Hard to stage an orgy without a crowd, I guess.) But the main character whose work in the lead is impressive as Manny Torres is relatively unknown Mexican actor Diego Calva, who comes to the screen in a major part as a complete unknown to U.S. audiences. Calva played a drug lord on Netflix’s “Narcos: Mexico” but, if you missed that, you missed him. He came to his star-making part in much the same way as the fictional Manny Torres: by doing whatever anyone in the movie business needed to be done. Diego Calva reminded me of the “fixer” characters played by Harvey Keitel in “Pulp Fiction” or by Leiv Schreiber in “Ray Donovan.” He has been nominated for a Golden Globe (if that award still means anything.) On an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night television show, Calva shared some behind-the-scenes insights into Babylon and into his own background. Diego learned to speak English specifically for “Babylon.” Calva learned English from playing “Pokemon” video games in Mexico. He confirmed that the chicken in the orgy scene was a great actor.  He also confirmed that they used a chicken puppet for some takes. Diego admitted he was most excited to meet Tobey Maguire since he had been a “Spiderman” fan from a young age. Among other comments the young actor made was this one about the opening orgy scene:  “It was so crazy. I’ve never been surrounded by so many naked people before.” Of his co-star and love interest in the film, Margot Robbie, Diego said:  “She’s always going to do the unexpected. She’s a fearless actress, just full-on energy.  When you’re so tired, she can play it 100 times more." Diego studied at the Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica in Mexico. He is a talent to watch. The thing that resonated with me---especially since it was quite similar to Sam Mendes’ musings on the movies---were the lines that pin down Chazelle’s feelings about the film. It’s not unique among creative types, whether filmmakers, writers, songwriters, or painters that the work we leave behind gives us a little bit of immortality. Ideally, whatever we have been responsible for as creative artists has been good and it remains long after we are gone. Chazelle scripted one scene, in particular, between Jean Smart and Brad Pitt where she tells the fading screen star “Your time has run out. There is no why. Babylon is bigger than you. No one asks to be left behind.” Telling him how he will live forever on celluloid, the columnist says, “You’ve been given a gift. Be grateful.” Pitt’s character, in an earlier scene, states, “What I do means something to millions of people. For real people, on the ground, it means something.” He then tells Olivia Wilde’s character (Ina) to spare him the pretentious notes on his reading of a script, expressing disgust for those who try to characterize Babylon as “a low art” and, instead, enshrine Ibsen and Strindberg and the theater. The general critical consensus has been bad for the film among both critics and audiences. I understand that, as so many of the scenes are well over-the-top and, I’m sure, offensive to some. The opening scene with the elephant and the elephant dung is but one example. There is a later one involving Margot Robbie at a party rejecting the instructions to be “elegant". She tries but fails, to “act” respectable since her original nickname was “the wild child.” Now, she is to eschew her Jersey roots and act much more well-behaved. She rejects that advice. She literally smears food all over her face, insults everyone at the party, and, ultimately, projectile vomits both outside the house and inside on a newly-purchased expensive rug. It’s a bit much. Between the descent into the depths of Los Angeles that Tobey Maguire insists Manny and his companion must take, the elephant scene, the vomiting, and the golden shower scene at the orgy, the film was just too far over the top. Babylon cost $80 million.  When you see the voluminous cast list, it isn’t surprising. Not only does it have two of the biggest current stars in Hollywood (Pitt and Robbie) but it seems to have everyone else who might have been hanging around. My favorite was the inclusion of Eric Roberts, who is undoubtedly going to hold the record for most American movie appearances ever. Eric has a scene with a snake, which is pretty funny. However, a lot of the scenes were not funny and, instead, screamed gross. You get the feeling that the creative license to try new things led to throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the movie. Another factor that swelled the film’s length from a normal hour and a half to over three hours was the emphasis on the music.  Chazelle has highlighted the music of collaborator Justin Hurwitz. Although the trumpet player character Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) admitted that he did not really play the trumpet, the film focuses on the band and its performances too long. The movie would have benefited from some judicious editing and shorter musical interludes. The performances, especially those of Pitt, Robbie, and Diego Calva, are good. The plot, supposedly based on the 1959 Kenneth Anger book "Hollywood Babylon," was outrageous, but many of the stories in that novel have been debunked. The cinematography by Linus Sandgren is great and the set decoration by Anthony Carlino deserves mention. Opening on Christmas Day against "Avatar" might have been a questionable move. Chazelle even pays tribute to many iconic films in a final montage of clips from various movies, including "Avatar," and those flickering images even caused a warning to be posted outside our theater. Babylon is too long. Some of the musical pieces could have been shortened.  Removing some of the scenes that depict how difficult it was for silent movie actors to learn the new way of making talkies (by doing a takeover and over and over) could have been omitted. Grossing out the audience over and over succeeded, to the film's detriment.  The sets and costumes and cinematography are great. "Babylon" was a great creative effort. It just didn't work. 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[cassioppenny]

top 5 pkmn rivals OR top 5 non-pokemon video games :D

starting with rivals...

5) silver

he is so silly his favorite video game is probably unironicly shadow the hedgehog. i think it's sad he has never interacted with red once not even in pokemas which is so weird to me. milesverse silver and red (also leaf/green but she's from an alternate universe so she doesn't count) are brothers (same dad) so uh yeah. more milesverse lore silver basically tried impersonating red during the main story ethan like immediately figures out he's full of shit not only because he looks nothing like him but also silver dropped his trainer id so lmao. the team rocket grunts he fights don't realize though. so uh yeah the meow meow

4) blue

kanto trio sweep. i love blue a lot but like specifically the made up version of him in my head and also anything post gen 1. gen 1 blue by himself isn't like incredible or anything though he is easily the best character in gen 1 by virtue of being the only character with more than four lines. though milesverse gen 1 era blue is my little meow meow i have given him every mental illness

3) cheren and n

i don't know who i like more so i put them together. very swag dudes i like them a lot

2) all of the sv rivals

i love them so much i had to put them all on here but i didn't want to put any of them higher than eachother i love them all equally they are my besties for real

1) wally

walter my little meow meow he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone i will protect him with my life he is my little guy. here's some milesverse lore he's like basically the main character in the gen 3 adaptation though brendan is like thoroughly convinced he is. wally, brendan, and may end up calling themselves team sky when they start going against magma and aqua. wally kinda just blurts it out during the part at the waterfall place and the gang rolls with it. also wally summons rayquaza like how the player does in emerald so uh yeah wally swag moments. he also becomes champion at the end

and now vidya games

5) sonic 3 & knuckles

i love sonic <3

4) sonic adventure 2

i love sonic <3

3) undertale

undertale sweep i love undertale so much. when i was a kid i though aus were so cool i made an au where all the characters were pokemon. i love that game. i actually like deltarune more but it's not done yet so undertale takes its place for now

2) persona 3

it's an incredibly wonderful game about living your life to the fullest even though death is inevitable with characters i adore. it is also a game created by a guy who said that he has never had a friendship with a woman and it shows. never play a persona game worst mistake in my life 0/10 don't recommend. it is also one of my favorite games of all time. special mention to the new content added in persona 5 royal actual peak fiction it is so good and on its own could be my favorite game of all time. too bad it's still persona 5. persona 4 is just bad for the love of god never play persona 4

1) kingdom hearts 2

i am. a big fan of kh. sorry for liking the disney game i can't help it. the kairi in my url is in fact kairi kingdom hearts. i will defend her honor to the end of times no one gets to bully her when im around. i kinda hate the kh fandom though specifically the people who are really invested in the ships there is a lot of misogyny there i fear. back to the game kh2 is fucking amazing it's so fun to play and the ending is so cool and the first four hours is good actually fuck you. hashtag kairi sweep give her a game square enix you cowards