#so that's probably my earliest memory of genesis

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

if you get this answer with your top 5 music artists and send it to the last 7 people in your notifications 🎵🖤

YESSS THANK YOU

TOP FIVE, I CAN ACTUALLY ANSWER THIS NOW WITHOUT IT BEING JUST THE SAME ONE FIVE TIMES.

okay it says top 5 music artists, i don't know if i'm supposed to list specific musicians or if i can do whole bands.

but i'm going to do both now. you get two lists. just because when it comes to having an opportunity to talk about my favorite music, i am like a seagull that found an entire french fry on the parking lot.

they're not listed in order by what i like more because i like my favorite bands and my favorite people equally or else they wouldn't be favorites i think.

because that's how my mind works. at least right now anyway. i'll order them by what i knew first.

my favorite bands:

sweet

genesis

badfinger

iron maiden

showaddywaddy

my favorite musicians at the moment, also ordered by who i knew first:

brian connolly

peter gabriel

tom evans

pete ham

bruce dickinson

buddy gask

malcolm allured

i went a little over the limit because i can

[awkwardsonicphotos]

How u got into sonic?

It’s funny, Sonic is one of my earliest memories as a kid. I had to at least be four years old because I remember liking Sonic before I even got into preschool. My exposure to Sonic seems to be different from those around my age. My first game probably should’ve been sonic adventure and seeing sonic X on tv.

But instead my uncle (who was a teen at the time) gave us his old Sega Genesis console to my siblings and I. It came with all these old games including Sonic 1- S3&K, spinball, and Meanbean machine. My siblings and I loved all the games but Sonic was the game we kept coming back to. Sonic 3 and Knuckles being our absolute favorite. We sucked at the games because we were all literally toddlers but it didn’t stop us from playing the games over and over again.

I remember the first time we somehow finally managed to make it to carnival night zone on our own. Which is a miracle because we would always die at act 2 of Hydrocity because of the moving wall and the drowning music scared us all so badly we’d throw the controller and run out of the room to hide until sonic drowned. Our little minds couldn’t handle the stress.

One day our older cousin and a neighbor kid came and beat all of S3&K for us so we could play any of the levels despite our bad skill issues. We loved the story telling of hidden palace to sky sanctuary a lot. And that’s how sanctuary became the most complex word in my vocabulary at five.

Anyway, my siblings and I all had this odd rule growing up where we just weren’t allowed to share favorite characters for some reason. We all just individually decided we each had to pick a different character from each other to be our favorite. My older sister picked Tails as her favorite and that started her love of foxes, my younger brother picked Knuckles, and I picked Sonic. Which was a funny dynamic having the older sibling play tails while the younger was Sonic. We made it work though. Playing The classic games never quite feels the same without my sister playing Tails by my side.

Also because for awhile we were stuck to only playing angel island to carnival night up to the barrel of doom we would take our time and explore those four zones alternate paths a lot. We also ended up making sonic and tails talk to each other while we played the game and gave them our own takes on their personalities. I remember vaguely my sister and I pretending Sonic and Tails were having a picnic in one of the levels.

I have a lot of sonic related childhood stories but those are just some of my earliest. Sonic was the first video game I ever played and first character I really liked. I thought he was really cool as a kid.

[friendlocked]

✦ hi! welcome to my shit hole of tumblr.

long ish post ...

. ♪ neuvonta i

i'm tuna, or eric, if you please. (they/no pronouns, name usually lowercase), a european jackass that grew up in the miserable excuse of a city (salisbury, UK) for the most part. i moved to cornwall as of last year and have been living here ever since.

most of my lifetime is spent with computers. for those wondering, i have not a singular soul. i realized very early on that i had much easier time communicating with the computer than with people (i didn't fully realize until years later that i am (probably) autistic and there may indeed be a throughline there, lol).

importantly, but mostly unrelatedly, my earliest musical memory was probably revolving around the soundtrack for the PS3 all4one ratchet and clank or something from the sega genesis.

. ↓ neuvonta ii

art. somehow - probably through family related things - i wound up viewing my parent's artistic efforts from my mom's college of the arts entries to my father's digital gallery. funneling out from there, i was equal parts confused, enthralled, and captivated by so much of what i saw. i knew you could call yourself whatever you wanted online, but you can be whatever you want too? this is where some pretty serious gears started turning. "what do i want to do?" leads to "what artist am i?", and inevitably: "what am i?"

this insatiable drive to know things has allowed the pattern of discover, tinker, and build to repeat itself in several other fields, but it all came back to the computer. a magic box that allows me to communicate with people all over the world at my own pace, that allows me to express myself in a way that makes sense. i'm not a computer user because it's convenient - i'm a computer user because i love computers and everything we can do with them.

. ✦ riennot i

as i previously covered, my main hobby is art. but i also write (why i'm currently writing this entire intro) and... cue souls like boss music. DDR. the words 'dance dance revolution' are engraved into the crevice of my brain. it's almost completely taken over my life - a close second to art - for many years now. i saw videos of stepmaniax and immediately rushed to my nearest device (sadly phone at the time). i had to suffice with watching DDR media. but when i got a pc tower it all changed.. i sprinted to open microsoft edge and search up 'rhythm games'. then it seduced me. osu... osu mania. it's taken me years to get to this point. somehow i get better combos when it's hours past my usual downtime of 'i need sleep or else i won't be productive enough.'

P . S; my osu account is tunasandwhich if you wanna see my mid mania plays.

[ more to be added! ]

[longlivebatart]

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Tower of Babel

Welcome to Long Live Bat Art, the podcast for art lovers who don’t see art as much as they want to. My name is Sydney and thank you for taking this slow tour through an art gallery with a casual art lover. Today, I’ll be talking about Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. I hope you enjoy. 

Not much is known about Pieter Bruegel the Elder. He was probably born around 1525 in Breda, which is now part of the Netherlands. 

Bruegel the Elder was mentored by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, who was a sculptor, architect, and stained glass and tapestry designer. Bruegel also used some aspects of Coecke’s wife’s, Maria Verhulst Bessemers, technique of watercolor. 

Bruegel the Elder entered the Antwerp Painters’ Guild in 1551. In that year or the next, Bruegel the Elder made the journey to Italy, probably via France. Art historians have deduced his journey by his surviving works. It’s been theorized that he traveled to Sicily, maybe even to Palermo. In 1553 he lived in Rome where he produced his earliest signed and dated painting- Landscape with Christ and the Apostles at the Sea of Tiberias. That same year he also worked with Giulio Clovio. Clovio was both influenced greatly by Michaelangelo and a patron of a young El Greco. Clovio had a number of paintings and drawings done by Bruegel the Elder, plus a miniature they apparently worked together on since Clovio was primarily a miniaturist. 

Bruegel the Elder produced many drawings of the mountains, which were foreign to him because of where he spent the earlier part of his life. Some say that these drawings, with maybe the exception of Leonardo da Vinci, are nearly unparalleled in terms of how they capture the power of the landscape. But oddly enough, almost none of the drawings were studies. The majority were likely done by memory and imagination once he returned to Antwerp. 

But Bruegel the Elder wasn’t confined to the mountains- he also made drawings and paintings of the countryside, villages, and towns. And he wasn’t purely a landscape artist, either. He was also known for paintings of humans imitating the work of Hieronymus Bosch, who we will cover in the next episode. 

Bruegel the Elder soon found ways to express his own ideas through this imitation, and he became a very successful painter in his time. He had some very prestigious patrons including Antione Perrenot Cardinal de Granvelle- the president of the council of state in the Netherlands, and Niclaes Jonghelinck who ended up with 16 of Bruegel the Elder’s paintings, one of which is the subject of this episode. Some of that could be because Bruegel the Elder traveled with Jonghelinck’s sculptor brother Jacques. To complete this strange web of connections, Jacques Jonghelinck had a studio in Cardinal de Granvelle’s palace. Maybe they played five degrees of separation in the art world with Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Bruegel the Elder married his mentor’s daughter Mayken in 1563, after which more of Coecke’s influence, particularly composition-wise, can be seen in Bruegel the Elder’s work. 

Bruegel the Elder died in 1569. About a hundred generally accepted as authenticated works by him survive. 

Now onto Tower of Babel. For those who don’t know, the Tower of Babel is a Biblical parable from Genesis. It’s a parable meant to explain why different languages exist. Humans used to speak one language until they built the Tower of Babel, then God decided the Tower was too tall and the people too arrogant so he destroyed the Tower, made the people not understand each other, and scattered humans around the globe. This is what Bruegel the Elder depicted.

The stone tower is half-crumbled. It’s painted in red tones in the center where it’s collapsed, and in yellow tones on the outside which is more or less intact. The very front of the tower is destroyed and the right is half-destroyed. Even on the left you can see exposed wooden supports. The tower is tiered- six in all, getting smaller as they get closer to the top. The tiers have arches throughout, generally in pairs. They might be doors or just decorative, but there are what look like dark openings that could be actual doors at the base of each one. Above the paired arches and directly in the center are three square cutouts, like windows. Below the center one is a half-moon of stone jutting out. The curve falls between the arches and the flat part is under the window. The tower itself was built next to a river, which is on the right, and a town grew around it. The houses are different colors- painted or material, I’m not sure. 

The ground is lush and green, and in the background the landscape is mostly untouched- the grass and trees have been left alone, but there are worn light brown paths cut through it from hundreds of trips. The landscape recedes into the distance. 

The river is actually somewhat flatly painted. There’s some variation in the blue, but not a lot. There are several boats on the river, but I can’t tell exactly how many. The wood somewhat blends together in the shadow of the destroyed tower. There are several styles. One is large and flat with people rowing on it- almost like a big log raft- and most of the others have masts and sails, and those are in a variety of sizes. The river winds its way against the right of the painting, the land next to it lush and vibrant. There’s a thin strip of land that extends into the river further than the rest. There’s an island in the distance that’s a lighter green than the rest of the land. The squared-off dock close to the tower and following its side has people milling on it, and a stone building with square stone ridges at the top like a medieval turret. Closest to the viewer is a mountain, with people coming up a path. You can’t see many of their facial features. The one in front is wearing a long cloak with what looks like a simple crown on his head and a beard. Others behind him are carrying lances. Three men are prostrating themselves before him. There are other people in front of the people who are walking up, clambering over large flat stones. Maybe they were builders, or maybe they just were reclaiming what they could to build another tower.

Behind the people and near the river but not directly connected to it is raging white water headed for the town. One house is already in the middle of it. The water didn’t come from the river, unless the people managed to dam it quickly somehow. So probably it was an act of God. There’s a second smaller river off in the left distance, but it’s lower.

The sky is clouded. The clouds themselves are gray on the left of the tower and white on the right.

Now for my thoughts.

The painting is extraordinarily detailed in certain areas, mostly the tower. The artist clearly wanted the tower to be the main focus, even after it’s both in the center of the work and the largest feature around. The plain slabs on the mountain, the worn edges of the crumbling building. Even the somewhat-faceless people- you know exactly what everything is. No further detail required. So I suppose the artist executed his vision. Sometimes details are unnecessary. People tend to over-explain themselves in an effort to be understood more clearly, but the truth is that sometimes that just creates more confusion and complicates things. “Thank you” or “I appreciate you” carries a lot more weight with those two or three words than “I like the way that you listen to my griefs and complaints while I’m in a bad mood.” The last sentence might be more descriptive, but “thank you” and “I appreciate you” would be much better. People need to hear that sometimes, because people aren’t islands. We need others to help us, to a greater or lesser degree, every step of the way.

I think of the people in the artwork and in the story and how they helped each other. They came together as a community and built something greater than themselves. Yes, they were scattered afterwards and yes the thing they built was destroyed. But the destruction wasn’t the point. The creation of something with others was the point. And creation is absolutely necessary for human survival, just like food and water and air. Because life without some kind of art is not a life worth living. Think of what children do- they play, they make up stories, they paint and draw. It’s a human need to create, to connect, to build. We tend to forget that when we get older, but children have the right idea most of the time. The world should be a kind and beautiful place, where everyone gets a fair shot. So we shouldn’t say ‘well, life isn’t fair,’ we should make life fair. And we should create, too. 

Creation is so much harder than destruction, yet destruction can only exist when creation has happened. Yes, the parable and artwork puts emphasis on the destruction, but things don’t begin just to end. People aren’t born just to die. It’s the journey that matters. And people create to document that journey, to call out and ask “I feel like this. Does anyone else?” Because the nature of humanity is that you forget that other people are just like you. That they experience joy and sorrow and loss and grief and heartbreak. That they sometimes feel like they’re the only ones in history who has ever felt the way they feel, that no one else would understand. But people will understand. If you could express to another human being- in words, in actions, in art, in something- how you feel, you’ll likely get the answer you both want and dread. “I feel that way, too.” And maybe you might never meet the person who connects so deeply with your emotion, but your creation might just save them. Remind them that life is worth living, for the journey.  

So here’s my challenge for you- make one thing today. It can be a painting on a canvas that can fit into your palm. It can be a wire sculpture out of scraps. Hell, it could be an air-dry clay ball. Just make it. You don’t even have to show anyone if you don’t want to, even though I wish you would. Making something is as close to any human will come to being divine- because creating something from nothing is what happened, no matter what you believe in or don’t. There had to be nothing before the something. So make that something. 

If you liked this episode of Long Live Bat Art, please consider telling a friend and reviewing to help the podcast grow. A link to the transcript of this episode is available in the show notes below. And you can follow me on Twitter at Long Live Bat Art and tumblr at tumblr dot com forward slash Long Live Bat Art. That’s Long Live B-A-T Art. Thank you for listening to this episode, and I will see you in two weeks.

[raeloganthesonic06fangirl]

I'm so happy how high quality and cute he is, his fur texture is cuddly like a sherpa blanket or something, it's so plush and has a nice pile height to it.

I haven't seen a quality Sonic character doll since like, the 00s era of toys, the ones since then have just felt like carnival prizes or crane game grabs, nothing that could actually be squeezed and hugged.

Tails is such an important character to me. My earliest memories include playing the old Sonic 2 game on the Sega Genesis and playing as Tails. He's probably the first character I even remember seeing from anything. I mean, heck, my Sonic-sona, Rae, is based on Tails' appearance.

Tails is very important boi to me. 🥺

[blazehedgehog]

What was the honest reaction to Sonic 06 back in 2006?

It was a long time ago, so I can only really speak to my own perspective.

Sonic 2006 was the time that Sega’s marketing department really started cranking the hype train really, really hard. Sonic 2006 was announced as a fresh start. A soft reboot. Sonic Team said they were treating it like “the first Sonic game on the Sega Genesis.” You still had Tails, and Knuckles, and Shadow, but it was the start of a new era. A new type of Sonic the Hedgehog. More serious, more realistic, more “epic.”

At this point, there was no reason to necessarily distrust any of that. Yes, Sonic games had been slipping in quality, and yes, Sega was still more or less pretending that everything was “okay.” But that was always in the typical, “we’re trying to sell a video game and not go bankrupt” sense. This felt like a tacit acknowledgement that things weren’t so great and they were going to start over and refocus. Set things right.

Early gameplay footage looked rough. I distinctly remember a Gametrailers hands-on where they were demoing the Mach Speed Zone in Kingdom Valley, and the Sega representative was very clear and upfront that the game wasn’t done yet, and all of the empty space Sonic was running through would be filled in later. (It wasn’t.) There was also the typical debate over the TGS 2006 “Bringing it Home” playable demo, where people argued then, too, that the game wasn’t done yet, and not to judge things too harshly. The final version will be better.

The final version also wasn’t done yet. So, y’know.

I had effectively bought an Xbox 360 for this game. I was broke as per usual, but I’d gotten lucky and won a Gametrailers video competition, which landed me $1000 in Gamestop gift cards. I bought a PS2, a Nintendo DS, and an Xbox 360, plus more than a dozen games between the three platforms. I knew there would be more Xbox 360 games besides Sonic 2006, and I’d even originally wanted a 360 primarily for Elder Scrolls Oblivion, but the simple fact is that once the money was in my hands and I spent it, Sonic 2006 was the only actual Xbox 360 game I owned.

Or was going to own, anyway. I think I’d won the contest in September or October of 2006, when Sonic came out in November. So I bought the 360 a few weeks early with some original Xbox games, and spent the interim with Spider-man 2, Ninja Gaiden Black, and the copy of Halo 2 I borrowed from my cousin.

Sonic 2006 was the first game I’d ever pre-ordered. The second game, pre-ordered on the same day, was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Gamecube. I still have the tiny pre-order statue that came with Sonic. His gloves and socks, once white, have begun to yellow with age, and the skin tone on his face and body is turning an ashy gray.

Even 72 hours before launch, there was not a clear picture what Sonic 2006 actually was. Sega was deliberately obfuscating certain features; early in development they’d sworn up and down that there were only three playable characters in the game, something that blatantly wasn’t true. Perhaps it was miscommunication from Japan, but it meant they were now going out of their way to hide how many other playable characters were actually in the game. I naively distrusted most (if not all) professional reviewers back then, and the earliest scores for Sonic 2006 were all over the map.

As a Sonic fan, you kind of had to know how to read between the lines on the more negative reviews, because we were definitely in the era where it felt like critics were starting to dogpile on the Sonic franchise now that Sega was a third party developer. There weren’t a lot of professional reviews you could trust regarding Sonic games, or at least, that’s what it felt like. This was the rise of the podcast, and snarky hosts were taking whatever low hanging fruit they could get.

I remember waking up on launch day -- friends had gotten up early and picked theirs up in the morning, when I’d rolled out of bed somewhere closer to noon (or maybe even afternoon). I had plans to pick up my copy later that evening, after sunset. My friends did not sound happy, but again, there was always this vibe of “Wait and see.” They had only just started the game. First impressions were still too fresh to really call.

But I had this moment, this cold spot in the pit of my stomach, where I thought “Maybe I can cancel the pre-order and get Gears of War instead?” Reviews for Gears seemed pretty good. I’d probably be happy with it instead of Sonic.

I couldn’t let myself do that. I was a Sonic fan. This was the first big Sonic game of a new generation. A new start. I bought the console for this. First game I ever pre-ordered. The second Sonic game in the history of the franchise I’d bought on launch day. This was it. This was the event. No backing down. Besides, Sonic 2006 was a big 15th Anniversary celebration game. They wouldn’t make such a big deal about the anniversary without just cause, right? Sonic 2006 was going to be great. I just needed to calm down.

So we drove out to Gamestop -- and it was the sort of thing where I think we couldn’t do the pre-order at my local Gamestop for some reason, so this one was a town or two over. It was a journey. I was nervous the whole way there. Something told me I was making a mistake. But I had to do this.

I think it may have been starting to rain as we rolled up on the store. It was around 8pm, and people were starting to camp out on the sidewalk. Literally camp out, tents and all, because of the rain. Today was the launch date for Sonic 2006, but tomorrow was the launch of the Playstation 3. These guys were here for Gamestop’s “Midnight Madness” launch event. They were going to be some of the first to get a PS3. I was probably the last person to pick up a Sonic 2006 pre-order.

Sonic 2006 might have been the first Sonic game to ever make me angry. I’d had a lot of internet debates on how I felt about Sonic Adventure 2, but most of those amounted to splitting hairs about things that felt disappointing when compared to the original Sonic Adventure. I was not angry then, I was simply let down. I was similarly let down when I finally got a chance to play Sonic Heroes. But again, not angry. Baffled, maybe. A little sad. But not angry.

With Sonic 2006, I slammed head first in to all of my excitement and uncertainty at 200mph. This was a Sonic game unlike anything I’d ever played before, and in all of the worst possible ways. Enough has been said about the quality of the game that I don’t need to describe anything that’s wrong with it -- also because literally everything was wrong with it. Perhaps the first video game I’d ever played, ever, on any platform, that actually fought back against your efforts to play it. A disaster in every sense of the word. A broken nightmare. After finishing Sonic’s story, I was mad. How could they let this happen? What was wrong with them?

I was less angry after having finished Shadow’s story. Shadow had even buggier gameplay than Sonic, but it also felt more complex, more action-oriented. His story was better, too -- instead of the sappy Princess love story, Shadow’s story was about how the world was against him, and the crossroads that brought him to: rise above his past and strive to be a better person, or give in to the temptations of evil? It was still dumb as heck, but it was less dumb than Sonic’s story.

By the time the credits rolled, I had accepted the fact that this game was a mess. More of a mess than any Sonic game ever had been before. It was clearly a deeply unfinished game. Friends theorized maybe they could patch the game, because that was a thing games could get now. Sonic 2006 could still be saved. The PS3 version wouldn’t be out for another month, surely that means they’re working on a fix, right? Some were even theorizing over an achievement called “Nights of Kronos” -- it mentioned a “complete ending to the last hidden story.” Perhaps that meant there was going to be more? Maybe we got the bad ending, and a better, more finished ending was waiting for us on the disc somewhere?

There wasn’t. And no patch ever fixed the game. That was Sonic 2006 -- the kiss, the loading screens, the strange mannequin NPCs, the stiff controls, the glitchy physics, the empty overworlds, the bizarre dialog, the plotholes and time paradoxes, that’s just what the game was, and was always going to be, forever.

Before Sonic 2006, you could say that 3D Sonic games were bad, but there was always a place to defend them from. They had problems, but they were never irredeemable. Sonic Heroes may have had frustrating controls and repetitive level design, but it had great art direction, nice music, and fun concepts. They were always trying, dang it, and it was obvious to see that.

Sonic 2006 felt irredeemable. Offensively terrible. A failure on such a level that it was hard to comprehend. Beyond simply “a new low” for the franchise. This felt like rock bottom. It was the kind of bad that spread like a virus. Even good games, like Sonic 2 on the Sega Genesis, felt notably tarnished by the existence of Sonic 2006. It threatened to ruin the entire franchise by proximity alone. For some, it probably did. I definitely had a moment where I wondered if I would ever enjoy a Sonic game in the same way ever again. They were all tainted now. Infected by memories of Sonic 2006, the game that was supposed to save the franchise, but condemned it to the lowest pits of hell.

In isolation, that might have been the end for me. I might have continued to drift away, bit by bit, until I found greener hills outside of the Sonic franchise.

I’ve said this before, but what saved me was getting hired to write for TSSZ News. Now, suddenly, I was paid to play and write about Sonic games. It was a duty. And it helped that the first Sonic game I reviewed for TSSZ ended up being Sonic Unleashed, a game I continue to openly gush about to this day, more than a decade after its release.

But never forget that Sonic 2006 was such a disaster that it nearly made me give up Sonic the Hedgehog. It really was that bad.

[stirpicus]

I don’t know if this is a stupid question or not, but did you grow up playing games or did you play any games when you were a kid? If so, and if you remember what did you own, and what was the first game you played? My first game was Mario Bros on the Wii. I asked because you said you wanted to be a “writer,” and that can mean anything, it doesn’t just mean video games. Did video games have anything to do with it? Did they inspire you to be a game writer?

Oh this is a fun one!

I was born in 1988 so I was still a pretty little kid during the heyday of the Sega vs. NES/SNES war. By the time I was old enough to start wanting a video game console in the mid-90s, my mom had witnessed her older sister’s kids go through 5+ harrowing (and expensive) years trying to keep up. From my mom’s perspective, it looked like a new console came out every year (at like $500 a pop no less!) and every time you needed to buy whole new games for it (which were also $60-100 apiece!). We didn’t have a ton of money, so she decreed that we would not be a video game console family at all and banned any talk of getting a Genesis, NES, SNES, whatever.

The one exception was my beloved grey brick of a Gameboy. See, that was only $100 and my mom was able to set the rule “It only gets played in the car.” I received that as a present in ‘92 or ‘93 and every dang road trip it was my everything. My games of choice were Kirby’s Dreamland 1 + 2, whatever lame movie tie-in games were out (I remember burning a lot of time on the tie-in Pagemaster and We’re Back! games), and Pokemon red when that eventually made it to North America towards the end of the 90s.

Now PC games, on the other hand... That was a whole other story.

My dad was an engineer at IBM so we had computers in the house before I was born. Some of my earliest memories are of punching in DOS command lines at our family’s computer to play Mickey’s Alphabet Adventure or Goofy’s Number Party. I had to copy the commands from index cards my dad left next to the keyboard for me because I couldn’t read yet. Consoles may have been banned in my house through the 90s but there was a whole world of PC games waiting for me to explore.

The single most formative game that I played on my family’s computer was The Secret of Monkey Island. No joke, that right there is the reason that I decided I wanted to be a writer. It was funny, it was exciting, all without any spoken dialogue - just words written on screen. (Ironically, I wouldn’t realize that “video game writer” was a job you could have until much, much later) That game led me to all the other LucasArts/Lucasfilm Games adventure games of the 90s which I played religiously. To this day, I still have practically every puzzle, every story beat of those games memorized. Last time I tried it a few years ago, I was still capable of running Secret of Monkey Island in less than 30 minutes.

But it wasn’t just adventure games that captivated me. I devoured games of every kind on my beloved computer and, when we got internet access in 1995, I became a connoisseur of shareware demos. For a kid without a ton of money to throw around it felt like I was let loose on an all-you-can-eat buffet... and eat I did. I probably played thousands of hours-worth of the opening levels of puzzle games, platformers, bizarre RPGs... Game developers in the early days of the internet seemingly threw anything and everything at the wall, hoping something would stick and become the new hit title. Particularly beloved memories from that time include Gubble and Rayman, beginning my love of games starring goofy-looking protagonists.

Around the end of the millennium we got our first computer with a 3D graphics card and, ooh baby, that was a whole new world of possibilities to get lost in. I had loved Rayman and now suddenly there was Rayman 2, which brought Rayman and his strange, wonderful world into 3D and I was entranced. There were even ports of the games my friends were playing on console! For the first time I could talk the latest games with my friends and I was in heaven. I think I spent more time playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 in 6th grade than I did sleeping, learning the perfect combos and technique to send my scores into the stratosphere on the wings of my manuals and bowl-grinds.

So all of this is a long-winded way of saying that, even though I didn’t have any video game consoles as a kid, video games have been a pretty deep part of my DNA for a long time now. I might not have figured out that “video game writer” was a job you could have until I was in college, but my deep love of the medium means I clicked in pretty easily.

This one was fun - Sorry if I wrote too much, ha!

[blackwinged-silversolace]

《《MY H.C. + CHARACTER ANALYSIS: SEPHIROTH [CRISIS CORE]》》

I feel it is time I lay down some HCs regarding my CC Sephiroth. This one in particular focuses on his relationship with Angeal and Genesis, and the effects of their desertion.

At quick glance many of us can draw some similar conclusions regarding his character within the FF7 cannons. There are few he keeps close. He has no family, he is only given the name of his ‘Mother’-Jenova, and was raised within ShinRa. These things alone, would be DEVASTATING to the psychological development of a child, and of course was certainly only worsened along while he is raised as a weapon to serve ShinRa. It is my belief that he is told repeatedly as a child that his purpose, his worth, was solely dependent on his ability to decimate their enemies [possibly even made to feel like a failure in his earliest years when they discovered Jenova was not a Cetra at all] and he was to commit every waking moment to becoming the sole embodiment of power that ShinRa represents.

ShinRa as a whole, and the people that were in charge of ensuring young Sephiroth’s health and education, were most likely convincing him that his only home, his only family, was in fact this company. If he wanted to keep this tie he had to shelter and some semblance of a nurturing environment, then he had to learn to kill and learn to suppress the emotions that would hinder his ability to do so. 

In contrast, I believe that the few times Sephiroth mentions Professor Gast are key bits of information to consider here as well. I think it is safe to assume that Gast may have been the only reason Sephiroth holds any signs of empathy or compassion at all, and may have been the only, or very few, person(s) to offer the kindness Sephiroth needed as a child to be able to give some onto others later on, and thus is able to form a companionship with Angeal and Genesis. 

So now then, given what we see in Crisis Core, my observations lead me to conclude that his friendships with Angeal and Genesis were key factors in securing some level of his humanity throughout the Wutain War. [Of course Genesis, and Angeal are clearly the two people he held in closest regard. Tseng reveals this to Zack during the mission to Banora.] That being said it is my opinion, that given the environment he was raised in, and with his lack of any family to truly speak of, it would have been a long time after meeting the two young Soldier’s before he was able to open up to them at all, but once he did he considered them as close to a family as he was able to have. The psychological effects of not having much for guidance as an adolescent, I am sure would have led him having a strong but intensely complex relationship with them, and one that probably took years for him to understand. He likely had trouble distinguishing between his admiration vs attraction, maybe even believed something was horribly wrong with him when  his hormonal changes had these feelings of attachment twisted  into a confused lust. I'm sure, given Sephiroth’s intelligence and pursuits to further his knowledge, he found self-education through research and experience that cleared the lines enough for him to decipher and separate his feelings.

 Crisis Core events: I think that even before the desertion of his friends Sephiroth was on the downward spiral into madness. I believe he probably blamed himself and obsessed over the injury that was inflicted on  Genesis during the simulator incident, and this feeling only worsens with the start of his degradation. He offers -without hesitating- to donate his blood/cells for a transfusion, but is told he is not viable, again he feels he has failed his friends. I think that these things would have been a huge blow to Sephiroth, and likely stirred up horrible feelings and memories from his childhood that end up having huge effects on his behavior. He has failed his family, and since ShinRa convinced him failure meant his existence was flawed, he feels unfit to reach out to his friends any further. I believe he likely distanced himself from them shortly before their desertions, simply because he felt he had no more to offer them that held worth. So after they desert he refuses to take missions involving their pursuit because of his failure, and of course the chance he may have to fight and or kill them…

Failures aside, I think just having them leave without explanation would have been truly heartbreaking for Sephiroth. So during Crisis Core, I think he is more a wreck than he or anyone else can recognize. They were his only true connections with humanity and in his mind, felt completely abandoned, and betrayed by them, I think he would be terrified and obsessed with questions about his worth and purpose far before Niebelheim, and suffered silently since this was how he was thought, or not, to deal with his emotions.

In conclusion, I believe all of this became the catalyst as to why he reacts to Genesis the way he does when presented the truth. He was told he was exactly the thing he feared since he was young: abandoned, fundamentally wrong, alone, and betrayed for what he was... a MONSTER. His need to know WHY, and HOW became his only chance at survival. All he had ever known was a lie. Feeling that no one was left to trust, he sought one thing. TRUTH. As broken as the information he finds in the ShinRa manor basement is, it is his, and it is all he has left.

[wiseabsol]

20 Mewtwo Fanfics Recs

Since I’ve been getting more Mewtwo asks recently, I thought I would make a post to promote some of the Mewtwo fics that have caught my eye over the years. Here is a round-up of the ones that were the most memorable and influential to me when I was growing up, as well as some that look promising for other fans to check out!

MEMORABLE FICS:

1. Damaged by Cheshire Kat24

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8906040/1/Damaged

Summary: Living life to its fullest is never easy. A lesson Mewtwo learns the hard way after sustaining an injury that even his abilities cannot heal without help. With his new friends, he embarks on a journey that will define not only his place in the world, but that of his entire species.

My thoughts: While I never managed to read the entire story, this is a classic and was probably the first long, multi-chapter story with Mewtwo as the lead.

2. Shadows Like You by cosmicmewtwo

Link: Not available, though you can hit her up on Tumblr for the file.

Summary: Driven by his hunger for power, Giovanni creates three new Mewtwos. The clones seem to be under control...but for how long? And how will Mewtwo himself be affected?

My thoughts: This was incredibly influential to my writing, being a huge part of the inspiration behind “TPRS.” The Mewthrees introduced here were great and I checked every day for updates until this fic was complete. As a humorous aside, when I was a wee lass with barely any fic to my name, I sent cosmicmewtwo a message asking if I could use Mewthree characters in my own story, without realizing that cosmicmewtwo didn’t own that concept. She, bless her heart, confusedly told me to go ahead with my story and supported some of my earliest fics.

3. Anomaly by Dark Magician Girl Aeris

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3173119/1/Anomaly

Summary: When Mewtwo erased his memory from the minds of Team Rocket, he overlooked the computers they used in studying him. Now a second member of the race has been created by even more unorthodox means than the first. And boy, is she mad!

My thoughts: Aeris is excellent at writing Mewtwo, to the point where this is probably the most canon-compliant depiction of him that I’ve come across. This adventure story is also well-written and has a lot of feel-good moments. I wish that she’d managed to finish it, but what she has, along with the connected one-shots, is worth digging into.

4. The Sword and Shield Series by Kayasuri-n

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3535877/1/Sword-and-Shield

Summary: Detective Brenda Johnson was looking for something suspicious when she entered the lab, not a connection between Team Rocket and gym leader Giovanni Rocketto. She certainly wasn’t expecting Mewtwo. Rated M for Murder and other subjects.

My thoughts: So if you’re looking for a super fun murder mystery ride, this one is for you! I still desperately want to see what the remake would look like. That said, there are several entries in the old series, all of which are great.

5. More Than Just Shadow by Kirlien

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3602934/1/More-Than-Just-Shadow

Summary: Amy was sitting quietly on the doublebed, watching over the wounded Pokémon. “Mewtwo…What are you?…Who are you?” she whispered faintly, her fingers brushing against his cheek slightly in a soothing motion.

My thoughts: I remember this fic for how it captured the golden feeling of innocence in the Pokemon franchise. While dark things were happening in this story, there was a sense of warmth and compassion that I’ve always admired. This is another one that I wish had been finished, but what is here is worth digging into.

6. Between Two Worlds by Leonardo Mystic

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/505048/1/Between-Two-Worlds

Summary: Ki is a teenage girl with special powers. Who one day accidentally discovers the Team Rocket project of Mewtwo. 

My thoughts: This was one of the first Mewtwo fics I ever read and was the most memorable in the romance category. I’d call it one of the classics and an interesting rewrite of the original movie. 

7. Forgotten by Melora Maxwell

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/926885/1/Forgotten

Summary: The humans have a most strange saying. Curiosity killed the cat. I suppose in my case, it would be curiosity killed the clone. For it is what I am.

My thoughts: This one was responsible for the genesis of “Angelic Shadows.” It’s angsty and, despite being lean in the way of descriptions, it has a strong emotional impact. It’s a shame that it never got an ending, because it seems like it was within a few chapters of being complete. Even so, if you like gritty, this is a good one to look into.  

8. Eclipsed by Meriah

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4468231/1/Eclipsed

Summary: A young woman named Sutichay carries Arei, a miraculous child, whose birth will bring about a religious conflict. Later in the chaos, Arei is made the priestess of Mewtwo, and her growing attraction to him stirs the anger of Sabrina, his wife.

My thoughts: While this fic only has a few chapters, the premise is imagination, the writing is lovely, and it deserved more attention than it received. This was also the inspiration for my story “Hollow.” When Meriah discarded the original prologue for “Eclipsed,” she allowed me to use it—and the character Arei—as a jumping off point for my own story. The result was two very different tales with similar thematic cores.

9. The Incomplete Soul Saga by Miyuutsuu

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/888889/Miyuutsuu

Summary: What is my true purpose in life?

My thoughts: If you’re looking for more grit, we have this odd series by Miyuutsuu, who wrote his stories with the Rule of Cool. Want Mewtwo to have a sword? An angsty romance with a gym leader? Possibly some loss of limbs? Then here you go! It’s a dark action/adventure story with a different flavor than anything else on this list.

10. Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past by ZeoViolet

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/620186/1/Of-Moonlight-Shadows-and-Echoes-Past

Summary: A Psychic teenager named Sharie, daughter of one of Mewtwo’s creators, finds a baby Mewtwo Giovanni forgot about…and eventually, runs into Mewtwo himself.

My thoughts: This was my favorite Mewtwo fic and one that I still think of fondly. The writing is lush, the premise is solid, and I definitely wanted to see where it would have gone. It’s another classic of the fandom.  

11. If You Let Me by Byoshi

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4129309/1/If-You-Let-Me

Summary: Every Pokemon Smasher must have a master, and the rule is no different for Mewtwo. A tug-of-war begins between Peach and Ganondorf, conflicted but united in their attempt to use Mewtwo to overthrow Master Hand.

My thoughts: I don’t have much to say about this one, other than I really enjoyed it, found the premise intriguing, and wished I could have seen more of the central relationship in it. Sadly, like many of these entries, it was discontinued.

PROMISING FICS:

These are fics that I haven’t actually read, but appear to have pull in the fandom and have definitely had a lot of hard work put into them.

12. Mute, Too by FalconPain

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3931388/1/Mute-Too

Summary: After losing a battle to the dark Pokémon Darkrai, Mewtwo awakens to find that he no longer has his psychic abilities. No longer able to float, read minds, or even talk to humans or Pokémon, he must rebuild his life. But how much of this can he take?

13. Forsaken by lilpurplebird

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5842142/1/Forsaken

Summary: Being a Legendary isn’t always a good thing—they realized that too late when the world came to an end. Mercifully, they were given another chance, but at a cost: They had agreed in a previous life to become mortal should they have failed to uphold their duties. Unbeknownst to them, however, there is a dark power lying in wait, targeting Mew and Mewtwo to do its dirty work…

14. Crossing of the Paths by MMMAJ Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1252581/1/Crossing-of-the-Paths

Summary: Mewtwo can no longer stand living with humans, so he creates a dimensional portal and randomly wanders the web of infinite universes. This is the tale of the places he sees and the people he meets. 

15. Lines in the Sand by Shinymonkey8

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6847646/1/Lines-in-the-Sand

Summary: After finally escaping from Giovanni, Mewtwo has a chance to live his life free, and sadly alone… But when fate leads him to something he would have never expected, a female of his own species, his life is turned upside-down…. 

16. Human, Monster, Hybrid Series by TheFrogFromHell

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3082844/1/Human

Summary: When Mewtwo lured six trainers into his trap on New Island, he’d planned to begin his reign of terror on the human world. He hadn’t planned on being nearly destroyed by the battle that ensued, or on being nursed back to health by a human—a member of the species he’d despised enough to want to eradicate from the earth. Now, Mewtwo is torn between his hatred for his creators, and the new, mysterious emotions he feels for Misty, the human that saved his life. One again, his true purpose is in question: will he still choose to destroy the world, or will these unfamiliar insights change the way Mewtwo views humans, pokémon, and even himself. 

17. From Dark To Light by Whozawhatcha

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7659746/1/From-Dark-To-Light

Summary: Mewtwo falls for a Gardevoir, but hesitates to reveal any of his past to her, considering the circumstances. However, his past and Team Rocket do catch up to him, and how will they manage? And with strife with this Gardevoir’s mother, how will they continue to be together? What are her true motives for keeping her daughter from this mysterious pokemon?

18. The Mewblade Series by Vaporeon Lugia Krabby

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2967855/1/Her-Beginning

Summary: Welcome to the real complexity of the Pokemon World. Here we experience the full extent of this world alongside Mewblade, a Mewthree. This prologue introduces Mewblade, following the beginnings of Mewtwo. This opens a larger plot, full of depth and death.

Note: While this isn’t a Mewtwo-centric fic, it has been a prominent work in the fandom for ages.

SOME CAUTIOUS SMUT RECS:

So looking up Mewtwo smut can be dicey, since many of the writers of said smut tend to prefer dub-con or non-con scenes, with Mewtwo being a dominant alpha male/sexually-aggressive character. This can be triggering for some readers. The following two stories are not exactly exceptions to that pattern (well, “The Mewtwo File” is, but I have different qualms about it), but the romance in them helps to mellow them out.

19. The Mewtwo File by Alisonven

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4200365/1/The-Mewtwo-File

Summary: This is the story of the young clone Mewtwo and Aiko, his only human friend, the daughter of his creator.

My thoughts: This is a well-written story and has some good Mewtwo/Ai content in it, albeit features an AU version of them. That said, I have qualms about the sex in here, thanks to the difference between Mewtwo’s and Aiko’s psychological maturities. Aiko is clearly an adult, while Mewtwo reads more like a teenager. Some readers were fine with that; I felt squicked. There is also a casual use of sexual assault in a later chapter, so be aware of that going into this.

20. Primial Instinct by Sonic Sunshine

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3486169/1/Primial-Instinct

Summary: Mewtwo tells us the story of how he found and nearly lost love through his eyes. His journey of discovery is one filled with dilemmas, and even the most powerful Pokemon is helpless to stop it. Mewtwo x Lucario.

My thoughts: There are also casual uses of sexual assault in this, including from Mewtwo, which I wasn’t keen on. That being said, this is well-written and the central relationship is interesting, so who knows, it might scratch the yaoi itch for those of you who love the genre.

[stevesherdaddy]

2, 10, 19, & 43!

me, answering questions from a week ago because i’m a disaster:

2: Sugar cones or waffle cones?

First I had to look up what the difference was because I’m Dumb™ and thought that sugar cones were just the little ones and waffle cones were the big ones. Turns out sugar cones can also be big. Growing up Broke™ means you didn’t get the option of with the ice cream cone because the cone always cost more than just...the ice cream in a cup.

Anyway, waffle cone, but like I don’t need a cone to eat ice cream.

UNLESS IT’S THIS ICE CREAM THAT’S IN QUESTION IN WHICH CASE SUGAR CONE:

Only Cincy people will know of the delicacy.

10: Favorite color aesthetic?

There are two very opposing ones. 

Greys and blacks for something neutral:

And then something bright and cheery (but not pastel or neon) along the lines of this:

I can’t wait to have a brightly colored house one day.

19: Favorite Ghibli and/or Disney movie?

Very easy! Ghibli is Spirited Away. I cry every time. I love this movie with my whole heart, and it’s one of my earliest memories. I would watch it so frequently even though it’s like two hours long and it probably concerned my parents a lot.

Plus, look at these fuckin ducks, I love them with my whole being.

Disney is...Tangled. *pretends to be shocked*

But there’s a lot of close seconds that I don’t think I could really rank

43: First video game you ever played?

Spyro the Dragon on Playstation! Would absolutely die for this funky little purple dragon. Also Frogger on Playstation was a first. Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis. Top Shop on Playstation (which, as we know, I played before I could ever read so honestly that was probably the actual first video game)

SORRY FOR RESPONDING A WEEK LATE BUT THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU <3

Send me a number! 

[spacecasewriter13]

Where to Start But At the Beginning

So I wasn’t necessarily sure where to start when talking about fic, and particularly talking about the fic that has consumed my life since about...oh just around 2014 when Captain America: Winter Soldier was released in theaters.

The movie came out, Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier) walked off-screen after he’d pulled Steve from the river, and I was hooked. I had to write fic. I didn’t know what exactly, but I was fascinated by the idea of the winter soldier becoming Bucky Barnes. And thus “Thick Fic” was born, or rather what would become the “Find Your Way Home” series.

I’ll gladly blame my partner, and one of my beloved beta readers, @vimeswasright for the label Thick Fic, but this came after one of my many journals was primarily filled up with the (at the time) untitled fic.

OKAY, so this isn’t ALL"Thick fic”, there has been a variety of other things. But when I talk about how long I’ve been writing this fic, I feel like the scope of this thing shouldn’t be understated. Namely with the brown leather journal right there in the middle.

This is the Big Boy. This is thick fic. (or what my partner originally called thick fic). 

Why is it called thick fic you ask? Well, this journal lasted me approximately six months from February  7, 2016- July 13, 2016, and out of the 192 physical pages (double that if you count front and back), I used 129 of those pages devoted to The Maggie and Bucky Story Pt. I & II as I put it in my table of contents.  

(Yes I’m stupidly organized, and yes I’m stupidly meticulous, and yes most of those fics that you see in the table of contents will probably never see the light of day, sorry y’all).

But all of this to say, and show, that this series has been in my brain for a very very long time, and it was only in January of 2019 that I decided to share this fic with all of you lovely people.

So how did all of this begin? In the very same way that the story begins. With Bucky Trapsing through the woods. That was it, that was the fic, that was the idea. But, obviously, that’s not all it became.

So this is where it began.

I went back and looked for it recently, but this is the earliest journal I have (With a date range December 29, 2013- May 1, 2014) with Bucky and Maggie stuff. So it only took me five years, but I eventually would post the first chapter of what would become “On A Last Chance.”

So, some consistencies from the beginning. Bucky was always going to stumble on to an equine therapy ranch. Always. It just seemed right for some reason, don’t ask me, but it was always like that. And apparently, Maggie was always going to be Maggie. It would be a little while later than I would give her the full name of Magdalene Ignacia Ramirez. Maggie and Sam were always somehow going to be friends or acquaintances (how exactly changed more times than I can remember). Oh and there was always going to be some kind of Hydra showdown, but the nature, endpoint, and consequences of that showdown changed dramatically.

Reading through some of the original drafts, I have to laugh. Originally Mags was going to pull a gun on Bucky when he showed up in her barn, originally she was going to use a horse tranquilizer on Bucky, originally Bucky was going to stick around Last Chance for about 3-6 months (as compared to now in fic, a little under two weeks), oh and for about a split second Mags was going to have a son (I *just* re-read that). 

All of this is incredibly laughable looking, but that was what was going to happen when I originally started writing the fic. (2014 was truly a different time).

*However* What fascinates me is the fact that the story starts off ALMOST the exact same way.

“Suffocating. Images flashed before him, mere frames of what he could only assume were memories. Real or fake he didn’t know. But always he could hear the same voice Bucky. Bucky. That voice haunted him.”

Or on the next page over the draft continues. 

“Drowning, he was drowning. Faces and voice blurred before him, incoherent, dizzying. Memories, mere pictures/images. Pain. 

Falling to his knees, he screamed, clutching his head as if someone was driving an ax through his head, pain threatened to split his head in half. 

Bucky...James Buchanan Barnes  That voice repeated over, and over, and over, his voice, the voice of the man on the bridge. The man who had saved his life. Who was he?

Bucky, Bucky! He called echoing a thousand times.

“No Stop!” He screamed at the voice, trying to will it to stop, the pain crescendoing to a white searing light. Falling forward, he caught himself with his hands. Heaving, he emptied his already empty stomach. Abdomen clenching, stomach searching for more to expel, he heaved again, gagging on the taste of stomach bile.

He needed to keep moving, it had been two weeks since they had last cleared his mind since they had given him focus.

Staggering to his feet, under clapped overhead, lightning tear through the night sky. He walked a few more feet before his body gave up, and he collapsed on the damp ground, metal hand clawing at the dirt, dragging him inch by inch until he lost consciousness.”

Like if you go back and read through chapter one of “On A Last Chance” you’ll find some of the same language, some of the same descriptions from this first draft that made it and percolated into the final draft. 

I find that tremendously fascinating, that although so much else has changed about the nature and the shape of the fic, the start point has always been the same. 

Anyhow, that’s all for now. I think for the next time I’ll talk about how one fic became three (including what Pt.1 originally entailed, and the genesis of Pt. 2 and (eventually) Pt. 3)

[nocturnofshadow]

Get to Know Me (with bonuses!)

tagged by both @madnessismylover and @somethinwickedthiswayrides!

1. What is the one thing you love when you wake up every morning?

looking through my tumblrs to see what folks’ve been doing overnight, or just going back to sleep

2. Do you drink your cereal milk?

Yell heah I do!

3. Do you fold your pizza, eat it flat, or eat it with a fork and knife?

Depends! I’ve been known to do all three, but I only use a fork and knife when the pizza is super duper loaded

4. Are you afraid to die?

Sorta? I don’t like the idea of going when I don’t know what’s supposed to come next in my life. I don’t want my family and loved ones to be sad. Even though it feels like (a lot of the time) my death wouldn’t really be anything consequential outside of financial inconvenience, I still don’t.....like it. Hasn’t kept me from thoughts of doing it myself, though.

5. Would you kill to protect someone or die guarding them?

That’s a bit of a loaded question, but the short answer is yes. At the very least, I am willing to risk grave bodily harm; my loved ones, however, I will do everything in my power.

6. Have you stopped to give yourself some self care and personal time today yet?

Kinda? But I’m in a headspace right now where I’m just kinda....existing. I feel a little trapped right now, but have no means or energy to really break myself out of it. This is a common occurrence with me, though, so it’s just kinda meh.

7. Does your anxiety push you forward or hold you back?

It holds me back a lot.

8. Do you like hugs or words of support more?

Words of support are always good, but hugs are my default unless otherwise stated (by myself, or whoever is offering their support!)

9.  Do you ever feel like the fandom you’re in puts you under pressure you never felt before?

No, not really! The fandom I was largely active in, before RDR, was TF2, but the new wave of fans coming into the RP facet of that fandom don’t support the open creativity we had in the early days. A lot of folks have succumbed to the strict aesthetic metric of ‘if you don’t look super stylish, you must not be worth the time’ which is....really disheartening.

It’s why I ultimately left that fandom, barring writing with a select few. But here? None of that, and it’s SO deeply refreshing.

10. Do you like celery?

Only with peanut butter and raisins B)

11. PS4 or Xbox One?

PS4! I’m NocturnLily, if anyone wants to deal with my chaotic silly ass

12. Do you lean towards vengeance or justice when you want change?

Vengeance, even though I know it’s not constructive to the bigger picture. Sometimes, though, you just gotta punch a bitch, and gotdang if I ain’t petty.

Bonus questions!

1. What’s one thing that always helps you to sleep at night?

Music, mostly! I love having background noise. Alternatively, I have a teddy bear from my grandfather that I’ve literally had since I was a newborn. He helps me sleep, too :D

2. Do you have a favourite smell and if so, what is it?

Cigars and bourbon! And a good cologne.

3. What’s one thing you’re proudest of doing?

Making it to where I am now. In the bigger scope of things, it’s insignificant, but it’s important to me.

4. What trope are you an absolute sucker for?

Enemies to lovers, or ships in the night. Anything that can hurt my heart and will. :3

5. What’s one thing that lots of people like that you just never “got”? Why?

Things like Fortnite. AFAIC, all of the battle royale games lately are literally cookie-cutters of the others, and it’s just not my jam.

I realize this is probably due in part to having played TF2 for so long that I’m heavily biased (they’re literally the same style game, with equally hare-brained plots and character arcs), but there’s just something about these other games that I’m just...idk, I can’t get into them.

6. If you could play any musical instrument in the world, what would it be and why?

Hurdy Gurdy, or a taglharpa! I love stringed instruments (it’s why I learned how to play the guitar, but I’m hella rusty), and they’re literally violins played and constructed different ways.

7. What got you into videogames?

My dad! He got me started early (my first consoles were a Sega Genesis and a NES, this was back in....what, ‘95?), and I’ve been hooked ever since!

8. Earliest memory?

I don’t really....have any?

9. What’s quirky or unique about the place where you live now?

I wouldn’t really call it quirky or unique -- it’s just a place.

10. Do songs get stuck in your head easily?

Constantly.

11. What would you like to see more of in fiction?

Anything science-fiction’y. I’m a sucker for monster lovers B)

ALRIGHT, YOU FOOLS, TIME FOR TAGGING

@dormatorymoss @shadowtheif117 @somekangarookid @steffyschelle

(if y’all wanna do it, that is! And anyone else reading this)

[tranxendance]

Must-watch Super Best Friends LPs: A curated list

So, I tried to get a friend of mine into bestfriends when he was in active service and didn’t have much time to sit and watch youtube. While I think you should probably watch all of the bestfriends content, aint nobody got time for that, and there are certain LPs that are just better ones. Here’s a list of what I consider to be the best SBFP lets plays. There won’t be any ‘Matt’s toybox’ or one-offs, only full LPs.

Predator: Concrete Jungle - Originator of Jerry the Predator, the very first bestfriends OC. Also I really like the Predator so this trash game getting ripped to shreds by the anti-hype machine makes me feel good. https://youtu.be/0wF6r-JRTvQ

Eternal Darkness - The climax of the very first Shitstorm of Scariness. Genesis of the Insanity Shotgun, marking out about recognizing Metal Gear Solid voice actors, INSANITY EFFECTS and freaking out about the bathtub scare despite knowing it was coming. https://youtu.be/lYRVeFkTvCM

Silent Hill: Homecoming - First half of the Downcoming series. ‘MY HOUSE!’ ‘Why is the knife the best weapon? Just do knife combos to them, thats survival horror’ https://youtu.be/GLgN5WSiiX4

Silent Hill: Downpour - Second half of the Downcoming series. The first time I saw the guys play a game that was brand new at the time. Pat & Matt getting upset about the downturn of one of my and their favorite series. The famous Axe Throw that launched a career is in this one too I believe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5ofoIeb8wI&list=PLAD720396A1870C8E

Resident Evil 2 - Earliest recorded footage of Pat’s stand CRAZY TALK where he claims to know a thing or be an expert and is proven unequivocably wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cgbuv3cB1Q&list=PLB8826287748EFE7C

Final Fight: Streetwise - What happens when you take a classic beat em up and try to make it cool and modern with lots of Slipknot music? It ages fucking poorly that’s what. ‘I got a receipt for my Tatsu’ ‘I’d like to return this shoryureppa’, Live footage of the bestfriends souls leaving their body in The Stiff boss fight, Some actually decent writing and lines such as ‘Feeling good about potentially feeling good’ which Matt will quote for years to come. https://youtu.be/HnRNyfzKLL8

Man vs Wild - Not so much a must-watch as it’s just the boys in their element, playing shovelware, deliberately failing QTEs to laugh at how pitiful it looks when you do, making fun of people’s accents, and much more. Indicative of the bestfriends style of sort of mst3king videogames. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1NGPAOrE80&list=PL57hJfweW_2s2jyxas78kIib9M3jGduU8

Heavy Rain - The very first game played in the Sadness trilogy. ‘Oh no, I made ze bad game’, more fucking up of QTEs when it’d be funny, Detective Shelby’s PI Gumball technique after shooting thirty rounds out of a handgun without reloading, FUTURE GLASSES, and other classics. Woolie will play this himself on a livestream, many years later, which is also a good watch. https://youtu.be/Qe-SpjInztQ

Indigo Prophecy - The first game of the Sadness trilogy, though it was played later than Heavy Rain. Space kung-fu, zombie sex with a lady you barely know, your choices don’t matter!, Slagging off of David Cage intensifies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YacYbUC_FmQ&list=PL57hJfweW_2sOt01sX9TtQRkzv5RS231f

Charles Barkley’s Shut Up And Jam: Gaiden - Seems to be originally selected as a ‘ha ha, we’re playing a bad and stupid game to laugh at it’ but then discovering it’s legitimately awesome despite being frankly ridiculous. If you can’t play the game yourself, this is a very good substitute. https://youtu.be/xNc9R1zfwM0

Beyond: Two Souls - The third game of the Sadness trilogy. David Cage creeping on Ellen Paige in real life and making her be naked in his game, E MO SHUNS, having feelings but not knowing where to put them, ‘I’ll be your Stand! ORARARARARARA’, Underwater chinese ghost base. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA_VUoePgrc&list=PL57hJfweW_2ulXc25A-LxxHXMPqLOwrsf

Deadly Premonition - Swery65′s magnum opus, if only he could’ve put bicycles in the game. He totally didn’t watch Twin Peaks you guys. ‘QUIIIIIIINT!’, ‘Stinky agent’, radio fast travel stock tire screech sfx, monkey noise squirrels and a weird amount of attention paid to food. Matt named his pet cat Zach due to this game, so it’s an extra important part of the bestfriends lore. https://youtu.be/dsbfmIqP-H8

Disaster: Day of Crisis - Metal Gear Solid except the giant robots are natural disasters. Gotta get revenge on the volcano for killing my buddy. Eating watermelons while on fire. Don’t forget to take your stami-nas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sx8gqSjkMY&list=PL57hJfweW_2t-vHWWeqjY2SKH4vaqotZ6

Yakuza 4 - My first exposure to the Yakuza game series and actually a good starting point for people that don’t know anything about it. The hype, badassery, and hilarity in all its glory. Who’s ready for a shirtless fight on top of Millennium Tower? https://youtu.be/xOKx_79BEhY

Prison Break - More shovelware where they fail stealth sequences a million times, fail QTEs because it’s hilarious, and can’t show too much violence because it’s a T-rated game. https://youtu.be/TsjGGGSZabA

Resident Evil 4 HD - Get hype for suplexing priests, El Gigante, Doctor Salvatore, Isn’t that Mexican spanish not Spanish Spanish? Commando shit and the RE movie, Oops Ashley is dead again, Pat is bad at puzzles and crazy talk activates. https://youtu.be/qsazQp4VlI0

Silent Hill 2 - Everything is illness, or else its condoms! The nurses are TOO STRONG!, the boys actually just enjoying a game and (mostly) being good at it for once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsYYIjaNPP8&list=PL57hJfweW_2vMmw0MLZp8I16DA-Qev8ec

Resident evil Revelations 2 - Re vuh lay uh tons!, Wait how’d a non mainline resi game get this good?, MOIRA MC TAGGART MC MURPHY, another co-op LP where Matt’s actual role in the game mechanics is to point out ammo and health items that Pat missed. https://youtu.be/THfgNlcNa98

Resident Evil 3 - Jill Valentine’s not actually last escape, Crazy Talk activates several times, Shitting on Hunter-D’s, being a huge coward constantly like the hero of RE brad vickers. https://youtu.be/G5pXyRhs7FM

Ride to Hell - Legendarily bad game played by canadian losers that make fun of it constantly. Source of just SO MANY bestfriends gifs including casual priest drownings, getting shot during cutscenes, and Qui-gon chi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEw04pKaVs4&list=PL57hJfweW_2srGztN1iedcFd-BV5X1Ram

Parasite Eve - It’s time for Aya Breakowski to GET HOT. It’s a squaresoft game all right, dogs with sniper rifles, finishing downloading arcana heart, and the heroest of hero cops willingly lighting on fire to give you a gun. https://youtu.be/dHY5ZBSHzyw

Danganronpa - Ultra Despair Girls - First recorded instance of being incredibly hype and getting into the cool pop art aesthetic, komaeda memes, and then all hype leaving our body, and out of context shouting KILL THOSE SHIT KIDS! https://youtu.be/qYtYp4oWBhU

Life is Strange - Liam’s rivalry with another wimpy boy, Hotdogman: Who is he?, You sacrificed everyone for your Ship? Are you Griffith?, and rewinding time to fuck with people for kicks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XZ7-wFLnfI&list=PL57hJfweW_2u1mKS5UFNgx-voVAvTlkT9

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain - Built-up hype from over one thousand years of waiting is collectively released. Psycho Mantis is OP, let the legend come back to life, GREATEST SOLDIER IN THE WORLD BIG BOSS, D-dog is the cutest and bestest of boys, and famously awkward jeep ride. https://youtu.be/505vXWYkxcw

Afro Samurai - Perhaps the shovelest of ware ever played on the channel. It’s very short, only 3 parts, about 90 minutes of gameplay, something that everyone should be super hype about but ends up being the most shitted on game since perhaps one of the Sadness games. https://youtu.be/wIXqEulMTIo

Resident Evil Zero HD - Get hyped for Oven Man mk2, math puzzles, getting pissed off at Eliminators, Rebecca! God dammit Rebecca! I love youuuuu rebeccaaaaaa, Leech Man, and playing dress-up. https://youtu.be/Mhnthhluh70

Metal Wolf Chaos - Giant robots and engrish, more than your body can handle! AMERICA!!!! Richard Hawke! OK, Lets PARTEEEEEEEY! Tons of references they’ll be using until the end of time https://youtu.be/Mhnthhluh70

Naruto: The Broken Bond - ‘Wait, this game is actually good?’ and then three parts later oops no its not. Second instance of being super hyped at first and then all joy slowly being sucked out of the boys’ body. Do your rasengan, even when you’re not playing as Naruto! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo92m-rfeHA&list=PL57hJfweW_2uIIqa3HTcbsvM5LO1ObM_5

The Punisher - Rice cookers, My family-family-family!, guessing Frank’s one-liners, violent safety PSAs, and interrogating the boat https://youtu.be/wznGw9fJNCc

Disaster Report - ‘Is this Disaster day of crisis’ sequel?’, The honeycomb-caisonne method, press triangle to HEY!, be mean to your waifu, and abandon your friends like a hero would do. https://youtu.be/UYiwWU8EZcU

Final Fantasy X - Matt talks about Lulu’s boobs a lot, BLEETSBOLL, Wakka the racist, kimahri push, Finding all the memes possible, Hype Cactaur!, ‘I’ll pay you to fuck off, okay?’, and punting a boss over the horizon. A long watch and the boys are kinda bad at the game but good for the patient. https://youtu.be/qpZeMkthdZ8

Omikron: The Nomad Soul - The secret first entry of the Sadness Trilogy, ‘Get in the slider!’, Blackface Boyz, The real final boss is david cage!, getting trapped in bug purgatory, yes this is how you should honor the memory David Bowie by playing this game, Using the power of all three bestfriends to beat the game, and having no consequences for failure right up until THE MOST CONSEQUENCES. https://youtu.be/691RrF9pnaU

Silent Hill 3 -  No talking during the cut scenes, beef jerky, a detective does a Jerry Seinfeld on Silent Hill by accident, and ‘It’s a metaphor for dicks/childbirth!‘

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4wERZf6bns&list=PL57hJfweW_2v34HsPK-4Hfqmkb22zjBWC

Tony Hawk’s Underground - Woolie lives the skateboarder life he never could for real. ‘Won’t they notice that it’s not Eric Sparrow on the video when they see a clearly black man doing that jump?’, Eric Sparrow is basically up there with Griffith for villains the bestfriends hate the most, and ‘I can do a grind all day’ https://youtu.be/3HLPS_nwHG8

Parasite Eve 2 - More of Breakowski and getting HOT, ‘This is basically a survival horror game’, The dog from Independance Day must survive or else you’re on the bad ending! https://youtu.be/JedQqaXdWLc

LA Noire - The big one, the one I always suggest for new bestfriends watchers as being emblematic of their style and sense of humor and weaknesses as players. Woolie can’t navigate this map, ‘Sometimes you’ve gotta shake the tree and see what falls out’, Shotgun man wrecks your shit!, making noises to go along with the faces that the characters are making, ‘Pedophilia? That’s a free pass in my town sir’, Stealing the worst possible cars because they thought it’d be cool, forgetting the controls for every single fistfight sequence, Cole Phelps super cop!, and LP Funsies. https://youtu.be/-bPqjD_zg5g

Policenauts - Kojima’s game from when he was allowed to work on things besides Metal Gear. It’s definitely white blood and not anything sexual, SHOOTINGU SEQUENCE, Holy crap our main character is a bigoted piece of shit!, Figure out the bomb puzzle!, We’re definitely not Riggs and Murtagh to the point where Woolie says ‘I’m gettin too old for this shit’ about 70 times, and the uncomfortable truth of cloning. https://youtu.be/kWcecAHiOys

Dead Space 2- Notable mostly for me as Dead Space 2 was the first bestfriends video I ever saw back when they were on Machinima, so I was quoting Space Rave and asking Matt if he needed a blankey to fight the monsters. https://youtu.be/1QzY-TjFGFI

Resident Evil 7 - We hate the molded as an enemy type, OOOH GOD DAMMIT JACK, He fucking exploded into goo!, What was your plan?, I can’t shoot the granny, We definitely used a pump action shotgun in world war 2 (Actually yes we did, Matt), Shadow puzzles, that part of a lady is where all the wasps shoot out, and What that guy doesn’t look like Chris Redfield who is this impostor?! https://youtu.be/SyAZ2-nijDE

Def Jam: Fight for NY - The introduction of Woolie’s OC: Rage beats up rappers, steals their girlfriends, and doesn’t understand intimacy, The full might of Matt’s hatred for Bless is brought out, and they talk about the Aki engine’s contributions to humanity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lry0SYYkvas&list=PL57hJfweW_2tWHTvp2ESXbzp1-jh6YJMQ

[playsonwordinc]

MUSIC, AN EARLY LOVE —

MORE CONSTRUCTION NEWS - By Fred David Kenney, Jr.

"Music has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember. My earliest memories are of an incredibly pleasing sound that I would come to identify as music. Little did I know that it was an extraordinary gift from God on the same level as taste for a favorite food, the aroma of a beloved flower, or sight of the most beautiful artwork. The power of music to support a point, set a mood, paint a sonic picture, or prepare the heart to hear the Word of God (my favorite kind of music), should never be underestimated.

I vividly remember one of my earliest experiences with music. It was when I was perhaps two or three years old. I recall intensely looking at a flat, black, round disc that had a red circle in the center with a small hole in the middle. The disc had smooth, shiny, thin lines that circled the center. The red circle, close to the center, had printed marks & symbols on it as well. I noticed that I would start to hear pleasing sounds and voices every time my parents would place it up on top of a big machine box. Then sound would start to come from black boxes in the room. Sometimes I would hear sounds that took me on a wonderful ride in my mind because of how they were put together. The experience was both beautiful and intriguing at the same time. I was not particularly interested in what it meant, who made it, or how they made it. I just knew that I liked hearing the sound that came from the black boxes in my father’s den when I would go into that room with him.

I also remember an unfortunate incident from this period of my life that was a real eye-opener. In addition to the flat, black, round discs in my father’s den, he also had a large number of smaller, thin, rectangular boxes that looked like something like a sandwich but was solid. On the top, flat part of this box was usually a picture of someone or something. Those same kinds of printed marks were also all over the top flat part, usually near the picture. On one side of this box was an opening with a brown/ black strip of something that was fun to pull out of the box. In fact, there was also a wheel that would spin under this brown/black strip of fun material. Now, I bet you thought I was going to tell you about how I pulled every inch of that material out of the box. No, well, I DID do that one time, but that isn’t the real incident. You see, my father would often take one of these smaller, thin, rectangular boxes and apparently feed the mouth of that same big machine box on to which he put the flat, black, round discs. The same great sound would then come from the boxes in the room when he did this! I think I understood what I needed to do! I needed to feed the big box!

Now, I loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a child, I still do...(they are often my secret weapon energy boost right before a play performance). Well, one day, my mother made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I wanted to hear some of that pleasing sound in my father’s den so I decided to do something for myself and not ask for any help. I looked at the flat, black, round discs but couldn’t get anything to happen. I then looked for the smaller boxes with the fun-to-pull material, but it looked like my father put them away and out of my reach. So, being the kind, sharing child that I was, I decided to feed the machine box my peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Yea, I did. I jammed it in and waited. Nothing happened so after trying every button on the machine box I finally gave up and went into a different room to play. Now, the time gap here is a bit of a blur, but I think it was a day or two when my father went into his den to relax and make the machine box make sound. To my great surprise, he was not happy at all! (THAT is probably a gross understatement.) At this point in my story, I need to make sure you are all still with me here, I mean, I feel as though I need to clarify what just happened for the millennials out there that grew up with Mp3s and digital music. I put my peanut butter and jelly sandwich into my father’s 8-track cassette player! So, when he went to play his favorite Wes Montgomery or Miles Davis 8-track cassette all he heard was a muffled mush-mash of awful sound that smelled like strawberry jam! In my defense, I was only two or three years old. It’s a good think Pop could fix anything. He repaired, or should I say cleaned the 8-track cassette player and I was soon back in my sonic wonderland.

From those earliest days I remember the way music would impact my mood. I absolutely loved listening to instrumental jazz. I remember thinking about the complexity of the different songs. I distinctly recall being curious about the different sections of the song. I didn’t understand the concept of a verse, chorus, or bridge but I could feel that there were different parts to the journey I was on and how the song would often circle back to the main parts.

I also remember, with great fondness, a special group of records. These were black, and the red circle in the middle had black and white letters that I later learned spelled Columbia, and Mahalia Jackson. My Mother had a collection of gospel records and I loved listening to them as well. They blessed my young soul.

I would grow up and learn how to play, compose, record, and perform music. I played secular music for many years and then about 21 years ago I began writing and recording Christian music. It just made sense that I would use whatever the Lord gave me for His work.

Pastor Fred Kenney, Jr. (a.k.a. Teddy) in one of the very first performances of Genesis "JOE".

The very first Plays On Word production we did is called Genesis “JOE”. The first song came to me as I was sitting at my piano. The song is called “Lord, I Trust You.” I got the chorus and verse parts first with an overwhelming sense of sadness. I just played and the chords took form. Then the pre-chorus part of the song came to me and it felt very hopeful in the midst of the darker part of the verse. I ran upstairs to play it for my bride, Katie. She was moved by the instrumental. I told her that I thought it was something for the “Thing” I was working on. As of that time she had no idea that I was working on a full-blown play. I wasn’t even sure what it would be like. I was working out the jail scene for the play where Joseph was forgotten by the cup bearer and left in prison for two years. I felt the sadness and knew that this was the part of the play to try to insert some music. Up to that point, I didn’t know if there would be a musical component to the “Thing” I was working on.

The song was, as my dear brother Reverend Joe Santucci calls it, “Haunting, yet with great hope.” The line, “If I could remember what the Lord has done for me, then I could remember what it was like to be happy” still chokes me up at performances. God is SO good, and we need to often be reminded of that when we are in the midst of a trial. To recall and remember what He has done changes our perspective even if it doesn’t change our immediate circumstances. This is one of the concepts that this song brings to the audience.

I remember performing this play and song at a very small church in NJ. I didn’t have the band with me. It was just me and the piano. I really acted out the lines of the song from the piano. What I mean is, Joseph sang that song from his heart. Every eye in the place was watered with tears. Moving tears for Joseph’s plight and moving tears of hope and joy in God!

Much more could be said about the music in the play performances. I hope to do more behind the scenes posts soon. The songs in the plays are not just thrown in for filler or as an afterthought. These songs each have a role to play in shaping the mood and assisting in the overall journey we all experience at a Plays On Word production. Currently, I have the finale of the “Dan” play written and mostly recorded. Yea, I am kind of backwards on this. The ending first? Hey, I’m just an employee here. I just do what I’m told.  

It is a privilege to share my joy of this pleasing sound, that we call music, with you. Since I can remember, I have been drawn to this incredible gift from God. It is my hope that the power of the music from the Plays On Word performances will help in taking you deeper into the Word of God!"

~ FDKjr

[rawringryu]

tEn cHaRaCtErS

I was tagged in this meme by the awesomely rad @francisthegreat whom I’m lucky to have as my friend :) Also I’m sorry this is so late! I didn’t see you tag me until like yesterday, I had exams this week haha. This was very hard to make because I have a LOT of feelings.

Ten characters from ten fandoms:

This list is going in ascending order, meaning my very favorite faves will be last on the list.

10. Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls) First of all on this list is this asshole, gosh I have no idea why but there was a period of time where I absolutely loved Gravity Falls and I shipped with a human form with Dipper mostly because of the amazing art and some pretty complex fics written for the ship. It was a wild ride and honestly thinking about this phase of my life always makes me feel weird, like I liked him purely because I liked reading shippy fics starring him. 

9. Pearl (Steven Universe) This one is kinda weird too? Idk man I absolutely love Pearl’s design and the way her character is written. I’m not in loop with the SU fandom because ugh it’s not a happy place to be but I absolutely love browsing art of her. I love how she’s such a broken character for a kids show! I used to read SU meta and they’d go on and on about how she’s a shit character, an asshole towards Amethyst and toxic. But tbh, I feel like she’s just a complex character that made bad choices at times, she’s trying to get better, she’s trying to cope with the loss of Rose someone she probably loved in more ways than one and how she felt Rose chose Greg over her, and now she’s gone. I mean, she just can’t let go and I think that’s very human.

8. Pitch Black (Rise of the Guardians) Alright but this fandom was the first one I’d ever been in once I started out in tumblr. It was very cool and leaves bittersweet memories tbh, I absolutely adored the art and fics this fandom churned out, I used to ship Pitch and Jack Frost. The thing about Pitch is the fact that the fandom practically merged the movie with the lore from the original Guardians of Childhood the movie is based on. In the book, Pitch has such a tragic backstory, his name was Kozmotis Pitchinier and he was the best general of the Golden Army. After capturing all fearlings, he was designated to guard the prison of their imprisonment , he was haunted by their whispers and pleading and his only solace was his daughter, of whom he kept a photograph of in a locket. But one day, sensing his weakness, the prisoners imitated her voice and hypnotized Kozmotis to believe she was being held inside with them. Frantic, he opened the doors to release her, but was instead possessed by ten thousand Fearlings.

Sorry for the long summary but I just want people to know more abt his backstory haha.

7. Loki (MCU) I didn’t really know about Loki until I watched Thor: The Dark World in the cinema and I was instantly in love despite this movie being the absolutely worst of all the MCU movies, which looking back I’d have to agree. Loki is yet another tragic character whom I’m sure everyone already knows about. I think Loki is a vulnerable character who tries to be good, wants to be good but he just can’t, or he tries and other people just won’t accept him. He’s a frost giant and those people are considered monsters, how can he not be bitter that he’s the very thing ha’s been indoctrinated to hate and fear. He is a very complex character that the MCU practically does not do enough justice mostly because he’s portrayed as a villain in the movies. But I wouldn’t consider him a villain, more like an antihero, nobody trusts him and he doesn’t think anybody can love him either. I’ve only read a bit of his comics and I gotta say Loki deserves so much more than what he gets.

6. Dr Strange (MCU) (I’m breaking the one character per fandom rule idc) I know a shit ton of people absolutely HATE Dr Strange, and for a variety of reasons too. They hate him because Benedict Cumberbatch plays him and hating on BC is practically the new edgy on tumblr. People think Dr Strange should have been played by an american asian and all that yada plus the ancient one being whitewashed. While I agree some aspects of Dr Strange is problematic, I think people need to give it more credit, at least watch it for the cool effects that the stupidly huge amount of people worked on. Also as an asian, I can guarantee you most people outside of America doesn’t give two shits about these controversies and movies should be a source of pleasure instead of thinking about all the negative shit only. Dr Strange deserves so much more, he’s an interesting and while he does share some qualities with Tony Stark, he’s his own character with his own issues. Plus his comics are very fun to read, come on, magic in the Marvel is such an awesome concept. Fuck you haters, I just wanna have a good time with the magic man.

5. Sherlcok Holmes (BBC Sherlock) This is also one of my earliest fandoms on tumblr. Sherlock season 4 absolutely ruined it with all the queer baiting and the shitty plot. But Sherlock had always left bittersweet memories for me too. Mostly because of the absolutely amazing and complex fics written for it, I will never understand how fic authors do it but Sherlock fics were amazing and I would gladly choose these fics over canon any time. 

4. Asuka Langley Soryuu (Neon Genesis Evangelion) I have so many feelings about this bitch right here, honestly one of the most relate-able characters for me. Asuka is a very human character, she’s very proud and has emotional issues. She was considered the best of the best and was trained to be an Eva pilot since she was four because she’s a child genius. However she has a tragic backstory, her mother underwent some tests and became insane, believing that Asuka's doll was her daughter and refusing to acknowledge the real Asuka, referring to her as "that girl over there." She eventually commits suicide by hanging herself; Asuka found her body when she went to tell her the good news that she had been chosen to become an Eva pilot. She couldn’t let go that Shinji the main character was starting to become a better pilot than her despite training for months only. She suppresses a lot of her emotions and had unhealthy ways of coping. I just want her to be happy.

3. Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood) Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is what I would consider the holy grail of anime tbh. Edward is just about the most selfless person out there in the fictional world of anime. I love the fact that Ed and Al started their journey off with mildly selfish reasons that is to return their body parts whom they lost to in a deal with Truth to bring back their mom which ultimately failed. In the end, Edward is willing to lose his alchemy, the very things that defines him, that started this whole mess, that is the source of his joy and misery for the sake of gaining his brother’s body back instead of selfishly using the Philosopher’s stone that’s made using human souls. I just want this shorty to be happy and I’m glad he is with that satisfying end.

2. Hitsugaya Toshiro (Bleach) The reason this guy is ranked so high in my list is mostly because, he’s been there for me since I was a smol kid, I’ve had a crush on him ever since I was 10 and I could never let go. He’s the one fictional character whom I still fallback to every time things stagnant, I love reading fics about him, he’s just so cool! He’s a child genius with a sword that can shoot ice dragons. Plus he’s always written in such a complex way in fics, Kubo missed his fucking chance by not expanding more about his character in the manga, but clearly Kubo is incompetent when it comes to plot so whatever I guess.

1. Kylo Ren (Star Wars) The Star Wars fandom or specifically the Kylux subfandom is probably the happiest plave I’ve ever been in since forever. It’s the first time I’ve ever talked to anyone at all online, I only lurked around in other fandoms but Star Wars made me able to brave the fandom and talk to people in it, I’ve met so many amazing people and read amazing fics in it, it’s mostly due to the KRB discord chat that I’m still going strong with this fandom. I absolutely love Kylo Ren and can he please crush me between his thighs. The thing that attracted me to him besides his unconventionally attractive appearance is his emotional vulnerability. Kylo has been neglected by Leia and Han as a kid and sent away to jedi school with Luke, he’s been manipulated by Snoke as a kid and Leia and Han just don’t think they can take care of him properly, they’re afraid of him and always too busy with their work, Kylo wasn’t planned, the way their relationship worked just wasn’t ideal for child rearing, Kylo was left alone with Luke, unable to understand why his parents don’t want him anymore, how he was too emotional for the jedi way. While what Kylo did was not justifiable with all that murdering, it’s not a stretch to say that he was very mush a victim of circumstances too. I related to Kylo a lot as I’d been sort of neglected as a child too, both my parents were always busy with work and I only saw them during mealtimes and before bed.

Sorry for the long post ya’ll! I have so many emotions about fictional characters haha.

I’ll be tagging @magicandmalice , @omega-hux, @tezzypants, @darktenshi17, @comraderevelin, @kylocatastrophe, @dargason-under-the-fantasia, @oblioknowlton, @evilblubber, @plasticpill and @glass-oceans that is if ya’ll want to, I had fun and went super overboard.

[raeloganthesonic06fangirl]

[Game Asks] 32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic?

Yes, actually. Many. XDI grew up with the Sega Genesis, so my bother had games like Spiderman, Batman Returns, Lion King... With varying levels of quality.I also have fond memories of some Disney Afternoon NES games, like Chip 'N Dale, as well as I remember playing Addams Family and Ninja Turtles. I was born in 1990, but my earliest gaming experiences began some time around 1992. So the entire extent of my gaming experiences can't be accurately measured because some games have left my mind, and some stuck far more than they should have.As a rule, I tend to avoid licensed games, because they usual don't translate the source material too well, they feel flat, or they tend to be a rehash of what we've already read or watched.But, if I'm to be honest, I wanna say that my favorite games based on a preexisting non-game property we're probably:* The Batman Arkham games, with the one I personally own is Arkham City GOTY edition. It does a lot of things right, and doesn't feel like something we've already seen.* A lot of the Disney games on NES and Genesis were great, with a special shout out to how gorgeous Lion King was (which is also my favorite movie, so I'm critical about its representation), and with me getting to replay the Disney Afternoon NES games in Capcom's recent collection, those are some solid fun titles.* "Code Lyoko: Get Ready to Virtualize" on the DS was a pleasant surprise of a game. I originally got it because it was a cheap game at a local shop, and I loved the cartoon when it ran on Cartoon Network back in the day, so I figured at worst, it'd be shovelware. It surprised me, it was actually a good adaptation that took advantage of the medium by splitting the gameplay into two styles for the two different worlds (Real World and Lyoko). It featured clips and music from the series, and let you pretty much play through the first two or three seasons. Normally, I'd not be too keen on the presentation, but it WORKS with a franchise like "Code Lyoko".* I guess technically, Kingdom Hearts runs a fine line on the idea, but yes, from what I've been able to play (I only have the tech and access to CoM and DDD), I loved it, and it's nice to see iconic worlds.* There was an old Rugrats game my brother had on the original Playstation that we played the heck out of when we were kids. I don't remember the exact name, but it put you through worlds based on iconic early episodes (like the mirror world episode and the one at the mini golf place), and the prize for 100% completion was that you'd get to play as Reptar. It was amazing back then, I have fond memories of it and it's a good example of a good licensed game* Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury. Maybe it's nostalgia, but a handheld game based on my favorite Saga of one of my favorite Anime series? Yessss* Samurai Jack on Game Boy Advance is frustrating and the ending is such a cop out (Also, I had a glitch happen and Aku couldn't kill me), but the art is accurate and it technically takes place outside of the episodes, so... It's okay. * Hamtaro: Ham Ham Games. Is there even a bad Hamtaro game? I can't think of a single bad Hamtaro game ever. All the Hamtaro games, let's just say they're all worth playing. * I would include games like Budokai Tenkaichi or Clash of Ninja, but they're kinda the same idea and the main gameplay is essentially beat-em-ups, and it's not so much the roster as it's the gameplay that you can really grade them on... But darn, I'd be lying if I said I didn't like to play me some good old Shonen based fighting games. XD