#people who have mobility issues in a world not designed for them. people who gotta work themselves to death to survive.

[sazorak]

Every Game I Played in 2023, Ranked

I debated moving this list to Cohost (after all these years, the Tumblr text post interface still makes me want to punch a wall) but whatever, here we are! Keeping it relatively short this year.

A lot of the games I played aren't going to be on this list because I don't have much new to say about them (MTG, Dwarf Fortress, Strive, etc), but for those that I do, here's the games I played this year.

2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

SD Gundam Battle Alliance - 2022 - Steam - ★★★

I really wanted to like this- you know I like me some Gundam- but the experience is simultaneously too thin, too grindy, and bereft of stakes. There's nothing like "oh no we have to preserve the Gundam metaverse from hackers ruining the archived story!" to make me go to sleep.

There's something about the progression system of every "hey, gotta catch 'em all!"-ish Gundam games that is designed exclusively for people who either played these games in the early 00s, or people with addictive personalities. There's been little in the way of evolution. Yeah, the gameplay here is different as a sort of Action RPG, but this is far more Dynasty Warriors than it is say Armored Core.

Just not for me!

... Where's my new Super Robot Wars at damn it?

9. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet DLC - 2023 - Switch - ★★★★

I talked last year about how I mostly liked this game in spite of its many, many issues. The DLC mostly plays to SV's strengths: fun plot and characters, improved open world catching system from Sword/Shield. They also run considerably better, due to a year of opportunity to make things more stable and address bugs.

That said: It doesn't address any of the other issues that have always been there. Open world exploration becomes kind of pointless when you have the ability to invalidate any level geometry. There is such a thing as too much mobility, believe it or not, when you can just jump over everything. At the same time, the ways cutscenes work is soooo slowwwww, to the point that getting through them to the "action" can be quite tedious.

This DLC also continues the unfortunate thing that drives me nuts about all these DLC, that the level scaling is just awful. It basically assumes you have done literally nothing since finishing Scarlet Violet, and not engaged at all with the post game. Which hey, works out for Lil Timmy who is experiencing this DLC in-line with the base game or only after beating it (since it does dynamically scale for earlier progression), but it makes the whole thing kind of a rote exercise for those who actually played the game more than that?

I realize this is multiple decades now of me barking that hey, it'd be nice if Pokemon didn't exclusively try to appeal to 5 year olds, which is definitely a lost cause at this point. We don't even get stuff like Battle Towers or Frontiers anymore really. Ah well!

8. Street Fighter 6 - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★

Ok, here's the thing: Street Fighter 6 is overall a very good game, lots of care and polish, but I got a few bones to pick with it.

1. I kind of hate its input buffer. Just drives me nuts, particularly with how it handles supers and specials with overlapping inputs.

2. World Tour while is neat, the progression of it is so goddamn grindy and miserable. So much HP for enemies as you go on, and you don't have access to a fighter's full skill set even at the very end due to how special "slots" work.

3. The cast feels too safe. I like the new additions a lot, and in general the old chars have been rendered quite well, but there's just not a lot of innovation going on. The system mechanics are quite good, but it's the thing where no one on the cast really calls out to me. Personal taste thing.

Marvel's Spider-Man - 2022 - Steam - ★★★★

I don't think I have anything particularly unique to say about The Spider-Man Experience beyond hey: that's a pretty good Spider-Man. I think the DLC was obnoxious as shit, and a number of the decisions tied to box-checking-completionist stuff were mean for someone like me who has the stupid brain that thinks it's important to do Everything no matter how tedious it is, but overall: a good Spider-Man. Some of the villain stuff felt pretty weak though.

7. Resident Evil 4 Remake - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A great remake! They trimmed down some areas a fair but, but none of them particularly egregious (some of them, particularly a last act boss being removed, was quite appreciated), and the mechanical additions are fun.

Does it invalidate the old version? I dunno, maybe?

6. We Love Katamari Re:Roll - 2023 - Steam / Switch - ★★★★★

Hey, you know what's also a very good game? We Love Katamari. Not much new to say beyond hey: the name is accurate, and you should buy and play it. I liked it enough to buy it twice on two platforms, which is silly but it gave me the excuse to play more Katamari so quite understandable.

A thing that does annoy me about the game is them reusing certain models from the other Katamari Remake, even when they were deliberately replaced in We Love Katamari and are even called out as different in the item descriptions despite not being so. Arrgh. It doesn't really matter, but I got the dumb brain for that kind of thing.

5. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A fighting game that I enjoyed years past now has actually good netcode! The mechanical additions have been very nice, and I've been enjoying myself grinding away for my meager gains. It's also funny having skipped all the base game's DLC and coming in now, since it's like this release just added 20 more chars I'd otherwise not engaged with before.

A ton of polish has made this a fantastic package across the board, so many smart decisions and little details. I'm sure for GranBlue gacha fans it's probably incredible as something that pays tribute as well.

… but see, my main annoyance with the game mostly ties to being unable to stand the source material it pulls from. It's not enough to diminish my positive feelings for the game, but none the less: man, everything about the lore and characters themselves just does NOTHING for me. This is nothing particularly unique to GranBlue itself even, it's pretty in line with how I feel about every gacha title that exists to roll out chars and appeal to as many niches as possible without real forward movement or actual story, but hey here we are.

Looking forward to that 2B.

4. Baldur's Gate 3 - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A game I admittedly haven't completed yet (I got up to a certain kidnapping in the last act and had to set it aside due to stuff repeatedly coming up for the past couple months) but still: this is a very good tactical RPG. I enjoy the writing, characters, and gameplay quite a lot. A ton of polish went into this.

I don't think I have much to say about it that hasn't been said by others, especially with all the Discourse that has circled it for months-to-years now across Early Access into release.

If there's one thing that does kind of annoy me about the game design, it's the way the player characters are handled. You have the option during character creator to create a character with a number of character-build-y backgrounds, or use their pre-built characters that have existing stories. This choice is lose-lose.

A fully custom character is blank, unimportant. There's nothing special about them beyond their affinity with a certain orb and being Protagonist Man. Their background doesn't really matter, even as you express your personality. You have nothing behind you that meaningfully comes up or affects the story (no Gorion, etc) beyond your role in the conflict. In other words, there's not a lot of reason for you to exist except as a cypher for the named characters.

Playing one of the named characters also sucks, because you lose those the writing for those characters. If I'm stuck aping Karlach, I have no Karlach in my party. You barely even get voice acting once you choose to play those characters either. You effectively end up with less writing and characterization, which kind of sucks! Yes, you do get your backgrounds being looped in and mattering more, which is indeed something, but not enough.

There is secretly a third option that, the more I think about it, is the correct one, they just don't tell you it. You can choose your character background to be tied to the Dark Urge, which results in a lot unique interactions, gives your character an actual background and comes up, etc. They don't outright make this the main option presumably because it comes with a lot of baggage (which, yeah, it does), but it seems completely worth it by comparison to just flitting through the story as either a ghost or the phantom of a real character.

3. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Remastered - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

Play Ghost Trick.

2. Armored Core VI - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

From Software continues to not miss. Fantastic game, some of the most satisfying mecha combat I've played. Story is great; it's still your usual "oops we're not explaining much other than in medias res or by circumstantial details" that From Soft has continued to double down on, but I really enjoy that stuff so hey. I 100%'d this game, got all the endings etc. Great stuff.

Really want some proper DLC so I can do even more, though.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

Let's face it: this wasn't going to end any other way. Breath of the Wild is probably my favorite game of all time, and this is basically just more of that, remixed and remastered into a Second Quest that builds on the first one.

Something I kept thinking about while playing is that while there is volumetrically more to do, more things happening, more mechanics, etc etc, the different approach it takes in terms of focus and approach doesn't make it necessarily a "strictly better" version of Breath of the Wild.

Breath of the Wild was deliberately spare, quiet, and minimalist. Like the name says, its about the quiet wilderness, a poignant world that you explore. Tears of the Kingdom drops much of that, in many ways turning into a kooky madcap version of BOTW. You don't spent nearly as much time smelling the roses and taking in the scenery, as you're often too busy blasting by using any number of the new movement abilities or combat tools or literal flying machines you can now Nuts and Bolts together.

It's a deliberate escalation, one that in my opinion requires the preceding part to work. They add together into one complete singular experience, rather than pulling against each other. That's awesome, exactly what I wanted. Now I get to have two favorite games of all time that are secretly just one-and-the-same.

Some minor thoughts:

1. Lots of great writing and characterization, built up well on BOTW there.

2. It's kind of funny how much it goes out of the way to avoid talking much about BOTW in case someone plays this game first.

3. The last of a Master mode this time around is kind of a bummer but oh well!

4. The vehicle crafting system and everything about it, including the way it plays into the existing physics system is fucking insane. Absolutely incredible game design. Bonkers.

I'm really curious how the hell they're going to follow these games up. Going back to square-0 from this formula- one that is so built up and diverse, seems like it'd be impossible to me. What the hell could you do? Looking forward to finding out.

[drkineildwicks]

So happy Scarvi day!

May you all enjoy that new Pokemon smell while it lasts, I know that’s probably one of the big draws whenever a new Pokemon game comes out

Me, the honeymoon ended a while back and while I was debating, I’ll be sticking with the rom hack over purchasing the games I’ve got bills

This of course hasn’t stopped me from looking at the leaks and...general negativity under the cut and BOY HOWDY do I have some Thoughts:

Look we all rag on Pokemon for rushing the games but this is ridiculous

The friend I got the rom from told me that there were some stability issues and general jank in the rom and we both chalked it up to it being the rom but no the jank and crash is in the base game

Apparently the game plays like a just-turned-on alpha build and that is...not a good look for a multi-billion dollar company

“But Kineil game freak is a small company!”  Pokemon as a franchise makes Elon Musk look poor game freak can definitely hire more people or at LEAST hire optimizers and bug hunters at this point one person who can do that job would make a world of difference

Pokemon as a franchise can afford to hand the reins to someone else game freak has made it clear they’re no longer interested in putting in the effort

Plus we’ve seen plenty of other indie games that make a fraction of the money yet still put out good games so...no excuse

Seeing a screenshot of one of the cutscenes where everyone is still in the T-pose they’re loaded in as is...not good these games needed more time for polish but gotta have that yearly release don’tcha know

Legends could have been delayed until this Christmas and Scarvi could have been pushed to next year to give both games more time in the oven and I sincerely doubt that anyone would have complained about it

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that and the diehard fans will still wait eagerly for a few extra months

I mean LOOK at the Zelda games look how many people are excitedly waiting for BotW 2 yes it got delayed but we’re still all waiting for it and will buy it no one looked at the delay and said well I’m not buying it NOW I’m so mad they delayed it that I’ll never buy another one

Look at how many people are still holding a candle for Metroid Prime 4 and Pikmin 4

I’m savoring the Legends experience but it still has jank and seeing how Scarvi is I can’t blame that on the emulator

One of Pokemon’s higher-ups insists that people don’t have time for games anymore and would rather have the mobile game experience--sir, when we buy a mobile game we’re paying at most five bucks we know it’s going to be a shallow experience but when you’re asking us to shell out sixty bucks minimum for a game on a console that costs several hundred dollars we’re wanting an effin’ EXPERIENCE

Nexomon is a mobile game that costs a fraction of what a Pokemon game does and I had more fun on the Steam port of it than I have had with the past several gens of Pokemon mobile game does not necessarily equate shallow experience this man is just a fool

Also what I’m hearing is again no post-game so that sucks

“Kineil you’re holding them to too high a standard just consume product”--I’m holding them to their own standards Pokemon games used to be an experience that was worth returning to

My gen III games have a minimum of 500 hours per game with Emerald clocking out somewhere around 1K hours that was an experience dangit

“Well you were younger then you’re blinded by nostalgia”--if I were blinded by nostalgia I would keep buying the games and would have liked ORAS rather than rip it up one side and down the other from ORAS to Sun/Moon all my Pokemon games were DNFs

We gotta stop normalizing underperformance guys game freak has done better and we should hold them to the standards they’ve set in the past

Let’s see, what other beef do I got...

Listen gen VIII designs had to grow on me but Gen IX...you know how everyone got big into making AI Pokemon?  Game freak apparently jumped on that bandwagon the majority of these guys look like they got spit out by a generator

I like maybe a handful of these designs and I’m not sure if the rest will grow on me game freak really front-loaded all the good designs in the promos

Legit I thought a lot of the designs were from Palworld you know you done goofed when your designs are indistinguishable from your competitors

Also I was once again ruined by much better fan designs for the final starter evos my boi Quaxly they did you so dirty

Are they just appealing to cosplayers now because I really can’t stand the whole humanoid Pokemon trend I don’t even like humanoid Digimon

We shouldn’t go “birb --> bigger birb --> Elton John” those feet legit look like slippers wtf it’s just a guy in a costume

So yeah sorry Quaxly but Fuecoco’s the new starter at least that one stays monstrous

Just doing away with trainer gender altogether reads like 1) cheap pandering and 2) lowering effort even MORE

Temtem, the game that fully released recently and was touted around Sword and Shield as the new Pokemon-killer (more on that later), had the option for boy/girl/other like...three years ago are y’all really going to reward nintendo for bare minimum pandering?

If you’re being truly inclusive, then you have options

Like, for example, I have the option to play:

Temtem

Nexomon

Coromon

Monster Hunter

DokeV

Palworld

Kindred Fates

Older Pokemon games

Pokemon emulators

Pokemon fan games

Plenty of others

People talk about other games in the monster-capture genre being the Pokemon-killer but real talk the real Pokemon-killer is...Pokemon.  They’re constantly shilling out the least effort at this point and eventually people will hit that trust thermocline and jump ship because Pokemon isn’t putting the effort out anymore.  It’s already happened once with Sword and Shield and while I know I’m not going to be the one who breaks them, that’s still several hundred dollars since Sun/Moon that I have not spent on Pokemon.  Instead I spend it on other games and while my experiences have been all over the place, it’s been with the knowledge that I’m not paying for the hope of recapturing an old experience and instead being sold fumes.

I’m sure there’s more to say on the matter but this is already going long so any further beef will be in reblogs I guess

But I guess my main point is that we have to be responsible on this end too, we don’t have to just mindlessly consume, we can vote with our wallets and tell these companies that we don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for Sonic 06-level quality made by people worked to the bone for pittances so higher-ups can have fatter bankrolls

Speak the language they speak and hit them in their wallets

Alternatively, write to Nintendo or the Pokemon Company and tell them your thoughts

I know they bury it under all the corporate rigamarole but these places still have brick-and-mortar locations take the sixty bucks and spend it on stamps

But don’t bother sending letters to game freak they’ve already said decades ago that any suggestions sent to them are read aloud to their coworkers and laughed at

Again, consume responsibly, they don’t have to laugh all the way to the bank with your money

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have pirating to do and better games to spend my money on

[incoherentbabblings]

Take Back the Cake, Burn the Shoes, and Boil the Rice (6/11)

Within two months there have been two murders of Gotham newlyweds moments after the ceremony. The only connecting factor was both brides wore the same designer’s work. Needing to establish who exactly is behind the crimes, Bruce enlists Tim and Stephanie to have the biggest wedding Gotham high society has seen in decades, putting a target on their heads not just for the killer, but Gotham society too. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

Ao3 Link Here!

There was something unbearably tender about waking up next to Tim, so much so that Stephanie buried herself back under the sheets in a foetal position until he would leave the room. She repeated this process for every night after patrol, when they collapsed into bed together. Tim had taken to resting on her stomach, even under the sheets, apparently deciding her belly was the comfiest cushion in the world. Stephanie, unable to help herself, would stroke his hair as if he were a cat. He would consistently nod off and wake first, she only ever a few moments after him.

This morning, she felt him rest over her, creating a little bridge over her lumpy form.

It was weird how quickly they had settled into a routine. But they hadn’t quite crossed the bridge yet. They were stuck somewhere halfway, Stephanie’s foot caught in the metaphorical wooden planks. Alone, it was real, in public it was fake. And Stephanie didn’t believe it would continue once the façade had collapsed.

She had not allowed anything more than a kiss on the cheek in private. That day had been difficult and traumatic, and she was trying to comfort Tim. That was all, she told herself. She wasn’t going to play his game.

Continuing their public appearances, they had gone on one coffee date at the college campus, which had consisted of her doing actual work, and Tim redrafting a report for his new community project for the tenth time. It was nice, even with Tim playing footsie with her. They’d sat indoors, but still in sight of the main street, and sure enough when she checked twitter there and then, she saw posts of herself sat at the table enjoying a vanilla hot chocolate.

Mrs van Rijk was entering full manic mode, giving hourly updates to the status of everything Tim and Stephanie could ever not give a hoot about.

“How do you feel about birds…?” Mrs van Rijk had asked last night over the phone. Stephanie had the phone held out in front of them. Somehow, she had ended up pressed against Tim’s chest as they – for a lack of a better term – cuddled on the sofa. Stephanie had swallowed, throat dry, as she reluctantly asked a question in return.

“Like… decorative… birds?”

“No, no. Real ones.”

Stephanie felt like punching Tim and his pinched face as he struggled not to laugh.

Madness.

Back in the bed, Tim rested his cheek on her shoulder, the bed sheet providing the only barrier to the casual intimacy.

“Gotta go to work.” Tim managed to twist his fingers around her exposed hair. “Good luck with the designer today.”

“Mmmkay.” She muttered, shifting a little. She poked her eyes above the duvet, to see Tim was fully dressed in a sharp suit. “Bye, handsome.” She teased, voice rough with sleep.

She then moved back under the sheets, as she sensed Tim would have kissed her on the forehead if she had remained where she was. She realised her little compliment was a mistake the moment she said it.

It seemed Tim did not mind, as he rocked her from side to side playfully.

“Yeah, yeah. Bye, beautiful.”

She tried not to blush. Tim didn’t compliment her appearance much. Steph was Steph and she was perfectly fine no matter what. The casualness of his flirting was both uplifting and mortifying. She had failed to lay down boundaries, and Tim, little weasel that he was, had wriggled his way past them in ways she did not know how to handle.

Last night she had dreamt of something that she would confess to nobody, not even her diary.

Flipping bastard and his dumb hair… and good teeth and pretty hands… long fingers…

Nope. She shook herself, banging her head against the mattress. Nope nope nope.

When they were younger, and when they used to actually get the time to neck like proper teenagers, Tim had a (great) habit of biting and sucking on a part of her neck that would make her shiver in all the good ways. She hadn’t thought about it in a long time, but it seemed her subconscious had not forgotten. Nor had it forgotten how worked up he could make her when the right mood struck him. Stephanie rubbed her ankles together.

Into the vault that dream went.

She still felt her cheeks were warm when she arrived at Rebecca’s apartment. She was alone this time, and had one job: get her hands on Rebecca’s phone.

Easy. Considering it never left the woman’s back pocket or ear.

“Tell me about him.” Rebecca asked, pinning the fabric at Stephanie’s waist a little tighter. As dresses went it was still barebones in structure. No sleeves, and the skirt was not attached to the bodice. Well, Stephanie assumed it was the skirt. At the moment, it just looked like a mountain of netting and taffeta on a desk.

“Tim?”

“Mmm! I always like to hear about the couples.” She snorted a little bitterly. “Let’s me live vicariously through them.”

“You want to get married?”

“To the person I love? More than anything... Like I said, I have to live vicariously through my brides.” She backed off, thick rimmed glasses sitting either on her face as she worked closely on details or up on her head as she looked at the rough fit from a distance. “Tell me about Mr Wayne.”

“Uhh, oopf.” Stephanie struggled to gather her thoughts. “I...we met when he was fourteen and I was fifteen. I was having an argument with my dad… and Tim literally crashed into me. His hair was overly spiky, and he looked like a freshly slapped baby.” She laughed, for the first time in a while, at the thought of that night. “And… we didn’t spend a lot of time alone, but then he hunted me down, little stalker that he was. And then I couldn’t leave him alone after that.” Sighing, Stephanie shut her eyes and let Rebecca do her work.

“When did you know… that you loved each other?”

“I...” Difficult question. “I… don’t know if it’s spread everywhere now, but I had a baby, when I was fifteen.” Rebecca flashed her a look, and Stephanie tried to gather herself. “I found out less than a week after Tim and I started dating. And when I told him, I was so flippant. ‘Cause it was obvious right? He wouldn’t stay with me? And why would he? We’d been on only one date at that point. Nobody would expect a fourteen-year-old to stick with something like that… but he did. And he helped me beyond explanation. For so long I didn’t understand why, but I guess in that moment, for me, it was then.”

“And Tim?”

“Oooft. I don’t know for Tim. He had to leave Gotham for a bit… after the quake… he told me constantly how hard it was for him. I didn’t believe him though until he was having an argument with Bruce, and he blurted it out. The L word that is. That was a shock to my system.”

Rebecca was stitching something along Stephanie’s neck, and Stephanie could feel the hot breath brush over her. Occasionally the needle felt uncomfortably close to piercing through her skin.

“But you weren’t together all the time until now?”

“…No.” She struggled on how to word it. “Everything with his dad… and I had to leave… and then you’re not the same person you were five years ago and you’re tiptoeing around everything…” She sighed sadly, speaking nothing but the truth. “But I don’t want anyone else. I don’t feel safer anywhere than with him.”

The needle finally pierced Stephanie’s neck as Rebecca’s fingers stumbled. Stephanie hissed, losing her footing. She managed to catch herself by gripping to Rebecca’s waist, who seemed mortified at her blunder.

“I’m so sorry! Let me see?”

Being a needle prick, there was no blood to ruin the white fabric. Rebecca huffed and Stephanie laughed uncomfortably.

“No worries. I do it enough to myself when I sew.” Slowly, trying to be discrete, Stephanie let go of Rebecca’s waist, fingers drifting over the mobile which was peaking out of the designer’s cardigan pocket.

There. Done. Fancy schmancy tech implanted. The rest was in Bruce’s hands, and Stephanie could relax a little.

“Mm. Sorry. Back on the stand and back on topic…”

The rest of the fitting passed without issue. Stephanie blabbed about Tim, though left some moments out. No-one, not her mother, not Cassandra, not Bruce or Babs, would know about their date after her father had died. That was for them and them alone. She was very protective of those moments, and potential murderers were certainly not allowed to know of them.

It may have made her and Tim’s relationship seem shallower than reality, but Stephanie didn’t care. She truly believed Tim held them close to, and wouldn’t have wanted them shared.

She was requested to return for another fitting the next week, for fine tuning. Then one more after that, and then it was the day of the wedding, whereupon Ms Andrews would bring the dress on the day, make any last second adjustments, and attend the wedding, with a plus one if she wished.

“No…” She had said. “I try to keep my work and private life separate. I’ll go alone. To see you in the dress… that’s good enough for me.”

Stephanie had only nodded, given her thanks, then left. Rebecca’s phone had rung twice during the sessions, the second of which had Rebecca shiver with fright. More and more Stephanie began to pity the woman. As a result, suggested changes that Rebecca made Stephanie acquiesced to with little argument. The lace became less fine, and more bohemian, and the skirt, if possible, became even longer.

Back at college, Jordanna had moved from being her bodyguard to being a gnat.

“Do you read the comments? On you and Tim’s Instagrams?”

“I try not to.” Stephanie uttered, taking a large bite of her lunch.

“Good. Boy, I spend hours going through them. Some real nasty people out there. I’m surprised you haven’t turned off comments actually, considering what people write.” Stephanie shot Jordanna a look. Jordanna continued, ignorant of her discomfort. “Some of the name calling… oh man.”

Glutton for punishment that she was, Stephanie swallowed dryly. “What… what do they call me?”

“Never you mind.” And Stephanie got slapped on the chin, teeth jangling against each other. “And even if you were a whore, I’d still hang out with you.”

It seemed Stephanie’s expression finally sparked some level of compassion in Jordanna, who swiftly realised she’d spoken out of turn. “Most people like you though. Honest.”

“…I’m going to go now.”

“Aw come one Stephanie… it’s just weirdos online.”

“Bye Jordanna.”

She ended up driving her little purple car back to Wayne Tower again, for reasons unknown to herself. She poked her nose out at the security guard, this one a different guy to the one who had immediately let her and Cassandra in the other day, but he soon let her through when he saw her id. Someone met her in the main lobby, getting her through the gates and into the elevator. He seemed nice, whoever he was, but Stephanie didn’t miss how his smile slipped off his face in the very last moment right before the doors shut.

She tried not to shiver at how cold he looked.

These people didn’t know her, Stephanie tried to tell herself. That was all. It was hard to be kind to something you didn’t know or understand.

Tim loved her. Cassandra loved her. Babs loved her. Kara loved her. Bruce…Bruce loved her.

Stephanie tried to convince herself that they were the opinions that counted. And she had managed just fine before they’d even liked her.

That didn’t mean it didn’t still fucking hurt when people put her down.

Tim was waiting for her again when the elevator doors opened, face more than a little curious, but he relaxed when he saw she wasn’t in tears this time.

She hugged him regardless, breathing in his cologne to try and refocus. Tim gave a muffled laugh and nuzzled into her hair. He’d been flying on cloud nine for a couple of days now, having somebody he loved who loved him back in his arms (in his bed). Tim knew he was being a little possessive, but he was just thankful to have Stephanie’s warmth back in his life, with this time round no chance for Bruce to spoil it. He was trying to have something just for himself. He could be selfish? Right? So long as Steph was willing to be selfish too. Although that bit was certainly a work in progress. How to convince a selfless person to be selfish. A question for the philosophers perhaps.

“All good?” He asked, noticing that she wasn’t entirely relaxed.

Abruptly, to avoid talking about why she had actually come, she conjured a reason to visit.

“Can I see Bruce? I had my fitting this morning.”

“Yeah, sure. Just… can I introduce you to some people first?”

“Oh? Yeah, happy to.”

“Just my p.a.”

“You have one of those?”

“Yup.” He nudged her, as they began walking down to the open office. “There was also a board meeting today. They’re all invited to the wedding– which… yeah – so –”

“Makes sense to at least say hi. Sure, sure.”

She clung once more to Tim’s arm, feeling underdressed to meet some of the most important people in Gotham. Black trousers and converse, she at the very least was wearing a floaty top rather than a sweatshirt.

The p.a. was nice, a lady in her fifties who seemed supremely good at her job and didn’t care who knew it. Mrs Blackwell, Stephanie reminded herself.

“We were all surprised by this, that’s all.” She spoke, sitting primly on the edge of her desk. Stephanie noticed that Tim tensed, like he had been on the receiving end of this conversation before. “We honestly thought… well with how things went with Tam and –”

Tim coughed loudly. “That was just… I was only seventeen.”

Mrs Blackwell peered at Tim. “And what a difference three years makes! Glad to see Tim hasn’t totally forsaken the average people of Gotham for high flying friends.”

Something about that phrase seemed to make Tim very, very, uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that Stephanie likely spoke out of turn to give Tim a moment to collect himself.

“He won’t.” She pushed. “And he doesn’t need me to remind him of that fact.”

Tim wouldn’t give up the costume. Not now. Once, she had known of his conflict. How much he resented Bruce for messing with his head. Making him doubt, making him mistrust. Making him forget there was a life outside of the suit. She had played her part in that, as much as she now regretted it, she knew now the only way Tim would ever stop helping the people of Gotham was when his heart stopped. Stephanie had silently promised herself that she would try to ensure it continued beating for a long time.

“Stephanie’s not average.” Tim choked out. It was a weird part of Mrs Blackwell’s statement to take umbrage to, but Stephanie appreciated it all the same.

“Good response.” Mrs Blackwell teased. She looked over her shoulder, down the office. “There’s still four board members hanging around in room twelve-fifteen if you want to catch them. Believe Mr Wayne is still with them. And Mr Fox.”

A cheeky glint made Tim turn – impossibly – paler. Stephanie didn’t quite understand. Lucius had always been nothing but nice as far as she knew. Was this still about Tam? She didn’t really know what had happened there. Tam had gone to look for him when he was off being Mr Brooding with Mr Al Ghul, they had dated for a bit when they had returned to Gotham, gotten engaged… Which Stephanie knew was just because Vicki Vale was the most flustering person on the planet and Tam had panicked trying to cover for Tim… not that it had stopped Stephanie’s stomach from dropping out her butt and becoming intensely jealous when she had no right to be. She had felt the same when she had first returned and Tim was dating Zoanne. She couldn’t help it. She couldn’t stand the thought of Tim being happy with another girl. She had flirted when she shouldn’t have. In her head, it meant that he had moved on, never really mourned her. Maybe she was too possessive over him.

It wasn’t logical, and she had no right at the time to feel what she did, but she wanted Tim with her, hypocrite that she was. It was just another thing she disliked about herself. Tim deserved to be with whomever made him happy. Simple as. Somehow, he’d convinced himself that she was that person again, but he’d soon wake up and remember what she’d done to him, how self-absorbed she could be.

Stephanie didn’t know why Tim and Tam had broken up, but she suspected it had something to do about Lucius’ public death being faked.

Funny how that sort of thing didn’t do well for relationships.

Tim wasn’t fickle…that wasn’t the right word, but he could change his mind very quickly, regardless of the consequences or who was left behind afterwards.

As Tim led Steph to the board room, she couldn’t help whisper, “You still work with Tam right?”

“…Yeah…”

“She still mad at you?” She tried to tease gently, but her tone didn’t quite match her intention.

Tim only glanced at her and grunted, pulling the door open for her to walk through first. Bruce was seemingly fast asleep on one of the chairs, the other four board members, one woman, three men, were chatting quietly amongst themselves whilst the CEO slept. Lucius was the first to notice that the pair had entered.

“Oh!” He exclaimed. Bruce opened one eye, eyebrows twitching when he saw who it was. Lucius made his way forward with a hand for Stephanie to shake. “Miss Brown! You came to visit?”

Stephanie breathed a relieved sigh, and smiled. There were three friendly faces in this room, so that was manageable.

“Yes,” She said, shaking Lucius’ hand in what she hoped was a confident manner. “Finished with college for the day.”

“She had a fitting this morning, for the dress.” Tim gushed, and Stephanie smiled shyly.

That caught the lady’s attention. She had moved to a refreshments table, grabbing them both a drink of water. “Tell me about that.” She encouraged, wrapping an overly friendly arm around Stephanie and pulling her down next to Bruce, who smiled somewhat encouragingly at her. The other two men went to speak to Tim, not really pretending to be interested. One of them bumped past Stephanie as if she was in the way.

“Stephanie, this is Theresa Song.” Bruce explained. “She started here before I was born.”

“I was only sixteen, but back then, you joined a company and worked your way up the old-fashioned way.” She laughed, and Bruce returned to closing his eyes. Stephanie took it as a sign that this woman was safe.

“I wish it was still like that.”

“Oh yes, but that’s what our employee programmes and scholarships are for. I hear you help out at Dr Thompkins clinic.”

Stephanie glugged water. “Leslie? Yes, she looked after me for a while, I do what I can to pay her back. Not that I ever can…really… But yeah, I try to do Friday evenings.”

“That’s good! College, volunteering…”

“Part time job at the library too. Oh, that is a lot.” That plus the night work. “I have…I have had to defer college for a bit… going part time for the moment. At least until this wedding stuff is done.”

Theresa shrugged. “Whatever needs doing right?” She looked back at Bruce, kicking his chair. The seat swung round, and Bruce just hummed in affirmation, eyes still closed.

Theresa made a disgruntled noise, then shouted across the room. “Timothy!”

Tim bumbled over as the two other men left. Stephanie didn’t miss the sideways glances at her. One looked like he was leering. When Tim got close enough, she reached up for his hand. He began to play with her fingers, rubbing her knuckles in a way she used to like.

“Hey, Theresa.”

“Where on Earth did you two meet?”

“Just… ran into each other in town.” Tim perched himself on the glass table.

“You literally crashed into me.” Stephanie chirped, not missing Bruce’s lip twitch.

“You must be so proud, Bruce. All these people finding their way to you despite adverse circumstances. I mean, Stephanie, your parents... And your pregnancy, and I heard about what you went through during the gang war... Terrible stuff you’ve had to overcome. Thank goodness for Bruce, right?”

At that Bruce opened his eyes and stood up. “I think Stephanie would have done just fine without me, to be honest. I didn’t help much.”

“Mm.” And she turned back to Stephanie, noting that Bruce was ending the conversation. “All the best to you both.”

“Thank you.” Stephanie uttered, feeling Tim acting like a block of ice behind her. “Bruce? Can I have a quick word?”

“Of course.”

And then Theresa left. Only Mr Fox remained, having been listening in.

“She seemed... nice.” Stephanie tried to sound positive.

“Oh, she is.” Said Lucius, who then joined the trio at the table. “Until you’re on the other side of her on the voting panel, then she’s a beast.”

Tim snorted, and Bruce poured himself another glass of water.

“The tech for the phone is working, I got the information I needed.”

Stephanie started at Bruce talking so openly about the mission, but she supposed Lucius must have provided said tech in the first place.

“How’d you get on her phone anyway? You said it’s never out of sight?” Tim asked, collapsing into the chair Theresa had been occupying.

Stephanie rubbed her neck. “She stabbed me with a sewing needle. Made me stumble.”

“Intentionally stabbed you?”

“Heh. No. I said something which I think upset her, her fingers slipped.”

“What?”

Tim watched Stephanie’s face grow red from embarrassment.

“You… it… She was asking about our relationship. She asked me about why we loved each other…I said…” She looked at her feet. “I said that I felt safe with you.” She practically vomited the words out, quick, slurred and quiet. However, Bruce heard it all the same, and ignored the blinding smile that Tim gave.

Lucius watched Tim’s face, then tutted quietly to himself. Bruce meanwhile focused on the mission.

“I’m going to find this boyfriend tonight. Investigate his living circumstances, his employment history, all of it. I don’t know how deep she’s tied up with him.”

“So, it is the same guy as the domestic dispute calls from years back?”

Bruce shook his head. “No. That one was arrested last year. Seems some people just attract—”

Stephanie coughed loudly, refusing Bruce the chance to finish that damning sentence. “She’s terrified, and she’s being used to hurt people. Please track this guy down.”

Tim looked at the clock, not liking where the conversation was going. “I’m gonna head off now. You coming?”

Steph nodded, following Tim to the door. “I’ll drive behind you. Bye Bruce, bye Mr Fox.”

“You two live together?” Lucius asked, a little baffled. The pair looked back at the two older men, unsure what Lucius was getting at.

“Uh, yeah. At Tim’s.”

“Oh. So, it’s… pretty serious then.”

Instantly Tim and Stephanie were as red as apples. “Bye Lucius. Have a good weekend. See you later Bruce.” And then Tim hurried Stephanie out and into the main office space.

When they arrived home, Tim peered in his fridge.

“… Hmm. I’ll order takeout. Pizza or Chinese?”

“Chinese.” Steph replied, hanging up her coat. Before Tim could hunt for the menu, Steph stopped him, hands on his waist.

“You were embarrassed today.”

“A little.”

“…About me?”

“What? No. Not you.”

“But you got so angry at the Bishop, when he looked at me funny. And then when Mrs Blackwell said I was less than your usual social circuit. And then Theresa saying I was lucky Bruce found me… and now Lucius being surprised that you actually like me…What is it?”

She was looking at him like his next words better be chosen carefully, or another argument would ensue.

“I guess I’m like you. I don’t want to hear what other people think about us. It’s private. But we have to make it public. And I…am conflicted about it.”

Earlier conversations sprung to mind, and with it came a sudden opportunity. Impulsively, without a moment’s thought, she latched on to it.

“You don’t like being in the public eye. You don’t like our relationship being there for everyone to judge.”

“No.”

“Then – then why are you? You don’t have to be. If you’re feeling pulled in so many directions, then just… just… drop one of your responsibilities.”

Tim blinked, not sure what to make of this sudden manic behaviour. He tried to be a voice of reason. “I can’t drop being Red Robin.”

“And I would never ask that of you. But there are other options for you aside from heir to Wayne Enterprises, right? You can quit. And we could—”

“We could what?”

Now Stephanie had to choose her words carefully. Tim held onto her elbows, looking increasingly upset. “Steph, I help a lot of people during the day, and where I am, being in that position under Bruce… it’s the best place for me to try and make like…structural changes. Busting drug rings and human trafficking, that’s good, but stuff like the Park Row project stop people becoming that desperate in the first place.”

Her burst of impulsiveness settled, and she felt ashamed for even having thought she could push Tim away from helping people.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I just… I had a moment there, where I was being selfish. I’m not going to ask you to give up anything. I’m not worth that.”

Tim looked as though something she had said had triggered a thought in his mind.

“You can be selfish…” He whispered. And then he tugged at her arms. “Come on. I wanna show you something.”

He pulled her upstairs, into his room, where he asked her to wait a moment. He disappeared into his closet, whereupon Stephanie lowered herself onto the bed, shuffling so she was sat in the middle, cross legged. At the end of the bed was the cursed duck, sitting with its triple chin and beady eyes on full display. It seemed to migrate across the room, ending up in slightly different positions every time Steph saw it. She was partially convinced it was a possessed toy. Watching her, judging her.

Fucking duck.

Tim returned with two boxes, one substantially larger than the other. He set both on the bed, blocking her view of the duck, then clambered on in front of her, resting on his shins. He held out the smaller box.

“I bought this at the same time as the engagement ring.”

Stephanie opened the box, noting that her hands were shaking, and found a ruby bracelet inside. It was polished uncut gems, engraved with birds flying across a landscape.

“Is this…is this better than the ring? I thought when I was buying it that it wasn’t too bad. I tried not to get you anything you would hate, but I guess I overestimated myself. The bracelet is better though, right?”

He sounded so much like an insecure child in that moment, that Stephanie didn’t know how to respond. It was just…too much. Especially for someone like her.

“Tim…” She sighed, reluctant to even touch it. “It’s… why did you buy this?”

“Red birds…isn’t it obvious? Look, I’ll help put it on.” His touch was gentle, as it always was, cool but not entirely confident. “There.” He rotated her wrist in the dim light, smiling nervously. She was just staring blankly at it, giving away nothing.

Finally, she smiled. It looked fake, but trying to avoid an argument, Tim let it slide.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. One more thing.” He dragged the next box over. Steph huffed.

“Oh, Tim, you’ve never needed to buy me stuff. That’s not why I—”

“I didn’t buy this.” He interrupted. He was trembling, so wound up with nerves. This might end badly, but he wanted to prove to her how serious he was about the whole thing. With this, she might understand that he wasn’t leaving her once the mission was over. He was desperate to get a fresh start, prove to Bruce that he was fine, he didn’t need to be monitored, to have Dick stop looking at him like he was a puppy five days away from going mad with rabies. Another Jason Todd in waiting.

Being with Steph made him feel lighter, made him remember who he really was. He wasn’t willing to let that go, not when he knew she was so close accepting she was enough to hold him to her.

“Close your eyes.” He urged.

“Tim.”

“Please. For me.”

Stephanie did as she was told, listening to Tim rustling around. Then, weirdly, she felt him very solidly place something on her head.

Her eyes shot open to the sight of Tim kneeling up, very carefully and precisely placing what felt like a very heavy headband on her head.

“It was my mother’s…” Tim murmured, kneeling down to see what it looked like head on. He began to play with her hair, arranging it just so. Stephanie looked on in a continued shock. “It’s old, in case you were wondering, mom left it to me. Left all her jewellery to me, actually. Guess she didn’t want my dad to give it all to his next wife… Wouldn’t have made a difference in the end but..”

Stephanie reached up and held his wrist, reassuringly. She was here, she had returned to him, even if his parents had not.

Tim took a shaky breath. “I want you to have them.”

“As your fiancée?”

“As whatever you choose to be. These are for you to keep.”

She looked to the side, to where Tim had a mirror taking up a section of the wall. The tiara was golden and round, nearly a circlet, with amethysts around the base and three larger ones providing the focal point. Small pink flowers and leaves encircled the stones, with each flower having a round diamond in the centre. It was not overly sparkly, it was not ostentatious. It was beautiful, and Stephanie felt so out of place wearing it her emotions once again got the better of her, and her chest rattled with wet breaths. Tim looked in love and smiled. It was such a pure delighted smile that she couldn’t help but reach for him, expression mirroring his, albeit much wobblier.

Pulling her onto his lap, she straddled him, legs splayed either side of his hips. As a result, his head was tilted upwards, and he looked more than a little star struck.

“You look like a princess.”

That made her smile falter, and she looked away from him.

“Baby, I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. I told you, if you want to be selfish, do it here. You have me. I told you. Even if the rest of the world gets nosy or rude… tell me it outweighs moments like this?”

He cupped her cheeks, and Stephanie relaxed, letting him carry her weight. Tim smiled, seeing she was thinking over what he was offering.

“We both know we’re not getting married for real in a couple of weeks. But we can just delay it. We don’t have to get married now, ‘cause yeah, we are only twenty, and we don’t ever have to get married, if you don’t want to. But Stephanie, I want to be with you. And you want to be with me. Don’t tell me the past few nights, being next to me, don’t tell me they haven’t been –” Tim broke off, frustrated at his inability to explain himself.

“…Keep going.” Stephanie whispered.

“Listen, all I can say is what I’m feeling and I… I love you. I always have. And I watched you ignore me and Bruce’s put downs, I watched you screw up again and again, and I watched you claw all that respect back. And now I can’t stand the thought of you being with someone else. My head feels clearer ‘cause I know you’ll pull me in the right direction if I misstep. You know me, warts and all, and I’m jealous over you. God, I’m so… And I don’t want people watching. I don’t. They don’t know you like I do, and they don’t deserve to. But I want you with me. And that hasn’t changed. It never has. I don’t know how to make you believe that, so I thought…with my mom’s stuff you’d see... Please. You’re not selfish Steph… I am. I want the day job with all its perks and downfalls, and I want to be Red Robin. And I want you next to me for all of it.”

The pair were silent for a long moment, as Stephanie processed what he said.

“…I’m afraid.”

“Of what?”

“All of these people, looking at me…Dismissing me.”

“Prove them wrong! It’s what you do!”

He meant it encouragingly, but it seemed to trigger Stephanie’s temper.

“I’m tired, Tim!” She yelled. “I am tired of having to do that. Why can’t the world cut me a break for once? Why should I have to prove I’m not a whore, or an idiot, or that I’m capable, or that I really love you? Why does it matter to anyone else? Why can I not even get through one day without someone trying to make me feel three inches tall? Even if I had you, and I do have you, I know that, I still see how much everyone’s watching me. I’ll slip up and you’ll remember what went wrong last time. It’s what I do. And I’m tired.”

“I can’t give you that motivation, Steph.”

“No.” She sniffed, pulling and picking at her nails. “I tried so hard. And then being with you… it’s like being flung back six years. Everyone doubts me. I’m not strong enough to do it again.”

“You’re blaming me?” Tim asked, looking a little horrified.

“I’m blaming the society you fly in.”

“I need that to do my job.”

“I know. That’s why I can’t… you won’t be able to stay with me. I’ll just dr—”

“You are not a burden.” Tim breathed, chest heaving. “I don’t know how to make you see that.”

“You shouldn’t have to.”

“No but I love you and –”

“Tim…”

“And I don’t like seeing you like this!” He laughed incredulously. “God and I thought I was a mess!”

He shouldn’t have said that, and he knew the moment he did. Any other day, Stephanie’s anger would have spiked, and she would have screamed and maybe even hit him, but now, she just looked like he had completely broken her heart. She took off the tiara, no wanting to indulge the conversation.

“Forget it Tim.”

“No, Steph, you’re not –”

“No, I am. And it’s not fair to you to wait around for me to get my shit together. It ruined us last time it’ll ruin us now. I can’t help you and you can’t help me.” Stephanie rolled off the bed. “Going on patrol.”

“No, wait.” Tim began to panic, and in a moment he would later deeply regret, grabbed Stephanie and threw her struggling form against the wall, pinning her. She began to fall to pieces, shoving and clawing for him to let her go. What little pride she had left in herself didn’t want her distraught emotions to be seen by anyone.

“Leave me alone, Tim!”

“No! You always do this, you can’t lock yourself away when things get inconvenient.”

“Oh, fuck off!”

“No!”

“Let me go!”

And then she slapped him. And Tim flinched. And they both fell silent. There was guilt on her face, one that seemed to be eating her up inside, but then it clamped shut, and her expression became blank.

“I’m leaving now.”

Feeling he was making another mistake, he let her go downstairs to his little birds nest. He should have followed her. He should have known she was over emotional and panicked, and with Stephanie that was a recipe for disaster. He should have called Cassandra to watch over her, if he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He had his own patrol to go to.

Instead Tim laid down on the floor, utterly taken aback by how the evening had gone, and tried very hard not to cry.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, when his phone began to buzz. The Titans were calling him.

So tired of having no one to talk to about this, he answered the phone.

Stephanie collapsed on the stairs of Tim’s own Batcave, right hand sodden from tugging open the switch which Tim had hidden in his little fish tank. He had shown her how to get in months ago. Just in case, he said.

He’s trusted her with access to his space. Months before any of this nonsense had kicked up again. He’d been letting her back in. And she’d crumbled once more, and kicked him out.

If there was one thing Stephanie was incapable of being, it was cold. Her sarcasm was light and fond, her concentration was witty and playful, her joy was dazzling, her anger was blinding, and her grief was all consuming.

If she was trying to be cruel, it wasn’t working. She was sobbing, every piece of self-loathing pouring out of her like her scars were still open wounds. Her legs gave way, and she folded down into herself. She began to pull at her hair and cover her ears, shaking her head from side to side.

She needed to leave the apartment, and Tim. Just for a bit. Until she could forget what his bed sheets smelled like, until she forgot how stupid being with Tim made her feel.

For God’s sake, she was Batgirl! She wasn’t an insecure sixteen-year-old hunting for approval from anyone who would look her way. She was better than this.

Stephanie pulled herself upright and ran over to where she had – temporarily – stored the Batgirl suit. Still sniffing to herself, she got dressed, and rode off, hunting for someone to beat her own pain onto.

[takerfoxx]

Magia Record, Season 1, Episode 4, First Impressions!

Y’know, this is really starting to grow on me.

I’ve said several times in my previous reactions that despite the popularity of the game, the Magia Record anime really has the deck stacked against it. On the one hand, fans of the anime will have trouble getting into it due to the plot originally being conceived for a game rather than a show, de-emphasizing the dark psychological themes that defined PMMM, the characters being much less richly drawn, the pacing being much different, and it being (so far) being more of a standard magical girl show, albeit an extremely trippy one. And fans of the game will also have a difficult time getting into it due to a lot of stuff having to get either cut or rushed from having to adapt multiple quests into a few short episodes, hence the wonky pacing.

None of this is really anyone’s fault; the issues were baked in from the beginning. PMMM was specifically designed for a single short anime season, Magia Record was designed for a mobile game, and the way each format plays their stories out is very different, so of course moving one to the other will cause problems. Maybe it would go better if they had double the episodes, but for some reason they don’t, so hey, you gotta work with what you got.

Now all of those seemingly negative observations aside, I really liked this episode! Sure, it’s not on the level of any of PMMM’s, but when you view this as what the title literally describes it as, as a world-building side story, a chance to get out of the twisted deconstruction that is PMMM and look at the broader world of Puella Magi, get to meet some of the other ones out there, what their interactions might be like, how they communicate with one another and what kind of sub-culture they might have built, it really is kind of cool.

One thing that has been consistently great so far: the direction is immaculate. Like I said, they probably figured that the pacing issues were unavoidable, so they decided to go HAM on making the world, specifically the witch labyrinths, the magical girl bits, and even the mundane world it all takes place in a feast for the eyes. The more we see of the world at large, the more different it seems from our own. We got bits of all that futuristic stuff in the original show, but it was bits and pieces, while this lets us see how much has advanced and how much is still the same. And I do dig the sort of Rebellion-esque vibe to give it an eerie sort of quality at times.

Also, now that we’ve gotten the “rumors” properly introduced, I’m more on board with what they’re doing. Okay, so rumors are basically witch-like phenomena that use urban-legend-style conditions to lure victims in. No clue as to what they are as of yet. I mean, they’re not dropping grief seeds, so they’re not proper witches, and even rogue familiars dropped grief seeds once they got strong enough. Perhaps they have something to do with Doppels? I don’t know, I’ve never much cared for the additional weird concepts that the spin-offs introduced, but this one I kinda like. I mean, you can’t have a bunch of alien bunnycats altering reality to grant wishes all willy-nilly without a few weird anomalies popping up, right? Anyway, I’m thinking it has something to do with that mini-Kyubey, as he keeps popping up whenever a rumor has emerged.

And given that this one plays out more like a fetch-quest (which I assume it was in the game), we get a nice walking tour of the city, which I enjoyed. From what I can tell, each rumor is going to be a couple episodes each, and I suppose will feature a new set of characters each time? Or so it seems at first.

Speaking of which, of all the new people we’ve met, Tsuruno is probably my favorite. Yeah, she’s kind of not especially developed like the rest, but she’s fun, those fire fan things are badass, and I always liked the aggressively cheerful characters. Also, I liked the idea of her shop offering free meals to other magical girls and hiding the fact on their fliers. Another bit of the whole little community they have going on.

We get some more of Yachiyo. Apparently she and Tsuruno had some kind of past that ended badly, I guess? I’m assuming it has to do with this Mifuyu person, in that it was probably someone important to them both until something happened to her, leading to their split. I assume the next episode will clear that up.

LOVE the look of the Seance Shrine, by the way.

I was a little confused about those two girls that just showed up during the walking tour and started yelling at Iroha (or at least, the blonde one did), as I didn’t remember meeting them. Apparently it was a cameo from some other characters in the game? No clue if it’ll be important later on.

And, uh, Iroha’s soul gem is darkening. That can’t be good.

Also, lol at Yachiyo needing to make that grocery sale. I guess protecting the city doesn’t pay the bills.

And I was glad that they clarified that all the other girls who got taken by the staircase came back too. 

And finally...WTF, ketchup on cheesecake?!?!?!

[curewimdy]

alright i gotta get my Stars War thoughts out before i explode. spoilers i’m sorry if you’re on mobile and the cut decides not to work

tlj and Carrie Fisher’s death straight-up broke the sequel trilogy but this movie did a pretty good job with what it had left, i think. i loved:

the emphasis on found family and emotional ties, and Rey ultimately deciding to take over the Skywalker mantle

the movie had to establish and develop the trio’s entire dynamic on its own since tlj kept them almost completely separate for some fucking reason but the actors have great chemistry and i loved finally seeing them together. loved when Poe promoted Finn to husband, loved Poe and Rey bickering over the Falcon and BB-8, loved that Finn/Rey continues to be real. it’s just big ot3 vibes across the board & i hope that whatever tie-in material we get with them later continues to build on that

REY AND LEIA’S LIGHTSABERS!!!!

AHSOKA AND THE PAST JEDI’S VOICES COMING TO REY.... I CRIED?? I CRIED /DURING THE CREDITS/ WHEN AHSOKA AND KANAN AND LUMINARA’S NAMES SCROLLED BY i actually like that Ahsoka’s in there even though she’s not a Jedi at the end of her journey.... she’s a light side Force user who shows up when it counts and she’s FOR SURE a part of the Skywalker legacy so it’s good. God i wish we could’ve gotten Ahsoka mentoring Rey it would have been perfect

i don’t think that Ezra’s voice was in there even though Kanan’s was which... INTERESTING.... implying that Ezra’s still alive somewhere maybe?? hey when are we gonna get that fucking Ahsoka+Sabine quest

but re: the actual movie. i’m glad that they retconned in Leia completing her Jedi training and then going on to train Rey, it’s good

FORCE SENSITIVE FINN CONFIRMED

JANAH AND THE OTHER DEFECTED TROOPERS RULE

d-o or dio or whatever was cute

Lando!!!!

horses!!!!!

the actors were all really just turning up the charm the whole time. the story was a bit of a shambles but i loved everybody in this bar

stuff that was very stupid but in a fun way:

fucking Palpatine’s back and he’s got like 8 Snokes in a jar and a giant auditorium full of ???? mysterious cloaked figures???? who the fuck were those guys???????

the Knights of Ren are such nothing characters but i love their designs and their dumb weapons

REY PALPATINE is SO DUMB but SO FUCKING FUNNY

“hey we’re tired of fighting the Death Star in every single movie can you come up with another kind of climax” “ok how about this. this time, instead of one massive murder orb, there’s a MILLION slightly smaller murder TRIANGLES”

i can’t believe they had Hux pull a Kallus

there were a few points where i got caught up on like, logistical issues and “can the Force/Force ghosts do that” and w/e but ultimately like, it’s fine. Star Wars is loaded with logical inconsistencies and honestly i like being given the opportunity to think up explanations for things instead of like, having Rey turn around and say “i learned how to make a lightsaber from the Jedi texts and Luke’s notes and using the skills i learned as a scavenger” or Luke set the X-wing down and be like “Force ghosts have always been able to interact with the real world actually”

and things that sucked:

i fucking hated the kiss. dont do that

where the hell was Rose?? she was barely in the movie??

these characters have had completely different arcs and personalities in every single movie they’ve been in.

i’m a little weary of the st being so beholden to following up on the legacy of the ot.... can you imagine a timeline where Lucas made the prequel trilogy first and then the ot had to be extremely concerned with satisfying people’s nostalgia for those movies all the time. like as a fan i get excited about like, Rey flying Luke’s X-wing and seeing the ruins of the Death Star and but i do wonder how much of that is good for the story & how much is kind of added weight. but then on the other hand my favorite part of the movie was when all of the past Jedi acted like fairies waving miracle lights and shouting “Precure ganbare” in an All Stars movie even though Rey has no idea who Mace Windu or Luminara Unduli were so like, i’m kind of throwing rocks from a glass house here

we’re back to extreme black-and-white morality again huh. we’re back to Jedi ideology being 100% good and Sith ideology being 100% evil, after all of that

did not care for the implication that Janah was Lando’s daughter. it brings up so many issues with the way people talk about/react to the First Order and certainly undermines the whole point about literal bloodlines not mattering in the face of other types of legacy. if they’re not related but he takes her under his wing anyway then that’s good, though

[programaticallydelicious]

What’s the opposite of a hardcore game?

So I’m sure you can think of a couple of “hardcore” games off the top of your head. Dark Souls and Bloodborne are probably near the top for a lot of you. What defines those is an argument for someone else, and has been made a multitude of times.

I’m here to talk about their opposite. A lot of people, when asked what the opposite of a “hardcore” game is, would immediately jump to “Casual”. Something like Bejeweled, or Angry Birds. That...isn’t exactly correct. Casual games are targeted at people who can’t sink a great deal of time into a game in one sitting, A few minutes here, a few there, maybe an entire hour sometime. And with how the “casual” market is mixing in paid mechanics on mobile, there’s an argument to be had for them being an entirely different form of hardcore.

But I digress.

What is the opposite of a “hardcore” game? Is it an easy game? Maybe, maybe not. Is it a simple one? Not necessarily. Is it forgiving? Potentially. The opposite of a hardcore game is one that gives the reins to the player, and lets them control their own experience. I, personally, have never been one for hardcore games in the way the term gets bandied about. I don’t like games punishing me for my poor reaction time and variable coordination.

I like games that let me choose how to proceed. And to give a good idea of what I mean, I’m going to go through my steam library (not all 800+ games of it, just the ones with at least 60hrs of playtime), and explain exactly what they did that ensured they weren’t hardcore.

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (751 hrs)

Unsurprising, and easy to explain. Bethesda games, in general, give the player as much control as possible. Want to do the main quest? Have at it, nothing can stop you and if something does, just pull up the console and nuke it to death with the kill or disable commands. Don’t like something? Modding can fix it. Want something you don’t or can’t have? Modding can fix it. Want to shoot something? You can! Stab them? Sure! Want to pretend quests don’t exist and live as a hermit in the woods? I’ve done it!

I think you get the picture.

2. Fallout 4 (663 hrs)

Do you need to ask? Look above, I explained it there. Also, the VATS system is actually surprisingly cool to play with, and I really, really enjoy waltzing around overleveled in tricked out power armor as everything the bad guys throw at me winds up just plinking off and maybe killing them for me.

3. EVE Online (500 hrs (logged on Steam, at any rate))

This can’t be right, can it? The MMO known mostly for having a learning curve so steep it‘s a cliff with an overhang? Not hardcore? I’ve gotta be high!

No, it isn’t hardcore. EVE gives the player a fantastic amount of control over their experience. You can pick what skills to learn, what kinds of ships to fly, whether to produce, raid, lead, gather, trade, or mission run. Personally, I racked up most of these hours about ten years ago when I was doing a lot of asteroid mining on a second screen while working on stuff in college. It was slow, relaxing, and impressively predictable overall.

4. Starbound (214 hrs)

I have a love-hate relationship with this one. I racked up most of that playtime in the early beta, when the mechanics were wonky and unbalanced and the playstyle was still being worked on. I can’t enjoy this game anymore, because all I want to do is find a pretty planet and build a base I like on it. But the prettiest planets are pretty good at killing you, and the best materials to build with are rare, in places good at killing you, or incredibly expensive. I could build safely on a barren world, but...it’s a barren world.

5. Terraria (166 hrs)

I love this game, I really do. But I can’t play it with other people. I like having a safe home, and while you can make safe homes in hardcore mode, they’re a pain in the butt to design properly and the allowances you need to make to keep things out are less than appealing to me. Meaning I end up running two worlds with my character as a raider, and that gets...tedious after a while.

I once built an entire village for all of the NPCs in the game (there were fewer at the time), only to watch them die over and over because someone went to hell and killed the wall of flesh.

6. Space Engineers (143 hrs)

Do I really need to explain this one? I made a bunch of voxel spaceships, in space. Was fun, and neat, but last time I poked my head in it was still lacking in things to do long-term. Too much control, not enough content, basically.

7. NieR:Automata™ (126 hrs)

This can’t be right, can it? After all, it’s a twitchy action-RPG with a philosophical bent that feels like the illegitimate bastard lovechild that Nietzsche and Goethe abandoned in the dark forest at midnight on a new moon. (In short, it’s that impossible thing known as an object made purely of edge)

But it is. The game has a massive variety of potential play-styles and difficulties, from “all but literally does everything for you” to, well, bullet hell. And the chip system lets you suit all sorts of preferences (the taunt/crit build is OP as all hell, but I ran with a berserker build that boosted speed and healed me on damaging or killing enemies). The game is as punishing as you allow it to be, and Platinum Games did a fantastic job of that.

8. Subnautica (110 hrs)

I’ve beaten this one multiple times. It actually gives you a lot of control in terms of where and how to build, and how you go about progressing. But the truly great bit of control the game gives you is that it never forces you to progress. You move through it exactly as far as you want to, and it does a great job of getting you to want to.

Sadly, it has two things that really break that. Two enemies, specifically. Warpers, and crabsquids. Warpers can be avoided, are localized, and can become a non-issue by progressing far enough.

Crabsquids are seething gelatinous bundles of undiluted killjoy who prevent me from safely building in my favorite biomes.

9. Stardew Valley (94 hrs)

I really think this one is self explanatory. If it isn’t, it will be as soon as you play it.

10. ARK: Survival Evolved (93 hrs)

This game doesn’t belong on this list. Too much of the time listed was spent fighting the mechanics/trying to get things to work, as opposed to playing the game. It’s neither hardcore nor its opposite.

11. Plague Inc: Evolved (63 hrs)

My favorite thing to do in this game is running the neurax worm. The Christmas scenario in particular is great. This game is an RTS with short playtimes, immediate feedback on choices, and fantastic levels of replayability. Combine that with their scenario editor, difficulty settings, and the huge variety of things you can play as, it makes it as my favorite non-RPG on Steam.

Some non-Steam mentions that are self-explanatory: Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda: BotW (I enjoy the other games too, but they don’t qualify for this), Age of Empires II (I abused the shit out of a bug in the scenario editor), Pharaoh/Caesar III, and the number one timesink of any game I’ve ever played: Minecraft.

In summary: The opposite of a hardcore game is one that gives the player enough leeway to make their own decisions. Not necessarily by giving them multiple choices or paths, but allowing them to proceed at their own pace, potentially with their own choices of mechanics and/or difficulty. And most importantly, it doesn’t punish the player for those choices.

[bigjbonk]

Change Your Mind Review (SPOILERS)

Now I don't usually do reviews, but man, I can't NOT talk about this episode. I'll be pointing out the best, the worst, and the confusing, as well as some speculation. Prepare yourselves, because this will be a long one, and I have no idea how to do the "keep reading" thing on mobile. Really sorry! So I guess we'll start from the beginning. At first, I had no clue Steven was sleeping. It didn't hit me at all until it was revealed that Connie was gone. I thought it was a nice way to start, because the audience was just as disoriented and lost as Steven was in that moment. That, and it was made obvious that this was a regular occurrence for Pink. Then there's Blue herself. She was furious because she couldn't understand his actions, and when Steven tried to get her to understand, she retaliated because she couldn't. In real life, people try to explain things using what they know, even if the information they have isn't accurate or reliable. People assimilate new knowledge into the old, because that's easier than changing the information you have. This is where many prejudices come from. When new and old information conflict, it can create a strong dissonance, and generally, people don't know how to react to that. So if assimilating doesn't work, they reject. Luckily for Steven, he was able to contextualize the situation in a way that Blue could understand. Though it's not totally clear if Blue fully understands (and it wouldn't be realistic to expect her to after eons of being told that organics are inferior and that non-identical fusion is atrocious), she realizes that she had indeed been doing something wrong. This scene gave me hope. If one Diamond could find it in herself to change and move on, then maybe the rest would too, though I had no idea how the crew was going to pull it off in the next 40 minutes. Then there was Yellow. She had all of the same issues that Blue had, and more. The thing with Yellow was, she was already trying to fix things, but not in the way things needed to be fixed. Instead of working to make things better, she worked to make things WORK. The problem is that making do isn't helping at all, but rather maintaining the flawed system that continues to hurt the lower-caste Gems, and the Diamonds are still miserable anyway. Yellow is fully aware of this, yet she still reacted violently when Blue tried to do something different. Why? Fear. Ultimately, this is White's system, and to try to change it would mean incurring her wrath. It's mentioned that White had poofed a Diamond before, and if the old murals were anything to go off of, it was probably Blue. Yellow didn't want that to happen again. Even if it meant hurting Blue now, she wanted to guarantee that White wouldn't do something worse. For someone as structured as Yellow, it only made sense that reaching her meant showing her that "making it work" just wasn't working. I thought it was a touching scene overall. And oh boy, was I excited when Bismuth arrived to fight off White. And then when it was revealed who was flying the other ship, BOOM. Lapis and Peridot, ladies and gentlemen! I absolutely loved the new designs, I gotta say, though that was when I got my first nitpick. Where did the orange in Lapis's sash come from? A homage to Jasper? On a blue Gem??? Gems are usually analogous in their color schemes, so to see a contrasting color on her was odd. Though maybe it's possible to see spots of other color in real lapis lazulis? I wouldn't know, and I could be wrong. It still irked me a bit, but in the grand scheme of things it was easy to overlook. Just feel the need to mention. White's ship's eyes? Those are horrifying. Put them away. Put corks in the pupils. Please, for the love of Sugar, those are going to give me nightmares. But at least seeing her trying and failing to swat everyone was pretty dang funny for someone who seemed so poised and perfect a few episodes ago. We. Finally. Got. More. Steven. Fusions!!! Smoky's outfit was adorable, Rainbow Quartz was a little surprising but definitely acceptable (I love Pearl's jacket by the way), and Sunstone was... uhhh??? Unique? Not what I was expecting from Garnet, that I will say. But the Fourth Wall breaks absolutely killed me. I guess I sort of liked the fusions? They were nice, but I was kind of simultaneously wishing to see more of them, and for their introductions to be spaced out more. It kind of felt rushed together. Also, fusing with a Gem before she's ready to reform seems really dangerous, but I guess it isn't. And what was with the whole "our only hope is for the four of us to fuse" thing? There were literally three other perfectly good gems right there. Obsidian. That was their name, right? They were pretty much exactly what I was expecting, and they are great monster mom. "YOU'RE HUGE!" Cue even huger giant woman robot mecha ship monster. The resulting climb/battle was equal parts awesome and amusing. The Gems crawling into the pupil gave me Big Jethro vibes. Considering who Sugar is with, it was probably intentional. (Wink wonk IJQ?) We totally called it with White Pearl. But to think White would do to the other Diamonds what she did to Pearl? That was really unexpected. That whole scene was unsettling and utterly terrifying. You know what I noticed about White throughout? She was projecting. The fandom generally seems to agree that White is very abusive towards the Diamonds, and her behavior definitely lines up. One thing that people as a whole have in common, I believe, is a desire to be good. Nobody really WANTS to be bad, but we are well aware that some people just are. And we don't want to be like those people. For some that means volunteering, and for others that means being polite to strangers. Most will try to suppress their flaws in some manner, as White pretty much outright admitted to doing. In some cases, though, oftentimes in abusive situations, there is a tendency to project those flaws onto others. White told Steven that he surrounded himself with weaker beings so that he could feel strong, but isn't that what White herself did? It's easier to say something is wrong with someone else than yourself. And then she made them "better." She did something that "helped," so now she could say she did something "good." And bad people don't do good things. By changing the Gems like she did, she was reinforcing her notion that she was doing something good, and therefore she could continue with that behavior. This is likely also why she talked over Steven in "Legs From Here To Homeworld." If he got a say, he could say something to challenge her world view, and that's scary. She couldn't accept that she had done something bad. ...There are theories and fanfictions everywhere discussing what would happen if Steven's gem was removed. Most decided that he would die. Some said Pink/Rose would come back. I guess now we know? He doesn't die, but he was severely weakened, possibly dying. Not that anything else could be expected in a kid's show, at least not on-screen. Not a disappointing outcome, though. What I don't get is, what WAS Pink Steven? Whatever that was wasn't a Gem, or at least not a Gem in the sense that we have come to understand Gems. I think that was just the Gem essence within Steven or something? Hopefully there will be something later on further explaining whatever that was. And can we talk about "SHE'S GOOOOOONNNE!" Uh, what?! It got a little Dragonball there for a second. But... why? Why is Pink Steven so OP? He made White, the strongest of all the Diamonds, fall down. Doesn't sound like much, but when a show makes a point of pointing out "Wow, this character is stronger than all of the other characters," that's a really big deal. But how, and why? Why is Pink Steven OP? Why is Pink Steven OP?! Please explain, Rebecca! :0 So, is Steven a human-Gem fusion then? Because that gave me some serious "Jailbreak" vibes. Oddly enough, it makes sense, and I am totally okay with this. White's Blush really brings out her whites. Cutest thing since Peridot's laugh on the Moon Base. Very precious. I shouldn't say this about evil immortal alien queens, but White is a gumdrop. Huh, White sure had a lot of ideas for what she was supposed to be. She had to get those notions from somewhere, right? That tells me that there has to be something out there greater than the Gems, possibly their creators? Everyone has their place in the Diamond Authority, including the Diamonds themselves. That means White was given her purpose. Perhaps she was in a similar boat to Yellow, maintaining the image to prevent wrath from higher up? Not at all related, but how did she know what a child was, anyway? We. Are the Diamond Authority. We'll try to save the corrupted Gems. And if you think we can't, we'll have a bubble bath and prove you wrong. JASPER. PADPARADSCHA. I love how every shot White is in, she just has this sneer like, "Ew, what am I even doing here, what are these things, is this water contaminated, where did these people come from, can we please just get back on the ship." It's nice to see that the Diamonds are really trying now. It's too late to correct their past wrongs, and they're probably not going to do a complete one-eighty after all the conditioning they've been through, but they're on their way to being their better selves, and I am happy for them and wish them the best. All in all, a wonderful episode all around. If this was why Steven Universe has such a wonky schedule, then keep it up if it means we get more like this.

[local-raccoon]

#VD9suitcontest entry!!

Ahhhhhhh I made a few of them bc they just kept pooling in my head. It’s kind of embarassing bc they go from “hmm yeah” to “im trying and failing” and justttttttttttttttttttttt  wanted to made them and thats it lol.

Under the cut bc It’s just too much!!

Check out the super cool zine @bnhavillaindeku-zine is making!! The staff is hella cool and the rewards are hella amazing. They all deserve the world and more (!!!!!)  This thingy is for their suit contest in which we gotta design Izuku’s villain suit.

The links are here!! Pre orders end on September 9, you still have a few days left!!!  Go go goooo!!  PO’s page || Shop page

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The modern ninja.

Hoodie – A simple black hoodie. He wears a bullet-proof vest underneath it.

Pants – Loose fitting pants for mobility and just being comfortable.

Knee guards, arm guards and gloves – The three of them are police-standard. He got them from an actual police gear shop. They are pretty simple but useful.

Throwing knifes – He has a great bunch of them, was inspired by Stain to use them… and to mock him too.

Mask – It’s so totally not a mask, just a too long scarf that got mutilated once or twice. It has an awfully drawn smiley face that is supposed to be mocking All Might’s.

Boots – The only difference with the knee and arm guards is that he painted them red. He loved his red shoes, you see. They are pretty heavy, too.

 Au background (or whatever this is)

A world where Izuku got tired of being treated like garbage and decided to take the matter onto his hands. At first, he was just a vigilante, leaving alone the heroes and having a little bit of hope that they were different. He was wrong. Once it became clear to him that most heroes where almost as bad as villains, he began to target heroes too.

He’s a sneaky rat. His tolerance levels went down to 0. This Izuku is aggressive, sassy and petty af. He’s done with everyone’s bullshit and the only person he tolerates at this point is his mother.

He might or might not be affiliated with the league. Maybe he doesn’t trust them much, but they are useful, too. (He might or might not have a quirk too.)

His costume mocks All Might, Eraserhead, Stain and the Police, bc he’s a lil shit.

He is always ready to fight and set the world on fire.

--------------- I think villain Izuku would go for a more useful oufit than a flashy, interesting one. (but at the same time i disagree with myself) sO The point in this suit was to make it out from stuff you can get from actual shops. I don’t know if it happens everywhere or my hometown is weird, but in here there are shops where you can get actual military gear, excluding the guns, ofc, but you can go full militar gear and it’s... a bit expensive but not too much. So i was thinking Izuku (or anyone, really) could do just that and nobody would bat an eye???

and even if they did, there are some places that cell construction gear and they work almost the same as military gear. U can get some nice and sturdy knee guards and it would be totally normal.

In this AU idk if Izuku is with the league or not, if he has a quirk or not, but i’m inclined to think he actually does both. And is a villain mostly out of spite and revenge.

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(see how they go from hmmm to uhgggg)

The bartender. (aka the one i gave most though)

Hair – Gelled to the side and tamed to the best of his abilities.

Shirt – A normal white dress shirt. Has tons of them ironed and ready to use. Rolls the sleeves up so they don’t get stained or in the way.

Pants – A pair of black slacks. Has tons of them too, they are surprisingly comfy.

Shoes – Moccasins. All black and meticulously cleaned. They shine.

Appron – Part of the bar’s uniform. Nothing special.

Gloves – Black leather fire resistant gloves with red palms. Used to hide the scars in his hands. (I really liked V!D9 Izuku’s gloves, didn’t have the heart to change them)

Scars – Has a lot of them on his arms and back.

 Background/whatever.

Midoriya Inko is dead. It was the heroes fault but no one would believe the ‘traumatized child’ it happened. Izuku is sent to a quirkless orphanage and develops a passive-aggressive personality. He makes a plan and starts working to make it reality. He’s never actually adopted, even if he does have some interviews, he’s just not interested. So he stays with the old man that takes care with of the orphanage and sees how the world is even crueler than he initially thought. The old man sees the way he is being silently consumed by his rage and hatred, tries to help but somehow they end up having similar ideals and turn into something like partners in crime. The old man says he’s “too old to actually give a damn”.

 He opens a business with the old man’s help and the money left to him from his mother. It’s a simple café in the day and a bar in the night. It’s pretty small and totally average. The only thing that catches attention are two plates in the front door that say “Quirkless welcome” and “Uniforms not allowed”.  He doesn’t allow anyone in uniform inside his business. No heroes, no villains, no police officers. Of course, people try to give him shit because of this but he knows the laws and that, legally speaking, he’s not doing anything wrong. Nobody can touch him.

 Izuku is more like an informant type of villain. This doesn’t mean he can’t take care of himself, of course, your biggest mistake will ever be to underestimate him for his looks. He focuses on getting information and working it on how ever it favors him. He isn’t afraid of going against other villains nor heroes. Not even the League. It takes him some time but he manages to set up his own network, getting information on both heroes and villains. The first thing he does is to expose all the heroes that where involved with Inko’s death.

Nobody really knows he’s the one to get the information, though. They think he’s just The Bartender, the messenger. What could a useless, quirkless nobody do, anyways?

 He takes his status of quirkless and uses it to his advantage with the best of his capabilities. Anything to fulfill his goal.

 The worst kind of villain are those who actually use their brains, after all.

-------------------- Escentially, my entry on the “Villain Izuku with an actual suit” trope. Initially, i though of him being something like Kurogiri’s partner, they both would make plans and make sure no one mess up. But then i though “Izuku would be totally capable of doing this all on his own. He just needs the right motivation.” and what better motivation than hate and having nothing else to lose.

An i really like bartender’s outfits lol.

I also headcanon that this Izuku knows how to use an unexpected amount of fire arms. (guns, rifles, shotgus, etc) and would never hesitate to shoot a bih. But i didn’t have the time to draw him with them (guns are hard ot draw!!) so i’m just leaving it here :/, hoping it somehow counts.

This Izuku is actually quirkless, everything he does is thanks to his brain. He learned how to break apart both information and people. bC I THINK IZUKU COULD DO IMPRESSIVE THINGS WITH OR WITHOUT A QUIRK.

/breathes/

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖ 

The Street fighter.

Hoodie – A green plain hoodie. Used to hide his body and just how buff he is.

Face mask – Cheap and with little probabilities of it falling off or untying.

Loose pants – Easy to move in.

Knee pads – For support and protection. They are just normal Knee pads.

Sneakers – A pair of comfy and durable sport sneakers. The little short absorption they have is good enough.

Bandages – His hands are bandaged in the same way of a boxer’s. He is seen with constant injures on his face because he is a street fighter. His arms are scarred because of fights too.

Hairstyle – Has an undercut and dyed hair. Usually, he dies the top black and leaves the roots green, sometimes dyes it all black. Changes them constantly so people won’t be able to relate him with Inko.

 Bakcground:

Not much to say. I just wanted to draw him as a street fighter.

He ran away/got kidnapped at a not-so-young age (10-12???) Didn’t saw a reason to go back/didn’t want to be found so he learned how to fend for himself and fight. Works in an underground fight center as both a fighter and information broker. He’s fast on his feet, even without a quirk, and can pack a punch strong enough to knock someone out in seconds. Specializes in speed and precision. It’s better to know where to punch and how hard that just punching mindlessly.

 Always parkour’s his way out of bad situations. The most frustrating villain/vigilante the police has dealt with. Has personal issues against Eraserhead because he’s the only one that can almost match his pace.

------------------

I JUST WANTED TO DRAWN HIM AS A BRAWLER HASJDHAJSDHASD

He’s part of another villain group and quirkless. He fights with only kicks, punchs and sTREET SMARTS(!!!!). Parkoúr is a thing. He probably breakdances too, bc he can. A kind of-free man living the live as a thug.

Idk what else to add here. Maybe just that i got inspired with the sneakers lmao lOOK AT THEM IM PROUD. they came out way better than i was expecting. The pose too, how did that even happened.

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖ 

SO THATS ALL. Thank you for coming to my pep talk/whatever this is.

Pls buy a copy. it’s a very cool zine. Here are the links again:  PO’s page || Shop page 

Uhhhhhhhhhhh.  Yeah, bye.

[kundanraj]

starting 2022 dead broke as a 21 y/o😡😡

alright so recently turned 21 y/o and I’m trynna figure out how to navigate my 20s.....

about to graduate college in mid 2022 & this thought of graduating is haunting me day & night.

recently discovered this whole “making money online” thing on a corner of Twitter called as #MoneyTwitter which was life changing for me in terms of mindset and knowing the opportunities in life.

binged watched countless hours of YouTube videos on freelancing, online business and the overall entrepreneurship. 

found out this whole space is filled with fucking fluff and most of them don’t know WTF they talking about.

after getting fired from my sales job and my content writing job I was left out with around 1,200 INR(around $15 USD)....saw this one guy on IG talking about hosting a Canva(browser based graphic designing software) masterclass.

my dopamine receptors couldn’t resist and decided to invest the remaining money onto it. It was around 500-600 INR so I’m rn left with 500 INR($6 USD)

feeling kinda lost in the middle of this “online money making jungle” where everybody has their own version of doing things and different opinions. 

it took me a while to figure out what I wanna do.

Yesterday I was suddenly hit by a flashback thought about a video that I watched the other day.

I heard GaryVee saying this on IG “if you’re not sure, try everything when you’re young.”

so I’ve decided to put my faith onto his advice and decided to double down on “copywriting” & “design”

the only problem where I’m feeling stuck is the thought of being broke and this thought is acting as a mental blockage to focus on perfecting my craft.

i’m being vulnerable and stuck at every waking moment in my life rn.

almost feeling like I’ve got ADHD on steroids(if that makes any sense)

plus, once you stumble upon this “making money online” world you get recommendations of young guys making 100s & 1000s of $.

won’t lie it’s inspiring but at the same time it’s creates a lot of FOMO in me. Sometimes makes me think maybe I’m not good enough. 

You see guys making $10k/month & that’s hell of a lot overwhelming for me as a guy who came from a small town in India....that’s the kind of money that i could’ve never really dreamt of before stumbling upon #MoneyTwitter in September of 2021.

the place where I belong to $10k is 2 year salary of a full time employee here. People get paid around 20k-25k INR/month($300 USD/month) as their starting salary.

so you can assume the difference. 

so for me I’m rn at a critical point in my life where I’m aware of the endless opportunities that are available in the online world at the same time it’s also self doubt and imposter syndrome that’s haunting me and holding me back. 

the one issue that’s pissing me of is that I can’t even join the masterminds or membership communities around “online business” space cuz the “dollar-rupee” conversion rate is fuckin’ me up badly. 

it’s frustrating to see that guys of my age on the other side of the world have an unfair advantage over me. They can easily save up that amount of money in no time by just getting a job at McDonald’s for a month or two. 

so the financial upward mobility is kinda fuckin’ me up rn. 

there’s so many things that’s going in my mind rn that I’m kinda starting to feel out of this world. 

i’m writing this post while I’m frustrated AF! so if you guys find it any intense please take it in a light hearted manner or you can FUCK OFF! 

anyway I’ll write more posts here often but now I gotta sign off. 

hope to see you next time.

PEACE OUT!!!

[brettanomycroft]

Help Triangle Mom Rule the Classroom!

Or, you know, the world. Whichever works.

As many of you guys know, I’ve been teaching middle and high school for the past 5 years. For three of those years, I’ve worked to build a triangle cult teaching English/Language Arts to 8th graders at a middle school with over 1100 kids (we’re the largest school in the district, and they keep cutting our teacher units!) and 76% free and reduced lunch (Title I. Don’t ask about the other 9 Titles. Seriously.).

This year, they’ve decided to move me from my long-time portable into the building like a real person, and this new-to-me room contains 18 computers that I’ve been lead to believe might work. However, I’m looking to make my classroom 1:1 this year, and with classes of upwards to 26 students (and accounting for inevitable tech issues) I am hoping to get more tech! I’ve set up a Donors Choose project, and am requesting support to purchase 10 inexpensive laptops so that my students can create digital portfolios, practice writing and typing skills, and learn how to responsibly navigate the murky depths of the interwebs. I went back and forth about reaching out to tumblr to support my IRL goals, but ultimately decided that this audience of giving, socially-aware people from all over was too important to overlook. 

Click here to go to my Donors Choose page! From now until June 21st, if you make a donation, you can type in LIFTOFF, and DonorsChoose will match your donation up to $50. 

Any and all support in funding my classroom is immensely appreciated - even if it’s a single dollar or a reblog! If giving is not an option right now, I would love if you could please spread the word <3

Donors Choose gave me a hard word limit, so here are some more details below the cut!

Why computers? Don’t you teach English? Like books and stuff?

Yes, which is why having access to technology is so important! Nowadays, English/Language Arts doesn’t just cover reading novels and teaching vocabulary - we’re out to teach our students how to read, analyze, and create all kinds of content, from novels, to blogs, to infographics, to podcasts and (yes) even tweets. With more access to technology, my kids will be able to engage and be challenged think critically about information and media on the internet. 

Additionally, our 8th grade Standardized Testing is all computer based (for better or for worse), but if kids don’t work with computers in the classroom, they end up going into the test facing a completely unrelated set of challenges: they have to work all of the tools and tricks of using the computer and typing in long responses (and no, we don’t have a typing curriculum) as well as taking the actual reading and writing test. 

Finally, with ever-increasing budget cuts (here’s looking to you, Slenderman Rick Scott), teacher access to print-based materials like student novels, text sets, and general copies and supplies, is becoming even more limited if teachers don’t pay for them out of their own pockets. By switching to computers, students can have 24/7 access to the paperless materials they need, saving time, money, and the environment.

Wait, you said you already have computers. And you want more?

Yup. This year, the room I’m moving into has 18 desktop computers. Thing is, the teacher who was in there before me... didn’t really monitor their kids to make sure the computers weren’t getting busted up. And tbh, our school-based tech guy is not always able to help in a quick and efficient manner. With 10 additional computers, I can make sure that each student can have access to a computer at any given time, even if one (or four) decide to act up.

Can’t kids just use their phones?

Yes, and no. This year, I let my students use their phones to supplement when the computer were all occupied... to mixed success. More often than not, I’d run out of computers, and end up with students who wanted to use the computers to complete their work, but didn’t have a phone or mobile data. That time ended up getting used pretty unproductively. I also have a number of students who don’t have consistent access to a computer/the internet at home. I have, and will continue, to provide paper-based alternatives, but they really want to use the technology, and I really want them to learn how to use it efficiently and responsibly.

What sort of things will they use the computers for?

Oh man, so many things. I am hoping to organize most of my lessons and assignments through OneNote. My classroom is a Personalized Learning classroom, meaning that I design a wide array of assignments and learning opportunities to meet my students learning styles, interests, and needs. For example, for one standard or skill, I’ll provide written notes with an accompanying lecture for students who learning aurally or through note-taking, find a video on the same skill for my aural/visual learners, and then provide an interactive tutorial for my kinesthetic learners. I’ll also take a single text and provide variations of it for different reading levels, and create options for alternate assignments. I do this for almost every unit, and being able to quickly stick these assignments and options in a digital binder for my students will be way more efficient for them, and me. I played around with this in some of my classes at the end of the year, and it worked out pretty dang well. 

Typing essays. Simple, I know, but most students don’t get a lot of practice typing on a physical keyboard. Still, at the end of the year, they’re expected to plan and type a 5+ paragraph text-based essay on the computer in about 2 hours. For students who don’t have experience typing and therefore type very slowly, they have to spend more time pecking at the keyboard than organizing their ideas. Seriously, I have students who hit the CAPS LOCK button every time they want to capitalize a word. But by having computer access and typing expectations from the start, all they’ll have to worrk about on test day is the test itself.

Creating a digital portfolio of essays, powerpoints, videos,  and other digital, multi-media content. Reading isn’t just reading an article in a textbook anymore, and writing isn’t just essays. I gotta train these folks up on how to do all sorts of things - creating a coherent, engaging presentation, organizing their ideas through a number of different mediums, and using their creativity for good, not evil. By the end of the year, I’d like them to have a portfolio that they can take with them to high school and beyond, and the kind of digital-era skills they’ll need to stay informed and competitive as they get older. 

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me! Thank you so much for your support!

[entertheolivezone]

Okay, so made for tv Disney movie time. *cracks knuckles* Descendants 2 time!

Oh shit the evil kids are casting a spell

No, wait...they're singing?

They're singing out how evil they are.

Tina thinks that this probably takes place in the past.

They're giving everyone apples that make them evil.

Oh shit, Mal's mommy issues are back. Like, already. We're not even through the first song.

No, wait, everyone has mommy issue.

The apples made everyone evil and also made they learn a bunch of over-produced dance moves.

OH SHIT MAL'S BEEN STEPFORDED!

Ben's trying to stop her from getting roasted by the press.

Ooh, he sent the press away to stop them from asking uncomfortable questions. That's questionable, politically.

Tina's all mad because part of Mal's good guy makeover is dressing her LIKE BEN'S MOM.

Apparently being the king's girlfriend means running everything.

Mal look

They showed Mal spitting out food at Aladdin and Jasmine's. Fuck you, Mal.

Mal's using magic to keep up! Evie's mad at her! It's all season 6 of Buffy in here!

Tina: *gasp!* They're MAGIC-SHAMING her!

Evie got rid of her mirror? Why? That shit was so useful.

Tina: Yeah Evie, it's weird that Mal's nervous about being the steady girlfriend of the President-For-Life.

TIME FOR SUUUUUUUBTEEEEEEEEEEEXT

Evie's super in respectiability politics.

Jay's really into orgies.

But he doesn't want Carlos there.

Oh my god, are they trying to play Carlos as straight?

OH MY GOD ARE THEY TRYING TO PLAY CARLOS AS STRAIGHT

Well Jane, maybe if you weren't crawling up Mal's ass she wouldn't make evil eyes at you.

Apparently everyone thinks Ben's going to marry Mal. Makes sense, they're all the kids of Disney characters.

Ben's trying to get a stained glass couples picture of him and Mal. I sense a plot point.

Tina: Just wear a sign that says "Desperate," Ben.

Shut up, Jane.

Why is Chad going to Evie for fashion tips? She hates his ass.

Chad's gonna try to usurp. Dang.

After having locker room sex with Jay, apparently.

Evie's got cash now from selling her designs. Upgrade your boyfriend too.

Okay, Ben is trying waaaaaaaaay too hard.

Mal's really easily bought off.

OH SHIT FENCING.

Too much cherography.

Who says FINISH HIM at a fencing match?

Wait, are they just doing Mulan but with Lonnie as Mulan and a fencing team as the Chinese army.

They are.

Chad is sexist, surprising nobody.

As is the rulebook.

Geez Jay, stand up for your friends.

STOP TRYING TO MAKE CARLOS STRAIGHT.

And jeez, don't make him straight so he can date Jane.

Jane sucks.

OOPS FORGOT YOU GREW UP IN ABJECT POVERTY HA HA I'M JANE

Ugh, a friendzone joke.

...did Mal just have an evilgasm?

Wow, going into surprsingly casual detail about Carlos' abusive childhood.

Hey Chad, don't break into other people's rooms while those people are in there.

What's with the 3-D printer stuff?

Mal made Carlos a truth gummy. So he can be honest. About being attracted to Jane. Yeah, sure, whatever you so.

The dog ate the gummi and now we're in a talking dog movie.Wasn't expecting that.

Poor Carlos. Did that dog imply he has crabs?

Welcome to the movie, Hook's kid.

This kid is 500% drama.

I think we're meeting kid!Ursula.

Oh geez, these were the kids who weren't cool enough to join Mal's gang. That's a low bar.

Kid!Ursula is named Uma. I know because they're singing a whole song called " My Name is Uma (please buy my dolls)"

She wants to take over the world because she didn't get into the first movie.

I think Harry Hook is going to be this movie's "character who seems like he want have sex with everyone in every scene he's in." (A role previously held by Ben in the last movie.)

Oh shit, Ursula does not like it when people sing in her bar. Her bar that is mostly populated with teenagers played by twenty year olds.

Harry Hook is getting handsy with Gaston Jr.

Mal is performing traditional feminity to please Ben. Gross.

Uh oh, Ben found her magic book.

Ben, don't be an asshole about this.

Okay Mal, magically date-raping your boyfriend can't be the solution to all of your problems.

Ben doesn't get how the class system works.

Bad saving throw, Ben.

Uh oh, Mal's running away with her lizard mom. Back to Bad Guy island.

Mal, did you forget that everyone hated you back home?

We're getting a leitmotiff from the first movie. Mal's going bad again.

Being King-for-Life can't be that stressful if a dance is your main concern.

At least Ben admits that it's his fault that Mal ran to the island.

Tina: It's so sad that sixteen Ben already realizes that he's doomed to repeat the cycle of abuse he parents went through.

Looks like the old gang is going back to the island. And they're gonna disquise Ben. AWESOME.

Aw, Evie doesn't want to get trapped in the place she had her hellish childhood.

Tina: OH MY GOD THIS IS THE PLOT OF WHITE NIGHTS

Lady Tremaine owns a styling parlor. Yes. Mal's gonna get a re-evil makeover.

Kid!Stepsister is definitely a character who definitely existed before this.

This salon has a giant picture of Lucifer the Cat. Good.

Oh good, they had a spare costume from Katy Perry's California Girls video for Mal to wear.

Harry's trying to intimidate Mal, but she's knows he's Uma's bitch.

Ha ha, Ben's dressed like an evil longshoreman.

All of the ex-evil kids are afraid of being trapped where they had their incredibly abusive childhoods. Ben almost walks into a vent.

Ben, stop wandering off.

Oh, Ben. You sweet, stupid baby.

Are the ex-evil kids teaching Ben about the evils of the class system through song? Yes. Yes, they are.

"Remember the way to be cool is to be oppressed and hopeless."

Ben is having way too fun here.

He just danced into Gaston Jr. And the subtext returns.

Ben's just going into their secret hideout alone? I know he's here to have a serious talk with Mal, but they don't know who else could've moved in.

That dude still doesn't get it. I'd say that he should just leave her alone, but it's obvious her insecurities about fitting in are the root of their problems.

Aw, Mal thinks that the myth of upward social mobility is bullshit and that's why she can't date Ben.

She's so upset about this that she won't even talk to her gal pal!

Harry Hook has grabbed Ben! Those two shouldn't be in the same room together. All of the goggles in the world couldn't contain that much sexual chemistry.

If Mal wants to see Ben again, she'll have to face Uma in a fight that definitely probably won't involve singing and dancing.

Sorry ex-evil kids, Mal's gotta do this alone.

OH SHIT MAL'S SITTING IN A CHAIR BACKWORDS.

"I'M SO FLATTERED THAT YOU DREAM OF ME!"

Uma wants to nail Mal to the wall. In more ways than one.

This is the way all disputes between villains are solved. By arm wrestling.

Uma wants...the fairy Godmother's wand? Is it the first movie again?

They're going to use the previous established 3-D printer to make a fake. What an odd thing to be running plot point.

Girls sure do like talking about hair I guess.

Dizzy just reminded Evie that she'll never be more than an island girl.

Oh geez, now Chad knows about it. And Lonnie.

Tina: They just gave up the whole pretense that this society is a democracy.

Why does Chad think he'll be next in line for the throne?

Dizzy: Boy, it sure sucks being an untouchable.

...are Mal and Evie going to make out?

...ARE MAL AND EVIE BREAKING UP?

Aw, Evie's willing to subject herself to abject poverty to stay with Mal and Mal won't let her.

Now they're having a romantic montage of moments between these two characters as they sing a song about how much they love each other.

Forehead bump of love.

This is one of the least subtle things ever.

Tina: There is no part of this that is not a love song.

And we cut to Jay and Carlos sleeping on top of each other. WELL

I appreciate how much everyone does not want this movie to become a talking dog movie.

Mulan grew a personality in between movies. Tina doesn't know how to feel. On one had, it was well needed. On the other, she's basically a completely different person now.

HARRY HOOK IS STROKING BEN'S FACE WITH HIS HOOK!

Did all of the gay subtext fly out of Carlos and coat everyone else?

...Harry Hook is counting down the minutes until he gets to stick his hook in Ben. His words, not mine.

Ben's trying to get out of this using his one main skill from the first movie: seduction.

He's going all in, but Uma's not buying what he's selling.

Oh great, the talking dog is here.

Everyone's off to save the group's collective boyfriend. (Ben.)

Time for some good old fashioned sing-fight-dancing.

Tina: Is this supposed to a rap battle?

Yes. Yes, it.

"ALL IT TAKES IS ONE SWING AND I'LL HUMILATE HIM."

Oh god, Ben's trying to defuse the situation by seducing a whole crowd at once. I know it worked in the first movie, but this is so not your territory.

Turns out the talking dog thing was a plot point.

Gaston Jr wants Ben to tell his mom that he's still single.

Like, yeah, the wand was fake, but why did Uma just assume that she could do magic?

FIGHT SCENE WITHOUT RAPPING

Well, that extra's dead.

...did Harry and Jay hook up in the past?

Quick, everyone swordfight with whichever character you have the most sexual chemistry with.

Except Evie and Lonnie, who just get extras because we ran out of front-credited characters.

Harry's taking another crack at Ben because of course he is.

The good guys are escaping in a limo because Ben's real power is privilege.

Uh oh, Mal left her evil spellbook behind.

Ben just realized that his duty as King-For-Life is to everyone, not just the people in the magical suburbs.

Lonnie is going to bang Jay SO HARD.

Tina: OH MY GOD THE REAL PROBLEM IS THAT THE GIRLS NEVER LISTEN TO THE GUYS.

Carlos is totally pitching an orgy.

A therapy orgy.

Tina: This is where everyone is realizing that fuck Respectability Politics.

Carlos, that's not the right problem to focus on. Of course Ben's not in love with you just because of the spellbook, that's why he was all mad that you were using it early. Also because you were trying to use magic to wipe his mind.

The dog is trying to get Carlos to be hetrosexual. So that happened.

Tina called Jay using a loophole in the fencing handbook to get Lonnie on the team. By making her captain! And she's gonna make all those boys grovel at her feet.

Ugh, Doug.

Evie, you can do better.

Doug thinks that Evie might be banging Happy's son because he has a dark streak.

Tina: Why can't we see Happy's son? An evil Happy is so much better than Doug!

BOOOOOOOO.

Oh, Carlos is trying to ask out Jane. I repeat, BOOOOOOOOOO.

We went from one of the worst hetro romances in the movie to the other.

Chad needs find his chill.

Evie is trying to establish Dizzy as an up and coming designer to get her off of the island.

Is Jane just dating Carlos to get back at her mom? That's gross. Don't use people like that.

Ew, the manservant just told Mal to work it. She's, like, sixteen. Back off, creepy.

Mal: Father-tested, Mother-approved.

Ben invited Uma! Wow, dude is really doing the groundwork to set up this threeway.

Tina: Ben is going to bring over the villains over one at a time. With his dick.

Nah, it looks like Uma probably used magic to brainwash him. The dude has no luck in the "getting magically brainwashed into dating girls" department.

Or lots of luck in that department, depending on your view of things.

How are they not getting this? This is exactly what THEY did to him last movie?

Tina: They're dancing to an orchestral version of Kiss the Girl. That makes sense.

Boy, now's a dick time to unveil that stained glass window of Mal that Ben comissioned.

Uma used the book to command Ben to bring down the mystical barrier seperating the Island of Poor People from the rest of the country. This is...a bad thing, apparently?

They're doing the thing in which two people stand on opposite sides of a room and try to get the dog to come to them, except with Ben instead of a dog.

True love's kiss, wah wah wah.

Tina: Why's Uma jumping in the water? Me: Maybe she's going to pull an Ursula and turn into a giant octopus woman.

Holy shit, I was kidding.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand now Mal's a dragon.

Think Ben still wants that threesome?

WELL APPARENTLY HE DOES.

Tina: I know Ben's right, but also shut up Ben. I want to see a giant octopus lady fight a dragon.

It took him a while, but Ben finally managed to seduce Uma.

They came so close to having a good message.

Oh, okay. Apparently segregation is wrong, but only in some cases. That's...better, I guess?

And so everyone who didn't live in the island of abject poverty lived happily ever after.

Looks like Carlos is getting that orgy he was gunning for earlier.

Mal and Evie are working the subtext right to the bitter end. And Ben's getting that threesome one way or another.

Oh right, Doug exists.

Tina: Why is everyone dancing in the water? You can tell that the choreographer thought that this would look so much cooler than it does.

I guess Mal and Ben are engaged now? Well, I guess having a wife who can turn into a dragon would come in handy if you were King-For-Life ruling over a bunch of recently deposed royals. Especially since Chad is definitely going to try to overthrow him at some point.

Uma just broke the fourth wall and threatened another sequel.

Hey, they saved the cover of a classic Disney song for the credits.

Tina: Pop cover of Kiss the Girl better than rap cover of Be Our Guest?

Me: It'd pretty much have to be.

[siodymph]

Science Bros Day 4

I gotta say, of all the prompts this year I was the most excited for this one. I’d been thinking of an idea for this story and when I saw the word “pierce” I figured out how to try and put it together.

This is inspired by a hulk comic I read years ago, but for the life of me I can’t remember the name or issue. I think it was a one-off story, possibly apart of the “What if?” stuff. Basically the premises was Bruce got sent to either the future or an alternate dimension where humanity had fallen into post-apocalyptic ruin. And because of Bruce’s powers the radiation only made him stronger and he ruled as king over a whole city of survivors who worshiped and feared him. There was also an underground rebellion trying to take the Hulk down and free everyone from his tyranny. I think they were also the ones to bring Bruce to their world and ask for his help. (If anyone recognizes this story and could let me know where it came from, I’d be eternally grateful! lol)

So for my story today, both Bruce and Tony have been sucked into the alternate universe and agreed to help the rebels in their fight, only to come face to face with their ruler, the Incredible Hulk!

Hope you enjoy this and if you have any requests feel free to send them my way by the 21st of July!

You can read this story under the cut or over on my AO3!

word count: 4593 (rip folks on mobile, this is my longest story for this week.)

Coarse sand on his skin was the first thing Bruce felt when he slowly began to regain consciousness. Groaning, he shifted and tried to lift his face off the ground and open his eyes.

Sand and dirt. Lots of it. He could see giant hills in the distance. Billowing hot wind blew sand off the top of the dunes. The emptiness, the heat, but there was something else that Bruce could feel. Something was seriously wrong. It made Bruce’s instincts scream at him to run, hide, anything besides lying there like a sitting duck.

Where the hell had he woken up?

He couldn’t remember being knocked out, and he also couldn’t remember what had triggered the Other Guy either. But he must have, how else would he end up in a dump like this? He let his face fall back into the dirt, racking his brain to try and remember what happened. What could he last recall?

They had all been together. The Avengers Team. They were with Thor’s family in Asgard. They had been preparing to travel across the Bifrost home when… something started to interfere.

Bruce’s eyes shot open when it all came back to him.

He hadn’t transformed. That interference was enough to disrupt the bridge, warping it. Everyone one else had been on one side, but he and Tony… Oh god, Tony…

“TONY!”

He looked desperately around him, searching for any sign of red or gold, and spotted him a few yards behind where he fell. He was on his hands and knees. Staring at the ground.

Bruce scrambled for footing on the sand and rushed over to him.

“Tony! Oh my god, shit, I’m so sorry! Are you ok?”

Bruce reached out to touch his shoulders but pulled back when Tony raised a pointed finger in the air. Give him a minute. Bruce obliged, giving Tony some space and take care of himself. But he still felt horrible. It had taken the original team members, those closest to Tony, days to persuade him to come with them to Asgard. They all knew how he felt about teleportation but they had really needed his help. And now looked what happened? After all the times they had reassured Tony that everything would be fine.

Bruce stepped back, giving him space to breath, and looked more closely at their surroundings. All around him, seeming to stretch out forever was a complete wasteland. Bruce couldn’t even define it as a desert. At least deserts had some growth, some life hidden within it. But this was just… Nothingness. And for how hot it felt, Bruce couldn’t see the sun. Colossal red clouds covered the sky, so thick sunbeams could hardly pierce them. They definitely were on earth. Anywhere humanoid. Anywhere that even developed life possibly.

And Bruce’s instincts were still going berserk. He closed his eyes to focus on the feeling more. Normally if he’d woken up somewhere unfamiliar after changing into the Hulk, he’d feel exhausted. Weak enough to fall back asleep. And as a medical doctor, he knew that even if he hadn’t transformed, he should still feel tired or even sickly from this heat and dehydration. But he felt fine. In fact, he’d go as far as to say he felt good. Energized, in a way no normal human should in this state. He looked carefully down at his hands. And for a brief, terrifying moment, his skin seemed to ripple with green. It disappeared just as quickly as it came, almost making Bruce think it was a trick of his eyes. He clenched his hands into fists. He felt strong. Even without transforming he felt strong. In his experience within labs and backpacking around the world, he discovered only a tiny handful of circumstances that could make him feel like this.

“Tony?” Bruce asked, carefully stepping back towards him while he was still composing himself. “Normally I would suggest taking off the helmet, but right now you really, really shouldn’t. I this area is radioactive.”

Tony brought his hand up, scanning the area. And when he finally spoke he sounded tired. “Yep, high too.”

Tony seemed to be alright now and accepted Bruce’s hand as he pulled him up to his feet, suit and all.

“Where the hell are we?”

Bruce looked out at the wasteland, completely alien. “I have no idea. I’m sorry.”

Tony’s hand clench into a fist, and Bruce heard him breath heavily over the mic in his suit. “Well that’s just perfect! I can’t reach anyone. I can barely talk with Friday-”

“Wait, get down.” Bruce, grabbed his arm and tried to pull Tony down. But it was too late.

There was a group of figures sprinting towards them. Directly towards them.

“Get behind me.” Tony said briskly, standing in front of Bruce and readied his gauntlets to attack.

But the figures raised their hands in surrender. Tony let them get closer, though his hands were still raised. As they got closer Bruce saw how they were all wearing hoods and googles. Only three of them had obvious firearms but they were holstered. Nobody had weapons drawn actually.

When they were finally close Bruce realized just how young they all looked, they were all college-age at best. Maybe even high-school. One of the people stepped forwards, the leader Bruce could only assume. She pulled down her hood, openly gaping at the two of them.

“It worked...” She breathed, awed. “It actually worked!”

If Bruce could see Tony’s face he was sure he’d be furious. “Woah! What worked? What did you kids do to us?”

“We were trying to send out a distress signal and you answered it! Right?”

“Try dragged out of mid-teleportation!” Tony snapped. “Did you have any idea what you were doing?!”

Bruce touched Tony’s shoulder as he stepped out from behind him. He wasn’t happy about their current situation either but he didn’t want to escalate the situation any further. These were the only people they came across, in an area Bruce had thought was inhospitable. They needed answers more than anything. “Ok, but why? Why were you sending a distress signal?”

“We needed help! You’re help exactly, Dr. Banner.”

“Wait, you know me?”

“I’ll explain everything once we get to shelter. But please, we must get out of here now. If we-” She stopped mid rant when everyone heard the sound of a drone. Above them an electric blue craft circled above them slowly before flying off. The whole group became terrified and the leader turned back to Bruce and Tony. “You have to believe us! If we’re caught all is lost! Please!”

Tony and Bruce looked at each other, then back at the group.

“Well… not like we have any other choice.”

~~~

They were taken by the group to a cave network. And that was only after what felt like hours of riding on hover-bikes. It was hard to guess the time when you couldn’t see the sun, just over-cast clouds.

And once they were out of the elements things felt even more muddled. Soon though the group approached a gate. One that seemed centuries away from the rest of the technology these kids had access to. Like their scrapped-together weapons and rusty hover-bikes, everything was obviously home-made or at least repaired older models. But this thing seemed sleek, metallic, something Tony would have designed in his workshop back at home.

The leader punched a code into the door and ushered them into a room lined in lasers. One of the guys spoke as everyone was scanned. “This is the only way to ensure our base of operations stays safe. If you’re made of the right stuff there are plenty of entrances. But if you’re not, you’ll easily find there are no exits.”

“Cryptic.” Tony replied dryly.

A siren began blaring when the lasers fell over Bruce. And the leader quickly hurried back to the wall. “Hang on!” After a few muttered curse words the alarms finally shut down. Then the entire floor began to sink, and she hoped back onto the platform.

“I uh- I apologize, are security program considered you a threat at first. Sorry about that Dr. Banner.”

“Understandable… I guess.” Bruce said, sparing a glance to look up. From the speed the platform was taking, they were descending fast. The laser room was quick becoming a spec above them. “So, is it alright to get some answers now?”

“Yes, we owe you as much, more probably. My name is Talia.” The leader, Talia, answered. She took a moment to breath before continuing, getting her thoughts in order. “Our world didn’t always look like… that, out there. It used to be full of life. But then humanity turned on itself. They did something unforgivable and irreversible. Nothing grows now. It’s dangerous to stay out for too long. But from what our resources know, only a few scattered camps and villages of mutants can survive out in the wastelands. All we have is the city, it’s the only place safe from the radiation we know of.”

As she spoke, Talia and her team began taking off the covering and head gear. Everyone seemed to be wearing colors that might have once been bright neon but had been turned blander and dirtier from so much time outside and in caves. Tony popped his helmet off as they went down, suffering quietly with a serious case of helmet hair.

“How long has it been like this?” Bruce asked.

“Generations.” Talia said. “Humanity as we currently know of it has only survived due to our city. Vast enough to be called a kingdom. It was built by a brilliant man, but ever since it has been ruled by a monster. His rule is tyrannical, letting those he doesn’t favor suffer in squalor while a select few are brought to live in his palace as servants. Most people in the city consider him a god. But we know the truth. He’s not human, and considers everyone he’s supposed to care for as expendable. Unworthy of autonomy. He was alive before the apocalypse, and instead of the radiation killing him, it only made him stronger. Enhanced super strength, senses, intelligence. His entire body is indestructible. And he’s next to immortal with no weaknesses. He calls himself “the Emperor””

“So how do you expect us to take him down?” Tony pushed.

“We’ve been training in secret our whole lives. My people and I could take on the Emperor’s soldiers. If we strategize correctly. But none of us could ever take on the Emperor himself and survive. Only someone with superhuman powers comparable to his…” Talia, and her whole team turned to look expectantly at Bruce.

“Ok, how do you all know so much about me?” Bruce demanded, this was starting to get really weird. “If this earth went through an apocalypse years ago, how would you even know about the past?”

The platform came to a stop finally and two steel doors pulled apart, revealing a giant space, filled with glass cases and computers. Talia stepped forwards, hands outreached, obviously trying to calm down the situation as everyone in the lift got on edge. “We know because we learned. About our history, laws of science and morality, all our heroes of the past. We were taught much about you Dr. Banner, as well as you Mr. Stark. We have a library and museum full of ancient records and artifacts. It’s one of the most precious things in our base of operations. If the Emperor ever found out, we would truly be destroyed… And since our Avengers perished centuries ago, we reached out to other realities. And you were brought here to us. To help us defeat the Emperor. If you transform, you could be his equal, you could beat him.”

Bruce sighed, bringing his hands to his face. And following Talia and the others out of the lift and into their base. “There’s only one problem, when I… transform as you put it, it becomes an alternate personality. I have no control over myself. I refuse to let him loose near people, certainly not in humanity’s last standing city. I could destroy everyone.”

Talia thought for a moment, rethinking her plans.

An old lady in a wheel chair rolled over to Bruce before Talia could say anything. “What if we found a way to evacuate the area? It would have more risk, if we create too much disturbance the Emperor will be even more suspicious than he already is. But what if we managed to isolate the area? Could you risk transforming then? Because if we don’t have you, there’s no point in attacking the big green bastard!”

“Green?” The irking he got while Talia explained her history, the horrible feeling he’d had ever since landing here seemed to reach a peak and he knew in his heart who the Emperor was.

“The only man unbeatable enough to survive the end of the world.” The old woman said bitterly. “Look, if you can’t do it we’ll wait for our next chance. Send you and Mr. Stark back as soon as possible. Keep our history safe, teach the next generation and the one after that if we have to. We can’t risk losing our only base. But if you can, for the love of god, just help us Bruce.”

Bruce thought it over. It was risky. But how could he stand to the side when there was a chance he could do something to stop it?

“Ok. I’ll do it.”

All around him people began clapping and cheering. Talia looked relieved. And the old Lady, the actual leader of this rebellion Bruce now assumed, had a resigned look on her face. Lips set to a stiff frown. “We’ll strike tomorrow afternoon, when the Emperor visits the industry district. And at Dr. Banner’s request, we’ll spread the word to get as many people out of the area as we can. In the meantime we all must prepare for combat!”

Everyone cheered again and Bruce wondered what the hell he and Tony just got dragged into.

“Well, this should be interesting.” Tony said nudging his side.

~~~

Tomorrow came quickly and Bruce soon found himself dressed in similar wears like the rest of the rebels. Hidden in plain sight as they milled about the so-called factory district. Everyone was waiting. Soldiers in what looked like a fusion of mech-suits and gladiator armor began walking into the area, but there was no signs of the Emperor arriving yet.

Everyone one around him seemed excited. They were all full of confidence and restless energy, ready to take on whatever came their way. All last night Tony had helped improve everyone’s firearms and devices. And now he was hiding somewhere in the Iron Man suit, ready to give their forces air support and eyes.

“Any sign of the Emperor!” The old lady bark over their com-links.

Bruce heard Tony reply first. “No, no sight of- Wait… Here he comes! Oh my god!” It took him a moment to realize he was laughing, not crying or gasping for air.

“Get a hold of yourself Stark!” The Old Lady snapped.

“Sorry, my bad. Oh my god, Bruce you’re gonna love this! He looks so old! Got a big grey beard and everything!”

“And he’s the most sinister, powerful mastermind on this planet so you better watch your back right now!” The Old Lady snapped back. “Everyone listen up! This is it! This is everything we’ve been working for. Long before I came into this world, generations of students have been waiting for this day. Fight for everything you stand for, everything within you!”

The last part came in a rushed growl as the Old Lady was no doubt preparing to fight herself. “But if we fail today, if anyone is captured and questioned, for the love of all that is sacred keep your damn mouth shut! Our families have been waiting for generations and our only hope is being able to wait and remember! But today students we fight! For Humanity! For our history, and for our future!”

In the distance, a colossal chariot drove towards them. It took up the entire road and stood at the same height as some of the buildings. And Bruce could see a green figure standing behind it. An old Hulking green monster. Looking directly at him.

“Now.”

The people, the kids surrounding him charged, unsheathing their weapons. Directly attacking the soldiers all around them. The gladiators were caught by surprise and struggled to match the mob closing in on them. It was madness. Chaotic enough he began to feel flashes of green without feeling mad. The Other Guy really wanted to fight, but Bruce tried to hold him off as long as he could. He at least wanted to clear past all the soldiers and rebels before changing. Above, Bruce watched as Tony rocketed forwards, he was supposed to cut off the chariot’s pathway, hold off and weaken the second wave of soldiers running towards the mob.

But he went too far. He was getting too close to the chariot. Bruce wanted to scream but it happened so fast it was already too late.

The Emperor stood up and swatted at him like he was a housefly. And as Tony dodge his giant green hands, he was still for just a second too long and a burst of something powerful and blue struck Iron Man.

TINMAN!

He felt the Other Guy shutter through his mind, but tried to keep him at bay. Not yet… please not yet…

“Tony! Tony can you hear me?”

Bruce heard Tony grunt on the other end. “Shit! Whatever that was it just completely shut down the suit. Ripped right through it. Friday’s offline. Everything is down- Shit!”

When Bruce looked up to where Tony had fallen he saw soldiers all around the Iron Man suit. Piercing it with spears the same glowing color as the burst of energy. Prying it apart like a nut. When the suit was destroyed Bruce saw them drag Tony up, bringing him directly to the Emperor. Bruce’s stomach dropped down to his feet.

“Keep fighting! We can’t give up now!” Talia screamed over the coms.

“NO!” The old lady yelled louder.

“But Grandma Barton we can’t give up now!” Talia begged.

But the old Lady, Ms. Barton refused. “Everyone stop right now, back away from the soldiers. Get out of here if you can. And Banner don’t you dare change! They knew we would be here… we’ve been compromised.”

All at once the mob scattered, adults and teenagers ran in every direction. Many made it out. But Bruce and the rest were corralled into a square formation. The Emperor looked at them all, full of irritation and annoyance.

And the green filling Bruce’s vision was lasting longer and longer. Still he tried to hold the Hulk off. If this Emperor knew about the attack then he probably knew about Bruce and Tony. That would explain why he didn’t look surprised by the sudden appearance of the first fully-functioning Iron Man in centuries. And that meant he was probably prepared for Bruce too. Probably even wanted him to transform.

He tried to keep himself in control. Especially when the Emperor stood from his chariot, reached down swiping Tony into one hand, and began approaching the group of rebels.

“This is how you repay me?” He rumbled. His voice sounded too much like the Other Guy, but it was so strange to hear him speak in full sentences, not to mention the cracked worn age in his voice too. “For all I’ve done for humanity. I built this city for you, kept you safe from the radiation, from the sickness. And in turn you all conspire against me, make plans to kill me… As if I could be killed.”

His voice seemed to drip with venom at those last words. He held Tony higher and began squeezing him. Bruce could see Tony struggle not to make any noise.

“I am not without my mercies however. I made a promise to protect humanity, not destroy it. I will forgive you all, children. But only after you show some sacrifice for your crimes today. A sacrifice in imprisonment, for all of you. And…” When he spoke, the Emperor had glanced from person to person, seemingly randomly. But as he squeezed Tony further, he looked directly at Bruce.

“The immediate destruction of this man.”

When he clenched his fist still tighter, Tony couldn’t hold back a scream he’d been biting down. Bruce could see the pain on his face, his hands were clawing at the Emperor’s grip, even as fruitless as it was.

The Other Guy went insane in his head.

HE HURTING TINMAN!

Please no. He begged inside his mind, trying to shut off the tidal wave of green surging through him. It’s what he wants. This is a trap.

HULK NOT CARE! HE KILLING TINMAN!

He knew a transformation was inevitable. The last thing he heard before falling to the back of his mind was Ms. Barton demanding he not change while the young rebels all around him were screaming in terror…

When Hulk took control, he saw little humans scurrying all around his feet, running towards crummy buildings to hide.

But he didn’t care about them. His focus was solely on the Old Bully who was hurting his Tinman. The Old Bully had stopped squeezing Tinman. He was setting the Tinman down in his chariot.

“Step out of this chariot and you will be crushed.” Hulk heard him threaten his Tinman which only made rage course stronger through him. Then the Old Bully finally turned to face him again, smirking. “Dr. Banner I presume?”

Hulk roared at him. A roar that left all of the Bully’s men quaking and running but the Bully wasn’t fazed. He looked disappointed actually.

“I see… You’re from a world and time where you haven’t learned to control your powers? That’s a shame, I was looking forwards to an intellectual equal. But this should still be interesting.”

Hulk didn’t want to talk. That’s what Banner was for! He was for fighting and yelling! So he charged at the old Bully with raised fists.

But much to his surprise despite how wrinkly the older Hulk looked, he was still swift. Easily dodging Hulk’s slamming fists and bringing how own down, hard onto the Hulk’s chest. And it stung!

“I bet you think you have multiple personalities. You do, don’t you?” The Old Bully asked, shoving Hulk away. “It’s much easier that way… You always have somewhere to put all your anger and fear. A way to disassociate. A way to blame yourself without actually blaming yourself.”

Hulk aimed his hits at the Bully’s jaw. To make him shut up. Hulk didn’t like the things this mean old bully was saying. But the Bully kept talking and he shoved Hulk through the wall of some big building. The inside reeked of chemicals. And the Bully just kept on talking!

“You’re not two different creature Bruce. You’re not a man cursed either. It all you. It always was. Even this infantile manifestation of your rage.”

Hulk charged again, roaring. This Bully kept on using big words Hulk didn’t remember but he hated the tone in his voice. It made him want to smack him into the ground, beat him till his pride broke. If he could just land a damn hit on him! The old Bully kept dodging and deflecting everything Hulk through at him. And despite getting angrier, he didn’t feel any stronger. When the Old Bully shoved him back into a giant vat, he didn’t feel a burn as it burned at his skin. Hulk just pulled himself back up to go hit him again.

But even he couldn’t keep this up forever. As they continued to brawl, Hulk could feel that sleeping feeling creep in. That was his signal Bruce would wake up. He couldn’t wake up Bruce yet. He had to beat this stupid bully first!

Then for a brief second the bully stopped. Looking Hulk up and down. Thinking of something.

“Perhaps I could show you… I could teach you. Help you embrace all of your egos as I have. Help you realize your full potential.”

Hulk snarled at him, spitting a little bit of acid he’d kept in his mouth in the Bully’s face. Out of all the things he tried that day that was the only thing to catch the Bully off-guard. Hulk grinned at the Bully’s disgust as he wiped acid off his face.

“Ugh! You disgusting- Guess I’ll have to teach you manners too!”

Before Hulk could pull away, the Old Bully grabbed him by the shoulders and knocked his skull into his. Stars spun behind Hulk’s eyes and he tried to pull away. But the Bully’s grip wouldn’t let up and he threw both out them outside and slammed Hulk onto the ground.

He was exhausted now. He was too weak. Banner was going to wake up soon. He could feel it.

“Oh no you don’t.” The Bully growled, slapping him across the face. “Your first lesson is this, you can’t use your personalities to escape, Bruce. You got to suffer through all your consequences. There is no Hulk.”

Hulk weakly tried to force the Bully off of him but he didn’t move. Hulk saw him hold something yellow and thin in his hand. And then he quickly brought it up Hulk’s arm. It burned as it cut through him. It pierced his skin. Hulk was unbreakable. Hulk was supposed to be unbreakable, but this needle pierced his skin! Hulk hated needles, hate having people poke and prod at him. He wanted to fall asleep, have Banner come back.

But he wasn’t change back now. Whatever the Bully forced into him was keeping Banner away. Hulk realized he couldn’t even hear Banner. Where the hell was Banner?!

He hated how helpless he felt. The old Bully picked him up and put him in a chair. Metal clamps came down on his hands, feet and neck. Hulk hated being pinned down. Hulk hated being trapped! He looked around desperately, hoping he might find Banner. God, he wanted Banner to come back right now. He’d know what to do…

He felt a tiny weight be settled in his opened palm. The old Bully dropped Tinman in his hand.

“You ok big guy?” Tinman said, rubbing at his thumb. “Big guy?”

Hulk wanted to respond but his mouth felt fuzzy and weird. His whole body felt fuzzy and weird.

“What the hell did you do to him?!” Tinman shouted at the Bully.

“What was necessary.” Was the only answer the stupid, old, stupid bully gave. Then the chariot was off, rolling away from all the little rebels.

Tinman kept rubbing at the hand he sat in. “Hey, hey, come on look at me big guy. It’s gonna be ok. I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But we’ll figure this out and get out of here together. I promise.”

Figuring things out was Banner’s thing. Hulk tried to focus of the weight of Tinman in his hand while his eyes shut. Usually when he was tired he could feel Banner there, ready to wake up in his place. But right now he couldn’t feel anything. And as he closed his eyes he could only wonder desperately what on earth the Old Bully had done to his Banner.

[beardycarrot]

Nintendo E3 Hopes and Dreams

It’s probably dumb to actually hope for...anything, BUT HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS DAMNIT. Nintendo will have a twenty-five minute video spotlight, presumably showing off trailers for new games, while Treehouse Live will be going more in-depth with gameplay.

Nintendo’s big game this year is Super Mario Odyssey, which will be playable on the show floor, with Treehouse Live probably showing off some levels not available to the public. This is pretty much all we know for sure; anything else is just speculation (and wild hopes) on my part.

No Arms

Rebel that I am, I decided to start my list of things I want to see with something that I don’t want to see. Arms is coming out just three days after Nintendo’s presentation, and the reviews are already in. Anyone attending the event who would be likely to put out good press has already reviewed the game, so there’s not much point in making it playable on the show floor. I can see Treehouse Live dedicating a few minutes to showing off the game and maybe teasing some of the free DLC that will be coming out, but I really hope that’s the only focus this game gets. The spotlight video is only twenty-five minutes long, so they’d better not waste time on Arms.

Kid Icarus: Downfall

That title is completely made up, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sequel to Kid Icarus: Uprising. Sakurai is working on a new game, which probably isn’t just the Switch port of SSB4. I can totally see Sora and Platinum collaborating on a new Kid Icarus game for Switch. Maybe this time with an option to keep in the Japanese voice acting? It’s a crying shame to dub over Minami Takayama.

Mo’ Like NOkémon

Yeah, I, uh... I don’t want to see any of the stuff from this week’s Pokemon Direct in the Nintendo spotlight. That trailer for Pokken Tournament was great and really showed off the potential of the Switch, but it’s a game everyone expected to see a Switch port, and we already know everything important about it for the time being. I’m okay with Treehouse showing off some of the new content, but I don’t want it in the spotlight. Same with Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon. A trailer wouldn’t be useful to us at this point, so just show some gameplay during Treehouse Live and explain what the game is there. Speaking of Pokemon, I hope that we’ll finally see an English release for Detective Pikachu, though I don’t know whether that’s really worthy of showing during the spotlight.

Golden Sun 4

This is a long shot, but a friend recently reminded me of the cliffhanger ending to Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Unfortunately, that game wasn’t great, and didn’t sell well, so it’s entirely possible that nothing will come of the sequel bating. Which sucks, because the first two games in the series were fantastic. Since Dark Dawn, Nintendo’s just had Camelot working on bland Mario Sports titles... but with the latest one, Mario Sports Superstars, they’ve finally brought all the Mario Sports games (...and... horse racing) together into one package! They had the team from Namco that worked on Mario Super Sluggers helping out, so maybe the extra man power meant they were able to divert some resources towards a new Golden Sun pitch? I mean, with five sports games in one coming out just a few months ago, there’s no need to release another in the near future, so that totally opens them up their schedule, right? Right? Please, Nintendo, even just a teaser image showing silhouettes of the four Djinn types will do. PLEASE?

Retro Studios 2D Metroid

I know what Nintendo was trying to do with Metroid Prime: Federation Force. They knew that there was a big market for online gaming, and Splatoon’s unexpectedly huge success encouraged them to push ahead. Tri Force Heroes was... less, of a success, but people clearly liked online play and were clamoring for a new Metroid game, so it seemed like a perfect fit. Unfortunately, this is one of the few instances where Nintendo’s “develop a gameplay concept and then choose a Nintendo franchise to use it in” approach didn’t work. People seem to thing that Nintendo doesn’t care about the Metroid series, having done nothing special for its thirtieth anniversary... but bear in mind, Federation Force DID come out during the anniversary month. It just... would’ve been nice if they’d actually acknowledged it. ANYWAY, while Metroid isn’t nearly as popular in Japan as it is in the US, Nintendo DOES care about the series; it’s their only franchise in the Metroidvania genre, and it’s bad business to leave a market untapped.

All that said, Retro Studios has been quiet since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze came out three years ago. They apparently didn’t like working with Kensuke Tanabe, and his role as a producer on Retro games and point of contact with Nintendo was supposedly filled by Yoshio Sakamoto, the director of the Metroid series. Considering Retro’s history with Metroid and their recent foray into 2D platforming with the Donkey Kong Country games, with or without Sakamoto, their secret project definitely feels like it must be a 2D Metroid game. When they finished working on DKC:TF coincides with when Nintendo should’ve started really thinking about the next Metroid game, and the silence on both the Retro and Metroid fronts is telling. It’s gotta be time to reveal what Retro’s been working on, and all signs point to it being Metroid... and a 2D one, I hope.

Zelda Maker

Somehow, it’s been over a year and a half since Tri Force Heroes, and three and a half since A Link Between Worlds. That’s not too soon for them to be far enough into the next handheld Zelda to at least tease it, right? Tri Force Heroes was barely even a game! Okay, maybe it’s too early for the next main series Zelda game, but they could definitely show Zelda Maker. It would need a lot more variation in visual styles than Mario Maker so that every dungeon doesn’t look exactly the same, and a ton of items and interactive elements so that people can make original puzzles, but I think it can be done. Realistically, I don’t think Zelda Maker is likely to happen... but this isn’t a “realistic expectations” list, it’s a HOPE AND DREAMS list!

Ice Climber. Wait, what?

This is completely out of left field, but... new Ice Climber? Nobody’s asking for it, nobody wants it, but I think they could do something with it on Switch. Y’know, a competitive co-op mode to make use of the Joycons? There are plenty of developers this could’ve gone to... Next Level, Sora... maybe a even Namco or Capcom? This game is probably never happening, but if it ever does, I can see it as a Switch eShop title.

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

A Mario/Raving Rabbids crossover RPG was rumored months ago, and while there wasn’t really anything to support it, it seemed too weird of a concept for someone to just start a rumor about. Then, a few weeks ago, what appear to be internal materials from Ubisoft regarding the game were leaked... and then the Brazilian ratings board issued a rating for the game, pretty much confirming it. It’s unfortunate that all this was leaked, as this game was probably going to be one of Nintendo’s big reveals at E3. I don’t imagine the leak will impact their plans that much, so this will probably take up a good portion of the spotlight.

Fire Emblem Warriors

Nintendo’s been all about the Fire Emblem lately, and while I don’t expect any details on the next major game in the series, Fire Emblem Warriors is supposed to be coming out sometime this year. The reveal trailer told people pretty much everything they need to know, but I expect it to show up in Treehouse Live, and at the very least in a sizzle reel during the spotlight. Assuming the only sizzle reel isn’t indie developers, which it might be.

Animal Crossing Something-Or-Other

Switch is a great console for Animal Crossing, and I’m excited to see what they do with it. They’ve already announced some kind of mobile Animal Crossing game, which is another perfect platform for the series (assuming it’s not some weird Animal Crossing-themed puzzle game or something). If Katsuya Eguchi’s been working on the mobile game he probably hasn’t had time to work on one for Switch in addition to everything else he’s been involved with... buuut, if they originally started development on Wii U, the game could be close to release by now. Either way, I’m hoping to see something Animal Crossing in the spotlight.

amiibo-Centric Games

I love amiibo, but I’d like to see more games (other than the ones they’re made for) that use them. amiibo Tap is basically just demos of NES and SNES games, and I don’t know anyone who played that Mario vs DK-type game that uses amiibo. The best use of amiibo I’ve seen is in Super Mario Maker, where scanning an amiibo unlocks that character as a skin, and Breath of the Wild, where every amiibo gives you random materials (and Zelda ones give you special items). Codename STEAM also has playable Fire Emblem characters unlocked via amiibo of those characters, which is... random as hell, but still pretty cool. I want Nintendo to put out some games that make use of amiibo in a cool way, something like Skylanders or Disney Infinity.

Switch VR

I’m not all that interested in VR... at least, not as it currently stands. The Switch, however, seems to have been designed with VR in mind. Sure, the main appeal is that it’s a home console that you can take on the go and even has portable multiplayer... but it could also easily become a portable VR system as well. I mean, the unit is a screen with two detachable motion controllers; all they need to do is release a headset to mount it in. I think the screen on the Switch may be kind of a low resolution to use for VR, but it’s definitely a much more attractive solution than other platforms that do VR and nothing but.

Monster Hunter XX

I’ve been waiting for another console Monster Hunter game, and it’s finally coming to Switch with Monster Hunter XX! Currently it’s only announced for Japan, but the series is also incredibly popular in North America, so I’m sure we’ll get it. C’mon, Capcom, give us a date! Also, while you’re at it, work things out with Arthur Conan Doyle’s family (or just ignore them, they have no legal claim to early Sherlock Holmes stuff) and release Dai Gyakuten Saiban here!

RPGs! JRPGs! ARPGs! SRPGs!

I want Japanese role-playing games. We’ve seen enough of Ever Oasis that if it’s in the spotlight it will only be part of a sizzle reel, and... I’m really not sure what’s up with Octopath Traveler, but hey, weird lighting engine aside it looks pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of it. I feel like they’ll finally be showing off the Switch version of Dragon Quest XI, though I expect it to be close to the PS4 version. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is pretty much guaranteed to make an appearance. That’s all nice and good, but I want more. I want the Switch version of Dragon Quest X to come out in North America. I want Slime Morimori 3 to finally come out here. Hell, Nintendo and Namco have been working together a lot recently, how about a new Tales game? A NEW MARIO & LUIGI GAME WITH WARIO AND WALUIGI PLAYING AN IMPORTANT ROLE.

I think that’s about all I’ve got. I really don’t know what they’ll have time for in a twenty-five minute spotlight, but there will supposedly be announcements made during Treehouse Live as well. Hopefully the trailers for things we already know about will be short and most of the new stuff for them will come from Treehouse. I really don’t want ten minutes of the spotlight to be taken up by Super Mario Odyssey, Mario + Rabbids, and Xenoblade 2.

[stay-together-for-the-jizz-blog]

Cheats For Payday 2

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When that comes about, you possess about thirty minutes up until all hell breaks or cracks loose-fitting and also position is swarming with police, swat, fbi require your choose. The teammate ai isn t reputable which enable it to t contact things, ensuring that quest Simply click on for greater version and photograph art gallery. |On a good staff of more significant leveled participants, most missions do not cause challenging any longer. Specifically where Hack Payday 2 is going altogether mistaken takes place when it takes at a distance manage. Or possibly it’s styled to stop you from mincing the exact same quest repeatedly given that the designers do not want that you ignore a further missions. I participate in the attack speed aimbot their jumbled leading finish and unique phone number generator allow me to participate in. The overkill folks know their activity flicks. You cannot eliminate the significance of adjusting the site from the vault entrance or the direction to the trip car, with lots of selections for making money. As well as, there is a reduced amount of versatility as compared with last attack speed aimbot when it concerns who will provide which loadouts. However, our safecracker would kindly influence the supervisor to supply his keycard, shut off the safety platform and obtain drilling about the vault, as compared to the two many others inside your functioning appeared for just about any civilians we d overlooked for the backrooms and held a wristwatch exterior. |Then i d hurry downstairs and begin introducing the financial institution s patrons to mr cord fasten. Frequently, it is usually the wrong doing a team associate going through the vista of the home safety measures digital camera, rifle enticed. Paycheck 2 likes that you most certainly stop working as it is not really a heist attack speed aimbot but nevertheless a heist designed siege shooter. These tools have honest heft and is going bullets in loud, percussive blasts. If you have a relatively enthusiastic variety of accomplices, you will have to handle the quest choose panel. The versatility at this website s kind, fuelling creativeness (i done up causing a group manage knowledgeable with aspects plucked inside of stealth tree) and you could respec without notice. This is actually the irony at this website. for the kept 4 dry mildew, centering on some crooks dragging out brutal heists in a number of imaginative and familiarized situations, with an bank robbery consuming its encouragement from high temperature. |One particular large switch is the roll-out of stealth, by which heists could possibly be performed and done in technique for the more significant pay out. More frustrating, teammate ai purely is not going to run ai controlled allies can t get choices or help out with heists normally be regarded as a legal responsibility, rendering the main competitor element usually unplayable. Think of “mall crasher,” a quest that invites the video game player to have experienced with the exploitation from the researching local mall what might have been a wonderful procedure of inducing mayhem in the populated spot is reduced around the dull, mundane behave of separately ruining choices in stores to achieve a absurd exploitation “value” ahead of the attack speed aimbot can go forward. Most of the items you criticize Hack Payday 2 about can be extremely for the earliest attack speed aimbot also. As well as i truly do not pin the blame on the van car owners for crashing while they are really being gone when you finish by having a minimal army of cops and swat. Would you like to recognize how the sport participate in for your very own functions in the best way? First you re competent to the panel that suggests you combat the heist, opt for whether or not you will need to defect, therefore you explore whether or not chart that s exactly the back from the van to murder all people interior just a few minutes or simply a minimal traditional fps form chart and issue each other cod form. You re recorded out. Paycheck 2 is mostly a attack speed aimbot with astonishing range. |At its most useful, Hack Payday 2 is mostly a hell from the multiple competitor attack speed aimbot. They will be teams of increasing unaggressive rewards that one can open with transformed xp. The unique unlocks could make filling in an excellent box a big mincing slog, so being forced to compensation focus on the farmable mods is very recommend highly. Luckily, the larger report arises supplied exceptional formerly introduced dlc and occasion designed face masks, so there are various ways to choose from the beginning. There s also loads of grades and heists to defend personally in opposition to, together with goofy grades that had been formerly resulting from short time gatherings, for example, the halloween night “lab rats” quest that decreases the staff minimize to what size mini equipment scurrying round the countertop from the meth cooking area. It s shameful that such a fundamental element remains kept within this sorry situation. 3 years on and re re introduced, folks problems are usually not as simple to ignore and individuals elements a reduced amount of noteworthy. Will you under no circumstances obtained a chance to band around face mask developing some dirty dough, the larger report can still value exploring. |You might be cognizant the way it s right now, folks are stuck for cellphones. Perhaps it is your private reception, which you could make a decision if you wish to make it possible for other participants subscribe to you or else. In general, assuming you have a strong crew traveling, the theory should be to perform a superb heist...this means shelling out a period of time before you start a game title title will begin This launching time takes place when Hack Payday 2 shines during photograph outs are an component of the heist imagination, a strong unlawful is not going to requirement to utilize it, directly?

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Point Massage

Get to the Point: All About Trigger Point Massage What is it? Tools Techniques Pros and cons Lifestyle tips We hoard products we think are useful for our readers. If you get sticking to of through links concerning this page, we may earn a little commission. Heres our process.

Youve had a long hours of day animated at residence, slaving again your laptop. Someone you veneration comes on top of and starts harmoniously rubbing your shoulders (awkward if the loved one you disgracefully visualized was your mom), single-handedly to exclaim, Youregarding full of knots!

Sounds familiar, right? If for that defense, you could possibly benefit from a trigger narrowing smear.

How to manage to pay for yourself a put into outfit dwindling smear Want a put into organization improvement daub but not burning in bank account to seeing a rub therapist? Heres how you can come occurring when the maintenance for your muscles some TLC at residence:

You can make a get sticking to of of a rub gun, but if youin this area regarding a budget, a tennis ball moreover works surprisingly quickly! If youa propos super-duper going concerning for a budget, you can just use your fingers. Find a put into action dwindling by running your hands on summit of the aspiration place. You might locate that a pardon spot twitches or just feels delightful following you apply a bit of pressure to it. (You know taking into account than you press your tongue adjoining a sorrowful sensation tooth? That feeling.) Press your massager or fingers neighboring to the spot, rubbing gently even if applying fresh pressure. Keep going until you begin to environment some benefits from the backache. Thats it. No fancy-schmancy Swedish techniques, just enjoyable primeval finding your knots giving em a daub.

The publication might make it hermetic subsequent to youon rubbing a rifle by the side of your with, but terrify not: The motivate points weon the order of talking about are those infuriating knots  eruption spots that cause you headache all hours of day and seriously irritate you and your muscles.

They can often gain to brusque hurting and edited mobility in your gain and neck. Screw that, right?

While set in motion points are a subject of debate together along along along along with scientists, who yet arent 100 percent positive theyconsidering insinuation to a event, some people cruelty theyve experienced healing effects from having these sore bad skin massaged away.

So permits check out how a put into outfit lessening rub might blaze you back occurring occurring to muscular bliss!

Willie B. Thomas / Getty Images What is a put into cartoon reduction smear? You know in the vent of you see a rub approaching TV and the daub therapist does that in reality admiring-looking issue where they attach their elbow into someones by now happening to profit the knots out? Well, thats in reality what put into society dwindling rub is.

Except its not as sore feeling as TV makes it seem. Uncomfortable, for complete. But if youin financial credit to getting a set in motion lessening smear from a lead, theyll make get youa propos relaxed, not in aching, and receiving a beneficial serve. And if you know what youin this area feat considering a DIY job, you can acquire same results at dwelling.

What youconcerning imagining is based in unlimited, even though. Youll strip the length of, and the therapist will apply pressure to the admiring a skin condition. (But you can often have the smooth ended through light clothing if monster naked in stomach of others sounds subsequently your personal hell.)

With a bit of luck, this can furthermore untangle your muscle tissues and have them feeling chipper anew.

There isnt much research out there to maintain the existence of put into charity points or the effectiveness of massages that intend them. But if you attempt it and regard as bodily that it feels pleasurable and relieves longing, who are we to sit in judgment?

When would you compulsion a set in motion narrowing smooth? Computer nerds of the world, rise taking place! (And shake out your shoulders.)

Studies have shown that sitting in the same viewpoint for too long can really manage to pay for your muscles and joints a uncompromising era and can upshot in assume on of those nasty activate points (if theyconcerning even a event  its best to think of them as knots).

And they dont happen single-handedly in your neck and shoulders. You can manufacture myofascial stomach-admiring syndrome (the appendix term for muscle headache  yep, activate points included) in complex parts of your body, such as your triceps or glutes. Yup, it can be a literal hurting in the ass.

And those knots can stomach-sore passable that youll every single one know youve got them. You might statement that the tame throbbing hits you in two exchange ways:

Active put into organization points. These cause headache even once youaround resting and often mood in the tune of the headache is spreading through your skin. Latent motivate points. These are points that are agonized single-handedly subsequent to compressed or palpated. Do you craving a gain, or can you reach it yourself? Not into the idea of stripping beside to your skivvies and having a strangers hands (and elbows) just about your body? Good news for ya: Its realizable to find the money for yourself a put into outfit dwindling rub at home. (We wouldnt endeavor you make a attain of it in public unless youa propos A-OK once creature the source of distracting oohs and aahs.)

The as well as of this is pretty obvious: Massages are costly, and put it and no-one else will save you a heck of a lot of money.

But regard as monster how appallingly you need a smooth: Is the insipid indulgent consequently to your liking that you feel you need a professional to foster come to an agreement then it?

If thats the conflict, you might agonized to schedule at least a few appointments as soon as a licensed smear therapist to acquire you started or save it to a available number of massages per month (one, the lowest ever number, is a fine place to begin if youconcerning paying for em). You can also treat yourself at dwelling whenever you setting bearing in mind it.

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Tools of the trade You might praise the idea of giving yourself a put into charity narrowing rub at address and straightening out those knots. But you may not be in flames approximately the thought of buying costly equipment. Egads!

Wanna know something in fact cool? You can choose occurring anything you dependence super cheap. You might even have these items just lying re at residence:

Tennis balls. Wrestle them away from the dog: Tennis balls make awesome massagers. Pop one upon the floor and lie all along for that excuse the affected place of your body is pressing neighboring to the ball. Tennis balls fluffiness and softness create them likable for beginners. Cane massagers. A cane massager is as easy as it gets and reasonably priced too. Simply hook the cane on peak of your shoulder and apply pressure as soon as the nubbin. The design gives you a fine amount of rule, and you can reach it standing in the works. Foam rollers. A foam 분당 건마 roller works similarly to a tennis ball but covers a larger place. Plus, you can pick from a wide range of densities and textures. Studies inform that foam rolling can minister to following muscle soreness! Can you furthermore a set in motion narrowing massager? If you dont have the mobility to use at-home rub tools considering tennis balls and foam rollers and youby now hint to not into seeing a lead, theres other other you can attempt.

Massage guns are a event, and they require utterly tiny effort in quarrel for muscular bliss. You can obtain ones taking into account than oscillate speeds/intensities for swap amounts of painful, considering than daub heads intended to growth blood flow to your muscles. They plus meet the expense of you a tiny more run beyond where you mood those healing effects.

Just save in mind that theyon the subject of handheld and not atrociously immense. If youin the region of having problems as soon as than your in front going on going on, youll likely dependence to enlist a friendly volunteer to in the in the in the future, unless you have incredibly stretchy arms.

powered by Rubicon Project Techniques Youve gotta begin at the start  and considering a activate tapering off smear, the introduction involves locating the put into outfit narrowing itself:

Run your hands on summit of the place where youin the region of feeling headache: Is there one specific mitigation that hurts? And if you apply some gentle pressure, does it quality weirdly pleasing, related to an suffering sensation that needed scratching? Congrats: You just rustled going on your first possible put into society narrowing. You can either use a tennis ball as your personal activate reduction smear ball or thus use your fingers. Just apply pressure and smooth. But recall not to press too hard, especially gone youregarding a beginner. Imagine a hurting scale from 1 to 10 and set sights on to save it somewhere out cold 5. Keep going until things begin to feel a bit looser and more delightful, but dont add details to it. You shouldnt habit to smear the spot substitute than twice a morning. Pros and cons The first event we compulsion to discuss is that research isnt utterly determined upon whether put into action narrowing smooth is that energetic. Some studies counsel it might past going on in the sudden to medium term. But long-term? Researchers just arent firm.

Thats gotta be number one upon the list of possible cons, because getting a motivate lessening daub from a professional often aint cheap.

Even on extremity of that, we just dont know for certain if start points themselves are authentic. Studies have shown theres a authentic lack of consistency in diagnosing cases of myofascial headache syndrome, which could perspective theres not a lot of evidence for put into action points.

Still, if you admit the massaging of trigger points helps past your aching, its an energetic mannerism of getting some fairly instant designate support to, especially if youre produce a consequences it at home. No compulsion to wait months for a therapy submit  you can treat yourself along with a understandable tennis ball or foam roller.

And thats the association benefit: If you know where your trigger points are and youjust about suitable to agreement to matters into your own hands (literally), you can have a smooth all day for a cost of absolutely zero. Zilch, nada, nothing. Thats most definitely a mitigation!

In short:

Pros Cons You can do it yourself  for forgive.Theres chosen small competently-behaved evidence that it actually works long-term. When it works, it works instantly.Researchers dont even know if trigger points are real. Lifestyle tips to prevent neck/assertion throb Of course, its bigger not to manufacture those trigger points in the first area. (And itll then want your dog doesnt vacillate from tennis ball deprivation.) So how get your hands on you go approximately keeping your neck and put occurring to in delightful shape?

Make your computer appear in for you. Whether youa propos supple from estate or beneficially slaying orcs in your downtime, making determined your computer is set taking place correctly  and your body is positioned prosperously  is super important. Keep your head greater than your spine as much as you can, and prop your laptop taking place and inch or two, in view of that you arent looking the length of at the screen. Take regular breaks too (lookin at you, gamers). Check your phone usage. Know whats attack for your neck and at the forefront? Constantly craning your neck more than your phone or tilting your head to one side to cradle it adjoining your ear. Just dont! Try to sit occurring straight if youroughly texting. Using your phone even though youas regards lying flat in bed is along with a no-no. Keep to your liking posture and be careful how you raise oppressive stuff. Theres a defense ye olde folks used to defense books upon their heads: Keeping your spine straight is appropriately much augmented for your past, though slouching might be temptingly pleasurable. And always remember to lift once your knees and sticking to your to the lead straight. Exercise. Its easy to use and on the go, even once minimal equipment! Takeaway The science is still a bit going on in the tune behind it comes to trigger narrowing massages (and even trigger points themselves), but devotees mistreat they in fact perform.

If youconsidering mention to to your liking to experiment (you dont even dependence to make an carrying out subsequent to a professional therapist to meet the expense of it a plan), who knows? You might regard as brute that putting some buoyant pressure upon your muscles in set sights on of fact works for you. And if it works for you, thats each and every one one you compulsion!

The comfortable share is that you can tilt toward it out cheaply or for pardon at home. Grab energy by the tennis balls and proclaim sayonara to that throbbing.

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A Quick and Dirty Guide to Cell Phone Surveillance at Protests

As uprisings over police brutality and institutionalized racism have swept over the country, many people are facing the full might of law enforcement weaponry and surveillance for the first time. Whenever protesters, cell phones, and police are in the same place, protesters should worry about cell phone surveillance. Often, security practitioners or other protesters respond to that worry with advice about the use of cell-site simulators (also known as a CSS, IMSI catcher, Stingray, Dirtbox, Hailstorm, fake base station, or Crossbow) by local law enforcement. But often this advice is misguided or rooted in a fundamental lack of understanding of what a cell-site simulator is, what it does, and how often they are used.

While it is possible that cell-site simulators are being or have been used at protests, that shouldn’t stop people from voicing their dissent. With a few easy precautions by protesters, the worst abuses of these tools can be mitigated.

The bottom line is this: there is very little concrete evidence of cell site simulators being used against protesters in the U.S. The threat of cell site simulators should not stop activists from voicing their dissent or using their phones. On the other hand, given that more than 85 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies around the country have some type of CSS (some of which are used upwards of  1000 times per year), it’s not unreasonable to include cell site simulators in your security plan if you are going to a protest and take some simple steps to protect yourself.

A CSS is a device that mimics a legitimate cellular tower. Police around the world use this technology primarily to locate a phone (and therefore a person) with a high degree of accuracy, or determine who is at a specific location. There have been reports in the past that advanced CSSs can intercept and record contents and metadata of phone calls and text messages using 2G networks, there are no publicly known ways to listen to text messages and calls on 4G networks however. Cell-site simulators can also disrupt cellular service in a specific area. However, it is very hard to confirm conclusively that a government is using a CSS  because many of the observable signs of CSS use—battery drain, service interruption, or network downgrades— can happen for other reasons, such as a malfunctioning cellular network.

For more details on how cell-site simulators work, read our in-depth white paper “Gotta Catch ‘em All.”

Interception of phone calls and text messages is the most scary potential capability of a CSS, but also perhaps the least likely. Content interception is technically unlikely because, as far as we know based on current security research (that is, research around 2G and LTE/4G networks that does not take into account any security flaws or fixes that might occur in the 5G standard), , content interception can only be performed when the target is connected over 2G, rendering it somewhat “noisy” and easy for the user to become aware of content interception also can’t read the contents of encrypted messages such as Signal, Whatsapp, Wire, Telegram, or Keybase. 

Police using a CSS to intercept content is legally unlikely as well because, in general, state and federal wiretap laws prohibit intercepting communications without a warrant. And if police were to get a wiretap order from the court, they could go directly to the phone companies to monitor phone calls, giving them the advantage of not having to be in the physical proximity of the person and the ability to use the evidence gathered in court.

One advantage law enforcement might get from using a CSS for content interception at a protest is being able to effectively wiretap several people without having to know who they are first. This would be advantageous if police didn’t know who was leading the protest beforehand. This type of mass surveillance without a warrant would be illegal. However, police have been known to use CSS without a warrant for tracking down suspects. So far, there is no evidence of police using this type of surveillance at protests.

Locating a specific mobile device (and its owner) is anecdotally the most common use of cell-site simulators by law enforcement, but conversely it may be the least useful at a protest. Locating a specific person is less useful at a protest because the police can usually already see where everyone is using helicopters and other visual surveillance methods. There are some situations, though, where police might want to follow a protester discreetly using a CSS rather than with an in-person team or a helicopter.

If a CSS were to be used at a protest, the most likely use would be determining who is nearby. A law enforcement agency could theoretically gather the IMSI of everyone at a gathering point and send that to the phone company later for user identification to prove that they were at the protest. There are other ways to accomplish this: law enforcement could ask phone companies for a “tower dump” which is a list of every subscriber who was connected to a specific tower at a specific time. However, this would have the disadvantages of being slower, requiring a warrant, and having a wider radius, potentially gathering the IMSIs of many people who aren’t at the protest.

Denial-of-service or signal jamming are additional capabilities of CSS. In fact, it has been admitted by the FBI that CSS can cause signal disruption for people in the area. Unfortunately, for the same reasons it's hard to detect CSS use, it's hard to tell how often they are disrupting service either purposefully or accidentally. What looks like signal jamming could also be towers getting overloaded and dropping connections. When you have many people suddenly gathered in one place, it can overload the network with amounts of traffic it wasn’t designed for. 

How to protect yourself from a cell-site simulator 

As noted in our Surveillance Self-Defense guide for protesters, the best way to protect yourself from a cell-site simulator is to put your phone in airplane mode, and disable GPS[2], wifi, and Bluetooth, as well as cellular data. (While GPS is “receive only” and does not leak any location information on its own, many apps track GPS location data, which ends up in databases law enforcement can search later.)

We know that some IMSI catchers can also intercept content, however as far as we know none of them can do this without downgrading your cellular connection to 2G. If you are concerned about protecting your device against this attack, the best thing you can do is use encrypted messaging like Signal or Whatsapp, and put your phone in airplane mode if you see it drop down to 2G. (There are plenty of legitimate reasons your phone might downgrade part of your connection to 2G but better safe than sorry.) However an important part of protests can be streaming/recording and immediately uploading videos of police violence against protestors. This is at odds with the advice of keeping your phone off/in airplane mode. It's up to you to decide what your priorities at protests are, and know that what's important for you might not be someone else's priority.

Unfortunately iOS and Android currently offer no easy ways to force your phone to only use 4G, though this is something the developers could certainly add to their operating systems. If you can turn off 2G on your phone, it is a good precaution to take.

How a cell-site simulator might be detected 

Unfortunately cell site simulators are very difficult to detect. Some of the signs one might interpret as evidence, such as downgrading to 2G or losing your connection to the cell network, are also common signs of an overloaded cell network. There are some apps that claim to be able to detect IMSI catchers, but most of them are either based on outdated information or have so many false positives that they are rendered useless.

One potential way to detect cell-site simulators is to use a software-defined radio to map all of the cellular antennas in your area and then look for antennas that show up and then disappear, move around, show up in two or more places, or are especially powerful. There are several projects that attempt to do this such as “Seaglass” and  “SITCH” for 2G antennas, and EFF’s own “Crocodile Hunter” for 4G antennas.

While it is possible that cell-site simulators are being or have been used at protests, that shouldn’t stop people from voicing their dissent. With a few easy precautions by protesters, the worst abuses of these tools can be mitigated. Nevertheless, we call on lawmakers and people at all levels of the cellular communications industry to take these issues seriously and work toward ending CSS use.

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